Standing with her arms crossed over her chest, her ankles crossed, Ruby watched calmly as Shaco - the biggest member of the crew, a massive Jamaican with dark black skin and black eyes - tossed a bucket of cold seawater into Killian's face, waking him instantly. He started yelling the moment the water hit him, and she raised her eyebrows as she watched him thrashing around in the grip of the men holding him. She'd never seen him this way. He'd always been calm and collected when they were kids. Even when she'd told him she was pregnant, he hadn't freaked out. He'd been calmer than she had been actually.
Those thoughts made her grind her teeth together, her blue eyes hardening as she watched her crew fighting to keep him under control. She should have known being around him would make her think of the baby again. She hadn't thought about it in four years, at least not in the front of her mind. The thought was constant in her dreams and eternal deep within her, but she refused to think about it all the time. Just as she resisted the urge to think about him. But she couldn't stop thinking about him. She could keep him a secret all to herself. She could keep how she felt about him to herself, but she couldn't stop thinking about him altogether.
As he thrashed, she focused to get her attention off of thoughts of their shared past, and she realized with a shock that his left hand was gone entirely. The fact that his hand was gone wasn't a shock to her, she knew how he'd lost it to The Crocodile, but what surprised her was the lack of his trademark hook. The black sleeve of his shirt ended in shadow instead of the silver glint of the infamous hook which had served in place of his left hand for years.
"GET OFFA ME!" he yelled, shaking her violently out of her thoughts. Yelling. There was so much yelling. Her head was still pounding from the remnants of her hangover. Killian's head throbbed until he thought he might be sick, but he yelled anyway. He wanted to be free of all of this. He wanted to be free of these men, and most importantly, he wanted to be free of her. Struggling against his captors, he bucked several times until he managed to free his right arm from one of the men. Throwing a punch wildly at them, he kept fighting relentlessly until he had to be tackled to the ground. Even without his hook, he was a formidable fighter.
Shaco turned to her with an exasperated look on his face, ""Cap!? Are you sure this is the one? He's nuts!" The comment made Ruby smile and she chuckled, one short amused sound as she glanced up to the tall, broad chested Jamaican. "He's the one."
Killian's anger caught her attention again, and she sighed as he threw his elbow into the gut of one of the man pulling him up off of the ship's deck. "Fuck you," he snapped viciously, his temper flaring. One of the crew growled at him to quit his struggling, but he continued to battle valiantly in an attempt to escape them all. He wouldn't stop until he was free of all of this, of this indentured servitude.
Nodding to Shaco when Killian wouldn't cease his resistance, Ruby directed him to splash her former lover and friend with another bucket of saltwater at least to shut him up for a second or two. Of course, it pissed him off more - like dunking a cat in a pool - and Ruby uncrossed her arms to lean back on the side of the ship as he tired himself out.
He didn't want to do this; he didn't want to be here with her. She had hurt him, and she had betrayed him. She'd been pregnant with his child, and he'd prepared himself to be there to support her. He'd loved her as a best friend, and he'd begun to feel something more even before they'd slept together and she'd incidentally gotten pregnant. After everything that happened with Milah, Ruby had been there for him even as he'd gone into a darker time in his life than she'd ever seen. She'd understood him, and she'd never turned her back on him through it all. She'd been his comfort during those darkest hours and even in his struggle to find that Crocodile to kill him.
Their friendship had progressed normally, bonding them since the time they were kids, until they were adults and their bodies and minds began to change. They'd both been raised on the sea, and they thought similarly. He'd seen her lose Peter, and she'd seen him lose Milah. They understood one another. Their friendship only deepened until they'd both secretly developed feelings for one another. Neither of them acting on those feelings at first, and their natural flirtatious friendship stayed roughly the same as it always had, with an overtone of desire seeping in.
Then, after a night that filled them both with grog and happiness, they'd given in and finally slept together. It was marvelous, cathartic and fulfilling. It was unlike anything either of them had experienced. There was no regret, and they'd remained friends even through the revelation that Ruby was pregnant. In the midst of war that spanned the entire pirate world, they'd planned part of a future. They'd taken the steps toward a future...
