"Is he okay?”
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Lizy's eyes were darting toward a pile of paper with a mix of fear and concern, her hands trembling slightly. Her voice was thin, her eyes had been fixed on the empty space where Log had been for seven hours.
Log possessed the unique ability to become invisible and pass through most objects—except wood. To give him privacy, I had scattered some prototype paper scraps on the boat, since he likes the smooth texture of it, but I never imagined he would need this long. The boat felt too quiet without his laughter.
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I shook my head. “I don’t know how to help him.”
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Lizy and I huddled at the far side of the boat, our breaths mingling in the cool evening air. We kept our voices low. If he were still here—invisible, intangible—he might hear us.
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A heavy silence hung between us, broken only by the water against the hull.
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“He might as well be having an entire character arc in there!”
I tried, echoing Log’s own humor. It sounded hollow. The joke died between us.
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“Is he really okay?”
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“I don’t know... It’s not like him to stay hidden for this long. What if he’s—”
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“Stop! You’re going to make it worse. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”
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My fingers twitched slightly, the need to fidget barely restrained. Log had a way of slipping into his own world, but this felt different. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, unable to shake the growing unease.
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A cold dread settled in my chest. This wasn’t like him. Not this long.
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“Why did you bring your halo over?”
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Lizy tried to shift the topic, her voice wavering slightly as she tried to steer us away from our spiraling thoughts.
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“I can gather positive union energy around us with this,”
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As a lesser angel, I had always relied on Kartheina for support. Now that I was alone, I had to actively gain positive union from surrounding human thoughts, rather than relying on the passive ones from my core thoughts.
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“Oh, it's just like horns, right? Since you angels are made of positive union, you have to use the halos to gain it?”
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I nodded in response.
I nodded, my eyes already scanning the horizon—not for Union, but for threats. The sky was darkening. Taking a deep breath, I adjusted the halo above my head, feeling a tingle spread through me as its energy aligned. its familiar hum doing little to quiet the dread in my chest.
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“That a pity,” a familiar voice echoed in my mind.
“Erene just wanted to be loved.”
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The pity people felt for a criminal like Erene Field lingered in my core, but it wasn’t enough to sustain me. I needed energy, so I reached out, grabbing at the nearest thoughts like lifelines.
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“I’ve caught more fish this month than last!”
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“My wife is going to fish with me!”
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“My son... he loved the sea…”
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I brushed aside the darker thoughts, honing in on the brighter ones. With each tug and pull, I felt the energy shift, weaving into my halo. But the warmth was thin, brittle. The fishermen’s chatter, once a comforting backdrop, now sounded like distant alarms. My concentration broke as my eyes locked onto a ragged ship, moving fast. Too fast.
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**THUD**
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A harpoon pierced our boat. I stumbled back as wood splintered.
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And then Log materialized beside me.
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His eyes were red-rimmed, swollen. The usual light in them was gone, replaced by something dark and still. He didn’t look at me—he stared at the pirate ship now speeding toward us.
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“It’s the pirates.” His voice was low, flat. Then he was gone.
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“What?”
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I gasped, confusion momentarily distracting me.
He had decided to fly over to the pirate ship.
My eyes widened in shock, and my hands clenched tightly at my sides as I tried to process his sudden disappearance.
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Chaos erupted. Grappling hooks clawed at our railing.
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Rough voices shouted about my halo. I shoved it into a storage box, hands trembling. “I shouldn’t have used it.”
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Lizy drew her greatsword.
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“How do we board their ship?”
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“A better question is, how do we stop our ship from leaking?”
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I was already moving toward the harpoon hole, my ponytail melting into slime even before I knelt beside it.
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“Be careful!” Lizy called out.
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I examined the puncture. It wasn’t too bad, but it threatened our safety. I began molding the cool, slimy substance against the splintered wood, sealing the gap. A temporary patch. Just like everything else.
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“This will hold,” I said, more to myself than to her. “But we’ll need metal scraps later.”
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Then came the screams.
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Not from our ship—from theirs.
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I looked up in time to see a pirate fly over the railing and hit the water. Then another. Log moved like a shadow, a blur of motion where men fell. This wasn’t his playful fighting style. This was something brutal. Efficient.
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“That’s what you get for pissing off Max... He can be merciless.”
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**CLANG**
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I quickened my pace, reaching the deck just in time to see the hook clamped onto the railing, it's chain rattling ominously.
The noise was too much. The world felt like it was against me. My confidence shattered.
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**CLASH**
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"Miss RoseBud, are you okay??"
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Lizy’s blade intercepted a pirate’s strike just inches from my face. I hadn't even seen him coming.
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“RoseBud!”
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I stumbled back, my mind going blank.
The world narrowed to noise and panic.
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—clang of metal—
—a cry cut short—
—the smell of salt and iron—
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The world blurred.
Sounds melted together.
I felt nothing.
A thick numbness spread from my core to my fingertips.
My body was moving.
But I wasn't guiding it.
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What is this?
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I have to get myself together.
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I am RoseBud.
I have to be.
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Autopilot. A hollow shell going through motions.
A puppet with cut strings, still twitching.
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...
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Awareness returned not all at once, but like a slow tide.
First, a deep, aching cold in my hands.
I looked down; my knuckles were white where I’d gripped the railing.
Then, the ache in my lungs—I’d been holding my breath.
I gasped. The sound was deafening in the sudden, thick quiet.
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The deck was a mess.
Bodies. Blood on the wood.
A sharp, coppery smell filled my nose.
The fighting was over. It was quiet now.
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Log landed.
He was grinning. "Maybe that was enough private time, don't you think?"
But his eyes were wrong. Empty.
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I nodded. My neck felt stiff.
My chest was tight. I could see he was still hurting underneath it all. Maybe fighting like that helped him.
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I hugged myself. I could almost smell the blood.
"Not next time."
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"Fine, fine, as you say, my lady." He bowed like he was on a stage.
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"Ew." I shivered.
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He was acting again. Being the funny one. Being LoggerHead.
But I saw what was underneath. I saw Max.
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And then the thought came, simple and heavy:
He didn't need me for any of that. Maybe I am useless.
ns216.73.217.69da2
and then Add to home screen.