A/N: Again, thank you very much for all the reviews and apologies for not getting this up sooner. I have the next chapter already in production so it should be done soon, I promise! A little warning, this chapter does contain slight violence and the suggestion of adult themes, so be aware. Also, I would like to give big shout outs to the previous chapter's reviewers: Goblinesque, Mrshcullark08 and Scarlett Siren. Thanks! P.S. Goblinesque: Just caught up with Once Upon a Time, and Hook is brilliant! Isaacs is still my favourite though x)
Chapter 5
Sympathy is a strange feeling: even the darkest of souls can be consumed with it from time to time. As Hook watched the sobbing girl curled before him he knew that he had been cursed with it, and as much as he tried, he was unable to remove it's gentility from his mind.
She had been crying for quite some time. How long he wasn't quite sure, as no clocks adorned the cabin walls, but it had indeed been long enough for Smee to prepare a luxurious meal for them both, which was now growing cold at the table.
"You must eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Eat!"
Wendy looked up in shock as Hook cursed quietly to himself, not meaning to get so perturbed by her stubbornness. However, the tone had been set and it was with a sense of apprehension that Wendy stood, rubbing her reddened eyes free of tears, and made her way over to the table. Sitting opposite her, Hook locked his gaze onto her, watching as she picked at a piece of chicken and ate an amount that he could only describe as 'fit enough for an ant'. He sighed, catching Wendy's questioning gaze as she cast her eyes upon him.
"You are testing my patience Wendy."
It was more than a warning: it was a threat, but Wendy didn't care. Resting her fork on her plate, she turned away, defiance in her eyes. Swifter than a flash Hook had snapped, his moustache twitching furiously as he lurched towards her, his Hook pressing hard against her windpipe.
"I am not a patient man," he hissed, "and in light of today's events I…"
"I'm sorry."
It was only a whisper but the words hit Hook like a bullet. For a long moment he was unable to reply and it was only as Wendy began to shift uncomfortably in her seat that the pang of guilt that had engulfed him suddenly burst into flames, burning his insides.
"Get out."
"Pardon?"
"OUT!"
Stumbling as she stood and hastily made her exit, Wendy cast one last glance towards Hook, who promptly growled at her before smashing his hook into the table. She slammed the cabin door behind her, flying out onto the deck and crashing straight into a bewildered Smee, who had been hovering a few feet from the door in an attempt to listen in on their conversation.
"Are you alright Miss?"
"I'm perfectly fine thank you Smee."
Leaning on the rails that surveyed the entirety of the main deck and gazing up into the starlit sky, Wendy forced back the tears that were once more threatening to fall from her eyes.
"You know Miss, the Cap'n's not all bad. He's quite a pleasant guy once you get to know him."
Wendy rolled her eyes, turning to Smee. She sighed, knowing he had honourable intentions, however that didn't mean his words were the truth.
"That may well be so, but the person sitting in there right now is nothing more than a monster. He needs help."
"Perhaps he just needs a Wendy."
Stepping away in shock, Wendy shook her head. "What?"
When Smee didn't reply she turned away, a plan unfurling before her eyes.
"Smee, I'm going home."
Smee stuttered, quite taken aback by this sudden revelation. "Pardon, Miss?"
"I said I'm going home. Tonight."
Ignoring Smee's protests, Wendy stood, making her way down onto the deck. Striding over to the longboat she began to clamber into it.
"Where do you think you're going?"
An arm stretched out, grabbing Wendy's hand and pulling her towards him. She gasped, coming face to face with the very pirate who had been sent to retrieve her earlier.
"Let go of me!"
His mouth twisted into a devilish smirk, one that Wendy decided she had seen way too much of since her return to Neverland. Instead of obeying her, the pirate pulled her closer, enough so that she was able to smell the rum on his breath.
"You're a pretty one, aren't you? It's a shame you belong to the Captain."
In a moment of stubbornness, Wendy snapped, not comprehending the result of her words fast enough.
"I do not belong to anyone!"
The smirk widened into a full blown grin.
"Well, if that's so."
The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, having been thrown from the pirate's grip, the sleeve of her nightdress ripping in the process. He stalked towards her, laughing as she attempted to crawl away, only to find herself backed up against the ship's rail. Fear flooded Wendy's senses as the pirate approached, slowly stalking towards her. Looking around, she was astounded that no one had heard the commotion, or perhaps they had but were unwilling to come to her aid. A slight glimpse upwards confirmed her prediction, as she realised that the pirate manning the Crow's Nest had diverted his gaze downwards: positioning himself perfectly as to watch the unfurling scene.
