The Pirate Prince L.T

Stay with me

Chapter 28

It was a bit farfetched to think that the missing Princess who had been last seen on the water on the other side of the country was in such a location, looking like a pirate and seeming completely calm with her surroundings.
Their common sense was clearly brushing it off and putting her off as a look-a-like or something similar.
Harry's expression didn't appear altered. Instead, the male rolled her eyes lightly, "I think my trust is more stupid than it is funny to be honest."
"Hah." Lillian gave the male a small pat on the back while she began walking forward, "No worries, Hazza. I won't run away and leave the big bad Captain Tomlinson angry that you let his precious princess escape."
Legitimately, this was the perfect way to get away and go home.
If she ripped off her bandana and made a scene by pinning Harry as the bad guy who kidnapped her, she was sure that she'd gain support even if her clothes kind of signaled she wasn't who she really was.
But...
She knew it wouldn't right if she did it that way. She had gave Harry her word... beside...
Harry would die and Louis's reaction wouldn't exactly be the best thing ever. Her worst case scenario could just see Louis slaughtering everyone specially her poor friend Ellie and eventually getting to her and it wouldn't be pretty at all. Especially when all Lillian wanted to do was get the guy a gift so her soul could rest in peace.
She'd get another chance to get away, but this wasn't the way to do it because ultimately Harry's blood would be on her hands and none of this was even Harry's fault to begin with.
Lillian stuttered:" I won't leave."
"Which I love you for, babe." Harry snickered, releasing Lillian's hand his hands slipping into his pockets with a grin, "Now, what shall we get for the big bad Captain? I brought enough money for you to go as fancy and extravagant as you want, Your Highness."
As great as that was, Lillian found her lips pursing in disapproval as she shook her head, "If I want this to have emotional meaning or whatever, the value won't lie in the amount it costs you know. But knowing my reaches are lengthened is nice too."
Her eyes trailed around to the different stands to see if she could spot something worth checking out.
She didn't know much of Louis's tastes despite spending so much time around him...
"Looks like you're having an existential crisis, babe. What's wrong?" Harry questioned in mild amusement as he glanced over in Lillian's line of sight.
"I don't know what I should get him..." Lillian truthfully admitted with a heavy sigh, "You're his best friend, aren't you? What should I get?" She turned to Harry, who blinked his eyes before awkwardly shifting his eyes toward the ground.
"Wow. That is a good question."
"You should be ashamed of yourself because you don't know what your own best friend likes."
Harry held his hands up in defense, "Hey! Don't pin the blame on me! In case you haven't noticed, Louis isn't exactly the most readable and open person in the world!"
"But that still isn't an excuse to not know what he likes. Just saying." Lillian shrugged, earning a glare from Harry, "Oh? So you must know everything about Ellie, then huh? Miss. Perfect Best Friend."
Narrowing her eyes, Lillian folded her arms over her chest indignantly, "Enough to know what would be a suitable and meaningful gift for her! Geez, do you at least know about something Louis's wanted for a while but couldn't have?" She impatiently inquired.
The male groaned, "Yeah, but it's so obvious what it is, even you know by now."
"What are you talking about-"
Lillian stopped speaking because it dawned on her exactly what Harry meant. Harry meant 'Lillian'
She could feel her cheeks warming up and she knew she had to change the subject.
Huffing, she averted her face from the pirate's view, "I'm not whoring myself out."
"You don't have to." Harry shrugged thoughtfully, "We both know he's had you physically already, don't even lie." He sent her a smirk before adding, "But he's never had your good graces. So maybe you can just show him your good side. I'm pretty sure he'd want that."
Lillian who was getting used to the lack of respect from the boy just bit her bottom lip.
If even Harry didn't know what she could get, she was pretty much in a tight spot.
Necklaces, jewels, and clothes would all be worthless to a pirate who practically had all of riches he needed on his ship.
God, shopping should not be this difficult for anyone.
*A/N It is. The Father's day present kills me every year.*
Suddenly, Lillian found herself jumping a bit in surprise at the strange feeling of something crawling over her feet.
Her eyes shot downward to see what she was stepping on. It was some thin braches and just beside the broken pile, her eyes cast down on the small pigeon she found herself unable to hold back an 'Aww'.
Not even caring what Harry thought, Lillian was already bending down to pick up the feeble animal that stiffened in her hold the second she rose it up from the ground.
"It's cute." The royal laughed as she felt the little thing's fast heart beat "Wonder where its mother is?" She absentmindedly muttered with a swift glance along the fallen nest,
"Its mom is probably dead." Harry easily answered, "Boys must have took her and the wind had destroyed the nest. It's not uncommon but normally someone would have stepped on it when it wanders into this busy part of town... It got lucky that it's still alive."
At the most, in the palace Lillian had only been exposed to royal animals that were pure-breed. But it didn't mean that this stray was any less worth than one of those fancy cats and royal birds that she could have had in her home.
A life was a life all the same.
