Chapter Sixteen: Uh Oh
~~ I gasped and clutched at the sword as the fight raged on around me; it felt like, it felt like I was being drained. Not at first, of course, at first there was unexplainably exhausting, searing pain which caused me to shriek in agony and tears to drip down my cheeks in torrents. I whimpered as I clutched at the sword, moments later, when the pain began to dull and I felt every drop of blood that went rushing out of me, I saw a man with a sword stuck straight through him. The sword was yanked out and the man fell to the ground with glazed over eyes; the Captain hurriedly stepped over him and turned my face to him, hitting my cheek softly. His hands were so cold, but so velvety soft; he was asking me questions, such as what my name was, who he was, what boat I was on.
I wanted to talk, and yet, I couldn't; I only smiled to him as he lifted me off of the deck and ran, a good grip on the sword so it wouldn't plunge further into my body. As he ran away with me my head hung down from his arm and I opened my eyes slowly to find Raoul in pirate wear, fighting our crew. He beheaded someone and glanced up, his eyes locking on mine and he mouthed my name. I closed my eyes and trusted myself in the Captain's presence, hell, he couldn't even kiss me without my permission! What need I worry of?
~~ I woke with yet another skull splitting headache and vision that was more than incredibly blurry. I groaned and instantly heard a joyous voice yell: "she's coming to, she's coming to!" In the next few moments there were loud footsteps and heavy breathing, I blinked and stretched out my eyelids, reaching my arm up and hesitantly rubbing my eyes; chasing the blurriness away. The Captain was only inches away from me; he sighed in relief when I smiled to him; he allowed his head to fall to my bosom and he whispered the words 'thank god' repeatedly. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck, whispering nonsensical words as I woke.
"Oh, god, I was so afraid" he said louder, so the physician and I could hear him. "We hadn't even had sex yet" he finished and I paused.
"So, I was dying...and all you were worried about is your genitals not getting attention?" I hissed to the best of my ability; worry spread over his face.
"No, no, not like that, sweet cheeks. You write me off as insensitive, which I am indeed not; darling, sexual intercourse is much more than a moment's satisfaction, at least, to me. It signifies the strongest bond of love between two people who become inseparable for the rest of their lives, in a night's passion; it signifies how a partner will care for the other and support the other one. A bond, Anna, as I mentioned before, is made" he explained, gently touching my cheek and twirling a strand of my hair. "A bond of not only love, but trust, passion...and did I mention the infinite amount of trust one must thrust into a person to even consider them to be a potential sexual partner?
You must worry about so many inevitables, one of which, the most worried of which, is pregnancy." He paused and bit his bottom lip. "Sweet cheeks" he began again "I know you assume what pirates are; mean, nasty men and occasionally a few brave women, who are bloodthirsty monsters who will get what they want and leave. However, I'm going to make that stereotype of yours crash and burn." He said, his voice shook from the amount of emotion he poured into his words; he sighed and began again.
"I won't ever leave you, pregnant or not, virgin or not, young or not, wedded or not, I will never leave your side." He finished, getting close to me; my eyes glassed over with tears and I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close to me and sniffling, batting away the tears. And, in that moment all of his emotions laid outside of him, spilt out all over me and the floor; I hoped he knew I felt the same, I just, I couldn't figure out how to shape my feelings into such beautiful structures of words such as he did only mere seconds beforehand. I wept into his shoulder, unable to show emotion any other way, and occasionally kissed his cheek; no one had said anything that sweet to me before, I had only been catcalled and obnoxiously flirted with. It's sad that I became so used to those things that they no longer bothered me, but this, this genuine show of affection, to a point, confused me and broke me down in tears (of course they were tears for the right reasons).
I had, actually, once been called horrible names by a gaggle of girls as I was out shopping; the reason? I, apparently, wasn't showing enough skin to be accepted by society, I was appalled! Of course, I was bothered! Those people called me things I knew not (and still know not) the definitions of! And, I told the Captain of this, I told him of these experiences and how he wasn't like anyone else, how much more he was; how much better he was.
