For many hours, the Scoobies sat, or hung in silence. Buffy refused to meet the gaze of the others, her own anger boiling just under the surface. 'Its hardly fair that Willow's blaming me!' she thought, 'I was trying to help after all, its not as though I knew what was going to happen!'
Willow had managed, somehow to get a chalice of water to each of her friends and they had drunk greedily, only to find their thirsts remained unquenched.
Giles' mind raced with possible escape plans that would result in minimal injury to them all and came up blank every time.
Xander's mind hounded him further, the guilt he felt for dropping them all in this mess ate at his insides and he fought to control the sobs that filled his heart.
Somehow, Tara had managed to sleep, her wounds were oozing gently but Willow's treatment had helped in stopping the bleeding.
As night fell, the door to their prison was yanked open and Bob and another pirate entered. They neither spoke, nor made eye contact with the Scoobies, instead, they attached heavy metal hoops to the floor before leaving. Above their heads, the Scoobies heard Bob receiving another order from their Captain. "That voice sounds so familiar!" Buffy thought out loud. Looking to Giles, she questioned him with her eyes. When footsteps were heard returning, he shook his head. He hadn't heard enough to be able to place the voice.
Bob and his companion returned to the small room, with them they carried another bucket of water and a tray with some stale bread on it. Placing it in the centre of the ring of hoops, they glared at each Scooby in turn. "Ye's to behave or ye'll get no grub!" Bob told them as he cautiously shackled Giles' feet before releasing his hands and forcing him to hop over to one of the hoops on the ground. Collapsing next to Willow, Giles was filled with a tremendous sense of relief as his ass hit the solid wooden floor. Xander followed him and grabbed at a chalice, filling it from the bucket and drinking deeply.
Both Bob and his friend tackled Buffy, roughly releasing her and dropping her unceremoniously onto the floor next to her friends before leaving.
"Ooooh, food!" Xander exclaimed happily as he reached for a roll.
"Hold it!" Giles said, his words freezing Xanders hand in mid-grab. "There are five of us and only three rolls!" he noted sadly.
"Tara should have one!" Buffy piped up. "She'll be weak after…. well after what happened."
Looking up from Willows side, Tara shook her head slightly, the only person to notice was Willow who felt the movement against her shoulder.
"Why are you talking about her as if she's not here?" Xander asked, his tone adopting a more accusing note than she felt comfortable with.
All eyes fell on Buffy, it was a perfectly valid question for which she had no answer. "I just thought…." the slayer muttered before hanging her head and lapsing into silence.
Reaching for the plate, Giles offered Tara a roll which she took and bit into reluctantly. She was starving but still felt guilty about getting an entire roll to herself when the others would have to share. Breaking it as best she could in half, she offered the stale bread to Willow who shook her head. "You need to keep your strength up baby!" the redhead told her. Her stomach growled angrily as Tara shook her head and placed the bread into her lap "If you don't eat, I won't either!" Tara told her, her face locking into her best impression of Willows 'resolve' face.
With a weak but loving smile, Willow bit into the bread and grimaced as she fought to chew. "Mmmmmm!" she offered, trying to enjoy the food she had been given.
"Right, so, two rolls, three people." Giles continued, "Xander, you should have one, after all that vomiting you'll need something in your stomach!" he decided and Xander willingly grabbed the smallest roll. Breaking the remaining roll in half, Giles offered one portion to Buffy who shook her head. "Keep it in case someone else needs it. I'm not so hungry." she told him, still avoiding eye contact with the others.
Shrugging, Giles dropped the remnants of the roll back onto the plate and gobbled his half greedily.
With their morsels consumed, attention returned to Tara. Giles reached into his pyjama top pocket and pulled out an antiseptic wipe. "Here." he said, offering the medical item to Willow. "Thanks Giles." she said sadly, before showing Tara what she had been given. Reluctantly, Tara slipped out of the ill-fitting top and allowed Willow to clean the cuts once more.
Watching as Willow administered the most basic of first aid to her girlfriend, the other Scoobies shuddered as they got their first good view of Tara's injuries. Many of the cuts had begun to heal, some had already formed scabs but more than a dozen looked as though they needed some serious medical attention. Tara grimaced as Willow gently wiped the open cuts with the wipe. To her credit, she managed to keep silent although it was clear she was in pain.
