A/N: I forgot to mention that Leithal is the fictional nation where Christa and the Royal Navy are from. It's structured just like the wall society, but with a Navy instead of a Survey Corps. Oh, and no titans.

~X~

Shit, Ymir thought, panicking. Shit, shit, shit.

She sat up calmly, despite her inner feelings, and began moving towards the stairway. The ring of keys was missing too, but she wasn't worried about the other prisoners being freed; if Christa wanted to do that, she would have already done so.

Ymir hurried up the steps and reached into her coat for her other gun. She kept another for emergencies, such as if she were in a tight spot in a gunfight and needed some extra firepower. She was equally skilled with dual pistols as with one, so having only the spare wasn't much of a hindrance. When she reached the deck above, she found that the hallway was empty. Everyone was likely still asleep.

She quickly scoured that level and didn't see any sign of Christa. It was doubtful that she had gone into one of the cabins, but she would return to check if necessary.

Ymir found her on the deck. She was leaning on the edge of the boat and facing the ocean. She approached Christa quietly, inching closer. However, one of the floorboards creaked as she stepped on it, successfully ending her stealthy approach. The blonde spun around, but Ymir quickly familiarized the girl with the barrel of her pistol.

"Out for a stroll?" the brunette asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

"I- um, that is…" Christa stammered, visibly at a loss for words. Ymir found it adorable.

"Thinking of jumping?"

"No!" She shook her head. "I was just looking at the ocean."

"Oh, and that's all?"

"That's all."

That was obviously not all. Ymir could see the glint of silver that was tucked up Christa's sleeve. She had probably picked it up somewhere off the deck; her crew mates were always leaving small pocket knives and switchblades lying around.

"I see. Well, you should follow me back to the brig." Ymir lowered her gun before turned away and stepped forward slowly, waiting for Christa to make a move. She did.

Ymir pivoted to grab her arm as it swung down, interrupting its floor-bound arc. She squeezed the girl's wrist, causing the dagger that she was clutching in her hand to fall to the ground with a metallic clang. Christa yelped in surprise, a wave of panic overtaking her deep, blue eyes.

"Well that's rude."

Christa began apologizing immediately, and Ymir rose her eyebrows as she saw tears come to her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she blubbered, falling to her knees. "Please don't kill me!"

Ymir watched with an amused expression. She knelt down to eye level, lifting the girl's chin with a finger. "Come now, darling, I thought you knew that I can't hurt you. Rules are rules, after all."

Christa gazed into her golden eyes carefully. She quickly wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Ymir just laughed. "No, you're not, but that's okay. You're just looking after number one, aren't you?" She stood up to her full height, offering Christa a hand. "Well get up off the floor, now, you're much too pretty to be sitting in the dust."

A small hand grasped hers, and Ymir pulled Christa to her feet with ease. She hadn't responded to the brunette's casual flirting, which was even more amusing for said girl. She wondered if Christa had chosen not to say anything or was just oblivious about it.

"Another thing, blondie." Ymir looked at her expectantly. "I'd like my gun and my keys back, thank you."

Christa sheepishly handed over the requested items. "Sorry about that…"

"Enough apologizing already. I would've done the same." She laughed. "I mean, I probably would have succeeded in escaping, unlike you."

"Oh."

They returned to the brig in silence. As Ymir ushered Christa back into the cell, she was glad that nobody else seemed to be awake to notice the blunder. A few hours and some small talk later, the rest of the crew seemed to be rising from their slumbers. It was some time before Reiner arrived to deliver food.

"Breakfast time for everyone!" he announced, making his presence known. He doled out ration bars to the sailors and to Christa. To Ymir he gave a sweet roll and a nearly-empty bottle of rum.

"Hey, Ymir, Bertolt will be down in ten minutes to relieve you of your shift. Captain wants you on deck to man the cannons, just in case."

Ymir gave a mocking two-fingered salute. "Thanks, Reiner."

As she gratefully chewed on the sweet roll, it occurred to her that Christa was having a hard time with the ration bar. She chuckled as the blonde took a bite before spitting it out, visibly disgusted.

"It's not supposed to taste good," Ymir explained with a grin, "it's supposed to keep you alive." Despite saying that, she handed the rest of the sweet roll to Christa. "Here. Give me that bar."

Christa gave her the stale chunk of food. "Thank you," she said as she accepted to bread. "Really."

"Don't mention it. You want some rum?"

"I… I'm underage," Christa answered, a light blush tinting her cheeks.

"No shit." She huffed in such a way that it could pass for laughter. "That's never stopped anyone."

"Don't you know about alcohol poisoning? And what it can do to your brain?"

"Oh, please, you can't be a pirate without rum. You're probably too small anyway. I don't think your tiny body could handle any of this stuff."

"Don't make fun of my size," Christa insisted.

"Whatever you say, short stuff." She smirked, sipping her rum slowly so as to savor the small amount that was in the bottle. "You're even shorter than Leonhart."

"Who?"

"Ah, right. Annie Leonhart. She's kind of a bitch, but cool to hang around."

"Another pirate, then?"

Ymir nodded. "You might meet her sometime."

"You think I'll be here long enough?"

She set down her bottle. "Eh… I'm not sure," she answered after a short pause. "You know…"

Christa frowned. "What? You're thinking about something."

"Mhm." Ymir tapped a finger against her forehead. "You wouldn't make a bad pirate, I think."

"I… I'm not following."

