Disclaimer: (see previous chapters, basically, I own nothing)

Chapter 9

Heero sat in his private cell across from the rest of Maxwell’s crew and thought up all the ways he was going to bloodily take apart Winner. First he’d lop off an arm, then a leg, and then the other arm and leg together because he wanted the pain to be much worse for that one. Even if the bastard was undead, he could at least dismember him and make it impossible for him to do anything to anyone else. Then he would pour lemon juice on all the wounds. . .

His happy daydreams were interrupted by the men who had come down to check on the prisoners. They didn’t get any nearer to the cells than they needed to. A set of guards earlier had been knocked around a little when they made that mistake.

“Looks like the little Ogre wants to take us down with ‘is own two hands.” The first man laughed.

“Doesn’t matter what he wants to do, we’re almost back to the island. Once we get back we’ll slit his throat and spill all that Yuy blood of his all over that gold.” The thought of all that blood made the two monsters pause in ecstasy. “Should’a done it with his dad, back when he was making all that fuss about what we did to ‘ole Captain Maxwell.”

Heero growled from his corner.

The pirates just jeered. “Don’t like us talkin’ about old Odin? The man was too soft to be a real pirate. Didn’t even like the term much. Self-‘atin. That’s what ‘e was. Didn’t ‘ave the ‘eart for mutiny. Horrible pirate.”

“Good man.” Chang inserted into the conversation.

“Who asked you? Let’s get out of here.” The guards stepped back up and Heero slumped onto his bars. There was nothing around, nothing he could use to escape except what was on his person, and all he had was clothing. Across the way, the other crowded cell resumed its buzz of conversation.

It didn’t matter to Heero what happened now, not really, since he had traded away his freedom for the chance for Relena to be free. She would get off of that island. He had to believe that or else he would go mad. Even if he was brought in, he was sure he could fight his way out if he just waited for the right moment to resist. Once he got out he would steal a boat and find Relena again. She was probably so worried. It was when she was really worried that she gave off the image of being perfectly fine. He knew the difference, however, since there was the way she would clench and unclench her jaw and every once in a while crack her knuckles. A few years ago, when he had gone missing for a few days because he had just felt like spending some time on his own, he had come home to find her like that. As soon as she saw him, she just smiled in a slow way and fell asleep in her chair before she could even get up to see him. Apparently she just hadn’t slept that whole time he was away. He didn’t ever do anything like that to her again.

He was a fool. He should have just said he loved her. Damn his pirate blood. She was his and he was hers and that should be enough, even for her patrician brother. No doubt the brother would argue against the union, but Relena had a stubborn streak in her to match Heero’s and a rebellious one that she usually left untapped. It brought a smile to his face to think of Relena insisting that they elope. Elope where? Everything was islands for hundreds of miles around.

Barton, in the cell across the way, nodded to Heero. He too was in a dangerous position. Should someone give away his identity then he would be killed, and it was most likely the intervention of Moony and Hilde that saved his hide at the moment. Heero thought with some humor that it must be galling for the most notorious pirate hunter to have to trust the goodwill of a couple of pirates. There was little they wanted or could say to one another. Heero preferred his own solitary musings.

It could have been a few minutes or many hours. None of them could tell in their lightless cells. The ship to found its port and Heero was extracted from his cell and led to one of the many boats making their way towards the island he had visited not so very long ago. It still looked dark and menacing, but they had no effect on him now. There was nothing in there for him to fear but death. Rather than led to the treasure room where the alter stood capped by the chest of cursed gold, Heero was led to yet another cell and given some water before they shut him away inside. The silence was welcoming, but it was interrupted by the dripping from above and the sporadic yells that happened to reach him through the cave system. For a time, he slept.

“Yuy. Your time has come.” Quatre’s voice was flat but beneath his tone was a current of excitement. Heero just looked at him with lazy eyes and turned back to staring at the craggy wall.

Several men dragged him out and he was pulled back into the room where his life would be sacrificed so that his father’s murderers could have theirs back. If there was justice in the world, he thought as Quatre again went into his practiced and overly dramatic litany, Heero would be given a chance to smite them. If only life were so neatly packaged. Not even the patient Maxwell got his revenge.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Speak of the devil. . .

The cool metal left its position at Heero’s throat as everyone in the room watched in complete shock as Duo crossed the room and ascended the alter. Quatre seemed to be shaking, whether with rage or disbelieving mirth, Heero didn’t care to determine.

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what your secret is.”

Duo shook his head. Winner sighed deeply.

“I suppose I’ll just have to kill you myself next time to be sure. I did so wish it wouldn’t come to this. I always respected you Maxwell.” He nodded and pirates began to move up as Duo lazily swept his hand over the gold coins. Heero, still bent down close to them in anticipation of having his throat slit, watched one disappear into a calloused palm and not land again on the pile. Clever bastard, that Maxwell.

