Well, guys. Here's Chapter 7. It's a bit longer than the other chapters, so you might find yourselves consuming a bit more time reading it. Hope you like it!

Chapter 7: A Ruined Torture

The morning was once again cool. The ride on the Pearl was a lot smoother than Tsau thought it would be. Later today, they might reach Port Royal, and he looked forward to solving the Dutchman. Everyday he questioned why death chased him. Assassination was his job, but he always assassinated bad men. God really did not favor him, and he guessed that sending death to him was the Lord's way of punishment. All Tsau wanted was forgiveness for the sins he had committed. Sighing, sitting on the steps to the helm, Tsau kept an eye up on the, once again, overcast sky. The thoughts of his assassinations flew through his mind.

"Ruthless," he whispered under his breath. He stood up and leaned on the ship side.

"Good morning," a voice said behind him. With his hood over his head, he turned to see the Asian girl he bumped into last night. His memory tried to trace back to who she was, because he remembered that face.

"It's not that great," Tsau replied.

She stepped down and stood next to him. "Sorry I bumped into you last night."

"No need to apologize," Tsau responded, trying to distance the conversation away from her.

"I'm Zi Lang," she said with a smile, holding out a hand.

Tsau's memory suddenly snapped, and the name Zi Lang brought back a lot of buried memories of his past. He remembered who she was, what she was like, but couldn't figure out why she was here. He couldn't forget that smile she gave off. An invisible smirk came across his face under his hood. What were the chances that he'd bump into her again?

"You mean Zi Joon Kwon Lang," Tsau replied without shaking her hand, catching her by surprise. "Your mother's Korean, remember?"

Zi's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. It was odd that someone like him would know of her parents. "Do we know each other? I don't recall telling random people about my parents."

"I know about you more than you think, Izzi," Tsau said.

Zi had a bewildered look on her face. "Only one person that I remember calls me by that name. Izzi."

"Of course," he said, taking his hood off. "He's right in front of you."

She gasped. "TSAU!!!!!" she exclaimed loudly, hugging him. Her embrace was extremely tight.

"Yeah…" he replied, running out of breath. "…suffocating here…just to let you know…"

She let go and smiled. "Wow! I never expected you be here!"

"Likewise," Tsau said, keeping his cool.

"How've you been? It's been…what? 9 years since I last saw you?" she asked.

Tsau shrugged. "10. I've been okay. What about you?"

"Just…following in my dad's footsteps, I guess," Zi replied. "It's been awhile since I've seen him…and mom, too. Wow, Tsau. You've really grown. Last time I saw you, you were like a little boy."

"Yeah, I've grown," Tsau replied. "I could say the same about you."

She smiled, and nodded. "Oh, I think I hear Gibbs calling me. Gotta work, Tsau. Talk to ya later!"

Leaving him with one more hug, he sighed with a slight smile and turned back out into the ocean. Was it really such a strong coincidence that she happened to be on the same ship with him? Either way, it was bad for him to see her. Rather, it was bad for her to see him like this, in the form of an assassin. If there are any lives he must take in the future, hopefully she doesn't see him do it. His thoughts roamed further for another few moments.

"So, your name is Tsau Nu Tua," Elizabeth said, approaching him from behind.

Tsau turned around and leaned back against the ship side. "Yeah, that's right."

"What does it mean?" she asked.

"In Miao Chinese, it means 'Dark Sunrise.' Not a very good name," Tsau answered.

Elizabeth let out a silent chuckle. "It has a bit of mystery to it. I saw Zi talking to you and hugging you. What was that about?"

"Zi, apparently, is a childhood friend of mine," Tsau said, looking down.

"Really?" Elizabeth asked in a surprised tone. "What are the chances of running into her?"

Tsau looked down. "I don't know. Too strong of a coincidence if you ask me. I'll have to keep a sharp eye. Anyway, Izzi and I were just catching up a bit," he said, clearing his throat.

Elizabeth noticed the look on his face when he spoke about Zi, even the way he called her. Izzi. That look reminded her of Will's, and she knew that expression all too well to ignore it. "You were in love with her, weren't you?"

"I don't like speaking of my personal life," Tsau said, turning away from her.

Elizabeth had a wicked smile. "Oh, so the cold, heartless assassin has a soft spot, too, huh?"

He grunted irritably. "I'll show you heartless," Tsau said under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

Tsau cleared his throat. "Nothing. I just wanted to know how long it would take to get to Port Royal."

"You'll like it," she said. "It's quite peaceful there when you think of it. But I'm sure you don't favor the British settlements over the settlements in Aswad Mohit."

