October 20th, 1678

Her body felt overheated as she could feel the sun burning the back of her head. The girl could feel the dirt and water covering her body as the salty smell of a beach invaded her senses.

Santana grunted as she tried opening her eyes, failing miserably at the task since the sun was too strong and her face too covered in sand. Patting her waist, she thanked the lord her beloved flask was still with her. She moved to lie on her back and uncapped the flask to take a sip, her eyes still squeezed shut. The brunette tasted the fresh water and immediately spat the contents with a groan.

"What the hell happened to my rum?" Santana muttered angrily, as she tried once again opening her eyes, but the sand only made it hurt. Santana huffed in frustration and cleaned her face with the water. The woman was pretty certain, she had filled the flask with rum from her secret stash very recently. As she thought about it, the only possible explanation was that her first mate, Mercy, had sabotaged her and changed the contents of the flask.

Santana gritted her teeth as she already started forming a plan to get back at her friend. What if the brunette liked to appreciate fine drinking every once in a while? (or every chance she could get) She was still a fine captain, regardless. Mercy should learn her place and stop messing with her stash.

Putting her nosy shipmate aside, Santana took in her surroundings. First thing she saw was the crystal blue water of the vast open sea in front of her, along with large pieces of wood all over the deserted beach she seemed to be in. She figured by the sting in her hands that the cuts and splinters she was seeing on it, probably were a result of her holding on to those wood boards on her way to get here. Using her hand to create shade over her eyes, she focused her gaze ahead but all she could see was the clear horizon and definitely no sigh of her ship. She frowned right away.

"Shit," she said as she got up to take a better look around. And again, there was still no sign of La Canoras, her beloved ship. Santana turned around and saw a vast forest behind her and a higher pile of rocks at the edge of the beach that looked steady enough. Patting her dirty clothes, she forced her growing headache to the back of her mind as she checked her body for any injuries. Luckily for her there was nothing major, other than just some scratches; her hands looked the worst. Santana dipped them in the cold salt water, grimacing at the sharp sting at the contact with it, then she teared a piece of her once white undershirt and wrapped around them. Santana released a sigh of relief at not having anything worse than that as she started making her way to the rocks.

Stepping onto the steady stone surface, she slowly climbed the tangled pile of rocks with her tired and overheated body. Once on top of it, Santana took another look around and noticed there was still no sign of her ship; to her utter surprise and disappointment. Not only that but there was no other ships around at all, not even fisherman's boats or merchants.

She sat on top of the largest rock dejectedly, taking her wet heavy boots off to dry beside her while she tried to gather her thoughts; as the brunette strained to remember what happened the night before. She remembered there was a big storm; a rather violent one actually. And Santana hated storms.

Wrecking her brain for more memories, she remembered drinking alone in her cabin; as she usually did during heavy storms. She also recalled how bored she was inside the cabin, and that - Oh shit - at some point she decided to go outside.

Flashback - October 19th, 1678

"Mary! Mary!" Santana yelled to the winds as she stumbled her way into the main deck firmly holding a rum bottle in her hand. With the rain pouring down on her head, her blurred vision barely registered all the commotion around her, as sailors ran around the deck at someone else's commands.

"Mary! Mary! Mary!" she kept calling out, locating the stairs for the quarterdeck and heading that way. When Santana got to the bottom of the stairs she heard a loud familiar voice screaming her name.

"Santana!"

The inebriated captain looked up from the stairs to see a large woman with an utterly soaked frock coat glaring at her.

"Good heavens, would ye stop callin' me that?!" the woman said placing her hands on her hips as Santana climbed the rest of the short stairs practically ignoring the other woman. "Ye know I hate that!" she said lowly so not everyone would hear her.

Santana did know her friend hated being called Mary, and that was precisely the reason she did it. Mary Mercy Jones was her first mate and also La Canoras' Boatswain who happened to be Santana's best friend. They were raised together on the Lopez ship. Mer was just the cooker's kid back then, but they became friends right away, since there weren't any other kids aboard at that time. The girl had always disliked being called Mary and nowadays Santana was probably the only one on the crew that knew her full name.

"Oh Mary, have Mercy!" Santana laughed at her own lame pun, as the woman just rolled her eyes and got back to her position guiding the wheel.

"Get back in yer cabin, Satan!" Mercy said after a moment when she noticed Santana was just standing there with glassy eyes.

"Nah!" The drunken woman whined stubbornly crossing her arms and taking a few wobbly steps towards Mercy.

"I'm the Captain!" she puffed her chest out and held her chin up. Mercy didn't waver, as she positioned a hand at her own waist and quirked an eyebrow at her inebriated friend.

Santana released a loud frustrated sigh, and after a second admitted with a noticeable pout "And I was bored."

Mercy's eyes softened at her friend and patiently tried to explain "Santana, I have to handle the ship while ye be like 'tis." She said motioning to Santana's body and the bottle in her hand, Santana opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Mer "Please get back in the cabin" she pleaded to her stubborn friend.

"Aye, I'll go." Santana deflated finally giving in to Mercy's pleas.

