Of Pirates and Princesses

Chaptre 9: Island of Sin Part Two

"So that means us," Regina said in conclusion, but with a bit of confusion because she knew August must have killed so how was he an exception? Regardless, she was happy to have his aid for she felt overwhelmed. How was she to help? She didn't know how to fight magic! "But how do we save them?"

"We need to find them and get them back to the ship," August said. "Luckily, I know just where to find them."

...

"Now, when we get to them, keep an open mind," August warned in a whisper as they crawled through some bushes in the nearing dusk. "They're under whatever dark magics of this island and they're not in their right mind."

Regina gulped but nodded her head. She would do her best not to judge them and to keep an open mind to their plight. Surely, if she was in the same position she would want the same courtesy applied to her.

The first crew mate they approached was Sabine, though she was almost unrecognizable with the war paint on her body. It was red, and she was only wearing scraps of clothing, screaming animalistically and waving a sword around. She was standing on top of a rock, an army of twenty behind her. An army of those toga wearing women who were facing off what looked like captured humans- perhaps those held in the dungeons. Pale, skinny, and scared they all were. They were running across the blood slick grass where some bodies lay fallen.

A lump sat in Regina's throat. Was...was Sabine ordering them to be killed?

"Run, you monsters, but we will capture you! We will kill you and keep the people of this town safe!" Sabine hollered out and then pointed her sword at their direction. The toga women raced after them with snarls coming out of their throats. Their eyes were glowing red. Or was that just Regina's eyes playing tricks on her?

She shook her head to focus herself when August clamped a hand on her shoulder. Sabine was still standing on the rock, smiling evilly at the retreating 'monsters'. The woman must be imagining that those humans were beasts and it was her duty to slay them.

"Now's our chance to snag her," August said and they began to creep up behind her. She was too intensely focused on the war and the screams of innocents to notice them. Drawing his sword out, he reached out and using the hilt, whacked her hard on the back of her head. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell into August's waiting hands.

That had been easier than expected. "We need to tie her up and keep her safe somewhere. And then we need to go get the next one," August instructed.

But all the others wouldn't be this easy to get.

Ruby was living out a fantasy where she was with her Granny, living out in a cabin in the woods. The Granny was of course a toga woman using some sort of hallucinatory magic to confuse Ruby's senses. When the woman left to go get something from the back, August and Regina took this chance to sneak in and found the wolf nearly swollen with gluttony. She was eating without pause, dirty dishes surrounding her and stacked in piles. "What the hell happened to you?" August whispered out in horror and Regina felt tears prick in her eyes. This was bad. How would they help Ruby from this situation?

"Ruby? Ruby, can you hear me?" August knelt by her, tying to reason with her. But the woman only growled and kept shoveling food into her face, not even noticing him. The button on her jeans popped as her stomach expanded.

"Something in the food is doing this to her! We need to get her to stop eating. To somehow purge this from her body!" Regina cried out in worry.

"Don't worry, we will. Just not now. We have to move her first," August instructed and was about to draw his sword to knock her out like he had with Sabine when the door slamming closed and getting locked alerted them to the fact that the toga woman, 'Granny' had arrived into the one room cottage.

"Would you look at that. Two meals just arrived for you to eat Ruby," Granny said, and then her fingers turned to claws, needle sharp and three feet long. Black veins spread up and down her face as a forked tongue exited her mouth.

"I think you will do nicely roasted. Or maybe deep fried," she spoke and Regina began to feel panic overwhelm her. Good Gods, what was this thing? Were the monsters in her stories not merely stories?

"Princess, stay back!" August warned, holding his sword out and then charging at the woman.

"Oooo, royal meat? Even better. You hear that Ruby? Get the girl and eat her first!" Granny ordered and the order had magical effect because Ruby stood from her meal, burping loudly and turning to look blankly at Regina. In her hands she held a knife.

