After waiting an hour or so, Ahiru had yet to return to Jaden. You could easily imagine the growing anxiety that struck the boy so greatly.

Being no longer able to fight this feeling, he followed off in Ahiru's direction only to spy what looked like his oh so favorite soldier carrying off an unconscious Ahiru over his shoulder! And judging by the direction he was going, he was about to take her off onto an airship!

Jumping into his instincts, Jaden rushed after Fakir shouting "Stop, you kidnapper!"

Fakir didn't listen and instead ran off into the crowd of merchants, customers, sailors, and soldiers with Ahiru still flung over his back. However, Jaden was persistent and chased after him in the clogged mess of Port.

The pushing and shoving was unbelievable besides the fact Jaden was only running on adrenalin and the only thing that kept his focus was seeing Ahiru pretty much acting like a rag doll. However, the deeper he went, the greater the space between people became less vacant.

As several minutes ticked away, Jaden had lost all sight of Ahiru and her captor.


Once Jaden was out of sight, Fakir took a quick 360 sweep of the area and tossed Ahiru into the open air where she quickly disappeared, followed by her captor.
The two had appeared on a cloaked pirate ship. But not just any pirate ship….

No, this was Captain Drosselmeyer's ship.

Ahiru lay on the wooden deck still unconscious. Drosselmeyer walked up to the new cargo Fakir had brought on board. He gave her a small kick, but she didn't budge. He looked at Fakir with a smile.

"Well done Envy!" The captain sounded ecstatic, "And everything went according to plan?"
'Fakir' quickly shape-shifted back into Envy who carried a smug look on his face.
"Besides having only one person panicking, went off without a hitch."
"And for the cargo?"
"With that smack on the head I gave her, she'll be out till tonight."
"Excellent. Lock her up bellow deck! And get this ship moving!"


Anguish: 'I was supposed to protect her! That's why Mama Edel sent me.
Despair: 'I'm so useless to have lost her that easily…'
Worry: 'What's going to happen to her now? What will Fakir do to her?'
Fear: 'What will happen to me when I tell Mama Edel about this? What if he kills her?'

Questions and feelings like these kept echoing throughout Jaden's mind. This left him constantly turning around every corner of Port trying to find some sign of where Ahiru might be.

That was when it happened.
Fakir came into Jaden's line of sight.

Without any hesitation, Jaden tackled Fakir to the ground, screaming "What did you do with her!?"
Jaden began throwing punches at Fakir while he blocked and dogged each blow.

Fakir quickly kicked Jaden off of him, rolled to his side to draw his pistol, rolled back and shot Jaden in the foot.
As Jaden crumpled to the ground, Fakir took out a set of cuffs and clasped them onto Jaden's wrists and calmly stated.
"Assaulting an officer while he is on duty is a high crime and is a jail-able punishment. I am afraid you're under arrest. Come with me."


Mama Edel and her troupe were quickly notified of Jaden's arrest, but they had assumed Ahiru would have been with him seeing that she didn't come back.

This trial was not going to be easy…

Now bear in mind the court system here in Gold Crown was… well never really decided on.
It was merely victim bares his story, accused bares his, jury makes a decision based off what they hear. No one is presented by lawyers, so people couldn't be easily deceived by a trained silver tongue.
No witnesses, because anyone can "see" what happened.

It was merely just pick a side and go!

They chose to start with Fakir.

"I arrived at the Port by 10. I took over patrol of Port when the suspect in question jumped me, screaming and asking what I had done with 'her'. I responded with self-defense by shooting his foot so I could arrest him."

"So you mean to say, you were merely doing your duty and when attacked for no good reason, Lieutenant?" One of the main jury asked.
"Yes sir."

"Very well. Defense, take the stand and present your case."

Jaden stood up glumly, with a hint of anger seeing that Fakir had been denying what had really happened!

"I arrived at Port about 9:45 in the day with my friend Ahiru. We were to scout the Port for trade opportunities. But I lost track of her in the crowd. After about an hour of searching I found her unconscious over his shoulder!" he pointed at Fakir, who only glared at him.
"He carried her off into the crowd and onto an airship. And minutes later, he played it off as if nothing happened. I found him later and jumped him so he could tell me what he did with her!"

The jury was silent for a moment. This was defiantly unexpected…
"Tell us gypsy, are you certain it was the lieutenant you saw carry your friend?"
"Yes, she always hangs around him. I'd recognize him anywhere."

