Disclaimer, summary and such other fun happy stuff: Check chapter one.

And to my reviewers: Thank you! Yes, the thought of Osman stripping is rather terrifying. Do not attempt to imagine while eating as it may cause distress and inability to digest food properly. But anyhoo, I promise this chapter will be better then the last!

On with the story!

----------------------- A Dead Embrace and an Early Morning-----------------------------

The woman smiled as she slid her finger down the youth's broad chest, ruby lips curving into an icy smile. A low, seductive laugh emitted from her throat and echoed around the dark, crystallized cavern they were stood in. From a hole in the ceiling, faded lavender light filtered through upon the couple and cast them in an ethereal glow and the darkness around them could not touch them. Again the woman laughed gently from beneath the deep purple veil that concealed her face, only her painted, pouty lips and dazzling green eyes barely visible through the delicate material. The hood of her purple cloak hid the rest of her head and it was not possible to make out the color of the few thick locks of hair that escaped it.

The male, unsure of what was going on, went to take a step back. However, instead of hearing the soft tink of pressured ice coming from beneath his boot, he found he could not move at all. Brown eyes widened as the cloaked temptress drew closer, her scent of roses growing stronger and invading his senses. Her spiked heels made no sound on the cracked floor under them and her fluid movements would not have caused a ripple in water. The man tensed again, their faces barely inches apart.

"Free me from my tomb...my tomb of ice..." she whispered.

"W-who are you?" the youth stuttered, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears, stripped of its usual confidence.

This question seemed to prompt only another smile and a laugh as the woman took a few steps back. This time her laugh grew louder and louder until it was manic, a screeching edge to it like that of a banshee as each sound burst forth from her voice-box and past her rose red lips. Her laughter turned into a wailing scream and the boy was forced to bring up his hands to his ears, wincing in pain. Not even stopping to breathe, the woman continued to wail at the top of her lungs and the ice around them began to crack and splinter. It felt as though even the fabric of reality was beginning to tear as she screamed, tears of deep crimson rolling down her cheeks and dripping out from beneath the veil.

The boy gasped and was finally able to move, taking a frightened step back, hands clasped over his ears and eyes screwed tightly shut. Then, as suddenly as she had started, the woman stopped screaming and collapsed to her knees, drawing in shaky breaths. The youth slowly let his hands drop back to his sides as his heart banged violently against his ribcage, his sharp breaths stuck in his throat as he forced his eyes open. He found he was no longer stood on ice but in liquid. Water?...no...blood.

The woman drew herself up and let the cloak that was once wrapped tightly around her desirable body drop to the ground, soaking up the sticky fluid beneath her suddenly bare feet. Her veil followed a few seconds after and the boy had to work to prevent himself from running. Her skin was whiter then paper, dark rings under her pale lifeless eyes, her lips mottled blue. Greyish-blonde hair clung to her neck and shoulders in messy clumps, as she stood partially slumped. Her chest no longer rose and fell gently with each breath she took, in fact, she no longer needed to draw breath. She was dead, a living corpse that had not yet started to rot. The same, eerie smile played on her blue lips as she trudged through the pool of blood towards him. He stood, rooted to the spot. She lifted her right hand and brought it gently to his cheek, caressing it softly. He shuddered under her cold, clammy touch. Then, without warning, she moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, pinning his own arms to his sides with surprising strength.

He yelled and tried to pull free, yet it was no use. He could not break her dead embrace.

"I know what you want..." she uttered into his ear.

Then everything exploded white.

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"Argh.......NOOOOO!"

Vyse screamed and sat up in bed, his lithe body trembling and coated in cold sweat as he tried desperately to control his ragged breathing. His murmured and drew his arms around himself in comfort, eyes tightly closed as he repeatedly told himself that it was only a dream, if a disturbing one at that. The feminine figure laid beside him had not even stirred.

The blue rogue relaxed as his breathing became a little more regular, half- glad he was no longer experiencing that horrible nightmare, half-glad he hadn't disturbed Fina who still lay in deep sleep next to him. He gazed down at the meek angel laid beside him, golden hair falling about her face as she slept peacefully, beautiful jade eyes hidden behind her delicate eyelids. Her breathing was soft and made almost no sound through her partly opened lips. Vyse, forgetting his fear a few seconds before, traced a finger down Fina's cheek, admiring the soft sensation of the creamy skin. The feeling of warmth and comfort that enveloped him when he was around her amazed him each time, and he leant soundlessly down and placed a kiss on the very cheek he had been stroking. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as he snuggled back into the covers and against her. Shortly afterwards, their room was filled with quiet snores as Vyse fell into a dreamless sleep.

After all, he needed to be up in 4 hours.

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"Where's me loqua?!"

"Hey, this is pretty good! I've never tas- hey, hey, HEY! That's my piece!"

"Oh no no no! I knew I hadn't cooked enough! Wait there, I'll get some more!"

