"Oh cease your whiny little temper tantrums and open up!" Francis said through the captain's door after getting no response from knocking repeatedly. Francis rolled his eyes, used to the antics of the captain. Although they did not get along Francis knew he was the closest thing the man had to a friend, though nether would ever admit it.

When the Frenchman was once again greeted with silence he know something must have been up. Normally the captain would never put up with him and shout at the man to leave. Needless to say when the door slowly opened Francis was in shock.

"Stop gawking and come in before I change my mind, frog!"

Normally the captain would never be caught dead looking as disheveled as he did at that moment. The coat and hat he wore proudly was thrown lazily onto his chair and his shirt was wrinkled and untucked. His hair was messy, though it always was due to the winds when on deck. Or at least that was his excuse. One thing remained the same about the captain and that was his strong emerald gaze that could strike fear into hearts in a moments notice.

The captain slammed the door once the Frenchmen was inside. Francis, obviously disappointed in the mess that was the captain's quarters, picked up the captain's coat and hat from the chair and carefully placed them onto the coat rack. Francis tsked papers and maps were strewed across the captain's deck.

"What has gotten into you? I have never seen this place in such a mess!" Francis exclaimed as though a simple mess was the end of the world. Then again, this was the captain he was talking to and the captain couldn't stand messes even more than him. What had gotten into the man?

"We are going to Britannia." The captain said ignoring him

Now there were many things the Frenchmen tolerated but being ignored was not one of them.

"I will not be ignored, Captain. If you don't snap out of this little 'funk' you have gotten into I will have to slap you." Francis said, done with trying to get through to the Brit the nice way. He smirked when the Captain turned to him and glared. For a moment he seemed like himself. Or at least more than he had been for the last few days.

"What than?" He snapped.

"Why have you been acting like this lately, hm?" Francis said raising an eyebrow. "The crew is starting to murmur and you know how Gilbert can get."

"Things have gotten more complicated than I wanted them to." The Captain finally said after a long pause.

"How so? This stop was just for the routine supply gathering." Francis was now getting truly interested in the situation.

"There was much more we needed to gather than just supplies." For a moment it seemed as though the captain's constant mask of emotions was gone. Before Francis could pry the mask was back up and he coughed before continuing on. "Information I mean."

"Information on what?" Francis sat on the chair in front on the Captain's desk. "What information could you even get from such a small town anyway. What was it called again?" He took a quick peek at the map on the desk. "Ah, that's it! Mertaivi!"

"That question could be saved for another time. All that matters is that what I am looking for is in Britannia." The captain said already planning out a course on his map.

"How do you know what or whoever you are looking for is even there. You make no sense sometimes, it's exhausting." Francis exclaimed with a dramatic sigh. The Captain simply handed him a folded piece of paper as though it could explain. Raising one of his brows he opened it.

I know you must be looking for me by now and I am sorry that you will have to wait a tad bit longer. You must have many questions but it is no in ones best interest you know the answers yet. Go to Britannia, you may gain some extra help.

~F.K.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Francis asked once he had finished reading the note. "It could easily be a trap you know."

"It is all I have right now. Go tell the crew to get the ship ready. I want to leave this place as soon as possible." The Captain ordered. Francis simply rolled his eyes and left the room to deliver the captain's orders.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Arthur." Francis muttered.

Alfred sat in his usual spot ready for the long sleepless night ahead of him. Sky pirates tended to dock late at night as to not attract unwanted attention. He currently hid between some barrels and boxes making sure he could not be seen. If this was the ship Alfred has been waiting for he would need the element of surprise. He was positioned so he would have a nice view of the dock through a crack between the boxes and easy access to his sword

Unfortunatly, as usual, waiting was like nails on a chalk board for Alfred and pirates seemed to like to take their time to show up. It was nearly 3 in the morning that the noise of crew members shouting woke Alfred from the sleep he fell into. His hand flew to the hilt of his sheathed sword as he hesitantly peeked through the crack. The distinct silhouette of a ship could be seen through the darkness and men could be seen with torches trying to give those docking the ship the ability to see. Alfred frowned since the name of the ship still could not be seen in the low light.

"Come on." Alfred muttered in annoyance. If one of the men with the torches could just move a little closer to the name of the ship!

"Did you hear something?"

Alfred breath hitched as a voice came from right next to him in his blind spot just beyond the box to his left. Alfred held his breath at the sound of approaching footsteps not daring to make a single noise. Alfred risked peeking through the crack and gripped the hilt of his sword tighter when he saw the shadow of a man.

"That is the fifth time tonight you thought you heard something!" Came a second voice. "It was probably another bird."

"Well sorry for being on guard! You know how much the navy wants their hands on the CrossWinds?" The owner of the first voice defended himself.

"Come on bro, you worry too much. Lets go get a drink or two. My treat."

"But-"

"I am sure everyone will be fine without us. This could be good for you, you need to get that stick out of your ass anyway." There was a sigh from one of them and the sound of departing footsteps met Alfred's ears.

He smirked, today was the day he would finally get closer to finding his best friend.

Once he was sure the two sky pirates were gone Alfred silently exited his hiding spot and made his way down to the ship. Years of practice taught him to use the shadows to his advantage to disguise himself in the night. Once at the ship he quickly looked around to make sure the coast was clear before grabbing the rope used to tie the ship to the dock and swiftly climb up it. Alfred peeked over the edge of the boat but snapped back down with a loud gasp at the sight of an elegant coat and hat.

It was the captain.

Captain Arthur snapped his head in the direction of the noise he heard. Normally he wouldn't care about such a small noise but being here was causing him to become paranoid. He scanned the side of the deck with his emerald eyes looking for the culprit, he was almost certain what he heard was a gasp.

A sliver of gold caught his attention and his eyes locked on what looked like a strand of hair proudly sticking up. The Britt smirked, whoever he caught spying on him is a dead man now. He slid his sword out of its sheath and made his way over to the spy.

"Today is not your day, is it now?" He said before looking over the side of the boat but all words left him when he saw sky blue eyes. He was only able to choke out one word.

"A-Alfred?"

"Art-aw shit!"

And with the sudden sound of a splash he was gone.

AN: I have been putting this off for too long haven't I? Sorry about that, to try and make up for it I went back and fixed mistakes in the last chapters along with the format.