Ricardo walked limping to the stairs of the helm area with his plate of food, with a lot of effort he started to climb the stairs, when he went up he noticed a boy sitting, leaning on the rail, eating alone, it seemed that he had been crying because his face was quite stained.

Armin, noticing that Ricardo had gone up the stairs, wiped his face with his shirt, he didn't want to let anyone see him in such a sorry state. The situation on the ship was a mess and in order to survive he had been forced to do many dishonorable things, which he buried deep in his heart.

Ricardo limped over to Armin's side, sat down and began to eat in silence,

Being so close to the young sailor, Ricardo noticed that Armin had several bruises all over his body and the scarf he wore around his neck tried to hide the marks of two hands that tried to strangle him not long ago.

His hands looked normal by sailor standards, but a couple of cuts could be found protruding from some bandages he had on his wrists.

'Poor unfortunate soul' Ricardo seemed to think silently, while he ate his plate.

Armin, noticing that Ricardo didn't want to talk either, understood that the situation was also quite complicated for the other party.

The young sailor wanted to give him some words of encouragement, but he did not find those kinds of words in his heart, that he was more concerned with hiding the past, than living the present.

So only the noise of two men eating and the waves of the ocean could be heard in the helm area.

"It's not long now, isn't it...?" Ricardo asked somewhat listlessly, leaving his plate and getting up to look at the ocean.

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"..." The young man in a sailor looked at Ricardo's back in silence.

"I miss my family, I hope I can go back home when all this is over, I was wrong looking to be a sailor..." Ricardo continued speaking, while silence answered for Armin.

'This trip was the worst mistake of our lives, wasn't it, Ricardo? ... 'Thought Armin looking at the young boy's back, but he couldn't find the desire or the courage to make those words come out of his mouth at this moment

*Sif* ... *Sif* Tears began to stain Ricardo's face.

"But I'm also afraid to go home... I don't know if I can see my father's eyes... After everything, I had to live on this shitty ship..." Ricardo said, crying as he looked at the reflected stars in the ocean.

'Yes! ! … Yes we can! No one will ever find out what happened here, and we will live a normal life, where we can look at everyone with pride, Ricardo!' Armin thought, the words got stuck in his mouth, they tried to come out, but only the young sailor's tears answered from Ricardo's back.

"The truth is that whenever I start to look at the ocean, it makes me want to jump and let the waves of the sea drag the problems of my life, does the same happen to you, Armin?" . Ricardo said, leaning his chest against the ship's rail and closing his eyes with tears.

The young boy spread his arms as wide as he could as if trying to embrace the ocean breeze that hit the ship and let the waves of the sea rumble through his ears, in silence, trying to enjoy the ocean.

"No! ... I want to move on! ... Let's move on, Ricardo!" Armin yelled, finally able to get the words out of his heart.

Then he got up and ran to Ricardo's back, hugging her and crying on his back, he continued: "We can't lower our arms that easily, I know we're going through a difficult time, but it's not long now, less and less. "

"When all this is over, if you're afraid to go home, you can come with me, I'm sure the grandparents will treat you like another grandchild, but you have to keep fighting, Ricardo!" The sailor was crying, hugging Ricardo's back.

Ricardo turned around and hugged Armin tightly, as if wanting him not to abandon him, as if he were trying not to feel alone again, while he murmured to him crying:

"Thank you, Armin, you don't know how much I needed to hear those words from someone else, you're right, I'm sure we'll get to port safely, and we'll be able to rebuild our lives"

"No, thanks to you... Ricardo... I just want to forget everything..." Armin cried in Ricardo's arms, feeling that for every second that he spent hugging him, his heart managed to let go of a little of the pain that he had accumulated these days.