Part One
Echo

Uma was gone. She had become some strange sea creature human hybrid and currently lived under the sea with her other squid people. Which meant Harry was on his own. Harry didn't do well on his own. He was never meant to be the brains of any operation. He was more the brawn, he was good with orders, he wasn't great at coming up with his own scheme, which was why, two weeks after Uma's big battle with Mal, Harry found himself decidedly broke. He had swiped a bottle from Uma's mom's fish slop shop, the new girl still had no idea what she was doing, so it wasn't difficult.

Harry walked onto his ship, a 'gift' from his dad. It was wrecked and in a state of horrifying disrepair, but it was home. He headed below deck and took off his hat, hanging it on a rusted nail. His hook was tossed on top of a table, and the boy walked across to his 'dining room' table and plopped down in a wooden seat, kicking his feet up as he popped the top off the rum he'd stolen.

"Here's to another night alone, and hungry." He tipped the bottle, letting a shots worth of rum pour to the warped, half rotted floor, the dried out wood sucking the liquor up in seconds. "Me too buddy." He muttered before bringing the bottle to his lips and taking a drink.

He was couple drinks in when he heard the creaks. Harry knew this ship like the back of his hook. He knew every sound it made, every groan of old wood, and this wasn't a normal creak. He stood, grabbing his sword from the wall. The sword had seen better days but it still performed the function it was intended to perform. He moved silently to the door, holding it up slightly as he opened it up, stopping it from making any sound.

Outside he spotted the culprit right away. It was a girl, her back was to him, she wore tight black leggings, a loose white shirt, the uniform of a pirate, he would say, her caramel colored hair braided back. He could see the sword on her hip, shiny, new, a sword that had never before seen a fight. He smirked and moved quietly up behind her, his sword raised.

Right before he could bring it down, the girl swung around, her own sword out of the scabbard, crossing blades with his.

Harry had to admit she caught him by surprise and he took a step back. She parried, the clash of metal against metal ringing out into the night as the two fought. He jumped back as she swung and she ducked to avoid a hit of his own.

Harry could feel the jump of adrenaline in his body. He missed this, the threat, the worry. The isle was a threat in itself but really it was more a threat of starving to death than it was a threat of violence. His mind was focused on the fight, taking the defensive for a couple minutes before he managed to get the upper hand, sending her back, giving him more space to move. She was good. She could almost match him move for move. He was stronger, that much was obvious just by looking at the two of them, but she was fast. He'd block at strike, or lunge out at her and before he could blink she'd be onto the next move.

He backed her up against the wall, a well place blow to her hand sent the sword flying out of her hand and he buried his black in the wood behind her. The first thing he realized, that he hadn't noticed before, was the mask. She had a simple white porcelain mask over the upper half of her face.

"Care to tell me why you're on my ship?" He asked, his breathing labored. He was happy to see hers was as well, her chest heaving.

"I was looking for food." She answered him, her honey colored eyes trained up on his face.

"You were not. You wanted my attention."

"How do you figure?"

"The whole fight, you were light on your feet, you barely made a sound. You wanted my attention, well now you have it." He quirked an eyebrow, looking the girl up and down. She smirked at him.

"Maybe." She ducked under his arm and his sword. "You're Harry Hook." It wasn't a question. "I'm looking for a crew."

"A crew?"

"Yes. I need a few good people to back me up."

"Back you up on what?"

"Anything I ask." She picked up her sword and slid it back into the scabbard on her hip. He watched her, at the very least she was interesting.

"That's a little more ambiguous than I like." He informed her.

"I need a team of people to help me by doing whatever I ask, whenever I ask it. Nothing ambiguous about it. Word on the street is, you're down a leader and I happen to have a talent for leading the blind." She shrugged. Harry growled, yanking his sword from the ship and pointing it at her.

"Insults aren't the way to get what you want with me, lass."

"Was it an insult?" She asked.

"What's your name?" She seemed to hesitate at the question, like she hadn't expected him to want to know who had broken into his home and was demanding senseless obedience.

"Echo." He stared at her a moment. He didn't think that was her real name but he wasn't going to push it, he just found it wasn't going to be worth his time.

"Right, well, Echo, darling, I don't know why you thought I was the one to come to to mindlessly follow you into whatever danger you have in mind, but you're barking up the wrong tree." He shook his head.

"You're sure?" She asked, stepping backwards towards the edge of the ship.

"I'm sure. Now be a good girl and-" He didn't get another word out before she was on him, her sword at his neck, her lips against his ear.

"I'm not a good girl, Harry Hook, that is lesson number one. Speak to me like that again and I will ensure you can never hear the sound of your own voice again, understood." Her grip was surprisingly strong, and he found himself wondering if he'd actually won that first fight, or if she'd let him have it.

"Understood." He swallowed and she let go, stepping back.

"I'll be back, When you get tired of this dump, you'll realize what you're missing out on." She untied something from her waist and tossed it to him. Harry caught the little purple velvet bag, the clang of coins coming from within. He looked up, confused, but she was already gone. He quickly untied the metallic gold strings holding the bag closed and sure enough there was money inside, more than he'd held since Uma left.

"What…" Well, at the very least, he wasn't going to go hungry tonight.

A/N Yeah, I did another. Don't worry, I will still be working on all the other stories, slowly but surely. I just had this idea in my head for a while and I couldn't stop it. Hopefully you guys like it! Leave a review to let me know what you think!