Hidden Island Chapter 31, part 3 of 3

Hidden Island
Chapter 31, part 3 of 3

Dawn was breaking. The storm had passed, and the eastern horizon slowly swelled from black to purple to herald the sun's coming. The crew of the Kestrel was finishing roping hammocks between trees. The wounded were mostly already asleep. Others were unloading the small boats they'd used to get supplies ashore. They were all exhausted but still managing to limp along. Lord Morant and his porters had set up tents near the waterline, a ways away from the rest of the crew.

Bella had found a section of the lagoon that was a bit more secluded. It was deep enough to bathe in and surrounded by broad fronds that gave a decent amount of privacy. Not that she cared, but she knew Jack did.

The two of them had just finished washing themselves off. Bella kept stealing glances at Jack's naked body, nearly silhouetted in the faint light. It was nice, but she was too tired to do anything.

"I don't think I've ever been so happy to be clean my whole life," Bella sighed.

"It is amazing what a difference a bath can make," Jack agreed.

The purple light filtered through the trees and cast long shadows over them. They lay side by side in the soft sand. The water gently lapped around their breasts. Their heads rested against rocks on the shore. Beneath the water, they held hands.

Bella wanted to ask and talk about many things, but she knew now was the wrong time to start because she was so tired. She wanted to enjoy this for a little longer. "We shouldn't fall asleep here," she said.

"No," Jack agreed. "I wish we'd set up hammocks before getting clean. I don't want to move."

"Don't you have a servant for that?" Bella asked.

"Quinn isn't a servant," Jack sighed. "True, though."

"Where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him since we left the ship," Bella asked.

Jack let go of Bella's hand, stretched and yawned, then rubbed her hands together under the water. "Hold on," Jack said.

Bella waited, turning her head to look at Jack. "What are we waiting for?" Then, the water rippled near Jack's feet.

The water's surface broke, and Quinn's head rose out of it, followed by the hilts of his swords, then his shoulders. He looked like he was walking up a flight of stairs, coming further out of the water until he was waist-deep, standing between Jack's knees. Bella was startled, then transfixed. The water ran down his muscled form and seemed to ripple across his raised tattoos. His green skin looked more of a shadowy grey in the dim light.

Bella's pulse quickened a bit. Quinn wasn't her type, but she must admit he was beautiful.

"Yes, Mistress?" he asked.

"Can you set up a place for us to sleep?" Jack asked.

Quinn's eyebrow twitched. "I can."

Jack gave him a flat look laced with amusement. "Are we doing that again?"

"Traditions are important, Mistress," Quinn said gently.

Jack sighed. "Fine. Quinn, please set up a place for Bella and me to sleep."

Quinn inclined his head and walked out of the water, disappearing into the trees without a word.

"What was that all about?" Bella asked.

"Quinn is very particular about how I should tell him to do things," Jack said with a slight roll of his eyes. Bella snickered, then held her lips tightly shut. Jack rolled her head to the side and looked at her. "I know that giggle.

Spit it out."

Bella smirked. "Well, in my... line of work... there's this term for when the person in the subservient role makes the rules and calls the shots. We call it 'topping from the bottom.'"

Jack started to protest but closed her mouth again before she spoke. Her eyes narrowed in Bella's direction, and she shook her head in mock anger. "Yes. I suppose it is like that. He does have a knack for getting what he wants out of me."

"You poor thing," Bella teased.

"Honestly, that part of him has always reminded me quite a bit of you," Jack

Bella opened her eyes wide and blinked in mock innocence. "I have no idea what you mean."

Jack scoffed and flicked water in Bella's direction. "He'd say the same thing but without the act. Well, no. I suppose it would just be a much more subtle act."

"I've never been accused of being subtle," Bella smirked.

"I suppose I have a type," Jack deadpanned.

"So, will you explain how he just appeared out of nowhere and walked out of the water right before you?" Bella asked.

Jack shook her head. "No."

"Is this another one of those things you're going to tell me you can't talk about and I shouldn't ask?" Bella pushed.

"Exactly," Jack nodded.

"Fine," Bella was too tired to argue.

"I'll tell you eventually, I promise," Jack said gently.

"This one I'm just curious about. It is the other stuff I'm struggling with," Bella sighed.

