"When do you think they will realise we've gone?" Emily asked looking over her shoulder wearily.
"Probably anytime now, we should probably keep running" Rachel said as she broke out from a jog to a run.
There were shouts in the distance,
"THIEVES"
"I think they've realised we've gone" Rachel smirked as she broke into a sprint.
"So this is what it's like then" Emily panted to Rachel as she jumped over a log.
"What?" Rachel called.
"Living on the edge, being the bad guy" Emily replied as both their paces speed up even faster.
"You think I'm the bad guy?" Rachel asked with a small chuckle.
"Well you're hardly good are you, you just stole" Emily smirked.
"I've never thought of it that way" Rachel replied thoughtfully.
"How long are we going to be running for do you think?" Emily asked.
"Well there are loads of them and only two of us so I suggest we don't run anymore" Rachel panted as she slowed to a stop.
"Are you crazy?" Emily hissed.
"That's debatable but I have a better idea than running" Rachel explained hurriedly.
"What's that?" Emily asked impatiently.
Rachel simply pointed up to the tree.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Emily asked biting her lip.
"Do you have a better one? We can't keep running" Rachel snapped.
"Fair enough" Emily shrugged making her way over to the tree and began to follow.
Rachel began to quickly follow.
"Hurry up" Rachel snapped giving Emily a shove in the back.
"All right" Emily snapped back.
She shuffled over to the right hand side of the tree and was clinging on for dear life.
Rachel gracefully sat down on the opposite branch and rested against the trunk, letting her legs stretch out across the branch.
"You haven't climbed many trees have you?" Rachel laughed lightly.
"No, I didn't have the chance" Emily replied.
Suddenly there was shouting coming from all directions.
Rachel watched wearily as the lost boys came into view, some had weapons now. Though she had to admit they weren't very good weapons, they ranged from a saucepan, to a sharp piece of wood to a knife.
She heard Emily take a sudden intake of breath.
"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU SAVAGES" one of the boys yelled suddenly.
Rachel almost laughed at that.
Suddenly something unexpected happened.
"Are you talking about us?"
Rachel frowned; this voice was a deep man's voice, not one of a young boy. She turned her head to the left and tilted her head to the side to catch a glimpse of who had spoken.
She stared at the new group of men that had come into view. They varied in age but the one who had spoken looked to be in his forties.
"No" the eldest of the lost boys answered nervously.
"Who were you speaking to then?" the same man asked as he began to move towards the young boys.
"These two girls who stole from us" another one of the lost boys answered as the group of men began to surround them.
The men laughed,
"Girls? Girls stole from you" the man replied laughing.
The group of younger boys made no comment and just remained still and silent.
"If you have nothing more to say then piss off" one of the men spat fiercely.
The lost boys didn't need telling twice and ran off.
"Kids" the main man laughed harshly.
"Speaking of kids, I've found some more"
Rachel's attention was suddenly diverted to one of the other men who appeared to be standing at the bottom of the tree in which they were sitting.
"OI!" the man shouted up at them, "get down from there"
"What do we do?" Rachel heard Emily whisper nervously.
"Wait here" Rachel whispered back as she started to climb down the tree.
When she was a reasonable way down she jumped and landed next to the man, who now Rachel was near smelt very strongly of beer and his face was dirty as was the little hair upon his head.
"What do you want?" Rachel demanded trying to look fierce.
"What did you steal from those boys?" the man asked getting close to her face.
Rachel snarled at the closeness,
"None of your business" Rachel snapped.
"You're quite a feisty one for someone so young" the man mocked as he reached out to ruffle Rachel's hair. She dodged the touch and scowled.
"Leave us alone" Rachel demanded getting out her sword and holding it wearily out in front of her.
The man eyed the sword curiously.
"Where did you get that sword?" the man asked suddenly, his face changing from one of anger to curiosity.
Rachel didn't reply,
"That is the sword of a pirate" he exclaimed walking around the sword and examining it carefully.
"She's one of us?" one of the men standing towards the back of the group said blankly.
"Listen here, are any of your family pirates or stowaways?" the man questioned. His eyes narrowed as he waited for Rachel to answer.
Rachel paused, this sword technically didn't belong to anyone in her family but it technically wasn't a lie because she knew her father was a pirate but she didn't want that to get her into trouble.
"We aren't going hurt you if you are, we just want to know" he explained.
After a couple of seconds Rachel nodded sharply and then she averted her gaze to the ground as she put her sword away.
The pirate nodded,
"Do you have a place to go?"
Rachel twitched automatically, she was a good liar when she wanted to be but at this moment in time she wasn't sure she wanted to lie.
"I'll take that as a no" the pirate laughed "my name is Rum by the way"
"Rum?" Rachel repeated as she raised an eyebrow.
"Just a nickname for obvious reasons" he replied pointing to a bottle of rum his friend was shaking in their direction to prove a point.
"Oh I see" Rachel said.
"Wait here a second" Rum said before walking away.
Rachel watched the group go slightly off to the side, they spoke hurriedly.
She looked up to where Emily was still clinging to the branch of the tree.
