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coolcattime · 2 months ago

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Waves Lapping Where the Children Grew: Chapter Two

Relationships: Captain Capsize/Sonja Firefoxx

Characters: Skipper Redbeard, Captain Capsize, Sonja Firefoxx, Jordan Captainsparklez, Tom Syndicate

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On her final birthday before the curse is to strike, Capsize finds herself walking alone on a beach as she attempts to get her thoughts in order. Despite only having a year left, she has made no progress in finding her ‘true love’ or finding any other method to break the curse. Her birthday feels more akin to a death toll than a celebration.

However, as the inescapable nature of her situation begins to overwhelm her, a voice cuts through her thoughts to comfort her. A local witch come to perform a ritual. And perhaps she may be exactly the hope for breaking the curse that Capsize has been looking for.

AO3 Link

Before: Autumn

Capsize trudged along the sand, waves lapping at her boots, as she wished that she could feel the happiness that the current day called for.

Her and Redbeard’s birthday had officially started about an hour ago, with the crew of course seeing it as an opportunity to celebrate. However, even as the drinks had started flowing and drunk cheer had become the prevailing mood, her mind just would not stray from what this meant for her. This was her final year before her curse would strike.

On their next birthday, she would fall into a magical slumber. ‘A living death,’ she believed had been the exact words used to describe it. Despite all her efforts, she hadn’t found any way to prevent it. It felt like an unfathomable wave building before her, one that would destroy all in its wake, but try as she might to run, she was going to be caught by it.

Needless to say, the birthday celebrations had left her more unsettled than anything else. So, she had snuck away from the tavern to try and clear her head. Or, at the very least, avoid bringing down her brother’s mood.

Hearing the waves, as gentle as they were tonight, did ease her anxieties somewhat.

The ocean had always had such an effect on her. It was this majesty that held something that she deeply needed. That was the reason she had chosen to run away in the way that she did. People may say that she stole a ship, but in reality, it was the ocean that had stolen her.

At least, describing the story in such a way always made her feel better. She was not some lost princess desperately trying to find any solution to a terrible curse. She was a pirate stolen by the ocean to become something greater than she ever could have been. Didn’t that just sound grand?

Even if she hadn’t actually changed her fate at all, she much preferred this legacy and tale than the one that had been foisted upon her. Though she did sometimes wonder if Redbeard resented her for dragging him along.

Had she saved him from the destruction that had befallen the rest of their home? Or had she robbed him of his rightful life of royalty for the pipedream of a goddess’ help?

He had never complained, but that did not rid her of the occasional nagging thought that she had ruined his life. Yes, he seemed happy, but he had always been good at playing a role. Maybe he was just sucking it up due to being stuck with the decision now. After all, he couldn’t exactly go home now.

Ianerea had fallen not long after they had left. Her loss preceding its destruction just as the curse said, but not in the way that anyone would have predicted. She hadn’t even thought about the implications of leaving until the news had reached them. Now her and Redbeard were the last remains of their home. Them and her damn curse.

She sighed.

The curse had been a weight upon her for as long as she could remember. When she had been younger, it had just been a terrible unknown creature that clung to her. One that everyone refused to tell her about despite how much it was going to impact her life.

Her first memory was of the looks. Everyone she ever met in Ianerea looked at her with such pity and sadness. Looks that only possessed them when they looked at her. Those she asked had tried to convince her that she was imagining it. She may have believed them if not for Redbeard who had been just as in the dark as confused as she was.

Then one day, she had broken. Nought more than a child having a trantrum demanding to know what was so wrong with her that no one could look at her with any joy. Yet, it had been enough for her parents to finally tell her.

She and Redbeard had been taken to their father's study, sat down, and told the age to which she would live. About how she would fall asleep until some hero could come and wake her. About how her slumber would bring about the destruction of the kingdom.

And the creature had dug its claws sharply into her back and not let go since.

