To the End of Our Days
I stand here alone on the bow of the ship, counting the hours til' I die. Abandoned to fate with no chance of return, I raise up my fist to the sky. But know that these days were the best of our lives, and nothing can take that away. So when we are dead, we will all meet again and fight to the end of our days - Alestorm
His ears rang of high pitches. The scent of blood filled his nostrils as he came to. His lips lapped of hunger and his throat dried of thirst. The body that still miraculously held his head in place was riddled with stings at just about every curve.
Slowly and painfully, his eyes began to open. Sand particles spilled into his eyelids, irritating him uncontrollably.
His ears pulsed from the trauma. It felt like his head was trying to push his eyes out. So much unbearable pressure in his head and upper torso.
What alerted him last were his limbs. He could hardly find movement in his left hind leg and right foreleg. They were more than broken. Nerves were ruptured. Muscles were torn. The pain made it impossible to not cry out in raw agony.
He didn't remembered what had just happened. He wasn't sure why he was in the state he was. Looking around, the tiger noticed the red mixed into the sand. There was so much, and his mouth only coughed up additions to it.
Why am I bleeding like this? Why are my legs broken? What... what happened?
His heavy breathing pierced into his broken rib cage, yelps coming out of every breath. Gasps of air were caught by his damaged lungs. Rolling over onto his stomach didn't make things any better. The blood now fused into his pelt as he rolled in it. He tried using his one good foreleg to crawl out of the small pit he had been laying in by the shores.
As he collapsed once more, paw extended as if he was reaching for something, his head smacked into the sands. That's when he noticed the ball of ice that rested beside him. Or rather, what was left of it. Blood was splattered around the majority of the sphere.
That's when the recollection of events hit him. Walking beside the silver tigress he was so madly in love with on that gloomy, foggy morning. Talking. Laughing. Not a care in the world except for her. But that was all he remembered. The last thing he remembered. Then he ended up bleeding his head out.
He stared aimlessly at the ball of ice. He remembered it from somewhere else, though it was hard to think when his brain, for all he knew, had suffered permanent damage from whatever did this to him.
What did alert him at the moment was the lack of her presence. He was alone. Without her. What happened to her, he couldn't piece together. But the more he stared at that frozen sphere, the more sense it started to make.
Where did it come from?
With all his willpower, he tried making sense of it all. He remembered it from somewhere. But where?
It's like a... cannon ball. Like it was from a...
His heart must of stopped for a second as the fear jolted him awake. He understood now why she wasn't there. Why he couldn't remember what happened. Why he was in the most agonizing pain of his life.
This damn thing must have hit me.
He could feel the swollen bruise along his chin, neck, and shoulder. He figured that was where the cannon ball hit him on impact. As for where it came from, it only became obvious once the common sense part of his brain regained its composure.
The pirates.
Now he recalled just how foggy it was, the ocean's view being nothing more than a few feet in distance. Even if the iced ship was right at the bay, he still wouldn't have been able to see it. He still wouldn't have been able to sense the impact moments after the cannon fire. And he still wouldn't have been able to save her.
Ignoring every throbbing pain in his body, he lifted himself up, his limbs shaking from the pressure. He forced out gasps of agony caused by pain he didn't believe he should've had the sanity to take.
His mumbled words could only say one thing. His thoughts could only think one thing. He had to find her. Nothing else mattered.
He cried uncontrollably through the agony. Through the words he never spoke to her. Through the life that might be taken away from him.
He roared her name. He repeated it multiple times until his voice caved in, wheezing of sorrow and loss. Fists collided with the sand, muscles still throbbing of broken bones.
He whimpered and sneered of hatred. He wanted to kill them all. Not for what they did to him, but for what they might do to her. Or what they had already done. For her betrayal of the crew, he could only imagine what it was they were planning.
He wasn't going to wait for that to happen, though, as he limped his way back towards the herd, knowing that he was going to need their help.
Because that's what we do.
Through the fog came a dim orange color. He never considered what it might've been. He hardly gave any acknowledgment to it due to his thoughts being focused more on her than anything else.
I'm not gonna let anything hurt her.
His mind tore rapidly at the memories he had with her. All the special moments they shared. How close he had gotten multiple times to showing her how much she meant to him. How much he wanted to just cuddle up into her warmth and never let go.
The closer he got to the orange light, the hotter it seemed to get. He could soon smell burning of ashes and... something else.
