Spoilers galore for anyone who hasn't finished the game. But who wouldn't have realized that by now?

Whew, took longer to get this out than I thought. I have a new part time job that I'm in training for, so that's thrown me for a loop (I had to get up so early!). But hey, I get free hot chocolate there! And once I settle in I'll probably have time to get out some small ideas that are bouncing in my head for pictures and omakes.

My thanks to the reviewers who have been rereading and pointing out small errors I missed, and for the suggestions they've been giving. Help is always welcome, and even if something you mentioned doesn't find a way into the story I want you guys to know I appreciate the all the thought you've given to this!

Review responses:

Angelic: Raven can just keep digging. Who knows, maybe he actually will find something that even I don't know about! If he doesn't fall into the trap pits along the way.

ImpishInfamous: Very glad to hear that then. I hope you continue to enjoy my writing just as much!

And to my anonymous reviewer: I am very flattered by your assessment of my story. I haven't shown my work to such a large audience before, and thought out critiques are very encouraging to me. I must say I didn't originally intend for Letha to be so crazy but decided it wasn't far-fetched for her to develop in such a direction considering her situation. I hoped that the down to earth side of her personality and observations of the world she's in would help differentiate her from the other crazy OCs (who I have nothing against, I'm very fond of some of their perspectives). Hearing that it's working is gratifying.

x x x

Chapter 30: Yo Ho Ho! Hold The Rum!

x x x

"Oh Ioder," Estelle said in surprise, spotting a familiar blond in green with his small entourage on the other side of the street.

Oh Ioder indeed. I totally forgot that the group meets him on the streets of Torim on their way to get a boat. I mean, Ioder is kind of a forgettable side character.

"Oh... It's you all," the other throne candidate did not sound all that pleased to see us. "We meet again." Rather than shout at us from across the street, he crossed to our side. Once he was closer, I was surprised to notice that his face was paler than usual and there were dark circles under his eyes.

Estelle noticed them too. "You don't look so good, are you feeling alright?"

The honest concern in her voice made him smile faintly, "I am fine, I've just been rather busy lately." Guess rather than unhappy about running into us, the poor guy's just awful tired.

"So what's a successor to the imperial throne doing in a place like this?" Yuri probed, not caring that he was sticking his nose into the business of the de facto emperor. Yes, officially there is no ruler and it could go to either Ioder or Estelle, but come on. She clearly never had a large influence over politics even when she was back in the castle, and he's the one who's been trying to negotiate with the guilds for crying out loud!

"I've been working with the Don to officially seal our treaty of friendship." See?

"Is it going well?" Estelle asked hopefully. Her expression fell a bit when it probably occurred to her that Ioder wouldn't look so tired if things were going well..

"Well..." he answered slowly, looking for a nice way to put it (seeing as he had his imperial image to think of, and couldn't just flip his lid when he got fed up with people. That would be so out of character, I'd find it hilarious...), "I wish I could say it were going better."

Raven was sympathetic. "I can imagine. That Heracles monstrosity kinda made the Union really not like the empire."

"Yes, and now, prominent members of the empire are voicing their doubts regarding the friendship treaty." Other than a slight crease in his forehead from a nearly unnoticeable frown, Ioder did well to hide how frustrated the situation must make him.

Raven stroked his stubbled chin thoughtfully, "The conditions the Don gave the empire were for a treaty of equality, after all."

"And they are certainly not on equal footing with something like that," Judith finished for him.

"Yes..." Ioder's eyes dropped to study the ground, appearing a bit ashamed of himself. "Had I known about Heracles beforehand I could have stopped them, but..."

"You didn't know about that thing?" Yuri burst in, disbelieving and maybe even a bit angry. I certainly hadn't heard him raise his voice like that often. "You're in line to be emperor!"

The prince raised his eyes just a bit. "I know. But I have no authority over the Imperial Knights."

Estelle began to recite again, "The Imperial Knights act on orders from the emperor alone. They do not report to anyone else." Damn, that girl has awesome recall. I wonder if she remembers every book she's read or something.

"Well, then, it's easy," said Yuri, calm again, "Just become emperor."

The princess was startled, "...You mean..." The attendants who'd been standing silent as old geezer statues behind Ioder shifted and murmured among themselves.

"Becoming emperor isn't as simple as that," Ioder told us, a bit regretfully.

"Why not?" asked Rita, who's world view was straightforward enough that she probably thought either Estelle or Ioder could sit on the throne and say, "S'up guys, I'm in charge now!" Thinking a bit more seriously, the emperor also appoints the nobility... Currently power seems to be roughly evenly split between the knights and the council, maybe a bit more in Alexei's favor, but once either Estelle or Ioder is placed on the throne they'd have a ridiculous amount of authority as ruler... It's no wonder we have people from both sides scheming to snatch away that fancy seat.

