Not much to say about this, aside that its hard to write a summary without giving stuff away *crying*.
Alfred loved sailing. Whether it was the bright blue skies, or the mysterious depths of the seas, every day was a new adventure. When he dreamed of being a pirate as a child, he didn't quite expect his wish to come true. Of course, being a pirate was a lot harder than a young boy's dream, and having a bounty wasn't the only issue. There was the issue of not having enough gold to buy a new sail, and Alfred missed having dry clothes, but it was worth it, even if seeing the glimpse of a mermaid's tail was the highlight of his day. Currently, there had been no mermaids, so Alfred was just gazing out dreamily at the sea.
"Oi, dream boy" a sudden voice spoke behind him. He turned to face Gilbert, a feisty albino who seemed to have a tiny bird follow him everywhere.
"What's up?" Alfred asked, raising a brow. The captain, Antonio, had already set a course straight to the nearest docks, but there was still a few days left the voyage.
Gilbert shrugged. "Antonio said something about mermaids. 'Said something to do with imminent death or whatever." Alfred looked the albino up and down, checking if he was joking, but concluded that he was actually being serious for once. He let out a short sigh.
"Right. Captains office." He said, before trotting off to find the Spaniard.
Upon arriving, he knocked on the door before pushing it open. The simply dressed captain was sat on a large wooden chair, elbows resting on the desk in front of him. He was gazing at a large map with a tiny model ship showing their current location along with a model house, showing the docks they were to arrive at.
"A map? I'm not your navigator, Antonio. What's up?" he questioned. He took a seat opposite the captain. Antonio huffed.
"I'm conflicted. Right ahead of us, here" – he waved at grey patch of sea just in front of the model boat – "is Siren territory. I don't want to deal with them again. It didn't go too well last time, but we do need to dock soon. Francis will go mad if we don't buy him more wine, and we are dangerously low on water" he said, rubbing his temples.
Alfred shrugged, replying "let's just chance the short route. We can deal with some Sirens; we only lost the cabin boy last time."
The captain sighed, shaking his head. "I trust you. But if someone dies, you will not be leaving this ship, understand?" he said, a serious look covering his face.
Alfred nodded and flashed a smile. "Sure, I won't fail you – I'm first mate for a reason!"
Alfred was atop the crow's nest, clutching a copper telescope embedded with tiny sapphires. It was a gift from his twin brother, Matthew, as a goodbye present just before his first month on the old ship. Alfred considered it a lucky charm and took it virtually everywhere with him. To Alfred, the telescope was worth more than any amount of money in the world.
As it was becoming nightfall, a thick fog swam into the air and the boat began to move more slowly as the wind died down. The air was still and sound easily echoed into between the small scattered islands where the sirens lived.
Luckily, he hadn't even seen a small fish swim by, so everything was quiet. He smiled, happy that everything was going according to plan. He trusted his gut, and his gut said that tonight they would be ok.
For once, his gut was wrong. The crews luck ran out about halfway into siren territory, when sure enough a faint singing started to echo around the area. The voice was delicate and although he could not hear the words, Alfred wanted to get closer and see who was singing. It was hard to tell anything else about it, aside that it was far away and gradually coming closer ever so slowly. Alfred frowned, looking down at the deck. Gilbert and his brother, Ludwig, where talking on the deck, leaning over the boats edge. No one else was about, as they were sleeping in preparation to take the night shift. Alfred leaned down, flapping his hand towards the captains room. The two brothers seemed to get the message, nodding at Alfred and heading inside the ship to alert the captain.
The boat travelled on silently, as the song became louder and louder. Even though it was louder, he could still not make out what was being sung. This meant two things; the voice wasn't directed at him and there was someone else out there in the dark. He thought for a moment, before taking out some earplugs made from corks and putting them in his ears.
"Better safe than sorry," Alfred muttered under his breath. He took out his telescope again, peering at a distant island. It was pointless as the night fog was now almost too thick to see through, but it gave the blond a little comfort.
He waited a few more minutes as the boat travelled on silently. Gilbert and Ludwig had come back out, and were nervously waiting at either side of the boat. Alfred could quietly hear the song now, although the ear plugs blocked most of the sound. He had given up on using the telescope and instead was just peering out into the dark. In the distance, a small speck around the size of a flea appeared. It was orange and flickered, and Alfred soon connected the dots that it was a fire.
"The fuck…?" he mumbled under his breath. He scrambled quickly down from the crows nest, running towards one end of the boat to get closer. It was definitely a fire, and after quickly removing an ear plug he realised the singing was coming from there.
Alfred squinted, and he could see the fire getting closer. He fumbled for his telescope, which was safely tucked in his belt, and peered at the fire. It took him a moment to realise that it was a ship that had crashed into the island. It seemed a lot smaller than theirs, possibly a gunboat or a fishing vessel. The mast was on fire, the flames licking at the deck below and creating a bright beacon in the dark night. He couldn't see any signs of life – human or otherwise - and what the fire had lit on the island seemed deserted. He frowned, wishing the telescope could zoom more so that he could see what was happening. Surely there had to be someone who lived it? Perhaps they jumped out? The idea dawned on him that a siren must have used its magic to lure the boat over only to be ripped to shreds by the tide and rocky shallow waters.
Alfred was almost glad the other ship had crashed. If it hadn't of been there, then the sirens might of taken an interest in their boat instead. Still, he felt guilty that he couldn't help them – even if they were dangerous pirates. Sirens were said to kill and eat their prey alive, the books on them made it pretty clear to stay out of their way. He really hoped someone had lived, so that he could help them and find out more about the creatures.
He peered through the telescope again. There was a patch of the sail that wasn't on fire. It looked like it was caught on a rock and was just in the ocean, a huddle of wood by its base. He stared at if for a few minutes, somewhat a daze. The boat swam closer and he could begin to make out more the wreck. The rock with the sail now was clearer and he began to make out small details. Something glinted gold on one side and there were two green emeralds and Alfred was pretty sure there were a pair of boots by the bottom and - hold on, was that a survivor?
uuuhhhhh If you have questions, pm me or ask them in a review and I can answer in the next chapter for everyone to read? If you want a super quick reply message me on tumblr - my user is 'serious_tunas'. Other than that, thank you for reading!