"(Name)? (Name)? Yo! (Name)!" This is what you were woken up to. That and someone shaking your shoulder. Your mind was foggy but you were able to keep some clear thoughts.
'I know that voice…' you thought. Your eyes fluttered open to be greeted by a certain someone with a big grin on their face. Their blue eyes seemed happy. And it reflected from behind their glasses.
"A-Alf-red?" you said groggily. Your best friend just grinned all the more.
"Dude! You finally woke up! I thought you'd be asleep forever!" he said. This confused you, causing you to sit up abruptly.
"Asleep?"  you said, making sure you heard him correctly. Alfred nodded and gave you a 'Duh' look.
"Well Duh! You fell asleep on the couch dude! Now come on! We gotta get going!" he said. This was a little startling.
'Was it all a dream? The people? The ship? The events? The Captain?' You thought, sighed a little bit, saddened at the last thought. But why were you sad? Its not like you were that close to him…right? You were about to adjust and take it all in as just your imagination when Alfred pulled out a carrot and started eating it.
"Dude, you were snoring and everything" *CHOMP* "And you forgot to bring over that movie so now we have to go rent it." *CHOMP* "And-" You interrupted him.
"Alfred. Is that a…carrot your eating?" you asked, not believing what was in his hands, let alone in his mouth.
"Yeah. So?" he said nonchalantly, taking another bite from the carrot. Then it all started to click  You would have to move heaven and earth to get Alfred to eat anything that wasn't deep fried.
"Alfred. You have never eaten fresh vegetables in your life, nor will you ever." you said, eyeing him curiously. He just shrugged and started walking away. But then you noticed something else.
'Is that a….rabbit's tail?!?' you thought. Sure enough a white fluffy bunny tail popped out of Alfred's pants and was now attached to him. You shook your head.
'This can only mean one thing.' you thought, looking down at your left wrist. You noticed that the bracelet was gone.
'Yup, this is definitely-"  You pinched your arm….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your eyes shot open and you found yourself in a familiar room with familiar rocking and a familiar Captain sleeping not too far from you. You internally groaned.
'It was all a dream….I'm still here!' you thought, looking at your left wrist to find that familiar bracelet still attached to it. Ah yes, it was all a dream. You sighed and lifted your head up to look out the big window. It was still dark out so you figured it was still early morning. You sighed again and laid your head back down, pulling Arthur's coat over your shoulders.
'Wait…what is his coat doing on me?' you thought.
'He must have placed it over me while I was sleeping…sneaky guy.' you thought, only slightly admiring Arthur's sneakiness. But you would never openly admit that. You closed your eyes again and tried to go back to sleep. Without much waiting you succumbed to the heavy weight of sleep and dozed off once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
However, someone else was unable to sleep at the time. In the small cabin that you used to reside in Francis was restless with troubling thoughts, and only he knew of what was troubling him. Not even Arthur knew. Francis didn't tell anyone. After much tossing and turning he finally sat up, rubbing his tired baby blue eyes which were a little darker from lack of sleep and worry. Completely ruining his 'beauty sleep'.
"Il me manque tellement."  he whispered to no one in particular. Francis lifted his head and stood up, groggily stretching his tired muscles and walking up to the deck. There was no use in trying to sleep, he was too worried to sleep and with each passing day it got worse. He didn't even smile when the wind greeted his face, but rather he sighed sadly as the wind reminded him of his little brother, Matthieu. Francis slowly walked over to the railing and leaned on it, gazing out at the dark horizon.
'Comment le raccord, il correspond à mon humeur que de fin' he thought bitterly to himself, running his elegant fingers through his long blond hair. He sighed sadly again and pulled the blue ribbon out from his pocket, the one Matthieu had bought for him. He smiled as he looked at it.
