There was a restlessness growing inside Fakir as they began their departure back to Gold Crown to well… make a decision. Drosselmeyer, now actually Fakir's grandfather, and Mytho, now actually a criminal, were still arguing as to what they were going to do with Ahiru. And they most certainly did not have any time to waste!

On top of all the new mess, Ahiru is suffering and is looking at him like he's a bad guy. Which of course Jaden took advantage of by acting like an obnoxious over protective mother hen. He wouldn't even let him get close to her!

The last words she spoke before passing out echoed in his mind. What did she mean by that? He never saw her that day, but he really wanted to…
But why would she think he would turn her over to a bunch of pirates? Or not pirates…?

He had to ask her. What happened to her that day?

Fakir got up from where he was sitting and walked over to where Jaden was watching over Ahiru. But before he could make a distance of… what, 12 feet, Jaden freaked out.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jaden glared.
"I come in peace," Fakir said half-jokingly, "I just want to speak to Ahiru. You can't hang a guy for that, right?"
"With you, I just might."
Fakir clenched his fists, "You know Jaden, I don't what I ever did to make you hate me, but for right now, put your childish jealously aside and let me talk to Ahiru!"

Jaden looked like he was about to explode. "Jealous? You think I'm jealous of you?! The solider who servers under a criminal, whose grandfather is a pirate, and more importantly kidnapped my Ahiru to give her to his grandfather!"

"First of all no one, not even you, knew about Mytho's past! Don't push that only on me. Second, I just now found out he was my grandfather, and in case you didn't know, I'm not thrilled about it. Third, I didn't kidnap her. And that's why I want to talk to her about this. And most importantly, where do you get off calling her yours! She may be a part of the troupe you are in, but she doesn't belong to you! If you care so much about her you'll call her for who she is!"

With that, Fakir pushed past Jaden, who was completely dumbstruck, to finally talk with Ahiru.
The moment Ahiru's eyes landed on Fakir, she almost went into panic.
Fakir put up his hands and whispered, "Hey, its okay. I just want to talk is all. I want to clear things up with you. I promise I will not do anything directly to you. Okay?"

She was hesitant, but soon nodded.

"Ahiru, you have to know that I never saw you the day those pirates took you. Which side of the dock were you on when you thought you saw me?"

Ahiru sighed, "I was on the west side of Port. I slipped out of Jaden's grasp and ran into you. You said you wanted to tell me something and took me off to the farthest west point of Port. Then you pointed your gun to my head and knocked me out."

"But I wasn't on the west side of Port, I was on the east side of Port. I had to investigate a robbery of one of the gunsmith's shops. He said one of his pistols went missing last night." He took her hand half expecting her to pull away, "Ahiru please believe me when I say, I never saw you that day. I ran into Jaden saying that you were kidnapped. Do you believe me?"

Ahiru examined his eyes carefully. Could she find a reason not to?
No, she couldn't. She never could. Somehow, no matter what, Fakir was someone she could never abandon.

"Yes, I believe you." She squeezed his hand.
"The only question now is, who did kidnap you?" Fakir asked.
"It may have been the shape-shifter Envy. But how did he know what you look like?"

"Well," Jaden shouted while shoving Fakir away, "Why don't you go ask Envy and leave her alone!"

Jaden began pulling Fakir out of the room. That was the moment it all came together. Fakir quickly threw his arm onto Jaden's and began to drag him out of the room.

"It was you!" he hissed in low voice, "You were the one who had the pirates kidnap Ahiru, while you played dumb to get me in trouble and cover your tracks. That's why you sabotaged our ship on the way to rescue her too, right?"

Jaden glared at Fakir. Well, no use in keeping up this act with him now, huh?
"Maybe I did. It's not like anyone will believe you if say anything."
"I don't care about ratting you out, I care about why you would put Ahiru's life in danger!"

Unknowing to the two young men, Ahiru had been listening in on this part.

"I wanted to keep her safe, from you and from what was trapped inside her. They offered a way that could save her, and I took it."
"Are you kidding me? She was safe with you all until she was given to the pirates. Now she's on the verge of suffering and she might die if we don't hurry. How is that saving her?!"
"We all make tough choices for love." Jaden muttered.

"Who the heck said anything about love?! How is making a choice for someone else that throws them to the wolves motivated by love in any way?! If you really loved her, you would put her needs before yours! Doing something like this is selfish and cruel!"

Jaden was quite at this point. He wasn't used to being put in his place much. Since he refused to speak, Fakir pressed on.

"I don't know if I should tell Ahiru or not. But for right now, someone needs to be there for her. Someone who won't keep up this selfish and dangerous charade just to save a little face. So for every last second, I will be there for her. Just until I know she can take care of herself."

Ahiru felt like she was could cry. She had never thought Jaden would do this to her. But she felt relief knowing Fakir would be there.

Jaden's rage began to swell up again, "I don't want to hear this from you! Get lost!" He shoved Fakir back, pushing him into his grandfather.

"Ah Fakir!" Drosselmeyer said with joy, "I'd like to talk to you for a moment." Drosselmeyer gave his best pleading smile, which was actually kind of creepy…

Fakir swallowed his next words as he looked towards the pirate captain. "Um… I… You just… I have to… go." He stuttered, but quickly scrambled away.

This isn't going to go well.

"He's avoiding you?" a small voice said from the corner. It was Ahiru.
Jaden looked pale, "Um… Ahiru, did you hear any of that?"
She didn't look at him, "I heard what I needed to know. You might as well just stop talking to me until you clean up your act."

Jaden head dropped as he clenched his fists. He closed his eyes to try and stop the tears.
His fear had finally been realized, Ahiru had not only rejected him, she wanted nothing to do with him.

He couldn't hold this hurt back any more. He lashed out on Drosselmeyer. "This is your fault! You said this would work! That everything would be okay! But look where we are! She's dying, we've been caught, and Ahiru wants to avoid me like your stupid grandson does to you!"

"Hey! Nothing will ever go according to plan. I warned you what would happen with you helping us. That's something you need to accept." Drosselmeyer was about to walk away, but he turned around.

"One last thing," and he punched Jaden's stomach, making him fall to the ground, "Don't ever call my grandson 'stupid'. I won't tolerate anyone bringing down my family in any way ever again."

As he walked away Ahiru followed him, "Wait, what do you mean bring down your family again?"
Drosselmeyer stopped and sighed, "I'm not all that different from you child. People look at you differently when you don't match up with what is expected of you." And he walked away.

My thanks to:

AnimeFan1000 (for favoring)
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Kitsune Kaze (for reviewing)
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and Elisablackcat (for following, favoring, and reviewing!)

A\N: I am doing my best to do my schoolwork and get this story done. But I really hope you have enjoyed it thus far! :)