Capsize POV-

Beside him, Bluebeard began to scream in joy at the success of his retrieval.

It wasn't until he decided having a little fun with the champions would be a better use of his day that he began screaming like a maniac, running around with excess energy.

"We will take yer loot!!!" Bluebeard screamed into the world communicator to stir up the champions without a second thought.

Capsize couldn't help but laugh at how quickly his friend could go from scared to mischievous in just a matter of seconds.

Shortly after hugging him to death, his sister joined in with the teasing, never leaving his side.

"Yahar Earl!!!!!"she screamed.

Capsize couldn't help but laugh again. Though they had spent what felt like eternity at sea, the pirate talk was still funny to him and they mostly just did it to mess with the champions at that point.

They did spend most of their lives living in a place were manners were important and everyone spoke formally. It would be foolish to believe that our ways from childhood would vanish so quickly, but it was a fun way to go about things.

It drove the champions crazy, or so they had noticed since their arrival.

The first time Capsize learned the pirate ways from Rupert he had laughed too. It became a way to have fun with each other and try to forget the dark past. Though it appeared that learning pirate talk had come in handy after all.

Capsize broke away from his sisters embrace and composed himself, becoming the Captain addressing his crew.

"Would any of you care to inform me of what has happened in my absence or will I have to guess?" he asked his two companions.

They were both shaded by the lack of light in the cave they were currently hiding in but he could see their smiles go feral.

"Well, your rescue took a tad longer than expected to execute because of the champions, they have been running around like crazy ants day and night. We had to hide better and observe more until we found an opening to get you" his beloved sister,Redbeard, said casually.

"Is that so? Another of their childish games I assume?" he asked

"I don't think so...they have been stressed and oddly saddened" said Rupert as he emerged into the cave

He gave Capsize a vague nod of acknowledgement before settling down next to him on the cave floor. It was almost as if he said 'Welcome back, glad you're not dead'.

Rupert wasn't big on emotional conversation or much of anything aside from exceptional fighting skills and a strong luck when it came to survival.

"It's almost as if they were searching for something. At first we thought they may have been looking for you when they found out their attempt at killing us didn't work" Bluebeard added

How would they know who he was? Why insist on targeting him?

"I see. Since you spend so much time observing them, tell me all you know about them. It's vital we get to understand our enemies to defeat them" Capsize commanded

"Ezra, dont you want to rest? You have been..." his sister began but he cut in swiftly, "Now, we have lost enough time as it is. I'm well rested, proceed".

She gave him a look of disbelief but followed his order regardless of her concerns.

"For starters there is the Dianitee. His name is Thomas Syndicate and believe it or not we think he may have originated from Malum. He sure acts like it, that boy is reckless, and wild, not to mention cunning" his sister said "Oh, we also believe he may have been cursed somehow, his skin is very peculiar"

"I remember...interesting. If he is a survivor of Malum then he is a dangerous foe to look out for" he said to the group.

"They are probably at the Mianite temple, hurry" said a voice through the communicator. They all laughed and Bluebeard regained control first, continuing with the report at hand.

"Then there are the Mianitees who don't seem like they would be good allies considering their similarities to Thomas. There is a man named Tucker and a non human named Sonja, from what we gathered, they seem to be a couple"said Bluebeard

"A weakness then...they are their own weaknesses, we can use them against each other" Capsize said

"They seem to get along with the Dianitee despite their allegiance, I think they are all a weakness to each other" Redbeard pointed out

He considered that. They all seemed to work together last time he saw them, their friendship must have strengthen due to the lack of individuals in the island.

"What about the girl we saw in the forest that day, the one who wore your clothes" Capsize added.

"The one from the dream?" his sister asked

The day they had seen that girl who had been hiding behind a tree, he recognized her immediately. She was the girl he and his sister had been seeing, the one who had something to do with their god and who may die.

By the looks of that day, she was a mere thief, not what he expected.

Still, she seemed nice enough with that kind smile of hers that had failed to appear in his dream. He almost wanted to look past her clear thieving qualities and brand her as someone who was good and kind.

Since that day, she hadn't shown up in his dreams at night but rather in his thoughts during the day.

A constant question, even in his imprisonment.

"What is she doing for the champions? Is she their slave?" he asked when all hesitated to answer

"We actually haven't seen her at all since the sinking of the ship. We know she lives in the monstrosity that is the giant tree by the mountain slope but not much aside from that" his sister said

"We don't even know if she is allied to a god since the two gods haven't claimed any other champions. Maybe she works at one of the nearby villages?" Bluebeard added

"Rupert, mind going to the villages later tonight to check? Last time we saw her she had weapons and was with the champions, that could make her dangerous. Take a few items from the champions to trade with the villagers, once you show them a bit of gold they will talk ship fulls of information on anything you ask. Make sure to ask about her discreetly." he ordered

His companion Rupert nodded and went back to silently tending to his weapons.

"Bluebeard, Amy, you two go and entertain the champions. While you do that I'll go investigate the tree to see what I can find on her. Perhaps she is ill and I'll get the chance to question her about her motives and where she lies in this war" he said

His sister looked angrily at him, she hated receiving orders but always followed them to the letter. Amy did seem to cheer up once she registered the fun task he had given her and hugged Bluebeard.

