Cynric cracked his eye-sockets only a sliver, scanning the dreary, cold floor beneath him. He closed his eye-sockets again, begging his mind to put him back to sleep.

From what he could tell, a week or two has already passed, leaving the three inmates alone in the dark. Well, he didn't know for sure. It could have been longer than he had hoped. 

For the first few days, Cynric and Violet had carefully listened to Bronze's stories, becoming more inspired and thrilled with each new tale. Each daring adventure seemed to top the last, from voyaging the seas to battling sea monsters, and then freeing entire countries. They drank every last word, feeding it to their imagination. 

But after a while, Bronze ran out of stories to tell and the cellar became awfully quiet. Bronze suggested for them to share their story, but Violet insisted it doesn't have anything interesting in it.

So now, the three waited.

For what?

Cynric and Violet didn't know. Anything, really. At this point, they didn't really care what happened.

Tussling upstairs awoke Cynric from his forced slumber. He sat up, looking to the door. Shadowed feet dashed about on the deck, pounding against the wooden planks like thunder. It echoed through the cellar and soon, Violet and Bronze were staring too. Muffled shouting and some iron clashing followed. Cynric grasped the bars, craning his head to have a better look. "What's happening?"

Bronze's ear flicked before a smirk appeared on his face. "Finally."

Violet shot him a confused look. "What do you mean by 'Finally'?"

Before the cat could give an answer, a sudden THUD banged against the wooden door, causing all three to flinch. Someone scratched against the door, as if they were trying to stand, but it seemed futile as they slumped against it. 

Cynric counted to five slowly in his head before he looked back at Violet. They shared a similar realization.

The person had been killed.

Cynric held tightly onto Violet's hand. Whatever had killed them was something he didn't want to find out. He shuffled to the back of the cell, pushing Violet into a corner and leaning on top of her. He didn't want her to be seen.

Violet's ears flickered towards the door and she whimpered quietly. "Someone's coming."

Cynric pushed against her harder. He tilted his head to the side, mumbling to her. "Quiet."

Without much effort, the door was slammed open with a mighty kick, startling everyone once again. Light flooded into the cellar all at once, illuminating them immediately. A tall, strong silhouette stood at the doorway, swinging its leathery black boot back on the floor. He pressed closer to Violet, almost threatening to suffocate her. 

Slowly, the person descended the steps, taking careful steps forward until he stopped just in front of Cynric's cell. The figure tilted his head to the side, sparing Cynric a single glance. Cynric stared back.

The man only seemed to be a few inches taller than him, but he looked down at Cynric as if he was a towering monster about to kill him, gazing straight through him with piercing emerald green eyes. His eyes were framed by fair skin, almost as pure as snow. Black rivers of hair flowed from underneath his matching black pirate hat, a loose scarlet bandanna peeking between. Peeking out from each side of his head were sharp, elvish ear, long and pale to match his skin. Cynric's gaze trailed down as he took in more of the man. His hair continued down, its dark hue shifting to a eye-catching ruby red. More black was jacketed around his body, framing a scarlet and gold vest underneath perfectly. Beneath that was a tightly-buckled belt followed by dark-toned pants. It was neatly tucked into black-leather boots which were also adorned with more straps and stitches. 

He swallowed a tiny gasp. This man was surely about to kill him or leave him to die and the only thing he could even THINK of was how hot he was. 

To his relief, the man turned away from him, facing the only other inmate. When he did, the prince noticed two long slits along the back of his coat, revealing his bare skin underneath. Curious.

"Bronze." The stranger murmured, a voice so gentle yet so dark that it startled the prince. Dang, It only made him more attractive, he silently hissed inside his brain.

The addressed cat smiled. "Took you long enough." He clambered onto his feet as the stranger pulled out a set of rusty keys and shoved one into the lock. With a hardy twist, the lock easily unlatched and fell to the floor. Bronze pushed on the door to his cell, walking out. "Where are the others?"

"Dealing with the crew on deck."

"Knew it was you guys. No other group of idiots could make that much noise." Bronze chuckled, playfully punching the other in the shoulder. 

The other simply smiled and nodded. "Let's go."

"WAIT!" The two turned to Cynric, which was now clinging to the bars desperately. "PLEASE! TAKE US WITH YOU!"

They exchanged looks between themselves before the stranger took a step closer to him. "Why should we?"

Cynric gave Bronze a desperate look, silently pleading to him. 

