I'm always looking to improve on my writing. Some friendly and helpful constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Dressed no cleaner than a poor merchant and stood no more noble than a Queen, a young imp of a girl with black hair highlighted with red, and wide silver eyes in contrast with her innocent pale face, her skin was as smooth as a new-born but her expression was as determined as a soldier with nothing left to lose, the girl, Ruby, stared up directly into the ever changing eyes of her captain and sister, Yang.

Much like her underling and younger sister, she was dressed no better than a homeless bandit but on the crown of her head she proudly bared a black hat worthy of a captain, made from the finest fabrics, her hat showed her everlasting position and determination as the captain of her ship Kicking off with a Yang or The Ky for short. Her hat however pales in comparison to her endless stream of golden hair which absorbs light from the sun whenever she found herself above deck.

Ruby kept her eye contact with her sister for as long as she could, but it wasn't long before a slither of water shimmered over her eyes, "Yang, we're way out of our depth! We don't know the first thing about captaining a ship, let alone fight another ship."

The warm-blooded beauty patted her sisters' hair, "calm down Ruby, we were born for this! Adventure and combat is in our blood," Yang punched her fist into the air with mighty determination.

Her sister slapped Yang's hand off of her head and growled, "you mean YOU was born for this!" Ruby stuck her slender finger into Yang's chest, "I'm too young, I have my whole life ahead of me. I refuse to drown here, with you!" Ruby sounded almost as if she was drifting off into a dream of everlasting life before the reality hit her and her anger returned like a sharp cutlass aimed at Yang's heart.

Yang put her hand over her heart and widened her mouth in false shock, "Dear sister," she began sarcastically, "I just can't believe you would say such a thing." She continued her sarcasm.

Ruby's left eye flinched in frustration, "I'm done talking. Common sense is a waste with you." She crossed her arms and turned her back on her sister in defiance.

Yang seemed a little unsettled by that, she reached out her left hand to comfort her sister but was abruptly interrupted by another subordinate of hers.

She crashed in the archway of the storage room just below deck, where Yang and Ruby held their argument, away from the common crew. Long greasy black hair and the face of a prowler, she had fangs for teeth but her face was as calm and as fragile as Ruby's, her restless eyes reflected an amber hue, they were eyes someone could get lost in, but it was the two feline ears atop her head which drew the crowd, although she was ashamed of them, her captain furthered her rank within the crew just because of how cute they were. This girl was Blake, and she was just as much of a mystery to herself as she is to her crew and captain, she serves Yang as a sort of left-hand woman, as Yang's right goes to her sister with noticeable bias. Blake found herself with the captain constantly; serving her drinks; cleaning her room; dressing her for occasions and delivering messages. This was no different, she pushed her back onto the archway of the storage room as the ship rocked violently in the stormy waves crashing against the hull.

"Captain! The ship you want to battle. We aren't a match; it will surely defeat us!" Blake shouted to the unconcerned captain who simply smirked.

"Ships aren't things Blake," Yang walks over to her lesser drawing her cutlass with pride, "we'll sink her. Count on it!" Yang smiled, there was absolutely no talking her out of her ambitions, so she climbed the feeble wooden steps onto the deck of her schooner of a battleship and she was instantly blinded by a hail of freezing rain.

Her ego remained, even if her sense of feeling didn't. She wiped the water from her face and looked across her deck of scrambling crew and out into the dark abyss of black furious waves and tranquil stars which watched over the sea like the countless eyes of a god. She did not wander these waves alone however, just below the brightest and most northern star, her bounty. A ship three times the size of hers and guns which outnumber hers considerably. No shots have been fired and no war drums have been hit, yet the path of scorching hellfire lights Yang's eyes up like a furnace, and her excitement became uncontrollable. She starts to jump with excitement, catching the eyes of a few of her crew who only grow more concerned as both ships grew closer.

Blake stumbled onto deck behind Yang, clinging onto a nearby mast, "her guns outnumber our rusty muskets of cannons."

Yang looked as if struck with an idea, "good thinking Blake. Find me a musket!"

Blake didn't need to move however as a man from her crew quickly handed Yang his musket as he sobbed with fear. Blake's face became a little relieved and she threw her back against the mast and slid onto the floor.

Yang fired a shot into the sky, it cracked like thunder and it was loud enough to bring her entire crew to a halt. "Listen to me! That ship ahead of us is bigger and scarier than we are, but that ship carries a treasure unlike anything any of you rats could comprehend! When we slay this beast, it will be ours! You will no longer need to sail the seas; you can keep the bed for your lovers warm!" Yang swung her musket into the air waiting for the applause and determined screams, ready for the onslaught but she was left with nothing, just the crashing of waves and flapping of flags and tightening of rigging.

