A/N: Sorry for the first chapter being very long but I hope its well worth the read :)

Orange, red and purple hues filled the sky like a painted canvas as the clouds shone from the dying sun as it began to set just behind a pair of overlapping mountains in the far distance. Soft sounds of the humble and woeful waves could be faintly heard in the air even the salty sea scent seemed to be present in the air at such a late afternoon. Sighing loudly a lone woman leaned against an old ridged railing a-top what seemed to be some sort of watch tower. There was nothing about this woman that spoke much, her face was emotionless as she watched a set of pirates drag in three prisoners, all gagged and blindfolded.

Letting out a loud sigh to herself she swept back her short but messy brown hair, her blue eyes cast upon the prisoners with wonder for a faint moment before looking back out towards the sky. Up here the only sound that could be heard where the faint gunshots, a scream or two from time to time but most of all the sound of the tower creaking softly and at times feeling like it would sway and fall.

There was a faint grunt from the woman, she was no older than 24 as she straightened herself up and took in a long deep cool breath allowing the breeze to caress her pale white skin, engulfed in that faint moment she closed her eyes and relaxed before looking back out to the ocean, casting away her emotions within a single second. To others she would have seemed like a tribal woman, one of those natives, but she was more than that, she was different from the others and had more of a sense of understanding the wilderness then even that natives seemed to understand. Her clothing looked like neither of the natives or that of a tourist, she wore jeans with heavy black boots that came up to her knees and a blue dirty flannelette shirt torn at the shoulders to give vest appearance with a white shirt underneath.

"How many come and go? How many are slaughtered or sold into slavery?"

It was more of a rhetorical question as the woman spoke up, her voice was husky and her accent wasn't American or English for that matter, no she came from the land down under, the place filled with so called dangerous animals, but here, on Rook island, there were far more dangerous things then just fuzzy fluffy creatures. Brushing aside a strand of hair that got in her way of sight she proceeded to drop down, level by level from the tower until her feet touched the ground. With a silent sound she finally reached the ground, her boots covered in mud from a small puddle before she turned from the watch tower, picking up a bow that was formed by various other sticks tied together. The bow was almost larger than the woman herself and it was more than effective as she tied the leather holster to her back adjusting the strap for a faint moment letting the arrows rustle inside.

Sunlight was starting to fade and it was still a fair walk back to any of those so called safe houses or outposts, the woman wasn't fond of the natives here, she didn't trust anyone, not even her own self. Passing through the thicket of the jungle until she could finally hear the soft sounds of laughter and giggles, the woman finally slowed her pace down before she entered the camp, it wasn't far but it was the safest place right now.

'Ah the Rakyat people and their strange dances!'

Thinking to herself she watched a couple dance together beside a campfire they had clearly made out of rubbish and a pile of loose sticks. None of these people where appealing to her, none of them really seemed to mind her either and it suited her quiet well, the woman enjoyed feeling like a ghost in this island, ever since she arrived here things had always taken a turn for the worst until she adjusted and become something she never knew she could be.

"Alice!"

Letting out a sigh and rolling her eyes the woman twisted on her heels and looked with a dull expression to a young man who was jogging in her direction; both his arms where waving around joyfully in the air as if they could just simply fly off and away in the passing breeze. Joe, he was a usual native here, dark black hair that seemed messy but modern in style, his tanned skin and dark brown eyes not to mention the large white toothy grin he bared. Alice never liked Joe much, she always hated men who came to close to her, especially ones she never liked, but ever since she arrived here on Rook island the Natives had taken a liken to her, and Joe just so happened to be one of the various young men who would follow her around like a love sick pup.

"Afternoon"

Alice softly said in an almost dull and lethargic tone as she watched the young man jog to her side, he was just booming with enthusiasm and joy as she stood there like an eager child awaiting their birthday present. Unlike Alice, Joe was born on the Rook islands, his features where that of a definite Indonesian with maybe a bit of Korean mix in there, but here a lot of the natives either looked like they were from New Zealand or from either South or East Asia, it was a strange mix but Alice had to let it drop as she watched Joe in his light green top and green checked pants almost jump in happiness.

