A total of 47 suns had passed since the call to prepare a fleet had been given when the alarm bells rang; The Center was fast approaching. It was nearing sunset when the noise reverberated around the island. Having the fight at nighttime was a double-edged sword. For one, it would be dark, and it would become more hazardous to maneuver around the reef but for The Center, entering at nighttime was basically suicide. The number of ships they would lose to the jagged coral jutting up through the water would be double what the pirates would lose. At the sound of the alarm bells, chaos had broken out and the streets were filled with pirates running to their stations.
Some of their ships were already in positions, hiding behind small islands and rock formations, lying in wait. They would aid the ships leaving from shore, the plan was to form some sort of ring around the navy to trap them in and attack from all sides. Theo had been sharing some sard outside of Grog's pub with a newer captain when the alarm bells rang. Theo dropped the sard at the first ring and booked it towards the docks to find the scout. Before arriving there, she was stopped by Morgana.
"Scout says three lightbringers and an estimated 50 ships!" Morgana yelled as she began to jog back towards the town.
Theo nodded and turned around to see a group of people that gathered at the docks had paused their frantic duties when they saw her. They stared at her expecting something
"We can do this, people!" Theo shouted as encouraging as she could make it, finding reserves of energy deep inside her to pull in time for the fight, "Run them into the coral, board their ships and turn their cannons against their own people! We've trained for this!"
The small pep talk seemed to light a fire under their asses and they dispersed, repeating what Theo had said to others they encountered on their way. Theo stopped her journey to the docks and turned to run towards the mountain, her destination was the cells under the estate. The plan had been that if lightbringers arrived, the larger ships would converge on them and attack. With Theo having one of the largest ships on the island with The Scorned Woman, she leading the charge on one of the three lightbringers. As such, she would most likely come face to face with someone high ranking in the navy and if things were to go south, they needed leverage. Theo was heading back to the jail to retrieve Avery and keep her in the brig of her ship in case anything went wrong.
Theo tried to keep her emotions out of it. She couldn't think about the plan for too long because the urge would arise to break Avery out and set her free from Corinspian punishment. Fake her death on the sea, let her run away, let her back on her own ship; anything. It was a clash of feelings when she thought of it for too long, when she realized what it meant to have Avery being used as a bargaining chip she began to second guess it. But Theo had a duty to the island, not to someone who had been deceitful for self-gain.
For the first time, Theo made it past the door of the jail. She nodded to one of the guards and instructed him to guide her to Avery's cell. She was walked to a section of the jail that held completely enclosed cells, no bars just a door with a small, closed window that could open for visitors. Theo watched as the door opened to see Avery curled in on herself in the corner of the room. Avery looked up, squinting her eyes to see through the darkness of her cell to who was coming. She was wearing the same clothes that she had left the ship with, dirty and tattered. She didn't look starved, which was good, but she did look pale and her eyes were sunken from lack of sleep.
Avery's eyes looked up to meet Theo's but Theo quickly looked away, she couldn't look her in her eyes. Neither of them spoke, Theo could just feel her staring. The guards walked in and unshackled her. Theo said nothing as she was escorted out of the cell, she just turned around and began to walk out. The guard pushed Avery to follow and she did. A voice she hadn't heard in two cycles spoke up and Theo's heart felt like it was crumbling, her resolve slipping with every syllable.
"What's happening?" Avery asked.
"You're going to the brig on my ship," Theo informed her.
"I can fight," Avery said, "I am useful."
"You aren't a pirate. You are a pirate's prisoner," Theo informed her, "you'll be in the brig, if things go wrong, you're our leverage."
Theo continued to walk but Ava had stopped following. Theo stopped in place and sighed loudly, throwing her head back as she did, "Let's go, Avery."
"Look at me and then we'll go," Avery commanded.
Theo turned around and began walking towards her, a scowl on her face, "You are in no position to make demands."
"Theo, please. You can't give me back to them," she began to back away from Theo, but Theo grabbed her arm, "let me fight. Let me hang at the gallows. Let me rot in jail. I don't care but please, I can't go back."
Theo physically shook her head to keep the words from going too far into her ears, she couldn't let Avery change the plan. She couldn't let her feelings for the girl in front of her ruin everyone else's chance at survival.
"Pray to whatever god you can remember the name of that everything goes well, then we won't need to give you up," Theo said and continued to walk with Avery in tow.
"I know you are angry... That wasn't the way I wanted you to find out. I was going to tell you when all of this was over," Avery continued to speak, Theo was the fool for thinking she would keep quiet, "they told me that Xyra never confessed that she was going to force us to come clean after The Center was defeated. When I told those who visited me, it was the first they heard of it."
"This is a conversation that isn't going to happen, Avery, you don't get to make excuses for yourself," Theo said without breaking their stride.
"I'm not making excuses, I am trying to tell you that I never intended to lie to you forever," Avery's voice was shaking and if Theo looked over, she knew there would be tears, "Theo please, I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know your connection to my father until it was too late."
"You should have told me the moment you found out!" Theo said as she finally stopped and faced her, "you said you cared for me, you should have told me."
"I was scared you would react this way!" Avery had tears streaming down her face as Theo looked over.
"You were being selfish, just like a Vaith," Theo shook her head and kept walking, not even bothering to bring the other girl along.
Ava's next words stopped her in her tracks.
