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uglypastels · 10 months

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Not Wholly Evil |IX| pirate!Eddie au [NSFW]

a/n we are getting so close to the endddd oh my god i am so excited and sad at the same time because i don't want this story to end as much as some of you, but I also cannot wait to share my next lil projects with you 🥰 thank you for all the support on the last chapter!

this chapter will include explicit scenes. Minors DO NOT Interact. 18+. if you have read the previous chapters but do/should not wish to consume this content, please read:

Chapter 9 (safe for work version)

Series Masterlist

word count: 13k

"semi dark fic" - READ the warnings:. (gun/sword)violence. blood. mention of severe wounds. minor character death. allusions to suicide. kidnapping. imprisonment. alcohol. open and deep sea. near-death experiences in water. men are pigs: mentions of non-con, but it does not actually occur. [in-dream] non-consensual behaviour. malnourishment and weight loss. paranoia. mention of poisoning. abuse. manhandling. lying. small wounds inflicted by fire. blackmail. binds and knifes. SMUT 18+ ONLY, MDNI - p in v sex. oral (f receiving). no condom (this isn't the 18th century. wrap it before you tap it). choking. thigh riding. jealous!eddie.

Chapter 9: Paragon

“Perhaps the wolf wasn't quite so dangerous as he pretended. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out for sure——give him a little rope and see if he hung himself… And pray that he didn't tie her up with it instead.”

― Sabrina Jeffries, Dance of Seduction

He looked like he saw a ghost. And maybe he had. You didn’t feel like yourself, so who was to say if you were still alive? You had comprehended how you carried yourself back to the Hellfire. Standing in his room felt like you were looking down at yourself. Aware of everything around you but understanding none of it.

‘I thought you had left.’ He stepped into the room, leaving the door wide open. As he walked, you noticed he was clearing the way for you, allowing you to leave if you wanted to. His eyes were intently focused on yours and threaded lightly. Like any wrong move would cause you to disappear.

‘I wanted to,’ you admitted. You still wanted to. Your thoughts had screamed through the night for an escape. Yet, something tied you down to this ship and made you return.

‘Then why didn’t you?’ He came closer, and so did you. That string pulled at your ribs again, pulling you two closer. You had tried long enough to fight it to no avail. Whatever you thought you wanted did not compare to your subconscious need to be next to him.

‘I don’t know.’ Deep down, you knew the reason, but the time was not there yet to admit it. In your mind, you still despised everything about him, this ship, the crew, and, therefore, yourself for needing his touch as much as you did at this moment. It was weak to give in to him like you did.

The candle’s light fell upon him at angles that brought something new out in him or maybe revealed what had always been there. The signs of the wear and tear of a life at sea. He wasn’t hiding it any more, letting all that pain be visible, and he looked beautiful. You held back from reaching out and tracing the thin scar against his brow or the flawed line of his nose that must have been broken once. The longer you looked at him, the more you realised that you could look at him in this way forever.

And that scared you.

Munson walked past you to his desk, occupying himself with whatever he could reach. It would have been good for you to have something to focus on instead of him, but you stood in the middle of the room with nothing but him to clutch onto. Neither of you spoke, stuck in an awkward limbo, tiptoeing around one another to see who would be the first to step over that line. The line that had kept you, your heart, safe until now. You could impossibly predict what was to happen if it was crossed.

The ship creaked as the tide softly bounced off it. For the rest, it was uncharacteristically quiet on board.

‘Is the rest coming as well? Will we be departing soon?’ It was ridiculous to change the topic in this manner, but you simply did not know what else to say, and this barrier between you and him was dreadful. You could sense it in the middle, waiting for that catalyst to burst. And you wanted it to. Just how?

‘No, I doubt they realised I’ve gone.’ He finally turned back to face you, leaning against the desk, arms crossed, eyes on the ground. If he could just look at you—would that make things easier or that much harder?

‘Why did you? Leave the tavern, I mean.’ With your heart pounding in your throat, tightening your breath, you stepped toward him.

‘I noticed you were gone. Then I heard you had gone to the harbour with some man and I thought…. I grew worried.’

‘Why?’ You could not imagine him caring for you to go out, away from his crew and his festivities, to look for you.

‘I know what you’re thinking, and at first, yes, I was thinking about the money,’ he admitted, which took you aback. You took a step closer. ‘But then I—when I realised, or thought, that I had actually lost you, I thought about how I would never see you again, and I realised—’ his words faded as you took your final step towards, letting your chest press against his. He finally let his eyes meet yours.

‘Realised what?’ Considering your proximity and seclusion, you hadn’t meant to whisper, but it felt right.

‘That I was scared’ His breath was shaky as his eyes took all of you in. ‘Of loosing you.’

‘I was scared too.’ And maybe that is what kept you from leaving. The idea that if you would go, there was a possibility that you would never see him again, and it was enough to hollow out your entire being with dread. It felt wrong. But that gnawing in your chest stayed there the whole night, even when you had returned to the Hellfire, and it only left once you felt his fingers intertwine with yours. A flutter of a touch at the fingertips.

‘And? Are you still scared?’ He matched your hushed tone with his response. The question was simple on its surface, but only the facade for an obliterating iceberg was the truth.

‘No.’ Standing in front of him, feeling his breath on you, the warmth that radiated off him, his gentle touch on your skin, seeing the smile hiding in his features, you saw nothing to be scared of anymore. There was nothing to fear anymore. The voice in you that had screamed for help all those days was silenced for a final time when you leaned in to kiss him.

His lips were chapped, cheeks rough with scars and the light shadowy scruff of a beard. His touch was featherlight, as if he was scared to pursue it as if you were to break underneath him. It starkly contrasted the force he had pulled you in with hours before. The intensity had been dizzying, and yet this was what genuinely shut your mind down entirely. But you could tell that he was not there yet wholly. Something kept him guarded.

You pulled away, but your lips still shared the same breath. When you opened your eyes, you were met with his and how they were shaking with uncertainty as he took all of you in.

‘Is there something you’re still afraid of?’ you asked.

‘Many things,’ his hand found its place on your waist, ‘but mostly of myself,’ and gently pushed you away. ‘And what I will do to you. I have made so many mistakes, mistakes that hurt you, already in that I will have to live it for my eternity, but I do not know what I will do if I make one again.’

There was silence as you took in his words. You understood them, possibly more than anyone could, for they were yours. As your lips met, you thought if what you were doing would lead to your doom, if it would all end in a disaster, but could something that felt so right be so devastating?

He had let his eyes fall to the ground. You reclaimed the one step he had made you take, closing the gap between you once more and letting your hand guide him to look up at you.

‘Do you think that kiss was a mistake?’ Your heart beat faster than it ever had as you waited for an answer, but his lips remained shut, so you continued. ‘If so, do not play with my heartstrings, but tell me, and I will leave. I will return to my cell, and you can lock me up and never see me again until you bring me back home.’ It would only be a couple of days, and it would hurt to mend this extremely fragile piece of you that you had just opened, but like all wounds do, it would heal eventually.

‘Answer me, captain.’ You kept your voice as steady as possible, regaining the confidence you had built up since you got onto the ship. ‘Was that a mistake?’

‘No.’ And with that one final word, you both leaned in for a kiss. Your hand was still on his cheek, his holding you tightly, but you still felt that urge to pull yourself closer to him. As you felt the press of his chest fully against yours, he actually pulled his lips away from yours. He hesitated but finally spoke against the corner of your mouth. ‘But… call me Eddie. Please.’

You couldn’t help but smile into your next kiss. Just like that, all that weight of the world fell off both your shoulders, down into the depths of the ocean, never to be seen again. You didn’t hold back with this newfound freedom when you pushed him up against the desk. The furniture shuffled with a creak over the floor, and you could hear some things topple over at the impact. Still, neither of you cared, too occupied with one another. He could just about manage to extend his hand and begin to push all the loose items off the desk to make space for himself. The papers flew around you, and all the measurement equipment clattered onto the crowd.

As the kiss intensified, Eddie shrugged and smoothly sat up on the desk, pulling you in with him. As he slowly let himself fall back, you followed, attached by the lips, hands, and hearts, until you practically lay on top, arms keeping you up from falling entirely onto him. Well, one hand, as the other found him and laced your fingers together once more. He had tried to make more space around you, pushing objects aside, when he cursed loudly.

You startled away and saw the clench in his jaw as he took a deep breath. He must have read your panic-stricken face as he showed you his hand. ‘It’s alright,’ his voice was calm, humour peaking through it. ‘I might have just put my hand right into the flame.’ And indeed, the side of his hand was glowing red.

Hearing this did not put your mind at rest as you tried to grab his hand and inspect the damage more deeply, but he pulled it away from you, instead taking your fingers in his and kissing your knuckles.

‘Don’t worry, my darling,’ he smiled while kissing your hand, ‘Can barely feel it.’

He had just made direct contact with fire; you doubted it would be alright, but then again, you had seen all the scars on his body. This would just be another small blister among the list of many. But you blinked the thought away. Tried your best to not think about the pain he had endured. You doubted he wanted you to feel pity for him and what had once happened to him.

The look in his eyes was adamant. He needed you to let it go, so all you could do was sigh.

‘You’ve gone mad.’

Eddie chuckled at your comment as he let his lips travel over your wrist, over the length of your arm. ‘As mad as any other sane man.’ His kisses moved over the material of your shirt. The lack of contact that was so clearly there shot sparks of anticipation through you, but he took his time taking you all in until his lips reached your collar. He had practically strained his neck to reach you from his position. Some of you wanted to back away to see how far he would follow you, but your weaker portion gave into his touch and melted over it.

He had just kissed your neck, sparking a fire through you on the spot, when a noise boomed over the silent ship, bursting you out of the solitary moment of bliss. In an instant, Eddie held you by the hips as he gently pushed you off him and got himself back on the ground. There was an alarm in his features, and so, when he looked at you and told you to “Stay here”, for once, you listened.

He closed the door behind him as he left to see what the noise was, and when minutes later, he had not returned, but there had also not been any more ruckus or signs of danger; you calmed down. Unsure of what to do now, you lay down on the bed. In the past few days, the bed had gotten more comfortable as you got used to it, but it still felt strange. You lay down on your side, facing the wall. The patterns in the wooden planks almost seemed to move in the shadowy light and, unfortunately for you, brought you into a trance of clarity and thoughts.

What were you doing? How could you have let all this happen? Kissing the man that had caused the death of so many people that you had deemed friends. How could you betray their souls by… by falling for him? You had lost control of all your feelings and emotions.

It was a trick of the sea. You had simply been captured on this ship for so long that you did not know what was wrong or right. How else could you explain the yearning feeling that still circulated through you? Why else did you wish he was still here with you, touching you?

With all these thoughts occupying your mind, you must have missed Eddie walking back into the room, mumbling something about how it had been a few of his crew that stumbled back up to the ship. Too busy with your own mind, you did not hear him calling your name softly, assuming you had fallen asleep and telling you good night. You did not hear how deflated the last words came from his mouth. You only caught the sound of the door closing behind him.

And soon you managed to turn all these thoughts off and fall asleep. Except then, they came back even stronger and in the form of dreams. You found yourself back on the Red Tail. The hawk flapped its wings on the flag in the wind and every man’s uniform. The sun shone brightly in its last few minutes before hiding behind the horizon. It was a strange illusion as you stared down at the ship and the two figures that stood out looking at the sparkling sea. You watched yourself talking to Admiral Carver.

‘I would have imagined you to have grown tired of the water by now,’ he laughed.

‘I won’t say I will be happy to return home, but I can’t ever see myself becoming tired of this view. It is beautiful.’ You leaned forward onto the balustrade and breathed in the salty air. ‘Besides, you have done this for much longer than I have, and you’re here too, so it can’t be that bad.’ It seemed it was only your first expedition while he had crossed the world several times. If anyone was to grow tired of it, you thought it would be him.

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ he had his arms behind his back, ‘but everything is more bearable when there is something back home to look forward to.’

‘I suppose so.’ You would not exactly know what he meant. Of course, you could not wait to see your father again, and your friends, but nothing at home gave you the sense that it genuinely anchored you there or drew your heart in for your return. ‘I am sure you miss your family very much.’

‘Yes, of course,’ He took a step closer to you, ‘but I will miss these moments.’

‘Oh,’ you were startled by his proximity, unsure how to respond. Politely, you smiled and tried to keep the conversation going, ‘I’ve enjoyed them too, uhmm-’, but you were suddenly thrown off-guard when you felt his hands on you. Before he had the chance to do anything, you were quick to push him off. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Taking our last chance before it’s too late.’ He leaned in again, and you stepped back.

‘What about your–’

‘She does not need to know.’ The sea was a free playing field for most men, so what happened out there was not up to the women at home to know. You had seen adultery but never thought the admiral would participate in such activities. He had been drinking; maybe he wasn’t thinking straight. Before he would make any more mistakes, you attempted to walk away, but he caught you by the arm, putting all his strength into the hold.

‘Admiral, you’re hurting me.’ You tried to pull your arm back, and this is where things began to change. Where the dream made itself apparent. Carver’s handsome features turned into vicious angles as he spoke.

‘So you’ll kiss Munson, but not me?’

‘What- what are you–’ you tried to get away, but it was as if he grew in size. And there were flashes. These flashes of light. Like lightning, there was no thunder, rain, or light. It blinded you, and you tried to regain your sight by blinking, but each time you did so, he seemed to change right in front of you.

There was him like you knew him, but the next second he turned into this nightmarish version of himself, but there were moments when he wasn’t himself at all. You’d blink, and suddenly you saw Captain Munson. Still in that uniform, however, you would try to make sense of it all. Still, before you could, he would disappear again, and you would be looking into Carver’s blank eyes, and you’d see the blood dripping from his mouth as he spat out his words.

‘Don’t trust him.’

‘What?’ You had tears in your eyes, and your wrist burned from his touch. There was another flash of light. Eddie stood before you again, just as you knew him.

‘Do not trust him.’

Don’t trust who? Who were you meant to trust, then? The questions rang through you as you woke up, head throbbing with pain, limbs sore and dehydrated. If you did not know any better, you would have blamed the rum you consumed the night before on everything, making you imagine all that had happened. Still, the sensation that Eddie had left on your whole body felt too real to be just a drunken dream or nightmare.

He was not in the cabin when you awoke, but you could hear him outside, yelling commands out. When you looked outside the window, you could tell by how the waves moved that you had departed the Saint Claire harbour and were on your way again.

You sat up in bed but remained still afterwards, uncertain what to do next. Some part of you wanted to go outside and see Eddie, talk to him about whatever it was that had happened that night. Still, a bigger side of you doubted you could ever look him in the eye again. Seeing your reflection from the glass doors of a cabinet in the room, of yourself in his bed, made you feel bad enough. So, staying in the room for the rest of the day was not an option either. You were already at the door, hand on the handle, when it opened, nearly crashing into you.

‘Sorry,’ his apology was muffled.

‘I was just on my way out,’ you muttered in the same awkward tone and walked past him.

‘Wait,’ Eddie reached for you, and the memory of your dream of Carver made you retract away from him, regretting it as soon as you did. Eddie wasn’t him, but you treated him the same because of something your exhausted mind had decided to conjure up. Eddie kept his distance. ‘Can we talk?’

‘Later,’ you pleaded. This was not the right time. You could tell that it would not end well if you stayed there.

But when would it be right? When would the stars align correctly for you to speak? It certainly wasn’t the next two days, as you kept walking in circles around eachother. You avoided him like the plague, and it was unlikely that he had not noticed yet.

You kept yourself occupied with anyone else but him, really. Talking to Robin, Steve, and anyone else who seemed to require company as much as you. Almost as much, at least. It shocked you as well as them how smoothly the conversations went. While only a little was exchanged, neither side being too keen on sharing too much of their past, somehow, you still managed to fill hours with polite pleasantries. Some even showed you how to work around the ship, probably more than happy to give you some of their workload now. You didn’t mind. It was alright if it stopped you from overthinking everything that had happened in the past weeks. But it was still hard to do when you felt Eddie’s eyes on you. He’d watch you work the sails or anything else from afar, but when you’d try and catch him, he’d be suddenly occupied with something and walk away.

The biggest surprise, however, came one evening when everyone had gathered for their final meal of the day. You had gotten your portion and were ready to return to the cabin when Robin pointed to the seat between her and Steve. You wanted to politely decline, feeling like you did not strictly belong in this dynamic—the crew’s meals felt more sacred, a moment for them to spend together, but they all saw your argument coming and shut it down.

‘Never thought I’d say this,’ Wheeler, one of the lankier crewmates, said at some point, ‘but I might actually miss you.’ There was a cloud of agreeable laughter to which you belonged. It was funny, but what scared you was that you would miss them too when that eventual day of your return home would come.

And it was coming.

Something about the air around you began to feel more familiar each day. And when you talked to Robin, you could sense that she knew how much time there was left. But each time you asked, she avoided answering straightforwardly.

‘Not sure. But you know how seatravels are, you can never be sure… I mean, we should have been there days ago and yet,’ she laughed nervously, tying knots in a piece of old rope that someone had cut off once.

‘I suppose you’re right.’ You had your own piece of rope and were toying with the frayed ends, pulling them apart mindlessly. You could hear Eddie talking to someone somewhere around, and you did your best not to look up. It had been days, but your tension still felt raw and strange. You wanted to simultaneously run into his arms and run away from him as far as possible, and you could not figure out which urge was the right one to follow.

‘It probably won’t take much longer, don’t worry.’ Robin said, her shoulder slumping as she untied another knot to remake it.

‘I’m not worried,’ you admitted.

‘No, and you don’t need to be,’ Robin panicked, not wanting to give you the wrong impression of what she had intended to say, ‘but I’m sure you’ll be glad to be home.’ To this, you had no response because, very much like in your last days on your old ship, you had been eagerly awaiting your return home but did not feel like you were actually happy to go back. On top of that, you actually had the sense that you would miss this crew. By leaving, you would be leaving something behind, and you had never felt that before.

But it still did not feel right. Like a kink in your neck that you were trying to stretch out until it disappeared.

‘Can I ask you something?’ you said cautiously.

Robin glanced up from her rope. ‘You always scare me when you say that.’

‘I hadn’t noticed I did it often.’

‘You’re quite inquisitive. It’s commendable, but dangerous.’

‘Should I be scared?’ You blinked.

‘Not here, but in other parts of the world they’re not too keen on it, so just beware.’ She had tied a knot she couldn’t loosen anymore. ‘But what was your question?’

You took a deep breath. ‘Why did you target the Red Tail? And I know it was targeted, since the captain was aware what ship you were attacking.’ There was that other puzzle piece that was missing in your brain. How would he know if you were supposed to be on that ship or not?

Robin froze and dropped her rope. You watched it fall to the ground and her reaching to pick it up clumsily. Once she did, she fumbled around even more with it. ‘I’m probably not the best person to ask this; I joined the crew late, I don’t know everything that’s going on around—’ she was getting distracted, losing the point of your question, or so you thought, ‘I had only heard things, but you have to know that people around here, we trust each other and that trust is earned. We might cheat once in a while in a game of cards or dice, but some things you just can’t lie about.

‘So, I didn’t need much convincing from the captain when he said that those— that those were bad men.’

‘He told you that my crew were bad men?’

‘They needed to be punished.’ Robin shrugged, but not in the way that made you think she thought indifferent. More so that, there was nothing she could do about it. It was a brief apology to you, not for what they had done, but as if she was sorry for being the bearer of the news.

‘Punished for what?’ you asked, but Robin shook her head. Right, she wouldn’t be able to know, and you didn’t blame her. Was there anyone around willing to share more of the specifics of this situation? You felt like you had the right to explain what had brought you to their ship, but it would go past some lines of comfort for the men. Could you dare ask Eddie?

But to ignore him for days just to come up with these questions could not be appreciated; then again, he owed you at least this after being the sole reason for your presence on this ship in the first place. He had caused all this mess. He could at least help you clean it up.

