.:After the Battle:. (1x1) (Locked, DON'T DELETE)

[Captain Kaycee]

Allegra had watched the two of Marcel's new friends on the ship take their leave, nodding once to each of them as a goodbye. The man that had been there seemed quite nice, despite the fact that he was the one who walked in on them. Still, she couldn't help but blush when she noticed his wink that he gave towards the two of them. It made her feel like giggling, however she kept her mouth shut.

Allegra tilted her head for a moment when she heard the slight excitment in his voice. She had still felt a shiver run down her spine as he kissed her on the hand, but she quickly shook it off as she began to follow him. Questions began to pool into her head as he guided her through the lower deck of the ship. When they passed by the door with most of the crew playing cards, she sucked in a breath. If one of them as so much came out and saw her with Marcel, she would be dead.

As they finally passed the door with no crewmembers walking out, she let out a sdigh of relieg and looked back up at Marcel. She tried quickly to keep up with him, her legs not nearly as long as his. "Where are we going? There's nothing interesting about this ship... it's just a normal pirate ship," she hissed to him, keeping her voice low in case any of the crew decided to walk out on the lower deck they were on.

[Cloudsong]

Marcel continued to drag her down the hallway, a slight bounce to his step as they passed by the door without anyone detecting anything. He released her hand only once they were up the steps and out on the deck. Then he silently closed the door that led to downstairs, and looked around. The lights in the captain's quarters were off, and he hoped that Arthur would be asleep. He noted that Henry and Jan were both at the back of the ship, talking in hushed voices with each other. Henry looked over at them and nodded before looking back over at his sister. He was sitting up on the side of the ship, leaning against a bundle of ropes that led up to the ship's sails; a dangerous place to sit, though where many of them spent their days. Jan had her back turned against them, and he didn't want to know what they were talking about. Somehow, without listening he knew it was about him and Allegra.

He didn't want to stop and chat with them, however. Once again he took the lead as he carefully made his way up the ship to the bow, and to the very front, where the bowsprit stuck out. The ocean was calm, and the pole barely moved against the calm waves. "Pirate ships have their virtues too, you know," Marcel commented. He had, after all, spent the majority of his life on the ships.

As soon as they were at the tip of the ship, he once again retook her hand in his, and looked up at the sky. "For one thing... I bet you could never see the stars back in Fortuna." There was no place where thes tars were more visible than on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

He tipped his head back to look up at the sky, and saw the millions of stars dotting the sky. "Allegra, today is a very special night," he said eventually, his voice soft. He glanced over at her for a split second to make sure she was looking up too, and when he saw that she was, returned his gaze to the sky. The moon was completely full, and the light that reflected upon it seemed to be flickering slightly.

There was a moment where nothing happened. "Look at the moon," he whispered. Very slowly, it was beginning to fade, and then all of a sudden, it seemed as if the light was being pushed out of the moon, and it disappeared entirely from the night sky. His eyes lit up as he watched the magical scene; this was something that rarely was seen by people, and he was happy that Allegra was with him when they saw it.

[Captain Kaycee]

Allegra followed him up to the top deck and glanced over at Henry and Jan, seeing them talking amongst one another. She had a feeling that they were talking about them, considering their heads would occasionally look over at them as if the two were hiding something. Still, Allegra pushed the thought away and stood next to Marcel, thinking that she was only seeing the ocean in front of them.

Allegra glanced at him and noticed that he was looking up at the sky. She lifted an eyebrow, thinking that he was just looking up at the sky like any other night. However, curiousity got the best of her and she finally looked up at the stars as well. She nearly gawked, staring up at the sky with a wonderous look on her face. "I-It's so beautiful..." she whispered, then furrowed her eyebrows once she noticed the moon. In a split second it had disappeared, and she gasped quietly.

"W-What happened to it!? Where is it?!" she hissed at him, leaning against him with her hand in his. Even though she had the same special magical abilities like her mother, she had never seen anything like the mood disappearing. Her first instinct went to magic, and she looked around the night sky back and forth trying to find the moon.

