• Kakoro leaned against one of the many bookshelves of the ships library. Glanced over at Gero and saw that horrible sorrowful expression. Every member of the crew had that expression. Ever since Linxus delivered the news. Communication between crew members had been low and most went about their jobs like zombies. Still Nara was the worst of them all. No one would see him unless would see him unless they went directly into his quarters and sat down in front of him from the middle of the floor where he hadn't moved from in days (Gero checked in on him one day and he was sleeping right there in the middle of his praying circle).

    Most of the crew avoided even passing the room if they could help it. It emitted such horrible energy that one of the younger mages had to be taken to the infirmary for collapsing and murmuring horrible childhood memories.

    The whole of the library only had one noise. Char tapping his fingers rapidly on the tabletop his book was sitting on. Gero, Linxus and Kakoro exchanged annoy looks. It was the first time that week they had looked at each other and something other than sorrow showed.

    “Don't act like you are annoyed with me.” Char said in a heavy cold voice.

    “What crawled up your cloak,” Linxus retorted.

    “Your chreerie attitudes!” Char snapped, “All of you are pissing me off! I'm surprised that Larin hasn't risen from the grave and kicked all of your asses already!”

    All three were stunned in silence. Char was calm and sensible. The last time any of them had seen him this angry was when some drunk harassed Aleria when the two had started dating. The guy was incinerated and his ashes were frozen and thrown into the sea. And now the was glaring and had shouted at his friends of twenty years.

    “I didn't expect it to take this long to get through your thick skulls! Do you have any idea how pissed Larin and Sarai probably are?! Sarai was ten years old and it was two days after his own father's death when he, a little ten year old boy with barely any experience of a pirate, decided he would captain this crew! Yet here you are, that brave little captain's crew, moping patheticly! You all should be ashamed of yourselves.” He said the last part in a cold cruel way that seemed to stab all three of them.

    Char bowed his head and took a a deep breath. He stared up at them, his gray eyes were still intense, but they were less cruel. “Listen carefully.” He said slowly, “It is fact that none of here have what it takes to be a captain, shut up Kakoro, you know I'm right. There is only one person on this ship that does. It's why he's first mate, wait till I'm done Gero, He just has lost all confidence and is being weak just like when Larin died. Last time Sarai's determination snapped him out of it, but this time you need to give him the courage he doesn't have to step up and do what he needs to. Kakoro, Gero do you understand?” the two nodded, “Good.”

    He got up and started to walk away. “Bird boy come.”

    “But I'm not-” Linxus started. Char didn't intend to let him finish. The Mage snapped his fingers and Linxus transformed and zoomed towards Char landing lightly on his shoulder. Then Kakoro and Gero were left alone in the room.

    Kakoro and Gero stood side by side in silence. Kakoro stared up at Gero.

    “I'm not going.” Gero said defiantly.

    “But whyyyyyyy,” whined Kakoro.

    Gero stared at him, “Are you sure you're thirty five?”

    “Shut up, Larin was worse. I'm easily more mature. You can go, your blunt it's easy for you to cheer me up. Why not Nara?”

    “No, actually it's not easy because I'm blunt. Nara's more sensitive than you are. So I can cheer you up not him. He needs a woman's touch. And you have a woman's hair so...” Gero gestured toward the door.

    Kakoro just glared at the chief Engineer. “I disown you.” Kakoro climbed the bookshelf and began to mope.

    Kakoro stood in the doorway of Nara's meditation room. Gero had managed to get the swordsman back on his feet and sent him off to help Nara. Kakoro had seen his friend like this before. When Nara's father had died and when Larin had been murdered, except this time seemed different. Because this time he was blaming himself for three deaths instead of two.

    “Hey.” Kakoro had stepped into the room. He crouched down beside his friend. “Nara.... You can't keep doing this....”

    “I'm so useless.” Nara buried his face in his hands. “I was right there and I couldn't help him...”

    “None of us could Nara, it wasn't your fault.”

    “Yeah it was. If I hadn't went into Storm Region while he was passed out... We could have waited for the both of you to wake up before we proceeded. Then we wouldn't have ran into that Navy ship, the cannon would have never shot at the ship and he wouldn't have lost his balance while he was already disoriented and fell off the edge of the ship...” Nara was hyperventilating now. Kakoro tugged the neck of Nara's shirt down off his face so he could breathe better. It was a sad sight. Nara's eyes filled with sadness and horror, surrounded by the unhealed, three year old scars that covered his face.

