To The Rescue
Tink's tired eyes slowly flickered open. She felt her body shiver from the cold. She glanced beside her to see herself lying against the mushroom stem, where she must have slept for who knows how long.
She felt drowsy and miserable as she lay still, just listening to the silence of the forest-
Wait, silence?
Tink's eyes shot wide open, her body sitting up. She looked out from under the mushroom roof and saw that the rain had finally stopped. Everything was terribly wet from the storm, but she could see little sunlight falling down through the wet trees and the sounds of cheery tweet and chirps was heard from afar.
But she could feel herself dry. Could that mean . . .
She slowly stood up and looked down at her back. Her wings were lying down against her body, but they were dry with only some dried mud on them. She hurriedly cleaned her wings from the dried mud and, holding her breath, she flickered her wings.
To her relief and joy, the wings were fluttering and her body levitated above the ground by a few inches. She was so overjoyed for her now dry and freed wings that she burst through the roof of the mushroom and shot to the sky.
She suddenly stopped when she spotted some dark clouds, bring back memories of Margaret's memory lost, the Egg stolen, and Hook keeping It captive and making a wish to break Peter-
Oh no, Peter!
Without another thought, Tink zoomed over the forest roof as fast as her wings could take her. She may be too late, but maybe she could do something to help Peter get better. Hook's wish may have come true, but Tink's going to make her own wish come true: to heal Peter Pan.
She made it to Hangman Jr.'s Tree when she stopped again, this time in horror.
The hideout was completely wrecked, as if it was attacked many hours ago. How could this be?
Tink looked up at the sky to see the sun setting. She was only out for a few hours, so she must have missed the entire ambush. No doubt the pirates where the one to attack; the Indians were more secretive on ambushing.
A horrid thought struck her. Does that mean the pirates have captured the Lost Boys, Margaret, and Peter?
Refusing to believe that, she flew toward the ruined hideout and entered through a small hole on its bark. Inside was just as worse as outside. The ceiling had collapsed and the furniture were either torn apart or crushed by the ceiling. Tink's little apartment, that use to be up on the wall, was now crushed on the ground. But, on the plus side, as she flew and explored her tiny house, most of Tinks possessions weren't destroyed since they were all inside and her outside home got the worst of it.
However, that didn't help Tink feel better when she found the Lost Boys' weapons on the ground. The Lost Boys never went anywhere without their weapons, unless they got captured. Then Margaret and her puppy must have been captured as well.
But the pirates didn't get Peter, right? They couldn't have. Peter was just somewhere else at the right time. That's it. Now, all Tink had to do was to go out and find him.
Unfortunately, Tink's optimistic thinking was burnt to ashes when she saw Peter's dagger on the ground; never left behind unless its owner was in danger.
She flew down and gently landed on her feet next to the dagger. She couldn't believe it. She had never felt this hopeless and furious in her life. She could have prevented this from happening, if it wasn't for that stupid storm. If only she had flown faster! If only!
But it was too late. They've done it. Those dirty, rotten pirates have done it again. They've captured Peter Pan. Now he's left at the mercy of Captain Hook.
Was this another one of Hook's wish came true? Was this what Hook wanted? Anger at herself was now replaced with an overwhelming hatred toward Hook. He has Peter now. And, as long as he has the Egg, he could control everything.
Now, Tink had more reasons to find the Egg.
With new determination, she flew out of the demolished hideout and through the forest, on her way back to Pirate Cove. However, as she flew, she wondered how she was going to find the Egg and rescue Peter and the captives. She knew she couldn't do both at the same time. But she knew the Egg was very important and, if she rescued the captives first, Hook would just wish for the captives back. As much as she didn't want to ignore Peter, Tink would have to find the Egg and take it back to Pixie Hollow, so Hook won't ever use it to make wishes to harm anyone.
She zipped past trees, rocks, a small cave, bushes, tree limbs, Margaret, branches, mushrooms-
Margaret?!
Tink screeched to a halt and immediately flew back.
There, she saw Margaret herself, sleeping against a wet tree. The fairy could see that the girl looked terrible, as if she had been tortured and was now in the aftermath stage.
But Tink didn't care about how Margaret looked. What mattered was that she had found help, even if it was the last person she would want help from.
She took a lock of Margaret's hair and pulled it tightly to wake the girl up. Tink tugged on the lock repeatedly, but it didn't seem to wake her; only move her head back and forth.
Tink groaned in frustration. Why can't this stupid girl wake up?
She glanced at the lake and sprouted an idea. She hovered over the water of the lake and cupped its water into her hands. She then flew up to Margaret's face and splashed her with the water Tink carried. It was, however, a tiny water that splashed onto the girl's face, so it didn't really wake her.
But Tink didn't give up. She went back and forth from the lake to Margaret, carrying some water on her hands and throwing that water at Margaret's face, hoping that this would help wake the girl up.
Eventually, Tink had succeeded. Margaret moaned, rubbing her eyes awake. Tink exhaled in relief, dropping the water she had carried in her hands, not needing it anymore.
Margaret shivered as her eyes fluttered open. She spotted Tink hovering before her and, for the first time, she did not smile at the fairy's sight.
"Oh, hello, Tinker Bell," Margaret said in a dull voice, to Tink's surprise. This wasn't what she expected, let alone the look on Margaret's lifeless eyes. Something must have gone wrong.