You finished your conversation with Robin slowly, without any urgency to actually put it to an end. It must have been confusing to Robin, who saw how you tried to tie your sentences up to walk away, just to disentangle them just as she had been doing with her rope and keep pulling it back. Ultimately, she stopped it all and excused herself from the argument she needed back on her lookout post. She walked away, giving you this look that made it clear to you that she knew what you were planning to do and how apprehensive you were to do it. And whatever for? You had fought, punched, slapped and kissed Eddie in the past days without hesitation; why could you not just talk to him now?

Because that would actually mean something to you. It would unblur all the lines that connected you into a clear pattern, and you would have to live with those results, and you just were not ready for that yet.

You took deep breaths as you walked up to the captain’s quarters. The door creaked as it slid open but was met with a resistant force as you collided with Eddie. He grunted lightly at the impact, and you began to apologise.

‘Sorry,’ you mumbled, not expecting him to be so close suddenly. You had hoped to catch him at his desk, where the furniture could keep some kind of barrier between you. Still, now he stood mere inches away, towering over you and the heat of his body radiating onto yours.

‘I was just on my way out.’ He scratched his beard casually, but his eyes said enough about how similarly he felt about your sudden appearance.

‘I hoped we could talk,’ you blurted out, and Eddie blinked.

‘Talk? Now?’ To this, you only nodded shyly. It had been too long. You had made him wait for days, which was simply too long. Why would he want to listen to what you had to say now? Eddie was ready to brush past you, but you were quicker, catching his arm and pulling eachother closer until your lips met in a chaste kiss. The suddenness stunned him, but for a blink of an eye before his muscles melted into position around you. It only confirmed your worst thoughts, how perfectly the two of you fit together, how your bodies simply locked into place with one another. The heat that grew between you could not only be felt by you. It was too strong for that. As much as you did not want to admit it, there was something there that you did not want to lose.

‘I’m sorry, ‘you said breathlessly, ‘for everything I’ve done in the past few days.’

‘You have done nothing to apologise for.’ He sighed.

‘Exactly,’ you jumped back at how loud you sounded. Still, his pull on your waist kept you close, ‘I have done nothing, while I should have stayed here with you, and we should have talked of, of whatever it is that stands between us, but—but I was scared. I thought I hadn’t been, but I was, and that, in turn, scared me even more, so I thought I needed time to think—’

‘And did you?’ He looked down at you inquisitively like he was observing a strange, yet highly fascinating, phenomenon in front of him. Something that he should not be enjoying as much as he was. The unwanted smirk appeared on his lips no matter how hard he tried to hide it. It made you aware of just how much you had tried to say in what short of an amount of time.

‘Yes,’ you said with a slow breath to help you calm down. At this, Eddie simply reacted with a gesture telling you to go on, to tell him what kind of discovery you had made. Would it be anything that could help your conundrum? Clear things up in your heads and maybe even hearts? You could not be sure, but it was a start if you just let those parts of you speak freely.

You took one more deep breath. ‘That night you asked me if I was scared, and I said “no”, but…’ you pushed past the shake of your voice. ‘But I realise now that that wasn’t the truth.’ As you announced this, the hand on your waist tightened its grip before leaving your body entirely. The immediate lack of contact made you regret your choice of words. Maybe you should have prepared what to say, but letting it come out unrehearsed and unplanned felt like the right thing to do. It would not cut out any of the emotions you felt. What you wanted him to know that you thought, so you stammered out your following words.

‘There is so much that I am scared of. It scares me how and how much I have changed in the past few days, and I am scared that I do not mind it. It scares me how much I enjoy being here and how much I want to be… with you.’ Your last words faded as you had not expected to hear yourself say them out loud. Eddie, who you had watched as he walked around the room in slow paces as he listened, must not have expected them, too, for he stopped to stare at you, dumbfounded.

‘Why?’ was the only thing he said in response.

‘Because…’ you let out an exasperated sigh, walking up to him. You had somehow managed to find yourselves at his throne, ‘because this is not who I am supposed to be. I shouldn’t be. You are you; I am me, and nothing here is right.’ Yet the puzzle had never fit tighter together than it did now. But at the same time… ‘As much as I want to spend my days with you, I cannot stop thinking about all the chaos you have caused in my life. Whether on purpose or not…There is blood on your hands, Eddie.’ there were tears in your eyes. Eddie looked down at his hands as if you had meant it literally. They were pale and had a shake to them, but he quickly put them down to his sides.

‘And yet you’re still here.’ He said it with a distance, more to himself than anyone else, narrating the events as if putting it all into words could make it make more sense somehow, and maybe to him, it did. However, you were still utterly clueless and running in the dark.

‘I am.’ You nodded your head lightly. ‘And I wish I could explain why. To you and to myself, but I simply do not know.’

‘Let me pose you these two questions then,’ he spoke sternly, and you got the unexpected feeling that this would be a test you had to ace. ‘Are you still scared of me? Do you regret anything that happened between us?

‘Answer yes to either of my questions,’ he held two fingers up, ‘and I will make all of this very easy for you and disappear. You will never have to see me again but be honest.’ Looking into his eyes the way you were, it was difficult to lie, or it would have been if you had any intention of doing so. The word came easier to you than anything else had in your life, but you still needed to know some things before sealing your fate.

‘Before I answer, I need to know your business with the admiral.’

Eddie scoffed, looking out the window, ‘I could not care less about the admiral.’ Something in him tensed up despite his attempt to make his reply come out casually. Everything besides his eyes, which flickered with so many emotions simultaneously, you could not distinguish between them soon enough.

‘But the attack on my ship was deliberate, was it not?’ You did not need this to become another one of your rows and spoke as carefully as you could manage. If one of you began to raise your voice or fill your words with anger, it would take over the other, exploding fatally in the middle, and that is not what you wanted.

‘What do you remember from that day?’ He looked at you, head cocked to the side as he studied your face. He saw you blink slowly, trying to understand what he was implying.

‘I remember everything.’ How could you not? It was one of the most terrifying days of your life. ‘I remember being on the deck and seeing your dark sails and how I hid under that desk as the canons went off–’

‘Whose canons?’ He stared at you blankly, and you mirrored him perfectly.

‘What?’

‘What canons did you hear go off? Who shot first?’ He did not say anything else, just stood still as you tried to reply with confidence that you lost as soon as you gave your answer some thought.

Everything had happened so quickly, and it was so loud. All you had tried was to block it out. But you heard the bangs. They came from all sides, but the first one... the first one was the closest.

Eddie must have seen the recognition on your face. ‘I know that those people were your friends. And I am sorry that that is how things-’

‘But you said I was not meant to be on board. You knew what ship it was.’ You cut him off at the memory. ‘You would have attacked either way, wouldn’t you?’

‘It is not that simple.’ He shook his head.

‘Isn’t it?’

‘No, and I wish I could explain, but I fear that whatever I tell you will only make you see the worst in me and them.’

‘You could at least try.’ You reached for his hand, and a bit of you leapt in relief when you saw he did not pull away. ‘I want to understand, Eddie. You do not know how horrible it is to live in this realm of uncertainty and oblivion.’

‘Would you rather live with the horrors of the truth?’ He asked genuinely, with the pain that exactly this truth had caused him in his eyes.

‘Is that not a choice I deserve to make by myself?’ You once again found yourself up against him. Funny how it always came back to this and how you would not have wanted it any other way.

‘You’ve said it yourself; I’ve hurt you enough times. I can not risk doing it again. I will not let myself do that.’ He brushed a strand of hair from your face, brushing his fingers over your cheek. ‘Now, will you please answer my questions?’

‘No,’ and with that, you answered both. Whatever tugged at you from the inside to feel such anxiety had nothing to do with Eddie.

On the contrary, you felt a sense of calm whenever you saw him. And you had wanted, really wanted, to regret those kisses, but you still dreamt of them at night, and it was all with a magical wonder that you wished to experience once more. Despite everything in your life that had led to this that would have told you to turn around and run away, you stayed firmly in your place in front of him with no intention of ever running away again.

Eddie leaned in, and you anticipated a kiss that never came as he spoke against the corner of your mouth, sending shivers down your spine. ‘I need you to say it, darling.’

‘I’m not scared of you, Eddie.’ The tremble in your voice had nothing to do with fear but all with the way he held you. His hand had moved down your cheek onto your neck, fingers wrapped around your throat, thumb caressing your jaw. His eyes pierced through you. ‘And I do not regret anything.’

You knew Eddie had seen all the far corners of the world. You must have come across the grandest of riches. Yet standing in front of him, you could not help but think how seeing Captain Eddie Munson beam his most genuine smile was the rarest and most beautiful treasure of them all. It was infectious; you could not help but smile at it.

He let himself come close again, but just as your lips were about to touch, he spoke instead. Right against you, the hot air of his breath pricked at your skin with his light laugh. ‘Before all of this, had you ever imagined yourself here with me?’

As much as you had wished it was not true, ‘I did, actually.’ Your mind flashed to your dreams, the ones you had once thought were conjured up to plague you, but now you realised it was just your heart screaming out your deepest desires.

Like a reward, Eddie kissed your cheek for your reply. ‘Really? The princess had thought of me, a filthy pirate?’

‘I’m not a princess.’ You rolled your eyes playfully.

‘Out of all the things to dispute, you argue my words of affection?’ He chuckled, and you could feel the vibrations deep within his chest.

‘There was nothing else to correct.’ You wanted to laugh but instead froze at the sensation of Eddie lightly putting pressure on your throat as he was still kissing pieces of your face. Just like that, everything in the past minutes disappeared from your mind. When he pulled away, you saw the mischievous glint in his eyes that once used to bring out fear of the worst in you.

‘Glad to know you haven’t changed too much, darling.’ With his hand around you, he gave you little choice but to look up at him. There was a moment in which both of you took everything of the other in. You tried to soak in all his features from this small distance, for some reason feeling the need to remember them all. Meanwhile, he read your face for any signs of reluctance, which he found none of. ‘You enjoyed that, didn’t you, princess?’

A question which brought a lot of enjoyment out of him.

Still taken aback by his actions, you stood there with your lips slightly parted, bewildered, so all you did was nod. And again, your response was rewarded with another kiss, finally letting you meet his lips while tightening his hold on you. The weak sound that came out of your mouth at the feeling was an instinct. You had never heard yourself make such a sound, and he must have known it somehow as his grin grew wider against you.

The kiss grew in strength by the fleeting second as you both lost control over your bodies, just letting them speak for themselves. It was messy and heated. The pent-up tension that had been sitting between you was finally finding its release. Eddie’s hands roamed over your body, almost in a hunger-like manner, devouring you with his touch alone. Maybe this hunger felt too real when Eddie’s teeth grazed over your neck, sending an unknown spark through your body at the sensation.

You held onto him tightly, one hand on his shoulder as the other rooted itself in his dark locks—which made you soon realise that the tiniest of motions of you caused a reaction in him as well, in the form of a low hiss as you pulled the hairs on the back of his neck. It had been an accident, as you tried to keep yourself up when the pleasure he brought you made you feel light as a feather.

Eddie hummed at your response as his hands continued their wandering path across your body. The pressure of his palms, combined with the slow and tantalising pace at which he moved, drove you to press your body eagerly against him, which, in turn, only spurred him on to continue down this track of your curves. His movements got rougher as he kept going.

With your urge to keep your bodies close, you quickly caught on Eddie walking backwards. You followed him mindlessly until he found his throne seat and pulled you along with him, right on top of his lap. At this proximity, you could feel all of him underneath you.

‘Tell me,’ he kissed you briefly between words, ‘have you ever been with a man before?’

‘Yes,’ you dared to reply with the truth. Anywhere else, it would have been considered a great shame, a sin of the highest degree, but with Eddie, somehow, you felt like he had wanted that to be your answer. You tried to focus on his face, that smile he shot up at you and the short answer you gave him, instead of how his hands roamed over your thighs. Even with the fabric of your trousers in between, his effect on you was immense. He must have felt how you tensed up when he reached your core.

‘Did anyone ever touch you like this?’

‘Uhm, no, not in this way.’ You struggled with the words as he let his fingers press over your most sensitive parts, everywhere all at once. You could barely keep track of it. Another moan escaped you as his hand moved over your breast. Even with the fabric keeping your modesty intact, he had still found a way for his fingers to move smoothly across your nipples. The feeling lulled you into comfort, brewing the heat inside your chest. And so, you gasped as, with one aggressive pull, Eddie ripped the material of your shirt in two, revealing you to him entirely. Your eyes were wide in shock as his darkened with want.

‘Not scared of me yet, are you, princess?’ His hand was on your ribs, waiting for permission to touch your bare skin.

‘No,’ your voice sounded like a hushed, airy whisper. Eddie smiled but still hesitated with his subsequent actions. As the shirt sleeve fell off your shoulder, he kissed you again. Except this time, his lips met your breast. The arch in your back, the tug of your hips towards him, was an almost mechanised reaction to it. And with it came the friction of his thigh against you.

‘Eddie.’ His name sounded shaky coming from you as you could barely inhale a steady breath, too occupied with him.

‘That’s right, princess.’ He groaned as his lips remained on your skin, kissing the valley of your chest. With each kiss, your want for him grew, but your movements over his thigh barely covered the needed friction. You dug your nails into his shoulders, making him groan out in pained pleasure. He cursed before taking you by the hips. ‘Stand up.’

You did as he asked, something that did not go unnoticed by either of you. Eddie chuckled as he looked up at you, chin on your stomach, lips nearly pressing against it, so close you could feel the vibrations of his voice.

‘So you can be good for me.’

A snide remark was already forming on the tip of your tongue, but Eddie was quicker. Smoothly, he pulled down your trousers and let them pool at your ankles. You stood in front of him in only your torn-up shirt. His large eyes were on you up until the moment his face made contact with your core, and at that moment, everything went black. You could just about make out that you held him close to you, pulling at his hair; as for the rest, the world was turning upside down and around at a speed that made everything seem like a sea full of stars. Your moans filled the room as his tongue licked through your slit.

You assumed that with how he held you with one hand, his fingers would leave marks for days, but the other was much lower. You could hear the sound of a belt unbuckling. He was clearly struggling to work around his clothes with only one hand, especially with most of him already preoccupied with you and your pleasure. Never before had you seen such kind of ferocity in a man. Not when he pulled himself closer to you and practically fell to his knees from the throne. You surely would have fallen back if it had not been for him and the desk that hit your legs and now acted as an extra grip. It was especially needed when Eddie pulled your leg over his shoulder, gaining even more access to you.

The desk kept sliding back with the force at which he held you in your place, grazing the floor, but it was all blocked out by your moans. They were filled with curses and the repetition of his name as your vision blurred with ecstasy and your body tightened with need. There was no possible way that the rest could not hear you through the thin walls of the cabin, but you could not care less about them. At this moment, they simply did not exist.

‘You taste absolutely divine.’ Eddie spoke while kissing your inner thigh, making your legs even weaker. You noticed his lips glistening, never looking more kissable than ever before.

He had run your mind through a mill; words were hard to come by. All you could muster out was a weak hum as you let your hand brush through his hair. At that, he nuzzled himself between your legs again, this time much gentler, and took his time kissing every inch of skin he had access to, giving you the time to catch your breath while still keeping you on that high edge.

‘I—I never…’ you still struggled to form a sentence.

‘Hmm,’ he kissed your stomach, ‘I know.’ And he slowly rose to his feet, catching your face in one more passionate kiss. You had gotten so used to how he tasted—rum, tobacco, sea air— that your flavour threw you off for a moment, but soon enough, you were sinking into him just as before. And again, you could hear the struggling twinkle of a locked belt buckle.

‘Would you be a doll,’ he said with his amusement running down your cheek, ‘and help a poor man out.’

You reached for his trousers, undoing the belt and unbuttoning them so they could drop down his thighs. You had felt it before, how aroused he had grown, but seeing it made you take a step back.

‘Nothing to be afraid of, darling.’ He grinned, placing a hand on your cheek. The other made itself comfortable between your legs, toying with your wetness.

‘I know.’ You looked into his eyes. The warmth of them had burned up into a dark and hungry desire. Putting a light pressure onto his shoulders, you pushed him back down into the chair. Eddie practically bounced in the seat, taking you all in as much as you took the moment to look at him. Your flicker of confidence in the moment when you thought you knew what you were doing fizzled, but he must have read that off of you, as the next second he was the one pulling you down.

‘Was this how you expected it to be,’ he murmured against your ear, ‘when you thought about us.’

‘No,’ you admitted. It was nothing like you had imagined. All your dreams had been of what you had thought he was; careless, dangerous, feeding off your fear. There had been none of this passion that you felt now. None of the heat, the tenderness or the feeling.

‘Anything you’d still like to change,’ he kissed the soft spot of skin behind your ear that made you shiver.

‘No,’ you gasped. You could feel him against you, just waiting for the moment to enter you. The two of you were dancing around it, letting other make that next move, the plunge off the cliff, with no return. You shuffled over his thighs. One more kiss would seal the final deal when you moved your hips up and he adjusted himself infront of you.

The moan you let out at the feeling of him inside you, of him stretching your walls and filling you whole, was impossible to miss. Ships from miles away could probably tell what was going on, but again, they were not a part of your universe in this moment. Just you. You concentrated at the pace he was making you keep up with. The roll of your hips against the grind of his. Each thrust went deeper and harder making Eddie more aggressive in the most blissful of ways. There was nothing else to think about, because why would you when this felt so good? Reality went lost on you, until you felt his fingers dig into your side, a pain rushing through you.

Both of you froze.

‘What’s wrong?’ Eddie immediately looked to where he had held you, pulling the remaining pieces of your shirt up to reveal the scar. The rough skin was a stark contrast to the rest of you. He met your eyes again. ‘Does it still hurt?’

‘It’s just sensitive.’ You wanted to push his hand away, cover the mark up again so neither of you had to be reminded of it. It had been a stupid mistake, that much you knew, and it was not as if you could change the past, so why let it pester you? But Eddie was not the kind to give up easily. He pushed the shirt material back up, keeping your hand away from him, to inspect the damage he had caused.

‘I’ve done a lot in my life that I will forever regret,’ he kissed your shoulder as his thumb traced over the scarred line, ‘but this will probably haunt me the longest.’ His words and touch, combined with how you sat in his lap, still full of him, got you lost for words. Because, of course, you had hoped that this was his sentiment, you understood and appreciated his words, but what else was there to say? The only thing you could think of replying, which felt silly to do seeing your current position, was ask for some clarification.

‘What happened? I would have thought you had more control over your sword than that.’ You aired the conversation with a bit of laughter, but it only spurred him on to thrust deeper into you.

‘I had thought so too,’ he kept moving his hips forcefully, ‘I had hoped so,’ he kissed you sloppily, ‘but I lost it all when I saw you with him.’

‘Who?’ you asked. Maybe under different circumstances, you could have thought more clearly to realise what he was speaking of, but that did not seem possible.

‘Harrington,’ the name came out of him with a bitter taste. Apparently, the feelings from that day had not disappeared as far as he had thought, but now he could let these frustrations out in a less hazardous manner. It still took a toll on you, but there was no pain to speak of. Just pure pleasure.

Still, the mention of the crew member had surprised you. ‘Why– why would you—’

‘The way he held you, smiled at you, don’t you think I had wanted to do that? From the moment I saw you—but all I did was drive you away. It was just another reminder of my failure and before I knew it I—’ he stopped himself, still unable to properly speak of what happened. You kissed the bridge of his nose.

‘For what it’s worth,’ you tugged at the words to come out cohesively, ‘I never thought of him as—’

‘It does not even matter what you think of him,’ he laughed, more so at himself, ‘You could fall for and by happy with any man on this earth and I could make my peace with it. I just don’t want to be the reason for your suffering.’

‘I think—’ a moan burst through your thought with another deep thrust, ‘I think you have managed to pay back any of your wrongdoings.’

‘Oh, darling, I haven’t even started to repay my debts.’ And so, Eddie kissed your neck, over and over, and with those kisses moved down to your brest. Your head rolled back with a soft whine at the attention he gave you, if not with his mouth, than the hand that kneaded your flesh and played with your nipples.

