Hope you enjoy this! All rights to whom they belong!

Tulio knew that there was going to be trouble for them the second the book went missing. They had gone to Syracuse after they had traveled the world for a bit after their spree in El Dorado. Chel had left them awhile back because they, or rather Tulio, had wanted a place to call home for awhile.

Syracuse had seemed to be the perfect place. It was a beautiful icon of the Mediterranean world and above all was well known as one of the most peaceful places in the world. Tulio had loved it at first sight. Miguel had been content to discover the city as Tulio started to set up a life with the gold they had managed to take from El Dorado.

Still, Tulio had known Miguel practically their whole lives; they were something more than brothers. He knew him well enough to know that Miguel was not able to linger in one place long. He hoped that there would be some sort of happy median they could strike. However he knew that the time to find that solution was running low.

So when the Book of Peace went missing and word spread that Sinbad's crew were going to Tartarus in order to reclaim the lost book he didn't even need to take a second look at Miguel to know that those eyes would be pointed in his direction.

"No." He stated, making sure to keep his back to Miguel the whole time as he restocked the small collectibles store he had set up with treasures they had found around but weren't worth keeping for themselves.

There was no response from Miguel so he knew that it still wasn't safe for him to turn around and look at him. He took a deep breath and continued what he knew was a perfectly logical argument "I said no! I believe that our trip to El Dorado should keep you content for…I don't know let's say the rest of our lives?"

Still there was no response from Miguel and Tulio slowly turned and was met with 'the eyes'. He gave them an unimpressed stare before shaking his head slowly "I said no."

Miguel tried with the eyes several more times all of them meeting with the same response before he finally gave up and sighed dejectedly. It was unknown to Miguel but that was the one thing that Tulio could never say no to. Seeing Miguel unhappy was… it wasn't natural. He tried to put off his defeat, but one more sigh from Miguel broke him. He tried to keep the dejection out of his tone as he said "When do they leave?"

Miguel's eyes brightened as he spun Tulio around and embraced him, saying softly and with sincerity "Thank you Tulio…"

Tulio smiled down as he looked at the top of Miguel's head. They had been lover's briefly, but they had soon realized that the only chemistry they had felt between each other was greatly influenced by their situation at the time. Their friendship was deepened but was otherwise unaffected. At the end of it Tulio had realized that it was for the better that they tried and got it out of their systems. And after a few talks it was clear that they would have gotten along fine as lovers, but would have eventually realized anyways that they weren't quite the perfect match.

Miguel pulled away and smiled happily up at Tulio but his smile dimmed when he saw his friend staring off at the little store he had started. He looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before a mischievous smile crossed his lips knowing exactly what he wanted to say "I hear that they almost have enough saved up to retire to Fiji… I bet if we earn it some of that gold could be ours."

Tulio looked at Miguel and then smirked and shook his head "You know me too well."

Miguel simply smirked and said playfully "I just know you well enough to know that I wasn't the only one who was bored."

Kale was surprised when they were restocking the ship to see two men standing off to the side. As second mate he was in charge of the crew for the Captain, maintaining it and seeing that they were well prepared for any of the crazy adventures that the Captain would randomly decide to go on.

"May I help you?" He asked slowly his eyes looking them over and taking stock. It seemed that they weren't specialized, but they had muscles and an adventurous gleam in their eye and that made them worthy enough to him. The dark haired one seemed to be a little less enthusiastic about the whole thing. However it was easy to spot what his interest was when he started asking about how the shares were divided up and how and when they would get paid. He smirked; the Captain would certainly like this one he thought.

Then his attention turned to the blond one by his side. Something about their body language easily said that they were close, but a good look at them would make anyone realize that it wasn't that they were lovers, they were something more.

He liked the look of the blond one; his eyes were full of excitement as he heard about the adventure that they were going on. He was full of strange questions such as "Is this the mythical land of Tartarus that no one has ever returned from?" and "What kind of monsters do you think we'll see?" However they were asked out of keen interest and not out of fear as expected. It would almost seem like he had already seen monsters and no longer had fear of them.

He wondered what their story was but that wasn't required to get on the ship. He was a good judge of character and knew that they would be good additions to the crew. As for their story men had plenty of time to talk on the ship during lulls. Surely one of those times he would get their past from them.

