BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric 'Erico' Lawson


Forty-Five: The World's Hope

The Silver Sea, Mid-Ocean, Lower Sky

Dangral Island, Auxiliary Ventilation Shaft 2-D

328 Days After the (First) Grand Fortress Escape

Vyse flew the skiff as quickly and as quietly as he could towards Dangral Island. Avoiding the broader installations of the mooring docks and the manmade harbor that extended out from the sloped island, he landed it on the back of the island in the shadows cast by the higher slopes, next to a large air shaft.

They disembarked, himself and Aika and Fina and Enrique, along with the added and unfamiliar presence of the Yafutoman sisters Kirala and Urala. Dressed from head to toe in dark fabric that left only their eyes visible, the carpenter and the cook looked like entirely different people. The softness and the smiles that had been their trademarks were gone, and they had the look of hardened warriors. Or killers. Vyse was no stranger to taking lives. Neither he nor Aika were, for as long as they'd been Blue Rogues. As he'd told Centime long ago, they had been born into this war, there had never been a time in his life that Valua wasn't synonymous with the enemy in his mind.

The Dark Rift, Yafutoma, Glacia, Yeligar...Ever since they escaped the Grand Fortress with Enrique and commandeered the Delphinus, he had been living a very different life. One full of laughter and love and a glimpse of a different kind of life full of exploration and wonder and mystery. Now he stood looking down a large, deep ventilation shaft on the backside of a new Valuan military installation, and he was plagued by phantom sensations. The taste of blood's iron tang, the sting of sulphur and gunpowder residue, the acrid scent in the air that always followed the Electri spells the Valuan corps favored. It was a return to the war, and for a moment that thought paralyzed him.

Before he and Aika and Fina had declared their love for each other, the war with Valua had felt different. He'd been reckless, he knew that now. More willing to throw himself into the fray with a half-baked plan and a reckless belief that nothing could stop him. He hadn't been able to see past the reign of the Valuan Empire with anything but a nebulous plan of wanting to travel the world, see everything there was to see. He was entirely different now. Ever since Fina had crashed into their lives, he had changed. Aika had changed. Fina had changed from who she was, even. It hadn't happened suddenly, it had been gradual. It was the weight of responsibility. The weight of leadership, of knowing that more lives than his own now rested on his shoulders. And even more than that, the lives of those most precious to him were in peril. The sensation froze him. He'd never had so much to lose before.

Aika's hand clapped on his shoulder just hard enough to make him jump. Before he could turn to her, she'd yanked his black tricorn hat down over his eyes, and he huffed as he pulled it back up. His fiery Valkyrie grinned at him with glowing brown eyes, unburdened and bright. "This isn't a good time to go falling asleep on us, Vyse." She told him, and took point down the ladder bolted to the side of the shaft. "Come on, we're wasting daylight!"

Such as it was. At this altitude, the air was warmer and darker and the skies were overcast by the cloud layer above their heads. It gave Dangral Island a heavy and foreboding air. Kirala and Urala were next down the ladder, with Enrique moving after them.

Fina was the last aside from Vyse to take the plunge, and she lingered by his side, pressing a hand to his forearm and looking up at him. "Are you all right?" She asked him, concern writ plain over her face. Vyse looked back at her, losing himself in those deep blue eyes of hers.

She was so brave, braver than he was probably. Even at his lowest, Vyse had known how to face the world. He'd known up from down and how to cobble together a desperate plan when all the cards seemed stacked against him. But Fina? Fina had been thrown into a world she had no forewarning of to take on a mission that she had never been trained for. She had struggled every day to improve herself, to adapt, to overcome. She had overcome the betrayal of her childhood friend Ramirez, come to terms with her own heart, and been brave enough to tell himself and Aika flat out that her place was with them.

If she could do that, then why was he so paralyzed?

Vyse smiled back at her, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. "Thank you. Just got lost in my own head for a minute."

"And here I thought I was the only one who did that." She teased him. "Shall we, love?"

"Ladies first." He gestured. "I'll be right behind you." Fina gave him another one of her dazzling smiles, squeezed his arm one last time, and made for the ladder, working her way down.

Vyse looked down the shaft at Aika, at Fina, at Enrique and two members of his crew who Moegi had charged with the exiled prince's safety. He took a resolving breath, and followed them.

He'd never had so much to lose before.

He'd never had so much to live for before, either.


They made their way through a wide ventilation system big enough for them to walk through without having to crouch down. It had taken them all of perhaps six steps before Kirala jerked her arm up in a closed fist in a motion that seemed to be universal, because they all stopped walking. The carpenter said nothing, but pulled out several small cloth wraps from one of the pouches around her waist, handing out two to each member of the small squad. They slipped on over their boots, and Vyse did notice that it dampened the noise of the hard leather soles striking the metallic plating. Mollified by the gesture, he made a greater effort to move quietly. So did everyone else.

It gave Vyse time to wonder why Valua would ever need to make these passages so large. Was it just a means of maximizing air flow? Was there some other purpose for it? An answer supplied itself when they passed by a pair of large fanblades spinning fast enough to blow air from deeper inside of the base in their direction, towards the long shaft that they'd come down. And then twenty seconds later, as they were all moving further down the long hallway with only the light of distant grates to guide their way, the approach of noisy footsteps around the bend of the ventilation ducts made a second reason for their size clear. A Valuan soldier, armored but without the clunky helmet, came around the corner with a spotlight lantern in one hand and a toolkit in the other. The soldier froze when the light from his heatless lamp caught the intruders. Kirala and Urala didn't.

Before the man could get a word out, two small darts whistled down the gusty corridor. The first struck his armor and bounced off harmlessly, but the second stuck into his neck right as he gasped. His eyes slid up into the back of his head and he collapsed in a heap.

Kirala hissed and pounded a fist into the side of her leg as she said something in Yafutoman in a low voice. Vyse looked to the others and saw Enrique squinting his face up.

"Very...something?"

"Sloppy." Fina corrected him. "She said very sloppy. I'm assuming she meant her aim." Fina asked something in Yafutoman, and the dark-garbed Kirala gave a short nod of her head.

"At least we know why these passages are so large now." Vyse said, walking over to the fallen man and checking him over. His pulse was low but still there, and Vyse yanked the small dart out from his neck, examining it. "What did you hit him with?"

"Sleep poison." Urala told him.

"She knows plants." Kirala added helpfully. Vyse took the news in stride, adding that tidbit to his catalogue of information about his crewmembers.

"Not just a wonderful cook then." He answered, and though her face was hidden but for her eyes, he was certain that by the way they crinkled up the younger of the two Yafutoman women was smiling back at him. "How long?" Urala held up first one finger, then waggled her hand before holding up two. "One to two hours?" She nodded. "Thoughtful of you."

"Why didn't you just kill him?" Aika wondered aloud, and the two Yafutomans turned to look at the redhead.

"Is it allowed?" Kirala asked, focusing her gaze on Vyse.

They were deferring to his choices, Vyse realized. They could kill, he was entirely certain of that. But the decision of whether or not to was his.

"Not yet." He answered, making sure that he looked at everyone. "It might become necessary later on, but right now let's hold off. He wasn't attacking us, he was just up here to do his job. This isn't a destroy mission, this is reconnaissance. We need to know what they're up to here on Dangral and we won't be able to do that if they've raised all the alarms because they keep finding corpses."

