– POV General –

The fourth day was already starting so well that time seemed to pass so quickly leaving them only two days before they had to set sail again. The health of the two former slaves had greatly improved thanks to the happy and positive environment. Ulysses was bandage-free and almost pain-free, while his mother was able to walk again, even if she still had a slight limp.

This morning, the little boy had woken up before his mother with a clear idea and a heart beating rapidly with apprehension and excitement. He had noticed that Hestia was chopping wood around 7am just below the bedroom window. So, he quietly got out, leaving his sleeping mother behind, and went down the stairs, out of the house and under the window to wait.

The little boy didn't know when the young woman with the golden hair was going to arrive or even if she was going to come but he was determined to stay there. Sitting on the grass with his back against the wooden wall, he swayed from side to side thinking about what he could say or ask her and where to start. Ulysses was very nervous, so nervous that he had not seen Edward and Lucas who were coming back from the ship to check on the animals.

"Well, little man, aren't you asleep ? What are you doing here ?"

"Sad ?"

"N-No I'm waiting...H...Hes..."

The little boy wanted to say her name but just couldn't, stuttering, stopping in the middle and hesitating despite his attempts. For a former slave, it was very hard to say someone's name so familiarly especially when it was someone he had real respect for. Needing no more to understand, Lucas sat against the wall beside him so he wouldn't feel alone as he waited for her to arrive, followed by Edward.

"I see, we get it, don't worry. I guess you'd like to talk to her ?"

"Y-Yes...I hope she...will listen to me."

The idea of the young woman refusing to talk to him terrified him, after all she looked so distant and cold, which was what made her for him as well as his mother, hard to approach.

"Hahaha~ Don't worry about it, in the eyes of the world she is not perceived as a good person but Hestia knows how to be for what matters. Okay lately she seems off but it's all good...she'll listen to you as long as you want her to."

Edward to the right of Ulysses nodded his head understanding that his Captain could be scary especially to a child but it didn't mean anything. He knew it well because he himself had managed to be a little more friendly and talkative despite a behavior that the young redheaded man reserved for his friends. The little boy slightly reassured then raised his small eyes towards Lucas for more precision but it was Edward who answered instead. 

 

"F-For...what matters ?"

"Mmmh, she's not standing for what she thinks is right, she's standing for what she believes in, in spite of everyone saying otherwise no matter the cost. Hestia has blood on her hands like the rest of us but we have never betrayed our beliefs or who we are."

At that moment, the young pirate's blue eyes were staring at the horizon with a thoughtful look that rarely happened while his red hair was flying in the wind. He didn't really realize it, but for the first time, the Cerberus Master of Arms had spoken in a normal way to Ulysses. This proved that he trusted him and that the discussion was serious enough for him to make the effort to explain what his friend had just said.

"I understand that admiration you have for her, I do too haha~ although it's a little different, I also find Hestia to be the most inspiring and strongest person mentally and physically. She's fucking stubborn...but she never gives up."

"Y-Yes...she is very strong..."

"But she wasn't always."

"Edward !"

Lost in his thoughts, the young pirate had let slip a sentence that had made Lucas instantly react seeing exactly what he was referring to. Yet it was already too late, the little boy cursing his own weaknesses wanted to know more. How had Hestia managed to chang e? He wanted to hear the story and be inspired by it, he wanted to know what she had gone through to become as strong and fearless as she was today.

"Is that true ?!?!?"

Ulysses had understood from Lucas' reaction that it was something delicate but his curiosity had taken over pushing him to ask this question. Edward turned his head as if to say that he had not said anything, leaving the First Mate of the crew to face the little boy. He had bright eyes, he had even blushed, so Lucas sighed and agreed to explain, thinking that Hestia would never do it anyway. 

"I don't know all the details but...at the age of 10, in the middle of the night, Hestia found herself lost in the forest on a day of heavy rain before being attacked by wild beasts. I don't know what she was attacked by, but she was mortally wounded like she had never been before. That night Hestia could have died, she was dying but finally made it through with exceptional courage and strength...like you."

"..."

"Even for us it's pretty fuzzy, we don't really know what happened since she doesn't talk about it, having made it a taboo subject. But what I do remember vividly is the first time I saw her after that incident...it was terrifying."

At that moment, the horrifying images of their friend covered in blood returning to the village as her life was about to end appeared in the minds of her two friends. They remembered it as if it were yesterday, the day when Hestia had exchanged her childlike soul for a heart of ice. Ulysses had not dared to say anything, too busy wondering what had happened before asking the question that seemed most logical to him.

