"O-Okay, this is creepy." Matthew whispered. We had opted to walk through the town, rather than- somehow- around it, and it was proving to be rather unsettling so far. The empty windows of the houses, the dilapidated buildings, the eerie silence- they all together made everything more scarier than intended.

"If we're quick, we'll be out by night." I reassured.

Almost for myself, too.

"If we're not?"

Adorning a glare on my face, I turned, once again, to face the captain. He had a smirk to meet my glare.

He was underestimating me.

"Then we make do."

Turning back around, I caught a glance of Matthew's expression. Worried, looking at me.

I took no note of it.

Safe to say, I had changed since we had last truly met.

--

Luck was not on our side that night.

The ghost town was much larger, much more confusing than I had thought. At one point, it even got to none of us being able to tell which way we had come from, and which way were going. Arthur's compass became our only salvation- and, much as I hated to admit it, Matthew and I would have been goners without him.

Then the storm. It started with a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, followed by a downpour of rain so sudden it was almost as if the clouds had just saved it all to drop down on us when we least expected the bad weather.

All of that meaning, if we wanted to stay sheltered and warm, there would be no more searching for a boat, and definitely no setting sail into the stormy sea on said boat if we found one.

A night in the ghost town lay before us.

A night in one of the collapsing, dilapidated buildings.

"So this is making do, huh?"

I ignored him. Earlier in the silence, I had decided I would ignore him as best as I could, unless it was something important. After all, I wasn't here with him by choice.

No direct reply was given. None at all.

"If we can wait the storm out, we can go back to looking for a boat. Then it's chances; the sea does with us what she will."

I sat in the corner of the building we had chosen, a corner with still sturdy floors and roof still intact. It was dusty, and still cold (though I was grateful for the walls as wind blocks), but it would have to do.

Leaving my head back and closing my eyes, I frowned and moved about so I was just about as comfortable as I suspected I'd get.

"Wake me up when it's all over..."

And for the first time since I was sold, I remembered what it was like to fall asleep on sturdy, unmoving ground.

--

Arthur's POV

Y/N and Matthew slept, leaning on each other comfortably in the corner with the most shelter. The storm had ceased not too long ago, but the night brought impenetrable darkness, so much so that I found it unnecessary to wake them both up. I hadn't slept, preferring instead to keep watch for anything going on. You can never be too careful, after all...

A light danced in the distance, bringing me back to reality. It was so small; for a moment, I thought it must be exhaustion catching up with me. It took until the light was close enough to make out two faces in the dark.

Shit. Soldiers. Where the hell did they come from?

Attempting to waste as little time as possible, I rushed as silently as I could over to Matthew and Y/N. I shook the male sibling awake first. If I tried to wake Y/N, she'd probably slap me, yell and make a scene.

Almost immediately, Matthew's eyes snapped open. He must be a very light sleeper. I leaned as close to him as I could and whispered;

"Soldiers."

In panic, his eyes widened and he started to get up. Y/N didn't stir in her sleep at all, and when my long time partner in crime stood, he whispered something back.

"She's the heaviest sleeper I know."

He definitely knew Alfred, so she must be a pretty heavy sleeper. There would be no time to wake her- each time I checked back, the light carried by the guards slowly but surely got closer and closer. Soon enough, we'd all be able to hear each other, and if we didn't move soon, we'd be seen whatever we did. As pirates, it didn't matter whether their reason for being here was one of malicious intent or not; we'd be taken somewhere and executed.

Without another word, I stepped towards Y/N and hoisted her up onto my back, dangling her limp from sleep arms over my shoulders and holding her legs so I was giving her a piggyback.

We'd play hide and seek with these petty soldiers. And we weren't going to get caught.

Matthew and I glanced at each other, and with a nod, gave the wordless confirmation that we were both ready to run. And run we did; although still too late to avoid being noticed. The two soldiers started to yell, and I hoped to whatever almighty being was upstairs that they didn't have many others in the area.

By now my eyes were adjusted to the darkness, and the storm from earlier had long since ceased. Although with their lanterns, the soldiers had the advantage, I was beginning to like the idea of thinking that we might make it to the shore and find a boat. As long as we had a vessel, my compass and luck with the sea, we had a very high chance of escape.

And we very nearly had a vessel.

As we began to reach shore, Matthew sped up and ran past me. I tried my best to do the same, but to no avail. Carrying Y/N was beginning to hurt my back and legs, and I couldn't run as fast as I wanted to.

"Arthur! Boat!" He yelled, looking over to me as he quickly untied the small rowboat that the owner had left docked there.

Lanterns glowing seemed to be all around me. If only Y/N wasn't so damn heavy, we'd for sure be able to make it...

"HALT!"

Shit. So the soldiers did have a lot of manpower.

"Young man, step away from the boat. You, turn and face me."

I wasn't sure if Matthew complied with the soldier's demands, for I did, turning round to face the man. He looked to be the most important one here- captain if he wanted to guess.

"Young man, I said step away!"

A warning shot from the captain's musket rang out, and left everyone in a complete silence. I guessed Matthew now followed the command.

I myself got a hit to the head from a very angry and very awake Y/N L/N.

"Put me down, Captain Dickhead!"

Wincing and noticing the captain glance over at us, I did so. Why did he have to shoot, Y/N was going to fuck this up with her temper-

"You three. Who exactly are you?" He asked, still pointing his gun. Matthew joined at my side, his hands out in view so they could see he wasn't going to try anything.

Y/N smirked, and stepped forward only slightly. Oh no.

"I don't know, who are you?"

The captain and most of the other soldiers glared, weapons still raised.

But then, alas, he smirked.

"You ran on sight of my guards, and this woman is violent in nature to someone of my standing. This young man here was going to steal this rowboat here, and you three were all going to escape and sail off into the sunset feeling victorious. My guess is that you're..."

Threateningly, he stepped forward. I noticed Y/N recoil beside me.

"Pirates."