NEW CHAPTER: Blood in the Water - A Captain Swan Tale
Chapter 5
Captain Killian “Hook” Jones refused a deal almost two decades ago, but time is creeping forward and he needs off the accursed island of Neverland. So when Pan comes to him with a chance to leave, he takes it; thinking he can outwit the demon child and stay one step ahead of the deal he had made.
But deals do not work like that…
A What-If look at what might have been.
A feral post (unbeta'd) because I kind of forgot I was suppose to write this (oops) and I found it last night and just needed to share.
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The night had dragged on as Killian paced the length of sidewalk underneath the street lights, casting in and out of shadow as he waited impatiently for the headlights of a car which belonged to a stranger to pull down the small, quiet street.
His footfall was silent against the pavement- you walk like a cat, Papa- while the slight treble of his hand as he kept hold of his mobile phone betrayed his nerves. The rumble of an engine disturbed the silence, his skin prickled with sweat as he watched through the dark, two pin pricks of lights turned onto his street.
Killian’s heart caught in his throat.
They were home.
They were safe.
They were both grounded for at least twenty years.
A yellow Volkswagen Beetle pulled up at the curb, lights shutting off with the engine, the movement of three people inside causing his blood to rush erratically through his veins.
The door on the driver side opened and a woman slid out, glowing golden hair wrapped in a leather jacket- Killian Jones, I imagine?- in the pool of of the overhead street light.
“Emma Swan, thank you for bringing my children home,” his voice sounded rough even to his ears, and her gaze softened incrementally as a smirk pulled at the side of her mouth.
“Well, they’re shrewd negotiators, I’ll give them that.”
Killian narrowed his eyes, knowing far too well the levels of mischief his two children could get into, and stepped to the side of the car, hand on the handle, stooping as the door opened, reviewing the nervous, still smiling faces of Henry and Alice Jones.
“Out,” his voice was quiet, a subtle shake of adrenaline which had been roaring through his blood for the better half of the day, “now.”
They scrambled, climbing over each other to escape the confines of the car that wasn’t his, and stood, wide eyes looking up at him- are we in trouble, Papa?- as the worry and fear which choked his heart since finding their rooms deserted had finally started to recede.
Rating: Mature to start with, some later chapters will probably end up being explicit.
Warnings: Abduction, Ransom, Mortal Peril.
Summary: One night, in every corner of every magical realm, every boy aged nine to seventeen disappeared. Not one remained. That was when Pan made himself known to the realms, and from that night the eve of every boy’s ninth birthday meant their disappearance, until finally the realms demanded to know what he wanted to return their children to them. Pan told them he wanted the saviour, and while most realms were confused Snow and David knew what he meant and confessed the role their daughter was supposed to have played in breaking the curse. The realms voted and agreed to Pan’s terms, and Pan stopped taking the realms sons, holding the children he’d currently taken as insurance of their compliance. For the next fifteen years Emma’s birthday wasn’t a celebration, it was another tick on the countdown clock to the end of her freedom. Not that she was ever free in the first place, but to save every male child in the United Realms including her younger brother, Leo… She understood that she had a job to do, and she would do her duty with her head held high. What she didn’t count on was the sparkling blue eyes of the man Pan sends to escort her to Neverland in time for her twenty-first birthday.
Notes: Thanks to the @neverlandnewyear mods for running this event again, and to @kmomof4 for the amazing work you have done bringing this fic up to scratch. I’m not sorry for last weeks cliffhanger at all, but I’d love to hear what you this about this weeks chapter! Link to AO3 is down there somewhere!
As always, let me know if you’d like me to add you to my taglist for future fics :)
Read on AO3: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four
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It was late, and the cabin was dark.
The door crept slowly open with barely a squeak of its well oiled hinges.
The footsteps on the wooden floorboards were barely audible over the swell of the sea around the hull.
The figure navigated around the sloppily discarded clothing and towards the bed where the blankets lay over a sleeping body.
Slowly, quietly, the figure drew a knife from the inside of its cloak, and surveyed the sleeping captain with curiosity.
He leaned over and brought the knife up under the captain’s chin, pointing the dutifully cared for blade at the pirate’s throat.
He would end this insanity once and for all, and he would do it now, while everyone else was asleep. And before anyone realised what had happened, it would all be over.
Blue eyes flicked open at the same time as the sleeping figure moved, his hand closing around the other man’s wrist as he brought his hook up between them with a snarl. His face perfectly illuminated by a sliver of moonlight as his expression darkened, taking in who was hanging over him, about to kill him in his sleep.
“One wrong move and it will be your last, Whelp,” he growled as he dug his thumb into his hand.
The figure hissed in pain and the grip on his knife loosened enough that Killian knocked it out of his hand and it skittered away across the floor, coming to rest under the chair. Killian tugged the man’s hood down, revealing the person he’d suspected it would be, part of the reason he hadn’t slept well the entire time they’d been at sea.
“What exactly are you trying to achieve by sneaking into my cabin in the middle of the night, Roland?”
The young man’s eyes were full of fury as he looked down at the pirate captain, his plan thwarted and being held at the point of his hook.
“Saving her from you, dirty pirate,” he replied with a curl of his lip.
“Do you really think she’ll thank you for condemning her brother to whatever Pan has in store if she doesn’t go through with this?” Killian asked him incredulously, his voice still a low growl.
Roland didn’t reply, and Killian knew he’d hit the jackpot with his chosen comeback.
Killian pushed him roughly, sending him sprawling to the cabin floor as he sat up. The blankets fell from his bare chest as he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed the boy by his hair, pulling him off the floor and tucking the point of his hook back under his chin.
“You make a sound, and not only will she know you’ve betrayed her, but I’ll gut you in front of her and let her watch as you bleed out on the floor of her cabin,” he spat in Roland’s ear, his voice low and full of the kind of darkness he sometimes longed to unleash.
“You bastard.”
Killian laughed darkly. He would, of course, do no such thing. Pan might have. Pan might have made him do it and enjoyed watching as the princess watched her best friend die for trying to mess up the demon’s plans. What Killian was about to do would protect everyone. Swan wouldn’t know Roland had betrayed her by trying to stop her fulfilling what she thought was her destiny. She couldn’t tell Pan something she didn’t know, and Pan would never accuse her of trying to double cross him. Roland would be hidden from Pan, and therefore Pan would never know what he’d tried to do or punish him for it. His crew would be none the wiser. If it came down to it, Killian was the only one who would be at risk.
So the whelp could call him a bastard all he wanted, but Killian knew that in the end he was doing what he had to, and his threat was just a way to make sure he upheld his reputation.
“Aye, lad, and don’t you forget it,” he snarled in his ear and pushed him forwards towards the still open door.
Starkey was half out of his cabin when Killian got there.
“Captain?” he managed, clearly still half asleep having been woken by the sound of Roland hitting the floor.
“I found our stowaway,” Killian informed him, pushing Roland at Starkey. “Put him in the brig, and see he stays there without anyone else finding out who he is.”
“Aye, Captain,” Starkey replied as he twisted Roland’s arm behind his back.
Roland hissed in pain, but kept his mouth shut, now glaring openly at the pirate captain, but apparently his threat had done the trick. Killian watched as Starkey bundled him off towards the front of the ship. Once they were out of sight his shoulders sagged with fatigue and he leaned against the nearest wall with a sigh.
He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head.
At least now this wasn’t hanging over his head, and the moment Pan let him leave again he’d drop the boy off at the nearest port with some gold so he could start making his way home again.
Fucking royals and their fucking cronies were far more trouble than they were worth.
