Discovery [StarMech and Sigr]

"I..." Alex mumbled. Alyssa was behaving like nothing had happened? Wait... He didn't fell asleep and dreamed of her, right? Nor it was an hallucination caused by his feverish lust. He had seen her eye, he had heard the door. Didn't he? Alex was already doubting even that when Leon placed a hand on his shoulder and offered to hear him.

"It's... probably nothing, maybe a dream?" was Alex could offer as answer, not entirely sure of what had happened and how much of such a strange thing should he tell him. In any case, before Alex could decide or Leon could push any question further, the trio heard screaming voices outside. But that was impossible, unless...

The three of them rushed outside, expecting pirates or any kind of menace, but what was there was way less impressive. In a makeshift boat, no bigger than a bathtub, a couple of people were making signs, seeking help. Their boat seemed to be about to plunge into the ground far below, so they rescued them and the eggshell of a ship they were in.

Grateful and relieved, the married couple were still showing signs of worry. For their panicked description, a boat of pirates, no bigger than Leon's, were kidnapping the capable teenagers of a nomad tribe that traveled the lands. They had captured half a dozen at least, and the last one was the sixteen year old daughter of the couple, Sara.

As they said, Sara was a capable engineer, that could make something of almost nothing, including the small vessel they were using to look for help when they found the unlikely trio. If with the poor materials of that tribe Sara had managed to sort out a working ship she was indeed talented, but her gifts and life would gone to waste like the ones of the other kids if the pirates aimed to keep them as slaves.

"We will help!" Alex hurried to answer in front of such injustice, but he wasn't sure if they indeed could. "We will help, right?" he turned the oath into question, looking at Alyssa and Leon. "If their boat is no bigger than this one and they are alone... we can fight them. We have to" he said. They were no heroes, just survivors, but a fire burned inside that moved Alex to face such villainy.

Their chat was interrupted by the plead of distress. The trio quickly headed outside to find the two survivors begging for help. They needed someone to rescue their daughter from a band of pirates. By the sound of their operation and size, Leon could guess it wasn't part of the Obsidian Bone Gang; Possibly some other way smaller group of pirates not affiliated with those psychos...

He didn't say anything of accepting the request until Alex butted in, wanting to go save this Sara and the other kidnapped teens. usually, the black-haired man was not one to risk his neck for a reward-less job, but seeing the emotion and courage in the boy's eye stopped him from declining. It was nice to see his heart was in the right place, as well as seeing him off that funk he had this morning. His willingness to help, it was really exciting...

"Heh, guess we can't back up from it. besides, leaving all those people trapped there would be heartless...Sure, we are in."

"Oh thank you!" Exclaimed the woman. "Bless you all!"

"The pirates are not very far ahead. They have a settlement on a a small camp by an open field..." The husband exclaimed. "Please. Save our precious Sara!"

With everything settled and the couple safe. Leon headed to the control room and pressed some buttons. Down at the Engine Room, the Aeon Crystal shifted from its yellow aura to blue; Deactivating the ship's stasis field and allowing it to start moving across the sea of clouds. The vessel started to descend as a field appeared. A series of tents appeared into view. By the smoke coming from one, it appeared to be filled with people. there was their target.

"Alex. Alyssa. We have to sneak into that base and find where they keep all those people trapped. I won't sugar-coat it: It is really probable that we will have to fight..." Leon said bluntly as he picked up his blade and a gun. "Are you sure you're up to this? IT can be dangerous..."

"As long as Alex goes. I'll follow him." Said Alyssa in her serious tone...

"I have an idea" Alex said with a smile. He liked having Leon's trust and Alyssa covering his back. "Finding them and keeping them safe is the priority so they aren't used as hostages so..." Alex explained his plan, it was risky but it was better than just rushing the camp guns blazing.

...

"Release them at once!" Alex changed through the camp like a stupid kid, armed with a stick. Flags with a blue skull waved all around, and soon he was surrounded by pirates wearing the Cerulean Skull insignia. "Leave us alone! What have we done to you?" Alex said, continuing his role as a brat with a penchant for stupid heroics, something that truth be told, wasn't far away from what he was.

Pirates laughed. Pirates roughed him up. Pirates threw him in a tent.

