Thalia woke up with an unnatural light beaming into her eyes, and her entire body throbbing in pain. A groan escaped the British girl and her eyes slowly opened. She lay on the bed in the captain's quarters, bandages wrapped around her entire midsection. Her eyes burned, as if they'd been set on fire inside her skull. She coughed, and noticed a suspicious red liquid drip from her lips. Somewhere off to her right she saw someone move, but couldn't muster the strength to turn her head towards it. She closed her eyes, desperately trying to remember what had happened. Unfortunately, her mind was too fuzzy, memories of the previous night were as hazy as the fog back home in Britain.
"You're awake," a voice announced beside her bed, and Thalia just barely fought down a jump.
"and you're annoying, glad we could meet each other," she replied sarcastically, or at least tried to. Her voice cracked halfway through the sentence, making it sound a lot less hostile. The British soldier managed to get her eyes open again, and slowly a young man came into focus. Pale blonde hair fell perfectly combed around the boy's face. Pale, almost white, blue eyes stared at her from behind the yellow curtain. Octavian had always looked so calm and commanding, even when he was drunk, she'd never seen him look like this. Look so... worried. Laughter bubbled up from her chest at the thought, and pain instantly came with it.
"What are you laughing about?!" the captain complained as Thalia tried to get rid of the painful spasm in her back. She grit her teeth tightly, but still managed a smile.
"You look so worried? Who died man?" she choked out between pained gasps. Octavian took on a familiar scowl as he pushed her back in the bed. The pain slowly ebbing back to a deep throb.
"You, idiot," he muttered and Thalia swallowed another laugh, knowing it probably wasn't good for her health.
"What do you mean me? What happened?" she asked and looked over at the blonde young man. He was only a few years older then herself, but he looked at if he were thirty. He looked so tired. So broken and stressed, that part of her wondered who's funeral she had missed. He'd never looked like this before, even after Dakota's death. Now though, he looked exhausted. Octavian sighed.
"How much do you remember?" he asked her and Thalia thought for a moment. Trying to bring forth anything of the event. She had a hazy feeling she'd seen someone she hadn't in a long time, but that must've been a fantasy her mind made up to fill the empty gap.
"Nothing really. All of yesterday is kind of a blur," she confessed and Octavian sighed again. The worry lines deepening around his face.
"We were attacked by Pirates," he began, and suddenly, memories came rushing back. Like ice water they hit her. Every slash, every word, every little detail of the night before came back in such detail Thalia nearly blacked out again. Octavian didn't seem to notice and continued, "I ran out to do what I could, and once the situation seemed handled I came back into the cabin. Only to find you on the floor bleeding to death with the Pirate captain standing over you."
Thalia felt the blood in her veins crush itself. No. Reyna had been captured... which meant.
"Y-You didn't kill them did you?" she asked and the captain shook his head.
"I was waiting for you to wake up. Also... I think you know these pirates. When I came in the room, even though the pirate had obviously been the one to hurt you, she was crying. Hell, you were crying too. The other pirates saw you.. er.. your body and nearly had a heart attack. Unfortunately..." Octavian gave her a dark look, "Thalia, I'm going to ask you to explain exactly who these pirates are. I want you to know, that no matter what, they are still pirates. Even if this is the biggest misunderstanding in the world, the crew will not listen to an order not to kill them."
Thalia suppressed the urge to sigh, and instead closed her eyes for a moment. Reyna. She remembered the way the girl had stared at her just before she blacked out. All the anger had left her, and she had dropped the sword. She could see her, see the girl she had fallen in love with so long ago. She could see her come back, and she had watched her cry. Thalia opened her mouth, and began to tell the story.
"It all started a long time ago. Four years-ish, ago I was just a normal sailor, and our ship was attacked by pirates. A girl with dark hair in a braid, around my age attacked me, and for a couple minutes we just wrestled, but then she got me pinned to the ground. I pleaded for her not to kill me, and instead she kidnapped me and brought me aboard her pirate ship. Turns out her older sister was the Pirate captain at the time. The girl took me into her cabin and told me her name was Reyna, over the next couple months the two of us became friends. Hell, we were family. I knew everything about her. She knew everything about me, and we accepted each other that way. I'd never had someone to talk to before like that, and she just cared for me inspire of my awful people skills." Thalia paused to take a deep breath, and regain her nerve. Diving into these memories stung. It ached. It made her whole body tremble involuntarily with nerves. She swallowed the impulse to shut down. Octavian gave her a reassuring word.
