#missing teammate

“For the last time, Luc, you had no way of seeing this coming.”

Luc scoffed, the chains binding him to the wall rattling as he shook his head. “I can trace the exact trail of decisions that led to this point. If just one of them were different, we would not be here.”

“Celestials…” Damian groaned, “how many times must I repeat myself before the words get through your skull? You. Didn’t. Know. And even if one of those decisions were different, how do you know we wouldn’t have ended up here anyway?”

“Don’t ask me to see the damned big picture. And don’t you dare say that we are supposed to be here.”

“I wasn’t going to, but now that you mention it—”

“Your Highness, with all due respect, shut the fuck up.”

Damian narrowed his eyes at the Watcher. They were chained to opposite walls in the same cell underneath who-knows-where by who-knows-what. Luc stared at the cuff on his wrist, as if looking at it would force it to unlock, jaw clenched, hands curled into fists.

No matter how much Luc insisted otherwise, their current predicament was not his fault. If anything, it was Damian’s. He'd been the one to insist on accompanying Luc and Reese out of Caenum to investigate a string of murders. He had wanted to step away from city life for a little while, and being with a Watcher and his apprentice-who-insisted-she-was-not-an-apprentice seemed at the time the safest way to do that.

How could they have known they would get kidnapped barely a week into the journey?

“You’re worried about Reese, aren’t you?”

Luc glanced at the cell door, a thick wood slab full of splinters. “They didn’t put her with us,” he muttered, “Why didn’t they put her with us? Are the cells segregated? Is she with other female prisoners? Do they want her for something specific? Celestials, I don’t know what they’re doing with her.”

“You think they know about… y’know….” Damian’s eyes flicked to the cell door, uncertain if anyone was outside listening. If their captors didn’t know about Reese’s heritage, it would be best if they didn’t find out.

“It would explain a lot,” Luc said quietly. He ran a hand through his hair, the chains rattling ominously. “I know some of the people involved were never caught or identified. But as far as I know, we’re nowhere near Zariya. Unless they fled out towards the Torrent when the operation was shut down.”

He hissed through his teeth, eyes on the floor. “I hope they don’t. I really hope they don’t. She doesn’t tell me everything, but from what her father and de Silv said…” the blood suddenly drained from his face. “Oh celesitals… de Silv’s going to kill me if he finds out I let this happen.”

“De Silv?” Damian asked quizzically. The name sounded elven.

“Octavian de Silv. An elf who rescued her five years ago from the people who’d kidnapped her due to…” Luc gestured vaguely, indicating that he also suspected listeners. “He and I have a… complicated history. He had been missing for over a decade when he showed up at my office in Caenum when Reese and her father moved back there. He explained her situation, and asked me to take care of them as a favor.”

“Why couldn’t he do it?”

“Didn’t say. He disappeared shortly after. I haven’t seen or heard of him or his partner, a hunter by the name Draven Cozenson, since.” Luc sighed. “I swore that I’d keep her safe. And I did that by keeping track of her and training her to use that knife of hers. Which led to her following me on investigations, which led to me teaching her forensics due to her asking questions. And now everyone thinks she’s my apprentice.”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “‘Thinks’? So she’s not actually your apprentice? I thought you two were joking about that.”

“Ugh…” Luc slumped, five years of exasperation and exhaustion etched across his face. “Unofficially?”

“What does your own mentor think?” Damian asked, smirking.

“When I figured out what was happening about two years in, I sent him an apology letter for all the stress I put him through. He finds the whole thing hilarious.”

Damian chuckled. “She can handle herself. I’m sure she’s doing just fine. Perhaps she already escaped and is currently looking for us.”

“I wish I could share your optimism.”

“I can be optimistic enough for the both of us.”

Fighting against every instinct that told him to just go with it, he pushed weakly against the arms that held his body in place, wriggling in hopes of loosening the grip. But no matter how much he struggled, the arms around him only grew tighter. Like a python weakening its prey. Or a serpent, he thought wryly.

When darkness enveloped him again, it took Floyd a second to realize he hadn’t passed out, but instead been taken inside. A maze of dim cabin hallways passed by as he craned his neck for a view of where they were headed, but it was all so strangely unfamiliar. Where were they? Floyd had explored every inch of his own ship. He should’ve known where they were.

The thought that he might be aboard the Golden Felucca hit him like a slap in the face. It didn’t make sense, but if Percival wasn’t going to kill him after all... Floyd sobbed aloud at the memory of his mindless begging, the offering of himself in exchange for his life. He hadn’t expected it to work. He hadn’t thought any further ahead than that isolated moment of desperation and he felt a dizzying, fearful regret bubble up to his head.

There was no more time to dwell on it before Percival strode into a room and Floyd’s body hit the ground, rolling a few feet with the momentum. There was no struggle left in him, even as he opened his eyes to the horrific sight of a small room outfitted with chains, metal loops, and more he didn’t even care to identify in his exhausted state. Adrenaline nagged him, pulled him on to his side, but the full force of his exhaustion, hunger, thirst, and fright hit all at once.

Percival gathered Floyd’s wrists above his head in a firm grip, dragging him backward, sitting him up against a wall, and locking him there with heavy metal shackles. Floyd couldn’t breathe steadily enough to speak, raising his tearful eyes instead in a last ditch effort to plead with his captor. 

This couldn’t be happening. There was no way Percival had run away with him unseen. In a few seconds, his crew would burst through the door to save him. They had to.