Beyond the last few trees were his final thoughts about her before realizing how much more serious this all was.
Where the herd usually settled had changed into a graveyard. There were dozens of corpses scattered throughout the herd settlement. Even with the blinding light of the fires that the pirates were scorching across the area, the tiger could still see the stab wounds and the pouring blood from every victim.
The enemies wielded cutlasses that ripped through flesh and tore through yelping pain.
It can't be.
Had he not been practically crippled from the blow previously, he would've wasted no time in saving those that remained.
But he couldn't. Instead, he took cover in the nearest set of bushes, watching as the pirates killed off herd members one by one. Not just the males. But also the females. And the young.
He couldn't make sense of it all as he collapsed to the ground, eyeing all those he had shared so many years with. So many memories. And still so many more he wanted to share with her.
This isn't real. This isn't just pirating. This is systematic slaughter.
He'd recognize her instantly through the flames. Additionally, he knew that wasn't how the pirates wanted it to go down. They'd plan something far more sinister for her. The very thought had him peel his claws into the ground. He begged for the strength needed to fight them. To kill them.
To save her.
In his current state, he knew that would be suicide. He was in no condition to fight. he could hardly walk. He could barely keep his head up before feeling the faint ring into his ears due to the massive blood loss.
But... I have to try... something.
It was hard to tell from the fire's contrast, but he was able to make out three or four of the pirates. None he recognized from before. He had to assume they recruited more crew members. And in such a short time, too.
But to go this far? Shira... why did you ever join them?
That was a question he still needed to ask her. That is, if he ever got the chance again.
The pirates were just then finishing up their murderous ransack, slitting the throats of the remaining survivors to which Diego had to turn his head from. He let out deep breaths of sorrow. Of guilt. Only now did the thought strike him that maybe he shouldn't have convinced her to join the herd. Then the pirates wouldn't have hunted her down for mutiny.
Then none of this would've happened.
In his heart, he knew he could never do that. It never would've ended up any other way. He loved her too much to just let her go.
The tiger was nearly ready to follow them after they had taken anything that was deemed treasure worthy, but the high pitched ringing in his ears suddenly came back to where he had to lower himself. He wasn't sure whether it was just from feeling faint or being on the verge of death. One thing was certain, though. He loved her more than ever because of that possibility. All he could see in his mind was her. Only blackness existed everywhere else.
He only needed that one image of her looking at him. Smiling at him. That's all he needed to lift himself off the muddied puddles he repeatedly splashed into as each step struck pain in his limbs like his bones were being broken over and over again.
Everyone's gone... she's all I have left...
His tears ceased to end. Blood refused to dry out. The beating heart pained him with every anxious pulse.
Right then, he wanted to give up. He wanted to die. It didn't matter anymore. She would die, too. It was all inevitable.
If I die, I want it to happen in her warmth. I want to be holding her. I want to be with her.
So quickly, his mindset flipped around. So suddenly, he was given the strength to lift himself up once more. If nothing else, he needed her to know.
The tiger limped and stumbled through the forest, following the tracks the pirates left to what he assumed was their ship. He bellowed and panted, having to practically drag his hind legs along as his forelegs did most of the work… at least for the first few seconds. Sadly, the darkness mixed in with the fog's severity didn't help his eyes notice anything until it was too late.
He felt the force and the sudden loud noise before the sting resonated in his right wrist. He cried and sneered in pain as he looked down to see the object that had clamped shut around his paw with a new source of blood leaking out of him.
At first, he just whimpered through his gritting teeth. His eyes clamped shut with tears stinging at the mixture of blood and dirt. He kept groaning and crying uncontrollably, hating what life had become and hating whatever granted him existence. Up until then he never thought to question anything. To question why. It wasn't like he killed someone to deserve this. It wasn't like he drove a hateful spear into someone's side. All of it happened for her.
Slowly, he tried opening the contraption, his claws drilled into the lips of the clam shell. Irritation bled out in red around the gash on his wrist as he tried to free himself. He whimpered because he was hurt. He cried because he was done. And still he saw that image of her, silver glimmering in the moonlight, smiling and him. Her eyes so beautiful and purified. The tiger truly believed nothing else in the universe met those qualities. Everything else was cold and ugly.
