KISMET ─ vento aureo.

◂ ⁺ ★ PART THREE

PART THREE

╌ ✧ ╌

STARS HAVE GONE DARK

★˚⋆ SHEILA TOOK A WHILE TO answer her comm, which was unlike her. Zero tapped impatient fingers on his desk. Why was it that the waiting always caused him trouble? Passione had less than two weeks left to get the Stand Arrow to him. He hoped they remembered that.

Little else besides Passione had occupied his thoughts in the past few weeks. He itched to know what they were doing at all times. Every minute they wasted scraped against him, made him more impatient. Zero had done the next best thing but all he wanted to do was seize the Passione crew himself and move them like ragdolls. Who knew the number of mistakes they were making? The resources they were swirling away? Already he was starting to grow sloppy in his collecting and selling work. People were starting to comment that he wasn't like himself. Zero was aware of that. It was likely he would never be himself again once all of this was over.

After two more rings, Sheila finally answered. She looked haggard and her eyes were overly bright, but it had never been Zero's job to be concerned about such things. As long as she was alive and her resolve was intact, little else mattered.

"What's going on?" he asked curtly. "You missed your last check-in."

"Passione was arrested," Sheila said. Her tongue stumbled over the words. "They got caught right after meeting with Polpo at Penitentiary IV. It was dark for a while until they escaped. They managed to regroup with the main ship and are figuring out their next moves."

"They're taking longer than I'd like," Zero said. He took a long drink from the tall blue glass beside him. "I want you to send them a reminder. Make sure they're not just fooling around." Not that Zero wasn't confident in Kiss in Blue Heaven's abilities. But some poking and prodding never hurt.

"Something seemed off, the last time I saw them," Sheila said. "It's the captain. They're not acting like themself. It's putting the other crew members on edge."

"They're only acting like that because they're attempting to defy Blue Heaven's resolve."

"Whatever it is, the other crew members are getting suspicious."

Zero scowled. "I couldn't care less about the crew. It's not like all of them need to hand me the Stand Arrow."

Sheila ducked her head. "Yes. Of course, Zero."

Zero sighed, taking in a breath to calm himself. "You'll have to make sure they're not arrested again. As I told you before, Prince Donatello is working with Inspector Abbacchio to apprehend Passione. And Donatello won't be open to releasing them at all if they're under his detainment."

In the last few days, it had become increasingly difficult to convince Dontello to wait. He was like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth to get at Passione. Zero had almost gotten a heart attack after hearing that Passione was in one of the Penitentiaries. It was lucky they had managed to escape before Donatello arrived to make their stay permanent. Zero counted himself lucky that he had never found himself on Donatello's bad side. Zero only wanted to kill Passione to keep them silent. Meanwhile, Donatello wanted Passione's death to be long and drawn out.

"In any case, I believe it's only a matter of time until you receive the Stand Arrow, Zero," Sheila said. "Polpo provided Passione with the coordinates to Polnareff's location and they'll be headed there shortly."

"You'll relay those coordinates when you have them?"

"Of course, sir."

Zero refused to let himself get excited. There were still too many things that could go wrong. He could only afford to let himself relax when the Stand Arrow was in his hands and Passione was dealt with.

Absently, Zero brought up the coordinates of Sheila's pod onto his screen and swiped it up to look at the hologram. She was trailing a good distance away from Passione's ship, far enough to remain undetected but still close enough to survey them. They were further out than Zero had expected. He pinched on the hologram to get it to zoom out, bringing in the neighbouring colonies and space bodies into view. In fact, they were very close to—

"Sheila," Zero hissed, sitting bolt upright in his seat. "What are you doing in the Black Zone?"

Sheila's eyes widened. "The what?"

Zero flicked the hologram, his heart beginning to pound. No. He was right. He found Sheila's pod and Passione's ship, two blinking dots on the edge of a gaping black cloud. They were on the fringes of the Black Zone. It was so unbelievably brainless that Zero felt a laugh bubble behind his lips. There was nothing around the Black Zone for lightyears and they were on the flacking fringes.

"Get out of there now." Zero said. "You should know better."

"I was following them the whole time!" Sheila's voice wobbled. "I don't know how this could have happened!"

Zero focused on Passione's ship. Surely they would have caught on by now. That engineer or pilot of theirs were imbeciles to go on this long without turning around. And yet they showed no sign that anything was amiss, continuing straight forward in their course.

"They're going to get themselves killed," Zero seethed. This shouldn't have been possible. Kiss in Blue Heaven had altered their resolves too thoroughly to allow it. "Sheila, patch me in to the Passione's comms. Then get out of there immediately."

Sheila began typing on her console so hard Zero heard it through the call. Although his tongue prickled to snap at her, he kept his calm. What was wrong with her? To follow so blindly into the Black Zone, unaware until Zero had practically screamed at her. She was smarter than that. So much smarter.

She wasn't herself. Just like the captain wasn't.

Just like Zero wasn't.

"I patched you in, Zero," Sheila said.

"Get out of there. Now. I'll send you reconnaissance coordinates when I have them."

Zero's call with Sheila ended. He started another one with Passione.