Having examined the crystal and having assured it to be in safe, working order, the guards quickly escorted the elders, royalty, and pirates alike out of the room and shepherded them back to the great throne room of the magnificent palace.

Elodie wondered for how long that she would be dragged along in all of this. But she supposed in some ways, she didn't want to know the answer yet. After all, she had likely outlived her usefulness, at least to the Manoans.

Captain Hawkins, she was learning, was far less straightforward in his villainy than she'd originally thought.

He lingered against one of the pillars, away from where the elders and King Alcor coalesced.

King Alcor sat in the same marble throne that his forefathers created, with Carina sitting awkwardly at his feet. Elodie wanted to help her, to break free, to take her away from the place that she'd never wanted to be, that she'd fought so hard to escape.

How had all roads led here anyway?

Carina, for her part, kept a stoic face, her head held just as high as her brother's.

"We have done it!" King Alcor smiled, looking almost childlike in how he smiled as he took the throne. "We have found our lost city and returned it and its gifts to the world!"

A mild cheer and round of applause came from the advising elders and the soldiers. The pirates among them remained silent.

"We should celebrate—today should be made a national holiday for all under the Manoan flag, a day of homecoming," King Alcor continued.

"Hear, hear!"

"And all here today should be proud for how they have contributed to saving our people, our nation." King Alcor smiled down at all.

"And now, the real work begins." One of the advisors turned to King Alcor. "It is time we began on our assault on the world. We'll start with Cartagena, with Aubrais and Oyeshima and Albion."

"What do you mean?" For the first time, King Alcor looked uncertain, shifting uncomfortably on his throne.

"We must destroy all competition, sire!"

It dawned on the young king visibly. "You don't mean. . ."

General Archenar stepped forward. "Sire, if I may, Manoa has not been an active power within the Sea of Gales for quite some time. Some blood must be shed, a noble sacrifice to assure that the rest will concede swiftly as we reassert our power over these archipelagos."

King Alcor leaned forward, resting his pointed chin on his hand. "What would you have destroyed, in the name of this end?"

General Archenar blinked. "Surely your Majesty understands the best tactics of warfare, yes? The capitols, Your Majesty, the capitol cities of these fools' empires would be the best place to start. By decimating the very symbols of power within the hearts of the empires, taking with it all their troublesome bureaucracy and pauper-kings, their militaries will be greatly weakened. From there, we can come in and begin making our demands."

Elodie could not help herself—she gasped aloud.

She thought of what Carina had done to the Foxtrot near the beginning of her voyage.

King Alcor shifted uncomfortably again, and for the first time, Elodie wondered if Carina's brother knew what he was in for when he accepted the crown. Did he know all that would come with it?

"I suppose, if you think it best. . ."

"Surely you are not so much a fool to wish to rule over ashes." Captain Hawkins's voice cut through as he moved from where he'd been leaning against the pillar.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Surely you are not so stupid as to forget your place, pirate," General Archenar snarled as he reached down for his sword. "You are in the presence of a king, soon to be emperor of all the Sea of Gales and what lies beyond. The greatest, the most divine of all kings. Remember yourself."

There was a flash in Captain Hawkins's eyes, the instant regret.

Not for saying what he had, no. Regret for what had started far earlier, Elodie knew.

"Felix and the Flying Gang and I made a promise long ago—no more empires." He drew his cutlass, quick as a storm, but General Archenar was faster, throwing his own sword as the other soldiers ushered the elders and King Alcor and Carina out of the room.

The sword landed in Captain Hawkins's center, pinning him to the white marble and painting it red.

The pirates who had been holding Elodie's arms behind her back had let her go, perhaps more in shock than anything as the General approached the fallen Pirate King, whispered something in his ear, and removed the blade.

The Pirate King let out an agonizing howl as General Archenar surveyed them all from where he stood on the crimson-painted marble floor.

"This is what should happen, should you decide to betray the Emperor of Manoa, or fail to swear your fealty to him."

With that, General Archenar disappeared, and it was as if the world came into motion again.

Everyone rushed to Captain Hawkins, but many stopped right before him, as Jade and Ventus were the first to make it to him.

"Father," Ventus said, as he lifted his father's head.

Jade took his blood-smeared hand, her green eyes wide and wild in a way Elodie had not seen them go before, but she somehow recognized all the same. Her full lips opened, but no sound came out.

"My children," Captain Hawkins coughed. "My wish—it was for you to lead them—I'm truly sorry there wasn't more time, more—"

"Save your breath, Father, we forgive you." Ventus glanced to Jade, who nodded, hurriedly.

"Lead them, no more empires, make it right—" Captain Hawkins coughed yet again, his voice growing weaker.

Elodie had dropped by Ventus and Jade's side, unsure of how to regard the man who had been her enemy.

To his other side came Keira and Elizabeth.

"Go to Felix now," Keira said, squatting beside him. "I'm sure he'll be waiting for you."

"Guide my children, make sure—"

"I will," Elizabeth answered. "I always have."

Captain Hawkins looked to her silently. He managed somehow to nod, and to reach for his hat. His eyes went glassy and his body stilled as he managed to place the hat in Ventus's hands.

The Pirate King was dead.

Elodie was the first to pierce the quiet.

"Are you alright?" Elodie knew it a stupid question, but she knew no other to ask, in the face of such helplessness, as powerful as the hurricane.

Ventus did not answer her in word, but he placed his father's hat above his head and rose. In that moment, Elodie could picture his father as her father had known him, a young member of the Flying Gang, a revolutionary young gentleman ready to take on the skies and seas by storm.

"You over there, take the body back to the Golden Drake." He pointed at the two pirates who had held Elodie through the taking of Limuria. "His widow will want the body, to perform the proper rites."

For half a second, Elodie worried that they would do nothing. Or worse, laugh in his face. After all, how could a boy, a bastard son of the man that they loved who they all believed to be a curse on their fleet command them now?

And yet, without question or complaint, they came forward, doing as they were asked.

Ventus looked around again, seeming more sure of himself this time. He picked up his father's cutlass, dropped on the floor carelessly. "I know that you did not choose me, and that my father has no right to ask of you to follow me. But I ask that you do all the same. My father believes—believed—in the mission of the Flying Gang. No more empires."

"No more empires."

The quiet chant softly echoed around the abandoned throne room.

Ventus nodded, his voice growing louder. "We know where the crystal is, we know that its destruction will bring the whole thing down."

His eyes then found Elodie's. "And we know how to destroy it."

This was what the Lady of Desolation had blessed her for.

She nodded.

Ventus glanced around. "Will one of you return Miss Elodie Fleetwood her blade?"

One of the pirates removed the selkie blade from his back-sheathe and he handed to Elodie. It felt right, to hold the selkie blade in her hand again, to wield that all-too-familiar power.

Ventus took her hand, raising both of theirs in the air. "We will bring down this empire, and with it, all others will follow!"

"No more empires!" Elodie shouted, thrilling in how her voice carried and echoed, in the roar that came afterwards.

She looked to Ventus and he grinned.

In another lifetime, they might have been a Pirate King and Queen in that moment.

But she could see in how he looked to the door through which the soldiers had ushered Alcor and Carina, that they had both gone their own ways.

But for now, at least, they would be joined in one glorious final battle.

"But first, let's rescue Carina one more time," Elodie suggested.