Days later:
Archie's POV
"how are you, Archie?" Asks Horatio, (who might I say looks beyond tired, he looks half dead himself! How long has he been here?) "hungry." Horatio looks at me in excitement. "Great, I will have the innkeeper send you some food. Ham and eggs, possibly. Some trout..." He trails off slowly, with a smirk on his face.
"Horatio, there is something I have to tell yo-" I try to say, but he quickly cuts me off with "Oh, don't you worry about anything. Let's just get you back your feet, eh?"
"But Horatio! It's about your question. Don't you want an answer?" He seems angry, worried, almost scared. "What question, Archie?! What question, may I ask, is worth more than your Heath?!" "About if I had a sweetheart in England!" I all but yell back."Oh..." Came the soft reply.
"Horatio... I've... I've never known love, other than family, I have Never known the love of a man and his wife, or sweetheart. I fear I may never know the love of a woman. I have only felt that love towards someone, sadly I never knew if she returned my feelings." I ended softly.
"Tell me about her? Was she pretty?" He asks grinning widely, I scoffed 'pretty?' "Far more beautiful than an angel. Hair dark as night, with eyes the shimmer like stars." I took a deep breath and let it out in a content sigh, as I remember how beautiful she truly was.
"She was perfect, Horatio, there has not been a night when I did not think of her, her soothing voice, her fair skin, her beautiful blue-gray eyes, and dark brown hair, so dark you almost thought it was black, she was fierce and loyal, braver than any of us. She was wise and logical but never cold to another being, she was soft and tender, yet strong and steadfast. You knew, by the look in her eyes, that there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for you, if you were to earn her trust... The only problem was, I couldn't have her." I ended with a frown.
He looked at me curiously "Archie, whatever do you mean? Was she married? Or sick?" I shook my head slowly, "no, Horatio... She was supposed to be a man... She was aboard the ship as a sailor, some time before you came aboard the Justinian. I was only 16, Almost 17 at the time. So young, so naïve. I had no clue or inclination as to what was happening to me at the time, but Horatio... I was falling in love with her."
"What was her name, Archie?" "Isabelle Mark. We called her 'Bell', it was her middle name, we thought anyway, turns out it was her nickname as a child, Belle." "You really loved her... Didn't you?" A single tear ran down my face.
"Yes... I think if we had met under different circumstances I would have purposed to her, and given the chance, spent the rest of my life with her." I looked down at my hands while I sat there in the bed thinking about belle,
'has it really been years? I wonder where she is now? Is she well? Is she dead? Is she happy?' I felt more tears roll down my face, but I wasn't bothered nor did I care, I can only hope she's alive, and that I'll find her one day.