(A/N: To answer the question that was asked, a reference to Captain Hook was already made in the second chapter when I was describing Captain Bloodshot's reputation. It's ambiguously mentioned in the paragraph following Captain Bloodshot asking Hemsworth if he's a monster. No actual names are mentioned, but I believe it's fairly obvious as to who is being referred to. Anyway, this chapter really gets into the heads of my characters, well the villains anyway. Especially Captain Bloodshot. We'll see how his thought process works and witness just how completely deranged he really is.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 11: Special Delivery
The first thing she became conscious of was the pounding in her head. On reflex, she tried to reach for the spot where she had been hit, only to find that she couldn't. She also felt a pull on her tail when she did tried, but found mobility in that restricted too.
Blinking open her eyes, Melody realized that she was being dragged through the water. Struggling, she discovered that she was hogtied with her hands behind her back and the robe wrapped around the end of her tail to prevent her from swimming. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but sound that she was gagged as well. Only muffled cries escaped her as she thrashed about, trying to get loose.
"Shut up, and quit struggling!" an irritated voice snapped.
Melody recognized the voice. She attempted to look over her shoulder, which was rather difficult from the awkward position she was tied in. As her mass of black hair moved aside, she saw the elderly mermaid that had led her through the palace before she was knocked out. She looked different now though. Her tail was purple and her hair was violet, but it was undoubtedly the same person, and she was now dragging Melody along by the rope as she made her way to wherever she was going.
Melody attempted, quite unsuccessfully, to shout at the woman through her gag, and Marina threw her a dirty look. "Don't bother, I can't understand a word you're saying. I was hoping that you would remain unconscious until I was rid of you. Perhaps I should have hit you harder."
Melody's eyes widened. She had hit her? Of course, that must have been what that blow to her head was. It also explained why she had such a terrible headache. But who was this woman, and what did she want with her?
Deciding that she didn't want to find out, Melody began thrashing around again. This accomplished nothing, since swimming proved to be impossible with her hands and tail tied together behind her. As she attempted to get away, Marina stopped swimming and held onto the end of the rope while Melody struggled, snapping at her to stop what she was doing.
"You're making this far more difficult than it needs to be!"
Melody ignored her and continued struggling. Unfortunately, it was quickly exhausting all her energy, not to mention she was still feeling disorientated. In her old age, Marina was unable to pull her along while she was putting up a fight, and instead was forced to simply hold on while she waited for the princess to tire herself out.
Finally, Melody's struggles ceased as her strength ran out. Marina glared at her and gave the rope an extra hard tug, causing Melody to groan as the rope yanked on her.
"Serves you right!" Marina snapped. "You snot-nosed brats are so spoiled. You deserve some rough treatment. I should have given you all a much firmer hand, regardless if you were royalty or not."
Melody gave her a confused look, wondering just what was going on. She had no idea what this woman was talking about, but she seemed to know her. But then again, there weren't that many people that didn't know who she was.
Marina turned her back on her and began dragging her along again. Though she was still worn out Melody began struggling once more. Angrily, Marina turned back to her and whacked her with her tail. "Stop it! You can't get away, I've made sure of it. You're only going to end up tiring yourself out even more, maybe even hurting yourself."
That last part was true. Not only was she at risk at getting rope burns, but her arms were tied so securely and so far behind her back that she might end up dislocating her shoulders if she struggled too hard.
"That's better," Marina grumbled as Melody stopped struggling. "And if you fight me any more, I'll pull you along by your hair. Do I make myself clear?"
Melody didn't answer, and Marina didn't wait for one as she began dragging her once more. Ignoring her for now, Melody looked around for anything familiar, but saw that they were in the open ocean, and there were no 'landmarks' anywhere. Her mermaid intellect was telling her which direction Atlantica was in, but it was far from sight. Where was this woman taking her, and for what purpose?
Almost as if she had read her mind, Marina spoke. "I assume you're wondering what this is all about? It's rather simply really. I'm fixing an injustice. The daughter shall pay for the sins of the mother, or however the saying goes."
