In the Dark of the Night

One-Shot

After he had run from Merlin's tower, then vanished by use of his dark powers to get away from those who cared about him, Killian found himself standing on the edge of the cliff looking down and out over the vast ocean before him while the memories of his dark past as a slave suddenly came back to him at full force no matter what he did to try to push them back into the corners of his mind. However, the darkness within him consumed him, as the entity forced its host to remember once more the night the Sorcerer had first appeared to him so, so long ago.

Over two hundred years ago…

In the early hours of the morning one night about six months after he and his older brother had been forced into slavery by their father under Captain Silver's command, most of the pirates aboard the Captain's ship had become passed out cold after a night of merriment and drunkenness, having spent earlier that evening within their current port's taverns.

Upon finally finishing their chores assigned to them, the brothers Jones were at last free to go down to bed in their confines within the ship's brig. However, while Liam… the older of them allowed himself to fall asleep upon being exhausted due to lack of sleep and working all day every day just as Killian was, the younger Jones by about six years chose then to run again despite his own weariness, like he had several times before in hope of escaping the life of slavery under such a cruel taskmaster.

Killian wanted to wake his brother and plead with him to come with him, but Liam had made it abundantly clear more than once that escape from their life was nothing more than a foolish dream until one day they would be able to buy their own freedom. However, Killian couldn't wait. The truth was he was terrified of Silver and the pirates because Killian was always the one who was on the constant brunt end of their cruelty despite Liam's efforts to protect him the best he could.

As much as it pained him, Killian knew that Liam would never agree to run away with him, but his fear overpowered his sense of loyalty and love for his brother. So, the ten year old boy ran, as fast and as far away from the pirates' ship as he was able however exhausted and weak from hunger and thirst he was.

When he finally arrived in port, Killian walked cautiously through the streets looking for any kind of food he could easily steal to eat, since he had no money to his name in which to pay for it. Soon he came upon a vendor's cart piled high with apples and fruits of all kinds, then the young boy looked towards the man who owned the cart. When the vendor became distracted by another cart vendor as they argued over business troubles, Killian reached out to grab an apple from the cart while he prepared himself to take off running to escape before he could be caught for stealing. However, the moment his hand touched the apple, he suddenly heard his name being called out from somewhere behind him and Killian immediately pulled his hand back without taking the fruit, then quickly backed away several feet from the vendors in fear as he looked around for any sign of the person calling out to him.

Killian's immediate fear was that Captain Silver had sent a few of his crewmen to find and bring him back to the ship to be punished for running away once more, as they always punished him for trying to escape several times before. However, if it was a member of the pirate crew, they would have called him something other than by his own given name. Something cruel such as whelp, pissant, bastard, etc... They were always sure to show to Killian just how worthless he was and sadly the ten year old boy believed them wholeheartedly. Though not so much because of their name calling, but because his and Liam's father had despised them enough to abandon them, as he sold him and his brother to these pirates for a mere rowboat just so Brennan Jones could try to escape the law chasing after him for thievery.

Instead, Killian saw another man standing before him, a man he didn't recognize in the slightest. The man was wearing an elegant long and heavy cloak, black and gold in color with a hood that was pulled up over his head until the stranger cautiously pulled it down so that the boy could see his face as he spoke to him.

"Do not be afraid, Killian," the man said to him once more. "I promise you, I didn't come here to hurt you. I have come here to warn you."

"Warn me?" the boy questioned while he stared up at him in confusion. "I don't understand. Who are you? And how do you know who I am?"

The stranger knelt down in front of him as he answered quietly, "I'm afraid that is a question I cannot answer just now, but I do know who you are and one day… One day we will meet again, Killian. Only when that time comes, you will be much older and caught within the biggest fight for your life. I warn you, do not pull Excalibur from the stone. Doing so will only lead to pain and suffering for you and all those you love. Do not remove the sword from its stone."

Killian spoke again in frustration as he curtly responded, "I don't know about any sword in some stone. I'm surely not who you think I am. I'm nothing but a slave without a future and the only person I love is my brother. I can't help him now, but I'm going to try to learn to be brave and to fight to become strong so I can someday find and rescue him from the monster who owns us too."

