(Josie
Sayz: This is a story that I began working on several years ago. I am finally
reading through it/editing it. This is a fanfiction piece of what would happen
if two of my favourite characters Peter Pan (from J M Barrie’s book) and Jack
Frost (from ‘Rise of the Guardians’) met, why and what adventure would they go
on. I originally wrote this story as a present for a friend. I have decided to
dig it out and plan to release each chapter as I edit it. This is Chapter One:
‘Just Keep Reading’.
Note:
I do not own Peter Pan or any of the relating characters or places to the
story; these are all owned by J M Barrie and ‘Disney’. I do not own Jack Frost
or any of the relating characters or places to the story; these are all owned
by William Joyce and ‘DreamWorks’.
Chapter One: ‘Just Keep Reading’
can be found here: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/06/saving-neverland-just-keep-reading.html
Chapter Two: ‘Meeting and
Greeting’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/08/saving-neverland-meeting-and-greeting.html
Chapter Three: ‘I Still
Believe…’:https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/08/saving-neverland-i-still-believe.html
Chapter Four: ‘Only In My
Dreams’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2019/08/saving-neverland-only-in-my-dreams.html
Chapter Five: ‘Chasing Rainbows’:
https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/04/saving-neverland-chasing-rainbows.html
Chapter Six: ‘A smile can make a
big difference’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/04/saving-neverland-smile-can-make-big.html
Chapter Seven: ‘Feast, Fight,
Farewell’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/04/saving-neverland-feast-fight-farewell.html
Chapter Eight: ‘What are friends
for?’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/05/saving-neverland-what-are-friends-for.html
Chapter Nine: ‘The Black Castle’:
https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/05/saving-neverland-black-castle.html
Chapter Ten: ‘Life can by cruel
if you’re a dreamer’: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2020/05/saving-neverland-life-can-be-cruel-if.html).
In
Hook do we Trust?
Having
wriggled through a porthole on the ship’s port side, Peter, Izz and Jack crept
about the Jolly Roger looking for a place to hide. Peter flew ahead, hovering
just above the floor, with Jack right behind him. With Peter covering the
corridor’s right-hand side and Jack the left, they peered through the pothole
to ever door that they passed. Creeping by on the tips of her toes, Izz fixed
her vision to the wooden beams below. From the dampness of being at sea on a
regular basis, the Jolly Roger’s timber structure had expanded and contracted
in the weathered conditions. Trying not to make a sound as she stepped from
floorboard to floorboard was becoming impossible. Each step produced a squeaking
creek. She shot her head up and flung it over her shoulder. Behind her, the
corridor was still. All of the arched wooden doors that they had passed already
remained closed. The windows all appeared blackened. As she spun her head back
to her front, a pirate’s eye peeked through one of the portholes behind her. In
front of her, the corridor forked. They had three options: continue forwards in
the direction that they had been heading since they escaped from the room which
they found themselves in when they boarded the ship; branch left, where a glow
flickered in the distance; or turn to the right, where the darkness seemed to
have engulfed.
Scratching his head, Peter scrunched his mouth up to the left
as he glanced down the left tunnel, then to the centre as he looked straight
ahead, and then to his right as he turned his head to the darkened corridor.
Jerking his head towards the corridor on his right, he turned to Jack and Izz
and hissed, “This way.” Noticing the corridor’s darkness, Jack swiped a glowing
lantern from off the peg on the wall where they had stopped. Holding it out in
front of him, he lightened their way.
As they made their way down the corridor, the boys continued
to glance through the passing portholes. Nosing inside one, Jack asked, “Hey, what
about this one?” Peter zoomed over and stuck his nose to the window. His breath
clouded the glass as he looked around inside.
“Nah,” he replied, staring at a room full of empty hammocks.
“Too risky.”
“What?” exclaimed Jack. “Why? The crew are all busy manning
the ship. We’ll be fine.”
“You can’t be sure,” Peter warned him. “C’mon.”
As they continued trekking further into the darkness, a door
creaked. Izz’s feet glued to the spot. She sucked in a breath and arched her
head over her shoulder. Footsteps thumped up the corridor that they had
previously been in. “Guys,” she hissed, throwing her head back around.
“Quickly, someone’s coming!” Her heart thrust itself against her ribs. She
swallowed, stepping forwards. Her eyebrows slanted up towards each other and
her forehead lined. She bit onto her bottom lip to prevent herself from
squeaking.
Peter zoomed ahead, throwing his head right and left into the
many doors’ potholes that he past. Sailing forwards, he frowned and darted back
two doors. Pressing his face to the window on his left he threw his hand on the
doorknob. “In here, quick,” he whispered. Jack flew after him and Izz skipped
across the floorboards to the door. Izz swung the door shut behind her and
leant against it, as she let her breathing calm. Looking ahead, she watched as
Jack perched himself on the edge of a wooden table, caked in dust. He set the
lantern down beside him. Opposite, a porthole sat in the ship’s body in the
centre of the room. Outside, stars flashed by, as the boat soared across the
sky. An orange glow from the lantern pulsed, lightening the room’s darkest
corners. Cobwebs and dust lines the room’s shell. The wall’s wood was dark with
damp. Three crates lined the sides of the room. A greyed sheet, having once
been white, draped over the tops of the wooden containers. Peter dragged a
wooden chair that lay propped up against the wall, over to the table by Jack
and sat in it. Leaning back on the chair’s hind legs, Peter said with a smile,
“Isn’t this fun?”
“Fun!” Izz exclaimed, as she walked towards him. “If you call
getting stuck in a porthole and having to get you to pull me through and Jack
to push on my legs, then nearly crash into a barrel once you managed to force
me through the other side, then
having to sneak around the ship hoping that no one would hear us, then yes,
that was fun.” She folded her arms and glared at him. Throwing a hand to his
stomach, Peter chuckled.
“See,” he laughed. “I knew you’d like it.”
Rolling her eyes at him, Izz perched herself on the edge of a
crate, beside the table, on the room’s left. She breathed in deep through her
nose and gave a sigh. “Why did we have to squeeze through that porthole
anyway?” she asked Peter. “Couldn’t you have just flown over the side of the
ship and snuck across the deck or something?”
