A/N: apologies for the late upload... I have trials starting this week and my mind has been preoccupied with english and more english and... well... everything else *sigh* Anyways, enjoy the next chapter, my darling readers
- AshTree13 xoxo
Chapter 9:
Under the cover of nightfall, the Jackdaw trailed the French Templar Julian de Casse who, aboard his large and heavily armed Galleon the El Arca de Maestro, disappeared in the night shortly after pursuit. However, through Edward's expert navigation and Thatch's extensive knowledge of the area, the crew was able to follow the Galleon through the silent sea into the cove of an Island known as the Great Iguana. A plantation, operated by de Case, was the only form of human civilisation operating on the small isle which was surrounded by pristine white beaches, masses of vibrant green jungle and what, from aboard the Jackdaw's deck, appeared to be ruins of a previous settlement, resting on the shores overlooking the iridescent blue sea.
"What now?" I ask Edward over my shoulder who – after a moment of hesitation – joins my lounging form at the starboard side of the ship, leaning his body against the sturdy ledge of his vessel in relaxation, arm pressed against my shoulder. "He may have seen us," I continue, trying to ignore the warmth that tingles up my arm at Edward's subtle but familiar touch, "de Casse, I mean… when we trailed him here."
"Unlikely," came Thatch's rough voice, his dominating figure fiddling with the Jackdaw's helm as he spoke, "his captain would have wanted the Galleon out of the way once we initiated fire on the escort ships… no time to study the vessel attacking their fleet, only time to flee from the wreckage."
"She's got a point though," Edward admits, studying the movement of the current as the waves crash softly against the Iguana's coast, "I – we – know the man and if he saw my ship, then he'll recognise it from his time in Havana… meaning-"
"Meaning he may wonder whose sailing her now," I finish, pushing myself off the railing and turning to face Thatch head on, my brow furrowed in concern as the possibility of capture holds my heart in an iron grip, "we can't risk it… I won't… we won't go back to being prisoners of Torres,"
"Screw 'prisoner'," Edward snarls, spitting over the side, his face coloured with disgust at the mere thought of reimprisonment, "he'll have us hung for being pirates… he has the legal right to do so."
"Legal bullshit," Thatch scoffs, fixing us with a determined, stormy glare, "I don't want to lose that Galleon, and we need it for our success and survival… I know you both agree with me on that front."
"Let's think about it," I half-heartedly concede, fiddling with my leather chain as I do so, the pearl almost as cold as the gentle sea breeze that whispers through the night, "Wait until dawn…"
"Cover of night would be a better option."
"Dawn, Thatch," Edward agrees firmly, placing a hand on my shoulder as he gravitates towards his mentor, a slight frown disfiguring his handsome features, "she knows what she's doing."
"And here I thought you two were having issues," he complains, "yet here you are, Kenway, backing the pretty lass up… fine. Dawn. But no later," Thatch warns, shaking his head in disbelief as he strolls away from the helm to the lower deck, grabbing a bottle of rum as he goes.
"Does everyone know about our 'little' argument?" I ask Edward, frowning slightly with irritation.
Edward looks down at me with smouldering, grey-blue eyes narrowed in thought. "Kidd…" Edward grounds out upon working out who was privy to our earlier discussion. His head whips to the right in order to face the mischievous boy with a threatening glower but Kidd merely returns the Edwards' intimidating demeanour with a cool, coy smile.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replies innocently, folding his arms over his chest, eyes studying Edward and I with an intensity that I couldn't place nor see, only feel from where I stood slightly behind Edward's dominating figure. "But," Kidd continues, the coy smile replaced with an impish grin, "it is rather adorable that you two finish each other's sentences."
"Kidd," I begin to protest.
"Shut up," Edward roars, cutting me off.
"Did I strike a nerve, Kenway?"
"Goddamn it," Edward moans, his body deflating in defeat as he braces his weight against the Upper Decks railing, "I thought you were going to sit this one out?"
"Changed my mind, didn't I?" came Kidd's reply, "glad I did, it's a great show, watching you and Tessa play together."
