Erin and Hanji
*
It may have been the glistening lights in Blackbeard's eyes or the lack of tremor in his voice when he was clearly in pain, but there was something that he gave to Louis before he died that said, "My Pride overcomes my regrets. I will die for my Ship like any Captain should."
And then he'd smiled at Louis, given him the cutlass, and Louis knew that he had to protect the Captain's pride even if he'd sacrifice himself on the way. And so he'd taken the damn Kraken down, drowned it to the bottom of the ocean and screaming that outcasts were not to be messed with.
For sure, outcasts were the ones who knew how to murder, they were the ones who understood people and knew how to destroy them in the most painful ways possible. And God, Louis had certainly proved himself that morning.
Harry had watched his husband with the word 'remorseless' running endlessly through his brain. He'd laughed at how pitiless his lover was, how far he'd come, and how Edvard had succeeded in making him the most heartless bastard in the world. Everyone had seen it then-a real King will remain a King even when the whole Empire turns against him.
*
The dining halls were the largest rooms on the Grande Marie, but the crew had seemed to have found the largest yet. It was huge, with old venetian candles lined up between every porthole in delicate rows. The floor was uneven, mouldering apart in some places, and every inch of it was bare from furniture apart from a table and around twenty chairs around it. On the walls were paintings. Zayn wondered were they were from, who had painted them, and he would often be caught admiring the style of artwork and the texture of the canvases.
But now was not the time to confuse the Ship for a museum and he was focussed on the new Captain who spoke to them.
"-We need a new plan. We need to decide where we'll go next; if we'll stop at Argentina or continue travel south and around the new world. Of course, we'll need to stop somewhere, we can't go on like this forever. Erin needs treatment; my dear, I wouldn't want to lose you to scurvy. That would be a tragic way to go, wouldn't it?" Everyone looked to Erin who hid his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. "So what shall it be? What do you want most?" Louis was not the sort to take other's opinions but he was out of options and felt the need right now to respect Blackbeard's crew and his own comrades in this sad time.
Everyone looked at each other, unsure if they should speak up, and Louis rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'll make it easier for you bloody knuckle-heads. Raise your hand if you want to stop at Argentina, hands down if you want to head South."
There was a slight pause and Zayn finally raised his hand, everyone else but Roxanne followed.
Louis did not give anyone a chance to see who'd disagreed and told them all to put their hands down but his eyes were on Roxanne. She had shrunk back in her seat for a while now, her head was down and tears were standing in her eyes. Of course, Louis had lost a mentor-but she'd lost a grandfather.
"-Should anyone wish to speak but has no courage to do so, I'll be in the music room later on today. You're free to confide in me. I vow on privacy."
His eyes left Roxanne and returned to the rest of the crew. "Argentina." He said. A small smile crawled on his face that showed nothing but pitiless hunger. Zayn wondered why he looked that way, but then he saw that he was smiling at Harry. Harry was smirking back and Louis was clearly forcing his eyes away to everyone else but it was clear who he'd rather be watching. "There's a lot of things out there, I hear. Blackbeard told me many stories of his past and the people there. It sounded wonderful, as you should imagine, but we shall not be staying." He slammed a fist on the table when everyone started to complain. "Don't forget your places." He snarled, and the room went silent. "I'll give you a week. You shall explore the country to your liking, do as you wish. The Grand Marie shall sail at dusk on San Martin Day. I won't wait for you if you're late."
He knew that he was lying, he knew that he'd wait for everyone at least until nightfall, but they weren't to know that. Louis quite enjoyed seeing the anxious fear in their eyes, it calmed him.
He looked back at Harry who soothed his expression when they caught each other's eyes again. Harry smiled at him in the most loving way and Louis felt his heart leap out of his chest. It was strange to think that after more than a decade, he could still feel this way, if not more with every day that passed. "Leave now." He said to his crew but everyone understood that the Captain just wanted Harry for himself. After all, he always did; Harry was not shared, that was for sure.