The cat stiffened before he sighed, rubbing the back of his furry neck. "Captain, we should give him a chance." The captain gave Bronze a pointed look. The cat shrugged, looking back at Cynric. "Kinda wanna see what he's capable of."

The captain scanned his face for a moment before he sighed, stepping closer to Cynric. He pulled out the keys once more and opened the cell.

As the four stepped out, they were met with chaos.

The pirates that locked Cynric up were battling savagely against others with drastically different characteristics. Some were clashing weapon-to-weapon, but others were blasting magic or flying around and crashing into enemies. Everyone was everywhere and Cynric couldn't keep up. All of them were such bizarre colors, shapes, and sizes that he questioned who the hell were they? 

But there was only one thing that they had in common: Each one was wearing something RED.

"Help us win and we'll take you with us." The man rushed, extracting his shining sword from its hilt and running into the fray. Cynric gave him a quick nod, instinctively shielding Violet as he looked for a weapon. 

"LOOK OUT!" Violet shrieked, pulling Cynric away as a pirate rushed at him with a sword, narrowly missing him. The prince stumbled and turned, quickly dodging the next attack. He shoved Violet away to avoid the third and had to duck to dodge the fourth. The fifth swing scrapped his shoulder. Cynric backed up more.

If only he had a weapon!

Violet scampered off after the sixth swing, causing Cynric to twist awkwardly to avoid it. His opponent smirked and suddenly swung up, catching the prince in the back.

He cried out, crashing down onto the floor. 

If only he had a weapon.

If only he had one.

Cynric hissed as he clawed the ground. 

If only.

His iris flared with green flames, energy surging from his head to his chest. It spiraled around in his ribcage and flung out of his palm, green magic moving and materializing into something. He lifted his head and turned.

A pulsing, translucent  sword laid at his side, poised at his attacker. 

With one single command, the blade ripped forward and speared the man, digging deeper and deeper into his chest. The force was too great for him, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the ship entirely. 

The prince sat up. He stared at where the attacker once was and then at his hand. 

Cool.

That was really cool.

Stumbling to his feet, he willed his magic to take shape once more. It spilled out and scattered around him, shifting into more familiar shapes. After a few seconds, twelve pulsing swords were at his side, awaiting their commands. Now with newfound strength, Cynric took off back into the heart of the battle, firing bladed-missiles at his targets. He noticed that none of the blades seemed to cut or slash, acting more as nails made of air which pinned his enemies to whatever surface was nearby. This seemed to help Bronze's friends, making it easier to take them down and tie them up and by the end of the battle, the Scarlet Pirates stood victorious. 

Cynric stood against the edge of the ship, watching as each Black Pirate was rolled over to the other side of the ship shamefully. Scarlet members hugged and celebrated their victory with a mighty cheer and he had to restrain himself from joining.

After that, the victors had begun to chat nonstop with Bronze, quickly catching up with his story of imprisonment. In the meantime, Cynric looked out across the sea, enjoying the rays of the sun and the smell of salt that had been robbed from him weeks ago. 

Soon, Violet joined his side, leaning closely to him. "You really saved me." She smiled.

Cynric matched her grin and shrugged. "I had to. You're my best friend."

"How cheesy." She giggled. "Is your back okay?" Violet held up a paw and touched the wound delicately, causing Cynric to flinch. She pulled away her paw and held it up to Cynric's face, showing him blood. "You're bleeding."

"Nothing I can do about it." He sighed. "I'm crap at healing."

"Did someone say healing?"

The pair looked up to find the man from before, only this time he was fluttering down to their level. Cynric stared with wide-eyesockets as the captain landed beside him, a pair of dazzling fairy wings perched on his back. They were translucent and reflected the evening light in such a way that it ensnared Cynric's attention.

The captain offered a smile that made Cynric's soul do a back flip. "I can heal you. Where did you get hurt?"

The prince opened his mouth... and realized that nothing was coming out. His face slowly began to grow color as he fought for words. "Ah- back."

The fairy nodded and walked over to Cynric's back, placing both hands to it. A warm, comforting aura soon flowed out of his palms and the prince could feel the wound already closing itself with magic.

"Now then," The captain finally said after he was finished, taking two steps back as he did so. "Let's go."

Cynric turned to look at him and bowed his head. "Cynric."

The pirate blinked. "Hm?"

Cynric stood up straight again. "I'm Cynric and this is Violet." He gestured to Violet stiffly. She walked over to Cynric's side and nodded.

"Zephyr." The fairy gave his name when it was his turn, smiling. "It's nice to meet you, Cynric and Violet."