This chapter may be disturbing to some readers please check the Trigger warnings.

TW// Death, blood, violence, PTSD, Sexual assault, Child abuse/pedophilia

It was getting warmer, and Elias was spending more of his time sitting by the ship’s railing looking at the horizon. They were sailing towards a storm. There were no clouds in the sky, but Elias could feel it in the air. Sabur had come out of his cabin the previous day, saying they caught word of the royal ship near them and that they should be prepared for attack.

Elias heard someone approach behind him. In a split second he turned around a knife already poised at Nick’s throat.

“S-sorry. I thought…” Elias lowered the blade and turned back towards the sea. “Sorry.”

Nick said nothing. He leaned on the railing beside him, giving him enough space. Both of them stayed silent for a long time before it started suffocating Elias.

“Sorry.” He said again in a whisper. Elias hated himself for treating Nick as he did, when he was nothing but good to him. Nick stayed silent and Elias thought if he wouldn’t forgive him now, he never would in the future. Elias wanted to leave when Nick finally spoke.

“It wasn’t your fault… None of it was.”

And that was forgiveness enough.

They stayed by the railing till night fell when Nick turned and said. “You should stay low for the attack. I’ve talked to Sabur about it. He agreed.”

Elias nodded and Nick went back up to his helm. He didn’t know why he should not fight. Didn’t Sabur want that? Didn’t he want him to kill? To take lives as if they were nothing?

It didn’t matter. If they were the Captain's orders, he should obey.

It was a brutal battle - it wasn't like any battle before. Rain was pouring down hard on them, making visibility very low. The clasp of thunder drowned out the gunshots and screams. Elias watched everything up from the highest mast. He was clutching hard to the wood as the ship rocked in the giant waves.

The numbers were running shorter on both ends and even Sabur was out there fighting. Elias had never seen him fight. Just the sight of him fighting from afar terrified Elias to the bones. Most of the men had run away just upon seeing him and Elias couldn’t blame them. Sabur looked like a monster.

There was only one, who didn’t seem to be afraid of him. The man looked young - Elias would say that he was too young to be a soldier on a royal ship, but then he remembered that he was only eight when he first killed someone.

The dark-skinned man looked like he wasn’t afraid of Sabur. He kept going at him and Elias could admire his courage. But he was still young, inexperienced, and not nearly as strong. Elias watched as Sabur stabbed him in the stomach, looking unfazed, even bored. He let him fall to the ground, turn around and leave as if he were nothing but a fly in his way.

Elias watched the man as life dripped out of him. Someone ran to him - a man in the same uniform, his hair blond. He looked the same age as the man in his arms. Elias couldn’t hear him, but he did see.

Sorrow, anger, grief, and pain.

Elias wanted to look away but found that he couldn’t. There was something that wouldn’t let him look away from the two of them.

There was indescribable pain on the man’s eyes, something Elias had never seen before. It wasn’t just losing a crewmate. What that man held in his hands was more than that. He was clutching him as if he was more than the world to him. He held him as if he was everything to him.

After that night Elias again couldn’t sleep for days and weeks, even months. He would think about that night - of what it made of him. The lives Elias took, weren’t just nothing. Those who Elias killed meant something to others.

Sabur had tried to make him think they were nothing.

He had succeeded at that as he made sure that Elias kept killing. Every time he held back, Sabur made sure he remembered what would happen if he stopped, if he let others hurt him. He wouldn’t let him forget about The Green Woman and what she did to him.

Unfortunately, it worked and Elias would give into the rhythm of killing. Yet, when it was over and he was alone with his thoughts, he would think about them and the sorrowful kiss the man left on the lips of the one he loved.

In the five years that followed killing became normal again to him. He did as Sabur told him and if that meant he needed to kill, he obeyed, but he never did it outside of an order or whenever it wasn’t absolutely necessary. He promised himself he wouldn’t give in to that. Elias wouldn’t let anyone see his emotion and he was grateful for the mask that hid his flinches and the tears that might have escaped his eyes. At night he would sit at the Crow’s nest and let them fall down silently but freely.

The scars on his back were healed, and they were standing out against his dark skin, shaped like a feather placed across his back. He always hid them from others and he wouldn’t let anyone touch his back. He couldn’t even do it himself. The memory would always come back.