And yet, that alone let him see past the physical pain in his wrist. It allowed him to rip the clamp from his flesh, large amounts coming off with it. The odd thing, however, was the lack of emotional trauma he showed and felt. The anger hid anything that any sane being would have otherwise shown. He didn't scream. He didn't cry. He didn't collapse back to the ground. The only sign of pain on him was shown with the heaving amount of red that poured from his paw.
He raised his limb, looking over the paw, or what was left of it. All his claws were torn off, shattered from the forceful clamp. Purple swelled around his wrist, his bone all too obviously broken. Yet, he didn't feel discouraged because of it. He didn't feel much of anything anymore. And that led to a somewhat state of delusion. As if his mind couldn't process it anymore.
Is it because of her I'm doing this? I'm not meaning to. All this trauma. For her? It's just… kinda happening… right now.
Through the fog and the trees, through the fire and the flames, he recognized the vessel they called 'Sweet Revenge.' It's ominous color brought back memories. Simpler times.
It survived, then…
He remembered taking off on the crew's second ship they stole after fending them off the last time. Although, he still regretted letting them go. And now it's more apparent then ever.
They have to die. I have to kill… or be killed.
Towards the ship, voices echoed of laughter. But one echoed of pain. The tiger recognized it even in his deafened state. Just the thought of them torturing her, getting pleasure from her cries. It sickened him. He felt it. He felt everything he had been trying to bury deeply this whole time.
Then he heard his name. She screamed it at the top of her lungs.
She's calling MY name? Why?
Her voice only had him pick up his pace as he crawled out onto the sands, or what it should've been. Mostly red took up the color of the ocean and sands. Bodies lay stiff all around.
He felt sick looking at it all. Truly something he should've only seen in his sleep. The waves that stretched over the shores carried many of the bodies. So much he wanted to forget. So badly he wanted to wake up.
Around the corner of the iced vessel, he got only a glimpse of her, but it was enough to enrage him at the sight of her neck and throat getting teased by knives and throwing stars. He saw the blood trickle down her gagged mouth. Her limbs were tied and her body roped around the mid mast. The rugged, scuffed look of her pelt told him she had been dragged and tossed along when she was captured.
How could someone do that to someone like her?!
He didn't care the reasoning. To him, she was the perfect entity in the world. Nothing came close to matching the looks of her sight. Nothing was so preciously important to him. Nothing could've brought out the love he got to feel more than her.
His hearing was nearly impaled from the pitched ringing his head pumped out, but her cries and screams could still be heard. Almost like echos. The pirates laughed and taunted. Tortured and beat.
He still wasn't sure who exactly his enemies were. His vision was to blurry. But it mattered very little as his mind was set on only one thing.
I'll rip their heads off the first chance I get.
With that in mind, the tiger crawled his way to the backside of the ship, having to get in the ankle deep, and bloody pool of water that it rested on. Luckily, the back was jagged of imperfections due to the whole vessel cracking off of a cliff side, at least to what the tigress had told him. To his advantage, they never bothered to smooth it out, so the climb up to the deck was easier than it would've been otherwise.
As his head peaked over, he spotted her still tied up to the mast. Her head was down as she cried uncontrollably.
She's suffered enough, for god's sake.
He truly believed that if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be alive right now. The only life that was left in him was her.
His paws latched onto the rope that wrapped tightly around the mast. He glanced ahead to see the pirates prepping the front mast and harpooning the shores where they piled all the supplies they decided to take.
As he began tugging at the rope, the tigress snapped around in surprise, instant relief in her eyes as he gazed at her.
The tiger nearly lost focus at the sight of her eyes, sorrowed as they were, but still mesmerizing, nonetheless. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this alive with her, so what seemed more important than anything else was to tell her how much she meant to him.
He tried tugging at the gauze in her mouth, but the ropes wrapped tightly enough to the point her jaws ached and he breathing restricted. It had him shake his head in utter disbelief. He whispered to her how sorry he was for convincing her to leave her crew. How none of this would've happened otherwise.
In return, she tried speaking through her gauze. Tears ran rapidly as she realized she couldn't muffle a word. Her head only lowered and slowly shook. Her crying changed to heavy breathing. The blood around her body and the cuts on her limbs absolutely infuriated the tiger. Through his own wounds, he could feel hers. The spiritual connection he felt with her merely showed how strongly his love and compassion dug deep into his veins.
Once his paws reached for her face, emotions at a loss on what to do, he eyed his gaze to hers. He figured this was it. Nothing else was going to get accomplished. He would be happy enough to die with her knowing he loved her and she loved him. As such, he started by saying her name.
