The Secret of the Unicorn ~ Tintin x Reader

'All hair oil and no socks.'

"Thank you." He said, gently grabbing it from me.

"What would you do without me?" I teased him making him chuckle.

We both turned to leave, only to see Mrs. Finch's cat in the doorway. The cat yowled and hissed making Snowy bark.

"No!" I yelled, watching Snowy run off after the fleeing cat. "Snowy!" Tintin yelled, taking off after Snowy.

The cat jumped and scrambled under Tintin's coat, leading him to jump on it. But the cat was quicker and made it out - making Tintin fall, bringing the chair with him. The cat was launched by the chair onto the light. I quickly ran under to catch it but it fell on my face, its claws scratching my face. I yelped in pain. Titin tried to get up quickly only to get caught up in his own jacket the cat had been under moments before.

Snowy continued to chase the cat around, leading it to jump on a table and knock everything off. Tintin, now up and off the floor, started to run after them. The cat then clawed up the curtain onto the top of our bookshelf, knocking off my mother's vase.

"No!" I yelled. Luckily, Tintin was there to catch it. The cat jumped from the bookshelf onto the table and Snowy followed behind, knocking the model ship off. Since Tintin was on the floor after catching the vase, I tried to dive for the ship but was too late. The cat ran out of the window, leaving me, Snowy, Tintin, and the model ship on the ground.

I quickly turned around and stood up, picking it up off the ground. The mast was broken and the ropes were messed up.

"Look what you did, Snowy. You broke it! Bad dog!" I pointed the ship down so I could see him as I scolded him. I stepped forward and placed it back on the table.

"I'm sorry, Tintin." I apologized, looking over at him. "It's okay, Ella. It wasn't your fault." He said getting up from the ground and coming over to me.

"Great snakes!" He exclaimed, looking at me. "What?" I responded, confused.

"Your face is bleeding!" He commented, running into the kitchen to grab a wet towel.

"What?" I asked, going over to the wall mirror to see. I could see a few spots of blood on my face from where the cat scratched me when it fell from the light.

"Ugh, that stupid cat!" I groaned, wincing as I touched each scratch. "Don't do that, Eleanor. Here, let me clean you up." Tintin said coming out of the kitchen.

He pushed the chair back up on its feet, allowing me to sit there. He kneeled in front of me, dabbing the wet cloth on my scratches, causing me to wince.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"It's fine, thank you for cleaning them. Bet I look like a troll now." I smiled at him, looking at him finally.

"You still look beautiful, Ella." He told me.

His dabbing started to slow down as he stared back at me. I was getting lost in his eyes when I suddenly realized I was staring at him. I quickly coughed and diverted my eyes to my feet, looking away. Tintin quickly finished cleaning my face.

"There, they don't seem to be bleeding anymore, that's good." He said, looking at the cloth in his hand.

"Thanks." I whispered, trying to hide the blush on my face.

While he rinsed the cloth in the kitchen, I found myself gravitating to the now-broken model ship. I stared at it with curiosity, my thoughts running wild.

"Ella?" Tintin's voice interrupted my thoughts. "What's on your mind?"

"Something happened on this ship, Tintin." I told him.

"I think you're right. We've got to go to the one place that could have the answer." He said I nodded. We both grabbed our coats and headed toward the door.

"Come on, Snowy!" I called back to our dog, who then followed Tintin down the stairs while I locked the door behind us.

Third POV

Across the street from the apartment, someone watched as Tintin and Eleanor left their apartment, their dog right behind them. They rose a pair of binoculars and singled in on the model boat that sat on the corner table of their apartment.

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Eleanor's POV

Tintin and I sat in the library, a litter of books in front of us. Tintin had all the books detailing ship history, ships from the 17th century, and ship logs from the reign of Charles II, and anything containing the word "Unicorn." I took on the task of looking at ship logs, and my own personal curiosity about current property records.

I flipped through the property logs and found exactly what I was looking for - the man in the red coat.

"Tintin, I found something." I got his attention. "I looked into the property records for Marlinspike Hall and found the identity of the man in the red coat. He said he recently acquired the manor so I knew it'd be here. His name is Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine." I explained, showing him the log.

"Mystery man is a mystery no longer, good job." Tintin said with a smile.

"His name doesn't help settle my nerves at all. What kind of name is Sakharine?" I commented, shivering slightly.

"I'm not sure but, Ella... Listen to this, 'Sir Francis Haddock of Marlinspike Hall, the last captain of the ill-fated Unicorn. The ship set sail from Barbados in 1676 on one of the most ruinous voyages in maritime history.'" Tintin read out from his book.

"Keep reading." I encouraged him.

"'Ship never reached destination... Attacked by pirates... All hands lost except for one survivor. When Sir Francis was rescued and returned home, he was convinced his name had been cursed.'" Tintin continued.

"Sir Francis didn't go with the ship and his men? I thought the Captain always went down with the ship?" I inquired.

"Good question... I'm not sure. " Tintin looked at me, understanding where I was coming from.

"Keep going." I said, getting up and looking over his shoulder to read along with him.

"'The Unicorn's manifest stated it was carrying a cargo of rum and tobacco bound for Europe, but it was long claimed the ship was carrying a secret cargo.'" Tintin finished.

"Wait, I read something similar earlier in the ship logs!" I said, grabbing the ship logs from the stack of books I had read through. I swiped through the pages until I came across the Unicorn's manifest. "Here. It lists rum, tobacco, spices, vegetables, and other sorts but look at the weight on the ship, Tintin - almost four hundredweight." I said pointing to the bottom of the log.

"That's too much weight for just normal cargo." Tintin said and I nodded in agreement. "What was the ship carrying, Snowy?" He asked, looking at our dog.

I grabbed the book from Tintin and read on. "'Historians have tried and failed to discover what happened on that fatal voyage... But Sir Francis's last words...'" I trailed off, looking at the next line.

"What? What were his last words?" Tintin asked me.

"'Only a true Haddock can discover the secret of the Unicorn.'" I said.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up making my head snap up.

"What is it?" Tintin asked me.

"We're not alone. Someone's here." I said quietly.

I turned my head slightly and saw a shadow of a big man stretched on the floor. I recognized the figure.

"The American. I see his shadow to our right." I whispered to him.

The shadow quickly disappeared before Tintin and Snowy could turn and see him.

Thunder crashed loudly outside, causing both Tintin and me to jump. I wrapped my arms around myself to ease the goosebumps on my arms.

"I think it's time we head home, yeah?" Tintin asked and I nodded, quickly grabbing my coat, and taking his arm.