The sunlight streaming through the open flap of the tent burned its way through Baekhyun’s eyelids and forced him to consciousness. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach. His head was pounding. He only wanted to sleep, but he knew he had to get up. There were too many things to deal with today, and he didn’t want to spend another day in that crazy Indian encampment.

The light temporary blinded him when he stepped out. Using his hand to block out the rising sun, Baekhyun scanned his surroundings. He was in the big tent, the one usually reserved for the chief. When Baekhyun stopped at the camp, it was his.

Most of his crew members were already out, packing their things to leave. Baekhyun vaguely remembered making a deal with the chief the night before about food. He now saw that the crew members were already carrying this food onboard his ship.

Something tickled at Baekhyun’s nostrils, and he let out a sneeze. A small cloud of sparkly particles formed from his sneeze. Baekhyun’s eyes widened and his hand immediately went to the soft spot between his clavicles. It was gone. The pearl.

Baekhyun screamed in frustration and barreled through the crowd, looking for a tall, skinny man. When he reached him, Baekhyun grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

Chanyeol searched Baekhyun’s flaring eyes, flustered. “Uh, sir, what—”

“Find him!!” Baekhyun exclaimed, cutting him off. “Lee Taemin. He stole from me! Find him!!”

Baekhyun angrily stomped around, barking useless orders as Chanyeol arranged a search team. The Indians knew the jungle better than the pirates, but they needed the pirates fighting skills too.

While they scouted out the jungle, Baekhyun did things that distracted him. He checked the traps, took inventory of his gold, made the crew clean the ship, and drank. But he couldn’t stop thinking of the pearl. It was rightfully his. Okay, he did sortofkindofnotreallybutstill steal it from Taemin, but it was originally his. It was his. He had claimed it first. He had been after it for weeks and had finally located it at the back of Mermaid Bay when Taemin interfered and stole it first. What could Baekhyun have done but steal it back? So he did. It was his.

By the time the sun was half-set and the sky and ocean glowed reds and oranges, the scouts returned. Chanyeol led them back to the camp. When he found Baekhyun, he could tell the captain had been drinking. His face was flushed.

"Did you find it?!" Baekhyun asked. He looked slowly from Chanyeol to the people behind him.

Chanyeol shook his head. "No, but we found some people at his hideout." Chanyeol motioned for the others to bring them forward.

To men came forward and dropped a girl at Baekhyun's feet, her hands fastened with a rope behind her back. She was unconscious.

Baekhyun stared at her. She was small and looked not much younger than he was. And she was dirty. Her long brown hair fell in messy swoops across her face. Baekhyun looked up to see his men bringing forward a pair of kids.

One of them was really fussy. He kicked and screamed at the pirates, letting out a string of curses. When he was set out in front of Baekhyun, Baekhyun grabbed him by their hair and smacked him across the face, hard enough to leave a red welt on his cheek.

"Shut up, boy," Baekhyun growled. The other boy was quiet and looked at the ground.

"Where's your leader?" Baekhyun asked, leaning in close to the quiet boy. When he didn't answer, Baekhyun raised his hand to smack him too.

"Don't!!" Jihyun exclaimed, rushing in and grabbing her brother's hand. She looked down at the young boy apologetically.

Baekhyun tore his hand away and glared at his sister. "Stay out of this."

Jihyun racked her brain, trying to find some way to reason with him. "Oppa!! Think of it like this! Taemin-ssi will surely come and save these boys right?" She intentionally didn't mention the girl. She waited for Baekhyun to show that he acknowledged her words.

A twitch of his eyebrow was enough. She continued, "If we take them with us on the ship, we'll bring him to us. That way, we can just feed them to the crocodiles if he doesn't give you your treasure back." JIhyun said all this in one breath. She was desperate.

Baekhyun lowered his hand, considering this. Then he jabbed his finger, pointing at Jihyun's face. He leaned in close enough for her to smell the alcohol on his breath. "This better not be a trick, or you'll be the one to walk the plank."

Despite the fear she felt in the pit of her stomach, she nodded quickly. After she hurried off to pack her things, Baekhyun ordered the men to load up their new prisoners.