"Oh Matthieu…Je suis tellement désolé c'est ce qui se passe." he whispered, clutching the blue ribbon in his hands for dear life. "I promise….I'll get you back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12 hours before
There he sat, black boots propped up on his old mahogany desk. His right hand clutched a bottle of rum while the left one clutched a necklace from a certain Spaniard that he stole from. His black hat shading his tanned face, making his already dark brown eyes look almost black. His hair tied up and hanging lazily behind his head. This was Captain Ricardo Cruz. The man that so many people were after for the things he had done. But he didn't care. He didn't care about anyone but himself. He didn't care when he killed Arthur's parents, he didn't care when he stole from Antonio and he doesn't care about the small boy cowering in the corner, clutching his knees and hiding his face with his long blond hair. This boy was Matthieu, he was scared, alone and wanted to be back home with his older brother. He would whimper in fear and sadness every now and then, which would cause the Captain to yell at him.
"Ey! Chu need to shut up chu lil brat!" he would yell, while swigging his rum, as if just that much yelling parched his throat. Matthieu shook and tried to go back farther into the corner where he sat. In all honesty he just wished to be invisible, that way the Captain wouldn't notice his whimpering or soft cries. He was only fifteen years old but he was a very timid boy. Shy and quiet but very sweet and caring. The man that sat lazily in the chair in front of him was none of those things. He was mean and nasty. He was loud and merciless. He was Captain Ricardo Cruz…and Matthieu was stuck on his ship.
Cruz took another swig from his bottle and stood up.
"That's all chu ever do is whine and cry. I'll give chu somethin' to cry about!" he said, towering over the frightened boy who just shaking all the more.
"N-No, please. I-I'll be good. I promise." he said in a hushed whisper. Cruz just waved him off and walked away.
"Bah! There chu go again. I can never hear a word chu say. Why don't chu learn to speak up like me!" he said, walking over to the door. Mattieu let a stray tear roll down his face.
"I want my brother" he said in an audible tone. This made Cruz laugh as he opened the door
"Niño, chu'll never see that girly brother of chours ever again. I can promise chu dat." he said before closing the door on his way out, leaving Matthieu all alone, which he was most of the time. Stuck in the captains cabin, alone most of the time. He preferred it when he was alone, at least that way he didn't get yelled at. But even when he was alone in the room he could still hear yelling from outside. When the captain would yell at his crew his orders and such. That man scared Matthieu.
"Francis will come and save me. I know he will." he said in his usual whisper. Clutching his knees and crying some more.
"Oh brother…where are you?"
Meanwhile, Cruz was at the helm shouting out orders, mostly in Spanish as most of the crew only spoke that language.
"Capitán!" one of his crew shouted "Tengo noticias sir!" he said as he approached the captain. Cruz gave him a snarl look before drawing his attention back to the sea ahead.
"What is it then!" he said in an irritated way. The man beside him nodded and began.
"I have word that Antonio and his crew are making an alliance with Arthur." he said. Cruz shot his head in the mans direction.
"Qué!?!" he shouted. The man cowered a bit but kept his ground.
"Su verdadero señor! Word has it there on our trail and will be docking in Normandy just after we do." he said, awaiting the captains angry reaction. But Cruz didn't yell. He didn't even seem angry, but instead a grin graced his features causing the man beside him to look at him questioningly.
"Uh…Capitán?" he asked. He figured the captain could just be drunk again. Cruz laughed heartily…not exactly what the man was expecting.
"Si~! Let them come after me! That will just give me another chance to raid them!" He said with a smile on his face. He was looking forward to meeting up with the little English brat again. And Antonio…oh he would enjoy gloating in front of him as well.
"QUIERO QUE ESTE BARCO PARA IR MÁS RÁPIDO! MOVE IT!" he shouted. All the men scrambled to their positions and made the ship go as fast as it could. Cruz had a little trick up his sleeve and in order to play it he needed to get there much faster then Arthur.
"I hope you like surprises amigo." he said grinning, his yellow teeth peeking from his cracked lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back to current time
You were awoken to someone shaking your shoulder. You figured it was Arthur and groaned.
"Nooooooo." you whined rolling on your other side "Five more minutes."
You heard a childish giggled from behind you, causing you to crack your eyes open.
"I'm sorry miss but brother told me to wake you up." said a familiar voice.
'Peter' you thought, turning your head to face him. You smiled at him.
"Morning Pete" you said sleepily, yawning a bit. Peter smiled back and stood up straight, looking cuter then ever in his little sailor outfit.
"Well a good morning to you too miss! I trust you slept well?" he said. You sat up and rubbed your tired eyes, nodding slightly.