"Theo, you said you loved me..." she said in a soft tone, a defeated one, "you were the one that said it and now you won't even look at me."
Theo clenched her fists trying to keep her sadness from getting out of hand, trying to keep her feelings that she still harbored for Ava far away.
"I loved Ava. I loved Red," Theo shook her head and turned back around to face her, "you are not her."
"Nothing has changed," Ava whispered with a frown, "I am not Avery. I am not a Vaith. Theo, I am the same girl you knew."
"I wish that were true," Theo said, matching a soft tone of voice, "let's go."
Theo picked up the pace once again. It was silent for the rest of the journey, Avery didn't dare to speak up again. When they arrived at the ship, Theo didn't even bother to walk her down to the brig. She called over a deckhand and asked them to do it. Theo took a moment to center herself, taking in the sounds of chaos as she willed her heartbeat to normalize from its altered state. Everyone was running and shouting, executing the last-minute tasks needed for a proper attack.
Theo wasn't too worried about the performance of her crew; if overprepared were a thing, they would be. Theo took a moment to look over to the deck of the sloop, where Xyra and Cooker stood. She locked eyes with Cooker who nudged Xyra and suddenly all three were engaged in a staring match. Theo felt her feet moving without telling them to as she walked off the ship and onto the dock between the ships. Both of them also stepped off the sloop, meeting her in the middle of the dock. Theo couldn't stop herself from rushing forward and pulling them both into a hug.
Theo would be dammed if she let them die without saying goodbye. The weight of the guilt of not speaking to them in the time they had been preparing was all of a sudden on her shoulders and she couldn't believe she hadn't considered the fact that she might have never seen them again. She couldn't believe she had been so petty that she was about to send them off into battle without a final conversation or drink. If Theo could redo at least the night before, she would. She would have reached out to them. Slept in their beds. Held a conversation. Anything.
"Be safe Theo," Cooker mumbled as she pressed a kiss to Theo's forehead, "If you die, I will fucking kill myself just so I can strangle you as a spirit."
"You watch each other's backs, alright?" Theo said and tried to pull herself closer to both of them but they were already all squished together.
"I love you both," Xyra said and her long arms enveloped them in a strong, firm hug, "I'm sorry, Theo."
"Survive and we can talk about it later," Theo said as she pulled away and then paused before adding, "I'm sorry too."
Xyra's name was being called from the sloop and a moment after, Theo was being called. Theo waved goodbye to them without another word and turned to bound up the ramp to her ship. Captain Blue had arrived in the small window that she had been distracted and was calling out commands to the sailors up on the mast. With a collection of smaller ships that were to be run by other captains, Blue had offered up his services as first mate. Theo accepted, needing help with calling the shots. They had the fiercest fighters on the island on their ship and scattered across other large ships. Many of her vanguard members were on the ship but amongst them was a sea of fighters pooled from other crews.
The ship was ready and Theo gave the command to set sail, they had a lightbringer to take down.
-----
The sounds of cannons and the ship shaking with each command to fire was constant. For a half-hour, The Scorned Woman saw only ship-to-ship combat, being narrowly missed by some of The Center's ships. They had sustained some damage but nowhere near enough to threaten the integrity of the ship. They were on course to sidle up next to the lightbringer in a matter of minutes and Theo was losing her voice yelling commands to get prepared. The lightbringer was distracted with trying to stave off the smaller ships that had swarmed into its surrounding waters.
"We are coming up on her now! Get the grappling hooks ready!" Theo ran down from the helm as she began to see the looming size of the other ship come closer and closer.
Morgana was waiting on the starboard side of the ship, gathering the vanguard from their cre and also trying to command the unruly fighters from other crews. Theo shot a nod her way and Morgana returned the gesture, a confirmation that they were all ready for an assault on the navy's pride and joy, their precious lightbringer.
Theo had to catch herself as the ship jolted with yet another volley of cannons, Oceane calling the shots from down below as master gunner. Theo watched as one of the cannons from their ship collided with the side of the lightbringer but even with that hit in such close range, it barely made a dent in the ship's structure. Theo, not for the first time, considered the possibility that neither her nor her ship would return from this mission. She pushed out the fear that came with that type of thinking and steeled herself in preparation for the incoming offensive.
"Hook them!" Theo yelled as the perfect opportunity presented itself. She watched as a sea of rope was released from The Scorned Woman and listened as the hooks latched onto the other deck with a thud, "Pull us in!"
Theo ran to the edge of the ship, starboard, to come up next to Morgana. She pulled the falchion from her side as her crew closed the dozen feet of distance between the ships. Theo was climbing up onto the edge of her deck, ready to begin climbing up and then onto the lightbringer when she watched soldiers swing through the sky. Behind her, she heard the sound of several pairs of feet landing on her deck and she swiveled around to see an array of navy soldiers.
"Splendid," Theo mumbled to herself and twisted her falchion around in her hand with a flourish, "Mor, we've got company."
"I see them," Morgana said, and then she began to run forward, lifting her Morningstar with a battle cry, "Rid our ship of the pests!"
Theo began to run forward after Morgana, getting ready to go into action but she skidded to a stop. Soaring through the air on a rope and landing a few feet away from her was Hoffstater. He was taller than she remembered, his sheer size a bit menacing. In his hand was a mace which was also new, men of the army didn't fight with weapons like that. A sword was distinguished, a mace was not.
