WOAH! I TOTALLY forgot about this! So, so sorry to have made y'all wait, I completely forgot to upload this ;_;! This week has been crazy with homework and tests and everything from hell, plus I just started playing the game 'Okami' and now I'm obsessed with it... Hehehe, oops ^^"...
Anyway, time to give Bentley a new name: Kiddo. Did I forgot to mention that he has a total of four names that he gets from the people around him :P? Calebs nickname 'B' not included...
*** Chapter Six : The Storm ***
The ships journey lasted for almost two months. Two very long months for the little cub, who now went by the name "Kiddo". One day he realized that he had forgotten it; his real name. Day in and day out he had been called Kiddo by everyone so eventually it had gotten stuck, and he slowly forgot that he had another name. Day in and day out for almost two months.
Although, he had to admit that things could have been worse; the crew could have still despised him, just like they had done the first days of the journey, before the little cub saved the entire ship and her crew from getting crushed among sharp and dark cliffs in the middle of the night. Most of them even greeted the little cub, almost as if he was one of them, and no one looked down at him anymore. But that could also be because Buck had promised to personally throw anyone who was mean to Kiddo overboard faster than he could say 'deckswabber'.
Buck had always been nice to the cub, nicer than anyone else on the ship ever had been. He gave him food and water, and made sure that he got to stay in the little storage room by himself, rather than in the cargo at the bottom of the ship, where the rest of the slaves were being kept. Buck didn't tolerate anyone looking down on Kiddo, the only one who still did was the captain. It was obvious that he didn't approve of the cub living like one of them, although he never said anything; his golden eyes told them everything. They always narrowed and sent cold chills down the cubs spine whenever the fox looked at him with resent.
Buck and Tip clearly had very different opinions on this all, but since Tip was the captain, Buck couldn't do much than obey whenever Tip ordered him to keep the kid out of the way of the others, especially himself. The only reason he let Buck take care of Kiddo at all was because he knew how much weaker children were compared to the adults, and it was almost always they who perished first.
At first, he had refused to let the cub roam freely on deck, but after the nearly avoided accident with the cliff island, he now allowed Kiddo to explore the rest of the top deck, with the conditions that there had to be at least TWO to supervise over him, and the second deck and cargo was strictly off-limits.
Kiddo really tried his best to stay out of the way for the others, but unfortunately it proved to be almost impossible for the curious little cub. Especially the two cabin boys Wes and Juno became the victims when Kiddos curiosity caused trouble. For instance when he accidentally flipped a barrel of some strange, dry herbs they called 'tea' when trying to look down in it, and it's contents were shortly spread all over the deck thanks to a well-timed wave. The water that crashed in on the ship also mixed the tea into a watery goo. Tip was furious and decided to take his anger out on Wes, the unfortunate teenage squirrel who had to clean everything up. For every week that passed, the two cabin boys acted more and more nervous whenever Kiddo was around; they never knew what he might crash or lit on fire this time!
Even if the crew was still quite scary, he was fascinated by their work and their language, and quickly picked up on several words and even a few sentences, like: "Just pass the fuckin' biscuits already, mate!", "Oi, where's the booze at?" and "Get outta me face ye little fuckin' piece of shit!". Okay, maybe a crew of sailors weren't recommended as English teachers.
The place where he used to spend most of his time was in the basket on top of the mainmast, or the 'crows nest' as the sailors called it. Which the cub found rather funny since he had never seen a crow there at all!
Usually it was Ratt who were on duty in the crows nest, but every time Kiddo joined him up there, the black-rat saw it as a perfect opportunity to take a nap and leave the guarding post to the cub. But Kiddo never minded that, in fact he liked to stay on guard. Even if gazing out over the empty sea did remind him that for every day that passed, he got further and further away from home. And his family. There was only one thing worse than the homesickness and longing Kiddo felt, and it was to see the slaves who didn't make it; those who had died during the trip, getting thrown back into the sea.