Her gaze softened when she realised that it was truly gone, and she turned her head back up to stare at the millions of stars that were above their heads. Never in her life had she seen so many, especially when Fortuna had always been full of lights. Even out in the middle fo the night in the forest, there were less stars than the ones that she saw now. Her head rested against Marcel's shoulder, staring up at the stars. "This is amazing... thank you," she whispered to him, letting out a breath that she seemed to have been holding.

[Cloudsong]

Marcel smiled as he saw her shock. She was looking around the sky wildly, trying to see if she could find the moon. This amused him even more, and he chuckled slightly. "It's called a lunar eclipse," he said, loving the feeling of the crisp cool breeze that began to pick up. Perhaps they would pick up the pace, and the ship would mover faster through the night. Silently he turned his attention back to the moon-less sky. "I've been charting the constellations for some time now," he explained proudly. "It's actually very rare to see a lunar eclipse, and I knew many years ago that around this time and in this location, it would be visible." Before he had bought the charts and had learned from a fellow pirate back when he was eleven, the sky had been a mystery to him; a beautiful, inexplainable mystery that seemed to never end. It would disappear during the day, but would always return. He remembered that when he had first left home, it had been the first time he had ever seen the stars; his mother had always locked him in his windowless-room at night, and he had never known what lay beyond those walls. It wasn't until he had gotten to the sea that he had first seen its true beauty, and since then he had been mystified.

"Of course... I didn't think back then that I would be actually be here to see it." He hadn't ever really expected to see it, since it would be hard to get the exact timing. Perhaps it was fait that he was there with Allegra at the right time. "And I certainly didn't expect to be here with you." He felt his cheeks flush slightly as he remembered his first thoughts when he had seen Allegra, back when they were both very young. She was beautiful, even back then. He had been so awkward around her; so afraid of what to say in fear to look stupid.

So much had changed since then.

[Captain Kaycee]

Allegra looked up at the sky again, seeing as the moon slowly began to appear from the darkness once more. It turned almost a reddish colour from the sun that was behind it, but in a few seconds it was back to its normal white colour. "I must admit," Allegra whispered, pointing up at the moon. "The sky actually looks much nicer without the moon. You can see the stars and the galaxy much nicer that way," she whispered, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly Allegra looked down from the stars and towards Marcel. "What are we going to do once we make port...? Are we going to stay there until another ship passes by... or what?" she asked him, her eyes looking down towards the wooden deck. She seemed to be contemplating something, but before she knew it the sound of the door to the captain's quarters had opened.

Allegra looked behind herself quickly, her eyes widening at the sight of Arthur standing there, staring down the deck towards the two of them. She felt like her breathing was going to drop down into her stomach, and from the look on his face their welcome on the ship had suddenly backfired. "M-Marcel..." she whispered, her breathing ragged.

Arthur auddenly headed down into the lower decks, disappearing completely from view. Her breathing had quickened, trying to figure out what he was possibly doing. She knew that he was doing something, considering that he had seen them holding hands on the bow of the ship with her head on his shoulder. Somehow, she felt like things were going to get much, much worse.

[Cloudsong]

Marcel shook his head. She did have a point, in a way. The moon seemed to be the thing that was most valued in the night sky, but everyone seemed to take the stars for granted. No one really stopped to look at them. As she mentioned reaching port, he found himself unable to reply. He really had no idea what they would do. Before they had made up, he had thought that his obvious destiny would be to catch a ship going to back to Spain. Now that he had Allegra once again, he knew that he would take her anywhere she wanted. "We'll go the New World, just like you wanted to," he responded finally. They could go anywhere after that. Perhaps he would even take her out to Spain to see his homeland.

His positive attitude, however, seemed to evaporate as he spotted Arthur staring down at them. It was obvious that the two were back together, and by the look on his face, Marcel could see pure hatred glowing from him. As he turned and headed down to the lower decks, he inwardly cursed. Mierda. What was the man going to do? Confront them? Or worse... would he go and tell the crew? Marcel swallowed, knowing that no matter what the man had in mind, it wasn't going to be good. He put a hand on his sword, waiting quietly for the man to reappear, ready to defend Allegra if it came to that.