Shaking as he towered over, all thoughts of protection and manly decency flew from Wendy's mind. Part of her had forgotten that she was in an entirely different world now: the standards and rules of middle class London had no place here, and for the first time in her life, Wendy wished that she had never been brought to Neverland by Peter, for since her return she had been constantly comparing the two worlds, and home had always seemed like a much duller comparison to the place where she had realised her childhood fantasies. Of course, now she was not so sure, and home was starting to look a lot more appealing, even with all its rules and restrictions.
"You almost cost me my position earlier and, as a matter of fact, my life too."
The pirate snarled, lurching forward towards her, his hand wrapping itself in Wendy's rather unkempt hair. She opened her mouth to reply but he gave her little chance, pulling her head sharply towards him, a cry escaping her lips instead.
"Luckily the Captain was rather distracted by Pan's arrival. However, I still think you owe me a little apology. Don't you, poppet?"
Wendy cringed at his pet name, but gave no verbal resistance, not wanting to test her attacker's patience. At least with Hook she had known that his intentions did not involve her death. However, as her eyes flickered to the pirate, who was now glaring down over her, his gaze inappropriately surveying her body through her nightdress, she couldn't be so sure what his final intentions were, although she had a rough idea, and just the thought of it made her feel sick.
"I'm sorry. I…"
Stopping as her head came into contact with the railing behind her, Wendy winced in pain, her eyes taking a moment to refocus as they filled with tears. He was now so close to her face that she could see every detail of his, from the haphazard stubble that lined his jaw to the slight crook in his nose, the obvious result of a tavern brawl. As he leant past her to whisper into her ear, Wendy attempted to control her breathing, not wanting to expose her fear. Failing miserably, the pirate chuckled, his warm, alcohol laced breath, tickling her neck.
"That's not what I meant."
Her skin turned as pale as snow as his lips came crushing down on hers. Trying to resist, but with little success, Wendy screamed as he bit her lip, forcing his tongue into her mouth and beginning to explore it as if only had seconds to live. Gasping as he pulled away, the aggravating smirk returned to the pirate's lips, his hand unravelling itself from Wendy's hair and beginning to pull at the top of her nightdress. In a split second Wendy had slapped him away and launched herself up onto the railing, almost falling back into the longboat she was able to land a well-timed kick upon her assailant, sending him sprawling backwards at the sudden impact. However, it wasn't enough to deter him and quick as a flash he had returned, pulling her back onto the deck and pinning her down with his body.
"How exciting! I do like my toys feisty. It makes killing them so much more pleasurable."
It was at this moment that Wendy gave up hope. No one was coming to rescue her, not this time. She was alone, she was scared and, if the vulture on top of her carried out his evil intentions, she would more than welcome the painful death that followed. After today's earlier events, she had no more tears to cry, and it was a defeated sigh that Wendy closed her eyes and prepared for her life to end.
Unbeknownst to both Wendy and her assailant, their commotion had not gone completely unnoticed. Ignoring both the Lookout, who had currently abandoned his post to get a better view of the assault, and the Boatswain, who, after a hard days fighting and manning the crew, had fallen into a deep slumber under the mast, there was one other pirate who had witnessed the disorder unfurling and, as a lover of Wendy's stories, Smee had immediately gone to tell the Captain of the situation, knowing that he would be the only one who could put an end to it. You see, although it can be argued that Hook himself varies between good and evil, depending, most prominently, on his mood at the time, Smee, in his own words, was 'not all bad'. True, he could plunder and kill just as well as the next pirate, however, upon meeting Wendy, there arose some sort of fatherly instinct within Smee; one that he welcomed with open arms. Although he could not recall a moment of his life before his arrival to Neverland, Wendy made him feel an inner calm and peacefulness that he had thought was impossible for a man such as himself and, as such, he was unable to resist his urge to protect her. Even if, on the surface, it was just in the hope of being able to hear another of her entrancing stories.
And so, as expected, Smee hurtled into Hook's cabin. Flustered, he hurried over to Hook, who was still sitting at the table, his hook still buried into it and his head so low that it appeared he was contemplating the same thing.
"Cap'n! Cap'n, come quick!"
Without moving a single inch, Hook sighed.
"What is it Smee?"
