They weren’t on the ship long before reaching the edge of the Veil, rolling black clouds mixing with the dark night below. Kit pulled the Pigeon a few hundred meters out from the rim, turning back to everyone in the bridge. Isshin, Ash, Ren, and Aeris all sat or leaned nearby, Aeris snug next to Ren as usual.
“Last chance, is this the route we want to take?.” They said, looking to each of them in turn. They all nodded, Ash making adjustments to his rifle while Isshin simply tapped his foot in time with the engine’s hum.
“Hayward said he would have Sunny executed as soon as he got back. I don’t know if he made it out but… better too early than too late in this case.” Ren said, surmising everything they needed in one go, there was no time to waste.
Kit shook their head and grabbed the controls. “Onward to victory, I guess.”
They hit the throttle, making the rest of them lurch briefly as the ship took a sharp ascent, masts and sails folding back as they picked up speed. Aeris squawked angrily and dug her talons into the seat, making Ash shout.
“Would all of you shut up I can’t see shit!” Kit shouted at them as the Pigeon broke into the murky clouds. The turbulence intensified, the rolling masses of pollution pressing on the window as if trying to get inside. Kit was concentrating hard, desperately clutching the controls and monitoring meters on the dash. “Climbing, climbing…”
Something bumped them from behind, making everyone whip forward. Isshin somehow stayed completely still on his feet, arms crossed and legs planted.
“The fuck was that?” Ash shouted, almost throwing himself down the stairs to reach his gunner seat in the back. Ren saw him disappear quickly and the display glow flood the dark hallway.
“Don’t know, not stopping to find out.” Kit was breathless, desperately clutching at the controls while still flipping buttons with the other. “Keep moving, keep moving. Almost there.”
Another hit from behind, a little harder this time. Ren craned his neck as far as he could to the window as Ash began to shout and pull the trigger on whatever had hit them again.
“Holy SHIT!” He screamed, the only thing intelligible over the bursts of charged electricity pulsing from his guns.
“What the hell is it back there?” Kit screamed.
“I don’t know I can’t see shit!” Ash said, desperately searching the murky dark behind them from his seat. Hands clutched joysticks desperately, finger on the trigger and ready for the aggressor to pop up again. “It was like… I don’t know like a really ugly fish!“
He was cut off by another hit, bumping them again as they could hear Ash firing off the gauss cannons. He was shouting now, “FASTER!”
“How could it be a fish!” Isshin shouted back at Ash, craning to see out of the bridge window.
“I didn’t pollute the fuckin’ atmosphere how should I know?” Ash shouted back, “Faster please, Kit. I don’t want to try and see it again!”
“Going as fast as we can!” Kit pushed the throttle even further, almost begging it to break past the small metal holding it in place and jet them faster. Ash was still firing when they broke free of the cloud cover into an inky night sky, stars twinkling in the heavens above.
“Holy shit.” Kit sighed, easing off the throttle a little.
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“Don’t stop!” Ash screamed from the back as they heard desperate firing again. Ren craned himself back, desperately trying to see what could be chasing them. They all saw the end of the Pigeon fly just out of reach as a massive creature breached the edge of the Veil, leaping above the clouds, jaws wide open in a toothless abyss. Ren caught one of it’s milky white eyes as it missed, subsiding into the Veil and giving up now that the prey had left it’s territory.
Poe came running from the galley, breathless.
“Everyone good out here?” She asked as Ash returned from the gunner seat, reclaiming his seat in the back of the bridge.
“Peachy,” He said, rolling his eyes. “Didn’t think the stories about creatures in the Veil were true.”
“They used to put ‘here there be monsters’ in unexplored areas on maps. Guess they weren’t completely off base.” Isshin mused, still standing in place. Ren just looked at him in wonder, how could he be so aloof during all of that? His feet hadn’t even moved! He must have noticed Ren staring, looking at his feet before giving a little ‘oh’ and pressing a button on his brace. He smiled at Ren, “Magboots.”
“We through the worst of it now?” Ash asked, still shaking from the encounter. “Never want to see one of those again. Looked like a goddamn demon out of some old book. Kaiju shit. Like, I’ve seen the Fukushima turtles and that thing? That thing was at least thirty times their size. No thank you, never again please.”
Isshin clapped him on the shoulder. “You did good though, we got through.”