"Yummy yummy, come into my tummy," she bellowed out and dove at Regina who let out a shrill scream and pulled out her sword to defend herself. She didn't want to hurt Ruby and the woman sensed this because she was able to slap the quivering weapon in Regina's hands away easily before throwing her weight at the frightened brunette.

Panic and the will to live filled Regina as she hit the wooden floor hard. Ruby tried to force the knife in between Regina's eyes but she wasn't going to die today. She grappled with Ruby's forearms, feeling flattened by the other woman's weight.

"Regina!" August hollered out in concern, ducking a swipe from Granny's claws. "Just hold on!"

His sword rang out against the claws and he swung back and forth with each of her lashes. She was trying to corner him but he wouldn't let it happen. He dealt a heavy blow, knocking her a bit off kilter and cutting one claw off before he went into a roll, coming right up to her stomach and sinking his hard blade into her soft stomach.

She let out an agonized screech that was only magnified when he dug the blade in, standing up and then pulling it out along with a spray of blood and guts. And then he drove his sword up through her chin and finished her off. Her screams stopped and she dropped to the floor once he pulled his blade free.

He turned to Regina who was still struggling. "Hold on!" he called out, wiping the blood spray from his face.

"Hurry!" she called out, losing her grip. Ruby was too strong. Getting frustrated the woman ditched the knife and reached down with her mouth, biting down on Regina's forearm. Regina screamed out in pain and as reflex punched Ruby hard in the face with her free hand.

Her knuckles split on impact but Ruby loosened her hold and August was able to hit her with the butt of his hilt and she passed out, rolling off of Regina who was only too happy to crawl out from there.

"Are you alright?" August asked as the princess cradled her bitten arm. Regina felt like crying but this was no time for tears. They had friends to save.

"I'll be fine," she pulled a sleeve over the angry looking bite marks. She'd get some medicine for it later. She picked up her sword from the floor and sheathed it. "We need to get Ruby out of here."

"I'm going to need your help carrying her. She's a bit heavier than I anticipated," August said and he took her arms and head while Regina took her legs and crab walking they made it out of there and to the safe location they were holding the crew.

Next was Neal.

"I shouldn't be surprised," August sighed out from the bush they were hiding behind. Neal was sitting on the bench and looking at the stars with a toga woman who was currently to Neal, looking like Sabine. "He never was happy with the way he left things."

Regina didn't know the history there and she figured it would be best to ask another time.

They watched in silence as Neal spoke to Sabine.

"Sabine, the stars are beautiful tonight. But not as beautiful as you," he confessed, eyes glimmering with love. "I was upset at the way we left things. But we were both young and made stupid mistakes. That's why, now older and hopefully wiser, we can try again. Will you, let me try again?" he asked, looking hopefully at her.

"Neal, of course. I've loved you all this time," the Sabine copy answered, leaning in for them to share a kiss.

"We need to kill her and grab Neal."

Regina blanched. "Kill her?"

"Did you not see what they are? They're not human and they have no qualms killing us."

"That's right. We don't," said a voice behind them and they turned around to see three more toga women there. How many of them were there?

In a blink of an eye they had turned, black veins, claws and forked tongues. And the one that had been kissing Neal also turned on them. "Stay back, Neal. These sick people are trying to tear our love away."

"I won't let them," he vowed, anger marring his features. He pulled out his cutlass. "I will protect what we have rediscovered."

"Neal, it's us. Regina and August," Regina called out as she and August rose to their feet, blades drawn. Regina held her back to August and he to her too, as their swords went out directly in front of them.

"I know no such people," he spat back.

"He can't recognize us," August clarified. "The only way out of this is to fight, Regina. Don't hold back."

"B-but I can't kill them." She wasn't ready for this.

"Then hurt them till they cannot hurt you," he said and with a shout he sliced his blade through the air and the clang of claws on metal rang through the air. "And don't worry, I've got your back."

She nodded her head, swallowed hard and tried to remember what Emma had taught her about weak spots on a human's body if she didn't want to kill just stun.

