Chapter 4: What Am I Going To Do?

May 13: 1668 4 AM. Lincoln.

I woke up earlier than intended to make sure David was alright. I was heavily surprised to find out that he was still in wolf form, well rested, and breathing. His body was also warmer than I thought and all I needed was a cover and I was good. But I found out that David's tunic was on top of me so he must've put that over me last night while we were sleeping.

Watching him sleep soundly and peacefully made me want to make sure I keep him safe. Life just got worse each day I was away from LJ; each day I wanted to keep that promise to him. I didn't know what the hell I was thinking making that promise. There's no possible chance for me to wake him up.

I sighed then walked around, staring out at the sea from the cabin window. The sun was starting to rise from beneath the sea and it was about an hour until I could dump water on all of my crew to wake them up.

It was already fifteen past four in the morning already and I could only assume that David would be waking up soon. But what is confusing me more is that he's still in his wolf form. I wonder what it's like being a wolf, being forced to transform each and every day. Would it be painful and agonizing, or is it just something that happens. So many impending questions that I want to ask David.

I wrapped the tunic around David's neck and then decided to lie down on my bed. There's just something about him that makes me want to always be near him, always want to protect him. He's a kid; at least I think he is. Just the sight of him makes me want to hug him like he was LJ. I don't know what the hell is going on with me and lately I just let things ebb and flow my way. But now I want to finally plan a way to settle into a peaceful, normal life. Hopefully LJ will decide to come with me, although I don't think it would be possible, considering that now he's 20 years old and has a good life back in Regulus.

Now I can barely believe I thought this just now. Maybe I could take care of David if I can't get him back to his island with his old family. He and I seemed to be so attached these past few days. He's the exact opposite of me right now. He has a sense of righteousness, morality, and is willing to protect the people he wants to protect. I'm probably crazy, but I think I want to be a father to him, hopefully use him to right the wrongs I did with LJ in the past.

Hmm… I'm hearing footsteps. It sounds like thump-thump… thump-thump. Looks like David is awake and limping.

"Hey." I said, smiling. It's almost as if that kid can always bring a sign of happiness to my face. And then he drops me a piece of paper in my hands. I should probably start teaching him how to speak if I want these conversations to get anywhere. It's really awkward talking to someone who can only pass you notes, almost like I was just talking to myself.

Good morning, Captain Burrows. How are you this morning?

"I'm doing fine, thanks." I passed him back the piece of paper. It was a matter of seconds before I got it back.

Sorry about what you had to hear and see yesterday. I don't know what came over me. I just saw you about to get killed and the very thought of it crossing my mind forced me to kick into my animal instincts.

"No, it's alright. You saved me."

No, it's not alright. When I kick into my animal instincts, I lose sense of everything. The only thing that would matter to me is hunting and killing. I could barely control myself when I saw you after killing that man. This is why I don't want to fight, why I don't want to kill.

"Don't beat yourself over it, David. Look, you didn't kill me last night. Think about that. You had more control than you should've had with yourself from what you're telling me. Don't freak out about it, alright?" I put my hand on his shoulder after sitting up.

How can you say that? You know that I'm dangerous.

He was trying to push me away. I could honestly tell from this note. But what he does tell me is true. He is dangerous and just being near him when he's in his feral form could be hazardous to my life. I'm starting to wonder if I should probably go through with this. That was when we heard another person coming in and David instantly went hiding somewhere in the scaffoldings of my room.

"Hey Captain." Sucre said as he shut the door behind him. "How's David?"

And just as he said that, David dropped from the scaffoldings, landed on his injured leg and nearly howled. I had to cover his mouth. "Relax David. We don't need any more commotion here."

"So his leg is still in pain from the gunshot and it looks like the bandage came off. I'll have to keep changing it regularly. Or you can do that." Sucre said as he checked David's leg. It was bleeding slightly, but there wasn't much coming out of the wound.

"Captain, we're heading home now, aren't we?" Sucre asked.

"Yes, yes we are."

"What are you going to do with David? I mean the rest of the crew knows that he's been alone in the brig and you said no one was to go down there and bother him."

David ushered a note to me. I read it and then said "he said that he won't be as noticeable to the crew when he puts his tunic on. He'll try to stay as veiled as possible." He stood right next to me after that.

Sucre chuckled. "You two are so unlike in so many ways that it's unbelievable at this point, Captain." He walked out, leaving the two of us in my quarters.

I scoffed. What made him think that I was just like David? I bet that there are a lot of traits that could differentiate us. Well there was not simply enough time for me to brood on this. I need to set the ship's course to Bale.

