Blue skies and waters. It was all the eye could see from the large boat that drifted on the sea. It was a grand cruise, filled with luxuries of various sorts, as well as several floors which held all forms of entertainment. Towards the back of the ship, there were various chaise lounge chairs for guests to lie down and tan. Between each pair of chairs, a small circular table was placed in order to have a spot to place drinks and the likes.

Despite the great weather, however, there was only one chair being used. A lone man laid on one of the center chairs, though it was clear that he was not planning on tanning as he was wearing a white shirt to cover his skin. He had accommodated the chair so that he could keep his back at 45 degree angle, allowing him to glance into the endless sea. On the table to his left, a pair of red wine bottles and glasses stood plainly. One of the bottles had very little wine in it, while the other was unopened. Despite this, not a single whiff of alcohol could be smelled from his mouth, as if he hadn’t drunk a single drop of the wine. Nor did he really seem that interested, as he kept his hands close by and kept his sights on the sea, seemingly enjoying his solitude. This seclusion, however, would not last long.

Soon enough, the footsteps of another individual could be heard as she walked towards the very area in which he rested. She laid right on the chair to the left of the man’s table and joined him staring into the sea. A short silence came upon them, as neither of the two spoke a word, as if enjoying a majestic view. It was the man who broke the silence.

“I must say, I am impressed. Your endurance is most admirable,” he stated without changing his sights.

“It’s not often a robber compliments his catcher,” replied the woman, looking at the man with a slight smirk while he, on the other hand, gave a slight frown.

“Do have some decency. I’m not a robber, my father was a robber. I’m a thief. As a detective, you should know that,” he replied, still not looking at her.

“Oh yeah? And what exactly is the difference?” she asked curiously.

“You mean aside from entirely different definitions? A matter of principle, really. A robber steals to live,” he said, just before he turned his face towards her, “a thief lives to steal.” With that, he grabbed the almost empty wine bottle.

“Reckless thievery will be the end of you,” she stated, watching him lift the bottle. “If you fill your glass to the brim, it will spill.” At the comment, he smirked as he tilted the bottle so that it was perpendicular to the table, pouring all the contents into the glass.

“In theory, yes,” he responded, watching the wine move into the glass, the level of rising wine stopping very close to the brim as the bottle became empty, “but in practice, getting to the brim turns out to be much harder than one suspects.” He lifted the glass and took a sip, before returning his sights to the sea.
“Just look at the wonderful sea,” he commented as he placed his glass down on the table. “All rivers flow to the sea, yet it is never full. From where the rivers come, there they return, to flow once more.”

A brief silence came once more as the female pondered with regards to his words. She had not expected such a witty reply from the man. As she pondered her response, he picked up his glass and drank some more wine before setting it back down. Lacking a response, she moved forward to change the subject.

“We raided your hiding spot,” she stated out-of-the-blue. She was about to continue but the man interjected.

“Isn’t that illegal?” he asked, in a half-serious tone. After all, he wasn’t exactly a law-abiding citizen. Both of them smirked at his response, but the girl didn’t bother responding to it.

“The treasure wasn’t there,” she continued, “we searched every inch of the house and yet nothing, just a collection of valuable items that all actually belong to you.”

“But of course! What kind of self-respecting thief actually keeps what he steals?” replied the thief, as if shocked by her response. “I traded some for some necessities like food and whatnot, and gave the rest away to various sources.”

“I don’t understand though,” she began, “why go to the trouble of stealing something expensive if you have no interest in its actual value?”

“Do you think people who participate in competitions do so only for the plastic trophies they might get? Do you think that those who win Nobel Prize only worked on their research just for the little gold medals? We don’t do things for the price of the prize, but rather for what the prize and the competition themselves represent.” Upon finishing his sentence, he picked up the glass and drank some more, leaving the glass three-quarters empty before he placed it back on the table.

“So what do they represent?” she asked him, curiously. At that, he smiled.

“The chase,” he responded simply.

“The chase?” she repeated, confused.

“Indeed! The chase!” He stated, as if it was something grand. He grabbed the glass again but didn’t take a drink. “The chase is very much like the metaphorical glass you commented on earlier. The chase is the ever-lasting attempt to fill your glass to the brim, the reason to live, if you would.”

