Thanks for reading! I'm sorry for the break but life has caught up with me as of late and I will try my best to get more written when I can. Don't forget to review those always help!
The harbor in Great Inagua has filled with new life since my first visit. I remember waking Edward, him trusting me enough to tell me of his wife and the time I spent showing him the sense I knew he had all along.
I still kick myself for touching his thigh like I did. I knew it would get his attention. It would make him focus and it always helps to have someone there.
I remember the first time I tried. It wasn't strong at all, just flickers of light and only stayed for a few seconds but it was enough to make me feel like I spent the day drinking.
But it wasn't the same for him. He's a natural. For him the gesture must have seemed unnecessary. He must have thought... well he doesn't think that now.
That was a genuinely good day.
Ones of late haven't been. I've heard only stories but a blockade was set in Nassau and Kenway and Vane were able to escape with just the skin on their teeth.
I also heard about Thatch. He's off hell knows where at this point and I don't know what we can do to bring him back.
I don't even know why I'm here. I told Kenway I'd meet him without thinking of why I would. I can't let him think I showed up just to see that ugly mug of his.
The sun is setting and fires are roaring along the coast, the crew of the Jackdaw can be heard laughing and drinking. Many are already drunk. They've been at this for awhile.
I jump off the side of my ship as it docks and walk up to the manor as I know it's the place I'll find Edward.
A thought hits me. If his crew is three sheets to the wind he could be too. I hope he won't be. There are so many more productive things he could be doing. He owns this island, therefore these people depend on him.
I know my assumption is correct when it see Ade looking sour as he paces in front of the steps.
"Master Kidd," he says, his jaw set in a grimace.
"Ade. I'm guessing Kenway is just as bad as the other crew," I attempt to act disinterested but my disgust leaks into my voice.
"See for yourself. Maybe you can talk some sense into him."
I take to the stone steps and find the blonde laying on a table with the leg of a courtesan stretched across him. The smell of sex not yet blown away by the humid air.
It feels like salt in an open wound. And it shouldn't feel that way.
I take an empty chair beside him, resisting the urge to shake him violently. I push his leg one solid time, which only aids in pissing me off more.
His eyes flutter open, surprised by the rude awakening and rolls his head to the side to face me. "Ahoy, Kidd. Missed quite a time." His voice sounds raw, like a man who hasn't had a drop of water in days. But that's not the case. He's still drunk off his arse and still sated from sex.
"Aye," I choke out. "Pity about Nassau and Blackbeard flying the coop."
Kenway is not my problem. He's a grown man who doesn't want to act like one and wake up from this dream he's living. He'll either drink himself to death or lose his life trying to find the damn sage on his own before he will wake up.
He brushes the woman's leg off his with a surprising amount of respect and sits over the edge to face me. "Oh, we'll see about Thatch. Vanes off to find him now and I'm following soon." He places his palm over his head, rubbing his eyes.
"This is what's left of your experiment in democracy?" My tone is biting, letting on to my disappointment. If only he realized.
A drunkard stumbles around behind him. He clutches at the balcony about to hurl over the side before pissing over the edge. Disgusting.
"Aye, we do as we please here and we take our time doing it." My blood runs hot and I want nothing more than to beat some sense into that thick head of his, but no matter how angry I get, disappointment looms over like a shadow.
I push my chair back and stand to be eye level with him. I hear Ade take up the steps behind me and know I have to keep this civil. "For Christ's sake, Edward!" I can't help but feel a helpless pain in my chest. I've tried everything I've thought of. "Don't anything but the stink of riches wrinkle your nose?"
Doesn't he have something else to strive for. He can't even tell me it's his wife anymore. He's just selfish,
"What's got into you man?" He seems oblivious and I realize I've just been talking to a brick wall.
My look furrows into one of disgust and I turn my back only to pause. "Reality mate. Reality." I stop beside Ade, anger burning deep. "See you ain't pulled into the drink by this drowning rat."
