BACKSTORY

At the age of five, Gideon was left orphaned when his parents were murdered by a rogue killer attacking random members of the town in order to try and make a point. He had been left in a house consisting only of a small kitchen-living area and the single bedroom he had shared with his parents, though the owner of the house, a middle aged man who had nothing to do with the properties he owned and their inhabitants unless absolutely necessary, soon kicked him out when he found out about the demise of Gideon's only family.

Finding himself homeless, Gideon needed to figure out a way to survive and therefore took to petty theft: stealing money from the bags of gold hanging at the belts of rich men wandering around the town. His skills soon became far above par compared to the other cutpurses in the town, leading to him becoming reasonably well off. However, while he was still as young as he was, he remained living in the streets in order to avoid suspicion about how such a young child was able to afford their own house. For the time being at least, he would rather remain undetected in order to make his job far easier.

By the age of sixteen however, Gideon not only had a house to live in but owned it outright, meaning there was no chance of him ever being left homeless, even if he was suddenly unable to thieve. He had also become well known for his skills and had branched out, now also working as a highwayman as opposed to simply a cutpurse. However, while the name 'Gideon' was one that was well known, his appearance was still kept secret as he was careful to make sure no one was able to see his face when he was acting as a highwayman, and as no one was aware when he was stealing from them otherwise, there was no risk there either. More than anything, he was spoken of simply as if he were a myth and someone to tell children about at night: "be good or Gideon is going to come and get you." To say he had never killed, unless forced to in order to keep his identity a secret, myths had begun to circle that he was behind a great number of deaths in the town, to adults and children alike.

By eighteen, Gideon found himself able to upsize his house to one of the larger ones in the town, though still not large enough to stand out too much, and dressed as well as the nobles when he wasn't working. Still feared, he also became respected by other criminals and gained a great number of contacts who made his job far easier; he was able to sell stolen items to pawn shops, whose owners were aware the items were stolen so wouldn't accept them under other circumstances, without much trouble and spoke to tavern owners about new possible targets who had just entered the town, and so on.

He often wandered the town, doing little bar searching out people he may steal from in the future, generally relaxing and enjoying the eyes of petty criminals upon him. He no longer tried to hide who he was from other criminals, though the police were still unable to determine who the mysterious Gideon could be, and so he was met with respectful looks when he walked anywhere as others strived to be as successful as him - those who were worst often going to him for help, though he turned everyone down for fear of revealing himself if he was seen with another criminal when they were in the middle of committing a crime.

However, cutpurses who were new to the town were yet to work out who Gideon was so the man often found himself becoming a target due to his wealthy appearance, meaning he often had to stop them in the act and discreetly tell them who he was without anyone else hearing. Luckily for him, his name had become well known all around the United Kingdom even though his appearance had not. He knew many criminals who had threatened to reveal who he was if they ever got caught by the police, in exchange for their freedom, however they all mysteriously ended up dead in their cells as soon as they were caught, with only rumours blaming Gideon for the deaths.

Relaxing as he often did, Gideon walked around the town and played a simple game of trying to work out how much money each person was carrying with no plans to actually steal any of it. He had decided he would take a day off of working in order to spend some more time working out what shops would be good to steal from but he had soon gotten bored, deciding that theft in the middle of the night was too easy for him, and therefore he just wandered aimlessly for a while.

The corner of his lip quirked up as he felt a slight tug on the bag of money he was carrying. To most people, this would be unnoticeable but he was so used to covering his back, and to using the same move on others to take their money, that it was easy for him to sense. Practically seeing the frown on the face of whoever was trying to pickpocket him from behind, he waited for the inevitable second, harder, tug that was to come when the bag didn't come loose as it would in most cases. Another thing Gideon had learnt from his time as a cutpurse, was to fasten his bag more securely and to use a thicker, harder to cut, material.