"Well, nothing good lasts forever. I soon found myself on a ship going back to Britain, and away from Reyna. I didn't think I would ever see her again, so I poured myself into my studies. I learned every detail, every battle plan, every tactic, every sword technique. I learned so much that I quickly earned an officer's position despite my doubled enlistment, and soon found myself on a ship transporting soldiers to the Colonies." a light smirk lit Thalia's lips, "but it never arrived." she continued.
"The ship was attacked by pirates, and these pirates I knew. Me and Reyna fought, not recognizing each other at first, and somehow, even though I'd learned every sword technique there was to know, she still beat me. After we recognized each other, it was like I'd never went away. It was just me and Reyna against the world. Maybe I fell in love with her then, maybe it was later on, but I did love her. I loved her with every part of my being. She was everything to me, and I would not let anyone take that from me. A pirate named Ethan Nakamora tried to stab her in her sleep," Thalia's eyes took on a crazy gleam, "I killed him before he could walk through the door." Octavian had gone quiet now, his own eyes distant like he was remembering something, but when she stopped, he immediately motioned for her to continue. Thalia swallowed the bile rising in her throat.
"I... I guess it was my karma then," she whispered softly and swallowed a sob. Hylla wasn't even her sister, but still the memory felt raw, like a wound that had never healed. Talking about it only rubbed salt into it. "H-Hylla, Reyna's older sister and Pirate Captain, died on a raid on a Spanish warship. That was Reyna's breaking point I think. She had always blamed herself for the deaths of both of her parents, but Hylla was the last straw. She became cold, withdrawn, and then I made the most stupid mistake of my life. I told her I wanted to go home, so she sent me home, with a scar, her sister's dagger, and a promise to kill me should we ever meet again. She hated my guts, everything about me was hated by her. I don't know everything that happened to her, but when we met again I knew one thing. She had made herself become this... unfeeling thing, just because she believed she couldn't hurt anything, or herself if she didn't love. Because who could love someone who had no kindness in her soul." a bitter chuckle escaped Thalia's lips, and she closed her eyes again, dark locks of hair falling in her face. "Call me a fool, but I still loved her. I knew she hated me, but... part of me still believes she loves me. Still believes that she isn't evil. I still believe in her, and I don't care if she's a pirate or not, I'm just as much of one as she is, and if you think I'm just going to stand by, and let you kill her, you're wrong." Thalia's voice was ragged with emotion and something else. Something much darker.
"If you're going to Kill Reyna, you'll have to kill me too," she spat.
Octavian's face was a shadow in the lantern light. The emptiness of his eyes sent chills down Thalia's already sore spine.
"Does this Reyna mean a lot to you?" he asked and Thalia was surprised. She blinked uneasily and swallowed.
"Of course, she was the first person I ever warmed up to," she said and Octavian nodded. He sighed.
"Thalia... you remember officer Dakota?" he asked and Thalia was still, a bit confused, but nodded. Octavian sighed.
"When we were younger we went to the same school. Dakota despised me, and I the same. We were polar opposites. He was like you, headstrong, stubborn, and above all, crazy. But people like that grow on you. I loved him. I loved him more than I'm able to put into words," Octavian finally made eye contact and pale blue eyes, devoid of any love, stared at her. "If this Reyna girl means so much to her, we must come up with a way to save her and her crew," he paused, "I don't want you to end up like me."
Thalia felt a face splitting grin cross her face and she would've hugged the young man if merely lifting her head off the pillow didn't make her feel so dizzy. She settled for grabbing his hand.
"Thank you," she whispered, and a sad smile came from the captain.
"Don't thank me yet. Any ideas on how to do this?" he asked and Thalia sighed.
"Just delay it as long as possible, we'll figure it out." she whispered and lay back on the bed, the pain in her head now almost unbearable. "Right now, i need to sleep," she murmured and let the darkness take her.
Hard bitter sobs escaped Reyna. She was trapped, trapped in the darkness and bound. Her body ached from the British soldiers who had decided she needed a few bruises for what she had done to their leader. Reyna didn't blame them, if anything she felt as if she deserved worse. Pain raced up and down her spine. She whimpered. She shouldn't be crying, no one cries. No, Reyna does not cry. never. But here she was, reduced to a trembling, sobbing shell. All she could do was see it over and over again. See the girl she loved, covered in her own blood, and staring at her with the longing to have her end it in her eyes. The sobs grew more painful with every breath. The other pirates in the brig were scooted against the opposite wall, to scared to do anything. Their leader, cold, heartless, and brave was gone. Now she was just a child, Just a 17 year old child who didn't understand who she was. Who was scared of herself. Who was just so bitterly, and devastatingly alone.