"You don't suppose that perhaps he was helping carry her to somewhere safe?"
Jaden brow furrowed, "I would think a soldier would know an injured gypsy would be safest with their troupe. He saw me while he was carrying her and ran the other way! I'm pretty sure he wasn't helping her."

The jury was silent again, until finally they looked to Fakir.
"Lieutenant, what is your relationship with this Ahiru person? What are you thoughts on the accused statements?"

Fakir sighed and stood up to answer, "Ahiru is a good friend of mine. But I never saw her today." Fakir turned his head to Jaden, "Are you certain that it was me you saw? Are you certain it wasn't another solider?"

"Yes, I'm certain it was you." Jaden said flatly, "You're image has been burned into my retinas from having to see you with Ahiru so much!"
"Very well." The jury stated.

The jury excused themselves and left everyone else to their thoughts.

A silence passed over the room…

Fakir cleared his throat, "Jaden, be perfectly honest with me here, alright? There are no judges, jury, or anyone's neck about to be cut off here. Just tell me the whole truth, are you absolutely certain that you saw me carry Ahiru away?"

Jaden glared at Fakir, "I already told you! Stop denying what you did! I SAW YOU CARRY HER AWAY!"

Mama Edel walked up to the two young men, "And how did she get out of your sight Jaden?" She said with a rather scolding tone.
Jaden gulped, "She usually does that. I just expected to find her right after words…"
"I strictly told you to stay with her at all times!"
"I know, but-"

"Wait!" Fakir interrupted, "I should be to blame for that…"

Now all eyes were on Fakir, "I asked for her help to give me a better understanding of the Port. She was able to get her scouting done, but at the same time she helped me know the people and places at Port. She was under my watch when she would sneak away from Jaden… and I guess she was expecting something similar to that which led to her kidnapping… But I still didn't see her."

"How do we know he's not lying?!" Jaden snapped.
"Calm down child. There is a simple way of knowing," Edel began, "Uzura, could you play Fakir's heartbeat for us?"

"Okay mama-zura!" Uzura smiled as she took out her drum and placed it on the floor. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Everyone waited…

Uzura opened her eyes and began to beat her drum to a steady heartbeat rhythm. Fakir wasn't lying.

Jaden had no argument to make. Now there's a shock…

By this point the jury came back in, followed by Councilman Mytho.
Wait, what?! Councilman Mytho?! Why was he here? The councilman would only come on important affairs, not an ordinary case like this.

Mytho came to the stand with a disapproving look on his face. He looked down at both the young men in question.

"After all the evidence that I have received, the jury and I have reached a decision. Due to Ms. Ahiru's kidnapping, you two, accompanied by whoever you choose and myself, are to find her and bring her kidnappers to justice."

Jaden and Fakir looked at one another with wide eyes.
He was kidding right? These two couldn't be in the same room for more than 5 seconds before trying to bash each other's head in. Who in right mind came up with this? And why is it important to find Ahiru? Not that she didn't matter of course…

How would this turn out?

"This voyage," Mytho continued, "will begin immediately."
"Wait sir," Fakir stepped in, "How would we even begin searching? Jaden claims I kidnapped her, but I never saw her."
"That is because Jaden had seen the shape-shifter from our recent enemy, the sky pirates. They've been spying on us just waiting for the right moment to strike. But now we need to stop them. Regardless of how you two feel about each other, you must work together to stop them! That is my final verdict. You are all dismissed. Be at the docks within an hour."

Everyone left the room, taking all this new information in.

As Fakir left the court room he was pulled aside by Mytho.
"Fakir," He whispered, "Listen closely. Something is not right about Jaden's side of the story. From the research we gathered there is a theory that the pirates have a cloaking device on their ship."

"So…?"
"So… how did Jaden see the ship if it was invisible?"
"But councilman, that's just a theory. I'm pretty sure he just assumed that last part."
"Maybe so, but I have a bad feeling about that boy. Just keep an eye on him okay?"
"Yes sir."


A/N: Whew, that took a while. But now chapter 7 is complete! Now let's see if we can do chapter 8.
In the meantime, my thanks to:

Guest (for reviewing!)
Kriro-tone (for reviewing!)
The Girl Of Many Names (for reviewing!)
Tori D (for reviewing!)
James Birdsong (for reviewing!)
Love the Night (for following!)
TohruRose (for reviewing, following, and favoring!)
FairyTailForever101 (for favoring!)
Warrichan (for reviewing, following, and favoring!)
Zukolover123 (for following and favoring!)

Sorry you guys had to wait so long with that horrible cliff hanger!
But now we keep rolling! Let me know what you think so far!