Yo, here's another story. ^^
It was originally inspired by the recent PotC movie - with its ending ignored by me.
Do tell what you think about it.
This is rated M because of future chapters.
The pairing is mainly OC/Barbossa.
There will be sensitive topics in later chapters as well, but I'll put a warning on top of a chapter if that's the case.
Chapter 1 – "Hoist the sails!"
"My dear friend... my sister tells me that you tried to leave us with this bag of gold, is that true?" The blonde Elaina Bonny, captain of her own ship – the Scarlet Phoenix – asked in a dangerously calm voice as she circled the trembling man in front of her. The crew was quiet, the tension in the air almost suffocating them. Their captain was known for her fierce personality; calmness was never a good sign...
Said traitor could only swallow as he stared at his captain in pure fear. "Y-Yes," he finally spoke, stuttering slightly. "B-But I only wanted to-" He was interrupted by a snort coming from the captain's older sister, the red-haired Lyssa Bonny, the quartermaster and usual lookout, who had found him. Again, the traitor swallowed. "I-I only wanted to... t-take w-what's mine." At the end of his sentence, his voice was slightly steadier.
Elaina continued circling the man she had once called one of her best cannoneers, until she met his eyes once again. "Haven't I been good to you?" Her voice sounded somewhat sad, disappointed. "Haven't I given you everything you need and more?" she asked and picked up a bottle of rum.
Said man swallowed again, unable to do anything else as the sweat dripped from his forehead. "I-I... C-Captain..." he began to explain, or rather tried to. He took a deep breath before his voice became steadier. "The gold I stole was discovered by myself," he finally said, not looking into her eyes. "I only took what is rightfully mine... And I need it..."
"So you decided to put yourself before the crew," Elaina concluded, her anger grew, but she still kept herself composed. "I found you, too... doesn't that make you mine as well?" she added, uncorking the rum and taking a large gulp. "I found you in the middle of the open sea, clinging to a piece of driftwood for your dear life… And despite your way of thinking, I made you my cannoneer instead of my slave..." As she continued speaking, Elaina poured the rum slowly over the traitor's head before she casted the bottle aside; the crew felt that her anger rose even more. "More rum than you could ever drink, plenty of food, and shelter... I gave it all to you, and yet you chose a bag of gold over me?"
As the liquid slowly dripped from the canoneer's head, he became smaller and smaller, cowering in fear before his captain. He knew that she hated traitors with a passion, but he... had had to do what he did. "C-Captain..." he stuttered, "I-I only wanted to give it to me family, they need the coin, urgently..." The last part was only a whisper and was drowned out by the yelling of the crew. Many of his, now probably former friends glared at him. They did not understand how someone could betray the captain like that.
Said captain raised a brow. Oh, he played out the family card? Well, that certainly was the straw that broke the camel's back. "No, my friend... if you truly cared for your family, you wouldn't have chosen this life," Elaina whispered to him as she leant down, just inches away from his face. "You know, I'm many things... but certainly not cruel," she added and rose again before she turned her attention to the crew. "Mister Barker says he needs this gold, and who are we to deny him what he claims is rightfully his?" she spoke boldly and picked up the heavy bag of gold.
Lyssa could only smirk from her position behind her sister but in front of the crew. She understood the sentiment. Traitors on board of a pirate ship were the last thing anyone needed. Despite that... they both hated them with a passion. She watched as the former cannoneer sweated, his eyes darting from one person to another; you could see the pure, primal fear in his eyes.
"Tie it to his hands," Elaina then commanded and handed the bag over to two of her men, who were quick to fulfill their task while the captain moved over to her sister and whispered to her, "His legs, two clean shots."
She only needed to ask and Lyssa nodded with an unreadable expression on her face, taking out two of her pistols from her dark blue coat. She calmly waited until the men had finished their task and then stepped a bit forward, making sure nobody stood in her line of fire. Cocking the pistols, she pulled the triggers simultaneously.
The noise of the pistols being fired cut through the air, followed by Barker's scream of pain as the bullets pierced his legs, ripped apart his flesh and muscles and then landed on the planks, while the white fabric of Barker's trousers slowly turned red. "Remember that it wasn't me who killed you... it was your own greed," Elaina hissed and then turned to her crew. "Get this filth off my ship!" she yelled and turned away, heading for her quarters while her men threw the traitor overboard.
Her sister watched this happening for a moment, before he put back her pistols and collected her bullets. "Waste not..." she mumbled to herself, her caramel-colored eyes following her sister into her quarters, smiling slightly. For a moment, she contemplated following her, at least to ask for their next heading that had still to be decided. With a nod, she walked over the deck and knocked onto the now closed doors of the Captain's quarters.
"Gosh, what have I done to deserve such trouble in the morning already?" Elaina grumbled as she picked up her leather bracers and strapped them onto her forearms. She had not even been completely dressed when her sister had informed her about this little rat. Which greatly annoyed her, but the matter was too important to be delayed by a few pieces of leather and buckles. "Get in if you dare!" she replied to the knock, knowing only her sister knocked like this.
Silently, the older sister entered the room, closing the door behind her. She smiled slightly as she watched Elaina put on the rest of her clothes. "Pity you gave him the gold to drown with..." she muttered, stepping towards the desk on which a map was spread out. She studied the drawn lines on it, her eyes flittering towards the unused sextant lying next to the map.
"And why on earth would I want something as worthless as traitor-tainted gold on board of my ship? Let the sea purify it and we'll come back for it later after we've picked up our order in Nassau, if that's all you are concerned about," Elaina grumbled and fastened the strings of her corset and her torn overskirt.