Yang turned to Blake, "I think they're rallied enough; I leave everything in your hands, I trust you Blake."

Yang returned below deck to find Ruby sitting on a wooden barrel, "how're you doing sis?"

"Yang, I'm scared." Ruby almost choked on her words with the tears she held stored behind her eyes.

"Don't be, we won't take one hit. They're too big and slow; we're small and fast. We can easily avoid anything they throw at us." Yang reassures her sister with a smile.

"If you really think that's how this will go, you're mistaken." Ruby wanted to shout, but she didn't have the strength, she would surely breakdown into tears.

Yang crouched down in front of the barrel with a small steel flagon in her hand. On the lower half of the barrel was a tap, she put her flagon beneath the tap and filled it with wine as red as blood from the barrel. Once her flagon was full, she stood up and looked at an island of bubbles in the wine.

"If I could escape, I would." Yang smiled as she turned from her sister and headed towards a small wooden door to the left of them.

The door lead to her quarters, it was cosy with a single desk covered with a map and a single wooden chair to fill it, no other decorations but there was a small open window without glass behind the desk, the occasional ice cold breaths of air would freeze Yang's spine solid.

Yang fell into her chair; her face was less optimistic as before. She slammed her flagon onto the desk spilling some wine onto the map. Yang just sat there, looking into the wall.

A thunderous boom erupted from the distance and for a second it fell silent until the boom crashed again. The air was cut in half by an invisible cannon ball. The ball struck across the deck throwing shards of wood in every direction like small bullets. It crashed into the tallest mast on the ship sending the mast into a free-fall into the ocean but not before taking an unfortunate sailor with it.

Yang however, sat in her chair as still as a rock. Nothing crossed her face, not even the slightest concern or worry, she just stared as if nothing was happening.

"Aim!" Blake's orders floated below deck and through Yang's window, "Fire!" A second order was given, several cannons shot in succession towards the mighty gallon beside them.

The volley seemed to barely dent the ship. Blake quickly realised that the cannon ball which hit their deck was nothing more than a warning shot. The same thunderous boom exploded from the ship, this time it was not the one, it was thousands! They hurtled towards the ship, only growing faster in their descent. They slammed into the ship. Splinters flew everywhere yet again. Sailors were amputated from their legs all the way up to the neck. Splinters skewered eyes and cut countless throats. Blake couldn't stand to watch and stumbled backwards at the horrors before her, without realising she stumbled backwards onto the stair leading into the storage room and fell down each step, taking a few bruises but nothing more.

Ruby who was cowering in the corner scurried over to Blake on her hands and legs, "Blake, how bad is it? I'm scared, I don't-"

"Everything is fine, I need help getting onto my feet." Blake remained as calm as she could, even though she was holding back a tidal wave of tears.

Ruby put Blake's arm over her should and pushed up with her legs as hard as she could until the pair was standing.

"Where's Yang?" Blake asked, panicked.

"In there," Ruby nodded towards Yang's quarters.

"Leave her then," Blake hesitantly ordered, "help me up these steps, I need to order the next attack."

Ruby guided Blake up the steps, one creak at a time and once they had reached the top, Ruby was exposed to all the unpleasantness all over the deck as blood ran through the crack of the decking like rivers and limbs were scattered everywhere. Ruby looked to her right to see the massive galleon steaming towards the ship and full speed, she didn't know what to do, she wasn't even given the chance to scream before the galleon struck the ship. The impact threw the crew in every direction, the luckiest landing in the surprising comfort of the sea and some found themselves thrown against rogue masts which had collapsed from the cannon fire. Luckily the impact didn't cut through the ship as what was probably intended, instead roaring and shouting emitted from the galleon and men started dropping onto the deck with brand new, golden laced cutlasses and flintlocks. These men were well dressed and well washed, not a speck of dirt across their faces.

Ruby was thrown far from the impact. With luck she avoided wooden shards and fallen masts and managed to land safely on an untouched opening of the deck unharmed. Blake, however, was not as fortunate and was flung into a broken mask, shattering the bone in her right leg, crippling her.

When Ruby got a grip of her senses and wondered her gaze across the deck, first she heard the clashing of swords and the firing of pistols, secondly, she saw members of her own crew being slaughtered like rabbits. Raging fires erupted on the deck and Ruby knew that in this moment, she is in hell on Earth and she needed to escape. She crawled backwards and looked up onto the pristine mast of her adversary's ship and noticed a small person, shadowed by the night balancing on one of the beams. She could make out a small hat and a shoulder cape on their right shoulder, but none of that was as menacing as the slim sword they grasped in their right hand, and compact flintlock in their left.

