Back again! My inspiration surge is kinda over now, but I have planned pretty much the rest of the story, so yay! Please, please, please, review and tell me what you think! I love feedback, and it inspires me to keep writing!

RECAP:
Tori has joined the bounty hunters, whose ship is damaged. Gilbert confessed the truth about his parents to his friends, and the group is currently on a planet called Misor.
Lukas and Emilia are ? Who knows...
Lovino has finally told Feliciano the truth, and the pair is still on Rela.
The Resistance is planning a rescue mission to save their friend Elizabeta, who was kidnapped by pirates to be sold.

WARNINGS: Idk, none really. Some mutilation, strong language

Ryotawari Sansima,
Misor,
6th Fybwari

Francis was on the verge of applauding. Because after a week spent trying and failing to communicate with Misori rice farmers, they were finally fucking leaving. Not that he blamed the Misori people, oh no. They were delightful, though he couldn't understand a word they were saying. But he could only eat rice and fish for so long before he lost his fucking mind. He kept these thoughts to himself, though, and merely politely thanked the farmers, who were sending them on their way with so much food that they could hole up in their ship for a good year and not go hungry. It was still in their best interests to leave. They didn't want to be a drain on resources for the poor farmers any more than they already had been.

They had farewelled them and thanked them profusely for all of their assistance, before leaving to enter open space once more. Francis was enjoying a nap in the co-pilot's seat in the cockpit. Tori had learned about threatening people with fruit after their experience, but Matthias and Alfred had struck up some minor quarrel about the best way to spend 50 billion marks (they were really fixated on how large that number was, those two). If they succeeded in capturing the person whose head had acquired such a bounty – Lovino Vargas of Syhvva – they would have to split it ten ways, true, but that would still leave them all with 5 billion marks each, still a hefty sum. Francis could actually repay his outstanding debts and live his life in peace, something which he was looking forward to a great deal. He didn't find as much of a thrill in the hunt and eventual kill or capture as his friends did. He always felt guilty, especially considering what he had lived through in his life. It reminded him of Camille…

The door opened with a loud bang – one malfunction they hadn't been able to fix, and had given up on after a few tries – and Gilbert and Ivan appeared, seemingly disagreeing over something, and Francis groaned upon having his nap interrupted. He stood, moving outside so he could find somewhere quiet again. Gilbert fought with Ivan frequently, though they were normally less serious arguments than those he had with people like Feliks. Still, their bickering was irritating, and he didn't feel like listening to it right now. Normally, if he was in the mood for some banter, he would just mutter 'sexual tension' when he saw them arguing. That usually resulted in a deal of shouting and strong denial, accompanied normally by Francis having something thrown at him. But he wasn't in the mood today. His musings had dulled his disposition, and he was more in the mood to sit and brood about life. He'd spent the entire night sitting up and working through some old notes, as he tended to do on occasion. He must have spent three years now trying to link everything together, but he had failed so far, and was left just as lost as before. He shoved the thoughts out of his mind, not wanting to dwell on it for any longer.

He looked up, laughing when he spotted Tori by the door, clinging to the frame like she was afraid that the gravity would suddenly vanish again. She glared at him, but seemed satisfied that her feet would remain solidly on the floor, as she let go and approached him, sinking into the couch next to him.

"I'm still not used to flying around off-world, in all honesty." She said, sounding a little embarrassed. Francis smiled.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually." At his words, she looked up hopefully.

"Did it take you a while to get used to it too?" Francis rubbed the back of his head.

"No, actually, but that's only because I've been on IPV's since I was small, so I was born with space-legs." He joked. Tori cocked her head.

"IPVs?"

"Inter-Planetary Vessels." Francis said in explanation, "Like this beauty. Pretty much anything that can exit a planet's orbit without breaking up." Tori tensed at the last two words, and Francis laughed again. "Don't worry, this ship is perfectly safe." He turned his head to face her properly. "You know, we were originally going to name her 'Vision', some inside joke among Feliks and Matthias, I think, but then Berwald joined our ranks and we thought it was a little insensitive." Tori laughed at that.

"So what is it's name, then?"

"Ah, ah," he waved a finger reprimandingly, "Matthias insists we call this ship 'she'. Believe me when I say that it's better to not argue." Tori grinned.

"Because he's smart enough to know that all great men are supported by even greater women?" Francis laughed again at that, nodding. "But seriously," she continued, "What is she called?"

Francis rolled his eyes "The ISS Marauder. Matthias' idea, not mine."

Tori nodded, "I like it."

