Everyone breathed heavily, the battlemasters slumped to the floor with ragged breaths. Wounded skins, exhausted bodies, and terrified hearts and minds. The crew sent out numerous prayers to the Gods they believed in for saving them another day to live.
Their eyes traveled to one another, silent conversation went through with all of them. Still, they couldn't believe that the demon could actually progress into something more unstoppable. Calev was already deadly without being triggered and when he was; it's all chaos.
He was unstoppable and merciless, used by men who needed the killings. His strength and skill, his rage was paid by the highest bidder wanting to slaughter their enemies using the hands of the said man. When Axel met him seven years ago, who needed a skilled man in his ship, he found Calev hauled with dead bodies he had murder himself. He was something Axel could never come across or touch, taming him would absolutely do no better. But Calev wanted him to either kill him or take him, and the only way he could tame the beast that lived inside Calev was magic and a pact.
Zeki was the perfect person for that, earning the opportunity to actually tame the untamable.
Axel was told by the doctor himself that the demon would not cease, it would always come back due to an unknown magic inside him that even Zeki could not understand.
They knew that something binds him to something. Something that was driving him mad to this certain degree. However they managed to always bring him back to his consciousness, always having the upperhand.
Tonight however played a different role to the whole fit, a new variable that made the taming impossible. The possible bind that made the demon stronger.
Axel stumped his ways towards the woman, forcing her to stand up and feet her eyes. She trembled with fear under his gaze. This time Axel had lessened the grip and paid more attention to her pain. The traumatic sight she had beheld added more fears inside her.
Uncertain of what she must believe or what she should do in a ship that was full of men that could kill her. The look in Axel's eyes held no more anger, instead it came back to the eyes that looked at her that afternoon where he had given her assurance of her safety.
Through her tears she desperately searched for it, the safety that she badly needed to assure her uncertainty that her dreams had no connection to this man at all.
" Who are you?" He asked, not the woman in particular.
His questions pointed to the wind, bringing it to whoever could answer it. His thought rambled on from what the mayor had told him and to this woman that started this whole thing
"She is here. Leave now, and go to the vast sea where she can't remember!"
Axel once again remembered the mayor's words, the possibility of the accountable coincidence that might not be the exact premonition of its first entrance-the stowaway coming here in the Mad Treasure could never be coincidence at all.
Or is it?
"I can't remember." She answered through her sobs, honey reeking in her statements.
His eyes looked at her, still those emptiness had placed themselves in the same eyes behind the tears and horror that she reflected.
He couldn't help but wonder deeply about her whole identity.
"Do you not remember, really? Or are you just pretending?"
He spat, his emerald eyes darken at the sight of her.
"I don't." She cried.
"Captain, I think she needs to rest first." The quartermaster suddenly said, surprising everyone.
Out of all their expectations, anything like this would have made it to the list. They had expected that he would yell and threaten the woman again for this. Arguing that she had bewitched the demon into coming out.
"Do you know Calev?"
Axel raised his voice, shaking her frame frantically as he demanded the right answers. But her cries only got louder as he continued to scare her more.
"Are you here to get the demon, or are you here to torment me into fulfilling our pact! Answer me! Are you her!?!"
Axel could no longer bottle all his thoughts, everything was coming into his head all at once.
"Are you the voices I hear?"
The frustrations and anger getting the worst of him.
"I don't know. I don't remember!" She cries trying to run away from his tightening grasp.
"Please, I promise I have no idea." Her cries echoes through the night, the waves and the wind listening to her.
"Axel, that's enough."
Elijah called his captain over, resting his hands over Axel's shoulder as if to bring him back to his senses. He looked around to see the crew staring at him, confused and surprised in their face-most importantly curiosity over the words he had spoken.
"Zeki is out cold, he is not waking up. Calev is out, there is no one who can treat them. At least calm down, you are scaring her." Elijah sternly said.
Although Axel had millions of questions he decided to agree with Elijah anyways, understanding the trauma he had inflicted to the woman. But his mind did not rest on thinking, feeding onto his curiosity the woman and his combatant's actions.
The whole crew watched them disappear through the hatches, the trembling woman finally resting her whole body on the quartermaster as he picked her up.
"Just what the hell happened in that cabin?"
Draco asked out of nowhere while his eyes drifted to the sky.
