∞ Author's POV ∞
"ACE!", the summoning echoed.
More voices on Martina took up the call and shouted, "Ace!", "Ace, wake the fuck up!", "The captain's calling"...
Moments later, Ace walked into his captain's cabin. He was a tall man in his late twenties, with handsome looks and straight black silky hair. He held a strong figure with impressive scars on his bare arms that screamed years of experience in piracy. He walked in sleepily while carrying a small lantern.
"Captain. Dawn hasn't woken up yet-"
"Get in here, take a look at him."
Ace frowned as he took the scene in front of him. Nyx was sitting motionless on the floor with his back against the wall and Agenor's hand on his neck, preventing his head from drooping. Ace walked towards them and the closer he got; the ghastlier Nyx's expression appeared to be. His skin was pale, his eyes hooded yet unblinking, and his lips were slightly open.
He set the lantern on the floor beside them and knelt next to them. Then, he held Nyx's right wrist and remained silent for a moment, feeling his pulse. He frowned in concern and checked the pulse again.
"What's wrong with him?", Agenor demanded.
"I'm not sure..."
He checked Nyx's eyes, lifting his eyelids one after the other with his free hand.
"Spit it out Ace, why is he like this?", Agenor asked with a hint of desperation that surprised his friend.
Ace moved his hand to press two fingers on the side of Nyx's neck. Checking his pulse once more before answering his captain
"His heartbeat is very faint. He's physically conscious, but mentally, I'm not certain-"
"What does that mean? He's either conscious or not! Quit fucking around and check his pulse again!"
"Captain, I already did. He's breathing but his Qi is very slow, barely flowing"
"What the fuck does that even mean?"
"He's dying"
Distress replaced anger in Agenor's look, "What? That can't be-"
"His body is extremely weak. His energy isn't flowing properly. I've only seen this a couple of times before when sailors barely survived a shark attack. They were badly hurt. Most of them eventually died of shock and blood loss"
"Un-fucking-believable! Do you see sharks in this area? Or in my room, Ace?"
"Something must've happened-"
"He didn't leave this room. Didn't even walk the plank or anything, so how would he even see a shark?"
"It's not about sharks per say. I think it's more about experiencing an intensive shock or something"
Ace looked at Nyx and let his eyes travel his body. The young man was topless, but another detail caught his attention
"Why are his pants around his ankles?"
Agenor glared at him. This wasn't the time to discuss unimportant details. Nyx wasn't well. Ace had even said that he was.... Dying. Agenor stared at Nyx and felt very frustrated, along with an emotion he was quite unfamiliar with; guilt.
He reached forward and tapped him on the cheek again while calling his name and ordering him to talk.
Ace watched his captain curiously. Then he noticed a familiar dagger lying beside them. He stared at it and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"You... Agenor, did you use that to threaten him?"
"No, I didn't. This has nothing to do with the dagger"
Ace looked at him skeptically. Threatening was a very preferred pastime to his captain, and he wouldn't put it past him to use the dagger against the nobleman.
"I did no such thing! I really didn't!" Agenor defended himself. Then he smirked and added, "It was actually the other way around"
"Wait, he attacked you!?"
"Surprising, right? He hesitated at first but went for it eventually"
Ace knew that Agenor's smirk hid something else.
" It's odd for you not to kill someone who attacked you, captain. So, what did you do to him when he attacked you? And why did he attack you in the first place? He doesn't look like someone who'd take a swing at a pirate"
"Uh... We were just enjoying ourselves. I'm not sure what upset him"
Ace saw easily through the lie. He had known Agenor for so long now. He looked at Nyx again and, as if the conversation sobered him, he realized that they were both very naked, save for the pants that pooled around the younger man's feet.
"Did you sleep with him? A man?"
A cheeky smile on Agenor's face revealed the answer. But it wasn't just the act that was an oddity in this case. The nobleman had tried to kill Agenor and was dying from shock or whatever had happened to-
"Agenor, did you rape him?"
Agenor glared at his subordinate. "Why the hell would you call it rape? We fucked. Hard. Like you haven't heard us."
"I was dead drunk when I passed out! You know I can sleep through a cyclone. But that's hardly the point... He's a kid Agenor!"
"Not according to his unworthy stepfather. I saved him. His life is mine. HE is mine! So don't you fucking let him die now. Without me, he would be nothing but a drowned corpse; starved and drowned at the bottom of the ocean. Pretty crappy luck if you enter the land of the dead on an empty stomach"
"Wait, he was starved? For how long his stepfather say they kept him from food and water?"
"I'm not sure. He said he interrogated him for at least a couple of days. Wait, where the hell are you going?"
Ace moved towards the table and walked back with a large cup in his hand. He knelt instantly and grabbed Nyx's chin, forcing his jaw open, and started pouring water.
