Chapter 1 - Panem, France
He had been sighted: four kilometres off the coast of Panem, France. He was well known amongst Europe – sailing from Northern England to Southern France – stopping off in places such as Spain, or Port Dynasty (a favourite to the pirate community). Everybody had had some type of meeting with him: either it be you woke up one morning to find that your stall had been raided, or that you were shot on sight; there really being no in-between. And this was the day that the King finally saw his chance, sending out his guarding battalion, dressed in the finest of materials – their jackets of dark navy in colour, their shirts ironed and white, their trousers beige and straight whilst their dark boots reached mid-calf. They were an impressive sight to see, especially since it was the King's brother who led the group: his niece just besides him. It had taken years of persuasion for her to join them, not with the king, but her parents: wanting her to grow up with the average, 'royal' life, to have been married by twenty and to have had kids right away, not to have been a guard or to ride horses, to cause mischief and always finding herself in trouble. But that was Annie Cresta: not your average royal family member.
The family was based in a regal town - their home towering above everything else: servants waiting on and guards surrounding every entrance and exit, whilst stable-hands looked after their horses. The Cresta siblings' parents were ones with reputations to upheld, the father a little more relaxed than the mother. She had been brought up in the 'correct way', eating with cutlery in the correct manner, always using her manners and knowing when to be quiet whilst her husband took most of the decisions. Not that he was a horrible man, Annie adored her father, just like she did with Uncle. They were similar; twins in fact, apart from her father took the quieter life whilst the other was up for adventure - the reason he took to sailing. Even though, her mother was a little 'strict' the children did love her, apart from the fact that she was trying to get Annie wed: organising suitor after suitor to meet her, hoping that she would finally be impressed. Which, she never was. There would always be something that she disliked: 'he was too confident, too controlling, too... boring.' Many of the men she met spoke far too highly of themselves, never bothering to allow her have a word so she simply dismissed them to her mother's frustration. However, there was one man in her life who had managed to root their way deep down inside of her heart, not one of romantic interests, but her brother, Tobias.
Tobias had always frowned upon her life decisions, he of course had been perfect in his parent's eyes: he rode, he wrote, he had pretty much picked his fiancé and this was to be set in stone within the next few months – the process of courtship complicated to say the least. The one thing that you couldn't doubt however was the bond between the pair: 'attached at the hip' as some would say, whenever you found one you would find the other – often upon the hills and riding, racing each other to the cliffs where if you were lucky, would see the large sprays of whales who swam past on a warm summer's evening. Yet today wasn't going to be one of those days: the crew were upon their ship – the best in the king's fleet – its mighty sails large and clean, waving in the wind and restricted by the large ropes the sailing crew controlled. The atmosphere around them was one of order and panic: they had to bring Finnick Odair to justice; the Captain on the Black Pearl and the one with hundreds of murders and robberies to his name. Even so, he had eluded capture for years now, countless attempts that had failed, his wit often overcoming whoever tried to capture him. And they would go without evidence, too, having the habit to sink whatever ship that challenged him, sending the crew down with it – and today, the ship that was going aginst his was the one of the King's: his brother and his niece both sailing it with determination in their eyes.
"And the plan is?" Annie asked as they set sail, the morning had been one of 'do it now, I'll explain later,' none of the crew truly being briefed after the sighting had been made, after all, it wasn't every day when one of the most infamous pirates sailed by your shore, and the reward on his head was enough to retire every member of the group: not that they would, they enjoyed their job - looked after and well fed, what else could they ask for?
"We capture Odair, bring him back to port where he'll face trial, which he will of course be found guilty. Then he'll be hung." Her Uncle explained rather simply, pre-occupied as he looked through a set of lenses.
She just nodded, the one thing you couldn't show was hesitation, it was how she had become part of this crew. Women weren't meant to sail, especially ones of blue blood – but she couldn't help but feel sorry for the young man, or whoever they caught for example, everyone ended up with the same fate no matter their story – their crew normally following with them. "Then I guess I'll go inform everybody else of that plan." She agreed with a slight nod.
"Very well." He mumbled. He was a man of blue blood, thinking that he was above everybody else but did put many before him. He fought leg and limb for Annie to sail with him, especially after seeing how much interest and determination she had to become a guard, it wouldn't be fair. So that was what had happened - resulting in a dispute between him and his brother's wife - not that he really cared, he got what he wanted.
The Black Pearl
The day had run pretty smoothly, much to Finnick's liking. He had Embla by his side, looking over maps and more maps in his cabin - sprawled out across his desk with countless pencil markings to where their next route should be. He had had the common sense to not raid Panem, after all, whoever did rarely came out of alive. So they gave the coastal Capitol a wide-berth, whilst the rest of his crew carried out duties: Carl, an older, tanned-skinned man cooked, whilst a smaller, but stockier man named Dan was on the upper deck, watching out over the horizon whilst other notable crew members, such as Duke, sailed. The quiet was broken however when footsteps were heard, hurriedly making their way down to the lower deck and eventually planted themselves outside of Finnick's room, knocking and entering - a blush on his cheeks when he saw the pair of them.
"Sorry to interrupt, you two..." He glanced between Finnick and Embla, knowing the history and the awkward chemistry between them, most of the crew just seeing it as a relationship that benefited them both: no strings attached, both of them getting what they wanted. She was a well-built, dark-hired woman, with high cheekbones and hazel eyes, having met Finnick and become a member of his crew after... well, that's a story for another time. "There's a ship heading in our direction, from the Capitol."
"A ship? But we posed no threat, we've even got our white-" Finnick frowned, sighing before he stood straight, running a hand through his mop of tangled, dirty blonde hair. "You know what to do. Order for the anchor to be dropped, everybody on deck. Now." He would protect the ship with his life, after all that he went through to afford such a beautiful ship he wouldn't hold back against the King's - even if it meant him boarding it and taking over it himself.
In no ways are the characters mine (Annie Cresta and Finnick Odair) nor some of the place locations, or the ship name for the matter. Credit goes to authors and creators!
I know this is pretty descriptive, but I wanted to set the scene. Feedback and ideas are appreciated!