❛ And I don't want your pity, I just want somebody near me. Guess I'm a coward. I just want to feel alright. ❜

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5
the best revenge is dressing well

THE OCEAN WAS beautifully calm, which pleased Nikita as she sat in a dinghy with the whole crew crammed into the boat. She enjoyed seeing the reflection of the sky trapped inside the water, and if she peered over, she could see herself. Sometimes she imagined it as another version of her staring back, her own watery life on the other side of that reflection thinking the same.

⠀⠀⠀The open sea was always a calming presence, especially as Blackbeard had agreed to help Stede Bonnet and his crew become real pirates. In exchange, Stede would teach Blackbeard the ways of the aristocracy. A strange trade, Nikita thought, but she didn't complain as just the day before, Blackbeard was considering his next great adventure would be dying.

⠀⠀⠀"What we have here is a medium-sized merchant craft," Blackbeard explained to the crew around him, casually leaning against the side of the boat. "You'll note, if you look carefully, a distinct lack of cannons or any other killing devices. So, we're gonna go on up there, and, uh, we're gonna cause some havoc."

⠀⠀⠀"Crew of the Revenge, you are not to engage!" Izzy continued. His words were harsher than Blackbeard's. He spoke to the crew like scum on the bottom of his shoe, whereas Blackbeard had been much calmer. "You are simply here to observe how real pirates function in the real world."

⠀⠀⠀"Uh, we are also real pirates in the real world, so..." Black Pete said pointedly, raising his hand in annoyance that Izzy didn't convey this point.

⠀⠀⠀"Quick question," Stede pipped in, his brows furrowed in uncertainty. "How violent do we expect this to get?"

THE RAID WAS as violent as Nikita expected. Men screaming, blood pooling on the deck, limbs dismembered and cast aside. A typical raiding day. Nikita had climbed up the mast to get a better look at the chaos. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her men do what they did best while Stede's crew stood precariously in the middle of the fighting.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita's eyes found Bash, who had been trying to keep to the side of the boat. However, one of the merchants had targeted him. Blackbeard, Izzy, Ivan, and Gang were busy with their own fights, unconcerned if any of the Revenge's crew were harmed or maimed in the process.

⠀⠀⠀Annoyed, Nikita walked heel to toe across the beam, her arms held up to keep her balance. She perched herself at the edge, pulled her knife from its sheath, and flicked it down. The blade spun with targeted precision, and just as the man's fingers touched Bash's arm, he dropped like a sack of flour with his skull pierced through.

⠀⠀⠀Bash screamed, high-pitched and deafening to the ears as he stepped out of the way. His eyes were wild, and he looked frantically for who had helped him. He took a few deep breaths, then caught Nikita above him.

⠀⠀⠀"Um, thanks!" Bash shouted, waving his hand with a smile.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita sat down on the beam. She fell backward and then used that momentum to flip herself down onto the deck. She side-stepped a man tossed across the ship by Ivan and then bee-lined to the dead man. She kneeled beside him, taking the knife's hilt and pulling it from the skull.

⠀⠀⠀A hurried dash of feet alerted her attention and Bash's sudden intake of air. Before the second merchant could try to tackle her, she whipped her arm out behind her, and the knife sunk into the merchant's eye.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, my god," Bash muttered, suddenly nose to nose with Nikita. "That was... extraordinary."

⠀⠀⠀Nikita eyed him, standing back to her full height, and frowned.

⠀⠀⠀"Thanks."

⠀⠀⠀The men on the deck were dead, and the real fun could commence. Looting.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita rifled through the merchant's she killed clothing finding jewelry, coins, and other insignificant trinkets kept on their person. She didn't keep much for herself, but she did enjoy the thrill of finding something new. Sometimes, she liked to cycle out her jewelry if she found anything good enough.

⠀⠀⠀"Hand over the goods, dear boy!" Stede exclaimed, catching Nikita's attention. She turned to see him trying to intimidate the Captain tied to the mast, but he didn't seem too frightened. "Or, I'll be obliged to unleash my vengeance, which will be quite unfortunate for both of us: the vengeancer and the vengeancee."

⠀⠀⠀"No," the Captain told him simply, a smug smile pulling up the edges of his lips.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh," Stede muttered. His demeanor immediately changed with the simple remark. "He's not cooperating. How do I be more scary than that?" he asked Blackbeard.

⠀⠀⠀"You could try a little more oomph," Blackbeard offered, languidly stepping in front of the Captain. He paused for a moment, soaking in the dramatic effect, before stabbing his knife into the mast beside the Captain's face. Then, he screamed, "Next one goes through your fuckin' eyeball! Now, where's the loot?! Where's the fuckin' loot?!"

⠀⠀⠀The Captain appeased him, cowering like a little girl, and immediately revealed where their loot was.

⠀⠀⠀"See? Oomph."

NIKITA STOOD ON the deck while her father was below, learning the art of fine dining. He had asked if Nikita would like to join him, but she declined. She was not necessarily interested in learning which fork to eat what food with.

⠀⠀⠀Staring out at the water brought Nikita a sense of peace but a strange stirring of something else. The sea seemed to tell her where her course was beginning to shift, and she could feel the change with Stede's presence.

⠀⠀⠀For the past few days, Nikita had already noticed a change in her father. He behaved well-mannered, didn't drink nearly as much as he used to, and seemed almost happy.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita was open to whatever path she was guided toward as long as her father was there. That is where the anxiety grew. Her childish belief that Blackbeard would abandon her like all others in her life kept plaguing her. It had been ten years, and still, he had yet to change his mind. She kept telling herself this. However, her mind reminded her she had a family before him, and they got rid of her too.

