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coolcattime · 1 month ago

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Waves Lapping Where the Children Grew: Chapter Three

Relationships: Captain Capsize/Sonja Firefoxx, Captain Capsize & Skipper Redbeard

Characters: Skipper Redbeard, Captain Capsize, Sonja Firefoxx, Jordan Captainsparklez, Tom Syndicate, Lady Ianite, Rupert the Grey, Earl Bluebeard

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In the throes of the coldest winter he can remember facing, Redbeard has been dealing with repeated attempts from an entitled suitor to abduct his ever-sleeping sister. Though assured by Lady Ianite that she has dealt with the man, creeping paranoia and isolation wreck his mind to the point of illness.

When two more visitors arrive to the island, he doubts his ability to face them. But, alone as ever, he has little choice but to push forward.

AO3 Link

Afterwards: Winter

Winter had come on far stronger than the year previous. Even thinking back to his childhood, Redbeard could not remember a winter that had been so bone numbing. One that had left the ocean on the coast of the island frozen. However, that was the cold he currently found himself in.

A somehow even quieter landscape than the abandoned island previously was, leaving him dwelling on his isolation all the more.

The cold had left his head feeling thick. At least, that was what he was blaming his illness on despite knowing it was not the true cause. Yes, of course, it likely wasn’t helping, but he knew the main cause of his apparent illness was exhaustion.

He knew he should stop pushing himself and just sleep. He was alone on the island, so if he collapsed, he’d be in trouble. He couldn’t afford to be in distress when he was meant to be the protector here.

But he hadn’t managed to wrench the paranoia from his mind since the prince.

He had come at the beginning of the season. A prince, somehow more entitled as any he had ever met, had arrived to try and wake Capsize. He was not an unusual type of visitor. Nor was the look of disgust that he received despite barring the same title as the man anything less than typical.

However, when Red had started his typical questions to see if he would allow the man inside, the encounter had taken a worrying turn.

The prince had begun talking about some old alliance between his kingdom and Ianerea – as if that meant anything when he stood in its ruins. Still, that by itself wouldn’t have been any worse than anything else he’d experienced. But the things the bastard had confessed to wanting to do with Capsize… Banishing him with the blade had been nothing short of a relief.

For any other visitor, that would’ve been the end of it, but not this one.

He’d sent others to the island. Soldiers or mercenaries, Redbeard had no idea which, but all had come barring the bastard’s crest and all had come with the sole goal of attempting to abduct his sister.

All it had taken was one unlucky day. One had managed to slip past him and…

They’d laid their hands on Capsize and been thrown back by an incredibly pissed off goddess.

That particular soldier had been turned to ash as they failed to give Lady Ianite an adequate explanation for why they had been trying to take Capsize. She had taken quite a while to look over his sister after that. He couldn’t blame her. Despite how Capsize was quite unable to die, he too was concerned that the kidnapper could’ve done damage to her.

Thankfully she found nothing, she had reassured him of that fact several times over as she checked over him. Just repeated over and over as if she had gotten caught in the throes of madness.

“Capsize hasn’t been harmed. I’m going to make sure no one working for that prince ever steps foot here again.”

Given the tone of her voice and the fact that her words had held true, Red was half convinced that the prince’s kingdom was just as much ash as his soldier was. However, the other half of his mind was incapable of taking any reassurance.

He wished that he could just take Lady Ianite’s word. After all, he knew that she wouldn’t make any false statements that would place Capsize in danger. She had done so much to ensure her safety while she was stuck in this vulnerable state.

Yet, all his mind could focus on was that his own incompetence had nearly caused his sister to be lost. No amount of reassurance was going to shift the paranoia that such an experience left.

Hence, he had barely left Capsize’s room since.

Dreadfully unhealthy, he knew, but being able to physically see Capsize had been the only thing that had shifted even the smallest amount of the fear he held of just finding her missing. But it did not shift nearly enough of it to actually allow him to sleep.

Hence now, a good couple weeks later, his head felt thick as he’d barely managed a couple of hours of sleep each night. Even the knowledge that he would wake if anyone were to arrive did nothing to allow his mind to rest. He remained restless to the point of sickness, sitting by the fire but somehow still cold as he watched his ever-unmoving sister.

