Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The captain was sleeping in her quarters. She was dreaming about finding the treasure.

‘What is the treasure?’ You might be asking. Well, to this crew of pirates it’s a tale as old as time.

Legend has it that far away from all the land you know and unknown seas you’ve never seen is a treasure that can grant you anything.

But no one has come back from finding it alive. Not yet at least. Rumor has it that the crews have either drowned after getting it because what they wanted was “too much” or just died trying.

But for this crew? It’s a challenge they are willing to take. Now back to our captain..

She was still dreaming. It was about her crew finding it..the treasure.

It felt so real..it was like she was there herself and holding it…wait. What was that noise-

“CARMEN.” Andd there goes sleeping.

“AH-” She looked at who barged into the room. It was just June. “Oh…what?”

June looked nervous. “Uh..we’re kinda..running low on food..again..we’re getting more today right?”

Oh..right..she forgot about that..well. They could still stop. She nodded at her question. “Yes we’re stopping..go tell Vonnie to..” She did see a ship earlier..where was it again?

Northwest? No..was it just west? No no..oh! northeast! “Tell her to go northeast.”

June nodded. “I will! Sorry for..waking you up..”

Carmen waved her hand dismissively. “It’s not a problem really..let me know when we reach the ship.” June nodded and shut the door, going to tell the sailing master where to go.

Eventually Carmen was called up to deck.

“Rigger! Raise the flag!” She pointed to Ryan who groaned.

“Do I have to do it?”

“Yes.”

“..fine fine.” He raised the flag, which had a design of a cutlass going through an hourglass. If the ship didn’t surrender it wouldn’t turn out good for them.

And as predicted..it didn’t surrender. Of course.

“..no one ever wants this to be easy..gunner! Aim the cannons!”

Vonnie looked at her. “You want the cannons?- but what if the food gets damaged?”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “It won’t. Trust me. Just load up the cannons.”

Vonnie nodded anyway and started to load them. Once the cannons were loaded Vonnie grabbed a burning taper and lit the cannon.

After it was lit the captain shouted “fire!” and the sound of the cannon rang out. It did in fact hit the ship.

Once it was close enough they boarded it and a fight with the other crew broke out. There weren't many crew on board so it was easy to fight without getting..mortally wounded.

Mccoy looked at Carmen. “Are you sure we didn’t damage the food?” Carmen nodded.

“Very sure, Mccoy.” She was very quickly able to find food..quite a bit actually.

There were dried beans, biscuits, some eggs, and some fruit. Not a terrible find..one of the better ones the crews had lately.

“Mccoy! Ryan! Come help me with the grub..we need to bring it to the galley.”

Ryan complained for a moment before helping. Surely enough after a moment..the grub was stored in the galley.

She grinned and looked at June. “That should be enough for a while, aye?”

June nodded. “This should last us maybe until we get to that cave..”

“Aye..reminds me. Sailing master! Set course for that cave! We got treasure to find!”

Vonnie nodded and set course once again. And they were off to find that treasure. Something felt..off about this “treasure” but…surely it was nothing to worry about!

Right?

Chapter Text

The ship was getting closer to the cave. This was it..the long lost treasure.
She was holding it. The crew was cheering. They would claim the treasure and make it out alive!

Nothing was going to stop them!

“....in!” What the-

“....ain!” What in the seas name-

“CAPTAIN!”

She sprung awake. Oh..it was..only a dream. Great. Wouldn’t be the first time..she’s been having them more frequently ever since they started getting closer to the island.

It was a weird occurrence but..nothing she could do.

She got up and got dressed. She put her eye patch on and her captain's hat. It was practically a daily routine to put those on.

She had to go see what June made today anyway..it wouldn't be a good idea to go hungry or get sick..especially this far out at sea.

She left her quarters and headed to the gally.

“Morning June.” June looked at her. “Morning captain!” Carmen rolled her eye..same greeting as always from her..
“You don’t have to call me that, Junebug..” June sighed. “I know..but..it feels more..I dunno..professional given the situation?”

Carmen smiled. “I know..but you’ve been on this ship with me longer than anybody here..”

June nodded. “I know..” Carmen ruffled her hair. “Anyway..whatcha got on the menu today, Juniper?”

June playfully smacked her hand away and chuckled. “Oatmeal and rum.”

The two kept talking as she ate her breakfast. She eventually spoke up once she was done.

“Good food as always, Ju..I told you I was right making you the cook.”

