A/N- I have updated this chapter as for some reason it didn't upload properly. Hope this is better for those who could not read it before.

Chapter 2

The figure of a tall man donned in a black and white naval uniform looked on proudly at the sight in front of him. After a few days of chasing down the scum of the sea, Captain Armando Salazar joyfully bit into a ripe apple as he regarded the remains of the ship which laid to waste before him. It was a delightful sight and his eyes flickered momentarily towards his Lieutenant who shuffled awkwardly nearby. His euphoria at the whole situation vanished as quickly as it had come and he slowly turned to face the man who had not spoken since the attack.

"Yes?" He asked, his accent thick and muffled by the remaining apple in his mouth. His Lieutenant, Lesaro looked down quickly and then made eye contact with his captain.

"Captain, one of the ships managed to... escape". He spoke quietly, hoping to calm the Captain who had now thrown his apple into the sea in exasperation. He watched as the Captain suddenly began shouting orders and almost sauntered to the wheel, managing to move the large vessel of the Silent Mary with grace that no one else could achieve.

But as they sailed closer and closer to the ship which had managed to escape the ruthless treatment of the infamous Spaniard, it became clearer that the ship in question had been abandoned. Obviously their assault on the pirates had been sufficient enough to bring about the demise of the ship but Armando grunted with frustration as he pulled away from the wheel indicating to his second in command to take over. Lesaro flailed slightly but grabbed the wheel and watched as the Captain pulled out his telescope and observed the scene in front of him. Lesaro flinched however when the captain began to curse loudly. From what Lesaro could gather, the ship had been left to sink and the Captain was not content with just that.

However, just as Armando managed to get back to the wheel one of the officers began to shout about a person on the ship. Lesaro watched as a smile crept upon the Captain's lips and Lesaro was very happy he was not in that person's position. The Silent Mary sailed closer but the smile on the Captain's face grew smaller and instead became an expression of confusion.

There lying, almost like an angel, was a young woman who had a halo of blood surrounding her pale hair. Armando did not react at first but commanded his crew to bring her upon his ship. He was not particularly superstitious in regards to females upon his ship and despite severely disliking pirates, he was still an honourable man who took pride in himself for being just that. No honourable man would leave a woman stranded, no less a woman who was injured.

It took a while to get the female on board as the crew were being as careful as possible not to injure her further. When she was finally on the Silent Mary, Armando regarded the woman with suspicion. Her clothes were of an English Fashion and they were definitely not in any way related to pirates. She had soft features and a pale complexion which was sprinkled with a dusting of freckles. All in all she was quite charming to look at but the head wound which had caused so much bleeding had tarnished her beauty slightly. Moving forwards, Armando knelt down beside the woman and with gloved hands, carefully moved her hair to see the injury. He muttered something under his breath and turned to the nearest crew member.

"She is not as badly injured as I thought. Take her to my cabin and bring some water and cloth". And with that he walked away, leaving the crew staring at him with wonder.

"He...he wants her in his cabin". Santos whispered to Lesaro who was looking as confused as everyone else. "What about the pirates who have just gotten away?"

"We do not question the Captain, she is most likely a hostage or victim anyway. Do what he says and we shall see what happens. I suspect that we will be going after them soon". Lesaro replied calmly, although his expression said otherwise.

Without saying anything else the crew got back to work and Santos carefully carried the body of the young woman into the Captain's Cabin. The Captain was not there however and Santos was becoming increasingly aware of the woman in his arms. Deciding to take a chance, he walked further into the Captain's rooms and placed her upon a plush couch, carefully moving a pillow to avoid blood dirtying the golden material. He left for a while to collect the water and cloth that the Captain requested and almost jumped when he came back and found the Captian himself sat comfortably behind his large wooden desk.

"That will be all, thank you". The Captain spoke softly, and Santos quickly left with a small nod wanting to leave the strange situation as fast as possible.

Now alone with the young woman, Armando allowed himself a moment to release a long sigh. He had spent the last weeks hunting down pirate ships and couldn't quite recall when he last sat down. But he knew he could not rest for the long, as the woman who had caught his attention needed his assistance. Carefully standing up, he walked towards the girl and knelt down once more. With much care and precision, he began to wipe away the blood from her head and face, watching the drops soak into the material of the couch. He didn't much care but as he lifted his eyes he managed to stop himself from jumping as two green eyes stared straight back at him.

Within seconds the girl suddenly jumped up, her eyes wide with fright and he managed to grab hold of her shoulders and pushed her down with some force to keep her from falling.

"Where..." She began but was stopped as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped against the soft material once more. Armando could only stare and gently moved away from the young woman. He walked back to his desk and regarded the map in front on him. His ship was due to port in a week. Sitting down, he allowed himself to slump slightly which contrasted his usual straight back position and carefully ran his fingers through this hair and over his face, hoping to open his eyes and find the young woman gone. As much as he found her appearance charming he did not necessarily need a woman on bored, or an English one at that. Thankfully he was not aware of any pirates in the vicinity and therefore the next week would be aimed at getting back to the port to collect supplies. He hoped that this would be a perfect opportunity to find the young woman some help. Regarding the pirates that got away, he believed that they could not have escaped far enough and was sure they would catch up to them soon. Without a large ship, they weren't much of a threat which made them even more perfect. 'In fact', Armando thought 'they could be target practice'.

And when the girl was returned to the land and the other pirates killed, he could then focus on his other goal. Ridding the sea completely of the scum which had infected it. His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle moan however, and he raised his eyes to see the young girl waking up again. Standing up he leaned forwards slightly, placing two hands upon the desk.

"Welcome aboard the Silent Mary". He smiled as the girl's eyes widened once more.