"Hoff," Theo said, "it's been lengths. Wish I could say it's nice to see you but right now isn't such a great time for me, if I'm honest. Would you mind coming back later?"
"Where is she, Captain?" Hoffstater asked, swinging his mace around as he stepped closer, Theo kept stepping away.
"You're going to have to be more specific, Hoff," Theo held out her falchion but against a mace, it wouldn't do much in a long fight. She would have to hope that the skills Tuni taught her with throwing daggers would come in handy.
"The one that is promised to me!" Hoffstater yelled, "the one you put your filthy hands on."
Theo frowned at that. How the fuck did he know Avery was with them. Had Seal lied to them? Had Fletching told The Center about her?
Hoffstater didn't wait for a response before going on the attack, closing the gap between them with a leap as he drove the mace down. Theo stepped out of the way, avoiding having to bring her sword up to meet his weapon.
She took that opportunity that he was on a downswing to slash her falchion across his chest but he also moved, taking an evasive maneuver that caused her sword to graze his arm but not cause any lasting damage. Theo cursed under her breath as she watched him swing the mace upwards, trying to connect with any part of her that he could. She was forced to block that time, using her sword to do so. They were engaged in a deadlock, Theo pushing the mace down as hard as she could and Hoffstater being unable to break the restriction on his weapon.
At that moment, the cannons went off. Seconds later, cannons from the lightbringer blasted into her ship, causing the deck to shake. Theo lost her footing, stumbling a bit, giving Hoffstater the perfect opportunity to break his mace away from Theo's block. He reared the weapon back and drove it into her side. Theo was almost blinded with pain as the force from the weapon collided with her side and knocked her onto the ground.
The cannons going off had wrecked the bottom of her ship, she didn't need to even look to know. However, the lightbringer cannons firing at her ship from that close of a range and the barrage of cannonballs that had hit it already must have ruined it too, both ships were about to go down. Theo was still on the floor as Hoffstater ran towards her once again to finish the job of defeating her, bringing the mace down as he yelled.
"Tell me where you are keeping her!"
Theo moved out of the way at the last second, the mace barely missing her leg.
"Call this off, surrender your men, and maybe we can have a conversation about getting her back to you, huh?" Theo said as she scrambled to her feet, knowing that would never happen. And even if it did, Theo wouldn't make do on her end of the bargain. They were both aware of that.
Theo was also aware that the ships were sinking and that there was someone at the bottom of The Scorned Woman that would be drowning in a matter of minutes if she wasn't rescued. But there was no way to get to her. Hoffstater was between her and the entrance to the lower decks. Theo's chest felt tight and all that ran through her head was the need to get down there. It wasn't even desperation for saving their only leverage, it was a need to go and save Avery because Theo couldn't live with seeing her dead. But she needed to either kill or shake Hoffstater, if she went right then she would just be leading him to what he wanted.
Theo was about to go on the offensive, an attempt to end the fight even with the state of her side, when a cannonball hit their deck, crashing into the wood and knocking them both back. Theo had gotten lucky and was missed by a large part of the debris that came from the explosion, sustaining only scratches. She wasted no time in getting to her feet once again and saw Hoffstater laying on the ground with broken crates on top of him. He was a dozen feet away and unconscious and Theo made the decision to run to save Avery instead of making sure that Hoffstater was dead, she didn't know how long she would have to save her. Theo flew down the stairs and waded through the water that had already started to seep into the ship until she arrived at the brig.
"Red!" Theo yelled and she saw Avery trying to shake the metal bars to get out.
"I'm here!" Avery said, her voice laden with panic, "what is happening?"
"The ship is sinking!" Theo yelled over the rushing water, she reached for her key, but the ring was no longer at her waist. Theo's heart began to beat faster as she realized that the task of rescuing Avery had just gotten a lot harder.
"I lost the key," Theo admitted as she reached the bars, "try and find something to break the lock."
Theo took a deep breath and dove under the water, which was already reaching her hips. Her arms flailed wildly under the water, her hands searching for anything she could grab. She was about to go back up for another breath and to see if she could spot anything from above water when a hand gripped her head and held her down. Theo tried fighting against it but whoever was holding her down was double her size and stronger than her. She didn't need to see to know who it was. Not checking to see if Hofffstater was dead could have meant the difference between her surviving and her dying. She began to thrash about, unable to do anything else. Her air was depleting and she heard sounds from above her.
"Hoff, please," Avery pleaded, "don't kill her! Please!"
"Shut up," Hoffstater bit, letting out a yell of effort as he tried to keep Theo under.
"I will do anything. Please," Avery was desperate, her hands shook the bars in front of her, "I will go back with you. I won't make it difficult, Hoff, please."
"The punishment for renouncers and pirates is death," Hoffstater grunted, "you will not get in the way of justice, girl."
Theo took the last bit of energy she had to slip her dagger off her hip. She pushed her hand forward and then let go of the hilt of her weapon, floating it in between the metal bars separating her and the redhead. Theo continued to move around, having gained leverage against the floor. She began to twist and pull and move until Hoffstater was forced to continuing adjusting to keep her down.
Above water, Avery had caught sight of the dagger but didn't quit her begging. She grabbed it and waiting for her moment to strike.
