Chapter 26

CLARISSE POV

(A/N I own Robin, the plot, and everything else is Rick's. Finally got an even-numbered chapter out without waiting until the following day, woohoo.)

For a moment the both groups stood in silence, the only sounds being the waves crashing on the shore and seabirds overhead. Clarisse kept her sword in the same position, even though the lightness of the blade unsettled her, as she was used to weightier weapons like spears and maces. Then Blackbeard drew his cutlass and positioned it alongside her rapier.

"Fair enough, lassie. Let's see if ye've got enough guts to hold yer own against Blackbeard, Pirate Lord of the Carribean, and the most fearsome child of Ares to step foot aboard a galleon!" He stepped back raising his blade, Clarisse doing the same. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friends step back a few paces, and the pirates behind Edward were doing the same. Blackbeard began the fight with a massive overhead cleave, and Clarisse jumped backwards, squandering her opportunity to skewer him immediately. He recovered with surprising speed though, and started taking large swipes. It was all Clarisse could do to deflect and parry away the blows, with no openings left. She tried an experimental feint to the left, probing his defences, but he anticipated and went for a stab in the shoulder. His longer blade struck home first, and Clarisse relented, pacing backwards quickly, as blood flowed down her shirt. Her opponent wasted valuable time turning to his crew and raising his arms, to be met with resounding cheers, and Clarisse used it to plan a bare-bones strategy.

He's heavy, and faster than anticipated. I could try and dart in after a series of blows, providing I can block them. Oh wait, here he comes again.

Another overhead strike came whistling down, and instead of evading as she should have done, Clarisse caught the blade with her own and locked Blackbeard, both crossguards forced against each other. With her wounded shoulder, it was all Clarisse could do to hold up her sword against his, let alone push back as the normal play would dictate.

Well, might as well try a bold move while I can.

Clarisse's crossguard was slightly curved upwards, and as a result caught the edge of Blackbeard's basket hilt. Moving her uninjured arm slowly up the hilt, Clarisse made a sudden move. She wrenched at the handle of her opponent's weapon, and leapt to the right as Blackbeard tumbled forward, his weight and momentum carrying him into the sand. Clarisse let herself breathe, as Teach recovered himself and got back to his feet, chuckling.

"Argh, ye've got tricks, lassie, I'll give ya that. But that won't be enough to defeat me. Ye see, I've got a few tricks of me own." He suddenly threw sand at Clarisse, and while spitting and blundering, he came in for a massive swipe that Clarisse didn't see until it was right on top of her, maybe a metre from her face.

Time slowed down.

Ba-bum.

Clarisse could barely see her friends through the haze, which was a shame, as she would have liked to kiss Chris at least once more.

Ba-bum.

She thought of all her other siblings, and found it ironic that she would die at the hands of one.

Ba-bum.

She saw the steel coming, a metre of deadly metal ready to decapitate her.

Ba-CHHHHH!

Clarisse blinked; surprised to see herself not dead. She looked in front of her, and saw the cutlass still readily positioned to chop, but then she looked at Blackbeard.

No way. That damned idiot.

Blackbeard was looking at his midriff.

A sword was poking out of it.

The hand on the sword was Chris's.

Time sped up again.

Blackbeard fell down on the sand, gasping for breath. Clarisse and Chris sat deon with him. The pirates stood in shock, until Blackbeard summoned them.

"It's been an honour to pirate with ye, lads, and I'm glad I went out this way, instead of lying in some cot, wondering when I'd wake up dead. Clarisse, lass. I heard what you said. You're a proper child of Ares, and I be proud to call ye my sister. Listen up, ye scallywags!" The pirates straightened to attention. "This girl here be yer cap'n now. Do as she says, mates. I'm proud to have been yer captain." Blackbeard turned round to Clarisse and Chris. "You, lad. You stepped into a duel, even though it should'a only been me 'n her, with no thought for yer limb nor life. Yer a good man, an' I wish I coulda been half the man you are. Clarisse, take care of 'im. He's a rare one, ye don't get many friends like that." He clasped her hand. "My men, we did bad things, but we did it together. If life on the sea has taught me anything, it's that yer mates should matter more to ye than anything else. Never fergit that, lassie." With what was left of his energy, Blackbeard gritted his teeth, grasped the hilt of Chris's sword, and ripped it out of his side. His breaths suddenly became quick and harsh. "Honour the request of a dyin man, I beg ye. Bury me at sea, like the rest of me men. I got no right fer anythin'... more…" Blackbeard's eyes glazed over, and the Pirate King left the mortal realm, sailing his ship down the Styx.

(A/N Shortish chapter, yeah, but I feel like my fight scenes always are. I don't know why I kept ripping off POTC here, with Blackbeard knowing he did some bad stuff but not trying to atone for it. Also his accent kept slipping, he sounds more like a hare from Salamandastron instead of a buccaneer on the high seas. It might have been cheap for Chris to steal Clarisse's kill, and I'm fairly sure none of you were fazed by the fake-out, but chivalry, right? A note on the upcoming chapters, no hiatusing or schedule changes should occur (at least not on this story) but I'm back to school on Wednesday, so chapters might get a bit sloppy, and I'll have an actual excuse for being late other than 'procrastination.' I need to prewrite some stuff, I reckon I could write it out till the end by now.

Vaya con Queso,

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