#laylaswriting

She turned to the others and helped with securing the boats and setting up a small camp on the beach before they headed into the forest to gather resources.

“Would you mind helping me set up the campfire?” She heard Ribs ask and she turned towards him smiling.

“Not at all.” She replied and started to gather small pieces of wood around the beach and put them into a small pile. Ribs took two twigs, set one of them down and put the other on top of it, starting to roll it between his hands until smoke started to come out of it and it eventually caught on fire. He settled down next to it and warmed his hands. It wasn’t particularly cold, but as the night approached the wind started to blow through the thin fabric of their clothing, making the warmth of the fire a pleasant feeling.

Behind them Hook stepped his foot onto the beach as well.

“It never stops being strange, stepping on land.” He said, looking into the forest in front of him.

“Aye, Captain. Never.” Ribs replied which made Hook look their way. His lip curled into a small smile as he looked at the two of them, but he didn’t say anything. She smiled under her breath as she looked into the fire.

The Jolly Roger peacefully rocked on the water, her grace and glory would take every sailor’s breath away. The crew slowly made their way back to the beach, some of them would take the supplies to the ship before sundown and would stay there. If someone spent so much time on a boat sometimes being on land even for a short amount of time would make them sick. But a few of the crew stayed on the beach, scattered around in the sand, around the fire. Hook sat on a drifted log near the fire and looked at the sea. The sunset painted the waves into beautiful colors of yellow, orange and purple as it dipped beneath the horizon. She stood in the sand barefoot and slowly walked into the water. The sand slowly moved under her feet; the waves caressed her ankles in a slow rhythm. She closed her eyes and sighed at the peaceful sensation. Her heart was so full at that moment it could’ve burst. All these ambivalent feelings in her soul made her head spin if she thought about them too much. Happy and sad, free and trapped, peaceful and worried at the same time. How long can this go on? She thought to herself. There was no way this would end well. But at least she had her memories.

She turned to walk back to the campfire when she saw him stand at the edge of the waves, looking out at the sea as well. For a brief second her mind wandered – was he looking at her? Then she barely noticeably shook her head and walked past him.

“Beautiful, is it not?” She quickly asked while looking back at the sea. He was looking down at her as he answered.

“Yes, beautiful.”

She smiled and went back to the campfire to sit next to Ribs and listen to his stories. As the last sunrays disappeared too, most of the crew went to sleep in their makeshift beds on the beach, or went back to sleep on the boat. She couldn’t sleep – she barely ever could, so she sat on the shore to watch the waves and the stars. The constellations could be seen clearly, there were no clouds on the sky. It was peaceful. In the distance she heard someone snore loudly and she chuckled to herself. Times like these were the only ones when she could finally let her guard down – not worry about how her voice sounds, how her appearance and gestures look. How she talks, how she forms the words. At times like these when there was only her and the darkness of the night, she felt like herself. She lowered her forehead to her arms resting on her knees and she closed her eyes. She wished she could sleep as peacefully as the others.

“You homesick?” A voice called out from above her, barely above a whisper, not to disturb the others’ sleep. She looked up to him, propped her chin in her hand, but didn’t say a word. He took the liberty to sit next to her and look at the waves.

“I miss my father.” She blurted out after a moment of silence. She didn’t know why she was sharing this with him – even risking her disguise. But she had to, she had to talk to someone. And she wanted to talk to him. He nodded, not looking at her. A comfortable silence settled onto them as they both tasted their words on their tongues for a while before speaking them out loud.

“Is he dead?” He asked and looked at her finally. She slowly shook her head.

“I… hope not.” She swallowed hard and looked back at him, his eyes searched her face with such curiosity as if she held some answer to the universe’s big questions. “I had to run away from him.”

He didn’t say anything, he wanted her to continue if she wanted to, or stay silent if she felt more comfortable with that.

“I was reckless. I put him in danger, but I just wanted to help.” She whispered, the tears threatening to fall down from her face.

“I’m sure you made your choices with the right intentions. Sometimes that’s what causes our downfall… our good intentions.” He rubbed his hook with his good hand and quickly got lost in his thoughts. She didn’t dare to ask anything about him. It was not her place, she thought.

“My father abandoned my brother and I when we were little.” He muttered after a long pause and she felt her heart sink.