Melody blinked. This woman had a grudge against her mother? Was that what this was all about? But what could her mother possibly have done to make this woman resort to kidnapping?
Marina looked back at her. "You still look confused. I wonder if you're miserable excuse of a mother would have even mentioned me, or if she simply forgot me after everything I've done for her and her sisters." She held her arms out, as if she were presenting herself. "You're looking at the beautiful, the marvelous, the multitalented Marina Del Ray."
A muffled gasp escaped from Melody's gagged mouth. She recognized the name. Marina Del Ray was the former governess to her mother and aunts; that is, before she attempted to assassinate her mother and her friends in order to keep her new promotion. But what was she doing here? Her mother had told her that she was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Marina noticed the look of recognition in Melody's eyes. "Ah, so you do know who I am. Then I guess you can figure out what this is all about. Revenge. Your mother got me sent to jail for 20 years, but I managed to escape a few days ago. Now it's my turn to get even for such an injustice."
Melody resisted the urge to roll her eyes. If going to jail for attempting to kill a princess of Atlantica was an injustice, then she wondered what kind of punishment Marina would have thought was appropriate. The human justice system would most likely have sentenced Marina to death. Attempted murder was bad enough, but against a member of the royal family was also treason.
But perhaps in Marina's mind, she could do no wrong. What she said was right, no matter how wrong it actually was, was right, and what she said was wrong, no matter how right it actually was, was wrong. It was a massive ego trip, one that left her far too full of herself. It left her unable to see anything beyond her own wants and needs.
Marina was oblivious to Melody's thoughts as she became so wrapped up in her own, and she had no qualms about voicing them out loud. "Oh yes, this was such a long time in coming. I gave your mother and your aunts the best years of my life, and they gave me nothing but grief in return. Ungrateful brats is what they were, all of them. Disobedient, disrespectful, misbehaving, always causing trouble! Such a rotten lot!"
She threw Melody a dirty look. "You're no different. You and all you royals. You're fortunate to be born into lives of privilege and luxury. You have no idea what it's like to truly work for what you have, to climb your way to the top. Spoiled ingrates, all of you!"
Melody glared right back at her. She may have taken care of her mother and aunts, but Marina clearly had the wrong idea of how things worked in the royal family. It seemed she, like so many others, only saw the good parts that being a member of royalty brought. She didn't know how much work was involved, didn't know the stress of how a single decision could affect the lives of the millions of people in the kingdom, didn't see how much responsibility came with it, didn't know all the rules and traditions that had to be followed, or all the studying and training that had to be undergone. It was very restricting, as a certain princess from another kingdom had pointed out before accidentally turning her mother into a bear.
The pressures of ruling a kingdom, even of simply being trained to take over the position one day, required more time and energy than anyone should have to give. Leaders didn't have so much power and authority so they could do whatever they wanted; it was so they could take care of their people and their country. To not fill these responsibilities meant allowing the country to fall to ruin, as had become of certain pride lands when the scar-faced lion became king.
"But I know," Marina continued. "I know what it's like to claw your way to the top. It was no easy task finding a way to discredit that wretched crab so I could obtain his position. But I did it. I was at the top. And your mother went and took it away."
Melody wanted to point out that digging up dirt to discredit fellow employees until you were the only one left to take over the position did not qualify as working hard and clawing your way to the top, but her gag prevented her from speaking.
The elderly mermaid chuckled wickedly. "And now I've taken something away from her. Something far more precious than a job or a title. Personally, I wouldn't know what it would feel like to lose my child since I have no kids, but I hear that there's no greater pain."
Melody felt a rush of fear run through her. She had wondered what Marina was planning on doing with her, but from what she had just said, it sounded as if she was planning to…
Once again, Marina seemed to realize what she was thinking. "Oh, calm down; I'm not going to kill you. If I had wanted to do that, I would have done it back in the palace instead of dragging you all the way out here. No, I've got something different in mind. You see, princess, after I got out of that cell, I had to lay low for a while. It would have been bad if someone in the palace saw me and recognized me. So I spent a lot of time hiding. Yet I still overheard a lot of the gossip around the palace, including what was said about a certain pirate threat."