It was as if the cold had taken what little hope he’d had left and smashed it apart with as little care as a child playing with ice.

The loneliness only made it worse. The silence that came with snow just made the lack of replies when he spoke with Capsize all the worse. Before this curse, he couldn’t recall a time that he had been completely alone. Even now, after over a year of the state, he still wasn’t used to it.

He was beginning to look back on his arguments with Jordan with fondness.

The champion had actually stayed away in the months since his birthday. Redbeard had no notion that the man might be looking for Dianite’s champion. He doubted he’d ever see him again. But he couldn’t exactly take his words back now, nor would he if the champion actually made an appearance.

The hopelessness that came with isolation though made it hard to not regret.

His rose-tinted recollections were interrupted by the all too familiar prodding in his head that alerted him that someone was on the island.

He sighed deeply.

In his current state, anyone showing up was worrying. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was in no position to fight. If they were here for the same reason as the last, then… Oh gods, he didn’t stand a chance.

The sinking feeling only got worse as he felt a second presence join the first.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to prevent his quickening breath before it took a hold of him.

He shouldn’t be presuming that he would need to fight whoever these two were. There had been so many visitors that he hadn’t needed to – just not within the last few months. Though, given that he wasn’t even sure he was able to walk, the worry that he may need to do anything more was beyond worrying.

He looked towards his sister.

If their positions were switched, she would not allow anything to get in the way of defending him. How could he allow his exhaustion to overwhelm him?

He forced himself to his feet, hating how his body shook.

He could give the appearance of strength. He was sure he could. If it proved necessary, he would fight them off. If he couldn’t then he’d just be failing her again.

As he made his way outside, he was still biting back paranoia. He trusted Lady Ianite, if she said no one else working for the prince would step foot on the island, then she meant it. Even if he for some reason wanted to doubt his only ally, the soldiers had all been incredibly quick to move towards the castle. Whoever these two were, they hadn’t even left the docks by the time he actually stepped foot outside.

Then he was biting back against the cold. His boots crunched against the snow as he walked through the otherwise silent landscape. On the horizon, anchored just beyond the ice currently surrounding the island, he could see the visitor’s ship.

The sight gave him a pang of homesickness, despite how ridiculous such a statement was. After all, he was technically home.

But this island wasn’t home. This ruin wasn’t where he had grown up, even if it literally was by geography. This island was now only two things: his sister’s resting place and a horrible reminder of a life they’d left behind but hadn’t been able to escape.

His home had been the ship that Capsize had stolen all those years ago. The ship where they had become pirates and he’d seen his sister actually grow happy in life. He hadn’t seen it since the night the curse had struck, since Lady Ianite had brought him here and he’d found Capsize…

A lump formed in his throat as he remembered that he had never told the crew about what was going on.

Capsize had been so certain that she’d found a way to break the curse. She’d been sure months before and, unlike every other attempt, her faith in the method hadn’t faded. She seemed convinced that she’d found her true love, so sharing her secret when she had been so confident hadn’t even crossed his mind.

By the time it had become clear that her confidence had either been misplaced or just faked, it had been far too late for him to give any explanations.

Seeing such a similar ship on the horizon to the one he’d left behind gave him a bittersweet longing that he could not afford to linger on.

It couldn’t be the same ship, he knew. The lack of sleep was just getting to him. Yet he still found his eyes flickering back to it as he walked ever closer to the docks where the visitors still were. More than ever, he longed for the days on that ship back.

But, again, he could not afford to linger on such thoughts.

He heard the visitors before he saw them, their voices muffled by the snow. It was a usual occurrence as few expected this place to have any sort of guard.

However, today such a simple thing as overhearing made him freeze.

“What if we’re wrong, if it isn’t them?”

“Then hopefully the rumours of Lady Ianite protecting this place aren’t false and she can tell us what happened to them.”

He heard them talking to each other. Again, utterly normal, except he recognised those voices.

It wasn’t possible. None of the crew had any reason to come here. But it was also undeniable that those were the voices of Earl Bluebeard and Rupert the Grey.

Red stood frozen wondering if he had finally lost it. Maybe the loneliness and the lack of sleep and the cold had all compounded and now he was hearing things. Maybe there were no visitors at all, and he was even imagining the magical prodding in his mind.

