Yes sir, Captain (Completed with trailer) [ReaderxPirate]

Chapter 21

The entire crew had the Captain shunned.

Because besides finding out he had lied about his age...the Captain, with their lives on the line, had made a choice.

He chose keeping you hidden over keeping all of them alive.

And had it not been for Scarpa's change of mind, they all would've been tortured to death before the Captain would have have uttered a word to them about you.

So they shunned you too.

It was you they were jealous of.

The Scurvy Raider was falling apart. And quickly.

The Captain's day that followed had mostly consisted of him laying on the cot of the Captain's Quarters and you treating his wounds, not falling for it this time when he insisted every little scratch needed stitching. 

But how was the crew supposed to know what you were doing in there? It spited them even more.

That night at dinner, the Captain, no longer wishing to bear the dark scowls that his pirate crew shot at him, went to bed early.

Or at least, he tried. After a bit of sewing in the Mapping room, you went to check on him.

"Umm, Captain? Are you alright?" you whispered, cracking his door open slightly.

He didn't reply.

You sighed, and entered his quarters, quietly closing the door behind you. "Captain, I know you're not asleep. Are you alright?"

"If I'm not asleep, you should know the answer to that question."

"Well, I'm here to help. Do you need anything? Can I get you something?"

"We're out of grog."

"I wasn't going to bring you any anyways. Now can I help you?"

"No, just... " He sighed, not sure what to say.

You crossed your arms and walked over to him, and crouched by his side, pulling up his blankets over him.

"You don't need to tuck me in," he muttered.

"I think I do."

"No. You don't."

You sighed. "Yes you do, you just don't know it. Like your crew needs you. They just don't know it."

"You can go now, Anika. I don't need anything."

You looked at him reproachfully. But I want to stay...

"Go, Anika."

"You said I don't have to follow your orders."

"Well follow that one," he said flatly.

"How about you follow this one."

And you kissed him.

At first he was utterly surprised, then he...went to kiss you back, but you put a finger over his lips.

You weren't interested in kissing even more with that nasty breath of his. So he you let go.I'm going to have to start making him gargle saltwater. Sauerkraut leaves a horrible aftertaste. "Go to sleep Captain. Now."

He smiled, and even gave a little chuckle at the irony. "Yes ma'am, Princess."

And even though he wasn't asleep when you left right then, you hoped it was enough to keep away the nightmares.

.

~ ~ ~

.

He burst awake next to you in the cot with a gasp of "Augh!" and slammed the floor with his fist so hard, he woke you up with a frightened jump, and you nearly tumbled out of the cot in fear, recalling the nightmarish sound of the Captain in pain and the stomping of 'Serpent of the South' feet.

You gasped for air too, resisting a nightmarish flashback. "Captain, are you okay?" you asked, though you already knew the answer.

"Oh, it was you, it was you," he gasped, shaking his head and then looking at you deeply, panting and out of breath. "It's always been Flora, it's always been the same, every night, every day, every week, month, year, but this time it was you in her place, and I've never dreamed it far enough to hear you screaming, anyone screaming like that... You were screaming my name and I couldn't do a thing... They beat her, they raped her, they made me watch her die!"

"Captain, I'm alright, I'm safe, I'm right here with you," you said, readjusting your blankets that you'd rolled onto, now on the floor by him where he'd tumbled, tenderly taking his hand.

"Gaspar's coming for you, the Royal Ripper of the 'Murderer's Prize', he's not going to stop, he knows who I am, he knows I'm protecting you, he–"

"Breathe. Just breathe," you soothed. "Whatever's going on, we're going to figure it out, but right now we're okay and we have each other. Just breathe..."

"I can't let you be a cabin slave, I have to get you out of this somehow but I have no damn clue how because I can't get you to the southern islands without the crew and the waters are covered in Tristramian ships and everyone is looking for the Scurvy Raider and I've become the most wanted man in all the seven seas–"

You kissed him to shut him up, since nothing you could say seemed to be helping.

He relaxed a little at the sensation, and your lips smacked before you slowly leaned off of him.

You took a deep, shaky breath... You were just as terrified as he was, and your trembling hands and lower lips couldn't help but show it. 

After a stretch of silence, the Captain quietly whispered, "I can still hardly take losing her. I don't want to lose you too..."

"I'm right here," you murmured, "come back to sleep."

You climbed back into the cot together, at first laying stiffly at each other's side, intertwining your hand with his.

Suddenly, he dropped your clasped hands, and reached around you, pulling you in and holding you close.

He lay on his back, and you lay on your side, your head resting on his chest. As your fears plagued your waking mind, including the fact that the hold you two had right then was going to end, and end soon... You started crying into his scarred chest.

"I'm going to protect you to my dying breath," he breathed a promise.

Knowing that his dying breath could very well be what it came down to, that only made you cry more.

He had nothing he could say to you to make you feel better...so you wound up crying yourself to sleep in his arms, staining his chest with tears, your stomach churning in dread.

.

~ ~ ~

.

The crew had never dared sneak into the Captain's cabin, to snoop around to take something worthy of stealing... But the respect that had kept them from doing so had completely vanished. One could guess that when Knoll snuck into the cabin in the early morning before neither you not the Captain had woken up...he was not very pleased to find you both cuddled up in the same cot, holding each other tightly all through the night.