Hey guys! This fic is a collaboration between me, Vegetable of Darkness, and my friend, BluePhoenix0101. Considering we spent at least four hours writing and tweaking this, we hope that it's worth reading!

"Mom, look! A skull! There's a skull on that ship's flag!" 4-year-old Ace cried out, turning in Rouge's direction with an excited smile on his face.

"Are those the pirates you were telling me about before?"

"Where sweetheart?" The woman looked at her son. She had long wavy strawberry blonde hair and her violet eyes betrayed a hint of fear.

"Over there!" Ace pointed towards the porthole. Rouge moved to stand in front of it.

"Where?! I still don't see them!" The moment she saw the flag, she took a step back.

BOOM

An explosion rocked the ship. Ace turned back to his mom, his face the very embodiment of bewilderment.

"What's going on?! Mom, why's the ship swaying?!" he cried in a panic.

BOOM

The force of the explosion caused Ace to stumble back. He tripped over a chair and went sprawling on the wooden floor. Where the porthole had been mere seconds before, there was now a huge gaping hole. Sea water splashed in, quickly threatening to fill the small room.

"M-mom!" Ace shouted looking around for his mother amidst the spiraling dust and debris.
"W-where are you?! What's happening?!"

He spotted a pair of legs sticking out from under the table. The white tablecloth was hiding her from view. A red color started to spread up the fabric. The realization that it was blood slowly dawned upon the terrified boy.

Ace threw himself at the high heels he remembered his mother was wearing, his heart pounding in his chest. He threw off the tablecloth, and did his best to move the table to the side. Upon seeing his mother's immobile body, he grabbed her shoulder and started shaking her.

"M-mom! W-wake up! This isn't funny! Get up! We have to go!" There was no response. It was only then that Ace completely took in the sight of her mutilated body.

His mother's jaw was missing, and her dress, which had once been a light shade of blue was now stained with spots of red. Rouge's neck had been torn open by the sheer force of the cannon, and Ace could see the white bone of her spine in the back. He scrambled back, grunting when his back hit the wall.

Ace tried to get up, only to fall back to the floor. He looked down at his leg. There was a large laceration on his calf. Blood was seeping out of it. Trying his best not to pay it any more attention, he crawled over to the set of stairs.

He made his way up the stairs as fast as his bruised body would allow, and ended up on the deck. He looked around to get his bearings.

Upon spotting the pirate ship pulling up to the cruise ship he was currently on, he hid behind a nearby barrel, paying no attention to the trail of blood he was leaving behind him.

He sat here for a few minutes, uncomprehending of the fact that his mother was dead.

Distant gunfire and the screams of the surprised passengers could be heard. Sets of footsteps were running his way. A pair stopped a few feet away.

Ace's breath hitched when he the footsteps suddenly moved in his direction. Hesitant he peeked over the barrels top only to come face to face with a middle aged man. His dark hair was greasy, he was missing a few teeth, and his clothes were all torn up and dirty. Despite all of that, he didn't have a single injury on him.

Ace couldn't move, paralyzed with fear. He gazed up at the man. No. The pirate.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" said the man in a deep and raspy tone. He moved to grab ace who scrambled away as fast as he could. Ignoring the waves of pain coming from his injured calf ace set off in a sprint only to bang into something. He fell back and hit his head on the deck. Rapidly he blinked his eyes to fight off the oncoming waves of dizziness. Something took a hold of his legs. In a frenzy, Ace tried to kick out, only for the grip to strengthen.

The boy felt someone lift him up and proceed to throw him over a massive shoulder. Blood rushed to his head. Ace tensed his stomach muscles so that the shoulder digging into his stomach wouldn't cause him so much pain. He was facing the man's back. He clenched his fists and started hitting his captor's back. The man dug his blunt nails into the cut on Ace's leg in an attempt to stop his struggling. Ace hissed as his mind registered the pain. The man started walking, causing ace to dangle from side to side. The movement combined with his position were causing black dots to appear in his vision.

He did his best not to cry out in pain as his injury was aggravated. He wouldn't give his captor the satisfaction. Instead, he grit his teeth and dug his nails into his palms.

"Captain! This one was hiding by the barrels. What should we do with him?"

Ace fought to turn his head in the direction of the person addressed as 'Captain'. What met his gaze was... not what he expected. He had thought the person would be some big, burly man with scars covering his whole body. Instead, the Captain of the pirate ship was... a woman.

She had flowing dark hair and deep set of steely blue eyes. She was wearing a tight, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jean capris. She was barefoot, but her body was adorned with jewelry. She had necklaces around her neck, bracelets on her wrists, and rings on her fingers. All in all, she didn't even look remotely like a pirate, let alone a captain. At least the ones he had heard of.

"Make him walk the plank!" Someone yelled all of a sudden. The rest of the pirates took a few moments to comprehend what had been said, before supporting their crewmate's claim with shouts of their own.

Ace gripped the pirate's shirt to prevent himself from being thrown off the pirate's shoulder and onto the deck of the pirate ship. Unfortunately for him, the strength of a 4-year-old could in no way compare to a grown man's.

Ace, now shackled, was placed in front of a plank.

He tried to scramble away from the approaching pirates, but his efforts were in vain. They caught him and tied his hands together, before tying a blindfold over his eyes.
He was forced to stand, before being shoved off in the direction of the piece of wood, sticking out precariously from the deck.

Ace stumbled forward, doing his best to ignore the pain his injury was causing him.
Strong hands gripped his shoulders and steered him towards the plank. They felt like they were pushing him into the deck making it even harder to walk with injured calf.

"Get the damn brat to walk the plank!" the screams resonated from around them.

Ace was bombarded by a massive wave of stress. His heart was pounding in his chest more than ever before, and what he was pretty sure was adrenaline was quickly making its way through his system.

How could a short ship ride just go straight to hell like that? His mom was dead. He was on a pirate ship, and he had no idea what was going to happen to him.

He fought back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

Ace swayed from side to side, courtesy of the strong wind blowing over the sea. He took a careful step forward. All of a sudden, there was nothing beneath his feet. His stomach turned as he fell through the air and into the cold water below, the impact sending a spray of salt water into the sky.

At first, he didn't even try to breathe. It wasn't until a few moments later that he actually understood what had happened. He tried to move his hands in an attempt to swim to the surface, but found it impossible. He sank lower and lower into the sea. Accidentally, he released his last breath of air.

Ace lost consciousness.

I don't own the image used for the cover. If the original artist wants it removed, PM me or leave a review saying so and I'll take it down.