Richard was silent for a long moment, staring out the window at the soldiers, and the one person in plain clothing that was being held at gunpoint. He turned his gaze over to Sera, who had ducked away from the window and sat with a unreadable expression on her face, her mind seemingly racing at top speed.

"There's no way…" she whispered, "No way he was that stupid…he met with them? Face-to-face?"

Both of them jumped as a heavy impact was heard against the door, followed by another.

The young prince looked over at Sera, suddenly looking worried.

She glanced back, looking slightly resigned, "Might as well go open it…I don't even have a weapon here."

For a moment that felt like forever, he looked at the girl who just gave him a weak shrug and smile, then he walked towards the door, calling out, "Attention Britannian soldiers, I am Richard de Britannia, twelfth prince of the Britannian Empire. I have this situation under control and am opening the door."

The beating on the heavy door fell silent, then Richard pulled the latches free on the door and swung it open to find himself facing a line of guns. Seeing that he was alone, the soldiers dropped their guns and rushed past him into the building. Richard managed to turn fast enough to see two step up, aiming their guns at Sera as another grabbed her roughly by the hair and shoved her to the ground, raising a cry of pain from the girl.

Richard started towards them but was cut off as a man with the insignia of a Captain stepped in front of him with a bow, "Your Highness, are you unharmed?"

"Y-yes…" he stepped around the man to look at the other soldiers as one pulled out a pistol and pressed it against the base of Sera's skull.

Just before the man pulled the trigger, Richard grabbed his arm, "Stop!" he yelled.

The captain stared for a moment, "Your highness, we have already confirmed that this girl is one of your captors…I'm sure you are aware that the penalty for kidnapping royalty is immediate execution."

Richard flinched, hearing a gunshot, followed by a dull thump outside, and stared in horror as the soldier replaced the pistol against her skull.

The young prince set his jaw, "I told you to stop! She didn't do anything wrong, she's taken care of me this whole time, been kind to me!"

The captain set a hand on his shoulder, "Your highness, what you are experiencing is known as Stockholm Syndrome, a sense that you trust your kidnapper."

"Bu…I don't care! She knows about where the rest of the Pirates in this place are hidden, she's important…" Finally he just summed it all up, "You will not kill her, I, Richard de Britannia, command it!"

The soldier looked at his commander, who, with a shrug, nodded at him. The man didn't let Sera up, but at least removed the gun. She twisted slightly from where she was pinned, turning her face, marked with blood from where her nose had been slammed into the ground, towards Richard, questioning him with her gaze.

"I will not have it said that the Twelfth Prince rewards kindness with cruelty, she was kind to me, and so I will be kind to her."

The captain cut in, "I'm sure you understand that she must be taken in."

"Of course, cuff her, she comes with us."

The soldier complied, snapping handcuffs onto her slender wrists, then roughly hauling her up to her feet, winding a piece of cloth around, jamming it back into her mouth and tying it behind her head.

Richard watched, then turned to the Captain, "How did you find me?"

"The terrorist came out of this foggy mess to negotiate with us, we captured him and forced him to lead us here, now we will simply backtrack to find our way out."

The prince glanced at Sera again, watching as they hustled her towards the door; she was still watching him, and something about her gaze put a level of doubt in him. "Are you certain that you can find your way back out?"

The soldier nodded, "We're only about fifteen minutes into this mess, we just head straight back the way we came. Your Highness, we need to leave, lets go."

Richard nodded, falling into step with the soldiers, heading back out, past the body of the one who'd led them here, and out to the small Zodiac.

Working with practiced precision, the soldiers waded their way out to boat and climbed aboard, the one hauling Sera simply tossing her into the boat with very little effort. After climbing in himself, he shoved her to the front of the small craft so she was right at the bow.

Once everyone was aboard, one of the soldiers pulled up the anchor and the motor was fired up, guiding the boat away from the small island.

From where he sat in the center of the Zodiac, Richard couldn't see much past the soldiers, but still cast one last glance at the wrecked ship as they pulled away, motoring off into the fog.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A half hour later, the small craft was still gliding swiftly through the thick fog. Richard looked around at the soldiers, all of whom were shifting around, looking through the dense mist, trying to see an end, or even something that looked familiar…the whole problem was, through the fog, everything looked the same.

The captain looked around, trying to keep an air of confidence, if just for the sake of not losing face in front of a prince, but it was starting to falter.

No one had spoke for nearly ten minutes, so it startled everyone when Sera suddenly let out an "Mmph!"

She twisted around, looking back at the rest of the soldiers, specifically at the one driving, "Mmmph!!!!"

Richard was the only one that read the urgency in her eyes as the soldier in charge of her drew back his arm and took a swing at her head, "Shut UP!"

Before he made contact, the craft lurched sharply, letting out a sickening grinding noise. As it hit, Sera's legs kicked off, throwing herself clear of the boat, and out of reach of the soldier. Almost instantly, she was lost in the surprisingly thick fog they had just entered.

