Chapter Seventeen

"Mermaids?" Lotte asked. She held Fitz's hand as they soared across the night sky. They were approaching a cluster of rocks in the middle of the ocean. Strikes of lightning lit their way across the sky, "here? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because mermaids aren't like what you see in books. They're demons. Don't stand close to the water or anywhere where they can reach you." 

Lotte resisted rolling her eyes, they were mermaids, how bad could they be? Fitz and Lotte landed in the center of the biggest rock. Fitz slowly walked to the edge of the rock and knelt in the water. He let out a hissing sound and a shiny face appeared from the water. Its skin shined even without light. The ribs and other bones of the creature were wrapped in oily skin, making every crevice pop out. The eyes of the creature were nothing but black holes and what looked like hair was just a clump of seaweed attached to the skull. 

"It's almost kind of… beautiful," Lotte said from the back.

Fitz scoffed, "Yeah, so beautiful it'll drown you."

Lotte watched as Fitz communicated with the creature in some form of hissing sounds. The mermaid made several attempts to reach its skeleton hand up to Fitz's arm. But each time Fitz pushed the hand away.

This ordeal had almost entranced Lotte until she felt a tug at the bottom of her dress. Below her, to the side of the rock was another mermaid. Lotte looked at Fitz who was still distracted by the mermaid. She knelt.

Lotte allowed the mermaid to trace its hand up her bare arm and onto her shoulder. The mermaid seemed just as fascinated by her and she did it. Lotte leaned forward, trying to see more of the mermaid. It now had its hand on her shoulder but Lotte wasn't paying attention to it. 

"What language do you speak?"

It was a question Lotte was asking herself rather than the mermaid. In a very quick motion, the mermaid moved its hand from Lotte's shoulder to her throat. Lotte felt her ability to breathe diminish. Her hands wrapped around the creature's hand but it wouldn't budge. Lotte dropped to her knees, the mermaid pulling her head into the water for a quick second before something pulled in back out.

Fitz hissed angrily behind Lotte, making the mermaid let go before it swam off, along with the other one.

 Fitz waited for Lotte to breathe again until he scolded her, "What did I tell you?"

Lotte expected more of a scolding but instead, Fitz pulled her back into him. Lotte could feel his heart pounding on her back. His hand gripped her arm as if he was trying to comfort her. "Are you ok?"

Lotte nodded, "Just spooked. I shouldn't have done it. I've just never seen anything more interesting. What did you learn?"

"I know where they are."

Lotte went to the edge of the rock and started to lift herself off the rock. Fitz grabbed her by the wrist just as she left the ground, "One more thing." Lotte looked back to see a wide grin across Fitz's face, "Leave BlackJack to me."

Aboard BlackJack's ship sat his treasure on the middle of the deck. Fitz's boys were tied up on a pillar with gags in their mouths.

"Trigger is the second in command. Since Fitz isn't around everyone will be looking up to him. He'll be the toughest one to crack. But if we crack him, we break them all," BlackJack said to Mr. Pete in BlackJack's cabin. BlackJack grabbed a hooked-shaped dagger off his desk and proceeded towards the door.

"What about Fitz?" Mr. Pete asked. "And the girl?"

BlackJack stopped just short of the door. He turned slowly to Mr. Pete with a wide smile, "I'll be waiting for them."

BlackJack walked out of the cabin, his eyes locked on Trigger; whose face was already bruised and bloody. He had harmed the other children as well, but not as much as Trigger. Trigger gave BlackJack the side eye as he walked in front of him. BlackJack took the hooked knife and used it to cut down the rope-bounding Triggers. BlackJack grabbed Trigger by his shirt and hauled him up to a standing position. 

"Tell me Trigger, should I throw your brother overboard, or you?"

"You won't throw any of us overboard. You're going to sell us."

BlackJack's smile dropped into a frown. He grabbed Trigger by the back of his shirt and lifted him high enough that Trigger's feet couldn't touch the ground. Trigger didn't have the strength to kick or resist as BlackJack hauled him over to the edge of the ship. Blackjack pushed Trigger up against the edge of the ship, bending his back over the railing.

