He always seemed to know everything.
I glumly climb outta bed and got dressed for the day, choosing black boots and with a white short-sleeved blouse, and long black pleated skirt. My gaze shifts out the balcony doors. The storms are long gone as if it never happened, and the sun is high in the sky. I assume it's sometime late morning or early afternoon. Meaning breakfast was already over.
I leave the bedroom and head towards the dining hall, which was located on the 1st floor. Adam and Rhodon's bedroom were on the 4th, while me and Lord Ventura's bedroom was on the 3rd. I hop down the steps with ease, the halls slightly busy as waitress and crewmen moved around the ship, each offering a kind smile and slight bow as they passed me.
I reach the dining hall rather quickly and allow myself to slip inside. It was currently filled with crewmen and servants, taking the time to properly eat after the main guests do. Earlier that day was Adam and Rhodon, with Ventura and I missing in action. I look through the crowd and spot a familiar talkative boy, surrounded by different people, as he told stories of missions he had been on and stories of his father. He waves his hand wildly, and it becomes evident to me, Adam had gotten his hands on some alcohol.
"Adam." My voice is calm but heard over the boisterous voices of the men and women that listened eagerly to the drunk knight.
"12! 12! 12!"
He calls my name excitedly, nearly propelling himself off the platform, which was a wooden crate. He jumps down and flings his body into my embrace. The smell of alcohol leaks off him and a tired sigh leaves my lips.
"I'm glad you're okay. There was a huge storm, and I was worried about you and the-the fact you had to stay in a room all alone with that Lord Ventura." He fumbles over his words, holding my shoulders, before aggressively grabbing my face and turning it all around, examining me. I push his hands away and hold them towards him.
"I am perfectly fine. I should be asking you that. Seeing as you are drunk outta your mind." I press my hands to his forehead and Adam lets me.
"You aren't sick, but you need to rest. I don't need you having a hangover, seeing as we arrive tomorrow." The crowd frowns and 'boo's as I take away their entertainer. Saying as 'Let him stay' or 'He's a big boy, he can take it', to which I all ignore.
Adam, on the other hand, turns around, as if nobility and bows dramatically. "I might not but depart and wend hence, but feareth not, I shall returneth to thou." I roll my eyes, dragging him along.
"Let's go Sir Shakespeare." Completely forgetting that I needed to eat, and aided the boy back to his room, walking up four flights of stairs, listening to Adam's incoherent rambles and wishes.
I reach his bedroom, at this point, Adam is clinging onto me, nearly half asleep. The energy from the others kept him awake and energetic, but without them, he was like a ship without the wind in its sails. I drag him to his bed, which was exactly similar to mine.
"12, my head hurts." He whines as I take out his boots and coats, pulling the blanket aside and, with one leg at a time, placing him in a better position. "This is why you don't drink."
Adam has always been this crash and burn type of person.
When giving sugar, caffeine, alcohol, anything that made one person be extremely up and made their brain active for a few hours. Adam naturally was up and had an extremely active brain and personality. His energy was like the highest point on a graph, with sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. It pushed past the graph and into the unknown and only lasted around a few minutes to an hour before absolutely crashing.
"I know... I know... but I've been worried about you since the incident with you nearly jumping off the ship into the ocean..." Adam isn't one to speak about his worry for fears, but alcohol left him unrestricted. I took a seat on the edge of his bed.
"I know I saw something and-and that makes me happy. There's something out there... but how can I care about it, if you get hurt or die because of it..." His hand blindly grabs mine and holds it, he stares at me with glossed over green eyes.
"Don't go cryin'," I whisper quietly.
"I can't help it."
Adam Gillen, the neighborhood pirate.
Amongst the Capital, Corte of Cornelia is a bustling city where the palace of gold and stone stands tall. The streets are filled with people of all backgrounds, from rich to poor, from beautiful to ugly. Adam Gillen and his crew of friends run rampant and unchecked through lower downtown. They're playing pirates and everyone in the area knows the rowdy group.
They run towards the large stone orphanage, even though they themselves aren't orphans. The church bell rings loudly and the heavy oak doors open just as the pirates round the corner.
