so yeah idk i was bored and i finished acs yesterday and thought, might as well give it a try. Hope you like it
warning; mentions of abuse

The sun shone bright today over the district of Westminster, completely random weather for the middle of March. Many of its citizens were splashed in an array of colours; blues, purples, lavenders, reds and greens all bustling around the streets, seeming to want to take advantage of the heat before it was gone in the morrow. Children chased after each other, toothy grins wide on their faces. Adults were pushed aside as the children raced through the crowds, eliciting many negative responses. Some citizens, donned in slightly less extravagant clothing, came out of their alleyways to savour the weather. Yet when they passed those in brighter colours, people stared down at them in disgust like they were dirt under their shoe. There were men and women in matching red and black clothing marching across the busy streets, acting like they owned London. Which in a way, they very much did. They snarled at the poorer citizens and a single glance to those higher had them cowering away in fright.

The streets were lined with tall and large houses, where a dark haired woman stepped out from a purple door. Her brown eyes narrowed, squinting against the sudden assault of the bright light. She let the door shut softly behind her, having no need to lock it knowing that Effie was still inside. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she inhaled deeply, smelling the roses that Effie had planted in front garden.

The lady wore a long baby blue skirt that hid her high heeled shoes, with an extended bustle at the back. Though facing forward it seemed as though she was wearing nothing but a slim skirt. There was an intricate golden flower design at the top of her skirt that wrapped around the length of her waist and waving across the back of her skirt. Her soft blue jacket hid half of the pattern across her hips, the jacket reaching to her mid-thigh and it covered her arms. It was open, exposed her pleated white shirt which had a small bow looped around the collar. On her chest sat a large red stone, vastly contrasting her light outfit, the jewel glistening in the sunlight.

She moved towards the pavement, her heels clicking against the stone. She decided that she would take a leisurely stroll towards the City of London, needing some time to herself for once. After all, it was something that she didn't have a lot of anymore.

"Miss Catherine!" Someone called the moment she stepped onto the cobblestone pathway, causing her to stop.

Catherine closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, realising that the slight freedom she was going to have was gone. She turned around to see Herbert waving at her violently as he raced his way towards her.

"Hello, Herbert is there something I can do for you?" She wondered pleasantly, already knowing the answer to the question, despite what she hoped.

"Yes Miss, I'm here to take you to your mothers!" He announced and her hope dimmed.

"Herbert, I can walk, there is really no need-" She tried only to interrupted

"Mister Jonathan said so, Miss, otherwise he'd be very upset," In the light, she could see his eyes glimmering with slight fear and she felt sadness prick at her heart.

The poor boy was only carrying out Jonathan's wishes to avoid his wrath; it wasn't really all his fault. And she certainly didn't want to see him hurt because she was adamant that she wanted to walk, it wouldn't be at all fair.

"Of course," She gave him what she hoped to be a supportive smile, though she felt it came out to be more of a grimace.

It must have appeared the way she wanted as his entire face lit up, a toothy grin gracing his young but weathered features. He held out his palm towards her, which she gratefully clasped with her blue gloved one. He guided her over to the short distance of the carriage that was directly parked outside her house. How she didn't notice it there before was beyond her. If she was honest, she was rather oblivious to the world sometimes.

She gripped his hand a little tighter as she climbed into the seat of the carriage, not wanting to topple over. Catherine let go of Herbert's hand, thanking him for his assistance when he didn't at all have to. The man tipped his hat at her, vanishing from view. Carefully, she lowered herself onto the seat, her dress and her sore shoulder rather hindering her movements. The carriage dipped behind her, informing her that Herbert had set down.

The whips from overhead cracked, causing her to jump slightly, even though she should have expected it to happen. The black house gave a neigh before moving in the direction that Herbert wanted it to go. Catherine settled her glove clad hands across her lap, turning to her head to watch the city pass by. Yet, her dark eyes weren't at all focused on the scenery around her as they began to glaze over as thoughts whirred through her mind. Her left thumb absentmindedly fiddled with the hidden ring on her left hand.

Catherine couldn't wait to see her mother and her daughter again, feeling as though it had been far too long since she had seen them. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time she had even seen them. It must have been over two weeks, going onto three now. Even though they were only half an hour away from where she lived, she couldn't afford to have them anywhere her home. There was no way that she was going to let her mother see the type of man Jonathan really was nor could she let him touch a hair on their daughters head. So she had told them a little white lie that she and Jonathan were going to visit his brother on the outskirts of London for a little while.

For the past few weeks, Jonathan had come home from his business furious and red faced. Although it was something she had been used to for the past four years of their marriage, it seemed even more amplified and uncontrollable. When she had questioned him on what happened, he had struck her down instead, leaving her eye swollen. From that night on, he came home even more livid than the last, which implored her to send her daughter away for a little while.

