A/N: While the first chapter starts off mild, it WILL get darker as it goes on. Heed the tags, they're there for a reason.
"Killian, wake up, you're going to be late!"
He groaned, his eyes definitely not interested in opening. "Go away, Liam," he muttered, words half slurred with exhaustion. "I only got to sleep a few hours ago."
Liam grabbed his shoulder and shook him roughly, nearly pulling him from the narrow bunk. "Get up! You can't afford to be late again."
"I'd rather another beating than getting out of bed today," he said as he rolled over toward the wall.
Liam snorted. "I doubt you mean that, not with the new master-at-arms we picked up before setting off last night. You haven't see this one, Killian. He's huge."
"Doesn't matter, Captain's not going to enforce anything anyway," Killian said, his voice muffled by the thin mattress. "Old guy is almost in his grave, it's a wonder anyone listens to him."
He heard his brother sigh loudly, and he turned over to face him, finally opening his eyes and propping himself up on an elbow.
"Look," Killian added apologetically, "I'm not going to say I'm not jealous of you working with him in comfort and relaxation instead of swabbing decks and manning the sails, because I am. But let's be honest, the only reason he needs you with him is because he's barely alive anymore. I'm just…" He paused, struggling to find the words as his brain tried to wake up. "I'm tired, Liam. We've worked on this ship for six years now, and I just want to go-"
"Home?" Liam interrupted as he faced him, tucking his shirt in his trousers as he fixed him with a stern gaze. "There is no 'home', Killian, not anymore. You know that."
"Yeah," he said, his jaw clenching tightly automatically. "I know."
He was quiet a moment, watching his brother finish dressing, though he made no move to rise.
"I just want to be free," he said softly, hating the childish weakness he felt on saying the words out loud.
To his surprise, Liam didn't laugh, he didn't even smile, just came over to their shared bunk and sat at the edge. He put his hand on Killian's shoulder, his grip strong and his eyes filled with a promise Killian desperately wanted to believe.
"We will, Killian," he said earnestly. "We'll get out of here one day, and we'll be our own men, free to travel the realms as we please, I swear it. Just a few years more, brother, all right?"
Killian nodded slowly. "All right."
"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid in the meantime," Liam added as he stood, "like deliberately arriving late on deck for the third time in a row."
Killian groaned again, falling back against the mattress. "Fine, I'm getting up!"
Ten minutes later, he was still hastily buttoning his shirt as he climbed aboard the main deck.
"Jones!" an unfamiliar voice boomed from somewhere behind him.
He spun around and promptly froze. The new master towered over him, his beefy forearms crossed over his chest. Burke, he remembered quickly.
"Aye, sir," Killian managed to croak. Bloody hell, the man was huge. No wonder Liam hadn't wanted him to risk being late today.
"Up the lines with you," Burke ordered, his voice as imposing as his body. "You're with Miller."
Killian glanced up and found Jamie already clinging to the ropes at the topsail. He liked the boy well enough, but he was still rather new, only a few weeks aboard. It was hardly enough time to get to know him, or trust him, for the kind of work they'd never performed together.
"Sir," he started respectfully, "begging your pardon but Jamie and I-"
Burke's hand lashed out quickly, grabbing the front of his shirt roughly and pulling him closer, close enough to feel the man's breath on his cheek. Killian didn't move, and he was sure he had stopped breathing. "I gave you an order, Jones," he snarled. "Now go."
He all but tossed the boy away, Killian nearly losing his balance at the sudden movement. He hastily whispered a quiet, "Yes, sir," before rushing off and making his way to the ratlines and deftly climbing toward Jamie, ignoring the trembling that seemed to have taken hold in his knees.
He stepped out onto the footrope, years of experience and muscle memory guiding his moves as he slid closer to Jamie.
"'Ello," the other boy said shyly, his cheeks flushing as red as his hair. "Guess you're stuck with me, eh?"
Killian smiled, hoping the small expression would help calm the rattled nerves he felt all through his body. "Nonsense," he said. "It's a good time to get to know each other a bit."
He could see the younger boy physically relaxing at his words, and he felt his own heartbeat steady as well. Anxiety this high up on the lines was never a good idea.
"We're just checking the ropes and sails, right?" Jamie asked glancing around from their perch.
"Buntlines and gaskets, aye," Killian supplied, moving toward the edge of the yardarm. "And the blocks, if you can."
Jamie blushed again. "I don't really know how…" he stammered quietly.
Killian grinned at him again. "I'll have to teach you, then."
