The Crusty Waters returned to East Shallow's Isle. The amount of sea glass that they harvested was just the right amount to pay off their supplies and repairs of the ship. The multicolored bunnies and chickens were happy, and the Crusty Waters got some extra supplies for their healing injuries.
You were one of the worst off, along with Chip, Happy, a red rooster, that bear lady that pulled a pistol on you when the baby sirens were on board, and that wolf guy that was peddling the Rebreather before the Dying Light 2 showed up.
The people of the Crusty Waters looked for small, easy to do jobs on the isle as people healed. While your injured crew members were resting in the medical bay together, you were isolated in the captain's cabin. Hidden from the prying eyes of the isle, as you laid in the captains' bed.
From what you've heard from the people who visit you; Chika, Sun, Monty, Moon, and Freddy, they said that your fellow crew members are doing fine and that they are in the normal amount of pain.
You've also learned that your captains have been over working themselves, despite being just as injured like the rest of the crew. You wish you could get them to rest, even if they're injuries don't make them sick.
Unlike you. You're either burning up from a fever or from an infection. Your body has been burning for a week and a half and you really wish you could have an ibuprofen or something.
At the very least you don't think you were shot in your kidneys. As gross as it was for you to have to check, you weren't peeing blood. So that's good, and if you remember correctly, which you're not entirely sure about, the right-side area of where you were shot is where your liver lives. It's a resilient little organ, it should heal okay with the bullets in it.
The bullets that they use here are like the bullets that they used during the 1800's in America… kind of… if you're remembering your American History correctly… and if you take into account that they use different materials here. So, it should be fine to let the bullets stay inside of you, instead of risking Mr. Hippo sticking his fingers and tools into you.
You want to avoid getting an even worst infection… or fever, then what you already have. Staying still for the stitches in your left arm and resetting your own nose was hard enough to hold still for. You can't imagine having to be awake for bullet extractions.
At least your grateful to see that every time you undo the bandages to clean your wounds, you're not oozing puss. It's a small comfort for your health but you'll take it.
As you were sat up in bed, you were slowly but surely patching up your star-spangled jacket. The sleeves were all torn up, there was holes in its side, and you've had Chika wash it for you several times, but the faint stains of blood on the jacket were still present. Moon has suggested that you get rid of it and that he'll get you a new one, but you refused, telling him you loved the jacket too much just to toss it.
You hear close, but distant sounding humming as you look over at the nightstand where your broken sandstone carving was laying. It was your next project to fix but figuring out a way to do that will be harder than the jacket. You hum mindlessly with the humming that you hear.
There was a knock on the door and the humming stopped.
"May I come in," Sun asked through the door.
"Please do, Captain," you say.
The door creaked open, and Sun popped his head in.
"I have your favorite, Fish Stew Soup."
You set aside your sewing project and ask, "Am I allowed to feed myself this time," you have a teasing smile on your face.
"No. No. Noooo. You're healing. You've got to conserve your energy," Sun said as he went and sat in the chair beside the bed.
The chair used to be parked by the writing desk in the cabin, but it's found a new home being next to the bed since you've been injured.
Sun had a bandage around his head and around both his hands. During the fight, someone managed to sneak up on him and Freddy and they smashed the butt of their pistol against his head and the pistoles that he was wielding had burnt his hands, from firing them off so much. The stickman was dressed down. Only wearing a loose shirt and a plain pair of light brown pants. His fancy coat and hat and bangles that he usually wears as captain were somewhere in the cabin.
Sun dips the stone spoon into the soup, he blows on it lightly, and then he carefully offers it to you.
You smile, exasperated at the man, but you lean forward just a bit and slirp the soup off the spoon. It was a bit spicey, so you knew that Roxy was the one who made the stew this time. She likes adding a lot of spice to the foods she makes.
Sun's not the only one who's been doing bits of extra work for you. Chika has bought you extra blankets with the money she's earned from her job working at the inn close by the docks. Pigpatch got you fruit for you specifically to eat when he heard you telling Mr. Hippo about the different needs a human has need for, with their health. Fruit's expensive so you've asked him to stop, but he still gets you a treat every other day. Orville tries telling you jokes to make you laugh, since she remembered you once saying laughter was the best type of medicine. Moon tells you bedtime stories to help you go to sleep when your infection/fever/pain has you restless at night and Freddy makes sure you have enough space from the onslaught of affection the crew has been giving you.