"It's all the same stuff," Jack sighed. "Let's talk about something else."

Bella's hand found Jack's again. "I'm too tired to talk anyway."

"Alright," Jack said, squeezing Bella's hand. The two women lay there in the water, exhausted, full of joy at their reconnection and worries they refused to express yet, watching the sun slowly rise.

Captain Vex took Will's hand and dragged him deeper into the trees. Will winced as she squeezed the bandages covering his rope burn from his earlier harrowing escape and the bite wound from his fight in the hold. "Watch the hands,' he said, following quickly after her.

Captain Vex looked back, noticing the bandages for the first time, and let go. "Ouch, sorry about that. Ye alright?"

"It isn't too bad. The Doctor wants the bandages to stay on to help protect against infection," Will said. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere out of sight," Captain Vex answered. She had a flask in her other hand and took a long pull off it.

Will let himself be led into the thick palm forest, scanning his surroundings. "We shouldn't go far. Who knows what's out there."

"We aren't," Belita said. "I just need to clear my head."

"Alright, how can I help?" Will asked.

"Ye can fuck me," Belita said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her tone.

Will pulled her to a stop, and she turned around. Concern was plain on his face, even in the shadows of the early morning light. "You don't seem like you're doing very well."

"That innate your problem. I don't need to talk. I need to fuck and not think for a while," Captain Vex said. She looked around, decided where they were was secluded enough, and peeled off her soaked coat. Her white blouse beneath it was wet and transparent. He could see the indentations of her nipples and their rings through the fabric. It reminded Will of the aftermath of the small storm inside his lighthouse and their encounter on his desk.

He could feel his body reacting, his pants feeling tighter, but he shook his head. "This doesn't seem right."

Captain Vex began unbuttoning her shirt. "What do ye want, Will? Begging ain't my style."

Will gently clasped his bandaged hands over hers. "Slow down."

"That innate my style neither," she said flatly.

"You're angry," Will said. "It's not exactly a great starting point."

"Fucking dammit all, Will! I Dinna ask ye the analyze me. I just wanted the stop thinking for a bit, the feel somethin' else so maybe I can let go of this bullshit and get some sleep!" Belita shook him off and started buttoning her shirt up again. "Go away."

Will retook her hands, stopping her, pinning her hands to her chest gently. "No."

Belita's eyes snapped up to meet his, blazing with anger. "Ye don't get the say no take me. I'm your fucking captain."

"So fire me," Will shrugged. "I'm not leaving you alone in uncharted woods on an island we just crashed on."

She stopped struggling against him. "Disobeying your captain doesn't get ye fired, Will. It gets ye hung," she said fiercely.

"You can hang me later," he said. "Right now, I'm staying."

All the fight seemed to drain out of her. She shook her head sadly and clenched her fists as hard as she could, barely holding herself together. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"What wasn't?" Will pushed. He felt he knew the answer but wanted her to say it.

She didn't. Instead, she stepped forward and held onto him like flotsam, keeping her from drowning. She didn't cry; she just squeezed and pressed her face into his chest hard. She was a strong woman, and it wasn't comfortable, but I Would let her do it. She strained and shook and let out inarticulate, pleading noises of frustration and rage while occasionally thumping her fists against him until she finally had to rest and breathe.

Will squeezed her back just as hard as he was trying to crush her shoulders together. When she finally relaxed, so did he. Neither of them let go. He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. "You did all the right things. Your ship, crew, and you all held together and never broke. That's why we survived."

"Not all of us," Belita trembled.

"Have you ever heard of a ship surviving a Grindylow attack?" Will asked. "I haven't. I wasn't even sure they were real. I don't think anybody gets away from them."

"Except us," Belita nodded into his chest.

"Because of you and your crew," Will said.

"And you. It was your idea that saved us," Belita said.

"That wouldn't have mattered if your crew broke," Will said. "You picked them, led them, and inspired them.

They held together because of you and your officers."

"I've never lost so many," Belita's breathing was shaky. "I'm used to taking risks, but I... I'm not used to failing like this."

"Before, when you took risks, you figured you'd make it through them, or you'd all just die?" Will asked.

Belita nodded to him. "Aye."

"So you're used to winning, not surviving," Will sighed.

