Another upload, and probably many more to come tomorrow cause I don't have a damn thing planned for the 4th of July.
And you know what? Rightfully so.
There's not a single celebrating bone in me for this shit country after recalling the sheer stupidity of that presidential debate.
I simply fell out when someone said to call the home, for this had to be grounds for elderly abuse
That's it, that's all lol
Enjoy, lovelies!
xoxo

Caspian

There wasn't much I was sure of as my days on this earth continued to somewhat unfortunately progress...

But I was sure that once I got my hands on Alistair, it would be a clear, sudden, and quick death. I wasn't positive on how I was going to go about killing a man who seemingly had both the appearance, and powers of a god...

But it simply had to be done.

The entirety of Alistair's crew's wandering eyes had only fallen on myself the second my feet touched that main deck come daybreak. And the first words that slipped past Snips's lips I approached him, his eyes now sunken with the clear evident lack of sleep, were as follows:

"Had you not taken out that entire fleet of Gaelick's men, I'd kill you myself."

This may have been the first time I would rather have accepted a whack to the back of my head with a piece of plywood, for it was a quick way to settle the growing embarrassment, and lay it to rest.

I didn't need to pry for any amount of information from these men to know that Alistair had done something. Rather, Alistair and I doing something, had done something to both his crew and their sleep. I wasn't positive of what, but even I felt the unrest energy through the floorboards of Alistair's ship... and the embarrassment of it all felt like a public stoning.

In fact, it seems as if what I had done on Gaelick's ship was the only thing saving my skin from a thorough beating by any and all of these men.

And because of said actions, I felt even more responsibility to carry the bulk of all our duties this day. Something I couldn't even defend myself against, for every crewmen on this massive vessel looked like the dead risen in comparison to myself and the perfect sleep I had gotten. Them knowing why I'd slept so well, well it made it all the worse.

"My blame lies with Alistair." Hobbs muttered, helping to tighten the ropes I was enforcing and anchoring to this ship, as he himself wiped more sleep from his eyes. He too was struggling to barely hold himself upright. "First the sea sickness, then surrendering... and now this."

I couldn't even look him in the eye as we worked. The shame was too strong, and more importantly, Alistair wasn't even present to share in this blame. Whatever had been done must've been his doing, for I didn't have any ties to this ship like he had. To Ol' Bess, and the heartbeat that mirrored his.

What troubled me more was that Alistair wasn't one to lose control in this way. That much was clear by the good amount of men whose murmurs were soon carried through the calm winds, eventually reaching my ears by when the sun had settled the highest in this clear blue sky. Some had been rocked from the mattresses of their own beds by the pounding floorboards of Ol' Bess.

I was just growing more and more grateful that whatever I had done on Gaelick's ship was still enough to overshadow what Alistair and I had done after our return from it.

And though I told myself that even the simple thought of said actions was almost blasphemous to think of, especially while I was surrounded by this lot of men who had lost sleep at the expense of mine and their captain's pleasure... there was no erasing those acts from my thoughts. No erasing Alistair and his touch from my memory. He'd branded himself upon my skin like an iron brand cast in a fire too long, until the metal turned a color of burning embers.

"I want you just like this. Every night and every morning."

I had agreed to that direct order his words packaged in a form of request when he spoke them to me, but upon seeing the consequences of our actions, there was simply no way I was upholding that demand. This immense shame was already too much, so much so that Alistair would need to prove himself capable of control before I ever let him touch me on this living vessel again.

I couldn't keep killing their enemies to justify our devious actions. Just the simple thought of all that work wore me down.

Then my mind betrayed myself, vividly recalling to this reactive body just how he had touched me. How unimaginably gentle he really had been... and I knew I had just told myself a lie, for it was I who lacked all control with him. The way he looked at me. The way he spoke to me...

My mind forcibly traveled back to the work at hand as I tried to pull myself away from the tenderness of Alistair this morning. There was still much to do, for every pirate was moving at a pace we would all consider to be slow, and not nearly by choices of their own.

