Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“You’re bound to find your soulmate before your 18th birthday,” They told Charlie. It’s not like he ever cared about this kind of stuff, but something always ached within him whenever he saw people around him chatter about their soulmates non-stop. After they had finished, they’d apologise to Charlie for forgetting, as if they actually cared how he felt. Every time, Charlie would brush it off with a laugh. He was told to keep this a secret from the crowd, his father said, and he quoted, “To not embarrass the rest of the royal family.”

Charlie was an embarrassing king who couldn’t find his soulmate six fucking years after he turned 18. They couldn’t let the public know, could they? They’d think the royals of Quesidilla Kingdom were cowards!

“You’re bound to find your soulmate before your 18th birthday,” They said.

Charlie didn’t find his.

He was twenty-fucking-four.

Charlie rolled over in his bed and let out a huff. Every once in a while he would have late night thoughts about not having a soulmate. Usually, they were fine, at most it would only annoy Charlie a little later that morning, but he couldn’t let it happen today.

The realisation bloomed in his guts and he whined, eyebrows furrowing into a scowl. Charlie stared until the sun rose, showering him with blazing sunshine from his vast window. He knew he had to get up, but he didn’t, still fighting to banish the twist out of his stomach. His hollow eyes were left open, then the door was pushed open with a squeak. Charlie sat up, expecting to be greeted by a maid, and he was surprised to see his sister looking at him with wide, dark eyes.

“Good morning, Baghera,” Charlie yawned fraudulently, trying to mask the fact that it was another restless night. He sighed as Baghera stared at him almost pitifully. She knew him too well.

“Is it about the soulmate again?” She narrowed her eyes as she sat down beside Charlie. They’d had this conversation a million times.

Charlie didn’t answer, he didn’t know what to answer. He couldn’t figure out which thought he should prioritise when there were thousands of them racing in his mind all at once.

“A little bit of that. And mostly just nervous about today,” Charlie managed, avoiding Baghera’s gaze.

Every ten years elites that were trained and elected by the immortal Angel of Death would descend upon Quesidilla Kingdom to serve and protect it for a decade, and the king would hold a ceremony to welcome and officially claim them to be his servants. Charlie had witnessed it two times before, but this was the first time hosting it as king, when their father had died 5 years ago, and he inherited his position.

Charlie remembered when the misfortune was announced, that on a ship meant to deliver the king to another island, sank in the ocean, his panic and helplessness. Being the oldest child, he was destined to acquire the honour to become king. He had expected it to happen, but not this soon, not when he just failed to find his soulmate even after his 18th birthday.

“Charlie, it’s just for today,” Baghera’s soothing voice snapped Charlie out of his head, “It’ll all be fine after that. Let’s get you dressed and rehearse the oath one last time.” She stood and paused for Charlie to follow.

Charlie hesitated, but he hopped off and promenaded behind his sister.

“It’ll all be fine.” He responded with a bright, only semi-forced smile on his face.

-

This year, only three knights were chosen. The first man on Charlie’s left was a man with khaki, fluffy short hair with a white streak, a pair of indigo eyes resting nervously beneath his gruff, coffee eyebrows; a reflective ring with the symbol of a spider embedded on top sat on his scarred ring finger.

“This is Cellbit.” Phil, the Angel of Death, as well as the coach of those seek to become knights, explained. His voice sounded rather dull, which Charlie let slip away because Phil has been doing this for the past five or six centuries now. It’s difficult to not get bored.

Charlie’s glare then shifted to the man beside Cellbit. He almost chuckled at the way the man shivered in fear. There was messy, raven dwarf hair above his timid and teary dark eyes. He fidgeted intensely, and Charlie could’ve sworn he heard quiet sobbing. Charlie fought the urge to giggle, or even reassure the man in front of him, and he couldn’t help but give a look to Phil, a look that screamed “how the fuck did he even get here”.

Phil pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows, “This… this is Missa,” He then murmured a sigh, lip-syncing to Charlie, “He’s my soulmate, the goddesses fucking love him”. Charlie shrugged and moved onto the last man.

The man was gorgeous, to a point where despite facing the ground, his pitch-black hair alone was enough to grasp Charlie’s gaze like an addiction. The man was tall, with a muscular body shape that was so attractive— wait, why did I think that? Charlie felt heat running up his chest to his cheek, and realised he was blushing when Phil raised one eyebrow at him. Charlie cleared his throat awkwardly and gestured for Phil to start.

Phil shrugged and smiled playfully, “This is Mariana.”

As he finished his sentence, the man, Mariana, raised his head and looked into Charlie’s emerald eyes.

And when they finally met eyes, Charlie was fucked. He was immediately drawn to his beautiful face — the tall nose and the rose lips, they contrast so beautifully with Mariana’s tan skin. His eyes, dark brown with the liveliest spark Charlie’s even seen within; for that moment, it was as if Charlie was a tiny drop of water landing on this perfect man’s eyelashes, observing all his features so carefully and so closely; as if Charlie could see every detail and every inch of slightest movements on Mariana’s face; as if Charlie has known this person for decades. His heart pulled from his chest, growling to be set free. In a span of seconds, Charlie went on a rollercoaster of emotions, while his heart pumped out more blood than he would never need to survive. He could perceive each emotion Mariana has ever felt, and for some reason he knew they were Mariana’s. He just knew. And he was devastated that most of them were sadness and loneliness.

But before Charlie could react, he was on the floor, on one knee.

An anguish pain spreading from his abdomen to his chest was the last thing Charlie could comprehend before it all faded to black.

Charlie was awoken by yet another stinging ache. Someone hissed as he let out a groan.

“Sorry. It’s only gonna be a bit,” Baghera whispered, interjecting the needle through his wound. Charlie noticed the bloody arrow on the coffee table beside him.

“What happened?” Charlie scanned, he was on a soft rug in the basement of the castle, while Phil sat aside on a worn armchair. He winced as Baghera sewed up the last bit of his lesion.

“Long story short,” Phil sighed, vision still glued to the ground, “The peasants are rebelling. One of them shot an arrow at you, luckily it didn’t hit your heart.”

Charlie paused, landing his gaze on the dim ceiling. Guilt seized his mind. He was a bad king. An embarrassing one even. Of course his people wouldn’t accept him, of course they would try to get rid of him. His father was right, he never deserved to be anyone’s pride. When he’d been a kid, he was horrible at everything. He couldn’t remember a thing from his tutor, his didn’t have the strength to wield a sword. He’d felt useless his entire life, and when he finally felt someone needed him, his nation needed him, he realised it didn’t. He was only ruining everything.

He had considered passing his throne to Baghera. She was two years younger, but she could slice the mannequins open with a chainsaw as if they were a piece of dessert, while Charlie struggled to learn how to raise an axe properly. She could memorise the plot of a play Charlie would fall asleep during and solved every riddle their tutor told before Charlie even processed the first sentence of it. She was generous and kind to the innocent. Charlie would murder if it meant it could save his loved ones. She had beautiful golden hair and eyes from their mother. Charlie’s were the colour of mud and dirt.

Baghera was better than him in every way, undeniably. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if he was born two years later. If Baghera was the one to take on an entire kingdom.

He couldn’t think of it now, so he moved onto the next important thing in his head.

“Where’s Mariana?” It scared Charlie how the words slipped out of his throat without him even realising. He felt himself flustering, already thinking of an excuse.

Phil chuckled softly. He was definitely going to wheeze and make fun of Charlie if they weren’t in a tense situation.

“He’s outside the door guarding the entrance, along with Cellbit and Missa. Why?” He said rather soullessly. Charlie scowled at the blood-soaked bandage on Phil’s forearm.

“Nothing. Can I have a moment with Phil, Baghera?” He turned to Baghera, who he realised was silently sobbing. She walked out the door to join the knights before Charlie could react.

Charlie made a desperate attempt to sit up, whining as his wound stretched. He decided it was better to stay laying. Phil shook his head and approached Charlie instead.

“Phil, can I ask you a question?” Charlie asked, knowing the answer.

Phil silently lifted an eyebrow at him.

“What is it like to find your soulmate? Like, what exactly did you experience when you found Missa?” Charlie pretended to not see Phil’s ridicule expression.

The angel cleared his throat, sitting beside Charlie and rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “It’s hard to explain. I just immediately found him… unreasonably adorable,” His face reddened, “And when he looked into my eyes I lived his life. I felt what he’s felt in the past, I felt I could trust him immediately.” He gazed at Charlie.

The lather didn’t know what to feel when he registered how the descriptions from Phil were identical to when he met Mariana. He pursed his lips.

“Phil, can I trust you?”

“Yeah?”

“I think Mariana is my soulmate.”

Much to Charlie’s surprise, Phil didn’t instantly burst into laughter and tease Charlie. He only smiled and nodded, fidgeting with the hem of his emerald vest.

“Good for you, mate. Bad timing though, I’m sorry.” His eyes fixed on the door, “Now, we need to figure a way to get out of here. The guards have turned on us, we don’t have much time left,” He jogged towards to door, opening it and gesturing for the group to enter. Charlie fought the urge to reach out and compliment Mariana.

The entrance was firmly locked with a click. The knights carried out a plan that worryingly required a lot of luck — first they had to be lucky to not be recognised during their flee, then they had to be lucky to be able to find food along their way, and finally they had to be lucky again to find a large boat that could fit all of them at the pier.

Nobody commented, driving the tension in the room to the peak. The silence was sickening.

“Alright,” Phil sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair in stress, “let’s get ready then,”

The group spread around the area, grabbing whatever resources they could find and shoving them in
burlap bags. Phil and Missa whispered, while Cellbit and Baghera carried out a quiet conversation sorrowfully. Baghera’s soulmate, Jaiden, was nowhere to be seen, while whoever the spider on Cellbit’s ring symbolised was not with them as well. Charlie has been told by his father the pain of losing one’s soulmate. It was described as agony that death herself would grimace at.

He decided to keep his mouth shut, staying still on the rug until someone — Mariana — approached and helped him up, touch so gentle it made Charlie’s skin burn. In a good way. He flustered as Mariana handed him a thick stick to use as a crutch and a meagre, ginger pouch, the hilt of a dagger poking out from within. Charlie flashed him a grateful smirk before attaching the pouch to his belt, leaning against the stick.

