Behind Closed Doors - Episode

Miku found herself walking aimlessly through alleys instead of just heading straight for her original destination. She could pretend that she didn’t know why she was aimlessly walking but she was never one for stewing in denial, she was beginning to regret sticking her neck out for all those kids. Sure she felt good taking them in a year ago but now that rash decision was coming back to bite her in the ass. ‘I should have just stayed alone like before. All those kids are a liability. You know better, damnit.’ Miku thought to herself angrily, stopping in the middle of the alley she was currently in. She realized she had wandered a little further than her usual turf and while the area wasn’t exactly unexplored land it was known for being a little more rough than where she stayed now. ‘Kind of like the old stomping grounds.’ Miku thought with a feral smirk as she remembered the kind of fights she used to get into when she was on her own.

Miku eventually decided she had enough and decided to head toward the nearest half decent place to eat that she could think of. She seemed to remember a specific place that wasn’t too bad. “The Rat’s Head? No, the Boar’s Head. Eh, Something’s Head.” Miku mumbled to herself as she made her way there.

As Miku rounded the last corner she finally saw the sign for the establishment and saw the picture displayed on it. “Ah, it was the Stag’s Head. Right, now why does that ring a bell again?” Miku asked herself as she stood outside the front door. She could hear the usual noise associated with bars full of no good drunks. There was a reason this place was bothering her but what could it be? Had she caused trouble here before, it wasn’t too unlikely. Miku simply shrugged her shoulders and headed inside. The cacophony of noises hit her like a bucket of water being thrown in her face and she grinned. The bar was full and seemed to be surprisingly lively for this part of town. The smell of food was abundant and drinks were flowing freely. ‘Must have had a fresh delivery from the docks. Otherwise this place wouldn’t smell so good.' Miku thought to herself as she found herself a seat at a small table in the far corner of the room, allowing her to have a wall behind her and full view of the bar.

Eventually a waitress came by and Miku told her to bring whatever wasn’t spoiled and quickly sent her on her way. She took in the atmosphere and felt more at home than she did back at home with all those little rascals. “Damn, there I go thinking about them again.” She said as she chuckled to herself. ‘I’ve gone soft because of them.’ Was her last thought before she overheard a piece of conversation that caused the hairs on her neck to rise. “... Marines…” At this she turned to the table she thought she heard it from and saw a group of three rugged men talking over some drinks. She got up and made her way over to them before her food had even arrived and stood behind them. “What was that about Marines?” Miku asked with a cold look in her eyes. Nothing good ever came of Marines being around.

The three men all turned toward Miku and looked as if they were a few drinks in. "What's it to ya, short stuff?" one of the men said as he gave Miku a once over. The other two simply grinned at their friends slight at the short woman in front of them. "Just answer the question." Miku said once again with a no nonsense tone. The men frowned at her tone but one of them decided to answer her question just to get rid of her. "Some Marine's been docked for over a month now but no one really knows why. That good enough for ya'?" Said the second man in a dismissive tone. "Have you heard anything else about them?" Miku immediately asked not caring about the implied dismissal. The men all looked agitated at this point and the first one spoke up again, "Why don't you go ask them if you're so curious, girly." His tone was rough and sounded as if he was attempting to intimidate Miku. "But I'm asking you." With this the first man actually stood up and towered over Miku easily by a foot. "I said we don't know nothin' else." As he said this the third man at the table looked pointedly everywhere but at Miku as if his friend's statement didn't exactly apply to him. Miku saw this and pointed at him while looking up at the standing man, "What about him?" She said bluntly. At this the standing man's face grew red and he got threateningly close to Miku. "I said we don't know nothin'. Now get out of our faces." Miku simply smiled up at him and realized she may have found a way to vent her stress from earlier. In the back of her mind an old memory of her being kicked out for causing a bar fight two years ago was struggling to rise to the surface of her mind.

Just as Miku thought a chance to vent her frustrations was gifted to her she was suddenly pulled back behind some man. She was so taken aback she didn’t really register that someone would not only grab her from behind but that they suddenly claimed she was his sister. By the time her brain had caught up to the present she was already walking up the stairs outside of the Stag’s Head. She immediately drove her heel into the man’s foot and took advantage of this to slip out of his grasp and put some distance between her and the assailant. She immediately slipped on her Brawler’s Knuckles and put her arms up. She was feeling the adrenaline begin to slip into her system as she felt the reassuring feeling of her brass knuckles in her gloved hands.