Once I saw Cael board this deck, his once warm but now cold eyes never leaving mine as he cut straight across the main deck to where I, Snips, and Hobbs all stood working, I knew that there was no amount of work I could catapult myself into that would erase what was felt by the men throughout the night. Especially with the anger etched onto Cael's face.

Yet his first words to me didn't hold nearly as much malice, as he ordered my feet to carry themselves with just two words.

"Follow me." I heard him order. It was possibly the first direct order Cael had given me, and so kindly so considering the most surely irritated mood he was in, so that was what forced these very feet forward, following closely behind him as he led us towards the study.

Once his hand reached for the handle of that wooden door and he thrust it open, the first thing my eyes laid themselves upon was that mad man who now wore an eyepatch. He was sitting at his desk drawing something that looked like routes onto an old, withering map.

When his eye glanced up to find mine, I felt my mind fall into an almost cognitive dissonance. I knew how my body reacted to him could not be rational, and yet my heartbeat quickened at the simple smile that started to play at his lips. I found myself forcing my gaze away almost immediately, unsure of how I would react next.

Luckily it was Cael's words that ripped my mind up from the turbulent waves it had found itself in, and planted me firmly back on this ship. It took one glance between both Alistair and I before the words that slipped past his own lips were "you two disgust me."

And perhaps from the outside looking in, one may have thought he was referring to the unnatural relationship between Alistair and I. Between two men. But I still recalled what Alistair had asked me, about being with a man before he. While I may have not, he clearly had, and the animosity I felt from his men had nothing to do with Alistair and I being of the same. In fact, it didn't even have anything to do with the fact that I was still Alistair's slave.

The only thing that had sent them over the edge was the disturbance of their sleep. To which, I could fully accept as reasonable. I had seen how their eyes barely ever left Gaelick's ship once their Captain boarded. They needed the rest we unintentionally took from them.

"I've already formally apologized." Alistair mumbled, but Cael's biting response to that was quick.

"You could barely get the words out without smiling." He shot back at his Captain... which this mad man was just deranged enough to smile through yet again.

I was now understanding Cael's raw irritation. Whilst I had seemingly taken a whole new profession on on this day, that being profusely apologizing to his men on behalf of Alistair and I, even if they did solely blamed their Captain, he was occupying his own time antagonizing Cael.

"Thank you." I found myself saying to the tall sun-touched man, and the stark difference of my words and theirs pulled both their attention towards myself, but my eyes remained on Cael as I explained "for your concealment of the waters as I swam for Gaelick's ship. I haven't yet had a moment to thank you."

Cael's irritation immediately softened some with those words, him giving me a firm nod of approval, before the fire returned back with ease when he faced Alistair again.

"Do you see the ridiculous differences between his tone, and your supposedly genuine one?"

Alistair was quick with his own response as he replied "I was tortured for days. Forgive me if I see my sacrifices as enough."

Cael looked ready to do something I had still yet to see. Draw his sword. And on his own Captain, nonetheless.

"Reason with me Alistair, for I would wager my life savings that your lip made that torture far more enticing. I have no doubts you spent your time antagonizing Gaelick and his men."

Alistair didn't seem to deny it. Instead, he replied with "there was no other way to break that man."

I could've sworn Cael would be quick with an answer of his own, but I found him pausing a moment. Realization took its time to settle, until I understood why Cael chose his next words carefully.

He hadn't been on that ship himself. He couldn't have known what it took, therefore all he had was Alistair's words.

Instead, he turned to me. And that just made me nervous, for I wanted to stay as far away from this particular bickering they found themselves adhering to. I didn't think both men would draw their sword, but the exhaustion on Cael's face made me believe he was very seriously contemplating it.

"Besides," Alistair continued, "there was no way I could have possibly known this would happen." He then gestured for myself to take a seat across from his desk, to which I hesitantly did. Cael was still standing near the side of it, watching us both.

"Had you known, would you have still?"

Alistair looked up from myself to the tall dark skinned man, before saying words that made me want to jump across this wooden desk and cut his throat myself.

"You want the truth? For I must warn you, you won't like it."

