Maelstrom (a UC fanfiction)

Chapter 1

The captain took a deep breath, inhaling the thick ocean air. The wind brushed gently through his long hair, dark and silky, an odd comparison to the bright blue sky above him. 

  His expression forms a slight frown as his sharp blue eyes stared out over the endless ocean, seeking for land, and then finding it. He turns to look at a young man who stands next to him. 

His black hair falls just past his ears, swept to the side of his face by the wind, and his wise lavender eyes lift to meet the captain's.

  "Charon, set the sails for north-east. Time to make a supply stop." 

  Charon nodded and turned as the captain walked up to the quarterdeck towards the wheel. As he turned the wheel, Charon and a few other crew members pulled the ropes. The ropes creaked and strained as they twisted the masts so the sails billowed in the wind. The ship swayed as it turned towards the land.

  "We are we heading, Hades?" 

  Captain Hades looked at his second youngest son, Ambrosius, as he walked up to him. 

  Ambrosius favored Hades in looks; long black hair that's currently pulled into a low ponytail, electric blue eyes that met his father's with curiosity that's hidden behind the stoicism that he's developed over the past few years. His high cheekbones and sharp jawline are defined by the sunlight and his olive skin is speckled with dirt.

  "We're stopping by Reinga." Hades answered. 

  "Brilliant. We need new clothes." 

  "And baths. You clearly need it." 

   Ambrosius rolled his eyes. "As if you're any better, Captain." 

   "What's the plan?" An extremely tall, muscular young man approaches the two, also with features that resemble the captain's. His long black hair is swept from his face with a tricorn on his head. Tanned olive skin stretched over handsome features, his strong jawline is covered in a dark stubble, and his scarlet eyes study the distant land. 

   "We need to get closer before we can plan anything." The captain turned his head to stare at the land called Reinga. It's a massive populated island in the middle of the Dark Sea, next to another smaller island called Aglaia. 

  Hades knows plenty of Reinga. It's where he had lived until a decade ago, it's where his sons were born and where a few of them were raised, either with their mothers or on their own before the captain had came and took them away. Not that any of them had protested; their lives on land weren't much better than their current lives as thieves at sea. A few of them actually would've been killed, had they stayed much longer. 

  Hades had to swallow a sudden onslaught of anger at the nostalgia the land brings. He had quite a few bitter memories there himself, but there's no time for this; they need food and new material. 

  The quiet bickering from the main deck suddenly grew louder, and Hades glances over to see three of his sons and crew members—Abel, Cain, and Theo—arguing. Cerberus shook his head and stepped down from the quarterdeck to scold them, which only seemed to rile them up further. 

  As the ship approaches the land, Hades scans it, looking for a safe place to dock the ship. Somewhere away from the capital, but close enough to gather supplies and return to the ship quickly. 

  Hades turns and whistles, and with a few grunts, his crew gathered before him. As his nine sons stood there, he studied all the dirty faces that share his features, each pair of eyes meeting their captain's with completely different levels of obedience and trust.