FicWad

It was dark now and Jax led Quinn to the southeast side of the island. “One more thing,” he said, turning back to her. “Don’t talk about your father. No one cares.”

Quinn blinked. “But that’ll be the first thing they ask when they meet me.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Maybe that’s true in Auradon, but here, no one gives a shit about your parents, they give a shit about your skills.”

As she followed him out into the street, she smiled a little. No one here cares about your parents, your familial connections, whereas in Auradon, your rank and importance are based on exactly that. It was why no one from Sherwood has ever been considered for a royal council position. It was why the minor sidekicks have to work so hard to be heard.

She held her head up high as she walked a little behind Jax down the crowded streets. Everyone knew who he was and looked at her curiously. I’ll make sure they know my name too, not my family name – mine, she thought. That caught her off-guard. Since when had she had that desire?

But then she grinned. The VK attitude was already getting to her, and that was alright.

The Crew’s headquarters was by the docks above a small pawnshop. A large pirate ship sat moored nearby.

They stepped inside the shop. A girl – about eleven or twelve – stood behind the cash. She had long black hair and her pale blue eyes lit up when they saw Jax.

“Jax!” she exclaimed. “Where’ve you been all day?”

“Recruitment,” he said, his expression softening more than Quinn had seen since meeting him. “This is Quinn.”

“Hi,” Quinn said.

“I’m Jade,” she said, coming over to hem. She looked her up and down. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.”

“Ha, yeah,” Quinn said, nervously.

Fortunately, Jax jumped in. “She was homeschooled.”

Jade nodded. “Well, everyone’s here already, you’d better get up there.”

“You two stay here,” said Jax. “Jade, explain the process to Quinn.”

“What process?” Quinn asked quickly.

Jax looked at her. “What? You didn’t think I’d just let anyone join the Crew, did you? You’re going to have to prove your worthiness.” He grinned and bounded up the steps.

Quinn turned to Jade, trying not to look nervous.

“Don’t worry,” Jade said. “I already passed one part two years ago.”

There were some loud whoops from above.

Jade grinned. “There are two parts: combat and stealth. For combat, you have to fight someone. You’ll fight until one of you surrenders or gets knocked out. For stealth, you have to sneak in somewhere and steal something.”

“That’s all?” Quinn asked. That did not seem too terrible. The combat bit would be hard, but the stealth? She smiled. That would be just fine.

Jade smiled strangely. “That’s all.”

“It’s time!” A voice called from the top for the stairs.

“Alright,” Jade said as she led the way up. Her eyes were glinting with excitement. Apparently, recruitment was entertainment.

Quinn stepped into a room of about fifteen people. They were all dressed like most people on the Isle but looked a little more pirate-y than most. They were all looking at her, sizing her up. Jax stood at the opposite end of the room.

“Walk to the middle of the room,” Jade whispered to her. “Then stop.”

She followed her direction and had the sudden thought that maybe she should bow. Or maybe that was not how things are done around here.

Jax seemed oddly solemn, much different than he had been all afternoon. “State your name before the Crew,” he said.

“Quinn,” Quinn said, rather loudly, head held high.

“And do you want to join the Crew, Quinn?” he asked. His light blue eyes seemed to bore into her as she answered.

“Yes, I do.”

“Very well,” he said. “Jukes.”

Someone stepped forward from the group. They had short brown hair and light brown skin and wore loose ripped jeans and a large denim jacket. Their brown eyes were glinting a little, though, with amusement or anticipation for the fight, Quinn was not sure.

The fight.

Quinn was going to have to fight them.

The rest of the Crew had formed a circle around the two of them. Quinn wanted to look to Jax for direction, but also knew that she had to keep her focus on Jukes.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Jax said nonchalantly.



Quinn had fallen again – the third time perhaps? She had lost count – and could feel the bruises from yesterday again. She spat out the iron taste in her mouth, surprised to see the red blotch on the floor.

Jukes was hanging back for some reason. Were they expecting her to give up? In the crowd, Quinn saw a blonde guy smirk.

She spat blood again and pushed herself up again, bolding her bloody fists up in front of her. There were a few whoops from the crowd.