She looked back at Melody, and smirked at the look of panic that crossed her face. "Oh yes, I know all about it. A certain Captain Bloodshot is after the sea king's trident, and he intends to get his hands on a member of the royal family to hold them for ransom. Well, I intend to give him exactly what he needs. And knowing your grandfather, he'll hand his precious trident over in exchange for you. Then the entire royal family will know what it's like to lose their position power, just as I did."
Melody felt her blood run cold as she understood what Marina was planning. She was going to hand her over to Captain Bloodshot! No, she couldn't do that. Not just because her grandfather would lose his trident, but because that psychotic captain would resurrect Arquan.
That was when she realized it; Marina didn't know the full extent of Captain Bloodshot's plan. She didn't know about Arquan. That certain detail had not been released to the public, and had been kept to the war council room, so she wouldn't have heard about it, no matter how much gossip she had listened to.
She began struggling again, even harder than before. Marina scolded her some more and even hit her a few times. Eventually though, she ran out of energy again, and Marina resumed to drag her along once more. They continued this routine of struggle and drag, struggle and drag, but Melody knew she was only delaying the inevitable. Unless someone came along to help, she would eventually end up meeting the sinister Captain Bloodshot face to face.
(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)
Things on the Sea Arrow were not going so well. After Hemsworth had been thrown overboard, the captain had finally stopped drinking and sobered up. But now he was behaving rather irritable. Things had become rather complicated, and it seemed that his plans had to be put on hold. With the royal fleet after them, the Sea Arrow had to make sure to remain out of sight from any and all ships. Then there was also the fact that the sea king was undoubtedly ordering his people to stay away from any ships until further notice. Even fish and other marine life were avoiding them.
The captain slammed his fist against the wall in frustration. His plan had fallen to ruin, all because his first mate had to go and grow a conscience. Just how was he supposed to get his hands on the sea king's trident now? He had nothing to barter with. The only option left would be to go after Triton's human family. He'd toyed with the idea before, but that had just been wishful thinking. His entirely artillery was sea-based. True, he had his magic, but even with that, he couldn't very well storm the entire castle. With all the guards, he'd get shot down before he even made it to the front door.
Besides, he couldn't even set foot on land without being arrested. He had always been a wanted man, but he had never before had guards waiting at every port to arrest him the moment he got off his ship. His lookout in the crow's nest had reported seeing soldiers at every port and every dock they sailed close enough to see by telescope. It seemed that the only way they would be able to get to land would be to leave the country completely.
He kicked over his chair in a fit of rage and stormed over to the dark blue curtain on the other side of the room. Reaching up, he tore the entire curtain down. Behind it stood a statue with far greater detail than even the world's greatest sculptor could create. The captain stared at it for a long while before reaching up to stroke the cold hard cheek.
"So close," he muttered. "We were so close. Yer freedom was within me grasp, 'n' me goal was within sight. Curse that traitorous fool, Hemsworth. May the fish pick his bones clean."
That was a sight he wished he could behold; Hemsworth's waterlogged corpse resting on the ocean floor as the scavengers of the deep fed off him. The thought of it brought a feeling of satisfaction to him, but it did nothing to quell his temper. He wished Hemsworth were still alive so he could kill him again, this time much more painfully.
"If only me own magic were enough ta bring yeh back, then I would 'ave no need fer tha' blasted oversized fork." He sighed irritably. "If only yeh could speak, tell me wha' I could do. Me plan was ruined. I 'ave no leverage. How am I supposed ta get the trident now?"
An insistent knocking came at the door. The captain grumbled and reached down to pick up the curtain, throwing it over the statue as he limped over to the door. Yanking it open, he pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the crewmember. "This best be important. I be in the mood fer spillin' blood."
