Chapter 2
This might be the easiest ship pirate captain Miss Sarah Fortune has ever captured. Sure, the storm hid her approach, but even after she boarded this mercenary ship, she barely had to put in any effort as her twin pistols, Shock and Awe, cut down anyone in her way. The battle was over within an hour—a new record for the red-haired pirate captain.
Whenever Miss Fortune raided a ship, her usual method of tying up all enemy survivors so they could escape once she left was meticulously followed by her crew. Even though she realized that this ship was heading away from Ionia—meaning there wouldn’t be many valuable goods—she was still proud of herself and her pirate crew for setting a new record. However, the lack of loot still left a sour taste in her mouth.
Once it was clear that the fighting was over, Miss Fortune figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a look –just in case. Surely, something of value was hidden within this vessel. There was nothing particularly notable about the ship, and she certainly had no plans to commandeer it since her own ship, The Syren, was much better suited to her needs.
She carefully strolled through the lower decks, wary of any potential danger, until she came across what appeared to be a cell at the bottom of the ship. Inside, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, was a chained, naked girl. The sight before her made Miss Fortune’s blood boil.
She rushed over to the unconscious white-haired girl and threw her own coat over the girl’s exposed body.
“Are ya awake?” Miss Fortune asked, receiving no reply as she scanned the girl for the source of the blood. Spotting the wound, she tore a piece of her shirt and pressed it against the stab wound on the girl’s thigh.
Satisfied that the bleeding had stopped, Miss Fortune found the key to the girl’s shackles. Her hands steadily freed the girl’s thin arms from the ship’s wall. Miss Fortune then carefully lifted the frail figure into her arms to carry the girl. When she reached the top of the ship, she slowly set the white-haired girl down before addressing everyone with her penetrating voice.
“Listen up, you lot. Fun’s over—get back to The Syren now.” Miss fortune paused before adding “Also, make sure not a soul’s left alive on this rotten ship. Understood?” None of her crew seemed to understand, so she repeated with a growl “understood?”
Still, nobody made a move. She had been very careful in selecting somewhat decent people to join her, so their refusal to cleanse the world of the monsters that previously operated this ship should have been expected. Fine, she’d just have to do it herself. All eyes on her, she walked over to the terrified mercenaries, lifted her pistols, and began to shoot. She knew that she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t act – not after witnessing how cruelly the white-haired girl had been treated by these people.
Only once the sound of silence became louder than her pistols did her crew stop gawking and finally move. Sure, her men were good people, but maybe that was a problem too. They wouldn’t understand why she had to do what she did. Maybe, it was time to welcome more woman into her crew. Miss Fortune returned to the unconscious girl and carried her straight to the captain’s quarters on The Syren.
Riven woke up in a haze of confusion. It took a moment for the events of the past few days to catch up to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found herself resting in a soft bed. She had slept for a long time, which only added to the jumble of her memories. Too weak to move, she simply lay there, savoring the brief moment of relaxation.
As if a dam had been broken, her memories suddenly began rushing in. Despite the lingering ache in her thigh, Riven instinctively tried to leap from the bed, only for the pain to flare sharply. This drew the attention of a red-haired woman she failed to notice was next to her.
“Wow, it’s ok girl” The red-haired lady said as she threw up her hands.
Riven look at this stranger’s bright blue eyes with fear. Her body prepared for battle.
Still holding up her hands, the red-haired lady’s voice softened. “You’re safe now. You aint on those animals’ ship no more. My name’s Miss Sarah Fortune and this here is my ship ur in. Nobody will hurt you here, I promise.”
Riven slightly relaxed to Sarah’s sweet smile. She opened her mouth to ask a question, only to find that nothing could come out. She realised that she hadn’t tried to speak since the massacre in Ionia which was a while ago. All that came out of Riven was a pained grunt.
Sarah slowly approached Riven. She looked at the injured girl with a serious expression before continuing in an impossibly softer voice. “I fixed ya leg as best as I could. You’ve been sleeping her’in my bed since I freed ya about half a day ago. Try to relax, ok? You weren’t so pretty when I first found you.”
Riven decided to just suck it up and trust Sarah. She sighed softly, sinking back into the pillows—the pain in her leg made standing unthinkable anyway. She also wanted to hide her face - which had turned a little pink at Sarah’s compliment - inside the blanket.
“You must be starving so I’ll go fetch some food.” Sarah said before leaving Riven alone.
Riven, once again, tried and failed to speak. Her throat hurt even more, and her grunt was softer than in her previous attempt. She tried not to think about her time in captivity, but now that she was alone with her thoughts, her mind couldn’t help itself. She had never felt so weak and humiliated in her life. Even now, having a beautiful lady take care of her like she was a child was getting on her nerves.
Not that she didn’t like Sarah— the redhead had been very nice to her. She just hated feeling like a burden to someone. She was supposed to be stronger than this, but... she just wasn’t.
As if a lightbulb had gone off in her brain, Riven realized that maybe... maybe she didn’t need to be perfectly and unrealistically strong. Maybe some weakness would be good.
Satisfied by her justification, unfamiliar tears began to seep down Riven’s face. Throat still too painful to make any sound, she could only weep in silence.
Miss Fortune had gotten her new guest freshly cooked fish with a bowl of fruit – a treat on the ocean. When she returned to her captain’s cabin, she was met with a rather depressing sight. Her pillows were drenched in the poor girl’s tears.
