Lightning lit up the sky as I ran through Bowerstone Industrial, searching for any sign of Ben. "Ben? BEN!" I screamed, but the chances of anybody hearing me through the thunder and rain were very slim. My feet splashed through endless puddles as the river overflowed.

'This is pointless,' I thought to myself, as I slowly came to a stop. My knowledge of Industrial was very limited to the small area surrounding Ben's home, and the Rebel's headquarters. I closed my eyes, and listened to the rain splash on the ground, as the rainwater slowly absorbed into my cloak.

"What are you doing standing in the pouring rain? You'll catch a cold like that."

I turned to see Walter standing outside of the Riveter's Rest tavern, holding two large pints of ale. "I'm looking for Ben, have you seen him?"

"No, why?"

"…Walter, I've got bad news. Major Swift- Swiftie- is dead."

Walter slumped on the door frame of the tavern, with people having to step over him. He sloshed ale all over the floor, and his expression was vacant. "Balls," He muttered quietly. I pulled him off the ground, where some angry drunks were tripping over him, and took him over to a bar stool. One of the employees of the tavern began mopping up Walters puddle of ale, scowling at the two of us as she went along.

"I should tell the others at the headquarters," he said in a low, barely audible voice, "We'll need to work out our next plan of action."

"Walter-" But before I could say anymore, he had stood up, and walked out into the storm in the direction of the rebels headquarters. "Shit," I said, standing up and trying to think of what to do. "Where would I go if I was Captain Ben Finn?" I muttered to myself.

"Excuse me?" A voice called out. "Did you say you were looking for Captain Finn?"

I turned around to see Jack Timmins sat down at one of the tables, cradling a small health potion in his hands. His bandages looked newly done, and he had a lot more colour in his face than normal. "Yes," I replied, walking over to him, "Have you seen him?"

"He ran past not too long ago, heading towards the market. He looked a bit dizzy, if you ask me."

I flashed him a large smile. "Thank you so much!" and ran off in the direction of Bowerstone Market.

It didn't take me long to get there. The streets were empty, apart from the occasional villager using their jacket to protect their hair. The storm was getting worse, with the wind battering against my skin. Shop signs creaked and swayed, and a plant pot crashed to the ground, with pottery and soil going everywhere. I tried calling out for Ben again, but I got no reply.

I began my aimless running, searching every nook and cranny for a blonde soldier. He didn't seem to be anywhere, like he'd just disappeared. I ran down the steps by the bridge, thinking that perhaps he went to find shelter. It was almost like the heavens were singing when I found him leaning against the wall under the bridge, with a bottle in his hand. I ran straight up to him, pulling him intio an embrace before punching his chest repeatedly. "You idiot!" I cried out. "Did you know how worried I was? I am now soaked to the bone because you didn't come home."

When I pulled away, he staggered around and laughed. He was completely drunk! His breath stank of alcohol, and he could barely keep himself upright. I ended up dragging him through the market and through Industrial back home to throw him onto the sofa in front of the fire, which had now gone out. I re-lit it, and went upstairs to change into dryer clothes. At least my dress wasn't completely ruined, it just needed drying out. I threw on an old outfit and took to sopping wet clothes back downstairs to place in front of the warm fire.

Ben was still lying there in his wet clothes, only now he was shivering. "Ben? We need to get you out of those clothes so they can dry," I said.

"Heh heh, buy me dinner first love," he slurred, and then promptly rolled over on the sofa, and fell asleep. Being as careful as possible, I pulled off his disguise jacket, and placed it by the fire. Grabbing a quilt form a cupboard, I gently placed it over his snoring body, praying to Avo that he wouldn't get a cold.

I'd sat in front of the fire for an hour without realising it, and behind me Ben stirred himself out of slumber. "What the- how did I get here?"

"I dragged you. You sober up really fast, did you know that?"

He laughed, sitting up and pulling the blanket around him more. "Yeah," He said, "Us Finn's were great at one thing at least." He stood up and shivered again. I'm going to go change into something… dry."