Even with a gun pointed at him by the murderous captain, the crewmember didn't look concerned, but instead was grinning. "I have good news for yeh captain. There's been a mer sighting."
The hostility immediately left the captain's red eyes to be replaced with a look of interest. "Do yeh speak true?"
The crewman nodded. "Aye, sir. They be right by the ship."
The captain put his gun away and pushed passed the crewmember. "What be the crew doin'? Why 'ave yeh not caught it?"
The crewmember hurried after him. "There be no need, captain. She said she wants to see yeh."
The captain stopped. He gave the crewmember a curious look, receiving a nod in return. The captain merely raised an eyebrow and limped over to where a gathering of pirates were looking over the side. He pushed past them as he made his way to the side of the ship.
Looking down, he saw an ancient mermaid waving up at him. She was holding a rope. And whatever was at the other end of it was fighting against her, nearly dragging her back under.
"Greetings!" she called up to them. "I have come here for-" Whatever was at the other end of the rope pulled her under, but she came back up a moment later. "I have come here for an audience with Captain Bloodshot! Is he here?"
This was a most unexpected turn of events, but the captain was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. At the very least, he could capture this foolish mermaid and interrogate her like he did with the merboy. But for now, he would come across as simply willing to listen.
"Aye, I be Capt'n Bloodshot. Stay where yeh be, 'n' we'll speak."
Gathering up some magic from the surrounding gold, he created a geyser in the water that carefully lifted up the elderly mermaid as to not to scare her off. The mermaid gasped, but seemed to relax when she realized what was happening, and allowed the captain to lift her up towards his level.
As the mermaid rose up, whatever was at the end of the rope rose up with her. The captain didn't know what to expect, but he certainly didn't think it'd be the princess. He nearly dropped them both back into the water in shock, but managed to maintain control.
When the two mermaids were level with him, he looked to the old woman. "Wha' be this?"
The old mermaid smirked. "My name is Marina Del Rey, and I come bearing a gift for you, dear captain." She all but threw Melody onto the deck, looking very pleased with herself. "I hear you needed to get your hands on a member of the royal family. Well, allow me to present Princess Melody, daughter of Queen Ariel and Prince Eric, and granddaughter of King Triton. She's yours to do with what you will."
The captain looked down at Melody as she struggled against her bonds, then glanced at Marina curiously. "Tell me, Del Rey, why would yeh turn yer princess over ta us?"
Scowling, Marina threw Melody a dirty look. "She's not my princess. I refuse to acknowledge Triton or any of his family as royalty any longer, not after what they did to me." Melody shouted something at her through her gag, and Marina splashed her. "Shut up, you miserable brat!"
Now the captain's interest had increased. It seemed that this woman held a grudge against the royal family. He didn't care what it was; it worked out for him, but there had to be an ulterior motive. One didn't just betray the sea king for no reason. "'N' wha' would the lady want in return fer the little princess?"
Marina just crossed her arms and smirked. "Nothing. This is about revenge, nothing more. I want to get back at the royal family for letting me rot in prison for no reason, especially Triton and Ariel. But I'll have to flee after this, or risk going back to prison."
Ah, so she was a fugitive. She'd either done something really bad or was falsely accused. Now she wanted to get even, and she thought that giving him the princess would accomplish this. What an utter fool she was.
"Yeh 'ave risked much fer yer revenge, but I thank yeh all the same." He kneeled down beside Melody, grinning at her arrogantly. "Hello there, princess. I thought all hope be lost, but here yeh are. Welcome aboard the Sea Arrow, yer highness." He received a muffled reply from her, causing him to chuckle. "Somethin' ta say, princess? Let me help yeh."
He removed her gag, and Melody immediately tried to bite him. The captain pulled his hand back in surprise, but he didn't seem upset. "My, yeh be a feisty one."
Melody ignored him as she looked up at Marina. "You don't know what you've done! You don't know what he's planning!"
