T/W: Pirates being cruel. No graphic detail though. Hopefully, Floyd and Y/N will be able to escape from the pirates soon.
Y/N scrambled away from the cage walls as much as her ruined back would allow, her hands gripping at the rotten straw that littered the bottom of her cell. As she moved further away, eventually freezing when the cold bite of the iron walls met the wounds on her back, the siren moved forward, digging his claws into the wood as he pulled himself forward and into the light of the porthole.
He wasn't anything like what Y/N might have imagined a siren to look like. She had heard the tall tales of sailors that described women and men of ethereal and impossible beauty who could bewitch you with a single glance. She had heard of how a single word from a siren could ensnare your senses and leave you as dumb as a sea cucumber, guiding you towards the edge of a ship with whispers and promises to fulfil your every whim and desire until all you wanted to do was throw yourself over the side of the vessel and succumb to the temptation of a siren's call. And from what she could recall, they had been rather human in appearance, save for their tail that was always hidden beneath the froth of a stormy sea. But this siren... he seemed different. For one, his face was as pale as snow, paler than Y/N had ever seen, and where his ears should have been were fins like a fish. Like his face, the front of his torso was as pale as the sea foam, but the rest of his body was the colour of the deep ocean, where the darkness stained the water. In all honesty, he seemed more eel than he did human.
"Are you sure you're a siren," Y/N asked.
The boy - she guessed he was a boy as he didn't seem to be fully grown just yet, but then again what did she know about siren biology - smirked at her and grabbed the bars of the cage. "You don't believe me, fishie~"
"No."
"Should I prove it?" He seemed entertained by the fact that Y/N didn't believe him.
"No."
He pouted and released the bars. Then, he turned and scrambled back to the shadows of his cage. As Y/N listened and watched, she heard the sound of splashing water and assumed that he had been given some water to keep himself alive as they sailed to who knows where. But the tub was nowhere near big enough for him, as his eel-like tail continued to sweep across the floor of the cage, just on the edge of the light.
"Can you not breathe outside of the water?"
There was the sound of water splashing again and once again, she was met with the two brilliant golden eyes of the siren. "You're a curious little fishie, aren't you?"
"Can you blame me? It's the first time I've met a siren."
"If you believe that I am a siren."
Y/N did believe. "I do."
The siren giggled. "I can breathe out of water for a little bit, but I dry out fast."
Y/N pursed her lips and nodded, not quite sure how to progress the conversation from there. She turned away from the siren and pulled herself away from the bars, craning her head around to try and see the damage that had been done by the whip. She could still feel the burn of the leather on her skin and the tiny fragments of metal that had been embedded into the leather. She was just glad that none of the metal had stuck in her skin.
"Your blood smells delicious ~"
Y/N glanced back over at the cell that held the siren. That comment was a little... concerning.
But she was saved from giving a response when the door to the brig swung open and a small group of pirates stomped in. One carried a bucket, a bottle of alcohol, a cloth, and what looked like a roll of bandages. Another carried a ring of keys that swung teasingly back and forth from his hand. The last two carried nothing but a set of iron manacles and a coil of rope. Y/N didn't want to think about what they would be using that for.
The pirates stopped outside her cell.
"What do you want," she spat, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to stifle her fear.
"Watch your tone lass, or we'll leave and you won't get your wounds properly cleaned," the one with the keys said. "Ye ought to be a little more thankful."
Y/N said nothing and she glanced away from the pirates, keeping her arms around her. She listened as the key slid into the lock of her cell and the door was pulled open with a blood-curdling screech. She shivered at the sound.
"Lie down."
Y/N glanced over her shoulder. It was the pirate with the bandages who had entered her cell. He seemed a little more respectable than the other pirates. He wore nothing more than a loose-fitting shirt, a pair of trousers, and some slim boots, but he wasn't missing an eye or a limb, and his face had yet to be scarred. Y/N hoped that his appearance wasn't deceiving.
"I can't get at your wounds properly if you don't lie down," he said, crouching beside her.
The girl thought about trusting him for a moment, but eventually relented and lay down on the floor of the cell, allowing the pirate to get at the wounds on her back. He gently pulled back the layers of clothing that had grown sticky with blood and using a knife that Y/N had failed to notice, he cut away the fabric to keep it from getting in his way. Then, he picked up the cloth, which was surprisingly clean for having been on a pirate ship, and started to dab at the wounds on her back. She winced at the feeling.
"Sorry," he muttered.
He rolled up a spare piece of cloth and gave it to her. "Bite on it."
"Why?"
He held up the bottle of alcohol and Y/N understood what he was going to do. She put the cloth between her teeth and burrowed her head into her arms, waiting for the searing pain that would come.
