The ship had a main dining hall below decks, and about four to five bedrooms (though Minseok told him that they shared rooms). Exotic animal skins hung from the walls of the dining hall, and the long table was carvings of dragons on them, again flaked with gold. An array of weapons lined the walls, from double headed spears to a scary looking gun/rifle. 

After touring the rooms, Jongdae understood why they shared rooms after tripping over numerous gold coins and jewelled swords in one and a meat pie in another. "You all seem to have everything..." he said to Minseok while they strolled along the decks, the burning braziers of the ship lighting the nearby dark waters surrounding the ship.

They both winced when a gunshot could be heard from below decks. "Wu Yifan..." Minseok murmured, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, it's because we've practically travelled everywhere except for Europe, which is dang far away."

"As far as I know, isn't Britain in England, which is in Europe?"

"Oh yeah. That was just a crazy idea of Sehun's. We ended up making a trip there and had a lot of fun."

"Like stealing things..."

"That's our life, man. It's fun."

Baekhyun was sitting on a wooden stool behind the steering wheel and had placed his feet up on it. He had fallen asleep. "Do you all not worry about attacks from other ships?" Jongdae asked, staring at the sleeping guy. Minseok laughed, "Jeez. We have state of the art weaponry."

------

Fact number two about Shadow - they liked nearly impaling/cutting/killing their own friends accidentally. Jongdae went under the deck to only find a dagger flying in his direction. Fortunately, his mind could respond quickly and he caught the dagger in his hand neatly. Minseok sniffed, "Luhan..." And proceeded to sit beside the long table. Luhan whistled innocently, wiping his other dagger with his shirt.

Everyone seemed pretty calm. Then Jongdae decided to try something, which is see whether Shadow lived up to their tales and legend. Jongdae heard from the many gossips at the tavern about Shadow. Some were quite unbelievable, for instance, the ship had dark mist surrounding it and after a raid, it would vanish. The more believable ones were:

1) They get away from anything

2) Their weaponry skills were unmatchable

3) Shadow had many weapons 

The problem was, as he mentioned before, Shadow behaved more like children without a guardian. But Jongdae had seen their few accuracy skills. He weighed the dagger in his hand, it felt light, probably the shaft was made of oak wood. In a swift move, he threw the weapon baack in Luhan's direction. 

Luhan, the vanisher, whisperer of speed.

The older's eyes displayed a little shock when he realised that a dagger was whistling through the air towards him. Jongdae watched him dodge to the side at the last minute, followed by executing a sharp kick, hitting the dagger out of its line of attack. It flew high into the air before Luhan caught it. Jongdae nodded his head. Tao applauded, commenting, "You learn quickly, Luhan. That kick was damn fast. I couldn't even register it."

Luhan check.

------

Joonmyeon had kindly given him a room by himself, except that the crew's pet parrots were also taking lodge in there. (Umm... Hope you don't mind Fluffy, Unicorn and Rainbow. They can get... annoying.) Junmyeon didn't need to tell Jongdae twice about the annoying part. 

The three birds were quiet until Junmyeon walked away, shutting the door. The room was quite alright, though the bed was actually a hammock. A few random pieces of jewelry that suspiciously looked like diamonds lay in a corner. Other than that, the room was bare, other than the giant cage standing on the table beside his hammock. 

"Sqaurkkkk. Heeellooooo!" a rainbow colored one with a long blue tail said. Jongdae assumed it was Rainbow. "Hi." he offered simply. "Whoo arrr youuuu?" the white overgrown bird beside Rainbow asked, flapping its wings, effectively hitting his other two companions. Jongdae sat on the hammock. That one must be Fluffy. he thought.

The one on the right pecked Fluffy while squaking loudly. Fluffy retaliated by giving that guy a kick. Unicorn fell off the bar they were perching on. The other two made noises that sounded like laughing. "Har har har!" Rainbow squaked. He spreaded his multi-colour wings  and folded them back. Unicorn did quite a good job of looking dejected at the bottom of the cage. 

"Hey hey hey guys no bullying." he said. Jongdae then realised that the large cage had no lid and there were three other bird stands behind the cage. "Whoo arrr youuuu?" Fluffy squaked. "Jongdae." Unicorn made a squak, "We haven't had neeeeeew comerrs."

