They had made it through the storm mostly unscathed. After her near-death experience Jeanne picked herself back up to assist the crew while Louis, in considerably worse shape, had been sent belowdecks. The ship had taken a beating, some of the weaker parts broken altogether, although nothing important had been destroyed and it was still completely seaworthy. The weather was still dreary, and no one was quite willing to relax in case the storm picked up again despite their exhaustion.

Dominique was more active than anyone, being sure to check on each individual member of her crew and part of her ship as she gave them new orders. Since they'd made it successfully through the storm, she was beginning to dismiss many of them from their positions. Vanitas was sent away to prepare food for everyone else as part of his punishment for the events at Silverbay.
Jeanne found herself sitting down on the wet deck with Riche, both were already soaked so were unbothered by the water. Soon Johann and Dante joined them. Dante lay down with a groan.

"I'm so glad I don't have to cook today," He grunted.

"You aren't that hard done by," Riche rolled her eyes. "Jeanne nearly went overboard and you don't see her complaining!"

"And whose fault is that? Captain Dominique made her your responsibility."

"Shut up, Fatso, as if you could have done better!"

"I definitely could have, Runt!"

"That's enough you two," Johann tittered. "Really, when it comes to each other you always act like children. Although Jeanne is incredibly lucky she survived. I think I saw Captain Dominique herself go to save her?"

Jeanne saw a glint of something she didn't like in Johann's eyes as he turned his gaze on her and she wondered if he had seen the kiss. "Vanitas and Nox also helped pull me up. I think Dominique assisted because her brother was also in danger."

"Is that right?" Johann smiled and Jeanne was beginning to feel even more sure that he'd seen something.

"Is there something you want to say, Johann?" Jeanne asked.

"No, nothing at all. I just wonder what our captain's choice would have been if Louis weren't in trouble. I personally would have let you drown."

"Johann!" Dante gawped.

"Oh, I let my temper get the best of me. I'm still a little angry about the water, my apologies, Jeanne."

A tense silence settled between them. Johann was smiling but it didn't reach his eyes and the others were all frowning. It was quickly broken by Vanitas who stomped up on deck and yelled that dinner was ready. They all scrambled up and began to head down to the dining hall. Jeanne glanced over her shoulder and saw Dominique following not far behind and tried to grab her attention. Dominique met her eyes but quickly broke eye contact and brushed past her to push ahead of the rest of the pack. Jeanne blanched but quickly dismissed it. Dominique was probably just busy, and she was almost certainly the hungriest of them all.

However, when she was seated at the massive dining table Jeanne decided to reassess her assumption. All the other times she had been in the room she had been seated right beside Dominique without fail. This time she had been ushered into a seat down near the end of the table with Nox and Manet. She could barely even see Dominique unless she craned her head, and she couldn't talk to her over the sound of everyone between them. It seemed undeniable; Dominique was avoiding her.

After dinner Vanitas came over to tell her she would have to sleep in the crew's quarters with everyone else so they could keep an eye on her. Vanitas of all people! It felt a little petty, but Jeanne was annoyed that Dominique wasn't the person giving her this news. She had always been Jeanne's main point of communication about the pirates' plans and now one of her subordinates was being given that responsibility?

Still, Jeanne filed out of the dining room alongside Vanitas and the rest of the day watch who were being given the privilege of the first sleep shift. Their quarters were quite frankly a mess. Hammocks were hanging from the ceiling in such dense clusters that it was difficult to move along between them Beneath some were small wooden beds that appeared flat and uncomfortable. Vanitas led Jeanne to a far corner of the room and handed her a pile of blankets.

"We don't have any spare beds, so you have to take the floor."

Jeanne sighed but took what she was given and set up her makeshift bed pretty much directly underneath Vanitas's hammock. She observed as all the other pirates got ready for bed, joking with each other and taking their time as they sank into their own individual positions. Even after everyone had settled in it took a while before the whispering completely quieted down. Jeanne waited and watched the entire time, observing as they all fell asleep and their breathing began to even out. When it appeared they had all fallen asleep Jeanne shuffled out of her blankets and came up into a crouch.

"What do you think you're doing?" Came a hiss from above her and Jeanne looked up to meet Vanitas's eyes.

"I'm going to see Dominique," Jeanne said, not bothering to hide her intentions.

"You can see her in the morning."

"I can't wait that long. Besides, Dominique isn't going to let me see her alone if she can help it, is she?"

