AN: So the first chapter I uploaded ended up being the wrong one, so I hope that wasn't too confusing for anyone or anything :) I got it right this time though. Here's the next chapter, I finally had time to write it. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize are not mine.

Chapter 14: Training

James sat at his desk staring off at nothing, thinking, and barely catching what Remus was saying. Remus was bent over next to him, hands on the desk and pointing at the fading map on its top. A compass and backstaff rested on the edge of the map and a thin writing tool was held in between his fingers. Lines were drawn across the map, and Remus was going on about the heading, and what islands were in the suggested path. James let out a breath. Remus stopped and looked at him.

"Am I boring you? Because I thought you wanted to get to the treasure before Riddle caught up to us." Remus told him mildly.

When James didn't answer him, Remus made a face. "Have you even been listening to a word I've been saying?"

James sat up. "What would you think about me training Lily?" He asked.

Caught off guard, Remus blinked at him. "Ah…what?"

"Training her. To use that dagger she's got. If she doesn't know how to use it then what's the point of lugging it around? And a sword too, that'd be helpful as well." James went off mumbling, looking up at his surprised friend. "Well?"

"I…um…er…." Remus stumbled, trying to steady himself. "You…ah…you want to…train Lily?" James shrugged. "Where did that idea come from?"

"It just…came." Remus looked doubtful. "She's on a pirate ship Remus, she should know how to defend herself." James got up and walked around the desk, looking back at his friend.

"From who?" Remus questioned uncertainly.

"Anyone."

"Riddle?"

James shook his head abruptly. "Lily won't be fighting Riddle." I will, he added silently.

Remus looked unsure. "Couldn't it just bring more trouble, teaching her how to fight?"

James blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, training her might indirectly put her in more danger. She'll be confident and run into a fight instead of staying well out of it."

James bit his lip. "Lily wouldn't run away from a fight even if she didn't know how to wield a sword or dagger." He told Remus, remembering the potato encounter he'd had with Lily early on. "If she knows how to fight she's less likely to get hurt when she wants to defend herself, and Lily will want to defend herself." He added knowingly.

Remus shook his head. "It's not a good idea. When you handle a weapon people are more apt to want to test you with it. You're more likely to get into trouble."

James stared at him. "People get murdered in cold blood everyday…those are the people who have no idea how to defend themselves, and can't when the time comes." He replied coolly.

Remus raised an eye at him. "This coming from the pirate."

James' narrowed his eyes. "Any man I've ever killed had a sword or gun out on me…they had equal chance."

"And you were defending yourself." Remus added blandly.

"Don't pretend like your hands are clean." James spat at him, angry suddenly. Remus started and then mumbled under his breath.

James took a breath, calming himself down. "Lily is on a pirate ship, that just happens to be being chased by the most ruthless pirate on all the seven seas. She needs to know how to stay alive.

Remus watched him. "You're going to train her." He said, stating the coming fact. Whether I agree with it or not, he's going to do it, Remus realized silently, he'd already made up his mind, he just wanted me to know about it. Remus fixed James with a look. "Don't screw it up, James. Whatever you started on your walk away from the pub the other night, don't throw it back in her face. You only get a couple chances."

James looked at him strangely, not understanding his friend's word. But Remus just shook his head, refusing to explain. James frowned and went to the door, opened it, then paused before he left. "Oh, and by the way, your chart is off by 10 degrees, which I believe puts us somewhere up north past any inhabitable islands."

The door closed with a snap and Remus looked down at his map. "What the-" He muttered as he leaned down to inspect it. He barely heard the door open again.

"Where's James off to in such a rush?" Sirius asked coming from the door to stand near the desk.

Remus narrowed his eyes at the map, half irritated at the question and the interruption. "He's going to train Lily."

"Train? To do what?"

"Fight. To use a dagger and sword." Remus scrunched his nose staring at his map, trying to see where he'd made the mistake. He couldn't have made a mistake…but it was somewhere…maybe James was wrong….