That was as far as he'd get.
What he had felt in pain before that point was solely laughable in comparison to the three-foot spear that embedded straight through his upper left hind leg.
His crying agony and her shocked disbelief only lasted mere seconds before the tiger was pulled across the deck, the spear tearing further through his flesh and bones.
The spear kept reeling him like a fish until it stopped at the bow of the ship. His whole body jittered from the shock. His vision and hearing reduced more so as his life drew closer off the line with each puncture through his body.
He felt his head get yanked up until he was looking at the blurry figures in front of him. He couldn't make any of them out due to his beaten eyesight. Nor could he understand a word any of them were saying because of his hearing impairment. But it didn't matter. He wanted to kill them. Second only to wanting to love her as much as he was possibly allowed to.
Before he could attempt to summon the ungodly strength he needed right then, he felt himself slammed onto a block of ice that stuck out from the deck. His chest and limbs grew numb of the ice. The red poured from him onto the block that he was bind to.
His vision was too blinding at that moment, especially after the pain he had to endure from every slash that hit his backside. The cuts stung straight through his chest and to his throat.
The blood puddled around him. The pain resonated to such an extreme state that even his thoughts couldn't produce words. His whole body was shutting down. Yet, the last strand of his cranium seemed to only want her image. He just thought of her. As every whip struck his back, ripping through his skin, her face would shine brighter in his mind. His lips tugged the smallest smile through everything just to see her. Each strike only brightened up her image, only having him realize how much he took for granted.
Another part of him was realizing how much he was going through for her. He'd gladly do it all again if it meant to keep her safe. Of course, that wasn't the reality in this case. He figured he was going to die, one way or another.
Eventually, the stinging strikes halted as he felt himself lifted off the ground, each foreleg held by separate crew members as he was dragged to the edge of the bow. During which, he was able to cast a twitching glance at her, only to see her head down and eyes closed, never seeing anyone leak tears to such an extent she was. His deepest train of of thought screamed at him to do something. To fight back. But after all the torment. All the torture. He couldn't. He physically couldn't.
I'm… sorry... Shira.
The tiger didn't know if the worse was finally over, all he could tell was that the ship had started moving. The uneasy rocking had him figure the bodies it plowed through to get away from the shore.
The tiger lapped the blood from his lips, eyes digging down at the red ice below him. Whenever he could, he'd cast a glance at her. However, the pirates often kicked him or gave him another whip if he so much as looked at her.
They don't want my last moments to be about her. They want us gone in the worst way possible.
Rugged waves over oceanic terrain later, the ship stopped. Diego couldn't tell where or why they had stopped. The ghostly white fog seemed to echo an ominous wind that chilled through his bones. In the back of his mind, he still heard her sobbing. He imagined feeling her head rest into his chest. He imagined so many things about her. Now he only wished for the day he wouldn't have to imagine any longer.
Shira…
The tiger barely recognized the devious voices behind him as he was lifted up once again. At the same instant, the ship suddenly took off at full throttle. He felt the blow of the masts as they dropped down. He felt the cold wind rush against his fur. He felt the ropes that tied around each set of limbs. And he felt the love from her burn brighter than ever as they rolled him off the ship, head splashing first into the body numbing waters.
The rope around his limbs instantly tightened to an unbearable degree as the rushing waves dragged him beneath the hull. Slivers of ice cut through him as he traversed down. His lungs were growing weary from the lack of air. What was once a deep blue color now turned to a sea of blood.
His thoughts were diminishing. The tiger knew he wasn't long for this world. It could've been a matter of seconds before his body gave up it's remaining fight to stay alive.
You're so beautiful, Shira. I… I wanted to tell you that. Just that.
He thought he had felt death's hand clinging to his shoulder, only to realize it was one of the pirates pulling him up as the others worked the ropes he was latched to.
Up on deck, the freezing wind through his dripping pelt controlled his lack of movement, his pouring blood pooled around him, and he essentially coughed up everything he had felt that day.
Get up! Just… get the fuck up! Get up before they hurt her again!
I can't.
You have to help her! You have to tell her! Before it's too late!
I said… I can't.
Get up, you asshole!
The battle raged inside his head as he was dragged to the front of the bow for the second time, knowing the pirates would keelhaul him again and again until he was dead.