“Nope,” Peter replied with a shake of his head. “Too
dangerous. Hook’d have spotted us. Below deck’s much safer.”
Izz turned away from Peter and stared at the wall opposite.
The shadow of his bobbing body as he bounced back and forth on the back legs of
the chair danced in the corner of her vision. Staring, she watched a spider
crawl out from the sheet coving the crates and scurry up the wall. It wove in
and out of the knots in the wooden slats before squeezing its body into a crack
in the timber. She heard fidgeting to her left as Jack asked, “So what is this
room anyway?”
“Old storeroom,” said Peter. “This part a the ship doesn’t
get used anymore.”
“Why not?” Jack asked, as he brushed his hand across the
table’s layers of dust.
“After the incident, Captain Hook abandoned this entire
stretch,” Peter told him, pointing a finger towards the door and wavering his
wrist left and right. Raising an eyebrow Jack turned to Izz, who returned his
puzzled expression and shrugged her shoulders.
“What’s the incident?” Jack asked as he turned back to Peter.
“Ssshh!” Izz hissed, throwing a finger to her mouth.
“Footsteps.” Thudding echoed down the corridor, as a pair of boots marched
towards them. The trudging loudened, vibrating the floor beneath them. “Dim the
light,” Izz ordered, her voice no louder than a breath. Stretching over to the
crates on the room’s right, Peter gave the sheet covering them a tug. As it
swept off dust and dirt leapt into the air. Holding a hand to their mouths, Izz
and Jack tried to prevent themselves from coughing, while Peter tossed the
sheet over the lantern. The pacing stopped. Izz crept towards the wall and held
her ear towards it. ‘They have to still be out there,’ Izz told herself as she
held her breath. ‘The footsteps stopped right… here.’ There was a scraping. Izz
scrunched up her face as she tried to identify what was occurring on the
opposite side of the wall. The footsteps pounded against the floor. However, as
the number of steps increased, the more distant they became.
Pushing herself away from the wall, Izz hoisted herself back
up onto the crates. “That was close,” she told them, as Peter tugged the sheet
off the lantern. More dust fluttered into the air. Waving a hand in front of
his face, Jack gave a chested cough. Peter too threw a hand to his face, wheezing
breaths into his hand. The flame inside the lantern flickered. “Careful,” Izz
spluttered, wafting her hands about.
As the dancing flame steadied, Peter kicked himself up off
the chair and went to the window. Pressing himself up on tiptoe, he held onto the
circular windows brass frame and peered outside. After watching Peter, Jack
pushed the lantern across the table towards where Peter had been and swept his
hand across the desk’s surface. As the dust spiralled into the air around them,
Jack turned to Izz and jerked his head towards the space that he had made on
the edge of the table. Poking the right corner of her mouth into a smile, she
shimmed off the crates and sat herself down beside him. Twisting herself around
to face him, she arched her head further right and watched Peter.
The three of them sat in silence as the ship continued to row
across the sky. The glow in the lantern dimmed. Its beams now only enlightened
the area surrounding the desk. The shadows projecting against the walls faded.
Bringing a knee up to his chest, Jack rested his foot against the table’s rim,
letting his other leg swing. “So what is Hook’s deal?” he asked turning to Izz.
“Why does he stay in Neverland and chase after Peter all the time? Why not
return to sailing the seven seas, attacking ships and stealing loot?”
“Hook’s after revenge,” Izz told him. Peter turned around
upon hearing what sounded like the beginning of one of his favourite tales.
“Revenge?” Jack repeated. Pulling on the chair, Peter spun it
around. Throwing his legs around the chair’s sides he crossed his wrists,
resting them on the top of the back rest and placed his chin on top of them.
“Years and years ago,” Izz told Jack. “When Captain Hook
still had both hands, he went by the name: ‘James the Fearless’. He and his
crew ruled over Neverland, causing pain and suffering to all who crossed his
path. Then, one day, Peter arrived – brought to Neverland by the fairies. They
promised to protect him, so longs as he promised to rid them of the terrible pirates.
He accepted. When Captain Hook and Peter first crossed paths, one of the
biggest battles Neverland has ever seen began. Peter rounded up all of the
island’s inhabitants and Hook gathered together all of his pirate crew. They
fought over many days and nights. The prize was to be the ruler of the island.
If Hook won, the islanders would have to serve him, following his every
command… if Peter won, he declared that the Neverlanders remain free to do as
they wish, but remain loyal to him, answering to his commands and wishes when
required.”
Noticing Peter beside her, Izz shifted her eyes to his. A
grin spread across his face and he nodded his approval. She smiled back and
continued, “After weeks and weeks of battling and having lost many members of
both sides, Captain Hook agreed to meet Peter on the steppingstones of
Crocodile Creek. There, the two of them faced the roughest and most ferocious
battle that either of them has probably ever encountered in their entire
lives.” She swallowed and glanced again towards Peter. He nodded eager for her
to continue. She turned back to Jack. “They were sword fighting, hopping from
one stone to the next. Peter had given his word that he would not fly, evening
the playing field. Hook played to this advantage, throwing his full weight on
his sword, forcing Peter to the rock’s edge. As waves splashed up around them
and crocodiles snapped at their feet, Hook pretended to slip. Peter held a hand
out to the pirate. Hook grabbed it and with an evil gleam in his eye, pulled Peter
down towards the water. Keeping his word that he would not fly, Peter sliced
his sword towards Hook as he plummeted into the sea. His sword sliced through
the metal chain of the captain’s pocket watch that hung from a button on his coat.
Peter landed on the back of a crocodile, as it threw its jaw open, swallowing
the watch whole. Then, as Peter leapt back onto the rock, he swung his sword
back at Hook. The blade sliced through the pirate’s right wrist. As he howled
in pain the crocodile splashed up and swallowed Captain Hook’s hand too.”