They spent the next hour in easy discussion about parts and pieces Jamie had no experience with. Killian even found an untethered block he used to demonstrate the best way to rig a pulley. The boy learned quickly, Killian had to admit. He was young, no more than ten to Killian's not-quite-fifteen, not much older than when Killian himself started, and he couldn't help wondering what led Jamie to this life.
Before he could ask, he noticed the boy had gone silent, a serious look on his youthful features.
"What is it?" he asked gently. "What's wrong?"
"Do you think," Jamie started hesitantly, stopping to chew his lip. "Do you think Burke would really…" He trailed off.
Killian ignored the shiver of fear he felt at the name, his first encounter with the large man earlier still bothered him. He reached out, his hand touching the lad's arm. "Do I think he would what?"
"Some of the others said that he's known for… hurting the boys, and pretty badly." Jamie's voice was barely a whisper, and he had a hard time meeting Killian's eyes. "Not… not with the lash, other ways. Do you think he would? Do something like that?"
He didn't know what to say. Everything about the new master screamed excessive force and violence, and he'd only dealt with him for a moment. The captain wasn't a cruel man, he'd run a tight ship but generally treated the lads fairly in the years since Killian and Liam had been forced to join. Lately, due to his advancing age, he'd been losing touch with the crew, and everyone knew it. But surely he'd never hire a master-at-arms like Jamie described, would he?
"I doubt it," he finally answered. "And if you ever feel he is, come find me. I'll do what I can, if it ever comes to that."
Jamie nodded, a small grin lifting the corner of his mouth. "Thanks," he said, and Killian couldn't help feeling a rush of… protectiveness. Is this what it's like to be a big brother? he wondered. Is this how Liam feels taking care of me?
"Anytime, lad," he said, a slow smile spreading as he reaches out his hand. "Here, pass back the box, better get it tied down before-"
The words were barely out of his mouth when the piece of rigging slipped from Jamie's small fingers. He could only watch in horror, too stunned to cry out, his breath caught in his throat, as the wooden box tumbled down from their perch to the crash on the wooden deck below.
Just inches beside Burke.
It took a moment for the large man to realise what had happened, a moment in which Killian was sure he would never start breathing again, for the second time that morning. He glanced quickly at Jamie. The younger boy had turned pale and was trembling all over, his fingers shaking against the ropes that held him up so high, a dark wetness spreading across the front of his trousers, his eyes trained on the furious new master-at-arms.
"Jones!" Burke shouted from below. "Get down here now!"
Killian looked down, his eyes wide with fear. The large man had his hands planted on his hips, his face red as anger took over every part of his expression. He realized with a fresh wave of terror that Burke assumed he dropped the box, and not Jamie.
"Coming, sir," he managed to reply, his voice trembling.
He spared another look at the red-haired boy at his side. He couldn't tell Burke the truth, he couldn't, Jamie was so small, so scared, and, though he reminded Killian so much of himself at that age, the boy didn't have an older brother to look out for him. He made up his mind, determination replacing some of the terror that had filled him just a moment ago.
"Jamie," he said quietly. The boy looked up at him, fear written across his eyes. "Come down, it's not safe for you to be up here alone."
"I can't," Jamie whispered, a note of panic creeping into his words. "I can't go down there. Burke, he's so angry. I can't go."
Killian touched his arm gently, shoving the rest of his fear deep down, where he could deal with it later. Jamie needed him, or he wouldn't survive the trip down the ropes. "I'm right here with you, Jamie," he said as gently as he could manage. His voice barely trembled, not anymore. "You can do it."
Tears sprang to the younger boy's eyes as he shook his head. "He's going to punish me and I can't-"
"He's not going to hurt you, Jamie," Killian interrupted. "He thinks it was me, he doesn't know."
A moment of silence as Jamie turned his watery gaze back to him. "You'd… you'd do that? Let him think it was you?"
Killian could only nod, afraid his terror would bubble up from where it was barely contained and betray any words he would try to say. He'd been in trouble before, hardly a month went by without his too-quick tongue getting on someone's nerves, earning him a swift punch or kick on the fly. He had even been flogged three times, though not in the last year, not with the captain's health failing and his control of the ship going as well. He'd have been flogged a few more times if Liam hadn't stepped in, especially in the early years aboard when he was still getting used to the daily workings of a ship. He wasn't eager to repeat the experience, but he couldn't let Jamie take the punishment, not as the first of Burke's victims.
"Why?"
He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. He was about to reply when Burke's voice rang out again, barely contained fury behind the sound.
"JONES!"
He held Jamie's small hand tightly. "Let's go," he said, and they made their way down side by side.
