Chapter Text
The rain poured. There was an occasional flash of lightning or crack of thunder. Any sailor living in Rogueport knows how dangerous it is to go sailing in this weather. Only the best and most experienced even considered the idea. But sailing period was the last thing on Admiral Bobbery’s mind.
“I lost both my loves on a night like tonight,” Bobbery said to no one other than himself. His beloved wife, Scarlette, had died a while back while he was at sea and he blamed his own love of sailing for it. He had not been back on the sea since. He wasn’t planning on living home, especially due to the rain, but noticed that he was out of drinks. Normally, he wouldn’t dare leave, but he didn’t want to remain sober that night. Far too painful. Besides, maybe the weather would just reunite him with Scarlette. Upon heading out, he didn’t bother with an umbrella. His old hat covered enough of his head, anyways. Trudging towards the shop, Bobbery kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to get water in his eyes. He wasn’t expecting to see anything outside of the rocky path, but saw a faint trail of something.
“What-?” The old Bob-omb asked the empty street. Curiosity got the best of him and he followed it. Thankfully, the trail wasn't long and somehow hadn’t been washed away by all the rain (Bobbery just assumed it was recent). It led to a merchant wagon. The owner had most likely fled indoors to take shelter from the storm. Bobbery wasn’t sure why, but he decided to see what the trail was coming from. It was most likely just a leaking barrel of liquor or some other drink. Still, maybe if he could find the leak and the owner of the wagon, he could save them a little money. He looked into the wagon.
And found a sight he knew would haunt him to his grave.
It was an unconscious young shadow girl. She had to be about five if Bobbery had to guess. But what truly scared him was her appearance. She was covered in blood, with cuts of varying lengths and depths everywhere on her body. Her hair-which Bobbery couldn’t tell the color of as it was so caked with both wet and dried blood-had been sloppily cropped off, leaving the girl with a short bob. And one of her eyes was missing, seemingly stabbed out. Bobbery narrowly avoided throwing up what little food he had in his body. For a brief second, the girl managed to regain consciousness, looking around in confusion before passing out once again.
“... I need to get her indoors ,” Bobbery thought to himself. Summoning all his strength, Bobbery managed to drag the girl back to his home. Thankfully, he hadn’t managed to get very far before he found her. Once he managed to get inside and lock the door, he got right to work, moving like how he did in his prime. A fire was swiftly lit in the fireplace, Bobbery thanking the Star Spirits above that he let Scarlette convince him to get something that wouldn’t cause rain to get into the chimney and the first aid kit was brought out. Thankfully, the girl’s wounds weren’t as serious as they seemed and much of the bleeding seemed to have already stopped, making it simply a matter of disinfecting and bandaging them. The eye injury, on the other hand, was exactly as Bobbery had guessed-it was gone. He had to crudely cauterize the wound just to get the bleeding to stop. Bobbery was just thankful that his sailor’s addition first aid kit had a post op eyepatch. He had no idea why , but he was grateful that whoever made them was prepared for the worst, which this certainly was.
“Mmmmh….” The girl groaned as she practically forced herself up. Bobbery watched her intensely, making sure that none of her wounds reopened. He had already finished and this girl was already close to death. He didn’t want her or him to accidentally make things worse. She was shivering and seemed unable to get her hands to work like she wanted. She closed and opened her remaining eye, as if trying to see if she could get her other eye to open. After a few tries, she moved her hand to where the eye should have been and felt the eye patch. Letting out a quiet gasp, she seemed to realize that she was never going to see out of that eye ever again.
“Are you alright, little one?” Bobbery asked, trying to keep his tone soft. This girl was clearly frightened enough. Sure enough, she jumped a little, but calmed down upon realizing that Bobbery was no threat to her.
“I’m cold…” She slurred out. Bobbery nodded. He had a feeling she would be suffering from hypothermia, considering the weather. Grabbing a blanket, Bobbery gingerly draped it over her. She managed to wrap it around herself as Bobbery slowly led her over to the fire.
“Can you tell me who hurt you?” He asked her once she was comfortable.
“I...I don’t know,” The girl said, her voice giving away how weak and tired she was, as she looked at the floor. “I don’t know a lot…”
“Do you at least know your name?” Bobbery asked, keeping his softer tone up. He had his suspicions on why this girl knew barely anything about herself.
