— when the waves pull us apart
there won't be a day, there won't be a night
when I won't look for you
when I won't shed a tear or two —
"This is not good," Chay started shaking his head. The water was so cold that it paralyzed him for a moment. They were in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't see any vessel anywhere around. But maybe... maybe he just wasn't looking carefully. Maybe something was coming towards them from the horizon.
"Darlin'," Chay felt Kim's arms around him, pulling him closer to Kim. "You have to calm down your breath. Worrying won't help us now."
"Easy to say to you. I suppose this isn't your first time being stranded at the sea," Chay said nervously, his fingers clutching Kim's clothes tightly.
"Fourth... well, fifth.. if I count that time, I drunkenly walked on the plank and fell into the water, and it took everyone else on the ship almost ten minutes before they noticed. So, I watched them sail away from me and then sailing back to me while I was floating in the middle of nowhere," Kim said, his lips gently brushing over Chay's temple.
"Not sure if you are saying this because it's true or because you just want to distract me from the shitty situation we are in," Chay replies, his teeth chattering from the cold.
"Of course, it's true! You can ask our crew once we actually get back to them."
"If we get back to them," Chay sighed.
"We will!" Kim looked right at Chay, "I think that we should do it exactly how your grandmother told us. You have the Ruby Red, right?"
Chay's heart sank. What if he didn't have it on him again? What if it got lost? But then he quickly patted every inch of his body and he felt it. It was in his pocket. He reached into his pocket and brought the Ruby Red from under the water.
"Here."
"Great," Kim put his hands around Chay's hand, which was holding the Ruby Red, and said, looking right into Chay's eyes, "think about The Reckoning. Imagine the deck. Imagine where we were before we got pulled into your timeline. Can you do that?"
"Y-yeah," Chay breathed out, his body was slowly getting used to the cold. It almost felt warm now. Almost felt like they would be alright.
"Then close your eyes, darlin'. Let's think about it together."
Chay took a deep breath, and before closing his eyes, he whispered, "I love you, captain."
"More than all the treasures of the world, darlin'."
The last thing Chay knew when he closed his eyes was that Kim loved him, and soon it would be the only thing that would keep him going...
⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆
"Captain! Captain!"
"What if he is dead?"
"Captain's dead?!"
"Folks... what are we going to do now?"
"Sink me! This is bad! You should have seen him sooner. This is all your fault."
Kim felt a wooden body of a ship under him, and he knew, that they were safe. He and Chay were safe. Rolling himself to a side he coughed out the water that was stuck in his lungs and looked up at his dumbfounded crew, "I'm not dead, you bunch of idiots. Thankfully." He looked around. Searching for Chay. But with each passing second when he couldn't see him, Kim's body tensed and his heart slowed down its rhythm almost to death... that was how Kim felt without Chay now—dead.
"Where's Porchay?" he asked, pulling himself up on his knees, his eyes looking for an answer on the face of each member of his crew.
But everyone was silent.
"I asked, where's Porchay?" Kim screamed.
"We don't know, captain," Big was finally the one brave enough to say something.
"What did you just say?" Kim's voice dropped low. His hand on reflex grabbed a sabre from a belt of the pirate standing right next to him and pointed it at Big's throat. "What did you just say?" Kim repeated... slower now.
"We don't know where Porchay is. When we found you, you were alone," Big calmly explained.
Frowning, Kim withdrew the sabre, "where did you find me?"
"We were looking everywhere for you, captain, but we couldn't find you so we've decided to sail back towards the Port la Royale, figuring that the town is the base for us so maybe you'll be there somehow. Right now, we are not that far from the port... we should be there till evening. We found you just a couple of minutes ago floating in the ocean... but you were truly alone."
"I couldn't be fucking alone! I was with my Porchay, and all of you," Kim pointed at everyone with the sabre, "are going to help me find him!"
"Aye, captain!" the pirates all nodded at the same time, most of them confused more than anything else about what was even happening.
"We are going to the Port la Royal. All of you will help me search every nook and cranny of that damn town and... if we won't find him, we are sailing once again. None of you is going to rest until we find my partner. Now move your asses back to work! And keep your eyes wide open... Porchay can be anywhere."
This was what scared Kim the most Chay could have been anywhere, literally anywhere. Even in a different timeline... centuries away from him. How could that happen? How could they break apart? They were together. Kim could still feel the warmth of Chay's gentle skin. He had to find Chay. There was no other possible outcome. Kim hand to find him, but the only way he would be able to do that was if Chay was still in the 18th century because if he was back in the 21st century then Kim would be hopeless. He would have no way to reach Chay. He didn't have the Ruby Red. Only Chay had it. Hopefully, still had it. Only Chay would be able to come back to Kim from the future.
And somehow, even though, it hurt Kim to think like that, maybe if Chay was back in his own century it was better than if he were in Kim's century but without Kim. In the 21st century, Chay was safe. That century was his home. But here in the 18th century? The century of pirates... in Kim's century? So many dangerous things were around... so many pirates, with intentions much worse than Kim's could ever be, were around... Kim feared the worst—his darlin' being captured by some other pirate captain.
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"Wakey wakey, pretty boy!"
Chay gasped, his body shuddered as the cold water hit his face and soaked his clothes. He was lying on hard, dirty ground. There was hay scattered under him. The place was dark, and when he lifted his head to find out what was happening, his eyes landed on iron bars and two pirates standing on the other side of the bars. Bars.
Was he in prison?
Why? Where was he? What was this place? Where was Kim? Oh god, where was his captain? And... the Ruby Red...