They thought out loud the same questions.
"All of you clean yourself out, and take Zeki to the sickbay. He needs the rest."
Axel ordered, they groaned in response as their aching body stood up and did what he said.
"Anyone of you, guard this twat! And if he wakes up tell me immediately or jump into the water if he emits that vile fucking demon, understood!"
He commanded one of the pirates who was resting against the bulwarks. All of them hesitantly answered him, fearing their task.
"We are throwing him to the brig if he wakes up!" He demanded all of them. Axel walked to his office with Hakim and Felix ready to interrogate him with countless questions.
"When that fucker wakes up, throw him in the brig. You know what punishment he must receive, savvy?" Axel did not waste any time telling Felix.
Although they would argue that Calev did not deserve such consequences, Axel's words should be followed. At least the punishment to be given was not severe but rather an act of discipline.
Felix did not say anything, watching his captain slouched down to his seat. No words were exchanged, their breaths audible in the room.
It was clear in Axel's eyes that he was angry, perhaps confused but most of it was anger. He really couldn't hide it, even if he tried to. Everything was chaos in his head, the words of the mayor continuously circling, as if he could still hear his voice.
"Captain." Hakim's deep voice penetrated the silence, accompanied with the loud thud of the shut door.
Felix looked at him, begging him not to do and say something that will only lead to another fight-especially when the captain was clinging on the last nerve.
However, Hakim-a brave soul did not stop.
"I won't ask anything more than what you are willing to share, I trust you." He seriously said, walking to the desk where Axel was.
"But don't you think it is about time you make us understand?" Hakim knew he was being hypocritical, he knew he trusted Axel so badly that he would dare fight anyone who would question his captain. However, it had been so long–so long ago they had been kept in the dark and not allowed to know any further.
"I know damn well, it wasn't just about Calev. It seems like her existence on the ship does not only affect the demon, but you." His voice was low, his gray eyes challenging the emerald in Axel's.
If no one knew better, the tension between the two would be mistaken as nemesis- but this was just a man who vowed to serve his master, begging for his honesty for once.
"Hakim, it's best if-" Felix tried to intervene.
"Have you not heard what he just said earlier?" Hakim snapped at Felix.
There was silence in the room afterwards, but the thoughts in Axel's head were so loud that even the two could hear it. He was secretive, Axel was good at that but he has always been obvious.
"There is nothing Hakim." Axel replied monotonously.
He sounded as if he would rather sleep than talk, which only aggregated the gun master.
Felix knew better that Hakim never intended to make it sound like he didn't trust Axel, out of the people in this ship, the gun master would be the last one to doubt Axel.
"Who is she?" Felix asked, walking closer to the man.
Felix was thinking that Hakim was right, it was about time for them to understand everything. They can't keep tolerating the secrets. If secrets were to be hidden for the rest of their lives, what was the point of their brotherhood in the first place?
"I wouldn't be asking her if I knew!"
Axel snapped, standing up and almost flipping the table.
He was frustrated, he can't even get a minute of silence without people fueling his anger.
"No. Who is she?" The gun master corrected.
Emphasizing his question, the real interrogation of the identity that seemed to be a connection to Calev or him. Axel remained silent, unable to say anything-especially when he didn't even know at all.
"So, she had never introduced herself to you."
The mayor's words continued to live in his mind, it spun and dominated all his senses.
There was nothing more he could do but drown in all of those thoughts, and overthink the things that were flooding directly into him. He couldn't even answer his own questions, no one was there to answer him. How was he going to answer the men that trusted him despite his continued effort of not sharing his burden.
"Axel, we are more than friends. We are your family. Don't you think it's about time to tell us what is ahead of this compass?" Felix almost begged.
"All we know is we are cursed, we followed you without knowing anything but that. But it seems like there are things we have to know, especially if by the sight of her rendered you like this. Pirate King, faltering."
Felix's soft voice managed to reach Axel despite being on the verge of venting his anger to the other tall man in the room. Slowly he calmed down, sighing as he took his seat back.
"I don't want to force it out of you captain, no matter what I will trust you. But you should also trust us." Hakim sighed before walking straight to the door. "I hope you trust us."
"I do." That was the heaviest breath they had heard from their captain, it was as if there was so much weight on his shoulders.
"Then why?"
