Here's a new story I've been working on for a while, it's my first try at writing a AU story, let only a pirate fic,
So let's see how it goes :)
Chapter 1- Sailing off
Things change
People change
Minds change
Love changes
Hearts change
Life is change -Royal Akuaku
She caught the last sight of the white sails in the distance, her eyes that were now glittering with tears, could no longer detect sight of the enormous ship that had sailed moments ago.
She cursed the fog that crept above the dark waters, for it had rendered the departing ship in which her beloved had boarded, all but invisible.
Her beloved.
Who held no wealth or rank in society here at Port Royal, who went against everything her father, the commodore, wanted as a suitor for his only child.
For the obvious reasons her father had not given his consent in the wedding that had yet to take place.
Which was why, Tyler, her first love, was sailing away to England, to mend his broken relationship with his father and to inherit his share of his family's fortune.
"Tyler, there must be another way of gaining my father's approval." Caroline had said.
"I want for us to be together, at last. There is no other way. " his dark brown eyes had shined with sincerity.
She turned away from him, to gaze at the dark waters. "I feel as if you will have cheated your father, if you processed with this notion."
To mend a relationship with a family member for the pure purpose of gaining wealth just did not sit well with her. Even if it was done out of love for another, it was not fair to his father.
"I must do what I must, this will be for us, I will become the man you deserve."
She had wanted so badly for them to part on good terms, she had wanted to feel his gentle, soft lips upon hers before he had left, but she simply could not act as if she wasn't angry,
Tyler had given her no choice on the matter.
He slowly wrapped his arms around the fuming blonde. "I would do anything, to be with you."
Despite her anger, her features grew soft at his words. "Then stay, be with me now Tyler."
"I have nothing to give you." He said ever so softly.
She leaned into him, while wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I don't want or need your father's money, all I want is you."
Around them, others began to board the ship; it caused Caroline to tighten the embrace.
"Please Tyler, Stay." She pleaded.
Tyler slightly pulled away from the embrace, his eyes grew serious, and his voice lost its soft edge. "This is the only way."
He entangled himself from her, and quickly kissed her cheek but before he could turn away Caroline quickly grabbed his face and held it between her hands.
"Has he ever wronged you, Tyler?" she asked, in a last feeble attempt to make him stay.
His eyes immediately drifted to the ground, as if he was unable to meet her gaze.
"Never." is what he whispered, before he walked off.
She could no longer see the white sails in the distance.
Tyler was gone.
She whipped the few tears mingling across her cheek and followed her father to the carriage.
Caroline worries as every day passes by without news from Tyler. Yes she's still very angry at him for what he plans to do, but she can't help but miss him terribly.
She knows there isn't a way of receiving his letters until the ship makes its first port of call. But it has been 15 extremely long days! It's difficult to keep a happy mind set when you haven't received any news at all.
She wonders if he's cold, hungry or even lonely.
Perhaps he's been replaying their last moment over and over again in his mind, finding different ways it could have ended.
She knows she has.
An angry scowl emerged on her face, at the thought of their final encounter.
If he thought she would welcome him home with hugs and kisses he was surly mistaken. She had much to say to him about his latest decisions. He defiantly deserved the cold shoulder, for quite some time!
She let out a sign, and leaned her head against the armchair she was currently sitting on.
Putting all anger aside, she desperately wanted to be in his arms, wanted to give him many hugs and kisses at his return.
She even wanted to take away the guilt he was probably feeling at this very moment.
For here she was safe and sound while Tyler was risking his life in the middle of the ocean so that they could have a future.
She wanted to go out and; she wanted to fight for their future as well.
She should not be in this house.
She should be out in the ocean experiencing some of her own exciting adventures alongside Tyler.
It's what she dreamed about as a child, after all.
Sailing around the world, looking for buried treasure, discovering parts of the world no one has ever seen or would never possibly believe existed! Maybe even run into fierce pirates!
Yes most of it sounded quite silly, but in all honestly she had spent days dreaming about such a life, even now at seventeen years of age these dreams did not escape her.
Perhaps the one about running into fierce pirates did not sound as thrilling as before but the others still sounded quite tempting, they would forever invade her dreams with or without her consent.
Of course, these were defiantly not the dreams or desires a proper lady should have.
She thought back on the code of etiquette her governess had thought and engraved in her mind throughout her childhood.
"Number one: A lady should not speak unless spoken to." Ms. Blackford had said while she sat across from the blonde child at the round table.
"Number two: A lady should always keep formality among others; she shall alwaysuse the title Miss and Mr. respectably." The little girl tapped her fingers across the table; she immediately stopped as she took in 's expression.
"What is the third code, Caroline?"
"A lady shall always be in a happy temper, banish the blues and anger aside." She receded in a robotic voice.
The grey-haired governess nodded in approval before continuing.
"Number four: A lady should not take interest in the arts of reading and good expression, they will summon perpetual interest."
