Midnight's POV
I waited on the shore of the healer's camp, the cold wind blowing through my deer-skin dress. I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing the goose bumps on my skin. The sun was just beginning to rise, sending its rays shooting across the red sky, red with the blood about to be spilt.
I knew that there would be casualties and wounded. I knew that my sister would need my help if she ever thought that she would be able to survive this insane battle.
I knew that she thought that I was weak. I couldn't fight or hunt like her. Unlike my sister, I was born on this island. Grandmother told me that the island gifted me the ability to heal instead of destroy, something that Tiger Lilly, though clever as she was, would never quite understand.
She was born on Earth, the ground teaching her to be hard, strong, firm and brave. She knew her way and the path at which she was sent by the gods. I was different, hence she dismissed me as beneath her.
However, unlike what I told my sister, I knew that Vincent was alive. I did love that owl-faced boy with his strange skin and yellow hair. He was unlike any man that I had ever seen.
I don't know why I didn't tell Jill that Vincent was alive. Perhaps it was greed, or maybe it was jealousy. Something in my gut told me not to. I tried to convince myself that the shock wouldn't be good for her and that she needed time, but it was no use.
When I heard that Jill had run off and gotten captured, I knew that it was my fault.
I knew that he would never love me the way that he loved her.
On the night that Vincent was shot, I knew that something was wrong. A voice came to me and woke me from my slumber. The island herself was speaking to me, telling me where to go and to bring Penta with me, along with my healers basket. We traveled through the jungle and found a boat that took us to the black castle.
We went up into the caves and watched as Hook shot Vincent. As soon as the pirates cleared away we ran over to him and I found that, though faint as it was, his heart was still beating.
I wept for joy and thanked the goddess of the island.
We gathered him up and took him over to the jungle caves where I knew he would be safe. We set him up on a matt of banana leaves and dug the bullet out of his chest before dressing his wounds. Before I left he started talking in his sleep.
"Jill?" he asked, his voice faint, "Jill!"
I never thought that such a small word could break my heart so easily.
At that moment, I knew that he would always call out to her instead of me. I could see it in the way that his eyes lit up when she walked in the room and the way that a sideways smile always danced across his face whenever he talked about her. Yet even though I knew he would never love me like he loved her, I still hoped beyond hope that he would change.
I was such a fool.
Tears streamed down my face as I prayed to the goddess that helped me save Vincent to help Jill would make it back safely so that I could tell her all that I did wrong.
I also prayed that she wouldn't hate me once it was over.
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Jill's POV
Peter and I flew through the air just as the indians began their first assault. The pirates yelled in surprise as they scrambled to dodge arrows and spears. Some of the men jumped into the water to try and escape but they didn't last long because the mermaids tore them to pieces.
I held Peter close, laughing as the wind whipped through my hair and loosened it from all the pins that Christine had put into it.
"I knew you would come for me," I said with a smile, that then turned to a frown as I slapped him in the face, "And you really shouldn't have!"
"Ow!" he yelped, "I just saved your life and this is the thanks I get?!"
I leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "Thank you."
When we made it back to shore, a huge crowd of lost boys waited for us, each of them wearing their own set of fairy armor. Tears came to my eyes as they engulfed me in hugs.
"Welcome back Mum!"
"We missed you Mumzy!"
"Please don't leave us again!"
"I missed you so much!"
"Me too!"
"Me three!"
"Not as much as me!"
"No, I missed her the most!"
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did!"
"You both are absolute dolts if you think that either of you missed her more than me!"
I gave them each a kiss on the forehead, doing a head count as I did. Pudge jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around my waist.
"Hello there little one!" I said, "Can you tell me where Slightly, Jax, Curly, and Freckles are?"
"They're helping out the Indians with the primary assault- whatever that means!" he said, "I'm not going to be fighting today. Peter says that I'm going to be helping out Midnight Lilly on the sidelines. I'm so glad that you're back! I missed you so much!"
"I'm glad to be back where I belong," I said, hugging him tightly and then swinging him to the ground.
"Hey Jill!" Said Peter, "There's someone here to see you."
I turned around and my heart stopped beating.
"Vin?" I asked, "Is that you?"
It looked exactly like him, the same blonde hair and steely blue eyes. He smiled that same sideways smile that he always did whenever he saw me.
The boys parted and let me through. I touched the side of his face, "You're real?"
"In the flesh," he replied.
Tears of joy brimmed in my eyes, but very suddenly my joy turned to rage and to everyone's surprise, I punched him square in the face.
I tackled him to the ground, punching him in the chest over and over again.
"HOW DARE YOU!?" I screamed, tears streaming down my face as I got up and kicked him in the gut, "I MOURNED YOU! I saw you DIE! I cried for days! How could you do this to me!?"
I went to hit him again but I tripped forward on top of him and Vinny pulled me into a massive bear hug. He held on to me while I broke down and sobbed, my anger quickly ebbing away until all that was left was unbridled joy.
"I missed you so much!" I cried.
"I missed you too."
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A couple minutes later, Peter brought me over to the fairies. There were about five or six of them in a tent on the edge of the tree line.
"They're going to give you your armor," he explained.
I frowned, "I'm not going to have to fight in a dress, am I?"
"We planned for that," he replied, "We figured that Hook would make you change into something else."
A small fairy approached me with a bag of purple dust.
"This is a very special kind of dust that will give you a set of clothing," she explained, going to hover above my head, "Just envision what you normally wear in your mind and the dust will do the rest. You might feel a slight tingling sensation."
