This is my first fan-fiction. Reviews are very much appreciated. Enjoy!
Rated T - The
following chapter contains passages which may be disturbing to
younger or sensitive readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Warning: This
fan-fiction is a tragedy. I cannot guarantee a
happy ending. Nor, unfortunately, can I guarantee a prompt second chapter.
Disclaimer: I own
nothing.
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The date. I usually start with the date, but I'm not sure what day it is. I don't know if it's day-time. It's so dark here. It's late in the sardis-fishing season anyway. My hand hurts.
What am I doing? This isn't even my book. It's Haley's. That's his name on the front. Derek Haley. I found it in what was left of his bunk. Haley wouldn't mind, right? Haley is--he's--gone. Dead. Moons, I can't believe I'm writing this. The pirates killed him. Him and Captain Peralta. Now it's just five: First Mate Greys, our cook Mr. Porter, and then Dhalan and Shanda, and myself. Alex Reyes. But everybody just calls me Rey.
Shiver it I've written all this before! But it's gone, my journal is burned. And I curse the black pirates to the darkest circle of Deep Sky for destroying it! My whole blasted life! No, just the last few months anyway. I have other journals back home. Home? I shouldn't think about it. But I have other journals from before. But everything I've written of this voyage is lost. Just like us.
They shot us out of the sky. It was mine and Haley's shift. We were tying up some of the nets when we heard the boom of canon-fire, and then saw the pirates coming out of the clouds on the starboard side. The first volley blew off all the rudders on that side, and I heard one ball clunk into what must have been the engine. There was a big, metal crunching sound and we started lurching and wheeling to port. Captain Peralta ran out on deck with a pistol, and there was another boom.
I don't know what scared me more, the black pirates, or the Captain's face. He just looked scared, and I'd never seen the Captain look scared, and that made me scared. It was just for an instant, but I can still see his face in my mind. He knew he couldn't dodge it.
I can't do this. I'd never seen someone die before.
The ball hit him directly and blew him off the port side of the deck. I can't believe this. Why? We're just a fishing vessel! We have nothing! We're not merchants! Why us? Why us? Why? I can't. Why did this happen to us? Why black pirates, and why us? And now we're lost.
And I sit. And I can't do this.
But something I once heard makes me go on. "Writing about bad things is better than not writing about them." I wrote that down once before, in one of my other journals.
This is hard. The same round that killed the Captain totally killed our engine. Then I heard a third boom, and Haley yelled something at me, I don't know what. We were running for the cabin when the third shot hit. This one hit the mast. Shivered it completely. And I--no. I can't. Haley. I can't--why me? Haley, Moons above, Haley got in front of me. The mast shattered and he got in between me and the mast, and took all the splinters. I heard him kind of grunt and wince when the pieces hit him, and then he just...fell.
He was there on his back, and just cut up real bad. There were two big pieces stuck down the right side of his chest, and little pieces everywhere else. And he just looked at me. Like he didn't know what to do. Well I sure as the depths didn't know what to do. All I could do was just stare right back at him. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. This morning he was alive and we were talking and joking. Was it only this morning? How long have I been awake? Does the sun touch this land? It was forever ago, it was a moment ago. And now he's dead and I'm still alive.
No, no, no, I kept telling myself. This can't be happening, this can't be real, and we just looked at each other. I heard a loud noise, and realized the mast had toppled over and smashed into the lifeboats before it fell off.
And then suddenly Greys was there, and he and I were dragging Haley back to the cabin. The world seemed to be getting hazier, disappearing. I realized it was because we were sinking down into the clouds. I've never been so scared in all my life.
We got below decks, and dumped Haley into the nearest bunk. It was Shanda's. He winced again and cried out, and held on tight to one of the pieces of wood in his chest.
Greys said gruffly, "See to him," and then left. I smelled smoke. It was coming from the engine. I could hear the clump of boots down the hall, and a lot of shouting, but the only thing in my head was Haley's dying, Haley's dying...
I didn't know what to do. I found an old blanket in a trunk in the corner, came back to the bunk and put my hand around the bigger of the two shivers.
Haley just said, "No..." and I could see tears in his eyes. He was afraid.
Moons, I was afraid. I was shaking so bad I almost couldn't breathe. And... I was crying, too. And I don't care who knows it, whoever reads this. I never should have--but, no. It's too late. Curse the black pirates. And curse me too. Curse us all.
I steeled myself and pulled the shiver out. Haley screamed and thrashed, and I tried to keep a wad of the blanket over the hole. I didn't want to go on, but I also didn't want to wait until he calmed down to do the other one. Just to go through all this again. So I grabbed the second one and pulled it out too. He cried through bared teeth and thrashed again, and I got splinters in my hand, and now it hurts to write.
I pulled out a few more of the smaller pieces and he cried out at each one. I was helping him, but I was hurting him. I couldn't stand it any longer. I wadded up the blanket over the two big wounds and just tried to keep a steady pressure.
It's hard to remember the next part. The world kept getting darker and darker, and the ship started shaking. Haley yelled and writhed at every lurch. And I was yelling just as loud as he was--I was terrified. I felt sick and I couldn't breathe right. I heard a wind outside like a tempest, and cracks of thunder so loud I thought it was the end of the world. Maybe it was. Maybe the Rains of Destruction came back. Moons, why us?
