Dark Seas (1x1)

She considered herself and her sister and wondered if she'd blacked out and bathed in the blood of her enemies. The idea made a giggle bubble up inside of her, or maybe it was the nerves. Emma switched the blade to her other hand and sought for her sister's free hand to both give and receive comfort.

Together they followed their father into his cabin and she gulped as she shut the door behind them.

They were so dead.

Their father sighed and dragged a palm down his face, ending in a stroke of his beard. "What do you two thing you were doing?"

"It was my idea," Emma immediately spoke up, hoping to spare her sister. "We just wanted to help and J--there was someone struggling." She didn't think pointing out to their Captain that one of his pirates had needed help from children.

"You could have been killed."

"So could you," She volleyed back, then immediately bit her tongue. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.
 
She blinked at her sister as Emma tried to take all of the blame for what happened, shifting awkwardly on her feet. "It wasn't just Emma's idea, we both wanted to help." Elliot interjected, looking back up at their father.

They already dug their grave, so might as well jump into it headfirst. "She's right, you could have died too," she huffed indignantly, though she knew that her sister hadn't meant to be sassy to Captain Blackburne. Go with the flow, she rolled her lips into her mouth and bit down on them, hearing their father let out a hefty sigh.

He was frustrated with the twins, to say the least, but they were obviously his daughters.

"You have more learning to do before you can just jump into fighting, you're too young. And too small." He had them there, the twins were barely into double digits and were barely over 4'5".
 
Standing here, in front of their very angry father, Emma was grateful for their father. She winced when her sister had jumped in and she expected yelling or a lashing or... something.

He just sighed, and somehow that was even worse. He had been worried and they had given him a scare. He was not used to having children just as they were not used to having a father. She felt small and mildly embarrassed.

"We have been training" She said with a lot less indignation. He nodded, thoughtfully.

"Yes, you have, but it isn't enough. If you are going to risk your life, you're going to have to have more strength and skill. A few weeks is not enough." He shook his head and the young girl was struck, once again, by this man's vocabulary. She'd always thought pirates to be uneducated brutes, but when he was not dealing with hunters and the like, he spoke like a well educated man.

"We're sorry, Captain." She murmured, only half apologetically.

"Your time to fight will come, little ones, I promise that. Do not prevent yourselves from living to see that point."
 
Elliot felt somewhat bad, their father (as harsh and scary as he may have been) only wanted them to be safe, but they had completely ignored him to do what they wanted. Her cheeks flushed red.

"Sorry, Captain." She echoed her sister.

"Go clean up." The great captain dismissed them, turning towards his desk. Elliot swore she could see a little smile blooming on the man's face, but it was hard to tell underneath his bushy blond beard.

She let go of her sister's hand to open up his cabin door and head out, ready to clean off the blood. Most of it had hardened, so it would probably be a pain to get off. As they reached the top of the steps, Jim was standing there with a bucket of water and a couple of rags. He tossed one at Elliot and the other to Emma, "I figured you'd both want to clean up once you were done being yelled at." He chuckled and placed the bucket of water on the ground.

"Thank you," Elliot shot him a toothy grin and dipped her cloth into the water, scrubbing it against her face. They'd have to change as well, since a layer of blood had crusted onto the fabric in certain areas, but that could be done later.
 
Relief. The first thing she felt was relief. They would live another day. "Thank you, Captain," she called over her shoulder before quickly following her sister out of his cabin. She thought he'd seemed a little amused and that made her smile.

As did the bucket of water produced by Jim. She scrubbed hard at the caked on blood and beamed at her sister. They'd done well together, and they'd fought well. She was pleased and being able to take a nice bath was a luxury she had missed since the sea life.

That evening, her good mood faltered a little when they were presented with two mops and one bucket of water. The Captain grinned, "Time to clean the deck." Despite their earlier reprieve, they were still being punished with swabbing the deck all on their own.

Still, Emma was determined to do it and do it right. She wanted to prove to their papa that they could make good pirates. "Aye, aye Captain," she told him and felt her eyes roll a little. She hadn't intended the attitude but it was mild enough she hoped he wouldn't notice.
 
"You can scrub the deck for the next week because of that." Captain Blackburne knew that there was no way those girls would stop having attitude, but he would appreciate if there was a little less towards him.

Elliot grumbled under her breath, swiping the mop across the surface of the deck. "Way to go, Emma." She smacked her older sister in the back with the wooden top of the mop, it would already take them all night to clean the deck and now they had to clean the deck everyday for the next week. They may as well never stop mopping.

It did end up taking them a good while to finish mopping, the moon being high above them once they were finally finished. Then it was off to bed.