As the thief went to pull at the bag again, having waited for a while in an obvious attempt to be discreet, Gideon grabbed their wrist tightly and turned to face them. He paused momentarily in shock as he realised that the culprit was a young girl, no older than fifteen. Quickly regaining his composure, he narrowed his eyes slightly as the girl began trying to pull away from him, swearing and shouting for people around to help her. What she obviously wasn't aware of was that, though more tightly knit than London, people in the town were still slow to help each other, especially if the apparent victim was poor.

Realising her actions were doing her little good, the girl stopped moving and just stared up at Gideon defiantly as if to dare him to do something. Gideon ignored her look, however, and just tried to hide his shock at how someone as young, weak and seemingly inexperienced as the girl had been able to touch the bag of gold at his waist before he had been able to notice her. She had potential, that much he knew for certain. Relaxing his grip slightly so it would hurt the girl less, he told her that he wanted to train her, to which the girl scoffed and made a comment on how she didn't need to be "trained to be a good, law abiding citizen by some noble who just happened to get lucky."

Though he knew she had potential, Gideon was considering just letting the girl go and hoping she starved to death or was shot when attempting to steal from someone else however he wasn't willing to give up so easily. He stated who he was, at which point the girl stiffened again and paled significantly before beginning to apologise over and over for trying to steal from him.

He shushed her before anyone else could hear and repeated his statement about training her, this time being answered by the girl nodding rapidly, her eyes sparkling in excitement as she once again relaxed upon realising her life wasn't in danger.

Saying nothing, Gideon released his grip on the girl entirely and headed to his house, gesturing for her to follow. He had assumed by the state of her clothes and overall appearance that she must be homeless or from a very poor family so had took it upon himself to also house her, seen as he would be responsible for her while she was training under him. When they were close to the building, he eventually spoke though only to ask the girl's name.

"Rose," Gideon repeated when she told him, pushing open the front door of his house and walking inside, heading straight to a large armchair in the corner of the room, next to a large pile of books on top of which sat an abandoned tumbler of whiskey he had started the night before. "Well then Rose," he continued as he crossed his legs so his right ankle was resting on his right knee, picking up the tumbler and drinking the remaining contents, "I suppose you'll be wanting this to keep you going until you can learn to fend for yourself properly." He held out the bag of money she had tried to steal earlier with his free hand before throwing it at the girl with the comment "catch" before then moving on to say "You may as well keep it; I have enough money to get by without that."

Four years after meeting Rose, she had improved her skills as a cutpurse greatly and Gideon was considering taking her out with him while he was acting as a highwayman. Rose had been getting better at a steady rate even when Gideon spent weeks away while he worked down London, adding a third job as a hitman to his repertoire once he had become more comfortable killing.

Since Rose's eighteenth birthday, she had grown confident enough to begin flirting with Gideon, which he returned, the words rolling off his tongue easily. He had, though he wouldn't admit it, realised about two years past that he could easily imagine spending the rest of his life with Rose and, though the flirting wasn't exactly serious, it gave him hope.

That night, Gideon sat in his usual chair in the same cross legged position he had on the day he first met Rose, his hand lightly holding a glass of wine on top of the pile of books next to him, which was now mainly made up of the fiction Rose insisted on reading when Gideon was out at his favourite tavern getting drunk and she was left with nothing to do. He had decided he was going to get her to go on his next planned job as a highwayman as it was a large job and he could do with some help, though that wasn't something he would readily admit.

The youngest prince was visiting his cousin, who lived in a mansion just past the town, and Gideon wasn't willing to pass up the chance to get at a royal's possessions, however he assumed it would be hard to even get close to the carriage due to the security the prince was likely to have with him. In the middle of Rose's explanation of her plan, he raised a hand to cut her off, her eager expression being replaced by a worried one as she assumed she had said something wrong. Gideon frowned slightly at her expression before standing up and moving out of the room, only to return a minute later with both hands behind his back to hide what he was holding.

Rose looked at Gideon, worry still obvious on her face. He muttered something to himself about how she got worried too easily before dropping down onto one knee and moving his hands from behind his back to reveal a black ring box, which he opened at the same time as asking her to marry him.

