Ch. 14 Explosive Pursuit

"Pedro," Brave shouted, "Take out those marines." The buccaneer swung his axe and cut five marines in half. "Autumn, I need your help." The privateer joined the musketeer. "I can't get a good shot on Hannah. I need you to lure her out." The two ships had gotten engaged in broadside combat. Hannah's crew had gotten the advantage and boarded first.

"I'll try." She charged in with her sword. She destroyed a spark thrower by slashing the barrel off the edge of the gun. She found Hannah and brought her sword down on the witchdoctor's staff. Hannah drew her broadsword and locked it with Autumn's.

"You're all going to die." Autumn pushed herself off of the deranged sister.

"We'll take our chances." The privateer slashed at her legs, but the wounds seemed to heal instantly. Brave took a shot, but Hannah blocked it with her sword. "Pedro, I could use some help." The buccaneer joined her and brought his axe down on Hannah's armored left shoulder. She spun around and slashed at his stomach, making a slight gash. He clutched at the wound, but shook off the pain. Autumn stabbed her sword into Hannah's lower left thigh. As she screamed in pain, Hannah, by sheer luck, stabbed her blade into the very center of Autumn's shield generator, wounding the pirate's abdomen. Autumn clutched at the wound while Pedro teleported Hannah to the other ship and removed the boarding planks. He knelt over the injured privateer.

"Are you okay?" Pedro examined the wound. "Brave, get some bandages. Peyton, get us out of here." The two did what they were asked. Ryan, with his eyes covered with bandages, exited the captain's quarters.

"What's going on?"

"Hannah stabbed Autumn. I'm cleaning the wound." Brave came back with the bandages and a rag. Pedro lifted the bottom half of Autumn's shirt and cleaned away the blood.

"Is she alright?"

"I'm treating the wound as fast as I can." When he lifted the rag, he was horrified. The wound had turned a light green and was spreading. Poison. She had poison on her blade. He looked at Autumn, who had already figured out what was wrong. She nodded no.

Don't tell him. She thought silently. It'll destroy him. He nodded in understanding.

"Never mind," Pedro hurriedly said, "The wound wasn't as bad as I thought. No bandages needed. Just a scratch." Pedro stood up. She doesn't have long. "Peyton, get us to Flotsam, now!"

The ship neared the docks of Flotsam, but didn't get far. After a few hours of flying and assessing the damage, they realized that the ship was far from salvageable. Peyton slammed her fist on the wheel.

"Son of a sky snake!" She left the wheel and joined the others on the main deck of the ship. "So this is it? Hannah's ship catches up with us and we all die?"

"If we could find another ship, we could set a trap. Leave the Bronze Pegasus to explode," Brave stated, "But we're stuck in the middle of the skyway with no ship in sight."

"Hey," Someone shouted. Peyton ran to the port side of the ship and saw Jordan, Sirena, and Morgan waving to them. "Need a lift?" Peyton signaled Pedro over and they set down the boarding planks. Jordan boarded, followed by Mary, to help assess the situation. "Is Bonnie with you?" There was silence as Jordan looked at everyone. "What happened?"

"Hannah ambushed us," Brave stated, "She had a whole crew of clockwork marines and dark pirates. Your sister is as charming as ever." That last comment was directed directly at Mary.

"Whatever she is, she's not my sister anymore. She's become so filled with hate that I don't know what to call her." Mary rubbed her temple. "We have plenty of room on the ship, but we can't let Hannah follow us. Any ideas?"

"Just one, we blow up the ship." Ryan hobbled over to the group following the sounds of their voices. "Seems like the only way to do it." He wanted to look around, but remembered his eyes. "Just wish I could see it one last time." Autumn winced at the words, for their emotional meaning and from the pain she still experienced from the poison.

"Everyone load up on the other ship. Mary, Peyton, Pedro, and I will set this ship to blow." Autumn moved to leave, but Ryan grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey," he said as he held her head in his hands. He struggled, but succeeded in finding her lips with his own. "Be safe." A tear passed down escaping Ryan's notice.

"I will."

The four pirates rushed down to the lower decks and spread the cannon powder and spark powder across the floor.

"Are we going to talk about this now?" Autumn turned around and saw that Pedro had stopped working and was staring at her.

