A Pirated Heart: Magic Unbound

His Pain and the Return

Kaden couldn't breathe and every time he tried, fiery pain exploded in his chest.  At this point, drowning would've been easier. He tried to focus on Arabella, but the distance and his blurring vision made it next to impossible.

"Ya gotta breathe boy." Jarrus's voice was muffled from the pounding in Kaden's ears. The old man bobbed up and down next to him, able to float and help Kaden stay afloat at the same time. Kaden briefly wondered if that was part of the magic in his blood. After all, he was the son of a sea goddess; it would make sense he wouldn't be able to drown.

"I...I can't," Kaden gasped out as his strength continued to leave him.

"Ya gotta try. Bells'll kill me if ya drown," Jarrus retorted, but his voice cracked at the end. He knew what Kaden's struggle meant. They had learned this lesson before. The Arabella Cartridge that they adored and followed was gone; in her place, there was a monster fueled by chaos and bloodshed.

"I could....I couldn't stop her," Kaden muttered as his eyelids began to droop. Nothing short of Damien returning from the dead would've been able to stop Arabella. But Kaden and Jarrus had watched the crow's nest crash to the sea before being crushed by the Kraken's tentacles. No one could've survived that.

Kaden doubted even Arabella  would have been able to survive that and she had magic. Damien didn't have that advantage. Arabella had forbidden her brother to learn magic, because she had learned that no good had ever come from it. Now, Kaden wished that someone had disobeyed that order from his first mate. It would've given Damien a fighting chance. And even if Ashik had somehow survived, he wouldn't have had time to rescue Damien. Nothing short of a miracle would've saved them. 

Kaden doubled over as another wave of excruciating pain swept through him. Jarrus leaned against him  with his hands pressed against the blonde captain's chest to keep his head above the water and Kaden dipped his head down onto the older man's shoulder. Jarrus was sure that Kaden Lockes was about to give up. 

"Lockes! Jarrus! Guys!" Jarrus looked up in utter shock as he saw his grandson sitting on top of the Leviathan's head, soaked to the bone, but alive. Ashik slithered across the surface of the sea until he stopped in front of the group of surprised pirates.

"Damien," Jarrus' voice was quiet, unsure if what he saw was actually in front of him. Damien looked ok, aside from a cut on his forehead and a broken nose.

"Hey! Where's Bella?" Damien asked as his eyes searched the floating pirates for his sister's familiar face. When he didn't find it, he frowned.

"Ashik, where's Bella?" The younger man bent over so his eyes met those of the Leviathan. A low growl rumbled from Ashik's jaws. Damien's eyes widened as he turned his head to look at the devastated pirate ship that was still in the throes of the Kraken. However, before Damien could demand they go back and retrieve his sister, he watched the Kraken's tentacles collapse into the sea, releasing Calypso's Fall.

"What...Bella is she fighting...that thing?" Damien asked in horror.

"Ya have to stop her lads. Bells stays like this any longer and Lockes'll die." Jarrus ordered as Damien looked down at his grandfather. The older pirate wore a look of something close to panic. Kaden was on the verge of unconsciousness and Damien knew what it meant.

We gotta get him to Bella. Damien thought worriedly. Ashik closed his eyes in understanding.

As you wish, young one. Ashik lowered his head and with the help of Jarrus, Damien pulled Kaden up onto the Leviathan's crown. Jarrus easily joined them and turned to the other floating pirates.