You sighed a bit, resting your head on the wall as you sat with your arms resting on your knees. You had successfully managed to freak the captain out and have him thinking that you were a raving lunatic. Good for you! Now you just had to somehow scare him and possibly his crew enough to convince them that the only way to remove the 'spooks' from his ship was to let you go. We'll call it "Operation: Get Out alive before the crap hit's the fan."
It's a good plan. Right?
You chuckled as you recalled all of the superstitions you had asked Alfred to look up for you. You were now milking this for all it was worth. You just hopped Mathieu would somehow be able to sneak out of the captain's cabin unnoticed and give you all the supplies you asked for. You had great visions of your plan falling into place. If only things happened that easily. You waited patiently for Mathieu to come to you. But he wasn't coming. You occupied yourself to pass the time away. You listened to your I-pod for an hour. But still he did not come. You counted the number of times drops of water would fall through the planks of wood above you and land in a small puddle below. But still he did not come. You were starting to get worried, which was apparent when you started wringing your hands.
"Come on…come on where are you?" you said quietly to yourself. Hoping earnestly that he was just taking his sweet time. You weren't sure exactly what time it was, being that there was no window in the brig here. But you knew it was getting later in the day. What was taking Mathieu so long?!
The sound of a heavy door opening caught your attention. Your head snapped up and you smiled as you saw an approaching shadow from around the corner. But your smile quickly faded when you saw, not Mathieu, but the Captain instead. You scowled slightly at him, unable to see him fully in the dim light.
"What do you want?" you asked nonchalantly but with a hint of venom to it. The captain chuckled a bit as he came closer and you saw he was wearing a gin on his face. You furrowed your brows a bit as he came closer.
'Why is he looking at me like that?' you thought as he approached the cell bars.
"Chu think chour pretty clever don't chu?" he asked in a condescending way. You flicked some hair from your face and sat up straight.
"Pretty much. What's your point?" you asked, giving him an uninterested look. He just chuckled and tilt his hat forward a bit.
If chour hwaiting for that little hwhinny baby to come help you chour hwaisting chour time." he said, grinning at you "I made sure he hwont be escaping anytime soon." he said, laughing like he was some comedian and he just told a hum dinger of a joke. Your eyes widened a bit before narrowing in his direction.
"What did you do to him?" you asked in a serious tone. He merely grinned wide, showing all of his unkempt teeth before turning on heal and making his way out of the room. You looked at him in worry sitting forward quickly.
"What did you do to him?!" you demanded. Cruz just chuckled a bit.
"I chained him to the floor just as chu hwere chica." he said. You squinted your eyes in rage at him. How. DARE he! You stood up abruptly.
"I swear if you hurt him I'll-!" you began to rant but he quickly interrupted you.
"Oh believe me chica." he said, turning to the side to look at you. "Its chour own safety chu should be hworried about." he said, that same grin plastered on his face. It somewhat reminded you of Antonio's smile. Only his was goofy and sincere.  Cruz's on the other hand was more…sinister. You furrowed your brows at him.
'Wait…is he planning on…hurting me?' you thought. Not that it surprised you much. You'd rather him threaten you like that then in some other…less then civil way.
'Wait….he's threatening me!.' you shouted at yourself. You pursed your lips and crossed your arms over your chest, for two reasons. One, to look like you meant business, which you did. Two, so he couldn't get a good view at your girls.
"Are you threatening me, pal?" you asked, with as much attitude as you could muster. His grin got wider, if that was even possible.
"No, not a threat chica. A promise." he said, a dark twinkle in his even darker amber eyes. He left you to ponder what he just stated, his footsteps making heavy thumping noises against the damp wooden floor of the brig. Once you heard the heavy door close you sat back and began to think.
'Crap…things just got serious. Looks like my plan wont work…guess I'll have to think of something else.' you thought to yourself as you plotted what to do next before things got too…serious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arthur was getting frustrated, worried and all of the above. He and his crew had been searching all day and still no sign of you. Where could you be? Were you alright? Were you…dead? Arthur's heart stopped when he thought of that last possibility.
'Stop thinking like that you dolt! She's not dead…she can't be…'
The nightlife shuffle was beginning. People either hurrying home or hurrying to their favorite tavern to drink away their day's anxieties. Or to pick up a few fair maidens. Probably both. Light posts were being lit for the oncoming night.
Arthur looked up at the setting sun and watched as the twilight hour slowly swallowed up the day light, sending a slight shiver to go down Arthur's spine. It was getting dark soon. Oh… where could you be?
"Arthur, why don't we call it a night and start again tomorrow?" Francis suggested as he shifted on his sore and tired feet. It had been a long day for everyone but Arthur wasn't finished.
"No." he said, shaking his head and turning to look at Francis. "Were not stopping until we find her and Cruz." he said. Francis sighed and groaned a bit.
"Please Arthur. Its getting late and it will be dark soon-"
"My point exactly! All sorts of horrid things happen at night!" he said in a raised voice, cutting Francis off. Francis backed up a bit from Arthur's reaction. He was starting to act like a vicious, desperate animal. He was starting to look like one too. Arthur glared at Francis one more time.