Everyone left the room, slamming the door behind them, and Harry stood up. He was shirtless beneath his dusty-pink coat, he had been for weeks as his shirt had sunk in the wreck. He still had a Gypsy style and Louis believed that he'd never give it up, not that anyone had tried to make him. He smiled, put his copper hand out to Louis and bowed down. He'd always done that, Louis thought, always treated Louis like the finest Lady in the country. Louis took his hand, attempted at a curtsy but gave up when his wooden leg got in the way.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, taking Louis' face in his hand when he stood back up straight. The cold copper froze Louis' scorched cheek but he loved how it felt. Harry looked at him, watched his lover's eyelashes curl up and his lips part; he swam in the oceans that lived in Louis' eye, felt how they were warmer than any waters he'd ever seen. Was Louis alright? He seemed to be.
Louis looked down, pulled his lips into a line, and shook his head.
"What can I do for you?" Harry asked, moving his head to catch Louis' gaze but only seeing his lover turn away. He watched Louis move to a chair and sit down on it, letting a sigh of relief as he looked at his prosthetic leg. Louis appeared in deep thought, in a state of mourning that Harry hadn't expected to see. "I'm sorry for your loss." He said, "I didn't realise that the Captain was that close to you."
Louis looked up, gave a sympathetic smile that was clearly fake, and slouched over the table with his face in his palm. "He wasn't as bad as the world made him." He said, although he sounded far away. "He had many things he wanted to do before he died. He had many things that he should've said but never got the chance to. I wonder if he felt betrayed?"
"How so?" Harry asked, leaning his weight on the table and brushing his hand through Louis' hair in comforting movements.
"Well, he said that the Grand Marie was his own creation, that he loved her with everything. He was willing to risk his own life for this Ship and yet she passed down the power to me and left him to get killed. It's unfair, the Grand Marie betrayed him."
Harry bit the inside of his cheek and pulled his hand away from Louis' hair to undo his coat buttons. "I understand your point but maybe she had no choice. Maybe she saw you as a more worthy Leader."
"Why would she? He's a million times better than me. He's the King of the oceans and the most feared Pirate of all time. No one is better than him." Louis snapped, turning his glare to Harry in an almost vicious fashion. He was getting frustrated again and usually Harry would give up at this point of the conversation.
'No one in the world is better than you, Louis. No one could even come close to you.' was what Harry wanted to say, but Louis had already heard those words. Harry knew that Louis would never see himself in the light that he saw him in, Louis would never understand how absolutely incredible Harry found him, and even actions wouldn't save that view. But Harry had words pressing down on his heart and he believed that if he kept them for himself then his heart would burst with an overdose of love.
"I've known this for a while, Louis, that you're scared of being replaced, scared that other people will stand where you once stood, but you don't understand how much you're worth. I refuse to speak for others but I'll speak for myself: Louis, you're doubtful, you're restless, and you're the most incredible thing that has ever wandered into my life. The fact that I wake up next to you every day and that I'm the only one who can show you off to the world are things that I'd not give up for anything. Louis, my love, you deserve to live and all I can ask of you is to just hold on a little longer because our lives would be boring as hell without you here."
Louis' face lit up and Harry was so surprised by his reaction that his mouth fell open. Louis was glowing like the sun, touched by a compliment that, to Harry, had not seemed different to anything else he'd said before. Despite that, Louis was most certainly happier now, and Harry could only believe that it proved how worthless Louis had deduced himself to be.
Louis grinned up at Harry, his hair fluffing around his face and his eyepatch glinting in the light of the candles on the walls. He looked like he had looked when he was young, and somewhere behind that thought, Harry knew that it was because happy Louis was young Louis.
He could see Louis' age drop away when he smiled, he could see the young man he'd fallen for back in London, the one who'd crack jokes and flaunt around without a care in the world. He could see the person who could light up a town with his happiness, who would love and care for anyone who called out for it. The person that Harry saw then was the most beautiful thing in his world and should that beauty die, then Harry would surely die soon after over a broken heart that could never be fixed.
*
The streets of Argentina were buzzing with life. Cattle scattered the marketplaces to be sold, housewives beat their rugs out of the small town's windows or collected the milk that awaited by the doors. Little brown children ran around in the streets playing tag. They wound their way through Harry's and Louis' legs, chasing each other as if they were the only people in the world. Everyone was rather short in Argentina, Louis thought, and had dark skin like Zayn. They all looked the same to him, dark with jet black hair and happy smiles on their faces. They were all identical to one another but so different to Louis and his friends. Only Roxanne seemed to fit into the crowd, and even she had differences to her that made her stand out. Louis felt like a stain on a white dress, like everyone should be staring at him, but they weren't.
