Ga'ara Odin Lupus

I was born in late April in a place called Sunken Isle. Sunken Isle was a penal island used to hold the world most ferocious criminals. I don't know what has become of it now.

I was a rape baby; what more could be expected from a child made on that wretched Isle. Nothing good was expected to come of me; the same was expected of every other child born on that island. I grew up just as the other children did; as a scavenger. We kids had to form packs to protect ourselves from the adults; in order to survive.

I had a brother…two years older than me who was killed by our father while trying to keep him from raping me. He was the leader of the pack of kids we ran with, and a year after he died I took his place.

And his name.

I went from Odin to Ga'ara. But I didn't quite take to the name until I was well into my pirating days. I had always prefered masculine names.

Our pack was called the Lupus pack; we were called that because all the children in our pack were wolves. And so, we all made our last names what our pack name was.

The only child in our group who was not a wolf was Chrono. But he was under my protection.

We didn't actually know what Chrono was; we assumed that because he had black hair and pointed ears that he was a demon. But he didn't have powers like the demons did; he could barely defend himself. He was five years older than me, and yet I was the one who had to protect him.

When I was five, pirates and marines came to our town, looking to recruit the children. Many of the children went with the marines; Chrono and I, along with six other children, chose the pirates.

The captain of the ship was named Calaeus. He had a sickly son about two years older than I was at the time. Everybody but the captain had accepted that his death was inevitable. The children were told that because of this, we would have to work hard to catch the attention of the captain, and become next in line as captain, just as his son would have.

After six months on the ship, the other shipmates were talking about making me the next captain. And I knew it as well; I was more like a pirate than some of the crew. That and I was a natural born leader.

But when the time came to choose the child who would be trained to be captain, everybody was surprised.

The captain chose Chrono over me. He made me co-captain.

The captain said he had chosen Chrono because Chrono had "the makings of a good captain", and the talents I possessed could be taught to me over time. He said that I was more like a pirate than some of his own crew; I was vulgar, sarcastic, manipulative, a quick thinker, and for that reason he made me next in command. But the one thing that no pirate captain should be, he said, was sociopathic. And I was indeed a sociopath. Whereas Chrono was compassionate towards all the crew; he was a good listener and always took other people's feelings to heart.

I blamed Chrono for my not being picked(though it was kinda his fault), and our friendship was demolished from there.

He tried to console me many times a day with gifts and letters, but they only made me feel worse. I did nothing to conceal my hatred for him, and even tried for his life once by stabbing him in the stomach while we were practicing sword-fighting. Lucky for him I only pierced his side.

The crew knew well that I understood the terms of being co-captain: Should the captain be injured, mortally wounded or killed, I would take over in his stead. And yet on several occasions they left me alone with him.

I guess they just wanted to see what I could do.

There was a harsh storm one night; Chrono and I were foolishly out on the deck fighting over the same things as usual, when a wave knocked us both nearly off the boat. I was hanging onto one of the rails on the side of the boat; Chrono was hanging off the side. If the boat turned even a foot more we would both fall to our death. I managed to grab his wrist before he lost his grip. And I'll never forget what happened next.

Chrono's eyes locked with mine. He surveyed our predicament; if I didn't pull him up soon we would both drown. But imagine a six-year-old trying to lift a ten-year-old; like a mouse trying to lift an elephant. My body was hanging over the edge; holding onto the rail with only my legs. Chrono was holding just above my elbows, dangling over the water.

Chrono smiled at me. "I'm sorry, Odin." He lifted himself just enough to brush my lips with his own for a brief second, and then he let go. I grasped wildly for his hand, which he pulled back almost instantly. I called his name only twice before his body hit the water and sank beneath the waves.

The next morning all was sunny and well.

Nobody questioned where Chrono had gone; most of them thought I had thrown him overboard during the storm.

And in order to run what was to be my ship successfully, I had to let them believe I was capable of such things.

Now I am.