ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 101 - Inner Turmoil, Mission Start

The air inside of the cabin was cold and damp. Kurt lay trapped in a restless sleep, his body sliding back and forth on the narrow cot as the ship climbed and dropped with the heavy waves. Outside, the thunder was a constant roar, shaking the wooden walls of his tiny room below the deck.

Rumble— CRASH!

"Richard, stop!"

"MOMMY!"

"You called me evil, didn’t you? I’ll show you just how evil I can be."

Rumble— CRASH!

While the storm tossed his body, a memory gripped his mind. The sound of the thunder turned into the heavy footsteps of his father. The rocking of the ship felt like being shaken by his collar in the middle of a freezing afternoon.

"No daddy please, I’m sorry. I won’t call you that again." A little Kurt cried, his tiny hands pushing fruitlessly against his father’s chest. "I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m-"

But his father’s face was a mask of drunken rage. He didn’t listen. He just raised the broken liquor bottle, brown glass gleaming like a predator’s tooth, and with a grunt he lunged. The sharp edge plunging right into the little boy’s right eye. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

STAB!

"AARGHHH!"

"Go on," his father taunted, leaning in close so that Kurt could smell the rot on his breath. "Call me evil again. Say it!"

Rumble— CRASH!

Outside the dream, tears fell down Kurt’s sleeping face. He was clutching and squeezing onto his empty eye socket behind his eyepatch and, as if his eye were stabbed in real time, blood slowly trickled out.

"I SAID CALL ME EVIL AGAIN, YOU LITTLE SHITBAG!"

The little boy couldn’t hear him. The world had narrowed down to a single point of excruciating pain. He rolled his head back and forth, wailing in a high-pitched cadence of pure shock and horror.

"U-UWAAAH! MOMMY! IT HURTS! UAAAAA! W-W-WAAAAHH!"

The irritation on his father’s face grew; the noise was becoming an inconvenience, a nuisance to be silenced.

"Shut up!" the man roared, his fingers tightening around the boy’s throat as he raised the blood-stained shard once more, aiming for the left eye to finish the job.

Suddenly, a shadow moved in the corner of the room. Kurt’s mother, Rachel, who had been lying slumped and unconscious against the wall, surged forward with a burst of adrenaline born of pure desperation.

"Let my baby go!" She collided with the father, her shoulder catching him off balance and shoving his heavy frame away from the child and into the small kitchen.

SHATTER!

"Argh! Fuck!" Richard dropped the broken bottle on impact. "RACHEL! You fucking bitch, you’re still alive, huh!? Fine! I’ll just kill you again! And this time, I’ll make sure you’re dead! Then I’m gonna kill that fucking bastard child next!"

While Richard scrambled to find his footing, Rachel didn’t hesitate. Her hand closed around a long, razor-sharp shard of glass from the same broken bottle. Before the father could roar another threat, she drove the shard deep into the soft tissue of his throat.

Before Richard could recover, her hand closed around a long, razor-sharp shard of glass from the same broken bottle. With a raw, primal scream, she drove it deep into his throat. His taunts now turned into a wet, gurgling sound.

Thud!

He collapsed while clutching his neck as the life slowly drained out of him.

"Haaa.. *huff* *puff*... I... *huff* I need to move."

"W-waah... u-u-uwaaah...."

Kurt’s crying had faded into a weak, fading whimpering. His mother, on the other hand, moved with a frantic, mechanical speed. She ignored the body of her husband, her eyes fixed on survival.

She lunged for her purse, sweeping her own wallet and her husbands into the bag. She tore open the medicine cabinet, dumping bottles of painkillers and gauze into the heap.

Rumble— CRASH!

The flash of lighting followed immediately by the sound of thunder, stopped her in her tracks. She peeked out the window behind the bathroom curtain and saw the rain starting to pick up fast.

"No, not now... I need to hurry." She then paced to the front door and grabbed both hers and Kurt’s winter coats from the hooks.

When she turned back to her son, the sight stopped her heart. The little Kurt had gone silent. His small face was pale and half-masked in red while his body limp against the cold floor.

"No, no, baby, stay with me," she whispered, her voice cracking with a panic she couldn’t afford to feel.

She scooped his small, fading form into her arms, draping both jackets over him to shield his wound and keep out the biting winter air. Without looking back at the wreckage of her life or the man who bled out in the kitchen, she kicked open the door and vanished into the darkness of the storm.

Rumble— CRASH!

"... rt.. ake up!"

"Argh...Ngngh..."

".. urt wake up!"

"Urgh... *huff* Mmnn"

"Kurt! Wake up! You’re bleeding!"

"Aagh!" Kurt threw himself sideways, pushing away whoever was rocking him, causing him to fall off his cot, landing hard on the wooden floor of the ship. He gasped for air, his hand instinctively flying to cover his right eye, which was bleeding profusely. As the storm outside continued to rage, the ghost of his mother’s frantic heartbeat was all he could hear while she ran through the heavy rain.

