Snowed in

Triggers: Mentions of sexual violence and implied rape, Mentions of Abuse, underaged drinking.

Of course the day before the Ghost Raiders were about to set sail a large blizzard hit the island they were staying at. This delayed their departcher for at least 3 more days. 3 precious days spent cooped up in this stupid cabin, while Ignatius…

Lucy couldn’t bear the thought of what her older brother was going through at the hands of that slimy, grubby, disgusting, shit stain of a man who dared to give himself a name, yet had one of blackbeard. Iggy, her beloved big brother who had practically raised her with the help of other triplets and their parents , was now at the mercy of a merciless man who used his body like a toy. 

She felt her stomach turn as unpleasant thoughts of her brother being battered, bruised and pregnant filled her mind.

And it was all her fault. If she hadn't let Cobra, One of that scum that is Blackbeard, commanders, escape in her last confrontation. Or If she hadn’t allowed herself to be caught off guard by Prim then have to save them. Or if she had fought harder before Blackbeard could forcefully activate her resurrection abilities in the first place or-

“Whatcha doing?” the soft voice of none other than the resident bunny girl Sade herself asked. She startled Lucy so badly she had dropped her thorny whip she had been gripping so tightly. I mean how the fuck did this girl sneak up on Lucy, a champion bounty hunter, so freaking often. 

“Ummmm watching.” Lucy replied dumbly, causing Sade to tilt her head.

“For what?”

“Stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah ... .weather stuff. Like when the blizzard will slow down and al-”

“Wait Lucy I have a question.” Sade interrupted, shifting from her 20-year-old body to her true 9-year-old body with those dangerous puppy eyes, oh gosh no-

“When the blizzard subsides can we all go play in the snow? I mean everyone like snow in books but I’ve never gotten to play in it.” 

Lucy looked away. They really shouldn’t be wasting time on “playing” in the snow, especially with such an important mission on their hands. Yet Lucy also couldn’t deny she felt her heart ache slightly re-remembering the fact that, while Lucy was a 17-year-old stuck in her 10-year-old self’s body; Sade was a 9-year-old with the ability to munplate time and how much her body ages, and chose a 20-year-old body to be taken more seriously when trying to go save her dad. I mean after all, she was supposed to be the next queen of Wilverland.  Many people over the years had attempted to munplate the poor thing into going along with their cruel plans and making it difficult for Sade to have a normal childhood when she had to be protected from eve adult advisors. 

“.....yeah I guess.” Lucy finally said, “but only while Prim, me and the prisoner are loading up the ship then an HOUR afterwards, got it?” 

Sade’s eyes lit up with joy as she hugged Lucy tightly, “Got it Captain!” the little girl said before running back down stairs. Lucy sighed as she leaned down and picked her whip back up again, Sade was legit the only one in the group who could call Lucy Captain without getting corrected. 

. . .

            Lucy soon had been dragged out of her room and currently was curled up on the couch farthest from the fireplace. She watched as Sade and Galen, their prisoner, chatted about several different topics while the adult man tended to the fire in the fireplace. Prim was sitting next to Lucy, repairing Golbros, the octoragn, main body after some of their limps got torn in their last fight. 

          Lucy’s eyes remain fixated on the fire though, it’s glow making her uneasy. Afterall Lucy had a complicated relationship with fire. Fire being the element Iggy used when fighting, as well as it being what warmed the metal used to brand her back. These memories made her both love yet fear the flames of anything, even controlled flames like the one in the fireplace. Which didn’t help with her with her panic attacks.

          She was zoning in and out of reality when she felt something cover her. Lucy tensed and glanced up, only to see Prim covering her in a blanket.

          “…if you’re gonna doze off at least have a blanket over you for warmth you freak.” The flower obsessed girl said calmly, with the hint of humor to her voice.

           Lucy stared at her for a moment. She and Prim also happened to have a complicated relationship. When they were kids the two were inseparable. Playing pranks on Lucy’s older brothers and exploring the jungles till sundown, or till Prim’s parents came to pick her up. They had laughed, cried, bleed, and screamed in those woods. That all changed the week after Iggy went missing, thought to be dead. The day when Lucy set out at 10-years-old on her own rescue mission that would eventually result in the prickly person she was today. Lucy had left in the middle of the night, leaving only a note for her loved ones to find. She hadn’t even said goodbye to her best friend before setting sail.

          This had clearly angered Prim given how often they fight over petty shit since their reunion at the ports of spades. Lucy could tell their was a lot Prim wanted to say to her, and in return she had a lot she wanted to say to Prim. Yet whenever she tried her throat seemed to close up, as if she was choking on a blackberry bush. So instead of thanking Prim verbally, she curled herself into her bestfriend’s side. She felt Prim’s arm rest on her head, communicating she understood Lucy’s message. The bounty hunter smiled slightly, and if she teared up a bit….well that was between her and the divine.

    . . .

            Prim and Sade had gone to bed a few hours ago, yet Lucy had stayed up, watching the fire out of mild anxiety. She sat on the floor, working on repairs to her thorned whip in the nerve wracking light of the fire. The only reason they hadn’t extinguish it was because they needed it burning for warmth. Suddenly she felt someone sit beside her. 

         “You know a kid like you should be sleeping.” Galen said gently.  The younger girl glared up at him.

           “I’m not a kid.” Lucy reminded him harshly. Galen just sighed and rolled his eyes.

            “Fine yes your a young adult, but like I said you really must sleep.” The prisoner repeated firmly.

            “I don’t have to listen to you ya know right?” Lucy replied snarkily before going back to watching the fire.

            Galen sighed and shook his head, then a thought seemed to pop into his head.

           “Hey Lucy, can I ask you something?”

           “Go for it.” The girl said drinking from a flask they both knew was full of alcohol, much to Galen’s displeasure.

            “Why did you choose a thorned whip as your main weapon of choice over a sword or something, let alone add metal thorns to it.”

             Lucy paused a bit before smirking.

             “Well it much more flexible and it’s easier to target certain things with with. You can also grapple with the whip. Take people’s heads off with it and…”

           Lucy went on to explain how her whip as well as other weapons worked for the next hour or two, Galen listening intently to every word. He had asked these questions for two reasons. One was to tire her out, and the other was to get to know the girl a bit better. After all he could tell she had a difficult time trusting people and her learning to trust him would be essential to keeping her safe, like how her brother and his boyfriend Ingatious would want her to be. Something he doubted she had felt in a long while with how cold she tried to act towards everyone.

            As Galen listened to Lucy, he couldn’t help but begin to see a resemblance between the grumpy bounty hunter and his dear lover. The way her eyes sparkled when showing him yet another weapon as well as how she mimed things out was similar to Iggy’s passion whenever talking about the history of pirating, or just his family members. GaAnd Galen had always ate it up, just like he was now.

           And as Lucy became too sleepy to continue talking and fell asleep on his shoulder, he smiled. He then picked the girl up. She was quite small in his arms as he was reminded harshly of the past experiments done to her. He frowned at the thought. When he had first heard of the possibility of Iggy being alive he had been almost manic to get to him as fast as possible. Yet running into Lucy and the other two had….brought a weird sense of peace to him as he cared for them like Iggy would have wanted. 

        As he readjusted her in his arms he noticed the whip was on the ground. He sighed and picked that up too. Then very gently he carried the girl to her bed, laid her down, and tucked her in. He also set her whip on her nightstand before smiling gently at her.

         “Sleep well kid….your brother would be so proud of how strong you are.” Galen began to say, a small tear forming in his eyes. 

         “And we will save your brother, for we have all the time in the world.”