Virgil stood on the upper deck with the Prince, watching their crews below. He looked over at the Prince.

"Well?"

"You expect me to be heard over all this?" It sounded like he was stalling. Virgil decided not to address it and pulled out his musket. He fired seven shots into the air, not even flinching at every bang. Today must be his lucky day.

By the time he'd finished, the entire deck had fallen silent.

"Thank you." Virgil blew on the muzzle of his musket to try cool it down a little. "His - hm - his royal Highness has something to say to his crew and I have something to say to mine."

The Prince glared at him. Virgil gestured with his musket.

"Go on, Princey. You have the floor."

The Prince sighed. "We're negotiating a parlay," he said begrudgingly. His crew let out an indignant roar. "Hey, it's not my choice!" The Prince snapped. "I'd rather we lived than more of us die."

Virgil gave him a patronizing pat on the shoulder and grinned. "Everyone get to their sides. Negotiations are beginning."

He dug his now slightly colder musket into the Prince's back. "Move, Princey."

By the cut of his shoulders, it looked like the Prince wanted to swing around and punch him. Virgil revelled in that fact. He led the Prince down the stairs and barely took any note of Remus approaching.

Until Remus punched the Prince square in the jaw.

The shock sent the Prince crashing to the floor and Remus kicked him viciously in the side.

"Mierda, Re, dejas, dejas!"

"No, you don't get to call me that!" Remus yelled. "Not after 18 years! Bastard!"

"Remus." Janus came forward, standing close to Remus. Remus looked up at him. Some of the anger in his eyes seemed to dissipate.

"Someone want to explain what's going on?" Virgil demanded.

"I'll tell you," Remus said, turning back to Virgil. "This asshole left me when I was 13 years old."

The Prince was slowly getting to his feet. He straightened his coat and rubbed his jaw.

"You could take care of yourself," he said dismissively.

"I was 13, I needed a brother!"

"Brother?!" Virgil and Janus asked in unison.

"Rem, you're not Spanish," Janus said with the air of someone who wasn't sure of what they were saying.

"Step-brothers, step-brothers," the Prince said with a groan. "You never used to be able to punch."

"I've had practice, Roman," Remus spat. He grabbed Janus' hand and pulled him away.

Virgil blinked. He stared at the two silent crews, who stared back at him. "Right-"

The Prince - Roman? - cut him off with a sigh. "Hey, that's not fair."

"What's not?"

Roman gestured to Patton. He had his gun jammed in the side of a taller man Virgil hadn't seen before. "You can't take prisoners at parlay."

Virgil sighed. He motioned for Roman to stay put and walked to Patton.

"Pat, let him go," he said quietly.

"But-"

"Pat." Virgil glared at him. Good Lord, he didn't have time for this. With a sigh, Patton slowly removed his gun from the taller man's side. The man stepped away and dusted down his waistcoat. He nodded slightly at Virgil before returning to the other side of the deck.

Virgil sighed. "Right. Does anyone have any other grievances they want to air? No? Good. Because we're gonna be living with each other for a while."

The resounding "What?!" was so loud it almost broke Virgil's ear drums. He sighed again.

"I never agreed to anything like that," Roman said. He stormed towards Virgil. Virgil glared at him and it stopped him dead in his tracks.

"It's two choices, Princey. Either parlay, agreements and give me the maps or I'll let Remus finish what he started." Virgil shrugged. "Right now, I'd love to see someone get kicked to death, it's been a while."

Roman seemed to shrink in on himself a little. "What maps?" He asked.

"Was that your attempt at a lie?" Virgil asked. He laughed. "Lord, that was pathetic. Come on, choose your second, we'll talk."

Roman dropped his eyes to the deck for a second. When he looked back up at Virgil, there was something burning in his gaze. So he hated Virgil now? Great.

"Logan."

The man Patton had let go took a half-step forward. Virgil felt a small smile cross his face.

"Remus, you're with me," he called over his shoulder. "Everyone else, try not to kill each other until we get back."

Here's a whole load of nothing and also a bit of backstory. Hope you enjoy
Bye,
Blaize