**English version of the WATTYS 2019 WINNER story**
1672, Caribbean Sea.
He lost everything for her. She risked everything for him.
But maybe love is not enough to bridge over so many deep differences between them, and the only way for them is goodb...
Marina showed up on deck a couple of hours before sunset, leaving Maxó to watch over Morris. Forward, Briand clapped to keep the cadence for the Jamaicans to work, bare backs, scrubbing the deck under the sun. Castillano moved among them, hands behind his back, calling them to attention whenever one of them wavered.
The girl looked up at Jean on the bridge. He leaned over the handrail, pointing at them.
"If they don't get a sunstroke, they're stealing the boats to flee in the middle of the night."
"Good riddance!" she replied, biting her apple.
On her way fore she found De Neill, lounging on a roll of lines by the starboard gunwale, smoking his pipe. Like the rest of the filibusters, he enjoyed the show of the Spaniard making the Jamaicans sweat buckets.
"How did he make it?" she asked.
"He threatened them to take the grog from whoever refused to work."
Marina shook her head slightly. "Cunning man."
"He's already got us eating from his hand, by making them sweat and making you smile."
She still chuckled when Castillano spotted her, and made his way among the Jamaicans in no hurry.
"They'd be grateful to leave with Luis," he said with a satisfied smile.
"But they need music," the girl said, and waved for him to follow.
They climbed up the mainmast rigging together, in an improvised race that took them to the maintop laughing and panting. And Marina couldn't remember when she'd last laughed so much. Or rather how long it'd been since she'd last laughed at all.
A few minutes later Oliver joined Briand. He sat on the anchor wheel with his flute and played, so the bosun could give his reddened hands a break.
Marina and Castillano sat side by side on the top. He took her hand and kissed it.
"Forgive me, child," he said, ignoring her objections. "Forgive me for being so blind. For taking so long to understand you always speak truth, and forgetting you're so much better than any of us. But most of all, forgive me for leaving you all alone when you most needed help and support." He met her black eyes, clouded by anguish and exhaustion. "My head is hard as rock, but here I am, my child, and here I stay. With you. Forever."
Marina couldn't hold back her tears. She kept his hand in hers and rested her forehead against his.
"I needed you so much," she muttered. "These months were a nightmare, and I didn't even know where I could find you."
Castillano managed to take her in his arms and make her rest her head on his chest. Marina cuddled in his embrace, fighting in vain to control the emotions overwhelming her.
"Let it out, my child," he whispered, moved by her tears. "Let it all out. Tell me about it, cry, hit me, whatever works for you. Well, as long as it doesn't include your sword, because then I'm spent."
She let out a shaky chuckle. "You silly!"
He gently brushed the raven locks off her face. "Feel like telling me what happened back in Helena Point?"
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