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PREVIOUS The boat jolted to the side and they were suddenly sitting up without any recollection of falling asleep. They sighed and rubbed their face before pushing themselves up and dusting away the thought of dirt from their clothes. They were accosted by a bright sky as they climbed up onto the deck. The waves were still rocking the vessel side to side, but the old captain was sitting leisurely at the helm with a pipe perched on his lip. Hearing Rueban's arrival, he cracked an eye open and gave a grin. "Mornin', kiddo. I coulda offered ya better accommodations if ya'd asked," he chuckled, peering down from his vantage point. "It's fine," Rueban muttered, avoiding his gaze. "Is it morning?" "Nearly midday, ‘seems like ya needed the sleep." Rueban didn't comment on that. It was probably true, though. Most of the time they couldn't get through a night of sleep without waking up from nightmares. Maybe there was just something about being on the ocean...despite it all. They

PREVIOUS Months. It had been months since the incident in the jungle. And there hadn’t been any sign of Lavie—or Atlas for that matter, but Rueban was less concerned about him. Not out of malice...they just didn’t have a reason to be. Jun Nazu wasn’t exactly hospitable, but it was—believe it or not—the safest place for them to stay. However, they were running out of money. They didn’t have Lavie’s underground information to rely on for jobs, so they were stuck. And one place you didn’t want to be stuck in with no money was—yeah, you guessed it: Jun Nazu. Rueban decided it was about time to stop waiting around for Lavie to come to save them. It was obvious now that she wasn’t coming back for them. Serves them right, really. What were they thinking? Going against her like that. They knew only the worst would come from it. And they were right! But they couldn’t help but hope that she got out of it safely. And Atlas, too. They might not admit it, but they felt horrible for roping