"Fight who? Us?" Sirius continued to pester him.

"No…just defend herself from anyone else who might be a…threat."

"Oh…Riddle." Sirius paused. "That's okay then."

Those words caused Remus to look up sharply. "What? She's a young girl, how can teaching her to fight be a good thing?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well she is living on a pirate ship isn't she?" Using James' earlier argument and stating a fact that Remus obviously already knew. "Besides, Lily's not a young girl from the English Court anymore. I have a hard time remembering that she's the daughter of the Duke sometimes."

Remus bit his tongue. The daughter of the Duke taking lessons from a pirate captain on how to fight. And not fighting as the soldiers of the royal court did. It would also be what they didn't teach you in the royal guard: the tricks and secrets. That was what gave James the edge. He was one of the best swordsmen around, but his craftiness gave him more of an advantage with opponents. That was why he was the pirate, not the royal guard.

Remus shook his head. "What's it going to accomplish anyway…teaching her how to fight? She's not going to go marauding, no matter how longs she's been on this ship, she'll still be against that…and I'd hope James wouldn't let her fight, would find a way to protect her instead, when Riddle catches up to us."

"I prefer to say 'if' Riddle catches up with us." Sirius corrected. "Makes my life less stressful." Remus snorted at him. "And it could do a lot of good. Now if she and James get into a spat, they can spar out their differences instead of sending the entire ship into a frosty zone of poisonous stares and yelling matches."

Remus shook his head, letting out a small chuckle. Sirius leaned over and looked at Remus' map. "Oh and by the way, your chart's off."

-----------------------

Lily was alone in the galleys again. Cook was still in the kitchens, attempting to make some new type of bread, but she was all alone with wooden tables in the galleys. It was quiet, she could barely hear Cook in the other room, and there wasn't another pirate in sight. Lily set aside the broom she'd been using to clean the floor and leaned against the table's edge, fingering the dagger at her belt.

Touching the knife made her mind float to James. It had been three days since he'd let her come to shore with Remus, Sirius, and himself. She'd hardly talked to him since then, they'd each been centered around a certain area of the ship, having jobs of their own. It was only when they happened to be in the same area did he send her a bright smile. It wasn't often, though what James' had said before was true….it wasn't that big of a ship.

Lily smiled softly to herself. It had been nice, that night. In the company of three pirates and being in the pub, Lily wouldn't have originally thought it could be. She was glad to be proven wrong.

Lily felt the knife between her fingertips and ran her thumb up its blade, noticing her reflection glint in the metal. Red hair had grown longer and brighter in the weeks on the sea. Her skin had lost it's pale white tone, and now was tainted brown with tan. Her smile was bright and her green eyes glittered with more awareness now than they ever had. At that moment another shadowy reflection joined hers in the knife's blade and Lily gasped and whirled. She was so startled she thrust forward with the knife.

Luckily James Potter had fast reflexes and managed to grab her wrist, avoiding the knife and forcing her to drop it to the floor. The same motion brought Lily forward and with her back up against his broad chest. Lily yelped and looked up. James dropped her wrist , fixing her with an uneasy smile.

"And here I'd thought we'd come to some understanding." He told her calmly. Lily looked up at him, her neck having to crane to really see him.

"I didn't know that our 'understanding' meant you could sneak up on me whenever it pleased you, Captain Potter." Lily replied, feeling his chest move with internal laughter against her back.

"Perhaps if you hadn't been admiring your face in the blade of a deadly weapon you would've heard me come in, or at least say your name." He told her pleasantly.

Lily frowned at him, not sure how to respond. "Just because you spend more time looking over your shoulder than in a mirror does not mean that I'm bound to the same fate." She told him, moving away and turning around to face him properly.

Part of her expected James' face to storm over, and him to growl at her like he had the first time she'd mentioned his suspicious habit. But the only change was a flicker in his eyes, before James' let his smile widen. "Now how do you know I don't look into a mirror, Miss Evans?" He asked lightly.