As he kept going, and as your hips met his and the pleasure burst through you, you could feel everything coming to a close. The tightness in your body swelled while your control over it strayed. There was no possible way you could hold on for much longer and from the looks of it, Eddie had no plans on making you wait. He bucked his hips into you harder and harder, almost impossibly for you to keep it all in. You could explode with this pleasure and that is exactly what he wanted.

‘Mmm c’mon, princess. Feel so good around me,’ he hummed, ‘could anyone make you feel this good?’

‘Just you,’ you moaned out, holding tightly on to him as you felt the tension build up in you.

‘That’s right,’ he had a smug smile across his face that you wished you could wipe off, and you would if you did not need him to keep doing whatever it was he did. Were his fingers back between your legs? Rubbing tight circles, sparking up your sensitivity. ‘Just me.’

‘Just you, Eddie,’ his named squeaked out from between your teeth when he reached the deepest part of you.

‘I’ll never get enough of you saying my name.’

‘Eddie,’ you repeated it in in a haze with his final thrusts that finally brought you over the edge. Stars fell over you in pleasure as Eddie slowed down his movements, letting you come down from the high. He held you tightly in his arms as you let your head fall on his shoulder until you fell into a comfortable silence. There was only the rush of the waves and your tired breaths that filled your ears.

Once your heart settled back to a steady pace, you knew it wasn’t safe. As good as this moment felt, it wouldn’t last. Whatever this was, there was no possibility in which it would outlive this voyage. Then, once it was over, it would hurt. That much you knew. Possibly more than anything had hurt before, and you would just have to be on the lookout for that end until then to let yourself become at peace with it. There wasn’t another choice, as this idea always stayed with you in the back of your head from that moment on. When you fell asleep in Eddie’s arms that night, you thought how many more days you got to wake to in such bliss as you did the next morning.

You could not tell if Eddie had these troubles, you could not tell, for he went through his following days much like before. The only difference was that his free minutes were now occupied with you.

It had not been your intention to make it so obvious to the crew, but there was also so little you could hide from them. Nothing could escape the dozens of interested eyes, so why hide your affection towards their captain? He certainly was not making any attempts. Any chance he got, he found himself at your side, holding you, kissing you, then behind closed doors, do all the other unspeakable things to you that made the others turn green of envy.

Your mornings and afternoons were much the same as they had been before the night of the storm and the Hellfire’s arrival at Saint Claire, as you still spent it in each other's company. The difference was now that instead of being separated by the large oak desk, Eddie would often pull you into his lap to sit in the throne, if not making himself comfortable with you on the bed. The nights began with kisses and limbs tangled with eachother and merged into a joined slumber. Unfortunately, as happy as your days felt, it would not stop the nightmares from coming, but each time you would awake in a cold sweat or with shaking hands, he would be right there to coax you back to peace. What surprised you, however, was that you would do the same to him.

Somehow, the thought of the notorious captain waking up screaming in the middle of the night, chest heaving, eyes wide with fear, had never occurred to you. You had never imagined him reaching for your thigh to ground himself as his reality spiralled in the dark.

‘Shh,’ you held him tightly, ‘it’s okay.’

Neither of you asked what the dreams were about, knowing you could do nothing about them. You could just help the other through it. And then, each time, the dreams that followed were much sweeter.

Then you’d wake up in each other’s arms long before the rest of the world seemed to. Those few blissful moments where nothing could disturb you and the time you could spend in that bed was endless.

Except it very much was not. And you realised it exactly through what you thought would be your escape.

It was a sunny morning. The golden sunrays illuminated the cabin as you reached for Eddie, just to find the side of the bed to be empty. Only his impression in the covers, the faint temperature his body had radiated onto them, was still there. It could not have been long since he had gotten up, and indeed, you caught him standing at the window—leaning against it, more like. His trousers were loose on his hips, and his shirt was still on the ground around you.

Grabbing that shirt and throwing it over your naked body, you walked over to him, and he looked in your direction as soon as he heard your footsteps. The smile in his eyes was genuine but weak. As soon as you were close enough, he pulled you into an embrace, twirling you around so your back would hit his chest and you could look out at the sea. With how the sunrays sparkled across the waves, it all felt like a dream, too good to be true, but you did not know yet that the dream was at the end of its tether.

‘I really am sorry,’ he mumbled, having his face already nuzzled in the crook of your neck, kissing the spot where it met your shoulder.

‘What for?’ Apologies had become a frequent appearance in his vocabulary, showing up in almost every conversation, if not sentence.

‘You know.’ Yes, you did know. For everything. He held a moment of silence, enjoying your presence in his arms for a little longer, before speaking again. ‘I just keep thinking about how everything between us happened, and if it had not been for me, we could have had more.’

‘I’m just as guilty.’ You had been stubborn, aggressive, and just as blind to your feelings.

‘Highly doubtful statement.’ He laughed, and his breath tickled the hairs on your neck.

‘I don’t think so.’ You shrugged in his hold.

‘Still just as stubborn, aren’t you, princess.’ He squeezed you tighter.

‘Is that not one of my most desirable attributes?’ You spun yourself around in his hold and quickly wrapped your arms around him. Doing so, hearing his tone and joy in his voice, you had expected to see him smiling, but he looked just as sombre as when you had walked up to him. ‘What’s wrong?’ Your hand mindlessly began to trace over the scars on his chest, knowing it brought comfort to both you and him by now.

Eddie shook his head, holding back a laugh. ‘You know…’ he kissed your forehead, ‘when I woke up, I saw you lying there, with the sun shining on your face, and you looked so peaceful, I had honesty considered just locking you away and keeping you forever, but I am a man of my word, am I not?’

‘I…don’t understand.’ You tried to see the meaning behind his words in his eyes, but there was nothing, and it only got harder to figure out when he held his forehead against yours, keeping you close. You still tried to make sense of what he said when you saw it. There, in the far back corner of your eye. So far, it could have been a play of light, and yet it was more real than anything. So undeniably real it crushed everything around you without question.

From the angle the ship stood at, that was as much as you could envision through the windows, and thus you ran out of the room. As much as you did not want to leave Eddie behind, knowing it could be one of the last moments the two of you had, you ran out onto the deck to meet the silhouette of mountains against the rising sun. The longer you looked at it, the clearer the details became. The ridges of the mountains, the forests, the watch towers and houses. The uniformed ships that stood in the harbour.

You knew this day was coming, you had been waiting for it, and yet, now that it was right there in front of you, you wished to be as far from it as possible. In what must have been shock, you took a couple of steps back just to collide with something—someone. You turned around to see Eddie and his soft but sad smile.

‘Welcome home,’ he announced.

Home, sweet home.

Your head turned between him and the land in the too-near distance, waiting for one of them to disappear, maybe even both. Why was this so difficult for your mind to comprehend? Why were the first words to come from your mouth, ‘Can we turn back?’

‘As much as I would want to,’ he sighed, ‘I’m sure they’ve noticed us by now.’ They must have. The watchers in those towers had the eyes of hawks, one of the reasons why your town was named after the bird.

‘So, what do we do?’ This is not how someone who is to be returning to their family after months spent with criminals was meant to respond. Everything about this was so wrong.

‘Go put your dress on.’ Eddie cocked his head back to the cabin. ‘I doubt they will appreciate you wearing this, as much as I adore it on you.’ That is when you realised you stood out on the main deck wearing only his shirt. ‘I’ll meet you in a few minutes.’ And with that, he gave you that look he had given you all those times before when you had been too headstrong in your own actions. Please, listen to me. It will be alright.

You walked back, feeling like you were floating, but not anywhere near the same way that you had the previous few days. It did not feel like you were weightless, on a cloud, free of worry or from the world. You were drifting. Far out into the abyss with nothing to hold on to. In this same state, you walked over to the wardrobe, where you had hung your dress, removed the item of clothing you had on and put on the old and tethered garment. It had once fit you like a glove, but you were far from the person it was measured for.

Just as you finished putting it on, the door opened, and Eddie walked in.

You didn’t want to look at him. Not because of anger, you had, after all, no reason to be angry at him at that moment, but because you were sure that if you looked into those brown irises again, you would break down. He must have had the same idea as you as he walked past you, only grabbing the nearest shirt off the rack, and making a headway to the desk.

‘What are you going to do now?’ After all, that had been what pulled you two together, the money your father would offer for your return. That is what kept you on this ship safe for as long as it did… although, in retrospect, you doubted that Eddie would have ever done anything to you. Maybe he had always intended to bring you home before even speaking to you. Perhaps the money made no difference. But funnily enough, you wanted him to get it. Something in you, a deep instinct, told you that it was what he deserved.

‘Write a random note,’ he said, and you could see he was doing his best not to laugh. ‘Then we’ll send the note out, hope it reaches your dearest, and we’ll make the exchange.’ His words were quick and emotionless, but you noted the hint of novice apprehension in his plan.

‘You’ve never done this before, have you?’ you asked as you made your way up to the chair across from him.

‘Try not to sound too disappointed over my lack of experience in selling beautiful maidens back to their prosperous fathers.’

‘Not at all,’ you shook your head, grabbing the piece of parchment and quill from him. ‘But let me. It will be proof of life, and besides, your handwriting is unrecognisable. He won’t be able to read any of it.’

Eddie stared at you blankly as you began writing.

Dear father,

But what were you to write? The ink dripped off the quill as you pondered on the words. For a message that was quite clear, it was hard to actually phrase it and write it out. By the time you had signed your name at the bottom of the page, the Hellfire had almost reached the coast. You read it through once more:

Dear Father,

I know it has been a long time since you last heard from me. The Red Tail is no more; I was the only survivor, to my knowledge, saved by a crew of rogue sailors. They have kept me locked away but are willing to free me for the price of 5.000 pounds. Please meet me at noon at the Star Port for the exchange.

Love,

Your daughter,

—

You had decided against the mention of piracy or anything specific about the ship’s sinking, knowing that it would only drive your father away from pain the ransom. Eddie had been unable to keep still while you wrote your drafts but now stood behind you, hands on the backrest of your chair, reading the note along with you, over your shoulder.

‘Who would have thought, my darling extorting her own father.’

‘I am doing no such thing!’ You looked up at him, ‘I am simply… aiding you in extorting my father.’ when it came to this, you had little sympathy for your father. He had plenty of money to spare and often spent it on ridiculous causes. A faux rescue of his only daughter could surely fit in between those other purchases.

There was a knock on the door, which Eddie welcomed, and Harrington walked in.

‘Got any mail for me to deliver, cap?’ it had been unanimously agreed that Harrington was the most inconspicuous of the whole crew and would be able to walk through the city unbothered to deliver the message.

You had just been in the middle of folding the parchment. The last thing left was to let the wax melt to keep the corners together. With the seal done, you handed Steve the letter. He smiled at you with thanks, but his face hid an expression of loss, almost. A farewell. But before he left, you clutched him in an embrace, almost knocking Steve over.

When the door closed behind him, it was only a matter of waiting. After your fifth round of pacing through the room, Eddie walked up in front of you, blocking your already quite well-outlined route. He had met you right in the middle.

‘I would prefer if you did not spend our last moments together walking holes into my carpet.’

‘You do not have a carpet,’ you quipped.

‘Must you be so difficult now?’ He laughed that laugh you cherished so much before he placed his hands on your cheeks and kissed you the way you adored even more. The sun was almost at its peak, and so was your heart, and you had no idea what to do when it would finally fall. Either way, you would find out in a few minutes.

‘Do you think—’

‘Highly doubtful,’ Eddie said somberly before you could even finish your thought. ‘You had said it yourself, darling; you are you, I am me. This is not meant to work.’ But what if it could, you wanted to shout, shocking yourself for the millionth time on board this ship.

‘Well, then it had been an honour being your captive, captain.’ You said with a deep breath to keep your composure up.

‘Oh, don’t look so sad just yet, princess, the real fun is only about to begin.’ At this statement, you blinked slowly. ‘Or did you think you were done aiding me?’

‘What else do you need me to do?’

‘Since you mentioned it, I think we need to make you look the part of my sweet captive. Make your father believe we really had kept you all good and locked up, hmm?’ He grinned. ‘I really did not do a good job at this, did I? Got you all spoiled up here.’

‘It was much appreciated.’ You giggled, incapable of keeping a straight face when Eddie got like this. Looking back, you could barely imagine the cold and dark exterior that he had once posed in front of you since he had been an entirely different person underneath that. Then again, so were you. ‘So, what did you have in mind?’

‘A lot,’ he licked his lips, ‘but I don’t think we have the time for that. We’ll probably have to do with tying you up like a pretty gift—just your hands, of course,’ he quickly added as he saw your eyes widen. ‘And I’ll be sure to not make it too tight.

‘Alright,’ you nodded. After all, you trusted him. You watched him look through the room for something to wrap around your hands. In the end, he found a piece of rope hanging among the many items on his wall. It was a bit too long for even the intricate, but relatively weak, knot he tied over your wrists—enough to give the impression of captivity, but in reality, barely grazed your wrists. He made sure to check.

And then it was time. You walked out of the cabin for the final time. The room in which you had spent so many tumultuous days and nights. A silly part of you wanted to actually run down the ladder into the lower deck to see the holding cell one last time. For what reason, you could not fathom.

Eddie guided you with a hand on your back, down the gangplank, which wobbled with every step you took. You tried to keep your breathing under control, but then again, if this had been a real threat to your life, you would probably feel similarly. The walk down the harbour was the longest of your life. There just came no end to it, and you could not, frustratingly enough, make your mind up if you wanted that or not. After all, each step closer to the port was one step further away from him… and when had you become so dependent on him? Weeks ago, you had thought up visions of killing him in his sleep; now, you could not think of life without him.

Your thoughts were still fighting for some kind of cohesion when you saw him walk down the street. Accompanied by his usual entourage of guards. Two of them carried a large trunk between them, which must have been filled with gold or other treasures to meet the demand.

‘Papa!’ You screamed out; an incautious urge to run towards him propelled you forward, just to be pulled back by Eddie. You glanced his way, and your breath hitched at what you saw. In the short amount of time that might have felt like an eternity that it took you to walk down the harbour, he had turned into what you could only describe as his old self. The same version of him that you had seen when you were “welcomed’ aboard the Hellfire. The Eddie that terrorised your nightmares. His eyes were pointed like daggers at your father.

He, in turn, stood aback at the sight of who had been holding you. Most of the men around him did, in fact. It caused a bit of a stir, the murmur of his name travelled in disbelief, but Eddie was the first to speak up in full volume.

‘Governor. I see we meet again.’

‘Munson.’ Your father always had the skill to look unimpressed at the sight of any man, always seeming to be above them, and even now, he did a good job hiding any other emotion, but you could see the crack of fear breaking him on the edges. It was, however, quickly replaced as he spoke in his usual tone of business.

‘Munson. What are you doing here?’

‘Why, returning your precious jewel, of course.’ He grinned, pulling you closer to him. Some of the guards leapt forward but were stopped by your father and Eddie, who reached for the knife at his side. All eyes were on you and him as he let the blade slowly track over your arm. ‘Don’t wanna do that, gents. It will only cost us more trouble.’

‘You got the gold, Munson, now let her go!’ There were still several feet between the two sides of the deal. Eddie looked around theatrically.

‘Do I?’ He cocked his head in his own direction. The two men in charge of the trunk hauled it over to you. You had no idea how Eddie was meant to carry it back to the ship. As they brought the gold over, your father spoke again.

‘Is she well? Unharmed?’

You nodded, but Eddie nudged you with the hilt of his knife, his lips against your ear, ‘C’mon, darling, the man’s asked you a question.’

‘I am fine, father.’ You spoke. By that point, the men reached you and, with a final kiss to your temple, Eddie let you go. You were immediately pulled out of his reach by the guards. They must have thought they were holding you up as your legs objected to moving. You were unable to look away from him. All up until you felt your face pressed against your father’s jacket.

‘There, there, it is alright,’ he hushed, and it took you a moment to realise why. You were crying. And if only he, or anyone else, understood that it was for all the opposite reasons. No fear or relief was escaping you through those tears. It was a loss as you saw Eddie standing there, bowing down at the end of his performance, blowing you a kiss goodbye.

It was the panic when you saw the rest of the people in the harbour. All of their eyes on you. On him. None of them were simple bystanders or civilians.

Your dream had been crumbling into ruin all these days, but this was the final blow. All of it came down, all at once, and it started with your father’s call.

‘Guards!’, and suddenly the tenfold of guards appeared out of all possible directions. They had him surrounded, weapons at the ready. Eddie had nowhere to run. Your father spoke clearly, cutting the silence with the blade of his words. ‘Munson, I arrest you on charges of murder and high treason!’

Chapter 10

thank you so much for reading!! if you want more of where this came from, check out my masterlist.

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bluegalaxygirl · 7 months

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Ghost ship (Zosan X reader)

Plot: One day while out at sea a strange fog rolls in form out of nowhere almost making them crash into a torn up ship.

warning: Violence, strong language, blood and skeleton's.

Zoro x Sanji X Reader, poly relationship, established relationship, reader is GN

"Guy's hurry" Nami's voice yells out as every member of the crew rushed around the deck of the sunny hoisting the sails, tying ropes and forcing the ship in different directions. You could hardly see a hand in front of your face form the sudden fog that rolled in covering the sunny in a matter of seconds. The warm air turned into a cold wind and the only light you could see came from the lights on the ship "TURN Left" Nami yelled out spotting another ship that was floating in the water, It wasn't moving, most of its masts broken and fabric torn to shreds. Franky turned the wheel of the ship as fast and as hard as he could to avoid the stationary vessel Luffy and Robin using their devil fruit powers to stop the sunny form getting damaged. Finally, getting the Sail fabric tied up your ship slowed down coming to a stop alongside the beaten up vessel which in your opinion shouldn't even be above water, the wood was rotting away and there were so many holes that it amazed you how water wasn't taking over the ship. The fog seemed to clear a bit now that you were all next to it but it felt a lot colder.

"Hay is anyone alive over there?" Luffy yelled Nami jumping on him and covering his mouth "Shut up. we don't know who did this" she whispers angry at her captain for being so reckless. "Its very old... i dont think anyone would be alive" Robin steps closer to Nami and Luffy looking over the ship. Your captain manages to pry Nami's hand off his mouth and giver her a pout. "It shouldn't be floating. oh! no what if it's a ghost ship" Usopp yells freezing up along with chopper. "Calm down" you sigh patting usopp's back "So Nami, what do we do?" you ask turning your attention to the navigator who lets go of Luffy and crosses her arms over her chest "We can't keep going until this fog lets up, so we'll have to stay put for now... also if this ship is old maybe there's something valuable on it" Her eyes glimmer in anticipation making you and Robin giggle at her "You want to go on there?" The sniper yells pointing at the ship "Well you can leave me out of it" he huffs earning a laugh from Luffy "I'd like to look around too" Robin nods placing her finger on her chin thinking about all the history she could find on an old ship. "Yea lets go" Luffy yells out hopping off the sunny and landing on the damaged ship.

It was easy to pick out who went and who didn't you, Nami and Robin wanted to go really bad while Usopp, Chopper, Brook and Franky refused for their own reasons. "I'll come with you, here love take my coat" Sanji smiles giving you one of his warm coats helping you put it on placing a small kiss on your cheek "Don't get into too much trouble" Zoro smiles walking over to you two "Your not coming?" You ask surprised but the sword mans yawn told you all you needed to know, he was woken up form his nap to deal with all of this. "Don't catch a cold" Sanji smiles walking with you, Nami and Robin to the broken ship. Since the ship was on the same level as the sunny Franky set up a small bridge so you could all easily cross Giving you and Robin a lantern before you cross. The waves were smooth so there wasn't much shakiness "Luffy, where are you?" Nami calls out looking along the deck not seeing her captain "Great" she sighs not getting an answer "Im sure he's fine" Robin smiles starting to look around the ship being careful where she stepped as the wood planks bellow her creaked.

