Private Tales No Jackets

[Peyton]

Peyton trembled as arms wrapped around her, her mind racing too fast to physically respond and for a moment she continued to stare out of the windows at the dark and moody sky.

She blinked at his words, a brief frown creasing at her brow as she wondered whether it was a good idea for her to dive any deeper, she already wished that drawer had remained locked, she wanted to put everything back inside and keep it there where it couldn’t hurt her.

Tears spilled and she finally held onto him, burying her face against his shoulder. “What if there’s nothing to get to the bottom of other than what we don’t want to believe?” She muffled... “Did he buy me, Luc?” she frowned. She’d been six, she was sure, when she’d come aboard her father’s ship, her memory of it felt vague now, as did her memory of him, and it tore at her.

 

[Lucius]

Peyton had been on the Concordant long before he'd been there, but if she was six then the records he'd read were right. The last purchase the Captain had made was a year before he'd taken her aboard.

But who was to say that was true?

The records could all have been a lie, or they could have been incomplete. Lucius didn't know, and neither could she. His heart began to ache as she spoke, he could feel the desperation and despair clinging to her.

She wanted answers, but at the same time she wanted none.

"I don't know Peyt." He said softly, stroking her hair in a small attempt at soothing her further.

Lucius didn't know what to do. Didn't know what to say. He was supposed to be Captain now, but at the first challenge be came across he felt utterly and completely useless.

Fingers tightened and he spoke softly. "Ill do whatever you want."

If she wanted the truth he would find it. If she wanted to bury it at the bottom of the sea...then he would do that too.

 

[Peyton]

She hated that she was crying. She'd only ever really cried when their ship dragged her father and most of the crew to the depths. She shoved the memories and all of her worries with them to the back of her mind and thought about them every so often when she was alone, but even then she didn't cry. It probably didn't help how tired and weak she felt already, but she couldn't seem to stop the tears from falling mutely from her eyes and ran onto his shoulder.

Peyton loved her father, he was wise, kind and generous, at least he always had been with her and he treated his crew well.. But this would shine him in a much uglier light and she struggled to understand it. "I want it to go away.." she answered quickly before really thinking about her answer. "I want it not to be true." she added, as though the former would make the latter the truth.

She lifted her head up to look up at him, trembling hands wiping at her face to try and clear the salty streaks away. "Sorry.." she frowned and let out a shuddered breath.

Her golden eyes were now red and puffy, and they fell to where he'd dropped the journal, specifically to the familiar broken seal on an envelope that had fallen out of it..

 

[Lucius]

In that moment Lucius wished that he could Will reality itself to do as he wanted it to do. The pain in Peyton's voice made him hurt, and he wanted nothing more than to grant her request and be done with all of this.

He frowned for a moment as she apologized, shaking his head. "It's alright."

It felt as though there should have been more to say. Felt as though he should have been able to make her feel better some other way, but all he could think to do was stand there. He felt utterly useless.

Fingers tightened, and then he noticed her direct stare. Lucius dropped his gaze, taking in a slight breath as he noticed the seal on the envelopes. A grimace turned on his features, and slowly he unfurled his arms from around Peyton and bent to pick up the letter the envelope.

"We don't have to read it." He told her softly. "You don't have to read it."

If he had to do it...then he would. It was a burden he would bare for her in a heartbeat.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton frowned and hugged her ribs as he picked up the envelope and chewed on her lip as she looked up at him. If it was something terrible, she didn’t want to know.. and yet she had to.

She rubbed at her face and groaned.. “Just read it, Lucius.” she sighed, and held her breath.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius frowned, nodding slowly as he pulled a small letter from the envelope and glanced at it.

Lips thinned as he looked at her for a brief second, his free hand reaching out to gently touch her shoulder in a comforting gesture. The pain in his heart hadn't gone away, and he suspected it would not until they found an end to this.

After a few moments he began to read, his lips thinning. "Do...do you want to know?"

Lucius said quietly.

The letter was vague. There were no more details then there had been in the Journal, but what was written was a clue. The letter was to Darius Falwin, the former first mate of the Black Concordant. It talked of a bargain, and a deal that had needed to be struck in order to ensure The Captain's survival.

There was mention of Vel Anir, a Great House, and then Cerak'At'Thul.

All of it made Lucius feel sick.

 

[Peyton]

Her frown deepened at his question “I.. don’t know..” her head shook and she pulled in a deep breath, her golden eyes staring at him with worry.