Her wondering blue eyes paused on her books scattered across the floor before flickering back to the old woman's face.
"Number five: A Lady shall abhor gossip, and above all scandal. Isn't that right, Caroline?"
Caroline shook herself out of the memory and let out a soft sigh.
How was she suppose to sit calmly by and wait for Tyler's return? She simply bear them being apart, she also could not wait to get away from all these rules, from this life!
Tyler would give her the life she always wanted.
She truly would be happy with him.
From behind her, the door of the study suddenly crept open. She turned around to see her father who was in full uniform, he wore a grave expression.
Her eyes widened in worry. "Is everything alright, father? "
He continued to approach her without a word. This made her worry even more, something was defiantly wrong.
"Caroline, my dear." he spoke softly once he was at arm's reach. "Something has happened."
Her heart began hammering against her chest, as an obvious nightmare accrued to her
This has nothing to do with him.
He's fine.
He's safe.
"What is it?" she managed to ask.
He sulked in a breath before continuing. "I've recently received a telegram"
No.
God no.
She knew where this was heading. She could not bear it. She did not want to hear the rest.
She tried to tell him to stop but was unable to find her own voice and before she could take another single breath he spoke the words that confirmed that her nightmare had became reality.
"The ship Tyler was aboard was attacked by Pirates."
The frantic hammering in her ears seized and was replaced by utter silence.
"There were no survivors."
She stared back at him, without saying a word. Her hands slightly shook at her side.
All thoughts of a happy life vanished from her mind.
It can't be.
Not him.
Not her Tyler.
"You're lying." She accused.
His eyes shined with sympathy. "Caroline." he began, gently.
"No. " She shouted. "You're lying, you never approved of him. You never wanted me to become his wife. " she broke into a sob.
It simply couldn't be! It had only been the beginning for them! It could not end this way. There had to be a mistake. Those could not have been the last moments they had shared!
"You're lying." She said brokenly.
Her father wrapped her in an embrace as she continued to sob hysterically.
In the very late hours of the night, Caroline lay in her bed, starring up at the white ceiling. Her eyes were bloodshot red from crying and she felt numb all over.
Her mind was telling her that Tyler was forever gone from this world but her heart told her otherwise.
Weren't you suppose to know for certain when someone you loved died? Wasn't your heart suppose to feel it?
In a novel she had once read, it had said humans had a sense to detect such things. At the time she had thought it was ridiculous but now she choose to believe it with all her heart because
Her Tyler couldn't be dead.
Her Tyler wasn't dead.
Those had not been the last words they had shared. He had to be out there somewhere and she would find out. She had to find a way to fix this awful mess!
There simply had to be something she could do.
She quickly slipped out of bed, pulled on a white robe and patted quietly across the floor barefoot to the hallway.
She would have to start by finding that telegram.
As she quickly descended the stairs; footsteps were heard from the parlor, this caused her to begin to take cautioned slow steps while walking over the squeaky wooden floors that lead to her father's office.
Once inside, she went straight to his wooden desk and opened the first drawer. Her shaking hands quickly scattered across many lose papers.
So many thoughts were going through her head at that precise moment.
This doesn't feel right, snooping through my fathers things.
Are my actions becoming rash?
Can I simply be in denial?
She squeezed her eyes shut.
No. Tyler's alive, he's out there.
I will bring him home to me.
I will fix this.
Despite her new found sense of determination, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder while she went through her fathers files, she could mentally picture him standing at the doorway with a disappointed frown on his face, or better yet she could picture her governess scolding her like she had always done throughout the years.
"Ladies do not act in such way, you will never find a husband if you go on like this." had hissed.
"Maybe I don't want a husband." Caroline had once replied. "I wish to spread my wings and fly far away from this place!" She had run into the garden with her arms spread wide at her side, smiling ear to ear as the wind drafted her lovely golden locks wildly around her face.
Her governess had eventually chased after her, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside.
"Little girls should not wish for such things, they might come true."
Her eyes came back into focus and caught sight of a telegram that lay on top of a stake of blank pages.
She quickly picked it up, and read the message plastered across the small page. She gasped quite loudly and held on to the desk to steady herself as one sentence ran over and over again in her ears.
Unidentified survivors take refuge at Long island.
She held back a yelp.
Unidentified survivors.
Tyler was alive! He was in Long Island. He had to be one of the few survivors!
Her hands suddenly turned to fists at her side, they shook in anger.
Her father had lied!
He had said there were no survivors!
How dare he crush all her hope! He had obviously lied for his own benefit. It was no secret he did not want her to marry Tyler.
All she wanted to do at that precise moment was march over into the parlor and give him a piece of her mind, but she had to be smart about this, if she went to confront her father now he would tell her that she was overwhelmed by the recent traumatizing news she had recently received.
In all honesty, she knew the odds of his survival were slime, others would think it was impossible that he survived such a thing but in her heart she knew he was alive.
It wouldn't be something others would understand.
