"How could you let them escape you idiots!" Cruz bellowed at his crew, smacking the closest crewmate upside the head. Causing him to stumble a bit.
"You're useless! All of you!!" he shouted, causing all of his crew to shrink back from him. He glared at them all, seething with rage.
"Well what are you waiting for?! Go find them! Bring them back here!!" he shouted.
"B-But Captain. It's back luck to bring women aboard sir! She's put a curse on our ship!" said one brave soul. Cruz reached forward and yanked the poor man by his shirt, getting very close to his face.
"Did I ask for your opinion worm?!" he shouted. Which was very unnecessary since the man was very close to him and wasn't deaf. Well…he use to not be deaf. He merely shook his head quickly, not uttering a word. Cruz snarled at him and threw him fiercely to the ground.
"MOVE IT!!" He bellowed once more. At once his men were scrambling everywhere, preparing the rowboats to search ashore. All were extremely tired, but they knew better then to do anything contrary to what their Captain ordered. Cruz looked back over the side of his ship, glaring at the shore.
"I will find you girl. And I will make you pay." he said, forcing his nose back into its original position with a sickening crack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What do you think he's saying?" you asked quietly, carefully glancing at Cruz from your hiding spot. Mathieu shrugged as best as he could while floating in the cold ocean.
"I am not sure. I d-don't speak Spanish." he replied timidly. You Sighed and turned around, closing your eyes while sighing.
"Maybe he's telling them to go back to bed?" you said, hoping for the best. Mathieu looked away sadly.
"N-Not l-likely." he said, teeth chattering as he spoke.
"Hey! You don't know that." you said quietly. Mathieu merely pointed behind you. You looked behind to see Cruz's crew members preparing rowboats to lower.
"Dang it." you said, disappointed.  You shivered violently, realizing that you and Mathieu couldn't stay in the water for very long. You looked at Mathieu who was shaking even more then you. You reached an arm over and pulled him close to you.
"Hey. We need to get ashore or we'll die from the cold." you said, rubbing his wet arm, trying to give him some warmth. Mathieu looked at you, wide eyed and scared.
"B-B-But. The p-p-pirates!" he squeaked. You shook your head gently.
"No. Don't worry about them. Look around us." you said, gesturing to the fog covering the water.
"Its still foggy. If we swim carefully we can get to shore undetected. It will work. Just trust me." you said, giving him a reassuring smile. He looked down, unsure.
"You can see your brother quicker if we do." you said in a singsong voice. Mathieu looked up and gave you a weak smile. It was hard to do considering all he had been through and the fact that he was freezing. The poor boy was so thin he had noting to keep him warm. You smiled back at him but you both jumped when you heard a loud splash close to the two of you. You both carefully looked around the front of the ship to see that the pirates had already gotten a boat in the water. You looked at Mathieu.
"Its now or never." you said. He gulped but nodded. You smiled and took a deep breath, descending a little bit below the water. Mathieu took a deep breath as well, descending into the icy water. The thought of seeing his brother again gave him the drive he needed to go on,. Even if he didn't think this was a good idea. You swam for a bit of a distance before carefully ascending to the surface. You got just your eyes above the water to see what was going on. You could see the rowboat rowing some distance away from you. You pushed yourself up some more and took in another breath. You and Mathieu did this at least 30 times. Always looking behind you. You wanted to swim  quicker due to the freezing water, but you didn't want to give you and Mathieu away. Soon you could feel sand below your shoes. The whole time your left arm had been dragging the most due to the bracelets weight. Thankfully, it was waterproof. Or you would be in deep doo doo. You stood up in the sand and looked behind you.
"Mathieu?" you called out softly.  But the only thing you saw was the waves gently coming toward you. You began to panic a bit.
"Mathieu?!" you whispered a little louder. But still no response.
"Oh this is not good!" you said to yourself. Going back a bit the way you came.
"Mathieu? Mathieu? Mathieu?!" you whispered harshly, repeatedly. You stuck your head underwater and looked around.
"Mathieu?" you said. But since you were under water, only bubbles came out, filling your mouth with salty seawater. You raised your head above the water and spat it out, coughing a bit.
