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There is a significant difference between dreaming that you're drowning, and actually drowning. Nothing can simulate the fire burning in your lungs as your body screams for air, nor the weight you feel as more and more water seeps into your nostrils. It is a particularly painful and slow way to die.

But she had no plans on dying. She had no plans on letting him die either. No matter what it took, she and he were going to survive, and she refused to believe otherwise.  In the course of one year, a strength, a confidence, a will to defy death itself had built up within her, and it was now being put to the test. It was all thanks to him.

Him, and her, and the course of one year's time. To fully understand how this will was formed, the clock must be turned back one year, to when this all started.

She was a private. He was a pirate. This is how it all began.

~*~

Minerva Mouse woke up take gasping breathes of air, with eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling above her.  She was sweating, and although the weather was admittedly hotter this time of year, this was the kind of sweat that came from fear. Once again, she had that drowning dream… the beginnings were always different – some days she was just walking a walk, another she was in the midst of battle – but they always ended with her landing in the ocean water, and unable to survive. It was ridiculous when she put logic to it, for she was a good swimmer. If it was some kind of symbolism, she didn't want to hear any of that nonsense. Her life was perfectly fine, thank you very much; she was not drowning metaphorically in anything. Her life was going swimmingly.

Once she was assured she was awake, she took a glance at the singular window to the small room. It was circular and could only be seen by once person at a time, but she didn't even need to lift her head to see the sunlight coming through it.  Wiping some sweat off of her forehead with the back of her arm, she decided the dream had done something good for once – she had woken up before the alarm clock! She was early for once! Since she was typically the one that tended to have hard sleeping habits, she was particularly proud of this moment, and happily began to climb out of bed. How early was she, she wondered, and once her feet had found the floor, she made her way to the desk drawer, which only held the small blinking clock.

10:00 a.m.

The fear from the dream was suddenly quite insignificant compared to the fear when she saw those blinking numbers. "T-Ten?!" She rubbed her eyes – all that did was let her see it was now 10:01. "Daisyyy!" She shrieked, and looked at the top bunk of the bed, but it was empty. How could Daisy forget to set the alarm? She was a dead duck! Well, deciding a good punishment would have to come later! Oh, goodness, she had entirely missed breakfast, and the morning drill, and now roll call was being taken! She had no time to lose being enraged!

She sprinted towards the bathroom, determined to shower and dress as fast as a little mouse girl could, which alas wasn't terribly fast. Her mind continued to spring all over the place, trying to think of how she would face the day. Punishing Daisy, that was high up on the list, but there was also breakfast to take care of, and making up for the drill, and then checking the mail to see if she heard from her parents, and picking up her skates from Gadget, and then of course her assignment for the day, whatever it was… the life of a N.A.V.Y. girl was an exciting one, and there was always plenty to do.

N.A.V.Y. – Nautical Air Victorian Youth, the official female military of the Four Kingdoms. Though they had originated in Britain, the rising age of piracy had caused their other kingdoms to ask for their help, and in this day and age, the NAVY worked for all Four Kingdoms. Whatever wasn't being aided by the NAVY was helped by their male counterpart, the A.R.M.Y – Air Requisitioned Male Youth. Both military forces soared the seas and the skies to ensure peace was established for all, and to punish piracy. Minerva was proud to be a part of such a powerful force, and had worked diligently for the three years since she joined at age fifteen.

Shower over and clothes on, she checked herself over in the vanity mirror Daisy had insisted they hang on the bathroom door. Her uniform was the same as everyone else, save for one embarrassing detail. Everyone had the blue headbands, the white boots, the blue and gold overcoat, the white frilled shirt -  but in this particular section of the N.A.V.Y., the one that was designated to protect the Kingdom of Britain, and only in her particular age group, Minerva was the only one still wearing a white skirt. The skirt had been part of the original uniform way back when it was first established decades ago, but now it was only given to new recruits. When one was promoted to a higher rank, they were given blue and gold pants to replace it. Everyone Minnie's age, and some a year or two below it, had earned the right to wear the pants.

Smoothing down her skirt, she sped out of the cabin bedroom, and tripped over her own feet at least three times before making it outside, where everyone in Minnie's squadron was already standing to attention,  standing on the freshly cut grass before a large wooden stage. On the stage was their captain, Amelia Doppler, and as always, she wore the face of someone in a bad mood. A tall woman, a cat, with brown fur and a stern face, she never wore a smile, or at least as far as Minerva knew. Still, Minerva respected her greatly, for she was a great leader, and a terrific fighter. There was a rumor that once Amelia took down an entire boat of pirates with only a paperclip and an old pillow. Minerva didn't know if it was true, but she could believe it.

Captain Amelia was assigning duties to each roll call, asking the women to come to the stage when their name was called. To Minerva's luck, she was only on the E's, and so Minerva began to quietly wedge herself into the straight lines of straight faced women. Instead of going to her assigned place, however, she instead made a beeline for the D row, and grabbed a particular duck by the left arm, hissing into her ear. "Why didn't you set the alarm?!"

Daisy Duck was her best friend in the NAVY, though at times could also be her worst enemy. She was a beautiful woman who always managed to turn heads wherever she went, and usually did so on purpose. Even now her hair was tied up in a ponytail to impress the males that were nowhere around here, and there were some hints of make-up on her eyes and beak. She was Minerva's age, and was the one to first coin up the nickname that Minerva accepted more than her real name. "Oh, Minnie, I was going to, I swear." She whispered, eyes darting behind her, without fully turning around to face her friend just yet. "In fact, I was going to wake you up when I got up… but you just look so cute when you're sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"So I'm supposed to tell the captain I'm late because I'm too cute?" Minnie replied drolly, releasing the arm. How she loved Daisy, how Daisy annoyed the skies out of her! "From now on, I'll set the alarm."

"But you always set it so early!" The duck whined, now deciding it was safe enough to turn around for a hushed conversation. "I need my beauty sleep!"

"And I need my breakfast, but I missed it because of you!" Minnie didn't realize how loud she was getting, until she felt a gentle tap on her right shoulder. Glancing behind her, there were now two older women who had moved out of their place in line to confront the girls, for different reasons. One of them was Clarabelle Cow, twenty-four years old and the gossip queen of their squadron. Though she was also a friend of Minnie, Clarabelle enjoyed a good tease on Minnie's account, and enjoyed playing with men's heads as much as Daisy – though she had far less success. Clarabelle believed herself to be prettier, smarter, and all around better than everyone else around her, no matter how often she was proven wrong. Despite it all, she was a genuinely good woman, and her cases of bossiness were only trying to make Minnie into a better soldier.

Such as now, when she was wagging a finger in disappointment. "You can't always blame Daisy for your problems, Minnie! Why make her set the alarm when you're fully capable of doing it yourself?"

The second woman was Millicent Manchester, a towering poodle of a dog who was the mother of this strange foursome of friends. In the right light, her fur was chocolate that could turn to black. She was the same age as Clarabelle, yet couldn't be more opposite of her. Timid, shy, sometimes prone to tears, she was the one to soften harsh blows and always lend a helping hand. With kind brown eyes, she pulled out a small apple from underneath her coat, and bent over to offer it to her much smaller friend. "I managed to save this for you, Minnie. You must be starving." Even her voice was diminutive; as if afraid the wrong word could shatter the world.