This wasn't a surprise, he was always like this, so happy to see her, so positive that it made her almost sick, she had to take a step away from him to give herself some space before she watched the eager man smile and let out a faint chuckle. Alice would have once smiled back, she would have joined in the dancing and rejoiced with her friends believing she would fight to live another day, but she was no longer that naïve young girl anymore, even if she had been like that just 6 months back.

"Citra told me about your journey to the mountains! I can't believe you took out one of those outposts alone with just a bow and arrow!"

Clearly the boy was over boasting with excitement and exaggerating as Alice yawned and looked to the comfort of the empty house she had claimed as her own. When Alice had first came here to this island it wasn't the cliché way, well not exactly. Rolling her eyes again she looked back to Joe, he never seemed to be concerned with the way she looked at him, so emotionless and dull, he never took the hint she wasn't interested in him like he was to her, their feelings where not mutual but every time the man would see her he would rejoice like this, almost jumping on the spot trying in a sense to bring her to a smile but it never worked.

"More like five arrows and a lot of explosions!"

"Oh come on really?"

Joe continued to taunt her for a while proclaiming how she was some great warrior, but it bored her to hear him, she had heard others say it too, "Oh Alice the great warrior from another island" it was almost always the same and she didn't like it, she wasn't a warrior or a hero, she just liked to take the crap out of who ever got in her way. Deciding it was best to take a seat near a small fire rather than venture to her little shack she sat down on one of those old plastic white chairs that seemed awfully brittle but she didn't mind as she slumped down into the seat, Joe following her in suit but sat on the grass beside her.

"I honestly don't get Citra."

Mumbling a loud to herself she watched the fire dance before her, it was graceful, beautiful and enticing but dangerous and deadly, much like the jungle and everything that was on this island. From beside her she could hear Joe gasp as he seemed to give her a playful nudge joking around.

"I'm being serious. I came to this island and it was like boom! Citra just takes me under her wing without question"

"Your just not use to being friendly that's all!"

Once again Joe seemed to always come up with a means or terms to change something negative into a positive, and it was always off putting as Alice leaned forward, her elbows perched on her knees and her head in her hands watching without the fire, the crackling sounds seemed awfully enticing as she watched a small piece of wood crumble and become mere parts of the ash building up.

"Hey why don't you tell me again the story how you got here?"

'This again?'

Wondering to herself she sighed loudly and closed her eyes bottling up the annoyance inside of her. How many times had she repeated the same story over and over again? Especially to Joe? Sometimes she wondered if the boy was just curious of the outside world but either way Alice let her eyes remain closed feeling the waves of heat from the fire wash over here remembering back to that day when she first saw the Rook islands.

6 months back

"OMG there it is!"

A young girl squealed with delight and jumped up and down, Alice felt the boat vibrate from the wave of tourists rushing around as she watched the dock approach. The girl with the blond hair and cliché girly appearance was from Hollywood, one of those chicks dreaming of becoming an actress, everything about her just screamed stereotypical and cliché, even the way she talked rather than saying OH My GOD it was OMG or LOL or one of those various other text words.

Siting with her head in hands Alice watched the cruise ship come along the docking bay, joyful sounds emitted from all around the boat as Alice got up grabbing her luggage from her side and strolling down the long hallways until eventually she reached the docking area feeling slightly relieved to not be on a cruise ship full of cliché people from America who just wouldn't be quiet and let Alice have a moment to herself.

"Ah Bangkok!"

Softly whispering aloud to herself, Alice cast her blue eyes upon the sandy beaches, the various tourist attractions that where arranged everywhere. Alice had decided to take the trip to Bangkok on a whim hunch of luck, she needed to escape the horrors and drama, she needed a means of relief, a place to relax just once, and so she took to the fancy of traveling on a cruise ship to have a few days of relaxation before sailing back to Australia. However Alice wasn't the slender build with the lovely round butt or skinny torso, no she was about a medium in appearance, her hips however where the main attraction, sure she had a normal sized chest, she was smaller than most people standing about 5'ft, but her hips and the way she walked seemed to catch the various eyes of men, one thing Alice hated. Strolling down along the dock the woman found herself walking towards a building, obviously one of those fancy high class hotels and though she never liked to be overly engulfed by luxurious crap, she knew she had the money and decided to take up roost in this hotel for the rest of her stay here.

