Frost stepped down from the table and surveyed his two new prizes. He hadn't intended to capture the annoying brat who had been starting to gain fame among pirates, but this was not unwelcome either.

"Look how far you've fallen, Barke. Or should I say, Draken Alphonse...former Third Master of the Hunters." Frost looked around the spacious kitchen and laughed.

"So this is how you've been living, eh? With a mansion, a bar, and servants. Was your failed life as a pirate worth it?" His tone was cold and piercing.

Jackie kept his senses focused on the man standing behind him, and slowly turned towards the person who had been calling himself Barke.

"Who...are you?" He asked, almost certain Barke would say it was all a trick, that he had planned it all along to capture Jackie. But his response was far from that.

If nothing else, his eyes showed sincerity. "I'm sorry. Even your parents didn't know my real name. I abandoned it all. I didn't want to do what the Hunters were doing, and left."

The man with the iron bar laughed, running his hand through his ridiculous hair.

"Once you join the Hunters, you're here to stay. We don't take cowards here. If you run, we'll find you and make your life hell!" He twirled his weapon around casually, almost weightlessly.

Frost turned his head towards Barke. "I wish it hadn't turned out like this, Draken. I looked upto you when I was a kid. I really did. It hurts to see you this way." Jackie was amazed to hear true sadness in his voice as he said this.

Barke raised his hand to the mask that covered his face, and gently pulled it off. Jackie watched as he revealed his face, slowly opening his eyes without the shield he had been using to block out his identity.

He was at least in his mid fifties, and had a long scar that ran across his face from his left jaw across his nose to just above his right eye. There were plenty of lines that ran across his dark skin, which deepened as he tightened his lips and lowered his eyes sadly.

"I wish it had turned out differently too, boy. Maybe I wouldn't have had to go through the pain I did if I had forced myself to continue hunting people."

His expression changed from one of sadness to one of firm determination as he looked at Frost. "But I just couldn't. Artifacts and heists are one thing. A person's life is completely different. I couldn't stand to watch the Hunters become a group which murdered people for money. But, well, that's exactly what they've become now."

He pointed at Frost. "Isn't it?"

The man didn't reply.

Barke sighed, and shook his head regretfully. "I know what's going to happen next. You do too, don't you?" He asked Frost.

"You're coming with me, Draken. And afterwards, you will be taken to a judge in London where your fate will be decided. You know as well as I do that a pirate won't get off lightly."

Barke laughed at this. He knew perfectly well that the Guildmaster wasn't an idiot. He definitely understood what would happen to him. "You know as well as I do that I'll probably be killed before I step foot in a court. There's no justice for a black man. Only death."

Jackie's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to protest. "Barke, you-"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Barke raised his hand and cut off Jackie.

"Frost. If you want to take me, go ahead. But by all means, leave this boy alone." Jackie was stunned by this statement from Barke. He wasn't bluffing or planning anything, he could tell. He had already decided his fate.

Frost stood there silently for a moment, his mask hiding any emotion. "....Barke. That boy has a bounty of two million gold. You have one of two and a half million. Give me one good reason why I should abandon two million gold here." His voice betrayed his distrust as he spoke.

Barke kept his eyes on Frost.

"Honour."

"Honour?"

Barke smiled, thinking about the memories he had of when Frost was a child. Of when he had saved Jackie from pirates and tried to feed him numerous times whenever his parents were busy elsewhere.

I miss those days.

"I helped raise this boy, Frost. Just as I raised you when you were a child. Perhaps it's fate coming into play, but I left both of you when you were six. When I left the Guild, though, it was because of my own selfish reasons. But I had to leave Jackie to save his life. To protect him. I had to."

"Maybe this is selfish too, but I want him to have a future because I don't want to die with regrets. So listen to a doomed man's last wish, Frost. I'll repent for leaving you with my life, and I want to make up for abandoning Jackie by giving him freedom."

At this, Jackie collapsed to his knees beside Barke, his head bowed down in grief. "You...you have nothing to apologize for, Barke. I never thought for a moment that it was your fault."

Barke lowered himself to Jackie and placed his hand on his head.

"I wish it hadn't ended up like this. But you know, I'm happy. I got to meet the two boys I looked after. You've grown up."

He looked over at the Guildmaster, who now had his back turned to them. With a glowing smile, he said, "Frost isn't as ice cold as his Ley might make him seem. He's always meant well, even as a toddler."

As Jackie raised his head, Barke nodded. "If you two had met when you were kids...maybe I'd have raised you both as my own children." His voice carried an unbearable amount of regret despite the encouraging smile he gave Jackie.

"Hey, Frost. Can we take him get outta here already? All this emotion in the air is making me nauseous." The man with the iron bar suddenly perked up, snapping the two men back to the present.

A quiet clicking sound was the only response to the man's question as Frost undid a pair of iron cuffs hanging at his belt. "Draken...I'll agree to your last wish."

Barke closed his eyes. "I know."

And so one final time, he looked at Jackie and offered him the odd mask he had been wearing since they had met. Jackie looked at the mask in confusion and asked, "The mask? But why? Didn't someone make that for you?"

"Well...yes. And it certainly means a lot to me. But a mask your father made would mean much more to you, Jackie." He replied.

"M-My dad made this?" At that moment, Jackie was uncertain of how to feel. Even though it was his dad who made it, Barke had known him for a much longer time than him.

"Are you sure you want me to have this?" He asked. Barke nodded, and pushed it into Jackie's hands.

He gave the mask a long, hard look. "Your father...he really was a bad craftsman. But even in that crude work, his personality remains imprinted through the smile. He's never been fond of horror stories or legends of demonic creatures."

He stood as Frost approached him with the cuffs. When the cuffs were finally closed over his hands, Barke began laughing.

"I'm really glad! I'm really glad I got to meet you, Jackie!" He cried, and stumbled forward as Frost pushed him out of the kitchen.

The two housekeepers, who had apparently heard everything, stood at the doorway of the home as Barke was escorted out.

He stopped and turned to them. "This house is yours now, you two. Tell Callus what happened, and that he's the head of the bar now."

The two looked so distraught, Barke couldn't bear it. He reached over with his chained hands and wiped the tears off the face of Juila.

"Don't cry for me. I'm not worth that." He told her with a gentleness that didn't suit his stern, scarred face. It was almost as though he was angry with himself that he had made her weep for him.

Her husband, Kalan, shook his head. "You gave us a new life. You saved us. If anybody here is worth her tears, it's you, Barke."

Although there was no response to this, a small appreciative smile did appear on Barke's face as he stepped outside the mansion he had lived in for 15 years.

Jackie watched them go with a growing uneasiness. He had already conquered the sadness and moved on to the next issue at hand.

Why would Guildmaster Frost of all people be active somewhere like this? Why was he here in the first place? One of the most powerful people in the world definitely wouldn't come to a garbage dump like this on a vacation.

He didn't understand any of it. And he wasn't sure he wanted to try to anymore.