Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tears burn in Yona’s eyes as she runs, the warm hand of her servant Min-soo being the only thing to keep her grounded in reality. Memories that seem years away but are really from only moments ago flash in her already blurry vision. The image of Soo-won, her once loved cousin stabbing her father won’t leave. His eyes were ice and just as they spotted her in the doorway of her father’s chamber Min-soo had grabbed her, yanking her from the sight and pulling her into the dark streets of the capital. But his eyes were so cold. It couldn’t be Soo-won. Soo-won doesn’t have eyes like that. But it was. And nothing could take that moment away.

There is yelling from soldiers that used to be her father’s men echoing around the streets. Yona’s lungs ache with the exertion of running for so long and when her feet begin to stumble Min-soo finally stops in an alleyway. Crouching behind some crates he turns to look her in the eye for the first time since he dragged her away from her father’s murder.

“Princess,” he whispers. He looks so sorrowful it would make Yona cry if not for the fact that she already was. “I’m so sorry.” Min-soo says, pulling the girl into an embrace.

“Min-soo? Where will I go? This is my father’s kingdom. If he’s gone…” Yona’s thoughts trailed off into nothingness. Min-soo’s face tightens.

“Anywhere you can survive.” The sound of soldiers running was increasingly closing in on the two.

“Check over there!” One is shouting particularly close by. With a sad sigh Min-soo places his hands over the embroidered over coat on Yona’s shoulders, slipping it off. She makes no move to stop him but confusion begins to cloud her face.

“Live, that is how you can best repay his majesty.” Min-soo gives her a determined look before his features soften. “Princess, please be safe.” And with that the boy jumps into the streets running with the overcoat covering his head. The shock keeps Yona pinned to the ground.

“Over there!” a soldier shouts before the whistling of arrows can be heard. Finally rising to her feet Yona scrambles to peak over the side of the wall and she immediately wishes she hadn’t. The arrows fly at Min-soo for a sickening moment, seeming to hang in the air before one finds its mark in his back. She quickly covers her mouth with her hand to stifle the scream in her throat. Yona stumbles back. Min-soo! Is he dead now too? The sadness and dread almost threaten to swallow her but his words still ring in her ears. Live, that is how you can repay his majesty.

Forcing her heavy feet to move, Yona begins running. Where to she doesn’t know. But running blindly won’t last long. They managed to get close to the harbor. She could try and find people to help her but who could she really trust? If her own father’s men could turn so easily then how would she know who would help her and who would turn her in. Yona bursts from the cover of buildings into the more open space of the docks. There’s nowhere to hide. She can hear the faint sound of metal boots beginning to clunk against the ground behind her. She needs somewhere to hide but her panicked brain is beginning to fail her.

A boat tied to a dock not 20 feet away looks as though it has recently been carting things into it. The bridge still rests against the boat. The dark of night covers her as she moves to climb up into the boat. There are lights on the top part of it and the liquor induced sound of men floats down to her but the deck she is on seems deserted. A set of stairs leads to the cabin of the boat below deck. With a quick look behind her Yona can see the silhouettes of the soldiers beginning to peak out from the building surrounding the harbor. Whether this was stupid or not it was her only option.

Yona quietly creeps down the stairs to reveal a small room with crates and barrels stacked high along the cabin walls. There are spaces between the piles. Crawling into one of the spaces she begins to feel the tiredness creep into her bones. The shock of the evening finally taking its full effect as she begins to shake, biting hard on her lip to stifle her crying. Eventually with the rocking of the boat and the relief of escaping the soldiers her eyes begin to droop and she gives in to fatigue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of yelling throws Yona out of her sleep. Where?... For a moment tiredness makes her wonder how she ended up here crushed between these crates in a room that smells of sawdust and fish instead of in her fine bedroom with her silken sheets. Then reality all comes crashing down and the horror of the night before swamps her but not before the fresh fear of what woke her settles in.

The ceiling above her seems to explode with stomping footsteps. The slide of steel against steel grates on her ears. And the yelling is impossibly loud, some men shouting battle cries while others shout in pain. After moments of being frozen in fear Yona’s mind begins to race. I need to get out of here! But if they see me, what will I do? In her moments of hesitation she fails to notice that the fighting above is beginning to slow with the last squirmishes being won. She also fails to notice the racing footsteps that slap against the stairs leading to her hiding place.

“Get the goods! We’ll be killed for this! If we save it then maybe Kum-ji will spare us.” one voice hisses to the companion behind him. Yona’s head snaps towards the entrance at the sound of voices but it’s too late. Two scrawny men looking rather worse for wear stumble into the cabin blocking her exit. They stop abruptly when they see her standing there.

“Who..?” The one man starts.

“We don’t have time for this.” The taller one shouts. He lunges for Yona. She screams trying to jump back but the crates against her back stop her from escaping and his hands grab her hair forcefully pulling her out of hiding. She screams again this time for the fiery pain she feels with every tug of her red hair and she closes her eyes tight against the feeling. “I don't know how you got in here girl but…” The man is cut off by the sound of a fist colliding heavily with something and the thump of that something hitting the ground hard. The man holding Yona’s hair turns his head to face the noise.

The man's grip on Yona’s hair releases and she opens her eyes. She turns her head to Look at the man. He is shaking now with the shiny glint of a sword held menacingly below his chin. She follows the sword to the man holding it and her stomach drops.

He is tall, much taller than the two men who entered before. He stands confidently pointing the sword with dark black hair and a smirk resting on his face. But what is most peculiar is the striking blue of his eyes. Recognition passes through the man’s eyes that he holds the sword to and he shrieks, falling back and scrambling to sit beside the other man that is now laying crumpled passed out with his big nose smushed into the floorboards.

“So this is where you’ve been keeping it?” His voice is deep. It sounds much deeper than his young face would suggest it would be. He looks back to the group that squishes in the entrance behind him. “Tae-woo,” he calls to one of the younger looking men, “Tie these guys up and put them with the others.” The whole group of men nod and they shove at each other to get at the men, dragging the unconscious one out and shoving the other toward the exit. The man he called Tae-woo steps out of the bunch and walks surveying the area, completely scanning over Yona’s head to look at the crates and barrels behind her.

“This can’t be it. Dammit, another bust.” He curses. But he stops when the blue eyed man doesn’t respond. He doesn’t respond because his gaze is now locked firmly on Yona who cowers a little in front of him. The man raises an eyebrow while Tae-woo frowns deeply at her confused. She looks between the two, her fear keeping her in place. I want to go home. I want to go home. The thought is like a mantra. She wants to lie down and not deal with the intimidating men standing in front of her. But Min-soo’s words speak over her fear. Live. It gives her a bit of bravery.

Standing up a bit taller she faces the two men. Looking the blue eyed one in the eye in a way she hopes comes across as more confident than she feels. “Who are you?” Yona’s voice is shaky but it doesn’t break. The man snorts, his perplexed expression being replaced with that twisted smirk.

“You can call me Captain Hak.” He leans in close to Yona’s face, speaking his next words slowly. “And who are you?”

Chapter Text

The girl with the vibrant red hair, Leina she had called herself, sits uncomfortably next to the nadia dealers with an awkward space between them. Her hands are tied like the others but from the confused looks they give her and the odd scared glance she throws their way Hak thinks he can safely assume the two groups are unrelated. But Leina, if that was even her name, had introduced herself by hesitating for an amount of time that even an idiot like Droopy Eyes would be able to see it as a blatant lie. Her clothes are tattered and her feet looked bruised and battered. Her clothes look far too rich for the state she’s in. But finding out who the redhead is would have to be a problem for later.

Hak internally cursed at another failed attempt to stop the main supply of nadia and uncovering the main supplier Kimji. Nadia was a drug that was quickly poisoning Awa and would soon poison this entire country. He really did think he had it this time. Unfortunately the nadia dealers were proving to be much slippier to catch than he had first thought. 

Hak watches now as his boat, lovingly named The Happy Hungry Bunch by his first mate, pulls into the harbor. It is still early morning hours. There aren’t any people out yet but soon enough people will be starting their days. Transporting the prisoners on to his ship is something he would like to keep quiet. Getting capital city guards involved would only cause more trouble. Everyone knows the King, His royal bubbliness as Hak likes to call him, is against violence. In other words forcing a King that turns a blind eye to these issues to suddenly look at them could backfire in a way that Hak didn’t want to put his crew through. 