She had begged for more, for the story of why and how. Yet, even as years passed, her parents refused to share anything more. Her aunt had been more charitable, but it became increasingly clear she didn’t know much more about the why than Capsize herself.

A fact that was confirmed on the night that she had chosen to run away. The night she had heard her aunt yelling through the doors of that private study, and she had pressed her ear to the door. The night where she had learnt the whole rancid truth and the terrible thing her parents were planning to try and stop the kingdom’s destruction.

She tried to bite back the tears threatening to make an appearance. There was no need to cry. They were gone and even if they somehow weren’t, there was no kingdom for them to save anymore.

Yet the sickly feeling of the memory still remained. For as terrible as the plan was. For as much as she would never stoop so low as to pass this curse on. It remained the only method aside from the intended one that would break the curse. Her parents were awful, but she had no doubt that they would have done their research enough to have succeeded in their plan had she not left.

She bit back a rising scream as the idea once again clawed at her mind. She couldn’t consider it. However, it was the only alternative solution she had heard. With only a year left to find a true love, it scratched away as a way to escape her fate. Yet all thinking about it truly did was make her feel terrible.

With a choked and frustrated sob, she slumped into the sand. Staring out at the ocean did nothing to quell her upset. It was so unfair.

Finally, she had found belonging. She was free of the weight of a whole kingdom on her shoulders. She was a pirate captain. She was feared and respected. She had seen so much yet still so little of the world. Why did she only have a year left to enjoy it all?

“Hey. Are you okay?” Before she could fully break down, a concerned voice came from behind her.

Automatically, she straightened up. She had a reputation to keep up. She was Captain Capsize: fearsome pirate. She couldn’t be seen sobbing like a child. Not when she couldn’t explain the reason for her tears, lest anyone somehow connect her with the lost princess of a fallen kingdom.

As she turned, she found herself facing a stranger. Not unexpected, as she hadn’t recognised the voice, but she wasn’t facing something who looked like a villager or even another sailor like herself.

Rather she was facing someone who she was quite sure was a witch. A woman wearing burnt orange robes with a hood over her head, carrying a bundle of supplies under one of her arms.

Capsize found herself entirely frozen. She was looking at her with such concerned eyes.

“I…” She started, before quickly rising to her feet. “I’m sorry, am I in your way?”

She was quite aware that she hadn’t answered the woman’s question. However, her false reassurances had died on her tongue. For whatever reason, she couldn’t bring herself to actually lie to this stranger. So, she should just get herself out of the way instead.

“No, of course, not,” The witch said with the tint of her head. Her hood fell, revealing a pair of fox ears on top of her head. Capsize could just about see a tail poking up behind her robe too.

She knew that she was staring when she most certainly shouldn’t. The last thing she wanted to do at this moment was offend someone who was being kind to her. She found herself vulnerable in a way that she wasn’t particularly used to and wasn’t quite sure how to react.

She couldn’t say that she actually wanted to be completely alone. If that was what she wanted, she could’ve gone to her cabin on the ship where there was absolutely no chance of her being disturbed. But it hadn’t been in her mind that she might run into anyone at the beach at midnight.

Still, that was no excuse to be staring.

Thankfully, the witch didn’t seem to mind. That or her staring wasn’t actually the intense action she currently feared it was. “I can do this ritual anywhere on the beach so you couldn’t possibly be in my way. I just don’t tend to see people out here this late and, well, you seemed sad.”

There was a brief pause as Capsize took in the easy smile and genuineness of the words spoken to her. Then the witch suddenly hummed in realisation.

“Oh, I’m Sonja, by the way.”

“Capsize. Captain Capsize,” She introduced, adding her title as she had since she had stolen her ship. Even if the childish joy it brought no longer showed on her face, it was within her thoughts. Though, it was particularly quiet tonight.

She should probably answer the initial question she had been asked. Though how exactly she was meant to answer was a question within itself.