After doing the whole paper work and payment crap Alice finally walked into her hotel room and the first thing she did was fall face first into the comforts of the bed and letting out a moan sound of delight. It wasn't that the cruise ship she had been on wasn't bad or anything, she just never had the time to think by herself in such peaceful and quiet place. Slowly she looked up and yawned and stared blankly at the mint on the pillow making her softly laugh. Plucking the treat from the pillow and shoving it in her mouth, she devoured it within a second before deciding to take a shower, let the steam cover her and make her feel all dreamy but once she was out and changed into a seat of tights and a long shirt that would have been considered long enough for a modern day dress, she tossed on her knee high boots and grabbed her leather jacket before proceeding to do her makeup.

It had been far too long since the girl had been able to go out and party and right now she wanted to just hit the dance floor. For years she had feared doing so even if she was safe with her friends, there was always the lingering fear of her ex, that asshole had mentally abused her, cheated on her and when she had finally fled that relationship he always followed, always stalked her and tried his best to convince her otherwise, even if it meant with a death threat to herself or to anyone she would date. Eventually over the course of three years, the woman had stopped dating, she had become more paranoid then normal and it was affecting her. Right now she needed this trip and as she looked in the mirror telling herself mentally that she looked good enough, she knew deep down that she would have to go back home and probably face that asshole again only this time she hoped she had the strength to call the cops.

Putting away her stuff she finally exited the hotel and darted down to the nearby clubs, each different club was filled with people from all around the world, alcohol laced the air and Alice was pretty sure she could smell drugs coming from a nearby alley, probably Pot more than likely. Either way as Alice danced alone; she noted a few people just in front of her had been talking about an island nearby. Usually it never captured her attention, islands where islands but this one sounded tempting, a place you could do anything, and of course the thought of Archery, rock climbing and swimming filled her head.

For whatever reason she took mental note to what was said, it would be at least a week before the next cruise ship would sail in so Alice had enough time on her hands and from the sounds of it this island wasn't very far away. Intrigued she leaned forward to listen carefully to what was being said but she never caught anything about traveling, just that the island was called Rook and seemed like more than a wonderful adventure. Curiosity had snagged the girl but the night was short lived as she eventually went back to the hotel and crashed, she was never good at drinking and she didn't want to get tipsy not to mention that the longer the night went on the more sleazy guys seemed to stroll in and so Alice oped to leave and as she laid on her hotel bed she slowly felt sleep drifting upon her until she could no longer hold her eyes open.

Upon Morning the girl yawned, ate her breakfast, had a shower, and dressed herself up in some jeans, boots and a blue tank top with some light makeup before deciding to venture out in the town. Surly one of the sailors would know about this island and maybe she could get lucky and hitch a ride over there, either way the point was to find out more information as Alice reminded herself not to get too excited and that information always came first before jumping ahead and getting tangled up.

While out on the docks, Alice surveyed the area, a lot of larger ships came and went, some cruises and others just little punks trying to do some wicked stunts on a speed boat, it all seemed very downhill for Alice until she spotted a small boat, it wasn't anything fancy but she noted the man was loading up crates of some sort, and despite his punk look rocking it out with a black Mohawk, Alice took her wild gander and strolled in his direction, he hadn't noticed her and she couldn't help but note his attire, a red worn tank top, muscular arms, a body that was probably dreamy to a lot of girls, black camo pants with straps that went around his back and attached to his belt. Surly enough this guy was harmless and was probably just one of those everyday tourists or maybe he lived here close by, either way letting out a sigh and giving herself a confidence boost she approached the boat trying hard not to eye the man off while he continued to load up what appeared to be boxes of booze.

