Dinner was nearly over but the evening was about to be even more eventful whether anyone liked it or not. K threw himself into the Dining hall with some terrible news. He appeared to be badly bruised and had a black eye, his clothes were torn to shreds.
"Your majesty!" He cried. "A swarm of Pirates and assassins are attacking the village, two guards are already dead. They're heading this way right now."
Lord Usami was shocked to hear the news. "Just what kind of pirates are they, K."
"Your majesty, you can't possibly believe him, He is a traitor to our land!" the advisor said.
"Taki, that is enough! What kind of pirates were they?" He asked.
"Ottoman Pirates…" K said. Then he fell to the floor and blacked out. He knew what had to be done about this.
"Taki, Send some soldiers to defend the castle, Ryuichi get K to the medical ward immediately. Everyone, stay calm, you are in good hand here!" he ordered.
The minute they heard about the ottoman ship, The four men all knew what was coming; An all out war. But not with Edenia, No, this was war between Eternias and the ottoman Pirates.
The whole ordeal was like a horrible joke or a bad dream to say the least. With the Ottoman pirates in eternias, the group knew exactly who they might have been looking for, and it wasn't Lord Usami. Shuichi began to feel somehow responsible for the attack on the castle. After all, a while back he and the others were captives, even if it was by choice. Now they were free and yet didn't see the possibility of the Pirates searching for them and seeking revenge. Worst of all one of his close friends suffered because of him.
The guilt and obligation to take some action began to fill the teen's mind more and more as he watched the battle outside. All he could think about was those day s that he spent in that ship. How he was a slave trying to protect the man he loves, how he nearly drowned after escaping. All he thought about was finding a way to face his guilt. The only way to do that in his case would be to take on the leader. He had to fight, even if it meant ending up like K or Sakano.
~Flashback- Almost four months ago~ (Chapters 10-13)
The pirates were carrying Eiri as a ship pulled up next to the ferryboat that Shuichi and the others were riding. They weren't sure what to do. They had never even seen pirates let alone went up against them. Also, the last time they had to fight Shuichi was nearly killed. It was one thing for the prince to be captured, but to be captured after having an argument weighed heavily on the teen. He and the prince had just had an argument minutes before the kidnapping. He felt like he had to do something about this, even though he had to do it alone.
"Let him go!" he shouted.
"Why should we?" said the pirate. "This lad can bring us a lot of gold."
Just then a shiver of fear entered Shuichi's mind. He never thought he would go up against pirates. In fact he was hoping that there would be no trouble today.
"W-what are you T-talking about?" he stammered.
The pirate then showed him a cage of dozens of men who were chained to the bars of the cage. They each had numbers and drawings written on them. The drawings were of copper, bronze, silver and gold coins. And each number was different. That's when the group realized that they were going to make Eiri a slave.
"Now ye have a choice lad. Give us the boy or he goes overboard." The pirate proposed. It was a tough decision, he wanted to get to Eternias but not if it meant losing the prince. He was supposed to protect Eiri at any cost. Even his freedom.
"Leave him, and take me instead. I'll do anything that you want me to. And I won't complain. Just please, don't harm the prince." He pleaded. Sakano walked onto the top deck wondering what was going on.
"Huh? What happened?" He asked lazily then he saw his prince motionless in the arms of pirates. Then he knew what danger they were in.
"What should we do captain?" one of the pirates asked.
"All of ye will be servants to me crew." He said. Then the captain turned his attention to Shuichi. A lustful look in his eyes.
"You will be my personal servant. Don't ye dare disappoint me. If ya do I'll have to make you walk the bloody plank."
Shuichi nodded with fear. Then the other boys tried to stop their friend from making what they believed was a terrible mistake.
"Master shuichi!" Hiro screamed. "You don't have to be their slave. It's not worth it!"
"He's right." Sakano said. "We won't let you lose your freedom, even if it is for the king."
"It's not for the king, it's for him!" shuichi responded. Then they all realized that there was only one way to help him now.
"If you take him, you take us too!" Hiro shouted to the pirate captain. Then the captain was starting to get a few clever Ideas. Five slaves for the price of one was very rare and not an opportunity to be passed up.
Eiri came to while trapped in the cage. It seemed like everything that happened earlier was all a blur. But when he realized that he wasn't on the ferryboat, he questioned the other captives.
"What's going on?" he asked. "Why are we all in this cage?"
"We've been captured by captain Zangief and he's gonna make us all slaves." The prisoner said with panic in his voice. Eiri couldn't believe it. He was about to be a slave to the pirates. And to top it all off he didn't see the others. He began to assume that they were already enslaved by Zangief and his crew. Then he thought about Shuichi. He thought about the fight they had moments before being abducted. Now he wanted to find shuichi and try to get them off of this ship.
"In any case, have any of you seen a young man around? Pink hair, rose colored kimono?" he asked.
"You mean captain Zangief's personal servant. He was let out of the cage hours ago." The captive answered.
"I imagine that your friend is serving the captain's needs right now." Another prisoner remarked. Then Eiri got a suspicious yet worried look in his eyes. He had a good Idea of what the prisoner meant by "Serving the captain's needs." But if he was going to rescue his protector, he would have to play dumb with the captives.
"Just what do you mean by 'serving the captains needs'" He asked.
"Oh, well, sometimes the captain has his intimate needs that are fulfilled by his servants"=Explained the prisoner. "I think he's going to have a good time with that little one."
Then the prince's emotions were boiling over at that point. No one was going to have their way with him not on his watch- or sun dial. (Whatever they used to tell time in that era.) It was time for him to protect his protector.
