The old ship groaned laboriously in the ghostly moonlight, as if inviting the swelled waves to swallow it beneath their serene surface. Shredded sails long faded wisped forlornly in the dying breeze, and a silence descended upon the lonely vessel. To the ignorant eye it would have appeared a ghost ship out of an old sea tale, but this ship retained one terrifying symbol that abruptly denounced any such thought.

The black flag fluttered briefly with a horrendous snap before falling limply against the main mast. The glaring white skull and crossbones sewn into it were barely distinguishable now.

Stars littered the ebony heavens and showered both the ocean tide and withered deck with their twinkling light. The dull, agonized groan of the ship continued to plague the still night air.

Suddenly a second sound made itself known, just barely audible above the dull whisper of the sea and the ship's moaning. Footsteps.

Slowly a head appeared from the shadowy depths of the stairwell leading below deck, its silky streams of hair illuminated by the eerie silver light shining from above. The rest of the figure soon followed, padding almost silently across the rickety wooden deck to the edge of the ship.

She was a frail creature. Small, thin, with eyes the color of a summer storm and skin so fair it looked like porcelain. Tonight, however, in the light of the arrogant moon, she looked not like an angel, but a corpse.

All was silent; all was still. The ocean's song drifted through the air and caressed her feathers, giving her goosebumps all along her arms. She folded them delicately around herself and leaned on the railing with her elbows, gazing somberly out into the abyss of stars and water, searching.

This time . . . this time he would come . . .

Moments passed that turned into minutes. Minutes passed that became hours. Still she waited, her eyes trained on the indistinguishable horizon.

He was probably worried sick about her now . . . probably looking for her in every square inch of ocean . . .

Half of her hoped that he was, and the other half wanted to tell him not to worry but just to get there soon. Her insides twisted about anxiously as the image of him charging toward her on a shining white ship, waving a scimitar defiantly at her captors, and leaping aboard to rescue her flashed before her mind's eye.

And yet . . . there was still nothing but the gentle undulation of the waves and the steady groan of the pirate ship on which she stood.

Surely he missed her as much as she missed him . . .

~*~

A cacophany of explosions resounded with a deafening roar as fire swept over the west side of Saint Canard. Voluminous plumes of red and yellow flames belched putrid black smoke into the sky that had seconds earlier been a beautiful clear blue.

Amidst the screams and pounding footfalls of the fleeing citizens, a single chilling sound pierced the air, perhaps causing more chaos than the fire itself - the maniacal, insane laughter of the madman Negaduck.

With a shrill squeal of tires, he roared away on the Troublemaker, leaving his handiwork for the news crews to film and the firemen to deal with.

It wasn't long before the masked menace burst through the door of his hideout and thundered across the floor to the large leather armchair resting lazily behind a finely crafted rosewood desk. With a loud growl he plopped into the chair and folded his arms, swiveling around so he could glare through a large window at the streets below.

Usually after pulling a stunt like that he was grinning from ear to ear with smugness and wondering how long it would take the cops to follow his trail before he had to find another hideout. This time was different, though, and he couldn't figure out why. Something was nagging him at the back of his mind. Something important.

"Eh," he shrugged, "who cares? If it was really that important I'd've thought about it by now." He turned hastily in his seat. "Besides! I've got better things to do!" He glowered at the opposing wall before he whipped out a rather large meat cleaver and flung it across the room. It landed with a dull thunk right in the middle of an 8" X 10" of a duck that looked exactly like him, only wearing purple instead of yellow. "Bull's eye!" he shouted, punching a fist into the air. As soon as his words faded from the hollow air he sank back down into his chair and leaned on one arm with a bored pout. "Maybe they're covering my arson antics on the news," he chuckled lowly with a slight grin of amusement. Reaching for the remote control, his hand brushed against something cold and metallic. Immediately his eyes were drawn to it, hoping it was a stray piece of gold.

It wasn't.

Whatever it was made Negaduck's tailfeathers stand on end, and he felt what was left of his heart give a slight lurch.

~*~

A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your handsome face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look as this the same
All the miles that separate
Disappear now when I'm dreamin' of your face
I'm here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, there's only you and me
Everything I know, and anywhere I go
It gets hard but it won't take away my love
And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done
It gets hard but it won't take away my love
I'm here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, there's only you and me

The soft, serene song flowed out over the sea, lost to the night. Ariana slowly closed her bill as her singing ceased. A tiny tear trickled from one of her eyes, but she quickly dashed it away when she felt someone come up behind her.

"He's not there, is he?" a deep, booming voice asked gently.

She bowed her head and shook it, causing some of the silky tendrils of hair to spill around her face, hiding it from view.