Jukes nodded thoughtfully, and then sprang at her, fists flying. Quinn blocked as many of them as she could until suddenly they were behind her. Before Quinn could turn around, their arm encircled her neck, holding her fast. Quinn could still breathe, so Jukes was not choking her, but she was pretty stuck.

She struggled as the crowd cheered, and her vision began to blur.



Cold water doused her suddenly.

Quinn gasped and pushed herself into a sitting position. Before her eyes were open, her hand was already on her belt, looking for her dagger. It was not there.

Looking around her, Quinn began to relax. She was in the Crew’s headquarters and they all stood around her. Jukes stood over her, holding an empty bucket.

Quickly, Quinn pushed herself to her feet.

“Not great,” Jukes said to her. “Not terrible, though.”

Quinn nodded. She had not expected to do too well on the combat portion of this test. Hopefully, she would be able to do well enough in the next test that she could still join.

Jax came up to them. “Time for part two. I need you to steal something of Judge Frollo’s.”

Some crewmembers exchanged looks. Judge Frollo was Esmeralda’s villain – and Quasimodo’s too, but in Auradon they did not learn a lot about him.

“It’s a dagger. Silver with rubies in its hilt. Usually keeps it near him. He lives in the chapel.” He grinned. “You have until sunrise to bring it here.”

Quinn looked outside. Judging from the sky, she had only an hour, hour and a half tops. After grabbing her dagger from the ground and shoving it in her belt, Quinn hurried for the stairs, only turning to quickly grin and say, “See you soon.”

•••

The streets were quiet. It was probably around five in the morning. Quinn remembered passing by the chapel yesterday and quickly found it back.

It was a small building, rising up to a steeple. It seemed to be quiet inside and Quinn scouted around it before slipping in through one of the windows. Pews filled the main room and she crouched behind them, making sure she had not been seen.

Steps at the far end of the room led to a second-floor room. The stairs looked old and she stepped as lightly as she could to minimize the creaking. Her hand on her dagger, she crept into the room.

It was light enough already to see an older man, Frollo, laying on the bed, asleep. Keeping an eye on him, Quinn searched the room, probing through drawers as quietly as she could.

Judge Frollo shifted in his bed and she froze, looking over at him. She noticed with dismay that the dagger was under his pillow.

Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was raised by thieves. She could do this.

Staying low to the ground, Quinn crawled towards the bed, trying to breathe as quietly as possible. His face inches away from hers, she gently drew the dagger from under the pillow.

He moved suddenly and she slipped under the bed, holding the dagger to her chest. Heart thumping wildly, she tried to control her breathing, hoping he would not notice it was gone.

The bed creaked and two bare feet came down onto the wooden floorboards. A loud yawn and a sigh. Then a rustle of cloth and a sharp intake of breath.

Oh, no.

The feet hurried across the room, a black gown sweeping down to cover them. “Florian! Franciose!” a sharp voice called.

There were sounds of movement from downstairs.

“Florian!” he barked again.

Feet scampered across floorboards and a young man with brown hair came up the stairs, looking as though he had just woken up.

“Yes, father?” he asked quickly, his eyes searching Frollo’s face.

“Someone has been in here and has stolen my dagger,” Frollo said sharply.

“Oh, dear,” said Florian.

“Well, don’t just stand there, boy! Call the others, I want this thief found!”

“Yes, father.” Florian inclined his head to his father before scampering down the stairs.

Frollo muttered angrily to himself as he put on a pair of shoes, adjusted his collar and put on his hat. Once he had disappeared down the stairs, Quinn allowed herself to breathe properly again, closing her eyes in relief.

After she heard his retreating footsteps leave the chapel, she carefully came out from under the bed. Not daring to go back out through the main entrance, she peered out the window.

It was only the second floor and vines grew up the walls. This would be easy, not too much different than climbing trees in Sherwood. Quinn put the dagger in her belt beside her own and quickly swung her leg over the windowsill.

Looking back one more time, she noticed a young woman standing in the doorway, her long brown hair hiding most of her face. She stared at Quinn.

“Francoise, right?” Quinn said quietly.

She said nothing.

“You didn’t see me.”

She stared at her.

Taking that as an agreement, Quinn began to climb down, gripping the vines tightly.

“Papa!” Francoise called from inside. “The thief is climbing out your window!”

