Eventually, Carriedo did come to pay Alfred a visit. It was far after Alfred's crew had been loaded into the other cages in the brig. And it was far after they felt the ship start to move with the wind. His crew kept on asking him what he was going to do. He just simply told them that he had it handled and that was that. He wasn't about to tell them that he had no clue what to do and they might have a chance of dying.
When he heard footsteps coming towards them, he made everyone go quiet. He still stood calmly, for some reason calming his crew at least slightly calmed himself. Eventually, though, the boisterous Spaniard made his way into the room, smiling brightly.
"Buenos dias, amigos!" Carriedo said happily. Alfred stayed quiet, just staring at him. "Why so quiet?"
"What have you done to Arthur?" Alfred asked. Arthur had to be his number one priority, he had to make sure he was safe.
"Given him proper clothes," Carriedo shrugged, smirking as he walked in front of Alfred's bars and looked at him. "Took a while of coaxing, did you know he doesn't speak English anymore?"
"He's been there for 10 years," Alfred sighed. "He's gonna forget some things."
"So, why are you so close to Kirkland?" Carriedo asked.
"He trusts me and I trust him," Alfred said simply.
"He's hardly human anymore," Carriedo laughed. "I doubt he knows what trust is."
"He's probably more human than you are," Alfred stated, slightly hoping to get a reaction from it. And he could tell he got one by the way Carriedo narrowed his eyes.
"You know, I have to bring Kirkland back unharmed for all the money he's worth," Carriedo said, a dangerous edge to his voice. "But that won't be required for you."
"You don't scare me," Alfred stated.
"That is a shame, mi amigo," Carriedo sighed. He quickly pulled out some keys and unlocked the cage Alfred was in. Alfred took a small step back so as not to be hit in the face by the door. Before he knew what was happening, Carriedo gripped onto his shirt and pulled him forward. "You should be."
"Still not," Alfred retorted.
Carriedo opened his mouth to reply, but both of their attentions were snatched away when they heard the sound of a gun being cocked.
"Let him go," a voice warned and Alfred couldn't help but smile. Alfred looked over at Arthur, who he knew would be over there. He was dressed in a Royal Navy uniform, which he had no doubt that Carriedo stole a long time ago, and was holding a pistol so that it was aimed more or less at Carriedo.
"So you remember how to hold a gun," Carriedo scoffed.
"I know how to shoot," Arthur said, seeming to have a few troubles with some of the words.
Carriedo let out a laugh, but just looking at Arthur told Alfred that he did know what he was doing. He was a Naval captain back in the day…
"I doubt that," Carriedo chuckled.
Arthur glared at him for a bit, pointed the pistol upwards, and let out a shot right through the ceiling. Everyone jumped, including Arthur, but he kept a straight face, and pointed the pistol back at Carriedo.
"Let him go," Arthur repeated himself.
Carriedo slowly put his hands up in surrender and slowly stepped away from Alfred.
"Still don't scare me," Alfred grinned. He noticed that the keys Carriedo was holding were still in his hands and quickly snatched them from him. "Now, if you would do me the favor of stepping into this cage…"
Arthur nodded in agreement and pointed the gun at the cage for a quick second before focusing it back on Carriedo.
"You won't be getting all of my crew so easily with such few men," Carriedo scoffed, stepping into the cage.
"Then how did Arthur get here?" Alfred asked and then held out his hand. "Weapons, please. Unless you would like to get shot."
Carriedo glared at him for a little bit before he handed him a sword.
"That's it?" Alfred asked.
"I have…his gun," Arthur stated.
"Sweet," Alfred nodded and slammed the door closed, swiftly locking it. "You can drop the gun now." Arthur slowly nodded and pointed the gun at the ground. Alfred nodded and quickly went to getting his few crew members left out of the other three cages. "Okay, important question." Alfred looked back at Arthur. "How did you manage to get here?"
Arthur smiled slightly and motioned for him to follow him up the stairs. Alfred followed, he and his crew close behind him. When they made it onto the deck, Alfred was slightly blinded by the sunlight for a second before he could accurately look around. There were Arthur's men, not looking so much like savages anymore. They were dressed in simple clothes, sure, but they looked more like men than they did before. They all seemed to have gotten the same haircut as Arthur, looking like proper men all of a sudden.
The men were holding what Alfred supposed were Carriedo's crew's guns at the small huddle of pirates on the deck.
"What, did you do a sneak attack on them or something?" Alfred laughed as his own crew looked at them in confusion.
"Sneak attack," Arthur recited and then slowly nodded.
"Okay," Alfred nodded and clapped his hands together. This would prove to be so much better than he thought. "My men, help them get all these guys to the brig and lock 'em with these keys," he tossed the keys to some random guy. "I'm going to…" he looked around and saw that no one was holding onto the wheel. "Steer."
Everyone slowly started doing what they were told as Alfred started for the wheel. Arthur stumbled behind him, seeming to have a slightly hard time working with the boat rocking.