"Who are you?" a redhead asked once the pirates were gone, they had dropped him with the rest of the prisoners, as expected. "You are not one of us" she added, not recognizing him as one of the teens in the tribe. It was somewhat easy to spot too, their clothing style was more practical and austere than his, and the bunch gathered there had a fairer skin than him. It was mere arrogance that the pirates didn't think about that, or the plan would have gone to waste.

"I'm are here to rescue all of you" Alex said with a smile, even if he was tied up and prone. "You must be Sara, right?" her red curls were just like her mother's, yellow eyes looking at him in disbelief. "Your parents sent us" added.

"But you are tied-" Sara started to protest, baffled at the boy's bravado, but a short sword cutting through the back of the tent interrupted her. Alyssa stepped in, cutting Alex's bonds with one of the swords Leon gifted him and helped to release the rest of the prisoners.

"See? I told you it was going to work" Alex gloated, recovering his swords and the brand new bow from Alyssa. "Now we have to get out, is Leon ready to pick us up?" asked about the last part of the plan. He was a little bit bruised here and there, and sported a cut on the lower lip, but they had managed to avoid a direct fight for now. That was it, now they had to get out the tent unnoticed, hop into the ship as it swiftly passed by and they would be free.

Of course, as he had read on some old book, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

((Alyssa had a blade already. Remember the one hidden in her leg at the beginning.))

Alyssa seemed really worry on Alex's few injuries, but forced herself to pay no mind, as she had to focus on the plan at hand.

"Leon is ready with the ship. I shall catch their attention.." Said the automaton, taking her blade she rushed outside at incredible speeds. The pirates catching eye of her and following, but unable to hit her or even reach her due to hos fast she was going.

Leon approached on top of a long rope ladder leading up to the floating ship. "All aboard." He smirked. the prisoners taking the clue and quickly climbing.

However, a duo of pirate goons started to approach them with blades of their own.

"Alex look out!" Leon exclaimed.

(yeah, but somebody had to hold Alex's weapons while he executed the silly plan unarmed)

"Alyssa wait-" Alex tried to say, but she had already bolted, getting rid of several pirates at ludicrous speeds. She would be fine. She was going to be fine. Alex had to repeat to himself that Alyssa knew what she was doing, that there was no way those lowlifes would harm her, but he still worried about her well being.

Even so, he had no time to daydream. "Go, your parents are there" he said to Sara, making her react and help with the rest of the prisoners in mild shock with the quick succession of events. He was watching their backs, making sure that everyone got to safety, but a couple of thugs had another idea.

Leon's warning was welcome, but it wouldn't replace his lack of training with the swords or lack of habit of using his new bow. Even then, one of the pirates fell to a blue arrow on the thigh, getting him out of the fight, but the other was too close to take another shot. Brandishing two swords gave Alex the advantage to parry and attack at the same time, but also complicated things more as he knew nothing about hand to hand combat.

The pirate was no fencing master and was little more than a kidnapping bully, but experience was in his favor and Alex took a couple of grazing cuts into an arm and his side. If he wanted to get the kids to safety, he was going to improve fast, and soon he used his natural agility to compensate. With both warriors lacking technique, it turned into an ugly brawl, and after a close clash, the pirate felled, stabbed in the chest.

Alex stopped there for a moment, looking at the blood pooling under the pirate's corpse, tinting red his hands and clothes.

"Alright everyone is on board! Alex, Alyssa up the ladder now!" Leon exclaimed As he could see more pirates heading to their directions. All prisoners were now safe inside the Azuria, but now our two heroes had to make it out of there.

Alyssa arrived before blasting an orb of energy at her chasers, sending them back into the air. The blast seemed concussive in nature, so they did not seem much harmed.

the robot girl noticed the distressed look in the boy's face after stabbing the man and simply grab him by the hip before leaping into the ladder and climbing up with him no problem. Leon did as well and pulled back said ladder before heading to the controls and hightailing out of the pirate's range.

--------

Hours later, the group had managed to return every single person back to their ship or home, only leaving out Sara and her family.

"Thank you so much!!" Exclaimed the woman, trying to hold back her tears of joy as she hugged her daughter.