The alcohol made her skin hiss in pain and agony as the liquid trickled over her back, cleaning the wounds as best it could. It wasn't pure cleaning alcohol, like what they used on the land to properly dress wounds, but it would do the trick for now. Y/N could remember using something similar to clean a deep gash that her father had gotten when his blade had slipped during a playful spar with a younger boy in the village.
"Well you won't need stitches, so that's good. But I'll have to bandage it."
The pirate grabbed the bandages and started to unroll them. He pressed the end to Y/N's back and started winding it around her torso, slipping it under her front and pulling it back around. He did this a few times before tying off the bandages.
"That should do for now," he said, rising to his feet. "I'll go and see if I have any clothes that you can wear for the time being."
Y/N lay there, listening as the pirate packed up his things and left the brig. But when Y/N turned back around, she realised that the other three pirates were still there. The spiteful, hateful-looking ones, who were glaring into the cell where the siren was kept. Y/N pushed herself up and glared at the pirates, wondering what they wanted with the siren. Based on what they had done to her, it couldn't be anything good.
The pirate with the keys pulled open the door to the cell.
"What are you doing," Y/N asked, gritting her teeth as she pushed herself up.
"Mind your own business, wench."
Y/N huffed.
The pirates with the ropes and shackles approached the tub where the siren lay, and Y/N watched in horror as one of the pirates pulled open the shackles. The sound echoed around the brig, followed by a sudden hiss and a scream. Y/N watched as one of the pirates was flung into the bars that separated her cell from the siren's. The siren had him pinned against the bars, his sharp nails digging into the man's throat. The second man came up behind the siren and knocked his head with the hilt of his sword, making the siren fall forward and release his hold on the man's neck. The pirate who had knocked the siren out quickly picked up the chains from his partner and clapped them around the siren's wrists, pulling them behind his body.
"Bring him up to the deck," the pirate with the keys snapped.
Y/N got to her feet, a little unsteady as the boat rocked from side to side beneath her feet. "What are you doing with him?"
"Nothing that concerns you, wench."
The pirate threw the siren's unconscious form over his shoulder and pulled him from the cell. The guard who had nearly had the life choked out of him followed, along with the pirate with the keys. Y/N stumbled over to the door of her cell and watched as the pirates brought the siren up onto the deck. What were they going to do to him? She could hear them jeering and laughing, and a sudden thump made her flinch. It sounded as if they had dropped the siren's body onto the deck.
"String 'im up," one of the pirates called. Y/N heard the song of metal being pulled from a sheath.
"I know a merchant who will pay a pretty price for some siren scales."
"I 'eard they pay even more for a tear!"
As the first scream echoed through the ship, Y/N turned her face away, and threw her arms over her head, trying to ignore the sound of the crying siren up on the deck. It was worse than what they had done to her, she knew that. She didn't even want to think of what they were doing. Her own tears were starting to fall as she heard the siren's cries being muffled, and she pressed her hands to her ears, trying to drown out the sound.
She soon lost track of all time as she forced herself to try and ignore the sounds of the siren. They were so mournful, and they broke her heart. She couldn't bear to imagine what they were doing to the boy up on the deck. But soon, the screams were silenced and the sound of footsteps echoed through the brig. Y/N backed into the shadows of her cell as the pirates returned, carrying the limp siren over their shoulders. Y/N forced herself to look away. She didn't want to see what they had done. She listened as they laughed and jeered. She listened as they kicked open the creaking door and dumped the siren back into his tub of water. She listened as they chortled, leaving the siren to soak in water that was slowly being corrupted by his blood.
Y/N couldn't bring herself to say anything for a while, and only when she heard the pirates dancing around on the deck, drinking the night away with rum and beer, did she crawl across the cell to the bars that separated her from the siren.
"Are you all right," she asked, gripping the bars.
There was no answer, but Y/N could hear soft cries coming from the side where the siren was. She bit her lip and leaned her head against the bars, wishing that she could be on the other side of them, where she might be able to comfort the boy. Yes, he had tried to drown her earlier, but as cruel as the pirates had been to her, they had been ten times worse to the poor boy.
"What did they do," she asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
With a groan, the siren's tail came into view and Y/N gasped when she saw the bloody mess of the siren's tail. She quickly looked away.
"I'm sorry."
Unsure of what else she could do, she gently reached through the bars and into the darkness. Her hand hung there for a moment, but after the moment passed, a strange texture bumped against her hand. Sharp nails curled around her hand and held it gently. Y/N smiled and squeezed the siren's hand.
"What's your name?"
There was a shift in the water. "Floyd," the boy said. "What's your name?"
"Y/N."