The song belongs to Finch and it's called What it is to Burn, which is awesome both as a song and in the lyrics too. Still not as good as Thrice. :P
For those of you who are not a fan of my angst, here you go. This chapter is for y'all.
~*~
Chapter Thirteen
Stir of Irony
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Is there no sympathy, from the sun
The sky's still fire
But I am safe in here, from the world outside
So tell me what's the price to pay for glory
Like a bad star, I'm falling faster down to her
She's the only one who knows
What it is to burn
Today is fire
And she burns
~*~
Sleep had stolen a few moments- it couldn't have been more than a few, not with the racket outside- but when Serenity opened her eyes again she thought she could see a blood red stain along the horizon, strung through with hints of gold and orange. The sun. She reached out a finger and gently touched the windowpane and then the cool rough glass, brushing the grains of sand away. A view of the sea through the slightly distorted glass stirred Serenity's imagination to what was happening above-decks- the sea was littered with debris and…unpleasant things. Without emotion and by some stir of irony she saw Christian's hat floating by in the water. So many were dead. Why grieve the death of another?
But these thoughts…that was not the way she was. She didn't realize that she was crying. All these months she had tried not to think about how Will was dead…killed by a guest in her own household. How had she allowed emotion to stay away for so long?
"Will," she whimpered to the window, "Will…"
~*~
The tide of the battle had turned in the midnight hour, when sailors from the Pearl had swung onside the Vengeance- they could read the name now in the faint light- and took the battle to the other decks. Will had given up counting the number of men he had slain and the number that had almost slain him when he looked into the eyes of a man he had just sunk his sword into. The corpse fell back, jerking the sword out of Will's hand, and he almost let it go as he was lost in the change the eyes had taken, from alive to terror to glassy to dead.
He would never get used to killing and he supposed that was a good thing…but out here it was every man for himself.
Will could see Jack jumping around, swinging his sword about, almost dancing, although the mad, steely glint of battle and determination never left his eye. The blade of his sword reflected the dim light just so; making the steel look like it was glowing. It glowed red. Will turned away and began a ferocious game of swordplay with a sailor that continued for twenty minutes until one of them was slain. Will stood above the body and tried not to look at the eyes. Don't look at the eyes. Damn you, don't you dare look at the eyes!
"Surrender!" a cry rang out over the ocean and seemed to echo off the horizon itself. Jack had the captain of the other boat pinned against the bow of his ship, his sword grazing his throat, threatening momentary death. "Put down your weapons," said the captain. Jack was grinning maniacally, as usual.
Bewildered, the Vengeance sailors set down their weapons and knelt with their hands up and their heads down.
"Only a coward sacrifices his dignity for his life, mate," Jack said softly in the captain's ear.
"Let me die with honor," he replied.
Serenity saw a body fall past her porthole at great speed from the deck of the ship, and even she could hear the cheer mixed with cries of despair that came from overhead. It was then that she opened the door to her hole and stepped out into the dawn.
~*~
"Loot!" Jack cried happily an hour later. Half the crew was working on repairing and cleaning up the Pearl, while the other half was looting a very slowly sinking Vengeance. Late in the battle a cannonball had exploded at a tender spot in the boat's exterior, striking a hole and causing the lower compartments to fill with water. "Hurry mates, don't want the rum to get wet." He then walked over to the captain's quarters and began emptying it of jewelry, money, and maps.
Will wandered down below, being careful not to get lost in the labyrinthine corridors below decks. He kept track of every turn and had seemed to reach a sort of main hall when he heard a noise. It was close; all the other sounds were distant from above. He paused, the heel of his boot shifting on the rotting wood floor. He could hear the faraway rush of water from below.
Footsteps padded along. Whoever it was had heard him before he had heard it. Will drew his sword, covered with crusty blood, and sprinted up behind a sailor that had been trying to run in the opposite direction. Will grabbed him from behind, knocked his hat off and placed his sword against his throat.
"Don't move," he said.
"Wasn't planning on it," said Serenity.
~*~
The sunshine warmed their faces, their hands brushed together, not touching for more than an instant, the feeling of cold steel against her throat slipped away as a lump rose in his. They fought madly inside to hold the imminent storm clouds at bay, needing an unprejudiced moment to sort things out between themselves.
"I can't believe it," said Will for the millionth time.
"I know," Serenity replied.
"I thought you were dead."
"Me too."
"You've been here the whole time."
"I have. You've been there the whole time."
"I know…"
"How did this happen?"
"I don't remember anymore."
"I don't even remember my name."
Will paused, hesitated, and then drew Serenity close to him in an embrace. She wrapped her arms up under his, clutching at his shoulders and at the ends of his hair with her long brown fingers. She buried her face in his curls and added more salt to the sea below, weeping tears of hope and hopelessness before Jack realized that there was another woman on board.