Oh how she missed her Josephine, truly the most wonderful child in the world. Whenever she was in the room, she always seemed to light up the place with her bell like laughter and her impish grin. Despite the fact that the girl was a little troublemaker, it was more endearing that infuriating. Catherine found that she was all that really kept her going in the world that seemed to become drearier the longer she lived in it. Catherine was only twenty but sometimes she felt like she was much, much older.

Then there was her wonderful mother of course, the only person Catherine felt that she could trust and rely on nowadays. Her mother had been the one constant throughout her short life, hardly having any sort of contact with her sister whatsoever. Though, Anna had always been that way. Even since she was a small child, her older sister did never take an interest in her. Not that she minded, her sister could be the devil sometimes. Yet as seasons passed, she could see her mother becoming frailer and frailer, her expressions seeming to dim little by little.

Her mother was a fighter; she wouldn't let death take her so easily. The woman had convinced herself that she was going to be immortal for the rest of her life, which Catherine always rolled her eyes at but always secretly hoped so.

She was jarred out of her thoughts however when her carriage came to a sudden halt and Catherine blinked in confusion. Surely they mustn't be there yet? Had her thoughts gone through her mind that quickly? She glanced around, finding that they were beside Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, causing her to become even more perplexed. Catherine began to stand up to question Herbert what on earth was going on, it was all rather peculiar. Then she was pushed back in her seat, or rather she fell back, when the carriage hurtled forwards at break neck speed. She let out a small whine as she landed on her shoulder, her good arm clutching it in hopes to sooth the pain. There was an unfamiliar laugh from the seat in the carriage that sounded all too excited if you asked her. The carriage swerved from side to side to narrowly avoid the other carriages across the bridge.

Whoever the hell was driving – for it was certainly not Herbert – was going to get them both killed at this rate. Catherine knew that she had to act now otherwise it would be the end of them both. She blocked out the pain in her shoulder for now, focusing on standing up in the rocking carriage. She latched onto the left edge of the carriage, pushing herself forwards, twisting her body to the side as she did so. One hand let go to grab onto the edge of the roof, the other shortly following. With effort, she lifted herself to her full height to see who the driver was. There in Herbert's seat was a young man, around her age, a flat cap atop his head. As much as she would love to study him some more, she needed to gather his attention.

"Excuse me!" She called over the howling wind, hoping that she was loud enough for him to hear. It worked for he whipped his head in her direction, his hazel eyes widening in surprise.

He mustn't have known that she was sitting in the carriage when he was quite clearly looking to steal it. Nonetheless, she was rather annoyed that he had most likely pushed poor Herbert off his seat.

"Might I ask what you're doing?" She questioned, wanting some answers as to what was going on. He went to open his mouth but there was a noise that exploded from behind the man.

The man ducked just in time as something came whizzing over his head. It was then when she realised that it was a bullet. She let out a shriek in fear that it was going to hit her but it passed over head. Another shot came, making her realise that they were being shot at! By God, she was going to die. She glanced to the left to see two Blighters riding a carriage, a few metres away from her one. One of the Blighters had a gun pointed in their direction and she snapped her eyes to the man again. This time he had a look of apology on his face, his face that of a grimace.

"Miss, I think it would be best if you sat back down. Terribly sorry about the inconvenience," There was something in his eyes that assured her, so she obliged. She didn't plan to die today and she had to hope this man who clearly attracted the Blighters knew what he was doing. Besides it's not like she could really jump out of the carriage.

Hastily, she lowered herself from her position, scrambling to sit back down again. Her heart thumped frantically against her chest, the blood pumping in her ears drowning out the continued gunshots from around her. One hand clutched the side of the carriage, whilst the other was curled to a tight fist on her lap. She closed her eyes, wishing these absolutely mad few minutes to be over. The speed of the carriage increased with each passing second and she could feel her heart beating faster. At this rate, she was sure that she was going to have a heart attack.

The wind whipped through her now unravelling hair and she could feel adrenaline pumping through her veins. For some strange reason rather than feeling fear over what was happening, she felt… excitement. She had no idea where this strange, alien feeling had come from but she found that she rather liked it. It was something that she hadn't felt in a long, long time, reminding her times of when she was a small child who had no care in the world, who had no idea what her life was going to morph into. Is this what it felt like to be free? To be your own person? If that was the case, she wished that she could feel like this every single day of her life, she was still only young.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end when she felt the carriage slow to a stop. She opened her eyes to find those who had been chasing them nowhere in sight. There was no gunshots either, something she was rather glad for. Her racing heart began to slow down as her breathing levelled out, her sides slightly sore from pressing against the tightness of her corset, the damned thing. Whoever decided this was to be the fashion of the era certainly forgot that people had lungs to breath.

"Ma'am?" Her eyes snapped to the side to find the hijacker gazing at her, her eyes narrowing at him slightly. For a few seconds, she studied him.