"Matthias will be glad that someone does." She giggled again, leaning back against the couches.

"So how long until we get to Reycass?"

Francis shrugged, "I'd say a few days at most. We're not really in a hurry, and Matthias really doesn't want to waste fuel. I don't think we can afford it."

The guilty expression on Tori's face was enough to make him laugh again.

About a day's journey from Yan,
The SS Mutiny,
6th Fybwari

"Oh, you want water again? Really? I gave you some not long ago."

"Four fucking hours ago." The ragged girl ground out. The pirate straightened.

"Four hours? Well, you don't need it that frequently, do you?" he swirled the full canteen mockingly. Though she had her pride, he could see her eyes following it with desperation. It had, in reality, been about five hours now. Perhaps the isolation of the cells and her thirst were already getting to her. If so, how sad, he'd hoped she would be more entertaining. They had taken their sweet time in getting to Yan. Why hurry? That would only waste more fuel, and he'd rather not decrease his impending profits at all. The girl would get them a hefty sum, of course, perhaps something approaching 3 million marks. The Union was always happy to do business with them, and for their efficiency, might even pay more.

The pirate crouched, and splashed water into the girl's face. The majority fell on the floor, but he could see that she was still too proud to stoop to that level. She was so dignified, it was annoying. He found it more amusing when they screamed and begged, and it certainly made him feel less guilt about selling them off. He would fondly remember them as being spineless and annoying. This girl, however, had a backbone made of steel, and more poise than most noblemen he'd met.

"Arthur." He barely had the time to look at his colleague before the flask was pulled from his grip and passed swiftly to the girl in the cell. She snatched it away, gulping down the liquid inside. It was only tap water, but it might as well have been an elixir of life, considering how quickly she drank it. He felt the smallest pang of guilt. Maybe he'd been a little cruel. He turned, sighing.

"You take away all of the fun, you know."

Roderich rolled his eyes. "And you should know that you're becoming a sadist. Since when did you love watching people beg?" Arthur shrugged.

"Oh, that's always been satisfying, but this one refused." He jerked a thumb in her direction, to which she responded with a fury-laced middle finger. He ignored her, walking towards the door now that his source of entertainment was gone. He saw Roderich briefly nod to their fiery prisoner before following him. Roderich was by far the most refined of them all, and was what many would call a 'gentleman pirate'. Yes, he would steal your riches and shoot your neighbours, but he'd tip his hat and say 'deepest apologies' before doing so. Most people were surprised whenever they learned that Roderich was part of his crew. Something he understood completely. Roderich looked like the sort of well-educated man that a controlling old woman would encourage her granddaughters and grandsons to marry. Not completely out of left field, either; he was very highly educated.

He even looked the part, with glossy dark hair that never seemed to find the need to be messy, fair skin and dark violet eyes. Hell, even the clothes he wore looked professional and polished, considering how the rest of his crew dressed. Arthur normally threw on a pair of dark pants, a long-sleeved shirt, suspenders, metal-toed boots and his long, dark coat that he never washed. The others were similar, normally throwing on what looked or smelled the least dirty.

Not that Arthur minded. Whenever people did business with them, or, specifically when they did business with the Union, Roderich was sent, since he gave off the best impression. But Arthur wasn't in the mood to hear his old insults today. He knew that he should just leave the resistance girl alone, but he had nothing else to do. He turned to face him.

"So, any more stops before we get to Yan, do you think?" Roderich considered it for a moment.

"I think we should stop at the Garsinon Anchorage. It's owned by Galee, so we shouldn't be stopped prematurely. I can collect extra supplies there, plus we need to check the Index, considering my Cell is broken." He glared at nothing in particular. For once, that grievance was not Arthur's fault. It had actually been Leon who had broken it, not him. Roderich was insisting that the young Yanish boy buy him a new one, though Leon was so poor he'd had to have Mei buy lunch for him the past four times they'd stopped at anchorages and outposts. Arthur was considering just buying Roderich a new one himself. Though his birthday wasn't for another 8 months, Arthur was almost desperate to get the pair of them to shut up.

"Okay, tell Leon to reroute for Garsinon Anchorage." Roderich nodded and made his way down the hall, leaving Arthur alone to his thoughts. He heard loud banging from below, and groaned, going to see what their Daernic prisoner wanted this time.