"I'll talk to my captain about it," she continued, ignoring Christa's remark. "In the meantime, say hi to Bert."

"Bert?"

Ymir motioned to the tall boy walking towards them. She waved to Bertolt as he approached. "Hey there, Colossal Titan," she greeted with a grin.

"Oh, you too, Ymir?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "I'm not that tall."

"Yes, you are. Have fun babysitting, Bert."

Christa apparently had heard that and taken offense. "Hey!"

"Please. You're small enough to pass for a kid."

~X~

Christa watched as Ymir walked down the hallway for as long as she could. She was left with the dark-haired boy, Bertolt.

She broke the uncomfortable silence. "Um… hello."

"Hi." Bertolt spoke quietly, more so than anyone else that she had seen on the boat. "You're Christa Lenz, right?"

"That's me. You're Bertolt?"

"Yeah." He wrung his hands together awkwardly. "Look, I'm sorry about the current situation. You seem pretty harmless."

Christa laughed. "That's what Ymir said."

"I'm sure she did. She doesn't really have a filter."

"So I've noticed."

Bertolt shrugged. "You seem to be pretty comfortable, despite the circumstances. Have you been held prisoner before?"

"No." Only after answering did she realize that it was meant as a joke.

He just chuckled. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing on that sloop?"

"Just… traveling." It was a horrible lie and Christa knew it; thankfully, Bertolt seemed to buy it.

"Were you a stowaway?"

"Not really."

He took that as explanation enough. "Ever been outside of Leithal?"

She shook her head. "Never. I thought it was the only nation."

"So then you've never heard of Marley?"

"What's that?"

"Nothing of importance." He smiled. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that we'll be sailing into the port soon. After that, I'm not sure what will happen."

"The port? Is that a pirate hideout or something?"

Bertolt laughed. "We're docking in Leithal."

"Oh."

"We should be there any minute, in fact."

"What do you thin-"

Christa was cut off when the ship suddenly lurched to the side, shaking from the impact of something large. "What was that?" she asked, alarmed. She steadied herself against the bars.

"Ship must be under fire," Bertolt muttered. "Stay calm." He drew a gun from his belt.

"But it starts taking in water-"

"Then the prisoners could drown, I know."

Christa forced herself to take a deep breath. She heard shouting from the upper decks and the ship shook again, more intense than the time before. The sailors from the Royal Navy were yelling to be let out, but Bertolt stood unmoving. Thundering footsteps sounded, descending quickly down the stairs. Christa looked over, peering through the barred door so that she could see the situation. Sprinting into view were numerous uniformed soldiers from Leithal's Royal Navy.

Bertolt aimed his pistol, but he was outgunned for sure. Leading the charge was an angry-looking, green-eyed boy who had a gun trained on the taller one. With a sigh of resignation, Bertolt raised his hands in surrender. "Dammit," he muttered to himself.

Christa wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified as she was freed from confinement; on the one hand, she wouldn't face the threat of being sold for a ransom. On the other hand, however, a certain noble had the entire military in his back pocket. A single word and she could be on another ship to the middle of the ocean.

"Hey," the green-eyed boy said, "What are you doing in here?"

"I was with the sloop that they raided," she replied nonchalantly. "

"But you aren't…" He shrugged. "I'm Eren, and you're being rescued."

Christa was tempted to laugh at his introduction. "Well, thank you. I'm Christa."

One of the newly free sailors broke out in a coughing fit, and she looked over at the display. Once he got over the spasms, he stood up straight and shook his head. "Sorry."

The scene was quickly forgotten as battle sounds could be heard from the decks above. Eren gave Christa a reassuring look and said, "Just stay behind me and you'll be fine," as the sailors were armed.

Out on the open deck, the situation was chaotic. Bullets were flying everywhere and metal clashed against metal. Christa could admire the graceful style of fighting with which the Navy soldiers fought, full of side-stepping and lunging with deadly rapiers. The pirates fought dirty, though, ganging up on the sailors and throwing sand. A bullet whizzed past her ear, breaking her out of her daydreaming, and she focused on staying behind Eren. She found her eyes searching the scene for Ymir, but the smug girl was nowhere in sight.

Eren fired his gun once, and she recognized the blond mass that fell to the floor in pain. Reiner, she thought, his name is Reiner. It only then occurred to her that many of the pirates that shed had seen couldn't have been much older than her.

The rest of the skirmish flew by quickly. The pirates were outnumbered and were defeated. The Navy sailors took complete control of the vessel, and the sloop's crew rejoiced when the swashbucklers were locked in the brig.

"We'll sail back to Leithal," Eren explained to her. "We can get you back to your family then."

"Okay." That's what I'm afraid of, she said to herself

"You're awfully calm," he pointed out.

"That's how you keep your head," she answered with a smile. "Getting scared or angry doesn't help anyone."

"Interesting perspective." He returned the gesture. "Well, I think I'm going to go see what kind of stuff they've got stored in the kitchen. Feel free to do whatever you like. We'll arrive shortly."

Christa nodded as he left. Somewhere in her brain she thought that it would be a good idea to visit the pirates down in the brig.

~X~

Next chapter should be coming up soon! I intend it to be significantly shorter than these two, but I might end up writing more if I feel like it. I appreciate the favorites and follows. Thank you so much for that! I'd love to hear your thoughts, of course, and what characters you want to see, either as pirates or as soldiers in the military. See you soon!