𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬 𖥸 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨

016. Nightmares

Jillian had fallen into a very unsatisfying slumber.

     The captain's quarters were silent as always and Saebeorht had elected to flash away into passive - as he used to do before their capture. Now that things were back to normal, their routine was resumed.

     There was darkness on all sides. It was swallowing her whole, consuming her entire mind and forcing her glorious standing to her knees. Her legacy crumbled to ashes around her.

     What could she do against him?

     "That's right~" he purred. "You can't do anything. You'll always be a prisoner to me, even when you're not on my ship."

     "Go away!" She snarled at him, but her words had to be choked up. She couldn't see him, only his silhouette standing above her, eyes the color of rubies ensnaring her so she could not escape his gaze.

     "I conquered your mind already, Swan. That is proof that you're mine. You're no captain, only a broken seashell of the former glory everyone once admired. As a child, even I looked up to you. You were an icon all over the world. Now . . . now you're just pathetic. Not fit to lead your crew."

     Jillian covered her ears. He was lying. He had to be lying. It wasn't true. No. No.

     His voice lowered. "Come back to me, Swan."

     Just like that, the image faded until Jillian was surrounded by a bunch of colors. Dark colors. She whimpered and stepped back, feeling the ground shake beneath her. A second later, a familiar muscular pirate stood in front of her, smirking.

     Ramiro.

     And somehow, Jillian knew that it wasn't his dream version.

     She took another step back, gasping when Ramiro stepped forward, moving until he was only a few paces in front of her. "Relax, little captain." He said, a grin on his face. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to give you a warning."

     Ramiro fixed his brown gaze on Jillian's and chuckled when the woman whimpered again. The male took a step forward, bringing himself to a halt a few inches from the captain. With a smile, he took the female's head in his hand, cradling her cheek.

     "I'm here to tell you that these nightmares are going to keep happening." The male told her, smirking. "Unless you surrender."

     Jillian stepped away from him, but Ramiro just laughed and took three steps toward her, trapping the girl against an invisible wall.

     He cackled. "You have exactly three days to meet us at the West Amayan Port and accept your fate. If you don't, we'll destroy your entire crew, ravage every single ship, until we find you." Ramiro then proceeded to grab Jill's chin and tilt her head up.

     "I . . . ." Sweat pooled Jill's temples. This couldn't be real. This had to be a dream. She refused to believe it was real. "How . ."

     "Three days," Ramiro repeated once more as he dropped her chin and stepped into the shadows. "I'll be waiting, my dear."

     Jillian awoke with a shriek, breaking out in cold sweat and panting heavily.

     No.

     No it had to be just a dream.

     It couldn't have been real . . . but it certainly did feel like he was really there.

     What could she do? What would she do if it turned out to be real? If what he had threatened her with turned out to be true? If he managed to destroy her crew once and for all, and this time they wouldn't be able to escape . . .

     Three days?

     That wasn't much time to make a proper and smart decision. She couldn't tell anyone about this - Ammiras and Wendy especially. She knew they'd act recklessly and get themselves killed.

     Her distress must have attracted Saebeorht to her because the bird had freed himself from passive and fluttered to land on her shoulder with a coo of concern.

     The captain of the winged leader gave a saddened smile. "I'm fine Sae, I didn't mean to wake you. I just had a bad dream."

     The Magnificent Frigatebird tilted his head and let out another coo - one that sounded like bongos. He puffed out of feathers before returning into passive once more without any trouble.

     And then, when she was finally left alone to the darkness of her thoughts, the captain allowed herself to break down in tears.

     "Well this is a certainly interesting sight to see."

     Her blood froze and her head snapped up.

     The man who had abducted her was leaning against her wall with a smirk on his face.