Fate or Something Like it


Clem’s thoughts quickly returned to Dawn, who had gone deathly still in his arms. Cursing himself for a fool he swiftly stood, drew his sword, and turned to face the human behind him.

William was taken aback by the man’s appearance. What disease had the poor man contracted to look so nightmarish… and was he contagious?

“If you value your life,” the man said. “You’ll walk away and forget you ever saw us.”

William held up his hands in an effort to show that he was no threat as he took stock of his situation. Confronting this man was suicide, especially given the fact that he had not even a dagger to defend himself with, but there was something about the girl. Even though he had never once set eyes on her before, William felt compelled to see that she came to no harm.

“Not until I am assured of your intentions toward that young lady.”


Dawn snuck a peek around Clem’s broad back. The man thought Clem was going to hurt her? And he actually cared?

Clem’s thoughts followed the same path as Dawn’s with the added choice of whether or not to flash his species-given defenses and frighten the man away. Coming to a decision, the demon pirate lowered his sword and addressed the human.

“Why do you care what happens to her?” he asked, pointing toward Dawn. “She’s just a pirate.”

“That may be,” William replied. “But she’s also a child who doesn’t deserve to be handed over to my … governor’s men.”

William decided at the last moment that telling this man that he was the governor’s son was probably a very stupid thing to do.


At fifteen, Dawn usually resented being referred to as a child, but at this moment it seemed to be saving her life, so she kept her mouth shut about it.

“You want to help us?” she asked, stepping out from behind her friend.

Clem put his arm out in front of her, attempting to keep some distance between William and themselves. Dawn put a hand on his outstretched arm, assuring him that she wasn’t going any closer.

“Do you have somewhere for us to hide?” she asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

“I’m afraid not,” William told the young woman and inexplicably felt as though he’d betrayed her as her young face took on a look of worry and fear, then he quickly added, “But I do know of a ship.”

Dawn’s face brightened once again and she looked expectantly at her mother’s first mate, who in turn looked at William.

“When does she sail?” the demon asked.

William took out his pocket watch and frowned.

“In about fifteen minutes, actually.”

“We won’t make it in time,” Clem said, putting away his sword as he walked closer to the human. “We’re to far away.”

“Not if you know the shortcuts,” William replied, then held out a hand. “I’m William, by the way.”

Clem stared at the outstretched hand. He couldn’t remember the last time a human who wasn’t either a member of the crew or a citizen of Sunnydale had done so. Dawn elbowed him in the ribs and he extended his own hand, taking care with the force of his grip so as not to accidentally injure the man.

“Clem.”

It was an odd name but William nodded politely before a small hand appeared in front of him.

“I’m Dawn.”

After a moment, William gingerly shook the girl’s hand, reminding himself that she had bee raised among pirates and therefore wouldn’t know the proper etiquette of a young lady. He released Dawn’s hand as soon as was considered polite and addressed Clem who quickly hid his grin.

“To the ship then?”

The pirate nodded.

“Aye, and quickly.”



The young man moved quite swiftly for a human through the maze of streets and alleyways of New London Port. Dawn was uncharacteristically silent and every so often, Clem would hear a hitch in her breathing that had nothing to do with their fast pace. She was trying to carry out her mother’s wishes, attempting to keep her grief at bay until she was safely away from New London, and she was doing remarkably well for one so young. The demon laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll keep you safe, Dawnie,” he said.




William felt free. The last time he’d run the streets like this, he’d been thirteen. It hadn’t been so long ago but it felt like a lifetime; back when he and Xander had been friends, before Jesse had died, and before the Finns had arrived.

“Speak of the Devil,” William whispered as he came to an unexpected stop. Dawn barely managed to avoid colliding with him.

“What ...” Clem began but trailed off as he looked around William.

“Finn,” the human replied.

The bane of his existence, accompanied by twenty uniformed soldiers, stood between the pirates and the dock.

“According to the log,” Finn was saying. “The pirate woman’s daughter was also on board. The governor has charged us with the task of finding that girl. We are to search every home and outbuilding, every ship and warehouse until she is found. When she is, you are to take her directly to the governor’s home.”

While William was puzzling over why his father would want the girl brought to their home, Clem swiftly drew his blade.

“Over my dead body they will,” he promised.

William turned quickly, attempting to block the gleaming steel from the sight of the soldiers ahead. Assuring himself that they hadn’t been spotted he then devoted himself to keeping the pirate in the alley, half afraid that the man would attempt to fight all twenty-one soldiers if given the chance.

“No,” he said quickly. “Stop and think. You cannot kill all of them.”

“I can die trying,” Clem growled, taking a step forward.

“And what happens to Dawn when you do?” William asked. “How far do you think she would get without you?”