She tried to reason with herself in her mind. Her father was a good man. He was kind and treated them well. Perhaps he’d made mistakes in his past that he regretted and was too ashamed to speak of... he didn’t buy her. Peyton wasn’t entirely sure anymore.

“Yes.” She decided and gripped hold of the hand that rested on her shoulder and watched his expression closely as he read, her stomach churning uneasily. She had to know.

 

[Lucius]

Slowly Lucius bit his lip, wondering if it would not be better just to keep it from her. After a moment though he knew that he could not.

Peyton had saved him. She had put him up as Captain, and he...his lips thinned as even the thought was stopped in his tracks. "Okay."

Slowly he began to read the letter to her.

It was a message, vague as it was, to Falwin. It revealed small bits of information of the Captain and his First Mates past. It spoke of a deal struck with someone unnamed, a bounty of souls delivered, and a Great House who had served as a liaison between Cerak and the Captain.

Most of the information was spoken of tangentially, almost as if in reminder. The Greater part of the letter was the Captain begging Falwin to look after Peyton, asking him to ensure his daughter survived and not pay for the sins of her father.

It was a show of love, but a confession of crimes that should never have existed.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton looked numb with confusion, as he spoke of a bounty of souls and business with Cerak her stomach flipped and her eyes filled once more. Her father’s plea for Falwin to look after her and protect her from her father’s sins was all she could take.

She doubled over and buried her face in her trembling hands and shook her head. “I don’t understand. What did he do?...” she gripped her hair before looking up at him with a frown “Did you know??” She asked, anger in her tone, as though her father might only have kept this business from her.

 

[Lucius]

"No!" He denied it instantly, nothing but truth in the word.

All of it...all of it had been before his time. Lucius had only ever known the Captain as a man of honor, a man that abhorred slavery and did his best to break the system as best he could. That was what had inspired him, what had kept him on the Concordant.

As Peyton accused him his expression grew pained, fingers flittering at his side. He felt almost ill to his stomach.

"I...I would never Peyton." He said softly. "You know that."

A tremor ran through Lucius. "I couldn't hide something like that from you, not when I..."

He clamped up, silencing himself for a moment.

"I didn't know, I promise. It was before me." Lucius reminded her softly. He'd come aboard after her, after all of this. He'd known nothing of this, but he knew of at least one man who would.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton winced slightly as he answered. She was angry and she regretted asking, she couldn’t handle the pain on his face.

“No... I know I.. I don’t know what to think.. I’m sorry Luc I didn’t mean to suggest...“ she trailed off and wiped at the constant flow of tears.

She noticed him cut himself off and her head shook. “When you what?” She pressed.

 

[Lucius]

Lips thinned, fingers tightened on the letter. "When I have everything to thank you for."

He held back. He had to.

Now wasn't the time, now wasn't the moment. It might never come, but he could not admit it now no matter what she asked. He found his hands trembling, despite the effort he put into steadying himself.

"You dragged me out of that gutter." He said quietly. "Propped me up. Brought me here."

Lucius breathed slowly. "I don't know what any of this means. What...what he might have done."

He glanced down at the letter.

"But I want you to be okay." And he would do whatever it would take to accomplish that.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton dropped her gaze at his answer with a quiet “Oh..” and her brow knit with the unsettling thought that he was hiding something from her.. “Don’t forget almost getting you killed..” she added guiltily.

“Perhaps it was all about me getting what I want..” Peyton’s tone was spiteful, her anger was at herself. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Lucius but now she’d dragged him here, through a battle and onto a ship that the Anirian army were most certainly going to come looking for at some point. She hadn’t really thought much about the aftermath.

She lifted her tired face back to look at him and forced the most miserable of smiles.. “I’ll be alright.” she answered, unsure if that were true or not, she felt like she wanted to crawl into bed and lose her mind inside a bottle of rum.

“I should go find myself a cabin and sleep it off.” she murmured with another glance down at the journal, just the sight of the thing made her grimace and want to vomit. What else was in there?

“She knew who I was.. Kestra, at the market..” she realised. “Not that it makes much difference now.” she added with a shrug and got herself up a little unsteadily.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius seemed to stall out for a moment, his brain suddenly ceasing any and all thought as he tried to piece together a way to say what he wanted to say

How the hell did you tell your childhood friend that you'd inadvertently fallen in love with them? Worse, how did you do it in a situation that was ostensibly the absolute worst to approach any topic of the sort. It was like his insides were being shredded apart.

