Nice long Chapter for you guys seeing how you have been so patient and have voted so much!! Thankyou guys :D My last big deadline for my Art is on this coming Wednesday so after that I will be concentrating on getting this story finished for the Watty Awards!!

Your support has been fantastic and I just want you to know that it is greatly appreciated ^.^

There might be a few spelling mistakes, I didn't have time to edit haha

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P.S Thankyou for all of the Happy Birthdays on my profile, thats so sweet n.n Totes made my day haha

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I let my hand trail gently along the lilies as the ship smoothly cut through the water, gathering energy as I went. I had positioned myself at the bottom rung of the wooden ladder that was fastened to the side of the ship, one hand holding me up, the other hand reaching down to brush against the lilies as we sailed by. 

It wasn't the most comfortable position but so much energy was flowing through me that the cramps in my legs were disappearing before they had even begun.

I reached out for a particularly large flower and as my fingers made contact with the soft pink petal, I felt a small shock run through me before the flower was falling behind and I was passing onto the next one. My hair fell over my shoulder and I noticed that the golden strands held a soft magical glow, not as strong as the first time I had accidently gathered energy, but a glow nonetheless. I sighed. It was time to stop.

Withdrawing my hand from the water I stayed in my position for a few minutes longer, enjoying the beautiful dusky lavender shade that colored the once blue sky. The first few stars had appeared, twinkling distantly from above and the half full moon appeared to be much closer than usual. I stuck out my thumb, placing it in front of the moon but the white orb overlapped the edges, surrounding my thumb in a soft white halo.

"Circe?"

I twisted around, looking back up the ladder to where Cobalts head had suddenly popped out from over the side of the ship. 

I smiled softly. "Hello Colby."

His handsome face was twisted with worry, a small white strip of tape stuck over his broken nose to hold it in place, but at my greeting the corners of his mouth pulled up slightly although his eyes were still clouded with guilt. 

"Circe I'm so sorry-"

"Colby it's okay! It wasn't your fault." I cut in quickly, swinging myself up and beginning my ascent back up the ladder. I gratefully took the hand that he offered me and he pulled me up over the side of the ship and onto the deck. 

"I still want to make it up to you." He said firmly. "How about I sleep with you out on the hammocks tonight like I promised?"

I would be lying if I said that the idea wasn't tempting, but my eyes drifted over to where a certain Pirate stood, majestic behind the wheel, his mismatched eyes trained on me like always. His gaze narrowed when he saw me looking at him before his eyes slid sideways to glare holes through his brother.

"Um," I began, quickly looking back to Colby. "could I take you up on that offer for tomorrow night? I promised Hobbs that I would train with him once everyone had gone to bed and I don't want you to have to wait up for me." I felt slightly guilty for the lie, the guilt doubling when Cobalts expression dropped slightly. 

"Oh, okay."

I leaned forward, closing the space between us and gently wrapped my arms around him. "You go to bed, I'll see you in the morning okay?"

He grinned and hugged me back enthusiastically, lifting me off the ground and spinning me round in a circle, making me laugh aloud. 

"Sounds good Princess." He replied, setting me down and dropping a kiss on my forehead. "Have fun!" He winked at me before striding away and disappearing down below deck, whistling cheerfully. 

I sighed and turned to look back out over the ocean and the endless sea of pink and white petals that held a faint glow in the darkening night air. Such a beautiful sight had become rather tiresome after so many days of travel. I longed for a change, for open blue seas, for a slight breath of wind, for rain drops that cascaded down from the sky and beat a steady harmony on the wood of the ship. I could feel it building inside of me, the suspense. Something was coming, something big and I was hungry for a taste of it, it made me restless. 

"We are getting close."

He had come up behind me silently and I hadn't noticed he was there until he spoke, making me start slightly. I didn't turn around, simply stayed where I was, looking out to sea and heard the soft brush of material against material as he lifted his hands from his sides to caress the skin of my neck, so gently that it felt almost as though he wasn't making contact at all. He lifted my heavy hair to one side and combed his fingers through it, dipping his head down so his rough cheek rubbed against the side of mine. 