    “Nara you moron,” Kakoro scowled, “You always believe all this crap is your fault!”

    “That's 'cause it is Kakoro! If I hadn't found Mezin shipwrecked we wouldn't know the guy and he wouldn't have set the Red Twilight and it's crew on fire! Everything is my fault!”

    “What in the name of the Creator are you talking about!!??” Kakoro shouted. His eyes looked like they were gonna pop out of his head, “I guess now your gonna say it was you that caused Falon's illness! There's no way in hell you are responsible for any of their deaths!”

    “How do you know that I'm not Kakoro!?”

    “Because that's insane!”

    “Oh so now I'm insane!?”

    “You've always been insane! You green little wacko!”

    Nara punched Kakoro in the gut. Kakoro grabbed onto the ruby that held up Nara's cloak, Nara pulled away. Nara's cloak fell to the ground. Kakoro threw the Ruby at Nara who dodged it. Nara got close and got Kakoro and hit him with some quick jabs. Kakoro unsheathed his sword and started swinging wildly.

    Gero intervened and tried to restrain Kakoro. Kakoro sliced Gero, who then attempted to punch Kakoro but he dodged and the blow hit Nara, who flew into the wall. Kakoro advanced on the shadow stalker, but Gero grabbed the swordsman from behind keeping him away from Nara.

    “Enough!” Flames flew up out of the ruby that was in between the three friends. Gero dropped Kakoro in surprise and Kakoro dropped his sword.

    A very pissed off looking Char stood in the doorway. Gero and Kakoro left the room with their heads bowed. Char walked over and picked up the ruby. He glanced at Nara and threw it at him.

    “Get up,” he said in a harsh tone.

    Nara slowly got up. He picked up the little ruby that was actually a flame stone. Char had given it to him fifteen years ago. It gave him a feeling of nostalgia looking at it.

    Char threw Nara's cloak over his shoulders. He snatched the flame stone out of Nara's hand and fastened it onto the cloak. He tugged the hood up and folded Nara's turtle neck over his scars. It was strange having Char fix him up after a battle, in fact it really bothered him.

    “Uhh.. Char...”

    “Shut up and listen to me Nara.” Char said sternly. “You really need to stop moping all day. Sasaragi is dead, Nara. If you cannot accept than it'll be the end of the Red Twilight Pirates as we know it. And if that happens, Larin and Sarai are gonna beat the crap out of you when you die.” Char picked up Nara's dagger off of the shelf and tossed it to the shadow stalker, “You're the captain now. You better start acting like it.”

    Char started to leave but stopped at the door. Without looking ant Nara he said, “And it wasn't you're fault. None of it. So don't even think for one second that it was,” He turned slightly, “if you do, Sina and Gale are gonna give you one hell of a beating when we get home.”

    Nara smiled slightly and hooked his knife onto his belt. “So basically my only options are take over the ship or get the crap beat out of me?” Nara looked up at an empty door way. He smirked and worked his way up to the deck. He passed by Char in the corridor lecturing Gero and Kakoro on how useless they were. He smiled half halfheartedly.

    Crew members stared at him as he walked up to the forecastle deck. He stared up at the sky the sky coated in twilight. He tugged down his hood and brushed back some of his and tucked it behind his ear. This revealed what looked like his most healed burn mark. Slowly the mark changed and the symbol of the Red Twilight Pirates shone on the upper right of his forehead. He turned to face his crew, their twilight scars were now the pirate's mark as well. They were acknowledging Nara s their captain.

    “Gero,” He called the chief Engineer strode to his side, “status report.”

    “Of course Captain.”

    * * *


    “I'd say he was out there for two whole day before we found him.” an old woman said.

    She was in a small room with walls covered in shelves stacked with medicines and potions of all kinds. Two girls were also in the room. And two boys as well. One boy sat in the corner bored out of his mind, the other lie on the table located in the middle of the room. He was coated in blood and scars. Through all that though his hair shown the brightest of silver.

    “So he 's dead?” the boy asked suddenly curious.

    “I guess so...” one of the girls said. She seemed so sad. She reached out to the boy with a cloth to clean off his blood.

    One of his hands flew up and grabbed her arm. His eyes opened and shown a threatening silver blue. Blood came out of his mouth as he said “a pathetic fall like that can't possibly kill 'The Great Sasaragi'.”