Despite knowing that the far more logical and far less worrying situation was that the two were just here, that was not precisely the comforting idea that it perhaps should be.

Because how was he supposed to explain any of this?

Not a soul among the crew knew about his and Capsize’s life prior to running away.

Capsize had been so happy to escape her life as a cursed princess who was only ever looked at with pity. She’d held nothing but fear at the idea of the crew finding out about her royal title or her curse and suddenly treating her differently.

Though Red had had less misgivings about his old life, he would be lying if he said that he missed his life as crown prince of Ianerea. The weight of a thousand expectations placed on his shoulders for the misfortune of being born a few minutes earlier than his sister. The scornful looks from his parents as he knew they forever wished he had been cursed instead of Capsize.

Needless to say, they had kept their titles well hidden from the crew. Never had to explain why two royals had run away from home if no one found out they were royalty in the first place.

They barely mentioned their lives prior to the ship theft at all if they could avoid it. When pushed they’d simply said they’d run away from home at a young age and now there was no home left for them to return to.

How was he meant to explain all that they had kept hidden?

His breath started to catch in his throat as he could not bring himself to either move forward or retreat.

He couldn’t leave, if he was wrong about who was here, if he was hearing things and more attackers had come, then he’d be leaving them too much of an opening,

But if he was in his right mind, if it was Rupert and Earl, he couldn’t face them. He just couldn’t.

He stood frozen, breaths beginning to sting his throat just as the cold stung his exposed skin. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything.

In the end, the decision was made for him as the two finally left the docks and came towards him.

Within moments Red could see them. And it was them: Rupert the Grey and Earl Bluebeard. Two men that he had not seen in over a year stood before him, having somehow found him despite the odds.

Most would’ve found it a joyous event. But Red was already beyond overwhelmed. He could feel nothing but ever rising panic.

Just as he saw them, they saw him.

Briefly, Red saw their expressions change, their eyes widening. Perhaps they turned to excitement or joy, or they merely remained shocked, but he would not learn. His panic got the better of him.

He turned on his heel and began to run.

Behind him he heard his name being called in panic, but he daren’t look back. He couldn’t face them, he just couldn’t.

However, in this moment, with so many fears swirling through his head, was when his lack of sleep finally caught up to him.

Red couldn’t tell the cause, be it his sickness or ice underfoot. He just knew that he was sent tumbling into the cold icy ground.

But whether he had tripped and fell, or he was simply so exhausted that he had passed out, the result was the same. His consciousness faded and, much like the one he self-charged to protect, he was forced into slumber.

🌊 🌊 🌊

Redbeard did not awaken on the cold ground as he expected to. Nor did he awaken on the slightly warmer floor of Capsize’s bedroom where he had been sleeping for the past few weeks.

Rather he awoke in comfort on a soft, warm bed where he wished he could remain forever. He relaxed further into the warmth, everything about it feeling joyous.

Then it clicked.

He shot up, looking around his surroundings in blind panic.

He was in his bedroom. A perfectly normal place to awake yet it filled him with a horrible panic as he saw the darkness outside and realised that he had no idea how long he had been asleep. Anything could’ve happened to Capsize in the meantime.

What if he had been sleeping and she’d been taken?! How could he even dream about relaxing when she was defenceless?

He rushed out of his room, having no thoughts in his mind aside from checking on his sister. He just needed to see her then he could relax.

However, the moment he was through the door, he was caught.

A strong pair of arms held him in their grip. He struggled fruitlessly against them, thrashing and trying to reach for his sword only to realise it was no longer on his belt.

If he had been able to remember why he had been so panicked prior to falling asleep, he wouldn’t have been trying so hard to grab his weapon. However, he was far too consumed by panic to properly process those memories or consider that the person holding him may not be an enemy.

“Calm down, Red,” The man holding him said as he struggled to keep him from running off.

The voice, gruff but concerned, slowed Red’s struggles. He began to remember who had arrived here. Though he still feared that reality more than he likely should, now his thoughts were not completely soaked with exhaustion, he no longer believed that he was hallucinating.