"Listen, I'm glad you're here," Margaret said, sitting up. "I need some of your pixie dust, so I can go back home to London."
Tink's eyes widened in shock. She wants to go home? Already? Usually, Tink would have cheered for joy, but Tink was distracted by Margaret's miserable appearance.
"But maybe that won't work," Margaret mumbled, looking down at the ground as if talking to it now. "I don't have any happy thoughts to make me fly."
Tink was now overcome with sadness for the girl. What could have happened to bring this girl unhappy thoughts?
Margaret looked up at Tink with depressing eyes. "Do you know any other way to get back home?"
Tink slowly shook her head. The girl sighed. "Oh, well. I'm sure I'll find a way. Do you know where Little is, though?"
She doesn't know what happened at Hangman Jr.'s Tree, Tink thought. She was never there at all!
Tink nodded her head and pulled her wet bed robe up. Nodding as if to say she understood the fairy, Margaret slowly got up and followed Tink through the forest.
When they made it to Hangman Jr.'s Tree, Tink heard a gasp behind her and knew it belonged to Margaret. The girl ran to the ruined hideout, trying to dig inside, and shouted the names of her puppy, Peter, and the Lost Boys in panic.
When she couldn't get in, she turned to Tink. "How do we get in, Tinker Bell?"
Tink was pretty sure that there was no way a girl could go through holes and cracks like she could. But she knew of other, secret places where Margaret could enter.
Tink waved at Margaret, signaling the girl to follow her. Then, Tink led Margaret off the distance to a large and heavy-looking rock. Once Margaret came up and stared at the rock in confusion, Tink pushed the rock (which really wasn't heavy at all) out of the way, revealing a hole. Margaret looked at the fairy in hesitation and, once Tink nodded at her to go ahead, Margaret jumped inside, with Tink right behind her.
Inside was a secret passageway, one of the many passageways that led straight to the underground hideout. Margaret walked down the passageway with Tink following her in midair. The girl curiously looked around as she walked on, even stopping to look up at the bottom of a lake, where two fish saw her and both fish and girl stared at each other in wonderment. Tink had to pull Margaret away to remind her where they were suppose to go.
The door to the hideout was crushed as well, so Margaret had to push it away. Sadly, the door broke out of its hinges and fell to the ground. Tink was expecting Margaret to apologize for breaking the door, but the girl remained silent. Tink wasn't even sure this was the same happy and adventurous girl she had last seen this morning.
She let Margaret look around the ruins, everything Tink had already seen. She watched as Margaret's expression became a mix of shock and sorrow, all the while stepping over wrecks and weapons. Margaret removed wrecks that were covering the bear rug and Peter's bed. She would stare at those two and the weapons for a while, lost in thought.
What really hit Margaret was when she spotted Peter's dagger. Tink wasn't sure how, but it was pretty clear that the girl also knew that Peter never goes anywhere without his dagger, which meant that Peter was in trouble, along with the Lost Boys, and, possibly, her puppy.
Margaret fell to her knees and picked up Peter's dagger, just staring at it in deep distress. She gazed at the dagger for a while until, finally, Margaret turned to Tinker Bell. "What happened here?"
Tink only held out her finger and curved it to make it look like a hook.
"Hook?" Tink nodded. Margaret stood up. "You mean the pirates were here? And they got Peter, Little, and the boys?" Again, Tink nodded. Margaret rubbed her face with her other hand. "This is bad," she mumbled to herself. "Really bad."
Tink felt like they were wasting time already. She quickly flew up to Margaret and motioned for her to come follow her out.
"Tinker Bell, wait," Margaret stopped Tink from flying off. The fairy looked at the girl questionably. "As much as I want to rescue them, I think we should wait."
Tink exploded in shock.
"Tinker Bell, it's getting dark outside, if you haven't notice." Margaret pointed up at what's left of the ceiling. Some rays of sunlight that slipped through the holes on the ceiling had vanished. "I have no energy to fight those pirates, and nothing will happen to Peter, Little, and the boys at night. We'll go rescue them in the morning."
Tink was already shaking her head and trying to silently convince Margaret to come help her by flying around the girl and urgently pulling her robe. This girl has no idea what's really at stakes here.
"Tinker Bell, what's wrong with you," Margaret asked, noticing the fairy's panicked look. She pulled away from Tink. "What's going on?"
Tink was pulling her hair in irritation. She was so close to just leaving Margaret, but Tink knew she needed her help. She debated heavily on whether to tell the girl about the Egg or not. Tink really didn't want to, but she may have no choice.
"Tinker Bell, they'll be fine! Calm down! Why are you so worried?"
Tink sighed. She had to tell her.
But how? How can she explain to someone who doesn't understand her. She'll have to do the next best thing: charades.
Tink signaled the girl to wait with her finger. Margaret fell silent and watched Tink closely.
Tink looked around to see what she could use. Her eyes landed on the dirty ground and got an idea. She flew down to the ground and drew a large, egg-like shape.
Margaret gave Tink a questionably glance. Again, Tink motioned her to wait. Then, Tink folded her arms, making them flap like they were wings, and clucked. She stuck her bottom toward the drawing of the egg and immediately pointed at the drawing to Margaret.