"It doesn't matter, as long as I get mine," Tsau stated.

"Just like an assassin," she replied. "What's it like, then? Are there any rules to your contracts?"

Tsau let out a slight chuckle, and she noticed that it was the first time she saw him in a slight laugh. "Interested, huh? I think you're better off a pirate."

"I just want to know," she alleged.

"Well, if you want an honest truth," Tsau started. "An assassin's life is harder than you think. It's not about the fun or thrill, or the freedom. I have to be completely ruthless, with no regrets, no conscience. Sometimes, I'd have to eliminate witnesses, which aren't necessarily the enemy. The only point on the job is getting the job done in the cleanest fashion you can perform. I've done a lot of sinning."

"But you're loyal to the Order," she said in clarification. "Right?"

"The Order is just a group of mercenaries," Tsau told her. "They lay their loyalties to no one, and they only lend their hands to the richest client. We're bound to no rules, which makes us free men, as well, until we're on the job. Luckily, Altair Hassan is also a pirate, so he acts on his own free will, and pays us for murder. That's why you saw me act against the East India Trading Company. If I weren't paid, I wouldn't do it. Most of us are self-governed, and act on our own accord. Don't think of us as some religious cult or anything. We're just a group of free men, willing to kill for money."

Fascinated, Elizabeth nodded. "Really…then why do you do it?"

"I don't like personal questions." Tsau looked down and sighed with negativity. A moment passed between them before he sighed again. "Killing was the only thing I was ever good at, so it's just a path I chose to follow."

A quiet moment passed between them as thoughts began forming in their minds. It was hard to understand why he did it, but she decided to accept it. Zi walked up the stairs as if she heard most of the conversation. Her once enthusiastic feeling about Tsau was somewhat diminished.

"So then, I guess the first kill is the toughest, huh?" Zi asked smoothly.

Tsau shook his head. "No. The second kill is the hardest."

"Why is that?" Elizabeth asked.

"Because of what you go through after the first kill," Tsau replied, walking away.

Elizabeth's eyes then drew to Zi. "Izzi," she said with a smile.

"Yeah," Zi said, her eyes still following Tsau. "That's me. He's changed a lot."

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They soon arrived at Port Royal, which was exactly the same as when Elizabeth left. Merchants and traders still passed through regularly, and children still played in the town square. The Black Pearl hung up its white sails and began to dock. After the walking plank dropped, Elizabeth stepped out with her son, who had been sleeping, along with Jack, Tsau, and Zi. Barbossa stayed behind with the crew.

"So, where is your house?" Zi asked as they began walking past the docks.

"It's a bit far away from here," she said. "Come on, Bill."

Bill took her by the hand. "Mum, are we home?"

"Yes," she said. "We are."

As they continued walking, Tsau and Jack remained behind them, far enough to be having their own conversation.

Tsau's eyes lingered back and forth between his surroundings. "Hmm…something's wrong."

Jack turned to him. "Then keep a sharp eye."

"I'm the assassin," Tsau replied. "You keep a sharp eye."

"I don't think I need your help, Assassin," Jack responded.

Tsau finally turned to him. "Where are we going with this?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Whatever," Tsau scoffed.

Jack looked around and got a bit serious. "Don't worry. I sense it, too."

"Good. Stay aware."

They approached the large, two story house that Elizabeth lived in, and Tsau kept up at the front with Elizabeth to check the perimeter, but he had not told her why he was doing so.

Before they reached the house, his look drew to her. "So, Elizabeth. Do you mind me asking you how old you are?"

"32," she responded. "A little too old for you, I'm afraid."

Tsau raised an eyebrow. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Then do you mind asking me how old you are?" she asked.

"27," Tsau replied.

"Why did you ask me then?" Elizabeth said.

"You look a lot younger," Tsau said, continuing to walk. "More than you did when I first saw you."

Elizabeth had a smile. Maybe the Aqua Vitae really was kicking in, because she drank it a few nights ago. "Hmm…I wonder what that could be." She looked behind her shoulder to Zi, who let out a giggle. "Maybe I am blessed."

"As blessed as the Fountain of Youth…" Tsau replied, walking faster to reach the house. "…that Jack was promised Hassan for my services."

Elizabeth turned to Jack, who was lagging behind, and gave him a nasty look. Jack looked down, and did not look at her.

"So, I guess he didn't tell you then," Tsau said. "Did he share bottles with you two?"

Elizabeth was left wordless. "…umm…"

"So what if he did?" Zi said in a sharp, defensive voice.

