The Runaway [Invite Only]

[BlacKitten]

The stream of time flowed at an interminable rush, more merciless than ever before. Whether it was an hour ago or a few minutes ago, he did not care. What mattered to him was the present time as his past roamed closer in his own haunted shadow. Not so long ago, he witnessed his own home, the household of a wealthy family where he was raised, engulfed within a scorching blob of flames that turned the blind, dead night into a bright, living hell. The lust for blood, his blood, led the gloomy atmosphere to choke on its own smoky air, yet thankfully, not a single drop of acrid blood had been spilled so far. However, this was not over; it was merely the beginning, a beginning of a new era in his life where he must leave his own home island. He had committed no crimes nor was he exiled; what led to his takeoff was far worse and tragic. Abased as a homeless runaway, he was forced to abandon his entire way of life and decamp from the Holy Remunun Empire.  

The denouement that led to this very predicament happened so fast yet so slow over the course of his intricate life. Fear, confusion, and excitement prickled within his throbbing heart altogether, but he was so grateful that he wasn't alone. However, deep down in the corner of his distressed mind, he knew that his gratefulness was also his greatest fear. The more he cared for someone, the more painful it was to lose that person. For years, he tried to reject his emotions, suppressing it in a cold blooded cage, yet here he was, carrying her in his aching arms.

In his welcoming arms, a younger girl remained motionless in an unconscious state of mind; he never even had a chance to confirm if she was still alive. Comparing himself to his little sister, he realized something after glancing at his mental flashbacks. Rebecca was lucky either way; not only was she saved by the black angel twice, she never had to witness the horrors, at least not entirely. In both cases that she was saved, she remained asleep, almost comfortably in the arms of her older brother. It made him wonder if she was even aware of his demonic appearance.

A freak, a monster, that was what he looked like if the night wasn't shrouding him with a blanket of darkness. As he crossed over the ocean, he did not look back, only straight ahead with his violet eyes giving off a mysterious glow. The sea down below reflected the small diminishing light from his crumbling, searing home as darkness grew thicker like a black fog the further he flew towards the invisible horizon. Not a single twinkling star winked at him as they all hid behind the ominous clouds. Even with his finely-tuned ears, he had never heard of such a dry and dead tone of silence. Only a subtle cool breeze ruffled up his black hair and whistled past his ears. 

Not once so far had he considered where he was going; the gravity of his situation led his instincts to give him only one command: GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! It didn't matter where so long as he was as far away from home as possible. Even with the admonition from Yoochun, escape was still in question. 

With this being the longest flight while carrying a human body, his preternatural demon-like black wings gradually grew jaded to the point that he glided more than he flew. Droplets of sweat dribbled down the right side of his cheek, near the ear. His breath grew more audible, and he unknowingly flew closer and closer towards the water at dangerous proximity.

“Heh… so I've finally reached my limit,” He smirked in utter defeat. The high-pitched sound that he emitted, undetectable to normal human ears, had led him to sense a scope of his physical surroundings with a swift series of echoes. Echolocation had told him the obvious; there was nowhere to land. Soon, his energy would deplete to zero, and he would plummet into the ocean, sinking into his own grave.

Despite his inevitable doom, he couldn't seem to drop the girl which would lighten to load, letting him fly just a bit longer, but his arms grew stiff and torpid. He didn't care about the girl, definitely not; his own life mattered more. Rescuing her was nothing more than an act of his whim; he simply thought that her dying inside a burning house was unpleasant for his conscience. Though, drowning didn't sound any better than being burned to death, but this way of dying was different. Pluto wanted to be a little selfish too. If he was going to die, he wanted to at least die alongside with her. Of course, it wasn't because he cared for her; he simply didn't want to die alone.

[Blaka]

"Year 15, Day 330: Another wasted day. Travelling wastes days. Saw a shark hunt at eat fish today. Hunted and ate him. Nothing else happening. Hopefully gonna arrive soon."

Kovac was sitting in the middle of his boat, bend over, scribbling into his journal that was lying on the boat's floor. It was dark. The man had to hold his lighter in his left hand which was pressed against the notebook's pages to hold it open while he wrote with his right hand. It had to be a strange sight for people if someone would be watching him, a short middle-aged man with red hair, dressed in a way too big brown trenchcoat and a black fedora hat, sitting in his rotten little rowboat in the middle of nowhere. Hardly would anyone be able to tell that this guy wasn't just a lunatic lost at sea, but actually someone the ordinary sailor should probably avoid getting too close to.

The nights in the North Blue were quiet, but cold. Kovac could hear the waves bumping against his boat. He could see the small amount of breath coming up from under the red cloth he covered his mouth with. Usually it was a bit harder to breath under the cloth, but the clear air stung in his lungs. Even his leather gloves weren't protecting his hands from the freezing air.

As he finished writing, he closed the journal and put it back into the pockets of his coat, next to his butcher knife, makeshit-flamethrower and grappling hook. For safety reasons, he put pen and lighter into the other pocket.

If outside eyes had known what was in these pockets, they would likely make more assumptions about the nutjob in his boat. A serial killer? Yes, of course. But not just any serial killer. Kovac was a member of the famed Revolutionary Army, out on a mission for a higher cause. He grunted disapprovingly at that thought. Just because of being affiliated with other thugs, some people suddenly thought better of him. Or worse, depending on who you listened to. Yet, he just was out to do as he had always done. Avenge the innocent. Punish injustice.

