You are still hiding with the cargo, the looming threat of being discovered ever present in your mind. It's not so bad now though, at least you don't think it is as you sit munching on a piece of dried fruit. By now, you are quite tired of eating fruit and would much rather have something like fish but you can't be picky, and it's not like you don't eat other things, rare as it is.

You will definitely admit that Eridan has been taking care of you the best he can and kept you quite safe. All you can do for him is talk with him about how he feels. He's a very sad and apathetic young man, but you're glad he limits what he tells you, even if it's always about him. Sometimes you talk about yourself, but you aren't entirely honest as there are some parts you would tell no one, and there are things you don't want anyone to know about you. Nobody should know them.

Descending footsteps sound from the creaking wooden stairs and you bolt behind the crates like you've done so many times before. It's still odd to you how no one has found you yet. Eridan said they probably dismissed your scurrying as rats which are nearly impossible to get rid off on the ship and you felt slightly offended by that. You're not a rat, you argued, you're a cuttlefish because they're awesome. You concentrate on you feeling offended with that conversation to try to ignore what happened in the rest of the conversation which was just too funny for you.

You stay behind the crates waiting to find out who it is.

"Fef, get out of there," Eridan sighs. You poke your head over the crates to find the young man looking at you not amused in the least.

"What?" you whine, " You cod have been an otter member of the crew."

"I think you overdid the puns on that one," he says shaking his head as you hop over the crates and sit on the wood. You pat the spot besides you with a little smile. He rolls his eyes and sits next to you.

"Some guppy is really moody today," you pout. You've found out that you making funny faces usually makes him smile unless he's really irritated in which case you only annoy him more. He just smirks at you but quickly changes to a worried expression that quickly gets you to worry. You reach for his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's," he fumbles with his words. "I'm just a bit worried about you."

"Why?" you ask feigning a little smile.

"I think my dad knows you're here. Not you specifically but someone," he explains.

"Whale, everybody else thinks it's just rats, remember?" you giggle elbowing him and he just shrugs.

"Not him. There ain't fooling the old man when he's been sailing for so long," he sighs, "He knows ways to find stowaways and fish them out with ease."

"Oh," is all you say letting your shoulders drop as you hold Eridan's hand more tightly. "I'm not going to give you trouble, am I? I know I'm going to be in trouble but what aboat you?"

"Me?" he asks and ponders your question for a while. "No, he wouldn't do anyfin bad to me. Just probably yell at me and tell me to think about what I did. Then not talk about it."

"Sea?" you smile broadly, "You're dad is pretty great! I wish my mother was half as lenient."

"You're mom's tough on you?" Eridan asks.

"Very. She's just really mean," you stick out your tongue. "She used to lock me up for days if I did something she didn't like."

"Seriously? That's really awful," he sympathizes with you and you smile at him. Then his entire faces lights up.

"Wait, I just got an idea!" he exclaims. "More of a plan, and I'm not sure it'll even work."

"Are the chance of your plan working remotely good?" you ask doubtfully.

"They're pretty good," he replies. "I think we could appeal to his soft side. How convincing can you make a hopeless face?"

"Like this?" you suggest as you let your lip quiver slightly and let your eyes fill up with tears as you look at the ground.

"Yeah, I think you got it," he smiles and you brighten up proud of yourself.

"But how is that going to help?"

"Well he at least won't throw ya overboard which I think is a pretty good victory."

"Eridan!" He only chuckles.

"Sorry, sorry," he smiles, "I think he won't throw you overboard anyway. He would if you were older. How old are you anyway?"

" I'm ten," you answer.

"You don't look it," Eridan shrugs.

"What do you mean I don't look it, mister I-look-twenty?!" you scowl.

"Twenty?!" Eridan gasps. "I don't look that old! I'm only a few years older than ya! I can say that now anyway, you looked five. "

"I'm not five!"

"Well who told you to be so short?!"

"I'm not short! I'm vertically challenged!"

"Oh my cod!" at that point Eridan just sort of bursts laughing and you just smile. You wait for him to stop laughing at your rather silly commentary.

"About the plan though," Eridan clears his throat. "What do you think?"

"What choice do I have?" you shrug. "And besides, if he throws me overboard I'm a pretty good swimmer. When do we go with your plan?"

"I'd say now's a time as good as any," someone replies. You both look up to find a slim girl with very light hair that makes you wonder if it's blonde, a ridiculously light ginger or the same color as a peach. "So this is your litte friend Eridumb?" She looks at you with a very mischievous eye. Cold and ice blue that makes you nervous but intrigued.

"Can't say I'm impresed!" she scoffs flipping her hair.

