"So tell me, why did you think it was a good idea to sail here and cause a riot in my town? Much less making your prisoners sick and locking up children with them?"

I had nothing to say.

"…"

The man with slicked back auburn hair scratched his scruffy beard with a tired look. He was obviously a leader here with the very distinguishing white coat that differed from the black uniforms surrounding me. His piercings looked like four on each ear from what I could see through my mud and sweat streaked locks.

With my silence, the man sighed and asked:

"Felicita, would you take a look at this 'Captain's' heart?"

A young girl that couldn't have been any older than I was, came into my sight from the left. She had hair matching the man and soft green eyes, wore a blazer with tie, short skirt, thigh high socks, heeled boots, all in black, with the exclusion of her top shirt and a glove just on her left arm. She answered:

"Yes Papa."

Look into my heart? What did that entail? With that, the green gaze was trained on me, analyzing something… As if I'd let a stranger ever take a look at something so personal. An image of me slamming a door in her face passed through my mind briefly. A look of offence appeared on her face, but was quickly replaced by an emotionless calm as she answered this "Papa":

"I can't look, this person has their feelings locked up tight."

Damn straight. … Why did I even think that, she had to be a con artist. Unfazed, I continued to stare down their leader. So long as I didn't say anything, everyone else would be alright. Didn't matter what happened to me…

Trying a new way to get under my skin, he said:

"As terrible as you must have been to those people, I'll have you know that we won't let a single one of them die thanks to the likes of you."

They wouldn't let anyone die…? Heh. No matter how hard I tried to hide my expression, the corners of my mouth still went up ever so slightly. Everyone was safe… If I disappeared now, it wouldn't matter. They were all safe…

For a brief second, I felt as if something was burning a hole through the side of my head. Taking a quick look, I saw what I'm now guessing was the ringleader's daughter. She was staring at me with the oddest expression. I think it was surprise. I thought rather bitterly: "What did she have to be surprised about?" Another expression of offence crossed her face. Whatever, wasn't like I cared.

The ring leader muttered:

"Tch, still not budging…"

Never. Unfortunately, someone else was. A quick knock on the door drew the attention away from me for a moment. The head spoke:

"Come in."

The door creaked open in response, followed by a thud. Turning myself to see who it was, I saw Bruce. What was that thick-headed butcher here for!? Lifting up his chubby face, he gave me a nervous laugh and said:

"Sorry Captain. I was never suited for stuff like this…"

He cracked. And only after three days too… *sigh* He probably heard about how everyone was being treated, and spilled his guts then. Even with everyone safe, that didn't change the fact we were still criminals. We needed punishment.

Behind Bruce, another kid like the girl from earlier walked in. He had deep blue hair, and a piercing look of matching color. His uniform seemed to be even better made than the others, though had two differences, one being a belt with a silver buckle and a blue tie. There was also a thin, eastern styled sword at his side, but everyone probably had a weapon of sorts on them. That didn't count. He said:

"Papa, you need to hear what's going on."

Soon, Bruce and I had been moved to what was probably a conference room. The desk chairs were actually quite comfy, but I couldn't really enjoy them much with my hands tied behind my back. After Papa was seated at the circular table, I was placed directly across from him and Bruce sat by my side, sweating bullets which seemed to only further matt his greasy black hair. Nervously glancing between me and Papa, the boy from earlier said:

"Tell them what you told me."

Ignoring the kid, I looked to Bruce trying to convey the phrase: "What did you tell them?". Due to the amount of time we've spent together, along with everyone else crammed onto the ship, talking was hardly necessary for communication anymore. He disregarded the kid and answered:

"Well, ah, what I tolds em was that we attacked tha island so theys would take care of everyone on tha cursed ship."

A dumbstruck look made itself at home on my face, and Bruce muttered aloud:

"You mades it sound so much better on paper…"

Clearly, I needed to be the one to explain. Even the kid said:

"As you can see, even those who were in on this plan don't seem to entirely understand it…"

The room was still quiet, and Papa whispered something to one of the underlings. Eventually all eyes were back on me, and Papa asked:

"So would you explain to us how that makes sense?"

Not speaking, I looked to Bruce to get him to say what I couldn't. He got it instantly:

"You needs to get somethin for Captain to writes with. Since 'e don't talk, that's tha only way we can communicate da more complicated things to each other."

