Chapter 9
"Lovi. Wake up sweetie, it's morning already."
"You did not just call me sweetie..." I mumble into my pillow, refusing to acknowledge I had to get out of bed when my back hurt from lying down.
"Would you prefer: Sweetheart, Pumpkin, Baby, My Love, Dear, Honey, Sunshine, or, my personal favourite, Mi Tomate?" He whispered seductively into my undoubtedly red ears kissing just below them on my neck as I scowled into the pillow.
"... I hate you." I growl as I turn my flushed face to look at him; propped up on his elbow, smiling, always smiling. He tucked a few stray hairs covering my face behind my ear with the upmost care. It was like he was gonna break me or something.
"I love you too." He lent forward and chastely kissed my fore head as my eyes fluttered closed. It had been about 3 weeks since I had to say goodbye to my brother and I was still a little... clingy. Yeah alright I said it; I wanted affection, HANG ME!
"Off! I need a bath. No thanks to you..." I mutter. He purred happily and flung me over him to pin me down on the bed.
"And whose fault was that? If you weren't so cute I wouldn't be so tempted all the time!" He buried his face in my neck and kissed it enthusiastically. I will never understand how this asshole can be so chirpy in the morning. Especially after last night.
"Oh stop it already. You're making me angry being so happy." He chuckles and abandons my neck, cupping my left cheek and gazing into my eyes with his sparkly green ones.
"Of course I'm happy! Why wouldn't I be when I have the most beautiful lover in the whole world?" The way he says it with such a serious face, eyes shining with adoration makes me melt. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into a hug, nosing at his ear. We lay there for a moment, just holding one another, content in our own little world.
"Good morning Lovi!" He suddenly beamed his stunning smile at me. I sigh. I've learnt to play along with him, he insists on saying good morning and good night and I love you all the time. The first two I can handle the last one I'm a bit more reluctant to shout out to the world.
"Good morning bastard." I grumble. He snuggles up on my chest and sighs contently. I run my hand through his chocolate locks, feeling the fading lump on the back of his head from when Liz hit him with her frypan for making me cry. Damn that bitch has a good swing.
"By the way I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted a bath. Sometime this century would be nice." He chuckled again. A common reaction to my sarcasm and insults.
"Would you like me to carry you princess?" He teased.
"That's 'your majesty' to you. And yes."
"Haha! Right away, 'your majesty'"
.O
When noon arrived later that day the weather took a turn for the worst. The sun was blocked out by dark clouds threatening a storm; lightning sparked in the distance and thunder seemed to rattle the very bones of the crew. You could see it in their eyes, something was coming, we all knew, could feel. The hairs on our necks were on end and shifty eyes scanned the distance. We were headed to the haze of rain and a cold wind filled our sails, pushing us further into the oncoming darkness. I shivered as the cold sea air whipped at my exposed flesh; Antonio threw his arm around me and pulled me closer, kissing my temple. Had I known what was about to happen...
"WATCH OUT!" boom. What the...? We were under attack. The cannon ball hit the ship, splintering the wood, shards flying everywhere. Fires broke out; men were scrambling everywhere in panic. Antonio was holding on to me firmly, it was like he was the only thing holding me to this world. Our attackers were invisible through the pouring rain and every crack of thunder had us flinching for another cannon to hit.
"COWARDS!" It was Antonio who yelled to the heavens as though the gods themselves could hear him. "COME OUT SO WE CAN SEE YOU!" And as if answering his call, a dark shape crept across the water, the other ship.
The ship was big, huge, made for battle. We had no chance of defeating it; it looked as though many others had tried... and failed.
"Vash, get us out of here!" Antonio yelled above the storm. The Ángel was fast, but this monster ship was faster.
"Captain they are trying to board!"
"Hold them off! Fire cannons when ready!" Cannon fire ringed in my ears, both enemy and our own. Terrible tremors rocked the ship at every impact. Grabbing hooks were thrown onto the ship and used to pull the ship closer while men swung across ropes hoping to land on the ship. A good number of them were shot down mid-swing by Vash. I yanked Antonio's cutlass from its sheath and cut one of the grabbing hooks' rope; moving down the side of the ship cutting as many as possible.
"Lovi!" Antonio screamed. I barely had enough time to move as I saw a huge man swinging right towards me. I managed to dodge his blade as he landed on the deck, and moving towards me slowly as I backed away. I couldn't move when he raised his sword to strike me, his face was twisted into a cruel smile. I closed my eyes and the sound of blade slicing into flesh filled my ears, but I felt no pain. When I opened my eyes soon after, the smile on the pirates face was instead contorted with pain but his eyes held no light and a silent gasp slipped from his open mouth. He fell down to my feet with a heavy thunk; behind him stood my beautiful Antonio, I almost wanted to cry.
