Xin's Escape

Content Warning: References of sexual abuse, torture and death (non-explicit)

Beaten, defiled, and betrayed, Xin stood hanging within the cold, damp brig. He swayed back and forth with the swell of the boat as the cuffs around his wrists cut painfully into his flesh. That pain was nothing after the horrors he faced this last week. His wounds were healing, but that wouldn’t last long. He broke into a cold sweat at the thought of those torture tools scraping his flesh, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

A key sat on the table in front of him, just out of reach, just like every day. Sometimes he dreamed of being able to reach it. What it would feel like to have his hands freed again. To walk, to run, to fight. After weeks of this torment, of the idea of freedom so close, yet so far, Xin had begun to believe that his life was over. That when this ship stopped, he would live his life as a slave, not a warrior. 

How disappointed his father would be. Who was he kidding? His father was already disappointed in him. He had failed his father’s final wishes. He couldn’t protect his family.

A hauntingly familiar song filled his ears, and a chill ran up his spine. The voice was beautiful, just like everything about that girl. Everything except her crazed, rotten mind.

The girl stepped in front of him—she couldn’t have been older than twelve, only a few years younger than him—and those golden eyes gazed right through him. As usual, her short auburn hair was a tangled mess, and her clothes were ones that an adult man would be wearing. Today she was holding a bowl of steaming water with a cloth inside.

“Good evening, Xin,” she said with her customary mocking smile.

“Ibby,” Xin snarled in return. “You’re back again? Didn’t get your fill of blood earlier?”

She laughed that melodic laugh, throwing her head back as she did. “Oh, Xiny. Maybe I just missed you. You are really funny.”

“Tch.” His eyes wandered to the bowl in her hands. “Boiling water today, huh? That’s a new one.”

With a chuckle, she lifted the bowl above Xin’s head and dumped it out. He braced for the scalding pain, gritting his teeth, but found the water pleasantly warm. He snapped his eyes open and looked at his torturer with confusion. She just smiled and started gently wiping away the blood and dirt.

Everything about her was so different right now. She was never here alone. There was that stinking quartermaster, that awful, pale teenager with hungry eyes, or the doting dark-haired boy with her. Not tonight. It was just her.

“What are you up to?” Xin asked.

She chuckled melodically as she worked her way around to his back, cleaning the wounds she had given him earlier that day. It stung, but it wasn’t torture pain. It almost felt… comforting. 

He shook his head. No. Don’t fall into her trap again. That’s what she does. She’s messing with your mind. “Could we just get the torture over with already? I need to stay rested so I can kick all your asses when I get out of these chains.”

That laugh again. She came back into view, looking him straight in the eye. “You think you’re strong enough? You really think the little boy that let his family die is going to take on a ship full of pirates?”

Xin scowled at her, but said nothing more.

Ibby grabbed his jaw. “You are weak. You’ll accomplish nothing the way you are. Only the strong survive in this world. Right now, that’s not you.”

He bared his teeth and snapped away from her grip. “I’ll become the strongest out there. Then you’ll all see.”

“Ah, but you have to be out of chains to become stronger.” She laughed and started to sing. “What will little soldier boy do when the slavers come for you? They’ll beat your face, they’ll fuck your ass and you won’t know what to do.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

She held the key mockingly in front of his face, swinging it back and forth. He tried to grab for it, to headbutt her, but she was just out of reach. 

“You know freedom is right here.” She cackled wickedly. “Maybe once you get the key you could go for a walk to see the island to the north.”

He glared at her as she studied his face. 

She gasped mockingly. “Don’t tell me you don’t know which way is north.” She patted him on the head. “Just look for the big shiny star in the sky. Right near the big dipper. I’m sure even a muscle head like you could figure that out.”

Xin growled. Of course he knew how to follow the stars. His dad had taught him that. He taught him everything he needed to know to survive. All except how to get out of chains.

She chuckled again, patted his cheek and set the key back down on the table, just out of reach.

“Nighty night, Xiny baby. Sweet dreams.” With that, she left him be. He heard her climb the creaky stairs behind him, but his eyes remained on that key. It felt ridiculous to try again. It was never in reach. There was no point. 

He kept telling himself that, but a voice kept telling him to try. He couldn’t give up yet. So, he reached. His hands couldn’t reach, but he stretched out his leg. Closer, closer. His foot touched the table. His heart leapt. That was the first time that had happened. He stretched just a bit more and got the key in between his toes. Thank the gods!

The key clattered to the floor, and his stomach dropped. He remained perfectly still for a moment, straining his ears to make sure no one heard that. There were no sounds other than the soft crash of the waves against the ship. A sigh of relief escaped Xin’s lips. 

Once again, he reached his toes out to the key and got a firmer grip on it. With some manoeuvring, he readied himself. The goal was to throw the key up into his hand. One… two… three. The key went up and seemed to hover tauntingly long in front of his open hand before falling back to the ground. Hellish visions of the key bouncing out of reach flashed through his mind, but he stomped on it before that happened. 

Alright. One more time.

Up went the key, right into his hand. A cry of joy tried to escape his lips, but he bit it back. No time for celebrations yet. The chains clinked open. The most incredible sound in the world. Pressure left his shoulders, his arms came flopping down to his side. It was almost a euphoric feeling, had it not been coupled with shooting pain. He rubbed his sore wrists, then looked around the hold. There was nothing down here but torture tools locked in some cabinets. No weapons. That would not stop him. 

Cautiously, he walked up the creaky stairs. He looked above him, where the starry night sky waited for him. Freedom was just up above. Everyone was sleeping. The boat was silent. All he had to do was go up and steal a lifeboat.

Then why weren’t his feet moving?

His head swivelled down the damp, creaking hull. Above him was freedom, but that way… That way was vengeance. That man who captured him, who raped him, who killed his family; that man was over there. All Xin had to do was walk there and snap his awful neck. 