Defeated under his tone, head hung back, rested at top rail while his eyes closed. He could no longer escape their determination in understanding their fate. No matter how much Axel would want to bury everything as his own burden, this time the two men who were with him since the very beginning want the other half of his burden.
"I made a pact with her, that day." He simply whispered.
"But the payment is everything until her life is fulfilled."
" The stowaway?" Felix dared to ask.
Axel opened his eyes, his emerald green eyes staring at the ceiling but it was her face that flooded his vision. The hazel eyes that filled with all of the emotions-specifically the fear that danced around her pupils.
Yet the emptiness behind all of those emotions lingered, as if it was begging to be seen.
" No."
He disagreed, however there was hesitation in his voice.
"But the woman I met that day."
The two men shared the same confusion on their faces, both glancing at each other hoping to see any comprehension in their captain's words.
"She's the one who cursed us."
He said nothing afterwards, just the memories of that day flashed like an event that happened just yesterday.
Those memories visited him again, the pain and the suffering came back like how it had never left him. The stowaway's face still lingered at the back of his mind, wondering the possibilities of all these encounters. The meaning behind the coincidence, that didn't seem to be one.
An enigma of questions that floated around what surrounded the mad treasure, Axel found himself helpless.
Did fate bring her here for the demon, or for him.
Or was it her who brought herself here, for their demise?
...
Her quiet and soft sobs filled the space of the sickbay, she sat down in one of the beds. Her whole body was still trembling as she hugged herself for safety. Her mind thought vastly, from her dreams to the horror she saw. To the people that had entered the nightmare she had her identity that she could not remember.
The eyes of the combatant, from the monstrous one the one fleeting second of broken eyes that held before he lost consciousness, wild out her thoughts. She couldn't think straight, as the enormous questions and notions that swam in the huge body of ideas and conceptions in her head painfully lingered.
She bit her lips hard as she fought for her best not to let out a cry. Even with the fear that never subsided, she tried to stay quiet in the presence of the quartermaster, the man who also visited in her dreams.
"Calm down and drink this, savvy?" The man softly talked, his eyes all focused on her.
She nodded without sparing him a glance, her gaze on the bed sheet she sat on, he couldn't help but sigh out, worried about her whole orientation after witnessing something like that.
Elijah knew she was terrified; confusion could also be allotted to the list but he knew she was mostly apprehensive about the whole thing.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He deliberately asked, searching for an answer from the woman. He held his gaze towards the still sobbing woman, she slowly drank the water in between her hiccups. She did not answer him, her silence made him wonder what he must have understood.
From what he saw in that cabin, she must have been dreaming of some traumatic events that she didn't want to tell anyone.
In fact if someone was imbecile enough not to know, such events in our lives that open up wounds and fears was something better left buried.
He understood her choice of not wanting to open her mouth and reminisce about it.
"Can you at least tell me if you're okay now?" He asked.
And for the first time, the woman heard the sincerity in his voice. The genuine worry and care that she would never expect from the man himself. She had heard all sorts of anger and frustration from him, the nasty behavior and treatment, but never this.
She snapped her gaze towards him who was already staring at her with the most concerned eyes she saw tonight. Very different from the same eyes that looked at her in her dreams, the eyes that almost killed her.
So vague from what she was used to seeing from him, confusing her to no end.
If this man was capable of showing this kind of emotion, after what she saw from her dreams from the fight she witnessed. She had no idea what to believe anymore.
If those bloody and dangerous studs and stumps, strong punch and kicks, tightened grip and deadly eyes were their real selves or these emotionally caring men in front of that she was just starting to see are the real ones.
She just couldn't understand anymore; or know what needed to be understood.
"I thought..." She said, somehow sounding bitter in her tongue.
"I w...as told, I'm safe here." She choked on her words, her small hands touching her reddened arms that imprinted the grip of the man of the ship.
Elijah looked at it troubled by the sight. The concern in his eyes did not leave just yet, instead it deepened. He felt bad for the woman for seeing all of those. The quietness in her despite the efforts of her shaken voice came out of her breathing told a different effect to the man.
Something that allowed him to see himself to the reflection of hers. Unexpectedly it reminded him of what he was and how he was, feeling the guilt rushed to him at a fast pace.
"I'm scared."
