Thorne was ready to blow Kaito's head off when he caught him crouched in front of Crescent. He knew Cinder had some kind of thing for him. But if he was under Levana's control, and was harming Crescent, he had some bad news for Cinder.

Kaito did as he was told and moved away from Crescent. Thorne kept his gun trained on him until they were on opposites sides of the cave, and Cinder could grab the guy if he tried anything.

Cinder and Kaito's awkward and silent reunion fell from Thorne's mind as he dropped his gun and went to Crescent's side. The shirt he gave her was a pile of scraps on her upper body. She was barely awake.

"Captain," she breathed, overwhelmed with joy.

Tears brimmed in Thorne's eyes. He felt so conflicted. He was happier than he'd been in years to finally see the love of his life again. After two long years of waiting and worrying, here she was.

Deeper in his mind was an unrelenting loathing and desire to maim aimed at Sybil and Levana. They took Crescent from him. They tortured her for information. They deserved to die in a thousand painful ways for their crimes.

He saw the links around Crescent's wrists. They held her to the cave wall and made her wrists so raw her skin was red. He didn't have a key or lock pick to set her free.

Crescent saw him drowning in anguish and looked up at her chains. "The governor of Port Royal's library," she whispered, and the chains released her.

She was so weak she fell into the pool. Her tail and arms unable to push her to the surface. Thorne's reflexes were fast, and her caught her by her arm and pulled her back up.

Before something else horrible happened, Thorne pulled her out of the pool and scooped her up in his arms. He held her tight and tried to convince himself that the water falling from his eyes were drops Crescent had kicked up from the pool.

She was soaked and freezing, and gladly clinged to Thorne for warmth and because she missed him so much. "I thought I'd never see you again," she said, smiling bright as the sun. "I can't believe you found me."

"I never stopped looking," he promised. He kissed the top of her head and held her tighter. He was terrified that something terrible would happen that would separate them again. Parting them forever.

Crescent gripped his shirt and kissed his jaw. "Thank you. You're the best captain in the world."

His breathing was shaking, and his heart pounded like a drum. "If I was the best, it wouldn't have taken me two years to find you."

She shifted and looked up at him with those eyes. Those gorgeous, ocean blue eyes that could convince him to destroy the world if it would make her happy. "It's been two years?" she questioned, so worried and innocent.

Thorne couldn't meet those eyes. "Two years, four months, two weeks, and five days," he said, watching the ripples in the pool of water. Yes, he'd counted the days since Crescent had been taken from him. Yes, he counted after years of waiting and fear for her safety. Yes, it was acutely weird, and he was okay with that.

Apparently, Crescent thought it was sweet. She let go of his shirt and held his head by its sides. He pulled his face down and kissed him.

Thorne was wide-eyed at first. He and Crescent had only kissed once before this, and it was after Crescent told him she would approach Sybil's ship to keep her from taken the Rampion and Thorne with it. It had been rushed, and only a quick peck on his lips.

This was so much more. It was a deep, romantic kiss that melted Thorne through his bones. Crescent wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. His eyes shut, and he wanted to stay in this kiss forever.

After too short a time, Crescent broke the kiss to breathe. Her eyes were dazed, as his probably were as well. Her smile was whimsical and light.

She still pressed her palms into his cheeks and the tip of her nose to his. "I'm eighteen," she grinned.

"What?" Thorne was confused. He thought after what he just told her, her first reaction would be to cry uncontrollably and hate everything around her. And ... that's not at all what he did when Crescent was kidnapped. Anyone who claims that is a complete liar.

Still, Crescent grinned like the devil. "I'm not sixteen years old anymore. I'm eighteen. I'm an adult."

Excuse Thorne for his lack of making connections, but he didn't get was Crescent was insinuation. Rather than try to explain it, she rolled her eyes and kissed him again. Though her lips were dry and coarse, the kisses she gave Thorne were the best he'd ever experienced.

They were startled by the sound of shouting coming from the caves. They broke apart, and Thorne stood up with Crescent still in his arms. He'd forgotten how easy it was to carry her. She weighed less than a medium sized hunting dog.

"They're coming," Kaito said, stating the obvious.

Thorne saw that Crescent now had legs, and was not wearing any pants. Something he would have to fix once they got back to the Rampion. "Crescent, I know this is a lot to ask, but can you swim?"

Her beaming eyes turned to dull slates with raised brows. "I'm a mermaid, Captain."

He sighed. "Yes, I know that. But are you strong enough to swim."

She thought for a moment. "I think so."

"Does that pool go under the island?"

"Yes."

"Okay," he nodded, liking their odds of escape. "Can you pull two people?"

