Disclaimer: I don't own Namco or Tales studios so please don't make the wrong assumption that I own anything.

Note: Thanks to all of you wonderful people who reviewed. I know I don't update that often so I apologize for making all of you wait this long. So, without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 4

A lot of people from the mainland had been migrating to the Legacy, so the townspeople had gotten used to seeing a lot of strange people around the docks of Port-on-Rage. Still, none is as strange as seeing a young man with a large peepit perched on his arm.

It was quite unheard of for a monster to be harmless. True, the dark shadow caused by Schwartz that increased the aggression of the monsters has been gone since after her defeat, but that didn't make them any less vicious as before. This was the reason why the new sheriffs of Werites Beacon, along with the resident bandits, were tasked to eliminate the monsters that were brave enough to prowl near the town and along the path to the port.

The only exception among the monsters by far was the bandit leader's Grand Galf "friend", whom the people know to be quite tame; tame until a certain time came when all monsters had to act their true nature and return to the wild. So, seeing the peepit look like there's no branch or tree better than the young man it's perched upon, not only drew the crowd's attention but also their awe and fear at this mysterious stranger. People gasped in surprise when his fingers glowed and the peepit stretched its wings to fly above their heads in a circle. Murmurs and whispers arose among the crowd in wonder.

"Who is he?"

"He's also an eren?"

"Would he be another threat or…?"

If the stranger felt the attention centered on him, he didn't show it. Neither did he care when the crowd gave him a wide berth as he passed. He was busy scanning the crowd for a sign of a darkly tanned body and mop of red hair to notice anything else.

'Have I arrived at the right place?' Aden thought to himself as he walked past the crowd, to exit the port. As the peepit shrieked, Aden nodded, confirming that the Selxes was not anywhere in the port.

'An informant in the mainland told me that I can find him in a large "ship" called The Legacy. In the ancient records kept by the elders, it was said that it was made of metal and was always in movement. If this is the Legacy, I never thought it would be this vast nor would have I thought it to actually stop. I guess the times are indeed changing as the elders say, and now the SelXes must come back to lead for the future of Renawes.'

Another shriek from Feivel brought Aden out of his musings to actually see what's before him. The grassland stretching to the right where the forests and mountains loom beyond made him realize that the huge ship was really not that different from his homeland, Renawes. Unlike in the mainland where most trees had been cut and grasses were burned as cities sprouted and the population of the Orerines grew, it seems that The Legacy is still touched by the Great Nerifes as the legend says. Knowing this, it was no wonder to him now why Moses would choose to live in such a place.

'Where are you, Moses?'

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"Hey! Where do you think you're going, you stupid bandit! I thought you said that we're going to the Forest-of-no-Return?" Jay said, scowling at the back of the stupid bandit's head.

Jay of course knew the reason why the said bandit was walking towards the direction of the town, after they arrived at the duct from the Oresoren Village, but a person is allowed to desperately hope to be proven wrong, right? Especially, if what awaited him is his doom in the form of a rowdy bunch of people, waiting to ambush him for a surprise party. At least in the forest he still have the chance to lose the barbarian somewhere inside it and escape. But now, his hope was gone, brutally dusted off into oblivion the moment the bandit showed the signs of re-enacting his worst nightmare.

Moses turned to face him and coherently said, "Uhh…"

Scratching the back of his head with his right hand and looking like a kid whose hand was caught inside the cookie jar, Moses hastily thought of something to say.

"I forgot. I need to stop by Will's house to- to pick up somethin'… Yah! That's it! I need ta pick up somethin'." After saying this, Moses then shoved his hands at the back his hips, and grinned like Cheshire cat, looking smug in the spur of his ingeniousness.

Jay can't help but be exasperated by this. He doesn't know if it's innocence or naïveté, but Moses is certainly too stupid to know how to lie properly. He could feel his eyebrow twitch in irritation. Narrowing his eyes to glare at the beast tamer he said,

"Honestly, you idiot. Is your brain disconnected somewhere? Didn't you know that you've just as well as told me that there's something fishy going on with that guilty look on your face? Not to mention that you have just said your thoughts aloud. Spill it out now or else I'm not going with you!" Jay crossed his arms to his chest and tapped his right foot in impatience as he waited for Moses to react.

