𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩-𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨 || ʲ. ʰᵒˡˡᵃⁿᵈ

_six_

          Was the sky always this bright?
         
          The world slowed around you as the beast managed to gain control of the entire ship, with one push of its hands sending you backwards and off.
         
          There was a dull pounding on your back as your feet left solid ground, free-falling in cold air as winds rushed past your ears. You could see strands of your hair blocking your view of the bright red sails and bright blue of the clear open sky, this scenery ironically being the calmest you've ever been in.
         
          Your eyes flickered from point to point watching the ship, blurring faces as you weren't exactly sure where you wanted your attention to be. This was an. . .oddly, familiar feeling, and you couldn't help but close your eyes in reluctant defeat as you let it guide you.
         
          Your back hit the cold water, and you passed out.
         
          "Y/N!" Hunters near her flinched when Sarah's voice boomed in so much panic, momentarily forgetting her weapons as her wide eyes searched the water. She sees a moving figure, and anger is quick to replace whatever it was she felt as she grabs her gun and shoots. The creature continues to wail in pain, watching the spiked tail emerge from the waters with a whipping splash. She's unfazed, this reaction only making her angrier as she shoots at it with no mercy.
         
          "Man overboard!!" Maria cries out as she had left the underside of the ship just in time to see you fall into the water, hands gripping the railings as she joins many others in searching for you. You hadn't emerged yet, and before she knew it she was already dropping the crate she was carrying and going to jump in.
         
          "No!" She's stopped by a grip on her forearm, scoffing in so much offense when she's stopped by none other than Fen, who had managed to hold onto something when the ship tipped. "That thing's tail is still whipping around down there! We can't risk another casualty!"
         
          "Y/N is not a casualty and I can swim!"
         
          "I know that you idiot I just don't want you to jump in and risk you getting hurt too!" With the two bickering they hadn't even noticed somebody already running and diving right in, only recognizing a familiar tuft of blond hair before he disappears under the waves.
         
          Maria clicks her tongue, grabbing her cutlass and running to go help in something else instead. Fen knows that it was risky, and she knows that the impact had probably caused you to black out. But she had faith that you'd be fine—especially now that Jacob gods-damned 'nobody-left-behind' Holland had dived into the water—sending one last glance at the thrashing waves before she grabs her bow and goes to help fight off the whipping tail to make sure rescuing you didn't have to be any harder than it needed to be.

         
• • •

          . . .
         
          Why was it so cold?
         
          The impact of the fall had been enough to make you lose consciousness, but the downright freezing waters of the unforgiving sea was enough to wake you right back up. Every bodily pain you've had since the start of the attack came to inconvenience you all at once, unbearable pounding on your back and on your head making you want to groan.
         
          . . .
         
          But you couldn't.
         
          Saltwater stung your eyes when they shot open in panic, finally forcing yourself to swim 'lest you fell further down below. The water around you was pushing you to your left as something kept whipping to the right, but that was the least of your concerns. What you were most concerned about was the red.
         
          All around you, the water was red.
         
          You began to lose your breath as you push your way to the surface, coughing up your lungs as soon as you could gasp for air. Each time you blinked you saw things differently, one look down seeing the water blue one moment, then red the next. It was terrifying, and it seems that it affected everything else.
         
          You saw planks of wood where there none, tufts of hair and limb sticking from the water where it was supposed to be clear. It made you sick, but what solidified this change was when you looked to your right.
         
          The figurehead that previously depicted the infamous but elusive Red Bluster was replaced by that of a mermaid. The previous scaly green hull of the Inevitable was now made of dark witchwood, pristine and glorious but old and scratched in all her years of battle. For some reason, while the sea was red. . .you were back in the waters next to the Poison Orchid.
         
          "No. . ." You whisper, chest heaving as you feel yourself losing composure. "No, no it was. . .it wasn't. . ." You gulped down a lump in your throat. It tasted like salt. "Ca. . .Call. . .I don't. . .please. . ." By now your eyes were stinging from both seawater and tears threatening to burst, not even noticing that the ship had gone back to normal while you were left in your delirious state flopping about.
         
          Your dislike of the color red wasn't exactly just because of the color itself.
         
          You disliked the color red in this context, because it brought up memories you'd rather not have come back.
         
          "Y/N!" Jacob grunts as he held onto the spiked tail of the large creature, stabbing an arrow deeper into it before it completely threw him off. He braced himself for water, and as soon as his feet broke the impact first he was quick to swim over to you.
         
          You looked distracted, and didn't even look like you saw him next to you. Despite your wet face he could tell that some of those were tears, and from the heavy breathing and complete disregard of safety he could tell that you were going through something. It worried him, but he didn't have enough time to ask when there was currently a thrashing tail less than fifty feet away from them and a monster that was getting more and more agitated the more it was starting to lose the upper-hand.
         