"Do you really think we should do this; that we're ready for this?" Rose asked, the worry still not leaving her face.

Gideon frowned, not having expected Rose to turn him down. He shrugged, muttering about him being ready, before standing up and moving to sit down again. How could she not tell that he needed her? It wasn't as if they had to get married straight away - but knowing she would marry him sometime in the future was good enough to make him happy. He tried to think of what the issue could be, deciding it must be that he was four years older than her and basically her teacher; the fact he could still silence her just by a hand gesture proved he was still in control entirely, flirting or not, so he assumed she would rather be more equal to him before anything could happen.

He picked up his wine glass before watching Rose walk around the room then pause in front of a chest full of gold he kept in the room, which he often moved in front of his chair to use as a footrest. She then muttered something about still being young and that marrying Gideon would make their jobs harder as they would have to look out for each other, giving them each a weakness.

'Well,' Gideon thought, 'At least I know it isn't because she doesn't like me.'

"I've been looking after you since I first met you," he commented, taking a drink of wine before continuing. "I took you in as an apprentice because you showed potential, yes, but also because I felt like I owed it to you to protect you. Nothing will get harder if we're married; you're still my weakness now and if we're close enough for you to even consider saying yes at any point, I must be yours too. We don't even have to marry yet - just get engaged."

Rose seemed to consider what he said for a while before nodding hesitantly and muttering a barely audible "alright."

"Alright. As long as it doesn't change things too much and put you in danger, I'll marry you. Just not for a few years," she said more loudly so she could be certain Gideon heard. At her words, Gideon noticeably relaxed, finishing his wine before putting down the glass and holding out his hands, taking Rose's in them when she walked over to him before pulling her onto his lap and hugging her to him.

The wedding came far faster than either Gideon or Rose had intended, with the pair due to be married within a year of Gideon's proposal. Now twenty-three, Gideon paced the living room of his best man's house while he wanted for the other men to get ready so they could head to the small church the wedding was being held at after a lot of bribing and threatening the priest to marry them after he refused on account of them being two of the most wanted criminals in the country. He was scared; worried that Rose would knock on the door of the house any time now to say she was backing out of the wedding and either didn't want to marry him or wanted to wait before committing to anything. She had been opposed to the wedding being so soon however Gideon had persuaded her to marry him because he knew his days were numbered before the police eventually got to him and hanged him for his numerous crimes.

As his best man moved downstairs with three other males, all with hangovers, trailing behind him, Gideon stopped his pacing and turned his attention to him. The five men spoke quickly before heading outside and to the church to wait for his soon-to-be wife. He wasn't sure whether he was more nervous or excited but he was glad it would be Rose stood at the alter with him and not another woman.

Time passed quickly as friends crowded into the building. Everyone had turned up in their usual clothes - with only Gideon, Rose and a few close friends dressed up - to prevent police from suspecting anything. Even on his wedding day, Gideon knew he had to be careful not to attract attention; while his face was still unknown, a relatively detailed description of Rose had been given to the police by a turncoat before Gideon had been able to get to him and kill him. In a town as small as the one they were in, everyone was aware of all weddings taking place and one which had been kept quiet, such as Gideon's, was sure to draw unwanted attention and suspicion from the police, likely leading to the police assuming he must be a criminal and therefore arresting him even if they didn't realise just who he was exactly.

As the time passed, he began to grow worried. Five minutes. Ten minutes. An hour. Rose was late and he began to worry the authorities had captured her to get to him. He looked at the crowd of people, mainly fellow highwaymen, and explained what he had thought had happened, to which everyone stood up in unison and headed out in search of Rose.