He was wearing a rather tattered outfit with patches here and there on his black jacket and beige trousers. Off white socks came up just below his knees, half of his shirt untucked from his waist. He wore a blue waistcoat with red underlining; his white shirt was open slightly at the top, exposing his chest slightly.

She felt her cheeks heat up slightly and she desperately hoped it didn't show on her face. When her eyes fell to his face, she felt them flush with blood even more. A smirk appeared on his once concerned face and she found him to be extremely handsome. She snapped out of her reverie, blaming her still fading rush of adrenaline on her mood.

"Are you alright?" He wondered, holding out his hand to her.

She ignored it however, her memories of the situation that had just happened returning to her as she realised this man had stolen her carriage, involved her in a high speed chase, maybe having even tried to kidnap her and to make matters worse, Herbert was nowhere to be found! But rather than apologizing for his actions, he was standing here smirking at her. It was then when she found him a little less attractive. The man moved out of the way as she stepped off the carriage, mud splashing onto her dress. Not that she cared at all; it was only mud and not her concern at this moment. This man, whoever, was.

"Am I alright? Am I alright? What did you do to Herbert!?" The man's eyebrows shot up as she pointed a finger at him, his arms going into a surrender position. Catherine stared at him expectantly her once good mood dissolving rapidly.

"Who?" He wondered with an innocent tone as though he had no clue as to what she was talking about. The nerve of the man! She leant away from him, her hands coming to rest on her hips in a disapproving manner.

"The man who was driving this carriage, is he alright? Did you hurt him?" She pandered him with questions, wanting to know if the poor man was alright. Herbert is a kind soul who only ever wants to help, do his job, earn his due to provide for his young family. It would pain her to see if something would happen to him.

"I didn't hurt him, I assure you. He's at Big Ben the last time I checked," The man answered and she saw nothing but honesty written on his face. So, she took his word for it and turned away from the odd man.

Although he had assured her that Herbert was at Big Ben, she wanted to see if he was alright herself. Plus, there was also the fact that the Blighters may be after him now after seeing the commotion that the stranger had involved them in. Catherine saw that they were in the district of Southwark, so it may take her a while to actually reach him know that the carriage was falling apart and she would only walk so fast in this dress. Lord knows she couldn't wait to take it off when she reached her mothers, which was going to be much later than she had originally wanted it to be.

"What are you doing?" The man's voice made her jump slightly, having thought he had vanished the moment she turned away from him.

She would have thought he would have just simply gone by his day, she didn't want to be reminded of the life and death situation she had just be in moments ago. If people saw her with him, she was going to be in serious trouble.

"To find the poor man you pushed off the carriage!" She informed, realising that if she just ignored him, he'd only be persistent with her.

"It'll take you a while," Catherine sighed as he pointed out the obvious but refrained from telling him that.

She had been taught – or rather beaten – not to talk back and act rudely towards someone. Not that she could be rude to somebody, she hated seeing any form of negative emotion displayed on anyone's face.

"Then so be it,"

"At least let me get you carriage and drive you down," He offered, making her pause and turn to the side to face him.

By God, this man was very persistent, something that she found mildly irritating and most curious. She felt as though he felt guilty for causing her so much hassle, which brought about her interest. Most people within this day and age would have simply stared at her disdainfully and left her to her own devices. This man… he was different. Yet, she stared at him as though he was an escaped patient from Lambeth Asylum himself. Did he really just offer to drive her across London when he had nearly killed them both minutes ago?

The man must have seen the bewildered expression on her face and winced, grimace pulling at his features.

"That was a stupid question, wasn't it," He slouched forward, seeming faux-defeated.

She lifted a gloved hand to cover mouth as a small but quiet, breathy laugh, trying not to let her mirth show. She was meant to annoyed at him and mistrustful towards him but she was easily amused. Her laugh must have been loud enough because he perked up slightly. She removed her hand, bringing it forward to show him a small space between her thumb and her index finger.

"Just a tad, sir," He smiled at her and she felt blood rushing to her cheeks over how pretty it made his face seem.

Quickly, she turned around again, trying in vain to hide her cheeks. Goodness, what had come over with her all of a sudden! Why was she so enthralled by this man! He had placed her life in danger and had pushed Herbert off the carriage, lest she forget. And she was married, Jonathan had eyes everywhere and he wasn't going to be pleased. She briefly glanced at the man, being sure not to get caught as he strolled beside her. He seemed like a good man, though she could see something unusual about him, something she couldn't quite place her finger on. She always allowed others to have second questions, so she halted their trek again.

"I don't think I properly introduced myself," She told him, holding out her hand towards him as a sign of giving him a second chance.

"Catherine Wood,"

He grasped her hand in a firm grip.

"Jacob Frye,"