Timeless *REWRITTEN* (Beetlejuice x Reader)

Chapter 4

The entire trip to America took a little over eight days. It was a fairly miserable experience for me, as I had never been sailing before and never quite got my "sea legs" as the crew said. Instead, I spent my days nauseous and throwing up over the side of the deck, clammy and exhausted. Keeping food down was nearly impossible and caused me to stay incredibly weak. 

The brunette man, Dantae, I later learned, helped to keep my mind off of my swaying legs and queasy stomach. He would sit and talk with me when he wasn't busy bustling around the ship, and I appreciated the company. This was the first time I had interacted with a man my age, and it was refreshing, to say the least. The conversations we had were easy-going and friendly. 

It was when we were having one such of these conversations that Dantae told me about how he had come to be where he was. 

"My father was in the resistance. He thought that what Italy was doing was wrong. Thought that Mussolini's totalitarian way of thinking was nothing more than a dictatorship dressed up in ribbons and bows." He looked down at his hands. "He was right. They killed him for speaking out. I was sixteen when it happened. From that day, I swore I would do whatever it took to oppose those dirty Fascist pigs." He scowled and spit. 

I looked over at him. "I'm so sorry to hear about your father. That's truly awful." 

I didn't mention anything about my lineage or the fact my own family was deeply entangled in the Fascist party's grip on the state. I knew that would do nothing but, at best, provoke Dantae and the others onboard, and at worst, get me tossed overboard. Instead, I listened and sympathized, horrified that this was the cause my father and brothers were working to keeping alive and well. It made me more nauseous than the sea ever could. 

On the eighth day of being tossed to and fro on the endless ocean, we finally spotted the ports of New York. I smiled in relief, beyond happy that I would finally be back on solid ground. 

"We're here!" Dantae said to me, smiling widely and pushing a few of his stray curls out of his face, the wind causing them to have a mind of their own. I smiled back at him. 

As we came closer to the port, I turned to this man who had more or less become a friend to me this past week we'd spent on the cargo steamer. "Say, Dantae, could I give you my address? I'd love to write you sometime, see how everything's going." 

He grinned at me, nodding. "Sure thing. I'll try to get you letters whenever I'm at a safe spot." 

I grabbed a bit of paper and a pencil, jotting down the address to my aunt and uncle's home that I had committed to memory. I handed the paper to him. He glanced at it before folding it and putting it into his pocket. "I'll be sure to keep in touch, (Y/N)." He held out his hand to me, and for once, it clicked why I was so comfortable around Dantae. As I firmly grasped his hand and shook it, it occurred to me that he actually considered me his equal. The thought made me giddy with hope that maybe I could be respected like this by others, as well. "I do wish you the best of luck with everything." 

I nodded. "You, too." 

He helped me off of the boat, and waved to me as I walked away from the steamer and the port. I filed into the country with many other immigrants, it seemed. I saw clothing and items of all sorts of colors and styles that I didn't recognize. It was all a bit overwhelming. I pulled my satchel closer to me, keeping my eyes forward and doing my best to stay on my feet with all the jostling and pushing. I eventually made it into the actual city, which wasn't any less busy. People scurried to and fro as if in a giant ant colony, and several automobiles, trollies, and motorcycles cruised haphazardly on the road. There were several moments when I thought for sure there would be a horrible collision, but miraculously, there wasn't.