"We continue on." he said gruffly before walking again. Francis followed behind wearily. Had Arthur even realized that neither of them had eaten a single thing all day? If he kept on like this he would have no strength to fight even if he DID manage to somehow find you tonight.
"Arthur~!" Francis called, quickening his pace. "You must stop and at least eat. You need to keep your strength." he said, trying to convince him to take a rest before he killed himself with exhaustion. Arthur scoffed and continued trudging forward.
"I'm not hungry." he mumbled bluntly, walking with clenched fists.
"But Arthur, if you do not eat you will lose your strength and if you lose your strength zen 'ow do you expect to fight?" he said. This caused Arthur to stop. As much as he hated to admit it, Francis had a good point. If he had no strength left how would he protect you and fight off Cruz? With a huff and a pout Arthur agreed with a curt "Fine". Francis, overcome with glee that he could FINALLY eat, pulled Arthur into the nearest tavern.
"But as soon as we've had out fill its back to searching! Understand?" Arthur said, glaring at the back of Francis' head. Francis nodded casually and waved his hand.
"Oui, oui." he said as they approached a table. Arthur sat down, resting his arms on the table and looking around for any suspicious characters that might be lurking about. Even when he was suppose to be relaxing he was still on guard. Francis plopped down with a relaxing sigh, glad to finally be off his aching feet. He flagged down a blond bar maid to come and fetch them some sustenance and refreshments as well. He winked at her and spoke to her kindly but with a hit of flirtation in his voice. She giggled and scurried off to retrieve their order. Francis chuckled as he watched her flitter away. Though he was most likely enjoying the view of her leaving, if ya know what I mean. Wink, wink. Once Francis was done perving it up he glanced over at Arthur, who looked just as ridged as he did before. Francis sighed and shook his head.
"Arthur…try to relax. Don't worry about a thing." he said, fiddling with the buttons on his coat. Arthur didn't reply, he just continued to stare off to the side, narrowing his eyes a bit.
"Arthur? Did you 'ear me? You need to relax a bit. Then you can be staunchly and stiff again." he said, chucking a bit. He expected a reaction from Arthur, a quick remark, a scoff, something. But Arthur didn't respond still. Francis furrowed his brows a bit.
"Arthur?" he asked quietly, becoming slightly curious as to why Arthur was not responding.
Had Francis realized that Arthur was too busy observing a couple of men a few tables over he would have realized why Arthur was not responding to his questions.
'Those men look…familiar…' Arthur thought to himself, posing suspicions on them.
Francis followed Arthur's gaze and stopped when his eyes hit a table of three men. They looked just like any other person in the tavern. Why was Arthur looking at them so intently?
The three men laughed simultaneously at something that was said, further filling the already loud tavern with more noise. Arthur narrowed his eyes at them even more.
One of the men looked in their direction as he was recovering from laughing. His eyes stopped immediately on Arthur, meeting his penetrating gaze. The smile on his face quickly vanished into a slightly dreaded frown, muttering something in Spanish. Arthur didn't know what he said but he knew it was in Spanish. That's all he needed to know.
"You!" he shouted, standing abruptly from his seat, causing his chair to fall backwards and pointing at the group of men. Francis stood up as well, not sure what was going on. The group of men froze and the other two slowly looked over their shoulder to see Captain Kirkland barreling down on them. They quickly shot up from their seats and bolted from the door.
"Stop!" Arthur shouted, sprinting after them, knocking over a few more chairs in the process.
"Arthur!" Francis called out to him. He sighed when he realized they were on a chase and he would not be able to enjoy his meal like he wanted. He turned to the surprised blond who had their tray of food and ale, looking confused at what was going on. He gave her a smile and a tip of his hat.
"Pardon Mademoiselle." he said before chasing after Arthur.
"Get back here you bloody gits!"  Arthur shouted at them in anger as he continued to chase the three men. It never dawned on him that if he lost Francis in this chase he would be horrible outnumbered. No. He wouldn't. He was Captain Arthur Kirkland. He'd taken down a whole slew of men all by himself before. What were three men to him? He chased them through the night crowd who seemed unfazed by this. It was a normal occurrence. They all split up at a multi divided pathway, causing Arthur to be unsure of what to do.
'If I can capture one them I can interrogate him!' he concluded, choosing to follow the man who went left. Francis quickly following behind Arthur.
''Ere we go again.' Francis thought, trying to keep up with his British counterpart.
'Almost got you!' Arthur thought as he reached his hand forward in determination to grab the man by the back of his shirt. But suddenly the man took a sharp right, catching Arthur completely off guard and causing him to slam into the oncoming wall.
"NO!" he shouted as he crashed into some empty barrels, knocking them over in the process. But Francis was quick to follow the man, turning right to catch him. But the man had taken up incredible speed somehow and was loosing Francis quickly.
