raise the black, for my heart will not surrender
written for @audreyblanche for @roswellprompts‘s Crash Fest 2019! Prompts were Jenna/Maria and tropey Malex au... I hope I delivered.
The sun glared off the still sea on the day that Captain Maria DeLuca watched her family leave. The sky was cloudless, a contrast to the storm of emotions on the deck. Guerin, at the helm, refused to meet anyone’s eye, too angry and too scared and too heartbroken to watch as Alex Manes slipped into the rowboat and made his way back to his father. Alex too refused to meet anyone’s eyes as he lowered the boat. Maria watched it all, stoic in the face of this heartbreak. Another member of her family slipped away- away from the ship that was their home, away from their real family.
She had already watched Liz leave, to the arms of a navy man and a chance at adventure and discovery. She couldn’t begrudge her that dream, the chance to seek out knowledge, to see something beyond the sea and the few safe harbors that allowed them entry. Maria loved the sea with her heart, had since Mimi first set sail away from the land that hand tried to shackle her, but she knew that not everyone shared that love. She knew Liz didn’t. Liz loved her books on the sciences, biology and chemistry and all the things that England would never allow a woman from a family such as hers to study. She had found a man who loved that about her, who loved everything about her. Maria would never keep her from that.
Maria wished she could keep Alex from this. She watched as Alex released the rope, to start the pulley to lower himself into the water. She walked across the deck, footsteps heavier than she would ever dare if the sea weren’t so still.
“You don’t have to do this Alex,” she said, voice harsh with desperation. “We will fight. You do not have to return to him.”
Alex couldn’t even manage his usual smirk, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to hide his on-coming tears. His eyes flickered to the helm, to Michael, before they quickly returned to Maria’s face.
“I know what he’s capable of, Captain. He will not stop until he sees us burn; or, until he gets me. I will protect my family, the same as you would protect me. This is for the best.”
“I already lost one member of my family Alex, please don’t make me lose another.”
This time Alex managed a small, sad smile as the tears finally fell. “We’re family Maria, we’ll always return to one another. One way or another. I promise. Please, take care of yourself. Take care of Michael and Rosa. They will need you, as their friend and their captain.”
“I love you. And if you ever get the chance…”
“I’m a pirate DeLuca, I know when to use a sword.”
“Good,” she replied before she kissed his cheek and stepped back.
She stayed by the side of the boat until Alex hit the water and started to row to the ship well outside the range of their cannons. Neither side trusted the other not to fire. She walked over to where Guerin was huddled, still trying to hide his pain. Rosa was already by his side, small yet powerful as she wrapped her arms around his shaking form.
Maria joined them, allowing her crew to see this single moment of pain. She wrapped both Guerin and Rosa in her arms and rocked them, gentle as the calm before the storm. Whatever came after, they would weather it, as they always did, together. She disentangled herself from their arms and opened her spyglass. She watched as her brother in all but blood neared the opposing ship. It was a merchant ship, allegedly, their hull was full of iron and gunpowder. Privateers paid by Admiral Jesse Manes to retrieve a single piece of treasure- his wayward son who had to be punished for his crimes.
As she watched, she listened as Rosa tried to console Guerin, tried to say that his heart would heal, he would love again. Maria doubted it. So, it seemed, did Guerin.
“There is only one man I will ever love Rosa, and I just watched him leave forever.”
“You don’t know it’s forever. Besides, what about a woman to love Mikey?”
He laughed a quiet sob into Rosa’s hair. Guerin didn’t have to answer, they all knew the truth. There was only one woman any of them would ever love truly. She had their heart firmly in her salty grasp.
Alex climbed the ladder thrown over the side of the boat, helped over the rails by a thin blonde woman, curled hair pulled back barely hidden by her hat. The captain of The Aphrodite was known to Maria, but never before had their paths crossed.
It was unfortunate for Captain Jenna Cameron that she made an enemy the day she struck a deal with Jesse Manes.
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