French Perfume(2)-Pirate!EnglandXReader

The next morning, you awoke from a peaceful sleep. You hardly even remembered the night before and had mistaken it for a dream. That was, until you got up and went into your kitchen to find a certain someone missing, though the traces of blood still remained. They looked as though there had been an attempt to clean it all, though to no avail as there had been much of it spilled. On the table there rested a warm cup of tea and your own tea kettle set beside it. Cautiously, you went to the table and sat down. As you picked up the teacup from it's dish, you found a small note lying there between the two. You wondered for a moment if you should care to know exactly how he had found your pen, ink, and papers, but decided to let it be. Arthur Kirkland was, after all, a pirate captain.

You picked up the letter, setting your tea aside to unfold it. The script in the paper was beautiful though slightly marred by what you though was a rushed writing and possibly a bit of shaking from still being weak. It read:
Dear _________,
As promised, I won't bother you any further and take my leave, though I suspect it'll be quite a task to get around town with all the Mounties not to mention this wound of mine. I thought the very least I could do in return other than leave you alive was make you a bit of tea for the morning. Would have made breakfast if I were a cook at all. Till next we meet, my lady.
~Captain Arthur Kirkland'

You sighed a bit and shook your head. I suppose he thinks we will meet again. He'll be caught and hanged before the day is up. you thought, but a second later shoved it and the note aside in surprise at the pounding on your door. Folding the note back up, you hid it in your pocket and quickly went to the door. When you did, you saw none other than the young officer Matthew from the night before. "O-oh, hello again. U-um..._________, right?" He asked, voice still shy and no more than a murmur. "That's right. Your name was Matthew if I remember right." You said. You never forgot a name or a face. Matthew seemed to brighten at this. "Yes, that's right. B-but I'm afraid I'm here on business." He told you.

"Oh? Then what can I help you with?" You asked politely. Matthew started to fidget slightly. "W-well, y-you see, we were never able to find the captain of the ship that crashed last night or any of his remains. Th-there was a trail of dried blood that we couldn't see last night that leads straight here." Matthew explained. You blinked, then restrained yourself from hitting your head against the door. Of course there was a blood trail from the shore to your house! He went straight there for help! Just to be sure, you peered over Matthew's shoulder to find that there was, indeed, a bloody trail up to your doorstep.

"Ah, yes, it seems there is. Well, there is no pirate here, though he left quite a mess." You told him as calmly as possible. "I-I see. Would you mind if I come in?" Matthew asked. You stood aside, letting him into your home. He stepped in, looking around and catching sight of what was left of the blood on the floor. "Wow...he really did leave a mess." Matthew said sheepishly. You walked in behind him and sighed. "Yes, and I've found that a few things are missing from my cabinets, all of which would be useful for patching up a wound." You said. "It seems as though he came, took what he needed, and left again. He wasn't here when I got back, so I didn't report anything, just did my best to clean the blood off my floor." All of this, of course, was a lie, but the poor young officer didn't need to know that. Especially when everyone else was out looking for the pirate captain.

"I see...b-but next time, even if it doesn't seem important, please try and report something like this." Matthew told you. You gave a nod and after a short while of looking through your house, Matthew left again to help in the search. He seemed on edge. You wondered briefly if this was the line of work he was best suited to. After that, you finished your tea and decided to head into the market to replace what you had used on Arthur the night before with the exception of the rum.  

The walk there was uneventful, though the town itself was bustling with the news of Kirkland and his band of pirates having crashed at the rocky shore. As you went about your shopping, you noticed that while there was excitement about the recent crash, people were very uneasy. Some seemed to keep an extra eye on everything in the outdoor market. Once you had collected everything you needed, you made your way back through town towards your home. However, you stopped when you saw a large crowd gathered around the gallows near the center of town.

A public hanging.

Some of Kirkland's pirates, no doubt. you thought as you paused at the edge of the crowd. It was a but hard to see, considering you were only average height for a girl your age and many men were taller than you and were watching as the pirates were brought up, all with their hands tied behind their backs. From what you could tell, there were at least four men that were to be hanged, though you couldn't see much of what they looked like from where you stood. You considered moving closer to see them, but decided against pushing through the crowd just for a few pirates. You were curious, but their names were probably going to be stated, anyway.