Why do I continue this foolish charade with him? Even I don't understand how I'm able to see anything worth saving in a man like him, but somehow I still do.
"Oy! I've lived longer than most men who trod this path!"
I have half a mind to yell something back but it seems like a lost cause. He seems like a lost cause.
Anger still clouds my thoughts and it wouldn't bode well from me to take it out on the crew. I take to the jungle, running along the path I first took not too long ago.
My heart pounds against my chest as I dodge, jump, and run through the jungle, putting all sour thoughts out of my mind if only for a moment.
I break the exit breathing heavier and feeling emotions flood back to me. I cast my legs over the side of the cliff, old ruins all below me.
Why do I try? He means a lot to me. That might be why. I care for him and he gives me reasons to care but it feels like more. I don't even know what I think of him.
I shouldn't feel strongly about him at all. I know that. He betrayed my order, he won't listen to a damn thing I say, he brushes past those he cares about for the sake of gold, and on top of that he's married. He has a wife that he very clearly loves and he tells himself that he does it for her but how can he?
How can I still stomach the idea of being his friend if this is what it leads to? Disappointment. In everything he has done it's been for himself. He mocks my creed, the words I live by and the ones I want to die by.
But his pure will power is something to marvel at. The way he holds himself with an air of confidence, that may be false most of the time, but he hold nonetheless. In battle, the way he fights, pure strength, every move powerful. He could be an excellent assassin, only if he puts his greed behind him and learns he's not only hurting himself.
I pull my pipe out of my jacket and light it with the spark of two stones, puffing on the thick smoke. It has always been a calming thing that is more force of habit at this point.
I puff rings through my lips and hear someone approaching. I look out and notice it's considerably brighter. I must have been here a few hours.
"Kenway," I say dryly, taking another drag.
"Read."
He sits heavily beside me, casting his legs over, just like I have mine. He's silent and I wait to have him say his peace.
"My personal life is no business of yours and your order." He doesn't look at me, his eyes focused out to the never ending sea.
"It became my business when I risked my neck to save yours." My tone is harsh but pushing him away would be best.
"I don't need your help and I especially don't need you hounding me about who I choose to have as company."
Did he really just bring that into it? He thinks I'm jealous of a whore he bedded? It's more likely that I would tell the entirety of the West Indies in a woman. "I couldn't care less who you fuck, Kenway. I do care that this is the place the people of Nassau came to for refuge and this is what they've been given. This is a slum. No better than how Nassau was."
He seems hung up of the first sentence, which is the least important one. "Do you really not care? The way you were looking at Alice I would have thought you'd kill her."
"Alice is it? You on a first name basis with all your whores?" I don't even recognize my voice.
"I consider them friends," he says smugly.
"I'd consider my whores friends too." He visibly stiffens, causing a smirk to reach my lips. "I've got one close one in Havana. She keeps my secrets and I keep hers." It's an exaggeration to say the least. No I do not sleep with this friend nor is she a courtesan but to make him think I have my whores? Priceless.
"You sound smitten." His voice is heavy and I realize he must have never thought of me with another woman.
"Who I keep as company is no business of yours. Besides, do you have feelings for every woman you've had?" I dump the ashes out of my pipe and clean it out with my thumb before tucking it back in my pocket.
"Good point." He falls silent again.
"This doesn't mean I'm not still pissed at you."
"Doesn't mean I'm not either."
I continue looking out at nothing really. I catch Edward glancing at me occasionally, trying his luck with a longer glance.
The air settles around us. The unwanted tension melting away.
"I missed you." His voice is quiet but firm.
"It's only been a month."
"A lot can happen in a month." He pauses before smiling, almost to himself. "I can learn my best friend's a woman one month. Learn I lost my father the next-"
"Edward," I stop him, stunned. "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
He sighs heavily. "I didn't want to bring anymore hurt into this. In Nassau, when I was around you I could forget about it." He looks at me with a sad smile.