The amount of mopping they did in the next week actually did wonders for their muscle building.

~~~
 
The months passed much the same for the girls.

They took their turn in swabbing the deck. They learned to fight and to sail and to navigate.

They watched as The Secret and it's crew destroyed Navy ships. They witnessed many a party on the decks of their wooden home, and on their sixteenth birthday they both shared their first sip of rum.

The crew grew on them, just as they had grown on the crew and those that attempted anything untoward with the girls was met by sword, either from one of the twins or their father.

In Emmaline's mind, they were born for the sea. Their time on land was a distant memory and though she still mourned her Mama's death, she was beginning to believe that everything happened for a reason and it had simply became their time to return home to the ocean. Any sooner and they simply would have been too small, too weak.

Captain let them take turns sailing the ship now that they were older, often telling them that the ship was going to be theirs to inherit one day. He was gruff, and harsh, and loud but he was also proud and the twins had learned his ways of showing affection. It was Elliot's turn, and Emma was taking practice giving orders down on the main deck when a voice called up above. "Ship in the distance! Blue sails." Emma looked up and climbed up onto the quarter deck, shouting up at her sister and father.

"There's a ship approaching. It looks like the navy." Their Captain nodded. Fights with the navy were always longer, harder, more dangerous.

Emma lived for them.
 
The wheel felt natural in Elliot's hands, like it was always meant to be there. She'd nearly crashed the ship the first few times her father had let her behind the wheel, but she learned how to properly maneuver The Secret (OOC: The Seacret lmaoo puns) through the choppy sea.

Her father didn't need to instruct her on what to do next. She twisted the wheel, moving the ship in a way that would get them as close as possible to the naval vessel without crashing directly into it.

"All hands on deck, man the cannons!" Captain Blackburne shouted, unsheathing his own magnificent sword and pointing it skyward.

He turned back toward the twins, a grin on his face. "I think you two are ready for your first real battle. Get prepared, I'll man the wheel," he took the wheel from Elliot, who hopped over the railing onto the main deck and beside her sister, there was no time for stairs.

"Are you ready for this, Emma?" The younger of the twins pulled out her sword, which matched the one Emma carried. Long and elegant, they were a gift to the girls from Captain Blackburne for their sixteenth birthday.

Before they knew it, the battle had begun. The cannons blew from both sides and splinters of wood blasted into the air, hitting anyone who was too close to the sides of the ships.

Elliot shot her sister one glance before making her way to where the closest navel officer was, slicing her sword towards him. He matched her lunge and a ring from the swords hitting one another filled the air. Just like a pirate, she responded by kicking him in the knee and moved her sword to slice his neck as he fell. One down.
 
"Born ready," She grinned wildly at the younger twin, thrilled to finally be allowed in a battle rather than the small skirmishes on land. Her sword was already in hand and she waited, calmly until the Navy ship had stopped. Before the Navy ship had a chance their crew had attacked.

A few made it on board to The Secret but Emma hurried with most of the crew onto the Naval ship, slicing an officer through the stomach once she'd dropped onto deck. Having grown used to the bloodshed that was a necessary part of pirate life, the young girl didn't even blink. Instead, she turned toward the officer charging at her. He stopped, realizing that she was a girl, and a young one, and she took that second to swing her sword at him. He blocked and she kicked him down, elbowed him in the face, and slit his throat. Each action was the length of a heartbeat; three heartbeats and the soldier was gone and she turned toward the next one.

She could see her sister with some other crew, defending the ship and she smiled with pride at how far both of them had come.

The battle had spread to both ships and it was pretty evenly split; in her heart, Emma knew that this one would not be easily won and they were losing just as many men. Their father was at the helm, still steering, but an officer had sneaked up and he was trying to steer and block the man's blows. "Elliot!" She tried to yell over the crowd, but between the natural sounds of the ocean and the constant firing of guns and the sounds of metal on metal, it was unlikely her sister would hear her.

Their father fell to a knee in the same instance that Emma felt a boot to her back and nearly went over board. She clung to the railing and swiftly climbed up, stabbing the guy who'd knocked her over straight through the neck and with some effort tossing him over her head and into the water as he slid off her sword.
 
Elliot's knuckles smashed into the nose of one of the men, feeling it crush underneath her fist, and kicked him over the edge of the boat. She hadn't heard her sister calling, the sounds around her were too loud, but a feeling in her gut told her to go check on their father.

She slashed her way through the crowd, hopping over fallen bodies, and climbed the steps to where she'd left him guiding the ship. There were supposed to be men protecting him, but there were only men from the navy and her father with a sword pressed against his neck. All of the sounds faded into the background, leaving only her heavy breath and her heartbeat pressing in her head, but there was no time to pause.