He would never forget when he saw a few men from the crew carry one of the sandcats up from the cargo on deck, only a few weeks after their departure. Kiddo had first been curious to why they would let this individual out, but then he noticed that the sandcat was alarmingly malnourished and it's once grayish golden fur was faint and dull in color, and the blank look in his hazel eyes as he emptily stared up at the clear blue sky could only mean one thing: he was dead.
Kiddo had stared in shock as they threw the lifeless sandcat over the rail and into the sea, luckily Buck had been there to quickly wrap his tail around the little cub and pull him away. Even if Buck promised that he wouldn't let anything like that happen to his little 'ankle biter', Kiddo couldn't help but to feel a twinge of fear whenever another died. Both for himself, and if there was anyone he knew who were about to get carried up. Not even Biton deserved something like this! But Kiddo never saw anyone he knew, at least knew the name of, get carried out, and that calmed him down a notch. But not entirely.
Last week they had encountered a strip of land far off in the horizon, and seeing it filled Kiddo with hope once again; what he saw as soon as they got close enough was the jungle forest, stretching as far as their eyes could see. But that hope was shattered when he realized it wasn't his home they had returned to: it was someplace new. Someplace with completely different kinds of plants and trees, and the ones living there looked... odd.
They had set the anchor as close to the shore as they could when a boat with three creatures arrived. Two of the three creatures had looked like some kind of rodent, one of them was big and heavy, and had thick, water proof dark brown fur covering his entire bulky body. His ears were puny in comparison to his head and Kiddo could have sworn that he saw webbing between his toes. The other rodent-like critter was smaller and had longer fur in three colors: black, white and gold. He reminded Kiddo a bit about a wild dog in color. His ears were bigger than the dark brown rodents, and he once let out a squeaky noise while he spoke, seemingly out of habit.
The third one on the boat was a monkey of some kind, with his arms and lower parts of the body was dark brown, almost black, while his head and chest were white. He used his long tail to give captain Tip a bundle of some sort of odd, dull green leaves that Tip instantly snatched and began to count them. When he was done, he gave the monkey a short, pleased nod before ordering his men to take the two rodents down below deck.
For a moment there Kiddo, who was hiding from the three strangers behind the door to the captains cabin, which Buck had ordered him to do, thought that they were going to get locked up down there as well! But after a couple of minutes, they emerged with three of the slaves: a female fennec, an hyrax and a brown hyena: Kafeel.
Upon seeing Kafeel again after more than a month, Kiddo forgot all about the creepy strangers and bolted out from his hideout. "Kafeel!" He exclaimed cheerfully, happy to see Kafeel still alive and well.
Okay, scratch that 'well' part; he was a lot thinner than he had ever been before in his entire life and his fur had the same dullness as the sandcats. His puffy, bloodshot eyes stared blankly down at the cub who just ran up to him seemingly out of nowhere, and threw his little arms around his waist.
"Kafeel! Y-you're alive!" Kiddo cheered and buried his face in the older hyenas fur, but didn't get any response.
He carefully looked up, only to see that Kafeel was staring off somewhere ahead, his earth colored eyes were blank and seemed lifeless. He didn't even seem to know that the cub was there at all. "K-Kafeel?" Kiddo tried once again to say the hunters name, but Kafeel didn't as much as blink. The cub didn't protest when Buck coiled his tail around his waist and pulled him away from the apathetic brown hyena.
"Buck!" Tip barked angrily at the snake, who turned his big, dark brown eyes to the fox and frowned. "I thought ya said that mangy thing was hiding?"
"That's what I thought as well, cap'n..." The taipan answered with a low mumble as he arched a questioning eyebrow at the cub.
"K-Kafeel...?" Kiddo ignored the two adults questioning frowns and just stared wide-eyed in disbelief as Kafeel walked as in trance and allowed himself to be taken down to the boat, gently rocking on the waves next to the much bigger schooner.
Sure, Kafeel was alive, but not on the inside. Kiddo couldn't take his eyes off when the three odd creatures, which he later learned were called kapybara, guinea pig and capucchin, left with the three slaves back to the mainland. He listened half-heartedly at the argument Buck and Tip were having, Tip seemed angry that the cub had run out and hugged one of the slaves, which in turn made Tip having to explain to the three merchants that one of his crew members were taking care of the kid.
