A/N: For all of you that guessed 16-you are absolutely incorrect! To all of you that guessed 13, however- are absolutely correct! And all of you get cookies if you guessed right! ;) Well, this chapter… hm… I will let you guys be the judge of it. Wow… I checked how many times this story has been hit, and it is waaay more than what I get in reviews. If you guys don't like it, tell me. I won't mind. If you love it, tell me. If you think I need some work on some things, TELL ME. That is the only way I will advance in my writing skills. ;)

Disclaimer: This plot, my characters, and my cookies that I had once owned-belong to me. Everything else belongs to JKR.

Chapter Four: Dimmed Faces in the Background

"To our fabulous second in command, James Potter, for capturing the two people that will bring us the most money."

Cheers were heard amongst the vast smudge of fuzzy faces. "Now, we will all split the rewards, no worries mates. But I would like to introduce you to one of our captives. Let me tell you, she is quite a looker."

The Black Ship's crew was silent as the black veil covering my sleeping mind was unveiled roughly. Light penetrated through my eyelids and I was forced to open them. My gaze hazily drifted around James' crew, my head slightly bobbing from the mistreatment I had been put through. Their captain, Sirius Black as I had come to know, had treated Adam and I cruelly; to the contrary of how we had treated James aboard our ship. Not once had I had a bit of meat while aboard the Black Ship. We were given seven glasses of water each day, stale bread, and molded cheese that I had to plug my nose to eat. Adam was treated worse... He received daily beatings from James and/or Sirius. They had once made me watch them torture him, saying that they wanted me to know just what would happen to me if I didn't behave...

"Isn't she just darling?" James said as he pinched my cheeks, causing his peers to laugh and mimic him. With the spit I had managed to conjure in my mouth I lunged it at his face, hitting him squarely in the eyes. He wiped off the remaining spit from his face that had not already drizzled down. "She is a feisty one too, mind you."

"Oh, but we adore feisty ones." Sirius interjected, his tone drawled and happy.

"That we do." Returned the hazel eyed man thoughtfully. Sleep was slowly being lifted from my head while being replaced with dizziness and fatigue. I scarcely felt the ropes bound around my hands and feet. Scarcely saw Adam in the dim lighting of the night, and scarcely saw that he had been tied to a pillar to the side of me. I wasn't positive, but I groggily found out that I, myself, was tied to a pillar, my hands bound to the back of it.

"Fortunately, she has also brought her most precious best friend, Robert Adam Wedower, to accompany us on this voyage back to England. I have already sent out a randsom note for both these royals." A blurry James came into my vision once more. "And to think, you hated the one thing that would become."

My mind was too fatigued to say a comment back, I just took his verbal beatings upon me lately...

"Oh yes, let us not forget that Miss Lillian Evans here decided to become a pirate!" Said James while he turned back to the crowd. "A pirate!" He threw his head back mocking me by laughing. "A female pirate? I had never heard of such a thing until Miss Lillian decided to show me that woman were as equal as men."

My body was so tired, so hungry, that my burning rage did not give me energy to resist their mocking laughter that ensued James' speech. "But Prongs! Let's not forget that she gave up all that money to become something she never had the talent to be!" The one thing I absolutely hated in this world was being told what I can, and what I can't do.

My vision was too hazy to see if James threw Sirius an amused glance or not. "Very true, Padfoot." I saw his silhouette turn towards Adam, and my mind barely registered that he was going to mock Adam next.

"Stop it." I said, remembering the last time I had said that to James. That time seemed so long ago that it did . A time when Adam and I had full stomachs and wine…

Sirius' shadow turned towards me now as James did. "Stop? Stop putting you two in your place? Dear Lillian, you ran a mediocre ship that needed, no had, to be destroyed. Do you not see? Your ship, this Avenger, was making a shadow over the famous pirate names. It was not a shadow that I liked, either; so, I wanted to dispose of you. But! Little did I know that you were the famous dead princess from Ireland; such a coincidence in my favor."

"I'm not who you're looking for." I managed to breathe out, my lungs and tongue throbbing from the exertion of speaking. My chapped lips cracked as I tasted blood in my mouth.

James snorted. "Whatever you want to think, little pretty." His body looked as if the lines of his whole body were drawn in pencil, then sloppily erased, leaving it blurry beyond words. "Now, for your dear friend Adam, he pretended to be a native Irish man to become your friend before you two were to be married."

Married? But I was to be married to Robert, not Adam… "You're wrong." I said, cringing as my lung throbbed in protest to my speaking. "He… Adam isn't Prince Robert. We knew each other since the age of-"

"Eight, isn't it? Such a convenient time for your friend to show up unexpectedly at the palace. And then to be welcomed in with open arms? Come now, what foolish common boy gets accepted into the royal palace when he comes begging to live there?"

Adam was… Adam was Robert. Adam was the one thing that I despised in this God forsaken world. He was an Englishman; the reason that I hated Englishmen…

Nay, my best mate could have told me he was an Englishman; Adam wasn't the kind of man that kept secrets from me. It just wasn't his nature to do such a thing, especially to me.

"You're lying." I forced myself to say for my throat was now throbbing also.

"I'm so sorry, Lily." The person to my right said. He didn't…he couldn't be Robert. I guessed that was all he could manage to say as Adam… Robert passed out cold still being tied to the pillar in a standing up position.

