"It seems that your contract with the God of Poisons caused the Ghostship to believe you to be a blight upon the vessel."
Cauron's voice was tired and frankly bored as he attached a metallic grate to a machine that rested in the farthest reaches of his cabin.
Near the entryway, Aaron sighed hard, his body still trembling slightly from the gaze of the Goddess.
"So it won't happen again?"
He had expected a difficult experience when boarding a Ghostship different from his own; however, this surpassed his expectations dramatically.
But as he stared at Lord Thorn pour himself a drink from the odd machine in the back, he felt his nerves relax slightly, the adrenaline from the moment fading fast.
"Yes. There will be no further reactions unless you are violent aboard the vessel. You can do what you wish until we cross into the World Between; however, after that, we must beware of sea terrors.
The boy's expression perked up, his eyes widening at the mention of the secondary dimension that all Ghostship wielders seemed to be able to manipulate.
All but him, of course.
Maybe I'll finally learn how to enter that damn world!
Grinning ever-so-slightly, he was dismissed from the chamber, the cool sea air washing over his face as he walked outside.
On the deck, Raphael and Ezra played a game of blackjack on the table, with an unusual competitiveness between them as a random crew member acted as the dealer.
The ship itself was massive, a span at least ten times the size of his own vessel, stretching out across five different levels with ten sublevels below the main deck.
Noticing the stairway situated in the middle of the floor, he couldn't refuse the opportunity to explore such a place."
I wonder what's down below…
Looking around to see who was watching him among the dozen crew members that managed the ship itself, he shook his head, walking forward without another word.
How big could it even be?
…
"Dammit… This place feels like a maze…"
After descending to the very bottom of the ship, Aaron walked blindly through the dark hallways that were lit with shimmering bronze lanterns.
There were no signs or organization, the entire space a labyrinth of walls and rooms filled with nothing.
The other floors just had bedrooms or laboratories… I thought I'd find a training hall down here or something, but it's just a bunch of dead ends!
He could hear the lapping of water against the thick hull, the stopwatch he had been given by the Sea King still reading thirty minutes until transfer into the World Between.
I need to at least get back up there before we go…
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he thought hard about what to do, the sound of wood creaking behind him going unnoticed.
"Boo!"
The blond boy jumped, his head slamming into the ceiling and his heart nearly leaping out of his chest.
"Gah!"
Spinning around quickly, he felt his throat constrict as his eyes fell upon his scarer, the blossoming pink hair stagnant in the dark hallway.
"Hey, Aaron."
He simply stared at her, his thoughts a wreck as he contemplated what to say.
She, however, seemed to be more controlled than he, her hand reaching out and patting him on the head gently.
"Pat pat."
The turquoise-eyed boy blinked in surprise, complete confusion spreading throughout his body as he relaxed.
"W-what are you doing?"
Staring down at the girl who stared up at him quietly, he waited for her to speak; however, she only watched him, her eyes looking into his own deeply.
"I'm looking."
There was a pause as Aaron tried to take a step backwards, his shirt getting clasped by her small, pale hands.
"No."
The boy's eyes darted around nervously as he heard Penelope mumbling something under her breath.
He couldn't pay his sword any attention, though, since just then, the girl spoke again.
"Aaron. Don't lie to me."
Akari had buried her face in the blond child's coat, only her hair visible to him as he looked down upon her.
There was a certain seriousness in her words that struck him down to his very core, to a place he had never thought anything could reach.
"Are you okay?"
His breath hitched, his mind went numb, and his eyes glazed over as he thought deeply about her words.
He couldn't lie, not to her now.
There was something different about how she was acting, and it resonated within him in such a way that he felt obligated to answer.
"No."
It was a simple reply, one without explanation or reason, something that slipped from his lips and fell over the hall.
Akari said nothing as she took a step away from the boy, her hand now resting on his shoulder with the gentle hum of the sea moving through the hull.
"You're not alone, Aaron… No matter what your memory tells you, some people actually care about you."
