Well here you guys go, Happy Holidays! This is loosely based on a prompt I saw awhile back and have never seen written. Tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


I sit back down in the leather chair behind my desk trying to process the streams of thoughts that fill my head.

I just kissed the dreaded pirate James Kidd... and I'm not dead!

But she did leave. No explanation, not even a light hearted laugh to shrug it off as nothing.

This just seems complicated. Too complicated to be sober and thinking about. I've known her for years now as a lad and even then she has always had this charm that makes even the hardened of men question themselves. I know from experience.

I care for her. I always have. From the countless times we have worked together and the scars we earned from helping one another. I enjoy her presence in itself. As a friend. But the thought of her laying with someone else leaves a cold feeling in my chest. The same feeling I got when Anne held onto her.

She can't feel the same way can she? It was probably just the alcohol anyway. She would never have feelings for someone like me.

I'm a rogue who killed her brothers and sisters and am only out for money to bring back to a woman who has given up on me. That won't change. That can't change. Caroline deserves better than someone with the likes to me. One who doesn't run out on her for the adventure involved.

Maybe I should move on. I haven't been abstinent to say the least but I haven't been unfaithful. Every time I've laid with a courtesan it's meant nothing to me but to have Mary kiss me... It's something I can't just pretend didn't happen.

Damn that woman. She came into my life criticizing me and putting her faith in me and all I do is prove her wrong.

I need more drink.


I dress quickly upon waking. I can't sit and dwell on this any longer. I just need to take my mind off it and the death of a Templar would maybe make her more keen on talking to me.

I slept in late to try to rid myself of that nasty hangover. I should have just went to sleep after she left.

I run to the pigeon coop and take the first available contract. A Templar in need to killing. That will do.

The sun is a blinding kind of bright this afternoon. It's making my robes almost unbearable if it weren't for being so used to them.

He's said to be back by the swamp using the selling of goods as a false pretense to leave the pirate infested island.

The dirt kicks up in small clouds beneath my feet as start into a flat sprint.

I duck into a bush close by and focus on my eagle vision, looking around the area for the target and his guards.

I spot a large group of soldiers moving deeper into the swamp towards where the target must be hiding. This should be easy enough.

Keeping my eyes on the soldiers, I slink through the bushes without turning a leaf. I sprint to the next bush and run straight into something, or someone.

"God damn it watch where you're going!" Mary hisses under her breath. Her eyes look up at me for half a second then look away back at the moving soldier. "If you're going to help me then keep your head down."

I want to talk to her. Clear the air that has her so indifferent towards me. "Mary about..."

"Save it," she hisses. "We're here to do a job." Then she's off. Running to the next bush leaving me behind.

I clear my head focusing back on the task at hand and run to another bush keeping my distance from her.

I spot him. Down on the bank loitering around with his guards as some carry crates up to the manor.

I whistle, drawing a man closer. I lunge up at him, strangling him as I pull him down beside me. Mary runs past a guard who has his back turned and edges her way closer to our target.

He's a tall man, not the most fit, but he has weapons in every conceivable place. It's all for show it would seem. Someone of his stature has probably never used a sword in his life, but because of that his guards are agile and often test the weight of their weapons as a silent warning.

A hand gets placed on my shoulder and I twist away from it ready to kill the owner when I come face to face with Kidd. She smirks at me but doesn't say anything about it. "We have to take a subtle approach. Pick them off starting with the ones farthest out. Then we can close in on them and fight the last few." Then she's off, running around the perimeter.

It sounds like a good plan and I don't feel like dying before I can get my answers so I listen and start picking them off.

When only nine guards, including our target, are left. One looks around and seems to notice the lack of other guards. He stills, looking around cautiously before yelling, "assassins!"

Mary and I stand instantaneously, each taking one guard by surprise. Our target stands surrounded by his guards trying to keep a brave face but cowering all the same.

I charge at a man who upon seeing me lifts his sword ready to swing when I'm close enough. I parry the on coming blow, clashing swords with his as another runs up behind me. I turn, quickly plunging my hidden blade into his neck, as he was not expecting to face me that quickly.

I turn back to see Mary ring a man clean through and kick him off the end if the sword. She looks calm and unaffected by the amount of chaos that surrounds us. She glances up at me as I take another man down with a hidden blade to the neck and gives me a quick smirk before pulling out her pistol and looking for me to do the same. I unload on one and Mary takes out two who tried to turn their backs and run.

The once heavily guarded target now stands with a false confidence holding out his sword at Mary.

I insert my hidden blade into the back to the mans ribs. He falls to the ground limply with my blade still imbedded. I pull it out and stand back up but Mary is gone.

I catch a glimpse of her coat as she turns between two buildings at the edge of town.

