Captain Hook

Coils of seaweed had wrapped itself around the three navy ships and the jolly roger. No one was going anywhere.

"Sea witch!" one of the navy soldiers cried. Ariel let him know how she felt by stuffing his mouth full of sea algae.

Ariel turned her attention to the one man who had managed to evade her spell. She pointed at Hook's ring, and gestured for him to give it to her. "I don't think so, love," the pirate captain replied. It was the first sentence he had said to her in days. "You see, this ring is the most powerful out of all the artifacts I have ever laid my hands on. I would rather give up all my other treasure than to lose this enchanting piece of jewelry."

Ariel wanted to strangle the guy. Unfortunately, all her magic was repelled by the ring he wore on his finger. The ring that was the key to saving her kingdom.

Hook sighed. "Follow me," he said quietly, walking towards the captain's cabin. Ariel hesitantly followed. There were a lot of dark artifacts in that room, and if Hook knew how to use any of them, Ariel was screwed. She was an average mermaid with decent powers over sea grass. Hook, on the other hand, was a skilled swordsman who had over two centuries' worth of experience.

Ariel followed Hook nonetheless.

Once Ariel had closed the door behind her, Hook began to speak.

"You saved my life. Why?" he asked, frowning. 'Because I wasn't about to let even a disgraced human such as yourself die, especially if there was something I could do about it,' Ariel thought.

Hook just smiled. "Morality issues, I'm guessing? Just like your mother," he muttered. Ariel's ears perked up.

"I suppose I can't keep it a secret from a curious soul such as yourself for too long, love," Hook said, bringing forth a box from one of the shelves he stored his magic artifacts in.

"Athena. That's your mother, isn't it?" Hook said, staring longingly at the box.Ariel nodded, hardly believing her ears. Queen Athena had been the love of Atlantis long before Ariel had been born. She had been a smart and righteous queen. Until she had been killed by- until she had been killed by a horde of pirates.

Ariel stared up at Hook in horror.

"It's not what you think, love," Hook said, getting up. Ariel immediately fell down backwards from her chair, with an expression of absolute fright and anger on her face.

Hook sighed, and sat back down. "That has been the reaction of every single mermaid I have ever encountered during the past two decades, you know that?" Hook said, staring at the box. "Either being frightened or attempting to rip my head off. I finally got one of the mermaids to talk. I asked her why she was so angry at me. And she told me. She told me that it was I who killed Athena, and that she wanted revenge."

Hook laughed sadly. Ariel slowly got up, not knowing what to think or say.

"I didn't kill Athena, Ariel," Hook said. "Why would I do that, when we were in love?"

Ariel's heart skipped a beat.

"That's right, love," Hook said. "I wasn't a magic collector from the start. Your mother and I loved each other. The problem was, she was married to a certain freak with anger controllment issues- your father. He saw us together, and knew that Athena was planning to leave him for me. Imagine how humiliated he must have felt. His queen, whom he thought he had given a perfect life to, running off with the species he so despised. On the night that Athena and I were to run away from Atlantis and start a new life in Neverland, Triton came up to us and confronted us. As he yelled, the sea's waves grew stronger around all of us. Lightning crackled and thunder rumbled. He directed his trident at my heart, and threw it. Athena jumped in front of me before either of us could stop her. Mermaids may be able to live a long time, but when they're impaled with a celestial weapon like a trident, they will die. I was furious at Triton for having killed the one I loved, and he blamed me for his wife's death. I wanted to kill him, I really did. But as angry as I was, I wasn't stupid. Triton was a primordial being, and to kill him, I would have to obtain some magic of my own."

Ariel's brain refused to comprehend any of this.

"That's why I started pillaging villages for magic, love," Hook said. "To find a weapon powerful enough to rid the world of Triton. And I finally found it, two years ago, in the realm of Shadows. But by then, it was too late. I received word that the king of Atlantis had been assasinated with his own trident at the hands of the sea witch Ursula. So now, I must move on with this part of my life and must start avenging another loved one's death- the death of my sister."

Ariel didn't move. Could she really trust this human? This pirate? Could she really trust his speech about how it had been her father that had killed her mother? Had Athena really been in love with Hook? Or was all this just a lie?

After a few seconds of thinking, Ariel brought forth a sheet of paper, and wrote, 'sister?'

"Yes, sister," Hook said. "And," he said, looking at Ariel, "I want you to help me find her."