The group removed whatever eye-catching gear they carried, covering their hair or wings with several pieces of cloth they managed to tear from the armchair. No back up plans, no turn backs.

Phil was the first to go, waving his hand for the group to follow. Missa followed closely behind, chewing on a rubber to prevent him from getting too loud in case he sobbed. Cellbit and Mariana sandwiched Charlie, palms around their weapons, bending down and eyeing the surroundings cautiously. Charlie tried not to heat up too much with Mariana standing too closely with him, his thigh almost touching Charlie’s face due to their height difference. Baghera carefully crouched, moving her legs swiftly and silently. Charlie held onto his dagger, sweat threatening to fall.

They made it to the hall, freezing as they heard rapid footsteps and yelling in it. Phil shook his head, signing for the group to turn back. They did. They travelled up the backstairs rather peacefully, Cellbit only having to finish a drunk peasant that made too much noise.

Suffering plenty of stairs, they reached the top of an unguarded watchtower. Baghera and Phil carried the rest off to the ground one by one, for even though their wings didn’t fly long distances, were able to act as a parachute, reaching the ground safely.

Then they ran. They had fled through the mountainsides, using the greeneries as camouflage.

And almost miraculously, nobody spotted this suspicious group of people sprinting at the coast like their lives depended on it. Their lives did depend on it. Again, as if the goddess of luck blew them a kiss, a large pirate ship rested beside the pier. Phil signalled for the rest to go for the ship, while he stabbed a hole in the barrel next to him, labeled “wine”, and rolling it into the crowd.

The plan was successful, there were only a few crew members mopping the deck which Mariana threw into the sea smoothly. He didn’t kill them out of mercy, but Charlie wished they knew how to swim. They were only minding their own businesses. Baghera quickly casted off the lines. The strong wind drove them to depart — which again was oddly lucky, but Charlie was more than grateful. There were no other ships at the pier, so when they started hearing confused and angry screams from the pier, they were calm. They knew the owner of the ship wouldn’t be able to catch onto them anytime soon.

“Death was definitely responding to my prayers,” Phil wheezed. Everyone laughed and cheered, simply contented at the allowance to breathe. Mariana as well, throwing his hands into the air and cursing at the direction they came from. Charlie loved seeing him smile. He wanted to keep seeing it forever, never to disappear. He wanted to cup his face and kiss his forehead, to mumble sweet words at him. He stared at Mariana for far, far too long, until the lather decided to just walk up to him, seeing how desperate his expression seemed.

Charlie shuddered at the sudden magnifying of his face, now standing right before him, smirking sweetly.

“Oh, hey, hey! How are you? My eyes are pretty — I mean your eyes — I mean no—,” I fucking panicked, Charlie bit his bottom lip, heat rushing up his cheek. He was this close to burying his head in his hands like a teenage girl that received a wink from her crush.

“I apologise if I scared you, Your majesty,” Mariana bowed politely, “Will you excuse me,” He poked at the barrel Charlie was leaning against.

“Oh? Oh! I’m, sorry, sorry, grab what you want,” He took it as a chance to leave and catch his breath, so he did, moving towards Baghera, who was helping Cellbit sort their resources.

“Your majesty,” Cellbit jerked his head up, frantically trying to bow despite in an awkward position, “let me do the work—“ He received a smile from Charlie.

“Honestly, just forget that I’m king. Does it even matter anymore? What’s a king without its citizens?” Charlie chuckled, massaging his forearm with his chuckles, “Being called ‘Majesty’ when I literally failed my entire nation feels… wrong,” His smile faded, an ache appearing in his chest once again.

Baghera and Cellbit exchanged a look, before an alerting yell distracted the three.

“There’s a person in the cell!” Phil cried, followed by panicked footsteps below them. Baghera didn’t hesitate to rush down the steps to the cabin, Cellbit and Charlie quickly mimicking her.

Phil held out an arm, signalling the crew to not approach. Before him knelt a strong, shirtless man with golden skin and emerald eyes. His naked chest was covered in scars and oddly, he looked rather happy, relieved even, to see the crew rushing in.

The man shared a few whispers with Phil, who motioned to help carry the man onto the deck. The crew obeyed.

The man led them to a small room filled with medical supplies and medicine. His wounds were treated and he was fed. He once again shared a few words with Phil.

The man raised his head to face the crew, a joyful expression beaming on his face.

“My name is Foolish,” He started, voice rusty from lack of use, “I’m a shark-totem-human hybrid. Thanks for saving me, days in the cell have gotten pretty devastating,” He grinned.

The crew was silence from shock. Instinctively, Missa tried to start a round of applause, as he always did when someone introduced themselves, which the rest ignored.

A man. A new mouth to feed. They won’t survive until they reach— wait, did they ever even bring up a destination?

Reading everyone’s minds, Phil sighed, “I know. Foolish has been trapped here as a prisoner for a long time. Maybe he would know where would be the nearest island, or civilisation,”

The crew quietly turned to face Foolish, expressions hollow. Foolish shook his head.

Phil pinched his nose. He turned to talk with Foolish again, gesturing for everyone to return to the deck. Charlie shrugged and led the crew to leave.

“We’re gonna die of starvation,” Mariana spoke, scowling, “We only ever had enough resources to feed six people for less than two weeks. One more won’t do any good,” He threw himself to sit on a barrel and buried his head in his hands.

“Maybe there would be more food on this ship? The pirates must’ve left something here,” Missa said uneasily, fidgeting with his sleeve.

“We should search the boat,” Cellbit snapped his finger.

-

The search didn’t take long with the help of Foolish and Phil. The resources were quickly sort out and calculated.

“…And two cans of tomatoes,” Mariana scribbled on a piece of paper, eyebrows furrowing. The rest sat nervously around him.

“That would last all of us, around 27 days. Maybe a month if we are really careful,” He announced.

The crew groaned in unison.

“We don’t even have a destination yet,” Charlie growled in frustration.

Baghera raised her eyebrows and snapped her finger.

“Well, about that,” She grinned victoriously, “We do! I found this map. It leads us to a nearby island, which isn’t small either. We could start a settlement there, or just a quick checkpoint. We should be able to get there within a month,” She shoved out a piece of paper from her pocket. The map was passed in a circle, eventually getting to Phil.

“Sorry to break your hopes, but this island feels off,” He scowled and squinted at the map, “I’ve lived for 500 years, this was never there. It wasn’t there when I last flew around, which was about 90 years ago.” He raised his head, “Is it possible for an island to form within less than a century? I’m pretty sure there weren’t any natural disasters that would cause this during these years as well,” He passed the map back to Baghera.

“But we have no other choice, no?” The lather pouted, “Our supplies won’t last us long enough to reach another island,” She protested.

“You’re right,” Phil sighed, “We can always turn back if things seem off from a distance,”

The crew cheered, yet Mariana stayed silent. Charlie wondered why.

“Alright, alright,” Phil shushed, “It’s getting dark. Claim your rooms in the cabin. It would be best for two people to share one, for safety reasons.” He eyed Baghera, “I don’t know about you, but I’m with Missa,” He smiled at his partner.

The crew jogged to the cabin, all joyous energy, the events earlier threw behind. Charlie was about to join them when he noticed Baghera sitting alone.

“I’m sure Jaiden will be alright,” He reached out to her, “Whatever happens, remind yourself that she can fly,” He pulled his sister up.

Baghera shone him a weak smile, “She told me she was going for a flight this morning. And then…” She stopped, not willing to elaborate.

Charlie patted on her back, but his ready-to-come speech was disrupted by a familiar blue silhouette in the clouds.

Charlie grinned at the sight and gestured at Baghera to look behind her, who was immediately stunned by the blue-haired avian beaming at her.

“Jaiden!” She screamed, running towards her. The two girls crash into a suffocating hug, while Charlie slowly approached them.

“Baghera!” Jaiden shouted, pulling back to shake hands with Charlie, “Charlie! It’s so good to see you guys again. I thought I never would,” She smirked.

“How did you find us? Are you hurt?” Baghera concernedly scanned Jaiden from tip to toe, receiving a giggle from the avian.

“Remember when I told you I was going for a flight this morning?” She asked, “Well, when I got back, it was very scary. They were raiding the castle, everyone was wielding weapons and stuff. I was terrified! I thought they killed you, seeing the state of the castle and the angry peasants. But then, I heard some pirates saying a blonde girl had stolen their boat. I knew it was you, so I followed the direction they pointed at,” She grinned proudly.

“Jaiden!” Philza yelled from behind, “You’re alright! Oh, things would be so much easier with an avian that actually can fly!” They quickly exchanged a hug. The rest soon came, briefly introducing each other.

Once Jaiden was informed and settled, Charlie joined Mariana in the cabin.

“Hey,” He managed, startling Mariana with his sudden appearance. He could tell by the way Mariana instantly grabbed onto the hilt of his sword.

“Your majesty,” Mariana released his sword, lightly bowing down, “How am I to serve you?”

Charlie smiled tenderly, “Just call me Charlie. There’s no use treating me as king when I don’t have a nation anyway. Sorry if I scared you,” He scratched the back of his head, stepping forward, “So, do you have a roommate yet?” He swallowed at the possibility that Mariana would say yes.

Luckily, the lather shook his head, “No. In fact, I think I’m left alone,” He forced a chuckled, “Philza with Missa, Cellbit with Foolish, and now Baghera with the girl, Jaiden,” He seemed to struggle a bit to remember Jaiden’s name, “What about you?”

Charlie clapped his hands together cheerfully, “Great! We could be roommates,” He paused, “I mean, if you want. It’s not like I want to or anything—“ He stopped himself. I fucking panicked again, he bit his lip, cheeks flushing red.

It ripped a giggle out of Mariana, “Sure. It’s not like we have a choice,” His dark eyes met Charlie’s emerald ones. And there it was again, Charlie felt what Mariana was feeling, and surprisingly it was joy. Mariana was happy to be roommates with Charlie, at least before they arrive at that suspicious island. Charlie flustered at the thought.

The two decided on the room near the end of the hall, one with a large closet, two single beds with a worn wardrobe in between. Every word they exchanged, Charlie only fell for Mariana more. The way he got nervous when he wasn’t sure if he was using the correct English word, the way he would get quiet when he was concentrating on admiring something. Everything about him was so perfect, and Charlie hated that. He hated how he was willing to sacrifice everything and anything for him, how his heart twisted when Mariana wasn’t around, how his stomach would flip each time Mariana showed affection.

