Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“It’s all right Raven. It’s going to be fine.”

Charles whispered softly to the young blonde beside him, who in turn leaned more into his chest, trying to make herself appear smaller.

“I swear, if it wasn’t for that teleporter,” Raven muttered, eyeing the men around them warily, “and your stupid rules, you would have gotten us out of this already.”

Of course. Charles had no doubt that there was an easy way to get them free from this current scene they were in, but there was a reason for as why he’d rather have them pretend to be as defenceless as possible. Also, it would be unwise to do something that would provoke their captors, as it appeared that they were being trapped on a strange ship in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by ferocious looking pirates with nowhere to run to.

Only a while ago, he and Raven were enjoying their trip to their long-awaited summer vacation in France, completely unaware of their fate as they were walking around the sunny deck and relaxing in the cool breezes from the sea, occasionally making small talk with the other passengers on the luxurious ship. Just being social like anyone of their status.

Then out of nowhere, a frightened scream broke the air, drawing everyone’s attention to the source of it.

And that was when they first encountered the teleporter. A dark haired, red skinned man with long tail appeared from thick clouds of dark red smoke, standing in the middle of the deck observing around calmly, seemingly oblivious to the fact that people were either screaming in horror or fainting around him. As soon as his eyes landed on them, he marched towards with quick strides.

Despite his better knowledge of what the red man actually was, Charles had thought for a second that he was faced with a demon for the man’s devilish appearance, paired with those icy blue eyes that petrified them both with just a stare, making them stay at their spots, unable to escape.

Before Charles could begin to react, the man had had his grips on his shirt’s collars and Raven’s wrist, then quickly—just as he had come—disappeared with them onto this strange huge ship they were on now, so far away from their own that they couldn’t even see a sign of it anywhere within their line of vision.

The teleporter had left them here and disappeared elsewhere without saying anything. For a moment, it looked like they were only being watched, no one seemed eager to do anything, or even talk to them. But Charles simply couldn’t trust that they were safe at all, he wrapped his arms around Raven, instinctively shielding her as best as he could, even though he knew that she didn’t really need it.

When finally, the pirates slowly parted away themselves, making way for two men to walk forward, one of them were the one who had kidnapped them earlier.

“Sorry for the inconvenient, my Lord and Lady. But I believe we have a negotiation to make,” said a smooth, accented voice that came from the man in the front, standing tall and intimidating among his fellow pirates.

Judging by the man’s appearance, looked like he was around Charles’ age, but there was something about him that made him seem much older and sophisticated. His dark auburn hair gently swayed in the wind, shining a subtle red hue under the harsh sunlight. A thin scar marred along his left cheekbone, and several more could be seen from his open collars. But the most impressive about this man was those green-grey eyes; it felt as though he had some sort of telepathic power, and could actually read Charles’ mind rather than the other way around…

And as honest as he would allow himself to be, the man was someone Charles would secretly admire any other day, easily became the subject for his fantasy, if it was in a situation other than this.

When neither of Charles nor Raven uttered a word, the man snorted amusingly. “Please. Don’t be so afraid. We’re not going to do anything to you, unless needed.”

‘Right, you just want the ransom money,’ Charles thought silently to himself, carefully double checked his mental shield—It would be too dangerous if these pirates found out that he was also gifted like all of them.

A telepath.

Ever since he had learned that he was different, Charles knew himself possessed a powerful ability, a gift that many people desired but would afraid to be around someone who had it, and so it became the problem; he never had a further opportunity to either practice or explore his gift beside having telepathic conversations with Raven and listening to others’ surface thoughts, hence he didn’t know his actual limit. To accidentally hurt someone was something he wanted to avoid as best as he could. Even though the other parties are murderous looking gang of pirates, Charles couldn’t risk trying his gift on them, for feared that he would somehow hurt Raven too.

After he felt calmed enough, Charles asked carefully, “may I assume that after you have successfully gathered the ransom, you will let us go unharmed afterward?”

