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By Hook or By Crook	By : OktoberBlack Category: M through R > Peter Pan > Het Views: 14972 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author’s Note:
First off, I don’t own any of the characters in Peter Pan. I do not make any money from them and never will. In the meantime, however, I do derive pleasure from them and shall continue to do so as long as I can.
Secondly, this is the first fanfic I’ve written in a year or so. I’ve written my first ever original novel and have submitted it to a publisher. Keep your fingers crossed if you will. The upshot is, however, that I’m not totally sure of the tone of this story. If, when I get there, you think my Hook doesn’t sound like Hook, or you think it’s a boring story… well, tell me. I think I need the feedback. I was into writing Harry Potter stories for years, so this is quite a change for me… in some ways. Anyway, I hope you like this, even though it’ll probably never be finished.

By Hook or By Crook (for want of a better name)
Chapter One: The Sinking

“More sushi, Ma’am?” The waiter hovered over me, a plate of maki in his hand.
“Um… no thanks,” I replied, and waved my chopsticks over my still fairly full plate. I glanced around the cruise ship’s dining room as he left, people watching to entertain myself as I ate.
“Good sushi, eh?” one of my dining companions said, and I nodded. I didn’t feel like trying to make conversation for yet another night.

I’d saved for this cruise vacation for a year but it hadn’t really lived up to my expectations. We’d sailed out of Florida and down into the Caribbean, with stops in the Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and the British Virgin Islands. We’d made our three scheduled stops down and now headed back to Florida, with more stops at the same islands on the way home. Each port of call had been nice enough, but too rushed—I had to run to make it back to the ship before it sailed without me. And I hadn’t really met anyone interesting on the ship at all. Most of the people on board were conservative older couples, who either talked down to me because I was younger than them (although at thirty, I’m not all that young) or shied away from me because I had tattoos. I don’t know what I’d expected.

Anyway, while the food was good, the stops pleasant, and the onboard activities fun enough, I’d been lonely for most of the trip simply because I had no one to talk to. I finished my sushi and excused myself from the table. We were expected to dress for dinner, but I didn’t like to, so I wore my usual jeans and a tank top, and got lots of evil looks for it. Ah conformity. I headed out to the deck for a smoke. I hugged my arms to me and wished I’d brought my leather jacket to ward off the chill wind. As I lit my cigarette with my Zippo, I looked out at the water. Behind us I could see the moon, bright, clear, and full in the night sky. Ahead of us, though… was that fog? That didn’t bode well. The foghorn blew three times as we headed straight into the fog. I stayed on deck. I smoked my cigarette and wondered how deep the fog went. Soon enough, I couldn’t see my own hands in front of my face. The tip of my cigarette glowed softly in the fog and I scowled. I probably should have headed back to my cabin, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to find my way.

Then the general alarm sounded.

I threw my cigarette over the side and turned to see if I could find my way to the meeting area designated for my part of the ship. There was no way I would make it. The ship gave a lurch and I slid sideways. My ribs struck the railing and I yelped with the impact.
“Shit! What the fuck is going on?” I exclaimed.
“The boat’s going down!” someone yelled from my left.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” I yelled back, and ran inside.

The lights flickered, people ran everywhere, and I had to fight to get back to my cabin. I refused to leave this boat without at least my jacket and bag. I scrambled with my key and fumbled the door open as the boat gave another lurch. I was thrown against the bulkhead hard enough to see stars as my head hit the wall. I paused and tried to clear my head, before I headed into the room to get my knapsack. I threw whatever I could find into my bag, grabbed my jacket, and ran out of the room without locking the door. Why lock a door on a sinking ship?

The deck was chaos. People ran everywhere, desperate to get onto the lifeboats. The ship’s personnel tried to organize us all into some kind of order. They handed out lifejackets to everyone who passed them. I grabbed a lifejacket and put it on over my leather jacket. There was a loud roar and a whistling sound, and the boat lurched again as if it’d been struck with something. People screamed as the boats were launched. Everywhere I turned people pushed other people aside as they ran for the remaining lifeboats. It looked like the cruise ship had done a titanic—there weren’t enough lifeboats for all of the passengers and crew. Everywhere I ran the boats were full and launched. The boat lurched again, and I was thrown hard against the railing. I caught myself against it as I felt a faint cracking in my ribs and my breath was knocked out of me. Then there was a huge roar, another whistling sound, and the boat lurched again. I was thrown clear over the railing and into the ocean.

I bobbed to the surface, my lifejacket supporting me in the cold water, my knapsack still in my hand. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Lifeboats moved swiftly passed me; dozens of oars pushed them through the chaotic waters as the cruise ship slowly, inexorably, sunk into the Caribbean Ocean. There was a single, final massive wave as it slid beneath the dark waters. Seawater washed over me and I struggled to stay above the surface. I swallowed a mouthful of water and coughed and choked, finally so freaked out that I passed out.

When I came to, I was alone on the water. The fog bank still hovered over the site of the sinking and the ocean was silent and calm. How we’d sunk in a silent, calm sea I had no idea but obviously it had happened. The lifeboats were gone; they’d left the area on their own power as soon as they’d launched. I wondered if the captain had actually gone down with the ship and then remembered seeing him in the first lifeboat they’d launched. I bobbed in the chilly water, and small wavelets washed me into the current. I hoped to god there weren’t any sharks in the waters around there. Then I wondered how long a person could survive in the waters of the Caribbean Ocean without any food or fresh water. I wondered again why the hell the ship had sunk. A light breeze sprang up out of nowhere and suddenly the fog lifted. The moon shone clearly in the night sky and I could hear the sound of voices across the water from behind me. I turned myself around in the water to try and see where the voices came from—could it be a lifeboat that hadn’t left the area?

“Hey! I’m over here! Help! I’m over here!” I shouted, raising a hand. It wasn’t a lifeboat. Just past where the cruise ship had gone down, I could make out the silhouette of some kind of old-fashioned tall ship, the sails unfurled. It was too dark to make out anything about the ship, but maybe it was one of those tall ships that sailed out of the Bahamas with tourists on them. “Hey! Over here!” I called out as loud as I could. There were torches on the deck of the ship. The voices grew louder as the ship drew closer to me.

“Grab hold of the rope!” a male voice called down to me. He sounded English. Maybe we were closer to the British Virgin Islands? I didn’t care. The ship was so close to me I could touch it as it slid past. A rope ladder flopped down the side of the ship. I grabbed it with one hand and wrapped it around my wrist. I slung my knapsack over my shoulder and grabbed hold with my other hand just as the rope ladder was pulled roughly up the side of the ship. I yelped with pain as I slammed into the side of the ship; my already cracked ribs screamed with the impact. I was dragged over the side of the tall ship. Male hands grabbed me and pulled me on board. I fell weakly onto the deck.

“It’s a woman,” another voice said as a face hovered over me. I looked up into the face of a man with spider webs tattooed all over his face. He was dressed… like a pirate.
“What the fuck?” I gasped. Then I gave up and let myself pass out again.
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By Hook or By Crook