The Memories

As usual, Christina's obnoxious banging on the pan startled Sophia.

She stood up from her bed and got dressed up. The princess stepped outside the room and into the deck of the ship. Her first duty of the day was to apologise to the captain before continuing the book.

Suddenly, she heard someone calling her name.

"Princess, come up here."

It was the captain.

Sophia walked towards the forecastle deck where the captain, Alexandra and Baki, and Christina were standing.

Not wanting to approach her too closely due to anxiety, Sophia asked nervously.

"What is it, captain?"

The captain cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Aham, um, we. I meant me... I wanted to..."

The captain was obviously uncomfortable and still unsure of what to say. She turned to gaze at Alexandra, who had just nodded for her to go on.

"I wanted to say... that... you're late! You have to wake up earlier to finish your-"

Alexandra smacked Eleonora on the head and when Eleonora looked at her, both she and her cat were glaring back at her.

"Aham. I wanted to apologise for how I behaved last night. I admit I overreacted a bit and I'm sorry I hit you."

Sophia was taken aback. She did not expect her to apologies first.

"I... also wanted to express my regrets. I disobeyed your order, and as a result, consciences were exposed."

"No need to be so formal with me, princess. Just one sorry would have been enough."

Eleonora said with a small chuckle escaping her lips.

Sophia smiled in return.

Sophia suddenly embraced Eleonora. Eleonora only gave her a pat on the back after being startled. Each member of the crew turned to face the commander. Some grinned while others started to jeer her.

"Oh, how adorable. Our captain is particularly fond of the princess" Eleonora frowned at the person who said that as she raised her head.

"Say that one more time and ill cut your dick off and feed it to the seagulls"

The man gulped and looked away quickly continuing his work.

The captain then pulled away and said.

"Now now, get off me and go back to your book."

"Ay Ay captain"

Sophia said with a bright smile on her face and left.

Diliana was grinning to herself as she turned around to leave, but that smile vanished when she felt Christina and Alexandra's smirks pierce her back. She said as she turned around.

"What are you two smirking at?! Back to work, you lazy piece of rats!"

The two just giggled as they went their separate ways. Leaving the captain alone on the deck, who shortly after entered her cabin.

Sophia sat on the stairs and quietly began to read her book. She was almost done with only a few paragraphs left. A few moments later, she finished the book.

"What a sad ending..."

The princess exclaimed as she closed up the book. Suddenly, someone approached her. When she looked up, it was no other than Sib.

"Good Morning, princess. How are you doing? I assume the meeting with the captain did not go as planned, judging by your face?"

"Good Morning and no. Actually, it went better than I expected!"

"Then why do you look so sad?"

"Oh, it's because I just finished the book the captain gave me, and I'm just feeling down a bit from its ending."

"Is that so? Well, I'm glad it's only because of the ending."

"Would you like me to tell you"

"I would love to but I still have work to do as you see"

He said pointing at the bucket and mop in his hands.

"Let me help!"

Sophia said as she stood up.

"No, you don't have to! I can do it myself!"

"But I want to"

Sophia said as she snatched the mop from his hand.

"Here. Hold my book till I'm done okay?"

She said and handed him the book.

"B-But!"

"No buts!"

Sophia said grinning at him from ear to ear.

Sib just let a sigh of defeat and instructed her on which parts to clean.

...

"Finally! This took forever! So how did I do?"

Sophia whipped the sweat from her face and turned to look at Sib.

"You did really good, princess! I'm impressed!"

Sophia smiled proudly.

"Oh, here is your book. "

Sophia got closer to him and pressed her lips to his right cheek.

"Thank you for holding on to it."

"I-I-I. YES! I mean, ahem, you're welcome!"

Sib said in response, his face redder than a tomato.

Sophia grinned softly.

"Wow. The sun is already setting? Didn't really feel like so many hours had passed"

Sophia said gazing at the mesmerising view before her.

"Indeed. I didn't even notice until you mention it."

Sib exclaimed.

"Princess, would you like to tell me more about the book now?"

"Oh yes absolutely!"

Sophia said but suddenly, she noticed someone sitting down on the railing of the ship.

"I'm sorry Sib but can we leave it for another time? I have something I want to do "

Sib turned around to see what the princess was looking at. Only to see his captain with a bottle of alcohol sitting on the railing.

"Of course, princess."

Sib said as he nodded and left to the rooms below.

Sophia then slowly approached the captain.

"Captain? Can I keep you company?"

Eleonora turned around

"Yeah, sure"

She said and took a sip from the bottle. Still looking towards the sea, lost in thought.

Sophia didn't say anything but it was obvious she wanted to.

"If you have anything to say, spit it out."

"Oh, well, I finished the book you gave me"

Sophia said as she held the book in her hands

"Oh really? And what do you think? Did you like it?"

"Very much so! I think I'll read it again. However, the ending did make me feel a bit sad.

"Mhm, it has a really sad ending if you understand it correctly."

"But, I'm curious, did the protagonist's lover really die at the end, or was it just a dream? It says that he saw her die but when he woke up she was right there next to him. It is rea-"

"He died."

"What?"

"He died in the end. Both of them did. He saw her get killed and killed himself later on. That's what he meant by "I woke up, my head still hurting but it didn't matter as her beautiful smile was next to me, still dancing in that same old white dress.""