Jae-ha, his first mate, stands at the helm as the crew pulls the bridge over to the dock. “Let’s make this quick.” Hak shouts above the racket of his celebrating crew. “Daylights coming and we have prisoners to ship.”

The men cheer and begin to tug the nadia shippers onto their feet. The group of men groan but follow obediently to the ship throwing fearful glances towards the tall captain every now and then. The girl, to Hak’s surprise, doesn't move. The crew awkwardly shuffle around her but none seem to have the heart to drag her to her feet. He strides towards her. 

“Come on, Leina.” Hak bends down, careful not to grab the much smaller girl's arm too hard as he pulls her up. "Your buddies will leave you behind.” 

She cringes away a little but Hak still catches the quiet, “They’re not my buddies.” that she mumbles under her breath. She doesn’t say anything more though and he keeps his hand on her arm pulling her toward the boat. For some reason he gets the feeling that at any moment she could just fall. He hadn’t given her any reason to fear him, especially since she didn’t recognize him so not even his reputation could be the reason for her paleness and shaking. Wherever this girl had come from he wanted to find out. 

“Han-dae.” Hak calls. The light footed boy pauses what he’s doing and bounces up to the Captains side. “Take Leina below deck with the others.” When the girl gives him a scared look he adds, “Give her a separate room.” 

“Captain Hak? Are you… being nice? To a girl?” Han-dae asks incredulously with a wide smile. Hak’s eyes become chips of ice and the boy raises his hands in surrender. “Okay okay.” He grabs Leina’s arm and begins pulling her away. Hak watches as the girl leaves stumbling behind Han-dae.

A swift gust of wind beside him alerts Hak of Jaeha’s arrival. The green haired man’s ability to jump heights that makes him seem like he’s flying still amazes Hak to this day though he would never admit it. It had something to do with some old dragon legend related to King Hiryuu but Hak never paid much attention to things like that. Droopy-eyes was a good first mate, albeit a little out there. What was the point in ruining a good thing by digging into his past.

Flipping his long ponytail, Jae-ha greets the captain. “The men are celebrating? Is it safe to assume this was a successful mission?” Huffing Hak begins to walk towards the ship. “Then again those men really will find any excuse to have a good time.” Jae-ha continues. Hak turns to the man with a dry laugh.

“As if you’re one to talk, Droopy-eyes.” Jae-ha’s face crinkles a little at the comment.

“So what happened then?”

“It was just a supply ship. They had a decent amount of nadia but definitely nowhere close to the amount I know Kum-ji has stashed somewhere. And no sign of Kum-ji either.” Hak responds, pushing his black hair out of his eyes. 

“We’ll find the right ship next time.” Jae-ha slaps Hak’s back. “At least we got some prisoners to bring back to Awa. Gi-gan might just let you live yet.” Hak sighs heavily at this. “Don’t tell me you forgot?” Jae-ha scowls. “Today’s the day we meet with Captain Gi-gan. Just be happy you have something to show for our latest escapade. A group of nadia suppliers is sure to put even Gi-gan in a good mood.”

“Speaking of prisoners…” Hak’s mind traces back to Leina. “We found something… odd on the ship.”

“What?”

“A girl. Says her name’s Leina. She doesn’t really look like she’s meant to be mixed up with all this nadia business but regardless we found her in the ship's cabin where the nadia was being stored.”

“An addict maybe?” Jae-ha suggests. Hak scoffs a little.

“No way. Too rich looking to be sneaking onto boats to steal the stuff.”

“So where is she then?” the first mate gives Hak a puzzled look.

“Below deck with the other prisoners.”

“With the other prisoners?” Jae-ha asks incredulously. “You did say this was just some rich looking girl did you not?”

“Relax, I told Han-dae to put her in a different room.” 

“You know keeping a girl locked up really isn’t very beautiful of you Hak.”

“She may not be with the nadia suppliers but we don’t know who she is. Would you be okay sleeping when there’s some stranger you don’t know wandering the boat freely?”

“Well that depends.” Jae-ha gives Hak a sligh look. Hak rolls his eyes. They stop just as they reach the boat. 

“I’ll decide what happens with her. I’ll question her as soon as I get the chance. For now don’t mention this to Gi-gan.”

“Fine, fine.” Jae-ha replies in a singsong voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It only takes about two hours before Captain Gig-an’s boat can be seen a short distance away from The Happy Hungry Bunch. Hak tries to steel himself for the disappointment and berating he is sure to get from the older Captain. She has a sharp tongue and although Hak knows deep down that she is only angry for the sake of the people she is trying to protect, it’s still a pain to endure Gi-gan’s “tough love”.

Once the ships are aligned and the boards are placed to connect the two, Hak and Jae-Ha step onto Gi-gan’s ship. He can see her waiting for him at the Helm. The two men climb the stairs and the crew step out of the way to clear a path. Her arms are already crossed in a stern way, those wrinkles pulled into a scrutinizing frown. Before Hak even has the chance to speak the older Captain points the way to her quarters.

“Shall we discuss this inside, Captain Hak.” Jae-ha smiles a tight and clearly fake smile while Hak sighs.

“Another failed attempt?” Gi-gan growls out.

“Our information was wrong.” Hak states plainly. “There was still a sizable amount of nadia we uncovered.”

“Yes, that will help. We have some more crates of nadia while Kum-ji continues freely selling and running around Awa.” The captain spits sarcastically.

“Gi-gan I think-” Jae-ha begins in a sweet tone before he is abruptly cut off.

“I will not hear words of comfort from a traitor Jae-ha.” She says traitor without any real venom in her voice but it still visibly makes Jae-ha itch and he slumps back down into the chair behind him. Three months or so back Jae-ha had made the switch under the approval of Gi-gan from her ship to Hak’s. The Happy Hungry Bunch has more ambition for fighting the nadia infestation in a more battlefront type of way which everyone agreed Jae-ha’s talents would come in handy for. However, everyone could see that the switch still guilted the green haired man every now and then.

“I’m getting too old for these little squirmishes we’re having. Listen here boys, I’ve got one last fight in me and I intend to win it. I won’t continue playing hide and seek with this nadia dealer.” The captain continues. “When this fight is over I intend to disband my pirate crew. They will either have the option of joining your crew, Hak or they can return to their normal lives.” Jae-ha jerks up at this.

“But Captain you can’t quit.”

“I can and I will Jae-ha.” Her tone softens a little more. “So give this old captain one last good fight, you hear me?” The two men nod.

“Then we will find the next shipment. There’s sure to be more traces of Kum-ji’s whereabouts if we keep uncovering his supply boats.” Hak says.

“No,” Gi-gan shakes her head. “With every fight, even the smaller ones we risk our crews. I won’t have any more victims come out of this. No more fighting for dead ends.”

“Then what will we do?” Hak asks.

“Bring your prisoners to Awa and have them dealt with by the Earth Tribe’s court. It will take you some time to get back to Awa’s port. In that time I will find more leads on the side from the connections I have. Hopefully from there we will have enough information to plan an all out attack. The final fight to end this battle.” Hak and Jae-ha look at eachother unsure. “Have faith in me boys. We will meet again in Awa."

The two men step over the boards as they leave Captain Gi-gan’s boat. The two crews wave as the boats pull apart from one another. 

“What now?” Jae-ha asks.

“Set sails for Awa. We’ll have to trust that Captain Gi-gan will find the information we need.” Hak replies. Jae-ha gives a bored sigh. 

“Who knows how long that will be?” Hak didn’t really mind the amount of time that it would take. Having some time in between the next fight would give him time to deal with his next problem. That problem being a certain red head that he still needed to talk to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hak walks down the steps to the cabin below deck. There are two men guarding the steps and as he makes his way down he can see Han-dae sitting casually on the floor outside of the storage room door. Across from him is the barred cell that holds the group of prisoners. Some of them look extremely sickly and their eyes are wild as they snap around the room. Nadia withdrawal. There is talking amongst the men but it grows quiet as Hak’s boots thud against the floorboards and the buckles of the straps holding his weapons to him jingle. 

