[Erehisu] In the eyes of the Fortune Voyagers

The pearl inside of an oyster

Back in the days when Historia was a young child, she was just like any other young girl. She was curious about all of the things, a very jolly, bubbly child she was. If other people would describe her, she was like that sunshine after the thunderstorm ends.

One time, she was at the beach all by herself. She was marching alongside the shore as she felt the soft breeze and the music of the gentle and soft waves. With a wooden stick, which she picked along the way, she drew a long line to the sand as she walked by. And there she thought she would never get lost with that line. Unknowingly, every time the sea touches the line she drew, it fades away, and there the sea swallows Historia's only guide to go home. But she kept going. She wanted to see what was in there far away.

"Hello..."

Historia stopped her feet when she heard that voice. She was sure that she was alone in that place. She slowly turned around and saw a young boy looking at him with a soaked white shirt and shorts, as well as his hair as if he dived into the sea minutes ago.

"What's that?" the young boy asks, pointing at the object Historia was holding.

"Obviously a stick..?" Historia answered as she raised her stick and pointed at him. " Oh no..." She said, realizing something. " my line is gone..." the path where she stepped on was nothing like a blank canvas. "How am I supposed to go home..." she frowned.

"It's okay..." the boy answered. " I'll guide you. I'm sure you just walked in a straight line, you're fine."

Somehow, Historia felt she was safe when she heard that sentence. She smiled as her eyes lightened in joy. " Okay!" she cheered. But she noticed something strange in the boy's left arm. There was a scar, still burning in red but it looked like he was hiding something on his back. The hot sun makes it shinier making it look like a fresh scar that happened minutes ago.

"Are you hiding something from me?" Historia asks.

"Nope!" The boy suddenly said and showed her what he was holding.

"Wha-!" Historia jumped as she stepped backward in action. "What is that!?" She puts out her sword and, well, it was her stick.

The boy lets out a good laugh. " Calm down. It's not harmful. Look!" The boy steps closer but every time he gets closer to her, Historia takes her foot backward. " It's not scary, come on..." His voice is even softer this time and there he took her hand on his; pulling her closer slowly.

Historia's heart calmed down a little bit. With his gentle hand wrapped around her, she takes a chance to open her eyes and takes a closer look. It seemed like it was a creature that could be found in the sea. It has an interesting color combination. It has dark blue outer skin at the pointy five edges that blend out to light blue to the rest of the area with red splatters on top of it.

"It's a starfish that I tried to rescue earlier..." he says while moving it side to side. " But I was too late..." his voice saddened. " It's dead..."

"Oh no..." Historia suddenly takes a glance at him. "I'm... sad.."

"Yeah. Me too. But there is nothing I can do about it. Unless I have the power to revive it, you know? That would be cool." He smiled at her as if he was trying to fade away the grief. " If only those bad fishermen didn't kill it..."

"People are just bad creatures... I hate them sometimes." Historia says she puts her hand on the boy's left arm; seeing more fresh scars all over it. " What happened?" she looked at him. "Did those fishermen do this to you?"

He nods.

"We should go home now!" she suggested. " My father is an expert at healing things."

"No... no... it's fine. I can do this myself."

"What? You can't do that..." She says as she takes her feet leading him to go home. "Come on.. Don't be shy, let's walk together-" But the time she turns around to see him. He was gone. He suddenly vanished in thin air.

Historia starts questioning herself again. Was she alone all this time all along?

"Where is he?"

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Historia wanted for him to answer. The clouds started to darken above the skies but she stood there, patiently waiting for him. She can take all the time if he needs to. But honestly, she was deeply concerned about him despite having muddy clothes, drenched and messy hair looking like he was chased by somebody. As silence went between them, she tried to ask him. "Are you okay?"

He breaks the gaze, looking at the ground, tugging his jacket closer to him. Historia looked above as the skies have finally darkened and started to pour down. It feels like this is nothing new, really. Every day seems to be a gloomy one. Always.

Out of sight, the boy in front of him suddenly disappeared. He vanished as if he was the lost soul in the streets. Historia thought it happened again thinking am I crazy? Have I just encountered a ghost? She shifted her eyes behind her, and all sides; left and right, up and down; everywhere. In that place, Historia is the only person standing in that area.

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" I think I'm having deja vu.." Historia says as she leans her arms on the table, staring at the wall in front of her.

" yeah?" Ymir said as she poured a glass of water beside. "And what makes you think that?

"I don't know." She responded, "I just feel this happened at some point in my life and I don't remember?"

"Hmm..." Ymir moves her chair closer. " I see... Tell me what happened"

"Well..." Historia shifted her eyes to her. " I met this stranger boy earlier and was just asking him if he's okay because he doesn't look okay." She said as she made hand gestures. " and... when the time I looked somewhere else at look back at him he's gone-"

"Pfft..." Ymir breaks it to a laugh, slamming her hand on her right leg. " What is this? Another ghost story? Come on Historia. You know those are not real. There are only myths and just," She taps the side of her side head several times. "Imaginations. Those are scary sometimes."

"I know!" She responded immediately. " Now that it happened again, I'm starting to think I'm going crazy." She runs her hand through her hair adjusting it. " Maybe... I am..." She softly says.

" Oh come on. Enough of that " Ymir stands up and gives her a small piece of paper. "Here."

"What's this?"

" I'm inviting you to my workplace. I am lucky because my boss just gave me a free ticket to the aquarium."

"What!?" Historia raised her voice. "Are you serious-"

"Yeah!" Ymir responded. " For my uh-payback, you know... after you helped me with our homework.." She scratches the back of her neck.

Historia chuckles. " Thank you!!"

Historia having that ticket would be the best gift ever.  It's just something that Historia loves the most, having that peace of mind, feeding her about new discoveries, and letting her dreams grew bigger. 

People would always wonder about her. What makes her love the ocean? 

It's simple.

Because it's beautiful.