They both got up and began scheming on how to further agitate the champions while he gathered his weapons to head out.

"What did the devil do to you?" Rupert asked from behind him, not in concern but rather in curiosity it seemed.

"When he found me he was rather flustered, not at all the way we saw him today as Bluebeard must have informed you. He said nothing as he grabbed me to that cell. I'm guessing he just wanted me to slowly decay there" he said honestly.

Rupert as always said nothing but gave him a curious glance and headed out of the cave to fulfill his task.

Sometimes he wondered why Rupert bothered to take orders from him when he was the clear choice to be captain. He was a pirate way before the fall of their homeland, a sailor on the armada of Ianite before that.

A legend really.

When he found them and took them in, he taught them how to fight and sail. Shortly after that, Rupert made him captain with no explanation other than its was what was best.

Since then, Capsize has done his best to do the job well and make sure the crew was well taken care of, safe, and that their main goal is to save their god remained a success.

It wasn't always a hard job to do, specially when they were at sea. Now in the island, it had become a constant period of making one decision after another that could vey well get them all killed. Their lives were in his hands, and he would gladly sacrifice himself for them again should the need arise.

It would be useless to scold them for rescuing him and putting themselves in danger specially when he would have done the same thing.

With a heavy sigh he grabbed his sword and ruffled his sisters hair on his way out.

In the distance he could see the massive tree that belonged to the mysterious girl's who's name he didn't even know. If he had enough luck to run into her, that should be his first task.

Then perhaps he would warn her of her impending doom...

No.

Sometimes the dreams sent by his god were not word for word, they had secret meanings. Besides, if that girl was a threat then it would bee better not to mention it and let fate take it's course.

Too many lives were already lost, he couldn't afford worrying about an individual's life that wasn't of someone he swore to protect.

With those thoughts in mind, he slipped from shadow to shadow under the cover of night. The champions were nowhere in sight and the path seemed clear save for a few mobs.

The path to the tree was carefully lit up with torches that lit up the small forest nearby. Next to the forest was a peculiar looking house that remained unlit unlike the area around it. Whatever that place used to be seemed deserted now.

Then again that wasn't unusual.

His crew had noticed many buildings left abandoned or left destroyed, damaged, and perfect for hide outs.

All of those places held mysteries of what the champions had done to leave them in such a state. Perhaps those were their homes at some point or they had killed the inhabitants within.

Now that he thought about it...Why would the girl live among them?

The island was full of unexplainable mayhem....

When Capsize reached the foot of the tree, he hid in the shadows of one of the massive branches sticking out from underground an listened for any voices or noise.

Nothing...

The inside of the tree was warm and inviting full of lush carpets and a big fireplace. The couches look worn but well taken care of and there were personal belongings all over the place.

Capsize recognized a pair of his sisters shoes by the front door in what looked like a welcoming area.

It seemed his information wasn't wrong, the girl did live there.

On the far right side of the room he noticed a walkway of sorts, probably leading to another room, or so he thought. Once there he noticed the area was the size of a large closet, just a small closed off room.

He stepped inside and saw a mechanism with an arrow pointing up, when he pressed it, the box began to move! Ezra held on for dear life and tried to figure out how he had fallen for such a trap as well as the best way to escape it.

To his surprise, the giant box stopped and were the living room used to be, there was now a giant dinning room and kitchen. With outmost precaution, he stepped out into the room and scanned it for signs of life.

As before, no one was there.

The living room itself was equally as inviting, it had a friendly, cozy feel to it despite being enormous. There were some washed dishes discarded on the kitchen counter but aside from that, the place looked relatively untouched, the smell of food nonexistent.

To his huge relief, there was a set of stairs on the far side of the room leading to the outside of the tree.

He took one step at a time, being careful to stay as close to the trunk as possible to avoid the long fall looming below.

After going around the tree's perimeter twice he came across another opening, but this time he heard a voice.

A female voice....and a male voice?

Capsize leaned on the trunk next to the opening and tried to make out the conversation.

"As much as I would love to blame you, this is mostly my fault. I knew I was being a fool when...well you know now. I should have known better and listened to everyone when they warned me how ridiculous I was" the female voice said

The sound of a person sitting down reached his ears, then he heard a person taking a sip of something before the male voice finally spoke.

"Quite frankly, I wasn't expecting that. If I may ask, if you didn't summon me to blame me, then what is it you need from me?"

A faint female laugh.

"I don't need anything from you. I just....why haven't you killed me?" the female voice said calmly despite the question, her voce velvety soft as if she were merely speaking of the weather not her life.

"I never intended to kill you, it was no lie when I told you I was curious about you" the male voice said.

"Is your curiosity satisfied now? Will you finally leave me alone and go cause destruction elsewhere"

A mug was set down on what sounded like glass

"What have I done to cause such an opinion from you? I think everything was cleared up that day, it wasn't me!" the male voice got louder and Capsize instinctively got closer to the door to protect the woman if need be.

