Well, hello again ! And welcome to the hayffie pirate AU ! I must say straight out that if you want historical accuracy this story is not meant for you. This is mostly crack. With pirates.

First chapter is more like a prologue of sort which is why it might seem short. There will be 8 chapters in all so it's not a very long story altogether.

Sail

Chapter 1:

Effie's favorite dress was made of the finest pink silk directly imported from China and was cut to what she had been assured was the latest fashion in London. The upper part hugged her chest so tightly it seemed to act as a second corset and she felt as if her cleavage, although on the small side, was ready to spill; the sleeves covered her arms up to the elbow where they ended up in a lovely overflow of lace; as for the lower part of the dress, it was puffy since fashion favored volumes, and the numerous layers of her petticoat hindered her every step.

In short, the dress was lovely and suited her figure perfectly.

The only problem was, it wasn't meant to be run in.

And at the moment, Effie badly needed to be able to run.

Panic and terror were giving her wings and she increased her speed – or tried to increase her speed, the shoes weren't helping matters – her mind focused on a single objective : reaching the garrison alive.

A task easier said than done, it seemed.

Port Capitol was the biggest British settlement in that corner of the Caribbean sea. It was prosperous, promising to become a key asset of the Empire and, above all, it was rumored undefeatable.

Clearly, she thought as she took in the state of the town in front of her, that was a grand exaggeration.

Port Capitol was ablaze. Fires had broken everywhere, the night was loud with the screams of the town's inhabitants and everywhere her eyes darted people were falling either pierced by a sword or knocked down in the mad rush of other's people for safety. Effie swallowed hard, frozen in place.

She had seen pirates before, of course, but those pirates had been either hanging from a noose or on their way there. The pirates currently pillaging Port Capitol were nothing like the men she had seen being brought up to justice. They were neither starved nor weaken by their stay in the cells, they were all muscular and feral looking, they laughed too loud and seemed bafflingly unafraid of death.

She wondered if Governor Snow had managed to reach the fort, she hoped he had. She could hear the faint boom of the canons in the distance which meant the garrison was still secure, if her godfather was indeed there then he would be safe and he would be able to offer his protection to her.

Governor Snow would scold her for leaving her house. He was always an attentive godfather and wished for nothing but her well-being. She would have to explain that folly, naturally. Running out in the middle of a pirate raid! How mad of her...

"Here!" a voice boomed behind her. It was an ugly voice as far as voices could be ugly, all hoarse and deep. The man would have been handsome if he hadn't been so filthy – and if she hadn't seen him kill her butler just a few minutes earlier. "Grab her!"

The order sent her running downhill again in a desperate dash for the fort looming in the distance. The pirates had broken into her house, had killed her staff, had tried to capture her... She had run away. What else could she have done? She was only grateful she hadn't yet retired for the night. Worse than being chased by barbarians in the dead of night would have been running through Port Capitol in nothing but her night clothes. They had seemed amused by her attempts to escape them at first but it hadn't lasted long. She had smashed a chair on one of the men's head and they had stopped laughing after he had collapsed.

She ran and ran along the narrow streets, cursing her godfather to hell and back for not having them paved like he had promised to do months earlier. She kept stumbling, kept pulling herself up by sheer force of will... Her corset was too tight, she couldn't breathe properly, she was sure she would faint. She bypassed pirates setting houses afire, she avoided colliding with citizens just as panicked as she was... Some of them reached for her, some of them called out fearful "Miss Trinket!", "Miss Euphemia!" or "Lady Trinket!" as if she could grant them protection or salvation. She could do neither, simply avoid the fires and try to outrun her pursuers.

It was fortunate she knew Port Capitol like the back of her hand. She had been fifteen when she had arrived on the island, following her father to what had been, to her childish self, the end of the world. Her father had been a great man, a lord knighted by the King himself, sent on a mission to the Caribbean on His Majesty's order to assess the situation. He had left no other heir but her after his death and had entrusted her to his friend's care : Governor Coriolanus Snow. Effie had never lacked anything and had enjoyed being mistress of her own wealth – something that wasn't to be taken for granted when you were a woman – and thus had never married, unwilling to lose her fortune to a husband's clutch. At twenty-five, despite many inconsequential flirts, she was quite the spinster and, in that mad dash from death – or worse – she wondered if she hadn't missed something. A husband would have certainly come in handy right now.

Her favorite dress was lovely.

But it wasn't meant for running.

It was a miracle she arrived that far, she mused as she fell, hitting the ground so hard it knocked the air out of her lungs. She rolled in the dust and the soot, disoriented by the ashes that were falling around her like snow – she had been living under the sun for so long she had almost forgotten what snow was – and realized she wasn't even halfway to the fort. A glance behind her shoulder told her the pirates chasing her were closing in on her but she didn't have the strength to move. She was heaving, unable to get enough oxygen in her lungs with the corset wrapped around her torso like one of those snakes who suffocated their prey to better eat them.