"Excuse me? Would you happen to know about a place called Rook Islands?"

How dumb and terrible she felt as she called over to him, the man stopped what he was doing and straighten his back looking in her direction, she could see he had this Hispanic look, tanned skin and even a scar down one side of his face that seemed to intrigue her, in fact it probably did intrigue a lot of women, what chick didn't dig the whole bad boy look? Flicking his tongue he folded his arms and at first Alice thought he'd probably give her the finger or tell her to piss off but after a faint second of silence he gave a nod.

"There's a few isles just a bit further out, why do you ask?"

"Oh um…I just over heard a few friends talking about it and well it sounded enticing"

Despite the man's thick accent which only made him seem even more drool-able, Alice tried to shrug off that feeling building up on the inside as the man seemed to eye her off from head to toe, of course she lied, she was always good at it and she was good at pretending to be cute enough to get her way. Giving another nod the man stepped out of his boat and walked towards her, he seemed overly intimidating as Alice felt her breath slightly hitch but the man was just a bit taller than her, his stocky build however was what caught her attention the most but she averted her gaze to his eyes. Eyes were like the windows to the soul as she looked into his, they were brilliant, a beauty to behold, Hazel almost with that strong hue of green.

"Is that so? Well it just so happens that I'm going there myself. Would you like to join me?"

Caught slightly off guard by his sudden friendly attitude despite his intimidating appearance the girl gave a shy smile and shrugged thinking nothing off it at first. All that concerned her was the fact she had scored big time, a way to get to this island and a way to have fun and enjoy herself for once.

"Sure why not?"

Extending a hand towards her, Alice looked at the smirk on his face, she couldn't help but eye off that style of beard he had going, it was neat and shortly trimmed, not like a goatee but close enough. Shacking his hand in return she smiled with delight feeling her heart race with excitement, it was what she had been looking for all this time, a place to go to, to have fun and not have to worry about lingering eyes or predators in the shadows.

"Vaas."

"Alice. Pleasure to meet you"

Who would ever have suspected that the man before her was a cold hearted murderer, a man whose mind was only on three things, sex, money and drugs. Boarding the boat, Alice never ever questioned what could possibly go wrong, what she would endure of have to deal with in the next few hours? Along the way the two talked, a general conversation as Alice sat and watched the ocean before her as the ocean glittered in the light of the day, the deep blue colour that flashed before her eyes. Everything seemed perfectly fine.

"So what enticed you to this island Hermana?"

"Well I guess the fact that it seems like a nice enough place to be able to relax."

"Say your accent, Australian right?"

"Yep I'm a true Aussie, or at least that's what a lot of people would say."

"You don't get many of your kind this way, a lot of those Americans however always seem to come crawling to these islands."

"Jeez must be a lot of fun with their fancy ways of talking right?"

"You could say that"

Never did Alice think that the grin on that man's face could have been in any way related to any murders or horrors, but as the boat glided smoothly to a dock and Alice looked with surprise and joy at the shanties lining the coastal area, she could only think of one thing. How lucky she was. Though Alice did notice the way this man was looking at her, maybe it was her pale white skin that seemed odd but either way Alice shrugged it off.

"Say Hermana, want to grab a drink with me?"

It didn't bother her that someone would want to hang out, she could at least try to make friends as she smiled and got out of the boat and onto the dock taking his hand as he offered her a bit of help getting over the boats edge and onto the old wooden dock.

"Sure why not"

Following the man to a nearby bar that looked like it had seen better days, Alice didn't think much of anything, she took that swig of whisky and felt it burn down her throat, she laughed and giggled and felt happy for once in a long time as jokes where passed back and forth, this man named Vaas swung his arm around her waist and she didn't mind, of course she didn't mind why should she right? Just some guy she met with a punk ass look and had such a drop dead gorgeous appearance could never hurt her. Though she like many others where greatly wrong and eventually would figure that out on her own.

Back to Present

"WOW!"