You accept it all because you get it. They don't know how to help you and they're scare of what will happen to you. You're scared too. You know you'll be fine if you can beat this fever/infection, but it's been hard. It also warms your heart knowing that so much of the crew cares about you.
"How goes your project," Sun asked, as he side eyes the star-spangled jacket stretched across your legs.
You take a moment to swallow the stew, "It's going good. Roxy's going to make fun of my sloppy work, but I think it gives it character."
"Mmm."
"How's the crew's quarters? Can I go back to it yet?"
"No," Sun said, "You know you're not healed enough yet."
You sigh before you take another spoon full of stew.
"I'm so lonely up here! I miss everyone. Plus, this is your guy's bed. You two should be sleeping on it, not me."
"Moon and I are perfectly happy sleeping in the crew's quarters until you've healed up," Sun paused for a second as a mischievous smile spread across his face, and he settled the bowl of stew in his lap for a moment as he said, "Unless you're okay with Moon and I sleeping with you."
Your face lit up at the prospect of having a little slumber party, and an excuse to get your captains to rest. You were so excited that you didn't notice the taken aback look on Sun's face as you said, "I would love that! You and Moon really won't mind?"
"W-w-well. Uh. No! No, not at all. I-I'll ask Moon of course to see what he thinks, but we won't mind."
You beamed at Sun. It'll be nice not spending another night by yourself. Sure, Moon comes in at night for story time, but he never stays to talk-talk. Now with the prospect of having a slumber party, you can ask them questions that they seem to be avoiding whenever you ask. Like how they're doing after Bon Abell's death.
"I can't wait. You can braid my hair and I can tell you two stories and maybe I can convince Moon to sing with me."
"Wait. You'll really let me play with your fu—uh. I mean, hair?"
"Yes Sun. I'll let you play with my hair."
You personally don't like prolonged touching to your head, but you figured that it'd be a good project for Sun to have. Something relaxing for him to do with his hands that'll be gentle for him. You also knew he wasn't suspecting you at all with how excited he was about playing with your hair.
"Okay. Okay. Okay. First things first. Keep eating your soup," Sun stated as he took a deep breath to calm down his excitement.
He spooned up some of the stew and started reaching it towards you.
You smile at him.
"You're so cute when you're excited."
Sun nearly missed your mouth with the spoon. The stone spoon grated against your teeth, and you snorted at the look on Sun's face as you ate.
Sputtering. His petals fluttering around his head, he looked down at the bowl of soup and muttered, "Thanks."
Your smile widened. Seems he can dish out complements but getting them flusters him. How cute!
# # #
"Please Moon! I'll feel awkward if I do it by myself," Sun begged, giving his partner the best pleading eyes, he can muster.
"You feel awkward!? Then why did you offer in the first place if you can't commit without me," Moon huffed as he turned away from him.
Moon and Sun were standing in the cargo bay of the ship as they had their private conversation. The ship swayed under their feet and the tied-up boxes creaked against the ropes.
Sun was staring at Moon's back. He had several bandages all over his body that were poking out from under his clothes. They were shallow cuts, but they were still there. A sign that Bon Abell had been capable of killing Moon whenever she felt like it during their fight, but she didn't. Moon was either saved by her arrogance, or by her hesitance. Sun didn't want to think about which one was more likely of her.
Sun didn't think much of it at first, but as the weeks have gone by, the solar being can't help but question it.
"Moon. Are you avoiding Starlight?"
His lunar counterpart didn't say anything, but his shoulders bunched up.
Sun didn't like the idea of asking, but he had to know.
"Do you… blame Starlight for what happened?"
Moon turned around so fast, "No! Never!"
Sun jumped from that, but he went up to Moon when he saw that his partner was trying to force back their tears.
Hugging him close, Sun said, "Moonsugar. Please. Talk to me. What's going on with you."
Sun felt Moon's grip on him tighten just for a second, then he was boneless. Just leaning into Sun and his warmth.
"I don't want to talk about it… I should get back to practicing my sword fighting."