“Hm. Your funeral.” The advancing pirates stayed still at a hand gesture from Winner who seemed interested in Maxwell’s nonchalant attitude towards the whole affair.

“Pray tell why.”

Duo laughed and pulled on his braid absently. “Why, you’ll need my help of course. You see, Kushrenada and a healthy portion of His Majesty’s forces in the Sanq are waiting right outside for you to come out all newly human. As soon as I give the signal they are going to attack and slaughter you.”

“Why would he be there? And if all those people truly are out there, why warn us now?” Winner was right to be suspicious. Heero, who wasn’t entirely sure about Maxwell himself, was coming to his own judgment.

“As to the first question, you had the good fortune of capturing among my crew the honorable Captain Barton, soon to be commander of the fleet in the Sanq. Quite the nob. If it was just the kid, you would have never had a problem. As for the second. . .” He leaned back against the chest and talked to Quatre while facing the crew. It was as if he was trying to convince them rather than their captain. “You see, if you go out there right now and dispatch with His Majesty’s forces, the seas will be yours. There will be no resistance to your villainy and in addition you’ll have another ship.”

There was silence, not even a murmur from the cursed pirates, but their eyes shone with the promise of bloodshed.

“Make me captain of The Black Death and take The Heavyarms as your own. I’ll give you 10% of my plunder and we all win.”

“And the boy?”

“Kill him, whatever you like.”

Quatre hummed to himself while he thought. “50% of your plunder.”

“20% and a new wardrobe.”

“Done.” Quatre stuck out a hand for Maxwell to shake, and to Heero’s great disbelief the braided man actually did so without a flinch. He wanted to curse at the turncoat, but there was nothing that would accomplish. And to think, he had saved that traitor. Quatre ordered his men out to fight while Heero glared at Maxwell.

Once the pirates started filing out, having picked up as many weapons as they could carry, Heero finally could take it no longer. “Where’s Relena?” He hissed at Duo.

“She’s safe.” Duo thought a moment and then cringed. “Safe on The Heavyarms. Darn. That wasn’t well thought out of me.”

*

*

*

“You’d think they would have more faith in us than this.” Relena said calmly from her perch on the bed, hands folded primly in her lap. “How is it going?”

“I’m not surprised by this at all.” Lady Noin said as she turned away from her task across the room. “I mean, I had to threaten any number of things to be included on this little excursion in the first place. I’m far more skilled at fighting than many of those soldiers out there and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t respect that.” She turned back. “This could take a bit. It’s been a while. It’s not like this comes in handy very often. It’s like that one time I really truly tried to cook. It was so easy in theory. . .”

“How did you learn how?”

Noin shrugged. “When you’re a bored and rich widow you find yourself with a lot of time on your hands. I learned lots of interesting things from various sailors passing through. Just pass them a few coins and they’re happy to show a pretty girl a thing or two.”

“But picking locks?”

“Hey, we carry enough hair pins. Might as well know how to use them.”

“And the lessons with the saber. . .?”

“Look, if you want lessons, I’ll be glad to teach you myself. I’ve found boys go too easy on you when they spar with a woman. Unless you can find a really good instructor, and I doubt either Heero or Milliardo would encourage any more men in your life.” There was a pop and Lady Noin made a satisfied murmur. “Not to bad, if I say so myself. What was that, twenty minutes?”

“More like twenty-five.” Relena crossed the room and the two of them coasted out into the hallway and up onto the deck where men were readying for battle. The signal they were waiting for hadn’t been given yet, but Kushrenada was keeping them on their toes.

It didn’t take long for word to get around that the ladies had joined them and almost immediately Milliardo had found them with a cross between irritation and apprehension in his features. Well he should fear, Noin was on the warpath.

“How dare you, Milliardo. To tell me Relena wanted to speak to me and then lock us both in the room. It was dirty, and worse it was spineless.”

“You never would have gone in otherwise. I know you well enough to know you’ll put yourself into danger needlessly.”

The volume of their conversation was already attracting a lot of amused attention. Relena quietly slipped behind the watching men and made her way to where the rope ladders lay down to the rowboats next to the ship.

“. . . and if you think you can treat me like some caged bird to look nice for you and your parties then you can take your stuffed shirt and stuff it somewhere else.”

Milliardo had something in his tone that was resigned. There was no way he could come out of this situation with his dignity. “I was only trying to do what I thought was best for you. . .”

“Then ask me first!”

