Chapter Text
Isabella's room was tiny, but adequate for a guest. Since that was a dream and she was already sleeping, she found it very hard to fall asleep, and so she stayed awake even during the night.
Two Neverland days passed, and she was still on the Jolly Roger, with a fairy being her only company and source of entertainment.
For being a distinguished, British gentleman, Captain Hook didn't even try to lend her a book or something. She was there, doing nothing, watching the waves go and sometimes spotting Peter Pan and the lost boys fly around.
She discovered the fairy's name, Catty, on the second day of confinement, after enunciating every single synonym of “mischievous” until she got it right. It’s incredible what boredom can make you do.
Smee was the only real person she could talk to, because he was the one in charge of her meals. He came, three times a day, with his trembling tray of food, and he usually stayed for a while to chat with her about the crew's messes. He wasn't a bad guy, after all. He kept offering her bottles of rum, but she declined every time.
For the other crew members it was strictly forbidden to talk to a guest or a hostage, especially if it was a little girl. They were convinced that every girl of the Mainland was like Wendy, and they would've gotten too upset if they found out that Isabella didn't plan on telling them stories. Times had changed, and thirteen year old girls weren't always soft spoken or motherly. They were also addicted to technology, they were often dramatic and sour, and quite the firecrackers to be around. Very much different from the girls of Wendy's generation, who were expected to behave like mothers from a very early age.
The Captain didn't even acknowledge her presence, most of the time. He was too focused on his books, reading nonstop, as his forget-me-not eyes ran on the pages like hungry beasts.
It was already evening when Isabella, with Catty's support, decided to give voice to her discontent.
She walked outside her cabin, knowing all the pirates were drinking on deck, and went straight to the Captain's quarters. The golden light of his chandeliers was shining through the windows and the door.
She knocked with force.
At first no answer came, but then his rugged voice spoke, behind the closed door: “Who's the idiot that dares to interrupt my reading?”
Isabella simply entered the room, and Catty flew on a pile of papersheets.
“Figures it'd be you.” Was the unimpressed comment that Hook made, before lowering his gaze on the book again.
“I came here to say I'm disappointed.” She said, with a confident stance.
“What a brilliant motive.” He sarcastically retorted. “And why would you be disappointed?”
“I’ve been here for two days!” Isabella exclaimed. “First of all, I’ve never experienced a dream so long. And second of all, you left me to die of boredom without following your duties as a host.”
His icy blue eyes darted up, piercing through hers. She couldn’t help but notice his eyebags and his slightly frizzly hair. He looked tired and displeased at her attitude. “Host? Duties? I’m Captain James Hook, I give orders, and you are a damned child. I have no intention of serving you tea in the afternoon and braiding your hair.”
Isabella tried to protest. “But–”
She was interrupted immediately by him raising his hook in the air. “But what? Did you believe I would’ve followed your desires because it’s your dream? You’re too entitled for your own good, young lady.”
Then, due to stress and lack of sleep, he lit up a cigar and tried to get back to reading. It was a gigantic volume, bound with emerald-colored threads. Isabella was fast enough to take a peek. It was a book about fairies, filled with illustrations.
“Good heavens… It seems there’s only one thing I can do, at the moment.” Hook mumbled to himself, before standing up in a cloud of smoke. “I must take you to the valley of the fairies. Tonight.”
Although Isabella was relieved to know she wouldn’t have wasted another night doing nothing, she still felt uneasy when Hook spoke about taking her somewhere far. “And… why?”
“It's mandatory, and already set.” he said, showing no interest in her opinion on the matter.
Isabella dared to question him. “Because it's one of the island’s rules, or because you said so?”
“Both.” he hissed. “Now stop with the demented questions.”
When he spoke like that, something immature and prideful in her being made her cross her arms and lift her chin, in a grumpy way. “Alright. I'm not moving a muscle.”
Hook stared at her, with no change of expression. “You're being childish.”
“I'm thirteen, what did you expect?”
That tone made him snap. He grabbed her by the back of her neck, not violently but firmly enough to guide her outside the room. “I’m not past any gruesome means of persuasion, young lady.” he growled in her ear, and filled her nostrils with the smell of smoke. She squirmed at his harsh touch, but then she tried to maintain some dignity.
“These new generations of kids…” he said, annoyed, while pushing her down the stairs with him. “Always ungrateful and arrogant.”
The members of the crew stared at their Captain without moving a muscle. Being shot in the heart for even speaking during one of his ‘moments’ was a recurring theme. They knew better than to disturb him.
The only one who watched him go with disapproval on his face was Smee: “Ya’ll hurt the lady, Captain.”
If looks could kill, Smee would've already been sleeping in a wooden coffin. “Brats have thicker skin than adults.” he said, as they descended on the gangway where they were docked.
The crew looked out from the ship, watching Captain Hook forcefully carry that mysterious girl to an equally mysterious place.
Catty’s golden fairydust flew beside Isabella, sending occasional threats to Hook, which he graciously ignored.