Hak continues walking towards Han-dae who looks as though he is moments away from falling asleep. He kicks his boot and the younger boy snaps up. “Oh, Captain Hak.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and Hak rolls his eyes.

“Any problems, Han-dae.” The sandy haired boy thinks for a moment.

“Mmmh not that I can think of.”

“Not even a noise from the girl.” Hak nods to the door Han-dae guards. 

“Oh, yeah no problems there. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't heard anything since I put her in there.”

“Nothing?” Hak snorts. “You better hope she didn’t sneak past you while you were dozing.” Han-dae moves aside as Hak grabs the keys and unlocks the door. It creaks as it swings open. Stepping in, he closes it behind him. Leina sits with her knees pulled up to her chest on the floor towards the back of the room. The storage room doesn’t really have any furniture. It has boxes of supplies and barrels of food stacked here and there but for the most part it is empty. 

The first thing Hak notices about the red head is that she doesn’t move when he enters. Not to greet him and not to look up at him scared. Her violet eyes look dull and she stares at the floor. “Leina,” Hak greets. She still doesn’t look at him. There’s a plate of untouched food on the ground beside her. “I have some questions for you. It would help if you could start by explaining why you were on a boat filled with nadia.” She’s still motionless. Hak sighs. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to know why you were with those men. You said they weren’t “your buddies?” She doesn’t respond. This is making things difficult.

Hak takes a couple steps towards her. The look on her face is a far cry from the look she had flashed at him when she asked him who he was. It was small but there was definitely something like a fire in her eyes. It oddly interested him. Now she looks numb. “What happened to you?” Hak’s hand moves on its own, reaching out for a moment to reach towards her shoulder in a comforting gesture. She moves at this, finally fixing him with a wary and surprised look. Seriously, what am I doing? Hak pulls his hand back to gesture at the food beside her. “Fine, keep silent Leina but at least eat. Starving yourself isn’t going to help anything. You need to keep your strength up.” With that hak turns, slightly flustered and leaves.

Things went on like this for the next couple days. Hak would walk down and question her. Leina would sit silently looking more like a doll rather than a person. And then Hak would leave frustrated, not because she wasn’t compliant in answering his questions but more because the curiosity of wondering where she came from was becoming very distracting. Even Jae-ha had noticed that Hak’s mind never seemed to be on the task at hand. 

“Geez Hak,” he had said one day. “Why does it bother you so much. So she doesn’t want to talk. What does it matter? Just leave the poor girl in peace.”

“You don’t want to know why she was in a storage room full of nadia and hasn’t said a word in her defense?”

“I don’t see how it matters. Find some other girls to keep your mind occupied.” Jae-ha laughed. But by the third day Hak had had enough. 

He storms down the steps not saying a word to the guards and swings the door open. “Are you really gonna continue keeping quiet?” No response and there was still untouched food. Hak points a finger at it. “And you’re gonna continue starving yourself? Or maybe the food isn’t to your standards?” He says, raising an eyebrow and pointing at the satin shoes that poke out from the girl's dress. She snaps her head up at that and glares at him.

“It has nothing to do with my standards.” She grumbles out. Well there’s a response. If it took teasing and being direct for her to finally speak then Hak could more than manage that. 

“I don’t know,” He shrugs his shoulders. “If you keep snubbing the food I’ll be convinced otherwise, princess.” Her face gets a weird expression on it for a second. “What, you don’t like me calling you princess?” The girl continues to eye him but she grabs the roll on the plate beside her and takes a bite. 

“I don’t care what you call me.”

“Then I’ll keep calling you Princess.” Hak smirks. “It sounds better than Leina. And I think we both know that’s not your name anyway.” She turns a shade of red stuttering.

“I..”

“Relax, Princess, your name doesn’t matter. How you were involved with those nadia suppliers does.”

“I’m not with them.” she quickly states. “I don’t even know what nadia is.” Hak searches her face for any trace of a lie but she does seem genuinely confused by the word. 

“Even if you weren’t involved with them, that still doesn’t explain why you were on their ship.”

“I… I needed a place to hide.” She stammers out quickly, seeming to catch herself before spilling too much.

“Hide?” Hak asks.

“It doesn’t matter.” She shakes her head and a scared look creeps into her eyes. For some reason seeing the expression on her face really doesn’t sit well with Hak. She doesn’t look as though she’s going to explain further. It’ll have to be enough for today. With a sigh, Hak opens the door behind him.

“Fine, Princess. But you don’t get to sit around in this room anymore. Everyone on this ship pulls their own weight.” Hak was acutely aware that all the other prisoners were sitting just fine in their cell without having to lift a finger but the thought of leaving the girl to sit in this storage room staring blankly at the walls wasn’t really an appealing idea to the captain. And maybe with some time outside of her confinement, the redhead might feel like opening up and giving a bit more information. 

Leina gives Hak an odd expression glancing quickly at the open door behind him. “What do I have to do to pull my weight?” she says confused. Hak snorts, giving her expensive clothes a lingering look.

“Well that depends, what can you do?” Leina’s lip pouts a little indignantly.

“I know how to do some chores.”

“Like what?” Hak looks at her doubtfully.

“Um…” She pauses for a long moment thinking. Hak finally takes pity on her.

“How about sweeping?” Her eyes brighten.

“Yeah that! I can sweep.” She says as though she’s proved some point. Hak gestures for her to follow him. Where would she run anyways?

“Let’s go then princess.” She follows hesitantly after him. When they reach the top of the stairs he calls for one of his men to bring over the broom. The crew mate stares for a moment at Leina shocked before leaving quickly to get the supplies. 

Leina holds an arm over her face to shield her from the sun. She looks around and takes a deep breath. Hak feels a pang of guilt for keeping her in a room for such a long time but he quickly squashes the feeling down. The man returns with the broom which Hak swiftly passes over to Leina. 

She holds it awkwardly for a moment staring at it. The crew are still going about their chores very much aware that their captain is on deck but their banter quiets and they all keep shooting looks at the girl. 

“Well?” Hak looks at her expectantly. She still doesn’t move. “You can sweep the deck since you’re so proficient at it.” he continues giving a wide sweep of his arm. Leina nods and begins moving the broom back and forth.

She sweeps as best as Hak is sure she knows how but she really has no idea how to do even a chore as simple as this, as he had expected. She’s clumsy too, almost tripping here and there. After she stumbles for the fifth time Hak can’t suppress the little laugh that bubbles up. She turns to him glaring purple fire. As she’s about to give what Hak is sure will be a scathing comment, Jae-ha’s voice carries across the boat from where he stands at the helm.

“Hak, teasing a girl isn’t very becoming of you is it?” He jumps gracefully down from the top part of the ship landing a few feet away. 

“I wasn’t teasing her. I’m giving her an opportunity for some fresh air.” Hak replies. “Jea-ha this is Leina. Leina, this is Jea-ha, my first mate.” Jae-ha raises an eyebrow at him and turns to face Leina whose eyes are still wide from watching the first mate make the massive leap. Hak prepares himself for the onslaught of flirting. He can already practically feel the sparkles coming off of Jae-ha but to his surprise the green haired man simply goes stiff, his voice caught in his throat. 

“Jae-ha?” Hak places a hand on his shoulder. Leina’s shocked expression turns perplexed as she also seems frozen in place.

“Do I… know you?” she asks softly. Jae-ha’s face is twisted in a grimace.

“I don’t believe so.” He grits out. What the hell is up with him? Leina gives Jae-ha a small smile.

“For some reason it feels as though I do.” When Jae-ha doesn’t respond she reaches out a hand to place on his head, concern in her eyes. “You’re burning up.” She states worried. Jae-ha seems to snap out of whatever weird state he was in. He brushes her hand off of his forehead.

“Too much partying last night. I guess I’m still recovering.” He gives an awkward laugh. “No need to worry yourself. I’m just going to rest.” He begins to walk away leaving the two confused. “It was nice meeting you, Leina dear.” He calls back as he swiftly retreats.  

