Mabilia:
Things can change so fast on this ship. One moment I'm sitting in the common room, hoping to catch a few moments of sleep, and the next I'm plunging a sword into the heart of a complete stranger, watching life bleed out of his eyes for just a moment before moving onto my next opponent. I don't know why we're being attacked, I just know that we are. I catch a glimpse of Monstrum and run over to him.
"What the hell, captain? Why are they attacking?" I yell over the heavy noise of the battle. He opens his mouth to respond, but in the blink of an eye is fighting a new opponent. I go onto do the same. The next man I fight is nearly my height, with soft brown hair, tainted with fresh blood. My sword cuts through the air, clanging as it hits his. He swifty pulls his sword away, sinking a small cut into my shoulder before I sink down, my skin parting ways with the metal of his weapon. I yell in pain, using my rage as strength as I land a slice though his stomach. The man screams with pain, crumbling onto the ground. I watch in slight horror as he tries to scoop up his guts spilling out of his body, but I can't stay any longer. Yet another fighter is barreling toward me. This time it's an older man, around Monstrum's age if I were to guess. Unfortunately for him, his age obviously did not give him much skill. He relies on muscle throughout our short fight, and in no time at all, he's pleading with the gods to spare him his life as blood drains from his neck and he slides down onto the wood of our ship. I keep fighting. I must've killed at least fifteen men, and when I lookup from my last victim, only one person aside our crew is left, and Jenos has his sword all the way through his neck. Not how I would fight, but effective at least. The smell of death wafts up, the scent of hot blood mixing with the humidity. It's awful to fight in the heat, but at least it's over. My hands hit my knees as I catch my breathe, and Jenos walks over to me.
"Good job. You fight well" he compliments. I give im a smile. I'm certainly not fond of him, but at least he's not being a jerk. Not to mention, I don't have the energy to do anything but smile at him.
Cibus awkwardly walks out of the kitchen, avoiding eye contact with the plethra of dead bodies laying on our deck. It's obvious he doesn't fight, which is fine.
"Is everyone okay?" He asks fearfully.
"We're fine, Cibus." Monstrum says kindly.
Jenos walks up to me and stands by me,
"He does that everytime theres a battle, poor guy worries himself sick." Jenos comments. I give him a side-eye. Why does Jenos all of a sudden want to chat with me? He looks at me, obviously expecting an answer, and so I give him a slightly mumbled "mhm" and we're silent again.
"so what do we do now?" I question, "I mean, we're not just gonna let these bodies sit here, right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. we carry the bodies off the deck and dump them overboard. It's not the most respectful way to go about things, but it gets the job done." He explains.
I glance over to one of the first men I killed. His intestines are splayed out around him, he wont be easy to carry.
He seesmy line of sight and quickly jumps in,
"I can take that one if you want. It doesn't bother me" he affirms.
"I don't need you to do that, I'll be fine." I grunt.
"I know you'll be fine, but I can still do it for you." He says calmly. He can be so annoying.
"I already said I'd do it, alright?" I argue, my voice stronger now.
Jenos doesn't say anything else, just walks away quietly, talking to Rusticus a few moments before beginning to scoop up bodies and throw them overboard. Everybody follows to do the same. I immediately go to the body that I sloppily slaughtered. I want to get it over with. I take a breathe as I scoop my hands under his guts and lift them back into his bodies, similar to what he tried to do in his last moments, except I actually do get them back into his body. Thi is one of those kills where I do feel some guilt. I don't often feel bad for my assassinations anymore as they happen so often, but I'm only human. I take one last look into his golden eyes, now lifeless, and I shut them. I look at his hand and notice a wedding band. Immense guilt tears through my skin, and I nearly cry, but I don't. I simply carry the man to the side of the ship, and drop his body into the cold depths of the sea. I take a breathe, and continue picking up bodies one by one. It's an awful process, and the half hour or so it takes to carry them all feels like a decade. Once we all finish, Rusticus comes out with a barely white mop, saturating it with bright red as he clean the mixed blood of our enemies offof the floor. It still reaks of human flesh when Rusticus is done, but at least it's less intense. We all retire to the commons room, except of course for Monstrum, who goes into his private cabin. I walk in and bunch up the straw thats spread out over he past few days and acts as my bed. I sit down and lean my head against the wall. My eyes fall closed as I listen to the waves crashing behind me. For the first time since we started fighting, my heart beats slower and slower, until I'm finally calm. As soon as I'm at that point, I lay down and immediately fall asleep. I open my eyes after a bit, and I walk outside. Based on the movement of the sun, I probably slept for around an hour. I see Jenos up on the high deck. He's sitting, peacefully. I decide to avoid him ad just go back into the commons. I sit on my bed once again, but I don't fall asleep. Instead I let my mind wander. I don't do that very often. My mind roams to so many topics that I loose count. I think of the man whom I killed, and who he had to leave behind because of it. I think of my father back home, and the warmth of his voice. When I'm finally brought out of my thoughts, it feels like transcending realities. Jenos opens the door to the commons, and I hide my frustration.
"How long have you been sitting there?" He pesters.
"I don't know." I say monotone. If he can't tell that I want him to leave then he is wholy and truly an idiot. Jenos rolls his eyes, then bringing them to meet mine.
"Why are you like this? I keep trying to be nice to you and you just won't respond, I mean I know we didn't have a great first impression, but come on." He complains. I bat my eyes down, not having the mental capacity to argue with him. The most of a response I give is shrugging my shoulder.
"Can't you at least say something?" he requests.
I huff out a breathe as I give him a response. "Can't you just go away? You are so annoying."
He doesn't do as I ask. Rather he just sits down. We don't say anything to eachother, just stare, occasionally looking away.
When the dinner bell finally rings it feels like the bells of angels themselves. I walk out the door first, going into the mess room and taking a seat. What we eat for dinner isn't exactly amazing, but I've eaten worse.
"I know today wasn't easy, is everyone fine?" Monstrum questions. A mixture of nods and "mhm" are given in response.
"Good. As we all already know, death isn't easy, even when it's strangers. If anything bothers you then talk to me. We all have a duty to maintain a healthy mental state in order to keep fighting." He affirms. I already know that I won't talk to him about what happened today, but it's nice that he cares about the crew. I'm still in a slight disbelief from today. People always say that Monstrum's crew is an extremely elite group of fighters, but I never realized how powerful we actually are. Even Rusticus is a powerful fighter. Maybe he can be sloppy, but he can do a lot of damage. As I sit in my wooden chair, small talk surrounding me, I think about the fact that I'm going to be among these people for months, likely. I'm not entirely sure if the thought makes me happy or drives me insane.