Creation began on 11-13-21

Creation ended on 11-08-22

Fena: Pirate Princess

Treasured Memories: The Jade-Encrusted Map

Goblin Island, a rather beautiful location that was obscured by fog and believed by few to be haunted, but a place Fena was instructed to go to in order to find a map that would, supposedly, take her to what was taken from her. So, here she, Yukimaru and the other members of the Seven Samurai were now, looking for this coveted map.

"…How are we for sure that this map is here and whoever told Fena to come here to find it isn't playing a sick game with us?" Karin questioned.

"It can't be a game," went Shitan to her as they walked up the steps to the inner grounds of the island. "Nobody else knows about Fena's memory loss. And if this B.C. person knows and is telling us where we need to find this jade-encrusted map that will lead us to her lost memories, it has to mean one thing."

"Which is?" Tsubaki asked.

"The person, this B.C., whoever they are, is testing Fena's drive to seek what was taken from her. If she wants her memory back, she has to be the one to want it, to find it."

As they returned to the settlement, Fena and Yukimaru ventured off onto the terrain; it was unlikely that what they were looking for would be at the village.

Twinkle! Fena saw something from afar that caught her gaze.

"Did you see that?" She asked Yukimaru, pointing to where some trees stood.

"See what?" He asked her.

"There was something over there."

Twinkle! It made the sparkle again, and this time Yukimaru saw it.

They went over to the tree and found another bottle with a piece of parchment paper wrapped inside it.

"This feels too easy," Yukimaru expressed as he took the bottle off the tree and extracted the parchment paper out for Fena; it was a map, just as the note to Fena said, but there were tiny patches of jade all over it, explaining why it was a jade-encrusted map, with parts representing the ocean having the most jade areas. "Incredible."

There was another note inside the bottle with Fena's name on it, as well, and Fena took it out and looked at it.

"'To Fena,'" she read, "'when you find this map, you'll have begun the next step in regaining what you have lost. Follow the map, see the wonders that were neglected…and towards the end…I will be there to ensure that you are whole once more. Good luck.'"

"Someone will be…waiting for you at the last location?" Yukimaru questioned.

"Yeah, looks like it," Fena told him, looking at the map again, seeing the places that seemed to be marked in an order from first to last, from east to west. "We have the map, and we know where we need to go now."

-x-

He couldn't make the journey easy for Fena and the Seven Samurai, but a journey's hardships depended upon the conviction of the people involved in it, not just the challenges that awaited them. As he sat in front of a small fire atop a mountain, he looked up at the starlit sky, at the crescent moon and sighed.

"A journey that is only written is the destination unknown," he utters. "Nothing here is preordained. Nobody exists for a purpose or belongs anywhere. This…is only to regain what was taken away."

"And do you really feel this is the right way?" He was asked by a person that possessed dark hair and hollow eyes. "Are you confident that this is what you desire?"

He knew this man was similar to himself; the form he had was not his true self, but it was moot to even speak of it, as both individuals could assume the forms of anyone they chose.

"You're bound by prophecies," he told the man. "Everything you do, everything you have done…is due to these…segments of instruction meant to install a sense of order amidst the chaos we find ourselves enveloped in as we live and breathe. But like all people who cease to be anything but people when the sands of times pour against them, we are still bound by factors that we cannot escape, even when or even if we desire to. You are a force bound to prophecy; there is nothing more you can do until prophecy begins anew, centuries and generations beyond this time. I, on the other hand, am a man unbound by you, by the sands of time, by despair, and I can be anything I need to be. I can be a plague upon the scourge of souls, a hope born in the deepest darkness, a beggar on the streets waiting for the end of the world so they can say the words that matter most to the people that need to hear them from someone they don't know. So why do you care what I do if the role you were to fulfill has been fulfilled? Destiny, fate, it has been fulfilled. There is nothing left to do for you right now."

"You aim to restore the memories of the Maiden of Choosing."

"Former Maiden of Choosing; there's no longer a destiny for her to dictate her life."

"You can't return her memories. Leave her to her fate."

"I am sorry…but you know I'm not going to do that. Her memories…are the treasure of her life that you took from her because of the fate she was shackled with before her life ever began with her first breath. No more destiny, no more shackles. You can observe as you always have…but you can't decide what I can and can't do just because you are bound by fate."

The man frowned as he was told the undeniable. As the Observer, he was bound by hands not his own, dictated by fate. But this man in front of him, this…Brother Correction…had no such restrictions, and could do as he pleased within his own boundaries that were more vast than his own, and could even undo the consequences of what was done if he so chose.

"Why do you feel this needs to be this way?" He asked.

"Not everything needs to foretold," he explained, "and not everyone needs to have their past taken from them when there are moments in between joy and sorrow that needn't be removed from the heart or soul. Some consider me a hypocrite this way, but hypocrisy…is not often followed by those that have beliefs that are different from what they say. Do I believe in every fate being inescapable? I do not. Do I believe in redemption for those that seek it? I do. Do I believe Fena deserved to have her memories taken from her? You already know the answer to that question."

"In the end, she will suffer."

"In the end, she will have gained the fortitude necessary to break the despair you believe she will experience upon the return."

"You are such a fool."

"I have been called a fool. I have been called a disgrace, a failure, a weakling, one that can't do what is necessary, even a loser…but nothing and nobody have value because they don't last…and memories are an invaluable part of the vastness of the heart and soul, forever connecting them to the ones that hold them…and the ones that need to hold them."

The Observer couldn't change the direction in which things were going, and because Brother Correction was not bound by fate, he was unable to be forced or coerced into not doing anything that went against his intentions. A former human, with an expanded sense of humanity…and the Observer felt that this man was going to do as he pleased that went against everyone with similar or greater abilities as his own that were developed or granted over time.

"What will you do after this?" He asked him.

"What would you suggest I do?" Brother Correction asked him.

"I would suggest that you back off the affairs of others that don't concern the likes of you," he explained, "but you don't listen to most forms of authorities."

"The flower that blooms in adversity, Observer."

"Oh, go save a tribe of dying people or a beached whale somewhere."

"Sure. I'll do that. What will you do?"

"Wait for the next Maiden of Choosing."

"You know, there is such a thing for you as living a life outside of your responsibilities. Even deities are permitted take breaks."

But the Observer simply disappeared from his presence, leaving him alone.

"You shouldn't worry about what is no longer your responsibility," Brother Correction expressed, hoping that the Observer was still listening. "Everything and everyone will be fine in the end."

-x-

Aboard the Bonito II, Fena and her crew were heading towards the first stop on the journey to regain her lost memories: Shaq Island. As the night hours faded as the dawning sun began to rise, the crew were looking forward to seeing what was likely to be found on this island that they were unlikely to find on other islands.

"What do we know about this Shaq Island?" Makaba asked.

"Supposedly, it was named after a man whose size was giant about one-hundred-seven years ago," Karin stated. "There's supposed to be some animals there that are bigger than they would be elsewhere due to the flora that grows there, which is also supposed to be bigger."

"How big?" Kaede asked, imagining apples and oranges bigger than his head.

"There should be watermelons as big as the stone blocks used to build castles and fortress walls."

"Whoa!" Fena gasped; she didn't expect to hear that there were watermelons that big.

To be continued…

A/N: Here is chapter two. I hope y'all will enjoy this until the next chapter is posted.