"Well for one thing there's dirt on your chin." James brushed his fingers against his chin in surprise. "And for another, your hair looks as messy as if you'd come down from the crow's nest."

James blinked at her. "For your information, it is not dirt, it's ink." Lily snorted, hiding a smile. "And for another, I can't help how my hair is. I was born with the curse. Just as you were born with a very stubborn will."

Lily wrinkled her nose at him. "Very flattering, I assure you, Captain." She bent over to pick up the knife that was lying near her feet. James leaned against the table, watching as she straightened and wiped the dagger's blade on her shirt.

"That tool would serve a better purpose if you actually learned how to use it." James began slowly. Lily looked up at him, but James was staring at the opposite wall.

"I can throw it…"Lily told him, feeling somewhat foolish as the words came out of her mouth.

James shrugged. "Throwing it won't do a lick of good if you need to defend yourself."

Lily blinked at him. "When would I need to defend myself?" She questioned. I'm not planning on going to any ship he decides to rob, and how often do I leave this ship where I'd be around people that I would need to defend myself against, she wondered silently. Besides that, James wouldn't let any of the pirates on this ship get away with anything. Since she'd been on the ship she'd noticed that no one questioned him, no one thought twice about what he asked them to do. She hoped that James' would've already made sure she'd never have problems with anyone on his ship. Since none of the pirates had ever been truly cruel to her, she assumed that was the case.

James blinked and looked at her. "You never know. One minute you could be sailing on clear waters, the next a storm is raging around you."

Lily shivered, remembering her experience with a raging storm quite vividly. "Would you like to?" James' voice cut into her thoughts.

Lily looked at him. "Like to…?"

"Learn. How to use that knife…and a sword." James asked, holding her eyes with his. His face was serious, mouth firm and eyes dark. "Would you like to learn how to defend yourself?" He repeated.

"You-you'd teach me?" Lily asked, confused.

James nodded, a small smile spread across his lips.

Lily looked down at the knife. "Learn, how to fight?" She looked back up at him. "Like a pirate?"

James cocked his head. "Like a fighter. Pirates, Royal Guards learn the same basics. It's just how you…expand them that makes the differences."

Lily turned her head, contemplating. On one hand it could be fun. And it would be safer, to learn how to protect herself. Just in case, she thought.

On the other hand, she was still the daughter of the Duke, wasn't she? The niece of a king shouldn't be taking lessons on fighting from a pirate. The proper thing to do would be to find a way off the ship. That's what her father and her uncle would say.

Well I'm certainly not my father or my uncle, Lily concluded. And I suppose I'm not that proper anymore either. She looked back at James. "Yes."

He blinked at her, surprised. "Um…what?"

"Yes. I want to learn." She frowned slightly. "Unless you changed your mind already…"

"No." He said quickly. "No…I just thought you'd take a…bit longer to decide…but that's fine…if you're sure…?"

Lily nodded. "Okay." James breathed standing up and beginning to back up to the door. "How does later this afternoon sound?" He suggested. "To train." He said to her confused face.

Lily smiled and nodded. "Okay." James repeated, nodding his head and smiling. Lily chuckled and James grinned at her, turning and leaving the galleys as quickly as he'd come in.

Lily looked back down at the dagger in her hands. This should be interesting, she thought to herself. Very interesting.

----------------------------

Lily slowly pushed open the door to James' cabin. She knocked as she entered, cautiously this time, in case of any flying daggers. Lily scanned the room. It was even messier than before, if that was possible. But the center of the room was clear of any debris. Lily stepped more into the room, the fading light of the afternoon drifted from the wide window. She glanced around and saw James coming from standing near a case. He cast her a glance and pulled the sword out of his belt. She noticed some other weapons on his desk as he walked up and placed the newest one beside the others. He looked at her up and down and grinned.

"Are you sure about this, Miss Evans?" He questioned.

Lily cocked an eye. "You were the one that suggested it."