June smiled. “Thank you Carmie..glad to know someone trusts me to cook..I still think Ryan doesn’t..”

Carmen rolled her eye..of course he didn’t..Ryan wasn’t the type to trust everything in sight. June..was kind of the opposite but that was fine.

“I should go talk to Vonnie..make sure we’re still on course..”

June nodded and waved. “See ya around.”

Carmen found Vonnie eventually. “There ye are..” Vonnie looked at her, she was currently making sure the sails were facing the correct direction they needed to go.

“Morning Carmen..”

Carmen smiled. “We’re going the right way, I recon?” She nodded. “Excellent..you’re good at your job, Von. I told you my crew needed you.”

Vonnie smiled. “As I recall you told me my skills were highly needed as no one knew how to use the sails..you’re a very lucky person to have gotten me it seems Carm..”

Carmen jabbed her side gently “Oi..we could get around fine you know! We just needed a better person to do it..”

Vonnie snickered. “Sure..yeah..” Carmen smiled and looked out at the sea.

She always admired it even before she started sailing..the sea life also was appealing..sharks being a personal favorite.

And here she was..captain of her own ship. With her own crew at that. She was..proud. She’s made a living for herself with people she can call friends. She was lucky to even be able to do this..

Not many people, let alone pirates, were able to start as easily and her and June did. To be frank..they did steal a boat without having to fight people for it because it was left unguarded.

They were lucky to not be shot down by canons or something for what they did..but now. An entire crew was on here.

And they were heading towards treasure. People have died trying..but Carmen was determined to get it and prove that you could go to that cave and survive.

And she would do it. No matter what. Well..she would keep her crew as safe as possible. But..she wanted to prove herself worthy of being called a pirate. And that's exactly what this trip would do.
She took off her hat and sat on the ground, placing it next to her. Vonnie joined her eventually.

“It’s..beautiful out here isn’t it Carm?”

Carmen nodded. “It really is..”

Chapter Text

Her crew had the treasure..and they were heading back. Everything was great! They were proving the legend to be false.

That people could make it back alive! But something felt..off. Like something was watching them. Waiting to pounce. Was that an eye?

Before she could fully process it..she woke up. What was that..? Was it really an eye or was the dream just exaggerating things?

Dreams tend to be like that..especially hers since they’ve been getting closer. But she swore that it was there somehow. Well..nothing was there so surely it didn’t matter.

She rose out of bed and got ready. The crew was getting bored..so she decided to entertain them today..sea shanties was probably going to be the chosen thing for today.

The crew did love making them up..especially June. She always was good at making the lyrics.

With that, Carmen headed up to the deck to address the crew.

“attention crew!”

The crew gathered around where the captain stood. Which was by the wheel.

“I hear that lately we've been bored since no ships sail this far out. How shall we fix it?”

Some people said board games, others said drinking, but most people said sea shanties..as was expected with this crew.

So for hours under the heated sun the crew made up lyrics to pass the time. Everybody ate and drank most of the day.

The ship shook slightly from the crew moving around so much but it was all in good fun. The sea wasn’t too aggressive today and the winds weren’t too strong.

It was peaceful. Which helped ease the captain after the morning. She still remembered the dream but..it didn’t matter right now.

The sea was at ease as the crew and its captain had fun. And that’s all that mattered in the moment.

She would be sure to remember this moment. It would be a shame to forget it really..she wouldn’t let herself forget it so easily.

This crew meant too much to her for her to forget.

The sun set and everyone finished eating and headed back to their quarters for the night. Carmen just stared at the ceiling.

She couldn’t get over this nagging feeling that something felt off..but she had no idea what. She eventually drifted off to sleep but..that nagging feeling never left.

Chapter Text

Something was wrong. She couldn’t move. Why can’t she move? It’s just treasure so why is she struggling to move? This isn’t hard.

Just move Carmen. Move your arm. Move your legs. MOVE.

The roar of..something was heard and then-

She woke up with a jolt..these dreams keep getting weirder as the days go on. So far that one felt the most realistic. Like she was living that moment. Weird..she probably shouldn’t question it.

Dreams can feel realistic sometimes..so it shouldn’t feel this strange. She was safe here after all..well. Besides storms and other things.

She went up to the deck and made sure everything was as it was.

The sails were going in the right direction, the canons were clean, the muskets were clean, the food wasn’t rotting, and that the water didn’t have algae in it.

Which it didn’t..the crew added rum to it in the barrels to make sure it wasn’t stagnant.