"We owe you everything for saving our daughter." Said the husband.
"Hey hey, it's fine. We said we would do it with no reward and we are gonna go with that. You lot just try to stay out of troubled winds, okay?"

The family nodded as they hopped upon their own vessel and traveler away. The trio of heroes watching them go. Once off of sight, Leon turned to the young silver-haired boy and asked, "Alex. Mind following me for a second? Need to tell you something. Alyssa, can you go check on the map to see where's the closest floating city? It's in the control room..."

The robot nodded and left. The two guys were now on their own as Leon motioned Alex to follow him into his quarters.

The next hours happened like a blur. One moment he was getting grabbed on board by Alyssa, the next he was being thanked for their help. Alex nodded and answered, forcing a brief smile after every greeting, hearing only half of it. His wounds were tended, but he couldn't even remember by who. All he had in his mind was the dead pirate, the one who he killed.

He had the notion of doing it, but now it felt like watching it from outside his body, like someone else had did it. Alex said goodbye to everyone, even if Sara was looking at the ship with admiration she said she had to go, but all the time was absent, looking troubled.

In a given moment he heard Leon talking directly to him, snapping Alex out of his shock. "Fine..." he mumbled affirmatively, following Leon without thinking much of what he could want.

Leon let him into his cabin, before offering him his bed to sit upon. Sitting next to him, the older man sighed and spoke, "Look, I can tell by your look. You're shocked of that pirate you stabbed."

Placing a hand on his shoulder he continued, "It is harsh, I know. I...I didn't grew up with much choice either. In fact one could say it was even worst. I know you're scared, but you gotta remember that you were doing it ins elf-defense; In fact, your plan made it so we could have avoided a lot of tragedy; Both sides included..."

"When i was a kid I was stuck with a really bad group of people. I had no choice on where to go, who to harm...it wasn't pretty. Hell, you insisted in doing this for zero reward; that's more noble than i could ever be..."

He smiled and looked at him directly, "I'm not the best at pep-talks but what I'm trying to say is that you're a smart and courageous boy, so don't let your fears cloud your judgement, okay? Don't let that blood turn you away of anything, even less go somewhere you don't want to. that's why i gave you two the choice of following me or not."

He sighed, "Heh, here I am rambling and rambling. Just remember whenever you're trouble, you can ask me for help, ok?"

He stood up from the bed only to accidentally slip on a rolling empty bottle. "ghaa!!" Leon exclaimed as he fell back on the bed and on top of Alex. The two locked eyes and their bodies were pressed together; Leon's size kind of overpowering the boy's weight.

He couldn't help but to look at him all over. The silvery hair, the adorable eyes, that fragile but at the same time well toned body. That charm and innocent that just drove him w--

Leon quickly got up, blushing and coughing. " A-anyways, let's go to the control room and check on Alyssa. She probably read the map like 5 times by now..."

Leon's room wouldn't be much different from his own if it wasn't for the clutter that ruled over the whole ship. It brightened Alex's mood a little bit knowing that such a mess was caused by the same man that brought some order into his life. Leon didn't say many things that Alex didn't already know, but even then he needed to hear them, he needed confirmation. It was clear that the event would disturb him for a time, but he was no longer shocked by it, turned into a zombie.

"Thank you, Leooof-" Alex wanted to thank him, debating if they should talk of what happened last night, but Leon tripped and ended all over him. Leon's long black hair was surrounding their heads like a curtain, making that moment even more private. Alex could feel his weight, his strength. A single odd throb down there disoriented Alex, unable to withdraw his eyes from Leon's yellow ones, looking hungry and feral up close.

"Yeah... we should" Alex agreed with Leon, disrupting the weird moment they just had. Was that about what he spoke... but how could two boys... Alex didn't want to think of it anymore, just wanting to check if everything was fine.

The two headed to the Control Room, Leon simply trying to avoid direct eye contact after the embarrassing situation he was in. He made a not to really watch out for those booze bottles he is always leaving out and about...

Alyssa was waiting for them, standing up as usual with a bright smile on her face. "You know, dear. You don't have to wait for us standing up..."

"Why not...?"