Relena’s descent to the boat went unnoticed as men laughed and pointed. The lovely Lady Noin had been the premier bachelorette in the Sanq and most men could only dream about meeting her let alone seeing her for such an extended period as these were. That their handsome governor not only loved her, but had the good fortune of having her love as well was a topic of much envy among the men. That Lady Noin was giving him a hard time was high humor.

In the water below Relena strained her muscles to row as fast as she could towards The Black Death, if she could get everyone out then maybe they would have a better chance. No one would give them a second thought except for Maxwell and he had his own plans to attend to. She would go get Captain Barton and see off Hilde and the rest of the crew with her best wishes. . . after she had gotten them to go in and help her get Heero. It seemed like a good plan.

She progressed slowly away from the ship as the cursed pirates walked the sea floor towards it. In less than an hour their slow pace would get them to their destination, but she was oblivious to the creeping death below. It was a hard row to the ship at the rate she was going. But persistence and ignoring a little pain paid off and she crawled aboard the deck of The Black Death. There didn’t seem to be anyone about, and she softly padded down into the bowels of the ship to find who she sought. When she made an appearance in the doorway that led to the jail cells, Trowa thought he was seeing a ghost. Relena must have died and now this vision in white was coming to take them to their final reward.

When the vision produced a pistol from among her skirts he decided to revise his opinion.

“Miss Peacecraft!” Chang was the first to speak. “A lady like you shouldn’t handle something like that. Hand it over!”

“Don’t you worry, Mr. Chang, I am an excellent shot. I often went hunting with my brother.” She ended this proud little speech by shooting the lock on the door, and watching it open up with a clang. “Though I admit, I haven’t been hunting in quite some time.” Her smile was sheepish now, as if she had somewhat expected to miss. It made Trowa a little queasy to think of it, having been the closest to her, but he pushed that aside and pushed out with the rest of the crew.

Chang took control as soon as everyone was out and listening. “Find any guards there might be and throw ‘em overboard. We’ll set sail as soon as possible. Move!”

“What about Heero and Captain Maxwell?” Relena asked.

It seemed as if Wufei didn’t want to meet her eyes. Hilde pulled Relena to the side. “You need to understand, Miss Peacecraft, as much as we want to help Duo. . . this is the best time to leave if we want to leave at all. It grates against me to admit it, but Chang is doing the best he can for all of us. Just because I. . . just because someone among us might want to stay doesn’t mean its best for the majority. Duo understands that. Good luck.”

Relena, deflated, made her way as quickly as she could back to the boat. It was a short row to shore, but her arms already ached from the first one. She would bring back Heero herself. There was nothing else she knew to do. If the crew of The Black Death was making this choice, then she was not going to stop them.

On deck, Midii was helping Trowa launch a boat so that he could get himself back to the ship where the soldiers soon to be under his command were. He knew Relena was going to go get Heero, and after all that she had been through he wished her luck. There were other duties he had to attend to, and Relena would have to take care of herself.

“You could stay with us.” Midii said simply, her voice now less gravelly from using it more recently. Once he left, it would fall silent again. She knew that much.

“I have responsibilities. And I will not abandon them. I can never be a pirate, you know that.”

Her eyes downcast she nodded. She did know. It just wasn’t who he was.

“I can never thank you enough.” Trowa added. They were silent, looking searchingly at one another for some time before he roughly pulled her to him and kissed her. It wasn’t particularly romantic for either of them, but somehow it was the right thing to do in that moment. “When I hunt pirates in the future. . . I’ll. . . I’ll always give your ship a head start. Only for you.” He climbed down the ladder and Midii waved him to what might be his doom, but which she had a feeling would not be. Trowa would live on.

Hilde, who had witnessed in passing this display among the bustle of getting the ship ready to go, came over to Moony and smiled in a somewhat mournful manner. “We’re all losing our men today, it seems.”

“He won’t be lost.” Midii said with some bite to her voice. “Mine will always be one step behind me.” Heaven forbid he should actually catch her. In the future, it looked as if she would have some serious considerations to make about changing her career path. One could be a cook anywhere after all. . . but right now she needed to finish this trip with this crew. The many alternative choices for her future were stored away for consideration on some calmer day.

*

*

*

Heero impotently fumed from his position at the altar. His back hurt from being bent over it for so long, but there was little he could do about it. Duo and Quatre engaged in casual chatting, laying plans for how the crew was to be distributed and who would be part of it when they recruited more people. Everyone left in the cave seemed at ease with the situation. Once all the navy men were dispatched of on The Heavyarms then the pirates would return, the curse lifted, and a new age of debauchery entered into in the Sanq.

“I don’t think we really need to kill, Yuy, do we? So long as the girl stays safe, he might come for her sake.”

Quatre clicked his tongue in a disappointed noise. “I instructed my men to take no prisoners. I’m afraid that option is right out.” He gave Duo a sideways glance. “But seems to me as if a question like that is somewhat, oh I don’t know, suspicious. . .”

