Chapter Text
the Crescent Moon rolled into allport as the sun began to set. ollie parked the van in front of the address on the newspaper, and the group climbed out and followed jay into the black rose pirates building.
“who’re you?” a man with long salt-and-pepper hair and an eyepatch said from a reception desk as they entered.
“i’m jay.” jay walked towards the desk. “and these are my friends. we saw your ad, and we’re here to become pirates.”
he raised his eyebrow. “you all?”
“yes, all of us!” gillion grinned.
the man snorted. “any of you even know how to sail?”
“i’m sure we could figure it out,” chip said in that obnoxious cocky voice he did sometimes. “and, uh, jay built a boat once!”
the man raised his eyebrow. “what kinda boat?”
“just a rowboat, but i was really good with those,” jay said.
the man looked up at her. “get outta here before i call security.”
“hey!” jay slammed her fist down on the desk. “you have no idea what we’ve all been through to be here today. we’ve come so far and overcome so much. we may not be your idea of perfect, experienced sailors, but we deserve a chance.”
the man rolled his eye. “you fight any navy?”
“yes, actually,” jay replied. “vice admiral jayson ferin. my father.”
“you’re a ferin?” the man sounded both surprised and something else jay couldn’t place.
“i—yeah, apparently. is that, like, a thing?”
“the ferins are a powerful navy family,” ava said, making her way out from behind caspian and niklaus. “any of us who side with the pirates, like drey here, are a big deal.” she gestured to the man.
the man—drey, apparently—looked up at ava. “oh. hey there, little niece. finally see your dad for what he is?”
“you could say that.” ava smiled.
drey turned back to jay. “well, nepotism isn’t so big in the pirate business, but i suppose if you were able to take on jayson, you might be worth a shot. head on in.” he gestured to a door.
jay pushed the door open to see a nicely decorated room, at the center of which stood a large desk with a spinny chair. as they all entered, it spun around to reveal a large, tattooed man with a stringy white ponytail. a nameplate on his desk read arlin james. he looked expectantly at the group but said nothing.
“hi there,” jay began shakily. “we’re, uh, here because of your ad. we’ve had quite the adventure getting here, but we wanted to be free and to fight to build a better world, and, well, we were hoping you could help us.”
arlin narrowed his eyes for a moment, studying the group. then he nodded, sat upright, and pressed a button on his desk.
“finn?” he said into a microphone.
jay held her breath.
“draw up a standard rich and famous pirates contract.”
the cheer that erupted from behind jay must have been the most beautiful sound in the entire world.
there she stood, in all her glory. the albatross (and nothing else, regardless of what chip might say). jay couldn’t believe her eyes. somehow, she was really going to be sailing on this big, beautiful pirate ship. it seemed too good to be true, but then, there had always been a part of jay that believed in dreams, in friendship, and in herself. she’d already overcome more than she ever could have imagined, and this was only the beginning.