Jessica found herself at the stern of the ship and found Alex sitting with his legs between the railings. He was looking over the edge, down at the rudder below that sprayed the sea up into his face. He didn't seem to mind. In fact, he looked content with the feeling of the salty water splashing up against his face. A soft smile was evident on his lips. It was a stark difference from the scowl he usually wore.

Jessica cleared her throat, and he gazed up at her, his scowl returning. "What do you want?"

"Umm..." She blushed. "To give this back to you." Jessica handed him the white t-shirt he had given to her earlier that evening.

She was now back to wearing her usual black shorts and long-sleeved purple crop top. Alex took the shirt from her with an acknowledging nod and looked back down at the rudder, watching the water bubble and splash white foam up into the air.

Jessica sat down next to him, and he let out a soft sigh before he spoke, like he was contemplating what he was about to say next. "How much do remember?"

Jessica frowned. "I don't know what you mean."

Alex's cheeks reddened as he rephrased his question. "Do you remember your time as a pig?"

It was Jessica's turn to let her cheeks glaze with a red hue. She stuttered before answering, remembering everything that had happened between the pair of them as pig and friend. The temple guard she had saved him from, the drinking contest at the bar, and him telling her about his past. Alex tickling her, him confessing how he honestly felt about her without realising she was Jessica at the time. When Levi had tried to eat her, and he saved her from their drooling captain. Her heart strained when she remembered that Alex had let the mayor take her away so he could protect his friends, which she wholly understood, but it still hurt to think about it. Then he came looking for her in an attempt to save her but failed, and Levi saved her later on.

As she looked over Alex's expression, she could tell that he didn't want her to remember. To save him from embarrassment, she shook her head.

"No. I don't remember anything."

Alex heaved a sigh in relief. That was good. He had told her things about his past he had yet to tell his crew, and he especially didn't want Jessica to know that he liked her. However, he had connected with her when she was a pig, but already, he found himself at a loss for words. How could he retell her such intimate things? It was easier when she was an animal.

"All I remember is Levi punching the mayor in the face and saving me," she mumbled.

Alex's chest tightened, and hatred slowly started to boil up within him towards his captain. Now he wished she had remembered. Then she would know how much they had bonded and what he went through in an attempt to save her.

It should have been me that saved you, not him.

Alex stood up and clicked his tongue as he walked away, leaving Jessica confused by his sudden change of mood. She would never understand him.

☠️

The next day, Jessica was stood on the main deck. Her hands gripped tightly onto the railing of the ship, and her eyes closed shut as she let the soft salty sea breeze grace against her cheeks. A smile slowly formed on her lips. For once in her life she felt free, free from the horrors of her past.

A throat cleared behind her. Jessica turned around to find Vulcan next to her. He always seemed to have a stern look on his face, like something was bothering him.

"Can I help you?" Jessica smiled.

"You can." His face lit up a notch but still, he looked bothered by something. "We don't have a compass, and your friend Elena told me you had a Mr Compass. May I borrow it just until we get to Halfway Point?" he asked awkwardly.

Jessica had the oddest feeling that Vulcan wasn't much of a people person, and she knew it would take some time for him to warm up to her.

"I'll be happy to." Jessica untied the black pouch from the hilt of her sword and gave Vulcan her Mr Compass. "Be very careful with it. My father gave it to me."

"I promise. I will take good care of it." Vulcan's stern face disappeared in an instant when his hazel eyes fell upon the compass like the object was a god to him. He recognised it from academic papers as the First Edition Mr Compass, the first one ever made. How did Jessica's father get his hands on such a rarity?

"May I ask why we are heading to Halfway Point?" Jessica wondered aloud. Her forehead crumpled into an assortment of lines as she frowned, thinking about the place she kept hearing talks of. " I hear it's not a very nice place. Full of criminals running away from the law. I hear it's also where the nobles get away with buying slaves from the auction house."

"I have no idea. Levi wants to get there by the summer solstice." Vulcan shrugged. "Says it's important but won't say-"

"Jess!"

Levi collided into Jessica, and the both of them were sent flying across the deck. Jessica screeched as she landed on top of Levi in a tangled mess, legs and arms sprawled all over the place.

"Levi!" she complained. "What've I told you about doing that?"

"Sorry, Jess." He chuckled and readjusted his pirate hat.

Jessica tried to be angry with her captain, but she just couldn't. The innocent look in his adorable brown eyes made her want to cuddle up to him like a soft teddy bear. And that was precisely what she did. She pulled Levi into a hug, squishing his face against her chest and knocking his hat off. He chuckled at her response.

