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Ryuji dragged his peg leg across the creeky floors of the orlop deck. Seaweed crept into the holes of the galley, as barnacles and fish danced across the area. He dragged the mop across the ground, trying to clean up an eternal mess that would never been completely fixed. He heard singing from the officer's mess upstairs. Sea shanties, drinking songs, songs associated with happiness and joy.
However, there wasn't supposed to be singing. The ship was haunted. He made sure of it. It was what he deserved for what happened to his mother, and his leg. The Shadows that walked around the top decks of the ship who resembled ghostly pirates and a literal skeleton crew were created from his own grief. His pain. His anger.
He should've stopped his father. He should've. He was the other man in the house - he was strong, he was tough, he was brave… He should've been able to stop the accident. He looked down at his leg.
He didn't remember the day clearly, but he remembered his mom and dad were arguing, he stepped in to stop his dad from hitting his mom, but the argument only seemed to escalate.
The rest was a blur. His mother was dead on the ground, and his leg ached. At that point, calling the hospital was one act of rebellion that Ryuji had. He had already witnessed his father murder his mother and damage his leg, he needed to run, now.
But he could barely move. It was like he was on a sinking ship. His body rocked back and forth when the ambulance arrived, his dad lied that Ryuji had 'fallen over'. It was a terrible lie, but Ryuji knew that no one would believe him if he argued against it. After all, his father was all powerful, strong, and crucially, the adult. Ryuji had no chance of stopping him.
And to make things worse, Ryuji knew his father had paid off the cops to lie about his mother's death. Knew that he abandoned him in that hospital. He was so scared and frightened, and the doctors operating on him didn't make it much better. With every movement, he knew this was his punishment.
The Palace was just an extra section of that. Here he was, a lowly cleaner of the orlop deck, not allowed to take part in whatever festivities took place above. He wanted to be saved, needed to be saved…
Unfortunately, the kraken at the bottom of the sea would not let him.