"That just gives me a better reason to fulfill my contract, then," Tsau answered.

Bill, who held his mom's hand, looked up at his mother. "Mother, what does he mean by contract?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Nothing, dear."

"Don't worry about it, kid," Tsau said in a confident manner, stepping up to the porch. "You wouldn't want to know."

"I know that my father is a pirate. I think it's rather intriguing," Bill commented.

"Yes, that's what worries me," Elizabeth said, repeating the exact same words her father once said.

Tsau had a slight smirk across his face. "Then I guess you'll just have to follow your heart if you want to."

"And you don't?" Zi asked. "Follow your heart, I mean."

"An assassin never thinks with his emotions. He never thinks about how to do things down here…" Tsau said, pointing to his heart. "…but thinks about how to do things up here," he replied, pointing to his head.

Bill was fascinated by Tsau's description. "And what of pirates?"

"Take Jack for example," Tsau said. Everyone looked at Jack, who noticed this and became self conscious. "A typical, standard example of a pirate. A paradigm. Pirates do think with their heads…to an extent. They are lesser beings if hired for an assassination, because they often let their greed blind them from the smart thing to do. If I put a chest of gold and a dying man in front of Jack, he'd most likely go for the chest of gold."

"And what would you do?" Zi then asked, with Elizabeth keeping her attention.

"Yes, Tsau," Elizabeth said. "What would you do? I thought you didn't care much about others. An assassin like you would rather save the dying man?"

"No," Tsau said with a slightly wicked smile. "I'd kill the dying man for the price on his head, then take the gold." The two girls were taken aback by his statement, and did not rebuttal. "Shall we continue?"

They stepped onto the wood floors of the house.

"So you would give that man a slow and painful death, then?" Zi asked Tsau.

Tsau looked at the scenery and stepped ahead. "I never said I was a sadist. I try to get it over with as quick as possible."

He turned around and Zi saw the black dagger on his waist. "Hey, what's this?" she said, reaching for it.

Tsau backed away. "A little feisty there, are we?" he said with a smirk. "Never touch the dagger."

"Just wanted to see," Zi said.

"Straight to it, huh?" Tsau replied, heading towards the living room. Elizabeth walked upstairs to find the chest, but before she reached the top step, British soldiers rushed out from the rooms and held her up. The same thing happened downstairs. Jack, who remained outside, saw this and snuck away into the bushes. Tsau, Zi, Elizabeth, and Bill were seized by troops.

Elizabeth gave them a confused look. "What is the meaning of this?"

Footsteps began their way down the stairs. "Where do you keep the chest, Mrs. Turner?"

Everyone looked upstairs to see Governor Blackwell slowly walk down the stairs. A finely built and handsome man, he had broad shoulders and was slightly taller than Tsau, with deep blue eyes and a devilish suave expression.

"Governor Blackwell," Elizabeth said. "Call your troops back. I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can imply many things about me," Blackwell replied. "But don't imply me as a fool. I need that chest, Mrs. Turner."

"I don't know where it is," Elizabeth asserted.

Blackwell had an evil smirk across his face. "But you know what it is."

Elizabeth didn't answer, and he smiled once again.

"Very well, then," Blackwell said.

Tsau stepped in front of Elizabeth. "If she doesn't know where it is, then she doesn't know where it is."

Blackwell looked at him. "You must be the assassin. General Zhao told me many things about you."

Tsau exhaled a chuckle. "So, that opium selling bastard is still alive, then?"

"He sent me a message about you," Blackwell said. "I know more than you think, Mr. Tsau."

"Good," Tsau said, keeping his composure. "You can send him a message back. Tell him that I'll gladly kill the both of you for free."

An angering scowl came upon Blackwell's face, who then decided to calm down and look at Elizabeth again. "Look, I don't like being a savage here. Just tell me where the chest is, and I'll be on my way."

"Why do you want it?" she asked, holding on to her son.

Jack flattened his back against the side of the house, listening through an open window.

"The same reason you do, just for different uses," Blackwell replied. "I guess you won't tell me, then," he then gestured to one of his soldiers. "Take the son. We'll find the chest soon enough."

Elizabeth gasped. "No!"

One of the soldiers grabbed Bill by the arm and started pulling him away, but Elizabeth held on tight, yelling and resisting. After awhile of struggling, another soldier came and hit Elizabeth in the chest with the butt of his rifle and she let go, falling back onto the floor.

Blackwell and his troops stepped out the door. "You six, stay here and finish them off."

The captain gave a cruel smile. "Gladly, guv."

