Dinner
Mary didn’t eat dinner that night. When Dorcas came down into the bunks and told everyone that dinner was ready she didn’t move from her spot next to Pandora. She would not leave Pandora's side unless she asked her too, and there was no way Mary would make her eat with pirates.
The next morning she didn’t eat breakfast either because Pandora was not ready to leave her cot, so Mary stayed next to her and waited until she was ready for days. Even when Mary felt like she would pass out if she didn’t eat she stayed next to Pandora and didn’t eat. She assumed that nobody on the ship would care that she wasn’t eating, but unbeknownst to her, the captain of the ship was pacing back and forth because of her, on the other side of the wall.
“Remus, she hasn’t eaten a thing and she has been here for days!” Lily worries.
“She’s probably doing it in some weird hunger strike because she found out we’re pirates, that’s all.” Remus, Lily’s best friend of almost 13 years, tries to soothe her.
“But Remus she needs to eat or else she could get really sick, or pass out, or even worse die!” Lily is now fully panicking, and is about to go into the barracks and spoon feed Mary if she has to.
Remus sighs, “How about this, if she doesn’t come to dinner tonight I will have her escorted to your chambers where you can see to it that she eats. How does that sound?”
Lily ponders it for a moment, before giving Remus her answer. “Ok, I can work with that.”
Lily hopes that they won’t have to do it and that Mary will eat on her own accord, but she also secretly hopes that Mary will have to eat with her tonight, so that Lily can spend more time around her. She pushes the thought to the back of her mind when Remus starts telling her about new coordinates that he thinks horcruxes could be at. She tries to give him her full attention, but her mind keeps bringing her back to Mary, starving on just the other side of the wall.
~~~~~~~
Time skip to that night
Mary has no plans of going to dinner tonight, not unless Pandora wants to go, which she doesn’t. And anyways Mary doubts she has enough energy left in herself to make it to dinner after going so long without any food or water.
Mary is nodding off into what she hopes will be a deep sleep, when suddenly heavy footsteps start descending the stairs and towards her and Pandora. Mary uses all of the strength she has left to pull herself infront of Pandora and be a barrier between her and the strange man she can see approaching her.
He stops right in front of her and Mary tilts her head up towards him. He is a very tall man, 6’3 if Mary were to make a guess, with wavy sandy hair, he has a deep tan, and most noticeably many scars slashing across his face in angry red and white lines.
He picks Mary up and throws her over his shoulder, surprising Mary so much that she has almost no reaction besides a gasp. I wonder if he’s bringing me into the deck to make me walk the plank to my demise. Mary does suppose drowning would be better than starving to death, it’s much faster.
Mary is taken out of her thoughts when she realizes that he has not taken Pandora too. “NO, DON’T LEAVE HER BEHIND PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU!” Mary screams. Her screams die with the slam of the door separating the sleeping quarters and the deck of the ship. People stare as she is carried across the deck of the ship and into the captain's quarters.
Strange man dumps her in the same chair she sat at the last time she was here, and then quickly leaves the room and Mary alone with the captain, who is sitting at the other side of the desk. Mary hears the soft click of the door being locked. Mary stares down at her hands as she fidgets with them, waiting for the captain to give her her death sentence.
The captain clears her throat after three minutes of neither of them speaking. Mary looks up and prepares herself for her sentencing.
“Princess, you haven’t eaten once since you boarded my ship and I cannot let you starve yourself, so…” The captain rings an ornate bell on the desk and a cook, a brown middle aged woman, unlocks the door and comes in with platters of food that are placed on the desk in front of Mary. “I have had Effie here prepare you a meal that you will eat here in front of me so that I can make sure you have eaten.” The captain sends Effie away with a nod of her head. Effie smiles and leaves the room and re locks the door.
Mary’s mind is going a hundred miles a minute and has no idea what to say. “I thought you brought me here to give me my death sentence.” Is what Mary decides on.
It becomes so silent in the room that you could hear a hairpin drop. The captain is the one to break the silence “Are you being serious?” She asks.
