Ahoy, Kiddway shippers! I got plenty of inspiration from Tumblr blogs, such as assassinscreedconfessions and kiddway-headcanons (which I believe has changed since I wrote this). Do check those out if you haven't already done so. Along with Kiddway, this fic will focus on the build-up of some of Edward's relationships with his other friends, which I felt was lacking in the game (the ending was touching, but if there had been more of a growth in the characters and their relationships, it would have been even more emotionally powerful). The majority of the fic will concentrate on the lovely Kiddway, though. I wrote a prologue for y'all that's probably more exciting than this chapter, but I won't be releasing it until later. I know I should start stories off with more of a bang, but I promise the "prologue" will be more powerful this way.
Assassin's Creed belongs to Ubisoft. I'm simply using my imagination and inspiration from the creative minds of others to write about series like this. Like most fans, I can only wish it belonged to me. But no. It doesn't.
Inspired by canon events and characters, this work of fanfiction was designed, developed, and produced by a multicultural person influenced by various faiths and beliefs.
Prologue - December, 1712
Looking out at the vast waters and skillfully crafted ships before him at the white sands of Nassau, Edward Kenway wondered if he had a sufficient amount of Spanish reales to splurge on drinks at the renowned Old Avery tavern. He and some fellow privateers had been planning for a while to meet at the place that day, when all the ships they served for would be docked at Nassau. Having arrived early, perhaps just before midday, Edward decided to go ahead and investigate the tavern as he waited for his friends to arrive.
A grand venue, he noted as he made his way up the staircase and to the bar. "I'll have meself some of your finest rum," he said rather assertively to the middle-aged bartender behind the counter. He slammed several coins of reales onto the polished wood.
After giving a nod of thanks to the man for the rum, Edward had barely turned around and took a step when he ran into a man a tad shorter than him, causing him to spill a large portion of his rum and drenching them both in expensive rum. Pulling away, a startled Edward looked down at his now soaked privateer uniform, and then at the other man. Taking a closer look, Edward noticed he was actually more of a lad, being slight in figure and giving off a somewhat rebellious aura.
"Pardon, mate," the boy said in a biting voice, almost sarcastically. Edward was rather put off by his unapologetic manner. So he roughly placed his free hand on the young man's chest and shot him an unforgiving scowl: "Watch it, lad."
"Watch it? Watch yerself instead o' yer drink," the boy responded in an irritated tone as he swiftly parried Edward's hand and shoved him away, knocking the other man out of balance until he slammed into a table.
"Oh, you're looking for a fight, eh?" Edward threatened. He took one gulp of the nearly empty mug and placed it on the table he bumped into. Then, he positioned himself into a fighting stance, and urged the defiant boy to come at him. By now, most of the people in the surrounding area were watching the two, intrigued.
"If ye insist," the young man leered back as he, too, took an offensive pose. The pair circled one another as other customers, not wanting to take part in the brawl, backed off. Edward then aimed a blow to the boy's bandana-covered head.
Prompt in his thinking, the boy deflected Edward's arm, just as he did not a minute ago, grabbed hold of it, and twisted it behind the blonde, eliciting a momentary whimper out of him. Edward used his free elbow to attack his opponent, and, yet again, somehow failed to land a hit. The younger man kicked the backs of both of Edward's knees, causing the both of them to crash onto the floor planks. Edward toppled over with one arm still twisted behind him, the other arm landing by his head, his face turned to the side. The next thing he knew, the boy was straddling his back, effectively pinning him down, and he felt a sharp pinch at his neck. A blade? He briefly wondered how the young man could get one out so quickly. And with one hand!
"Some accomplished tactics ya got there, lad. S'pose ya got me." Bloody bastard. If I'd only kicked backwards while I tried to elbow him… would that even work?
The crowd cheered for the young man and his victory, making Edward cringe more than his twisted arm did.
"Tch. Yer buyin' me drinks, man," the boy teasingly hissed with a smirk before letting go of his arm and getting off his back. By the time Edward got up, he noticed the lad didn't have a weapon that could produce that pinch to his neck. There was something magical about the kid.
