Chapter 2
Three days had passed with no sign of Alfred. As happy as that should have made Arthur, he couldn't help but to feel saddened. Though he was known to be the "heartless pirate demon" of the seven seas Arthur couldn't stand losing any of his men. Toris was one of the better crewmates and unlike many of them was good-hearted. He was forced into Arthur's service yet remained loyal to the end. Yes, Arthur would miss the bloke.
The day was bright and the air still. With no wind to fill their sails they were unable to move from their spot without moving manually. He didn't quite like using manpower but there were ships to take and ports to occupy. But just as he was about to command for them to get the oars out, he heard it. A song, complex and exotic, floated across the water. Gasps were heard across the ship. The sound was angelic, the heavens a place more fitting for it. There was only one voice, faint yet traveling so clearly, so incredibly beautiful Arthur wondered if he was hallucinating. Everyone stopped what they were doing to focus solely on listening and to prevent making any noise.
Arthur scanned the ocean for the source and his eyes came upon a cluster of rocks jutting from the water. As if the very heavens encouraged them, the wind picked up, blowing in the direction of the reef.
"Hard to port!" he shouted. The men scrambled over themselves to get to the ropes. The sails were hoisted in record time and Arthur enthusiastically turned the wheel in the direction of the voice..
As they got closer his eyes began to make out a figure sitting on the rocks. Golden curly locks glistened in the sunlight and all of the men leaned forward to see what was making such blessed music. A man, Arthur thought at first but quickly corrected himself as he saw the creature's torso and the deep red fish tail that flicked up much like that of a cat. His attention, however, was quickly diverted to the siren's mouth as it spewed jewels of music. Someone jumped, unnoticed, into the water. Arthur unknowingly walked slowly to the edge along with the crew that hadn't already jumped. The siren continued to sing, his blue eyes glinting arrogantly with his first catch.
Suddenly the music stopped.
Arthur nearly cried out in indignation. The siren, whose tail was so unceremoniously yanked cursed, "Merde!" he looked down at who had rudely interrupted him, "What? Matthieu! How could you?" he hissed in French.
The violet eyed merman gave an uncharacteristically hard look, "You know Al has claimed that ship already. You don't want to get him angry would you?"
The French-merman waved it off, "If he wants his little appetizer so badly he would be sitting here instead of moi," he turned back to the ship but it was too late, the spell was already broken.
Captain Arthur, the moment of entrancement passed, looked down to see that he had one foot out of the ship, about to jump. He hastily stepped back and spotted at the cause of the chaos. Again he turned his eyes to the merman but this time he saw something completely different. He saw a stubbly chin and hairy arms and chest and a haughty air. And as the merman spoke it became apparent, to Arthur's immense disgust, that this thing was…French. Arthur's stomach twisted. To think he was attracted to that frog.
Then Arthur noticed there was another by the water by the red-tailed merman. Alfred? No, this one was different. He had longer, curled-at-the-ends hair, and violet eyes that spoke of a calmer disposition.
Arthur shook his head, looking away, and pulled out his pistol. Aiming at the sky he fired, startling the rest of the crew who turned to Arthur, "Hoist the main sails! What are ye? A bucket of gasping fish? Get back to work!"
He didn't spare a backwards glance at the merfolk, instead barking orders at zoned-off crewmembers. It was unhealthy to be around such creatures for too long. He shivered at the memory of the powerful magic, now he could understand why sirens were so feared.
For the first time he was thankful for Alfred's screeching.
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"Captain! Anybody!"
Arthur was woken from his dreams by the sound of a familiar voice. "Help! Somebody!" His drowsy mind slowly pinned a face to the voice. Could it be? No, it had been seven days ago.
Arthur swung his legs out of the bed, looking out the circular window; it was still dark out. He glanced at his clock. Damn, what an ungodly hour. Tugging on a robe he made his way to the poop deck, pushing through the men scrambling to get something to fish the man overboard.
"Help!"yelled the unmistakably accented voice.
"Toris?" Arthur shouted as he spotted the young man's bobbing head out in the sea. How was this even possible? Not wasting another second, Arthur shouted orders to his men and within minutes Toris was hoisted gasping onto the ship. The crew pressed around the poor boy asking him all sorts of questions.
With a few commands Arthur made the men back off and he stepped up to Toris. "C-captain," Toris said with a sigh of relief, "Thank you sir."
"Welcome back to the Black Britannia, lad. What happened to you?"
Toris gave a nervous grimance, "I-I'm sorry. I can't say."
Arthur frowned, noticing the boy's sideway's glances. Seven days he had been worrying over this boy and now he was here, refusing to speak a word of his disappearing act. For a moment he contemplated forcing the lad to talk but he discarded the thought at Toris' shaken appearance. It was probably for the best to let Toris relax and then confront him someday alone.
Arthur sighed and turned to the crew, "Get him some blankets and water and take him below deck. Those of you who are standing around go find something better to do or you'll be gettin' acquainted with the Cat O'Nine tails."
The men ran back to their jobs. Arthur looked out into the dark waters. There was nothing to see but his eyes made out shapes in the black liquid. They were not real but Arthur knew the monsters were in there, hiding in the deep.
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When Alfred returned that morning Arthur knew the siren had something to do with Toris. The merman's strident voice rang throughout the ship but the Captain didn't even order anyone to shoot him. After the ship's previous encounter with the red-tailed siren Alfred's singing was relatively harmless.
So the Captain, steadfastly ignoring the blonde, focused on the salty wind and gleaming blue sea. After all it was a beautiful day and there weren't any signs of bad weather or enemy ships and annoying mermen weren't even worth paying attention to.
After singing for thirty minutes and not getting a response out of Arthur, Alfred realized that he was being ignored (or Arthur had gone deaf). He stopped his serenading and Arthur hid a relieved expression, "No shootin today Artie?"
Maintaining an emotionless face Arthur shook his head, "Nay."
"Aw, didja miss me?"
"Hell no," Arthur said quickly, his face breaking into a small frown.
Alfred laughed and lay back on the water. Arthur could see just how long his blue tail was. "Just admit it Cap'n, absence makes the heart grow fonder."
How could he get under his skin so easily? Arthur pushed down the urge to shoot the creature, "So why were you absent for a week? Would it have anything to do with Toris?"
Alfred grinned and winked, "Where would the fun be if I told you?"
Arthur shrugged, "Fine, don't tell. Not like I cared. Though one of your kind did visit while you were off doing whatever tomfoolery you are so determined to keep secret," he said nonchalantly.
The merman's smile faltered for a moment and he leaned forward out of his relaxing position, "What?"
"Oh, you know, a rather obnoxious and flamboyant fellow with a red tail. Tell me, how does it feel to be the worst singer in the world as a siren?"
"Psh, yeah right. You just feel jealous of my inhuman ability at singing," Alfred smiled but his eyes that kept glancing down at the water betrayed the uncaring look. "Hey, um, I gotta take care of some things, see you tomorrow okay?"
Arthur waved him away impassively, "Whatever."
Alfred wasted no time, barley making a splash as he dove back into the water.
The Captain smirked, feeling a small sense of victory.
AN: And here's the second chapter. To be honest I don't really like this one :/ I'll post another chapter soon to make up for it.
Thank you so much for your reviews and follows from the last chapter! I haven't been able to reply to any of them because I've been so busy but I'll be sure to reply to any for this chapter. PLEASE review. I treasure everything you guys say and to be honest some of those reviews make me feel like it was worth it to write this and make my entire day.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any other references in all of my stories.