STORY

He closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead as if doing so would help sober him up – at that stage of drunkenness where he knew perfectly well that he was drunk however he was still sober enough to wonder why the hell he was still drinking. Shrugging, he opened his eyes again and gestured a barmaid over with another drink which he quickly drank before doing the same once again. Several drinks later, he had decided he was completely drunk and was still trying to work out how he knew this as one of his contacts from when he was a cutpurse walked into the tavern and straight over to him. Sometimes making 'Gideon' such a well known name both locally and over in London was a disadvantage because he could never relax without seeing someone who knew of him and his past: something that could either include people asking for his help with some form of illegal activity or a police officer attempting to find a more recent reason for him to be imprisoned. Both of those things now failed to have any sort of outcome because he refused to take part in anything that could lead to him being hanged. He now had to try to maintain the reputation of the nobles he served, having been recommended to them by Queen Elizabeth not long after he saved her from a highwayman – deciding to change his ways not long before seeing the royal carriage being stopped by a past colleague who had always wanted the queen dead.

Once he had decided to change his ways, people had finally been able to put a face to the name as those he worked for were always keen to introduce him by name, and often even went so far as to actually explain exactly who he was when they felt they needed to intimidate whoever it was they were speaking to. While he was basically untouchable until he committed another crime due to the queen's pardon for his previous actions, people knowing who exactly Gideon was did lead to a lot of unwanted attention from both sides of the law.

Shaking his head so his thoughts returned to the present day, he looked up at the man who was walking towards him and crossed his arms. He didn't want to speak to anyone – he just wanted to relax and get drunk enough that he couldn't remember anything. He blinked a couple of times as the other man spoke; realising he had let his thoughts take over again.

"Hang on," he commented, taking his feet off of the table and resting his elbows on it, leaning forward so he could look at the other man better, "I'm sure you just said Rose is back after however long it's been since she was seen boarding a ship just as we were to be wed." He shook his head again, laughing slightly. "No, she wouldn't be stupid enough to return after so long; especially not to somewhere I know so well."

He listened to the other man's explanation and nodded occasionally to show he was listening before standing up. Finding out that his wife-to-be was still alive was one thing but realising that she was also both dressed entirely inappropriately and that she had become a pirate had, for him in his drunk state, taken things too far. It was unreasonable to think that a female would be allowed on a ship other than a passenger ship for holidays abroad due to the fact most sailors and pirates alike believed that a woman on board a ship was bad luck. To think that Rose had also made a name for herself on the seas annoyed him far more than he would be willing to admit. That aside, he was tired from several days of travel after visiting London as a guard for the wife of the Lord he served, who had decided she wanted to see the queen without her husband following her, and, on top of that, he was now both drunk and confused as to how he should feel about the return of someone he had thought to be dead for at least two of the years since she had left him without warning.

The question now was what to say to her; what he was meant to say to a woman who had been missing for years and who still only knew him to be a highwayman and cutpurse rather that the servant to a family of nobles? 'The one job she would never have thought me to have,' he thought, walking out of the tavern and towards the one Rose had been spotted in. 'It would have to be the job I have when she returns wouldn't it?'

He sighed as he heard those he passed talking about him - remembering exactly who he used to be no matter how much he attempted to lose that reputation and how many times he would make a show about doing something 'good' just to get them to move on from his past. No, Rose wouldn't be happy to find out that the Gideon she was meant to marry five years earlier had caved and finally accepted laws to be correct and worthy of being listened to rather than being nothing more than a way to challenge authority and a reason to ruin the fun of those who didn't want to conform to what was thought to be normal. The only thing left to consider would be his appearance. Of course he had matured in the years since he had last seen Rose – it was only natural as he got older – but he had also turned from wearing dark colours and a black cloak, which were common for a highwayman to keep his presence unknown until he chose to be seen, to wearing lighter coloured clothes not uncommon for the nobility of the time which generally didn't fit in when he was in the taverns though better suited his new role due to being rather close to the queen as well as several noble families. Even when he dressed in more noble-like clothes while not working, he had always worn darker colours to make sure he blended with the shadows but that was no longer the case.