“Well that was weird.” Hak grumbles under his breath. Leina seems dazed too. Hak pokes at the broom in her hand. “Is that just for decoration or…?” Leina stops looking at the place Jae-ha disappears and gives out a huff at Hak’s smirk. With determination in her eyes she begins sweeping even faster although rather chaotically making little to no progress on gathering up the dirt. Her face flushes with the exertion of swinging around the broom and Hak smiles at her efforts. She even manages to get some cheers from on looking crew mates. 

As Hak watches Leina work away he makes a mental note to check on Jae-ha. For him not to make a move on a girl like Leina wasn’t a good sign.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain that used to be soothing has turned into a storm that rocks Hak out of his sleep. Just as he  is about to fall into a deep sleep, thunder will roll and bring him irritatingly back to wakefulness. He rolls onto his side staring at the walls of his quarters feeling as though maybe there is no point in laying here anymore. Just as he goes to swing his legs out of bed, however, a short cry that is abruptly cut off pierces the night. Not even the thunder could disguise the sound. 

Rushing to grab his Hsu Quandao from the side of his bed, the captain bursts from his quarters. He can see across from the entrance he stands at that two of his men that were on watch are surrounded by hooded figures. A large group of them. Some of the attackers are attempting to gag his crew mates but one man breaks free gasping and then yelling out in a panicked voice, “Intruders!!!” 

Then all hell breaks loose.

The crew rush from the common quarter entrance, the sleep on their faces evaporating as their brains catch up to the sight they see. The intruders pull their weapons. Fast as lightning Hak adds his own voice to the sound of fighting as he leaps to join the fray slashing and blocking attacks from asailents on all sides. He twists the blade expertly.

Jae-ha had always said it wasn’t a very “Pirate like” weapon but Hak had become quite skilled with it. Something he was sure Droopy-eyes appreciated at this very moment as Hak found the green haired man and  swung the glaive to block an attack from a stout man attempting to surprise the first mate. 

“Thanks.” Jae-ha huffs as he gives a swift kick to one of the men in front of him. “They’re Kum-ji’s men?” He states it less like a question and more like a spit of anger. 

“Yeah.” The captain states shortly as he swings the glaive to knock the next couple men running towards them to the ground.

“Attacking in the middle of the night isn’t very beautiful now is it?”

“And us attacking his boat in the middle of the night was?” Hak says his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“That’s different.” Jae-ha’s smile somehow still seems to sparkle mischievously even in the heat of battle. “We’re doing this for a good cause. Revenge is hardly as noble.”

“Revenge and maybe taking back some of his men.” The thought suddenly hits Hak. If he’s coming for the prisoners… The same thought seems to hit the two men at once. Jae-ha gives Hak a grimm look. The captain’s head snaps to the hatch that covers the stairs to the cabin. The lock is busted on it and the hatch hangs open. “Leina!”

“Go,” Jae-ha shouts, turning to begin facing the new opponents rushing Hak. “Find her. I’ll take care of things up here.” Hak nods tightly and begins to cut a path to the steps. 

Running as swiftly as he can, Hak barrels into the cabin. The door to the cell has been pried open with the new attackers having untied most of the prisoners now. Hak stands between them and the exit. They all stare sizing up the captain looking unsure. He could fight them now. He’s sure he could win but just as he brings his glaive up to meet the men he hears Leina scream. One of the intruders smirks at him.

“Your choice Captain. Us or the girl.” Hak already knows what he will choose despite the longing to wipe that look off of the man's face. He rushes forward. The prisoners yelp and pull their weapons but when Hak continues running a straight path for the storage room’s door they all part around him rushing for the exit. 

Hak hears a loud thud and the sound of things tumbling followed by another scream. The first sounded like a scream of fear but this one is much sharper. As Hak throws himself into the entrance he faces the back of a wide shouldered man. He is short but broad with scars running along him. He stands over Leina. She is glaring up at him from the floor with an intense fire in her violet eyes. Crates and supplies are knocked all around her and her hand grabs at her ankle. The man is so distracted by Leina he doesn’t hear Hak behind him.

“Get up Girlie,” His voice is grumbly as he laughs a little. “With that red hair Kum-ji is sure to sell you for a pretty price. Or maybe he’ll reward me by just letting me keep you for mysel-” The man is abruptly cut off as Hak grabs the back of his collar, throwing him backwards so hard he tumbles to the ground behind Hak. The Captain stands, pure fury in his face as he puts himself between Leina and the assailant.

“Hak!” She cries out in relief. The man pulls himself back up but takes a small step back as he sees the dark expression of the Captain. 

“Selling who now?” Hak’s voice is pure ice. The man laughs a little nervously but stands his ground. 

“What’s with that terrible look in your eye boy? To think that the great Captain Hak would care so much about a little girl.” The man shakes free of his nerves. “Killing her will be a much better hurt to your ego than Kum-ji taking back some of his men.” With that the man pulls his knife lunging for Leina. She throws her hands up to protect herself.

The glaive is too big to swing without risking injury to the girl behind Hak and there’s no time to warn her to duck but the man is faster than he looks. Just as the knife is a mere foot from Leina Hak throws himself in front of her. The knife cuts deep into Hak’s forearm. It splits sparks of fire through his whole limb but Hak can barely feel it through the intensity of his anger. Distantly he can hear Leina scream his name.

The man’s eyes widen. Hak’s other fist strikes quickly, completely crunching into the man’s face and he flies back into a crumpled mess on the floor. Hak puffs out angry breaths of air about to continue towards the man but a voice calls him back. 

“Hak, you’re bleeding.” She shouts concern evident in her shaky voice. Leina reaches her hand out to lightly grasp at his forearm. 

Hak turns to her and the concern in her eyes quiets some of the rage, instantly softening him. “I’m fine, Princess.” He crouches down to her level. “Are you okay?” He can see now that she’s holding back tears of pain. Hak glances down at her ankle gently removing her hands from covering it. It’s already swollen and turning an ugly shade somewhere between red and purple.

“Mostly.” She says looking down at the injury.

“What happened?” Hak asks.

“I fell back and landed on it funny when the man came towards me.” She sniffles a little and bites her lip against the pain.

“We’ll get it treated. Just hold on.” Hak’s hand automatically moves to cup her face to turn her face up to him. Shocked by the movement and a little embarrassed he goes to move his hand but to his surprise he finds Leina leans into the touch a bit. 

The sound of the man behind them groaning and attempting to push himself up breaks the moment. His voice is slurred with the swelling of his face. “How touching,” he sneers. “But this won’t be the last of Kum-ji’s attacks. We’ll keep coming till we wipe out every last one of you pirates.” He stumbles to his feet and swings his arm out at the oil lamp hanging on the wall. It smashes to the ground. The flames instantly begin to lick at the floorboards and crates. The dry wood begins to catch fire quickly. The man is already retreating.

“Dammit!” Hak curses. Leina attempts to get to her feet but she cries out with the pressure on her ankle. Hak catches her as she falls back down.

“Wait a minute.” He quickly wraps an arm around her waist and the other he carefully wraps under her knees, lifting her into the air. The room is already getting smoky and they both cough as Hak carries Leina out of the storage room. Her hands curl into his shirt and she buries her face in his shoulder to shelter herself from the smoke. Hak swiftly races out of the cabin finding the deck quiet and no longer infested with the intruders. 

“Fire in the cabin!” Hak shouts to the men that are standing around, adrenaline still pumping through them as they rush to grab buckets and begin scrambling to put the fire out. Leina coughs hard into her hands curling up smaller in Hak’s arms. Jae-ha walks towards the pair.

“Leina dear!” He shouts as he spots her.

“She’s okay. I think she twisted her ankle and breathed in some of the smoke but other than that she’s fine.” The captain says, passing her over to Jae-ha’s outstretched arms. He takes her and Leina looks up to meet Jae-ha’s eyes. Jae-ha looks more distressed than Leina does at her injuries. The girl settles in his arms comfortably, surprising Hak considering their first meeting. She already seems more at ease. Deciding not to read too much into it, Hak allows himself one moment more to examine the girl's face to make sure she’s alright before he turns about to go help his crew put out the fire. Later they would have to discuss what had happened to all of Kum-ji’s men.