Placing the food on her desk, Sarah made her way to sit next to the silent girl. She never had to deal with anything like this before, but she just felt a strong need to comfort the girl. She slowly began to wrap her arms around the thinning figure. All of Sarah’s concerns about this being the right action to take were swept away as Riven leapt into Sarah’s embrace, nuzzling her face into Sarah’s neck.
For about half an hour, Sarah let the girls tears flow into her neck while she gave the crying girl comforting words, telling her that she is safe now and that nobody will hurt her while Sarah was with her. Eventually, the girl calmed down but decided to stay within Sarah’s firm grasp.
“You really should eat sweety” Sarah whispered. “you look like ya haven’t eaten in days”
The girl nodded before removing herself from Sarah to sit upright. Sarah grabbed the food and let the girl consume with a speed that reignited Sarah’s anger for the girl’s captors.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Sarah asked.
The girl responded by shaking her head while pointing at her throat.
“Ah, hold on a sec” Sarah handed the girl a quill and some paper to write her name. “Riven” Sarah tested it out with a smile.
Riven pointed at the paper again, so Sarah obliged to give her more. After a moment of scribbling, Riven handed back her written question. ‘you’re the captain?’ Riven asked
“Yep” Sarah responded with a proud smile
‘What’s going to happen to me?’
Sarah looked at Rivens question for a couple seconds before asking “Anywhere you want to go? I can take you to your family if you want”
Riven down at her knees before shaking her head, an action that overwhelmed Sarah. Without hesitation, Sarah decided to ask, “You could stay with me? Join my crew…only if you want to, of course”
Riven looked at Sarah stunned at the offer. A smile – one Sarah had never seen before – curved Riven’s lips, sending a strange feeling through the pirate captain.
Riven woke up the next morning, as the sun rose, to Sarah’s soft voice – a much different alarm clock than she was used to in the Noxian military. Riven also hadn't slept in a proper bed in a long time. She had the whole bed to herself too, since Sarah was sleeping on the couch. Sarah then got a couple of buckets of seawater, heated it up by the ship’s kitchen, and filled a steaming bath for Riven before she helped Riven move toward the bathroom.
Riven took her time cleaning herself until the water was starting to cool. Once she was done, she took some of Sarah’s clothes, which were only slightly smaller than her, but fitted nonetheless. The clothes had a distinct scent of Jasmine and gunpower which Riven found strangely addicting.
Once Riven was done in the bathroom, Sarah took her turn, leaving Riven’s eyes to explore Sarah’s room. The captain’s quarters were littered with various maps pasted against the walls, their corners frayed by time. Sarah’s desk was cluttered with papers, compasses, and bullets for her pistols. Through a small window at the back of the ship, Riven watched as the horizon swallowed the endless ocean while the ship moved forward.
Once both girls were ready, Sarah let Riven lean against her – mindful of Riven’s still-healing thigh – as they made their way outside. It took a moment for Riven’s eyes to adjust to the blinding sun. Sarah’s crew was hard at work pushing the ship forward. Nobody batted Riven an eye as Sarah led her to the helm of the ship to take over from a weary looking guy.
"Oie Edward, before you go knock off, grab me a chair, will ya?” Sarah asked the tired man.
Edward looked at Riven sceptically for a moment before conceding. “Aye captain”
When Edward returned, Sarah reluctantly separated Riven from her body before carefully setting the white-haired girl down to sit. The rest of the morning went by without much action. Sarah spent the time holding the helm steady, occasionally ordering the men to change the sails or perform other tasks between their singing of sea shanties.
This was a life Riven had never experienced before. The atmosphere created by the crew and her lovely view of Sarah the entire morning was enrapturing. By noon, Sarah once again helped Riven the captain’s quarters before fetching more fish from the kitchen.
“Not much variety of food when we're sailing, unfortunately," Sarah said while they ate, although Riven was more than happy that there was food at all.
Once they were done eating, Riven wrote that she’d like to stay the rest of the day inside. The pain in her leg was starting to increase the longer she spent sitting so she needed to lie down. Sarah graciously moved to make the bed for Riven before returning outside.
Sarah found a great satisfaction in taking care of Riven and making her life as comfortable as possible. She’d never gone out of her way like this for anyone else, but her body just automatically found itself making Riven food or warming Riven a hot bath or letting Riven do whatever she wanted. If Riven wanted to lie in bed the whole day, her crew could go fuck themselves with their disapproving looks. All the men on her ship were starting to get on her nerves.
When the sky began to change its clothes from blue to pink, Sarah handed the helm back to Edward before making her way back to her quarters. As soon as she entered, she went to check on Riven, who had been awake the entire afternoon. Greeted by an intoxicating smile, Sarah examined the scar on Riven’s thigh. It seemed to be healing without infection, which was good news.
Satisfied, Sarah made to move to the couch and retire for the night only for Riven to grab hold of her hand. Sarah nodded before grabbing a paper.
‘You can sleep on the bed’ Sarah read Riven’s words.
“Are you um. Are ya sure?” Sarah asked.
Riven nodded, which was bad news for Sarah, as she realized it was impossible for her to deny any request Riven might have. Left with no choice, Sarah moved next to Riven, afraid to intrude on the girl’s personal space. However, as soon as she had the thought, Riven wrapped her arms around Sarah’s chest and gently turned her so they were face-to-face.
Riven was…Beautiful. Her sparkling golden eyes shone like the greatest treasure a pirate could ever find, while her lips curved into a radiant smile. Sarah felt like she was peering into something sacred with the sight before her. A massive yawn suddenly escaped Riven’s lips, prompting Sarah to close the remaining distance and gently press Riven’s face against her neck. She felt a satisfied sigh escape from Riven before the two girls were overtaken by sleep.