"But...but then why does she never talk about it ? I-It's crazy ! S-She's amazing..."

"Haha~ isn't she ? Well, because it's not for her. That day was the day she found herself the most vulnerable. That day she cried, suffered, hoped and came close to death for the first time. Since then, Hestia has never cried again and her heart has closed to all such emotions."

"She doesn't cry anymore ? How does she do it when she is sad ? M-Me…I…I cry a lot"

"Well...her sadness...is her anger. Yet she has never been ashamed of her scars and even wears them proudly as a mark of courage, to never forget. Even though they have changed her, Hestia will always remain true to herself and never regret her past because it is what made her who she is today. So do the same and never be ashamed of what you went through to become stronger."

With a warm smile, Lucas made it clear to Ulysses that the subject was closed and that if he wanted to know more he was going to have to ask the person involved. He already had the impression to have said too much but that at the same time these words, the small boy had to hear them. While a silence had settled among the three boys, suddenly, the beauty could be seen in the distance, leaving the forest after her morning training.

"Well it looks like your date has arrived ! We have things so we'll leave you to it, wait a bit I'll tell her you wish to talk."

"O-Okay."

Standing up, Edward and Lucas would give a final wave to the little boy who was suddenly very nervous again after hearing all this. He had lowered his head looking at the grass to distract himself, unable to look to see if Hestia was going to walk towards him or walk away with a bored look on her face. This was it, maybe he was going to talk to her and that feeling was both wonderful and terrifying but Ulysses, under the bedroom window, hoped.

"You wanted to talk to me ?"

Then, after only a few seconds, brown boots appeared before his eyes causing him to become paralyzed. She was there, in front of him, overhanging him of all her size, hiding the sun and making his small body fall in the shade. Ulysses did not dare to move, when the voice of the young woman had sounded in front of him, he realized that it was real and felt himself weakening, looking like a defenseless kitten

"Y-Yes...I...you...the...in f-f-fact..I…"

"Sigh..."

Aware that she could be scary, Hestia scratched her head a little confused not knowing how to act around a child she thought was terrified. She had no idea that it was more out of respect and admiration that the little stammering boy sat shaking on the grass. However he was alone and the Captain felt more comfortable talking, so it was with a sigh at her incompetence with children that she sat down beside him.

"Take your time, I can wait."

"W-Why did you...save me ?"

As Hestia leaned against the wooden wall of the house in turn, thinking she would wait many minutes before he spoke, Ulysses suddenly answered. Yes, he had taken his courage in both hands to ask what intrigued him the most at that moment. Of course he had talked a little with everyone and knew already more or less the answer but the little warrior wanted to hear it from Hestia herself.

"Because I am free of my actions and I always do what my heart tells me whether it is considered good or bad. To be honest I'm not a good person and if you hadn't reminded me of the one I was as a child, I would have definitely left you behind without a single glance"

"..."

"But...I didn't because you showed a will to live equal to what I may have felt when I was younger. I felt that if I didn't help you, you who had braved so much for the sake of someone else...I would betray myself and say goodbye to my honor as a pir...warrior."

The little boy listened intently and even though her words might seem harsh at first, he knew that at that moment she was sincere. Hestia didn't want to come across as a hero, she was far from it as things could have been very different...but she wanted him to know. Suddenly turning to Ulysses, she plunged her gaze into his before asking him a question he was not expecting at all.

"Tell me little one, what is your biggest dream ?"

"M-My biggest dream...?"

"Yes, the one that drives you"

"I-...it would be to live happily without fear every day, to help, to protect mommy and her baby but most of all...my biggest dream would be to see mommy smile at least once like… like the sun"

At the young Ulysses' answer, Hestia couldn't help but smile silently, indeed finding herself in him, more than she would have thought. She smiled for the first time tenderly, showing him a side of her more reassuring, understandable that he did not know. Feeling more comfortable and encouraged by her smile, the little boy turned his head to the ground once more before continuing to speak

"I...I don't know my father, my mother is my only family...I have to protect her and make sure her baby is born and grows up healthy"

"I understand...we have some things in common then. I don't know my father either and my mother was also once my only family. Now it’s grown and I'm not the only one who wants to protect and care for it. One day you'll also find people you consider family and can rely on because it's good to be strong, but with more people to care about, you're always stronger."