Then she was gone. Two months after finding out about her pregnancy, she'd disappeared and Killian hadn't seen her again. He'd heard the news her brother was dead, leaving her the only surviving member of the Lucas family line, but there was no news of her afterward. After the months and years spanned by, he purposefully blocked out any word of her. He knew she'd become the pirate king after the war ended, a position which was forced on her at the time. But he hadn't bothered trying to find her. If she hadn't bothered to tell him where she was going, then she obviously didn't want him to know. He'd never felt so horribly betrayed in his life, and he wouldn't forgive her for it.
She had ruined everything, and she hadn't even had the decency to find him and explain herself. What hurt worst was the fact that he'd been her best friend, and he would have done anything in his power to help her. It didn't matter if she was afraid to have a child. It didn't matter what plagued her, he had always been there for her, and somehow she'd lost sight of that.
As his thoughts got the best of him, his mental exhaustion overcame him and he finally slumped in the arms of his holders. "Finally..." Ruby muttered as Killian relaxed exhaustedly and the two men holding him hauled him up to his feet in front of her. Pushing away from the edge of the boat where she'd been leaning, she stepped forward and watched him as he tiredly lifted his head. The way he glared at her was unlike anything she'd seen out of him, and it disconcerted her for just a moment. Her countenance faltered, but she recovered swiftly so the crew never noticed. They weren't watching her anyway since they had their eyes on the man she'd chosen to be her first mate. Silently, they were wondering what she was thinking and where this guy came from, but none of their opinions mattered to her. Killian was her only choice, not because she had no other choice, but because she didn't want anyone else.
"Let me offa yer shitbox. I ain't doin' nothin' fer ya," he slurred painfully. As far as he was concerned, he was done with her forever, if he could just get off of this boat.
So be it. Let him hate her. He didn't have to like her, and he didn't have to love her. It would make this entire deal easier anyway. She didn't want him to find out the truth because it hurt too badly, and that was not the sort of pain she could endure. She was not a woman to be coddled or felt sorry for so typical female emotions were hard for her to deal with. In fact, Killian was the only person who'd ever seen her cry. When her uncle and aunt died, she'd cried. When her mother died, she'd cried. She'd cried three times in her life, and he'd been there for two of those times. The third time was on her knees as she'd gotten sick to her stomach after her brother murdered her child. She'd been alone then. No one was allowed to see her sorrow in that moment.
Held up by two pirates, he lifted his gaze and glared at the woman who was the object of his deepest desires and greatest hatred. Summoning his energy, he spat at her feet as she approached him and curled his lip in a silent snarl. As she stepped forward, her thoughts flying swiftly through her head, she paused for a moment, her eyes shutting as she ground her teeth together when he spat at her. She felt it hit her boot, and she opened her eyes to glare at him just as Shaco reacted instantly and hit him hard against the side of his face for the blatant disrespect to his captain. Killian groaned and winced, squeezing his eyes closed tightly as he fought the rising pain and nausea blossoming through his face. Holding up her gloved hand, she shook her head, casting a hot, angry glare at the man who'd struck him. "No," was her simple command, and he backed off without a word against her.
Turning back to Killian as he recovered and snapped at her, she planted her hands on her hips and sighed. "I would let you off of my ship... trust me, I would," she commented offhandedly, cocking her head in a small nod as she looked up at him. "But neither of us really has a choice. You see, the pirate king has given an order, and that's that I need a first mate," she pointed out, taking another step toward him and raising her chin to face off with him even though he was a few inches taller than her even while slumping exhaustedly in the grasp of two other men.
"The way I see it: there's only one candidate for that position," she noted, looking directly into his eyes, her bright blue gaze darkening as she watched him. "That's you," she pointed out, her tone lilting sardonically.