The mouse sighed with relief, the apple now looking like the most delicious she had ever seen, as does most food when given to the hungry. "You're a lifesaver, Millie!" She bit into it after the compliment, hoping to finish it as soon as she could. Yet she still spoke in-between chews, needing questions answered. "What're the assignments today?"

"Well!" Daisy leaned in, as did the rest of the trio, making a small circle. "The McDuck Museum is opening tonight." Minnie's eyes instantly widened in recognition and surprise. Scrooge McDuck was a name everyone knew, the richest man in all of the Four Kingdoms, and this museum had been planned for years. Though he was claiming it was to help enrich the lives of society, everyone knew he was just trying to show off all the treasures he had collected over the years. It was rumored to have a dining hall, a shopping mall,  and even a miniature zoo. "We're all being given different guards and assignments to guard it. You know something this huge is a prime target for pirates." Proudly, she patted her own chest. "I get to help guard the ancient artifacts wing."

Minnie was smiling so deeply that she nearly bit the core of her apple, ignoring how Clarabelle was bragging about her own assignment, something about guarding fine art. Certain words had stuck out to Minnie, the big ones being 'all' and 'pirates'. Such a combination of words could only mean not only was Minnie also going to be given a huge assignment, but she was finally going to be in a real battle, with real pirates! "Pirates…" She breathed, nearly dropping her food in excitement. "We finally get to fight real pirates!"

"Finally?" Clarabelle playfully flicked Minnie's nose, snapping her back to reality. "The rest of us have fought them plenty. So you'd better stick close to us if you don't want to become pirate booty!"

Minnie, for once, ignored the sting, too overwhelmed with excitement to care. "This is wonderful! I can finally show the Captain how good I've gotten! Real pirates! My goodness – I get to fight my first pirate!" Almost bouncing in her glee, she exchanged great smiles with Daisy, and Clarabelle… but not Millie. Millie had paled slightly, and was now looking around in worry. The duck and the cow stopped what they were doing, and then it truly hit all four of them – they had created so much noise that every single other woman was now staring at them, including, to Minnie's fright, the captain. An awkward silence fell over the group.

Amelia withdrew herself from her podium, and walked down the three stairs from the stage to the ground, heading right for Minnie. The other females were quick to retreat, a parting wave of girls making a path for their leader. Millie hid behind Clarabelle, who tried to hide behind Daisy, who tried to hide behind Minnie, although the height difference was more than obvious. Minnie, who had no one to hide behind, instead saluted when her superior stopped before her. Amelia had her hands behind her, and peered down at the mouse that was nearly trembling in her boots. "Private Minerva Mouse." Her voice was icy, though her expression was stoic.

Minnie hesitated before replying. "…Good morning, Captain." She kept her hand up in the salute position, just in case.

"You did not attend the morning drill, nor breakfast. And now I find you're not only late, but talking during roll call." Even though she was stating the obvious, each fact was like another dagger to Minnie's pride. "Is your conversation more important than your sisters-in-arms learning their assignments?"

"O-Of course not, Captain." Minnie shook her head hard, tempted to point out that all of this was Daisy's fault, but arguing with the Captain never ended well for anyone. "In fact… we were talking about the assignments! I'm just so excited that I – that we get to fight – get to protect such an important place!" A weak grin was made to try and save from all of the self inserting errors she had made.

Amelia's expression didn't even flinch. "You're not being assigned to the McDuck Museum."

A blink. Another blink. Maybe Minnie didn't hear right. "Captain?"

"You've been here for three years straight, and you're still wearing the skirt of a recruit." She even pointed directly at it, adding insult to injury. "You haven't done anything to prove you're ready for combat, especially not for something this important. Your assignment is to scrub the kitchens, from top to bottom." Minnie opened her mouth to complain, but a single quirk of Amelia's eyebrow shut her up. "You have my permission to leave roll call early to get started. I expect them to be clean enough to eat off of when we return from the opening." Finished, she turned, and began to right back towards the stage. The other women moved around to retake their places, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

Minnie didn't leave roll call early, nor did she move from her spot. She was even still saluting, as the sympathetic eyes of her friends watched her. To Minnie, the world had stopped. One moment, she had been ready to fight pirates and prove to everyone how great she could be. In the next… she had been given kitchen duty.

Again.

~*~

It was roughly three o clock in the afternoon when Gadget Hackwrench's peace was disturbed. As special weapons and technicians expert of their squadron, she was given a fix-it laboratory that was enough to fit three hundred normal-sized adult women, yet was normally only occupied by this single very tiny woman. She had been at her work desk, trying to find the correct screw for the correct screwdriver, when her door was slammed open, and it almost enough to knock her off her table. Steadying her balance, she brushed some blonde hair out of her face so she could see who was interrupting her work. Minnie was storming inside, carrying a mop and bucket, with Daisy right behind her. Due to her duties, roll call was something she didn't need to attend all the time, but Gadget didn't need to be a genius to guess what happened.

"Kitchen duty again, huh." The blonde one walked to the edge of the table, trying to be friendly. "I'm sure next time you'll be given something better…"

"Next time, next time, next time!" The taller mouse snapped, irritable, slamming her bucket and mop to the ground. "I always think next time will be the right time, but I always get the lowest of the low!" Now she marched around the room, trying to find the devices she had given Gadget to repair. "How am I supposed to prove to the Captain that I can handle fighting pirates and the bigger roles, when she won't give me a chance?"

"You just have to be patient." Gadget offered, wincing as she saw Minnie toss aside a few repairs-in-works in order to get to her goal. "You've got your whole life ahead of you to fight pirates!"

"No I don't!" Minnie cried shrewdly, though at least she finally found what she was looking for. Lifting it up to inspect it personally, they were steam-powered roller skates, painted gold, blue, and white, and one of Minnie's proudest possessions. She had been given them personally by Gadget during the first year she joined, as Gadget had been experimenting with these shoes and needed a test subject. Minnie had curiously volunteered, and discovered not only were they better balanced and sped far faster than regular skates, but due to Minnie's incredibly low weight and small stature, they were, at times, able to give her flight in the air for nominal amounts of time. Captain Amelia had allowed Minnie to keep them, since if they were a real success, they could become mandatory equipment for the NAVY. However, Minnie always had a nasty habit of wearing them out and breaking them at the worst times. But here and now, they were fixed, and Minnie headed back towards her friends.

Daisy leaned her elbows on the table, looking at Gadget as she explained. "I guess you didn't hear about it yet, Gadget… but Minnie's engaged."

The fix-it girl paused, not sure why this information was being given. "Oh, well… congrats?" She looked back and forth between the girls, confused. "But what does that have to do with anything? You're engaged too, Daisy, and you still get some great assignments, and you've fought plenty of pirates."

Minnie sat on the floor, taking off her white boots to put on the skates. "That's because Daisy's fiancé is fine with her being in the NAVY. But mine isn't…  His name is Mortimer Rodawn, and it's an arranged marriage. It's been decided for a long time, but now Mortimer wants to speed things up and get married as soon as possible. Our engagement party is next month." With a few clicks, the shoes were snugly fit. She began to stand up, and dusted off her skirt.

Judging by Daisy's scowl, Mortimer was apparently not favored by the friend.  "And he's made it perfectly clear that he wants a house wife, not a NAVY wife, so when they  get married, she has to quit… She's got a year, tops, before they get married." The duck even blew a raspberry at his name being mentioned. "I can't believe your parents don't see what a jerk he is. Isn't there still some time to call it off? What if you meet mister right?"