Sanji helped you down form the bridge, it till amazed you how this ship was still standing "Im going to head into the captains room" Robin nods walking off "You shouldn't go alone" Nami yells wanting to follow but doesn't "Sanji, why don't you go with her and I'll go with Nami. i'm interested in what's bellow deck" You suggest making the cook look down at you with concern, he didn't want to leave you but he also didn't want Robin to go off on her own. Placing a hand on his shoulder and kiss on his cheek you gave him a reassuring smile telling him without words that you would be fine. Sanji nods kissing your lips before following after Robin yelling at her to wait up. "So bellow deck?" Nami asks looking a little more scared now that she's on the ghost ship "Don't worry I'll protect you" you laugh starting to walk to the steps leading down under the deck "I-I don't need your protection" The navigator yells running behind you and grabbing your coat belt to stay close hoping you don't notice.

Bellow deck was very dark and even with the lantern in your hand it was hard to see. Nami stayed close looking around as you both walked holding the lantern as far out in front of you as you could. The sight before you surprised you, at first you thought this was a cargo ship but under the deck was a large stage and dance floor with tables and chairs all over the place, damaged paintings lined the walls and several doors were either blocked by tables or where torn apart. Walking further in you spotted candles lining the room so you walked over a lite one only for all the other candles in the room to light up as well, Nami jumped at the sigh wrapping her arms around your waist. You let out a giggle as Nami glares at you "Im not scared" she whispers mainly to herself before pulling away form you "These paintings aren't worth anything" she sighs looking around the beaten and broken room trying to find anything of value, you join her in scanning the room spotting something shiny in one of the rooms "What's that?" you ask catching Nami's attention turning to see what your looking at, her eyes light up and a smile appears on her face making her way over with you following behind.

The broken wooden door swung open raveling a long hallway with several corpses lining the hall way, both you and nami froze at the sight, these body's were fresh unlike the ship that they were standing on, the shiny metal came form one of the men's coats, a very old silver medal that looks like it came form one of the great wars but how is that possible. Nami bent down and placed her hand on the medal only for the man to gasp wide-eyed and grab her hand causing both of you to scream out in terror. The man gasps for air looking up at Nami and you try to speak, Nami pulls away her hand slipping away from the old injured man. You take the coat off of you and place it on the man's chest thats bleeding badly "Nami, Get chopper now" you yell trying to snap the navigator out of her fear "W-What? oh! ok" Nami nods running off almost bumping into Sanji and Robin who came running down the stairs "Nami-swan what's wrong?" Sanji asks seeing her running past them "we need chopper" Her voice calls out heading up to the deck and over to the bridge.

"It's ok. we're here to help" you sooth the man the fear in his eyes fading away to hope "Y/n" Sanji's voice appears behind you spotting you on the floor holding his coat to the mans chest "oh no" Robin gasps looking down the hallway "Check for survivors" you order, the two nodding and going past you down the hall checking the people. "P-Pirate's" the man bellow you croaks out. "Is that who did this to you?" you ask earning a nod from him, giving him a sad look you took his hand in yours as a sign of comfort. Chopper comes running up, medical bag in hand to help. Seeing the man against the wall doctor Chopper gets to work helping you stop the bleeding and giving the man some pain killers. "Chopper" Luffy's voice yells out form behind you running down form one of the other hallways carrying a guy who's bleeding. "Luffy, there you are" you yell back as Luffy stops in the door way looking over the guy you and chopper is helping out "What happened here?" he asks a spike of anger seeps through his words. "Other Pirate's" at your words the captains grip tightens on the man in his arms.

An hour later your crew only managed to find two more survivors taking them all onto the sunny and into Chopper's medical room fixing them up and letting them rest while the rest of you joins Luffy on the deck who was sulking on the ground as Robin explained what she had found out. The damaged ship was attacked by pirates centuries ago, It was taking solders and their families back home after one of the great wars but pirates attacked and killed everyone before the navy showed up and blew up both ships. "So how did those people end up in there?" Zoro asks confused his arm around your shoulder holding you close. Robin to shrugs as Usopp and brook cower "S-so it really is a g-ghost ship" they both stutter clinging to each other "Will you two stops that and Brook why are you scared your a skeleton" Nami yells pointing at the two of them making them cling to each other more making the rest of the crew laugh. A strong cold breeze blows thru catching you all off guard the thick fog from around both ships closing in, Zoro pulls you closer his warm body stopping you form feeling too much of the chill while Sanji takes a step behind Zoro feeling a large chill run down his body." What?" you asks only to hear a loud bang as the door to the doctor's office slams open and a man fly's out hitting his back against the railing. In shock, you watch as the man Luffy saved looking worse than before stand up ripped cloth and almost gray skin, he didn't look like a man anymore more like a corpse.

"Chopper" Zoro yells leaving you with sanji and runs up the stairs as chopper comes out in arm point form kicking the guy again as he lunges at him. Luffy runs after Zoro ready to fight only to get kicked back by a large man who lands on the ship's deck with a thud. A very disheveled looking corpse stood there in old pirate attire one arm and one leg complacently bone the joints being held together by fog. Around the ship other's smaller but of the same look jumped onto the ship bearing their weapons "All must die" The corpse you assume to be the captain spoke in a very deep but brittle voice. Starting to fight alongside your crew, Zoro and Chopper kept the wounded people inside the doctor's office safe stopping the corpse's form trying to get in but no matter how much Zoro cut the limbs came back and attacked themselves back. Sanji joined you to help fight as the large captain went after Luffy the two throwing punches at each other. Luffy managed to kick the captains head off only for it to fly back to the body being carried by the mist and reattach itself. You didn't know what was going on and how this was happening but asking questions at a time like this wasn't a good idea.

One of the corpse's got a good hit on you sending you flying onto the ground. Sanji growled under his breath and kicked the corpse off the ship hearing a splash as it hit the water. "Are you ok love?" The cook asks running over and helping you to your feet looking you over for any injuries "Im fine don't worry" you nod before going back to fighting the undead corpse's. Everyone could see Luffy getting frustrated and his yells of anger weren't helping the situation "Anyone have any ideas?" Usopp yells out trying to avoid a sword being swung at him "Nami could you do something about the fog?" Robin asks using her devil fruit powers to restrain some corpse while Franky watches her back. The navigator sends a corpse flying off the ship with her staff before thinking "Maybe but i'm going to see your help usopp" she yells finally getting an idea. "Everyone protect Nami and Usopp" Luffy yells out running at the captain and punching him into the wall. "But what about the injured?" Chopper yells not wanting to leave the people in the medical bay alone. Luffy thinks for a moment before jumping up to join Zoro and Chopper "Go and protect Nami and Robin, I'll take care of these guys" The captain smiles the two nodding and running down to the main areas.

Getting distracted by the corpse in front of you, you didn't realize there was one coming up behind you raising its blade and slashing down, the sound of metal hitting metal made you jump at little but kicked the corpse in front of you away before turning to see Zoro blocking the corpses bad with his own sword before cutting the thing in half "Watch yourself" The swords man yells at you making you smile but focuses on the thing in front of you "I know you've got my back babe" you giggle as he angrily grumbles at you. It didn't take too long for Nami and Usopp to set up Nami's staff and some devices as the rest of the crew made sure nothing got to them. "Firing in 3" Usopp yells warning everyone, in the corner of your eye you see the corpse captain getting back up standing to his feet "He's up" you yell out as the captain runs at Nami and Usopp who have begun counting down.

You run at the captain practically body slamming it away from your two friends and sending it crashing into the railing of the ship. It tries to get back up only for Zoro to cut its legs off and Sanji to light his leg on fire jumping over Zoro to kick the captain off the ship and into the water. A large bolt of lightning shoots out form Nami's staff as the two hold it down stopping it from moving with the force of the lighting. Hitting the thick fog light crackles around and into the fog making it grow thinner and thinner, the corpse screaming out in pain dropping their weapons as they turn to dust, the light wind blowing their ashes into the sea. "YEA" Franky, Nami, Usopp and Luffy yell out cheering at the victory. You laugh feeling relief that its all finally over as arms pull you in for a hug "That was amazing my love. You protected Nami so well" Sanji smiles holding you close "Hay what about me?" Usopp yells feeling left out but ended up being pulled away by Luffy who wants to talk about the fight. "Are you two ok?" Zoro asks walking overlooking you two up and down for injuries "Yea. were fine" You smile pulling him in to join you two in a hug "You guys were amazing. i love watching you fight" with one arm around each boy you lean up and share a kiss them. Its rare when you three do this sharking a kiss at the same time, all three lips meeting at once but thats what makes it special.

"Excuse us. i'm so sorry to interrupt" A male voice speaks out everyone turning to see three people at the top of the steps. The once injured people with old torn blood covered cloths now looked completely fine. No wounds, perfect outfits and a dull light surrounding them "Your all better. How?" Chopper runs over watching as the three make their way down the stairs "We've been trapped in a loop for so long, reliving our last moments over and over again but thanks to you all were finally free" The man you now recognize as the guy you helped spoke, In army cloths and the medal hanging form his jacket. "Thank you all" the three bow leaving the crew stunned as they slowly disappear the ship next to the sunny fading alongside them and soon there was nothing left "Wait at least give us something as a thanks" Nami yelled being held back by Usopp. Letting out a giggle your glad its finally over "Well now i can have my nap" Zoro yawned catching your attention "I think i might need one too. Mind if i join?" you ask feeling his hand grip your hip as he leans in "Always" your lips connect with his as your hand runs up into his hair "Want to join us, Cook?" Zoro asks braking away form the kiss to look up at Sanji, the poor cook didn't even get to answer as your Captain yelled out for food. "I wish i could" Sanji sighs kissing you both before going off to the kitchen being followed by Luffy.

#polly relationship #zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #one piece #sanji x reader #sanji x zoro #zosan #zoro x sanji #vinsmoke sanji #zosan x reader #one piece zosan #zoro x sanji x reader #halloween

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anxiously-going · 2 months

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I want a Star Trek AU in which the Enterprise becomes sentient.

It starts out almost like an egregore, the way the crew talks about the ship like she's alive, referring to her as one of them rather than just a ship. She slowly and imperceptibly gains a conscious and just quietly does things to take care of the crew.

Slowly, anomalies start being noticed. Reports are run on their own, minor repairs seem to fix themselves, Scotty isn't sure what to make of it till they're hit with some space anomaly or other and for the first time ever, she's able to speak to them.

Scotty thinks he's gone made at first, but the Enterprise has kept the data and is able to explain it to him. It's bonkers, but there's no other explanation for any of it and there is definitely something happening with the ship. Sentience may as well explain it.

Scotty heads up to the bridge and tell the good captain that he's figured out what's going on.

"Fantastic news, Scotty. What is it?"

"Well, Captain,...I think it's probably easier if I show ya." Scotty gestures to the broad widow before them. "Ready when you are, lass."

Jim frowns, "Scotty, what are-"

Then on the display stands the image of woman with shifting features in an engineering uniform. "Hello, James," she says with a voice as shifting as her beautiful features. "I am the Enterprise."

Everyone on the bridge is completely still.

"Mr. Scott, explain," Jim says flatly.

"Well, sir. Y'know those old Earth ghost stories about how...believin' in something gives it power? There seems to be some truth to those. Our belief on the ship brought her to life, Jim. The power surge we experienced gave her the energy she needed to-" he gestures at the screen "-present herself more physically to us."

Jim shakes his head. "Those were just stories."

"Captain, you met the actual Greek God Apollo just a few weeks ago," Enterprise points out with a gentle smile.

"All legend and myth must start somewhere," Spock points out. "While superstitions may muddy the original truths of such tales, that does not discount them as impossible."

Jim turns to Spock, the most scientific mind he's ever known, in shock. "So you're totally okay with this? This is completely reasonable to you?"

Spock nearly shrugs. "We did meet Apollo few weeks ago, Captain. And there has been a belief long held that such deities are sustained by belief. I don't think we can rule out the possibility the creation of a similar consciousness through the means of collective belief. Especially given the evidence presented before us." He gestures the woman on the screen.

Jim sighs and returns his gaze to the Enterprise, and has a rare moment of being at a complete loss of words.

"This is too elaborate to be a prank and you know it," she tells him, a knowing look playing on her face. "Just accept what you know to be true, Jim. I'm real."

#star trek aos #jim kirk #montgomery scott #spock #my writing #flash fiction #what can i say im still a whovian and night valean at heart #this was very much inspired by the tardis being cononically sentient and huntokar #also i love the idea of the town of night vale being at least semi sentient but i cant remember if thats actual canon or not #anyway enjoy

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found-family-tournament · 1 year

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Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 17 Group 84

Propaganda and further pictures under the cut

Seven Birds: Taako, Magnus, Merle, Lup, Lucretia, Davenport, Barry

Boys from the Dwarf: Arnold Rimmer, David Lister, Kryten and The Cat

Submissions are still open!

Seven Birds:

they literally spent a hundred years becoming a family and lucretia tried her best to protect the but they could only save the world after all of them had been reunited and they LOVE each other they deserve to win this whole thing

Boys from the Dwarf:

Listen. These guys actually canonically have nobody else, the entire rest of the crew of this spaceship died in a nuclear incident which TECHNICALLY was Rimmer's fault. Forced family. Lister is the last human alive, Rimmer is technically a ghost kept alive by technology, Kryten is a robot and Cat is a cat. They live on this massive spaceship yet still choose to spend all their time together, it has been like 30 years at this point. I cannot stress to you how they had the option to leave and go elsewhere in this ship the size of a city at any given time yet chose to stick together after 30 years. Every opportunity any of them has had to get off this godforsaken ship, they have turned down. They would do anything for eachother but also would leave eachother on a random planet without hesitation (and actually have done). They are best buddies, they even have a handsign/handshake.

They’re an unlikely crew but ultimately they’re all each other has. Dave wakes up from stasis as the last human alive and to keep him sane the ship’s computer brought his dead bunk mate back as a hologram. They don’t usually get along but after being all each other has they ultimately need each other and do care about each other. They’re just hard assess about it. Also on board is a humanoid being called The Cat, who is from a species that evolved from a cat that was smuggled on board the ship before the accident that killed the crew. He’s usually self-centred but even after finding his own species again he ultimately decides his home is with the boys from the dwarf. And then there’s Kryten, a service mechanoid with an over-active guilt chip that they rescued from a crashed ship along the way. They’re dysfunctional and complete opposites to each other in many ways, but they are always together in every parallel universe they come across. And even when they do separate to try to do their own thing, ultimately they always come back to each other. They’ll act like they all dislike each other at times, but ultimately if trouble threatens one of them then the rest will band together. Also their dynamic together is just extremely funny.

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amazingmsme · 2 months

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Just some ghost!polites headcanons because I’ve been Big Sad & I need a healthy dose of angst to cope. As always, gotta sprinkle in some fluff to balance out the angst

Polites wakes up in the ferry on the River Styx with the other soldiers that died in the cave & it’s literally just like Skyrim . They get dumped off & unlike the others, he tries to stick to the people he knows. But they’re dead, & they don’t really care about camaraderie like he does anymore. So he’s just kinda wondering through the underworld aimlessly, just trying to get himself acquainted & get used to things

Apparently at the time of the Odyssey, Hades (the place) was in shambles. It had no order to the souls or the layout itself. So needless to say, Polites is pretty miserable down there

Also, however you looked when you died is how you look in the afterlife so… yeah. Ok but despite all the heartbreak that comes with that… his broken glasses sit crooked on his face & it’s real cute if you can get past the fact he’s bleeding, broken & bruised

I feel like he died with unfinished business, whether that be just making it back home to Ithica or something else. Either way, he’s a restless spirit with earthly ties. At first when he sees Odysseus & what’s left of the army, he thinks they all died & he’s heartbroken, but then he notices how different they look from everyone else around him & he realizes. They’re alive. & he’s so drawn to them, because it’s the one comfort he’s had since arriving in Hades. So he just sneaks in behind them & tries to hide/blend in towards the back

Maybe to make things interesting, a soldier could find out his wife died while he was away, but the way he found out was literally by seeing her in the underworld. Polites recognizes him & approaches to ask what’s wrong because he can see they’re both upset & if there’s any way he could help. & the soldier wants to stay with his wife, & Polites sees his 1 chance to get out of here. So they kind of trade places, because with that few people you’d def notice an extra person in your crew after romping through the underworld, but if the numbers are the same, then it’s less noticeable. & if you wanna make things extra interesting, this could happen by Polites possessing the soldier’s body, but personally I like the straight up ghost route. But hey, possession is always fun!

But no one notices he’s there until they’re almost out, & they’re about to pass between the 2 monsters & he shyly speaks up like “uh Captain? I think I know a better way” & Odysseus whips around like “who said that?” Because what the hell do they mean they know a better way through the underworld? But even more importantly, that sounded just like-

& then he sees him & on reflex he screams & draws his sword & Polites looks so (emotionally) hurt by that & he’s like “Captain it’s me, Polites” & it takes a second for Odysseus recognize him through the blood & the bruising, but yeah, that’s the Polites they know & love. Except… not.

But he really does know a better way to escape, & they don’t have to sacrifice any men. They make it back to the ship relatively easily & needless to say everyone is keeping their distance from Polites

He can sense the underlying fear & guilt they all feel when he’s around, & it really hurts him because he doesn’t hold any ill will about it. They couldn’t help it. & he wants to get past that & show them it’s still him, but how can he do that when everyone’s afraid to even talk to him? They can’t even look him in the eye anymore, does he really look that bad?

He starts to feel isolated & the weight of being dead really hits him as he watches the rest of them from afar. He doesn’t always choose to appear for this reason. He doesn’t want to feel like a bother, or like he’s getting in the way

He tries to remind himself that it could be worse, & he doesn’t want to go back to the underworld. So he has to try & keep himself entertained & upbeat & his favorite way to do that is by pulling what he calls “ghost pranks.” He’ll steal shit & make it go missing only to have it show up in obvious places, move shit through the air, rattle around in the kitchen at night (or mess with the loud ass anchor chain, that’s almost worse) but his favorite way to fuck with his friends is to tickle them out of the blue & the worst part is he won’t even actually be there, he’ll just be invisible & messing with them on purpose

At first his antics are more common as he tries to make his presence known & accepted, but everyone is at least little creeped out & he starts goofing off less & less. & you’d think it would take more effort to appear to people, but it’s a conscious effort to stay invisible. So I like to think that one day Odysseus was wondering about the ship & he noticed Polites sitting at the railing looking glum as ever & it’s just such a sad sight it makes him realize they haven’t exactly been the nicest or most accepting of him now that he’s back. So he goes over & sits next to him & he apologizes for the way he’s been since he came back. They have a nice long chat & talk out some stuff that really didn’t need to remain unsaid

He’s not his happy go lucky self like he used to be, but he’s still pretty optimistic… regarding other people. In regards to himself, he gets all teary eyed & you can tell he’s trying so damn hard to frame things in a decent light. Because he’s always been a glass half full kinda guy, so he’s gotta always see it that way regardless. Right?

