Magni’s patience was running dangerously thin, especially after the unexpected visit from the Lunar Coven supreme who came to tell them they were to be put on trial for killing the monsters who had nearly slaughtered them. Even if he knew the only rational thing they could do in this situation was to keep calm and stay quiet, he was growing restless. They couldn’t simply lay back and wait for the werewolves to decide their fate. Eventually, he stood up from where he was seated and walked through the village, with piercing stares following him around he went to the first person he recognized. “ I’m going around the edge of the village to explore, perhaps even find a way out of here once we get the opportunity, care to join me? Who knows, maybe we’ll even unearth their deepest and darkest secrets. “
“Let’s go. Not much else to do here,” Ava said, pushing herself up from the dirt. She slung her satchel over her shoulder, filled with the herbs she’d managed to get.
She laughs as the second part. “Who knows? Maybe someone is getting drunk and spilling some secrets. Wouldn’t it be nice if they turned out to be deadly afraid of mice or something? We could find some and set them loose in the camp.”
“Look on the bright side,” Lachlan said, making no attempt to hide his dismay. “Sure, we may have ended up in a bit of trouble and now face an unknown fate at the hands of a hostile enemy, but...” A brief silence, and he shook his head. “But! The crew is all together, we sailed the high seas, travelled to distant lands... Killed or maimed a few of the locals... Isn’t that what being a pirate is all about?”
“I was told it was about treasure,” Ava quipped. “’s what I signed up for, anyway.”
He was right about one thing at least, the killing and the maiming, surely that was what pirates did. She looked around the camp, thinking of everyone’s distress.
She laughed, like it was funny, like it was awful. “Are we? Together.”
In some sense, perhaps. But not in the one that mattered. They never had been. Even if they liked to pretend, no one on the damn ship had been honest with each other for a damn second.
And now they were all going to die. She’d be scared, if her life had meaning left.
“Why didn’t they just kill us?” Lyra wondered aloud, watching the wolves that guarded the perimeter of the village. “I mean… not that I wish they would’ve, but they could have. And instead they’re putting us on trial? I guess it’s too much to hope that we might have a fair shot of winning.”
“Entertainment, if I had to guess,” Ava said as she took a look through her stack of herbs. She’d lost many of them in the fight, but not everything. “I mean, they’re on an island in the middle of nowhere. Gotta be pretty mind-dulling.”
Tell me once again:
I could have been anyone, anyone else
Before you made the choice for me
.on the ship
Ava is one of the gunners on the ship. She was brought on the ship by Captain Jax himself.
Eccentric, energetic and fearless, she’s always bringing the life to the party. Yet, for all she likes to talk, it seems that even in the one year she spend on the ship, she hasn’t really said anything.
Everyone on the ship knows about her magic. (Let them know one secret and they’ll never search for another.)
While she is friendly to everyone, it’s hard to say if they’re friends. She is fully aware that they used to be on opposite sides, that she used to be the enemy (or was that them?), and a part of her can’t really get over the prejudices she held. She’d rather not see them as anything else than monsters, because if she does... then all her life she’s been a monster herself.
.before the ship
From her mother Ava inherits moonsilver hair and the gift of magic. From her father, a sense of duty. From the very first breath a truth: that there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the wrong.
.
She grows up among the Royal Navy, secure in the knowledge that she is on the side of the heroes. Her father loves her, enough to make up for the mother that left. She had a grander path to take, Ava knows. She has to learn most of her magic by herself, experimenting and trying, but her father and a fellow navy officer are supportive enough.
.
She is on the side of the heroes, so what does it matter if the girl before her trembles? She is a pirate and she has chosen her path. Besides, it’s meant to make her feel better.
(It doesn’t, but Ava’s concern lies with a potion failed and nothing else.)
.
Ava creates. It is all she’s ever known. When she is old enough, she serves on the ships, behind the great cannons and guns, a soldier. It doesn’t matter who she is, what she is capable of, on the ship she is part of a crew, of a family.
She’d do anything for them. Anything at all.
.
She just always thought she as the hero.
.
