Now that Gwenchlan and all of her crew members are more or less safely navigating on the Golden Ocean, they are immediately on their way back to Hooves Village to provide better healthcare for Vek. Of course they could have stayed in the capital city and asked Symone's aunt, the really famous doctor Nehemiah, to heal the poor demon but it was too risky to do such a thing now.

While everyone is on the boat, Amber secretly walks in the hold, to grab an orange and to eat it. So the blond one walks in and suddenly hears some noises, thinking it is just a rat, he continues his way. But he still hears a noise, this time it is a human noise, knowing no one is supposed to be here for now, the pirate carefully approaches the noise that comes from behind some barrels.

Amber is suddenly surprised by a guard, it is Piere ! So the pirate violently jumps on him and grabs him in order to bring him to the captain, the guard strangely doesn't defend himself, still looking as tired as the first time they met, the day before.

Amber obviously wants to end that guard's life but he knows that he can't because Gwenchlan doesn't want her crewmates to attack first in her own ship. And since the guard didn't attack Amber can't kill him despite he really wants to because he really dislikes anyone linked to the king or to royalty.

Amber quickly gets out of the hold, holding Piere very tightly and yelling confidently :

-"Captain ! I found this spy !"

Then he violently throws the guard on the wooden floor, the intruder growls in pain and stays on the floor, saying nothing. So Gwenchlan slowly approaches the guard to intimidate him but the guard doesn't let an expression being drawn on his face, thanks to his professional training and because he is still really sad about his wife and kid being murdered right in front of his eyes.

Gwenchlan takes of her sword, put it on the back of the Piere's neck and asks :

-"What are you doing here, spy ?"

-"I'm not a spy...." Mutters the guard, head down.

-"Well... well... I'll lock you in my room for now. We need to decide if we'll kill you by hand or just throw you to the sharks. But don't even think about hurting the two others in my room or I'll kill you for sure."

***

While this is happening, Symone is taking care of Vek in the captain's room. This room is situated at the back of the boat, as usual. It is a pretty huge place despite the boat being small. In this room there are fancy windows and shelves full of useless trinkets and books. Even though it is not Gwenchlan's official boat, there's a lot of stuff in it, as if it is used in a daily way. Despite all of the dirty windows, the room is still a bit bright.

The demon is sitting comfortably on the captain's huge bed, still weak from before while Symone is sitting right next to him, trying to heal him as much as he can. Then the elf asks :

-"Are you feeling better ?" Softly cleaning and healing Vek's neck, there is a wound because of the demonic weapon used on the poor demon.

-"Yeah..." Vek says, even though he obviously needs to be properly healed. Symone's knowledge isn't enough to properly heal a demon who has been attacked by another demon.

Hearing this answer, Symone puts a smile on his face then moves his hand to one of Vek's cheek :

-"I.. missed you a lot."

Symone's face became slowly and softly red, he isn't used to complimenting people. Hearing and seeing this, Vek softly laughs and leisurely slides his hand on the other one's arm to end up almost holding Symone's unoccupied hand. And softly confesses :

-"I missed you too. Do you... um.. do you mind re-experiencing a.. kiss ?"

Symone takes a moment to think about it, despite the fact that he obviously really wants to taste Vek's lips once more. But he suddenly remembers something, so the elf asks :

-"Wait, have you used the perception filter thing on me earlier ?" Moving his hand from Vek's cheek to the demon's hands already holding one of the green elf's hand, to hold it as well.

Vek softly sighs and answers, as if it is difficult for him to tell him what he is about to say :

-"Well, uh... yeah. I used it on you, I just didn't want you to worry about me.. I know, it was stupid." Looking away from Symone's gaze, as if he was ashamed maybe because he is scared to tell Symone the truth by fear of upsetting or even losing him.

-"Oh, I see, you wanted to protect my feelings. I don't really care, as long as you are still alive."

The elf slowly and softly turns the demon's head back in front of him. Symone waits a few short seconds before answering Vek's previous question :

-"By the way, for what you asked before. I'd love to try kissing you again..."

Then the half elf slowly gets his own head closer to Vek's one. The latter does the same, already closing his eyes ready for their lips to touch. At the end, their lips finally meet, this time, Symone kisses Vek more passionately, showing how much he missed him, the demon notices it and blushes because of that.

Vek is so into this kiss that he eventually slightly pushes the elf so Symone ends up laying down then Vek crawls at the top of him, still kissing the green one. After a few more seconds uncontrollably kissing each other, Vek stops the smooches to look at the one underneath him.

The demon smiles and doesn't have time to tell anything that Symone already took control of him. So the tallest one just makes both of them roll until Vek ends up under Symone. So now, the elf is at the top, his long silver and soft hair falling on the demon's chest.

The elf softly mutters :

-"Come on.."

Then he starts kissing Vek's neck, while doing this, the demon rushes his hands to the elf's shirt and starts to unbutton it. The elf stops kissing the demon's neck to sit up and to just help taking off his own shirt while Vek is looking at him.

Symone is pretty thin but, with time and with the new adventures, he gained a bit of muscle. So Vek doesn't hesitate to take a look at his newly formed abs. The demon even get to softly touch the elf's green skin with his claws while saying :

-"I'm not really used to doing it like this. But I guess I can do both..."

An uncontrollable smile draws on Vek's mouth. The one on the top smiles as well and goes back to kiss him, putting hands on both of Vek's cheeks.

While they are still passionately kissing each other, both ready to do more. The door suddenly opens wide, Symone jumps next to Vek, screaming out of surprise, still shirtless and with some scratches marks on his abs because of Vek's claws.

-"Aah ! Who's there ?!"