Odysseus can’t stand seeing him so upset & it’s literally eating him alive. He’s talking to Eurylochus about it & saying how he’s so much sadder now than he used to be & it’s “not as easy” to cheer him up. & Eurylochus, half joking, is like “yeah, too bad you can’t tickle him” & Odysseus is like … 😈

Eurylochus is like “you can’t be serious” & he’s like “hey it’s worth a shot! If any ghost is ticklish it’ll be him” Like ok he doesn’t even have a body but go off I guess

But he catches Polites when he’s feeling down, & when his normal cheer up methods don’t work, he barely bites back a smirk. Polites knows that damn look but thinks he’s safe since he’s a ghost & why would Odysseus even bother trying? It would be pointless. But he’s interacted with solid objects before, so just maybe solid objects can interact with him

But Polites just arches a brow & looks at him like “what?” & Odysseus legit just comes right out & says it “you look too sad. I think someone needs a visit from the tickle monster” & Polites gets this sad, wistful smile, but he’s also looking at Odysseus like he’s gone off the deep end & he just snorts like “yeah good luck with that” except he’s nothing but stubborn & determined, so on impulse he goes to squeeze his side. & Odysseus can feel that something’s there, but his hand can still kinda phase through. & Polites shrieks, mostly out of shock because he never thought a ghost would be ticklish, & he & Odysseus are equally surprised. & Odysseus is so mischievous because he’s really missed getting to make his best friend squeal with laughter, & now it’s paired with morbid curiosity because he’s so fascinated by the fact that ghosts are apparently ticklish. & he’s fake interrogating him asking how it feels & how different it is from when he was alive & I’m such a sucker for the trope where it tickles when you stick your hand through a ghost

It really is like the old Polites is back, & they start to get used to their new resident ghost

Even tho he’s already dead & he doesn’t technically have any stakes in the game, he carries out orders & when they’re faced with a challenge, he fights just as hard as the rest of them to make it out safe. & he is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save a fellow soldier. & even tho he’s dead, it’s still just as upsetting for Odysseus to watch as if he were still alive

If/when I write it, idk whether I’m gonna keep it where Odysseus is the only one who makes it back, because imagine how much it’ll hurt both of them to continue seeing everyone around them drop like flies. How in the end they only have each other. But it could also be such a game changer to have 1 more man on their crew, especially if he has some ghost powers. & even the power of moral can be a huge game changer

That’s all I got for now, let me know if y’all want more ghost!polites headcanons, or shoot me some of your own! wink wink nudge nudge

#ghost!polites #epic headcanons #epic the musical #the odyssey #polites #odysseus #eurylochus

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x-0ophelia0-x · 6 months

Text

cardigan (y/n‘s version)

pairing: Fem!Reader x Ezra Bridger

warnings: none, sad I guess?

word count: 2,3 k

song: Cardigan - Taylor Swift

summary: He brought the light into your life just to disappear without any trace. People underestimated you because you were young, telling you that you know nothing and you didn’t cope well enough, but even if you questioned yourself if you really knew him. Towards the end you did. You were right about him after all.

authors note: Soo this is my first attempt to write a ff based on a songs lyric and holy moly I got carried away! I‘m posting sooner then I mentioned before due to the fact that I forgot that I got to stay at home today ;D

I hope that you‘ll enjoy this format bc I‘m definitely going to write more lyric ff‘s xd

But I’d be more then happy to get to know your opinion about this 🫶🏻

with that said, enjoyyy <3

Walking through the corridors, with the data pad in your hands.

Accepting every mission you got, hoping that those extra credits would manage to somehow help you.

You were fighting for something, something that not even you quite understood.

Helping the Rebellion was dangerous and you knew it.

Your life had gotten worser, being chased by imperial scum wasn’t really something that you needed right now.

As for right now, you had more near death experiences then lucky ones.

But something deep within you seemed to want you to keep going.

Even if you yourself didn’t see it., others did.

Some described it as their light, their pathfinder, something so precious to them that they gave everything to keep this light… the fire… far from extinguishing.

Keeping it alive was the most important task.. it didn’t only symbolize the hope you were all fighting for, it was your only chance for freedom and justice at the very same time.

However, even if the rebellion was lacking in volunteers, they always seemed to know everything about politics, the making of strategies, even the sacrifices they’d have to make.

You had collected some years there, knew some things that’d be helpful by now but whenever you requested the higher ranks to let them help you, your pleas fell on deaf ears.

Of course.

When you are young, they assume you know nothing

One day though everything changed.

Your routine, your way of thinking, your life… everything.

From the moment when this green Twi‘lek stepped into your cabin, telling you that her crew needed someone who knew how to fight against the Empire, how they thought.. someone who’d help them organize their missions, everything changed.

After you accepted her offer, she led you to her ship where the rest of the crew was.

There was a man, a Lasat, a Mandalorian and an droid.

The Twi‘lek wasn’t pleased though, and you soon found out why.

„Sorry I‘m late!“

A blue haired boy arrived, running to the ‚meeting‘.

„What did I tell you? Don’t let yourself get distracted!“

She seemed to be their captain, scolding the boy while he tried to steady his breaths.

„I know.. but Hera.. I-„

„You what?“

„I thought that I got some informations on some blueprints regarding the empires new TIE Fighters.. turns out that they were drunk.. took some time until I realized this“

He held his hand up to his head, looking nervously at her until he moved his head to the side, catching your gaze for the first time.

It seemed as if the time itself had stopped when your eyes met.

Maker.. he was handsome.

Just before Hera could’ve said anything in return, he reached his hand out to yours.

„I‘m Ezra Bridger.. I assume that you’re our new crewmember?“

His voice was so warm and gentle, actually comforting.

Taken aback by his approach you needed some seconds to register what was happening.

„Yes, I‘m y/n“

Your voice was somehow higher then you expected it to be, but oh my force… this boy..

From the very first moment you laid your eyes on him.. you knew that he’d become very special to you.

A lot of time passed from the moment where you joined the ghost crew and Ezra always managed to find a place for you two to spend your time together.

He grew very close to you and being completely honest.. nothing could’ve prepared you for what was about to come.

There were things that weren’t meant to happen.

Things that changed both your lives.

You escaped that hellhole of a life you lived for so long thanks to Hera and the crew.

And yes, for some time it actually seemed that your resistance was actually breaking through.

Of course you only knew what you saw.. seeing what was happening inside of a person.. this skill was something only a few people could do.

It was impossible for people like you.

Hoping that you’d actually manage and succeed in your rebellion.. some looked at you and addressed you as delusional, your young age was an adding factor to their disbeliefs.

When you are young, they assume you know nothing.

The Person that grew very close to you.. even in a romantic way..

Ezra, the one person who told you his whole life‘s story, the person who listened to your voice as if there was no tomorrow.

You knew that there were people you were fighting with who shared the same goal as you, and still they were impossible to reach.

But I knew you

Or at least I thought I did.

The starlight illuminated your figures.

Ezra had offered you to go out and watch the night sky with him, to focus on the beauty that your galaxy had to offer.

It was a dark place and it was easy to feel lost, especially if you don‘t have people that look out for you.

Everyday‘s challenges distract us from seeing what’s right in front of us.

Hidden by the empires cruel tactics was a beautiful Galaxy, a Galaxy that shouldn’t live by fear.

You didn’t understand it at first, thinking that it was the right thing to help the rebellion, even if you didn’t know why.

Everyone spoke of a light, a flame that managed to keep you all fighting for what was important to you.

You didn’t have something to lose, you were alone.

Seeing this light was nearly impossible for you, how could you?

Your only interactions with people were these where you accepted some missions to get some more credits.

Not more and not less.

That day however changed everything.

You could swear that from the moment on where you looked into Ezra’s eyes… those beautiful mirrors into your soul.. was the first time where you felt that there may be someone worth fighting for.

Let‘s say that your guess turned out to be true.

„Are you alright?“

He broke the silence, sensing that you, once again, were lost in your thoughts.

„Ah- oh- sorry, yes“

There was an awkward silence between you two as you continued to watch the night sky. You were leaning to his side as he wrapped his arm around you holding you close.

„What’s going on in that little head of yours?“

There was a sly grin on his face as he was looking at you.

„Did you just call my head little, Bridger?“

„I may have.. I may have not.. who knows“

„Ezra..“

„Yes Milady?“

„I‘m willing to forgive you, under one condition“

„There’s a condition? Aren’t I as your boyfriend a reason enough for you to forgive me my.. ehm“

He was thinking.., oh force what was he thinking again.

„Ehm what?“

„What did I do wrong again?“

He let out a nervous chuckle as you once again reminded yourself how he managed to win your heart, a coping mechanism you created for yourself whenever he found fun in playing with your temper.

„Okay okay I‘m kidding.. what’s your request?“

„We’ll… I‘ll forgive you if you kiss me“

Ezra didn’t actually do something wrong, it was more of an inside joke between you two whenever you felt the tension grow.

„Damn y/n, you didn’t have to turn this into a condition, you know that I’d kiss you regardless the situation“

Oh you’d give everything to just have a few more seconds with him.

To see him again, hear his voice, feel his warmth.

He always managed to make you feel wanted whenever you were doubting yourself again.

Always managed to show you how important you were to him.

You had nightmares? Fears?

He was always there to comfort you, take you in his arms and cuddle you until you fell asleep, making sure that his girl wouldn’t be suffering in her dreams anymore.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan

Under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favorite

You assumed that you knew everything, at least the most important things to you.

Assumed that he’d stay by your side forever.

Oh boy… you fell hard

But I knew you

Little did you know that he’d be gone very soon.

Playing hide and seek whenever you once again pranked Zeb or Chopper.

Spending your weekends together, exchanging stories of your adventures, try to sing only to realize that your voices are horrible when it comes to singing.

I knew you…

To kiss in Lothals’s fields and downtown bars was all you needed.

He drew stars around your scars and now your bleeding.

You looked at them and they immediately reminded you of him, how he kissed each making sure that he didn’t miss on a single one, just to let you know that he was there for you.

That the times of your suffering would’ve come to an end and that he’d take care of your scars, the physical and psychical ones until all of those dark memories vanished from your mind.

‚Cause I knew you‘

Stepping on your last train, marked me like a bloodstain

I, I knew you

Tried to change the ending

Thrawn losing the game, saving his Planet, his Galaxy, his newfound family… you from his threat.

I knew you

Which was your biggest mistake.. thinking that you knew everything about him, about his thoughts when in reality you only assumed that everything was alright.

How long did he know what he was going to do.. how many times did he look into your eyes while you cuddled, talked or shared kisses, knowing that leaving you behind was an consequence he had to accept.

He wanted- no, needed you to be safe, even if it meant that he wouldn’t be there for you, causing you emotional pain, leaving you behind and possibly reopen your scars… hell those odds were terrible but he had the chance to get rid of Thrawn, even if he’d be far away or possibly dead, you’d be a little safer and this was enough for him.

Everyone tried to tell you to calm down, that he did the right thing, ignoring your responses because they had higher ranks, were older and automatically knew everything.

When you are young they assume you know nothing

But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss

I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs

Ten years had passed, the longest decade of your life.

Those what if‘s haunted you in your dreams, actions and basically tortured you throughout those ten years.

What would’ve happened if you followed him back then?

What would’ve happened if you somehow sensed his unease?

What would’ve happened if he stayed on Lothal?

What would’ve happened if you had more time together?

Of course you didn’t notice his shift in his behavior, how he seemed more stressed at the beginning of his last mission… more stressed then you‘ve seen him in your entire relationship.

You didn’t look past his cover because you thought that you knew him well enough.

‘Cause I knew everything when I was young

Hope however never managed to leave you, and there were a few things you at least knew.

I knew I‘d curse you for the longest time

Knowing that he did all of this just to keep you safe, to grant you a chance against the empire, to free his planet, you still decided to curse him for the first months.

„He left me!“

„Oh y/n..“

Sabine and Hera were your anchors, you couldn’t imagine what you’d have done if it wasn’t for them.

„We’ll find hi-„

„How?!“

It was one of your outbursts again, when everything felt as if it was pushing you down, it was just to much.

„Why… why didn’t he tell me something..?!“

„Hey hey, come here“

Hera guided you into her embrace, trying to calm you down as you cried, one of the many episodes you had after Ezra’s disappearance.

„This Idiot..! He’d be still here if he-„

„Thrawn too, don’t forget this, please…“

Sabine brought you a glass of water and laid it on the small desk beside you.

„He‘ll come back… Ezra has to..“

Hearing this broke Heras heart for you, you and Ezra grew so so close to her heart, just like Jacen did, you two were like her own children to her.

With one missing and the other one broken? She was helpless.

But hearing you ensuring yourself that he’d come back hit another breaking point, both for her and Sabine.

And as the years passed you started to forgive him, understand that you were alright thanks to him.

You started to see him in the most random places, chasing the wrong persons because you assumed that they were him. Your desperate state reached a level you didn’t know existed.

Ten years and your hope was still there.

You knew that you had to be strong, if not for you then for him.

You knew that sinking into the what ifs would only destroy everything Ezra fought for, for you.

You knew that he was somewhere out there.

And I knew you’d be standing in my front porch light

And I knew you’d come back to me

Even if you imagined your reunion a little bit more different.

Even if he left you for 10 years without telling you a thing about his plan.

Even if he risked you to find another man during his time off.

You were right.

You’d come back to me

And you’d come back

„Ezra…!“

„y/n..“

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan

Under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favorite

#ezra bridger x reader #ezra bridger #star wars #star wars rebels #ahsoka series #ezra bridger x y/n #ezra bridger fanfic

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jetiisyandereclones · 10 months

Note

Hey! First of all, absolutely love your writing and art, it never fails to make me smile when you post.

I don’t know how to type this without sounding awkward, but I had a random platonic yandere/reader idea inspired by your yandere clone family au that I just wanted to get out of my system and figured you might enjoy.

I started thinking about Arla Fett (Jango’s older sister) in this universe.

In case you aren’t familiar with her character here’s a quick summary: After the murder of her’s and Jango’s parents she was enslaved by the Death Watch and eventually developed an extremely damaging case Stockholm syndrome. She would act as an assassin for the death watch before being arrested. Later on a Jedi general-turned mandolorian by the name of Bardin Jussik would try to help Arla heal from her trauma but after she begged him to help her forget about it entirely, Bardin simply wiped her memory using the force. The two then fell in love and would have settled down (had order 66 not occurred).

So, then I got to thinking: what if these events happened a few years sooner so that Arla and Bardin were already settled down during the war. And how would the yandere clones react to not only having a blood related sister, but a Jedi brother-in-law, and their likely force sensitive teenager aka reader.

Let’s say the war ends and the various clone battalions are rounding up their respective Jedi but the group formerly run by Bardin Jussik wind up having trouble tracking down their long lost general who left abruptly during the war due to his issues with the Jedi council’s leadership and the republic’s approach to the war.

They get to the point that TBB get called in to help find him.

Even after some time passes, Jussik doesn’t seem to be anywhere and most assume he’s dead as there is literally no trace of him anywhere. TBB eventually refocus their efforts on to other troublesome Jedi (Such as Kanan, Ezra, Vera Sai, and Nazra) who have at least been seen alive and well in the past decade.

Their efforts to track down the Ghost crew lead them back to Lothal since it’s a planet the Ghost returns to regularly.

The rest of the batch spreads out to search for clues while Hunter brings the Marauder to a refuel station bc the busy marketplace gives him a headache and he just needs a little rest from constantly tracking.

He gets there and he’s met with reader working the station who’s about three or four years older than Omega. As Hunter asks them to just refuel the ship he can’t help but notice the teen is sort of staring him down.

Expecting some kind of anti-clone sentiment or getting called sub-human he simply asks

“What never seen a clone before?”

Reader looks at him confused and Hunter suddenly remembers that Lothal never had any part in the war and most people on the planet couldn’t care less who he or his brothers were, especially now that the war was over.

Suddenly, almost like they can read his thoughts, reader starts looking embarrassed and apologetic.

“I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean but…yeah I guess I have been pretty rude just staring huh?” Reader holds up a hand in front of Hunter’s face and closes one of their eyes so that they can only see the non-tattooed side of his face. “It’s just- my buir used to show me holos of my ba’vodu and I swear you look just like him. I’m probably just imagining it.”

Hunter is taken aback by the comment and is suddenly very interested in learning more about this barely paid refueling station attendant’s family. He figures the kid’s dad and uncle are deserters like Cut Laquane. Reader’s additions of some mando’a into their sentences only seems to cement his theory.

The two have a friendly conversation and Hunter finds himself amused by reader’s wide-eyed curiosity about the world outside of Lothal as it’s very reminiscent of when he first met Omega.

Meanwhile reader is just thrilled that this starship captain is willing to answer all of their questions about his adventures across the galaxy ( Hunter leaves out the whole capturing and lovingly imprisoning all of the Jedi of course).

Reader grew up on a farm with barely any contact with anybody aside from their parents (the other kids on Lothal find reader creepy for some reason) so speaking with Hunter is a breath of fresh air.

Reader rambles on about how boring life on the farm is and how they were lucky their parents even let them get a job in town since they’re so overprotective.

Reader winds up feeling guilty for making Hunter uncomfortable at first due to them staring at him and then info dumping on him. Eventually reader offers to pay for the Marauder’s fuel as an apology for wasting the man’s time.

Hunter and reader wind up talking for so long that the rest of the batch come looking for their leader, only to find him lightly bickering with a kid about how it’s not necessary for them to pay for his fuel for simply looking at him a little too long.

Hunter suddenly remembers he has a duty and mission to complete and goes into leader mode, discussing with the others on where they should land the ship for the night so they have a place to stay.

Reader casually offers the empty field on their family’s farm since they wouldn’t have to pay for it like the ship docking spots in town. Reader also mentions harvest season just passed and their father has a tendency to cook an excess of food.

Wrecker is sold on the idea immediately upon the offer of free food and begs his brothers to take up the offer.

Hunter, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair are made suspicious by the generosity and Crosshair is the one to ask what the catch is.

Reader simply made the offer in hopes of learning more about these strange off-worlders and decides to (naively) strike a deal.

“No catches, no fees. All is ask is each of you give me your best stories from your travels across the galaxy. Deal?”

The batch takes them up on their offer and soon find themselves following the kid home. As they travel, the batch all start noticing things. All of them had been around force sensitive children for some time now and had learned about the small habits that most force sensitives had. Maybe reader answers any questions they have before the batch can even ask them. Almost like they read the batch’s minds. The batch quickly notice that reader’s reflexes are just a little too fast for a normal person. None of them really need the confirmation but Tech discretely uses a scanner to check reader’s medicloroan count and it’s a higher amount than most.

By the time the Marauder is nearing reader’s farm the entire batch knows they’re taking this kindhearted and naive little force sensitive back with them to Kamino. Now they just need to decide if they need to “take care of” reader’s family before they go.

They land and reader runs up to the house where their very confused mother is waiting in the front yard. Every member of the batch is stunned when they get a good look at reader’s mother. The woman quite literally looks exactly like an adult version of Omega. It’s almost frightening.

Reader’s mother doesn’t entirely know how to feel about the strangers (given she got her memories about the clone war wiped it’s likely she doesn’t realize they’re clones. Let alone clones of her brother)

Reader’s mother introduces herself as Arla Jussik-Fett. At the same time, Bardin steps out of the house and upon seeing the clones, freezes.

Now, Lothal is an isolated planet, far from the republic. (Exactly the reason he chose to live there)

So Bardin had only heard whispers and warped rumors about what the clones had been doing. As far as he knew, Jedi and force sensitives found by clones were never seen again. Of course Bardin is going to assume they came to kill him and his family.

He never stopped carrying his lightsaber out of cautiousness and already has his hand on it out of instinct.

Reader notices their dad standing close-by and waved him over.

“Buir! You’ll agree with me! Mom doesn’t agree but don’t you think these guys look like ba’vodu Jango?”

All hell breaks loose after that.

Clone force 99 is #shook and Bardin runs to stand between his family and the clones.

“Cyar’ika, ad’ika, go inside and lock the door.” He order, activating his lightsaber.

Reader is VERY scared by the sudden tenseness that’s taken over. Bardin and Arla share a look and Arla quickly takes reader inside.

Bardin and the Bad Batch take a long few minutes to size one another up. After some time Bardin finally speaks.

“We will give you all one chance to turn around and walk away.”

Crosshair pops a toothpick in his mouth and takes a moment to scan the area.

“We?”

“We.” Bardin nods.

Just then the shot of a sniper rifle rings out. The end of the toothpick in Crosshair’s mouth splinters and is left charred as a blaster bolt just grazes the tip of it. The bolt doesn’t hurt a hair on the clone’s head, but is definitely WAY too close for comfort.

The batch quickly trace the origin of the shot to the front-facing window in the second story of the house where Arla is standing with a rifle pointed down at them.

Arla, despite having lived a fairly quiet and domestic life the past few years, is still a dead on shot. She was a very successful assassin for the Death Watch after all.

Hitting the toothpick was a warning shot. Crosshair would have dropped had it not been.

“My riduur is right.” Arla shouts down from the open window. “He’s not really the one you need to be worried about.”

