Ed grew quiet when she described her dad. He sounded exactly like his own. Were most dads like that? "I don't think you'd have time to play if you had a hundred animals. They'd be in your way all the time." He never had a pet and most animals didn't like him, but still. It made sense.

"You never did tell me what playing fairies was. We started talking about if they are really fairies or witches." At least that's how he chose to remember it.

He sat up and grabbed a pebble and tried to throw it at the bug. "Why not? Why stay in one place. You don't see new stuff and be a cool adventurer. I don't know why on earth I'd want to live in a house. I live in one now." He hated the house, it was full of kids and a drunk father and a negligent mother. No one wants to live like that!

"Hey.. your dad sounds awful. Are you.. sad he died?" He asked , sincerely curious about her opinion.

Maybe houses really were overrated.  Mable couldn't say she really stayed in the house much on the farm, and even now she wasn't really living in a house.  She was staying in a hotel.  The only houses she had seen were her friends, and most of them were very nice, but the nice ones were never hers.  Maybe Edward had the right idea, staying on a ship and making that his home.

Mable's head tilted, her gaze settling on Edward's feet as she genuinely considered her answer.

It was hard for her to be sad, sometimes.  Once upon a time, she felt sad so much all the time that she had to laugh and smile to convince herself that she wasn't, and sometimes she was so sure she used up all of her sad too soon.  And her father wasn't the type of person you were sad about missing, but that wasn't Edward's question.  His question was, if she was sad he had died.

When her dad died, she didn't know.  All she knew was that her brother was taking her on a trip, and they were going to England.  She didn't know he was gone until they were already on the damn boat.

When her dad died, so had her brother, and she didn't even know she'd lost what was left of her family until months after the fact.

"Yeah," she said finally, voice wavering.  "But not because I miss him.  He really was awful.  He was the worst.  But he was still my dad, and at least when I had my dad I had my brother too.  Now I just - I'm alone."

Mable shrugged, and the tears started to fall.  She wiped them away quickly, embarrassed to be crying in front of her friend, but she couldn't help it when she thought to much about this.  At least she hadn't used up all her sad before she hit double digits in age, though.

Ed listened and words came to him. Words he felt he should say, no matter how sincere or insincere they were. He had hoped his dad would die more than once, but he was his dad. He thought the same about his mom and his siblings, but he never really meant it. He just never wanted to see them again. He wanted them to be miserable without him, and if he was feeling lonely he could see them. And whatever happened happened. His hand came up to his injured eye and then he heard her crying.

He sat up looking at her in surprise. "H-hey. No need to cry. You're still alive. And.. you're not alone, right? You got me." He was rarely around, he couldn't take care of her, he wouldn't even admit they were best friends. Well, she was his best friend. He wrapped an arm around her in a vain attempt to comfort her.

"Come on... it's ok. People die. Happens a lot. At least you are still young. You got loads of time for new memories and new people to heal your heart. Right? Make new family and all that." If she was an orphan, she could totally get adopted to someone better and live a happy life. Lots of kids didn't have parents and no one wanted them. But Mable was very sweet , who wouldn't want her?

Mable leaned into Edward's arm as it came around her, even as she hid her face in her hands.  God, this really was humiliating.  She hated crying, she hated it so much.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to cry like this!" she said behind her hands.  "I promise I'm okay, I just don't like it when people die.  I miss them so much."

Was it possible to heal a heart?  Mable hoped so, but her heart would probably need a lot of healing.  When her tears finally stopped falling, Mable let her hands fall and wrapped them around Edward to return his hug.  It felt very good to do so.

"Will you be in my new family?" she asked.  "You don't have to if you don't want to.  But I'd be very happy if you said yes, Edward."

This was way out of his league. He didn't want a crying girl in his arms and he didn't know how to make her stop. So he just held her. "hey, don't say your sorry. it's ok. It just means like.. you know. you loved your dad. Even though he was a complete ass. You're not made of stone."

Her tears seemed to come less and the sounds of crying started to fade. He was going to feel relieved that she'd cried out her pain when the girl hugged him. He sighed heavily and shook his head rubbing her back. "Come on now. I'd be a terrible brother.'He tried to offer her a weak smile. "And an even worse sister. But I'm your friend right? Best friend. That.. that's better than family cause you chose me."

Best friend!  Edward said he was her best friend, and he was right.  He was her best friend, and that was way better than family.  Mable returned his smile, wider and brighter and hugged him again.

"Okay," she said, "but only if I'm your best friend too!  So that we both know not to leave the other, or be mean or anything like that.  I won't even make you say it, just say yes, okay?"

Mable pulled away, her hands clasped onto Edward's shoulders and she looked at him very intensely.  "Say yes, please please pretty please!"

Her huge smile and hug as she claimed him her best friend had him smile just a little. It was a confused but happy smile and he hugged her back. Then the words sunk in and he shook his head.

"Wait.. wait.. I ain't a nice guy! I'm big and tough and scary! What'd people think if I acted all sweet and mushy around a girl? Even if you might be my best friend! " He immediately shook his head. "I mean, I'm yours!" He said and smoothed down his hair as if someone could possibly see the two and notice how nice he was acting to this... this girl!

He folded his arms turning from her but struggled with himself before muttering. "but.. fine.. but I ain't acting nice in front of others just for you. I'm not nice!"

Mable cheered and clapped loudly when Edward finally relented, not caring that it was late and someone might hear them.  Why would she care about - about dumb adults, when she had her very first best friend?

"You're the biggest, toughest person I know, but you're not mean at all," she giggled happily.  "But don't worry, I won't tell anyone!  In fact, I'll tell everyone you're the worst jerk I've ever met if that makes you happy.  Because you're my very best friend, and I'm yours, and that's what best friends do for each other!"

She had completely forgotten about her tears, now.  She took Edward's hands in hers and stood, spinning around in a circle and laughing only to fall back down again when she let Edward go.  She was very well and truly happy.

"You know, I just had the best idea Edward!  Instead of playing fairies, since you obviously would be terrible at it, why don't we be pirates instead?  It could be practice for when you have a ship when you're older!"

Edward frowned and was about to argue about being nice when she agreed to call him a jerk in front of everyone else. It wasn't his fault she caught him in an unusually good mood the two times they'd met.

"Good. everyone needs to know what kind of mean guy I am! They will be too scared to come close." The scary child shut his mouth when she took his hand and he twirled in a circle with her until she let go and he tumbled to the floor. He had a grin but immediately wiped it away when she looked in his direction. He leaned over to offer her hand to help her up. "At least yer not crying now, that's good. "It would only be a good thing for her to be crying if he was the one to cause it.

'Sure. we can do pirates. When I'm an adult I'll be like blackbeard. Everyone will be scared of me and I'll have a long dark beard and two big swords, and guns!" he said dreamily and rubbed at his bare chin. "Come on then, shall we go to the beach?" It wasn't safe to play in the water at night, but he trusted they'd both be careful. And a real tough guy ignored the warnings!

Mable took Edward's hand, and did not pull him down this time even though she wanted to.  Yes, she wasn't crying anymore, so he shouldn't mention it!  Didn't he know she was embarrassed?

Boys!

"Guns!" she said, seemingly aghast if not for her smiling eyes.  "How scary indeed!  But what about throwing knives, will you still use those?  It'd be a waste to get so good at them just to never show off!"

And the beach!  Mable loved the beach.  She bet it was just absolutely gorgeous at night time!

"Yes, lets please go to the beach!  Lead the way, oh terrifying blackbeard!  You're so scary, I can't do anything but obey your orders!"