"It's been two weeks, lass. I'm beginnin' ta think this boy of yours doesn't exist at all." A partial smirk creased the side of his face, but she couldn't see it.

"He's going to come for me . . ." she whispered through the curtain of hair.

"Seems ta me if he were gonna come for ya he'd a come by now."

"He's coming!" she cried, gripping the edge of the railing until her knuckles were whiter than her skin.

"Sssh, sssh, now," the man crooned, slipping a hand around her back and stroking aside some of her hair with his other hand so he could see her face. "There's nothin' worse than seein' a woman cry." From the pocket of his long navy coat he withdrew a delicately embroidered hankerchief and wiped her eyes and cheeks as if she were a small child. "Now then," he said, looking her over, "that's better."

"I just want to go home . . ." she murmured, turning her face away from him to look at the deck with half-lidded, glazed eyes.

"Ah, now, we can't let ya do that, lass. You'll not be settin' foot off this vessel until we get our treasure. And it's up to your man for that. Until then, this is your home."

~*~

Negaduck swallowed thickly and blinked his eyes. It was no use. The silver necklace still lay beside his fingers, the heart-shaped pendant glittering in the gloomy light like a lighthouse in a fog. He had given her that necklace. She never took it off. Never.

His wide eyes trailed over the tiny loops making the chain until they came to the clasp. It had been broken. Gently he scooped up the heart in his hands, letting the chain dangle over the back of his hands. Two dark, clear blue eyes he barely recognized looked back at him. He tore he gaze away almost angrily and gripped the pendant tightly in one hand. Something had to have happened to Ariana . . . but what?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. With a snarl of rage he slammed the hand clasping the necklace down upon a pile of papers littering his desk. Did everything in his life that gave him the slightest bit of joy have to be taken away from him?

He glowered at the desk surface, pulsing with a wild rage he hadn't felt since he was very young. It was then that his eyes fell upon a discolored piece of parchment beneath his clenched fist. It was written in sweeping, thick calligraphy. It certainly wasn't anything he'd written. Hastily he grabbed it and began to read, the silver necklace tinkling to the desk, forgotten for the moment.

~*~

Again her eyes passed over the horizon with a final, desperate gleam of hope flickering in them.

But just as the thousands of times before, it remained empty save for the gentle undulation of the ocean waves now tinged with the orange gold of dawn.

Every night now. Every night for the past two months she had waited up for him - had waited for him to come to her - to take her into his arms and rescue her.

But he never came.

Her vision blurred until the sunrise was no more than a mess of color hastily tossed into the sky before her, and her chest ached as if she were wearing a corset with the strings pulled too tight.

He wasn’t coming. If he were going to come, he’d have come for her by now. He had forgotten her. She was alone.

A strangled cry of despair gurgled from within her breast and she sank to her knees, sobbing wretchedly. Her body trembled with each shuddering breath she gasped in and moaned out, and she felt a piece of her heart tear with every beat it took.

Why?

The question echoed hollowly in her mind. Fingers clutching the vertical posts as if they were the only things left in the world, she peered between them at the vast expanse of water and let the tears stream down her face. Following the tears came the flood of emotion she had kept inside every night while she had waited diligently. No longer could she contain the agony and despair that had overwhelmed her faith, and she wept and wept and wept until she felt her very soul break, shudder, and lie still.

Numbly she let her hands fall from the posts and she turned to rest her back against the railing, gazing with an empty stare at the ship’s deck.

He probably never even noticed I was gone . . . the back of her mind whispered forlornly.

With shaky limbs she willed herself to rise from the deck, though it felt as if she were on gelatin instead of wood, and made her way to the prow of the vessel.

She had not realized it yet, but she had attracted the attention of the pirates when she had collapsed to the floor, and they were watching her carefully now with wondering eyes.

Regardless of who was watching, Ariana continued with her own eyes trained blankly on the bow as it crept closer and closer to her with each small, deliberate step she took.

At last she reached the prow. The men’s shouts of warning fell on her ears as if they were miles and miles behind her. Nothing reached her; she had withdrawn into herself. There was nothing except her and the tip of the bow and the ocean waves roaring beneath her in a wild spray of salt water. She stared at them with a deep, prolonged fascination. How beautiful they were – so unlike herself - so carefree and full of light, as she wanted to be. He had taken that from her now, and all she wanted was to be free.

Her foot extended over the end of the prow but she did not lean forward. Instead, a new feeling interrupted the serene determination that had moments before captivated her. She was afraid.

Morgana . . .

All at once her senses came rushing back to her and she glanced about, gripped with panic. What was she doing out here?

She may have been hopelessly abandoned to these pirates, but she was not stupid. Only fools took that way out, and though she was weak, she was no fool.