"I wish I could assure you there is more to you than you believe, but…" the man in the cloak replied as he slowly rose back to his feet again, until he was then cut off when three of the pirates from Silver's crew suddenly appeared behind Killian.

"There you are!" one of the crewmen shouted angrily as they grabbed Killian roughly by his arms and began to drag him away despite his efforts to break away from them.

Killian began to kick and scream as he cried out, "No… Let me go! Please! I'm not going back! Please… don't. Let go of me!"

The terrified young boy then turned back to the stranger again while he pleaded, "Help me! Please… I can't go back there! They'll beat me and kill me! Do something! Please!"

However, despite Killian's pleas for help, the man didn't move except to turn his head as he watched in despair while the cruel men dragged the boy away so they could return him to the ship where he would be punished for trying to escape once again as he said he would be, until the stranger suddenly vanished as though he was never there except for in the form of a ghost.

A short time later…

When the pirates dragged Killian between them back onboard their ship, most of the crew were still passed out drunk across the entire deck as they walked through the bodies of their men in order to make their way down below to the Captain's quarters, where Silver and the older Jones brother were both waiting for Killian to be brought in.

"Killian!" Liam cried fearfully for his brother when the men dragged him inside, then suddenly forced the small boy down to the floor on his knees and held him there before Captain Silver, who rose from the chair behind his desk to walk around to stand above the younger of his two slaves. "Captain, Sir… Please don't hurt him. My brother was foolish to try to run away again. I know that, but he was only afraid. Whenever the crewmen wake up after getting this drunk, they always take their rage for their drinking sicknesses out on us, especially out on Killian. If you need to punish anyone, punish me. Please. He won't run away ever again."

"You're right, Jones," Silver answered in a cruel, yet smug tone as he reached out and roughly grabbed Killian's hair to force his head back to get him to look up into his eyes, while the boy cried out painfully upon him doing so. "He won't ever run away again. Because if he ever does try again, I will be forced to kill you in front of him to show him that I will not stand for his constant defiance and foolish dreams of being free any longer. He will never be free because he's too weak. He's a worthless little shit who wasn't even worth anything to his own father. Say it, Liam. Tell this whelp just what you think of him."

The taller Jones six years older than the younger of them looked towards the ship's Captain in surprise, then turned back to Killian again and in hope of sparing his brother the pain of being beaten, he sadly responded, "Killian is worthless. Just as you said, Sir. He never should have been born. If he hadn't… If he hadn't, our mother would still be alive and I wouldn't be trapped in a life of servitude."

Liam turned his head away from Killian in shame when his little brother looked up at him with tears in his eyes that began to fall down his cheeks until he too turned away as he looked down at the floor in front of him when the men still holding suddenly yanked him back up to his feet again upon Silver motioning for them to do so.

The pirate leader clapped Liam on his back to show he was impressed by the young man's own cruelty towards his brother, then he spoke again to Killian saying, "What did I tell you, boy? Even your own brother thinks you're worthless. He might care about you, but at least he knows what you really are."

"Gentlemen… take him back to the brig and lock him up in the cell," Silver continued when he looked between his men standing in front of him waiting for further orders. "He's to remain locked up for ten days. He will go without anything to drink for two days, and without food until I say he's free to eat again. On second thought… first, take him back up on deck and bind him to one of the masts, then break one of his ankles so that he'll think twice about trying to run again. Take a club and beat him until his back and legs are bloodied and bruised, then drag him back down into the brig. Just be careful not to kill him. He may be worthless, but he's still a slave that will do whatever it is I want him to do. Do you have a problem with this, Liam?"

"No, Sir," the older Jones lied, as his heart broke for his brother knowing there was nothing he could do to save him from the physical pain that was to come, then watched as the pirates dragged Killian up to the deck as they were ordered to do. "What is it that you want from me? Will it be all right if I care for him once he's brought down to the brig?"

The Captain smiled smugly and then responded, "Of course. You may tend to his wounds, so long as you don't give him any rum to help with his pain. He needs to learn to respect me, Liam. Because if he doesn't, his life will continue to be full of misery and anguish unlike anything he's seen yet. Do you understand?"

Liam nodded as he replied, "Of course I do. Am I dismissed?"