"Are you stupid or something?" one of the pirates laughed mockingly. "Here... we are right here... Pay us the fucking attention, you shit!"
"That's enough, Macau," the other pirate said and squatted down to be at eye level with Chay. "Excuse the manners of my brother. I'm Captain Vegas. But common folks know me more by the name Pirate of the Death... can you guess why?" he smirks.
Chay scrunched his nose, looking at Captain Vegas in disgust, "because you stink as if you were already dead for a while?"
"How fucking dare you—"
"Macau, leave us alone," Vegas ordered his brother, but his eyes not once left Chay. Once Macau reluctantly left, Vegas spoke again. "You have a sharp tongue. Let me guess, that's something that idiot Kimhan taught you."
"Who?" Chay gulped down. He tried his best not to give away the fact that he knew who Kim was. If Kim wasn't here with him now, maybe there was a chance that Captain Vegas got only Chay. Chay had no idea how could he and Kim break apart, but if he had a way to protect Kim now, he would do that. He knew that Kim couldn't be anywhere near. If he were, he wouldn't let Chay be in a filthy dark cell being treated the way he was.
"A little advice, pretty boy," Vegas's eyes darkened, the smirk on his lips turned evil, "don't try to fool me. You know damn well who Kimhan is. Why else would you be floating in his arms when I found you, hmm?"
Chay's body turned cold just like it did when he and Kim were in the middle of the ocean stranded without anything or anyone in sight. What happened to Kim? What did this fucker do to him?
Chay pulled himself up to his feet and ran up towards the bars, towards Vegas... "what did you do to him? Where is he?"
"Well, well, well, look at that... I thought you didn't know him," Vegas grinned victoriously.
"What have you done to him, you bastard!" Chay grabbed the iron bars and shook them. He needed out of this place. He needed his Kim. He needed to find him.
"Careful how you speak to me!" Vegas said, his voice sharp and unflattering. He grabbed Chay by his collar and pulled him close. "I didn't do anything to your precious captain. But he has something I want... and now it looks like I have something he wants, am I right? So, behave and pray that your captain cares about you at least half as much as you care about him, because if not... I fear that you won't see many more sunsets."
Vegas pushed Chay away so harshly that Chay fell down on his left arm—a sharp pain immediately struck through his body. He really hoped that he didn't break it. Just not that, god, please, no.
"We are sailing to Port la Royale. So, make yourself comfortable and hope that I'll see your captain there."
When Vegas turned around to leave, Chay felt a faint feeling of relief that he could be alone now. That he could check if he had the Ruby Red or not. That he could think about what was happening. That maybe he could come up with a plan for how to get out of there, but Vegas' next words before leaving Chay alone, made Chay's blood ran cold.
Before leaving Chay's cell, Vegas yelled towards the door, "he is all yours, Macau." And then he winked at Chay before he left, "have fun."
Chay moved to the corner of the cell, as far away from the iron bars as possible. The moment he saw Macau stepping back into his cell he screamed, "stay away from me!"
Macau raised his eyebrow and opened his palm in front of Chay.
Chay's breath got stuck in his throat. The Ruby Red. Macau had the Ruby Red. His only way out and Macau had it in his hands.
"Lovely ruby you have here, bastard. Where did you get this? Your captain gave it to you... or no... let me guess, you wanted to steal it from him and run away. Tsk tsk tsk," Macau shook his head, "that's not nice. You should be punished for that. Traitors get what they deserve."
"That's mine!" Chay protested. "It belongs to me and you have no right to take it away from me!"
"You dare to argue with me?!" Macau growled he grabbed something from the wall next to Chay's cell, and then he unlocked the cell, stepping in. "Turn around. Hands on the wall!"
"No!" Chay immediately refused. "What do you want to do?"
"I fucking said turn around!" Macau yelled and before Chay knew it he was pressed to the wall and Macau was breather next to his ear. "You learn that you aren't supposed to argue with me, ever, you fucking bastard!"
A moment later Macau wasn't standing right next to him anymore and Chay almost wanted to cry from relief, but instead, he suddenly cried out from pain.
Now he knew what Macau grabbed from the wall. It was a whip. And the first time it hit his back, Chay saw black; the pain was excruciating.
"That's it—scream for me, you bastard!" Macau chuckled as the whip hit Chay again and again. "This ship belongs to me and my brother, and you have to respect us!"
"Stop!" Chay yelled out, his knees were buckling. He couldn't be standing for much longer. He just couldn't. He could feel the hot blood trickling down his back. His skin tore open, and his mind was in pain so much pain.
"Stop?" Macau laughed. "I've just started."
⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆
Chay had no idea how much time had passed. It all turned into a blur, and came back to focus only when he couldn't hold himself up anymore and his knees hit the filthy, hard ground. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Macau throwing away the whip and his heavy steps coming towards him.
No, please, no. Chay prayed in his mind, too weak to say anything out loud.
"You want that stupid ruby of yours, don't you?" Macau yanked Chay's head back by his hair, and grinned down at him, the Ruby Red in his hand. "If you want it so much then fucking eat it!" He forced open Chay's mouth and pushed the Ruby Red inside.
Chay couldn't breathe. His chest felt as if it was squeezed by an ironclad hand. His throat was soar. And his mouth... he couldn't do anything. He couldn't take a breath. He couldn't swallow the Ruby Red. He couldn't let Macau treat him like this. But his eyes were getting blurry from all the tears, and his body was so weak, he had no way to fight, and the only thing he heard was Macau's vicious laugh.
To be continued...
P.S. well... uhmm... that escalated quickly 🫣