"Come down" Rachel said waving her arm in motion for her to get down.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Emily asked warily but began to climb down all the same.
"Quite sure" Rachel answered turning her attention to the pirates.
"What are they doing?" Emily frowned.
Rachel shrugged,
"No idea"
The two girls waited in silence for the group of men to come back. Finally after another couple of minutes the group came back.
"How do you feel about coming back to the ship with us?" Rum asked with a small smile.
Rachel opened her mouth to speak but Emily got there first,
"No, we can't. We have to-"Emily paused for a second "we have something to do"
She turned to Rachel for back up but Rachel was focused on Rum.
"I want to come" Rachel said suddenly.
"Rachel, no" Emily protested frowning.
"Emily, I've known you for less than a day. You do what you have to do but these men could be the key to finding my parents. They are pirates, so is my dad and possibly others in my family I need to go with them" Rachel replied, the anger in her voice rising.
"They could mistreat you or kill or anything!" Emily said trying to tame her voice into staying calm.
"It's worth the risk" Rachel said bluntly.
"I'm coming with you then" Emily said as she inhaled heavily.
Rachel frowned for a few seconds before smiling,
"What's the sudden change of mind?" Rachel asked.
"Simply because I have nothing to lose" Emily replied with half a smile.
"Well the ship is this way" Rum said pointing behind him.
"Let's go then" Rachel grinned.
"Yes, argh me hearties" Emily said swinging her arm.
"We urm, we don't actually do that" Rum replied blankly.
"Oh, right ok" Emily blushed awkwardly as Rachel laughed.
"Rachel, please" Emily begged trying her hardest to get her friend to listen.
"I don't want to hear it Em" Rachel snapped, raising a hand in protest.
"Look at you" Emily shouted suddenly making Rachel jump.
Rachel turned around to face Emily,
"Look at you, ever since we met those pirates they have changed you. You've killed people Rachel, like you killed that man in the tavern. You carry a gun and a sword and you seem perfectly fine with the fact you blood plastered over your clothes from people you've killed. Does that not seem wrong to you?" Emily asked.
Rachel stared at her for a few seconds,
"Yes they did change me; they changed me for the better. If it wasn't for them we'd have probably been killed by the lost boys. Without them I wouldn't be captain of this ship" Rachel said fiercely as she waved a hand around the captain quarters in which she was standing "If I hadn't have met them then I wouldn't know how to fight, how to use a sword and I wouldn't have met Rum" Rachel's voice trailed off towards the end and she now looked saddened.
"All of this, is because of Rum?" Emily asked with a frown.
"It was what he wanted. I couldn't have said no to a dying man" Rachel sighed sadly.
"I'm sure he'd have wanted you to be happy and you aren't truly happy, are you?" Emily asked.
"Yes and no" Rachel answered as she took a seat behind her desk "I like being captain. I like having the feeling that there are people around you and that there are over fifteen people out there that would die for me but I feel a part of me is missing and that part is something only someone from my true family can fill"
Emily nodded slowly,
"Why do you feel like you only have two choices here?" Emily asked folding her arms as she began pacing the room.
"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.
"I mean, you can still be captain and find your family" Emily explained.
"I guess so but it's not just that" Rachel said as she shuffled in her seat,
"Oh?" Emily said as she stopped pacing and turned to face Rachel again.
"I'm scared" Rachel said simply.
"Scared? The fearless Rachel Jones, scared?" Emily mocked as she smiled.
Rachel grunted softly as a smirk spread across her face.
"I just worry that my family don't care" Rachel shrugged.
"Why wouldn't they care?" Emily asked.
"They haven't bothered to come and find me have they?" Rachel said bluntly.
"Don't think so negatively there might be a good reason for that" Emily replied.
"I'm not being negative I'm being realistic" Rachel added as she put her feet on the desk.
"Rachel" Emily said exasperatedly letting out a sigh.
"Fine then" Rachel said "we'll try and find them again"
Emily's eyes widened,
"Really?"
"Yeah, got nothing to lose have I" Rachel smiled.
"How do we go about finding them, we have literally nothing to go on" Emily said standing up.
"About that" Rachel said sheepishly.
"What?" Emily asked curiously.
She watched as Rachel opened a draw and pulled out a compass,
"You kept the compass for all this time? But you said it was broken?" Emily frowned.
"Oh no, it isn't broken" Rachel explained getting up "this tells you the direction to go in to find what you most desire"
"You mean to say that compass will point in the direction to where our family is?" Emily asked.
"Yes" Rachel nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Emily snapped angrily.
"Don't ask questions, I'll explain another time but for now we have our bearings" Rachel said as she chucked the compass to Emily.
"We'll find your family first" Rachel said.
Emily caught the compass and stared at it,
"You mean it?" Emily asked.
"Yes" Rachel replied "now if you would, go and tell the crew which way we should be going" Rachel grinned.
Emily nodded and raced out the door.
[NEXT CHAPTER THEY WILL BE IN STORYBROOKE WOOP. Please review, it only takes a minute and means a lot! Thank you!]