A/N: This idea comes straight out from a three-week long mental rant about how NA Vindictus makes me so angry because WHY THE HELL ARE WE GETTING SEASON 2 EPISODE 3 RAIDS, NEXON, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FREAKING GIVE US HURK NOW OH MY FREAKING GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOOK AT CHINA AND JAPAN AND EU FOR GOD'S SAKE.
Hurk: The Missing Prologue
The S.S. Peridot was a medium-sized clipper that sailed smoothly on most days through the sea. The two-masted vessel was smaller than the usual class of merchant sailing ships, as it held a little less than 5 passengers and some cargo, but the charming little boat made up for it by slicing through the waves faster than a dragon's pounce.
Today, however, was not one of those smooth-sailing days. Hurk was forced into wakefulness when he gracelessly tumbled out of the swaying hammock and face-planted onto the deck when he felt the ship give a sudden lurch to the right. Stumbling to his feet, the mercenary quickly shoved his feet into his boots, grabbed his greatsword from where it was lying underneath the hammock, and dashed out onto the main deck.
The high sun was blindingly bright when he stumbled outside and Hurk squinted through the glare. Where was the Captain? The man steadied himself against the railing of the ship as the ship creaked ominously and a wave splashed a mouthful of salty water into his face.
Hurk located the Captain, a weathered and tough-as-nails middle-aged woman who had taken pity on him and allowed him to accompany her destination, over at the stern. She was frantically steering as the ship shook and groaned like a pained animal. Hurk wasted no time and ran over to her to find out what was going on.
"Ho, Captain, what's going on?"
"Kid, where'd the hell you've been?" The woman glared at him from the corner of her eyes; clearly, she had no patience for him today. "We've been harpooned by some pirates! Get yer sorry behind below deck, cause we've got too many holes to plug in and not enough hands!"
"Yess'm." Hurk scrambled down the steps and a flash of metal at the edge of his periphery made him duck down just in time to avoid a deadly harpoon going straight through where his head used to be a second ago. The harpoon crashed through some barrels and thudded into the other side of the ship. Hurk chanced a glance over the railings and, lo and behold, there was a massive barque sailing ship a half-dozen nautical miles away. The S.S. Peridot groaned as it lurched again, a few more harpoons thudding solidly into the aged wood.
Hurk wasted no more time and scrambled below deck, blending easily into the chaos as the few sailors and the first mate were busy yelling and hastily plugging the holes. Hurk had reached for a hammer and a board of wood when the first mate spotted him.
"Ey, kiddo! There's no way we're gonna get these all in time, just grab that bucket and start bailing the water as fast as you can!" The first mate, a usually jolly man with a graying beard, directed a few of the other sailors to do the same.
A minute into the bailing, the ship rocked much more violently than it had before, throwing everyone below deck into various pieces of furniture as several cannonballs exploded through the far wall. Hurk rolled with the impact and quickly got to his feet, bolting up the stairs when he heard a loud crash of wood scraping against wood.
Greasy pirates of all colors and odors from the other ship were all scrambling onto the three gangways that had managed to hook over the railings. Hurk got over in time to kick off one plank, sending a good four or five pirates flailing downwards into the icy waters. He spotted the Captain standing her ground at the stern with her cutlass out, slicing through two pirates in one stroke.
Hurk unhooked his battered greatsword as three pirates ran screaming in his direction, but before he could act the pirates dropped dead, throwing knives embedded between their eyes.
"Kiddo, you'd better start swingin' or I'll kick yer behind me-self!" The first mate, bleeding from a few gashes on his face, roughly shouldered past Hurk and promptly kicked a pirate in the face.
Hurk promptly skewed two pirates on his sword before using the grotesque makeshift mace to crush one pirate under the mass of broken limbs.
The pirates were easily culled, and within no time the band of looters and the pirate captain were all dead or tossed overboard and crushed between the ships. However, the S.S. Peridot was too full of holes to continue on its journey and was rapidly sinking underneath the waves.
Not to mention that the most of the crew of the S.S. Peridot were also dead. The few sailors below deck hadn't made it when the cannonballs had broke through the wall and the first mate had somehow gotten dragged overboard with one of the pirate's more aggressive fighters. The Captain herself wasn't doing well and was barely holding on, as she had received her fair share of wounds as she took down the pirate captain.
Hurk, scratched and bruised all over, took it upon himself to drag the unconscious Captain along with him over to the ship that the pirates no longer had any use for. It was still sailing, and once the harpoons were dropped they could continue on their merry way. Hurk checked the rest of the ship, and the fully stocked galley was of a great relief.
After rummaging through the captain's quarters, Hurk found some medical supplies. Within no time, the Captain's wounds were bandaged and wrapped, although inexpertly, but she remained unconscious despite his attempts to wake her. Hurk unfurled the sails and tried to steer in the direction he thought the original course had been set in, but it was clear that without some advice he was essentially lost at sea with a feverish passenger.
About a week into the aimless wandering, Hurk checked up on the Captain one morning and found her stone cold. He gave her a burial at sea the best he could, but the guilt lingered; perhaps, if he was faster, all of the crew of the S.S. Peridot would still be alive.
He sailed on, regardless. Nothing but blue skies and the endless seas greeted him every single morning for the next week.
And the next.
And the next after that…