"Willow?" Giles offered softly, once the redhead was done. "What did happen on deck?" He recalled the time that Buffy had had to kill Angel in order to save the world, how her admission of these facts had helped her to come to terms with the death of the man she loved.
Shaking her head, Willow sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it, Giles!" she said glumly.
"Maybe you should tell him." Tara whispered, her voice shaking at the idea of having to relive the events of the previous day. "It might help them understand what we all might have to face again."
Searching Tara's clear blue eyes, Willow knew that what she was saying was the truth and yet… "I can't baby!" Choking back a sob, Willows soul ached.
After slipping the pyjama top back over her wounds, Tara hugged the redhead tightly. "We must!" she exclaimed, her tone leaving no room for argument.
After many deep breathes, Willow began her story.
"Oh dear lord!" Willow had finished recalling the events of Tara's lashing and Giles was the only one able to utter anything. Tears seeped gently from the corners of Tara's eyes and she struggled to control them. Willow, having similar issues with her own guilt and turmoil, was fairing less well, sobs had overtaken her and she wept openly.
As Willows sobs subsided, the gang sat in perfect silence, the only sounds reaching their ears were the occasional footsteps from up above and the comforting sounds of waves lapping against the side of the boat.
The sun rose high and proud, bathing the boat in an otherworldly light, sadly for them, the Scoobies didn't get to see this natural beauty from their holding room. By noon, they were all awake and drank carefully from the large bucket that had been left for them. It had been Giles who had suggesting rationing their water supply as he was certain, or at least sounded certain, that this would be the only water they would be given. He had ventured other alternatives, all of which had grossed the gang out. As the boat rocked gently, they settled into another day in their dark, dank and rather musty prison. No one really spoke, Willow and Tara remained huddled together, both avoiding eye contact with Buffy, who tried to work out how she could make it all up to them.
"Get the boy!"
The Scoobies looked up at the faint sound of the voice. "That sounds remarkably like Faith!" Giles said, as their respective gazes returned to the room and each other before coming to rest firmly on Willow and Tara. "R-really? Do you think so?" Tara asked, trying to sound as though she didn't know. "I didn't think so, what about you Will?" she asked, her eyes steely and pinning Willow under her gaze.
"Nope, definitely not like Faith at all!" Willow rambled, "I don't hear any similarities at all, do you Tara?" the blonde shook her head and, together, they returned their stares to the group before dropping their eyes completely and studying the wooden floor.
The others had known both Willow and Tara long enough to know that Giles' suspicion had been stop on. "Oh my god!" Buffy breathed. "Its Faith?!"
For Giles, Buffy and Xander, everything suddenly sit into place. The grunting had been familiar to both Buffy and Xander – for very different reasons – although neither one had thought that the rogue slayer would inflict such torture to one of her own. "All bets really are off as to what she is capable of." Giles whispered sadly as he offered Tara a weak but supportive smile.
In the realisation of who they were dealing with, the Scoobies had entirely forgotten that she had given an order. As the door burst open, they jumped and squinted against the bright day. Bob marched to the centre of the room, a grin revealing his hideous teeth as he fixed his stare on Xander. "Cap'in Vane wants to see ye!" he announced as he reached Xanders side.
"Well, I'm here, but tell her I'm not accepting visitors right now!" Xander replied and crossed his arms forcefully over his chest.
Bob ignored his comments and reached for his arms, attempting to shackle them together.
Without warning, Giles was on his feet, his right arm swinging for the vile pirates head and making contact with a stomach churning crunch. "Go Giles!" the Scoobies cheered and applauded as the other man hit the floor and displacing a huge cloud of dust and dirt as he landed.
Buffy reached for the shackles that Bob had been carrying with him and secured him to the pole next to her, slipping the key into her sock she faced the group with a triumphant grin.
"You don't think it'd be a good idea to try the key in our shackles?" Willow asked her incredulously.
From the doorway a voice filled the room and made each Scooby turn to its owner. "I don't think you wanna do that B!" Faith snarled.