“Of course, Lord Xavier,” The man said, solemnly placing a hand over his heart, “I swear on my own life.”

Raven softly squeezed Charles’ arm and whispered, “are you sure about this, Charles?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Charles reassured her, gently wrapped his hand over Raven’s. “Trust me on this, darling.”

Then to the pirate, he said, “fine. We promise we won’t do anything rash, you had better keep your words.”

“It’s a pleasure working with you, Lord and Lady Xavier.” The man saluted them with a satisfied smirk.

For a long, awkward pause, they all kept staring at each other. Just as Charles was starting to feel uncomfortable, hesitant about what to do next, the teleport broke the silence by clearing his throat, drawing everyone’s attentions towards himself. With a reminding tone, he muttered, “Captain...”

At that, the man turned his head slightly to stare at his shipmate, a confused look appeared on his face for a second before the realization hit. “Oh! Right—please, let me introduce myself: I’m the captain of this ship, my name is Erik Lehnsherr. And my first mate here is called Azazel.”

The red skinned man, who was silently standing behind Erik, inclined his head at them. “I apologize for making such a poor first impression, Lord and Lady Xavier. I hope there won’t be any hard feelings about that.”

“Ah, well I—”

“You’re not forgiven!” Raven glowered at the man, abruptly cutting in on whatever Charles was going to say, “not now, not ever! Don’t bother with that fake politeness.”

“Raven!” Charles quickly hushed, alarmed—from many things he had learned from experience, he knew that when Raven was being stubborn it was a hard job calming her down.

He glanced back at Azazel, about to thoroughly apologize for Raven’s behavior. But to his surprise, it didn’t appear she had angered the pirate any bit. If anything, Azazel’s already red face seemed to have become (impossibly) a few shades redder, while holding Raven’s gaze without blinking. He was practically radiating his fondness at her at full force. Inevitably, Charles could feel it very clearly even if he didn’t want to.

Charles sighed and mentally shook his head. Whatever was going to happen from this point on, he hoped that they could make it home safe and sound.

-*-

For the couple of days on this ship, Charles had learned a few things:

One: Lehnsherr was announced the successor by the late captain, who was unfortunately murdered by a traitor called Schmidt not even a year ago in a mutiny. After that, Schmidt disappeared without a trait, the pirates who were on his side were all punished by either death or being abandoned on a deserted island. That was Lehnsherr’s first order as captain. Even now, they were still on the hunt for Schmidt’s head, it didn’t matter if he was still alive or already dead in some corner of the earth.

Two: the whole crew were entirely made of gifted people, every single one of them possessed uncanny abilities like Charles and Raven, which amazed Charles to no end when he found out that there were plenty of people like them around.

He couldn’t believe that up until now, Raven was the only gifted person he knew and were close to, there wasn’t even a chance for him to actively go out and seek for others, especially after Kurt married his mother. Still, Charles always believed that there were more people like him and Raven existed, and meeting these men had proved it, although the prefered circumstances could have been better in his mind.

And three: as much as Charles had learned from the men he had talked with; Lehnsherr was perhaps the most powerful gifted individual that Charles had ever met. Even though he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but according to stray thoughts that Charles caught from the pirates, his gift was control metal, he could alter and manipulate metallic objects as he wished.

It was no wonder that none of Lehnsherr’s men even had a slight thought of ever betraying him, for they had witnessed him being invincible in battles: calling metal to him and sending them flying at enemies like bullets and daggers was easy to Lehnsherr with just a flick of finger, he barely needed to swing his own sword at all to guarantee victory in every fight.

Having heard that piece of information, Charles made a mental note to never upset the pirate captain, although somehow he was more convinced that Lehnsherr wasn’t the type who would snap someone’s fingers for petty reasons. But better be safe than sorry, he would play the part of a well-behaved prisoner for as long as it required, until he and Raven were truly safe.