It was really cold though. If he fell asleep now he'd perhaps freeze to death. He needed to keep himself awake with thoughts. And probably pick up the oar's and row a bit more to keep the blood pumping.
The mission he was on involved killing an arms dealer. Oddly, before he always knew his victims before going after them, since he had witnessed what they did to deserve death with his own eyes. Now that his target was pointed out for him, he didn't know his face. Somehow, he imagined his father in place of the target. Yeah, that fit. And he could picture all the gruesome details of how he was going to pierce the guy with his own weapons. Or maybe trap him in a warehouse full of his own gunpowder. Or both.

Damn it was cold.

[BlacKitten]

His dark violet eyes closed shut for there was no further reason to keep them open. Echoes that he gave and received showed him the truth in the blind night as he could create a mental image of the ocean in front of him. It was an image without color, just shapes and forms that barely changes, here, in the prosaic ocean of the north. Miraculously, his acumen suddenly detected a faint figure up ahead at two o'clock, and it was most definitely solid, floating in the gentle cold sea.

Opening his eyes once again, his violet pupils glowed in the dark from the reflection of a dim orange light. He flew towards that very light like a moth attracted towards a candle of hope. However, that faint light suddenly vanished without warning moments later, and everything dusked into blackness once again. Not all was lost to pinpoint its whereabouts because there was more than one way to sense an object for a bat. However, flying at such a low altitude made it difficult to land accurately without skipping right past the target, so with the remaining energy surging through his veins, he mustered up the strength to adjust his wings to swoop up towards the sky at a high angle. Then, he descended with his languid wings flailing in the breeze like a banner, and without a sound, he plummeted straight down while affirming Rebecca's safety by staying beneath the girl before impact.

THUMP!

Ripples of water expanded at surface level after a meager, violent splash was heard. Swaying side to side, he was rocked in a soothing lullaby against a wooden surface as his mind went blank. His curved back reeled his black wings inwards, sucking them in as the rest of his figure morphed back into his regular human self without conscious effort. Left ear pressed against the deck, Pluto lied there on his side while unconsciously holding his sister firmly against his heart with his arms wrapped securely behind her head. All motion was in abeyance except the subtle expansion and contraction from his chest. Silent breaths of fatigue entered and left from his half-opened mouth which were made visible in the chilly atmosphere.

Half-awake, he was subconsciously aware of his own existence, and the first thing he noticed was the malodorous scent. It smelled like old, rotten wood, and its moisture made the odor worse than the ancient wood of an abandoned shed. Soon, the bicep of his left arm felt numb from her sister’s head resting on it. Slowly uprising, Pluto dragged his legs inwards, sitting on his knees with his sister lying on his lap. Beneath his legs, he could feel a large but shallow dent which took form from his crash upon this structure. His eyes squinted in the dark, but it wasn't his eyes that told him that he was on a small wooden boat. Regardless, he must be thankful for this boat for being here, or otherwise, he would have drowned and died.

A sharp pain passed through his spine like a sting of a bee which made him recall that he landed on his back. During the fall, he remembered that he cautiously curled his head forward to prevent landing on the back of his head.

Glancing straight down at his lap, he directed his attention towards his younger sibling while barely being able to make out the outline of any form. His left hand caressed gently through his sister’s hair as he was relieved to hear the girl’s gentle breaths which proved she was just as alive as he was.

He was no longer sure which direction his home island was located, but to his memory, this was the first time he had ever left the island. And, this was also the first time he had ever ridden a boat. Whatever happens next, he could no longer return back home; there was no turning back. Even now, he was not completely out of harm's way. 

[Blaka]

The hitman's rowing was immediatly stopped when he heard a loud swooshing sound behind him, coming closer quickly. He turned around an saw a huge shadow come fly towards him. It looked like some sort of giant bird, carrying something. He had heard of sea monsters like this, but never actually met one.
Just in time he managed to duck and automatically reached for the knife in his pocket, as he noticed that the creature didn't fly an attack. Instead, it flew over his head and crashlanded in the front of the boat.

This resulted in the boat heavily shaking around, nearly keeling over. The creature had to be heavy! For a brief moment Kovac was getting pummeled left to right on his side of the vessel, barely holding on to the reeling. On of the rows fell off, swimming away while the waves hit the boat again and again.

Luckily, everything calmed down quickly, so he could concentrate on what was going on in front of him. Shocked, he noticed that the giant flying beast had disappeared. Instead, two smaller silhouettes could be seen in front of him.
What happened? What in the world was that beast? Did it fall off, leaving whatever it was carrying behind? Why was it crashing into the boat in the first place, had it been wounded? And most importantly - who were those two figured in front of him?

His mind was racing. The most logical assumption was indeed that it had been some kind of giant predator coming back from a hunt, shot by locals. However it could be that this was some sort of travelling method he didn't know about. Maybe those two in front of him were criminals on the run, using the beast as transportation.

Either way, he had to be careful. With one hand he grabbed his butcher knife, the lighter with the other. Then, he slowly moved forward, crouching and lighting in front of him. The lighting of the small flame was very weak, he could only see everything that was approximately 50 cm away from the flame itself.
"Who are you?", he growled, ready to defend himself at the slightest movement. Crawling very close, he finally was able to make out a face.

Yet, he discovered that he really had nothing to worry about. Two kids had landed on his boat. One was a teenager, probably a grownup already, the other one a young girl. Both had black long hair and looked very stressed and out of breath. The girl was likely knocked out, while the boy looked at her like he worried about her. He was wearing a zipper, as well as arm- and leg protection. He really looked like someone on the run.
About a meter away from him, Kovac held the lighter towards his face, the shadow of his cleaver clearly visible for the young man in front of him.

"Who are you? Why are you here? What was that beast just now? Answer quickly. Don't say a wrong word."
It was harsh, yes, but practical. The sooner he found out who that boy was, the sooner he could decide what to do about the situation. He really hoped they were criminals on the run though, it had been some time until something decent happened.