The looks they got from the trio was, to say the least, weird. "Why would he do that?"
But Kiddo didn't as much as turn his head whenever his name was mentioned, he still couldn't believe that Kafeel was gone now as well. At least he hadn't perished in the cargo, but the empty look in his face was concerning, and it made Kiddo even sadder to just think about it. He had always liked Kafeel! He was really nice, funny and one of their familys closest friends. Even though the hunter was a bit of a scaredy-cat sometimes, but Almasi had told them about times when Kafeel had proven himself to be surprisingly brave!
Kiddo was lodged in his thoughts for the remainder of the day, worried that everyone was like Kafeel now, and that he himself too would become apathetic and zombie-like! And when he finally fell asleep, he had a nightmare. He heard that cursed gunshot echo once more, and he saw his father getting murdered right in front of him. He woke up with the same troubling feeling of helplessness and throbbing heart, and reliving the memory had made him begin to sob uncontrollably. For some reason, he began to ponder what his real name was before finally being able to fall asleep again almost at daybreak. He could still remember the others names, so the loss of his own puzzled him, and made him feel frustrated.
By now, he hadn't just managed to forget his own name, the names of his family and friends were slowly slipping away too! No matter how hard he tried to hang on to them! Soon, the only names he could remember were Mwindaji, Etana, Bora, Fahamu, Almasi and Afaafa, his family and their Queen. He could still remember the face of the others, he just couldn't give them a name.
Desperately trying to keep his family in his memory, he tried to rehearse their names to himself every night. So far that seemed to work.
And in lack of anything else to do, he was sitting in the crows nest, his back against the mast and silently rehearsing their names once again. Determined to not forget about them! Although, his constant mumbling when he kept repeating the names sent chills down Ratts spine and it didn't take many minutes for the rat to glare down at the cub.
"Ay, shut up with that mumbo-jumbo nonsense, Kiddo!" He snarled suddenly, making the little cub jump in surprise as he lost his focus and looked up at the one-eyed rat with a bewildered look on his face. "What're ya tryin'a do? Summon a demon or somethin'?"
Kiddo didn't understand half of what the rat said to him, but he did catch and understand the 'shut up' part and it made him lower his head slightly. "I-I'm sorry" He said carefully.
Ratt snorted, finding it even creepier when the cub tried to speak English, but just shrugged in response before turning his attention back at the sea. "Just keep ye weirdness to yaself, okay? You'll see that overseers ain't exactly the most understandin' folks around. They'll find out if ye a weird person or not and try to whip it out'o ya! And their whips ain't to be looked down on!"
…
Hours later, Kiddo was covering in the shade of the mainsail, sitting on the boom itself, trying to escape the Great Mothers blazing heat. She seemed to be mad at him still, and not knowing why only made him feel even more anxious. He was fidgeting with some loose ends of the old and way too large tunic he was given to wear by Buck, who had hated the Brown One garment he had been wearing from the start.
He was deeply rooted in his thoughts when Ratts voice was heard over the busy mens chattering on the ship; "LAND O'HO!"
Instantly, curious heads were turned to gaze beyond the bowsprit and just like Ratt said, they saw a thin, dark blue strip of land far, far away. It would probably take them all day just to get there, yet the sight of land seemed to spur the men into working faster and harder. Tip grinned contentedly when he saw the land, and even two other ships that seemed to be heading towards the land. Mobile was close, that was for sure.
He admitted that they had been really lucky this trip; the weather had been stable, except for a few small storms, only twelve of the slaves had perished and they had even managed to avoid the Squadrons ships! If they had met a ship from the abolitionist border patrol, they would have been in deep shit, considering Tip already had enough trouble from abolitionist movements both on land AND sea. They knew that behind the merchant facade, he was still active within the slavery business, but so far they hadn't found enough evidence to prosecute him.
According to his calculations, they would reach the city of Mobile sometime in the middle of the night, which was even more perfect as they would first sneak the slaves off and deliver them to Tim via longboats before arriving to the docks in the morning to sell off the merchandise. That tactic had worked every time for fifteen years, and he hoped that it would succeed this time as well!
