A/N- Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It has been one of my favourites to write so far.

Chapter 8

Constance could recall how loud canon fire was from her previous experience from aboard the pirates ship, but the canon fire which was ripping through the air was nothing like she had heard before. She could only hazard a guess at how many canons the Silent Mary had and she at least believed there to be a hundred. By the sounds of it she was sure they may as well all have been all going off at once.

The ship physically rocked as she heard bang after bang of canon fire and she nearly fell off the bed. Half of her knew that it was safer to stay in her quarters but a variety of scenarios littered her mind. She wanted to find out if they were under attack, which she had already assumed at this point, and if more importantly, they were winning. So, ignoring the Captains words, she managed to get to the door after shoving her shoes on and tried her best to recall how to get to the top. By this time, she had been up and down so much she was at least ninety percent sure she knew where she was going. Suddenly there was a massive bang and she heard shouts from above. Whatever was happening, it didn't sound overly good.

Climbing, whilst holding on for dear life, she got to the top step and had to duck straight down again as debris almost hit her. Her ribbon had somehow fallen from her hair and she tried to look around for it but the rocking of the ship was beginning to make her feel quite ill and decided that she would just have to deal with her hair down for the meantime.

Managing to stand, Constance pushed her hair from her eyes and looked again and gasped as there, not too far from the Silent Mary was the burning remains of a smaller ship. Its sails were broken and even though it looked well and thoroughly beaten, she felt the ship shake as one final round of canon fire caused more damage to the already sinking ship.

Men around her were running and she debated on going back down to stay out of the way, but over the roaring sound of the burning ship and waves she could hear men shouting. Without thinking she ran to the side, managing to narrowly avoid being hit by the rushing officer who looked hassled and leaned over to have a look at who was shouting. There in the water were men holding onto large wooden planks which were the remains of their now sinking vessel. They all looked desperate and had some awful wounds littering their bodies. She could only guess they were pirates from their appearance and they were shouting for mercy. Among them was a young boy who looked terrified and was being helped by an older looking man. She felt sorry for them even though they were pirates, but perhaps more so because they looked so desperate.

She turned around to suddenly find a line of officers further up near the side pointing their guns at the men down below. She furrowed her brow wondering why they were doing this. After all they had surrendered. Looking further up the ship she saw Captain Salazar eating an apple and looking at the men down below. Constance started to get an awful feeling about what was going to happen. She knew he hated them but this seemed a bit too barbaric. Now that the canon fire had stopped and the officers were too busy either getting on with their work of sorting the ship or pointing their guns at the men down below, she was able to get past far quicker. She looked over once more and made eye contact with the young boy and she felt her eyes water. He mouthed something at her and she knew she couldn't let him die. She didn't care what they had done, they didn't deserve this type of death.

Running, her pale blonde hair whipped her face and she managed to dodge a few officers as she tried to get to the Captain. As though time had slowed down, she watched with horror as he threw his green apple into the sea and said something to his Lieutenant Lesaro. Lesaro nodded with a straight face and then turned to the line of men with guns and gave them the command. The Captain didn't even bother watching his men as they began to prepare their guns.

Being so near to the officers with the guns, each shot was loud and caused her ears to ring. For a moment, she could not hear anything but soon enough it was replaced by the cries of the men below. She stopped running and time resumed back to its normal pace. She was in shock. Her legs moved her on their own accord and soon she was at the side of the ship looking down at the now bloody sea. She felt sick at the sight of the lifeless bodies floating. But what broke her the most was the young boy's lifeless body. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to cry, shout or just do something but in that moment she could only stare at the body.

The officers had now moved away and she slowly turned her head and saw the Captain looking rather content on the stern deck. His expression tipped her over the edge. With her fists clenched she hurriedly walked in his direction and judging by the officers who moved out of her way, she could only imagine the anger on her face. The Captain had finally spotted her and she watched as his smug expression started to dwindle.

"How could you?" She shouted when she was near enough. "They surrendered! You won, what on earth possessed you to just kill them all?"

She was now marching up the steps and she watched as Lesaro moved out of her way, not wanting to get involved. When she was close enough to the Captain she stopped, and looked up at his calm face.

"You just killed a boy. A boy Armando!" She shouted using his first name and not giving a damn if they were no longer in private. As she spoke she was annoyed that her eyes were watering and wiped her the tears from her cheek quickly, causing her skin to burn at the rough impact.

"They are not worth your tears". He replied and attempted to walk past her. However, he was stopped when her small frame blocked his much larger one.

"No. You are not going to walk away from me. I don't care if you saved me, you are just as bad as them by killing those who surrender". She realised quickly that her words had angered him but she couldn't help herself from carrying on. "How many times have you done this? By the looks of it, it seems like you are used to this".

"Pirates are not human-" He started to growl but was cut off when her hand made impact with his cheek . She couldn't quite believe what she had just done but for a second it had felt good. Now, on the other hand her senses had returned and she just realised what she had done. She had just slapped the man who ruthlessly ordered the killing of a boy. She felt her eyes flicker to Lesaro and noticed he was giving her a wide-eyed look that most likely said 'It was nice knowing you'.

Captain Salazar's face was slightly turned and she watched as the skin where she had made contact with was turning into a light shade of red. Not quite sure what her next plan was, Constance turned around and decided to go for the second-best option of walking away. But her plan to run didn't go quite to plan as a strong arm grabbed her and pulled her roughly back. She gave a squeak as her chest was pressed against his own and she felt her own eyes widen as he stared at her with such anger. She hardly had time to try and get away as in seconds he had pulled her to the side and with a scream he forced half her body off the side so her arms were flailing. She could see the waves below and the bodies and remains of the ship which were now littering the sea. She tried to pull herself up but the Captain's strong arms were pinning her in position. One arm was snaked round her waist and she felt her legs begin to be lifted off the floor as she kicked. Her heart raced as she suddenly realised he was going to throw her over. Kicking desperately, she tried her best to move but he wouldn't loosed his grip.

"Look at them". He said harshly, his voice sounding hollow to her as her heartbeat echoed in her ears. "You think they would show you any mercy. They are a disease Constance who would take any opportunity to screw you over". He hissed angrily, his accent thick with passion. Her hair was hanging low and the wind caused it to whip and sting her now red face and she was trying to process his words.

All of a sudden, he pulled her back fast and her feet made contact with the wood below her again. Everything became increasingly dizzy from moving so fast and she could hear her heart thumping loudly. Her heart was no longer racing but it was still as deafening as the waves. She felt his arm pull her up into a standing position and then let go leaving her swaying slightly.

"You will hold your tongue in future. Do not disrespect me so blatantly". He snapped as he turned around. But Constance was not paying much attention to his words anymore as the world was spinning. She had never fainted before and found herself falling slowly. It was as though someone had covered her eyes from right to left and despite trying keep her eyes open the world became very dark. As though she was underwater she heard the hollow sound of Lesaro shouting 'Captain'. And that was all she heard before she lost consciousness.