"I hate it," Belita said, turning her head, laying her cheek against him, and pulling her arms in so her hands rested on his chest. He'd never seen her seem so small.

"As far as emotions are concerned, surviving is pretty much always worse than dying. If you're dead, you can't feel guilty or anything else," Will agreed. "Unless you become a ghost, I guess."

"I dinna even know why I'm talking tae you about this. We barely know each other," Belita said bitterly.

"Because I'm here?" Will suggested. "And you need to get it out?"

"Because ye dinna fucking leave when I told ye to." Her words were harsh, but she didn't move, and he didn't let go.

"Nope," Will said. "I'm stubborn like that."

"I hate this," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't want to feel it."

"And you thought you'd just drink and fuck it all away?" Will smiled sadly.

"It's a sailor tradition," Belita shrugged.

"Oh, I know. I've done it a few times myself," Will said, squeezing her.

He made a fist and thumped him in the chest again. "So why are ye so damn unhelpful?"

Will pulled back to look her in the face. "Because I know it doesn't work."

Belita's eyes started to water. "Fuck you." She squeezed him tight again. "So what does work?"

"This is a good start," Will said gently.

The light of dawn filtered through the trees and cast glowing stripes across their bodies as they held each other like life preservers.

"I think we're a lot more alike than I first thought," Will said after a while.

"Oh, this will be rich," Belita scoffed.

"I'm not sure if anyone told you yet, but back on Bar Cola, I wanted to die," Will said gently. He felt Belita stiffen slightly. That told him everything he needed to know, so he kept going. "I didn't want to kill myself. I didn't care whether I lived or not. Sound familiar?"

"Maybe," Belita sighed.

"I was tired of it all," Will continued. "Despite that, I survived. No one else knows I'd also done that a few times before. At the time, I didn't want to admit that I was trying to get myself killed, but that was what I was doing.

After the faceoff with the Witch Hunters, Jack called me out on it. She made me admit what I was doing."

Belita arched an eyebrow at him. "So I can blame her for this conversation?"

"Definitely. More people blaming her for things means I don't have to do all the work myself," Will smiled.

"The pair of ye deserve each other," Belita teased. Some of her joy was starting to come back. "Ye're both annoyingly right a lot."

"Her more than me," Will agreed. "In this case, she reminded me that many people depend on me, and I wasn't thinking about them then."

Belita nodded in understanding but said nothing.

"After some difficult conversations, I was reminded that there are people I care about. Me staying alive is important to them. I'd lost track of that at some point, and it made it easy to disregard the consequences of my actions. If I died, I wouldn't be the one dealing with it, so it seemed fine to me. Maybe even better. It seemed like a decent way to escape what my life had become. It was clear to me that I was wrong about that." Will continued.

"And you think I need it made clear to me like you did?" Belita asked rhetorically.

"Maybe. I think we're both people who thrive in chaos." Will said, a bit lost in thought. "It's exciting, but it makes it easy to ignore long-term thinking. People who run toward danger instead of away from it don't usually live very long. If it's something you make a habit of, at some point, you have to become comfortable with the idea of dying. After that, it's easy to make rash decisions and maybe even hope this is the last time."

"I guess ye have me pegged there," Captain Vex shrugged. "Nice that ye had people to remind ye to pull your head out of your arse."

"Yes, it is," Will smiled. "And now it's your turn."

Belita shook her head in sad defiance. "The difference is I dinna seek this out. Being attacked by monsters wasn't a decision. It just happened."

"Then why do you feel guilty about it?" Will asked.

Belita didn't say anything for a while. Then she let out a mirthless laugh. "Alright, good point. I think it's something you can talk me out of, though. The feeling might not have merit, but I'm still feeling it. I lost a dozen of my crew. I'm the captain. I can't help but feel like it's my fault. If I'd done things differently, this mightn't have happened."

"Sometimes, you don't make any mistakes but still lose," Will said.

"That's just a nicer way of saying that doing your best isn't good enough," Belita shook her head.

"Sometimes it isn't. That's life," Will shrugged.

"That never happens in the stories." Belita looked bitter like she'd been betrayed.

"Maybe you can be the first," Will said, squeezing her.

