A/N- Written for the challenge of writing Madoka characters into a past historical time period. Mine is featured in the mid nineteenth century, Atlantic trade routes.
The cargo of the nineteenth century slave trading ship was jarred awake by the loud obnoxious noise of bells against chains. Madoka Kaname bolted awake and opened her wide terrified eyes that were red from lack of sleep. She scrambled up with difficulty, thinking it was time for the daily roll call to see if any of the girls were missing or dead. But no, this was different and all the girls crowded into the cargo hold of the ship could sense it.
"Rise and shine, ladies! Up on deck, time for a treat!" the sailor that was banging the bell around crowed mockingly.
"This can't be good." Homura said under her breath, pulling her chains along beside Madoka. They had been chained together for weeks now. At the beginning of their trip Homura had been crying non-stop, much like a majority of the other girls. But as time went on Madoka had watched the girl chained next to her become progressively quieter and hardened. Her eyes were now always analyzing everything determinedly, looking for any chance to escape. Madoka herself was so terrified of her kidnappers that she could barely eat or sleep, and she looked unhealthily thin in the drawers and chemise she was kidnapped in.
"They're mustering us?" Sayaka wondered aloud. None of the girls there had been up on deck for a while. They were sailing on trading routes, so the ship couldn't be risked seen doing illegal activities should they be spotted by naval ships. Illegal activities as in taking kidnapped girls overseas to sell them for a high price. "I heard they mustered the crew already, but why us? We haven't arrived yet, have we?" The girl chained to her, Elsa Marie, whimpered at the prospect at having arrived at their dreaded destination.
A blonde head looked worriedly around the group. "Has anyone seen Kyoko?" Mami asked anxiously.
"I haven't seen her since last night." A shy girl named Gertrude piped up. A small girl named Charlotte clung to her waist tightly and hid her face in Gertrude's body.
"Oh no," Mami whispered.
"Hurry it up!" Another sailor stomped down the stairs into the hold, waving a gun at them impatiently. Flinching, the girls hastily made their way towards the opening. The sunlight seemed like a hot knife cutting into their retinas after spending so much time below deck. By the time the huddled groups of chained girls were able to adjust to the brightness they couldn't seem to settle on where to look. They were surrounded by ocean on every side in the most isolated way possible. The main mast loomed over them and it's white sails flapped in the light breeze. The entire crew of the ship was gathered on deck, looking on eagerly as if they'll finally have some entertainment on this long overseas voyage.
"Gentlemen, we have a thief among us." A deep thundering voice addressed them. A large man appeared on deck, dragging a small struggling body by their hair.
The large group of girls cowering on deck gasped. "Kyoko!" The redhead, scrawny and filthy as the rest of them in the blaring sunlight, bared her teeth at the deck in shame at having been caught.
"Getting out of her cuffs, sneaking around the ship, and the gall to steal food from the kitchens." The captain of the ship threw Kyoko's head to the ground, the sound of Kyoko's head cracking against the wood sharp and pronounced.
Sayaka in particular looked fire-breathing mad. "That idiot!" she seethed, biting down on her thin wrist to stop her trembling. "I told her we should have worked together! No one listened, why wouldn't anyone listen… She deserves what she gets." True, in the beginning as the ship moved down the American coastline, snatching girls and adding to their ranks as they went, Sayaka had tried to rally them for some kind of rebellion. However, she lacked the charisma of a leader, and nobody seemed to want to take the risk of death against so many men. Kyoko in particular opposed Sayaka's efforts, claiming that there was no way their entire group could escape alive, and knowing she had a better chance of survival if she stuck it out on her own.
Homura had silently agreed with Kyoko. Sneaking off with at least Madoka was a plan with a higher chance of success. What Sayaka had been trying to do meant death for them all.
"Madoka, get behind me." Homura whispered to Madoka. The pink haired girl held her hands to her mouth as tears escaped her eyes as she looked at Kyoko. Homura gently nudged the smaller girl behind her, knowing the sight of what was about to happen would only scar her further.