He snorted in derision at her comment, straightening slightly in the arms of the men restraining him. "You're mistaken. It seems you've lost your mind... truly," he countered, his drunken slurring fading as he sobered slowly.
Killian looked at her with his consistent look of irritation and anger while his thoughts began to run away. What could the former Prince Charming possibly know about him? And why would he care? Killian knew how much Ruby's cousin meant to her, and he knew how the man had only recently learned of his pirate bloodlines. Ruby saved David when he was only an infant, getting him out of the middle of the bloody war at his parents' behest. She'd left him with a landlubber family, but she'd watched over him all of his life. He'd never known he was a pirate but believed to be a prince of a land-locked kingdom. But on his twenty-seventh birthday (a number significant to pirates), Ruby tracked him down and told him the entire history of his true family.
It took time to convince him of the truth, since he'd always believed a landlubber's truth, but after months of coercing, she was finally able to get her cousin to Sunken Reef Island. A pirate's council was held, and the long lost pirate prince was revealed: much to the chagrin of the enemies to the royal family. Ruby was the pirate king at the time, an empty title given to her after she'd killed her ruthless, murderous brother and ended the war. However, she'd always believed the power should remain with the royal family, and David Odaire was the last of their line. The Council decided the rulership should be determined by the Trials: trial by poison, trial by fire, trial of the cross, trial by burning oil, and trial by water. It was a medieval ordeal, and David and Red Locks were the only two to survive (Red Locks only by the grace of David saving him from drowning at the end of it all, hence the man's devotion to the pirate king).
After competing in the Five Trials and surviving, David took his place as the rightful pirate king. Of course, that didn't stop all of the backbiting and duplicitousness in the pirate world, but it did help to bring more peace to their community. However, Killian felt he was a rather small detail for the pirate king to worry himself over. The details about Ruby's life seemed to grow thicker and thicker, and he was more and more ignorant to them. It was all becoming so tiring.
She didn't expect, after all of the fight he'd been putting up so far, for Killian to agree to this willingly. However, she believed she still knew him. Even if he was angrier, even if he was even darker than he was after Milah's death, he was still Killian. Four years was a long time, especially in their fast-changing world, but she had a deep-set belief that he was still the man who'd been her best friend through childhood.
As she stepped forward and her crew stepped back from them, Killian felt as if it was only the two of them in the world. They were together again, together at last, and he felt it should be a happy reunion. They'd been friends since childhood - they'd unwittingly become more - and they'd been separated; that warranted some sort of happiness at seeing one another again.
But it wasn't a happy reunion at all. It never would be, and he blamed it all on her.
"Release him," she said suddenly, never looking away from him as she firmly ordered the pirates to let him go. They looked at her as if she was insane, but she didn't even glance their way. Cautiously, the two men holding him let go of his arms and stepped back, bristling and prepared to defend if Killian attempted to attack their captain. Still watching Killian with her bright blue eyes, she swallowed and didn't budge before him. "It's been four years, but the Killian I remember wouldn't back down from a challenge," she noted in a softer voice, an almost tender edge inching into her tone despite her will to keep her feelings for him in check.
He huffed audibly at her words, and his sobriety appeared in that moment so he could focus. He supposed he had several buckets of water being splashed in his face to thank for that. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and looked at her through vicious, dark eyes. "This isn't a challenge, Red. This is an ultimatum," he pointed out in a low tone. "If you claim to remember the me you used to know so well, then you know I don't accept ultimatums." His words were a brazen challenge, his tone holding no respect or return of her moment of tenderness. He drew himself up as best he could, his muscles refusing exhaustedly.
She instantly regretted allowing any tenderness seep into her voice as Killian countered her and shot her down. Her face steeled over, her sea blue eyes hardening as she crossed her arms over her chest. Standing with her feet comfortably apart, her cutlass hanging off one hip and her pistol on the other, the leather of her clothes creaked as she fixed her former best friend with her glare. She wasn't known for being kind. If she was, then she wouldn't have lasted this long. The position of pirate king may have meant nothing when she held it, but she hadn't gotten it just by being related to the former pirate king, Riordan Odaire. She'd earned her place here in a world rife with men, and she wasn't one to take 'no' for an answer. Her cousin had hated her for her inability to back down and accept his refusal to learn about his past, and she'd still ended up coercing him into it anyway. She intended to do the same in this situation.
