Enjoy! Make sure to review at the end! Man, my heart was really warmed by how many of you expressed feeling heartbreak when reading the last chapter! Thank you so much!

Chapter 8: Did you know about this one?

By the time Harry made his way off that roof and to the Lost Revenge it was the start of morning twilight. The sun had not yet peeked above the eastern horizon. Sunlight scattered off the atmosphere, casting its light into the sky. It was probably going to be a beautiful sunrise in half an hours time, not that Harry was in any sort of mood to appreciate it.

It was as though he was walking through a thick fog.

Even through the fog Harry guarded his SoulMark zealously as he walked, keeping the six-letter word hidden under his jacket. It was hardly a necessary step since everyone on the Isle and the ship alike were asleep in the small hours of the morning.

Somewhere inside of him he knew he should be jumping for joy, elated that what he had only dreamed of had actually happened. He had a soulmate. The joy of it was soured though by the fact that his soulmate had bloody run away from him. Mixed in with his euphoria were wells of heartache and spikes of indignant outrage.

When he reached the security of his cabin, and only then, did he remove his clothing so that he could look at his skin.

First his jacket, then his shirt, then the excess outerwear until Harry could see every letter of the word perfectly. It still felt unreal. But looking down, it was irrefutable. Stark vivid red letters stood out against his light skin.

Harry recognized the writing as his own and the dark, blood red was definitely to his liking. It was beautiful and sad all at once. Briefly Harry felt regret as he contemplated the mirror. He would need to replace it as soon as possible for the future. The back was a common area for SoulMarks to appear. He wondered if he would be getting more in the future. Until then he would have to check whatever parts of his skin were visible to him without the aid of a mirror.

He ran his fingers over the word, testing the feel of the skin. Physically it felt no different from the surrounding skin, but there was a ghost of a shiver that ran down his soul when he felt the word. There was a phantom sensitivity to that area of his skin that there had not been before.

Briefly he wondered what it would feel like if she were to touch it. Would the feeling be stronger? This was all so new and strange.

Harry almost didn't believe it.

He had a soulmate.

Him.

What he'd seen though—it left no doubt. They were soulmates.

He placed his hand over his heart, concealing the word. Even without looking he could clearly visualize it.

Lonely.

The depth of which he couldn't fathom. Harry Hook had heard enough about SoulMarks to know that the location of his particular SoulMark was important. A SoulMark on the heart was the most central, the most defining...and on his heart was the word 'lonely.'

It was enough to bring a sympathetic frown from the calloused pirate.

He knew what loneliness felt like. In some measuring degree he had always felt it. His whole life he had thought he was left out of that fairy tale that others had. He was left on the outside, with no hope of ever having his own promised one. Before becoming part of Uma's crew, Harry had felt alienated from everything and everyone. Being a blank-slate had felt like a physical separation between him and every other person. He had felt isolated, unheard, and disconnected from others. However, even at his darkest he had not allowed the loneliness to define him.

But his SoulMark spoke of a loneliness that was too much for someone to bare alone.

Lonely.

His soulmate was lonely to the core. From the sound of things, she had been for a while—why though? She had SoulMarks. He had recognized the ones on her forearms. One was new, from their first meeting, but the other—Damaged Goods—that was from his father back when he couldn't have been much older than eleven or twelve. Which meant she had known she had a soulmate since she was little. It also meant she had known about him since their first meeting.

Even though Harry wanted to be angry at her, resent that she had somehow left him blank alone, he knew that she had been lonelier. Why had she not looked for him?

Better still—why had she run away from him?

He still didn't understand why she had reacted the way she did.

Harry used to fantasize about meeting his soulmate. In none of those fantasies did he ever imagine them running away. A frustrated groan formed in his throat as he ran his fingers through his chaotic raven-brown hair. The teen dropped on the bed with his full weight. He had just found his soulmate and she had made it painfully clear what she thought of their bond—and it was not positive. If she wanted he could probably search the isle ten times over and never find her.

The first mate's chest became warm with frustration.

How was he going to find her again?

Harry looked around his room, looking for somewhere to vent his frustrations. His eyes fell on what remained of the broken mirror and his heart sunk, the frustration popping like a bubble.

He had felt such self-hatred and despair. Why? Why had she allowed him to believe that he was a blank-slate for all that time? Had she even looked for him? He refused to believe that there was no reason. He needed there to be a reason. If there was a reason then he could solve it, he could remove it. But if there was no reason, no obstacle, then that meant...

She just didn't want him.

He could feel his heart lodge painfully in his throat. It was possible. As painful as it would be to face it, it was possible that being bonded to him was not something she wanted—that he was not what she wanted. Afterall, it would not be the first time someone had been disappointed by their soulmate. History books had countless stories of royalty who had rejected their lower-class soulmates. Did she really not want him?

Harry frowned at the thought, realizing he was dangerously close to going down a dark spiral. The teen made up his mind to drop that line of thought. Needing an instant redirection, Harry redressed, this time with one of his shirts that was dark and not see-through, and prepared to head to Ursula's Fish and Chips.

The first mate knew sleep was a lost cause on him. He also knew he needed advice and a friend.

~...~...~

Harry wandered into the empty restaurant and out of pure muscle memory went through the motions of checking his sword. All the usual swagger and strength was gone as he wove through the variety of tables and made his way to his seat at the counter. It was still early, far too early for the pirate crowd that this restaurant catered to. Which meant it would a while before Uma got up to prepare for the late-lunch crowd.

He lost track of time as he sat in that seat, staring at the scarred wood of the counter in front of him.