[Captain Kaycee]

Allegra gripped Marcel's hand tighter, her head lowering quickly as she tried desperately to think of a plan. She had no idea what Arthur was going to do, but by the look on his face, it was something that both of them weren't looking forward to one bit.

Suddenly, Arthur came back up from the steps with about four other crew members, each one of them having swords and a figure that seemed to almost tower over Allegra. She took a step back, but was met with the railing to the ship. "Marcel...!" she nearly yelled at him, her breathing quickening. She knew that she could try and attack them with magic, but her hands felt frozen. She would also nearly burn the ship down if she did, making escaping nearly impossible.

The men each snickered as they walked up to them, with arthur standing in the middle of the men. "My my... Allegra Starr..." he whispered, his voice no longer the cheerfulness it had been throughout most of the ship. Instead, it was bitter and full of hatred, and his emerald-coloured eyes were almost shining like a cat's.

"I would have thought you would keep up to the bargain. You were my wife, after all. It seems that you didn't pay up to it, Miss Starr," he chuckled, nodding once as if it was a signal. Two of the men suddenly grabbed Allegra by the hair, yanking her out of Marcel's grap on her hand. She nearly fell to the ground, being able to stand up only by the grip that one of the men had on her hair. She began to scream in pain, trying desperately to stop the men from their painful grasp. her hands were suddenly tied with a rope by Arthur, a sinister expression on his face.

"You see Miss Starr, this is why you don't cross a pirate," he growled, although Allegra's face was full of fear and pain. "L-Let me go... please..." she begged, feeling like her hair was going to be ripped out of its scalp. She had tears in her eyes from the excruciating pain that was going through her head. She looked at Marcel with a pleading look on her face, her teeth grinded together to keep from screaming out from the pain.

Arthur turned his attention back to Marcel, laughing loudly on the deck of the ship. "Well Mister de la Torre... I didn't expect that you would come flocking back to her," he chuckled, taking out his sword and facing it towards Marcel. "I will let her go if you win. But if you lose... well then that will be a surprise," he snickered, dipping his head and bowing with his hat off, before setting it to the side with his signature smirk imprinted on his face.

(Suspense!! Suspense!! XDD)

[Cloudsong]

They took Allegra from his grasp before he could do anything, and he made a grab towards them, but was deflected by one of the men's sword as it came dangerously close to his throat. Marcel felt anger and hatred bubble inside of him as Arthur tied Allegra's hands behind his back. This was obviously not about her anymore; it was about disobeying him, and his pride being injured by the girl he wanted choosing someone other than himself.

As Allegra screamed in pain, he angrily whipped out his sword, holding it out in front of him. "Let her go," he snarled, unable to contain his anger. Seeing her suffer was like someone was driving a sword into his heart, and he needed to stop the pain. Allegra cast a pleading look towards him, and he felt sorrow well up within him. It was hard to make Marcel loose his cool, but now he realized that it was serious, and he wanted to fight. Was Arthur crazy? Did he honestly think this was a fight to see who would win Allegra? Because no matter what happened; even if he won, Marcel would still be punished. After all, Arthur was the captain of the ship.

But if he didn't fight... Then he knew that it would be giving up without a struggle, and he wanted to fight him. He was not aware that Allegra had been beaten in a fight with him, and even if he had known that it was next to impossible to win, he still was going to try.

He was still for a long moment, glaring at Arthur. Then as he bowed, he nodded. "I accept your challenge," he hissed, taking a step forward.

( =D You'd better not go to bed now! Dx It's getting so good!)

[Captain Kaycee]

Allegra watched in horror as she noticed Marcel draw out his sword to face Arthur. She knew that his chancse of winning were almost impossible. She was one of the best swordsmen in her kingdom, yet Arthur had easily taken her out in the first few minutes of fighting. When she watched Marcel decide to face against him, she knew that it was going to be a fight that would ultimately decide her fate.

