Author's Note:It's finally here, chapter four of Lost Highway. I don't have much to say except that you'll learn more of Myth's past. I'd also like to thank everyone who's read thus far and corrected me on my grammer errors. I don't really like that part of the criticism, but this is America. And for those of you who don't live in the states, sorry. But please, Enjoy and Review!

Disclaimer:I don't own the Soul series of videogames, NamcoBandai games does.

Cassandra still hasn’t quit nagging me for sneaking off. She was really mad when she found out about what happened at the tavern. The only way she forgave me was finding out why I did it. It turned out that she had a sense of justice. That was something I had before I was run out of Sicily. I guess that it was slowly returning since I quit robbing people on the highway.

Now we were somewhere in northern Italy. Believe it or not, my funds have depleted a lot since I quit robbing people. Normally, I’m careful of what I spend. But Cassandra and her having to stay at not-too-cheap inns ruined that. When she wanted to check in at a fancy one this time, I finally put my foot down.

“No!” I said.

“But I want to stay at this one!” she whined.

“Look, all you said was that you wanted me to accompany you to Ostrheinsburg. You said nothing about me financing the whole damned thing!” I argued.

“So?” she asked.

“You’re just being spoiled!” I replied.

“And you’re just being stingy!” she replied back.

“Funny, I’m being stingy when I put the most money out for this journey?” I mockingly asked.

This argument was getting us nowhere. Finally Rock said we should flip a coin. We did, and I called heads. It landed on tails and Cassandra was smiling. The rooms we got this time left me flat broke. We ended up in a meeting on what to do.

“Well, you guys could always do side jobs.” she suggested.

“And what about you?” I asked.

“I can sing and dance for money,” she said.

“Whatever, you need to do some actual work!” I replied.

“Wait a minute!” Rock finally interrupted.

“What!?” me and Cassandra asked simultaneously.

“I saw a poster about a fighting tournament at a coliseum. Its on the western shore and it pays. The winner gets a huge amount of gold,” he explained.

Me and Cassandra were in shock. We could’ve just gone there and avoided another argument. It was agreed that the three of us would try to enter. This tripled our chances of winning. And it would give me a chance for some action. That incident with El Toro had already worn off. I needed this more than anything. Especially with the anger that I built up traveling with Cassandra.

The next day we went down to the Lakeside Coliseum. All three of us were to enter as planned. But Cassandra at the last minute changed her mind. I tried to ask why, but she said that she remembered something that she had to do. So I shrugged it off. The only other unplanned thing was that they made me hand over Fame. According to the rules, no guns of any kind allowed. But in exchange for Fame during my time competing, I got to borrow a rental short sword for free. I hated doing this, but I was given no choice. The rental had a slightly different balance than Fame did in my hand. But I decided to make do.

After being forced to use a different sword in my right, I decided to look at a piece of paper that had the rewards listed on it. The amount for winning was tremendous in my eyes. The money for second or being in the final four was alright. But there was something that really caught my eye on that piece of paper.

“Any criminal who enters on their own free will and wins may be granted amnesty for their crimes.”

This was something that I truly desired. With that, I could travel freely again. This would remove my bounty, so no more bounty hunters. But it said may, so there was still a chance it wouldn’t work. I went back to the sign-up and asked if I could change the name on my entry. This was because I used my actual name when I signed up. They allowed this due to the fact that alias’ were allowed. I changed it to Myth, so my chances of getting it would be increased. Besides, the authorities didn’t know my real name.

After I did that, we were all called to listen to the rules. The guy explaining them seemed to be an old knight. But all of the competitors listened carefully:

“Alright, here’s how it goes: The Lakeside Coliseum does it like most tournaments. A total of sixteen competitors that will slowly decrease to the final four. If you manage to make it that far, you earn prize money. As usually, there can only be one winner. So if a fight ends in a draw, we flip a coin. But I’m warning you now that this coliseum believes in the age-old code of ‘Strength and Honor’, so no guns, smoke bombs, blinding powder, poisoned weapons, etcetera. But honorably killing your opponent is allowed.”

After that, we all nodded. When they were doing the drawings, I only paid attention to my number and that of my opponent. But what name came up on the board shocked me a little. It was one I haven’t heard of for a few months. My opponent was some I once fought along side during a dark part of my history.

“Meiga,” I said under my breath.

After that, I walked into a corner and waited. But I was wondering why he was in Italy of all places. I went back to Europe to escape that part of my life. There was more to me for these past few years than just being a highwayman. It happened right after I was deemed Myth by the authorities. I was being chased by them and didn’t have many options. But some stranger helped me by letting me board his ship. I escaped only to be imprisoned in a different way. I was knocked out and realized that I was shanghaied when I woke up un-armed. But I wasn’t alone, there were others. As in other criminals like me. We were all shanghaied to fight in a war on another continent.

Whomever planned was an evil genius because he knew exactly what men like us were like. We’d rather fight in a war we had nothing to do with rather than face the hangman’s noose. I had hope though, that pirates would attack the ship. Hopefully it would be a certain crew that I was affiliated with, but my luck came true and the ship sailed safely.

