I woke up facedown with the burnt taste of Netherrack on my tongue. Struggling to push myself into a sitting position, I spit a couple times to try and clear the gritty soul sand from my mouth as well. A loud, hearty laugh shook me to my senses and I looked up to see Skipper Redbeard offering me his hand. I gladly took it and he helped me up.

"Well, lad, I've never seen anyone pass out going through a Nether Portal before! Haha, ye must still be lightheaded from yer date with the Captain!"

I recoiled at his words, shock turning my face white. Had Redbeard gone mad? How could he forget what had happened to his sister? The look the Skipper gave me made me glance around quickly, and I tried to remember why I had gone through the Nether Portal in the first place. The last thing I could remember was going to sleep in my vault, so how had I gotten here?

"Ye okay, lad? That portal must'e scrambled yer brains as well as knocked ye out!" He laughed again, mistaking my confusion.

A sudden thought dawned on me as I looked at his chuckling face. When he slew Furia in a rage after his sister fell, he had taken a single blow from the demon. It left a nick just under his ear, slicing through the beard and standing out quite a bit. I realized that I could no longer find that battle scar. Could it be that I was back on that cursed day, as we headed to confront Furia? Everything definitely seemed like it had then, and I had played the events over and over enough in my grief that I recognized every block.

Redbeard turned and ushered me on, insisting that we should catch up to the others in the Dianite Temple. I stumbled after him, half-blind as I tried to comprehend how I had gotten here. Somehow I was in the past, before Capsize was killed...or perhaps...perhaps I was in an a parallel world, one where I could protect my lover instead of just watching in surprise and horror as I had on that god-forsaken day.

My will hardened with every step I took, as I moved closer and closer to the spot where she fell. In the time after she had been killed, I couldn't step foot in the temple, for fear of losing it if I were to lay eyes upon those blocks. I walked with startling confidence as we approached, I knew that this was my chance to make things right. This was my chance to save her.

And save her is exactly what I did. I eyed Furia malevolently as he quarreled with Redbeard, but I also kept one eye on the spot I knew Capsize would appear from. I moved close to Redbeard during a lull in the conversation and whispered my plan to him. He obviously thought I'd lost my marbles at this point, judging from the look he gave me, but he would soon understand. Capsize's arrival from the exact point and time I had told him must've convinced him I was some sort of prophet, from his startled body language. He didn't dare take his eyes off Furia's though, so he didn't alert him to Capsize's presence.

We then moved according to the plan, with me rushing at Furia suddenly with a fierce battle cry. I played my role perfectly, distracting Furia while Redbeard circled out of reach to his sister. Together, they rushed Furia from behind and though he countered us for a time, he ultimately failed. Syn watched in a detached sort of manner, not sure whether to help his friends or his gods allies. I felt a rush of triumph as his body faded away, I had prevailed.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Capsize and I ran to each other, we collided in a warm embrace that felt like heaven to me. I leaned in to kiss her, and though it was the second time I'd done it, this had much more meaning than the first. It had much more meaning than she would ever realize, for in the world I came from...I would never have that chance again.

I pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind, I had my Captain back beside me and that was all that mattered.

AN: Hello friends, I'm back again with a four chapter Mianite story. They're all prewritten, so I'll be posting one a day as I work on my next longer series. I have two stories planned for sure(The Warriors crossover, and an AU that I want to try out), but I recently started on a backstory for my favorite character in the Mianite series and I think I'll post that before them. I won't tell you who, but I'm sure you guys will be able to guess if you've read through all of my Mianite fics...there is a common theme between most of them.