The first sign that something had gone horribly wrong is the scream. The scream that pushes aside the rumbling thunder, shoving aside the distorted cacophony of nature just so it can be heard. It's a horrible sound that twists his stomach into quivering knots.
The Captain inhales sharply through his teeth and rushes from his quarters. A sleet of rain greets his face. He keeps a hand above his fog-rimmed glasses to see the lanky, hunched man hopping about the deck as if he'd lost his damn head.
"Sham!"
Sham yelps. His face is aghast at the sight of his Boss. "C-Captain Kuro! I-It's not my fault!"
Kuro gnashes his teeth. "No, it very well is your fault, whatever it is!" Then he smells something. As the rain comes down in buckets, as lightning slices the skies, there is indeed a smell of something burning.
"I can't put it out!" Buchi is screeching. Kuro jams his palms against his temples to stop his head from splitting. The Nyanban brothers scramble and yell as the mast bursts into flames.
Kuro shoves through a wall of gawking pirate grunts and storms into the scene of the incident. "Enough! Get out! Useless, all of you!" He squints through the disorienting rain. He pushes himself off the floor and slices at the burning mast, joining a quick kick to send the infected piece down to the sea.
"C-Captain…"
"Don't just stand there!" Kuro snaps. His crew stares back with gaping jaws. He points his katana-equipped claws, and they quickly disperse into a jumbled mess.
A bolt of lightning drops down onto the ship. The steering wheel explodes into cinders. The fire wastes no time racing down the wooden planks, and before Kuro can even blink, half of his ship is aglow in crimson.
"Abandon ship!" Buchi screeches. "Abandon ship!" The floor trembles as pirates race to the lifeboats. Some trip, some push over others, and some take the risk of jumping overboard.
Sham is about to jump too, until he stops. "Captain!" he shouts, his voice an ant's whimper in the deafening rain. "What are you doing? You're going to burn yourself!"
And that idiot is right, for once. Kuro yanks his hands back from the burning wheel. Flames dance across his glasses, their ghastly glow shrouding his face in shadow.
"Captain!"
Kuro turns. The Nyanban brothers are the last to leave. They're just standing there, staring at him. The lifeboat is just a finger's reach away.
"C-Captain Kuro?" they squeak when Kuro takes a step forward. Then another. Slow, deliberate steps as fire consumes the ship.
Kuro regards them coolly from behind the glint of this glasses. The brothers gasp and press themselves against each other. He sees them inching closer to the lifeboat. Inching further away from him.
And Kuro raises a foot and plants it square in their backs. The brothers scream as they fall overboard, landing hard into the waiting lifeboat below. They're about to react when Kuro leers over them, effectively shutting them up.
"Good riddance." And with those parting words, the security rope snips in two. The turbulent ocean wastes no time dragging the ragtag fleet of boats away from the burning ship.
"CAPTAIN KUROOOO!" Their voices eventually fade into the foreboding distance, swallowed by the monstrous storm.
Finally. Some damn peace and quiet. Kuro turns back to the flaming mast. He's standing on the only square that's not yet consumed by the inferno. He watches his years of toil, blood, and tears burn before his eyes. All his painful dedication and tiring patience finally going up in flames.
Ah. Does it even matter anymore? A spear of light flashes in the sky. He merely laughs to himself as the star rains down to earth. I was aimlessly drifting about anyhow. A compass without direction…
Kuro never blinks as the beam of lightning splits his ship in two. He doesn't scream as the world is yanked under his feet. He feels air against his back, feels the concrete slamming against his head… then the heavy molasses of darkness rushing into his lungs.
The legendary Kuro of a Thousand Plans met his end through a freak thunderstorm. He laughs, and bubbles stream from his nose, blinding his sight. He feels liquid sloshing up his brain. Better than firing squad I suppose.
Shadowy, shifting hands extend from the murky depths. Kuro calmly accepts their invitation, and soon his world fades to black.
But suddenly there's a light. A small flicker of life in a field of nothingness. Then the light squirms, and it begins to grow, growing until it swallows the darkness in a wash of buttery warmth.
"…dore…!"
Kuro peeks through the cracks of his fingers. It takes him a minute to realize that the sun is shining overhead in the clear blue skies. A breeze grazes his cheek, carrying with it the scent of sweet grass and honey.
But deep inside the cold, rational part of his mind, he knows that something isn't right. It's… it's too bright. Too serene… Too peaceful.
It's as if none of his atrocities have happened in the first place.
A heel thumps on the flowery meadow. He keeps his hands above his eyes. The voice calls out again, causing his blood to run cold and reasserting that his worst fears have become reality.
"Kla…dore…!"
The sunlight catches in her golden hair. He feels his veins constricting to the point of stopping blood flow altogether.
His rational side is screaming. What are you doing?! RUN! RUN AWAY! But then another voice worms into his ears, its appeal dark and seductive like delicious poison.
No. Finish what you've started. She's all alone. No one to protect her now…
And yet, as she calls that name again, a strange sensation tingles within the stony walls of his heart. Something warm and soft tugs on his freezing hands. She pries his shields away, her smile blasting rays of light into his face.
And those eyes, bright and brimming with hope, kindness, and love, trap him in place like a cornered cat. That laugh rings in his ears. She brings his trembling hands to her face, ignorant of the taint of blood and weight of sin etched into those long, scarred fingers.
"Klahadore," she says with all the sincerity in the world. "It's been so long."
Words fail to escape his throat.
"Klahadore." His fingers are twitching. Her grip is like an iron clamp. "Look at me. Please."
"No." But he looks anyway and immediately regrets it.
"Wake up." Her voice, normally quiet and reserved, is growing louder. Heavier. Angrier. It grates across his raw nerves. She says that name again, and the world slips under his feet.
And when he dares to open his eyes again, he's greeted by silence. Pure, undiluted silence. A pleasant waft of sunlight touches his faces. Birds are singing in an open window from somewhere, their song pounding against his aching head. He lets out a little groan, causing the blotches of color to bounce across his sight.
"Klahadore?"
Kuro freezes. His vision is woefully incompetent without the aid of his glasses. But just from her voice alone is enough for his memory to draw the association to her face. The golden blur shifts above him, its two amber fuzzes cutting through the haze like searchlights.
"Klahadore!"
He slowly turns his foggy gaze to the light, despite every morsel of reason screaming at him not to. And his lips part on their own to make way for that one forbidden word.
"Kaya."