Garsinon Anchorage [Galee]

Ah, staring. People did it a lot. Particularly at him. The Garvich currently eyeing him like a fancy meal was starting to unnerve him, though he could at least be assured that it couldn't harm him. Though this anchorage was owned by Galee, the laws that bound the rest of open space still applied, and murder was still illegal, lucky for him, or else the intimidating creature would have reduced him to little more than a dark stain on the floor already.

Gilbert turned, eyes skimming the rest of the anchorage. His blood status would be known by every person on here by the end of the hour, judging by how many Garvich there were here. Perhaps it was a good thing that the chaos with their landing panels had occurred, because the others would have certainly guessed anyway. He jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

"You aren't worried about them, are you?" he relaxed upon seeing that it was just Ivan. Well, not something to relax about, but still, he'd take the big guy over the Garvichs any day. "They won't hurt you. They can't, remember, kotenok?" he continued. Gilbert forced a smile.

"Yeah, I know." Ivan patted him on the head, which was irritating at times, but now was oddly comforting. "And I'm not a kitten." Ivan just smiled, which was probably confirmation that he would never stop calling him that now. Gilbert sighed, finally stepping onto the metal walkway that hugged the mooring bays. He'd been forced to go out and buy Tori some new clothes, since her loose, desert robes weren't really appropriate any more. She'd decided, quite spontaneously, to dye her hair blond. She'd finally come to the realisation that, as a Daernic person, even if she was just a normal civilian, people would still abduct her for money. She looked downright weird with the lighter hair, though. She and Feliks could have been cousins, since they now had the same colouring. It did work, however; she looked Pyndaphian, which was downright common in other areas. Tori herself came rocketing down the entranceway not a moment later, staring around in wonder. Honestly, this girl hadn't been on a ship in years, got nauseous in zero-gravity, had never seen an anchorage…

For someone like him, who had lived planet-hopping for so long, it was strange to think about, though he supposed there were many people out there like her. He rolled her eyes, grabbing her arm to jerk her back into reality. He regretted it not a moment later, though, as she immediately began firing off questions.

Q: How did they manage to contain a gravitational field and breathable atmosphere in such a small space?

A: Forcefield

Q: Is this anchorage smaller or larger than most?

A: About average size, actually

Q: How many ships do you think this anchorage can hold?

A: ? Maybe 40?

Q: What would happen if the machines preserving the forcefield broke?

A: Instant death

Q: What-

A: JUST ASK FUCKING FELIKS

She did shut up after that, though he got a hell of a death-stare for his troubles.

Leon frowned at the message. It wasn't normal that he got called out specifically. Considering that he was part of the infamous Captain Kirkland's crew, which had some high talent pirates among their ranks, he was surprised that anyone had even bothered to learn his name. In addition to being overshone due to the fact he was a novice in this business, he was young. He didn't even turn 18 for another 5 months. Being 17 in the realm of piracy often meant that people tried to manipulate and use you before they ever considered actually working with you.

It was frustrating, especially considering that he had more ability than most of his crewmates. It had been him who had captured the resistance girl, but Arthur would take the credit, and a majority of the profits, as usual. Leon wished he could establish himself as an independent entity, but he knew that was impossible, at least for now. He had no money, and being an unknown, no one would hire him. But here he was, getting an offer to hunt someone down. This sort of job fell more into the realm of bounty hunting, true, but he would take it.

After all, the person he was being told to find was just a little girl, a few years younger than him. How hard could it be?

Arthur didn't trust her, not for a moment. But the ship was small, and he had been particularly cruel to her over the past week. He had cut down a bit, having grown sick of Roderich's reprimanding stares, and his insistence that she still be respected.

Elizabeta Hedervary. He thought, looking at her. Her profile on the Index listed her as wanted, and was accompanied by a photo, which was surprisingly rare. She didn't look how she did in that photo, however. In that photo was the proud beauty that he had encountered on the battlefield. Captivity didn't suit her. Her hair was knotted and oily, her eyes were framed with dark bags, and her normally slightly tanned skin had paled. He swore she might have even lost weight since they captured her. If they didn't let her out of her cage at some point, the muscles in her legs might end up atrophying completely.

He didn't trust her, and it was true; he was a cruel man. But he wasn't a monster that would leave her to rot away. He gagged her, and bound her hands behind her back, pulling her to her feet.

"It won't be for long, trust me." He growled, "If you try anything, I'll kill you on the spot. The Union still pays for dead resistance." It wasn't nearly as much, but she didn't need to know that.

She nodded stiffly, eyes filled with loathing as he led her onto the anchorage.

