Chapter Text
water, that was the first thing that Amelia noticed upon opening her eyes. she was floating on her back in the middle of nowhere within some sort of ocean and almost no boats in sight
there's only one boat in the area to be honest and something about it give a rather...bad feeling in the detective's heart, a feeling she got when she knew she isn't going to like the outcome of it. she knew that she should just turn around and swim to the first island that she saw
and so she swam...and swam...and swam, the island getting closer just slightly before getting back to the distance it once had and the detective knew what was happening, she just wished that it wasn't now of all times that it happened
her unstableness is flaring up to the point that it's affecting her placement in the world, constantly sending her back to where she was much to her growing annoyance "man, can't I catch a break from being in the sea for now" closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to calm herself, when she opened her eyes, she sees countless barrels, wooden flooring along with a thick wooden pole that had some cannons lined up on the other side of it
she looked around and felt her gut sink, she was on the boat and she didn't go unnoticed either judging by the countless whispers that she can faintly pick up on from the front and back of the ship. she doesn't know what they were saying about her, but she did know four things, they aren't attacking yet, the ship is own by pirates judging by the flags, she's roughly in the left-center of it and she was looking across from her spot within the center aka looking at the right side of the center
the sound of a door opening with footsteps coming closer came from her right side, it also gave her the strongest sense of the bad feeling she was getting from just seeing the ship "AAAAAAmmmmmmmmeeeeeeee~" she...honestly doesn't know whoever it was that the voice belonged to and her curiosity made her turn to see a girl with red hair and looking to be the captain of this pirate crew
Houshou Marine, the girl that was currently grinning at the blond with mostly affection, but something in the gaze sent a chill of some sorta danger go down Amelia's spine
the redhead leans over to look down and up the detective "you never told me you wanted to wear these again, you should've. you dorky cutie~"
and that's when she realized what was giving her such a bad feeling about this ship, her gut is telling her that this is more of a siren than the supposed one she hangs out with and her chastity is what this girl seeks to drown "well uhh"
Amelia didn't get the time to come up with some sorta alibi before seeing nothing but sky and sea, she looks down and sees that she was in the air with a ladder nearby. her gut instinct saving her from hitting the floor of the boat by grabbing onto the ladder "OH FOR FUCK SAKES" she always hated when she ends up uncontrollably teleporting herself
she caught onto the sound of someone screaming then tumbling above her and looked up before reacting quickly in grabbing the arm of the person that was falling from what she had to guess was the crows nest of the ship "are you alright?"
the two met eyes and one felt sick while the other was taken completely off guard, both of them were Amelia Watson, one from this timeline and the one this story follows from a different timeline
said Amelia realized something about her body and didn't want to risk anything "oi, grab onto the ladder before something happens" and was thankful her other self did as asked because...well, she ended up getting teleported right after the pirate Ame grabbed onto the ladder and let go of her hand. she thought she was on the ship for a few seconds before tipping her foot down and after a few attempts of trying to tiptoe feel the ground, she looks down then mumbled out some swears before falling into the sea
she really wished that she could fully control the powers that comes from being such an unstable state between existences and nothingness, but she can only grin and bear it with how often it just messes with her and throw a wrench in her plans, especially now that she went back to being soaking wet and salty from not malding at a game for once
it didn't do her any favors at seeing a rope tossed down and looking up to see some of the members of the crew looking down at her, expecting her to climb up. she weighed the option of fleeing by swimming away here and now vs climbing the rope and bearing with it until she can hopefully rest long enough to jump to another timeline or being warped far from the area
she swam to the rope and grabbed onto it, climbing up the side of the boat. she didn't like her odds at fleeing, at best, she'll be dealing with sharks trying to annoy her while at worst, they decide to catch up and capture her. if she tries to be compliant then she can at least figure out how to get a weapon that didn't have its ammo ruined by water is what she tells herself to not back out of her decision
she mumbles 'no backing out of it now' when she got to the top and felt a sickening pit in her stomach when looking at Marine and her other self, it gave her the feeling that she has to deal with one of her biggest pet-peeve on this trip
she sees the two sharing a kiss between each other...at least that's the conclusion she reached from seeing the back of pirate Amelia's head and how red the ears of said girl were that didn't make sense for just a hug between the two, she didn't want to know how intimate the kiss was. she already knew that she was going to have to stomach them while she's waiting for her body to stabilize
shaking her head, she looks around to find a place to sit at and found that most of the eyes on the ship were focused on her, making her feel unnerved
gulping and pushing down the uneasy feeling, she made her way to a barrel next to a door and sat on it. closing her eyes while crossing her arms and humming, letting herself lean against the wall behind her
for about a minute or two before a hand slamming against the wall next to her made her jump and opened her eyes to see amber and red eyes staring right at her "hey there blondie, wanna join me in blond appreciation day?"