Margaret was still confused, but she did speak. "An egg?" Tink nodded. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Tink wrapped her finger around her own chin, thinking hard on what to do next. She snapped her fingers, another idea coming to her. She sprinkled a little of her pixie dust on the drawing and, again, pointed at the drawing to Margaret.
Margaret took a moment to figure out what Tink was trying to say. "You want to sprinkle pixie dust on an egg?"
Tink frowned, shaking her head. She tried drawing pixie dust around the egg.
"Wait, an egg has pixie dust?"
Tink nodded, relieved that they were getting somewhere.
"So?"
Tink groaned. Or not.
She curled her finger to make a hook again, then held her other hand toward the egg drawing and made a motion of grabbing it and holding it close to her chest.
It took Margaret another moment to guess again. "Hook . . . Has this egg?"
Tink nodded hard.
"Why would Hook want an egg like that?"
Tink felt like ripping her hair out twice. They were getting close, but Tink was running out of time.
Tink thought hard on how to act out 'wishes'. Having not found any idea, she gave up and just wrote the word "wish" on the ground. Then, she drew an arrow from the egg and pointed at the word "wish". This has to work; the girl couldn't be that dumb!
Margaret thought for a moment, looking at the drawing of an egg and the word "wish". Tink was getting closer to explosion if this girl doesn't figure it out soon.
Finally, Margaret's face lit up, as if everything was coming clear to her. "The egg grants wishes." Tink was taken aback at the girl's sudden and correct answer. She nodded, then moved her hands as if to say, keep going.
"And . . . If Hook has the egg . . . Then he could make any wish he wants."
So close. A little more, now.
"That means . . . He could wish for . . ." Margaret's eyes shot wide open in alarm. "Oh, no! We've got to go after that egg!"
Tink shot up in the air, exploding with joy.
"You're right, Tinker Bell!" Margaret finally said. "We need to go now!"
Tink could have cried in happiness, but there was no time. In a flash, she waved at Margaret to come on, and headed toward the exit, with Margaret right behind her.
*PPIII*
For Margaret, it wasn't much of a surprise that there was a newly repaired Jolly Roger out in the ocean (it would make sense that Hook would wish for his ship back), nor the fact that all the pirates left Fort Buccaneer to live on the ship. What was surprising was that there was a party going on at the ship.
Once Tinker Bell showed her the Jolly Roger from the Pirate Cove shores, they saw lights coming from the deck of the ship, as well as pirates partying. None of them knew what the pirates were celebrating. Perhaps the capture of Peter Pan?
Because of the party, it would be difficult to sneak aboard the ship. Not only that, but, according to Tinker Bell (and all of her strange, silly, and exploding motions), the ship could possibly attack them without the need for pirates (another wish courtesy of Captain Hook).
Now they had to think of another way to sneak aboard the ship without getting attacked. Tinker Bell said, or just mimed, that the only safe place was the Captain's Cabin, so they just needed to find a way to get behind the ship and get inside.
After a minute of thinking, the only option they could come up with was swimming to the ship. But Tinker Bell could not swim, and the pirates are sure to see her glowing body over the ocean.
As they tried to think of another option, Margaret spotted something. "Oh no!"
Just on the beach close by, there was an octopus tangled up in chains. The creature was very pale and was breathing hard. Margaret noticed that the octopus was far away from the waters and its legs desperately reached out to touch the water coming close to him, only for the water to pull back, leaving the poor creature even more depressed.
Margaret turned to Tinker Bell, who spotted the octopus and turned gloomy at the sight of the creature.
"Did the ship do that," Margaret asked the fairy.
Tinker Bell nodded.
Furious on what Hook and the ship had done, Margaret ran to the octopus, falling down on her knees beside it, and immediately started unwrapping the chains off of the creature.
The octopus looked up at her, its eyes half closed and still breathing hard and fast. Tinker Bell hovered close by, watching the event before her.
Finally, Margaret, pulled all the chains off, freeing the octopus. "There, that should do it. I hope it helps-"
Before she finished her sentence, the octopus quickly got up and jumped into the ocean, disappearing under the surface.
Margaret was motionless, looking out at the place where the octopus had vanished, still holding the chains in her hands. Tinker Bell also looked at that spot, but with a small smile.
Margaret sighed, looking down at the chains and gently putting them down. "Too bad. Maybe he could have helped us get onboard."
What Margaret had said brightened Tinker Bell's face. She flew to Margaret and pulled her rode, catching Margaret's attention.
"What is it, Tinker Bell," Margaret asked. Tinker Bell only responded by waving her hand for her to follow the fairy.
Margaret slowly got up, puzzled. "Where are we going?" Tinker Bell didn't answer; she instantly flew off. "Wait, Tinker Bell! Wait up!" She ran after the fairy, following her pixie dust trail down the beach.
Eventually, after following Tinker Bell a couple miles down the beach, Margaret came upon a small cave. Now Margaret was more confused then ever.
"Tinker Bell, why did you lead me to this cave? Tinker Bell?"
But Margaret could not find the little fairy. She searched around her until she spotted a dim light coming from inside the cave. Assuming that Tinker Bell was inside, she cautiously entered into the cave.