Thinking, Papa raised a hand and said:

"You heard the man. Get the Captain something to write with."

A pen and paper soon appeared before me, but my hands were still tied. I poked Bruce in the arm with my elbow and tried to wiggle my hands as best I could. He nodded and said:

"Lest ya plan on havin tha Captain writing with 'is mouth, someone needs to cut them ropes."

Papa looked surprised for a second, before realizing:

"Oh, your kid for a captain sits so still, I didn't realize his hands were still knotted up. Nova, if you will."

The blue haired kid, Nova, nodded. As he was walking around the table, I kept a close eye on him. He seemed kind of edgy to me, even though the kid was relaxed. My eyes never left him, especially when he was cutting the ropes on my hands. I didn't want him to make a "mistake", though he never did. The ropes had been tied so tightly that they made a quick snapping sound when they came off. Another thing to indicate that was how stiff my hands felt. That wasn't an impediment to my writing though. Everything was in the wrist, but that didn't mean I should ignore my health for the few seconds it would take to make sure my hands were okay. In that time, Papa said:

"I suppose that means you weren't being quiet out of stubbornness for the past few days then. An apology is in order I guess…"

I shook my head quickly before writing quickly, and admittedly, somewhat messily:

"No apology is deserved. I was being quiet because I wanted to, not because you were interrogating me."

Upon looking at the parchment, Papa was quite surprised. Suddenly laughing, he laughed and said:

"Well aren't you a tough one. You could be put in the squatting position with a heavy weight in your lap and still not move a muscle to save yourself, I'm guessing."

A bit more smoothly this time, I wrote:

"You could try anything you wanted, I wouldn't squeal."

Before I could give Papa the note, Bruce saw it and sputtered:

"Wa-wa-wha are ya d-doin Captain!? Are ye tryin to gets yerself injured!?"

Sliding the note to Papa, I wrote to Bruce:

"It's called showing backbone. Something you lack."

This shocked Bruce pretty well. So bad, he started to get an attitude:

"W-well I dun have to take crap froms some 15-year-old brat mis-!"

Not letting him continue, I wrote in a hurry:

"You have no place to talk to me like that. Last time I checked, almost everyone on the ship was little more than skin and bones, myself included. You're still a fat man that could afford to skip a few meals. Some other people on the ship brought this up too. However, you are still human and helped out with food a great deal, so I ignored them. Now that we don't have that worry anymore, why don't you tell me why I shouldn't have let those men steal whatever food you were hoarding for yourself?"

After using up a few slips of paper, Bruce paled and squeaked:

"You knew…?"

Pinching his chubby face, I held up the note:

"This tells me everything I need to know, which is more than I can say for you."

Quiet now, Bruce sat quietly, not even daring himself to try and be superior to me for something as trivial as age. Papa and a few others were reading through the now discarded pieces of paper. With a surprised look on his face, Papa then laughed and said:

"I can see why you're the Captain now. However-"

Getting a far more serious expression on his face, he continued:

"-, the initial question of why you attacked the island has yet to be answered."

Okay then. Gearing myself up for a mini novel, I wrote:

-Flashback-

"Here's what we do. We attack the island to draw attention to ourselves. The people come instantly, and then they drag us away. If you can't escape, try to put up a fight before going down, but don't injure anyone too badly and don't to kill them either."

A little confused one of the crewmates, Emi, raised her hand. I motioned for her to speak:

"I'm confused as to why we need to do this Captain. Why not just ask the people for help?"

I explained:

"As preferable as that is, we can't. If we asked for help, that would mean we would have to pay for the hospital bills and even before the pirates raided out village, we didn't have much money… In our current states too, we would die from working before we could even make enough money to feed ourselves. It's a virtual no-win situation."

Someone else asked:

"What if they're nice?"

Many people snorted at that, but I managed to restrain myself. I wrote:

"We don't know that. Chances are though, they're like most ego-centered towns and they'll let us starve if they're not paid."

There was a resounding silence in the crowd. I explained what would happen if everything went according to plan:

"The town's motivation in subsequently helping us is that it'll look like they're fending off a bunch of evil pirates and saving people mistreated by them to boot."

Another person asked:

"What about those who attack the town?"

