AU_ABC: Pirates of The Emerald Dawn - Chapter 11
Title: Pirates of The Emerald Dawn - Chapter 11: Home (11/11)
Author: Aranel Took
Fandom/Claim: DC Comics, Hal Jordan/Kyle Rayner
Rating: NC-17 (explicit sex and violence)
Prompt: P - Pirates for au_abc Challenge.
Words: 2,015
Summary: Elseworlds. Kyle Rayner is captured by the notorious pirate Captain Hal Jordan.
Chapter 11 - Home
When they reached the docks of Havana, Kyle remembered Hal’s original proposition a few weeks ago, which now seemed like a lifetime ago, that he could stay on the Emerald Dawn or be dropped off in Havana to buy passage wherever he wanted to go. And Kyle knew he had made the right choice. There was nowhere in the world he’d rather be than on the Emerald Dawn, with this crew and with this captain.
He stepped out of the boat onto the dock, then turned back to look at Guy. “I won’t be long.” He grinned. “Unless I get lost.” He’d begged Hal to let him do something, tired of the days spent recovering in bed, so while Guy and Isamot traded for supplies, Kyle was given the task to go arrange for new sailcloth to be delivered.
“Sure, kid.” Guy gave him a crooked smile and waved at him. “Good luck.”
Kyle laughed and waved back. Everyone seemed so worried about him today, going off on this task alone. Soranik had given him a hug and told him to be careful. Kilowog had given him a string of beads and shells to wear around his neck, a protective totem he’d explained. Even Salaak hadn’t been quite so grouchy when he’d handed Kyle the bag of coin, admonishing him to watch out for the coin and himself.
Hal and his worries must be rubbing off on them.
He looked around at the streets. He was supposed to look for a church, the Church of the Holy Angel. Hal said the sailmaker was nearby.
“Excuse me,” he said, flagging down a man pushing a cart of vegetables. “Holy Angel? Um … Angel … Santo? Church. Uh …” What the hell was the Spanish word for church?
“Sí,” the man said and pointed down a road that ran through the center of the city, filled with people doing their shopping.
He spoke some more, more explicit directions Kyle could only assume, but he spoke so rapidly that Kyle had no chance of even attempting to understand it with his very limited knowledge of Spanish. But he at least had a direction to go in. Kyle nodded and smiled. “Thank you. Merci. I mean gracias.”
He got caught up in the sights and smells of the new city, street vendors and hawkers of all kinds. He suppressed the urge to stop at a shop selling papaya - he had become enamored of them while in Tortuga. Maybe he could talk Hal into taking a walk here later and buy a crate of them.
He walked farther on, weaving between people and carts. But there was no sign of the church yet. He stopped to check his bearings. He was a little confused that he was heading so far into the city rather than along the harbor - he would have thought a sailmaker would be closer to his clients. He turned around to look the way he came. He hadn’t realized he’d come so far. He couldn’t even see the harbor anymore. He frowned. Maybe he’d remembered the wrong name for the church?
He stepped off the street and under the awning of shop to get out of the sun. He pulled the letter from Hal to the sailmaker out of his pocket and unfolded it, hoping it gave some clue as to who this man was so Kyle could ask how to find him.
He nearly dropped the letter, shocked to find it addressed to him. Fear gripped him, because there could only be one reason for it.
Dearest Kyle,
I know you’ll be angry with me, but I’d rather you were angry with me than dead. It’s too risky for you to be involved with me. Too many people would hurt you to get to me, just as Wayne did, and I can’t bear that. You are too good for the life of a pirate. And you are too good for the likes of me.
The money is yours, your share from the cargo we took. There’s more than enough for you to buy passage wherever you would like to go. Perhaps you could take up Mister West’s offer to go to Virginia? Guy will leave your trunk with the harbor master.
I’m sorry. I love you, always.
Hal
Kyle crumpled the paper in his hand. Damn him!
He pushed his way through the crowd, running back towards the harbor, hoping Guy was still there. If not, he’d pay a fisherman to follow the Emerald Dawn if he had to.
It explained everyone’s behavior - they had all known he would be abandoned in Havana today. And it explained Hal’s words last night. I love you. Always remember that. No matter what.
But you don’t just abandon someone you love, the selfish prick, just because you’re scared they might get hurt, and you at least have the courage to tell them that you’re leaving them. And Kyle wanted the chance to say it to his face before he got kicked off the ship, to tell Hal he was a selfish, arrogant prick and a coward.
He reached the docks and gasped in relief when he caught sight of Guy’s bright red hair. He and Isamot were just settling into the boat, getting ready to go back out to the Dawn.
