Chapter 12: A Shoulder To Lean On
Under the cover of night, they sailed out on their ship, their eyes scanning the horizon for any shapes that might resemble marine vessels. It was a new moon, so the sky was shrouded in darkness, and they couldn't risk lighting any lamps on the ship.
The pirates took turns between the crow's nest and the deck, keeping a vigilant watch. Kidd had secluded himself to his quarters, while Killer stood silently on duty in the crow's nest.
Skyler, on the other hand, was on her break, for how long she did not know. Technically, she was not given a shift to keep watch but she'd want to feel useful. However, both the captain and the first mate had refused. So, she was reluctantly dragged below deck with Quincy, Dive and Emma, to the women's quarters.
"We have to get you at least one outfit that looks nice!" Quincy whined, rummaging through drawers for the measuring tape and pins so she could mark Skyler's size on the fabric she had bought.
Emma and Dive had claimed one of the bunk beds, playing cards, while Quincy immersed herself in a project that could take all night.
"What's wrong with what I have on now?" Skyler asked, looking down at her outfit: a knee length dress, one of the sides tucked in a leather belt at her waist for better mobility. A black corset accentuated her form without being tight enough to suffocate her. Under the dress, she had some black shorts made of a stretchy fabric and some army style boots.
"Sky…" Quincy stopped what she was doing, an earnest expression on her face. "You look… nice in that…"
"That doesn't sound convincing." Skyler interrupted but Quincy raised a hand up in the air.
"But you could do with a better outfit here and there." She went back to rummaging for what she needed and then placed everything on an empty bed. "What if there's a welcoming party on the ship for you!?"
"Quincy!" Emma and Dive shouted at her, their voices overlapping as a blush painted Quincy's face. She froze, realizing she had said too much.
"What do you mean?" Skyler narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting between the three of them. Quincy looked down at her feet, awkwardly while Dive just sighed in typical annoyance. Emma had a compassionate but tired look.
"Well…" Quincy tried to explain, twirling her thumbs as she tried to find a solution for her mistake.
"Don't get too full of yourself." Dive cut off dryly. "It's not a party for you, specifically. The captain just wanted to find an excuse to eat and drink with music." She waved a hand, dismissing whatever importance had been mentioned before.
"Yeah! Exactly!" Quincy nodded energetically and started to place the fabric on Skyler's shoulders, using the pins to mark her body shape. "He wanted an excuse and I may, or may not have suggested that it could be to welcome you." She laughed nervously.
"I have a hard time believing Kidd accepted that willingly…" Skyler mumbled, her sharp gaze flickering between them. When she saw Quincy stiffen slightly, she knew she had hit a nerve. A slow smirk tugged at her lips. "I see… I assume that you annoyed the captain relentlessly and he reluctantly accepted, right?"
She turned her attention to Emma and Dive, who both seemed unusually tense. That alone set off warning bells in Skyler's head.
"Actually, it wasn't needed." Emma corrected, placing her cards down slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. "Quincy is the best of us at convincing the captain for anything. Well… after Killer, of course, but even she struggles sometimes." She crossed her legs, her shoulders relaxing. "But this time… he just nodded and agreed the first time she mentioned it."
"Is he sick or something?" Skyler blinked, trying to make sense of things. From the little she knew, Kidd wasn't someone that would quickly agree to something. Suspicion prickled at the back of her mind. "Is he sick or something?" She asked, only half-joking. Then, as a more unsettling thought hit her, her brows furrowed. "Wait… is he dying? Terminal illness? Trying to make up for past mistakes before it's too late?" She expected a quick denial or maybe an eye-roll. Instead, an awkward glance passed between the others, their silence stretching just a little too long. "He has been acting strange, lately…"
"Yeah…" Quincy shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact as she focused on marking the cloth with pins, drawing out Skyler's shape with meticulous care. A distraction.
"What is it, Quincy?" Skyler narrowed her eyes, her voice firm, demanding.
"Since he saw you puking your guts out, he's been out of it. Good job!" Dive quipped sarcastically, arms crossed. But whatever teasing she had in mind, faded when she caught the constrained look on Skyler's face.
The air suddenly felt heavier. The memory was still too fresh, too raw. The fight at the tavern had left more than just bruises. It had shaken something inside her. She wasn't ready to talk about it, wasn't sure when she would be. As much as she tried to push it aside, the weight of it still clung to her. The feeling of how easy the knife had slid through the flesh of that marine still made her skin crawl.
Quincy knew. She had seen the way Skyler barely held herself together since stepping back on the ship. But only Killer had witnessed her completely unravel.
Skyler inhaled deeply through her nose, willing herself to stay composed. The room suddenly felt too small, claustrophobic. Quincy's hands were steady as she worked, but there was something forced about the way she focused on the fabric, as if avoiding the unspoken words hanging between them.
"You're all acting like I'm cursed or something." Skyler muttered, forcing a chuckle that even she didn't believe. "It was just a fight. Nothing I haven't been through before." She wanted to cross her arms but Quincy gently smacked her shoulder, keeping her in place. "And if he has a problem with me, at least talk about it instead of avoiding me like I have the plague."
"You say it was just a fight…" Emma said, watching her carefully. "Bu that doesn't mean it didn't matter."
Skyler's stomach twisted. She knew what Emma was getting at. It was about the fight itself but instead, about her and how she'd reacted. About how she hadn't just shaken it off like they were expecting her to.
"Look," Dive, who had been quiet for longer than usual, finally let out a sigh and leaned back against the bunk "nobody here is gonna pretend killing is some big moral crisis." Her tone was even. "We do what we have to do. But you… you look like shit."