"Oh yeah? Try me, boy."

The other children were screaming from the pillar to release Trigger; but Trigger blocked them out, staying focused on the man in front of him.  

"Go fuck yourself you cold-hearted scumbag."

There was a part of Trigger that enjoyed watching BlackJack's face drop from shock. All of him would have enjoyed it if he didn't know what would happen next. Trigger waited for the feeling of a sword in his stomach or hitting the water. Instead, Trigger heard the sound of a gun. He waited for the hot, sharp pain of a bullet. He couldn't tell if it was from the ringing in his ears or something else why no one was screaming. He felt the bullet whiz past his face but no pain anywhere on his body. Trigger hesitantly looked up, expecting to see the dead body of one of the others. Instead, he saw Fitz with a shotgun in his hand, with Lotte by his side.

"Shit!"

Fitz had attempted to shoot BlackJack. Because it had been years since Fitz last shot a gun, the bullet went between Trigger and BlackJack. Now they had everyone's attention. BlackJack's crew charged at Fitz and Lotte, surrounding them with a circle of swords.

"Stop!" BlackJack shouted at his crew. He walked away from Trigger. The crew separated, making a line down the ship for BlackJack to walk down. "That boy is mine." 

It would be hard to fight in the dark, especially being outnumbered. Both with weapons and people. However, they did have one thing.

Fitz leaned into Lotte and whispered into her, "Light them up."

Before BlackJack had reached them, Lotte swung her arms down, sending all of BlackJack's crew flying backwards. Some of them went flying over the side of the ship. The swords from their hands dropped and clattered to the floor. In the midst of it,  Fitz ran over to the pillar where the others were tied. Fitz struck the ropes with his dagger, freeing the boys from the pillar.

As the boys collected the swords from the floor, Lotte felt something collide with her. At first, she thought she was being attacked. But her attacker was hugging her.

"Trigger?"

Trigger had bolted from the edge of the ship and wrapped Lotte in his arms. Nearly taking Lotte off her feet from the force. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were too," Lotte gripped the back of Trigger's jacket for support. It felt like Trigger loved Lotte as a sister. Lotte loved Trigger like a brother. She would do anything to keep him alive.

"Are you ok?" Trigger pulled back, his eyes searching for any major wounds.

"I'm fine," said Lotte. "But every time I use my…abilities, it becomes harder to suppress the monster inside of me."

"The only way we're making it out here alive will be because of you. I know you can fight for the right team. No matter how hard it is." 

Trigger's inspirational speech was by one of the pirates swinging a sword at Trigger's head. Trigger caught the sword and smashed it in the guy's face with his head, "go!" 

Lotte took a quick look at the pirate laying on the ground before grabbing the sword beside him. The boys and other pirates had picked up weapons from the ground and began charging at each other. Lotte looked around, trying to find Fitz amongst the chaos. Before Lotte could find Fitz she heard the sound of a pirate charging from behind her. Lotte swung around, slicing her sword through the air. As she turned around Lotte saw a gash through her attacker's throat. Blood was gushing out of his throat like a waterfall. Lotte stumbled backwards, dropping her sword to the ground as she watched the pirate drop to his knees. He wrapped his hands around his throat as he desperately stopped the bleeding. It was a matter of seconds until he dropped to the floor, dead.

Lotte felt herself stop breathing as she watched the pirate take his final breath. She had just killed someone. Lotte had never killed anyone before. She heard herself scream, but it felt distant. Like she was listening to someone else scream from far away. Lotte's legs gave out as she dropped the sword. She knew was falling backwards but didn't bother to stop herself. Flashback played through Lotte's memories flashed before her of how she felt the night BlackJack's crew threw her onto the ship. Lotte was falling backwards the same way the crew threw her down on the ship. This time she felt worse, so much worse.

