Chapter Text
Darius' job was to Capture, contain, and deport the sea beast to a containment, but today they captured a different kind of creature.
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Darius sat down on the prison deck of the ship, his eyes locked in a silent, tense standoff with his prisoner, Ben Pincus. A endless warrant in hand.
"Blowing up a royal palace... smuggling sea beasts... stealing explosives..." Darius muttered, with exaggerated flipping noises from the warrant. "And a surprising number of arsons," he added, raising a skeptical brow.
Across from him, the disheveled man let out a smug laugh. Messy, grass-like strands of hair obscured most of his face, his grin still defiant through.
"Something funny?" Darius asked.
Ben ignored the question entirely. "So, what exactly is my punishment? I didn’t exactly get a court trial."
Darius's eyes narrowed, his voice flat. "Maybe because you escaped your last one. Not that it matters—your sentence was already life in prison." He paused, the weight of the words settling between them. "It’s probably straight to the gallows this time..."
Darius frowned. Sending people to their deaths was never something he enjoyed. Rarely did he have to carry out such sentences, or capture pirates but on those few occasions, it always left him feeling sick to his stomach.
Ben’s face faltered for just a moment, and Darius' frown deepened.
Without another word, Darius stood, giving Ben space to process his situation. He walked out of the prison deck the wood constantly creaking under his feet, squinting as the bright sunlight momentarily blinded him.
“Did our fiery prisoner give you any trouble?” Captain Ronnie called down from the upper deck, a smirk tugging at her lips.
Darius glanced up at her and shook his head. “Aside from the snarky comments? No.” He climbed the steps to join her.
She hummed thoughtfully, her smirk widening. “I think he likes you,” she teased.
Darius shot her a look, unimpressed, and leaned back against the ship’s railing. Flipping through the pages of a book he had tucked under his arm, he ignored her playful grin and kept reading. He still had a deep frown that caption ronnie caught from the corner of her eye.
“Something wrong?” Ronnie asked, glancing at Darius as she toyed with a compass in her hand.
“This prisoner.. his punishment feels unfair, don’t you think? Sure, what he did was wrong, but why does he have to pay for it with his life?”
Ronnie shrugged, her tone practical and detached. “It’s the law, kiddo. That’s just the way things are.”
Darius looked down at the book in his hands. “Still doesn’t make it right,” he muttered under his breath.
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Darius groggily woke up, his neck stiff and cramping from a restless night. He barely had five seconds to gather himself before a task was thrown in his face.
“Here,” Ronnie said, shoving a tray of sloppy food into his hands.
He blinked, giving it a distasteful look. “What? Did we run out of crew food?”
Ronnie smirked. “Nope. You’re feeding our little fireball today.”
“Wh—? I thought that was Mike’s job,” Darius protested, looking around for the new recruit who had been assigned this thankless duty.
Ronnie’s grin widened as she leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Our prisoner doesn’t take too kindly to Mike, so I figured, since he has a thing for you, you can handle it.”
"...fine" Darius gave her the same disapproving look as yesterday but didint protest.
.
.
.
Darius slid the tray through the slot in the cell door, the clatter echoing faintly in the quiet space.
Ben glanced at the unappetizing pile of food with a disapproving frown, but hunger eventually won out. With a resigned sigh, he grabbed the tray and started eating, though not without a grumble or two under his breath.
Darius watched him for a moment before hearing a faint sea beast at the bottom of this giant ship.
"Serpent"
The two said and gave each other a wide-eyed look. Another beast cried
"Cetus!"
They both yelled and pointed at each other like it was some competition, but Darius said it first.
"How?" Ben quipped.
"I do this every day, what did you expect?"
"I expect you to know nothing about the animals you kidnap..That's how most of you tight suit navis think."
"Kidnapp!? You're the beast smuggler here." Darius' voice got a bit higher.
"I smuggle them to send them home, you know back in the wild where they belong. You people smuggle them to kill, containment, or sport."
"The "wild" is too dangerous for them to belong. They were never meant for this world."
"Dangerous for who? Them, or you."
