Chapter Text
“Kill him!”
James Hook shot up from his bed like a bullet from his pistol. He had heard Blackbeard's voice as clearly as if the man himself had stood over him—a ghost come back to haunt him. Hook scanned the room with desperate eyes and bare heaving chest. Yet, the only soul in the room was the princess that lay beside him—a chiefette by all rights, but she had passed the title to another. Hook relaxed, breathing easier as he gazed at her peaceful, sleeping form. He envied her deep slumber, or maybe, it was the ability to sleep at all. For too long, he had been restless as if he had an itch he just couldn't scratch.
Hook leaned towards Tiger Lily and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek before placing a kiss there. Tiger Lily hummed a sigh but did not wake. He watched her for a moment longer before rising from the bed and shrugging on his shirt and coat. Blackbeard's voice still echoed inside his head like an aftertaste Hook couldn't get out of his mouth. He couldn't shake his feeling of unrest as he stepped out of the cabin and onto the main deck.
Breathing-in the night air, Hook leaned against the railing of the Jolly Roger and gazed down at the clouds that floated beneath the ship. Something about Neverland's air had changed after all those years ago when they had liberated the fairy kingdom. It was much too sweet for his liking and he often thought of going away—if only for a while. Hook almost missed breathing-in that heavy, grainy texture in the mines. The adrenalin. The danger. The clanking of metal against rock. The metallic scrap of his hook against his pickaxe. Hook took-in a deep breath as he reached inside his coat to feel the sharp metal curve that he still carried with him. It helped quell the thirst he couldn't quench—a thirst he couldn't name, but an image of a long steel blade he couldn't chase from his thoughts.
“James,” a soft voice spoke from behind him as a warm body pressed to his back, “Come back to bed.”
Tiger Lily's fingers slipped passed the opened buttons of his shirt front, raking her fingertips across his chest. Hook gave a heavy sigh and grasped her hand as he turned to look at her.
“Tempting,” he said with a quirk of a smile. “But salvagin' scrap metal from the mines is a full days job,” he pulled her hand up to his mouth and placed a kiss on her knuckles, “I best be on my way.”
Tiger Lily pulled her hand free from his grasp.
“My people would be more than happy to built the new dwellings for the boys,” she proposed, “We've been building our own for centuries!”
A slow smile curved at Hook's lips as he gazed down at his spirited princess.
“Now, sweetheart,” he began, “Though I do love your tribe's primitive architecture—with your sticks twined together with rope and such—we need somethin' a little tougher to withstand a tribe of rowdy lost boys.”
Tiger Lily gave him her best “I'm not amused” face as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I will see you back this evening.” she told him sternly and he knew it was a warning, not a request.
Hook flashed a crooked grin and nodded, “Yes, ma'am.”
Smiling in response, Tiger Lily rose to her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was quick and sweet, but for Hook it was soured by the lie on his tongue. Tiger Lily glanced back at him from over her shoulder as she headed back towards the captain's quarters. Hook cursed himself under his breath and scowled down at his boots. He had lied to her, but he couldn't get the sight of sharp, gleaming metal from his head, or the clanking sound of metal striking metal. The rusty scent of it, or the metallic taste of it like blood from a split slip.
Hook retrieved his pistol and placed it in the sling at his side. Metal was certainly his goal, but the mines held no prize for him. It was the first time he had lied to Tiger Lily—well, maybe not the first—but he feared if she knew his true destination it might be his last...