Tom Hardy Imagines

•James Delaney•

⚠️⚠️WARNING: extreme angst and sadness ahead. Get your tissues. Im sorry I had to do it to you.😭⚠️⚠️

She came when James was 17 and Zilpha was 15. She was to be the new housemaid. She was Brace's daughter. Her name was Andromeda and she was 15 like zilpha. James remembered her like it was yesterday. She had been firey and sweet all at the same time. She had caught him and zilpha many a time and kept her mouth shut. Not because zilpha threatened her. No. She'd made that clear to the both of them the first time she'd caught them and zilpha opened her mouth with harsh and hot words.

She made her way down the hall silently with the wicker laundry basket, avoiding all the squeaky floor boards. She noticed Zilphas door cracked open and raised her fist to give a small knock but stilled in her movements when she heard it. The heavy breathing and small mewls from Zilpha and James' grunting with every thrust. And she knew it was James. Because Zilpha called out quietly. "James! Don't stop!" She felt sick to her stomach but at the same time this was a perfect time to teach the two of them a lesson about sneaking about. "Hey. If you guys are gonna sneak about yeah, do it the right way." She called out. She heard the curses and the thud that indicated someone had fallen off the bed. Within moments the door was wretched open and Zilpha stood in the door way with a red and nervous James behind her. The look on Zilohas face was a cross between shame and anger. "Laundry?" She held up the basket. Zilpha huffed. "If you tell anyone about what you just saw-" she growled but Andromeda had cut her off. "Well if I told then I wouldn't have the joy of watching you attempt and fail to sneak around here would I?" She reached behind James and pulled the door shut. "Next time. Shut the door all the way." She gave a cheeky smirk and made her way down the hall whistling like it was just another day.

The next time she caught them he knew she was growing annoyed at this point that they weren't being as careful as they should. She'd told them as much.

She rounded the corner to see the two of them heavily kissing in the hallway. "Come on you two! Seriously!" They jumped away from eachother. "You both don't have a sneaky bone in your bodies. Its obvious." She muttered annoyed. "W-well father is gone." Zilpha spoke up. Andromeda raised a brow. "Is my father? Did your father say for how long he'd be gone for?" Zilpha turned red immediately. Andromeda didn't look at the two of them as she stocked the hall closet with the bath towels and spoke. "If you really want to keep this whole...thing...a secret. You have to do better. Cause if you get caught and and they ask me if I knew, I'm Singing like a canary. At that point its everyone for themselves." She said and turned to give the two teens a look. Zilpha didn't meet her eyes and James just smiled amused. "Now you both have a room with a lock yes?" James nodded. "Good. Use them. Good day." She waved them off and disappeared back down the stairs. Zilpha had taken a deep breath and looked back up at him with a giggle.

She was one of the best people both siblings knew. And she only proved to be more than that when his father had pissed someone off and they came for Zilpha as revenge. He also remembered that nightmare of a night too clearly.

He had come into the back door, pausing when he'd heard a man shouting, Zilpha sobbing, and Andromeda quietly talking. He silently moved through the kitchen, grabbing a knife and peeking into the foyer. A dirty looking man was standing in the middle of the foyer with a gun pointed at Zilpha who was standing infront of the stairs, Andromeda behind her on the second step. "Please. Shes just a girl. She had nothing to do with any of this." Andromeda was saying in a calm, hushed tone. "Shut up!" The man yelled back clearly irritated. "Look mister. You're angry. I get it. I've been there. But don't take an innocent girls life for something so trivial. The safes are upstairs. I will open them for you. Take whatever you want. Just not her." The man growled. "I dont want money or jewels. He can get those back. He can't get her back." He clicked off the safety and James snuck behind him, rasing the knife. The man must've seen Zilphas expression because before he could plunge the knife into the man's neck he fired. It all happened in slow motion. Andromeda kicked Zilpha to the floor and out of the way. And within a blink of an eye Andromeda was against the stairs. A dazed look in her eyes as blood seeped through her white dress, staining her chest. James plunged the knife into the man's throat repeatedly until he was sure the man was no longer breathing and rushed to the stairs to Andromeda. She wasnt making a sound but her eyes were moving. Like she was seeing something no one else could. Zilpha sobbed and crawled her way up to the maid and held her hand tightly. James pulled her head up, his eyes wet. "Andromeda! Hey! Andy!" He yelled to her through a cracked voice. She didn't answer him but her eyes met his. "Dont you dare. Don't you dare leave us!" She gave a small smile and looked over at Zilpha who couldn't control her heavy sobbing. And she closed her eyes, her chest stopped moving and her body went heavy. The door burst open and Horace Delaney made his appearance. He took in the man's body on the floor and his two children sobbing over his maids body on the stairs and his blood ran cold. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

James was sure that the was the one and only time his father had felt true, unadulterated guilt and sadness. He had paid for the finest funeral for Andromeda and the finest tombstone in the finest cemetery London had to offer. Brace had broken that day. He had never been the same. He'd taken to drinking and putting up a fake front for everyone else. James had pulled back from Zilpha. He'd started taking an interest in the east India company and had eventually gone on that trip to Africa where he'd almost died and disappeared for 10 years. Zilpha was guilt ridden. She had put it into her mind that it was her fault that Andy was dead. That if she had been braver and not such a little girl Andy would still be alive. James called it survivors guilt. And he knew exactly how she felt now after the sinking of the Influence. He had seen Andy many a time in his visions and dreams. Always there lecturing him on his troublesome ways and stupid plans. And when his mother had tried to drown him in the lake for the first time she had gone head to head with the woman. She was his protector even now. He just felt it. So he made it a routine once a week every Friday to buy flowers and leave them on her grave. An offering. A thank you for all her hard work in life and in the afterlife as his guardian.

A/N: if yall want a part two of guardian! Andromeda and James just let me know. Totally doable. I'm sorry it was so sad. Sometimes it be like that.