-*-

Since the day they had made the deal with these pirates, they weren’t treated as badly as Charles had thought; however, they had to take turn and do chores around the ship like every crew member. From cleaning, mopping the decks to cooking, and washing clothes, works that both him and Raven had never had to mind themselves, considering their status, everything was done for them back home. But they tried their best and never uttered a complain while doing these kinds of work, which seemed to surprise the men a little.

Among the pirates, Alex was the one who approached them first, showing them how to do the work and where to go or was off limit was the duty assigned to him. Though Alex was still a young boy himself, he seemed to have much more experience with life than either of Charles and Raven had, even his younger brother Scott was better than them in handling tough jobs and other stuff. All four of them quickly became friends since they were the most closer in age, it was a good thing a companionship could be found in this kind of situation.

From what Charles had noticed after befriending the brothers, Alex wasn’t much of a chatter, but Scott was always eager for a conversation whenever they were available. He told Charles about himself and his brother, that they both possessed quite similar abilities; while Alex could generate some sort of energy blasts from his body if he concentrated enough, Scott could emit it from his eyes. However, unlike Alex, Scott was unable to control his gift, the only way to shut it down was if he kept his eyes closed all the time, that was why he always wore a special pair of goggles with some kind of red glass as lenses in order for him to be able to see and function normally.

The nights here on the ship were a bit of a struggle, Raven was fortunate enough to be given her own cabin to reside to, whereas Charles was made to sleep among the men in a spare hammock, or sometimes in a corner with just thin blankets to keep himself warm each night. But he wasn’t going to make a fuss about it, simply looking around confirmed that many were in the same situation that he was. The one simple rule applied here was ‘first come, first served’, even the trusted vice captain Azazel was also sharing the sleeping quarter with them. And of course, no surprise about Lehnsherr having his own cabin.

Speaking of the captain, besides seeing him during day time, minding his own business and giving orders to the crew, Charles barely saw Lehnsherr joining the pirates for night time activities like card games and such, or making appearance at all anywhere on the ship. So it was an unexpected sight when Charles was mopping the front deck before calling it a night, Lehnsherr was watching him from his spot under the foremast, casually leaned on it with arms crossed in front of his chest. Charles couldn’t hear any surface thoughts, even for a little, but he could feel the other’s gaze on himself, on his every movement.

After a while, Charles just couldn’t take it anymore. “Is there something you need, Lehnsherr?” Charles asked dryly, taking the chance to have a break from the chore as well, straightening his back to hear the satisfying pop before turning to face the other.

Lehnsherr chuckled softly, but immediately schooled his expression back to being serious when he saw that Charles was squinting at him. Then he said, “we just sent out the ransom letter to your family. If it goes well, you two will be free by the end of this month.”

“Oh…, I see,” Charles said, silently calculating the time in his head.

That would be three more weeks from now, and then they would be back to their previous lives. But for some reason, the thought wasn’t as exciting as he expected. “Well, let’s hope my mother can actually convince Kurt to prepare the money on time. But until then,” Charles sighed, “we’ll be bothering you a bit longer, captain.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that doesn’t sound like you have a great relationship with your parents,” Lehnsherr wondered aloud, just as Charles suddenly felt a gentle tap against his mental shield, startling him a little before he instantly realised what it was.

“You could say that,” Charles breathed, amazement in his voice. Now it was his turn to feel oddly amused, mainly by the fact that this was the first time he caught a genuine emotion from the other—curiosity, to be more clear. He couldn’t help openly staring at Lehnsherr’s face and completely disregarded how rude that was. When he realized the pause was getting uncomfortably long, Charles huffed and quickly added, “ah—at least they dote on Raven, and that’s enough for me. I’m fine with however they want to treat me, really.”

Charles threw Lehnsherr a nonchalant glance before returning to his work, hoping that was the end of their small talk, just a bit more and he would have carelessly exposed himself.

Yet, it looked like Lehnsherr wasn’t done with their conversation. Charles sighed and stopped again to get it over with.