I nodded as he went upstairs. Shortly afterwards, he came back down, wearing his normal army attire. He placed his clothes next to my other ones, which were drying out nicely. "New dress?" he asked.

"Yeah," I smiled, rubbing the material between my fingers. "New today, so I hope the rain hasn't damaged it much."

We sat for a moment in complete silence, neither of us wanting to bring up the biggest, most important subject- Swiftie. After a while however, I took a deep breath and dived in. "I'm sorry about Swiftie," I said. "I know you two were close."

"You've read about my real family, and how they were all gone while I was still young. After I joined the army, it felt like I had a home again. Those men were my brothers, and Swiftie… he was like a Father to me. I guess we both know what it's like to lose a Father."

I smiled softly, thinking about my own Father, and his new life without me. Ben and I cuddled up together, talking about random things until we both fell asleep, with the fire dying and the storm still roaring outside, but getting softer and softer, until the rain stopped.

When we woke up, the fire was dead, our clothes were dry and the sun was shining beautifully outside. We were curled up and had somehow managed to fall asleep lying down on the floor. I carefully untangled myself from a still snoring Ben to go wash and dress. Once I'd worked out a practical outfit, I could hear Ben stomping around downstairs, occasionally bumping into something and cursing.

"Good morning," I said as I came down the stairs. "We'll need to find Annabel this morning. She was frantically running around Bowerstone trying to find you."

Ben ruffled his hair, letting out a yawn. He was in a different (and cleaner) soldier's uniform. "Yeah, you're right. She'll probably be in the headquarters."

And so we left the house, walking the dirtied streets towards the sewers. The headquarters were swarming with Swiftie's men and Page's rebels; almost every bed had somebody's belongings scattered on it. By the time we had made it to Page's room, I had trodden on four peoples toes and bumped into seven people.

Inside were Walter, Annabel, Page, Jack and Kidd, huddled together talking seriously, but stopped when they heard us enter. "It's good to see you two safe," Said Page, walking over to the map table with Kidd following behind.

"We were so worried!" Beamed Annabel, whose blue hair was tied back in a loose plait. She was looking well, wearing mercenary clothing.

Walter however, was looking worse. He had shadows under his eyes, and he seemed ten years older than yesterday. "I'm sorry to hear about Swiftie, Ben."

Ben nodded. "As am I."

"Kidd, Jack, how are your wounds?" I asked. I was very interested in how close Jack and Annabel were standing next to each other.

"They're good. Almost fully healed," grinned Jack. "And Sir Walter's promised to help me with my sword fighting. Maybe I won't get beaten up as bad next time…"

"With Page giving me expensive health potions every ten minutes, I'll be healthier than before," said Kidd, causing Page to go bright pink.

"That doesn't matter right now. We were lucky," Page began. "Before Major Swift was caught, he sent a message back to us."

"What does it say?" Ben asked eagerly.

Walter took a crumpled note out of his pocket; it looked like it had been ripped off an envelope. "Well, it's Swiftie here so it's fairly straightforward: 'You will find allies in Aurora.'"

"Aurora?" I asked. "But that's a dead land."

"Yes…" Walter said gravely. "…Or so we've been told."

The seven of us looked over the plans scattered over the map table, with Page clearly being the one in control. "So here's the plan; Annabel, Walter and Emily will steal a ship and take it to Aurora, while the rest of us distract Logan's guards stationed at the docks."

"I don't like this plan," Grumbled Ben, "Why can't I go too?"

"Because you have a bullet hole in your shoulder," said Page, clearly irritated about having to justify her master plan. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, a couple of our men have some explosions packed and ready, so prepare for some loud 'bangs'. No doubt there'll be a bit of trouble getting a ship, but you'll manage. You leave tonight."

I left to get ready, with anticipation bubbling in my stomach. I was finally able to leave Albion, what I had been dreaming for so long! I walked over to the supplies to find some things for the trip. A stroke of luck meant I found a spare soldiers uniform, which was only slightly oversized.