There wasn't much she could do but try to fight her way to their father. She sliced into the nearest man, kicking the sword that fell from his hand up into her own. All she could she were swords and blue coats, but she twirled and parried and fought the way she knew how to. Blades cut her skin, but none deep enough to stop her.

Kill them all. That was her only though. No mercy.

That's what she did, but not without her own blood spilling into the mix.

Her father was still on his knees by the time she got to him, but he dropped forwards as soon as his captor released him to turn his blade on hers.
 
Elliot was standing on the guard rail of the navy ship. On this side of things, they were winning but on the other side... Emma had a sick feeling. They needed to go defend their ship.

Except there was her father, surrounded by Navy men who had been dying to have his head on a platter for years, worse still was her other half fighting her way through them all. Elliot would never get there in time to help, but she climbed up the Navy ship masts and jumped over onto The Secret, landing on the quarter deck. There was one man, his back to Emma and his sword pointed at her sister.

The young girl saw red and she was quick to climb up behind him and thrust her own sword in his back, right below the spine. She was sure to twist the sword before yanking it out, and then the man dropped.

But she was too late.

Their father was already face down and Elliot stood, covered in blood. Emma couldn't tell how much of it belonged to her sister. "Elliot," Rushing to her sister's side, Emma barely remember to keep a tight grip on her sword. "Are you okay?"

Looking around them, she realized that they had won. The living navy members were not offered a chance for life on the ship, despite the fact that their numbers had depleted. They were all beheaded and there were already crew clearing the ship of the dead bodies.
 
She couldn't do anything, just stare at the body of the man who'd brought them home. To the sea. Her sisters words were just noise, mixing with the crashing of the waves as they hit the ship and the sound of bodies being thrown over board. If she'd just been a little faster their father would be fine. He'd be congratulating them for their first real victory after the battle six years before.

Elliot finally turned toward her sister, "I'm fine. Most of it isn't mine." She sheathed her sword and clasped Emma's shoulder, "we tried to save him." Her failure was eating at her, but that moment didn't seem like the time for her to talk to Emma about it, not while the remaining crew were on the main deck staring up at them.

Blood was welling underneath her own clothing, but the white of her blouse wasn't stained red from just her wounds. The thought of that would help keep her sane. The men who attacked were dead, all dead.

"What now?" She glanced back to their fathers body as Arthur Silver made his way up to where they were. He helped to flip the captain, former captain, onto his back, letting the twins see their father for one last time before they sent his body out to see.
 
Tears pricked in Emma's eyes for the first time since their Mama had died; she'd been terrified that she was going to lose her sister. She breathed a sigh of relief and threw an arm around her sister to hold her close, for just a heartbeat. She'd been too late to save her father, to save their Captain, but her sister was still here.

Emma, too, put away her sword and reached for her sister's hand. It was an action she hadn't needed since they were ten or eleven, but it was comforting all the same. Allowing herself one squeeze before letting go, Emma looked out to the ship. "I don't know."

They were always meant to inherit the ship. Their father had entrusted it to them and had been shaping for this very thing, but it felt like it was here too soon. The twins didn't say anything as Silver flipped their father over.

She felt like she should say something, anything, but no words would come.

Their crew had shrank and they had no captain. Two pair of young eyes looked up at the first mate and he shook his head, "Not me." He took the hat off of their father and handed it to the both of them. "It's yours now, all of it."

Green eyes stared back at him and then down the length of the ship. They had the admiration of these men, she knew, because they had worked for it... she did not know if they had the respect to keep them on as crew. "Don't ya worry yer little heads, lassies, I'll be here with ya."
 
Elliot felt void of tears, her sadness wasn't as deep as when their mother died. Life at sea taught her that that was what was best.

The crew was significantly smaller than before, but they all looked ready to stay by the twins side. Elliot was grateful of that, but she still felt lost. She'd never heard of a female captain before, let alone two twin girls.

"Maybe we should dock at a port, see if we can hire more crew members?" She looked at her sister and then the hat in their hands. They needed to start somewhere, and even if they couldn't get anymore crew members then maybe they'd hear about treasure buried somewhere around the caribbean. That would help strengthen their hold on the pirating world, and treasure would probably help lift the spirits of all those on board, especially after what had just happened.

Regardless on what they decided to do next, it was time that they send their father to his eternal resting point. He'd always said that when he died he'd want to be sank to the bottom of the ocean, the sea was his home after all. As inelegant and gruesome as it sounded, that's what he wanted.

Arthur Silver had tied the rocks around the dead captains feet and motioned for the girls to help hoist him up.

They lifted his arms around their shoulders and pulled him over to the side of the ship. It wasn't something Elliot wanted to do, and she was sure that Emma felt the same way, but if it was how he wanted to go then so be it.