And that's what she did.

Honestly, she didn't know how she survived it, but she did. It all passed in a blur of clashing swords and screaming and stumbling under Neal's vicious assault as the toga clad woman cackled and watched Regina flounder under her teammate's charges.

So Regina's plan went from trying to harm to merely surviving and to holding them off long enough until August was done with the three opponents he had. Regina was sweating by the time he joined, and her arms were shaking from exertion as her heart pumped fearfully, body flush with adrenaline. She danced through the grass, keeping light on her toes and dealing blunt blows to joints to crack them.

The toga woman's claws did catch her once or twice across the chest but she barely felt the burn. Neal was the real danger here. She didn't want to hurt him but he had no such qualms about her.

"August!" she called out in worry when he knocked her sword out of her hand and she found herself on her rump, tip of the blade tight against her throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Neal," August warned, arm slung around the Sabine person and sword at her neck. "You kill her and I kill Sabine."

Neal swung around on his heel, seething. "Don't you dare!"

This was Regina's chance. Scooping up the sword that had fallen next to her, she stood up and raised it over Neal's head. The hilt cracked him hard and he fell to his knees just as August cut the throat of the woman in his arms. Her blood spilled over his arm and her chest and she coughed pitifully as she died.

"Sabine!" Neal cried out and Regina hit him hard again before he collapsed.

"Not bad, princess. We might make a mighty warrior of you yet," August praised.

"I didn't do much," she shook her head, feeling queasy at the sight of the drying blood on August's clothing. But she did feel a bit proud of herself for being able to successfully fight off Neal and that woman without having to hurt them.

Only two more to rescue.

"Leroy next. And then Emma," August announced grimly and they went off, carting Neal's form between them.

Leroy was lying on his back, boozed up, surrounded by bottles of liquor.

"This will be easy," August said as he grabbed Leroy's arms and Regina grabbed his legs and together they crab walked him out of the spot he had been sleeping in.

The hardest one yet, for Regina, was rescuing Emma.


Emma was surrounded by beautiful women on all sides, laughing and giggling in the hot natural springs as she told them some funny story of an adventure she had had.

"You are hilarious," giggled one of the woman, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"And so delicious. I could eat you right up," said another, drawing circles on Emma's chest.

She loved the attention. She hadn't felt this carefree and without worry in years. She took a sip from the drink in her hand. The only thing she wished was that Regina could be here. Here to enjoy this too.

But she had left her on the ship and she was comfortable here on this island. She didn't want to leave it. Even thinking about departing it made her very sad.

The women around her sensed her dropping mood.

"What's wrong brave one?" they tittered.

"I don't ever want to leave this place," she admitted.

"Don't worry," one soothed.

"You can stay here forever and ever," agreed another.

This made Emma feel better and she took a sip from her drink. "I'm happy to hear that," she said and had a woman snuggle up to her under her arm. Cooing praises at her.

A dark cloud of black smoke whirled around not far from the spring and Lilith stepped out from it, eyeing the scene with malicious joy. With a wave of her hand she transformed herself to look like Regina.

Wearing only a thin robe, she began to make her way across the space to the hot spring, shedding it on her way into the water.

As soon as she was submerged up to her chest, Emma's attention went to her, hunger in her eyes. She couldn't take her eyes off of her. "Regina," she breathed out. "I thought you were on the ship?"

"I got bored waiting for you," the princess said, nearing Emma. All the other women had slid away, leaving the two of them together now to have a moment. "And then I come here and see that you're surrounded by all these other women, having fun and leaving me to be bored."

"Regina- I didn't mean to-I'm sorry-" Emma stumbled on her words.

"Then make it up to me," Regina said coyly, batting her eye lashes at Emma.

Regina was behaving a bit...oddly. Since when was the princess so flirtatious?

But it was getting hard to think as Regina pressed closer to her until their mouths were mere inches away. "Make it up to me, Em-ma," she whispered, licking her plump lips.

