"Yes, deal!" Dominique answered immediately, reaching out to shake her sister's hand – only for Jeanne to grab her wrist and hold her back. Dominique rounded on her. "Let go of me."

"You can't just throw away your life like that," Jeanne objected.

"I'm not throwing my life away. This is my decision, stay out of it."

"I'm so glad you're seeing reason, Domi," Veronica interjected gleefully. "It will be lovely to have my dear sister back where she belongs. Come now, let's go tell all your friends the good news."

"Wait!" Jeanne said, pulling Dominique in closer to stop her reaching for her sister.

"Jeanne-!?"

"You need me, don't you?" Jeanne said to Veronica, slowly starting to back away, dragging Dominique with her. "Can't you agree to let Dominique go with the rest of her crew? I'll gladly cooperate with you in that case."

Veronica tilted her head. "You appear to have misunderstood the situation. I don't need either of you and your cooperation certainly isn't worth anything significant to me. Making demands considering the position you're in is frankly insulting to me. I hold all the cards here."

"If you refuse me, I'll jump from this ship and take Dominique with me! That sea monster may still be around, it could swallow us whole and we'll be lost forever!" Jeanne backed them up against the ship's railing and gripped Dominique tightly by the waist as she struggled to get away.

"Jeanne, stop being ridiculous!" Dominique protested.

Veronica stared coldly at Jeanne, eyes burning into her. "Jump."

"What?"

"Jump. I'm not going to give you what you want so follow through with your threat."

For a moment nobody moved, and Dominique began to relax as she realised Jeanne had simply been bluffing. Then the unthinkable happened. Jeanne let herself fall backwards, toppling overboard and hauling a screaming Dominique with her. They hit the water hard, Dominique instantly using the impact to rip herself from Jeanne's grasp. She resurfaced, completely panicked and disoriented, but was quickly able to locate Veronica watching from above.

"Veronica!" She shouted. "Please, help me! I want to go with you!"

Veronica laughed, high-pitched and filled with malice, "Oh dear, Domi, it looks like neither of us could control that girl in the end. Ah, I don't think I want to let you back onboard though."

"No! Don't kill them, I'll do anything!" Dominique swam closer.

"A de Sade shouldn't beg," Veronica said disdainfully, before turning unnervingly chipper once more. "But for you, Domi, because I love you so much, I'll give you another opportunity to save them. Make your way back to the capital with Jeanne before the day of her wedding and I'll release them. Otherwise, let's see, public execution seems an appropriate punishment wouldn't you say? If you manage to turn up but you're alone, I'll be magnanimous and let you choose just one to save."

"Veronica, wait!"

Veronica ignored her, turning her back on Dominique and setting oout to give her men orders. Soon the ship began to sail away and although Dominique clawed at the hull and shrieked urgently at her sister it did not slow down for a second. Soon it was far from her reach. Dominique watched it go with a blank expression for a while before looking around and finding Jeanne observing her from a distance where she was treading water.

Dominique narrowed her eyes, opening her mouth as though she wanted to say something, before pointedly ignoring Jeanne and beginning to swim away. Jeanne followed after her, keeping up surprisingly well despite Dominique being the superior swimmer.

"What about that sea monster? Is it safe?" Jeanne gasped between strokes.

"It should be. We're a little way off from its territory at this point and what attracted it to begin with was the red flag I used to simulate the giant red squid they eat as best I could," Dominique answered curtly, eyes fixed coldly ahead of her.

Jeanne didn't speak again, finding it too difficult to hold a conversation and reserve her stamina for swimming. She could also feel that something was bubbling under the surface with Dominique that she didn't want to provoke. It seemed like Dominique herself was suppressing whatever it was but who knew how long she'd be able to hold it in.

Just as Jeanne was starting to fall behind and to believe that Dominique would abandon her outright to drown, land appeared on the horizon and gave her the burst of motivation she needed to keep going. Jeanne was so relieved she forgot herself for a moment.

"Everything's going to be fine now, Dominique, land is within sight!" She exclaimed gleefully.

"Fine...?" Dominique whispered to herself.