I resisted the burning urge to turn and capture his full lips with my own, instead stepping forwards slightly and causing him to let go of my hair. I heard him let out a quiet sigh and not for the first time today, confusion washed through me. None of his actions matched up or made sense. One moment he wanted me and the next he wanted me to forget anything had ever happened between us. Maybe there was more to this than just his bipolar feelings but what ever it was, I didn't have time for it now, if I was going to do this then I had to try to focus, but something told me that that was going to be very hard with Obsidian around. 

"So," I said, spinning around to face him. "what are you teaching me tonight?"

He contemplated me for a moment, his mis-matched eyes brooding before he turned and indicated that I should follow him. 

Feeling slightly disgruntled at his lack of explanation I reluctantly tagged along behind him until we came to a halt at the bottom of the mast. I eyed it apprehensivly, suddenly getting a bad feeling about this and that feeling only intensified when Obsidian moved to face me, his eyes glistening with challange. 

"Climb it." He said simply.

I grinded my teeth together and folded my arms over my chest. "You were the one that told Cobalt he was an idiot for making me climb that with no experiance, don't you think you're being just a little bit hypocrytical?" 

"He was an idiot," Obsidian replied smoothly, ignoring my last jab. "I should of been the one teaching you, not him. Now are you going to do this or are you going to back out?" He raised on eyebrow and folded his muscled arms, mimicking my posistion. I scowled, hating the fact that he looked so much more intimidating in the stance than I did.

"I couldn't do this in broad daylight Obsidian, what makes you think I'm going to be able to do it when it's pitch black?" Okay so maybe I was exaggerating, it wasn't really that dark, the moon was giving off more than enough light for me to be able to see clearly. 

Obsidian smirked as though he had read my mind. "See now you're just making excuses, are you really going to give up so easily?"

I gritted my teeth, stormed past him and started climbing.

*

"You aren't helping yourself by being mad at me you know" He called out, his husky voice amused. I shot him a glare and instantly found my anger increase at the sight of him. For the past fifteen minutes I had been steadily and very slowly making my way up the top of the mast, using the rigging whenever I could and testing my weight carefully on each hold before fully comitting myself to the move. 

My slow progress wasn't what had my anger bubbling over however, no that was all due to the infuriating Pirate climbing beside me. 

He made it look so easy, hauling himself upwards after me, at times only using his bulging arms to pull himself higher, his legs dangling below him before he would swing them around gracefully onto his next foothold. Somewhere along the way, he had deemed it necessary to remove his shirt and now every time I looked at him I became distracted by his incredibly muscled torso and shoulders that constricted and flexed with his every movement. The light coating of sweat that covered his body from the exercise made his skin glisten in the moonlight and I felt a flash of heat run through me each time my eyes involuntarily flickered in his direction. At the moment I was stuck at the same place I had been earlier that day and although I didn't want to admit it, the familiar twisting of nervousness had reared its ugly head in my stomach and when I looked down I felt my heart beat quicken almost instantly.

Obsidian was currently hanging by only his arms from the crossbeam above me, the one that I had to reach in order to continue my climb and as he began to swing backwards and forwards I turned my gaze to him, using him as a distraction to both calm myself down and gain more time before I had to figure out what to do next. 

I watched in amazement as his speed increased and his swings grew higher and higher until his body made a flat line at the furtherest extent of each swing and then he was higher than flat and my heart was in my mouth as I watched him go higher than flat, so high that he went right over the top of the beam, standing of his hands for a moment, his body glistening with sweat, every muscle in his fantastic body taunt. He swung down the other side and then back up again, going around and around, his body as flat as a board, his bare toes pointed, for he had discarded his shoes at some point as well, and I felt my breath come a little faster at how magnificent he was, his hands twisting a little on each spin to allow the movement. And then he began to slow down gradually until his body made a flat line and then once again he was simply hanging by his arms from the crossbeam and I scowled when I realized that he was barely out of breath from his little performance. He looked over at me and smirked, flicking his black hair out of his eyes.

"Like what you see?"

Yes. 

