So many good reviews! Yay :) Thanks so much for those! I finally got to the point where I could bring flashbacks back into the story. Who doesn't love flashbacks? Personally, I think this is one of the better chapters, but I want to know what y'all think.

And without further adieu, let the story continue! Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Maybe

Finn had never felt this miserable in his life. He didn't remember much about last night, but he knew it had been a lot of fun, maybe too much fun. Luckily for Finn, Philby didn't look much better.

"You two do remember where the ship is, right?" Finn heard Amanda ask from behind them. Finn and Philby were currently walking the streets of the coastal city towards the place where Captain Maybeck said his ship was docked. Dillard and the two girls were trailing a few feet behind them.

"Of course we do." Philby replied.

The directions to the ship were the only thing Finn remembered from last night, if he didn't count the fuzzy memory of threatening to kill Philby.

Finn and Philby continued to stumble along the streets for another twenty minutes or so when they heard a familiar scream down at the end of the nearby dock.

"WHY IS ALL THE RUM GONE?" The captain screamed at one of the crew members. He looked up, saw Finn and Philby and smiled, then returned to yelling at the crew member. "Why don't you go over there and explain to Phildweeb and Shark Fin why all the blasted rum is gone? We're going to be at sea for three days! We—" the captain pointed to Philby and Finn before pointing at himself "need a lot of rum!"

The crew member looked nervously between the three of them.

"I can go buy some more, if you'd like captain."

"Buy as much as you can!" He shoved the crew member in the direction of the city. "And hurry! We won't wait around forever!"

Once the crew member had gone out of sight, Captain Maybeck turned to the group of five and smiled.

"Boys! How ya shaping up this fine morning? I hate to tell you we ran out of rum." The captain quieted down and clasped his hands together, as if it was time for a moment of silent prayer. "But no worries! We'll be getting more! If you think last night was a party, just imagine what it'll be like out at sea!" Captain Maybeck glanced behind them. "So I see you brought your friends with you."

Maybeck walked past Philby and Finn, shortly introduced himself to Dillard and ended up in front of Willa.

"Captain Terry Maybeck, at your service." He did a little bow. "What's your name beautiful?"

Finn could feel Philby's anger from where he was standing.

Willa gave a short-lived, weak, sarcastic smile. "It's Lady Isabel to you, captain." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Ah, a member of the royal family. It's not everyday one of them wanders onto my ship. Pleasure to have you my lady." He winked at her, but Willa seemed unfazed by it. He moved on to Amanda.

"And why do you seem familiar?" He asked Amanda.

"I…I've never seen you before in my life." Amanda answered with a shaky voice.

"You sure sweetheart? I usually don't forget faces."

"You must be mistaking me for someone else."

"Got any sisters? A twin maybe?"

Before Amanda could answer, there was a large crash in the direction of the ship.

"Oh great! First the rum's gone, now the stupid lads are tearing up my ship! This trip ain't starting off so good." Captain Maybeck took one last skeptical look at Amanda turned to face the rest of the group. "What are you all waiting for? Let's get on the ship! We've got a long trip ahead of us!"

"Hey Finn! You look a lot better than you did this morning!" Captain Maybeck yelled down to Finn. The captain was currently at the giant steering wheel, singing "yo ho a pirate's life for me" and drinking a bottle of rum. "Come on up here kid! We've got to talk!" Finn climbed the stairs to where the captain was and stood next to him.

"Do you really have to call me kid? You're what? Twenty-one?"

"Twenty-three in five days, mind you." The captain turned around and handed Finn the bottle of rum. "And it's my ship, I do what I want."

"Aye, aye, captain." Finn accompanied that with a sarcastic salute.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated Shark Fin."

"Duly noted captain."

"So I must ask. Why are you headed off to the Florida kingdom?"

"I need the king & queen's help." Captain Maybeck laughed, confusing Finn.

Captain Maybeck turned around, saw Finn's confused look, and explained himself.

"You didn't hear? The king and queen were killed by assassins about half a year ago. Between me and you, I say it's Maleficent."

"So who's in charge over there?"

"Their daughter…what's her name…Charlie? Anyway, I doubt she'll help you. I hear she's trying to find herself a husband so that she can crank out a baby boy."

Finn suddenly remembered who he was talking about. He had heard the same tales of her beauty as all men had. It was common knowledge amongst the male population of California. "Why is she in such a hurry to do that? She can't be older than me!"

"Dang you're so far out of the loop that you might as well be on another planet right now!" Captain Maybeck shook his head at Finn's lack of knowledge. "She's twenty-two and the rumors say she's smoking hot." He turned his head and winked at him.

"So why wouldn't she help me?"

"'Cause unless you're a prince she ain't gonna pay a lick of attention to you."

Finn stifled a laugh. "Good thing I'm a prince then."

"Say what?" Captain Maybeck turned around so fast, that he ended up turning the wheel with him. Everyone on the top deck struggled to hold on while the captain fixed his mistake. After blaming his mistake on the "bloody rum", he ordered a crew member to take over and the two of them continued their conversation in the captain's quarters.

"You? A prince? Now why didn't that come up last night?"

"Well probably because we were drunk. Even if I had said it, you probably wouldn't remember."

"But you're...a prince? Of which kingdom?"

"California."

"Whoa there! All of the royals were killed by Maleficent and her guards."

"Obviously not! I'm standing right here!"

"Alright, I'll play along. So what does 'Prince Finn' need Queen Charlie for?"

"I need her army to help me take back the throne from Maleficent."

"You're planning on dethroning Maleficent?" Captain Maybeck leaned back in the chair behind his desk. "Interesting…"

Captain Maybeck took advantage of Finn's silence. He studied him. How could this guy be a prince? There's no way! Maybe it's worth giving him a shot. Getting in on the revenge could work in my favor. Maybe he could finally get some answers about the raid three years ago.