But why would Regina like women all of a sudden? "I thought you loved dashing men?" she murmured out, her last attempt at trying to delay this.

"I confess I have always admired the fairer sex but I had not confirmed that I found them to be my only tastes until I met you."

Was that true? Emma didn't know. It sounded so convenient. But she had restrained herself around Regina for so long. If the princess gave in, then there was nothing wrong with that, was there?

Emma's eyes lowered to those lips and all she could think of was kissing her. She didn't know why the princess was acting this way but her mind was too foggy to think actively about it and so she let her eyes close and gave into Regina's new behavior.


There was a sharp stabbing pain next to Regina's heart as she saw Emma, naked, and in the embrace of that evil woman, Lilith.

She wondered why it hurt to look at them. She turned her head to the side, no longer wishing to be privy to such a thing. August was concerned for another reason. "Emma's with the head bitch in charge here. How are we going to extract her?" he mussed, unsure what to do. "I don't want to leave her alone with that bitch but how can we get them apart?"

Getting them apart sounded like an amazing idea to Regina. The quicker the better.

"What about a distraction technique?"

"Good idea. Wait here," he ordered and then snuck off through the shrubbery they were hiding in in order to do the plan.

This left Regina alone, having to watch the captain kissing Lilith. She ground her teeth. She wanted to look away but at the same time she couldn't. And each kiss only made her burn with more and more choler.

She just wished she could hit Lilith upside the head.

As if summoned by her thoughts, a coconut sailed through the air and pegged Lilith in the back of her head. She turned around a furious look on her face. "Who threw that?" she snarled out.

Emma looked dazed, hands reaching for the slim waist. "Babe, come back-"

Another coconut sailed through the air, this time from a different angle and smacking her in her right temple.

"Someone's spying on us!" she growled out, rubbing her hurt flesh.

"Babe-"

But Lilith was striding from the spring, heading for August who had been throwing the coconuts. Lilith stalked into the ferns and Emma was left alone in the spring, frowning and confused by what had happened. This was Regina's chance to get Emma.

"Captain," she inched out from where she had been hiding just so she would be a bit more visible. Emma squinted her eyes at her. "Regina? But didn't you just leave-?" she jerked her thumb in the other direction. Regina dismissed the captain's muddled words.

"There's no time to discuss. Just fetch your clothes and follow me," she urged.

Emma shrugged. "Alright." She waded through the water and Regina averted her gaze respectfully so that Emma could get dressed. Once she had pulled on her pants and a shirt, a shout rang through the air. Regina couldn't tell if it was August or Lilith who had done it.

"What was that?" Emma asked, looking in that direction but Regina had grabbed her by the wrist and was pulling her away. "Quickly."

Regina hoped August would be okay. For now she had to get Emma to safety. "Regina, what's going on? Why aren't we kissing any longer?"

Regina flushed at that. The words were enough to make her stumble in her step. "K-kissing?" what a scandalous thing! "I never kissed you."

Emma tugged on Regina's wrist, slowing her down until they could look at each other. "In the water. You came in, naked, and started to seduce me."

Regina's eyes got round and her cheeks as red as apples. "Se-seduced you?! Emma, what do you take me for!" And why was the captain having visions of her while under the duress of magic?

Emma was only befuddled more by Regina's actions. So it hadn't been her in the water? But it looked like her! No, wait, the Regina in the water had acted oddly. So forward. Regina was a princess. They would never be that forward. A sour taste filled her mouth. So then who had she been kissing?

"Why are you off the ship?" A sense of unease began to permeate Emma's relaxed state of being.

"Because this island is evil and it's hurting you and the crew. And I'm here to help you."

"Emma, what are you doing?" a voice interrupted them and they both turned to see a woman behind them, thankfully now dressed.

"Lilith," Regina uttered out, grabbing her sword and drawing it. Had Lilith hurt August? Was he okay? Where even was he?