But at the same time, Charlie liked it. He liked having a soulmate. He liked knowing there’s always someone he could trust no matter, someone that would return the grace he offered ten fold. Mariana was important to him, and it was only a matter of time before he completely fell in love with his soulmate. He remembered how he told Baghera he wouldn’t fall for his soulmate either way when Baghera and Jaiden came out as aromantics to him.

The first day of their voyage was wrapped with a simple dinner of bread and canned beans.

Charlie found it unexpectedly tranquil, until Jaiden suddenly let out a short gasp and slumped back on the ground, as if she was stabbed by something from the back. As the crew panicked to check on her, Baghera calmly raised a hand and kneeled beside Jaiden.

“Her wings,” She said flatly, brows knitting together, “The colours are fading. Look,” She shuffled aside to show the rest Jaiden’s wings, which were now rapidly withering from the original shade of lively cyan to obsidian. Right after, Jaiden opened her eyes and sat back up again.

It all happened so quickly that they didn’t have time to be shocked. Baghera immediately approached her to check on how she was feeling, which Jaiden replied, “I can’t feel my wings anymore.”

Discussions and expressions of confusion rose one after another. They didn’t:t dare to touch her wings.

“We’re fucked,” Charlie heard Phil murmur.

-

With the joining of another person, the rations had to be precisely distributed, so the meal wasn’t enough to fill their stomachs, but Charlie wouldn’t complain as long as they didn’t starve.

That night, as Charlie and Mariana were going to bed, Charlie decided to make a move.

“You know that you’re my soulmate, right?” Too straightforward. Definitely scared him. “Sorry if that was too sudden,” Sounded insincere. He would think you don’t care for his feelings. Charlie clenched his fists, heat conquering his cheeks.

Mariana smiled, hugging his legs in his bed, and nodded, “You know, the first time you see your soulmate is when you basically feel each and every emotion they’ve ever felt,” He threw his head back, eyes fixed on the wooden ceiling, “And I’m glad, and I mean this genuinely, that most of them was happiness. And I also understand why the rest is guilt and envy,” He pursed his lips, “No soulmate crew, ¿verdad?”

“Yeah, really,” Charlie rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “I’m sorry for whatever you went through, though. I hate the sadness and loneliness I felt,” Too straightforward again. Charlie, you’re horrible at this.

Mariana visibly flinched, but nodded weakly, “My parents were both half hybrids, so they were furious when they knew I only inherited their human genes,” He buried his face deeper into his knees, “And I didn’t even have a soulmate. Honestly, I feel like I totally get why they hate me,”

“Awh, don’t say that, man,” Charlie shuffled in his comforter, turning to face Mariana, “I think you’re great.” Really pretty, too. He found himself lost in Mariana’s void-like dark eyes again.

“Thanks,” Mariana chuckled, lying down and pulling his comforter over his shoulder, “Good night, Your majesty,”

Charlie opened his mouth and closed, wanting to say something. But he couldn’t. Mariana was ending the conversation, and he should respect that. He was the one that asked personal questions to someone he’d just met.

That night, Charlie didn’t get any rest. His mind was overwhelmed by events and information, and the pain from his wound didn’t help either. Everything went down in a day, and to think he was still lying in a soft, luxurious bed back at his kingdom, his castle, only 24 hours ago.

The following night was not any better.

Charlie took a step again. However, he wasn’t able to obtain much with his conversations with Mariana. He always felt mysterious, with a lot of stories he wasn’t willing to tell. It was almost like he was hiding something really important. And Charlie didn’t mind. He had secrets. Everyone did, and he wasn’t enough of an asshole to force Mariana to open up to him.

Just as he decided to go for simpler questions, like “What’s your favourite colour” or “What’s your favourite food”, Mariana spoke up first.

“What’s your favourite flower?” Mariana asked, awkwardly fidgeting with his comforter.

“Me?” Charlie rubbed the back of his neck, “I’m not sure, but sunflowers are really pretty. What about you?”

Mariana seemed to hesitate, before he completely ignored Charlie’s question, “I have a sunflower tattoo on my back.” He narrowed his eyes, “It reminds me of someone very important at home. I miss him,” He sighed.

Someone very important at home. I miss him.

All of a sudden, Charlie’s chest hurt. Oh, he should’ve guessed. Of course Mariana had a lover at home. Well, it was Mariana, someone so perfect couldn’t have not be seeing anyone. Charlie was speechless, distraught even. He should’ve known, so why was he so upset? Why did his heart ache so much? Why did he want to cry? Oh gosh oh boy oh gee he’s crying— “That’s really cool, yeah,” He choked.

There were no emotions on Mariana’s face, nothing to let Charlie interpret how he felt from Charlie shedding a tear out of nowhere. If Charlie wasn’t too focused on not allowing his tears to evolve into a sob, his insecurities would’ve kicked in. He winced.

He snapped back from his mind when the sound of Mariana’s tender voice entered his ear, “Hey, hey. It’s alright. Would you like a towel?” Charlie opened his eyes to see Mariana reaching out an arm to him, hesitant to embrace him, “Look at me.” Mariana lured him to look into his eyes. He wanted to know what was bothering Charlie, and the lather wasn’t going to let that happen. He closed his eyes instead.

“Good night,” Charlie turned around and laid down, one arm banishing the light of the lantern, another pulling his comforter over his eyes. He heard the noise of Mariana shuffling back into bed, murmuring something intelligible.

“Good night, Charlie.” The last lantern was put off, and darkness swallowed Charlie whole again.

Charlie didn’t feel like resting. His eyelids were lighter than ever. His mind was occupied by thoughts, half excited that Mariana finally called him by his name, half sorrow to learn Mariana had a lover.

Charlie felt like a jerk. Mariana was separated from his lover because he was such a bad king that his own citizens turned on him. Everyone on this boat, gave up everything they had back at home for Charlie. Mariana, Jaiden, and Baghera who the peasants would’ve welcomed with open arms if she was to be king. The knights could’ve turned on Charlie as well, especially Cellbit who had no emotional connection with the royals whatsoever, yet they stayed. They decided to put themselves and their families in danger just to go with Charlie.

Charlie didn’t feel like resting, and the humidity in the cabin wasn’t helping either, so he left the cabin instead. He wasn’t surprised to see someone else restless, standing on the crow’s nest.
[search up crow’s nest pirate ship and you’ll know what it is!!]

“Hey, Charlie,” Phil said, keeping his voice low. Charlie mumbled gibberish in response, climbing up the rat lines, and sitting on the edge of the crow’s nest.

They sat there in pleasant silence for a moment, enjoying the cool breeze and the fresh scent of sea water caressing their faces.

“Lot’s happened,” Charlie sighed.

“A ton,” Phil lightly raised his head to face the stars.

“You couldn’t sleep?” They said in unison. The sync ripped a fit of giggle out of them both, but the silence firmly followed.

“I fought with Missa.” Phil said, expression unchanging.

“Elaborate,” Charlie scowled, tone soft.

Phil’s head slowly dropped until he faced the ground, hands supporting his neck, “He said he would lend me his meal tomorrow, I refused.” It was almost impossible to see the light tug at the corners of his lips in the dim light.

Charlie pouted, dumbfounded, “Could that even be considered a fight?” He smiled when Phil side eyed him.

“Probably not, but eventually, he started sobbing and told me to leave him alone. So I did,” Phil confessed.

Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Over this? I don’t even know what to say,”

“When I last checked on him, he was already sound asleep, so that’s not the issue right now,” Phil raised his head again, leaning against the fences of the crow’s nest.

They stayed quiet, letting the soothing sounds of the clashing tides shower them.

“I, kinda, fought with Mariana,” Charlie bit the inside of his cheek. Phil hummed for him to go on.

“Um, so basically, he leaked that there was someone he missed at home that was very important to him. He even got a tattoo of a sunflower because it reminded him of him. The point is, he essentially said he had a lover at home.” He paused to see Phil’s reaction, who quietly nodded as an assurance, “And because, I really think I’m in love with him. That’s why I got upset that he’s taken, and I maybe have shed a few tears,” He blushed, embarrassed.

“Could that even be considered a fight?” Phil mimicked Charlie from earlier mockingly, receiving a playful sharp glance from the lather, “How are you so sure it’s a lover? Maybe a family, or just a platonic best friend,” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Charlie pursed his lips. That is a possibility, why was he so certain?

“Plus, from my perspective, I think you both look like lovesick puppies when you’re with each other,” Phil remarked, “Just saying.”

Charlie tried to say something, failing miserably. Maybe Mariana did love him.

“I mean, you could always ask him about that lover you said.” Phil added, tapping on the fences.

They pleasantly let the silence wash over them for a moment.

“Can you tell me more about him?” Charlie managed, “Like, during the knight training.”

Phil giggled, “Well, he was quite mysterious. He didn’t talk a lot, only to those who spoke Spanish, like Missa. He liked to scam the others. ” He paused dramatically, “He wasn’t a big fan of fighting for what he wanted, he liked to scam people into giving it to him. He always succeeded.” He grinned, one that screamed I was the one that trained him.

“The most impressive thing was, it wasn’t necessarily acting or lying. The deals she offered were lasagnas, you may think they looked straightforward but they could be as complex as a riddle.” He wet his lips, “Thus, when you get tricked, you can’t even complain that she lied to you. At most, you can only say he used your stupidity.”

Charlie narrowed his eyes, “So, do you think it has multiple meanings? About her lover?”

“Maybe. But that’s for you to find out.”

Charlie’s mind was overwhelmed. “Honestly, did Missa really perform well in the trainings?” He asked distractedly.

Phil laughed, gladly accepting the topic switch, “You may think he looks useless. But tell you what, he’s crazy good with shields. In our sparring sessions, his sword always rested peacefully in its holster. At the same time, however, he had never taken any damage from his opponent either. He wielded his shield, blocked every attack and drained his opponent’s energy.” His eyes sparked with pride, “He was one of the most feared knights, along with Cellbit who drew blood with no hesitation, and Mariana who scammed everyone.”

“I think they make a great trio. Cellbit attacks, Missa defends, and Mariana negotiates.”

Charlie rubbed his chin in concentration. From what he had seen so far, Cellbit was absolutely out for blood. The way he slit the peasant’s throat with no hesitation during their flee, how he didn’t even bother to clean the flesh and blood spilled onto him. Charlie was really, really curious about him.