He had absolutely no idea what to do, no idea what to say. Fingers tightened for a brief moment as she stepped away from him.

As she turned towards the door Lucius tossed the letter onto the desk, taking only a single step forward over the journal before quickly saying. "Wait."

He said, his voice nearly breaking from nerves.

"You should stay." The sentence was all that he could muster, but he quietly added. "Please."

 

[Peyton]

Peyton stopped with a sigh as he asked her to wait and she turned back to him, fingers combing the stray locks of hair from her face with a look of exhaustion on her face. She’d been about to argue that she needed time to herself to figure things out, that this was his space and she’d be terrible company right now.. Until the quiet plea..

She frowned, there was something wrong with him but she wouldn’t press him, she never did.. She reminded herself that it wasn’t all about her, he’d be confused and hurting too, and she wandered back to him silently and wrapped her arms back around his waist..

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this Luc... I can be a selfish bitch at times..” she swallowed the ache in her throat and pressed her forehead against his shoulder with a huff.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius slowly wrapped his arms around her, heart thundering in his chest. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

He said softly, a fact that he utterly meant.

The strong will Peyton had was the reason he was here. It was the reason that he was even alive. She could claim that he had already paid her back, but in his mind that just wasnt true. Anyone could stop a sword, anyone could cut down a corsair.

Not everyone would have picked him up from the gutter.

"It will be okay." Somehow. "Whatever comes to us. We'll deal with it."

Didn't matter what it was. Anirians, the past, or even other Pirates. They could handle it. "I don't care what it is."

 

[Peyton]

Peyton sighed and leeched at the warm comfort, a small smile playing on her lips as he spoke and offered her his reassurances. She believed him, as she always did. He always had a way of making her feel entirely safe and her faith in him was never misplaced or met with disappointment.

“I know..” she croaked finally and squeezed at him before looking up at him with a soft smile in appreciation but it faded quickly and she looked tired and pained again. She couldn’t get the letter out of her mind, and her gaze grew distant and troubled as she looked back out of the window, fingers curling into his shirt.

“I don’t know what happens now..” she admitted.. “I can’t just forget about it...”

 

[Lucius]

Lucius hesitated a few moments, his arms tightening ever so slightly as he thought about how to answer her. He wanted to give Peyton an Assurance, something that would at least give her a path to walk on. His mind wracked clouded memories.

The Shade had messed with him more than he cared to admit. The last five years were spotty, and the time before that...he could remember snippets, small moments, but almost nothing that was really complete.

A frown touched his face as he closed his eyes.

Something flashed through his mind. Lips thinned, and his head cocked to the side. He did not know where it came from, it didn't seem like his own memory, but he saw him.

He remembered him, being in the water, seeing the former First Mate at a Teth bar. Why had he been in the water? "Falwin is alive."

Lucius did not dwell on why the memory was there, or why he'd been in the water. This could help, that was all that mattered.

"I remember seeing him in Teth, two years ago." At least it felt like two years, for some reason he couldn't really place it. "The letter was to him, if anyone could know more..."

Did she even want to go down that path?

 

[Peyton]

Peyton's brow furrowed and she looked up at him, golden eyes searching his face as though searching for further guidance.. On one hand, she was terrified of delving deeper into her father's past, she felt like her entire life with him had been some sort of lie and she hated it, he'd loved her and she knew that, but it was a hollow feeling to know she had perhaps not known him as well as she'd thought. On the other hand, she couldn't ignore it, it was eating away at her, she didn't want it to be true..

"Then... we should find him, shouldn't we?.." she asked eventually and loosened her grip on him, realising how tightly she'd been holding on.

"Luc.." she frowned and words caught in her throat, she couldn't look at him as she said it, it wasn't something any of them spoke about, nor did she wish to force him to revisit it in his mind. "Do you think what happened.. By the sound of the letter he thought something was coming after him. Did it happen because of what he'd done?.." she asked, her voice cracking a little.

 

[Lucius]

"I...how? The ship was brought down by..." He heard his heart thunder in his ears.

The moment she said the words his mind snapped back to that night. He remembered the storm, the slashing rain, the massive black mass moving beneath the ship. He remembered the sound of the ship breaking, the creaking wood and splintering hull.