I watched as the fairy poured the dust on top of my head and purple shimmers cascaded down in front of me and landed on the ground below. As soon as they touched the ground, vines began to grow up from the earth and up my legs. The vines grew up underneath the corset, breaking the ties one by one until they reached over my chest and along my arms. I sighed with relief as the corset and dress fell away but I also felt extremely exposed, considering the only thing covering me up was vines. I felt a whole lot better when the vines melted together and became fabric.
When the whole thing was said and done, a pair of brown trousers adorned my legs and black boots covered my feet. The trousers were the most comfortable things I had ever worn. They felt like they had been made for me, fitting me perfectly in every way. In addition to that I wore a thick, leather vest with a loose, white corset and a new white blouse underneath. A pair of leather braces just like the ones that Peter had adorned my wrists and a black belt encircled my hips.
I reached up and touched my hair and found that the vines had woven it into a complex, braided knot going down my back, the whole thing being held together by vines.
"This is incredible!" I exclaimed, walking around and testing out my new boots.
"That's not all," said Peter, handing me a long object wrapped in thick, brown burlap. Tink appeared on his shoulder, looking down at me with excitement.
I unwrapped it and gasped. It was the most dazzling sword I had ever seen. It looked as though the metal adornments on the handle had been grown into swirling, intricate designs. The blade itself shimmered like a diamond in the sunlight, glinting with stars as it moved.
"It's so beautiful!" I breathed, taking in the weapon's absolute brilliance.
"Tink made it for you," he said with a smile, "It was made with pixie dust so the blade will never rust or get dull."
"Oh, Tink!" I cried, cupping the tiny fairy in my hands and kissing her little head, "Thank you so much!"
Tink glowed a bright pink and hugged my cheek. I never thought that Tink would do something so amazing as this.
A sparrowman zipped in and whispered something in Peter's ear.
"Oberon would like to meet you," he said, "He's going to be leading the fairies in the assault."
A sparrow man swooped in on the back of a magpie and landed on Peter's shoulder. The bird croaked as the sparrow man got off.
"My name is Oberon of the Fast-Flying Fairies," he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"You as well," I replied, "Thank you for helping us."
"It's our pleasure," he said, "When Pan said he needed our help, we knew we could not refuse. Unfortunately, we don't have any more time for pleasantries. Now, we must depart."
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"Come on," said Peter, "I'll show you."
He grabbed my hand and we flew out of the tent and into the sky. That's when I saw it; just behind the tree line, there was a giant ship.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah!" he laughed, "Isn't it cool?"
Cool was an understatement. It looked like the entire thing had been grown right out of the ground, strong branches and roots weaving together to form solid pieces. The sails were made out of long leafy mats of strong moss and the masts were great trees. I felt the deck beneath my feet as I landed, unsure of how it was going to be. It felt solid and strong, just like any sea ship would feel.
"This is amazing!" I exclaimed.
"I know right?" said Peter, walking up the stairs to the bridge where Vinny was waiting for us at the helm, "Everyone else is on board."
"But how are we going to get into the water?" I asked.
He smirked, "Who said anything about water?"
"TAKE OFF!!" yelled Vinny.
Suddenly the boat shook and glowed beneath us. There was a huge rumbling sound as the roots beneath the boat snapped and the boat began to levitate up into the air.
"No way!" I exclaimed.
In mere seconds we were looking over the treetops and we could see the ocean in the distance.
"LOOSE THE SAILS!"
A chorus of lost boys yelled, "Loose the sails!" as they scrambled to do what they were told. The sails fell loose and filled with wind. With a jolt, we began soaring through the air, catching the strong air currents in the sky as we headed out to sea.
"There's the Jolly Roger!" I exclaimed, looking down at the waves below.
"And there are the Indians!" said peter, looking through his tiny telescope, "It looks like they're putting up a good fight but there's too many pirates for them to get on board."
"Good thing we're here to help!"
Suddenly a loud boom rocked through the air and the boat jolted to the side.
"What was that?!" yelled the twins, grabbing on to each other as another boom blew through the air.
"They're firing on us!" said Tommy, "What are we going to do?!"
"Keep moving forward!" said Vinny, and then yelled, "READY THE SLING SHOTS!"
Six of the boys disappeared below deck and reemerged with what looked like three giant sling shots that mounted to the side of the boat with two boys at each one. Then they went below and got large rocks to fire down on the pirates below.
"READY?" yelled Vinny.
"READY!" yelled the boys.
"FIRE AT WILL!"
"FIRE!"
"BOMBS AWAY!"
"GERONIMOOO!!"
I watched as the projectiles sailed through the air. Two hit the water while only one of them actually hit the Jolly Roger.
The boat rocked again as another two shots landed beneath us.
"LOOK OUT!" Vinny tackled me to the deck just as a cannon ball smashed through the spot I had been standing in moments before.
"We're taking too many hits!" said Peter, talking to some very frantic-looking fairies, "At this rate we won't be able to stay in the sky for much longer!"
"We're going to have to abandon ship," I said.
"Then how are we going to fight the Jolly Roger?" said Tommy, "It's too big!"
"I didn't say we were going down without a fight," I smirked, and turned to the crew, "CEASE YOUR FIRE AND SECURE ALL RIGGING! TIE THE SAILS! I NEED ALL AVAILABLE FAIRIES!"
Vinny groaned, "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
I smirked mischievously, "We're going to ram the Jolly Roger."
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Dear reader,
Thanks for being so patient while I frantically updated this chapter. It means so much to me that you guys waited and came back to read the rest of it.
From now until the end I'm going to try really hard to get the next chapters up so that you guys can read it.
You guys are truly the best fans in the world and it means so much to me that you like this book. Love you guys so much!!!
This chapter is dedicated to predacon127 (aka, Rocket) for her amazing comments and overall hysterical input! You go girl!
See you next chapter!
Your fellow reader and writer,
Laura