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Marvelous always enjoys the feel of flying.
Movement comes naturally to him, and so does freedom. He remembers stowing away when he was…
Grown? Young? He says the former, everyone else calls him a little kid at the time. Including the pirate crew he showed aboard to get here.
The darkness of space. The thrill of the chase. Both are home to him.
You don’t belong there, kid.
Because I’m different.
Because your people were cursed. They used to belong to the stars more than anyone.
Cursed. That’s how he feels.
They all left, one by one, and they all had excuses - Gai to go help plan earth’s defenses got so busy he just stopped coming home. Then Ahim went to help what was left of her own planet, and Luka ran off. Doc left in defeat, and Joe…
At some point, Marvelous pushed him away on purpose, and then he lost the ship.
It doesn’t feel like flying when your eye is healing slowly - his body is hardy, it shouldn’t stay broken. It doesn’t feel like flying when he crashes temp ships, or when he’s staring at space and where adventure and exploration once filled him it’s just… determination and habit.
This one is decent. It has room for…
Marvelous huffs, looks away from the stars.
He lays on the bed that isn’t as comfortable as the Galeon’s as large as… as warm as… worth sleeping on.
He closes his eyes.
He fell in love with each of them quickly, and then slowly.
Joe was strong and cool, and Marvelous thought I need that one on my side . And then he was loyal and fun to be around, and Marvelous thought I need that one to be mine.
Luka was badass - she was a genuine menace like himself, and he thought on yeah, I need someone real as her . Then under her money hungry ways (that he loves anyways) was such a heart, and such a strong member of the crew.
And he fell in love with Doc’s cooking, but then one day he realized there was real merit there too.
And Ahim was a special kind of instant where he loved her resolve, but he was surprised how far it went. Surprised a Princess easily learned how to survive as a pirate. Surprised…
Gai was too much a hero for a group of pirates. Maybe that’s why he left first.
Maybe his loyalty would go back to purely loveable if Marvelous could forget that it wasn’t a betrayal all at once, it was a trickle off of visits.
Maybe.
He’s laying on the ground, drunk off his ass two miles from the pub he got drunk at, and there is a shadow suddenly in his face.
“Damn, Marvelous,” says a voice. “I expected better.”
He looks up.
“Eh?”
He must really be out of it, he has no idea how they get him into the ship - he has less idea how the three of them got into his ship in the first place.
He passes out, and a soft gloved hand runs a hand through his hair.
He wakes up to food, and his girls sitting on the other side of his bed, snuggled together.
“What are you doing here?” He asks, glaring. His eye’s healing got fucked up. He doesn’t want to deal with it.
“We’re back,” Lukka says. Ahim huffs.
“I told you all that I was always going to be a pirate,” she says. “Did you really believe my arranged marriage was not for a plan?”
“I mean at first,” Doc says, coming in. He hands a tray to Marvelous, who, not understanding any of this, digs in.
“Then I couldn’t take a weird man touching you,” Lukka says. “Hopped worlds. Of course Doc bailed after that.”
“Joe should have done it sooner,” Marvelous murmurs, picking at his food. Six eyes on him. “I repeat: what are you doing here? We aren’t Gokaigers anymore.”
The other three look between each other, and they grin.
“Who said we ever stopped?”
…Maybe he really is too tired to process this.
He nods like it makes sense.
Within a few days, it does.
They said his kind were cursed, a loyalty only death could break. A home that travels but is tied to them, and one day they tied all of them to a planet, and it destroyed the fire of the universe.
He didn’t really think he understood because he always reached for the stars. He understood the curse the day Basco betrayed them.
When he was alone back then, he wondered if he had escaped the curse, or if he was just fundamentally broken.
He doesn’t think either are the case.
He thinks the reason they could be cursed is hunting for the ones who are Crew is hard. But he Knows.
…He’s always known.
They’ll always return. Or else he’ll get them back himself.
A pirate loves their treasures, after all.
(And when Joe returns, and they pick up Gai… the stars look beautiful once more.)