Francis had been enjoying his day on the anchorage. Tori had been showing off her new clothes to them earlier, and Feliks had seemed pleased by the fact that she was apparently very fond of midriff shirts. Instead of her desert robes, she had clothes slightly more typical of a bounty hunter. Now dressed in a brown, long-sleeved midriff top, leggings, black boots and a double-long grey belt twisted around her waist multiple times, she looked like she had been chasing wealth her whole life. Her newly dyed hair was twisted into a long braid, which she had tossed over her right shoulder. She looked strange with blond hair. Not necessarily bad, but just different. Like the rest of them, she had also chosen an alias to use when dealing with anyone untrustworthy. Though she would be Tori to them and their closest associates, to others, she would be 'Ida'.

After Tori had completed her new look, they'd all had the chance to get some lunch, and though Antonio – who normally cooked for them all – made some excellent food, it was good to have something different for a change. Garsinon Anchorage also wasn't freezing like some others – here they actually knew how to operate temperature gauges – so he had taken a short walk to enjoy the view, managing to ignore any Garvich who managed to smell Gilbert on him and stare suspiciously.

All in all, a good day. It had been, anyway.

It had been while on his walk that he had made eye contact with one of the few people in the Universe whom he legitimately hated. He had felt his stomach turn at the very sight of him, and he'd watched that pair of familiar green eyes narrow.

Now, fast forward a minute or two, and he was taking great pleasure in slamming his fist into the gut of Captain Arthur fucking Kirkland. The pirate gave as good as he got, unfortunately, and Francis howled in pain after the other's knee slammed into his nose, which emitted a loud, concerning crack. He didn't need any doctor to tell him it was broken. In retaliation, he kicked the shorter man in the shin, hard, which rewarded him with a satisfying grunt of pain, but wasn't quite able to dodge the right hook which slammed into his mouth so hard he swore his teeth rattled. His head jerked back, and responded to the pirate's blow by roundhouse kicking him in the ribs. Francis cursed as Kirkland stumbled backwards, clutching his side. There was blood flowing from his mouth. If that motherfucker had dislodged one of his teeth or something, he was going to lynch him.

But the pirate wasn't done yet, and after a second, Francis found himself exchanging blows with him again. Kirkland dug his nails deep enough into Francis' arm to draw blood, so he retaliated by punching him between the ribs. Kirkland elbowed him in the throat, leaving him winded, so he scratched at the other's eyes. The pirate once more socked him in the face, and Francis, having already seen his friends running towards them, decided to end it.

Not by killing him, no, that was still illegal. Francis almost did better. He got his teeth around the captain's right pinkie finger and bit down hard. Another cracking noise met their ears, and Kirkland screamed, ripping himself away from Francis as the taste of blood again flooded through his mouth. The pirate was staggering, clutching his hand, which was now gushing with red.

"Fucking barbarian." The pirate groaned, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood from the stump where his finger used to be. Francis spat at the ground to rid his mouth of the blood (and flesh) still inside. Alfred, Matthias and Antonio, who had been running over to them, stopped dead when they saw what Francis had done to the pirate's hand. Alfred looked nauseous, Antonio looked horrified, and Matthias looked mildly impressed.

A Yanish boy who had been standing not far from Kirkland, and who had grabbed the prisoner that he'd been parading around when the blond had leapt at him, seemed to be assessing the damage done to his hand (and every other part of him). A few others were running towards the pirates, no doubt the rest of his little crew, and Francis could hear some of his other friends asking what had happened. Gilbert grabbed Francis and forced him to sit down, with Feliks starting to examine his injuries only a moment later. He still did his best to glare at the pirate out of the corner of his eye, though. He heard Antonio make a sound of recognition.

"Captain Kirkland" he said simply. Antonio disliked the pirate as well, but their feud was nothing compared to the one he had with Francis. He could almost hear the Captain's frown as he responded with a simple "Carriedo".

"Which one of you struck first?" Matthias asked, eyeing Kirkland with suspicion, though Francis could also see some pity there. No doubt for the pirate's hand, which was still bleeding heavily.

"It was pretty much simultaneous." The Yanish boy holding the bound girl said. Francis begrudgingly nodded when Matthias turned to him for confirmation.

"Damn, you fucked him up, I'm impressed." This statement came from another one of Kirkland's little band, a young girl, who looked Yanish as well. She nodded to Francis, a look of respect on her face. Kirkland glared at her.

"Shut it, Mei." The girl didn't look offended, she just shrugged and folded her arms.

