The Fairy and Her Captain - Chapter 12
Hazel’s head pressed against the stone walls of the cave inside of Skull Island, her blue eyes staring a hole into the moon through the hole at the ceiling. Her mind focused on the magic stirring inside of her from the spring, the one thing keeping her alive and the poison at bay while she was off of Neverland.
After a moment, she dropped her head down to her lap and over to her dagger stabbed in the gap between two rocks beneath the natural skylight. It acted as a makeshift sundial or rather moondial in this case. She used it to time how long the amount of spring water she took lasted.
She came here every night to get away from Neverland, Pan, and the Lost Boys. It was a safe place for her and where she experimented with the dreamshade poison inside herself and the spring water that kept her alive.
Hazel reached for her pouch sitting behind her back and pulled it to her side. She dug her hand inside and pulled out the magic bean, holding it in her fist. She held it close to her chest and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the cool stone wall. “Soon…” She uttered softly to herself in the faintest of whispers. “We will meet again, Killian.”
She knew the cost of telling the man she loves that she loves him given her current state. She couldn’t leave Neverland without dying and it would ensure her death if she went through the portal from the magic bean to find her captain. If she was honest with herself, she had no idea how the spring water would react if she went through the portal. She could die the instant she was on the other side or some portion of the spring’s magic would dissipate and her timing would be completely off.
There was so much uncertainty in her plan, but she wouldn’t wait any longer. It had been quite some time since Killian left the island with his crew and his ship. Hazel was sick of waiting, sick of fighting for her life, and sick of the fear of her inevitable death because of dreamshade poison that tainted her veins.
But the fae thought it was all worth it for the love she felt for her captain. For the love that culminated over the span of centuries of learning this land in search of the permanent cure of her cursed ailment.
Hazel’s mind was a broken record it seemed at this point. Stuck between honing the timing of the fading magic and how she felt about her Captain Killian Jones. She needed to see him and let out the contents of her heart. She needed to end her suffering and get off this rock of an island, even if it meant her permanent demise.
She left everything she knew for a taste of adventure that she so craved when being trapped on the island of Pixie Hollow with her fellow fae. If she would have know that this was how she would end up, sitting in a cave…testing the magic from a spring that kept an uncurrable poison from taking her life…in love with a pirate captain, she would have done it all again in a heartbeat, knowing who she became knowing her captain.
Without realizing it, there were tears falling down her cheeks and her legs caught them. She reached to dry her cheeks and eyes with her open fist and the closed one that held the magic bean.
Footsteps echoed off the stone walls of the cave. Hazel’s eyes immediately widened and she hastily put the magic bean in her pouch, cursing under her breath. She gripped tightly onto her dagger and yanked it out of the ground.
Her mind raced. She knew those footsteps. They were unequivocally Pan’s. Of course he knew of this place, but she hid here long enough without seeing Pan here that she didn’t think that he was interested in this place.
She transformed into her fairy form to hide as the footsteps rang louder, drawing closer. She flew up to the top of the cave ceiling just in time to see Pan come into view.
He walked underneath her, stopping for a moment before continuing on his way deeper into the cave. He soon reached the inside of the skull cave where a large hourglass sat in the center. Most of the sand was in the bottom of the hourglass while a small amount was still at the top.
The fae followed behind from a distance until she reached the archway that Pan simply walked through without problem. She flew into the forcefield and rubbed her head, floating in place. “Ow…” She murmured, glaring at the invisible field that kept her from tracking Pan further.
She looked through the hole where the moonlight came through. Then it hit her. This part of the cave was spelled and for her to get past the field, she would have to lose her shadow, temporarily anyways. Hazel took out her dagger and hovered just off to the side of the hole to let her shadow cast on the cave wall. She sprinkled some of her pixie dust on the dagger, enchanting it to separate herself from her shadow.
She dragged her blade from one side of her shadow to the other. She flew just a few inches away from her shadow, finding that it was no longer attached. “Stay here. I’ll be back.” Hazel told her shadow before she raced after Pan, receiving a small nod from the dark entity.
The fae hid close to the entrance to this larger room where the hourglass and Pan were in. She was close enough to hear what he was saying once he spoke, but far enough to hopefully fly away quickly without him seeing her.