[BlacKitten]

Just as a dim, orange light, same from before, lit up, Pluto rolled his eyes vigilantly towards the side, and he found himself glaring sharply at an older figure with spiky red hair. This man must have been quite startled from how he held out a knife in one hand and a lighter in the other. By his bearded face, this armed man appeared to be significantly older than his two intruders; he looked like someone in his mid-thirties.

The illumination from the lighter was enough to cause Pluto to squint because his eyes had already been adapted in the darkness for quite a while. The oldest one on the boat growled in a harsh, brisk tone, asking choppy questions in such a demanding way that he would probably assault someone if an answer wasn't given right away. His presence gave a hostile and unwelcoming sensation, especially since his ended his series of questions with a threat.

“Beast?” Pluto blinked, pausing for a second to arrange the appropriate words in his mind. Freaking out from someone dropping by without warning was understandable, but he had yet to decide if he should spill the beans on his predicaments. Even if the truth was told, this man would have to be quite an understanding or gullible person to believe him. “My name is Pluto,” he then looked down at the girl on his lap, “her name is Rebecca, my younger sister.” Glancing back at the knife-wielder, he continued, “Sorry, this was the only boat to land on. The ‘beast’ you saw was probably just your imagination. I don't see a beast right now. Humans have a tendency to exaggerate of what they see in the dark, especially when mixed with fear. We're just dropping by… as well as running away! If they’re persistent enough, they'll come and target us as I speak. It’s complicated to explain, but they're sent out to assassinate my sister and me. In other words, if you don't help me, you might get killed along with us! No pressure…” He casually underlined the last sentence in his tone to give the owner of this small rowboat a reason to help him… or kill him.

He turned his head to peer sharply into the darkness, far out into the seas, and without looking back, he closed his eyes and shrugged, “ALSO, I have no idea how many are targeting me, no idea what they look like, and no idea what they’re capable of!” The intruder of the boat spoke in a tone of false joy as if he had given up all hopes on surviving. Only when he said those words did he realized how inauspicious his situation really was, he was impressed with himself to have lived this far.

“I don’t know how long you've been out in the seas, but I came from The Holy Remunun Empire, so you might want to search for a different island if you’re looking for land! If you head towards from where I came from, your life will be in danger as well!” The gist of what he was trying to portray through words was ‘sorry, but your life is screwed because of me’, and that was what he secretly finds hilarious.

This old man – old when compared to Pluto- was now forced to choose a side as either an ally or an enemy. He could carry the burden until the violet-eyed siblings take off again, or he could eliminate these magnets of assassins to potentially save himself. If the man does not choose a side, he would be at risk of being caught in the crossfire. Pluto had his fingers on his right hand readied, prepared to shoot out an arrowhead from his forearm protector if this man chose to be aggressive. 

If what Yoochun, a member of the unknown organization where the assassins originated, said wasn’t an exaggeration, these mysterious hunters would come after him sooner or later. Whatever happens next, Pluto was stuck on this boat along with this man, which gave plenty of time to be scouted out and targeted. His unknown pursuers had burned down his home during the night, so it would be no surprise if they hunted him down at this same night. On the other hand, he couldn't guarantee if those men would go so far as to hunt him down out in the seas just for two harmless kids; this just showed how little he knew about his enemies.

[Blaka]

Kovac listened carefully as the boy told his story. Or rather, his confused, badly memorized story.

First of all, he had the guts to tell the man threatening him with a knife that he was crazy. Bad idea. And then he went on to lecture him about psychology. Really bad idea. On top of it all, some vague remarks about being chased by assassins.
Not one thought was lost about the kid maybe being in shock and not thinking straight. Instead, he raised his voice a little while sitting perfectly still, ready to react to any movement any time.
"Don't take me stupid. You crashed in here with that thing. Maybe wasn't clear enough. Don't you dare lie to me or I'll feed you to the sharks. One more chance: Why did you come flying on a giant winged monster that crashed into my boat and left you here? I'm no nutjob, I know what I saw."
His face completely contradicted his last sentence. Kovac's eyes were glowing with curiosity about both the girl and the beast, mixed with impending anger about the boys behavior. A likely conclusion was that the boy was kidnapper who managed to flee using the winged whatever that was. A simple runaway from home was unlikely, looking at the rather professional outfit he was wearing. And intentionally aiming to get Kovac, like he suspected at first, was ridiculous, since nobody who was in charge of Marine fleets would send a little boy and girl to go kill a wanted killer.
"In detail now, take your time."

[BlacKitten]

Dwelling in the shadows, a thin, transparent tube stuck itself halfway above the water as it silently waded towards the glimmer of light.

Just as stubborn as the old man, he lied, unwilling to sell out the truth, “Rebecca ate a Devil Fruit that granted the ability to teleport. The longer the distance, the more energy she uses up. That’s how we got here, and that’s why she’s asleep.” He knew too little about this man who could be an enemy for all he knew, so he gave false information along with an excuse where his sister wouldn't have to proof it. If this man didn't believe in the existence of Devil Fruits, then telling him the truth would have been just as unbelievable.

He sighed, closing his eyes to rest as he revisited the past before he lowered his head where his eyes met with the girl sleeping on his lap, “I snuck out one night to find my real parents.” He made sure his sister was still unconscious before continuing, “I never knew that I had a sister back then; she ended up following me all the way back home. I twisted the truth to have her accepted by my guardians where a butler took care of her.” He paused for a moment to let the red-haired man to catch up, “Later, a friend named Yoochun informed me that he had been spying on me before we even met. He told me that Rebecca's parents were actually traitors of a ‘criminal’ organization, so they were hunted down to be killed. Since I killed her father before anyone else could, they pinpointed my whereabouts and began to target my sister and me because anyone blood-related to traitors must be exterminated in accordance to their rules. Originally, her father could have saved himself by killing his daughter, but I reversed the whole situation due to his unexpected death. Yoochun was a member of this organization as well; he was mandated to kill me since he was old enough to do so. However, he ended up warning me and assisted me in my escape off the island. If it weren't for him, I would probably be dead. I saw my home engulfed in flames. I rushed in to take Rebecca with me, and then…,” Pluto was suddenly cut off by the sudden tilt of the boat.