“Take care of her Jae-ha.” Hak orders. Leina’s hand reaches out to grab his sleeve.

“Hak… be careful.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

  It’s late or rather very early morning by the time the fire is put out and Hak has overseen all the damage and injuries to his ship and crew. His aching muscles practically beg for sleep on the cut on his arm burns but he continues on towards the steps leading to the upper part of the ship. There he finds a sleeping redhead leaning against his first mate's shoulder. Her leg is stretched out with a cloth soaked in cold sea water resting on her ankle. Jae-ha wears a very smug expression as he sees Hak approach. 

“How is she?” Hak asks.

“Fine, fell asleep almost the moment you left.”

“Good.” Hak looks around at the crew spread around the ship tending to their injuries. “What happened up here while I was getting Leina?”

“The men put up a good fight but we were outnumbered.” Jae-ha frowns deeply. “It was all we could do not to lose anyone. Capturing the intruders and keeping the prisoners onboard was impossible.” Most of the men here were fishermen before becoming pirates and didn’t have over the top fighting skills and with only Jae-ha here to support them Hak was glad that everyone had survived the attack. For a moment the captain feels a pang of guilt. If he had been up here then they may have won the fight but looking at Leina’s sleeping face now he knows he wouldn’t have been able to do anything different.

Hak nods with a grimace. He would have to explain this to Gi-gan but first there are other things to worry about. Hak places a hand on the girl’s shoulder to lightly rouse her. She looks around briefly for a moment before recognition enters her eyes.

“Hak?” She says tiredly. “Is everyone okay?” Hak gently smiles at her.

“Yes, everyones fine. We need to find somewhere for you to rest.” Hak looks over to Jae-ha.”The cabin will need repairs. There’s no way she could sleep down there.”

“Well it’s not like she could sleep in the common quarters.” Leina’s eyes widen at this. Everyone who had seen the girl had been kind to her but it wasn’t a surprise that having to sleep surrounded by a bunch of strange men would worry the girl and quite honestly Hak hated the idea. “I have an idea, Leina dear, why don’t you sleep in my quarters! I’ll keep you war-” Hak’s foot kicks out and the green haired man just barely manages to dodge it.

“Not happening.” Hak hates that idea even more. “She can have my room for the night.” 

“What?” Jae-ha wines. “How is that any different? I know. You just want Leina dear all to yourself.” Hak kicks out again, this time connecting his foot with Jae-ha’s jaw but that rye smile still sticks to his face.

“It’s okay Jae-ha.” Leina says. “Hak’s room is good.” Jae-ha looks surprised and Hak stumbles a bit. 

Recovering himself Hak smoothes his black hair back out of his face. “It’s decided then.” He bends down to scoop the smaller girl up and he turns for his room. “We’ll have her ankle and the rest of the men’s injuries treated once we meet Gi-gan.” He says over his shoulder to Jae-ha. On Gi-gan’s ship there was a boy who was quite good at medicine and an assortment of other things, most notably his cooking. He could be as sharp around the edges as the old captain though but Hak didn’t doubt that he’d do his best to help the crew.  

Carrying Leina, Hak noticed that she was much stiffer now and seemed to fidget. Now that there wasn’t a fire chasing their heels Hak guessed that she was feeling the awkwardness of having someone carry her. “You don’t like me carrying you?” Hak asks, raising an eyebrow at the red head. Her face was a light rosy shade. She looks up to meet his eyes fidgeting her hands. 

“I don’t not like it I guess.” Hak snorts a little, reaching to open the door. Striding in he sits Leina on the bed. 

“Try to get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning, Princess.” Hak turns to leave. 

“Wait, Hak. I mean Captain Hak.” She stumbles awkwardly on her words, seeming to remember that in the heat of things she had completely forgotten his title.

“Hak is fine.” The captain says turning back to her.

“Hak… can you? Can you stay here for the night?” Hak stares at her dumbfounded. This girl is going to be the death of me.

“What, you want me to just jump in the bed there with you Princess?” Hak asks sarcastically. She turns a bright red shade. 

“No!” She says quickly. “I just want you to stay in the room.” She shuffles on the bed not meeting his eyes. Hak sighs deeply. He supposes that after going through something that was probably very frightening to the girl she wouldn’t want to be left alone.

“Fine.” Hak finally relents. He sits down on the floor some paces away from the bed and props himself up against the wall. Leina smiles a little and then settles into the bed ruffling the blankets around for a moment. 

“Thanks Hak.”

“Yeah.” He responds. He’ll have to answer to Jae-ha who Hak is sure will notice that he hasn’t left the room but hearing Leina’s breathing slow to a steady sleep induced rhythm gives Hak a sense of peace. Just for tonight .  

Chapter Text

For a moment Yona is confused by her surroundings. At this point she is used to waking up in places that she doesn’t recognize but this place has to be the strangest. The sheets are soft and smell of something sweet but still distinctly masculin.  With a stretch Yona sits up to look around. The movement jostles her ankle and she hisses in pain. Oh, right.

It had been terrifying having the burly man stand over her. She’s sure she would be gone now, off on some nadia boat being sold, like the man had said, or worse if not for Hak. The thought of Hak brings Yona to snap her gaze to where she last left the Captain and sure enough there he is still sitting against the wall with his eyes closed.

Yona lets her eyes linger on Hak’s face for a moment wondering how someone who could be so strong could also have a face like that. His hair hangs over his eyes and something about his jawline makes Yona want to reach out her hand to touch his face. But when she glances over his arms to see the hastily wrapped bandage she feels a bit of guilt creep up. He saved me.

With a shiver Yona recalls Hak throwing the invader to the ground and then stepping in front of her to save her from the knife. Then he had to carry Yona out of the storage room. His arms wrapped around her felt steady and strong and- Yona’s face feels red thinking about it. Suddenly a voice brings her out of her memories.

“If you keep staring at me, I’ll attack you.” Yona’s face turns a darker shade of red as Hak’s scrutinizing gaze locks on her. 

“I wasn’t staring!”

“Riiiiight.” Hak drawls, “You were just admiring the view?” 

“No way!” she replies hastily. Yona thinks with a huff, He can have a pretty face but with a mouth like that who could stand him?

“Whatever Princess.” Hak stands up walking over to Yona. She swivels out of the sheets so she’s in a sitting position. Hak looks down at her swollen ankle with a grimace, his face turning serious all of a sudden. “I’m sorry this happened to you.” Yona’s ruffled mood softens hearing the sincerity in his voice.

“It’s not your fault Hak.” He looks doubtful but he doesn’t continue to push. “I’ll be right back.” The captain walks out of the room leaving Yona confused. 

A short time later he returns with a makeshift crutch. It looks like a spear staff that the spear head has been snapped off of and broken down to size with cloth wrapping the left over chunk of wood to the top part of it. 

“It’s not much but it’ll help you keep the weight off of your foot.” he slips the crutch under Yona’s arm and rests his hands on the girl's shoulders to help steady her as she begins to bring herself up to stand.

“It works.” Yona says as she wobbles around the room with her leg up. “Thank you.”

“There’s a healer of sorts on a ship we’ll be meeting tomorrow. We can have your ankle looked at then.” Yona nods and Hak opens the door gesturing for her to follow. “Come on Princess. Everyone was worried about you. Time to make your appearance.” Everyone was worried about me? The interactions were brief but everyone Yona had met was pleasant and she was eager to see if they were okay after the attack. Yona follows the Captain out onto the deck.

Immediately she is bombarded with men asking if she’s okay or if she needs anything. She laughs happily at the men’s enthusiasm. “I’m okay. Thank you everyone.” She says as she raises her arms out to block the people piling around her. 

“Okay shows over.” Hak says, stepping towards Yona and sweeping an arm out to move people away. “Give her some space.” The men grumble but do as he says already beginning to return to their chores. 

“Leina-dear you’re looking well.” A singsong voice sounds behind her. 

“I am.” Yona turns to smile at Jae-ha. He still looks pretty scuffed up too but his smile remains. Yona is glad that they were able to pass over whatever odd first meeting they had. 

