Brief suicidal ideation

Consequences

Darla woke up an hour after their tryst. She was alone in a cold, comfortable bed. She didn't know where she was and the feel of the ship scared her. She jumped up and blinked at the stickiness on her back and thighs. She took one abortive step and fell back on the bed from the soreness of her legs. Then she remembered, she'd lost her virginity to the man she loved earlier that night. He hadn't been gentle with her, but he had been thorough. She would likely be sore the next few days. Remembering the feel of his body dominating hers, she smiled, actually looking forward to the next time. Sex was supposed to get better with practice, or so she'd heard.

She finally identified why the ship felt different. They'd sped up! She exited the room she was in quickly and found a window to look out of. Not only had they sped up, but they were also still headed in the same direction as before. Anger welled up in her, black and poisonous. She went towards the bridge, stopping short of going in when she noticed that not only was her virgin's blood still splattered across the control panel they'd mated against, but the Captain himself was back at the helm like nothing happened. Alongside the anger welled up depression. He'd betrayed her. He wasn't even being subtle about it, he'd fucked her to assure her compliance while he delivered her to Bowser. What they'd done hadn't meant anything to him, he really was just a cold-hearted bastard. He was even planning to display her moment of weakness to the crew, allowing them to see her shame.

Her first thought was to kill herself so he'd never get the bounty, so no one would. But no, that wasn't the right thing to do. No, an even better idea popped into her head and she turned and stormed away from her lover. No, she'd give him exactly what he wanted. And he'd never have cause to bother her again.

She found that the life pods had been transformed into mini ships from her… encounter with the Captain. Taking one, she set a course for this Bowser character everyone had been talking about and set the speed for double what the Bamboozalin was doing. He wanted to betray her, fine. She wouldn't give him the chance.

She arrived way before the Captain as she had hoped. No one stopped her as she made her way to the boss of this rock. It was a veritable paradise, complete with waterfalls, soft grass that actually massaged your feet as you walked, and the perfect temperature at all times. The breezes shuttled the clouds across the wide blue sky and when the bright moon shone in the sky, it was a perfect disk with no phases. She noticed none of this as she stomped her way towards the man that had caused her love to betray her.

"Which one of you is Reginald Bowser?" she asked forcefully to the group of men gathered by a pool full of lovely ladies lounging and talking. It was a party, Bowser had them all the time, though he couldn't partake. The man himself was sitting off to the side in a floating wheelchair. He looked every inch the elderly master of this playground, his hardened body proud even in its diseased state. He was the lord of his manor.

"That would be me," he said in a voice cracked with illness. It still held authority, but there was a note of degeneration in it that said that he wasn't well.

"I am a gift from Tyr Anasazi," she said without preamble. The man looked her over and was disappointed. She was dressed in a dirty knee-length shift that looked wrinkled as if she'd slept in it a few times. There was blood on her thighs and her hair was in disarray. If Anasazi had sent the Khaleesi ahead of him for whatever reason, he could have at least had her cleaned up first.

"You look as if you could use some TLC," he said dully, wondering if his mercenary had brought the right woman after all.

"Believe me, I've had all the TLC I'll ever need in my life," she glared, and Bowser sat up straighter at the defiant note in her voice. Without another word, she started singing in a foreign language. The minute the music hit the air, Reginald felt his weakness fading away. Legs that hadn't supported him for years suddenly felt strong and sure. The arms he hadn't been able to raise before, lifted off the chair almost of their own volition. By the end of the first refrain, he was fully healed and restored. She stopped abruptly, her nose suddenly bleeding from the force of stopping her performance.

Bowser was in tears, standing up to clap for her. "Please don't stop," he whispered, going down on one knee before her.

"I can't stay with you," she said harshly, letting the blood drip onto her dress. "You can't protect me."

"I've got the best security-"

"No," she said coldly. "You can't protect me." He stared into her expressive brown eyes and knew that she was correct. He wasn't a Berserker, he was only a man. "Pay Anasazi and his crew double," she commanded. "They earned it by bringing me here."

"They shall have four times the contract," he promised her gratefully. She nodded and walked away back to her little ship. There. Now Anasazi would have all the money he could want and he could go fuck himself.