"To ascend to the throne, one must possess the imperial treasure, Dein Nomos. But Dein Nomos went missing around the time of the Great War, ten years ago..." Went missing and somehow ended up in Duke's hands.

Come to think of it, how did Duke get it? I don't think they ever mention that...not that I heard of.

"Hmm, so that's the real story why we still don't have an emperor..." I glanced at Raven briefly, wondering if he really didn't know about that. He was, after all, a captain and one of Alexei's most trusted men. Probably most trusted. Okay, Raven could have once been Alexei's right hand man for all I knew, but by now the Commandant probably didn't fully trust anyone.

"What was that, Yuri?" Karol looked over at the swordsman, who looked like he was also thinking hard about something. I blinked, realizing he'd muttered something to himself that I had missed.

"Forget it. It's nothing." ...Oh! Right! Ragou says something about Dein Nomos right before he dies! Er, died. Is dead now. Dammit, I don't feel like I got any closure out of that. But anyway, that must have been what Yuri was preoccupied with.

"Anyway," Rita chose to ignore him, "is it really okay for an imperial candidate to be wandering the streets like this?" Like we're ones to talk.

"I was just on my way to Heliord." The attendants shuffled in place, perhaps hoping Ioder's answer would remind him of their business and bring the conversation to a close.

"Ah, that is closer to Dahngrest than this place is," Raven observed. "Negotiations would probably go smoother there."

"I believe so, too." Hmm, in the game, he says this with a ridiculously naïve and optimistic expression and tone. But now it gives more an impression of "I hope it actually works, or I don't know what we'll do." I really did not envy him.

Nothing against Estelle, but I really believed Ioder was the better prospect for the throne. In my opinion, a good leader (especially for a monarchy) is a person who does the job even at his own expense out of a sense of duty without ambition. Well, my views are a bit more complicated than that, but that's more than enough for now. Estelle was a good person, and would do anything to help people in need, but being on a throne wasn't the best way for her to help. Privately I thought that was more likely to break her kind spirit.

One of the older attendants waiting 'patiently' for the prince stepped forward with his head bowed humbly. "Master Ioder, we should be off."

Ioder nodded to him, and gave us a cordial, "If you'll please excuse me..." before he allowed his entourage to sweep him off down the street again.

Estelle sighed heavily, and I wasn't sure if it was relief that things may go smoother for the alliance in Heliord or from feelings of guilt for leaving all that work on Ioder's plate. But she didn't say anything, so we let her be with her own thoughts.

As we walked, I rubbed at the back of my left hand through the glove material. Even though I had resolved to ignore it, the constant warmth from the tattoo was a bit uncomfortable and made me wish I could take the glove off. Hopefully I'd have a chance to hand the piece off to Nevi soon. As it was, I wasn't sure if I'd notice another heirloom piece even if it were three feet away, what with the mark on my hand already going crazy.

When we reached the docks I started to look around expectantly. Where is our convenient boat provided by the convenient presence of Kaufman, who conveniently just acquired a need to hire new bodyguards? So much coincidence happens in RPGs... But, it couldn't really be that easy, could it?

"Against that many? You've gotta be crazy!"

"I wouldn't do that even if I had nine lives!"

...Ahhh.

"What's going on?" Yuri looked questioningly towards a neighboring dock, missing my facepalm.

"Halt! If you won't do the work I've paid you for, then I want my money back!" Yuuup. There's the all business, gets exactly what she wants voice I remember from the game. "Add the Indigo Beasts to the blacklisted guilds!" I looked up to see a red, orange, and white figure on the next dock start pacing angrily, a dull brown clad lackey following her steps.

"Yes, Madam President." Pfft! Kaufman for President! She'd whip America into shape in no time! The scary thing was I could totally see that.

Estelle tilted her head questioningly. "Isn't that the woman we met at Deidon Hold?"

Yuri nodded "Yeah, that's her all right..."

"Wh-why do you guys know her?" Karol looked at them both.

"We just met her once a while back. She a friend of yours?"

"I wouldn't say I know her. She's the president of Fortune's Market, one of the five master guilds."

"In other words," Raven added to Karol's explanation, "she's one of the top dogs of the Union."

"Humph..." Yuri's expression was a bit too complicated for me to figure out how he took that bit of information.

"Hey, I just got an idea...!" We all looked back to Karol expectantly. "Maybe she could get a boat for us to take across to Desier." Now, please give me a moment. We just established that she was one of the most important people in all the guilds, and he gets the idea that she'll find a boat for us even though we're perfect strangers to her?