Dominique looked back and met Jeanne's gaze with the most terrifying face Jeanne had ever seen on her. For a moment she felt chilled to the bone, until Dominique resumed facing forward, continuing to swim just as she had been before. Jeanne felt she might have imagined that look from how rapidly it had happened.

Dominique and Jeanne dragged themselves from the water, onto the sandy beach, clothes heavy with water and dripping with water that pooled around their feet with every step.

"I'm glad we made it. Dominique, are you all right?" Jeanne breathed out before turning to Dominique and freezing.

Dominique had her pistol in hand, teeth bared and eyebrows furrowed as she pointed it at Jeanne. Her hand was shaking, and her eyes were burning with rage beneath the wet tresses of her hair that were obscuring them.

"Dominique?"

Dominique didn't answer, instead pulling back the hammer of her gun and immediately squeezing the trigger.

Dominique repeated this action again and again until eventually she let out a cry of rage.

Not a single bullet had fired, the pistol - having been drenched in seawater - had become completely useless. Jeanne simply stood and watched as Dominique screamed before chucking the pistol into the sea with all her might.

"Dominique-" Jeanne took a hesitant step forward only to stop as something small whizzed past her ear, glinting in the early sunlight as it passed. A throwing knife.

"Don't you dare come near me after what you pulled with Veronica" Dominique hissed, reaching into her coat to retrieve another knife that Jeanne had never even realised she carried.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry!?" Dominique tossed her head to shift the hair from her face and better meet Jeanne's eyes. She was barely restraining hot, angry tears and her features were twitching with the effort of holding herself together. "Veronica is going to kill everyone, do you understand that!? All because of you! Why would you do this if it wasn't to get some kind of sick revenge on me!?"

"That wasn't my intention-"

"I don't care! I don't care about a single thing you have to say!" Dominique threw the knife in her hand and it landed in the sand at Jeanne's feet. "My entire crew - their lives mean so much more than mine! Do you understand- Wait. No! I'll never get the opportunity to apologise to Louis! The last time I saw him we were fighting... He's going to die hating me." Dominique gripped her hair tightly in her hands. "You! We were fighting about you! Everything I've done was so stupid, everyone I care about is going to die because of me!"

"No."

Dominique looked up at her, hands still curled tightly in her hair, confusion briefly replacing the grief and anger.

"We aren't going to let them die. Veronica gave us a time limit, we can still save them. No, I promise you, we will save them." Jeanne began to very carefully approach Dominique again. "What I did was impulsive and foolish, I didn't think through the consequences. All I was thinking about was saving you and I know that was selfish. You see, I've always had every decision made for me, so I wanted to protect your freedom if it was within my power to do so." Jeanne was close enough to touch Dominique now. With great care Jeanne gently reached up to cup Dominique's face in her hands and gave her the best smile she could manage. "I want to help you, Dominique."

Dominique grabbed her tightly by the collar, face contorting into fierce rage – but only for a moment. As quickly as it appeared the expression dropped from Dominique's face, replaced by a trembling lip and watery eyes. Dominique loosened her hold and let her head drop onto Jeanne's chest.

"Jeanne," her voice quavered, and her body shook, "I don't understand..."

"Neither do I," Jeanne admitted, wrapping her hands around Dominique, holding her a little closer.

"What a pair we make." Dominique let out a watery laugh. "Jeanne... do you really think we can save everyone?"

"I know we can."

"I'm putting my trust in you." Dominique let herself go a little more slack and Jeanne allowed them both to sink to the ground, still entangled in each other.

"And I'm putting mine in you."

"Thank you, Jeanne," Dominique murmured, "and I'm sorry for throwing my knives at you."

Jeanne gave a startled snort of laughter. "You're forgiven, I know you missed on purpose."

"We better move, there's only so much time to spare."

"A moment longer, Dominique?" Jeanne buried her nose in Dominique's hair, indulging herself a little. "I don't think we'll be of much use if we're exhausted."

'That's true," Dominique sighed in admittance. "Although the beach probably isn't an ideal place to rest. I know somewhere we can stay that's nearby if you don't mind a short journey."

"I'll manage," Jeanne said, reluctantly releasing Dominique and rising to her feet. "Let's go."