"P-play?" I splutter, knowing that by now my face resembled the skin of a ripe tomato, "w-w-what? I-I mean… Kidd."
Damn it, what the Hell is wrong with me?!
"Yes, princess?" he flirts, aiming a suggestive wink in my direction.
"Oh for fuck's sake, bugger off James!" Edward growls, pushing past Kidd's lounging, laughing form. "You coming, Tess?" he calls upon realising that I did not follow, his grey-blue eyes studying me with a hint of intrigue and… affection?
God, I hope not.
"Coming," I cry back, a tiny smile curving my lips.
Edward nods in reply and strolls off, yelling out after Thatch who is perched on a crate near the bow of the Jackdaw, surrounding by a couple of crew – including Adéwalé – probably discussing tomorrow, already toasting to their possible success in the day's coming adventure.
"Do they always celebrate so early?" I remark to Kidd, gracefully sitting down on the study wooden steps, my feet dangling slightly above the final step, nudging his side gently with my leather-clad elbow. "Isn't it pointless if you don't have the results to show of your triumph?"
"'Live everyday as if it were you last,'" he quotes, grabbing my hands, stroking my unblemished palm with a calloused thumb of his own. As he does, his dark eyes watch the party with their usual intensity, a wry smile twisting his expression into one of nostalgia.
"A good friend told me that once," he explains at my inquisitive look, "he said that we should always live in the moment, never take for granted the life we were given. To make each day count."
"Your friend sounds wise," I whisper, the familiarity of the words reminding me of a similar conversation Shaun and I had exchanged shortly after Desmond's death.
'He'd want you to make each day count,' Shaun had said, squeezing my hand in a comforting manner. When I did not reply, my adoptive brother had thrown an arm around my shoulders and allowed a consoling squeeze, watching my silent tears trail down my pale cheeks, staining the luminescent, white hospital sheets. 'He'd want you to be happy, to live the life you've been given… to not take it for granted.'
'I can't,' I remember responding, shaking my head even though the action had made the world spin, 'I don't think I have the strength to do that.'
'You and I both know that you do,' Shaun had replied, gripping my chin in his free hand so my face had turned towards his, his thumb stroking the white gauze plastered across my cheeks, 'we both know that Desmond believed that too… he believed in what we were doing and he paid the ultimate price. But, he would not want us to throw away our lives because his life is over. He'd want us to live… to make…
"Each day count," I finish back in the present.
"Tessa?"
"Oh," shaking myself from my past – or should I call it my future? – I squeeze Kidd's hand in a somewhat reassuring manner, desperate to wipe away the concern that colours his handsome, youthful face, "sorry… did you say something?"
"It doesn't matter," Kidd sighs, getting to his feet and brushing imaginary dust particles of his dirty breeches, "You better run along Princes… we have a long day ahead of us and you'd probably like to get some sleep."
"Sleep sounds good," I agree as I take the hand Kidd offers me, pushing back the memories that I have from my mind into the deepest recesses of my thoughts, knowing that if I was to continue moving forward in this time, I must forget – for now – the experiences of my own.
But never him… I will never forget 'him.'
0-0-0-0-0-0
The following day, the sky was a clear blue hindered only by the occasional white cloud passing by on whim, aided by the subtle breeze unfurling across a peaceful sea. The Jackdaw has weighed anchor – a decision has been made.
Now is the time for the mission to be completed.
Every crewman, including Adéwalé, Kidd, Thatch and myself, are gathered on the Jackdaw's lower deck waiting for Edward to emerge from his preparations in the captain's cabin. Being just a little after dawn, I can't contain the yawn that emerges from my closed lips, my right hand rubbing sleep from my eyes as Kidd chuckles on my left, amused by my sluggish behaviour. "I'm still asleep," I complain to him, bumping my shoulder against his forearm in irritation when the soft chuckles increase in volume, drawing more unwanted attention.
"Did Edward keep you up all night?" he teases and I don't miss the dirty connotations the simple inquiry hides.
"We were discussing the plan," I respond with a glare, folding my arms over my chest defensively, "then Edward showed me how to load a pistol..."