"Just..." Leon sighed. hard to reason with such a strange woman, robot or not. "Nevermind. So, did you check the map?"

The robot girl nodded, "Indeed. The closest city in our route seems to be a place called Auru City..."

"Excellent. Auru City is a very decently-sized town. I even have some friends there that could help us with info on another ruin to check. How long till we reach it?" He asked

"Approximately a day and a half."

"Good. Well, better activate the ship's Stasis Field and sleep for the night. Sleep well everyone." Said the captain before everyone headed back to their rooms.

-----------------------------

Alex may have been somewhat ashamed of what he did last night after being watched, but the hormonal urges of a teenage boy were still running inside of him. Meaning the desire to relieve oneself was still there.

However, something caught the attention of the boy; His magazine was missing! Off from the place he carefully hide it!

Did he left it somewhere? Did Leon take it? Or Alyssa?!

"I have never seen a town" Alex stated the obvious cheerfully, eager to see what kind of place that was. What kind of people lived there? What customs and food could they have? For Alex everything was new and exciting, partially to his upbringing, but also due to his naturally curious character. He nodded when talked about sleep, his wounds were nothing serious that required complete rest, but just lying down after such eventful day was welcome.

Alex sat on his bed, making an effort to remember the good parts of the day instead of the bad ones. They had saved half a dozen people, including the fiery haired Sara. Alyssa seemed to be fine with him, more than helping with the plan and pulling him out of the thick of things. And Leon was Leon, even if they had just shared an awkwardly exciting moment. What was that about? Maybe the magazine... wait, where was it?

Alex rummaged his room up and down, but with so few belongings it was easy to determine that it was no longer there. The people they rescued didn't went into the rooms, and Leon had no reason to grab what he handed himself, so that left... No, no, no. It wasn't possible, was it? Alex knew she was curious, that she had a similar eye for the world than he did, but that too? Was she equipped to...

The idea was exciting, but also got the curious side of Alex reeled in. There was only one way to know for sure. Alex got barefoot to make the less noise possible, and slowly walked towards Alyssa's room, hoping that she hadn't locked the door.

He approached her room to find the door unlocked. He could sneak his head past it and peek on his robotic friend.

Alyssa was in fact, looking at the pages of the magazines; The images causing something within her to ache. Her eyes seemed to shifted to a pink-ish color as he "breathing" became faster.

The automaton stood up and walked towards her mirror, taking a good at herself. She never really questioned her figure before; Assumed it was normal of any android, but now she noticed how curvy and busty she was. According to the magazine this was quite attractive.

Her clothing fell to the floor as she stood there in the nude to appreciate her body better. Her slim figure and her soft skin glimmering with the moonlight that entered through the window. Her hand nervously moved towards her right breast, slowly and a bit shaky. As she squeezed it, a soft moan escaped through her lips.

She blushed brightly at the feeling. She had never felt something like that before, but her body seemed to need it. Her eyes now fully shifted to pink, quickly she headed to the bed and looked through the magazine pages.

Images of women caressing and rubbing themselves enticed her to do the same. Her free hand moved between her legs as she slowly caressed her slit. "A-ahn..." She gasped. The feeling crossing through her entire body.

Something inside of her ordered to do this. She did not know what it was, but she couldn't rest until this, "mode" of her, was finished. Quickly she inserted a finger inside and started to wiggle it; Caressing her inner walls and causing the robotic maiden to moan more.

Alex watched as Alyssa flicked through the pages of the missing magazine, and soon got up from the bed, looking at herself in the mirror. Alex raised a hand to knock, wanting to talk to her, to help if he could, but she suddenly disrobed and Alex just froze on the spot. Seeing her beautiful body, Alex didn't notice the color of her eye, something that changed in several occasions in past days.

If he was to knock on the door, it was already too late, Alyssa would think he was spying and... well, she would be right. He thought that the only correct thing to do was to return to his room, but Alex couldn't bring himself to do so, his curiosity and excitement taking control. Alyssa got to the bed and starting exploring herself, not unlike what Alex had done in the past, and it seemed to be as enrapturing for her as for the one watching.