Sun knew Moon would be affected the most by Bon Abell's death. She was his favorite mentor, and he was her favorite student. He was affected by the death and betrayal too, but it hurt not being able to talk with someone who understood. It's like when they were kids again.
"Moon, you've been practicing a lot. Come. Relax with us for a night. You don't have to stay for long… Please? They said they were lonely."
Sun held onto Moon lightly, ready to let go of his partner if he decided to pull away.
They stood silently together for a minute before the lunar stickman spoke up.
"Okay," he sighed, "Okay. I'll stay with you two for a little bit, but I'm leaving as soon as I see fit."
Sun smiled sadly as he patted Moon's back, "Okay. That's fine."
It was nighttime on the ship, but East Isle was still lively with patrons milling about. Half of the crew was in the crew's quarters while the other half was out in the isle partying or getting up to general mischief. It made Sun nervous the longer they stayed at port, but he wanted to stay here for easier access for medical supplies incase his non-interdimensional crewmates needed something that they can't get out in the open sea.
Sun stood outside the captain's cabin and through the doorway, he could hear you lightly humming to yourself. Sun watched Moon walk up through the shadows of the ship. He was dressed down and looked ready for bed like Sun did. He looked exhausted, but Sun refrained from saying anything. He doubted he looked any better.
"Hello, handsome," Sun said with a wink.
Moon gave his solar counterpart a weak smile.
"Hello, to you too, Love," Moon said as he took Sun's hand and kissed the back of his hand.
Sun matched his weak smile as he squeezed Moon's hand.
"Ready to go in?"
Moon sighed then said, "Yeah."
Sun knocked on the door. The humming immediately stopped.
"Come on in!"
You sound cheerful, but you also sound exhausted.
Sun poked his head inside. The only light in the dark room was a single lantern hanging in the middle of the room's ceiling. There was only enough light to see by and the lantern will most likely put itself out within an hour or so.
He was going to greet you politely, but the shock of seeing you sitting in the chair instead of in bed like you should be made him shift priorities. Stepping through the threshold, Sun put his hands on his hips.
"What are you doing out of bed!? You're sick!"
You raised your bandaged arms out to Sun like you were offering a hug and you said, "I wanted us to all get comfortable together."
Moon came in behind Sun and closed the door.
"There was no need for you to get out of the bed for that."
You shrug. Wincing only slightly.
"What's done is done. I have a proposition if it's okay with you too."
Sun crossed his arms and raised a brow ridge at you.
"I've been sleeping on a soft surface for weeks. Almost for a month. My back is tired of it. Sun, since you said your torso is mostly wood, can I sit in your lap and lean against you? Or would that be too uncomfortable for you?"
The petals around Sun's head immediately pinned back. His head looked almost completely round like Moon's. Sun was wide-eyed and frozen. You were allowing him so much; Sun was starting to feel overwhelmed.
Sun saw you wince at him as he remained frozen.
"Okay. I'm sorry. I'm asking for too much. I can just lean against you. I don't have to—"
"Of course, you can sit in my lap Starlight!"
Sun scrambled over to the bed and sat in the middle. He made sure his back was comfortable before he turned to you. Patting his lap invitingly to you.
You laugh, but immediately stop as you held your stomach. Your hand over the area you were shot at.
Sun watched you with worry as you smiled through the pain.
"You're so eager. You don't even take off your shoes."
The only inclination he had about knowing what you were talking about, was that you were looking at his feet. Sun looked down at his feet, too.
"Starlight, I'm not wearing anything on my feet."
You make a look like you wanted to say something. Then you sigh and said, "Of course you aren't… Make room."
You get out of the chair and crawl over the bed and into Sun's lap. You felt so soft to him. So small. So warm… Maybe too warm. Sun found his hands drifting over your cheeks, neck, and forehead. You felt too feverish for his liking.
"This isn't an odd angle for you to mess with my hair, is it?"
"No, this is perfect."
You turn to Moon and Sun does the same. Moon is by the closed door. He has a neutral look to his face, but through the shadows Sun could see the mischievous gleam in his eye. His partner was going to tease him over this, he just knows it.
"Your turn. Get over here," you say, patting your own lap towards Moon.
Sun smiled at the socked look on Moon's face.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I want you to lay on me. Use my stomach and thighs as a pillow."
"You're injured," Moon reminded you.
