Chapter Text
Maybe I should be putting up more of a fight about this whole situation.
I don't see the point in that though.
Marco can easily throw me over his shoulder and take me kicking and screaming or I could keep my dignity and cooperate with him.
I will be complaining the entire way though.
The walk to my cave from honeysuckle village is a lot shorter then the walk from the beach to there but I purposefully take my time walking there. I don't wanna be sitting around in the cave for who knows how long waiting for Marco to be done whatever he's doing.
I also wouldn't mind going to the best spot on the island before I leave.
Let's see where is…
Ah! There it is!
Stepping off the path I walk into an opening in the foliage being careful not to have my feet get snagged on any loose roots sticking up out of the ground. I'm very thankful for my jacket at this moment because without it my arm would definitely be getting ripped up by all the sharp branches hanging off the trees.
One of the only good things Suminari did for me was give me this jacket before I left. I never did get to thank him for that…
Whatever, it's just another thing to add to the ever growing list of regrets I have.
Really i have to-
A branch I was pushing out of the way with my hand slips from my grip and smacks me right in the face “Ow! That hurt….” I whine out rubbing the bump forming on my forehead.
I'm glad Marco wasn't here to see that…
I just know I would never hear the end of it.
Focusing back on my path I begin walking again making sure to pay extra attention to what is going on around me.
It only takes a few minutes of walking for me to reach an opening in the foliage. I'm met with the familiar sight of honeysuckles sprouting out of the ground.
This spot is typically only visited by the townspeople on special occasions so I have it all to myself a majority of the time.
There's a variety of different types of honeysuckles growing here and I don't know the exact names of them (I like birds not flowers) but they are all so beautiful that I can't help but come here every now and then to draw and admire them. The birds also seem to enjoy this spot as well, which is another plus to it.
This is the only thing I'm gonna miss about this island.
Well, other than the birds, I'm definitely gonna miss the birds.
Walking forward I pay attention to where I'm stepping for two reasons. Reason number one is that i don’t wanna crush any of the flowers i would feel like an asshole if i did that and reason number two is that there are red ant hills all throughout the field and i learned the hard way when I first got here that you really don’t wanna step on them.
I get shivers even thinking about it…
My careful steps lead me to the center of the field where a small patch of grass with no flowers rests. I'm not exactly sure why there's no flowers growing or ant hills built here but i don’t really care too much because it makes the perfect spot to sit.
Sitting down I pull my note book out of my pocket along with my pencil.
I think I'm gonna finish the drawing of the Marcos phoenix form.
I'm still mad that it was him and not an actual bird.
I would have loved to document it the same way I do with all the other birds I see but no, the coolest bird I've ever laid my eyes on had to be a stupid pirate. (who's now kidnapping me)
It would be nice if I could have him right in front of me so I can get all of the details right but I think it would feed his ego way too much if I asked him so I wont be doing that.
This sucks so much. I'm so much worse at drawing if I don't have the thing I'm drawing right in front of me.
But I already have the base scratch done so I should stop complaining and start drawing instead.
It takes me around an hour to finish the drawing. It's not exactly up to my usual standards since I don’t have him right in front of me so I can perfect every little detail but it will do. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to update it and get it right in the future since I'm being forced to join his stupid crew.
Looking up at the sky to see where the sun is I have to squint slightly trying to see where the sun is to tell the time before quickly giving up on that.
I really wish I had a watch or something so I could actually tell the time without having to burn my eyes looking at the sun to try and guess what time it is.
Maybe I should steal one before we leave…
Nah, I'm too lazy for that.
The time doesn't matter anyway as long as I get back to the cave before dark.
I place my book onto my lap then stretch my arms above my head and I let out a small wince when a small spike of pain shoots through my back.
Jeez, I really need to stop sitting so weirdly or I'm gonna end up messing up my back.
Now I think it's about time I go back to the cave. Im not sure how long it's been exactly but i think Marco should be done whatever he's doing.
Hopefully he is i don't wanna get back to the cave and have to wait forever for him to get there. That would be so boring.
I grab my note book and pencil off my lap and put them back into my pocket as I stand.
Ok which way is the fastest way to get back to the cave again?
“Left or forward?….” I mutter under my breath, tapping my foot against the ground. It's been a few weeks since I've gone here, so it seems that my brain decided that the directions weren't important anymore.
I let out a sigh, deciding to just go left and hope that it’s the faster way.