Alex understood Leon when he behaved strangely as Alyssa showed herself nude the first day. She was a complete woman, she had everything the ones in the magazine did, but she was more beautiful than any of them in Alex's eyes. She took a finger inside her, and Alex noticed that he was already painfully hard. What could he do? Touch himself in the corridor? It would be impossible holding it in his pants, as it was poking the fabric out.

Alex was conflicted as Alyssa had watched him the night before, but she had run afterwards and said nothing the next day. Did that mean that she didn't want to talk with him about that? Well, Alex felt ashamed of speaking about it with her too, so he could relate. Alex wanted to help her with everything, and Alyssa said that he could count with her. They both wanted to explore the world together... and yet it was this embarrassing barrier between them. This shame that separated them in their most intimate.

Unable to decide, he just watched, enthralled by her beauty. It was then, in her most intimate and without restrain, when she looked more human than anyone else.

Alyssa continued with her pleasuring movements, her whole body trembling at the way her fingers danced inside of her. Her mind going on a blur. Her lip clenched by being bitten as she tried her best not to elevate her voice.

She seemed like in a trace, not even glancing back at the magazine anymore. Images played in her head, different from the pages that seemed familiar somehow..

Mostly appeared blurred, but she could recall a group of silhouettes; Well-toned silhouettes, kept her close as they all attended her at once. Have she done something like this before? She couldn't tell, only enjoy the imagery. Going at her from every side simultaneously, why did excited her so?

However, it did not manage to entice her fully, but as the strange image vanished and appeared to be replace; Her lust increased. The image of Alex was now vivid in her mind; Her eyes going into a state between pink and blue as her moans became louder, more erratic as she approached her limit.

With a final cracking shout, she was washed away by the huge wave of pleasure generated by her climax. Her body spaced before going limp on top of her bed, her eyes closing and her body going into shut down mode, leaving only silence.

Alex was unable to keep his eyes away from Alyssa, and without a second thought he just pulled his cock out of his pants. It was throbbing at the limit, shining with pre cum and having left a small stain in his pants. Alex paid no mind to lasting longer or any kind of refined technique, as all he did was pump at the unison with Alyssa's wild movements.

Matching her pace, echoing her hunger, soon Alex was panting and gasping, resorting to biting his left hand to muffle the sounds, even if Alyssa wouldn't hear him with the noises she made. Her moans and shouts as she had her orgasm sent Alex over the edge and made him cum as well, painting Alyssa's door white. Once he stopped, Alex noticed that Alyssa had turned herself off, what gave him the opportunity to clean his traces. It was tempting to go in, to see her closer, but Alex felt bad just for thinking about it. He had already done much. Cleaning the stained door and closing it softly, Alex headed to his room, letting his mind and small wounds have a needed rest.

Another day started as the sun peeked above the sea of clouds. the ship still in Stasis, there seemed to be a single bad omen in the sky that'd sign a bad weather; Meaning it was going to be smooth sailing towards Auru City.

As Alex woke up, he was greeted by an almost comical sight: his magazine right next to him, left pristine upon the desk to his right, as well as his clothes folded and ready. It was almost adorable that Alyssa sneaked inside to give it back AND cleaned his clothing mess at the same time. She just cared that much.

While thinking about such cute image was fine, it was time for cleaning up. And while originally that personal bath was for him-only, Leon decided to give the singular room for Alyssa to avoid any future complications. meaning the remain showers were all in the same room.

Everyone seemed on their way to the bath too and so should him.

Alex smirked as he opened his cloudy eyes, rubbing them while yawning. Not only the magazine was back as if nothing had happened, but also his clothes were neatly arranged. The thought of Alyssa sneaking in while he was asleep could have been a bit creepy for someone else, but Alex found it endearing and cute. The image of Alyssa tip toeing around not wanting to disturb him was amusing to imagine, and the show of care that it all was came to be heartwarming.

Alex thought of one amusing thing, sleeping naked as he did, was his body covered by the bedsheets when Alyssa came in or did she cover Alex so he wouldn't catch a cold? The thought was only slightly embarrassing, as Alyssa had already seen more than that, but still...

Sighing he got up, Alex needed a shower to clean up and finish waking up, so he covered himself with a towel and headed to the bath. He had been the first one waking up each day, well, if you didn't count Alyssa's secret escapades, to make breakfast and such, so he went into the showers without a worry in the world, soon discarding the towel into a rail.