She couldn’t say that she was okay, but what she was feeling was so utterly complicated that she couldn’t exactly boil it down simply and easily. To fully explain her feelings, she’d need to give explanations that she hadn’t given to her friends, let alone a stranger.

Still, she couldn’t completely ignore the question of someone who was being so kind to her. “I wouldn’t say I’m sad, but the crew’s celebrating tonight. Special occasion, you know, but I couldn’t get myself in the mood for it. Came here for some time alone and so I wouldn’t bring down the mood.”

“That’s…” She clearly saw Sonja hesitate with her words. It was a reaction that Capsize couldn’t exactly blame her. It was not as if she had left much room for comfort.

She wondered if she should just leave. It would at the very least allow the two of them to get away from this awkwardness. So, she moved to do just that.

She could head back to the ship and sleep off her melancholy, get her thoughts in order so she could at least celebrate with Redbeard a little today. But, before she had moved more than a step, Sonja spoke again. “Well, you can stay here if it’s helping bring your mood up. I just need enough space to draw the runes on.”

“I—”

“I understand if you want to leave, but you won’t be in the way. I promise,” She said. There was such a smile on her face. Despite her mind attempting to tell her otherwise, Capsize couldn’t help but believe her.

Maybe she just didn’t want to be lonely. Regardless of the actual reason, with the invitation and the warm smile, she felt welcome enough to stay on the beach.

“Okay,” She said quietly, mostly out of a feeling that she needed to say something. It didn’t feel like enough. “Thank you.”

“No problem. You were here first, after all,” Sonja said. It was the sort of statement that Capsize would normally associate with forced politeness, but she could not find any insincerity in her words.

Before she could begin questioning as to why a stranger was being so nice to her, either out loud or just within her own thoughts, Sonja walked closer to her.

She took a careful few steps back as the bundle of supplies were placed on the sand. And, despite how she could walk further down the beach to once again watch the waves, she instead found herself watching in curiosity as Sonja sat on the sand and pulled a wand and a book from the bundle. After a brief look at a bookmarked page, she began drawing runes in the sand with the wand.

Capsize didn’t speak for fear of disturbing her. Instead, just watching her as her actions looked both effortless but done with so much thought. She watched as Sonja’s face turned from an easy smile to clear focus.

She had seen rituals cast before. Far more than most who didn’t practise magic she would assume with how many she’d gone through – willingly and unwillingly – to attempt to break her curse. This one, however, felt far different to watch.

Perhaps it was just that she wasn’t in the middle of it, but it just felt so ordinary. She could almost be convinced it wasn’t magical at all, though she could also feel the magic innately somehow.

Yet, it was not the runes and the ritual that her eyes kept flickering back to. It was its caster. Her gaze kept flickering back to focused green eyes as brown hairs fell in front of them, a hand carefully brushing them away behind an ear.

Capsize just couldn’t look away. It was odd and a little embarrassing. It wasn’t like her to people watch, yet here she was. At the very least, it seemed that Sonja hadn’t noticed. She was beyond thankful for that.

“So, erm, what exactly is this ritual for?” She asked, though she hesitated as she did so for fear of breaking whatever focus was needed for casting. Thankfully, Sonja’s expression just turned to a smile once more.

“To bring luck to the town. I get paid to do it once a month,” She replied as she continued to draw out the runes. That intrigued Capsize.

It made enough sense to her as something the town’s leadership would want. This was a port town, after all. All the ones she’d been too had had a certain reverence for luck baked in. Ianerea had been the same before it had fallen. Though she wondered if that had been sparked into an obsession due to the curse foretelling its destruction.

“How does that work?” She asked, truly curious but not entirely sure if what kind of answer she was expecting.

She knew a great deal of methods that were meant to influence luck, ways that would let one cling to it or bring one more. She acknowledged, though, that most of said ways were just superstitions to make people feel better.

Actual magic though? Well, that was very different.

She knew all too well its power. She could feel the weight of it clinging to her back at every moment. If it could force fate, then it could surely bend luck.

Quite clearly whatever Sonja was doing was effective if she was being asked to cast the ritual on a recurring basis. And how could Capsize not have curiosity about it when luck was something she needed now more than ever?

“It varies from month to month,” The witch laughed, as if to a joke that only she knew about.

Capsize just about stopped herself from frowning. She reminded herself that trade secrets were more than reasonable. Magic was typically self-taught with particulars closely guarded.

However, as Sonja briefly looked up, she caught the tiniest hint of disappointment in the eyes of the captain. Though she didn’t stop in her preparations for the ritual, the look did give her pause in her thoughts. It had become her default to just smile and say something vague when asked about the ritual. It was what the people paying her seemed to prefer.

But looking at someone who actually seemed curious she wanted to kick herself for giving such an explanation. At least, that was something she could fix.

“It’s not really a luck ritual at all. I’ve just figured out the problems that were being blamed on bad luck and created my own ritual to aid with them. The leaders of the town just prefer hearing that they’re getting what they paid for rather than that their town had actual problems that needed solving.”

“Can’t tell what makes ‘em worse. That they don’t want to learn about the problems they should be invested in fixing. Or that they’ve paid for a service and had no interest in learning how it works,” Capsize muttered.

She was as unsurprised as she was utterly exhausted by terrible leaders. She’d been seeing them all her life. The type of leaders that she strived to be the opposite of in her role as captain. Hearing of yet more examples left just a dull ache behind her eyes.

“I’d say not caring about what they’re paying for, but I suppose I’m biassed,” Sonja laughed.

There was energy enough in the expression to ease some of Capsize’s exhaustion. She gave a short laugh too, which was not something she was used to doing on her birthday. Yet something about the witch just left her in such a better mood.

Sonja found herself curious of the stranger she had found herself with.

It was not exactly rare for visitors to come to the town. Ships were coming in and out all the time, but a pirate captain who seemed interested in magic was far rarer. “Are you interested in a ritual for yourself, Captain?”

“Maybe…” Capsize said softly, trying to keep any desperation out of her tone. “It would depend on the cost, but I… I need to find someone.”

Sonja noticed the return of the expression that had been on her face when she had first approached her. She recognised a lost soul when she saw one. So many came to her for help that it was not something she could miss anymore. Yet, something felt different about this particular instance.

She couldn’t quite describe why it felt so different. There was just something deep down in her gut that told her this was a situation where she could help. Though she was far from a religious person, she’d learnt to listen when she got strong feelings like this.

“Well, my price varies from ritual to ritual, and person to person,” She hummed as she turned to start work on another rune.

It was true. She charged people that she disliked far more due to the annoyance of having to be around them. And this seemed to her to be a special case too, though in the opposite way.

Capsize, for a reason she couldn’t comprehend, just interested her in a way that was as intriguing as it was surprising. There was no way she could actually charge her. Though she felt that was far too forward a sentiment to actually say to a woman she had only just met.

She clicked her tongue a few times. “For you though… How about telling me what special occasion it is tonight?”

“That, huh?” Capsize said quietly, attempting to consider her options.

She didn’t know why she felt so hesitant to answer. It wasn’t as if saying that it was her birthday would somehow reveal that she was a runaway princess with a curse that was going to trigger in a year’s time. But she knew from experience that saying that she didn’t want to celebrate her own birthday led to questions.

Still, here was a witch offering to help her. And help was something she desperately needed.

“It’s mine and my brother’s birthday.”

Sonja had no idea what answer she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the one she received. It was such an ordinary thing to be avoiding. Yet, there was something more to it, she could feel it.

Because, yes, the way Capsize had said the words had been matter of fact, but it was also so quiet. And Sonja just got an odd sense of something. A distinct feeling that there was something so important yet wholly terrible about the fact that it was her birthday.