"The legendary sea captain who faced sea monsters and lost but survived and had to live with the failure," Belita said bitterly. "Great story."

"The legendary sea captain who took risks no one else would, survived monsters no known ship had ever survived before and got back up to keep going after she'd fallen," Will corrected her gently.

She looked up at him with a sad smile on her face. "I wish I was the version of myself that you see. She sounds impressive."

"You're already impressive," Will shrugged.

"Yesterday, I'd have agreed with ye," Belita grumbled. "Today, it did not feel that way."

"I'm more impressed today. We all played our parts, but you're the captain. You held the crew together perfectly, and we survived. We had some casualties, but most of us are fine," Will said firmly. "Tell me, before today, did you think Grindylow was real?"

She shrugged. "I dinna know. I think there's a root of truth in most stories, but there are many lies. Sailors like to exaggerate."

"I rather obsessively collect sea stories, and I wasn't sure. There's a reason why most folks don't think they're real, for the same reasons you said. Every account is an unsubstantiated legend, mostly told by drunk sailors.

Every washed-up corpse displayed in freak shows and medical academies has been suspected of being fake.

They all look different. Only one or two of the ones I've heard of looked like the ones we ran into. There are stories of ships outrunning them, but I've never heard of any ship fighting and escaping. The Kestrel isn't a warship. She doesn't have armaments. Most of her crew doesn't carry real weapons. There was no way you could have known this was coming or prepared for it, and we survived. As far as legendary stories go, that's one for the books."

"Aye, I suppose that's true. It still feels like bein' a fraud. A good captain wouldn't have gotten caught up like that. The Kestrel should have been able to outrun that broken ship, but I let her get all bogged down and hobbled by all those small boats and janky rigging," Belita shook her head. She was having a lot of trouble forgiving herself.

"The other night, Doctor Kalfou said that we are what we pretend to be," Will said. "I think she's right. That's all we will ever be remembered for. History doesn't care what's in our heads. It only cares what we say and what we do."

"I think that would be more reassuring if I didn't have to bury many people in the morning," Belita frowned. She let go of Will and turned away. "I think I need some time to myself."

"Take it." Will nodded. "I won't let you out of my sight, though. I was serious about that."

"That innate exactly what 'time tae me' means," Belita said with a disapproving look over her shoulder.

"It's what you're going to get," Will shrugged.

"Ye are goddamn infuriating." Belita sounded more tired than upset but also a bit amused.

"So I've been told," Will smiled.

"Might have tae hang ye," she said, unable to hold back a small smile.

"I wouldn't recommend it. Then you'd be out a navigator," Will shrugged. "Also, Jack would want to shoot you, and you would want to shoot back, and then Quinn would get involved. Bella would probably curse your ship. It would be a whole mess."

"Mutineers, the lot of ye." Belita shook her head, bemused, stuck between depression and relief.

"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just telling you what I won't do," Will said. "A good navigator knows to look out for their captain, even when she's refusing to look out for herself."

Belita let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Ye're sounding like Danica."

"You're sounding like me," Will smirked.

"Fuck. Well, now I know I'm being an idiot," Belita couldn't help but laugh. She had to admit to herself that she was feeling a little better. Maybe he had a point.

"I thought that might snap you out of it," Will smirked.

"Ye talk too damn much," Belita said with a smile and shake of her blond head. She stepped towards him again and snaked her arms about his neck, bringing her lips to his. "Thank ye."

"You just needed a heading," Will shrugged, speaking between gentle, reassuring kisses.

Belita's eyes glinted in the early light, and the smile on her lips was playful and challenging. "I could still use a 'heading,'" she teased.

"You have a very one-track mind," Will laughed.

"Danger gets me going, and being sad doesn't make it go away. Ye managed tae take the edge off the sad, so now ye gotta deal with the rest," Belita said matter-of-factly.

"I've made a huge mistake," Will teased.

"Are ye gonna fuck me, or are ye just gonna stand there and watch while I take care of things myself?" The amusement in Belita's eyes betrayed the venom in her words.

"Well, there's an idea," Will grinned.