"Vris how the fuck did you even...You weren't. How?!" Eridan stammers jumping definsively in front of you. The girl rolls her eye. You now notice she's wearing an eyepatch on the left one.

"Articulating is important idiot," she jeers with a coniving grin. She begins strolling around the cargo deck and you try to get a look from behind Eridan though he's keeping a hand on your shoulders.

"What the ever lovin fuck are you doin here?" he growls. She turns dramatically with that same smile.

"I thought you'd never ask," she sneers and you notice the elongation of her emphasized words. Do all pirates talk weird? And are they all so damn dramatic? "Remember all the investigation I did on my idol?"

"I thought you said she was a fraud," Eridan scoffs.

"Please, of course she is. Sort of," she crosses her arms and looks rather displeased. "She actualy might be less cool than I thought. But you would never guess what I have over her head. Not tat I'm telling you."

"Wasn't askin," Eridan says exhasperated. "How did you get her is what I am askin."

"Blackmail," the girl says as though that were the most obvious thing in the world. "Marquise and your old man are catching up for old time's sake. I think it's going to end with Marquise yelling a retreat and Dualscar being the worst pirate of his caliber."

"Quit runnin your mouth," he scowls.

"Fine," she sighs and begins approaching you both, specifically your friend. "You should be happy to see me. We're good friends, aren't we Eri?"

"Oh sure, if you consider a backstabbing bitch a friend. I've missed your bitch attitude like a stubbed toe," he growls.

"Aw, you haven't changed!" she smiles then looks at you with what you assume is her good eye. You look back up to her in what you hope doesn't look too curious. "Who's your little friend?"

"I'm Feferi," you answer before Eridan can say anything. "Who are you?"

"You mean you haven't heard of me?" she gasps. "Oh, no, no,no, no, that won't do. No, no, no,no. Eridan have you absolutely neglected talking about me? Such a shame, I always mention you to my new aquaintances. I, am Vriska, also known as the best damn pirate and strategist that ever existed."

She smiles deviously and offers you her hand which you just stare at. She looks rather miffed by you not taking her hand. Eridan looks rather pleased by that which makes you wonder what happened between these two. Vriska takes her hand back and flips her hair and walks to some box, making herself quite at home.

"How'd you end up with this loser anyway?" Vriska asks as she crosses her legs and leans forward while biting one of her nails.

"That doesn't concern you," you answer in a bubbly tone. She stops, her lips still on her fingernail, to stare at you with that piercing ice blue eye, shocked. Tat only lasts a second before her face goes back to match her dramatic and smug tone.

"Don't play dumb," she coaxes, "Fefy, I heard your entire conversation. I was going to rat you out, but I see you have guts. You dod have guts, right kid?"

"I ran away from my home, with fear that my mother would chase after me and quite literally, kill me since there were several guardsmen on my trail," you answer bluntly. Eridan and Vriska gape at you open mouthed. You smile at them. "Am I gutsy enough?"

"Nice," Vriska chuckles and claps for you. "Cutey has some spunk. Guess I'm helping you out then."

"No hold on a minute!" Eridan interrupts. "Nobody's askin for your help!All you ever do is fuck things up!"

"I do not," she scoffs.

"Yes, you, do," he insists and points to her eyepatch. "Just like you fucked up your eye."

"My eye's fine," Vriska sneers, "I just see a bit cloudy with it, but it's getting better. Thanks for your concern."

"Fuck you!"

"You wish," Vriska scoffs as Eridan's face goes completely red. You can't help but giggle.

"Fef, no, don't laugh at that," he chides as you keep laughing.

"Really great kid right here," Vriska states pointing at you with her thumb. "How would you like joining theMarquise?"

"No, I think I'm good," you answer. "Whale...could I take you up on that offer if everything else goes wrong?"

"Fef!" Eridan whines.

"Eridan!" you reply mocking his tone. "We don't even know if it'll work! Maybe Vriska could help."

"See? Feferi here trusts me, why can't you?" Vriska interrogates.

"Because I know your true colors Vriska," he argues. "You're nothing but a liar and a cheat."

"Woah, no," she says defensively, " I have all of the luck and I don't lie, I just don't tell you the whole truth.

Eridan grits his teeth and you're sure he wants to yell things at her that you honestly think will take all day.

"So, should we tell him?" you ask Eridan.

"I guess...I just wonder what he'll do when he knows-"

"When he knows you snuck a stowaway?" a voice you hadn't heard in an awfully long time, and hoped to never hear, interrogates. Eridan cringes,Vriska stops biting her nail entirely and you just freeze. " Probably feed you to the sharks or sell you to Marquise unless you have a good explanation."