At the same moment, a loud bang was heard as something shredded through the inflatable portions of the Zodiac, the bucking of the small craft threw people around, tossing a few soldiers off, shortly followed by splashes and thunks of people hitting outside the boat.

For a moment, completely indiscernible yelling was the only sound to be heard as the soldiers scrambled to find some level of stability as the motor thrust the craft further onto whatever it had just hit. Finally, the driver managed to kill the engine, and the yelling was replaced with various cries of pain.

With a swirl, the fog cleared somewhat, revealing what had happened. The fog had been so thick that they had been unable to see the small island they had just run into, the sharp rocks and coral had shredded apart the Zodiac's hull, and the thrown soldiers had all landed in various places around the boat, many of them faring no better than the Zodiac had from their violent contact with the jagged rocks. And in the midst of it all, Sera was wiggling up to a sitting position on the single smooth spot that could be seen, a little bruised and scraped, but none the worse for the wear.

She fixed her copper eyes on the pilot of the destroyed Zodiac, "Mm-mmph."

Richard was the first to figure it out, "You…knew we were about to hit something, didn't you."

Sera nodded.

The captain stared at her for a moment, then looked back at the prince, "That isn't possible, no one could have seen through that fog."

Cutting him off, Richard spoke, "She didn't see it, she just knew it was there. I don't understand how, but its like she has this entire place memorized…that's why they assigned her to guard me, because she is the only one who can find her way through this place."

Jostling his way through, Richard gingerly stepped down onto the sharp rocks and walked over to Sera, he reached around her and untied her gag, slipping the cloth out of her mouth, "You know where we are, right?"

She worked her mouth a bit, licking her lips, then answered, "Of course."

"And is there a way out of the veil from here? One that doesn't need a boat…or a way that leads to a boat that we can leave with."

Silence for a moment, then she nodded, "Yes, there is."

Richard turned back to the boat, seeing the other soldiers trying to tend to the injuries of the soldiers that had been thrown, although two soldiers had come down head first and had died instantly, the captain working quickly to figure things out. "She knows the way out, and she'll take us there."

The commanding officer looked over at him, "She didn't agree to that, and how can you possibly trust her, she's a terrorist."

Richard glanced at the blond girl, "Pirate." He corrected, "And you will do that, right?"

Sera looked out into the fog for a moment, "My job is to make sure you stay safe, then take you out of the veil when the time comes…looks like the time has come. Yes, I promise I'll lead you out of the veil."

From where she sat, she lifted herself up on her hands, and, by bending her back and folding her legs up in front of her, swung her upper body through her arms, landing lightly on her feet, with her cuffed hands in front of her.

The soldiers stared a moment, but were further shocked as she reached up and took off one of her earrings, using the stud on it to pick the locks on the handcuffs, dropping them casually to the ground. Like it was no big deal at all, she continued taking off her earrings and stuffing them in her pocket.

One soldier muttered out, "Wow, she's sure flexible…"

The captain, however, was unimpressed, "If she knows this place so well, what's to stop her from just running off on us."

Richard was silent, he didn't have an answer to that.

Sera did, however, "I guess a pirate's promise isn't really good for much, huh?" She lightly stepped over the rocks, her bare feet sliding between all the sharp edges as she walked over to the soldiers, "Any of you have a zip-tie?"

The captain was speechless a moment, "Why?"

"Well, as you saw, handcuffs won't hold me, but if you zip-tied me, that'd work better…but I need my hands free so I can get through some of these places…so I have another idea. If you zip-tied me to Prince Richard, that'd leave all of you free to work your guns or whatever, and he's bigger than me, so I couldn't just drag him anywhere he didn't wanna go."

A moment passed as the captain thought it over, then he nodded and pulled a thick plastic zip-tie out of his belt.

Sera let out the tiniest of smiles, then picked her way back across the rocks to Richard, grabbing his right hand in her left.

"You highness, is this alright with you?" the captain asked as he followed the girl across the rocks.

The prince looked down at the girl standing next to him, her hand laced together with his, "Y-yes, it's fine with me."

With a nod, the soldier grabbed the linked hands and wrapped the zip-tie around the two's wrists, pulling it tight. He then looked back at his squad and walked over to them, trying to figure out what could be done about the injured.

Richard was watching as well when he felt a sudden, moist warmth touch his cheek. He looked down to see Sera pulling back from where she had just planted a light kiss on his cheek, "Wh-wha?" he started, only to be cut off by the shorter girl, speaking softly enough that only he could hear her.

"Don't get any ideas, perv; that was payment for saving my life."

He stood still a moment, looking at her, then tugging her with him, walked over to a small pool of water, "Here, you still have some blood on your face…anyway, are you okay?"

Sera looked down at her reflection in the water, then dipped her free hand in and started working the dried blood off her face and cleaning the scrape that she'd picked up on the right side of her jaw, "Yeah, I'm okay…it doesn't really hurt anymore."

"Look…I'm sorry, about all this."