Pinching his eyes shut at the image that formulated in his mind, Jack
shuddered. “Peter won the fight and Neverland has forever remained loyal to
him. As for Hook, he vowed he’d get his revenge and has spent every waking
moment plotting to get Peter back for what he did to him.”
“I’m not surprised,” said Jack, his eyes wide. “Losing his
hand… I can’t even begin to imagine…” he trailed off and ran a hand through his
hair. “So what about the hook?” Jack asked. “How’d he get that?”
Izz gave a shrug. “The surgeon of the ship tarred Hook’s
stump over. I think it was one of the crew’s ideas to cover his stump with a
hook, using it to symbolise is anger and cause even more fear in the people
that dared to cross him.”
“That’s right,” said Peter nodding. “It was Starkey who gave
him the hook… and he became Hook’s first mate not long after.”
Jack stared at a knot in board on the floor. He swallowed,
rubbing his right wrist. Izz shifted her sight from Jack to the table, staring
until her vision blurred. Exhaling, she dragged a hand across her face. The
corners of her mouth edged downwards. The bottom of her eyelids tingled.
Pinching her eyes shut, she shook her head. For the first time, she began to
think about how Hook felt. ‘To lose an arm…’ she thought. ‘And by Peter…’
“So what about the crocodile?” Jack asked with a frown. “Why
mention him eating Hook’s hand and the watch.”
“Because,” said Peter sitting up straight, a gleam in his
eye. “That crocodile loved the taste of Hook so much that he’s been trailing after
him ever since.” Jack sucked in a breath as his eyes widened. “Lucky for Hook
that crocodile swallowed his watch, for whenever the croc appears, Hook’s hears
the tick-tock-tick-tock of his watch and bolts half a mile,” Peter explained
with a laugh.
“I’d rather him than me,” mumbled Jack.
The ship gave a jolt. Jack grabbed hold of the lantern, as
the boat tipped towards the left. Peter skidded from his chair and clung to the
edge of the table and the crates beside it. The wooden cases on the other side
of the room slid towards them. Izz yelped, as she threw herself towards one and
pressed her hands against it. Tossing the lantern to Peter, Jack joined her.
Digging their toes into the floor, they stretched forwards. Straining, they
pushed their weight into the crates. The ship toppled to the right. The cases
slid back. Izz gasped. The floor levelled out. Izz hopped on her right foot, as
she lost her balance. Jack held a hand to her shoulder. “Thanks,” she breathed,
as he turned to him.
Settling the lantern back on the table, Peter returned to the
window. Clawing his fingers around the glass’ brass casing, he stretched up and
scanned the new surroundings outside. As Izz sat back on the table, Peter spun
around and announced, “We’re back on the Mainland.”
“What?” said Izz frowning.
“We’re back on the Mainland,” Peter repeated, as he went back
to the window.
“I don’t get it,” Izz whined. “Why would they come back to
the Mainland if they were that close
to the stone?”
“You know what I don’t get?” asked Jack, slumping down on the
table. Leaning back against the wooden box behind him, he shoved his hands in
his hoodie’s front pouch. “Why Pitch even made himself part of this madness in
the first place.” Izz gave a smirk.
“I think I know,” she told him. Taking his hands out of his
pocket, Jack crossed his legs on the table and lent forwards.
“How?” he asked her.
“Everyone has a sidekick,” she told him with a smile, as she
realised that her knowledge from reading so many stories and watching a lot of
films was becoming useful.
“I don’t,” he declared.
Izz scrunched up her face. “You kinda do…”
“No way,” he said wafting a hand in front of her.
“Baby Tooth,” she said with a grin, poking her nose in air.
“Ever since you rescued her from Pitch, she’s kind of followed you around a
bit.”
“So?” Jack replied with a shrug. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“But it does,” Izz
told him. “Everyone has a sidekick,” she repeated. “Batman has Robin, Fred has
Barney, Tintin has Snowy, the Joker has Harley Quinn, North has the yetis,
Mickey has Pluto, Shaggy has Scooby, Tooth has her fairies, Clark Kent has
Jimmy, Ariel has Flounder ‘n’ Sebastian, Megamind has Minion, Pinocchio has
Jiminy Cricket, Jafar has Iago, Hook has Smee, Peter has Tinker Bell, I have my
dog, Sparky-”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” said Jack, throwing his hands up in
surrender to her ever-increasing list. He gave a laugh, amused at the
excitement in her voice.
“My point is,” Izz
went on. “That Pitch doesn’t have anyone. Not only can children not see him,
but he’s all alone.”
Jack clicked his fingers and pointed at her. “Ha!” he
laughed. “Not true… he has his nightmares, you know, the horses, the mares.”
“True,” Izz said. “But
they aren’t exactly comic relief material.”
Peter turned from the window and plonked himself back down in
the chair. He had been listening to their conversation and was now curious at
what Izz had just said. “What’s comic relief material?” he asked. Seeing that
Jack too was frowning at her, Izz decided to elaborate.
“You see,” she told them. “Most sidekicks are there to make
people’s lives less dull and lonesome. They’re the friends that are there when
you need a hug, the ones who make you laugh when you’re on the brink of tears,
they help you out, offer you advice to try and make sure that you don’t make a
complete fool of yourself.”
“I see,” said Peter with a nod.
“And that’s what Pitch is missing,” Izz said as she turned to
Jack. “A companion. That’s why he’s joined forces with Captain Hook. If Pitch
conquered the world on his own, what fun would it be if he had no one to gloat
with… no one to share his happiness?” Jack’s eyes shot to the floor. “Yes,
Pitch will have to share his domination with another, but really… that’s all he
wants… a friend.”
Staring at the floor, Jack pressed a hand around his mouth.
Exhaling, he wiped his fingers and palm towards one another, pulling his lips
out. He ran his hand over his face and shook his head. “A lot to take in, isn’t
it?” Izz mumbled at his side. “A villain being the same as us…” She watched as
Jack closed his eyes and threw himself back against the boxes. “They want
friendship just the same as you and I.” Opening his eyes, Jack tilted his head
down and looked towards her.