No one took notice to look as they all followed Roxanne down the streets that she knew somehow by heart. Those who did occasionally look simply smiled warmingly and turned away. Louis felt those smiles as mocking, but the Steamers continuously promised that no one was laughing at him. Harry whispered over and over that Louis was beautiful and safe, and if he hadn't have said that, then Louis probably would have never got off the Ship in the first place.
The voices sounded strange to the Steamers-nasally and quick-speaking-and they couldn't help but laugh at the funny language that came from their mouths.
"Harry, listen." Louis said, pointing at a little girl with his bandaged finger. The girl must have been three at the most but was rambling on to her doll. Louis seemed delighted and he stopped, holding Harry's hand and tearing them both away from the group who were heading to Blackbeard's suggested location. Harry said a quick "-but" and was cut off when Louis dragged him away further, "Come on, Gypsy-boy, where's your sense of adventure?"
He laughed, tugged Harry quickly and pulled him to the little girl. Harry shrugged, unable to disagree with a man like Louis. Instead, he watched Louis bend down to the girl who pulled back shyly. She seemed scared to see Louis but not in a way that she was horrified by his appearance. She was curious of Louis but afraid of the difference of ethnicity she could see. Harry watched Louis put a hand out to her. In his palm was a cluster of raspberries from a bush that they'd found by the port. He smiled at her, looking more like an excited child than the relentless man that he was. The girl clutched her doll, hesitated while her eyes flickered from Louis' face to the berries in his hand, but she finally reached out and took one.
"Louis." Louis said, pointing to himself. He pointed to the little girl and tilted his head curiously. He was as drawn by her as she was drawn by him, and Harry felt his heart race at what he saw. He'd never seen Louis with children, and he couldn't quite believe that Louis could be so gentle and kind.
"-Mía."
Then, a woman appeared at the door of the small shop that the girl had been playing by and started to rattle in the foreign language. Louis quickly stood up and backed away beside Harry. The woman seemed angry when she picked up the girl, putting a finger in her mouth and dragging out the raspberries. The girl started to cry. Louis was alarmed, frightened, and he moved a step behind Harry when the woman started to near them. Harry could see how his lover was scared, scared of the language and actions, scared to be beaten like he'd been beaten before.
Harry took a step forward towards the woman and found that he towered over her. He shook his head, grabbed her hand in his and smiled at her seductively. The woman was beautiful in her own foreign way, and very much to Harry's liking. "Hey, leave him alone." He snarled, turning his smile to a glower. He dropped her hand and turned to Louis. "It's fine, let's go." He spun Louis around to leave but Louis wriggled past him and back to the woman with her child. He was hesitant to approach them but he moved along with what his conscience told him. The woman kicked at him when he bent down and he winced back in fear. With his eye on her, he reached out to the doll on the ground. He never left her stare until he was standing again. He gave the doll to the girl and she stopped crying.
With one last nod and a scared glance from Louis' behalf, Harry dragged them both away and down the street.
"Why was she angry?" Louis asked after a while, obviously bothered by the situation. Harry wrapped his arm around Louis' shoulder, "You shouldn't feed strangers." he said.
"Why?" Louis stopped to pick up a stick, and then took Harry's hand again, dragging it beside him along the path by the port. "She was hungry."
Harry looked at Louis and smiled, "People like them wouldn't understand. They're afraid of death and you may have poisoned those berries, for all that woman knew. People don't take food from strangers, it's just weird."
"They think I'm weird?" Louis asked, sounding slightly hurt.
Harry was quick to shake his head, "No, no, not at all." He said, "They just don't understand where you come from." He looked at Louis who seemed unsure of how to take what Harry had said, "Just keep being you, let them wonder. Wondering is never a bad thing; it broadens horizons." Harry smiled and squeezed Louis' hand. Louis smiled back and laughed. He lifted his face when he walked, closed his eye, and took in the sunlight.
"I always got in trouble for wondering," He said peacefully, "what kind of person does that make me?"
"People who get in trouble are people who know how to live. You, my love, are the best kind."
*
Hi! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it's a little calmer than the previous ones; then again, it's always calm before a storm.
Also, what's your favourite thing in this book?
Lucy x.