Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi! This is my first fanfic on Ao3. Please enjoy!

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The lieutenant sat upright on his bed, his face buried in a small map. Kwazii always found it entertaining to follow the lines with his paw, imagining the wild and treacherous journeys the pirates must have made to find their buried treasure. Unfortunately, the room was just as wild as his imagination. Old books were scattered around the dirty wooden floor and his venus fly trap was slowly growing out of control. Paintings of pirate ships and photos of him and his friends watched on from the walls. His hat was proudly sitting on his scratching post, eyeing up the rest of the characteristically cluttered room.

The Octonauts were all bustling around the large orange ship, all going through their usual schedules. Vegimals were making lunch and the Captain and Tweak were checking on the engines because they had been acting up lately. The last landing had been very rough because a jellyfish bloom had stuck themselves all over the outside of the Octopod. Apparently there was some damage done to the propeller or something. Not that Kwazii cared or knew. All he knew is that he was very hungry.

He sprang up with his usual energetic bounce and jumped threw the octoshute, quickly popping out the other side. He hoped that the Vegimals had recently made some more kelp cakes or fish biscuits. Maybe there would even be some leftovers of his infamous Pirate Pie still in the fridge! He passed the medical room on the way to the kitchen, the penguin inside sorting through different pill bottles of varying sizes and colours. Boxes of medical equipment were scattered around the small blue room. There were numerous tanks around the sick bay, including the main tank in the corner that was decorated with lime green kelp. There didn’t seem to be very many patients today, except for a few crabs and one starfish.

“Hi Peso! How ya doin’?”

Peso jumped, seemingly spooked out of his feathers and knocked over the small crab tank next to him. The previously sleeping crab got flown into the air before Kwazii jumped forward and caught them in his paws.

“Sorry matey!” The crab grumbled as it was put in another tank. Peso picked up the (somehow unbroken) glass tank off of the floor and back onto the table before wiping his forehead.

“God Kwazii!” The small penguin gasped. “You scared me half to death. By the way, the Captain wants you in the HQ. There’s a big storm on the way and he wants everyone to help get nearby creatures inside the Octopod for safety.” The medic said, turning back towards the cabinet to continue sorting.

“Oh ok, thanks.” Kwazii replied, changing his direction towards the HQ. “Wait, why didn’t he just sound the Octoalert?”

“Everyone else was already in the HQ anyway. He sent them off before he realised you weren’t there. You better get going, Paani said the storm was looking really serious and is quickly on its way.”

At this, the lieutenant had taken off into a sprint, yelling an apology for the scare as he ran. A storm? The weather recently had been amazing lately, albeit not perfect. This was not a good sign. A pirate always knew that a storm this sudden was always a bad omen of something yet to come. Nevertheless, he continued on, soon making his way to the main HQ. Captain Barnacles was standing with his arms crossed behind his back, staring intently at the large screen in front of him. The screen showed the slightly familiar symbol of a storm heading towards the Octopod.

“We have around 25 minutes until the storm reaches us, Captain. Even less until we start feeling the effects of it.” Dashi told the polar bear, who only nodded in response.

Kwazii took the following silence as an opportunity to speak up.

“Peso said you wanted to see me, Captain?”

Captain turned towards his lieutenant, happy to see him, but making sure to maintain his professional. “Yes Kwazii. There’s a large storm on the way called a supercell.”

“What’s that?”

“A supercell is a highly dangerous storm, capable of producing both large hailstones, tornadoes, flash flooding and horrible sea conditions. We need to get as many animals to safety ASAP.” Captain turned to Kwazii, a serious yet determined expression on his face. “Can you go in the Gup B and tell them where to go?”

“Yes Captain!” Kwazii acknowledged, grabbing a kelp cake off of the tray on the table before heading out. He ate the sweet cake whilst running to the launch bay, more than a little disappointed that he couldn’t have a full dinner. However, he knew what would happen if he didn’t rush to help, Either way he was still excited to be able to drive the Gup B around. He sprinted down the blue corridors and approached the ladder that led to the launch-bay. He ignored the ladder and jumped straight onto the floor below, stumbling a bit before continuing. Kwazii grabbed 2 orange oxygen tanks off the metal rack, attached them to his back and helmet and backflipped into the Gup B, closing the glass windshield.