The cave inside was just as small, but the water inside was deep, reaching up to Margaret's waist. If it wasn't for Tinker Bell's glow, the cave would have been too dark for Margaret to see.
Against the back of the cave was a wide, smooth rock surface that was two or three inches above the water surface. On top of the rock surface was some sort of creature lying belly down on it. It had bandages wrapped around its belly. The creature had a long body and its head was out of sight. Tinker Bell was hovering closely to the creature.
Curiously, Margaret walked closer to see what kind of creature it was. Coming closer, she could see its scaly, green body, its claws for hands, and its long tail that fell down on the rock's edge, its tail end disappearing through the water surface.
Once Margaret came close to the creature, she could see that Tinker Bell was gently massaging its head, twinkling soft words to it, as if asking it to wake up.
Soon, the creature groaned and turned its head toward Margaret, its sleepy eyes half open.
Margaret noticed that the creature's head looked exactly like a crocodile's head.
A crocodile?!
Margaret shrieked, backing away from the crocodile. Hearing her scream, the crocodile let out a surprised groan and jumped in fear, unfortunately sliding off of the rock and into the water.
Tinker Bell avoided the water, blocking her face from even the tiniest water drop. She looked down at where the crocodile disappeared and shot Margaret an irritable look.
Margaret didn't see the fairy's glare, too busy finding a rock against the wall to climb on out of the water, hoping to stay far away from the animal.
Why in the world did Tinker Bell lead me to a crocodile? Margaret rolled her eyes mentally at that stupid question in her head. To have her be eaten alive, of course.
Margaret fearfully looked over the water surface, wondering where the crocodile was. Tinker Bell stayed hovering over the smoothed rock surface.
Margaret gasped and jumped when the crocodile resurfaced. Only, it was from the exact same place it disappeared, right next to the rock surface. Margaret stared frighteningly as the crocodile struggled to climb onto the rock surface. Once the crocodile was finally on, Tinker Bell moved closer and, again, massaged his head.
Margaret feared that the crocodile will soon eat the fairy, but it only closed his eyes and moaned, smiling in peace.
Now Margaret was more confused than before.
Thinking about it, Margaret realized that this was what Tinker Bell wanted to show her: a crocodile. Or, what looked like, a wounded crocodile. But why?
Hesitantly, Margaret softly asked the fairy, "You . . . You know him?"
Tinker Bell nodded. She flew up to Margaret and pulled her at the direction of the crocodile.
"This isn't another one of your attempts to kill me, right?"
Smirking, the fairy shook her head again.
Sighing, having nothing else left to lose, Margaret carefully climbed down into the water and allowed Tinker Bell to pull her to the rock surface, very close to the crocodile.
Once Margaret came closer, facing the crocodile's side, the crocodile spotted her and turned his head toward her. Margaret gulped nervously, trying to ignore the strong urge to run away.
However, to her surprise, the crocodile only smiled in greeting. Margaret had no idea what to think about this. She saw Tinker Bell above the crocodile pointing at her own smile, clearly asking Margaret to smile back, Margaret weakly attempted a crooked smile. Fortunately, the crocodile did not mind.
Margaret hoped that Tinker Bell doesn't ask her to pet him next.
She noticed that Tinker Bell took out Peter's dagger from Margaret's robe pocket, and, instead of taking it back from the fairy, Margaret watched as Tinker Bell used the dagger to gently cut the bandages off. Margaret carefully helped the fairy remove the bandages (not before taking back the dagger and placing it back in her pocket) and there, before Margaret, were large and deep scars, newly healed, down the crocodile's back and stomach.
It was a pretty good guess to who could have left those scars on this crocodile.
"Hook did this to him, didn't he?" Margaret looked up at Tinker Bell to see her nodding her head.
At the sound of Hook's name, the crocodile released a low and dangerous growl; so dangerous that Margaret took a careful step back.
Margaret frowned in puzzlement, her eyes turning to Tinker Bell.
As if reading her mind, Tinker Bell started pointing at the crocodile and positioned her arms with one pointing up and another pointing to her right. Then, making a sound of a bell ringing in beats, she moved her right arm up according to the beats she was making, until the right arm joined the other arm pointing up and made a ringing noise.
"A clock?" Tinker Bell nodded, smiling at Margaret for getting it right. "What does that have to do with the crocodile?" Tinker Bell slapped her face.
She flew over to the crocodile's mouth and knocked on it. The crocodile glanced at the fairy and the fairy raised her hands up. The crocodile opened his mouth and Tinker Bell flew inside.
"Tinker Bell!" Margaret exclaimed, but it was too late. The fairy was inside the crocodile.
However, the fairy seemed to still be alive, for Margaret could see Tinker Bell's golden glow beneath the scaly skin. Margaret wanted to rescue the fairy out of his stomach, but she could do nothing but watch the glow continue down the crocodile's stomach until it stopped.
The next thing Margaret knew, the crocodile's body started jumping in beats and the sound of a ticking clock was heard out of his body. Tinker Bell flew out of the crocodile's ticking body and held out her arms as if to present him to Margaret.
Hearing the ticking, Margaret suddenly remembered the day she came to Neverland and when she and Peter were messing with Captain Hook. The first thing Peter did was make those same ticking noises by the fort gates and, at the sound of a ticking clock, Hook became a complete scaredy cat. And then, it hit her.