Quickly she backed down the prow until her naked feet touched the deck and stood there, shivering in the blasts of wind cascading from the heavens and beating against the sails.

She was a kite. Blown by the storms of chance and change, she had befriended and loved those she came into contact with but while she had made them happy, they were never hesitant to let her go.

“Ariana . . . ?” the first mate ventured softly just to her right.

Her head pivoted slowly toward him, but she did not raise her eyes.

“He didn’t come . . .” she whispered meekly.

An awkward silence descended upon the crew as the wind died. Heavy footfalls thudded from behind her, each one loud as cannonfire, until someone was standing at her back.

“You know, lass, it’s not every man that would let an enthralling woman such as yourself be abducted and then do nothing to get her back. There are those out there who would take great pains to see to your every wish, and those who would protect you with their very lives.”

She turned around to face the captain, her eyes red and aching. In all the time she had been on board, not once had he spoken a harsh word to her or treated her badly. Even the crew kept their distance, but they had grown a peculiar empathy, a sort of longing, behind their beady eyes. She wondered why this was so – was she not their prisoner?

The captain was gazing at her in a way that made her recall someone she had known from long ago but had since tried to forget. She started from her reverie with a sharp intake of breath. The captain had touched her cheek. Suddenly a great swell of emotion burst inside of her and she flung her arms around him, sobbing into his ruffled shirt. Caught off guard, it took him a few moments before he enveloped her in his own arms and held her while she wept.

~*~

It had been months since he had found the letter. Months since he had begun scouring the ocean from all corners of the Audubon Bay only to come up with nothing. A beard had sprouted from the bottom of his unshaven bill and once again he had lost his place as public enemy #1 to Dr. Slug. He vowed to change both soon, but as of right now the only thing on his mind was finding the woman he had come to love as a sister - the only person living who knew his love. He would not rest until he’d found and rescued her. One thing was for sure, though. He wasn’t going to find her by continuing to aimlessly search the sea.

He let out an infuriated sigh and wheeled his boat back to the wharf.

Once his feet touched land again, Negaduck pulled out the tattered ransom note for what must’ve been the millionth time.

“Guess I’m going climbing up the ol’ family tree,” he said lowly before stalking off toward where he’d stashed the Troublemaker.

~*~

The air hung heavily around the arid, desolate expanse, the tall yellow grasses bowing from the weight. Only a few brave crickets bleated, betraying the surrounding silence with their shrill cries. Off into the distance could be seen remnants of the skyscrapers of the Negaverse, standing against the smog-infested sky like shadows of the past.

The house still stood where it always had.

Amidst the clusters of weeds and dead grass shooting up from the cracked earth it towered like some foreboding schoolmaster. Even with its delapidated walls, peeling paint, and crumbling roof, it retained an aura that demanded respect. That aura clung to Negaduck like a wet blanket and he shivered. He hated this place, yet at the same time he was terrified of it. That was why he had attempted to find Ariana on his own first, so that he wouldn’t have to return to this place of misery.

With clenched teeth he forced himself to walk through the grass until he’d made it onto the porch. There he paused to calm his racing heart. As soon as he laid eyes on a dirt-crusted beer can, however, he knew it was of no use.

Boy! Get out here!

Yeah Dad?

I thought I told you to finish painting the porch!

I did finish it, see? I got every rung just like you told me to.

Oh really?

A flash of red burst across his mind’s eye.

Tell me – how many coats did you do, huh?!

Another flash of red. Coats? But Dad, I finished it!

Does that look done to you?!

A burst of pain shot through his left arm.

Are you stupid boy? Get up now. I said get up!

His ribs received a sharp blow and he had no words with which to reply.

Good for nothing waste of space. Footsteps faded back into the house.

Negaduck clutched his left arm against his middle, cradling it gently as if it were broken. Suddenly he shook his head violently and glowered at the peeling white paint on the porch rung nearest him before storming into the house.

Pieces of broken glass scuttled across the floor as Negaduck swept through the entryway. Most of the windows in the old house had long since been shattered, the remnant shards coated with time. Past a few wretched rooms toward the back of the tiny abode he strode, deliberately keeping his eyes focused ahead of him. He was in the kitchen now.

A scream of pain filled the air followed by a heavy thud. Please . . . Jake, no please, don’t!

Shut up! The sound of somebody slapping another.

Mommy!

Drake, no! Go upstairs, sweetheart, I’ll be fine!

I said shut up!

This time, the dull thump of a punch preceded a shrill cry from his mother.

A gun was cocked. I warned you!

Daddy, no!

The cacophonous blast that had forever changed his life resounded in Negaduck’s ears.