"Mmmhmm." you mumbled, stretching your arms. And that's when Peter asked the most, in your opinion, random question to ask someone who just woke up.
"Is my brother courting you yet?" he asked oh so bluntly. You stopped stretching and looked at Peter.
"Well…that was random." you said, causing Peter to laugh.
"I mean it! He's bound to ask you any day now." he said as you stood up and grabbed your boots.
"Sure. What ever you say." you said casually, slipping one foot into your boot.
'Why is he talking about this kind of stuff?' you thought, slipping your other boot onto your other foot. It got stuck so you had to bend down to get it on all the way.
"Does that mean you two will have children together?" he asked, causing you to snap up straight.
"What?" you asked, not really believing what Peter was asking. He just shrugged and held his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on his feet.
"Well. You told me that when two people get married they have children. And in order for them to have children they need to-" This is where you cut him off. In all honesty, this whole conversation was getting really weird and really awkward...really fast.
"-Peter. Why don't you let me wake up first before we start talking about 'that'." you said, giving off big hints to him. Thank the lord he nodded and dropped the topic. The last thing you wanted to think about was being married to some guy who was technically 300 years older then you. You shuddered a bit.
"That's creepy…" you muttered quietly, causing Peter to look back at you.
"What was that miss?" he asked. You shook your head and walked toward the door.
"Nothing! Nothing important. Now come on before his royal highness gets upset." you said, trying to keep the fact that you and Arthur were being nicer to each other a secret. Peter followed you out the door and out into the sunshine. Well, you were expecting sunshine, it was actually overcast that day. But it didn't bother you. You shrugged, then realizing you still had your red sweatshirt on. At least if it rained you'd have coverage. Arthur was talking with Francis, while Ian took Arthur's usual position at the helm. You waved to Ian and he waved back and gave you a big smile.
"MORNIN' LASS!"  he practically shouted, getting nearly everyone's attention. Including Arthur and that creeper. Oh how Francis annoyed you. He grinned and winked at you. You stuck your tongue out at him making him laugh his creeper laugh. Arthur motioned for you to come over to them with his hand. You complied, keeping a close eye on Francis.
'That creeper.' you thought.
"Well, it's good to see you up and awake" he said, giving you a small smile. You nodded, still sleepy.
"Well I'm up…but not necessarily awake." you said, giving him a smile in return. He chuckled softly and turned to Francis.
"I was just telling Francis what an experienced fighter you are." he said, catching you off guard.
"Say what?" you asked, a little embarrassed that he was talking about you. Francis nodded and drew his attention to you.
"Oui, it appears that our little rose 'as thorns, non?" he said, grinning creepily at you again. You sneered a little, more out of disgust then anything.
"I can kick your butt any day you creeper." you muttered under your breath.
"What was that mademoiselle?" Francis asked, leaning closer to you. You placed your hand on his face and pushed him back.
"Nothing! Nothing at all." you said. Arthur chuckled at the display before him.
"Ah, I see you two are being more tolerating of each other." he said. You scoffed at this.
"Sure…tolerating." you said, crossing your arms. Francis gasped and placed a hand to his chest, looking oh so dramatic.
"Tolerating?!? I am loved and adored everywhere I go!" he said. You shook your head and opened your mouth to say some snarky remark to that but Arthur held his hand up and gave you a look.
"(Name)…" he said, causing you to close your mouth quickly, your teeth clicked when you did so. Arthur nodded and smiled.
"That's a good girl." he said before turning to Francis again.
"So Frog, how's life with the bothersome brethren?" he asked, referring to Antonio and Gilbert. In your opinion they weren't that bad, not that you were going to get chummy with them anytime soon, but its not like they were bad. Francis smirked and patted Arthur's cheek.
"Ah, is little Arthur missing me zat much?" he said, speaking as an adult would a child. Arthur glared and smacked Francis' hand away.
"Not in a million years frog!" he said. This only made Francis chuckle again.
"Oh mon ami. You can lie to your crew and you can lie to yourself." he said leaning close to Arthur's face "But you can never lie to me." he said, winking at Arthur. Then things got a little funny. Arthur started strangling Francis.
