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To Yonder

Chapter Three

Do You Wanna Know?
“So hello where are we today
Still fighting, still running in place”
- Alkaline Trio

Tanek sat in his room alone welcoming the silence. He found it to be rather relaxing and enjoyed the peace and quiet. More often than not he preferred to be alone – he’d been that way for much of his life and he didn’t plan on changing anytime soon. He wasn’t old relative to the world, but he was definitely old enough (and stubborn enough) to be firmly set in his ways.

In the moment of silence, he began to think about his life. Even though Tanek was the looked upon leader, he was a man of few words and sat studiously more often than taking action – too many a times had Tanek fallen victim to a man who talked merely because he liked the sound of his own voice. Perhaps that's why he had easily been chosen as Captain. He had the patience and the ability to take in his surroundings and plot the ideal course of action in any situation. He was everything his Father wasn’t. His Father had been a blubbering fool and look where that had gotten him…

Tanek stared down at the map that lay on his desk unfolded. It showed obvious signs of wear, but was otherwise kept in excellent condition. It was filled with red marks or in other words, failures. Tanek didn’t like that word but used it often to describe himself. If he weren’t able to pull off his plan soon he’d once again be a failure. Tanek didn’t understand though, his plan had been foolproof, he’d spent the past month raiding every royal ship in sight and this had been the one. She was supposed to be on this ship on her way to Dalmasca. He had lined everything up so perfectly, where the hell was she? Princesses didn’t just disappear into thin air.

His men enjoyed collecting treasure from the royal family. They were pirates and naturally pirates had a penchant for anything shiny that could buy them their next drink. What his crew was unaware of was exactly how dire the situation could get if his mission failed. If the two families managed to merge they would possess complete control of the high seas. His men and his vessel weren’t safe currently, imagine what it would be like if he failed to intercept this union. Just thinking about the policing and scrutiny they would have to endure began to make his head spin. His life as he knew it would cease to exist.

Yet again there was that word, lingering on every action he took, failure. Tanek liked being in control, this situation was truly unnerving for him. He hoped the new crewmates would be able to lead him to what he wanted – there was no way they were so innocent, they had to know something. Anything.

At first he was surprised anyone from a royal ship would want to join his crew. He had heard they only took the most loyal of men to serve on the royal fleet. This could mean the two men were incredibly loyal to some extent… or they were turncoats. Either way, they couldn’t truly be trusted. They’d have to prove themselves in some way.

Tanek was wary at first and then gave up choosing to accept them. What did he really have to lose? Even if the two boys chose to wreck havoc on his ship, it could he easily be remedied. Tanek could always just throw them off the side of the ship… it wouldn’t be the first time for something like that to happen.

At first Tanek had been unsure of why he was so willing to accept Alec and Daniel. Normally, if his ship crossed any of the King and Queen’s royal buffoons, they would’ve already been swimming with the fish. Tanek rarely dealt with any outsiders and instead let his men take care of it – rarely did Tanek ever even set foot off of his own ship. Perhaps it was because it was Toothy that Tanek took a chance. Toothy was a smart man… or at the very least trustworthy. And besides, for a split-second the new crewmates had distracted Tanek from the bigger, more pressing picture, the Princess was still missing.

The one thing that puzzled him was that he knew for a fact that the Princess was supposed to be on that ship, he just didn’t know where she went. Perhaps the royal family had gotten smart and sent a decoy ship ahead. For all he knew the Princess had already arrived and was dancing pretty in the moonlight with prince charming. That wasn’t something he wanted to think about. It wasn’t an option… and he’d probably be giving the royal family to much credit.

Perhaps it would’ve been easier to just ambush the Prince of Dalmasca… at this rate they would’ve had a better chance. A fighting chance? No, but at least he could trust that the Prince would be in the castle where he belonged. Tanek almost laughed aloud. Charging into the heavily guarded castle would be an instant death sentence… that is if they were even lucky enough to take a single step off the ship much less reach port and actually dock.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar knock on the door. He knew who it was; there was only one person who would dare knock on his door at this point. Besides, everyone knew Tanek was in a dastardly mood and he hoped none of his men were stupid enough to come and face him… well obviously all except one, "Go away." Perhaps he relished in peace and quiet simply because he never seemed to get any on this blasted ship.

The door quickly opened and closed revealing Tanek's best friend and first mate; "I don’t remember inviting you in Will."

"I’ve just seen the two new shipmates. They seem nice," Will said coming over and sitting on Tanek's bed ignoring Tanek’s previous words. He stared at the Captain’s back without any regard to Tanek’s sour mood. Will tried his best to keep his best friend from being completely engulfed by his ambitions. Yet Will was never able to understand how Tanek was able to keep himself from going completely insane.

