Sodalite and Aventurine (Larry Stylinson au)

CHAPTER IX

Louis turned away from the sight and hobbled away with Harry, up onto one of the planks that connected the Spanish ship to his.

"Where is the Pearl Rose?" Louis asked as they crossed ships.

"In Port Royal," Harry replied. "We can go to her if you like."

Louis wasn't sure where he wanted to go. "What about Swan's treasure?"

Harry smiled inwardly, amused by Louis. "We are the only ones who know the whereabouts of his maps. We can follow them any time we like."

And then Harry helped Louis down onto the deck of galleon, a ship so much larger than his own, and walked him to the steps up to the quarter deck. "Sit, love," Harry instructed, slowly bringing Louis down to the second step. "Now stay here, I'll be back."

Harry left Louis then, walking up past him to the deck above.

Louis took the opportunity to take in everything around him. Though his head ached, he could see clearly now. He could see how the sky was becoming less and less orange. It was yellow in the distance, bright blue above. And it was so, so bright. The sky had never felt so much brighter. And the ocean too, a deeper colour than it had ever been before. Perhaps it was his head injury that made everything seem so much more colourful, or perhaps it was the fact that finally, finally, Louis could sit outside in the sun relish in it.

He held out an arm and felt the ocean spray shimmer against it. The air was tepid, the ocean breeze cool. It sent a shiver up Louis' spine.

Louis looked back to the deck before him. There were men sprinkled about. Some were mending the wounds of others. Others were pulling up the planks from the side of the ship, and fixing the rigging, and though there was plenty of movement, there was a quiet across the ship. It was settled, contemplative.

Louis looked around to see which faces were familiar and which were not. To his surprise, there was an even mix. Louis' men were dotted all through Harry's. They were helping each other, tending to each other's cuts and introducing themselves. Some of Louis' men were already up in the rigging, fiddling with the sails. Ernest was talking to some of the other younger men, the kids as small as he. He was smiling.

It was so easy.

Louis glanced to his left and found himself with eyes on Liam. He was stood at the edge of the other set of stairs up to the quarterdeck, and he was standing with his hand on Zayn's chin. They were whispering to each other and smiling, pecking each other's lips as though they had spent no time apart. Liam seemed to feel eyes on himself and glanced back to Louis, and Louis did not hide the soft smile that had spread across his face.

He should like to meet Zayn sometime - when Liam had finished kissing him.

Louis supposed, though, that may take a while.

Louis did not know what Harry was doing so he turned and tried to look up towards the quarterdeck. He could only see the top half of Harry's head between the posts in the bannister. He was talking to someone at the helm of the ship. To Niall. So he had survived.

They had to be talking about routes, about where it would be that they ended up after all of this. Louis could not quite believe it though; Harry had been the reason Niall had lost his leg. To imagine him taking a stand and joining with Harry as he did before the fight broke out still did not quite feel real. None of it did.