Here there be pirates

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Alfred wasn’t sure what he was doing in this part of the ship. Having been on it for over a week, he now knew where everything was and he even helped out with small things, although, Gilbert was teaching him how the ship worked. But he was down in the lowers decks now, near to the Captain’s quarters. It had been a spur of the moment thing to go check if the Captain’s bunk needed cleaning, as that was currently his job around the ship, but Arthur Kirkland was in there and now Alfred was pressing himself to the wall, trying to be silent. Not even knowing why he did, Alfred found the English pirate completely fascinating, maybe to the point of liking him. Over the last week, he had grown closer to Roderich who had taken a liking to the American and his little brother, looking after them in this rough world. His partner, the albino Prussian, had promised to help the newcomers get used to their new life and find a place on the ship. His little brother already had; he was now working as their lookout in the Crow’s nest. Alfred was almost jealous as to how quickly Matthew had settled into his new life; he had even found a lover in the guise of the tall, flamboyant Frenchman. A noise from Arthur’s cabin shocked Alfred from his musings and he peered around the door to look at the Captain who was stood in front of his mirror, fiddling with his eye patch. As he lifted that tattered, jet black material, Alfred almost gagged. The unseeing orb skittered around the Captain’s eye socket, looking blindly for something to focus on, finally settling on the clear glass before it. Taking a steadying breath, the American took a proper look at the sightless eye; it was crystal white with a small, light grey pupil. Hundreds of tiny red lines of scarring were plastered across the skin around the eye, like some sick crystal ball that could only predict pain. Arthur’s face fell as he gazed silently with his good eye, raising a hand to gently, almost without touching, caress the scars. Alfred shivered a little, wanting to hug the young pirate Captain; honestly, the Englishman couldn’t have been more than twenty-three and yet, he seemed so much older. With a cold wash of realisation, the American thought, ‘he’s been broken. More than once.’ And that hurt.

“You know, it is considered bad manners to hover outside someone’s door and eavesdrop on them.” His smooth, gentle English voice made Alfred jump and automatically draw back before he realised that Arthur already knew he was there.

“S-Sorry, C-Cap’n, I was just c-cleaning. I’ll just-” Alfred babbled, gesturing wildly.

“Please, come in.” Arthur cut him off and gestured inside. Without thinking, or stopping to question it, the American entered, gazing around at the room. It was mildly luxurious, with a small bed covered in animal furs; there was a desk in the corner with a map laid across it, various instruments littered around it.

“How are you liking the ‘Valiant Lucy’, Alfred Jones?” came the Captain’s smooth voice from behind him and the young pirate turned to see the scarred Englishman sat on the bed, both eyes, sightless or not, fixed on him.

“It… It’s a beautiful ship. I like Rod and Feli and Gil… They’re all lovely and kinda accepted me and my little bro right away. And it… it’s good for us. A new life.”

“A lot of the people here are the same. Dear old Roderich was so broken after that back-stabber Antonio took everything from him, with little Feliciano following him like a lost puppy. It is only natural that they craved the seas…”

“Gilbert told us…” mused Alfred. “Roderich seemed so upset when he mentioned Antonio…” Arthur nodded and patted the bed beside him, causing Alfred to blink and blush faintly as he sat beside him.

“Roderich cared a great deal about Antonio’s well-being on the ship. They were best friends. And when Antonio led the mutiny… It broke Rod’s heart. But I’m sure him or Gilbert are much better people to discuss that with.” The American nodded and there was a period of silence before Alfred said,

“Cap’n?”

“Please, call me Arthur. Yes?” Alfred paused, flushed deeply at the request but replied,

“O-Okay, Arthur… Um, I was just wondering… your eye…” The captain stiffened and immediately the pirate knew he had touched an unapproachable subject. There was a long silence. It made Alfred feel positively sick and just as he opened his mouth to apologise, Arthur said,

“Two years ago. It was… maybe a year after I had met Roderich and Feliciano, before Gilbert and Ludwig. We ran into the ‘Bloody Isabella’. Now, originally, that ship had been called the ‘Maria-Theresa’ when Roderich had sailed it, but no, Antonio would not have her called that. Roderich was furious. It was understandable really; the ‘Maria-Theresa’ had been his pride and joy and was a truly beautiful ship. And so, we flag her down and Roderich draws himself up and he is pissing himself angry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautifully terrifying thing…” Here, the Englishman just paused, shaking his head a little. “He asks for permission, as politely as possible, despite the fact that he looks like some sort of avenging angel, to go confront Antonio. I say yes. He storms up the gangplank, violet eyes aflame and he just hollers, ‘ANTONIO CARRIEDO, YOU MUNTINOUS BASTARD SON OF A BITCH! GET YOUR GOOD-FOR-NOTHING ASS OUT HERE NOW.’ And Antonio has the nerve to show his face. Roderich has this tiny little rapier of a sword but well…” Again, Arthur trailed off but Alfred was just marvelling at the way the Englishman had retained all the information from so long ago; he could barely remember what he said to his brother this morning. “He knows how to use that thing. So, Antonio comes out with this little first mate of his, who is Feliciano’s older brother, Lovino. Lovino is probably around eighteen and little Feli is just sixteen. So, Finnigan is stood next to Feliciano in case he does something stupid as Roderich stares down Antonio. I swear, it was so silent, you could hear the dolphins squeaking under the waves and then Lovino says, ‘What do you want, Prissy Bastard?’ and all hell breaks loose.” Arthur gestured as he spoke, his good eye glittering with memories. “Feliciano goes for him. I mean full on goes for him and Antonio moves to defend him but Roderich is faster and he cuts off Antonio’s finger with his sword. So naturally, Antonio calls for his crew to attack, which mean I declare my crew to attack and it becomes a full on battle. So, I’m facing down the raider, who is this huge and frankly terrifying, pick-axe wielding Russian and I cut him with my sabre. He screams and this Chinese guy pulls out a hand pistol and shoots. The bullet hit my eye… I pass out and wake up in my room, with Alistair watching over me. They’d managed to save me but I was out for days. And I lost my eye. Thus, the rivalry of the ‘Valiant Lucy’ and the ‘Bloody Isabella’ began.”

“Wow…” Alfred sighed, almost dreamily. “And what happened to Antonio? How did that end between him and Roderich?” The American could have sworn that the look on the Englishman’s face was positively wicked.

“Oh, you see, Antonio Carriedo is now referred to as the dreimal gebissen Kapitän. Which is German for the thrice bitten Captain, because not only did Roderich remove the third finger on his left hand, he also took his right ear and his left leg.” The young pirate couldn’t help but grin at the Captain’s sly tone and as he turned to look at him, Alfred found himself once again captured in the other’s mismatched eyes. One, grey and scarred but crystalline like a rough diamond; the other so green, it would have made an emerald feel ashamed of itself. Silence fell as one green eye met two cobalt ones. Time stopped. Or at least Alfred felt like it had. All this week, ever since he had met him, he had wanted to get to know the mysterious Captain and now he was sat in his room, talking of old stories and he didn’t know what to say, what to do-.

Soft lips were being gently pressed to his own. Arthur Kirkland was kissing him.