"You will be my friend forever, right?"

"Of course. We're best friends."

Jessica couldn't help but let the tears form. Not only did she feel free, but for once in her life, she felt safe. She knew Levi would always protect her, no matter what.

"Who's the pretty lady, little bro?"

Everyone tensed at once as a new smooth voice joined the crew up on deck.

"Logan!" Levi sprang to his feet, knocking Jessica over in the process, and engulfed the newcomer in a clinging hug.

Jessica was still trying to work out where he had come from, but nobody else seemed too bothered by the intruder. In fact, everyone welcomed him with open arms. Was he another crew member she wasn't aware of?

"Levi, are you going to introduce me to such a beautiful young lady?" He took Jessica's hand and gracefully kissed her knuckles.

Jessica's face burned, and she couldn't help but softly giggle. He was a handsome man, maybe a year or two older than Levi. He had the same dark locks and deep brown eyes that Jessica found entrapping. He had a boyish smile and a sprinkle of freckles across his cheeks, just like Levi. He was the definition of adorable, but he seemed more mature than the likes of Levi.

He was only wearing black cadet shorts, combat boots, and a handmade daisy chain necklace. He wore an open pink flowery shirt, showing off his toned, sun-kissed body to the world. Not that Jessica minded. He was a specimen and a half.

"Big bro, this is Jess. She just joined our crew," Levi said with a grin.

"Nice to meet you, Jess. I'm Logan, Levi's older brother." He winked.

"Logan, as in the Pirate Lord Logan the Nomad?"

"That's me." He smirked boyishly.

Logan the Nomad was an infamous Pirate Lord who wandered the seas by himself but was most famous for being the Pirate King's errand boy. Jessica had seen his wanted picture at one point and had read about him in the newspapers.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Jessica smiled. Already, she could tell she was going to get along well with her captain's older brother.

"What are you doing here, Logan?" Levi asked.

Logan turned around and whacked the top of his brother's head and scowled at him. "You've made a right mess with Madame Cheng. Dad's not happy. He sent me to make sure you get to Halfway Point before the summer solstice without any more trouble. You'd better have a good excuse for him."

Levi sat cross-legged on the deck and folded his arms across his chest and pouted like a toddler getting scolded.

"Madame Cheng started it. She threw the first punch."

"Not good enough." Logan shook his head at his little brother. "Anyway, I've already docked the Little Daisy to the back of the Leo. I'm hitching a ride with you until you get to Halfway Point. I have the Sea Dog trailing my ass at the moment, and I thought best to tag along with you guys. He won't suspect me being with a rookie pirate group. Plus the government has no idea we're brothers."

"Sure thing!" Levi cheered and punched his arms up into the air. "We were just about to celebrate Jess joining our crew!"

Right on cue, Tommy and Penny came walking out of the kitchen with platters of food and drink. Vulcan brought out a large oak table, and Mirella found chairs for everyone to sit on.

"Hey, Logan." Tommy offered him a drink of rum. "I've been looking after your garden as requested." He nodded his head in the direction of Logan's Garden.

So that was his garden. Jessica had wondered who Logan was, but she'd never expected it to be the Nomad.

Logan grinned as he approached his garden filled with all sorts of flowers, plants, and vegetables. Jessica noticed a couple of roses start to grow and bloom at record speed as he approached the garden, like his flowers and plants were happy that he had returned home.

Logan suddenly frowned down at his garden. "Why are there bite marks in my vegetables?"

Jessica's face turned as red as one of Logan's tomatoes, and she slowly raised her hand. "That was me. I got turned into a pig, and I couldn't help myself."

Logan burst out laughing. "You got turned into a pig? You've gotta tell me how that happened!"

He continued to laugh as he slung an arm over her shoulder and maneuvered her towards the dinner table.

Everyone soon gathered around, and a party commenced in Jessica's honour. Sat next to Jessica the entire time was Logan, who was just as silly as Levi if not more at times and ate just as much. Both of them had stomachs with no ends. However, unlike Levi, Logan didn't eat meat.

"As is tradition..." Levi stood up with a tankard in his raised hand. "...each new crew member signs their name and the role they wish to have upon my ship."

Penny handed Jessica a piece of parchment and looked over what looked like a list of the crew's names and their "roles" on the ship.

Crew Name - Ship Role(s)
Levi - Captain of Fun
FJHD - F̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶M̶a̶t̶e̶ N/A
Alex - First Mate / Booze Supplier
Vulcan - Engineer
Mirella - Treasurer / Poison Expert
Tommy - Ladies man
Penny - ;)
Oberon - Being Adorable
Baden Bones - Looking Dandy

Captain of fun, booze supplier, ladies man, looking dandy, a winky face? What was Jessica getting herself into?