Arthur, with a smirk on his face, lashed out at Marcel's sword with lightning quick speed. His footwork was that of a swordsmaster, using every careful little balance on his toes and his stance to make sure that it was an efficient strike. He had obviously been trained by someone who was excellent in the art of dueling, since he hadn't even gotten near to breaking a sweat. His cutless had clashed with Marcel's sword several times, holding his sword agaisnt MArcel's as he looked at him with a bitter hatred.

"Not bad... Spaniard. But I must admit, what would you do if I did... this?" he suddenly pulled out a dagger from his pantleg and drove it into MArcel's side, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. "You are an excellent swordsman, but I cannot simply let you win. Besides, I'm a pirate, and I don't neccessarily play by the rules."

Allegra gasped as she noticed the dagger in Marcel's side, trying desperately to have the pirate let go of her hair. "Let me go you filthy pirate!!" she snapped at him, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked from Marcel to Arthur, her face suddenly turning the same dark expression that the captain had one.

"I'll never forgive you for this..." she growled, noticing that one of the pirates was looming over Marcel. Before she could respond, however, Arthur took her chin in his hands and narrowed his eyes. "You disappoint me, Allegra. Here I thought that you would actually enjoy my company on this ship." He looked up at the sailor holding onto her hair and pointed to the stars that led to the lower decks. "But her in the brig with the Spaniard. We're going to take a little... a little detour in the Caribbean. Chart a course to the island," he ordered one of the men.

Allegra felt her hair being pulled up again and she screamed once again from the pain. "N-No!! Let me go!! Marcel...!!!" she screamed, her feet being dragged on the wooden deck. She was suddenly dragged down the steps by her hair and shoved into a cell at the very bottom of the ship, her side being smacked hard on the wooden floor of the cage. Her hair covered her face, and from the impact on the floor she blacked out.

[Cloudsong]

Marcel's eyes were narrowed in pure fury, and he fought back against Arthur with as much force as he could, side-stepping him in an attempt to take him of balance. But no matter what move he made, whether it was trying to slash him, or push him off of the side of the ship, Arthur always seemed to be one step ahead of him. And the further into the fight they went, he could see that it was becoming harder and harder to win this battle. Realization that he couldn't win this fight at all came as Arthur knocked his sword out of his hand, and drove the thick metal into his side.

He gasped in pain, feeling the thick blade drive through his flesh. Silently he fell to the ground, clutching at his stomach as a piercing pain pulsed through him. It was nauseating, and he coughed as he felt his breathing excel rapidly. He was faintly aware of voices; Allegra was calling his name... Arthur was talking spitefully to her. And the pirate who stood next to him pulled the dagger out, twisting it in the process. The pain intensified, and he squeezed his eyes shut, aware of the blood gushing out of his wound, and onto the floor all around him. One of Arthur's side-kicks kicked him in the side of the head.

It all went dark after that.

-

Hours later, he awoke to excruciating pain. "Chart a course to the island..." The voice echoed through his mind, and silently he closed his eyes, remembering vaguely what had happened. He tried to get up, but fell back as he tried to move. The wound in his side was still open, and it was literally killing him. Around him there was nothing; it was a tiny cell with nothing, not even a chair. There was barely any light. What had happened? Where was Allegra? The questions burned in his mind, and he pushed himself up to lean against the wall, closing his eyes tightly as the pain flooded through him freshly.

Jesus Christ, he thought as he grit his teeth together. His hands were covered in dried blood. How the hell are we going to get out of this..? Arthur was going to leave them on an island who knew where. It could be one with no inhabitants. He's going to leave us to die. He half-wished someone would put him out of his misery; the pain he was experiencing was one he had never had before.

"Allegra?" he whispered, not really expecting anyone to answer. He couldn't see anyone; it was too dark. The only sound he could hear was that of his own loud, shallow breathing.