"Thieving on a ship is a high crime!" The captain proclaimed, picking up Kyoko's head by the hair once more. Kyoko was still conscious, and still struggled vainly against the man's massive grip on her as blood trickled from her scalp. "Let this be a warning to any of you twats who dare challenge the code!" He walked towards the ship railing, Kyoko's heels skidding across the wooden planks with the clear intentions of tossing her body overboard like a ragdoll into the endless ocean.
"W-Wait! It was me! I told her to do it!" Sayaka's trembling voice called out in a furious exclamation. The captain paused in cruel interest.
"Oh?"
Sayaka's knees were knocking together in the torn worker's clothes she was dressed in. Mami grasped her hand, shaking her head desperately.
"Don't be stupid," Homura whispered to the shorthaired girl. "You will accomplish nothing from this. You'll both be punished."
"I helped her escape and told her to get food!" Sayaka ignored their warnings and stubbornly pressed on. Kyoko stared at her in disbelief. Sayaka held out her bony shackled hands as if in offering. "So spare her and throw me off instead!" she demanded.
"Sayaka-chan, please stop!" Madoka pleaded.
"It's okay, Madoka." Sayaka tried for a reassuring smile, but she was beyond terrified. "I can't just watch them kill someone in cold blood. And this way I can get out of this place. I'm okay with that. I'm useless to you all here anyway."
An angry looking girl named Roberta practically shoved Sayaka forward, making her stumble. "Let them both drown! More food for us!" The sailors around them seemed to enjoy this internal discord, laughing and cheering.
Especially the captain. "Very well!" he laughed. His mouth twisted in a cruel smile. "Twenty lashes."
"What?" The blood in Sayaka's face drained to deathly pale in a matter of seconds before a burly sailor grabbed her from behind and disconnected her chains from the group. Some of the girls in the group cried out as she was unceremoniously yanked from them. Sayaka's eyes remained wide and disbelieving as they tied her hands above her on the main mast and cut open her shirt to reveal her back. This was a pirate ship, so there wasn't any formal preparation for the punishment one would normally see on a naval ship. Just the anticipation of punishment from the crew.
A cat-o-nines tail was handed to the captain, who exchanged it for a stunned Kyoko. "I believe the punishment for thieving is three knots." the man commented as he started knotting the thongs of chord.
"Hey, HEY!" Kyoko regained her fight. "She doesn't have anything to do with this!" she protested fiercely. She did not like the notion that she was being defended.
"You'll get your justice soon enough." the sailor holding her laughed. "But first you'll have to watch your friend over there and realize the sin you've committed." Kyoko growled, but she was completely helpless to stop any of the events that were to take place.
Sayaka started to tremble uncontrollably as the captain's ominous pacing behind her alerted her as to what was about to happen. He stepped slowly, tauntingly, back and forth behind. Without warning he brought his hand with the cat-o-nine tails down to lash across Sayaka's naked back. She arched her back and bit down on her lips as the chords bit into her skin.
"Let this be a lesson to the lot of you!" the captain bellowed, bringing his arm down once again. Sayaka whimpered sharply, but maintained her teeth dug into her lips. "You, are, our, property!" He brought his arm down as hard as he could after each word and Sayaka was full out screaming at this point as her skin broke under the aggressive sting of knotted chord.
"Sayakaaaa!" Kyoko screamed, trying to break free, her face scrunching in anguish as that stupid girl from the hold was being tortured in front of her for something she had done.
"Throw that rat overboard!" the captain roared at the sailor holding her before continuing his assault on the defenseless girl. Kyoko was unceremoniously flung over the side of the ship without a second thought. Homura was crushing Madoka's head to her, trying to block out the images and sounds to the best of her ability, horrified at these actions herself.
Mami was staring at the place where they threw Kyoko overboard. Sayaka's screams of pain, the horrified sounds of the girls around her and the goading from the pirates seemed to drown out her own rapid heartbeat. Almost longingly she took a step towards the railing, and then another. No one was paying attention; everyone was focused on the fact that Sayaka had passed out against the mast and was hanging limply from her bindings. Mami could almost smile as she neared the railing. She didn't have to suffer her fate; she could end it all now. If she didn't take this chance, they would suffer a fate worse than death.
