Chapter 2

The Midnight Sky

Later that night after eating dinner with her family and practicing with both of her parents, Coro put on her twin swords, overcoat, and a bag that could hold anything before heading to the door.

"Coro wait." she heard her mother say.

Turning around, she faced her mom and dad who were holding a wrapped present.

"We want you to have your real father's hat." Zoro told her as she opened the gift.

"And we need to tell you something about your original father when you get back." Tashigi added as Coro tried on the top hat which immediately started to steam from the stack.

"Thanks! this is a great gift. But I need to go or I'll be late!" Coro told them as she left the house and headed for the center of the tree.

"I thought you weren't coming." Harrow said as he met her near the park in the center of the ghetto wearing a white overcoat with two katana swords strapped to his back.

"Parents held me up. So where is the slide?" Coro replied as she walked into the small park.

"Follow me." Harrow said as he lead her to a large white tree in the heart of the park.

"What is this large ice tree doing here?" Coro asked as they approached a group of students sitting on the roots of the white tree next to a fenced off section of the root base.

"It's part of the whole tree we're in and a section of the roots has split open making an ice tunnel about halfway down the tree." Harrow explained as he greeted the other students.

One of them grabbed a homemade toboggan and set it down on the edge of the ice roots before saying, "Harrow and Coro, your first."

"Coro get in front and I'll steer in back." Harrow said as he sat down in the back of the toboggan.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Coro asked as she sat down and pulled her collar up to help protect her from the cold air that would be in the tunnel.

"So long as we don't hit anything… hang on!" Harrow replied as they were pushed into the dark and cold tunnel. As they sped down the ice tunnel into the tree Coro was surprised as the blackness faded and was replaced with a light blue glow. As she turned her attention ahead, she noticed that the tunnel split into two with a large ice divider.

"Which way do we go?" She asked Harrow as the divider sped by on their left.

"When the tunnel divides we go left. We don't know where the other leads." Harrow said as may turned around and saw him unfogging a pair of goggles he had strapped around his head.

"But we went right!" Coro shouted back as Harrow finished cleaning the goggles and cursed as he realized what had happened.

"We'll find out today where this tunnel goes then. The tunnel we were supposed to take took us to the outer edge of the tree." Harrow said as they sped on through the tunnel.

After a few minutes of riding, Coro noticed that the floor had leveled off and was no longer sloped.

When she voiced her discovery to Harrow he replied, "Then we must be near the ground!" as suddenly the white walls of ice became clear, allowing them to see into the ice. As Coro peared into the ice she gasped in surprise as she saw what was trapped inside: a hulking steam ship.

"Look at that!" Harrow shouted at her above the roar of the wind passing by them, "Looks like the stories told to us were true."

"Yeah and I have a strange sensation of coming home." Coro yelled back as the sled they were on leveled out and began to slow as it approached the ship.

"It's huge!" Harrow exclaimed as the toboggan came to a halt at the side of a gaping hole in the ship.

"Lets go and see the inside. Maybe we can see what had happened to it all those years ago." Coro said excitedly as she unstrapped herself and pointed towards the hole in the ship where the tunnel continued.

"Wait!...What's that noise?!" Harrow said quietly all of a sudden.

As Coro listened, she slowly became aware of a throbbing vibration coming through the ice around them as she neared the hole in the ship.

"It sounds like it's running." Harrow said quietly as he followed Coro inside.

"It is running!" Coro gasped in amazement as she took in the massive room and saw two large engines slowly churning around.

"This must be the engine room." Harrow said with a whistle of surprise, "To think it was running all these years….I wonder: what keeps it going?"

"Let's see, one of the doors is closed over with ice." Coro pointed out the door across the room.

"But the other is open." Harrow noted as he pointed to a open door up a set of stairs to their right.

As the pair entered the next room, Coro gave a start when she saw a massive column of pipes and two statues of people, one of a man holding a small round container with a valve, and the other of a women standing a few feet away.

"Who are they?" Harrow asked as he began rubbing the frost off of the ice coating the statues.

"It's the two captains!" Coro cried as she recognized them from the pictures in their class textbooks.

At that instant, the ice cracked around the face of the one holding the ball.

"I think they heard you!" Harrow exclaimed as the ice splintered over the statues before breaking off.

"Burr! That's cold!" The man said as he shook away the ice and turned the valve on the ball before setting it down.

"You said it." the women said as she knocked the ice off of her jacket.

When the two were completely free of ice, the man turned towards the pair and looked them carefully up and down before murmuring, "So this is what these two have grown up to be."

"Umm.. excuse me but who are you?" Harrow asked as the women picked up the ball and placed it in a round holder under the pillar of pipes.

"Kind of giving us the cold shoulder after not seeing your Aunt and Uncle, Harrow?" the man asked as he pulled a lever near the wall that was followed by the hiss of steam through pipes.

"Aunt and Uncle?!" Harrow asked surprised and confused.

"And how about a hug for your mother princess?" the women asked Coro as she walked into the engine room and pulled a few more levers.

"Whoa!..Back up! Your not my parents, and don't call me princess." Coro said as she followed the man into the engine room where the engines were starting to spin faster.

"You have a special mark on your back for a reason Coro that's why you were able to use all the powers... and we were with your parents when you were born Harrow, they kept switching back and forth between us when you first cried." the woman replied as the lights flicked on one by one.

"But, introductions first, I'm Quentin Mccarthy, or Q, Captain of Exile and the first." the man said as he kicked the thick ice off the other door.

"And I'm May Diyafa Alome, or May, and I'm the second Captain of Exile." May said grandly before continueing, "About 18 years ago we crashed here and were badly damaged. After about two years you, Coro Eleseum, were born followed by Harrow sharp. When we came time to fire up Exile again, we gave orders to Tashigi and Zoro to tell you about us when you were at the right age should something happen to us. Unfortunately, a bomb planted in the boiler room caused a chain reaction that froze us in time. We could only watch you by entering the minds of others."

"So it was you who battled against me in the gym." Coro caught on, gesturing to May.

"Close, it was me." Q said as he opened the frozen door to the bridge.

"Now let's see if Exile can get out of here." May said as she pulled a few levers on the bridge.

"Oh! Before I forget…" Q started as he pulled out his heart, "You both need you powers activated."

"Umm, no thank you I'm good with my powers." Harrow said nervously as he backed for the door.

"Here you go!" Q said as he hurled the blue ball at Harrow's chest. As the ball entered Harrow's chest, he collapsed as Q pulled out another and fired at Coro's chest with the same effect.