Had Things Been Different... Part 7

Georgia sat within her room, mopping as she looked out of her bedroom window at the pier within Savannah where she watched ships enter and leave.  Years ago, she had sat here and watched as both Germany and Scotland left, neither man allowed to say good bye due to being a "bad influence" on the young colony.  She knew neither of them were to blame for her having disregarded the rules.  However, neither man helped their case when not one, but both openly admitted that they had known that Georgia and Florida had been friends for years.  It wasn't too shocking when Scotland said it since she had been made aware of it before Rutilio proposed to her, but she never knew that even the strict German had been aware of the two colonies' relationship and had never once talked down on her for it.  It gave her a new-found respect for her old combative's teacher-- especially since now she had to deal with Germany's older brother for learning how to properly fight off enemies, and the much goofier older brother was also much more strict and honestly didn't care that she was a young lady as being an excuse when she didn't do something right or flat out refused to train.

She sighed and hugged herself tighter.  If all of this weren't bad enough....  She had not heard from Florida since the day they were both dragged out of the alter by their respective parent.  She didn't know why, but a part of her had wished that they could have pretended that day hadn't happened and they could try again.  However, that wasn't the case.  First, a week had gone by where she had done nothing but lock herself away in her room and sobbed, not even leaving her room to go eat.  Once she was finally dragged out by Governor Oglethorpe and more-or-less force fed by the help, she spent two months wearing all black and refusing to really talk to anyone.  However, Prussia got annoyed with this and began smacking her around with the riding crop whenever she ignored him.  After finally getting to the point where she was becoming annoyed with Prussia, she just went around yelling at everyone and breaking things just to take her frustration out on anything.  This earned her quite a few scoldings from Oglethorpe.  When this didn't work, South Carolina was brought down to Georgia.  For nearly a year, her older sister escorted her around everywhere she went-- even going as far as accompanying her whenever she went to bathe!  Finally, by the time the first year ended, Georgia ran away from home and just lived in the mountains away from society as a whole.  She had made an attempt to stay with her natives, but they had eventually chased her away and she reluctantly returned home in the dirty and tattered remains of the clothes she had left home in and declared that she would be a good girl and do as she was told, whether she liked it or not.

And now, here they were, years later, and she was doing as she was told whether she liked it or not, as promised.  At least the good governor who had raised her had figured out that messing with her on the anniversary of her failed marriage was a bad idea and had told Prussia to leave her be to sulk in her room.  She was thankful that the governor cared for her enough to allow her this chance to have her own private pity party with her old friends, misery and gloom.  The bright sun and chirping birds just seemed to mock her, and she gave a gloomy sigh to herself before propping her elbow on the table and supporting her chin in her upward facing palm.

"I wish he had at least written to me once....  Just something to know that he still cares...."

She watched one ship bearing the royal flag sail off from the port.  A part of her had thought time and time again how she could send a message to her distant lover through a ship, but....  Using the royal navy would send a red flag to England that she was attempting to contact Florida once more.  She had been sending some men down to Florida's towns for years, but they only came back with goods that they had mysteriously gotten from the old Spanish towns and no word from anyone by the name of Rutilio.  Since the messengers by land were clearly doing her no good, she needed to think of something....

That's when it hit her.  She sat up and blinked in surprise.  "Why hadn't I thought of that, sooner..." she mumbled to herself.  She ran over to the desk and grabbed several sheets of paper-- which was beginning to be as much in value as gold now, what with the taxes in place for the parchment-- and an ink well.  She grabbed her quill and dipped it into the ink before she scribbled a message onto the papers.  It was probably the same letter she had written time and time again, begging for Rutilio to sneak back into Savannah since she wasn't allowed to leave her own capitol.  Once complete, she stamped her seal onto the letter to seal it together and ran out of her room and down the stairs.  She heard Prussia call out to ask where she was going, but ignored him.

When she finally reached the port, she was out of breath.  The men in front of the ship she had run to stopped what they were doing and looked to her in curiosity.  When she finally caught her breath and stood up, the men jumped in surprise and minor fear.  Oh, these men recognized her.  There had been tales about this girl having been captured by a crew who mysteriously disappeared and was saved by some feared pirate hunter to the south.  The scariest part probably had to be the fact that she looked exactly as she had been described, not a single feature on her having aged in the years.  "W- What is ye want, wench!  Be gone with ye!"

"Please!  I- I know you guys are pirates, but I need your help.  Please, hear me out..."

The pirates looked to one another nervously before the captain stepped in front of his men and eyed the girl wearily.  "Alright, lass.  What ye want?"