Clem stopped, heading the wisdom of the human’s words. His vengeance would wait until after Dawn was safe. He lowered the blade but didn’t put it away.

“If we don’t get onto that ship soon it won’t make one damned bit of difference whether I’m alive or not.”

“I agree,” William said. “And if you have any ideas of how to get by Finn and the others, now is the time for sharing them.”

“I think I have an idea,” Dawn spoke up.

The two men turned to face her.

“What’s you’re plan, Dawnie?” Clem asked.

“Well,” she said. “It goes a little something like this.”

With that she rushed past the surprised men and straight toward the soldiers, shouting, “Robbery! Pirates!”

William grabbed Clem, trying to keep him from following the girl. Finn held out a hand and Dawn stopped.

“Hold on there, lad. What do you mean pirates?”

She paused, panting as though catching her breath.

“There were two of ‘em,” she said in a slightly deepened voice. “A man an’ a girl. Knocked m’ master on tha ‘ead somethin’ fierce an’ run off with his purse t’ward tha blacksmith’s shop, they did.”

“Good lad,” Finn said, patting Dawn on the shoulder then gestured to the gathered men. Soon, they were all out of sight, leaving Dawn to grin smugly at William and Clem as they made their way to her side.

“I say,” William began. “If you don’t mind my saying so, miss, that was bloody brilliant.”

Dawn blushed at the praise.

“Bloody stupid if you ask me,” Clem growled.

The young woman crossed her arms and leveled a look at her friend.

“Don’t be such a grump, Clem. It worked, didn’t it?”

He grabbed her shoulders, resisting a very real urge to shake her.

“Don’t ever do anything like that ever again! What if they hadn’t been fooled?” he demanded. “What if they’d recognized you?”

Dawn looked at her feet and shrugged.

“They don’t know what I look like,” she defended. “They don’t even know how old I’m supposed to be, and besides, it’s not as if they expect wanted criminals to run up to them.”

She looked up at Clem.

“I’m sorry I scared you but they’re gone now and how long do you think it’ll take for them to realize I lied to them and come back?”




Attempting to give them some privacy for their rough exchange, William quickly boarded the Legacy and went in search of her captain, Charles Gunn. He had been friends with Charles for as long as he could remember and was one of the few people William could still claim as such. Even though Charles had been bought as a slave at the young age of six he had been treated more like a son than a servant by Ezekiel Gunn. The old sailor had loved the man so much that upon his death he had not only granted Charles his freedom in the eyes of the law, but had also left him his most prized possession, the ship that Charles was now the captain of. Charles, in return, had taken Ezekiel’s last name for his own and built a prosperous business in the name of the only father he had ever known.

William spotted his friend at the railing, watching Clem and Dawn on the dock below.

“Problems in town, Will?” Charles asked as William came up beside him.

“No more than usual,” he replied, then after a moment. “I need to call in a favor, Charlie.”

“What kind of favor?” the captain asked, though his smile told William that he would do almost anything he asked. William had pulled him out of enough sticky situations with the governor’s soldiers that Charles owed him a favor or two.

“The girl on the dock,” William started.

“Yeah.”

“She just lost her mum and needs to get home. Her guardian can tell you where they need to go.”

Charles nodded, and then asked, “Just lost her mom, huh? She wouldn’t happen to be one of the ones hung today, would she?”

“And if she was?” William asked carefully.

Charles had been known to walk on either side of the law when it suited him, but outright asking him to smuggle not one but two pirates out from under the noses of the governor and an entire battalion of the King’s soldiers might be asking a bit too much.

The dark skinned man was silent, watching Clem and Dawn embrace, then whispered, “Just lost her mom.”

William nodded.

Charles slapped his palms down on the polished wood of the railing.

“I’ll take them wherever they need to go. Get them on board, we set sail in five minutes.”



“Clem,” William said as he came up to them. “Captain Gunn has promised to take you where you need to go.”

Clem visibly relaxed, they weren’t out of the wolves den yet but they were damn close. This time it was the demon who held out his hand.

“Thank you, William. You’ve just saved out lives.”

William shook the man’s hand then was nearly knock down as Dawn threw her arms around his waist in a fierce hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” she chanted as she attempted to squeeze the breath out of him he was sure.

“You’re welcome dear,” he replied breathlessly, awkwardly patting her head until Clem rescued him.

William quickly stepped away to catch his breath and checked his watch again.

“I fear that I must return home before I am missed,” he explained. “Clem, Miss Dawn, I wish you luck on your journey.”




Dawn waved until William was out of sight.

“He was nice,” she said to the demon behind her. “For an upper-class gent.”

Silence greeted her.

“Right, Clem?”

She turned to find the demon unconscious on the ground.

“Clem?”

Then she was grabbed from behind, a cloth covering her mouth, and everything went black.