Elizabeta

I was observing my crew as they worked with Captain Kirkland's men. Even though we were rivals, they somehow managed to work together. Building a ship surely was extremely exhausting and I was hoping for a miracle to happen, so could finally leave this island. Being in charge of these men was a new task; so any persons were now under my order. Gilbert had delegated me and Antonio; to take care of the three crews; I would watch over mine and Kirkland's group while Antonio would look after his own. At the moment Gilbert, Sakura and Kirkland were trying to channel the magic of the necklace and I hoped they would succeed. Thinking about it made me nervous but before I could reflect any further on that, Toris ran towards me; his face stricken with panic. Even though I had no idea of what had happened, but my stomach felt heavy; a strange feeling formed itself in my gut. Something awful was occurring. "Elizabeta!"

Before I could make any conclusions or analysis of their nervous body languages, Feliks enlightened me instantly. "Lizzie, red sails," Feliks declared, an alarming glint in his eyes. My body froze and my vision completely blanked as a flashback invaded my mind. My father being shot in the leg before being thrown on the infamous ship with the red sails: The Proteus, the sea-god, or as some would say Old Man of the Sea. It was a matching expression, because the ship was old, navigated by Captain Roberts, the one man who had abducted my father, killed off half of my crew, burnt my ship and crushed my hopes; the one who was responsible for my torment the last few days.
We will handle this. The smiling face of Gilbert appeared in my head. If you and your crew are capable of defeating the royal army, then we will handle those pirates. His words had given me strength days ago, and now I needed them again to handle this kind of situation. If Toris had seen the ship of Roberts on the Eastern part of the Island, then they would not find Gilbert. We had to spare them some time. I shook out of my thoughts as I tried to focus on Toris, Natalya and Feliks. The look in my eyes almost screamed seriousness; my mouth was set in a grim line. It was time to face the danger.

"Roberts is coming, I will inform Captain Fernández Carriedo right away, while you look for the crews, you inform them as well. We will stay hidden, prepare a surprise attack, but I need a party or one person to go to Kirkland, Gilbert and Sakura. Sent Mathias to them, he counts as more than one person with his strength," I ordered, seeing in their faces that I was very serious. Natalya was ready to fight; I saw it in her eyes and the way she had drawn her sword. The emergency of this odd occurrence was influencing the atmosphere. Within a few minutes, all the present pirates were informed, including Antonio.

"How? How does he know that we are here?"

"I have no idea. I know that he must have heard of our successful abduction, but to think that he knew were we landed," I sighed, sitting down on a piece of wood. "We don't know if his partner, Edelstein is accompanying him at the moment or not. If so then we have a huge problem."

Antonio leaned his chin on his hand, "well your crew has almost 20 persons, and mine has 40 as well as Kirkland's. That's means 100 men."

It was a lot, but I was uncertain about their numbers. If Edelstein sent an army along with Roberts, then we would stand no chance against them.

"Don't forget the injured and children. We have two little boys and I don't care what you say, but I won't endanger them in a battle."

The man in front of me sighed. He pushed his body up with his right hand. "Elizabeta, I am afraid but those aren't boys anymore. They have faced loss, rejection, danger and violence. Whether they choose this life or not, they cannot escape it anymore; even if you try your hardest to avoid them being killed or hurt."

Growing anger was claiming my heart. I could not blame him, he was right, but I still wanted to protect them. "What do you suggest?"

"We do as you ordered; a surprise attack will increase our chances. And we have to capture their ship."

After my meeting with Antonio, we looked for Feliks. To my dismay we could not find him as we ventured through the woods. Some had already taken action and hid themselves behind the bushes. Antonio stopped several times while I kept my pace.

I suddenly saw four small figures approaching me. "Eliz," one of them shouted and I knew who it was. Gilbert rushed towards me, his face showing a great amount of worry. "Eliz, I don't know if these are great news or not, but we just saw the Marine sailing towards this Island."

"W-What?" I whispered, "No this can't be."

His eyes were fix on my face, "I know, b-but maybe this is a good opportunity to talk to my father."

At that moment, Antonio took a share in the conversation. "Roberts is soon arriving." I had not noticed him approaching us. "What?" Gilbert asked baffled.

"So, you mean to tell me that the bloody Marine and Roberts are on their way here?" Kirkland inquired while steading Sakura with his arms. Mathias stood next to him and rubbed his neck with his hands. "Oh Lord."

"Yes, they are, from each side of the island. Have you managed to accomplish your task?"

"Yes, Elizabeta, we did," Sakura replied, her lightly weak state was proof enough and I was relieved that they had achieved to break the magic in the necklace. "What if we all hide, except for my crew? We then face Roberts and give him the necklace in exchange for my father. You just have to distract the marine," I suggested, but Kirkland disagree. "They will know that they need Gilbert in order to activate the necklace."

"Verfluchte Scheiße," Gilbert hissed, punching the tree next to him. The small yellow bundle in his scarf moved; Gilbird protested; His chirping sounded a little annoyed. "Oh Gilbird, you really can't sleep now," Gilbert commented impatiently, making the bird glare at him with a narrowed look.

"The only choice we have is to let them fight first," Sakura spoke quietly, "If the marine fights against Captain Robert's army, they will outnumber each other and give us a chance to charge. If they create chaos, we could save Elizabeta's father and take their ship." I stared at her with an approving look, "That could work. We will stick to the former plan of making a surprise attack, but when they have outnumbered themselves first."

Kirkland smirked; the Captain seemed to be proud of the mermaid's suggestion. "It's our only chance," he looked at Sakura, "you will not get engaged in that fight. You and Beilschmidt need to stay uninjured." His grip on her arm tightened; it was not only a warning; it was his way of saying that he did not want her to be hurt. "Okay," I exclaimed and looked Gilbert with worry. "You heard him. You both are our trump cards in this whole plan."

"Let us tell the others," Mathias mentioned, motioning everyone to move on, except for me and Gilbert.

He watched me with a blank look which I did not completely understand. I took his hand softly in mine. "Please stay unharmed." Upon hearing my softer indication, he nodded. "Don't worry, Eliz," he said before embracing me. "I am more concerned about you."

As his arms encircled my upper body, I let myself relax against his form. Somehow, all between this nervousness of the upcoming chaos, he succeeded to calm me down. Even though my heartrate was faster than usual, I felt comfortable and safe. His scent, which reminded me of flowers, intrigued me.

Unfortunately, his warmness left me earlier than I wished to. "We will succeed," he whispered, cupping my cheek with his hands. "The plan is being set in motion, now come on," Antonio shouted from a distance.

Roberts and the Marine… This would be bloody battle.

[A/N: Do you know how much I cringed at writing the word "trump card" :'D God that presidential candidate just unsettles me greatly :'D. ]

Translation:

Verfluchte Scheiße – bloody hell