I'm altogether sure he couldn't make out a word I said, for, I blathered it out as fast as my lips could move! "T-To say" I paused before ending, was I really ready to say this? "To say that I love you is an understatement" I finished, biting my lip and watching his reaction; he instantly smiled wearily and held me close.
"Now that you are safe from death, you must focus on healing, which, by the way the physician spoke whilst your coma raged, won't be quick nor easy." He paused and kissed my nose. "But I'll be here with you, every day." He said.
"Promise?" I asked quickly, sticking out my pinkie; he grinned but obliged me, entwining his pinkie with my own.
"I swear" he promised, sighing and standing straight up again. I licked my lips.
"Wh-What happened whilst I was knocked out? Who attacked us?" I asked, the Captain sighed with a slight growl and sat down in a chair.
"It appears" he began, rubbing his forehead. "Monsieur de Chagny has given up the privateer life, or, he is giving the guise that he is a pirate in order to gain information, and bodies, for the French crown. He is directly targeting both my and Edward's strongest boats in our fleet; this was his second attack, his first was upon the 'Queen Anne's Revenge' which was unsuccessful, and he barely escaped. Same for this trip, however, had you not waken I would be bathing in his blood as his corpse was tied to the flag line and flown for all to see; or I would behead him and hang his head on the bow, or all of the above; I like all of the above." The Captain growled, he turned to me and apologized at seeing my mortified expression.
He chuckled. "I'm sorry, sweet cheeks, I have...severe homicidal tendencies to anyone or anything which disrupts my private life." He finished, unsheathing his sword and wiping it off with a rag in his lap. I marveled at what a change came over him, around his crew he was this rough and tough pirate, but, around me he was not only sweet, but, sophisticated, and, from what I saw I figured he was educated quite early on in life. He caught me staring at him. "What?" He asked and I shook my head, reaching out my hand and playing with his hair; I sighed.
"So, what do we do now?" I asked as gingerly took up my hand and placed his lips against the top.
"What we originally intended, take you back to London." Said he, I bit my lip.
"Well, I was hoping you would...might wanna...stay with me...in London, I mean." I said, he smiled.
"Of course, I will. And, I promise I'll visit you whenever I get the chance." Said he, my hopes smashed.
"What do you mean, 'whenever you get the chance'?" I asked, sitting up a little.
"I'm a Captain, Anna, of one of the biggest fleets of pirates there ever was, I just kinda have to be available to them too" he said, I took back my hand and sat up.
"But, what happened to all of that 'I'll never leave you' stuff you just said not five moments ago!" I yelled, he sighed.
"Listen, Anna" he said, attempted to keep himself composed. "If you become pregnant, by any chance, we'll take you back home and I'll...I'll stay with you and give them orders from your home. However, if we somehow manage to keep our hands off of one another, I'll take you home, stay for a while, and then visit two to four times every month." He continued and my jaw dropped.
"But-"
"That is tentative" he hissed, speaking louder, over my voice. I instantly hushed and nodded; he sighed and grasped my hand once more, patting the top. All the day and night he stayed with me; he only left for a few moments or so to get us food or to use the WC. The physician was in and out of the room all day and night, checking on my vitals and things of that sort; giving me morphine when needed. And, soon, I fell asleep laying my head on the Captain's shoulder; I was awoken by cannon fire.
I jumped and glanced around to find that I was alone, my breathing was heavy and my heart pounded at the alarm; I paused and looked about the room, the Captain, where was he? He swore he would never leave me, he swore it! I shook my head and sighed, leaning back to find that I wasn't in the same room; this was a different medical room, it was nicer. It was cleaner too, and smelt like flowers.
I was in a different medical room, but, the 'Black Pearl' had only one.
I was on a different boat.