James smiled wider. "So I did." He agreed softly. "Well come on then, you've got to meet your tools before you use them."

Lily had to step over some rolled up maps to get to the desk. She chanced a glance around the room. "You need to clean." She told him pointedly.

James had opened his mouth to start, but stopped to look at her. "What?" He asked.

She looked at him. "You need to clean this room. It's a mess. How do you find anything?"

"That's not the point of why you're here right now." James pointed out.

"No…but that doesn't change the fact that its a mess. Why don't you clean it up?" Lily asked him, glancing around again. It was messier than her playroom as a child had ever been.

James wrinkled his nose at her in a frustrated way. "I know where everything is…it's a system."

"A system?"

"Yes a system. So don't go thinking about mixing it all up by…cleaning." James told her. "It's clean enough for my liking."

"Didn't your mother teach you to keep things tidy?" Lily asked him.

James frowned at her. "Do you want to learn how to fight or not?"

"I do."

"Then button that lip of yours and pay attention." He told her abruptly. Lily made a face, but let the argument drop. She had decided in the past couple hours that she really did want to learn, and was excited about the prospect. If she had to bite her lip to keep her ideas in her mouth, then she'd do it….at least for now. Later she'd let James have it. She smiled slightly, focusing on what James was saying.

"There's a few different kinds of swords." He pointed to a thicker bladed sword. "That's a rapier, it's mainly used for thrusting at an opponent." He directed her eyes to a thinner blade. "That's a cutlass, it can cut through any thick rope, but is short enough where you could fight in close proximity . I use this one more often." He picked up his own personal sword. Slightly longer than the others, it had a thin blade and brown handle, accustomed to his grip.

Lily was looking at what else was on the desk. A long knife and a short one, two of each. An ax, smaller than she'd seen before, and a pistol that was dark and lined with a silver color. She reached to touch it but James snatched it up.

"No, you're not learning how to use that…at least not yet." He told her, setting the gun aside.

Lily looked at him. "Why not?"

He eyed her levelly. "Because. You're also not here to learn about how to use that." He pointed to the ax. "Unless you want to also learn how to board other ships." Lily send him a frown and James nodded. "That's what I thought. Here." He handed her the cutlass and she nearly dropped it, unaccustomed to the weight it had. Heavier and longer than the dagger she'd been handling, she felt awkward holding it in her right palm.

"You'll get used to it." James told her, showing her his own sword in his grip. "Now hold it like this." He carefully directed her fingers into their rightful position, until Lily stood with the sword pointed diagonal across her body. James looked at her oddly. "You don't have to stand at attention. This isn't the your uncle's army." He informed her. Lily let her arm fall so the sword was pointed down toward the ground. "The first thing you learn is to parry."

"Why?" She asked.

James looked at her and sighed. "Nosy." He told her for no reason in particular. Lily sent him a look and he continued, "Because that's the way you defend yourself against the opponents blows."

"What about actually fighting him?" Lily asked.

"If he's attacking you, and you can protect yourself so he doesn't get a blow in then you win without having to attack him in return. You're learning how to defend yourself, not how to kill someone else."

Lily watched him. "Will I learn both?"

"You'll need both, eventually." James agreed. "But first you're going to learn how to parry. Blade up, Lily."

No Miss Evans anymore, Lily thought agreeably, lifting up the sword. He continued to go back and forth with the names, but more often then not she was getting "Lily" instead of the accustomed "Miss Evans". She liked it better, Lily was her name, "Miss Evans" just sounded like an old maid somewhere. And she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of James calling her by an old maid name.

James set aside his sword and lifted her elbow and angled her sword just so. It fell across her, away from her body, the flat part of the blade facing James. He picked up his sword.

"Now when an opponent comes at you, like this." He moved abruptly toward her, blade out. Lily yelped, and stumbled backwards, dropping the sword. James had stopped almost a foot from Lily and was looking at her in an exasperated way.

"Well you certainly don't do that." He told her roughly.

