Caroline

"Woah, you're telling me your father built that ship?!" Elijah exclaimed in wonder as they walked along the beach side, idly swaying sticks in their hands as they continued their conversation.

"Yup!" Fiona giggled at the memory, she turned to face Elijah, her hands behind her back in a playful posture, staring at our protagonist with a playful gleam in her eyes.

"It took him years, but he finally made that ship from the ground up, he and Mom did, all by themselves," She looked up to the sky as if resting on the fond memory, and a grin soon blossomed on her face.

 "We were too young to help at the time obviously, but one day, I want to set out to sea, just like my mom, and find the place she promised to take me." 

"You never told me— what's that place, that your mother said you'd see someday?" Elijah pondered, a look of curiosity on his face.

"That's a secret, no one will know before I do," Fiona declared, turning to the path ahead of her. "The place I'm trying to find…"

"What about you?" She stopped in her thoughts, looking at Elijah with a thoughtful grin.

He thought about it for a bit, scratching his head as he pondered. "Well, I guess my dream will be to travel,"

"That's it?" Fiona stopped to his words, Elijah soon walked past her with a proud gleam to him.

"Yup! I'm gonna travel the seas and gain my own tale, my own legend!" He reached to the sky, catching the falling sun in his palm. The sound of waves thrashing against the shore filled their conversation, seagulls calling from far over the sea.

"Every time I'm near it, I feel like the sea is calling out to me." He stated, the wind blowing through his hair and his eyes sparkling with joy.

"The sounds, the feel the smell, it all increases ten times when I'm out here." He lowered his hand to his side. "Just thinking that my adventure could be out there, my story—"

He turned to Fiona his grin almost blinding, more so than the sights behind him.

"It kinda makes you excited, doesn't it?"

Fiona took a minute, letting out a soft sigh before looking at him.

"Well, I guess that's reason enough."

______________________________________

"What're you doing?" Fiona's dad pondered, watching from a wooden chair as his wife wrote on pieces of paper and sealed them.

"Just something for my girls," She mentioned with a small smile, stacking the letters on one another. 

"What's it about?" he pondered, curiosity now getting the better of him as he stood from his chair, his wife soon denying him and turning the page away.

"Woah there, not another step."

"Huh? Why not?" He feigned offense, standing by his wife's side at least. "Come on, let me see."

"Stop it, Noah, these are not for you!" She squealed as he leaned in closer the struggle and banter between the two of them escalating far beyond control. A loud thud echoed throughout the room, shaking the flames of the lamp that lit the area, the two of them on the floor facing the ceiling.

Caroline tried to stifle a laugh but it burst into a boisterous roar, her laugh contagious, soon spreading to her lover.

"You are insufferable!" She shouted, but still couldn't bring herself to stop laughing, her hand soon reaching to cup his cheek, a soft smile on her face.

"I should make you walk the plank for this–" She muttered, though there was no real threat in her voice, Noah turning and wrapping his arm around her with a soft smile of his own.

"Can I get to see what's inside now?" He pondered, his attention set on what was hiding within those notes.

"Not a chance!"

Noah stared down at a box in the room, his hand would ball into fists, and silent tears dispersed from his eyes, squeezing through the cracks like a silent fall, wetting the wooden planks.

"I- I didn't look, even now…"

"Please… I know we normally joke about this, but don't look at it, I beg you." Caroline would plea to him in her final moments, her eyes filled with sorrows and tears as the ship would crumble around them in fire and blood.

She held the note lazily in her hand, hung over the deck of the ship, her body inches away from falling into the boat Noah and the kids were using to flee.

Her lower half was crushed under canon fire, and the light within her eyes continued to dwindle…

"I- I won't, Caroline, I promise." he reached out for her hand, taking the note but their touch lasted longer than it should, his eyes widened as he felt the heat from her slowly fade.

Tears welled up in his eyes, the waves were the only thing he could hear at the moment, the cold winds, his only form of comfort as his two girls watched on, also tired and scared.

"Caroline…" He muttered, his breath hitched in disbelief.

"Caroline!" he reached out, his hands wrapping around her arms as he pulled her, though it was impossible under the weight. His daughters looked at each other. Sadness in their gazes.

He would tug and tug but it was futile, his face buried in the hands of his dead lover. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…"

"Dad, we have to go!" Fiona argued, her tiny hands clawed onto the back of her father, Kaka's gaze too riddled with sorrow and fatigue.

"P-please, come back to me! Caroline!"

He stood there, remembering that night, he could almost smell the crackling saffron, the heat of his wife, hearing her soft voice…

"Caroline…."