Suddenly, a loud, deep rumble echoed across the sky and made Tip flatten his large ears to his neck. He turned around as well as the other members of the crew and they all saw the dark gray, almost black, clouds close in on them from the open sea. The storms they had encountered earlier this trip had been relatively mild and easy, this didn't look like one of them. A bolt of lightning split through the darkness and shortly after, the rumble returned, louder this time.
"Buck!" Tip barked and within the blink of an eye, the long golden brown snake appeared next to the captain.
"Aye?"
"Lock th'kid up downstairs. There's no way we'll be able to outrun this storm, and we can't have that little rat scurryin' around and get in ev'ryones way!"
"Aye cap'n!" Buck nodded and disappeared as fast and sudden as he had arrived.
Kiddo wasn't too concerned about the approaching storm, as it wasn't rare with thunder and rain back home. What did worry him was the fact that they were out in the middle of nowhere, on the sea, in a boat. If the boat sank, they would all surely die. And the men seemed anxious about this one, they hadn't been too concerned about the previous storms, but this one made them all exchange nervous glances and Ratt even scurried down from the mainmast to help wherever he could.
"Oi, Kiddo!" Bucks familiar voice snapped and before Kiddo could register what was going on, the taipan snake had tied his tail around the cub and dragged him off to the storage room. He threw the kid down on the floor among the boxes just as the ship was thrown to the side by a powerful wave crashing into the side. Kiddo staggered and looked up at Buck. Buck narrowed his dark eyes, pointed at the cub with his tailtip and say as loud and clear as he could: "Stay!" Before he turned around and slithered back up the stairs, slamming the large door shut behind him.
Kiddo understood what 'stay' meant, and he didn't object as a ridiculously loud thunder was heard from the outside and he heard the rain hit the upper deck. The cub gulped and skittered off into the corner to hide in his barrel with his hands clamped over his overdimensioned ears. He had never been afraid of storms and thunder before, but this time was different. This time the others worry had spread to him, and now he was terrified!
…
The storm was over them faster than they had expected. The rain was pouring down, the once clear skies had now turned into an ominous black and the lightning bolts that pierced through the clouds lit the area up like it was in the middle of the day, at least for a while. And not to mention that the thunder was deafening.
Everyone in the crew had tired thick ropes around their waists and in turn tied it to the mainmast as a lifeline. Everyone was busy with doing something: securing the sails, hold the rudder, guard the slaves, tie the cannons etc. And Tip was standing in the middle of it all, shouting out orders to left and right.
"WHAT'RE YE DOIN' UP THERE, YA LAZY FLEABAGS?!" Tip roared to drown out the noise from the storm. "I TOLD YA TO SECURE THE SAILS! ALL OF THEM!"
Finster, Ratt, Juno, Wes and a lanky, light gray bobcat whose beard was divided into two braids, nicknamed 'H', was furiously trying to secure the gallantsail, but the rope they were tugging just wouldn't budge. And neither of them cheered loudly at the thought of having to climb up there to release whatever was blocking the contraption.
Finster passed on that message to Juno, who quickly scurried over to the captain to tell him about their trouble. Tip let out an exasperated sigh as he pondered on how to solve that. The storm was raging all around him, making it hard for him to concentrate.
"Where's Buck?" He suddenly asked, Juno answered by pointing up at the poopdeck, where Buck had taken over the rudder and intertwined his entire long, whipping tail around the entire thing to get a better grip and keep the ship on a somewhat correct course. Tip cursed once again when he saw how busy the snake was at the moment and threw a glance at the opposite staircase, leading down to the storage rooms. He was going to have to fetch the cub by himself. "Never mind, I'll fix it. Just make sure the others don't go climbin' about the masts, is that clear?!"
Juno nodded violently. "Yessir!" He saluted and watched as the red fox ignored him and turned to go down the stairs.
The violent waves were crashing against the ship, making it twist and jerk and it was hard to keep the footing on the slippery, water covered deck, but Tip seemed like the one who had the least trouble making his way across the ship. He hurried down the stairs and had to search through all three storage rooms before he finally found the hyena cub, all curled up inside a barrel stuffed with blankets. His already frightened pinkish red eyes seemed to wide even further at the sight of the captain.