Last night staying with Jae-ha while she was waiting for Hak had allowed them to talk a little more. At first the initial concern he showed seemed to alarm him as he covered it up with indifference but with a soft smile Yona had simply told him there was no need to try to come across so intimidating. He had softened almost immediately. Yona liked Jae-ha and hoped they could be friends. But there was something about him, the way she couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew him and this look he would get in his eyes when they talked every now and then that told her he might be hiding something.

“Jae-ha,” Hak’s deep voice addressed the first mate, breaking their eye contact. “You mind keeping an eye on her for me?” Hak sighed, giving a sweeping glance over the state the ship was in. “I have a lot of work to do before we meet with Gi-gan.”

“I’m sure you do.” Jae-ha's smile twists in a knowing way. Hak glares at him. Raising his hands up in resignation Jae-ha gives in. “Fine, fine. I’ll watch her.”

“Good,” Hak says walking away. He turns to look over his shoulder to give the first mate a pointed look. “And ‘watching over her’ doesn’t mean you get to neglect your duties. This ship needs to look like it hasn’t just been rampaged by tomorrow or it’s your head Gi-gan will have.” Jea-ha’s smile turns sour. The green haired man turns to Yona.

“Well Leina-dear you’re free to walk around the ship. Stay on the deck though where I can see you. If you need anything don’t hesitate to call.” Yona nods her head and Jae-ha walks over to a group of men pointing his finger this way and that as he gives directions. 

Yona feels awkward for a minute not quite sure what to do with herself. In the palace she would wander the gardens or have to try to sit patiently through tutoring lessons or would spend all her time thinking about Soo-won and how- Her thoughts abruptly cut off and she feels the cold creep into her bones. She’s frozen in place for a moment as she fights to keep the memories at bay. Finally someone's voice breaks through her thoughts.

“Leina! Over here!” One of the crew mates calls from a group of men sitting on the ground who look too injured to do much work today. With a smile she wobbles over on her crutch giving the man a grateful look as she sits down.

“How’s your ankle?” he asks.

“It feels a bit better today, thanks.” Yona says kindly. She looks at the bandages wrapped around his head. “Don’t worry about me though.” She says with concern as she eyes the injury. The man laughs.

“Oh this?” He points to his head. “This is nothing!”

“Sure, tough guy.” The man beside him smacks his back and he groans slumping forward. The group of men laugh and Yona can’t suppress the little laugh that comes out. They all poke at each others injuries, jeering each other playfully and for a moment Yona is wrapped up in the carefreeness of it all. 

When her father was King she never thought much about the people living outside of the castle. It was like a whole different world that she lived outside of. She never thought about people fighting to survive or working to pull their weight like she could see these men doing now. Yona never even thought about how someone becomes a pirate. Suddenly she feels the need to know how these men got here. Clearing her throat she turns to the men who stop their banter.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how did you all get here?”

“On this boat?” A blond haired man asks.

“No, idiot.” The man who invited her over smacks the back of the blonds head. “The lady means how we became pirates right?”

“Yes.” Yona says.

“Oh well that’s easy.” The blond replies rubbing the back of his head. “My younger brother got addicted to nadia when it came into our town. Real nasty stuff. Just about near killed him.” His face turns grim. “When I heard there was a group fighting the spread of nadia I jumped on the ship the second it docked.” Nadia? That’s what Hak had said was stored in the room she was hiding in but he never really explained what it was. Seeing her expression an older looking man turns to her. 

“You don’t know what nadia is?” Yona shakes her head. All the men look wide eyed at her.

“Wow, Leina. You must have had one sheltered childhood.” The blond says.

“It’s a drug. Very addictive stuff with some real bad withdrawal symptoms. It makes it so you don’t feel pain, that and you’re a hell of a lot more aggressive. A really bad combination. It’s infested most of Awa now and is spreading quickly.” The older man looks around at the crew mates moving around on the ship. “You won’t find a single soul here that hasn’t been affected by it in some way. That’s why we’re here.” 

“Don’t your authorities do something about it? Surely something like this has reached the attention of the capital.” Yona says trying hard not to show her distress at the thought that her father knew about this but either couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it. But really how would Yona know? She never paid any attention to these kinds of things. She feels immediately guilty at her ignorance. The men laugh.

“Sure, maybe the King knows but what does that matter? When has King Il ever raised a finger to help anything. That would mean violence. There’s a real thin line between taking action and violence and he won’t risk crossing it. Sometimes justice is just something you have to take into your own hands.” The man who called Yona over says. All the men grunt their agreement.

Yona looks around at all the injured people. Father didn’t help anyone? Surely that wasn’t the case but Yona can recall now some of the whispers around the castle. She was never completely clueless about the opinion people had of her father. 

Yona thinks back to her father’s death. The men who attacked her on the nadia supply ship. The man who tried to kill her just last night. In all of it she felt completely helpless. She felt weak. But looking around at all the crew mates Yona realizes that despite however they got here they were united under one cause, to help their country. Yona wants to be that kind of person. And just as she thinks it she realizes that her mind is made up. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Yona has no idea what Hak’s response will be but if there’s one thing Yona has always been good at, it’s getting her way. She moves as confidently as the crutch will let her as she makes her way to the steps leading to the helm of the ship. Hak stands with his back turned leaning over a small table with a large map on it. Han-dae and Tae-woo stand on either side of the table nodding their heads seriously as Hak circles some points on the map. 

The stairs seem almost impossible as she tries to maneuver the crutch to bring her up the steps, hopping awkwardly. The noise of her attempt to go up the steps alerts both Jae-ha who stands not too far away and Hak who now turns away from the map to look down the steps at her.

“What do you think you’re doing Princess?” Hak calls down the steps before turning with a raised eyebrow to look at Jae-ha. “I thought I told you to keep an eye on her.”

“My apologies Hak. I didn’t think Leina-dear would attempt to bunny hop her way up the stairs.” Jae-ha says with amusement in his eyes. Yona’s face flushes a little with embarrassment.

“I need to talk to you, Hak.” She calls. Jae-ha walks over and lifts her off of the stairs to place her back down on the deck. 

“If you need anything you can ask me Leina-dear. I would be more than happy to help.” Jae-ha says smoothly. Yona rubs the back of her neck awkwardly.

“Actually I kind of need to talk to Hak about it, Jae-ha.” The captain gives a tight sigh and turns to his companions. Han-dae and Tae-woo both smirk at him.

“I’m kind of busy right now, Princess.” Hak begins scanning over the paper again. Stubborn but Yona is more stubborn.

“I want to learn how to fight.” All of the men stop. Hak twists around.

“You want to what?”

“Teach me how to fight Hak.” Tae-woo raises his eyebrows and Han-dae's smirk grows wider.

“Maybe we should save the planning for later.” Tae-woo suggests.

“Yeah, looks like the Captain’s gonna be busy for a while.” Han-dae says lightly. Hak turns on them.

“You guys just want to go back to your afternoon naps.”

“Captain Hak no matter how much we plan, without Gi-gan’s information we can’t really do anything. And it looks like you have your hands full.” Tae-woo says glancing down at Yona. 

“Relax Hak. What will be will be.” Han-dae says.

“You guys are way too carefree.” Hak grumbles. But Yona isn’t backing down. She keeps her eyes firmly on the captain and eventually he breaks down with a sigh. “Fine. We’ll continue this discussion later.” Hak goes down the steps till he reaches Yona. She notices how much he really does tower over her. “So where did this all come from?” he asks. Being face to face with him now Yona finds her confidence irritatingly wane a little.

“I, I don’t want to be weak anymore Hak. If I had known how to fight I wouldn’t have needed you to save me.” she looks down at his bandaged arm sadly. Hak notices her stare.

“I’ve had a lot worse, Princess. Besides, what do you need fighting for? Once we’re in Awa you can go free.” His face tightens a little. Yona hadn’t really thought about what she would do once they were in Awa. 

“If you want to learn how to fight because you’re scared, Leina-dear you shouldn’t worry.” Jae-ha says with a confident smile. “I’m sure there are tons of men who would gladly jump in front of danger for you as our noble Captain demonstrated last night.” The look Hak gives the green haired man shuts him up. Yona looks sourly at the ground.