As predicted, a man soon began to speak. "For the crimes of piracy, murder, and kidnapping, the following souls are to be hanged by the neck until dead: Alfred F. Jones," there was a pause. You assumed this person was first in the line, but could only see sandy blonde hair. "Yao Wang," another pause. That was an unusual name. Obviously quite foreign to you, though you assumed him to be Asian. "Francis Bonnefoy," that one surprised you. A French name, obviously, but you assumed the French and British hated one another. Why would a Frenchman be a pirate under the Brit you had met the night before? "and Allistor Kirkland. All pirates under the infamous Captain Arthur Kirkland." The last name was surprising. Allistor was Arthur's half-brother from what you had heard, and a Scottish man on top of that. How had he been caught so easily? Apparently, the rest of the crowd agreed, as murmurs began to start up around the crowd.

The four didn't seem scared or sad at all. In fact, they were extremely calm, you had moved slightly closer to see that the American was smirking, like he saw something in the crowd that no one else noticed. You looked around the crowd, searching for whatever the cocky blonde on stage was seeing that no one else was. It wasn't until all four had ropes around their necks that you noticed someone quickly moving towards the front of the crowd that you realized what was happening-Arthur had made it just in time to save his men. You opened your mouth, your logical side telling you to warn the guards, but your words caught in your throat and were unable to leave you. There was something that was telling you not to say anything. To let things play out as they were. Biting your lip, you watched as Arthur got close enough to have a good shot with the pistol he took from his jacket but far enough to where the executioner didn't see it himself. Just as the executioner was going to pull the lever to drop the floor, a resounding bang filled the air.

Many screamed and ran as the executioner fell dead to the ground and many guards began running up the platform, but you stood there, watching them. As the guards went to Arthur, he took out two swords-one he must have procured from a blacksmith in town-and tossed one up to the platform in front of the Frenchman. Just beside the French, the Asian man jumped up, bringing his hands to his front again and pushing the rope from his neck. The remaining guards began rushing the stage, but the American kicked one back, his strength alone enough to send the other guards behind the first tumbling back down the steps. This gave Yao enough time to grab the sword that had been tossed up for Francis, cut free from his own ropes, and free said Fenchman directly after. Once Francis was free and had the sword, Yao got to stalling the guards with a martial art that you'd never seen before while Francis freed the other two.

All the while, Arthur fought off many guards on his own. You could tell his movement was slow because of the pain his former wound brought him, but he had gotten new clothes since he left your home and so none of the guards could see or exploit the wound. As soon as they were freed, all four jumped down to join their captain. Guard and pirate alike seemed to not even notice your presence at the edge of the brawl, but after a few moments of all of them fighting, Arthur finally cast a glance your way. Just barely, you caught a look in his eyes. One that asked for help they thought would never be answered.

You swallowed, taking the split second you had to think on what was being asked of you. 'He'll promise not to hurt me...and all I have to do is keep quiet and help him get out alive. If I act like he's kidnapping me, I won't be hanged for helping a pirate. Though that only means Arthur will have to be chased by the people of my town for quite some time. I'm not sure they'll just let him go if I'm returned safely. But I'm sure he's being chased by many people already, and he knows what will happen if he does this...' Steeling your resolve, you gave a quick nod to him, one that not one else saw. Briefly, you saw his lips upturn in a thankful smile before quickly becoming a smirk as he raced towards you. You played the part well: like a deer caught in headlights you stood still, scared, for what would happen.

You felt the cold steel of a blade at your throat, holding your breath with how close it was to breaking skin. "No one move, or the girl dies!" Arthur shouted from behind you, his free hand holding one of your own behind you back. He was careful, though his grip was firm, not to harm you. After a moment of processing the hostage situation, all the guards stopped and dropped their weapons. Giving a proud smirk, Athur motioned with his head for the other four to join him. They did so rather easily and Arthur carefully began to take a few steps back. "If I see any ships following me, you'll find this girl's body tied to a barrel on the ocean." He warned. Your eyes widened slightly. He was really kidnapping you!! You were hoping he would only take you with him to the pier where he would find a new ship and leave with the pirates that had survived, but it seemed as though you were going for a very long trip away from home. "You take her, Allistor, and you lot had better remember, even one person following and she dies." Arthur repeated, then shoving you to the red-haired Scott who promptly tossed you over his shoulder. You squeaked at the violent action, and couldn't help but cry out as you were taken then from the town square to the pier.

Of course, aside from that, you would save your protests until you were able to talk to the captain face-to-face, rather than be carried by his rather rough-handed brother.