“The magic is fading from Neverland faster then before.” He seethed, clenching his fist tightly in anger. “I need to find the heart of the truest believer. That should be able to restore the magic in Neverland.”
Hazel’s eyes widened the moment she heard that. The hourglass must represent the magic in Neverland and if that magic depletes, she wasn’t going to live if she stayed on the island. She had to use the bean to find Killian and tell her how she felt. There was no telling how long she had left on the island, let alone with the spring water if she were to use the bean to make a portal. A surge of pain flooded her body from the dreamshade poison, the spring water having spent its last drop of magic on staving off the dreamshade poison. Her dagger fell from her grasp and tinked against the rocky floor.
Pan turned on his heels to leave, but before he took off, he heard the sound. “So you had the gall to follow me, fae.” He felt a mischievous streak hit him, a game perhaps would distract him along enough to figure out how he was going to find the heart of the truest believer. Or where he was going to find it. “How about a game of chase? It should be about time that the spring water is losing its magic effects on this island. Let’s see who can get to the spring first, shall we?” He taunted, quickly flying in her direction.
Fear flooded Hazel’s body. He knew that she was there and about her experiments with the spring water. He knew how long this swing of water took to lose its effectiveness. She froze momentarily as he rushed towards her in flight. As soon as the adrenaline hit her small fairy body, she flew out of the center of the skull and took her shadow’s hand, leading her along to stitch back later. She gripped onto her shirt above her chest, losing a few feet of flight in the air from the pain that surged from her arm towards her heart.
Pan quickly made up most of the distance from the inside of the skull in Skull Island towards Neverland.
Hazel’s wings ache, feeling the poison reaching the roots and her hand released her shadow. She kept flying as fast as she could, blindingly entering the forest. She weaved between the branches and leaves, trying her best to lose Pan, but she knew that it was a lost cause. He was flying at all speed without dreamshade poison coursing through him. She had to get to the spring to fill her canteen with the water.
She grabbed her canteen shakily, opening up the cap as she narrowly missed flying into a branch. Hazel pressed the canteen up to her lips and tipped it back just enough to get a few drops in her. But if she were normal size, the amount certainly wouldn’t alleviate her pain as much as it was in her fairy form.
When the fae went to put her canteen back on her belt, she dropped it and watched it fall to the ground. She turned her head back a little to see how close Pan was to her. He was coming up on her and she didn’t have time to swoop down to grab it.
Meanwhile her shadow was nowhere to be seen. This was not looking good for her. Her heart raced as she flew faster than she had ever before while on the island. Pan reveled in this chase, his laughter echoing in the woods.
“Just a little further…you can do it…Just a little more!” Hazel urged herself, trying to fight against her own physical limitations to attempt to lose Pan in this chase.
As her eyes scanned her surroundings for her best way to lose him, find a safe place to camp out for a while. It quickly became apparent that she didn’t know where she was in the forest. She had to have made a wrong turn somewhere on the way to the spring.
Instead of going out into the open, Hazel flew closer to the ground and when she came up to a campsite, she made a b-line for the tent that was there. She barely registered the little girl in the tent when she hid behind some boxes.
When Pan came across his campsite and could no longer find Hazel’s trail, he stopped flying. He landed on the ground softly and walked into the tent after he had inspected the rest of the outside of the campsite for Hazel and found nothing. “You haven’t seen a yellow fairy flying around this place, have you Wendy?” He questioned the curly haired brunette.
“No, but I did see something out of the corner of my eye. Though I’m sure that it was nothing.” Wendy answered with a small shrug of her shoulders. “I see stuff like that all the time. So I thought nothing of it.”
“Trust me, it couldn’t have been nothing. I was chasing that fairy as part of a game and I believe she is cheating by hiding in my tent. Where did you see that something?” Pan questioned further, knowing that Hazel very well would have used his hideout as a place to well…hide until she could slip out.
Wendy pointed over to the boxes where Hazel was hiding. “It was over there?” She stepped out of the way when Pan rushed over to that very spot.
Hazel had few options at this point and honestly, she wasn’t sure if any of them were going to work out in her favor. Something tapped on her shoulder and when she looked over, she saw a dark figure that was the same size as her with a dagger in its hands. “Thanks. You did good.” She whispered to the shadow. She brought it in and merged with her shadow once again before she grew to her human size as Pan went to look behind the boxes.