"But only for you, Mary." Santana teased with a smirk and winked at her friend, Mercy hit the girl's arm lightly before waving her off and getting back to the wheel and shouting out commands to the other sailors as Santana walked away.

Santana could recall walking down the stairs to get back to the main deck, but that was it. After that, everything was even more blurry and she couldn't remember what had happened afterwards.

She released an exasperated sigh at her inability to gather all her thoughts from the previous night. Maybe she overdid it with the alcohol after all. Santana got up and wiped the sand off her rear before putting her now almost dry boots on again and making her way down the rocks.

The brunette thought that since she seemed to be alone in this island for god knows how long she might as well just explore and gather some food and supplies. The first thing one should do when in a situation like this is gather food and water. But if Santana was lucky enough she could even find some alcohol, it sure wasn't the first time the captain was stranded in a strange place or a deserted island.

In one particular occasion Santana was really fortunate to find a rum stash hidden by some smugglers in an island. And she pretty much got drunk until her crew had found her a couple days later. Santana was hoping that would be the case once again.

As she got back on sea level she headed for the forest located right alongside the beach. Santana groaned in disappointment to find out her Cutlass probably got lost at sea so she brandished her dagger and checked her trusted Flintlock Pistol safely strapped to her waist; seeing her powder was still wet and wouldn't help her but any possible enemy didn't have to know that. Nonetheless Santana was glad she at least had these weapons on her. Then she sighed deeply for a moment, preparing herself for what she might face before she finally went into the forest.

As she entered the unknown backdrop, she found herself surrounded by thick leaves in only a couple steps but still Santana tried to listen for the sound of running water. After minutes of walking through the dense foliage she finally caught the familiar sound of water and was quick to follow it. Getting further into the tropical forest the path was becoming more difficult to walk on, even if Santana cut the branches that got in her way. The girl kept going since the sound of water seemed to be getting near with each step she took.

When Santana cut a few more branches that were blocking her view, she saw a clearing ahead of her. As she entered the large clearing she spotted a wooden cabin, build just about a hundred meters away from a running river.

She contained her relief for now, and for safety, the pirate drew her pistol with her left arm and readied herself even if it didn't seemed to be anyone around. She had learned it was better to be prepared, just in case.

Santana approached the beat down cabin and hesitantly knocked on the door, once, then twice. When she got no response, she kicked the door open and brandished her pistol. She finally sighed in relief as she noticed the cabin seemed to be abandoned after all; as it looked like no one had lived there for a long time by the state the place was in.

It was a very small cabin, and there wasn't even any usable furniture around. There was a small table that was missing two of its legs, but no sign of any chairs. In the corner she could see the marks on the floor from where she guessed the bed was probably placed in the past. There was a crude hearth against one of the walls, with a hole for the smoke to be guided out through it by a canopy and Santana thanked the lord it looked usable and dry enough, upon further inspection. Santana also looked up to check for any cracks at the ceiling and thankfully she didn't see any.

Looking around, she noticed the cabin certainly was small and full of dust but it was still shelter, so she was not complaining. And definitely wasn't the worst place Santana had been in.

Exploring the place a little further, she noticed there was one more thing hidden in the back wall. There was an old chest covered in cobwebs and dust.

A large grin formed on Santana's face, she really liked chests, all kinds of them. She always got excited at the sight of one. She was a pirate after all, and the unknown had always marveled her.

As she got closer, the woman was thrilled for the possibilities in front of her. When she tried opening it, she couldn't. The chest was locked. And Santana's grin only became bigger at the realization.

Santana liked chests, but she absolutely loved locked chests. It could only mean there was something worth keeping inside of it. The woman patted her trousers once again, this time looking for her hair pin.

Only a few people knew this, but there was a reason Santana was such a notorious thief. And it was the fact that she was a master at lock picking. She was even better at picking locks than she was with a sword or even sailing. And she always proudly bragged to her best friend, that there was no lock she couldn't pick.

A huge smile covered her face as she felt the pin tucked safely inside one of her pockets. The woman crouched down to attentively analyze the lock. She always said that the secret to lock picking was on the knowledge of the lock. And Santana did a mental celebratory dance as she noticed the lock had a familiar mechanism, even if it was a tricky one. She carefully brought the pin to the lock and started her magic.

After a few minutes struggling with the lock, Santana finally heard the heavenly click, signaling the much awaited unlocking of the chest. And with her fingers trembling with excitement and anticipation, she straightened her back and very carefully opened the chest.

Her feelings were mixed with what she found in the chest. One side of her was really disappointed that it didn't bare any valuable treasure, or more importantly alcohol. But another part of her was really grateful to find several blankets and even a few garments inside of it, which would definitely help her on her brief stay.

She groaned as she stood up again after searching the chest for anything useful beside clothes. Santana took another look around the small cabin and groaned again, realizing she would have to actually do some work if she wanted to survive while she was there.