She eventually sat down on the bow. There wasn’t much to do besides the usual chores. The sea was a little choppy but nothing to necessarily worry about. It wasn’t gloomy for once..which made the crew not have to worry about a storm.

Ryan sat next to her. “You look troubled, cap’n.” He grinned at her, like he knew what she was thinking about.
Of course.

“You always think you know everything, hm?” She had a playful tone as she spoke. He rolled his eyes.

“Bold assumption from you.” He laughed.

“Yeah yeah..but really I’m fine.” He tilted his head. “You normally come here if you feel like something’s wrong.”

She wanted to protest but..he was right.

“But that’s the thing! Nothing is wrong! I dunno..my dreams have just been bothering me. Nothing bad or anything just..confusing and messy and hard to understand. But I still feel like we aren’t safe going to where we’re going..but being here..it makes me feel better. Like we’re proving people wrong about this place.”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah I get it..that’s just how it goes. I dunno..the adventures are worth it though aren’t they?”

She nodded. “They really are..and we just happened to pick you guys up along the way.”

She gently elbowed him in the side which caused him to roll his eyes.

“Yeah yeah..but you got a whole crew and not just June now, didn’t you?”

She grinned. “I did..I’m proud of myself for doing that. Mainly so..whatever we find it’s not just June and I having to figure out what to do. We get to decide..as a whole crew. Even if we find nothing it was still done as a crew to figure out if there was in the first place.”

Ryan nodded. “Agreed..this has been fun..despite the storms.” She nodded..yeah. The storms could get pretty bad from time to time.

Ryan spoke, standing up. “Anyway..I’m gonna go finish my chores so I can go take a nap. See ya cap’n.”

She waved to him and kept staring at the water. Still as calm as before. It could be worse anyway..this trip would be worth it in the end. They would get the treasure and go back home.

Together.

As a crew.

And as friends.

Chapter Text

The sea was calm. Too calm.

It bothered Carmen as they approached the cave. Nothing was wrong..she was overreacting.

What was so wrong about this cave? There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a cave..

Just like the legends say.

The cave was dimly lit. The crew approached..but she swore something was watching them.

Maybe she was paranoid..after all who's to say that other pirates wouldn't want to come here just to see if they could get the treasure?

The crew continued onward. Into the cave they went.

But that nagging feeling of something watching didn’t go away.

Mccoy grabbed the treasure once the crew docked. A rumble was heard. She turned around and-

She woke up.

Just a dream of..whatever it was. She keeps almost seeing it but she can never figure out what it is.

Or who if it’s a person.

She got out of bed and made sure the ship was on course.

It somehow kept getting 10 degrees off course but..oh well.

She ate breakfast with the crew..nothing interesting happens this far out at sea. But it wouldn’t be long till the crew got to where they were headed.

Mccoy stood next to her. “Ahoy Captain.”

She smiled at him. “Hey. How’s the structure of the ship?” She tilted her head as she asked.

“It’s good actually! Nothing too damaged or beyond repair for that matter. It doesn’t need to be fixed right now anyway.”

“Is it the sail by chance?”

Mccoy tilted his head. “How did you know that?”

Oh..her guess was right? “Lucky guess actually..might wanna fix it. Vonnie said a storm might happen soon. So get to it shipwright.” She lightly jabbed him.

He chuckled. “Aye aye captain..”

She grinned. “That’s more like it!”

“Well..if there is a storm..should we turn back?”

Strangely enough she wanted to say yes but decided against it. “No no..we’ll be fine..this ships seen worse anyway.”

Mccoy nodded. She was right after all..the ship had been through a lot. It constantly needed repairs..

“Yeah..remember the surprise attack with the cannons from that one crew?”

Carmen nodded..she was all too familiar with that one.

“Yeah..that one was a bit of a doozy wasn’t it? Almost had to retreat..but we kept going and won anyway..and it was pretty grand.”

Mccoy nodded. “Yeah. Good thing we had that extra cannon ball, hm?”

She nodded. “I honestly didn’t think we had another..luckily we had that one stowed away.”

The clouds above the crew were now grey, blocking the sun.

“Well..get to it. The storms coming in sooner than I was expecting, it seems..”

Mccoy grinned. “The seas sure are unforgiving, huh?”

She nodded.

“Yeah..what else is new right?”

Mccoy walked away..he was going to fix the sail. She went up to the ship wheel..if a storm was coming she better be ready to steer the ship. She had a bad feeling about this storm.