"Get up here! You're gonna do some good for once!" He said and harshly pulled Kiddo out of the barrel. Kiddo had almost forgotten that the captain could speak Bouda, and that surprise made him ignore the rough handling and he just tilted his head at him.
"You DO speak, Bouda. Do you?"
"That has NOTHING to do with this, now come here!" Tip snarled impatiently and grabbed the cub by the mane on his neck and almost dragged him up to the top deck, just as a wave hit the floor and cold, ankle-deep water washed over the entire top deck.
Kiddos eyes widened in fear once again and he looked up at the captain with both pleading and confusion, only to be ignored by the fox as he was dragged over to the first mast. They still hadn't gotten the rope loose to unfold the sail. Tip gestured to the men to get a lifeline for the cub from the mainmast.
"See that up there?" Tip said and had to shout to be heard over the roaring wind and the rain that kept hammering down on them. He pointed up to the base of the rope, which was very hard to see due to the storm and the water that rained down in his eyes when he looked up, but Kiddo still nodded. "Climb up there, see why the rope is stuck and fix it!"
Kiddos little heart skipped a beat and he staggered back, threatening to slip on the slippery deck. "W-what? M-me?!" He looked up at the mast again, it was swaying dangerously in the harsh wind. "I... I don't think I can..."
"Do I look like the one who cares?! Out of everyone in this crew, you are the one who climbs the best. Don't deny it, I've seen you climb up and down these masts like they're trees!" He took the lifeline handed to him by Ratt and tied it around the cubs waist. "This will stop you from falling into the water!"
Kiddo hesitated for a couple of beats. "B-but, what if I fall to the floor?"
"Then you're dead" Tip replied without hesitation and pushed the cub towards the mast. "So don't fall down or Buck will never let me live it down!"
The cubs heart were beating like a drum against his ribs as he slowly began his slow ascent up the swaying, slippery mast. The fear coursed through his mind and every instinct in his body told him to get down, but one look at the captains frightening, stern face made him climb all the way up to the gallantsail. The heaving contraption that made it easier for the sailors to fold the sails without having to climb up on the beams and do it manually, thus risking their lives in situations like these.
Buck was struggling to keep the ship heading straight, so when he glanced up just as another, rumbling bolt lit up the sky he saw Kiddo slowly and carefully climb up the ladder of the front mast. First, he couldn't believe his eyes, then he instantly turned his eyes down to the deck and found Tip. A low growl was heard from deep in the snakes throat. "TIP! CAP'N TIP!" He shouted and earned an annoyed look from the red fox. "WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHAT'S KIDDO DOING...?!"
"HE'S CLIMBIN', WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?!"
Buck snarled again over have been interrupted and looked back at the cub. He felt a twinge of worry when Kiddo slipped down a notch, but managed to grab on hold before he fell down. "Well, I'M HOLDIN' YOU RESPONSIBLE IF HE FALLS!" He could see Tip shrug in response before turning his back to the snake on the poopdeck, right when the ship was hit by another wave and cringed, forcing Buck to turn his full attention back to the rudder.
Kiddo managed to make his way all the way up to the top, and was hugging his arms around the swaying, slippery mast to not fall down. Carefully, he turned his head to the beam holding up the sail and searched for the heaving contraption attaching the rope to the sail. It was hard to see with the rain batting down in his eyes, not to mention that his thick bangs had grown heavy with all the water and were almost completely covering his eyes. He spotted the contraption, but hesitated to walk out.
The wind was roaring, the rain poured down in a never ending stream and the thunder seemed to rage on forever. Whatever deity they had pissed off, they sure had pissed him or her off big time! Another wave crashed into the hull off the ship, and the collision made the entire ship jerk suddenly to the side, causing Kiddo to scream in fear and hug the mast tighter. His entire body was shaking from the cold, exhaustion and fear, and he didn't want to do anything else than to just climb back down and hide out in his barrel. But if he did, Tip would surely throw him overboard.