I was very hesitant about writing what would happen to us, but they had a right to know what was going to happen. This whole situation concerned everyone:

"We… may not survive. Even if we're only captured, there's no guarantee we'll survive. After the first phase, the plan then is to have those that are being treated work to get the rest out of the prison if they're still alive. Those who escape and are treated should meet up in the main part of the town. If we're lucky, in the end, we may be able to make our way in the town and eventually go back home. This is the only thing I can think of…"

Having second thoughts about my plan now, I started to write something else:

"I'm sorry. If everyone goes along with this plan, people are probably going to end up dying but I don't know how we'll be able to get everyone through this alive with any type of guarantee!"

My handwriting was getting more frantic and difficult to read as I went along:

"If everyone is able to get out of this by pinning the whole mess on me, please do it! I don't want aNy Moore of mIY famELy dO di-"

With the splotches of water appearing on the paper, one of the adults, Marlene, came up to wipe my face. With kind brown eyes, she said:

"Stop Levi. You've done a lot already. Thanks to you memorizing those books smarty-pants, we managed to avoid the worst of the worst out here. I'm not going to sugar coat anything though. At the rate things are going, none of us will make it anyway. If there's any guarantee that some of us will be able to make it with your plan, I'm all for it. Besides, there is a chance for everyone to make it if we follow through with this plan, right?"

Hesitant, I wrote the answer:

"The chances are exceedingly slim, but it exists."

"Then I say, let's go for it!"

The crowd seemed to roar to life when they heard the answer. With that, everyone buzzed with work and preparing for the mock invasion. Noticing my still depressed face, Marlene said:

"What'cha looking all sad about sweetie? Everyone here has friends and family that they're willing to risk their lives for. In fact, each of us has as much reason to do this as the next. We're all in the same boat here, and we're sticking together. Don't expect me to pin this mess on you just because it makes it easier on me."

I perked up a little bit, but was still depressed. Not letting me go until I was 100% cheerful, Marlene added:

"If your father was still here, I'm sure he would try to pin the whole mess on himself instead. Especially for his little girl."

Heh. I was a lot like my father, wasn't I? I just wish he hadn't gotten himself sick before the pirates came… Shaking nasty thoughts away from my head, I wrote some more:

"I have one last request of everyone."

"Oh? And what's that dearie?"

"I'm a boy until we're able to leave together. Even good towns place men above women. They wouldn't acknowledge me as a captain even if I was leading the charge. I'd just be property for the taking."

Not liking what I was asking, Marlene scowled. However, she eventually nodded and said:

"I'll spread the word then. Mister Levi."

-End Flashback-

In amazement Papa looked between me and the story. The one that didn't include Marlene and I's little motivation and gender chat. Someone else said:

"Impressive."

Surprised, I looked around the room for the unknown voice. A man with black hair and sunglasses appeared behind Papa. He held a cigar between his gloved fingers, the front of his uniform jacket sloppily open to show a blue shirt and white tie. Strange vibes seem to come from him, I didn't like them. Apparently he was the one who had said something earlier, judging from the voice:

"By attacking the village and making yourselves look like criminals, we had to check the boat you were on from top to bottom. When we found the sick people, there was no choice for us but to take them in. Otherwise, we'd look like criminals too. No matter how you look at it, we have to look after them for the time being."

I wrote:

"You're just paraphrasing what I said."

A little surprised at what I responded with, he said:

"Hm? Is there something you want to say about it?"

"Not really, I just think if you're trying to sound smart, that's a rather stupid way to do it."

Before I raised the note to everyone, Bruce grabbed my hand. He whispered:

"I don't like the looks of the guy. Quit while you're ahead."

Oh would you shut up already Bruce? I'm the one who's stuck writing out everything here, I have to think about everything more than anyone. Also, I don't lack a spine like you severely do. Swatting his hand away, I held up the paper. A few people seemed to gasp, but the shifty guy just seemed to chuckle. I wonder why everyone was surprised with me. The best way to get a point across is to be blunt, and I had no reason to hide my opinion. This weird guy did ask for it. He said:

"You're an interesting one."

"One what?"

Thinking about his answer, the man said:

"Possible test subject."

Hmm…

"So you're one of those creepy scientist types?"

After I wrote that, no-one even looked mildly surprised. The dude must have went above and beyond on that for even family to think that phrase a statement. He answered:

"I guess you could say that."

