Cold Blooded

Little Stowaway

Chongyun didn't pay much attention as Miss Saya and Mr. Ajax talked to the big, tall man. He messed around with the different crates and bags all around, but soon grew bored.

Miss Saya had set him down when she had started to tell Tall Man about where they had traveled, and he now wanted to explore. He looked over his shoulder one last time before sneaking up a set of stairs. They were very high, but Chongyun climbed up them and soon emerged on the deck up above.

The ship swayed beneath him and he stumbled a few steps before reaching a small wooden barrel. He hid behind it and peeked out at the people running around. Some people were standing around the deck and others seemed to be up above by the big grey sails. Chongyun couldn't remember ever seeing anything quite like it. It was amazing.

Then there was the ocean, it stretched on and on forever. It was so big and so blue. It took the breath from Chongyun's lungs as he stared at it. The sun bounced off it and it looked like the snow did on a sunny day, but more shimmery and more beautiful.

It was so beautiful that Chongyun didn't realize when someone had come up behind him. In fact, he didn't realize that anything was amiss until he was scooped up into the arms of a stranger.

"We got a little stowaway here, don't we?" Chongyun swung about his arms and kicked about, but the person holding him just laughed. She turned him around in her hands so she could see his face, but her smile fell as soon as she looked into his eyes.

"There's no... How?" The lady shook her head before looking at the boy in her hands again. "Chongyun, is that you? What- What happened?"

"Chongyun!" Miss burst out onto the deck. She had a weapon in hand and panic written across her face. "Put him down or I'll- Zyrenia?"

"Hisaya?" Miss 'Zyrenia' held Chongyun closer and slowly walked over to Miss Saya. "Is it really you? And is this... It can't be, can it?"

"That- yeah, that's Chongyun." Saya looked up at the lady, but she seemed so sad.

"I- okay..." Miss Zyrenia rubbed her head with the bottom part of her hand. "What happened to both of you, and where's Gisei?"

Miss Saya didn't respond, but the way that the pain in her eyes doubled said all the words she couldn't.

"Oh, honey..." Miss Zyrenia slowly set Chongun down. "I never should have let you three go to that place. I- I knew what happened to the people that went in there. I should have tried harder to stop you all..."

"No, no," Saya whispered. "It's not your fault at all."

"No, it is," Tall Man stepped forward and put one of his hands on Miss Saya's shoulder. "I was your captain and I left you out to drown, but now we're both going to make it up to you. Wherever you need to go, the Karlin will take you."

"Th- thank, captain," Saya muttered, her words weak and quiet.

"Of course, Hisaya," Miss Zyrenia whispered. "Come to the cabin with me and we can talk."

The two women walked off and into through a door. Chongyun looked up at Tall Man. Tall Man smiled at him and reached out a hand.

"Come with me, Chongyun. We're going to get you home."

~author's note~

Chapter 50! I would just like anyone that got this far to know that this story was meant to be barely over 20 chapters. I'm not exactly sure what happened and got in the way of that, but here we are. This is 167 pages of my life right here. It really means a lot that you got this far. Thank you.

(Also how cool is the new Fontaine update!)