"Forrrr a looorrrng  time." The other two chimed.

"Uh huh. I get it." Jongdae replied in a bored voice. "Why so serioussss?" Rainbow said, before flying out of the cage. The others followed suit and swooped down, perching on the hammock Jongdae was sitting on. "Get off." He shooed them away but they just landed back on the hammock.

"Can you all just go away?"

"Noooo. We're messenger birdssss. We gooo back to our homeee."

Jongdae stared at them suspiciously. "How long have you all been here?" he asked. Unicorn opened his beak but Rainbow smacked him with his open wing. "Years." "I was trained by Luhaaaaan." Fluffy said excitedly. "Junmyeooooon." Rainbow chimed. Unicorn kept unusually quiet. He spread his grey wings and flew away and perched on another stand.

"What's up with that guy?" Jongdae asked, feeling a little concern. Rainbow replied, "Ehhhh... He's an outsider." He raised one of his eye brows and looked at Unicorn. Fluffy continued, "He was a loooost one. Came on board one day and fainted. Minseok took him in." "I don't like him much." Rainbow whispered. Fluffy preened his feather and said, "Me toooooo. He can't fly properly. Always ruins our missionsss." 

Jongdae suddenly felt empathy for that bird. An outsider. A lost one. Wasn't he all of the above? 

With that depressing thought, the door swung open and a pissed off Minseok walked in, before closing it. Rainbow and Fluffy flew to their stands. "Well well, look at your cute face." Jongdae said without humour, staring at the elder. "Heh. No time for jokes." Jongdae swung his legs from the hammock. 

"What happened?"

"Chanyeol kicked me out of the room. He was too busy kissing Baek.", Minseok replied tiredly, unfolding a piece of cloth which turned out to be another hammock. "I don't want to see them kiss anyway."

Jongdae's mouth fell open. "They are a couple?" "Well yes." Minseok answered. He tied one end of the hammock to the wall near Jongdae and proceeded to the other end. The torch flickered, while the moonlight shone down from the window. The parrots were quietly watching them.

Okay... Jongdae gulped and lay down. "You sure no one will attack?" he asked. Minseok snorted as he pressed down his hammock to make sure it was tight, "No. Even if they do, the traps will get them above. Flying axes, nets... That sort of stuff. Plus, I think we'll skewer all of them." Good point. Minseok blew out the torch, leaving the room drenched in darkness except for the beam of moonlight. "Good night." Jongdae said as he his side. He hadn't said that word for a long time. 

He almost thought Minseok was fast asleep when he heard the elder mutter, "Don't let the bed bugs bite..." Jongdae could have sworn Minseok was smiling.

------

Jongdae opened his eyes slowly. And panicked for a moment. Then he realised he was on a ship. Shadow's ship to be exact. The next thing he realised was the soft talking in the room. "What if I fail again?" a parrot's voice said, with a tinge of sadness. "They will kick me out." "I won't let them do that.. They're my friends. They won't." It was Minseok's voice.

He quietly turned around to face Minseok. He could make out Minseok sitting on the hammock, with Unicorn on his forearm in the moonlight. The soft purring of the other parrots could be heard. "I am so useless..." Unicorn lamented, his feathers dropping, "Rainbow and Fluffy hate me."  A silence ensued. "I don't know about that, but, I won't let you get kicked out." Another silence.

"You're not all that you think you are... You're very smart, Unicorn." Minseok comforted quietly. Jongdae listened on in silence, careful not to move. Then a sudden coldness bit into his arms. He realised that he had been shivering all along. Unicorn quietly flew back to his stand. Within a minute, Jongdae could hear another set of purring.

Minseok sighed softly as he lay back down on his hammock. Jongdae turned over to his side and let out all his shivers he had been holding. "It's cold." he muttered to himself, his mind slipping back into sleep. Suddenly, something warm covered him, filling him with warmth. Jongdae relaxed his body, and snuggled into the warmth. "Sleep well..." he heard Minseok whisper.

The Jongdae realised Minseok was the only one in Shadow who didn't have a threatening title.

------

This time when he woke up, Jongdae felt the sunlight sear into his eyes. Sitting up, he yawned and then felt something fall off his shoulders. Jongdae looked at his lap and realised it was a wool blanket. He stared at it for a moment, wondering who put it on him. Then it came back to him - Minseok. He must have given him his blanket. He looked over his shoulder and realised that Minseok's hammock was empty.

