Sinbad stood at his window at Granny's, watching everyone on the island celebrating Hercules. He didn't feel much like celebrating, or grieving, or really anything having to do with Hercules' death. Sinbad hadn't known him and felt nothing towards what happened. So, he kept his distance from the rest of The Damned and everyone else who knew Hercules.

A knock on the door pulled Sinbad away from the window. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Phoebus on the other side. His heart involuntarily raced at seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

Phoebus' face was expressionless and his voice flat as he said, "Meg sent me. She wanted me to go over what you need to know before we leave tomorrow."

Sinbad's heart fell. "Of course. Come in." He let Phoebus in and closed the door. "I'm surprised you came. You've gone out of your way to keep as much distance between us as possible since you saved my life during the battle."

"That's actually why I'm really here. Meg didn't send me, but I couldn't let anyone know I was visiting your room for any reason other than business."

Sinbad smirked and advanced towards him. Phoebus put his hand out in front of him to stop Sinbad, careful not to touch him. "That's not why I'm here, either."

"Why are you here?"

"That night we…" his voice trailed off. He cleared his throat. "That night we were here together, was a one-time thing. I needed a release, you needed a distraction, and it was convenient. But, that's all it was, Sinbad."

"Not to me. You're all I've thought about since then."

Sinbad was surprised to see a look of anger cross Phoebus' face. "You need to stop lying to yourself and trying to convince yourself it was anything more than it was. It meant nothing." Phoebus took a deep breath and stepped away from Sinbad. "That's all it's allowed to mean to me."

"I'm not lying to myself- or to you, or anyone else." Sinbad closed the gap between them. "Why is what we felt that night not allowed to mean anything to you?"

"Because my crew comes first. You may be the first mate now, but it's only because you're a murderer. You're nothing to this crew. Especially to me."

Phoebus tried to push past Sinbad, but he blocked him.

"What are you doing?" Phoebus demanded.

"We're alone and no one can see us or hear us," Sinbad said. "Now tell me the truth."

"I told you the truth, Sinbad."

Sinbad shook his head. "I think you're the one lying to yourself. But, I get it: you know my reputation. Your head has a million valid reasons to pretend what happened, didn't; to pretend I'm nothing. You know I'm the villain and you need to stay away from me. I know that, too. But, I also know that if I kissed you right now, you wouldn't stop me."

He didn't. Phoebus kissed him back with a desperation matched only by Sinbad's. But, Phoebus ended it abruptly and moved away from Sinbad.

"I'm not John."

Sinbad stared at him for a moment while he tried to catch his breath. "What?"

"Who you really want is John Smith; you want for me to be John."

Sinbad took a step towards Phoebus, but Phoebus moved away from him again. "I want you to stop looking at me the way you have been since you first said my name that night on the beach. I want you to stop saying my name like it's a curse. I want you to stop acting like you're expecting me to kill you at any given second." Sinbad paused. "I want you to feel even a sliver of what I'm feeling right now. There are a lot of things I want from you; but you being John Smith is not one of them."

Phoebus didn't say anything. He stood here for a moment, not moving until he turned and walked out of Sinbad's room.

X X X

Sinbad woke up to his body pinned down by the weight of Phoebus straddling him and a knife against his throat. Sinbad didn't fight him off. If Phoebus really wanted to kill him, he could have cut his throat while he slept.

Still, Sinbad tempted him. "Everything you're doing right now has me harder than a ship's mast. So, either take my life or take my body, but decide quickly because in about two seconds, I'm going to make the decision for you."

Phoebus pressed the flat of the blade against Sinbad's throat, hard enough to almost cut off his air. "Why did you do this to me? You could have had literally any other man or woman on the island that night, why did you come to me?"

Sinbad chose Phoebus that night because Sinbad desperately wanted John and Phoebus was blonde like John. But, there was no way he was going to tell Phoebus that; it would ruin everything. "Why did you leave with me?" Sinbad countered. "You knew who I was, you could have said no. I didn't make you do anything."

Phoebus gripped his knife tighter and pressed the tip against the hollow of Sinbad's throat. Sinbad didn't move. If Phoebus wanted to stab him, he wouldn't stop him.

"Kill me," Sinbad told him, after several moments of silence. "I can think of a million things worse than your face being the last thing I ever see."

"Stop saying shit like that," Phoebus growled. "Stop acting like you're falling for me or feeling anything more than lust. You're not capable of feeling anything real and I'm not going to let you manipulate me. I don't know what your endgame is, but I want you to leave me alone."

"My endgame," Sinbad repeated. "I've been giving you the distance you want. You're the one who came to me earlier tonight and you're the one who snuck into my room in the middle of the night. I didn't want that night to be anything more than it was, either; but it was. And it was obviously more to you, as well, or you wouldn't have a knife to my throat right now."

Phoebus looked down at his knife. Slowly, he retracted his hand and stood up. "I can't do any of this anymore." He said it so quietly, Sinbad wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to himself. Phoebus slipped the knife back into the holster strapped to this thigh. "I won't be returning to The Damned in the morning. You can tell our captain I'm leaving." Phoebus headed for the door.

"You're not allowed to leave," Sinbad told him, sitting up.

Phoebus turned to look at him. "Excuse me?"

"I out-rank you, sailor. And I'm telling you you're not allowed to leave this crew."

"You don't actually have that authority. I'm through being a pirate. I've done a lot in the last few years I'm not proud of and never thought I'd ever do. But this- what Meg's asking of us- I won't do it. I won't go to war with a kingdom and kill a prince. We can get away with a lot- including murder- out there…" He motion towards the sea outside of Sinbad's window. "But, we can't come back from murdering a prince. And I can't come back from what I did with you. I need to put all of this behind me and move on."

"And what life would you rather have?" Sinbad asked him.

"I don't know. But, it doesn't include you, Sinbad; so, don't try to stop me."

When Phoebus walked out the door, Sinbad didn't stop him.