Instead of hitting the hardwood, Lotte landed in the softness of arms wrapping around her.

Fitz pulled Lotte into his lap as she collapsed down. He could feel her hyperventilating as she desperately grasped at him for support.

"Hey, hey, hey, Lotte, look at me."

Lotte's face looked pale, tears streamed down her face as she looked up at him. Fitz knew Lotte wasn't meant to kill. She had probably never even killed an animal before. Killing someone for the first time was hard on anyone. Fitz still remembered the first time he stabbed someone. The feeling of his heart thundering was something he would never forget. But the first time Fitz stabbed someone was because BlackJack had ordered him to. If Fitz didn't do something quickly he wouldn't be alive much longer.

"Lotte, you need to pull yourself together or else you're going to get us both killed!" Yelling at Lotte was even worse than imagined. Her sobs came to a frightening halt and Lotte whipped away tears from both eyes. Without looking at Fitz, Lotte pushed herself off the ground. She yanked the sword from the ground without even touching it and plunged it straight through the pirate's chest that was standing in front of her who was in the middle of combat with Trigger. Trigger watched, eyes and mouth wide open as he watched his enemy fall to the ground. A look of surprise remained on his face as his heart stopped. Lotte recalled the sword like a dog as it flew back into her hand. She turned to look at Fitz, who had a similar expression as the deceased pirate in front of her. Lotte felt the same stab of guilt run through her but didn't allow her body to give out. 

Fitz watched Lotte disappear into the crowd of chaos, taking a stride with each step. A blade of a sword pressed into his shoulder. The pressure stopped just short of cutting his clothing. Fitz took a deep breath in as he turned around. BlackJack's eyes met him immediately. The sword moved from Fitz's shoulder to his chin, forcing Fitz to look up at BlackJack. 

"I like what you've done with her."

Fitz growled deep inside his throat. He raised the tip of his sword to BlackJack's abdomen, which only made BlackJack force Fitz's chin up more.

"She is not some toy you can design however you please!" Fitz yelled a lot louder than he meant to. But right now, all he wanted to do was scream at BlackJack. BlackJack smirked, pushing the tip of the sword into Fitz's throat, "Drop it."

The sword clattered to the floor along with Fitz's pride. He wanted to turn and see if Lotte was looking, but the sword was already painfully against him. BlackJack threw a quick right hook to Fitz's face: breaking his nose. Fitz stumbled but didn't fall. He whipped the blood off his face while giving BlackJack a sick grin, almost as if he enjoyed the pain.

"This is it, boy," BlackJack sneered. "This is where you die."

"No," Fitz said with a mouthful of blood from his broken nose. "I promised her I would take her home."

The sword shot up from the ground and into Fitz's hand. BlackJack took a step back, into a fighting stance, "I'll give her my regards."

Fitz let out a loud yell as he swung his sword at BlackJack's head. BlackJack ducked and took a step back, "Right before I killed her."

"You tricked me before," Fitz blocked the swing of Blackjack's sword. "But you'll never do it again."

BlackJack was backing up towards the top of the ship, where the wheel was; taking a swing at Fitz with each step. Fitz followed, using his sword to block the attacks. Even well walking backwards BlackJack knew every curve of his ship. He knew just where to walk. "Or maybe I should kill her in front of you. Get my men to hold her down and force you to watch."

"You're not going to touch her," Fitz yelled, taking another hard swing, letting his anger get the best of him. 

BlackJack chuckled at the sight of Fitz's face being so red with anger. Each time Fitz failed to strike BlackJack, that anger grew: denying him the release of satisfaction. As BlackJack reached the top of his ship he plunged his sword at Fitz's chest, nearly hitting him.

Fitz jumped from the last step to the top of the ship, "If you say anything else about her, I will cut off your organs until you bleed out."

"Drop the act Fitz," BlackJack sneered. "No matter how much you love her, it isn't going to save you now."