...SIGH. RPG logic, and it works anyway. Unless, I dunno, Yuri said something in Deidon Hold that really offended her. Which I doubt. I should really let this go, don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

I followed in everyone else's wake as we went to try out Karol's ingenious idea, suddenly struck with a slight fear that I'd jinxed it and we'd have to fork over a fortune in cash to get a boat from somebody. Kaufman spied us coming. More specifically, she spied our distinctive black dressed swordsman.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Yuri Lowell. You've come at just the right time." She struck a confident pose, hand on hip and head up proud as her red hair and orange coat tails flapped in the sea breeze. Now I want a coat like hers...in a different color.

"Huh, I guess those wanted posters really do work," he joked.

"Listen, I've got a job that would be just perfect for you." She really doesn't beat around the bush.

"Hard labor, huh?" Yuri asked without much enthusiasm.

"I like a man who can cut to the chase." When a woman says something like that, usually you'd think she's trying to be flirty and seductive. But Kaufman was...it was more like she's going through the motion as part of bargaining protocol. Or something. Like she was throwing it out there to see if it would help, and ignored it when he didn't bite. "As you may have heard, schools of mermen often attack cargo ships at this time of the year."

"Huh? But I thought there was another guild that always served as your escort..." Karol started dubiously.

"It seems the leader of the mercenary guild I hire passed away suddenly, so they aren't available. The other guardian guild simply has no backbone," she shook her head disdainfully, perhaps thinking about the guildsmen who had just run away screaming. Yeah, that had been kinda pathetic. "I don't know what to do."

Karol was still curious. "What was the name of that guardian guild you mentioned?"

"The Blood Alliance." BWAHAHA! 'TIS A SMALL WORLD! Ugh...

"Gee, I wonder what could have happened to them," Rita eyed Yuri pointedly, the others following her example to stare at him. Even Repede gave him a look, I was rather amused to notice.

"You're all as guilty as I am..." he defended himself in an undertone just quiet enough that Kaufman couldn't hear.

I raised my hand slightly, "I'm not." The deadpan stare he gave me said clearly that I wasn't helping. "Just saying..."

The swordsman (with mildly offended pride) turned away from us and Kaufman and waved a careless hand. "Hate to disappoint you, but we're in the middle of something right now, so...see you around."

"Wait, Yuri!" Karol cried before the man could walk away. Being all about supporting the budding guild boss, Yuri had to stop and listen. "What about the boat?"

"Hm? Did you say 'boat'?" Kaufman acquired a calculating glint to her eyes...and glasses. I swear it's true, she happened to turn her head slightly, and I was at an angle where that reflected the morning sun from her glasses. The result was that I was suddenly very, very afraid of her. Because that is always a bad sign from an anime character who just got an idea.

While I inwardly berated myself for being silly and irrational, Yuri faced the merchant president, "We've made a guild of our own." You know, I never gave it much thought when watching the playthrough, but I don't think he really likes her much. ...Maybe because she's such a controlling type? She basically throws money at him and goes "Sit boy!" when they first meet.

Probably utterly oblivious to the subtly defiant ticks Yuri'd been giving off the whole conversation, Karol took the moment to very proudly brag, "We're called Brave Vesperia!"

"That's a wonderful name." She smiled, "Well then, shall we talk business?" Oh no, smile and glinting glasses! "Mutual gain is one of the basics of all business, you know. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

"Sorry, but like I said, we're in the middle of a job. We can't take on anything else right now," Yuri responded reasonably. Hmm, doesn't sound aggressive or like he hates her guts now. She did help him last time, so I guess at worst she might occasionally rub him the wrong way.

"We won't call it business, then," She returned. "Let's just say we'll cooperate as two guilds helping each other out. That way we won't be going against any guild principles." She turned away a bit and gave a sidelong look over her shoulder, daring him to back down, "There are various...incentives for getting along with me, you know." Volley returned, ball's in your court Yuri!

"Umm, well..." Karol looked bewildered by Kaufman's onslaught, though Yuri remained composed.

"All right, we can talk, but we need to go to Nordopolica. We can't afford any detours."

"Fine with me. The mermen are only a problem in the waters near here. As long as I get to another port, I'm good. Once we arrive, I won't have any trouble making arrangements with another ship."

Karol stood in awe of the more experienced Guild President, "Wow, she means business...literally."

"So, do we have a deal?"

"I have the sinking feeling we just got tricked into something," Rita said a little gloomily.

"I know how you feel," I confided to the mage, "but when she puts it like that I can't think of any good reasons to turn her down." Well, the one being that the monsters we were supposed to protect her from would be strong, and we'd run into a haunted ship, but I didn't think it would fly well if I brought that second part up. I rubbed nervously at my left hand again. Fairies were real...what about ghosts?