"Miss Effie!" someone shouted with a familiarity only few people dared use and then she was hauled up to her feet. A young face caked with soot and dirt stared back at her, a mop of blond hair, familiar blue eyes... The baker's boy, her mind whispered, his name escaped her. He spotted the three pirates and pushed her in direction of the fort again. "Run!"

She wanted to. Oh, how much she wanted to... Black spots were dancing in front of her eyes, her legs were made of jelly, she took two steps and collapsed again.

"Peeta!" someone screeched somewhere on their left. It was followed by a terrified scream and disgusting laughter from a man.

Peeta was his name, she remembered suddenly. Peeta made her favorite pastries and she always made sure to give him a good tip because the boy was lovely and his mother was a harpy.

"Delly!" the boy screamed. "Let her go, you dickhead!"

Peeta grabbed a piece of wood on his way and left Effie to her fate. The pirates didn't even bother to run anymore, they simply walked their way to her, snickering like a bunch of stupid monkeys. She tried to crawl in the direction of the garrison, as hopeless as it was... Why hadn't the soldiers gone out yet? Why did they keep to the fort? The fort needed to be protected at all cost, she understood that, but so did the people living there...

"Well, you led us on a merry dance, didn't you?" one of the pirates mocked, kicking her in the stomach.

Effie was shocked to realize it was a woman. She didn't know what she found more disturbing : the fact that a woman would go into piracy or that she was dressed like a man. How improper.

"Take her to the Captain." she ordered, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"But, Cashmere..." one of the men argued. Or rather, Effie decided he was hardly more than a boy.

"Shut up, Cato." the woman snapped. "The Captain wants her on the ship, you take her to the ship."

She tried to struggle but she was too weak, she was tossed over the young man's shoulder like she weighed nothing. Some people tried to help her, she saw that clearly, the baker's boy, Peeta, once certain that his friend was safe attempted to come to her rescue. She had always liked that boy...

In a last hopeless effort to free herself, she kicked the boy who was carrying her with her feet and her fists. He dropped her with a curse that was so foul she didn't even understand it. The backslap that followed was so hard she collapsed again and, this time, didn't resist when she was tossed over his shoulder once more. She was barely conscious. She heard the surrounding horrified screams and shouts that the pirates had killed Lady Trinket... She wanted to protest, reassure them, but there was nothing to it.

The town was still ablaze when they reached the docks and she was thrown into a small boat. They rowed her to a huge ship that had dropped anchor in the bay. Even in the dark, she could glimpse the black flag barred with a skull and bones floating atop of the highest mast. She saw the name as the boat slid silently past the hull : The Career.

She tried to remember if Governor Snow had mentioned that particular ship but if he had she couldn't recall. She didn't always listen when he talked politics and the pirates were a plague anyway, there were hundreds of them out there. She closed her eyes and tried not to panic as the boat was hauled on board.

She was pushed and shoved until she fell on the deck on her knees, shivering in the cold of the night.

"What did you bring her back for?" someone asked. Another woman she couldn't help but notice – how many were there in the piracy business? – but this one was less beautiful than the first. She looked feral and her teeth... The chill that ran down her spine had nothing to do with the cold. The pirate's teeth had been filed into fangs.

"Captain's orders, Ma'am." the Cato boy replied. "Cashmere said so."

"You've got her?" someone bellowed from the upper deck. That man was massive with an impressive hat and a dark blue jacket. "Bring her to my cabin."

She yelled and struggled but the woman's grip was iron and she was dragged kicking and screaming to what had to be the captain's cabin. The room was more spacious than she had thought it would be, there was enough space for a large bed, a huge wardrobe, a cluttered desk, a table and four chairs, and an empty wooden bathtub.

"We should just kill her now. Finish the job." the woman argued. "Drop her body in the bay for them to find in the morning."

"I have money." she sputtered suddenly, not even caring that she was begging. Begging for her life seemed a smart course of action at that moment. "You can ask for a ransom. I have a lot of money. I am the Governor's godchild. My life has value. I can make you rich."

She was ignored.

"We've been paid." the Captain shrugged. "It would be a shame to lose money. Any idea how much someone like her is worth in slaver's bay? We'll sell her with the others."

"Please!" Effie panicked. "Please! I can give you money. Just ask my godfather... Ask anyone... I..."

"You're going to shut up or I'm going to decide you're not worth protecting from the crew." the Captain spat. "Maybe you would like traveling in the brig with the other prisoners better?"

Her mouth snapped shut and she folded her arms over her chest, hugging herself to fight the growing despair.

Apparently satisfied, the man turned back to whom she supposed to be his second. "Call the men back, be sure they've got enough prisoners. We sail in fifteen minutes. And make it clear, the girl isn't to be touched. She won't be worth as much otherwise." He glanced back at Effie, already dismissing her. "You're going to stay here if you don't want to get mauled out there. I don't need to tie you up, you will be a good girl, right?"

What else could she do but nod?

She made sure to keep her chin high and her attitude regal.

It was only once the Captain was gone and the door audibly locked that she collapsed in tears.

So? What do you think? I will let you guess who will show up next chapter ;)