The ferry was docked now. And who said having a dock wouldn't help business?

Raven-Chan could sense the troubled air about the ferry before he got to it. Something on the ferry wasn't right. Was that why there were guards? Was it an escapee from the dungeon in Mormegil? What could it be?

Then he saw the girls.

There were two of them, fighting at least two Aelian Knights. And losing. The knights were Elites from the looks of it, and they had a serious upper hand.

One of the young women was fighting with a force Raven-Chan couldn't quite imagine. She had brilliant blue hair, streaked by blue. She wore baggy black clothing with a silver trench coat. A pair of sunglasses hid her eyes from Raven-Chan. If only he could see her eyes... then he would know. The young women's gauntlet-clad hands were striking powerful blows to the guard. The only way to win.

The other, however, wasn't fairing as well. She wore tight black clothing, concealed under a heavy black trench coat. She had black hair, streaked with red. She was fighting with speed, but it was only a match for the Elite knight's own. She would get a hit here, a kick there, but every one of her strikes were merely scratches to the knight. And the first clear shot the Elite got, the young woman would be in trouble.

Raven-Chan looked at the to young women as he floated downward toward the dock, and decided the blue-haired one could keep her own for a while; the other girl needed help.

There was something that attracted Raven-Chan to her, as if something was pulling him toward her now. But that was probably just his imagination.

He stopped, and floated in mid-air above the girl and her opponent. They both stopped, and looked up.

"...Raven?"

The girl had said his name. But surely he hadn't met her before. But none of that mattered now. Kill first, ask questions later.

"Hey," Raven-Chan sneered at the Elite Guard below him. "Didn't your father teach you any honor? It's disrespectful to fight a woman!" With this, Raven-Chan brought his elbow down on the man's shoulder, only a split-second between the time he had been in the air to the time he was cracking the man's right shoulder in half. There was a sickening crack as it broke. The man dropped his sword, and instinctively cradled his wound. Raven-Chan's trench coat finally made it's way out of the air, and onto the deck of the ferry.

"Shit!" The other girl screamed as she fought her opponent. "Who the hell are you!"

"You'll see soon enough." The other girl looked at Raven-Chan, astonished.

"Raven?" The young girl questioned.

"Yes," Raven-Chan replied. Another guard was charging at him from the shore. "Go help your friend," He said, caressing her cheek with his hand. He quickly drew his hand back. What The hell was he doing? He didn't even know her! And he couldn't love anyone. There was just no way. He was supposed to be Raven-Chan. He straightened his posture. He didn't know why he had just done what he had, but he made it a point not to do it again. "I'll talk about this later," was all he could answer, and turned to face the on-coming Elite.

"Raven..." The young girl said with a sense of relief and fondness she didn't know she possessed. The she hurried to help her friend.

Raven-Chan caused his Gun blade to appear in his hand. It was the instrument of this man's death... Raven-Chan would assure that. He swung his blade around at the guard. The guard dodged under it, and lunged at Raven-Chan's gut with his own blade. Raven-Chan brought the backside of the blade down on the back of the man's helmet. There was a sickening sound of bones shattering. Then the man fell silently to the floor.

"Carmilla! Neo! Kamui! Get down to the ferry! Hurry the fuck up! Were leavin' pretty damn early!

Kodansha was quickly losing her stamina. And she doubted that summoning up Ancalagon would be the best thing for her right now. She had taken her full attention back to her own fight. Screw the new guy on the ferry. He was obviously strong enough to take care of the Elites. She just hoped he was friendly.

All she heard from the other fight was a horribly sickening sound of bones being shattered. Ayame joined her soon after. And right in time. As Kodansha kept the guard distracted from the front, Ayame brought her leg up and around in a swift kicked that collided like a run-away moon into the man's helmet, leaving a dent in the side. The man was dead before he hit the ground, and as his body hit the floor, blood was oozing from inside his helmet.

And before the two friends knew it, they were on the run again.