"Hoff! She might be useful to you! Please, spare her," Avery begged, her voice tight like tears were choking her vocal cords. She adjusted the dagger in her hand, in a striking position as Theo moved Hoffstater around. A few moments later, the opportunity was upon her. He was distracted, Avery no longer in his periphery, and with a sliver of his back only a foot away from the bars, she was able to slip a shoulder past and stab him in the back, right where she had been taught by Morgana so, so long before.
The pain caused him to let Theo go just enough for her to be able to slip away from his grasp and come up for a big gulp of air. Theo coughed out water and tried to regain her balance and get on her feet as Hoffstater turned around to Avery.
"You little bitch," Hoffstater turned around with the knife still in his back, "I came all the way here to rescue you, and you stab me?"
The water level was rising fast, coming up to cover the knife as blood spilled into the water. Hoffstater reached out through the bars and gripped Ava's face in his hands. In all of the times Theo had seen Hoff in action growing up, he had never been this deranged. Physical violence as an intimidation tactic had always been his thing but anger wasn't, and he was furious. It was to his detriment because he was so filled with rage he didn't notice Theo. When she finally recovered her breath, she lunged at him, one of her hands went to pull the knife out of his back and the other came to rest on the back of his head as she pushed it forward with as much force as she could.
His forehead crashed against the bars of the cell, and she used the leverage of pushing his head with one hand to stabilize herself and pull the knife out of his back. She gripped his hair with the hand on his head and pulled it back, bringing the dagger up to slice his throat. He made a choking noise that was cut off as Theo pushed him into the water holding him down until through was no more resistance. Theo caught her breath as she looked up through the bars.
"Are you okay?" Theo asked and Ava nodded, trying to recover from witnessing what she had.
"Theo, the water," Ava pointed out as if Theo couldn't feel the water at her chest, rising rapidly.
"I can't risk going up there for the key, I might not make it back," Theo looked around the room and then shut her eyes thinking of what could break a lock in the time they had. Where were Cooker and her tools when they were needed?
She heard Ava begin to hit the lock with a piece of wood that had drifted into her cell and Theo opened her eyes for another scan. Floating by the entrance to the brig was Hoffstater's mace that he must have dropped when he was holding Theo down. She ran over to it and hoped that whatever The Center spent on the mace, it had been a lot. They couldn't afford for it to break on her.
Theo trudged through the water as fast as she could, splashing everywhere as she made it back to the cell. Ava stood back from the lock, but Theo didn't go for that. She wedged the mace in between two of the bars and began to pull, attempting to pry the metal apart. Theo struggled with it and as she pulled, her side screamed in pain.
Theo yelled, ignoring that she was calling attention to them, as she tried to get Ava out. Ava joined pushing one side of the mace as Theo pulled on the other. The metal creaked but it was not easy to hear over the rushing water and the shouts outside. They were making some progress, the space between two metal bars had opened up quite a bit.
"I think I can get through that!" Ava shouted and Theo pulled the mace out as Ava attempted to climb through.
The water was getting to a level where Theo's feet were lifting off the ground and it was hard for her to stay above water with the choppiness of it. Ava had to go underwater to go through the bars and Theo found herself going under to help. She took hold of Ava once her shoulders were through the opening, hooking her arms under her armpits and pushing against the bars to pull her out. Ava tugged the last of her body through the hole and together they swam up the few feet to the surface. Their heads were almost touching the ceiling.
"Hold your breath, Red!" Theo said but Ava shook her head somewhat paralyzed in shock, "how I taught you, remember?"
Ava's face was ghastly white with fear, she wasn't the best swimmer and in a situation where panic was not ideal she was panicking.
"Red, please focus, we need to get out of here!" Theo said and held onto a beam on the roof as she pulled Ava into one of her arms, "I will swim us out of here, all you have to do is hold onto my shirt, kick your feet to help me swim forward, and hold your breath, okay?"
"Theo, I'm so sorry," Ava said as they locked eyes. Theo felt every bit of anger and indigance and fury at being lied to slip away, like she knew it would the moment she shared a genuine moment with her old partner.
"Now isn't the time," Theo shook her head, not knowing how to respond, "Take a deep breath on three, exal, can you do that for me?"
Ava nodded a bit and Theo counted before they both inhaled and Theo plunged back down. It was pitch black where they were, and Theo could barely make out the differences in shade between the ship and where the holes were. Theo could hold her breath for a long time, but Ava was more limited, so time was of the essence. She looked around for their exit as debris got in her way. Slowly, she guided them up and over fallen beams and floating weapons as they swam towards air. They finally made it out of the ship, the surface several feet above. On her way out, Theo had scratched her ribs against some broken wood on the same side she had been hit with the mace. She took only a moment to stop in the water and press a hand to her side to relieve the pain with some pressure but that was the wrong move.
There was a boom above them, and debris littered the sea around them, further impeding their way forward. It would have been a concern of Theo's but as the debris fell, something crashed against the side of her head, and everything faded to black.
-----
Theo blinked her eyes open and the first thing she noticed was her pounding headache. The second thing she noticed is that she was no longer in the water. The third thing she noticed was that she was chained. She felt the thumping of her heart begin to increase as she looked around, everything was unfamiliar. She was in a room made of wood, the air smelled of the ocean, and her chains were clanking together as they moved from side to side. Not in the water, but still on the ocean. Her throat was stale, dry, and tasted of saltwater that had been on her tongue for too long.
