Bloody Mary

Chapter Twenty~An Unexpected Advance

The next morning when Marianna awoke she was accompanied by a throbbing sensation burning through her temple. As she lifted her head from the cushion, she pressed a hand to her sweaty forehead and groaned as a tremor of pain erupted from the contact. She lowered her hand again, and that was when she noticed her hair.

It hung loosely, unbridled by her cloth and hat and had knotted quite intensely during her night of tossing and turning. Her thoughts began to dash to every possibility as she hastily tried to tie her hair back up and remember the previous night. What had she done? What room was she in?

By the gentle rock of the structure, which now made her nauseous, she judged she was back on a ship. The new and improved Caravel most likely.

On the floor in front of her laid her strewn chest bindings. There was an ache around her chest from keeping the garment in for so long, but she snatched it and began tying it on underneath her shirt.

After a few fumbled she found herself able to stand, if staggering ever so slightly. Using objects in the room for support she made her way out of the quarters and opened the door, emerging onto the deck of the ship.

Her hand instantly flew to her head and she let out a pain groan, desperately trying to cover her eyes from the glaring sun. It was past its peak, so she assumed it was a little past noon.

"Oh, nice of you to join us, Percy." A daunting voice turned her attention to the main mast. There Carlisle propped himself against the structure, and next to him was a line of of six of the pirate crew.

Oh no...

"I expect you have something to say to the crew?" He gestured to the lot of them with a hand. Each face portrayed the slight smirk at seeing her disheveled appearance, hungover at its worse. Marianna rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then nodded.

"I do. I do, but.. Now? Really?" She let a hand drop and used the other to block out the sun.

Carlisle gave her a look. "They've the right to know. Perhaps it'd be best to show them, so they actually believe you."

There was a cold undertone he carried that Marianna managed to pick up on. Had she made him mad?

"Show- oh. Okay." It repulsed her, it truly did, to do what she was told. A sick feeling had anchored itself into the deepest pit of her belly and it worsened even as she took off her hat. The crew didn't quite catch on, but when she tore off the bandana, revealing the knotted waves, there was complete silence. She decided to use the silence.

"I masked myself as a boy because I was scared. I didn't do it to hurt anybody, I just had to escape the life I had before. It wasn't a good life. My heart, like all of yours, belongs to the sea..." She grasped the hat in front of her, clutching the material while waiting for their answers.

"You're a.. A lass?" Andrew perked up from the group, the second youngest of them all. His eyes were round at the new revelation. Many others shared the same expression, but a couple had their brows furrowed it trepidation.

"Aye," she said. "Always have been, always will be." She managed a nervous chuckle before casting her eyes to the planks in shame.

"Why're ye tellin' us you're a lass? Why now?" Connor asked.

"Edward was the first to discover it... He can tell you how." A light blush crept up Marianna's cheeks. "But on that island he told me he was going to tell Carlisle, and then he would tell the crew. Might as well say it myself before either them do, eh?"

"Aye. Doesn't change the fact ye're a woman."

"Doesn't change the fact I killed for you." Her finger nails began to dig deeper into the fabric. "Beheaded a man for all of you. Sacrificed my well-being. I could have mourned for my humanity for so much longer... But I had to get my shite together. And I did. I'm a seventeen year old girl and I have killed numerous times for the sake of the crew."