          "Y/N, hey hey hey, wake up, wake up!" He was only glad that you seemed to have remembered how to swim, floating aimlessly as he shook your shoulders. "Come now, you're fine, a'right? And you'll be even more fine once we get out of here!" He watches as you gulped and shakily let out a breath, one last shake of your shoulders being what you needed to fully snap out of it.
         
          You look disoriented and distracted, but fight or flight was quick to come back as your eyes widened and see Jacob.
         
          His face was worried as behind him you saw the tail still trying to hit whatever and whoever it could on the ship, and you knew that it was only a matter of time before it took notice of you and Jacob so near it. The ship had gone back to normal, and the water was once again blue.
         
          "What the fuck, Holland?!" Your voice shrieks, something splashing to your left as buoys were tossed to the both of you. "Why the fuck are you here?! You could've just sent me these!!"
         
          You two struggled to hold onto the floating devices, and he had to fight back a sigh as he's only glad that you seemed to be faring sort of well. "You were passed out, you absolute piece of work! What the hell was I supposed to do?! Just. . .expect your unconscious body to grab hold?!"
         
          Despite the situation you find it in you to laugh, almost choking up on more water as you reach over and squeeze his hand. "Thanks, Jacob." His previously annoyed face disappears and he's left in confusion, hesitantly whispering a 'you're welcome?' before the creature roars loudly once again and both your attention is turned.
         
          "Hey lovebirds, up here!" Fen hollers as she throws a rope ladder over the edge of the ship, dangling just a few feet above the water. For some reason she was using her non-dominant hand, but you didn't have time to think about that right now. You both go to swim to it, but another bodily pain forces you to grit your teeth and hold onto the floating buoy. Your panic only grows in tenfold, when you see the water growing red. Not as much as it did in your unwanted memories, but enough for you to know that you should be worried anyway.
         
          "Jacob!" He was already by the rope before he turns, the first thing he saw being the sort of small pool of red that only seemed to get worse. "Help!"
         
          "Wh— you're bleeding!" He cries out in worry, kicking off the side of the ship to get him to swim faster back to you. You managed to scoff out a sarcastic laugh as you feel stinging from your legs now. "Wow, no fucking shit!"
         
          You tried to swim yourself, but could only yelp when you feel your legs just give up on you. Great, the moment your injury starts to act up and it's when you're in the damn sea next to a giant monster that's definitely man-eating. Fucking great, amazing how you were bleeding too, free fucking Y/N samples for everybody.
         
          "Shit." Jacob was back next to you in a second, clicking his tongue. Seeing you still holding onto the buoy gave him an idea, giving it a few test tugs before deciding there wasn't much better option. "Hang on."
         
          "Oh not to worry, the day wasn't great enough to want to drown anyway!" Your sarcasm knew no bounds even as he grabbed hold of one end of the buoy and started swimming again, slowly but surely managing to inch you two closer and closer to the rope ladder. How he expected you to get up, you weren't too sure yet. 
         
          You could only watch quietly and nervously as he removes some of the rope of the buoy, attaching it to the one you held onto before tying the other end to the rope ladder. "Stay here." You bite back another sarcastic retort as he reaches up and climbs it himself, nervously trying to feel for your gun. Realizing it wasn't there, you almost passed out, but panic rose even further as you attempted to look for your dagger.
         
          "Oh thank the gods." The dagger was still perfectly secured to your person, making peace with your soul knowing that you quite possibly might've just lost your gun. It's not like it was your favorite or anything pfft what you had plenty others shut up you weren't crying.
         
          "Y/N! Hold on!" You look up and see Jacob hollering over the edge, finding a way to sort of sit on the buoy before sending a thumbs up. He sees it, disappears from your point of view, and before you knew it you were being hauled up.
         
          By now you saw that the tail had disappeared back into the water, nervously looking down below you trying to see if it was trying to hit you. You find nothing but deep, dark, empty blue, forcing yourself to look back up at the ship as you got further and further away from the sea. Even amidst the still-obvious signs of panic on the ship—another cry of 'man overboard!' from somewhere across it—this was ironically the calmest you've felt. You know, other than when you were free-falling to what might've been your death had you not decided to wake up.
         
          Your head ached as you recalled the weird way your memories decided to show themselves—and you know, just ached in general, seriously it was a miracle that you were still alive and in one-piece at twenty-one—the red water and weird hallucinations of the Poisoned Orchid not being things you've thought about in a while.
         
          You send a glance to your bracelet as you held on tightly to the rope, before you were thankfully saved from your own mind when you finally reached the top.
         
          You hook a hand up the edge before multiple pairs of others got hold of it, quickly managing to pull you up as they sort of sat you on the railings. Doctor Edward was surprisingly there—looking worried to be out in the open when there was still a monster here—and quickly ripping your boots off and tossing them aside. You were lifted and placed on the floor when he gestured for it, just the vaguest part of you being aware that it was Jacob beside you as Edward inspects your ruined bandages.
         