Jay may not notice it himself but unconsciously, getting a rise or any reaction from the older boy makes him feel something, which is quite a big thing for his emotionally stunted heart. If he's forced to acknowledge it, that feeling can be described as something warm and pleasant as well as exciting. But it remains unconscious because of his fear to analyze such overwhelming emotions he has never experienced before, especially because of the reason that it is felt towards a savage of all people, and to top it all off, a male savage at that.

Again, Moses was caught by the ninja's perceptiveness. Despite the harsh words the ninja said and the threat of the glare that was directed at him, Moses can't help but feel happy and proud of the young ninja. To have experienced such hardships and yet be able to survive and stay strong, Jay was really something. It's true that when they first met, the animosity that the information specialist felt towards him didn't give him the chance to want to get to know the ninja better, but after Jay helped him to avenge his comrades against Cashel, albeit unintentionally according to the young boy, Moses knew that there was more to the ninja than he lets on and something in Moses craved to find the truth behind the mystery that was Jay. After a while of being together, Moses indeed got to know the real Jay, who's clever, intelligent, and despite being shrewd enough to be sly, have his heart at the right place, especially for the people he cares about.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jay was disgruntled to find the bandit staring intently at him with a slight smile on his face, as if there's something the bandit knows that he doesn't, and it greatly unnerved him. Especially when the bandit replied,

"Like what?" Moses asked with a genuine look of innocence on his face, which was probably because he was also unaware of it himself.

Jay's glare intensified at hearing this, and he said, "Are you being coy on purpose?"

"Huh?"

Jay exhaled a sigh of exasperation and said, "Nevermind! Just tell me the truth now, will you? I don't want to waste my morning out here when I can snuggle in my bed at home. Now spill!"

Feeling like a warrior who have lost the battle, Moses told the ninja about how the Oresoren brothers mentioned (as to whom, he didn't specify) the day they found him as a child and took him in, thus the "birthday", which Jay reacted to with an indignant and exaggerated, "I can't believe this! Those three sold me out!" and that's why there's a surprise party waiting for him at Will's house, and everybody helped out to prepare and all have presents to give to him.

Jay knew that the beast tamer was trying to wheedle him with the mention of his presents and as well as appeal to his guilt by emphasizing how much effort his friends put into it. Wait… 'Friends?' Jay thought to himself, 'I guess, I can call them that.' Feeling the bandit's imploring gaze on him, Jay felt that it's already too late to refuse anyway, and after all the trouble he went through to get here, he might just as well get it all over and done with. So he grudgingly said, "Fine! I'll go! So stop looking like a kicked puppy! Honestly you're more like a dog…" and Jay murmured more insults as he walked, or half stomped, ahead of Moses towards the bridge that precedes the entrance to Werites Beacon.

Moses was used by the insults by now, and he knew that sometimes they're only half meant, and sometimes, well… Anyway, he might have lost the battle, but he had won the war. And with this, he smiled a genuine smile full of warmth as he looked at the younger boy's retreating back and watched it disappear around the bend.

He was feeling so happy, he felt like jumping, but all he did was shout to the wind, "Yaahooo!", but as he started to dash to follow the ninja and enter the town, he heard his name being called by a familiar voice he has not heard for a long time. As he turned around to face the familiar stranger, he was shocked to see who it was.

"Aden?" Moses said his name in a whisper, still filled with disbelief and surprise at seeing the person standing before him.

Aden bowed his head and kneeled down in front of Moses like a knight in front of his king, and said, "It is I, SelXes. Your betrothed kneels before you." And as he looked up he smiled and stood to embrace Moses, who was still standing rigid with shock, too surprised to react.

A/N: How was it?

By the way, I've already started writing chapter 5 so you guys won't have to wait that long.