“I’m sorry Captain.”

“Killian.” He said, and for a second her brain didn’t even realize what he was saying.

“Hm?”

“My name.” He laughed. “It’s Killian.”

She felt like the world slipped away from under her. She couldn’t understand why, but the intimacy of the moment just crashed onto her, she felt like a crumpled piece of paper as she looked up at him. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears, hammering against her ribcage and she felt the tips of her fingers tingle. It was such a strange feeling. He didn’t break the eye contact; he was looking at her like she could disappear at any second. She didn’t understand.

“I…” he opened his mouth to talk then immediately closed it, because they heard a strange noise from the distance. His head immediately snapped towards the origin of the noise as he quickly stood up, and so did she. To her surprise he drew his sword and stepped a few steps towards the noise. She quickly sidestepped and picked up another sword from the ground next to the campfire and held it high, following him.

“You should stay here.” He said, but she shook her head.

“No.” She replied in a firm tone, leaving no place to disagree, but he was her captain, he could’ve order her to stay and she would have had to oblige. But he didn’t.

They slowly stepped towards the trees, looking around in the dark, the only light provided by the moon and the stars. Killian went a few steps in front of (Y/N), securing their path. Her sword sat firmly in her hand but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that was scratching the back of her mind. She was afraid.

He turned his head to look back at her with a reassuring smile when it happened. It was in a blink of an eye, her breath caught in her throat but she acted almost immediately. When Killian turned his head, his eyes found hers, blue like the waves crashing against the shore. In the next second, she saw a figure behind him, almost a shadow, striking down with their sword. Her movement was almost autonomous, the way she lifted her sword to block the stranger’s hit above Killian’s shoulder.

The air froze between them, the sound of metal clashing echoed between the trees and woke up some of the crew members on the beach.

Killian turned on his heels in an instant and pushed away his attacker’s sword from the both of them with a quick movement, now standing in front of her, guarding her from the stranger. His stance just as she was taught – knees slightly bent, one foot forward.

“What on the bloody Earth do you want?” He snarked at the attacker whose face was covered by a cloth. She quickly turned and leaned her back against his, making sure that no one attacks them from behind. If he wouldn’t have been so occupied, he would’ve been proud of her.

“What do you want?” Asked the stranger. “Youare the one who came to our island!” Killian rolled his eyes and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Look mate, we don’t want any trouble. We’ll be gone in the morning.”

“Oh, I don’t think you will.” The strange man said and rushed at Killian again. She heard their swords clash behind her back and snuck a look, but couldn’t afford to let her guard down as others started to emerge from the woods.

Another came at her, striking with their sword but she dodged it. She realized she had to be more careful this time, because there’s a chance that if they miss her with their hit, they will cut Killian instead. Killian, Killian, Killian was all she could hear in her head. She slashed towards her attacker who swiftly leaned away from her blade. Their movements were nimble and fast, and they had the advantage of knowing their surroundings.

Killian and (Y/N) fought with synchronized movements, she remembered how he moved when they were dueling and tried to mirror his movements and style. Her attacker struck down at her, pushing his blade down on hers while she tried to keep it up. When it was getting dangerously close to her face, she lifted her leg and kicked the man in the stomach, who fumbled backwards coughing. While he was crouched, she stepped up to him and quickly kicked him in the head, causing the man to collapse onto the ground unconscious. She looked back at the Captain, who was fighting with two men at the same time, elegantly dodging their attacks with swift sidesteps, making short cuts on them that they couldn’t avoid, circling and twirling in a graceful yet vicious dance.

She stepped towards him when another man crossed her way, swinging his sword at her. The distant clashing sound of swords never stopped and she wondered how many of them are still hiding in the shadows, if there are any. She was a sweaty, panting mess already when she attacked the man with a forceful sword swipe which he avoided, causing her to lose her balance and leave an opportunity for him to grab her arm and turn her towards him.

It happened in a heartbeat.

(Y/N) saw Killian kick one of the men on the ground. She turned her head and saw the man slash his sword against her. She heard her own voice scream in agony. She saw her blade pierce through her attacker’s stomach, blood flowing down on the cold metal.

She heard someone call out her name. Her name.

She saw blood dripping down from her arms. Her blood.

She felt a touch on her face. His hand.