⠀⠀⠀Beside her, she felt him appear. Not her father, but the strange pirate that wouldn't leave her alone. Bash. He was wringing his hands, and he smiled nervously at Nikita when she looked from the corner of her eye.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes?" Nikita asked, staring at him with such intensity that it seemed to frighten him.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

⠀⠀⠀"You walked over here and just stood," Nikita explained, frowning. "I thought you wanted to say something."

⠀⠀⠀"No, no," Bash assured her, then shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes, I just... well, I was wondering... well—"

⠀⠀⠀"Do you always speak like this?" Nikita asked, wide-eyed and confused at his weird reaction. She had heard him with his fellow pirates, and he seemed like a charmer. He was squirming around like a fish she caught with her hands.

⠀⠀⠀"No, not really, just around the pretty ones," Bash explained nervously, letting out a small chuckle. His eyes left her and averted to the sea ahead of them. He took deep breaths in an effort to calm himself and his reddened skin.

⠀⠀⠀"Pretty what?"

⠀⠀⠀"Pretty people," Bash explained, confidence striking him suddenly as he turned to look at her. A grin lit up his entire appearance. It fell nicely on his features, and he looked normal for once. Not sweaty and awkward.

⠀⠀⠀"Right," Nikita nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"It's true, most beautiful woman I've seen out on the high seas," Bash assured her, and Nikita wondered if his nervousness had been an act.

⠀⠀⠀"How many women have you seen out here?" Nikita asked curiously, if only for her own amusement.

⠀⠀⠀"Well..." Bash faltered, growing awkward again, and looked back to the sea. "Only the one."

⠀⠀⠀"I'm honored."

⠀⠀⠀"You come to the side of the ship a lot," Bash noticed, leaving behind his weird confidence and resigned to a more calm nature. "What do you stare at?"

⠀⠀⠀"The ocean," Nikita said.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, not much else out there, right?" Bash asked with a small laugh.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita noticed how he flinched at his words, embarrassed by what he said. She chuckled slightly but didn't turn to look at him.

⠀⠀⠀"What do you stare at?" she asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Hm, the ocean, I guess," Bash answered her.

⠀⠀⠀"No, I believe you hardly look at her," Nikita said knowingly, looking out of the corner of her eye with a smirk.

⠀⠀⠀Bash sighed, feeling like she had just pried him open with one look and read every word written out from birth to death.

⠀⠀⠀"No, I rather enjoy the sunset. The colors are always beautiful, always different than the last one," Bash explained with a small smile. He leaned his frame against the railing and stared at the horizon where later the sun would set and spark beautiful colors through the sky.

⠀⠀⠀"It is beautiful," Nikita agreed. "The reflection the water holds makes it look like you could live in it."

⠀⠀⠀Bash smiled from ear to ear and turned to look at her as the pink flushed his face once again. Nikita looked at him, turning her face so he could see it in full. Her hair was pulled back taut, and her eyes mirrored the ocean. Her beauty made Bash turn brighter.

⠀⠀⠀"I've dreamed of living in a beauty like that," Bash said to her wistfully.

⠀⠀⠀A door slammed open before Nikita could respond, and Blackbeard was running across the deck.

⠀⠀⠀"Nikki! Nikki! C'mon, we have no time!" Blackbeard exclaimed, coming up behind her and pushing her below deck.

⠀⠀⠀"No time for what!" Nikita yelled back, frightened by the suddenness of Blackbeard's appearance as he dragged her through the halls.

⠀⠀⠀"We're going to a ball!" Blackbeard explained, pulling her into Stede's room. He jumped in front of her and stared at her with an excited grin that edged onto manic. "We've been invited."

⠀⠀⠀"What are you talking about?" Nikita asked, confused.

⠀⠀⠀"Um, the boat we raided had an invitation to a fancy ball. We've decided to attend," Stede explained with a wary smile, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.

⠀⠀⠀"That sounds fun and all, but I don't have a dress. It'd be very improper of me to show up in pants," Nikita explained, taking a few steps away from them and trying to escape through the open door.

⠀⠀⠀"I could sew you a dress," Frenchie offered a sweet smile, but it faded almost instantly with the glare she sent him. "Or, maybe not."

⠀⠀⠀"Well, actually," Stede muttered thoughtfully to himself, hardly registering her lack of interest in attending. He walked around the room before pausing in front of a chest pushed against one of the walls near his closet. He opened it, and inside were nearly a dozen fine dresses. "Ah, yes! When leaving, I accidentally took a trunk of my wife's clothes," he explained cheerily, turning to Blackbeard as he explained the story. "Could you imagine my face when I opened it? Ha, me, wearing dresses out at sea."

⠀⠀⠀"Don't you wear a gown to sleep?" Blackbeard asked, raising a brow."

⠀⠀⠀"Well, that's different," Stede quickly retorted, looking at Nikita and noticing how she was halfway out of the door. "Oh, I apologize, my dear. If you don't want to attend—"

⠀⠀⠀"She will," Blackbeard insisted, giving her a stern glare.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't even have a date," Nikita protested with a thin smile.

⠀⠀⠀"You and Bash have been getting along fondly. Take him," Frenchie offered but paled immediately when she sent him another cold glare. "Sorry, I'll stop talking."

⠀⠀⠀"No, no, bring your friend!" Blackbeard insisted, waving his arms excitedly. "What're you doing tonight?" he asked Frenchie.

⠀⠀⠀"Nothing, no."

⠀⠀⠀"Nothing? Let's do it," Blackbeard said. "Stede, help Nikki with her dress. I'll find the boy."

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Sorry for the long wait for this next chapter! I've really been going through it lately smh.

Nikita just gives wanting to date the ocean energy and being oblivious to everything else energy and I'm here for it.

SONG: Nobody by Mitski

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.