Mud Puddles [Jim Hawkins x Reader]

Chapter 11

By the time (Y/N) had emotionally recovered from the moment, she climbed up to the deck to discover they were already moving towards the dock.

Peering over the starboard bow, she could see the platform on which they were supposed to dock and retrieve their flags. It was made up of bits of wood at various ages: some rotting, some fresh, and many had gaping holes from where they had had their knots kicked out. The older planks had undoubtedly seen the soles of many generations of naval cadets on the same mission.

A ship was leaving as they began to dock. (Y/N) caught sight of Broden Wilkes's sneering face. They locked eyes and he waved a flag as if to gloat that he was finally ahead of them. For a flickering moment, (Y/N) thought she saw the flag split in two at the hem, but dismissed it as her attention was snatched by Jim landing heavily on the platform.

"Hey, wait up!" She called. He stopped abruptly. She quickly scrambled out of the ship to follow, but when she eventually arrived at his side, she saw why Jim had stopped so suddenly. Or rather, she didn't see.

The eight nails that were meant to hold the pieces of cloth were empty. Only small shreds of bright blue cloth remained from where the fabric had been torn from the nails, nothing more.

There were no flags left.

Jim swore. They had disobeyed orders, travelled across space, put up with each other, for nothing. A lump of disappointment rose in (Y/N)'s throat but she swallowed it down. No, now was not the time to cry. It was the time to evaluate their next move; there was no time for tears.

They both turned their backs to the unrewarding flag rack, taking a moment to compose themselves. Truthfully, all (Y/N) wanted to do was kick and scream and blame Jim for everything that had gone wrong, but she didn't. She knew that it wasn't his fault. Instead of a wild outburst of frustration, she took a deep breath and began to think. Though it was hard to keep a solid train of thought when Jim was pacing back and forth like a madman.

"Would you quit that? I'm trying to think." She huffed after a minute. Jim looked up at her startled as if he had completely forgotten her existence.

"Maybe I was also trying to think." His tone was too sassy for (Y/N)'s liking, and she found it hard to believe that less than half an hour ago they were about to kiss.

"Think quieter then. You sound like an overweight Cragorian running a marathon barefoot." She said. Jim shot her a withering look but, obeying her wishes, stopped pacing.

"Speaking of overweight..." Jim drawled after biting back another scathing reply. "Broden and Nelson are ahead of us, for once. Saw 'em as we were pulling in."

The mention of the duo resurfaced a recent memory which (Y/N) had, at the time, boycotted as a trick of the eyes. She gasped and Jim looked at her with mild alarm.

"Wilkes! Of course!" Jim's body relaxed but he raised a questioning eyebrow at her outburst. "He took our flag; I saw it as we passed but didn't think anything of it! The bastard, he even waved it around."

"And you didn't think to tell me!?" Jim said, incredulous.

"I didn't know he had our flag!" (Y/N) sighed exasperatedly. With a heavy breath, Jim scaled up the rope ladder to the ship and began to quickly get the ship in order. (Y/N) followed close behind. Within a matter of minutes, the sails were open and they were progressing at full speed; stern pointed to the retreating ship far ahead.

The distance between the vessels began to shrink as The Fat Lady ploughed through the etherium at full speed. They both stood staring ahead, stone-faced.