"M-Mathieu?" you said in desperation. You nearly jumped out of your skin when a hand clamped onto your shoulder. You whipped your head around to see Mathieu, looking like he was on the brink of hypothermia.
"(N-N-N-Name)?" he said. You pulled him into a bear crushing hug, cracking his back in the process.
"Don't. You. EVER. Do that to me again mister." you said, gently scolding the shivering boy.
"I-I-I'm s-s-o c-c-c-cold." he whispered, quivering violently. You had to get him some heat soon. You looked over to see that Cruz's slew of rowboats was nearing the shore. You gasped and grabbed Mathieu's hand, pulling him along. Father away from Cruz and his men until the fog covered them completely. Your back bumped into something, causing you to jump and whip around. It was an old dock. You looked it up and down.
"I'll have to do for now." you said to yourself, pulling the quivering boy along and under the dock. There were a few rocks along the sand beneath the dock, which would make a good sitting place. You and Mathieu finally made it out of the water. However you were both dripping wet and freezing.
"Wh-Where is that stupid idiot so I can steal his coat." you muttered to yourself, referring to Arthur. Mathieu was about to ask what you were talking about when footsteps clunking loudly against the dock above scared the boy nearly to death. He clung onto you for dear life. You sighed and lead him behind the rocks, where the water did not reach. You both collapsed on the sand and breathed heavily, shivering in the cold sand. You looked at Mathieu who looked like he was going to shake himself to death. You looked down at yourself. Soaked. Every inch of you.
'Guess I'll have to get a new phone when I get back home.' you thought to yourself, shaking your arm to get excess water off of it. You unzipped your sweatshirt and scooted over to Mathieu, propping him upright. The poor boy could not stop trembling. You pulled him close to you, wrapping your sweatshirt around the both of you as best as you could. A dark blush rose on Mathieu's cheeks but he was too weak to protest. He just clung onto you even more, desperate for warmth. You sighed and shivered a bit yourself, resting your head against his.
"It's okay Mathieu. Were safe now….he wont find us here." you whispered against his damp hair. Closing your eyes and resting as best as you could. Unsure of what your next move would be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arthur had a sleepless night. Try as he may, he just couldn't seem to rest much. His mind was working against him. Racing thoughts and anticipation of a long awaited meeting with a certain Pirate Captain. After hours of tossing and turning, he finally sat up, got out of bed and sat on the couch, resting his head over the back of it. That is how he stayed until dawn broke. Still he had not slept. He looked over to one of the cushions on the couch. A small smile crept across his face as he remembered the first night you had slept on his couch, after declining the bed. He remembered how funny you looked curled up and clutching the pillow like a doll. It was one of the few rare moments Arthur had to see your true relaxed state. Not putting up defenses, not acting tough. Just being...peaceful. Arthur sighed and looked out the large window behind his desk, noticing that dawn had come and gone. He observed the fog rolling over the icy waters, covering everything in a grayish white haze.  Not even the morning sun could filter through its dense mass.
"Today this ends" Arthur said softly to himself, anticipating the moment his weary soul would finally get some rest after years of constant searching and plotting. It was now or never. If he did not take action now then all his hard work as of yet would be for nothing. He couldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow that. He had to press on. For the loved ones he had lost. Moreover, for the ones that were still alive. If she was still alive…
"No Arthur!" he said to himself, giving his face a good smack "I refuse to let you think like that."
He let out a tired sigh, rubbing his forehead as exhaustion finally settled in. Closing his tired eyes for a moment.
"I've got to get it together." he mumbled quietly, not even realizing that he was falling sideways, landing on the couch and almost instantly falling sound asleep finally.
The sound of the cabin door creaking open ever so slightly was the only sound in the room at the moment. The head of a small boy popped in, surveying the room for any sign of his older brother. He took a few quiet steps into the room, carefully closing the door behind him so as not to wake his brother. It was a dangerous thing to sneak up on a sleeping Captain. Especially when that said Captain just so happens to be your older brother. When Peter spotted his brother asleep on the couch and in a strange position no doubt, a small smile crossed the small boy's face.