“Who the hell do you think you  are?!” Miku said forcefully with obvious disdain in her voice. Her eyes burning with defiance as she finally took a second to take in the man’s appearance. He was easily a foot taller than her, jerk, and had startlingly white hair. His choice of attire only threw her off even more since it was rather eccentric compared to many of the locals. Not to mention his extremely pale skin. Honestly, he didn’t look very tough and that worried Miku. She didn’t look very tough herself being vertically challenged and yet she knew she could deck it out with the best, or worst, of the locals. 'Meaning he must be from out of town. Damn, tourists think they can take advantage of us.'

What really set her off was his smile. It may have shrunk momentarily when she stubbed his foot but she wasn’t exactly paying attention to his face at the time. That smile almost felt smug as he surely assumed she was an easy target for his lecherous plans. After all, how could a five foot tall woman ever resist the advances of a gentleman such as himself? Miku couldn’t stand men like him. “If you think you’re going to have your way with me then you’re in for a world of hurt, scumbag.” She said as she began to bounce on her feet waiting for him to make his first move. They were in a narrow alley with little room for him to maneuver giving her the home field advantage.  ‘I’m gonna wipe the smile off of that pretty boy’s mug.’

Miku thought she was prepared for any move her opponent could make but when he simply disappeared she was dumbstruck. Years of experience kept her on edge without dropping her guard but she had no idea where the man had gone. Suddenly she felt slight movement beside her before feeling a familiar hand on her shoulder again. His words sent a chill down her spine and she immediately stiffened in fear as she considered his words.

“How…” Miku muttered before snapping back to reality and shooting herself forward and out of the man’s grasp. She immediately turned around and made sure to press the wall against her back. “If you're going to fight don't rely on cheap tricks. Fight me like a man.” Miku said in the hope that she could somehow bait the man into fighting on her terms. She knew better however, he wouldn't give up such an advantage. And at this thought an old feeling she hadn't felt for over a year at least began to cloud her mind, doubt.

The shine in Miku’s eyes that showed her defiance dimmed as doubt began to take hold. She never dropped her guard and seemed to pull in her arms a little more tightly. ‘I'm not going down without a fight, damnit.’ Miku thought as her eyes searched for the invisible man.

Miku wasn’t surprised to hear the response from the man a few metres to the right but could tell he was still out reach. What did surprise her was the response to her challenge. The man obviously didn’t take the bait and even seemed mildly offended at her use of the word ‘cheap’. Soon his disembodied voice was to her left and attempted to convince her that he actually meant her no harm. She lightly scoffed at that before realizing the underhanded insult he slid in at the end. He had just called her a child.

A visible tick mark appeared on her forehead as she came to that realization. Miku knew she was short but she was a grown woman. At the back of her mind her she was slightly embarrassed to be confused for a child, after all she didn’t lack in her feminine charms. Then again she did wear a rather tight wrap and a boyish outfit, but it was just because they allowed freedom of movement. Okay, admittedly she hid her more feminine aspects but she was an adult. Hell, she’d consider herself an adult years ago after some of the stuff she went through growing up but now she was one physically as well. Plus she always considered her face to be cute when it wasn't covered in cuts and bruises.

Miku’s errant thoughts were pulled back to reality when she heard her invisible assailant say that he would become visible. She scoffed at his last second request to not hit him. Then he suddenly appeared a few metres to the left and she immediately turned to face him. She considered for a long few seconds of just Bum Rushing him to prevent him from getting away again, however he had been honest so far and held to his word. She could respect that. Miku lowered her arms to her side but remained wary.

“I could have taken that muscle head easily. Most men think they can win with if they’re bigger and badder. I’m known for taking them down to my level.” Miku then crossed her arms in a show of distrust. “I’m not some fair maiden that needs a knight to rescue her. I’ve taken care of myself since I was a child. So don’t go asking for a reward or anything.” She remained wary. It was at this moment she realized how strange it was that no one had come by to either enter or leave the Stag’s Head. She mentally shrugged and decided to ask one more question that was nagging at her. “Now, what do you mean children have gone missing?”