It was like that forever, cracking and shuddering and thundering, like an endless bad dream, and then there were a few seconds of silence. I opened my eyes long enough to see that the front of my shirt was soaked in Haley's blood from pressing on the blanket. And then we crashed.
I don't know what happened, the whole world turned upside-down. Things flew everywhere, Haley fell out of the bunk, and I heard Porter swear. Haley and I sprawled off the floor and onto the wall, and then back up against the floor. The ship was sideways. Trunks and loose drawers and boxes fell all around us, and I tried to shelter Haley with my body. Like he did for me. Moons forgive me.
There was a slunching kind of sound, a very quick slow-down, and everything stopped. We bumped into the wall again. Or rather, the floor. The bulkheads groaned and settled, and for a while I thought the ship would break apart. But it didn't.
We were grounded, I could tell that much. Everything was quiet, eerie. Dark as the depths. But I was glad we'd stopped tumbling and spinning. Haley was still curled on his side under the roof I made of my torso. I found the blanket again, and came back and pressed on the wounds. Haley didn't respond much this time, and that scared me worse than when he screamed.
This can't happen, this can't happen, was all I was thinking. I wanted Captain Peralta--he could help. But no, he was dead. I was so scared. I called Haley's name a couple of times, but nothing happened. Then I shook him, and his eyes snapped open and he said, "Rey," and looked at me very clearly. It didn't feel real. He grabbed my arm very tightly and said, "Give it to her for me."
And then I heard voices and scuffling from the hallway--which was above my head. I looked up and saw dim smoke coiling along the walls.
I felt Haley let go of my arm and I didn't want to look back down. It was as if every part of me knew what I would find, but I still didn't want to see it. So I just shut my eyes and slumped my weight down on the wounds, even though it didn't matter anymore.
Dhalan was the first to find us. Light came down from above, and I looked up, and he was there holding a lantern. He dropped down through the door and told me Shanda was with Greys. He spoke like one winded with fatigue. Greys was keeping Shanda busy elsewhere so she wouldn't have to see Haley like this. At least, not right away.
Greys had known.
I felt so useless. I was sobbing by that point, or I thought I was. I felt like I couldn't breathe, like every breath was a burden. It felt like... I can't describe it. Strange. It still feels that way, but I've gotten used to it. The air is very strange here.
Maybe my labored breathing led to sobbing anyway. I didn't know what to do. And as it turned out, Greys couldn't keep Shanda away for very long anyway. And there were more scuffled boots and arguing voices, and then she came, and she saw Haley, and just screamed.
The rest was madness until Greys got everyone to shut up. I've written before about how he can take up a whole room just by walking in. But my journal is gone. I wish this hadn't happened.
Greys set us to organizing our supplies. The engine room was in as much order as it would ever be, which was not much, so we're leaving that alone for now. He sent me to salvage mine and Haley's room, and Dhalan to help in the galley with Porter, while he went to clean up his own quarters and the storage rooms. He couldn't get Shanda to do anything. Or he just didn't get her to do anything. I couldn't tell. If he really wanted to, I'm sure, but--there was kind of an unspoken agreement to just let her be. She's still in there with Haley. I can still hear her crying.
Before we went to work, Greys, Dhalan and me went topside--which was difficult, since it was sideways--to see where in the blazes we landed. When we looked outside, all we saw was darkness in every direction. We were stuck in the mud on an inclined surface, and the skies above were black with running clouds. The air stank, and it was kind of cold, so we came back inside.
I didn't see any of the Moons.
Is this...the Underworld? Are we dead? No. Haley's dead, but we're still alive. Where are we? Has anyone been here before?
I can't think about this.
We came back inside and lit some lanterns, and I went to mine and Haley's room to see what I could find. Our room was closer to the engine. I've written this before. It's a little bit noisy, but we got used to it. No, it was a little bit noisy. Anyway, that's how my journal burned. Along with a lot of the rest of my stuff. The engine caught fire and my bunk was just next-door. Shivers.
"Shivers." I used to say that a lot whenever I was mad, but now it feels strange. "Shivers." "Shivers." Haley got shivered. Moons forgive me.
It was the first thing I looked for. I rooted around, but I only found the metal parts of the binding, and the buckle, and some scraggly pieces of burnt leather. The pages were gone. Ashes. Ashes, ashes, ashes. I could have cried. I did cry. I'm crying just thinking about it. I wrote so much. So much recorded. So much lost. I can't believe this.
I stripped the bunks and folded the linens, stacked some boxes--what does it all matter? And then I found this book in Haley's bunk. I yearned for my journal. For something. This didn't have anything in it. Was Haley filling up his own book, with this one being the next one he was going to use? But he can't use it now. Would he mind? No, he'd want me to put it to good use. It's a good book. Thank you Haley. Derek. Was this supposed to happen? That you had a spare book because mine would be burned?
I don't know what's happened to us. Did fate put us here?
So I sat down with Haley's book, and the log-lust took me, so I wrote. Dhalan looked in a couple of times, but he didn't say anything. And now I've written, and I'm very tired, and my hand still hurts.
Everything's quiet. What are they all doing? I can only hear Shanda still crying, still moaning. I've written before what a pretty voice she has for singing. And now hearing this...it makes me sad. I'm tired. Shall I make it my lullaby? Moons...
Dhalan and Shanda are brother and sister, by the way. And they are Nasrean. I've written this before.
I'm so tired.