Why was this man like this?

Cael's look to his Captain echoed my very thoughts.

"You're essentially asking if I regret it," Alistair said to his Navigator, before his eyes found mine again "and that answer would never be a yes."

"Cael," I interjected before this conflict could grow any further. "I apologize on behalf of Alistair and myself. You have my word this won't happen again."

Alistair's eyes didn't leave mine as I spoke those words. And his lips never moved when I heard his voice whisper to me in return.

"Our actions of this last night will absolutely be happening again. You just have my word I'll be more careful."

All I could do now was release the heaviest sigh at words that were never truly spoken. This fight was a losing battle to a mad man who simply didn't care.

The way Cael looked to me as he cast his gaze back on mine, told me that he too had given up. I genuinely believed he lacked the energy for even a verbal confrontation with this even more exhausting man, let alone one that could turn physical. Instead, his next choice of words surprised me.

"At the very least, it looks like consent was given.... Which it indeed was, aye?"

I immediately nodded to him, for whatever he thought of Alistair now shouldn't have been associated with those thought. "Aye." I further confirmed.

"Very." Alistair added with a playful tone, to which my eyes first cast a glare towards him, then immediately diverted their gaze. "And regardless of Caspian's position on this ship, you know my principles. My unwavering values."

Cael studied my face a moment before he seemed content with my answer. Then he turned back to his Captain. "Aye." I watched him give a firm nod, "and yet no man is that kind of man until he is that kind of man. Caspian-"

"Caspian is someone my men now respect." Alistair finished. "Though this sleepless night may not reflect it, the good standing opinion of my men matters more to me than often times my own. Their fondness of Caspian is as clear as the sky is now. I wouldn't make ill of their wishes."

Cael raised an eyebrow to that, allowing his face to relax into some of his natural, calming, and quite beautiful features.

"And of our business in Azul?" Cael countered, which made my eyebrows furrow slightly.

Alistair first looked to his Navigator... then to I... then back to his Navigator.

"In regards to the bounty? I've since abandoned the thought."

That made my eyebrows furrow even more deeply. "Was I..." I found myself interrupting. "Was I to be sold?"

Alistair was firm with his current stance as he replied "not anymore."

My eyes shifted from Alistair to Cael, yet all Cael did was answer with one word that honestly explained more than it probably needed to. "Pirates." He reminded me.

Right.

"Instead, as we approach Azul, I have entirely different business to attend to there. We shall still dock, allowing Snips to recover materials needed for both this ship and the additions to Finn's kitchen, however I now have a debt to settle with The Holy Men."

"You can't even name which one." Cael muttered, but Alistair ignored it.

"What do you plan to do?" I asked this Captain. This was first I had heard of our plans to even approach The Holy Men, yet with each word Alistair spoke, malice was laced in them. I remembered what Alistair had called Gaelick on that ship. Gaelick of Azul. Had the holy men sent him?

I had been all too occupied with first killing all I could, then breaking Alistair's chains, to ask him what he had learnt. And by the time we returned to his ship... well... he had kept me occupied in other ways. Fully occupied, at that.

"You see," Alistair started as his body leaned further forward until his forearms rested across each other,  against his desk. "Azul and I have held an unspoken agreement for as long as I've ruled the seas. They kept their business on land, while I kept mine at sea." The concentration he held my gaze with made me want to break it. It now made the hairs on my arms stand to attention with something I could only describe as the nature of his aura.

A glimpse of the man I saw on Gaelick's ship when his power commanded the ship itself.

"Yet as you may have now reached this conclusion, that The Holy Men did indeed send Gaelick for me, you must also reach another: an arrangement only works when both sides give and take. And if I could be so honest, I've been adhering to one of a very giving nature."

His only visible eye was studying my face, yet somehow, I felt the presence of the eyes still hidden by that patch. It was the feeling I couldn't describe, yet I felt an emotion very evident... and that was pure anger.

"So now," his voice dipped dangerously low, echoing that of a blood thirsty pirate eagerly willing to engage. "Now it's time to take."

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