"Fortune's Market isn't known as the best group of salesmen under the sun for nothin'," Raven remarked to us.

Judith hardly seemed bothered. "This isn't so bad. Now we have a way to cross over to Desier."

Kaufman smiled at our commentary from the peanut gallery. "I'll even throw in a bonus for all of you."

The curiosity snagged Karol, "Bonus? What do you mean?"

"If we arrive safely in Nordopolica, I'll give you the boat we use to get there."

"R-really?" Karol's voice actually cracked a bit. Hey, his guild had prospects for owning it's own boat!

"Really suspiciously good bargain," I muttered.

Judith gave the boat a quick look over, "The boat looks pretty beat up, but it's still a good deal."

"Right?" Kaufman tried to entice us.

Yuri wasn't fooled. "So these mermen must be tough customers if you're willing to part with a boat."

"I'll leave that to your imagination," she answered vaguely.

Yuri shared a look with Karol, "I figured as much."

The lack of angry denial seemed to count as acceptance. "Marvelous! We have a contract then." With that established, she immediately took charge, "Now that we've settled the details, I'd like you to get to work right away."

A sailing we shall go, a sailing we shall go...

x x x

Seeing as we'd already been carrying all our stuff with us, Kaufman and her shadowing lackey (I don't think I caught his name...I don't think the game even gave him one) quickly ushered us onto the boat and gave us a quick introduction to Tokunaga (awesome...sailor with an afro!). Followed by us proceeding to stay the hell out of the way of the people who knew what they were doing so the could get the Fiertia out onto open water.

In RPGs, there's always that point where you finally get the vehicle that allows you to travel freely between most major landmasses, excluding one or two for plot purposes. Then those become open for exploration once you get an airship of some form. Maybe this wasn't true of all games, but it happened in all the games I'd had the chance to play. And the NPC nominally in charge of actually moving this vehicle (if the game designers even bothered to throw one in) is only for show while the player cavorts across the world map with any passing whim as navigator.

NOT SO.

Tokunaga was in charge of everything, and we as the sailing-ignorant passengers had to obey any instructions he gave us. Which wasn't often since he had his own underlings to boss around, two deckhands named Biggs and Wedge. Much to Estelle's concern I audibly choked when we got their names.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Nothin', nothin', don' mind me..." I waved feebly as I thumped at my chest with a fist. Final Fantasy stock names? Here? It's not like those are exactly common names. If one of them was called Cid, I could let that go, but Biggs and Wedge?

I spent most of the morning slumped over a railing and watching the wake of the ship while I brooded over the likelihood that the fairies were somehow screwing with the fabric of Terca Lumireis to make me go mental. Or if I'd gone mental ages ago, and everything that had happened was a particularly detailed delusion cooked up by my sick mind.

If that's the case, same logic for if this were a dream, I told myself. Shut up and run with it. Either you're in denial and it's real, or you can enjoy the ride and have a laugh about it with your friends later.

Thus averting any insane ranting and pacing that would have my new friends believing I'd caught cabin fever in record time, I settled in to enjoy the voyage the best I could.

x x x

This Is Soooooo Bad

Yuri: We just started out, and we're already working with one of the five master guilds. This is good.

*Karol enters and passes by slowly*

Judith: Yeah. You're one step closer to making your dream a reality, Karol. Aren't you happy?

Rita: You talking to the kid? He's over there mumbling about something.

Karol: Mermen...the first thing had to be mermen. Brave Vesperia has some bad luck... What's the president of Fortune's Market gonna think of us if we fail? This is bad. This is soooo bad.

Estelle: I don't think he's very happy.

*Karol exits*

Letha: You'd almost think we'd already failed the job...

Judith: He's just being careful, that's all.

Rita: That's not being careful. That's running and hiding.

Letha: I'd call it "counting your chickens before they hatch" but...I've never heard of it being used so pessimistically.

x x x

Enjoy is an iffy term. There's only so long you can find the view of water, water, and more water in every direction (and that receding landmass that's too distant to actually make out any details) interesting. We had all taken to idly wandering around the ship in search of something to do. It had been ages since I'd last seen Repede, the dog had found some little haven to hide himself away in.

Karol, Estelle, and Rita cornered me and had me resume my narrative of The Hobbit. Eventually the more "mature" group members joined us, not having anything better to do for the time being. The mage kept breaking in to debate various plot points, even if all she had to say was "He threw burning pine cones at them? I'd have just blasted them all into crisps!" If not for the fact that Yuri, Raven, or Judith would either settle her down or make jokes about her logic ("And burn down the trees, dwarves and all, in the process"), I probably would have thrown up my hands at trying to come up with plausible excuses for elements that someone from Earth would take for granted in a children's story.