Reyna wasn't sure how long she stayed in that brig, but she did know that soon the constant blood on her skin felt less and less like a stain. The blood stains, Thalia's blood stains, burned like fire on her skin. Agony bursting through her lungs from every breath she gasped for. The sobs didn't stop, they were constant, and slowly becoming less sad, and more desperate. Reyna clawed at her skin. A monster, she reminded herself, that's all she was, a monster.
Finally, it could've been days, could've been weeks, but finally they pulled her onto the deck. It was night time, but even the light of the moon felt like heaven on her bruised and scratched skin. She was dragged in front of her trembling pirates as a man stood at the lead.
He was tall, 6ft at least, with curly brown hair and piercing green eyes. Like a snakes. He grinned at the pirate, a musket hung loosely at his belt.
"Finally!" he proclaimed and glared at her. "I've been waiting to get a crack at you, Captain."
Reyna had no more tears left to cry, her face was blank, defeated. She was empty and she didn't run. She only stared at him emptily. His grin faltered.
"What, that's it? No rallying cry? No 'you can't kill me'? None? Don't you have any last words?" he demanded and Reyna's eyes only looked down. Thalia was no where to be seen, which meant, oh god. Her stomach lurched into her throat and she gagged, nearly throwing up whatever bile was left in her stomach. She saw the wound again, and hurt pulsed through her spine. She saw Thalia, what she had done to her.
Monster. Monster. Monster.
The words repeated themselves. The man huffed.
"Fine then." he pulled up his musket and held it to her brow. Reyna didn't meet his eyes. Accepting her fate. She could only hope that she wouldn't see Thalia where she was going. Then there was a loud bang from the balcony and the man jumped so much he nearly dropped the musket.
A top the balcony, a tall man with pale blond hair stood. He was much taller than the one who was preparing to shoot her, but thinner. Next to him stood a familiar girl with electric blue eyes and a million freckles. She looked weak, pale and sweaty, but she was alive. She leaned heavily on two crutches. The boy was glaring directly at the man holding the gun
"What! Is going on here?!" he roared and the soldiers all set there sights on the ground, except the green eyed man. He was older than the blonde boy, but clearly outranked, shown by the whole army of medals on the younger man's chest. Thalia looked at her, she looked unsteady on her crutches, but as soon as she caught Reyna's eyes she smiled sadly. Reyna looked down.
No. No. No. You shouldn't be nice to me. You don't get to be nice to me. I don't deserve it.
"Captain, sir. I was merely carrying out the executions," the brown haired man spat through gritted teeth. The captain's eyes glittered like two shards of Ice. He launched himself down the stair case, Thalia in close, wobbly pursuit.
"And under who's authority are you acting?" the young man asked and the other gritted his teeth tighter, as if he had just been stung by a bee.
"None, sir." he spat the word like an insult and the other huffed.
"As I thought. I thought we agreed, Officer Ares, that we would wait until Thalia was well enough to stand for the executions?" he snarled and Reyna winced like she'd been hit. Thalia finally made it over, huffing from the stairs, sweat pouring down her brow. It really was to early for her to be standing. Reyna wanted to scoop her up and carry her to a bed, but she couldn't find the strength to even stand. Plus she knew that Thalia probably wanted to stab her more than any of the other soldiers.
"Sir, if I'm not mistaken, these are pirates. Not war prisoners or citizens of another country. They, are pirates, and they are criminals. they do not get a trial. They do not get a defender. They get, execution," the green eyes man fired back. Octavian held eye contact with the man for a moment.
"Officer Ares, you are stepping over your boundaries," the blonde headed man reminded him, but the other had already won. He stepped closer to Octavian.
"You can't defend the ones who deserve it, go back to your cabin and cry if you don't want to watch. I don't care if you have survived more battles than every other man in the world, you're a kid." he growled and shoved him backward, nearly knocking Thalia over with him. He flipped out his gun again and turned it on Reyna. He pulled the trigger before any words could escape her mouth. The horrible scene of a shadow passing in front of Reyna played, and suddenly she was screaming. Screaming louder than she ever had before. Why must they all take the object of death for her? Her screams don't stop though, and she screams herself hoarse.