She turned to the crocodile. "You're Hook's enemy! You're the one Hook's afraid of!"
The ticking crocodile weakly grinned. Tinker Bell let out a relieved sigh.
She flew back inside the crocodile. Then, the sound of ticking stopped and the crocodile's body remained still. Tinker Bell flew back out of his mouth, unharmed again.
"Well, Hook seemed brave enough to fight back," Margaret continued, staring at the crocodile's scars. "And left you wounded." She looked up at Tinker Bell. "So you brought him here and healed him. But why?"
Tinker Bell didn't answer. She only floated close to the crocodile's head and rubbed his head in a kind, friendly way. Margaret had a feeling that the fairy did it because life wouldn't be the same without the ticking crocodile around.
And that someone needed to scare the living daylights out of Hook.
"Okay, so," Margaret interrupted the silence between them. "What do we do now? How could he help us get onboard the ship?" She waved her hand at the crocodile as she spoke.
Tinker Bell gave Margaret a "trust me" look, then whispered something to the crocodile. The crocodile nodded and slowly made his way off the rock surface and into the water. Out of instinct, Margaret stepped away from him.
Then, when the top body of the crocodile appeared above the water surface, Tinker Bell flew down and sat on his back. She looked up at Margaret and patted behind her.
"You want me to ride on a crocodile," Margaret asked in shock. When Tinker Bell nodded, Margaret shook her head. "No, there is no way I'm riding on a man-eating crocodile all the way to the ship! No offense," Margaret added to the crocodile, who just raised his shoulders in indifferent.
Tinker Bell gave Margaret a pleading look and pointed at Peter's dagger in Margaret's pocket, its hilt peeking out.
Looking at the dagger, Margaret knew the fairy meant, "think of Peter". And she did. She had to find and retrieve the Egg so she could save Peter from Hook's use of It. And, when they get Peter back, Margaret will apologize for everything she had said to him and beg him for forgiveness; to make things right between them again.
Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure if she should leave Neverland. But the only thing that reminded her of London, her true home, was the weight of her doll in her other pocket.
She would have to think about that later. Right now, she has to help Peter, Little, and the Lost Boys, and if riding on the crocodile (however weird it was) is her only chance at that, then she would have to suck it in and get on his back.
So, taking a deep breath and gulping nervously, she slowly and cautiously moved her leg over his back and rested herself on the crocodile's back, her hand on the dagger hilt just in case.
Tinker Bell, giving her a proud smile, flew up to Margaret's shoulder and lay on it with both hands gripping tightly on Margaret's bed robe.
Margaret would have burst in happiness that Tinker Bell was this close to her for the first time, but there were other matters to worry about.
Once they settled in, the crocodile swam off across the surface, with Margaret holding on tight. He swam out of the cave, but stopped right in front of the cave, facing toward the Jolly Roger with his vengeful eyes narrowed at the ship. There were still signs that a party was going on at the ship.
Margaret wondered why he stopped, until she caught sight of Tinker Bell tightening her grip on the robe, inhaling and holding onto that breath. She then turned her head to Margaret, pointing down at the ocean and then up at her closed mouth with a look that said, "do as I do".
Keeping questions to herself, Margaret nodded at the fairy to let her know she understood her. She tightened her hold on the crocodile (being careful of the scars) and held her breath.
Before she knew it, the crocodile dived down underwater. Once they were below, the crocodile began swimming again, heading straight toward the bottom of the ship.
As he carried the ladies on his back, Margaret now fully realized what Tinker Bell's plan was all along. Since they couldn't sneak aboard with pirates on board (and who knows what the ship could do to intruders), the only other way to sneak aboard without being seen was by swimming underwater. And, since it was a long way from Pirate Cove to the ship, and Margaret couldn't hold her breath that long if she swam, Tinker Bell thought of the crocodile, who was a strong swimmer, and wanted revenge on Hook. So, it only made sense to have a crocodile take them all the way to the ship underwater before the girls needed air.
And, right when they do needed air, they have arrived.
The crocodile silently resurfaced, facing the back of the ship. Both Margaret and Tinker Bell gasped for air, while staying as quiet as they can.
Margaret looked up and figured that the windows wrapped around the top back of the ship led to the Captain's Cabin. Hook's cabin. And, judging by the dark room behind the windows, Hook was either at the party outside or was inside sleeping.
Margaret turned to her shoulder, where a drenched fairy carefully stood up and shook her body dry. She took her wings in both hands and squeezed her wings, getting as much water out of them as possible.
Once her wings were dry enough, Tinker Bell exchanged looks with Margaret, who pointed at the windows and delivered a questionable look. As if reading the girl's mind, Tinker Bell nodded and flew up to the windows, peering inside to see if the coast was clear.
While Margaret waited, she softly rubbed the crocodile's back in silent gratitude. The crocodile gave her a smile and she smiled back. She hoped that the crocodile does get his revenge with Hook someday.
Later, Tinker Bell flew back down and shook her head, indicating that no one was there.
Margaret looked up again, unsure how she could get up there. It didn't look like she could climb up there.
As if answering her silent question, Tinker Bell flew around Margaret, releasing some of her pixie dust onto her body so that she could fly.
