Ladybug had to admit to herself that, this time, she fully expected Chat to abandon her.
He already saved her once. He went out of his way, and made sure she would survive, when he didn't have to at all. He didn't owe her anything, and she was fully prepared to deal with the fate she was faced with this time, fully prepared to either think up her own escape or accept whatever was in store for her if she failed. The last thing she expected was for him to ever show himself to other people, not after how afraid he seemed to be. People were danger, and he stayed safe by staying out of sight. If he would leave and continue staying safe, she was fine with that. She'd never assume or expect someone to lay down the safety of their entire existence for her.
So when Hawkmoth's right hand woman, Natalie, had her tied and unable to escape the deck of her ship, Ladybug knew she was alone. She'd hoped she could find her crew and get back into the swing of things, but Natalie found her first, intending to nip her shenanigans in the bud this time, and the pirate knew she wasn't getting out of this easily. The woman Captain was ruthless and too smart to be fair, and without her crew, Ladybug had no hope of getting away from her for now.
The last thing Ladybug expected was to be saved, again, and definitely not by Chat, again. But she would be surprised yet again.
He appeared from the water in a spray of droplets, rising high into the air and catching everyone's attention. His appearance cut Natalie's threats off, the tall woman turning to stare in total shock at the mermaid as he landed on her ship. Everyone else was frozen, scared stiff, while Natalie recovered faster and turned her weapon on him.
It was only then that Ladybug realized how deadly of an action that may be for the Captain.
Chat didn't look like normal. He was normally quiet and demure, folding in on himself and staring down with a gaze darkened with sadness. His features were soft, his voice gentle, his every movement cautious and slow. Even his pointed fangs and his eerie cat eyes weren't scary, more like charming when combined with the rest of him. Never once did he exude a dangerous aura, an innate sense of this is a threat and you need to run from it.
But now?
Now he did.
His cat eyes alone were scary, predatory even, the normally just slightly pointed pupils thinned to almost nonexistent slits, reminiscent more of a completely wild animal than a cute cat. His fangs were bared in a snarl, twisting his face into something intimidating and dangerous and entirely unrecognizable, all of the softness and sweet expressions so far gone it was hard to imagine he was capable of them at all. The sound that escaped him was enough to freeze anyone still moving completely in place, the kind of wolf-like growl that told you to back away slowly or not move at all. And last of all, her eyes were drawn to those spines on his back, fanned out into deadly spikes and dripping what she could only assume was some kind of venom, at least until it dripped onto the wood floor and burned black holes into it did she think acid instead.
Before she could think to try anything, Chat launched himself across the deck at Natalie. She raised her sword to defend herself, but it was almost embarrassing how little that did, the enraged mermaid knocking it from her hands mid air without an ounce of concern of hurting himself on it. With the weapon out of the way, there was nothing left to defend her as he slammed full body into her, Ladybug only getting a vague glimpse of his teeth aiming for her neck before they both barreled overboard from the force.
As soon as they were out of sight, the entire crew erupted into chaos. Men were running everywhere, some disappearing below deck to hide while others booked it for the island, anything to get away from the vicious beast of the deep that they'd just been witness to. In the middle of it all, Ladybug kept her head low, and inched her way to the discarded sword to cut her binds with.
Apparently, at least a couple of the crew kept their heads. One noticed her break free of the ropes, and ran toward her with a yell, brandishing his own weapon threateningly. You should've run too, buddy. Ladybug thought, rolling away from him and onto her feet and taking the cutlass with her. This was her element, even without her crew, if Natalie wasn't here she could take the rest of them on her own just fine. Which was good, since several of the others were now joining the first in chasing toward her.
Well, it was easier that most were running away. But she could've handled them too if they'd stayed, of course. She wasn't the most infamous pirate captain on the sea for nothing, now, was she?
She parries blows left and right, her own blade ruthless to the crew that fail to block her counterattacks. She's heard some call it luck, but Ladybug prefers to attribute her untouchable quality in battle to pure skill. The pirate darts backwards and underneath attacks that are amateur by comparison, leaving her opposition only breathless and frustrated. Aside from the ones she manages to just pitch straight overboard, of course, her calculated strikes knocking those unlucky few completely off balance. Ladybug is in the heat of the moment, the familiar rush of battle, and she decidedly does not think about what's going on below the water right now, in the back of her mind. She definitely doesn't think about how the men she's thrown overboard thrash for a few seconds before disappearing underneath and don't come back up. She's not thinking about how familiar that is to the tales of the Cataclysm, she's not thinking about how scary Chat looked, she's not thinking about Natalie and the crew being torn to shreds just out of sight.
She definitely doesn't think about the way the water is turning red.
All too soon, her opposition is shrinking, before it putters out completely. It's when the water turns red and she mostly unintentionally sends another guy over the rails to disappear into it that the few left drop their swords and raise their hands, backing away, choosing to forfeit over possibly joining whatever is happening down there. She jabs a hand at the door leading below deck, glaring at them, and they skitter away without a word. She'll deal with them later, she thinks, and then she realizes she's completely alone on the surface of Natalie's ship.
Ladybug stiffens, warily eying every corner of the ship, and more so, the water on either side. Several moments pass in silence, the thrashing in the water ceasing completely, and the only sound left being that of her own ragged breathing.
At least, that is, until she hears splashing again.
It's too similar to the time in the cave, and she slowly turns to face the direction it came from, afraid of what she'll see. When her eyes do land on him, perched on the railing, she can't stop the bolt of fear that goes through her. She'd rationalized not being afraid of him before, and really, he'd given her no reason to be, until now. He's still got the same look he did before he went under, his eyes wide and wild and there's still a wary snarl on his face, though it's much milder than before. The water has washed away most of the remnants of whatever happened below the surface, but it wasn't enough to keep his hair from staining ever so slightly darker, and she can still see blood on his teeth.
He's staring at her, and she can see no trace of the humanity she'd seen in him. Whoever she'd made friends with was not who she was looking at right now, and it sent chills up her spine. Especially when his gaze trailed down, and sent him right back into a frenzied, threatening hiss. One quick glance of her own showed the cutlass, still in her hand, now with blood on it. Looking back up, Chat was creeping off of the railing, approaching her incredibly slowly with murder written across his face, stalking forward like a predator.
He's seemed to like her enough to let her live all this time for some reason, but right now, she doesn't think even she is safe. But there's nothing she can do right now, any escape routes will just lead to death in this situation, and something at the back of her mind is tugging at her to do something crazy.
Every scenario that goes through her racing thoughts ends up being deadly. There's nowhere to escape to in this situation, and something tells her she wouldn't win in a fight against him, even without the nagging feeling that she doesn't even want to even if she could. All that's left is possibly, definitely, the craziest idea she's ever come up with, and if her crew were here, they'd never let her go through with it.
But they're not here to stop her, and she stops thinking about it before she can chicken out.
Ladybug throws the cutlass-
-off the ship.