“I absolutely don’t want anyone to be my shield.” The two men stare at her for a moment in silence before Jae-ha shrugs, leaning back casually against a wall. 

“Oh come on Hak. What’s the harm in showing her a few things? In fact I could show her a few things too-” Hak’s fist strikes out at Jae-ha who makes a graceful jump back with his hands raised in surrender but a rye smile still stays plastered to his face. 

“What would I be able to teach her when she can only stand on one leg?” Hak asks glaring at Jae-ha.

“I don’t know.” The first mate’s eyes scan across the ship till they find a bow and a stack of arrows lying in a pile of discarded weapons. “Maybe show her some archery.”

“Teach her how to shoot from a sitting position or standing on one leg?” Hak asks doubtfully. “What would she learn from that?”

“It’s a start.” Jae-ha shrugs. “And it’s long range. No close combat fighting for our lovely Leina-dear.” Yona looks at the bow and arrows as Jae-ha goes to retrieve them. 

“Please Hak.” she says giving the face her father used to melt at. Hak grimaces but his shoulders slump a little in defeat. 

“Fine but let’s make this clear. I don’t like this. If we are attacked again while you’re on the ship I don’t want to see you trying to join in with a bow and those stick arms.” He smirks, poking at Yona’s arms.

“Stick arms?!” Yona asks indignantly.

It's been an hour or so since Yona shot her first arrow and she has had little to no progress. The makeshift target still has no arrows sticking in it but the wall behind it is littered with marks now. The whole crew has also made a wide berth around her target range as the redhead shoots arrow after arrow that wobble in the air but never seem to get anywhere.

“Hak this is impossible.” Yona sighs.

“I’ve shown you how to do it.” He shrugs.

“Yeah but I don’t get it.” Hak takes the bow out of her hands and knocks back an arrow, aiming expertly at the target and firing a perfect shot into the center. Yona stands with her mouth gaping. 

“That’s how.” Hak says casually. Jae-ha laughs from where he watches.

“That’s the difference between normal people and a natural. Keep trying Leina-dear. You’ll get it.” Jae-ha encourages. 

“Maybe it’s because of the crutch.” Hak suggests. The crutch has become rather uncomfortable from leaning on it for so long. “Well that and the fact you have no muscle.” Yona’s lip pouts a little. “Here.” Hak takes the crutch out from Yona’s arm and places it on the ground. He takes his arm and moves it to pull her closer to him. “Lean your body on me.” 

All of a sudden Yona feels like breathing is a little difficult. Hak grabs the bow while Yona’s hand is still gripping it and then he pulls back the string with Yona.

“Draw it back with all your strength. Be confident with it and don’t shake. Then all you have to do is use your instincts.” His voice is so close that Yona can feel his breath ruffle the hair by her ear. They release the arrow at the same time and this time it hits its mark. Yona lets out a breath of amazement.

Hak smiles down at her. “Just focus for now on shooting straight. Eventually you’ll gain more muscle.” Yona smiles back. It’s the first bit of real happiness she thinks she’s felt for what seems like a long time. She practices for the rest of the day while Hak and Jae-ha finish reorganizing the ship. Her muscles ache but there is a sense of accomplishment that Yona feels. 

When the sun begins to set Hak makes his way over to Yona. “You did good today, Princess.” Yona smiles up at him. “You should get some rest for now. Tomorrow we’ll be meeting with the captain of another pirate ship we’re aligned with. Do me a favor and keep your head down while the other Captain is visiting.” Yona looks at the captain perplexed.

“Why do I need to keep my head down?” Yona asks. Hak sighs tiredly. 

“I’ve already got a lot of explaining to do, Princess. I don’t need any more added questions.” Yona nods her head in agreement. But underneath that tiredness Hak seems to be a bit worried. She wonders why.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day the ship is bustling. There’s a nervous excitement around the ship as everyone runs to finish last minute tasks. The Happy Hungry Bunch ship enters Awa’s port and Yona can’t help but cling to the railings on the side of the ship to see the city. The earth tribe is beautiful. The sea is a green blue color here and the buildings all clustered together look like a pretty pattern. Yona can’t believe that in her whole life only now has she seen a city like this outside of the capital.

“Your first time seeing it?” Jae-ha asks from behind her.

“Yes, it’s beautiful.” Yona says facing the first mate.

“That it is Leina-dear.” He holds a cloak with a hood folded in his arms. Passing it over to Yona Jae-ha nods towards a large ship anchored by one of the docks. “That there is Gi-gan’s ship. Keep the over coat on for now. That red hair of yours is beautiful Leina-dear but I’m afraid that makes it very eye-catching.” Yona puts on the cloak and brings the hood up.

“What’s the other captain like, Jae-ha?” 

“Well she’s strong and beautiful,” he says with a wink before grimacing a little. “But very sharp tongued. It’s best to avoid her seeing you. Once we get on the ship I’ll get Yun, their healer. He also has a way with words but he’ll be discreet about treating your ankle.”

“Thanks, Jae-ha.” Yona looks out at the other ship a little worried. Jae-ha laughs lightly.

“Don’t worry. This meeting will be over before you know it. Just stick with the other crew mates.” He pulls her hood down a little more to cover the strands of red hair that poke out. The ship pulls up to the docs and anchors. Jae-ha leads Yona to the other crewmates that stand towards the side of the ship.

Yona watches from behind the backs of the other crew mates as Hak walks over to the bridge to greet the Captain that is beginning to climb on board. Yona is surprised to find that she is an older woman but her age doesn’t make her look frail at all. On the contrary she has an air of leadership to her as she holds a pipe in her mouth and let’s her gaze roam over the boat. Following her is a boy with peach colored hair that looks to be around Yona’s age. Yona pulls herself further back behind the other crewmates. Hak nods his head in greeting and gestures for the captain to follow him. They disappear into his quarters and everyone seems to breath a little sigh of relief.

Jae-ha walks towards the boy. They exchange a few words quietly which Yona can’t hear from this distance. The boys eyes widen a little before he scowls at the green haired man who sheepishly rubs the back of his head before they begin walking over towards the group of crew mates. 

“Keeping things from Gi-gan is above my paygrade.” She can hear the boy say as they approach.

“Just this once Yun. As a favor to Hak.” Jae-ha replies.

“If it’s a favor to Hak then why are you the one asking?” Yun and Jae-ha reach Yona who waves a little awkwardly. Yun doesn’t look impressed as he eyes the makeshift crutch under her arm. “So you’re the secret from Gi-gan?” He eyes her.

“I suppose so.” Yona laughs a little. Yun sighs.

“What a pain.” Yun sits Yona down and begins examining her ankle. “Well it’s not broken that’s for sure.” He grumbles to himself. He rumages through his bag pulling out some bandages. “Keep it wrapped up so it’s compressed. You’ll need to stop moving around with that crutch. Your leg needs to be elevated and have rest for the next couple of days. It seems like it’s only a minor injury.” 

“Are you a doctor?” Yona asks as he wraps her ankle.

“Not really. I just know a lot about these kinds of things. Healing isn’t all I’m good for.” He looks up in thought. “I can cook, clean, sew, hunt, make small explosives and I’m also a pretty boy.”

“And also very humble.” Jae-ha adds with a laugh. Yun glares at him. “Hak will need some assistance too.” Jae-ha adds. “He got banged up in the fight.”

“Yes and I imagine he’ll be in worse shape after this meeting with Gi-gan. How’d a guy like him get hurt anyways? He’s a beast like you Jae-ha.” Jae-ha laughs awkwardly as his gaze falls on Yona who sits silently while the attention turns to her.”

“He uh… saved me.” Yona says sheepishly. 

“Geez that guy went through that much for you? Are you two lovers?”

“No.” Yona replies quickly and Jae-ha can barely suppress a laugh.

“Poor guy.” Suddenly the door to the Captain’s quarters bursts open and Captain Gi-gan appears with her hands on her hips.

