MICHAEL was braced against the edge of the ship, hand clutching a bleeding gash on his arm. He was breathing heavily, his eyes scanning around the rest of his ship and eyeing the men who were still alive, still fighting. There was just barely a dozen sailors left and less than a dozen of his soldiers left, and they were doing their best to counter the attack from the other ship. 

Everything had happened in a matter of minutes. They were barely fifty miles off of the coast of Serris when they'd been attacked. Barely enough time to gather their wits. Michael did know who would do this either, the ship wasn't marked with any type of the flag, and the men didn't have any identifying colors on either. Michael assumed that they were pirates. His men had been trying their best, firing back against their cannon fire, but nothing was working, they were closing in. Michael hoped that someone would show up soon. 

The opposing ship had finally closed in, and the men were boarding Michaels ship. There was only one thing that Michael could really do now. He stood up, using his free arm to steady himself and then unholstered his pistol. He fired blindly, trying to hit the attackers before they even reached the ship. Even though he did his best, there wasn't much he could do and soon the ship was overrun.

Michael was still firing, doing his best to defend the men that were left. He didn't want to be responsible for their deaths, he didn't want to have their blood on his hands. Michael reloaded his gun and started firing blindly again. 

There was a voice behind him, and Michael stopped. "You might wanna put your gun down, mate or your little friend here is going to get a bullet through his head." 

Michael spun on his heel and kept his gun raised up. Standing in front of him was a young man, one arm holding one of his men--a short man named Richard--close to him. His other hand held an elegantly made pistol to Richards temple. Richards' eyes were wide with fear and he was struggling against the pirate. Michaels' hand twitched on the trigger. 

"Ahahah. Lower that gun or I'm blastin' this kids brain all over the deck." The pirate was smirking, and Michael--god--he really didn't want to give up, but he saw the pleading look in Richards' eyes and he had to, he really had to. 

He lowered his gun, bending down and placing it on the deck. He kicked it over to the pirate, eyes trained on the gun still being held to Richards temple. 

"The sword too."  Michael did as he was told, reluctantly. The sword was one of Jeremy's--he was the last person Michael wanted to be thinking about right now--and it had been gifted to him years prior when he'd left for his first journey back home. He didn't want to give it up, but it was worth it for a life. "Thank you, your majesty." 

So the pirate knew who he was, that meant that they also probably knew this was his ship. This attack had been planned. 

Michael swallowed hard. "Let him go. Now."

Smirking, the pirate let Richard go, shoving him towards Michael. Michael caught him with shaking arms and shoved the younger boy behind him. God, how did a boy this small become part of the Royal Navy? 

Michael tried not to focus on the fighting behind him. He could hear it all happening, the clashing of swords, the deafening sound of bullets behind fired. He wished this would just end. He didn't want anyone else to die on the account of him.

"Take whatever you want, please, just spare my men. Please." Michael kept begging, locking his eyes with the pirate.

The man in front of him laughed, crossed his arms and glanced over Michaels' shoulder. "Oh, I fully intend to take what I want."

Michael barely had enough time to look behind him before the butt of a gun was being smashed against his head and he was crashing to the deck of the ship.

--

JEREMYS' Naval Commander had been the one to inform him of the attack on Michaels ship. His hand had frozen mid-signature, and he stared back at Jake. He barely registered what was happening. The next thing he knew he was marching down the hallway his cape trailing after him, and he was bombarding the Commander with questions. From what he learned the attack had been two hours ago and had happened in a matter of seconds. A majority of the men on the ship were dead, save for a few who had played dead or hidden below deck. When the rescue crew arrived, the pirates had been gone and the prince was nowhere in sight. He was the only one missing, the rest of the crew had been accounted for--alive or dead. 

Jeremy was rushing, but he didn't know where he was going. In the back of his mind, he knew there wasn't anything he could do. Michael was missing, and there was no way of knowing where he had been taken. But that didn't mean anything, his heart was still aching, with fear and guilt. He had been nothing but cold to Michael before he left, he hadn't even said goodbye when he departed.  What if that was the last he would ever see of Michael? Would that be how Michael remembered him in his final hours?

He was almost running when Commander Dillinger stopped him with a hand to his chest. "Your majesty, please calm down. There is other information I need to share with you. A close friend of mine, Richard Goranski was on the ship. He said he recognized the symbol on one of the pirate's jacket. The Nameless, the rebel group that has been attacking us as of late." 

Jeremy took a deep breath. The Nameless had been the source of much of his displeasure lately, doing nothing but attacking military bases and ships that were part of the royal navy. "Is Richard around?" Jeremy asked suddenly. 

Jake nodded hesitantly, looked around and then added, "He is in my chambers. I brought him there after he was checked over by the nurses. Would you like to speak with him?"

The King nodded and followed as Jake lead him down the winding hallways until they were in front of his chambers. Jake opened the door hesitantly and then called out, "Rich, it's Jake. The king is with me and he would like to speak with you about the attack." Jeremy could see Richard curled up with his knees to his chest on the Commanders bed, only looking up when the pair entered. 

Almost immediately Richard straightened himself out, and soon he was standing and bowing. Jeremy nodded and him before speaking quickly, "Commander Dillinger informed me you were on the ship, can you explain to me what happened?"

Richard nodded and look at his friend carefully before starting. Jeremy took a note of his lisp. "I--well I wasn't supposed to be on the ship today, but I wanted to see Barguil so I had Jake--Commander Dillinger assign me to it... We were barely forty miles off the coast when it happened. T-They fired first, and we did our best to defend but they had us flanked. The prince was caught in the arm by some debris from one of the cannon fire." Richard paused and Jeremy took a second to take in the information that had been given to him. Michael was hurt before they were even boarded.

Jeremy made a hand motion for Richard to continue. "Even though he was hurt, the prince was fightin' the best he could when we were boarded... I was ambushed, and this man had his arm around my neck and a gun to my temple." Richard paused to take a deep breath and Jeremy didn't miss Jake's hand placed on the small of his back--even in the dim candlelight. "The man got Michaels attention and had him hand over his gun--and his sword." 

Jeremy knew what sword he had given over, a rapier that Jeremy had gifted the prince his first year in Serris, so he'd have something to protect himself with if it was needed. Michael loved the sword.

"They were talkin', but I couldn't focus, I was still reelin' from the attack and the next thing I knew another man had knocked the prince to the deck. I sprinted away--I'm sorry, I'm so sorry--I don't--they took him! They took him and I didn' do nothin' about it!" Richard was crying now, wrapping his arms around himself. Jake made a moved and then hesitated. Jeremy turned away to give the two some privacy.

"Thank you, Richard. You did your best." Jeremy ran a hand down his face and was surprised to feel wetness forming at the edge of his eyes. "Command Dillinger, call an emergency meeting of the War Council for an hour from now. We need to get this sorted as soon as possible." 

Jeremy marched out of the room after that, faintly hearing the yes sir from Jake. 

This whole week had been a disaster. He'd thrown away the one chance he'd had at being with someone he loved, and now he was going to lose him. He was going to lose him--perhaps he already had--if he didn't act as quick as possible.