"And you run slightly cooler than most people here and I'd like to use you as a cold compress for my aching stomach and arms… Please," you asked.
Sun watched as Moon's disbelief and slight embarrassment turned into what Sun imagined looking like guilt. It slightly confused him; Moon has nothing to feel guilty about.
Slowly. Moon came over to the bed and laid himself in your lap.
Sun felt you sigh with relief, and he saw how easily Moon relaxed into you. The thought of doing this felt embarrassing at first, but now, it just felt right. It's amazing how we make the puzzle pieces in our life, and how they fit together.
Sun listened to you dutifully as you showed him how to braid your hair and you and Moon talked about stories.
Everyone was nice and comfortable. Eventually Sun stopped braiding your hair in lieu of just running his fingers over your scalp and letting your hair fall between his fingers. He loved the way it shifted and moved through his bandaged hands and how different it was to fur.
Then the lantern went out, but that was fine. The three of you still wanted to talk. Sun was especially happy to see that Moon had yet to leave.
You sigh out a yawn, then you said, "Okay. Moon. Do you mind if I put my legs here?"
Sun couldn't see all that well as his night vision hasn't adjusted yet, but he felt your leg shift in a way that suggested that you wanted to wrap your legs around Moon. Sun smiled at the thought. He loves seeing Moon getting physical affection.
Sun's smile widened further at the bashful sounding, "Yah. Sure," that came out of Moon.
The two of you shifted and Sun took this moment to stretch and put a pillow up higher for his head.
"Thank you," you said, then you cleared your throat, "Okay, Captains. This is an intervention."
"A what?" Sun and Moon said at the same time.
"I thought this was a slumber party," Sun asked.
"It's a slumber party intervention," you state solemnly, "It's time we talk about what happened with the bunny lady, Bon Abell."
The bed jiggled roughly as Sun felt Moon try to get up. He felt your body tense and you cried out in pain. Just as soon as you yelped the bed stilled.
Your breathing, a bit labored from pain, came out shakily, "I'm not letting you leave Moon. I will struggle and you will hurt me if you fight against me. You don't want to hurt me, right?"
"This is extortion!" Moon snarled.
Sun winced at the tone of Moon's voice. He hasn't heard him this angry in a while.
"Yes. And I'm glad it's working. Thank you for caring so much about me, Moon," you said gently but firmly.
Sun's adjusted eyes saw Moon shrink in on himself through the shadows. He saw your hands lightly petting over his head as he continued to lay on your stomach and thighs. Your legs hooking him into place firmly.
You sigh again, then leaning back, you look up at Sun. Sun let his hands drop from your head to loosely wrap around your shoulders.
"I'm not here to accuse you two of anything but know that the whole crew is worried about you," you begin, and you looked forward, but you take one of Sun's hands into yours and you smooth your fingers over his bandages, "I've been told you've been sword practicing nonstop since the fight. And I've been told you've been doing chores like your life depends on it, not even letting your hands heal properly. Please, talk to me. We hate seeing you two hurting yourselves like this."
Sun frowned heavily. This was the sort of thing he didn't want. He didn't want anyone to worry. He didn't want anyone to be in pain or sad or anything. Sun wanted so much for everything to feel like it was normal again before Bon Abell came aboard their ship.
"I'm sorry," Sun said.
"Oh Sun," you sigh, and you take his hand and place his palm on your cheek, "We're not mad at you. We just want you to talk with someone. It doesn't have to be with me. You know Chika and Freddy will gladly talk things out with you two. I know how much you two trust them."
Sun kept is hand to your flushed cheek despite you letting go of his hand. His other arm snaked around your chest, and he leaned forward as he hugged you closer. You patted at his arm lightly, comfortingly.
"I trust you…"
With his hand on your cheek, he felt your face spread into a little smile.
"And I trust the both of you, too."
"You shouldn't," Moon said.
Sun leaned away from you to look more at Moon through the shadows. He sounded so broken. He sounded like he was a man who failed terribly. He sounded terrified. This reminded Sun too much of when they first meet each other.
"I shouldn't trust you," you asked, hesitancy in your voice.
Moon doesn't answer.
You lean forward. Sun shifted his hold on you to be around your waist and you shook Moon's shoulders a bit. "Moon. Moon, why do you think I shouldn't trust you?"