*---*

May 13, 1668 7 AM. Michael

It was early morning in Regulus. The birds were flying and chirping around. The sun was bright high up in the sky. It was peaceful. The nice, cool breeze flew right in through the window, into Michael's room. This caused him to shift in his nice, soft, feathery bed with the white sheets covering his smooth, white skin. Another breeze flew in, this time causing Michael to get out from under the sheets.

He groaned as it was only seven in the morning and he wanted to sleep in more. But that was not possible as he is the advisor to the governor of the city. He woke up and went into the shower room.

About half an hour later, he was out of the house in his clothes. He was wearing a white, cotton shirt with blue, baggy, cotton pants, brown leather shoes, and a brown leather vest over his shirt. He was walking on the concrete walkway that showed no signs of green except for a few weeds sticking through the holes in the walkway. There were wooden and brick buildings, some of them mixed with a little of both surrounding the area. There were also lamps that were not lit as he walked through. After walking past a store, the owner came out from under the table.

"Good morning Mr. Scofield!" The lady waved her hand at him, causing him to smile.

"Good morning Jen. How are you this fine morning?" He asked.

"I'm doing great, although I could use some help with lifting that heavy box of apples onto the counter."

"Sure, I'll help you. It's not like it's going to be a problem anyways with Governor Tancredi."

"Right you are." She said and smiled. Jen lead him behind the counter and Michael helped lift the rather heavy box of apples onto the counter with ease.

"There you go." He smacked his hands together to clean the dust off and smiled. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No. That's all Mr. Scofield. Thank you ever so much! I hope you have a good day with Sara!" Jen yelled from the distance as Michael walked away.

It seemed like after Michael had helped Jen with setting up her shop for the rest of the day, the rest of the townsfolk were up and resuming their normal lives. Women were sweeping their front yards, kids were running rampant on the streets enjoying themselves, and the men were doing their butch work. Shops were also being opened as he walked by.

The walk was about ten minutes from his home, which he found convenient that he didn't need to ride a horse just to get to work. He could afford a horse, but Michael found that it was a little more responsibility than he really wanted to handle. He has been taking care of LJ, who is also starting to become a fine advisor to Governor Tancredi. Michael was the governor's advisor in helping King Maximum with general warfare. LJ, on the other hand, was his advisor in handling the people of Regulus. The two of them combined are what the governor called "super advising."

When Michael approached the gates to the governor's home, LJ ran in from the east.

"Good morning Uncle Mike!" LJ happily greeted as he ran. LJ was wearing the exact same clothing Michael was wearing, but this time, he wore a hat that had a feather in it, like on Robin Hood. When he reached him, he hugged him tight.

Michael shrugged off LJ. "LJ, you're 20 years old now, not 12. You don't need to call me your uncle anymore or hug me every time you see me."

"I know, but still, I'm happy that you've taken care of me for such a long time ever since… you know who screwed up his life." LJ said. "But if you don't want me to hug you anymore, I'll try to refrain from doing so." He frowned.

Michael succumbed. "Alright. You can hug me, but only if you don't do it where everyone can see you." LJ smiled. "But seriously, you should probably act 20."

"You're what a real dad should be, Uncle Mike. You have been one to me for the past 10 years here in Regulus. You've inspired me to become a political advisor and look at where it's landed me now. I'm working alongside you for the governor."

They were approached by a woman from the other end of the gate. She was sporting a white gown from her shoulders to her feet. She wore the newly made shoes that all her friends were wearing, flip-flops. "Good morning Michael!" She said cheerfully as if she was almost in love with him.

"Good morning Sara." Michael replied. Sara had opened the gate and right as the gate had fully opened, LJ got the look where Michael and Sara wanted to be alone. So he rushed through the gate and inside the governor's home.

Once LJ and disappeared, Michael and Sara were locked in one another's embrace. They kissed tenderly, only breaking apart for the breath of air they lacked as they made out at the gate. Michael then picked up Sara, still lip-locked and made his way to the front door of the governor's home. Once they were on the porch, Michael had pinned Sara against the wall. They were madly and deeply in love and desired one another.

"Ahem," a man said from the open door on his porch. Michael and Sara pulled away, both taking in a breath of air. "I'm glad to see that you two are still happily and madly in love."

Sara chuckled out of embarrassment. Her face shined a lighter shade of red. "Uh, how are you doing, dad?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Frank kissed Sara on the cheek. "Go change take a bath, Sara. You look a little… unrefined."