Minnie crossed her arms, all too familiar with this argument. "My parents like him, and I want to make them happy. He'll provide for me, he'll take care of me…" And just because she couldn't think of anything positive about his personality didn't mean it didn't exist. "You know how it is. That's why your family wants you to marry Donald, so you'll have plenty of money in the future, with being related to…" Then she trailed off, something igniting in her brain. Her depressed expression was beaming into a smile, eyes glittering with hope. "… With being related to Scrooge McDuck. You're going to be in-laws with him soon. So…" She began to tip-toe up to Daisy, meticulous with each step. "…So you've probably been in that museum before, right?"

"I don't like where this is going." Gadget quipped, deciding to retreat and go back to screw hunting.

Daisy found herself backed up against a wall, not liking where Minnie's tone was going. "I have, Donald showed it to me a few times… why…?"

"Then, maybe…" Minnie batted her eyelashes, and held up her hands in a praying position. "You would know how I could get in without the others noticing? Some kind of secret entrance?"

"Minnie! Are you crazy?" Daisy looked for a way out, but Minnie grabbed her by the shoulders, keeping her in place.

"Please, please, please! If I could just get in there, I can show them that I'm not a disaster!" With each plead came a shake, desperate to make her point known. "We don't even know for sure if pirates will attack, nothing's confirmed! I'll just keep to myself in one part of the museum!  Please, Daisy, help me out? Aren't we best, best, best friends?"

Just as Daisy couldn't bring herself to wake Minnie up due to sheer adorability, she found she couldn't deny Minnie here for the same reason. Those big eyes, those little lips, those spitcurls in her fur… With a defeated sigh, she hung her head. "I may have an idea… but if I get in trouble, you're going down with me."

"Yeah yeah, sure sure." Minnie just nodded, ignoring the consequences. "What's the idea?"

Daisy opened her beak to speak, but hesitated, and looked at the table. "Gadget?"

Gadget waved a hand, still digging through her parts. "As far as I'm concerned, you two were never here."

Safe, Daisy continued, facing Minnie. "A lot of the security systems for Scrooge's museum just need a typed in code to pass through. I only know one of them, and it's for the back entrance to the kitchen." She frowned. "The Captain is going to be really steamed when she finds out about this."

"She said to clean a kitchen." Minnie grinned. "She never specified which one."

~*~

The museum opened at eight o' clock, so Minnie decided to arrive there at nine, just in case. The party was no doubt under full swing by now, with the guests and NAVY swarming the area. Someone like Minnie would easily blend in, so she believed. The museum itself was wedged between two other famous McDuck buildings, his library and a candy factory… in fact, the entire city block the museum was in was McDuck territory. Daisy and Minnie had discussed the plan during dinner, and so it seemed flawless. Just as Daisy had promised her, the back way to the kitchen was unguarded, and there was only one door to enter it. It was steel, and on top of it was a grid of letters and numbers to input the code, if one knew it. This particular code was an odd one to Minnie – G, O, L, D, I, E. You would think at his age, he would know how to spell gold correctly.

The code beeped a merry tune when it was entered, and the door slowly slid open on its own. Minnie adjusted her belt, for even rookies were allowed to take weapons from Gadget if they filed the proper paperwork, or bribed her with enough Koo-Koo Cola. Even then, Minnie had only been allowed two basic weapons – a pistol with five bullets, and a double-edged sword that couldn't cut flesh. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and she was satisfied with what she had. When the door opened, she rolled on inside, still wearing her skates, going through the kitchen, and sliding past several doors to get into the museum proper.

McDuck certainly had plenty to brag about! The place looked even grander and large on the inside, and it was alive with chatter as people went back and forth to see his treasures. As she went through the crowds, she spotted Daisy on the second floor, no doubt heading to her post. Wanting to assure her friend that the plan was working, Minnie quickly made her way to the first set of marble stairs that led up to the second floor, as the middle of each floor was made to look upon the one below it. At the top, she nearly bumped into her friend, and held onto the stairway. "Daisy!"

"Minnie!" Daisy, by now, seemed very lax about the plan, and smiled with enthusiasm. "So you did make it!"

"Of course." Minnie went to the top step, hands on her hips, proud. "The days of the old Minnie are far behind me, Daisy. No more crashing ships and planes, no more misfiring weapons into open crowds, no more crashing into parties…" Although that was technically what she was doing now, but the important thing was that all of her past errors, the years of screwing up, were finally coming to fruition. She leaned over the stairway railing, looking down on at the guests. "Look at all of these people. A pirate would have to be as dumb as a brick to try and steal from here."

"Especially with Scrooge's great security." Daisy took this moment to adjust her ponytail, as always concerned for her looks at silly times. "Though I do wish he'd keep up with the times. Re-entering a code twice is such a hassle."

Minnie slowly lifted her eyes from the floor below to meet Daisy. "…Twice?"

"Yeah, you know. First to unlock it, and the second time to lock it again." Daisy met her eyes, and saw panic being reflected in them. "You… you did put in the code a second time, right?"

"Um."

Before Minnie could even make an attempt to dart back and fix the giant hole in security she had created, a tremendous crash caught her giant black ears. Down on the first floor, one of the banquet tables had been tossed over, and now standing on top of the wreckage was a tall, lanky dog with floppy ears and buck teeth. His clothes were rubbish, stitched over hundreds of times, with splashes of orange and green, but more importantly, he was holding a pistol in each hand. "Keep yer arms up if ya don't wanna meet Davy Jones early!" He snapped, a hick drawl in his threat. As he said this, more dirty, ill-dressed man of his ilk rushed in from the exact same spot Minnie had come out from.

Then there was chaos, as the attending NAVY swept into action, clashing swords and guns with the invaders. The guests were screaming and running for their lives, some of them hiding behind the very treasures they were just fawning over. Scrooge himself was trying to fight cane to sword with the dog, until Captain Amelia interfered. More men continued to spill in, stampeding through the museum and up the stairs. Minnie herself was nearly knocked over, but managed to cling to the stairway railing with her entire body, though this did cause her to slide down the railing until she was on the first floor again. Somehow, Minnie had thought her first clash with pirates would be more dignified than this… and also not be her own fault.

She would just have to think about that later. This was her real chance! Pirates were storming the museum, she had to fight! As bullets screamed above her and people screamed around her, Minnie steadied herself, climbing on top of the stair railing, a plan forming. She'd use her skates to skate along the railing, return to the second floor, and no doubt save Daisy from the upcoming peril. The skates only needed to have their heels clicked together to be activated, and so she did, and it worked… too well. The steam hissed as it escaped her skates, and instantly propelled her forward, and forward, and forward, and forward… past the second floor, continuing on the curled stairway, past the third, fourth, fifth… until she reached the eighth floor when she managed to click her heels again to make them stop. But the stop came all too quickly, and she wound up flat on the floor, flat on her face, all on her own.

Dizzily, she sat up, trying to understand what had happened. This particular floor was deserted, as the pirates hadn't come up here yet, and the NAVY assigned up here had already fled downward to help their sisters-in-arms. Getting to her feet, she was just about to walk down the stairs, when, from the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of a shadow in the brightly lit hallway. Was someone still up here? Cautious, she unhooked the pistol off of her belt, and gripped it with both hands. She wasn't the best shot, but she wasn't going to go in there unprepared. Yet, how could that shadow have belonged to a pirate? With running distance, it should have taken at the very least five to ten minutes to get up to this floor, and the pirates had only just invaded.