She grabbed onto the brunette girl and pulled her close, locking her in place while she pressed her dagger against her neck. “Your game of chase ends here, boy!” Hazel purposefully used the term boy as Killian would have in this situation.
“Or what? you’re going to hurt her? You wouldn’t dare…especially since I have this little gem in my possession.” Pan remarked before he flashed her magic bean between his fingers. “Your ticket off of this island as temporarily as it may be considering that you have that poison inside you and you’ll surely die the moment you are on the other side of the portal.”
“Don’t underestimate me, Pan. I’m willing to do what it takes to get off this devil island and make it back to my captain just long enough to tell him how I fell. I can’t have any unfinished business before I die.” Hazel confidently boasted as she gripped the girl tighter and pressed the sharp blade deeper against her neck.
“Please stop!” Wendy squirmed a little. “Don’t do this…” Tears welled up in her eyes and looked into Pan’s eyes, pleading him to save her. “Please don’t kill me…”
Pan’s eyes flickered with a hint of caring for the young girl before glaring sharply at the fairy. “Let her go and I’ll give you the bean.”
“What makes me think that you will hand over the bean if I spare her life? You poisoned me during one of your ‘games’. You and your Lost Boys killed most of my crewmates the day we arrived on Neverland. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about their deaths. Why should I show you mercy?” Hazel poured out her heart with fury and revenge. “I think that her life would be a fair price for my fallen crewmates and for you poisoning me and stranding me on this island with no way of curing the dreamshade that flows through my veins the moment I step off this island.”
The fae saw how much he cared for this girl even if he was trying to hide it from her. She could see it in his eyes, how they flickered with the same look that Killian had on a few fleeting moments when they would stay up and talk.
“I know you, Hazel. You wouldn’t dare harm a hair on Wendy’s head. You’re bluffing. Now I’ll hand over the bean if you let her go.” For the first time in what felt like eons, Pan felt fear. The intense look that glowed in Hazel’s eyes as she glared in his direction, scared him. Perhaps she would do anything to achieve her goal like the pirate captain. He couldn’t play with Wendy’s life, he needed her. He needed her to trick whomever was the truest believer to gain their heart to restore the magic in Neverland.
Hazel’s eyes drifted to the magic bean in his hand, staring at it for a moment. This had to be the day where she used the magic bean to get to Killian and tell him that she loved him. She had no other choice. The magic was fading from Neverland, she only had the small amount of spring water in her system and it was impossible for her to find her canteen in the forest, and she didn’t want to wait any longer to tell the man she loves how she has felt about him for centuries. No matter if she died doing so.
“Toss the bean to me and I’ll let her go.”
“And why should I trust you to release her if I do so?”
“You have my word, Pan. I don’t go back on it.” Hazel declared, slowly moving her dagger from Wendy’s neck. “If you try something, I won’t hesitate to slit her throat. This dagger is enchanted with my pixie dust and an enchantment that you can’t break. One move of my wrist and she’s dead.”
Pan thought over his options before nodding his head. “Fine. Here is your magic bean.” He threw the magic bean in the air towards the fae holding the girl hostage.
She easily caught it and released her hold on Wendy, pushing her forward towards Pan. Wendy fell against him and the boy caught her. Hazel walked passed them and out of the tent without another word.
She held the magic bean in her fist and the bean began to glow between the cracks of her fingers. The purple ring around her neck glowed a violet hue. “Lead me home. Lead me back to my Captain…” She urged softly before she threw the bean into the air. The magic from the inside of the bean burst out and created a whirling portal of swirling white magic.
Hazel took a deep breath, unsure of her fate once she was on the other side of the portal. But determination and love drove her forward to the portal. She lunged herself forward into the portal, disappearing into it.
The portal stayed open for a little while after she was through it and Pan went after the fae. If he was going to find the heart of the truest believer and watch the final breath of Hazel, he had to follow her.
It was only a few moments before the fae was on the other side of the portal. The world that met her was one with streets, shops, and strange moving carriages made of metal. People were walking about the sidewalks, chatting with one another and this and that. Mostly things that she had no idea about nor did she have time to care at the moment.