He looked at the contraption at the far end of the beam again, drew a deep breath before carefully crawling out on the beam. As slow as humanly possible, the little cub was dragging himself along the beam, the slightest wave made him grip the beam even harder to not fall down, either into the water or worse: the hard floor. He still wore the lifeline that would stop him from disappearing into the sea, but the question was; if he fell down, would anyone have the time or will to bother to rescue him?
A knot on the rope had been what's blocked the contraption, and after some struggling he managed to clear it up. He tugged the rope as a signal to the others that it was done, and it didn't take long until the men on deck had secured the sail and tied the rope to the mast so they finally could help the others. It felt like forever to the cub until he had made it back to the mast and began to climb down to the safety of the deck. Well, at least it was safer there than on the mast.
But when he was almost there, a lightning bolt hit the mast and the entire ship racked with the power, causing him to lose his grip and fall to the deck. The impact left him knocked out for a couple of seconds, before he slowly fluttered his eyes open. Through the haze and the black spots that danced in front of his eyes, he saw the mast crack by the middle and with an ominous creaking sound, it slowly tipped over and fell towards the deck. Kiddos eyes widened in fear when he saw the mast come heading straight towards him, but his entire body was like frozen; no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't move from the spot!
"KIDDO, WATCH OUT!" Bucks voice made Kiddo jump in surprise, but he didn't get the time to turn his head to search for the snake until a big, sharp-toothed mouth picked him up and carried him off. But they didn't get far until the owner to the mouth came to an abrupt stop and tossed the cub away. Kiddo landed on the water-covered floor and rolled before coming to a stop. His head perked up and a few feet away lay Buck, the top of the mast had fallen on top of him. The snake didn't move.
"B-Buck?" Kiddo whispered hoarsely, his lip was trembling. I-is he...?
"Buck is down!" One of the crew members hollered, he was shortly accompanied by the rest of the crew.
"GET THAT THING OFF HIM AND TAKE HIM DOWNSTAIRS!" Tip shouted and walked over to the cub, who had managed to get up on his knees and now covered underneath the furious glare of the red fox captain. "What. Happened?" He hissed through clenched teeth.
"I-I saw, cap'n! Buck was savin' Kiddo, and...!" Wes had heard the captains question for the cub and answered, but before he could finish the sentence Tip waved him off and narrowed his eyes at the cub.
Kiddo tried to crawl back, but Tip managed to grab the cub by the thick mane again and dragged him off to the stairs. "And STAY down there!" He growled and threw Kiddo away from him.
The cub managed to stagger the first half of the stairs, but then he fell and tumbled the rest of the way down with a yelp. His body felt sore and aching when he got up on his knees, threw a scared glance at the furious fox at the top of the stairs and then scurried off to 'his' storage room. But instead of diving into the barrel, he crawled up against a corner and hugged his knees as he tried to slow his beating heart down. Buck isn't dead! Buck isn't dead! H-he can't be dead! He kept telling himself over and over again as he slowly rocked back and forth. A sob escaped his throat. Buck can't die! Please, Great Mother! Don't take him too!
…
The entire crew had been needed to get the mast off the snake and drag him down, while the ship was being tossed around like a ragdoll on the raging sea. Buck had been seriously injured by the heavy mast, but he was still not quite dead.
Kiddo waited until the crew had to run upstairs again to regain control over the ship, until he slowly made his way to the injured snake. Bucks body was shivering with every pained breath he took, and when he heard someone sneaking up on him, one of his large, dark brown eyes opened and stared at the cub. Kiddo stopped dead in his tracks and felt a heavy lump form in his chest. But to his surprise, Buck didn't seem mad at him. Instead, Buck let out a relieved sigh and closed his eyes.
"Good to see you're okay, little mate..." He said with a hoarse, painful whisper. "That's a relief..."
"B-Buck?" Kiddo said lowly and carefully tiptoed up to the snake. "A-are you alright? You're not gonna die, are you?"
Buck let out a hopeless chuckle. "Ya know I can't understand a word of what you're yapping about, Kiddo, but if ye asking about how I feel then I feel like I just got in a blue with a kangaroo on steroids..." He chuckled again, but this time the chuckle turned into a painful coughing fit. Kiddo felt his heart skip a beat when he saw bloodstains hit the floor. "Make it into a whole band of bodybuilding kangaroos..."
