Part 2 of n1lss3n's request

INTP (male) x ENTJ (female)

Aside from her whole body aching in pain, Aurora found it more annoying to be surrounded by these men she once called her crew. 

"Give up, lady," One of her crewmen spits at her, "You're one against 15! One measly woman against brute men!" 

Despite her aching ribs, she hugs an arm around herself and gains the energy to scoff at them before cackling loudly. "Brute men?" She repeats in a mocking tone. "I know that we lie for a living, but anyone can see through that lie straight away.”

She falls and lands straight on the ground in a loud grunt as another man punches her right in the gut. Even if it's dark already, torches lit with fire circle her as each is held by one man. She can spot the outlines of their faces - faces of the men she used to call her crewmen. She's thankful she never grew to trust any of them. But it's her fault that she never expected to feel this kind of anguish that they are relentlessly inflicting on her.

Taunting them is her only defense mechanism because she does not want to show how terrified she feels at the moment. And hopefully, it would keep her alive for a few more moments. 

She tastes something metallic in her mouth and spits it out on the sand to see that it is blood. "Ah, damn it," she curses under her breath, wiping the back of her hand on her mouth. 

"For a woman, you seem to stay strong." The man kicks her strongly which sends her rolling on the sand just once but the impact makes her curl herself into a fetus position as she hugs her stomach. The pain is becoming too much to bear and she's fighting to keep her eyes open. 

She coughs out more blood and her inside ache with every movement she makes. "Why…" she wheezes out, "Why do this in such a brutal manner?" She does not want to declare it out loud, but there is this part of her that feels betrayed by what they are doing. She has done nothing but gives them a place to live and food to eat. All they had to do was follow her orders and they could continue their lives on the high seas.

"Must we still explain, lady?" 

She scoffs, "Are you doing a mutiny, really? That’s the only thing you can think of? And what do you think you’ll get from this? Money? Power?"

The man kicks her down and she falls instantly, her whole body lays limp on the ground. She does not have the energy to even hold her head up anymore. This is it, she thought, my days of being a pirate are over… 

He then brandishes a sword. "I think we have had enough of playing around. We thought of killing with a simple bullet through your head, but using a sword gives a different feeling to it." 

Aurora squeezes her eyes shut as she sees the man raise the sword in the air. Her heart is now pounding against her chest and she anxiously waits for the sword to impale her body. What a disgrace...to die by the hands of my own crewmen. 

"Ah!" The man then shouts all of a sudden, dropping his sword to the sand as his hands fly to the back of his head. “Bloody hell!” He hisses, moving his hand away from the back of his head and blood drips from his fingers. Aurora gasps quietly from where she’s laying. The man grits his teeth and snarls, “Who threw that?!” He looks at the rest of the men standing in a circle. 

“You think we did it?!”
“A rock was thrown from there!” One of them points toward the dark part of the forest. 
“It’s not that much blood! Stop wasting everyone’s time and let’s get on with killing her!”

Another rock then lands on the head of the same man and almost instantly, another one follows which hits another person. Then a wave of rocks flying through the air appears out of nowhere, constantly hitting the men surrounding Aurora. 

Shakily she gets to her elbows as she watches the commotion around her. "W-What in God's name...?" She rasps. 

Suddenly, a loud cry comes from the forest, and out emerges a large crowd of townspeople bearing lit torches and sharp farming tools that can be used as weapons. 

Aurora's eyes widen and she feels the beating of her heart quicken as she spots Elias along with one of the leaders of the town. Their gazes meet and never has she felt this urge to run to him, hoping for some safety from him. 

"Attack!" The leader shouts and the townspeople let out various roars of strength as they rush toward the pirates.

"Shoot them!" One of the crewmen shouts, to which the town leader instantly commands the townspeople, "Cover!" 

As the bullets from the guns of the pirates ricochet off their barrels and into the air, the townspeople bring out various covers of their cooking ware, using those as makeshift shields against the bullets. The bullets engrave themselves in the metal while some destroy those made out of clay. Though, this does not stop the townspeople from advancing further. 

Aurora braces herself as the people fight around her - swords clash against farming tools such as pointed metal rakes. She then feels someone touching her ankle and, out of instinct, she moves her leg swiftly to take the hand away.

"Aurora, it's me!" 

She turns her head to see Elias, crouched down to her level. She breathes out of relief, "Elias…"

"I'm going to get you out of here," he declares through gritted teeth and brings his arms under her body so that he could scoop her up. She grunts and winces in pain that shot right through the area of her ribs. 

Elias throws her a look in alarm. "Did I hurt you?" He asks hastily. 

She shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing an arm over her abdomen. "No, no," she utters, clenching her jaw to mask another cry of pain threatening to leave her.

