Chapter 12: The Northern Neversea

Shark was first to see the sunrise.

All night he had waited on the crow's nest, staring into the nothingness of the night.

Suddenly as a gun shot, red, pink, and purple rays gushed over the white horizon, scorching the snow like fire and fracturing colors into the ice. The sun rose over the ocean, cutting a bloody gash in the white sky. Then the sunlight stopped, rebounding off warped, monstrous icebergs.

Shark inhaled. The frigid air crystallized his insides and rattled around his chest. The sails sagged, weighted by snowy flecks that glistened in the sunlight. Half-solid waves moved slowly around the Jolly Roger, the ice crystals chinking like glass beads against the hull.

The Northern Neversea.

Shark had been here before. This place was his home.

Appropriately reminiscent, Shark spied three whaling ships many fathoms away, but black against the white water. The whaling ships were given wide berth. The pirates aboard the whaling ships were hunters. Rather than raid and rob, they hunted and killed for treasure. But not just for whales: fish, sea monsters, mer, pirates. They were bounty hunters. Pirate bounty hunters.

Shark watched as a harpoon shot from the whaling ship. Whoosh! It zipped then stuck into a creature trapped between the three ships. Unsympathetically, Shark listened to the creature scream as it struggled, faded, and died.

Shark had been a bounty hunter. A good one. But, when the pirate lord Bluebeard hired him to assassin Captain Hook, Shark had underestimated the Neverland pirate. The only thing separating the captain's hook from Shark's chest was a bargain: life for allegiance.

Shark had accepted. He had accepted because he had a reason to live.

Nixie.

Shark leaned over the crow's nest. Shards of ice covered the surface of the Nerversea as he remembered.

Shark had first spotted the mermaid whilst on the whaling ship. A blue-violet sliver, she crossed under the whaling ships and freed the sirens captured by the pirates. Then, she watched as the sirens seduced the pirate bounty hunters to their deaths.

All but Shark. Shark had blocked the siren's song by staring into the mermaids angry silver eyes. When the mermaid dove under the sea, the siren's song strangled Shark's mind, numbing his cognition and rousing his feral urges. Shark had crumbled under the siren's will.

Then the mermaid reappeared, rescuing Shark with her silver gaze until the ship sailed safely from the sirens. When she disappeared, Shark waged war against the cold ocean, searching until he caught the mermaid in a fishing net.

And for the single time in his life, Shark loved. He loved Nixie.

But then, it ended.

Wind scraped Shark's cheeks as the pirate clenched his jaw. Nixie's brother, Hadal, had uncovered their romance. The mer were told. They captured Nixie. They bound her. They held her before him. They threatened to kill her. Unless…

Black ink bled in the Jolly Roger's wake, staining the pure white glaciers.

Shark closed his eyes.

He had agreed to exchange his life for Nixie's. The mer handed him to the seawitch. When Shark died, ownership of his soul would pass from Captain Hook to the seawitch. Eternal doom.

But Nixie saved his life again, giving herself to the seawitch in Shark's stead. The act of love tortured Shark. Eaten by agony, Shark and Nixie demanded one last chance for freedom. And then…the adventure.

The latch leading into the brig creaked. Shark could hear it, even so high above in the crow's nest. Below, trapped inside the ship's prison was the girl.

The girl, Wendy. Shark glared. His heart filled with hatred. The girl and Nixie's brother, Brine, had destroyed every chance Shark and Nixie had. Every single chance. For happiness. For peace. For love.

"Not this time." Shark whispered as the ship stalled in the shadow of an iceberg. The black ink swelled, surrounding the Jolly Roger. "Not this time."

The ratlines shook, raining tiny icicles onto the deck. A pirate wrapped in a dark hood dropped from the ropes and into the nest. A crow flapped over the pirate's head, screeching as it weaved through the ratlines.

"Crow. What is it?"

Without responding, the pirate Crow shook snow from his hood. Shark glimpsed green eyes before the hood was lowered.

"Land Ho!" squawked the pirate's pet crow. "Land Ho!

Joining Shark, Crow gently pinched the bird's beak between his fingers. The wind whistled through Crow's hood as his eyes swept over the icy vista. Black ink was freezing over the ice.

Silently, Crow pointed to the deck.

Shark looked down. Crow's finger wavered over the brig entrance.

"Captain's orders!" croaked the crow. "Captain's orders! Captain's orders!"

Shark nodded. "Aye." he said, swinging into the ratlines.

Cold.

The brig was cold. Leaks were frozen over. Bones of decaying prisoners were cracked and frozen. The girl was not moving.

Creaking open the bars, Shark knelt over Wendy. A thin film of frost covered her skin. Crystals crusted over her eyelashes. The mysterious spot in the right hand corner of her mouth was blue. Shark took Wendy in his arms. She was cold as ice.

"Don't die yet." Shark shouldered through the latch door. Across the deck, pirates trembled as ocean blackened with ink. Rapidly, Shark headed for Captain's Hook's cabin, holding Wendy against his chest. He looked into the girl's face.

"Die after." Shark said, ducking into Hook's quarters. "After you've bargained with the seawitch."

Author's Note: REFERENCES FROM ENVY IS GREEN & OCEAN IS BLUE

Some people like to see the connections I make to other Peter Pan fanfictions I have made. So, instead of you hunting for them, I've provided them.

1. "Hadal" (Nixie's brother) - Mentioned by Nixie in Chapter 28: Cold and Alone. *** Hint Hint*** It may be a good idea to review the name's of Nixie+Brine's siblings...jus' saying...Happy Christmas for that one!

2. Crow - Chapter Chapter 30: Mermaid Aboard (Crow actually has a BIG part in my Red Handed Jill story, as does the other pirate I mention in EGOB, Cutter). I just pulled these characters to make some cohesiveness in all my fanfictions :)