Kiddo was quiet for a few beats. "Buck..." He said after a while and hung his head low. "Y-you saved me..." He felt tears burn behind his eyelid and buried his face in his arm. "You saved me!" He repeated with a sob.
Buck grinned faintly and weakly wrapped his tail around the little shaking cub and brought him closer in a hug. "I'm not sure what ya just said, but if it is what I think it was then; no worries, Kiddo. I told ya I'd take care o'ya!" The cub buried his face into the rugged scales of the snake and threw his arms around him, or at least as far as they could reach. Buck couldn't help but to chuckle once again. "Don't worry, little ankle biter... She'll be 'right, ya see..." If he had the strength to move, he would've coiled his entire body around the little cub, but he could slowly feel all of his energy drain as the pain coursed through his body. Maybe everything wouldn't be alright after all... Suddenly his brows were pushed into a frown as he heard the cub mumble something to himself. The snake tilted his head so he could see the cub with one eye and focused while trying to make out any possible words out of that mumbo-jumbo language.
"Great Mother, I don't know what I've done wrong for you to do these things to me, but please don't let Buck suffer for it! He's a kind man, err snake, and he doesn't deserve to die! Not for saving my life! Great Mother, I'm willing to change, just tell me what it is I need to make up for and I'll do it! I'll do anything! Just..." Kiddo said and slowly lifted his head away from the snakes scales. "Please, don't let Buck die!"
"And what makes you think the Great Mother would be listening to someone like you?" Tip appeared in the doorway, his arms were crossed as he watched the hyena cub and the snake with a scowl on his drenched face.
Kiddo flinched and began to tremble with fear again. "I.. I don't know... I-I was just thinking... I-it never hurts to try, right?"
"The Great Mother doesn't even exist, how have you NOT gotten that into your head by now?"
Kiddo frowned. "S-She DO exist! I... I see Her every day even! She speaks to the Elders! She...!" He was interrupted by a snarl from the captain and immediately shut up. He pressed his ears to his neck and covered among Bucks coils.
"Just get out!" The fox barked at the cub.
Kiddo didn't want to risk anger Tip even further, so despite Bucks "Hey!", he crawled out of Bucks coils and ran as fast as he could on the rocking floor, back to 'his' storage room. Tip watched as the cub ran off and when he turned his head back to Tip, he was met with an angry frown from the snake.
"Ya sure have a hand with kids, don'tcha cap'n?" Buck said dryly and earned a snort in reply from Tip.
"Ya know I don't even like kids, yet you even risk yer life to save one measly cub, who's gonna grow up to be nothin' but a plantation slave anyway..." Tip slowly shook his head. "Why?"
"Because we've taken everything away from the poor little bugger! The least we can do is to try and make his life liveable until..." The snake got interrupted by a violent coughing attack that made his entire body jerk with pain. When the coughing ended, the snake fell to the ground, limp with exhaustion and a thin stream of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth. He panted heavily and grunted in pain every time he moved. "Give it to me straight, cap'n; I'm a goner, aren't I?" He said, his voice was hoarse with pain.
Tip hesitated, before replying with a nod. "Yeah. If we could get ya to a doc right away, maybe you could make it. But this storm ain't showing any signs of calming down..." Buck chuckled dryly and turned his head to the door. "I'm sorry Buck... Wished there were something we could do..."
"She'll be right, cap'n." The snake glanced up at the snake with one of his round, giant, dark eyes. "But I've got one last request however..."
"It's about the kid, isn't it?"
"Yeah, can you promise me one that you won't lock Kiddo up with the others..." Buck paused to wince in pain as he tried to move his head up in a more comfortable position, but had to give up. "And promise me that you'll make sure that he gets to a good home, with good people? That he's not bought by blokes like the Jacksons, the Aventines, the Myrtens or any other bastards like them..." The snakes voice trailed off until it was nothing more than a whisper. He felt too exhausted and weak to even speak, so he closed his eyes and didn't see when Tip nodded.