His thoughts were entirely centered around the conversation he had with his soulmate. During their 'game' they had both been as vague as possible but he had still learned some things about her. On top of what he had learned about her from his first run-in, he had learned she was curious to a fault. The little kitty didn't seem to be able to resist her curiosity either. Despite this she was smart. She had figured him out and used that to get answers. She also was in danger. That piece of information was probably the most important. There was someone on the Isle who wanted to hurt his little kitty. He recalled how she had wanted them to stop looking for her—or at least to stop asking about her. In light of the previous piece of information this made sense. If she was being hunted then them asking around could be stirring things up for her. That might also explain why she only came out at night and why no one seemed to have met her. If all of this was connected then Harry understood why she was so lonely. She had spent her life hiding from something wicked and hidden herself away hoping it would never find her.

If he could he wanted to help her. Harry was far from a hero but this little kitty, Cassie...He couldn't tolerate the idea of her living the rest of her life alone like that.

All of this still did not illuminate why she had run from him.

That question seemed to have no answer yet. Her apology ran through his mind. Was something forcing her to run or was there yet another reason she was sorry? Perhaps the more obvious reason being that she was saying sorry because she did not want him.

Every now and then he pulled at the collar of his shirt, checking to just make sure the SoulMark was really there and that it hadn't disappeared. It was during one of these moments that Harry felt a blow to the back of his head. Instantly irritation filled him. Who would dare—

"Yer daft if you think—" his threat was cut short when his eyes fell on the small blue-haired female before him, "Uma."

"No, continue to tell me what I am." mirth sparkled in her brown eyes as a sly smile curled her lips.

Harry frowned at his captain's antics.

"I need to talk ta ya." he stated severely.

The small-framed captain rose a perfectly shaped eyebrow but upon seeing the look in her first mate's eyes she nodded with decisiveness. Years together had taught her how to read his expressions and she knew when he was deadly serious. Sensing that this was a conversation best not interrupted Uma led him down to the restaurant's storage room.

"Now what is it—"

Uma had just looked away for a moment to take her seat. However, as soon as she looked at her first mate her eyes bulged in surprise. Harry's jacket was already thrown on the ground and he was grabbing at his shirt, beginning to strip off that layer of clothing as well. The young captain jumped back to her feet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" if her voice sounded an octave higher than usual no one would fault her for it.

"Don't get yer knickers in a twist Captain," Harry answered her but continued to wrestle the shirt over his head, "I'm taken."

Uma, ever mindful, zeroed in on that last word. Harry had called himself a lot of things over the years, most of them things that made her roll her eyes, but he had never once called himself 'taken.'

And then she saw why.

Surprise was not vivid enough a word to describe what she felt as she looked at the dark, blood red word that was resting right over her best friend's heart.

"Is that..." her hand snaked out, wishing to inspect it and test its authenticity. A moment later she drew her hand back, resisted her inquisitive instinct to touch the word.

"Aye." the smile on her friend's face was warm and sad all at once. Still she could see he was visibly relieved to be showing her.

Once she palmed her way through her initial surprise and focused on the content of the SoulMark she came to understand the sadness in his smile. Lonely.

"Was it her?" Uma didn't have to say her name, they both knew who she meant.

"Aye." Uma had never seen that warmth or softness in Harry's eyes before, "Cassie." She didn't think he even knew he had said the name. Uma pursed her lips thoughtfully as she walked closer to inspect the SoulMark. She recognized her first mate's handwriting. Her eyes scanned the rest of his torso looking for any other SoulMarks before she circled around to his back. A small breath of air left her as her eyes fell on the nape of his neck.

"Did you know about this one?"

Shameless Cliffhanger. Thank you all for the support and words of love!

Author's Note:

Fun fact: this SoulMark has been planned as far back as Chapter 4!

It is hinted at in the below passage (though obviously I did not expect anyone to pick that up before now)

Another shake from her first mate's head though, "She was covered head to toe in black," the first mate rubbed at the back of his neck, having to reach his fingers under his jacket and shirt collar to massage at the place where his neck and back connected. Uma and Gil watched the tall brunette's eyebrows scrunch together in thought as he recalled her outfit, "She had some headband with cat ears on."

Review Recognition:

Lottielue1: Thank you for your comment again! It truly was heartbreaking for me to write. I have a habit of putting my characters through heartbreak/angst.

Historic Solider: I'm glad you loved the chapter!

SARITA1998: I am so glad that my story gave you such emotions! I love hearing that~ I hope you continue to love the future chapters! I like that you wonder how far Harry will go so she is with him. In a way, that is a great question for this story. Not one I can actually answer at this point, but one I look forward to slowly unraveling.

GreatBigBookofEverything: Awww your comment was so kind! Thank you! I really appreciate that you like the effort I have put into building their relationship slowly and the thought I put into the the SoulMarks appearing/disappearing. I think it would have been profoundly difficult to quantify how much it affected him in words so I chose instead to use actions to get the feelings across.

Alessandra.12: Thank you for your comment! I am glad you liked it!

Guest: Thank you! To hear someone binge-read my story is a great compliment! I'm so glad to hear how many people are appreciating how I take my time revealing the layers of the story!

Heaven's Mistake: Wow! Thank you for commenting on each chapter~ I am going to try and answer some points from your reviews here and there. First of all: thank you so much! Hearing my story/writing called "captivating and suspenseful, but oh so heartbreaking" is such high praise! For 'survivor' to be a SoulMark for Cassie it would have had to have been said at some point to her. I am really glad you enjoyed the story! A lot of people are saying they were heartbroken by her first SoulMark being "Lonely."

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