“A reason to live?” she questioned him. “What’s wrong with leaving the glass half-filled, or even three-quarters filled?”

“Because then you’re already dead.” He moved the glass closer to her. “Look at the wine. Unmoving, defunct, bereft of life. If you are not seeking to fill the glass, life becomes stagnant.” With that, she stuck her hand out, grabbing his hand which grabbed the glass. He released the glass and allowed her to take it, to get a better look. At that, she gently shook the glass, making the wine swirl, seemingly alive once more.

“Look at it now, alive and well, is it not?” she asked. At that, he frowned.

“So it would seem, but it is only a façade. A mere imitation of life,” he commented, before grabbing her hands, keeping them still. As he did, the swirling motions of the wine stopped and returned to how it was before. “The moment you stop your movement, it will return back to its inanimate state. That's what a robber does. Rather than strive to fill his glass, he merely shakes it in an attempt retain his existence, hence stealing to live. It is sad to see that the majority people have been reduced to that. They’ve stirred the glass for so long that they themselves start to believe their own lies.”

At that, he paused. She looked at him with a thoughtful look as she forsook the glass back to the thief. Seeing as they ran into a place where she seemed to lack a response, the thief took the opportunity to continue speaking.

“But there are those who are not satisfied with this,” he started once more, “those who don’t fall prey to their own lies. They can only stir for so long until they realize that their very life is a sham. Upon realization, they will pour the wine into the glass, in desperation to bring back their life through a torrent of hope, instigating the chase, and thus, here we are.”

“What?” replied the girl, caught off guard by his comment. He smiled at her response.

“Come now, detective. If there is anything our bountiful sequence of chases has taught me is that your life was very much a half-filled glass before this case.” He chuckled at this, as he took another sip of the glass, leaving it empty, before setting it back down.
“Indeed, you stirred your glass with semi-interesting cases, catching small town criminals and whatnot, but it didn’t give you a rush. It lacked the energy of the torrent, the feeling of real movement, and most importantly it lacked the chase. Thus, when you were given this case, you embarked on a journey. You went on to lengths that no other detective had gone before. In your mind, you might have justified it with being as part of your job, but in reality it was a sign of the desperation you had to fulfill the need for something that would make you feel alive.”

She looked at thief blankly. She opened her mouth, as if to say response, but no words came out. She closed her mouth for a second then opened it again, but once again no words. It had seemed he had read her completely. He smirked at her actions, before looking back in the sea. There was a brief silence as the detective thought on his words. This time, however, the silence wasn’t broken by the thief but by her.

“You have made a mistake then,” she stated simply. It was the thief’s turn to be confused. “You said the chase was everlasting and yet here we are, with you caught. You have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Are you going to tell me that I will have filled my glass by the end of the day?”

“This chase may be over but the chase will always go on. Don’t sell me so short, though, as I always parting trick. I do, however, have a proposition for you,” stated the thief.

“Oh?”

“You and I make quite the cocktail,” he noted.

“Cocktail?” She replied, confused.

“Yes, you were always more of an a**,” he replied, ending with his typical smirk.

“And you were always more of a d**k, what’s your point?”

“I’d like to offer you a source for the torrent, if you would. You see, you’re a robber. You rob others of their beings and sell them over to the police, much like a robber would rob others of their material possessions and sell them in the market, merely stirring your glass. I’d like you to join me,” he stated, as he picked up the other bottle and pointing the top at her. “Help me fill both our glasses.”The female looked at him cautiously.

“How do I know it’s not a trap?” she asked him, wary of his ways.

“The same way you know the sea never fills up despite the rivers always constantly pouring into it,” he stated as he stood up, taking the bottle and his glass and started walking towards the edge of the cruise. Not wanting him to get away, she too stood up.

“Where are you going to go?” she asked him, looking at him near the edge of the boat.

“Into the blue,” he replied, smiling.

“But you’ll die!” she remarked.

“This is kind of like Aladdin’s carpet ride. To quote the young thief, ‘do you trust me?’” he asked her as he moved the cup to the hand holding the bottle, and extended his now-free hand towards her. She looked at him hesitantly for a few seconds, before grabbing her own glass and walking towards him.

“Gotta ‘give it a go’, I suppose,” she stated with a smirk as she grabbed his hand.

“Then jump!” And with that, the two jumped.