As Coro looked over Sky the next day while the girl and the boy both healed, she noted that as Sky had plowed a half mile trail of destruction through the forest, he had wrecked his front left aero-pod and the sand skis that he had used were dented and bent. As she gave Harrow his orders as to what needed to get done, Coro walked to the medical room to check on their two guests.
As Coro opened the door to the medic bay, she was surprised to find that the boy was healing nicely and as she headed back out the door, the girl suddenly woke up almost jumping out of the bed.
"Easy! Easy, you need to rest some more." Coro told the girl and tried to get her to calm down.
"Get away from me human! I dont need your help! I'm fine on my- ah!" the girl began until she spotted the boy still laying in the other bed with a large bandage around his chest.
"So you must be San and that must be Ashitaka." Coro said as she connected the dots and got San some food.
Then, San noticed two small tubes sticking out of her arm and running into Ashitaka's Arm.
"Why is my blood running into him?!" San asked Coro panickly.
"Ashitaka lost a lot of blood trying to save you from the towns people. When I got you two back to this ship he was going to die unless he was givin blood. The only problem was that his blood doesn't match me or my other crew member... your's did though. And since you were stunned and didn't have a major injury, I hooked you up to him." Coro explained to her before turning away from her and finished quietly, "Right now you're the only thing keeping him alive."
"Why couldn't you let him die!" San yelled at her in anger.
"Then answer me this: Why do you kill? Is it for need, mercy… or because you just hate them." Coro asked San angrily.
San stared at her in shock before answering with her head down, "Because they're horrible, they cut down the forest and have only tried to kill me."
"This boy tried to save you from those people at only his expense, don't you think he should be saved?" Coro asked as she fluffed Ashitaka's pillow.
San didnt answer as Coro brought over a roller chair and sat in it next to San.
"Now, I suppose you have some questions for me about who I am and why I saved both of you. But to help with time, I'll explain now. My name is Coro Elysium and I'm captain of this ship, the Midnight Sky. I have set out on an adventure, like my father's, to find people who are worthy to save worlds.. and you San, along with Ashitaka, are one of those people." Coro said as she made herself comfortable.
"So what happens to me if I join you?" San asked after taking in this information.
"You will no longer be human, you will be an Exile… a person with extraordinary power to destroy whole kingdoms if necessary." Coro said as she pulled out her heart and showed the blue ball to San, "You may not believe this but this little ball powers everything in this ship and is the source of all our powers."
"And if I say no?" San asked with an accusing stare.
"We let you go free as a bird and you can forget about us." Coro told her as she set the ball on the end table.
Suddenly, Ashitaka stirred and opened his eyes, straight at San.
"Good to see that you're safe San." Ashitaka said quietly.
"Yeah but I had to bring you back from death." Coro said as she checked him over.
"And she had to connect us to keep you alive." San said, trying to put her instincts to kill Coro and him down as she showed him the twin tubes running from her to him.
"By the way, can you explain to me how this works?" San asked Coro and gestured to the tubes.
"Sure, the red tube supplies Ashitaka with your blood, while the blue tube keeps the amount of blood in each of you equal. At one point in time during the surgery on Ashitaka, your heart San, kept him alive when his stopped. It allowed me extra time to repair his heart and time to restart it." Coro said and saw the surprise on both of their faces.
"You mean I died?" Ashitaka asked.
"No, you both became one person. In order for San's heart to have kept you alive I had to combine both your minds for ten minutes." Coro Explained as she picked up the ball.
"Now do you want to join my crew? I know you were listening to me earlier Ashitaka." Coro said as she turned to them.
"Since I owe you my life I will." Ashitaka told Coro as he shifted his position in the bed.
"Not me, her." Coro said pointing at San.
"Oh. Then I'll follow her until my debt is paid." Ashitaka replied and looked at San.
"Fine, I'll go join your crew. My mother's dead and my brothers have disowned me." San told Coro.
"Ok, now with that settled, I'll wait for Ashitaka to fully heal enough to separate both of you before having you join us." Coro said as she put her heart back into her chest.
"By the way, Ashitaka, you can go for a walk but San has to go with you and no leaving the ship. San.. you're in charge of keeping Ashitaka alive and calm, if his heart beats too fast it will tear the repairs I've made." Coro told them as she walked out the door.
…
After Coro had left, San turned to Ashitaka and asked, "Where do you want to go first?"
"I don't know, I'm just going to walk." Ashitaka replied as he slowly got out of the bed, mindful of the tubes keeping him alive.
As they walked to the door, San grabbed a piece of rope that was sitting near the desk and tied Ashitaka's arm to her's.
"Nice idea." Ashitaka said as he opened the door, directly into the engine room.
"How are we here? We didn't even hear the noise." San questioned while she covered her ears to shield them from the noise.
"What are you doing here without hearing protection! Get out!" a boy in a white coat and matching hat yelled at them from the next story up.
San and Ashitaka gladly left the room and headed to the upper deck.
…
Coro stood outside the ship looking at the bent sand ski and aero-pods. If Harrow and Sky were correct they would only need another day of repairs before they can head to the next world.
'The only question is, how long will it hold?' Coro thought as she began to unbend the sand ski.
As she finished, Coro heard footsteps behind her, "Did you bring the next part-" Coro cut off as she turned an faced a large wolf, "Shoot."
"Where is San puny human." the wolf said in a deep voice and obviously annoyed.
"First off, do not call me a puny human and second, she's somewhere in the ship." Coro replied.
"Bring her to us human." another large wolf told Coro.
"I don't know where she is in there but you could come with me to see." Coro said back as she turned towards the ship.
"Give her this message: if she visits the den again we'll have to kill her." one of the wolves said before they turned away and walked into the forest.
"I already know." Coro heard San say from above her.
"Well, lets get some food to eat it's nearly night." Coro told them as she jumped onto the deck.
…
The next day, Coro split San from Ashitaka, they officially joined the crew, and along with the surprise that they both had the same powers.
"Umm?! Why am I able to hear Ashitaka's thoughts?!" San cried as she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Calm down. I'll explain in a minute." Coro said trying to calm San.
"San. I can hear your thoughts too, calm down or I'll calm you down." Ashitaka told her.
As San heard this she became even more frantic, Ashitaka came over and hugged San as hard as he could.
After about a minute, Coro saw that San had calmed down enough to listen and explained, "This only happens to a few rare people. They have to have the same powers and feelings for eachother."
Seeing that San needed some time alone, Coro walked to the bridge and met Harrow.
"The pods are repaired, for now…. do we want to try to take off?" Harrow asked as he entered the bridge covered in oil and grease.
"Let's try." Coro said as she walked to the ship's wheel and Harrow walked down into the engine room.
'How does Harrow do it? He's had no sleep or food for the past two days. and for your information, there is no chance that the repairs to the aero-pods will hold for more than an hour.' Sky told Coro as Harrow started the engines and pressure began to build.
'Then we'll have to jump right away.' Coro replied as she gave the order to brace for a jump.
Pulling several levers at once, Coro slowly gave throttle to the pods. As Sky lifted up and off the ground, it jumped to the next as fast as it could.
…