Aaron sighed as the girl explained what she heard."I heard a gunshot. He told my father he'd kill me if he sent anyone after me and then he shot him..." Aaron sat her down on the bed and looked her in the eyes. "Look I'm not quite sure if he killed him or not but if I had to bet money on it I'd bet my whole wallet on he is trying to figure out a way to get you back. " he smiled and nodded. "Best not think about it, trust me. Me and my parents were... taken away but in the end everything works itself out in the end. Does that make you feel any better?" he had no idea of how to calm her down.

He jumped off and looked at her. She was clearly fearing for her father. "Um if you need some alone time I can go if you want." he said secretly wanting to get to bed or at the very least back to his guns.

Jessie took a breath as he rested both his hands on the railing of the ship looking out into the water. He hadn’t seen Alice in forever and seeing her made him miss his little sister. He closed his eyes saying a small prayer to himself. He hoped she was doing okay, he took another small breath, before feeling a small pat on his back.

“You okay mate?” Jessie asked curiously. He may be a bit out of his mind and the one crew member who always kept to himself, but he wasn’t stupid, he could tell when something was wrong and his crew mates were like his family.

“Hu…oh, yeah I’m alright” he said glancing to Jessie “Just thinking.” He said calmly.

Jessie nodded “Alright.” He sighed as he went back to his spot reading with his candle.
---
Awen couldn’t sleep, and by the looks of the moon and the lighting it had to be very early in the morning. Everyone in her village was still asleep and would remain that way for the next few hours at least. She quietly made her way out of her families large tepee. She hoped her brother and sister wouldn’t here. As soon as she got out of the tent she went to her horse, petting him gently for a moment before jumping on and softly clicking to him. She didn’t know where she would go she had a bad feeling about that spot that was ever growing larger on the horizon and she couldn’t do anything about it. She made her way to the shoreline where the oceans waves meet with the sand. She jumped off her horse, taking in the ocean.

“I don’t know what to do, but I…have to try.” She whispered to herself.

Aaron sat down on the bed beside Alice, looking her straight in the eye. "Look I'm not quite sure if he killed him or not but if I had to bet money on it I'd bet my whole wallet on he is trying to figure out a way to get you back. "

He smiled and nodded, but something about it didn't sit quite right with Alice. It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself of something as well as her, and as soon as Alice heard the next thing he has to say she figured out what exactly. "Best not think about it, trust me. Me and my parents were... taken away but in the end everything works itself out in the end. Does that make you feel any better?"

Alice stared at him for a couple of seconds before biting her lip and looking down slightly, as if she was considering what he said. Of course it didn't help one bit. This man obviously had no experience in, and therefore no idea how to, console a woman. This worked in Alice's favour and she nodded very slowly at him.

"Um if you need some alone time I can go if you want," he said to her.

Instead of answering him she paused for a second or two, looking down. She arranged her face in a frightened, upset expression and forced tears to spring into her eyes so they glistened on her eyeballs, unshed. She looked up at him and shook her head, eyes wide and pained.

"I can't sleep not knowing if my father's alive..." she said softly. She personally regarded this as her best piece of acting in a long time. "Can I see the Captain?"

It was partially the truth. She did need to know about her father and she was genuinely worried. But she could've easily kept that off her face and kept it to herself. But she knew men like Aaron, her big, tearful eyes made him uncomfortable and hopefully it wouldn't take too much persuasion to get her own way. Besides, she had to see the Captain. Her statement that she couldn't sleep wasn't a total lie either. She had to see the Captain so she could work out who he was, she couldn't sleep not knowing that.

Aaron sat then sighed and rubbed the back of his head when Alice asked him of a single question."I can't sleep not knowing if my father's alive...Can I see the Captain?" Aaron got a bit squeamish when he thought of waking the Captain. He knew he didn't want to wake him or anyone really on the ship. It was pretty dangerous to wake a pirate especially the captain. He knew from experience seeing many of the old members wake him up and he scream and yell waking up everyone.


He looked at the girl and shook his head fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry he's already went to bed and he isn't one to get woken up I'm so sorry." he said sincerely trying to get her to see that he couldn't wake up his captain.