Story time had to be broken off when my voice started to go. We'd gotten through a good chunk of the story; out of the misty mountains, away from the pursuing goblins and wargs, meeting the eagles and the hermit man with animal servants (I almost forgot about him, and had to make up the name Bjorn for him. I was probably pretty off with that... Of course Rita, Karol, and Estelle all got very excited about the man who could shapeshift into a bear, and all for different reasons), and had gotten Bilbo and the dwarves good and lost deep in Mirkwood. It was pretty late in the afternoon by then.

Wanting some time alone, I retreated into one of the cabins. Instead of just the one room, there were three small ones with four beds (two sets of bunk beds) crammed into each. Us girls and the madame president had one to ourselves, the guys and the Fortune's Market lackey had the second, and the last one went to Tokunaga and his hands.

In the relative privacy of the otherwise empty room, I pulled out my notebook and flipped open to some blank pages near the back, just before the brief summary of my fake life story. With the light from one of those small round windows and a single candle I began to outline the "game events."

Yuri starts tracking down blastia thief.

Y locked up in dungeon. First meeting with Raven

Y breaks out and meets Estelle. Learns Flynn is probably in danger and fights Zagi the first time.

Y and E escape the capital.

Y and E go to Deidon Hold. Meet Kaufman and are sent to the supposedly cursed woods.

Y and E meet Karol, all go to Halure and fix the tree.

Y, E, and K go to Aspio. Meet Rita.

Rt takes them to Shaikos ruins. Met Me, Letha.

I paused. The meeting with me was the first point where, to my knowledge, reality deviated from the game. Though for all I knew there were other discrepancies that I hadn't heard about, and couldn't ask about without sounding suspicious. It hadn't seemed that way though... I shrugged and went back to my list.

Y gets info on blastia thief. L fell down a hole.

Not my finest moment. I hesitated again, feeling very conscious of the warmth from my left hand, then elected not to write down anything about the fairies. Moving on...

Return to Aspio, establish Rt and L will continue traveling with Y, E, and K.

Return to Halure, get note from F, then run from Knights and Assassins.

The list stretched on until I finally caught up with the present where we got our boat. I chewed lightly at the end of the nib pen before I started scratching out vague lines explaining "the future."

Encounter ghost ship. (Holy crap, does this mean ghosts are real in this world?) Get red box.

Land in Nordopolica, try to meet with the Duce, B, but be turned away.

Agree to help "Regeay." Fight in the coliseum. "Regeay" lied.

Chase "Regeay," Aer Krene in those caves (something that sounded like Weasels...) and another "dragon"

"Regeay" revealed, was there a fight here? Get red box back.

Arrive in Mantaic, that desert city.

Search the desert for P and those children's parents. Find parents but pass out before finding P.

That was not going to be fun. Not at all. Craaap...

Look around that illusion/memory city of the past. Meet D. Copious Mysterious Plot Points that don't make sense for a long time. Red box=Apatheia

Go back to Mantaic

I paused midline. Then forced myself to continue.

Go back to Mantaic and kill Cumore.

Woohoo. Unless I get randomly abducted again, knock on wood, I rapped my knuckles against the table, I'll actually be there for this act of vigilantism. Shaking my head, I wondered how I'd be able to deal with the knowledge of Yuri's cold blooded killing. Sure, I knew he killed Ragou already, but somehow that felt too distant to really be...real. Like even though I knew the game had become my reality, that scene was still something I could only picture on my lap top monitor.

But when Yuri went out to kill Cumore, I would know that was what he was doing. Heck, I might even be able to see it for myself! Would I be able to treat the swordsman the same way after that? I just didn't know... Cumore was a bastard, he deserved his fate many times over, and the chances that he'd have a change of heart were virtually non-existent. But still...

I just don't believe anyone has the right to kill in cold blood. Even if it's for justice and to protect the lives of countless innocents. Am I being too naïve?

I shook the thoughts from my head, and went back to my list.

The light from the window (port hole, aren't they called?) was nearly gone by the time I finished. With only my candle left I skimmed over my list to try and see if I could remember anything else. Up to the point of confronting Alexei I was sure I'd gotten all the major points. Then there was Yuri's fall, Duke being enigmatic, Yuri reuniting with everyone...and that was the point where I was a lot less confident about things.

I knew that Rita got her bright idea at some point, something that involved Apatheia, Aer Krene, and converting the Aer into mana and Entelexeia into spirits through a process I wasn't sure I'd understood even when it was happening on screen. At some point there's an epic battle against a horde of monsters where Yuri and Flynn team up, a new village made with Brave Vesperia's help, and an epic Yuri vs. Flynn battle. And the revelation that next we'd have to fight Duke and finish up with an epic cut scene defeat of the Adephagos.