"Sound advice." Enrique agreed. "Nonlethals only for the time being. Thank you, Vyse." It was strange, Vyse thought, that he found himself empathizing with Valuans a little bit. Enrique's influence, no doubt. The exiled prince had made it abundantly clear that not every Valuan was a monster. And Blue Rogues weren't monsters either. A little mercy couched in pragmatism would go a long way.

"I think we can manage that." Fina smiled, conjuring a locus of purple magic around her hand.


Taking advantage of Kirala and Urala's skills as well as Fina's Slipara magic gave them an edge on the Valuan patrols within the base. Moving around through the ventilation tunnels gave them unprecedented access to the upper level, but there was a limit to where they could reach. They got the drop on a pair of soldiers on guard duty supervising a cache of coin and valuables that were quickly liberated, putting them to sleep and then setting the pair up with a bottle of Valuan Rye that they emptied out over their uniforms before discarding next to their slumped bodies against the passed over living quarters, cramped bunkhouses that were mostly empty, and there the six of them overheard gossip that chilled Vyse's blood.

There was a meeting of the Admiralty taking place on Dangral Island today. The entire Admiralty. Fina was shaking a little as they moved on, and Aika walked beside her, holding the Silvite with one arm around her side as they kept on.

"He doesn't know we're here." Aika reassured her in a whisper they could barely hear over the noise of the fans. "He can't get to you, and we don't have the Moon Crystals here either." She meant Ramirez, and Vyse agreed with Aika on that, but the knowledge that all of them were gathered here for a meeting instead of the storied gathering halls of the Grand Fortress didn't sit well on his nerves.

"Why would they all be here?" He asked Enrique, when the older man slowed up and fell to the rear of their formation. "What the hell are they doing here that would require the entire Admiralty to show up away from their headquarters?"

"Nothing good." Enrique murmured back to him. "It's long been a standing policy to have at least one admiral stationed at the Grand Fortress, even when the others are dispatched to oversee operations elsewhere. Typically, that has been Galcian, save for more extreme situations where the Lord Admiral felt his...presence was required."

"So. Really unusual then, for them all to be here."

"Highly unusual." Enrique agreed, and the two men shared a look full of concern and worry. Then Enrique's face hardened and he looked on ahead. "We need to get deeper into the base, figure out what's going on. But that means getting past those fanblades we passed by earlier."

Aika had slowed up ahead, Kirala and Urala just behind her, and then emulating their style, his Valkyrie jerked her arm up with a clenched fist. They all stopped, and Vyse heard faint Valuan voices speaking at what seemed to be a conversational volume. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Aika could, and by the way her shoulders stiffened up it wasn't anything good. The voices faded out along with footsteps as they retreated, and there was the sound of a heavy metal door closing. Then Aika spun around, her brown eyes flinty.

"Auxiliary power room down there. A patrol checking it out. And they were talking about an elevator into the Deep Sky. Into the Abyss." She hissed. "What in blazes could they be after?"

Vyse had no real idea, and he looked to Fina. The Silvite had always had some vital clue about the strange mysteries they encountered through their journey, but now she frowned, as puzzled as he was.

"Fina?"

"I don't know." She said, giving her head a quick shake. "There's nothing in the Deep Sky but the surface, a landscape kept unreasonably warm from trapped heat and forever lost in the dark. You call it the Abyss, and it's well named. If there is something in the Deep Sky worth…" Her voice trailed off, and her eyes widened before her jaw snapped shut with a click.

"Fina? You think of something?"

"My ship." The Silvite murmured. "My ship is down there."

"You think they're building an elevator into the Deep Sky so they can get to your skyship?" Aika asked her carefully. "Why?"

"Because it's Valua. Because they want all the Moon Crystals." Fina summarized darkly. "And no doubt Ramirez told them about the Great Silver Shrine, and the Moon Crystal they'd never be able to claim because they'd never be able to get there. It's just a guess, but right now it's the only thing that makes sense to me."

Vyse mulled that over and nodded. "All right. We need to get deeper into the base then." He glanced to Aika. "Hey Aika. You said that's an aux power room, right? Do you think it controls the circuit for those big fanblades we passed by earlier?"

Aika grinned and dug into her satchel, coming out with a pair of screwdrivers. She handed one off to Kirala and the two knelt down, undoing the ventilation grate beside them. "One way to find out."


In the limited time that they had, Aika could have isolated the ventilation system's fuses and called it a day, but she didn't. Instead, the frustrated engineer settled for pulling the main breaker, then quickly yanking out every fuse she could from the distribution board after, frying them in subtle ways with her magic and putting them back before Enrique and Vyse pulled her back up. They were fifty paces back the direction they'd come before they heard the sound of loud footsteps and angry voices moving back into the power room.

Aika managed a smug grin as they kept on, one that Vyse had to return. She all but skipped to his side and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "They'll flip the main breaker on and then spend the next four or so hours tearing their hair out wondering why nothing's working in the base."

"You're so evil. My evil genius." Vyse praised her softly, gratified to see her face glowing from his words. Aika came up behind them, and Vyse caught the Silvite goosing Aika with one hand and acting innocent after she'd jumped from the touch.

"Vyse?"

"Does it matter which one of us copped a feel?" He whispered into her ear, and her blush went even darker. Unable to get the words out, Aika shook her head mutely. "It was Fina, by the way." He added after, winking, and the Silvite gave out into giggles that she muffled with her hand. Aika looked behind her and glared.

"Oh, I'm getting you back for that later, Princess."

"Focus, people." Enrique sighed in exasperation. They reached the turn with the enormous fanblades that separated them from the rest of the complex, and found them shut down and left at an angle that left the corridor wide open for them. Passing through, they went down a set of stairs that turned twice before leading to a doorway. Vyse took point and opened it just enough to stick his head out.

It was a long corridor carved into the rock of Dangral, doors lining both sides. An open elevator shaft was at one end of the hall, with no lift present. And there were no guards, which…

Well. It was good, but it still set his teeth on edge. "It's quiet." He said to everyone after closing the door. "I didn't see any guards in the hall beyond. Which doesn't make any sense to me, a place like this should be crawling with patrols."

"If they've put their faith into all the scouting ships around Dangral, they may consider the base impenetrable." Enrique offered hopefully. Vyse stared at him, and the prince sighed. "Yes, I know. It sounded stupid the moment I said it. We'll want to err on the side of caution then. I'm unfamiliar with the layout of this place. The Grand Fortress, I knew well enough to get you around unseen, but here…"

"Too bad they don't put up a map of this place so we could find our way around." Aika complained. "Something big, maybe? With a dot of our location telling us 'You are here' maybe?"

Enrique huffed once, smiling. "In a military base, that might be considered a security risk. I'm afraid that Galcian and most of the Admiralty aren't quite that stupid."

"Most?" Vyse questioned, opening the door again.

"Vigoro and Alfonso are the exceptions." Enrique clarified, his face darkening. "And most days, both from my limited observations of the man and what I heard, De Loco was too obsessed about his experiments to care."

