Of Nobles and Pirates
Pairing: Fem!France x Pirate!England. Side pairings of Spamano, PruCan, and GerIta. All Fem. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist that "damsel in distress/kidnapped noblewomen" thing. I originally had Canada down as France's brother, but then I realized with the way I wanted the story to swing, it wouldn't work. I'm sorry. You'll see what I mean.
Author's Note/Warning: There will be a lot of inappropriate things in this chapter. If you can't stand the concept of people killing others for profit, or mild molestation and kidnapping or cursing, I suggest you don't read. I'm going to keep to the T rating though. For now.
Rating: T
Please let me know if the rating should be bumped up by the end of this chapter. I won't be sure unless someone tells me.
Number of Words: 2602
Summary: Francine is getting bored of her life as a noble. You live for the name, you marry for the name, you even have kids for the name. And then you die for the name. She doesn't want to live out the life her friends and family will—she wants some excitement in her life for once. But be careful what you wish for...
Chapter Two
Francine threw back the covers and raced to the window, her sister not far behind her. As far as they could see, fires erupted on various rooftops, illuminating the dark night. People raced through the streets, desperate to get away from the men who plundering their homes.
Francine turned to Maddie. "Quick. Put some valuables into a bag and run. I'll do the same. Don't worry about our things." They began to rush about, throwing things into small rucksacks and throwing the bags over their shoulders. They raced to the stairs, but stopped when they saw what was happening down there.
A maid lay in a pool of her own blood, long dead. Several men and women suffered similar deaths, all from long cuts across their stomachs, revealing their insides to the world. Francine retched, and held a hand to her mouth and dragged Maddie down. Maddie shouldn't have to see something like that.
"They're blocking our only escape route," she muttered to her sibling.
"How are we going to—" Maddie stopped as they heard a chair scrape back loudly.
"I don't care!" a polished British accent shouted. "I just want the goddamn riches of the place. Take whatever women you want, I really don't give a damn." Francine caught sight of a hand rubbing the back of a neck, obscured by a mess of sandy blond hair.
Men cheered at this announcement and began to spread throughout the building. The two French sisters got up quickly and began to run down the hallway. They locked themselves in a random room with the door slightly ajar. In the corner, the two Italian sisters from earlier that evening clung to each other in a corner and whimpered.
Francine and Madison ran over to them and grabbed them by the hands. "Please get up," they begged. "We have to leave, we have to leave now!" they began to drag them to the window, hoping that they could rappel down from the balcony to the street below.
They stopped dead in their tracks at a long, low whistle. Two men stood in the doorway. A Spaniard with dark green eyes and curly brown hair walked in, an albino man with a very fancy tricorn hat right after him. Francine heard her sister take a surprised breath when the latter man walked in.
"The awesome me is here to kidnap your pretty arses, now get over here!" The albino stated loudly.
"Now, now, Gil. We have to be nice and...what was the word Arthur used? Gentlemanly?" the Spaniard seemed to be lost deep in thought.
"Fuck gentlemanlyness, or whatever." Gilbert snorted. "Come on, Antonio, don't be a pushover."
He proceeded to grab Madison by the waist and lifted her over his shoulder, fire-man style. Madison began to scream, panicking.
Francine began to pound on the tall albino's chest. "Put her down right now, you filthy pirate! Get your hands off of her!"
Gilbert whistled. "Ohh, we got a live one! We might need the captain for her."
Antonio sighed. "Don't call me a pushover, Gil. You know how angry that makes me..." his previously light, happy expression vanished, replaced by a dark aura that frightened everyone except Gilbert.
The Spanish pirate grabbed the darker of the Italian twins, lifting her up as Gil had done to Madison. He stormed out the door, the Italian over his shoulder kicking and screaming all the way. Her sister cowered in the corner.
"Hey Luddy!" Gilbert called out to someone they couldn't see. A tall man with large blue eyes and severely slicked back hair leaned into the doorway.
"Yeah?"
"We got one more girl up for keepers, unless you wanna abandon her here. Tonio already took her sister. Plus we need the Cap'n, this one's gonna be difficult." the albino pirate gestured to the still-attacking Francine.
Ludwig sighed and gently helped the little Italian stand up. "Come on," he muttered. "Let's get you out of here." He gently lifted her up onto her feet and escorted her out, murmuring consolations.
Francine was starting to get out of breath. She never really had to do much physical exertion, so her blows were completely ineffective. Smirking, Gilbert grabbed her by the upper arm and began to drag her out. Maddie had already passed out from fear and was dangling over his shoulder.