But it was all fuzzy in my head, general information only. And not just because I had memory problems, I always had trouble remembering the last stretch of a video game. That's the part given more to exploring side quests and grinding levels. Major plot becomes less memorable after hours of trivial details. And the player hardly needs to know why fighting the final boss will fix everything, just that it would.

Yeah, I really wish I could remember those details now. It would be great if I could, say, remember what exactly Duke was trying to do. 'Cause really, I just kinda filed it away as "bad shit that would result in worldwide genocide." Same old final boss stuff.

I sighed to myself. Despite the lack of detail near the end, I actually had a fairly complete outline of the game in my hands. I tore the pages out of the notebook (five pages filled front and back with writing) and went back outside to the ship's railing. After checking quickly to be sure no one was watching, I shredded the pages into tiny pieces no larger than a fingernail and tossed them all out over the water. In the dark they were lost from sight almost as soon as they left my hands.

Keeping the list would have been reassuring in the event that my memory holes began to swallow up Tales of Vesperia, but it wasn't worth the paranoia of carrying proof that I knew more than I should. Carrying my true background around was bad enough. Even though I'd written everything in Earth's writing, that sort of thing was just begging to be discovered and stab me in the back.

I stood staring at the foaming white water for a time, imagining I could see little bits of paper caught in the ship's wake.

x x x

Another difference from the game. In the game, travel on a ship can be done in a straight line. In real life, that line is anything but straight. Weather and sea currents were major factors in determining our route, Tokunaga and Wedge constantly checking their maps and charts against, I dunno, the stars and everything else a navigator checks against. Biggs seemed to be there mostly for the sake of extra muscle that knew which rope was which.

Sure, the blastia helped, but realistically it wasn't enough against the force of nature that is the ocean. It meant we wouldn't end up completely dead in the water if we hit the doldrums and lost all wind. When I got up the nerve to demonstrate my ignorance and ask about it, Tokunaga told me it also helped in various ways (that went mostly over my head) when the water got rougher during storms and the like. So basically...it wasn't impossible to sail without it, but it made everything go smoother. And sailors in this world were so accustomed to using them that sailing without a blastia was nearly unthinkable.

Taking all of this into account, and the fact that there was a lot of water between us and Nordopolica, that meant a week to a week and a half of sailing before we reached our destination. And I wasn't expecting the ghost ship to show up for a few days.

How to kill the boredom?

By killing mermen.

"I hate fish," I grumbled, slashing open the side of a shark like bipedal monster with one of my daggers. A smile, however, tugged at my lips as I remembered Tohru, the giant sumo like guy from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon.

The daggers allowed me to get in close to the nasty sharks so that they couldn't use their heavy and sharpened anchor weapons to maximum effect. Once in close I just stabbed stabbed stabbed and tried not to get bitten with their razor chompers. Which, by the way, were three rows of teeth like a real shark.

"Aw, frick!" Those teeth managed to scrape against my arm, leaving several deep and bloody gouges. I jumped back and jabbed out with my right hand dagger, more in surprised reflex than design, and bashed the merman in the gills. The attack had a better effect than I would have thought, sending the monster reeling back and dazed long enough for Judith to finish it with Luna Fang. I took the opportunity to fall back from the fighting to let her take over for a while.

"Nurse!" My arm was bathed in a soft blue light (if I squinted and looked just right at it, the light almost looked as if it were a woman's shape) and looking around I saw similar blue lights sparkling around Yuri and Repede.

We'd actually been fighting in shifts, due to the limited space on deck combined with the fighting styles of some of our members. I had no desire to dodge getting clipped by Judith's spear only to end up with my foot getting bashed by Karol (the boy had switched to a mace when I wasn't looking! When did he get that thing?). He and Estelle would sit on the side lines, occasionally casting healing artes when needed, until one of us needed a breather.

Unless we were swarmed by a particularly large group...school...of mermen Rita and Raven also traded off providing long range support. We'd boosted them on top of the cabins so that they were safely out of reach, though that was starting to seem like a bad idea. When Raven got bored, the only diversion available to him was to goad Rita. He'd been knocked off the roof by her punches three times already.

Between attacks the group talked with Kaufman about various topics the game had included for foreshadowing. Leviathan's Claw trying to steal her customers by selling them Hoplon blastia they got from an unknown source, what potential corruption that source could be indicating, Raven's little "quest for the holy grail" apatheia style... I ignored most of it in favor of scowling at my clothes.