“Is there anything else?”

For a few seconds, Lehnsherr only stared at him with his usual expressionless face, his mind had abruptly become quiet again, much to Charles’ disappointment. Though he wasn’t left in silence for too long this time.

After pushing himself up and stretching his limbs, Lehnsherr simply said, “just call me Erik,” before turning and walking back to his cabin without waiting for a response, leaving Charles standing there with an obvious dumbfounded look on his face.

Afterward, Charles had to mentally shook himself off, he doubted that he could ever get used to talking with this man, considering that his mind was abnormally quiet compared to all the people Charles had encountered before. Plus, he always tended to tense up whenever he felt like Lehnsher—ah...Erik and him were being too friendly, considering their positions to each other, making it even more difficult to hold a conversation for too long.

By the time he had finished mopping, it was well late in the night that when he returned to the quarter, a corner was what left for him. But then there was an extra fur blanket today, which was strange, since while he and Raven weren’t treated badly, the pirates would not show them any kindness either.

...Didn’t matter. Charles silently thanked whoever was it that left it here. That night, he fell asleep all warm and felt much better than ever since he and Raven stepped on this ship.

-*-

Soon came the second week, the siblings were getting on a better term with the everyone on the ship, no more not-so-discreet glares and sneers whenever they walked by the men.

Raven had even gained a lot of admirers, though they didn’t do anything more than helping her out with chores and entertaining her whenever they got the chances, but tough luck if she cared for any of their attempts at all. And to Charles, these men had become comfortable enough to open up more to him about their personal lives, showing him their surprisingly better side and telling him why they chose to become pirates.

What Charles could get out of their stories was that they all came from pretty similar backgrounds: shunned by their loved ones and others because they were different, it was either became an outlaw or received punishments that they didn’t deserve. And then they all ended up here, building their own family on this ship and swearing their loyalty to the captain.

Charles also learned a few things about Erik as well, but only in vague little details, it seemed that no one here knew much about Erik’s life before he joined the crew. All they remembered that it was about a decade ago when they first saw a seventeen year old Erik, looking like any ordinary village boy, appearing while they were docking at a rural place trading their goods and loading the supplies on to the ship. He had begged the late captain to let him on board, and to all of the sea men’s astonishment, their late captain—who usually would have laughed at such a naive request from a young boy—didn’t say no. Since then, Erik had always been a quiet man, he kept to himself and didn’t really talk much, but he had proved himself to be reliable and trustworthy, that was why he was respected by his men, both for his leadership and his gift.

The more Charles thought about it the more curious he became, he tried to asked the older men but met with the same answer. His only solution was to talk with Azazel, but since he was always either right next to Erik or busy competing with others to chase after Raven like an over-sized puppy, Charles couldn’t find a good time to ask.

That was it, until it was Charles’ turn to prepare the ingredients in the kitchen for next day’s meals. He was hunching on a low stool peeling potatoes and other vegetables, dropping them in a large tub filled with water. And then there was Erik, unexpectedly strolling into the dining quarter, with his eyes already on Charles the moment he walked in.

Except for the two of them, the area was pretty much empty. Being alone in the room hadn’t bothered Charles much, up to the moment he felt Erik’s presence, it made his focusing on the chore a bit more difficult and he couldn’t help feeling strained again.

Even so, Charles gave him a quick glance to acknowledge Erik’s presence, trying his best to stay composed.

“Come for a little chat again, captain Lehnsherr?” Charles asked, hands continued working on the vegetables steadily.

Erik didn’t answer at first, he just walked closer, quietly pulling out another stool from the side to sit down on the opposite side of Charles. The only thing in between them was the bucket of waste—too small to be a barrier, yet enough for Charles use it as one, knowing there was something to keep Erik a tiny bit away from being too close made him feel more at ease.

“You have been asking around about me,” Erik finally asked, “why?”

Oh… did Erik not like that he was being nosy?