She followed the elongated shadow anyway, as it was stretching out from one particular wing. A colorful sign from above informed her that this wing contained old maps and diaries, which she found odder still. What good would old, outdated maps be to a pirate? And don't even get her started on the uselessness of diaries. Still she went on, tip-toeing until she came upon a corner. Pressing herself up to the wall, she held her breath, listening. From around there, she could hear the shattering of glass, the whine of alarms, and the ruffling of pages. All of those were sounds that definitely wouldn't belong to a NAVY soldier. Biting her lower lip, she peeked around the corner.

Of course it was a pirate, but he was slightly better dressed than his kinsmen. At least, his clothes were cleaner and looked like they had gone through less wear and tear. A black hat sat on top of a red bandana tied snugly around his forehead, between two big black ears not unlike her own. In fact, he was a mouse as well, a true shame to her species. A single gold earring was lodged in one of those round ears, and though his clothes were clean, they still were sloppy in the sense that they hung off his small body, with even his white shirt open enough to reveal a black furred chest. From behind him, Minnie could see that a window had been smashed – apparently he had dived in here either before or during the invasion, so at the very least, this particular pirate's entrance wasn't her fault. He stood over a glass case, now smashed, thanks to the much-better-looking-than-hers pistol he held in one hand. He was flipping through a diary with the other hand, brow furrowed as he tried to decipher it.

Two things in particular about him stuck out to Minnie. The first was a red yo-yo that was attached to his belt, right next to a scabbard. The second was that he was, when one got a good look at him, rather… handsome. In a gruff, yet cute sort of way. But wait, what was she doing? She almost slapped her forehead for thinking of something so insane at a time like this. Here was the chance she had been waiting her entire life for, and there she was, pondering about toys and rugged good looks. It was time to shine.

"Stay where you are!"She announced her presence, and stepped out of the corner, embracing the fluorescent lights that shone down at her. She pointed her pistol at him, glaring hard at her enemy. "You are under arrest, for breaking and entering,- and burglary!"

He lifted his head from reading, and looked at her. An eyebrow was up, and he looked her over without saying a word. His eyes stayed on her hips for far longer than she was comfortable with, but then he simply looked back at the diary, and flipped a page, still silent. Nothing about him had changed, not even his expression.

To say that Minnie was gravely insulted would be to say that the ocean is wet. Her shoulders hitched, and her voice went a pitch higher, as she stomped three steps forward. "I said, you are under arrest! Now put that down, so I can read you your rights!"

"Little girls shouldn't play with pea shooters." He said without looking up. His voice was unusually high-pitched for a pirate, unusually high-pitched for someone his age, as well, for he looked to be a few years her superior. "Especially when they don't have handcuffs."

Just how many times today had Minnie been emotionally socked in the gut? She was beginning to lose count. "N… No, I have…" Yet her eyes went down, and she held the pistol with one hand to search her belt, she realized she had forgotten to bring along a pair. Frantically, she felt and re-felt her belt, as if it would somehow appear if she touched herself long enough. "Oh, no, oh, dear…" To make matters worse, when she lifted her head back up, he was suddenly in front of her, devouring all of her personal space. He had dropped the diary so he could grab her wrist, and easily snatched her pistol, tossing it over his shoulder.

"Now then." He clicked his teeth, and she could see one of his teeth was yellow – no, it was a gold tooth. "Why don't ye go on home to mum?"

Instead of filling her with fear, he only ignited her anger. "I said you're under arrest, y-you… jerk!" With her free hand, she yanked out her sword from her scabbed, and with that quick force, accidentally belted him in the face with the sword handle. He let her go, stumbling backwards, grasping onto his tiny black nose in pain, dropping his own pistol onto the floor. Minnie pointed her blade at him, smirking at the pain she had caused him. "You have the right to remain silent! Anything you saw and will be used against you in the court of law!"

"Nothin' this pretty has a right to be this annoyin'." Rubbing his nose, he withdrew his own blade, and the shine it gave off made it clear that unlike Minnie's blade, this one could cut flesh. Yet she still thrust forward, and metal met metal. Now this was an ability she had often been praised for, and confidence swam through her each time the blades kissed. Yet as they dueled, facts became clear. Neither of them were moving from their spots, and his face looked more agitated than worried. With the way his arm was moving, and how his eyes were darting over her…

He was going easy on her, the jerk! He was trying to make sure he wasn't hurting her! He thought of her as weak! That only made her angrier, and her focus and balanced shifted, making her sloppy in her sword thrusts. His words before rang in her head, knowing he was going easy on her just because she was a girl. He was one of those stupid types who couldn't bring himself to hit a girl. He was sexist! He was misogynistic!

… And she could work with that.

She forced their blades to go to a hard left, and then, in the span of seconds, let go of her sword, jumped, and tackled the boy down, arms pressed onto his shoulders. He landed on his back with a surprised childish yelp, and she stayed on top of him, her hips straddling his own, and, to her luck, her pistol right next to his head. She snatched it up, and pressed it to his temple, breathing hard. "I know you won't hurt me, but believe me, I have absolutely no problems hurting you!"

His eyes searched her – she was serious. He eased his grip on his sword until he let go. "Yer a strange little lass, aint ye." His eyes continued to move, still looking for a way out of this situation, and then he heard several clicks of several pistols.

Minnie heard this as well, and glanced around her. In the time of Minnie zooming up the stairs, sneaking up to this boy, and fighting him, Daisy, Clarabelle and Millicent had all made their way up to this floor, and now were pointing their pistols at him. Clarabelle didn't take her eyes off of him as she spoke. "You okay, Minnie? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine…" Minnie slowly pulled her pistol back, returning it to its pistol. The boy's face was now one of complete and utter defeat. Hers was now of complete and utter joy. "I… I did it! I captured a pirate!" She even threw her hands up joyously in the air, giggling ecstatically. "I did it all by myself! I captured one!" The girls kept their pistols trained on him, but still offered their congrats – Clarabelle with a high five, Millicent with a quiet 'way to go', and Daisy with a hug. All the while Minnie continued to flail about, nearly delirious in her victory. She'd done it! She'd really, really done it! "Look at me, I got a pirate! I finally got one!"

The pirate in question just stared at the bizarre girl on his lap. "… Ye lasses are a bunch of loons."

Minnie just stuck her tongue out at him, and resumed celebrating with her friends, until, once more, she noticed Millie had paled in fright. Again, silence swept her friends, and they all turned to see Captain Amelia now standing before them, arms behind her. While the trio were terrified, Minnie was not, and stood right on top of the pirate, even as he heard him yelp again in pain as her skates squished into his belly. "Captain!" She saluted. "Look! I captured a pirate, all by myself!"

"He's got a name." 'A pirate' said, trying to breathe despite being squished. "Could ye at least call me Mickey?"

He went ignored, as Amelia's stoic expression burned into Minnie. "That's all good and well, Private Minerva… but, answer me this. What are you doing here?"

Minnie abruptly went quiet. No one dared to say a word, and the silence began answering the questions the captain had.

No one, that is, except Mickey. "If this crazy lass doesn't get off me stomach soon, I'm gunna hurl…"

End Of Chapter One.