Jongdae felt the smooth and furry material under his fingers. He bundled it up and hugged it for a moment. Minseok must have been so cold at night. The warmth spread around his arms again. "Yooooo hoooooo!" a familiar parrot voice rung and a flurry of feathers flew in. "Breakfaaaaast!" Rainbow yelled as he crashed into the cage. Fluffy made a wiser choice to perch on the stands. Unicorn was nowhere to be seen. (Fluffy, Rainbow and Unicorn. What kind of names were they?)

He glared at the parrots who were preening their feathers, wondering whether to throw them out of the room. "Kyungsoo's cooking." Rainbow said randomly. A red feather floated down in front of him, landing on his lap. He trailed his eyes after the feather. "So... Where's Unicorn?"

A few minutes later, Jongdae found the grey bird. It was flying around. At one point, Unicorn zoomed upwards but something went wrong with his wing and he fell right down. He tried again but couldn't reach the top of the mast. "Unicorn." Jongdae said. The bird slammed into the mast, sliding down comically. "Uhhhhhhh..." Unicorn mumbled. 

"Let me help you."

"Help whaaaat."

"Flying. Up?"

Unicorn bounced onto his clawed feet. Jongdae bent down to face the parrot.

"It's no use."

"Come on. Everything can work."

"Arrr yaaa kidding meh?"

Sighing, Jongdae picked the parrot up and threw it into the air. There was a series of squaking and an avalanche of feathers but Jongdae yelled, "Shut up and fly." He shut up and flew, zipping past Jongdae. "Good. Faster." The bird obliged and went a little quicker. 

"Twirl around the mast."

After a few straight flyings, Jongdae shouted suddenly, "Up the mast! Straight up!" Unicorn managed to do it, but he fell back half way through. Jongdae folded his arms. "How come you cannot fly high? You do quite well for the straight flying." he asked. Unicorn perched on his shoulder, "I dunnoooo." Jongdae took the bird in his hands and turned him around.

Aha... No wonder. The longest feather that was evident in all birds' tails was missing. They needed it to be able to fly. "We'll do it again another day." And Unicorn flew off. The wooden board felt cold under his bare feet. Jongdae stared at the endless sea. 

"You did quite well with him." a voice complimented. "One of his feathers are off," Jongdae said, leaning against the mast. Minseok walked over to his side and asked with a little surprise in his voice, "Really?" "Yes. God Minseok! Weren't you the one who took care of him?" Jongdae scoffed. Something felt very strange suddenly, as if he were forgetting something...

Minseok widened his eyes and stared at him, "Wait what? How did you know?" "Well," Jongdae answered, rubbing his index finger on the tip of the dragon carving's tooth, "I heard you last night." Jongdae nearly laughed at Minseok's expression.

"You were awake?!"

"Ta da da now then you realise, mister pirate."

"T-then the the-"

"Blanket thing? Yeah, I was wide awake too."

Minseok looked like he was on the verge of hyperventilating, with the tips of his ears turning red. Jongdae was worried for a second that the older might faint on deck. He patted Minseok on his back, who was a little miffed out, "Uh.. I shouldn't have said that, but thanks anyway." Minseok unfroze and sighed, "No problem." Looking up at Jongdae, he continued, "Listen, if you feel cold anytime just ask. We have plenty of those blankets. Best quality, from Australia."

"Did you all steal them?"

"No. Not this time. We bought them."

"Psh."

"Come on. Breakfast's waiting."

"What for breakfast?"

"Fried fish slices."

"Where did those come from?"

"Oh. Kyungsoo forced Jongin and Yixing to go fishing. Got a few very nice tilapia."

(How Kyungsoo managed to cook on board, Jongdae didn't want to know. Shadow-Warriors are mysterious.)

------

Chanyeol should have left his story about his experience of seeing someone killed alone. The fish couldn't keep still in his stomach now. Jongdae looked up at everyone, slowly. Yi Fan and Joonmyeon were trying to stab each other's fingers on the table with the chopsticks (and Kyungsoo was glaring at them from the other end of the table). 