Tall legs bent before him and a lopsided smile spread over Percival’s face. He reached a hand up to stroke Floyd’s hair, which he shied away from with a shudder.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Percival chided, running fingers through short waves even as his captive pressed the side of his face to the wall, refusing to look back at him. “This setup is only temporary, alright? I’ll make sure you’re much less comfortable tomorrow.”

With a final ruffle of Floyd’s hair that pulled his head back and knocked it off the wall, as well as a flourish of his own long coat, Percival stood up and strolled back to the door.

“See you soon, dear!”

Then he was gone.

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(The Thief’s Halyard, just minutes prior)   

Ray thrust his sword fiercely at the opposing pirate, driving them toward the edge of the ship. They parried his strikes well but backed up too far, leaving them vulnerable against the railing. Ray was prepared to force them into submission, perhaps threaten to push them over into the churning waters, when a shrill voice cut through the action, calling all of the opposing pirates to retreat. 

It caught him off guard and Ray hesitated just long enough for his foe to use their position on the rail to deliver a high kick across his face before scrambling to their feet and jumping the gap between ships. 

Ray cried out at the nasty hit, cradling his cheek, and by the time he looked back the person had scaled a rope ladder and disappeared. All around him, people were retreating and doing the same, leaving the crew of The Thief’s Halyard alone and dazed. 

A quick glance around found nearly everyone standing up at the very least, traces of blood at a surprising minimum. His eye was quickly drawn to Mabel, running over to him with her hands pressed over a deep red stain on her side.

“Mabel! Mae, hey, are you alright, is it bad?” Ray tried to pry her hands away and see the wound, but she wouldn’t let him. She only pressed harder, breathing heavily through clenched teeth, only causing more pain in an attempt to stanch the bleeding. 

“It’s fine, ‘m fine. Just a stab, may-hhh-! Maybe a few centimeters, but that’s not, ‘s not important-”

“Yes it is!” Ray butted in, placing a careful hand on her shoulder, “Here, hold on, let me get a look at that and we can get it stitched up and taken care of.”

“No, no! Floyd, it’s Floyd.” Ray froze, eyes suddenly wide, darting around the ship. He’d seen Floyd just a few minutes ago, hadn’t he? “Hhhh-he’s, gone, I dunno… Thought I saw Percival for a second and he was gone then Floyd was gone…” Mabel stumbled on unsteady feet, and Ray caught her before she could fall to the ground, eyes wild. 

“Gone? What do you mean? Where? People don’t just disappear, Mae.” 

“Just, over there, look!” She pointed to a wall away from the main battle congregation and the traces of blood around it. 

“I... Where is he now? Where’d he go?”

“I didn’ see... it leads off the side, though, and- Gods, Ray, if he- hhhe…” she trailed off, the words catching in the back of her throat, her breath hitching. Her eyes were glazed over with tears and pain, but Ray’s were dark, focused, and intense. 

“It was him? You’re sure it was him?” He shook her a little as he asked. Mabel swayed listlessly to the side and nodded. “Look at you, you can hardly even stand. You might’ve just seen it wrong. Can’t trust your body, can’t trust your mind, right?” She squinted and shook her head as if to clear it but he kept going. “We’re going to organize this ship and we’re going to find him, and I’ll only relent when we do.”

Mabel looked up, trying to put her thoughts into words, but her head spun and she couldn’t think before Ray helped her sit on the ground, made sure she was still putting pressure on the wound, and called everyone else over to him. Beside them, the Golden Felucca was pulling away, no worse for wear but no richer, either. It was strange, to say the least.

When people circled around, Ray did a quick headcount and frowned.

“We’re missing Charlie and Floyd. Has anyone seen either of them?”

“Charlie just went in, said he couldn’t take the heat and needed to lay down before he passed out entirely,” one woman explained.

“Okay, thank you Edith. And Floyd?” Ray was clearly desperate as he looked over everyone, each slight shake of the head and avoidance of eye contact sending a shiver down his spine. “Okay... okay.” He wiped his eyes and swallowed the emotions that wanted to bubble up. It wasn’t too late. Surely it wasn’t too late. 

“Listen up, then,” he said, voice harsh, “I need one person who can handle a needle and thread... Clara, yes, you’ll do. Take Mabel with you, fix her up, and get back to me when you’re done. The rest of you are going to scour every single place on this ship to find Floyd.” 

Clara hurried to Mabel’s side as Ray launched into more specific directions, offering two hands to pull her to her feet. She nearly collapsed the moment she stood but Clara caught her around the waist and guided both of them toward the cabin door. Mabel was so dizzy and distracted by the unusually harsh, commanding tone of Ray’s voice that she didn’t even hear Clara for a few seconds.

“Mabel!” A shout finally brought her back. “The stairs. Can you make it down or should I try lifting you?”

They were inside. She hadn’t even noticed they’d walked so far, but considering how Clara was already shaking with the effort of holding her upright, Mabel couldn’t imagine asking to be carried. She shook her head loosely, stumbling forward and shakily making her way down. Even here, she could still hear Ray in the distance.

“I will not give up on finding him until I exhaust each and every method at my disposal,” he shouted, “and I will not be hearing a single complaint from the lot of you that entire time. I do not care how parched your throat is or how tired your legs are. Do whatever you need to survive, and get the fuck to work.”

Mabel felt faint. She wanted so badly to get back out there and redirect the situation, but she couldn’t think straight as she was. She could only hope and pray despite herself that Floyd was still aboard, that what she’d seen really had been wrong, but she knew that was just too good to be true.

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