Lyssa could only smile and shook her head. "No, I understand your sentiment," she said, looking up from the map. "But I considered our crew to be better than that..." she sighed, staring at the map without seeing anything. "I hope nobody plans to follow this fool's example..." She may say that, but she did not believe that anyone would dare to do the same after this exemplary punishment.
"One should think they knew what would happen if they ever betrayed us the moment they decided to put their name onto our hiring list. I guess some things will never change," Elaina sighed and rubbed her temples, the rays of sunlight that broke through the window were reflected by the little jewel she wore on her right hand. Her engagement ring, Michael's ring... even after all those years, she never forgot about him. "Has the cook prepared breakfast yet? I'm starving," the captain complained as she joined her sister at her desk, fixing her headscarf.
"Yes, he has," Lyssa replied. "Let's go and eat something, I haven't eaten either." She turned away and opened the door, looking over the deck where the crew was currently working. The redhead blinked into the sun and smiled slightly, before she turned her head towards her sister. "If we're lucky, they haven't eaten everything," she joked and stepped outside, enjoying the sunlight on her face.
"They better haven't, unless they want me to turn into a cannibal," the younger sister replied and followed after Lyssa. She was curious what the cook had prepared from the few leftovers of what one would consider decent food.
They walked down to the galley where the cook was busy preparing the food, some kind of warm stew with meat and vegetables - the things that spoiled first. Without a word, the cook gave them their portions and left them to seat themselves. Lyssa did not hesitate to take a seat and then began to eat, almost as hungry as her sister.
"I think I will go hunting once we spot a decent spot. Haven't had shark in a while," Elaina said with a smirk and dug into her food, glad the meat was still free of parasites.
Her sister only rolled her eyes at her, but enjoyed the meal regardless. It did not take them long to finish eating, finally with full bellies again. Lyssa stood up, collected their plates and brought them to the cook. Then, she turned to her sister. "I'll be in the crow's nest, if you need me," she said, before walking towards the exit to go back on deck.
"As if I needed you down here to stand around uselessly like the rest of the crew!" Elaina laughed and followed Lyssa back on deck. "Hoist all the sails, we are heading for Nassau!" she yelled and took the wheel, she rarely trusted anyone else with steering her ship.
"Aye, captain!" the crew yelled back and got to work. Lyssa shook her head as she climbed into the lookout. It did not take her long to begin throwing knives and one of the targets she had placed up there. It was something to keep her occupied while she looked around for land and ships.
The Scarlet Phoenix seemed to float as it set into motion and carried her crew over the sea. Some could argue that traveling with a ship of this size and equipment would take ages, but each of the ship's occupants was a pirate in heart and soul. Such a thing as spending too much time on the sea didn't exist.
They simply enjoyed the freedom of piracy, something the Navy or any normal seaman would never understand. This life... it was in their blood and they would not want it any other way. As the ship cut through the waves, following their course steadily, everyone did their part. The crew worked on deck, the captain steered it and her sister was on lookout. It was a normal day for them – with the exception of getting rid of a traitor, of course.
The sun was high up in the sky and about half of the way was behind them, when Elaina noticed something in the distance, a ship. "Oi! Lyssy! Are you sleeping up there?" the captain yelled up to the lookout.
An audible `thud´ was heard, as said woman narrowed her eyes at the approaching vessel. Lyssa had just thrown one of her knives as the ship came into her view. Her caramel-colored eyes turned serious as she noticed the flag. "Pirates!" she yelled back, ignoring her sister's question. The ship had been approaching so fast, she almost did not notice it.
"Colleagues, eh? Who is it?" Elaina asked as the crew waited to get ready for battle. Whoever that was, they seemed eager to meet them, but for what reason?
"Black Flags!" Lyssa replied, narrowing her eyes further as she studied the vessel. It was completely black and somehow she remembered what it was called. The legendary and notorious... "Black Pearl..." she murmured to herself, surprised to see that vessel. But why was it approaching them so quickly?
Elaina narrowed her stark blue eyes, then a smirk appeared on her face. "Now, what does Jack want?" she chuckled. The last meeting between her and Sparrow had not ended well for him, so he surely was not all too eager to make another attempt on courting her. "Any signals from them?" the captain called to her sister.
Said markswoman studied the ship closely, but shook her head. "None so far!" she answered downwards. "You think they might attack us?" she questioned disbelievingly. Certainly no one was so stupid as to try to attack the Scarlet Phoenix head-on. They would not survive that.
"Why would they do that? But well, with Jack in charge, the Pearl surely is an unpredictable visitor," Elaina replied and slipped into her coat her first mate was handing her, along with the captain's hat. "Let's see what this is all about."
As fast as the other ship was, it did not take long for it to be almost close enough to capture the Phoenix, if they so intended. Lyssa frowned and climbed down from the crow's nest, positioning herself near her sister, but a bit behind her. Her caramel-colored eyes narrowed as she studied the approaching vessel.
Elaina narrowed her eyes, too, as the Pearl came closer and closer. There was still no calling out for her and her sister in Jack's usual flirtatious manner. "Three men to the swivel guns," she said, and her more agile cannoneers quickly went to their positions on the more flexible guns they used to aim at gunpowder storages on enemy ships. Holding her head up high, the captain stepped forward to face whoever dared to invade her personal space.
Hope you enjoyed it.^^
I'd appreciate reviews and opinions.
Adamantia13