Description
There is a significant difference between dreaming that you're drowning, and actually drowning. Nothing can simulate the fire burning in your lungs as your body screams for air, nor the weight you feel as more and more water seeps into your nostrils. It is a particularly painful and slow way to die.

But she had no plans on dying. She had no plans on letting him die either. No matter what it took, she and he were going to survive, and she refused to believe otherwise.  In the course of one year, a strength, a confidence, a will to defy death itself had built up within her, and it was now being put to the test. It was all thanks to him.

Him, and her, and the course of one year's time. To fully understand how this will was formed, the clock must be turned back one year, to when this all started.

She was a private. He was a pirate. This is how it all began.

~*~

Minerva Mouse woke up take gasping breathes of air, with eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling above her.  She was sweating, and although the weather was admittedly hotter this time of year, this was the kind of sweat that came from fear. Once again, she had that drowning dream… the beginnings were always different – some days she was just walking a walk, another she was in the midst of battle – but they always ended with her landing in the ocean water, and unable to survive. It was ridiculous when she put logic to it, for she was a good swimmer. If it was some kind of symbolism, she didn't want to hear any of that nonsense. Her life was perfectly fine, thank you very much; she was not drowning metaphorically in anything. Her life was going swimmingly.

Once she was assured she was awake, she took a glance at the singular window to the small room. It was circular and could only be seen by once person at a time, but she didn't even need to lift her head to see the sunlight coming through it.  Wiping some sweat off of her forehead with the back of her arm, she decided the dream had done something good for once – she had woken up before the alarm clock! She was early for once! Since she was typically the one that tended to have hard sleeping habits, she was particularly proud of this moment, and happily began to climb out of bed. How early was she, she wondered, and once her feet had found the floor, she made her way to the desk drawer, which only held the small blinking clock.

10:00 a.m.

The fear from the dream was suddenly quite insignificant compared to the fear when she saw those blinking numbers. "T-Ten?!" She rubbed her eyes – all that did was let her see it was now 10:01. "Daisyyy!" She shrieked, and looked at the top bunk of the bed, but it was empty. How could Daisy forget to set the alarm? She was a dead duck! Well, deciding a good punishment would have to come later! Oh, goodness, she had entirely missed breakfast, and the morning drill, and now roll call was being taken! She had no time to lose being enraged!

She sprinted towards the bathroom, determined to shower and dress as fast as a little mouse girl could, which alas wasn't terribly fast. Her mind continued to spring all over the place, trying to think of how she would face the day. Punishing Daisy, that was high up on the list, but there was also breakfast to take care of, and making up for the drill, and then checking the mail to see if she heard from her parents, and picking up her skates from Gadget, and then of course her assignment for the day, whatever it was… the life of a N.A.V.Y. girl was an exciting one, and there was always plenty to do.

N.A.V.Y. – Nautical Air Victorian Youth, the official female military of the Four Kingdoms. Though they had originated in Britain, the rising age of piracy had caused their other kingdoms to ask for their help, and in this day and age, the NAVY worked for all Four Kingdoms. Whatever wasn't being aided by the NAVY was helped by their male counterpart, the A.R.M.Y – Air Requisitioned Male Youth. Both military forces soared the seas and the skies to ensure peace was established for all, and to punish piracy. Minerva was proud to be a part of such a powerful force, and had worked diligently for the three years since she joined at age fifteen.

Shower over and clothes on, she checked herself over in the vanity mirror Daisy had insisted they hang on the bathroom door. Her uniform was the same as everyone else, save for one embarrassing detail. Everyone had the blue headbands, the white boots, the blue and gold overcoat, the white frilled shirt -  but in this particular section of the N.A.V.Y., the one that was designated to protect the Kingdom of Britain, and only in her particular age group, Minerva was the only one still wearing a white skirt. The skirt had been part of the original uniform way back when it was first established decades ago, but now it was only given to new recruits. When one was promoted to a higher rank, they were given blue and gold pants to replace it. Everyone Minnie's age, and some a year or two below it, had earned the right to wear the pants.

Smoothing down her skirt, she sped out of the cabin bedroom, and tripped over her own feet at least three times before making it outside, where everyone in Minnie's squadron was already standing to attention,  standing on the freshly cut grass before a large wooden stage. On the stage was their captain, Amelia Doppler, and as always, she wore the face of someone in a bad mood. A tall woman, a cat, with brown fur and a stern face, she never wore a smile, or at least as far as Minerva knew. Still, Minerva respected her greatly, for she was a great leader, and a terrific fighter. There was a rumor that once Amelia took down an entire boat of pirates with only a paperclip and an old pillow. Minerva didn't know if it was true, but she could believe it.

Captain Amelia was assigning duties to each roll call, asking the women to come to the stage when their name was called. To Minerva's luck, she was only on the E's, and so Minerva began to quietly wedge herself into the straight lines of straight faced women. Instead of going to her assigned place, however, she instead made a beeline for the D row, and grabbed a particular duck by the left arm, hissing into her ear. "Why didn't you set the alarm?!"

Daisy Duck was her best friend in the NAVY, though at times could also be her worst enemy. She was a beautiful woman who always managed to turn heads wherever she went, and usually did so on purpose. Even now her hair was tied up in a ponytail to impress the males that were nowhere around here, and there were some hints of make-up on her eyes and beak. She was Minerva's age, and was the one to first coin up the nickname that Minerva accepted more than her real name. "Oh, Minnie, I was going to, I swear." She whispered, eyes darting behind her, without fully turning around to face her friend just yet. "In fact, I was going to wake you up when I got up… but you just look so cute when you're sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"So I'm supposed to tell the captain I'm late because I'm too cute?" Minnie replied drolly, releasing the arm. How she loved Daisy, how Daisy annoyed the skies out of her! "From now on, I'll set the alarm."

"But you always set it so early!" The duck whined, now deciding it was safe enough to turn around for a hushed conversation. "I need my beauty sleep!"

"And I need my breakfast, but I missed it because of you!" Minnie didn't realize how loud she was getting, until she felt a gentle tap on her right shoulder. Glancing behind her, there were now two older women who had moved out of their place in line to confront the girls, for different reasons. One of them was Clarabelle Cow, twenty-four years old and the gossip queen of their squadron. Though she was also a friend of Minnie, Clarabelle enjoyed a good tease on Minnie's account, and enjoyed playing with men's heads as much as Daisy – though she had far less success. Clarabelle believed herself to be prettier, smarter, and all around better than everyone else around her, no matter how often she was proven wrong. Despite it all, she was a genuinely good woman, and her cases of bossiness were only trying to make Minnie into a better soldier.

Such as now, when she was wagging a finger in disappointment. "You can't always blame Daisy for your problems, Minnie! Why make her set the alarm when you're fully capable of doing it yourself?"

The second woman was Millicent Manchester, a towering poodle of a dog who was the mother of this strange foursome of friends. In the right light, her fur was chocolate that could turn to black. She was the same age as Clarabelle, yet couldn't be more opposite of her. Timid, shy, sometimes prone to tears, she was the one to soften harsh blows and always lend a helping hand. With kind brown eyes, she pulled out a small apple from underneath her coat, and bent over to offer it to her much smaller friend. "I managed to save this for you, Minnie. You must be starving." Even her voice was diminutive; as if afraid the wrong word could shatter the world.