At that moment, the little boy understood perfectly what she was talking about, her and her friends briefly crossing his mind at her words. In four days, he felt like he had become more determined and courageous after his encounter with the pirate group. Ulysses knew what that felt like even though it had been very short and feeling even more at ease moved on to another question that nearly made the young woman choke.

"M-My mommy...you...you don't hate her ?"

"COUGH COUH !!! O-OF COURSE NOT ! Ahem" 

"But...but you don't talk to each other...I also thought you...weren't going to like me"

"I...sigh...I'm not a good person, I'm a criminal and a murderer so don't let appearances fool you. Your mother is...wonderful, a very strong, exceptional woman but has been through a lot of traumas...I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to tint the beautiful silver flower that she is with hands full of blood."

Rolling her eyes, Hestia felt her heart clench, knowing that she could only look at this flower without being able to get close to it or else she would damage it. Besides, she didn't understand what was happening to her these days and preferred to stay away for her own sanity. Unfortunately, avoiding the problem was doing her more harm than good and the Captain didn't even realize it, experiencing it for the first time.

A silence had settled around them as only the wind whispered, sweeping through their almost identically colored hair. A young woman and a little boy with golden hair, sitting in the grass against a house in the middle of a very large forest. While the Cerberus Captain was again lost and confused by her new feelings, Ulysses finally asked the last question that had been on his mind for days.

"T-Tell me...h-how do you not...ever give up ?"

The little warrior knew from the conversation he had had with Lucas and Edward that for her the scars represented the fights she had led. He who also had some on the body began to adopt the same vision but when was it of the mental ? He was always told that he was brave but the little boy had found himself so close to giving up so many times and knew that his mother had gone through that too.

Ulysses wanted to listen to the advice of his savior and even if he understood little by little that she was not what one could call "good", he did not care. He only saw what she had done for him, his family and as Edward and Joe had said the day before, the important thing was the heart and the mind. As he waited patiently for an answer, Hestia bared her shoulder showing a tattoo representing a horizontal bar crossed in succession by four other verticals.

"Do you see this tattoo ? Every time I wake up surrounded by doctors telling me I shouldn't be alive, I get a bar tattoo. Every time I survive after a near-death experience, I carve it into my skin to never forget how my life is hanging by a thread. Never forgetting what I've been through, that's how I'm able to never give up, remembering even the most painful moments.."

"...."

"Life is made up of dangers all equally deadly and yet here I am talking to you today, right ? You too, little one, are here with your mother despite what you have been through, aren't you ? Despite the doubts, the pain, the fear and the sadness we can still fight and survive. No matter how shitty life is, it's the one we live, it's precious and until proven otherwise it's the only one we have."

Hestia for the first time in a very long time, was having a conversation where she delivered some of her deepest thoughts. She wasn't the type to talk this way or even show her thinking in such an intimate way but yet she had. The beautiful sadist felt that like this, by being sincere and serious, she could help protect him in the future and protect his precious mother.

"T-Thank you...for...for everything...Hes...Hestia..."

Suddenly, for the first time since their meeting, Ulysses had managed to pronounce her name although he still stuttered a little. He had no less respect or admiration for her than before, in fact quite the opposite, but the young woman didn't scare him like before. Smiling as she stood up, she gently pinched the tip of his nose with a smile that was more warm than sadistic, sincerely glad she was able to help him.

"You’re welcome, Ulysses~ Now go, join your mother who might be worried when she wakes up."

"Umu !"

So Hestia watched him run away with a smile on his face and dreams in his head, inspired by the one who had changed his life. She had taught him something today but he too had reminded her of what was important and that she always followed her heart. Lifting her head to the window of the room where the silver haired woman was, she spoke aloud to herself before walking away towards the ship.

"I never imagined that one day in my life, talking to a child would be easier than talking to a woman, she's so...sigh...whatever, now I know she's the one who makes my heart beat."

Walking away to join Seth, Loki and Azeil on the Cerberus, confined there so as not to frighten the mother and her son, Hestia shook her head, preferring to take her mind off things. Little by little she realized what her heart was trying to tell her, even if it was still unclear. As she disappeared behind the trees once again, little did she know that Ulysses' mother had heard everything from the beginning, sitting on her bed.

The beautiful woman with silver hair and pure blue eyes had woken up the moment her son left the room, alerted by her maternal instincts. She had heard the exchange he had with Lucas and Edward and of course everything Hestia had said from beginning to end. As the mother heard her son return, the words of the young blonde woman echoed in her heart and soul.