Duke

It's been about a year since Duke walked onto the ship. It was horrible. Each town they went to they were forced to attack. If you refuse to attack you die. The only upside to this whole thing was his friendship with Chang and Ruz. Of course they got in trouble a lot, but they never went through it alone. Eventually Duke trusted them with his secrets. He told them his true name, his necklace, even about Hui. Duke and Chang use to travel around the ship looking for escape patches and snooping around. One night they came across a certain office, Captain Spence's office.

"I don't know Boss what if we get caught," said a cautious Chang.

"We wont get caught you coward," Duke said opening the door. They walked into Fang's office. It was dark, the only light was the one by his desk.

"Maybe he has something here that can tell us how to get out of here," Duke suggested taking a seat in Fang's chair. He started looking through papers, but stopped when he saw Chang just standing there. "Well come on start looking," he commanded pointing at a stack of papers. Chang cautiously skimmed through the papers, until he came across a certain sheet with a certain photo on it.

"Uhh Duke? Isn't this your necklace," he said holding up a picture. Duke had to look up. He had used his first name, this was important. But before Duke could say something he was interrupted by a voice coming from outside the office.

"Our plan is coming perfectly," the man said. They knew exactly who that was. It was Fang Spence. "My brother has given the orders and I suspect we invade Republic City in about two years. After we stop at a few towns first," he said. They could tell he was getting closer. Duke and Chang had to come up with a plan, Fast. Quickly they stacked up the papers. Chang started taking the paper with Duke's necklace on it.

"Leave it," Duke whispered. Chang obeyed his command and put the paper back where he found it. Just as the door opened they jumped out of the window landing on the safe metal ship. They ran back to their sleeping area, avoiding the guards passing by. Arriving at the place, they quickly found Ruz.

"Ruz!" Duke and Chang yelled at the same time. Ruz was sleeping, but quickly woke up when he heard his name being yelled.

"What? I was sleeping," he screamed out covering his eyes with his arm.

"We found something, something interesting," Chang said smiling at Duke.

"Well what did you find," Ruz asked sitting up. Both Ruz and Duke looked at Chang.

"Well Boss convinced me to go into Spence's office," he started. "And you know how Boss is looking for his parents and the necklace his dad gave him-"

"Get on with it Chang," Ruz yelled in annoyance.

"Oh right! Well we were in Captain Spence's office snooping around and I came cross a paper," Chang explained.

"What was on the paper," Duke asked.

"It was a picture of... well maybe you," he answered.

"Maybe?" Duke asked.

"Well I don't know it was a baby, but he had your necklace on."

"So you woke me up because you might have found a picture of Duke as a baby. Oh joy," Ruz said laying back down.

"I didn't get to read it, but there were people in it. A man and a women. Maybe it was your caretaker, Hui!"

"Maybe, but who was the male?" Duke asked himself.

"Bed now," a guard said noticing the boys out of bed. Duke and Chang listened to the guard and lied down on dusty mats the guards called beds.

"What do you think the photo was," Chang whispered to Duke.

"I don't know Chang, but tomorrow I'm going back. Alone," Duke answered as he turned to fall asleep.

The next night Duke went back to Fang's office. This time he went alone. Duke opened the door slightly to see if Captain Spence was in, he wasn't. Duke slammed the door open and started to rummage through papers until he found it. Chang was right. It was his necklace. But the women wasn't Hui. This woman was tall and nothing like Hui. The photo didn't look professionally done. It looked like it was taken from afar. The photo was a bit fuzzy and Duke knew whoever took this photo wasn't taking it for fun, but to spy. He scrolled down he saw someones handwriting on it. He tried to make out what it said. 'Duge eliminied?' No that didn't make any sense. He tried again. 'Duke' the first word said. This was freaky, it had his name on it. He read the last word 'eliminated'.

"Duke eliminated," he read. After a few seconds past by he realized what he read. "I'm not dead! What is this some sort of joke," he cried out while putting the paper in his pocket. He needed to find more. Duke began to look through more papers. Then he came across a letter. It dated about a year ago. He read through the letter. Duke couldn't believe this. This man was horrible.

"Oh no," Duke cried out.

"I suppose your lost," a voice behind him asked. Duke looked up and saw Fang Spence. He hid the letter behind his back.

"I know what you did Fang," Duke screamed.

"What do you know," Fang asked angrily.

"I know you stole some of these children! That's illegal!"

"Only the ones who refused to go on their own," Fang Spence said getting closer. "Besides what do you care? If i remember correctly you were one of them who came on their own. What was you said...'Excuse me, is there an age limit for this?'," Fang said mockingly. "Now listen boy," Fang said grabbing Duke by the neck. "You will say nothing about this to the others. If you do there will be dire consequences. Do you understand boy," he said lifting Duke off the ground. Duke struggled to break free. It was hard for him to breathe. "I said do you understand me boy," Fang repeated, but Duke didn't answer. Duke glanced down on to Fang's desk. He saw a book, a rather large book. Quickly Duke grabbed the book and slammed it on Fang's head. Fang let go of Duke's neck and fell to the ground. Duke ran out of his office.

"Guards! Guards! Get that boy,"Fang yelled as he was getting up and wiping some blood off his forehead. Fang ran to his intercom.

"Anyone who see's Boss bring him down. I want you to kill him! And anyone who helps him," Fang said angrily.

Duke ran as fast as he could. This was horrible. Not only does Fang want to kill him, but he ordered his brothers to do it. As he ran he started dodging fire balls and water whips.

"I'm sorry Boss,' a boy said throwing an arrow at him.

"It's okay I understand," Duke replied.

It just kept getting worse. More boys came attacking him. Somebody through a knife right in Duke's left arm. He fell to the ground. They kept aiming at him and Duke was hurt, badly. He knew it was the end. Just before Duke was about to take his last breath a giant wave of water appeared knocking the warriors to the ground. It was all so blurry to Duke, but he knew it was Ruz. He turned to see a flash of red to his right. He knew that was Chang.

"Come on!" Ruz said helping Duke up.

"We gotta get out of here,"Duke said in pain. Chang blew a whiff of fire trapping the warriors on the other side of the boat.

"Let's go!" Chang yelled out. Without another word Ruz tilted the boat so they were near the water. They hesitated at first but once they saw that the fire had died down and the warriors were attacking once more they jumped. The wire around the boat was cutting their bodies, but they eventually got through it. Ruz built an ice boat and created a wave to get away from the ship. After they knew they were safe they rested. Ruz and Chang looked at Duke. He had scratches and blood all over him.

"What happened in their?" Chang asked. Duke didn't answer him immediately. First he took the knife out of his arm.

"I don't know how, but There is a connection between my past and with Fang."