Chapter Six: I'm Nothing to You
Waking up was a terrible thing that immediately made Mabel want to curl up in a ball and regret every decision she had ever made in her life. The sun was much too bright, the slight rocking of the ship was almost too much for her to handle, Mabel was close to never once getting up ever again. She was most certainly never having another drink ever again, that was for sure.
Groaning softly, buried herself into the soft pillows and pulled the blanket up over her head. She was never drinking again, that was it. Never again. This was too much. She didn't even know where she was, much less how she got there. The last thing she remembered was talking to Tad, something about 'playing along' and Bill.
After a couple minutes of laying there in complete agony, Mabel peeked out from underneath the covers, looking around the room. All of the blinds were drawn, but even then the small amount of light that came through was too much for her. It took a couple hazy blinks for her to recognize just where she was, and to do a quick check on herself to make sure nothing happened. How stupid could she be to actually get drunk around pirates? At least nothing had happened, from what she could feel.
There was a glass of water next to the bed, and Mabel snatched it and gulped it down before she could question if anything was in it or not. There didn't seem to be, since it didn't taste like anything other than water. Bill wasn't there, and Mabel settled back into the pillows with a sigh.
She never wanted to get out of bed again, and she reassured herself that she didn't have to. Ships always stayed a couple days at port, she had plenty of chances to escape. Sleep was so much better anyways.
She had passed out almost immediately, and Bill took the time to actually go and get her a cup of water so she could have that when she woke up. After that, there was so much to do, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get it done in time. This opportunity was a narrow one, but it was one he refused to let pass by.
Getting back on deck, a bit of the crew was still there and got the unfortunate task of helping Bill with his task. He ordered two men to get supplies the moment market opened, and the rest were set with getting the ship in order and to repair whatever needed to be repaired.
It wasn't until dawn broke through the sky that Bill realized just how exhausted he was, but things were coming together. His men were bringing supplies to the ship and fixing things, almost all of them were going without sleep like he was, and it wasn't the first time that they had done something like this.
Getting everything perfectly in order, Bill yawned as he headed for the market that was still starting to open. It took him a couple minutes to find the stand that he had never had a reason to stop at once before, but he wasn't questioned when he bought a couple of dresses that seemed to be in Mabel's size. At the very least, it meant that she would stop kidnapping his clothes, even if she probably wouldn't like the dresses.
Heading through the town, with the new clothes being sent to his ship along with a couple other things the store owner told him any proper lady would need, Bill sighed at the thought of the upcoming fight that was sure to happen. Mabel was a spitfire, that was for sure, and while he liked her energy, he was exhausted.
Not even spending a full day at port, as soon as Bill was back on the ship, it was put to sail once more, sailing through the dark blue water and away from shore before Mabel Pines even woke up from her hungover slumber.
She woke when it was almost dark out, with her headache slightly lessened and the light from the sky no longer bothering her eyes as much. Mabel rubbed her eyes to try to wake up, stretching in bed and finally getting up. She clutched her head at the ache it caused, but refused to let it get her down for long. Mabel was never drinking again.
"Not even a hangover can keep you down for long, can it?" Bill asked as he walked into the room, dark bags underneath his eyes and looking as exhausted as Mabel felt.
"Did you even sleep?" Mabel asked in retort, smirking just a little bit. "Thought I wasn't to stay in your room anymore, captain."
"Then don't get fucking drunk." Bill retorted, going and sitting on the bed where she had just left. Mabel stared at him for a moment, before going to sit next to him carefully.
"You need sleep, come on." Mabel murmured, pushing on his shoulder until he was lying flat on his bed. Folding the blanket over him, she tucked him firmly into the bed and whapped him with the pillow when he decided now was the time to argue with her.
"Don't go anywhere." Bill yawned, curling up in the bed and crinkling his nose when Mabel scoffed. She most certainly was going somewhere, just not on his ship.
"Get some sleep, you idiot." Mabel watched him drift into sleep before she moved, getting out of the captain's quarters and heading to the deck. She should be eating, but the thought of eating anything made her want to vomit. She still felt full from the water she had drunk a couple hours ago.
The moment that she came out on deck though, Mabel completely froze. Not only were they out at sea, but the crew seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument, with Tad trying to calm them down. Mabel had seen a lot of crew fights in her days, with her uncles, but this wasn't like the ones she had seen before. This was just brutal.
Tad waved his hands, trying to hear the rambling men one at a time. They were all talking over one another, trying to make their voices heard but just sounding like a babble of gibberish. Mabel took a careful step back, trying not to get involved, even though she wanted to go and talk to Tad about some things as well.
"Men, will ya shut the hell up!" Tad yelled, getting a couple of the men to calm down for half a second. "We follow the captain's orders. He didn't want to stay there, so we didn't. Now get back to work!"