The amount of information that was told to her was nothing more than the mumbling of drunken men. Then again drunks tend to be the most reliable source at times. She simply shook her head in disappointment at how insignificant the information seemed. Kids going missing wasn’t anything too new around here. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for children to run away and join other roaming gangs of children. She decided to look into this later just in case and decided to go back to paying full attention to the man.

The pale man once again addressed her as a ‘kid’ and she was getting tired of it. “It’s Miku. Stop with that ‘kid’ stuff.” She said quickly before having a chance to answer his possibly rhetorical questions. His tone was polite and he had a strange accent that she hadn’t noticed until now since she was actually listening to him. Miku couldn’t decide if she found the accent entertaining or just annoying. Suddenly the man seemed to remember something as he recounted how he was given a Lily earlier by a girl. Then he suddenly called out some phrase before turning suddenly into a little girl. A little girl she recognized.

She couldn’t hide the surprise on her face at seeing the large lanky man turn into a adorable little girl. After recovering from the shock she gave a small cough in a poor attempt to hide her surprise. “I know her. She isn’t one of mine though so I don’t know where she stays.” Miku said ignoring the fact that the man’s voice was coming from a little girl. He seemed genuine enough in his concern and revealed another one of his ‘tricks’. She would keep this in mind just in case they did end up at odds. “I can ask some of my kids to check on her if you’re really concerned.” Miku offered since she could relate to his want to take care of the kids of the island. “Will that ease your fears?”

Miku sighed as the man introduced himself as Nathaniel Thorne and thanked her. The thanks wasn't necessary since she hadn't actually done anything yet but she let him have his way for now. Miku began leading them in silence as she didn't want to give away the fact that the little girl behind her had a man's voice. If anything it was strange that Nathaniel was still masquerading as a little girl. Miku couldn't help but keep glancing at him in that strange form, a silent question sent with her gaze.

Nathaniel seemed to pick up on her query and gave a quick explanation. He seemed to have given it some thought and she simply shrugged and kept walking. She wanted to point out that he would probably raise less suspicion as himself since the little girl he was disguised as was well known and one friendly person would blow his cover. However Miku decided to stay quiet for now as they had reached one of the squares that wasn't as desolate as most. It was a sort of haven for small families and elderly. She stayed around herself to make sure the kids were safe and to take care of any troublemakers who figured the people here were easy pickings. Other parts of the island were much more savage and free for all.

Suddenly the cries of an elderly woman broke Miku’s thoughts and she noticed the crowd of onlookers surrounding the source of the voice. As they drew closer it sounded as if the woman's grandson had been taken. Miku’s eyes hardened as she realized that Nathaniel's information may be true. She noticed that Nathaniel had entered the crowd and had just returned with a look of anger on his face. Noticing his lack of a smile caused her a small amount of joy that she couldn't explain. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Nathaniel's angry face looked like a small angry girl’s who just got told she had the cooties.

Miku decided that she couldn't waste anymore time entertaining the whims of Nathaniel. It was time for her to ditch him and get some answers. “Nat, you're going to have to find your own way home. I got some investigating to do. I'll look into your friends safety. It's the least I can do.” Miku said to the little girl Nathaniel was. She then gave a half hearted wave as she began to walk back to her home. The kids must know something, no one payed attention to the urchins that roamed the streets making them the best source of information. She didn't consider asking Nathaniel for help since she still didn't trust him enough. Though his ability could be useful. She stopped as she reached the end of the square and turned back to look at Nathaniel. Should she ask for his help?  His abilities were unique and could aid her in finding the kids. He did seem upset about the whole ordeal. She stood there staring at the little girl that was Nathaniel with a indecisive look in her eye. Miku really didn't want to trust this man.

Miku was at a stalemate internally as to further involve herself with Nathaniel. She growled under her breath as she decided Nathaniel could be a bigger help than hindrance at this point. With her mind finally made up she refocused on Nathaniel and was about to start heading back towards him when he suddenly had his attention drawn by something and ran off into one of the many side alleys leading out of the square. Seeing him run off without so much as a second glance back at her actually irked her more than she thought it would have. Sure she had done the exact same to him only a minute ago but she had stopped to reconsider. This simply reaffirmed her earlier belief that she didn’t need him. Miku pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes in irritation at being slighted and promptly made her way back home.