"We're keeping it." Lillian announced with a glance upward to Harry who watched her with widened eyes, "What-"
"We're keeping it and that's final." The royal repeated, this time with a bared teeth smile pointed at the pirate. Using her royal, commanding tone after so long was enjoyable.
Harry's eyes narrowed, "Lillian, you do realize you just can't bring a bird onboard that ship right?"
"I don't care. I'm keeping it and his name can be... Hm... What can you name a pigeon? Something like Ed, maybe? What do you think?"
"We can't keep it."
"We're keeping it."
"Lillian," Harry tried to reason, "Be reasonable. What do you think Louis would do if he saw it? He'd probably toss the poor thing overboard! It'll be a lot of work to take care of!"
Instinctively, Lillian shrugged as a way to show she didn't care, but then a thought turned in her head.
Louis wouldn't do anything to the bird, not just because Lillian would defend the thing with her life and threaten to jump overboard if Louis tried anything, but also because Louis's favorite animal happened to be the bird's species.
Besides... The thing was way too cute to hurt, anyhow. Even Louis wouldn't be able to deny that.
"No, he won't." Lillian grinned cheekily, "If I give her this little guy as a gift, I dare him to throw him overboard."
Harry watched her, eyes clearly not impressed, but Lillian simply adjusted the bird into one hand and waved him off, "We should go shopping for stuff for him. Like a cage to keep him secure and warm, and food to last for a while. Come on, Harry." Lillian commanded as she turned on her heel to begin walking away.
She heard Harry grumble beneath his breath, but she chose to ignore it as she paid more mind to the still lightly shaking animal in her grasp.
Lillian reassuringly gave the tiny thing a few rubs on the head to ease its fears while she continued walking amongst the steady crowds of people in the marketplace.
With the huge flow of people that seemed to be touching her on all sides at one point, Lillian had a feeling that it must have been around noon and a majority of people were stopping by to buy food for lunch or something similar.
At one point, when she was finally able to properly move without touching someone.
Breathing out in relief, she loosened her hold on the small birdy considerably before she began moving over.
"Excuse me."
Lillian felt her blood instantly chill at the call from the painfully familiar and sweet voice.
Her body went rigid from her spot over the table of ribbons threads and the bird in her grasp began to squirm a bit more than it had before when it noticed Lillian's tighter hold on it.
The voice sounded so close, like it owner was right behind her and at this point she felt a lump grow in the pit of her throat.
Lillian couldn't turn around because a small part of her prayed that even if Louis was right behind her, he wasn't speaking to her.
Slowly, she began inching away, down the aisle of the table, her head turned to the right with a deep scowl.
"I said, excuse me."
A hand to her left shoulder and Lillian inwardly hissed at her misfortune.
At this moment in time it came to her attention that Harry was nowhere in sight and if he was, he was probably watching this unfold with as much fear as Lillian was.
How the royal fuck did Louis happen to appear at the same place as Lillian and at the same exact time!?
It wasn't humanly possible!
Lillian continued shuffling uneasily. Louis still followed her steps persistently and Lillian contemplated on just stopping and turning to explain herself, but she knew this probably wouldn't end well if it was looked at from Louis's perspective.
Then, Louis's grip tightened heavily to the point that the royal winced in pain from the short sting that shot through her shoulder, "Lillian, you can stop now."
Lillian's movements came to a halt instantly and she slowly turned her head over to where Louis stood.
Unlike what she expected, Louis didn't wear the same expression that he'd been wearing back in Ireland when Lillian had discovered in him the Cathedral... The harshly cold and emotionless facial feature had given Lillian chills and practically screamed that Lillian had dark times ahead in Louis's hands...
But this time... Louis looked more exasperated.
Like a mother that just found her child doing something she'd specifically told her not to do.
Lillian didn't know if she should be offended with that or not.
"Louis-"
"What can I do, Lillian?"
And then all of sudden, it was as though the only people that existed in the world was both Louis and herself.
Lillian found her skin heating up as she stared back into Louis's vivid blue eyes that seemed to be overflowing with a cocktail of emotions. The emotionless, icy shield that he had built over himself was melting away before her eyes and she was speechless to say anything as Louis's other hand came to grip her other shoulder and the pirate continued gazing at her.
"Tell me, what can I do to make you want to stay with me?" His voice was strong and his irises wavered in hurt that instantly felt like a punch in the stomach, "I realized scaring you and hurting you wasn't what I had to do, but now that I'm trying to be gentle and nice, it isn't working either. So tell me, please,"
The vocal plead at the end was deliver with a desperate frown from the pirate captain as he continued watching the royal stilly and at this point, Lillian didn't exactly have any words.
Louis was showing his vulnerable side once again and this time it pained Lillian just by looking at him. His expression was so helpless and appeared to be entirely dependent on whatever Lillian's response would be. The realization of this also made Lillian's eyes sympathetically watch at the face of the boy that looked entirely hurt.