'That big dummy. Can't even fall asleep in his own bed.' he thought to himself as he crept closer into the room, heading toward Arthur's desk. Peter made a beeline for Arthur's coat, reaching into one of the pockets while at the same time glancing over at his sleeping brother so he didn't get caught. Once his hand found what it was looking for he carefully pulled his hand out, which was clutching onto the small portrait of their parents. He knew Arthur kept it on his person at all times. What Arthur didn't know is that when he wasn't looking, Peter would sneak a few moments alone with it. He too missed his parents just as much as Arthur did. Even if Peter was very young at the time of their death, it still pained him. He flipped his hand up, eyes glancing down at the small reminder of his once happy family. A sad smile came to Peters face as he looked on. He sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the desk. He remembered in his younger years how happy his family use to be. How his father use to take their family on picnics in the summer. He remembered when he got knocked over by a sneaker wave, causing him to get swept away into the surf. He was so sure he was going to die. But then, two big and strong hands reached in and grabbed him, pulling him out of the cold water. He remembered the smile on his fathers face as he held Peter, drenched and crying slightly.
"Are you trying to be a fish Peter?" he asked, chuckling and hugging the boy close.
Peter could still remember what it felt like to be hugged by his father, or to be kissed goodnight by his mother. Those were good times. Peaceful times. For everyone. But now, since their death, everything is different. Arthur, who was once a happy and easygoing teen, was now a serious moody adult. No more games. No more happiness. Peter couldn't even remember the last time Arthur had smiled at him. The only time Arthur seemed to smile any more was because of…
Peter sighed and closed his eyes, clutching the picture close to his heart as he leaned his head back against the desk.
"Please miss (Name)…please…please be alright…for the sake of all of us."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharp repetitive knocking came through the other side of Arthur's door, rudely waking both of the Kirkland's out of dream world. Peter hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep. Arthur groaned and rolled off the couch, landing on the floor with a thud. After a few short profanities were shared with the floor for being there and for being so hard, Arthur groveled off the floor and staggered sleepily toward the door so he could make the noise shut up. He sharply opened the door and tried to focus his eyes on the person on the other side of the door.
"What do you want?" he said in a gruff but sleepy voice as he rested his forearm on the doorframe to support his tired body. When he realized that it was Antonio on the other side of the door…well he was tied between two options. To slam the door in his face, after all this is Antonio were talking about. Or…actually there was no second option, so why wasn't Arthur acting on his desire?
"Come on amigo. The day is wasting and Cruz is waiting." Antonio said with a surprising serious expression on his usual cheery face.
That's why Arthur didn't slam the door shut.
"Oh God in heaven…" he mumbled, rubbing his face with his free hand. He jumped a bit when he felt someone run past him and out of his cabin.
"What the-!" he said as he caught a glimpse of Peter running past Antonio. Antonio chuckled as he watched little Peter race out of sight.
"We leave in five minutes." he said, returning his gaze back to Arthur "I suggest you get ready what ever you need."
Arthur nodded and closed the door, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. Then it dawned on him.
'Today's the day!' he thought. This gave him a wake up call. He scrambled around his room, gathering what he needed. He reached for his coat but stopped when he felt his foot step on something. Furrowing his brows he looked down to see his family picture on the floor.
"How did you get there?" he asked as he bent down, picking up the small picture and inspecting it. He looked at it forlornly.
"I know killing Cruz wont bring you two back." he said quietly "But I'm doing this for you both…I love you."
With closed eyes he took in a deep breath as he placed the picture back in his pocket, lifting his head and peering out the window. The fog hadn't lifted at all. Arthur narrowed his eyes in determination.
"I'm ready for this day." he said as he rounded the corner of his desk, opening the top drawer and grabbing a handful of bullets, loading his pistol to its full capacity. He wasn't taking any chances. He was going to make sure he had every weapon he could carry. It's funny, he had imagined thousands of times how he would kill Cruz, yet he didn't quite know which weapon to use. So he decided on all of them. His pistol, his cutlass, even the dagger that Cruz left behind. How ironic it would be to end Cruz's life with his own dagger. Arthur grinned darkly as he placed his hat on his head.