However, as he stepped in he saw that, for once, he was not the first one to step into the shower.

"Oh. um, hey..."

Leon was already there, standing up under his shower head, bubbles popping from the soapy hair he was scrubbing. But of course, his hair was not the only thing Alex was paying attention right now.

His whole body was showing despite the faint steam forming around them. he had a very well toned figure, with a few scars across the chest and back, which did not made it any less alluring. The hot water cascaded down his torso and hips; the drops of water slowly traveling around every surface, every crevice of his muscles.

Much to Alex's shock there was the situation downstairs: His rod standing tall and hard for him to see. A decently big length, throbbing faintly at the heat that the shower generated. It pulsated softly, glimmering a bit due to the water.

His eyes were also glancing back at the young boy's body. his tan colored skin, the fitness despite his young body, and the decent length were quite captivating. although the man did his best to stare away of such things.

"Just felt like wakin' up early...so, um, did you s-sleep well?"

Alex stood there bewildered, not knowing exactly what to do, even if his eyes were all over Leon's naked figure. The well traveled man was a sight to see, water trickling down his experienced body, muscles visible through the mist, each scar told its own history. He was alluring in a whole different way that Alyssa was, and that didn't help Alex feel any less disoriented. And that didn't even begin to cover Leon's pulsating hardness down there. Even if Alex didn't want to look for long he would say that Leon was a bit bigger than him if asked, although Leon's looked like it belonged there, proud and unabashed, while Alex's seemed out of place, a manly tool in a boyish body.

Noticing a throb down there, Alex saw that he was noticeably swelling, even if its chubby tool was still looking downwards, not hard yet even if that wouldn't last if he kept ogling. Alex turned around, removing Leon from his view, but not exactly hiding himself as much as giving another point of view to the captain. "I... yeah, I didn't know you... I mean..." Alex half answered Leon's small talk, finally daring to talk about the point at hand. "Why are you so hard?" Alex felt embarrassed as soon as the hard world escaped his lips. "I mean, I get it... but in the shower too?" he was baffled, Leon didn't seem to be touching himself when Alex barged in.

"I don't even know what to do, how to react to these things, I just freeze" Alex admitted, continuing with his bout of sincerity. He fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, vulnerable in his nudity, but he kept going. "I mean, my eyes... and then I..." he didn't go so far as mention his bewildering excitement in that situation, too hard to admit. "The book says nothing about men with other men, and the magazine doesn't have any of that so I don't know how I'm supposed to feel..." confessed, naively thinking that books could hold all the answers he needed.

"What do you mea--oh, right..." Leon said before looking down at him.

He sighted after a pause, "I, um, was just having pleasant thoughts and it got like that. Perfectly normal. It just bee a while since I, well, attended myself..."

"Look. it's fine really. Books aren't really gonna teach you everything. Trust me, answering you is not easy either. But some stuff you gotta learn on your on..."

"And while it doesn't say it. there are a lot of things a guy can do in the way they do in your magazine. Touch, rub, lick..."

"Even the more intimate stuff in the later pages if you do it right. It all depends on the acceptance between two partners."

He finished removing the soap off his hair as he continued, "Of course you have never really done it like in those magazines. Your first time should be special with someone you care for, whatever is it girl or guy. I'm not the best at teaching you this stuff..."

"You have to learn by your own hand as well as other people. Maybe you should ask Alyssa for help, haha." He finished as he reached for a towel to dry off. "you have any other questions?"

Even if Leon was trying to be helpful and Alex thanked his efforts, part of his talk didn't feel specially calming. He talked about how he hadn't touched himself in a while and how boys could do things with other boys and Alex's mind started to run wild, picturing himself and Leon with each other. He hadn't reached to the last pages of the magazine, so he didn't know what he talked about on that comment, but he sure was going to check as soon as he got back to his room.