And now the witch knew that she had to help.

“Well, a deal’s a deal. Either later today when the sun's up or sometime tomorrow, I can most certainly perform a locating ritual for you,” She said.

Frankly, if she was not currently performing the job that made up the majority of her income, Sonja would’ve dropped everything to drag Capsize back to her home to do the ritual right now. Whatever the story was behind this, whoever this ritual was meant to find, she knew it was going to be interesting.

Unfortunately, though, she did need to keep surviving. So the well-paying recurring job had to come first. “I live on the west edge of town, right by the forest. Only house with a red roof. You shouldn’t miss you but if you do, anyone around here can give you directions to the witch’s house.”

“Really? Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Sonja gave a smile.

Capsize couldn’t believe her luck. Aside from Lady Ianite, who she had had to go on a self-made quest to find, every person she’d gone to for help with breaking the curse had charged her through the nose. Every time she’d given over the money but ended up left with nothing to show for it.

But here was a witch that had asked for nothing but a simple truth and was now willing to help her.

This time was going to be different. She could feel this in her bones. Even if it was just some answers to questions that were pressing her. It would be more than she’d gained in years of looking for help.

“Thank you! I—”

“Capsize!” A yell from just off the beach interrupted her thanks.

Capsize scrunched her nose as she lightly sighed. Of course he’d found her now.

“A crew member found you?” Sonja asked with as much curiosity as entertainment.

“He’s not a crew member, though he’d certainly jump at the chance if I so much as gave the hint,” She laughed slightly. He was far from the worst person to have found her. She almost certainly would’ve welcomed his appearance had she since been alone, but she wasn’t. And she felt more than a little reluctant to leave. “He’s a good friend though.”

A friend that had almost gotten her killed a couple of times, but a friend, nonetheless.

“Capsize!”

He wasn’t going to leave anytime soon. He was going to keep yelling until she went over to him so he could drag her off to celebrate. After all, she hadn’t exactly let him know that her birthday was more like a reminder of a ticking countdown. He just saw an excuse to have some fun.

Normally his ability to just help her relax was appreciated, but she didn’t particularly want to leave Sonja. She knew it was odd to feel such a way about leaving a stranger when her friend was calling for her, but there was some unexplainable feeling within her as she looked at Sonja. She wanted to stay here with her for as long as she could.

Yet, as Sonja smiled softly, she could already tell what her next words were going to be.

“Go celebrate with him,” She said. She quickly spoke again before the resistance to the idea could spill from Capsize’s thoughts into actual words. “It’ll be easier for us to talk when I’m not working. Go have whatever fun you can.”

Despite still wanting to stay, Capsize knew that she had a point. She also knew that Tom would continue yelling if she didn’t go and join in. So, instead she just nodded.

“House with a red roof,” She asked, just to confirm.

“Yep. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you,” Sonja replied with a smile before turning back to her work.

And Capsize found herself walking away from the waves, towards the waving figure on the edge of the beach. It took about a minute to fully cross the sand and to be able to properly see the half-undead man grinning at her like a moron.

“Happy birthday!” Tom exclaimed once she was next to him. Grinning that infectious grin that she’d come to know him for. He clapped a hand on her shoulder as he began to lead her away. “Sorry to interrupt your date, but I’ve got plans!”

Despite what had been happening in reality, she didn’t correct Tom’s words. He clearly didn’t believe them himself, else he wouldn’t have interrupted. Yet, Capsize didn’t mind the idea of being on a date with Sonja…

Internally, she groaned. What was she thinking? She was going to ask her for a ritual to locate her true love.

Her true love, though, had always been such a nebulous concept. Someone that she desperately needed to find so this curse wouldn’t doom her, but she had frighteningly little interest in other than a means to an end.

Sonja, meanwhile, was real. And Capsize was already craving the sunlight so she could see her again.

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