After pushing her son from the rooftop, Clare found herself overcome by guilt. Her first response was to fall to the ground and sob.

However, once her sobbing was over, she looked over the cliff face and down toward the beach.

There, she saw her son, covered in blood, staggering away from the corpse of a creature she couldn’t make out.

It was a strange experience. Previously, she was upset about having potentially killed her son, yet when she found out that he was safe, that feeling of anger came back to her.

Her son was so stubborn in his dreams that not even death could take him.

She returned to her room and drank more. Afterwards, she wrote a letter that she would deliver to the telegram office.

It was a letter that mentioned what Roseus planned to do and where he was heading.

She hoped that by delivering this to her other son, the navy might find Roseus before he got away.

...

Roseus limped across the beachline, knowing that if he continued dragging himself along, he would eventually end up at his destination: the BlackRock Pier.

This was a dock built directly into a small cave, which was often used for transporting illegal goods and for pirates to set sail from.

It was completely unknown to the navy and a decent distance away from the nearest naval base. Not to mention, it managed to stay out of sight from the navy patrol routes. Even if a navy ship did manage to catch sight of it, they were limited in what they could do.

The BlackRock Pier was small and could only dock lesser ships, which were known for carrying crews of roughly ten.

The navy ships would have to fight from a distance if they hoped to attack the BlackRock Pier, and if they did, they would potentially damage the coastal towns and settlements.

... 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Roseus continued his walk. It didn’t take long for the sun to fully set.

As he walked along the dark beach, the tide became more troubled, signalling that at that moment, somewhere deeper into the First Ocean, there was activity going on.

Is that really where I am heading?

...

Focus on getting to the Pier first, Rose...

Speaking to himself made the journey easier.

Eventually, he arrived.

...

At first, it didn’t look like anything at all.

It seemed to be just a jagged stretch of coastline, with black stone rising like broken teeth from the edge of the sea. The waves crashed harder there, hitting the rocks with force.

Roseus slowed down his steps, squinting his eyes as he looked closer.

Then he finally saw what he was looking for. It was harder to make out in the darkness.

There was a narrow opening in the cliffside, barely visible unless you knew where to look.

The sea flowed into it, swallowing the entrance for a moment before retreating again.

This was the entrance to BlackRock Pier.

As he stepped closer, the shape revealed itself. There was a wooden platform jutting out from within the mouth of the cave, its supports built deep into the stone and wet with seawater.

Lanterns hung low along the walls of the cave. They weren’t bright, but they were enough to make sure that you didn’t fall off the platform and into the water whilst travelling deeper into the cave.

He travelled deeper into the dim cave.

Eventually, he could just make out the silhouette of a small ship docked within. It was a lesser ship, small and compact enough to fit into the tight space.

There were two similar ships built behind it, but only the one up front had activity going on inside.

It wasn’t much activity, just a few lanterns lit so that the ten crew members could see each other as they chattered amongst themselves on the steadily swaying ship.

Roseus continued his steps until he arrived next to the ship, close enough to climb the gangplank that connected the ship’s deck to the BlackRock Pier platform.

As the crew members heard the approaching footsteps, they fell silent.

Roseus noticed a few heads turn towards him. The majority were men, but a few women were amongst them too.

There were roughly ten in total, dressed in long-sleeved white shirts and black bottoms. Some wore coats on top, but none looked anything like Roseus, who wore an older style of pirate fashion due to his clothes dating back a decade, belonging to an old captain.

"Rose..." one of the men said quietly, before quickly pushing himself to his feet and running across the deck. Once there, he knocked on the deckhouse cabin door and repeated, "Dawn, it’s Rose. He came!"

Suddenly, Roseus found himself at the center of everyone’s attention.

The pirates, most of whom he had known growing up, swarmed him. They pulled him into hugs and expressed how happy they were to see him.

Dawn eventually hurried out of her cabin. From the look on her face, Roseus could tell that she had previously been crying. She was most likely in the cabin to hide herself from the crew, so as not to look weak.

When she spotted Roseus, she practically leapt from her ship and landed on the pier.

Ignoring the blood splattered across the man’s body and outfit, she pulled him into a tight hug. It was a hug filled with warmth and gratification.

"Captain Rose is here," she said, still not pulling away from the hug.

Captain?

"Dawn... I am not the captain," he said quietly so that only she could hear.

But the woman pulled away from the hug and shook her head. She didn’t care about the tears in her eyes now.

She turned to the other members of the crew and thrust one fist into the air.

"Captain Rose is here!" she cheered.

"CAPTAIN ROSE IS HERE!" the crew echoed back.