After they were gone, Baekhyun headed to the ship himself. "Taemin... ssi?" he muttered to himself, spitting out the last word like poison. Since when had Jihyun gotten so polite with the jungle rat?

 ~~~~~(^-^)~~~~~

Taemin held up the pearl to the sun. It glowed and reflected pretty purple and oranges onto his face and hands. The broken twine still attached to it flapped like wings in the breeze.

"Finally..." He breathed. He took a deep breath of the cool mountain air.

The green jungle below him seemed small from his altitude. Taemin looked up at the sky. It was a cloudless day. He sat on the edge of jutting cliff on the side of a mountain that overlooked the jungle. He smiled in satisfaction to himself. His fingers brushed the cool stone, brushing off dust, and he stood up.

The boys must be waiting. Taemin held out his arms to his side like wings, then with a little hop, he dived off the cliff.

To Taemin's surprise, his base was empty. Even the girl's cage was empty. He wouldn't be so worried if it weren't for the rushed way the cage had been forcibly torn open.

"Hyung...?" a sniffle could be heard from the brush.

Taemin turned around and kneeled on one knee, peering at a small pair of eyes through thick leaves.

He heard another sniffle before Lay emerged, his eyes b. When he say his hyung, Lay ran toward him.

Taemin frowned at his distress and motioned for Lay to come closer. Tears slid down Lay's cheeks as he crashed into the older boy's chest. Taemin hesitantly wrapped his arms around the child.

"They took them!" Lay cried.

"Who?" There was a sharp edge to Taemin's voice. The pearl felt heavy in his pants pocket.

"Pirates," Lay said, trying to stop his voice from quivering. "Indians were with them. They took Lu-hyung, Leo-hyung, and Minhee-noona. Hyung, they're scary."

Taemin pulled him away and patted his head awkwardly. "Don't cry, Lay. I'll go get them back now, okay? Don't worry. They'll be fine."

Taemin got up, a new fire in his eyes. Now the pirate captain has taken his little brothers. That was unforgivable. And no one makes Lay cry. Taemin clenched his fists. No one.

~~~~~(^-^)~~~~~

Luhan stared at the wall, red-faced. He was sitting on the floor at the back of the empty room Baekhyun's men had locked them in. When Minhee had awakened, they had tried together to find a way out, but it seemed hopeless.

Leo suddenly spoke, getting both of their attention. Leo didn't speak often, but now even Minhee has come to realize that when Leo spoke, you needed to really listen.

"The girl," He said. Despite his rough look, Leo's voice was soft and sweet. "She will let me out."

It took a moment for Luhan to realize that the girl Leo was referring to was the pirate girl, not Minhee.

"What are you going to do?" Luhan asked, scraping the wall with the short piece of wood in his hand. It was the only piece he had left of his walking stick. They had snapped it like a twig when he had tried to use it as a weapon.

"Get Taemin-hyung." Leo turned away. He was done talking.

Luhan went to the door and tried to peer out the lock hole, but he couldn't see anything.

Minhee stopped her eyes on the piece of wood clenched in Luhan's hand. She held her hand out.

"Luhan, give me that," she said.

Luhan followed her gaze to his stick he held.

"This?" he asked. "No way. It's mine."

Minhee shook her head. "I can get us out of here. All I need is a few splinters from your stick, and I could probably pick the lock. I've done it before."

Luhan looked at her doubtfully.

"I don't believe it," He said flatly. "You're a girl. Just chill. Leo has a plan."

Minhee strode across the room and grabbed Luhan by the shirt.

"Excuuuse me but this girl is the reason you're not dead back at the hideout with Lay crying over you."

Minhee glared into Luhan's round eyes until he blinked. The rebellion in his eyes diminished. She was right. Minhee had saved them. Luhan held out his stick.

Minhee took his stick from him. She felt bad. He had been so upset when they broke his stick. She took extra care to carefully peel away two finger-length pieces that she could work with. Luhan sat down solemnly and watched as she kneeled down to the lock and started messing with it.

Suddenly the doorknob jiggled and Minhee scrambled away.