Somehow, Rupert and Earl had found them. And for some reason that he couldn’t fully process, that left his breathing quickening to the point that it was burning his chest.

Rupert, though himself quite fearful for what might happen as he did, loosened his hold on Redbeard. He did his best to keep in mind the words of the exceptionally panicked goddess that had appeared after the lad had collapsed.

Even if they had been vague and not made much sense, she had made clear that Red had been facing threats alone for quite some time now. Such would drive anyone to paranoia and exhaustion.

He stepped back, hoping that showing that the only people here were himself and Earl would calm him. “We’re not gonna hurt you lad. It’s just us.”

“It’s just…” It was difficult for Red to wheeze the words out. He knew, of course, that it was just them. That he and Capsize were in no danger, but even with his mind screaming that his body just wouldn’t accept it.

Every worst-case scenario was stuck swirling through his mind, each one choking him as his breaths got ever faster trying to combat the tightness in his throat they caused. His eyes stung as he became sure that he would collapse again.

He lent against the doorway to try and steady himself. “How did you find…”

He tried to ask the one question that he couldn’t get past. The question that, despite how plain reality was before him, made all of this feel like a trick.

How could they have found him? What could’ve possibly possessed them to come to this ruin of a kingdom where, seeing that they had no idea of his past, he should have no reason to be?

The two pirates looked between themselves. This was not precisely the reaction they had been expecting, but that didn’t matter.

They had finally found him. They’d do what it took to calm him down.

“We’ve been looking for you and the Captain since you both disappeared last year,” Earl began, trying to keep the explanation as concise as possible.

Admittedly, shortening the beginning did make it sound like a far more immediate thing than it had been. It had taken longer than he cared to admit to realise anything had been out of the ordinary.

The Captain had never much liked her birthday, so her disappearing during the day hadn’t exactly been cause for concern. But the way Red had been acting… He should’ve realised that when he’d disappeared too it hadn’t just been to check on his sister.

But he hadn’t. None of the crew had. Until it was the next day and neither had returned – not exactly unlike Red but it was certainly out of character for the Captain.

Suddenly they’d been faced with the possibility that the two had walked off into danger and not one of them had done a thing to stop it.

The idea that he had been missed was enough to start breaking Red’s panic. His breathing ever so slightly calmed at the notion that anyone cared enough to still be looking for him and Capsize.

His surroundings less blurred, he properly looked at the two before him. By the gods, they looked worried.

“We honestly hadn’t had any luck. You two really know how to make yourselves disappear. No wonder you managed to steal a whole ship as kids,” Earl laughed, trying to hide his own shame at how long they had gone without any leads. “But then we heard a rumour about this place. Didn’t really sound like you two, talk of a cursed princess and a loyal guard. But they said the princess was protected by Lady Ianite… Ain’t a soul that fits that description except Capsize.”

“I’m sorry, we should’ve told you what was going on… Capsize thought that she’d found a way to stop all this. We would’ve warned you all that we were leaving back in spring if not,” Red apologised, his frazzled thoughts attempting to explain a situation not yet explained.

It had always been the plan. Tell the crew about the curse half a year before it was due to strike. Give everyone time to figure themselves out. But then that spring had come and Capsize had been so sure that she’d found a way to break the curse. And, Red, fool that he was, hadn’t pushed to give the crew a warning for the worst case scenario. He’d been just as ready as her to cling to any escape from this future he was now stuck in.

“Lad, what did happen to you both?” Rupert asked carefully. “We’ve heard the rumours that led us here, and when you collapsed, Lady Ianite appeared and told us… Well honestly not much. Just that she’d been protecting you both.”

The goddess had been vague. It seemed that she was unwilling to say anything that Red and Capsize hadn’t shared themselves, which was next to nothing. And while Rupert could obviously respect that, now it left the undead man beyond concerned as he’d never seen Red in a worse state and, despite how they’d been here for hours now, Capsize had yet to make any sort of appearance.

Red swallowed. He could trust them, he reminded himself. Even if he didn’t believe that, he owed them an explanation after how long they’d been searching.