However, Margaret gave the fairy a sad smile. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But I can't fly. I have no happy thoughts."
Tinker Bell looked surprised and thought for a short moment. She then placed her fingers on her head to make ear shapes and let out a twinkling bark.
Margaret immediately smiled, knowing that the fairy was trying to imitate Little. She giggled slightly, remembering her precious puppy and all the fun they've had together.
The bright light from Tinker Bell hovering in front of her face brought to her attention. The fairy was smiling widely and glanced down.
Margaret's eyes went down and shot wide open when she saw herself levitating high above the crocodile. Once she stopped up at the windows, Tinker Bell waved down at the crocodile and Margaret did the same. The crocodile waved back and disappeared into the ocean.
Now, it was only the two of them and they needed to get inside.
Tinker Bell pulled on the window door, but it was locked. Margaret tried opening it herself, but it was still locked. Tinker Bell spotted something at the corner of the window: a crack. The fairy banged on the crack and created a small hole on the window only small enough for Tinker Bell to go through.
Crawling through the hole without touching the sharp ends of glass, she flew to the lock of the window door and unlocked it. Margaret silently opened the window door and floated inside.
She observed the cabin. Though it was still dark, she could make out the desk, the bed, the piano, chairs, cabinets, candles, etc. But she could not see an egg anywhere. She wondered if she could turn on the lights, but she thought it was too risky. Beside, the only light source she had was Tinker Bell's glowing body.
Margaret glanced at Tinker Bell, who was searching the dark cabin for signs of the Egg. "Do you see it," she whispered. She thought that was a stupid question; no one, as far as she could tell, could see anything in the dark. But she felt like asking.
When Tinker Bell shook her head, Margaret whispered, "Then we better start looking."
Margaret and Tinker Bell began looking through everything as silent as they could. Margaret looked through the cabinets and under the furniture, while Tinker Bell looked through key holes and over at high places. They looked all over the cabin in silence, the only sound heard was the pirates partying outside. This made Margaret nervous, hoping that none of them, or worse, Hook, comes in unexpectedly.
Just as Margaret was checking under the bed, she heard ringing going off. Margaret looked up and saw Tinker Bell hovering over a drawer against the far wall, pointing furiously at a small chest on top of it. She had the look of pure excitement and urgency.
Margaret quickly, but quietly, got up and tip-toed to the drawers. From the light of the fairy, Margaret could make out the chest as an extravagant and proper chest with red skin and golden trims.
Tinker Bell went closer to the chest and pointed at its keyhole, which was painted in gold. Margaret took a closer look inside the keyhole. There, very faintly, she saw golden glitters.
That must be the Egg! This must be it!
Margaret and Tinker Bell exchanged excited looks and Margaret placed her hands on the chest, opening it.
Unfortunately, it won't open. After two more tries, she knew why.
"It's locked," Margaret told the fairy. Tinker Bell groaned, which sounded more low, twinkling bells. "Don't worry, Tinker Bell. All we need to do is to find the key. Did you see the key anywhere here?"
Tinker Bell thought for a moment, but shook her head. Margaret looked back at the cabin. Where could the key be?
All of a sudden, the party outside started to fade as the event came to an end. Margaret and Tinker Bell looked at each other in fear. That means Hook will be coming back.
And, sure enough, they heard footsteps.
"Hide," Margaret whispered. Tinker Bell zoomed around to find a hiding place, until she disappeared under the bed, out of sight. Margaret frantically looked everywhere for a hiding place her size. Her eyes settled on large curtains hanging by the windows.
As she quickly made her way toward it, she noticed the window still opened. Not wanting someone to see that and suspect that they snuck aboard, Margaret quickly and silently closed the window and hid herself underneath the curtains.
Just at that moment, the door opens and the light of the cabin flickered on.
Her heart raced as she stood very motionless. Her hands threatened to shiver, but she held it still. She listened to the footsteps as they made their way to her left. She heard a click and a slight creak. Then, she heard a bump. Was that the chest?
"Ah," Margaret's heart jumped at the sound of a pleased Captain Hook. "This is a fine day, my little egg."
The Egg! He must have taken the Egg out of the chest. Now, if only he could leave it out in the open and just go away.
That was too much to ask.
"You have helped me tremendously these last hours." Margaret heard more footsteps as Hook moved slowly around the cabin, as if savoring the moment. "You have restored my ship to its former glory. You've brought the downfall of my worst enemy. And, you've provided us the perfect way to capture and bring him and his men here to my ship."
Margaret suddenly caught Hook's words. What did he mean by 'brought the downfall of his worst enemy'?
"And you should have seen the look on Pan's face," Hook continued. She heard another creak, but there were no more footsteps. Carefully, Margaret peeked her one eye out to see Hook now sitting on an elegant chair, holding a sparkling egg in his hand.
That must be the Egg!
"He was completely miserable!" he went on. "Completely! He looked so broken up!" He laughed cruelly. Margaret's hands tightened on the curtain.
"It's interesting that a mere child, a little girl, would be the one to break him!"
Margaret's eyes popped open. She hurriedly pulled back under the curtain, holding back a gasp.
What?
"Yes," Hook said as if answering the Egg's silent question. "And it only took a few chosen words out of her mouth to destroy him, thanks to you granting my wish!"
Hook laughed again, only louder.
