In the silent of the night, a ship was floating above the world, carried by a magnificent beast. It's massive body that looked like a cross between a dragon and a whale practically swimming through the air itself, as if it really was a air whale with the ship strapped under its belly. The ship itself was silent, most of the people on it had taken their opportunity to get a proper nights sleep. The small guild of Brave Vesperia, the renegade princess they were traveling with, the genius mage from Aspio.

But one person was not a sleep, a man wearing a loosely fit purple robe, carrying a large bow over his shoulder as he stood by the railing glancing at the magnificent landscape stretching beneath them.

Above him the stars were shining and blinking, the fresh night air was hitting his face and played with his robe and messed up brown hair. He took in a deep breath. With the breath a scent of the salty sea came to him and filled his nostrils. He could hear the wind going through the sails and the ship creek under his feet.

By all means, Raven could see, hear and feel like any normal being. This, standing like that, should be the equelliant of living, yet it gave Raven pause.
Slowly he lifted a hand to his chest, to the area where a persons heart was supposed to be. But where ordinary people would feel a rhythmical soothing beating from that area, all Raven felt was a constant buzzing that spread the energy to the rest of his body, keeping it going. Man Raven, you really are becoming sentimental!

Huh.. Raven? Since when had he started to refer to himself as Raven in his own mind? His name was Captain Schwann Oltorain. If he got his two personalities mixed up it would be bad. Or was he Damuron Atomais? …. No. Definetely not. Damuron died that day back at the great battle field in the great war. Damuron was resting together with Casey at the forgotten battlefield like he was supposed to. The man whom stood here wearing Damuron's body and sharing his memories was a different person entirely. Raven or Schwann? Did it even matter? He wasn't even alive after all.

Raven sighed deeply as he leaned over the railing. These kids… These dumb kids, so naive and so full of hope. There was no denying it, the Raven part of him actually liked these kids… damn them. And the Raven part liked being Raven, liked to fool around and joke, liked to be relaxed and point out the obvious. But Raven was a lie… Raven didn't exist. What did Schwann think? … meh, what did it matter. Schwann was just as much a lie as Raven was, they were both fake names given to a dead soul-less body so others could relate to him. They served their purposes, but they were lies.

Damn, things had been so simple up until now. Just follow orders and do the logical thing! But these kids were not logical! Their actions were entirely illogical, so why did Raven even care? Why?

"Raven…"

Raven blinked as he turned around and was met by the sight of a beautiful young princes with light pink hair and big green eyes looking questioning at him.

"Ah, Estelle." Raven smiled at her, offering her his most charming smile. "Coming to watch the stars with me tonight? I will admit an old man is getting lonely, but the company of a lovely lady is always appreciated!" he grinned.

Confused Estelle looked at Raven, then blinked as she walked to the railing and looked out. "It really is a lovely view." she commented.

Raven smirked as he looked directly at Estelle. "Yup, it sure is." he grinned looking at Estelles face, not the landscape.

Estelle shook her head then sighed. "You're upset aren't you?" she asked.

"What, me? Upset?" Raven asked. "heh, you're the ones in trouble. I'm just tagging along, there are few reasons for me to be upset."

"Isn't there though?" Estelle asked as she turned to him. "I wonder."

Raven blinked, then before he even thought about it, he looked away.

"So there is something?" Estelle asked.

Raven sighed deeply. "Look, we all got skeletons in our closet. Especially when you are in my position." he commented. "You don't have to worry about it."

"And what position might that be you are in?" Estelle asked innocently.

"Aren't you asking a lot of questions?" Raven asked in a more tired voice.

"I'm sorry." Estelle blushed looking down.

Raven rolled his eyes. "I thought it was obvious anyway. I was working directly under Don Whitehorse, leader of the Altosk and the Union. Basically I was the guy he send out doing any practical missions he couldn't afford going to himself, loads of leg work." he commented.

"The Don." Estelle breathed and then looked down… It wasn't to hard to figure what she was thinking now. The Don was dead, gone. Raven closed his eyes. Shit, now he started feeling things too. He felt that tugging in his chest, and even his throat tying knots. Stop... Just stop!

"You… You worked pretty close with him didn't you?" Estelle asked.

Raven shrugged. "As I told you, I did a ton of his leg work. He would send me out on long distance missions, kind of like his ambassador, sometimes we wouldn't see each other for months." That he would spend some of those months training with his brigade was an issue he carefully skipped over... Even though, getting to train and not having to hide had been kind of nice. Perhaps now when all this was over, he wouldn't have to play dual personalities anymore. Now that the Don was dead, there probably wouldn't be much use for Raven. Still... The Don... Raven had seen it himself but it didn't feel real, how could he actually be dead?

"He must really have trusted you." Estelle commented and Raven shrugged.

"I guess." he commented.

"You must have looked up to him to." Estelle continued.

Raven was silent as he looked down… If he had had a heart, it would have been beating loudly, but there was no heart, only that constant buzz. Still, his eyes were starting to sting. No, he would not show weakness.

"You.." Estelle breathed. "Am I going to far? Don't you want to talk about it?" she asked and Raven sighed deeply closing his eyes, willing his chest, throat and eyes under control until he was relaxed and could speak with his usual calm.

"Talking wont change what happened." Raven muttered leaning over the railing as he looked towards the night sky. "The Don is gone, now we all just have to figure out where to go from here." he commented.

"So you are mourning him." Estelle commented.

Raven closed his eyes. "He was a great man." he then admitted, ones again feeling that tightening in his chest. "He always did what needed to be done, no matter the cost, and he didn't dodge his due payments, he paid in full. He lived up to his promises and took his punishments when they were due without regret."

"Must be hard having to live up to that." Estelle commented.

"Pff, as if I could ever live up to any of that. I don't even come close, so I don't see why I should bother trying to hard." Raven rolled his eyes. "I… Never mind." he looked away.

"Raven.." Estelle breathed.

"Don't trick me into babbling all my secrets." Raven then asked in a slight smirk. "I'll loose my mysterious charm that way!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dig into your past." Estelle blushed as she looked down. "I was just worried about you."

At that Raven blinked. "Oh." he commented surprised. "Well, that's okay. There's no need to be worried about old Raven." he assured. "Old Raven can take care of himself."

"You're not even old at all." Estelle commented.

"Oh come on, it's all I have!" Raven exclaimed.

"Of course it isn't." Estelle shook her head. "I know the others wont say it, but I will." she stated as she stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on Ravens, making Raven look surprised up and meet Estelles genuine green eyes that could tell no lies. "We are all so glad you are here with us, we are depending on your guidens, you are both wise and clever Raven. And though you don't like to show it, you are kind." she said as she lifted his hand and held it in both her own.

Astounded Raven looked at Estelle then looked down. "I wish you wouldn't say that." he then admitted as he pulled his hand away from hers. "You shouldn't be relying on me, please don't." he asked looking down, then glanced up meeting Estelles painfully honest eyes whom were still looking at him like that.

"I know you'll do the right things in the end, like the creed of brave Vesperia says. I'm so glad I met you." Estelle said then leaned over and kissed Raven on the cheek stunning Raven a whole lot, Estelle how ever was smiling and beaming like a little ray of sunshine in front of him.
"I should go to bed." Estelle then said. "Good night Raven, i'll see you tomorrow." she said walking past Raven and down towards the sleeping Quarters to the ship.

Raven how ever was stunned, he was standing in a rigid stunned position, it was like he had been turned into stone. A lump formed in his throat, and then something happened, something that hadn't been happening as much as one single time for ten years, not since Damuron was still alive… Tears formed in Ravens blue eyes, and then they ran down his face. "Dammit!" he hissed as he bowed his head, and held his hand over his eyes. "Dammit Estelle, why did you have to do that?!" he asked.

He couldn't afford this now, he couldn't afford real emotions. He had to move on with his orders. These emotions were not even his, they were Raven's and he was Schwann, they were two different people. What ever Raven did Schwann didn't have to worry about, so who cared what Raven felt? Raven wasn't real! Schwann wasn't real either! He was a puppet! Alexeis puppet! He didn't have emotions, he was not supposed to have emotions!

….Right?