Goosebumps ran over his entire body, the hairs on the back of his head standing up, and then suddenly he remembered something else.

Rage.

So much rage. Something controlling him, driving him, pushing him towards the surface. It was the mark. The mark he had to find. That would be the end.

Drown them.

Drown the marked.

Bring them down.
​

A flash of blue light suddenly erupted over Lucius' eyes as the memory flooded him, a breath ripping into his lungs and he felt his knees give out.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton looked back at him as he trailed off.. "I know it's just a bit of a coincid-...." she trailed off too at the look on his face, he seemed distant, troubled..

"Lucius?" she frowned and reached a hand to the side of his face to try and bring his attention back from wherever it'd gone. She recoiled with a short gasp at the flash of blue in his eyes though, her eyes wide with panic as he gasped like that. She'd been about to let him go and step back when his legs gave way and she gripped hold of him rather than let him fall.

"Luc!" What the fuck was happening?! She struggled with the weight of him, she'd have tried to get him to a chair or the bed but she was too weak to bear it and her shoulder seared with pain. She groaned and lowered him to the floor as gently as she could, falling to her knees beside him to shake him and reach to take his face between her hands..

"What's wrong, what can I do?.." her voice was raw and tremulous with fear..

 

[Lucius]

Lucius took short quick breaths, his muscles feeling weak, his fingers trembling as goosebumps rushed over his skin."What the fuck."

He said quietly, trembling and looking at Peyton.

Panicked eyes locked onto hers, and a shiver ran down his spine as he struggled for any modicum of understanding. Had it been a latent shade hit? Something lingering in his system? No. It had been weeks since the last time he'd touched the stuff.

"I..." He swallowed hard. "I saw the ship...The Concordant."

Lucius wanted to vomit. "But I was below it and I...I was so angry. I felt like there was a collar around my throat, pushing me to reach for..."

Almost paranoid Lucius glanced down at his arms to ensure that they were actually normal.

"What the fuck is going on." The young pirate despaired as he shook his head.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton stroked at his face, trying to keep him in the here and now, it was all she could think to do as she listened to him with worry.. "Calm down." she urged in a hushed tone.

She felt awful for thinking it but the question of whether he'd been using again was on the tip of her tongue but she kept it locked behind her teeth.

"I don't know, Lucius... Your eyes, weren't yours for a moment. What's happening to you?" she begged him to tell her and her eyes filled up with tears again. She'd been shaken too much today, and she wasn't taking it well. Was this ship cursed? What had she done?

"Tell me what to do.." she frowned, her hands shaking against his face.

 

[Lucius]

A deep breath shook him. "I...I'll be okay."

Lucius tried to collect himself. Closing his eyes and reaching up to slowly rub them as if he were returning his own eyes. He felt her fingers trembled against him, and slowly her wrapped his palms around her.

"There's something wrong with me. I keep getting...flashes of something that isn't me." He frowned, looking at her with a mixture of concern and confusion.

"It happened when I saved you. During the fight..." The young pirate trailed off, knowing he was about to sound absurd. "I think...I think I made the ship shake somehow."

It sounded utterly ludicrous, but in that moment he'd needed a distraction. He needed a moment to save Peyton, and that was exactly what he'd gotten.

"It's connected." He said slowly as he opened his eyes. He didn't know why, he didn't know what he just saw, but it was all connected. Deep down something told him it was true, something...something whispering. "I don't know how Peyton. I don't know what that was, what I did, but it's all connected."

He was so sure. "We need to find Falwin. We need answers."

 

[Peyton]

"Will you?.." she asked, clearly requiring further reassurance on the matter. Her hands stopped shaking as his hands closed around them and she huffed, listening to his explanation and shaking her head slowly as she tried to understand what he was talking about.

"Why haven't you said anything about this?.. We can speak to Kukri, there has to be an explanation.." she frowned, but even shade couldn't cause the shift in his eyes and ships to shake..

"Some of the men said it was some sort of whale..." she narrowed her gaze, trying not to look at him as though he were going insane but she couldn't deny that it was strange behaviour for a whale if that'd been true.

"Alright.. We'll find him, as soon as we're back home we'll find him." she nodded quickly, she'd scour the city if need be, but all thoughts of her father had been pushed from her mind and she wanted to find the man for Lucius' sake, she didn't care about anything else.

"Can you get up?..." she asked him and dropped her hands from his face to keep hold of his hands instead, offering to help him if he could.