But she creates, medicine and magic and poison. And all the things she creates, they take, until one day they take too much. She still remembers the eyes of the prisoner, the pirate, wide and mad. She remembers realizing for the very first time what her magic was truly capable of. Who she truly was.
(They’d never cared as much for her medicine as they did for her weapons.)
.
She leaves that night. Burns it all down. Her notes, the ship. The girl she once was.
Of course, fate would have it so: that of all people, it’s a pirate that finds trust in her.
She was a funny one, alright. Ved noticed that jaw working, tight. Struck a nerve, apparently. A nerve and something he didn’t like the sounds of. At all. Didn’t ask for any of that. For a crew, that gave a shit? She’d been here long enough to see that that mattered, hadn’t she? How the fuck had she sailed, before now? What kind of crew wouldn’t go after their own?
That question was nudged to the side - not too far - by hers. An eyebrow slipped up Ved’s face, a smirk digging at his cheeks. “I might. Sure you want some? Not just tobacco, in there.” A huff of heavy smoke curled from his nose, the scent of it oddly sweet, thick. “Half valerian. A bit of mullein. Catswort.” A strange mix, but one his mother taught him. From home. Wherever the fuck that had been. “Suggest you mooch off someone else. Never met anybody who liked it enough to make sharing worth the waste.”
Ava considered. None of these sounded too bad, nothing she hadn’t herself tried in various amounts in potions and spells. But then again, that’s what it boiled down to wasn’t it? Amount.
She gave Ved a once over, all the way up. Considered again. “Another time, then.” She laughed, more to herself than him. “Definitely had worse, though.” She’d never really known much of her mother, most of her magic self-discovered and self-taught.
It hadn’t always gone very well.
(She wonders, sometimes, if her mother had been there, would she have taught her to be gentle? Or would she have taught her not to have a heart so much weaker than the magic in her veins.)
The serpent was dead and the ship was on fire. He still couldn’t believe the fight was over, not after everything they’ve had to go through to defeat it. Even if the beast was dead, people were still running around the deck, taking care of the wounded crew members and attempting to put out the fire. Meanwhile, Magni was sitting on the floor, right in the middle of the chaos. “ Can you help me stand up? “ He hadn’t realised quite how badly the serpent had slashed him, not until he tried to stand up after it was dead. “ I need to help you put out the fire and check if everyone’s alright, I need to do something. “
The smell of fire and salt stung Ava’s lungs as she tried to reorient herself in the chaos. She’d been laughing earlier, but now no one was looking at her, the smile has disappeared all together.
(It reminded her too much, the chaos and the pain and the panic, of a time she didn’t want to think about. About a version of her she didn’t want to think about.)
She couldn’t fix this right now, but she could at least help Magni with his request. As soon as she realized he was looking at her, she pasted on another brave grin, unflappable and debonair.
She reached out for Magni, pulling him to his feet. “Ooff, lay off on Jasper’s sweetbread next time, all right?” She laughed, hoping he wouldn’t notice her shaking voice. “You good to walk, or wanna lean on me?”
Once he heard the familiar voice of Ava call for him, a wide grin made its way to his face. While this was far from the idyllic journey he had foolishly hoped for, the chaos and the fighting was something he recognised and thrived in. “ Your alchemy bag? “ It had only taken him a moment to process what she was asking him for before he was leaping up in action, running to get her the alchemy bag she needed.
When he returned with the bag, he kept it just out of her reach. “ What are you going to do with it? Turn the beast into a kitten? Or are you going to turn us into beasts? If that’s the case, please make sure I won’t look as hideous as that thing. “
Ava grimaced, as if Magni had just said something really awkward.
“Ooff, about that... I hate to break it to you, but...” She laughed, waving off his concern. “Nah, no kittens or beasts. That’s a transmutation I haven’t figured out yet. No --”
Her grin widened dangerously.
“We’re going much more old school. We’re going to bomb it to a watery grave.”
“Move!” Lucia urged her crewmates. The sea creature loomed above them, rising ever higher out of the water. Its mouth opened to make an unearthly sound, revealing teeth like swords. Standing where she was she drew her flintlock pistol and fired shots at it. The bullets that managed to reach it hardly made a dent in its scaly armour.