“Of course I’m being serious. Why wouldn’t I be?” Mary’s says incredulous.
And then what is somehow the most shocking thing to happen yet, the captain starts laughing loudly before saying “If I wanted you dead I would have killed you when you first set foot on my ship. Not days afterwards.”
Well. That makes sense, Mary thinks. The knowledge calms her and she slightly relaxes into her chair. “Well then, I will eat” Mary says, and the captain starts smiling, “But only if you bring me Pandora.” The captain's smile falters for a moment before she replies.
“Ok, I will have Remus bring her.” And with that she stands up and walks out of the room, before re-entering the room a minute later.
The captain sits down at her desk across from Mary and starts to grab food from the platters that the cook has brought out. Mary stays still, not yet letting herself eat but she isn’t quite sure why. The captain told her that Pandora is coming, she knows she isn’t going to be killed, and she hasn’t eaten in days and is starving. So really she should be devouring every piece of food on this table at this very moment.
She hesitantly reaches her hand over one of the platters and takes a chicken leg for herself and puts it on an empty plate, along with an assortment of other food that was brought out. She digs into her food very quickly once she is satisfied with the food in her plate, and then eats them in a way that would have her locked in her room for days if she was still at the castle, wolfing down the food in record time.
When she only has a few bites remaining the door opens and Pandora is suddenly in the room. Remus, who has her over his shoulder just like he had with Mary, places her in the chair next to Mary gently and then swiftly leaves the room. Pandora is shaking like a leaf and incredibly pale, until she makes eye contact with Mary and sees that she looks comfortable and then she visibly relaxes.
“Why am I here?” Pandora questions.
The captain looks up from her food “Because the princess here would only eat if you were here.” Is her response.
Pandora’s expression shifts as she realizes what she meant. “Oh Mary, I can’t believe I let you go without food for days because I can’t handle being on the ship, I’m so sorry.” Pandora starts to cry so Mary takes her hand and rubs soothing circles into the palm of her hand.
“Hey it’s ok Pans, it’s ok I’m eating now and you will too.” Mary starts gathering her some food onto a plate and puts it down infront of her. Pandora eats slowly and Mary decides to let her eat in peace and just think for a while.
At some point Mary is brought out of her thoughts by the captain speaking to her.
“You are to eat here for the next few days until I can be assured you will continue eating as normal, then you’ll eat with the rest of the crew. Now since you are both done eating,” Mary notices then that Pandora's plate is empty and that color has returned to her face. A smile is brought to Mary’s face at the sight of her looking healthy. “You both should return to your cots for the evening now.” The captain finishes and looks between the both of them.
Mary stands up and Pandora follows her lead, “Thank you captain for letting us eat here tonight, I am extremely grateful for the food and please tell the chef that her food was exquisite.” Mary curtsies and opens the door for Pandora to walk through first. Mary starts to walk out the door when she feels the hand on her lower arm and she turns around.
The captain is standing only inches away from her and is holding onto her arm and Mary can’t help but admire her beauty.
“Don’t call me captain.” She says.
“What?” Is Mary’s stunned reply. She is very confused and has not a clue what is going on.
“I don’t want you to call me captain, I want you to call me by my real name.” She says, and suddenly Mary is even more confused. She hasn’t seen anyone else on the ship call her Lily, only captain, so why would she have Mary call her by her real name.
Mary stays still for a moment before replying, “Only if you call me by mine.”
Lily smiles, “Anything you want, Mary.” And god, the way she says her name has Mary weak in the knees. She need to leave fast before she does something stupid.
She nods rather inelegantly and starts to leave the room again and says almost as an afterthought “Have a good evening Lily.” And she closes the door behind herself, but not before she catches the glowing look Lily gives her when she says her name.
Mary slides down the wall and just stays there replaying that last three minutes until someone makes a sound and startles her. She looks down the hall and sees Pandora still standing in the hallway, waiting for her.
“How much of that did you see?” Mary asks tentatively.
“All of it.” Pandora replies.
“God I’m screwed.”