My mind was reeling over everything that had happened in such a way that was not meant to be. James… I didn't even want to think about him. Besides, I had tried to strain my eyes to see the blurry figures before me too much that I had gotten a headache the pounded against my skull. I closed my tired and bloodshot eyes, leaning against the one thing that gave me support: the pillar. How ironic that a pillar would fulfill my support need at the moment.

My mouth was too dry to speak as I heard James snort at my pathetic figure. "Men, we will have our million pounds as soon as we get back to England!" The traitor-did I even have a right to call him that?-yelled to his men in delight, and obviously, he was rewarded with jubilant cheers and "Hail James!" from the crowd. They treated him like a king when he did not deserve to be treated as such. That bloody man deserved to rot somewhere in jail or the seas. Preferably the seas where strange creatures lived and would torture James as he did Adam.

As I was mentally planning his death, Sirius had continued his speech. My mind drifted in and out of it, so I got random pieces of different topics.

"-We could kill that bitch and be done with it-" I heard from one crewmember as I grinned cynically, my eyes closed in a dream-like state.

"-we could make her walk the plank!" Was what I heard from another, and I mentally snorted at the coincidence that they were thinking of doing the same treatment to me as I had wanted to do to James. Except, these men would probably kill me without a second thought.

While James and Sirius had went down into the crowd flinging beer everywhere, I shakily turned towards Adam. His silhouette was slumped forward, and for a brief moment I thought him dead. "Adam…" I barely managed to whisper hoarsely.

"Lily…" At least he was awake...

My blurry vision managed to scrounge up an image of a silver gleaming object in Adam's hands. He was breaking his ropes… he was going to set us free! What from there? Would we try to take the Black Ship by force? We were in no condition to do anything physically, or mentally, that would challenge us.

"We're never going to make it." I whispered throatily; we would never manage to survive, we would die within ten seconds. I barely had the strength to make out Adam's sudden stop of movement. "Adam…" I whispered desperately. "Adam, come on. We have to think; help me brainstorm."

But his now limp looking body did not respond to my pleas. "Adam… Come on, mate. You have to get up; I don't want to be stuck in this ship alone." Anxiety was fueling my energy level dramatically to the point were I could speak more fluently. "Don't leave me alone. Come back…" He wasn't dead. He... he couldn't be dead. Adam wasn't the type to leave me all alone. I would see his dark blue eyes again, see his wavy black hair fall into his eyes one more time... I was sure I would see his dimples as he laughed... sure I would see his sarcastic grin turned my way soon... We would laugh about this when it was all over...

My shoulders sagged as silent tears formed their way down my cheeks onto my chin and dropping onto the light wood beneath my weak feet. Adam-Robert-was gone. The one person that was my lifeline to reality, was dead...

Adam and I had so many good times together; we had always laughed when recalling the carrot god incident, or we had just laughed whenever we felt like it. It may seem weird to some woman to have a man as a best mate, but that never once occurred to me when Adam was alive.

He was the one person I could look to for guidance, for help to release my anger; the one person I could have relied on to tell my secret. But truthfully, Adam had known all along... all along… And he had not told a soul. He would not have followed me if he wasn't emotionally connected to me. I… I want my best mate back.

"Adam! Hurry! He is going to see us!" I giggled as we passed various corridors.

"I think…" Adam panted, trying to keep up with my steady run. "He… already has."

Sure enough, the two twelve year olds jumped as they heard their names being yelled at from clear across the castle grounds. "ADAM ROBERT!" They always attatched Adam's name to his middle name, and never his last name. "LILLIAN CLAIRE-MARIE EVANS!" That was definitely my mom. Eh, I would get away with it; just one puppy dog look, and it was all good. Adam wasn't as lucky as I was...

"It's a simple game of Truth or Dare. The rules are: if one person-"

"Yes, Lillian. We know the rules, let's just play!" Marian, a sixteen year old Irish diplomat's daughter, said excitedly.

"Okay… Adam, truth or dare?" I asked Adam, seeing his gray orbs go into thought.

"Truth…" He said reluctantly after a time.

"Who do you fancy?" Bellatrix, a lazy, spoiled, English daughter said lazily.

"I… um…" Adam trailed, glancing at me uncertainly. Even I did not know who he liked; he had always kept it a secret from me, his own best mate! "I… sort of… like… Lily…"

I was sure I was as red as a strawberry after he made his proclamation. Truth be told, I had a little crush on Adam too…

My vision was darkened even more as the black cloth was put around my head again. "Hey capin'." I heard James draw out with a mixture of sarcasm and amusement. "Robert here is dead."

A/N: So you like? You hate? You want to flame me so I can laugh pitifully at them? Well, then do so pronto! I know this chapter wasn't as long as all the other ones, but the next one will be longer! If anyone got confused on any of that... just tell me.

GSCer- Oh, look! You get a fabulous cookie! If you're confused in any way, I will clarify. ;)

Jingle-Bellz-ROCK- Ahh, but clifies/twists are very fun! (When I'm not the reader, mind you) Ooh, good guess on the age, but I'm actually 13, turning 14 March 25! I have a swim meet on your birthday. -tear- I won't be here to wish you happy birthday-even though I'm not exactly sure how I would-so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN ADVANCED!

The-one-and-only- Thank you! I need to check out that band. I'll go to Best Buy sometime this week. ;)

Erin- Very clever I must say! Yes, I am 13, and yes, I wanted to know if I could fool people. Heh heh.

peacock- Thank you! Cute name. ;)

Laura- Trust me, I have been worse. LOL. Don't worry, I won't quite this story! It is too much fun to write!

boiz- Thank you! I can't write THAT fast now. Haha.