Scarlet loved watching the stars. She sat on a barrel and smiled up at the sky, witnessing comets and glimmering stars dance across the sky. The darkness was merely a background for the beautiful jewels in the sky.

She adored them, each and every one of them. After all, they were what she used to navigate her paths to her next great adventures. Always and forever, she used to stars to show her the way.

A light chuckle rumbled from behind her. Scarlet knew the owner before hearing him speak. "Still star gazing, hm?"

She didn't turn around. She kept her eyes on the sky, on the stars. "I did it when I was on your ship, Wolf. I didn't stop after I left, and I'm not going to stop now."

Her burly friend pulled up a barrel next to her, then moved to sit down. But when he sat down, the barrel buckled and splinter under his wait. It collapse, and Wolf was left on top of the pile on the ground.

Scarlet snickered, being careful not to wake the others. Getting off her own barrel, she held out her hand to Wolf, offering to help him to his feet. Even though she knew he didn't need it. Still, he grasped her hand, but didn't use it much to stand.

Continuing to grin at the incredible and complicating strength that was Wolf, she pulled at his hand, leading him to the bow of the ship. "It's been a while since he actual had some time together."

Wolf jokingly replied, "Well, if you stopped getting into fights with my crew, maybe we'd have a bit more time with one another."

"Horus was asking for it," Scarlet argued.

He chuckled again. "That doesn't mean you had to make him see stars in the daytime." He rested his elbows on the rail, joining Scarlet in watching the stars. "You can't fight everyone, Scar. You have to start picking your battles, Scarlet."

She scoffed. "Well, I'm full of rage and I choose all of them."

Wolf looked both amused and worried. She sighed. "I have fought all of your men in fair fights, and beat them in under five minutes. I think I can handle anything else the God of War throws at me."

"That's just it, Scarlet." He tore his eyes from the gems in the sky, and placed them on his only true star. "Most people won't fight fairly. My men don't play dirty. They fight by the Rules of Engagement in Hostilities. We may be pirates, but we're pirates with honor. And Ran wasn't-"

He stopped himself short. Whenever the subject turned to Ran, Wolf didn't finish his sentence. Scarlet knew they'd been close as children. Wolf told her that much. But after Levana cursed them, they grew apart. Ran became a power hungry mercenary, and Wolf tried his hardest not to allow his new changes to dictate his life.

Eerily enough, Wolf still hadn't told her what became of his brother. He said he was no longer a part of his crew, and Scarlet hadn't seen him on the ship.

Though the thought of him being with them on the ship was unsettling, not knowing where he was was terrifying. "Wolf," she said. "What happened to Ran?"

He avoided her eyes, assuring her, "You don't have to worry about him anymore, Scar. He can't hurt us again."

Something nagged at her, but she didn't fully understand what it was yet. "I'd feel a lot better about the whole thing if I knew where he was. So ... please, just tell me." The fact that Wolf won't give her a straight answer frightened Scarlet. If only a little. She wasn't one to scare easily.

Yet, something told her it wasn't that simple. That it was just her jitters about what they were up against or the fact that Wolf wouldn't say anything.

The entire crew on the Lone Wolf refused to talk about him. They didn't mention his name, or even the fact that he was one of their crew once. To be honest, Scarlet believed they were too afraid to bring up the subject of Wolf's brother.

What could scare an entire hoard of wolf-human hybrids? Well, other than Scarlet.

Deep down, Scarlet already knew the answer, but she couldn't bring herself to listen. The words had to come from Wolf's mouth if she was ever to believe them. Not when .... not when the truth was so harsh and terrifying.

Hesitantly, Scarlet placed her hand to rest over Wolf's. He was startled by the touch, but didn't flinch away. He met her eyes, and she saw he was just as frightened as she was.

"Ze'ev," Scarlet whispered. "What happened to Ran?"

He gulped, then took in a deep breath. He wasn't ashamed, he was borderline petrified. Scarlet hoped that she was wrong, that she was merely jumping to conclusions. That the man she once loved more than life itself hadn't done something as dark as she believed.

"Scar. After you were gone, when I found out what Ran had done ... I lost control," he admitted. "I couldn't contain my rage. You weren't there, and no one else could help me like you could. I was so worried about you and angry at Ran. I- ... I couldn't control my own body."

Wolf didn't have a tempter. No. He had instincts. Natural instincts brought onto him by his curse, his burden. When those instincts were challenged, they went berserk. They took the reins to the body they lived in and didn't back down until they no longer felt threatened.

The instinct to protect the ones you care about is more powerful than most, and is easily manipulated. When you endanger the loved one of a Lunar Hybrid Soldier, there's no telling what they would do.

Only that it would surely end in death.

He reached for Scarlet's hand, but was too timid to actually touch her. He shook like a leaf, barely able to refrain from revealing his tears. Saving Wolf the trouble, she took his hand and held it tight. Even after this, Wolf didn't dare look in her eyes as he said, "I killed him. In my rage and fear .. I killed my own brother. He was all the family I had left and I killed him."