"I don't know what you're referring to." I said haughtily. "I've seen better." I hadn't of course, that had been absolutely incredible, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

He simply smirked at me again, obviously seeing straight through my lie. He swung over to me slowly, gripping the mast of the opposite side to where I was standing and peering cheekily around at me, his face splitting into a rare genuine smile at the sight of my scowl. Obsidian hardly ever smiled properly, like a full blown true smile but when he did, his whole face shone with an internal glow that took my breath away and I felt myself just staring at him for a moment, taking him in. 

He leaned forward around the mast and blew gently on my face, causing me to start and blush furiously at his bold eye contact. He raised one eyebrow and looked at me, the remnants of that beautiful smile still twitching the corners of his lips.

"Are you stuck?"

I grimaced. "No."

"You look stuck." He said matter-of-factly.

"Well I'm not." I replied stubbornly, clinging to the mast. 

He looked at me pointedly. "Well come on then, what is your next move?"

"I- I was just about to figure that out." I stuttered.

His expression softened slightly and before I knew what was happening he had swing himself around so that he was balancing directly behind me, caging me between the mast and his body, his bare chest pressing up against my back, his feet finding impossible footholds on the small rim of wood I was standing on. Somehow his arms had reached almost all the way around the mast and although he must have been using an insane amount of strength to keep himself in the position he was in, he didn't show the strain at all as he dipped his head to whisper in my ear, his lips brushing ever so softly across my skin. 

"Turn around."

"What?" I gasped, feeling slightly distracted my his stomach muscles shifting against my back as he pressed himself more firmly against me.

"Do you trust me?"

"No."

He chuckled. "I'm deeply offended Miss Fallon, but you can make it up to me later I'm sure." He growled huskily, nipping the edge of my ear playfully and making me gasp again at the flash of heat that shot through me.

"Don't do that!"

" Do what?" He murmured, nipping my ear again.

"That, don't do that, it's not proper."

He let out a dark chuckle. "We are on a Pirate ship," He said, as though that was the answer to everything, "and nothing about the situation you are in right now is proper Love, might as well take advantage of it."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well once we get down from here I'm planning on taking off all of your-

"No," I interrupted hastily before he could continue. "I mean, if I turn around, what are you going to do?"

"Oh," His voice was amused. "well why don't you just find out for yourself?"

"Incase you haven't noticed, I don't really have a lot of room to maneuver." I hissed. "You have me in a rather awkward position at the moment."

"Darling," He muttered, "I'll have you in any position whether you like it or not."

I directed my burning glare into the wood in front of me, seeing how I couldn't see the idiot behind me, and I was surprised when it didn't burst into flames. 

"I thought we were supposed to be taking this seriously?" I growled, repeating his earlier words. 

"Oh I am taking this very, very seriously." Came the reply and I groaned.

"Can you just tell me what I need to do, my arms are getting sore."

"Let go of the mast, but keep your feet in the same place," He murmured, suddenly losing his amused tone. " then fall back into me."

He felt my hesitation and there was the slightest of pressures on the bare skin of my neck before he spoke.

"I won't let you fall." 

Maybe it was the deep sincerity that rang through those five words, or maybe it was his muscled arms that held strong on either side of me that suddenly had me feeling as though I could trust him. He would keep me safe.

Slowly I released my hold on the mast, sliding back until my full weight was on his chest, my feet still finding placement on the small edging that stuck out from the mast. I felt utterly protected as I leant my head back until it rested in the dip between his neck and his shoulder and I looked up, watching as he reached up an arm to firmly grasp the crossbeam above us with ease, his immense height making all the difference to the move that had proved to be such a challenge for me. 

He leaned back slightly, balancing us dangerously as he reached his other arm up as well and now the only thing that was between me and thin air was his muscled body, but still the feeling of complete safety didn't leave me. Instead I felt a rush of adrenalin shoot through me when I realized just how close I was to death in this instant and I had never felt more alive in my life.

It was fantastic.

So when Obsidian instructed that I should turn around whilst using him for a support I didn't hesitate, and although my moves were still careful I found that I was just the slightest bit more confident in what I was doing. However facing the other way proved to more of a challenge as it was harder to find placement for my feet on the small rim and my new found confidence faltered the tiniest bit as one of my feet slipped and I almost lost my balance.

Obsidian was quick to catch me though, wrapping one arm around me and holding me tight to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck instinctively pulling myself higher up against him and he encouraged the move, reaching down his hand to grab my thigh and tug me up so that I could wrap my legs around his carved waist. 