"I'm sorry he's already went to bed and he isn't one to get woken up I'm so sorry."

Alice fought to keep the anger off her face and maintain her big eyed tearfulness, but this man was being exceptionally difficult. Alice was use to just having to bat her eyelashes and get exactly what she wanted. 

"No! I have to see him!" Alice felt her frustration get the better of her and she stood up, storming along the corridor past Aaron and up the stairs onto the deck. It was windy up on deck and it whipped through her blonde hair, blowing it back and tousling it. Her dusty white and slightly torn dress whipped around her knees, also dragged back by the wind.

She stormed across the huge deck. Tiny invisible drops of water hit her cheeks and she could hear the waves gushing against the side of the boat. It was dark outside and the moon hung ominously over them. To the right she could see Maverick stood by the edge of the boat looking into the waves. Another pirate sat, reading by candlelight to the side of him. But she didn't have time for them right now.

She stormed across the deck. "Where is he?!" she screamed at no one in particular. "Where's the Captain?! I need to see the Captain!"

She began banging on any doors that lead off from the deck. Her fist pounded against them angrily. "Come out and speak to me!"

She tried the handle on a door, twisting it viciously in her hand. It had big grand carvings above it and a gold handle. It was locked. This must be the Captain's quarters.

She banged again, harder. The sound of her fist on wood echoed around her loudly. "Come out and tell me what you did to my father!" she shouted in the direction of the door. 

As Alisha continued her work for the nexfew days, she always watched he dot get bigger. On the fourth day, she could finally see what it really was. Once she saw hat it was a large ship, on the fifth day, she ran to the village from her orchard, and warned the royal family.

"A ship!" Alisha announced, falling to her knees breathlessly. "It's a ship! That's what the dot was. And by the way it's moving, it shouldn't be more than two days until its upon us!" Alisha was nervous and scared, by kept a straight ace as she tried to catch her breath while she knelt at the feet of her nobles.

"No....I won't....I didn't mean it John....I didn't mean it John! AHH!" Joe woke from his horrid nightmare with a start, he was breathing hard and sweating. Who was he fooling, he wasn't going to sleep, he might as well have killed John back there. Years of John being like a father and Joe destroyed it within minutes. It was no longer a bond like it use to but now just pirate and government. He stood up and put on some pants, a shirt, and one of his guns holstered. Taking a drink of water he looked at the map, not seeing anything within the waters they were sailing. It was very possible that he could be sending his men to death, something was changing with Joe though. He wasn't the man he used to be, helping others, just trying to make life easy for those that came by. No, he had became exactly what his enemies thought of him. He was now the image of a pirate, he was out there to make his money and that was it. If someone died along the way, so be it, they should have been somewhere else at the time. Joesph was barley there anymore, no, now, now he was truly Buckshot Rodgers.

"Where's the Captain?! I need to see the Captain!" It seemed Alice was a little upset, Joe was to busy thinking of what the hell to do and who he was to bother. "Come out and speak to me!" She was at his door now, he thought back to the days when he would wait for her and Maverick to get out of school so they could play. He really was a different person, that little guy wouldn't even recgonize himself if he saw Buckshot. He could feel a boiling anger building up inside of him as she kept calling for him. The memories washing back faster bringer every bit of rage that they could muster with them. "Come out and tell me what you did to my father!" Joe slammed his hands down on his table and turned to the door walking like he was going to burn the ship down with his feet. He unlocked the doors and threw them open sending Alice backwards and onto the ground, the doors cracking a little from the force. Your father?! You want to know what I did to your father?! I shot him! I shot him in the gut so he could bleed out painfully! I gave him a choice and he picked the wrong one! That's the code we live by, and that's the code he died by!" Buckshot pulled his pistol from his holster and pointed it at Alice as he cocked the hammer back. "You want to know who I am!? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO KILLED YOUR FATHER?!!? I'M CAPTAIN BUCKSHOT RODGERS, AND YOU BEST BE WELL GETTING USED TO THIS SHIP MISS TURNER, CAUSE THERE'S A CHANCE IT MAY BE THE LAST THING YOU SEE!" He stood above her, wielding a rage that the devil would cower from. As he stood above her, joe fought his way to the surface, pushed past buckshot to see what he had done to his childhood friend, his sister. Though Joe kept a straight face he was horrified, he could see that everyone was horrified. Joe let the hammer back and slipped the gun in his holster. Turning back to his cabin he caught the eyes of Maverick, Jessie, and Arron. His face still filled with rage, Buckshot still on the top. "Now you get her under control and keep her that way! If I wake up and don't see that sun, the ocean will have another body to consume!" He turned and entered his cabin, taking one more look of Alice on the floor of the ship before he slammed the doors shut and locked them. He stood there for a minute, just standing. "Dammit!" He yelled as he turned and flipped one of his desk as he sunk to the floor. his arms on his knees as he stared at the back porthole into the night sky. "...What am I...." Joe shook his head in disbelief as he knew that turning back, was no option.