With a pleading gesture, Duo got closer to the usurper pirate captain. “I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest... Honestly.” He lifted up Heero’s head by the hair and looked him in the eyes, trying to make him understand. “It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.” There was only a moment when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, but then Heero felt the dagger Duo had pulled from his belt slice through the ropes binding him and Heero responded by pushing Duo into Quatre with a shove of his hips and then tumbling himself down the side of the mountain of coins that surrounded the casket of cursed gold. The guards who had been casually reposing, came to quick attention at the commotion and Heero face them with confidence born of calculated and controlled anger.

Duo and Quatre, swords drawn, faced one another. No one was going to interrupt that fight. Not even if they wanted to, because soon it was ranging throughout the cavern. Most of everyone there was trying to deal with the demon in human form known as Heero Yuy. Everything seemed to be progressing just fine until Heero noticed a streak of white enter the cave, and he took a stab through his left arm before he could shake off the shock.

“Relena, get out of here!” He yelled. She was alive, but for how long? He couldn’t let her stay here. He had to wrap this up as soon as possible.

Across the cavern, in an alcove lit by the reflections of torches off of the low puddle of water there, Duo and Quatre continued their battle. The force and speed of their strikes would have been difficult to block if either man had been less skilled. Unfortunately, they were as evenly matched as two swordsmen could be, and the only thing they were looking for was that one mistake, that one little opening that could spell victory. Sadly, when Heero yelled out Relena’s name it was enough to cause Duo’s gaze to flicker and a blind spot to open up. Winner’s sharp blade slid into him. Angrily, Duo stabbed the other captain similarly.

“Useless, Maxwell, useless. Such energy, such anger, when you know I can’t die! All those years of waiting, wasted, all because of a slip of a girl. You always were too human for your own good.” Winner extracted the blade from his chest as he spoke.

“Then, I guess, you becoming a bloodsucking monster didn’t really change you all that much, did it?” Duo seemed fairly casual about the whole thing, Winner thought. “I find it’s rather like having your insides turn inside out.” He pulled Quatre’s blade from his body and flashed the stolen coin at him while the evil captain watched the wound heal in front of his eyes. Without another word, the battle resumed.

Heero had to hand it to Relena. Even if she herself didn’t suscribe to any sort of real combat, none of the pirates could lay a hand on her. She was fast and she knew how to use her environment well. One of the pirates was still trying dislodge himself from the narrow crack she had darted through earlier. It was almost comical. But the fact that they were trying to even lay one hand on the woman he loved was enough to send him into a fury and hence didn’t find anything particularly funny in general.

It was when she passed too close to the pitched battle between Duo and Quatre that Heero snapped out of it enough to be truly scared for her. He was cresting the top of the altar, trying to get to her as fast as possible when he heard the shot. Heero’s eyes frantically searched Relena’s slightly dirtied white dress for signs of crimson, but other than her look of shock he saw nothing. Duo, meanwhile held a smoking gun in front of Quatre as the other captain picked up his own which he had dropped from the surprise of the attack.

“Wasted. All those years, and you wasted your shot.” Quatre gloated.

“You talk too much. Both of you.” Heero said as he drew his newly pilfered dagger across his hand and dropped in the last cursed coin that Duo had thrown to Relena as she passed.

Quatre coughed, blood starting to stain his shirt. He touched it and then his face, leaving a smear of red, before falling to his knees. “It’s over.” He gasped. The shot must have clipped his lung because he was having trouble breathing when he crashed facedown in the water at the base of the altar. Duo dropped his pistol on the ground next to Quatre and picked his way through the room, only to sit down on a rock and wipe the sweat off of his brow. Most of the other formerly cursed pirates were beating a swift retreat before their mortality was tested out by either Heero or Duo’s blades.

“So.” Heero said as he turned to Relena.

“So.” She responded with a smile.

“I’m glad you’re safe.” With Duo here he didn’t want to spout out anything too personal, even if what he wanted was to fall into her arms and go back home. When she looked at him as if she wanted to hear more, he added, “You better go back to ship. I’ll be along shortly.”

This seemed to displease her, but it was only Duo who noticed her quickly rub away the tears so that it would look as if they had never been. Those shining eyes of her were pretty angry. It was obvious to Duo that Heero still had a few things to learn about women, the first being that there was no such thing as making an ass of yourself being romantic. Heero would have to learn to spout out what he felt soon enough. Once she was out of hearing range, Duo wandered over and patted the confused man on the shoulder.

“If you were waiting for the moment. . . you know what I mean. . . the moment. . . that was it.”

Heero cursed silently into the empty cavern.