Author's note: Well here's another chapter, hope you enjoy, and please review people! I need your opinion on the fiction.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places or original plot.
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Ramirez took a few moments to stand amidst his crew, not talking, of course. They were far too lowly to be spoken to, lest he was giving them orders. His eyes narrowed slightly, and a breeze, which must have gotten in through a slight hole in the bridge, ruffled his clothes momentarily. He took this, strange as it may be, as a sign, and he began to walk through the halls of the Monoceros.
"Let me go!.." a voice screamed. "Please don't do this!"
"Would you keep quiet?! I'll slit your throat if you make any more noise!" a gruffer voice said, calmly, but nevertheless a sense of panic. "Fina, your name was.. Right?"
Fina looked at him, or at least his visor, and stayed silent.
"Right?..." he said again, impatience playing upon his voice.
She looked at the floor, trying to avoid the soulless gaze he held, due to the absence of his eyes.
"I'm talking to you!" he yelled, and hit her across the face. "Answer me! Your name is Fina?!" she fell to the floor from her sat upright position, and lay on her side.
"Y.. Yes.." she added, timidly. "My name is.. F.. Fina."
"Good girl.." the guard added. It was his lucky day. An attractive female prisoner, found in such a pathetic place as Soltis, no less. He never understood the Captain's fascination with the place.
"Now.. You're gonna' remove your clothes.. Nice and slowly.. So I can enjoy it." he said, coolly, drawing his sword.
Fina gulped and nodded, closing her eyes, and began to undo the strap on the back her dress.
"You don't have to do that, Fina." said a voice from behind the guard.
"Hey! I say what she does and doesn't do, bastard! Leave her to it!" he said viciously, pointing the blade at Fina, now keep going. He never turned around; the voice was too soft to be anyone important.
Fina kept her eyes closed, not daring to look at the situation.
"Fina, stop." the voice said again, the guard grew quite annoyed and spun around to face the one ruining his fun.
"Who the hell do you think you ar-" he cut himself off mid sentence.
"R.. Ramirez!.. C.. Captain!.. I.. I didn't... !!" he panicked and stumbled backwards falling on his rear.
"Too late, fool. She is our guest.. Not our prisoner." he said calmly, the usual tone for him.
"Pl.. Please! S..Sir!" he begged.
"Silence. You can take your leave now, Lieutenant. Permanently." Ramirez removed the silver blade from it's sheathe lightning fast, and before the Lieutenant had time to even draw a final breath, drove it through the center slit on his helmet's visor.
The body of the Lieutenant fell backwards slightly, limping in death, as a Ramirez placed his foot on the corpses' chest, and pulled the blade from his head. He removed a small cloth from a pocket on his uniform and wiped the Lieutenant's blood from the blade, he placed the cloth back in his pocket and re-sheathed the sword, brushing a few stray hairs aside that seemed to have fallen there during his outburst with the Lieutenant.
"Much better.." he said, as he extended his hand towards Fina. "May I?"
Fina simply looked up at him, trembling with fear, she hesitated for only the briefest of moments, but then took his hand. She didn't like what he had become.. But.. He had saved her.. She was so confused, he was bordering between good and evil, and it was though he couldn't tell the difference.
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Aika arose slowly from her bed. She ached all over, but that was only going to be right, after the events of yesterday. She threw back the sheets, only to find, underneath, she was completely naked, aside from bandages around her ribs and a sling around her arm.
"ILCHYMIS!" she yelled up the communication tube. "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU FOR A MOMENT."
Somewhere aboard the Delphinus, Ilchymis gulped the biggest gulp he had ever done before, and he slowly made his way down to Aika's quarters.
"Oh dear.." he began, to himself. "She must be mad.."
He slowly pushed open her cabin door, and poked his head around the frame. Aika was stood there, the sheets wrapped around her in a makeshift dress. He blushed slightly, and proceeded in.
"Is.. There something I can help you with, Aika?" he questioned.
"Yes, Ilchymis, there is." she glowered at him until he became nervous. "Were you the one who removed my clothes?"