"And... that's all you did?" Kidd playfully suggests, wiggling his eyebrows as my face flushes with mortification at what Kidd is hinting at and at the knowing smiles Thatch and Adéwalé briefly exchange.
"Yes!" I cry in distress.
The entire crew bursts into laughter. I want to slap each and everyone of them at that exact moment, but I settle for smacking Kidd - hard! - across the chest, knocking the breath out of him as I do.
"Gentlemen!" Edward calls, appearing from his private quarters armed and ready for action, his stormy gaze traveling over each man gathered on deck with a sort of carefree seriousness. Immediately, to my astonishment, the usually rowdy crew fell silent and to attention, proof of the respect Edward already commanded amongst his men. He strolls past Thatch, Adéwalé, Kidd and myself - sparing me a brief, knowing grin which leaves little doubt within my mind that he was aware the conversation that had occurred prior to his arrival... damn it! - heading towards the railing of the ship, pausing momentarily in his unbreakable stride to relieve on man of his rapier. With the sword clenched securely in his ship, he jumps onto the thick railing and turns to face the rest of the crew to continue with his address and I can see that his face is open, excited, for the events to come.
He appears content. Prepared.
Good, I think, allowing myself a deep sigh of relief.
"As is custom amongst our kind, we do not plunge headlong into folly on the orders of a single madman" - at this, Thatch emits a loud cough, causing Kidd and I to chuckle amongst ourselves and Edward to smile almost apologetically at the older man - "but act according to our own... collective madness!"
The crew laughs at the 'inspirational' words, nodding their heads in agreement with their captain and falling once again silent the moment Edward commands attention once again.
"The object of our attention is a square-rigged Galleon, and we want her for the advantage she'll bring Nassau. So I'll put it to the vote..."
"Do you normally put decisions to a vote?" I ask Kidd at a whisper, knowing that he will have an immediate reply.
He does not disappoint. "Only when the captain feels that the crew may mutiny without the choice," Kidd replies, his breath tickling my ear and the back of my neck as he does so, "normally, a captain will make his own decisions... but a good captain knows to make choices based on the opinions of his crew."
"Oh."
"All those in favour," Edward was saying to the crew, raising his sword in a position similar to that of a salute, the soft breeze ruffling his clothes and his hair as he perches atop the crew - a vantage point I now realise will show each and every crew members expression upon making a decision. "... of storming this cove and taking this ship, stomp and shout 'Aye!'"
Just as predicted, the entire crew does as the captain suggested, a resounding 'Aye' of agreement cried out amongst the gathered crowd.
"Those who oppose..." Edward continues, a smirk upon his lips, "whimper 'nay.'"
Silence.
No one wants to be the coward.
Seeing that the decision has been made, Edward tosses the blade back at the original owner and jumps down from his perch, allowing a satisfied smile as he strolls up towards the others and myself.
Nodding in satisfaction, Thatch claps Edwards' shoulder before strolling away with Kidd at his heels, discussing in a low undertone how the captured Galleon was to be transported to Nassau and it's eventual resting place in or around the bay.
"I'll prepare the crew then?" Adéwalé asks and at Edwards' nod, sets off to do just that.
"Well," I say after a brief pause which is without a doubt extremely awkward, "good luck."
"I don't need luck," Edward scoffs.
"Just take what you get, Kenway."
"Thanks," he replies, capturing a loose strand of my red hair - a new, constantly reoccuring habit of his - as it flutters in the delicate breeze, "you remember what to do?"
"Yes."
"Good... then I'll see you when-"
"I see you," I finish with a smile of which Edward immediately returns.
Tucking my hair behind my ear, fingers gently grazing my cheekbone as he does, Edward steps away from me... and promptly throws himself off the deck of the Jackdaw, into the calm, blue-green sea that anxiously awaits him, plunging forwards towards the pristine beach ready for the next phase.
"Be safe," I murmur to the wind, as his blue-grey and blonde form disappears up the side of the ruins and into the mouth of the unknown jungle of the Great Iguana.