To that, Crescent was a little weary. She glanced at her legs and arms. "I- I don't know. Maybe."

He kissed her forehead and said, ever so hushed, "I know you're weak from being here so long. But we have to get out of here. Can you take Kaito and Cinder to a ship that's out in the cove of the island?"

She bit her lip and looked at Kaito and Cinder over his shoulder. Turning back to him, she nodded. "I can do it."

Slowly and gently, Thorne placed Crescent on her feet. He didn't let go of her arms, to give her support if she needed it. At first, she did. Her legs wobbled and shook as they bent under her weight - though there wasn't much weight to support.

When she got her bearings, she stood on her own two feet and let the oversized shirt on her cover most of her body. Again, Thorne was going to get her some pants and another shirt when they got back to the Rampion.

"Cinder, Kaito, you're going with Crescent back to the Rampion," he declared. Cinder was more than cooperative. Kaito one the other hand was a bit hesitant.

"You mean, Crescent is going to swim - with us holding on - to a cove, travelling under hundreds of yards of water?" Kaito questioned. "Cinder and I will drown before we get half way there."

Crescent laughed. Thorne suspected it was the first time she'd been so humoured in the past two years. "No, you won't," she told him. She left Thorne and approached Kaito. She pecked him on the lips quickly, not lingering for a second.

Kaito's hand flew to his mouth and he dared to look at Cinder. Crescent was not fazed in the slightest, and did the same thing to Cinder.

Bewildered and slightly alarmed, Cinder watched Crescent. "Thorne, why did your mermaid friend just kiss us?"

"A mermaid's kiss prevents humans from drowning," Crescent divulged, as if it was common knowledge. Thorne had to admit, the first time he heard it, he thought it was a myth. Then, he found it to be real, and not at the best time either.

Crescent took Cinder and Kaito's hands and brought them to the pool. She was on the verge of plunging in, then she froze. She looked back to Thorne. "What about you?" she asked. She gave him her signature puppy dog eyes. The eyes he could never refuse. The eyes that he could never disappoint.

Thorne retrieved his pistol and aimed it at the entrance to the cave. "I'll cover you. I can swim, and you kissed me a minute ago, so I won't drown."

Crescent didn't like that notion. "I'm not leaving you behind, Captain."

"You're going to have to," he told her. He watched the mouth of the cave, listening as the shouting grew louder. "You can't take three people at once, Crescent. And Kaito and Cinder are more important than I am. So you have to take them first. Once they're on the Rampion, you can come back and get me if you have to."

"Carswell..." She was the only person alive that was allowed to address Thorne that way. She only did it when he royally screwed up, was about to do something horribly stupid, or she was worried to death about him. At the moment, she could have done it for any of those reasons.

He went to her and kissed her forehead. "I'll be fine," he swore. "But I need you to get my friend and her boyfriend to safety." He kissed her head again and held her hand with his free one. Four heartbeats later, he told her, "I love you."

Stunned, she couldn't take her eyes off him. "Cinder, go!" he ordered. She jumped in, but not before grabbing Crescents hand and dragging both the mermaid and the governor's son down to the ocean.

Thorne watched them swim further and further down until he could no longer see them. He released a breath of relief. Which was all he could do before a monster entered the cave.

"Carswell Thorne," a familiar, hate inducing voice taunted. "How did an idiot like you manage to break into this prison? Was it for your little mermaid?"

The joy and love that Crescent had given Thorne faded away. He turned about to face her. After two long years, he finally saw her. Sybil Mira. The woman that stole everything from him. The monster that ruined his life.

He glared daggers at the witch, praying she would one day meet a fate worse than death for her crimes. He kept his pistol pointed at her. When he pulled the hammer back, she made an piercing, torturous noise that had to be her version of a laugh.

"You're going to shoot me?" she cackled. "Please, Carswell. You wouldn't kill me if it was to save your own life. Your dear little Crescent Moon would never condone such a thing. After all, she is too kind to-"

BANG

She stopped mid sentence, and Thorne could tell anyone why. She now had a bullet hole where her supposed heart was. Sybil clutched her chest as her legs gave out from under her. Her head and back hit the cave wall behind her.

Thorne walked up to her and pulled a bullet out of his side pouch. Loading it into his pistol, he yanked the hammer back as far as it would go and aimed at Sybil again.

"You're right," Thorne agreed. "She is too kind to let me kill you. She would never let something like this happen if she could help it. And she wouldn't want me to let myself become riddled with hatred. Not even for someone like you. Who tortured her for over two years."

He stood before her, filled with loathing as she gasped for air and pleaded for mercy. "But you know what else Crescent is?"

The monster shook her head. Thorne trained the gun on the spot between her eyes. "Not here."

BANG