Miku ran into no trouble getting back home and noticed that there seemed to a ruckus coming from inside the old rundown building. As she entered she was hit with a cacophony of crying children, young angry voices, and panic. Something was wrong. Miku walked through the entrance and entered the main room of the house to see the kids all crowding around one of the older kids in her group. The center of attention was Isaac, a thirteen year old boy who had black hair that was curly and a pair of cracked glasses. He seemed to be asking everyone to stay in the house and wait until Miku got back. At this point she decided to make her presence known since they had not noticed her arrival through their panic.

“What’s going on?” Miku asked loudly as she stepped into the crowd. She took care not to shove any of the kids and even giving some of the ones crying a reassuring pat on the back or rustling of their hair. When she arrived in front of Isaac he stood at attention and tried to look as mature as possible before telling her anything. Never mind the fact his nose was still running and his eyes red from possibly crying himself earlier. Miku knew how hard Isaac tried to be the responsible and calm one when she was away and loved that about the kid. He was one of the reasons she felt they were ready for her to leave.

“Big sis, we have a major problem! It’s Jacob! He got taken by some guys and they almost got me and it was my fault and I just ran away and I didn’t know what to do and there are other kids there I think and and and…” Isaac said all this rapidly in one breath as he began to hyperventilate and tears began welling up in his eyes again. Miku grabbed Isaac and pulled him into a hug and held his head into her shoulder as he began crying fully. She noticed that Isaac was as tall as her already and made this slightly difficult for her. ‘They’re all growing up so fast…’ she thought as she held him. “Let’s go to my room and you can tell me everything from the beginning.” Miku said to him gently and he simply nodded. Isaac then removed himself from her shoulder and made his way over to her room while wiping his nose and wiping tears away from his eyes and glasses. “No one leave the house until I resolve whatever is going on. If you have to leave for any reason go in pairs. Got it?” Miku said to the kids in the room before following Isaac into her room and closing the door.

Once inside Isaac told Miku about how he and Jacob had been investigating how kids have been disappearing on their own without telling her. Apparently it had been Jacob’s idea to prove that they could take care of themselves and didn’t need to always rely on her to care for them. At this Miku just shook her head at Jacob’s stubbornness but realized he was only taking after herself after all. Isaac continued about how they asked other kids from the surrounding neighborhoods and that the only thing they knew was that kids were the only ones disappearing. It didn’t matter whether they were homeless or had a family. Then they finally found a lead when a drunk they walked past in an alley mentioned that shadow men from the docks were stealing little people for their master. They knew that half of what the drunk adult said was rubbish but Isaac couldn’t help but notice how similar his rambling were to what was going on. Isaac also sheepishly admitted that Jacob picked a fight with the man in an attempt to get more information. Miku once again realized how bad of an influence she may have been on Jacob who seemed to look up to her the most when he was younger. Passing on the chance to comment she kept her scoldings to herself, Isaac was already shaken up enough.

Finally Isaac said that earlier in the day Jacob was angry and went to the docks to investigate himself. When the pair got to the docks they began asking kids and adults if they knew anything about it. They seemed to wasting their time until they saw a small group of marines walking off their ship that was docked. Jacob decided that the marine’s might know something or be able to help them. Jacob asked the marines if they knew anything about all the missing children and if they could help. The marines told them to follow them into a nearby alley since they couldn’t risk information about their investigation getting out. Jacob trusted them but Isaac admitted to not having a good feeling about the way the marines looked at them. Once they got there the marines tried to grab them both and only ended up grabbing Isaac. Jacob had managed to break free of his marine’s grapple and was ready to fight. However they used Isaac as a bargaining chip forcing Jacob to give in. When Jacob agreed they lowered their guard giving Jacob a chance to kick the guy holding Isaac in the shin, freeing Isaac. Jacob then yelled at Isaac to run and get Miku and that he would catch up later. At this point Isaac was breaking down into sobs as he said he remembered hearing the pained yells of Jacob as he ran. Miku had been silent the whole time and a dark shadow had fallen over her eyes. She got up and grabbed Isaac's shoulders and looked him in the eye. Her eyes were burning with a fury that he had never seen before and it made him actually afraid.