“If you’d have told me that a couple of days ago, I’d never
of believed you,” Jack told her. She swallowed and shifted her sight to her
knees. “But you’re right…” he said as he leant forwards. “Friendship is the one
thing worth fighting for.”
*
The
Jolly Roger continued its rocky venture deeper into the centre of an island.
They swayed to and fro as the ship’s rowers switch places with other crew
members who were yet to pull their weight. Starkey commanded Mr. Smee to
clamber on deck and sprinkle more of the golden dust that he had swiped from a
group of fairies back on Neverland, when he told them that he did not believe
in them. The pixie dust had been scattered over the ship, making it rise into
the air. However, at present, the bow of the boat was beginning to sink
forwards, tilting the ship. Mr. Smee fumbled onto the ship’s deck. Wobbling as
he threw one foot in front of the other, he dug his plump digits into the
palm-sized, violet, velvet sack, which Starkey had handed him. Pulling his fingers
from the bag, Smee threw his hand in an arch out in front of him. The dust
twinkled under the light of the stars as it fluttered onto the surface of the
boat. Feeling the bow lift under his feet, Mr. Smee swayed. Tottering forwards,
he grabbed out for one of the ship’s masts.
“Good work, Smee!” Starkey shouted, waving a hand to him,
from the bridge of the ship. “You bumbling buffoon,” he muttered to himself.
“Aye, aye,” Mr. Smee shouted back with a salute. The first
mate shook his head, as the captain’s right-hand man returned to the captain’s
quarters.
*
The three
of them sat in silence, as the ship sailed over another city. Neither Izz nor
Jack had taken much notice in where the ship was sailing, even though they,
more than Peter, were likely to know whereabouts on the Mainland they were.
Peter had stood at the porthole for most of their journey, admiring the sights
of the land as it zoomed by below.
Leaning against the crates behind him, Jack sat with his
right knee curled up to his chest and dangled his left back and forth at the
table’s side. Izz remained on the edge of the table with her legs draped over
the edge and her ankles crossed. She had given up on swinging her legs and
stared deep at the ground and bit into her bottom lip. The thought of Hook
losing his hand returned to the front of her mind. Her brow lined, as she
pressed her right palm into the table beside her. Her left hand hung at her
side. She twisted her wrist, feeling the charms of her bracelet patter against
her skin. Jack stared at her and watched as her frown deepened. Lowering his
right leg, he shimmed along the table towards her and placed a hand on hers.
She shuddered and spun her head around towards him. The right corner of his
mouth turned up into a smile. Her lips parted as she stared back.
“Izz come look at this,” Peter exclaimed from behind. He
glared as Jack as he swiped his hand back. Izz spun around the corner of the
table and jumped up. As she neared Peter, he took her hand and led her towards
the porthole. “Look!” he said, gesturing to the window. Izz peered through.
“Wow…” she breathed. Looking down on the streets below, the
roads glistened with a white sparkle, as they lay covered in snow. The
lampposts gleamed, reflecting the frosty glimmer of snow piled at the ends of
driveways, snowmen that lined the streets and the snow clusters that resided in
the branches of trees. Shadows stretched over the back gardens of houses and
windows glowed with a feeling of warmth and belonging.
“You know,” Peter said nudging her with his elbow. “Once we
save Neverland you can stay there if you like.” Izz’s eyes widened. She gasped
as she turned to face him.
“Really?” she squeaked. “Stay in Neverland.”
“Sure,” said Peter with a grin, as he went back to gazing out
of the window. “That way you’ll never have to grow up. And you can live
forever, like us.” A smile stretched across her face. Izz turned around to face
Jack, whose expression scrunched up and he folded his arms as her eyes met his.
Her smile dropped. Turning away from him, her beaming grin returned as she set
eyes on Peter.
“But Peter,” Izz giggled. “To live forever’s an awfully long
time.”
“Aye, it is,” Peter agreed. “But with you by my side, I’d
never get lonely.” The ship jolted back. Izz stumbled, falling into Peter. The
Jolly Roger came to a stop in the middle of the sky. Holding onto Peter’s
shoulders, their chests pressed against one another, Izz smiled looking up at
Peter and giggled. Peter, with his arms around her waist, stared back and
watched her smile increase. Her eyes flickered as her lips pressed together. He
snorted a breath through his nose and his eyebrows daggered down. “No,” he
shouted, pushing her away. “Don’t!” he cried, clenching his hands into fists at
his sides. “Why’d you have to go and change everything?”
“Peter I-” Izz muttered. Her chest shook. Her bottom lip trembled.
Her eyes squinted, as water clouded her vision.
“I can’t believe I trusted you,” he growled. Clawing his
hands to the side of the porthole, he ripped it open. Gripping the rim of the
opening, he pressed down on his knees and leapfrogged out of the window.
*
After
Peter fled the Jolly Roger, Jack helped Izz out of the porthole and flew them
to the ground. They flew in silence. Izz sniffling, her chest expanded and
contracted faster. She pressed her hand against it. Blinking hard, she tried to
stop her eyes from flooding. She closed them and breathed in deep and slow,
clinging tight to Jack’s shoulders. Opening her eyes, buildings came into view.
She frowned, recognising some of them. The large church and clock tower, the
school building with five footballs lodged in the railings on the roof, the
house with the large rooster weathervane attached to its chimney.
Reaching the ground, Jack lowered Izz from his back. “Are you
gonna be alright?” he asked her. Staring past him, she saw a brown blur fly by
in the distance. Pinching her lips in, she turned away from him and ran. Having
noticed Izz gaze over his shoulder, Jack had turned to the view behind him. A
silhouette of a boy, about a head shorted than himself, with a pointed hat
bearing a feather shot across his vision. Exhaling a breath, his lips vibrated,
as he clawed a hand through his hair. He turned in the direction Izz had run
in. He stopped himself and turned back. Drawn between the two, he groaned,
stabbing his staff to the ground.
*
The
towering buildings of the village disappeared. The path beneath her feet turned
to dirt. Trunks of trees crowded the view ahead. Throwing one foot in front of
the other, her arms raced at her sides. The ground hard, her footsteps echoed.
