Hello again, as promised it's Friday and here's a new fic! I'm very excited about this story so I really hope you like it. It's a Pirates!AU story inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean. I think we all have noticed how our lovely TV!Magnus moves a lot like Jack Sparrow so I decided to give it a try and create this fic. However the story won't be following the movies, so have that in mind. I'm just using the world created by Disney to inspire some of the scenes here ;)

I'm using both Magnus and Alec to write this story so I'll switch between POVs with each scene (One Alec, one Magnus and so on). Hope you don't mind. Also, I changed Idris location for the sake of this fic ;)

Anyway, I'm going to post two chapters to start this story so make sure to leave reviews, fav or follow, if you are liking it so far. If this story gets enough attention I'll probably be updating in a couple of days. If not then I'll see you all next Friday ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Alec was in his room just looking out the window. He enjoyed watching the sea and its waves, they helped him think. And although tonight the city was unusually foggy—he could barely see past beyond the forts that surrounded the city—he still stood there, looking out his window in hopes to see the sea and recalling all the events of the last few days.

It had been quite an interesting week for his family. His sister, Isabelle, had gotten engaged to her boyfriend, now fiance, Simon, after years and years of being together. And his brother, Jace, after having turned eighteen, had been appointed Commander of the Guard of the Clave. The two events had been celebrated in a massive way—not that that really surprised Alec—in Alicante, even the smallest of events caused quite a stir. Especially when these involved the most important family in the city.

The Lightwoods were considered almost royalty in Alicante—the most important port city in Idris. Robert Lightwood, Alec's father, was the Inquisitor of the Clave—the company in charge of protecting and regulating all naval and mercantile activities in Idris. That position gave him a say in almost all activities concerning the economy of the different cities, which made him one the most important men in the country. And while Idris was just a small patch of land located somewhere on the coasts between Portugal and Spain, that did not prevent them from being well-known in all Seven Seas. Idris merchants were respected and trusted in all the ports of the world thanks to the Clave and what they had been doing all these years: fighting piracy.

"Pirates…" Alec sighed, rolling his eyes.

They and their illegal activities were the curse and bane of almost all the countries with port cities—and in Alec's very humble opinion—the ones responsible for every tragedy that happened at sea; so in a way he was glad that now Jace, as Commander, was in charge of chasing their filthy necks. He was certain that he could have never done the good job that his brother had been doing in recent days. And not because he was not qualified for the position, in fact, Jace's position was technically Alec's—after all it was his birthright. He was the eldest son of the Inquisitor and, therefore, the first in line to become the new Commander of the Guard—the third most important position in the Clave ranks only after the Consul and the Inquisitor themselves. But when the time came for Alec to make a decision about his future, he, very diplomatically, had rejected the position.

Being the Commander of the Guard was not just about chasing pirates across the seas, it was much more than that. He who became Commander became the face of security and prosperity of the country; it was a show-off job that required a full-time commitment to the cause. And although the idea of spending his days at sea chasing pirates was appealing, the fact that he had to make a show out of it had broken the deal for him. Alec didn't like the attention, he liked to go unnoticed—like sea foam that despite being there, was quickly overshadowed by the beauty of the sea itself. Besides, Alec had other dreams, different aspirations. He wasn't going to spend his life just chasing criminals. He wanted to be a merchant and sail the Seven Seas on his own ship someday.

Alec's first love had been the sea. His father had been a well-respected merchant back in the day and Alec remembered that time very fondly. Every time his father departed to deliver a cargo, Alec spent hours upon hours waiting for him to return home. He used to sit on the edge of the living room window of their old house and watch the sun go down again and again for weeks until the familiar shape of his father's vessel became visible on the horizon. Izzy, who was a few years younger than him, usually sat with him, but she got tired of waiting very fast and always ended up leaving him alone. Alec had never minded the solitude, in fact, he enjoyed it. At that time he had only been a six-year-old boy, but he had already set big aspirations for himself. He had spent the most incredible hours of his childhood picturing himself in one of those British Dreadnoughts that arrived at the ports of the city every day and daydreaming about the day when he could be the one to navigate them.

