A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 3.8 - Luke

When the thicket finally broke open to reveal the sandy beach, an audible, weary groan escaped her. But when her eyes fell on the men with torches and weapons, her body immediately tensed again and she tried to back away - but bounced against the chest of the man behind her, forcing Hook to push her forward the next step. The instinct to back away from danger. But she had no choice, anything else would be an illusion. Hook led her through the rows of snarling and menacing men to a dinghy where the waves were breaking. By now fog had rolled in, wafting down to the beach and enveloping everything in an eerie atmosphere.

One of the pirates approached them, and Luke could see first astonishment and then coldness in the man's eyes, which in the darkness of the night looked as black as a demon's. Nevertheless, each of the freebooters liked the man. Still, any of the privateers, ghastly figure they might make, scarred or grim, paled beside Hook. Rough hands immediately set about disarming her first - she still carried her saber on her hip, which he now unsheathed and tossed almost carelessly into the back of the boat. For a moment, uneasiness and panic showed in her features as he reached out to pat her down for more weapons. Hurriedly, her heart jolted, making her briefly dizzy and the blood drains from her limbs.

How exactly would he frisk her? What if he patted her down and noticed her secret?! Her thoughts rolled over... but fortunately, his hands slid only superficially along her silhouette. Stiff from the fright that had swept her head blank, her steps wobbled as she was pushed toward the dinghy. There were scratch marks here and there in the wood on the sides of the small boat with its swaying lantern, which had been lashed to a long pole and hooked into a hook. Sirens or mermaids, popped into her head, and the sinking feeling in her stomach got worse when she thought about paddling across the sea now. But she didn't have long to hesitate as she stepped forward into the swaying dinghy and was pushed down onto the damp bottom. She couldn't stop her fingers from digging more convulsively first into the red fabric, then searching for a hold on the edge of the boat. The tip of her nose turned a touch paler as she pressed her lips together to depress the sensation that took her in.

She could not just jump into the water. There the sirens or crocodiles, which were now already startled by the fight, would catch her too quickly. She couldn't rely on the fact that the beasts had already eaten their fill and therefore wouldn't bother her. Besides... she was anything but a good swimmer. So this escape option fell like overripe fruit. If the Jolly Roger had now docked at Hook's pirate camp at the home port there in Cannibal Cove, the only way ashore (again) was through the midst of the pirates. Trapped by the pirates. This time, however, she would be alone and an easy target. So that, too, was unlikely.

She was captured, taken back to the ship, and then there was Hook. This was bad in more ways than one, and for the life of her, she didn't know how to maneuver her way out of this situation.
The boat was pushed into the water by three pirates who hurriedly jumped inside after only a few steps in the waves. Saltwater sloshed in with them, collected at the bottom of the boat, which swayed wildly until it had brought itself back into position a little under the powerful pulls of the paddles. Feeling her stomach rebel, she pressed her lips together and reminded herself that there were worse things than seasickness now.

"Let's see how much you're worth to your holy Pan. I bet he doesn't even know your name."(Hook)

She was so lost in thought that she flinched at the voice near her ear. She gave Hook a flaming but piercing look. If looks could hurt, no doubt a blade would have hit him now.
"What do you know!" She gritted out between clenched teeth. However, it was only the anger that was supposed to hide the fact that.... his words actually hit her. Peter knew who she was. He knew who Luke was because he himself had brought him to Neverland. Him- and Jake, her brother, because she had insisted that she would not leave without him.

Peter Pan had... saved her.
Not from a simmering death like many others, but he had also rescued her from a world that was slowly but surely suffocating her. A slow, creeping death in a different way that could be torturous and agonizing in the same way. He had taken her from the dirty streets of London, where she hauled boxes for a pittance until her fingers bled. From sunrise to sunset, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. From a life where Jake had to sell himself so that together they had enough pennies to get by... and all while her mother, broken by her family's fall from her high pedestal, got drunk to the point where her suitors just had to mount her.
If her mother had had her way, Lucienne - the girl she had been, growing up sheltered until her world fell apart - should have given herself away the same way. Taken like a bitch, again and again for the few pounds her mother subsequently drank away anyway. She owed it to Jake that she didn't have to. And she didn't address to this day, out of respect and guilt, what HE had paid so dearly for them to survive.

Peter Pan had taken her here. Into this world of color, of wonder. From the first moment, his eyes and his smile had captivated her in a way ... and yes, she probably would have followed him anywhere. Forgetting that damned time was so tempting that she would have willingly thrown Neverland's memories down as a sacrifice. If that was the price, she would pay it laughing! The sting stung painfully, driving under her heart valve and pressing that she knew SHE, on the other hand, was certainly nothing special to Peter. One of the many. One of the lost, like everyone else in the little horde at Hangman's Tree. She probably hadn't stood out to him among the others once he'd dropped her off here in this new nest. He was the Sun, around whom everything revolved among the lost.

She...? She was just Luke. She pressed her lips together so tightly that it almost hurt, while her throat tightened. The possibility that Peter had already forgotten her, that he didn't even know her name anymore, existed. And she was not uninvolved in it. For she had deliberately kept to the sidelines and always tried not to attract attention. Her brother was someone who could stand well in front of the spotlight, while she kept in his shadow. And rarely did anyone like to pay attention to the little brother behind Jake when he was causing enough chaos in front of her. What was SHE worth? A Pip who didn't belong yet and had been caught in the first raid on the pirates.
Would... the loss just tick her off?
Would Peter shrug his shoulders and... leave her to her fate?
No... no! Hook was lying. It was a lie meant to unsettle her. And she was not allowed to doubt.
"You don't even know what trust or friendship means, do you?" she gritted bitterly, wrinkling her nose. Her gaze slid back. To the beach, the dark forest above the colossus of the mountain, and up into the sky.
Pan would come.
In that... she had to believe.
He just had to come.
'Please... PLEASE, Peter.'