"There's nothing left to talk about."

"If we're talking about you two, it's settled." Peyton had stopped working too. "Unless," she said as she crossed her arms, "There's something else you want to mention."

"What are you talking about?" Mary was confused. Autumn lifted her shirt and showed the poison wound. Mary lowered her head and brushed her left hand through her hair. "She stabbed you with her sword, didn't she?" The privateer nodded in confirmation. "It would take me half an hour to prepare the reversal spell. Just looking at you, I'd say you have about fifteen minutes."

"Wait," Peyton cut off the witchdoctor, "You know about the poison?"

"She started dousing her blades with poison when we joined up with Blaze. I think it was originally meant for Adam. Give him a slow, painful death."

"Well," Autumn chuckled, painfully, "She definitely got slow and painful down." She put down her shirt and continued to spread the powder.

"You can't just brush this off," Pedro yelled. "You're dying!" He put his hands on his head and paced around the lower deck.

"I'm fighting a losing battle!" Autumn snapped. "All I've wanted is to fully mend my relationship with my husband, but I never could because of you. Every time I look at him, I think of the horrible mistake I made." Pedro stepped back. "I betrayed him. I hurt him so bad. No matter how many times he said he forgave me, I've never forgiven myself." Autumn reached for the wound again. "And I'll never forgive myself for all of the things I'll never be able to do for him." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'll never dance with him again. I'll never look into his eyes again. I'll never fight alongside him again. I'll never just lay down with him again. I'll never have children with him, but, most importantly, I'll never get to grow old with him!" Autumn fell to the ground. The other three moved over to her, but she waved them away. "Stay away," she huffed. "I don't even deserve to do any of those things with him. Maybe Hannah stabbing me is just the world's way of cementing that thought in my head." She looked up at Peyton. "I've seen the way you look at him." Peyton's eyes darted away, blushing at the words. "Don't be ashamed. I saw the way he looked at you, too. I haven't seen that look in his eyes in a long time." Autumn looked out the gap of one of the cannon holes; Hannah's ship was getting closer. "You all need to leave." Pedro kneeled next to her.

"No. We're all going to get out of here." Autumn pulled his pistol off of his belt and pointed it at him.

"Hannah will know something is up if there's no one on the ship. Someone needs to stay behind." Autumn leaned against the hull of the ship. "Do you know what I've learned through what life I have lived?" Peyton, Mary, and Pedro looked to each other, confused. "When I was younger I didn't understand it, but now I do know. You don't have any control; you don't control who lives, you don't control who dies, and you don't control who tells your story." She looked down at the pistol. "This is the one death that I can control and I know that all of you will tell my story. Don't take this choice away from me." Pedro slumped down next to her.

"Then I'll be here with you until the end."

"No. I saw a something when Hannah stabbed me. Ryan needs you. He might not realize it, but he needs you now, more than ever." Pedro sat there refusing to get up.

"Pedro," Peyton pleaded, "We have to go." The buccaneer looked at Peyton then back to Autumn.

"When we board them, search every crevice. They'll be hiding somewhere." Hannah readied her staff and released a soft pulse of energy. Good. One of them wasn't smart enough to hide. She signaled for a dark pirate to lower the boarding planks. "Fan out." Hannah set foot on the ship, admiring the blood stains and damaged gears from the previous skirmish. She looked across and saw that the staircase to the lower decks was open. "Too easy." Hannah brought four clockworks with her as she made her way down. She looked at the end of the room and saw Autumn slumped against the wall, barely breathing, her face a pale white. She kneeled in front of her, a wide grin on her face. "How does it feel to know that you're going to die?" Autumn struggled to lift her head. She started to laugh uncontrollably. "What is wrong with you?"

"We're all going to die." Hannah noticed the pistol in the privateer's right hand then looked at the floor, covered in spark powder. Autumn pulled back the hammer. "I'll see you in hell." Autumn pulled the trigger and fell limp. Hannah ran up the steps and shapeshifted into her raven form, flying back to Skull Island. She turned around midflight and saw the two ships go up in flames. The witchdoctor looked up and saw a bright green light shoot into the sky.

"Where is Autumn!?" Ryan wrapped his hands around Pedro's collar.

