Memories of the Sea I BTS X OC I

Chapter 12 - Reflection

Finally, they reached one of the communal sleeping chambers. The room had odd angles, and there were rows of massive iron loops protruding from the walls where hammocks could be fastened. While Ana and the rest of the survivors were led inside, Captain La Miala held Yoongi and Hae back with a gentle gesture of her hand.

"It would be best if you join me in the officer's hall. I'll need to know what happened, and you seem to be in good condition. The others – well, everyone deals differently with death. They'll need time to come around, and I need a coherent report."

Hae wanted to refuse, to demand some sort of respite before being interrogated by this strange woman, but before she could open her mouth, Yoongi had already started to speak: "Yes, of course. We'll do our best, my wife and I".

She threw him an exasperated look, but he just shrugged, his face polite yet expressionless. Apparently, they were going to get questioned, and she didn't have any say in it. Hae only hoped that their story would hold – and that nobody would notice that her husband's name and identity just slipped one's mind.

The officer's hall was an oval room located near the bow of the ship. It was dominated by a grand, somewhat impractical chandelier that hung from the low ceiling, devoid of candles at the moment. Instead, there were some more sensible lamps that brightened the room, but couldn't quite chase the shadows away.

In the centre of the space stood a single long table, obviously meant for a dinner partys, carved artfully out of some kind of dark brown wood that looked oddly out of place in the hold of a ship. Captain La Miala glided over to it and promptly sat down at the head of the table, leaving Yoongi and Hae in a hurry to follow her example.

Hae hadn't yet made more than two steps into the room when she saw him. His blue eyes had locked onto her, and she shivered when she met his gaze. It was predatory, cruel even. She remembered how strong his tattooed arms were, how his hands felt around her throat, squeezing until she couldn't even gasp for breath. Everything in her screamed at her to run, to move, to get away. But still, she remained there, halfway across the room, frozen.

She wanted to kill him, just so she would never feel so afraid again. Blind anger filled her, her body refused to move. Connor smiled at her, sweetly. Stepped closer, out of the shadows, until he was right next to her, until his breath fanned over her face. His nose was slightly crooked. "Wait for me, afterwards. We've got something to discuss, you and I, don't we?"

Finally, Hae moved. She slapped him, with as much force as she could, enjoying the surprise, then pain, that showed on the sailor's face. She turned, and joined the other two at the table before Connor could react. Her hand hurt, but it was a good kind of pain, the kind that cleared her thoughts. She wasn't so scared anymore, she was angry. Her dress was still wet, and salt had dried on her skin, making her itchy and uncomfortable. She felt exhausted, her body stretched to the limit and beyond, and still she had to go on, and now Connor was here – Hae was done, done with it all.

Yoongi stared at her as she sat down, and she looked back steadily, her head held high. "He accosted me in a most uncaught manner", she said courtly, as if there was nothing to it. And there wasn't. She had had every right to slap him, and nobody could fault her for her reaction. Or so she thought, at least.

The captain laughed, high and effectuated, ringing like a bell. Her honey eyes gleamed with excitement. "I see you've met my first mate, Connor O'Malley." Yoongi took one good look at the man that stepped into the light, a bright red handprint on his left cheek, murderous intent dancing in his eyes, and stood up abruptly. His chair was thrown to the floor.

"I demand satisfaction for the insult you delivered upon my wife!", he called, his hand searching for a weapon at his belt that wasn't there, that had sunken with all our belongings on the Sparrow.