The Thrill Of You

Chapter 14

Stede's POV

As if I hadn't been used to it, the careful yet rhythmic rocking of my body as I was being shook awake yet again. I groaned and opened my eyes, expecting to see the sun and get ready for the day, but there lacked light from the rising sun, yet I was still awake. And not by accident. "Stede, I want to teach you some sword moves," Ed whispered excitedly as if he had been awake this entire time, having not slept just yet. Yet again, I let out a tired groan, feeling the restriction of my pants and realizing I had been too lazy to change before falling asleep. Even the feeling of my socks against the blanket had started to rub me the wrong way.

"What fu- what time is it? Ed, sleep is important... The sun isn't even up, the moon is still out," I whined, trying to close my eyes again just to see if I could go back to sleep. "Come on, this is how they'd do it in the old days, wake up and get your adrenaline pumping, then sleep as sound as a child," Ed pleaded, his tone so spastic and eager. I looked up at him, groaning yet again before sitting up, blinking my tired eyes. "Little bit of sparring, then to bed, alright?" I bargained, seeing that Ed was back in his leather outfit for the first time since taking it off.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, slipped on my shoes, and stood up tiredly, stretching and feeling... Well, nothing. The pinch in my neck was gone and yet it seemed to not surprise me at the same time. I rolled my shoulders, going to where the one sword that I owned, for the sake of something happening, sat on its stand. I grabbed the handle, keeping the blade in its sheath as I began to walk behind Ed down to the main deck. "Alright, maybe some practice beforehand to wake you up," He told me, the waves audibly hitting the side of the ship, the wind moving my hair about as I stood with my back to it.

With those words that came from Ed, we began to spar, and not even much time later did I catch up and the speed increased. Able to move and see by the moonlight, I caught Ed's moves and was persistent enough to advance on him. Our swords caught each other and I leaned into him a bit, now face to face. "Shall we call this a draw?" I asked, very cocky in the moment as it looked like I was going to win.

"Haha! Never," Ed exclaimed, twisting our swords so the pressure wasn't against our blades, but without warning, I barely caught myself before falling over. But before I could save face and come back to sparring, I felt a firm smack to my ass. "Oh, bugger," I whispered under my breath, regaining my composure as much as I could, just quick enough to see Ed's smile before it disappeared and he looked away. "You've gotten good, Stede," Ed told me, swinging his sword about to test the balance, the jacket along his arm moving as his body effortlessly swayed when he walked.

"You're pretty good yourself, but what say we go to sleep, we have a quick supply run tomorrow," I told him, stretching a bit as I stood there, facing his back. Ed turned around, putting his sword against his body. "How about I teach you a more advance trick of the trade?" Ed asked, looking at me with a sparkle in his eye, mischief in that one little shine. "Ed... Fine, one more thing, then we really need to go back to sleep," I told him, putting my sword by my side as Ed put his own in its sheath. I seemed to be confused, his actions confident as he opened his jacket a little bit. "Stab me," He exclaimed.

I stood there, not registering his words as I held my sword in the air, frozen in place. "I don't think I want to do that," I mumbled, seeing Ed shaking his head, though that small act was making me feel scared. "Go on, run me through," Ed persisted, moving his jacket, his midriff showing just underneath his shirt. I put my sword down to my side and shook my head, putting my metaphorical foot down and almost threw my sword if not suddenly having a sword pointed at me.

"Then I stab you," He warned, his tone changing from aloof to considerably serious. There was a shiver I felt not long after, knowing immediately that it wasn't just fear or worry. "Ed, don't stab me," I pleaded, though I shakingly raised my sword to defend myself in case he was serious about stabbing me. I wasn't very keen on getting stabbed, let alone stabbing someone to whom I had become very close. "Come on, this is the life, now act... Or die," I heard him say, making my eyes widen as he took a step forward, my body tensing up and reacting as I screamed.

The sound of my sword piercing Ed's abdomen echoed and I couldn't fathom the pain let alone the fact that there could have been a chance that maybe he was joking, and I took it further. My left hand caught his body as it started to lean back from the force of my body nearly colliding with his. "Oh, God!" I whisper-yelled, looking at Ed and seeing him laughing a bit. As if this was a funny joke and I hadn't just pierced him like you would an ear. "Well done," He congratulated, wincing just the slightest, thinking I wouldn't notice.

"I've- I've stabbed you, you nut!" I exclaimed, absolutely baffled that he was even laughing at a time such as this one. "Well, you managed to miss all the important bits," He told me, his balance almost slipping, though he caught himself as I moved my arm to balance him against myself, feeling his hips dig into mine. "W-what?" I mumbled, looking down at the stab and seeing that the sword was definitely embedded in his flesh, not even wanting to imagine how it looked from the other side.

"Science tells us that all the important organs are on the right, so I cleverly took it on the left," Ed whispered, putting his gloved hand on my shoulder, my eyes snapping up to his. "But... The liver," I proposed, wanting to desperately get the sword out so any more damage wouldn't be done if my hand slipped. "Don't even know what it does, it's fine," He reassured, though I was still worried. I looked into his eyes, knowing it was just a lie. On the left side of the body, there was the pancreas, which definitely helped something. But not only that, but his heart was on his left.

I looked into his eyes, seeing that even if he was smiling, he was being serious. Nothing important on the left side my ass. I felt sorrow, knowing that he felt it to be true, looking away as I felt my eyes prick with tears, not wanting to cry in front of Ed. "How does one get it out," I whispered, hearing Ed's leather jacket move as he grabbed the back of my neck, for leverage I'd guess. "Just relax and tug," He told me, to which I slowly pulled it out, having the displeasure of hearing his whimpers as I slightly wailed, hearing him say the word "tug" repeatedly.

As soon as I felt the tip of my sword enter back into the edge of Ed's skin from the back, I tugged hard for the last few inches, hearing the slicing sound as it came out, a little bit of blood but nothing a quick cleaning wouldn't save. I looked at Ed, who had been panting as he stood there, and I felt something twist as he was keeping the shirt and jacket away from the wound. I sighed and shook my head, walking past him before stopping. "Get to the cabin, I'll be back up there in a bit with bandages and such," I deadpanned, leaving the urge to sob as I walked down the very few steps to grab bandages. I put my own welfare aside as I ran around like a madman, grabbing everything needed before going back up to the cabin, and seeing Ed sprawled out on the floor. "Ed!"