Warnings: That's a secret! :) But you might want to go back to the prologue and read the warnings I gave you there…

Also, there are still two chapters to go since I split chapter 18 in two parts! So this is the chapter where Duo makes a muddle of things (again...)

Chapter 18: Happi-

As we slowly approached the Tallgeese, we noticed that the other ship's crew had seen us as well. Like ants scrambling to defend their nest, tiny figures were moving excitedly around the deck. Soon, the ship was hoisting a white flag. We followed their lead, struck the topsails and continued to approach the Tallgeese at reduced speed.

"Let me try to handle this, Duo," Trowa said when we were still a few miles away from the other vessel. "Maybe Zechs will see reason and we can avoid unnecessary violence."

I was tempted to disagree—based on personal experience, I didn't think Zechs was a particularly reasonable man—but Trowa placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It would also be better for Heero to stay in the background. Take him somewhere where he doesn't draw too much attention, alright?"

I sighed heavily but decided to let him have his way for now. It was his ship after all and though quite well equipped and recently repaired, the Heavyarms still wasn't restored to her former glory. Zechs' Tallgeese was in much better condition and heavily armed to boot.

So I went to find Heero and convinced him to hide with me in a shadowy corner of the deck behind some wooden crates and piles of rope. We were more or less concealed from sight but still had a pretty good view of the Tallgeese when our ship eventually turned about and dropped anchor, not quite close enough to board the other ship (should the need arise) but within easy speaking distance. I vaguely recognised a few of Zechs' crewmen from my nights at the Sailor's Inn. Some of them had lost quite a lot of buttons and keepsakes in our games and probably wouldn't be too thrilled to see me again... Relena, however, was nowhere to be seen. Either Zechs was hiding her below deck or he really hadn't abducted her. Speaking of Zechs… The man was quite easy to spot. He was on the quarterdeck next to the helmsman, leaning casually against the rail. His mask gleamed brightly in the sunlight and he was armed with an assortment of shiny, polished pistols and a jewel-encrusted rapier. How… flashy.

"Ah, what a surprise... Old acquaintances!" Zechs drawled by way of greeting. "How good to see you again. But, pray tell, what brings you to this remote island? Got tired of toiling in the kitchen and playing Doc J's footboys?"

Trowa stood on the main deck flanked by Wufei and Quatre, both of whom were armed to the teeth and ready to spill blood. Quatre's fair face was twitching wildly in anticipation.

"Why don't we skip the formalities," Trowa said calmly. "We're here to get Relena and take her home."

There was no change in Zechs' countenance. He stared at Trowa with the same mildly surprised, pleasant expression as before. Trowa, being Trowa, merely stared back. Quatre growled.

After a minute or two of intense staring, Zechs' mouth twisted into a frown.

"Not in your dreams," he said slowly.

Trowa sighed and raised his chin. "That's... unfortunate."

Well… Trowa's strategy of trying to reason with Zechs didn't seem to be working. The situation called for more subtlety and flair, I thought. And I happened to be a master player…

So, using the brief lull in the conversation, I motioned to Heero to stay where he was and then stepped out of the shadows.

"You think she will lead you to the treasure, don't you?"

If Zechs was surprised to see me or startled by my words, he certainly didn't show it.

"Mr. Maxwell..." He nodded curtly.

I slowly strolled across the deck towards Trowa and the others, cutting quite a dashing figure in my dark coat and boots and with the unadorned but razor-sharp daggers strapped to my waist. I rather hoped Heero would notice it too.

Once I stood next to my friends, I said boldly: "Well, I have news for you. Relena doesn't know anything!"

"Relena knows more than you think she does," Zechs replied icily. "Then again, you were always so busy chasing after Heero that you didn't have eyes for anyone else, did you? I have news for you. Relena is the one with the dowry."

I grinned.

Zechs narrowed his eyes.

"I see. You haven't seen it yet, have you?"

"Seen what?" he spat.

My grin grew wider.

"She didn't show you her tattoo." Trust Relena to make things difficult—even for the guy who abducts her.

Zechs huffed, seeming more than a little frustrated now. "The girl is… difficult to handle, I admit. But she gave me the coordinates of an island!"