"Let's do this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a rare and unusual sight. One that no one ever thought they would live to witness.  Captain Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and his crew working with Arthur Kirkland and his crew. Crewmembers on both sides seemed a little tense. Usually they would be hearing orders from their Captains to be thrashing the others. Now they were working together?
Mind blowing.
Yet that was the situation, temporary as it may be it was still being put in place. As of right now both captains were stationing part of their crew throughout the city to keep an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious. And the other part of the crew were keeping watch over their ships so the enemy couldn't try to take over their ships without getting a sound beating in the process. Arthur's emotions were a mixture of excitement, anxiety, determination and anger.
"So Antonio." Arthur began, gripping the handle of his cutlass for good measure.
"Lead the way."
Antonio nodded and began to lead the four of them, Arthur, Francis, Gilbert and Antonio himself, toward the infamous Pirate Captains ship. It would have been cool to watch all four of them walking down the street in slow motion with some awesome music montage in the background. But sadly, this isn't Pirates of the Caribbean. So their was no said music montage. But they still looked pretty fly without it.
Meanwhile, Gibbons was in control of the ship in the Captains absence. He looked pretty stern and serious with a ladle in his hand, holding it like it was a weapon. Everyone on the ship had their swords out and ready, just in case something happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mathieu awoke from his sleep to find himself in a very strange place. Why did it feel like he was lying in sand? Why was he not being kicked awake by Cruz? Then it dawned on him.
'It wasn't a dream!' he thought, looking around nervously. He gulped and looked down at you. You had fallen asleep in the sand next to him. He sighed and shivered a bit from the cold. He was still damp but at least he was alive. That much he was grateful for. He hadn't been off Cruz's ship in…he couldn't even remember how long it had been. It felt like an eternity. It was bitter sweet though. He was finally free but he had to stay in hiding. He shivered again and scooted closer to you for warmth. You stirred in your sleep a bit, scooting closer to Mathieu as well. He couldn't help but look at the strange bracelet that you had risked getting caught for. He slowly reached over and gently touched it, quickly recoiling his hand back as if it would bite him. It didn't seem all that important. A small smile came to Mathieu's face when he remembered Francis telling him how important jewelry was for a mademoiselle.
'I guess it really is true.' Mathieu thought as he suppressed a tiny chuckle. His smile slowly faded as he did.
"I haven't laughed in so long.' he concluded. And indeed he hadn't. Since being aboard Cruz's ship there had been absolutely nothing to laugh about. Soon though the smile crept back onto his face as he slowly closed his eyes once again. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mathieu finally felt at rest.
That is until a noise over head jerked him out of his peacefulness. He heard voices above him. And they were speaking in Spanish.
'Oh no!' he thought in a panicked state. He could feel his heart beat increase dramatically. The voices got louder and closer. Mathieu quickly sat up and shook your shoulder, trying desperately to wake you up.
"Please. Please wake up!" he pleaded with you in his hushed voice. You scrunched your eyebrows and groaned a bit from the discomfort you were in.
"What the-" you felt a trembling hand clamp over your mouth. Your eyes snapped open to see Mathieu looking at you with a terrified look in his eye.
"Mfeu?" you said through his hand but he placed a shaking finger to his lips, then pointing up. You listened and immediately knew what he was so scared about. You both recognized those voices.
'Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!' you thought in annoyance. You had only escaped a handful of hours ago and they were already near your hiding place?!
Crap on a poo sandwich.
You sat up; clutching Mathieu close to you as if afraid he would run away and give you both away. The voices and footsteps were now directly above both of you. Neither of you made a sound. You just hoped that they couldn't hear your heart beating in your chest.
'Go away, go away, go away.' you kept repeating in your head, as if trying to give them subliminal messages via telepathy. You knew it wouldn't work, but you tried it anyway. It felt like you waited a lifetime before the noises finally disappeared. Mathieu removed his hand from your face and you in turn let go of him. Both of you let out the breath you hadn't realized you had been holding in. You placed a hand over your heart to steady it.
"That was close." you said after a while. You looked over at Mathieu who was nodding in response. You both smiled at each other as if to say 'We didn't get caught!'