Stepping up to him, she fixed her glare directly on his, staring him down as he looked at her. She could capitulate to the storm raging within her chest. She could show him what she'd been feeling for the four years since they'd been apart. She could express her confusion over what she felt for him, but that wasn't her way. She wasn't the sort of female who talked about her feelings. She didn't trust people, and there was a very good reason for that, so she kept herself closed up. Since she hadn't seen him in so long, he was no longer her confidante even as her mind wished to just give in and allow him to be.
A few members of the crew shifted and looked at her for direction, curious as she faced off with this foreign pirate they didn't know. She knew they were watching her, waiting for her to react to his disobedience. Her reaction would make or break not only their respect for him, but for her as well. So she steeled herself against everything she was feeling, everything she reminded herself she'd already been prepared to feel: everything she hadn't been prepared to feel as strongly as she was.
When she heard the nickname from his lips that he had once used for her, it hit her like a tidal wave. She hadn't heard the name 'Red' in so long, and it surprised her. The surprise flickered in her eyes, but she stood steadily before him as he straightened himself and ran his fingers through his hair. As he declared disrespectfully that this wasn't a challenge, but was an ultimatum, her natural sardonicism found its foothold and she smirked at him as she stood with her arms crossed over her chest. "Ye're right," she agreed, raising her eyebrows slightly, her teeth showing as she grinned her characteristic, lop-sided grin. She scrunched her nose and held her hand up with her fingers held about an inch apart, "It's a little bit of both."
"Ye see, we're in th' middle 'o th' sea," she pointed out as her voice slipped into her natural pirate dialect. She motioned around her with one hand before looking back at him as she recrossed her arms over her chest. "So ye don't really have a choice. In that sense, tis an ultimatum." She waved one hand in the air as she expounded her point. "But tis yer choice to take it as a challenge or to mope around like a damn ta hell barwench who needs her ass slapped."
Her brown eyes flared challengingly at him, but she still didn't back down and she wouldn't. They weren't friends anymore, and despite what her insides were deciding to do at the sight of him, none of that mattered. She was the captain of this ship, and fully in charge. She had a reputation to uphold.
The crew whooped at her comment, but she ignored them as she fixed Killian with her hard eyes. Part of her wanted to just tell him how much she missed him. She wanted to explain what happened and that none of it was his fault. It was all her fault. It was her brother Rasputin's fault, but Rasputin was dead. She was solely to blame for disappearing and never telling him what happened to her.
But she wouldn't tell him. Stubbornly, she would keep that to herself. She couldn't relive that day. It was horrific and violent and a bloody stain in her thoughts. Those memories were repressed, and she intended to leave them that way.
Turning away from her, Killian looked around the wall of men ringing him in and he stopped with his back to her. His disrespect of her was blatant, and she ground her teeth together again as he stilled, facing away. He was trying to piss her off, and he was doing a good job of it. He knew, as well as she, the rules of pirate etiquette. They weren't a soft, fuzzy sort of people, but there was a code. Turning your back on another pirate was both dangerous and extremely rude: especially the captain of a ship.
Her jaw twitched as she ground her teeth hard together, and her eyes were glaring daggers into the back of his head as he began speaking to her without turning to face her. The pirates in the circle shifted restlessly, equally as upset by his blatant disrespect of their captain on the deck of her own ship. "The Killian you knew, the Killian you want to remember, is dead. You'll have to move past that," he announced calmly, raising one eyebrow as he shifted to look back at her over his shoulder. "Then again, moving on was never something you had a problem with before." His tone was flat, but his words cut deep, and he knew it.
