• Non managed to find the stairs and he was halfway up, carrying Maruru on his back. She was still unconscious as Non figures out how they are going to walk through the ship unnoticed. Both of them were drenched so they’d be leaving a trail behind them.
    “This is stupid!” Non grumbles to himself. What’s the point of rescuing Maruru when there’s no escape route? I don’t plan to be in this dark staircase forever. Maybe I’ll just dash through, hope I don’t get caught, and grab my Aier that’s in the closet. He thumped himself in the forehead with his palm. I don't even know where the closet is! “Screw it” he dashes up the stairs and into the many hallways of the ship.
    Left, right, left, straight, he turns in any direction that opens up. So far, it was going good. No enemy’s were around, Maruru hasn’t fallen off, and Non was starting to recognize the area. Then an alarm went off. Red lights start to flash all around and the alarm was so loud that Non couldn’t hear his thoughts. He cursed under his breath. They realized Maruru was missing and now they’ve come in search of her. If Non was going to escape, he’d have to find his Aier, and quick.
    “It’s the intruder!” someone shouts from a hallway Non had just past. “But what is he doing inside so fast!? He was just outside” he and four others began pursuit.
    “Crap!” Non says as he notices the chase. Then he stops at an intersection—ten more people came from the front, left, and right. They circled around Non and Maruru.
    “He’s got her!” one of them cries. “But how? That was too quick!”
    What are they talking about? Non wonders.
    “It doesn’t matter” another says. “Take him to the dungeon”
    A dungeon in a ship? Now that’s just weird.
    “But wait…this one’s different. The one I saw—” he couldn’t finish talking because the ship rocked violently—an explosion. Everyone lost their footing and tumbled to the left. The ship took a hard hit at the left and was tilting, almost a full 180 degrees turn.
    Non stood up on what used to be a wall of the hallway. He didn’t have time to think about the situation, he had to leave. Now. Up ahead he spots his Aier. It tumbled and slid, then got caught onto the ground. Non slid an arm under Maruru’s knees, the other around her shoulder blades, and lifted. He starts running towards his Aier, avoiding any falling enemies coming from the right.
    There were some static noises then a voice booms from speakers hidden around the hallway. “Ey, still alive?” it was Rey’s voice. He was probably in the cockpit.
    “Dammit, Rey!” Non bellows. He didn’t stop running.
    “Wow, isn’t this nostalgic?” he laughs.
    “How can you be making jokes at a time like this?!” Non knew Rey couldn’t hear him but he still said it.
    “Listen, this ship is going down fast. I guess when I blew up the engine room (air ships don’t have engines. Since they’re powered by Becko’s that’s at the bottom of the ship, they call it the engine room) we were above an ocean, close to the coastline” he lets out a tired breath. “So…well…if you don’t want to drown to death, I you’d better escape now”
    “Geez, that guy!” Non hopped onto his Aier, started it up, and flew forward.
    “Well, see you on the other side” there was a buzzing sound then nothing. Rey had left the cockpit room.
    Non was having a hard time finding the exit. When he came inside the ship, he went through a door that looked like a wall. He past over a door and it opened. Non stops and stares down at it, grins, and goes inside. He was reaching the side of the ship where Rey exploded the engine room. The closer Non got, the hotter the air was getting. The heat of the explosion was making him sweat. He increased his acceleration, darted through the engine room, and out of the giant hole in the wall. He flew up and around the ship. Non was fast, so he caught up with Rey right away.
    “Yo” Rey says.
    “Yeah, yo” Non says sarcastically. They flew higher, and then stopped. Below them, the ship had just crashed into ocean. The force from the fall made giant waves plummet over the coast into a town. “Uh oh” the town was halfway flooded and some houses were starting to break down.
    “Let’s just…pretend nothing happened” Rey suggested. “Let’s go back to the ship” he was referring to Fallen Star’s pirate air ship.
    “…alright” Non agreed and they took off again. He looked at Maruru then at Rey. Should I tell him? Should I even tell anyone? Non was confused and didn’t know what to do. Maruru…what are you? You breathed water and glowed. He stares back at her sleeping, peaceful face. Then a saying he hasn’t heard of in a long time rung in his head.
    Belle, beautiful love of mine.

    to be continued