On Forgotten Tides

The wind swept across still tides, forgotten in the night sky. Whispering a song of sun and surf, night and fright. A quiet night, peace reigning over this land in the stillness of the land, sea, and sky. It was a night like many, yet a night like none. It was simply a night, light by nought but the moons and stars above.

Underneath this sky sat a man named Jack, alone upon the shores of the land shrouded in the night. He stared upon the skies, the moon, and the stars almost as if seeking guidance. He bore a weight upon his shoulders, a weight that stretched far deeper than that the eye could see. His breathing fell and rose with the sea, the water reaching up to meet him with each breath in, and falling back with each breath gone.

He sat there, quiet in contemplation, as he had done for hours past, since before the sun had risen, let alone fallen back down beneath the sky. He had fought, fought harder than he had in a long time, yet he had failed. Yet he had succeeded. Equal parts success and failure. He had been proclaimed a hero for slaying the Beast of Zou, yet he was still a failure for failing to protect his charge. Which was more important, only fate could decide. Jack may dictate his own fate, but that didn't mean he was free from it.

Too many had died due to his actions in times recently past. To many, only one mattered. To Jack, they all did. He was no god, no king head raised high up above. He was just a man named Jack, nothing more, nothing less. Just a man who had taken himself to the edges of the world and soared behind. To many, he was a villain, to others, he was a hero, and to some, he was no longer a brother. This villain, this hero, this man, this brother. He stood at the gate, deciding who lived and who died. Then sometimes people died he had ordained to live, to some people lived who he had decided to kill. Each soul, each man, woman, and child who had their life ended upon his words, his blade, his failure. They weighed upon him like an anchor that would forever hold him down. To prevent the man named Jack from ever going back.

As the moon reached its apex, the man realized he was no longer alone under this still of night. Someone had decided to join him, to reach the man named Jack. Someone who burned with the rage that could never be quenched. The rage of a sister, a mother lost, a brother scorned.

The sky lit up with a wordless howl, a spear aimed straight for his heart. A burning rage, a shimmering spear, a tearful goodbye. A spear aimed to end a life in a single blow. To end a pain, long burning within. To end without a word, without a cry, without a goodbye. A spear to avenge the loss of a loved one in a single stroke.

But she wasn't the only one to have experienced loss.

The spear of pain, of hate, of love, of loss. Stopped by nothing but will alone. A patch of black lay upon the back of the man named Jack. The spear raged, burning and screaming to pierce through. But the man held firm, strong against the flames behind him.

"Hello, Sih. Is that any way to greet your brother?" He said, exhaustion apparent in his voice. He remained seated, staring out upon the ocean even as the spear was laid upon his back.

"You are no brother of mine, Bimore... O... Jack..." She seethed out between gritted teeth, anger building as her spear failed to find purchase.

"You're right about that in more ways than one, Zheng Sih." Jack sighed. "You can give it up, your spear will never truly reach me. Not as you are now. You are too weak to carry the rage that's held in your heart."

"Do you have any idea how long I've waited, HOW FAR I HAVE COME FOR THIS! HOW FAR I HAVE COME TO FINALLY SEE YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!?" She screamed at him, tears running down her cheeks only to boil away in her rage coated her body in roiling flames.

She pulled her spear back, swinging it behind her head before lashing out again, swinging for the fences to take off his head.

Jack stopped it with only a single finger. He raised his hand and caught the burning blade with nought but a blackened nail. "Cease this foolishness sister, I have no desire to fight you." He calmly stated, calm before the storm.

She brought her spear back again, before bringing it down upon Jack's head to split it open in one fell swoop.

Jack moved from his spot for the first time in days, twisting upon his feet as his left hand swatted for the spear. He knocked it to the side with a single fluid motion as his right came up to his sister's neck, grabbing the smaller woman by the throat to pull her off the ground before she could even react.

"Enough."

"NO...!" Zheng choked out as she struggled, her flames burning ever brighter to burn through the pitch black hand holding onto her. She flailed about, slowly weakening as she began to lose her breath. With her last gasp, however, she brought her feet up to Jack's chest to push him away with all her remaining might. Jack merely sighed as he loosened her grip to let her get away.

The fight continued for nearly an hour as Zheng slowly began to lose steam, each strike becoming weaker, duller, slower, cooler... For each strike, she tried to batter through his defences. For each strike, he merely knocked her blow to the side before landing one of his own.

She collapsed to her knees, all but spent as the moon was nearly a third of the way down the sky. Her body was battered and bruised, bleeding and spent from their conflict. She had come here to kill a sparrow who had flown away from home. She came here to bring justice to the one who had loved her more than anything. She had come here to kill her brother, and she had failed...

"Are you done, Sih? Is it not obvious that you can't beat me?" Jack proclaimed as he raised his hands. "JUST GIVE UP ALREADY! DON'T MAKE ME KILL THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT!" He yelled, his voice raised for the first time in a long time.

"Heh, you'd really kill me, Zhao?" Zheng Sih sputtered out as blood stained her mouth. "Just like you killed Mother? Just like you killed the one who loved you the most? You broke her heart... Brother... She died regretting what you had become. I watched her waste away and die... ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!." she finished in a scream before coughing up blood. "THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER TRULY LOVED ME DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Zhao, Mother died the day you became a pirate, it just took a while for her body to catch up. She died because she loved you. She died because of you. SHE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU ZHAO!!!"

Jack's expression soured, darker than the sky above. Zheng experienced a feeling of fright from this man for but the briefest second before a pallor of calm took back over. Zhao had burst through for but the briefest moment, but now Jack was back.

Zheng Sih's spear leapt through the air one more time, a last-ditch effort to kill the man named Jack. "BROTHER, TONIGHT YOU WILL DIE FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Jack stepped to the side as he prepared to strike his sister for the first time in truth this fight. his palm impacted on her chest, shattering her armour in a single blow before reaching her bare skin. The whites of Zheng's eyes could be seen as blood fled from her mouth. Her entire body recoiled from the blow before being flung away, arcing up and over the trees as Jack exerted his strength for but a single time. His eyes met her's for a single time on this flight, and then she was gone.

Jack returned to his seat upon the shoreline before musing to himself. "You can't kill me, sister, I'm already long since dead. Jack killed your brother, and nothing you can do will ever bring back Zhao Lin..."

A battered hand reached for the door, dripping from the water of the harbour. Blood, sweat, and sea rolled down her form as her shattered armour barely covered what was left of her dignity. Zheng Sih had failed to kill the man named Jack. She had never stood a chance. There was no denying it even for her. Her brother was a grandmaster, a lord of the sky. She was merely a spark who had hoped to burn down the sky.

Zheng stumbled over to her bed, before pulling out the treasure that laid underneath. A prize she had liberated from one of the ships upon the Blue Seas. A small chest lay in front of her, the lock already broken off. She opened it and stared upon the that lay inside. She couldn't reach the power needed to bring her mother's killer to justice on her own. But with a little help.

A fire lit her eyes as she took a bite, despite how awful the fruit tasted. With this, she would be ready to fight the man named Jack one more time. "Just a little longer mother... Just a little longer..."