Today is Friday. Yup. Totally didn't get busy and forget to post.
Chapter Ten: I'd Trade All My Tomorrows
Four days. They had spent four days at port, gathering supplies and repairing the ship. It was a long time, not to the crew, but to Bill it was, and to Mabel. There was nothing there in the room, and she was left in silence and her thoughts.
Bill had given Kryptos the key to the brig, so that he would be able to give Mabel food and water on a routinely basis. Kryptos would always spend longer down there than Bill would approve, but when Kryptos would come out of the brig late in the day, Bill wouldn't do anything other than nod his head and tell him to get back to work.
Yet even four days was pushing the crew. They wanted to stay longer, but Bill made false reports of Gideon getting closer to them, and they begrudgingly packed up the ship and got ready to sail.
"You did what?" They were about to set sail when Tad rushed over to Bill, glaring harshly at the captain, who pretended he was unbothered by the stare.
"What are you rambling about now? We're about to set sail." Bill muttered, going over to help the men hoist the sails so they could finally move out to open water.
"You've had that poor girl locked in the brig for four days?" Tad seemed close to tearing out his own hair, or maybe he was just trying to compensate for the fact that he couldn't just tear out Bill's hair. "What in the world is wrong with you?"
"She's a prisoner." Bill was starting to get irritated with all of the shouting, and most of the sailors weren't looking at their own work but at them instead. Though they all tried to be subtle about it.
"She is a girl who actually managed to see the best in you, god knows how." Tad held his hand out for the key. "Either give me that key or you go down there and let her out yourself."
For a moment, there was complete silence on the deck as the two men stared each other down. Though most of the men would have agreed that what Cipher did was cruel, none of them would have spoken aloud to tell him that.
Bill didn't move, didn't make a motion to getting the key out, just helping his men rig up the sail as Tad glared at the captain. He had no idea how he would be able to convince the cruel man that what he had done was wrong, but he had to at least, try.
"That girl has done nothing but try to be nice to you, and so far you almost killed her, you've struck her, put her in dangerous situations, and as thanks you throw her in a cell for four days?" Tad really had enough, because he thought that Mabel was the last person who deserved to be locked up.
Bill sent Tad a cold glare, one that would have made most people back off. Tad had been with the captain for too long, he knew the man too well, but Mabel sure didn't, and she wouldn't understand why Bill acted the way that he did.
"Every word you speak buys her another day in the brig." Bill eventually said, and not only did Tad grow quiet immediately, but the whole crew did.
They all went back to work as though the exchange had never happened, and Tad nearly screamed if the threat hadn't worked so well on him. He gave Bill a glare before going to take over the helm, deciding that Bill would just have to deal with the consequences of his actions.
It wasn't until they were well out into sea, with land merely a speck in the distance, that Bill finally ran out of things to do and went downstairs. There was nothing else he could have done to put off the inevitable anyways.
The stairs creaked as he walked down them, the first door sliding open with ease as his steps echoed in the dark room, and guilt pooling in his stomach. There was a reason why he didn't want Tad going to get Mabel, he wanted to see the damage he had caused.
She laid curled up on her side on the bench, fast asleep until he finally unlocked the door and opened it with a creak. Mabel was pale, dark bags underneath her eyes and her cheeks hollowed out a bit. Mabel looked more haggard than he had ever seen her before, but he had seen sailors who survived less time in his brig.
"We left port, do as you wish." Bill said, watching her pick herself up and sway unsteadily. There was no benefit to being forced into isolation, even with visits from Kryptos.
She didn't move until he moved aside, and even then she made sure there was as much space as possible between them as she moved out of the cell. She visibly relaxed a little, but then tensed as she realized he could just pick her up and throw her in there once more.
"An-any part of you that I thought was kind was a lie." Mabel muttered, voice cracking with disuse and pain. "You're nothing more than the monster and cruel man that my uncles talked about."
Before he could reach out to stop her, or even say another word to retort, she rushed upstairs, and he could swear he heard her sobs echo down the hall as he stayed locked in place. Bill glanced back at the cell she had just vacated, shutting the door to the cell behind him and locking it tightly.
Mabel didn't even bother to hide her tears as she rushed upstairs, getting on the deck and glancing around. Most of the crew sent her worried glances, and at some point Mabel realized that she had become less of a burden and more of a part of the crew. Kryptos even flinched at the sight of her, and Mabel wondered how terrible she looked, standing there and as pale as the moon.
"Mabel?" Tad asked softly, abandoning his work to be picked up by someone else as he approached her. Mabel was still sobbing, unsure what she would even be able to say to explain how she felt right now.
Her lip trembled as Tad tentatively placed an arm on her shoulder, and she nearly collapsed in on herself, leaning against his chest and sobbing. The crew was pointedly ignoring her, but Mabel didn't care one bit. Let them stare, let them look at her and see the damage their captain did. Mabel wrapped her arms around Tad, feeling him gently rub her back to try to get her to calm down.
"I-I thought," Mabel hiccuped through her sobs, clinging to Tad and not seeing that Bill came up from below deck, glancing over at them, "that I meant more to him than that."
She avoided Bill like the plague after that day, even as the color returned to her cheeks. Tad always seemed to be with her, and Bill didn't miss the way that every night they retired to Tad's room. Bill ignored it, even though he burned with jealousy he had no right to feel.