As inevitable as it all seemed, he used his remaining energy to glance at her, not caring if he'd get whipped a thousand times for it. To him, it was worth it. However, his eyes never made it to her.
Instead, the harpoon that was stationed beside him had caught the limited attention his damaged interior could handle.
It's facing the… if I could just…
A second glance at her processed through him before he kicked the harpoon with his hind leg. The pirates were only then able to realize what he was doing, whipping him and attempting to pull him away before he kicked it again, praying that the spear would shoot out.
As he was dragged away, seconds later, the whooshing speed of the mechanism dragged along his pelt, barely missing his skin as it connected with the mast, striking a bit left of the center. Luckily, it was enough to cause a crack to rip through the lumbered beam. Inevitably, history repeated as the mast fell and collided with the deck, the force strong enough to tear the ship in half.
As he tumbled down with everyone else, he searched for her, still realizing she was tied to the back mast. As such, he allowed himself to slide further towards where the hull took damage.
Save her… It's all that's left…
As he climbed across to the other side, his thoughts went to his friends. The whole herd. How alone he would be without them. How much hurt he would feel waking up everyday just to realize they weren't with him. And now she was all that was left.
Whatever I'm feeling for her… it goes beyond comprehension…
He reached the mast she was bound to, trying his best to cut through the rope with his claws, only to grit in pain as he remembered how damaged his paws were.
With no other choice, he bit and scraped at the tightness around her, tugging and yanking past the pain in his teeth. Tears stung his eyes as he whimpered with his jaws around the rope, slamming his fist against the mast. He told her how sorry he was for all of this. He told her how she didn't deserve any of this. He told her how important she was to him.
And he told her how much he loved her.
The tears just started strolling down her face before the mast had snapped off the hull. The tiger reacted in time to slide the rope out from underneath, allowing her to break free.
At that point, Diego figured he did all that he could. It was over. He could let everything go. Unfortunately, that mentality caused him to overlook the mast that was falling towards him.
It's fine. It'll be okay. As long as she's okay… I-
His thoughts were interrupted as he felt her pull him over as they tumbled off the side of the nearly sunken hull, the back mast forcefully dragging down the remainder of the ship.
She helped him up onto the piece of the hull they ended up on, the tiger once again finding himself adrift at sea with this silver tigress. As painfully agonizing it all was, he was happy. He told her. She knows what he thinks. And that was all that mattered.
He shook uncontrollably as he held her face in his paws. Both sabers shivered from the ice piercing rain that turned their lips blue. And for longer than he would otherwise, he looked at her. He did more than look at her. He studied her. Every detail his mind could store for what he imagined was the remainder of his life. He felt the lights dimming. He felt his breath depleting. But he felt his love growing. And he knew, for a fact, that was the reason he was alive right then.
He saw the trembling fear in her eyes. On her face. On her lips. But he kept assuring her it was fine. Everything was okay. She didn't need to worry. And he would've honestly gone on forever had she not cut his running mouth off with her own and gripped her paws around his shoulders.
The tiger wasn't sure if it was because of the situation that she was doing this, or if she truly had the same feelings for him. Either way, he savored it. He embedded it so that even in death, he'd still be exploring her. She wasn't going anywhere. He didn't want to believe that.
She's so beautiful.
The tiger could do nothing but smile at her presence, even though she seemed shattered and destroyed throughout her expressions. Just being around her, regardless of the situation they were in, made him happy.
The muscles grew weaker as time went on. The blood wouldn't stop pouring as she lay atop him, clenching his paw in her own, the other stroking his chest. She kept whispering to him. She kept saying things he had always wanted to hear from her. As such, he felt calmed. Relaxed. Like he could fall asleep at any second with her paws holding his face. And he felt it. He felt the spark that was his whole world as his eyes closed, her crying the last thing he recalled. Yet, there was only one thing he recognized as it all ended.
Her.
a/n: gonna put this at the bottom this time cuz of spoilers. But this story was bound to happen. I've been playing a lot of Sea of Thieves over the past three years (around 2k hours) and I love Alestorm (possibly my favorite band cuz it's pirate themed metal) and the 4th ice age movie has pirates in it. Go figure, I guess. As for what I'm doing next, I'm still not quite sure. I kinda want the next one-shot to be more fluff focused and more dialogue heavy. As for my next big story, all I know is I want it to be in Shira's pov since I realized I haven't done that since Starfire. Other than that, hope this one was worth the wait. Take care.