"What of your reputation!? Your past crimes? The one you insist to serve, or are you not his champion?" the female said, her voice matching the man's now with equal force.

Champion? But all the champions were away with Bluebeard and Redbeard...

"What of it!? If I recall correctly you aren't little miss sunshine either! I've seen the purge reports, the amount of blood you have spilled. Sorry to break it to you sweetheart, but you are just as bad as me, all of us are. There is not one person in this world thats left that hasn't spilled blood"

"So now are you gonna preach at me that I'm all darkness and are you gonna show me how great that should be because someone already beat you to that talk and I'm done with it!" the girl said

Who were those people? They sounded like dangerous monsters.

"Clearly you listened to it to some extent, you clearly though it an ATTRACTIVE option didn't you!? Listen to me little doe because it's time you learned how this world works. There is huge amounts of bad in everyone here because we are all survivors and have had to do unspeakable things to be where we are, same with you. You have wounded an already dangerous monster and if I were you, I'd stop playing the blame game and join our side because despite your mess-up, it is the best chance YOU have to survive this war" male voice said in a calm tone that was anything but.

No one spoke for a few seconds and he was worried the poor girl was knocked unconscious...no...not poor girl....apparently not only was she a thief but also a monster, or enough so to be called that by what was clearly another monster.

"Why do you care if I survive Stefan? You don't need to heal my wounds anymore and you certainly don't have to rub them in my face. I made a mistake and as I said before, I can't blame anyone for it but me. Yes I have done awful things, but unlike you, I can claim to have done some good. The wizards are alive, civil war is no longer a problem, and I tried to show kindness to someone who had never experienced it. All you have done is treat me like I'm a puzzle and then once you got what you wanted you left me to die" the not-so-little doe said. *Puzzle..Ch 106 reference*

There was the sound of steps and then everything was quiet again. Capsize suppressed the urge to take a look at what was going on as best he could but his will was giving out.

The wizards....they were alive!!!!!

They were alive and that girl a few feet from him was somehow responsible for their well being...

"Does this mean we are no longer friends?.....Look at me....In the name of the gods, I swear I meant no ill intent for once in my life when I approached you. Not once. What I mean to say when I mentioned my curiosity is that I found you to be a very special person, I felt drawn to your odd behavior. It is a very rare occurrence when I find someone who stands up to me given my...behavior and reputation. You didn't show an inch of fear when you were around me and you were brutally honest with me..." the person named Stefan said.

Stefan, what an odd name. An old name.

"But you weren't with me, you didn't tell me who you were" the little doe said

A dark laugh...

"Neither did you remember? If I had known you were my enemy perhaps things would have been...actually, no they wouldn't have. I would have still come after you"

Enemy? If his sister was there with him, she would say something along the lines of 'Nothing in the rotting island makes sense, absolutely nothing'. Ezra had to suppress a laugh at the though.

"A certain someone is probably looking for you, you should go" the girl said calmly, so at odds with their earlier anger.

There was a sound of a person collapsing into a couch, then a male laugh.

"Your hair is gonna fall into the mug, be more careful" Stefan said, regaining a calm tone. *Chapter 106 reference*

"The same elevator we took can take you back down. Oh...and tell him that if he comes looking for me, not matter if its to kill me or try to kiss me, I will die fighting him off. I'll see you both in the battle field anyways, save your strength till then" The girl said, but her voice wavered at the mention of war, clearly she was unfamiliar with it.

That didn't make sense, all beings had witnessed the war already....

"Goodbye love" Stefan said softly, almost too quiet for Capsize to hear. Then the sound of the box rang across the room and suddenly the area was quiet again. *Another reference...muahaha. Hint: first chapter*

Deciding that he had to know more, know who the person was, he walked into the room and found a girl around his age or so sitting on a couch in a living room just a furnished as the one he saw earlier.

Last time he saw her, the shadows of he tree obscured her features, but now that he saw her...

She had rich brown hair with coffee brown eyes that were filled with pain and a strange wave of kindness, the kindness he felt before. Her simple black top and black waist pants were surprisingly not stolen apparel from Amy.

Her hands were visibly scared with healing wounds, sword wielding wounds he knew well. Her skin was relatively pale with a slight hint of color, but it was her stature and delicate features that made it hard for him to believe the accusations the so called Stefan had made.

She was so young, so delicate...but he knew better. Hs sister was equally as frail looking but she could pack quite a punch and hold her own in a sword fight.

Yet there was something foreign about the girl, she didn't seem worn the way all people of the world were. He couldn't see the wildness effect that living in the island clearly had on others.

She slowly looked up at him and with a jolt backed away and tried to reach her sword

"As you once stated, Im not here to hurt you. That is of course, unless you were lying?" he said, trying to create comfortable conversation to ease her nerves.

She stopped dead to took at him and he had never feel so vulnerable under a person's stare. The girl did reach her sword but it almost seemed out of instinct since it seem even she didn't notice she had done so while she analyzed him.

"You're...you are one of the pirates? You're alive..." she said, with something like sock spreading across her features.