"Thank you for being honest" Alex managed to say, still with his back towards Leon. "You don't have to hold yourself... I mean, since Alyssa and I arrived we have made of your home ours" Alex continued. "What I mean is that you don't have to back out of... relieving yourself while we are here. I didn't" he admitted. He had been more than generous, and in return their presence prevented him from touching himself. "I'm not ready for... whatever" Alex mumbled, visibly nervous and shaky. "But maybe I could... I mean, use my hands to... calm you, if you'd like" Alex was still facing the wall away from Leon, slightly scared and showing his back to him, awaiting an answer.

Leon gulped. The mere voice of the guy saying those words made his skin shiver and his rod to throb softly. The man's cheeks brightened as the imaged played in his head.

"T-that's fine really! Besides, we have a long day ahead of us. Better focus on that!" He tried to play it as cool as he could. He turned away from looking down at that nice butt and finished showering. quickly drying himself and putting his clothes back on.

-----------------

It was a nice breakfast, despite the slight awkwardness. Alyssa seemed fixated in her food as usual, while Leon told some tales about him fighting monsters.

With the food finished, the trio headed to the control room as the dark-haired man held on the wheel and steered the ship across the skies.


As clouds parted, from the big glass-like window Alex could gaze at a huge structure coming closer.

"Well, kids. Welcome to Auru City!"

There it was. An enormous city held on the air. Sporting somewhat of a scrapper style, it did not take away of the majesty of such huge citadel capable to keeping itself afloat. Vegetation seemed to grow across the outer rings, apparently showing signs of parks around it's outskirts. But most of all, it seemed like a buzzing and steampunkish metropolis.

Alex sighed, unsure if it was out of relief or a missing chance. He showered quickly as soon as Leon was done, trying to clean himself of all the odd thoughts he was having and soon was ready for the day.

...

It was almost funny how the breakfast seemed neutral ground, a place to not talk about anything that went at night... or early morning. Alex welcomed that space of normalcy, it heralded a new day, but he felt somewhat eager to know more about Alyssa's lust, more about the things that Leon knew and he didn't. Anyways, he didn't have the time to check those last pages of the magazine that Leon talked about, as their destiny was just beyond a cloud or two.

"It's huge!" Alex said at the sight of Auru City, his face and hands sticking to the glass as he could get any closer than that. "It has plants and trees away from the ground!" he looked like he could start jumping of excitement at any moment. "It's so big... there must be like two or three hundred people living there!" the idea of so many people together was unthinkable for the hermit boy, even if he had underestimated the number of people in the city by a wide margin.

Alyssa was just as impressed, Her hands and face pressed against the window with an audible "Oooooh..." As she stared at the floating city.

Leon simply chuckled at the two's enthusiasm. "Nice to see you two are excited. I have a couple of acquaintances of mine who live in the eastern side of the city. They tend to pull a lot of jobs because of harsh times, but not only they are incredibly smart about ruins and artefacts, but they also have some locations of very rich zones! I was thinking maybe they can give us a good place to dig for ancient loot and maybe they may hold a clue on how to help Alyssa with her memory issue."

"So what do you say? You wanna explore the town?" He asked. Alyssa nodded in excitement and possibly so did Alex.

The ship arrived at some kind of hangar; Many others could be seen docked nearby, all of different sizes and shapes. Leaving the Azuria secure, Leon stepped out of the vessel down the ladder with the others following suit.

A couple of stairs later, the trio was now in the central district of the town. People going left and right all surrounded by the steampunk metropolis. tall buildings and houses with signs paved the streets with color and constant talking and moving engulfed the three heroes into the culture.

"Now stay with me and follow. This place may look nice but like any city, there are people up to no good..." Leon said.

"Friends who may be able to help? That would be awesome" Alex nodded, eager to explore the city and meet new people. He wondered what Leon's friends looked like, how would they be. Welcoming and warm like him maybe? He'd have to wait and see.

Alex was all shock and awe since he got out of the Azuria. Ooohs and Aaahs could be heard behind Leon as they walked through the city. Echoes of "look at that" resonated in Leon's ears while Alex pointed with the finger at every feature that blew his mind. Just getting out of the hangar he had crossed more people than he had met his entire life, it was a weird feeling knowing that.

Hearing Leon's advice and remembering how special she could be, Alex grabbed Alyssa's hand and walked with her. He blushed a little bit and they sure made a weird image, her being way taller, but Alex didn't mind.