Shite…

Well, the truth might be the better choice at this moment. Then, trying his best to be unfazed about Erik’s question, Charles said, “oh, that? Nothing, I’m just curious.”

Charles suddenly felt more interested in his chore, eyes didn’t dare look away or at Erik, he was afraid that he might have overstepped a line that he wasn’t supposed to after all. His mind was filled with various scenarios of how the pirate captain would have him disciplined for being an unwanted busybody. Charles held in a shudder at all that thoughts.

But before the fear completely settled in, there was a hand in front of Charles’ vision startling him out of his self-torturing thoughts. Erik gently cupped his chin and turned him to face the other. Seeing his face this close, Erik’s expression was hard to read as usual, but for some reason Charles immediately felt more relaxed and calmed looking into his eyes, maybe he wasn’t angry after all?

When he could tell that Charles finally paid some attention to their conversation, Erik asked, “anything you want to know in particular?”

Too surprised at what he just heard, Charles didn’t even feel it when Erik’s hand left his face. He could only react with the cliché response ‘wait, what?’ before leaning backward a bit, this was too easy to be true...

Erik chuckled at his reaction, but simply repeated the permission again. “Ask away, Charles.”

Squinting at Erik with suspicious eyes, Charles debated with himself whether he should take the chance or be careful on where he stepped, but at the same time it didn’t feel like Erik was messing with him at all, so Charles inhaled deeply and decided to go with it.

He thought for a moment while Erik patiently waited. There was a lot of things he wanted to know, but didn’t want to sound like a curious child asking too many questions. Even after years of being rebellious over all of the nannies and tutors with Raven in their younger years, his manners were very well taught.

After a while of unable to settle for anything to ask, Charles sighed, “you know what, I don’t know what to ask first. I’m happy to hear whichever details you’re willing to share.”

“All right,” Erik began, folding elbows on his knees and knitting his fingers together, taking a brief moment, seemingly trying to remember his past. “I actually lived a pretty good life before this. My father is a skilled blacksmith, so was my grandfather, and also my Great grandfather. For all three generations, it was a tradition for the eldest son to take over the family’s business, and obviously it would guarantee me a peaceful life for the rest of my life if I had made the choice to follow the path, but living a life like that was too dull for me. That’s why I decided to pack my things on my fifteenth birthday, announcing to my parents that I was leaving, and just like that, I left.”

“Wow Erik, I have no idea how much rebellious a boy you were, leaving your own family behind like that,” Charles remarked, clicking his tongue jokingly, making Erik roll his eyes with a huff. “But wait. I heard that you joined the crew when you were seventeen, what were you doing in the time in between?”

“Got quite a good memory there, aren’t you?” One of Erik’s eyebrows raised up amusingly. His smirk, instead of making Charles feel uneasy like before, was making him blush now. “You would be amazed at how much a person could learn in just two years. I wandered from places to places, using my gift to earn myself food and temporary beds to sleep on, I have seen things and heard stories. But then I wanted more, something beyond the land I was far too familiar with, hence I ended up on this ship.”

“I see.” Charles nodded his head softly, taking in all the things Erik just told him, then silently comparing that with his own life. While he very much admired Erik’s choice, it was a thing that he couldn’t do himself, if he just disappeared one day he doubt his mother and Kurt wouldn’t be worried much, but there was Raven, Charles wouldn’t leave her alone in that house no matter what.

“So, Lord Xavier. Have I shattered your‘mysterious pirate captain’  image that you have of me?” Erik asked, waggling his eyebrows at him, giving Charles the best teasing smile he had, “disappointed?”

Now it was Charles’ turn to roll his eyes hard, trying his best not to fling both the knife and the potato he was holding at the other’s annoying smug face. “Please. I’m not that much of a romantic, thank you.”