"Fine," Belita said dismissively. She turned on her heel, walked a few paces away to a tree growing out of the ground at an angle, and leaned against it. She slowly and deliberately finished unbuttoning her shirt, locked eyes with Will, and pulled her shirt open to expose her full, tanned breasts. The golden rings in her nipples glinted in the early morning sun. Then she undid her belt and untied the laces of her breeches, loosening them without breaking eye contact with Will. Her expression was all challenged as she slid her hand into the front of her pants.

Will leaned against a tree and watched as Belita's hand began to move. She started with slow circles, her hips rocking a bit. She bit her lower lip as her fingers dipped and rubbed through her wetness. It didn't take long for the warmth to build and that familiar tension to follow. Her breathing became more profound. She cupped one of her breasts with her other hand and gently tugged at her ring, sending little shocks of pleasure down her spine.

Will's pants started feeling tighter as his erection swelled. Belita was gorgeous. The sun through the trees sent stripes of light and shadow across her body. Her blue eyes glinted with wildness and unspoken offering. Her hand went deeper into her pants, and her hips rolled forward more. Will couldn't see where her fingers were, but he had a good guess.

She let out a groan of relief as she penetrated herself. She let her fingers toy with her opening for a bit, then dragged her wetness up through her sensitive lips, clicking them along her rings before she resumed circling her clit. She could feel the heat and tension inside her building up, that strange mix of need and satisfaction swirling together, giving her exactly what she wanted but also making her feel like she wanted more, and it was just out of reach.

For Belita, sex was an internal chase where she was the predator and the prey, and that feeling of symbiotic conflict was never more apparent than when she was pleasuring herself. It wasn't something she did often. She took a fair amount of pride in the fact that she didn't have to. Finding a willing partner was easy. The problem for her came from finding genuine satisfaction. She could count the partners who made her feel like her itch had been thoroughly scratched. The relief she sought was always temporary at best.

Part of the problem was the lack of challenge. She never liked when things were too easy. To her, everything worth having was worth some struggle to get. Until now, Will had been firmly in the same category as the partners she found in taverns and brothels. It's fun and suitable for a bit of release, but it's not worth dwelling on much beyond that. She was careful to keep her private and professional lives separate, at least in her head.

She'd had flings with the crew before, but maintaining boundaries was important, especially when you had to keep working with someone in the morning.

Leaning back against her bent tree, on the edge of orgasm, trying to push herself over the edge while Will watched with that insufferably smug look on his face, it dawned on her that something felt different. The fatigue and the rawness she'd been feeling had torn down the walls she usually kept on their emotions. The thrill she always got from a near-death experience had her blood up and still pounding in her ears. Then there was the way he'd cared enough to defy her. There was no way for him to have known that he'd triggered the thing in her head that happened when she found a challenge. Now, he was watching her, feeding the thrill she got from the performance. It was precisely the right combination to give root to a new set of emotions inside her.

"Oh, fuck me," she breathed, feeling the total weight of both meanings of the phrase. Her orgasm washed over her right as the realization of what she was feeling struck. Her whole body tensed, and her breath felt like it was being held hostage by her pleasure. Her mind was chaotic, trying to reject and rejoice in her feelings. She shook with the effort of her peaking tension, then finally relaxed into wave after wave of warm, shuddering relief.

When she opened her eyes, Will was right in front of her. She breathed in surprise, but his lips met hers before she could say anything. She moaned into him, and new waves of anxiety twinned with passion welled within her. His hand traced around her neck and cupped the back of her head, tilting her head up. She stared at him wide-eyed, wholly paralyzed in her head while the aftershocks of her orgasm vibrated through her body. He kissed her again, and she clung to him. He stepped closer, nudging her knees wider. She leaned back against the tree and wrapped her legs around his thighs, pulling him in. Their pelvises bumped together. She could feel his hardness grinding into her, and a tide of throbbing want swept away all her conflicting emotions.

Her hands were frantic, pulling at his belt and laces. His hands found her breasts, lifting and squeezing. Their lips rarely parted. As soon as she had his pants open, her hand dove down inside them and gripped the length of his hard cock. She felt him smile against her lips as something inside her clenched with need. She shoved him back a step and turned around, leaning down against her tree and pulling her pants down below her ass.