"Alright, I'm in." Captain Maybeck said, ending the silence.

"What?"

"I'm helping you take that throne of yours back."

"Why would you do that?" Finn shifted in his chair. "I didn't even ask that!"

"I've got my own reasons to want Maleficent out of here as much as the next Californian, but I think I could be a great resource to you. I've got control of the seas and in truth I'm awesome. I could take her all by myself, but since it's your throne, I'm assuming you'll want that part."

"Alright then."

"I think this is the part where you shake my hand."

Finn extended his hand and Captain Maybeck shook it.

"Welcome to royal army, Captain Maybeck."

"So when did you join the army?" Willa asked Philby. It was long past the time that everyone had gone to sleep, but the two were still up talking in Philby's cabin. They were both sitting on opposites of his bed, facing each other.

"On my eighteenth birthday. That was about five months before the raids."

"Were they really a surprise, like Maleficent claimed?"

"Maybe the higher ranking officers knew about them, but I had no clue."

Willa looked down at her hands, which were now in her lap. Philby cleared his throat and asked the question he had been wondering for some time now.

"What happened to you inside the castle those four years?"

"I was kept inside a cell."

"That was it? Did you ever talk to anyone?"

"Only Maleficent, and every once in a while the two guards outside my cell. And this other woman…" Willa felt her voice falter.

"Who was she?"

"I never learned her name, but every time she came into the cell…" Willa felt tears streaming down her face. "Every time she came into the cell, I knew I was about to be...tortured."

"They tortured you?" Philby could feel his heart breaking watching her cry. Why would someone so innocent and beautiful and good have to go through something so horrible? It's just not fair!

"Yes" was the only word Willa could say before the nightmares came back to her. She couldn't stop the tears falling down her cheeks.

Philby moved over right next to her and held her while she cried.

"Ssh…it's okay Willa. I'm right here." He rubbed her back for a few minutes before gaining the courage to say, "no one is ever going to hurt you ever again."

Willa pulled away and looked up at Philby with red eyes.

"How can you promise that?"

"Because you've got me to protect you from now on." Philby put his hand under her chin. "I'll be your knight in shining armor."

Philby leaned in and kissed her on the lips. If he could have frozen time in that moment, he would have, for it was perfect.

"Jess? Is that you?" Amanda sat up in bed. She had tried her hardest to stay up until her sister came home, but had failed.

"Yeah." Jess crawled into bed next to her sister.

"So how was it?"

"Oh Amanda, he's something else." Her smile as wide as could be.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Amanda had been skeptical of the whole ordeal and she wanted to make sure Jess knew it.

"Neither, it's a great thing!"

"So I'm assuming there's a second date coming up soon?"

"If he asked me to marry him today I'd say yes." Jess looked up at her sister with a smile. "Does that answer your question?"

"You're only sixteen sis, no need to get yourself married off quite yet! At least let me meet him first!"

"He's meeting me by the well just outside of town tomorrow around noon. I could get him to walk me back here, so you could meet him then!"

The dream shifts.

Amanda wasn't sure if she had ever seen Jess this excited to do anything work-related. The whole morning Jess had been singing while working.

Upon returning from getting water from the well, Amanda could see how happy she was. The young dark-skinned man at her side was carrying the water for her, which instantly made Amanda like him. She could tell that her sister was truly happy, and that was all that really mattered.

Jess called her sister over once she saw her watching them. The boy introduced himself as Terry. He was a gentleman and was very sarcastic, which Jess seemed to enjoy a lot. Overall he was a great guy. Amanda was so glad that her sister had found someone that truly made her happy.

Five weeks later, Jess was gone.

Amanda awoke with a startle. Not wanting to dream of her sister—or of anything—Amanda headed off to the top deck, what the captain had called the poop deck.

It had been almost three years since her sister had left her and every day she missed her more and more. Amanda was glad that Terry hadn't recognized her. She didn't want to have to explain to him that she was probably gone—but that she could never be sure.

Amanda wasn't sure how long she had been standing by the rails, but she started shivering. It was a surprisingly cold night.

She felt something fall onto her shoulder and she jumped.

"Ssh, don't freak out. It's just me." Amanda heard Finn whisper into her ear. "You looked cold, so I brought you the blanket from my bed."

Finn wrapped the blanket over her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her left shoulder.

"So what brings you to the poop deck in the middle of the night?"

"I had a bad dream."

"About what?"

"My sister." The fact that Amanda had answered that question puzzled her. She never talked about her sister. She never let anyone get close to her. How come when Finn was around, it was like her barriers were falling down all around her? Stop it Amanda, she scolded herself. You know what happens when you let down your barriers. They are there for a reason. Don't let Finn in. You don't want to lose him too.

"What happened in the dream?"

It was as if the conversation Amanda had just had in her head with herself had never happened. Amanda ended up spilling the whole story about her sister Jess: how she was different than other people, like Amanda herself was, how she was forced into Maleficent's court for unknown reasons almost three years ago, and how she was probably dead.

Finn listened without saying a word. When Amanda was finished, he kissed her on the cheek.

"We're going to find your sister Amanda."

He didn't tell her he was sorry, he didn't ask any questions, he just said that simple, short sentence. That short sentence was exactly what Amanda needed to hear.

Maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe it would be okay if she let her barriers down for him. Maybe.

So what did y'all think?

If you're a "Charbeck" fan, stick with me here. Maybeck's got a complicated storyline. It'll all make sense in time!

Speaking of Charlene, next chapter is where the queen makes her big debut!

Read & please review! I love reading them!