"Because I failed you, OKAY!"
Oh… Sun thought sadly as the silence hung thickly in the air. Of course, he's blaming himself. He's always blamed himself like this. Sun felt so stupid for not recognizing it sooner. Moon hasn't been like this in years, but of course something like this would making him revert to this.
Sun opened his mouth to reassure Moon, but you spoke up first.
"Well, I'm confused. How did you fail me?"
"You got hurt under our care," Moon stated.
"If that's the case then you would have reacted differently when the hail hit us a while back. It's not just that I got hurt, is it…? I got hurt by someone that you trusted."
Moon remained silent and Sun stayed quiet to see where this was going.
"A while back, a certain someone said it wasn't my fault for not knowing the tattoo artist was in the Agony Cult. I think it's safe to say that it's not your fault that you didn't know Bon Abell would do what she did."
"I should have known," Moon said, his arms raising in frustration, "I was the closest person to her. I should have seen that she was different. I should have known she would try something. I shouldn't have trusted her."
There was silence again, but Sun took his chance to speak up.
"Moon. I may not have been as close to Bon Abell as you were, but I knew her just as well. Do you blame me for not seeing what she did to us? Do you blame me for not knowing what would happen?"
"No! Of course not." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Then why do you think it's okay to blame yourself," you asked Moon.
There was a pause.
"Moon," Sun's voice cracked, "I'm scared that Eclipse really is dead. I'm scared for your health. I'm scared for our crew's wellbeing, but I would feel less scared if you talked things out with me. You don't have to feel like you must take care of everything. Remember, we're co-captains. We work together."
Sun saw Moon reach his hand back, and the solar being grabbed it and held his lunar counterpart's hand firmly.
"I'm sorry," Moon mumbled.
"No need to be sorry," Sun said, "You just forgot yourself through the grief, that's all."
"Besides," you added as you gently ran your hands over Moon's face, "It's unfair to think that you should know everything about a person. Everyone changes, everyone has secrets, everyone sees the world in new ways each day. We all have a bit of mystery and strangeness in us, even if someone's been by your side for years, they can still surprise you. Sometimes not in the best way."
Moon was silent as he seemed to contemplate your words. Sun felt Moon's thumb idly brushing on the knuckles of his hand.
"Please, be kinder to yourself, Moon. I hate seeing you hurting yourself like this. I'm sure Sun feels the same way and the crew is just as adamant that you get some rest."
Sun squeezed Moon's strong hand with his own, emphasizing your point without words.
"That goes for you too, Sun," you said as you leaned back again to look up at him, "Okay?"
Sun nodded, then said, "Okay."
You sighed, then yawned.
Sun felt you shift, and you grunted as you leaned forward.
"Okay you too. If you don't want to be here anymore, you can go now. I've put in my two pennies."
There was a pause.
Sun leaned back and yawned, "You know. I do miss our bed. I'm also perfectly comfortable just where I am," then he snaked his arms around your chest and pulled you close to him, "Are you still comfortable?"
"Yep," you said, chipper but tired.
Sun smiled as you leaned more into him and rested the back of your head against his shoulder.
The bed shifted as Moon stirred. Sun watched, wondering what his partner would do. Moon flipped around to lay on his stomach, and he pressed his face into your lap and stomach. One arm snaked around your lower back and his other hand rested on Sun's left knee. Sun smiled fondly at the sight.
"Is this okay," Moon asked, his voice muffled by your clothes and skin.
You cleared your throat, "Yah" it cracked, and you cleared your throat again, "Yah, your great. Good night you too."
"Good night," they both said to you.
You still felt too feverish for Sun's liking, but with his hand on your heart and feeling it beat strongly with your deep breathes, it gave him a type of comfort no words could give him.
Sun fell asleep to the gentle thrum of your breathing and to the feeling of Moon rubbing the side of his knee with his thumb.
# # #
Moon woke up to the sounds of people stomping away on wood and shouting out the wares they have for sale.
The lunar stickman raised his head from your lap only to readjust himself. Then he firmly placed it back down. In his hazy mind, Moon couldn't help but feel like his head belonged in your lap. He sighed contently.
Moon's eyes snapped open at the sound of quiet chuckling.