          "Gods, I knew you should've gotten the stitches. . ." His scolding was quiet as it seemed it was sort of a message for himself, cringing when he rolls up one leg of your pants and sees the newly opened wounds of the previous attack just two days prior. You held back bile as you looked away, and ending up sort of bumping your forehead against Jacob's shoulder. If you were in a better state of mind you probably would've lost it over this.
         
          There were two on one leg—right below your knee and another on the side maybe an inch below—your pants unfortunately not being able to hike up further. The dark fabric was quickly getting darker on your other leg. Mumbling an apology, Edward all but rips off your pant leg, the last injury bleeding the most on your thigh. The doctor was quick to grab fresh bandages as he wraps it around quickly just as an effort to get it to stop all of them from bleeding, vaguely hearing some more mumbling about needing to be back with the rest of his tools.
         
          He opens his mouth to say something, but everybody is stunned when there was an otherworldly thud. Attention is quickly turned and sort of left awestruck, the monster's head apparently falling forwards into the ship newly dead. On its corpse where a dozens of cracks in the scales and the arrows that managed to penetrate it successfully, but the main attraction of this murder was the one and only Sarah Sharpe standing on the head digging her cutlass in so deep only the handle remained in your view.
         
          She stood on the curved head of the creature looking as stone-cold as ever, her entire lower body coated in the creature's black blood. She remains just as silent as everybody else, although everyone else's were of being stunned while hers was of unfeeling ruthlessness.
         
          Her gaze takes in the rest of the ship, nods, then rips her weapon off with one tug.
         
          . . .
         
          You were the first to break the silence, your cheer being the catalyst needed for everybody else to cheer just as loudly.
         
          "Go Sarah!!" You only now realized that she had stabbed her sword where you previously shot the creature, hearing some hushed conversation between Jacob and Edward as you ignored that in favor of raising your arms in celebration for your guardian. "That's my fucking parent!! She did that!!! Shit your pants, sea beasts!!!"
         
          You whooped one last time as Jacob lifts you up, not even wanting to acknowledge how uncomfortable it was when the both of you were soaking wet. Edward excuses himself to no doubt give help to any other patient in need, the ship slowly coming back to life in celebration of the woman having dealt the final blow. Captain Crow was congratulating her with a loud hearty laugh, in the same breath barking out some orders before he did his usual captain-back-slap. You watched in awe when Sarah simply took it like a champ.
          
          "Y/N, my dear! Are you alright?" You grinned widely when the previously mentioned captain approaches, hand reaching in thumbs-up as he held nothing but concern on his one-eyed face. "Other than the fact that I might've just broke my back and paralyzed my legs again, I'd say I'm doing pretty well!"
         
          "My, witty as ever." He stands next to you as he chuckles, sighing when he gives both you and Jacob a once-over. "How about you, boy?"
         
          "Freezing cold, captain."
         
          "Like two peas in a fucking pod." Crow laughs his usual hearty laugh as Sarah approaches the forming group, already wiping her cutlass clean with a white cloth that barely looked the part. It was soaked so much, but looked like it barely got rid of the blood on the weapon. Her blank stare made you shiver more, if the water wasn't already doing that.
         
          "How're you feeling?" Her tone felt cold but you took it with grace, growing up with her long enough to know that this was the closest you'd ever get to her being nice outside of just outright showing it. Your previous shit-eating grin returns. "There's not a part of my body that isn't in pain."
         
          "Sounds about right." She sighs as she finally lets some of the demeanor slip, tossing the previous cloth perfectly into an open crate blindly before she grabs another one. "What'd the doc say?"
         
          "Put her in the office, let her rest after he's stitched her up. He said to 'tie her to her bed if you have to'." Jacob pauses when you scoffed, before adding, "Verbatim."
         
          You scoffed again when captain Crow only chuckled and Sarah squints in judgement, the man carrying you grunting as, with the added misfortune of wet clothes, you slid off him so easily he had to constantly be adjusting you.
         
          . . .
         
          A part of you wanted to see if Fen was looking at your heating face somewhere keeping score.
         
          "Well best you go do that now. Get yourself dried up after you've set her down." Jacob only nods at Sarah's orders as she and the captain both excuse themselves, the two of you left in the middle of the chaotic deck staring at their figures walking off before he clicks his tongue.
         
          "Familiar sight, isn't it?"
         
          "You having to carry me to the clinic because of some stupid thing I did? Or because of the consequences of the same stupid thing? Yup, three for three."
         
          "Seven, but who's keeping track." He jokingly corrects you as you two make your way down to the bottom deck of the ship, scoffing as your mouth broke into a bigger smile. Jacob had to look away to avoid having to deal with it. "Gods, I was way off!"