Each of the two groups talked over some wine they had found in the crates (Aelia Choco Wine, in the case of Raven-Chan.) about their intentions, and what had brought them there. Carmilla had told a brief story of what little family she had, and tied that into meeting Raven-Chan (Who she still considered Darin.) and how STRIKE had been formed. Kamui was silent, not mentioning himself. Raven-Chan knew he would be. Raven-Chan told very little of himself. He had mentioned only that he was a member of STRIKE, and that he and Kamui had come to the bar on official business for all of STRIKE to hear. He mentioned nothing else. Neo had decided to stay and cover for the bar, and then attend to some business. Them he would meet up with them. But he didn't say what kind of business he was attending to.

Kodansha filled in Raven-Chan and the others one why they had stowed away on the ship, and what had happened earlier to cause them such a hard time. She mentioned nothing else. Ayame sat, silent, gazing into thin air, and stealing glances at Raven-Chan. She had dreamed of him, and had been drawn to Aelia because of him, but why? He was so mysterious. Ayame vowed to herself she would find out.

After this conversation, Carmilla wished everyone a good night, and made her way below deck, where she would sleep. Kamui went and stood at the front of the ship, looking out over the small river they were on, which the maps boldly proclaimed as the Aelian Channel.

Ayame walked out to the back of the small ferry, standing, looking out over the sea behind them.

"Your friend looked pre-occupied, so I figured I should talk to you."

"Yes?" Kodansha replied in a question. "What is it you wanna talk about?"

Raven-Chan swung his bare arms around the chair he was in, sitting backward. His trench coat was laid in one corner of the room.

"You two seem very powerful," Raven-Chan said, even now feeling Kodandha's pacified power. Even now, she kept barely under the surface. She didn't trust him, and he could tell. But she wasn't hiding anything. "I can feel your power. And if I'm right... well, take off those glasses."

Kodansha slowly responded by taking them off, and throwing the hair back out of her eyes.

"Yes," Raven-Chan assured himself aloud, "They're Trance eyes. what kind of Trance eyes. What kind of trance power do you have?"

Kodansha tensed up, expecting battle.

"How do you know I have hidden power? And how did you know have trance? I warn you, I'm a pretty deadly 'freak'!"

"No, no. You take me wrong. I have a trance, too. That's what STRIKE is based on. We all have trance power."

"You lie!"

"Fine, Kodansha. But you can't say I hadn't told you."

Raven-Chan crossed his arms over his chest. Black flames shot out around him. Kodansha sat in wonder as she watched the flames dance around him. She saw the way his eyes and earring glowed, and how his shirt ripped to shreds when the large, black angelic wings folded out of his back. The flames died, and when he let his hand down, it held a gun blade.

"You see, Kodansha," Raven-Chan said, "That's all I am. I want you to join STRIKE in this mission. Were taking all the money we get, and were goin' build up a city no one can match. Anyone with these powers will be safe there. It will be a city of refugee."

"I'll sleep on it," Kodansha said after some time. "Right now, I need some rest."

"Okay," Raven-Chan said. He blew out the candles on his way out.

Raven-Chan walked onto the back patio of the ship. He was quiet, so as not to disturb Ayame. Her singing was sad yet beautiful and it added a sense of completion to the night, under the two moons that would soon be full. It was such beautiful singing.

He now had his shirt and his trench coat back on, and out of the inside pocket of his coat, he produced a piccolo. He turned to see Carmilla coming up from below deck, holding something. He turned back to face the water.

As Raven-Chan began to play the piccolo, Ayame stopped her singing. She thought of how beautiful his music was, the same tune as what she had just been singing. His was also sad, and it was low, but it was beautiful. And she decided he looked so beautiful with his eyes closed, playing it as he stood there. She turned back to the water and began to sing. They were soon joined by Carmilla, who was apt at playing the forgotten tune on the violin.

They made this beautiful music for some time, until Ayame was too tired to go on, and fell asleep on the deck. Raven-Chan picked her up in his arms, and carried her into the cabin. He laid her down beside her friend, and left.

He sat on the deck that night, sleepless.