It took Santana a few hours and some trips from the beach to the cabin to gather and arrange her things for the night. And now the sun was almost setting, but she gazed proudly at the fire she had just started on the hearth inside the cabin. The woman managed to gather many banana and coconut leaves to build a makeshift bed on the corner and covered it with one of the blankets for some comfort. She had checked the pouch attached to her leather belt earlier and only found a couple more pins, a few coins and Mike's weird ass healing cream; that smelled horrible but was very effective, she was grateful for not being injured so she wouldn't have to endure that atrocious smell.

She also gathered some fruits around the island for her supper and she even tried catching a fish but with no rod or fishing net there was just no way she would catch anything so she gave up only a few minutes after she started, deciding to spent her time at the beach drawing and building large signs on the sand so her crew could find her faster.

There were pros and cons of being a pirate, but definitely a lot of cons. Santana had been in this situation before, and she knew these waters were probably dangerous territory. And she didn't get to be a renowned female Captain of a pirate ship without making enemies along the way. The brunette was lucky to have found an apparent safe shelter with good enough distance from the beach. She couldn't just build a huge fire on the beach, stay sitting there and wait for her crew. If she did that, anyone would be able to see it and would easily find her, and chances are they would not be friendly towards her.

So ever since the first time it happened, Santana and her first mate created specific signs and words they would do and write to let the other one know where they were stranded if it ever happened again, and also made a promise to each other that they wouldn't give up on finding the other, even if Santana claimed that this particularly lame conversation never happened afterwards. But she knew as well as Mer, that both would keep their word. So that's what she did with her remaining time at the beach.

As Santana hovered over all the food she had gathered from the island and her low efficient fire, she really wished she had a strong drink to go along with it. Santana had just changed her clothes and left them to fully dry as she sat by the fire sipping on coconut water and eating bananas, taking a moment to think about her friends and her beloved ship. Santana felt comfort knowing Mer wouldn't give up on her so soon. She knew not everyone loved or even liked her in her crew but at least they all respected her for everything she's done for them so far. She might have made some mistakes in the past but everyone knew she was a damn fine captain at the end of the day.

Later after her supper, she stepped outside to gather some wood by the side of the cabin to secure the cabin's door shut, to avoid any intruders during the night. And she noticed how dark it was. Glancing up she saw how heavy gray clouds hovered above, and no sigh of the moon. Sighing and making her way back inside, she looked up again and a faint red glow caught her eye. She frowned at seeing the red familiar form in the sky. That's odd, she thought. It's not usual for it to appear at such a time of the year, and especially not in a stormy night such as this. Santana shrugged to herself and reentered the cabin.

She fixed the piece of wood so it would keep the door tightly shut and made her way to her sleep area, sitting down at her surprisingly comfortable makeshift bed. The sudden thundering she could hear outside made her think about the storm that had happened on the previous day. It was so sudden not even her was expecting it.

Dave had warned her though, a storm might be coming he had said that morning looking grumpy as usual while eating his oatmeal beside her, "Are you sure, Dave?" Santana had asked remembering the sky looked pretty clear to her, and he only nodded, stuffing his mouth with more food. But when she had asked Sugar, the lookout, she had said there were no clouds on the horizon and no ships ahead and Sugar even bet a few coins, saying there was no way a storm was coming in the next few days. And since Mer had supported the girl, Santana decided to push through with their navigation plans. The faster they got to their destination, the better chance they would have.

So that was absolutely the last time she gave the obnoxious youngling the benefit of the doubt. And Santana was definitely collecting her coins when she returned to her ship. Sugar still had a lot to learn about the weather and the sea, being the newest member of her crew. If it wasn't for her best friend, Santana would have kicked that girl out of her ship a long time ago.

And David was probably laughing at her right now; if he was here he would be saying "I told you so" repeatedly. But she also knew the big guy was probably worried about her too, and was probably getting a scolding from his father for not looking out for her.

She huffed out a laugh, imagining the scene in her head as she lied on her makeshift bed to the sound of loud thunder. If the storms continued around this area; it was very likely her crew would take some time to get there, as Mercy would never risk her ship and crew safety like that to come in the middle of such a powerful storm, and also because she knew Santana could take care of herself.

Now Santana really regretted having so much to drink on the night before. No one but Mercy and David knew this but she hated storms, and it wouldn't be good for her moral if her crew was aware of that. So she always drank her heart's content whenever they faced violent storms such as last night was, and let her first mate take care of the hard decisions.

Santana could hear the thundering and the heavy rain falling upon the cabin now and was thankful again that there wasn't any leak near her bed or the fire pit. But groaned as she remembered there wasn't any alcohol to appease her nerves caused by the storm. She eventually sighed, letting her exhausted body be taken over into restless sleep.

Hey, yess a new story. Though not really cause I've been thinking and writing for this story since about the same time as Cloud has, I'm just so much slower. Btw, if you haven't read Savage! by Swinging Cloud, you totally should.

I'll be posting a print of the structure of the ships in the story either on tumblr or on my profile, just so you guys have an idea what it looks like.

And if you want to know about my other stories, check my profile (that I just updated) to see the status and progress of my stories.

Hope you guys liked this chapter, for now it's just to set up the story but I'll be posting the next one in a few days just to get things going. Please let me know what you think :D

Oh, and this is unbeta'd so all mistakes are totally mine.

Ducks.