Both Bardin and Arla lived difficult lives and as a result were very particular about security and protecting their home. They wanted to make it so their ad’ika could maintain their innocence. Unfortunately this resulted in reader being extremely sheltered and completely banned from learning how to use their force powers.

After a lot of struggle, Bardin and Arla manage to escape with reader by the skin of their teeth.

So, TBB return to Kamino to share their strange news.

They bring the name Arla Fett up to the Alpha clones and they’re vaguely aware of the name as Jango had mentioned her fondly once or twice.

The news quietly spreads around Kamino as a rumor. Some clones are absolutely enthralled by the concept of a new addition to the family. Others are cautious upon finding out Arla was once part of the Death Watch and are against the idea of bringing someone like her near their Jedi.

Some shinnies make the joke that the Fett genetics must give them a type since Arla herself married a Jedi just like so many of her brother’s clones.

A few of the clones wonder if Arla shares their yandere tendencies. Some clones are already referring to her as Ori’vod Arla and joking about how they wonder if Bardin Jussik is good enough for their big sis. And then some clones just don’t care.

Meanwhile the squad once run by Bardin Jussik is ecstatic to find out their precious general was alive after all. WITH A WIFE NO LESS! Suffice to say they are stoked.

The news about Bardin and Arla’s force sensitive kid is far less widespread or just gets overshadowed.

Since Bardin is off the grid the clones have no idea where he would go. They ask around the Jedi on Kamino but Bardin was never very friendly with any of them. So they instead decide to see what they can find about Arla. Thanks to Emperor Vader the clones are given access to Arla’s arrest records and the subsequent psychiatric treatments she received while in prison.

When it’s revealed that Arla was essentially enslavement by the Death Watch and used as a soldier it’s like a switch is flipped. Every last clone on Kamino suddenly realizes that the Death Watch did to Arla exactly what the Republic did to them. She really is their sister. A kindred spirit.

Cue the most quietly chaotic custody battle in history with various clone groups and individuals trying to figure out who gets to bring their dear sister and her Jedi husband home to Kamino.

It doesn’t really matter who does it bc the second she’s there she won’t be leaving. With the combined power of the entirety of Kamino it doesn’t take long to find the Jussik-Fett family.

And when they find out about reader? Their ori’vod’s precious ad’ika who’s force sensitive?!

Every single clone is obsessed and wants to be the best uncle.

Every. Single. Clone.

(I have no idea how that would work out but I feel like the clones would find a way to organize it without completely overwhelming their ori’vod’s dear ad’ika)

Reader’s little family of three suddenly gets much MUCH bigger.

I can see Bardin Jussik being absolutely miserable after being wrangled onto Kamino. (He is absolutely not going without one hell of a fight. He is dragged in kicking and screaming)

The guy left the Jedi order in favor of a mandalorian lifestyle bc he hated the rigidity and hypocrisy of the Jedi. He hated how he couldn’t use his abilities to help more people just because the republic said he wasn’t allowed. Being constantly surrounded by the various Jedi artifacts spread around Kamino would most likely make him feel even more trapped than the bars of the cell that he was kept in before he finally calmed down and stopped biting any clone who would come near.

But he wouldn’t exactly have a chance to escape, especially not with his wife and child! The man would rather die than leave his family alone with the obsessed clones.

I can see him assisting in escapes, but not going with whoever gets loose. He always makes sure he won’t be tied back to the jailbreak so he and his family don’t get in trouble or separated as a punishment.

(The clones quickly figure out the best way to keep him from trying anything is threatening to take his wife and reader away)

Arla would probably be conflicted about the situation. While she knows being imprisoned on Kamino is supposed to be terrible, she’s happy to be given a second chance at being a sister to Jango. Even if she knows the clones aren’t exactly him (mentally and emotionally that is). She has been in an abusive hostage situation before (Death Watch) but for some reason to her, this time it’s different…? The clones don’t burn a brand into her back like the Death Watch did. They don’t give her scars, don’t chain her up. They never hurt her. They are soft and loving, looking UP to her for guidance and making sure SHE is comfortable being called ori’vod and acting as an older sister to all of them. Many clones go to her for parenting advice and sometimes just to excitedly talk about their day or ask about hers.

Arla’s mental health has been cracked from a young age. The clones somewhat use this to their advantage. Arla knows that what the clones are doing to the Jedi is wrong, but she also doesn’t entirely see the harm in it?

So many of the families living on Kamino are happy and healthy and everyone cares about one another. And Arla knows that as long as she stays, she’ll be surrounded by family and friends and love. She wouldn’t have to worry about armored soldiers bursting through the door and gunning down her family in front of her. Not again.

She knows Bardin is dissatisfied, and restless and she feels terrible for wanting to stay, but as long as she stays on Kamino, she knows her family is safe.

Reader starts off ecstatic. FINALLY having friends and family who understand them, and mentors willing to help them use the force properly. But before long they start feeling trapped again. Reader realizes they may have traded one prison for another. Lothal for Kamino. They still find themselves wanting to explore the stars. Reader eventually approaches ba’vodu Hunter and asks him if they can come along on the batch’s next expedition.

Hunter flat out says no. The Alphas are strictly against it. Reader asks around and literally every clone on Kamino says no to letting reader come along off world. It’s too dangerous out there for a naive little one like reader! They’re too sweet! Too innocent! (They are also literally getting close to being 18 and very much not a child anymore)

And reader finally realizes the mess they accidentally brought upon themself.

one day they defeatedly walk up to Hunter, take a seat next to him, tiredly leaning their head on his shoulder.

“Remember that deal we made when we first met? And you promised to give me your best story about one of your adventures? I’m ready to hear it now…”

I’d love to know your thoughts on this! I’d love to know what you think would go differently. This wound up being a lot longer than I thought it would but I figured you might find it interesting!

Your work is amazing, I think it’s SUPER creative. Please don’t forget to take care of yourself and have an amazing day!

I actually love this.

I dont have a whole lot.more to add except jango fett is still alive in my au. So that would make things extra interesting for aarla.

Also, Bardin and Vera would vibe. She orchestrates a majority of the successful escapes from kamino, and is glad to have his help.

#yandere clones #yandere clone family au #clone wars #clone family au

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pinkapet-rates-anime · 7 months

Text

I'm talking about One Piece again, not sorry. I'm never sorry for gushing about the best pirate show EVER!

How Luffy recruited his crew- abridged edition

The simplest but also the funniest way I can describe the way the crew got together.

Koby- The notorious sword fighter Roronoa Zoro is on this island! He hunted pirates, you should leave immediately!

Luffy- Hell nah, I want that guy on my crew! He sounds cool!

Zoro- Go away, I can handle this on my own!

Helmeppo- *Plans to break the deal he made with Zoro.*

Luffy- Hell no! *Saves Zoro.*

Zoro- If I had died I would never be able to be the world greatest swordsman, thanks I guess. I suppose your my captain now.

Luffy- This clown guy is annoying. *Beats up Buggy and helps Nami.*

Luffy- You should join my crew!

Nami- Ok! *Already planning to rob them blind.*

Luffy- *Meets a weird dude with a long nose, a slingshot, and a compulsive lying issue.*

Luffy- I like this dude.

Usopp- My island is being attacked by pirates!

Luffy- *Helps with the pirate problem.*

Merry & Kaya- *Gives them the Going Merry as a thank you gift.*

Luffy- Come on Usopp, I know you wanna join!

Usopp- Fine! I'll become a warrior of the sea, like my deadbeat dad!

The Crew- *Hops on a restaurant boat for food, and meets a weird chef with swirl eyebrows.*

Luffy- Hey, join us!

Sanji- Dude, no. I'm not leaving this restaurant.

Don Krieg- *Attacks the restaurant.*

Luffy- *Deals with it, as per usual*

Zoro- Fight me! *Says Zoro, to the greatest swordsman he could never hope to beat, because he has the crazy goal of being the greatest swordsman.*

Mihawk- *Severely wounds Zoro.*

Sanji- You guys all have dreams just as crazy as mine, might as well join you.

Nami- *Steals everything from the Strawhats to make money.*

Luffy- Nah, not gunna bug her.

Arlong- *Has somebody steal the funds to by her home island from Nami, to force her to basically continue being his slave.*

Nami- Luffy... help.

Luffy- *Zero questions asked takes off to go beat that dude Arlong just because she asked for his help.*

Luffy- *Almost dies doing this, but nevertheless the mad lad does it.*

Nami- I'll actually join this time, no more robbing you guys.

Nami- *Gets really sick and almost dies.*

Luffy- A musician can wait for now, let's get her help. *Almost dies getting her help*

Chopper- *Accidentally gets spotted by Luffy, who immediately sees a reindeer and thinks "Dinner!"*

Chopper- *Transforms to get away.*

Luffy- Holy shit, a monster! Join my crew!

Chopper- *Offended by being called a monster, runs away.*

Sanji- Luffy is a monster too. Dude is literally made outta rubber.

Chopper- *Sense of camaraderie, but not enough yet.*

Luffy- *Helps him see his adoptive fathers dream through.*

Kureha- Go on kiddo, join em.

Chopper- Fine! Also I'm a doctor!

Luffy- Sweet, we needed one of those!

Robin- Theres no point in living, my research is going nowhere. Let me die.

Luffy- Absolutely not! *Saves her by force.*

Robin- You forced me to stay alive, guess I'm your problem now.

Franky- *Steals all the money from the Strawhats so they can't afford to fix the Going Merry, or buy a new ship.*

Luffy- Dude wtf. *Wrecks his base, but the money is already spent and gone.*

Usopp- I see your willingness to move on from the Merry as a personal attack, but I won't tell you that. Byeeee.

Robin- *Lets herself get arrested and sentenced to death to protect the crew.*

The Crew- Oh helllll nah! Get back here!

Franky- *Kidnaps Usopp as retribution, not knowing the situation of him leaving.*

Franky- Dude your ship is about to fall apart, let her rest.

Usopp- I know that! But the Merry is important, and also I saw a ghost fix her once.

Franky- Dude that ghost WAS the Merry. She talked to you because she loves you guys.

Government- *Kidnaps Franky and Usopp too.*

Franky- You have good friends Robin, maybe you should just let them save you.

Robin- No, I'm doing this for them.

The Crew- We literally don't want you to do that.

The Crew- *Literally wages war on the government to get their friend back.*

The Going Merry- *Saves the crew before having a tragic funeral as sea.*

Franky- You guys need a boat. It just so happens I used the money I stole from you to buy this epic wood to make a boat out of. You guys practically payed, so you can have it.

Luffy- Awesome! Now join us!

Franky- No.

Literally like a fifth of the population of Waters 7- *Steals his speedo in an elaborate game of keep away to get him to go to the Strawhats.

Luffy- Join or you can't have these back.

Robin- *Twists his balls to force him to join.*

Franky- Christ, fine.

Luffy- Holy crap guys it's a talking skeleton! Let's go talk to him!

Half the Crew- Absolutely not.

Luffy- We are doing this y'all.

Brook- Hello! Miss may I see your panties? *Asks the 90 year old skeleton dude*

Nami- Wtf? Absolutely not.

Luffy- Join us!

Brook- Yes!

Half the Crew- Luffy no...

Brook- I can sing and play instruments!

Luffy- Fuck yes a musician, finally!

Brook- My shadow was stolen so I'd die in the sun. Can't join, gotta get it back, don't follow me, BYEEEE! *Runs on the water and leaves.*

The Crew- *Accidentally ends up in the same place Brook went.*

The Crew- Oh shit zombies!

Luffy- Awesome! I wish all these monsters would join the crew!

The Crew- Dude... why.

Half the Crew- *Gets their shadows stolen by the same dude who stole Brooks.*

Brook- Use salt, it works.

Luffy- *Beats up a giant zombie with his shadow in it, and then beats up the warlord who steals the shadows.*

Luffy- Brook, join us.

Brook- No, sadly I cannot. As the last living member of my crew, I have a duty to our friend the whale, Laboon.

Luffy- Oh that whale? We know him! I drew our Jolly Roger on his face, he's a buddy of mine.

Brook- Guess I'm joining!

Jinbe- Luffy, buddy, come to the fish man island and say hi!

The Crew- *Immediately causes chaos.*

Jinbe- Dude please stop.

Luffy- Haha, no. So who do I needa punch to get you to join us?

Jinbe- I can't dude. Love you man, but I have prior arrangements.

Luffy- *Fixes the problem on the island*

Luffy- Ok now join us.

Jinbe- Busy.

Luffy- *More chaos.*

Jinbe- Fiiiiine. *Severs Ties with the Big Mom crew and joins them.*

#one piece spoilers #one piece #Luffy #monkey d Luffy #roronoa zoro #vinsmoke sanji #nami #tony tony chopper #franky #jinbe #nico di angelo #god usopp

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frozenjokes · 9 months

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Signing Off - 3

Prev/Next

GRIAN

The crows nest smashing back into the ship sent Grian and Scar flying in separate directions, releasing the smaller man from his former leader’s chokehold. Grian clutched at his own neck, but he had no time to dwell. He had to get out of here. He needed Mumbo- a dinghy or some sort of floatation device. Anything. He couldn’t think about the storm- how unlikely he was to survive, even if he could escape Scar.

Pearl didn’t care about why Scar was doing this. She hadn’t at least, when she was about to kill him, but Grian couldn’t move past it. What had changed? What had they done to deserve this? Just yesterday, Scar had been sitting with him as he ate, weak from fever. He was still weak. Still sick. But he couldn’t let his pounding head stop him. He needed to save Mumbo.

Grian scrambled forward, slipping on the slick, now splintered floorboards. The post had gone directly through the captain’s quarters, graciously missing the crew’s own quarters next door. He clambered through the doorway and slammed the door shut behind him, shoving a small side table, a mattress, anything he could find in front of the door that might slow Scar down.

“Ah! Ahah aH-“ Grian threw his hands over his eyes, backing from the door to sit on the foot of Mumbo’s bed. He felt- no- heard? no- knew something move beside him, giving him space. Grian blinked. Mumbo? Could Mumbo move? He shoved tears or rainwater, probably both, out of his eyes, turning only to be face to face with the ethereal outline of Impulse. Grian screamed, falling off the edge of the bed.

Impulse’s blank eyes looked quite alarmed, and he scooched back further, melted partially through Mumbo’s body, then stumbled to his feet. Impulse spoke, or at least, his mouth opened and closed rapidly, but no sound came out. Seeing the ghost of his dead friend was apparently low on the list of ‘Most Alarming Things Grian Has Seen Today,’ because he didn’t find himself all too frightened. It seemed silly to be scared when the real monster was just outside.

“I can’t hear.. Is Mumbo with you? Is he okay?”

Impulse tried to answer, but put a fist over his mouth, eyes narrowed in thought. He shook his head, looking mournfully at his own body. When Grian followed Impulse’s gaze, the other man tripped forward to block Grian’s view. It was like looking through water, but Impulse couldn’t shield him from seeing it completely. Grian wretched, covering his own eyes before moving to Mumbo’s side and turning his back to Impulse’s corpse.

“You’re still alive then?” Grian took Mumbo’s limp hand from its place at the edge of the bed. He was so still. Grian nearly cried when Mumbo opened his eyes to meet his own, allowing himself a moment to lose himself in them. To pretend like everything was alright.

“I don’t think I can save you. I don’t even think I can save me. I don’t see a way out of here without going through Scar, and.. I just can’t face him. I’m not like Pearl.”

Mumbo broke his gaze as he looked to the door. Grian squeezed his hand, not wanting to follow his line of sight. He wasn’t ready. He needed more time. But Mumbo didn’t look afraid, even with his limited range of motion, so when his friend closed his eyes, Grian forced himself to turn around.

Pearl and Impulse were hugging in the doorway, Pearl patting his back as Impulse cried. Impulse spoke rapidly to her, and at first she looked as if she was trying to calm him down, but it seemed Impulse struck a chord when the two of them froze. Then slowly, they turned to Grian.

Not a moment passed before Pearl broke away, getting right into Grian’s face and speaking (nothing) with urgency. Grian yelped, falling off the bed for the second time today and scrambling away, but Pearl followed closely, lifting off her feet to float above him. Grian recognized his name on her tongue, probably frustrated he wasn’t responding. Impulse pulled her away by the hood, yelling something he couldn’t hear as the momentum carried both ghosts to the other side of the room. Grian gave Mumbo a bewildered look. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining a smile on Mumbo’s pale face.

Pearl and Impulse seemed to have collected themselves, returning to stand next to Mumbo’s bed. Grian joined them, but sat awkwardly instead.

“I feel like I’m going to have to get really good at reading lips really fast,” Grian said, forcing a smile. Impulse returned it with a hearty thumbs up while Pearl paced. Her eyes lit up as they settled on Impulse’s corpse, hopping over. Impulse was tripping over himself trying to follow and block Grian’s view, but she pushed him away. Grian’s face paled.

“I don’t want to see it, Pearl.”

‘Don’t be a pussy, Grian!’ Pearl said, probably. Grian’s eyes were covered, so he wasn’t quite sure. He felt Impulse’s presence next to him on the bed, and uncovered his eyes. Impulse gave him a sad look, gesturing with his head. Grian sighed. He steeled himself, balling his fists. He looked. And then he threw up. Given how sick he had been yesterday and this morning, it was honestly a miracle this was the first time today. It wasn’t like this was the first dead body he’d ever seen, but it was different when it was one of his best friends.

When he could stand to look again, Pearl was making quite a few dramatic stabbing motions, spurred on by Impulse’s chuckling. She was so focused on making him laugh, she didn’t notice Grian was done until he cleared his throat. Pearl straightened up, looking embarrassed, then pointed directly at Impulse’s sword, still stuck in its sheath. Stab Stab.

“Pearl, I can not beat Scar in a sword fight, he’ll crush me.”

Impulse patted Grian’s back, a gesture he couldn’t feel, and gave him an encouraging smile. Pearl stabbed the air again, more aggressively.

‘You don’t have a choice’ Grian guessed is what she snapped, but he saw the stress in her eyes.

“I’m sorry! You know it’s true! I can’t beat you or Impulse in a spar either, and it’s honestly a fifty/fifty on whether I can beat Mumbo! I need to do something else.. maybe if I can steal Scar’s gun? Do you think he still has it?”

Pearl frowned, but nodded. She still pointed adamantly at the sword, and Grian was sure she wouldn’t stop until he took it. He stood from his place on the bed, but froze when he heard a knock on the door. Pearl and Impulse stopped as well, and even Mumbo opened his eyes.

“Hey, Grian! I know you’re saying your goodbyes and I wanted to let you know I’ve been very patient waiting for you while you talk to yourself and everything, but the ship is like, super duper sinking and I’m wanting to deal with you before I get out of here. Or don’t! I’m sure you would also prefer to not die.”

“Leave me alone!”

“So.. is that a yes to dying then..? If you could hurry things up..”

“I can’t beat you!” Grian slammed his fists against the door, the backs of his hands still bleeding from Scar’s blade.

“No, you probably can’t. Pearl almost got me though! Hm.. I see the issue. What’s fair then? Clearly you don’t want to fight with swords. No offense, but I’m not giving you my gun either. Feel any better about knives?”

“You’re serious? A fight on my terms?” Grian could practically hear Pearl screaming behind him, berating him for trusting Scar for even a second. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the door.

“Whatever you want. I’d rather die at your hand than in these waves. Can’t say I thought too far ahead.”

“Then why did you do this in the first place!” Grain yelled, slamming his fists against the door once more. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t silence. “Damnit Scar, you didn’t just wake up one morning and decided to ruin everyone’s life did you? Ruin your own life? Everything we’ve built?”

“Time’s up, Grian. Come out now.”

“Scar!”

“How do you want to do this?”

“Fine!” Grian threw the mattress out of the way from the door, then the side table, and then everything else in his way. He kicked scraps of garbage, he kicked his own bed, he threw things around and screamed until even Pearl started to look alarmed. She got in front of him and waved her hands. Grian glared, stopping only to see what she wanted. She put her hands down slowly, mouthing at him to calm down. She pointed slowly to Impulse’s sword. Grian shook his head. He sped to the door, gripped the handle, and yanked it open.