"Hang in there, please," he begs, "I'm going to make sure you're safe." He starts running toward the hill leading to his house. Both the pirates and the townspeople notice him carrying Aurora. 

"They're getting away!" The pirates shout, fighting the townspeople with more eagerness, but the townspeople are still stronger than they thought.

"You won't get past us!" The town leader utters as they continue to fight and make sure to weaken the pirates. 

The rush of adrenaline coursing through Elias's veins is what makes him run up the hill without even panting or feeling his feet get tired. He stayed constantly worried because of the ragged breathing coming from Aurora. It's clear that she's struggling to breathe, yet she still kept a tight grip on his shirt while having her head buried in the crook of his neck. 

A sense of urgency starts to surge through him and he's starting to have a difficult time fathoming the stress brought on by the situation. What he knows now is that he needs to bring Aurora to the healers quickly. 

"Elias!" One of the town healers exclaims upon noticing him run toward the entrance of his house. She runs inside to inform the other healers that they have a person to help. 

He had this all immediately planned the moment he realized that Aurora was taken by her “crewmen”. He had to rush to the town for help, especially to the town leader. He laid out the plan for them and all they had to do was follow it and trust his process. He just hopes that no one from the town is getting badly hurt by the pirates. 

Elias brings Aurora inside his house and two of the town healers help him lay her on his bed. “Oh, God,” one of the healers whispered out of concern. “She’s badly beaten up.”

Aurora’s eyes flutter open and she gingerly reaches out a hand to hold Elias. Upon feeling her hand on his, Elias instantly turns and asks her out of worry, “Yes? Does it hurt all the more?”

Quietly, she shakes her head then murmurs, “You never disappoint, shepherd.” Even if she was badly hurt, she always had something to comment on.

Elias stayed outside the whole time the healers took care of Aurora. He couldn’t stop pacing back and forth and his steps would even quicken when he heard her cries of pain. It was only then he realized that even if she is a headstrong person, it does not take away the fact that she still can become weakened physically. 

In those moments of waiting, a messenger from the town was sent to him to inform him regarding the situation. The townspeople managed to drive the pirates away, of course, not without giving them a taste of their own medicine. It made Elias relieved in some way. Now he only had to worry about Aurora.

After some time, one of the healers exits the room, and he halts in his step, waiting for the news she has for him. “How is she?”

“She has to stay put in bed for quite some time,” the healer informs him. “We wrapped bandages around her abdomen since she is badly affected there. Make sure that she does not move too much.”

“That’s going to be hard. Aurora always has somewhere to go.”

The healer teasingly raises an eyebrow at him. “You seem to know much about her in such a short time of their stay here.”

Elias’s breath gets caught in his throat. “N-No,” he coughs out, all flustered. “I-I mean, I just know some things, maybe, or what I do know is-”

She chuckles softly and cuts him off, “I’m just glad that there is someone who would take care of her.”

He lets out a shy smile as the healer continues, “You can visit her.” She juts her head toward the direction of the room. “She’s slowly rousing from her sleep. I left a bowl of water beside the bed in case she needs it.”

Elias thanks the healer and enters the room to see Aurora breathing heavily as she lies down on his bed. He grabs a small wooden stool from the door and places it beside the bed for him to sit on. Now that he’s close to her again, she looks neater and her wounds are now clean. Some of them have small cut-out pieces of cloth stuck on them. 

Suddenly, Aurora starts to cough softly before hoarsely groaning in pain. Her eyes flutter open and when she sees the man sitting beside her, she couldn’t stop herself from murmuring his name, “E-Elias…”

Elias sits up in alarm and finds the bowl of water on the floor. He takes it and raises it up to her lips. “Wait. Don’t talk yet. Drink some water.” As he holds the bowl for her, Aurora wraps her fingers around his hands as sips the water in the bowl. He then brings the bowl away when he notices that Aurora has had enough water for now. 

She lets out a long sigh and places her hand on top of his. “...Did you plan my rescue, Elias?” She asks in a quiet manner. 

“I...I did not do it all on my own.”

“But my question was if you planned it.”

“...Yes,” he answers after a few moments of silence. “I came up with it the moment I heard those men bring you out of the house.”

Aurora gently squeezes his hand before she says, “You really are one tough shepherd.”

Elias playfully scoffs and shakes his head in disagreement. “If only you knew that I was frightened beyond measure the whole time. I was merely acting out of theory.”

Throwing him a smile of gratitude, she replies, “Then it must be a good theory because it worked.”

The corners of his mouth twitch up. “You...you think so?”

“I definitely know so.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had so much fun writing this part! I hope you enjoyed it! 💖💖