Deepest Desire [NaLu AU]

Chapter IX

"No," I answered flatly.

He ignored my protest and asked the one question I absolutely refused to answer no matter the cost. "Why do you even hunt pirates so savagely in the first place? Other than the fact that I'm sure you have nothing else to do, of course," he threw an insult in there for good measure. I shook my head, not even bothering to verbally refuse.

I could see we were both tired. Me from having just woken up and having been bored out of my mind for a few solid days. Him from a hard day of steering his ship and working to keep his crazy crew controlled. "Sometime today would be nice," he started, "but I can wait." He sat down backwards on his desk chair, folding his arms across the back and staring at me with a patient, nonchalant expression as if to show just how long he could wait.

"If I answer some of your questions, you'll answer mine," I proposed. I was sure I had him and smirked, knowing one of the most secretive pirates would never risk that idea.

To my surprise, he just shrugged. "Sure," he said, "sounds fair to me. I guess I shouldn't exactly expect you to just do something without something else in exchange." My eyes popped open. "Plus, it's not like you'll be able to tell anyone who doesn't already know, seeing as I don't plan on letting you off the ship."

My mouth dropped open in shock. I had not expected that. If someone had proposed that to me, I would've immediately declined saying, 'you're the prisoner, you answer the questions.' Plus, that promise of permanent imprisonment wasn't very appealing. "But," I said quickly, pushing my luck, "that's a question I won't answer."

"If you have a question you won't answer, then so do I," he said.

"And what's that?"

"If you ask it I'll tell you," he smirked. "First question." He took a moment to think about it. His face darkened with anger. "Why the hell did you call Wendy your 'little sister,'" he mocked.

That's easy. "'Cause she's like a little sister to me. I care about her, and to her I was her big sister. I don't care what you say, she will always be my little sister," I said defiantly, sitting up despite Happy's protests. I clambered out of the hammock with slight difficulty and stood tall and defiantly before the pirate questioning me with crossed arms.

His face darkened and before I knew it, my back was pressed against a wall firmly and one of Salamander's arms slammed dangerously close to my head threateningly. His head was breaching my personal bubble and I could feel his breath fanning my face as he breathed heavily in anger. I swear I saw his eyes flash red. I heard a feral, guttural growl before he started talking, and it was very difficult to maintain my composure. "She is not and will never be," he spoke quietly, "your little sister." He jerked his head forward, almost touching my nose and I leaned back. "Got that, Captain?" he asked rhetorically.

I gulped, rubbing my arm in anxiety. I didn't nod, I refused to give in to his threats. He backed away, and in the blink of an eye was sitting back down, calm as ever, glaring at me stoically. My heart beat erratically in fear. "My turn," I said, my voice quieter and less bold than before. "If you really are Wendy's brother, why did you decide to become a pirate when they were the ones who killed your parents?"

The Captain before me grimaced, probably in memory. "I have to explain something else first." Wow, he's really gonna go all out. "I was adopted, my real parents died long before Wendy's." I immediately felt sympathy. Even though he was a pirate, I still knew what it felt like to lose a family. And to think he had suffered through that same experience twice. "My biological parents were pirates," he said quietly. "They died in a shipwreck when I was four years old." I frowned at that, his parents must've been the same thieving pirates I've always known, and my sympathy disappeared. "Even though they were pirates," he said, "they were good people." I didn't buy that for a second. "They never stole unless they had to, and even then, it was only from the richer class. They made their mission to help people in any way possible." Salamander smiled while reminiscing. "So I guess that's why I'm a pirate," he looked to me. "I became a pirate to show people like you," he glanced at me pointedly, "that you can't judge someone before you've even met them. Just 'cause I'm a pirate, doesn't mean I've done anything worth your criticism," he looked at the wall absently. "At least not yet anyway," he muttered. It was so quiet, I wasn't even sure I'd heard properly.