THE room was spinning when Michael woke up. The lights were too bright, the room too small, the noises too loud. Everything was too much. Michael rolled over onto his side and blinked a few times to clear his head.  When he could finally see clearly, a couple of things stood out to him. He wasn't in a room--no--he was in a cell, below the decks of a ship. There was a sailor just outside of his cell, snoring away, but there was no one else around. It was night and it made Michael question just how long he had been out. Had it been hours? Days? There was no telling, the pirates stripped him of everything--the prince blindly reached for the collar of his shirt, the pin was gone--everything. 

Michael wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Though Jeremy had broken his heart, he still felt so much love for him and now everything the man had given him to say goodbye, was gone. He felt so alone and all he wanted was for someone to hold him. His brother could die before he got to say goodbye. For all he knew, everyone thought he was dead. Jeremy could think he was dead. Would he even care?

The prince sat in the cell for a while before anything happened. He heard the footsteps descend the steps into the hold, and heard them stop before the cell, but he refused to look up.

"Prince Mell, what an honor it is to have you in my company," The voice that spoke was recognizable, one of the pirates from his ship. Michael did not respond. "There are some words I would like to have with you, your majesty if you would kindly look at me." 

Michaels eyes cast upwards and he was met with the face of the young man who had taken his rapier. There was no name to put to the face, he wasn't anybody to Michael. 

"Good to see your face. Now, I would like to speak with you." 

The prince stayed silent. 

"My name is Antoni, I'm the leader of The Nameless." Antoni crouched so he was closer to Michael and fished something out of his pocket, he held it out so Michael could see what it was. The pin. The pin Jeremy had given him. 

Michael reached for it, but Antoni only laughed and closed his hand around the pin. Michaels' hand fell to his side. "It's hilarious that you think I would just give you this pin. It is the kings correct?" When Michael stayed silent, the pirate continued, "I wonder why he would give it to someone like you..." 

Michael didn't want to say anything. So he didn't.

"And his rapier, why would he give you all of that? Is it that, perhaps, you two were lovers?" 

The prince's eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. This time he was unable to say anything.

"Really? That was just a shot in the dark. Now that is something that I can use." Antoni laughed and pocketed the pin again. "Imagine if the world knew of what the oh so traditional King Heere was up to behind closed doors. He'd lose supporters by the thousands. It would ruin him."

Antoni's eyes twinkled with mischief and he laughed again. "Fantastic."

Michael did not wish that upon Jeremy. No matter what he had said or done to him, he did not want Jeremy to lose the support he had maintained for so long. "We... we were not lovers..." It was the truth, one night spent tangled up together did not classify them as lovers. 

"Then why did he give you such precious items?"

"The rapier was a parting gift... I-I stole the pin." He didn't have to lie about the sword, but the pin was a different story. He had to lie about the pin. "We are just friends, acquaintances more so. Forced to live in the same place for so long that we just agreed to get along." 

Antoni stood, brushing his trousers off. "An acquaintance would not give away something as precious as that rapier. Maybe you'll be a little more inclined to divulge some secrets about the king after Dmitri is done with you."

An older man stepped out from the shadows of the ship smirking deviously while Antoni smiled at the prince and took off to the deck. 

--

A week had passed. A week. Jeremy wasn't doing well at all. He had barely slept at all in the past seven days, his insomnia was at the worst it had been in years. Things were not going well for the King, and usually, things got worse. And they did.

A messenger came early morning on a Friday, carrying a small box in a satchel. The box was addressed to the king but there was no sender. The messenger said he had been contacted on his regular route and given a large sum of money to bring the box to the king. The king's advisor had warned him about opening the box, afraid it was some type of poison, but Jeremy ignored his warnings and opened it anyway.

There was a letter inside the box addressed to the king and written in fancy script. It read; "Your Majesty, losing someone you care for so much hurts a lot does it not? It does, and I hope at this very moment you understand all of our pain, and it hurts even worse than ours. You deserve this. You are a disgusting, vile, creature. You deserve this suffering. You lied and you got us killed, it's time you understood how it feels. Reconsider your laws, and we'll reconsider his fate. Yours truly, the Nameless." Underneath the folded piece of parchment was his Admiral Pin. It was his pin, but it also wasn't his pin. It was dented and there was blood, smeared onto it. Jeremy wanted to throw up.

Everything caught up to Jeremy at once and he collapsed back into his chair, staring blankly at the blood-smeared pin in his hand. Michael. Where was Michael? Was he dead? The blood on the pin said one thing, but Jeremy's heart said another. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't let him be dead. His fate. The line seemed to insinuate that Michael wasn't dead. But he would be. He would be if Jeremy did not act fast. Something had to happen and quick.

He couldn't let Michael die. He couldn't let the last words between them be unspoken. I love you. He needed to say it. I love you. He needed to say it. He couldn't be a coward anymore if it means letting innocent people die. Screw tradition. Tradition took peoples lives, he wouldn't let it take anymore.

Jeremy wished he had seen it sooner, seen it before it was someone he cared about on the line. It had been too long and it was time for a change.

The king took a shaky breath and stood from his chair, he clipped the pin into place on the collar of his shirt and straightened himself out. 

He was going to change things no matter what anyone said. For Michael. For Michael.