"She stayed behind." If Ryan's eyes weren't wrapped, his looks would burn through Pedro's skin.

"What?!"

"Don't blame Pedro," Peyton intervened, "Autumn chose to stay. She knew she wasn't going to make it." Ryan let go of Pedro.

"What are you talking about?"

"My sister's sword," Mary explained, "It was dipped in poison. I couldn't remove the poison in time given the situation. Autumn had already come to terms with it."

"We have to go back for her." Brave supported Ryan. "Ryan needs to be able to at least say good bye."

"If we go back now, we'll be caught in the blast." Mary looked up to Morgan, who was sitting at the wheel. "We need to get the El Dorado. Now." He stood up and adjusted course to Aragon skyway.

"No! We have to go back." Ryan stumbled to the starboard side of the ship and was knocked back by a shockwave. Pedro caught him, but was knocked to the ground by the force of the impact. The two pirates lay on the ground, with Pedro being the only one of the two who could see the explosion. Ryan pushed away Pedro's arms. "Let go of me! Autumn!" Pedro didn't let go and Ryan repeatedly hit the buccaneer with Pedro struggling to defend himself.

Even blind he's still a better fighter than me. Pedro fired up his tornado power just enough to get Ryan out of reach. Ryan unleashed his gauntlet blades and viscously slashed at Pedro. The former traitor grabbed his wrists and kept him from attacking.

"If you really loved her, you would have protected her!"

"Enough!" Pedro pushed him off and drew his axe. "Don't act like I didn't love her. I would have died with her, but she said you needed me. I trusted her choice; you should too." As Ryan lunged again, Pedro met the attack with his axe. As the two quarreled, Peyton looked up and saw Autumn's aura floating in the sky.

"What in the Spiral?" She saw the light form a beam and shoot straight for her. The burst of energy scared her as it engulfed her body. Peyton fell to her knees and screamed in agony. "God, this hurts!" Ryan and Pedro were distracted with their fighting, but no one approached her as they knew she had to ride it out.

Peyton opened her eyes and saw that she was surrounded by darkness. She ran in front of her, but didn't feel like she'd moved.

"Where am I?"

"Inside your mind." Peyton turned around, drawing her sword. She stood face to face with Autumn. "Hi."

"What am I doing here?"

"I brought you into your mind for a quick second because there's something I need you to do. This memory that I'm going to give you is meant for Ryan, but I need you to give it to him at the right time."

"I will." Autumn faded into the darkness and Peyton looked around, confused. She saw an image fade in and viewed Autumn sitting slumped against a wall. These are her last words.

"Ryan, it's Autumn. I know this isn't what you wanted." A tear ran down the right side of her face. "I know you wanted to grow old with me, but it's not going to happen." Autumn let a small grin cross her face. "I have a lot of regrets, but my biggest regret," she struggled to find the right words, "Was being unfaithful to you. You forgave me time and time again, but I've never forgiven myself. I didn't deserve your love," Autumn gasped, "But I know there's someone who does. You're going to be mad, and sad, and confused, but don't let that stop you from helping the people you love and who love you right back." The image faded to black and the dream world crumbled around Peyton.

"Peyton," a voice called, "Peyton, wake up!" The privateer opened her eyes and looked into Mary's eyes. "Are you okay?" Ignoring the question, Peyton looked over to where Ryan and Pedro were still fighting. She stood up and a bright green aura surrounded her.

"Enough!" As she threw out her arms towards the two, they were, in turn, knocked down by a blast of gravity. "You're acting like children!" Pedro stood up.

"She gave you her powers." Pedro looked back down at Ryan. He took the assassin's hand and helped him up. "I already told you I'm done fighting against you, but I know that we're going to fight back. I'm going to fight for her. She won't have died in vain." Ryan turned to where he heard Peyton's voice.

"Take me to the lower levels. I want to rest." Peyton took his arm and guided him downstairs. She got him settled into one of the cots that the injured pirates were resting on. The privateer surveyed the room and saw gloom on the faces of the wounded and resting as they looked at the injured famous assassin. "All I wanted was to see her again."

"She loved you, until the end." Ryan laid his head down on the end of the cot. Peyton leaned down to kiss his forehead, but pulled away. "Don't give up." Ryan turned over and Peyton left him below.