Arthur leaned further to the table as he studied his compass and map. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to estimate how far they were, until he noticed that the sky was changing color. He bit his lip and took out his telescope and looked through it then saw an island from afar then folded the apparatus immediately then went to the wheel, "Everybody get ready! We're nearing Island Cove Bay." He stirred the wheel to the side, making the boat turn to the left.

Everyone else ran around and prepared themselves. Alasdair stood firmly beside Arthur, crossing his arms and smoking, "Ya seem anxious in seein' 'em, Artie."

"I need something from one of them."

"Hm? Wha' would tha' be?"

Instead of answering the question, Arthur stepped in front of the wheel and observed their surroundings. They were completely surrounded by water except for the left part where rocks rose out of the water and then made sure they were at the safe distance then commanded loudly to the whole crew, "Everyone; stop and be as quiet as possible." He looked up the sky and took a deep breath.

Kiku watched as everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing and silenced them with cautiousness. They must have known why they were doing that, and he leaned over to Daniel, who was sitting beside him on a crate, carving something out of wood "Why are we being quiet?" he whispered.

"It's the last colors of the sunset." Daniel whispered back while pointing to the sky that was painted with dark violet and pink. Everything was still until a chill ran up Kiku's spine as cool and smooth voices hummed from the rocks behind him. He turned his head and saw a naked woman resting her upper body on the rocks with blonde hair and a mystically fair face. She was joined by two others who rose from the waters and more arose until all of the spaces in the rocks were taken. And as they appeared one by one, the humming grew louder.

"Whateva' ya do, don't provoke them." Altair whispered as all of them turned to look at the maidens, "No eye contac' wi' em; the' known fo' read'n your feelin's."

Kiku couldn't believe his eyes. Some of those maidens sat on the rocks and they didn't have feet; they had the tails of fish as legs. So it was true, they weren't hallucinating. Either that or he fell upon the hallucination from sailing too. But the sailors back in Japan didn't get to see these creatures so this must be true.

One last arose from the sea, a young mermaid with blonde hair and blue eyes stared into the boat with a smile, "Captain Kirkland." Her voice was as smooth as the waves they were in right now yet a French accent was still evident as she spoke. No wonder Arthur sounded so in love when talking about mermaids.

"Francesca." Arthur climbed down the stairs to look at the mermaids more closely; he was smirking as he did, clearly amused by the scene.

"Francois came by just earlier; along with his two new friends." She winked then turned to Kiku (who in turn was looking straight right into her) with a malicious look in her eyes as she turned to Arthur again, "Is there anything you came here for, love?"

Arthur placed his hands into his coat's pockets, his head slumped casually to the side, "I've heard you know where Singer's treasure is."

Then a blonde mermaid smirked, "Oh yes we do."

"Is that a new crew member I see?" Francesca smirked while looking at Kiku, who was getting nervous at the attention he was receiving.

"Eastern chap. Nothing special about him." Arthur's face was now stoic. He moved his gaze from Francesca to a random part of the waters, making sure he did not have any eye contact with the mermaid.

The French mermaid shrugged, "Fine. If you want to know where Singer's treasure is," she smirked and looked at Arthur, "I'll need to whisper it to you."

Green eyes looked more serious now, yet beautiful at the same time. Kiku couldn't his eyes off of Arthur ever since he moved them away from the mermaid's gaze.

Arthur walked over to the long boats when Francesca shook her head, "I want to see your 'Eastern chap' up close too."

With that, Kiku was pulled gently by Alasdair and to the long boat with Arthur. He sat there kneeling while looking at Arthur. The captain leaned over to him and whispered, "Don't ever make eye contact with them." His voice was full of seriousness which made Kiku gulp. How could something very beautiful be so dangerous?

After some rows from Alasdair, they stayed in the middle of the water and Francesca emerged out of the water and so did the other mermaids. They surrounded the small wooden boat and smiled beautifully.

