Aboard the Jackdaw: Under Edward Kenway And The Black Flag

27: A Lovely Virus

Oh, it feels so good to be on the winning side...

"Well, boys. Terrible to see you again."
She teased darkly.

"Let us go, Anna."
A shaky redcoat demanded.

Anna's eyes widened at the cowering man and she threw her head back in sinister laughter.
She walked by a pirate and snatched his bottle of rum,

"Well here's to dreams, pussies."

She laughed as she chugged the burning liquid down her throat. When she finished, she threw the rest of the rum in his eyes,

"And here's to pissing me off!"

She yelled as the lobster screamed and squinted his eyes at the burning alcohol in his eyes.
She broke the bottle over his head, and he tumbled unconsciously to the deck.

Anna paced back and forth between Jim and his two trembling remaining comrades. Anna spat,

"You are what stops this world from being great. Look at you! Pathetic, weak invalids the lot of you! You traded your balls for a cup of tea, and you disgust me. I have more balls that the three of you combined!"
She sneered as the pirates behind her laughed.

Anna waited for the laugh to calm down, and locked eyes with Jim,

"You truely wish to be set free?"
She asked.

Jim was too chocked up to answer, but he nodded his head furriously.

I can accept all the bullshit he put me through, but when HE is the one getting bullshitted, he looses his tongue. Pathetic..

Anna smirked,
"Careful what you wish for, mate. Theres more than one way to be free."
She said as she turned to Joel,

"Put them down."
She said darkly

She turned her boots and began walking back the the Jackdaw poop deck as she ignored the screaming captives behind her.

Maybe it's a good idea I didn't join the Assassins just yet. I'm not ready to give up staying my blade from certain un-Templar flesh.

Edward followed at Anna's heels back to the Jackdaw. He watched every move in her encounter, and was throughout turner on by her handling,

"My, my, lass you are turning into quiet the devilish pirate leader."
He chimed as the British heads rolled on the deck of The Justice behind him.

Anna turned around to face Edward's eyes inches away and played,

"Good. I'm planing to mutiny you."
She teased.

Edwards flirty eyes narrowed in amusement,

"Ohh. You know what I'm going to have to do to you now?"
He purred darkly.

"Rope up my neck to the galions?"
She smiled.

The twinkle in Edward's eyes danced,

"Well, no. But now that you say so, we could get some rope involved, love."
He winked with a lustful grin.

Anna dropped her jaw and hit his shoulder,
"You sick pirate."
She laughed and turned before Edward could see her face turning red.

The Justice began to sink into the depths of the Davy Jone's locker and the Jackdaw set full sail for Great Inagua. Anna walked up to Adawale as he patrolled the main deck.

"Adawale, how soon till we dock at Great Inagua?" She asked.

"About three days, Anna. Four if we run into the headwinds that this course is infamous for."
He replied.

Anna nodded and went to walk away when Adawalé called her and took her to the side of the ship where none of the men would hear him.

"Back at Tullum, what did Ah-Tabi want to talk to you about?"
Adawalè asked.

Anna sighed,
"He wanted me to become an Assassin."

"And you told him no?"
Adawalé reeled in disbelief.

Anna rested her hand on the smooth railing of this ship and twiddled her thumbs,
"Ya know, its a curious thing. When I saw this ship for the first time, I felt my whole life flash before my eyes. Now, this ship is my life."
She chucked as she looked at the sea.

"But its no's secret that a life with the Assassins is something you've been dreaming of."
He pryed.

"Maybe one day if Edward and I don't work out and I feel I've payed my debt to him for saving my life then I'll take Ah-Tabi up on his offer."
She replied.

She cringed at the thought of her and Edward not making it. He had been the only person in her life that make her feel truly free and capable of doing anything. He encouraged and expaned her potential, and revived her spirit.

"You know, the Captain will never tell you when he thinks that that time you are even has come."
Ade chuckled.

Anna shrugged,
"Some things you just know, Adé."

As usual, Edward watched the flowing blonde head of hair as she talked to Adawale. Her lazy smile covered her delicate face. For once, it didn't capture his attention in the same way it normally did.
Three days.
That's all the time that he had left.

Anna thought that Caroline Scott was just a passing girl. Anna didn't know that Caroline was Edward's wife, and that Edward had vowed to come back to her one day. After almost six years at sea, Kenway's memory of Caroline had faded from a loving, beautiful wife to a whisper in the wind. Edward told himself when he left his home, he wouldn't get caught up in any affair besides the cheap whores in the brothels, and then Anna crashed into his life like a water spount on the waves.
For a brief moment, he considered staying in the Caribbean.

Edward quickly shook the thought from his head and tore his eyes away from her to look at the sea.

He couldn't stay. He had to prove Caroline wrong. He had to get the last laugh; He needed to prove that his quest wasn't a fairytale, and that he wasn't bluffing when he said he would return to her with coin spilling out of his pockets. He could barely wait to see the look on her father's face, or the look on her face..
Her face seemed like such a distant memory...

Anna was prettier than Caroline, he had to admit. Her eyes were bluer, her skin was soft and tanned with the love of the Carabbean sun. What tripped Edward the most was that Anna loved the adventures that Caroline condemned.

On the other hand, Caroline was his wife, and as much as he hated to admit it, it did mean something that he made a vow to her. If he didn't return, then what would his in-laws think of him? The same low-life, lazy dreamer that they had always thought of him?

But as hard as Edward tried to keep the thought of a future with Anna away from his head, the thought invaded his mind like a sweet, rampaging virus. If he stayed with Anna, he could stay at Great Inagua and make a home and a family with her. He could live a wealthy life and teach his children how to sail here in the sea that he loved. The thought was as temping as a cool spring in a desert.

He was drawn to both choices, and no matter which way his tough heart split, it would still shed blood.