The room was pretty bare, nothing much was around to give away where she was. It was dark but she could make out a single detail in the whole room, the unlit light fixture by the door. Squinting her eyes to adjust to the light was The Center's seal adorning the lamp.
"Fuck," Theo whispered to herself, "fuck, fuck, fuck."
The situation was not good. It was so bad in fact, that the only plan Theo had ever made for getting captured on a navy ship was to kill herself before the ship could make port at the center. But for all of Theo's preparation for death and for all her understanding that one day it would happen, that wasn't the ideal way for her to go out.
Theo tried to pull on the shackles for the first time. Her hands were behind her, bounded together with metal cuffs. The cuffs were tied with a small chain to the back wall, rendering her arms useless behind her. The position hurt, her ribs were throbbing, and her side seared with pain. The chains connecting her to the wall were less than a foot in length and certainly not enough to do anything with. Even if she had wanted to off herself as quickly as possible, there would be nothing to do it with.
Theo sat on the floor and continued to think through what to do for a few more minutes. She was waiting for creativity to strike or a crew member of hers to burst through the room and rescue her but neither of those happened. No radical, perfect solution came to her. No way out. She didn't even know the type of ship she was on or how she got there. She had no idea how long it had been. No way of knowing if they had been successful or if Corinspe had fallen.
It felt like the walls were getting smaller and the air was getting thinner. It was harder to breathe, to focus, to have the clarity to navigate the situation. Theo remembered the last thing before everything went dark was swimming out of her sinking ship with Ava. And now she was on a ship headed for The Center. Had Ava survived? Was she safe? Had she swum them up to safety or had she escorted Theo straight into the hands of The Center on purpose?
She had too many questions and not a single answer.
Theo tried her bindings one more time, pulling her arms against the wall until they were taught and unable to move. It shot pain up her side, but she tried again, harder that time. Whether it was the chain clanking, or the person had been due to arrive anyway, somebody walked in as she attempted one last pull.
The man who walked in was tall, with a shaved head, the slightest bit of red fuzz on it was visible as the morning sun hit him from the open door. His uniform was the one of a general and the fabric was crisp, unwrinkled, neat. Theo immediately recognizing him, not by his face, which Theo was not too familiar with but by everything else. The hair color and the station his clothes presented clued her in that this was the Lord Commander of the Navy, Ulises Vaith.
"My sister has done an excellent job of bringing you here," he said as the room was lit by someone who filed in after him, "I must say, she took far too long to complete the task but it worked out almost perfectly."
"What?" Theo asked but it wasn't loud, it was mostly to herself. The thought had run through her head that maybe Ava- Avery- had led them there once Theo had passed out, but she hadn't seriously considered it. It didn't make sense; Ava couldn't have been acting that entire time. Theo had believed her when she said she wasn't involved with her family.
"Delivering you to me personally while I watched your little pirate empire collapse was a nice touch on her end," he continued, no expression on his face. No pride in victory or smugness, a cold and blank face stared at her, "I have burned down many towns in my life, you know. It was never as fun for me as other people had described it but seeing the fleet burn and your island along with it was life's greatest pleasure."
"No," Theo rasped, her throat was dry, and the room felt like it was tilting on its axis. She could say nothing else, "No. That's not true."
"You are a fool. A dirty, criminal, renouncer, fool," the first sign of emotion from Ulises was a chuckle, "the great Captain Theo; unfallen, no matter what is sent after you. Mercenaries, traders, the army, the navy, bounty hunters. Yet here you sit in front of me, bested by a girl who had never left home before."
Theo just shook her head again. It couldn't be true. It didn't make sense. It couldn't make sense.
"I will be back for you later, Captain," Ulises said then paused for a chuckle, "I suppose captain does not suit you anymore, given that your crew is dead and your ship is at the bottom of the ocean."
She had no words to say. No smart response. No quip to make herself feel better. Ulises left the room with the two guards he had brought in with him. At the sound of the door shutting, Theo began to struggle against her restraints again, knowing it would get her nowhere. She didn't know what to do, she was trapped. The crying that began was involuntary, the emotions becoming too much and releasing from her body in the form of tears. She felt disgusting, dirty, used. Memories of her and Avery filled her head and they all seemed so rancid in hindsight.
The light touches on her back. The laughs. The conversations. Ava teaching Theo how to read. Theo telling Ava her deepest secrets. Taking Ava to the Grotto. Letting herself be vulnerable again. The feeling of Ava pressed up against her chest as they spooned. Was it all fake? Not a shred of truth to it? Or did Ava mess up and actually fall in love? The felt so hurt, more so than before. She had been so angry with Ava but in time, she knew deep down that it would have passed. She would have found a way to break her out of jail when she had eventually let go of the anger. She had a brief rebellion against what was moral and right but in her heart she knew that it wouldn't have lastted much longer than the fight against The Center. But now there was only devastation, an intense feeling of grief flooded her body. Theo couldn't believe it still.
It all seemed so real. It all seemed so real. It all seemed so real.
Theo found herself rocking back and forth as she was crying, an attempt to soothe herself. But it didn't work. Every time her chest would move with a sob, her side ache which would just fuel her crying even more. Theo had held off as much as she could with crying over the past cycles, but it was too much to hold back. Hope was gone. She had never felt so defeated.