“Isaac, you did the best you could. I’m proud of you.” Miku said with honest pride before heading to the door. She stopped at the door and turned around to face Isaac again, “You’re in charge until I get back, understand? Don’t worry, your big sis will get Jacob back.” With these words she marched through the house and promptly out the front door. Once the door was closed and she was a few minutes away from the house she punched the nearest wall in anger and let out a scream of fury. She was going to break every bone in those damn marines bodies.

Miku noticed that quite a bit of time had passed since she left Nathaniel and wondered if he was still masquerading as that girl. The girl. Crap, she had forgotten to ask the kids if they knew if she was okay. She would have to deal with that after teaching those marines their lesson and getting her little hot headed troublemaker back home. Miku made straight away towards the docks Isaac had told her about and was radiating a killer vibe that could only be described as menacing to anyone who looked at her on the way.

A few hours had passed and the sun was low in the sky providing long shadows and dark alleys. Miku had finally found the dock that Isaac had told her about and could see the marine’s ship in dock still. She couldn’t see any marines wandering around except for a pair of them guarding their docked ship. Miku came out of the alley she was observing them in and began to approach them in a very obvious manner. The two guards had spotted her before she even got half way and were keeping an eye on her. As she got closer she was able to make out the faces of the two men. One was tall but rather bulky as if he spent more time in the Galley than anywhere else. The other marine was on the more lean side and had a handsome face. Well, it would have been handsome if it hadn’t been sporting a fresh shiner over the left eye.

Miku walked right up to them, not being one for subtlety or subterfuge, and asked them a straightforward question. “Have you seen my little brother? He’s about this tall,” she then held her hand three inches above her head and quickly put it back down, “and has long brown hair that he keeps in a ponytail? I heard he was playing around here and I’m worried since he should have been back home by now.” Nothing she said was a lie and thus she was able to easily sound sincere. Though the marines could definitely feel a menacing aura from the short woman.

The two men looked at each other in worry as they had been given orders to stand guard and not let anyone on no matter what. On top of that they couldn’t take this woman in the open like this. There weren’t many people milling about the docks but the sun wasn’t set enough for them to be discreet enough to not draw others attention. The silence was deafening as Miku was slowly losing her patience and more of her hatred for Marines were beginning to show in her eyes. The larger man suddenly had an idea to get himself away from the situation. “I don’t remember seeing any kids around here but I can go ask the others on board.” The bulky marine promptly retreated onto the ship in search of their captain in hopes of figuring out what to do with the woman asking questions. This left the marine with a black eye alone with Miku.

After a minute of silence and Miku barely holding back the urge to complete the set by punching his right eye she had a sudden idea. “So, how did you get that shiner?” The marine looked shocked she would ask him that out of the blue and then irritated once he remembered how it was given to him by some brat they caught earlier that day. “Just some local punk not knowing to respect his elders or the authority of us marines. He got his though.” The marine said with a smug smirk. Miku didn’t like the marine’s tone or smile and decided to keep asking for details. “A local kid? But I thought you and your friend hadn’t seen any kids today?” she asked pointing out the hole in his story. The marine’s face fell for a second before putting on a fake confident smile. “Well, I didn’t want to admit this in front of my fellow marine. He wasn’t there after all.” He seemed proud of his quick solution to his slip up. “From the looks of it the kid must have had a mean right punch.” Miku stated trying to get more details from the marine.  The marine’s smile turned to a grimace as he hotly replied. “The kid got lucky. See, I was distracted when some other troublemaker got out of my friends hands and ran off. I turned to catch the punk but I got blindsided by his friend. We made sure to teach him a lesson for disrespecting us marines though.” The marine had a cruel smile on his face as he remembered beating the kid with his buddies in that alley. Then he realized he had spilled a little too much info and quickly tried to amend it. “You know how the more rebellious kids try to form gangs of their own. They were part of a fairly new on.” The marine was hardly convincing but Miku had to give him an A for effort.

