Dual Fates Part 13
Sanctuary's End
By
Sailor Janus

Hotaru frowned in confusion over the lives they had seen. Something was just not adding up. She stared at Duo who seemed too focused on the ground to really notice her. "Duo."

The braided haired young man's head snapped up and he looked at her curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Something is off. Think about it. All these lives makes sense, yeah, but they are repeats in some form or another."

He paused for a moment. "Sacrifice. We've given up everything for others."

"Then how do we know that this is really real if everything since the beginning is focused on only one element? In life even if there are multiple, not everything has to be repeated. Even destiny can change. So why is it up to us each time to give up our lives?" Hotaru began to pace as her thoughts continued to run in circles in her mind. "What if this isn't real at all? What if we aren't really dead and that everything that seems to have happened didn't actually?"

Duo gaped at her. "But how…" He furrowed his brow and began to pace as well. "Then how did we get here? Have we been asleep the whole time or something?"

"I don't know. Think. Do you remember anything outside of these odd memories?"

"White. A white room."

She nodded slowly, her violet eyes darkening as she considered the room carefully. "Like a hospital… or-"

"A lab," Duo cut in. "But… damn it. Damn it to hell and back…. Someone made us their guinea pigs."

Hotaru chewed on her lip and studied her hands carefully. "Now the question is how do we get out of here."

"I don't know but at least we aren't dead after all."

"Yeah, but we're trapped in a cage that we don't seem to have a way to escape."

"True." A smirk suddenly appeared on Duo's face.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you planning?"

"Care to write a story? This could be a best seller."

"I'm not following."

Duo sighed and folded his arms behind his head. "Simple. They're trying to fill our head with what is basically a bunch of stories so why don't we try to do a little role playing." He paused and blinked at her confused expression then sighed as he dragged a hand over his eyes and down his face. "Don't tell me you have never played a video game before."

Hotaru flinched. "Can't say that I have."

"Okay, with a role playing game better known as an RPG you have several characters thrown together in a story. What we're going to do is write our own stories and see if we can get whatever the hell device that is being used to keep us here to malfunction and hopefully we can get out of here."

Her violet eyes brightened as she ran the idea over in her mind. "That just might work. So where do we start first?"

He scratched his chin in thought. "How about this? You can be a girl of some sort and I'll be a pirate. They haven't pulled that on us yet."

"A pirate story?" Hotaru chewed on her lip as she thought it over. "Okay so how do we begin this?"

Duo grinned. "Let's start it off with…"

The salty ocean water lapped lazily against the sides of Deathscythe as the fierce pirate, the dreaded Captain Drake "Death" Reeves stood at the helm. He was going to give his men another ten minutes to get their mangy asses back on the ship with the supplies or he was going to ditch them.

He sighed as he shoved at his bangs and tried to fend off his anxiousness. Trillion was that the last place he wanted to make a stop at. He could just see all the poorly rendered wanted posters of himself plastered around the boring town. Just because he was a pirate didn't mean they had to judge him as being a bad guy. It was all one big misunderstanding, much like everything else.

Drake didn't even want to kill the guy, it just happened. One minute he was in a pub enjoying a drink and the next, he was covered in blood and held a broken bottle in his hand. The fool just had to egg him on that particular day. The day his mentor Hector Leon had died. Hector was practically his father and when the news of his death had reached Drake, the young pirate was no longer in the right frame of mind to deal with the common asshole.

"Mangy seadogs," he growled under his breath at the night sky. He glanced consciously around praying that no one had spotted him.

"Sorry bout that, Capt'n. There was a bit of a line at the general store," Quince explained sheepishly, his long blonde bangs blew serenely in his face.

Drake sighed then realized that his second mate was alone. "Where's the rest of the lot?"

"Um…. You see…."

Holly gritted her teeth as she edged over the very thin siding of the estate her father owned. If she could just make it to the tree she could escape. Her long dark hair threatened to uncoil from under the large hat she had stuffed it under. Her violet eyes narrowed with determination as she inched closer to the tree. She refused to be part of a political deal.