Sighing as he entered the tavern Rose had been seen in, he stood in the doorway and looked around for her: quickly spotting her due to her clothes. He leant against the doorway in a way that, for a reason he couldn't work out himself, always seemed to intimidate a lot of people due to how calm he always seemed no matter what the situation though was, in this case, only to steady himself from the dizziness he felt.

Eventually feeling stable enough to move again, Gideon moved over to Rose and a man she was in the middle of kissing deeply, drawing his gun and pointing it at the male.

"Sometimes I wish I hadn't agreed to help you," Gideon growled, glaring at Rose, "What do you think you're doing?" He smiled softly as he watched her freeze at the sound of his voice. So she recognised him. Good. He waved his hand once as a sort of greeting when she looked up at him, amusement visible in his eyes for a second before his expression changed to one of annoyance.

"Gi-Gideon?" she stuttered, looking to him.

"Who else would it be?" he asked dryly, "Another one of the men you've apparently been all over in the time we've been apart? You would be better off dead. I let you live, I housed you, I fell in love with you. How do you thank me? You didn't just tell me you weren't ready to get married. No! You leave me on our wedding day to board a pirate ship and spend years gallivanting around at sea before returning here and not even thinking about how I might feel if I saw you looking like this!" He turned to the man she was with and gestured with his head for him to get up and move away.

"She's mine, Kaden. You should remember that seeing as you were one of the main men at our wedding. Well, you would have been if some idiot hadn't left me." He was practically snarling now, drink and anger forming a lethal combination.

The two men argued for a while, it being obvious that each wanted to be with Rose and neither being willing to accept 'no' for an answer. Gideon was shocked; Kaden had always been scared of him so any show of defiance was unusual for him. Even when they had been friends, the other man had almost always done what he had been told by Gideon because it was easier, if nothing else. The only way you could guarantee Gideon wasn't going to kill you was to do exactly what he said; even marrying him was never going to be a complete freedom from him threatening you with death. Kaden supposed that was one reason Rose was left - though he had never asked to confirm it.

"Gideon, you're drunk; you have no idea what you're saying," Gideon vaguely heard Kaden say, though it was hazy due to his drunkenness, "You don't own Rose. She's free game since she left you!"

Gideon, the taller of the two men, looked down at Kaden who had stood in the middle of his shouting. He ignored the fact Rose was now slowly rising to her feet and looking at him expectantly.

"Never treat my Rose like an object," Gideon snapped, pairing his words with a hard slap to Kaden's right cheek, "She's my fiancée - that's why she's mine, not because she's an item to be owned. No woman is ever 'free game'; you can't just go around and treat them however you want for your own amusement."

"We never married!" Rose shouted, annoyance and anger tinging her words. Gideon, however, ignored her words and continued to glare down at the other man in a way that would cause most men to shrink away from him.

"I left you, Gideon; we weren't right for each other and I found my soulmate!" Rose tried again, hating the fact she was being ignored. That got his attention.

Gideon turned to Rose, glaring down at her and purposefully trying to make her feel inferior to him. "We should be married. Our wedding was planned and we were, we still are, engaged - the only one allowed to call off the wedding is the man. You are to be my wife whether you want it or not. Understand?" He watched her shrink back against Kaden, Gideon refusing to admit he was worried slightly by the flash of fear in her eyes.

"It won't work out," Rose replied, stuttering as she spoke. Gideon frowned, watching her hand go to a cord at her throat.

"I'll make it work," Gideon replied, "Now, plan on telling me what's at the end of that cord?" He raised an eyebrow as she shook her head, her hand tightening on the cord, though he wasn't completely shocked by the fact she was still being defiant. "I'd advise you show me," he continued coolly, "Because I'm not in the mood to play around." As Gideon finished his sentence he was shocked to see Kaden pull Rose back behind him.

"You can't force her to do something, Gideon," he stated, standing in a protective stance in front of Rose.

"Here's the thing Kaden. I'll give you anything you want if you hand her over to me - you know I can afford it," Gideon commented calmly, knowing money was the other man's weakness. Kaden blinked as Gideon spoke, obviously thinking fast.