Georgia took a deep breath and sighed before putting on a straight face.  "My name is Georgia Christine, and I represent the fair colony in which you have ported in.  A few years back, I was trying to marry a Spanish colony known as Florida.  However, Spain and England got mad and separated us.  Since then, neither of us have had contact with one another.  I- I know you probably don't believe a word I'm saying, but...  But I really do need your help!  I want t get a letter to Rutilio, and I feel the only way I can do that is if someone who isn't working for my governor OR the British Navy helps to deliver a message for me."  She help out her letter and held her breath, waiting to be declined.

The pirates, of course, looked to one another before roaring into a fit of laughter.  However, after a minute, the captain roared at them all to shut up before looking back to the girl in front of them.  He looked her over carefully to see if there was any hint to her lying.  However, after a while, the only thing he really saw was some well-dressed girl who was known for walking around besides the governor and a golden ring around her finger that looked as though she had never once removed.  finally, he sighed before walking up to her and snatching the letter from her dainty little hand.  "Aye, fine.  we'll get the letter to ye lover.  Where can I find him, and what do I get?"

Georgia blinked up at the sea-worn man before gasping happily and fighting hard not to outright jump and hug the man in front of her.  However, he blush and smile deepened at the thought that she may actually get to see Rutilio soon.  "Saint Augustine!  That's the town he took me to years ago!  Surely he's living there!  As for your reward, I promise not to let anyone throw you or your friends in jail when you come here and I'll pay you for each trip to take down to Florida!"

"Deal."  The pirate captain turned to his men and gave them instructions to get the supplies they would need before they head out in the morning.  Georgia squealed happily and giggled slightly before she turned and walked off, feeling truly happy for the first time since her wedding morning.  Maybe their relationship stood a chance after all~!

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Florida's eye twitched.  It had been months since pirates had begun flooding his home-- and even going after his fort!  At the moment, he had a pirate tied up within the walls of his fort and his halberd hanging over his shoulder casually.  He had to figure out where all of these pirates were coming from and why they kept coming after this particular fort.  He swung the ancient ax from its perch on his shoulder and pointed the blade in the old pirate's face.  "Start talking.  Who is it that has been sending you all to my home?"

The pirate captain gulped slightly before glaring up at the young Spaniard that had single-handedly slaughtered all of his men, sunk his ship, and captured him.  "There was this young girl, back in Savannah...."

Rutilio lifted an eyebrow, his clear, coral eyes never once leaving the pirate's face.  "Una chica en Savannah?  What did she look like?"

The pirate almost said nothing when he felt the blade touch his throat.  "She was young and short!  She had long golden hair pulled into twin tails on the side of her head and the most beautiful and strangely colored eyes that anyone could ever lay eyes on-- the same bluish-green color as the Caribbean Sea!  She was always blushing and got this really excited look on her face when we agreed to come here!  She even paid us!"

Florida's eyes widened more and more as the captive continued to speak.  That sounded almost dead on to Georgia!  The fact that this woman was in Savannah and telling these pirates to come to St. Augustine just seemed to prove it more and more.  However, as soon as the pirate said she was paying them to come and torment him, he gripped the handle of his halberd before swinging and taking the man's head clear off of his shoulders.  He had been so angered by this news that he hadn't noticed the pirate was trying to tell him something before he decapitated him, nor did he notice a slip of paper fall out of the man's jacket before his lifeless body slumped to the ground.

"That evil puta!  I should have known it was only a mater of time before she corrupted Georgia!  Now she's sending people to pillage and raid my villages and pirates to attack my forts!  That's it!  I'm putting an end to this once and for all!"

He replaced his trusted ax with a riffle and quickly left his fort, several of his men following after him........

That night, Florida staked out at a spot where he knew Georgia's people frequently passed through.  It was time he gave that woman a warning as to what happens when you mess with the Spanish.  As he waited, he finally saw a small group of men laughing and going on about how they were going to visit one of the Spanish villages and wreak havoc.  Spain had warned him years ago that the British colony was no good, and now he was beginning to believe it.    He took a gun from one of his men and fired a shot.  It had been meant to be a warning shot, however....  It hit one of the men.  The group freaked out and began to yell frantically.  One held his gun and began shooting towards Rutilio and his men.  Rutilio cursed and took another shot, hitting this one in the chest.  Now, two men lay on the ground, yelling out in pain.  Rutilio stood, and the rest of the group caught sight as Florida ran off with his men following after him.  Instead of taking chase, he could hear the Georgians running to find some help for their friends.  However, he knew full well that, by the time someone came, those two he had shot would be dead....