With a heave and an undignified splash, their father was sent to the depths of the ocean, free to be with his true loves; the sea, and mama.

After that, the cannons sounded.
 
It was completely undignified, particularly of a pirate captain, but this was not a time to disrespect their captain's wishes. With her sister's help and the rest of the crew watching, they dumped their father's body overboard. The resounding splash reminded Emma of the Navy officer she'd speared and then dumped just as unceremoniously.

It made her sick and the look on her sister's face made her think that maybe Elliot felt the same.

She considered what lie ahead for them and nodded, "Alright. We deal with the Navy ship, first, and then we will dock. You work on hiring a crew and I'll see if I can find a treasure to search for. I think we could all use the boost in morale." She bit her lip and considered their plan. They could have Silver do the recruiting, it was unlikely they would get a very good crew with a sixteen year old girl parading as captain, but then if they did join and realized that girls were captains, they might abandon.

"No, we should recruit together, you and me. Take a few of our men with us." She had a feeling that they would have to prove themselves.
 
"Bring the biggest men, I think." Elliot grinned at her sister and peered over at the navy ship, "get what you can, lads."

It didn't take much prompting to convince the rest of the crew to strip the ship. They scrambled over the sides of The Se(a)cret, grabbing onto the edge of the opposing blue and gold ship to help hoist themselves over to the main deck. "Do you want to stay back, or join them?" Elliot asked her sister. Several men were already hobbling back, throwing barrels and boxes back into the pirate ship. Many of them were carrying weapons, newer pistols and swords that were probably just released to the navy for use.

Elliot wasn't interested in going to the other ship, she saw no need in seeing all the dead bodies. She still felt sick to her stomach from their fathers death and seeing anymore blood would probably make her puke, something she hadn't done since she was ten years old. Speaking of blood, "I might need some help cleaning my cuts. Some might be pretty bad."
 
She knew that the men felt their Captain's loss; she could see it in the way they moved. They were delighted with the bounty from the Navy's ship, but there was something missing in that delight. Sighing, Emma continued to look out at the sea. "No, I don't think we're needed there." She wanted a chance to mourn, but that would come later when their shift was over and they were resting in their cabins.

"Come, let's get you cleaned and your wounds seen to. I think the doctor might be cowering below deck," gently taking her sister's elbow, she'll lead her sister below deck while up above the men continued to strip and steal from the Navy ship until there wasn't much left and it was sinking below the water... just like their father.

She worked to focus her mind away from those thoughts, instead focusing on the task at hand. Taking care of Elliot.
 
Elliot followed her sister down below deck, hobbling slightly. She used her free hand to grip the railings or any other thing that she could reach to help stabilize herself. The adrenaline was gone and she could feel exactly how much those cuts hurt.

"Oh dear, oh dear," the doctor on board was a peculiar man, he was short and stout with awful slicked back brown hair and a strange must ache that was supposedly common with the French. He stumbled around Elliot and her sister, gathering up supplies that would help the injured pirate. "P-please remove your blouse," he stuttered, fumbling over the numerous objects in his drawers before pulling out a bottle of alcohol and some cloths.

Elliot gave her sister a weak smile, amused by the nervous nature of Francois Martin, but did what she was told.

The shaky man twisted open the bottle of alcohol, though he had trouble doing so, and poured some of it onto a cloth. He proceeded to press the soaked cloth against her cuts, cringing slightly as she tried to wince away, "p-p-please d-don't move."
 
Emma had very little interaction with the strange doctor and she was not sure if it was the girl's presence that unnerved the man or if he was always this way. Regardless she was not willing to leave her sister's care with this man unsupervised.

"Mr. Martin," she started while the guy worked. "I think you should know that Captain Blackburne died in the battle. The ship is now run by my sister and myself," Eyeing the doctor, she continued, "If you are uncomfortable with this arrangement we will be docking within a few days and you may feel free to exit the ship." It was best to know now if they would need to find a new doctor as well.
 
"Ah," Francois looked up from where he was cleaning Elliot's shoulder, "I should av no problem with that. None at all." His French accent was thick and most would wonder how he'd ended up on an English pirate ship. "There is no other place for me now." He used a cloth dampened with water to scrub off the blood surrounding Elliot's cuts before using more traditional bandages to wrap around the cuts on her arms and the deeper one one her shoulder, looping the bandage around the armpit of the other arm.

It made Elliot feel a bit better, knowing that they wouldn't need to search for a new doctor. That was probably more difficult than looking for crew members. She released the breath she'd been holding and pulled her blouse back over her shoulders, buttoning it up slowly. "Thank you, Dr. Martin," she said once she was done, looking up at the doctor, "it helps a lot to have you stay here with us." No matter how weird the man was, a doctor was very helpful on a pirate ship (with all that pillaging and plundering) and he was quite good at his job.
 
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