“Tunip, open the octohatch!”

Tunip rushed to pull the lever and Kwazii sped through the launch bay’s pool into the open ocean. He could feel the wind through his fur (figuratively, of course, he’s underwater) and the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. The small gup rushed around rocks and coral. The waves tossed and turned the small orange gup as it flew through the water. Clumps of seaweed clung to the tail and fins of the shark themed add-ons and unlucky fish got thrown back by the raging current. Rocks appeared left and right. The orange cat behind the wheel stared outside the windscreen with a mix of concentration and adrenaline-filled glee. The speedometer on the control panel went past 70mph, 80mph, 90mph.

“Yeow!” Kwazii yelled with his usual energetic attitude and all the nearby creatures stared in confusion.

A sudden buzzing came over the screen and the Captain connected.

“Slow down, Kwazii. Not that I’m not unappreciative of your driving skills but I don’t want you to crash in the current.” The Captain warned sternly, although still smiling at the cat’s enthusiasm as he turned off his communication system and went his own way.

Kwazii rolled his eyes playfully and clicked the button to open the glass hatch and began to swim around the small reef to search. The coral was full of every colour you could imagine and the fish in it were just as beautiful (although most were hiding from the storm). The current fanned around the cat's legs and made him drift off course periodically, despite the many attempts to right himself. He grabbed onto a protruding rock and steadied himself and began to scan for creatures in the surrounding area.
Thankfully, most creatures had already swam to safety. Only a few remained, who were either trapped under a rock or had lost their families. A large school of striped mullet swam quickly past, supposedly heading to deeper waters. Their small bodies moved quite slowly as they battled against the strong, stormy current. One broke from the crowd and approached him.

“Hi mat-”

The fish cut Kwazii off. “You better get to deeper waters quickly! I’ve seen some big storms in my time but that one is a real fin-twister!”

“Good to know.” Kwazii nodded at the fish as it swam to deeper waters, leaving the cat to fend for himself.

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After only around 10 minutes, Kwazii was the only one left on the reef.

“Finally.” Kwazii sighed “I can finally go home for lunch.”

Suddenly, a small beeping noise sounded from behind him. He swam in circles, trying to find the source of the noise before he realised that it was coming from his oxygen tank. He mentally facepalmed before checking on his oxygen levels. Unfortunately, the tank showed that it was practically empty, soon being confirmed as Kwazii felt himself begin to go lightheaded. He shot himself off of the rock and desperately swam to the surface, small breaths slowly turning into suffocated empty gasps. His vision slowly went black as his swim to the surface got tossed around by the raging current. Through the colours floating in his vision, he could see the surface gradually approaching..

4 metres..

3 metres..

2 metres..

A massive piece of wooden debris stabbed him in the side, one of the nails in it slicing a tear in his thigh. Blood spat all throughout the nearby water. The lieutenant’s scream was muffled by the sound of his helmet shattering, the glass adding more cuts to his body and face. His hat was long lost to the raging current and the eyepatch was hanging on for dear life. A semi-large piece of wood rushed past and Kwazii instinctively clutched on to it, the wood acting as a buoyancy aid to bring the cat to the surface. The cat took a large breath, the stormy ocean air soothing his lungs. He tossed and turned in the water, waves battering his body and anything else in their paths. His head was constantly dipping in and out of the water in a rhythmic pattern, almost like he was flickering between the worlds of life and death. It repeated for what felt like hours.

Under….

Over…

Breathe…

Under…

Over…

Breathe…

The cat grasped for his little Octo-Compass. As much as he hated asking for it, he needed help, and fast. To his relief, the small device had remained latched onto the belt, even through the struggle. He clicked the small button and started blabbering in a panic as the familiar Octo-alert sounded;

"Help-...... No air!-.... Need help matey's!"