“!!!” The slope of the deck went against him; any steeper and he would have fallen backwards into the waters. From behind, a slender feminine figure, accoutered in a dark skintight swimwear, popped out of the water with haste. With a wet dagger in her hand, flipped towards the pinky side, she swung the sharp tip around the boy’s neck and straight towards the tender throat.

Pluto flinched, pressing the right side of his neck against the woman’s elbow with his left hand grasping upon the wrist of the knife-wielding hand. His mind went blank, and his eyes immediately rolled towards the right. He didn't know what to do; he just did. No one taught him anything; his body and reflexes merely kicked in, feeling that it was correct. Leaning his body forward, curving his spine, he free hand pressed upwards against the attacker’s elbow, and by tilting his upper body diagonally towards the left, he throwed the figure over his head.

The female, cladded in black, gracefully flipped and landed onto the wooden boat on both feet. By then, her arm was free from the boy’s grasp. Flipping the knife around, she changed targets and thrust the tip of her knife straight towards the old man’s throat.

Pluto would have rushed in to kill, but he couldn't do so without dropping his sister's head against the floor. Everything happened in an instant; it was too late for any bundle of thought to make him move. As long as the enemy was facing away from him, he felt that he didn't need to move. Questions pounded against his mind, repeating over and over again, but he was too distracted by this ambush to answer them. 

[Blaka]

Kovac listened carefully to the boy's explanation. After his first, rather unbelievable try, he already mistrusted him quite a bit.
Devil Fruits, huh? Kovac didn't know anything about that subject, he had just heard legends of people being able to do all sorts of insane things like conjure Tsunamis or turn into fire. Teleportation was very much something that was in the realm of possibilities as far as he knew. At least that cleared up how the two got all the way out here to his boat.

Although, that still didn't explain the giant beast he had seen earlier. That hadn't been his imagination, he was sure of it, not in that great detail. However perhaps that was how teleportation worked, perhaps he had just seen a weirdly shaped portal. Unlikely, but very much possible. As he didn't understand anything about those weird things, maybe teleportation just did that. He didn't want to reveal his lack of knowledge to the kid, so he kept listening.

The runaway in front of him finally talked in greater detail about why he was where he was. As he talked about the criminal organisation that was supposedly chasing him and this Yoochun person, Kovac became interested. A clan of people killing everyone bloodrelated to their traitors. That was truly something awfull. If the blackhaired boy spoke the truth, it was something very much worth investigating. And the red-haired revolutionary was finally more willing to believe him now, he could see the horror in those violet eyes. Horror that reminded him of himself when he saw what had happened to the Gray Terminal on Goa.

Suddenly, Pluto was interrupted. The boat tilted to the side and Kovac, who had been crouching in front of the children was thrown on his back away from them. Was that the flying beast from earlier? Quickly, he got up again and saw two silhouettes struggeling with each other. One of them was apparently Pluto, the other one a slender human. The latter got thrown over Pluto's shoulder and landed upright on her feet in front of Kovac, who was barely standing up by then. His lighter had of course gone out when he had been thrown backwards, but he could see the apparent female shove a weapon in his direction.

Instinctively, he let his lighter fall to the ground in order to have his hand free to defend himself. With the cleaver in his right, he parried the incoming weapon, with his left he grabbed the woman's throat, making her let go of the dagger, which flew to the side and into the water.

Having dealt with attacks like this often in his life already, the red-haired man dealt with the situation quickly. Still grabbing her throat he slammed her down on the ground of the boat, which began shake dangerously. With his right foot, he kicked down at her right arm, resulting in a loud cracking sound followed by painfull screams. Still stepping on her arm, Kovac bowed down and threatened her with his knife now.
"I'll cut it off next time. WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?", he yelled in her face in a thundering deep voice.

Out of nowhere, he heard multiple clicking sounds and bright light was coming from every directions and shining on the boat. The whole boat was illuminated and he could see that the attacking woman was dressed in some sort of black swimsuit that was covering her entire body. He tried looking up to see where all the light came from, but it was so bright that he couldn't see anything. The only thing audible over the screams of the defeated attacker was the sound of multiple bodies hitting water.

Pluto's story seemed true. They were coming to kill the kids. That was not going to happen.

[BlacKitten]

Watching was all he could do. His limbs froze up, paralyzed in obscure fear, but his mind was rushing just to keep up with current situation. He processed the scene analytically, but the fact that an assassin showed up was far sooner than he had anticipated. If he ended up this far from the island through flight, then there was absolutely no way that a human could swim that exact distance in such a short amount of time.

The red-haired man, who was responding to the intruder’s threatening blade, dropped his lighter onto the deck, and everything went dark after that. Pluto’s eyes had to adjust themselves once again to the gloom, barely making out the outlines of the two figures in his scope of vision. All he heard was a body smashing against the bottom of the boat along with high-pitched shriek of pain from the woman. He felt no pity towards this woman, and he appreciated that he didn't have to graphically see such an unpleasant scene.