The other two backed away too. Leo stood beside her; Luhan stood up stiff and tall in front of them. His arm was slightly raised, prepared.to attack if he needed to.

But Minhee didn't need him to. She moved forward and pushed him behind her protectively, just as a big burly pirate with long blonde hair walked in with his sword raised.

He pointed his dirty -but sharp- sword at her.

"Captain wants you on deck," He said in a thick accent. Minhee couldn't really place the accent, but she could make out his words.

"I don't want to," Luhan protested. His eyes glared sharp at the pirate. He wasn't going to let this man boss him around.

The man lunged for Luhan, but Minhee pulled him away and stepped between them.

"We'll go!!" She said immediately, staring wide-eyed at the point of the man's sword that was stopped only inches from Luhan's bright eyes.

The man grumbled and scowled once more at Luhan before signaling out the door to other crew members. They came in, three of them, and they carried ropes that were soon used to bind their hands. When the prisoners were all tied up, the burly man took off his sweaty blue bandana and tied it around Luhan's mouth.

Minhee cringed as Luhan gagged at the smell and taste. She remembered when Taemin had dumped crap on her face that first day. Pirate sweat couldn't be much better. She would've much rather liked it to had been Taemin who was gagged with the smelly bandana instead.

The men dragged them out of there and onto the top deck. The light made Leo blink and have to squint, but it was a huge improvement from the stuffy room they had just been in. It still stunk of fish and pirates, but at least the breeze made it much better. Once they were fully on deck, Leo skimmed through the pirates who were working. Some of them were rolling things around, cleaning, and working the ropes, but most of them were sitting together drinking or playing cards.

His eyes stopped on the girl. She had long brown hair that fell over her shoulders in waves and smiling eyes. She was the girl who used to live with the indians, the one Taemin used to talk about. But then she disappeared. He guessed that the pirate captain probably kidnapped her too. She was talking and laughing at something a tall, handsome crew member had said.

Leo then turned to the ocean. It was huge and so blue. The water was very calm, but every now and then the boat would suddenly rock and make him nauseous. They still weren't far from land. It was maybe fifty meters out from the shoreline. Baekhyun probably wanted Taemin to be able to find them. Luhan was fighting behind him, trying to get the stinky rag away from his face while Minhee-noona was trying to reason with them. But no one was talking to them.

They were silent as Baekhyun walked out of his room and toward his prisoners. Leo watched too, with awe, at this man who carried a powerful air of authority with him. He with his back to the tall mast, his hands wringing and twisting in the ropes behind him. He hoped no one could see him.

"Where's Taemin?" Baekhyun asked Luhan. His eyes were blank and expressionless, like his voice. But it still gave Luhan chills.

"I'm not telling you," Luhan answered defiantly, despite the fear he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Before the others could react, Baekhyun raised his hand and smacked Luhan in the side of the head hard enough to knock him to the floor.

Luhan bit back a cry of pain and laid on the floor, groaning a little. He curled into a ball, putting his head between his knees. His hands were uselessly clenched behind his back.

It hurt. Really bad.

It didn't help that Baekhyun had pretty rings on his fingers. Minhee gasped bending down to check on Luhan.

Baekhyun's eyes were on the two of them. He felt a little sorry. Just a little.

"Captain!!!"

Baekhyun's eyes flew up, just in time to catch the last bit of Leo's legs flying over the edge of the ship. He hurried to the edge of the ship, pistol in hand. Leo was swimming hard toward the shore.

Baekhyun raised the gun.

"Don't!" Minhee screamed. She struggled to stand without using her arms. They were still bound tightly behind her back. She lost her balance and fell down again.

"Oppa, don't!!" Jihyun exclaimed, reaching to grab his arm. Baekhyun pushed her away and took his aim.

BOOM!!! The crack of the gun and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

Minhee's eyes stung with tears from the smoke as Baekhyun fired a few more times.

Luhan tried to sit up too fast and fell on his face, scratching it on the wood.

"Leo!!!"

~~~~~(^-^)~~~~~

A/N: 미안 for the cliffhanger. it's because Jihyunnie complainsabout long chapters. :P

It's getting better... my story plot and writing... I think it's getting better. Just a little.