And thankfully my guess was right!
That's a win for me! Hell yeah! I'm the best!
It only took around ten minutes for me to get back to the cave instead of the twenty it usually takes.
I practically skip into the cave feeling immensely proud of myself for my lucky guess.
And Marco’s not here.
Well shit.
I'm gonna get so bored after I'm done packing my stuff up.
I let out an annoyed sigh as I walk up to my closed bag, suddenly my stomach growled and I remembered just how hungry I was when I left the village.
How the hell did I manage to forget something like that?!
Closing the short distance between me and my bag I pull out the half eaten can of peaches I ate earlier and start to slowly finish eating them.
They taste a little weird but I'm too hungry right now to really care.
By the time I finish them my stomach is still growling but there really isn't anything I can do about it since that was my last bit of food I had in here and I really don’t wanna go out looking for food since I literally just got back.
I sigh once again as I look over the cave, my things thrown about carelessly on the ground and on rocks. I might as well pack all of this up so i don't have to do it later.
The first things I grab are all my clothes and I carefully fold them up to make them fit into my bag easier.
Next I grab the only two actual books that I own (both about birds) and place them on top of my clothes in the bag.
Then I grab my knife off the ground next to my blankets and slide it into the holder on my belt. I probably should have had that with me the entire time but I didn't think of that when I first left this morning.
Finally I grabbed the other miscellaneous things like my brush and spare pencils off the ground, shoving them into my bag the best I could before zipping it up which took quite a bit of effort but I got there eventually.
Now the only things that lay on the ground are my blankets (that I'm not even gonna bother trying to fit in my bag), my bag, Marco’s bag, the unlit campfire, and the wood for said campfire.
Sitting down in front of the campfire I rest my head on my hand staring into the ashes from the previous fires.
I'm bored and hungry which is not a good combo at all.
There's nothing left for me to do now other than wait for Marco to get back.
I flop backwards onto my blankets and stare at the ceiling.
I should look for shapes in the rocks that could be fun.
That looks like a Wood Thrush, that one kinda looks like a Gray Antbird or maybe a Bananal Antbird either one, oh and that looks like a Rock Martin.
Ok yeah this is not working.
No matter how many birds I can find in the patterns of the rock it will not be any more entertaining than just laying here
I lift my hands up to cover my face and I let out a noise of frustration.
I hate this. I hate being bored. It feels like there's something crawling under my skin and into my brain If I'm not doing something. I'm usually constantly moving around but now I have literally nothing to do. I mean I could draw or go on a walk but I've already done both those things already.
“Hey Finch im back yoi”
I shoot up and look at him so quickly that I get a little dizzy “Marco! Thank god im so fucking bored and hungry. Do you have food?” I say as I cross my legs and look at him and the bag that I just noticed in his hands expectantly.
A smile crosses his face as he reaches into the bag pulling out a small paper bag. He throws it over to me and I practically rip it open and my eyes widen when I see the still hot meat buns. “Thank you” I say between stuffing my face with the absolutely amazing meat buns.
“You’re welcome, there's more in the bag if you're still hungry after that” Marco says as he sits down next to me on my blankets placing the bag between us and he also starts eating his own food.
I light up at that and as soon as I'm done with my meat buns I look into the bag to see what else he got.
“You got brownies?!” I practically yell as I pull one of them out.
“Yep I got six yoi” Marco said in between bites.
I didn’t particularly like brownies but Juniper would always make them when Suminari was upset (which was quite often) so eating them always reminds me of them.
Damn I miss them.
Taking a bite of the brownie doesn’t really help to distract me from the memory of my siblings, it makes it worse.
I wish they could have came with me. I wish I could have at least said goodbye. I wish none of this shit had to happen.
But there's no point in wishing now it’s already done and there's nothing I can do to change that. They probably hate me now anyway.
“Finch, how old are you?” Marco asks suddenly catching me off guard.
I finish chewing the brownie in my mouth before talking “oh um… I'm fifteen, why?” I question giving him a puzzled look.
“Once we get to the ship I'll need to make you a medical file yoi”
“Oh ok if that's the case then you’ll probably wanna know I’ve never been to the doctor" I say it quickly knowing its probably gonna set Marco off in some way since he is a doctor himself.
Marco looks like I've just slapped him “What do you mean you’ve never been to the doctor?” The disbelief in his voice is so obvious that it makes me a little embarrassed.
