Author's note: Meanwhile, aboard the Adventure....
It's another quick chapter (is there anything but, with me? haha), a little bit short but hopefully still worth it. I hope that this one explains a few things or at least makes them less egregious; I hate leaving a character with a bastardized representation.
There are a few notes for this chapter at the end; as before, if there's anything you'd like me to explain, please let me know and I'd be glad to! Thanks again (and again and again!) for reading, and for reviewing if you choose to do so!
Also, a random note: They've been showing tourism commercials on TV for the places I'm writing about. So pretty and appealing in the dead of winter here in the northern hemisphere, haha.
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Go No More A-roving: Strike the Bell
The man had lost his mind. There was no other explanation for why Suzaku was hanging from the rigging, upside down, in gale-force winds. Not that there would be any reason to hang from the rigging on a calm day, that is.
"How's this?" he called. The captain--his new captain, a peer without peer and ample evidence that certain noble families shipped their crazy scions off to sea, if only to be rid of them a while--waved cheerfully back.
"Terrible!" Captain Asplund yelled back cheerfully. "You're staying up there until either you get it right or you faint!" He waved at Suzaku as if wishing a dear loved one a safe voyage. Suzaku sighed, curling around the beam to retie his knots. Who'd ever heard of adding another sail to your ship to see if it would go faster? The ship's mast was a patchwork of cuts and joins from an apparent attempt to find the perfect mast height. Now there was no crow's nest.
Life aboard the Adventure was hugely different, not only for the mad captain. There seemed to be less to do; the shanty man's songs were slower and out of tune, the food terrible. He missed easy conversation and laughter and cloud watching. He missed Lelouch.
Biting his lip, he shook his head to clear it. The blood pooling in the top of his head from hanging must have been having some sort of ill effects; he wasn't normally maudlin. He sighed, checking the knots again. Shrugging down to the captain, he watched the man grin hugely, shaking his head. Frowning, Suzaku pretended to untie the knots and redo them, checking again. Finally, Captain Asplund gave him a thumbs up. Suzaku rolled his eyes and shimmied back to the ground.
"It's perfect!" the captain squealed as the makeshift sail filled with air. The crew on the deck stopped, all eyes on the new stretch of canvas. It surprised no one when a seam split, the sail deflating above them. Suzaku turned to the captain to find the man already looking back.
"Again, sir?" Suzaku groaned. Asplund only shook his head, a small frown settling over his features.
"No," he said unhappily. "It needs to be sewn again before it can go up. I felt us go faster, though, before it burst. Didn't you feel us go faster?"
Suzaku humored him. "Yes, sir. I felt us go a little bit faster."
Captain Asplund grinned widely, scruffing through Suzaku's hair playfully. "You little , liar, you," he said affectionately, humming tunelessly as he wandered away. Suzaku laughed under his breath, strangely melancholy. There weren't many hiding places left on the decks thanks to the captain's meddling, but the head was empty when he perched on the rail by the bowsprit.
It wasn't like Lelouch would give him the time of day, anyway, even if he were here. He'd be fooling himself if he tried to explain away the boy's expression the last time he'd seen him as anything other than heartbreak, and he'd have to be a complete idiot to deny that it was him that put it there. Sighing, Suzaku let his head drop against the bowsprit with a thunk. Why did he always have to do this sort of thing? He'd let his mouth open and all kinds of stupid things had fallen out. And that business with the shilling? He was probably fortunate that Lelouch was so much less physical; Suzaku would have broken the nose of any man he'd heard saying those things to Lelouch. Of course he'd regretted saying it, had reached out to pull the boy closer and soothe the damage done, had thought about trailing behind him to the docks like a puppy abandoned by his master. It had been damnable pride that kept him from it, and the thought that Lelouch'd probably hate him forever if he'd done it. Not that there was much chance he'd forgive him now. His head connected with the wood again; maybe if he hit it hard enough he'd knock some sense into it, he mused.
"Ah, Lieutenant!" Captain Asplund threw an arm over his shoulders. Suzaku swore, righting himself before he tumbled into the net below--or the sea.
"Captain," he greeted, nodding as he slid back to the safety of the wooden planks.
"We'll be making landfall soon. I want to hurry; I've heard there's a great to-do among the ships in Pendragon: the Emperor's issued some sort of challenge, and I want to see if I can win it!" Asplund cried, pumping his fist. Suzaku looked doubtfully at the swells that were rising. The captain waved his hand at Suzaku's concerned expression. "Oh, this is nothing. A little high water; we'll be through it in no time."
"If you say so, sir," Suzaku replied, ducking under the man's arm to head back to the berth for some sleep. His head was throbbing.
"Friendly flag is hailing us, sir!" a sailor called from where he was perched on an unsafe-looking contraption the captain had had rigged for lookouts. "Looks to be the Defense!"
Suzaku rushed to the rail, shading his eyes against the spray to look at the ship. Familiar sails and stern loomed dark, rapidly approaching flying the Britannian flag.
"Oho! The Defense, eh?" Captain Asplund said cheerfully, sidling next to Suzaku to look at the ship. He aped Suzaku's pose. "Isn't that the one you got kicked off of?" he asked absently.