My breath caught in my throat when his hand touched my leg and I knew he heard it, it was in his eyes when he looked at me while pulling me further up his body. 

"Hold on tight." He murmured, his voice husky, his mismatched eyes glowing furiously as he continued to capture my gaze with his.

I secured my hold around his neck and as I tightened my legs around his waist he let out a small groan, his fingers pressing into my back as he gripped me closer.

"Not that tight." He growled, his eyes clenched shut and I hastily loosened my hold a little, afraid that I had hurt him.

"I'm sor-

"Don't apologize." His tone was pained when his eyes snapped open to meet mine I was caught up in their swirling golden depths before he closed them again. "Don't apologize for that. Are you ready?"

I was a little unsure as to what he was talking about but I nodded anyway after making sure I was firmly attached to him.

He opened his eyes to look at me again, his irises still burning gold. "Don't look away from my face, understand? Keep your eyes on me."

I nodded and did as he asked as he looked up, his strong jaw clenching slightly before he let go of me to pull a knife out of his belt and stab it into the wood of the mast, using the hold to pull himself, with me clinging to him like a limpet, up onto the crossbeam in one fluid motion. My eyes were still on his face but out of the corner of my eyes I noticed the bulging of his biceps as he climbed us steadily upwards, my extra weight not seeming to affect him at all. 

"Would it be easier if I was on your back?" I asked quietly as he preformed a particularly complex move that probably would have been easier to do if I wasn't in front of him. 

He shook his head in reply. "I wouldn't be able to grab you if you started to slip." He grunted, hauling us up with just his arms again. "I want you around the front of me where I know you are safe."

His voice was gruff but I could hear the clear protective tone that rang true and it made my heart skip a beat as I involuntarily clutched him a little closer, relishing in the feel of his skin and the movement of his muscles under my finger tips.

"Why are you carrying me? I thought I was supposed to be toughening up?"

He smirked as he continued to climb. "Are you complaining?"

"Well no," I faltered, "it's just-

"I'm carrying you because you were getting tired," Obsidian cut in. "and when you get tired you tend to make mistakes. I don't want you having another fall today, we will continue to practice climbing up to where you did today and once you can get up there with ease, I will teach you how to get past the next part."

An expression of shock flitted across my face at his thoughtfulness, who knew he could be so considerate. What he had just described made complete sense to me and I felt a weight that I didn't know I was carrying lift off my shoulders at his words, I was thankful that I would be able to have some more time to get used to this confidence that I felt blossoming inside of me. I didn't want to lose that feeling just yet by making another mistake.

On impulse I stretched up and gently pressed my lips to his jaw, feeling the slight prickle of stubble under my mouth. To my complete and utter surprise, Obsidian suddenly fumbled on his next hold, causing us to drop half a meter but before I could even begin to panic properly he reached out and caught us against the rigging, pressing me back into the netting as he did so. I could feel my heart thumping loudly as I looked into his burning eyes, my lips parting as my breath came out in puffs.

"Don't do that," He began, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers as he tilted his head back. "while I'm climbing, EVER again. Unless you want us to die."

"I'm sorry," I said weakly, nervously looking down at the drop below us and tightening my hold on his waist and neck as I did so. 

He groaned and reached his arms above my head, his gaze locked firmly on the sky. "Let's just get to the top alive shall we?"

*

Not five minutes later Obsidian was helping me over the edge of the crows nest and I happily jumped onto the small wooden platform, pleased to finally have something solid under my feet. I moved over to the railing and leant against it, marveling at the view. While the ocean of lilies looked spectacular from on the deck, there was just something about seeing them from a great height that took my breath away. They really did stretch on forever, I couldn't even see the line of blue that indicated the direction from which we had sailed from anymore.

I leaned out further over the railing, feeling a cool breeze wash against my face, calming my pink cheeks. Two strong arms wrapped around my waist as he tugged me gently back into his chest. 

"Don't lean too far forward," He murmured into my ear. "I didn't bring you all the way up here just to have you fall back down again."

