Chapter Three: Talk to Me
She was absolutely sick of waking up in a haze. Mabel groaned softly as she turned on her side, once more finding her hands bound in front of her. Was it too much to ask to wake up in her bed? Apparently this nightmare turned reality was never ending.
At least she could feel a tightness in her bicep that let her know she had been stitched up, with a new bandage on her head. The jacket she stole from Gideon was gone, but she was still wearing the same nightgown and found a small comfort in that. There was little else she was going to be able to find comfort in right now.
What had she done? Mabel squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, not even willing to open her eyes to see if anyone else was there. She had run away from Gideon and taken a huge risk in this, going with another pirate that could have a lot less for morals. Sure, Gideon made stupid analogies about clipping her wings, but at least she knew what she was dealing with.
Cipher. Where had she heard that name before? Mabel couldn't remember. Did it matter when he was just a pirate? When he so willingly hurt her just as Gideon did? Granted, she had been defensive and put a knife against his throat, but she didn't think he would actually hit her head wound like that. Still, the name rang a bell that she wouldn't have been able to describe.
"I know you're awake, butterfly." A voice sounded, and Mabel couldn't help but flinch, afraid for just a moment that she was back on the ship with Gideon and the fight had all just been a dream. Yet the voices didn't match, and slowly she rose her head from the pillows to look at Cipher.
He was lounging in a chair next to his desk, with his feet up on the desk and looking every bit of a comfortable king. At least he wasn't laying on the bed next to her. Mabel looked down at her bandaged bicep, placing her hand over the cloth there that was lightly stained with her blood. Cipher never even glanced up at her, not even as she moved to the end of the bed and swung her feet over the edge.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cipher spoke up, and Mabel instantly had her eyes on him. With no jacket in sight, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders to maintain some modesty around a pirate. "Had the ship's doctor check you out. Got a nasty graze from a bullet and you have a head injury. A really bad one apparently."
"It wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't hit me." Mabel snapped without thinking, but also not regretting her words as soon as they were out. She finally noticed the book in his hands, which he had never taken his eyes off of. "That's mine."
"No it's not, it belonged to Gleeful, and now it belongs to me." Cipher returned, finally glancing up at her as she stood. Mabel wobbled for a second, but managed to remain on her feet.
"Keep it, I don't care. Just don't call me that again." Mabel didn't even glance at him, moving towards the door. He didn't move for a long second, but finally did get up to block her way.
"You need rest." Cipher stared down at her, and Mabel finally had enough sense in her to stare back up and notice more details than before. He had blue eyes. They were nice.
"Okay." Mabel said, pushing past him and opening the door. "I'm going to get rest."
Her feet were still bare, but she couldn't feel blood on them anymore, but she had no doubt that Cipher took the time to wash her feet off. He watched her curiously for a moment, finally following after her as she made her way to the deck, blanket still wrapped around her shoulders.
"We left Gleeful's ship a while ago, so if you want to go back on our deal, you're out of luck, butterfly." Cipher cackled, not expecting her to whip around and smack him across the face. Everyone on the deck was silent as a red handprint grew across his face, and Mabel's chest heaved slightly at the adrenaline rush.
"Don't you ever call me that again." Mabel snapped. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're absolutely nothing. Like I said, a big bad pirate who knows nothing about the real world."
She was tired, she was fed up with men not listening to her and ignoring her, she was fed up with being injured and being on a ship that belonged to someone else other than her uncles. Mabel spun on her heel, ignoring the way that everyone was staring at her as she made her way to the middle of the ship.
Shedding the blanket and no longer caring, Mabel scaled the ropes for the sails with practiced ease. Even tired and straining, she made her way to the crow's nest in under a minute. The man who was there stared at her in surprise for a moment before she sat down, and took that as his cue to leave her be. He was hardly there for ten seconds before Mabel was truly alone, in the one place that someone could be alone on a ship.
When her great uncles had made up and gone sailing for the first time, they had taken her and her brother. Dipper and Mabel had been too young to leave all by themselves, and so they had spent the whole summer sailing around and seeing different parts of the world. To Mabel, the adventure had been fun, but the crows nest on her uncle's ship had always been her safe place.
Mabel didn't realize how much she needed to be alone until she was, with her back pressed against the wood that needed to be sanded down, splinters threatening to go into her skin at any second. The wind whipped harshly around her, but Mabel hardly felt it. She had barely been there for a minute before she felt hot tears prickling at her eyes, the stress of the situation too much to bare.
She cried for the abuse Gideon had put her through. She cried for the names they called her. She cried for the unknown she was facing. She cried for the family she wasn't sure she would see again, and she cried for the fact that they could be dead because of Gideon's actions. Mabel cried for the pirate who was on the deck of the ship who seemed as terrible as Gideon, and she cried for herself.
On deck, the pirates all stared up at the crow's nest as their crew member left. It wasn't long before there was just silence and the sound of the wind as they gave the young woman her peace. Bill Cipher stood, watching where she had gone with calculating eyes and rubbing his cheek to try to get rid of the bruise that was sure to form. She was quite deadly when she wanted to be.
"Leave her be." His second in command, Tad Strange, ordered before Bill could even make a comment. So what if he was already heading towards the ropes to get up there? She owed him information.