Her crew was dead, she was captured by the enemy, and someone she had loved enough to share her secrets to now could spill them all.
-----
Theo was so tired but she hadn't truly slept in the endless hours she had been left alone. The position she was in made her back burn and her arms feel like they were not there. The memory of every soft moment shared between her and Ava was replaying in her head and plaguing her, keeping her from sleeping without dreams of the past infiltrating her slumber. There were no windows in the room and the light had been put out once Ulises walked out. The only way for her to have somewhat of a concept of time were the collection of noises she heard outside and the small sliver of light coming in from the bottom of the door. It was clearly nighttime by the lack of light coming from under the door and a much quieter outside environment than in the hours before. It seems she was being kept in a room on the deck. From her studies, the only ships big enough to have a room on the deck that resembled more of a cabin was a lightbringer. Whatever hope she did have, whatever silly fantasy her sleepy brain concocted of perhaps being saved was gone. Even if someone had managed to escape the wreckage and come after her, nothing could face off a lightbringer except a small fleet.
As if the Vaith could sense her sleep-addled brain becoming more awake than it had been, Ulises walked in. Theo didn't straighten up or try to project an air of strength. She had no cards to play, no moves to make, nothing to fight for. Appearances would do nothing.
"Good evening, pirate," Ulises said and as before, someone walked in behind him and lit one of the fixtures in the room. A chair had been brought in after him and in his hands was a small chest. He sat down and unlatched the small chest.
Theo didn't need for it to be opened to know what was inside. They carried a similar chest on her ship, one that Xyra broke out for very special occasions.
"You won't get shit out of me," Theo said, her voice even scratchier and dry than the last time he had come in. Her lips were chapped and when she clenched her fists, her palms were dry. She needed water but she doubted she would get it. She licked her lips to provide any sort of moisture before continuing, "I won't talk."
"I am well aware of your training, Theo," Ulises said, having dropped the captain from her title, "the purpose of this session is not to glean any information from you. It is purely for pleasure."
"You're a twisted fuck," Theo spat out, getting whatever insults she could before what he had planned for her.
He laughed, not cold or dry like it had been before but an actual laugh. He was relishing in her capture, in having her in front of him.
"For lengths, you and your little friends were nothing more than a thorn in my side. A band of criminals that would meet their demise soon enough. But at every turn, I was summoned to be scolded- as a grown man- because you were causing too much of a fuss and no one could catch you. A man of my station was then forced to have to care about your little pirate brigade," Ulises monologued, if Theo wasn't forced to sit there and listen, she would have punched him halfway through his power trip speech. He saw Theo not paying close attention and wrenched her face to look at him, "Imagine my surprise that upon my sister's return she told me that the thorn in my side, the lady captain, had been the daughter of the rebel leaders on Lamentations all along. Daughter of Theo and Nhiri, right there in front of me and I didn't even know it. No wonder you've been such a pain, you take after your parents."
Theo's lip furled in anger, and she pulled her face free, which earned her a slap. Theo's veins were flowing with pure venom. Avery had done what she was most afraid up, relented all of Theo's information. Stuff that she had guarded close to her chest for almost a whole classification, guarded with her life, was now out there. It was now in the hands of her enemy. Resentment, vengeance, pure fury had all flashed across her face, but she steeled it as she looked back to him.
"How none of us saw it before, I do not know. You were not very subtle about it," Ulises chuckled, "Naming yourself after your father is very apt, given that you are going to die at my hands just as he did."
Theo spat on his face and without missing a beat, a punch landed on her jaw. Blood filled her mouth and she tasted metal. Her energy had been depleted over the time she had been there and it took every ounce of her strength to look back up at him. She managed to do it, staring at him with murderous eyes as he wiped her spit from his face.
"Insolent little bitch," he cursed, his face screwed up in disgust, "after lengths of hearing about your exploits, of being blamed for not catching you, of watching you succeed against the odds I finally have you in front of me and I will enjoy this very, very much."
He popped open the chest and Theo's eye caught sight of the array of instruments that would soon cause her pain. She clenched her fists, flexed her back muscles, and prepared for whatever came first. The sound of metal tools clinking against each other filled the room. Various things were laid in front of her. A flog, a sharp switchblade, and a set of pincers. He took his time, looking down at what he had put out. His legs crossed over each other as he sat in his chair, looking between her and the tools. After a bit he chuckled.
"Some people say that the true test of talent for torture is not how many tools one can use but how little tools one can use to break someone," Ulises said and placed the flog and the pincers back in the box before shutting it again.
He stood up and whistled, two men came in. He motioned to her arms and the soldiers walked behind her, unlocking her chains from the wall. It gave her a bit of slack and she used that opportunity to check one of the guards' legs with her shoulder and break free for just a second. A foot connected with the side of her face a moment later. Blood once again fell on her tongue as a boot delivered the force of the kick. Theo coughed this time, spitting the blood out on the floor.
She was lifted up by the two men and she winced as one of them put pressure on her side accidentally. She tried to hide it, but the pain was almost blinding, she saw white when it was pressed. Theo knew she had several broken ribs, and the pain was hard to keep quiet about, but she did. Her arms were secured above her, as the chain was connected to a fixture on the ceiling of the room. Theo's nostrils flared as she caught her breath, chest heaving up and down trying to make the pain lessen.