All he heard from the other side was static. They must have left theirs in the gups. He continued for what couldn't be more than a few seconds before a particularly huge wave knocked the Octo-Compass out of his paws and into the depths of the ocean. Kwazzi desperately reached for it but those efforts were in vain. His calls for help faded in despair as he got thrown further into the open ocean. A bigger, more stable piece of driftwood drifted towards him and he gripped onto it, happy to finally be able to stay afloat and breathe without sinking. His soaking body gripped onto the wood as the water slowly calmed around him.

His lungs, full of burning salt water, hacking for air as his head fell against the sharp wood in exhaustion. He crawled the rest of his body onto the wood, feet still dipped into the debris filled water when his body gave up on him, engulfing his brain in exhausted darkness. His brain didn’t notice the large pirate ship approaching from over the horizon, quickly approaching the orange cat.

“Get ‘im on! I bet he knows something about Captain Took!” A distant voice shouted, presumably at his own crew.

Many hands grabbed at the the cats body and hoisted him onto the ship, rather aggressively and began to drag him into one of the rooms near the bottom of the ship, Kwazii weakly fought the pirates off of his cold, wet body but their grips only tightened as they threw him into a small room that resembled a cell and before he could react, they shackled his paws and feet together. Kwazii was confused, what had he done. Either way, his usually feisty temper was gone after that day's ordeal and he merely layed on the wooden floor in silent, exhausted anger.

“So, Cat, tell us everything about him.”

Chapter Text

“So, Cat, tell us everything about him.”

Kwazii looked up in tired confusion. A large snow leopard looked back at me, wearing what seemed to be a pirate captain's outfit. The cloak seemed to be made of fine red leather with gold stitching along the sleeves. A large captain's hat sat on his head, made of the same material of his cloak. He was about the same height as Captain Barnacles but he looked quite a lot angrier, much to Kwazii’s confusion. A large cigarette hung from his scarred face. Two other pirates (one a skunk, the other a black and white dog) stood around the captain, wearing the same expression.

“Who are you?” Kwazii questioned, finally gaining the strength to stand up and attempt to look menacing.

“That’s none of your business!” The snow leopard spat. “Now tell us everything you know about Captain Took!”

Kwazii’s face contorted in confusion. He had heard about Captain Took before but he didn’t know any much more than the average pirate. Even less,in fact, after being away from the pirate life for so long. He was a famous pirate who had one of the largest treasure collections in all of the seven seas. However, as far as Kwazii knew, he and his crew hadn’t been seen for years, decades even.

“He has been seen off the coast of Argentina. He took 2 of our shipmates. We know that you know something about it.” The leopard pressed his face up against the bars, practically growling the words through bared teeth. Kwazii stumbled back in surprise at the sudden closeness.

Kwazii sighed. “Look, maties, I don’t know who you are or what you are talking about. I’m not even a pirate anymore, haven’t been for many years.” The snow leopard glared at him, seemingly not believing him. “I don’t know anything about Captain Took. Just let me get back to my own crew and leave me be.”

The snow leopard looked him up and down, as if judging him.

“Take him to the room, boys.”

Two of his crewmates grabbed Kwazii and blindfolded him as he struggled. Their paws dug into his already scratched up arms as they dragged him through numerous corridors, splinters of wood stabbed into his legs like sandpaper. He kicked and yelped for help from no one in particular.

“Shut up.” One of the crewmates demanded, with no effect.

The cat was suddenly thrown out of his captors hands into what seemed to be a wooden chair. The two crewmates gripped his limbs and held them down with cold metal clasps. Kwazii’s screams died down as he attempted in vain to struggle out of the binds. They removed his blindfold.

“Look, I don’t know what game you’re trying to play, but I know you know something about him.” The leopard bent down in front of him, inches from his face. He could feel the leopard's warm breath on his face. He was close enough so that Kwazii could read the label on the captain's hat;

“Capt. Iskat.” it read.

“Look, matey. I don’t know anything. Let’s just let bygones be bygones and you let me go. There’s a large storm on the way, your crew is in great danger. You need to get out of here.”