I blushed and pulled away from him, moving slightly to the side and allowing enough space for him to stand beside me. We were silent for a couple of moments, each wrapped up in our own thoughts. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him wince uncomfortably and reach up a hand to rub at his muscled shoulder. 

He saw me looking and interpreted my question. "It's nothing," He shrugged. "I think I just pulled it slightly when we almost fell."

I felt guilt wash through me, that fall had been my fault, although to be fair, I hadn't expected him to get distracted like that. He reached up to massage the shoulder again and unconsciously I found myself reaching forward as well, wanting to ease some of his pain.

My hand landed on top of his and he froze as I moved closer to him, pushing his hand away as I did. 

"Let me," I said quietly. "I can probably reach better than you can."

He nodded stiffly and lifted my other hand to join the first, finding that I had to stretch up a little because he was so tall. I quickly found the knot of muscle and concentrated on kneading it out with my thumbs, pressing into his bronzed skin with a circular motion. He was still tense but as I worked on his back he gradually relaxed and I felt the hard muscle become supple under my hands.

"Better?" I asked, and nodded, rolling his shoulders in reply. I watched, fascinated by his back muscles, I never knew that a person could have that many muscles in their back, it was extremely impressive, but then again, everything about Obsidian was impressive. Unable to help myself I touched a finger to his back, tracing the lines of the muscles and the indentation of his spine. I felt him shudder under my touch as I trailed my hand down further and then back up again.

"You have a beautiful back." I blurted before I could help myself.

My face flushed with embarrassment but he simply laughed. "Thankyou I guess."

I smiled at his laugh, enjoying the deep bass sound. "You should laugh more often, it sounds nice."

He suddenly turned around, catching me up in his arms as he lifted me up and wound my legs around his waist, holding me there with his large hands.

"You are very big on the compliments today Miss Fallon," He said and although his words were teasing, his expression was deadly serious and he leaned forward until our foreheads touched.

"Obsidian," I said, feeling slightly out of breath and unable to focus on anything other than his hand on my thigh. "what are you doing?"

He smirked. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Let me down!" I demanded, finding that my words sounded slightly contradictive considering how my arms had wound themselves around his neck without my permission, effectively pulling him closer to me.

He smirked again. "No." 

"Yes!"

"You know you don't want me to." He whispered huskily, dipping his head to rub the side of my face with his own. 

I couldn't help it, I yawned. He pulled his head back, his eyes twinkling. 

"Is someone a little bit tired?" He crooned and I scowled at him. 

"Don't ever use that voice again, it makes you sound like Colby."

His expression changed from amusement to anger instantly.

"Don't compare me to that idiot." He spat, his eyes flashing dangerously. 

I snickered. "Well its hard not to seeing how you are twins after all, you look almost exactly the same."

He growled, the noise vibrating through his deep chest and I leaned my face forward, nuzzling into his neck. 

"Is someone getting a little angry?" I cooed in the same tone he had used before, laughing when it made him growl again.

"I'll drop you over the side unless you take that back." He threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." I scoffed, holding onto him a little bit tighter anyway. 

I took his silence as confirmation of my words and when he began tracing small circles into my back with his fingers I relaxed even further, finding myself snuggling into his neck a bit more, capturing his warmth as I yawned again.

There was nothing wrong with this, I told myself. It wasn't like we were actually doing anything and I tried to convince myself that the tingles running down my spine at his touch on my back was completely normal. 

My own fingers were playing with the soft curls at the base of his neck, tugging through them gently as I looked over his shoulder out towards the horizon.

Something suddenly caught my eye and I blinked myself awake, shaking my head and trying to focus. Obsidians hands stopped their pattern tracing as he stiffened.

"Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "Can you see that?"

He turned and I turned my body with him, pulling my head away from his neck and leaning back from him slightly, his hands still keeping me around his waist.

"See what?"

I squinted out towards the horizon again. "It looks like a kind of fog or mist or something along those lines. Like a cloud, but its too low, its just hovering on top of the lilies, do you see?"

He was silent for a moment before he sighed. "I see it now."

I looked at him curiously, intrigued by the guarded tone that had suddenly found its way into his voice.

"What is it?"

He looked at me somberly, his eyes hooded and calculating. "That Love, is what we have been waiting to see for two weeks."

*     *      *      *