Legacies and Lies

All Aboard

Since that day, my sole purpose had been to follow my father—my captain—and carry out his every command, all in the pursuit of capturing the flying demon. After Pan took his hand, Father wasted no time replacing it with something far deadlier—a weapon unto itself—so he'd never be left defenseless again. Like him, I longed to see Pan's downfall. But unlike Father, I was often ordered to remain in the shadows.

It was a miracle that neither Pan nor his Lost Boys ever discovered me as I grew older. Father saw my ability to remain unseen as an opportunity, a secret weapon. With time, I became more involved with the crew, and as I honed my skills, my determination to succeed grew. Now, nearing my eighteenth year, I began to notice something—time was slowing for me. The passing years that once felt inevitable now seemed to stall, and I realized I was on the cusp of something my father and the crew had long embraced.

Immortality.

Soon, no more years would pass for me, and I'd be frozen in this moment, forever.

But youthful immortality came with its own set of consequences. Father saw my youth as a tool, a weapon to be used to further his goals. He never hesitated to find ways to harness it, using my appearance and my age to his advantage in ways that only someone as calculating as Captain Hook could imagine. And no matter how skilled or determined I became, I knew I'd always be a piece on his chessboard. A weapon he could wield however he pleased.

Tonight, I was playing a part I had played more recently of late. This was not my first trip back to the mainland, no. However, it always felt strange coming back, as if time sped up in this one particular area... The docks in London.

Father had sent me here with a purpose. Captain Hook was not a patient man, and I knew better than to return without fulfilling the task he had set for me. I was to find crewmen, able-bodied and loyal, to join the ship. And if I failed, well, I had no intention of finding out what punishment would follow.

The tavern was a haze of smoke and sweat, thick with the sounds of clinking mugs and the murmurs of conversations half-lost in the din. I paused at the door, taking in the scene before me—rough men, sailors mostly, with weathered faces and coarse laughter. The mainland had a different air than the sea; it was heavy, stagnant, and there was no rhythm to it, nothing like the familiar sway of the waves beneath a ship's deck. Being on solid ground nearly felt alien to me.

I let my gaze sweep over the room until I spotted them—two men sitting near the back, half-hidden in the shadows. The barkeep had mentioned them, speaking of their reputation as hard-workers. Good ones. The kind Father would want aboard.

I moved through the crowded tavern with ease, my skirts swishing lightly around my legs, my boots making little sound on the wooden floor. I'd learned long ago how to make an entrance without drawing too much attention—just enough to be noticed. As I neared the table, my eyes caught the more gruff one first. He was hard to miss: broad-shouldered, his straw colored hair messy and falling into his eyes, which gleamed with something sharp. He smirked when he saw me approach, leaning back in his chair as though already sizing me up. The smell of ale clung to the air around him, strong and pungent.

The other one, though, was different. He sat quietly, his eyes cast down, his hands wrapped around his mug like it was something precious. His dark hair fell over his forehead in a way that obscured part of his face, but there was something about him that tugged at the back of my mind. A vague memory. I couldn't place it yet.

I slid into the empty seat beside the dark haired one, leaning in slightly, just enough to catch both of their attention. I let my voice drop to a soft purr, the way I knew men liked to hear it when they thought they were being flirted with. "Gentlemen," I began, letting the word roll off my tongue slowly, "I couldn't help but notice you from across the room. You look like men who might enjoy a bit of adventure."