They swept out into the corridor, with Kirala and Urala listening at the doors while Vyse and Enrique and Aika kept the corridor covered. They cleared out several rooms in that fashion, only coming across a pair of sentries in another room that they quickly subdued and knocked out. They were just about to move on when the sound of thundering footsteps got their attention, and Vyse hissed, running back to the storage cache where they'd subdued the two Valuan troopers. He flung the door open and everyone darted inside, and Vyse shut it tight and left the light off as the sound of iron-toed boots got louder, until it was clear that they were racing past them.

"Hurry, to the docks!" He heard one trooper yell to all the others.

"Why?! What's wrong? Is it pirates?" Another one asked.

"No." The other soldier yelled back. "Lord Galcian's ordered Admiral Alfonso's arrest, and the report is he's making a break for his flagship! Either we stop him or it's our heads!"

None of them said anything after the running mob of troopers finally faded from their hearing. His head humming with a hundred different possibilities and no truly good answer, Vyse hit the lights again and looked to his comrades. All of them had a severe look on their face, even Kirala and Urala if the hardness in their eyes was a measure of what their masks and hoods covered up.

"Enrique? Any ideas here?" Vyse asked his friend.

"No good ones." The prince shook his head. "Alfonso turning traitor? Never. He's a loyalist to my mother, through and through, as blue-blooded a nobleman as there ever was. I've not had a good feeling since we set foot on this island. We need answers. Something's happening within the Admiralty that I don't have any idea about. They're all gathered here and suddenly Alfonso's a wanted man?"

"We need to keep moving." Vyse said, reorienting everyone as he swung the door open. "At least we know why things are so quiet here. Everyone else went towards the docks, wherever those are."

"Then let's dig a little deeper into the base while they're distracted." Aika refocused them, and they all nodded, taking off faster than before. A good Blue Rogue knew when to take advantage of changing conditions. Infighting among the enemy made for a rather good opportunity.


In their trek, they emerged outside of the base interior long enough to register what looked like the beginning of a rail platform being built in a small aperture in the island's south-facing side. Looking through his binoculars, Vyse could make out a smaller landmass about three lunaleagues off directly across from Dangral which was perched close to the edge of the Great Vortex, a swirling miasma of clouds that could be seen through the clouds separating the Central and Lower Skies on a good day. Sailors' legends spoke of it as the 'Eye of the Abyss', or more colorfully, the 'hole to hell' if they were particularly bitter.

On that island sitting next to it, as he looked through his telescopic goggle, he could make out lights dotted over its surface. Valua was building there as well. He let the others know, filed the information away for later review, shivered, and then moved on with the others, plumbing the base's depths.

That led them to an underground drydock hangar of tremendous size, in which a familiar ugly green ship of modular design rested. It had been a while since Vyse had last seen it in the skies over Ixa'taka, but he hadn't forgotten the Chameleon. The flagship of Admiral De Loco was an ugly thing whose augmentations and appearance seemed to always be changing.

It was still changing, Vyse saw. So did Aika. "He's modifying the Chameleon again." She muttered, giving the ship with its three-barreled nose-mounted cannon one last glance before walking towards a worktable set up on the docks. "What the...Vyse!" She hissed to get his attention, as he'd wandered on to the front of the drydock on a hunch and had found another Moonfish to be captured for Maria's pet bird floating off the ship's nose. He hastened to her side as she lifted up a series of diagrams and sketches, some of which displayed the Chameleon and others which seemed to be of more specific pieces of the ship. "Pressure augmentations? Hull reinforcement? Improved atmospheric seals and air coolant systems? Submergence engine modifications?" She got out in a strangled voice. "What the hell is…" She froze and looked to Vyse. "Vyse, I think I know what he's doing."

"I'm all ears." He told her.

"He's modifying his ship so that it can dive into the Deep Sky." Aika looked over to Fina with worried eyes. "Could he be going after your ship too?"

The Silvite drew in a breath. "I wouldn't put it past them. And it would make more sense for a salvage operation to have a ship to retrieve my skyship. At that depth, you'd need a modified bodysuit to resist the heat and the increased atmospheric pressure. A person might be able to survive it for a short while, but not painlessly."

"Then we're taking these." Aika said with finality. "If he can do it to the Chameleon, we can do it to the Delphinus."

"Really?" Enrique wondered. "It sounds like a rather significant upgrade!"

"You would think so, but no. Not as severe as De Loco's workload must be." The redhead shook her head. "So far, we've upgraded the hull plating - twice - we've improved the Moonstone Cannon, and tweaked the moonstone condensors so that the ship can fly at any altitude from the height of the Iron Star to here in the depths of the Lower Sky. We improved the pressure seals to take on the frigid cold of the Lands of Ice, and we even rubberized the hull and put in a lightning rod system for a one-off showdown with Yeligar. The Delphinus is one hellishly marvelous ship and it's already got a thick enough shell around it to take on the brunt of these estimated pressures. We'll have work to do on the engines and the ship's atmospheric regulators, but we're far more prepared for a Deep Sky refit than De Loco's flagship is. Even with the fact that we'll need to install a salvage crane in the lower hold."

"You must have ideas." Vyse hummed, smiling as he watched his Valkyrie spin herself into a web of brainstorming. Aika laughed lowly and winked at him.

"When do I not?"

Kirala hissed suddenly at the sound of a distant shout, and the kunoichi threw another one of her small daggers through the air and up towards the side of the Chameleon where a sentry on patrol had sighted them. It caught him in the unprotected gut, and the fellow clutched at his wound before tipping forward and slumping against the side of the rail.

A moment later, a klaxon began wailing.

"Shit." Vyse ground out. "I think we've been made."

"Either that or Alfonso's raising more of a ruckus than we thought." Aika offered, quickly gathering up all of De Loco's schematics and blueprints and stowing them in her bag.

"We usually don't have that kind of luck." Vyse reminded her, gripping the hilts of his swords. "Let's move, people!" He shot off in a dead run, and the squad followed.


Vyse had estimated that on a base this size, there had to be close to 300 to 400 active duty personnel. As they beat as hasty a retreat as they could, it felt like they ran into close to 50 of them, mostly guards carrying stun batons but a few that carried more lethal blades and were equipped with magic. In a pinch, he knew that they would have been able to take them on with their standard formation of four, but he was so very glad that Kirala and Urala had come along with them. Whether they were throwing knives or smoke bombs or slashing out with those rather terrifyingly sharp swords of theirs, the two sisters proved that they had a skill for violence that rivaled any of the Tenkou that Vyse had encountered. They worked together seamlessly and covered blind spots that their haste in escaping opened up. Between bloody swordwork for the Valuans who got too close, spellwork that sent them scattering in the face of broiling explosions or fields of ice and sleep dust, and the long-range sniping done by Aika's well-practiced boomerang tosses and throwing knifework, they eventually made their way back to the corridor with the steps that led up into the ductwork they'd used to infiltrate Dangral from the start, alarms still wailing and the sound of more soldiers charging up behind them.

"Hurry, we've got to bolt!" Aika shouted urgently at the others. She and Kirala were at the front while Enrique and Vyse took up the rear of their six-Rogue squad, Vyse constantly looking back over his shoulder in case the sound of the Valuan pursuit force manifested into a physical presence.