Although the snow clung to the branches of the conifer trees, the woodland was
too thick for the snow to reach the ground. A twig snapped as her foot stomped
upon it. Curving her hand around the body of a tree, she spun herself off left,
away from the main path.
Nearing a large trunked tree, Izz slowed her run. Reaching
the tree, she threw her back against it. Burying her head in her hands, she
slid down the tree’s trunk. Sat on the ground, she curled up with her knees
bent. Her chest shuddered, as she murmured. She rubbed her hand across her
nose. Taking tiny gasps, she scrunched up her eyes and scrubbed her fingers
across them. Wrinkling up her face, she threw her head back until it hit the
body of the tree. Sucking in a breath she opened her eyes, staring up at the
trees’ limbs spiking out across the sky. She shook her head and gulped. Yanking
her hair bobble out, she clawed a hand at her scalp, pulling at her hair.
Folding her arms over her knees, she dug her head deep in her elbow.
Sniffing, her chest trembled. Her heart ramming against her
ribcage. She shuddered, feeling her right side turn cold. A hand pressed into
her right shoulder. She flinched. Jerking her head to the right, her blotched
face gazed into Jack’s. Removing his hand from her shoulder he squatted down on
the ground beside her. “I’m an idiot,” she spluttered, shaking her head as she
rubbed a hand to her eye.
“Hey…” whispered Jack, as he stretched his arm over her
shoulder. “No, you’re not.” She turned her head to his side and nuzzled it down
on his shoulder.
“I am,” she sniffed. “I’ve messed everything up.” Her chest
shook, as she breathed in and out rapidly. Jack stroked her arm. “We’re never
going to be able to stop Pitch and Hook now. Neverland’ll be destroyed and it’s
all my fault…”
“It’s not your fault,” Jack told her.
“I’m sorry Jack,” she squeaked, wiping her hand across her
face. “I’m so stupid.” He rubbed a thumb across her cheek, stroking away a
tear.
“Come on,” he told her. “You’re not stupid… you’re only
human, an’ everybody makes mistakes.” She sniffed and angled her face up at
him. He looked down at her with a smile.
Shaking her hair to the side of her face, Izz leant away from
Jack’s shoulder and sat up right. Her breaths grew short and raspy. Her hand
trembled as she brought it up to her face. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep
breath. Exhaling she opened her eyes, staring at her knees. “But… if it wasn’t
f-f-for me,” she stuttered. “We’d still stand a ch, ch, chance. P, Peter can’t
face them alone.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Jack told her. He arched his head
toward her, trying to get her to look at him. He gave a sigh and recoiled his
arm from her shoulder. Staring at the ground he said, “If anything, I’m the one
to blame… I just got so attached to you, I didn’t mean to mess with your head.”
He exhaled vibrating his lips again and ran a hand through his hair. “I should
never have let my feelings get the better of me. I should be the sorry one.”
“It’s not your fault,” she whispered, turning to face him. He
turned towards her and forced a smile. “Thanks…” she told him.
“For what?” he muttered. Izz gave a shrug.
“For everything…” she said, her voice no more than a squeak.
“And for being so nice to me. You really are a true friend.”
A branch cracked. Izz and Jack both gasped, looking up. A
black boot sidestepped from behind the tree in front of them. Shuffling back
against the tree, Izz pressed a hand to Jack’s shoulder. A long red coat swept
into view, as the other boot appeared. “Well, well, well,” came a gruff,
throaty chuckle. “Wasn’t that a nice speech?”
“Hook!” Jack growled, as the man with a mane of black curls,
large red hat and coiling white feather neared them.
“All caring and sensitive…” Hook sneered. “It was almost
touching.” He rested his hand to the pommel of his sword as he looked down his
nose at them. Jack’s eyebrows narrowed.
“I see you go yourself a new sword,” Jack jeered, jerking his
head in the weapons direction.
“Why, yes,” Hook replied, his voice full of scorn. “When one
is as fearsome as I, you find bearing a weapon a some sort to be a necessity.
Ya never know what kind of low life you might come across.”
Digging his staff into the ground, Jack hoisted himself up.
Turning to Izz he held his hand out to her. She took it, squeezing his fingers
tight. Bouncing up, she swallowed, staring at the smirk on the pirate captain’s
face. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“What am I doing here?” he repeated, pressing a hand to
his chest. “Why, I should be asking you the same question.” Jack’s nose snarled
at the captain, as his stare deepened. “What are the two of you doing, sitting
‘ere all cosy like, while Peter faces the battle of his life?” asked Captain
Hook, jabbing a finger out to his left. Izz gave a sharp sniff, as she and Jack
turned to the direction that Hook was pointing. “‘E’s on the rooftop battlin’
with Pitch now.” Although they could not see whether Captain Hook was being
true to his word, a dark purple flash brightened the night sky. A shrieking
neigh echoed through the trees. Three more crashes flashed into the sky. Upon
the last lightning flicker, black sand poured down from the sky, like the
sparks of an exploded firework.
“Peter!” Izz whispered, as her intestines knotted. Jack
turned to her.
“Come on!” he urged, leaping into the air. He held a hand out
towards her.
“You go,” she told him.
“But Peter needs our
help,” Jack exclaimed.
“You go on ahead,” she told him. “I’ll stay here with Hook.”
She raised her eyebrows and jerked her head in the pirate’s direction. Jack
shifted his eyes from Izz to Captain Hook. Looking back at Izz, he nodded.
“Be careful,” he told her. She nodded back. Jack took one
last glare at Captain Hook, before he flung his staff at his side and flew off.
Staring off after Jack, Izz watched as his silhouette grew
smaller and smaller. As Jack changed the direction in which he was flying, a
tree blocked Izz’s view. She sighed, turning her attention to Captain Hook. He
smiled, twirling the end of his moustache around his hook. “Aww… poor
Isabelle…” he said with a pout, as he took a step towards her. “First Peter and
now even Frost has abandoned you.” She frowned and felt her neck strain, as she
raised chin, looking up at him. “You know, you are better off without them.”