Marina looked as if she couldn't care less, and she said as much. "It doesn't matter what he has planned. You're his prisoner; he can do what he wants with you. Now you'll know how I felt when I was a prisoner for 20 years."
Melody seriously doubted Marina's time in prison was anything like how it would be in Captain Bloodshot's custody.
The captain chuckled. "She may not know wha' I be plannin' but she's right about one thing, yer mine ta do with as I choose."
Melody attempted to scoot away from him, but she was surrounded by the crew. She looked up at all the faces staring down at her, and saw that she would receive no help. Where was the man called Hemsworth that Alex had said helped him escape? Perhaps he could get her out of here.
Grabbing her hair, the captain pulled her closer. "They all be very happy ta see yeh, princess. Yeh be their key ta the riches o' Atlantica. Once the sea king trades his trident fer yeh, we'll all be rich."
Melody glared at him. "That's not what you're really after though. You want to bring her back."
The captain couldn't hide his look of surprise. His fist clenched, causing his knuckles to crack. "Yeh be well informed, princess. No doubt that traitorous wretch, Hemsworth, told the merboy. He deserved his death a thousand times over."
Death? Someone was dead? He could only be referring to Alex or Hemsworth. Alex was alive and well, so he had to be talking about Hemworth. "You killed him? Your own man?"
"We don' tolerate traitors, princess. They don' belong on me ship, so we tossed him overboard, with an anchor strapped ta his back ta get him away from me ship all the faster."
Melody winced. How could he so nonchalantly talk about killing someone? It was as if he spoke of simply tossing some useless garbage overboard. But perhaps in the captain's deranged mind, that was simply what he did.
Putting on her bravest face, she stared the captain down. "Grandfather will stop you."
The captain laughed. "Foolish girl. He won' dare oppose me while I 'ave his precious granddaughter."
"Well he won't hand over the trident," she bluffed, knowing full well that her grandfather would indeed sacrifice the trident for any of his children or grandchildren. "He can't afford to, not even for his own flesh and blood. A king must put his duty before anything, even his own family. He can't allow his personal feelings to get involved."
The captain stood up. "Aye, yer right about that, princess. That be the burden the ruling monarch must carry. However, when someone they love be in danger, a person be ready ter sacrifice anythin' ta save 'em. I 'ave seen first hand wha' a man would do fer their family, no matter how much they didn' wish ta do it. Yer grandfather faced a terrible loss when his precious queen died."
Melody glared at him. "You mean when you killed her."
He went on as if there had been no interruption. "Already 'avin' suffered such a loss, he won' be able ta bear losin' another loved one. Forsakin' crown 'n' country be a small price ta pay ta get his darlin' granddaughter back."
At first, Marina had been listening to this exchange with interest, but eventually, all the gold covering the deck had caught her attention. Even after 20 years in prison, greed and vanity were two qualities that had never left her. She had planned on simply dropping the princess off and then getting as far away from Atlantica as she could, but now she was just itching to get her hands on some of that treasure. Surely, in his gratitude, the captain would be willing to hand over some of the gold.
"I don't mean to interrupt," she said, "but I really must be on my way before they discover the princess is missing. I know I said I expect nothing in return, but since I'm on the run, I could use a bit of gold to help me get by. Since I gave you the princess, perhaps you would be willing to part with a little-"
Not even bothering to look at her, the captain pulled out his pistol and pointed it right at Marina's face.
"Eh?"
It was the last word that Marina muttered. Having no knowledge of the human world, she didn't know what a gun was. Melody did, of course, but her cry of "NO" was lost over the sound of the gun being fired.
Marina's body fell backwards and splashed into the water, but the captain didn't show the least bit of concern. His attention was still focused on Melody, who looked as if she was going to be sick. She had never seen anyone die before, let alone being killed right in front of her. True, Undertow had broken his neck when he smashed into the ice wall where Morgana had her imprisoned, but she had been unconscious at the time and hadn't actually witnesses his death. Seeing Marina get shot was a horrific sight that she would never be able to erase from her memory.