It was the sound of a door opening ahead of them that signaled the end of the chase. The door opening and Aika and Fina's terrified gasps, and a low voice full of darkness and promised pain.

"That's far enough, Pirate."

Vyse pulled to a halt beside Aika and Fina, while Kirala and Urala took up defensive positions around Enrique. The heavy presence of Lord Admiral Galcian, leader of the Admiralty, felt like a leaden weight around his ankles. The black and pepper-gray haired man stood in his usual uniform and armor, and he was carrying a familiar sword. He'd held it the last time that Vyse had the misfortune of meeting the man in the cozy space of a train car, and Enrique's worried descriptions of the blade were no less impressive now. Galcian stood like a man convinced of the outcome of not only this standoff, but of every battle he walked into.

"Galcian." Vyse hissed his name. The head of the Valuan war machine raised an eyebrow and smirked briefly.

"Vyse the Charismatic. The most wanted Blue Rogue on our bounty board. You're up to three stars now, did you know that?"

"I'm touched." Vyse answered in a drawl.

"To be completely honest, I was not expecting to find you here." Galcian said to him darkly. "You've made quite a name for yourself, ruining our plans."

"Lord Galcian!" Enrique snapped, stepping forward just a hair. The middle-aged commander turned his eyes towards the prince, and the smirk faded from his face. "What are you trying to do here with this base?"

"Ah, if it isn't the former prince who turned against his people to side with air pirates."

"Blue Rogues." Vyse corrected him hotly. Galcian ignored the jibe.

"I owe you no answers, Enrique. Whatever Valua does is no longer your concern. You've sided with the enemy, and you will share their fate." Galcian raised his sword and pointed it towards them all. "You escaped me once, Vyse. You won't escape a second time."

The sound of armored footsteps behind them grew loud enough that it could no longer be ignored, and Vyse turned himself halfway around in time to see a full squad of ten troopers running out into the corridor behind them, cutting off their retreat.

"Admiral Galcian!" The lead trooper shouted. "We'll assist you!"

"No." Galcian shook his head, not dropping his sword. "I can do this on my own. Fall back for now, secure your exit so they can't escape. Leave them to me."

"...As you command, sir." The officer in the Valuan bucket helmet saluted sharply, and he and the rest of his men turned, going back the way they'd come. The sound of the door closing behind them was ominously loud.

"Six against one, old man." Aika remarked in the tense silence. "You sure about those odds?"

"He is." Enrique said faintly. "Aika. Do not underestimate him. We'd be better off running." Galcian stood steady, relaxed and with a posture that made him look ready to charge them in an eyeblink.

"Amusing, to think that I would let you." Galcian said.

Vyse drew in a breath. "We've taken on worse odds. If De Loco couldn't stop us in Ixa'taka, and Gregorio couldn't stop us by Esperanza, and Vigoro and Belleza couldn't stop us in Yafutoma, what makes you think you can manage it?"

The corner of Galcian's mouth quirked up at that, like he wanted to smile. "Ship engagements all. I don't see your stolen ship here, do you?" The Lord Admiral pointed out. "It's just you, a traitor, and your little air pirate friends against me. And you're nothing but a boy."

The comment stung, and it was meant to sting. A year ago, he would have lost his temper and charged Galcian flat-out. But Vyse was a man now, a captain, and more lives than his own rested on his shoulders. The words of his father, ignored at the time, rang in his ears.

'There's a time to be brazen, Vyse, and then there are times when you need to be cautious. The Code may say we never back down from a greater danger, but that doesn't mean we throw ourselves into the grinder. We exist to stop Valua and to help people. We can't do either if we're dead.'

He held his ground. "Kirala? Get ready." Galcian's eyebrow quirked again, and Vyse fell into his stance, willing the Valuan admiral to focus on him. Kirala threw her last smoke bomb down on the ground, filling the air with cloudy gas. Vyse took up a defensive position with Enrique at his side while the softer footfalls of the women on their team moved to the side door which led to their escape. The groan of the metal gave away their plan, and a searing bolt of magic-fueled lightning screamed through the cloud, which was followed by a scream of anguish from Urala, a curse from Aika, and a grunt from Fina. They fell back away from the door and when the cloud dissipated, Vyse saw Galcian calmly strolling towards them, his free hand still extended with sparks dancing over his fingertips. The door to their escape was still crackling with the aftershocks of his power. It wasn't going away.

"He's got the door blocked off!" Fina warned him, passing a Sacres spell over Urala as the poor girl spasmed from the aftershocks of grabbing at the electrified door.

"I told you you weren't getting away from me." Galcian rumbled, and then something shifted in the air. Vyse barely had time to brace himself before Galcian was on top of him, that wicked sword slamming down with such force that Vyse's knees buckled when he brought both of his cutlasses up to block the overhand blow. "In what world did you ever think you could defeat me?"

Enrique moved almost as a blur, and Galcian backpedaled before the iridescent rapier forged from Ryu-Kan's Bluheim scale and moonsteel alloy could skewer him. "A world where he doesn't fight alone." Enrique rumbled.

Galcian laughed at the notion. "Well. Let's just see about that then."


Blue Rogues never give up.

With no choice but to fight and neutralize Galcian so that his spell on their doorway out would end, the six of them rallied. Vyse and Enrique worked in tandem, and after that first brutal strike he'd barely held off, Vyse kept to the training that Enrique had drilled into him day after day in their spars. Stay calm. Weave in the moment. Rely on speed and evasion, because Galcian's brutal blows and utter ferocity were unmatched. And even with all of that as his guidance, even with Enrique at his side, it wasn't enough.

The others did what they could. Aika's boomerang and the blows of Cupil, thrown in weapon form at Galcian, served as a distraction. His lovers hurled magic and spiritual fire when they could, but the speed and the tight quarters of the corridor meant their more destructive spells and abilities were out of the question. Fina pumped them all full of enervating power, trying to keep up with the growing fatigue and the deep bruises and close calls. Kirala and Urala moved like dark zephyrs, always lingering on the fringe of battle and darting in to strike when they could.

Blue Rogues never give up.

Vyse was wearing his captain's hat, and he could feel the power of all the generations between Daccat and himself flowing into his body and strengthening his blows and his endurance. He and Enrique moved with the trust that only came from hours of fighting and training side by side. He trusted that Aika and Fina knew what to do as well, trusted that Kirala and Urala knew themselves well enough to be where they needed to be and when to fall back. They were all giving it their best, and still…

Vyse had thought they were ready. All of it had led to this. Desperate in the face of the Lord Admiral's unbreaking presence, only one thing kept him fighting on. Faced with total defeat, he gripped his swords tighter and pushed back, repeating that long-uttered mantra over and over.

Blue Rogues never give up.

Galcian never released his grip on the spell that sealed their door to escape, he didn't need to. He came at them with what seemed like an endless pool of stamina, moving carefully at first, conservatively. Then, when he had a feel for their patterns, the weight of his presence deepened and his attacks became more ferocious. Galcian was fighting them without any magic at all, and he was still winning. Urala was the first to be knocked out, when on the last passing strike she made, Galcian sidestepped her blow, tripped her up long enough to make her stumble for a step, and then smashed the pommel of his blade against the back of her head with a dolorous blow that made her tumble to the ground. The loss of Urala's pressure on his flank left Kirala open, and when she ducked underneath a ferocious horizontal slash from the massive cleaver of a sword he used, Galcian caught her in the ribs with a lunge from his knee that cracked bone. Wheezing for air and clutching at her chest with her free arm, she could muster no defense when Galcian backhanded her and sent her sprawling to the floor.