A bag of supplies later and I was ready.

"Ah, Emily. I see you're ready to go?" Asked Walter, before getting very serious looking, "You know… It's going to be a while until we're back in Industrial. I'm telling you- I'm not going to miss this sewer one bit. But you should make sure you are completely ready. You know, say your goodbyes and whatnot. It's always best, if you can say goodbye."

I knew he was talking about Swiftie's execution. Both Walter and Ben weren't taking it well. Perhaps Ben going to Aurora would have been a good idea. Being stuck here sure wasn't going to do him any good. I walked around the headquarters, trying to find Page. I finally managed to find her next to Kidd and the explosives, choosing their favourites.

"Um, Page, may I talk with you?"

She nodded, and excused herself. "Is there a problem?"

"Oh, um n-no not really but I, er, was hoping that B-Ben might be able to… to come… to Aurora? I just think it might be, um, good for him…"

Her eyes narrowed into small slits. "No," She replied sternly, "And don't try to change my mind."

And that was that. She turned around and walked back to Kidd, leaving me standing with my jaw slightly ajar. I was furious. "How rude!" I muttered to myself, before heading off to find Ben.

"Captain Finn? I heard him say that he was going back to his house in Industrial," said a passing rebel, whom I had enquired as to where Ben was. I thanked the man, and hurried out of the headquarters into fresh (Or at least fresher) air. Ben was sitting on the steps of the house.

"Hey," I said.

He looked up, and showed a sad smile. "Hi. Wow, so Aurora? That's very far away."

I didn't know what to say. "Come on; let's go into the house."

I changed upstairs into the uniform before going back downstairs to find Ben crashed out on the sofa, drinking ale. I sighed loudly. "It's not even the afternoon yet and you're drinking ale?!" I snatched the bottle out of his hand and drank the rest before he could protest. "No more," I said, before crashing on the sofa next to him.

"You look good in a uniform," Ben slurred slightly, "Now why don't we take it off-"

I hit him hard before he finished that sentence. "Excuse me, good sir, but I am not one of those whores from Bloodstone you so greatly described in detail. Chapter 2, page 5, yes?" I felt rather proud that my remark had made him blush a rather unflattering shade of red.

"So, we've got seven hours until we are needed back in Industrial, what do you want to do? If you're sober enough that is," I asked.

"Don't worry, I'm sober," he said, before standing up and grabbing some papers off the table. "Hmmm… well there's a bounty here for an escaped convict in Bowerstone market… how about it?"

I smiled. "Let's go for it."

It took Ben and I a long time to find the escaped convict, who was hiding in a room in the tavern, eating more stolen pies. By the time we had dragged him back to Henry the guard, it was time to go back to Page and the others, and fight Logan's guards at the dock.

"Alright, here's how we are going to split up," Said Page, her men all standing behind her. "Annabel, Ben and Emily, you will take the alley routes and fight off Logan's men whilst Kidd, Jack and I make some distractions for you. Walter will meet you after in the lower docks, where you'll take one of Reaver's ships and go to Aurora. The rest of my men will kill off any of Logan's stray guards." She shook our hands. "May Avo be with you on your journey."

It was time. We walked out the back exit of the sewer, gun in hand, sword on back and arrived at the gate where there was a guard standing post. He put his hand up. "Stop! You are not permitted to be here. Leave, or I will be forced to terminate you."

"Say what you will, Logan's guards certainly have an articulate vocabulary," Ben said. And then shot him in the head.

"Send out a warning! Shots have been fired at the gates!" We heard a voice past the gate say. Annabel with her hero strength kicked down the gate with ease, gripping her sword and running to the nearest guard.

I pulled back, using my pistol to shoot off any guards trying to incapacitate Ben or Annabel by stabbing them in the back. I saw Annabel light up her gauntlet and set a guard on fire, who began to run around screaming like a little child until I shot him out of his misery.

