Bʀᴏᴋᴇɴ Hᴀʀᴍᴏɴʏ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ: Fᴀʟʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇᴀsᴛs Bᴏᴏᴋ Oɴᴇ

ᴇᴘɪʟᴏɢᴜᴇ || sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛs ᴜɴᴋᴇᴘᴛ

Promise

I wondered for a moment if I was dying. Or perhaps already dead.

But I when my eyes opened to light, I concluded that I must not have died. Yet, at least.

Slowly, feeling returned to my limbs, and I staggered to my feet. The mask hung crookedly off my face, I could feel it in the way the strap caught on my ear. I reached up to straighten it, but instead cut my finger on the jagged edge of it.

I swore and tore the mask off my face, scratching my chin and right cheek in the process. "Loyal?" I called out, reaching for something to steady myself on.

I could smell the sea air all around, and the soft creaking of wooden timbers told me we were still onboard the Fallen's Hope. The rope I'd rigged up to keep Loyal, Loving, and I from falling to a very watery death must've worked. They had be nearby then, too, I thought as I struggled to untie myself.

"Loving!" I cupped two hands around my mouth to amplify the call, then tilted my head to listen better.

A few seconds passed. Then a minute. Nothing.

Angry now, I slammed a fist into the deck. An action I regretted instantly, because agony exploded in my knuckles.

"Ouch." I hissed, sitting down and cradling my hand with another.

The ship rocked slowly, rolling left to right and back again. I let myself be lulled by the movement for a moment, then shook off the daze and got back to my feet.

"Loving! Loyal!" I called again, adding in a mutter, "if they're fine and just not answering me, so help me I will kill them both!"

A groan from somewhere off to my left was all the answer I got.

I turned toward it, stepping gingerly and managing to avoid the larger part of the debris that littered the deck around me. The groans gradually increased in volume as I approached. I crouched and felt around, my hand finding the fabric of someone's cloak. "Loyal, that you?" I asked, now recognizing the voice.

"Promise?" He grunted back. "Are we dead?"

I smirked ironically. "Nope, not that lucky. Are you hurt?"

"Bruised and battered. Nothing broken, though, I think." He answered, huffing as he pulled himself up using one of my arms. "You?"

"Same. What do you think happened to the others?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"You look funny when you do both, you know that?" The comment was followed by a clattering noise that I would assume to be his mask as he tossed it aside.

I shrugged, releasing the lower set of my arms and letting them hang. "It feels funny to just do the one."

He hummed in agreement. "Fair enough. I lost sight of the others just before I was knocked out. The Eight were on the other side of the ship. I don't think they're still there, I can't hear anything." He paused. "Actually, that's a lie. I can hear Loving cursing like a madman from over here."

"Loving's alive?"

Loyal chuckled. "By the sound of it, yeah."