"Regina," Emma said at the same time, causing Regina to do a double take.

"Regina? That's not me, Emma."

But Emma was shaking her head, caught between two Regina's. "I can't tell which is which. Both of you look the same."

"But I'm the real one," said Lilith, taking a step closer.

"You stay back," Regina threatened. She raised her sword higher.

"You don't have the guts it takes to run me through," she sneered.

"Emma, I'm the real Regina. You have to know it!" Regina protested, watching the struggle play out on the captain's face.

"Did you, when you kissed upon my lips, not sense how real it all felt. How good it felt?" Lilith's voice was husky, hips swaying as she strode two steps closer to Emma. Emma's mouth was drying out and she could not resist looking at the Regina in front of her. Her body was telling her to go to that one, but something deep inside her told her no, that it wasn't right.

She was torn.

"Emma!" Regina cried out, worried. It was true what Lilith said. She didn't have the courage to kill her if it came to that. So she needed Emma to back away on her own. To resist.

Lilith reached out a loving hand and was about to caress Emma's cheek when a rustle came from the tropical woods around them and Lilith turned to face it only to get a sword to the gut.

August was on the other end of it.

"No!" Emma cried out, reaching out a hand at Regina being run through. But as she watched, the form shimmered in front of her, till it was no longer Regina. "Lilith?" she muttered out, confused. She remembered the woman from somewhere before. But where? Had she slept with her?

Lilith gasped out in pain at the wound and August withdrew the blade to whisk it sharply and quickly across her neck. Blood pulsed out of the wound there and she made a strangled noise as her hands went to her neck. At this point, Regina was no longer as shocked by August's indiscriminate slaying; things were shaping up to be very dangerous. And she was glad someone could protect her from evils like Lilith while they tried to protect the rest of the crew.

"Run!" August hollered out and Regina didn't need to hear that twice. She pulled on Emma's hand to get her running and they didn't stop until they had arrived at the safe house out of breath where everyone else on the crew was, tied up for their own safety.

"What is going on?" Emma asked, not making sense of anything. "Why was Regina not Regina?" She let out a grunt of pain. "And why does my head hurt?"

She gripped it between her hands.

"Don't worry," August assured. "We're going to be leaving and very soon. Just stay put here, Emma," he urged and the blonde captain nodded her head, a pained expression still on her face.

"What do we do now, August?" Regina asked.

"We need to lay low for a little bit. No doubt those dreadful toga women will be on high alert after I just butchered their leader. And then once things quiet down, we'll leave."


But that simple plan didn't turn out to be so simple. They had planned on sneaking out the crew one by one in the middle of the night after waiting two days for the search parties to die down. Sabine had been the first one they'd taken, leaving Emma to guard the rest. The blonde still wasn't fully herself, having moments where she simply couldn't be bothered by the situation happening. And then other moments of more clarity.

But just as they had successfully snuck their way to the shore with a gagged and bound Sabine held between them, disaster struck.

"What's wrong. What's going on!?" Regina cried in panic as she watched Sabine contort in pain. Blood came pouring from her eyes and she screamed her agony. They dropped her to the sands where she writhed in pain, scratching at her skin. They were afraid to touch her.

A black cloud appeared by them, forming the shape of a woman. It was Lilith. How was still alive? August had cut her throat and speared her gut, injuries she should not survive. She stepped out from the cloud, her robes swishing. "Foolish mortals. No one can leave my island without dying. To take her past the shore would be to kill her."

"Shit!" August cursed, drawing out his sword as Lilith's hands lit up and two fireballs were there. "Regina, run!" he yelled and they both ducked as the fire went flying over their respective heads. Regina took to her heels, running and not looking back. Lilith's laugh cackled, following them in the chilly night air.

"You'll never leave!" she promised and those words only made Regina want to fight harder.

A/N: Hold onto your hats because this is the part of the story where things are going to get more complicated.