Skyler felt her throat tighten. She wanted to argue, to scoff, to deflect, but she didn't. Because Dive wasn't mocking her. She wasn't pushing, prying. Just… stating a fact.
"I'm fine." Skyler replied dryly, the words feeling hollow even to her ears.
"If you say so." Dive gave a small shrug. "What I know is that the captain is fucked up and it was because of you."
"Dive! She isn't to blame for anything." Quincy interrupted, eager to shift the mood but not allowing that remark from Dive to go unpunished. "The captain is brash, we know that! And he's not the best at expressing himself!" She placed a few pins in her mouth, as she started to mark the hem of the dress with them. "He is the one that needs to get his shit together." She half mumbled those words and Skyler finally let out a small, but genuine, laugh. "And I bet Killer had already talked to the captain about that."
"But if there's something I can or should do, I want to do it." Skyler insisted, a weight lifted from her chest because of Quincy's support.
"What you can do is sit still while I finish this hem!" Quincy gave a light tap on Skyler's leg. "You don't want a lopsided dress, now do you?" She looked up and got confirmation with Skyler shaking her head, a smile on her face.
"Well, while you do that, it's our turn to keep watch by now." Emma tapped her legs and got up, nodding Dive to follow. The shorter woman sighed in irritation and threw the cards aside, following Emma out of the room.
"That Dive… I'm sorry for what she said." Quincy felt like she was a bit more at ease with talking. She felt awkward having to bash Dive for being so aggressive with her words.
"It's okay. She's right, in a way." She let her arms fall to her side, careful to not poke herself with the pins. "I get that killing is something that you guys needs to do." There was some tension that came to her shoulders as she fought back a shiver that wanted to run through her. "I just have never done something like that and… it felt wrong."
"Look, Sky…" Quincy place a gentle warm hand on the woman's shoulder "I don't expect you to be a killing machine." She gently caressed Skyler's cheek as she noticed tears welling up in her eyes. "It isn't an easy thing to do. You just need to be able to protect yourself and those around you."
"Even if it implies killing someone else again?" Her breath hitched in her throat.
"If that happens again, I'll be there." Quincy hugged Skyler, noticing that the tears had started to fall. "And if you need to cry, or shout, or whatever it is, you do that." She stepped back and held Skyler's bandaged hands. "Just not this, okay?"
"Yeah…" Her voice quivered, her hands betraying her instability. She dried the few tears that had fallen and breathed in, composing herself again. "Thank you Quincy."
"Don't worry." She gave her signature warm smile that had become familiar to Skyler. "Just… next time call me before you even think of doing something like this."
"I wasn't alone when this happened… At least not for long." Skyler corrected. Quincy gave her an inquisitive look. "I just wanted to let it all out and I didn't notice that Killer had come in. He stopped me from doing any more damages…" A smile crept to her lips. "To me or the ship… Kidd would've killed me if I broke another part of his ship."
"Really?" Quincy's grin grew, a knowing look dancing in her eyes. "Killer helped you, hmm?" Skyler couldn't shake the feeling that Quincy was plotting something, her analytical gaze sharp. Skyler could almost see the wheels turning behind the ginger's eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Skyler squinted, uneasy under the weight of Quincy's stare. Something mischievous was brewing.
"Oh no, nothing… We can take this off now." Quincy brushed it off casually, but Skyler knew better. She gently grabbed the hem of the soon-to-be dress, making sure not to prick Skyler's skin with the pins. "Have you eaten already?"
"Hm… not yet, no." The question caught Skyler off guard, especially after their conversation. She turned to face Quincy fully as she continued to put on her clothes.
"Go eat then!" Quincy brushed her off, setting down the cloth on one of the bunks. "I don't need you here anymore. I'll take care of the dress and I am sure you'll love it!"
"O…kay…" Skyler just agreed, still uncertain how to respond to the sudden change in tone. As she left the room she could hear a small giggle coming from the ginger but she paid no mind.
Skyler figured it was probably a good idea to hit the galley, grab something to eat. And get some well-deserved sleep. It was likely empty, save for maybe a pirate or two. She wouldn't mind company or at least some background noise to keep her mind busy.
She still wasn't ready for the complete silence that sleep entailed. She knew she'd be haunted by nightmares for the following few nights at least.
With a tired sigh she opened the heavy double doors and came to a full stop when she saw what was inside. Killer was sitting down, his mask beside him, hungrily wolfing down what looked like a soup or stew.
It only took a split second, but it felt like an eternity. Skyler stared, wide-eyed, as she caught a glimpse of his long bangs, the way they framed his face and obscured the top half of it. For a brief moment, she saw a flash of his exposed nose and mouth, a faint shadow of a beard starting to line his jaw.
For a moment, Skyler forgot to breathe. Her chest tightened, heart racing, a mix of surprise and… something else she couldn't quite place. It felt like an intimate moment. Too intimate. Her pulse hammered in her ears as she stared, rooted to the spot, as though the sight of him had knocked her speechless.
Then, the fleeting moment was gone. She blinked rapidly, shaking herself out of the stupor, but the image of him lingered. She quickly turned her back on him, heat rushing to her cheeks, her skin prickling with a blend of embarrassment and shame. She could feel her heart hammering against her ribs, a flutter in her stomach that made her want to flee and yet, stay.
Killer's hand shot out towards the mask, like it was his lifeline, and placed it back on with practiced precision. The action was quick, almost too quick, like he was trying to shield himself from her gaze.
"I'M SORRY!" Skyler shouted, her face burning with embarrassment. Her heart pounded in her chest, as if it had taken over her entire body.
Skyler felt like an intruder and she hoped that things wouldn't get awkward between the two.