The ending of this chapter gets dark, just a warning. But it'll get better I promise:)
We made our way to Tortuga and after a days journey we were just off her shore. The sun had disappeared upon the horizon the night was on. The island was surrounded by pirate ships. The town was bright with the night life, gun shots, laughing, and shouting. It was chaos and in any other circumstance I would have rather enjoyed the scene but I knew someone who wouldn't which worried me.
I disappeared off the ship and on the shores of Tortuga. This place was vile, drunks running around everywhere, men taking advantage and the women giving to easily. This was the part of my world that had no shame. I dodged my way through the crowd and turned away several women who approached me. It dawned on me that no one feared me here. Usually when I entered a town everyone ran to their homes. Here, no one acknowledged me as being any different. I didn't quiet know how to feel about this.
I tried to talk to some of the men around and see if any of them had any idea where Hook might be. Everyone was to belligerent to give me a logical answer. So I decided to go down by the docks instead. I searched for the Jolly Roger, it would be a start although I had little hope that Belle would be there. I suspected that she would be on this wretched island with her kidnappers.
The docks were deserted, which made it easier to concentrate. Then I felt it, the same warm tingling in my heart. My magic was picking up on her, Belle was near. The excitement coursed through my veins and I began to run farther down the dock. The warmer my heart got the closer I knew I was, finally I saw the large yellow ship flying the pirate flag. I could feel it she was near, my heart began to soar but there was something off about it this time. The warmth, I felt it but it was weak.
"Back for a rematch crocodile?" a voice came as I made my way up onto the ship.
"I'm not hear for match dearie, I'm just going to kill you instead," I answered truthfully with a smile. The wicked idea of watching the life drain from Hooks' eyes filled me with as much joy as the thought of seeing Belle again.
"Well mate, I cant help but wonder, why are you here?" Hook asked taking a rather large sip of Rum from the bottle, "a coward never seeks out a fight."
"Let's just say I finally found something worth fighting for," I rolled my eyes at him.
"Your son is gone you know, he despises you. He also thinks you're a coward," Hook laughed.
I flicked my wrist and restrained his throat, "don't you dare say a word about Baelfire."
"Then what is it mate?" Hook gasped out, "here to finish me off for stealing your little wifey?"
"No, I'm here for another," I said coldly trying to be prepared for anything, "Belle."
"Who?" Hook questioned.
This just made me want to slaughter him all the more, "Belle! Her name is Belle! You pillaged a city and her father offered her to you in exchange for you to leave."
"Oh her? Pretty little thing she is... what is she to you?" Hook asked stepping closer.
"She belongs to me, my housekeeper. I want her back," I stated.
"So bold for a coward to demand a pirate, you love her don't you?" Hook asked almost not believing him. Hook laughed, "you cannot be serious. A girl like her with a crocodile like you?"
I was getting quiet irritated of people saying that to me...
Hook had a wicked gleam in his eye, like a snakes.
"Very well crocodile, you've proven yourself to be alot braver than I thought," Hook began and raised his good hand and pointed to the captains cabin, "shes in there. Go get her."
I knew there was something off. Something off about Hook but also Belle, when I looked towards the cabin it warmed my heart but not the same way it used to. Something was very wrong.
I started to make my way to the cabin and I felt Hook dig his hook into my back near my heart. I won't lie, it hurt but it still wasn't the worst paint I've felt.
"You never learn do you?" I laughed at his stupidity. I could not be killed by a simple stab to the heart. I wrenched the hook out of my back and spun around throwing a fire ball at him.
Hook ducked out of the way and pulled out his sword and swung at me. I blocked easy enough pushed him away, he fell back and hit his head. It didn't knock him out but he needed a moment to let the stars fade from his view.
I took this moment to rush to the cabin to get Belle, if I could grab her I could disappear to another part of the island with her. I was almost to the door but my body stopped. I could feel my muscles failing me, they were starting to go numb. I stumbled and feel to my knees. It felt as if every part of me was being stabbed with icy needles getting hotter and hotter. My head was getting lighter too and my vision blurred. The hook, he must have put poison on it.