The three sailors sat still when Francesca rested her head on the boat, "Don't you want to know where Singer's treasure is?" her eyes gleamed as she caught Arthur's own emeralds.

Arthur suddenly found himself succumbed into the blue pair of eyes as he instinctively leaned over to Francesca. Half of his mind was running purely on what he was seeing; and the next thing he felt was the mermaid's lips on his. His eyes closed as the kiss went on; tasting every part of her lips, knowing he won't be experiencing this anymore. And when he realized that they were kissing a bit too long, he pulled away, out of breath, "Singer's treasure?"

Francesca smirked and Arthur realized she had snaked her arm around his head and dug her fingers into his blonde hair, limiting the distance of which he can pull himself away from her.

"It's in Dragon's Lair. His ship was washed on shore. But be careful, you'll have company." She whispered then looked at Kiku.

The prince didn't know how to react for, what he calculated in his head, five hours. He had torn his eyes away when the two kissed and Francesca was maliciously staring at him while she did. His heart was thumping all over his body; was it really necessary that they kiss? But why is he reacting like this anyway? He was raised to be an emperor with an iron will, not to be affected merely by seeing the captain being kissed by a mermaid. He was to be calm and stern in every situation. And with that, he took some deep breaths and looked at them.

His concentration was immediately broken when he saw Arthur a bit flushed and Francesca still smirking.

"Quite a good kisser, isn't he?" she commented, looking at Kiku.

Was she trying to provoke him? He hasn't kissed him yet. Wait no, he hasn't kissed him and he will never try to. Why is he getting affected by this anyway? Not that he likes Arthur anyway.

"I believe t-that Captain-san should be told that." He mentally praised himself for not stuttering that much.

"Oh of course I'd tell him that; I would just like to spread my observation." Francesca winked and swam further from the boat, "Well I guess you pirates should be going, aren't you?"

Arthur cleared his throat, "Y-yes we should. Thank you again Francesca, for the information." Then he faced away and signaled Alasdair to row them to the ship, "a-and also for the kiss."

"You're welcome as always, Captain Arthur." The mermaid waved and they all submerged into the water.

As soon as they arrived in the ship, Alasdair looked at the crew and declared, "Ready tha sails an' go back to yar stations ya wretched gits! We off to Dragon's Lair Islan'!" then he watched the rest of the men run around and the sails being fully unfolded.

"We're headed more to the West. It would take us a day or so to get there if we speed up." Arthur's face was recovering slowly as his serious expression came back. He walked over to the top deck and steered the wheel.

Kiku looked at Arthur as he navigated the boat then leaned on the wood, now facing the still water. His thoughts placed aside the scenes that happened earlier. More to the west? So they're moving farther from his home? Kiku bit his lip as the nostalgia hit him. He was growing tired of staying in this ship. He just wanted to go home now. Where are they anyway? Were they safe home? Do his parents know where he is? He missed everything in Japan. He just wanted to see the cherry-blossoms and the hot springs by the forests; he wanted to see Japan right now.

He slumped more on the wood then hid his face in his hands; what's happening in Japan now that he's been a hostage ever since the raid? He just wanted to go home. That's all. That's everything he wanted to have right now. His family and friends all around him.. He groaned a bit and took a deep breath. The stress was getting into him. He was probably going to explode sometime here. But he can't; he was a prince. If he couldn't take on the challenges here, then he wouldn't be fit as an emperor. Yes, he must be calm with everything; but it was still hard…

"Anything bothering you?" Arthur's voice rang in his ears and he turned his head to the right and saw Arthur looking at him.

He stood up straight and shook his head, "Nothing." Then he turned his head away when a hand grabbed his own. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now; especially if it's his captor.

Arthur grimaced, "It doesn't seem like nothing."

Kiku pressed his lips together and pulled away his hand roughly from the pirate's. The hatred and anger in his heart started to surface again. He wanted to shout at the captain. It was his entire fault he was trapped in this nightmare. He would have been in Japan right now if it weren't for him! His hands balled into a fist as more thoughts ran through his mind and fueled his anger.