“You’re an ass.” Ash rolled his eyes and sat back, cradling his rifle and closing his eyes. “I’m taking a damn nap until we get there.”
“Everyone might as well get some rest.” Kit said, flipping switches on the consoles in front and above them as they made adjustments to the ship. “Avarice scheduling shows they’re a little ahead of schedule. We’ll intercept the labor ark in about two hours if we stay on path.”
“Night then,” Isshin said, leaning against the wall and pressing the buttons on his magboots again. After a moment he was already snoring lightly.
Ash was in disbelief, unamused by the aloof man they had brought on the ship. “How the hell is he Sunny’s brother?”
“They got split in the womb,” Poe laughed, “One got the serenity, one got the chaos.”
She kept snickering to herself as she walked down the hallway and back to the galley. Aeris followed behind, no doubt looking for any food she could steal or mice they may have picked up in port. Ren sat back, watching through the window as the Veil rolled below them, mixing with the night sky.
Kit looked through the windshield of the bridge aweing at the stars twinkling above. They let out a small gasp as everything set in.
“You saw this all the time?” They asked him, looking back to where he was still sitting on the bridge. “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen stars before.”
“Really?” Ren had never thought about those that live below the Veil missing out on so much. There were so many things he had seen over the past week and realized he wasn’t the outsider anymore when they crossed the Veil. “So people under the Veil don’t usually cross over it much? Like school or anything never took you above the Veil?”
Kit just snorted at this, Ash chuckling in his seat, muttering to himself, “‘took you above the Veil’ like it’s a damn fieldtrip. Goddamn you crack me up, bro.” He kept laughing as he got up and made his way back to his bunk for a nap, leaving Isshin standing asleep at the back of the bridge.
Ren just looked at Kit, still not understanding. They looked at him in turn, smile softening to something like pity almost. Ren’s face burned hot.
“People born below the Veil don’t usually cross it. Not without being in either big trouble or big fortune.” They said, looking at Ren now with a sorry smile. “This is a first for all of us but Robin.”
Ren was silent looking at them now. Kit leaned back in their chair, putting hands behind their head and looking out of the massive windshield at the shining sky.
“Beautiful out here though.” They said, marveling at all the bright stars above. “Can’t believe this is what everyone saw at one time.”
“After being under the Veil for just a few days… it’s insane what you miss out on that I never even imagined I would miss out on. Really makes you wonder how humanity let things go so far to shit.” Ren replied, moving his way to a seat closer, looking and seeing the stars more than he ever had. “It’s beautiful.”
“Greedy bastards doing what greedy bastards always do.” Kit replied, letting out a sigh. “Bleed people dry then leave them to clean up the mess. Sounds about right. Now instead of a sky filled with stars we get an ocean filled with fuckery.”
Ren couldn’t help but laugh, Kit smiled back at him. “Never heard that one above the Veil?
“Can’t say I have,” He said, wiping away tears of laughter. “Most up there are pretty proper with everything. Don’t hear a whole lot of talk like that.”
“Well, you’re a pirate now so let it fly.” Kit laughed, turning back to the stars. Their breath caught as if they wanted to say something before going silent.
Silence.
The stars seemed to grow brighter as Ren couldn’t look away. He only noticed after a few seconds that Kit hadn’t finished their sentence and looked back to them. The light of the stars shone on their face, every teartrop reflecting millions of galaxies within itself.
“Don’t get killed up there, please?”
“Huh?” He was taken aback a little by this, not expecting them to be so open. “I think I’ll be alright with Isshin.”
“I know but just… be careful.” Kit said, hesitating and wiping a forearm across their eyes before going further. “I’ve gotten used to having you around, okay?”
They grew red, looking away from Ren as he felt his own face burn hotter than every star above and breath come to a sudden, whiplash stop in his throat.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” He smiled, trying to reassure them. They simply smiled back before turning to gaze again at the cosmos. Ren watched them, and in turn, watched new eyes take in the infinite, boundless sky above for the very first time. He found himself crying, not out of any kind of hurt or sadness for anything but out of… joy. Pure happiness for Kit seeing what they’ve yearned for their entire life, a glimpse at the heavens beyond the Veil that had been snatched from them before they had a chance to even reach for it. All he could do was smile as the tears rolled, Kit resting their hand on his as they gazed into the endless stars of skies and tears.