“It’s Vivian,” The girl replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Well, then, Vivian, can you recall anything else?” Bobbery asked, doing his best to give the girl a warm smile. He didn’t want her to panic, considering he was on the verge of it himself. So if she did begin to panic, then there is no doubt he would as well, which wouldn’t end well for either of them.
“Er…I’m five, I think…might have magic…” Vivian tried, but Bobbery could already see she was straining herself. He really didn’t want her to pass out again. He knew that he really should try to get her to the doctor, but it was way too far and he had no vehicle, so moving her while she was already so injured would most likely kill her and Bobbery didn’t want another death on his hands.
“Do not strain yourself, little one,” Bobbery assured her. “Take your time and if you do manage to come up with more memories, do not hesitate to let me know.”
“Uh…okay,” Vivian said, turning back to the fire to warm herself more. As Bobbery watched the girl slowly adjusted in hopes of getting warmer, he struggled to keep his feelings down. Amnesia from trauma sadly wasn’t uncommon in sailors. You never knew what would happen-massive storm swells, a sucker punch to the head, or even some sea beast could attack. Bobbery knew people who had lost their entire lives from a bad blow to the head. But for someone to cause this kind of damage to a child?
Bobbery didn’t like to think bad things about people he had never met, but he hoped that whoever hurt the child would suffer. Maybe getting eaten by something so they could at least be worth something.
Still, he had no idea what to do with Vivian. He wasn’t letting her go back outside, that was for sure, but was he really in the right state of mind to raise a child? Maybe he could pass her off on a younger sailor couple? Surely there had to be one. No, that was a bad idea. They would have way too many questions that neither Bobbery nor Vivian would have the answers to. Still, what to do?
“Scarlette…please give me a sign , ” Bobbery whispered to himself. Suddenly, he heard a quiet giggle. Looking back at Vivian, he watched as she played with a small spark of fire in her fingers. That most likely was the magic she had guessed she had, but in spite of all the problems she was currently having, the magic seemed to come to her naturally. She didn’t even burn the blanket. While her movements were slow and light, mostly because moving any faster would cause her more pain. Bobbery felt a smile come to his face. Whether that actually was Scarlette, or just luck, he made up his mind. “Vivian, may I ask you a question?”
“Okay?” Vivian asked, her voice still weaker sounding.
“You mentioned that you did not remember anything about your life, yes?” Bobbery asked.
“Yeah…don’t know if I have family,” Vivian admitted sadly.
“Then, perhaps you would like to stay with me?” Bobbery offered with as much warmth as he could, a smile gracing his face. Vivian smiled back.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think I want to stay here. It’s warm here,” Vivian agreed. She clearly wished to be celebrating more, but her wounds and tired state prevented her from doing so.
“It is normally warm outside as well, but the rain is quite frigid,” Bobbery said, attempting a joke. Much to his joy, Vivian giggled.
“The rain was very cold,” Vivian agreed with another giggle.
“Well, I’m sure once we awake in the morning, it should be warm once again,” Bobbery assured her.
“Er, before we sleep, can I ask for one thing?” Vivian asked nervously. Clearly, she was still unsure about everything.
“What would you like?” Bobbery asked.
“...Can I get this weird black stuff off?” Vivian sheepishly requested. If Bobbery had arms, he would have facepalmed. He really should have washed her before covering her in bandages.
“Yes, you can have a bath,” Bobbery replied.
“Good night,” Bobbery said. Once Vivian had been cleaned off, which also revealed that she had soft pink hair, the duo had decided that it was time for bed. Both were already fighting to stay awake as is.
“Good night dad,” Vivian sleepily replied as she closed her eyes. Bobbery’s eyes shot open. He was fully awake now. A father!? Him!? He had so many ways to write that statement off. She was practically sleeping! She was not in the right state of mind! But he didn’t want to. He had remembered that Scarlette had always wanted children, but they had never been able to conceive before her death.
“ This will be my redemption ,” Bobbery thought to himself with determination before he allowed himself to fall asleep as well. He was pretty sure he felt Vivian snuggle up to him before sleep finally claimed him.
It was one of the first nights he had gone without nightmares or painful reminders in years.