Elias didn’t cut his hair. If it stayed short it would remind him of her. The breeze felt like her cold hand going through his hair. So, he just tied it together, and when it was long enough he braided it.

Pit left him alone. Elias had left a nasty scar across his lips, but his hands healed. If they didn’t Sabur would probably beat Elias up. Pit would still watch him though, thinking Elias wouldn’t notice, yet Elias would always turn to him with flaring eyes and Pit would flinch away in fear.

Some days he thought he could escape the memories, that just maybe he could forget about it. The past, the hurt, the pain. But there were dreams, reminding him of what they did to him and what he had done to others. Most of the ones his blade touched would blur together in a haunting mess of woe.

Yet, those wide brown eyes filled with terror, Elias could never forget.

Everything would’ve been fine until they had to go to the pirate assembly at Ziddim.

Elias was fifteen, but the men did not care.

Elias had never been there and he was ordered not to stir up trouble, but to be on alert for any suspicion - not all pirates were on friendly terms, said Sabur.

Elias stayed at the back, watching. He would report to Kian if there were any suspicions. One man watched him, whispering to his pals and scanning Elias from head to toe. Later when Elias grew bored of standing there, he went outside to explore the island.

Since he left the ship, he knew the man was following him. Elias quickened his pace towards the town and turned into a street, finding himself at a dead end. He turned around unfazed, using this moment to get information out of the man.

“So, yer that masked guy.” He slowly approached him. “Gettin’ quite famous.”

Elias never spoke when he dealt with strangers. His voice would give him away - they would know he was still a kid. They wouldn’t fear him then.

“Can’t believe The Rose Sparrow lets kids on.”

Elias’ whole body tensed. How does he know? Ever since Violet had made him his mask, everyone mistook him for an adult. The man laughed as if he could hear him.

“I saw ya at Bradfordshire, years ago kid.” He was just an inch away from him. Elias wanted to move but found himself unable to. Sheer shock had struck him frozen. “Caught my eye.” The man moved the braid off Elias’ shoulder. “Couldn’t stop thinkin’ about ya.”

The man pulled the mask off him and locked his lips with Elias’. He pushed him against the wall, holding him firmly in place, forcing his tongue into Elias’ mouth.

Elias’ body was rock solid, cold sweat rushing down his back. He tried to move his body, but the man’s weight was nothing like Pit’s. When he noticed Elias resisting, he pushed him down and pinned him to the ground.

“Just let me have a lil fun.” He groaned between kisses.

He started sliding his hands down. Elias thought he could forget. He thought that it was in the past and he could slowly but finally start to heal. Agony, pain, and anger all at once rushed back to him.

Elias reached for his dagger and slammed it between the man’s shoulder blades. He couldn’t use enough force, but it was enough to shock the man and for Elias to kick him off himself. Without further hesitation he pulled out his twin swords and penetrated the man’s stomach. Elias pulled them out and the body slammed down to the ground.

Elias picked up his mask, put it on and took the dagger out of the men’s shoulder blades.

He was unaware that one of the man’s crewmates had seen Elias plunge his swords into the man’s stomach. He wasn’t aware he ran back to tell everyone.

Elias had only heard a gunshot and then dead silence just for a minute before it all went sideways.

They had lost many that night, including Kian. He was the one who was shot, jumping in front of Sabur. He hadn’t died on the spot, no, he died days later because of the infection of his wound. They had to listen to his screams of agony as the wound would rot.

Elias was responsible for everything. Why would he just kill the man? He didn’t threaten him. Why would he start the war on them? Elias didn’t bother to tell them he was almost raped. He didn’t bother to tell them that if he hadn’t killed the man, he would have succeeded.

Elias didn’t bother explaining, for they would not believe him.

He took Sabur’s beating. He did not care anymore. He was nothing but a puppet to them. Why should he bother to be anything else? Why should he resist the resentment he felt towards others?

Why should he care?

After Sabur let out his rage, Elias wordlessly picked up his mask, put it on and left the cabin. And so, the story of the ruthless killer began.

He was feared on every island, in every village and town, and by every man. The stench of blood followed him everywhere he went. He saw every movement, heard every breath or cry. No one could run away from him and no one could hide away from him. He caught everyone that tried. There was no mercy.

There were stories told about him - The white mask with red swirls that would haunt you in your sleep.

The Grímur they called him.