Ariel stared at him.

Instead of waiting for a reply, Hook opened up the box he had taken out earlier and brought forth a beautiful necklace with a golden shell strung through it.

"This was a gift," Hook spoke. "From your mother to my sister. They were close friends, long before I'd even heard of the word 'mermaid'. You see, love, my family history is complicated."

Hook stared at the necklace in his hand. "I was born over two hundred years ago, as was my sister, Elena. Our mother died the day we were born, and our father was a horrible man who abandoned the both of us when my sister was thirteen and when I was ten. But the disappearance of our father didn't make us lose hope of having a future. I wanted to be part of the king's navy. Elena wanted to be part of his royal guard, being able to travel the world whenever the king went on trips to different kingdoms. After years of hard work, I got my dream job. Elena, unfortunately didn't. But then a better opportunity came her way- the king, who had seen her talent and skill, decided that the royal guard, which was crawling with obnoxious men, wasn't the place for her. He instead had her become the kingdom's first secret keeper. She could travel the world, like she had always dreamed about. She was sent to various places- dangerous places, that not even the bravest of men dared travelled to. She went to those dark and dangerous places, and always returned safely, with new information or artifacts ready to be delivered to the king. And on one of her missions, she met a mermaid named Athena."

"You'll recall that your mother had you and your sisters when she was well over two hundred years old," Hook said to Ariel. "This was long before she had met Triton. Anyways, Elena would always come back to the kingdom and tell me tales of a beautiful mermaid she had met near the edge of the black sea. The other navy soldiers would laugh it off as a joke, but I never did. I decided I had to meet this intriguing mermaid. And I did. We fell in love. I rushed back home to tell Elena everything- only to find that she had been murdered. This necklace," Hook said, holding up the golden shell necklace, "Was the last gift that your mother gave to my sister before she died. I want you to have it."

Not taking her eyes off of Hook, Ariel accepted the necklace. She immediately felt the ocean's power churning inside the seashell, desperate to open up and explode.

"The death of Elena tore me apart. I turned from a respected navy officer into a feared pirate captain. I searched a long time for my sister's murderer, with Athena by my side. We never found the murderer. I travelled to Neverland, the land where no one ever aged, and stayed there for a long time, only leaving occasionally to pillage and plunder villages in anger and stress. Then one day, exactly thirty years ago, I was stealing from a small village in your realm, when me and my mates came across a tavern. We went inside, and I was met with a familiar face."

Ariel looked at Hook, curious to know more. "My father," Hook said, gripping the edge of the table so hard that Ariel could see that his knuckels had turned white. "My father, who should have been dead decades ago, was standing right in front of me, tending as the barkeeper. He, like me, had somehow found a way to cheat death. I learned that he had a six year old boy, whom he had named Lane, after my sister. He begged me for his stupidity in his younger days, and apologized. But I couldn't hear anything. All I could think about was how unfair it was that Elena had died, yet this horrible man, who had abandoned us as little children, was still living and breathing and had a family of his own. That was when his boy, Lane, entered the bar, smiling. And then I drove a sword straight into my father's heart."

Stunned silence. If Hook really was telling the truth, Ariel couldn't blame him for killing his father. But doing it right in front of the old man's son- that was more than a little too harsh.

"Lane grew up to be a navy officer, and he has been hunting me down ever since. He even managed to jump across realms, once," Hook said, smiling grimly. "Your mother left me for a while after that murder. It was the first time I had ever killed someone. But nineteen years later, she returned, just a few months before you were to be born. I learned that she had had seven daughters. And although we both knew it was wrong, we both got swept up in the good memories. We were happy. Until, well, you know. Until your father-" Hook sighed, getting up.

"I'm a pirate, Ariel, and I hear things. Your home is dying. And I'll understand if you wish to spend the remainder of your miserable life there, in the murky city of Atlantis. In fact, we're nearing your realm right now. I won't surrender my ring to you, but if you ever feel like you want to lead a life of adventure and excitement, I'll be right here, waiting."

Ariel's heart fluttered. A lifetime of adventure. Hadn't that been the reason this whole mess had been created in the first place? Because Ariel had wanted adventure? Because she had wanted freedom? She hadn't gotten any of that. But maybe... But maybe, things could change now. Maybe, she could finally live a life she had always dreamed of living.

Ariel smiled. She knew what her choice was going to be.