BlackJack swung his sword diagonally, cutting Fitz's shoulder. Fitz stumbled but didn't fall as he walked closer to the BlackJack. He swung his sword but missed. The image of BlackJack killing Lotte was something he couldn't get out of his head. The sounds of her screams blocked out everything else. The next swing clouded Fitz's head, slicing through his eyebrow. Fitz let out a sharp yell and pushed his hand to face. The sword clattered to the floor and Fitz looked up to see Blackjack's grinning face.

"You're mine now boy."

The next swing swiped a crossed Fitz's bottom knuckles. Still yelling from pain, Fitz charged at BlackJack, wrapping one hand around the back of the sword, the other punching BlackJack in the face. BlackJack let out a groan before pushing Fitz away with the sword. Fitz hadn't even established his footing Blackjack's fist took another swing at his head. Fitz didn't even feel the Impact of the blow. The next thing he saw was BlackJack looking down at him. His ears were ringing loudly, only able to hear the muffled thud when Blackjack's foot clouded with his ribs. Fitz let out a wince he wasn't able to hear as he reached blindly for his sword. BlackJack took his foot away from Fitz's ribs and place it on his wrist, "let's go find your girlfriend." 

Fitz let out a weak moan as BlackJack grabbed him by the back of the shirt and lifted him to his feet. BlackJack dragged Fitz to the railing on the top deck. He punched Fitz against it, holding his chin together with his finger and thumb. "Do you see her?"

Fitz first spotted Trigger stabbing a sword through the leg of a pirate. Next, it was Arrow being pounded in the face. Then Cliff was about to be pushed over the edge. Major was knocked unconscious. 

Fitz spotted Lotte at the same time BlackJack did. She was at the back of the ship, her sword pressed against her attacker's chest.

"Scream her name," BlackJack whispered into Fitz's ear before stabbing a dagger into the back of Fitz's shoulder. 

Fitz wasn't sure what he screamed, but it was enough to make everyone freeze. As Lotte looked over, everything happened in slow motion: Fitz screaming at the top of his lungs as BlackJack twisted the dagger inside of him. Trigger freezing shock before being punched in the gut. Lotte barely looked back in time to see her attacker plunge a sword into her abdomen. Lotte let out a sharp scream of her own as she crumbled to her knees, sobbing. Her arms wrapped around her stomach but it wasn't enough to stop the pirate from pulling the sword out. Lotte's back hit the ground as blood began to pour out of her. She could hear Fitz and Trigger screaming in the distance. Everyone around her was still frozen as the pirate picked her up and carried her to the center of the ship, staining his shirt with blood. He placed Lotte down gently on the wood, tilting her head to look at Fitz. Fitz broke away from BlackJack and jumped over the railing, landing in a kneel just beside her. He coped his hands on Lotte's cheeks but failed to stop his tears from falling. Fitz stuttered out words, failing to come up with something comforting to say to the girl dying in front of him.

"Fitz," Lotte spoke first, her voice just a raspy whisper. "I don't want to die." 

Fitz clapped a hand over his mouth, as he bowed his head down. Trying desperately to pull himself together. 

Lotte knew she wasn't helping the situation, but she couldn't stop the words from falling out of her mouth. "I want to see my parents, my brothers–"

"You're not going to die," Fitz jerked his head up. "You're going to be fine."

It sounded like Fitz was trying to convince himself this more than Lotte. 

"Its hurts—"

"I know," Fitz cut Lotte off, still wiping away her tears. " I know but try not to talk. I'm going to get you out of here."

Lotte grabbed Fitz by the back of his hair, his silhouette fading in and out of her vision. Lotte knew she was going to die even if Fitz couldn't handle it. She used the last of her strength to push Fitz's head down, connecting her lips with his. Lotte allowed the kiss to last for a minute before pulling away.

"Loving you is the greatest thing I've ever done, Fitz," Lotte said through sobs. 

"Lotte don't, don't you fucking dare—"

"I will always love you."

"Lotte please—" Fitz begged through the tears. 

"You have to win. Win for me."