Kyle skidded to a stop on the dock above them and jumped down into the boat, knocking his shin on a crate in the process and nearly falling into the water. “You’re not leaving without me!”
“Kyle! My friend! You come back!” Isamot stood and wrapped him in a joyful embrace that nearly squeezed the breath out of Kyle. “I told them is mistake to leave you!”
Guy sighed. “The captain said …” He frowned. “Aw, hell!” He stood up. “Your trunk is with the harbor master. Let’s go get it.”
Kyle grabbed him, wrapping him in an embrace almost as enthusiastic as Isamot’s. “Thank you, Guy!”
“All right, all right…” Guy shrugged out of his embrace and turned to climb back up on the dock. “It’s better to get yelled at by Hal for bringing you back,” he muttered as they walked across the docks. “He would be moping around the ship for weeks and making our lives miserable if you’re gone.”
* * *
Kyle waited up on deck while the Dawn got underway. He wanted to be well out at sea before he went in to see Hal, so there was no chance of being put ashore again. Not right away, anyway.
“He went into his cabin after you left, with orders not to be disturbed,” John said. Then he grinned and shook Kyle’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back, Kyle.”
“I’m glad, too,” Kyle said.
The others all came up to welcome him back and by the end of it Kyle realized he was wanted on this ship, that these people were truly his friends, his family. And he wasn’t going to give it up that easily. If Hal didn’t want him as a lover anymore - fine. But he wasn’t going to leave the Emerald Dawn without a fight.
Once the land had faded to a strip on the horizon, Kyle went down the steps to the Captain’s cabin. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Hal was sitting at the table, his head in his hands, a half-empty bottle of rum in front of him. “I said I didn’t want to be disturbed!” he shouted. He looked up, glaring. Then his eyes widened. “Kyle?”
Kyle shut the door and walked over to the table. He threw the bag of coins in front of Hal. They spilled out, clattering across the table. “You said I could use it to go anywhere I wanted. So I’m buying passage on your ship.”
“Kyle…” Hal stared at the coins on the table and shook his head. “No.”
“Why?” Kyle stepped up to him and put his hand on Hal’s shoulder. “Tell me why you want to be rid of me! I deserve to know! I thought you loved me!”
Hal slapped his hand on the table, making the coins jump. “I do love you!”
“Then why, Hal? Why did you try to leave me behind?”
Hal crossed his arms on the table and bowed his head. “Because for only the second time in my life, I was well and truly afraid. The first time was when I found out my father had died. And I knew I had to go conquer the sea that took him, to conquer that fear. The second time … “ He voice broke. “The second time was when I saw that wound and I knew you were going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. I sat by your bed all night, waiting for you to take your last breath. It was the worst night of my life, Kyle. I’ve watched plenty of friends die, but I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
Kyle sighed in frustration. Hadn’t they discussed this last night? “But I didn’t die, Hal! We have the rings to protect us!”
“And what happens the next time, when one of my enemies decides to torture you and I can’t get to you before your ring loses its light?” Hal asked. “I’m afraid of losing you. And I don’t know how to conquer that fear except to get you away from me. You’ll be safer if you never have anything more to do with me.”
Kyle bent over to wrap Hal in an embrace from behind, his cheek resting on Hal’s shoulder. “I fear losing you as well, Hal. But you can’t conquer every fear. You’ll have to learn to face it, just like the rest of us. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Kyle … I can’t put you in danger like that.”
Kyle angrily pushed away from him. “Did you ever consider that it’s worth the risk to me? Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I truly belong somewhere, that I have a purpose. The Lantern chose me to be here, Hal! I’m learning to be a sailor and Soranik is teaching me about healing …” He crossed his arms defiantly. “I’ll move out of your cabin and live with the rest of the crew if I have to, but this ship is my home and I’m not going to leave her willingly!”
“I … I never thought …”
“You didn’t think about what I wanted, did you? That I have more reasons to stay here than just being your lover?” Kyle snorted. “I love you, Hal, but I love this ship, too. And I will continue to love this ship, even if you want to end this. Us.” He touched Hal’s shoulder. “So what is your decision, Captain? Do I get to stay as part of your crew, or do you throw me off the ship at the next port?”
Hal gave a resigned sigh and shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to leave.” He turned to Kyle, at the same time pushing his chair back from the table. He took Kyle’s hands and pulled him down to straddle his lap and wrapped his arms around him. “You’re far braver than me, you know. Everyone says I’m not afraid of anything. But I just managed to avoid being afraid. I never had anything I cared that much about. Until you came along.” Hal smiled and brushed his thumb over Kyle’s lips. “This ship hasn’t been the same since you joined us. I almost had a rebellion on my hands, you know. The crew argued for you. They thought I was wrong to leave you.”