I reach out to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "He died because he didn't have enough money to treat a simple illness. It's my fault. I could have sent them more and hoped it would have made it to them. I could of-"
"It's not your fault," I say comfortingly, to cut off his painful thoughts, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"But it is." He won't tell me why. His voice sounds on the verge of tears but his eyes won't shed them. It seems we're more alike than I thought.
"You can't blame yourself for every death." I pause, grief weighing done on my "Don't do this to yourself."
He finally turns to me and wraps me in his arms. A comradely hug of sorts. His breaths coming in short gasps against my ear, pain shaking through him. "My mother hasn't seen Caroline since I left. I think she's gone for good." His voice becomes weak, shaken by the tears that won't come.
"I'm sorry." I've never been good at this comforting thing. It's new but I know he needs support.
We stay like that. Clasping onto each others shoulders for comfort.
After minutes tick by I let go of his shoulders and pull him to stand. "So you're leaving to find Thatch, soon?"
"Aye," he pauses before looking up at me. "Come with me." He sounds so sure of himself. The shaking man I was holding a few minutes before, gone.
"I can't. I have to be back in Tulum soon. There's not even enough time to make it to the Carolinas before-"
His hands cup my face and his lips press against mine quickly. "Come with me," he insists.
I freeze at the action, pushing him backwards before I can stop myself, creating a few feet of distance between us. "Don't touch me." It turns into more of a low growl. "The assassins need me. We have word of a planned attack and I need to be there. Kenway, Thatch is a grown man. If he's done he's done."
I don't want to talk about what he just did. I don't want to even remember the other times before.
"You would so easily give up on your friend?" His anger shows through but why he's angry, I'm not so sure it's about Thatch.
"I'm not giving up on him but I have no place telling him what he can and can not do. He's done, Edward. He's nearing fifty soon enough and I don't even think most of us will make it as long as he has let alone to push him farther." He doesn't look pleased with me but when have I ever cared who I pleased? "If you're still going, I wish you the best of luck and tell him goodbye for me."
"You make it sound like I have no chance of getting him back."
"I don't believe you do." I shake my head before moving on. "Now you were probably wondering why I told you to meet me here."
"Aye, I was." He steps closer again, finding come kind of comfort in letting go the subject of Thatch, if only just for now.
"I was planning on training you. I know you always look for me after I come into port so I was hoping to hide around and have you try to find me. But because you were indisposed I couldn't do that." I send him a dark glare that he shrugs weakly at. "So now I just want you to follow me. Do what I do. Sound simple enough?"
The only simple thing about this is how easy it's going to be for me to have a good time watching him fall on his arse.
"How hard can it be?"
I pat his shoulder firmly before turning my back to him. "Try to keep up if you will." I run back into the jungle hearing his footsteps behind me. I have more than a run planned.
I jump up into a tree running across its branch and to the edge where the end bows down. I leap off and catch a far off branch, swinging down to the jungle floor. Doing this has always come naturally.
I hear his steps falter behind me and crack a smile. I start a sprint, forced to jump over a fallen tree. I turn quickly moving in the opposite direction of the path and into another tree, that is blocked from his line of sight.
His footsteps stop and he looks around finding me nowhere to be found. I hide further away, taking pleasure in what he'll decide to do. "I get it," he drawls with a tone of feigned bitterness. "You sly little bastard. You know I have the sight." All the while, I'm sneaking off deeper into the jungle. "Whatever you want Mary." His voice is filled with challenge and the promise of something vile.
"Edward?" the voice of his quartermaster calls as he approaches.
I slink deeper away, my only way of seeing them through my vision.
"What are you doing in the jungle?" he prods.
"Well, you see-" I know he's thinking up some extravagant lie but, knowing Ade, he'd most likely call it for what it is.
"Are you out chasing another woman?" His distaste is apparent in his voice. "Even after what Kidd said? You know him well enough to understand how he feels about you going on like this."