It took him a few moments to realize his heart was still racing. He blinked and shook his head, the voices of memory fading. He ground his teeth together and proceeded through the kitchen. There had been a chest in this house – one that he had discovered beneath the floor – one that his father had forbidden him to open ever again. He was determined to find it.

Finally he came upon the room he wanted. A heaviness seemed to sink upon his shoulders as soon as he entered, and a chill that had been absent throughout the rest of the house passed over his feathers, making them stand on end. He could not wait to be out of this place that had been both the source of his hate and the source of his pain.

Working quickly, he fell to his knees and felt carefully along the floorboards, searching for the right ones. At last his fingers came upon a few that sat slightly higher than the rest, rising from the level surface of the floor like a miniscule platform. With a loud grunt he yanked at the rotten boards but they wouldn’t budge. Tiny pieces flaked off of the ends of the wood and gouged the tips of his fingers, but he hardly noticed. He frowned and tried prying the other side open. It refused to move. Frustrated now, Negaduck pulled a crowbar from his suit pocket and jammed it under some of the boards before leaping up and down on top of the other end. Still nothing. He didn’t have time for this!

Next he whipped out a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse, placed it atop the boards he was trying to get under, moved a safe distance away, and plugged his ears. Once he’d heard the boom signalling that the dynamite had exploded, Negaduck turned with a smirk on his face until he saw that the surface remained unchanged. He pulled down the corners of his fedora in aggravation and stormed back over to the troublesome boards, pouncing on top of them repeatedly as hard as he could. He looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

When he’d worn himself out, the supervillain heaved an exasperated sigh and plopped down. “Stupid house with its stupid floors,” he muttered spitefully, folding his arms. “Now what am I supposed to –“ Without warning, the floor beneath him began creaking and he could feel it beginning to sag under his weight. “Uh oh . . .”

Before he could so much as lift a finger, the criminal had plummeted through the decayed boards and bounced down the wooden staircase leading to the cellar, grunting and gasping each time he hit a step.

“I hate gravity,” mumbled the heap of feathers resembling Negaduck at the foot of the staircase. He shook his head and sat up, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the basement.

It smelled of earth and standing water, and somewhere off to his right there was a dripping sound. He stood, flicking the light switch, and scowled when nothing happened.

“Perfect.”

He had expected nothing less, considering how long the house had been in disrepair.

Minute shafts of sunlight sprinkled in through the cracked foundation near the ceiling, but none so significant as to allow him to see anything in detail. Briefly he wondered how much daylight he had left, but he soon forgot that when his eyes, now accustomed to the absence of light, fell upon the silhouette of a large chest in the corner. Eagerly he pulled out a flashlight and aimed it at the chest, finding a lock that secured a thick chain wrapped all around it.

“Feh,” he said smugly. “No lock can stand between Negaduck and what he wants! I’ll have this thing opened before you can say, ‘Hey, that’s mine!’”

With that, he pulled out a rather large axe and heaved it down upon the lock, slicing it in two. The chains slid from the chest and within moments Negaduck had propped it open with one arm, eagerly rummaging around inside of it with the other one. Soon emerged a suit much like his own, except that it was much, much older and had a triangular shaped hat to go with it. He set it aside next to him and continued searching.

“I know it’s in here somewhere! AH!” He pulled a rolled up, leatherbound parchment from the depths of the chest and let the lid slam down. Dust spewed in all directions, causing him to sneeze, and he muttered spitefully to himself about how much he hated this place. Carefully, Negaduck unraveled the parchment and looked it over, a slow, sly smile forming on his long, sinister bill. “Don’t you worry, Ari,” his low voice rumbled evenly. “Your brother’s on his way.”

~*~

The shimmering brilliance before his eyes was so intense that he had to shield his eyes. He had never seen so much gold in all his years of stealing and plundering. So . . . this was what that braggart of a pirate wanted in exchange for Ariana? A treasure for a treasure . . .

He had found Magpie Island easily enough using the map he’d found inside the chest, and after narrowly escaping various booby traps in one piece he had stumbled upon the trove of loot that his ancestor, the pirate Negaduck the Black-Hearted, had hidden centuries before.

His eyes lingered longingly on the gold. He could hardly pull himself away. Yet, the longer he stared at the coins the more their shapes melded into a solid form of bright gold, and suddenly all he could think about was Ariana’s hair illuminated in the sunlight. His fist tightened around the two gold pieces in his hand, and his eyes glinted with determination. He had a plan, and he was going to get her back. No matter what.

~*~

The captain wiped a thick layer of sweat from his forehead and glanced at the sun before pulling a pocketwatch from his long navy overcoat.