I'd been barely keeping up with mending the stupid things, but the coat and shirt were constantly acquiring new rips and cuts. My leggings had split in a few places, and unfortunately they could only be mended so many times without making them tighter than I felt comfortable with. Interestingly, my shorts were practically undamaged with the exception of some old blood stains (which were on everything and I had no idea how to get rid of them).

Sigh...Estelle's gonna take me shopping again, I just know it...

A few hours later found me hunched over a pile of clothes with a sewing needle in a sheltered corner of the deck. When I had settled down to begin my mending, it had only taken a few minutes before the others realized what I was doing and had left their own torn clothing for me to fix. For the time being they were all wearing spare clothes they'd either carried in their own travel bags (we traveled light, so extra clothes were at your own discretion) or borrowed from Kaufman, her lackey, or one of the sailors.

"Need some help?" I looked up from the patch I was putting in Karol's pants to Judith.

"You know how to sew?"

"I've been on my own for a long time now. I know how to take care of myself," she smiled while sitting down on a crate next to me. Gracefully, she plucked a needle from the packet I'd left out and easily threaded it. While she started fixing the skirt of Estelle's white over-dress thing I wondered idly if Krytians had sharper eyesight.

The two of us worked in silence for awhile, no girl talk whatsoever. Not that I minded, concentrating on such a simple and familiar task filled me with a sense of content. Back home I liked sewing because it kept my hands busy and constructive while my mind was free to daydream or just watch a movie. Now I let my mind wander down fond memories of home...

So in the end it was Judith who broke the ice, "I've been wondering about something."

"Hmm?" Lacking a handy pair of scissors, I opted to cut the thread through the simple act of biting it.

"Oh, I was just curious about why you joined Brave Vesperia." Her fingers dragged the needle back and forth through Estelle's dress in small, neat stitches. "I heard that you're also looking for something, like Raven is."

"Mmm," I hummed noncommittally, knotting the thread again to use on a seam that was starting to come apart. Talking to Judith should be safe...neither of our agendas should clash, and I don't think she'll tell anyone else. Though they say the best way to keep a secret is to keep it secret. The more people who know increase the chances that it will get out somehow, no matter how trustworthy they are.

"Not exactly 'like Raven is'," I finally settled on. "I'm looking for something that I at least know isn't a fairy tale," I was proud of the lack of cynicism in that comment, "while for all he knows he's off on a wild goose chase." Judith made her own humming noise, though since I was concentrating on my work I missed what expression went along with it.

"But it doesn't feel right to just wander around aimlessly. I'd rather try to help people if I could, like my uncle would hope for me to do." I hadn't forgotten how when Ludwig and I parted he'd urged me to help others with the skills he'd taught me.

"So you joined the guild to feel like you were helping others."

"I guess you could say that..." and we'll ignore the whole trying to follow a video game's plot angle for now...

"But if you stay with the guild, do you believe you can follow both of your goals?" What was she leading up to? "What if a situation requires you sacrifice your search for the sake of the guild? Would you be able to do it?"

"Oh...well, I guess I can't really say for sure."

"Why's that?" Judith sounded surprised by my answer. Was she expecting me to say I'd put my own interests first, or to promise I'd do the right thing and put the needs of others first? I shrugged, more to myself than at her.

"I dunno. There are too many hypothetical situations that could go either way. So thinking about it now won't do any good but confuse me." I folded Karol's pants and pulled over the pink portion of Estelle's dress to lie in a heap in my lap. (It hadn't surprised me that the princess didn't know how to sew, she'd confessed having neglected embroidery as a child in favor of history lessons.) "It might just come down to which option I'll regret passing up the most."

"I see," she said, sounding like she really did get a lot more out of my wishy washy answer than I'd meant her to. But before I could really worry about that, she asked in an implicating tone, "Would you prefer to fix Yuri's shirt, or Raven's?" Then neatly moved her head to the side so that Karol's no longer folded pants flew safely by.

x x x

Fog had come in thick during the night, so the morning sun was weak even when it managed to sneak in and reach the Fiertia. I was hugging my arms tightly against the damp chill of the fog, trying not to let my teeth chatter. Again I tried to reassure myself that the shivers occasionally running down my spine were only because of the cold, and not because of the perfect creepy atmosphere that was going on.

Yes I know it's the perfect setting for a ghost ship, that's exactly what I'm waiting for after all. And no, I'm not scared by that (not much at least) and if it's anything like the game at all then the "ghosts" should just be normal, killable monsters. Yeah. And we'll ignore how my brain is playing "The Kraken" from Pirates Two.

Well, at least there wouldn't be zombies.

"The fog's gotten awfully thick," Judith was peering at the fog, appearing no more bothered by the cold than if it were a mildly cooling breeze on warm day. What was that, super will power or something? Mind over matter? I wanted to learn that trick!

