Chapter 3

Alfred suddenly heard someone coming down the stairs to the brig where he sat. He had a glimmer of hope that someone was coming to give him food and water but at the same time he didn't know if he could trust these pirates not to poison him. After all, you never know when someone is going to poison you. It is just so easy to slip something in someone's food or drink and it's something Alfred always kept a wary eye out for. Alfred was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw none other than the captain. He had so many questions for him. Why had he been kidnapped? What is going to happen to him now? Where is he? Where are they going?

Alfred shot the captain with his best glare, which didn't look very menacing at all. The captain met his gaze but unlike Alfred, Arthur's glare was downright poisonous. "Now I am becoming increasingly interested in your backstory. Normally I couldn't give a rat's ass about some pathetic prisoner's life but I cannot ignore your hands. So who are you? An escaped criminal? An escaped slave?" "..." Alfred couldn't think of anything to say. No matter what horrors might lie ahead he did not want to go back to the asylum. Nothing could be worse. He couldn't risk Arthur finding out who he really is.

"I don't do backstory." Alfred stated while breaking eye contact and looking down. He was nervous. "It's really none of your business and it doesn't matter anyway" he continued. "Wrong answer." Arthur hissed as he unlocked the brig and stepped inside. Alfred didn't flinch. He figured the captain wouldn't take kindly to not being given the information he demanded but that was just too bad. Before he could react he was slapped hard across the face and kicked in the stomach harshly when he fell to the ground.

Alright, now Alfred was pissed. Now he wanted to piss the captain off so he spat out some blood and stood up and met the captain's gaze yet again as if nothing had happened. Nothing would piss the man off more than not being given what he wanted and currently the captain wanted him to be cowering in fear. He was right. This did piss the captain off. This man was clearly used to dealing with fragile people who would easily submit after being threatened. Alfred was strong though and it was fun to piss off people he didn't like. He couldn't help but flash him a small satisfied smirk. Fuck this guy. Alfred was about to have the time of his life pissing him off as much as possible. Nobody broke Alfred. Five years at the asylum and he still had a fighting spirit. If that didn't break him nothing could.

Arthur noted the challenging smirk Alfred had flashed him and he did not like it one bit. This idiot needed to learn his place. He was the great Captain Arthur Kirkland and he would not tolerate being disrespected by this random prisoner. If Alfred wanted to play games then games they would play. Arthur decided he wasn't going to bother just hitting or kicking him again because it was clear that he would just get back up to piss him off. He had to be strategic about this. He was going to be the winner and this Alfred guy would cower before Captain Kirkland like all the others in due time.

Let the games begin.

Arthur paced around his cabin thinking. How was he going to break his newest prisoner? Everyone is different and that means that each person has a few specific things that will be sure to destroy them. He just had to figure out what Alfred was afraid of. What were his sore spots? His weaknesses if you will. Whatever his backstory was, that was certainly a sore spot but the boy refused to tell him about himself. Looks like he was going to have to force it out of him. Arthur was dying to know who Alfred really was. What is his last name for starters? Come to think of it, Alfred knew his whole name yet he didn't know Alfred's! Why was the boy so secretive anyway? There's no way he is as high profile of a criminal as Arthur since he'd never heard about him. So why is he so secretive? What is he hiding? Alfred did not appear to be rich by any stretch given his attire and the fact that someone had ripped off all his fingernails. Why would he hide being a slave either? It's not like his future would be much different now since Arthur did plan on selling him off once he was bored of toying with him.

After thinking to himself for a while as he was pacing around his cabin, Arthur decided his next course of action. He would start out with a good old fashioned interrogation session. Arthur loved dishing out a good beating and he loved getting what he wanted, which at the moment was Alfred's backstory. So basically the whole situation would be a win. A sinister grin spread its way across Arthur's face as he walked over to his desk. In his top drawer he found exactly what he was looking for. He pulled out a rolled up whip and a small knife out. The knife was once silver but now it was stained with remnants of dried blood from previous victims. Yes, these would do the job perfectly. Alfred had no idea what was coming to him. No one defied the great Arthur Kirkland and that is something Alfred would soon learn.

Arthur made his way down the stairs to the bottom of the ship all the way down to the brig. "Get up" he hissed while glaring at Alfred who was laying on the ground, most likely sleeping. Either that or he was sulking. When Alfred didn't stir he unlocked the door and slammed it open with a loud bang and as he stepped inside. Then Arthur roughly kicked him in the stomach.

Alfred jolted awake, coughing harshly after being kicked in the stomach. "What the fuck do you want!?" he hissed while glaring up at Arthur. "Can't you tell I was sleeping?" Alfred complained. "Oh I can clearly tell, you see, I just don't care" Arthur replied with a smirk. "Now we have a few pressing matters to discuss," he continued. "I am willing to give you one more chance to tell me what I want to know. Who are you?" Arthur asked once again while narrowing his eyes at Alfred. This time however he pulled the blood stained knife out of his pocket and grinned as Alfred's eyes widened slightly. But just as quickly as they widened they narrowed with rage.