"So, guys. I think we have to head to Singapore," Suho said after all of them had finished their breakfast. Yifan choked on his water the same time Sehun banged his head onto the table. "That place?" Kyungsoo questioned with malice in his voice, "I'd rather run into British ships." "Come one guys. We just have to get the Phoenix's Heart, then we're all done." Suho said with a bright smile. 

Yixing pointed an arrow at him and asked, "What if, what if it doesn't end at Singapore?" "Uh. Let's not think so far yet." Suho commented sheepishly. Then Minseok asked, "What's the poem again?" "Prophecy." Jongin corrected. "Thank you for saying that, smarty pants. Well, what is it?" Minseok questioned again after glaring at the dark boy.

Kyungsoo tapped his chin and answered, 

"Phoenix's Heart, the Jewel of the Sea,

One that belongs to the bravest.

The sprays of water, against the ship of black and white,

To the way of the darkest port, an equavalent of the souls of the ship.

Leading the way, a weapon of courage and a spirit of togetherness."

"Really sounds like Singapore to me. Darkest port? It's literally dark and full of evil people." Yifan answered thoughtfully, chewing on a bunch of mint leaves. The rest of them shrugged. Minseok said, "Anything's fine, as long as we don't run into those idiots and the landlord again." Jongin winced when he heard Minseok say that. "Gosh... Don't remind me."

Jongdae metally decided that if these guys were sort of afraid of those people they were talking about, he wished that he won't meet any of them. "Guys! The wind had turned! Suddenly blowing West!" Baekhyun's voice reverberated from up the stairs. Everyone got to their feet and quickly ran up to the decks. Jongdae instantly heard lots of cursing upstairs from the others. 

"Hurry. We need to help." Minseok told Jongdae while hurrying past him. He shrugged and followed him. The moment he reach upper deck, he got a feeling why the rest sounded so pissed. A spray of sea water came on deck and splashed Jongdae in the face. "Jongdae, could you go up to the North sail and unfurl it?" Joonmyeon tapped him on the shoulder and asked. Jongdae nodded and dashed off to the North whatever.

He didn't really know the names of the places of the ships, so he just guessed which one it was. Keeping his feet light, Jongdae scrambled up the wooden mast. At the top, he could barely keep his balance because of the strong wind. Jongdae fumbled around with the ropes for a while before he let the sails down. The black fabric flew down to the decks and the ship suddenly jerked backwards. 

Jongdae was about to cheer when he majestically lost his balance due to the jerk and fell downwards (screaming like a girl). A few terrifying moments later, Jongdae fortunately landed in the water without being smashed to pieces by the contact though his arm was singing in pain from the smack of the water. Someone threw a rope down by the side of the ship for him to climb back up. 

He sighed and swam towards the rope before swinging himself upwards. At the edge, Jongdae flipped his wet body over and tumbled onto the deck. He sat up sulking and pushing his wet hair behind. Then Jongdae realised the rest of them were busy staring at him, some looking amused. "Hello?" he asked, "I just stopped the ship from going forward and I fell into the water?"

Yifan spoke up from the side, leaning on his sword, "Good job. We did stop moving forward, but I think we need to arrange some lessons for you, mister." And that explained why Jongdae found himself back inside the room he had slept in with Minseok - and a whole stack of books.

An hour ago, Luhan and Kyungsoo had dumped the books into his arms saying, "Study well." before disappearing. Then Minseok came and 'tutored' him on the pirate life. Since when did that need lessons- Okay, he sort of messed up at the deck just now. Minseok told him that he had gone up the south mast instead of the north one. But nevertheless, they were back on track again. 

"Stop laughing."

"I can't! Seriously, it's called the Poop?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" The older scowled at Jongdae. He couldn't help but giggle. Seriously, the ship parts were named so weirdly. 

"Okay, now what's the front part of the ship called?"

"The arrow?"

"No! It's the bow."

"Why not an arrow? Bows are lame things that the people play on strings."

Minseok slapped the book shut and closed his eyes, "Sir, I believe you would do very well as a jester." Jongdae grinned, "Why, thanks!" "Not meant as a compliment!" the elder said, glaring at Jongdae. Jongdae pouted, putting on his annoyingly cute side. Minseok groaned and squeezed shut his eyes even tighter, "Man, I didn't know you have that side to you..."

"Can we stop now?" Jongdae whined like a puppy. He somehow liked seeing Minseok's reaction to his cuteness overload. Minseok relented, still having his eyes shut painfully. "Yay!" Jongdae cheered leaping around the cabin excitedly. 