The shadow jumped from the mast and landed somewhere on the deck of the galleon out of Ruby's vision. She tried to forget about the figure and instead focused on her escape, until the figure re-emerged on the bow of the galleon which was still lodged into the side of The Ky. It was a small girl perhaps even shorter than Ruby, her small narrow hat was grey and mimicked that of something an officer would wear, nothing as flashy as a captains hat, her cape was as grey as her coat which looked homemade yet stylish and rich. Her boots shined in the moonlight and produced a squeak each time they rubbed together. The girl had various colours in her hair ranging from pink, white and brown, pink being the dominant colour on the right of her head and brown taking up a large portion along the left side of her head with white distributed lightly with the pink. Her eyes were of different colours, her left being brown and her right being pink and she wore a smirk as bold as her colours.

The girl locked eyes with Ruby who looked helpless on her back. Instantly the girl picked out her first target and began to walk closer and closer. Ruby was terrified, all she could hear amidst the fighting was the stomping of the girls boots. The girl had come much closer than she was before and so she decided to aim her small flintlock pistol towards Ruby, with a smile she tightened her finger around the trigger.

"Don't touch my sister," Yang screamed running out from below deck with her cutlass ferociously swinging from left to right.

The girl lost interest in Ruby and turned on the spot and fell onto her left knee and held her sword horizontally above her head. Clang! Yang and the girls swords met, the girl easily blocked Yang's attack but Yang wasn't out of ideas already, she stood back and held her sword out in front of her in a defensively. The girl stood back up onto her feet and tossed aside her flintlock, still she held her sword in her right hand. The girl grew a smile so big it could be mistaken for excitement or as if she was holding in a laugh.

Yang turned to her younger sister, "Ruby! Run! Get out of here, hide or something, I'll find you afterwards."

Without hesitation, Ruby jumped on her feet and ran! Her first thought was the stern as there likely wouldn't be a single person there.

At the stern, Ruby saw nothing, just as she thought, it was a clear deck with only the clashing in the background to disturb it. One thing did stick out however, resting against the sterns taffrail she saw a small wooden boat and to the left of the stern and boat was some rope she could use to lower her boat into the water, still, she was too weak and just before she was ready to give up and look for somewhere to hide, a hand rested on her helpless shoulder.

It was a boy of average height with black hair and a soft voice, "your sister will be fine, take this boat and leave," the boy handed Ruby a rag which is tied into a warm bag, "I prepared some things. I was meaning to eat tonight under the stars."

Ruby put her hands together and made a bowl to receive the gift but she was stuck on what to say, a simple thank you wouldn't mean enough for this kindness. This boy was the chef, Lie Ren, and Ruby always admired his calm and resourceful nature. She wasn't given the opportunity to talk to him however as he'd already begin lifting the boat with all of his strength. After a quick minute of fiddling around and hooking rope around the boat, Ren ordered Ruby into the boat, which she complied with. Ruby's legs were like jelly, every step she took towards the boat she felt she could easily fall overboard and she wanted to throw up. She hugged onto her bag of goodies from Ren and sucked it up and sat down on an uncomfortable plank of wood of a seat in the boat.

Ren leaned over to Ruby, "I'm going to lower you down now. Just before nightfall I heard a couple of seagulls fly over which means we're near some land," in the distance the clashing and gunshots abruptly came to a stop, "due to how cold it is and the occasional iceberg, my best guess is that we're closer to Solitas. If you find your way there, keep warm and stay on the move." Ren began to lower the boat into the water by pulling on some rope.

Barely a meter from the ocean the boat came to a halt almost pushing Ruby off of the plank.

Above deck, Ren found himself cornered by three men wielding razor sharp cutlasses. With no time to think, he drew his cutlass with his left hand and cut clean through the rope which held Ruby's boat to the ship.

The boat slammed onto the sea and the water drenched onto Ruby but she could hardly care, her concern was still with Ren. She shouted up to Ren hoping for a response, but her only reply was the clashing of swords.

Her hopelessness became worse, the more she looked up at the taffrail, the more she realised that she had to escape. She grabbed onto a pair of oars beneath the seat, she put them into the water and whilst clutching onto them with her very life, she rowed as fast as her arms allowed her to. The further she propelled herself away from the two ships, the more reality sank in. Her sister was gone, would she ever see her again? Is she still alive? Blake? Ren? Within less than five minutes, her life was destroyed, and she had nothing left.