At this point several minutes had pass and the little information she had gathered from the marine matched up with Isaac’s story. Now that she knew she would just raid the ship and save Jacob. Just as she was about to slip her brass knuckles on she heard heavy steps coming from the ship behind the marine. Miku looked up at the ship to see a very large man looking over the side of the boat down at them. She couldn’t make out any details besides how large the man seemed to be even from this distance. He then disappeared from sight and the loud hobbling noise was heard again but seeme to be coming close. Eventually the large man had made his way down to the dock and towered over both his own marine and Miku. To say his presence was intimidating would have been a major understatement. “Now what seems to be the problem here, miss?” said the large man in a very rough low voice. The marine reported what Miku had been inquiring about and the man frowned upon hearing this but quickly had a slimy grin as he looked Miku over once and had an idea. “As a matter of fact I do think that description sounds familiar. If you’d be willing to come aboard my ship then we can ask one of my marines who mentioned a boy like that.” He then put his arm behind Miku and began pulling her with him onto the ship making it look like he was simply helping her. Miku had no idea what to do at this point as she had not expected a mountain of muscle to show up like he had. She simply went along realizing that she may have made a grave mistake and had to figure out a way that didn’t involve fighting for once.

The sight that welcomed Miku upon fully boarding the ship didn’t ease her worries in the slightest. The deck was full of at least a dozen marines, ranging from good for nothing wimps to weathered seafarers. The large man, presumably the captain from how everyone seemed to either respect or fear the man, simply pushed her along as if giving a grand tour. Never mind that he seemed to do this effortlessly while still relying on a crutch for some reason. Once they arrived on deck the man shoved Miku forward causing her to stumble a few feet before regaining her balance. When she looked back up she was now surrounded in a loose circle of the men who looked at her with a mixture of glee and malice in their eyes. She grit her teeth as she realized some of the men seemed to be preparing for a fight.

“So, you’re looking for your little brother, eh? Do you hear that lads?!” He said in his gruff voice that was dripping with sarcasm. “This poor girl needs help to find him. Why don’t you go ahead and tell them what he looks like?” Miku didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of her listening but she had no clue where Jacob was and had to at least glean some clues from the Marines. “He is about 5’3” and has long brown hair that he keeps in a ponytail.” She said as she frantically searched for an escape route when the time came. A few of the marines behind her started laughing and she spun to face them. “Oh, we know your little brother alright. He gave our boy Lance quite the black eye.” They said while their laughter slowly turned into cruel chuckles. “He sure was a spitfire and you know how to put out little fires like those. You gotta stamp em out!” He followed this up by stomping his foot on the deck loudly causing all the marines on the deck.

“He’s just a kid! How could you?!” Miku yelled in anger no longer playing along with their little charade. She was sick and tired of these marines playing with her. “Where is he?!” She shouted as she quickly slipped on her brass knuckles and took a fighting stance, throwing her previous caution to the wind. The marines laughter eventually petered out as their, assumed, captain lifted his hand for silence. “So the little urchin finally bares its teeth. I had a feeling you’d be trouble if you were really that brats older sister. Well, if you truly must know he is probably being tested on like the rat he is!” He then proceeded to laugh as if he had said the most hilarious joke ever. Miku was visibly shaking in rage as she heard his words. “I’ll give you a chance. If you can defeat at least half of the men in this circle then I’ll tell you where to find him.” As he said this he began to hobble away and gave a waving motion as if signalling the fighting to begin.

The men all saluted at their captain and began turning their attention back to Miku, only to realize she hadn’t waited for his signal and had already begun rushing one of the lanky marines that was near her and sucker punched him. The lanky marine went down in one punch since he had got caught off guard and left only eleven others to go. “I’ll make you talk even if I have to take you all on alone!” She was soon surrounded once again and the marines came at her one by one. They exchanged light blows and she managed to dodge most hits since she was fresh into the fight but the odds were not in her favor. She knew she had almost no chance of getting out of this unscathed but if she could take out five more than she could at least learn where Jacob is and make an escape.

Miku had just ducked under one punch only to be struck from behind sending her stumbling forward. She saw another kick aimed at her gut and managed to block it with her forearms, her hidden vambraces soaking up enough damage to not make her flinch. However this left her open to a punch that caught her right on the cheek. This wasn’t her first time being hit so far as the split lip and bruises forming under her clothes would show. She had managed to take another down but was still easily outnumber ten to one and it was beginning to wear on her. Miku had fought as many as three people at once before but even then she barely managed to scrape by with some luck but now she was immensely over her head. She had no intention of giving up and felt that feeling of anger that she buried deep down beginning to bubble to the surface. Before she could release it in a battle cry suddenly she heard a familiar voice shout before a deck of cards flew into view followed promptly by her being lifted and carried away. This happened so quickly she was still rigid and instinctively braced herself for an injury of some sort to come before realizing she recognized the white hair and eccentric clothing.