------

About a week and a half had went by since that night. Sailing west in hope that he had not killed everyone on this ship in hopes of land. Suddenly he saw something, It looked as if the horizon was bumping up, like, land. "Jessie! JESSIE! On the horizon, what is that?!" Buckshot yelled up to the crows nest as he held tightly at the wheel, waiting for a answer.

Alice heard a bang and the doors were flung open as the Captain stormed through them. They knocked Alice back and she hit the deck hard. Pain swum through her body as he began to shout at her.

"Your father?! You want to know what I did to your father?! I shot him! I shot him in the gut so he could bleed out painfully! I gave him a choice and he picked the wrong one! That's the code we live by, and that's the code he died by!" he shouted at her.

By the time he was finished, Alice could no longer help but cry. She was Alice Turner, she never cried. But her father was dead. Her Daddy. She'd loved him so much. Sometimes they'd laugh together about her mother's socially-climbing ways and perfectionism. He taught her how to add money together. He was one of the most important people to her ever. And he'd died painfully. Without her there to tell her she loved him and tell him that it was okay. Murdered by this man she thought she knew... But right now, he looked so unfamiliar. Maybe she'd been mistaken in thinking she knew him at all. Her face crumpled as pain cracked across it and all her anger and fight fell from her body as tear-drops from her eyes. She tried so hard not to cry, she hated how weak it made her look. But she couldn't stop it.

He turned his gun on her, cocking it. She cowered back in fear, all of her brave defiance gone and she cried harder.

"You want to know who I am!? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO KILLED YOUR FATHER?!!? I'M CAPTAIN BUCKSHOT RODGERS, AND YOU BEST BE WELL GETTING USED TO THIS SHIP MISS TURNER, CAUSE THERE'S A CHANCE IT MAY BE THE LAST THING YOU SEE!" he shouted viciously at her. Alice looked up at him through tear-clouded eyes. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen a man so angry before. She cowered back, bracing herself, almost certain he was about to hit her.

But the blow never came. Instead, he holstered his gun. "Now you get her under control and keep her that way! If I wake up and don't see that sun, the ocean will have another body to consume!"

With that he turned away and slammed the door, leaving Alice on the floor. Very slowly, she brushed the tears from her cheeks and stood up, smoothing her dress. She walked slowly towards the door she had come from, passing Aaron on the way.

She looked him straight in the eye. “You were wrong,” she said softly, her voice catching in her throat. Then she looked at Maverick, holding his gaze wordlessly for a couple of seconds. With that, she walked past them and along the corridor until she found her bed. She climbed in, fully clothed, pulling the covers around her. She buried her head in the hard pillow and tried not to think of her father. It didn’t work.

------

Alice found it hard to keep track of the days when she spent them being constantly forced to clean and tidy and used as a general slave. She had gained back a little of her confidence and was back to giving most of the pirates her usual sarcastic insults, but she hadn’t spoken to the Captain at all since that night.

Although she was losing track of the days, Alice thought she was sure it couldn’t have been more than two weeks when she was scrubbing the deck and heard the Captain shout for Jessie. She knelt up to see what he was looking at. And that’s when she saw it. Land.