Chapter 2 (Lucy's POV)
My body was hurting me so badly. The bruises, now discolored, were throbbing and pulsing rapidly. My head was killing me. My nose was bleeding ever still, so I plugged it and held my head downwards. My hands were okay thanks to my wrappings, but my joints and knuckles were sore from all my punching. All I wanted to do was collapse and go to sleep.
I finally came across my guardians' large dwelling. With very little windows and two doors showing the entrance and exit. They were both merchants. Their son helped them out quite frequently. Luckily, they sold so much that they weren't gone for more than a few weeks. A couple months, sometimes, but that was rare.
I tried turning the back doorknob first, but to no avail.
"Ugh, I hope they haven't locked me out again." I growled to myself.
I march my way around to the front of the house and try with the front doorknob.
"Aaaaagh….Locked out again. Curses!"
As I heard a clicking sound, I felt a sudden burning to my right arm and let out a bloodcurdling scream, falling to the stony ground. I stopped screaming to see what had hit me. I pulled my hand away from my upper arm, only to find it stained dark red with my blood. An instant river of tears streamed down my cheeks as panic forced me to scream and shout for help….Until I heard a throaty, sinister chuckle from behind me.
It took all my will I had in me to stifle my screams, stand back up and turn around to see el Tiburon and two of his friends standing ten feet from me.
"Not so tough now, are you, bitch?" El Tiburon crossed his arms.
"Fuck off, you impotent piss-worms." I growled at him.
"Hmmm, not very ladylike, is she, Tibs?" One of them asked.
"Back off, you cowardly snake," I glared at him. "I took down your precious Tiburon once before…." I stalked towards him, tightening my hands' wrappings.
"And we're here to make sure you don't do it again…" Tiburon said, pulling out his cutlass.
His two men threw me against my front door, holding me by my arms and shoulders.
"Let go o' me, you bastards!" I headbutted Tiburon as he got in my face.
"Shut up!" He backhanded me as the man on my right grabbed my arm wound, making me let out a painful scream. The pain felt like someone pouring salt on a fresh wound. Slow, intense and unbearable. It brought tears to my eyes.
El Tiburon drew his cutlass to my bare throat. "What shall we do with her before I cut her throat, lads?"
Both of the men smirked at each other before looking back at me.
"I don't know, boss." The left man shrugged.
"Why don't we see what these clothes are hiding from us…." The right man said, sliding a hand down between my breasts and down past my stomach.
"Sounds like a plan." El Tiburon began to lift up my shirt that was tucked into my leggings, but stopped in a jolt when I heard a pair of pistol shots fired.
I snapped my eyes shut, but all I heard next were two, loud bodily thuds.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw the shark's men, fallen to the ground with a hole in the back of their heads. I gasped at the grisly, bloody display; my entire body got a wave of chills and uncontrollable trembling, until a familiar voice calmed my nerves.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Someone jumped down from the house across from mine. His hooded coat gave me a small flicker of hope, but disbelief still clouded my vision.
That cloud instantly lifted when the dark figure pulled back his hood. It was HIM. Edward.
"...Back off, pendejo. I've unfinished business with this cabrona."
"I'm warning you, muckworm," Edward said, unsheathing a pair of twin cutlasses. "LET HER GO NOW!"
"Fine, then." El Tiburon took me by the neck, nearly throttling me, and tosses me aside like an empty bottle of rum. As I was gasping for breath and holding my shot arm, he withdrew another sword from his belt. "I'll kill you first, bastardo."
As the shark swung fast and hard, Edward deflected and wove around him with such precision that he seemed to be just toying with him before striking. The slashing and metallic clinging of their sword continued, the shark swung high with a loud yell. Edward ducked, shot back up and kicked him square in the gut, knocking him on his ass. Edward plunged both cutlasses into his stomach before slicing his neck swiftly.
It all happened so fast it felt like I was lying on the ground for what seemed like an eternity. I was gasping, shell-shocked at how he took down those three brutes with such impunity, stealth and skill. There was a part of her now that had come to fear him.
But I could no longer stare at him, for my blood loss was making me lightheaded and faint.
"Please, Edward…." I whispered with my last bit of strength, "…help me."
(Third-Person Narrator POV)
As Edward Kenway sheathed his swords, he turned around and ran over to Lucy.
"Please, Edward…"
"Lucy…?"
"...help me."
"No, NO!" Edward held Lucy's neck to keep her head from hitting the ground. "Lucy! Wake up…"
Edward cupped his arm under her legs and picked her up in his arms, holding her tightly as he ran down the street past her house, heading for his dwelling further down the pathway.
He threw open the door with his shoulder and rushed over to his bed. Edward set her body down as gentle as a newborn.
Edward scrambled to his dresser, desperately trying to find his first aid materials. Frustrated, he scurried to his chest he had next to it and finally found the spare first aid box he had gotten from the Jackdaw.
"Agh, finally." Edward said, slamming the chest shut behind him.
He got down on one knee beside his bed and slowly reached for Lucy's hand and held it snugly while he outstretched her arm towards him.
His patient let out agonizing whimper, then a weak sigh.
"No, Lucy…come on, stay with me."