Captain Iskat looked at Kwazii with a threatening expression. Iskat removed his cigar from his mouth and pressed it up against his thigh, Kwazii baring his teeth in pain. The cigar smoked the orange fur and left a moderately sized burn on his skin when it was finally removed, Kwazii remaining as still as ever in the rickety wooden chair. He knew the routine. He had seen torture more than he’d like like admit during his time as a pirate. The wooden boat swayed slightly under his tied up paws.

“Look, Cat-”

“My name is not ‘cat’.” Kwazii interrupted, seemingly getting a bit fed up with the situation. “It’s Kwazii. Now I have to get back to my own crew and captain now, so please let me go.”

Iskat replied by swinging his claw at his face. Kwazii yelped in surprise, a tiny trickle of blood dripping down from the wound it had created across his eyebrow. The leopard stood up and looked down at Kwazii incredulously and Kwazii stared back, making sure to keep up his tough guy persona. The floor shook with every wave that hit the boat. Iskat flew his paw out at Kwazii and covered his mouth and nose with his paw.

"I was being nice, now you're just being frustrating. You tell me about Captain Took, or I will find this other crew that you talk about, and I will slit their throats in front of you one by one. " The 2 cats stared at each other. Kwazii knew he did not mean that lightly. "You understand?"

Kwazii was left at an impasse. He couldn’t tell him about Captain Took because there was nothing to say. The ship suddenly tipped at a large angle, sending the crewmates flying into the back wall. Iskat sighed in disappointed annoyance.

“That man killed a member of my crew. I will have his head if I see him ‘round these parts.”

Kwazii felt pity for this man. No matter what somebody acts like, you can never help but feel pity for someone who had lost a member of his crew. Although, that didn’t stop Kwazii from trying to weasel his way out of this dangerous situation he had found himself in.

The floor suddenly shifted away from everyone's feet, causing all of them (minus Kwazii, who was still tied to the chair) to go flying against the wall. Water sloshed through the concerningly high window. Kwazii had been out at sea for long enough to know what this meant. That storm had finally hit. He wondered if the other Octonauts were okay.

“What in the Bermuda triangle? Yuti! Go secure our treasure! I’ll steer the ship! Zorrillo-” Captain Iskat and the black and white dog (which Kwazii guessed was Yuti) ran to the door. “Do what you usually do.” He rubbed the bridge of his snout and followed Yuti to the top deck.

Kwazii and Zorrillo stared at each other in awkward silence.

“So, uh..” Zorrillo held onto the wall to steady herself, looking unsure. “I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do with you now, to be perfectly honest.”

Kwazii snickered at the situation, getting caught off guard when the ship suddenly tipped and his chair hit against the wall. The boat was sitting at a 50° angle now. If it goes anymore they'll all capsize and fall into the sea. Water was seeping into the ship now, slowly rising up Kwazii’s calf's. His situation was getting worse and worse.

“Hey matey!” Yelled Kwazii. “I have nothing to do with Captain Took, I have nothing to do with any of this. I have a crew to get back to. I don’t want them finding me at the bottom of the Great Sea…please let me go…”

Zorrillo paused for a brief moment that couldn’t have lasted longer than a few seconds before she ran (or swam, due to the quickly rising water) to Kwazii’s side to untie him.

“I’m new to this whole pirating business. I’m not into it to be honest. Too much murder for me, not enough pay, I’ll probably dash at our next restock anyway.” She took off the final knot and patted Kwazii on the shoulder. “Don’t let Captain see you escape, I don’t want him killing me off before I get to run off, do we?”

Kwazii thanked her with a pirate salute before clambering out of the room, which was now at an 80° angle. Unsavable, absolutely unsavable. Freezing water completely filled one side of the ship. Kwazii spotted a window at the end of the long corridor that held the prisoners' cells. He ran down the hallway and threw himself against it, the glass shattering, cutting up his arms, before he fell, fell deep into the stormy Atlantic Ocean.