“Stay together, alright?”
“But dad—”
“Go.”

× ☠ ×

   Historia awoke from that dream breathing heavily; beads of sweat had formed on her forehead as she realized what day it was. She let out a long weary breath in an attempt to distract herself from the pulsing of her head. She stumbled back a little when she stood up so abruptly however she felt safe knowing that the wooden floor was strong beneath her feet.

   The dream—no, the memory—was all too painful for her. It was like some sort of twisted movie on repeat. Picture this: a beautiful day. There was not a single cloud in the sky and the ocean was as blue as the endless heavens above. There was a girl who had just entered her late teens, she was young and had an abundance of potential. Her smile was like the sun. She had a brother, an older brother. They were never seen without the other, forming an indestructible duo with a sense of loyalty that is thicker than the blood they share. Their father was an admirable man, known far and wide for his renowned skills. The small family loved each other dearly. They travelled around the seven seas, conquering each and every opponent brave enough to face them. And then it happened. 

   Clenching her eyes tight, Historia no longer wanted those images haunting her.

   Historia searched the room for any signs of her brother but there were none. He must have woken up earlier and was overlooking activities, how rare. Wordlessly, Historia changed into her usual attire and strutted out of her shared quarters.

   It didn’t take long to find Yongguk at all as he was navigating the ship to a very familiar place and in an instant, Historia found herself by his side, where she belonged. “Good morning darling,” Yongguk greeted with a know-it-all smirk. Historia simply grunted in response, feeling slightly grumpier than usual.

   The air around them was unusually tense and heavy, as if not even bits of oxygen could pierce through their ominous aura. The crew saw this as a sign, a sign that they are to stay away from the twins as far as they possibly can. Historia has never oh-so-silently stood next to her brother and Yongguk was never one to wake up before the younger.

× ☠ ×

   When Polaris opened her eyes at the start of the day, she wasn’t expecting warm cookies on golden platters but she certainly did not foresee that an anxious Siofra would greet her. She was biting on the inside of her thumb, seemingly in deep thought, worry was obvious in her eyes.

   “What’s wrong?” Since she has just woken up, her voice dropped an octave lower and sounded hoarse. Though there are times that Polaris can be somewhat oblivious to her surroundings, how could she ever miss the scowl on her best friend’s face? Siofra didn’t answer and instead, she let an eerie silence fill the room. It made Polaris feel smaller than she already is. Siofra continued to not acknowledge the presence of another or maybe she didn’t even realize that she wasn’t alone.

   Polaris inched closer to the older, hoping for some sort of reaction. The bed creaked but there was no response. Irritation was starting to crawl under her skin so she went ahead and pinched the elder’s sides. The sudden sensation caused Siofra to flinch. When Siofra finally took a good look at the troublemaker, she swapped her sour expression for a brighter one.

   “What’s wrong?” Polaris repeated her question only this time; she was sure to get an answer. “It’s nothing!” Siofra let the topic drop with a dismissing wave of her hand. Polaris knew that once Siofra finalized a certain topic, there was no use in trying to get her to talk about it again.

   It felt like the ship hit a sudden bump, causing the two girls to jump from their positions. “Which reminds me,” Siofra supported her head with one hand, she could feel a headache surfacing. “We’re heading to Brighton.” “Why?” Tilting her head to the side, Polaris felt truly confused. Brighton wasn’t too far from London and if she could recall correctly, they were packed up for a long journey. Siofra shrugged, she too was not sure why. “Captain’s driving, we can’t do anything about it.”

   A mischievous, Cheshire-like grin spread from ear to ear upon hearing the statement. In her eyes, the trip had always gotten ten times better if Yongguk were the one on the wheel. ‘Why?’ you might ask, because he is a reckless little . There are always more peaceful routes even in the middle of nowhere, some may be longer, but definitely more peaceful. But Yongguk being Yongguk, would navigate the ship through the worst of waters. Large waves and unknown creatures, sometimes stopping at deserted island. Most of the crew hates it when he takes charge, they all feel so nauseous but Polaris loved it. Heck, she absolutely lived for it.

   In a flash, Polaris changed her clothes and sprinted above deck where—as she predicted—mostly everyone was hanging on tightly to Freedom, praying that somebody would stop the crazy captain. The Captain had a boyish grin on his face, his trusty first mate right by his side but there was something rather odd about it. She couldn’t put her finger on it but Yongguk’s laughter and Historia’s glare just didn’t mix well.

   “Po po, help me!” Polaris tried her best to hide her irritation by biting the lower half of her lips and fully ignoring Sehun’s desperate plead. Instead, the little Asian focused all her attention on the uproar of the waves they keep crashing into, hoping it would swallow all those pathetic nonsense the lad kept saying. “Oi, Conny! How come you look so green?” Leaving the nauseous Sehun, Polaris just went ahead to approach another dizzy person.

× ☠ ×

   It was chaos above deck but below deck was no better. Adelia didn’t know this but enclosed space is the worst place to be at when driven by any sort of motion sickness but on the other hand, the situation outside was pretty brutal. Splashes of salty water kept making its way to the faces of human beings and if she were to fall from the ship it wouldn’t be so funny on her half. Kill me now, now she was officially feeling sick to her stomach.