Good to know I should avoid him. However, it didn't look like they were inclined to say anything else. I wrote:

"All bickering and jokes aside, is there anything else you want to know?"

Already having enough time to think, Papa spoke right away:

"Why were you even on that ship in the first place?"

For this, I didn't even need to speak. Bruce answered:

"Bloody pirates, that's why."

I elaborated:

"We all came from a relatively small village on the water. Since the village is also out of the way, not a lot of people stop by either. One day, out of the blue came a bunch of pirates. They probably had almost no supplies and were on the run, otherwise the town wouldn't have been worth invading.

The only way we were able to even survive is through trade over the water, so usually everyone who's part of the town isn't always there. That's another reason we weren't able to fend them off either. Those pirates came suddenly, we were ill prepared and they were desperate."

Desperate enough to light up the village… my house… father… With me completely still now, Bruce decided to finish up explaining:

"After that mess, we hijacked the pirate's boat with whom was able to gets on with whoever they could get on tha ship. The rest ye should probably be ables to guess. After a whiles, we ended up at this 'ere island and everyone knows what happened."

The room was completely silent. Papa then asked:

"So you regret attacking the island?"

Thinking, I wrote:

"Was someone hurt?"

"What if I said yes?"

My eyes widened. Oh, no. No, no, no no nonoNO! Scribbling at the speed of light, I tore through paper:

"is someone hurt - are they okay – I'm so sorry - *grab*"

Halting my writing, Bruce said:

"What's you sorry fer? You're da one who mades tha plan in ther first place, of curse peoples gonna gets hurt!"

I bit my lip. A little more calmly, I wrote:

"I know… but that doesn't mean they deserved that for being in the wrong place at the wrong time…"

Now eyeballing my latest writing, Bruce asked:

"Does this have anythin' ta dos with yer father?"

Not answering, I looked at my half written piece of paper. This whole scheme reminded me of that day. It even sickened me, but it was the only way some of us were gonna be able to make it through for sure. Otherwise… everyone would die anyways. I refuse to let that happen. But the ends don't justify the means, even if it had to be done. Papa disrupted my trail of thought:

"I see… Since there was no guarantee that we would help you with your current situation, you did this. I must admit, that is something I agree with you on. Protecting your family comes before anything else, even if it means harming another."

Papa's mood seemed to lighten, as he explained:

"Don't worry about the injuries, there was nothing more than some bruises, some scrapes and light burns. Everyone caught up in the attack will recover."

Becoming serious again though, he said:

"However, I cannot let you go for terrorizing this island easily. Even if your motives were good, that doesn't change what happened. What will you do now?"

My gaze still stayed on the paper, and I wrote:

"Can I work for you?"

Surprised at what I was doing, Bruce asked:

"Seriously captain? Ya were only doing whats you had to, there's no reason to pay these buggers back fer what happned!"

Positively glaring at Bruce now, I wrote:

"If we don't pay these people back for what we did, how does that make us any different from the pirates that attacked us? They were hungry and starving too."

His face went red from anger and shouted:

"We're nothin' like thems blasted pirates! Ya hear me!"

"I can hear you but what you're suggesting, riling up the town and walking away like it was nothing, is."

Shaking with anger, Bruce balled up his fists but said nothing else. Turning my attention back to Papa, I asked:

"Will working for you help compensate for what happened?"

Eyeing me, he said:

"You sure you want to work for what's basically a mafia?"

"I thought you people liked to class it up with the word family?"

"Oh, we're a family. It's just family is always messy."

"Like gutting a fish? You need the food, but getting it ain't pretty?"

That last sentence seemed to make Papa pound the table a little in laughter and said:

"You sure have a sense of humor, but I guess that's right."

Almost confused by the statement, I wrote:

"But I'm being serious…"

Looking around the room now, I noticed how Bruce was giving me his scared face again, and everyone else was either doing double takes or inching away. What was scary about me? Bringing the attention back to the main subject, Papa said:

"Sure, you can work."

The man seemed to manage to shock everyone in the room, including a few noticeable characters like his daughter, this Nova kid, and even Bruce. Gasps were audible and tension was thick in the air. The few who weren't shocked were me, Papa, and the dude wearing the sunglasses while smoking. More than anything else though, he just seemed interested in something… *sigh* I guess this means I'm in for a whole new mess.