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Nathaniel stepped out onto the streets, walking alongside his guards and assistant.
They had just arrived at a kingdom near the coast, run by Queen Anarka. His own had sent him to discuss matters with them.
After all, Nathaniel was their diplomat.
As he walked up to the castle with his companions, a group smirked to themselves in the shadows.
Without warning, figures came out of the darkness, throwing nets around everyone. Nathaniel yelped in surprise, the only one not caught, backing away. An arm wrapped around his waist, trapping his arms to his sides.
"I got him, let's go!" The woman shouted, lifting him off the ground easily even though she was shorter, as he struggled. The other pirates shouted exclamations of joy as they followed, warding off the guards quickly escaping the nets with their weapons.
They made it all the way to the docks, where the group hopped onto their own large boat, already sailing off. The woman holding him latched onto a rope net handing off the side, dangling him above the ocean.
Nathaniel watched as the guards slid to a stop, unable to reach them in time before the boat was too far away to catch.
Lila stared at the scene from where she was on the dock, eyes wide. Then she smirked.
This worked out perfectly for her.
---
As he was pulled up onto the boat, he was tackled to the ground, hands bound behind his back. The woman grabbed him, pulling him up with a smile.
"Mission accomplished."
The group of pirates (Oh god, he just got kidnapped by pirates) crowded around him, pushing him towards a door at the head of the ship.
"Captain! We got him!"
Nathaniel glared at all of them, yanking himself away, "Let me go, you dumb-"
He jumped as the door slammed open and a hand grabbed the back of his neck.
"Seeing how he's acting now, it must've been a tough job,” a voice purred behind him. A hand gripped his chin, turning his head to face the captain.
He was a man with a feather accessory in his black hair, his right eye white with a scar running over it. The most off-putting thing was the smirk on his face.
"Hmm, you're a lot prettier than I was expecting." The captain ran a finger over his cheek, chuckling, "It'll be fun to have you as a hostage."
The redhead scoffed,
"Aww, don't make that face," The man snickered, "You'll have to get used to us. After all, you're going to be here a long time."
Nathaniel glanced towards the ground, but he couldn't deny the cold chill that ran down his spine at the sentence.
---
Nathaniel yelped as he was thrown into a room below the deck, the man quickly locking him in. One of the walls was completely made of bars, including the door and a small slit made for passing items through.
"Who are you?!" The redhead snapped, hands tightly gripping the bars, as if he could pull them apart and leave right then.
The pirate rolled his eyes, leaning forward, "Well, ruby, you'll be calling me Rev as long as you're on this ship."
Nathaniel sputtered, "Ruby?!"
"Mhm," The captain smugly grinned, placing his sword beneath Nathaniel’s chin, "After all, you're going to be earning us a lot of money.”
---
Nathaniel turned out to be a much more difficult hostage than expected.
He surprisingly had a lot of sass to the people who held the fate of his life in their hands.
Rev stormed down one day after the insistent banging, "What do you WANT?! You have been making noise for thirty minutes !"
Nathaniel stopped from where he was hitting the walls, smiling at the captain, "Hi Rev!"
"You act so high and mighty even when we could kill you at any moment," Rev hissed, stomping up to the door.
"But you won't," Nathaniel smirked, approaching the bars, "You need me for the ransom after all. And with how my meals are getting slightly smaller each day, I think you need that money."
Rev huffed. "What is it?"
"Get me drawing supplies."
The man blinked, "What?"
Nathaniel crossed his arms, "I'm bored down here all day! At least let me draw!"
Rev opened his mouth before closing it and rolling his eyes, "Fine. If that'll keep you quiet."
They could spare a few supplies if he'd stop doing that.
He climbed out, pointing at a random crewmate, barely looking, "Get him drawing supplies. I'm too busy keeping this ship from sinking."
"Aye, aye!"
---
"Hello!" Rose cheered as she happily walked up to the bars, handing Nathaniel his desired items through the opening.
"Thank you," He dropped to the floor, immediately starting to draw. Nathaniel sighed happily. He missed making art. It was always something he enjoyed immensely, even after he became a diplomat.
"Don't worry! You'll get used to him!" Rose beamed, "If he doesn't cut off your head first!"
The redhead froze, looking up with wide eyes. The girl smiled as she waved goodbye, leaving.
Nathaniel gulped, suddenly a lot more aware of how easily they could kill him.
---
“Is Rev short for something?”
“Reverser,” The captain answered immediately.
Nathaniel tilted his head, still chewing on his fish. “Where’d that name come from?”
“There used to be a rumor about me. Where I’d ‘reverse’ my enemies’ bodies, turning their insides to outsides,” Rev cackled, “Not like it was wrong, though.”
The redhead stopped eating immediately, looking disturbed, “Oh.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. You won’t be getting that treatment,” The pirate said, with a wide smile showing off his teeth, “Unless, of course, you start causing us too much trouble.”
“R...Right.”
Rev chuckled at the distressed look on the redhead's face, "Go on. Eat your damn food. I don't want you turning up dead."
"Why though?"
The captain paused, "What?"
"Why do you care so much about me being alive?" Nathaniel questioned.
Rev looked away, "It's because… I care about you."
A small blush appeared on his face. "Oh."