As she stood there looking at it she noticed one of its enormous heads beginning to lower, inching closer to the ship. Grabbing the person next to her she ran to the other side of the ship and ducked behind the main mast. “If it gets close enough we could drive our swords through it. Make the beast bleed.”
Every time the monster opened it’s mouth, Ava felt a giddy sort of fascination run through her. It was a magnificent beast, in all its terror, a beauty of destruction. (Perhaps she’d never left that side of her, that side of her meant for nothing but death.)
She felt someone grab her, hauled around like a rag doll. She hid behind the mast, turning to see Lucia.
“Swords? They’re not gonna save us now. I need to get to cannons! That’ll bleed it dry -- Oh, I hope I can capture some! -- But I’ll need help manning the station. I don’t know where Anaise and Lachlan are.”
“What in the name of god is going on up here!” Jax charged onto the deck, his face alive with both anger and fear. He’d gone downstairs after they made it past the rocks to have a quick meeting with Ved but had quickly been interrupted by the ship violently shaking. He whipped his head around, then caught sight of something - no somethings - popping out of the water. It took him a moment to process the sight, but once he realized what was happening, he snapped into business mode. “All hands on deck!” he roared, dashing to the side of the ship to get a better look. “Everyone! We need to blow this thing out of the water!”
Ava had been tinkering around with gems, trying to concoct a new potion. It hadn’t been going great, although she had heeded the warnings that she needed to be careful on the ship. She knew some of the crew weren’t as comfortable with her magic as she’d grown used to. (Perhaps they’d been right, pirates were just pirates, superstitious lot. As if magic was any more dangerous than a blade, if used the same way.)
She heard the captain roar and quickly dropped her things, running up stairs. She joined him at side of the ship, a wild laugh escaping her lips.
“By all the stars! Look at that, captain!” She looked a thim, like a small child asking for candy. “Can I please keep a fang? Just one! I promise I could make something really useful for the ship.”
Seeing Ava struggle with the harpoon, Lyra raced over to help. Normally, she left harpooning to the larger members of the crew, in order to keep her unnatural strength a secret, but this was no time to be shy, not when death was on the line.
Grabbing hold of the harpoon, she wrenched it free with a strength that belied her tiny frame, and after checking to make sure that it was tied off, she hefted the weapon over her shoulder. It had been a few years since she had used a weapon such as this, but it had been ingrained into her through her youth, and she fixed her gaze on the beast that bore down on them, picking her target at one of the creatures’ necks, she threw the harpoon and watched it soar through the air, piercing the creature and causing it to shriek out in pain, and the head she had struck turned its steely gaze towards her.
Ava gaped at Lyra as the petite musician tore the harpoon from her grip, as easily as if she’d been holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Go get it!” she cheered, too impressed by the display of strength to do much else. She followed the harpoon with her eyes and gave another jubilant cry as the harpoon hit true. It didn’t even quiet down as the serpent turned it’s gaze on them.
“We should probably run now,” Ava suggested with a lighthearted shrug.
The ship rocked underneath her feet violently, like a wild horse trying to shake off its rider, trying to flee. Above her, the sea serpent bared its teeth, all sharp angles. Ava grinned, and did exactly the same.
Her weapons hadn’t done much so far. Of course not, harpoons were meant for whales, for sharks, not for this. Not for monsters. Something else would need to be done.
Ava caught a glimpse of a familiar face and laughed. Yes, just who she needed.
“Hey,” she screamed over the noise. “Magni! I need your help! Remember my alchemy bag? It’s underneath my book. Be a dear and grab it for me, would you?”
Lyra was sitting on the deck’s railing, finally able to enjoy the sunshine after the storm, when the water started to roil beneath them. She hopped to her feet, clinging to the guard rail as the ship rocked, eyes growing wide as the color drained from her face at the thing rose above the surface of the water. She stared, mouth agape for a long moment, finally realizing that the stories her people had shared were anything but myth. “Monster,” she exhaled, swallowing her fear as the creature drew nearer. She had her throwing knives with her, but she doubted that would even scrape his scaly skin, and she turned and raced towards the ship’s fishing tools. “Where’s the goddamn harpoon?!”