Amelia can feel her face heating up as her tried to lean back as much as she could even if it was pretty limited with how close to the wall she already was "sorry, but you're going to have to look for someone else" telling herself that she has to be polite here to avoid dealing with the crew not taking well to her being 'too rude' in her refusals
she did raise her arm to cover her mouth with it when she saw the pirate caption leaning forward while looking at it, she doesn't want to take any chances of this girl trying to sneak in smooching attempts
much to the dismay of the redhead "come on dear, I don't bite if you don't want me to~" the sickly sweet tone made the detective want to hurl while her face started to feel a bit warmer in embarrassment
after a bit of quick thinking and quickly examining what Marine had on her, Amelia brings out her pistol and pointed it at her own head, lowering the arm covering her mouth to both say "don't test me" and to reach for the sword in the holster at the captain's hip
all she needed was the split second shock for the plan to work, to grab what she needed to get personal space
it didn't matter when Marine figured out the useless state that the pistol was right now "wait, didn't the water ruin your ammo? you tease"
the relaxation that the redhead felt went away at seeing the detective suddenly having a sword in her hand "you were saying? now gimmie my personal space back!"
with no choices she wanted to make, Marine simply complied and backed off a bit "h-hey now, no need for violence. r-right?" not wanting to test the other timeline blonde's patience
said blond lowered the sword once she could breath easy without worry of the other girl trying anything, but didn't loosen her grip on it "just go back to your Ame, the one that actually knows who you are"
though she let her guard down when she closed her eyes, flailing her arms around and opening her eyes when she felt a kiss applied to her cheek. seeing the cheeky grin Marine had for a split second before loosing her balance and hitting the ground. groaning despite not being able to feel the pain of it just to not risk being interrogated
she sits up and glared at the redhead who was hiding her mouth behind her sleeve, presumably the 'hiding grin behind sleeve' thing "surprised Ame?~"
the sickly sweet tone should make the unstable detective feel sick to the bone levels of annoyance over how often she has been flirted with by others, but it's not as pronounce as usual this time. was it because she knew nothing about the girl in front of her or was it just that it was a breath of fresh air to the blond that had so many repeats mistaking her for their Ame? she didn't know and she didn't care to figure out
she only knows that she shouldn't push her luck with staying here "about as surprised as someone receiving a kiss to the cheek from a stranger can be" unable to keep the sass from entering her voice
Marine blinks a few times then tilts her head with a confused smile "eh?...you don't know about me? I'm Houshou Marine!" walking towards the detective with her arms outstretched "the captain of this crew and of the heart of cute blondes~"
said detective was walking backwards and made some quick thinking "catch" while praying that she gets lucky after tossing the sword she was holding into the air
the pirate captain panicked and looked up to try to catch the sword only to jump back and let it hit the floorboard of the ships deck then pulled it out with only some issue
jolting when she felt a tap on her back and quickly turned around to be face to face with her Amelia "Marine? y-your face! come on, let's get that bandaged up" said blond became panicked after seeing a small yet noticeable cut on the redhead's cheek that came from the detective flailing nicking it with the sword she had
though what's a captain to do but bargain for her to comply? "only if you give me kisses~" earning a smile and an amused huff
yet pirate Amelia isn't going to pay that price yet "after the bandaging, now chop chop" having to put her arm between them to keep Marine from brute forcing her attempt at getting kisses, the redhead's whining made the blond laugh "how about two more added on if you be a good girl?"
pirate Amelia breathes a sigh of relief when that got Marine to comply via said girl hugging her arm and dragging her to the med bay
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the detective sits down and leaned against the boxes behind her, watching the scene before her play out before she deems hiding to be more worth her time after the lovey-dovey captain and pirate duo walked out of her line of sight. her mind racing through questions about love and her, wondering if she'll ever find one that wants her specifically, not just mistaking her for their Amelia or as a replacement if their Ame was no longer coming back
she blows some of her hair out of her eyes and mumbles 'fat chance' when she thinks back to the people she hurt back when she was just dealing with having to cut ties with everything she worked for and everyone she knew. a loud part of her mind telling her that no one would want her as their lover without it to replace a better her, she shakes her head and breathes in then out
she can feel a familiar burning pain burst through her scattered nerves as she knew what she wanted to do now "let's see if the next timeline goes better for me"