"Gods! You're no better than Sehun and Tao!" 

"Me don't care."

"That sounds awfully like Yifan."

"What in the world are you talking about?!"

"That sounds like Jongin and Joonmyeon."

Minseok and Jongdae had a staring contest for a while before bursting out into laughter. Jongdae didn't know what had gotten into his mind, but when he saw Minseok's baby cheeks, he commented, "Dude, you look like a rice bun." Apparently, Minseok wasn't too happy with that comment. The elder just leapt at Jongdae like a mad cat and the war of cat fight started.

Suddenly, the door to their cabin flew open and a flustered looking Yixing stood there with his bow and arrow. He ignored the two's position and said seriously, "Guys, we're engaging." Minseok instantly got up from his sprawled position. From what he had just learnt, Jongdae knew the word 'engaging' meant taking over or fighting. Plus, the fact that Yixing had already disappeared from the doorway and Minseok grabbing his belt of knives made everything seem... Real.

"Dude, hurry! This is serious!" Minseok rushed, "Take your sword and go to the treasure room. Jongin should be there. Guard it!" Taken aback by Minseok's seriousness, Jongdae nearly stoned there. Then he understood the seriousness of the situation. Their ship was large for a crew of twelve, and they needed as many people as possible to cover the entire area. Jongdae picked up his discarded sword and ran off to the treasure room without any delay.

"Oh yes! One last thing!"

"What?"

"If, if. The enemy manages to get to you, don't ever tell them any of our real names, unless we don't have another identity."

------

Jongdae burst into the treasure room, finding Jongin sharpening his sword on the stone table. The place was dark, the only light source coming from the window next to a pile of books. "Hullo." Jongin greeted plainly, "Minseok sent you here I see." Jongdae nodded cautiously. He found out that Jongin wasn't actually sharpening his sword when his blade suddenly burst into flames.

Jongdae stared at the weapon with wide eyes, flitting from the person to the sword. "Cool thing right?" Jongin asked, grinning madly while he waved the sword to and fro, practicing a few s. Jongdae admitted, "Yeah. But aren't we supposed to be on guard or something? And what are the rest doing?" Jongin cleaved the sword through the air and the flames died out. 

"Listen here," Jongin spoke, leaning on the stone table, "Since you're new, and you don't know much, just let me tell you, we don't need to worry half of the time." Jongdae didn't like how the boy was speaking to him, but he nodded his head. Jongin continued, "For your information, Joonmyeon, Zitao and Yifan are doing hand to hand cobat. Chanyeol and Baekhyun are mending the cannons- Don't ask me how they do it, cos I have no idea as well. Yixing and Kyungsoo should be tending to the traps while the rest are at respective positions protecting stuff like food and supplies." 

"Oh. I see. Thanks."

"Yeah. No problem."

Then the two of them stood awkwardly side by side in the dark. A loud explosion rocketed the ship, followed by a lot of shouting and yelling. Another cannon fired into the distance with a huge explosion. After a few minutes, there was an eerie silence. Jongdae looked at Jongin, while the guy also looked back at him, his eyes filled with sudden suspicion. "What happened?" Jongdae asked softly.

"I don't know. Stay here, I'll go check." Jongin said, lighting up his sword. Something uneasy prickled at Jongdae's nape. "No don't-" But Jongin had already opened the door quietly and slipped out. Jongdae held his breath, waiting for something to happen. Then a few meters down the corridor, there was a sudden yell and a clash of swords. Jongdae gripped his sword tightly.

"Where is the treasure?!" a hostile voice asked in a strange accent. Jongin's voice replied with defiance, "I will never tell you!" A gunshot reverberated through the air. Jongdae bit his lips hard to prevent him from screaming. No! He began to loose grip of his sword but then the voice ordered, "Find the treasure! Then take all the other things.Once we hand the jewel and them to the British, we'll be famous!"

There was a hurrying of footsteps in all directions, but none seemed to go towards the treasure room. "Think quick Jongdae... The fate of this ship is up to you..." he whispered to himself. Jongdae quickly shifted the sacks of gold to block the doorway. Then he scaned the room for an opening, his eyes quickly settling for a door he hadn't noticed before. 