Just like how he threatened the boy a minute ago, the bearded old man threatened his current victim to spill the beans on whom she worked for. Pluto wondered if he would have been in same predicament as the woman had he not spoken up about his past in detail a moment ago. This man’s style on handling things was awfully brazen and aggressive and showed neither discrimination nor hesitation towards females.

“If she got here this quickly, then that means…,” His violet eyes were tormented once again by a blinding illumination. There was no warning of any sort when three sources of light beamed at the wooden small boat. “TCH… She got here after riding a boat.” He held an open hand at forehead level to fend off the three lights from his squinting eyes, and then, he looked away. Shadows were casted from bodies and figures, hiding from the light which the targeted ones could not do.

Pluto hesitantly peeked at the older of the two figures who pinned down the black-accoutred woman in an advantageous position. Splashes were heard from where the lights originated as all three boats approached subtly towards the inferior, worn-down rowboat. He didn't know what to do other than sitting and waiting to be killed. There was only a single wooden oar left that lied at the edge of the wall, and without a second thought, he snatched it, gripping it with both hands. The weight of this tool felt like a source of power that he could use, giving him a sense of security. He was quite lucky to heed at the dangers from the surrounding waters at that exact moment because like before, another shadowy figure popped out of the water for a surprise attack, causing the boat to lean towards one side. Before the figure could land a single step onto the deck, Pluto swung and smacked the man’s face with the wooden paddle at a distance, resulting the victim to plunge back into the water.

With no signs or forewarnings, a blade sprouted instantly from the center of the deck, sticking out at a meter’s length and causing the black-haired boy to flinch his head, staring with fright at the razor-sharp sword that was covered in droplets of water. Luckily, no one on the boat was even close to have got stabbed; the blade had missed its target. Just as quickly when it pierced the deck, the blade withdrew back underwater with haste, leaving a thin dark opening, causing an unwelcomed leak on the deck. Water rushed through the small gap, forming a puddle that expanded continuously at a constant rate. While he had never ridden a boat before, common sense told him that he won't be able to stay in his current spot much longer.

He lifted her sister’s head up with one hand while his other hand jammed the butt end of the oar onto the floor. Pulling himself up, he settled his feet flat on the deck with Rebecca’s cheek leaning against his shoulder, but the moment he dared to stand, he was instantly attacked. For a moment, he saw a shadow spinning soundlessly through the air until he wrapped and coiled around his body. “Tsk…,” he struggled to free his arms that were pinned against his sides, but the throwing bola tied his sister against his vest with thick black ropes. A blob of mass was tied to each end of the rope which was used to throw the bola and to cause it to spin. The oar in his right hand was also tied vertically against his shoulder as he futilely shook the long wooden paddle in hopes that it would loosen the rope.

The three boats, in a V-shape formation, had managed to catch up to their targets completely with their lights growing brighter and brighter within the proximity. No matter how he viewed his own problems, this was not the appearance of a good ending.

He could feel the boat starting to sink as if he was being lowered into quicksand. There was no other way, so the handicapped figure dashed three wide steps towards the very back tip of the row boat before springing forth in a forceful leap. The gap between the enemy’s boats and the leaking rowboat was just enough for someone with a girl tied onto him to land onto the other side. His center of gravity was completely messed up and unfamiliar, so while in midair, he had no sense of balance to land on his feet. Turning his waist, he landed onto his curved back before rolling to break his fall as well as making sure Rebecca didn't absorb the full impact.

Immediately on the enemy’s boat, he was greeted by a single hostile figure, concealed in the darkness behind the projecting light at the front. The man rushed in to hammer down a long knife with the tip extruding from the pinky-side of his right hand. Being on the ground with immobile arms and a body strapped onto him, Pluto was already in an inauspicious position. If he does not act fast, he'll die!

[Blaka]

It took Kovac a couple of seconds before he realized why there were bodies hitting the water. More divers were coming over, most likely from other boats. However he couldn't see anything in the direction the lights were coming from, so he just assumed.
With this much manpower, it seemed like a suicide mission to send the woman he just incapacitated alone. Clearly, whoever planned the operation knew this would end badly for her, she was just supposed to be a simple distraction. Were the people in this organisation really willing to sacrefice members just to kill Pluto and his supposed sister? There had to be more behind it.

While he was thinking all of this, Pluto beat one of the attackers with the remaining oar when suddenly a blade came through the boat's floor from underwater and ripped a hole in the wood. Water started to flow in.

"Crap", thought Kovac. Now it was clear they didn't care for their fellow woman at all, the blade could have easily stabbed her.
More importantly though, the boat was starting to sink. Pluto obviously noticed this as well and ran past his new ally to jump over to one of the boats behind them where the light was coming from. He himself needed to get off soon too.

Out of nowhere, the woman at his feet stopped screaming. Now she was gargling blood instead. For a moment, the man crouching over her was confused, then he noticed the same blade from earlier piercing through her chest from below. It had missed its real target's arm by only an inch. As quick as it had come out, the weapon vanished again, leaving a hole in the boat once again.

With a disapproving grunt, the Revolutionary threw the bloody soon to be corpse over the railing and grabbed his lighter instead. The attackers had an advantage, they could actually see what their target was doing while Kovac had to rely on countering their moves. So he acted as if he was crouching down to look for his lighter. That way, he seemingly gave the enemy an opening while he was just waiting for them to stick their heads out.
And so they did.

To his right, the diver came up to catch his breath, right next to the railing. He too had a mask on that only revealed his eyes. The man on the boat didn't hesitate a second. Slipping the lighter into his pocket at the same time, he got up, raised his weapon hand and rammed it into the guy's head with as much force as he could. Blood spurted out of the skull, which was split in half by the metal of Kovac's cleaver and the body immediatly sunk back down.