The mouse sighed with relief, the apple now looking like the most delicious she had ever seen, as does most food when given to the hungry. "You're a lifesaver, Millie!" She bit into it after the compliment, hoping to finish it as soon as she could. Yet she still spoke in-between chews, needing questions answered. "What're the assignments today?"

"Well!" Daisy leaned in, as did the rest of the trio, making a small circle. "The McDuck Museum is opening tonight." Minnie's eyes instantly widened in recognition and surprise. Scrooge McDuck was a name everyone knew, the richest man in all of the Four Kingdoms, and this museum had been planned for years. Though he was claiming it was to help enrich the lives of society, everyone knew he was just trying to show off all the treasures he had collected over the years. It was rumored to have a dining hall, a shopping mall,  and even a miniature zoo. "We're all being given different guards and assignments to guard it. You know something this huge is a prime target for pirates." Proudly, she patted her own chest. "I get to help guard the ancient artifacts wing."

Minnie was smiling so deeply that she nearly bit the core of her apple, ignoring how Clarabelle was bragging about her own assignment, something about guarding fine art. Certain words had stuck out to Minnie, the big ones being 'all' and 'pirates'. Such a combination of words could only mean not only was Minnie also going to be given a huge assignment, but she was finally going to be in a real battle, with real pirates! "Pirates…" She breathed, nearly dropping her food in excitement. "We finally get to fight real pirates!"

"Finally?" Clarabelle playfully flicked Minnie's nose, snapping her back to reality. "The rest of us have fought them plenty. So you'd better stick close to us if you don't want to become pirate booty!"

Minnie, for once, ignored the sting, too overwhelmed with excitement to care. "This is wonderful! I can finally show the Captain how good I've gotten! Real pirates! My goodness – I get to fight my first pirate!" Almost bouncing in her glee, she exchanged great smiles with Daisy, and Clarabelle… but not Millie. Millie had paled slightly, and was now looking around in worry. The duck and the cow stopped what they were doing, and then it truly hit all four of them – they had created so much noise that every single other woman was now staring at them, including, to Minnie's fright, the captain. An awkward silence fell over the group.

Amelia withdrew herself from her podium, and walked down the three stairs from the stage to the ground, heading right for Minnie. The other females were quick to retreat, a parting wave of girls making a path for their leader. Millie hid behind Clarabelle, who tried to hide behind Daisy, who tried to hide behind Minnie, although the height difference was more than obvious. Minnie, who had no one to hide behind, instead saluted when her superior stopped before her. Amelia had her hands behind her, and peered down at the mouse that was nearly trembling in her boots. "Private Minerva Mouse." Her voice was icy, though her expression was stoic.

Minnie hesitated before replying. "…Good morning, Captain." She kept her hand up in the salute position, just in case.

"You did not attend the morning drill, nor breakfast. And now I find you're not only late, but talking during roll call." Even though she was stating the obvious, each fact was like another dagger to Minnie's pride. "Is your conversation more important than your sisters-in-arms learning their assignments?"

"O-Of course not, Captain." Minnie shook her head hard, tempted to point out that all of this was Daisy's fault, but arguing with the Captain never ended well for anyone. "In fact… we were talking about the assignments! I'm just so excited that I – that we get to fight – get to protect such an important place!" A weak grin was made to try and save from all of the self inserting errors she had made.

Amelia's expression didn't even flinch. "You're not being assigned to the McDuck Museum."

A blink. Another blink. Maybe Minnie didn't hear right. "Captain?"

"You've been here for three years straight, and you're still wearing the skirt of a recruit." She even pointed directly at it, adding insult to injury. "You haven't done anything to prove you're ready for combat, especially not for something this important. Your assignment is to scrub the kitchens, from top to bottom." Minnie opened her mouth to complain, but a single quirk of Amelia's eyebrow shut her up. "You have my permission to leave roll call early to get started. I expect them to be clean enough to eat off of when we return from the opening." Finished, she turned, and began to right back towards the stage. The other women moved around to retake their places, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

Minnie didn't leave roll call early, nor did she move from her spot. She was even still saluting, as the sympathetic eyes of her friends watched her. To Minnie, the world had stopped. One moment, she had been ready to fight pirates and prove to everyone how great she could be. In the next… she had been given kitchen duty.

Again.

~*~

It was roughly three o clock in the afternoon when Gadget Hackwrench's peace was disturbed. As special weapons and technicians expert of their squadron, she was given a fix-it laboratory that was enough to fit three hundred normal-sized adult women, yet was normally only occupied by this single very tiny woman. She had been at her work desk, trying to find the correct screw for the correct screwdriver, when her door was slammed open, and it almost enough to knock her off her table. Steadying her balance, she brushed some blonde hair out of her face so she could see who was interrupting her work. Minnie was storming inside, carrying a mop and bucket, with Daisy right behind her. Due to her duties, roll call was something she didn't need to attend all the time, but Gadget didn't need to be a genius to guess what happened.

"Kitchen duty again, huh." The blonde one walked to the edge of the table, trying to be friendly. "I'm sure next time you'll be given something better…"

"Next time, next time, next time!" The taller mouse snapped, irritable, slamming her bucket and mop to the ground. "I always think next time will be the right time, but I always get the lowest of the low!" Now she marched around the room, trying to find the devices she had given Gadget to repair. "How am I supposed to prove to the Captain that I can handle fighting pirates and the bigger roles, when she won't give me a chance?"

"You just have to be patient." Gadget offered, wincing as she saw Minnie toss aside a few repairs-in-works in order to get to her goal. "You've got your whole life ahead of you to fight pirates!"

"No I don't!" Minnie cried shrewdly, though at least she finally found what she was looking for. Lifting it up to inspect it personally, they were steam-powered roller skates, painted gold, blue, and white, and one of Minnie's proudest possessions. She had been given them personally by Gadget during the first year she joined, as Gadget had been experimenting with these shoes and needed a test subject. Minnie had curiously volunteered, and discovered not only were they better balanced and sped far faster than regular skates, but due to Minnie's incredibly low weight and small stature, they were, at times, able to give her flight in the air for nominal amounts of time. Captain Amelia had allowed Minnie to keep them, since if they were a real success, they could become mandatory equipment for the NAVY. However, Minnie always had a nasty habit of wearing them out and breaking them at the worst times. But here and now, they were fixed, and Minnie headed back towards her friends.

Daisy leaned her elbows on the table, looking at Gadget as she explained. "I guess you didn't hear about it yet, Gadget… but Minnie's engaged."

The fix-it girl paused, not sure why this information was being given. "Oh, well… congrats?" She looked back and forth between the girls, confused. "But what does that have to do with anything? You're engaged too, Daisy, and you still get some great assignments, and you've fought plenty of pirates."

Minnie sat on the floor, taking off her white boots to put on the skates. "That's because Daisy's fiancé is fine with her being in the NAVY. But mine isn't…  His name is Mortimer Rodawn, and it's an arranged marriage. It's been decided for a long time, but now Mortimer wants to speed things up and get married as soon as possible. Our engagement party is next month." With a few clicks, the shoes were snugly fit. She began to stand up, and dusted off her skirt.

Judging by Daisy's scowl, Mortimer was apparently not favored by the friend.  "And he's made it perfectly clear that he wants a house wife, not a NAVY wife, so when they  get married, she has to quit… She's got a year, tops, before they get married." The duck even blew a raspberry at his name being mentioned. "I can't believe your parents don't see what a jerk he is. Isn't there still some time to call it off? What if you meet mister right?"