"It's a promise, old friend..." The fox said lowly in response.
Buck chuckled faintly. "Thanks, mate... You're a real ripper sometimes..." The snake let out another, probably his last, deep sigh. "Well, at least I got to die out at sea for saving someone else..." He said with a faint smile. "Guess the only regrets I got is that I didn't kiss that pretty sheila from Brisbane..."
"Wanna see the kid one last time?" Tip asked and let his arms, that up until now had been folded across his chest, fall to his sides.
"Nah... I don't think he should see me like this now... Poor little bugger, I think he's more scared than what I am..."
"So, should I leave ya alone then?"
"That would be the best..." Buck closed his eyes. To talk loud enough for Tip to hear him was draining his energy faster, but what was the point in delaying the inevitable. "See ya around, mate..."
Tip turned back to the door. "Yeah... See ya around, Buck..." He said while walking out, leaving the dying snake alone in the storage room.
The storm was still raging on outside, rocking the ship back and forth while the sky seemed to unleash all it's anger over the ship and her crew. Kiddo was hiding behind a corner when Tip walked out from the room. The fox hung his head low and seemed sad over something, Kiddo instantly knew it was about Buck.
"Uh... C-captain?" He asked carefully and poked his head out from the corner. Tips head snapped to the side and his angry eyes burned, making Kiddo timidly take a step back. "I-is Buck... gonna be alright?"
"No..." Tip answered without skipping a beat. "He's badly wounded and won't survive for that much longer..." Kiddo felt the tears return and he dug his short claws into the murky wood.
"W-what?"
"He knows his time is up, and he's accepted it. He doesn't wanna be disturbed right now. In fact, you should scurry back and hide" The fox narrowed his eyes at the cub in a spiteful glare before he turned back to the stairs. "I wouldn't show myself to the crew either, if I were you. None of them will take Bucks death that well. Especially not since it was all thanks to you!"
The captains last sentence felt like a punch in the gut to the cub, and he literally could feel himself draw a gasp. Tip returned to the top deck and began ordering the crew around again, while Kiddo stood still on the same spot for several minutes, before he turned back to the storage room he had inhabited since their departure. He walked slowly and in silent, making the short path feel very long.
While on the other side of the door, he found that his barrel had gotten loose and was rolling around as the ship tossed and turned on the wild waves. He managed to stop the barrel and turn it upright before he climbed in and buried his face in one of the blankets. It smelled like tar, seawater and molt, but he didn't care about that now. Tips words echoed in his ears.
"None of them will take Bucks death that well... Especially not since it was all thanks to you!... It's all your fault!" Kiddo heard another familiar voice join Tips, and he felt his throat tighten up once again. "You killed him! It's all your fault! I hate you! I hate you and I'll kill you! You hear me?! I'LL KILL YOU!" He sobbed into the old blanket as his sisters shrill voice joined in on the guilt trip.
He had killed their father, and now he had killed Buck. What ever it was that he had done to anger the Great Mother like this, it must have been bad. She wouldn't even tell him what it was, and since when had she been the one to hold a grudge and punish innocent like this?!
Kiddo sniveled and wiped his eyes with the back of his arm. He just wanted to get back home and feel the soft, leafy ground of the jungles once again. He wanted to meet his sister again and apologize, he wouldn't even care if she killed him afterward, just as long as he didn't die on this boat in the middle of the sea. Like the others...
While the storm raged on, the captain was handing out orders to left and right and the cub was seeking comfort in his loneliness, Buck drew one last, troubled breath. Good luck, Kiddo.. Were his final thoughts as he finally felt his consciousness slip away and get replaced by the never ending darkness. But even though he was at the very brink of death, he still had a smile on his lips. You're a good kid... I've always wished I had an ankle biter of my own... Someone just like you...
Because I thought: "Hey, why not have a tragic death of another beloved character?! Haven't had one of those in a while!"
…
I just won the award for the worst human being in history, haven't I o_o? *Oh, don't mind me, I'm just having the guilt trip of my life*
But don't worry, mates! Look at the bright side: there won't be any more deaths like these from now on :D! At least not for a while...