“Leave me alone,” she warned as she stepped back. Her heels
scuffing at the tree’s roots, her back pressed against the tree trunk.
“Oh, but dear… I’m only trying to help you,” said the pirate,
his tone clam and caring. He strode to Izz’s side, tilting his head toward her.
“You were right to leave that boy, Pan.” Her heart thumped twice, hard. She
swallowed.
“You leave Peter alone,” she snapped, her chest shaking.
Captain Hook took a step behind the tree.
“Oh, but you deserve far better than him, Isabelle,” he told her as he appeared on her right. “He
doesn’t even know the meanin’ of the word love.”
He leaned his face closer towards hers. Pressing her head back into the trunk,
Izz lifted her chin and swallowed. Captain Hook’s green eyes burnt into hers.
She shifted her sight down her nose to the ground. “Why it’s true. Peter once
had another girl in ‘is life… the Wendy,” Hook told her, as he circled her.
“She too cared for puny little Pan, although possibly not as much as you do, my
dear.” Pressing his left hand to the back of the tree, he leant around it and
whispered in her right ear, “But he ran away from the Wendy… too afraid, Pan
was, to show his feelings.”
Izz shuddered. Closing her eyes, she felt the pirate’s breath
wet the back of her neck, his moustache tickling the edge of her ear. Her
organs swam around in her stomach. Her heart pulsed with every spin. She felt
the captain’s breath on her left cheek, as he leapt behind the tree from her
right. He clawed his hook into the trunk and swung himself around to her side.
“Now, as for Mr. Frost,” he said stroking a finger across her right cheek. He
rested his finger at her chin. Their eyes met. He stroked his finger along the
bottom of her lip, lifting his chin. Pulling his hand away, he told her, “He
put on quite a convincin’ show there, you know…”
“Show?”
“Why yes…” said Hook with a beaming smile. “Jack was just being
the cheerful, fun-lovin’ guy that he is.” Loosening the barb of his hook from
the tree, Captain Hook shrugged. “It’s just his nature… he doesn’t care about
you, Isabelle, any more than he cares for all the other boys and girls that
believe in him.” Izz dropped her eyes to the floor and forced herself to
swallow at his words. She sniffed, her bottom lip quivering. “You’re nothing special,” he sneered. “Not to him.” She
swallowed again. She blinked hard, before turning her face towards him.
*
Speeding
through the air, Jack kept a fixed stare on a distant rooftop. Large and flat
with the metal frame of an air handling unit on one side and a telephone mast
on the other, ‘This roof,’ Jack realised, ‘is exactly the sort of thing Pitch
would choose.’ A black whip slashed towards a small, dark brown figure. The
figure leapt into the air. The whip snapped back, before flinging itself out
again. The brown shape flew into the air and began hurtling small stones at its
attacker. Pressing his knees harder together and forcing his arms to prod into
his sides, Jack flew faster.
Leaping onto the flat rooftop, smoke poured out of the
vertical flue pipe. Waving a hand in front of his face, Jack coughed. He
stepped through the smoke and searched the rooftop. Cupping a hand to the side
of his mouth, Jack shouted, “Peter… are you alright?” Peering out from the side
of the air handler, Peter’s eyebrows rose as he spotted Jack. He leapt up and
flew over to him.
“Where’s Izz?” Peter asked, looking at the empty space at
Jack’s sides. Jack rested his staff in the nook of his elbow and folded his
arms.
“So now you care about her,” said Jack with sarcasm.
“No I don’t!” Peter snapped back. “I just wanted to know
where she was. You didn’t leave her on her own, did you?” Jack gave a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” growled Peter, scrunching up the skin around his nose.
“Funny?” Jack chuckled. “You. You’re either too scared to
admit that you actually care about anyone other than yourself or you’re too
stupid to realise that you have feelings at all,” he snarled.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Peter shouted
back, jabbing a finger in Jack’s face.
Jack knocked Peter’s hand away and growled, “So why’d you ask
about her?”
“I didn’t,” Peter declared, his hands on his hips.
“Oh, but you did,” said Jack, shoving a finger in Peter’s
chest. Peter stepped back. Jack neared him. “You don’t care that Izz ran off in
tears because of you. You don’t care that she has spent her whole time trying
to get you to notice her, trying to get your
attention,” he roared, pushing a hand to Peter’s shoulder. Peter jerked Jack’s
hand away, and squared his shoulders up to him. Scrunching up his nose, Peter
took a step towards Jack. Jack glared down at his rival, exhaling a breath through
his nostrils.
Having stood back to watch the boys bicker, at first Pitch
Black started to snigger. However, as their bantering continued, his hands
rolled into balls at his sides. Straightening his spine, he threw his shoulders
back and clenched his teeth. He hovered over towards them, standing but a metre
away. Placing a fist to his mouth he cleared his throat. Jack punched a hand to
Peter’s shoulder, pushing him back. Pitch took a step closer. He cleared his
throat again. Peter shoved both his hands into Jack’s shoulders, unbalancing
him. Inhaling deep through his nose, Pitch cleared his throat once more, this
time louder. Both of the boys shuddered and jerked their heads towards him.
“Are you going to fight me or not?” Pitch roared.
“I am,” the boys said together. They both faced each other,
their throats growling.
“I don’t need your help,” Peter shouted. “I can save
Neverland by myself.”
“Well I don’t need you either,” Jack declared. Pitch gave a
sigh.
“You two really are trying to make my life difficult, aren’t
you?” he said folding his arms. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to them.
As Pitch walked away, Jack gripped his staff between both
hands and bounced on the balls of his feet; Peter swiped his dagger from his
belt and held it out in front of him. Pitch threw his hands to the air. A chorus
of neighing and a rumble of trotting hooves raced towards them. Pitch Black
spun back around to face the two boys, as his nightmares neared. He cackled and
took a step closer. “Out of sight, out of mind, aye?” he said with a quick jump
of his eyebrows. “Yes,” he smiled. “I believe that’s the saying…” He looked
from Jack to Peter; the angered expression mirrored in both of the boys faces.