"I think I'll pass on the offer," the golden haired woman besides him sneers. You now find the voice belongs to a rather tall man with broad shoulders though not particularly muscular, his hair's a really odd shade of brown which you're pretty sure looks a bit blonde but ginger at the same time. Also, there's some rather outstanding double scars on his face which would definitely call for a name like Dualscar.

"Oops, did I forget to mention they were coming here soon? My bad," Vriska shrugs and hops off the box.

"Well?" te captain demas, "I'm waiting on a good reason."

"I," Eridan begins nervously. He's looking at the floor and his father has a rather burning look. The woman herself looks as though she's sorry for him, but has no intention of getting involved.

"It's my fault," you cut in to gain all eyes on you. "I...snuck on the ship. Eridan didn't know I was here until a few days ago. I'm really sorry but I just wanted to get away from where I lived and this was the only way I saw about it. I'm, really, reely sorry and I know it was wrong but don't punish Eridan for helping me out. This is all my fault. I have to take the blame."

"Fef, you don't," Eridan whispers to you and you give him a meaningful look and a shrug of your shoulders. It's time you pulled your own weight the way that doesn't involve others.

"Just how old are you to pull such a dangerous stunt?" the man asks.

"I'm ten," you asnwer. " I know I don't look it, but that's the truth."

"Well," he huffs, "There's no way I'm feeding you to the sharks and I doubt Marquise would take you."

"No I would," she grins only to get a glare from Dualscar, "Cronus, you have no idea how to treat a girl, you'd scare the little thing to death."

"She has a stronger spine than Eridan," he counters. Eridan just hunches his shoulders. "The boy's pretty tough, and she, well, she's clearly got him beat. Might even be tougher than your brat."

"Hey!" Vriska screeches. "No one's tougher than me! Fuck you!"

"Vriska, darling, shut up," the woman orders, "So are you really willing to take care of a girl? I mean, at least until you leave her to her luck in some forsaken place? That's what you'll do. You would have done that to Eridan too had you not been convinced otherwise by...Well, you know who."

"Wait you were goin to do what?!" Eridan interrogates.

"That was years ago and you were a very annoying kid," he explains simply as though it were no big deal. "I wouldn't do that. I'm much more different than before, you don't have to remind me of things like that."

"No, I do," Marquise replies, " You love hearing yourself yap but what about when I have something to say? Soemthing that's actually important? If people listened to me, maybe the world would get along better."

"Screw you and your 'helpful' information. I've never seen you taking care of a kid so you don't have much to say bout that!"

"Um, can I say something?" you interrupt, they stop bickering to look at you and they both nod. "I do have a mind of my own. And if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to stay here?"

"See? She finds me better," Dualscar boasts.

"Shut up," the other captain growls then turns to you with a more pleasant tone, "Are you sure about that? I'm not kdding, he really tried to abadon his own son."

"I'm shore," you reply, " I'm used to people like him. Besides, they both need someone to take care of them."

"I heard that!" Eridan and his father say in unison.

"If you say so," she shrugs and appears ready to leave before turning ot the other captain. " So help me, Cronus, if I don't find this girl here the next time I see you. I'll fucking kill you and that's not an empty threat."

"You never could before, you still wouldn't be able to," he says smugly and earns rude gesture from the lady in blue before she finally leaves with Vriska. You look at the pair you'll be living with for the longest time. One you already know to be full of himself, but something tells, you the captain will be at least twice of impressed with himself.

"Welcome to the crew I guess?" Eridan shrugs, then turns to his father, "What do you mean, annoyin kid?!"

"You never quit your crying and whining. Come to think of it, you ahven't changed one bit," he chuckles.

"Chip off the old block then," the boy retorts. "Way to handle things."

You giggle at their little arguement before going up to them. You pull on the captain's arm to get his attention as he clearly towers you. He kneels down to be able to see you face to face, and you wrap your arms around his neck which takes him by surprise

"Thank you," you whisper gratefully. He pats your back lightly on you back as you start crying. You're so relieved. You thought you were done for, you didn't know what you were doing, you just felt so lucky at that moment. Sure, there's still the whole working on a ship, but you'll be fine. You'll make a plan this time around, a more elaborate plan that iwll have more oportunities than the previous improvised one. You're going to be ready for when things go bad again. Well, if things get worse which you know they just will.


A/N: Ah this took me longer than I wanted it too! So sorry.
Also, I'm back at school, so I'm afraid I'll update this even less often than I already do. So sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Next chapter will add more characters. Also, we're nowhere near the end, so even if this may be moving fast, it's really because it'll be pretty long. I may end up writing one shots on the side in case you want a change of scenery, but for the most part, I want to stick with this.