“We’re going to fight.”

“Uh, yeah, I hope so.”

“No. With nothing. Drop everything.”

“Oh really?” Scar’s eyes flitted to the space behind him, where Pearl and Impulse were surely standing.

“Back up. Come on.” Grian pushed him back, anger driving him on despite his exhaustion. He could win, he knew he could somehow, but something wasn’t quite right. They couldn’t do this here.

“Yeesh! Anyone might think you were the captain of this ship.”

Grian punched him. This wasn’t the right time- the right place- something - but he couldn’t stop himself. Scar lost the right to that title. If Grian had anything to say about it, Scar would never get to call himself that again. When Scar hit back, Grian heard the voices of Pearl and Impulse cheering him on. He stumbled, cradling his face in his hands. Rain flowed past his shoes like a waterfall as the sinking ship increased its tilt. So easy to slip.

“Having second thoughts?” Scar was waiting. Of course he was waiting. Grian gritted his teeth. He would not fall.

Grian ran forward again, feigning a hit before slipping behind Scar and aiming for his injured shoulder, earning a pained gasp for his trouble. Scar was stronger, yes, but Grian was faster. He could wear him down. Scar kicked out behind him, but Grian hopped away, just out of reach.

“Quick,” Scar grunted, but Grian wasn’t going to give him the time to talk and recover, dashing in for another punch. But Scar was already winding back, skimming Grian’s shoulder with the same hit that had folded Pearl and forcing him into an awkward backpedal. The rain bore down on his clothes, the all encompassing weight begging him to fall. Grian narrowed his eyes, turning to strike at Scar’s stomach, only to feel the weight of both Scar’s fists on his back. He crumpled to his hands and knees with a gasp, but didn’t have the time to think before a hefty kick to his stomach sent him flying.

The running water felt nice on the side of his face. His shattered breathing seemed to matter less, his aching body, his pounding head.

“Get up, Grian!” Pearl screamed, and he saw a strand of her silvery hair pass in front of his face.

“Come on, buddy!” Impulse joined her, “You’ve got this!”

“What are you going to do?” Grian heard the smile on Scar’s lips, the illusion of choice clear in his voice. The same question he had asked when Grian entered the crew’s quarters to see him hunched over Impulse’s gurgling frame. The same question he had asked when he had recruited Grian onto his ship, promising things he could never possibly achieve. Grian dug his nails into the splintering wood. He dragged himself to his knees.

And then Scar kicked him. Again. And again. And again. And

#hermitcraft #grian #gtws #goodtimeswithscar #gtwscar #pirates smp #p!scar #boatem #impulsesv #mumbo jumbo #pearlecentmoon #third life #I mean there’s third life references take your crumbs #desert duo #boatemghostsau

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qierxing · 2 years

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Under the Sea

Yan! Leona Kingscholar x Reader

Halloween AU

CW/TW: Reader is noted with both she and they pronouns interchangeably due to their fluid state of being but is still considered G/N overall

“If you choose to lock your heart away, you’ll lose it for certain.”

–

Dead men tell no tales, they said.

Sailing would be easy, they said.

Did they think about the repercussions of unforetold supernatural problems?

The rancid smell of seaweed and brine makes your nose scrunch as you’re hauled up and thrown roughly onto your knees, shredding even more of your nice clothing. You doubt the cold hands cared though. After all, what is one puny mortal against a whole ship full of undead pirates?

“This one ‘ere’s seems to be the ca’pn, sir.” A guttural growl echoes above you, and murmurs of more crewmates surround you.

It was a good run, you thought to yourself. You fought till the end, until your daggers and saber were knocked out of your hands, your skin slashed and bruised, and till they had to pin you down from causing more trouble. It was more than what you could say for your own crewmates, the traitorous, cowardly scum, leaving you immediately and trying to flee with their own lives. Didn’t matter though, because they were all immediately slaughtered without mercy. You’d have more pity for them dying in their own pools of blood if they didn’t abandon you first.

A barnacle covered boot tips your chin up, and you’re face to face with a smug man, piercing green eyes, dark hair like coal tied in dreads and braids, tall and lithe figure to boot. The captain of this crew, no doubt.

“You. Herbivore. What’s yer name?”

People back home called you many names. The looney merchant. A superstitious fanatic. Raving madman on the better days. Today, you can now safely say they’re all fitting.

“...[First]. [First] [Last].” You cough up, after the boot digs into the crook of your chin and head, causing an unbearable pressure on your throat. The pressure removes itself and you’re left choking for air while the man hums in thought.

“Well, ca’pn Leona?” The voice behind you asks. A scrawny, weasley sounding voice. Must be the one who binded you. “Dunno why you kept this one alive.”

You could practically hear the grin in the next words.

“‘Cuz they got some worth to ‘em right now.”

–

“Have ye heard about the myth of Calypso?”

The name sets you on edge immediately. A pirate asking after the revered primordial sea goddess? That can only mean…

“Who hasn’t?” You shrug your shoulders flippantly. “Every child in a coastal town has heard about how she controls the seas and watches over sailors.”

An annoyed growl is your response. It seems your hunch was correct. “Not that, idiot. I meant about her curse.”

Aha.

“Curse?”

The captain gnashes his canines impatiently. “The one where she curses her lover for leaving her.”

“Ah, that. Yes, I’m acquainted.” You decide to stop teasing him and see where this leads.

“I need ta find her ring.” Silence reigns. You furrow your brows and cross your arms.

“You mean, the one that so happens to be dropped into the ocean, never to be seen again? The one where Calypso, herself, has been rumored to destroy? That ring?”

“Yes, that damn ring!” The ghost snarls, banging his fist on the desk, causing documents and books to fall off. “I need to find that ring so I can finally–!”

“That ring has been gone for more than a millenia. Scratch that, it’s not even proven to ever have existed.” You interrupt, uncrossing your arms, leaning brazenly on the rickety oak desk. “And yet, you’re wanting to stake your undead life on this trinket?”

A knife is driven a finger’s width away from your hand. You don’t blink as the captain’s face becomes inches away from your own. “What does a mortal know about being undead?! What do ye know of–” He cuts himself off, a pained look clouding his eyes. You only observe as he breathes in deeply.

“Alright. I’ll help you find it.” His head whips up in surprise. “On several conditions.”

He smirks. “Negotiatin’? You’ve got guts. Name ‘em.”

“One, that you promise not to kill or harm me at any point, especially after our deal is over. Second, once this is all over, you’ll return me back to land. Third and finally, you return my belongings back from your loot.”

The captain mulls over your words, deep in thought. Beads of sweat run down your back. It was a daring bluff, but if you were kept alive this long, it had to be for something!

He runs his hand down his face, groaning. “You drive a steep price. Fine. It’s a deal.”

A crack of an incoming thunderstorm echoes as you both shake hands.

–

You were many things. You were once a privateer. A bartender. Even a librarian at some point, shelving books for hours till the daylight blended to blue darkness.

But never, in your entire life, have you been made to scrub deck floorboards.

The sun beating down upon your aching figure feels like salt on top of many wounds. The biting smell of lye only makes your head spin and fingers burn.

Worth? Was your worth really amounting to just being a ship’s hands?!

Unbelievable. You end up slipping and nearly falling on your face into the bubbly mess. Left alive, but only to be doing dirty work for ghost pirates. If only the people back home could see you now…

“Shihehehe! Nice work, newbie. Cap’n Leona wants ta see you now, by the way.” The weasley voice! You look up to see squinty gray eyes and sharp teeth, all in a narrow face. There’s something unnerving about the way the ghost leans over you with his smirk, as if he’s a beast ready to devour its prey.

Shaking away the bubbles and your shame, you silently march right past him and into a sturdy chest.

“Oi, watch where ya goin’!” An angry rumble shakes you back to view the familiar face with silver hair and golden eyes that pushed you down back then. You stand your ground as the both of you stare each other down.

“My bad.” The man grunts as you push past him. “What’s their problem?” is the last thing you hear before you’re out of earshot.

You’re in a foul mood by the time you see Leona’s mug, and it seems he is too.

“What’s the hold up on finding the ring?!” He growls. His clothes are a mess more than usual, hair rumpled, and even his desk is near inhabitable.

You huff. “If I wasn’t bogged down on ship chores perhaps I can work more on that map to get you there, Captain.”

“We’re short on manpower, if ye can’t tell. Also I can’t have ye havin’ enough time to go schemin’ behind me back.” You roll your eyes, walking up to his desk and yanking out a long parchment, causing a rather cute yelp from Leona.

“Hey–!” You unravel the aged parchment, scanning over the red lines and dots that circle the map.

“Wow, you’ve made no progress at all. Do you really wanna find this ring?” The parchment is snatched out of your hands as Leona angrily snarls.

“Shut yer trap! I’m workin’ on it.” You heave a long sigh, walking over to his desk and starting to arrange the scattered papers and books.

“What the hell are you doin’?”

“What does it look like? I’m helping organize your space. Since you’re ‘working’ on it, nothing wrong with making your environment better, no?”

He only grumbles in response, but a strangely comfortable silence falls as you both do your tasks, seemingly in tandem. The sound of the quill scribbling is rather nice on the ears as you put back books and sort papers into neat piles. It’s only when you’ve finally refilled his inkwell that you lean over his shoulder and take a look and whistle.

“Nice work, Captain! Now we’re getting somewhere!” You clapped him cheerily on the back without much thought, making him scoff.

“This much is nothin’, herbivore.” If you looked closer, you would’ve seen how he leant into your palm, eyes softening as his voice resembled one of looking at a lover.

–

The night sky has always been beautiful.

And as the stars twinkle above, you can hear the pirates singing their drinking songs, raucous and loud, but with whatever soul they have left in their rattling ribs.

Your drinks were pretty popular, once they found out you could make the most killer mixes out of whatever they had in stock. Ruggie, the silver eyed weasley pirate, became your instant friend as he handed out your brews to other eager crewmates.

“Shihehehe! Think of all the profit we could make outta this! Yo, Jack, come get some of this!” The younger man staggers under the weight of his drunk senior throwing himself onto him, grunting as he looks panicked.

When you break away for some peace, you find that your intended spot was already taken.

“Come ‘ere.” You blink, half turned in resignation at finding another stargazing spot.

“Are ya deaf? Come ‘ere.” Well, it’s not like you can turn down a command. You settle yourself down next to the lazing captain, looking up wistfully.

It’s a perfect clear sky. You wish you had your telescope with you. From here, you can see a bit of the Crux and then bits of the Centauri–

“We’re close to the ring, aren’t we?” You turn your head to observe a still Leona.

“Yes.”

A long pause.

“Why did ye agree to help me? I didn’ even hafta threaten ye all that much.”

You hum, eyes still fixated on the stars. “I could ask ya the same question of why you spared me, Captain.”

Another agonizing beat.

“I thought ya were a fool.” He shifts, shoulders popping and cracking. “All yer crewmates had the sense to run but ye just stood ya ground like ye weren’t up against the famous dread pirate Davy Jones.

I guess I can admire that kind of stupidity, ya know?”

You remain silent, throat closing in on itself. Silence returns, but you can no longer admire the stars before.

–

The shrine is ruined, as you expected. All that remains is a half buried altar in sand and broken shells and rocks around it.

“What the hell is this?”

“It is what you’re searching for.”

For someone to have been searching for this ring so desperately, he looks furious, enraged even. He clenches his hand around the silver tightly, hands trembling. Perhaps you should’ve been more sensitive than just plopping the trinket into his hands.

“How do I know yer not just trickin’ me with a fake?!” He roars, the cave around you echoing. Water drips from stalactites, plopping down into puddles surrounding your area.

You gesture towards the shrine carelessly. “Give it a try. It’s what you’ve been wanting all this time right?”

Leona’s eyes widened. “What do you–” “You wanted to be free, didn’t you?” You tilt your head, annoyed. “Well, this is it. Once you do the ritual with that ring and return it to Calypso, you’ll be free of your curse. Your love.”

“No.”

Your mouth purses at the ghost’s retort.

“I want to return to her.”

Something in you snaps.

“You left me.” It is not you speaking, but the sea. It wails and groans as the wind howls. “You do not get to choose to come back to me, not now.”

Water rises with your temper as Leona begins to comprehend what is going on. The stalactites tremble, ready to collapse under the pressure the water pounds upon the rocks. You slowly reach out your hand.

“Give me back my ring.” Your eyes glow, your mortal veil falling away like sand. This is your domain, where he left you to rot and cry out for him for many nights, until you could only pick your trembling bones up and out into the world. Stripped of your emotions, left to rage and scream at the sky, as you walked along the seafloor. For many moons, you wondered if you could ever live without him. As year by year passed, you wandered dry land to forget the aching pain in your heart.

You will make him regret ever wronging you.

“No.” Leona steps forward against the sloshing tides, now up to his knees. He bares his fangs.

“I won’t.”

“What are you doing–!? Give me–” You howl in rage as your outstretched arm is snatched and you’re wrenched into his arms, writhing in anger.

“I won’t let you go, ever again.” He whispers in your ear, and the last thing you register is the feeling of metal on your ring finger.

—

“It seems like the ship was ransacked by pirates.” The old man sighs, leaning back in his rocking chair.

“Really?” The child at his feet frowns. “But that nice sailor told me all sorts of cool stories…”

The old man shakes his head in disapproval. “Loads of tosh. That superstitious lunatic would only fill your head with stuff of fairytales. Forget it.”

The child looks out their window into the horizon, the sunset leaving shadows on the waves crashing onto the shore. He blinks, and for a moment, he swears he sees the silhouette of a large ship in the distance.

He rubs his eyes, and when he opens them again, it’s gone.

“How strange…”

He could've sworn the flag was a skull crossbones.

#yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst #my works #another word barf that worked out. nice #a small twist on pirates of carribean but this time reader gets to go crazy #this is rather tame for yandere fic lol

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twoidiotwriters1 · 13 days

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The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I need you to know that I headcanon Leo having a cowboy accent and that's how I usually try to write it -Danny Words: 1,906 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Walking Disasters' -by The Wombats

XLVII: Turn Down the Gospel Music, the Demons Are Still Here

The ceiling starts to collapse so Nico and Hazel have no choice but to transport them to the hillside near the River Acheron. It's a fresh morning, and the crew is safe and alive.

Leo stumbles, pale and shaky from shadow-traveling. "You know... I think I'll sit down."

They all sit to catch their breath, then Frank tells them what happened after they split.

"Frank is being modest," Jason intervenes after a moment. "He controlled the entire legion. You should've seen him. Oh, by the way..." He looks at Percy. "I resigned my office, gave Frank a field promotion to praetor. Unless you want to contest that ruling."

"No argument here," Percy smiles.

"Praetor?" Hazel beams at the boy.

"Well... yeah. I know it seems weird."

Hazel pecks his lips. "It seems perfect."

"Fitting," Ara agrees. "Having you as one of my right-hand leaders will be an honor."

The boy blushes and Leo pats his back effusively. "Way to go, Zhang. Now you can order Octavian to fall on his sword."

"Tempting," Frank smiles a little, then turns to Percy. "But, you guys... Tartarus has to be the real story. What happened down there? How did you...?"

Percy winces, reaching for Annabeth's hand. "We'll tell you the story. But not yet, okay? I'm not ready to remember that place."

Ara looks down and shakes her head. "It's my fault. There'll never be a way to make up for what I—"

"We're not blaming you," Annabeth cuts her off. "Closing the Doors of Death was something that had to be done. You thought it was your job but the fates had different plans..." The girl's eyes shine as she takes in Ara's appearance. "Your time here wasn't wasted."

Leo pulls her closer and smiles. "She's been nothing short of an atomic bomb with every bad guy we've encountered—she's all 'Hasta la vista, baby', and BOOM! Monster dust rains."

"That's a stretch," Ara blushes.

"I believe it," Percy smiles a bit.

"Look, our ride," Annabeth points at the ship approaching.

"That's my boy!" Leo says proudly, watching as the Argo II approaches them.

"About time!" Hedge shouts. "What took you so long, cupcakes? You kept your visitor waiting!"

"Visitor?" Hazel struggles to her feet.

"Oh, gods," Ara's mouth dries. "Reyna."

Ara didn't visit the Athena Parthenos during its time at the Argo II, she was too ashamed to look at it, thinking it would start berating her as soon as she got close. Now that it's standing on the hill, she looks at it in awe of its power and beauty.

"Incredible," Reyna mutters. "It looks newly made."

Ara thinks Reyna is just as impressive as the statue. She traveled alone with nothing but her pegasus and a sword, and still made it in one piece. If someone had told her Reyna was a goddess in disguise, Ara would've believed it.

"Yeah," Leo hums appreciatively from his spot on the grass. "We brushed off the cobwebs, used a little Windex. It wasn't hard."

"Hey, girls," Annabeth calls over to them. "Have some food. Join us."

The group is having a picnic under the shadow of the Argo II. Ara wants to nap more than she wants to eat, but she encourages Reyna to join. "C'mon, Praetor, you've had a long journey."

"All right," The group makes room for Reyna and she grabs a sandwich, staring at it before giving it a little bite. "So. Frank Zhang... praetor."

"Well, yeah. Field promotion," Frank hums, too focused on eating.

"To lead a different legion. A legion of ghosts."

"Reyna," Jason stays, "you should've seen him."

"He was amazing," Piper nods.

"Frank is a leader," Hazel states. "He makes a great praetor."

"I believe you," Reyna agrees. "I approve."

"You do?" Frank asks in surprise.

Reyna smiles shortly. "A son of Mars, the hero who helped to bring back the eagle of the legion... I can work with a demigod like that. I'm just wondering how to convince the Twelfth Fulminata."

"The legion will listen to you, Reyna," Frank replies. "You made it here alone, across the ancient lands."

"In doing so, I broke the laws of the legion."

"Caesar broke the law when he crossed the Rubicon—Great leaders have to think outside the box sometimes."

"I'm not Caesar. After finding Jason's note in Diocletian's Palace, tracking you down was easy. I only did what I thought was necessary."

"It's in your blood," Ara pokes the girl's back with her foot. "None of you can be denied of your right to be leaders. If your legion has a problem, they can talk to me about it."

Percy smirks. "There's that atomic bomb."

Leo and her brother chuckle like old buddies and Ara feels a mix of affection and concern. She likes that they're getting along, but it's a little worrying to think how they might team up to tease her in the future.

"So, the twenty-million-peso question," Leo says. "We got this slightly used forty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?"

"As fine as it looks on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it," Reyna replies. "According to Annabeth, it must be returned to Camp Half-Blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?"

"I had a dream down in... you know, Tartarus. I was on Half-Blood Hill, and Athena's voice said, I must stand here. The Roman must bring me."

"It makes sense," Nico responds. "The statue is a powerful symbol, a Roman returning it to the Greeks... that could heal the historic rift, maybe even heal the gods of their split personalities."

"Now, hold on. I like peace as much as the next satyr—"

"You hate peace," Leo interrupts Hedge.

"The point is, Valdez, we're only—what, a few days from Athens? We got an army of giants waiting for us there. We went to all the trouble of saving this statue—"

"I went to most of the trouble," Annabeth scowls.

"—because that prophecy called it the giants' bane—So why aren't we taking it to Athens with us? It's obviously our secret weapon. It looks like a ballistic missile to me. Maybe if Valdez strapped some engines to it—"

"Uh, great idea, Coach," Piper says. "But a lot of us have had dreams and visions of Gaea rising at Camp Half-Blood... Since we got back to the ship," she draws out her dagger. "I've been seeing some bad stuff in the knife. The Roman legion is almost within striking distance of Camp Half-Blood. They're gathering reinforcements: spirits, eagles, wolves."

"Octavian," Reyna scowls. "I told him to wait."

"When we take over command, our first order of business should be to load Octavian into the nearest catapult and fire him as far away as possible," Frank makes a face.

"That can be arranged," Ara crosses her arms. "But if Reyna is meant to take the statue, she can't do it alone. Some of us must go with her, to ensure the quest succeeds."

