As always I don't own Skins or Skins characters. And as always thank you so much for your reviews.
Chapter Nineteen: Making Waves
"Leave him!" Effy bellowed as they ran past the man guarding Cook. "There's no time."
She could feel the girl tugging against her grip as she pulled her up through the dense vegetation. The redhead spit and gasped, obviously having received a mouthful of sand in her struggle with her sister.
"Just a little father; I know a place to hide while they fight it out." The brunette panted. "Don't worry, the navy will recognize your sister; they won't hurt her…problem is they know me and well…me they will hurt…"
Leaves and branches were whipping her face and she couldn't hear the girl behind her trying to argue as they stumbled over vines and roots. Finally, the brunette could see the small outcropping from the mountain that she had taken shelter in years earlier; the bucket she had used to collect the water that dripped from the rocks above was still in place and she scooped up a few handfuls after directing the girl into the makeshift shelter.
"Here…" Effy said, "drink some of this…it will help with the sand."
The redhead didn't move; instead she leaned against the stone wall and slid down into a sitting position.
"Come on Katie…if it wasn't for…you know, the price on my head, this would be the ultimate stroke of luck…" the brunette said as she fished around the bottom of the bucket and came up with a somewhat slimy cup.
The captain wiped it off and scooped up some water, crawling on sore knees to the girl by the wall. "Come on…" she insisted, "…it's just a little set back…in a few hours I'll lead you back down and head back to the longboat another way…"
She brushed back the girl's tangled red hair and dropped the cup. "Well…you're not Katie at all…"
Captain Campbell guided them into the cave, pressing against the cold wet stone as she caught her breath. The redhead jerked her hand free from the blonde's grasp.
"Emily…" she wheezed, feeling like she was about to break down.
"Don't say her name! Don't you fucking even say her name!" Katie hissed, pummeling the captain's back with weak fists and tired arms.
"The fuck?" Naomi spun around, grabbing the redhead by the wrists.
"Let me go! Let me the fuck go fucking now!" the girl spat as she writhed, trying to free herself from the captain's surprisingly strong grasp.
Panic flashed across Captain Campbell's face as she struggled to keep hold of the wrong redhead. Her mouth dropped open as realization sunk in that Emily was gone, taken by Captain Stonem, if not already hit by misdirected fire. Her grip tightened instinctively and Katherine yelped at the added pressure.
"Let me go the fuck now!" the redhead hissed, sending a swift kick to the blonde's shin.
"Shit!" Naomi exclaimed, letting go, and crouching down slightly to rub her throbbing leg.
"It's over! All this shit is finally over. You lose," she crowed, turning quickly to leave the cave. "I'll let the navy deal with you if I don't come back with my sword first."
"Don't!" the captain shrieked.
"Oh just try and stop me, bitch!" Katie laughed.
The redhead began to walk, but found herself falling; something had tripped her and she threw her hands out to break her fall as she hit the slick ground with a thud. She swore and began to push herself back up; the loud scrape of metal against stone thundered overhead and she reflexively covered her head with her arms. A loud crash echoed down the walls of the cavern as the grate fell into place across the mouth of the cave.
"Well that's just wonderful!" Naomi groaned.
Katherine struggled to regain her footing in the slick mud; she pushed wildly against the bars blocking her path, but they wouldn't budge. She cursed again and shook the grate angrily, letting out a slew of profanity in the process. She reeled around at the sound of Captain Campbell's hysterical laughter.
"Shut up!" She screeched.
Naomi panted and gasped for air between peals of uncontrollable laughter, tears streaming down her face as she tried to force herself to stop. She clasped her hands tightly over her mouth, but that only muffled the distressed howling coming from her.
"Stop! Stop it now!" the redhead demanded, giving the blonde a rough kick in the side.
"I can't…oh god I can't…I can't breathe…" the captain grieved, the laughter now dying into sobs that shook her entire body.
"Well you deserve it!" Katie hissed, tempted to kick the girl again, but not able to bring herself to do it.
"Oh god…Emily…it's all gone…everything is gone…" Naomi curled up and rocked back and forth in the fetal position. "…I can't breathe…I don't want to…" she mumbled to herself.
"Yeah…well…" The redhead shifted uneasily; this wasn't what she had expected this to be like.
She had hoped her sister's kidnapper would beg for her life; she had never thought the pirate would be begging for her life to end or calling her sister's name as though her heart had been ripped out.
"Oh fuck it all." Katie sighed as she crouched down next to the blonde, stroking her hair awkwardly.
"Don't," the girl whimpered past the hands covering her face. "Just end it."
"Well, I'm not going to…to…" she could barely bring herself to say the word kill to someone who was curled up like a child. "I'm not going to end it…I want answers…so I'm going to wait here until you are able to give them to me…since I don't have much of a choice anyway…"
"They're going to kill her…" Emily stammered, her brown eyes glazed over as she stared blindly ahead.
"Possibly…" Effy shrugged.
"…or lock her away for life…" the redhead continued numbly.
"Definitely…" The brunette shrugged again, not bothering to sugar coat it.
"…and it's all my fault…" the girl said as her head dropped to her knees.
"Lost me there…" the pirate said with a hitch in her voice.
"I fucking ruined everything!" Emily wailed as she slammed her fist on the ground. "That fucking letter…why did I think…why didn't I just listen…"
"Ah, well, it wasn't the letter…" Captain Stonem chirped, "if that's any comfort. They never got the letter…that's how we found you."