He looked up. You were fast asleep still, but Sun was smiling lazily at Moon as he twirled your hair with one finger.
"Don't mind me. Just enjoying how comfortable you look right now," Sun teased.
"I'm not the one who practically threw themselves at them last night," Moon pouted. He tried to hide his embarrassment in your lap.
Another soft chuckle from above.
"Maybe so, but I'm not the one who's trying to act tough in front of them."
Moon growled disapprovingly and it only made Sun chuckle louder.
They sat silently for a while. Moon started to fade away into sleep again when Sun spoke up.
"When do you think we should tell them?"
"Tell them what," Moon mumbled.
"How we feel about them."
"They already know how we feel."
Sun hummed in disagreement, "I don't think so."
Moon lifted his head up and scowled at Sun, "Why do you think that? They're letting us do this with them, are they not?"
"They're from a different dimension. How they show romantic attraction will be vastly different to how we do it here. We need to tell them," Sun insisted.
"We didn't have to do that," Moon mumbled, embarrassed by the prospect of telling you how he felt.
"That's because I'm the one who did all the work in getting us together," Sun huffed.
"Yes, I know," Moon said meekly, then he said with more confidence, "and I love you for it."
There was a gentle pause.
"Hey." Sun said softly.
Moon looked up.
"You're not alone in this. If they reject us, we still have each other and they'll make a lovely friend even if they can't love us the way we love them, okay?"
Moon looked down and nodded slowly, putting he head back into your lap.
"Your right."
# # #
Your fever/infection finally broke after two weeks and your crewmates that were in the medical room of the ship were well enough to walk around and do light work like cleaning, dishes, and counting things.
You unfortunately were still healing even though you weren't sick with a fever/infection. Your scratches had scabbed over nicely. The giant bite mark in your left arm was still very much present, but it's not as big as when it was first punctured. Your face was discoloring into a yellowish bruise color around your nose as it was healing and the bruises and bullet wounds around your midsection were coming along nicely.
With everyone healthy enough to get moving, Sun and Moon decided that it was time to set sail for the South Shallows Isle to look for work there. You also figured it was because the Crusty Waters was still on the run from the cultists. It's a miracle that they didn't find them while they were stuck isle side.
At least you get to sit outside now instead of being cooped up in the captain's cabin.
You sat under the shade of an umbrella near the stairs leading below deck. You'd hum to yourself that mystery tune you've been hearing a lot lately or you'd talk with anyone that'd pass by you. Sometimes they were too busy for a conversation and could only say hello in passing, while others stopped to sit with you on the floor and talk under the shade with you.
Currently you were speaking with Foxy as the two of you sat on the floor with some pillows. He was telling you about what his childhood was like on one of the free roaming isles when Sun showed up.
"Hello friends. May I join you?"
"Yah, sure," you offered, "Already done with work?"
Sun gave a little happy, "Mm-hm," as he crouched with his back to you.
You were confused by this, and you were going to ask what he was doing, when he leaned back and landed his head in your lap.
You jumped a bit in surprise, aggravating your injuries a little.
"Ahh," Sun sighed with his eyes closed, "That's much better. Anyways, don't let me keep you two from your conversation."
You stared opened mouthed at your captain's audacity. You turned to Foxy to see if he was seeing what you were seeing. The old fox had a hand over his maw. His shoulders hunched up from trying not to laugh out loud.
"Excuse you," you tsked, "What do you think you're doing?"
Sun had the sense to look sheepish. He opened his eyes and nervously fiddled with his fingers.
"Is it okay if I lay here for a while?"
You squinted at him, happy to make him squirm under your gaze, then you sighed.
"Okay. Since you asked nicely you can stay, but ask before you lay down on me next time, okay?"
"You got it. Won't happen again," Sun said with a relieved smiled.
"Can I touch your petal leaf-things around our head?"
Sun smiled wider, and said, "By all means."
Experimentally you smoothed one finger down a petal that would be where a human ear would be on him. You brightened at the feel of it, since it felt like you were touching the leaves on a maple tree, but it felt waxy-er.
You cooed, high pitched in your excitement as you said, "You feel like home!" then you confidently gripped a petal with both hands and mindlessly started massaging it.