“Capsize is cursed. She has been for as long as either of us can remember. Always this looming threat that we knew would trigger on that birthday... We’d planned to warn all you lot, let you figure out a livelihood for yourselves for when she’d no longer be around. But then the time had come and… and she’d said she’d found a way to break the curse,” He couldn’t look at them as he explained. He was so scared that any emotion they may wear would cause him to break and never finish.

“And you know Capsize, she can’t lie for the life of her. The way her face lit up, the excitement in her voice, I was so sure that she had actually found a way. But then our birthday came. Lady Ianite… She must’ve felt what had happened because she was so panicked. She brought me here and… And we found Capsize…”

He choked back a sob as he remembered seeing her laying still in a pool of blood.

He should’ve been with her that day. Maybe he could’ve stopped all this.

A hand touched his shoulder. A comforting touch that coaxed him into actually looking up at his friends.

As Rupert struggled for any words that could comfort a man that had told such a tale, he had never wished more that they had found him earlier.

“It’s alright, lad. It’s alright,” It wasn’t, but what else could he say? “Where’s Capsize now? Is she…”

He could not bring himself to finish the question. He knew from seeing the state that Redbeard was in and the fact that they had not encountered even a trace of her presence that it was unlikely that she was in any way okay. However, he could not bring himself to ask if she was dead.

“She’s in her bedroom… I can show you,” He knew that there were a dozen ways he could simply explain her curse and condition, but he did not know if his soul could take it at this moment.

Neither man had any objection. How could they? They had already come this far.

The walk to her bedroom was quiet.

It was oddly nerve-racking for Red. Even with all those who had come to try and wake Capsize, he could still count on his hands the number of people who had actually seen her. So few he had trusted to lead through these corridors to his sister. So few he believed had even the slightest chance of waking her.

Even when he knew he could trust the men following him, he still could not stop hearing his heart thumping in his throat. Still he hesitated for a moment at her door, the protective instincts of the past year eating away at his mind.

He forced himself to push forward.

He could trust them. They wouldn’t hurt Capsize.

He opened the door.

Rupert and Earl froze as they saw the state of her.

Even from the doorway, they could see Capsize’s completely still form. They could see their Captain, the woman they had been looking for for over a year looking so close to death that even her chest rising and falling did not fully convince them that she lived.

Red walked over, a mix of numbness and relief that she remained in the same state as she had been prior to his own forced slumber. He stood before his sister’s bed and looked down at her.

“All the more magically inclined people we’d gotten to try and break it called it ‘a living death’. She’s alive, but she’s stuck in time. She can’t die, can’t even age, but she can’t wake up. Not unless she receives true love’s kiss,” He said, basically just reciting words he’d heard before because trying to explain in his own would just end in broken sobs. Even the borrowed words he had to force out, still feeling far too much like he was explaining her cause of death.

It was impossible for the men in the doorway to miss the grief in his voice.

“Have you been alone with her all this time?” Earl asked, though he was sure of the answer the moment the words passed his lips.

“Ianite comes by to check on her quite often… Her champion used to as well, but I ended up having to chase him off. I can’t leave her, though. The people who come to try and wake her… I can’t just let them come and leave her defenceless,” He couldn’t rid himself of the thoughts of what that prince had threatened and the soldiers he’d sent once he’d been banished.

No matter how maddening this self-implemented isolation was, he would manage. It was a far better curse than hers. He would face this alone for as long as necessary.

But, for the first time in over a year, Redbeard was not facing this prospect alone.

Rupert walked across the room, once again placing a hand on his shoulder.

He knew he needed to say something, though he struggled with what precisely that should be as he looked down at the Captain. Despite all the time that had passed, all the growing she had done, he could still see the mouthy kid with a stolen ship he had met a near decade ago.

She should not look deader than he did.

“We’re here with you now, lad. Until we can wake her, we’ll take this task with you,” He assured. Now that they’d found the two of them, they weren’t leaving.

For the first time in a great many months, the hopelessness left Red’s bones. Even if he was stuck guarding her for the rest of time, at least he wouldn’t be alone any longer.

As snow once more begun to fall outside, the island was no longer silent and the light that came from the ruin of a kingdom held some life.

#mianite #mianite fanfiction #cat's fanfiction #waves lapping where the children grew #skipper redbeard #captain capsize #lady ianite #rupert the grey #earl bluebeard

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