The six soldiers went into the house and shut the door. Right after that, they tied up everyone by their hands, wrapped cloths around their mouths, and set them down against the wall. Three of them went into a separate room. The captain set down his gun and sat while the other two soldiers stood up.

"Now," the captain said. "We're just finding the proper tools to finish you off with, but we won't do it so quickly. We'll take our time, and have a little knife-cutting fun with you two girls. But the man's got to go."

The soldier with the gun gestured to Tsau. "Go! To the other room. The others will take care of you."

Tsau stood up as one soldier took him to the other room. The leader of the troops kept his eyes fixed on the two women. "As I said, we'll have a little fun. This won't be short, and you won't like it."

After a moment passed, sounds of fumbling came from the room Tsau was taken to, and muffled screams came from the room as slashing sounds were heard. It sounded like a lot of terror, and the leader and his other soldier listened coldly to the sounds of death coming from the other room.

"Cap'n, I gotta take a leak," a soldier said.

"Aye, go," the captain replied, paying more attention to the killing. "What's going on in there?!" he asked loudly towards the other room.

The door opened down the hallway and a soldier had his rifle pointed towards Tsau, who had a cloth bag over his head. The captain stood up as the soldier came in.

"Bloody hell, you can't do things correctly, or what?!" the captain shouted. He pulled out his pistol and shot Tsau in the head, and Tsau fell against the wall, instantly lifeless. Zi and Elizabeth watched in utter shock, breaking into tears for what was about to happen next. The captain then turned to them.

"Well then," he said sadistically, putting his gun back. "Let's begin, shall we?"

He pulled out a knife from his hand and smiled. Before he could take another step, the soldier behind him wrapped his right hand underneath his jaw and swiftly lifted it up, exposing his neck. His left hand then came around and a wristblade shot out from it and the soldier shoved it into the captain's neck, and twisted his wrist, making the blade produce disturbing noises. The captain couldn't breathe as the blade was being twisted into his neck. The soldier behind him pushed him over as he collapsed.

After his life faded away, the soldier wiped the blood off his wristblade onto his shirt and tore the shirt off, exposing his white homemade undershirt, and removed the soldier's pants that were worn over his real ones. Lastly, the soldier took off his helmet that overshadowed his face, and tossed the helmet aside. Tsau, who had just removed his soldier disguise, went over to the dead man with the cloth bag over his head and removed his white coat from him, putting it back on himself. Lastly, he picked up the captain's knife and released Elizabeth and Zi, who were overwhelmed with relief that he was still alive.

"Tsau!" Zi said, hugging him.

"Yeah, easy," Tsau said, slowly pushing her away. "We have to get back to the ship."

Elizabeth had a smile and wiped away her tears. "Thanks a lot for rescuing us. We thought you were dead."

"Come on," Tsau replied in a slight cocky tone. "I'm an assassin."

"What did you do to the other soldiers?" Zi asked.

Tsau sighed. "You don't wanna go into the other room. It's a bit messy. Sorry about that, Elizabeth."

"It's fine," Elizabeth then looked around. "Where's Jack?"

The soldier that took a break came from the bathroom, then looked at the three. "Hey, you!"

Before he moved, a shot was fired behind him and he fell over. Jack blew the smoke and put away his pistol. "Well, aren't we in for a surprise today? We need to get that chest."

With everyone here, Tsau decided to carry on with the plan. "Where is it?" Tsau asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth stuttered. "B-But my son—"
"He'll be fine," Tsau claimed. "We'll get him back for you."

Elizabeth nodded and went upstairs, with the other three following her. Almost stumbling over, she rushed down the hallway, knocking over some vases with flowers in them. She went to her bedroom and uncovered the rug that had a small trap door underneath it.

"In the bedroom," Tsau stated, looking out towards the sea. "How original."

She lifted the chest up to her bed. "Here it is."

Tsau turned away from the windows. "Okay, you'll have to find a container for the heart. I'm not sure what to do with it, but I'll find out something."

Elizabeth nodded. "Okay."

"We'll wait until midnight to head back to the ship," Jack said. "Zi, you should go back and tell the crew that we're waiting here. The sea is right by Elizabeth's house anyway, so we'll find a way to get down to the water."

Zi nodded and left. "Yeah, okay."

"Be careful," Tsau said to her. She turned around and flashed a smile.

"Hopefully they won't catch us," Elizabeth said as Zi left.

Tsau began to gather equipment. "I'll make sure they don't."

I'm beginning on chapter 8 as soon as I can, so I'll update soon.