WARNING: Injury, blood

Patton ran down the stairs to the rest of the crew, excited to find Virgil and tell him what happened. Surely, if Virgil knew why Patton trusted Logan and how close they used to be, he would understand.

He stopped dead. "Captain?" He asked quietly.

Rose looked up at him and stood up, stumbling a little. Rose never stumbled. "Hi Patton. Have you seen Janus? I need to talk to him about something."

"Right here." Janus said quietly. His tone surprised Patton. He sounded defeated, small. Janus wasn't ever defeated. Ever.

"Kiddo- Captain Kiddo," Patton corrected himself quickly, "are you okay?"

Rose tried to smile. "Would it fool you if I said yes?" She winced and adjusted her grip on her arm. "Look," she raised her voice to address the whole crew, "I can't talk to you all right now so at ease until I say, understood?"

Murmurs of understanding rippled around the room. Rose nodded curtly and turned to Janus. "Janus, if I could just talk to you. In private."

"Captain, what's going on?" Janus asked, leaning against the wall and looking at Rose worriedly.

Rose sighed. "The good news is that she's secure." She said, gesturing to the ship. "I managed to sail us round a sharp rock and used that to put her at anchor. We'll stay like that until the storm passes over."

"Okay. What's the bad news?" Janus asked. Rose moved her hand to sweep her soaked curls out of her face and Janus gasped. "Captain, your arm!"

"I'm aware, Janus." Rose winced and put her hand back over the spreading patch of blood on her blue coat. "I'm fine for now but until I can get to my cabin, I can't bandage the wound. Believe me, though, I've got it under control."

"Never doubted that." Janus muttered. "Is that the bad news?" Rose laughed humourlessly and quietly.

"If only it was." She sighed again. "The bad news is that we seem to be right in the midst of the hurricane. And we've been right in the middle of it for a couple of hours." She winced slightly. "And I have no idea when the storm's going to pass over."

Janus bit his tongue. "Well, what are we going to do about it?"

Rose stood up. "I understand Patton appointed you temporary captain while I was gone?"

"Yes. But only for a short time. Like the dictators in Rome, before Julius Caesar, of course."

Rose nodded. "Well, just make sure not to start a mutiny against me, okay?"

"But, Captain, it was only for while you're gone. You're back now. Injured but back."

Rose looked up at the ceiling, apparently seeing through it to where the storm was still raging. "I'm going back up there."

"What? Captain, you can't-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do on my own ship." Rose snapped curtly. Janus took a breath to push down the sudden aggression that had built up inside him.

"I only meant that you're injured. Badly by how much it seems to hurt."

"I've delt with worse before." Rose countered. "Besides, the ship's not secure. If she breaks, we're not getting to Risuca, never mind on schedule. We're not getting to Risuca at all if she's not secure." Rose looked Janus up and down as he'd moved to block the exit. "So let me pass, sailor."

Janus sighed and stepped to one side, crossing his arms.

Damn, this is a dark fucking book.
Bye,
Blaize