"E-Emy? Why’re you in my room?" He asked when looking up.

"Shut the hell up! What the fuck are you doing in you sleep?! Here, let go!" She took Kurt’s hand away from his face and began to heal the damage that he caused.

"Hm? Oh..." Kurt noticed the blood droplets on the floor as well as the spot where Emelie was healing. "It’s been a while since this happened. Sorry for troubling you. And thanks."

"Seriously though. What just happened? I thought you were going to tear your face off."

"Just... a stupid nightmare."

"... Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I’m good."

"Are you sure? Because what you just went through is not normal. I’m no expert, but you can trust me when I say, talking about this kind of–"

"I said I’m fine Emelie!" –CRASH! The scream ripped through the small cabin at the same time as the thunderclap.

Emelie froze. Her mouth stopped mid-open, and she went completely still. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and hurt. The silence that followed was heavy, filled only by the creaking of the ship’s hull, the white noise of rain and the faint hum of her healing magic doing its work.

"....."

As the adrenaline faded from his system, the look he saw on Emelie’s face hit him like a slap to his own.

"I’m sorry, Emy." He whispered, the anger replaced by a hollow, shaking exhaustion. "I’m sorry for screaming. Just... please. Stop talking about it. I can’t. Maybe someday. But definitely not today." He said when looking out the round window and into the rain.

Emelie took a slow breath, letting the tension leave her shoulders. She didn’t push the topic, nor did she lecture him about his outburst. She simply nodded, acknowledging his boundary. "Okay," she said quietly. "I understand. No more talking. We’ve all got our nightmares to deal with but just know that if you need someone to talk to, I’m here."

"Will do, thanks. Though you might want to run by that with Diana first. Word is, she gets jealous quite easily and has extreme violence tendencies."

"If you can joke like that, then I believe you’re fine now." She smiled as she let go of Kurt’s wound.

"Hahaha... I think we both know whether I’m joking or not..."

".... Right. Anyway, come on." She stood up and offered him a hand. "The reason I came here was to tell you that we’re about to reach our destination soon and need to get ready."

"Really? What perfect timing." He took her hand and pulled himself up. "Doing good and vanquishing evil will most definitely uplift my spirits."

"LAND HO!" Dominik’s voice sounding raw and triumphant, called from the helm. "PIER TO THE NORTH! COMING IN HOT!"

The sound acted like an electric shock. Kurt and Emelie locked eyes in the dim lantern light. The lingering tension from his nightmare vanished, now replaced by a sharp focus for the upcoming mission. They didn’t need to exchange words; only a single, solemn nod passed between them, telling each other that it’s time.

Emelie quickly turned on her heel and made a beeline for her room. Meanwhile Kurt turned to the corner of his room and grabbed his disguise cloak and tag. He put the chain around his neck and swung the cloak over his shoulders, pulling the deep hood forward until it shadowed half of his face. He checked his fastenings with practiced fingers, ensuring his blades were accessible but hidden.

When he stepped back out into the narrow hallway, the door across from him clicked open at the exact same moment. Emelie emerged, sheathed in an identical dark cloak, her face a mask of grim determination. They shared a brief, steely glance before turning as one toward the ladder leading to the main deck.

As they left the hatch, the full fury of the storm lashed at them, but they didn’t flinch. At the helm, silhouetted against the jagged flashes of lightning, stood Dominik with the now commonly known, Mr. Shittypants. They were already draped in their own disguises, along with the two prefects now dressed as servants.

As their ship crested a massive wave, the lightning flared, momentarily bathing the island in an electric glow. Below the jagged cliffs, a long, blackened stone pier stretched out into the surf, built to harbor ships far larger than their own.

Beyond the docks, the island was locked behind a massive stone wall that looked like it had been carved from the mountain itself. At its center sat a heavy, iron-reinforced entrance gate, flanked by watchtowers that peered out over the raging ocean. It was a clear warning to any who approached: this was not a place for the uninvited.

"That’s our target." Emelie pointed further inland. Perched high on the rolling hills, far above the reach of the salt spray, stood a luxurious fortress.

"The fortress?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah. And although you can’t see it from here, there’s actually an estate located to the right of the fortress. That’s where the leader of this operation stays. Bishop Tobias."

"Rumble— CRASH!

Thunder and lightning dramatically struck at the revelation of this news.

"Tobias, huh. You think he’s here?"

"There’s a high possibility that he is, since the king still hasn’t found him yet despite scouring the whole city. But Tobias can wait. First, let’s focus on rescuing those kids. Understood?"

"Loud and clear, Emy. Loud and clear."

Kurt tightened his grip on his cloak as he had his one good eye fixed on the fortress. The target was finally in sight.