Vanitas narrowed his eyes, "I want to respect her wishes on that front so I don't see why I should let you go."

"Please, I have nothing I can offer you to convince you of this. I just know that we need to resolve things. I care a lot about Dominique so please trust me on this."
"I was burned last time I trusted you," Vanitas huffed irritably. "But for some reason I'm still going to let you go see Dominique. Don't ask too much of me again."

"Thank you," Jeanne grinned and began to shuffle away, crouching under the hammocks before pausing and turning back to Vanitas. "Why are you still awake anyway?"

"Insomnia," He smirked.

"Get some sleep. I'll be back before you know it."

"I'll try my best. Good luck."

Jeanne nodded and weaved her way through the rest of the room, careful not to wake anyone. Then she emerged into the corridors of the ship and immediately began striding towards where she knew the captain's quarters probably were. It would have been safer to walk slower in case anyone else was wandering around but Jeanne couldn't force herself to move any slower. She was too impatient to see Dominique and if anyone tried to stop her, they would have to deal with the consequences.

She reached the door to Dominique's room and paused to take a deep breath before grabbing the handle and pushing the door open. Jeanne was immediately greeted by the sight of Dominique jumping up from the chair of her large, wooden desk that sat opposite the door.

"Jeanne! What are you doing here?" Dominique paced around the desk to come in front of it. She looked frazzled and she was in a similar state to the last time Jeanne had met her on the ship late at night; her hair was unbound and she had stripped down to just her white shirt and dark pants. "You should be with the rest of the crew."

"We need to talk."

Dominique laughed a little shrilly, "I don't think we do. Nothing has changed since I first brought you here."

"We both know that's not true."

"I don't know what you're talking about Jeanne."

Jeanne stalked forward, forcing Dominique to back away until the desk was right behind her. Jeanne leaned forward into Dominique's space, placing her hands on the desk and caging the captain in. Dominique's breath hitched almost imperceptibly but she kept a cool façade fixed over her features.
"Whatever it is you're after Jeanne, you are still stuck on my ship with my crew. You are entirely at my mercy so if this is leading up to a threat it won't work in your favour."

"Stop acting so high and mighty," Jeanne leaned further into Dominique's space until their chests were just barely touching. "I want you to tell me what you want from me."

"I think I've made it clear before that I simply want you to obey orders and keep to yourself until the time comes for your release."

"No." Jeanne said. "You've been skirting around me recently, it's because you're afraid, aren't you?"

"Afraid of what?" Dominique scoffed.

"Of me. Or, more accurately, what everyone else thinks of me. The minute you kissed me you felt like you'd made a mistake."

"I don't understand-"

Jeanne pushed closer, bringing her lips less than an inch from Dominique's. "You don't want to act on this because it's improper and because you shouldn't care about me. But did you ever consider my opinion? That maybe I feel the same as you?"

Dominique gulped, "If you keep saying these things there are going to be repercussions. This is a dangerous game you're playing Jeanne."

"I know that. Now, what do you want from me?"

"God, Jeanne, everything," Dominique murmured into the space between them before ever so lightly pressing their lips together.

Jeanne immediately surged forward, capturing Dominique's lips in a deeper kiss. Domi made a small squeak of surprise but responded in kind, one of her hands moving instinctively to curl in Jeanne's hair. Jeanne gripped Domi's waist tightly with both hands and lifted to place Dominique on top of the desk. Domi broke the kiss with a gasp of surprise, so Jeanne moved her lips down Dominique's jaw and to her neck instead.
One of Dominique's legs wrapped around Jeanne to pull her closer as Jeanne bit down hard enough to leave a dark bruise. Jeanne's hands began to roam away from Domi's waist, sliding up her chest until they reached the top button of her soft white shirt. She began to undo the buttons slowly as she continued to mouth at Domi's neck, urged onwards by the little sighs and grunts coming from Dominique's lips. Dominique grinded against Jeanne as she continued to bite and suck at her neck.

When the last of Dominique's shirt buttons came undone, Jeanne's hands moved to grope clumsily at her breasts. Jeanne pulled away from Dominique's neck and their mouths locked together in another messy kiss. Dominique tugged at Jeanne's hair until it was almost painful and she let a whine slip into Dominique's mouth. Dominique started to pull at Jeanne's shirt as well but rather than undo the buttons as her partner had she simply rucked up the shirt to allow one of her hands to explore Jeanne's chest.
Then there was a creak of rusted hinges and a loud cough from behind them.