"You are," Silver answered, then watched as Liam left his quarters to follow after the others.

Even though it pained him to watch as the crewmen awake despite their drunkenness beat his little brother with their clubs and sticks over and over, listening to Killian cry out in pain when they did so, Liam stayed up on deck and remained close by. It was a punishment the older Jones gave himself for the cruelty he showed towards Killian earlier when those horrible words he said to him down in the Captain's quarters spilled from his mouth. He certainly didn't mean them and he told himself he only said them to try to spare his brother this pain he was suffering now, but Liam also knew that deep down a part of him must have believed them. Otherwise, the words wouldn't have come to his mind so easily. And the realization killed him. That a part of him could think those things about his own brother who looked to him to keep him safe and alive, and who loved him as much as a brother could love a brother.

During the beatings, Killian did cry out, though not for his brother, but because he was in so much pain. Blood spilled from welts and deep gashes that opened up across his back and his legs as the strikes kept coming over and over again until finally the hits stopped when the ten year old boy was on the verge of unconsciousness. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of his torture, as one of the men came up behind Killian and knelt down as he reached out to grasp his ankle, then suddenly snapped the bone as he had been ordered to do until it broke.

It was in that moment when Liam couldn't take their abuse on his brother any longer, as he charged forward and struck the pirate who had hurt Killian last with as much force as he could until he was immediately yanked off of the man by two of the other crewmen before he could continue to beat him.

"Leave him be!" Silver quickly said, having come up from below deck shortly after his slave's punishment had begun himself, as he immediately stopped the pirate Liam struck from retaliating before he could. "Cut the bastard down, then take him to the brig as you've been ordered to do."

While they followed his orders, the pirate captain then walked over to stand in front of the older Jones as he was still being held between the two men and continued, "I'm disappointed in you, Liam. I thought you had better control than that."

Liam glared at him as he angrily retorted, "You're the real bastard here! You and your men! Why do you have to be so cruel? Killian's just a child who's terrified and rightly so. He doesn't deserve this kind of cruelty."

"He does deserve it!" the Captain shouted, then suddenly backhanded Liam hard across his face for going against him. "Both you and your brother are worth nothing because no one in this world cares for you. I thought you understood that."

"We care enough for each other and that's all that matters," the older brother responded resolutely. "I didn't stand up for Killian before and I'm ashamed of myself for those words I said to him in your quarters. But I won't ever make that mistake again. I'll do whatever it takes to prove to Killian that I love and care about him. That's something you can't and won't ever break me of. No matter how much you beat me or torture me as you have Killian."

Silver simply glared at him, then finally looked at his men still holding him and commanded, "Bring him down into the brig and lock him up with his brother. I told him he could tend to the pissant. I won't have one of my slaves dying on me. Death is too good for him. As for Liam, he's to remain down there for five days, two of which will be without food. He can have as much water to drink as he needs. So long as he doesn't give any to his brother."

He turned back to Liam again as he added, "One of my men will remain outside of your cell at all times to keep their eyes on the two of you in order to enforce my demands. If you try to give the boy any of your food and water, you will be punished as well far worse than what you're about to be. And so will he. Do you understand me, Jones?"

"I understand," the sixteen year old replied darkly, then was dragged away and thrown into the brig as well, as he immediately rushed over to Killian who was barely conscious, then pulled him into his arms.

When Liam tried to get Killian to look at him, he weakly turned away from him and the older brother knew that he was hurt far worse by the words he had spoken to him than even the physical pain he was now suffering from as well. So, Liam just got to work in tending to his wounds received in his beating using the fresh water and bandages thrown at him through the bars shortly after he was brought down himself.

"I know that you can't believe this right now, little brother," the older Jones whispered to Killian sadly. "But I am so sorry for those words I said to you. I didn't mean them. And I promise you I will spend the rest of our lives together trying to prove it to you. You're going to be alright. We both will. I love you, Killian. I swear, I always will."

Killian finally turned his head back around as best as he could so he could look up into his brother's eyes and suddenly embraced him despite feeling so weakened from his pain. Liam held him back and listened as his brother cried softly, wishing he could do more for him. But at least he knew now that Killian had forgiven him and for now that was enough.

The End