He turned her head towards him before wiping her pistol wound clean with a damp cloth. Then he saw his cup half-filled with rum on the bedside table. He dipped a fresh piece of linen in the rum and wrung it out. He winced when he realized he would have to disinfect her wound with hard liquor.
"Hey….Lucy…"
Her eyes slightly opened, then closed again.
"Lucy, please. Look at me."
She took a shallow breath in and finally opened her eyes to meet with his.
"This will burn a bit…just hold still…"
He quickly pressed the rum-soaked linen into the hole in her arm. The stinging pain made Lucy come alive as if a bolt of lightning struck her. Lucy writhed and grabbed at his pillows and blanket in harrowing pain. The god-awful screams made Edward look wistfully at her, holding her arm in place with his free hand.
"Hang in there, lass…just hold on." Edward removed the rum cloth and placed a square of cotton over her wound before wrapping it up tightly and tying the ends together.
As Lucy started to take deep breaths to recover from screaming, Edward worked on cleaning her cuts she had and the blood that had poured and stained the corner of her mouth.
Edward had finished treating Lucy's wounds. He wiped the sweat from his face and brow, breathing a sigh of relief while holding her hand. He got up and put his first aid box away, keeping his gaze on Lucy, whom of which had her eyes closed from the pain she was enduring.
Edward took off his sweaty shirt and boots and grabbed his large bottle of rum from his pantry with a small cup and sat down on his bed gingerly, next to Lucy. His eyes never left her face, waiting for her luminous, green eyes to shine on him again.
After she opened her eyes, looking all around Edward's home, she hastily tried to sit upright in bed, and Edward was quick to halt her as she winced and groaned.
"Not so fast, lass. Take it easy." Edward helped fix her posture and placed a pillow upright to hold her up as she held her right arm over her lap.
"Goddammit…where is that damned shark that shot me?"
"Sod that old pisspot and his friends. They won't bother you anymore."
"What did you do? Kill them?"
"All three of 'em." Edward replied, smirking to himself and pouring Lucy a cup of rum.
"Good riddance." Lucy snapped. "That wanker had it coming to 'em."
Edward finished off a cup of rum before giving her a cup full.
"Here, drink this. It'll help 'ya."
Lucy gladly took his cup and downed the rum, gulp by gulp until it was done.
Edward let out a brief chuckle. "Ready for another one?"
"Please…" She said, holding up her cup as Edward filled it again.
As she drank her second rum, Edward let out a tired exhale.
"I'm going to turn in for tonight…Sweet dreams."
As Edward got up off the bed, Lucy hastily took his wrist.
"Wait a minute, where are you goin'?"
"To bed, I'm dead tired." Edward walked around to her side of the bed and made himself comfortable on the wooden floor. "I'll let you have the bed for tonight."
"Don't be silly," Lucy said firmly. "You've had a rough night. You need a proper bed to sleep on, don't you?"
"I've slept on the floor loads o' times."
"Passing out from too many drinks doesn't count as sleeping, Edward."
"Lucy!" Edward blurted and raised his voice, making Lucy jump a bit. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to yell, but you need the rest more than me."
Lucy sighed and held her head in frustration. He was trying to be courteous, but overly so. Lucy saw the effort he had to go through to follow her home and rescue her. He needed a restful sleep or he was going to have a shitty day tomorrow.
"Okay, then. How 'bout this?" Lucy asked.
"I'm listening." Edward said, looking up at her.
"Your bed's plenty big enough for the two of us, so…I'll sleep under the blanket. You sleep on top of it. That sounds fair, right?"
"Hmmm, I suppose so." Edward shrugged and got up off the ground.
Edward wrapped one arm around her back and cupped her knees and gently moved her down the bed until she was laying down. Lucy was able to grab the blanket and pull it towards her until all but her neck and shoulders were covered. Edward fixed up her pillows last.
The tired Welshman walked around to the empty bedside and laid down next to Lucy with two pillows under his head. Before he could blow out the large candle at his bedside, Lucy's voice caught his attention.
"Edward…?"
"Aye?"
I was jus' thinkin'…if it weren't for you, I would probably be dead…"
"That's why I followed you home. It looked like you were in bad shape. You shouldn't have walked home by yourself."
"I always walk home by myself….But you're right, I shouldn't."
"Don't 'ya have a mother or father? I'm sure they worry 'bout you."
"No, I don't…or rather, I do not know. I was only a little child when we were separated. My guardians found me after awhile of living on the street. I've been with them ever since."
"And where are your guardians?"
"On a merchant trip." Lucy yawned quietly. "Shouldn't take more than a few days' time."
"Until they return from their trip, you can stay here if you like." Edward turned his head to look at Lucy, who had a concerned frown on her face.
"I couldn't impose anythin', Edward. I don't wanna be a bother."
"You won't be." Edward smiled at her. "I haven't enjoyed the company of a woman in a long time….it'll be a nice change o' pace for me…."
Just as Lucy closed her eyes, she remembered something.
"Uhm, Edward…by the way, thank you…for saving my life. It was…very kind of you."
"You're welcome….Goodnight, Lucy."
"Goodnight, Edward." Lucy's voice hitched slightly as she had a new-found feeling of peace and tranquility that she had never felt before. And it was just enough to lull Lucy into a deep slumber.