Eventually, they fell into a pleasant silence, Charles kept working on his tasks, while Erik patiently watched. It felt good like this somehow. When Charles was done, Erik helped him putting away the ingredients and tools. He invited Charles to his cabin for a few chess games after Charles had told him about how free he was and wished if there was some kind of board games to play. And conveniently, Erik was also a very good player, as he claimed himself. After that, a few matches of chess were included in their routines whenever Charles could find time after work.

At first, he didn’t give it any thought much, but Charles noticed Erik’s behaviour changed whenever they were around each other. Even when Raven was the only girl on the ship, his attitude towards her didn’t change compared to when they first met, Erik treated her with as much courtesy a gentleman should a woman, but no teasing like he did to Charles.

Which was perfectly fine with Raven, she had complained to Charles how much of a hassle it was dealing with all of these unwanted attentions she had been having lately; however, she could tolerate Azazel since the man was a convenient swatter to keep the other flies away. Charles couldn’t help feeling sympathy for the teleporter, but thanks to him he didn’t have to keep being an overprotective brother, Raven hated it whenever he became one.

The more closer they got, the more Charles was beginning to be more sensitive to feeling Erik’s emotions leaking through and into his mind, it was mildly a rush, but at least Charles was getting somewhere. It gave him a great sense of achievement even with such a tiny improvement with his gift.

But on the third week, Erik spontaneously decided to do something, that despite all of the progress he had had feeling Erik’s thoughts recently, Charles couldn’t even see coming.

As Charles was making his sleeping corner a bit more comfortable while chatting excitedly with Scott about theories on how his goggles worked, then suddenly, Erik appeared at their quarter’s entrance, his presence was enough to quiet down the talking in a second without having to announced anything. All eyes turned to him, awaiting.

“Charles,” he called.

“Y-yes, captain?” Charles stood up immediately from his spot, addressing Erik’s position like other pirates would.

“Grab all of your belongings and follow me,” Erik said, then walked out without further explanation.

Charles turned around and started packing his few pieces of borrowed clothing inside the fur blanket, from the corners of his eyes, Charles saw Alex and Scott watching him struggling to catch up with Erik, they both looked very concerned so he smiled at them reassuringly before climbing up to the open air on the main deck, making for the stairs to Erik’s… cabin?

“Wait! Erik Wait!” Charles shouted, feeling very confused. “What is this all about?”

Erik still wouldn’t answer him, he opened the door and walked inside, Charles reluctantly followed him in.

Once they were in the room and the door was closed, Erik took Charles’ little package and started unpacking for him. “You will stay and sleep in this room with me for these last few days, until we meet up with your step-father’s ship at our agreed destination for the trade. Can’t have you continue sleeping among the pirates and looking drained when that time comes, your stepfather might not like how we treated you after all.”

...Oh, so that was it. looked like it was almost time to go home already.

'How time passed so rapidly,'  He thought.

Charles had been visiting this cabin a lot of time, but all of it was for their usual chess matches, he hadn’t really paid much attention to Erik’s room before.

At first glance, it was quite messy, but he could tell it was an organized mess, just like his own room back in London, everything was in convenient reach for Erik whenever he needed. The most tidied were Erik’s soft looking bed at one side of the room, and his loaded bookshelves on the opposite side. His black oak desk near the windows was a chaos with rolls of papers, maps, and navigating tools all over, as well as on the floor and the coffee table in the middle of the room, where they would always have have their games on. The wooden board was still opened, ready for them anytime they wanted to.

When Charles looked up, Erik was staring at him again, but there was something more in that gaze, something Charles couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Are you fine with sharing a bed?” Erik asked softly, “it won’t be good for you to keep sleeping on the floor.”

“That’s fine with me.” Charles shrugged and offered a smile, even though there was a strange feeling of nervousness that made him feel skittish all of a sudden.

“Good,” Erik said, hanging up Charles’ borrowed clothes in the closet next to the bed. “Your formal attires are in here as well. You will need them back don’t you? We can’t have your stepfather be furious when he sees you dressing up like us pirates as well.”