"Why are you holding it in?" Ulises asked, waving to the men to leave them. He took an open palm to her side, connecting it with the bruised area, "the sooner you scream, the sooner it will be over."
Theo held in a yell. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to breathe through the pain but something else connected with her side and she gasped out, finding it hard to regain air. She forced her eyes open to see him circling around her. She didn't speak. She didn't say a word; doing so would only embolden him. She had nothing clever to say and anything she would come up with would just give him satisfaction. He had won. He and his father and every government official had won. They had taken everything she had worked towards and everyone she had recruited and cared for.
The only thing keeping her going was to not give him a reaction. To make it as uninteresting as she could. To rob him of the joy of hearing her scream or beg.
"You know, as much fun as this will be, I do regret that I was only able to witness the murder of your two closest colleagues from afar. Looking through the spyglass isn't quite as memorable as maiming someone in person," he gripped her cheeks, picking her head up.
She searched his face to see if what he said was true but he gave nothing away. Where there was sweat pouring down her face, sticking her hair to her forehead, he had not a drop on him. Aside from a few wrinkles giving away that he was not so young anymore, he looked healthy. He looked well-rested. He looked like a man who had all the power he could imagine at his disposal. The next in line for his father's title. Theo's jaw was clenched as a way to bear the pain, allowing no trace of emotions to pass her eyes as he spoke and held her gaze. Xyra and Cooker would kill her in the afterlife if they knew that their deaths would be used to break her and she had allowed it to.
"You know, your father and I spent quite some time together," he said, still keeping a hold of Theo's face so they maintained eye contact, "before he was a rebel, he tried his hand at being an important political figure- to try and enact change from the inside and all that- and as my post was in Aeliz at the time, I had many meetings with him."
Theo didn't even blink, her breaths evening out as the pain on her side momentarily reduced to a dull throb. She didn't know that about her father. She knew next to nothing about him aside from what she could remember and the little that was written about him. The fact that a Vaith knew more about him than she did was a different kind of torture.
"He was more of a pain in my fucking arse than you have been," he said then paused and shrugged, "actually, I might have fibbed. You did prepare a whole fleet for my arrival, you clever little one."
"Using diminutive descriptors for me won't make less the fact that I probably sunk a good half of your navy before we went down," Theo finally said, "good luck with explaining that upon your arrival."
He let go of her chin and grabbed onto her hair, holding her head upright so she could continue to look at him.
"You look so much like him," Ulises jerked Theo's head to either side as he observed her like she was some animal, "you've got his eyes, his jawline, his fire. Say, do you even remember what he looked like? I can imagine you were so young that the memories must be hazy by now. Maybe I should remind you."
He pulled the switchblade into view and held it near Theo's right eyebrow. She pulled her wrists against the chains and clenched her fists in preparation. She remembered exactly how her father looked, she remembered his kind face and gentle hugs and the way she would ask him about the scar over his eye every night. And every night he would make something new up just to entertain her. Theo felt the tip of the knife dig into the edge of her forehead half an inch above her eyebrow. The first drops of blood began to run down her face as the chains filled the room with noise when Theo pulled tightly against them. She couldn't bite down on the inside of her cheeks because they were torn apart from the hits earlier. Theo's arms began to shake with the effort she was making against the chains as Ulises pulled the knife down past her eyebrow.
He lifted it only slightly, bringing it down to the tip of her cheek and continuing downward. Theo felt the wound spilling blood onto her neck and down her body. He let go of Theo's hair and her head dropped. One of her eyes was covered in blood, unable to be opened but with the other, she saw red begin to splash on the floor. She heard him opening the chest again, but she didn't look over, resigning herself to what he was going to do; too tired to anticipate what it would. be. She felt her head being pulled back again and in front of her was a looking glass, her reflection staring back at her.
"There, now you can recall what he looked like," Ulises said and held the glass closer to her face. Theo saw the large gash across her face, and she choked back tears at the sight of herself. She looked defeated, even despite her best attempts to appear stoic and strong. It had taken nothing for her fight to give out.
"When it is your time to die, I will request that your execution is at my hands," Ulises dropped the mirror, "so I can watch the light in your eyes die out the same way I did with your father. Both Theo's, dead at my hand. Scourges to our way of life, eliminated."
He stepped away from her, releasing his grip on her hair. Her head fell forward but she caught it that time, turning it to prop up against her extended arm, trying to keep herself alert and hanging on. The pain from her side, the position she was wrought into, and the burning of the air on her open wound were making her vision go blurry. It felt like several minutes since he had stopped being in front of her when she felt two hands at her back. The fabric of her shirt was ripped in half and Theo could feel that her back had been exposed.
"I wish I could remember what it was like to kill your mother but honestly, it wasn't that memorable. Perhaps, it was not even me who did it," he tutted his tongue then sighed, "I cannot even remember if she was one of the bodies the soldiers hauled back to the ship to desecrate. But with her beauty, I am sure she was treated with the utmost disrespect; do not worry."
Theo shut her eyes tightly to try and keep his words from sinking in; the movement worsened the pain from her new injury. She flinched as his fingers ran down her back, tracing the designs of her tattoos. When she moved away from him, he dug a hand into her side and Theo almost let a pathetic yelp make it past her lips. He resumed his tracing, making his way up and down her skin. Theo wanted to put up more of a fight, but she didn't know if she could body another hit without passing out, and passing out was not something she wanted to do in the presence of someone like Ulises.