Suzaku grit his teeth. "Captain Gottwalt's ship, sir. Formerly my commission," he acknowledged.
"We'll see what Jeremiah wants from us, then," Asplund decided, ordering the ship to wait for the Defense. The ships were lashed and Suzaku begged permission to visit his friends. Bounding aboard, he headed straight for the Defense's galley. He had no idea what he'd say when he got there, but he could no sooner stop his feet than he could force his heart to stop fluttering like a caged bird. He knocked on the door and thrust it open.
"Lelou--" He froze, mouth open. Cookie looked at him, disgruntled. "Er, sorry, then," Suzaku stammered, backing out of the room. A thought struck him and he headed to the hold, waving jauntily at friends as they passed. Grabbing a lantern from the wall, he searched the hold eagerly, sagging dejectedly against the wall after finding it empty. He didn't dare check the berth and disturb the sailors sleeping.
It was strange that Gino hadn't greeted him, though. An unlikely thought occurred to him: maybe they weren't on the ship at all? But that didn't make sense; where would they have gone? Adventure had stayed in port longer than Defense, and he knew they weren't in Trinidad. Frowning in thought, he started back up to the deck, running into a sailor on the way.
"Watch where you're going," the sailor snapped, rushing into the bowels of the ship. Suzaku looked after him, shaking his head, then stepped back onto the deck. Captain Gottwalt stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at him. Suzaku had the grace to blush.
"How do you do, sir?" he asked Gottwalt awkwardly, looking around. The Defense's men looked on, faces solemn.
"He's not here," Gottwalt said bluntly.
A flush rose to Suzaku's cheeks. "I know, sir--he doesn't want to see me, so he's hiding out somewhere. It's okay. I'll go back to the Adventure."
Gottwalt looked awkward. "Actually," he said, "he's not here at all. It's why we flagged you down: not even a day after we left Trinidad, we were…beset. The prize was human bounty: they took Lelouch--"
"What?!" Suzaku cried in dismay. "How could you let them--"
"--Gino, the loblolly--his name is Rolo--and one of my able seamen, Cardemonde," the captain continued, irritated. "Their purpose was human bounty, as I said; they'd intercepted a letter I'd foolishly thought would be protected, and knew that we had," he paused, fishing for the right phrase, "persons of interest on board."
"Persons of interest?" Suzaku asked skeptically.
"I…yes. If Lloyd is taking you to Pendragon, there's no point in not telling you--the city's buzzing with gossip about how we lost the lost prince," Gottwalt confessed, obviously embarrassed.
"The lost prince?" Suzaku repeated, frowning. "No, Gino's a duke's son. He's not a prince." Gottwalt stared at him. Blinking, a horrified comprehension dawned on the boy's face. "No. Absolutely not. That's a cruel joke, making me think--I mean, he can't--" At the captain's slow nod, Suzaku groaned and buried his face in his hands, shaking. "He--I…I called him a whore," he stammered, weak-kneed. "My god, I called a peer of the realm a whore."
Captain Gottwalt's eyebrow twitched, but he offered a hand in paltry comfort. "Well, I'm sure the fact that you saved his life means something there, too."
"I tried to humiliate him because he hurt my feelings," Suzaku confessed, shaking his head in denial. "I made him cry."
Gottwalt shifted uncomfortably. "You should probably…not say these things to me. I'll have to arrest you," he informed Suzaku gently. Suzaku nodded absently, sitting on the stairs. "I'm sure you need some time to think--"
"Pirates. You said he'd been taken by pirates," Suzaku interrupted him. "Is Captain Asplund planning on joining the manhunt?"
"Yes, that's why we stopped you. If you would like to change your commission, there would be a spot for you on our ship again," Gottwalt told him, patting his shoulder awkwardly. Suzaku blinked at him and he continued, "You're a fairly skilled seaman, but you must understand I couldn't let him go."
"Let him go?" Suzaku repeated dully.
"He came to me requesting to be put off. He said that he'd been 'indiscreet' with you and had no intention of stopping, and therefore needed to be put off," Gottwalt clarified. Suzaku groaned, sinking miserably into his hands. "You know there was no chance I'd put him off. Not when I'd only just found him."
"I'm an ass," Suzaku informed him. "A great, stupid, stupid ass. With a side of cruel bastard."
Gottwalt frowned, patting his shoulder again. "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding." Suzaku shook his head numbly, peering through his fingers at the wooden stairs. "But," the captain coughed, changing the subject, "there would be a spot here for you, if you would like to join us for the search."
"No," Suzaku said, surprising even himself. "The man is mad and the ship a mess, but it's the fastest one in the fleet. He's made sure of that. We'd be in Hispaniola before the waters warmed around your ship."
Nodding, Captain Gottwalt turned to go. He paused on the stair, offering an uneasy smile. "We'll find him, Kururugi. I know we will."
"I hope so," Suzaku murmured, lost. "I do hope so."
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Chapter notes: This update's song is a fun one! I was torn between this one and "Topman and the Afterguard", both of which playfully jibe at the disconnect between the captain and crew of a ship. Unfortunately, "Topman" didn't have any good stealable phrases (beyond "may the divil double-triple-damn him", which is too long, even for me).