Edward reluctantly paid for the young man's rum, and said boy sipped gleefully, watching citizens and visitors of Nassau go about their business. Edward's own beverage long gone (and saving his money for the gathering later), the defeated privateer cleared his throat and attempted to make conversation, "So what's your name, lad?"
"Kidd. James Kidd."
"Like ol' Cap'n Kidd?"
"Like ol' Cap'n Kidd."
"Don't reckon there's any relation?"
"Me father. Or so me mum'd claim before her end."
Edward felt a pang of something like guilt as he realized Kidd was telling him of his illegitimate birth and that his mother, a loose woman in all probability, was long gone… rendering the boy an orphan. "Ah."
"An' yers?"
"Hmm?"
"Yer name."
"Ah!" Edward realized that he hadn't yet introduced himself, "Kenway. Edward James Kenway."
"Ah? We got a name'n common, Mr. Kenway," Kidd noted with a sly smile.
Edward pursed his lips and nodded uncomfortably. The atmosphere wasn't much less tense, yet Kidd softened his eyes and smiled genuinely, putting down his mug and stretching a welcoming hand towards the blonde.
"'Tis a pleasure to meet ye, Edward James Kenway."
He's taunting me, Edward thought at once. But looking deeper into the boy's warm, brown eyes, he couldn't help but feel otherwise. He relaxed himself, took the hand, and firmly shook it: "An' to you as well, Kidd."
Edward settled that he rather appreciated the company of this interesting James Kidd, difficult as the orphan boy had been, and invited him to his get-together.
By the afternoon, Edward's mates had showed up at the tavern, and soon, they were enjoying light-hearted banter.
What 'bout ye, Kenway?", questioned the young lad, James Kidd, in his thick accent. "Got some amusin' tale yer dyin' to tell the lot of us?"
The rest of the privateers at the table, one of them called Edward Thatch, one named Charles Vane, and the other a Benjamin Hornigold, leaned in, their sides still sore from bursting with laughter at their previous stories, mug after mug of rum supplied to them at Old Avery. They had taken an instant liking to the feisty yet laid-back Kidd, and Edward wondered how he and the lad could have gotten off on the wrong foot.
Edward searched through his memories for an entertaining, humorous anecdote as he took another gulp of rum.
"Ah, got one. So 'ere I am, a six year ol' lad and me first tooth falls out. Me mum tells me 'bout the tooth fairy. Ya know how the lass gives ya money if ya put your tooth beneath that pillow?"
The privateers nodded anxiously. Would they really find this all that giggle-worthy?
"Well, me mum put a lone pound beneath me pillow that night. But I did not know it- that me mum was the suppos'd tooth fairy. No. I thought- if the fairy paid for the tooth, what more for other lovely, more useful body parts, eh? I remember me good-for-nuttin' uncle would say to me, that he'd pay whatever li'l amount of pounds he got for one of 'em trollops, or as we here affectionately call 'em, 'dancers', for their bodies, 'specially their parts in between the legs. So I tell me mum, 'The tooth fairy pays me a pound a tooth but I never get the bloody thing back, right? Why, I'd rather become like one of uncle's girls. I'd get 25 pounds for lendin' others me entire mouth or 75 for me whole body every time, and I get to keep me teeth!"
"The tooth fairy teaches kids that they can sell their body parts for money!"
The whole tavern burst out. It turned out that other folks in the area had been listening in ever since Edward mentioned the dancers.
"That fairy lass should get into the business!" yelled out Thatch as he slapped his own thigh and cackled. Nearly everyone spit out their beverages in laughter after that.
The laughter died down gradually, and a quite tipsy Hornigold stood up as best as he could without flopping over to announce his farewells: "A fiii-ne childhood ye got, Kenway. Well, good fellows, I think've had 'nuff for a night. I bid g'bye to ya all, and if yer lookin' fer the mighty Hornigold, ye can find 'im amongst 'em da…danc- DID YA SAY SOME?", Hornigold asked to no one in particular.
"Yeesh. 'Ey don't call ye Hornigold fer nuttin', do 'ey?" asked a smirking Kidd, casually.
"Bugger off, willya?", Hornigoldsloppily responded, "An' what do you know 'bout that kinda stuff? Yer… yer just a kid, ye li'l pest!"