After running for a while, Florida finally stopped and looked down at his hands.  They were shaking...  Why were his hands shaking?  It took him a moment to realize what he had actually done.  Now that he thought about it... He hadn't wanted to kill those two men.  He was just wanting to scare the group and, in return, scare Georgia into leaving him alone.  He ran a hand through his clay brown hair as he gritted his teeth to force back the tears.

"Georgia......  I just killed two of Georgia's men....."

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The door to George's room slammed open, causing the colony to sit up in alarm.  She rubbed at her eyes to remove the sleep from them with one hand as the other tried to push golden locks from her face so that she could see better.  However, her tired mind was having a hard time allowing for her vision to fully regain in the dark room.  She did, however, hear the voice of her beloved governor call out to her frantically.

"Georgia!  This is terrible!"  The governor ran into her room, doing his best not to trip over any of her belongings which she had left laying around before going to bed.

"Governor Oglethorpe?  What is it?  What do you need to tell me so late at night?"  She threw the covers off of herself before reaching for the weakly lit lantern and turning the nob so that she could illuminate the room better.  She then picked up her little light and crossed the room so that the poor older gentleman wouldn't have to continue stumbling in the dark through her miniature labyrinth.

Oglethorpe sighed thankfully before taking Georgia's free hand and clasping it within his own.  "Georgia, dear sweet child, I don't know how to say this but....  Two men were killed today."

The colony looked up to beloved founder, blinking in surprise.  Two men?  She knew she had felt a small twinge of pain earlier today...  Was that the cause?  "What?  Two men?  W- What happened?  Where are they?  Where were they going when they were killed?"  She couldn't help but worry about the well-being of her people.  She knew her relationship with most of the natives was on a rapid decline, so to think that they were attacking was frightening...  Especially since they knew the land as well as she did and better than most of her citizens.

Oglethorpe frowned as a grim expression spread across his face.  He sighed and shook his head before placing his hands on the young blonde's shoulders and looked her dead on into those oddly colored eyes of hers.

"My dear sweet Georgia....  There was a group of men walking, minding their own business, when someone shot at them.  He shot one of them in the head, and another in the chest without any provocation.  They were over near the Georgia and Florida border.  Their friends, who had been with them, said it was a Spaniard who had sort of orange-brown hair, like dried clay, and crystal blue eyes."

Georgia's face paled and she felt her eyes begin to sting.  She knew she hadn't met a lot of Spaniards in her life, but....  That sounded almost dead on to how Rutilio looked.  Georgia felt something wet slide down her chin.  The initial feeling was shock and surprise.  This turned to sadness.  Next, she felt hurt and betrayed before finally ending on enraged and ready to hurt someone.  All of these emotions, and it was all felt in less than a minute.  She gritted her teeth and tightened her hands into fists until she felt that her nails were digging far into her own flesh.  Even then, she still didn't loosen her fist.  Her head dropped, her bangs covering her face from the governor's view.  All this time, she had been trying desperately to contact Florida.  She was miserable because she thought that her father was successfully blocking all of her notes and keeping the two of them apart.  after hearing what Rutilio had done, though, she now felt that this wasn't the case.  No.

Florida had clearly chosen his loyalty to Spain over their love for one another.

"Georgia?  Are you alright?  I'm so sorry, but  knew that Florida guy was nothing but trouble and that, in the end, he would just hurt you..."

".....I'll kill him," she said, her tone cold and bitter like it had never been before.  she almost didn't recognize the sound of her own harsh tone, but....  She enjoyed it.  All of her life she's allowed people to use and hurt her, but now....  Now she was given a purpose.  It was the same purpose that England had given her when she was first born, and now she was going to live by it.

Oglethorpe blinked, not sure he had heard her correctly.  He cleared his throat before deciding to ask for clarification, "W- What did you say, my dear?"

"I said..."  Her lips parted into a sadistic smile before she lifted her head, her cyan eyes glowing in rage by the light of the fire.  "I'll kill him.  I'LL KILL HIM FOR PLAYING ME THE WAY HE HAS!"  Georgia grabbed a coat and threw it over her night gown before tying her hair into a ponytail behind her head.  She slipped on a pair of flats before running past her governor, determined to get to the nearest base so that she could prepare for war.

Oglethorpe was left standing in the room alone as he watched his colony run off, ready for war.  He hadn't expected this much of a reaction from Georgia....  But, perhaps they really would get rid of the Spanish threat that lived in Florida and be rid of him once and for all.  Who would have guessed that all Georgia would need to go to war with Florida would be a little push?  he sighed softly before giving a small smile.  "I guess all those years of hiring people to go mess with the Spanish finally paid off."  With that, he walked out of the room, wanting to follow his little colony to see what actions she would put into play for this long war that was sure to come...