Your moment of joy was cut short when you both felt something heavy fall over the both of you, covering you like a blanket.
"What the-!" you began to say, and then you realized what was on you. A net. Like one would use to catch fish. In almost an instant you were surrounded by about five men who were tying the end of the net so neither of you could escape. It was the men that were just above you no more then a minute ago.
"Hwe finally found you." one said in a heavy accent.  You scowled at them and began thrashing around in the net, like a fish out of water.
"Struggle all you hwant. Neither of you are going anyhwhere." he said before he began to give orders in Spanish. Next thing you knew you were being lifted up and carried, two men holding both ends on the net. You narrowed your eyes and began thrashing around again. Hey, if you were going to get caught AGAIN then you wanted to make it as difficult as you possibly could for these jerks to take you back to their jerky Captain.
"Its no use (Name). We can't escape." Mathieu said, voice cracking as he realized that he would be taken back to Cruz's ship. The one place he never wanted to go back to.
"I don't CARE!" You shouted, continuing your thrashing tantrum. You were quickly loaded onto a rowboat, heaved over the side and crashing down on the wooden floor clumsily.
"Ow!" you yelled, letting them know you did not appreciate it. What you found strange is that the five men sat on opposite ends of the boat, keeping as much distance from you as they could. You chuckled.
'It seems they are still scared of Me.' you thought. But the situation you were in was no laughing matter. As they began to row you realized that you were heading back the way you had just come from.
'All that hard work gone to waste.' Mathieu thought, closing his eyes in disbelief.
"I knew we'd never escape." he whispered, letting a stray tear fall down his face.
When you arrived back on Cruz's ship, with much more thrashing on your part, the first person you saw was, you guessed it, Cruz himself. There he was, standing there with a smug look on his face. You glared at him before you and Mathieu were dropped on the ground in front of him.
"Gah!" you said as you fell, landing on the ground near Cruz's feet. As soon as you heard Cruz laugh you groaned. You were really starting to hate that laugh of his.
"Look hwhat hwe have here." he said, pulling out a knife and cutting the net open as two of his men grabbed both you and Mathieu.
"Two little rats caught in my net." he said, chuckling at his little 'joke'. Or as he called it, 'yoke'. Either was it was lame and you let him know this by the scoff you gave off.
"That literally made no sense." you said as you struggled against the man who was holding your arms back. You whipped your head back, feeling it connect with his nose. He yelled in pain but still held on. The sound of a gunshot made everyone stop. Cruz stood there, smoke seeping out of the barrel of his up turned pistol.
"That's enough!" he announced. You stopped struggling and looked up at him slowly. He smiled and pointed his pistol at you.
"I've got chu now chica." he said. "And now I'm going to put my plan into action."
You scoffed at him.
"And what are you going to do? Be like Captain Hook, tie me up and set me on a rock in the tide and wait for the water to come in?" you said, chuckling a bit and nudging Mathieu in the ribs. He didn't look at all amused by your antics. Your smirk fell when you saw Cruz's smirk growing immensely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I didn't think you'd take me seriously." you said as you were placed on a rock in the tide pool. Yup, he took your great idea and put it into action. He chuckled as you squirmed in place.
"Chu know, I had a different plan in mind." he said, leaning close to your face and grabbing your chin so he could look you in the eye.
"But I like this idea much better."
You narrowed your eyes at him and tried to take a big ol' bite out of his hand like Alfred would a Big Mac. But he recoiled his hand back before you could.
"You know I could always just scream for help." you said dully
"I'm surprised you didn't think of that…idiot." you said, mumbling the last part. He laughed and shook his head.
"That's already taken care of." he said, looking behind you and snapping his fingers. Before you could ask anything else you felt a strip of cloth cover your mouth rather quickly and gracelessly. You began to yell all sorts of profanities at Cruz, but he couldn't hear a word you said because the cloth muffled every word you spoke. You were sure he at least had an idea of what you were saying, given the death glare you were giving him. He laughed at you.