Enrique roared and charged forward with Vyse hot on his heels. The prince's rapier slashed and stabbed, the speed and precision of the blows so furious that it stunned Vyse. Enrique had never, in all the time that they'd trained, ever come at him with so much killing intent. Galcian grunted and parried and weaved and not for a moment of it did the man indicate anything less than total confidence and the expectation of victory.

"You fight well, in the old style. Gregorio trained you to his specifications." Galcian commended him, and Enrique hesitated. Galcian's smirk turned venomous. "Now allow me to show you mine." The exiled prince took a step back and braced himself behind a summoned bubble of protection, a caution that was well merited when Galcian exploded in a roiling yellow light that made the very air around him dance with electricity. The Lord Admiral moved on Enrique and swarmed with power, and Vyse hissed, charging his blades with his spiritual energy.

Enrique struggled to keep up with Galcian's punishing assault, ducking and evading and using his blade to redirect the mighty swings and stabs. A jolt of power blasted the prince with every near miss, the tiny shocks causing his muscles to twitch and slowing him down.

"Enrique, MOVE!" Aika yelled, and experience in battle gave Enrique and Vyse enough forewarning to leap to the side before Aika unleashed a tunnel of fire from the glowing boomerang she spun in her hands. The speed and ferocity of it engulfed Galcian, who had only a moment to guard himself with his sword before he disappeared in the fire. Vyse grit his teeth and kept charging power into his blades.

As he feared, Aika's fire whirlwind wasn't enough. Galcian emerged from the blast with the edges of his clothes smoking a little, but otherwise unharmed. He drew in a loud breath through his nose and raced towards her, and Vyse shouted, lunging to intercept him. Enrique was just a touch faster, and got in front of the wide-eyed redhead in the nick of time. The heavy swing Galcian leveled was caught against the flat of Enrique's rapier, and the force of it sent the both of them flying back into the wall. They impacted hard and slumped to the ground, and Fina screamed Aika's name as she raced to them.

"That usually breaks swords." Galcian mused aloud, glancing at Enrique's rapier with appraising eyes.

Vyse let out a scream as he finished gathering his strength, and the power of his black tricorn hat flowed into his body. The sudden dominating glow of blue around him drew Galcian's attention, and Vyse bared his teeth at the man.

"Then how about I break yours?!" Vyse lunged forward, brimming with speed and ferocity. A swing of his off-hand blade threw a bolt of blue lightning that smashed into Galcian's defenses and pinned him down, and Vyse closed the gap with two more swings of his cutlasses that sent a crosscut blast of pure Blue Rogue determination and fury right for the man. It was everything Vyse had, everything he felt, a pirate's wrath made manifest. Galcian cringed from the light and Vyse charged in, slashing wildly at the man as he raced by.

When the light died down, Vyse had a moment to exult in the sight of blood along the edge of his primary cutlass. His triumph died a second later when a terrible pain from his side overwhelmed him, and he looked down to see a gash that had cut through his coat and the mail armor beneath it, and exposed bleeding flesh. Gasping in pain, he turned around and stumbled, just barely staying on his feet while Galcian slowly swiveled about with death in his eyes and a stain on his forearm where Vyse had connected.

Galcian offered no platitudes, no sneering commendation, no hollow praise. He raised his sword up and shook his head. "And now you die." Vyse heard Fina scream his name as his body started to grow cold and numb from his wound, and saw his death waiting for him. His own fear would paralyze him. It was his fear for his lovers and his crew that kept him upright and sluggishly raising his own blades.

The sound of the door down the corridor opening up again was loud and thundering in the tension of the moment, and though Galcian did not turn away from Vyse, he could see the older man's attention shift slightly.

"Fighting without me, are you?" Admiral Gregorio said loudly, as the door behind him closed and locked once more.

"Sparing you the trouble, Gregorio." Galcian answered, finally turning his head enough for a proper look. Vyse looked, as did a concussed Enrique and Aika. As Fina did also. The last time they had seen Gregorio had been at the ship's rail, when the damaged Auriga had been pulled up alongside the Delphinus after the decisive Battle of Esperanza. There was no warmth in the old man's eyes like there was back then. He stood tall with a shield on his left arm and a flanged long-shafted mace held in his right.

"I think I deserve a say in this fight, don't you?" Gregorio questioned, and started marching forward. "Here, at the end of it?"

"Hm." Galcian narrowed his eyes. "The pirate is mine, old man."

"I'm not here for him." Gregorio said, and his eyes fixed on Enrique as the noise of his clanking armor and steel-covered boots filled the space. "It has been a long time, my prince."

"Gregorio…" Enrique wheezed the man's name, pain and panic in his addled eyes. Vyse struggled to breathe.


Winston Gregorio was wizened and wrinkled in the way that a hard life spent fighting and sailing with not nearly enough laughter caused. Pushing past sixty, he was the oldest and most experienced of the admirals. He was a living legend, the 'Iron Will Admiral' that even Vyse's father spoke of in favorable terms. He commanded the 2nd Fleet, renowned for its stonewalling, defensive tactics, and was the most skilled when it came to sieges. Either surviving them or breaking them. His hair had once been a brilliant yellow the color of summer wheat, and while it had faded to gray it kept an air of strength and power around it.

When Vyse had last seen him there had been regret on his face, regret and longing as he said farewell to Prince Enrique when they sailed for the Dark Rift. Above all else, if Vyse knew anything about the man, it was that he was not prone to outbursts of emotion or impulsive decisions. Vyse had offered him a place in the Blue Rogues, a chance to join Enrique and himself and everyone else, and Gregorio had refused with great reluctance. The regret he'd had then was missing now. Only cold determination remained as he marched forward in military cadence towards them all. Gregorio was resolved.

"So. You came for the former prince." Galcian drawled, that smug smirk of his back in full force even as the sleeve of his uniform soaked up more blood from where Vyse had cut him.

"Yes. I all but raised Enrique." Gregorio agreed, moving with that same exacting slowness of his. "It makes him my responsibility, I think."

Galcian waved his free arm out in a magnanimous gesture. "By all means. What with Alfonso turning on us, it's only fitting you deal with one of our lesser headaches."

Gregorio smiled. It wasn't a kind smile and in spite of how cold he felt from his wounds, Vyse found he could shiver from something else. "Yes. I must deal with this."

Enrique tried to push himself up and couldn't, his hand slipping as he slumped back against the wall. There was pain in his eyes, and resignation as Gregorio walked towards them all. "Ir'unic. That you're here." The prince tried to say something meaningful, and it came out slurred and broken. Gregorio's eyes flickered for a bit, but he never stopped moving.