Ade doesn't get enough credit.
My heart seems to drop and fear runs deep. I trust Edward and I have to trust he won't do me wrong.
"I know Ade," he sighs. "I don't want to displease Kidd more than I already have. Mary is an assassin. Friend of his. She offered to train me in place of Kidd until he cools down enough that he won't kill me when we spar. Even if I don't fancy the idea of their lofty creed, their skills can be valuable."
"Give this Mary my best of wishes. She's going to need them if she's training you," he scoffs. Truer words haven't been said.
"Secretly I think she has other reasons for training me," he says under his breath with a small laugh.
That little prick.
"I doubt it. From what Kidd said, most assassins won't look at you. You're just lucky he has a loyal friend and I wouldn't screw things up by bedding her." Ade puts his hands up and walks away. "But I know you'll do what you want, just keep Kidd in mind."
I should thank Ade, soon.
"I've got it under control."
Once Ade is out of sigh I see Edward focus at nothing and turn on his vision. His eyes gaze out looking around him and I see him stop and spot me, smiling like the devil.
I turn and jump to the next tree, catching whatever I can and running along. I hear him behind me, knowing he's smiling up at me from below.
I duck and turn quickly, moving further and further off the path. This last for what feels forever. Him chasing me, losing sight and catching up again.
It is fun. I often shout a teasing remark about how easy it is to best him. It brings a fire to his eyes and he always seems to try harder.
He stops checking his vision again but I crawl back behind as he searches forward. The least I can do is get him back for saying shite like that to Ade.
I notice him tense, realizing I'm behind him but he doesn't have a chance to move. I press my fingers against the corner where his shoulder meets his neck.
He collapses onto his back grabbing at his shoulder, a look of shock marked into him. I kneel beside his writhing form, a shitty smile across my face.
"That was for telling Ade I have 'other reasons'."
"Ah fuck," he breathes.
"Give it a few minutes and it will stop, just stop wallowing."
He glares up at me, as if wishing a great amount of ill will. "A simple tackle would have sufficed."
"Ah, but then I wouldn't have gotten this sort of satisfaction." I flash him a grin. "That should be enough for today."
He grabs my wrist, preventing me from standing like I wish. "I can't walk yet. Just stay." He sounds a bit like a child when he says it.
I'll humor him. I sit down on the uneven ground, pulling my knees to my chest.
"How did you learn that?" His eyes cast up to look at me, shinning brightly as usual.
"I learnt by mistake and found it came in handy," I reply shortly.
"And what mistake would that have been?"
I sigh and roll my eyes at his eager grin. "I was young. Just enlisted in the military and we were resting in a small town for a short time. Long story short a courtesan got a little too touchy, I placed my hand on her shoulder a little too hard and she collapsed right in the middle of the tavern." I smile at the memory and I hear his laugh.
It's not like the other times I've heard it. Not born from drunkenness or idleness. It sounds sweet and the way his lip curls a little more on one side than the other... bloody hell.
"The worst part was carrying her back to the brothel and explaining this to her boss. I ended up leaving enough payment to cover the night and passed out after too much drink back at the tavern."
There's a pause in the conversation, before he speaks again. "What were you like when you were younger?"
"Taken an interest in me now?" I tease. "I was... arrogant and most of the time a royal pain in the arse."
"It's hard to believe." His head lulls to the side so he can look up at me. "Not really the pain in the arse part but that you could be anything but wise." A shitty smirk pulls at his lips.
"Everyone grows up. I'm still waiting for you to."
He rolls his eyes halfheartedly. "You're hilarious, Mary."
"Stop calling me that. Anyone could walk up at anytime," I hiss at him.
"But I like it." I raise an eyebrow at his remark, urging him to continue. "It reminds me that you trust me."
"You're such a sap."
We fall in silence, the light rustling of jungle leaves filling the pause in conversation.
"Did I ever tell you the story of how I cut off a man's nose once?"