“Hmm,” he mused softly. “That self-absorbed scoundrel has two more minutes. With any luck, he won’t show-“

“Aww, sorry to disappoint you, fuzzie,” growled a low baritone voice. A duck in a yellow double-breasted suit, black cape, and black pirate’s cap swung himself over the railing and onto the deck, an insufferable smirk drawn on his bill.

The pirate did not seem at all taken aback or amused at Negaduck’s sudden entrance.

“So, you decided to join us after all. Although, you’re missing something, it would seem.”

The criminal knew what the captain meant but decided to beat around the bush a little while his eyes scanned the deck for any sign of his silver-eyed friend.

“Missing something? I seem to have my limbs intact, which is more than I can say for some of your lackeys.” He nodded toward the crewmembers crowded behind their captain.

The captain’s face grew long with irritation. “Give me the treasure.”

Negaduck’s smirk melted from his beak. “The girl first!” he demanded.

“No! First the treasure!” the captain snarled back.

“I said the girl first,” Negaduck repeated evenly, his eyes narrowing to slits.

The captain shifted his square jaw for a few deliberating moments before nodding once firmly and shouting, “Aye! Show him the girl!” with his sword slicing the air.

“Hey! What the-?” sputtered the criminal as two pirates yanked his arms behind him and roughly led him toward the doorway belonging to the only quarters on deck.

With greater care than Negaduck would have expected Ariana’s captor to take, he eased the handle down and padded gently into the room. While they were still gripping Negaduck’s upper arms behind him more than was necessary, the two pirates followed their captain’s example and silently entered.

Negaduck was directed rather unkindly to the bedside, and as his eyes drifted from the men at his side to the figure sleeping beneath the silken sheets, his stone glare softened.

“Ari . . .” he breathed.

She stirred and whispered in her sleep. “Negaduck . . .”

“I’m here, baby. It’s me.”

“Why did you not come?” she murmured.

“I’m gonna get you outta here,” he replied determinedly.

“I gave up on you . . .”

Negaduck struggled to get nearer. “No! I made a pro-“

The captain clamped Negaduck’s beak together in one hand, silencing him.

“Enough! You’re upsetting her,” he hissed heatedly.

Negaduck eyed the captain with suspicion. There was something else going on here.

“Take him back on deck!” the captain added with a snarl.

The pirates immediately complied, and while Negaduck didn’t fight them, he did look back over his shoulder in time to glimpse the captain pulling the sheets up around Ariana’s shoulders. He frowned.

As soon as the captain had gently closed the cabin door and rejoined them, something clicked inside Negaduck’s brain.

“Even I wouldn’t stoop that low, you contemptible cur,” he raged lowly.

“What on earth are you babbling about?” returned the captain with a calm that made Negaduck all the angrier.

“That’s your room you’re keeping her in and she’s sleeping in your bed!”

The captain said nothing for a long while, but the white-hot rage bubbling below his taut fur was apparent.

“I may be a pirate, Mister Negaduck, but I am an honorable pirate. Never accuse me of stealing a woman’s innocence. Never,” he growled evenly, his face inches away from the villain’s. “Of course I wouldn’t expect a man like you to know anything about honor. Now, the treasure, if you please.”

Negaduck glared into the captain’s eyes for a few moments more before tossing two gold coins at him.

“That’s just a sample of what I’ve got. The rest is in the boat down there.” He nodded in the direction from which he’d climbed aboard.

“Men!” shouted the captain, pointing his sword toward where Negaduck had indicated.

Immediately the crew scrambled toward the edge. Some lumbered over the side of the boat and disappeared from view while the rest fed rope down to them. Minutes later, a rather large chest peeked over the top of the railing and the men struggled to heave it aboard. It landed on the deck with a loud thud.

“All right,” Negaduck said snidely, beginning to stroll back toward the captain’s quarters, “since I kept up my end of the trade, I’ll be taking Ariana back now.”

Without warning, a sword cut through the air and barred his path, barely missing the tip of his bill.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

“Oh? And why not?” retorted Negaduck, not flinching for an instant.

“She’ll stay with me.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“Sorry, pal, I don’t take orders from a guy who obviously has a Long John Silver complex. Now get outta my way before I cram that ridiculous hat where the sun don’t shine!” The duck pushed the captain’s arm back, intending to walk past him, but the captain shoved him back violently.

“You’ll not touch her! She’s mine! And now you’ve brought me the treasure as well. Looks like I win on both counts. Now I’m rich and I get the girl.”

“You backstabbing son of a –"

“Ah, ah, ah, there’ll be no cursing on my ship while a lady is onboard.”