He was only a few paces now from Fina and Enrique and Aika. The prince and Vyse's beloved redhead were still dazed from being thrown into the wall, and Fina hovered over them protectively with Cupil transformed into a shield and her hands glowing with ominous silver light that didn't match the fear in her eyes. Gregorio didn't slow his pace. He kept on marching down the hall and drew closer to them. Enrique whispered the admiral's name, Aika tried to conjure up a spell and only ended up making her head hurt worse, if the wince was anything to go by. Fina was mouthing something inaudibly, and if Vyse had to guess, she was saying, begging, please no. Vyse could do nothing but let out a strangled noise somewhere between a gasp and a whine, the pain in his side and his fatigue made anything else impossible.

When Gregorio was three paces away from them, Enrique closed his eyes in surrender. When he was two paces away, Fina whimpered and threw herself over Aika and Enrique, using her own body to shield them. At one pace away, Gregorio tightened his grip on his long mace and Vyse felt his entire world crumble around him.

And then Gregorio stepped past them, broke into a dash, and shield bashed an unprepared Galcian away from Vyse. Galcian let out a pained grunt as he came to a stop and raised his free hand up to his face. There was blood on his fingers from a broken nose, and he stared at it incredulously before turning his eyes back on Gregorio and glowering.

"You dare…?"

"You will not harm these children." Gregorio said. He pulled himself into a shielded position, standing protectively in front of Vyse, in front of all of them, even the downed Kirala and Urala.

"Have you considered the consequences of your actions, Gregorio?" Galcian rumbled ominously.

"Have you, Galcian?" Gregorio demanded, and there, there at last was a fire in his voice of utter rage. "Because I finally see the scope of your ambitions and your madness. You will not be satisfied until the world burns! I cannot sit back and watch you destroy the world!"

"The world will bow to me, or it will perish." Galcian snarled, and Vyse could swear that the grip on his sword creaked when the Lord Admiral squeezed it harder. "As you will now." There came a fresh wave of that pressure that Enrique had described to Vyse, a crushing feeling that constricted his throat and squeezed around his heart. It was the killing intent of Galcian, stronger than any he'd ever felt from any other opponent.

Gregorio moved, and that feeling that turned his feet to lead disappeared. They clashed, sword against shield and mace, the great titans of the Admiralty, and against the odds, Gregorio pushed Galcian back.

"Go!" Gregorio roared, jolting Vyse from the shock of it all, and a moment later he felt Fina's warm hands on his back. He gasped when he felt a rush of healing magic pass into him, restoring what was lost, repairing the torn skin, sealing the broken veins and capillaries. He risked looking over his shoulder to see his Silvite biting her lower lip hard, tears in her eyes as she looked at him just long enough to reassure herself that he was going to be okay before she spun off, racing for the Yafutoman sisters. Behind him, picking themselves up and leaning against each other even after what must have been more of Fina's rushed Sacrum magic were Enrique and Aika, still a little punch drunk after everything, but on their feet again.

Another yell from in front of him jerked Vyse back to the present, and he clutched at his swords as he saw Galcian slam his cleaver of a sword hard enough into Gregorio's shield to dent it. Hard enough that the older man stumbled and nearly left an opening in his defenses, if his experience hadn't allowed him to strike out with his mace to keep Galcian from capitalizing on it.

"Fly, you fools!" Gregorio shouted again, and under that strong voice was a note of weariness and exhaustion, of a man pushed to his ragged limits. When was the last time Gregorio had seriously fought an opponent anywhere close to Galcian's skill? "You must go, I'll hold him back!"

"No!" Enrique cried out, lurching a step forward. "No, uncle! We can help you! We can take him together!"

Galcian roared like the fabled thunderbird of Valuan folklore, pressing on Gregorio and managing a stab that skimmed past the edge of the older admiral's shield, turning his arm just enough to cut a gash on the side of the man's face. Gregorio bellowed back and swung his mace upwards, forcing Galcian back again, and again Gregorio advanced. Pushing him back, pushing him away from Vyse and all the others, heedless of the cost.

"No, this isn't your fight!" Gregorio snapped at Enrique. "The Admiralty, the Armada, they have betrayed Valua! At Esperanza, you were right. You and Vyse and the Blue Rogues are all that remains! You must RUN!"

A part of Vyse wanted so badly to move as Enrique wanted to. It would be so easy to join the line and to help Gregorio fight against Galcian, but it wouldn't be enough. Not when they were all still damaged. Not when Galcian had taken his best strike head-on and hurt Vyse ten times as badly.

There were thousands of souls in the world praying for him to win against Valua. There were hundreds of souls dependent on him as their captain. There were two souls who needed him like they needed air to breathe, just like he needed them.

Still, Enrique surged forward with energy born of desperation, sword held in a shaky hand. "No! I won't let you do this uncle! Not alone!"

"Vyse!" Gregorio screamed, and Vyse did as the admiral urged. He stowed his blades, stood in Enrique's path and shoved him back. There was such pain in the exiled prince's eyes then, but Vyse shook his head.

"He's right. We have to go, Enrique. We have to go now."

"Blue Rogues never back down from a greater danger!" Enrique screamed at him, tears in his eyes. "Blue Rogues leave nobody behind!"

"He's doing this for you!" Vyse yelled back, and jerked him around to see Kirala and Urala still lying on the ground, coming to slowly as Fina healed them. "If we don't leave now, Enrique, we'll never leave, and all of this will be for nothing!"

Vyse could see the conflict play out on Enrique's face as the prince looked between Gregorio and Kirala and Urala. In the background, the sound of battle between Gregorio and Galcian was an ominous drumbeat counting down the moments of their precious, dwindling freedom.

"Please, Enrique!" Gregorio pleaded, tearing his attention away from the fight and suffering another glancing blow to the leg for it. "You must go! Our last hopes lie with you! You and Vyse are the world's hope now!"

"A captain's first duty is to the welfare of his crew." Vyse added, gritting his teeth. If Enrique wanted to throw the Code back in his face as an excuse for suicide, he would press duty back on Enrique. "What is your first duty?" It had been duty which had made Enrique turn against his mother and the leadership of his own country when he could stomach no more of their errors. It would be duty that would have to break him here.

"...My people." Enrique forced out, looking to Kirala and Urala. "Our people." He stowed his blade, and went to the elder sister, helping her up. Vyse went to the younger, hoisting an arm over his shoulder and dragging her along.

The door that led to the stair access to the ventilation ducts was no longer electrified. In the face of superior resistance, Galcian had lost control of his spell. Aika tore it open, yelling for everyone else to hurry. Dragging Kirala and Urala with them, leaving none of their crew behind, Vyse and Enrique shuffled along. Vyse tried to remain stoic when he heard Gregorio cry out in pain. The battle had turned. Galcian had finally used his superior stamina and strength to overwhelm the older admiral's experienced defense. Gregorio still fought on, and Enrique turned at the last, his face pained.

"UNCLE!" He cried out. Vyse spared a glance and winced when he saw Gregorio bleeding from his face, an arm and a leg as he used his shield and his mace to keep a furious Galcian pinned up against a closed doorway with his sword trapped between Galcian's body and the elder admiral's shield.

Exhausted and on his last surge of power, Gregorio turned his head around and mustered a smile at Enrique. "Goodbye...my son." He rasped, and winced when Galcian pushed him back and came out swinging. Enrique screamed Gregorio's name, and Vyse shoved him and Kirala and Urala forward, slamming the door behind them and welding it shut with a powerful blast of Pyres magic.