“So, how everything with Mariana going so far?” Phil spoke, startling Charlie with his out of pocket question.

Charlie cleared his throat, “I think I love him a lot. I really do,” He cursed at the embarrassment of confessing his love for another man, having to remind himself that Phil was trustworthy, “But I don’t think he feels the same, man. It feels like he’s avoiding me, like he hates the affection I sometimes can’t help but show,” He sighed, “You’re the only one other than us that knows we’re soulmates. I’m afraid that if we break it to the others, they would start matchmaking us, and it would probably make Mariana stressed, you know?”

Phil hummed. “It’s just a matter of time. I mean, after all, you’ve only known each other for two days,” Charlie scoffed at how right he was.

Charlie sighed as a new wave of cool, sea-scented breeze swept through the air, peaceful sounds of fabric shuffling and waves rocking the ship loud in the quiet atmosphere.

Charlie ran a hand through his hair. Quietness was underrated, he thought.

The following week was a blur. The crew bonded and chatted about anything and everything. Eight people became closer than ever, even the latecomer, Foolish, was trusted by the rest with their lives. Slowly, they became more than simply a group of displaced royalties, but a family. A found family that relied on each other heavily, that cherished their time together.

But Charlie and Mariana… they were also closer than ever, ever since Charlie decided that it was wrong to go for aggressive questions, and took it slowly instead. Mariana would occasionally let down his guard, showing his true emotions to Charlie. Some were bad, some were good, and Charlie found all of them charming.

One night, the crew sat together around a carefully lit bonfire.

“Let’s all confess our deepest secrets,” Cellbit proposed, receiving agreeing hums from the rest, “I’ll go first.”

He paused, motioning for the rest to hush, “I had a soulmate that I was madly in love with. His name was Roier, and he was the most amazing person ever.”

“He was a shapeshifter, and we owned a coffee shop together. But one day, when he went out to collect coffee beans, he went missing, and never came back until this day.” He sat back, observing everyone’s reactions.

“That’s why you became so cruel,” Mariana snapped his finger, eyes glowing with something like sudden realisation, “That’s why you never hesitated to draw blood. Because you lost your soulmate, and you lost the point to be kind,”

Cellbit didn’t seem to frantic about someone discussing his past like this, instead, he smiled, “The first few days were tough. I tried to find him, I did everything in my power. But then, I realised there was just… no point. He wasn’t coming back,” His face darkened with pain for a moment, despite the smile he continued bearing, “Now… it’s been years, and I’ve gotten used to the ache dwelling my chest. It hurts, but I can’t do nothing about it. At some point in life, I realised I would eventually become maniacal if there was no where to let out my grief. So, I joined the knights training!” He grinned.

“And absolutely kicked everyone’s asses!” Phil wheezed, exchanging a wide smile with Cellbit.

“My turn!” Baghera yelled.

“Do you even have any secrets?” Charlie teased, wheezing as his sister shot him a murderous look.

“I’ve been wanting to say this for so long,” She straightened her posture excitedly, “I was not born a duck hybrid. I just remember, when I was still a kid, father sent me to a lab that developed all sorts of magic potions. I had to stay there for a whole year, whilst the scientists fed me unknown potions. Some of them hurt, some of them felt pleasant. But eventually they succeeded, and implanted some sort of duck genes into me!” She shouted mirthfully, throwing her hands into the air, “Well, I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be a goldfish, but they couldn’t figure that out. So, here I am!” She caressed her duck wings behind her ears, grinning ear-to-ear.

Phil scowled, “That’s a whole ass childhood trauma in itself, what the hell?” The others expressed noises of agreements.

Baghera shrugged, “I find it really cool. I’m probably one of the first man-made hybrids ever!” She said, “Father was going to erase my memories of it. But when I showed my enthusiasm towards it, he scrapped it, just told me to keep it a secret.” She eyed Charlie, who was still lost in his thoughts, “I think he erased your memory of me disappearing though, Charlie,”

Baghera was an experimental subject. The sentence kept lingering in Charlie’s mind. Originally he would’ve felt bad that he couldn’t protect his own sister, but seeing how fulfilled she seemed, he was almost happy for her. Almost.

“Jaiden?” Foolish asked.

“Oh!” The avian smiled, “It’s my turn. Well, I don’t think I have a lot of secrets. But when I was a teenager, I owned a white bear plushie. I named it Cucurucho, but one day, it started talking to me. I found it strange at first, but it was kinder to me than anyone else in my life that time, so I befriended it instead. I tried telling the others about it, but they called me crazy and yelled at me.” She narrowed her eyes, “After I met Baghera, I started to spend less time with it. And someday, it disappeared. Just poof, nowhere to be found.” She smiled mischievously, saying the last sentence in a spooky manner.

“That’s not a secret, that’s a paranormal activity!” Foolish squealed, rubbing his forearm to rid the goosebumps. It ripped a few chuckles out of Charlie.

The crowd landed eyes on Missa, who was sitting next to Jaiden.

“Me?” Missa adjusted his position awkwardly, skull mask askew, “I don’t know if I have any secrets,” He looked at Phil nervously, seeking advice.

Phil shrugged. “You could tell them about your mask.”

“Right.” Missa tapped on his mask that had been on his face for as long as Charlie could remember, “I die without my mask.” The crew, except Phil, gasped in unison.

Phil sighed, head in hands, “He means, he becomes soulless when the mask is off. Like a doll,”

“Show it then!” Foolish grinned, eyes sparkling with anticipation. Missa visibly winced, shoulder tense, once again looking at Phil for guidance.

“It’s fine. Would you like to show them?” The lather lowered his hands, revealing a tired smile. Missa nodded, nervously removing his skull mask. Instantly, the light in his irises extinguished, his body slamming against the floor.

Jaiden chuckled, “Missa?” She poked at his torso.

“He’s gone!” Baghera yelped dramatically, mimicking the sound of blood splashing.

Phil smiled, “Don’t do this for too long. He might actually die,” He gently placed the skull back on Missa’s pale face. The lather’s eyes glowed with life again, pulling himself up weakly with the help of his soulmate.

“It’s Foolish’s turn!” Jaiden pointed at said man.

“Oh, you’re gonna love this one,” He said with a low growl, “I, do not have a soulmate.”

The crew booed in disappointment. “That’s it?” Mariana questioned.

Foolish scowled, “What? I’m past eighteen, but I’m still alone,” He faked a dramatic sob. “That’s pretty lame,” Charlie remarked.

“What!” Foolish groaned, “That’s not fair. Personally, I think Missa’s was lame. Just saying,” He smirked evilly as Missa caved into himself.

Cellbit cleared his throat. “I suppose it’s Phil’s turn.” The crew’s eyes fixed on the crow patting on Missa’s back with a dumbfounded expression.

Phil paused to think, before speaking up, “This one’s pretty lame as well. I’ve had several soulmates,” He shrugged, “Because of reasons.”

“Where did your past soulmates go, then?” Cellbit raised an eyebrow.

“They died,” Phil said casually, “Not everyone is immortal. But I guess I can finally settle down now that I’ve met Missa.”

“Finally, someone that gets what it’s like to lose your soulmate,” Cellbit reached out to shake hands with Phil.

“I do!” Baghera protested, “I thought I lost Jaiden. The pain is the same.” The crew mumbled intelligible approvements at her.

Charlie silently turned to face Mariana, who should be the next in line to confess. He seemed tense, fidgeting with his sleeve, seemingly hesitating to do something. Charlie tugged at his sleeve he was fidgeting with as an assurance, nodding at him. Mariana mumbled a quiet thank you at him.

Expectedly, the crew turned to look at Mariana.

Mariana let out a huff, “My parents are both hybrids, but I’m not.” Pride pooled in Charlie’s stomach as he realised he already knew this, earlier than everyone else.

Silence fog them. “That’s it?” Jaiden questioned bewilderedly. Mariana nodded in response, the rest shrugging and moving on to the next person. Charlie.

Charlie wasn’t sure what he was going to say. He didn’t have many secrets, most of them being unimportant lies in his life such as “I’m not free tomorrow” and “I didn’t take a bite of your food”.

He pinched his nose. He did have a massive secret. But he wasn’t confessing it now. Someday he would, but that day sure as hell was not today. Let alone that saying it out aloud meant announcing it to all his friends.

Instead, he inhaled deeply, “To this day, I still cannot wield an axe.” He giggled as Cellbit’s jaw dropped dramatically.

“We’ve gotta get you some training!” Cellbit pulled himself up, approaching Charlie. As the crowd began chattering and leaving the scene, Cellbit tripped. He flopped down against the ground, forearm dropping worryingly near the bonfire. He hissed and retreated his arm.

Phil acted quickly, throwing himself towards Cellbit to check for the man’s injury. He gently held Cellbit’s arm in his hands, the cat hybrid groaning as Phil ran a thumb over the red burn mark now stained on his forearm. The mark was perfectly circular with a flaming shade of red that surprisingly set off the rest of the man’s scars well.

“It’s beautiful,” Baghera commented, eyes narrowing at the sight of the burn mark. And Charlie had to admit, for an injury, the mark was indeed charming. The terrifying shade of red lured Charlie’s eyes to keep staring. As he ripped himself out of it, he realised everyone else was doing the same, except Phil, who was as well examining the crew.

“Cellbit, on a scale of one to ten, how painful was that?” Foolish swallowed, vision never tearing away from Cellbit’s right arm. Said cat seemed as hypnotised by the mark as the others.

Cellbit shrugged, “Like a three. Tattoos hurt more.”

There was no need for more to be said. Baghera almost immediately reached out her right arm on top of the bonfire, before slowly sinking in. She hissed, but the tug at the corners of her lips a proof that it really didn’t hurt.

She retrieved her arm, where a blood-red circle burn mark rested. She lightly pressed it with her finger, before turning to the crew and nodding. “Tattoos hurt more, that’s true.”

More people joined. Charlie sank his arm into the fire too, results identical to the others. Much to Charlie’s shock, Phil got one too. It was strange for him to do so, as he was usually less impulsive.

The crew gathered in a circle to admire each other’s marks, while two others stood aside. Charlie glanced and— oh. Mariana and Missa.

He approached them, taking in that Missa was tearing up again. “Hey, man, what’s wrong?” He lightly caressed his back.