The captain smirked at the horrified look of disgust on her face. "Don' feel too sorry fer her. The woman was ancient; she couldn' 'ave had too many years left."
Blinking back tears, Melody gave him the biggest look of revulsion she could muster. "Is that why you didn't eat her?"
The captain threw his head back and laughed. "Quite cheeky, aren' yeh? 'N' yeh should know that it be only the tails that I eat."
Melody glared at him. "Because of what you read in a book? Hans Christian Andersen is a fiction writer. Merfolk don't live to be 300, and you can't obtain our years by eating us."
The captain grinned. "Ah, yeh speak o' that short mermaid story he wrote. Aye, I 'ave read it. But yeh will find that even fantasy be based on fact. Fer example, did yeh know that his story The Snow Queen be based on the events that took place in Norway when the queen o' Arendelle turned out ta be an ice witch that ended up freezing her entire kingdom." He waved this off. "But I don' base me beliefs on a simple children's story. I did long 'n' extensive knowledge on me quest fer immortality. I discovered the secrets written on the walls o' an ancient civilization that had long since died out. Much o' the writin' was rather difficult ta translate, 'n' a great deal was missin' or too hard ta make out, but the secret ta extendin' me life was there."
Melody stared at him in disbelief. Was this where he got his twisted delusional beliefs from? "And because of that you decided to eat the tails of merfolks? Because you think it will give you eternal life? That's crazy! It makes no sense! You even said so yourself, the writing was hard to translate, and a lot of it was missing. Didn't it ever occur to you that you made a mistake, or came to the wrong conclusion since so much information was missing? Eating our tails doesn't do anything."
The crew shifted uneasily. Contradicting the captain's beliefs was something none of them dared to do, less they face his wrath. The agitation was clear in the captain's stance as he clenched and unclenched his fists, looking as if he was holding himself back from strangling the princess.
"It does work!" he insisted. "It has ta work! I've come too far, done too much fer it not ta work."
"You're sick. You should be seeking help, not hunting merfolk. You have no right."
The anger was clearly building up in the captain, his eerie red eyes making Melody feel very nervous. "No right? No right? I 'ave every right! The only right we 'ave in this world be wha' we take fer ourselves!" He wrapped his large hand around Melody's throat. "Tell me, princess, when I was but a child, did the pirates 'ave the right ta kill off me entire family, 'n' sink our ship? Did the sharks 'ave the right ta devour the survivors right before me eyes as we helplessly drifted back ta shore? Did Fate itself 'ave the right ta leave me, a helpless traumatized boy ta fend fer meself in this cruel world with no one ta help me? Tell me, princess, who or wha' has the right ta dictate the fate o' anyone or anythin'? Perhaps yeh 'n' the rest o' yer royal bloodline? That be wha' royalty meant ta do; look after their people. Well where were they that day, or any day since? How about the late Mr. Hemsworth? Where were yeh when his family was sufferin', 'n' he was forced ta join me crew in order ta save 'em? Who has the right ta do anythin' ta anyone else? Yeh, tell me that!"
He aggressively pushed her away from him. "Nay, princess, the only right we 'ave is fer ourselves, 'n' ta hell with anyone else. I decided that day that I would never let anythin' control me fate again. The pirates took me family, 'n' left me fer dead, well now I be superior ta all other pirates. There not be any crew or capt'n that dare oppose me. I was left at the mercy o' the sea, forced ta pray that the sharks not decide ta devour me as they devoured the others around me, but now I sail the seas. I be the master over the entire ocean 'n' use it ta lead me around the world, 'n' I slay any sea creature I choose. Death had hung over me, capable o' takin' me life at any given moment in any given way the sea saw fit, but soon I will be the master o' death. I'll live on 'til the trumpet sounds upon judgment day 'n' all life on this miserable planet meet it's end. So don' yeh tell me wha' I do or don' 'ave the right ta do."