She moved her left sleeve up and saw the black veins already beginning to protrude from her arm. Her eyes scanned the line of shops in front of her and saw one that looked like it was an eatery of some sort. A modern tavern. If Killian was there, he would be there. Food, drinks, and waitresses were his style.
Pan immediately flew up high in the sky the moment he was on the other end of the portal. Out of sight and out of mind as the portal closed behind them.
Hazel ran inside of Granny’s diner, not minding the chime of the bell in the least. Her eyes searched the tables and the bar for the familiar face she had been dying to see since the moment he left. A sigh of relief left her lips when she spotted the dark hair from the back of Killian’s head and the large rings on his right hand as he scratched the back of his head.
She brushed past the people leaving and walked up to the table. When she was at the table, the fae noticed the long haired blonde in the booth across from him. “Captain, I–…” she blinked a few times, immediately noticing the signs of Killian trying to court the woman by the look in his blue eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me! I get stuck on an island for who knows how long and you are trying to sleep with a woman! I can’t believe you! I thought you were looking for a permanent cure for the dreamshade!” She slammed her palms against the table, making a loud thud that rang through the diner as silence fell over everyone there.
The Captain’s eyes drifted over towards the person interrupting his lunch with Emma Swan. It took him a moment to realize who ranted towards them, opening his mouth to retort his defense. But the words registered in his brain and his eyes recognized the flowing blond hair, the green tunic, and leather accents. His eyes widened as if he saw a ghost and his face flushed white. “…H-Hazel…what are you–? How? Why?”
“You know this girl?” The blonde sitting across from Killian asked. She adjusted her red leather jacket as she leaned forward, raising a brow curiously.
“Aye. She was my scout on the Jolly Roger…but you can see her too? It is not just me who is seeing her?” Killian answered, honestly confounded at the fact that she was here. He swore that she was a ghost.
“I’m right here, Killian! And I’m not a ghost.” The fae met his gaze, her eyes never wavering for a second. “It’s me and I don’t have much time, okay?” The black veins protruded now from her wound and crawled towards her heart quickly. “There has been something that I have been meaning to tell you since…forever,” She began, her voice cracking a bit as tears filled her eyes. “…Captain Killian Jones…I-I lo-l–”
Everything went black for Hazel and the poison neared her heart, the pain too strong for her. She fell towards the floor, but before she hit the ground, Killian hastily rose to his feet and caught her.
Feeling all the weight of her in his arms made him instantly realize that the Hazel in front of him was not a figment of his imagination or a ghost. She was real and she came here to tell him something, but she was going to die how his brother had. “No…No…Hazel wake up. You have to wake up. What were you going to say? You have to tell me?” His voice cracked and tears filled his eyes. “Stay with me…Just a little longer…please…”
Killian held her close and rose to his feet. He knew what he had to do. He knew who he had to turn to and he didn’t like it one bit. But he had to if he was going to get her back. He couldn’t lose her again. Not again. Not like his brother had all those years ago.
He carried her bridal style and rushed out of Granny’s. Emma wasn’t far behind after leaving money on the table to pay. He ran as fast as he could while holding onto Hazel tightly. Images of carrying her to the springs after Pan poisoned her flashed in his mind and he shook them away.
He felt her pulse weakening and he skidded to a halt as he reached Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop. He pushed open the door with little regard for it. He didn’t care if it broke. His heart ached for her. He needed her and he didn’t care who else was hurt in the process.
“Watch the door, pirate! I can’t have you thrash about my shop– Who is the girl in your arms?” Rumplestiltskin remarked as soon as the door flew open, stopping to ask who the unconscious female was in his arms.
“Doesn’t matter. She’s poisoned with dreamshade and I figure that you would have an elixir or antidote for it in your stash of potions. I need you to save her.” Killian demanded as he walked over to the cot in the shop, setting the fae down on it. He tried to hide how much he cared for the woman he brought into his shop, but he was desperate. “She doesn’t have long. Save her.”
“And why should I?” Rumplestiltskin questioned, his eyes drifting between the pirate and the fairy. Then he saw it in Killian’s eyes. “Oh. You care for her. Don’t you? Well…isn’t that interesting. I thought you were trying to court Ms. Emma Swan. It looks like you’ve got a type, Hook.”