"Okay," Alfred sighed, grabbing the wheel to make sure it didn't move them around anymore. He pulled out his compass, which Arthur stared at in slight wonder. Alfred smiled slightly. "Compass," he said to Arthur who looked at him for a while.
"Compass," Arthur smiled back.
"Look," Alfred heaved a heavy sigh. "I know this is confusing, but I'm bringing you home. But, not the island, do you understand that?"
"Home…" Arthur muttered.
"You've been there a long time," Alfred stated. "Do you remember Great Britain?"
Arthur looked at him for a while, like he was trying to register what he just said. "Home…R-Right?"
"Yes," Alfred nodded. "I'm taking you there. People miss you. You've been gone for a very long time."
"But…" Arthur looked at the floor. "I don't…act…"
"We can work on it," Alfred smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder, which made Arthur look up. "We have a long time before we get there."
"Proper," Arthur mumbled and Alfred tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion. It was almost like he was finishing his last sentence.
"You remember being proper, yeah?" Alfred asked him and Arthur nodded. "Then it won't be that hard to get there again. Your crew will learn, too."
Arthur nodded again. "Dreams…" he said suddenly, like it was a sudden idea.
"What?" Alfred asked, but his head was a little distracted. He had to set them a course to England soon, or at least where he assumed it would be, since he had been below decks for this long.
"To…help me talk," Arthur said. "I can tell…"
"Me about your dreams?" Alfred finished for him, seeing he was having troubles. "That's a great idea. First, though, I need to make sure we're going in the right direction." He looked back up at the ship and noticed the jolly roger was flying as their flag. "And take down that pirate flag…"
It had taken a few days for Arthur to get used to the ship. The layout and the rocking of it. He stayed away from that place below decks Carriedo would be and mainly stayed around Alfred. All of the things this captain did seemed very familiar to Arthur. The way he would walk around the ship and tell people to do this and that. The way he would occasionally steer the ship to make sure they were going in the right direction. The way he would slump over a map in his room to try and figure out where they were.
That was where they were now. Arthur was watching Alfred with admiration as he looked over that map again and again. Arthur was sitting on a simple stool in front of the table while Alfred was standing.
"Where…are we?" Arthur asked, leaning over the map he could only slightly understand.
"I think we're somewhere close to South America?" Alfred sighed, running a hand through his hair. Arthur had gotten a little better with English as it slowly came back to him. He could easily understand Alfred, it was just talking that was still a little tricky. "I'm sure he already had a plan to get us to England, but when no one was at the wheel, we turned in a few directions. I have no idea where we are… I don't know this part of the ocean very well."
"We…" Arthur tried to remember the right words to say. "We will get there."
"Thanks," Alfred smiled weakly at him. "You…uh…you want to tell me about another dream?"
Arthur smiled. "Yes," he nodded. Talking about these dreams was good for a couple of reasons. Sure, it helped him with his English and remembering the twenty years of his life he almost forgot. But it always made Alfred a little happier. He had been stressed for a while, mostly because they hadn't been near land except for small islands for the whole week they had been at sea.
"I had a…friend," Arthur began, at first having some troubles picking the right word for this person. "Um, F-Francis is his name, I think." He talked really slowly, but that was expected considering he was relearning an entire language. "He was…annoying…French."
"Francis Bonnefroy?" Alfred asked. Arthur nodded. "He was the first person to guess that you were missing, considering you were gone for so long. From what I've heard, you two were almost inseparable, except for the fact that you seemed like you hated him."
"He shows up a lot," Arthur laughed slightly, letting the smile linger. "He told me I was…I was to chart the sea. He was at a party before I left, trying…to make me have fun."
"I'm sure he'll be happy to see you when you come back," Alfred smiled. "It's been 10 years since he's seen his best friend."
"It's…partially my fault," Arthur muttered. He'd been thinking about this for a while. They had been missing for so long, and that was mostly his fault. Sure, he couldn't help a storm. But, he could have turned them around. He could have tried to stay sane for a little bit longer, for when those people started showing up…
"You couldn't help what happened," Alfred stated. "If anything, you should be pleased with yourself. You made sure your crew was safe for 10 whole years."
"Not all of them…" Arthur mumbled. "Maxwell…"
"I know you lost a lot of people," Alfred sighed. "But you tried."
"Not hard enough…"
"Tell me about Maxwell, then" Alfred stated, leaning over the table with the map.
"Why?" Arthur asked.
"You should get it all off your chest," Alfred said. "You're about to go home. You shouldn't have something like this weighing you down before you go there."
"If you want to listen," Arthur stated.
Alfred quickly moved to the other side of the table and sat on top of it, looking at Arthur intently.
"Fine…"
Hehe, yay! Story time! I always imagine Arthur as a good story teller, I have no idea why. But, he is making some progress. He can understand English now, it's just speaking it fluently is a little hard. I've learned that whole process of language in French class. I can slightly understand it if I listen to people, but then if I have to come up with something off the top of my head in response, that won't turn out well. Like, at all. So I'm feeling what Arthur is right now.
Please review!