And even though his father was no longer a merchant and he wasn't a child either, Alec still dreamed of becoming one. In fact, he'd been training to be a naval merchant since he had turned sixteen. It was a hard five-year long training, but Alec knew it was worth it. When he finally turned twenty-one, he could enlist on one of the merchant ships of the city as a Bosun—his last name and training would ensure him a good position—and perhaps, in a couple of years, become captain of his own ship.

"One more year…" Alec whispered. He was still a year away from achieving his dreams. It seemed like a very long time, but in reality it was not. He had been dreaming about it since he was old enough to have real dreams, so one more year wasn't that long.

"Sir." A servant said, entering Alec's room. "We're heading off for the night, is there anything else I can do for you tonight?"

"No, thank you, Raj." Alec said, closing his window. "I think I'll just go to bed. Are my brothers and sister already asleep?"

"Yes, sir. The Commander and Lady Isabelle are already in their rooms. Your little brother, Max, is with your parents."

"Thank you."

The servant just nodded and left the room.

Alec walked to his bed and sat on the edge of it. A single candle was barely illuminating the room, casting some dancing shadows on the walls. For some reason that Alec couldn't understand, the flame seemed to be flickering even though he had already closed the window and there were no drafts. Shrugging, he blew it out and climbed into bed.

Alec was just closing his eyes when a very loud sound made him jump.

Boom!

It had sounded like a cannonball crashing into one of the forts of the city.

Boom!—another one.

"What the-" He whispered, immediately standing up and running to his window to see what was happening.

The fog that had been covering the city was thicker and now Alec couldn't see anything beyond the courtyard of their mansion, but the city bells were chiming, and that only meant one thing: the city was under attack...under pirate attack.

Boom!

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus had been sleeping very peacefully in his cell when the first cannon exploded and the commotion began. He didn't know what time it was exactly, but judging by the little light that entered his cell, he knew it was already night time—probably around eight or nine if he dared to guess. He had lost track of time in the past few hours. After he had been convicted and sentenced to be hanged for his crimes this morning, he had stopped worrying about time. He didn't want to know how much time he had left in this hellish world. The idea that he only had a few hours left to live was repulsive and downright depressing.

Boom!

"What was that?" The prisoner in the adjoining cell asked.

Magnus didn't know who he was, but the man was in deplorable conditions; he was dirty, thin as a skeleton, and his beard was at least three feet long. Magnus wasn't expecting anything less, after all, the poor man had been locked in that cell for almost ten years. Or at least that was what the man had told him a few days ago when Magnus had been captured.

"I don't know." Magnus shrugged, but the roar of battle was unmistakable. He knew that the city was under attack even before he got up to check.

The cells were heavily protected, so there weren't many windows in them, but fortunately, Magnus's cell had a small, tiny window in the top right side of it. It wasn't wide enough for him to try to escape, but wide enough for him to try to catch a glimpse of what was going on outside.

The fog was very dense tonight and so he couldn't see much, but there, in the midst of cannon explosions and all the chaos of the battle, was the silhouette of a ship. A ship that he thought he'd never see again—the Blue Danube.

"It's the Danube…" He whispered in surprise. After all, it had been years—more than fifteen years to be precise—since the last time he had seen it.

"The Blue Danube?" The prisoner asked in amazement. "I've heard stories about it...people say it's Valentine Morgenstern's ship."

"No, it's not." Magnus immediately said. He was tired of people assuming things they clearly didn't know. The Blue Danube was not Valentine's ship. He had stolen it almost fifteen years ago, but that ship was not rightfully his. In fact, it was Magnus's. Built by Poseidon himself as a gift to Magnus for saving one of his granddaughters; one of the many daughters of his son Triton. Right now, Magnus couldn't quite remember the name of the mermaid, but he had saved her and that had earned him the favors of the God of the Sea himself.

"Yes, it's his ship." The prisoner insisted. "People say that he sails the Seven Seas in it. It's the fastest ship that has ever crossed the seas."