There were even more guards running out of the dock factory, so Ben using his rifle shot some conveniently placed barrels of explosives that sat just by the door. It sent some flying into the wall, and they didn't stand up.

Finally they stopped coming, so we ran into the dock factory and found another door that lead to a darkly lit alleyway. We slid along it, desperately trying to listen for any voices that would indicate guards nearby. We couldn't hear anything, so we walked out of the alleyway just in time to see the entire upper dock be blown to smithereens by Page, Kidd and Tim, who could be seen at a safe distance jumping up and down, looking ecstatic with their handiwork. We could see Page's men were easily dispatching Logan's guard which had responded to the explosion, so we left them to it and headed to the lower dock.

Unfortunately, the guards stationed at the lower docks were waiting for us, and were armed and ready. I pulled out my sword and holstered my gun. "This is going to be a good fight- I can feel it."

I charged, sliding between the legs of one guard to stab the second standing behind him, before turning and disposing of him too. Annabel was on my left, now using shock magic and leaving skeleton corpses on the ground. Ben was standing behind, using his rifle and blowing up the barrels of explosives. Guards were going flying, and I almost tripped over one of Annabel's skeletons, burned to a crisp.

I had three slowly surrounding me, and Annabel and Ben were too busy dealing with their own fights to help out with mine. I ran behind one and used him as a shield to the other two's bullets, and threw him to the ground once his usefulness was over. Now it was just me against two. I gripped my sword, scanning through every possibility.

I shifted towards the one on the left, and at the last possible moment shifted all my weight to the right and pushed my sword into the soldier that was on my right. But now I was completely open and exposed to the last guard. I waited to feel the bullet pierce my skin, but the feeling never came. The soldier gasped and fell to the ground, revealing Walter standing behind him, his gun smoking.

"Thanks," I grunted, still irritated that I couldn't take out all three on my own. I straightened up; all of Logan's men were on the ground dead. It was weird- I felt nothing. After such a massacre of men, I felt no remorse for the lives I had taken. I wondered if this is how a person was supposed to feel.

In the distance, a booming sound erupted, along with shouts. "It looks like Logan's men will be following us after all," Walter said, running towards one of Reaver's majestic ships that were in port, "We need to be going now!"

I ran over to Ben and put my arms around him, kissing him on the cheek. "You be careful, okay?"

He nodded. "You too. I'll be insulted if you die out there," He smiled, but it seemed forced.

I pulled away, and ran to where Walter and Annabel were standing, leaving Ben looking like a lost puppy. I looked at him, and my heart ached. I ran back over to him and grabbed his hand pulling him over to the ship.

"Emily –wait- what are you doing?" Ben asked, but he didn't try to resist.

"You're coming with us."

"Emily, you heard Page's orders," Annabel said, "She'd kill us if Ben came too!"

"Then let me take responsibility," I said. "Please, Annabel."

She weighed it out for a moment, before sighing and helping us into the boat.

The waves were wild, the sky was dark and the mood in the ship wasn't any better. Logan's army was catching up- and fast. Soon they would be side to side with us and we were no match. Their ship was four times the size of ours, a colossal warship prepared for battle.

"It's no use," Walter said, slumping into a chair, "We won't be able to make it to Aurora before the ship catches up to us. Let us pray for a miracle."

I looked out of the window of the ship. In the distance, the great warship loomed behind us, getting bigger every glance we took. I held onto Ben's hand, fear beginning to creep up on me. "What do we do?"

Ben was silent for a few moments. "Do you all know how to swim?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Then we swim."

And like a prisoner waiting for his execution, we waited for the warship to catch up to us, and tear us down.

~Authors note~

Hello! This one took longer than I wanted it to, but there was Christmas, New Years, mocks and then I got ill again so it's been a busy few weeks. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

As always, I thank my friend Robyn for proofreading. If she didn't, I doubt half of what I had written would have made sense.

Disclaimer: I own Emily, but Lionhead owns everything else. That's like me owning a crumb and them owning a three-tiered cake. Sigh…

MM.