They went as fast as they could, retracing their steps while Admiral Gregorio paid for their retreat with his final moments. All the while as they ran through the metallic ventilation shafts, Enrique made stilted hiccuping noises that were just short of cries, never shedding a tear.

None among them dared to ask him to stop.


The Delphinus, Outside Enrique's Cabin

329 Days After the (First) Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

Escaping Dangral Island had been almost anticlimactic in the wake of that terrible faceoff with Galcian. They'd gotten back to the surface, clambered into their waiting skiff and had gotten clear to the rendezvous with the Delphinus without being molested. The patrols were even thinner than before they'd arrived. A large part of that, Vyse decided, had to be due to the fact that the bulk of the Armada's ships in the area were busy dealing with Admiral Alfonso's escape, which at the cost of many of the 1st Fleet's ships, seemed to have been successful.

Enrique had retreated to his quarters on board the Delphinus right after, and hadn't stepped out since. At the time, Vyse had thought it wise to give him some space. Moegi could soothe his hurts, and he had a ship to run and the news of Admiral Gregorio's final sacrifice to pass on. His father had taken the news with somber dignity, saying that he would pour a drink out later and hold a service on the Albatross II for the deceased admiral. Aika and Fina were hurting as well, and Kirala and Urala had gone into a bow so deep in front of Princess Moegi that Vyse thought they wanted to press themselves to the floor instead. Moegi had waved them off, pulled them up to their feet and hugged both of the young women, speaking in a reassuring voice that made the two cry out of either relief or bitterness at their defeat. It had resulted in Moegi crying as well, and Vyse had excused himself.

Vyse was no innocent. He was not the naive young man he'd been at the start of this all. He had been born into this war. He knew it would carry a cost, knew that sometimes sacrifices had to be made. At Dangral, that had been the life of Admiral Winston Gregorio. The man had made his final act one of defiance as a shield between Galcian and the people he trusted the most to stop the Lord Admiral.

A now Renegade Lord Admiral. A Valuan Armada severed from Valua. The ramifications of what that meant were chilling, and Vyse just knew there was more at play than what they were seeing. Another issue heaped on his plate. He slipped into bed that night next to Fina and Aika and hadn't protested when the two women shoved him into the middle, snuggling him on both sides to give him the comfort and quiet affection he so desperately needed. Tomorrow, he'd told himself, tomorrow things would be better. Tomorrow, Enrique would come out from his cabin and they would hold a service for Gregorio's memory, just as he and his crew had once held a service past the Dark Rift in the memory of all the Esperanzan sailors who hadn't survived to see what lay on the other side of it.

Tomorrow had come, and still Enrique hadn't moved out of his cabin. He was not present for the mid-morning memorial service that Vyse held for the crew, piping his voice over the intercom for those who had to remain at their posts. At lunch, Enrique hadn't stepped out to report for duty or to even eat. By dinnertime, a tearful Moegi had come to Vyse with Fina at her elbow and begged Vyse to speak to Enrique.

"He will not speak to me. He...he did not come to my bedroom. He did not even open his door so I could go to him. Please, Vyse. I do not know what to do."

Vyse did. Or rather, he knew he had to speak to Enrique. Fina and Aika gave him added pointers as guidance. The prince was in pain. He was hurting, wracked with grief, and instead of reaching out to the people who could help him grieve and heal, he was bottling it all up inside.

So here he was, in the corridor of cabins with a small messenger bag slung over his shoulder, standing in front of Enrique's door. It was after dinner and there were half a dozen other things he could be doing or supervising or checking in on as the captain of his ship. None of them were as important as this.

He knocked. "Enrique?" Vyse said, and waited. As he'd expected, there was silence, followed by a muffled voice from within.

"I'm not hungry, Vyse." Moegi had said he would answer once and then say nothing else. Just enough to give proof of life before he retreated. Vyse drew in a breath and tried to open the hatch. As expected, he found it locked.

He smiled, checked that his tricorn hat was still on, and breathed to settle the power flowing from it. A single hard kick was all it took to snap the lock clean off and send the door swinging into the room on its hinges, where it smashed into the bulkhead wall with a loud clang and rebounded. Vyse caught it with one hand easily and stepped inside, grinning like a loon. Enrique had been lying on his bed on top of the covers, and he'd startled and half-jumped off of it at the noise, breathing hard with wide eyes.

"What in…" Enrique started to say.

"Intervention!" Vyse cut him off cheerfully.

Enrique stared at him with even more incredulity. "What?"

Vyse let the smile fall off his face and sighed. "Well, that's what Fina called it anyways." He walked inside and shut the now broken door. "We'll have someone from engineering come up and fix that tomorrow for you."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have broken it, then." Enrique hissed, getting off of his bed and standing ramrod straight.

"If you didn't lock it and mope in here for an entire day, I wouldn't have to." Vyse countered plainly. The remark made Enrique go from startled to enraged, and Vyse sighed. "I didn't come here to fight, Enrique. Moegi's worried about you. We all are."

The anger in Enrique's eyes snuffed itself out, and the prince looked away as he clenched his fists. "She...she shouldn't have to worry. It's my problem, I shall deal with it."

"Hm." Vyse murmured, going over to the desk in his room and setting his bag down. The sound of glass settling drew Enrique's attention, and Vyse flipped open the top long enough to remove a pair of small whiskey glasses and the bottle of rum he'd taken from Osman's locked onboard stores. For this, the skilled merchantwoman hadn't protested the loss of a valuable trade good. "But you weren't dealing with it. He died, Enrique. Gregorio died giving us a chance to escape."

"Did you come here to tell me the obvious?" Enrique asked wearily, and Vyse took a moment to look at his friend. To really look at him. The exiled prince looked absolutely miserable. He seemed to be dressed in the same uniform he'd worn the day before, based on the scuff marks. His beret was absent and his hair was a greasy mess sticking up at all angles. The bags under his eyes spoke to a lack of sleep that worried Vyse tremendously.

"No." Vyse shook his head, exhaling. He pulled the cork from the rum bottle with a satisfying pop and filled both of the small glasses to slightly above the halfway mark. "I came to share a drink with you. We drank in Drachma's memory at Gordo's restaurant, as you might recall." Enrique made to speak, and Vyse held a hand up to forestall him. "I know. Drachma isn't dead. We didn't know that at the time. I'm fairly certain that Gregorio is, though. Do you think Galcian would let him live?"

Enrique crumpled. "No. No, he wouldn't. Couldn't."

Vyse nodded. He set the bottle down, picked up both glasses, and held one out to Enrique. The exiled prince accepted it on autopilot, and Vyse held his up in salute. "To Admiral Winston Gregorio."

"To my...my uncle." Enrique got out shakily. They clinked their shot glasses together, and Vyse threw his back. He savored the sweetness that turned into a powerful burn down his throat, and tried not to breathe until it had subsided. "He was the most noble man in all the Admiralty. He was the model that the truly chivalrous aspired to, a hero of the Valuan-Nasrian War."

"He was respected by my father." Vyse added softly. Enrique handed the glass back, and after a moment's consideration, Vyse refilled them. He handed it back to Enrique, who downed it almost without looking. And without tasting, if Vyse had to guess. "I was serious when I said I would have made him a Blue Rogue, Enrique."