Margaret immediately thought back of when she shouting out hateful words to Peter. Where they the Egg's words and not hers? Did Hook make her say all that?
"Ah, but it worked perfectly," Hook continued, not even knowing the growing rage inside the young girl. "And, now, he is under my grasp and will soon die at my hands! All thanks to you and that silly, young, Miss Benson!"
Margaret could no longer hear Hook let out another cackle. Hate overfilled her mind and her body shook with fury, something she had not felt for as long as she could remembered.
Hook! It was always Hook! He wished for her to hurt Peter with those horrible words! He used her to hurt him! It was never her fault; it was Hook's!
Her mind was so consumed with hate for Hook that she didn't realize that she was shaking, causing the curtain she was hiding to shake as well.
Hook fell silent and, the next thing she knew, the curtain she was under pulled away, revealing a curious and suspicious Hook himself.
Before Hook could react, Margaret punched him.
She punched him so hard, Hook flew back and landed hard on his collapsed desk, dropping the Egg out of his hand.
Not allowing Hook a chance to get up, Margaret jumped on him and started beating him as hard as she could.
"HOW DARE YOU," Margaret shouted at him while punching him. "YOU EVIL, COLD-HEARTED, DESPICABLE, LOATHSOME, SON OF A-"
Margaret screamed suddenly. Pain shot down her forearm. She stopped, looking down at it and froze.
Right on her forearm was a long, fresh scar, blood slowly streaming out of her scar. A hook hovered close to the forearm, its sharp tip covered with blood.
Hook had wounded her. Again.
Margaret quickly covered her wounded forearm, but, without warning, Hook angrily grabbed her and harshly threw her off of him. She crashed into a dresser next to the bed and fell down hard on the floor, her body screaming in pain.
Tinker Bell appeared from under the bed covers, giving Margaret a look that clearly said, "You stupid, stupid girl!"
Yeah, jumping out of hiding and beating up a pirate captain wasn't such a good idea.
Hook whimpered as he felt his beaten up face. His heated eyes narrowed on a frightened Margaret.
"YOU WRETCHED, LITTLE BRAT!" He bellowed at her. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY FACE!"
"You deserve it," Margaret finally retorted. "You forced me to say all those hateful words to Peter! You've used me to hurt him!"
"Yes, it's not like you were going to hurt Pan without my help anyway," Hook responded offhand.
Fiery rage filled Margaret's body and mind with anger and hurt (at knowing that Hook was right; she was going to hurt Peter by leaving him).
Screaming, Margaret pulled out Peter's dagger and ran after him.
Margaret charged after Hook, pointing the dagger at him. However, with the speed of light, Hook took out his own sword and blocked her, raising the dagger and her arms holding it up above her head.
Both opponents stared furiously at each other.
"You think you can defeat me," Hook asked her with anger and cockiness. "I am Captain Hook, the greatest swordsman of the Seven Seas!"
"Who can't seem to defeat a boy almost half his size," Margaret finished with a smirk.
Growling, Hook pulled his sword back and attempted to slice her in half. Thankfully, Margaret quickly moved back, avoiding the blade of Hook's sword.
Both their blades crashed together with a clang and the fight between Margaret and Captain Hook has begun.
Unfortunately, since Margaret had only one lesson on sword fighting (especially since she's never used Peter's dagger before, and she was no Peter Pan) and Hook having years of experience in sword fighting, it was very clear that Hook had the upper hand and Margaret was barely holding herself up. And, with Hook dangerously angry, his sword fighting was much more intense and violent than what Margaret had seen before.
Again, jumping out of hiding and beating up a pirate captain was a horrible mistake.
Meanwhile, Tinker Bell spotted the Egg from under the covers. The Egg lay on the floor with no one noticing It. Glancing at the distracted Hook, Tinker Bell quickly and silently flew low toward the Egg. She grabbed hold of the Egg and pulled It up above the floor.
Only to be pulled back down by Its heavy weight.
Tinker Bell looked down at the Egg, bewildered. How can a magical egg like this weigh heavier than a regular egg?
Whatever the reason, the weight will slow Tinker Bell's flight. It may be impossible for her to escape with the Egg.
But she had to take that chance.
With all of her strength, she pulled the Egg up against her body and rapidly flapped her wings, slowly hovering up above the floor.
She flew her way toward the window, trying to stay as low and unseen as possible.
But it was useless anyway.
Her glowing body was what caught Hook's eyes.
"MY EGG!" Hook shouted. Immediately, he pushed Margaret out of his way, causing her to trip on her nightdress and collapse on a table, both crashing down to the floor. Without noticing, her doll slipped halfway out of her pocket.
Hook ran to the window, blocking Tinker Bell from her only escape. Tinker Bell gasped at the situation, clutching onto the Egg tighter.
"GIVE ME BACK MY EGG!" Hook shouted, reaching out his hand to catch her and the Egg. She moved away from his reach and flew away from him. But the Egg was still very heavy and slowed her down greatly.
Before she could find a place to escape, Hook's hand suddenly and finally caught her and the Egg.
"Aha, gotcha!" Hook exclaimed.
But Tinker Bell wasn't giving up so easily. Although she was trapped in Hook's grasp, she fought back by hitting, scratching, even biting his large finger.