What did this guy want anyway? Who does he think he is? Alfred's backstory is none of his business and simply pulling out a knife was no way to successfully threaten Alfred. It takes more than a dirty knife to scare a hero. "I said it's none of your business" Alfred repeated while glaring up at the captain before continuing "besides, what does it matter anyway? Does my backstory affect what you are going to do next or do you just like sticking your nose in other people's business?".

How dare this man talk to him like that. Arthur bent down and grabbed a handful of Alfred's hair and roughly pulled him up to eye level. "You best learn to respect your captain boy" he hissed. "Now then Captain I would spit in your face for pulling my hair but I wouldn't want to waste my spit on you" Alfred quipped while flashing him an aggressive version of a million dollar smile. Quickly the captain stood up and dragged the other up by his hair before harshly slamming him into the wall. Pure rage filled all of Arthur's senses as he released Alfred's hair only to quickly wrap both hands around his neck to choke him as hard as he could. He would wipe that smug expression off Alfred's face if it was the last thing he ever did.

In an attempt to get some air into his lungs Alfred began desperately clawing at the hands wrapped clasped around his throat that were cutting off his oxygen supply. The only issue was Alfred had no claws- Jeff had pulled off all of his fingernails not three days earlier. Each attempt to get the captain to release his grip around his neck hurt and he felt his exposed nail beds begin to bleed again from the aggravation.

Watching Alfred scramble to try and pry his hands off of his neck with his injured hands certainly was amusing. "Tsk Tsk if only you had nails you might be able to make me let go but you unfortunately don't, so I wonder how long it will take for you to pass out." Arthur said in a mocking tone as continued to choke Alfred, digging his thumbs into his windpipe causing Alfred's mouth to open in a desperate attempt to gasp for air. Alfred's struggling was weakening after being denied air for about a minute. His hands were bleeding and his eyelids began to droop as he got closer and closer to actually passing out due to a lack of oxygen.

Right at the last second before Alfred passed out Arthur released his grip around his neck and he immediately fell to his knees hacking and coughing while gasping for air. As Alfred was on the ground wheezing Arthur kneeled down and pulled out his knife this time. Once again Arthur pulled Alfred up by the hair to meet his gaze, this time pointing the knife at his neck dangerously. Instinctively Alfred began trying to pry Arthur's hand out of his hair due to the pain but it was to no avail. Alfred's glare was ruined by his watery eyes due to his brush with passing out. For once he couldn't think of anything clever to say. He was sure the captain was trying to intimidate him though and Alfred decided he would spite the captain. He wasn't quite afraid but he sure was pissed. Alfred didn't even do anything to him and this guy was being a major asshole. I mean, who kidnaps someone just for bumping into them by accident? This guy apparently.

"Well I am still waiting on those answers. I'll make it easy. Let's start with your full name." Arthur asked with an air of smugness surrounding him. He was having a great time messing with Alfred. "..." Alfred didn't know what to say. Nobody asked him his full name in a very long time. He was quickly snapped out of his confusion when he was harshly punched in the face. He felt the blood dripping down his nose and he hoped it wasn't broken. Fixing a broken nose, especially your own broken nose, would suck. "Well?! You are testing my patience." Arthur hissed. To that Alfred could only smirk since he had come up with something to say. "You seem to be seriously lacking in the patience department. What's the matter? Can't control your temper?" Alfred laughed while ignoring the stream of blood pouring from his nose down his face. It began as a small chuckle then morphed into a giddy laugh. He certainly was pissing the captain off and that was utterly hilarious. The only issue is Alfred couldn't care less about the consequences of his actions. Being so apathetic towards life tends to do that to people, so he couldn't help but laugh at the gravity of his situation.

"Alright. I've had it with you and your bullshit. Now you are going to find out what happens to those that defy me. I've given you plenty of chances to answer my questions and you have done nothing but laugh in my face." Arthur hissed without acknowledging the comment regarding his temper. He roughly kicked Alfred in the stomach again before leaving the cell and slamming the door shut. Arthur turned to glare at Alfred, who looked pathetic laying on the floor with blood dripping down his face and from his fingers but he couldn't help but notice the ever present stubbornness to his spirit. He would be a hard one to break.

A/N: I wanted to post this chapter last night but I was a bit drunk and I wanted to make sure I had a chance to properly edit it for you guys. Hopefully I corrected all of the grammatical errors. Aside from that, there is now the beginnings of a plot! I will be updating again in the next few days once I come up with more ideas.

L