As you busied your hands, you turned your attention back to the conversation at hand with Foxy. Missing the dreamy, blissed-out look on Sun's face as you gently touched him.
You enjoyed your talk with Foxy as he continued his story, but he had to go help check the sails, leaving you alone with Sun in your lap.
You weren't thinking much about anything, as you massaged Sun's leaves, like you were messing with a fidget spinner. This simple action entertained you for long enough that Sun had fallen asleep in your lap. It was kind of cute to see him fall asleep on your lap like that.
Close to your ear, you heard Moon ask, "What are you doing?"
You moved away from the closeness of the voice as you felt the little hairs on your arms and the back of your neck stand on end. You turned to answer him, but you saw no one there.
You looked around and saw that the closest person to you was Roxy and she was sitting on a barrel sharpening her daggers.
"Moon," you asked as you looked around.
Moon's voice whispered into your other ear, "You didn't answer my question."
You shivered as you whipped her head around and found that your lunar captain wasn't standing on your other side, either.
You looked up to make sure Moon wasn't hanging from a rope or something above you, but you only saw the underside of the umbrella. You realized how silly you were being as you surveyed your surroundings a bit more.
Sun groaned as he woke up, then he looked up at you and asked, "Why'd you stop?"
You shrug, and said, "My hands got tired."
You didn't want to get into mention the creepy disembodied voice yet. You were probably just experiencing an auditory hallucination. Probably will only happen this one time.
"Oh no," he said, "We'll have to fix that."
Sun took one of your hands gently in his, and then he kisses the palm of your hand. He held your hand there for a moment as he looked up at you with half lidded eyes. Then he took your other hand, while not breaking eye contact, and kissed its palm.
"Does that feel better?" he murmured into your palm.
You were gob smacked. This little gesture had your heart pumping like you're running a race and God damn it, you don't want to explore that part of yourself. This probably means nothing, just some good old fashioned, platonic affection, but you know, for extradimensional type people. You don't hate it, but damn does it make you weak. You hate that it makes you weak because he's in a committed relationship. There's no way he's hitting on you. There's also the fact that you don't plan on stopping trying to go home, so having a relationship at all in this universe would only bring heartbreak.
God, you've been sitting there silently for too long, speak!
"Yah," your voice cracks and you clear it, "Yah. It's better. Thanks, Cap."
He smiled against your hand. Then he nestled his head further into your lap as he rested your hand against his cheek. His face felt like the phloem part of a tree.
"Mmm, good… Later, can Moon and I talk with you," Sun asked.
"You can talk to me right now," you stated, as you forced your heart rate to a normal pace.
Sun smiled wider at that, and he was going to answer, but then Bonnie called out to him and asked for his help in going over the supplies.
"Oh, duty calls."
Sun sat up, but not before giving your knuckles a quick kiss. It made your heart flutter as Sun parted from you with a winning smile on his face.
You sigh to yourself. You'll have to ask him to stop that. You don't know if that's appropriate for the two of you to do that. Especially if it makes you so flustered.
As your day continued and you set about doing small tasks that you could do, too busy yourself with, you found yourself hearing people that weren't really there, all day.
While you were putting away cleaning supplies, you heard Chika asking what you were. While you were checking the rope for tears you heard Monty asking you about DJ. While you were fixing your sandstone carving you heard Chip asking you what earth is like.
Most of the questions were so nonconsequential that you'd look around yourself and find that you were alone and figured that they walked off as soon as you answered, but you couldn't help the feeling that you weren't really alone despite seeing no one.
Eventually, it got bad enough for you that you had to look for Mr. Hippo and get medical help.
As you were looking around for him in the bowels of the ship, you came across Moon.
"Evening, Starlight, do you have a moment? Sun and I are ready to talk with you," Moon said smoothly, but you missed the way he was wringing his hands.
"Sorry, Cap. Not right now. I'm looking for Mr. Hippo. I think something's wrong with me," You state, as the lantern hung limply in your hand.
Moon offered his hands to you as support, and you took them as a tradeoff for the lantern. It's not like your legs were broken but having him there to hold onto is nice.
"What's wrong? Did you pop a stitch or something?"
He started walking with you as the two of you held hands.
"No, but maybe my fever didn't break like I thought it did. I've been having auditory hallucinations. Or maybe it's something else… It's been kind of scary… thinking something new is wrong with me…"
Moon let go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulders, then he pressed you against his side and softly smoothed your hair out of your face.