With a fierce growl Negaduck lunged at the captain, intent on pummeling the arrogant smirk from his face. Instead, numerous strong arms latched onto his own and yanked him back. No matter how hard he struggled to break free and attack the captain, he couldn’t move. There were just too many of them.

“What about your precious honor?” he snarled.

The captain’s eyes flashed, and he jerked his eyes away from Negaduck and shouted to the crewmembers not holding the villain at bay. “Full sail!” He then looked the duck directly in the eyes and said coldy to the men holding him back, “Throw this rubbish overboard.”

Though he fought with everything in him to get free, Negaduck was hurtled over the edge of the ship and into the freezing ocean water. As he surfaced, he could hear the pirates jeering at him as their ship rapidly sailed away from him. He scowled after them as he tread water, spitting the bitter liquid from his mouth with each wave that washed over his face.

Suddenly his eyes fell upon something floating off to his left and a grin snaked across his long bill. He wasn’t giving up just yet. He had to talk to Ariana.

The cabin door burst open and Ariana stumbled out. Her silken hair was disheveled, but her eyes were alight, and she scanned the deck eagerly.

“Ah, my dear, you’ve awakened!” the captain said with a formal but cheerful tone as he moved toward her.

He put an arm around her shoulders and smiled down at her, but she was too subdued to notice. Hastily she brushed a few rogue strands of hair out of her face, letting her eyes roam the deck thoroughly before she finally spoke.

“I . . . I thought I heard him. Was he here?” She raised her eyes to look up at the captain, their depths gleaming with the faith of untainted innocence.

“As a matter of fact, he was just here. He dropped off that chest and left.” The captain motioned toward the treasure chest. “I asked him if he wanted to see you, but he was uninterested in the matter. In fact, he said he didn’t want you back because you were becoming a burden in his line of work.”

Ariana neither spoke nor moved for a long while.

Finally she moved away from the captain untll she was just out of his reach, her eyes upon the wooden chest sitting haughtily before her. She would not have believed a single word the captain had just said were it not for the presence of that chest. It was as if Negaduck had paid the pirates to take her off of his hands.

Anger, regret, and bitterness seeped through her small body and she trembled with the sudden intense rush of emotion. Heat rose to her face, and she felt as if she were ablaze with rage. She hated herself for playing the fool, and she hated Negaduck for taking advantage of her feelings. No – hate was too strong a word for Ariana. Though she told herself that she hated him for what he had done, she knew that in her heart there would always lie that part of her that would always cling to what they had shared. That, more than anything else she felt, was what hurt her the most. She knew she would never be able to completely be rid of him and what she felt for him.

After all that time, he had come, but he didn’t want her back. He had not even bothered to tell her to her face; she had to find out from the man who had kidnapped her.

She did not even realize she had been crying until somebody was wiping the tears away gently.

“Ssshh . . .” whispered the captain, tilting her chin up so that he could look at her face. “There, there, now. Don’t cry, m’lady. We’ll all take care of ye as if you were a queen, because you deserve no less. That scoundrel was bound to show his true cclors sooner or later, but I’m glad that you were in our midst when it happened.” He reached down and tenderly took her hands in his, methodically brushing his thumbs over the tops of them. “Ariana . . . I want you to know that I will never betray your heart like he did. I would not leave you behind for all the riches in the seven seas. You’re all the treasure I need, if you’ll have me. You’re the most beautiful creature to grace God’s earth and as long as I have blood in my veins I promise to make you the happiest woman alive. Please don’t cry. Not over him. I can’t bear it.” He lifted his hands and cupped her cheeks, looking deeply into her grey eyes. “I love you . . .”

“How sentimental,” a sinister voice growled mockingly from across the deck. “I think someone’s been watching one too many chick flicks.”

“Negaduck?” Ariana breathed, her quivering voice barely audible.

The captain’s eyes narrowed at the duck and he stepped in front of Ariana, drawing his sword. “I wouldn’t expect someone who has no heart to understand.”

“Oooo, now I feel really bad.”

“Get off of my ship!” the captain snapped, advancing on Negaduck.

“Not without what I came for!”

“Oh? And what did you come for, exactly?”

“I’m not in the mood for games, pal!” snarled Negaduck. He looked behind the captain at Ariana and waved her toward him. “Come on, Ari, let’s leave these Pirates of Penzance rejects!”

Rather than rush to his side as she would have done in any other case, Ariana did not move. Countless different thoughts and emotions were racing through her head, and she could scarcely decide just what it was she wanted to do. As ever, her heart immediately sided with Negaduck, the first real friend she had ever known, and blindsided everything bad about him, including what the captain had just told her he’d done to her. Her head, however, formed an idea. If Negaduck truly cared about her, and if he had truly come back for the single reason to get her back, she wanted to be sure of it. Deep down, she knew that he loved her, while at the same time things happened to make her unsure of how strongly he felt it. She wanted to know if he cared as much about her as she did about him.

