Dusk pulled his head back in from the crack of the door before it crushed his neck as the barrel of water fell back in place. "Push!" He rammed his shoulder into the door, his feet pushing against wooden floor. The door gave way another grating inch before retreating that very inch, the barrel clopping loudly just beyond. Rico let out a curse as the two pirates rammed into the door again.

"C'mon Rico, push harder!!"

"I would if--if you'd move over!"

The door gave another inch and the two men rushed the door again.

"Rico!"

"I ain't a muscle-man, idiot! Move your ass over!"

"Try a little harder, dammit!"

Dusk shoved a fist into the door along with his shoulder, and the wood let out a moan.

"Oh, like punching it will do much!"

"Dammit, Rico! Shut up and push!"

"Try using that brawn down here!"

Rico lowered himself, pushing his shoulder in the lower half of the door where the barrel was pressed up against. Dusk soon followed suit, and the door began to scrape noisily across the wooden floor, inch by insufferable inch.

"Why did we put barrels near the entrance of the cabins?!"

Dusk let out a grunt as he drove his shoulder into the door again, listening to it give another few inches. Rico continued to complain with a strained voice.

"Why don't we have another freaking entrance to the cabins?!"

"Rico, push!"

There was an opening at least a good foot wide now, perhaps wide enough for someone like Ava to squeeze through, but neither of the two men were exactly that thin. Rico rammed the door again with diminished enthusiasm, sweat glistening on his face. The sounds of chaos outside filtered in easily.

"Hell, the Patrol must already be on us!" Rico cried, panting.

Dusk let out another curse. He gripped the outside door sill with one hand, his other bracing the opposite part of the frame and lifted one boot. Rico knew enough to get back behind Dusk. The first mate let out a grunt and drove his foot into the door, putting all the force he had into it. The barrel on the other end tipped from the force, finally crashing into its side.

Before either of them could rush out, the boat tipped to the left, shouts of surprise echoing from outside. The barrel rolled away, leaving the door a wide enough berth to swing open. Dusk shifted his balance to compensate for the wave and sprinted out onto deck. His eyes scanned the deck furiously, looking for the red-head girl with the gauntlet.

A loud crack split the sounds of waves and shouts. An enormous harpoon had lodged itself into the deck, Kormic kneeling at its base holding his head while Shin and Gerald stood, swords in hand. A short segment of thick rope hung limply at the end of the harpoon, the ends frayed. Julius and a few others were at the cannons, but it seemed like everyone had stopped moving, staring all in one direction with expressions of fear and dread. And just beyond the edge of the deck was the deck of another ship, sailors all bracing themselves against the railing and with ropes and against large crates. And then Dusk knew exactly what was going on.

"GRAB HOLD OF SOMETHING!" came Felicia's booming voice.

Dusk was already bracing himself against the outer wall of the cabins, his center of gravity as low as possible. And turning his head away from the point of impact, he saw her. The girl in the small black coat and the faded blue bandanna covering a head of red hair. Then the entire ship lurched violently, wood crackling and water spraying up into the air. There needed to be no screams to fill the air, the sound of the ships smashing was like an explosion. And their hostage flipped over the railing.

"Shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiit!!" Dusk was on his feet before the ship even rocked in the opposite direction. He stumbled as he ran across the deck, Rico shouting at him from behind. Dusk reached the railing, pushing up against it as he took one glance over. Water droplets were falling back down on a circle of bubbles and foam, already drifting away from the bottom of the ship.

"Dusk! Wait!"

Dusk didn't even throw a glance back at his crew, didn't say another word. He didn't give himself time to contemplate how a drowned hostage wouldn't affect their already ruined plans or that his crew would need him in the ensuing battle against the Patrol where they would inevitably lose. He hoisted himself up on the railing, and with the grace of a powerful swimmer, launched into the sea after the girl.

~~~~~~~~~

People were everywhere, though they all were indistinguishable from each other, like shadows in a cave. Vague buildings were blurred in the distance and the sky was a mesh of all the colors of dawn, day, dusk, and twilight. But it wasn't of any importance. What was important were the billowing flags hovering in the air, as if suspended by invisible poles or hanging from the buildings. A dove with a sword laid vertically across its chest were embroidered on the flags, fluttering with the breezes, as its tiny white head arched to the left, staring at something.

It was staring at a lion, standing amongst the crowd. It was an ethereal, transient beast, each movement it made like a picture in time, overlapped with each other so it made a sort of slow moving picture show. It was thrashing wildly, paws outstretched and swiping at the shadows all around, though the shadows seemed to move past it as if it weren't there. Amidst the thrashing, the lion was pushed back, its entire form shuddering. It arched its head upward, its mane stretching downward with the movement and let out a soundless roar. No one turned their head, no one paused in their formless movements, no one seemed to notice as the lion collapsed on itself.

The darkness began to rapidly move in, eating away at the formless shadows and the vague buildings. Only strands of the fallen lion remained, a corpse lying amidst the throngs of human beings. The shadows turned to the lion at last, but then the final strands of the image too flitted away.

August opened his violet eyes, his eyelids half closed in contemplation. His irises were a solid vibrant purple with no pupil at the center, the gaze blank but piercing. A tiny spark flickered across his eyes, black invading the center of his irises to form a pupil and he blinked, lifting his head to stare through the window of his modest office-house at the people moving about outside.

It was nearing dusk. He had been meditating for near three hours now, his muscles stiff from inactivity, but it had paid off. The man stretched his legs, standing up as he pushed off of the wooden floor. He reached one hand upward, smoothing loose strands of dark brown hair and a smile spread across his face. He had a vision, at long last. And the symbols in them were painfully obvious. Something was going to happen soon, something profound. He moved toward the window, gazing up at the banners hanging from the white stone buildings. A dove with a sword laid across its breast, the symbol of the city of Hagar.

And the lion that fell. Someone was going to die soon. And it would be a very good thing, indeed.