Without waiting any longer, Kovac left his sinking boat behind and jumped over to the right in hopes of landing on another vessel. So he did. After flailing his legs through the air for a moment he landed on another wooden surface, looking at two more men, about as tall as he himself, each a small axe in their hand, about as large as Kovac's butcher knife. Of course, they were disguised in black too, but at least he could see a little more. In the middle of the boat was a giant spotlight installed that shined at the rotten sinking boat. The two shadows took on a fighting stance. So did Kovac. Already he was imagining the best way of how to get rid of them.

[BlacKitten]

“Tsk…,” he continued to struggle, but his arms were pinned against his sides. Every movement was made difficult with Rebecca’s weight slowing him down. All in the meantime, a clean sharp blade, with light reflecting off its chrome smooth steel, swung down in an arc with its tip threatening to end his heartbeat.

Within these few precious seconds, the clash of life or death ended with a trigger on his wrist. He lied flat on his back with his eyes glued onto the shadowy enemy who crouched a few feet away from his face. The blade struck down, and a piercing thud was heard.

“…,” Pluto pressed his teeth together as he felt a soft breeze passing at the side of his neck. The knife had punctured into the wood, a centimeter away from the living flesh. If his luck was any worse, that would have been the end.

“…,” The man cladded in black gently looked down to notice blood oozing from his body, dripping onto the boy’s vest. A spearhead -with a dark wire attached to the tail- had penetrated his spleen. Tracing the wire back to its origin, he found that it was shot out from the child’s forearm protector at the back side of the right wrist. “That weapon… I’ve seen it before,” the man spoke out while he grabbed onto the wire and tug out the metal tip that pierced him. His free hand covered up his wound to hinder the leaking blood, but the crimson substance of vitality continued to spread as seen by the expanding darkened patch of fabric.

Pluto sharpened his vision as soon as he realized that he shouldn’t dawdle any longer. Snapping out of his fear, he retracted his right leg before shoving his foot into the man’s abdomen, hurling the body to the other side of the boat. He pulled on the same trigger and the wire was reeled back to the gadget on his right forearm. Desperately, he turned his head to the side and grabbed the knife’s handle with his teeth, biting it down. With a tug, he freed the blade from the splintered wood, and as he learned up, the weight of the small weapon was heavier than he imagined. A kitchen knife was a feather compared to this; he thought. He dropped the knife to where his hand caught it. Through a series of sawing-motion, the boy snapped the rope that bounded around his arms. A sense of freedom of motion led his arms to protectively wrap around his sister after dropping the knife back on the deck.

“Tch…,” he held the girl at the back of her neck and lower back, feeling the warmth conducting into his hands. “Geez… are you ever going to wake up?” While it was irksome that she had no clue about the situation, he still agreed that perhaps she should not know what was happening. Laying her down, Pluto stood up, feeling wobbly as the blood recirculated in his legs. He turned his attention towards the large device behind him. Feeling and sensing the shape with his hands, he soon found the switch and shut off the over-sized flashlight. The area surrounding the boat suddenly went dark, but his vision still remained due to the source of light emitting from the other two boats. He didn't bother to check if the old man was still alive or not; all that matter was to get as far away as possible.

“!” His ears perked up at the sound of someone creeping up behind him. Jerking his head around, he saw the man from before crawling on the deck, repossessing the knife once again. Even worse, his next attack was aimed towards Rebecca.

Slanting his eyebrows inwards, Pluto kicked the handle of the oar up to his hands before thrusting the butt-end of the long wooden pole into this scoundrel’s solar plexus.

“ARUGH!” The man was knocked back the second time, but before he could even get the chance to recover, a sharp pain struck at the side of his neck. A swung of the oar from the boy had the blunt edge of the paddle slashing in like a knife of its own. With the body plunging into the water, all that remained was a splash of water and scattered dots of blood staining the wooden floor.

Dropping the oar down, Pluto kneed on one leg, catching his breath as anger circulated through his veins. He never felt like this before; something snapped in his head. Puzzlement filled up his head as he questioned as to why he was feeling like this. He wasn't mad before; he held no grudge against them. Why did he felt upset just now? A moment ago, he felt as if his own life didn't matter anymore. 

[Blaka]

Two targets, both the same height and build, both the same weapons. Kovac prepared himself for an incoming team attack, as that was surely the logical way to go. He noticed that the one on the right was holding his axe in the left hand, the other one was holding it in his right. This meant an obvious attack from both sides. Furthermore, he would only be able to really block the attack from the right, his left hand didn't have a blade to block the incoming slash. So, the only possible solution to win the fight was attacking first.

Over from where Pluto jumped, he heard fighting noises and eventually someone falling into the water. The boy seemed to get along on his own, there was no need to hurry up.

"WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?", yelled the red-haired man as he stormed forward towards the figure on his left, who in turn jumped at him, striking with his axe towards Kovac's left hip while the other hand was clenched to a fist. His partnert couldn't help him, as he was on the other side of the giant light in the middle of the boat that stood between him and the two fighters now.

Behind the light the knife-wielding Kovac easily parried the axe attack with his weapon hand. Of course, his adversary now struck with his free fist in order to punch his target in the face. Instead however, the target bend over a bit, just dodging the fist that only managed to punch the hat of the revolutionary. The rest of the head headed straight towards the axe-wielder's chest. Skull hit ribcage, the shadowy figure coughed and stumbled backwards. That didn't get him out of reach though, Kovac still had a left, unarmed hand. Now he threw a punch. And hit the guy's throat.
The first of the assassin team dropped to the ground, gargling an apology.

