"What be goin' on 'ere?!" Captain Drosselmeyer said looking down on his new 'cargo'.
Ahiru faced the man. Judging by his ridiculous get-up, he must have been the one in charge here.
"You tell me," Ahiru said, her voice full of anger, "how did I get here? And what do you want with me?!"
"Well," Drosselmeyer said lowering the mop in her hand to get eyelevel with her, "let's just say I'm a bit of a superstitious man and you are a living superstition."
"What superstition?"
The crew burst into laughter.
"Can ya' believe she doesn't know Cap'in?!" Envy shouted between chuckles.
"I wouldn't be surprised." He responded, "Well, weather you know or not is not my problem. We'll keep ya' here till then."
"What if I don't want to be a part of whatever this superstition is? I can just leave."
The crew began to chuckle amongst themselves once more.
"What's so funny?"
"Alright child, I'll humor ya'. You can leave only if ya' defeat me in a fight."
Ahiru looked over her opponent: an old man who looked like he could hardly do anything. With her speed and flexibility there's no way he could stand a chance against her. Was he serious?
"Alright then." She said. This would be easy.
"Then make your first strike!" he said gleefully.
Ahiru make a quick swish of her mop, and charged at the man.
However, Drosselmeyer pulled his right hand back, stiffened his fingers, and quickly contracted them. This motion caused Ahiru stop in her tracks. Her body stiffened and her only movements she could make were when Drosselmeyer twitched his fingers.
With a few sets of hand motions, Drosselmeyer had Ahiru face down on the deck, unable to fight back.
He kneeled down next to her and whispered in her ear, "Ya' think yous gypsies are the only ones with abnormal powers. I like to call my ability 'puppeteering'." He said twitching his hand again causing Ahiru's arm to start bending another way while she moaned in pain, "Forcing my will over any victim of my choosing. If I wanted to, I could force you to break ya' own arm off. I could make ya' dance for me, or even force ye to ya' own death. But because ya're necessary for my plan, I'll let ya' live. And when I'm done, I won't need ya' anymore."
The pirate captain flicked his wrist, forcing Ahiru to stand up.
"Take her away men!"
Ahiru was tossed back into the brig, and this time in a cage that wouldn't be easy to escape out of.
And from there she was left alone… well okay, not quite.
After a couple of minutes had passed a strange red eyed man appeared from the shadows.
"Why hello there." He whispered giving Ahiru a mini heart attack.
"Who are you..."
"Just a friend… or a foe, depends on how I feel." The man quickly transferred with the shadows into Ahiru's cage and right in her face.
"So what'cha in for?" he asked in a slick voice.
Ahiru had to catch her breath for a moment, "I…I don't know…"
The shadow man tilted his head and locked onto her eyes.
"Aw, the eyes of an innocent," he smiled, "too young to know the truth of her own past." He slipped a small laugh, "Her own future for that matter."
"I… I don't understand." She said trying to hide her fear.
The man quickly disappeared and reappeared behind her right shoulder.
"Why do you think these pirates captured you?" he asked before moving to her left shoulder.
"And for that matter, do you even wonder why they are posing as pirates?"
Ahiru turned to face him, "They're not pirates?"
The man shrugged, "I wouldn't say they were true pirates. They're not exactly looking for buried gold with those fake accents of theirs. And besides, I've never heard of pirates who kidnap a gypsy girl because of what she's got trapped inside her."
"Wait… WHAT?!" Ahiru said wrapping her arms around her torso.
"Oh right," the shadow man said while clapping his heads together with delight, "you didn't know. You see my dear, this is what makes you so important! So tell me, what do you know about the events that took place about… 15 years ago?"
The gypsy shook her head, "I was only three years old. I wouldn't remember anything at that point…"
The shadow man began to stroke his chin, "Indeed. But what about the great wall of Emestress? Why do you think the bricks have strange colors and symbols on them?"
She shrugged, "tourist attraction?"
He shook his head, "Well my dear, allow me to enlighten you."
Without another word the shadow man's hand was against her face and transferring information into her mind.
Ahiru was fed visions of people in pain, loud shrieks strange torment of one's own mind, people losing their sanity, and finally death…
"STOP IT!" she screamed escaping the man's grasp and falling to the floor. "What was that…?" her voice was broken…
"That my dear is what your fate will most likely be if you're left in the hands of these pirates." He began walking back and through Ahiru's cell. "So my warning for you is this: either learn to embrace insanity like I have, or accept your death because that is all you have left. So choose carefully."
And he vanished into the darkness.
A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back. I apologize for the long delay. My laptop screen has given out on me and my laptop had my whole plot line for this story on it.
But I am back on track and ready to continue for you!
And my deepest thanks to:
James Birdsong (for reviewing!)
SecretGhost12 (for following!)
Fading Starlights (for following!)
crystalessences (for following!)
And to you, for sticking with me for so long! So thank you! :)