"Oh Gilder, you look so darling first thing on a morning!"

"CLARA! Lemme go while I'm eatin'!"

"Wraaacckkk!! Tough luck! Tough luck! Wraaaacckkk!"

"If somebody doesn't shut that damn parrot up, I'm stuffing it into the talky-tube!"

"Ooooohhhhh!! QUIET! My heads hurts! Owwwwww..."

Morning had come all too early for the Blue Rogues as they sat down for breakfast, stumbling past each other, half-dressed, with bits of various food items in their mouths and mugs of hot drinks in hand. Most of them were sporting giant hangovers and instead of the usual pleasant chatter that occurred on the mornings, they spent most of it snapping at each other and complaining. With the addition of part of Clara's crew and part of Gilder's crew on board, the chaos was doubled. Osman, who had been denied her opportunity to show the entire male company how 'womanly' she could be, whined twice as loud as normal and glared at anyone within a 7 meter radius of her. Snuggles, the pink cat sat atop her ridiculously large hat, dozed quite happily, oblivious to the goings on around it.

Aika impaled a chunk of scrambled Koketa egg on the end of her fork, trying desperately to ignore her steadily growing headache. She stared at the food. It stared back.

"Are you gonna eat that?"

Her head snapped up and her amber eyes glared into the golden brown ones that were Vyse's. An innocent smile on his face, he tilted his head and blinked at her as she eyed the empty plates laid in front of him. He grinned, obviously hungry for more while Fina sat quietly beside him, her knife and fork scraping against the plate as she finished her breakfast off.

"Yes Vyse, I AM gonna eat it! Why else would I have it on my fork for?!" Aika snarled at him, stuffing the food into her mouth. The redhead was not a morning person, even more so when recovering from a party aftermath. Vyse grinned.

"You looked like you were having a staring contest with it...but anyway! We're due to set sail for this new island in about an hour! I can't wait! It's sorta hard to believe we're already embarking on a new adventure since we should still be recovering from the whole ordeal with Ramirez and Zelos. But adventure never waits!"

Aika perked up instantly and began beating the air with her fists.

"Yeaaay! D'you think there will be gold? There's gotta be gold! And plenty of treasure! I mean, even 'Mr- Look- At- Me –I- Can -Find –Treasure- With -My –Eyes- Closed' doesn't even know a thing about it..."

On the other side of the room, seated next to Lawrence, Domingo sneezed.

Vyse chuckled and rolled his eyes as Aika started ranting on about the possible finds on the island, Fina giggling politely behind her hand. The brunette stood up on the bench and waved his arms about as though capable of making a point with them, intent on getting everyone's attention. Aika stopped talking and stared at him as though he had grown an extra head, as did everybody else present in the room.

"Heheheh, thanks! Now listen up, everyone! In less then an hour we'll be setting sail for the island. We don't know a thing about this place so a select few will be coming along with myself, Fina and Aika to check it out. We'll land the Delphinus there if it's safe but for now, we'll be taking a smaller boat." Vyse informed his crew.

The Blue Rogues sat in silence, listening to their captain's orders. Vyse continued.

"I've already decided who will go. Domingo, since you'll probably want to scan every square-inch of rock for a couple of new discoveries."

The raven-haired explorer smirked.

"Lawrence, for the extra protection and incase we need you at the helm. Don, you'll take charge of the Delphinus until we get back." Vyse explained.

Lawrence said nothing while Don smiled and waved his hand about in agreement, loqua bottle in his grasp.

"Marco," the youth nodded to the orphan, "Since you can handle medical supplies pretty well."

"Huh?" Marco looked up, finger still lodged up his nose. Vyse cringed and carried on.

"Hans, just incase something goes wrong with the little boat since its old and crappy. And Pow...well, because that just sort of completes the image, doesn't it?" he grinned.

Hans nodded, beaming, at his captain while the little purple Huskra ran circles around Kirala's feet, determined to trip her up while yipping happily. The Yufutoman gritted her teeth down at the crew's pet but did nothing. Vyse jumped down off of the bench.

"That's all!"

The crew mumbled and the chosen ones hurriedly gulped down the remains of their breakfast before hurrying off to prepare for the trip. Aika scuttled off to ready the little exploration boat, The Azure.

In less then 15 minutes, they were ready to set sail. A new land awaited them!

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Grrrr, not as good as I wanted it to be. Never fear, there will be shounen- ai in the next chapter! Not between Vyse and Lawrence of course, since they still barely talk to each other. :p

Next Chapter: The chosen crew finally lands on this new island, only to wish they hadn't. Something dark gathers in the distance and there is trouble at Pirates' Isle. If that doesn't make matters worse, the suddenly reborn Angel of Death decides to make her presence known. But can that really be Piastol?

Reviews are greatly appreciated and flames will provide much happy amusement. Ja ne!