"Least he's mature 'nuff to handle the way he drinks, Ben," Vane chuckled before taking a swig of his own.
"Wha'ever, ye cocky bastard, Vane. I got some'n more delightful in mind'n conversin' with the lot of ya right now," and with that Hornigold saluted casually and stumbled off to the direction opposite of the Nassau brothel.
"I fear that man'll one day do something he grimly regrets," commented an entertained Thatch, eyeing his empty mug.
Not entirely sure what the bearded man meant, Edward, Vane, and Kidd looked at each other and shrugged it off. "He's got potential to do great things. That's fer sure," Vane said solemnly while looking at the early signs of day's end, the sun beginning to turn the sky an orange hue. A peaceful silence fell over the group.
"Tell me. 'ow did ye blokes get to befriendin' one another?", Kidd asked the other men.
Thatch answered, "We was connected by the men we serv'd under. Kenway here was privateerin' with me under some cap'n, then we transferred to different ships, both of which Vane was under. And Vane and Hornigold knew each other some'ow. Er… some'n like that."
Vane laughed, "Aye, well, even I don't remember. What does it ma'er now, anyway? What's impor'ant is that 'ere we are enjoyin' ourselves, eh!"
"True that, Vane!" Thatch agreed.
"Aye, but do ya lads really believe that we'll get the riches we've been dreamin' of as privateers? I say we should be the cap'n o' our own sails!" preached Edward enthusiastically. And Thatch, Vane, and Kidd cheered, "Hear, hear!"
Vane added, "Ya know what? We haven't toasted at all this afternoon, have we? Well, why don't we do so right now?"
"Too bad Hornigold ain't 'ere to toast with us. Then again, makin' 'im wait fer the rum would teach 'im to 'preciate it!" laughed Thatch.
"So what're we toastin' to, Vane?", asked Edward.
Vane ambitiously raised his mug: "'Ere's to a life of makin' our fine dreams come true within these lands and seas!" he said, passion seeped in every word, "To a life of gettin' what we want fer once!"
Going along with Vane's peppy toast, the other kindled privateers raised their own mugs and clinked them together.
An hour or so later, Edward was bidding Thatch and Vane goodbye, "So long, lads!"
The two raised an arm each in response before disappearing behind the corner of the tavern.
"What now, Kenway? All yer friends 'bandoned ye!" James grinned.
"Why don't we take a walk, Kidd? I'd like to explore the rest of this wonderful town."
The younger man agreed, "A swell idea ye got. C'mon."
"But first, lemme get another bottle o' rum."
"What do ye really want out of the West Indies, Kenway? What's yer reason fer bein' 'ere?"
"It's like I said before, Kidd. I want wealth. All the riches a man could ever want!"
"I know ye want 'nuff to make it well back where yer from, that's a reason why I'm 'ere. An' I agree that bein' the cap'n o' our own ships be the best means of gettin' there. But at the same time, Kenway," added Kidd, "don't ye think ye could do without all o' the West Indies betwixt yer hands? After all, there wouldn't be 'nuff left o'er for me an' Thatch an' Vane an' Hornigold!"
"Aye, I'm havin' a time here, Kidd, but I want more," Edward responded, "I suppose I want jus' 'nuff to be well off for a lifetime."
"An' by 'well off' I s'pose ye mean 'livin' beyond lavishly'."
"Aye. One an' the same to me," Edward said before chugging some rum and looking around where they ended up.
"Look at what Hornigold's missin' out on," Edward pointed to the bustling brothel, dancers outside displaying their goods to passersby. He wolf whistled admiringly.
"Careful, Kenway. Remember yer flushed from drink," warned Kidd.
"C'mon. When do we ever really enjoy our hard-earned reales?"
"Ye mean waste it on things ye can make an' do yerself? Are ye so squiffy ye can't remember ye even spent yer precious reales drinkin'? I thought ye mentioned earlier that like e'eryone else, yer savin' up 'nuff to be 'well off' back on Queen Anne's territory."
"Sure, sure. Jus' checkin' 'em out," Edward defended himself against the younger lad's witty remarks and remembered Caroline awaiting his return to England, " 'Sides, I ain't that drunk, Kidd. I hold me alc'ol well…. Hey- what 'bout you? 'Xactly 'ow old're ya anyway? Don't suppose you ever bedded a lass?"
