Jack started a coughing fit immediately.
Hayley sighed and rolled her eyes.
Jack, Jack, the name seems so familiar. Why though?
"Oh. So now snarky comments?" Jack sneered.
"What-?"
"Jack, the situation is dire and we need a ship. Now." Wilson commanded.
Jack grunted and walked towards a rowboat.
"Jack," Wilson said in a warning tone.
Jack groaned and walked towards a much bigger ship.
It had a wide-open mast and polished floors.
"Our newest ship, the Ephidian. Name after Ephidia of course," he announced.
"What's Ephidia?" I asked.
Jack and Hayley stared at me for a solid two seconds.
"You don't-?"
"HEY! ISN'T THAT PRINCE JAXON!?"
"YEAH! WE COULD USE THAT REWARD! GET 'EM!"
"Oh geez, run!" Jack ran onto the deck and I pocketed Wilson and ran after him.
A man, with a scraggly beard and pegged leg, grabbed my leg just as I was about to get on the ship.
Jack cursed under his breath and started pulling me back up, grabbing me the arm.
And it hurts.
A lot.
Jack finally pulled me hard enough to get me on the ship and the two men cursed aloud and started jumping on the boards.
Lots of cursing if I do say so myself.
They curse like sailors...
Wait-
Are they really sailors..?
"TAKE OFF THE SHIP! GO! GO! GO!" Jack yelled.
Haley quickly climbed up the stairs to the top deck and pulled up the anchor and started turning the wheel, making the ship roughly turn to the side. Water splashed but the men were left on the dock, yelling at each other for not catching the ship on time.
Hayley came down the stairs and looked at the people on the deck with disgust, "I can't believe them.." she muttered. Then she looked back at Wilson and me, "So what's wrong with Jax?" she asked Wilson.
"Well you see, remember when Jocelyn and Harlow came to Shipwreck Cove? In August, Jax was hit with a forgetting potion, so he doesn't remember anything." Wilson explained.
"Wait. Even Gilly?" Jack asked.
There it was again.
Gilly.
WHO IS GILLY?!?!?
THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!
"JACK!" Hayley shrieked.
"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled.
"So um," I cleared my throat, "Who's Gilly?"
Jack then almost fell over.
"So...He doesn't know who Gilly is?" Hayley asked as she cleared her throat.
"Well, I remember the name, but I don't know exactly.." I answered.
"So um, I have a question... What about Gilly? Does she know? Why don't you just go back?" Jack asked.
"That was 3 questions. And well, I don't know about Gilly, but she doesn't know, and he can't go back or else evil will rise again. Jax is the only one who can fix this, and he can't have the help of an entire army. He must do it himself." Wilson replied.
"So what do you want us to do? Take you to Shipwreck Cove and that's it? No! We're going to help!" Hayley protested.
"We are?"
"Yes, we are!" Hayley smacked Jack's arm and he winced.
"Well then, if we are you're all going to have to help. Hayley will be on the lookout, Wilson can do what a mouse does." Jack started walking to the top deck before he remembered me, "Oh right. And Mr. Prince here can go ahead and take care of the sails."
---
OK.
Why?
WHY THE SAILS??
"I knew you wouldn't like the job," Hayley said. "Sorry about Jack...You guys really won't get along any way would you..?" she muttered to herself.
"So, we don't like each other at all do we?" I asked.
Hayley winced for a second before nodding.
I looked back at Jack who was steering the ship, focusing on the sea in front of him. He looked so much stronger than me, someone who was just, better than me.
"I wouldn't say it was just Gilly. Maybe a little because Jack wasn't really a supporter of the royals back then, and the way you two acted to each other," she shuddered, "Not the greatest."
"There were the Prank Wars. That was the worst..." Wilson muttered.
I spun around in surprise when Wilson spoke, "Prank Wars?"
"A period of pranking between you at the time you were attending the FTRS College. It got so out of hand that eventually, you had detention for the rest of the year."
"With Madame Cleo and Blackbeard," Hayley added.
"Was that so bad?" I asked.
"Madame Cleo and Blackbeard were flirting with each other literally half the time. You two said it was the worst thing that you had ever seen and were talking about Holy Bleach for the entire morning after." Hayley explained.
A memory flashed in my head at that moment.
"JAX! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" A brunette girl with a purple streak in her hair screeched before snatching the bottle of bleach away from me.
"I NEED THE HOLY BLEACH!"
"It's not even blessed, idiot. You're gonna die!" she put away the bleach and looked at me disapprovingly.
"Oh. Worried about me dying again, are we thief?" I teased.
The brunette girl turned red, "I-I have no idea what you're talking about," she stammered and then quickly walked away.
The memory ended and I blinked twice before my eyesight cleared and I could see Hayley and Wilson staring at me intently.
"Jaxon? You blanked out for a moment there.." Wilson said slowly.
"Oh, I'm-I'm OK." Hayley and Wilson looked unconvinced but moved on.
"Maybe you should explain all of this now, Wilson.." Hayley suggested.
"Yes, maybe I should. When shall supper be ready Hayley?"
"A few more minutes should be good."
"All right then, to the table. We should speak of the matter professionally, without any interruptions."
---
(Gilly P.O.V)
---
I stare at Jax's torn-up shirt, "W-Where did you find this?" I asked Kayla.
"There's a little town south of here. This was found in an alley," she said quietly.
She handed it to me gently. It was the exact same shirt that he had been wearing 3 months ago on my birthday, which used to be the worst day ever. Now, this was it.
I choked back a sob and sat on the velvet chair roughly. He was...gone. Kayla held me in her arms and I cried into her shoulder. I felt a little guilty getting Kayla's outfit wet, especially when I knew how much she hated getting her outfits wet/dirty/touched too much (by people who weren't her). But then again...
"What are you going to do now?" Kayla asked gently.
There was a pause before I answered, "Rule the kingdom myself."