“My Mother thought all doctors were evil and wanted to take me and my siblings away from her. She even did a home birth for all of us” I rub the back of my neck with my hand as my face flushes from embarrassment. Juniper tried to sneak us to the local doctor a few times but we always got caught. It was like Mother had eyes on us all the time.
Marco places his face in his hands and lets out a noise that sounds like a dying bird making me cringe slightly. Pulling his face out of his hand he rubs his temples while sighing.
“Please tell me you’ve at least got the basic vaccinations somehow yoi?” There is a twinge of hope in his voice and I feel kinda bad that I have to crush it with my answer.
“No” I say hesitantly and I swear I can see his hair turning grey.
“How the fuck have you not died of some type of sickness”
I stop rubbing my neck to instead twirl the crystal on my necklace instead as I shrug “I'm lucky?” I said more as a question than a statement not knowing how to answer him.
We both fall silent and I feel so insanely embarrassed about this that I can't even look at him. Mothers paranoia over my and my siblings safety no matter how well intentioned it was led to us being isolated from everyone around us even more than we already were.
The few times I did interact with kids my age back home it just led to me being bullied for having a ‘crazy mother’.
Juniper and Suminari both tried to get me to stand up for myself against them but I didn’t see the point. Everything they were saying was true so why deny it? Why should I even try to defend myself against the truth?
The vitriol everyone there held for my family would have been so much worse if they knew who our father was. Though we most likely wouldn't even be alive if that was the case.
“Come lets go yoi” He stands up picking up the bag full of food while walking over to his bag.
I felt dizzy from both my spiraling thoughts and his sudden words “What? Where are we going?” I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could without tripping on my blankets.
“There is no way I'm going to wait until tomorrow to leave knowing you could very easily die from any type of common sickness. We’re going to get to the Moby Dick as quick as possible to get you properly vaccinated " The sternness in his voice shocked me but it also kicked me right into motion and I picked up my three blankets, slotting them under my left arm before moving to pick up my backpack as well.
Even if I wanted to I don’t think I could reply right now with how tight my throat feels all of a sudden. My siblings were the only ones to ever talk to me like that.
Squeezing my eyes shut tightly I force the rush of emotions down, that's something I should deal with when I'm alone. Marco’s busy worrying about my physical health right now he shouldn't have to deal with my emotions on top of that.
What the hell is going on with me? Why the fuck are my feelings so out of whack?
“My brother didn’t pay me anything”
Marco’s words from earlier today ring in my head.
That’s what it is.
It's been five years since anyone has called me that and even then they only got to call me their brother once before everything went to hell.
Stupid fucking pirate.
He just had to come along and swoop in with all this talk about family and helping people.
Whatever, I'll deal with all this when I'm alone.
Opening my eyes again I follow after Marco who is already half way out of the cave. He's walking so fast that I'm almost running to keep up with him.
We turn off the path rather quickly going through the less bush covered part of the forest. I feel uneasy about going this way since I've rarely gone over to this side of the island since not many birds like to nest over here.
But I’m already in too deep to try and turn around and leave. He wouldn't let me anyway with how worried he seems about my lack of medical history.
It's starting to get dark and the weight of my backpack on my back is just starting to hurt when we finally reach Marco’s boat.
He docked it right on the edge of the beach and rocky shore of the island. It's perfectly hidden from anyone who isn't specifically looking for it.
It's not a small boat by any means but it still isn't anywhere near the size of a normal one.
“Hop on Finch” His tone is almost back to normal but I can still hear the tension in it.
I still don’t trust myself to speak so I just nod my head as I move to haul myself up onto the boat. Which is pretty difficult to do with a heavy ass bag on my back and blankets in my arms but I get there eventually.
I stand awkwardly not really knowing what to do as I wait for Marco to untie the boat from one of the rocks.
“You can go put your stuff in the cabin yoi. I'm gonna be up most of the night making sure we stay on course so you can take the bed. It's through the door on the left” Marco says probably noticing how I don’t exactly know what to do with myself right now.
A quiet almost silent “Alright” is all I manage to say as I turn and walk over to the door.
Opening it leads to a small set of stairs that have a bunch of crates and two doors one on the left and one on the right. Opening the left door leads to a small bedroom with a bed, dresser, and nightstand. I place my blankets down on top of the dresser and bag on the ground next to it.
It only takes a second before the tears start to fall as I sit on the bed.