While I glowered jealously at the scantily clad yet unfazed krityan the others made comments about fog being a bad omen, and how saying that out loud was sure to jinx us.

"Hey! Front! I mean bow!" Rita shrilled, stumbling back a bit as if she could escape the dark shape that had just come looming up out of no where.

"Hmm... We're going to hit them," stated Judith oh so calmly as she lightly braced a hand in the nearest doorway. I quickly grabbed at the ship's rail, belatedly realizing how stupid it was to stand where I could be thrown off when I'd known we were going to crash encounter a ship.

Crash into the other ship we did. The timber groaned as it protested the force thrown against it, and there were a few nerve wracking crunches. Karol and Rita were thrown off their feet to land hard on the deck. Estelle had also been standing by the railing like me. She didn't react as quickly as I had, so was only saved from being tossed into the water by Yuri lunging forward to catch a hold of her and a rope at the same time. I wasn't in a position to see any one else, but the lack of loud splashes seemed a good sign. So did the fact that neither Biggs nor Wedge started screaming about us taking on water.

And that was from the slightest bump of the much larger ship we'd come across in the fog. That ship was massive compared to us! If it had been a direct collision at a faster speed, we'd probably just be a mess of splinters and floating bodies in the water.

"What is that...?" Kaufman breathed, stepping out of the cabin she'd been sheltering in. (That's right, the rest of us would have been in there too, but being her bodyguards and considering the high risk factor of no visuals we'd been stationed on deck to actually do our job.) "That's an old ship. I've never seen that type before..."

I sucked in a breath. The ship looked very much like something out of a pirate movie. The dark weathered look of the wood even made a comparison to the Black Pearl plausible. I had next to no clue about ship types or anything, but I did know one thing. The ghost ship looked more like something from Earth than anything else I'd seen yet. Not exactly, but so close.

"I think it says... The Atherum," Judith read from the faded lettering.

The gang planks of the ghost ship creaked, and then came slamming down onto our deck. If that wasn't a (creepy) invitation, I didn't know what was.

Rita had jumped away with a strangled yelp, and was eying the ship wildly.

"That's weird," Karol breathed, reluctant to speak any louder than a loud whisper. "There's no sign of people."

"It-it's like...it's calling to us," Estelle clasped her hands together, her expression both terrified and delighted by the prospect.

"N-no way!" Rita spun on Tokunaga, "Come on! Get the Fiertia going!"

"The ceres blastia's not responding!"

While Rita ran around in near panic, Raven adding fuel by calling the ship cursed (well...), I inched a bit closer to the waiting gangplank. It...it shouldn't be too bad, right? I already know what's supposed to happen, and the only thing that makes this situation at all frightening is not knowing what's going to happen. And there's no creepy suspenseful soundtrack, so how bad could it be?

Problem was that life never had a soundtrack (excluding songs you get stuck in your head) but that never stopped my imagination from crafting perfect horror scenarios before. Mild as they might have been to a hardcore horror fan, I hated giving my subconscious even the smallest opening for fear of where that would lead.

"Why don't we go take a look?" Judith suggested. "It'll be fun. I love this sort of thing."

"What?" Rita shrilled.

"Well, we don't know what's wrong with the blastia. We've gotta go take a look," Yuri laid out for her reasonably. She rocked back on her heels and grimaced as if about to argue more but realized we'd get out of this faster if she didn't.

Kaufman, however, was not going to let it go uncontested. "Are you planning on just leaving the Fiertia like this?"

Yuri shrugged slightly, as if he'd been planning exactly that but knew better than to say so. "All right, why don't four of us go to investigate while the rest of us stay here and keep watch?"

I knew in the end it wouldn't matter, everyone was supposed to board sooner or later, but I chewed on my lower lip while I wondered if I should hope to be in the first or the second group?

x x x

Hahaha~ Who shall I send exploring with Yuri and Repede? I'm trying to decide who he's most likely to pick. Would he pick the people who wouldn't freak out at every little thing? Or the people he thinks would be most fun to play pranks on? And which category would he think Letha falls under? Any opinions given will be considered.

I didn't really care very much about the fight with the mermen, but I'm planning to make the most out of the next chapter for action!

Note: Letha doesn't know how Duke got Dein Nomos, but I do~ Thanks again to Frozen In Flight for that link~ You know the one!

And that was me trying to make Ioder seem more like a real person instead of a bland personality...

And lastly, a friendly moment between Letha and Judith. How fun! Another case of me not knowing what I wanted them to talk about, so I just let it take whatever direction it wanted. I can see Judith being a shipping fangirl, though I'm not sure if she'd even care which relationship she was supporting.