Kovac wondered: How were these people obviously trained to go and kill people, yet were so easy to trick? Maybe it was because they only expected the boy to be around, thus their employer send only his weakest people? But then, how were they able to follow the teleportation ability of Pluto's sister? Something still smelled fishy in the boy's explanation. He'd have to ask about that later, now he'd maybe finally tell the truth after he saw that elder was on his side.

All of the sudden, the light went out. The loud buzzing sound Kovac didn't even notice before was chopped off and the boat was plunged into complete darkness. A body hit him and he was thrown to the ground, hitting the wooden floor hard. Then he heard a scream and the sound of a blade hitting flesh multiple times. Then another body hitting water.

Did the second guy on the boat just kill his partner and threw him off the boat?
He wanted to say something about that but his voice didn't return quite yet. Out of nowhere, a hand grabbed him by the throat and another man's skull hit his own, making him fall on his back once again.
"Tell me!", yelled a deep voice right in his face "Who are you? And who are you working for?"


EDIT: At this point in time my internet collapsed for a while so I had to drop out.

[BlacKitten]

Her dark sleepy eyes opened halfway, and she weakly whispered, “…Plu-to.”
“?” He lowered his head, glancing at his awakened little sister whose head rested on his lap. Patting her, he spoke softly, “Go back to sleep,” he noticed something about her that seemed off. Her face was blushing red, and her emitted a series of short breaths.

Rebecca rolled closer towards him with her cheek pressing closely. “It’s cold,” she wrapped her arms around herself, hugging and shivering. A hand was temporarily placed upon her forehead, and a surge of intense heat conducted into his nerves. Pluto gently lifted the girl up and letting her head rest on his shoulder, “I think you have a fever.” He had never seen Rebecca being ill before. He carried no medicine, and he didn’t know what kind of medicine could cure a fever. It was dubious that the old man could help in this case. Surely the butler would know what to do for his sister, but Pluto would probably never see that man ever again.

Suddenly, three consecutive piercing sounds made its mark on the boy. “…,” Pluto widened his eyes in horror as he was remained perfectly motionless. A sharp pain spread across his back, but it was endurable.

Rebecca crawled around her older brother before she gave a startled expression, “PLUTO!” Three throwing knives penetrated into her brother’s back, and the boy just remained immobile as if he was paralyzed.

“… sorry, Rebecca…,” he collapsed in a thump, slamming against the deck like fallen corpse would do. Shutting off his eyes, his breath went silent.

“PLUTO!” the girl cried out as she nudged the figure gently; she was afraid that she would worsen his wounds. Was he… dead? “Get up, you stupid brother! You can’t die now!”

Meanwhile, an identical boat drifted closer and closer, carrying one man that stood there with his arms crossed. He watched his two preys as one of them got stabbed by all three of the knives he threw. In a sprint, the athletic man leaped upon the boat that the two kids were on. The figure, towering over the girl, stepped forth for each step the girl retreated. Rebecca raised up her arms in defense, unsure what to expect next. Despite her bloodline, she had no fighting experience.

“Hello,” the adult assassin greeted before revealing a knife hidden in his sleeve, “goodbye! … ARUGH!” The man grunted as a sharp pain struck through his spine like a lightning bolt, “W-what the?” His eyes rolled towards the side, glaring at the person behind him, “You were playing dead?”

Pluto held his fist against the shrouded figure’s back as he held a knife between each of his fingers, “I do believe these knives belong to you.” From behind, one would see that the knives were removed from the boy’s back, leaving three marks on his vest. Torqueing the knives, he led the enemy to step closer towards the edge of the deck before stomp kicking the body into the seas, leaving the knives impaled in the flesh.

“You meany!” Rebecca gently punched her older brother in the chest, “You scared me! I thought you died!”

In an annoyed tone, he yelled back, “GOOD! You should be scared because we’re kinda screwed right now.”

“Humph,” Rebecca crossed her arms and looked away, but then she peeked back to ask, “What do you mean? Who was that man that attacked you?”

“Eh…,” He diverted his eyes away, wondering what to say for an answer, “you really don’t know?”

Raising an eyebrow, she stomped on the deck, “Of course I don’t know! I was unconscious!”

What was going on here? She, of all people, should have known about their pasts. Giving a stern look, he commented, “I see, so that’s what’s going on.” In that case… he lied, “They’re pirates.”

“Pluto,” Rebecca grasped onto her brother’s hand, “Let’s go home.” She didn’t know why she was on a boat with her brother, but something about the atmosphere felt ominous and hostile.

“…,” he remained silent, but there was no other way to hide it, “There is NO home left! Both yours and mine are gone, burned down into ashes and dust.”

Her eyes widened in shock, “Huh… but… how? Why?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he lowered his height down to the girl’s level, “They’re still alive, don’t worry. More importantly, you are still alive and so am I. Let’s keep that way…”

Staring at her brother’s attire, she noticed a black vest along with strange steel armament on his forearms, “What are you… wearing?” She had never seen him wearing such a thing.

“Something that saved my life just now,” he stated. Cupping his hand over her head, he ended the conversation, “We can talk later, but right now, we need to get out of here.”

[Shinku]

Today’s fortune: Tarot card number 12; The Hanged Man

It was a very quiet and peaceful night. The only sounds were the sounds of the blowing wind and the waves of the ocean below him. And sometimes the kite above him gave a creaky noise. It was a yellow kite, with white flowers, childishly painted on it, but now that it was night and dark, only the silhouette could be made out. From below it must have looked like a very strange flying creature to everyone who managed to spot it. But it was dark, and below him was only the wide and deep sea. Forever lonely forever desolated for most parts.

But the sea was coming closer and closer. The more the wind lost its forceful blow, the more the kite dropped and got closer to the sea. The young man that was flying with the kite could not really make out the waves below him, but he heard them coming closer. He was only 18 years old and things didn’t look good for him.

There was no way to steer the kite or take any action at all, since he was hanging upside down on a rope that had caught his left foot and sent him flying with this out of control flying monster. That is what had happened a few hours ago on an island that was celebrating their annual kite festival. A lot of people had participated with their kites, trying to outdo their peers with all kind of special kites. Some were painted very artistically others had special forms and looked like dragons or fishes and even others tried to score points by the ridiculously amount of ties that were attached to the kite’s tail. A pair of very skilled brothers made a show by flying their kites synchronously in a very spectacular way, much to the viewer’s delight. But when you have people who try to outdo the others, you’ll always have the ones who will try so by going for size. It was a grandfather with his granddaughter, the flowers were probably drawn by her, that launched the fateful kite into the air. It was big enough to develop a fearful drag that would have lifted any normal person if the kite wasn’t fastened to the ground by a thick rope.

Kyou had been watching the synchrony brothers when the rope tore apart and got dragged over the green grass where it caught his leg and turned him around and carried him over the hill and into the sky. There he had been for the last few hours while he got farther and farther away from any island while the night knocked on day’s door and demanded that he was to be let in and get his room on the sky.

The boy didn’t struggle. He looked as if he had given up completely. The kite was now low enough to smell the salt in the air. Not much height left. A wooden sword was hanging on his belt and was hitting his side from time to time. Kyou didn’t try to stop it, but let his arms hand down in the air. They felt heavy from all the blood that was flowing into them. Soon they would feel water.

Noises were mixing into the sound of the sea. A flashy light appeared from the direction he was heading to, but since he faced backwards he couldn’t see what it was.

His head hit wood. It would leave a bruise, but no one would be able to see it under his dark-pink hair. The kite chose this moment to drop down completely and Kyou landed ruggedly on the ships wooden deck, where he remained lying for a moment. The rope tugged on his leg, because the kite had fallen outside the ship and was now swimming away. Being made of wood obviously had its advantages. Lazily he lifted his left leg and shook it a bit. The rope untangled and slipped away, not without taking his shoe with it. After being rid of the kite, he stayed lying down and listened to the voices. Lots of people were talking. A fight was going on.

He sat up.

His hair that had gotten used to fall up rather than down over the last few hours, reluctantly settled back on his head. Only one very stubborn wisp of hair remained standing like some sort of antenna.

And took a look around.

His face showed a deep frown and his pale green eyes were trying to see as much as possible of his surroundings. His head was hurting where he had hit it and his left leg felt numb, his arms were heavy.

 “…?!...”

This looked like it was going to become another troublesome day after all.

[BlacKitten]

Risking a few seconds, he glanced briefly at the red-bearded man who had a conflict of his own with these shady people. While this thought was a bit too optimistic for him, all of the opponents that they have faced were far too weak compared to his expectations. If a single lackey can be handled by a youngster, then these hostile people were unworthy to be considered full-fledged killers. A more serious group would have killed him a long time ago, so who were these weaklings? It was as if they were just ordinary civilians. Not that he was complaining, if this was all that stood as obstacles, escaping would be piece of a cake.

Out into the distance through a fog of darkness, a hefty-sized ship stealthily crossed the seas with no signs of haste. The three tiny boats stood as babies in comparison, and this massive floating structure gave very few signs of light. At first glance, it could be interpreted as a ghost ship with almost no life on the deck. By coming here at this particular moment and place, there were no coincidences. Up from above, two drifting silhouettes –connected by a rope- fallen from the dark heavens, eventually landing onto one of the enemy’s vessels. Was this a new enemy?

Grabbing an oar, Pluto responded to danger with one word of action: escape. While paddling away, his boat sluggishly drifted diagonally from the rest. It was his hope that the red-haired man could act as a decoy; he didn’t care as to what happened to a stranger who he knew nothing about. The mother of all vessels continued on its linear path with no hints of change in direction, and virtually, it drifted towards no one in particular. The currents of the seas and air were the only factors that dictated its movements.

Silence ended when a boom from the ghost ship roared into the sky. An object shot out and whistled through the air with its pitch decreasing as it got closer. Shrouded by the night, the cannonball crashed into the ocean, producing a violent rippling wave near the boat with red-haired man on it. Whether it hit its mark or not was uncertain, but the unexpected part about it was that the ghostly ship gave no consideration about killing their lackeys.

A second boom exploded. The projectile cried at a decreasing pitch before plummeting into the middle of the three boats. An uprising surge of water covered the boat’s image, but that wasn’t the issue. From this pattern, the boat Pluto stood in was going to be targeted next. Eliminating all three boats appeared to be their strategy, and if the lackeys get killed then so be it. No shred of mercy, it seemed.

A soft force pressed against him. Below, Rebecca, his little sister, leaned against him with a complete loss of balance. Not a word was muttered from the girl; she was unconscious. An intense flow of heat conducted into his chest; the girl was just radiating with heat from her forehead. Pluto was now reminded of the hindering fact that his sister still had a fever that made her unavailable to move on her own. He held the dangling body up, or else she would just slam onto the floor, “Hey! Don’t just collapse whenever you feel like it!” The third and final boom sounded into the air, and he heard the falling cry right above him. Time was running short, but since he foreseen this possible way of dying, he was forced to transform while jumping off the boat. As the cannonball came crashing down, the vessel was obliterated into splinters of wooden boards. All three little vessels were now gone.

While panting in heavy breaths, Pluto –in hybrid bat form- glided across the air at a low altitude and struggled to hold onto another body in his arms. “Tsk... What is with these guys? They just got rid of their own boats and people.”


OOC: Kovac is not killed. Bla just decided to leave at this moment, so hopefully no misunderstandings!