He laced his fingers together at his chest. “With me gone, no one feared the Boogeyman,”
he snarled. “Well that’s all about to change!” he shouted, slamming his fists
down at his sides. Pitch evaporated. Jack and Peter gasped and spun their heads
around. “Behind every light…” his voice whispered, soft at their ears. “There is
a shadow.” Peter shuddered and Jack shook his head as the two of them swung
around. Pitch towered over them, cackling. He vanished again.
Jack and Peter spun around. Standing at the far end of the
rooftop, Pitch was surrounded by at least two dozen of his pearly, black mares.
“Behind every lamppost, around every corner,” Pitch said with his face
scrunched tight. “There will be nothing but fear and darkness… and me.” He laughed. Jack and Peter ran
towards him. “Nightmares,” he roared. “Do your worst.”
*
Hook
turned away from her, his arms folded. She took in a breath and swallowed,
before licking her lips. She stared at his back: his black curls resting upon
the bottom of his shoulders, his crimson justacorps clinging to his muscular
figure. Its tail flapped behind him, edged in a pattern of gold. Flicking his
head to the side, his hair shook. Izz tightened her fingers into her palms and
curled her thumbs. “What do you really want Hook?” she asked him, through
gritted teeth.
“Whatever do you mean?” he asked, keeping his back to her.
“Well, you didn’t come here to rant about Jack and Peter.”
“My, my, smart girl…” Hook sneered, resting his chin over his
right shoulder. He turned himself all of the way around to face her. “You know,
Isabelle,” he said as he neared her. “We both want the same things, you and I…
to be noticed, to be loved.” Izz pressed
herself up against the tree. He stopped right in front of her. She swallowed,
feeling her chest raise. He smiled at her. “If I were to reveal a secret to you
right now, ye must promise not to laugh, promise t’ take it with ye t’ the
grave,” he warned swinging his hook up to her face. Pressing her tongue to the
roof of her mouth, Izz nodded. Gazing into her eyes, Captain Hook let his right
arm fall to his side.
“I promise,” she told him.
“Very well,” he said as he lowered his head. “I trust you
girl, more than I trust any of me crew.” Closing his eyes, he turned his head
to his right. He opened his eyes and stared at the root of a tree. “Now no one
else knows about this secret o’ mine… of how I long to be loved by another. How I desire for that one companion, that one
friend, one lover, to be there for me… always.”
He glanced his eyes towards hers. Izz leaned to her left, distancing herself
from the pirate. “Me crew,” he growled turning away from her, throwing his
hooked hand at his side. “They don’t count. They’re not me real friends.
They’re just there for the adventures, raidin’ ships, slittin’ throats,
hoardin’ treasures and the immortality that Neverland holds,” he raged, shaking
his mane about. Izz clasped a hand to her mouth, holding in a gasp, as she
watched the anger burn inside of him.
He took in a breath, his shoulders shaking. Dragging his hand
across his face, Hook pushed some of his fallen curls behind his ear. He turned
around. He stared at the grey slippers that covered her feet. “I fled to
Neverland many centuries ago,” he admitted in a mumble. His eyelids half
closed. He swallowed, slumping his shoulders forwards. “I left this world,
followin’ a life of torture ‘n’ humiliation from not fitting in… never
belongin’ in a crowd.” He shoved his hand and hook in the pockets of his coat.
He prodded at a stone with toe of his boot and continued, “It made me so
lonely, so terribly lonely. When I
got me crew together ‘nd we found Neverland I thought all that loneliness would
be gone… lost in adventurers, eternal life, a lively bunch a lads at me side.”
He sniffed and shook his head. “But the achin’ inside of me only got worse. Me
time in Neverland showed me the meanin’ of true
loneliness.” He looked up at her, staring at her face, but never looking her in
the eye. “I just kept tellin’ me-self that things’d get better – but alas,” he growled, turning away from
her. “I’m loniler than I ‘ave ever been.”
Izz inhaled, her chest shaking. Her right hand crossed over her
face and prodded into her cheek. She took step forwards and tilted her head. Pinching
her lips in, she reached a hand out towards his shoulder. Before her touch
reached him, he turned himself back around to face her. “I know my dear…” he
told her. “I know you feel this loneliness too.” Their eyes met. She gazed up
at him: his rugged chin, his baggy eyes, his sloping eyebrows. She let out her
breath, having not realising that she had been holding it. “You know,” he told
her, his voice deep, slow and calm. “Sometimes it’s easier to believe in a fairy
tale when there’s nothing left to believe in…” Gazing into his dark green eyes,
her lips parted. She felt a lump build up inside her throat.
Breaking their gaze, Captain Hook stepped to Izz’s left side.
“Tell ye what,” he said, as he threw his hooked arm around her shoulder. “Fer
bein’ such a good listener, I’ll let ye in on another a me secrets…” She
swallowed as his breath clouded against her cheek. “Unlike your friends Pan and
Frost… I can’t live forever.” Izz
twisted her face towards his and stared. “In Neverland the agin’ process stops.
But when I return to the Mainl’nd… I’m just like you.” The corner of his mouth
turned into a smile as he leaner towards her. The curl of his moustache
prickled her skin. “I try not to dwell here too long, for fears a growin’ old.
But, my dear… if you were t’ join me… show me loyalty an’ friendship… not only
would return the favour, but I’ll stop all this fighting and leave Neverland
for good.” Izz’s lips parted as she seeped a sharp breath. Turning her body
around towards the pirate captain, she felt the barb of his hook scratch into
her skin. She pinched her eyes, trying to hide a wince. Opening her eyes again,
she stared into his face, examining every feature, every breath, every twitch.
“But what about Pitch?” she asked, her voice stiff and cold.
“And your plans to destroy Neverland.” Her eyes never breaking her stare.
“I’ll call them all off,” he told her, pressing out his chest.
