See chapter one for disclaimer

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Author's note: As anyone who's read chapter one may have guessed, I'm pretty much making up this story as I go, except for a few vague ideas for later on. So just realize that I'm trying to make this as good as I can on the spur of the moment.

Thanks to anyone who reviewed, it's great to see that people actually like my story. Yes, there will be action later on, and I don't think I'm making it either a V/F or V/A fic. And as for the italics, I create the document on Word with all the formatting, then just save as both HTML and .doc, then upload the HTML version.

Italics means thought

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Setting Sail

The tavern was emptier than Vyse liked it. Over the past few months, his crew had been moving on to different things in their lives. The only ones still around were Pinta, Kirala, Hans, Urala, and of course, Pow. Urala and Hans had seemed to be getting really close lately, and they kept dropping subtle hints about moving to Valua. It was kind of discouraging to see almost all of his crew leave him, and with the situation with Fina on top of that, it was almost unbearable. But he kept up his hopes that Fina would come around eventually. Little did he know that the moons would answer his prayers, and rather soon, in fact.

Right before Urala started serving dinner, Fina just walked in and sat down between Vyse and Aika like the past six months hadn't happened. Everybody stared in near-disbelief for a minute, but no one said anything. Finally Urala continued serving the meal, and what was left of the crew went about their own business. After everyone started eating, Fina said, "I want to go," just loud enough for Vyse and Aika to hear.

Vyse smiled at her and said, "I'm glad to hear that."

Aika had a grin bigger than the moons themselves. "It's gonna be so much fun to go out sailing again. I really miss it."

"Yes, I suppose I do, too," said Fina, who finally allowed a bit of happiness to shine through. She had even taken the time to change into her Blue Rogues uniform before coming down to the tavern. Maybe she's ready to move on, after all thought Vyse.

The rest of the meal passed in relative silence, except for the occasional request to pass the salt/butter/loqua etc. All that Vyse knew was that the tavern didn't seem as empty anymore.

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That night Vyse had a dream. In it he was sailing all over the world with his two best friends. He saw visions of Ixa'Taka, Yafutoma, Valua, and many other places and people. All the while, though, there was a darkness in the back of his mind. It was small, yes, but it was there. And it was growing.

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By the following morning, Vyse's dream was long forgotten. He was now completely focused on the task at hand. Namely, loading up the Cloudpiercer with supplies for their voyage. He had decided earlier that none of the crew was going to come with them, except for his loyal huskra, Pow. He didn't want the extra burden of carrying them along, and they had enough food for at least two months. Also, the Cloudpiercer didn't have as much room as the Delphinus, which Vyse had returned to Enrique when he was crowned Emperor.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come? There might be an emergency while you are out there, and my skills could come in handy."

Vyse put down the crate of smoked Sardis he was carrying and turned to see the face of his young engineer, Hans. "I think I can handle pretty much anything that might come up. You tend to learn a few things if you've spent almost your entire life as either a crewmember or a captain." Seeing Hans' disappointment, he added, "Besides, Urala is staying behind, too. And you don't want her to be lonely, now, do you?"

Hans turned slightly red, then wandered off, muttering something about his captain's impeccable logic. Just as Vyse was about to pick up his crate again, Aika came up and started talking to him. "That was a pretty smooth dodge, Vyse."

"Eh, kids are easy to figure out," he responded, despite the fact that he was only older than Hans by a few months.

"Whatever. So why are you so dead set on it only being us three that are going, anyway? I mean, it's not as though the rest of the crew isn't able to come."

I knew somebody was going to ask me this he thought. "Well, I suppose the real reason is that…well, there are a couple reasons. The main one being that I think it will give us more time with Fina. Even though she seems to be better, I'm afraid that she might not be. We'll need her if we don't have a crew, so we're going to have to try to deal with any problems that she has right then and there. And she hasn't been off the island for months. She needs to see that the world isn't against her."

"Doing that to her is a little cruel, but I suppose it might be her best chance at getting over his death."

"Whose death?" Fina had just walked down from the Cloudpiercer's deck, and right into the middle of their conversation.

Vyse, quickly recovering from his shock, said, "We were…uh…we were just talking about Doc telling Maria about her father's death." Oh, crap! Ramirez killed Maria's dad! Please don't remember, please don't remember…

If she remembered, she didn't show it. She just said, "Oh, I see. You know, it would be really nice to see those two again. Anyway, I just checked all the controls on the bridge, and Hans told me he checked the engine earlier. We should be set to go as soon as you two are ready."

As she walked away, Vyse sighed and said, "That was too close."

"You know we've got to talk to her about it sometime," said Aika.

"Yeah, just not yet. Now help me move this box, and we can get going in a few minutes," Vyse said, gesturing towards the Sardis crate he had been carrying earlier. Together they brought it up the gangplank and down to the cargo area, with Pow running circles around them. Even though Vyse could have done it himself, having help made it faster. Then they walked up to the bridge, where Fina was already waiting for them.

"Are you guys ready?" asked Aika. When they both nodded, Aika sent out a signal from the communications station, and the outline of a square appeared in the darkness behind the ship. Gradually the top and sides increased in size, finally revealing the teeming mass of sky and clouds outside.

When the hatch on the back of the island was fully open, and the ship's engines started roaring into life, Vyse said, "Oh, wait. I almost forgot!" He ran out onto the deck, and Aika and Fina saw him pulling in the gangplank as fast as he could without help. When he was done, he waved to them. Aika walked over to the movement controls, Vyse's usual position, and slowly backed the ship out of the island. Almost as soon as they were clear of the edges, Vyse came back onto the bridge and relieved Aika of the helm. He turned the ship, and put the engines on full forward. Pow gave an affirmative bark, and they were off.

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AN: Ok, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Reviews are appreciated!