She scrubbed the last little bit of blood off her face and looked at him with a little smile, "That's okay, I knew this could happen when I volunteered to watch you. But, I've got a feeling that this will end well." She paused, then added, as if an afterthought, "They didn't give you anything since they got here, did they?"

Richard gave her a confused look, "No, why?"

"Oh, no reason, just wonderin."

He stared down at her for a moment, then had his attention pulled away as the soldiers walked up, the injured being supported by their comrades, and the two dead being carried as well.

Sera whispered, "That's gonna slow us down."

The captain heard her, and scowled down at the girl, "I don't know how you terrorists behave, but we Britannians don't abandon our wounded."

Sera didn't respond, but turned away, "This way, lets go; we need to make it to Lady Victoria by low-tide."

Richard fell in beside her as the soldiers fell in as well, walking through the fog.

"Sera, why do we need to be there by low-tide, can you not get through this area during then?"

"I could get you through, but this is way too many people."

Nothing more was said as Sera led them across the island, then out into knee-deep water, picking her way carefully over coral.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A few hours later, they still walked, weaving their way past sharp crags and through shallow water. The captain walked up, falling in beside the two in the lead, "How much further is it?"

Sera glanced back at him, "A long way, we're almost to Victoria, but from there, we still have a good ten miles to go, and we'll have to stay put for a few hours once we get there, let the low tide pass."

"Wouldn't low tide make getting through water areas easier?"

Richard cut in, "For some reason, during low tide, the fog gets so thick you can't see at all. She couldn't safely lead us through that."

The soldier just rolled his eyes, "Can't we just find a clear spot of land and call for an aerial evac?"

The young pirate just rolled her eyes, "Have you tried to use your radios since you came in here?"

He jerked slightly, "Yes, it was all static, I figured it was because we were close to your base and were being jammed."

Sera shook her head, "Nope, its because you're in the veil…electronic signals don't work in here, anything long range…even sound, if you use a megaphone, gets distorted over distance. Almost anything electronic won't work in here, especially anything that uses Sakuradite."

"Why?"

"Because of all the electromagnetic fields around here, they're crazy. Compasses spin, GPS doesn't work, Knightmares shut down, and even energy weapons don't work."

Richard nodded slightly, "A perfect hiding place…"

"That's the idea."

The soldier cut in again, "You haven't told us, what is this 'Victoria' you're taking us to?"

She just pointed, "That."

Ahead of them was what at first looked like a metal wall, but upon closer inspection was the hull of old battleship, beached on the coral. Across the nose was a worn painting that read H.M.S. Victoria.

Sera walked lightly up to the side to where a large hole had been cut in the hull, stepping through it, pulling Richard with her.

All the soldiers climbed in as well, every one of them tense, looking for a trap.

"You can relax, ya know."

They all looked at the blonde.

"No one but me knows how to get here."

The soldiers didn't drop their guard, but still followed her deeper into the ship.

She led them up to a heavy bulkhead door and pried the latches open, shoving it open to reveal a large, but simple room. Inside was very little things, a simple bed, no more than a mattress on the floor, and an area that looked like it was made for cooking around a vented fire.

The captain looked around, "What is this place?"

"Where I grew up," she replied, walking into the room, limping slightly, and heading for the far wall of the room, "We'll stay here for about five hours, until the fog thins back out."

Muttering ran through the soldiers, and the captain spoke up, "Five hours!?"

"That's how long the mist swell lasts, I can only lead one, maybe two people through it…so we wait."

He started forward, "You little, you're just waiting for your friends to come, aren't you!?"

Richard pulled her back a bit, stepping in front of her, "She's telling the truth, I've been out in a mist swell before…it was hard enough to get through it with her leading the way. Stand down, we'll wait here until the tide comes back in."

The soldier nodded, stepping back, "Yes, of course, your highness."

Sera tugged on Richard's hand, pulling him down to a sitting position. Moving smoothly, She grabbed the bottom of her shirt with her free hand and flipped it over her head, leaving her dressed in a plain, black, spaghetti-strap top that stopped about three inches short of her waistband. She looked over at Richard, who's blush from seeing her flip her shirt off was just receding, then looked back down at where the shirt still hung from her bound arm, "Could ya help me? I need to get this off."

He gave her a confused look, "How?"

"Tear it, I need it in two pieces anyway."

More confusion, "Why's that?"

She just pointed down at her feet. He followed her pointing to see that her feet, still bare, were rather beat-up from walking across the rough terrain, and were even bleeding in a few places.

"O-oh!" he quickly complied, helping her rip the shirt apart along its seams, then helping her wrap the cloth tightly around her feet.

She smiled up at him, "Thanks."

He nodded, then looked back up, watching as the soldiers moved around, exploring and looking for threats, working to secure their position.

A few moments later, he felt an added pressure against his arm. He glanced down, opening his mouth to say something, only to cut off as he realized that the pressure was Sera's head, leaned against his shoulder…the girl was sound asleep; her knees curled up to her chest, and cuddled up against his arm.

A slight smile crossed his face, and then he motioned the captain over, beginning to talk to him in hushed tones.