I don’t know when the last time I cried was but it was so long ago that the feeling of tears falling from my eyes felt odd and foreign.
I'm not surprised I'm crying though it really was a matter of time.
These past few months as a whole have been so overwhelming with me getting stuck on this island after my boat got stolen by someone, the people here assuming im some horrible criminal and hating me for it despite me being nothing but kind to those assholes, the constant reminders of Juniper and Suminari, and now Marco shows up and just decides im his brother!
I truly don’t know what is going on with my life.
What I do know is that im crying and im tired and my stupid fucking back hurts from carrying my bag.
And really what's a worse combination than that?!
Fuck.
They would be so disappointed in me.
Juniper would be so mad at me for becoming a pirate.
She always hated them. I don’t blame her for that either, it's a pirate's fault that Mom acted the way she did all the time. The paranoia and over protectiveness is all a stupid pirate's fault.
Maybe I should hate pirates because of that as well.
But I don't and I'm not sure why that's the case.
Suminari on the other hand would probably think I'm replacing him with Marco.
That thought makes me let out a choked sob and I cover my mouth to muffle it.
I need to stop.
I don’t wanna think about that.
And I definitely don’t want Marco to hear me crying and come to check on me.
Sniffling I rub my eyes ruffly with the heels of my hands trying to force the tears to stop.
It doesn’t work of course, why would it?
Ok I need to breathe, that always helps.
Deep breathe in, hold, breathe out.
It takes a few minutes of repeating that until my crying is reduced to small sniffles and labored breathing.
It's fully dark in the room now with the sun having set all the way. There's only a small bit of light seeping in from the bright stars.
And it's only now that I'm calmed down that I notice the rocking of the boat and realize that we’re moving away from the island.
There really isn’t any turning back now.
My head is throbbing and my eyes hurt.
I should just go to sleep then I won't have to deal with any of this shit.
Standing up from the bed I take off my jacket, placing it on top of the dresser with my blankets, then I slip off my shoes and put them at the end of the bed.
I'm not gonna bother changing out of my current set of clothes.
I'm too tired for that.
Pulling back the blanket on the bed I flop down and throw the blanket over myself.
Closing my eyes it only takes seconds for sleep to take a tight grip over me and pull me under.
My giggles fill the house as I run room to room doing my best to dodge Suminari
“I'm gonna get ya!” He calls from behind me as I run down the stairs and into the living room jumping onto the coffee table.
“Nuh uh!!” As soon as he reaches the bottom of the stairs I take off running again going straight for the kitchen.
Crashing into the kitchen I make the door slam into the wall loudly making Juniper who was digging in the fridge trying to figure out what we’re going to have for dinner jump and whip her head around to look at me.
“Hey watch what you’re doing brat!” she hisses out but there's no real venom in her words and there's even a small smile tugging at her lips.
“Sorry!” I whisper as I hide behind the kitchen island waiting to see Suminari enter so I can bolt behind him.
Juniper just rolls her eyes and turns back to the fridge to keep looking.
I stay there crouched looking intensely at the door but Suminari never comes in and the longer I stay there the more confused I get.
Juniper finally pulls out leftover spaghetti, deciding to just warm that up for tonight.“He’s standing right behind you” she hums.
I slowly turn my head and as soon as I lay my eyes on him he jumps forward, trapping me in his arms.
“NO FAIR!! Where did you even come from?!” My voice comes out loud and whiney but that's put to a quick stop as me starts tickling my sides making me squeal and burst into a fit of giggles.
“None of that whining firefly I won fair and square” he says in between his own laughter as he continues to tickle me as he spins us around
Juniper who's now leaning against the counter just smiles at us.
“Hey Juni, you should play with us!” Suminari says as he suddenly stops spinning and tickling me and he almost makes us both fall from his dizzy stumbling.
“Yeah come on!” I said excitedly as I give her my best puppy dog eyes.
She gets a conflicted look on her face “but mom said-”
“Oh screw that! Mom makes you do everything! It won't kill her if you play with us for a bit” Suminari snaps out frustration leaking into his voice.
“Please Juniper?” I ask a pout forming on my face as I stare at her.
“Come on, you don’t wanna make us sad do you?” He emphasizes his words by shaking me around a bit making me let out a squeak.
Sighing she shakes her head “fine but only for a bit ok?”
“YES!” me and Suminari say in unison as he puts me down and jumps at her pulling her into a tight hug and i follow closely behind him and hug both of them tightly.