Well, that last part was true. The Danube was, indeed, the fastest ship to have ever crossed the seas, but this ignorant prisoner seemed to have all his other facts wrong. However, Magnus decided not to argue with him. He didn't want to waste his last words in trying to explain to him why the Blue Danube wasn't Valentine's ship. It was a long story that he'd rather not remember.

"If they are attacking the city, they must have found some treasure here." The prisoner continued the conversation. "They know that this city serves as headquarters for the Guard of the Clave. It's a very dangerous move to come here."

Magnus didn't reply, but he was listening carefully to what this man was saying. The prisoner had a point. If the Blue Danube was there, it only meant that something very valuable was hidden in this city. The question was, what? Magnus had heard the stories, the rumors, but...were they actually true? Had Valentine finally managed to find what he had been looking for all these years...whatever that was?

"Why are you here?" The prisoner asked.

"Come again?" Magnus asked distractedly.

"Why are you here? You never told me why they imprisoned you."

"Oh," Magnus said, "well, I saved some guy's life."

"You're here because you saved someone's life?"

Magnus nodded. "The irony, right? It happened a week ago. I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden, some smugglers tried to attack this guy. I, of course, having just arrived to the city, tried to do the right thing and save him. I knocked down the first guy and started beating the other guy until, well...the Inquisitor's brat, the new Commander of the Guard, stopped me and put me in here."

"But, why?" The prisoner asked confused. "You saved that poor man's life."

"I did, but I'm a pirate, mate. One good deed doesn't redeem me from a life of crime."

"That's so unfair."

"It is…" Magnus couldn't agree more, "and now that I think about it, the guy I saved wasn't even that good looking. Well, maybe he was...I can't remember clearly, I was a bit under the influence of rum."

Magnus saw the prisoner frowning in confusion, or, was it disgust?

"What?" Magnus inquired. "Don't tell me you're going to judge me because I like guys too. Mate, the sea is vast enough to just settle for a single species of fish. I like variety."

"To each their own, I guess." The prisoner said, shrugging.

They were silent for a few minutes just listening to all the chaos that was happening outside. Cannons, gunshots, sword fights—the city was buzzing with the heated battle.

"I'm Hodge, by the way." The prisoner said.

"Magnus Bane."

"Wait a minute, «the» Magnus Bane...Captain Magnus Bane? The famous pirate?" Hodge asked surprised.

"The very same." Magnus said, smiling rather proud of himself. It was always nice to hear that his reputation preceded him.

"You're a big fish, no wonder why the Clave made such a fuss when they captured you. Do you think that's why they're here? Do you think your peeps have come to rescue you?"

"I don't think so." Magnus said, to avoid saying that despite his impending fate, he hoped that wouldn't happen. The last thing he wanted was to face Valentine when he didn't have a plan. Of course he wanted to be rescued and get his ship back, but for that to happen, he needed a good plan...and despite all the free time he had spent locked up in that cell, he still didn't have one.

"But they are pirates, you are a pirate. Aren't you supposed to have each other's backs? Even among pirates there are codes, or are there not?"

Magnus laughed. "I think you need to go out more often, mate." Magnus said. "Yes, there are codes, but not all pirates honor them."

"Do you think the legends about him are true then?"

"About who?"

"Valentine…" Hodge whispered.

"I don't know." Magnus shrugged.

"All this time I thought he was dead, so maybe what they say about the treas-"

"Shhhh." Magnus interrupted him. "Listen."

Hodge went silent and Magnus motioned him to pay attention. It was clear now that the battle was over. Only an eerie silence could be heard—the silence of death and destruction.

"They are retreating." Magnus said, looking out from his small window. "But...why?" He asked, more to himself. The attack had not lasted more than twenty minutes.

"Maybe they found what they were looking for?"

"Maybe…" Magnus said, but the question still remained. Why had they retreated without completely destroying the city? What had they been looking for? Whatever Valentine was after, was way too valuable to risk attacking the city, and that intrigued Magnus. Valentine didn't act without a purpose, so the attack to Alicante hadn't been random. They had come here looking for something they knew was easy to come by, but what? And why risk so much for it?

