Young Writers Society

"W- We're...?" Landon repeated numbly, his eyes widening.

A thought had just occured to him, making him do a double take as his cheeks grew even hotter. He knew that he had a double running around somewhere in Reida's world. He also didn't know where he was at the moment.

This woman seemed to know him, well. Maybe too well. And with this unfinished sentence... What if this woman was his double's girlfriend? Or even his wife?

He grew more and more flustered as he thought this over, and slowly came unraveled.

"N- no, no, I'm sorry, you're mistaken, I- I'm not, I-" he stuttered out, waving his hands.

"I didn't even say the word," Magic protested, a little bit hurt at the denial. They had been worried about him not seeing them as a friend, but they hadn't expected him to outright say no to it. At least he was polite about the rejection-

Their eyes widened behind their sunglasses as understanding dawned on them.

They pushed up the sunglasses so they were nestled in their hair, looking Landon over and trying their best to ignore the lipstick mark. "Landon, it's me. Magic."

Jaron looked mesmerized by the ropes; he scanned them as he continued to spin in his chair, noting both how they were attached to various parts of Nadira and the computer. "How does it feel?" he said, not focusing on Nadira's eyes but making it obvious who he was talking to by tapping one of the ropes. "Could you do that to me?" He gestured to the metal arm that hung limply at his side.



Well, that went from entertaining to awkward.

"Landon, right?" Taber said, turning to face him. He was reasonably sure it'd been an accident on Magic's part, but he wasn't sure if he should kiss Landon as well. "I'm Taber! I'm a friend of Magic!"

Landon blinked, and there was a moment of him processing before relief very obviously washed over his face. His shoulders relaxed, and he nodded slowly, a half-embarassed smile spreading across his face.

"Magic- it's you. That- that makes sense." He laughed a little. "It's good to see you."

He turned to look over their shoulder and sent a smile over to the wolf, holding out his hand for a shake- something he had felt more inclined to do since he'd been at the gala.

"Hi Taber! It's nice to meet you."

"It doesn't really feel like anything," Nadira admitted. She looked over Jaron's arm, trying to figure out if something like that was possible. "Codix might be able to do it, but he would have to reconfigure some of your arm."


Magic pointed at Charlie and Asteri; the two had been seemingly frozen after the whole exchange that had taken place, and were only now beginning to look at someone other than Magic. They tried not to feel more embarrassed by the reaction to the stumbling and accidental kiss, but it was hard when Charlie kept sneaking glances back at them.

"That's Charlie, and that's Asteri," they said.

Jaron shrugged. "That's okay," he whispered, staring at the ground and slumping his shoulders. "It's a, a crap arm; it's stuck in my shoulder, but it doesn't really attach to anything. I just, want to know if you can make it work."



"Also, we don't completely know where we are, or how we got here?" Taber said. He looked over at Magic. "Something about space and wars and abandoned ships. But I'm guessing you know a little more than that?"

Codix exchanged a look with Nadira.

"I'm not sure how long we're going to be here," he said, turning his attention away from her, the wires and the computer, "but I could try upgrading your arm with the parts we find on this ship."


"I think so," they said. "I haven't done too much digging - I don't want to upset the balance of the multiverse. But I think we're on the Sren. It's a ship that, well..."

Magic glanced over at Asteri.

"It was sent to find the missing prince and princess of the Dai. Asteri's the prince, and his sister is Princess Signia. But the ship vanished, and a war started between the Dai and Sixen." They looked around the room. "That's what I was trying to figure out, before you got here. I was going to assume that it completes the task when it has the twins here, but it seems to still be going off to do something."

They paused.

"Also, it kidnapped us, and presumably other people, so there has to be a bit more to that story that we know about."

Landon waved over at Charlie and Asteri with a friendly smile before Magic started explaining what they knew. His eyes lit up with interest, and he perked up, looking around.

"Hold on, we're- this is- we're on a ship!?" He was able to get out. "That makes so much sense! I was wondering about the style of the... Building. Which, I guess, isn't actually a building."

He trailed off quietly, now analyzing the rest of Magic's explanation.

"That'd be nice," Jaron mumbled. "I've, spent a long time working on it, and I'm kinda tired of failing."

Crouching down, one paw planted on the ground and the other on the chair, Kendrik set his head on Jaron's shoulder; Jaron smiled faintly.



"Uh, if we do figure out the whole story, that won't mess with the multiverse either?" Taber said, biting his lip as he looked over at Magic. "Because that, uh, doesn't sound good."

Nadira suddenly stiffened in her spot.

Codix turned to look over at his best friend, and even Signia stopped wandering around the room when she noticed Nadira's change in posture. "I have access to the data now," Nadira said. "I'm checking through the logs."

"What have you found?" Codix asked.

"Not much," she admitted. "Most of the files are corrupted. I've found a few files that are mostly untouched. They..."

She glanced over in Signia's direction.

"What?" Signia demanded.

"...They weren't looking for you," Nadira hesitantly replied. "Your name is barely surfacing in the logs. Countless reports - some filed by the captain, and others filed by the rest o the crew - are there, but the names 'Asteri' and 'Signia' only come up a handful of times."

"That doesn't make any sense," Signia protested. "Of course they were looking for us! That's what started the war."

There was a pause, and a silence fell upon the room.

"...What were they looking for?" Codix asked, his tone nervous.

"They were looking for a planet," Nadira replied, her gaze returning to the console. "...And I think they found it."


"It shouldn't," Magic reassured him. "It wasn't my decision to come here - I got trapped, just like the ship trapped you guys. I can't even leave. I tried when I first got here, but the ship's not letting me go."

Kendrik gaped. "A planet?" he spluttered. "The f*** d'ya wanna go searchin' for one of those for? And where's it gone?"



"Oh no!" Taber said. "Why is it doing that? Does the ship want us to do something?"

"I don't know," Nadira replied, looking back at Kendrik. "The ship's drifted away from it, and the logs don't say why they were looking for it in the first place."


"I think it wants us to complete it's mission," Magic said, looking around at the walls of the ship. "Ships can be funny like that sometimes, especially if anything interfered with how it runs."

Kendrik stared at the wires attaching Nadira to the computer. "Is there anythin' ya can do ta get the ship headin' there? Dunno the f*** they were doin', but it sounds like the one place we can find. 'specially now that we're in the middle of f***ing nowhere."



The wolf bit his lip, following Magic's gaze. "How can we do that?" he said. "I'm not sure any of us knows how to sail this ship, and it seems kinda broken? I don't know if we can fix it."