It should’ve been dark, but the light of the gigantic moons and the twinkle of the stars above was enough to make the way clear. As they walked into the forest, Isabella felt strangely at peace. It was almost as if a fearsome buccaneer wasn't walking behind her, with a hook and a sword ready to slice.
The vegetation felt like a familiar hug, and at her footsteps, nocturnal flowers began to blossom.
“So pretty!” she gasped, looking down at her feet, and making Hook even more irritated.
They didn't speak to each other for a long time, as they walked in the direction of the valley of the fairies.
It was Hook to initiate a short dialogue. He thought he owed her an explanation. “Your situation will be discussed during the fairy council. Fairies are the eldest beings, the first to appear on Neverland. They’re full of wisdom.”
“You wouldn't say that from looking at Catty.” Isabella pointed out, ironically, and made the pixie slap her on the cheek with dramatic flair. “But wait. They don't speak. I won't understand a thing about their sign language.”
“How disrespectful to the fairy queen, who probably speaks better English than you.” He said, shaking his head in disbelief. He would have to teach that girl how to be sensible, one day. She was unaware of many, many things, and while he believed she had to learn, he also despised the idea of teaching her.
When they reached the small village of the fairies Isabella stopped in her tracks, entranced. The hollow tree was majestic, and shining with a rare golden light, in contrast with the blue shadows of the night. It was vibrant and beating, like a heart of molten gold and stardust, and a delicate song was coming from inside the trunk and the branches.
She stood there, unable to muster a single word, while Hook glanced at her quickly from the side. In his eyes there was a faint trace of sadness, almost as if he had felt a pang of jealousy after seeing her so fascinated. Jealousy because, over the centuries, he had had plenty of time to forget what fascination felt like. He wasn't amazed at the fairies, nor enraptured in front of the wonders of the island. Kids were always so damn easy to amaze, easy to impress. Foolish.
Isabella kneeled in front of the entrance of the tree, feeling the soft, wet grass on her bare legs and hands. She giggled, driven by a new kind of softness, as she played with the dew on the grass and forgot about the shady figure that took her there.
"You must go inside by yourself, miss." he slowly spoke, crossing his arms over his torso and staring down at her. "I cannot come with you."
She didn't turn her head, and felt quite embarrassed as she realized she had forgotten about him. "You're not welcome, huh?" she mused, with a cheeky smile.
He narrowed his gaze. “I'm just too big to go through the entrance, you brat.”
Isabella looked at him with a barely hidden chuckle and then began to crawl inside the hole in the trunk, until the upper half of her body was stuck into the tree.
It looked like a small palace, decorated with flowers and little trinkets found around the island. There were hundreds of pixies flying around and trying to find their mushroom seats. The setting was really similar to the one of a conference in the human world. In front of everyone, there was a shiny throne carved from crystal.
The fairy queen, who was sitting on the throne, looked like a dream come true. Perfect in her faeriness, with two pairs of translucent wings. She was dressed with a long, periwinkle dress, and her long silver hair was floating as if it was always hit by a gentle breeze. She spoke in whispers.
“My people, another full day has died, and the next is about to be born.” Of course, for such tiny insect-like people, a day had to be celebrated like the equivalent of a human year. “It is my pleasure that I–” but then she was left with her mouth agape, as she lifted her eyes and met those of a… girl. A lost girl, on all fours? When did she end up there?
Every other fairy noticed her and jumped in shock. No one had felt her coming.
When the beautiful fairy queen spotted Hook, she didn't hesitate to raise her voice. “Captain!”
He nodded, with nonchalance. “That would be me, your majesty.”
“How dare you interrupt our council to bring us… that?” she said, with a trace of disgust, and referring to Isabella as if she was a mere object that could disrupt the ceremony.
Before Isabella could speak for herself, the Captain nudged her with his boot. Too restrained to be considered a kick, but sudden enough to force her to obey and stay silent.
“This is the lass I found on the shore, two days ago.” Hook began to explain. “I brought her here so you could evaluate her role. She is convinced she’s not a lost girl.”
“Do you assume, Hook,” the queen said, after pursing her lips. “that the powerful and all-knowing people of the fairy kind cannot notice a lost girl staring at them from inside their own tree? That thing is not a lost girl. She has no energy, we don't sense her. We're only seeing her because we put our minds to it, squinting our eyes.”
That conversation was utterly ridiculous.
“I'll admit she behaves like an oddity, but my crew and I had no problem seeing her.” Hook said.
That made the queen laugh, and her floating, pearly strands of hair vibrated along with the sound. “Pirates aren't the same as fairies and mermaids, Captain. You're closely linked to the Mainland, and you share your origins with that thing.”
That thing being, of course, Isabella.
“But this isn't the Mainland. She is nothing, here.” the queen declared.
Isabella couldn't help but snap, with a pulsating vein on her temple that was threatening to explode at any given moment. “Nothing?! I'm literally here!”
“There are only six categories of entities in Neverland: fairies, mermaids, Indians, pirates, lost boys and Peter.” The queen kept talking in a relaxed manner, but with a certain edge of anger in her voice. “If she's not part of any category, she might as well not exist."
