HI people! So, I see I gots myself a few flamers here. Well, if you could hear me, you'd certainly be getting an unpleasant earful, but since you can't, an unpleasant eyeful will have to do. I apologize in adavance to all you nice, decent lovers of fanfiction who are innocent of all charges, because my fingers like to type the letters that spell out bad words. Heheh.
To all you flamers: I really hope you weren't expecting me to break down and cry, because you'll be deeply disappointed to know that I didn't. In fact, I laughed at your incredible patheticness. You like to tear people down to boost yourself up. Congrats. I'm sure your parents are real proud. But do you really think it's that funny to try to hurt a little girl who just wants to write a simple story on fanfiction, to be able to do something she enjoys? I may only be thirteen, but I know that that is the most despicable thing that I have ever heard. I'M IN THE FREAKING EIGHTH GRADE JACKASSES! I know I'm not Charles Dickens of Shakespeare! I don't need you to tell me that! Now, I always appreciate constructive criticism, but flaming is the most pathetic thing someone can do! And honestly, I feel bad for you. Because I'm pretty sure that all you flamers are thirty year olds with no jobs, no wife or kids, still living in their parents basements. Or on your way to becoming that. And so your trying to boost your self-esteem by tearing somebody else down, but it's not gonna work, it just makes you look like a bunch of douches. And I hope you realize that. So if you don't mind, I'll politely ask you to FUCK OFF and I hope the door smacks your ass on the way out.
Now, for all you nice people, I'm so sorry you had to read that. But please enjoy the chapter!
The streets of Port Hainsworth were no stranger to busy market days. On the best of these days you could see maybe ten feet beyond your fellow pedestrians. It was a constant struggle to battle through the crowds and the steady hum of voices was a constant companion. Yet as a handsome man of twenty one years strided through the square, it was immediately apparent that these facts of life didn't apply to him if he didn't want them to. AThe crowd was less dense wherever he was, the talk died down as women became hypnotized by his angelic, boyish good looks and captivated by his every move. It would be natural to assume that such attention accompanied him wherever he went, but such assumptions would be vastly incorrect. THis young man could disappear into thin air if he so wished. But at the moment he felt that invisibility was not at all what it was made out it be.
Not one person was surprised to see the young man step into the local jewelry shop. It would seem a crime for such a man not to have a special you woman whom he found himself fond of. The attention of the town's citizens was slowly lost as they remembered the errands they'd come to take care of. In the shop, he caught several eyes and graced a lucky girl or two with a dazzling smile. How funn how people percieve their surroundings. The store's customers watched his every move carefully, yet nobody saw him slip an expensive silver bracelet into his pocket. Nobody but one young boy. A small hand grabbed the man's arm.
"Now, now, now," The boy said to the man, grinning. THe young man had suddenly lost his undeniable appeal and only one pair of eyes now locked on his. "I'd like to think we're above such petty stealing as this by now, wouldn't you?" The young boy had a similar boyishness to his face as teh man, but in a different sense of the word. Just from looking at the young boy, one would think him to be no older than fourteen. No one could ever imagine what this boy was capable of. The young man looked sternly down at his companion, but there was a twinkle of laughter that never left his eyes.
"You shouldn't be here, it isn't safe." He told him. The boy scowled.
"Well I won't stay locked up in that dreary in all day. I'd like to know what I'm getting into before we start this time." The boy replied. His cocky grin returned. "Besides, I look like a child! No one will know who I am."
"I hardly believe it myself." The young man muttered. The boy continued reasoning.
"It's time you started trusting that I can take care of myself. I'm Alexander, the greatest thief in the world, am I not?" The young man sighed and the boys smiled. He did not hear his friend say something along the lines of 'You are also Alexander, owner of the largest head in the world.' So Simon, are you above such petty stealing?" The young man finally smiled. Not like the one he'd given the girls, but a true smile he reserved only for his closest friends. His fellow thieves.
"Well I suppose so."
"Good, because I only work with the finest thieves. I have a reputation to uphold!" The two of them left the shop, but while Alexander wasn't looking, Simon had smuck the bracelet back into his pocket. "What were you doing in a jewelry shop anyway? What good is a bracelet to you?" The younger boy asked. When Simon didn't answer immediately, Alexander's eyes lit up and he smirked. "Are you trying to get a girl's attention?" Simon grinned.
"What business is that of yours?" Alexander paid no mind to his friend.
"It truly is a shame. I can't imagine what it would be like not to naturally attract attention. Where would I be without my good looks?"
"Prison," Simon replied. Alexander scowled.
"So, will I get to meet this young lady?" It was now Simon's turn to smirk.
"I can't be seen in the presence of a child! I have a reputation to uphold," he teased. Alexander made a face at him.
"Where are the others?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Well, I believe Sam and Eric must stilll think that they are watching after you at the inn, and the others were at the tavern last I saw." Alexander's grin graced his face once again.
"Excellent!" The boy broke into a run away from his friend.
"Wait! Alexander, you're not to be out alone!" Simon called after him. Alexander's only reply to the young man's concern was his musical laughter. Once Simon managed to find the bouyant, youthful looking boy, he had joined the thieves in the crowded tavern.
"Who was supposed to be entertaining him?" Daniel, one of the thieves, asked in annoyance
"Sam and Eric." Simon answered tiredly. "He seems to have escaped again."
"Well I wouldn't need to escape if I weren't always shut in. Am I not the leader of this group?" Alexander questioned.
"Yes," SImon replied. "But your also the one with the most warrants for your arrest."