I heard Hook laugh and make his way over to me, "you know, there's a witch here in Tortuga that specializes in poisons. I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a few handy. Don't worry it wont kill you. This poison imparticular works slowly but decays you quickly. By the morning you will have lost your vision, your hearing and you will be paralyzed. It will be like death expect you are still there day in and day out but unable to react."
No, this wasn't going to be how it ended for me. I had to see her, even if that meant that she would be the last thing I ever see. I could feel the poison seeping through my body. I could still move but every move made the needles more intense. It went from needles to knifes. My vision got blurry but would come back into focus, same with my hearing. But I didn't care. I rose to my feet with much pain and slowly made my way to the cabin door.
"I love moments like this, where I see my enemies, desperate and in excruciating pain," Hook said sinking in everything.
The funny thing about me was that I had a high tolerance of pain, sure this was no simple arrow to the chest but to see my beautiful Belle one last time I wold endure anything. I eventually made it to the door, I placed my burning finger tips onto the knob and turned it.
The even more funny thing, was that I prepared for the idea that Belle would be dead. The idea would never be easy to swallow but once I opened that door and saw the state she was in I realized I would rather have her be dead that see what she had been suffering.
She was there, I pictured this moment a thousand times in my head over the last month of searching for her. I figured that my heart would soar and I would run to her. Instead my heart sank lower than the deepest circle of Hell.
Belle was either sleeping or unconscious. She had her wrists and ankles shackled to Hooks bed with nothing on. She had cuts all over her body, I could tell they were from the hook. She was also covered in dried blood stains on her more intimate part which was also uncovered.
He touched her. Hook defiled her. He took away her innocence it the most violent way. Despite that me hearing was beginning to fail I could hear her blood curdling screams in my ears and had mental images of Hook and her flashing through my head.
In the same moment that Mila admitted to never loving me, Gaston insulted me and Belle and this moment now...the calmness came. All the poison that was radiating through my body faded... it either faded or I no longer felt it. I didn't feel anything anymore, I was cold and more numb than I had ever been before. I had become darker and more of a cold hearted killer than I ever have in that moment. In that moment I didn't see anything but Hook.
I cant exactically remember what happened the moment after that, I remember using my magic to unshackle Belle and closed the door to the cabin. Everything after that was a blur. I remember seeing red. Red everywhere, on my hands, on the deck of the ship, even in the water around the ship floating gently. I remember hearing several loud cracking noises, like bone snapping.
Eventually I came out of my rageous state, and the pain of the poison started to invade my body once more. I looked around for Hook making sure it wasn't all just a hallucination from the poison. It wasn't. I severed his body parts hung them from the mast. I saw my name written in Hooks blood across the not so perfect sails and his head... was sitting stabbed through his cutlass hanging from a rope nearby.
I laughed and laughed and laughed.
I closed my eyes as they got more and more blurry.
Belle, my sweet, perfect Belle. I remember the first time I saw her. I was passing through her city, I saw her through the window of the library, she was younger then, no older that 13. She was intriguing, the way she sat, the way her eyes darted back and forth stuffing her head with the book in her hands. I cant say why but I was now fascinated by this creature. It wasn't love, not at the time, it was just a fascination. Maybe I could sense the destiny to come. I often made my way to the town a few times to see her again. To study her as she grew from an awkward teenager into a young woman. It must have been fate, because when the ogres invaded her town, her father and several others summoned me to help them.
Even when I made that first deal with her and her father, it wasn't love. Not yet...just a fascination...
I could hear muffled sounds somewhere far off in the back, it sounded like Belle. When I came to realize it was her voice I tried to refocus. My eyesight was getting more blurry and darker. I could still slightly hear her, not only that I could feel her. Not her touch but her warmth. It was weak she was in pain and was kneeling down to me on this pirate ship.
"Rumple! Rumple can you..." she was trying to tell me but I couldn't hear her.
"Belle, I'm so sorry. For everything, I love you more than you know," I managed to speak out.
"No Rumpled don't... I can... The town witch...be back," Belle tried to say but I missed most of it my hearing was starting to give away.
Eventually it was gone, and my eye sight just went black so I closed them. I got to tell Belle that I loved her and that I was sorry...so I smiled.