“This is no time for jokes, crocodile!” Killian sharply retorted, glaring daggers in his direction. He charged at him and picked him a few inches off the ground. “Just cure her and I’ll pay. Whatever the price. You have my word, Dark One.”
Rumplestiltskin mulled over the deal in his head, weighing the pros and cons of it. Most of which were pros considering that he would have something over Killian and that was something he wanted. Plus it was obvious how much he cared for this fairy, whatever the relationship was.
“Put me down and we’ll make a deal, dearie.” He placed a certain flair of emphasis on the word ‘dearie’. Slowly, he was placed back on his feet and he walked over to the cot. He studied the woman for a moment before turning to Killian. “I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise that I will be able to save her in time. But I know of an elixir that will permanently cure this particular poison. It will take some time to prepare.”
“And the price?”
“A favor to be called upon later. I’m not sure what it will be or when, but when that time comes. I expect you to comply. That is the price.” He answered simply. “Do we have a deal?” He asked, holding out his right hand to shake.
Without hesitation, Killian gripped his hand and shook it. “Aye. Now make that elixir and quickly.”
Rumplestiltskin shook hands briefly before he disappeared into the back of his shop to gather supplies. He brought some of them to the empty glass counter and began to work on the elixir.
The captain walked over to the cot and knelt down by Hazel’s side, taking her hand in his. He held it up to his chest as he looked down at her unmoving form. His eyes softened. “Just a little longer…hold on…for me…”
He couldn’t lose her again. He wouldn’t let her leave him like his brother had. He couldn’t let her die like that. She didn’t deserve to die like this. Not by the poison that took his brother from him.
His heart ached hard in his chest for her. Through his years that he traveled the realms, he couldn’t find a way to permanently cure the poison in her or the bond to the island. Yet here she was, in Storybrooke of all places, to tell him something that she didn’t finish telling him. What broke his heart was the fact that she knew she was on the road to death if she left the island. What was so important to tell him that she practically ensured her death to do so?
It confounded him completely.
Minutes passed by as he stared at Hazel’s sleeping form. He didn’t realize that Emma Swan came into the shop and stood next to him.
Hazel’s pulse grew fainter and fainter, hardly able to be felt now. The black veins branched to her chest and sprawled across it. The poison reached her heart and moments later, her pulse stilled. The color from her face slowly drained to a paler version of itself.
The muscles in her hand gave out and Killian rose to his feet, a mixture of anger and sadness contorted his face. He let go of her hand and turned to Rumplestiltskin as he walked out from behind the counter with a potion bottle filled with the promised elixir. “…She’s…dead…” He announced defeatedly, his head hung for a moment. He looked up to Rumplestiltskin, anger choosing to be the predominant feeling bubbling to the surface.
He grabbed onto his collar and shoved him against the counter, a few glass beakers of the ingredients crashed to the floor. “Bring her back…Bring her back! You promised that you would save her! Now save her! I can’t lose her again…Not after I just got her back…” He begged. His jaw clenched tightly as he fought back the hot tears that urged forward.
“Hook!” Emma barked, rushing forward to stop him from harming Rumplestiltskin as part of her duties as the sheriff. “Don’t hurt him!”
Rumplestiltskin held his hands in the air defensively. “I’m afraid that there isn’t anything I can do. It’s out of my hands. …She’s gone, Killian.”
Killian loosened his grip on Rumplestiltskin and dropped him to his feet. He silently walked over to Hazel’s dead body and willed her to come back, but it didn’t work, no matter how hard he wanted it. He knelt down and picked her body up in his arms. Without another word, he left the pawn shop.
Hazel suddenly appeared on a ferry with a cloaked form sailing it. The fog engulfed the ferry as it traveled along the river. Her blue eyes widened and she stood to her feet, staring down where the ferry had come from. “No…no! Take me back! I didn’t finish what I started!” She pleaded.
The fae turned her head towards the one sailing this ferry and walked up to the disguised form. “Please. You have to take me back! I didn’t get to tell him how I felt! I didn’t…” She tried to escape the ferry, but some magical force kept her inside. She fell to her knees with tears streaming down her face. “…I didn’t make it…I was so close…damn it all…”
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