Why does she have to run?

I take off in that direction determined not to let her avoid me. Does she regret it that much? What was there to even regret?

She takes to the roofs ahead, climbing up a set of crates, jumping directly onto the hot tiles. I follow, repeating the move, slowly gaining ground.

"James! Wait!" I yell.

She doesn't stop though only picks up her pace.

I stop where I am and dive into a haystack. She stops ahead and looks around noticing I'm no longer chasing her. She walks into the small town square wandering around waiting to see if I would show again.

After around ten minutes of her pacing she walks towards the docks. The path she takes is surrounded by bushes giving me the opportunity to catch her before she notices me.

I begin to stand slowly preparing to grab her and stop her from running. But she always has a way of surprising me.

"Will you quit acting like a two year old? I have work to do." She sounds irritated but their is also sadness in her voice.

I stand up from the cover of the bushes. "I was going to ask how you saw me but I already know the answer."

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms across her chest. "It was pretty fun watching you think you could sneak up on me."

"Why did you run?" The words that come out of my mouth sound more passionate than I intended. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"This is why." She says passively. "I wanted to avoid this conversation." She shifts her weight into her left hip rocking back and forth on her heels slowly. "It was stupid. We shouldn't have done that."

I agree with everything that she said but why does it cause a throbbing in my chest to think she regrets kissing me?

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it, Mary." I tease to lighten the air. "You were moaning like a dog in heat."

Her eyebrow quirks up, and the light of challenge fills her brown eyes. "I think you have this backwards, mate. Wasn't it you that couldn't help but to stare at my breasts?"

I smile deviously at her smirk. "If I remember clearly it was you who decided to break the kiss so you could push you're tongue in my mouth."

She glares darkly, her jaw clenched grinding her teeth as she thinks deeply about something. "Too bad that will never happen again," she says smugly as she turns back and continues on the path to her ship.

I follow close behind not wanting to drop this conversation. "What happens if it does?"

She glares once again wishing for me to drop dead I'm sure. "Why would it?" She stops and turns to me waiting for an answer.

I think for a moment, not even knowing where I'm going with this. Then something in my head just clicks. "Anything can happen Mary. I have a bit of a proposition for you to prove it. We have a spar see who can get the other on their back. If I win," I take a step closer to her until we are only a foot apart. "You join my crew for a short time and help me with one of those contracts I picked up awhile back. If you win, you can train me like one of those assassins you're so fond of. Then we'll see." I extend my hand ready for her to shake it and agree. "Do we have a deal?"

"Fine," she says unabashed. "Expect to find yourself a new trainer because I don't end up on my back often." Not even a flush crosses her cheeks as she smirks and takes my hand in a firm handshake.

I don't think she meant to intentionally sound so sexual but that's what she did and now that image will not leave me.

"Nor do I Kidd."

"Prove it." Her smile fades and she turns her back walking away, calling over her shoulder. "Meet me at the far northwest beach in two hours with one sword and a hidden blade. We'll settle this then."


I pace the length on the beach waiting, my robes laying over the branch of a near by tree. The sea is calm, just the light lapping of the waves can be heard along with the rustling of the leaves in the jungle.

What am I even hoping for? Well it seems simple when I think about it but in actuality it will probably be harder than I think.

I want to understand her. She has always been able to read me with those pointed looks, always asking herself questions she'd never ask aloud. I want to read her as well as she does me so to do that I need time with her.

No matter who wins this small spar, it ensures us time. Whether it's spent practicing her craft or sailing together we still get time.

And, I don't know, maybe along the way I could figure out how she feels about me.

I know she trusts me. She wouldn't have told me her true identity if she didn't. All because she says I will do great things. She seems to be the only one thinking that. I more often than not do everything for the better of myself. How it could be any different I don't know.

"You're early, Kenway," that voice I know so well drawls, half scaring me out of my wits.

"Jaysus, Mary can you walk a little louder?" I turn back to her to watch her peel off her greatcoat and hang it beside my robes.

"No," she states simply. "When I win I will make sure you become more aware. Even if it consists of me sneaking up on you for hours on end." She smiles that smile of hers. The one where her lip quirks up a bit and shows her teeth.

She unsheathes her blade and looks at it, like she's admiring the beauty of a woman.

"Well when I win I'll just have you help me instead. It won't hurt either of us to work together. It'll be like old times." I also unsheathe my blade and let it hang by my side.

"Those times won't be over if you consider the Assassins a new path," she states dryly.

"I don't need a creed."

"And that's where you're wrong. Now are we going to settle this or will we spend the rest of the day conversing about where you're allegiances don't lie?" She seems short with me, more short than usual.