Unlike Tanek, Will thrived on social interaction. He had always been described as charming and heavily relied on his social skills to get what he wanted. While Tanek was technically in command, Will was usually the one to actually declare orders and interact face-to-face with the crew. If it weren’t for Will, Tanek probably would never leave his quarters.

"Being nice doesn't really mean anything," Tanek said rather harshly. He didn’t mean to make it sound like that, it just came out. It wasn’t his fault though; he was under a lot of stress. Regardless, it was the truth.

Will shrugged, "Well sure, but it definitely doesn't hurt at all,"

Tanek stared down at the map sprawled out on his desk trying to concentrate on his next plan of action. How many more red x’s would it take until he was successful? How much more time did he have to make them? "Did you actually need something or did you just come to bother me like you always do?"

"Are you saying a man can't just come and say hi to his best friend every once in awhile? I don't want you to get too lonely in here all by yourself. You keep yourself cooped up in here like a chicken. Who knows? You may start laying eggs or clucking like one too. At this rate you won’t have any social skills left," Tanek pinched the bridge of his nose. A habit of his that he did subconsciously whenever he was extremely stressed or annoyed. Besides, didn’t Will know that all chickens were female? Didn’t Tanek get to be a rooster at least? "I just come to make sure you're not dead like any good friend would."

Will studied his best friend. The two of them had met as boys and grown up together. They were more than friends, they were brothers, and a man knew when his brother was hurting. Will knew that Tanek felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders; he only hoped that Tanek would let him share the burden.

"I know," Will said softly giving up his first approach, "I know you wanted to find her, we all do. This union could mean big trouble for us. But really Tanek, what would we have done if she happened to be on that boat? Kill her? You and I both know we don't have the stomach to do that kind of thing. We’re pirates, not murders… Tanek, we’re fighting a war that was started generations ago. This isn’t our war to fight."

Tanek knew Will was right, but he didn’t want to concede. Will just didn’t understand, nobody did. There was simply nowhere else to turn. "That's not the point!" Tanek exclaimed angrily, he hadn’t even been given the choice or had to face that type of inner turmoil. The harsh reality was that they hadn’t found her and didn’t know where she was, "The whole thing is we can't let it happen..."

Will was probably the only one who was able to peace together the whole situation, choices and consequences all together. Tanek didn’t like talking about these types of things and he certainly did not want to discuss anything with Will at the moment. Tanek was normally a man of “what ifs,” but for once in his life he only wanted the cold, hard facts right in front of him. He was engulfed with a dangerous case of tunnel vision.

Will was always optimistic… he wore rose-colored glasses and drove Tanek absolutely mad sometimes. How could a man be so carefree when their very livelihood could be shot down to the bottom of the ocean by a single cannon? Tanek was less concerned with himself and more worried about every soul that thrived on this ship, Will included. Not everybody had somewhere to return to if the ship went down and they all somehow escaped death by the hands of the royal practice of hanging. It wasn’t like Tanek had never seen his face plastered on those bounty posters in every town accompanied with a hefty sum and the bolded words “wanted dead or alive.” Dead would do.

“Why don’t you just take a break for a little bit? Enjoy the rest of the night or something and grab a drink with a few of the men. I’m sure they’d love to be graced by their Captain… I’ve also heard it’s almost a full moon,” Will said. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he knew his good friend was fond of the moon. There were certain things, like this, that Will chose not to question. Regardless, it seemed like a Tanek thing to like.

“There’s a lot that needs to be done. Too much work that has to happen,” Tanek stared out the window longingly, “Maybe if I have a chance. The sooner we find the Princess the sooner we can be on our way and forget this whole ordeal.”

“What’s next then?” Will asked willing to do whatever Tanek needed of him. That’s what brothers did.

“I don’t know but it will have to be soon,” Tanek pinched the bridge of his nose once more suddenly becoming overwhelmed with himself.

"You have to think about this Tanek. How are you going to make it happen? At what cost?" Will looked troubled as he stared at his best friend who showed a stoic expression. He was afraid of what his good friend was capable of and what he may do to get what he wanted. Tanek was the type of man who protected his family. He was selfless and at the expense, he was self-destructive.

"I don't know... All I do is think…" Tanek whispered the word failure coming into view again. All he knew was that if the Princess married the Prince it'd be happily ever after for everyone except for the people he loved. That was something he couldn't let happen. He was willing to pay the price, however much it may be.
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Dedicated to kshelton2011

I hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day whether it's honoring those who have served, are serving, or will serve... or just taking advantage of all those wonderful shopping deals(: