"So where to?" Arin asked as we sat around his table.
"Izuna is the closest, why not go there?" Christa suggested.
"That won't work, I'm the most wanted man in Izuna, it would defeat the purpose of even leaving Aria," Sasaki explained and Arin turned to him.
"What did you do?" he asked and Sasaki smiled at him.
"Killed my lord and tried to kill the emperor," he replied, and Arin facepalmed.
"What about Setsuna," I suggested and Yuna immediately shook her head.
"No way, too far," she said and Jun finally spoke up.
"We could go to Valiheim," he said and we turned to him "I'm actually from there so I can be our guide"
"Valiheim could work," I said "What's it like there?"
"There's not anything to worry about, well other than the thieves guild and shitty weather," Jun explained "it's dry and mostly desert, and the giants were hunted to extinction years ago,"
"Any objections?" I asked and nobody had any objections. "very well, we leave in thirty minutes"
____________________
"No way, no sailor with half a brain would be willing to take you to Valiheim," the captain said and my face fell.
"I guess that makes sense, it is the country of thieves after all," Jun stated and the captain nodded.
"You're free to ask around but I doubt you'll find anyone willing," he said before climbing back aboard his ship.
"Well that was a bust," Sasaki joked, trying to lighten the mood. None of us were in the mood though "sorry"
"I guess we could split up and ask around," Jun suggested and I nodded.
"Let's split into groups of two for now. Sasaki is with Christa, Yuna is with Jun and Arin will be with me." I ordered and everyone nodded.
We all went our separate ways, for the time being, hoping we would find a ship and captain that was foolish enough to sail to Valiheim.
A few common responses we got were.
"Are you crazy?!"
"No way!"
"I don't have a death wish, sorry"
I suppose I could understand where they were coming from but it was still frustrating as hell.
"So what should we do now?" Arin asked as I sat down on the ground, contemplating the same question.
"We should probably wait and see if the others had better luck than we did," I said and Arin nodded before taking a seat next to me.
"Hey I never asked but how's my dad doing?" Arin asked and I turned to him.
"Your dad?" I asked in confusion.
"You should know him, he's a servant who works in the castle," Arin explained and I again was confused.
"What's your last name?" I asked and Arin smiled.
"Lockhart," he said and my eyes widened.
"You're the son of Francis!?" I asked in shock and Arin nodded.
"That I am," he said and I could see the resemblance, they both had the same kind smile and eye color, but Francis had white hair while Arin had a sandy blonde color.
I was gonna ask him a bit more but I was interrupted by a man approaching us.
"Hey youngsters," the man greeted. He was tall, around the same height as Arin. He had long disheveled black hair, a full beard, and onyx eyes with a long golden-brown coat over a white shirt and loose-fitting black pants. He had a bottle of rum in his hand and a cutlass on his hip.
"Can we help you?" Arin asked, suddenly turning on his serious mode.
"I heard you were lookin' for passage to Valiheim, me an' my crew can take ya there if ya need," the man offered and I smiled.
"Thank you, I appreciate the offer. Would you mind telling me your name?" I asked and he smiled.
"The names Edward," he greeted with a smile
"I'm Leo," I greeted and he frowned, lifting my hood a little, and then sighed.
"You shouldn't lie about your identity kid, I'm willing to take on the risk of transporting the most wanted fugitive in the kingdom. At the very least you could try being honest with me," Edward scolded and I frowned
"Very well, I apologize," I said and he smiled, patting my head as he did so.
"Come with me," Edward said and I nodded.
"Arin, round up the others and meet back up with us," I ordered and he nodded.
"What ship is yours," Arin asked and Edward pointed to a big one with a black mast and a mermaid decoration on the bow. Arin nodded before going off to find the others.
After we arrived at the ship and the others arrived called Edward up his crew and had them all line-up. I counted 5 of them, I was a little surprised by the small crew but I figured they were all good at this.
"Alright boys, this is Prince Loki. He's trying to take his allies and get the hell outta here, we're gonna help him. Introduce yourselves, everyone." Edward ordered and a fat guy stepped up first.
"The names Bo, but everyone calls me tiny. I'm the cook around here," he greeted and I found his name ironic. He wore a striped short sleeve shirt and a bandana, his other attire consisted of tight-fitting black pants and boots.
Then another man stepped forward, he was wearing a similar coat to Edward except his was gray, his pants were also tan and tighter fitting and he wore a white shirt under his coat. He had black, slicked-back hair and was smoking a cigarette.
"I'm Erwin, our esteemed captain's younger brother. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance" Erwin greeted, smiling as he did so.
Another guy stepped forward after that. He was a massive bald man with gray eyes. He didn't wear a shirt but wore baggy white pants and boots.
"I'm Grey," he said and I was slightly surprised by the lack of words, another smaller girl laughed at his antics.
"Sorry about him, he doesn't do people ya know," the girl greeted, she had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a white shirt and a banana with a pair of shorts and sandals. "My name is Kaya, it's nice to meet you all."
Finally, one last girl stepped forward, she looked fairly young. Only looking to be about twelve years old. She had long black hair and onyx eyes and wore a sleeveless black shirt and blue pants with a pair of sandals.
"My names Argo," greeted with a smile "My dad is the Captain and I was named after the ship, it's good to meet ya I guess"
We all introduced ourselves and Edward stepped in front of us.
"Alright, I have just one rule, while you're on this ship you're part of the crew. Meaning you have the same responsibilities as well. I'll assign all of you a job after you get comfortable," Edward said and we all nodded before he led us below deck. "We're a bed short for all of you so one of you will have to sleep on the floor unless two of you wanna share. I don't care but if I hear any moaning I swear to the sea god I will throw you overboard."
Jun snickered a bit at that before Edward left us alone.
"So who's taking the floor?" Jun asked and Sasaki smiled.
"I don't mind sharing a bed with one of the girls," Sasaki said and both girls turned to him.
"We do mind," they chorused, glaring at the samurai who now rightfully feared for his life.
"Hey, why don't Christa and Loki share a bed?" Yuna suggested and both Christa and I began to blush.
"Nah, Edward said no moaning. I don't think I could trust those two to hold back," Jun teased and Yuna snickered while Christa and I only began to blush more.
"I can sleep on the floor," Arin offered and I was infinitely happy that this conversation was finally over.
After we got situated Edward put us all to work.
Christa would be joining Kaya and helping out with healing everyone, Yuna would be raising and lowering the sails and keeping watch, Sasaki would be helping Erwin with navigation, and Arin and I would be helping Tiny in the kitchen.
We all immediately got to work on the ship, per Edward's request.
"So Tiny, what do you want us to do?" Arin asked and Tiny shrugged in response.
"I dunno, you guys can be like...taste testers or something, I told Edward I didn't need help," Tiny replied and I just looked at Arin and shrugged.
____________________
Night had fallen, I had spent most of the day taste-testing food and giving Tiny advice. Nobody else was up, except for Erwin, so I decided to head over to the bow of the ship where I was greeted by a sight I didn't expect.
"Jun?" I asked and the black-haired thief turned to me.
"Oh, hey Loki," he greeted as he turned back to the ocean, he seemed uncharacteristically somber. It looked like he was thinking about some heavy thoughts.
"You doing okay?" I asked and he smiled and gazed at the stars.
"Yeah I'm fine," he said and I could tell he was lying.
"You don't seem too excited to be going back home," I pointed out and he chuckled slightly, but it held no joy or humor.
"Let's just say there's a reason why I left," he pointed out and I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not gonna be there alone you know, you just say the word and I and everyone else will be there," I said and he looked shocked, to say the least.
"You know, my whole life I always thought that all people were selfish and that they only cared about themselves. But you, Christa, Yuna, Arin, and hell even Sasaki, you guys aren't like that. It's like this journey so far has opened my eyes to a whole new world that I never acknowledge. So thanks, thanks for bringing me along," Jun said and I was speechless, I never knew Jun thought so highly of anyone.
"I'm glad I met you too" I replied and we both stared into the sky for a moment.
After another moment I looked down again and back at the thief and smirked.
"So what's up with you and Yuna?" I asked and he froze.
"Is this payback for all the times I teased you about Christa?" Jun asked and I smirked.
"Maybe," I offered and he groaned.
"Who knew you could be so petty," Jun laughed and I laughed with him.
"I'm the spoiled son of royalty, what were you expecting?" I asked and he frowned.
"I love her," Jun admitted and my eyes widened, I wasn't expecting him to admit it. But it made sense to me at the very least.
"Why don't you tell her?" I asked and he sighed.
"I need to make sure I'm good enough, that's why I need to get to Valiheim. The demons of my past still haunt me, until I can put them to bed I'm not worthy of her," Jun explained and I was again shocked, I never knew he was such a romantic. "When I finally atone and put those sins behind me, when I'm finally able to protect her, that's when I'll tell her,"
"Well if you need any help with cleansing those sins, you just let me know okay," I said offering him a fist bump which he accepted with a smile.
"Come on, let's go to bed," Jun said and I followed after him. Taking one last look at the night sky.
"I kinda wish this night would last forever," I said and Jun looked up at the sky with me, "the stars are really pretty,"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jun replied before he laughed a bit and walked down to our sleeping quarters.
This journey could prove costly from this point on, but for this moment. Just this one moment, nothing was holding me down, no responsibilities, no rules, and no problems. Just me and the open sky, and no matter how dangerous this mission was. For this entire journey.
I was free.