Stronger Than Dead

It’s little wonder, given all this, that she’d be a difficult woman to find people willing to talk about, let alone look for. That would make one pirate among the others in particular something of a double-wonder, then. The poor pirate that looked back at Vasco happened to be the same poor fucker who’d looked back at Anne when she’d stood by, chest heaving, unable to throw her fists any longer. He indeed led the man to the same place he’d taken her most ways to a week ago. His gaze is noticeably lowered, shame and desperation at war on his face.

When Anne yanks open the door, he flinches—a mistake. Her gaze goes first to him, then hardens and goes through him, before cutting to the stranger at her door. There’s a snarl on her thin, pale lips before she says a word, sizing him up. In his stance she sees all she needs to: proud man, good upbringing, soft work. (It isn’t an insult. Soft work can be difficult. It’s just a different difficulty.) Her gaze never wavers from the stranger’s face, though one hand drops down into a better position from which to slam the door as necessary. With a voice as sharp as her gaze but as rough as her haggard, half-shadowed face, she speaks.

“Take yer cut and run, coward. Pray I never see yer face again.”

The man waits only as long as it takes to pocket his payment, disappearing down the alley and with a twist—off into the night, consumed by the shadows and never to see the light of day again.

What Anne sees in the man’s face seems to satisfy her. Her gaze doesn’t soften so much as it…unsharpens, a retracting of claws but not a complete relaxing of tensions. (What Vasco sees in the woman’s face, unknown to her, is a fate she would scoff to hear, no doubt.)

It all begins here, funnily enough. The chapter that leads her to that ultimate fate. And neither of them can truly know it.

you've been lying to me this whole time.

i don't believe a word you've said.

you need to come clean about what happened.

i've given you plenty of opportunities to tell the truth.

i need to know what really happened before i lose my mind.

why won't you just talk to me?

you're hiding something. i don't know what it is, but i'm going to find out.

this is how i find out you've lied the whole time?

i'm not supposed to give you any details.

could you just tell me what really happened?

i hate not knowing the truth.

you've been elusive this whole time.

there's more to the story, but you're not supposed to hear it.

you never answered any of my questions.

i can tell when you're lying to me.

you're really bad at lying.

that wasn't an answer.

i never planned on telling you the truth.

that was a lie, and you know it.

what ever happened to "i promise i won't lie to you?"

i thought we agreed to tell each other the truth.

they told me the truth. you can stop lying now.

you just lied straight to my face.

tell me what you know, or else.

why do you insist on keeping things from me?

i think i've earned the right to learn the truth.

some things are just better left unsaid.

i can't tell you what really happened.

this is for your own good.

it's better that you don't know the truth.

some things need to be kept from you.

you aren't capable of carrying the weight of all this.

trust me. you don't want to know.

[name], what did you do?

i'll go to [name]. they'll tell me the truth.

i meant to tell you the truth before this happened.

you should have heard the full story from me.

i never should have lied like this.

this was always meant to be a secret.

it doesn't concern you. that's why i didn't tell you.

i'm not answering the question!

if you don't tell me the truth, i'm leaving.

i'll never trust you again.

so this whole thing was a lie from the start?

when did you become a politician? why aren't you answering my question?

i would have believed you had you just came clean.

there shouldn't be any secrets between us.

Clarence made sure to imprint it all in the veins of his heart and back of each eyelid.

But now, he's tired. Worn thin enough to seek even the slightest bit of reprieve. It's why he still has headphones looped around the neck. Just in case things get too much and overstimulating again. Just like..