Ever since her mother had died months earlier her father had come up with the radical scheme of marrying his only daughter off to the son of some well-to-do business man in order to merge their two companies. She had never met the young man but regardless she didn't care. Her only choice was to disappear as fast as possible and if she has to don men's clothing and act like an adolescent boy, so be it. Anything had to be better than being treated like property.

She stretched out a shaky hand towards one of the tree branches and held her breath. It seemed like such a good plan in her head when she was still thinking out her grand escape, but actually doing it was rather nerve-raking. One slip and she could break her neck! Not that that would prevent her father from marrying her off anyway. He would probably try to find a way to do it even if she already was dead. It was times like this that she wished she had a normal common family and that she had to work in the family store in order to keep food on the table.

"There's no turning back now," Holly murmured as she balanced herself on one of the branches then began her decent from the tall oak tree. Freedom would soon be hers.

Drake ground his teeth together fighting the urge to scream obscenities at the top of his lungs. Instead he sucked in another breath before addressing his comrade. "Are you trying to tell me that Hawk got into another brawl? I should have half the mind to just leave him in this God-forsaken place, but then he'd probably hunt me down and send me straight to Davy Jones's locker. And I'm the captain for bloody sake!"

"So are we going to go look for them?"

"No, need." A man with dark unruly hair stalked towards the Captain and snorted. His deep blue eyes held no emotion as he dug his hands in the long dark coat he wore over his simple thin tunic. "I took care of it."

"Hawk, we're supposed stay low," Quince Langly said urgently. "I don't care to swing from the gallows!"

"No one is going to swing."

"Then where are Taylor and West?"

"They'll be here."

Drake closed his eyes and began to pace. His crew were his comrades and in a way, his family. No matter how difficult and eccentric they could be, they had to stick together. He took out a flask, took a gulp of its contents and nearly choked. He pulled the bottle from his mouth and turned to Quince accusingly. "Did you swap out my grog for water again?"

"It dulls the senses, Capt'n." The blonde shrank back as Drake took a step towards him then emptied the contents over his head.

"With the lot of you, my senses are already dulled." He whirled around, his long braid swinging behind him and pressed a hand to his forehead. "Why me?"

Hawk snorted and tilted his head to where a tall brunette man and a shorter one with ebony hair carrying barrels of supplies lead a small group of men who were slowly headed in their direction. "They're here."

Drake heaved a sigh of relief and shook his head. "Great! Now let's set the sails and move out!"

This was the life; the wind in his hair, the salty scent of the water rushing over him in thick waves and all the adventure he could handle. Drake couldn't have asked for anything more. Everything seemed perfect once he was back out on the open sea.

He moved away from the helm and strolled down to the hold to inspect the supplies. It was then that he noticed a small bag nestled between a barrel of apples and a crate of gunpowder. His cobalt blue eyes narrowed at the item and as he moved closer to it what appeared to be a small teenaged boy leap in front of him and snatched it up. Before they could scurry off with it, Drake caught a thin arm and yanked them back. "Now just wait a minute…"

"Let me go! It's mine!"

The voice was slightly higher than he would have expected. Then again, the hand that shoved against him was a lot paler than most of the crew. Even West, who was of Chinese descent had developed a tan after sometime at sea. The figure was short dressed in baggy clothing and a large floppy hat. "I don't recall having taken any new crew members…. You look a little pale, lad. Let's see what is under that hat of yours hat."

"No! Let me go!" A solid kick to his shin got their wish and like lightening they took off only to be snared from behind by Hawk who dragged them to face the captain.

"Something wrong?" He tightened his hold and eyed Drake nonchalantly.

"Oww, damn bloody hell…" Drake rubbed at his leg and growled. "Just who the hell are you and how the hell did you get on my ship?"

The stowaway bucked against Hawk's grip, throwing off the oversized hat in the process. Long raven hair tumbled down in silky waves as dark amethyst eyes widen in horror. "Oh, no."

"You're a girl?" Drake cried out in exasperation. "What are you doing on my ship?!"

Quince appeared behind Hawk and grimaced at the scene. He angled around the dark haired first mate and gave the girl a smile. "Uh, hello. May we have your name please? We promise not to hurt you. Hawk, let go of her."