Joe said in astonishment just like he had done all the others times before as Alice recalled how she got here. She had made note that anyone who had seen Vaas or escaped him where suddenly seen as lucky assholes, Alice couldn't help but think back to him, he was different and eye catching perhaps that's why he managed to get under her skin so easily, with that appearance, that charming way of his before snapping and letting lose the monster within.

"How did you escape?"

"Escape? I wouldn't call it escape, all I remember was the fact I had one too many drinks and he did too, I had passed out along the way and when I woke up well….you know the story, you wake up in some dark dim lighted place, blah blah blah"

Alice rolled her eyes and taunted Joe as he laughed by her side rocking in place like a little boy. It had been 6 months back, but when she recalled it, it didn't seem it, it felt like yesterday that she had met that pirate, felt his hands against her body as they joked in that bar. Thing was she didn't wake up and find herself in cage or about to be; it was totally different from that.

"So what happened next?"

Joe cooed again eager to hear the rest of the story like some child being read a book before bed.

"I woke up in the bar decided to leave ended up here, simple."

Joe laughed believing that was the end of the story, Alice always ended it there and never talked anything more about it. Truth was she never woke up in that bar, in fact she found herself upon that morning 6 months back curled alongside that man's muscular frame, both of them where clothed and there had been no sexual activity between the two, but Alice had made quick note to leave that very morning, her instincts telling her something was wrong and before she left that hotel room along that very coastal area near the bar, she couldn't help but notice that pistol on the side of the bed and the knife tucked under the Vaas' belt.

Whether it have been by sheer luck or note, Alice had left, she ventured into the jungle slightly hangover wondering where she should go, she had been so lost in thought when she almost stumbled upon a set of pirates dragging hostages. It wasn't long after that Alice had been running for her life finding shelter in an old run down temple where Citra, an exotic woman took her in, proclaiming she was some warrior once Alice had told her story. Alice never listened to that sort of stuff, she didn't like to think of herself as some hero or warrior, she was just an average person. However her time here had toned her body up, she was slender and it only made her even more tempting to the men that saw her, with her hips and curves alluring them and her toned arms, what man wouldn't?

Only thing was Vaas was stuck in her head. After Citra took her in, Alice had learned somethings about the siblings, but Alice learned the most in her ventures, she never let the man see her of course but she watched him studied him like a panther hiding in the trees she observed the man, his brutal nature, his insane methods and tortures, how quickly he snapped from calm to raw rage. It was hard to believe at first but even so there was something strange about this man that made her curious and lured towards him.

Had he never realized she was still here, probably, sometimes Alice lets Pirates go crawling back to whatever shithole they came from in hopes to strike fear into their hearts, Vaas knew she was here and probably would make sure to make her endure extreme pain if he ever caught her. However what made Alice sick on the inside was how close she had come to that very thin line of walking the plank so to speak. Every time she told this story, whether it be to Joe or some other Rakyat warrior they would cheer and rejoice as if seeing Vaas meant the end of the world, and in truth Alice hated it, she sighed loudly as she heard the chatter box next to her go on and on but her eyes where set on the fire before her and she couldn't help but hold her own breath thinking 6 months back who knows what would have happened, she could have become some puta as the pirate had put it, but even so Alice felt like she was spiralling down a rabbit hole and had even started to question who was the better side, a bunch of asshole pirates or a warrior tribal group following a woman who seemed a little too strange to Alice.

Folding her arms she stood up and walked towards her small shanty of a safe house and as she entered she flicked the locks automatically on the door from the inside as not to be disturbed. Funny enough Alice laughed at her own name; she always had been picked on it in school but only now did it occur to her of how cliché her name was.

"Who in the world am I? Ah that is the puzzle!"

A/N: This is the first time kind of stepping outside of the sci-fi fanfic zone but I couldn't help it as I'm a tad bit of a Vaas Fangirl so why the heck not do my own fanfic?
I tried to stay away from the cliche being captured sort of storyline and go with something a little different and fingers crossed you guys like it enough to want to see more. So Pretty please with sugar on top, could you review this fanfic and let me know what you like or dislike :)

Thanks for reading this long first chapter though.