To find this out, Ariana used the one counterattack that all women use when either getting revenge on a man for hurting them or when finding out how a man really felt – she was going to make him jealous.

“I’m not going,” she said softly, stepping up behind the captain and looping her arm around his waist.

“What?” Negaduck sputtered, taken aback.

“I’m staying with him. He would never do anything to hurt me.” She knew the last statement was probably a cheap shot, but the bitterness she had felt earlier was resurfacing a little.

“But I-"

“Should turn around and never bother us again,” the captain interrupted Negaduck. “The lady has made her decision.”

The criminal shot a dirty look at the captain before turning his attention on Ariana, studying her eyes. They reflected resentment with a hint of pain and longing there he picked up on, but didn’t quite understand.

“Yes,” Negaduck said evenly without looking away. “It seems she has.” And there’s nothing I can do to make her change her mind. The only one that can do that is her. If she wants to stay here . . . I won’t try to convince her otherwise, even if it means I’ll never see her again. As long as she’s where she wants to be, he told himself, that’s all that matters. With a swirl of his cape, Negaduck turned around and headed toward the spot on the railing of the ship over which he’d climbed to get onboard.

Ariana’s eyes fell to the deck as Negaduck turned to leave. So, it was true. It didn’t matter to him whether she was with him or not. Obviously she wasn’t important enough to him for him to try and convince her to come back with him. A wave of disappointment washed over her and she tried to hold back another flood of emotion. She had thought she had meant more to him than this. How could he just turn and walk away without a word after all they had been through together? It was one thing to respect a decision, but completely another to turn your back on somebody. More than anything at that moment, she had wanted him to argue against her decision and in favor of returning with him. That in itself would have proven to her how much he cared for her because it would have shown how much he wanted her back. But he had accepted her so-called choice almost nonchalantly, as if it didn’t bother him at all that they would never see one another again. It was killing her inside.

“Negaduck!” she cried, stepping forward. “Why are you-“ she stopped mid-sentence when she spied the treasure chest out of the corner of her eye. Wait a minute . . . why would Negaduck bother to find and bring the treasure here if only to just give it to them? That doesn’t sound like him at all. If anything he would have kept the treasure for himself.

The villain stopped, caught in the middle of lumbering over the railing, one leg poised in the air. He lowered it and turned back around with an expectant expression.

“You’re just going to leave?” she asked quietly, her eyes drifting from the chest to Negaduck’s.

“Well, you said you wanted to stay here!” he retorted, feeling slighted that he had gone through all of that only to be leaving without her.

“No!” The word burst from her mouth more abruptly and loudly than she had intended. “I only said that because . . . because he told me that you’d just told them to keep the treasure and take me off of your hands!” She pointed behind her at the captain, the anger at being lied to flashing in her eyes.

“What nonsense!” interjected the captain with indignance in his voice. “Silly nonsense from a silly girl! Men, get her! She’s staying on this ship whether she wants to or not!”

Suddenly Ariana felt herself being jerked backward, and she fought against them with all her might but to no avail.

“Negaduck!” She reached her arm out toward him, a desperate look on her face.

“Ari!”

“En guarde,” the captain said cooly as he advanced toward Negaduck and slowly drew out his sword. Ariana could only watch helplessly, knowing the captain was now intent on slicing Negaduck’s throat.

“All right you scurvy-brained buffoon, get ready to eat hot death!” The criminal unsheathed his own sword and immediately lashed out at the captain, who dodged easily.

“You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to beat me,” the captain sneered.

“I’ll do more than beat you!” snarled Negaduck in return. “I’m going to rip through your stomach and hang you with your own intestines!” He thrust at the captain, who blocked his attack before mercilessly slicing the side of Negaduck’s face.

The villain didn’t so much as flinch. Instead his attacks grew more swift, more powerful, and he forced the captain backward toward the cabin doors.

“Well, well, aren’t so mouthy now, are we? Beg me for mercy and I’ll consider letting your intestines stay where they are,” said Negaduck with a cocky look passing over his face.

He took another step forward, a threatening glint in his eyes, until suddenly the floorboard he’d stepped on shot up and pummeled him full force in the face.

“Dyaaah!” he yelped, stumbling backward.

The captain chuckled and took advantage of Negaduck’s momentary setback by whipping his weapon around to knock Negaduck’s sword clean out of his grasp. It skittered across the deck with high-pitched clangs until it came to a rest on the opposite side. Now weaponless, Negaduck grinned nervously and began backing up.