Jeanne abruptly sprung away from Dominique to see who it was and felt all the colour drain from her face. Louis. Dominique's brother. He was watching them impassively from the doorway as they stared back, dumbstruck and flushed. He raised an eyebrow after the staring had gone on a little too long.

Dominique did her best to compose herself. "Jeanne, you can take you leave now. Please return to your quarters."

Jeanne nodded reluctantly, scurrying out the door and keeping her head down to avoid eye contact with Louis. After Jeanne was gone Louis entered and closed the door behind him.

"Domi-"

"Whatever you're going to say, I know," Dominique interrupted, not meeting his gaze as she did her best to fix her clothes.

"Do you really? I just walked in on you with Jeanne's hand up your shirt. Domi, she's our prisoner, this won't end well for either of you."

"It's just a fling," Dominique muttered.

"Don't lie to me. You aren't any good at flings and Jeanne absolutely doesn't seem the type either. Break this off before it goes any further."

"Can't you just let me have this? You seemed fine with me being friends with Jeanne so what's wrong with this!?"

"It's not the same thing, Domi," Louis insisted. "Where do you really expect this relationship to go? This will just hurt you, Jeanne isn't one of us."

"Enough!" Dominique ordered. "This is between me and Jeanne. What did you want when you came here in the first place?"

Louis smiled wryly, "After I finished recovering and joined the crew, Johann informed me that you had kissed Jeanne. I thought I'd confront you about it, but it looks like I was a little late."

"Get out."

"Domi?"

"I said get out!"

Louis glared but he left her alone, slamming the door behind him.

***

Jeanne woke up to yelling. She blinked her eyes open, and everything was in chaos. Everyone was running around and out of the room and shouting; she couldn't make out what was going on. Vanitas shook her by the shoulder as she watched the havoc with wide eyes.

"We're under attack. Stay here, got it?"

"I can help!" Jeanne said.

"You may be able to fight but I'm not sure you'd be any use in a sea battle. Just sit tight and wait it out. Don't get in our way."

Jeanne chewed her bottom lip. "Fine. But if things get desperate come and get me."

"Sure thing," Vanitas chuckled, "Though things won't get that bad."

***

It was raining and the ship was being tossed by the choppy sea. The weather wasn't dangerous, but it was depressing. Dominique met her brother at the port beam where he was looking out at the approaching vessel with a deep scowl across his features.

"Is that who I think it is?" He asked in a clipped tone.

"I'd say so, yes," Dominique breathed.

"And you knew that she was after us?"

"Yes."

"You should have told me."

Louis turned away and headed away to talk with some other members of the crew and after a moment Dominique went to do the same. There was going to be a difficult fight ahead and she couldn't waste time on worrying about Louis. They could sort everything out afterwards. Dominique drew her sword and waited as her enemy drew closer until the ship was visible in stark detail and it began to turn so its cannons could face towards them, the name HMS Vengeance painted in dark black letters across it.

"Give fire!" Dominique yelled and La Baleine's own cannons roared to life, projectiles slamming into the opposing ship, obliterating the wood on impact.

But the enemy ship was much larger and although the cannon fire did some damage it wasn't nearly enough to put it out of commission. Even worse, they didn't have a particularly large amount of ammunition. There wasn't enough to take the Vengeance down.

Luckily, there was no return fire. Instead, the enemy vessel pulled up beside them and they continued to sail along beside each other. Dominique called for her crew to hold fire as it became too dangerous due to their proximity, as shrapnel could easily burst back over La Baleine and cause damage to the ship and its crew. Then various members of the Vengeance began to board La Baleine. Maybe fifteen men descended onto the deck, brandishing swords or guns, but there was only one person Dominique was worried about. She was the last to board and she immediately scanned the ship and locked eyes with Dominique, smiling.

"Sweet Domi, it certainly has been a while."

"It's good to see you, sister. I had a dream about you not long ago, so perhaps this is fate?"

"Wouldn't that be charming?" Veronica replied amiably. "I think it is time you came home. People are starting to wonder what ailment could possibly be keeping the youngest de Sade daughter out of the public eye for... how long has it been? I don't suppose it matters really. You and I see each other every now and then. Like when you stole this ship from me."

"Stole is a bit harsh. I was just borrowing something from my elder sister."