“Do I have to?” He pointed a trembling finger at the fire, “It seems scary…”

Charlie shook his head aggressively, “Of course not! We’re doing it for fun.” He said bubbly, “Do what you desire.” He turned to Mariana, who was anxiously pulling his sleeve, face pale. “That applies to you too.” Charlie lightly shoved Mariana. The lather smiled at him.

The crowd began shuffling towards the cabin, so the trio followed. In the corner of Charlie’s eyes, he noticed how Mariana kept pulling his sleeve downwards uncomfortably, as if trying to cover her hand.

“Are you alright?” Charlie asked on their path to their rooms. “I see you… your sleeve,”

Mariana eyed him nervously, eyelids flickering, “Oh? I’m fine, really,” His footsteps quickened. He threw himself onto his bed, curling into a ball.

Charlie shrugged, “You can always open up to me, you know?” He set himself beside Mariana, expression softening.

Mariana swallowed, seeming to ponder for a moment. “Promise me you wouldn’t freak out.” Charlie nodded. Mariana narrowed his eyes, before hesitantly pulling up his sleeve.

On his forearm sat a small, crystal-shaped mark. Charlie squinted. The scar was blue. It shouldn’t be this blue.

Charlie poked at the scar, puzzled. “Why is it blue? Scars aren’t supposed to be this blue,”

Mariana pursed her lips, “Scars aren’t supposed to be this red too. To me, it looks pretty normal.“

Charlie raised his head, propping himself on his knees. “Where did you get it?” He watched as his soulmate carefully pulled down his sleeve.

“This morning, Missa and I wanted to test the temperature of the water to determine whether we could swim in for food or not.” He gulped, “We stuck our right arms into the sea, then something bit us. A baby shark, a fish, whatever,” He met Charlie’s gaze, “I think Missa has it too. He just hasn’t noticed.”

Charlie bit his lower lip, lost in thoughts. To me, it looks pretty normal. To him, even though the burn mark was evenly round, it felt eerily normal too. Could this be related to something?

He inhaled deeply, comfortingly holding Mariana’s arm. “It’s alright. We’ll figure it out tomorrow. I think it would be best to tell Phil.”

Mariana frowned, “What if he thinks I’m strange? That’s why I was hiding it, to not get thrown into the ocean,” He huffed.

“You said it yourself, Missa had one too. Phil wouldn’t execute Missa, right?” Mariana nodded, almost hitting Charlie’s forehead. It was at this moment that Charlie realised how close they were— their sides were pressed together, Mariana’s arm resting on his thigh. If Charlie turned his head, just a tiny bit, their lips would meet, and Charlie would finally be free.

Just a tiny bit..

No, he couldn’t. Mariana had a lover at home. Charlie wasn’t a fan of home wrecking. Plus, they’ve only known for a bit over a week. Mariana probably thought him as a buddy, and what would your reaction be if your homie kissed you out of nowhere?

“Are you okay?” Mariana’s voice successfully cut through Charlie’s train of struggles, “You seem distracted.” Charlie couldn’t help but notice Mariana’s face was inches away from his. And he couldn’t help but notice the man’s beauty. The dark eyes, the tall nose, the messy hair, his slightly curved lips. His lips. Charlie wondered how they tasted. Charlie’s eyes flickered from one feature to another.

Mariana chuckled, “You know I can sense how you feel, right?” Charlie just then realised Mariana was staring into his eyes the whole time, “Why are you shy? And nervous?” His smile faded a bit, replaced by a mischievous look. He leaned in, and Charlie was so close so close so close—

Charlie pushed her away. “Your lover. You have a lover at home,” He panted, heart racing.

Mariana sighed, yet not changing the distance between them. “I don’t even know if he’s alive. I’ve only seen him once, after all.”

“What?” Charlie practically yelled, “He’s not your lover? Just a random guy you found attractive?” He scoffed when Mariana nodded.

“I’ve only seen him once, seven years ago. But he was so fucking handsome. I met him in a sunflower field, while he was on an outing with his family. He was dressed fancy, too.”

Charlie scowled.

“Who was in his family?”

“A girl I assume is his sister. His sister was pretty as well. Long golden hair and yellow wings behind her ears.”

“What did the boy look like?”

“Long, brown hair tied behind his back, green eyes, he seemed a bit goopy,” Mariana described fondly.

Oh.

“That was me.”

Mariana’s eyed widened. Charlie remembered. He remembered how he only cut his hair after his father’s death, how he still wasn’t able to fully control his slime from melting when he was younger. He remembered that outing. He remembered Baghera ate a sunflower petal that time. It was him, the entire time worrying about Mariana’s “lover”, and it turned out it was him.

“The world sure is small, huh?” Mariana grinned, before leaning in, closing the gap between them. Her lips collided with Charlie’s, the kiss messy.

Charlie pulled away to breathe, giggling. He didn’t wait to lean back in again, cupping Mariana’s cheeks. Mariana pressed against Charlie’s chest, his free hand caressing Charlie’s hair. Charlie lied down, pulling Mariana with him. Mariana’s lips tasted of flowers, and Charlie was lost in the scent. He shivered as Mariana tugged at his lower lip.

Mariana pulled away, casually wiping off the saliva on her lips. He flopped down next to Charlie, sinking into the mattress. Charlie wrapped his arms around his waist.

“I love you,” He murmured as he buried his head into Mariana’s chest. Mariana didn’t respond, so Charlie lifted his head up to face him. He put a finger on Mariana’s lip, gently tugging it down. “Say it back.”

Mariana chuckled. “Te amo,” He mumbled, planting small kisses across Charlie’s scalp, “A las estrellas y de regreso,” He held Charlie tightly.

Charlie never knew what Mariana’s last sentence meant, but that night, he slept for the first time in days.

He woke up in a haze, and apparently he was the last one to do so.

“Wake up!” Foolish yelped into his ears, “We have important things to discuss.”

As soon as Charlie arrived onto the deck, everyone was already there, sitting in a circle. Mariana grinned at him and shifted away, revealing an empty slot next to him. Charlie smirked and sat down next to him. He blushed when Mariana set his hand on top of his.

Phil sighed, looking more tired than usual, “Alright. I have good news and bad news.” He eyed the crew for a moment, “Good news, we’re arriving in three days.” He paused as the crew cheered, “Bad news,” He lightly shoved Missa, who stuck his right arm out nervously, showing the blue crystal mark on his forearm. The crew gasped.

Mariana silently raised his hand, seeking approval to speak. Phil nodded. “I have one as well.” Mariana slid his sleeve up, right arm reaching out. The mark was identical from yesterday, still as eery as possible.

Phil raised an eyebrow, “Where? Why?”

“Missa and I stuck our arms into the sea to test its temperature, got bitten by something.” Mariana shrugged.

Phil rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Why did you two stick your entire forearm in it? You could’ve just did a finger,”

Mariana seemed to froze, “I’ve never thought of that. I sort of knew I would get hurt, but I allowed myself to be. It was a feeling that, the mark was so pretty I can’t imagine what my arm would be like without it.” He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily.

“We were like that with the fire as well. We knew the fire hurt, but we still burnt.” Cellbit remarked.

The discussion went on for a while, but it surrounded “what could it be?” and “our marks are prettier!”. Charlie didn’t pay much attention, because he was never into enigmas, and because he was too overwhelmed with joy over the fact that, he and the love of his life are dating.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the sloppy kiss from last night, about the hand on top of his right now.

Whatever came next, he wasn’t alone in it.

———-

When they realised the island was most definitely haunted, he was cuddling with Mariana in bed.

“Lovebirds, now is not the time.” Phil rolled his eyes and his pushed open the door to Charlie’s room, his complexion pale and terrified, “We’re in danger.”

As they stepped out of the cabin, Charlie was greeted by fog. There was thick, dark fog surrounding something— Charlie assumed was the island,— and it seemed to be extending. Consuming their ship with the same, strange fog. Charlie couldn’t see anything, not even the sea below them. He could only barely make out the silhouette of the rest of the crew on the deck, all yelling and panicking.

“Fuck! We can’t turn back! Everything is broken, the ship won’t— turn!” He heard Cellbit yell desperately. There were rapid footsteps everywhere, and Charlie’s mind was a blur. He felt Mariana letting go of his hand and rushing towards something. The waves were becoming intense, cradling the ship too harshly. Water was starting to roll onto the deck, where their resources were stored— their resources— all soaked, they were doomed.

The ship continued to approach deeper into the fog, and the dark shadow that resembled the shape of an island enlarged. Charlie became aware of the land’s size— it was enormous, at least twice the size of their kingdom. The ship trembled again, this time sharper than before, and Charlie landed face down. He heard the others yelp as well, and it had a maniacal comedic effect on him.

He was brought back to reality by a cry for help and the noise of barrels rolling. He dashed towards where the voice came from in the fog, and was met by a sobbing Missa on the edge of the ship, hastily holding onto something. Or rather, someone. More specifically, Mariana.

Mariana was dangling beside the ship, grabbing Missa’s wrist dangerously. Mariana’s face was pale, and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. “Mariana!” Charlie yelped. He reached out to Mariana, motioning for him to grab onto his hand. Mariana shook his head.

“I… I can’t,” He replied weakly, voice quiet in the angry voices of the tides and wind, “I’m sorry,” A tear spilled, littering his beautiful face.

“You can!” Charlie found his eyes rather dry, “Come on! Please! Just throw yourself upwards and I can save you—“ He stopped, moving to helping Missa pull him up instead. His arm wasn’t long enough, and it’d break Missa’s wrist if he insisted on pulling.

“It’s just a wrist!” Missa sobbed, this time not out of pitiful wet-cat behaviour, but genuine fear of losing a friend. Charlie looked around instead, searching for someone to assist them, and failed horribly when he realised everyone was having their own battles. Cellbit was piloting to attempt avoid the rocky reefs, Jaiden was struggling to free her wings that were stuck in the rat lines, the back of Baghera’s neck was bleeding out, while Phil was trying to bandage it. Foolish was saving whatever weapons they had from the potential flood.

Charlie looked at Missa, then his lover, whose hand was slipping away from Missa’s.

He reached down. It’s just a wrist.

He grabbed onto Missa’s forearm and—

“Hide!” Foolish yelled.

Charlie’s head jerked around alertly.

“There’s people on the shore! They’re holding swords!” Foolish cried again.