Her chest constricted, but she only snorted softly through her nose even as her head spun with the accusation of his words. But what about the Ruby he'd known? She was dead as well. What innocence she'd had was gone along with her child and her brother. She breathed out evenly to control her rising temper. He still knew how to push her buttons even though he claimed they no longer knew one another.
The pirates stood in confusion as Killian pushed his way past the smallest man in the group, and they began murmuring, their voices muttering in irritation and anger at this man who was so brazenly insolent to their captain. They weren't accustomed to Ruby not immediately striking out at someone, and she knew, if they were given the time to think about it long enough they would notice the difference. It would become her weakness in their eyes, and she refused to accept that. She already had a distinct disadvantage because she was a woman. Even if pirates viewed their womenfolk differently than landlubbers, Ruby still had to fight every single day to earn her place among them. Even now.
Striding forward as Killian stalked away from her, she reached out with her gloved hand and snatched his upper arm, digging her fingers into his muscle so she caught him off guard with the force. Bracing her elbow, she threw her weight against him and swung him so she was half-dragging him. The momentum made him stumble, and she used his drunkenness to her advantage. Pushing through the crowd of pirates who nodded approvingly, she kicked open the door to the captain's quarters and shoved him inside before slamming the door shut behind her.
He stumbled and almost fell, catching his balance by planting both hands hastily on the nearest surface. His fingers slid across the maps strewn out against a massive wooden table, and he blinked to adjust his eyes to the darkness of the cabin, recognizing it as the captain's quarters. The cabin was sizable and lined with windows on one side which allowed her a view of the ocean beyond when she had them open. Right now, the windows were drawn so the inside was lit only by the yellowish flickering lamp inside. Beyond the table at the far corner of the wall was the door which led into the inner chamber where she slept when she could and held her clothes and the few personal belongings she kept. She traveled lightly, and always had, so there wasn't much personable about her bedroom. It was a place to sleep, and that was that.
Groaning audibly as he realized Ruby had trapped him in her quarters with her, he wheeled around to face her, his face dark and stormy. Swaying slightly, he narrowed his eyes at her and she fixed him with a hard glare as she advanced on him, not backing down as he growled at her. Deftly, she pulled each of her leather gloves off and tossed them onto the table as she closed the distance between them. Reaching out after she'd divulged herself of the gloves, she grabbed the layers of his shirts across his chest with her right hand and stepped up directly in front of him, staring him down although he towered over her by a few inches. Her fingers curled into the fabric as she narrowed her eyes at him, refusing to surrender to him or to give him the space he was angrily demanding from her with his eyes.
"Why are you being so persistent with this?! I don't care what yer cousin says; this isn't my place anymore, and I won't be workin' for ya, Red."
"You don't really have a choice," she hissed at him, her voice losing the pirate lilt now that she was irritated. "Unless you want to swim back to shore, which will take you at least a day," she pointed out, tilting her head slightly as her blue eyes flashed angrily. "The sharks aren't as nice as I am."
Momentarily shutting him up with her flash of anger, she released his shirt and shoved him away from her. It felt good to strike back at him even if it was such a small thing. She still didn't back down from him, however, and instead, she continued looking up at him with her darkened eyes. "Since we're already out to sea, and you have no options other than becoming shark food - and I'm sure there are several of the crew who would enjoy helping you jump overboard if that was what you chose - then I suggest you suck it up and do the job for a few days until we get back to Sunken Reef."
"Technically..." she trailed off, her eyelids lowering as she took one step closer to him. "... you do have a choice. The challenge: playing the role of first mate until we get back to the island, and then I'll let you go. you can do whatever you want, fuck whoever you want, live your life however.. you... want," she accentuated each word, leaning closer to him. She could smell the saltwater on him, intermingled with the leathery pirate smell she unintentionally liked so much. "Or there's the ultimatum: you walk your ass to the end of the gangplank and hash it out with the fish."
Holding her arms out to her sides, she pursed her lips and raised one eyebrow. "Your choice... ultimatum or challenge?" a dark smirk slowly curved over her lips as she watched him. "I always prefer a challenge, personally."