Kyle poked Hal in the chest. “And they were right.”
“I know. I know that now.” He threaded his fingers into Kyle’s hair and pulled him down to kiss him. “We should probably go tell them you’re staying and that they can cancel their plans for a mutiny.”
“I think it can wait,” Kyle said. He leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I think you should welcome me home first, Captain Jordan.”
* End *
Bonus short story: The Meeting
Notes: First of all, a big hug to my Beta Reader, juno_magic, for all her advice, encouragement, and helping me through some rough spots. {{{HUGS!}}}
This probably won't be the end of the Pirate GLs. I've got a page of notes already for more stories. :-D
And here's some of the resources I used to write the Pirates (I'm a bit of a research junkie!)--
Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century England provided a lot of info on laws and cultural attitudes regarding homosexuality in the 18th Century.
Colonial Williamsburg Journal has many wonderful articles about life in the colonies, especially regarding food and drink. This is where I discovered the wine of choice would be Madeira. ;-)
Piratical Resources provided the charts for figuring out sailing times in the Caribbean and across the Atlantic, and lots of info on the 18th Century Royal Navy.
Pirates and Privateers - The History of Maritime Piracy has lots of info and pictures of ships, including many pics of the frigates HMS Victory (the oldest commissioned naval ship in the world) and USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned naval ship that is still sailing).
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. has an excellent description of "tarring down" in Chapter 8.
HMS Victory provided lots of info about British frigates.
Queen Anne's Revenge provides an account of Blackbeard taking the slave ship that would become his Queen Anne's Revenge, which I used as inspiration for Chapter 6.
HMS Surprise provided a general layout of a frigate, inspired by real life ships.
Travels with the Tall Ship Rose has lots of wonderful pictures of Rose, who starred in Master and Commander as HMS Surprise.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which is one of my favorite movies. I listened to the soundtrack and watched the movie a lot while writing this fic. The Emerald Dawn's layout is mostly taken from the HMS Surprise (Rose) and Russell Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey provided loads of inspiration for Captain Hal Jordan. :-D
And although I didn't use the Disney movies so much for inspiration, the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks provided lots of piratey music to write to. :-)
Previous Chapter
My au_abc Prompt Table
Author: Aranel Took
Fandom/Claim: DC Comics, Hal Jordan/Kyle Rayner
Rating: NC-17 (explicit sex and violence)
Prompt: P - Pirates for au_abc Challenge.
Words: 2,015
Summary: Elseworlds. Kyle Rayner is captured by the notorious pirate Captain Hal Jordan.
Chapter 11 - Home
When they reached the docks of Havana, Kyle remembered Hal’s original proposition a few weeks ago, which now seemed like a lifetime ago, that he could stay on the Emerald Dawn or be dropped off in Havana to buy passage wherever he wanted to go. And Kyle knew he had made the right choice. There was nowhere in the world he’d rather be than on the Emerald Dawn, with this crew and with this captain.
He stepped out of the boat onto the dock, then turned back to look at Guy. “I won’t be long.” He grinned. “Unless I get lost.” He’d begged Hal to let him do something, tired of the days spent recovering in bed, so while Guy and Isamot traded for supplies, Kyle was given the task to go arrange for new sailcloth to be delivered.
“Sure, kid.” Guy gave him a crooked smile and waved at him. “Good luck.”
Kyle laughed and waved back. Everyone seemed so worried about him today, going off on this task alone. Soranik had given him a hug and told him to be careful. Kilowog had given him a string of beads and shells to wear around his neck, a protective totem he’d explained. Even Salaak hadn’t been quite so grouchy when he’d handed Kyle the bag of coin, admonishing him to watch out for the coin and himself.
Hal and his worries must be rubbing off on them.
He looked around at the streets. He was supposed to look for a church, the Church of the Holy Angel. Hal said the sailmaker was nearby.
“Excuse me,” he said, flagging down a man pushing a cart of vegetables. “Holy Angel? Um … Angel … Santo? Church. Uh …” What the hell was the Spanish word for church?
“Sí,” the man said and pointed down a road that ran through the center of the city, filled with people doing their shopping.
He spoke some more, more explicit directions Kyle could only assume, but he spoke so rapidly that Kyle had no chance of even attempting to understand it with his very limited knowledge of Spanish. But he at least had a direction to go in. Kyle nodded and smiled. “Thank you. Merci. I mean gracias.”