"It's the girl! She was going to leave and as she was getting into the longboat…"
This time, Hook lifted his head, glancing curiously towards his blubbering First Mate.
"Wendy? Wendy was leaving?"
More than a little frustrated, Smee groaned. "No, Princess Tiger Lily… Of course Wendy! But just as she was preparing to go…"
"Let her drown. I don't care."
He didn't mean it and Smee knew just as much, but the words still hit him hard and it was with both anger and the need to stop Hook from interrupting that Smee began to blurt out the remainder of his story.
"No Cap'n! As she was preparing to leave, one of the men approached her and believing her to be out of your protection…"
Yet again Hook interrupted, thankfully, this time with a loud crash as he leapt out of his chair and yanked his hook out of the table, splinters flying everywhere. Striding out of the cabin, Smee watched after him, sighing in a mix of frustration and relief, before hurrying out onto the deck.
By this point Wendy and the pirate had just fallen into the position we so distastefully left them at earlier. A loud ripping sound filled the night air as the pirate tore at Wendy's nightdress, a cold breeze assaulting her legs as he tore the material past her knees and up towards her thighs. There was little she could do as she felt his hand caress her calf, the other pinning her deftly to the floor by her neck, and begin to inch its way upwards, ignoring her pleas and whimpers.
Suddenly, a loud 'bang' burst towards them, hitting the pirate squarely in the back. Two more followed, prompting Wendy to exhale a deathly scream as the noise intensified and the man before her froze in his advances, his eyes glazing over before collapsing right on top of her hyperventilating body. Hook sprinted towards her, Smee close on his heels, and pulled the dead pirate off of her, throwing him over the ship's railing in one swift movement. Crouching down, he was given little time to prepare himself as Wendy sat up and subsequently collapsed into him, her body quivering as her breath shuddered and pitched, her heart beating so hard she could have sworn she was suffering some sort of attack. With only a slight hesitation, Hook relaxed, wrapping his arms around the woman before him, holding her cold frame tight against his warm body. Resting his chin gently on her tangled hair, Hook cast his gaze upwards towards the sky, blinking back the red that had begun to engulf his pupils as a new sensation began to take over, one he had never felt before: guilt.
They remained there for quite some time, Wendy consumed with fear and Hook, this new, strange feeling. Indeed, the scene was so heart rendering, that any spectator upon it would have thought that the two of them had simply frozen in time, not wishing to ever continue from this moment of ultimate tranquillity. It was only as a chill began to bite upon Wendy's exposed skin that Hook rose to his feet, taking her in his arms and began to carry her quivering body towards his cabin, Smee once more following close behind, but not before kicking the Boatswain awake and instructing him to re-join the rest of the slumbering crew down in the brig. The Lookout returned to his post, the only true witness to the night's events, and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that if he had been spotted he too would now be decorating the seabed. It was with that, that peace fell once more upon the Jolly Roger, the waves rocking its inhabitants gently to and fro as the night sky twinkled down upon its form.
However, elsewhere the scene wasn't so peaceful. Across the skies and far, far away in a city where beggars and prostitutes lined the dark streets in hope of business, and the idea of peace was far from many imaginations, a young boy, who up until now had been tossing and turning in his sleep, vaulted upwards, a scream bursting from his lips.
"Michael, what's wrong?"
John awoke first, recognising his brother's cries instantly as he had heard them many times when the two were younger and Michael had been a heavy sufferer of night terrors. Nana was next to rise, barking once, softly, to calm the youngest child, before approaching his bed and, standing up onto her hind legs, nuzzling her warm face into the child's outstretched arms. Slowly, the other boys began to wake, some from Michael's shout and others from the growing whispers that began to echo through the room. Nibs was the last to open his eyes, although some could argue that he had never been asleep in the first place, and as usual, he remained as silent and as passive as ever as he turned his gaze towards Michael, who had now calmed down and was sitting up, wide awake and alert, one hand still resting on Nana's fur for comfort.
"What is it Michael? What did you dream about?" Tootles asked, anticipation, and the slightest hint of worry, lacing his tone.
Silence filled the nursery as Michael looked around at the other boys, every pair of eyes focused directly on him, enthusiastically awaiting his answer. Another minute passed before he was finally able to summon the words to his mouth, the vision still bright in his mind.
"It's… It's Wendy. I know where she is."
The boys gasped.
"Where?"
Before Michael was able to reply, another voice filled the room and quick as a flash all heads had turned towards Nibs.
"She's in Neverland. Hook has her."