"Well, let me tell you then that that is all she'll ever give you. You can spend years digging up the whole island—Relena doesn't know where the gold is buried. She only got one half of the clues."

Zechs narrowed his eyes, still suspicious but now clearly intrigued. „Then who has the other half?"

For some odd reason, his eyes flickered towards Heero, still half hidden in the shadows and shrouded in Relena's scarf. Could Zechs have noticed that it was him? No, I thought, that was impossible. But I realised the man was making me uncomfortable with his superior, cool behaviour.

Eager to regain the upper hand, I slowly reached into my coat pocket and, with a dramatic flourish, produced the wrinkled piece of parchment onto which Quatre had drawn the treasure map.

"We do!" I held up the map so everyone could see it. "How about we give you the map and you give us Relena?"

Zechs snorted. "Do you think I'm stupid? You could have another copy! If this piece of hide really is what you claim it to be. And besides," his eyes grew thoughtful, which was always dangerous when up against a halfway intelligent foe like Zechs. "You seem to be awfully concerned about the girl's wellbeing. How interesting! What happened to your undying love for her brother? Weren't you one of his many, many, many admirers? Oh, how it must have hurt you to find out that he was cold as a stone!"

Now he was just trying to get a rise out of me. And I must admit it was working… Heero was anything but cold! It didn't take the memory of that one heated kiss for me to realise that. Though the kiss did help…

"Such a pity, really," Zechs continued. "I have grown rather tired of the girl… There's no reason why I shouldn't just force her to tell me everything she knows—however much or little that may be. She is not as pretty as her brother but—" He simply smiled.

And I was sorely tempted to smack that smile from his face! In fact, I rather felt like wringing his neck—maybe we should just board the ship and deal with this the pirate way! My fingers started to inch towards my daggers…

"Stop," someone said resolutely.

Stop?!

I whirled around.

Oh. No.

Heero had stepped forward as well and—in front of a stunned audience of pirates and cutthroats—was just pulling the frilly scarf from his head!

Everyone stared at him incredulously, myself included.

Heero, however, was as usual completely unfazed by the attention. He moved to my side and snatched the map from my unresisting fingers.

"I have the other half of my father's clues. This map," he held it up over his head, "was tattooed on my back. I am willing to make the exchange. My sister's life in exchange for myself." Before I could do anything more than stare at him in horror and surprise, he had crumpled the map into a small ball and thrown it over the rail… into the sea. "There is no other copy. I give you my word."

I must admit, Zechs recovered from the surprise rather quickly. A stunned but pleased smirk was spreading across his lips. "Two birds with one stone, as they say..."

Oh, no, no, no!

I had to do something! This was clearly the worst case scenario. There was no way I would allow Heero to sacrifice himself! He had a tendency to do that, I realised, and it was quite unhealthy—for himself and for me!

There had to be a way out of this! There had to be! Something tempting enough for Zechs to agree to, something daring enough, something completely audacious—

„Not so quickly," I cried, drawing everyone's attention back to myself. „I-I have a much better idea!"

"Really?" Zechs asked dryly, completely unconvinced.

"Yes!" Though my voice seemed to tremble a little, it still rang out clear and strong. "I challenge you—to a game of cards! The winner gets both of them! Now, wouldn't that be even better? Simple and easy and without bloodshed. The winner takes all."

There were shocked gasps from both ships.

Zechs, however, was quiet for a moment and I could almost see the gears in his head turning. He was clearly tempted to agree to my insane idea.

"And the loser," he asked after a moment.

There was a tense pause. I looked at Heero, who stared at me. He probably thought I had finally lost my mind.

"Loses everything." I said, still looking at Heero.

Zechs smiled.

"Alright."

I guess it's glaringly obvious that I don't know the first thing about sailing or ships - I just make stuff up :D Apparently, the quarterdeck is the raised part of the deck at the rear of a ship where you'd normally find the captain or first mate, it's also where the helm is situated. Below the quarterdeck is the captain's cabin, the largest (and probably nicest) room on the ship. The main deck is more or less the rest of the deck, where the sailors are running about doing the actual work. And of course there's also a stunningly large number of sails with utterly complicated names involved in the whole process - but, for my own sake, I thought I'd keep it... simple ;)