Charlie was too slow to grab onto Missa’s forearm again. Baghera grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him towards the hidden storage under a plank. He heard Phil’s voice, screaming at Missa to let go.

“Mariana!” Charlie yelled, attempting to escape from Baghera’s iron grip, “He’s— Mariana’s dying!” He stared daggers into Baghera’s eyes.

Baghera’s expression was quiet and soulless. She slammed Charlie against the hay stacked up inside the storage, “We’re reaching land. He’ll be fine.” She said dully. Charlie was used to her tricks, pretending to sound calm was always Baghera’s coping mechanism when she was in distraught.

More and more people started entering the storage, but none of them was Mariana. The noise of the sea faded, replaced by birds humming and sand scraping against each other. Phil was lowering into the space, about to pull Missa in as well, when Missa’s face paled and he slammed the plank close.

Phil’s eyes widened. So did Charlie’s.

Charlie was about to scream. He sobbed, finally after months of suppressing. He was trying to yell for Mariana’s name, when Phil put a hand on his mouth. His eyes focused on Phil, and he lowly winced when he saw the tears streaming down their fearless, mighty leader’s face.

Quiet footsteps were above them. “Where are your friends?” A blade was unholstered, followed by a harsh footstep forward. The voice sounded young, and had a strong British accent.

“It’s just me.” Missa seemed to ponder, his voice rather calm compared to his regular trembly tone, “And my friend on the beach.”

“Show me your arm.” The young voice spoke again. A moment of silence passed. “Already marked. Great,” The voice sighed. “Pac, bring this guy with you. He’s marked as our team’s, should be no harm.” Another set of footsteps approached, seeming to be the person named Pac’s. Shuffling was heard and two sets of footsteps faded away. Charlie saw Phil’s face grow soulless.

“Lenay and Tina, loot this place.” The young voice demanded, followed by muffled sounds of more people boarding the ship. Their ship.

“If I find out that you let survivors, if any, go again, you are going to the frontline,” The young voice threatened, followed by a woman’s groan. The young voice left, leaving the two girls, Lenay and Tina, on board. Said women seemed to scatter to search the ship, when Foolish tripped and fell.

Silence wrapped the small area. Five pairs of eyes bored holes into Foolish’s now-facing-the-ground torso.

“Listen, I wanted to go give Phil a hug and I didn’t know there was hay on the ground—“ Foolish protested, receiving angry frowns and scowls from everyone except Phil. The Angel of Death’s eyes were now fixed on the plank above them, and signalled for the crew to hush.

The footsteps once again, returned. After a few minutes of whispering from above, which were also the most tense few minutes Charlie’s ever experienced, a foot stomped on the ground, attempting to find the entrance of the storage. Once Lenay and Tina figured the area below them were hollow, they searched for the hidden entrance, and succeeded. Charlie was blinded by torches that come in from the opened plank.

Two girls with curious and kind smiles greeted them. One of them seemed slightly older than the other, with long, white hair tied behind her as a ponytail, and an oversized shirt with a potato clumsily drawn on it. Her big, blue eyes looked at them softly, while her pale arm shoved the girl beside her gently.

The other girl, with a suspicious scowl embedded above her brown eyes, beige long hair casually thrown together behind her back. She looked more aware of them than the other girl, but a sweet grin was plastered across her face regardless. She was dressed in a rather fashionable sleeveless, turtlenecked, violet vest and a pair of pearl trousers with a purple bow tied around her thigh. She carried the torch that lit up the small storage room.

“Hey!” The older girl waved at them, “Are you guys okay? Come outside!” She reached an arm into the storage, gesturing to help them leave the area.

She smiled awkwardly when the crew remained motionless, Foolish still on the floor. The girl beside her stepped forward. “Step outside. We don’t bother to hurt you when you guys have a guy on the ground.” She giggled at the sight of Foolish frowning, “I’m Tina. This is Lenay. Don’t be scared, we’re cool!”

Phil seemed to ponder. Charlie was unaware of everything, his mind only focusing on Mariana, and on the pain dwelling in his chest. The crew left the area after Phil, and he mimicked them.

“Show me your arms,” Tina ordered, the crew doing as said, “Oh! You guys are not ours. Gotta need to get Carre.” She looked around. “Bolas hasn’t had new members for months.”

“Did someone call me?” A lazy voice came from the fog. Lenay’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Carre!” Lenay waved at within the fog of where Carre’s voice came from, “¡Ha pasado mucho tiempo desde la última vez que nos vimos! ¿Cómo está Gérman?” [It’s been a long time since we last saw! How’s Gérman?]

A person in a blue cat onesie, navy eyes and brown wavy hair emerged from the fog. “Él está bien.” [He’s fine.] He gave Lenay a hug.

“Are you guys waiting on the leftover loot?” Tina placed her hands on her hips when Carre nodded, “It’s over in the cabin, and there’s some hay I saw down there.” She pointed at the exposed storage, “Also, you’ve got some new people. They’re all marked and are yours. We’re gonna go now.” Her cat ears twitched.

“Can’t let Bad know we’re hanging out.” Lenay chuckled, “We took some medicine, just for the show. Good luck, new people! Let’s get to know each other more in the future.” She waved goodbye, jogging into the fog along with Tina.

Carre observed them for a minute, before motioning for them to follow. The trip was tough with the thick fog, but they managed to arrive at the hole that Carre dared to call a base. They hopped into the hole dug inside the mountain, the entrance covered by a boulder that didn’t seem odd and obvious at all. They went down some stairs, entering an area of a mine and a living space combined. Three men sat scattered around the area, one knitting a green skirt, one sharpening a sword, and one cleansing a bomb like it was gold.

Carre slammed his palms together to grasp the men’s attention. “Chicos, tenemos gente nueva. Concéntrate en ello.” [Guys, we have new people, focus up.] He stretched lazily, “Welcome to Bolas. I’m Carre,” He stared at the three men, who all growled and sat up reluctantly, unsatisfied with the sudden interruption.

“Hey guys.” The man knitting wore an eye-catching neon green turtleneck slacks and lilac trousers, similar to the ones Lenay wore. “I’m Gérman. Nice to meet you.” He immediately flopped down on the floor and continued knitting, showing no interest in them.

The man rubbing a bomb with a worn cloth began awkwardly, “Hola. Soy Willy.” He had a green snapback and a forest polo shirt with a sage tie that seemed unnecessarily formal for an occasion like this. His loose brunette jeans shuffled as he sat back down, bomb still in hand.

The last man stood up confidently. “Hello, my little friends.” His face glowed, “Soy Vegetta.” He dusted his spotless white bomber jacket that was unbuttoned, exposing his muscular chest. His eggplant-coloured hair was neatly combed to the back, setting off his amethyst earrings and violet eyes.

The crew introduced themselves one by one, and Foolish seemed to take a huge liking in Vegetta. The two got along incredibly well, conversations already flirtatious.

“You’re gonna want to know the shenanigans of the island,” Carre clicked his fingers. He began.

“The island is owned by a creature with no features but an eye in the centre of its face. We call it The Eye, or The Observer. The Island was built around five years ago. I was the second batch of people that came here. The first batch only included two people, named Spreen and Dan. The eye divided these two into two teams, Red and Blue. Spreen named Red team Bolas, and Dan named Blue team Soulfire. They were forced to play a game of tag while surviving here, the survivor got to leave. The rules are simple, two teams take turns being ‘It’, switching every month. The ‘It’ team would hunt down the ‘runner’ team, which is the opposing team, and if ‘It’ team kills at least one person on the ‘runner’ team, it receives a reward. If ‘runner’ team suffers no life loss, it receives a reward too. The opposite team would receive a punishment, usually in the form of a natural disaster. The game only ends if everyone in a team die before a new batch arrives.” He paused to allow everyone to breathe, “Back to history. The second batch arrived, which were me, and a boy from Soulfire named Badboyhalo. I was marked as red, so I followed Spreen. But we weren’t prepared for how much of a butcher Bad was.” He said sadly, “Bad hunted us restlessly for weeks, until he managed to get in a duel with Spreen. He won.” Carre inhaled deeply, “However, Bad, being the late-comer, was not aware of the rules. He thought that last to stay alive would win, so despite being on the same team, he killed Dan. It was after that did The Eye have to bring him to a secretive office and educate him on the rules.” Carre raised an eyebrow, “Any questions?”

“Who’s ‘It’ right now?” Baghera questioned.

“Us.” Carre scoffed. “We haven’t received a reward in months, we don’t really care. We’re the underdogs anyway.”

“What’s up with the fog?” Foolish raised his hand.

“The Eye wanted to make it difficult for us.”

“What about the marks? Why are we here?” Charlie scowled.

Carre hummed. “The Eye brings who it is interested in here, with ways that pleases it. Manipulation, luring. People here— we’re fucked up. Vegetta, Willy and I never found our soulmates despite being over 18. We are filled with hatred, to ourselves or to the others.” He scanned the crew thoughtfully, “You all are too. In ways only yourselves know.”

Vegetta cleared his throat, “Actually,” He walked towards Foolish, “I have a soulmate.” He grabbed Foolish’s hand and smiled, the lather blushing.

—

Charlie couldn’t sleep. There was a hole in his chest that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he scratched at it. The hole seemed to be expanding, eating him inside out. He had just found a person that cherished him, his life was just about to get better. Yet here he was. Miserable, terrified, angry.

He was reminded of when he first discovered he may never find his soulmate. That panicked and horrified boy, curling into a ball in his bed. At least he had a bed. Now, he was lying flat on his back against an old, worn mattress with almost no soft materials within.

His head was not registering everything— it was just too much. Nobody was there to guide him or provide him any sort of comfort. Back on the ship, he was scared, sure, but he had a figure to bury his head in during the night. He had Mariana.

Charlie grasped the cloth covering his chest. His heart hurt, everything hurt. He wanted Mariana back. He needed Mariana back. He needed his dark eyes, his brown hair, his tall nose, his kind soul. Was he even alive? Soulfire could’ve executed him by now, while he was bonding with others peacefully. Phil had told him Mariana managed to swim towards the shore but passed out there. Maybe he was already dead there.

How could Cellbit deal with this? How could Phil deal with this? All Charlie could feel was the dark, dark hole rising in his throat. He wondered if Mariana was feeling the same, if he was still alive.