“Uh, heh, heh, you know I was kidding about the whole intestines thing, right?” His back hit something solid -- the wall at the other end of the deck -- and he knew he’d run out of room.

“Actually that was quite a good suggestion. Perhaps that is what I’ll do to you once I’m finished with you.” The captain then resheathed his sword, gaining a look of confusion from Negaduck.

“What the - ?”

“Hand-to-hand combat is much more exhilarating, wouldn’t you agree?”

Without warning the captain’s powerful fist collided with Negaduck’s head, sending him spawling sideways. He stumbled to the ship’s railing and gripped it tightly as he tried to make the world stop spinning.

“Don’t!” Ariana’s voice shrieked from somewhere across the deck. “Leave him alone!”

The captain only laughed and kicked the duck from behind. He landed with a hard thud, but he jumped back to his feet, his lip curled back into a snarl.

“Listen, pal, if you’re so ‘honorable’ a pirate then why not honor the lady’s wishes and give her to me?”

“Love is a complicated matter. It makes one do all manner of things that one wouldn’t normally do were one in his right mind.”

He leapt for Negaduck, but at the last second the criminal swiveled around so that he was now behind the captain. Winding up as far back as he was able to, Negaduck punched him in the back of the head with all his might. The captain’s head jerked forward with the force of Negaduck’s punch, but nothing more happened. He turned back around and grinned tauntingly at Negaduck, who was furiously shaking his hand which was now pulsing with pain.

“Give it up, duck, I have more to offer her than you could ever hope to in your lifetime!” the captain hissed, his eyes narrowed and his hands balled into fists.

“You’re wrong,” growled Negaduck lowly.

“Oh am I? A life on the run, always on the move, always with the chance of being shot while you slept . . . prison is no place for her, did you ever think of that?” he spat back.

Negaduck’s face fell for a moment. He had never put it into that perspective before, and no matter how much he hated to admit it to himself, the captain had a point.

A triumphant grin made its way onto the pirate’s face, and he again unsheathed his sword, swinging it back behind his head, intent on cutting through the villain’s throat. “I’ve won, Negaduck, and now you die.”

“NO!” The cry tore though the air like a thunderclap, and Ariana yanked herself away from the clutches of the crew in a final desperate attempt to escape.

Quickly and without a second thought, she flung herself in between Negaduck and the pirate, extending her arms out to the side and facing the captain.

“If you kill him, you’ll have to kill this ‘silly girl’ first!”

“Ariana!” The sword wobbled to a halt, inches away from her neck. “Ariana, get out of the way! He doesn’t love you; I do!” the captain said firmly, drawing his weapon back again.

“Love reveals itself in many forms . . . likewise does evil.” She glared at him, unmoving. “Up until the moment I realized you had lied to me, I might have taken you up on your offer to stay here, but now I know where I belong.” She turned her head around to glance back at Negaduck with a small smile. “He needs me.”

A loud clang startled her into turning back around and she saw that the captain had dropped his sword and fallen to one knee.

“But . . . I need you too,” he said softly, taking one of her hands gently in both of his.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, removing her hand from his grasp. “I have to go back. I’m all he has, and I’m not about to leave him now.”

The pirate opened his mouth to protest again, but the look in her eyes told him that he had already lost the battle.

“If that is your decision – "

“Yeah, pal, it’s her decision, got that? She’s coming with me!” Negaduck piped in snidely.

The captain merely shot him a glower before adding, “Then, my lady . . . you are free to go.”

Ariana smiled down at him and bent to give him a tender kiss on the forehead.

“Thank you . . .”

She rose and turned toward Negaduck, reaching out her hand for him to take. He wrapped his hand around hers and led her to where he’d tied his skiff to the pirate ship, then helped her down onto it before boarding it himself. They floated there for a few moments, watching the large vessel sail away slowly.

It was a few moments before the captain grudgingly stood up and put away his sword.

“Well men,” he said evenly, walking over to the chest that was still on deck, “at least we still have the treasure.”

He lifted the lid and peered inside . . . only to be greeted with piles and piles of old, filthy rags. Digging through the cloths frantically for any sign of gold, he became enraged at finding none on top of the emptiness he felt at losing Ariana.

“Curse you, Negaduck!!!” he screamed, his words reverberating across the ocean breeze.

From where he sat on the rowboat, the public enemy smiled from ear to ear.

“Hey Ari? What’s say we make a pit-stop at Magpie Island? I’ve got a few things I need to pick up before we head on home . . .”

Chuckling to himself, he rowed both him and Ariana off into the distance. Though it was unusual for things to end up in Negaduck’s favor, this time he had won and he was going to savor every moment of it.