“I’m on it!” Ava screamed back over the noise of the roaring sea serpent, the see, and Lyra’s screeching. Such a beautiful voice, and yet her ears rung with it.
She nearly dropped the part of the harpoon she was holding as the ship rocked violently. Despite all this, she couldn’t keep the giant grin off her voice.
“An actual sea serpent! With several heads! Oh by all the stars, I want its fang! It’s blood! The venom! Oh, the venom! Do you even know what I could do with that?” Even as she rambled, she tugged at the harpoon, trying to get it to the gun deck so she could attack the monster. She really wanted that venom.
Jax, rather flustered, had just emerged back on to the deck. He straightened his clothing as he moved and raised a hand to block his eyes from the pelting rain. Everywhere the rain hit, it left a sting in its wake. He was trying to reacquaint himself with the situation and get his head on straight when suddenly, he felt a hand wrenching him away from where he stood. He whipped his head around, first looking for the person who’d grabbed him, and then for the reason. His eyes were wide when he looked back at Ava. “Thank you!” he called above the noise, feeling even more embarrassed and flustered than he had a moment ago. “This storm needs to end soon! Even this ship can only take so much…and apparently, it’s taking its toll on my observational skills.”
Ava laughed, crackling with energy much like the lighting around them. “Got your back, cap.”
Despite everything, it was true. Although she would never allow herself to fall back into her blind loyalty of old, she could appreciate that she owed Jax at least something. For however much it meant, to be owed by a girl like her.
“We lost some cargo. Saw some others on the deck, but I can’t assess the damage for now.” The situation was still too chaotic. “How’s it below deck? We’re not taking water, are we?”
“Mm. Future you, and future us. Whoever jumps in after you, and whoever has to get you both back aboard… and slow the ship, for you…” he trailed off, towards a point. A sharp one. They were a crew. Before they were themselves, alone, they were a crew. Or they were nothing.
With a snort, Ved chuckled, low and dry about it. “You want to know what I do? Come along, next time.” She had grit, sure. Enough for the vanguard? He wasn’t certain about that. Maybe too much for anywhere else, though - he was sensible enough to let a bit of joshing pass, but that couldn’t be said of everyone around here. And most of them weren’t snotty enough to try him on for size. Rider, she had a damn death wish. Like every one of those lunatics who followed him into the start of the mayhem. Could be quite the fit.
Light on her feet, wasn’t she? Like it was a bed of roses, rather than a sodden old deck. Ved nodded, vaguely; she wasn’t wrong, about the job. Had to happen. Had to happen properly, though. When the master gunner said as much. “Then you could’ve waited. ‘Til she did. Sooner than later.” It was a matter of… professionalism. Trusting Anaise to see to her duties, to manage her kingdom of cordite and iron and tackle. And Ved did. Simple as that.
With a smirk, he drew a long, deep lungful off that thin, dark cigar. “Well, don’t let me stop you.” Nobody had ever accused him of being anything but quiet. As for the rest… “Plenty of peace out here, for the taking.” For now, he didn’t need to add. There’d be blood soon enough. Never far away.
It’s shame then, that burns in her throat, hard and burning, both unexpected and familiar. That age old shame of not being a good sailor, of not obeying orders. The shame of having a thought of her own.
But she is no longer a tool in a chest, she is no longer a puppet on strings, she is no loyal sailor, no soldier. She is no longer blind to anything but the commands. She will play no part in someone else’s schemes.
No more. No more.
She lowered her eyes to the canon, her jaw clenched as she fought bought the words. There was no point in letting them free. From this height she could look right into the barrel, down into the darkness.
“Didn’t ask for any of that, did I? Jump after me, don’t -- that’s on you.” She makes sure to laugh, like it’s a joke, like it’s funny.
Still, she climbed back, easily flipping herself back on board, the air underneath her feet replaced with wood. She propped her elbows on the rails, glancing at the cigars he so often carried around, giving him another playful smile.
The sails whined in the wind as Ava blinked the storm out of her eyes. All around her, the crew was running up and down to make sure the Serpent would see them through the night.