And who was FJHD, another crew member she had yet to meet? Why had his role of First Mate been crossed out and changed to not applicable?

Oh well, she thought. What better crew to be a part of than a bunch of maniacs?

Jessica signed her name but did not know what role to give herself until she laughed to herself, having remembered the pranks she pulled on Kirk. She always did love to wind people up, especially Big Red.

Jessica Red - Trickster

"To Jess!" Levi chorused, and everyone hit their tankards of rum together. Booze sloshed everywhere.

"I think I'm going to get along well with you, Jess," Logan said with a laugh. "You and I are going to be great friends."

Jessica smiled back at him. She too could feel in her heart that Logan was going to be a great friend. Someone she could talk to when times were bad. He had the aura of someone you could trust and know that he would keep a secret until the day he died. He seemed more caring than the likes of Alex.

She looked for the first mate, who was nowhere to be found.

Where was he?

The first mate was found sitting on top of the crow's nest and looking out over the ocean, a note held tightly in his hand, unaware of the party going on below deck.

The note was from the landlady of the tavern, Elena Sharp. The woman had seemed familiar, but for the life of him, he could not remember her. His memory throughout his lifetime had always been hazy, parts missing and parts that didn't feel real. When he met Elena, she felt real, but he didn't know why. She had called him Alexander. No one called him that; he had always been Alex, but again the name felt right. It felt real.

He opened the note once again and looked over her soft, neat handwriting.

Alexander,

Take care of Jessica. Always keep her safe and never let her out of your sight.

She can be very troublesome at times, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle her.

I promise that one day, your life will make sense, but for now, trust in Levon. He will lead you to your family.

Regards, Elena Sharp.

P.S. I left you a gift and instructions on how it works.

White points to your ruler.
Black points to your foe.
Blue points to your friend.
Red points to your love.
Green points to your family.
Gold points to your destiny.

Alex frowned, incredibly confused. Was that a poem?

He folded the note and opened the black box. He lifted out a white sphere about the size of a marble, a pearl without a scratch on it. His thumb ran over the smooth surface, and he quickly placed it back into the box.

Instead, he took the other item out from within: a strange looking brass compass with six brass needles that did not seem to work. It had indentation marks around the face of the brass compass for five round objects. It also had a leather strap so that it could be attached to the wrist like a watch.

He looked back at the pearl and once again picked the jewel up. The pearl was the right size for the round indentations marks, and he placed it into one of them. It immediately clicked into place, and one of the six brass needles turned white and started to spin until it stopped and pointed at him.

No matter where he moved the compass, it always pointed at him. He turned the compass upside down to read the engraving on the back.

Mr Compass.

So it was one of the unique compasses made by Mr Compass. But this one didn't seem to have a north, and it continued to point at him. How did Elena get her hands on such a precious object? He placed the compass back into the box and sat it down next to him on the cushioned bench.

He stared at it.

Alex hissed in pain. His arm was still throbbing from the tattoo man's snake bite. He looked down at his bandaged arm to find it bleeding through the white material once again, a mixture of blood and ink. He unravelled the bandage, and the area around the wound was hot to the touch and glowing a red-purple colour.

He reapplied fresh bandages and shrugged on his brown jacket to hide the injury. There was no need to concern his friends; it would heal in due time.

"Hey, Alex!" his captain called. "You're missing the party, and Logan is here!"

The first mate could not help but smile. It had been some time since he had seen his captain's older brother. The two of them were of similar age and were good friends. They always liked to compete with each other, especially when it came to handling their alcohol.

He quickly attached the Mr Compass to his left wrist like a watch and slid down the silver slide which spiralled down the mainmast and back down to the deck. His smile instantly disappeared when he saw Logan chatting away to Jessica. He had draped his arm over her shoulder, and she was laughing at a joke he had told her, her cheeks rose-coloured as she blushed.

Alex's heart sunk. Maybe it was for the best if she distracted herself with Logan. Besides, he didn't have time to be distracted with feelings. He had his dream to fulfil : to find his family.

Alex sat himself down next to Logan and helped himself to a drink. The two friends cheered as they drank together. Already the duo had started to compete with one another. He missed Logan; they'd always gotten along well with one another.

During the party, Alex's gaze couldn't help but wonder over to Jessica, who was looking back at him with a small, sweet smile on her kind-natured face. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but smile back. His heart had won this round.