"You don't get to say anything when the captain's letting you bed that little thing he picked up. What, you don't think we don't know?" A man spoke up, one that Mabel somewhat remembered as being the cook with huge teeth that slightly rattled her.
"That's none of your goddamn business. If ya don't want to stay, you can get in the fucking dinghy and leave!" Tad screamed, and Mabel took another step back just to bump into another crew mate.
It was like everything froze. Mabel fell to the deck with a harsh smack as the man she had bumped into reached down to help her up, Tad looked about ready to have a panic attack, and Kryptos rushed downstairs. It was like everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Mabel the moment most of the crew looked down at her with anger in their eyes.
She should have just stayed in bed.
"Why we even keep her? She don't do anything!" Someone yelled, and the man who had been trying to help her up stared down at her for a moment before backing up. Tad stood in front of her while Mabel got back on her feet, trying to take another step back but completely unsteady.
"That's not your decision, it's the captain's, and he wants her around." Tad snapped. Mabel glanced around for a weapon, but didn't find anything, she didn't even have her knife. Whatever happened to that?
"Captain's down for the night, just give us a little time with her, she'll earn her place here." A man Mabel had never seen before sneered, not even waiting for Tad to say anything before he roughly pushed the man to the side, knocking him against the deck hard enough to knock him out and leave Mabel with no defense.
"Don't you dare touch me, you filthy animal." Mabel snarled, hands balled into fists and unsure what she could even do right now.
The men were so much bigger than her, so she used that to her advantage, darting to the side and trying to rush past. She didn't get far before one man snapped his hand out, grabbing a fistful of her dark hair and shoving her back into place. Mabel couldn't help but cry out as she felt a couple of strands of hair forcefully ripped out of her skull, but the man didn't let go of her when she was back in place.
"Stupid girl, you don't know anything." The man sneered, slapping her hard enough for her teeth to cut the inside of her cheek and for blood to pool in her mouth. Mabel pushed herself away from the man, but all that she ended up doing was falling down next to Tad and wiping the blood from her chin.
"We'll show ya what you can do to help out around here." The man stepped forward, but fell down harshly as the sound of gunfire rang through the open air. Mabel flinched, as did the rest of the men, everyone watching their fallen comrade slump dead on the deck, with a bullet wound slowly leaking blood out of his back.
Kryptos ran from behind the captain, rushing over to Mabel's side as the barrel of the captain's gun still smoked. She flinched again at the contact as he looked over the bright red mark on her cheek, but soon Kryptos was gone and checking over Tad for injuries.
"What's going on here, men?" Bill asked, and the deck was completely silent except for the click of his boots as he stepped in front of Mabel, looking down at her for a second. Mabel averted her gaze from him, hiding the tears that had sprung up from the slap and her hand going up to cover the mark.
"Nothin' captain." The men spoke together, most averting their gaze from the captain but still casting glares Mabel's way.
"Nothing?" Bill shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants, watching as Tad finally started to rise. "You all have ten seconds to explain what is going on here."
The men started all talking over each other, mainly about how Mabel was starting a mutiny and Tad had no idea what he was doing. For a moment there was just speech and Bill listening to them all, and Tad finally sat up with Mabel moving to slightly check over him and to see if his head was bleeding.
"That's enough!" Bill shouted. "Throw that thing," he gestured at the dead body, "overboard. This is not what I expected from my crew. If you have a problem, you can take it up with me. Now, does anyone have a problem?"
Not a sound. Slowly, a man grabbed the dead body, hauling it over the edge and into the dark water below. Mabel let Tad lean against her as everyone went back to work, leaving a puddle of blood on the ground and Mabel and Tad still in pain.
"Thank you, Kryptos." Mabel whispered, seeing him right there. Tad pulled away from Mabel and sat on his own, allowing her to get up and give Bill a chance to look her over.
"Don't touch me." Mabel said when Bill reached out a hand to touch her cheek. He pulled back, but didn't look away from her.
It was unsettling, seeing him kill someone so easily, but Mabel expected nothing less from a pirate. The pieces were falling into place now, and Mabel was hurt and angry and just wanted to be left alone.
"Why did you come on deck?" Bill had the audacity to ask, as though Mabel really should be the one to blame for the actions that the crew, and Bill, had taken.
"Why did you get me drunk and leave port before they could relax?" Mabel asked instead, still having a hand over her cheek.
"Mabel…" Bill started, but seemed unsure of where to continue.
"I don't want to hear it." Mabel said, wiping more blood from her chin and turning away. "I don't even know what I expected."
Before he could say anything else, Mabel went downstairs, back into the bowels of the ship and leaving Bill to take care of his crew in any way he felt fit. She didn't know what she expected, from the man who danced with her last night, she had just expected something else.