Stars, Scarlet hated to be right. Especially under these circumstances. Although, she had to admit, she was a little relieved to hear Ran was no longer kicking. Throwing her off the Lone Wolf in the middle of the night may have been the worst thing he ever did to her.

And even that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to how Ran treated her.

She didn't condone what Wolf did. But that's not to say she was angry with him. Or that – had she been put in his place – she wouldn't have done the same. Still, it was wrong to take a life. When someone is not harming you physically, you should kill them in the name of self defense.

That's when it hit her. Wolf had an uncanny way of placing blame on himself for nearly everything when they were together. Wolf even tried to convince that some of the things Ran did were because of him. Taking a glance at Wolf's face, she knew he was still holding something back from her.

He wanted her to blame him. He wanted to be held accountable for what he'd done to his brother. Ran may have well deserved the fate he received, but that did not satisfy Wolf. He wanted to be hated, despised, maybe even loathed for murdering his brother.

Even of the person hating him had to be Scarlet.

Wolf's crew probably thought he was a hero for slaying the beast that was his brother. Ran was a notorious monster that would have ratted them out in a second if it benefited himself. He was a coward, truly. Though he was bold enough to make messes and chaos. Both of which he loved to sit back and watch get worse and worse.

The things he labeled as jokes ended with people – members of their crew – dying. Everyone of the Lone Wolf hated him. Wolf only slightly less so than the rest of the crew.

No one would blame Wolf for what he did to Ran. Not when Ran was a spawn of the greatest evil imaginable. That's why he'd brought himself to tell Scarlet. If he didn't want to her to know, he never would have said a word.

But he told her. And Scarlet couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for the monster. She only felt remorse for Wolf.

She stepped closer to him and squeezed his hand. "He fought you off, didn't he. You weren't going to kill him right after you found out?"

His eyes went wide, confirming her hunch. Before he could ask, she explained, "I know that you'd never flat out kill him for what he did to me. He was your brother. Even if he was a - .... nevermind."

Laying her head on his shoulder, she gazed back up to the stars. The star closest to the north star glimmer brighter than the rest. It gave her ideas of a far off place, where children ran and played for days and days, never growing tired. A place where people didn't have to grow old.

A place where troubles were but a distant memory.

"Ze'ev," Scarlet began. "What did he do to you?"

He weakly turned his head to his left arm, not bothering to move it. Scarlet's best guess was that Ran gave Wolf a new battle scar, after attempting to kill him. She reached for his arm and gently grasped him. Assuring him that he was going to be okay. That what he did was not completely wrong. If Ran had tried to kill Wolf, and Wolf had defended himself, that could lift some of the burden from Wolf's shoulders.

It also told Wolf that not matter how many scars he had, she would always love him. She didn't care what he looked like or about his curse. She just loved him, and she couldn't stop loving him if she tried.

Both of them were tired, drained, and barely standing on their own feet. They decided to sit on the deck against the side of the ship, watching the sky as the world shifted and the ship carried on it's way.

"I know you cared about your brother." Scarlet Tucked herself into Wolf's side, placing her head where Wolf could rest his own on top. "But he wasn't the best person. If you let him, he would have killed you. We both knew what kind of a person he was. And ... maybe it's for the best."

Wolf wasn't convinced. "I should have helped him. I should have tried harder to get him to be better."

Signing, Scarlet said, "You can't help someone who doesn't want your help, Wolf. I'm sorry, but there was nothing you could do. Ran ... he chose his own path. There was no way you could have changed his mind."

For hours, Wolf and Scarlet sat together, watching the stars. Scarlet knew Wolf would always remember his brother, for better or for worse. What she hoped was that he could find it in himself to forgive his actions.

After thinking long and hard, Wolf removed his coat and rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt. A new scar resided on his arm, just as Scarlet predicted. She could tell it was recent, at least, from the last time she bared witness to his marks of battle. This new scar, it was longer and deeper than the rest. Down from the bridge of his shoulder to his elbow, cutting close to his heart.

She knew that mark was one from a man with intent to kill. Striking a blow that hard, there was no other motive for that.

With delicate fingers, Scarlet traced the scar and others around it. So many overlapped, so many covered his skin. So many battles that left Wolf torn and stricken with grief.

Of all things, Scarlet wished she'd known that Ran drugged Wolf on the night she was left in Tortuga. Maybe she could have stopped this, found a way around it. And ... with him being so open with the scar Wolf gave him, it made her wonder if she should do the same.

Rather than reveal her mark just yet, she tried to console Wolf about his numerous supply. "Not bad. It doesn't make you less handsome. But then again, I doubt anything could do that." She pecked him on his cheek, invoking his blush and stammering. Still, Scarlet knew she would have to tell Wolf soon.