"She promised me information about Gleeful." Bill grumbled, but still crossed his arms and didn't move forward. Tad shook his head, clicking his tongue like a disappointed father.
"You saw the head injury she had. You saw Gleeful. Leave her be, she probably wasn't even a willing guest on his ship." Tad grabbed Bill's sleeve, hauling him back to the helm. Bill had no protests to this, but he did yank his arm out of Tad's grip so he could walk on his own.
"I lost good men because of her!" Bill snapped. "She will come down here and tell me what she knows, or I'll lock her in the brig."
"No you won't." Tad laughed, dismissing the sailor who was steering the ship and taking that post for himself.
"Are you challenging me?"
"I'm saying that you won't do that because you need her, and you know just as I do that if you lock her up she won't say a goddamn thing. Just wait until she comes down." Tad shook his head, pulling out a compass and slightly changing their direction.
Bill sighed, leaning against the railing and crossing his arms. He already had a nice bruise forming on his cheek from her slap, and his body was as tense as a board. A part of him was already starting to regret taking her aboard. She slept for two days, she didn't do anything, and she wasn't fulfilling her end of the deal.
"This is ridiculous, she needs to calm down." Bill snapped, pulling the book out from the pocket of his coat and flipping through the pages. There was only one page that had been read again and again, based off the wear and tear it had gone through.
"What's that?" Tad, clearly looking to change the subject, asked. Bill shrugged a bit, not sure how to explain and not exactly sure that he should. Bill kept glancing up at the crow's nest, waiting to see if she was coming down or not.
"Not sure, it was in that stupid jacket she was wearing." Bill sighed and shoved the book back into his jacket.
"...You like her." Tad smirked, turning to fully face Bill. "Didn't think she'd have that much influence on you from kicking you in the balls."
"I hate you so much." Bill growled, taking a step back. Tad had just blown whatever patience Bill had out of the water.
Sending his first mate a very nice gesture that made Tad just howl in laughter, Bill stormed off to the ropes. It had been a long time since he had actually climbed to the crow's nest, but he had more ease than the woman, who was probably still struggling to get better.
His boots clicked on the wood when he arrived, staring down at the girl who had tear tracks on her face and her free hand wiping away the rest of the tears that were still forming. He didn't say anything, taking a deep sigh and sitting down next to her so the rocking of the boat wouldn't suddenly toss him out.
"You owe me information." Bill said after a long moment, watching as she turned her head away from him and angled her body as much as she could away from him. When she tried to move away, Bill's hand shot out, grasping her wrist and preventing her from getting away.
"Don't touch me." She was shaking, and Bill sighed for a moment before he let her go and shrugged off his jacket to place over her. If she ever came down, he would have to get her new clothes.
"I did what you wanted and got you off that ship, you owe me." Bill muttered, watching her carefully place the jacket over herself.
"Just leave me alone." Mabel asked, leaning her head against the side of the crow's nest, and Bill took the time to study her. She looked as though she had been through hell, that was for sure. "I just want to go home."
"I can get you home when you keep your end of the deal. You're going to help me take down Gleeful." Bill reached over, grabbing her chin in a firm grip and making her meet his gaze. "You will either enjoy your time on this ship and give me what I want, or I'll make sure you never see land again. So get off that high horse you have and tell me what I want to know."
"Well, you're out of luck, because I lied!" She shouted, pushing his hand away and feeling marks on her skin from his grip. Why did it seem like every man she met lately wanted to leave marks on her?
"I don't know where he keeps his gold, I don't even know where he's going next, and I don't know how to take him down." Her voice started out strong, but by the end of her sentence, it was weak, it sounded as though she expected him to take it out on her, and he could almost see the regret on her face.
Bill pulled back, bringing one leg up so he could rest his arm on it. She seemed to fold a bit in on herself, with Bill staying there silently and considering just what he was going to say next.
"I should make you walk the plank." Bill said, watching her flinch and frown. He sighed silently, reaching over into his coat and ignoring her discomfort as he grabbed the book. "You do know some things, for instance, what is this book?"
"It's a book." She crossed his arms. "I don't know, I found it in his desk."
Bill nodded, setting it down next to him and trying to think about what his next question would be. He noticed the slightest of shakes with her, as though she was still afraid that he was going to pick her up and throw her overboard. Reaching up, Bill placed his hand and taking off his glove to press against her forehead. She had just the tiniest of fevers.
"You need rest, love." He sighed, pulling back and letting her have that distance again. She scoffed, seeming to burrow herself further into his jacket.
"Stop pretending you care. Just make me walk the plank already." This girl was really starting to get on his nerves, but now looking down at the book she had brought and the pages that were worn and torn, Bill suddenly knew just why Gideon wanted her.
"Oh, love, if I wanted to do that I would have done that already." Bill laughed. "Don't you know Bill Cipher takes no prisoners? I'm getting a bit sick of your attitude. Here's how this is going to go. You can either enjoy your time here on my ship and help me take down Gleeful, or you can spend the rest of your days in the brig until I decide what to do with you."
There was silence for a long moment as she considered her decisions, and Bill ignored the way that she glanced at him with a new bit of thought as he revealed who he was. Though at this point, he thought it would have been obvious.
"I'm Mabel." She sighed, moving closer to him. "I grew up with Gideon, what do you want to know?"