   Aleydis, always being the only pillar of sensibility amongst Freedom, took pity on the aching noble and decided to help. She approached cautiously before taking a seat at the foot of her mattress. The bed creaked loudly, whining at the additional weight. “What do you want?” Adelia spat at the perpetrator who made the wooden legs cry in agony. For the most part, Adelia knows better than to risk her life just to talk rudely to a those that could have her life but considering the circumstances, she completely failed to think rationally. Disregarding the others rude tone, Aleydis reached out her hand and patted her on the back to offer a sense of comfort. The simple gesture was one that Adelia would normally be disgusted by, after all, this was a pirate that was touching her but in her desperate time of seasickness, she could be buried alive for all she cared.

   “Aleydis, why the hell are you doing touching that?” A new voice asked, causing Adelia to hiss and glare at the owner of said voice. Despite her gorgeous looks and thick blonde locks, Satine is but a cynical young lady. “She’s sick.” Was all Aleydis said before standing up and leaving the scene. “Now you listen here, I don’t give a damn if your arm was cut off and you were bleeding to death. You will endure the pain because it is your fault that most of us are living as a pirate. Not that I mind, of course, but sometimes others would enjoy sleeping on your ‘expensive mattresses’ and have all the money in the world.” Satine spat threatening to raise a hand at the helpless damsel but stopped herself. “You’re not even worth my fist.” Satine said as she stormed off leaving the girl to groan by herself.

   “She’s such a spoiled brat. Was I like that too?” Adelia mumbled before burying her face into the musky scented pillow before letting out an awful groan while pounding her fists on the bed. “Somebody please just shoot me.” She complained before lying on her backside, picking the pillow up and slamming it down onto her face.

× ☠ ×

   By some miraculous turn out, Sehun was able to let go of the railing that he was holding on oh so tightly to and become Polaris’ tail. “Get the away from me.” The irritated girl growled, walking swiftly from one side of the deck to the other in an attempt to lose her pesky shadow. “But Polaris, I have nobody else to turn to. Please?” He whined chasing after her ignoring the girl’s words to just ‘ off.’ “Sehun, I swear to God if you don’t leave me alone I’m going to throw you off the ship and I hope you get crushed since Yongguk’s steering.” Polaris glared at the boy as she raised a hand.
   
   “Now now, no need to get all feisty. Sehun go away.” Satine to the rescue! She was right on time to enter the scene and she wave a hand to motion the boy to leave. “I’ll be back.” Satine swore that Sehun sounded like some kind of obsessive stalker before he walked away to look for his next victim. “God, that noble is killing me. Somebody please shoot her. She’s below deck complaining as if we have it any better.” Satine rambled her problems to the unsuspecting girl. “I’m sure she’s not too bad once we get to know her.” Siofra defended whereas Satine just rolled her eyes. “Please, I’ll get to know her personally when pigs fly.” Siofra offered no further argument, knowing better than to keep prying and testing the youngers temper.

   Sighing, Siofra looked around the deck only to find yet another noble starring at their direction. The Captain sure lets a little too many nobles lose on board this ship. “Satine, look who’s watching.” Siofra whispered giggling as Polaris nudged her, showing the little French girl a creeper look that was on par with Sehun’s. “Oh please. He’s just an idiotic brat.” Satine waved it off. ‘A y idiotic brat.’ She added in her mind as she went back to whatever she was doing before gossiping with the girls. Oh that’s correct she was hiding below deck hoping to not fall off Freedom due to the Captain’s steering. Well, she can’t go back there now knowing that the annoying thing is there. Best to hang onto dear life like everybody else now.

   “Remind me again why Historia’s not the Captain?” Satine groaned, her hand making its way to grip on the ship’s railing. Polaris had already left their conversation and made her way to the edge of the ship, possibly to kill herself considering that Sehun was once again by her side. Siofra shrugged, the twins never actually told anyone about themselves. They were always a mystery, no one could ever read them or know what they’re thinking about. Historia has always been independent and strong, it would be horrible to face her as an enemy meanwhile Yongguk was loud, outspoken yet there were so many that respected him as a Captain, as a man.

   “I did it! I finally did it!” Polaris’ laughs and cheers could be heard across the ship causing many eyes to stare at her strangely. Why so? Because there was usually a rainbow-haired boy clinging onto her like a lost puppy but there was nothing. “Polaris what did you do to Sehun?!” Yongguk yelled, his happy mood broken considering the fact that one of his men was missing. “I don’t know, ask him yourself.” Polaris shrugged innocently/ Yongguk raised an eyebrow at her, it was clear that she was up to no good, before motioning Historia to take the wheel. The whole crew let go of whatever item they were clinging on for safety knowing that the first mate would be steering instead of the energetic captain. “Sehun? Polaris, where is Sehun?” Yongguk demanded as Polaris just pointed down and what do you know? There, lying in the escape boat was Sehun. Unconscious with his arms and legs sprawled everywhere as Yongguk just smacked his forehead before ordering his crew to help the poor boy while Polaris skipped off happily humming a random tune.