Her father wouldn't understand. She had to retrieve Tyler on her own, it was the only way.
Caroline neatly folded the telegram and placed it in her pocket.
She then began strategizing a plan.
First things first, she needed to get on the next boarding ship before her father realized she was absent.
However she knew the commodores daughter, let alone any woman wouldn't be able to board a ship full of sailors unaccompanied.
I must become a man. She concluded.
She quietly exited the room, and went upstairs into her father's chambers. She opened up his wardrobe and began rummaging once again through his things.
She managed to find a pair of gray trousers, a white flowing shirt and a black belt.
These will have to do. She thought.
Next she went into her room and pulled out the only pair of boots she owned, they were still quite formal looking but she had to make do with what she could find.
She quickly got dressed and gulped as she saw her reflection in the mirror.
If only could see her now, she'd probably faint!
Caroline tightened the belt around her waist, grabbed the telegram she had left in the pocket of her robe and headed downstairs, she took one of her father's hats hanging near the door and placed it on her head in a fashion that hid her long curly locks.
"You were right." She whispered into the dark empty room.
"I shouldn't have wished for such things."
It hadn't been as hard as Caroline had thought to find a ship heading to Long Island, by time she had arrived at the main port it had been in the early hours of the morning which were the hours most ships departed.
Once she had found the ship leading to her desired destination she had skimmed past the other sailors and boarded the ship without a soul questioning her.
Her disguise had done its purpose.
Now, a few days into the voyage, 3 to be precise, she felt as guilty as ever, her mind was swimming in culpability. Yes, her father had done wrong by lying but he did not deserve his only child disappearing in the middle of the night without any word. She could only imagine how worried he must be!
She cursed herself for not leaving him a note at her sudden departure. At the time it had been the last thing on her mind but now she knew it was necessary, she simply would have to find the time to write to him.
At the end of each night since aboard, she had gone straight to the lower level of the ship and fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the hammock; she had never worked so hard in her life! Many things had to be done aboard a ship she had quickly learned, a day at sea consisted of hard laboured chores after another.
To state the obvious she was exhausted from a hard days work but tonight she declared she was to stay up and write her father a letter.
As she sat down with a lantern at her side, she realised that there were in fact many sailors here on the deck at this late hour,
Don't these men ever sleep? She wondered.
She sighed, looking away from the laughing men, and turned back to the blank page in front of her.
What to write?
How to explain?
How to make him understand?
It seemed quite impossible to write such a letter. She did not know how to put into words a statement that would reassure her father of her safety, that would make him feel better about the situation at hand.
But the truth was, she wasn't really safe. She was out on her own. For the first time in her life she was the one who had to reassure her own safety. She could not putt that into the letter, it would make her father's worries highly excavate but she also did not want to lie to him.
She had to find a way to be truthful without really informing him of her current situation. In other words she would have to tell him half-truths.
Wouldn't that still be considered lying? A small voice in the back of her mind whispered.
Before she could write one word down, or at least attempt to write one down, the sailor who sat close by caught her attention or she should say the word he had spoken to the other sailors did.
"Pirate."
This she had to hear.
She putt the blank page aside and scouted a little closer to listen in on the story being told.
"They call themselves The Originals." The old sailor chimed in a hushed tone, as if just speaking of them would surely doom his very soul to hell.
"Black rotting souls, hungry for destruction, hungry for blood." He paused in between each word, without thinking Caroline scoffed at his dramatics, which lead the old man to lock gazes with her, which led her mockery to vanish within seconds.
"It is said they lurk these very waters, sinking any ship that crosses their path."
His dark eyes seemed to look through her, it made her feel completely bare and exposed, it made her wish she could have taken back that scoff, that she could have shown some restrain.
"On a lucky day, the captain, who shouldn't even be called a man but a ravenous wolf, spares one of his victims and gives them a choice."
She tried to keep her composure under the old man's watchful gaze but she could feel herself slipping up.
"Join or be killed." He whispered.
He then leaned in closer towards her, refusing to look away. "Most would beg for a thousand painful deaths other than joining that crew."
Her hands slightly shook at the statement.
He's just a crazy old man who had too much to drink. She tried to reason.
He's probably inviting this ridiculous story as he goes along.
"Other lad's would die a thousand painful deaths gladly other than being killed at their vile hands."
She bit her bottom lip, trying has hard as she could to keep a straight face.
"You're damned to the depths no matter what you choose."
One of the young sailors abruptly stood up and gruffly patted the old man's shoulder.
"I don't believe a bloody word you say, Patt." He loudly stated. "If these so called "Originals" were true I would have surely heard of them by now."
Caroline thanked the heavens for the young sailor's distraction that released her from the old man's gaze; she was just about to lose it!
"I ain't telling no stories, boy. They're out there!" The elderly man, Pat, stated firmly.
The others gathered around, broke into fists of laughter.
It was clear that story time was over.
Caroline had to get back to reality.
Let me know what you think,
should I continue this?