Eustace's POV
"Dear diary, there has been an extraordinary turn of events. I've been abducted by my cousins and set adrift in uncharted waters in some ridiculous-looking boat. What's worse is I share quarters with an obnoxious mouse thing. And I thought bunking with my cousin was bad enough. So far, every person I've met in this strange place suffers from the most florid delusions — chasing green mists and looking for lost lords. I can only assume that this is the result of a poor diet. Or they're all just barking mad. Cousin Edmund is no exception. He spends every spare second, with the occasional help of Jessica, rubbing that tin sword of his like it's some magic lantern. Poor fool clearly needs a hobby. And that peeving marmot, he's even more deluded than my cousin."
A bird flies up to me and I gesture over to the mouse. "In England, we have mouse traps for that sort of thing... Speaking of food, you don't know where I could get any, do you?" I ask the bird, assuming it will respond.
"Uh, why are you talking to that bird?" The big-hairy creature that made me pass out before said.
"I just naturally assumed it can--" Before I could finish the creator started laughing at me and his friends joined in. I waved off the bird and got up, wanting to get away from those nasty people. Well, if the bird won't help then I'll have to find the food myself.
I climbed down some deck stairs and occasionally hide in places to avoid being caught. I then finally found a basket of oranges!
I quickly picked one up and put it in my shirt. Suddenly, a voice speaks up and it scares me half to death.
"Are you aware that stealing rations is a capital offense at sea?" I look for the voice but can't find it.
"Up here." The voice says. I look up to see that it's the peeving marmot of a mouse.
"Oh. You." I say with annoyance. I try to leave but he jumps in front of me.
"Men have been keelhauled for less!" He tells me. I have to look like I've done nothing wrong so I have to lie.
"For what?" I ask.
"For treason and sneakiness and general nuisancery- Look! Just hand over the orange and we'll let the matter pass." He pleads.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I say. I try to leave once again and he jumps in front of me again.
"Allow me to clar--" He moved his tail to get the orange but I grabbed it so he couldn't.
He gasped and his eyes turned furious but I needed to give him a piece of my mind.
"Look, I've had quite enough of you!" I tell him.
"Unhand the tail." He drawls his sword and points it at me. "The Great Aslan himself gave me this tail. No one! And I repeat, no one touches the tail! Period. Exclamation mark!" He tells me.
"Sorry!" I quickly remove my hand as I was frightened for my life.
"Now, I will have the orange and I will have satisfaction!" He says.
He uses his tail to pull a knife into the air and without thinking, I grabbed it.
"Wait! Please, please! I'm a pacifist!" I say in hopes of getting out of this.
"En garde!" He yells.
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Jessica's POV
I was helping Ed with the sword, which was coming along beautifully, when I heard rustling and people falling. I look up to see my brother running around the boat with a... kitchen knife?
"Trying to run away? We're on a boat you know?" Reep says.
"Oh, Eustace, what have you done now?" I ask no one in particular.
"That was for stealing!" Reep cuts a slash in his shirt. "That was for lying!" Reep stabs an orange hidden in my brother's shirt. "And that was for good measure!" Reep slaps him with the orange. Reep throws the orange to Drinian and looks back to my brother.
Oh... Eustace was trying to steal rations...
Next thing I know, Eustace is chasing Reep all over the ship with the knife. Reep finally lets him take a shot at him and he is not doing good. He's... floppy. He makes Little Johnny from back home look good. And Little Johnny was really, really bad.
"Stop flapping your wings like a drunken pelican! Poise! Keep your blade up." He says. Eustace tries to go for him but Reep jumps around and lands behind him.
"Lunge with your foot. Not with your left, your right! Got it? Good." Reep says.
Reep moves onto the side of the ship.
"Be nimble! Be nimble! It's a dance, boy, a dance!" Reep says.
Eustace finally starts lunging and advancing properly, stabbing toward Reep. I was actually proud of him. Even though he was trying to murder Reep, he was still learning how to fight properly!
Reep pretend to fall over the side of the body and Eustace rushed over to see if he actually knocked him off. Wait, is he scared he killed Reep? Well, it doesn't matter because Reep taps him on the shoulder and shoves him into a pile of baskets so he'll learn his lesson.
But, we didn't exactly think that the baskets would... scream?
Lucy and I stand up to check out the baskets.
"Look." Lucy says as a girl crawls out of the basket.
