**
Rosa was feeling the cold air of the sea hitting on her face when Archibald came to sit to her side.
"You know it's dangerous to sit on the top of the mast when the wind is that strong, right ?"
He had his usual tone, half amused half serious, which made everything he say sound sarcastic.
"I return you the question" she said turning back to look at him in the eye.
She was the only one that could hold his gaze, and so he was the only one that could hold hers.
"Well I came to make sure my best crew member wouldn't die in a stupid way, for exemple by getting herself throw overboard"
She sighed and looked at the sky.
"So they told you huh"
"Well you see, the only women they ever knew got either beaten or fucked, most of the time both, so a woman that beat them up when they try to fuck her, ye of course they are gonna talk about it"
"Come on, I didn't even hurt him that bad"
"Well, taking his balls off with your bare hands kinda hurt"
"He deserved it", Her voice was slightly vibrating.
"Did he tho ?"
She looked at him again, and raised a brow.
"Okey sure maybe he did deserve it, but still, you gotta find a way to survive in here, because if they all want to throw you overboard, I won't be able to help you"
"Who said I need you help ?"
He sighed for so long Rosa was wondering how could he keep so much air in his lungs, but before she could ask he talked again.
"You know I can't let you butcher my whole crew, right?", his voice sounded heavy, as if it took all the energy from his body to say those words.
The smile on his face had disappeared, leaving only his emotionless face facing the horizon.
"Didn't you say one night I was the only crew member you would ever need ?"
She then leaned forward, put her right hand on his left thigh, her shoulder on his and then she whispered in his ear, "or did you say that because am the only one that makes you feel that way ?", and smiled.
Alucard didn't seem to react, but inside him a battle was happening, and he was slowly losing. But Rosa moved back before he had totally lost.
"So there no issue here huh ? man that really sucks", she was balancing her feet, her head toward the sky.
"Where's our next destination ?" she said after a long moment of silence.
She hated silence, because most of the time it meant the end of something, a conversation, a relationship, life.
And she didn't want this to end.
"Oh it's just a small island, nothing too exciting", he had his amused tone back, and when Rosa looked at him, he had stars in his eyes.
"So why are we going ? wanna throw me in a desert island ?" she said playfully.
"Of course not, I'm a pirate, I follow valuable marchandise"
"But you are no normal pirate, so what kind of marchandise is this ?"
"The best" he said with a big smile.
And so they spent the rest of the night dreaming.
**
Rosa just came back from her meeting with Mike and went towards the mansion when she met a young woman.
She was short and looked frail, with long red hair.
She was beautiful, but that's not what caught Rosa's attention.
It was something way more discrete, that only the trained eye could see.
The way she moved.
Only people that had things to hide moved that way, but they didn't try to hide an object.
They try to hide pain.
"Hey you," she called her instinctively, "come here for a minute I need your help"
The girl looked toward her, then when she saw her face she gave her a big smile and came walking toward her happily.
***
"I just wanna tell you," the girl was the first one to talk, Rosa remained silent since she called her for help on a task where no help was needed.
She was still thinking about why she did it when the girl started talking.
"I just wanna tell you," she repeated, "I really admire you, you're so strong and beautiful, I wish I was like you"
Rosa stopped folding laundry, looked up at her and said, "If you want to be so much like me, move your ass, men won't just treat you like them out of nowhere, it's not by asking them nicely that they will give you your rights, you gotta take them, it's not by hiding your bruises and your broken bones that you'll make them stop, it's by breaking their bones and giving them bruises until they hide them"
Rosa looked right in the girl's black eyes, and when she tried to look aside she would grab her chin and make her keep looking.
"If you want change", she added after a moment of silence,"you'll have to make it".
***
A few days later, Rosa was being called to the office of mister Butterbury.
When she got inside she noticed there was only one guard, a man that looked as if he just got out of a bar fight, and the redhead lady.
"Hello Rosa, please join us, we were about to begin", said mister Butterbury as she passed the door.
"Yes of course, but joining you for what ?"
"For the trial of course"
"The trial ? of whom?"
"This young lady of course, she broke so many rules I wouldn't know where to begin", His voice sounded half amused half serious.
Rosa's muscles all tensed at once, her fist closed and she started to think about the different ways she had to make it out of here.
"You see, this gentleman here," he said pointing at the man that was in a terrible state, "works for me", he put his hand on the man's shoulder, and he stopped shaking at once, Rosa couldn't keep herself from having a smirk at the idea that the fear of something could make you shake, but a biggest fear could make the shaking totally stop.
"And this lady here," he said while looking at the redhaired woman,"beated the living fuck out of him"
Rosa relaxed instantely and erupted in such a noisy laughter that it resonated all over the mansion.
"You brought me here", she said after a moment, "so that I could assist to the trial of a lady that kicked the ass of some asshole that works for you ?"
"Well, yes lady DeTriva, I brought you to assist so you can be a witness of little cunts that think they can do whatever the fuck they want"
The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, the tension was palpable.
"Because you see, my problem is not only that she kicked the ass of some useless officer, it's that she dared say I'm not fair to my employees, that I treat men better than women, and all kind of rubish"
He started walking around the room, massaging his right fist with his left hand, and then he stopped in front of the man, took his glasses off and put them on his desk before turning back to him.
"You see, I do not support false informations, I treat ALL my employees the same way, they all have the same value at my eyes, trash"
And as he said that, he struck with his fist right in the man's throat, crushing his pipe and letting him suffocate.
But before the man even started suffocating, Francis Butterbury was already dashing toward the lady.
He hit her right in the heart, with such might that it seemed as if his hand went through her rib cage.
And so her heart stopped.
Rosa had tried to save her, get to him before he got to her, but she was too far, and he was too fast.
He then put his glasses on and kneeled next to Rosa that was on the floor.
"You see, that's what happen when you forget your place, I'm the king her, and I do whatever the fuck I want."