"Non!" Francis yelled, trying his best to keep up with the man they were chasing. But due to lack of food and being on his feet all day he didn't have the energy nor the strength to carry on. His burning lungs and legs forced him to stop, hunching over and breathing heavily. A few stray locks of hair came undone from his ponytail and hung down across his face. He lifted his head up slowly to see that the man was no where to be seen.
"Si proche…" he breathed as he heard Arthur scramble to his feet and run to his side.
"Blast!" he yelled, throwing his hat on the ground in frustration.
"We were so bloody close!." he shouted, glaring in the direction that the man had disappeared to. Francis shook his head and stood up slowly, finally catching his breath.
"D-Don't worry mon ami. We know what 'e looks like." he said, trying to comfort the enraged Arthur, who was currently taking out his anger on some poor, unsuspecting pile of crates nearby.
"Mi amigo. What's all the fuss about?" asked a familiar sounding voice. Arthur stopped kicking the living daylights out of a crate of apples and snapped his head in the direction of the voice. Francis did the same.
"Ah~! Antonio, Gilbert. You missed quite a show just now." Francis said while approaching them. Arthur let our a big huff of frustration out, blowing away a few stray hairs, that had somehow managed to wiggle out from under his red bandana, out of his face as he slowly approached them as well.
"Antonio, Gilbert." Arthur said in a more calm voice, bending forward to grab his hat off the dirty ground.
"Vhat happened to you?" Gilbert asked, glancing over at the decimated crates. Gilbird peeked out from Gilberts ploom to inspect the damage.
"We just lost a suspect in question, that's what happened." Arthur said, spitting out the last few words in irritation.
"Shesh, no need to bite mein head off." Gilbert said, crossing his arms.
"You'll 'ave to excuse 'im. 'E 'asn't eaten all day and were both exhausted." Francis said, rubbing his empty stomach, which growled from lack of food. Antonio chuckled a bit.
"Well then, why don't we get something to eat?" he said as he started to walk out of the alleyway. Gilbert followed behind him.
"Ya! I'm shtarving und could use a good meal!" he said awesomely.
"Oh no you don't!" Arthur said, grabbing the back of Gilbert's coat and yanking him back. Earning a strangled yelp from the Prussian.
"We are going no where except in the direction that man went! I've been searching all day and haven't even found out where his blasted ship is yet!" he said, anger and irritation present on his face once again. Antonio chuckled a bit.
"Oh, but amigo. We do know where his ship is." he said, grinning as he did. Arthur let go of Gilbert's coat and looked at Antonio, dumbfounded. Gilbert coughed a bit and rubbed his throat from where his shirt had been cutting off oxygen, glaring slightly at Arthur.
"We…do? Arthur asked slowly, making sure he had heard the Spaniard correctly. Antonio chuckled again and nodded.
"Si. As Gilbert and I were in town searching I overheard some men speaking about a certain little captive on their ship." he said.
"The deshcription matched our little Frau exactly." Gilbert said, petting Gilbird as he did.
Arthur looked at both men in astonishment.
"Are you sure? Are you absolutely positive they were part of Cruz's crew?" he asked, not wanting to make any dire mistakes.
"Well they were speaking in Spanish, but had a different accent from any average Spaniard. So si, they were from his crew." Antonio said, adjusting his hat a bit.
To say that Arthur's attitude shot up a few notches would be an understatement. More like it rocketed through his skull and sailed up to the heavens above. He relaxed his shoulders a bit, the exhaustion of not eating all day finally getting to him as his stomach growled out a few choice words to him.
"Come amigo, lets rest up tonight. Because tomorrow is going to be quite the day for us all." Antonio said, leading the way once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night had fallen and you were getting sleepy but you had to stay awake. Stay awake until everyone was asleep. Then you would put your semi plan into action. You couldn't physically scare the crew like you did back on Arthur's ship. So you would have to solely rely on the power of the mind. Once you could hear the faint sound of snoring coming from above you, you decided it was time. Your original plan was foiled and now you had to resort to another. You pulled out your phone and scrolled into your music. Someone who didn't know you well might question why you had the "X Files" theme song on your phone. But to those who knew you well they wouldn't think twice of it. Imagination is a powerful thing, and tonight you were going to let the crew's imagination get the better of them. You turned the volume all the way up so it would be loud enough to hear. You pushed play and allowed the eerie yet somewhat beautiful music fill the damp cold night air. The music started off slowly, giving even you goose bumps. You could only imagine what it was doing to the crew. You leaned back and rested a bit, letting out a shuddered breath. It was starting to get pretty cold down there. You weren't sure exactly what would result from this but you hoped that it would somehow help you get off this ship. Somehow…
If one were to be standing in the cargo haul where the crew slept one might see every single man there frozen in their hammocks with wide eyes. Unsure of where the frightening sounds where coming from. Many where clutching their crucifix's around their neck and whispering prayers to protect them. Many whispers in the air too. Some where too frightened to even utter a sound. The eerie sounds were enough to make even the roughest sailor wet himself. As for Cruz? Well, he wasn't much better off. Being as superstitious as he was this was enough to drive him crazy. He made a promise to himself then and there as he muttered to himself.
"Mañana ... esto termina."