On Board {A Solangelo Pirate AU}

6: Haha, Nice Joke. Wait, You Really Killed Him?

NPOV

The Argo II was quiet until they all burst into my cabin for a quick meeting. Or, what was supposed to be a quick meeting.

I groaned in frustration. "Percy, leave my cabin right now if you insist on arguing. We're not keeping him. He's not a lost puppy you found, for God's sake."

Percy splayed both just hands on my desk. "No, he's a doctor. He's someone who could keep us alive, Nico. If you make me return him, I'll just go get another."

At least then it wouldn't be Sun-boy. "You will not."

"I thought you guys were done kidnapping people," Sun-boy said.

"We are," Percy answered. "But Annabeth got sick last year, and then we all got sick, and we almost died. So we need a doctor. It's serious. I'm sorry, Will, but you have to stay."

Will. That had been his name. Will Solace, the boy with sun-gold hair.

"He does not, and I'm not arguing with you about this," I told him. "I'm serious. Leave if you can't control your mouth. As I was saying before you interrupted, I think our best option is to sail to Rontmion for supplies, and try to figure if the weather will be good to sail south again after that. If it is, then we just have to backtrack to Honnet again, and you'll be back home, Will."

"How long will the journey take?" He asked.

Jason tapped his fingers. "I would give it two weeks, if the weather is good."

"And after you return me home, I won't be bothered again, will I? I've heard stories of families being harassed years after their kids disappeared."

"We're not returning you home," Percy said. Piper huffed and dragged him out of the cabin, muttering about how "all of you are way too stubborn."

"Those rumors are false, at least within the last four years. You'll be safe from us as soon as you leave," Annabeth promised.

Will seemed satisfied with that, so we moved on to the next order of business: Rontmion. I pulled a map from my desk drawer and tossed it onto my desk. Every year, we plan out our travels to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, this reroute was going to mess up everything else we had planned. We wanted to be in the northern hemisphere by April to avoid the beginning of the wet season, but we were adding two weeks of sailing time. That was definitely enough to throw everything off.

"Maybe we need to skip the Isle of Lenk after we drop him off. I don't know how else we'll get out of the rainy season," Annabeth said from over my shoulder.

Leo analyzed the map alongside us. "That means we'll need double the supplies. Maybe if we try to steal more from Rontmion this time, then again from Honnet, and then extra from Rontmion when we pass by the second time, we might be able to build up a stash? I'm not sure if it'll be enough to get us all the way to Alaquati, though. I say we resort to cannibalism."

Will practically choked. "What?"

Travis Stoll grinned at him. "That's right. I say we start with Captain di Angelo, and then he can't stop us from eating you, too, Mr. Doctor."

I waved them off with a bored look. "He's joking, Will. But I think you're right, Leo. I'm not sure if we'll have enough. Maybe we could steal a net or other fishing supplies from Honnet when we go, and we could try to catch our own? I heard Percy knows how to use fishing nets. He says they're not hard."

"So, it's agreed, then?" Jason asked. "We stop at Rontmion, then Honnet and steal fishing supplies, then back to Rontmion and into the northern hemisphere?"

I marked up the map with our revised plan. It was going to be extremely close. We'd never been this close to being caught up in the rainy season before. Hopefully we'd get lucky and April would be dry this year.

They filed out of my office once I assigned those who would participate in the supply-gathering, guarding and readying the ship, and returning Will home. Only Sun-boy himself remained in my office afterwards. He shuffled back and forth and I tried not to give away that I had known him.

"Are you going to be okay without supplies all the way to Alaquati?"

"I'm not sure, honestly, but I brought this upon myself by not being clear enough with Percy. He and I butt heads sometimes, but he butts heads with everyone. He's the oldest guy we've got."

He nodded, and it was quiet for another moment. This was getting awkward. It was clear he didn't remember me.

"So how come you're captain, then?" He asked. "If you're younger...?"

My fingers stilled over the book in my hands. Flickers of Him, the old captain, filled my vision. Him, capitalized. We don't say his name anymore—it's like a curse. It's like he might hear us. I looked up at him with as little emotion in my expression as I could manage. "I was elected."

"But, if Percy had more experience...?"

I flashed him a grin. "Percy endorsed me." He has been worried that the old captain's attitude and manner had already soaked into his own personality. Percy has been afraid of his own strength, of what he could do to us if the power overwhelmed him. Of what He taught Percy to do to us if we got out of line. Percy knew He had already left an imprint on Percy's thinking and actions, and it terrified him.

"And now he just fights you about everything instead?" He teased.

I laughed. "You've analyzed my crew brilliantly, Solace." Shit. He hasn't told me his last name. I'll pretend my crew did. "You'd think they would listen to me more, but alas. Only on the trivial things do they actually do what I say, I'm afraid. The guy I replaced was...controlling at best, and I have a hunch that their new ability to disobey without severe repercussions has led to them doing it more often. I think they get a thrill out of it, really. My sincerest apologies, truly."

He pushed further. "What happened to the other guy?"

I hummed. "Mutiny."

"Are you teasing me again?"

I closed the drawer with the map of our future attacks inside. "I am certainly not."

His eyes were the size of saucers and he took a step back. "So...so is he dead then? You all killed him? How are you certain they won't do the same to you, now?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure if he's still alive or not. We sent him out on a small ship of his own without supplies. We showed him more mercy than we should have. He probably perished, but you never know, I suppose." As if the possibility that He might still be alive hasn't haunted me for the four years that He's been gone. As if I don't spend day and night still checking over my shoulder to make sure He's not there, stowing away and ready to attack like those kitchen rats.

I locked the drawer. "And as for your concerns that I might be betrayed, I don't share them. After all, it's mostly their own decisions that we're living on. If they listened to me, I might suffer from more stress about it. Luckily for me, they won't be angry at me for something I ordered, because they don't follow orders anyway."

"What a creative solution," he joked. "Your ship's power dynamic is impressive."

"Kindly shut your mouth. It's been working. And anyway, we're all much happier now."

He chuckled, then we fell back into another silence. He cleared his throat, "I suppose I should go. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts to return me home. I...realize not everyone gets that privilege." And with that, he closed the door behind him.

I was still as a statue. 'I...realize not everyone gets that privilege.'

Was he referring to me? Did he just acknowledge that he knew me? No, that's silly. He knows we were all kidnapped as children. That's all.

And yet...I couldn't shake the feeling that he meant something behind those words.

He must have tried to hint that he knew who I am.

I rubbed my face and checked out the grimy window—only slightly bigger than the size of my face—and wondered when I had turned into such a mess. Surely there were other things to think about than Will all the time. And whether he thought of me.

Word count: 1421