Darius paused, Ben’s words lingering in his mind longer than he cared to admit. The prisoner had a point—a point Darius had avoided thinking about for far too long.
Sure, he did this job to protect the sea beasts—from poachers, from reckless ships cutting through their waters. But what if that wasn’t the whole story? What if they weren’t protecting the creatures at all? What if locking them away wasn’t for their sake but for humanity’s? To keep them from “plucking babies off their shores,” as the stories went?
The thought unsettled him. It was a crack in the foundation of everything he believed about his work, and cracks had a way of spreading.
Darius’s chest tightened as his thoughts spiraled deeper, questioning if he was truly doing the right thing. If his efforts were about the creatures—or just about control.
These thoughts sent Darius into a bit of a spiral of whether this was right or not, so he left the room so he wouldn't have to think about it anymore.
That didn't help.
The rest of the day was slower than usual, and the crew noticed he seemed distant.
Darius couldn’t stop thinking about what Ben had said. Dinner came around, and reluctantly, he brought the prisoner his food.
The topic came up again, and this time, the conversation turned into a heated debate with a few curse words thrown at Darius. Though there was no clear winner or loser, for some reason, Darius felt like he had lost.
For the past three days, the same pattern repeated itself. Each day, Darius visited more—not just to deliver food, but on his own time as well.
With each visit, he seemed to argue less and listen more.
Darius almost felt like the prisoner—Ben—was starting to grow on him.
He walked into the prison deck with the usual routine he had settled into. Open the slot, slide the food in, and have a conversation.
Today, however, the sea was rough. A storm was brewing, and the waves were pounding against the ship. One particularly large wave hit the side, shaking the beasts below deck and sparking the game to begin.
"Brickleback!" Ben called out, beating him to it.
"Your best one yet," Darius smiled without thinking. He didn’t even realize it, but there it was. "But I bet you can’t beat me at facts."
"You have no idea what you're getting into," Ben smirked.
"Okay then, hit me."
Ben rattled off a dozen facts so fast, that Darius was left speechless. By the time Ben was done, he gave Darius a look that clearly said Your turn.
"Uh... Bricklebacks like... mangos.." Darius chuckled nervously, already regretting his answer.
Ben burst out laughing, a laugh that was so unexpectedly sweet it made Darius’ heart warm. And somehow, that made him laugh too.
What the hell are you doing, Darius? He caught himself thinking. He’s the enemy. A prisoner. Just some guy you ran into, and now you’re sending him to the gallows. And here you are, laughing with him like you’re friends?
He wanted to slap himself. This was all wrong. What was he even doing, getting attached?
A huge wave hit the ship with a jolt, almost knocking Darius off his feet. He caught himself on the door frame, eyes narrowing as he looked out the door.
"What's going on, Ronnie?" Darius shouted, gripping the rail as the ship swayed.
"We’ve got a storm coming," she said, struggling to keep the ship on course. "I suggest you make yourself useful up here."
Darius moved quickly, trying to stay focused. Ronnie’s instructions were clear, and he did his best to help where he could—tightening ropes, tugging at sails, bracing for whatever the storm was throwing at them.
The wind howled, fierce and biting like it had a mind of its own. Rain lashed against his face, cold and stinging, making it hard to see anything. The ship was rocking harder now, each wave pushing them closer to the edge.
Then, with a sudden, unnatural turn, the ship leaned sharply, and Darius felt his stomach lurch. He watched in horror as the crew scrambled, some of them sliding across the deck like ragdolls, trying to regain their footing. The ship felt like it was about to snap in half.
Darius’ heart skipped a beat. The rain was blurring his vision, and he couldn’t see where the ship was heading. Everything felt like it was happening too fast. His breath caught in his throat, a knot forming in his stomach as the ship tilted even further.
The thunder cracked, deafening, and for a second, the ship seemed to bend with the force of the storm. Darius tried to catch himself, but the next wave hit with a jolt, and he nearly lost his grip. His hands found the edge of the ship just in time, fingers digging into the wet wood. His heart was racing in his chest, and the cold was creeping into his bones, but he couldn’t look away.