She tipped her head towards the ground, her ears burning bright red, noticeable even in the dark hallways.
The boy's mind began to clear as he took a deep breath, his own hand coming out and patting Akari's head gently.
"I'll do that if I need to."
He smiled widely, a pulsation behind him drawing his gaze away from the girl and onto a random door.
Pressing down on his lips, he realized quietly what rested behind that wall, something so powerful that its pressure drowned out all light from the region.
Turning his attention back to the girl, he spoke aloud one final time, a happy expression taking over his face.
"Don't worry about me when you're the one who got hurt yesterday. I can't even begin to explain how sor—"
She cut him off, her index finger moving in front of his lips to stop the words from spilling out of his mouth.
"Don't apologize for something that happened in a battle like that. I could tell that absorbing the chimera's core changed something inside your mind."
The cherry-haired girl stopped herself, thinking of the proper words to describe her thoughts to the boy.
"It was as if you weren't yourself… I don't think you saw me as an opponent after you absorbed that core… No… You saw me as an enemy."
She trembled slightly, her gaze locked on the wooden floor raked with miniature runes that contained multiple seals.
"All I could do was try to fight back against that monster that was inhabiting your body. When my arm flew off, and you took my ear, I thought you were really going to kill me…"
The force behind Aaron pushed against him, the weight of both the power and the girl's words simultaneously weighing the boy down.
"But when I looked into your eyes and saw the turquoise luster gone, I knew somewhere inside that you wouldn't do it… It's not in your nature to kill…"
While the boy had once executed numerous criminals during the Hunters' Exam, only one time before had he deliberately taken a life with any true malice in his heart.
The Crimson Sanctormous of the Cult of True Earth had been murdered by the boy after he blew up a building on the Bay of Thorn only weeks prior.
Yet even with the true monster dead, Aaron still felt guilt well up inside of him every night before bed, every day before a shower, every afternoon at lunch.
Regardless of what he had done that day, the sound of bone crunching and his final screams echoed through his nightmares, haunting him like a ghost.
Now, however, another ghost called out to him from behind a closed doorway, its illusory call so tempting that he could hardly resist.
"Akari…"
He felt the ship lurch, the stopwatch in his pocket beginning to buzz loudly as the time ran out, forcing him to cease his conversation.
She only nodded, her arm moving from the boy's shoulder off into the darkness where another door stood open.
"The stairs are that way."
And with those words, she walked away, the moment the two had in the darkness of the hallway now only shared between them, and them alone.
But before Aaron followed her path up the stairs and towards the main deck, he slowly turned around, placing his hand on the doorknob that begged for his touch.
Creakkkkk…
His entire body became rigid as his eyes adjusted to the light before him, an orange barrier blocking his way, though even the sight alone was stunning.
The core of this Ghostship bubbled like a star, its surface similar to that of his own vessel's core, yet triple the size.
It exuded the power of a high-level terror, the warding effect silencing even the Naelith's irritated chants.
Due to Cauron's control over his own ship, someone as weak as Aaron couldn't even dream of stealing the power of the core; however, it didn't prevent him from dreaming.
One mere touch and I'd have the fullest power of a Ghostship flowing within my body…
He clenched his fist; the pressure being exuded by the flaming sphere was wafting down on him hard.
The boy wouldn't have moved if it weren't for the strong lurch that the ship made when it stopped in the middle of the sea, a loud gong ringing throughout the world.
It was time for the crossover between dimensions, a sight that he couldn't afford to miss, just for the wonderful sight before him.
It's a nice dream.
Smiling widely, he turned around and placed his hand back on the golden doorknob, the surface cold beneath his fingers.
Creakkkkk…
The light of the core vanished behind the wooden frame, its location shifting like an illusion among every door below deck.
It was a safety mechanism, yet for someone like Aaron Grimstall, it was merely a suggestion.
Nevertheless, he wasn't strong enough to take it; the truth behind the creation of the Ghostships remained just beyond his grasp.