Ava didn’t particularly care about that. She just enjoyed the storm, the violence of it without menace. How the winds could break this ship, drag them to the depths of the ocean, and it wouldn’t be cruel, it wouldn’t be malign. It would just be. No choice, no fight, just the sweet salvation of divine simplicity or power.
And yet.
She saw the barrels rolling down before she heard the rope snap, the roar of the sea too loud. In a glance, she could see the barrels making a crash course for an unsuspecting crew member, occupied with another task.
Without hesitating she dashed their way, grabbing their arm and pulling them out of harm’s way just in time.
“This time.” Ved flicked some ash away, into the deep. Unmoved. “All good, this time.” There was always the next go. And the next. As many reckless moves as it took, for a quick slip and a splash to teach the lesson for him. Permanently, perhaps. Not that that would be his problem, but. Ved had never been one of those people who took any comfort in funerals. Maybe he’d just been the cause of too damn many. Maybe.
Sharp, oddly earthy smoke curled away from him, twisting in the breeze. “Do it right. Or don’t do it at all.” It wasn’t an order, obviously. Ved didn’t give those. Didn’t have any interest in doing so. Only a suggestion. “The fuck are you scrubbing the guns out for, anyway? If Odell needed it done, she’d tell you so. Must be bored shitless, if that’s all you can find to do with yourself. What’ll you get up to next, huh - swabbing the decks? Tossing slops?” It was teasing, prodding. Not concerned, of course. Obviously.
“Good ‘nough, next time is a worry for future me.” Next time wasn’t a worry at all. What did it matter? If she slipped, if she fell, if she drowned. If he came for her or watched her go. What did it truly matter? At least the sea couldn’t be cruel about it. It couldn’t be evil. It made no choice. Neither did gravity. There would be a peace in dying like that, she thought.
She grinned again, wiping oil and ash from her face, even as she made no attempt to haul herself back onto the ship. “Ah, that why you don’t do anything at all? ‘Cause you know you wouldn’t get it right?”
She shrugged easily, bouncing off the ship again, spreading her arms as if in flight. It was a thrill, for a second, gravity forgetting to weigh her down. The comfort of it slamming her back, reminding her. Something always has a hold on you.
“Odell was gonna order this anyway, sooner than later. The water’ll fuck them up if we don’t clean them,” Ava explained. She glanced at the metal, a private sort of humor in her voice. “These things are more delicate than they seem.” Like most of the ship, she thought. Like most of the crew. All just canons hiding how quickly they rust, how quickly they stop functioning, how much care they truly need.
“Maybe I was enjoying the peace and quiet,” she deadpanned.
A fucking lovely day. As was every day, after shit weather. All relative. Winding his way down the decks in the pale, near-dawn light, Ved took his time rolling the first smoke of the morning. Snapping a match - and another, everything topside was still soaked from all those hours awash, and the rain - he had himself a long drag, and considered the brightening sky, the scudding clouds. And the rigging. Especially that bit, there. A few ropes, slacked off, hanging over the side. Bearing weight. Curious, Ved drifted to port, sidling along until he had a proper view.
By his bloody eyeteeth. Ava. At it again, with the nonsense. Fussing around with the damn cannons, from the wrong side of the hull. Had to wonder about this girl, sometimes. Wonder and worry.
With a sigh, full of smoke, Ved propped his elbows on the rail and watched a moment, unnoticed. “You know,” he began, slowly, “we’ve more efficient ways to go about that. Ways less likely to see you wind up in the fucking drink, eh?”
Ava like cleaning out the canons. It was dirty, monotonous work. Grunt’s work, Navy punishment. It suited her. It reminded her of a life left behind, a comfort she would never find again. To lose herself in easy work, a blessing.
She hung suspended in the air, secured only by a few ropes. The sea sang underneath her, waves ready to welcome her home. She blinked away salt from her lashes. (It would be such a short fall, such a sweet fall. The taste of salt already in her lungs, on her lips.)
She fondly rolled her eyes when the voice disturbed her work, glancing up.
“Nah, can’t get it as clean up there.”
She gave the ropes securing her a good tug. Pushed herself off the ship’s wood, suspended in air for a moment, before softy landing against the ship’s boards again. Just to piss him off.
