pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

beginning

The sounds of the waves crashing against shore, the white sea foam like clouds of the sky.

Salt touches your tongue as sea spray catches the light of the sun, casting a beautiful rainbow across your cheeks.

Seagulls circle in the clear blue expanse above, their cries ringing out for miles.

Rain lashes against your arms and droplets clings to your eyelashes. They resemble tears.

Lightning splits the darkness of the clouds and thunder that sounds like cannon shot rolls overhead, but there is no fear.

You smile wide, joyous and happy, but then something in your chest weighs you down.

Suddenly, you're yanked into the depths, water filling your nose and lungs and all at once, you cannot breathe. The weight in your chest drags you down, down, down, and no matter how hard you flail and thrash about, no matter how desperately you reach for the surface...

There is nothing but darkness.

Drip, drip, drip.

Your eyes flutter open softly, like a new butterfly's wings. You're lying on something wet and rough beneath your body, and to your horror, when you instinctively try to rub your eyes, your hands are bound together by a coarse, thick rope.

Right in front of you is a puddle of water and drops of water keeps falling into it, forming tiny ripples. You try to sit up as your eyes instinctively follow its path, up the grime ridden stone walls to the crack in the ceiling were rainwater seeps through. A spider lazily weaves its web in a corner and for a moment, you're spellbound by it.

Crack!

You flail backwards at the deafening sound of a thunderclap, but your hands are tied together and you're sent crashing to the ground painfully. Luckily, the ground is wet so the fall isn't as painful as it could have been, but you still feel a tenderness in your hip where bare skin got dragged across uneven stone. You suck in a breath.

"Come on, it's not that bad. Sit up again."

Exhaling carefully, you roll onto your back, ignoring the pain of the small rocks digging into your side, and finally heave yourself up with a haphazard effort of numb limbs. Your bound ankles come into view, along with dirty, calloused bare feet. They're tied with a thick red cord that there's no chance you can cut through or untie, and when your mind finally screams at you the obvious, your heart stops.

"You're in a prison."

Your head snaps to the right, metal grills lining the tiny window in the room. To your left, the only exit secured with heavy metal bars, kept locked by three iron chains, each with a metal padlock at the end. Whoever locked you up here wanted to make sure you had no chance of escape. Before you can think any further, the sound of chattering and clanking metal wrenches you back to the present.

"-some woman down here." The sound of heeled boots echoes down a flight of steps. There's a soft squeak of leather and the man curses. "Damned stairs, what was that bastard Arthur thinking, holding a public execution today? Justice calls, my ass. He probably just wants to get rid some whore that heard his mouth running when he was drunk-"

"Quiet, Mannon!" Another voice, higher and hushed this time. "You never know if someone could overhear you! The governor will have you hanged!"

"Ha!" A derisive snort. To your mounting horror, their footsteps seem to be drawing near to your cell. "As if his men are going to lug themselves here to check on a mere prisoner. Lazing about in their offices all day, doing nothing but paperwork, afraid to get their hands dirty- Oh, she's awake."