"I…" The prince started, and a crack appeared in his stoic facade. Fatigue and sleeplessness and the alcohol probably burning fast through him on an empty stomach all took effect. "I know you were." He croaked. Vyse took his own shot a little more slowly, savoring the taste again. Enrique held onto the empty glass like a lifeline as he took a step back and sank down on the side of his bed. His head dipped down, and he let it rock side to side in disbelief. "He was always so strong. He was…" Enrique halted, and his next words came out thick, choked with pain. "He called me his son, there, in the end."

Vyse nodded, sitting down in the desk chair. "He did."

"I didn't lose one father, Vyse." Enrique looked up, and there at last Vyse saw tears shining from red, irritated eyes. "I lost two."

"He loved you." Vyse agreed. "No father worth their salt would ever trade their son's life for their own. He wanted you to live, Enrique."

Enrique let out a single barking laugh, harsh. "He never got the chance to meet Moegi. He never…" The prince shut his eyes and dug the heel of his hand into his eye socket. "I'm so angry. I'm angry at him and I shouldn't be, and it hurts."

Vyse breathed in and out. "You know, I was angry at my father too for a while." He said. "All my life, he was a Blue Rogue fighting against Valua's imperial ambitions. Nobody ever told me that he'd started out as a part of it. Not until we found Centime in Ixa'taka and he spilled the beans on how he and my old man and a handful of others started it all. I was angry at him for not telling me. I was angry at him for being part of something I hated, that I'd been raised to hate." Enrique sniffed and pulled his hand away, looking over at him. Vyse could feel the unspoken question. "No. I don't hate Valua any more. It's got good people in it. People like you. Like Marco. Like Gregorio. I hate Galcian, and I hate the Admiralty, and I hate the Armada and the people at the top who prosper from conquest and enslavement. I've seen your countryside, Enrique, we all have. It's gutted, poisoned, barren. The first country that the Armada tore apart was its own." Vyse rolled his now empty shot glass between his hands thoughtfully. "Gregorio gave us a warning. Galcian's separated the Armada from the Empire. He's gone rogue and he's taken the bulk of his forces with him."

"How bad is it?" Enrique asked. Vyse thought back to all the intercepted telegrams that his newly trained 'radio operators' on the crew had scribbled out.

"Nobody in Valua any idea what's really happened. Deployment orders are still being sent out and the bulk of the Armada's repositioning outside of the Grand Fortress, but there's been no word about Alfonso's defection or the Armada's turnabout. They're blaming us for Gregorio's death." That poisonous lie hung in the air between them, with Enrique meeting Vyse's gaze for a few potent seconds before he looked down at the floor.

"They would have to." Enrique mumbled. Vyse sighed. Enrique tapped the empty glass on the side of his leg. "Uncle Gre - he called us the world's hope." He got out. "Why?"

Vyse thought about that for a while. The world's hope? Gregorio had spoken those words with such conviction. In his final moments, his desperation hadn't been because of his own fate. It had been for theirs. Gregorio had fought so they could escape, the man believed they needed to escape. And who were they to be given such a label? Had Gregorio seen no other way, no means of mustering resistance against Galcian?

He racked his memories, thought back to their last meeting when Gregorio and Enrique had exchanged words. When Vyse had offered and Gregorio had refused.

"He said you were right." Vyse realized, and the small space between them seemed to shrink down further as Enrique looked at him with those teary, red eyes of his. "At Esperanza, you told him that you saw no solution in restoring the honor of Valua by staying within it. Back there at Dangral...he told you, you were right. And if Galcian's really pulled this, if he's made a power play and severed his ties with your mother and the nobles, then Valua's completely rotted away from the inside. There's nobody left to stop him and the Armada now, Gregorio knew it. We are the world's hope, Enrique. You, and me, and everyone else who's a Blue Rogue." That truth made Vyse laugh a little and shake his head. "Funny. Never would have thought that a bunch of air pirates would be all that stood between Arcadia and ruin."

Enrique straightened his back up, seething a little. "You are not a pirate."

Aika and Fina would tell you otherwise, 'Rique, Vyse thought with a soft chuckle. He shook his head. "This isn't the end. We aren't done yet. We have the plans to the Chameleon. We have a better ship. We have the best Moons-damned crew on Arcadia. We're going to figure out a way to get into the Deep Sky, and we're going to get Fina's skyship back. Once we do that, and she takes the Moon Crystals to her people…Then Valua can never get them."

"Can we win this?" Enrique asked him, begged him.

"For twenty years, my old man's been fighting this war on a shoestring hope of picking Valua apart enough on the fringes to make a difference." Vyse answered. He found himself nodding. "Yes. We can win this. But only if we do it together. Your uncle's sacrifice was not in vain. I swear to you, Enrique. I swear. Believe in us now, as you believed in me enough to give us the Delphinus in our darkest hour."

Enrique sniffed twice, nodded, and stood up. He walked over by Vyse and reached for the rum, but Vyse extended his hand and took the bottle before the exiled prince could grab it.

"No." Vyse told him, putting the cork back in the bottle and stowing it in the bag. He came back up with a metal thermos full of lukewarm tea and popped it open, pouring a hefty dose into the cup lid. "Drink some tea now. And tell me a little more about Gregorio."

"Why did you stop me from taking another shot?" Enrique wondered, sounding confused. He sipped at the tea regardless.

This part, Fina had been adamant on. Vyse breathed in and out and made sure that Enrique was looking at him. "Because we're not drinking to forget. I want to remember what you tell me. Gregorio deserves to be remembered. Not forgotten."

The tears came back in earnest, and Enrique's lip quivered. "Why are you doing this?" He whispered.

"Because you're stupid." Vyse told him bluntly. "Because you thought the best way to deal with your pain was to lock yourself in your room and let your friends and your girlfriend panic and worry about you, while you didn't sleep, eat, or drink." He paused and glanced meaningfully down at the thermos cup in Enrique's hand, and the prince took the hint and drained the rest of it. Vyse sighed. "Because I'm your captain, and it's my job to look out for my crew, even when they're being stupid. Because you're my fr - because you're the closest thing to a brother that I've ever had in my life." It wasn't enough. It just wasn't, and Vyse grit his teeth and reached his hands up, resting them on Enrique's shoulders, pressing their foreheads together. "You're my brother. You hear me? You're not alone. Gregorio is dead, but you're not alone. You get that, you idiot? Because I'm. Still. Here."

Enrique crumbled at last. He buried his face in Vyse's shoulder and wept, openly and freely at last.

"I miss him." He confessed. "I miss him so much, Vyse." Vyse guided him back to the bed, sat him down, and then sat beside him. When Enrique reached for his hand, Vyse let him take it. The prince grounded himself with the feel of Vyse's callused hand, settled himself, and dried his eyes.

He began to speak of old, cherished memories of his second father. "When I was a boy, Uncle Gregorio used to say that the skies all had a different taste to them. He had me convinced that the Nasrian skies tasted like cinnamon, and throughout my sixth year, I insisted on having cinnamon sprinkled over every sugared snow cone the palace cooks made for us…"

Enrique spoke, and Vyse listened.

And remembered.