A few minutes later, Jongdae found himself back inside his cabin after a few harrowing encounters with the enemy men. (He did knock one out with the back of his sword though.) The parrots were all huddling at one corner.

"How arrr the resttt?"

"Arrr they goooone?"

"I feeell schared!"

The questions instantly hit Jongdae. "Okay calm down," Jongdae explained, kneeling down in front of the cage, "They are still alive. But I don't know how much longer." He wasn't too sure about Jongin though... Then he smoothened out the feathers on each of their heads, "I have a plan, and I need all of you to help me."

Jongdae was already regretting his plan, since all three parrots were flying timidly behind him, bumping into objects. "Shhhhhh." he hushed irritatedly before moving on. After dodging a few men, they peeked out from the lower deck onto the main board. Sure enough, the Shadow members were on the deck, but all tied up with ropes, and there were many, many enemy men. 

Jongdae ducked back down when two men walked past him and dumped someone onto the deck with the rest. "You stupid morons!" The person yelled. It was Minseok. "I'll kill you and then throw you into the sea-" Someone covered his mouth afterwards. "Captain, he's the last one." a man told a particualrly buff guy standing at the sides as if enjoying this moment.

"All ten are here?"

"Yes, captain."

"What about the one I shot?"

"He's as good as dead."

"Good." he grinned, showing a row of gold teeth. Jongdae instantly wanted to back down immediately, but he swallowed his saliva thickly. He had to start the plan now. 

"Rainbow, distract the crew." Rainbow instantly flew up and soared above the men. "Ooooh. Pretty bird." one man pointed out. Jongdae looked at the Shadow members, noticing their bewilderment in seeing Rainbow. Yifan had his mouth opening and closing. Jongdae then handed a ruby the size of his ear lobe to Fluffy. "Go and remember what to say."

A moment later, Fluffy was swooping on deck squaking, "Rainbowwwww! Don't let em get the treasuuuree!" That set the entire ship into a frenzy. There were a lot of "Get it!" or "Don't let it get away!" 

Jongdae lastly told Unicorn to set fire to the enemy ships. He had noticed there were two of them surrounding their ship. No wonder they had been overpowered. Unicorn was more than happy to oblige. Jongdae honestly had to refrain from laughing when a ship exploded loudly in flames, followed by another. The chaos grew stronger and the captain looked furious. "ERMAGOD THISSS SHIP ISHHH HAUNTEDD!!!" cried Rainbow, dancing (happily) among the chaos. 

Jongdae wanted to hug Rainbow for saying that, because the enemy's crew seemed to be superstitious and they instantly agreed by jumping over the deck into the sea except for the captain and what Jongdae thought was his first mate. He seemed even more displeased when Shadow started laughing on the deck, despite the ropes around their bodies.

"Stop this nonsense!" the captain bellowed. He drew his sword and everyone froze. "Someone must be planning this!" He scanned the deck and continued, "You better own up now, or this blade will be the last thing you'll ever see." 

Jongdae went mentally uh-oh. He wasn't expecting this to happen. "Own up!" the captain hollered once again while another explosion could be heard from the other ship.  As usual, the challenging side of him stood up. He had fought people larger sized than the captain without sustaining more injuries, so why not? Jongdae gripped his sword tightly and emerged from the staircase.

"More like, this blade will be the last thing you'll ever see." Everyone turned to look at him. Jongdae looked simply at the captain with full on eye contact. To his consternation, the captain started laughing, "You belong to Shadow?"

"What's wrong?"

"Looks like they finally cracked! Him...! Oh gods!"

Everyone laughed. Jongdae saw at the corner of his eyes that Shadow was totally emotionless on the deck. But then he couldn't stand taunting. The more they laughed, the more furious he got. 

He held out his sword, trembling with anger. For the first time, he felt clear-headed. These guys were attacking the people who took him in. 

"Yes. I am part of Shadow. I will say this today, to all of you." he scanned a determined look across the whole deck. "I am a Shadow-warrior, and I will not disappoint. You have just met your death by saying that I don't belong."

"I stand with my brother." a voice resounded from behind Jongdae. He instantly knew it was Jongin. "Shadow-warriors never disappoints." Jongin appeared beside Jongdae, his face plastered with his signature smirk. Jongin turned to him, and he returned a grin.

"Ready?"

"Totally."