A Pirate's Life For Me

Emotional Outbursts

They stacked the bodies of the dead into a large pile and tied them together before pushing them all into the sea. 

"Light them up Valdez, we don't want anything getting sick off of all the rotting flesh." Nico said coldly. Leo, his face already a mess from the fight, sent a stream of flame out to the floating mass.

Will was treating the injured on the deck of the Doriana since it was clean and free of bodies.

"Di Angelo, ye hurt?" He asked the captain of the other ship. Nico was holding Hazel's hand as she had the deep cut on her arm cleaned and bandaged.

"I'm fine."

"Don't lie. Saw ye limping after the fight."

The son of Hades sneered at him. "I twisted my ankle when I fell, it's fine."

"Let me see i' anyway. It might be worse than ye think." Will insisted.

"Nico, please." Hazel squeezed his hand. "Listen to him."

"Look at the others first." Nico said. "Then I'll let you see my ankle."

"Fair enough." Will moved down the line. He was surprised to see that his next patient was the first mate Reyna. She was covered in bruises and cuts, but the worst was the gash along her upper chest.

"What happened here?" Will asked as he began to treat the cuts.

"Doesn't matter, just treat them." She said, her eyes to the sky. She seemed to be searching for something, and Will had a sneaking suspicion what it was.

Piper was standing with Frank as they watched the healer do his work. 

"What do we do now?" The burly boy asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Piper turned to him with a frown.

"Cap'n's gone. What do we do without him?"

"He's not gone forever." 

Frank faced Piper fully. "How do you know? He got dragged off by a harpy, there's not much of a chance he's alive."

"Have a little faith, Frank. This is the Cap'n we're talking 'bout." 

"Right. Faith." Frank muttered. He looked over at Hazel, who was still with Nico, and bit his lip.

"If you love her, just tell her." Piper spoke again, startling her crewmate out of his thoughts.

"How did you know?"

"It's rolling off you in waves and your eyes have been practically glued to her ever since you found out she was hurt." Piper shrugged. "Just go for it."

"What if she says no? What if she's still angry with me?"

"Then explain what happened, whatever it was. Help her understand your side."

Frank nodded, thinking.

Will moved back to Nico. "That was the last one. Now let me look at yer godsforsaken ankle or I'll have Frank hold ye down so I can."

"I am a captain, you will address me with respect." Nico snapped.

"Ye ain't my cap'n." Will replied coldly. "My cap'n saved yer life today, at the possible expense of his own."

Almost all movement and sound on the deck stopped. Will had been part of Thalia's crew originally, and had never shown obvious signs of changing loyalties, even if he was working on someone else's ship. But now he had declared openly that he viewed Percy as his captain and would continue to do so until it was proven that the son of Poseidon had passed on.

"Give me yer blasted ankle di Angelo." Will broke the silence, an irritated growl in his voice.

"Fine." Nico sneered in reply, stepping back and sitting on a nearby crate so the son of Apollo could examine his leg.

Frank sidled over to Hazel and sat down on the deck next to her. She pointedly turned away from him.

"Hazel, can we talk?" He asked hesitantly.

No answer.

"Hazel, I just want to say I'm sorry. I was under pressure, the other archer on our boat was firing most of the time and when he got hurt the leader of our party began to scream in my ear. I only meant to injure, I swear."

"I don't believe you."

Frank bit his lip. "I swear it on the Styx."

There was a rumble of thunder overhead. Hazel didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, Piper had sat down next to Reyna.

"What happened to you?"

"Usual cuts and bruises after a fight."

"Reyna, I saw you fighting. Nothing was touching you." Piper looked at the first mate, taking in her upward-turned eyes and the tears that were hiding at the corners of them. Her hair was a mess and her clothing and skin was torn, but she didn't seem to care at all. She just sat there, looking up.

"Are those tears from the pain or for the Captain?" The daughter of Aphrodite asked quietly.

Before Reyna could answer, Hazel exploded to her feet, catching everyone's attention.

"I don't care if that wasn't your intention, the fact of the matter is that it happened and it was your fault!" She yelled before marching over to the rail and jumping over to her own ship. Frank watched her go with a defeated look, then turned to Piper. 

"See?"

[A/N everyone's cross, everyone's emotional, there might be more explosions, who knows? Oh yeah, me! Also, pretty sure the picture I used is a drawing, but I couldn't find the information for it]