Shuichi, I don't know where you are, but I'll find you. And I will save you. Eiri thought.
After a few hours of searching Eiri was finally reunited with his protector, If only for a short time.
As he walked the long distance to the Laundry cabin, he ran into two people. One of them he wasn't sure he would ever see so soon.
"Majesty!" Shuichi called. He was both shocked and overjoyed to see his prince was still in one piece. But then he looked at the other man and was beginning to get suspicious.
"Your majesty, who is this man?" he asked.
"This is master Ryu of Lelouche." Eiri answered. "He was helping me find you and the others. But it looks like you came to us." Then he went over and bonked his protector on the head.
"OW! What was that for?" Shuichi shouted. Then the blond prince grabbed him by his shirt.
"Didn't it tell you not to do anything stupid like this ever again? And look what you do!"
"Alright, calm down you two." Ryu said. "We should be finding the rest of your friends."
When they were trying to find the rest of the gang, Yuki confronted Shuichi about his reckless actions.
He didn't want to show it but he as very worried.
"You dumb-ass!" he began. "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you realize that you just gave up your freedom?"
Shuichi was livid that after what they've been through, it seemed like the prince still didn't trust him. Or at least still believed that it wasn't really for him that he was fighting for.
"Your majesty, why can't you understand that I would do anything for you; I would risk anything in this world to keep you safe from harm, because I… I'm in love with you my prince." Shuichi finally confessed. The blond heir was in complete shock of what he just heard. There was no way that anyone could ever fall in love with him. Especially a man; how could this be?
"That's impossible." The prince said. "We're men; there is no way that you can love me."
His words were harsh and hard hitting. But they weren't enough to turn the teen away. Shuichi would have to find a way to convince him that his feelings were real and that he really does love him. But what could he possibly do for Eiri that would convince him that he really was serious about him.
'There is no way that this brat could possibly love me!' Eiri thought. 'We're both men. I have to get married it would never work out.' But deep down, he knew that he felt the same way. He wanted to tell him how he felt but he still had issues with trusting anyone. But at least now he knew why Shuichi sometime did the reckless things he did. But at that moment they had some friends to find and the romance would have to wait until they all escaped from the ship and got as far away from captain zangief as humanly possible.
They all headed for the top deck and saw a crossing ferryboat. On the boat was the two people that they had been looking for all along. Hiro and Ryu. They rushed for the ferryboat and one by one they jumped from the ottoman to the ferry. There was a large gap between the boats and in that gap was an ocean tens of thousands of feet deep. The current was irregular because the clouds were getting darker and darker. The loud cry of thunder filled the air. Most of them managed to get to the boat but Shuichi was terrified of the jump. All of his fears surfaced as the storm grew close and the boat was floating away. What if he didn't make it? What if he fell into the ocean and drowned? What if he never saw his friends again? The others did their best to encourage him to take the leap of faith.
"its okay, Shuichi." Chun-Li said reaching her hand out. "I'll catch you."
But that did very little to ease his fear.
"Master Shuichi, you can do it!" Hiro shouted. "Just believe in yourself!"
That didn't help very much either. But when he saw that the boat was slipping further and further away, the rookie warrior finally decided to jump from the ottoman and hopefully land on the boat. He floated in the air and came down but was inches away from the boat. He slowly descended to the waters below. Chun-Li tried to catch him but it was too late. He was already down below. The entire group grieved over what appeared to be the demise of a fallen comrade. But they noticed that Eiri was gone. They looked everywhere for him but he was nowhere in sight.
~End flashback~
'I have to fight.' Shuichi thought. That was all he could think as he watched one soldier after another be slaughtered by his former enemies. But he knew that the others wouldn't let him go out to fight. How could he possibly face his guilt and avoid getting caught by everyone else at the same time? When it appeared that everyone went to bed, The rookie warrior crept through the room he shared With Hiro and Suguru and found one of Hiro's invisibility potions. He normally wasn't one to steal or lie, but in this case, he had to clear his conscience, even if it meant having more on it.
Shuichi hid the potion in his armor and slowly headed out, but before he left the room, Suguru was awakened. It appeared that he was busted.
"Master Shuichi, what are you doing?" He asked groggily.
I'm uhh… I'm just…er….going to the bathroom!" the pink haired teen lied. Then he quickly and quietly left the room to face his past, well it wasn't that far back but afer the castle was attacked, he couldn't let his guilt weigh on his mind. He used he invisibility potion to sneak by all of the guards and once he was outside of the castle, things were going to go his way or no way at all.
The fight was still going on and judging form all of the bodies lying in front of the castle, it looked like the Ottoman pirates were winning. But that was going to change.
The captain of that devilish ship was watching as his pawns defeated the soldiers. He was approached by a not so familiar face, not familiar to him at least.
"Are you the one who attacked the castle?" Shuichi asked coldly. Bison just gave a smirk and answered him; Knowing that there would be a fight following their introductions.
"Yes…I am. You must be one of the prisoners who escaped. You will pay for defying me," He threatened.
"You'll be the one to pay for involving innocent lives in your search, if you want a fight, I'll give you one." Shuichi said.
Back at the castle Suguru was awakened again, this time by a vision. Not just any vision either.
Image
Shuichi and are in a fight to the death as the King, Taki and a few surviving soldiers watched. The pink haired boy is fighting both him and Sakano at the same time.
End image.
"THAT IDIOT!" Suguru screamed. "HOW CAN HE BE SO RECKLESS, GOD DAMMIT!"
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