Ahiru threw herself back and forth in her sleep, fighting off images and visions of another life. It was of a man, a revolutionist in Emestress. He was captured and tortured for his outspoken behavior by order of King Bradly.

But how he died… or didn't die was the most unbearable pain she struggled with.

Every time she tried dwell on this memory, she felt a strange painful presence trying to tear its way out of her. She had multiple black outs she kept trying to fight. It was a constant tug-of-war with these visions and her own humanity.

The bitter torment was over coming her so much so, that this other life she was seeing, was trying to talk through her body. When this happened, her voice would change to an angry man's cursing and saying something about leader Bradly. And her captors began to take notice, much to their disgust.

Envy marched over to the captain's quarters. He kicked to door in, crossed his arms, and stared down Drosselmeyer.
"She's made contact with her little friend. We only have a few days before she snaps." He said dryly.

Drosselmeyer held Envy's glare, "And how did she make contact with this… friend?"
"I'm willing to bet it was that freaky shadow man that you insisted we keep on board!"

Drosselmeyer quickly flew to slam the door shut, locked it, and quickly scoped the whole room.
He cocked his head to the side and whispered, "Be careful when you use the work 'freak' to describe him. He may not take it lightly."

Envy was full of anger now. He raised his voice, "Well if you know he's a loose cannon, why the HELL would you keep him under the same roof as your men!?"

Drosselmeyer motioned him to keep it down, "Because his power could be useful when we get try to get closer to Bradly. I know he's dangerous but getting Bradly keeps him tame for now."
Envy wasn't convinced.

"Just be patient a little longer. Bradly and Mytho will get what's coming to them, for all the years of torment they put innocent people through. And the shadow man with that gypsy girl will be the best strike we have!"

Envy shook his head, "I don't like it. But fine, I'll wait. However, if this goes too far, we pull the plug fast. Got it!?"
Drosselmeyer nodded.
Envy left with a huff, leaving Drosselmeyer to plan their next attack.

Night had fallen, leaving an unexpected Emestress sleeping soundly.
Drosselmeyer had his ship docked quietly, while arming his men with lasers, bags, and climbing gear.
Once the men were prepared, the jumped onto the dock and rushed to Emestress' great wall, which was still glowing and changing colors even in the dark.

The pirates began to scale the wall and at certain point began using their lasers to cut the bricks free. Once they were removed from the wall, they found big holes in the back of the bricks which held what the men were looking for, a shiny orb with swirled metal on two sides.

One by one the bricks were removed, emptied, and placed back into the wall, losing the glow that the brick once had. The certain items were quickly placed into the sacks on their waists as they moved on to the next brick.

This process took hours to complete. Right to the point where the sun was about rise.
Just as they were about to reach the last few bricks, the faint, but growing, sound of an airship approaching was reaching the pirates ears.

Within a few minutes, the ship had arrived.
Now they were out of time!

All the pirates still stuck on the wall quickly zipped down and began rushing to the ship, hoping for a quick getaway. However, a voice from the other ship called out, "Captain Drosselmeyer! We have come for your arrest for crimes against the kingdom, the republic, and the dictatorship!"

Drosselmeyer rolled his eyes. Oh great, councilman Mytho has come to "justify" his crimes.
"Well Councilman, ya' goin' to have to fight me for that!"

"Then so be it!"
Mytho had a few grappling guns launched sending not only himself, but also Fakir, Lysander, Femio, Pique and Lillie over to the pirate's ship. Each one of them was armed with a sword (and Fakir kept his concealed pistol).

Now obviously our heroes were outnumbered, but the pirates were clearly outmatched!

A burst of energy rushed through everyone on the ship.
Clashing swords and battle cries echoed through the air.

Meanwhile Hermia began pulling the ship to the dock so she, Jaden, mamma Edel and Uzura to sneak on board and find Ahiru.

There were loud rumbles going on up above, Ahiru wasn't sure if she was going insane or it was actually happening. She was practically falling apart, and the shadow man took notice.

How much fun could he have if he just… let her lose in the city?
Well she's a gypsy, she's babbling like a nut job, she keeps shaking her head. Those snobby people of Emestess would lose it!
Heck yeah he'd have a lot of fun!

The shadow man flashed his way into her cell, grabbed hold of her, and flashed them both out of there.
By gliding through the shadows, he quickly pulled Ahiru with him through the darkness until they finally reached the edge of the ship and slipped right through the haul of the ship, onto the docks.

"Quickly!" He whispered in her ear, "Your family is there in the city!"
He pushed her out towards the gates. And Ahiru in the stumbling, babbling, and confused state wandered into the city.

However, unknowing to the shadow man, Jaden noticed a pretty little red head stumble her way into the city. Without hesitation, he quietly followed them.

The battle didn't last very long as most of the pirates went down pretty easily. The only changer left was the captain himself!

"So ya' thinks ya' can take me on? Well try ya' best!" Drosselmeyer taunted.
"Oh don't worry." Lysander responded, "We're not leaving 'till we get Ahiru back!"

"Me thinks ya'll find me a challenge."

It was at that instant all the gypsies charged at the pirate captain. But with the flick of his wrist all of them went down.
Mytho, on Drosselmeyer's left, was in shock.

"But how did you…? How do we stop that?"

Drosselmeyer turned to Mytho and flicked his other hand.

As Mytho fell to the ground he said, "You don't."
It was at that very moment a cold barrel was jabbed at the back of his head almost knocking him over,
"Not unless I have something to say about it!" Fakir stated jabbing the pistol even harder into Drosselmeyer's head, "Now give up, let the gypsies go, and release Ahiru."

Drosselmeyer's fingers began to twitch. "Fine" he muttered.

He twisted his hands back around releasing his grip over his victims. He called over Envy to go check on Ahiru. Reluctantly Envy went down into the cargo hold to return the gypsy girl.

"And once this is over, I will have you arrested for your crimes!" Mytho commanded.
"Don't act so noble Councilman! Have you ever been arrested for your crimes yet?" the captain sneered.
"What are you-"

"Captain!" Envy shouted after coming from bellow the ship.
"Captain! She's gone! The gypsy girl is not on board the ship and neither is the shadow man!"

There was a collective gasp!

Well sheesh that took a long time to pick up…
I blame college, (as usual) and my own sheer laziness.

But regardless, this story is not dead. I will finish to the end!
In the mean time I would like to thank:

Kriro-tone (for reviewing!)
NightWing101 (for following!)
RaiderDragonWolfGuardian (for following and favoring!)
midnight0sun95 (for following!)

And to you for waiting this long! You are absolutely wonderful! :D