Drake threw up his arms and drew in a deep breath as Hawk looked at him. "We're in the middle of the ocean. It's not like she can go anywhere. Meanwhile my rep has just gotten up on the dastardly side. Kidnapper. Next will have to come pillaging, setting quiet, little towns ablaze, and kicking puppies!"

The girl frowned at the captain then looked at the other two crew members. "Are you or are you not pirates?"

"Pirates, but not what you think. Name please so I know that they get the facts right on my wanted posters for a bleeding change."

"Holly."

Drake blinked then ran a hand down his face. "Last name? I doubt you're just Holly."

She narrowed her eyes then closed them. "Smith."

Drake rolled his eyes. "Do I look that stupid? I don't think so."

Holly lifted her chin and sniffed, giving off a rather pompous appearance. "Very well then. Holly Riverstone of the Riverstone estate."

"Riverstone?" Quince gaped as she nodded. "Are you the daughter of Reginald Riverstone?"

"And daughter of the deceased Lillian Riverstone who is betrothed to Maximilian Heights."

"…. You're an Heiress? Bloody hell!" Drake swore again and kicked a wall; his mood suddenly very sour. And it was such a good day before he had encountered this little surprise.

Holly folded her arms over her chest. "Was. But I refuse to go through with my father's plans but the only way to do that is to disappear."

"And that's where we come in." Drake said dryly and shook his head. "Sorry, lady, but you'll have to come up with some other plan because I am not gonna hang just so you can play runaway princess."

"So you're going to take me back?"

"If you refuse, we'll just throw you overboard."

"Drake, we can't do that," Quince protested as the braided haired captain moved past him.

"Watch me."

Holly's jaw dropped and she stalked towards the smug captain before he could brush by her. "If you do, when I make it to shore I'll let it be known that you abducted me!"

"You don't even know my name, princess."

"Drake "Death" Reeves, Captain of the Deathscythe."

Drake cursed loudly. "Quince!"

"He didn't say a word. I've seen the posters of you around town. I am not some naïve little twit that didn't know what boat to sneak aboard." It was her turn to be smug. Playfully she batted her eyelashes and lifted her nose. "I also know that you are not nearly as bad as they say you are."

Drake ground his teeth together, suddenly very aware of a bad taste in his mouth. He grinned menacingly at Holly and straightened his shoulders. "Fine. You think you know what you're getting into? We'll see just how prepared you are. This is my ship and anyone who wishes passage on it has to work. So I think the deck could use a good scrub. Quince, find her a rag and a bucket."

"Drake-"

"How dare-" Holly began to protest only to be cut off by the irate captain.

"My ship, my rules. Move. Now."

Holly's mouth fell open as she stared in outrage at him as he grabbed her by the chin and smirked.

"Welcome aboard the Deathsycthe. Hope you enjoy your voyage."

"Gee, thanks, Duo. How very sweet of you." Hotaru folded her arms over her chest and glowered at him.

"Hey, it's different from what they were shoveling us!"

"You turned me into a servant."

He shrugged innocently. "Well, you shouldn't have stowed away on the ship."

"That was YOUR idea!" Hotaru took a deep breath and released it. "Nevertheless, we're still stuck here so apparently the idea wasn't so great after all."

Duo rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet as he chewed on his bottom lip. "Well, then I guess or only other choice is to finish the story and give it a happy ending where we actually get to survive for a change."

Hotaru shook her head and turned on her heel as she began to pace. "We should have picked something modern day and simple. Pirates didn't exactly have it easy."

"Too late now. Gotta finish what we started."

"You mean you got to finish what YOU started."

Duo smirked. "Nuh uh. You have to be in on this too which means it's your turn."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Fine. Just give me a moment to think, Hot Shot."

Author's Notes: I know I said this was going to be the last chapter, but it didn't come out that way so this story will have at least one chapter left before it's completed. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up.

In addition, if you have not seen my profile lately I have created a website along with two of my writer friends. It'll feature samples of original stories for multiples series that we are seeking to have published and will also include a page for my fanfiction. That particular page will be added in a few months. In the meantime feel free to check out our site. The link is found on my profile.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the latest installment.

Until then.