"Very well," Veronica shrugged. "Are you going to come with me willingly or are we doing the same dance as always?"

"You know me, Veronica, I'm a creature of habit," Dominique pointed her sword at her with a sharp grin.

Veronica drew her own sword and the two clashed while their men fought their own battles around them. Veronica's blows were harder and faster, forcing Dominique onto the backfoot as she attempted to push back against her sister and weave out of the way of her strikes. Dominique's constant dodging was leading them all across the ship as she did everything she could to avoid Veronica's attacks. It was a reasonably one-sided fight and the minute she was given an opening Dominique drew her gun to give herself an advantage.

"Stay back, Veronica!" She shouted, barely parrying a hefty blow of her sister's sword as she pointed the gun at her.

Veronica backed off a few steps. "You aren't going to shoot me. With the way this ship is rocking it's not unlikely that you could miss and kill one of your little friends. I'll tell you what, if you surrender right now none of them have to die. I'll even let Louis live. He can come home with us if you insist upon it."

"No chance in hell," Dominique bared her teeth.

"Then their blood will be on your hands," Veronica said nonchalantly.

"Dominique!"

Both sisters turned to see Jeanne running towards them.

"Jeanne!? Stay away!" Dominique bellowed.

Jeanne didn't listen, she just continued to approach, and Dominique saw Veronica's focus change abruptly from her to Jeanne. She didn't like the triumphant look on her sister's face.

Dominique placed herself between them, sword up in a guarding stance. "Go and hide, Jeanne! She's working with Lord Ruthven!"

Before Jeanne could reply Veronica launched forward and brought her sword down to meet Dominique's in such a violent clash that the force of it sent Dominique crashing to the ground. "Out of the way little sister!"

"Dominique!" Jeanne shouted in surprise, but she didn't move towards her or take her eyes off Veronica.

"I'll take you back home, dear. I'm sorry for all the trouble my foolish sister has caused you. Lord Ruthven eagerly awaits your return."

Jeanne set her mouth in a hard line. "No."

Veronica tilted her head. "You're like Domi then. I'll have to drag you both back in that case. For causing me this much trouble I hope you're prepared for a little pain, as long as I don't kill you I'm free to treat you however I like!"

Jeanne dodged out of the way as Veronica slashed at her legs with her sword. She attempted to kick her in retaliation but skipped away as Veronica nearly caught her with another swing of her weapon. It wasn't going to work. Veronica's sword would keep her at bay if she didn't have a weapon of her own.

"Dominique, your sword!" Jeanne said.
Immediately Dominique scrambled to toss it to her. The cutlass landed firmly in Jeanne's grasp.

"Go! I'll handle her! You help the others!"

Jeanne met Veronica in a violent clash of steel while Dominique scurried off. Dominique looked at the carnage around her, none of her crew appeared to be dead but plenty seemed badly injured, and Veronica's men seemed in a similar state. They wouldn't go down as easily as Gano's lackeys, Veronica didn't tolerate incompetent men. And most of them hadn't even boarded, Dominique knew that a good chunk of them would still be manning the HMS Vengeance, which was still following along beside them. An idea came to her and Dominique raced to the wheel, currently being manned by Johann. Dominique shoved him aside.

"Go get me the largest piece of red cloth that you can! I need to use this!"

Johann appeared baffled but he hurried to follow her orders while Dominique turned the boat sharply to the right. If Veronica's ship was going to follow them she knew exactly where she wanted to lead it. It was just a matter of whether she could reach it before Veronica commandeered her ship and whether La Baleine could survive the journey. Soon enough Dominique could see the darker blue, almost black, section of the ocean she was looking for. Incomprehensibly deep and best avoided. They continued to sail directly towards it and Johann returned to her side when it was there was barely any more distance left to cover.

"What are you doing?" He asked, mildly panicked as he handed her a folded up piece of cloth that had once been a sail from another vessel they had attacked a long time ago. It was torn, frayed and a little faded but Dominique hoped it would serve her purpose.

"I'm steering us into the belly of the beast. Keep us going straight, I've got another job." Dominique left Johann at the wheel again.
They passed smoothly into the deeper ocean, the only change the colouration of the waves and the sense of dread that settled heavily in the pit of Dominique's stomach. She wasn't sure they'd made the right decision. Dominique moved to the farthest part of the stern and waited until they were well over the trench, shallower ocean far from reach. Then she threw the red sail Johann had given her over the rail so it unfurled and landed behind the Vengeance.