It wasn't often that they threw a party at night while they sailed, since everyone wanted a chance to relax, but Kryptos had volunteered to take over the helm, and the rest of the men relaxed so they could spend time together. This time, when the crew went dancing, Mabel didn't hesitate to join them, but she didn't drink. After the last time, she wasn't ever sure she'd be able to.
They had already spent two days out at sea, two days of Mabel nursing her hurt from being locked away, two days of sailing without rest, and two days of knowing that Bill would stare at her when she came out on deck and not caring one bit. So what if she made sure that every time Tad hugged her or gave her comfort, Mabel made sure Bill could see it? Tad knew she only thought of him as a friend, one of her best friends, and when she told him what she was planning, while Tad slept on the floor and gave his bed up for her, he agreed to help her in any way that he could.
The music was loud and the crew was even louder. Bill watched from the sidelines where Mabel had first watched them celebrate going to port. She had been aboard for almost a month, but it was so strange to think of it as that long. It felt like days.
She would have ran, Bill reassured himself, watching his crew. She would have left and his plans would have been ruined. Everything he worked for, every reason why he had stolen a ship and ran away, it would have been torn down by a young woman who looked up at him and pretended she was happy. She had to be reminded that she was a prisoner. Even if Bill had to remind himself of that as well.
There was a time when she actually looked up at him like that, laughing, and dancing. Now she looked up at his crew, and Bill hated the thought that she would still be looking at him like that if it hadn't been for the fact that he ruined things. That at some point she had moved on from being a prisoner, to being a part of the crew.
"She ain't gonna forgive you if you keep standing there like a hurt pup." A sailor handed him a drink, which Bill accepted without hesitation. It was strong and bitter enough to make him grimace, but he took another long drink.
"She's not supposed to." Bill had never taken his eyes off of her as she danced, and once he could have sworn her eyes darted over to him, but he was probably only seeing what he wanted to see.
Tad was right, he was getting too close, too close to her and giving up everything he had ever worked for. All for a girl who looked at him with wide eyes and almost as though he wasn't the monster of the seven seas.
"Mabel!" The sailor next to Bill shouted, getting the young woman's attention. Bill stiffened slightly, sending a glare at the man and starting to walk away.
"Yes?" She had distanced herself from the crowd, glancing at Bill but not even acknowledging him. Acknowledging meant talking, and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.
"Captain's all gettin' lonely, and he only dances with you." Bill was close to blowing a fuse, but instead, just glared at the man who stifled laughter. "Why don't you dance with him?"
Mabel awkwardly laughed, taking a long step back, which Bill didn't blame her for. It would have been hard for him too, if he wasn't so focused on thinking about how he was going to kill the sailor next to him.
"Well, if the captain wants to ask me to dance he can do it himself." Mabel ended up muttering, before turning back and heading into the dance. She could be a literal dance machine when she wanted to be, quickly finding Tad in the group and dancing with him.
Bill snapped his gaze away from Mabel, before emptying his drink on top of the sailor's head and leaving him be. The man sputtered and laughed, glad to have gotten such a rise out of the captain with barely any effort.
The captain moved away from the other sailors, looking still at the dancing and watching Mabel carefully. The woman was dancing too close to Tad for Bill's taste, and it was a long moment of dancing together that they actually seemed to get closer, making Bill boil with rage silently. He had no right to be jealous, or possessive, but he felt it, and all he wanted to do was tear Tad and Mabel apart.
Bill Cipher was willing to put up with a lot. He was willing to put up with the way Tad's arm wrapped around Mabel's waist. He was willing to put up with the way she smiled at him. He was willing to put up with a lot of things, but he was not willing to put up with the way Tad looked over Mabel's shoulder at him, and winked silently before cupping Mabel's cheek, bringing her in for a kiss.
Before he was even aware of his own movements, Bill was moving, and pushing people out of the way. Sailors fell, the music ended with a harsh, misplaced note, and Tad was thrown off Mabel by Bill's arm as Mabel gasped with a blush. The kiss had really been nothing more than a peck, but with the way Bill and the crew now stared at her, she felt as though she had done something terrible.
"What's wrong captain, jealous?" Tad asked, getting up easily and spreading his arms out. Bill almost growled, reaching for his sword and ready to flat out duel over this matter.
"Enough!" Mabel groaned, stepping between them and placing her hand over Bill's so he wouldn't grab his sword. "Look at me, you need to calm down. Nothing happened, it was just a kiss."
"Just a kiss?" Bill's eyes snapped to her the moment that she touched him, but he didn't try to draw his sword. "I'll fucking show you a kiss."
It was sparked of anger, of jealousy and misplaces feelings. Bill wrapped his arm around Mabel's waist, his hand going to grasp her own that was already holding his own, and soon her body was pressed against his chest as he brought his lips against hers in a burning kiss. Mabel was as tense as a board for just a moment before she relaxed, her hand tightening its hold on his and her other hand wrapping around his shoulders.
For a moment, they were so wrapped up in their own kiss that they didn't notice the cannon fire. It wasn't until the ship rocked underneath them from the blow that the kiss was broken, and they gasped for breath as everyone prepared for battle.