"Shut up you dirty wanker!" he yelled. Francis made strangled laughs as he was being, not fatally, strangled by Arthur. You shook your head and decided to leave the odd couple alone to work things out.
'I wonder if there always like this?' you wondered, still listening to the commotion behind you. You decided to call Alfred and explain what had happened the day before. You knew he was probably on the verge of having a stroke or something from all the stress you were putting on him. And the greasy fast food only doubled his chances.
"Poor guy" you said quietly as you entered the captains quarters, locking the door behind you. You were starting to think ahead more now. You plopped down on the couch and took your phone out of your pocket, turning it on and waiting patiently for it to start up. Meanwhile you decided to think about how you were going to tell Alfred that you broke one of the rules.
"I wonder how he will take it…" you said aloud. "Knowing Alfred…" You made an explosion noise to symbolize his reaction. You soon dialed his number and waited for him to answer. You swore you never heard the phone ring once before you heard Alfred pick up.
"YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE DEAD OR INJURED OR BOTH!" he shouted into the phone. Your poor ear was now ringing from his outburst. You hissed and groaned.
"Alfreeeeeeeeeeeed! My ear! Shesh!" you said, rubbing your poor ear. You were sure you were a little more deaf now thanks to him. Good old Alfred.
"Do you know how worried I've been?!?" he shouted again, although not as loud. You rolled your eyes and sighed.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I uh…had a little incident yesterday." you said sheepishly. You heard him huff on the other line.
"Well I figured that! What happened? Did you get hurt? Did you lose the bracelet? Did you get shanghaied? Did you-" you cut him off before he rambled on and on about all the things that could have happened.
"Alfred! Calm down!" you said sternly. That shut Alfred up for a while so you decided to just explain what happened.
"Okay listen, it went like this…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Arthur had decided he had sufficiently gotten all his pent up anger out on Francis' throat, he decided to give you your chores for the day. He looked around but you were no where to be found.
"(Name)? Hmm…where did she go…" he wondered. He figured you left after he started strangling Francis but where did you go to? He figured he would check the cabin first.
"If anywhere she would be there I'm sure." he said quietly to himself. He headed to the cabin door, thinking of what he needed you to do today. He figured he'd let you have an easy day today after your emotional break down the previous night. As he approached the door he heard you speaking from the other side. He was about to question when he remembered what had happened yesterday, when he caught you with that strange…talking…music…moment capturer…thing.
'What did she call it again?' he thought. He stood in front of the door and listened to your conversation. He wasn't sure who you were talking to but it seemed important.
"No Alfred, its not like that!" he heard you say, sounding a little flustered.
'I wonder what's going on' Arthur wondered.
"No Alfred, he didn't touch me." Hearing you say this made Arthur blush.
'I-I am a gentlemen! I would never do such a thing!' he thought in defense, though he wasn't really sure why he was.
"Yes, yes I understand but I didn't really have much of a choice Al! He caught me red handed!…No! I didn't! Besides I didn't know he was there!" You started to sound more and more flustered, this bothered Arthur.
'Who is causing her so much trouble?'
" Well it's too late now he already knows!…Yes…yes I explained what it was…well of course I did! Like I said I had no choice!" he heard you sigh heavily. You sounded tired. Very tired.
'Poor dear' Arthur thought.
"Look Alfred…I'm just as eager to get home as you are for me." he heard you say. This caused a strange pain in Arthur's heart.
'Eager? She's eager to leave?' he thought sadly. Sadly? Why was he sad about this?
"Alfred…I miss home…I miss my mom and my brothers and my friends….I just wish I could go home now." you said that last part with a little bit of longing in your voice. Arthur furrowed his brows in sadness. You really wanted to leave so badly? To leave his ship? To leave him?
He decided he didn't want to hear any more. So he quietly left the hallway and made his way back outside. He sighed sadly and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why does this bother me so…" he muttered quietly. He jumped when Francis placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Something wrong mon ami?" he asked casually, as if Arthur had not tried to strangle him previously. Arthur scoffed and shook his hand off him.
"No! I'm just fine! Why don't you go keep watch for on coming ships or something!" he snapped before making his way up to the helm, taking over for Ian. Francis watched Arthur the whole way and clicked his tongue.