Ilchymis took a couple of steps back and smiled. "Oh, heavens no!" he began, "I couldn't possibly do that, despite being a doctor, one of which who would have been acting in the entirely appropriate manner, I might add, but no. I did not." he paused, briefly, and looked thoughtful, his glasses rested on the tip of his nose, and were edging downwards with every passing moment. He pushed them back up slightly with his index finger.
"I believe I had Kirala, Urala and Merida do it." he said, nodding all the while. "Yes, it was definitely those three."
Aika gave a sigh of relief, and pulled the sheet tighter around her, making sure it didn't fall, and give Ilchymis an eyeful.
"What exactly was wrong, then?" she asked him, her head tilted to one side, so her red hair fell gently down her body.
"Broken ribs, fractured forearm, and slight concussion." he began, looking at the floor. "You had quite a nasty fall, Aika. I was surprised you managed to struggle your way back to the door." he pushed his glasses up again, curse whoever made him these lenses.
"I guess I'm just resilient." she said, quietly.
"Quite." he replied, as he turned from her rapidly, a small smile upon his face. "You should get some rest, Aika. You've been through a lot."
Aika frowned angrily, "But... But... I have to find Fina!.. We can't leave her with that monster! I... I can't believe I left her behind..."
Ilchymis stopped, and faced her once more. "Rest, Aika." he began, "There is no way you could take Ramirez on now.. Not after this." he sighed, "The rest of us would be quite useless too, I might add... Seeing as he now has Fina, all tactics we may have had regarding his ship are now... As you say... Gone out of the Porthole."
Aika thought for a moment, and sat slowly back down on the bed. "Fine..." She said, hesitantly, "I'll rest up... But I'm not letting this go, Ilchymis."
As Ilchymis turned away, a look of knowing passed over his face. A look that signaled he was in for a rough time while Aika recovered.
"I know, Aika... I know..."
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Gilder sat up on the bridge, his feet resting upon some of the controls. He looked over, and saw a blaze ignite in both Marco and Lawrence's eyes; he then looked back to his feet, and then back to Marco and Lawrence. There was a brief pause, and then he looked back to his feet. "Oh... Riiiiiiiiiight..." he said, knowingly. "I get it now... You boys don't want my grubby boots on your control panel, do ya'?"
Their eyes bore into him, and he began to feel nervous, he hastily removed his feet from the control panel and grinned. "Sorry, yeah?" As he brought his feet down, Drachma came up onto the bridge, followed by Ilchymis, who, it could be said, looked considerably pale after his run in with Aika.
Drachma gave Ilchymis a swift pat on the back as he walked past him, and turned to Gilder. "Where we be headed?.." he asked, his voice as gruff as ever.
"Heh.. Yafutoma, Drach." he said, as he gazed out of the window, into the blue horizon.
"Why Yaf'toma...?" Drachma asked, quizzically. "Surely, we should head back to Pirate Isle... Vyse's body is still in Soltis... We can' jus' leave it there, and not let his parents know.."
"Hey, Drach, I completely agree with you.." he began, and sighed, "Yafutoma has the largest navy, just short of Valua... We'll need all the help we can get to stop that crazy son-of-a-bitch."
"I thought.. I thought they came to help this time around.." Drachma said to Gilder, looking quite shocked.
"Oh, yeah.. Well.. they did." he said, nodding, "Cowardly bastards fled, soon as the Hydra made it's ugly appearance. So.. We need to get their help again. Possibly try and recruit the Ixa'Takan's as well, hell... Maybe even the Valuan's who're slightly more than pissed off over the destruction of their city... But that's before we do ANYTHING, Drach."
Drachma looked briefly at him, "Aye.. I suppose ye're right, Gilder..." he said, flexing his mechanical arm. "If we left it too late, who knows what Ramirez could do."
"My way of thinking exactly, Drachma." Gilder said, as he got up from where he was seated previously, much to the relief of Marco and Lawrence, and he walked over to Ilchymis, who was seated on the Western end of the bridge.
"How's Aika doing, Ilchy?" he asked him, curiously. "Not too bad off, I hope."
"No, not at all Gilder." he said, staring at a clipboard. "She's recovering very quickly. Remarkable really. I told her she needed to get some rest, though, before she could even think about going near Ramirez again."
"You did good, Doc." he said, patting him on the shoulder. "Keep it up."
"I will, Gilder..." he said, wearily, before giving out a yawn.
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