Quinn cursed inwardly and leapt down from where she was and took off running down an alley. There were footsteps behind her and she ran as fast as she could, rounding corners every time she saw them.

And yet, she was not particularly scared. She knew she should be, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins told her otherwise. She was having an adventure just like those Dad had had. She had stolen from a bad buy.

Soon she found herself at a dead end and quickly scrambled up the dilapidated brick wall, the missing pieces making handholds easy to find. Before running off on the rooftops, Quinn glanced back to see Florian and the other guy, in classic 1400s attire, stuck behind the wall.

Feeling confident, she blew them a kiss before sprinting over the rooftops, clambering up and down rain-pipes and leaping between buildings. These buildings were not too much different than the forest back home.

It was almost sunrise by the time she got back in the vicinity of the Crew’s shop. She hopped back down to street-level and smiled to herself, hand on the hilt of the silver dagger.

As she turned into a smaller street, someone came up behind her and, before she could turn or grab a dagger, put a blindfold over her eyes and something sharp to her back.

“Don’t move,” growled a voice.

Her daggers were taken from her belt and strong hands grabbed her arms and forced her into a building and down some stairs. She tried to struggle, but the grip was too strong.

Quinn was put down in a chair and her wrists and ankles were tied to it before her blindfold was taken off. One other person stood in the room, wearing a black mask. Quinn looked around desperately and tugged at the ropes, but there was no use. Her heart pounded. This could not be happening. Second day and she had already been captured, probably by a rival gang or something.

“So, you’re the newest Crew recruit, huh?” asked the guy, holding Frollo’s dagger. “Nice weapon you got here. Whose is it?”

Confidence, Quinn told herself. “It’s mine,” she said. “Rightfully stolen.”

“What can you tell me about the Crew?” he asked.

She frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked, slowly.

He turned to her. “What are their weaknesses? What are their plans? Etcetera.”

“Yeah,” Quinn said. “I’m not going to tell you.”

“Come on, it’s not like you owe them anything, it’s not like you’re a member.”

“How do you know?” she countered. “How do you know I’m not a member?”

He paused. “I just know.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“And what if I told you I’d kill you?” he walked up to her slowly, Frollo’s dagger still in his hands.

Quinn tried to keep her breathing even. “I’d say that’s a pretty dumb interrogation method,” she said. “If I’m dead I still can’t tell you anything.”

“And what if I told you I’d torture you?”

Quinn took a deep breath and tried to think clearly. There had to be a way out of this. She looked around the room again. They were in some sort of basement, with cement floor and pipes all over the ceiling. The only way out is a rescue. Quinn looked back at the guy in the mask.

And how likely is a rescue? she asked herself.

Not super likely, she answered herself reluctantly.

I take loyalty to one’s crew very seriously. That was what Jax had said. If she withstood this and then the Crew rescued her, she would be a member for sure.

“I still wouldn’t tell you anything.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Alright, let’s test that theory.” Coming closer, he punched her once in the jaw and twice in the gut.

“Tell me about the Crew.”

Quinn groaned, bending over slightly to spit blood onto the ground. It would be a miracle if she reached morning with all her teeth with the way tonight was going.

When she said nothing and he elbowed her hard in the nose. She could feel her head throb and the blood run down her face. She bit down a whimper.

“Tell me about the Crew.”

“No,” Quinn spluttered through the blood that was attempting to run into her mouth.

He pulled out the silver dagger and crouched in front of her. He drew the blade along her collarbone, piercing the skin and making a long cut. Quinn tried not to react, but it hurt so much, and she cried out. She gripped the armrests of the chair and closed her eyes tightly.

“Tell me about the Crew.”

Tears pooled in her eyes and mingled with the blood on her face. Quinn gulped and breathed out slowly. “No,” she said as forcefully as she could.

“No?” he asked, chuckling darkly and brandishing the knife again. Quinn closed her eyes in preparation.

“Alright, Blake, I think that’s enough,” said a familiar voice.

Quinn opened her eyes and looked around the room hopefully.

The guy pulled off his mask and Quinn recognized him as the blond one who had smirked during her fight with Jukes. He sighed. “Yes, captain.”

Jax stepped out of the shadows and she sighed in relief as Blake untied her hands from the chair.

“What is going on?” Quinn asked, quickly untying her feet.