"Poor, poor Arthur." he said. Knowing full well that something as bothering his friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"(Name) I told you not to get involved with anyone!" Alfred said, scolding you. You sighed and laid down on the couch.
"I'm sorry. But you know that's hard for me…believe me I tried! I tried really hard! I just…" You sighed, not being able to finish your sentence. You had already befriended Gibbons, Ian, Peter and the Captain. That was a faux pa in the time traveling rules. But sometimes rules needed to be broken, right?
"I know, I know…I guess I should have expected it. I was just sort of hoping you'd be able to do it is all." Alfred said, calming down a bit now. You sighed in exhaustion.
"This whole week has been very tiring for me. So many new things to learn and do…its just all so…overwhelming I guess." you said, staring up at the ceiling. You heard Alfred sigh from the other line.
"I know. I understand….look, (name)? The whole reason why I was so hard on you before about this is because I worry and I just want you to come home safe…that's all." he said. You smiled at your friend's caring for you. You giggled softly.
"Thanks Alfred. That means a lot to me." you said. You talked to Alfred for a good twenty minutes more until you decided that you needed to go.
"Hey Al? I need to get going. But I'll call you in a few days…or when something big happens, okay?" you said, sitting upright in the couch and stretching a bit.
"No problem. Just be careful, alright?" he said. You chuckled and stood up.
"Always will." you said, smiling a bit. You said your goodbyes and hung up, placing your phone back in your pocket for safekeeping. You stood there for a moment and thought about what had happened yesterday. About Arthur catching you on your phone and confiding in him one of your biggest secrets.
"Crap" you said aloud. "I really screwed up big time didn't I?" You sighed and rubbed the back of your neck.
"Well it's not like I can undo what I've done…I'll just have to be more careful from now on and make sure no one else finds out about this." you said, walking over to the door to leave. 'I just hope Arthur can keep quiet about this.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the day was very strange in your opinion. The Captain kept avoiding you, almost intentionally it seemed. Whenever you would approach him to talk he would find something to do and walk away. Or if he did talk to you it was very short and brief. You started to get flustered by this.
'What's his deal?!?' you thought angrily to yourself as you ate your lunch in contempt. You didn't understand why he was being so standoffish all of a sudden. You would glance over at him from time to time. You'd catch him looking at you, but when he got caught he would look the other way quickly. You shook your head and shoved another spoonful of food in your mouth.
"It dohn make shense" you said while clenching your spoon between your teeth. Translation, 'It doesn't make sense'.
Ian looked over at you.
"What doesn' make sense lass?" he asked, placing his fork aside. You shook your head and went back to eating.
"Nothing" you muttered, stirring your soup around a bit, occasionally stabbing a potato here and there.
'Why is he avoiding me all of a sudden?!? Wait….did I scare him off with what happened yesterday?' you thought, taking another quick glance at Arthur, who seemed a bit tense at the moment. It could have been because of what happened yesterday that he seemed so tense…then again. It could be because Francis was hanging around him at the moment. You sighed and turned your head back again. Only to find Ian smiling at you with a stupid expression on his face. You cocked an eyebrow.
"What are you smiling about?" you asked, grabbing your spoon. Ian just chuckled.
"Enjoyin' the view lass?" he asked oh so smugly. You glared at him and picked up a piece of potato with your spoon, flicking it at him. Hitting him square in between the eyes.
"Hey!" he said, whipping off the potato residue from his face. You chuckled to yourself and kept eating. The rest of the day was just as the morning was. A certain someone avoiding you. After lunch he just stayed in his cabin doing god only knows what in there. Leaving you victim to Francis' pervy antics. Ian made sure to keep Francis away from you. That was nice. Ian was like a big brother to you now, being that your own brothers were not even born at this point…that was a weird thought for you. So you mostly just spent the rest of the time talking with Ian while you did what you needed to do. Thankfully Ian didn't mind this. But it still kept bothering you that Arthur seemed to be avoiding you. Did you do something wrong? Did you offend him? What was it?!? You decided that after dinner you would confront him about it, because it was really bothering you. If he had some sort of a problem with you then you wanted to get it resolved a.s.a.p.
Turns out, the Captain had the same idea.