When the ship arrived, it was on the day that Maletta was defeated by Grandall. It was the tactician Chester who planned to use us. But luck was almost on our side. We were from a foreign land and hopefully we’d be freed. I kept quiet while most of the other criminals were claiming to be innocent victims of shanghai. I had found a nail and was trying to pick the lock on my shackles. I succeeded only to find out that one of the Grandall solder’s found a list and all of our wanted posters. While they were deciding what to do with us, I snuck away during a small riot between some of the other criminals and a few Grandall soldiers.

The first thing I did was sneak back onto the ship and recover Fortune and Fame. After I got my trusted weapons back, I went to their supply area and stole a horse. But my luck ran out when I was spotted. I got on the horse and rode threw the encampment to cause a little ruckus before leaving. What I didn’t know was that they’d send someone to track me down.

When I was sure I got a good enough distance, I found a small spring in the woods. I was in serious need of a bath and took one. But I had Fame close by just in case. As I was finishing up, I heard what sounded like chain mail. I didn’t care, I set a trap for just incase I was followed. It went off in my plain sight, but my pursuer avoided it. But he fell into a backup trap. The good old fashion trap that leaves its victim hanging upside-down. Right there I had a glimpse of my pursuer. He was younger than me with a scar on the left side of his face and wearing a long bluish coat. His weapon of choice was a straight-bladed katana, which fell from his hand when he got caught in trap two. I then aimed Fame at the rope and shot him down.

“If you want the horse back, then take it!” I said putting my clothes back on.

Right there, he seemed really pissed. But we heard other voices that gave away the fact I was surrounded. Right there, half of the Grandall forces I saw were surrounding me. I was glad that I got dressed. It would’ve been very embarrassing if I were still bathing when they arrived.

“Meiga, we heard his gunshot!” a young woman said running up to him

All I could do was raise my hands to where they could see them. Now I was screwed, but he did seem to change his mind right in front of everyone. That was the only upside to this. I was surrounded after all.

“So, you thought you could get away with stealing from us?” she asked.

“It was just one horse, I already told him that if he wanted it back to take it.” I replied.

“Why did you do it?” she now asked.

“I wanted out of there. I wasn’t sure what my fate was and I was scared,” I admitted.

“We know why you and the other criminals were brought to Maletta. The captain of that ship spilled everything. We have decided to let the other criminals go. They took the ship after we made sure that they couldn’t do too much damage with it,” she now said.

“But do any of them know how to navigate?” asked.

“You should know, not me.” she said holding Fame, inspecting it out of her curiosity.

“Basically saying that you let them go because they would just kill themselves not knowing how to sail,” I said in acknowledgement.

“Pretty much, but they have already set sail. You lost your best chance to return home, highwayman Myth!” she said flashing my wanted poster.

“So, what are you going to do with me?” I asked.

“You have two choices. You may either join us or be executed. You are just a criminal, you know.” she said.

I ended up joining the Grandall army during the rest of the Mantis War. After it was over, I tried to get enough money to return home. But Girardot asked me to join in his rebellion. If it weren’t for the fact that I saw that the people of Grandall were suffering, I would’ve just refused. But when he died, I tried to leave again. It was guilt that made me stay. I couldn’t just sit by while this was happening. That’s why I joined up with Rudiger and Feofan when they went to ally with Surina, and her sister Tyla, the woman who gave me the choice. That’s right, there were two legendary cadets on that continent.

After the Arthias Revolution was over, I was treated like a hero just like the rest of the rebels. But I couldn’t live that way. That’s why I returned to Europe and re-spurred my career as a highwayman. The funny thing was that if you heard the name Myth in Arthias, they’d say I was one of the many heroes. But say it back in Europe, they’d just say that I’m a criminal. Despite being a criminal, its still more of a quiet life than being praised as a hero.

But now one of my former allies was here and going to fight me. I could not ever let what I’ve done on that continent ever be revealed. It was practically the only secret I had left. I didn’t even want my mother to know that I fought in a war. She’d be even more worried than I wanted. But that also meant that I might have to kill Meiga as well to keep it a secret.

“Not Good,” I said to myself.

Yet I was still screwed. I knew that I had to deal with this sooner or later. Though I still was curious as to why he was here in Europe of all places. Maybe I can ask him during our fight? Yeah, that was a possibility. The wars ended two months ago anyways. Besides, I’m sure that he wanted to settle our score once and for all. This was the best chance to do it. The only thing I didn’t know was that he wouldn’t be the only thing from my past to catch up with me.

What else in Myth's past will catch up? Myth fought in the Mantis War? Tune in next time and find out!

Another Author's Note: I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Before you criticize the first sentence, remember that this fic is talking about events as they happen. The original Pirate of the Mediterranean and Pirate's Creed are more past than present. And I better straighten some things out now. Myth was 17 when he was run out by the mob. He was 18 when he got his bounty and 19 when he was shanghaied and fought in the war. And his current age is 22. Ok, I'm still working things out. I'll tell you in the next chapter.

The traps is something else I should explain. THe first one was something Myth setup himself. It was a crude bow that shot a sharpened stick. It was made to be a distraction for the second trap. It was just the kind that cause the victim to hang upside-down by one ankle. Unlike the first one that sprang, it was already there. And it was abandoned long ago, most likely meant for capturing medium-sized game. Myth almost fell for it and used it to his advantage. If he didn't shoot the rope, it would've broke soon from years in the elements. Pretty much he wanted to make himself look cooler by making Meiga think he set both traps himself.