Louis was hurt because he thought Lillian was trying to get away from him. It was hurting him that Lillian wanted to be away. And Lillian knew better than to think he was showing this weakness because Lillian was worth money or for revenge against her father.
Louis was literally exposing his true emotions because of whatever feelings he held for her.
It was a little scary to consider, also a tad bit strange to think about... But what Harry, Liam, and Niall and everyone else had been telling her on the ship had to be true.
Louis cared about her.
The emotional hurt that Harry had talked about over Lillian's first escape and Louis's hat came to mind once more and as she returned Louis's intense stare, the full damage of it was practically smacking her in the face in the form of Louis's own rare display of true feelings from his entire face.
Taking a deep breath, Lillian shook her head gently before she tried to brush off Louis's hands from her shoulders. Surprisingly, Louis complied and dropped his hands before Lillian offered him a weak smile, "I got you a birdy." Lillian informed while she slowly brought up her hands to show the pigeon in her grasp between the small spaces hers and Louis's bodies shared.
"I also have an explanation so stop looking like that because you're going to make me feel like crying or something, Lou." Lillian attempted to tease lightly, her smile twitching mischievously at the pirate captain that childishly folded his arms over his chest with a small glare toward the floor.
-

"Do you guys really think Louis will end up leaving without us!?" Ellie worriedly questioned as she sprinted forward along with the rest of the group.
Niall was laid on Liam's back, too drunk to properly see straight let alone walk, but despite that, Liam was still able to run faster than the pirate nurse, a fact that she was admittedly slightly ashamed of.
Sofia led the run, her arms holding up the several bags of clothes and items they'd picked up earlier while she huffed, "Louis pushed me overboard before! I don't think he'll have a problem pulling up the anchor when we're not there!"
"I told you both to watch the time! Now we're going to be late and Louis's going to angry! All because you two don't know a single thing about timelines!" Liam scolded out right as they reached the docks.
To Ellie's relief, One Direction was still there, the bridge was still pulled down, and Louis wasn't out there waiting for them or anything similar.
However, that didn't slow down Sofia or Liam and the pair continued racing down the pier. Ellie struggled to keep up, her weaker lungs threatening to give out while she trailed behind.
She hadn't meant to take so much time...
All she wanted to do was do was a quick shopping for Lillian, and she had taken Sofia with her. Sofia had a nice sense in what she thought Lillian would like.
But it turned into a bit of field day for the two and their three hours slipped out their hands like sand and when they met up with Liam he informed them that their three hours had turned into five hours.
Sofia promised she'd take the blame at first then Liam said he'd take the fall instead, something Ellie felt entirely terrible for and she already promised herself when they were confronting Louis, she'd intervene and tell the truth.
"Please don't tell me we're the last ones onboard." Liam called up to Harry as they began sprinting up the bridge.
Harry stood by the entrance onto the ship, his arm rest on the ledge with a lazy smile and the moment Liam walked on, "Sorry You are. But don't be too worried about it." Harry softly reassured before turning his attention to Niall.
"Little leprechaun had too much to drink?" He asked out with a shake to his head when Liam nodded his head.
"Niall, one day when we land, it'd be real nice if you came back on this ship sober, you know." Harry stated with a ruffle to the blonde's hair.
Niall mumbled incoherent phrases that Harry had to roll his eyes at.
"Where's Captain Tomlinson?" Ellie meekly interrupted, her breathing still not evened out from her run earlier.
Almost instantly, Harry's eyebrows gave a small wiggle and he wore a sly smile on his face, "Talking with the Princess who basically saved your asses from being shot for being late."
Liam questioned, "How was your time onboard with Lillian? "
"Our time was pretty short. The Captain was back pretty soon." And let his head down.
"So the Princess is talking with the Captain and apparently that stopped him from being pissy at the fact we were late. Haha, Lillian is made of magic." Sofia shook her head as she picked up the bags of clothing that she had dropped on the floor.
Ellie instantly moved to assist her with a smile, "Captain must really like her. I think Lillian may like him back." She thoughtfully stated.
"Oh? Really?" The female pirate questioned, "Do you mean... Like as in like or like like?"
The brunette hummed, "Well... I'll need to ask... I mean she hasn't shown any interest in guys for over two years..." She paused thinking about Jeremy but then she continued hopping for her friend to be happy again:" But I'm more than positive she just 'likes' like a friend? She spends so much with Captain, it'd be impossible for them to not have some of bond there by now not to mention whenever she and I are talking, Lillian always brings up Captain at least twice if not more... When she doesn't like someone, she never talks about them..." Ellie wistfully informed while the two began making their way to the stairs to the lower decks as Harry, Liam, and Niall had.
As they did so, Ellie glanced over her shoulder at the upper deck toward the front of the ship where she saw both Louis and Lillian at the ship's edge speaking with one another.
"Yeah, we can give the Princess her clothes later." Sofia chuckled, her eyes moving from where she had seen Ellie gazing off.
Ellie gave a giggle and nodded in agreement before following after the other female.