"Are you a pious woman, Theo?" Ulises asked and when he got no answer from Theo, he continued, "with the sigil of Riva on your back, you must be a dedicated servant."
She felt the very tip of the switchblade lightly trace where the symbols of Riva were. The metal was cold against her sweaty back. She felt the point of the blade dip into her skin and pierce it.
"Did she help you much, zealot?" he dragged the knife down with a curve, following one of the moons on her back, "Did she warn you about Avery? Did she tell you about your upcoming defeat? Did she protect you from harm?"
Theo pulled against the chains and turned her head, even more, to bite down on her arm. He didn't stop. The knife was lifted and brought down on another one of her moons. The knife dug into her skin and opened more of her flesh to the air. Her legs couldn't hold her up anymore and all of her weight fell on her arms, which burned at the sockets. Theo couldn't hold it in anymore. As his fingers pressed into one of the wounds he had made on her back, Theo let out a deep, guttural scream.
"Atta girl," a chuckle was heard behind her, "I will be back later."
His hands came off her and his footsteps made dull taps against the wood as he walked out of the door. Theo didn't remember much after that, the white spots in her vision blocked her view and the ringing in her ears made everything unintelligible. Her body was moved back to the ground, her arms chained to either side of the wall, holding her arms out next to her. Her world went dark, she tried to fight it, but she couldn't. Her pulse thrummed behind her ears and her breathing slowed and that was all she remembered before her vision went dark.
An unknown amount of time later, light taps were felt on her cheek and she jolted awake, panicked. It took her a second to remember where she was which made the people in the room laugh. Theo couldn't swallow because of how dry her mouth was, all she wanted was water. She didn't know how long it had been since Ulises had been in there and she couldn't even focus on the outside of the door to see if it was dark. Looking up, it was a soldier that was waking her up. She was ready to gather up the strength to make a bite for his hand that was tapping her cheek when a tuft of white hair in the corner of the room caught her eye.
Theo turned her face to see Morgana and out of instinct she lunged for her, her arms pulling against her restraint, "Mor!"
It was a choked-out, barely audible shout for her friend. Morgana was looking at her with a fear that was uncharacteristic. Theo wasn't sure if it was because of how she looked or because Morgana had also undergone something horrendous. But, on the outside, she looked fine. No cuts or scratches or bruises.
"I had an amusing time with you yestersun," Ulises spoke, and Theo peeled her eyes away from Morgana to watch him enter the room, "but we must get to business, Theo. I have questions and they will be answered."
"We've already established that I won't talk, or in your old age have you forgotten already," Theo spat, voice scratchy and dry.
As if she hadn't learned her lesson from the before, Ulises nodded and a firm slap on her bare back was delivered by a soldier.
"That is what your companion here is for," Ulises walked over to Morgana.
"She's not privy to the information you want," Theo said and tried to clear her throat, but it was impossible.
"She won't be answering my questions, pirate, you will," Ulises caught her eye and gave her a shrug, no emotion on his face once again. He had gained his composure from what Theo assumed to be a very personal moment for him when they were alone, "you refuse to answer my questions, she gets hurt."
Theo closed her eyes and shook her head. She often dreamed about a scenario like this when she was younger. The person who had taught the three of them about torture tactics and what to expect if it happened had once told her that they should never get captured together because one of them could be used against the other. For lengths after that, she had nightmares about it.
"I'm so sorry, Mor," Theo whispered and opened her eyes to see Morgana shaking her head with a small smile, telling her it was alright.
"We'll start simple," Ulises said, "Where is the Corinspian fund buried?"
Theo closed her eyes and looked away from Morgana. She couldn't watch. A soldier promptly turned her head and roughly grabbed a hold of her eyelids, forcing them open to look. After a few seconds of Theo refusing to answer, one of the soldiers punched Morgana in the gut. She grunted but didn't look too phased.
"Theo, we will be finding it eventually. The island has fallen it is only a matter of time," he said and kneeled in front of her, "tell us now and you can save your friend."
"Theo, don't say anything!" Morgana finally spoke, "They haven't got shit."
The next thing Theo felt was a blossom of pain from her side as she was kicked. Every time she was hit, it took longer to recover. She rocked forward, her head hanging as she caught her breath. It seemed unfeasible to lift her head up but using the chains as leverage, she looked back up facing Morgana again.
Ulises had walked over to Morgana and was standing in front of her with his hands behind his back, "What did I say about opening your mouth?"
Morgana looked past him and locked eyes with Theo, sending an apologetic frown her way. Theo mustered the best smile she could, but she was sure it wasn't appeasing.
"You were just brave enough to speak, do it again. Tell me what the rule was," Ulises pushed.
"If I spoke to her, she would get hit," Morgana spoke.
"And she does not look too good, does she? That is what two suns with no food and water does to a person. No sleep, no food, injuries all over. She can't take much more, so I suggest you keep quiet," Ulises threatened and then stepped away, coming back to Theo, "let's try this again. Where is the Corinspian fund buried?"
A few seconds passed and once again, Morgana was hit. Theo flinched at the sound of her getting punched, but she still said nothing when the next question was asked. Or the one after that. Theo was forced to watch Morgana get beat at her refusal over and over again, her eyes open the whole time.