Boots clomped down the hallway. Thinking they were military boots, Francine tore free from Gilbert and raced into the hallway.
"Help!" she screamed. "Help, a pirate kidnapped my—"
She knocked into someone taller than her standing outside the room and fell over.
"What is this? Gilbert, why did you send Ludwig for me?" an annoyed British accent inquired.
Francine froze. Oh dear. She began to look up, very slowly.
Shiny black boots that went to the knee still had blood spattered on them, and their owner tapped his foot impatiently. Tight black pants were almost obscured by a calf-length coat that was violently red, adorned by golden epaulettes and black cuffs with gold inlay. Black leather gloves concealed hands that were propped on his hips. A white scarf was looped around his neck, and as Francine met his eyes, she withheld a gasp. Eyes so green that she had only seen in a dream met her own cornflower blue ones, and a tangled mess of sandy blond hair went in every which direction underneath a black tricorn hat with more golden embroidery and a large white feather. As fancy as a pirate he may be, this was the young man from her dream.
"We figured you'd be bored on our journey, Captain Kirkland," Gilbert said mockingly. "We've found a source of...entertainment...for you."
Francine was frozen to the floor in shock. They...they wouldn't. Would they? They were pirates, and it was pirates who were pillaging the city at this very instant.
The blond pirate sighed. "Very well. I'll humor you." the pirate picked Francine up in a manner that none of the other pirates had—one might call it a princess lift.
She sputtered. "Put me down, rosbif! Unhand me! I'm a noblewoman, and I will not—"
The pirate laughed. "Oh, a noblewoman, are you? I've dealt with your kind, missy, and I know how to handle nobles." The last word he said scathingly, his voice lacerated with scorn and disgust.
But for all his demeaning tone, he handled her gently, all the way down the stairs. Once they left the building however, and the other pirates appeared, it vanished, and he slung her over his shoulder as the others had done.
"C'p'n!" a tall man with very scary blue eyes ran up to them. "W're r'dy to l've dock."
"Excellent," Francine could feel the rumble of the pirate's voice reverberating through his chest.
As he walked up the docking plank to the large, tri-masted ship, Francine snapped out of her shock and began to curse him out in words she had only heard on the streets.
"Putain! Rosbif! Let me go, you son of a bitch! Put me DOWN, goddamn you!" she screamed.
The captain chuckled. "I think not. No matter how much I may deny it to my crew members, I have indeed been bored."
He stood at the bow of the ship to face his crew members. "Get ready to sail, men! We're leaving!"
As the men cheered and pulled the boat out of the dock, the captain clambered below deck, Francine still over his shoulder.
He kicked open the door to a vast captain's quarters and threw her down on the bed there. Shoving his knee between her skirted legs, he pinned her arms above her head. One hand stayed above her head with her hands, but the other ripped at her collar, exposing her neck and ripping the fabric of the delicate nightgown. He shoved his mouth onto hers in a (desperate?) kiss. If two mouths ramming together and teeth clashing was what you could call a kiss.
"No!" she screamed. "NO!" She kicked and scrambled, but the pirate was so much stronger than her that her efforts were wasted. While she was screaming, the pirate took the advantage and slipped his tongue into her mouth, effectively silencing her. That was, at least until she bit down on his tongue.
"Ow! Bitch, what was that for?" he sprung back. "You bit me!"
As he scrambled back, Francine clutched at her ripped collar and leaned over, hiccuping. She bit her lip to hold in a sob. She would not allow him to see her cry, but she didn't want to be raped, either.
The pirate ran his hands through his already messy hair and sighed. "Look. Look, I'm sorry. I'll...I'll try to be a gentleman."
Francine ran the back of her hand across her eyes to wipe away her tears. "Truly?"
"Truly." he confirmed, and took off his long red jacket. He draped the garment over her shoulders, concealing her ripped nightgown. "Since I've promised to be polite...I'm Arthur Kirkland, the captain of this ship. You are?"
Francine sniffled and wiped her eyes again. "Francine of Bonnefoy."
Arthur's large eyebrows rose in suprise. This was Francine of Bonnefoy? It couldn't be! But it had been so long since he had last seen her...they were very young. She had probably forgotten long ago, and it should stay that way.
Doing his best to quickly mask his shock, he gently smiled and kissed the back of her hand, tasting the salt of her tears on his lips. "A pleasure, Ms. Bonnefoy."