"You hadn't told me what to do, how was I supposed to know?" She argued. "And besides, you didn't tell me you were going to attack me."

"I wasn't actually going to meet your blade." He argued back with her as she bent and picked up her sword. "Rule number one, don't ever ever drop your sword." Lily nodded and positioned her sword again. James sighed. "Let's try again. I'm not going to attack you." He warned her this time. Lily nodded, tightening her grip on the sword. "When his blade comes down." James brought the blade slowly down toward her with one hand. "You put your sword like this." With his other hand he took her arm and angled it up so that the flat side hit his blade. There was a soft clang of metal and Lily blinked.

"You understand that?" James asked. Lily nodded. "Then try it." He brought his sword down, a little faster and Lily hit it with her blade's side, feeling it reverberate through her arm. James nodded. "Again." He told her.

Orders, more orders, Lily thought to herself. Her thoughts must have translated to her face. James' lips tightened and brought his sword down a little faster. Lily caught it, but as she did, James twisted his sword and the sword was ripped from her hand. In the same movement that pushed the sword away from her, Lily felt her body turn and James other hand yanked her arm so she was up against him, his sword at her throat in a matter of seconds.

Lily held back a gasp, afraid that if she made the slightest move the blade would cut her throat. She needn't have worried, the blade was inches from her throat, but Lily swore she could feel the steel against her skin. James' breath was hot in her ear as he spoke, "That'll happen if you're not careful, Lily. If you don't concentrate and learn it so its second nature then you're going to end up with a sword or knife at your throat. They don't mess around, pirates that is. If you think about something else while you fight, you're dead. You have to be focused entirely on staying alive, because you can bet he'll be focused entirely on killing you."

Lily held her breath, feeling her heart pound in her chest, too afraid to look up at James. His grip on her arm hadn't loosened, nor had his sword dropped yet.

"You have to think quick, and you can't treat it like an art, like a hobby as some of those guards of your uncle's who flaunt their swords for show do. You have to want to stay alive, want to know it. You can't second guess it, can't not concentrate on it. And you can't pretend like you'll get a second chance, because that is not guaranteed. Do you understand?" He asked her.

Lily barely inclined her head and James let her arm go, dropping his sword as well. Lily stumbled away from him and looked at him, with a look of half horror in her eyes. James just stood there, his face relaxed, his eyes serious. This wasn't a game to him, Lily realized, this isn't some favor, some whim. It's important, to him. It should be important to me, just as serious and important.

Lily remembered standing in her uncle's castle one summer and watching the men train and spar in the courtyard. They had pretty ways of fighting, interesting designs they danced with their feet and swords. But when it all came down to it, they were just making a show of it. James wasn't teaching her pretty, theater fighting, he was teaching her the real thing, the thing that actually kept you alive.

Lily nodded again, meeting James' eye. "I understand." She whispered to him.

She saw his shoulders relax and he gave her a small smile. "Oh, and don't be so rigid and stiff. That won't help your fluid movements." He told her.

Lily nodded, not needing to fight a smile. This wasn't a smiling matter, not right now. Right now she was learning how to stay alive, if she ever needed it. James let out a breath. "Ready to try that again?"

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Remus pushed Sirius in the shoulder as he tried to catch a glimpse of James and Lily's practice session. Sirius has been a horrible influence on me, Remus decided as he crouched with his friend at the door of James' cabin, watching the drama on the inside. Lily was getting better and quicker by every passing moment. And she wasn't treating it like a hobby anymore, she was treating the training, the sword itself, as a tool. Of course, James had a hand in that. Remus had almost lost it when he'd seen James grab Lily and put his sword to her throat. If it hadn't been for Sirius he might very well have run in there and pummeled his friend himself. He hadn't heard what James had told Lily, but whatever it was, Remus guessed it had an affect on the girl. She was watching James like a student to a teacher, not a friend to a semi-friend.