“Nathaniel?!” Miku managed to shout in surprise and slight indignation at being carried over his shoulder. On his other shoulder was the lanky marine she had sucker punched at the beginning of the fight. He was beginning to regain consciousness and she realized he would have been back in the fight sooner than she could have finished it. Suddenly they were both flying in the air as Nathaniel threw them over the side of the ship. “You bastaaard!” Miku yelled as she hit the water arms first as she attempted to protect her head from hitting the water first. As she hit the water she immediately reoriented herself and noticed the marine had woken up in panic at being submerged. She grabbed him and dragged him onto the beach below the docks. He was sputtering up water when Miku came from behind and knocked him out with a kick to the head to make sure he stayed put.

Suddenly she heard more splashed behind her and saw Nathaniel floundering in the water. Miku waited a beat until realization dawned on her that Nathaniel was probably not able to swim. She immediately dived back into the water as to save him when she saw two unconscious children floating beneath the surface near Nathaniel. ‘That idiot dropped kids in the ocean.’ She thought as she decided they were priority over him since he was at least conscious. She swam as quickly as she could and got to the children and was able to drag them onto land with relative ease since they were smaller than her. She checked to make sure they were still breathing and with relief could see they were well. She was grateful that the kids were okay before remembering about Nathaniel. “Shit.”

Miku turned back to the ocean to realize he was no longer above the surface. She ran back into the water and saw him rapidly sinking and began swimming towards him. Grabbing him was easy but he was not only a whole foot taller than her but complete dead weight. She had barely managed to drag him back onto land before sinking onto her knees herself and breathing heavily. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, the bruises all over her body were beginning to ache and her split lip burned from the salty sea. She was also very cold and breathing heavily trying to regain the oxygen she expended while constantly diving under the surface. In all the ruckus she had lost her hat and only realized this when it happened to wash up next to her on shore. She slowly reached for it, wrenched it free of water, and placed it on her head before looking over to Nathaniel. “So you can’t swim.” Miku said as a matter of fact, not caring if he was conscious or not. “Idiot.”

After spending a few minutes recovering her breath Miku turned back around to see four bodies that would all need to be dragged to wherever the hell she wanted to take them. Her, carrying two kids and two men much taller and broader than she was. She let out a loud sigh as she couldn’t believe how her day had gone to hell so quickly. She looked down at Nathaniel and saw him staring up at her. For some reason she couldn’t find it in herself to reiterate how stupid his actions were with that look of helplessness and gratitude in his eyes, ugh. Not that she is in any position to talk, she had no chance of defeating all those men on her own. She was tough, but she was just a girl who got into the occasional scrap, no magic man or brawny marine.

“Kids come first. Just get some rest and watch that one.”Miku said pointing over where the unconscious marine was. He had a nasty looking bruise already forming on his temple. Maybe she had hit him a little harder than necessary but he deserved it. They all did. Miku walked over to the two children and recognized the little boy as that old woman’s grandson. She knew where they lived and knew it wasn’t too far away from the docks. Probably why the marines decided to nab him in the first place. With one child under each arm Miku made haste to Noah’s grandmother’s home. The marines hadn’t left their ship yet apparently and Miku counted herself as extremely lucky. Hopefully they didn’t go searching under the docks as they would find their unconscious man and the incapacitated Nathaniel. What exactly was he doing there anyway? Did he really sneak onto that ship just to help Noah get back home? Huh, guess he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

Once she arrived at her intended destination she gently lied the two children against each other so they wouldn’t slump over. Miku rapped on the ramshackle door loudly and quickly before taking off around the corner to hide. A light turned on in the cracked window near the door and Miku could barely make out a door opening followed by a cry of joy and surprise. She peeked around the corner to see the old woman hug her grandson and gingerly carry the other child inside as well. With that done Miku turned on her heel and began to jog back to where she left Nathaniel and that marine. Hopefully Nathaniel had recovered enough to at least lean on her shoulder. Carrying one of them was going to be tough enough but hauling them both would simply be impossible for her.