“Well, we couldn’t exactly tell you about this part of the test,” he said, matter-of-factly. “It wouldn’t have been genuine.”

“That was part of the test?” Quinn exclaimed, a little outraged.

He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know why you’re so mad about it, you passed with flying colours.”

Quinn carefully controlled her breathing and tried to slow her heartbeat back down to normal. She looked over at Blake, who watched her with a slight smirk.

“So,” she said, casually as she could muster. “Do I qualify for the elite gang that is the Crew?”

“Well,” he said slowly. “We’ll definitely have to work on your combat skills, but,” he paused and grinned. “Yeah, you’re in.”

She tried to suppress the wide smile that tried to creep over her face. “Awesome,” she said, nodding contentedly. Inside she was squealing with joy; she had passed the orientation test of a villain gang!

“You’ll report to Sheela and Cai at the headquarters. Jade should be in the shop and she’ll answer any questions you may have.” He nodded at Blake, but as they turned to go, he turned around and gave her a wink.

•••

Alone in the abandoned building, Quinn smiled again and practically skipped towards the door. Jax and Blake had already disappeared when she stepped out into the street. She made her way back to the headquarters and found Jade standing behind the counter again.

She looked up and raised her eyebrows when she saw Quinn. “I’m assuming that since you’re back here, you passed the other two tests,” she said.

“Yep,” Quinn said, nodding. “I’m supposed to find Sheela and Cai now?”

Jade nodded. “They’re upstairs, probably waiting for you.”

Upstairs, two people were indeed waiting for her. The girl – Sheela – had red hair and a kind face. Cai had black hair and olive skin and seemed to be constantly on the lookout.

“Hi,” Quinn said, trying not to sound nervous.

They looked over at her. Cai looked her up and down in an almost clinical way, but Sheela got up and came towards her, an almost warm expression on her face.

“Quinn, right?” she said, “I’m Sheela.” They shook hands. “Welcome to the Crew,” she said.

Cai came to stand beside her. “I’m Cai,” he said.

Matching his impassivity, Quinn inclined her head slightly to him in greeting.

Sheela sighed a little and turned to Cai. “If you’ve got something to do, just go, I can handle this on my own. Just make sure the sailors get in here soon.”

Cai nodded once at Quinn and then left the room.

“I don’t think he likes me,” Quinn said jokingly.

Sheela smiled. “Cai doesn’t really like anybody.”

She sat down on the iron steps that led up to the loft and Quinn sat down beside her.

“So, the basics,” she said. “Jax is the captain, obviously. Saoirse, my sister, is the first mate and Cyrus, Cai’s brother, is quartermaster. Seamus, my brother, and Jukes are sailing masters and Blake is the gunner. Cai and I are boatswains. You’re a sailor and your fellow sailors are Clove, Nia and Nabil, and Hugo. Then there are the Powder Monkeys – they’re not full members – Jade and Harper.”

Quinn blinked a few times at the amount of information being thrown at her. “Right.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out as you get going. All you need to know is that you report to Cai and me.”

“Hey, Sheela!” Jade called. “The sailors are here.”

“Come on up!” Sheela called.

The first person up the stairs was a boy with blond hair that reached to his shoulders. Two people followed him – almost identical to each other. Their skin was a dark olive and their eyes dark brown. The only difference was that one had long black hair, while the other had it short. Last in the group was a kid with dark golden chestnut skin and a mess of bright red curls on the top of their head with the sides shaved.

“And these are the Sailors, whom you’ll likely be spending the most time with,” Sheela said.

“I heard you had Blake for the loyalty test,” the blond guy said, wincing sympathetically. “I’m Harper.” He held out his hand to shake and Quinn did so.

“Dude, do you know how pissed Frollo is?” the redhead said. “I mean, he already hates us, but damn, you snuck in his room and stole a dagger from under his pillow.” They slapped Quinn on the shoulder. “I’m Clove, they/them pronouns.”

“Nia,” said the twin with long hair. “And this is my little brother, Nabil.”

“Hey!” Nabil protested. “You need to stop introducing us like that.” He turned to Quinn. “Nia is indeed my sister, only older by two minutes,” he shot her a glare. “But we’re twins, so obviously it doesn’t count.”

Smiling, Quinn said, “Obviously.” She could tell she was going to like them.