"It's up to you, my lady," I say playfully. Her eyes meet mine as I watch anger fill her rum colored eyes.

"Don't call me that Kenway. Lady is a title reserved for proper women and proper is exactly what I'm not." Her words sound more like a warning.

"It doesn't matter if you're a proper woman or not you still have the beauty of one." The words find their way out of my mouth before I process them.

She looks up, her eyes wide but then she closes the tightly and shakes her head. "Raise your sword lest I use it to remove the thing that makes you a man."

"By how often you talk about it I would say you think about it often," I say right as she lunges at me, forcing me to parry the blow with my blade.

"Maybe I do. At least you have the whores to fall back on after months at sea," she grunts as her sword clashes against mine.

We fall silent, just the sound of our clashing blades and heavy breaths. She nearly earns a gash on the arm for her efforts but she turns and rams her shoulder into my chest.

I stumble back a bit, catching myself and meeting her strike. "Someone likes to play dirty" I say with a shitty smile.

"I'm a pirate. What do you expect?"

I strike horizontally and she parties it easily.

I focus on her movements. Everyone of them so fluid and with a deadly, predatorily grace she possesses. Her jaw is set, making her look indifferent but her eyes tell tales in themselves.

She catches my blade but it slips and I freeze at the sound of tearing cloth.

Her shirt and bindings hang like rags no longer hiding anything. Her chest bare like the day she was born.

She charges me, pushing me to my back, her knee in my stomach but she's unmoving. Uncertainty clouds her eyes as she breathes out quickly, "I win."

Her chest turns red and fevered with blush but her face stays it's natural color. No I know why I never she her blush.

I touch her arm softly, my fingers brushing lightly. Then I throw my weight over and roll her on her back, pinning her with my knee and pressing the flat of my hidden blade to her neck. "I win. You didn't use a blade."

"I'd call it a draw." She grunts from the weight on her stomach. "Now get off me."

I oblige her, wanting to see where we can take this but worried that if I did i'd break her trust. She stands beside me I can't help but glance at her breasts.

"Pig," she scoffs, walking over to her coat.

"You're the one without a shirt on. The least I can do is appreciate them." She grimaces and shrugs on her coat, tying her sash tightly around her waist to keep it closed. "But if we both won then that means both should be in order. You train me and come with me on a contract."

"So eager to collect you're prize?" She asks with a new found slyness.

"Might as well collect while I can. I can't let you run off per usual."

"Seems like you'd miss me." With her arms crossed over her chest, she paces in the sand.

"No one pisses me off like you do," I say in an amused tone.

"It's only because you're the biggest pain in my arse," she scoffs.

"Then why do you put up with me?" This is a question that has burned at me since she first took an interest in leading me towards the assassins.

"I've told you before. The same reason I had the assassins stay their blade. You could do great things but I'm worried you won't live long enough to learn it for yourself." Her eyes lock with mine, emotions briefly flashing across them before she shakes her head.

"I can handle myself Mary. Don't worry about me." I take a step closer to her, a bit ashamed for making someone like her worry about me.

"If I don't who will?" She asks rhetorically, not meeting my gaze.

"Mary I..." I attempt to touch her shoulder but she steps away.

"I should go. I'm leaving port by nightfall. Repairs were faster than previously expected. I don't know when I'll see you again but I hope we last long enough for that meeting. Take care of yourself Kenway," she never looks at me, her gaze out towards the sea. Without a second to glance she walks off.

I can't just let her leave like this.

I grab her wrist and pull her to my chest, kissing her thin lips lightly. "As to you Mary Read." My lips just skim hers as I say the words.

I loosen my grip on her waist, letting her choose what happens next.

Her eyes flick up to meet mine. No emotion just the slight parting of her lips. She then presses her mouth against mine, hard.

Her lips are soft but weathered by the sea air. Her hands tangle in my hair and pull me towards her. I let mine hold the sides of her face, my thumbs running along her cheekbones.

Her lips part for a fleeting moment before she stops and steps back. "I'll meet you in Inagua at the end of the month."

Then she leaves. I try not to stare at her arse as she walks away but the feeling of her pressed against me and the very recent sight of her bare breasts has me without my wits.

But it's still James Kidd.

The bastard who hounds me towards his cause. The same one who used to drink with me and carry me back to my ship in the late hours. The very same who I once caught with a courtesan in an alley behind the tavern one night. Yes, the same.

But now it's more than just James Kidd, it's also Mary Read. A woman with more balls than most men could achieve. A master assassin and pirate captain all while spending every waking moment hiding her true identity. If others found out she wouldn't even be respected by those she leads and she would lose everything she's worked for.

It is different. This is not the same James Kidd. Only his true self.