Minnie crossed her arms, all too familiar with this argument. "My parents like him, and I want to make them happy. He'll provide for me, he'll take care of me…" And just because she couldn't think of anything positive about his personality didn't mean it didn't exist. "You know how it is. That's why your family wants you to marry Donald, so you'll have plenty of money in the future, with being related to…" Then she trailed off, something igniting in her brain. Her depressed expression was beaming into a smile, eyes glittering with hope. "… With being related to Scrooge McDuck. You're going to be in-laws with him soon. So…" She began to tip-toe up to Daisy, meticulous with each step. "…So you've probably been in that museum before, right?"

"I don't like where this is going." Gadget quipped, deciding to retreat and go back to screw hunting.

Daisy found herself backed up against a wall, not liking where Minnie's tone was going. "I have, Donald showed it to me a few times… why…?"

"Then, maybe…" Minnie batted her eyelashes, and held up her hands in a praying position. "You would know how I could get in without the others noticing? Some kind of secret entrance?"

"Minnie! Are you crazy?" Daisy looked for a way out, but Minnie grabbed her by the shoulders, keeping her in place.

"Please, please, please! If I could just get in there, I can show them that I'm not a disaster!" With each plead came a shake, desperate to make her point known. "We don't even know for sure if pirates will attack, nothing's confirmed! I'll just keep to myself in one part of the museum!  Please, Daisy, help me out? Aren't we best, best, best friends?"

Just as Daisy couldn't bring herself to wake Minnie up due to sheer adorability, she found she couldn't deny Minnie here for the same reason. Those big eyes, those little lips, those spitcurls in her fur… With a defeated sigh, she hung her head. "I may have an idea… but if I get in trouble, you're going down with me."

"Yeah yeah, sure sure." Minnie just nodded, ignoring the consequences. "What's the idea?"

Daisy opened her beak to speak, but hesitated, and looked at the table. "Gadget?"

Gadget waved a hand, still digging through her parts. "As far as I'm concerned, you two were never here."

Safe, Daisy continued, facing Minnie. "A lot of the security systems for Scrooge's museum just need a typed in code to pass through. I only know one of them, and it's for the back entrance to the kitchen." She frowned. "The Captain is going to be really steamed when she finds out about this."

"She said to clean a kitchen." Minnie grinned. "She never specified which one."

~*~

The museum opened at eight o' clock, so Minnie decided to arrive there at nine, just in case. The party was no doubt under full swing by now, with the guests and NAVY swarming the area. Someone like Minnie would easily blend in, so she believed. The museum itself was wedged between two other famous McDuck buildings, his library and a candy factory… in fact, the entire city block the museum was in was McDuck territory. Daisy and Minnie had discussed the plan during dinner, and so it seemed flawless. Just as Daisy had promised her, the back way to the kitchen was unguarded, and there was only one door to enter it. It was steel, and on top of it was a grid of letters and numbers to input the code, if one knew it. This particular code was an odd one to Minnie – G, O, L, D, I, E. You would think at his age, he would know how to spell gold correctly.

The code beeped a merry tune when it was entered, and the door slowly slid open on its own. Minnie adjusted her belt, for even rookies were allowed to take weapons from Gadget if they filed the proper paperwork, or bribed her with enough Koo-Koo Cola. Even then, Minnie had only been allowed two basic weapons – a pistol with five bullets, and a double-edged sword that couldn't cut flesh. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and she was satisfied with what she had. When the door opened, she rolled on inside, still wearing her skates, going through the kitchen, and sliding past several doors to get into the museum proper.

McDuck certainly had plenty to brag about! The place looked even grander and large on the inside, and it was alive with chatter as people went back and forth to see his treasures. As she went through the crowds, she spotted Daisy on the second floor, no doubt heading to her post. Wanting to assure her friend that the plan was working, Minnie quickly made her way to the first set of marble stairs that led up to the second floor, as the middle of each floor was made to look upon the one below it. At the top, she nearly bumped into her friend, and held onto the stairway. "Daisy!"

"Minnie!" Daisy, by now, seemed very lax about the plan, and smiled with enthusiasm. "So you did make it!"

"Of course." Minnie went to the top step, hands on her hips, proud. "The days of the old Minnie are far behind me, Daisy. No more crashing ships and planes, no more misfiring weapons into open crowds, no more crashing into parties…" Although that was technically what she was doing now, but the important thing was that all of her past errors, the years of screwing up, were finally coming to fruition. She leaned over the stairway railing, looking down on at the guests. "Look at all of these people. A pirate would have to be as dumb as a brick to try and steal from here."

"Especially with Scrooge's great security." Daisy took this moment to adjust her ponytail, as always concerned for her looks at silly times. "Though I do wish he'd keep up with the times. Re-entering a code twice is such a hassle."

Minnie slowly lifted her eyes from the floor below to meet Daisy. "…Twice?"

"Yeah, you know. First to unlock it, and the second time to lock it again." Daisy met her eyes, and saw panic being reflected in them. "You… you did put in the code a second time, right?"

"Um."

Before Minnie could even make an attempt to dart back and fix the giant hole in security she had created, a tremendous crash caught her giant black ears. Down on the first floor, one of the banquet tables had been tossed over, and now standing on top of the wreckage was a tall, lanky dog with floppy ears and buck teeth. His clothes were rubbish, stitched over hundreds of times, with splashes of orange and green, but more importantly, he was holding a pistol in each hand. "Keep yer arms up if ya don't wanna meet Davy Jones early!" He snapped, a hick drawl in his threat. As he said this, more dirty, ill-dressed man of his ilk rushed in from the exact same spot Minnie had come out from.

Then there was chaos, as the attending NAVY swept into action, clashing swords and guns with the invaders. The guests were screaming and running for their lives, some of them hiding behind the very treasures they were just fawning over. Scrooge himself was trying to fight cane to sword with the dog, until Captain Amelia interfered. More men continued to spill in, stampeding through the museum and up the stairs. Minnie herself was nearly knocked over, but managed to cling to the stairway railing with her entire body, though this did cause her to slide down the railing until she was on the first floor again. Somehow, Minnie had thought her first clash with pirates would be more dignified than this… and also not be her own fault.

She would just have to think about that later. This was her real chance! Pirates were storming the museum, she had to fight! As bullets screamed above her and people screamed around her, Minnie steadied herself, climbing on top of the stair railing, a plan forming. She'd use her skates to skate along the railing, return to the second floor, and no doubt save Daisy from the upcoming peril. The skates only needed to have their heels clicked together to be activated, and so she did, and it worked… too well. The steam hissed as it escaped her skates, and instantly propelled her forward, and forward, and forward, and forward… past the second floor, continuing on the curled stairway, past the third, fourth, fifth… until she reached the eighth floor when she managed to click her heels again to make them stop. But the stop came all too quickly, and she wound up flat on the floor, flat on her face, all on her own.

Dizzily, she sat up, trying to understand what had happened. This particular floor was deserted, as the pirates hadn't come up here yet, and the NAVY assigned up here had already fled downward to help their sisters-in-arms. Getting to her feet, she was just about to walk down the stairs, when, from the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of a shadow in the brightly lit hallway. Was someone still up here? Cautious, she unhooked the pistol off of her belt, and gripped it with both hands. She wasn't the best shot, but she wasn't going to go in there unprepared. Yet, how could that shadow have belonged to a pirate? With running distance, it should have taken at the very least five to ten minutes to get up to this floor, and the pirates had only just invaded.