"Gael?... What are you doing here?" Rhince asks. It's his daughter, the one he gave the hug to. Oh, I bet that Aunt is going crazy looking for that girl...
She looks scared and Rhince sees it. "Here." He goes up and hugs his daughter. I can see Rhince's fatherly side show as he goes to comfort her and protect her.
I look down and a few tears start to fall from my eyes. I wished my Dad would've loved me like that and treated me like that...
I watch Drinian pass me and kneel down next to the girl. I hear him say, "Looks like we have an extra crew member." He offers her the orange with a smile. I hear Rhince laugh and smile a huge smile and I couldn't take it any longer. I took off to the map room where I knew I'd be alone.
Or so I thought...
I walk in without looking and turn around to close the door as fast as I could. I let a big sob out and my hands grip the doorknobs harder, my knuckles turn white.
"Jess..." I spin around quickly, the sound scaring me. I see Cas sitting in the chair.
"I am so sorry I didn't know you were in here!" I say. I quickly turn around, ready to leave and find another place to cry.
"Wait! Please don't go!" Cas stands up and comes over to me.
I just look at him and he immediately wraps his arms around me. I can't hold it in so I sob and turn into his chest. He rubs my back and strokes my hair. But I just continue to sob.
After a good 10 minutes of sobbing and Cas holding me, I quiet down to just sniffling.
"Why were you crying, Jess?" He asks me.
"Uh, well, it's stupid. You wouldn't want to hear it." I say hoping to not talk about my feelings but it doesn't work.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me. Did someone do something to you?" He asks, his voice getting hard and protective.
"No! No, umm... let me explain..." I start to tell him about Eustace's fight and the screaming basket and how it was Rhince's daughter. "The way Rhince went up to her and held her, comforted her..." I start.
"You never had that." Cas finishes for me. "How do you know me so well?" I slightly laugh.
"I know that I already am but I can hold you if you want." Cas says with nerves in his words.
I nod and just push my head deeper into his chest. My arms wrapped around his body wanting more comfort. Since my head was on his chest I could his heartbeat speed up. I loosen my grip on him.
"What?" He asks. "Your heart rate went up, are you okay?" I ask, without looking at him yet.
"Yeah, I'm just worried about you is all. I hate seeing you upset, it makes me upset." He says.
I look him in the eyes but our arms and hands remain on each other. Our faces are close but not as close as the time in the medicine closet.
"Since I make you upset, do you want me to leave?" I ask. "No! Please - please stay..." He says, trailing off. He holds me tighter as if he was afraid that I'd leave.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask.
"Can we talk about something, it might distract you from your current feelings?" He asks.
"Umm, sure... what about?" I ask.
"That day when I stitched you up in the medicine closet..." He says.
My heart skipped a beat.
"So, we almost kissed..." He says. "Yeah..." I say.
"D-Did you want to kiss me?" He asks, stuttering from nervousness.
I knew that if I didn't tell him the truth now, I may not ever be able to...
"Yeah, I did... did you want to k-kiss me?" I ask him, accidentally stuttering.
"Yeah, I did..." He says.
Wait. He did? Is my heart not getting broken? What?
"Well, what do we--" I start but he stops me mid-sentence by crashing his lips onto mine.
I didn't kiss back at first as I was in shock. But I kissed him back a few seconds later. His hand came up and caressed my cheek. I could feel the passion coming from him and I was hoping he could feel it from me. Our lips moved together in sync. My arms gripped his as I wanted us to stay like this... close. It was the perfect first kiss. It was worth the wait and it was worth the heart. I felt overwhelming safety and love. All that mattered at that moment was me and him...
The kiss broke and we didn't say any words, we didn't need to. I don't know how long that kiss was but I didn't care, I was just happy that it happened. We both smile at each other and he pulls me back into an embrace. Our arms wrapped around each other once again. It was quiet, but it wasn't awkward silence though, it was good, calming, and relaxing. We didn't need to talk. We just stayed there and held each other.
And I had completely forgotten about my sad thoughts from before...
I am brought out of my trance when I hear "Land ho!" from the other side of the door.
Cas pulls out of the embrace and heads for the door. But before he makes it there, he stops for a second and turns back around to me. He walks back over and gives me a quick kiss on the lips before smiling and turning around once again and leaving the room.
I am left standing there with the best kind of awe. I raise my fingertips to my lips where Cas just was. And all I knew was that I wanted another kiss.