"Oh. I see. That's why he commented on her dress. White symbolizes heaven. Such a clever way to finish the story. I love it even more now"

"That's why it is my favorite."

Sophia handed the book to the captain

"No, keep it. I've read it so many times, I know every page by heart."

"Thank you. I'll cherish it"

Eleonora smiled and once again took a sip.

"Um, captain?"

"What is it?"

"I always wanted to ask. How did you become a pirate?"

"That's a bit out of the blue question, don't you think?"

"Well, yes. But I'm really curious to hear your story."

Eleonora smiled and said

"There is nothing much to say, honestly. Shitty parents, a really bad childhood, and an even shittier life till I was, I think 13. A man welcomed me on his ship. Raised me to be a pirate like him and then he died. That's all. I became a pirate by a mere coincidence. Not as exciting as you might have expected."

"Really? That's why?"

"Yep, told ya there was nothing much to say."

Eleonora laughed a bit and took a sip from the bottle.

"Can I ask something else then?"

"*sigh* about what?"

"How did you meet the Quartermaster and the First Mate?"

"Oh, these are funny stories actually."

"How so?"

"Well, Alexandra saved my life when we first met."

"What?! Really?"

"Mhm. We met at the time when I was looking for crew members. I got attacked by 20 men at once. I fought but couldn't defeat all of them alone. When I thought I was going to die. A cat with a scar on its eye appeared before me. It meowed at me and in the blink of an eye, all the men were dead on the ground. Then Alexandra appeared and told me she wanted to join my crew."

"How did she manage to kill them all off so fast?? It's incredible!"

"She didn't train her whole life in the Spanish royal military for nothing."

"Wait, what?! The Spanish royal military??!"

"Yes, I was a commander of the army 7 years ago."

Both of them turned around and saw Alexandra with Baki on her shoulders.

"Oh for heaven's sake, don't creep up on me like that again."

Eleonora said.

"First Mate! You were a commander of the army?! I didn't expect that for sure!"

"Aha, it is a surprise to most."

"But why did you leave the military?"

"I was betrayed by the royal military. "

"Why?"

"I don't know. Even tho I was one of the best. Never did anything wrong. However, they decided to replace me with a stupid son of an aristocrat. I couldn't stand the thought of that rat replacing me. So I left and never looked back."

"Who was the aristocrat's son? Do you know his name?"

"Oh you should ask your boyfriend about that"

Another voice spoke from behind them. It was Christina.

"Okay if anyone else pops out of nowhere again I'll shoot!"

Eleonora exclaimed after being startled for the second time.

"Wait, Sib is from an aristocratic family???"

"Why else do you think Alexandra hates him so much?"

Christina said

"I always thought she hated him because of the raid he started a few years back"

"Why did you have to tell her that?"

Alexandra asked annoyed.

"What? She has to find out eventually"

"But if he is an aristocrat, how did he become a pirate?"

"Ask him about it in the morning."

Eleonora replied.

Sophia was slightly shocked by what she learned but she understood that Sib might have a good reason to hide that from her.

"Hey! Arent you gonna ask for my backstory?!"

"Oh yes! What's your story, Quartermaster?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked. I was born a pirate."

"I fearful one"

Eleonora added

"Oh yes very fearful! Every man and woman falling on their knees for me."

"Were you a Captain to your own shop?"

"Fortunately, no. I didn't want that kind of responsibility on my shoulders. The bad thing was that I became addicted to gambling, so much so, that I lost this!"

Christina said as she removed her eye patch showing a hole where her right eye should be.

"Holy smokes.Wow. Do you feel pain?"

"Not anymore. It's been years since that night."

"Are you still addicted?"

"I'm not as I used to be. But now, I mostly play with the captain."

"Oh yeah, how did you two meet?"

"Few months after meeting the First Mate, in a bar, she challenged me to a game of cards, which I won. And she had no choice but to join my team.

The captain said.

"Because you cheated!"

"No one said I couldn't!"

They all laughed.

"What a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Eleonora said

"Indeed, I don't think there is anything that could ruin this peaceful night."

Alexandra said

"Captain, am I the only one feeling like something is pulling us?"

Christina mentioned

"No, I can feel it too"

Eleonora climbed up the ropes to look from above.

"Fuck!"

"What is it?"

Sophia asked.

Eleonora climbed back down.

"Wake everyone up. Code Black Lagoon. Prepare the safety ropes. Make sure everyone is secure on the ship."

Alexandra's and Christina's faces dropped.

"Fantastic! You just had to open your mouth, right First Mate?!"

Christina said as she ran towards the mast of the ship to prepare the ropes.

"Shut up!"

Alexandra yelled back as she ran the opposite way to wake up the others

"What's happening? What is Code Black Lagoon?

Sophia asked yelling at the captain as heavy rain started to pick up. Eleonora tied up a rope around the princess's waist. The rope was tied to one of the pylons on the ship. Everyone tied a rope around their waist. The captain ran to the ruler on the ship and tried to turn it to the left. Some stayed inside the cargo hold for protection and others on the main deck.

"SIB!"

Sophia yelled. Almost falling to the ground but getting caught by him. The ship was a mess big waves were hitting it making everyone slip.

"Sib, what's going on?!"

"We are approaching a vortex, princess! Stay close to me and hold on tight!"