Emily wailed again and the captain covered her ears; when the crying didn't stop she clamped her hand over the redhead's mouth.
"Sssshhhh…" She urged. "Do you want to lead them right to us?"
Effy couldn't tell exactly what the girl mumbled into her hand, but suspected it was something like of course I do. Emily continued to try to scream and struggle and it became apparent that Effy wouldn't be able to keep her quiet forever.
"Ok…ok…if you be ever so quiet love…" The captain groaned. "…I'll help you rescue her…if she's gone in the cave the guards won't be able to find her for quite a while."
Emily stopped; her brown eyes locked on the captain's icy blue eyes—waiting to hear a promise of some kind even if she wasn't sure she could trust it.
"Cross my heart or may I never drink again…" the captain assured, "…and trust me that's worse than death."
The brunette let go of the girl's face and they sat in silence for a while, the hush only broken by the drip of water into the bucket and random sounds from the jungle around them. The redhead trailed her fingers through the sand beneath them, making swirling patterns as they listened for more sounds from the beach. Effy picked at the dirt under her nails as she cast wary glances at her employer's twin. Employer, she thought, Katie hadn't been that in a long time, so why did she keep thinking of her that way? The pirate chuckled to herself, causing Emily's head to shoot up.
"What?" the redhead said defensively.
"I should have learned by now never to argue with a seashell…" the wild girl sighed, "but who would have thought that I would end up trying to rescue my ex lover for her new one…which is going to piss the shit out of my…" she stopped herself quickly.
"Your what?" Emily gasped.
"My employer," Effy breezed. "The lady with the money that I suppose I will never get…" she added even though she had long since given up the idea of accepting money from Katherine.
"…ex lover…" The girl breathed in disbelief.
"Oh dear…I suppose you are going to fixate on that now…" The captain sighed unapologetically. "It was a long time ago; don't trouble yourself over it…where are you going…hey now!"
"That doesn't exactly seem your style…" Naomi ventured, pointing to the trinket around Katie's neck as she finally broke the silence.
In time the other girl had eased the blonde into a sitting position and an hour later she had finally finished crying—though, she wasn't sure if it was by willpower or lack of moisture in her body.
"It's not but…it's growing on me…" Katie answered, trying to hide the pink that was coming to her cheeks. "…so do you think we can talk now without you…ya know…breaking again?"
Captain Campbell leaned her head back against the cold stone in exhaustion. "I suppose so."
"Why?" the redhead asked point blank.
"Why what?" The blonde mumbled.
The girl grumbled as she rolled her eyes. "I know you took her for the money…"
"Book," the captain corrected. "I never asked for money."
"…ok…" the girl continued, a little confused, "…fine…for a book. What I don't understand is…why pull her into this twisted…thing…why couldn't you just get the ransom and let her go?"
"I never meant for this to happen; believe me, it would have been easier," Naomi admitted,."But I didn't pull her into it."
"Right," Katie snorted, "right…"
"It's fine if you don't believe me…but…it's not a thing we can change at this point; it's gone too far," the captain insisted; "If she's happy, then why can't you let her go?"
"Why should I?" the redhead spat. "She already loved me. Why did you have to go confusing her and making her think she loves you?"
"She does love me!" It was Naomi's turn to roll her eyes as she answered. "Even if you think it's filthy, your sister was right…it's better than what you do."
"You don't know a bloody thing about it!" the girl defended, "You wouldn't know what it means to be well off and have your entire family name riding on you. For every decision you make to come back on the Fitch name…and she doesn't know either because she's always left it all on me!"
Captain Campbell chuckled a bit; causing Katherine to glare at her. "What?"
"Oh nothing…nothing…" the blonde insisted. "…something just popped into my head out of nowhere…"
"God! I've had it up to here with fucking pirates! You're all the same." Katherine huffed, crossing her arms, her lips sticking out in a pout.
They sat in silence again for a while before the redhead asked another question, "…it is a pirate thing? The chasing girls?"
"What?" the blonde said with a confused look on her face.
"Nothing…never mind," the redhead snapped.
"Oh my god…" Naomi laughed, "…that's Effy for you…"
"Shut up…it's not what you think…" Katie hissed.
"Sounds like it's not what you think…" The captain chuckled.
"How do we get out of here?" the now blushing girl snapped.
"Well we could walk out the…oh yeah…you set off the trap…" Naomi teased. "The incredibly obvious trap set by the great pirate Stoat…that even a blind man could see on a foggy day…not seeing traps must run in your family…guess you're only good at setting them."
"Oh for fucks sake…make sense!" The girl moaned as she rubbed her temples. "Stoat…why does that sound familiar…no don't answer me I don't want to hear any more nonsense today!"
"Ok," Naomi said as she stood up. "So the only way out is going to be through the cave…if there is a way out…but you're going to have to stay close and do everything I say. It's full of traps and I've only managed to make it past of few of them before now. So…assuming we survive them and find an exit…or someone comes to pry this thing loose…we should be ok. Ready?" she added cheerily.
"No…but we don't have a lot of choice now do we?" Katherine answered sourly.
Hope it's not too cliche I know a lot of you saw it coming that they would be split up; but I really just couldn't pass it up. Really hope you are still enjoying it.