Melody was left speechless. The captain was madder than a certain tea obsessed hatter from a little girl's dream. He was beyond reason, and would not be swayed from anything. There was really no talking to him, but Melody knew that she had to try.
"It's still not going to work. No matter how much you wish it, no matter how much you believe it; it won't change the facts. You can eat the tails of every merfolk in the world, but it won't preserve your life any longer than it already is."
Her words seemed to calm the captain as he found amusement in them. "But o' course yeh would say that. Yer a mermaid, 'n' the merfolk be yer people. Obviously yeh wouldn' want me ta make me meal from 'em. But yeh shouldn' worry about 'em so much. Yeh should be more concerned fer yer own wellbein'."
At Melody's frightened look, he chuckled. "Oh, don' worry. I don' plan on eatin' yeh. As long as all goes well, yeh will not be harmed." He reached out and stroked her cheek, and it took all of Melody's willpower not to flinch away from him, less she come across as weak. "Still, it be such a shame ta waste such succulent flesh."
A wave of revulsion went through Melody. He could have been referring to eating her as well, but that comment almost sounded sexual. It made her wonder if he also took advantage of mermaids the way a man could take advantage of a human woman. She prayed this hadn't been the case. The captain truly was a vile man with no morals.
As she stared up at him, something caught her eye. It was poking out from beneath his hat, hidden among his messy brown hair. She knew what she was about to say would infuriate him, but at this point she would say or do almost anything just to get away from him.
"It seems that all your efforts at hunting merfolk has been for nothing if that gray hair is any indication."
A look of surprise crossed the captain's face. His hand went to his forehead, clawing at his hair. He stood up and grabbed a nearby crewmember. "She be lyin'. Tell me that she be lyin'!" He took the crewmember's hand and brought it to his head. "Take it! Take it now, I need ta see it!"
Hesitantly, the crewmember reached for the hair. There was a prick of pain as he plucked it out, and held it up to the captain. There it was, clear as day, a single gray hair that had been lost in the rest of it. Slowly, the captain took it, examining it closely. At first he didn't seem to believe what he was seeing, then he clenched it in his fist so tightly that his nails drew blood from his palms.
With a bellow of rage, the captain flew into a fit of fury. He began punching and kicking the side of the ship like a madman, screaming his rage for all to hear. The crew backed away, but Melody was left on the floor, forced to watch as the captain threw his tantrum.
Finally, when he exhausted himself, the captain rested against the railing, his grip on the railing so tight it nearly caused it to splinter. He was breathing heavily, but he seemed to have calmed down, or at least completely worn himself out.
She didn't want to say anything, but perhaps now, with proof of aging, she could get through to the mad captain. "There, you can see for yourself that your sick appetite doesn't work. So just give up this pointless crusade before it gets even more out of hand."
In response, the captain whirled around and backhanded her, knocking her to the deck. He was indeed calmer now, but there was an insane look in his eyes. "That be just a spider web thread. There be plenty o' webs on me ship. It must o' got stuck in me hair at some point. It was a nice attempt ta deceive me like that, princess, but it didn' work." He motioned to his men. "Take her below. We 'ave a meetin' with the sea king."
The crewmembers stepped forward and grabbed Melody. She struggled as they dragged her away, screaming all the while. The captain watched as they pulled her below deck before looking back at the 'spider web thread' in his hand. Holding it up, he released it, letting the wind carry it out of his hand and into the sea.
(A/N: Rather dramatic. It seems the closer Captain Bloodshot gets to his goal, the more he slips into madness. I also feel somewhat sorry for Marina. Yes, I know she was a villain, but to so crudely shot down like that. Brutal. And now Melody is in the hands of that madman. We're more or less back to square one. Or maybe not. Captain Bloodshot's plans are back on track and have advanced even further than before. What's going to become of Melody now? Find out next time. Speaking of which, I'm going to be really busy this next week, so the next chapter may be a little late, but it will be up.)
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