"Lovi, are you ok? I thought I was gonna lose you!... I love you so much..." He pulled me into his arms and stroked the back of my head; he was holding me so tightly all I could do was cling on to him. I never wanted to let him go.
"T-t-thank you."
Just then a tall, tan, masked man walked across a plank set up between our two ships. He shot four bullets into the air and everyone stopped moving and looked at him. The ends of my wet hair stung my eyes, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand.
"I am Sadiq Adnan, Turkish Captain of the Princess Jasmine. Who is your captain?" I almost wanted to laugh at the name of the ship; if the damn psycho's voice didn't scare me half to death. Antonio moved forward but I stopped him.
"I am." Many people gasped, Antonio had the expression of absolute horror but was frozen with shock. I pried his hand off my arm, stepped forward, and glared murder into the devil eyes hidden behind that mask. I tried my hardest not to tremble or retreat like my instincts were screaming at me.
"Lovi, no!" It was Liz, she was being held back by Roderich, who was patting her hair and whispering to her. What happened next really pissed me off. The fucking bastard laughed!
"Something funny bastard?"
"You're awfully stupid for such a tiny guy." Oh no, he did not just go there!
"Well, I'm not the coward hiding behind a mask. Bastard." I snarl. He straightened up and smirked viciously.
"I don't like your tongue kid. Maybe I'll just have to cut it out. Or better yet, I could just take you and teach you just how to show me respect." All the scumbag pirate thugs laughed and my stomach tightened with disgust.
"You can have Lovino when you pry him from my cold, dead hands." Antonio finally stepped in, all but hissing the words, his sword raised.
"And who are you?" The Turk said, his eyebrows rose slightly behind his mask.
"I am the great Captain Antonio Fernandez Carriedo of the El Sangriento Ángel." The taller laughed a little then, taking a step forward and raising his own sword and sliding it down Antonio's teasingly.
"I wasn't gonna kill you, buuut, now I suppose I will. And then steal your precious whore."
"If you try to take either of us you will taste the cold steel of my sword."
"Ha! Then let the battle commence..." As soon as the two captains' swords met, the rest of men launched their own attacks. Chaos consumed the ship; the air was filled with cries, guns firing and steel clashing. I defended myself as best I could, but all these men were huge, my arms were weak and my legs were stiffening up from the cold. I found a small corner to hide and catch my breath as time slowed. I could see Antonio and Sadiq fighting in the centre, Vash was shooting the crap out of practically anything, and I'd never seen Sleepy move so fast! Even Liz was kicking arse with that fry-pan of hers.
"Lovi!" Liz was now running in my direction, I shifted out into the open and Liz grabbed my arm.
"We have to go." She yelled out over the noise, dragging me behind her. No one even turned to look at us as we fought our way through the soaking wet bodies; when we reached the centre right of the ship we stopped.
"What's going on!?" I managed to shout at Liz, her long hair was drenched and stuck to her arms; we were both blinking rapidly from the rain.
"I have to get you out of here! Get in!" She shouted back. It took me a second to comprehend what she was referring to; there was a small longboat halfway down the side of the ship, inside was Lili and Peter, who were waving up at me from under a thick blanket. I panicked.
"NO! I'm not leaving him!" I screamed back angrily and backed away from her.
She grabbed my arm and yelled right into my face, "Well I'm not letting you die or be taken away! Get in that boat Lovino or so help me I will throw you in!" I didn't doubt for a second she wouldn't, but I wasn't giving up.
"What about Roderich!?" I shouted stubbornly; I wish I hadn't.
"He's dead Lovi." She said normally, she didn't need to shout; the words screamed for themselves. The look of raw pain on a woman like Liz's face was wrong; it made the situation more heartbreaking as an outsider. I looked over to where I last saw Antonio, like maybe if I saw him it would all go away.
He was standing there.
In the pouring rain.
Looking at me.
Smiling.
Not his normal, idiotic, smile.
A sad, closed mouth, heartbroken, smile.
I started crying.
He was trying to save me.
"Don't you dare leave me! You Pirate Bastard!"
But he was gone.
And I was thrown into the longboat.
A/N: H-hey guys... I'm not even going to bother with excuses because I am a horrible human being! But I did try to make this chapter more dramatic and angsty to prove how sorry I am...
I'm sorry if my epic fail attempt at writing a sea battle offended anyone. I very nearly deleted the first half of this because I thought it was rubbish... So thank you to my wife, XxTearsOfCrimsonxX for saving this chapter and motivating me to actually finish it!
And in case the quotes from the confrontation with Turkey sound familiar, that's because they almost come directly from episode 25 of season 3! I wanted to make it as canon as possible.
Oh, and please review and tell me if I made you cry! I almost cried writing it so I wanna know if I'm actually a half-decent writer!
Only 2 chapters left! :(((
~ WickedBanana
