agatha harkness one-shots

✧ treasure found ✧

Captain Harkness marches angrily to her cabin. Bits of purple light seem to sparkle from her with each steady, noisy step. Her crew avoids running into her for their dear lives. A wise decision on their part, the woman is ready to throw them overboard without hesitation.

The expedition in Wakanda has been an absolute failure. One more added to the long list. She could have sworn the book was on that magnetic island, which seemed to call her the closer the ship sailed near its waters.

The Book of the Damaged was owned by the Captain during her youth. With it, she learned to master her powerful magic, absorbed knowledge about the dark arts, became one of the most talented witches ever known. Some years ago, an unfortunate event occurred, however. A witch from another coven took the book from her: Arcanna Jones stole it.

But that reckless woman then lost it.

There have been many rumors in recent years. Apparently, the book was stolen from Jones by nothing more than pirates. Some folks claimed that it was in the hands of various people after being sold several times, until the trail vanished. Since then, Harkness has been scouring every corner of the sea for years in search of it. And after so long, the book itself has shown her the way, has been calling her, yearning to return to the hands of its original owner...

Well, at least it was what she was so faithfully convinced of.

"Goddamn it!"

Once inside her cabin, she slams the door shut. The stronduous sound reaches the ears of absolutely the entire ship. After taking off and tossing her hat aside, the Captain paces from one corner of the cramped room to the other, her blood boiling. She was extremely certain that her insatiable quest would finally end today, that she would no longer have to resort to maps, organize voyages on the high seas or lead a crew of pirates. Bohner would be left in charge and she would return home, it was the plan! It was the whole plan!

"I'm so naive, so naive." She brings her hands to her face, completely frustrated.

The magic inside her is fighting to keep hold of her, to take the lead and tear the world to shreds. But she's not a teenager anymore. Self-control was a long, hard process and to lose it, right now, in this critical circumstance, would be a disaster. So Agatha forces herself to take a seat in her wooden chair-her throne, as she regularly jokingly calls it.

With her elbows resting on the desk and her eyes closed, she strokes both sides of her temple, trying to think of what's next. Just the mere thought of planning and organizing a new quest from scratch is exhausting. She's not-

Wait. There it is again. The glow.

Agatha's blue eyes snap open, and they immediately fall on a purple velvet bag lying on the side of her desk. Without a second thought, the witch cautiously slides the bag towards her, refusing to believe that it is what she senses it is. But then, her hand picks up the note that rested so finely on the velvet. Written in beautiful calligraphy is the following:

I hope it makes you happy, Captain. I really like it when you smile.

The internal havoc is completely extinguished. Her racing thoughts subside, like the ocean tide losing intensity. A smile takes shape on her face. One that only gets bigger as she opens the bag and now holds her precious Darkhold in her hands.

"I knew it..." She sighs in amazement, admiring the cover like the first time.

The book is here. It's indeed here. She can go back to her old life. But for some reason, the importance of such a thing remains, surprisingly, in the back seat for now. Agatha puts down the book to hold the note again, rereading the dedication over and over. How is something so simple causing her so much?