Silver Raven

100 Hearts

I stand in front of the door to Bepo's room tentatively. My shoulders and slumped and I stare down at my feet, still debating whether or not to ask. With a sigh I turn around to leave only to be eye level with Bepo's shoulder. A yelp of surprised vibrates in the back of my throat causing the noise to come across as a squeak.

"What are you doing here, Raven?" He asks, his head tilting to the side curiously. Crap! Looks like I'm asking him after all. I take a slow and deliberate lungful of air, making up my mind.

"Do you remember a few of weeks ago when you tried to give me a jeweled dagger and I..." I trail off, not wanting to openly admit my mental breakdown. Luckily Bepo nods without need for further elaboration. "Well, I was wondering if I could still have it." With determination I refused to break his gaze until I got an answer, no matter how awkward it became.

"I guess but why?" he seemed genuinely puzzled.

"You see..." I pause, wanting to make sure I choose my words carefully. I knew he'd ask but I'd procrastinated thinking of an explanation. In the end, I decided on the true. "I think that knife used to belong to my brother."

"Oh! Of course" He offers me a smile while stepping around me and into his room. I lean up against the door frame while watching him rummage through a couple of drawers. His eyes light up in delight when he finally finds its golden handle. The hilt gleams as he pulls it from the drawer and holds it out towards me. My eyes are fixated on it, studying every detail while comparing it to the one from my memories. It's the exact same. "Thank you Bepo." Hesitantly, I reach out to take it from his hand. Testing its weight in my hand I toss it into the air a couple of times. As I turn to leave Train's voice vibrates through the intercom system.

"Attention all crew members. We will be docking at Midnight Island in the next half hour. Captain wants all of you ready to depart!" Suddenly, the eerily quiet sub is bustling with commotion. Crew members emerge from their rooms with irritated groans or with whoops of excitement. Over the past two weeks we'd collected the hearts of over thirty pirates and Midnight Island is supposed to be the current base of a large pirate crew that the locals wanted gone. No one would protest us raiding their hideout. If rumors were to be believed, the crew has enough members to reach our goal of one hundred hearts. I hasten my pace to make it back to my room. I wrap my cloak over my shoulder, covering my black and yellow crop top then fasten my scythe to my back. I pull out a leather holster for the dagger and wrap it around my pale thigh, covering the 'L' in life tattooed on my leg. I tie back my cascading silver hair then make my way to the mess hall where most of the crew is gathered.

"Ya, but WHY is it called Midnight Island?" I catch a sentence of Shachi and Penguin's conversation.

"It's because of the plants." I say while plopping down in the seat beside Penguin. They both give me a disbelieving look. "When the sun goes down the plants glow."

"Ohhh," Penguin says enthusiastically.

"That still doesn't make any sense," Shachi mumbles under his breath.

"How'd you know that?" Penguin asks me.

"When I was younger my mom brought me a plant from the island. It didn't live long though." Penguin opens his mouth as if to ask another question but is cut off by the abrupt silence in the room. I crane my neck to look at the entrance and under the archway stands Trafalgar. He lazily scans the room, probably taking a head count.

"Are you all ready?" he asks with his usual stoic expression. A cheer ripples from every throat in the room including my own. He smirks slightly at the jubilant response. I can feel the sub shudder to a stop and the engine shut off. "Then let's go." Trafalgar turns to leave while the rest of us rise to our feet, following right behind him onto the new and strange land. It occurred to me then that we'd follow him anywhere.