“You ‘ave me word… and Captain Hook never breaks a promise.” She felt his body
fidget. He leant himself against her, as he twisted his left arm, smiling at
her all the while. She glared. “My dearest Isabelle…” he said, his voice light,
airy and high. “All us villains are the same… all we want is a little loyalty,
friendship ‘nd to be noticed.” She felt herself shudder under his stare. “If you promise me this, then I promise you that I will see to Pitch.
I’ll make all of the troubles that we ‘ave cause in Neverland vanish.” He
brought his left hand back in front of him, his fist in a ball, and flicked out
his fingers. “And,” he continued. “I’ll come an’ live here, back on the
Mainland, with you.” Removing his hook from her shoulder, the captain stood
before her and ruffled up his coat. He tilted his hat forwards and held out his
left hand towards her. “What do you say…?”
Izz looked at the man before her. Her eyes shook, as she
shifted her vision around from his gazing stare, his arched-up eyebrows, the
creased on his forehead and around his mouth where he smiled. As the sky
flashed, she shot her head to her right. Menacing amethyst clouds rumbled above
a cluster of high-rise buildings in the distance. A black pearl mist surrounded
the rooftops. Lightning flashed. A growl of thunder followed. Izz turned back
and stared at the pirate captain. She swallowed, shifting her gaze down to his
palm. Her heart rattled inside of her. Her arms trembled at her sides. She took
a deep breath and felt the hairs on her left arm prickle up. Biting the corner
of her bottom lip, Izz placed her hand in his.
*
The
deep, violaceous clouds that rumbled above began lathering. The nightmares
circled them, steam snorting from their snouts. A thin, black, sanded whip
snapped at them. Jack and Peter leapt apart. The whip recoiled and lashed at
them again. Jack flew to his left and slashed his staff horizontally across his
body, slicing through one of Pitch’s onyxes. The horse shattered, cracking into
a pile of shimmering purpley-black sand.
Pitch held a hand to his stomach and bellowed, as he thrashed
his whip at Peter. Peter leapt into the air. Spreading his legs, he sliced his
dagger down, chopping the whip’s fall hitch end from its thong. Pitch’s cackle
turned into a growl as he snapped his wrist back. Rolling his arm around, Pitch
gave an ominous roar and then threw his arm forwards. A blur of black sand
formed into a giant scythe, slashing at Peter’s legs. Peter jumped into the air
and thrust himself forwards, landing on the mane of an onyx. As the sickle
arched towards Peter, it swiped through Pitch’s nightmare, reducing it a pile
of black sand.
Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Jack dove
towards the vertical flue pipe. Stepping on it, it spun him, as he threw a
thumb to his temple and arched his hand over his brow. Lifting his chin up,
Jack shouted, “Look! The ship, it’s sailing away,” as he pointed with his staff
into the sky at his far left. Peter hovered, curling his feet underneath him,
as he gazed up at the Jolly Roger. Dropping his weapon, Pitch too spun his head
around. Scraping a hand through his swept back hair, Pitch’s brow creased. The
nightmares stopped their charging and trotted near their maser’s sides.
As the triple mast pirate ship arched right, sweeping across
the sky, the cannon shots blasted into the night. Pitch leapt up onto a
horizontal, metal beam on a pyramid shaped, telephone signal mast and gripped a
hand around the transmitter’s slanting beam. Swinging himself back and forth,
Pitch began bellowing with laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Jack snarled, as he bent his knees,
crossing his staff over his body. Swapping his grip from his right hand to his
left, Pitch spun himself around.
“Oh,” said Pitch with a smile. “You wouldn’t find it
amusing.”
“Try me,” Jack snapped back.
“Why, your little girlfriend,” Pitch said pointing a finger
at Jack. “Has just agreed to join forces with myself and Hook.”
“Never,” Peter growled, jumping down to face Pitch.
“Oh, but she already has,” Pitch sneered. “In fact, she’s on the
Jolly Roger right now, about to help us blow your precious little Neverland to
smithereens.”
“I don’t believe you,” barked Peter, the hand holding his
dagger shaking. Jack flew towards them and landed at Peter’s side.
“Oh, I wouldn’t have believed it either,” Pitch told them.
“She seemed ever so determined to help you. Perhaps it was the neglect or lack of appreciation that changed her mind… or maybe it was just you two
leaving her all alone…” As Pitch’s
mouth turned into a wide, smug, smile, Jack bounced on his toes, rolling his
staff in his hands. “It’s amazing what loneliness does to a person. You should
both know what that’s like… especially you, Jack.”
Upon Pitch’s final words he leapt down from the phone mast. Arching his hands
up over his head, he levitated over the rooftop. Holding a hand out towards his
nightmares, he told them, “Go. Go spread my fear… I’ll be back soon.” Pitch
threw his arms out as his sides. Wafting their heads, the onyxes neighed,
before racing off into the horizon to both Pitch’s left and right. As the
nightmares fled, Pitch sped off into the sky. A trail of black sand spurted out
behind him, as Pitch flew towards the Jolly Roger.
Spinning around from Pitch, Jack growled and punched a fist
through the air. Peter returned his dagger to his belt and flew to Jack’s side.
“We need to go after them,” Peter told him.
“What if she’s not even on there,” Jack yelled. “What if it’s
a trap?” As he turned his back to Peter, Jack drooped his head and sighed.
“It’s all my fault…” he whispered. “I left her… alone…”
“It’s not your fault,” Peter told him, placing a hand on his
shoulder. Jack twisted his head over his shoulder. Peter removed his hand and
said, “We’ll never know if Izz is okay unless we try.” Jack turned his body
around and faced him. Gripping his staff tight, he gave a nod. Peter jerked his
head in the direction of the flying pirate ship and the boys leapt off the roof
and into the air.
As the
Jolly Roger sailed higher into the sky, and Peter and Jack followed, no one
noticed the slithering coil of golden sand sweep around chimneys of the houses
below. Weaving in and out of buildings and trees, the glowing stream of sand
spiralled to every house, through every window and every crack in the brick
work. As the sand wound is way around every home, a collection of snores from
the village inhabitants drifted into the air.
- Josie -