Remus and Sirius watched as Lily caught James' sword with her parry above and then to the side, then again above. Faster each time. James was, of course, still faster, but then again he was James, and to Lily's credit she was starting to be able to keep up with him. Of course James was going slower than he normally would've, but still there was obvious improvement in the time that the First and Second Mate had been crouched at the door watching, allowing their legs to fall into a tingly sleep.

"She's getting good." Sirius muttered softly as Lily blocked a difficult downward blow from James.

Remus winced as James hooked her sword and sent it flying out of Lily's hand. "He's not letting her get confident though, is he?"

"Confidence and cockiness are two entirely different things." Sirius pointed out. "She's getting the confidence, he just doesn't want her to think she can do anything quite yet." He glanced at Remus over his shoulder. "Don't you remember him doing that to us a couple times?"

Remus snorted. "He still does it to us, even though we're no longer wet-behind-the-ears adolescents."

Sirius chuckled, then looked thoughtful. "Wonder why James suggested it…to train Lily." Sirius studied the scene before him. Lily had picked up her sword again and was positioning her blade. "Obviously to defend herself…"

"There's more." Remus said matter-of-factly, studying how James struck at Lily's sword, a fleck of sweat dripping down his face, his lips turned slightly in a grin.

Sirius looked at him. "Do you think on that moonlight walk they had-"

Remus shook his head. "James is a fool, but he's not that kind of fool. And Lily…well she's related to royalty."

Sirius shrugged. "I've met plenty of people related to royalty and their morals were lower than dirt."

"Were they all wenches trying to seduce you?"

They watched the teacher and student a little longer before Remus felt his aching legs finally protest loudly. Groaning slightly he stood up, back away from the door. "Come on, Sirius. I don't want my legs to be permanently fixed in this position."

Sirius grumbled but followed his friend away from the door. The two men walked along the railing, scanning the sea. "Why do you think there's more to James' reasons?" Sirius asked Remus, leaning against the rail, watching the sun sending purples, pinks, reds, and oranges across the sky and horizon.

Remus studied the colors as well. "I don't know. I just think there is." He shook his head. "They're changing. They hated each other the moment James tied her to a contract. They bickered, yelled…"

"Don't forget threw potatoes." Sirius added.

"Yes that too. And then James let that boy go, then saved her…somehow he proved to Lily that maybe pirates weren't all that stories heard through closed doors makes them out to be. And that little detail, that small ray of hope in the storm…trust in the form of something as simple as a dagger…changed something between them. They'll still argue, but there'll be a point to it. They won't be trying to match will with each other to see who'll break first, they'll do it to understand each other. And it'll matter more, each argument, anything that comes out of it, each small measure of trust that one gives the other. It's going to matter more than ever now. To each of them."

Sirius watched Remus, eyes widening, a secret realization seeming to dawn on him. "You think they're falling in love."

"I didn't say that." Remus pointed out. "I can't say that…not yet."

"James' theory of love is mixed up and matched to the wrong star in the sky." Sirius argued. "But that doesn't mean he can't-"

"I didn't say that either." Remus broke in. "James could…he just won't…at least not yet."

"So you're saying they're growing closer." Sirius said slowly. "But not falling in love."

Remus sighed and looked at his friend. "Sirius, if a wench fell in love with you, would you fall in love with her the moment she said it to your face?"

Sirius shook his head. "No…but Lily's no wench."

"I know that. Here's my point. Something has to give for someone to admit they're in love. Giving someone a dagger, telling them your life story doesn't cut it, not even a kiss will. It's something big that breaks that ice."

Sirius bit his lip. "How big?"

Remus let out a breath and averted his eyes to the long horizon stretching out in behind them. "Big." He told Sirius. "Bigger than anything that has ever happened."

I hope it wasn't too confusing toward the end or anything :) Please tell me if it was so I can go edit/fix it to make it more understandable. Hope you guys liked it, I'm plannig on updating as soon as I can, but since my scheduale is forever changing, I don't know when exactly that will be. Until then, please review and give me your thoughs :) Thanks