"I exist, thank you very much!" Isabella protested, after having her mere existence questioned for the first time in her life.
Hook intervened, from outside the tree. “And she was chosen by one of you.”
The pixies began to gossip and chat in their own language, gesticulating with agitation.
“One of us?” asked the queen, clearly not trusting Hook's words. Very wise precaution.
“Her name's Catty, she found me on the beach!” Isabella kept going, as if dying to prove her point. “Why did she notice me, if you say you can't sense me?”
Every pixie present at the council stopped talking and the queen shook her head. “Of course she did. She's banned from our tree, and she's not one of us anymore.”
Isabella didn't know what to say. She slowly turned her head towards a small hole in the trunk, where she could see Catty looking at the scene unfold with a little pout. Unable to cross the threshold of what was once her home.
Hook sighed. From inside the tree Isabella could only see part of his red jacket, his boots and his left hand resting on his hip. “Banned or not, a fairy chose to interact with her. The girl must have a role in all of this.”
"She doesn't strike me as a mermaid or an Indian." the fairy queen continued, with a gracious movement of her flowery, gloved hand. She still refused to speak to Isabella directly. "She's not one of the lost boys, and she still isn't an official member of your crew. She certainly isn't one of us, and she isn't Peter, either. So what is she?"
Isabella didn't want Hook to reply in her place. "I'm... me. I'm Isabella."
"I'm afraid it doesn't mean anything here."
"So even if I'm standing right in front of you, you can't accept my existence?"
The queen's eyes finally landed on her.
"We cannot, for you are only a sleeping conscience. Everyone here has a role. If you have no identity, you have no role."
"But I have an identity!” the girl cried, in frustration. “I am as real as any fairy and pirate! This is a dream, but I'm no less than all of you. Hell, I'd say I'm much more real than you, since this dream is mine."
A choir of appalled gasps lifted in the hollow tree trunk. All the fairies began to whisper, offended by her words, while Hook kept watching from outside with an unreadable expression.
Catty covered her face from second hand embarrassment, mortified. Isabella had the courage to define the fairies as ‘less real’ than her.
The queen stood up from her throne and lifted her hand, deciding to end the conversation there. “Your presence is no longer required, Captain, nor the one of… that Isabella-thing. Off you go.”
And she said it with such firmness that it no longer felt like a fairy’s speech, but rather the one of a commanding dictator.
Hook grabbed Isabella by the waist and tossed her outside the trunk, manhandling her until they were at a safe distance from the hollow tree. He was smart enough to know when to stop bothering the fairy kind.
When Isabella calmed down, they began to make their way back to the ship.
“I must say I'm impressed.” Hook said, with a sardonic expression. “You managed to become their enemy in the span of ten minutes.”
The girl frowned. “You know I’m right, though!”
“Yes, of course. You exist somewhere. Unfortunately you don't exist in Neverland.” Talk about cheering up someone. Then he muttered in a low whisper, as the weight of that knowledge sat on his shoulders. “And it's the first time a thing like this has occurred.”
Isabella looked up at the night sky, groaning. “What does a girl have to do to prove she exists, around here?!”
Catty followed her and rubbed her little face against Isabella's cheek, in a clumsy attempt to soothe her.
Hook's words came unattended, and way too risky. “You could always sign to become a pirate.”
The non-existent girl rolled her eyes. “Even if I become one, I'll still have to wake up from this dream, sooner or later.”
“Then I'll make you a fixed-term contract.”
It sounded so simple. Was it so easy to lure children into the world of piracy?
“You must be joking.” Isabella snorted.
“I'm dead serious.” he said, putting his left hand over his heart. "I always take great pleasure in making new recruits join the crew.”
“I didn't think you'd want children on your ship.” She said, raising one eyebrow. “Sounds almost adorable.”
He laughed out loud and shook his head, before patting her hair in a patronizing way. “Oh dear, I despise children. The only reason I make them join is that they grow up faster.”
Isabella felt extremely stupid. Why would she ever think that Captain Hook, of all people, was driven by noble and gentle motives? He wanted her to join so she would’ve grown fast, and stopped being a nuisance. She brushed it off with an annoyed gesture. “Yeah, yeah, alright.” But she had to give him credit for something: he was masterfully playing his role as the villain.
“What's the matter with you, pixie dust?” he said, in a sickening sweet tone, that made her understand what was real mockery. The harsh mistreatments one could face in real life didn't even compare to the barely hidden spite in Hook's voice. “You seem to be forgetting who I am and where you are.”
“I'm well aware of where I am, Captain.” she spat out, bitter. “I'm just tired of you being such… such…”
He waited patiently for her to keep going.
“Such an asshole.” she finally said, with a frustrated sigh, while walking faster away from him and his laughter. “I won't sign a thing. I'm already growing up too quickly for my liking.”
He didn't insist further and shrugged his shoulders. “As you wish.”
No other words were needed that night.