He stepped back in without missing a beat, his rough hands gripping her hips. She felt his erection come down onto her butt, reaching nearly to the small of her back. Then he dragged it backward, down between the cheeks of her ass, until it slipped between her thighs and scraped along her wet lips. She clenched her thighs together involuntarily, then stepped a bit wider, feeling her breeches dig into the sides of her thighs.

He reached between her legs and lifted his erection, so it pressed against her, rubbing it back and forth, nudging the rings that pierced her outer labia and spreading her wetness along his length. She planted her hands against the tree, arched her back as much as possible, and straightened her arms, stretching like a cat and pushing back against him.

"Repeat it," he whispered roughly into her ear.

Confusion filtered through the lust. She looked over her shoulder. "Say what?"

"Tell me what you want," he smiled.

Defiance and challenge welled inside her as she realized he was toying with her, but before she could spit venom at him, other words tore from her lips.

"Fuck me!" she snarled.

The thick head of his cock pressed into her wetness and forced wide her clenching channel. She cried out in animalistic bliss as every inch of him filled her. The orgasm that hit her caught her entirely off guard. She was still reveling in the sensation of finally being filled. She squeezed with everything she had as his cock sank to full depth within her, and her clenching suddenly became a burst of pleasure. She felt like she'd been popped like a very happy soap bubble.

She found herself smiling and silently laughing as Will pulled on her hips and began to stroke back and forth inside her. It was the laughter of life affirmation, of the sheer joy of having lived, the opposite of survivor's guilt.

She pushed against the tree, driving herself back against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. Their coupling was fast and hard, filling the trees with the sound of flesh slapping against flesh. She reached back towards him, wanting more contact, more connection, fumbling at his hip. He slipped his fingers into hers. She held on tight and put the back of her hand against the small of her back, giving him a point of leverage to pull against.

The strength of his thrusts increased again, and she felt like every hammering ripple was driving vicious pleasure through her whole body. Every slap of their hips rocked her, bouncing her breasts and her butt, forcing the breath from her lungs, making it harder and harder to think. All she could do was hold on and ride the waves of pleasure that had taken over her body.

This was what she needed. What she'd been craving. The purge of conscious thought that came from a proper and robust fuck.

Will was used to the Captain being a passionate lover, but he'd never seen her like this. They were bordering on violence, and she seemed like she was still wanting more. Small hissing moans were escaping her lips. Her eyes were clenched shut, and she was pulling on his hand and pushing back against him as hard as she could.

There was something primal happening, and Will was awed by it. His breathing was getting heavier. Keeping up with the Captain's pace was tiring him quickly, and how hard she was squeezing his injured hand wasn't easy to ignore. He wasn't about to stop, though. He hadn't fucked like this in years, not since the last time he and Jack...

The ruins. The chamber of trials. This was how Jack had made love to him right before they completed the last test, and she abandoned him. He'd thought of it often. It had been incredible. The passion and wild joy had been impossible to forget, even with everything that happened afterward. For years, he thought she'd been somehow trying to preemptively apologize for what she knew she was about to do. Still, as he drove himself into Belita's willing body, it occurred to him that Jack might have been thinking something very different than he'd assumed.

Unexpectedly, he found himself smiling.

He reached out with his other hand and hooked her arm, pulling it off the tree and back to him, holding her back arched as he used her arms to pull her back onto his rampant cock as hard as he could. She threw her head back and cried out in pleasure and surprise. He drove into her relentlessly, feeling that familiar tightening in his balls as she cascaded through another orgasm. With one final pounding thrust, he erupted into her shuddering depths with a strained roar.

They held there like statues, faint wisps of steam rising off their joined bodies. Belita was still arched like a figurehead, her eyes and mouth wide open, trembling with the strain of holding in the waves of bliss still washing through her. Will had her tight and felt the warmth and softening begin. Finally, he took a breath.

"Holy... fuck..."

Belita chuckled. "Aye. Sure felt holy take me."

Will gently pulled himself free of her and tucked his softening manhood back into his pants. She made a disappointing sound and then pulled her breaches up over her rounded ass. She straightened up, rolling her hips and bending forward to stretch the muscles straining in the position she'd been holding. Then she stood up straight again. "I needed that." She slipped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss of thanks.

"So what now?" Will asked when their lips parted.

"Sleep," she said, relieved. "Tomorrow is going to be another long day."



To be continued