He listened to her, slowly rambling on in his presence. The pain in her voice was not hard to miss, in a mixture of every other emotion that fitted her situation. Almost sounding given up and no hope, the bitter taste of her afterwards had stilled him.
"I'm scared of you, of all you. Myself." She said.
She looked at what was in front of her, her eyes bored completely to the walls. Nothing particular reached her sight, instead she looked ahead like a dead man.
The quartermaster could not answer her, there was nothing for him to say. There was no one to blame either, as if there were hands that needed to be pointed, it would always land to them.
"I'm scared of what I don't know." She cried.
Her mind unwillingly visited the memories of her nightmare. The scenes of events flashed in her recollections despite the huge resistance from her. She feared the sight to be seen again, all of the things she saw in there. She wondered again what those dreams could mean.
If those what she saw are all metaphors of her fears or are those real memories that all happened.
Then what are these men that belong to the ship, all doing in her dreams.
Was it just a mere product of all her fears and anxiety of being with people she didn't know?
Or was it more?
She couldn't help but question every possibility of the origins of everything. The part—which was all of it that she could not ring her thoughts on or wrapped any kind of memories to. Made her arrive at different conclusions that she wouldn't dare to therefore.
To start off a list if she had too, she was a complete child based on her lack of knowledge about anything.
All she ever knew after waking up that fateful day was a basic knowledge of humans. But her past was never seen in the crevices of her brains, perhaps indicating that there was nothing at all. The presence of the three men in her dreams woke her to search and scan for anything to be given.
Following the frightening face of the man that she recognized in that island, finally allowed her to create the identification of her possible captor or maybe past. But the haunting unknown face that she saw there, whispering those words that she could not understand flooded her anxious misconceptions.
"That was...." She cleared her throat. " The demon."
Elijah stared at her, scanning her face for a particular reaction. It was fear written all over her face, yet at this point he no longer knew who those fears were for.
Him, Axel, Calev, the demon, or all of them?
"The demon." He answered quietly.
The stowaway averted her now red eyes to him, his hazel eyes shined with the reflection of her tears. Elijah could not help himself but wiped the tears off her cheeks. The touch almost made her jump, but the intention behind his gentle touch did not make her swap his hands away.
"Calev was from a notorious pirate island." Elijah started.
"Was it six or seven years ago? I don't quite remember but I remember his face. Rugged, dirty, barbaric, full of rage. Everyone perishes with his small dagger."
"I've heard." She nodded reluctantly, remembering what Zeki had shared with her.
" He lived through killing. Paid by the highest bidder, killed many. No master, no one dared to own him. Just a lone rogue, paid to unleash his beast. There are stories about the young killer, thirsty for bloodshed. However he was not any of that when we met him. He wanted to die rather than to continue living with his demon-but no one could ever kill him. He begged Axel to either take him or kill him, he did not care."
The same story goes.
"But the way I see it, I think his demon is misunderstood." Elijah said something different.
" How come?" Her voice cracked as she asks.
"Calev is a kind man, if you take away all his murderer accounts. And if a kind man like him exists, corrupted by his demon then something must have happened that made his demon exist. Don't you think so?"
The stowaway nodded reluctantly, her mind went back to the times how Calev had always shown her kindness.
"Just like what Zeki said, he is bound over something or someone. We don't know. We don't have any exact knowledge about it, but what I have observed–his rage comes from something he wanted to do that he had failed to do."
Elijah slowly said, looking at her straight in the eyes as he carefully searched for anything that would hint him into discovering something. But her hazel eyes have nothing in it, but the tears that were still flowing.
"He said he remembers little of his life, knowing the answer for the mystery of his demon is difficult. "
"Just like me."
She whispered to herself, but Elijah heard her. He felt bad more than ever as he watched her try her best not to cry, but failed miserably.
"Captain sees me as an enemy now, and I don't know if I am or not."
"He does not." Elijah denied her accusations. "He is just as confused as everyone else."
"Then why..."
"He is confused as everyone is." He repeated.
"You should rest, I have to speak with the captain and fix all the damages that were caused. I can assure you, you are safe here."
The stowaway wasn't sure if she could trust Elijah's words, after all he was the one who threatened her the most ever since. But there was something in his dark blue eyes and the way his lips twitched to a small and awkward smile that made her feel the assurance she had always felt with Calev.
"Thank you, Elijah."