"Ka-Kaden?" Rose asked, staring at him, before wincing as he gripped her arm tightly.

"Deal Gideon," he grinned, snapping the cord off Rose's throat. Gideon smirked, holding a hand out for the cord and grabbing Rose's arm with his free hand, a trapped look appearing in her eyes. "Don't leave me again," he warned, his expression serious. Rose lunged for the cord as Kaden held it out to Gideon, the ring glinting in the lamp light. "A ring?" Gideon asked, taking the cord and glaring at Rose before pocketing the cord and getting a bag of gold, throwing it to Kaden, ignoring Rose's attempted attack. "We have a lot to talk about back at home, Rose," he snarled.

He watched Kaden frown, glancing to Rose before back to the bag of coins. "Call me if you need me again," the man commented, presumably deciding it was worth it.

"Well, took long enough but we're finally married now, Rose," Gideon commented, looking across to his new wife. Rose did not react to his words, her gaze firmly locked onto the ring now on her hand, sadness visible in her eyes. Eventually, she gave in.

"You got what you wanted," she muttered, still not looking at him.

"That I did," Gideon replied, watching her before frowning, "It's also what you wanted for ages. So why did you leave?"

"You know why, I was a coward and could not face marriage," came her reply, still refusing to look to him.

"So you left me," Gideon muttered, looking away and closing his eyes. "Normal people would have just said they didn't want to marry yet you decided to run off, board a pirate ship and start an entire new life even though you claimed you loved me. I don't know why I still like you, I really don't." He sighed, heading outside to get some fresh air and to avoid the throng of people that had headed towards him and Rose to congratulate them on their marriage.

He didn't want to be congratulated, even though he was finally married to the woman he loved, because something felt wrong in forcing her into marriage. He got over the feeling soon enough as he walked though, heading far away from the building where the small, discreet wedding had taken place. Even as a noble's servant, he still needed to be careful due to all the police still waiting to find a reason to arrest him and, depending what mood they were in, the forced marriage would have been good enough a reason, even though arranged marriages were a common sight.

As he continued to walk, he grew more and more relaxed. There were enough people at the wedding to make sure that Rose would not run off again and he finally had what he wanted; finally married to the one woman he had always loved. He smiled, beginning to take in the scenery around him. After a while, he paused as a tall, white haired man passed not far in front of him. His appearance rang a bell from something Rose had mentioned but it took a while for him to realise who the man was: Jason, the pirate Rose had fallen in love with.

He rushed to the police, stating that he had just seen a pirate before describing his appearance. It wasn't long before Gideon, who had been waiting in the police station, saw the man dragged in before him.

"Well, well, well," Gideon smirked, looking across to the other man who was clearly albino, given that he also had redish eyes, "I would have suspected you'd at least try to hide your hair colour. You're a little young to be going white, aren't you?" He waited for Jason to react but found himself disappointed when the other man didn't so much as look at him. "I wonder what Rose would say if I got her to come here now." Finally he had the reaction he wanted, the other man's head snapping up so his eyes met Gideon's.

"How d'ye know Rose?" the pirate asked, his voice steady though he was finding it hard to keep it so. Gideon just laughed in response and watched as the other man was dragged off and thrown into a nearby cell, left to glare at him while he waited for a response to his question. Eventually, Gideon replied, his only words being "we're married."

Jason stared at the man before him before hesitantly asking whether his name was Gideon, to which the other man chuckled softly.

"So she did mention me when she was off at sea with you," he commented, "At least I know she didn't forget about me." He watched the pirate with quiet fascination as his head drooped in defeat. Gideon assumed he guessed Rose had returned to him by choice. Good; let him think that. "Now, try to be compliant when the police officers here ask you questions. I have a wedding reception to attend otherwise I'd stay and see for myself." At that he left, leaving Jason to watch him go and wait for, most likely, death for his crimes.

To be continued...