~*~*~*Maddie's POV~*~*~*
With every step the albino pirate took, his bony shoulder drove into Maddie's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Of course she didn't even bother fighting, really. After a while, the motion lulled her into a sense of calm and rhythm. Perhaps life with a pirate would be nice. Of course it wouldn't be, she knew, but better than the life she knew was planned for her.
Her mother was close friends with the queen, and earlier that evening, Maddie had located her mother so she could ask her if it were alright if she talked with the Ukrainian noble. However, seeing that her mother was talking with the queen, she stayed a respectful distance until they finished. That didn't mean she couldn't hear them though.
"I completely agree!" her mother said happily. "Madison would make the perfect bride for Peter."
"Not until he is a bit older of course," the queen added. "But an alliance between countries through the marriage of two very powerful nobles would be excellent."
Maddie was a practiced attender of court, and she knew how to keep a perfect poker face. It didn't mean she didn't feel like puking up her light dinner, though. Getting married to a kid less than half her age? On top of that, no matter what polite facade he put up, Maddie knew Peter was a brat. She had seen the boy pitching a fit in a small hallway off of the ballroom right before dinner. And it was over something as silly as the concluding sentence to his speech, too. He wanted his own country as a coronation present, as wanted to state as much in his speech. A country.
She was snapped out of her reverie as the albino pirate walked up the boarding plank to the ship. The slight bobbing up and down of the ship combined with his brisk pace made Maddie slightly naseous, and she clapped a hand to her mouth and pounded on the man's back to let him know something was wrong.
He leaned against the rail as they took off and removed her from his shoulder, but didn't let her go. His arm was in the crook of her knee, and he was eye level with her trim waist concealed only by a thin layer of cotton.
"Is something wrong, Birdie?" he asked, eyebrows furrowing.
In response, Maddie clapped her other hand to her mouth and began to turn a faint green.
Thankfully, he knew what was wrong and held her quickly over the side of the ship before she puked all over him.
He rubbed her back in soothing circles as she retched.
"...s-sorry..." she croaked when she was done. He smiled.
"No problemo. The awesome me would never leave a girl in distress while she was upchucking her dinner over the side of my awesome ship..."
But for all that talk of awesome and his random acts of kindness, he kidnapped me... Maddie reminded herself.
"I will expect some payback somehow, though...in whatever form it takes." he continued, wiggling his eyebrows. "I'm Gilbert, by the way."
Maddie paled, wondering what kind of "payback" he wanted. "I-I'm Madison..."
"Sweet!" he grinned. "Can I call you Maddie?"
She nodded in response, her throat still dry.
Gilbert seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "Can you cook?"
Maddie was a little surprised at the almost random question, but nodded a confirmation anyways.
"Awesome!" he proclaimed. "Our captain can't cook for crap and everyone else just makes what they want. What can you make me? I'm starving!"
Maddie was a little befuddled at Gilbert's carefree attitude for all that he was a pirate, but she let him escort her to the kitchen.
He sat down at the long table in the mess hall and watched her as she scoured the cabinets for ingredients. It may have been a pirate ship, but it seemed less like something they raided places with and more like a house on the water.
As she began to beat the batter and greased the pan, she felt arms wrap around her waist and a body press up against hers from behind. She was frozen, not quite sure what to do when gentle lips applied themselves to her neck and began to work their way downwards. Once they reached her collar though, she defrosted and smacked one of the hands with the spatula she was holding. Results were immediate, and Gilbert let her go.
"Ow, Birdie!" he pouted, cradling his hand. "That actually kind of hurt."
Maddie frowned and pointed the spatula at him like a sword. "If you want food, get out. And don't touch me."
The albino pouted and waited a while longer before Maddie came back out a bit later with a stack of pancakes: one for Gilbert and one for herself.
Without even a words of thanks, the pirate practically buried his face in the plate and finished it faster than you could say "flapjack."
"Mmm..." he moaned in satisfaction. "That was awesome."
Maddie smiled as she finished off her own stack. "I'm glad you thought so. Hopefully that will be my repayment?" That I shouldn't have to pay back, since you're the one who kidnapped me, she added silently.
Gilbert was silent for a couple of seconds, and then split his face into a grin. "As long as you keep making them!"
Maddie sighed. So this would be her life; catering to a pirate. Oh dear.
A/N: Ooooh~ Mystery! Just how does Arthur know Francine? Why is he so nice to her? Why is Gilbert so awesome to Maddie?
Tune in next chapter for the Italian twins' POV's and more...