He got caught up in the sights and smells of the new city, street vendors and hawkers of all kinds. He suppressed the urge to stop at a shop selling papaya - he had become enamored of them while in Tortuga. Maybe he could talk Hal into taking a walk here later and buy a crate of them.
He walked farther on, weaving between people and carts. But there was no sign of the church yet. He stopped to check his bearings. He was a little confused that he was heading so far into the city rather than along the harbor - he would have thought a sailmaker would be closer to his clients. He turned around to look the way he came. He hadn’t realized he’d come so far. He couldn’t even see the harbor anymore. He frowned. Maybe he’d remembered the wrong name for the church?
He stepped off the street and under the awning of shop to get out of the sun. He pulled the letter from Hal to the sailmaker out of his pocket and unfolded it, hoping it gave some clue as to who this man was so Kyle could ask how to find him.
He nearly dropped the letter, shocked to find it addressed to him. Fear gripped him, because there could only be one reason for it.
Dearest Kyle,
I know you’ll be angry with me, but I’d rather you were angry with me than dead. It’s too risky for you to be involved with me. Too many people would hurt you to get to me, just as Wayne did, and I can’t bear that. You are too good for the life of a pirate. And you are too good for the likes of me.
The money is yours, your share from the cargo we took. There’s more than enough for you to buy passage wherever you would like to go. Perhaps you could take up Mister West’s offer to go to Virginia? Guy will leave your trunk with the harbor master.
I’m sorry. I love you, always.
Hal
Kyle crumpled the paper in his hand. Damn him!
He pushed his way through the crowd, running back towards the harbor, hoping Guy was still there. If not, he’d pay a fisherman to follow the Emerald Dawn if he had to.
It explained everyone’s behavior - they had all known he would be abandoned in Havana today. And it explained Hal’s words last night. I love you. Always remember that. No matter what.
But you don’t just abandon someone you love, the selfish prick, just because you’re scared they might get hurt, and you at least have the courage to tell them that you’re leaving them. And Kyle wanted the chance to say it to his face before he got kicked off the ship, to tell Hal he was a selfish, arrogant prick and a coward.
He reached the docks and gasped in relief when he caught sight of Guy’s bright red hair. He and Isamot were just settling into the boat, getting ready to go back out to the Dawn.
Kyle skidded to a stop on the dock above them and jumped down into the boat, knocking his shin on a crate in the process and nearly falling into the water. “You’re not leaving without me!”
“Kyle! My friend! You come back!” Isamot stood and wrapped him in a joyful embrace that nearly squeezed the breath out of Kyle. “I told them is mistake to leave you!”
Guy sighed. “The captain said …” He frowned. “Aw, hell!” He stood up. “Your trunk is with the harbor master. Let’s go get it.”
Kyle grabbed him, wrapping him in an embrace almost as enthusiastic as Isamot’s. “Thank you, Guy!”
“All right, all right…” Guy shrugged out of his embrace and turned to climb back up on the dock. “It’s better to get yelled at by Hal for bringing you back,” he muttered as they walked across the docks. “He would be moping around the ship for weeks and making our lives miserable if you’re gone.”
* * *
Kyle waited up on deck while the Dawn got underway. He wanted to be well out at sea before he went in to see Hal, so there was no chance of being put ashore again. Not right away, anyway.
“He went into his cabin after you left, with orders not to be disturbed,” John said. Then he grinned and shook Kyle’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back, Kyle.”
“I’m glad, too,” Kyle said.
The others all came up to welcome him back and by the end of it Kyle realized he was wanted on this ship, that these people were truly his friends, his family. And he wasn’t going to give it up that easily. If Hal didn’t want him as a lover anymore - fine. But he wasn’t going to leave the Emerald Dawn without a fight.
Once the land had faded to a strip on the horizon, Kyle went down the steps to the Captain’s cabin. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Hal was sitting at the table, his head in his hands, a half-empty bottle of rum in front of him. “I said I didn’t want to be disturbed!” he shouted. He looked up, glaring. Then his eyes widened. “Kyle?”
Kyle shut the door and walked over to the table. He threw the bag of coins in front of Hal. They spilled out, clattering across the table. “You said I could use it to go anywhere I wanted. So I’m buying passage on your ship.”
“Kyle…” Hal stared at the coins on the table and shook his head. “No.”
“Why?” Kyle stepped up to him and put his hand on Hal’s shoulder. “Tell me why you want to be rid of me! I deserve to know! I thought you loved me!”
Hal slapped his hand on the table, making the coins jump. “I do love you!”
“Then why, Hal? Why did you try to leave me behind?”