The storm was relentless, and it felt like it was trying to swallow them whole. Waves towered over the ship, crashing down in a frenzy, and Darius had to keep his feet steady to avoid being knocked off balance. The noise of the storm—thunder, waves, the creaking of the ship—was deafening, and all he could think was that they might not make it through.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw something. A shadow moved beneath the ship, weaving through the water with eerie speed. His breath hitched, and for a split second, his mind went blank. Was it his imagination? Was he seeing things in the chaos?
He blinked, trying to clear his head, but the shadow was still there. It moved too smoothly, too deliberately, to be just the storm. But he shook it off. No time for that. He had to focus on keeping the ship together.
"Focus, Darius," he muttered to himself.
Darius watched Ronnie struggle against the storm, her hands tight on the wheel, trying to keep the ship steady as the waves crashed against them. The ship groaned under the pressure. Without thinking, Darius sprinted for the upper deck to help. His feet splashed through the water that had begun to pool across the floor. Three feet? No—this wasn’t normal. The ship was flooding.
His stomach dropped as the realization hit him like a punch. The ship was sinking.
And Ben… Ben was down there.
Darius hesitated for only a second, standing at the crossroads between the two staircases. One led to Ronnie, trying to keep the ship from being swallowed by the storm. The other led to the brig, where Ben was locked up and helpless.
He made his choice.
Darius sprinted down the stairs, his boots slipping slightly on the slick wood. His heart was pounding in his chest.
The door to the prison deck was already ajar. Ben’s voice echoed in the flooded space, panicked and desperate.
“Help! Someone, let me out-! Darius!”
Darius rushed inside, his hands fumbling with the keys. His mind was racing—hurry up.
“Come on, come on, hurry!” Ben was nearly frantic, the sound of his voice adding to the storm’s chaos.
“I’m trying!” Darius muttered under his breath, finally unlocking the cell and swinging the door open. Ben bolted out of the cell, and before Darius even thought about it, he grabbed his hand, dragging him forward.
“We’ve gotta move, now!” Darius snapped, pulling him toward the stairs.
The two boys, hands clasped tightly, managed to make it out of the prison deck. But just as quickly as they’d escaped one danger, another struck. The ship lurched violently, sending many crew members overboard. Ben was one of them.
With a sharp, panicked yelp, Ben slipped, dragging Darius with him. The cold, violent water churned beneath them, and the only thing keeping Ben from being swallowed by it was Darius' desperate grip.
"
"Ah—ah! D-Darius, don’t let go!" Ben’s voice was strained, his eyes wide with fear as he looked down at the chaos below.
"Hang on!" Darius gritted through clenched teeth, pulling with every ounce of strength he had. His heart pounded, his hands trembling, but the storm and the ship’s violent swaying were against him. The wind howled, the ship rocked, and despite his best efforts, his grip slipped.
"Ben!" Darius shouted, his grip tightening as he managed to catch him again, pulling him back from the edge.
"Lift me up!" Ben cried, panic evident in his voice.
For a brief, fleeting moment, Darius thought they might make it. But the ship heaved under another violent turn, and the relentless rain made his hands slick.
The small victory slipped through his fingers, and with it, Ben.
With one final, helpless yell from Ben, the waves crashed around him, pulling him down. Ben vanished into the cold depths, swallowed by the raging sea.
Darius stood there, his face blank, his mind reeling. The image of Ben disappearing into the water burned in his mind, the weight of it sinking deep in his chest. He’d failed him. He’d let him go.
The guilt was crushing.
Before he could even begin to process the loss, a powerful wave hit Darius, knocking him off the edge. The water closed in around him, pulling him under with terrifying force. He spun in the water, disoriented, the world spinning around him. Every breath was a struggle against the freezing cold, but he couldn’t even figure out which way was up. The shock of the impact made everything blur, and soon, his body went limp as he lost consciousness, the darkness of the sea swallowing him whole...
And Nat dose it agian with a unnecessary sorta dramatic benrius cliff hanger :D