She followed the elongated shadow anyway, as it was stretching out from one particular wing. A colorful sign from above informed her that this wing contained old maps and diaries, which she found odder still. What good would old, outdated maps be to a pirate? And don't even get her started on the uselessness of diaries. Still she went on, tip-toeing until she came upon a corner. Pressing herself up to the wall, she held her breath, listening. From around there, she could hear the shattering of glass, the whine of alarms, and the ruffling of pages. All of those were sounds that definitely wouldn't belong to a NAVY soldier. Biting her lower lip, she peeked around the corner.

Of course it was a pirate, but he was slightly better dressed than his kinsmen. At least, his clothes were cleaner and looked like they had gone through less wear and tear. A black hat sat on top of a red bandana tied snugly around his forehead, between two big black ears not unlike her own. In fact, he was a mouse as well, a true shame to her species. A single gold earring was lodged in one of those round ears, and though his clothes were clean, they still were sloppy in the sense that they hung off his small body, with even his white shirt open enough to reveal a black furred chest. From behind him, Minnie could see that a window had been smashed – apparently he had dived in here either before or during the invasion, so at the very least, this particular pirate's entrance wasn't her fault. He stood over a glass case, now smashed, thanks to the much-better-looking-than-hers pistol he held in one hand. He was flipping through a diary with the other hand, brow furrowed as he tried to decipher it.

Two things in particular about him stuck out to Minnie. The first was a red yo-yo that was attached to his belt, right next to a scabbard. The second was that he was, when one got a good look at him, rather… handsome. In a gruff, yet cute sort of way. But wait, what was she doing? She almost slapped her forehead for thinking of something so insane at a time like this. Here was the chance she had been waiting her entire life for, and there she was, pondering about toys and rugged good looks. It was time to shine.

"Stay where you are!"She announced her presence, and stepped out of the corner, embracing the fluorescent lights that shone down at her. She pointed her pistol at him, glaring hard at her enemy. "You are under arrest, for breaking and entering,- and burglary!"

He lifted his head from reading, and looked at her. An eyebrow was up, and he looked her over without saying a word. His eyes stayed on her hips for far longer than she was comfortable with, but then he simply looked back at the diary, and flipped a page, still silent. Nothing about him had changed, not even his expression.

To say that Minnie was gravely insulted would be to say that the ocean is wet. Her shoulders hitched, and her voice went a pitch higher, as she stomped three steps forward. "I said, you are under arrest! Now put that down, so I can read you your rights!"

"Little girls shouldn't play with pea shooters." He said without looking up. His voice was unusually high-pitched for a pirate, unusually high-pitched for someone his age, as well, for he looked to be a few years her superior. "Especially when they don't have handcuffs."

Just how many times today had Minnie been emotionally socked in the gut? She was beginning to lose count. "N… No, I have…" Yet her eyes went down, and she held the pistol with one hand to search her belt, she realized she had forgotten to bring along a pair. Frantically, she felt and re-felt her belt, as if it would somehow appear if she touched herself long enough. "Oh, no, oh, dear…" To make matters worse, when she lifted her head back up, he was suddenly in front of her, devouring all of her personal space. He had dropped the diary so he could grab her wrist, and easily snatched her pistol, tossing it over his shoulder.

"Now then." He clicked his teeth, and she could see one of his teeth was yellow – no, it was a gold tooth. "Why don't ye go on home to mum?"

Instead of filling her with fear, he only ignited her anger. "I said you're under arrest, y-you… jerk!" With her free hand, she yanked out her sword from her scabbed, and with that quick force, accidentally belted him in the face with the sword handle. He let her go, stumbling backwards, grasping onto his tiny black nose in pain, dropping his own pistol onto the floor. Minnie pointed her blade at him, smirking at the pain she had caused him. "You have the right to remain silent! Anything you saw and will be used against you in the court of law!"

"Nothin' this pretty has a right to be this annoyin'." Rubbing his nose, he withdrew his own blade, and the shine it gave off made it clear that unlike Minnie's blade, this one could cut flesh. Yet she still thrust forward, and metal met metal. Now this was an ability she had often been praised for, and confidence swam through her each time the blades kissed. Yet as they dueled, facts became clear. Neither of them were moving from their spots, and his face looked more agitated than worried. With the way his arm was moving, and how his eyes were darting over her…

He was going easy on her, the jerk! He was trying to make sure he wasn't hurting her! He thought of her as weak! That only made her angrier, and her focus and balanced shifted, making her sloppy in her sword thrusts. His words before rang in her head, knowing he was going easy on her just because she was a girl. He was one of those stupid types who couldn't bring himself to hit a girl. He was sexist! He was misogynistic!

… And she could work with that.

She forced their blades to go to a hard left, and then, in the span of seconds, let go of her sword, jumped, and tackled the boy down, arms pressed onto his shoulders. He landed on his back with a surprised childish yelp, and she stayed on top of him, her hips straddling his own, and, to her luck, her pistol right next to his head. She snatched it up, and pressed it to his temple, breathing hard. "I know you won't hurt me, but believe me, I have absolutely no problems hurting you!"

His eyes searched her – she was serious. He eased his grip on his sword until he let go. "Yer a strange little lass, aint ye." His eyes continued to move, still looking for a way out of this situation, and then he heard several clicks of several pistols.

Minnie heard this as well, and glanced around her. In the time of Minnie zooming up the stairs, sneaking up to this boy, and fighting him, Daisy, Clarabelle and Millicent had all made their way up to this floor, and now were pointing their pistols at him. Clarabelle didn't take her eyes off of him as she spoke. "You okay, Minnie? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine…" Minnie slowly pulled her pistol back, returning it to its pistol. The boy's face was now one of complete and utter defeat. Hers was now of complete and utter joy. "I… I did it! I captured a pirate!" She even threw her hands up joyously in the air, giggling ecstatically. "I did it all by myself! I captured one!" The girls kept their pistols trained on him, but still offered their congrats – Clarabelle with a high five, Millicent with a quiet 'way to go', and Daisy with a hug. All the while Minnie continued to flail about, nearly delirious in her victory. She'd done it! She'd really, really done it! "Look at me, I got a pirate! I finally got one!"

The pirate in question just stared at the bizarre girl on his lap. "… Ye lasses are a bunch of loons."

Minnie just stuck her tongue out at him, and resumed celebrating with her friends, until, once more, she noticed Millie had paled in fright. Again, silence swept her friends, and they all turned to see Captain Amelia now standing before them, arms behind her. While the trio were terrified, Minnie was not, and stood right on top of the pirate, even as he heard him yelp again in pain as her skates squished into his belly. "Captain!" She saluted. "Look! I captured a pirate, all by myself!"

"He's got a name." 'A pirate' said, trying to breathe despite being squished. "Could ye at least call me Mickey?"

He went ignored, as Amelia's stoic expression burned into Minnie. "That's all good and well, Private Minerva… but, answer me this. What are you doing here?"

Minnie abruptly went quiet. No one dared to say a word, and the silence began answering the questions the captain had.

No one, that is, except Mickey. "If this crazy lass doesn't get off me stomach soon, I'm gunna hurl…"

End Of Chapter One.