"He's extremely dehydrated. Food and water could be the cause of this. It would certainly explain his low energy levels. I'm surprised he held up for so long. The poor man has been through a lot, and with such a small build"
Agenor felt confused and was hit with a wave of culpability, a feeling he wasn't used to at all.
"I knew he was weakened from malnourishment, but he was fine! Then he suddenly..."
All the water kept flowing out of Nyx's mouth, who was still unresponsive.
"Damn it, he's not drinking. This is not a good sign"
"Get more water. I'll force it into him"
"We need to be careful. We wouldn't want him to choke-"
"Just get the water!"
Ace did as ordered. He filled the large cup and handed it to his captain. Agenor slipped his thumb in Nyx's mouth to keep it open. He raised his chin and tilted his head back, then put his other thumb on the side of Nyx's throat.
"Spill it"
With Nyx's throat straightened and more open, Agenor ordered Ace to pour the liquid, and like always Ace executed. With his thumb, Agenor made small, periodic pushes on the wall of Nyx's throat, urging him to gulp.
Seconds later, Nyx suddenly choked and proceeded to have a coughing fit. Agenor and Ace quickly withdrew to give the revived young man time to breathe. Agenor kept a watchful eye and held Nyx's head to keep him upright. Nyx started regaining his senses and fidget, while Agenor felt quite relieved to see him move.
Wasting no time, he snatched the cup from Ace's hand and pushed it to Nyx with one command, "Drink."
Unknowing about his surroundings, Nyx wanted nothing but to refuse anything and everything. So he shook his head the best he could before turning away from the captain. Without hesitation, Agenor grabbed his chin and forced him to look him straight in the eyes, "Drink. Now." He pushed the cup to Nyx's lips roughly. Nyx glanced at the water, and it revived his thirst. He began to drink in uneven gulps and with small chokes in between. His hand moved to grab Agenor's wrist to push him away, but he ended up just holding onto him as he drank.
The cup was finally emptied, with a lot of the water spilled on Nyx's front. However, he still managed to get some, and that was what mattered. Nyx leaned his head back to rest against the wall, heaving and finally in control of his movements; his eyes rolled around in their sockets and wandered aimlessly around the room, stopping at the source of the light in the cabin, which was the flickering fire of the lantern set beside them. From the way he looked, he was clearly fighting a faint.
"Nyx. Hey, can you hear me?"
Ace checked his neck pulse again for a moment before nodding, "He's much better, at least for the moment."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He's still starved"
"Then do something about it!"
"Aye, I'll get him a tonic."
"You're going to pull him back from the brink of starvation using damned soup!? Fuck that, I'll get him some meat"
"He won't be able to eat anything other than tonics for now. All he needs is nutritious food and rest. And... no intense activities until he gets back on his feet."
Agenor knew exactly what Ace meant. Unfortunately, Nyx understood him as well. He figured this terrible situation was going to last longer now that he was still alive. And only God knows what Agenor would do to him after the attempt to stab him.
The dagger... Nyx glanced around him and found it. He defied his own exhaustion and grabbed the weapon that was lying next to him. He knew he wouldn't be able to kill Agenor in this weak state, or even in his best shape, for that matter. He felt so hopeless and crushed. And more than anything else, he was out of options. He was ready to give up, and in a split-second decision, he put the blade to his own neck.
Ace was the one who saw him first, and glared at him, "Don't!"
Agenor turned to face Nyx, the latter giving him angry and blaming glares. His hands were not shaking this time, either too weak to do so or too determined. Either way, this wasn't acceptable for Agenor. He swallowed his surprise and regained his calm, stern voice, "You just can't stop dancing around death, can you?"
Nyx said nothing. Instead, he pressed the sharp edge on his own neck and winced. The cold metal instantly started biting at his flesh, and his white skin was painted with a string of crimson blood that made a path from his neck down to his chest.
Agenor's eyes widened. He stared angrily at Nyx's daring actions. He couldn't believe the way Nyx was still defying him even on the verge of dying.
He firmly grabbed Nyx's hand that was holding the dagger. The younger man's other hand moved to push him away, but Agenor pinned his forearm to the wall. He clenched his teeth, and said in a threatening tone, making sure to put emphasis on every phrase
"Your life is in my hands. You have no say as to when or how you cross. If you don't grasp that, you'll face consequences worse than death. Your life has changed, boy. Deal with it." In one gesture, he yanked the dagger away and threw it to the side, with complete disregard to the thud that resounded as the dagger stabbed the wooden wall.
Nyx was unmoving, gazing back at Agenor. His whole body then started shaking, his blue, accusing eyes got fuzzier as they filled with fresh tears that dropped onto his cheeks.
Ace took in a long sigh, glad to have avoided yet another crisis.
"Lords," he mumbled, then turned around and left the room to go get some sleep.
∞∞∞