"Good," ALexander grabbed Daniel's drink and tried to take a swing of it, but Simon, who had not forgotten their more sophisticated upbringing, snatched it away.
"I hardly think that's proper!" He said in protest.
"I'm only one year younger than you Simon, yet you've never denied yourself a drink when you've wanted one." Alexander reminded him. Simon scowled.
"You know quite well that that's not what I meant." Alexander's eyes narrowed at his best friend.
"Ah, let the lad have a drink," another thief by the name of Thomas replied, chuckling good-naturedly. Alexander grinned and took a big gulp. He was careful to hide his gagging; he'd never enjoyed the taste, but he could hardly let Simon know that. Then, taking a smaller sip, he spouted it into the air, where it arched downward and hit Simon. The other three thieves present laughed, and although this hadn't been his intention, Alexander joined them.
"Alexander, ahve you no manners at all?" Alexander shrugged.
"We can't all be raised on large estates with countless nannies and tutors and servants." He remarked.
"You were." Simon said.
"I would hardly call mine a proper bringing up. Nor yours, for that matter, just look how we turned out!" Alexander laughed.
"Well you can't go misbehaving so. Imagine if you weren't in disguise!" Alexander lit a cigar and puffed smoke in Simon's face.
"What're you going to do about it?" Simon ignored the question.
"You oughn't always be pretending to be what you're not."
"I shall do what I please and no one will stop me, not even you Simon Barret." Silence followed this declaration. Then Simon stood.
"I best tell Sam and Eric they needn't gaurd your door any longer." Alexander looked sorrowful as Simon exited the tavern.
"I've upset him again, haven't I?" He asked dejectedly.
"If I were Simon, I'd be upset at the very sight of you." Daniel muttered.
"Don't fret over it, he's just mad Sam and Eric weren't watching you well enough. The boy's just been off since we raided them pirates." Thomas assured him.
"Yes. I suppose stealing from the one man more wanted by the law than me may not have been my most brilliant idea." Alexander admitted.
Suddenly, the door to the tavern swung open and an intimidating, fiery haired man stepped in flanked on either side by two equally intimidating men. The formerly deafening room went silent. Recognizing the red-headed man's icy blue eyes, Alexander sank down in his chair and pulled his cap over his most distinguishable feature: his eyes.
"We're looking for a man." Jack announced. Not a whisper was heard amongst the fear-stricken men. "Who knows where I can find Alexander?" No one spoke. Could Alexander really be in their town? How could they protect themselves and their belongings? "I said, where is Alexander?" Jack repeated angrily. Alexander sank lower in his chair to escape the eyes of the revenge seeking pirate. His fellow thieves glanced at each other, then followed the example of their leader.
"You there! Yes you in the corner!" Jack called, pointing to the cowering thieves. "What do you know about him?" Daniel straightened up and regathered his confident composure.
"Only rumors." He replied.
"Such as?"
"Well it's often said that the man is devil spawn, a child of Satan himself, but you can hardly put stock in such fairy tales as that." Alexander grinned at this comment in spite of himself. He rather enjoyed the rumors bored townspeople invented about him, and particularly favored this one.
"How about you boy?" Jack asked him. Whatever ghost of a smile Alexander had possessed slipped away under the cold stare of teh captain.
"I heard he could steal the clothing off a man's body and be halfway to France before the man noticed." Alexander had invented this one himself, and was quite proud of it. Jack chuckled.
"Oh, I believe France will have seen the last of Alexander once I'm through with him." Jack's men smiled sinisterly. As soon as teh pirates turned away, Alexander gulped and glanced nervously at his friends, who avoided eye contact. Further discouraged by their fear, he sank even deeper into his chair. "If anyone hears a bloody word about Alexander, I am to hear about it, or else you all face my wrath."
"You say that you're in search of Alexander," A voice from the door several feet behind the pirates said calmly, "but, I wonder, do you truly mean it?" All eyes turned to look at the tall, mysterious man that was Simon Barret.
"Do you know where I can find him?" Jack asked. Simon appeared oblivious to the question.
"You inquire as to the whereabouts of the world's greatest thief, and I'm confident you will find him, but do you know what you're getting into? After all, the damage brought by a thief goes far beyond the gold in your pockets." He replied. "As I'm sure you know. And Alexander is no ordinary thief." Jack's patience with the man was wearing thin.
"Can you tell me where to find him or not?" He snapped.
"Well, that all depends. What are your purposes for seeking him?"
"Revenge," Jack said with venom in his voice. Simon smiled slyly.
"Then I would be happy to help. Alexander is in Camberley, it's just a day's journey west of here." Simon told him. Jack smiled
"Excellent." With that, Jack and his shadows left the tavern. The volume quickly returned and Simon made his way back to the other thieves.
"Where's Alexander?" He asked. THomas pointed beneath the table, where Alexander was crouched down and covering his face with his hands. SImon shook his head and wondered if there had ever been a more childish adult. Then he grabbed the collar of his friend's shirt and yanked him out from beneath the table. "It's time you got back to the inn."
What do you think? Yea, I know, Alexander's a bit of a dick. But hey, nobody's perfect, and he's really just exaggerating his personality to cover up for his DEEPEST SECRET which will be very important later on. I hope you'll all review, and to the flamers who still think they can get away with trying to hurt my feelings, I hope you know me and my friends will get a good laugh at your expense. Now nice readers, please review, and know that my tirade against idiots will not be continued in the next chapter, cuz I don't want to put good people through that again. Reveiws please!