"I hate you." He managed to rasp out after containing himself from shouting.

Arthur's face showed his signature poker face expression as he waited for him to continue.

The prince pursed his lips and turned to glare at the pirate, "I hate you. This is all your fault. I would be in Japan by now if it weren't for you." He ranted, with hatred poisoning every word that came out, "You filthy, demonic and mad pirate. I would rather die now than to continue this senseless journey with you. Everyone knows I'd die before my parents get to me."

The pirate continued to listen, his face still stoic. He could hear the crew members going nowhere and preparing for the night. It was the perfect time for someone to shout and not so much people can hear it.

"I hate you for taking me away. I don't know what happened to the crew and I know you don't know too." Kiku bit his lip, swallowing up more self-control, "Why didn't you kill me back then? Or even treating me as a prisoner like how you filthy pirates treat all prisoners? I would have liked that than staying here on this ship without knowing where the hell we are going and knowing that someday, I'm just going to randomly die on this ship knowing that I'm thousands of miles away from my home!" he cursed himself for raising his voice, then dismissed the scolding when he thought that there was no difference if he shouted or not.

His heart thumped when Arthur nodded and started walking away. What did he come there for if he'd just leave him anyway? Then Kiku found himself staring at some random plank on the floor, gulping at the thought that he might have gone too far.

"If you want to get out of this ship so badly, I'll loosen the last longboat on the right side of the ship. Go escape when every one of the crew is asleep." Arthur continued walking up the stairs and into the captain's deck (which has the second entrance from up the room) without looking back at Kiku.

Alasdair stood by the wheel, looking a bit concerned as Arthur passed by, "Ya really gonna make the princey go?" he asked, then received silence as a response then sighed. There was really nothing to change his cousin's mind.

Arthur stepped into his room and walked down the stairs that was covered by a tall set of blue curtains. His hands pulled them away from his path and walked towards the center of the room and he crashed on the couch, placing his hat on the table.

He pressed the temple of his nose and breathes in deeply while closing his eyes. Maybe it was a bad idea bringing the prince in. No, he was too precious to be left. He opened his eyes and looked at the large painting of him and the queen.

What would she do if she was in his place?

No, the queen is not a pirate and never will be.

This was a bit too much. From the meeting of those three idiots to the mermaids and Kiku's small outburst from earlier; it was a bit too much for one day for him. He just offered the prince the escape to nowhere and in the middle of the ocean. From what he would know, the prince might not try to escape now. Let's just hold on to that fact. Everything was stressing him out; as the captain, he shouldn't, or his crew would feel the same.

Yes, he shouldn't be stressed; everything would be okay tomorrow. He rested his head on a cushion and closed his eyes; maybe sleep could fix the stress and he'll handle things tomorrow…

…

Okay maybe not tomorrow; probably in the middle of the night.

A loud set of simultaneous and continuous knocks irritated Arthur to a wake. He frowned, annoyed and shouted, "What in the blasted queen is that entire racket about?" he stood up while putting on his hat and opened the door.

A shaking crew member gulped and stood in front of him, "C-Captain… W-w… you need- hurry…!" he stuttered and Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Say it properly, lad."

Then at the same time, another crew member shouted down the hallway, "Captain Witlock is attacking the ship!"

BK123: Who the fuck is Captain Witlock? LOL IDK I just made that name up and he's inspired by Blackbeard from PotC. And I also included a Fem! France that's a mermaid. derp.

So so so so sorry if I updated so late, I had so much to do and our last quarter exams just ended so it's practically our summer vacation right now. And our computer's derping like fuck so just be patient for the next chapter :)

Thank you so much for the reviewers! I'm sorry if this isn't much of a good chapter. But I would like a lot of reviews and criticisms.

There will be more people unrelated to Hetalia but there will be also characters from Hetalia.

I don't own Hetalia by the way~

Remember your reviews darlings.