Sara then looked at her hair that was now in her face. She could tell that it was all over the place. "You're right." She kissed Michael lightly on the lips. "I'll see you later, Michael." She ran right past Frank inside and up the stairs.

Michael and Frank then turned to one another. "I'm glad you're here, Michael. It turns out that there's going to be a problem now with the increasing rise of pirates. The King is demanding that we loan him a brigade of our finest soldiers. Actually, he's been demanding them from every county, every town in the Almakayen State just to get rid of the damn pirates."

"Well, let's talk this over inside. I'll look things over and see what we should do and if we should comply."

Frank let Michael go in ahead of him and followed right after, closing and locking the door behind him.

*---*

May 13: 1668 4 PM. Excalibur.

Instead of the happenings up till now, work on Lincoln's ship, Excalibur, followed in its normal fashion. Lincoln guided the ship and set its course on the destination, Bale, and his crew would work the mast, the cannons, and even get a bottle of rum down their drunken bodies. Lincoln had Roland take over the steering of the wheel and usually went into his quarters for about an hour to talk with David. They would talk about anything for an hour, like their families, their lives, but mainly Lincoln wanted to inquire more about David and his special talent.

Now it was 4 PM and Lincoln had decided to call it a night. They were really close to Bale now. His crew remained on top the deck while he and Sucre went inside his quarters to relax and have themselves something to eat. When they got in there, David had already gotten the food out and apparently had meat cooked.

"Wow." Sucre was amazed. The table looked like it was packed for food that could feed the whole entire crew. There was a lot of meat on the table, fruits, and lettuce all set up in the middle. There were plates on the table as well. "I so want to call the whole crew in here to eat."

"But you can't because if you do, they'll see David in here because everyone knows that I can't cook worth shit." Lincoln said with his hands crossed over his chest. And just in a couple of quick seconds, David put everything down and dashed up to Lincoln, dropping a note in his hands.

Lincoln read it out loud. "Remember how I told you that people of my kind actually had learned about human fine dining? Well I had to take six months of it. Three of those months were learning how to make a fire in a secure place without burning the ground. Not sure how it was going to work on this rocking ship, but it worked. I hope you two enjoy it because there's plenty."

"Yeah, I'll say." Lincoln agreed. "This is enough for the whole crew to eat." And just as he finished, David dropped another note in his hand and then dashed off to put the finishing touches on the table.

This time, Sucre snatched the note and read it out loud. "I'm eating most of the meat. I heard you humans needed to eat a healthy diet. My diet requires a little more meat than you guys, thus the crap load of meat on the table. I figured I should probably cook a lot since we're almost there to Bale and you can restock on some food there."

"You know, Captain. This kid is everything like you, but better. He can cook!" Sucre said staring at the meat on the table. Lincoln punched him in the shoulder. "Ow." Sucre blurted as he rubbed his soldier.

David ran up to the two of them. "Eat up!" He said out loud. "Oh, Lincoln is a leader. I am not." He struggled again to say.

*---*

May 13: 1668 5 PM Excalibur.

It took them all an hour to finish eating all that was on the table. Lincoln had taken two slabs of meat while Sucre took three. David had taken five slabs of meat and ate it all within fifteen minutes. The fruits and vegetables were all that was left on the table so Lincoln and Sucre took it out to the crew and tossed them something to eat before they had to head in to sleep.

As soon as they cleared the whole entire tin plate of the fruits and veggies, Lincoln brought it back in while Sucre stayed to check out the surroundings of the ship. He didn't want to get attacked while they were sleeping so it was a safety precaution that Sucre had exercised and even got most of the crew to do before they slept in their hammocks.

David had the whole quarters cleaned by the time Lincoln got back which further amazed him. He was starting to wonder if people of his kind were like. He could immediately tell now that David was a well-disciplined pup.

"Hey." Lincoln said to grab David's attention. "Thanks for the dinner. Really, it was good."

"You're… welcome." David started to struggle a little less in between the words. He was starting to speak the language a lot more easily. It was still tough for him, as it would be for anyone with a different native tongue, but he was getting there even in its broken English linguistic.

Right when he finished the sentence, the boat rocked vulgarly, tossing David and Lincoln to the floor. "What the hell?" Lincoln hissed.

"Captain! We're under attack!" Sucre yelled from outside.

This caused Lincoln to rush out of his quarters and there was another pirate ship across from him. But this one caused him to stand there in awe. He recognized the ship and its flag. He feared the thought of him running into that ship. And here it was, its cannons aimed at his ship.