"Finally! We got her to shut up men!" he said. The men that were with him burst into laughter. You glared at them all as you tried to pull your hands free from behind your back. Whoever had tied these knots knew what they were doing. Now you wished you had paid more attention in summer camp. You grunted in discomfort as you felt a hand grab your hair, pulling back so you were forced to look at them. Cruz was smirking triumphantly at you.
"Chour mine now." he said, letting go of your hair. Then he turned to a frightened but angry looking Mathieu. You weren't sure what Mathieu said to Cruz because it was in French, but you had a suspicion that it wasn't nice. Cruz scowled at Mathieu and marched over toward the fragile boy, who was being held by one of the crewmates.
Cruz grabbed Mathieu by the front of his shirt and lifted him off his feet. You gasped and yelled at Cruz, demanding that he put Mathieu down. But all that came out of your mouth was more mumbling. Mathieu gulped as Cruz gave him a menacing look.
"L-Let me go."  he pleaded. But Cruz just chuckled at him.
"Oh I'll let chu go." he said, getting closer to Mathieu's face. "And here's hwhat I hwant chu to do chu little pipsqueak. I hwant chu to go and find Captain Kirkland, Arthur Kirkland. And I hwant chu to tell him that he needs to be in this spot in exactly three hours-" he stopped and glanced over at you, grinning evilly in your direction "Otherwise his little princesa here might not be able to hold her breath for very long." Your eyes widened at hearing this. You looked at Mathieu and pleaded with him not to do it, but he couldn't understand you.
"Understood." Cruz said gruffly, tightening his grip on Mathieu's shirt. Mathieu nodded quickly before Cruz dropped him in the water below effortlessly. Mathieu scrambled to his feet and backed away from Cruz. He took one last look at you, you looked terrified. But he didn't realize that you were more scared for him and Arthur then anything. You shook your head as if to say 'Don't do it.'
"Hwat are chu hwaiting for?! Go!" he bellowed, making Mathieu bolt away from the scene and out of the cave. He was so scared. He didn't know where Arthur would be. He had only met him once or twice. But there's one thing he did know. Francis was always with him. If he could find Francis then he could find Arthur. And he had to hurry.
Cruz chuckled as he watched Mathieu's fleeting figure disappear from the cave, his laugh echoed through out the cavern. You hated him. You hated him with every fiber of your being. Now you understood why Arthur hated this man so much. Cruz turned to you to see you giving him an icy glare. He chuckled at this.
"Don't worry chica. It's all part of the plan." he said as he came closer to you, water splashing with every step he took. The closer he got to you the more uncomfortable you became. You tried to scoot away from him but to no avail. You were all tied up.
"Chu see, I have men set out all around this cave. Hidden of course." he said, walking around the rock you were currently set upon.
"And hwhen Arthur comes. And he hwill come." he said, stopping in front of you.
"I hwill kill him." he said, taking a dagger out of his belt and inspected it. Your eyes widened
"Hwith the same dagger I used to kill his papa hwith."
Your face became flushed at the sight of the weapon in his hands, less that two feet away from you no less. This caused you to lean back as far as you could to get away from it. He smiled and looked down at you, leaning closer.
"But before I do that." he said, bringing the knife close to your face. Your breathing became quick and sharp and your eyes became wide and terrified as you leaned back some more. But Cruz grabbed the back of your head to hold you still. He gazed into your eyes with a sinister look. It felt disgusting.
"I'm going to have my men hold him down." he said, bringing the knife to your cheek, gently grazing the cold metal across your soft skin.
"And I'm going to make him hwatch as I cut up chour pretty little face."
Time seemed to stop at this point. You couldn't move. You couldn't breath. Your throat felt dry and you wanted to faint. You knew pirates were dangerous. But now you finally understood just how dangerous they could be. Not only was your life at stake but Arthur's as well. You felt like this was all your fault. If you hadn't let yourself get kidnapped again you could have done something to help Arthur! Now you were going to be the reason that he dies. You let out a muffled sob as Cruz let go of you. You lowered your head as you heard his laughter echoing off the cave walls once more. You squeezed your eyes shut, wishing this was all just a bad dream.
'Oh Arthur…I'm so sorry.'