He could do it.

He had to do it.

His family needed their revenge. 

There was no doubt in Xin’s mind as his feet turned away from freedom towards vengeance. Each creek and groan made him jump, but he was determined. A door at the end of the hall showed a few hammocks swaying back and forth with sleeping pirates. That had to be where he was. Step by step, he made his way towards that room, until a sword rested at his throat.

Eyes wide, he looked at the shadows, where a pair of golden eyes glared at him. 

“How the hell did you escape?” Ibby growled in a whisper.

“Guess you weren’t ready for torture sessions on your own,” Xin said with a smirk. “You left the key too close.”

“Hmph. Get back to your cell now, and I won’t kill you.”

“Not likely.” The move was simple and engrained into Xin’s mind. Bringing up both hands, Xin broke the sword from her grip. Ibby gasped, and Xin snatched the sword up and swung it around to her neck in one swift motion. She ducked down and started racing back towards the stairs. 

He figured she’d try to lead him back to the hold, but she went up to the deck instead. Must have been running for the lookout. That wasn’t going to happen. He sprinted after her. She might not have been the one that killed his family, but he still had some issues to take out on her. He didn’t plan on killing her, not if she didn’t force her hand, but a few matching scars would feel nice.

He reached her at the top of the stairs and swiped at her arm. The sword sliced her sleeve, and in her surprise, she stumbled forward, almost crashing into the railing. With a grumble, she pulled herself up and glared.

Xin smiled. “Who’s weak now?”

She grinned back. “Still you.”

He growled and took another swing. She dodged and Xin’s sword hit wood and rope. Something crashed into the water, but he didn’t care. He took a few more swings at her, which she dodged. She was a slippery one, but Xin was a trained warrior. He feigned one direction, and as she went to dodge, he changed direction and sliced at her gut. She managed to twist around it, but the sword sliced through her shirt and a small line of blood stained her shirt. She cursed and crumpled to her knees, holding on to her gut. 

Angry and exhausted, Xin stood over the girl, gripping the sword tighter in his hand. Flashes of her wicked grin, of her mocking laugh, all the pain she caused overcame him. He wanted so much to run her though, but she was unarmed, and still young. Instead, he growled, “Swear to me you’ll never torture people again.”

She looked up and smiled. “Sorry, Xiny babe, I can’t make that promise.”

His sword came up, ready to cause some pain, to teach her a lesson. 

A voice shouted from on the ship. “Look out!” 

Xin turned to his head to the sound just as the ship's jib came flying at him. The wood hit him square in the chest and sent him flying overboard. 

He splashed down hard in the water and spent a long while tumbling over and over in the currents, the icy grip of the ocean stealing the air from his lungs. The salty water burned his wounds and threatened to fill his lungs as he sank into its depths. He looked up at that looming ship by the light of the moon and thanked the gods for his merciful death in the refreshing waters.

He could practically hear the voice of his father screaming at him to snap out of it. This wasn’t a warrior’s death. He had to live another day so he could seek vengeance on those who wronged him and his family.

With renewed vigour, Xin swam to the surface and took a deep breath of fresh sea air, coughing and spluttering the seawater from his lungs. He was alive. He was free. But how was he going to swim to that island? Ibby was right. His body was weak right now, and the island wasn’t even in sight.

A creaking sound behind him caught his attention. He spun around to see a lifeboat. A lifeboat with a severed rope attached to it. So that’s what the crash had been. Xin swam over to it and pulled himself aboard, thumping and splashing into the safety of that mildew encrusted hull. He took a few deep breaths, gazing up at the star strewn sky. There was the big dipper, and the North star. With immense effort, he looked back up at the looming ship and decided that it was stupid to pick a fight the way he was. He needed to get stronger. Every day he was going to train, and then he’d be back. He’d be back, and they would all pay.

***

Up above, seated on the railing of that massive ship, Ibby looked down at the retreating lifeboat with a smile. A boy about the same age as her, with beige skin and jet black hair, came and sat beside her. She held out a fist, and he met it with her own. With a “pow” they exploded it, then laughed.

“Well done, Hibiki. Very nice timing,” said Ibby. “I really didn’t think he was going to put up a fight. I also did not think he was that good with a sword.”

“You think he would have actually killed you?” Hibiki asked. 

“Don’t know. He got damn close though,” she said, checking out the small bloody scratch along her abdomen.

“Are you sure about this? We could get in a lot of trouble if they found out. Well… I could get in trouble.”

Ibby laughed. “Oh, you worry too much. I got it all planned out.”

Hibiki sighed and examined the retreating boat. “Do you think that could ever be us?”

Lorelei chuckled weakly. “Us? No. You know Mikhail would find me wherever I go. But I keep telling you it could be you. No one would notice you were gone.”

“Even you?”

“If I said yes, would you go?”

He shook his head. “Probably not.”

She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Maybe I’ll just have to start torturing you. Maybe that would make you hate me enough to leave.”

He smiled at her. “Probably not.” 

Ibby rested her head on Hibiki’s shoulder, and the two just sat in comfortable silence as Xin’s boat faded into the horizon. Finally, she sighed, sat up straight, and gave Hibiki a light punch on the arm.

 “Come on, it’s showtime.” She pulled a dagger from her overly large trousers, cut away part of her shirt, which revealed the mark of the crew on her chest, and a maze of whip scars on her back. After giving herself a couple more minor cuts, she looked at Hibiki, smiled, then twisted her face into horror as she leapt to her feet and screamed, “Prisoner escape!”

Hibiki watched her run off as she continued to scream, insisting the prisoner was heading west. He looked back out at the horizon one more time and sighed.

“One day, Ibby, that will be you. I’ll make sure of it.”