"Li'l personal to ask that kinda question to one ye jus' met, ya think, Kenway?" Kidd responded crossing his arms and eyeing Edward taking one last, large swig of his bottle of rum.
"Ain't that personal. Listen 'ere. I've bedded prolly-"
"No need fer 'at, Kenway! I think we be'er get ye back to yer ship."
"Ya mean back to that no good bum of a cap'n? Think after I'm done with me privateerin', like I mentioned a time ago I think, I should be the cap'n of me own set o' sails!" Edward began to stagger as the two walked away from the dancers and bustling Nassau to the docks.
"Dream on, Cap'n Ke-", Kidd started as he wrapped the bigger, drunker man's arm around him for support.
"'Ere's an idea! Since ye've pro'ly never bedded a lass, I'll buy ye yer first! C'mon," Edward was now the one to drag the stubborn Kidd over to the dancers.
"'Old on, Kenway! I don't wan' one fer the night!"
"Nonsense, Kidd. E'ery man's got his desires for this sorta thing! …Unless ya swing the other way?"
"Yer the one talkin' nonsense, now, as if ye haven't been this entire walk," argued Kidd as he escaped the burly grasp of Edward Kenway. But the blonde man simply wouldn't take it. He approached a blonde dancer and leaned a hand on the rotten wood of the building just behind her. His other hand found its way to his hip as he leaned closer to her. Kidd listened from a distance, arms crossed.
" 'Ow much for the night, miss?"
"1,200 reales, handsome. But, I promise to make it worth it all," she purred with a wink.
"An' how 'bout 1,000? C'mon lass," he negotiated, giving the woman a sensual look.
"Mm hmm… Ya got yourself a deal," she yielded, pleased by Edward's charisma.
The corners of Edward's lips rose as he took out and sifted through the coins. Kidd scoffed behind him, surprised the carefree blonde actually had enough cash.
After handing the dancer her pay, Edward explained, "But the one who'll do the honour of laying with ya is this lad 'ere."
The woman gave a hesitant look at Kidd, thinking perhaps that Edward would be a better lay or that men don't usually pay for other lads to see whores. Kidd meanwhile, raised a hand cautiously as he backed away, "Oh-hoh no, Kenway. If ye'll waste yer coin, it won't be on me!"
The trollop was obviously put off by now, her eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed, while Edward, sobering up ever so slightly by the second, raised his eyebrows. He realized-
"Jaysus! Ya are the type to go for other lads."
"Believe what ye want, ya charmin' gent. Fer all I know, you could be the one tryin' to hide 'is own desires fer the same kind!" yelled Kidd as he turned around and walked away from the blondes with a dismissive wave.
Edward smirked and shouted back, "You're not so bad lookin' yourself, Kidd! Forget this lass!" The offended whore scoffed. "How 'bout ye get o'er 'ere and let me be yer first!" He tilted his head upward and chuckled.
He didn't get the chance to see James Kidd smile to herself at the thought.
The morning after, Edward woke up on a wooden table near Old Avery, fully clothed and with the woman in his arms. After lamenting his hangover and waste of- rather, misuse of 1,000 reales, he amused himself by pondering William Kidd's supposed illegitimate son.
James Kidd is queer, he concluded playfully, and a strange thing happened.
Edward Kenway's heart gave a powerful thump, and he felt bizarrely delighted.
I must say- I'm proud of myself for making that tooth fairy anecdote, as horrible as it actually was. "The tooth fairy teaches kids that they can sell their body parts for money!"
I'm bound to make typos when typing out the story- I would appreciate you indicating them to me so I can fix them :)
Tooth Fairy Trivia: One theory of the tooth fairy's origin is a tradition from 18th century France (the same century AC4 takes place in) of a "tooth mouse" likely based on La Bonne Petite Souris, a French fairy tale in which a mouse hides under a pillow to taunt an evil king, and punishes him by knocking out all his teeth. The modern tooth fairy which I mention in this chapter didn't emerge until the 1900's. Oh well. I needed something humorous and original, and that's what I could come up with.