Charlie had bigger things to worry about. Or rather, to distract him from his lover. He had a whole team to fight with now. People out there were trying to kill him and his friends and family. They had to survive. Charlie didn’t even know how to fight.

Too much, too much, too much.

Tears filled Charlie’s eyes.

He crumbled.

—

They were assigned weapons. Cellbit got two daggers, Jaiden a crossbow, Baghera a chainsaw, Foolish a halberd, Phil a scythe decorated with emeralds and Charlie a worn out flail.

“You guys are unlucky. This month ends in three days, if The Eye was correct, and we haven’t gotten a single kill.” Gérman smiled bitterly, “You’re gonna have to go to the frontline. A few of you, at least.”

“What about you?” Baghera frowned.

“I do everything but fighting. I sew you guys clothes, I treat your wounds, I carry out plans for the day.” Gérman proudly pointed at the pile of green skirts in the corner.

Willy cleared his throat, “Él sólo sabe coser faldas.” [He only knows how to sew skirts.]

Carre sighed, “We’ll go explore a bit today, we have time to get a kill.” He rubbed his chin, “Philza, you seem experienced, I’m not worried. Cellbit, you’re exactly the kind of blood-thirst we need, you should have no problems in fighting.” He looked around, humming. “You,” He pointed at Baghera, “You are crazy. If your insanity is trained, you could be strong. Baghera, Jaiden, Charlie and Foolish will come with me.”

Charlie and Foolish groaned in unison.

The expedition was short, Carre not willing to risk their lives. They were taught basic survival skills and how to make a path in the heavy fog. Charlie did manage to get half his shirt ripped out and his pants bitten away due to various accidents.

When they returned, they were greeted by emotional cheering from the rest of Bolas. Phil held up a black blur up high, while the others cheered and worshipped him. Charlie squinted. Phil was holding a gas mask.

“Qué mierda es eso?” [What the hell is this?] Carre’s mouth dropped open.

“Carre, esto te va a encantar.” [Carre, you’e gonna love this.] Willy wheezed.

“Introducing to you,” Cellbit yelled, “Our biggest fucking advantage— gas mask!” He laughed hysterically, “Made only with cloth and glass. We’re so fucking back!”

“Wearing it, we can see through the fog.” Phil’s eyes glowed, a maniacal grin plastered across his face. Rarely was Phil in such a fanatical state.

Baghera approached and screamed, joining in the celebration. At some point, they all started dancing with random movements and singing a made-up song. A single mask was definitely not the sole reason of all this. They just needed to relax, and be happy. Even if it was for the last time.

“Bolas!?!?” Yelled by Jaiden was the last thing Charlie heard before passing out on the mattress.

The atmosphere the next morning was the opposite. Everybody was stressed about not able to get a kill. They decided they would attack the next morning, the new members taking a few more fighting lessons.

Charlie was getting familiar with his flail. His slow reaction pace stopped him from wielding a sword or an axe, so a large range weapon like this was the perfect choice. Jaiden was a quick learner of the crossbow, Baghera absolutely obsessed with her chainsaw, even asking for permission to share a bed with it. Foolish’s strength allowed him to hop around with his halberd and Cellbit and Phil got used to their weapons almost instantly.

They were ready, and they weren’t allowed to not be.

-

“We could always retreat if you’re not ready. We don’t care about the crappy punishments anyway.” Vegetta gently shoved Foolish, whispering a bit too loudly.

“Vegetta.” Carre pursed his lips, “Debemos hacerlo. Es nuestra única oportunidad ahora que tenemos más gente. Debo matar a Badboyhalo.” [We must do it. It’s our only chance now that we have more people. I must kill Badboyhalo.]

Vegetta shook his head. “Son demasiado fuertes. Estamos en todo menos en ventaja. Sé que quieres vengarte de Spreen, pero no hemos peleado en meses. No puedo arriesgar la vida de mis amigos de esta manera.” [They’re too strong. We’re everything but in advantage. I know you want revenge for Spreen, but we haven’t fought in months. I can’t risk my friends’ lives like this.]

Carre clenched his fists, “Podrías haberlo rechazado ayer. Es demasiado tarde. No podemos dar marcha atrás.” [You could’ve rejected yesterday. It’s too late. We can’t turn back.] He stood up and brought up his gas mask, neatly buckling it. The rest mimicked him, so did Vegetta.

Charlie was nervous. Baghera and Cellbit seemed ready, excited even. But him, he had never fought before. Back in the castle, he would always skip the training sessions because he was scared. The thought of drawing blood out of someone— it hurt to think.

Let alone the someone could possibly be Mariana.

Charlie winced. The hole in his chest was slowly growing into a parasite, one that he was getting used to. The pain was so sharp that Charlie was starting to feel nothing.

Bolas set off. They planned to quickly assassinate a patrol and avoid getting into any big fights. It was simple and doable. Then why was Charlie terrified?

They travelled to the mountainside Soulfire resided in. A patrol stood guard on the beach on the other side of the mountain. Jaiden reloaded her crossbow, prepared to shoot, before Phil raised a finger.

“Missa,” He whispered, “My soulmate,” His gas mask was a plague-doctor styled one, the first one they had ever made.

Carre sighed, “Gérman, medic standby.” He whispered. Gérman nodded, swiftly moving towards a darker spot amongst tall trees. “Jaiden and Willy, stay here for long range attack. Phil, restrain your soulmate. Injure him, trap him, don’t let him get in the way.” Phil nodded. “The rest, go with me. Find someone to kill. Avoid the girls if you can, they’re the kind ones we need. And I… I’ll go take care of him.” His fingers tightened around the hilt of his iron sword.

“Actually, my soulmate is here too,” Charlie remarked.

Carre clicked his tongue in annoyance, “Haz lo mismo que le dije a Phil que hiciera.” Charlie shrugged. “One. Two. Three. Ready? Attack.” Carre announced.

Charlie followed Carre and marched down the hillside, Phil semi-flying to grab Missa by the shoulders and throw him inside some bushes.

Foolish wielded his halberd across a few chests, the resources within spilling out, as a signal that they were there. Multiple people rushed out from a distance, unable to see them due to the fog. Foolish destroyed as many chests as he could, before running towards incoming enemies.

Charlie scanned around to find a sign of Mariana. He failed, distracted by the need to kill. He didn’t know why. For Bolas, for his found family, maybe.

He quickly noticed how their enemies were much more powerful than them in terms of weapons and equipments. Soulfire’s neat and new outfits in contraction to Charlie’s torn and dirty ones, their glimmering weapons and Charlie’s rusty ones. He locked eyes on a brown-haired man carrying a backpack with mechanical arms sticking out. He could outfight him, Charlie thought.

His friends had all found their target. Charlie was about to swing his flail when a voice spoke.

“Woah, woah.” A person covered in black hood chuckled sinisterly. It was a person from Soulfire. “What’s with your masks?”

He was cut off by noise of metal clashing. Carre, the burning hatred in his eyes to be sensed even through the gas mask. His sword was slammed against the person’s iron shield, Charlie assumed was that he was Badboyhalo.

The fight began. A mechanical arm extended towards Charlie, slamming a golden knife into him. Charlie dodged, holding his flail in front him, and swung. Someone gasped in surprise, clearly not prepared for a weapon as this. Charlie took it as an advantage, sprinting forward and slamming his flail into the sand. A loud metal noise was made, and Charlie was launched up. He grabbed onto the chains of his flail, kicking his legs in the air and did a perfect backflip, the recoil launching his striking head forward. Someone yelped.

Charlie took the time to acknowledge everything around him. A chainsaw was growling while Cellbit’s maniacal laugh could be heard from afar.

Two mechanical arms extended towards him. The owner of the arms clearly couldn’t see through the fog like Charlie could, as the arms were blindly grasping at nothing. Charlie ran forward to the brown-haired man carrying the backpack, and swung his flail forward. The flail landed on the backpack, ripping it off the person’s back. Charlie giggled, swinging his weapon once again to fully destroy the arms.

The person seemed to be enraged. He pulled out a sword, wielding it. Charlie easily jumped over it, losing interest in the person, before turning around and seeing the scene on top of the mountain.

A Soulfire person was standing in front of Gérman, who had his palm pressed against his abdomen. His bleeding abdomen.

Charlie sprinted. His eyes widened at the sight of his friend dying, and his killer witnessing it. Charlie didn’t even notice he had let go of his flail— he just kept running towards Gérman. He kept going, until he arrived.

He grabbed onto an arrow and stabbed. He plunged it into the Soulfire member’s chest. They killed his friend. They killed his friend. They killed his friend.

The person stumbled before falling. Charlie wiped the fluid off his neck. Tears or blood, he couldn’t tell. He took a closer look at the person’s face.

Long, white hair tied behind her as a ponytail, and an oversized shirt with a potato clumsily drawn on it. Her big, blue eyes were now fluttered close, and a peaceful smile was plastered across her face.

“Hey!” The older girl waved at them, “Are you guys okay? Come outside!” She reached an arm into the storage, gesturing to help them leave the area.

Lenay.

Gérman’s soulmate, his lover.

Charlie blinked. Lenay landed beside Gérman, their bodies resting against each other’s.

Charlie’s ears were ringing, he couldn’t hear anything.

What was he doing again?

Ah, right. Stabbing his friend’s lover to death.

Charlie fled.

-

“Let’s get you changed, mate.”

Phil gently shoved Charlie, handing him a green skirt.

“The blood isn’t gonna help.”

Charlie hesitantly took the skirt, staring at it. He still had his gas mask on, he felt ashamed to show his face.

Phil sighed. “This was going to happen anyway. We’re trying to survive, you did what you thought was right,”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Jaiden added.

“Fue mi culpa. Insistí en ir y ni siquiera llegué a matarlo.” [It was my fault. I insisted to go and I didn’t even get to kill him.] Carre groaned, burying his head in his hands.

“I was so close to Gérman. I could’ve saved him.” Jaiden clenched her fists, voice cracking.

Willy fidgeted with his bomb, “Yo también. Quizá si no hubiera tirado esa bomba, no sabrían que estaba allí.” [Me too. Maybe if I didn’t throw that bomb, they wouldn’t know he was there.]

“Killing feels weird.” Foolish murmured.

“Alright,” Phil slammed his palms together, “Let’s not list out every mistake in our lives. We still have to live.” He swallowed, struggling to keep everything together, “On the bright side, we got a kill.”