Charles could see that Erik was attempting to humour him to change the mood, he appreciated the gesture and was more than glad to play along.

“Oh believe me, even if I am dressed like a beggar Kurt won’t even bat an eyelash.” Charles walked up to Erik’s work desk, leaning back on its elegant curve, one of his hands tracing the carved patterns on the sides. “The only thing that man cares about is his noble reputation among his circle of aristocratic friends. Gossips can destroy a man like him.”

“Indeed, words are like double edged knives. But thankfully, I’m not one who would mind having a bad reputation,” Erik said as he closed the closet before spreading out the fur blanket over the bed, patting it down neatly like he had done this million times before. “You can go ahead and sleep if you’d like, I need to sort out something first.”

Charles watched while Erik headed to the desk, making a quick work of rolling out papers, his navigating tools, ink and feather pens, and a couple of maps. Then Charles idly looked around the room, his eyes landed on the bookshelves once more.

“I don’t think I can fall asleep just yet, can I borrow some of your books?” Charles asked.

“Sure. I don’t have that many interesting ones though, but feel free to read them,” Erik said without looking up, his mind already focused on the papers and maps in front of him.

Charles pushed all of his weight back onto his feet, walking towards the shelves. When he took a closer look at those rows and rows of books, he saw that Erik was right, most of the books on the shelves were actually his handwritten notes and journals, there were just a few books which turned out to be some classic literature that Charles had read so many times already.

Even so, Charles randomly picked one then sat himself down in one of the wingback chairs at the coffee table; however, he realised that the lighting from here was too poor for him to be able to make out words, he should ask Erik to light more candles otherwise. But before Charles could utter a word, a metal lamp floated over, quietly hovering above his head and brightening up his vision. Charles plucked the lamp out of the air, then tilted his head to the side as he smiled appreciatively at Erik, who in turn offered Charles a slight nod before continuing to work in silence.

One book became two, then three. The weariness of the day finally caught up with him, Charles slowly drifted off and fell asleep in the middle of reading. He was so exhausted that he didn’t even realise it when Erik gently carried him to bed. Only when Charles came to, he had already been tucked in with several layers of blankets and that familiar soft fur material.

The room had drown in almost pitch black darkness, save for the shy gleams of moonlight leaking through the spaces between the window curtains behind Erik’s desk, just bright enough to illuminate the silhouette of the pirate captain’s sleeping form right next to him.

Charles lazily blinked several times, his vision adjusted to the darkness of the room, but he was unable to stay awake for too long, simply too tired, Charles nodded off again with the image of Erik’s face and his scars so close to his face, the pleasant hum of Erik’s mind lulled him back to sleep.

-*-

“Charles, wake up!”

Charles woke with a start, a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders and shaking him off his drowsiness.

“Ugh…,” Charles groaned grumpily, squinting at the blurry form of a blonde hovering above his face, “Raven? What are you doing?”

“Lehnsherr told me to come and get you, he needs us both up the main deck right now. Come on.” She helped him sit up by forcefully yanking his arms, then she quickly searched and fetched him a warm vest to put on.

“What’s going on?” Charles stifled a yawn into his palm, slowly putting on the vest when handed to, putting his feet into the shoes was a difficult task when he wasn’t quite awake yet. Though hearing Raven’s frantic mind helped wake him up a little.

“We might have a trouble,” Raven explained in a rush, kneeling down to help Charles with his shoe laces, “Lehnsherr—well, we bumped into some of his acquaintances earlier, and the situation doesn’t look very good for us right now.”

“Oh dear, at this hour?” Charles looked out at the dark sky that wasn’t even close to dawn through the open door. “Is the other ship that intimidating?”

“No, no ship. They are not pirates.”

“What?” he turned his confused look back to Raven, who could be in the middle of the ocean without a ship? “Then... who are these people?”

Taking firm grabs of his arms, slowly, carefully, she said, “Charles, they are… merpeople.”