"This is a bad time to do this." Gilbert said, "but I didn't actually do anything, so fucking deal." With this odd statement, he turned his gaze onto one of the people near Kirkland, a man with dark hair and violet eyes, and waved at him. "Hey Roderich". The man stared at him a moment, then waved back, tilting his head curiously, finally responding in a voice laced with a thick Incandan accent.

"My eternally odd cousin."

It had been close to three years, or some ridiculous amount of time like that, since they'd actually physically seen each other, and of all the places to meet up, a rusting anchorage was not what he had expected. Not that Roderich was complaining. His cousin was unconventional (in so very many ways), but despite all of their differences, he was fond of him, and felt fairly confident in saying that Gilbert felt the same about him.

Roderich's mother was the one sibling of the three that hadn't had a thing for incest, and had married his father, who was from Rityl, which had changed his looks so drastically from those of his cousins. Whilst Louise had typically Incandan fair hair and blue eyes, Roderich had been provided with dark hair, purple eyes and even slightly darker skin. Gilbert, obviously, looked different to them both since he was an albino (a common result of incest among Incandan and Rywanese people). Despite discovering what made Gilbert so different at a very young age, it had never bothered him, not even when he had come to fully understand all of the implications. Roderich was frequently told that he was a very pragmatic person, and he took pride in it. If someone had an issue with his cousin, well, it wasn't his problem, though he always felt inclined to defend him if necessary.

Because of what had happened to Gilbert and Louise's parents after someone in their village had discovered Gilbert's lineage, they'd left Incanda, and so greatly lessened their interactions. It was always good to see him again, though. Hell, Roderich wasn't normally a tactile person, but he did take the time to cross the space separating the two equally odd groups and hug the two of them. The leader of their group, the loud one with spiky blond hair, looked completely baffled, while another girl with long blond hair was laughing. Arthur was rolling his eyes.

"So how have you been?" Gilbert asked casually. Roderich shrugged.

"Fine, thank you. I am not looking forward to hearing the Captain's whining because of what your friend did, however." Gilbert grinned sheepishly, before turning to the bloodied man sitting on the floor.

"Speaking of which, what the actual fuck, Francis? Since when did you maim people like that?" the blond glared.

"Don't worry, it's just him." He said thickly, before spitting a lump of congealed blood onto the floor. His nose was still bleeding, and a large amount of it had gotten on his white shirt. Roderich wrinkled his nose at the sight. He didn't understand why the man wasn't starting to clean himself up already. Gilbert shook his head, still looking slightly bewildered. They had both managed to find themselves in strange company that day, it seemed.

"Okay, listen." The loud one said, "Since this is clearly a feud between you two only– "

"Because he's a cunt." Arthur snarled.

"And you're a dirty fucking pirate!" Francis retaliated. The two seemed prepared to continue their shouting fit, until the Pyndaphian tending to Francis decided to shove a wad of bandages into his mouth. Mei did the same to their dear Captain not a moment later.

"Thanks" the loud blond said, nodding to both of them. "As I was saying, since this feud seems to be between you two only, I suggest we just leave it alone now. I don't want to start some sort of fight between us." With their Captain gagged, Leon took the initiative to answer for him.

"Agreed." The teenager straightened up from where he'd been kneeling by the Captain, brushing his hands on his pants. "We should leave this matter at peace." Leon gestured to the others, who dragged Arthur to his feet to lead him back to the SS Mutiny. Roderich turned back to his cousin.

"Are you leaving soon?"

Gilbert shrugged. "We'll leave in a few hours, I think." Roderich nodded.

"Meet me over by Bay C in an hour, and we can catch up properly." He gave him an exasperated look, "For now, I am playing nursemaid." Gilbert cracked a grin and nodded. Roderich turned, following his friends, noticing that their prisoner, Elizabeta, was still standing there, having not moved. She was staring, but not at him. He followed her gaze, to one of the young bounty hunters. Roderich had met him only once before, and was fairly certain that his name was Alfred. The girl's face was stark white, and her eyes were wide with what looked like shock and disbelief. He raised an eyebrow at her. She finally managed to tear her gaze from the younger man and look at him, face pleasantly void of the hateful glares she tended to direct at the rest of their crew. He glanced back at the boy, and then at her, expression inquisitive. She avoided his gaze. He shrugged.

"Very well then." He said simply, accepting that she wasn't going to tell him what is was, he took hold of her restraints and began leading her back towards the ship. Even though she was gagged, he had the feeling that she would remain silent even if she was untied. But, he supposed, she might have just thought he was handsome or something. It did leave him curious though, and he was almost reluctant to lock her back in her cell.