Charlie shuddered.

Phil seemed uneasy, “I know you guys are grieving. This isn’t easy. We have to turn our fury and guilt into motivation.” He walked to the centre, the rest raising their heads to look at him, “Our first goal, we have to move our base. We’re no longer safe here.” He eyed the devastated teammates, “Starting now. Keep yourselves distracted and busy.” He yanked them from their postures one by one.

“Allow yourself to be selfish for once, Charlie.” He hauled Charlie up.

-

Phil’s plan to keep them busy was more than successful. Charlie was able to leave earlier events behind for a bit, until he looked at his hands and realised the blood could never be erased.

They moved their base to among hills, to a more furtive spot. The new base was bigger, with a wheat farm and cows they trapped in a hole. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about food anymore.

The day passed by of them digging out and building their base.

“After midnight, we would receive our reward.” Carre announced, “Now, we wait.”

They gathered around a bonfire on the surface above their base.

“We’ve done this before, haven’t we?” Foolish giggled.

They sat silently.

“We’re gonna be runners after tonight,” Carre sighed, “This is fucking horrible. We’ve got a kill, which means those assholes aren’t gonna let us catch a break anymore. They’ll be out for blood, twenty-four seven.”

“The last time we got a kill from blue… when was it? Two years ago? De todos modos, se convirtieron en completos maníacos. Ataque sin parar. Tenían mucha gente, todo lo que podíamos hacer era escondernos.” [Anyhow, they became complete maniacs. Non-stop attacking. They had many people, all we could do was hide.] Vegetta chuckled dryly, “This time is not going to be any easier. They’ve got that mad scientist, inventing insane weapons,”

Charlie remembered the man and his mechanical arms he had fought. Thinking back on it, it was pretty impressive considering the lack of resources here.

A loud thunder sounded from afar, from the direction of Soulfire’s base.

“Thunderstorms again. How lame can It be? It’s always the same fuckass punishments.” Carre commented in annoyance.

Cellbit slipped down onto the floor and laid down, resting his head on his palms, “Don’t you think it’s a bit unfair? They’ve got way more people than we do, even after we joined. As if The Eye had wanted us to be the underdogs in the first place.”

Carre shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to find out how The Eye distributed team members. But knowing it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it used lucky draws,” He smiled.

They sighed in unison.

Then came the unexpected. A white fog consumed them despite the gas masks still firmly clung to their faces. Among the white fog slowly revealed a creature with a single eye in the centre of its face.

“Hello?” Charlie called. None of his friends’ voices could be heard, as if the fog not only blocked their views, but every track of them existing at all.

“Hail and well met,” The Eye spoke, an unsettlingly deep monotone, “thou hast shattered the bonds of thine own dread and art but a step nearer to the tranquility of the heart. Thou hast prevailed as the 'runner.' Thy valor shall be acclaimed for enduring anguish beyond thy kin. Thou shalt gain a recompense of the spirit — be unshackled from the curse of eternal bondage.”

Charlie felt funny. It was not like he didn’t know medieval English, he simply felt funny seeing someone outside of the royal family speak this way. It brought him back to that dim library where he once spent hours in as a boy, reading and reciting this very type of English, in order to past his test.

At the same time, Charlie felt confused. What did it mean by breaking free from the curse of being bounded for life? The only curse Charlie knew of was this mark on his arm that began his misery. Could it be — it was going to free them? No, that would be too easy for them.

Before he could get to a conclusion, he fainted, hit by a sudden wave of thick white fog.

-

Charlie had a dream.

It was a very odd dream.

In the dream, Charlie stood as a boy dressed in luxurious jewellery and expensive ropes. He stood as a prince.

He could hear his sister’s laughter and the yelling of panicked servants. By his side stood a tall man whose face was too young to be recognisable to Charlie. But he could tell, he was the king.

They were in a large sunflower field.

In the corner of Charlie’s eyes was a boy his age. He had dark hair and dark eyes, dressed in a yellow cardigan. The young Charlie didn’t pay much attention to him. However, the older Charlie instantly recognised that boy— Mariana, the young Mariana. He turned towards him, and as he did, everything else seemed to fade into white fog. It was just him, the sunflowers, and Mariana.

Charlie wanted to yell, to sprint forward and hold her in his arms, but he couldn’t move. All he could do was stare, and they stared at each other for what felt like a century.

Young Mariana had features that closely resembled his older self. The same dark eyes that captivated Charlie during their first meeting was now piercing into his own lime green ones.

As they stared, something in Charlie unshackled. He was able to speak and move again. But Mariana kept still.

Charlie started to sprint towards Mariana. He wasn’t sure where he was, or what this was, but if he somehow was back in time, he wanted to warn Mariana to never try to be a knight, never meet him, and never get himself on that ship.

He sprinted, and shouted Mariana’s name, but time froze in place. He was running towards nowhere, shouting towards no one. As he did, Mariana only seemed to get further, and blurrier.

As Charlie’s voice turned hoarser, Mariana turned into nothing more but a humanoid of fog.

And so went Charlie’s sanity. He screamed, he wanted to hold Mariana in place, he didn’t want him to disappear.

He loved him.

Tears rolled down Charlie’s cheeks, and something ripped itself out of Mariana, namely the same fog that had consumed him. The fog humanoid drifted into the air, farther, paralysed.

Charlie stood in flabbergast before losing consciousness again.

-

“Good sleep?” Willy asked flatly, idly scrubbing a bomb in his hands with a cloth. Charlie was in their newly built base, a green skirt thrown carelessly onto his torso. His gas mask was still on, but strangely Charlie felt easier to breathe.

And unconventionally, the dwelling pain in his stomach vanished, leaving behind a more lifelike swirl of concern, longing, fear, and a deep desire for a someone. Charlie felt light as a feather, free, and more like himself despite the negative emotions within him.

“What the fuck happened?” Charlie thought out loud, “Where are the others?”

“The soul bond is gone,” Phil responded from afar, slamming a leather bag onto the space beside Charlie, “Cut off, hanging from one end. It’s the reward apparently.”

Charlie took his time to digest this information.

“So we can no longer feel our soulmate’s emotions?” He managed.

“Indeed.” Cellbit came in after Phil, dropping down a freshly hunted pig. “It’s gonna be hard for those lovebirds. Low-key good news to me, though,” His chuckle was exaggerated through the gas mask.

Charlie sighed. True, that meant the dull pain he had been suffering from these days would no longer come back. Then what was he feeling? What was this new swirl that had bloomed? Had it always been there?

He didn’t want to consider. He felt lighter than ever.

Maybe this bond was a curse.

“Foolish and Vegetta, are they alright?” Willy opened up the leather bag, extracting some mushrooms out of it and walked over to the fire. He picked up a clay pot and poured some water in.

Phil shrugged. “Just the normal amount of kissing.” He mimicked Willy, picking up four clay bowls. “Carre went to fish, he won’t be back so soon.“

“How long have I been asleep for?” Charlie blurted out.

“Two hours, maybe three. I wish we had clocks out here.” Phil answered, starting to boil water to make soup.

They sat in reticence, satisfying sounds of mushroom soup boiling playing idly in the background. Charlie tried to sort things out in his head, and realised there was simply nothing to sort out. It was the same amount of insanity, same amount of bloodlust. Bloodlust? That was new, but it had surely been there ever since he obtained that flail. Maybe it was in his genes. It was surely in Baghera’s.

Right, where was Baghera? She probably went mining with Jaiden. Phil didn’t say anything about it, so it should be fine. He wasn’t worried.

Willy sighed.

“So, how’s everyone?” He asked.

Cellbit ripped off his gas mask to breathe properly. “It’s an interesting definition of ‘reward’. It feels nice though, to have the dull burden off my chest after so many years of bearing it. I’ve already learned to live with it.” He paused, “But it’s practically useless. I still feel like shit. It’s just the overwhelming pain of an unfulfilled soul bond replaced by one of losing a lover.”

Lover. Right. Charlie sometimes forgot that Mariana was his lover. Lover was a fairly distinct term, he sometimes simply concluded his relationship with Mariana to be of soulmates. But there was something more — something that Charlie had tried his best to escape from. Because he didn’t deserve it.

A large part of him felt sorry for Mariana for being eternally bonded with him. But now they weren’t, and Mariana would be free as long as he didn’t hold onto the crumbling, one-ended bond between them. It would fade away, eventually — falling into the void of the past, then firmly buried there. Charlie would do the same, and they would return to the simplest accord of a knight and his king, or rivals, if they would stay on this island for the rest of their lives.

Did I love Mariana, Charlie had to question himself. Was it just the destined bond that pushed him this far? Was fate the only thing that kept him drowned in those dark pools of eyes, that washed away his doubts on that ship when he was consumed in forlorn?

Maybe not. Did Charlie want to accept that? No.

The thought of someone having to be loved and disturbed by Charlie disgusted him, and now that the only thing keeping this same disgust at bay has vanished, Charlie abhorred it.

The disappearance of the soul bond provided a perfect excuse for him to save himself before he drifted too deep.

“Hello!” Their conversation as well as Charlie’s self-conflict was interrupted by the cheerful voice of Foolish, strolling down the entrance to their base with linked hands with Vegetta.

“Everything okay? No one’s breaking up here?” Cellbit asked with a raised brow.

Foolish snickered, “Nope. We’re more than soulmates, and our love is not fragile,” his snicker evolved into an infectious laughter and soon, they were all giggling.

“Get a room,” Charlie rolled his eyes, a big smile plastered across his face.

“Oh! Foolish’s back,” Jaiden’s voice came from the newly developed mine’s exit, followed by excited sounds from Baghera, who held up a rough linen bag.

“There are so many ores in this cave! We’ve got at least 30 diamonds, and dozens of other valuable stones,” she announced, shaking the bag in her hand, which came a ruffled clashing noise from within.

“Look at you lot having fun. The only fish they’ve got here are fucking skelewags.” Carre chimed in, “I did manage to catch some squids. It’s pretty peaceful out here, nice spot chosen, Phil.” He smiled toothily.

Baghera chirped passionately as she took the squids from Carre. “We’re eating more than mushroom soup today! Long live Carre!” She yelled, earning a round of giggles and affirmations. They gathered together to collect their portions of dinner, sitting around a warm bonfire, gas masks off their faces and put away.

Whatever came next, Charlie had Bolas.