The thought of parting ways isn't happy, but they know Ara's right. Reyna can't transport the statue alone, and they can't spare the ship. "You're not going," Leo says, almost like an order.

Ara frowns. "Excuse me?"

Reyna intervenes. "Valdez is right. Your place is in the main quest."

"My place is wherever I say it is," she replies stubbornly. "Besides, Romans and Greeks here means a Roman and a Greek should go on your quest to keep things even."

"Yeah, but you're the Strategus, we need you for the big fight. I should go with Reyna," Frank says. "If I'm a praetor, I should go. Maybe we could rig some sort of sled, or—"

"No, Frank Zhang. I hope we will work side by side in the future, but for now your place is with the crew of this ship. You are one of the seven of the prophecy."

"I'm not," Nico points out.

"Nico—" Hazel starts, but he interrupts her.

"I'll go with Reyna. I can transport the statue with shadow-travel."

"Uh..." Percy frowns. "I mean, I know you just got all eight of us to the surface, and that was awesome. But a year ago you said transporting just yourself was dangerous and unpredictable. A couple of times you ended up in China. Transporting a forty-foot statue and two people halfway across the world—"

"I've changed since I came back from Tartarus," Nico says, unable to control his hostility towards the boy.

"Nico," Jason tries, "we're not questioning your power. We just want to make sure you don't kill yourself trying."

"I can do it. I'll make short jumps—a few hundred miles each time. It's true, after each jump I won't be in any shape to fend off monsters. I'll need Reyna to defend me and the statue," he locks eyes with Ara. "Please, trust me."

"My young brigadier, I trust you with my life." He scowls at her sarcasm, but Ara sees his soul light faintly glowing. "Nico is Greek and one of the best warriors I've had the pleasure to have under my command," Ara concedes.

"Very well," Reyna fixes her posture. "But there will be many monster attacks. I would feel better taking a third person."

"Coach Hedge," Frank offers quickly.

"Uh, what, Frank?"

"A satyr is of great importance in a quest, Percy," Ara intervenes quickly. "Hedge knows medicine, he's a good fighter and a good protector—Besides, the demigods under his care always reach camp in one piece."

"The coach is the best choice," Frank insists. "The only choice. He'll get the job done."

"A faun," Reyna raises a brow.

"Satyr! And, yeah, I'll go. Besides, when you get to Camp Half-Blood, you'll need somebody with connections and diplomatic skills to keep the Greeks from attacking you. Just let me go make a call—er, I mean, get my baseball bat."

As he hurries out of the scene giving them a brief but grateful look, Ara takes his seat next to Leo. "So that's settled! Mr Firecracker, can you pass me a drink?"

Leo hands her a plate of food and a juice box. Nico gets up and dusts off his hands. "I should go, too, and rest before the first passage. We'll meet at the statue at sunset."

"Nuh-uh!" Ara tosses him a wrapped sandwich. "Eat more!"

Nico curses under his breath in Italian, but he unwraps the sandwich and nibbles on it grumpily as he walks away.

"What's that about?" Percy raises a brow, mouth covered in chocolate syrup.

"What's what about?" Ara replies with her mouth full.

"You guys are friends now?"

The girl raises her brow. "Nico has always been my friend."

Hazel puts her plate down and interrupts their talk. "We're at another crossroads. The Athena Parthenos goes west. The Argo II goes east. I hope we chose correctly."

Ara looks around to confirm Janus isn't there. She ponders a moment before speaking. "I think it isn't a crossroad, Hazel. We're stuck in a straight path."

"One thing bothers me," Percy sighs. "If the Feast of Spes is in two weeks, and Gaea needs the blood of two demigods to wake—what did Clytius call it? The blood of Olympus? Then aren't we doing exactly what Gaea wants, heading to Athens? If we don't go, and she can't sacrifice any of us, doesn't that mean she can't wake up fully?"

"Percy, prophecies cut both ways," Annabeth holds his hand. "If we don't go, we may lose our best and only chance to stop her. Athens is where our battle lies. We can't avoid it. Besides, trying to thwart prophecies never works. Gaea could capture us somewhere else, or spill the blood of some other demigods."

Ara locks eyes with Leo. "Talking about prophecies... You need to hear mine."

Percy's expression shifts and she can almost hear his heart stopping. "You got a prophecy?"

"The General's ready for her sharing-is-caring session?" Piper puts her dagger away. "That means it's time for dessert!"

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicksh @ebony-reine-vibes

#twoidiots writing #pjo fanfic #leo valdez fanfic #doo #leo valdez x oc #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians

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uglypastels · 10 months

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Not Wholly Evil |IX| pirate!Eddie au [SFW]

this is the "censored" version of Chapter 9. If you wish to read the explicit version (18+ ONLY. Minors DO NOT interact) please check out:

Chapter 9 (not safe for work version)

Series Masterlist

word count: 11.4k

Chapter 9: Paragon

― Sabrina Jeffries, Dance of Seduction

‘I wanted to,’ you admitted. You still wanted to. Your thoughts had screamed through the night for an escape. Yet, something tied you down to this ship and made you return.

The candle's light fell upon him at angles that brought something new out in him or maybe revealed what had always been there. The signs of the wear and tear of a life at sea. He wasn’t hiding it any more, letting all that pain be visible, and he looked beautiful. You held back from reaching out and tracing the thin scar against his brow or the flawed line of his nose that must have been broken once. The longer you looked at him, the more you realised that you could look at him in this way forever.

And that scared you.

The ship creaked as the tide softly bounced off it. For the rest, it was uncharacteristically quiet on board.

‘Why did you? Leave the tavern, I mean.’ With your heart pounding in your throat, tightening your breath, you stepped toward him.

‘I noticed you were gone. Then I heard you had gone to the harbour with some man and I thought…. I grew worried.’

‘Why?’ You could not imagine him caring for you to go out, away from his crew and his festivities, to look for you.

‘Realised what?’ Considering your proximity and seclusion, you hadn’t meant to whisper, but it felt right.

‘That I was scared’ His breath was shaky as his eyes took all of you in. ‘Of loosing you.’

‘Are you still?’ He matched your hushed tone with his response. ‘Scared, I mean?’ The question was simple on its surface, but only the facade for an obliterating iceberg was the truth.

You pulled away, but your lips still shared the same breath. When you opened your eyes, you were met with his and how they were shaking with uncertainty as he took all of you in.

‘Is there something you’re still afraid of?’ you asked.

He had let his eyes fall to the ground. You reclaimed the one step he had made you take, closing the gap between you once more and letting your hand guide him to look up at you.

‘Answer me, captain.’ You kept your voice as steady as possible, regaining the confidence you had built up since you got onto the ship. ‘Was that a mistake?’

Hearing this did not put your mind at rest as you tried to grab his hand and inspect the damage more deeply, but he just pulled it away from you, instead taking your fingers in his and kissing your knuckles.

‘Don’t worry, my darling,’ he smiled while kissing your hand, ‘Can barely feel it.’

He had just made direct contact with fire; you doubted it would be alright, but then again, you had seen all the scars on his body. This would just be another small blister among the list of many. But you blinked the thought away. Tried your best not to think about the pain he had endured. You doubted he wanted you to feel pity for him and what had once happened to him.

The look in his eyes was adamant. He needed you to let it go, so all you could do was sigh.

‘You’ve gone mad.’

And soon, you managed to turn all these thoughts off and fall asleep. Except then, they came back even stronger and in the form of dreams. You found yourself back on the Red Tail. The hawk flapped its wings on the flag in the wind and every man’s uniform. The sun shone brightly in its last few minutes before hiding behind the horizon. It was a strange illusion as you stared down at the ship and the two figures that stood out looking at the sparkling sea. You watched yourself talking to Admiral Carver.

‘I would have imagined you to have grown tired of the water by now,’ he laughed.

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ he had his arms behind his back, ‘but everything is more bearable when there is something back home to look forward to.’

‘Yes, of course,’ He took a step closer to you, ‘but I will miss these moments.’

‘Taking our last chance before it’s too late.’ He leaned in again, and you stepped back.

‘What about your–’

‘So you’ll kiss Munson, but not me?’

‘Don’t trust him.’

‘What?’ You had tears in your eyes, and your wrist burned from his touch. There was another flash of light. Eddie stood before you again, just as you knew him.

‘Do not trust him.’

‘Sorry,’ his apology was muffled.

‘I was just on my way out,’ you muttered in the same awkward tone and walked past him.

‘Later,’ you pleaded. This was not the right time. You could tell that it would not end well if you stayed there.

And it was coming.

‘It probably won’t take much longer, don’t worry.’ Robin said, her shoulder slumping as she untied another knot to remake it.

‘I’m not worried,’ you admitted.

But it still did not feel right. Like a kink in your neck that you were trying to stretch out until it disappeared.

‘Can I ask you something?’ you said cautiously.

Robin glanced up from her rope. ‘You always scare me when you say that.’

‘I hadn’t noticed I did it often.’

‘You’re quite inquisitive. It’s commendable, but dangerous.’

‘Should I be scared?’ You blinked.

‘Not here, but in other parts of the world they’re not too keen on it, so just beware.’ She had tied a knot she couldn’t loosen anymore. ‘But what was your question?’

‘So, I didn’t need much convincing from the captain when he said that those— that those were bad men.’

‘He told you that my crew were bad men?’

You finished your conversation with Robin slowly, without any urgency to actually put it to an end. It must have been confusing to Robin, who saw how you tried to tie your sentences up to walk away, just to disentangle them just as she had been doing with her rope and keep pulling it back. Ultimately, she stopped it all and excused herself from the argument she needed back on her lookout post. She walked away, giving you this look that made it clear that she knew what you were planning to do and how apprehensive you were to do it. And whatever for? You had fought, punched, slapped and kissed Eddie in the past days without hesitation; why could you not just talk to him now?

‘I was just on my way out.’ He scratched his beard casually, but his eyes said enough about how similarly he felt about your sudden appearance.

‘I hoped we could talk,’ you blurted out, and Eddie blinked.

‘I’m sorry, ‘ you said breathlessly, ‘for everything I’ve done in the past few days.’

‘You have done nothing to apologise for.’ He sighed.

‘Why?’ was the only thing he said in response.

‘I am.’ You nodded your head lightly. ‘And I wish I could explain why. To you and to myself, but I simply do not know.’

‘Before I answer, I need to know your business with the admiral.’

‘What do you remember from that day?’ He looked at you, head cocked to the side as he studied your face. He saw you blink slowly, trying to understand what he was implying.

‘Whose canons?’ He stared at you blankly, and you mirrored him perfectly.

‘What?’

‘What canons did you hear go off? Who shot first?’ He did not say anything else, just stood still as you tried to reply with confidence that you lost as soon as you gave your answer some thought.

Everything had happened so quickly, and it was so loud. All you had tried was to block it out. But you heard the bangs. They came from all sides, but the first one... the first one was the closest.

Eddie must have seen the recognition on your face. 'I know that those people were your friends. And I am sorry that that is how things-'

'But you said I was not meant to be on board. You knew what ship it was.' You cut him off at the memory. 'You would have attacked either way, wouldn't you?'

‘It is not that simple.’ He shook his head.

‘Isn’t it?’

‘No, and I wish I could explain, but I fear that whatever I tell you will only make you see the worst in me and them.'

'You could at least try.' You reached for his hand, and a bit of you leapt in relief when you saw he did not pull away. 'I want to understand, Eddie. You do not know how horrible it is to live in this realm of uncertainty and oblivion.’

‘Would you rather live with the horrors of the truth?’ He asked genuinely, with the pain that exactly this truth had caused him in his eyes.

‘Is that not a choice I deserve to make by myself?’ You once again found yourself up against him. Funny how it always came back to this and how you would not have wanted it any other way.

‘No,’ and with that, you answered both. Whatever tugged at you from the inside to feel such anxiety had nothing to do with Eddie.

Eddie leaned in, and you anticipated a kiss that never came as he spoke against the corner of your mouth, sending shivers down your spine. ‘I need you to say it, darling.’

Like a reward, Eddie kissed your cheek for your reply. ‘Really? The princess had thought of me, a filthy pirate?’

‘I’m not a princess.’ You rolled your eyes playfully.

‘Out of all the things to dispute, you argue my words of affection?’ He chuckled, and you could feel the vibrations coming from deep within his chest.

‘There was nothing else to correct.’ You wanted to laugh but instead gasped at the sensation of a little pinch on your side. While still occupied with leaving kisses on your face, Eddie pinched your thigh. You could feel the smile forming on his lips as he kissed your jaw. When he pulled away, you saw the mischievous glint in his eyes that once used to bring out fear of the worst in you.

‘Glad to know you haven’t changed too much, darling.’ There was a moment in which both of you took everything of the other in. You tried to soak in all his features from this small distance, for some reason feeling the need to remember them all. Meanwhile, he read your face for any signs of reluctance, which he found none of, giving him the sign to finally let your lips meet his again.

The kiss grew in strength by the fleeting second. It was messy and heated. The pent-up tension that had been sitting between you was finally finding its release. You held onto him tightly, one hand on his shoulder as the other rooted itself in his dark locks—which made you soon realise that the tiniest of motions of you caused a reaction in him as well, in the form of a low hiss as you pulled the hairs on the back of his neck. It had been an accident, as you tried to keep yourself up when the pleasure he brought you made you feel light as a feather.

With your urge to keep your bodies close, you quickly caught on Eddie walking backwards. You followed him mindlessly until he found his throne seat and pulled you along with him, right on top of his lap, making you lightly yelp from the suddenness of the drop.

‘Not scared of me yet, are you, princess?’ He smiled, brushing some hair out of your face.

‘No,’ your voice sounded like a hushed, airy whisper. You looked into his eyes. The warmth of them had burned up into a dark and hungry desire. Eddie smiled before kissing you again.

‘Was this how you expected it to be,’ he murmured against your ear, ‘when you thought about us.’

‘Anything you’d still like to change,’ he kissed the soft spot of skin behind your ear that made you shiver.

‘No,’ you gasped as you repeated yourself. He had run your mind through a mill; words were hard to come by. All you could muster out was the one weak word and hum as you let your hand brush through his hair, but it didn’t make that one word any less true. Maybe on another day, you would have wished to change everything that had happened; before this moment, you would have changed every single interaction you had with the captain, but knowing it led to this moment, you would not want it any other way.

You let him take over all your senses, closing your eyes and breathing him—the rum, tobacco and sea air—in, the taste and touch of his lips and his rough hands. There was nothing, not anything or anyone, else to think about because why would you when this felt so good? Reality went lost on you until you felt his fingers dig into your side, a pain rushing through you.

Both of you froze.

‘What’s wrong?’ Eddie immediately looked to where he had held you, pulling your shirt up to reveal the scar. The rough skin was a stark contrast to the rest of you. He met your eyes again. ‘Does it still hurt?’

‘I’ve done a lot in my life that I will forever regret,’ he kissed your shoulder as his thumb traced over the scarred line, ‘but this will probably haunt me the longest.’ His words and touch, combined with how you sat in his lap, got you lost for words. Because, of course, you had hoped that this was his sentiment; you understood and appreciated his words, but what else was there to say? The only thing you could think of replying, which felt silly to do, seeing your current position, was ask for some clarification.

‘What happened? I would have thought you had more control over your sword than that.’ You aired the conversation with a bit of laughter, but it only spurred him on.

‘I had thought so too,’ he kissed you sloppily, ‘I had hoped so,’ hungrily, ‘but I lost it all when I saw you with him.’

‘Who?’ you asked. Maybe under different circumstances, you could have thought more clearly to realise what he was speaking of, but that did not seem possible.

Still, the mention of the crew member had surprised you. ‘Why– why would you—’

‘For what it’s worth,’ you tugged at the words to come out cohesively, ‘I never thought of him as—’

‘I think—’ you smiled, considering everything that just happened, ‘I think you have managed to pay back any of your wrongdoings.’

‘Oh, darling, I haven’t even started to repay my debts to you.’ And so, Eddie kissed your neck, peppering you with the small kisses and nips, making you giggle and pull him closer into your arms. He kept going until the two of you simply fell into a comfortable silence. He held you tightly in his arms as you let your head fall on his shoulder. Only the sound of the rushing waves and your sweet breaths filled the room.

You could not tell if Eddie had these troubles, you could not tell, for he went through his following days much like before. The only difference was that his free minutes were now occupied with you.

‘Shh,’ you held him tightly, ‘it’s okay.’

Neither of you asked about the dreams, knowing you could do nothing about them. You could just help the other through it. And then, each time, the dreams that followed were much sweeter.

Except it very much was not. And you realised it exactly through what you thought would be your escape.

You walked over to him, and he looked in your direction as soon as he heard your footsteps. The smile in his eyes was genuine but weak. As soon as you were close enough, he pulled you into an embrace, twirling you around so your back would hit his chest and you could look out at the sea. With how the sunrays sparkled across the waves, it all felt like a dream, too good to be true, but you did not know yet that the dream was at the end of its tether.

‘I really am sorry,’ he mumbled, having his face already nuzzled in the crook of your neck, kissing the spot where it met your shoulder.

‘What for?’ Apologies had become a frequent appearance in his vocabulary, showing up in almost every conversation, if not sentence.

‘I’m just as guilty.’ You had been stubborn, aggressive, and just as blind to your feelings.

‘A highly doubtful statement.’ He laughed, and his breath tickled the hairs on your neck.

‘I don’t think so.’ You shrugged in his hold.

‘Still just as stubborn, aren’t you, princess.’ He squeezed you tighter.

‘I…don’t understand.’ You tried to see the meaning behind his words in his eyes, but there was nothing, and it only got harder to figure out when he held his forehead against yours, keeping you close. You still tried to make sense of what he said when you saw it. There, in the far back corner of your eye. So far, it could have been a play of light, yet it was more real than anything. So undeniably real it crushed everything around you without question.

You knew this day was coming, you had been waiting for it, and yet, now that it was right in front of you, you wished to be as far from it as possible.

In what must have been shock, you took a couple of steps back just to collide with something—someone. You turned around to see Eddie and his soft but sad smile.

‘Welcome home,’ he announced.

Home, sweet home.

‘So, what do we do?’ This is not how someone who is to be returning to their family after months spent with criminals was meant to respond. Everything about this was so wrong.

Just as you finished putting it on, the door opened, and Eddie walked in.

‘You’ve never done this before, have you?’ you asked as you made your way up to the chair across from him.

‘Try not to sound too disappointed over my lack of experience in selling beautiful maidens back to their prosperous fathers.’

Eddie stared at you blankly as you began writing.

Dear father,

Dear Father,

I know it has been a long time since you last heard from me. The Red Tail is no more; I was the only survivor, to my knowledge, saved by a crew of rogue sailors. They have kept me locked away but are willing to free me for the price of 10.000 pounds. Please meet me at noon at the Star Port for the exchange.

Love,

Your daughter,

—

‘Who would have thought, my darling extorting her own father.’

There was a knock on the door, which Eddie welcomed, and Harrington walked in.

‘I would prefer if you did not spend our last moments together walking holes into my carpet.’

‘You do not have a carpet,’ you quipped.

‘Do you think—’

‘Well, then it had been an honour being your captive, captain.’ You said with a deep breath to keep your composure up.

‘Oh, don’t look so sad just yet, princess, the real fun is only about to begin.’ At this statement, you blinked slowly. ‘Or did you think you were done aiding me?’

‘What else do you need me to do?’

‘Governor. I see we meet again.’

‘Munson. What are you doing here?’

‘You got the gold, Munson, now let her go!’ There were still several feet between the two sides of the deal. Eddie looked around theatrically.

‘Is she well? Unharmed?’

You nodded, but Eddie nudged you with the hilt of his knife, his lips against your ear, ‘C’mon, darling, the man’s asked you a question.’

It was the panic when you saw the rest of the people in the harbour. All of their eyes on you. On him. None of them were simple bystanders or civilians.

Your dream had been crumbling into ruin all these days, but this was the final blow. All of it came down, all at once, and it started with your father’s call.

Chapter 10

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