He told them they could join and watched as the blond jumped for excitement. They introduced themselves as Tulio, the dark haired one, and Miguel, the blond. He smirked as they quickly went to gather their things before the ship took off. As they left he found his eyes connecting with Miguel's a little longer than they usually would and he turned away. There was still work to be done before they took off and as he knew there was plenty of time on the ship to get to… know him better.

Marina found herself outside of Proteus's cell shaking her head at the man who had slowly won her heart. When she first met him she knew that he was a kind and gentle man. However she thought that she was in for a long and boring marriage with a settled man. However as she got to know him over the years she realized that inside that armor of dignity and kindness he wore he was just as adventurous as she was.

She reached forward and gently caressed his cheek "How could you do this? You never even waited to hear my answer."

Proteus smiled and gently took her hand into his own and gave it a firm squeeze as he pressed a kiss to her knuckles "I think I already know what your answer is…you have never been truly happy with this peaceful kingdom…. You long for more out of life and you deserve to be happy. Knowing that you are would bring me much peace."

Her eyes flared with indignation but she couldn't quite pull her hand away "What do you mean? You just expect me to run off and leave you at a time like this?"

Proteus looked up at her and smiled softly "You have a chance to go on those wild adventures like you always wanted. Now is the perfect chance, no one will question you if you go with Sinbad. He might talk big but he'll make sure you're safe without coddling you. Please…I just want you to be happy."

She looked away, she knew in her heart that she was tempted by the chance to finally live the life she always wanted. However when she saw the shadows in Proteus's eyes she also knew that she couldn't leave him here to face his fate alone. If he could trust Sinbad even after all these years then she would have to trust his judgment. If she left now she wouldn't be running away to live a life of adventure, she would just be running away.

She took his hand into her own and smiled as she held it tightly and said "I know what's in my heart, and I need to stay here with you rather than fulfilling some childish dream." She smirked and said "Besides…these next ten days will be about as much excitement as I can handle."

Kale watched as the new deck hands got settled in and then turned his attention to the Captain who had just gotten on board. He then spread out the map and asked the question that he knew the rest of the crew was just dying to ask "So how do you get to Tartarus?"

Sinbad whirled around and looked at him with narrowed eyes as he said scoffed and said "Tartarus? Who said anything about Tartarus?"

Kale looked at him skeptically and said "So we're not going to Tartarus? Then where are we going?"

Sinbad smirked as he laid down a new map and said "Fiji! We don't need another big job!"

Kale was used to being the voice of reason to the Captain, especially when the Captain already knew what he needed to do but just wasn't ready to face it yet. "He's your friend!"

It seemed that their argument got picked up by the rest of the crew who had started to linger or had stopped their work completely to see if they were going to Tartarus or Fiji, literally a life or death choice to them.

Miguel looked heartbroken at the fact that they might not be going to Tartarus after all, but would also enjoy going to Fiji. Deciding to lighten him up Tulio said "We don't want to go there any way! There are monsters and gods and who knows what else is there. The captain is wise in turning tail and going to Fiji."

At this Sinbad's ears picked up and he turned around to find who said that. He found himself looking at the new deckhands that Kale had briefly mentioned to him. It seemed as if one was actually crazy enough to want to go to Tartarus.

The black haired one was calmly explaining that their new captain was right to be a coward and leave his friend to die. Sinbad frowned as the black haired one kept going on and on much to the amusement of the crew and he started speaking before had even realized it "whoa whoa whoa." He said stepping between them to break them up.

Sinbad leveled eyes with the black haired one and said "Now wait just a minute, I am not a coward and I am certainly not scared to go to Tartarus and I am not the type of man to just let his friend die when he needs him."

Kale raised a brow at the sudden turn and decided he might as well take it in stride which was usually all one could do with a captain like Sinbad "So how we get there?"

Sinbad turned around exasperated and said "You just follow that star past the horizon." He pointed to one in the distance and the crew jumped into motion as their Captain exactly what he had just done and narrowed his eyes at the two new crew members and Kale. He shook a finger at them slowly before growling and heading to his cabin.

Miguel turned to Tulio and said "We're still going to Tatarus!"

Tulio just stared after the captain in confusion and said "I thought we were going to Fiji?"

Kale just shook his head and said "Welcome to the ship."

Hope you like this first chapter!