BS: Hey guys, im backkkkkk :D anyways, got sick with Influenza B and it wasn't a fun time. I was sleeping for almost a week straight, so hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Also, I know you guys kinda want more pirate fighting and kick ass shit, but since action writing isn't really something I do often, it wont be till later when there has to be. Sorry, but I don't want it to totally suck and force a fight and such and make you hate the chapter. Soooo, yeah, Ill update sometime tomorrow and it'll have some reuniting going on, so look forward to that I suppose. Also, don't forget to review and enjoy!

Chapter Nine: Price Of Revenge

It was early afternoon when I had gotten up again. It seemed all my nights had recently been full of tossing, turning, and worrying about my friends till I passed out from exhaustion. As I opened the door though, even I had trouble telling whether it was afternoon or not due to the grey hue above the trees. A steady drizzle came down across the island, and oddly enough it was one of the rarer and more chillier ones. Thankfully the thick branches and foliage hovering above and the shack provided a bit of cover from the rain.

"Thought you'd never get up." Nol's teased. I let the door shut behind me and snickered at the man who was currently cleaning his main stock of weapons.

"Half the time I'm wondering if you even sleep." I told him, his only reply being a roll of his chocolate eyes.

"Any word from your friend?" Nol asked, his tone casual.

"No. I expect Jason will call once Daisy tells him I'm alive." I walked over to the parked jeep and sat on the pulled down tailgate, simply watching Nol as he cleaned his weapons. His scarred hands surprisingly worked with a finesse that contradicted with his appearance, and for the first time I noticed a lot more scars than I had before. Paler lines ranging from smooth to jagged ran across most of the skin on his bicep and shoulders from what I could see, and I frowned a bit when I noticed a particularly larger one on his right shoulder that seemed to match the one of his face.

"Nol, where did you get your scars?" I asked and his movements momentarily paused.

"Which ones?" The question he seemed to want to play off as a carefree joke, but I doubted it was fully just that.

"The one of your shoulder and face." I specified and he chuckled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling when he smiled.

"Had a not so fortunate run in with a tiger. The beast nearly ripped me to pieces." Suddenly the smile seemed to fade, as if another thought came to mind and Nol was soon buried in his cleaning. I decided it would be best not to push the matter, so I let him be and dived into my own thoughts.

How long had it been since we arrived on the island? I estimated roughly six days after I thought back to everything that had happened up to this point. Six days. My mind seemed to taunt me, and I felt my heart sink a bit at a realization I had neglected to really attend to. I felt a familiar metal circle under my fingertips when I reached up to my chest, simply the thought about what it meant coming back.

Keith. I mentally scolded myself for thinking of my fiance less, but with everything that had gone on I found myself concentrating more on the task at hand rather than pitying myself and wishing I was back home, already married and living like I had always dreamed.

"You miss him." Nol's voice brought me back to reality and I gave a small nod.

"I hadn't thought about him lately. Is that bad? I mean shouldn't I constantly be worrying for him?" I asked and Nol paused a moment before answering.

"I think, due to the situation, thinking about him while we're in a situation, say like when we were rescuing Daisy, would not be a good idea." He said slowly, Nol's words clearly picked carefully as he tried to get a point across. "Times like this though, when you're just sitting and having nothing else to think about. That's the best time to be lost in a fantasy." He advised and I nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to clear the depressing thoughts.

"What about you? Do you have someone you always think of? Like some village girl or something?" I curiously asked aloud, and immediately noticed Nol's mood change to a more personal and apathetic state.

"Once. Five years ago." He admitted.

"What happened?" I frowned.

"They were killed, my wife and daughter. I like to blame the war for it, but mostly it was just me." He added, shaking his head slightly as he looked out past the tree line and into the stilled river a few yards away.
"I'm sorry." I lamely apologized and he scoffed.
"Thanks, but I doubt I deserve it." Nol now stared at his hands in thought, the appendages resting limply on the P416 assault rifle in his lap. "I've killed so many people..." He trailed off, though I doubted he meant to say it.
"No one deserves to carry guilt like that for over five years." I tried to console. "It couldn't all be your fault. Those pirates deserve some blame to ya' know."
"It wasn't the pirates that killed them." Nol suddenly said, his uncharacteristically hardened eyes turning towards me. I sat there in silence, letting his words sink in as I wrapped my mind around what that meant. "When we first met, you asked me why I would help you..." Nol trailed off "I'm helping you because when you said your fiance was a captive, I thought maybe I could save you the pain I had to go through when I lost Rio and Tali." His voice quieted down the more he talked, and I could have swore his averted eyes were getting a glossy look to them.
"Did you get revenge?" I asked without thinking, already regretting it as soon as the words passed my lips.
"No. Revenge just leads to more violence and killing, and the moment of satisfaction isn't worth a lifetime of guilt. Besides, I doubt I could get within ten feet of her now." Nol added and I made sure to remember it for a later date
No words were uttered after that, and the only sounds filling the thick silence between us were the calls of the birds and Nol continuing to tend to his weapons. I tried to find something to say, anything that would offer comfort, but couldn't find a right way to put it.
"Don't train to hard, give yourself a break today. You earned it." Nol got up, passing me and gently patting my head before walking back inside.
"Nol?" I called and the shaggy haired brunette paused in the doorway. "Thank you."
There was no hesitation before the older man was back inside the shack and out of my line of vision completely.