"Johann turn away from the Vengeance, now! As sharp as possible!" Dominique screamed and Johann rushed to comply.

For a moment nothing extraordinary happened, only Veronica's crew desperately trying to keep the two ships neck and neck. Then came a loud roar and a massive burst of water as a huge serpentine head broke from beneath the waves behind the HMS Vengeance to snatch the up red sail in its gaping mouth. Quickly, the sea serpent released the cloth, obviously disliking the taste, and instead turned its attention to the boat, wide maw dripping with water and foam as it roared again, neck towering over Veronica's crew at the same height as the highest mast. There was screaming from both boats now as the Vengeance's crew tried to run for cover and La Baleine's frantically attempted to steer themselves away and back to safety.

The serpent snatched one particularly unlucky man directly into its jaws before it began to coil itself around the ship. The timbers groaned in protest and began to splinter altogether as the creature continued to squeeze tighter. Some were crushed by its bulk, others jumped overboard in a feeble attempt to escape, and some trembled on the deck in the vain hope that they would somehow be missed by the serpent or manage to cling to some part of the ship that wasn't going to be destroyed. In the end it didn't matter what they did. The ship crumbled under the pressure of the serpent's tightening coils and every individual, dead or alive, was snatched up from the wreckage by those terrible jaws.
As it swallowed the final human morsel the serpent turned its gaze to La Baleine. They had been fleeing from moment one but they were still within its territory and it started to give chase. The serpent was streamlined for swimming and eager for a larger meal, so it glided through the water with ease, and it was very quickly gaining on them.

"We're going to die!" Johann shrieked as he glanced over his shoulder to see the spines of the serpent poking through the water behind them.

"Eyes front!" Dominique ordered. "I'll handle it!"

She stood at the railing of the stern and watched the water behind them. The creature was definitely going to be upon them before they could reach safety again. Dominique knew she had to be extremely precise and extremely lucky to pull this off and get them out of there alive. The thought made her smile. She liked a good challenge. Dominique drew her gun and pointed it at the waves as she waited.

The moment she saw its head begin to rise from the water Dominique shot directly into the left eye of the beast. She nearly cheered as she saw the blood running down its face but that quickly died as she realised, she hadn't slowed it down at all. The monstrous head continued to rise from the water and now its attention was on her. She was going to be eaten first. Dominique grit her teeth, if she was going to die anyway she was sure as hell going to make sure she did some damage on her way out. She held her gun steadily in front of her as it continued to raise itself higher and open its maw.
As it descended towards her, mouth stretched open to take her in a single bite, Dominique let off all her remaining shots off in quick succession and took great joy in the pained cries it let out as each bullet pierced the soft muscles and tissues inside its mouth. But its momentum continued to carry it towards her and even if it wanted to change course it couldn't. Dominique could see nothing but teeth and awful red-pink flesh as her doom approached in what felt like slow motion.

Then she felt something grab her around the waist and Dominique was tackled to the ground. She felt one of the teeth brush against her and leave a gash in her shoulder, but she rolled free of the mouth, she was alive. The serpent crashed face first into the deck and it recoiled with a pained screech. It slipped back beneath the waves with one final scream as blood continued to drip from its bullet wounds.

"Dominique! That was too close!" Jeanne grabbed her by the shoulders and helped her to right herself.

"It's perfectly all right. That was one of the small ones." Dominique blinked. "Wait. Where's Veronica? You were fighting her."

"Right over here, Domi," she mocked, approaching. "While you were busy taking down my ship and the serpent, I was taking over your ship. You should be thanking me, I'm the one who gave her the permission to try and save you."

"What?" Dominique's eyes widened. "Then everyone-"

"They're not dead," Veronica held up a hand, smiling cruelly, "Just incapacitated. Although some are in worse shape than others. That one you like so much, Noé? He put up a very good fight before we could take him down."

"What did you do to him!?" Dominique said fiercely.

"There's worse waiting for him if you don't listen to me, Sweet Domi."

"Then tell me what you want!" Dominique raged.

"I already have everything I want. You and Jeanne are both in my grasp. This is a kindness that I'm offering to you. When I take you home, I want you to follow my and father's orders - to the best of your abilities - at all times, without question. In exchange, all your friends get to live. Even little Louis. Your answer, sister?"