"Mami, stop!" Homura finally noticed and yelled in the blonde's direction, but it was too late. Mami made a break for it and jumped over the railing. However, all the girls were chained to her so when she jumped the girl behind her was yanked off her feet and sent hurtling after her as well. The other girls fought to maintain their footing , but they were weak from malnutrition and there were ones who wanted to join Mami, rushing the railing for eternal freedom. The captain stopped the flogging to yell at the crew to get their cargo back aboard their ship before they lost profit. The sailors jumped to help haul the fallen girls back up and minor chaos broke out briefly.
A brief moment was all Homura needed. Her wrists were small and her shackles were weak. She only had to break one of the bones in her hand to slip free. She saw her opportunity and she took it, slipping her arms free and cutting through the bodies like a shark on a scent. The captain wasn't keeping too close an eye on the gun by his side.
"Nobody move, or your captain is dead!" Homura declared as loudly as she could as she pointed a flintlock pistol directly at the vile man's head. The crowd froze and stared, but she only had their surprise for a moment. Homura heard a click from behind her head and stiffened. One of the sailors had his own gun and he pointed it at Homura's back.
"Give up girl, there is no salvation where you're going." the captain smiled unkindly at her. Homura grit her teeth. The gun in her hand was her last hope, it was her last fight. How could she possibly ever let it go? Suddenly the man who had been holding a pistol to her head dropped the weapon and held his hands up.
"Don't touch Homura." Madoka said in a voice that was unlike her as she pressed the tip of the man's own sword against his spine.
"None of you sons of bitches move!" another voice yelled over them. Heads swiveled to look at Kyoko, dripping wet from an unpleasant swim, helming the gun that was mounted on the main deck and pointing it at them. Hope was blossoming in the group of girls. Could they possibly get themselves out of the situation? "Drop your weapons! All of them!" Kyoko demanded, barring her teeth like a vengeful spirit. Hesitantly the crew removed their guns and cutlasses from their waists and dropped them to the floor.
Homura couldn't help smiling victoriously at a now faltering captain. "There is no salvation for you anywhere." Homura stated in a low voice before she pulled the trigger and the man's blood splashed onto her face. She didn't care. If he was gone they had less of a chance of being subdued. The trigger seemed to make something snap inside the girls present. Picking up the weapons the men had dropped, they viciously attacked their kidnappers, holders and torturers without a hint of mercy. The men had been unprepared for the blood thirst and ferociousness with which they attacked.
In the chaos Kyoko jumped down from her gun platform and ran to a limp Sayaka. She untied the ropes binding her wrists and let Sayaka fall into her arms. She tried to hold her as gingerly as she could, trying not to worsen the bleeding wounds on Sayaka's back. Blue eyes fluttered open and a groan escaped Sayaka as she regained consciousness. When she noticed Kyoko holding her she appeared confused. "Did we die together?" was her hoarse question.
"You're such an idiot." Kyoko said, though her voice trembled and tears of relief threatened her pride.
Madoka didn't know it was possible to feel so much horror in a lifetime. From being snatched from her own bed along with her childhood friend Homura, to being cast away into the darkness of the ship's belly as if she had been eaten by a nightmare itself. Now watching the girls she had been chained to for weeks and had come to know slaughter these men as if they were possessed by witches or demons. She didn't even recognize Homura anymore, staring soullessly around her, the keys to their chains dangling from her fingertips which she had taken from the captain's purse.
"Homura..?" Madoka asked hesitantly, almost afraid of an answer. Homura turned to her, a smile on her blood-stained face.
"We did it, Madoka. The ship is ours. We're free."
That was the beginning of the legendary Walpurgisnacht Pirates. Stories portrayed them to be a band of merciless women who roamed the seas tearing men apart. They were called Witches by many, and the most feared of all was their captain, Homura Akemi.
To Madoka, the nightmare wasn't over yet. It was never over.