Hal crossed his arms on the table and bowed his head. “Because for only the second time in my life, I was well and truly afraid. The first time was when I found out my father had died. And I knew I had to go conquer the sea that took him, to conquer that fear. The second time … “ He voice broke. “The second time was when I saw that wound and I knew you were going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. I sat by your bed all night, waiting for you to take your last breath. It was the worst night of my life, Kyle. I’ve watched plenty of friends die, but I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
Kyle sighed in frustration. Hadn’t they discussed this last night? “But I didn’t die, Hal! We have the rings to protect us!”
“And what happens the next time, when one of my enemies decides to torture you and I can’t get to you before your ring loses its light?” Hal asked. “I’m afraid of losing you. And I don’t know how to conquer that fear except to get you away from me. You’ll be safer if you never have anything more to do with me.”
Kyle bent over to wrap Hal in an embrace from behind, his cheek resting on Hal’s shoulder. “I fear losing you as well, Hal. But you can’t conquer every fear. You’ll have to learn to face it, just like the rest of us. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Kyle … I can’t put you in danger like that.”
Kyle angrily pushed away from him. “Did you ever consider that it’s worth the risk to me? Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I truly belong somewhere, that I have a purpose. The Lantern chose me to be here, Hal! I’m learning to be a sailor and Soranik is teaching me about healing …” He crossed his arms defiantly. “I’ll move out of your cabin and live with the rest of the crew if I have to, but this ship is my home and I’m not going to leave her willingly!”
“I … I never thought …”
“You didn’t think about what I wanted, did you? That I have more reasons to stay here than just being your lover?” Kyle snorted. “I love you, Hal, but I love this ship, too. And I will continue to love this ship, even if you want to end this. Us.” He touched Hal’s shoulder. “So what is your decision, Captain? Do I get to stay as part of your crew, or do you throw me off the ship at the next port?”
Hal gave a resigned sigh and shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to leave.” He turned to Kyle, at the same time pushing his chair back from the table. He took Kyle’s hands and pulled him down to straddle his lap and wrapped his arms around him. “You’re far braver than me, you know. Everyone says I’m not afraid of anything. But I just managed to avoid being afraid. I never had anything I cared that much about. Until you came along.” Hal smiled and brushed his thumb over Kyle’s lips. “This ship hasn’t been the same since you joined us. I almost had a rebellion on my hands, you know. The crew argued for you. They thought I was wrong to leave you.”
Kyle poked Hal in the chest. “And they were right.”
“I know. I know that now.” He threaded his fingers into Kyle’s hair and pulled him down to kiss him. “We should probably go tell them you’re staying and that they can cancel their plans for a mutiny.”
“I think it can wait,” Kyle said. He leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I think you should welcome me home first, Captain Jordan.”
* End *
Bonus short story: The Meeting
Notes: First of all, a big hug to my Beta Reader, juno_magic, for all her advice, encouragement, and helping me through some rough spots. {{{HUGS!}}}
This probably won't be the end of the Pirate GLs. I've got a page of notes already for more stories. :-D
And here's some of the resources I used to write the Pirates (I'm a bit of a research junkie!)--
Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century England provided a lot of info on laws and cultural attitudes regarding homosexuality in the 18th Century.
Colonial Williamsburg Journal has many wonderful articles about life in the colonies, especially regarding food and drink. This is where I discovered the wine of choice would be Madeira. ;-)
Piratical Resources provided the charts for figuring out sailing times in the Caribbean and across the Atlantic, and lots of info on the 18th Century Royal Navy.
Pirates and Privateers - The History of Maritime Piracy has lots of info and pictures of ships, including many pics of the frigates HMS Victory (the oldest commissioned naval ship in the world) and USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned naval ship that is still sailing).
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. has an excellent description of "tarring down" in Chapter 8.
HMS Victory provided lots of info about British frigates.
Queen Anne's Revenge provides an account of Blackbeard taking the slave ship that would become his Queen Anne's Revenge, which I used as inspiration for Chapter 6.
HMS Surprise provided a general layout of a frigate, inspired by real life ships.
Travels with the Tall Ship Rose has lots of wonderful pictures of Rose, who starred in Master and Commander as HMS Surprise.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which is one of my favorite movies. I listened to the soundtrack and watched the movie a lot while writing this fic. The Emerald Dawn's layout is mostly taken from the HMS Surprise (Rose) and Russell Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey provided loads of inspiration for Captain Hal Jordan. :-D
And although I didn't use the Disney movies so much for inspiration, the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks provided lots of piratey music to write to. :-)
Previous Chapter
My au_abc Prompt Table