Climax part dos! Enjoy…but I'm afraid that this ending won't exactly make you 'smile and laugh' (sorry Kelly!!!!)
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Chapter Twenty-Four
Till Death Do Us Part II
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There was a party at the inn after the ceremony was over. Serenity changed into a more comfortable outfit than the starched dress, which also provided an opportunity to be alone before she sacrificed herself before her friends and family. The noise from downstairs floated up through the floor as Serenity leaned on her windowsill and looked out at the street below. A lone figure walked down the street. Serenity knew who it was; she just didn't want to admit to it. Sadly she walked away from the window and crept down the stairs.
Will had decided to go to the reception at the inn because he felt that he had to pay his respects to the bride and groom. I will stay strong, he told himself. He too felt numb. Connor shook his hand as he entered and Will heard himself say, "Congratulations" and he felt himself smile. Connor was beaming. "Where's the bride?" Will asked lightly.
"She's upstairs changing," said Connor. Will nodded and went deeper into the crowd, looking for a familiar face. He ended up alone with a glass of cheap wine in his hand, raising it repeatedly to his lips in a hope that the alcohol would dull the pain. However, it wasn't working.
Serenity saw how he was drinking as she descended the stairs, and she tried to avoid his gaze as Connor walked over to her and kissed her and then slipped his arm around her waist, but there was no missing the despair in his eyes.
I have to get out of here, thought Will, draining the rest of the glass and then setting it back on the table. He tried not to appear like he was hurrying as he made his way through the crowd to the front door. "Will," he heard Serenity say rather pleasantly. Only he could catch the undertone that was meant only for him.
"Serenity," he smiled. "Congratulations."
"You're leaving," she said. It wasn't a question.
"I have some projects I have to finish," he said apologetically. Connor took no notice of it when Will wrapped his arm around Serenity. "Good luck," he said.
"You too," Serenity said, her eyes filling with tears. This was a rather awkward exchange, however, as Connor's arm was still wrapped around Serenity's waist. The groom was mistaking her tears for tears of happiness, and Will heard them laughing together as he closed the door behind him.
He found himself standing, once again, alone on the stone road. Looking in the direction of the blacksmith's workshop, he decided that he didn't want to work. He wouldn't have been able to work even if he had wanted to, so instead he quickly stopped by the workshop to put his hat down and to change back into his regular clothes. Then he walked down to the beach, his only last source of comfort. Will's shoes remained at the shop as he walked to the surf, past a couple of beached canoes with their oars spread across the tops. He ran his finger over the edge of the closest oar as he dragged his toes through the salt water, trying not to cry.
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A few minutes earlier, Daniel had noted that Will was leaving the party and had hurried upstairs to grab his bag of belongings. He could see the satisfying metallic glint of the butt of the pistol in the sun. He watched the blacksmith stop at his shop and then walk to the beach. This couldn't be more perfect, thought the pirate as he hurried stealthily down to the shore, following Turner about a hundred yards behind. The pistol slid easily out of the bag and fit his hand perfectly as he continued to trail the blacksmith.
He had a trusted man's word that the Vengeance would be docked just off Port Royale today long enough to get supplies, and luckily, it was. Daniel had made sure that there was a few fishing canoes left out on the beach so that he could shoot Turner and then row out to his ship before anyone could realize what he had done. They won't have any proof! The cleanest of clean getaways, he thought. Perfect. And Turner was cooperating more easily than he had imagined! He hadn't planned Turner walking down to the beach! Luck's on my side today, thought Daniel as he watched Turner caress the oars of one of the canoes. Slowly Daniel flicked the safety and swung his bag over his shoulder. Here we go.
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As Daniel was trailing Will down the street, Serenity had just about had enough of the party. She had resorted to tugging on Connor's shoulder like a little girl would tug on her father's shirt when she wanted something. "Can we leave for a moment? Just us? I need to get out of here," she whispered to him. Connor nodded and began walking towards the door.
"I was just about to ask you that," he said, still smiling. Luckily, some of his happiness was infectious and Serenity felt her spirits lift a little. The horizon looked brighter as they walked down the street together.
"Let's go to the beach," she said, "Like always."
"Like always," agreed Connor.
~*~
Daniel crept out from where he was crouching and hiding from Turner. One shot. I won't waste it. "Turner," he barked, hiding his pistol behind his pack so that Turner wouldn't panic and run right away. The blacksmith turned around, surprised to find that he had company. Company of the most unwelcome kind, thought Daniel as he saw his face. He will pay for what his father did to my father. My father must be avenged.
"Daniel?" said Turner, struggling for a moment to remember the pirate's name.
"That's my name," said Daniel.
"What are you doing here?" asked Turner.
"Same thing that you are, I'm sure," replied Daniel, his finger itching to find the trigger of the pistol that he held behind his back. Finally he found the single significant strip of metal and whipped out the gun from behind his back, leveling it with Turner's forehead. The blacksmith stumbled backward as if he had been slapped, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Wha"- he gasped out.
"Your father killed my father," said Daniel simply. "This is how it's done."
"What's done?"
"Revenge."
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Walking a step in front of Connor, Serenity scanned the beach to see who else was there. Or, more correctly, who else was not there. Will? Her mind called. She suspected that he would be here; she didn't expect him to actually go back to his shop to work. Will had always loved the ocean; it had always helped him sort himself out. Where else would he be at a time like this?
At first she saw only Will, staggering around on the sand behind some canoes with his hands thrown up in the air. As she craned her neck around to see, the pistol came into view, then an arm, and then a face. She clutched Connor's arm.
"Connor," she said breathlessly, pointing. "Look." Her husband broke out into a run, running swiftly but silently and staying behind Daniel's line of vision. He ran behind the pirate and came around his left.
"Daniel," he was saying as Serenity ran up to him. However, he did not take his eyes of Will, or his finger off the trigger.
He's going to shoot him. Serenity could see the muscles in Daniel's hand tense as he prepared to pull the trigger.
"No!" she yelled, lunging forward with her hands stretched out before her, aiming to push the gun out of the mad pirate's hands. But instead, she connected only with his arm, and he still pulled the trigger as she pushed the gun away from Will. She could hear Daniel shouting something, but the words remained a mystery. The bang of the gunshot was still ringing madly in her ears as she felt Daniel pick her up with one arm by the waist and then throw her into a canoe. She opened her eyes and saw Daniel throw the pistol at Will's head, and it connected, blood spraying across the white sand. "No, no!" she yelled again, trying to jump out of the canoe. However, Daniel had already pushed the boat off the water and had taken some rope out of the bottom of it. She tried to kick him as he tied her feet, she tried to stop him as he bound her wrists, but she was silent as he gagged her mouth. She could only speak with her eyes, and she said 'Why?'
"I hadn't actually planned on taking you back with me, but why not? You'd only run off and make more trouble for me if I didn't take you, and you're pretty anyway. The captain will like you," he leered. "Oh, and your husband is dead, and your unlucky friend too. I wasn't aiming for your husband. You did that when you tried to push the gun away from Will because I was going to shoot him. His father killed mine. It's called vengeance."
Serenity lay tied in the bottom of a canoe while they sailed to a pirate ship while Daniel calmly and willingly told her why he had killed the two men she loved the most in the world.