“Jae-ha you better get in here and start explaining because as soon as I’m done with your Captain you’re next!” She yells out.Her eyes peirce like a hawk’s through the crewmates till they lock on Jae-ha who stands stiffly. “Jae-ha of all the stu-” Her yell dies in her throat as she spots the redhead sitting between Jae-ha and Yun. The three stay still as statues. Her face goes from anger to confusion and finally to stern. “Hak.” She calls. He emerges from the quarters as well looking absolutely exhausted until he follows her gaze. Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighs. “I think you have a little more explaining to do,'' the old Captain growls out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yona has been fidgeting in this chair for what feels like forever as the old captain tears into Jae-ha and Hak while they try in vain to explain the situation to Gi-gan in a way that won’t anger her further.

“This isn’t the time to be taking in little girls.” She says.

“That’s not what we’re doing.” Hak says tiredly. “She was on the nadia supply boat. We took her in as a prisoner.” Gi-gan laughs.

“Is that what she is? Because I don’t believe you’d go jumping in front of a knife for your nadia prisoners.” The captain points at the bandages on Hak’s arm. Well he can’t exactly say anything to refute that. She sighs heavily. “So while I’ve been digging up information you two have been playing host to some rich girl and letting what prisoners we have escape?”

“That’s not…” Jae-ha begins but the look of venom the old captain gives him makes his voice die off. 

“The king is dead.” Gi-gan says as Jae-ha’s eyes widen. Yona tries hard not to flinch at the Captain's words. “You would have heard that if you had been in here doing your job as first mate and taking part in the meeting. Do you know what that means?” Jae-ha frowns deeply. “It means that the other countries surrounding Kouka will see this as an opportunity for war. And war brings in cracks. Kum-ji will use this opportunity to sell nadia and carry supply ships over the border. Not to mention if nadia is spread to the military in a time of war it will be the end of our country.”

“We’ll stop it before it gets to that point.” Hak interjects. “We now know where Kum-ji will be.”

“We know the general whereabouts of where he will be.” Gi-gan corrects. The old captain turns sharply to Yona. “But first we deal with the mess you two have made here. Her ankle has been treated and you’re in Awa now. Bring her to the mainland and set her free. We have no use for her as a prisoner.” Hak looks at the captain as though he is about to argue but then he nods in agreement.

“I’ll bring her myself.” He says. Yona begins to feel a little panic as Hak approaches her. The people who Kum-ji has hurt. The nadia problem that her father wouldn’t solve because of his disdain for violence. She feels her resolve to help fight give her bravery as she faces Gi-gan.

“No. Let me fight with you, Captain Gi-gan.”

“Leina.” Hak says in a warning tone but she pushes on. 

“Let me help you put an end to the nadia infestation.” The old captain laughs.

“And what can you do to help?” Yona dead pans. Well she hadn’t thought of that. The memory of sweeping to help pull her weight comes to mind but it’s not as though she could sweep the enemy away. Gi-gan snorts with a wave of her hand. “Bring her back to shore.”

Yona does have one idea though. It’s beyond reckless but it’s all she has. “Wait. I may not be as strong or capable as your crew but I do have one thing. My title.” Yona looks over to Hak who shakes his head a little. He knows her real name isn’t Leina so he must have some idea that her title holds weight but he has no idea what he’s really trying to protect her from. Yona turns her eyes away from Hak. 

“Your title?” Gi-gan raises an eyebrow at her. Yona attempts to muster all of her pride and confidence as she stands up straighter.

“I am the princess of Kouka, the late King Il’s daughter. Princess Yona.” Hak sucks in a sharp breath and Jae-ha’s eyes go wide but Gi-ga stares at her suspiciously. 

“And how do I know you’re speaking the truth?” The captain asks.

“You said King Il was dead but did you hear what happened to the princess?” Yona asks.

“They say an attendant kidnapped her and most likely killed her.” Gi-gan says slowly.

“But that’s not what happened. I escaped with the help of an attendant. I ended up hiding on a nadia supply boat and that’s where Hak found me.” Yona is almost too afraid to look at him but she spares a glance his way anyways. Hak’s eyebrows are furrowed tight together and his blue eyes are trained on her.

“The princess was said to have red hair like yours.” The captain says more to herself than to Yona. “But if that’s true then you were chased out of the castle. Your title holds no weight anymore.” Yona thinks for a moment. Although it’s true to royals her title wouldn’t hold the same power anymore she was sure that to Kum-ji it still would. She thinks back to the man that attacked her on Hak’s ship. He had wanted to give her to Kum-ji to sell. If he had thought she would sell for a good price just as a girl Yona imagined that as a princess she would sell even higher.

“Maybe it doesn’t hold weight to many people anymore but to Kum-ji it will. You said you don’t know his exact whereabouts. If I were to get captured by his men as the Princess then surely they’ll bring me to whatever ship he’s on.” Gi-gan’s eyes light up and then narrow in thought as she brings her hand up to hold her chin while she paces.

“Captain Gi-gan, you’re not seriously considering this?” Jae-ha asks incredulously. 

Gi-gan continues to pace not responding.“If there was a way you could get a signal out then we’d be able to locate him and end this fight… but how would you get the signal out?”

 Hak finally snaps out of his confusion and disbelief. “No.” he says firmly. He walks up to Yona grabbing her arm and pulling her behind him. “Princess or not you’re not about to send her straight into Kum-ji’s hands.”

“Do you have any other ideas on how to apprehend Kum-ji? We only have two ships. We can’t risk losing people by jumping on to every nadia boat trying to find him. Not to mention he’d get away by the time we did find the right ship.” Gi-gan says

“If you send her out there to give a signal then it would have to be big enough for us to see it. A big signal like that would bring attention to her and then they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.” Hak argues. Gi-gan sighs, nodding her agreement.

 “So it couldn’t be a big signal.” She turns to the map on Hak’s desk. “ We may only have two ships but what we do have is a lot of fishermen boats. If we sent out the fishermen boats to drift around the ships in the port then they could watch for Yona’s signal and then send a larger one to alert us of which ship is Kum-ji’s.”

“She wouldn’t be able to get out of whatever cell they hold her in.” Jae-ha says. Gi-gan scoffs. 

“I doubt Kum-ji will be on the largest boat in the port. Wherever he is hiding it will be inconspicuous which means the ship won’t have a lot of room for a heavy duty cell. It will probably be some basic locks and ropes. If I recall correctly Yun knows how to pick locks. He could teach the girl. And with a knife hidden in a boot she’ll be able to cut through ropes. They won’t be expecting a princess to be carrying weapons.”

“She can’t fight. It’s not like they’ll leave her unguarded.” Hak snaps.

“Oh there might be a guard or two but they won’t be focused on her.” Gi-gan smiles twistedly. “They’ll need all their people for the distraction we’re gonna cause. We’ll go for the largest boat we can find. My ship will attack theirs. They’ll need reinforcements and if they believe that we think Kum-ji’s on that ship then they’ll bring as many people over to keep up the rous so Kum-ji can get away. That will leave the ship relatively empty so the princess will have the chance to leave some sort of a mark on the ship. As soon as the signal is given your ship, Hak, will attack Kum-ji’s ship and retrieve the princess.” Hak still stands firmly between Yona and Gi-gan. Yona can see his back tense up as he prepares to argue more. She reaches out a hand to touch his back getting his attention.

“It’s okay Hak. I can do this.” He frowns deeply at her, his concerned eyes searching hers.

“Of course she can.” Gi-gan affirms. “All she’ll do is pick some locks, cut some ropes and sneak onto the deck to give the signal and then she’ll sneak back to wherever they’re keeping her. Then all she has to do is wait for us to come get her. Simple.” Jae-ha laughs bitterly.

“There’s nothing simple about it, Captain.”

“Kum-ji won’t hurt her as long as she has her Princess title.” Gi-gan says but even she looks a little doubtful.

“I won’t let you do this.” Hak says. Yona slips her arm from his grasp to clasp one of his hands.

“I’ll be okay.”

“It’s decided then.” Gi-gan says as Hak and Jae-ha both look at her unhappily. “The date my informant gave me for his ships entering the port is two days from now. I’ll have Yun teach you what he knows and we’ll smooth out the details.” Hak huffs angrily and Jae-a looks at his feet with a deep set grimace. 

Hak won’t look at Yona and she feels a little guilty upsetting him but she hopes he understands. She’s tired of being ignorant or running from her problems. For once Yona is going to make a stand.