Hook winced at the pain of his finger, but refused to let the fairy go with the Egg. Instead, he used his hook to stab through Tinker Bell's wings and struck his hook at a wall, trapping Tinker Bell's wings from freeing themselves. Tinker Bell's wings went still, afraid to damage themselves if moved. He used his other hand to steal back the Egg from Tinker Bell, who shouted jingling bells at him, no doubt demanding to have the Egg back along with some cursing.
Margaret sat up from the floor and gasped in horror when she saw Hook holding the Egg in his hand and his hook stabbed through Tinker Bell's wings, preventing her to move at all. She attempted to get up and attack Hook and save Tinker Bell and the Egg. Unfortunately, she was pulled back down by the edge of her nightdress. She looked down to see the end of her nightdress stuck under the table. Groaning, she pushed the table to move (which was, sadly, stuck) and tugged on her dress, trying to escape from the table's hold on her dress.
While doing this, Margaret looked up at Hook and exclaimed, "Let her go, Hook!"
"No," Hook answered with strange determination. His eyes never left the cautiously struggling fairy. "I'm tired of this fairy always getting in my way of victory!"
Margaret wasn't sure what he meant by that, but stayed silent as Hook continued to talk.
"Well, no more! I'm so close to victory now, and I don't want you or any other fairies out there to stop me!"
Tightening his grip on the Egg, Hook said with a loud and clear voice, "I wish Tinker Bell, and all the fairies like her, are dead forever!"
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Margaret shouted, but it was too late.
In an instant, all the pixie dusts, every last one of them, flew out of a horrified Tinker Bell, turning her body into a darker color. All the pixie dusts fade into nothing and, with that, Tinker Bell's eyes rolled until they closed, her body fell limp, and became very, very still. The only thing holding her up now was the hook that was still stabbed through her wings.
The famous Tinker Bell was now dead.
Margaret couldn't speak or move, her eyes on the dead fairy. Tears fell down her cheeks. "No," she whispered.
She couldn't believe it. Her favorite character in the entire world (next to Peter Pan) was dead. Right before her eyes. This couldn't be happening. Sure they weren't really friends, but Margaret always considered Tinker Bell as her dear friend, despite the fairy attempting to kill her out of jealousy.
Margaret bowed her head with wet eyes shut tight, feeling like the fairy's death was all her fault. If she hadn't lost control of her anger and attacked Hook, Tinker Bell would still be alive.
Hook.
Margaret slowly looked up to see Hook with a wicked and victorious smile, dangling Tinker Bell's body with his hook. Then, he turned his hook over and the fairy's wings slowly slide down and out of his hook. With the hook no longer holding it up, the tiny body fell and landed on the floor like a useless thing.
All the while, Hook gazed at it with that same wicked and victorious grin.
Rage from before filled Margaret up again, only this time, with a new mission: to keep that Egg and Tinker Bell's body far, far away from Hook.
Tearing her dress out from the table's hold with strength from nowhere, she quietly got up, placed the dagger back in her pocket, and snuck up to Hook, who never noticed her.
Again, without knowing, her action caused her doll to fall out, now lying on the floor alone.
Once Margaret was close to him, she caught Hook off guard by giving him a big punch on the jaw.
With Hook distracted from the punch, Margaret quickly took the Egg out of his hand, pushed Hook away as he had pushed her before, and then retrieved Tinker Bell's body with her other hand.
With both hands full, she ran to the window and hurriedly opened it. She looked down outside, hoping to see the crocodile waiting for her down below. But, to her dismay, the crocodile was still gone. She had forgotten that the crocodile had left them before.
And since Tinker Bell can no longer give her pixie dust, she could not fly out of the window as well.
Now how does she escape?
"Cap'n!" a voice suddenly spoke. Margaret turned around to see Mr. Smee, who had just entered, carrying a tray of, what looked like, leftovers from their party. "I've brought you a little midnight snack in case you . . ."
He finally noticed the mess in the cabin, along with a wounded girl with the Egg on one hand and a fairy's body on the other, and a bruised face Hook recovering from a punch.
"Oh, dear. I've missed something terrible, didn't I?" Mr. Smee piped.
"SMEE" Hook shouted with rage. "GET THE GIRL!"
"Oh, uh, aye, aye, cap'n," Mr. Smee saluted, throwing the tray away and walked toward Margaret, his arms out to catch her.
Margaret was running out of option. What could she do?
Then, without thinking, Margaret threw herself out the window.
"Noooooooo," Margaret heard Hook shouting as she fell.
Thinking quickly, she whispered to the Egg, "I wish I could breath underwater."
As soon as she splashed through the surface and fell deep underwater, she felt her neck sliced and, suddenly, she could breath through her neck.
Not having time to be in awe of breathing underwater and having her wish come true, she swam as fast as she could, far, far away from the ship and closer, closer to the island of Neverland.
But Margaret felt no hope left in her heart. Peter Pan, Little, and the Lost Boys were still the pirates' prisoners and Hook still had his ship. The only good news was that Hook no longer has the Egg anymore. But now, Margaret was wounded, she could tell, from an empty pocket, that she had accidentally left her doll behind again, and, worst of all, Tinker Bell was dead.
With a heavy heart, she clutched the Egg close to her, the only, single hope she has left now.