He couldn't deny somewhere along the way, Nathaniel had started growing fond of Rev.
Rev turned back, watching the redhead smile to himself. He scoffed, "Don't get flattered, I-I mean I care about you being alive because you'll earn us a lot of money."
Nathaniel's face changed to a neutral expression.
Somehow, that made Rev feel more uncomfortable than if he was mad.
"You were almost nice for a moment there," Nathaniel turned his head away, avoiding looking at Rev, "Guess I should know better than to trust someone like you."
For the rest of that day, Nathaniel refused to talk to Rev.
It made him feel uneasy. He had gotten used to snarking back and forth with the redhead. Having Nathaniel just give up easily and accept whatever he was saying was unnatural.
---
He was staring out at the sky while everyone else was eating lunch.
"Ay, yo, cap!" His right hand man- or well, woman shouted, approaching, "Shouldn't you be eating with us?"
"Just thinking," He responded, turning away from the water.
"About the new hostage perhaps?" Alix teased, "You've been daydreaming a lot more often lately, you know."
He paused, "N...No."
"I'm your best friend, don't lie to me," Alix judged his side with a smile, "You got attached, didn't you?"
The captain huffed, looking away, "No, I didn't."
Alix snickered, "Whatever you say." She walked away, presumably back to where the others were.
He rolled his eyes and stared at the blue ocean again.
Blue like Nathaniel's pretty eyes.
He giggled to himself, hiding the blush on his face with a hand.
---
Nathaniel was curled up on the bed in his cell, idly doodling on the sheet of paper in front of him.
There was a loud crash that sounded like someone had just jumped on deck. He looked up confused as more similar sounds followed it.
Soon, the sounds of clashing swords and yells from Rev commanding his crew floated down to him.
Must be another pirate fight. They weren’t common, but every time it happened Rev's crew beat them every single time. This time should be no different.
With a loud boom, and a spike of fear, Nathaniel realized something was going wrong as the side of the ship shook. He scrambled off his bed once he heard crewmates he had gotten familiar with yell to abandon ship.
The redhead ran over to the bars keeping him trapped, looking around the lower deck, freezing upon seeing the hole blown in the side. The boat lurched to its side, crates sliding down and falling out of the gap into the cold ocean.
Nathaniel yelped as he also lost his balance and slid to the edge of his cell. He looked over in terror as he noticed water starting to rush into the area.
The ship was sinking. And he was being dragged along.
Nathaniel used the bars to pull himself up away from the water, clinging to them as he shouted for anyone to get him, voice growing more panicked as the ocean steadily poured in more and more, and still no response.
---
Lila stood on the deck of the ship her kingdom had so graciously allowed her to use to rescue Nathaniel. But as she watched the vessel with him inside sink into the ocean, a lifeboat with the pirates on it, noticeably without their hostage onboard, she smirked to herself.
A ginger girl (Serena, if she recalled correctly) walked up to her, timidly tapping her shoulder, “Weren’t we supposed to get Nathaniel?”
Lila turned to her with a sweet smile and a giggle, "Two birds with one stone. We can just say they killed him, and I'll be the one in charge from now on."
Serena beamed, “What a great idea! Everyone will love having you as their diplomat!”
The crew laughed as they rode back towards the mainland, away from the submerging ship and hopefully Nathaniel as well.
---
Nathaniel’s breath came out in panicked quick gasps. He clung to the bars of his cell for support, his arms and legs already getting tired. His head was the only thing not submerged, but he's quickly running out of room to breathe.
Everyone else already left.
He's going to die here.
“I don’t wanna die,” He gave a weak cry out, for any deity above that was listening. It would take a miracle for anyone to find him now, voice frail and moments away from drowning.
And yet, Nathaniel yelped in surprise as a familiar head of black hair breached the water.
Rev stared back at him.
“Hold on!”
The captain fiddled with some keys in his hands for a moment, Nath simply staring at him in shock.
He came back? But why?
Rev dived down into the water, a few tense moments passing before he re-emerged on Nathaniel’s side. He grabbed the redhead’s wrist, “Hold your breath.”
He gave a shaky nod, doing so before he was pulled below the surface, being dragged out by the pirate.
When they got the opportunity to breathe again, they were outside the sinking ship, having escaped through the hole that started the capsize in the first place.
The crewmates were in the lifeboat, shouting happily and waving their arms for the pair to find them. Rev swam over, heaving Nathaniel up onto it before climbing in himself.
“You two are okay!” Rose said, relieved.
Rev nodded, turning to their navigator, “Max, we only left land thirty minutes ago. Can you figure out how to get us back there?”
Max nodded curtly, pointing in a direction, “Paddle that way.” Everyone cooperated, wanting to get out of their wet clothes before they got sick.
Nathaniel’s hands weakly grasped the captain’s wet clothes, the redhead breathing heavily, murmuring out dozens of gratitude-filled noises.
“...Marc.”
Nathaniel looked up at him, “Huh?”
Rev- Marc was staring off into the distance, “My name is Marc.”
The redhead smiled, leaning against the pirate and letting his eyes shut, yawning, “That’s a nice name.”
Marc willed the blush on his face down as Nathaniel fell asleep on his shoulder, finally accepting the fact he might’ve grown fond of the artist.