"Don't worry. We'll figure it out."
You sigh. Despite the awkward angle, and the slight pain in your side from being bent the way you were, it still felt nice to lean against Moon like that as the two of you continued to walk.
"I'm worried it's the bullets that are still in me," you confessed, "If they're poisoning me…" You didn't know how to continue that sentence.
"We'll figure it out," he repeated softly.
The two of you stopped moving as he bent down and rested his head on top of yours. It made you giggle, thinking how awkwardly bent he was considering how tall he is in comparison to you. It was sweet.
Then there was the sound of high-pitched whale calls and you instantly felt Moon tense up above you.
Under his breath Moon pleaded, "Please let that be DJ."
More whale calls echoed through the ship, and you said, "That sounds like too many to be just DJ and the kids…"
With a deafening screech, the ship rocked hard, launching you in the air, but Moon kept a hold on you, and you landed on top of him as the two of you fell to the floor. The lantern clattered beside the two of you, then it went out. Plunging the two of you into darkness.
"Did a siren just ram the ship," you asked incredulously, while ignoring the way your body was aching.
"By the ocean's vengeance we must be in a siren's territory."
"I thought we knew all the territories," you asked over another screech as footsteps drummed overhead.
"Doesn't mean new ones don't get made," Moon said as he held you close while sitting back up.
You grunted in pain from the shift.
"Are you okay?"
"Just sore."
The ship was rammed again, and it sent the two of you flying into the air and you both landed hard on the wooden floor. You felt the ship slosh against the water as it evened out again
"Go to the deck," you heard Freddy whisper into your ear.
"What?"
Moon got to his feet, dragging you up with him.
"Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe."
"Safe? On a ship? That's currently being attacked?"
"Now's not the time to sass me," Moon barked as he held onto your left bicep and started speed walking through the dark with you.
"Listen, if I die, I'm going to die sassing you," you state stubbornly.
The sounds of canons rang though the air.
"No one's going to die," Moon said confidently.
Another ear-splitting shriek shook the wood around you and made your ears ring.
Through the ringing, you heard Freddy say close to your ear, "Go to the deck. Don't hide."
"What?"
"In here," Moon said as he pushed you into a broom closet, "You won't get tossed around far in here and you'll be out of the way."
"Moon, what if DJ told them about me?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Moon stated, then he slammed the door in your face.
You growled into the darkness. Is it really still so hard to believe that sirens aren't mindless creatures? You supposed only two interactions isn't really enough to prove that…
Freddy's voice whispered in your ear again, saying, "They'll leave when they see you."
You don't know about that, but maybe you can reason with them. Ask them to let your boat pass through or something.
The ship rocked hard with a siren ramming into the boat again. The boat groans heavily from the force and you fall back onto a bucket. It digs into your ribs but thankfully not on the side you were shot on.
You get up and you scramble out of the closet. As much as it hurt to run, you forced yourself to move.
You slammed into the walls as you ran through the dark, trying not to lose your footing as the canons rang out and the boat was rammed twice more before you were scrambling up the stairs to the deck.
Through the moonlight, you saw several large hands swiping at your crewmates as people worked to keep the sirens from snapping the boat's masts and booms.
You took a deep breath and made the baby siren noise.
Canons fired, drowning you out.
You ran towards the sirens and looked over the edge of the boat, and you yelled out the baby siren noise again.
You finally heard the answering noise, and you repeated yourself.
"Tiny," you heard Foxy yell at you, "Get away from the edge!"
A giant face rose out of the water and eyed you. It was not DJ.
You made the noise again, then you said, "Please. We just need to pass through. We're not here to hunt you!"
The siren made a rumbling noise.
Freddy's voice whispered in your ear, "You promise?"
"Of course. Please. Just let us pass," you pleaded.
"Damn it, Tiny," you heard Happy Frog yell at you, "Run!"
A giant hand came down behind you, pushing back your crewmates away from you. Then another hand clamped around you and picked you up.
"Don't worry," Freddy's voice echoed in your ears, "They won't hurt you."
You tried not to panic, but as you were slowly being lowered into the open maw of the siren and you couldn't help but scream.