"Hey! Hey!" Adam squeals loudly as wide, doe-like eyes appear as the doors open. She wears a simple blue dress and black flats, and races out with the other children.
"Adam! Adam!" She hops up and down excitedly as the boy, older than her by two years, pulls her into a hug. "I'm here!" Adam pulls the girl along. He is 7, and the girl is only 5. They spend the day together as if the days are endless.
Adam Gillen, the son of a pirate and a woman
A young man only 28 years old, with thick curly black hair and dark brown eyes, he stands in front of two guards with a grim expression. His wife stands behind him, her hands holding a rag fearfully to her chest, yet she looks like she knew this was coming. With green almond-shaped eyes and short curly black hair pulled into a ponytail.
Their son is still out and playing with his friends.
The knights announce that both the man and woman have been found guilty. The father for being a pirate of Kirland's Crew, and the mother is guilty of marrying a pirate. They are to be hung at the town square. The man does nothing to deny his crimes, and the woman accepts her fate. The two lovers and parents ask only one thing, they ask that their son lives, and the knights agree.
Adam and the girl race into the town square as a crowd gather. The two children do not know what their eyes will witness. They are innocent and do not deserve to see such, but the world is malicious. As several men and women line up to the large platform, you can assume that nothing good comes upon it.
That night it rains.
Adam clings to the bodies of his parents as they're tossed onto a pile of other bodies, with broken bones and bruised necks. He sobs before the knights toss the boy back with feelings of disgust and set the bodies ablaze. The girl holds the boy, and she cries with them as the flames reflect in her eyes.
Who is to remind their names? Adam holds them close to his chest, and he runs and runs and runs.
And her, what of the forgotten name of the girl?
Adam manages to cry himself to sleep, and I slowly pull away. The memory is engraved in my head, and I feel nothing but grief for the two lovers. Even in their last moments, they held hands and smiled at their son, who shouldn't have been in that crowd, who instead should've returned innocently to an empty home.
I leave the bedroom silently and walk down the hall, with no direction in mind. Adam, at the time, was indefinitely heartbroken, and we made our way in the rain to the Castle, where Adam could find a home instead of the orphanage.
He likes to pretend as if it wasn't the very knights that murdered his parents and that Adam, on his own accord, left home.
Lord Rhodon accepts Adam with open arms and he sends me away to Lord Ventura with an apologetic smile and a letter. When I first arrive, Ventura turns me away, saying I was far too young. For an entire year, I am forced to remain in the orphanage. I wasn't allowed to see Adam. And on my birthday, Ventura appears in rain and announces he is taking me away, no one denies and I am free. At the time, I hated him, for he was the main cause of my loneliness, but I wanted to see Adam.
So, I went.
Losing my name wasn't something that upset me, for I had gone through several nicknames and my name was hardly ever uttered. It was as if it never existed, even I don't remember it. I remember telling Ventura about it, and he said it belonged to him, before giving me the name 12.
My real name wasn't something I held onto.
"You seem deep, I thought." Rhodon's voice snapped me back into reality. I find myself standing in the middle of the deck, strolling aimlessly. The head knight watches me curiously as I look around my surroundings, then back at him.
"It seems I was... um... I put Adam to bed cause he got drunk..." My words trail off as Lord Rhodon pats my head with a reassuring grin.
"I know that look. You were thinkin' about it." Rhodon, never once in all my knowing him, called me 12. It was as if he didn't know that the number was my name, and instead stuck with nicknames from around the world.
"It crosses my mind once in a while."
My voice is a low mutter, and Rhodon steps away with a grin. He shifts his body to where he stood beside me, leading me towards the bow of the ship. I follow him wordlessly. Lord Rhodon has always been kind to anyone, no matter status, rank, wealth, or background. He was never one to judge nor pry.
"I didn't get a chance to show Adam, but... Look."
Standing on the bow, my hands hold the metal railing. In the distance, you could make out the small outline of the peninsula. My jaw falls slack and my grip on the railing tightens. "We should reach sometime tomorrow. The storm worked well in our favor and sent us further towards the island." I am speechless. With each rumble of the boat, we moved closer.
An odd sense of familiarity fills me, and the feeling of déjà vu rests on the back of my mind.