Magnus wasn't sure, but he already had a theory or two about it. After all, he had heard the thousands of legends and rumors over the past few years, and maybe as Hodge had said, there all were true.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec was confused. For some reason that he still couldn't understand, the attack on the city had ended very quickly and the pirates were retreating. The members of the Guard were already celebrating the victory, but Alec wasn't, he didn't understand what had happened. Everything had been so...strange.

After the first cannons had exploded, the entire city had started to fight back. Alec had barely had time to put his mother, his sister and his little brother in a safe place, before being forced to start fighting pirates. They had been everywhere—their mansion, the town, the port. Wherever Alec looked, those filthy pirates were there, killing hundreds of innocent people on their way.

They had fought man to man for some minutes until, out of nowhere, the pirates had started to retreat. They had not given up, they had just withdraw. As if they had just gone looking for something and they already had it in their possession.

The Guard, obviously, had said it was a clear victory from the Clave, they had claimed that the pirates had been too afraid of how powerful they were, but Alec knew that was not the reason. These pirates were not afraid of a couple of soldiers. He had seen it in the way they had killed people of all ages without any mercy. So when the exclamations of victory had started to resonate throughout the city, Alec, instead of going back to the house, had walked toward the port to try to find his brother. He hadn't seen him since the battle had started and he was sure that if there was someone who could help him understand what this attack had meant, that was Jace. After all, Jace was their best warrior and strategist. He seemed to understand pirates like no other.

"Have you seen the Commander?" Alec asked a member of the Guard who was passing by.

"No, sir. The last time I saw him he was on his way to the docks with a group of soldiers. He should be on his way back."

"Thank you." He said.

Alec walked and walked until he reached the docks; neither his brother nor the group of soldiers were there. Around the docks, all that seemed to be left was death and destruction. Bodies of pirates and soldiers alike were floating motionless in the water. The surviving pirates were boarding their longboats and sailing away. The fog was very dense and Alec was still far from them, so he couldn't even see where they were going or where their ship was.

"Damn it!" He cursed in silence, walking a little faster to get a closer view of the bay.

When he reached the first dock, Alec stopped dead in his tracks. The pirates were taking a man hostage. Alec couldn't see who he was, but the man was fighting back. He had a black sack on his head and seemed to be trying to break free from the ropes that tied his hands behind his back.

Alec ran to try to stop them, but they were already sailing away. Desperate, he quickened his steps and just as he was reaching the edge of the last dock, he saw who the hostage was. That lock of golden hair was unmistakable...it was his brother's. The pirates were taking Jace.

"Help! Help!" Alec cried out desperately, but there was no one left on the docks. The entire Guard was already back in the city, no doubt counting the dead and trying to put some order among the inhabitants. There was no one there to help him.

"Jace!" He exclaimed in despair; the longboat was getting away.

"Alec!"

Alec heard his brother calling his name back, so without thinking twice, he threw himself into the cold water. It was like hitting the asphalt face down, the water was so cold it knocked the air out of his lungs, but he didn't care. He had to save his brother, so he took a few ragged breaths to try to fill his lungs again and started swimming.

It was only when he was making his way across the sea that he was able to see the ship to where the pirates were taking his brother. It was a black ship with blue sails, like the one all those legends described as the fastest ship in all the seas—the Blue Danube.

It can't be. He thought.

The Blue Danube was Valentine's ship and Valentine was dead. Fifteen years ago, when the war against him had ended, the Clave had glorified themselves by saying that Valentine Morgenstern had sunk along with his ship somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, after a few years, rumors of a black ship with blue sails had begun to spread like wildfire among the sailors, but Alec had thought they were just that...rumors. He, never in a million years, had imagined that they could be true, but apparently they were. He was not imagining things, before him was the Blue Danube—Valentine Morgenstern's ship. And if the Blue Danube was still sailing, that only meant that Valentine, despite the Clave's beliefs, was still alive.

Alec quickened his strokes. The water was ice-cold, but he was a very good swimmer. "I'm coming, Jace." He said, but it didn't matter how much he tried, the longboats were faster than him.

When he looked up a second time after a few minutes of swimming without stopping, the longboats had completely disappeared from view and the Blue Danube was already sailing toward the horizon, disappearing into the darkness of the night and taking Jace with it.