Finally to chapter 8, yeah! Lots of things made this chapter a week late, among those problems being I lost power for half a week and had to work late the other half. Love my job... :sarcastic: Also, this chapter is a bit shorter since I thought it was a better spot to leave it (cliffhangers, bwahaha!). That and I needed time to finish re-writing the argument at the beginning of this chapter. It hopefully reads a lot better now. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. …Bwahahaha.
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Chapter Eight: A Bearer of Bad News
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Will's house was relatively quiet, compared to how loud the fight outside had been. A few of the Fun Bunch members sat on the couches, others stared out the window. No one really spoke much, especially their white-haired leader who leaned slightly against the kitchen counter. He stood stock-still, but his eyes seemed to writhe with emotions ranging from defeat and despair to utter rage.
Chloe turned her head when the door clicked open and closed shortly after with a loud thud. A relieved sigh escaped her lips when she saw Walter's familiar form walk through the foyer.
Jay perked up at the sound of him entering, and peered around him for a moment. "Oh good, you're back. Where's Norma?"
Walter gestured behind him with his thumb. "She's helping Elsa and Alcott at the hospital. As for the relic, I have it right here." He briefly held up the treasure hunter's bag in his hand, tossing it towards Chloe so it gently landed in her lap. She set it onto the coffee table as the Ferines looked over at Will. "Elsa told me something happened when Norma and I were hiding. What's going on?" Chloe opened her mouth, but seemed to have trouble finding words to say.
The Ferines noticed her hesitation, and let his gaze wander to the other members of the Fun Bunch. The group looked battered and many of them wore injuries that hadn't been dealt with yet. Moses' chest and shoulder were covered in large red-tinged bandages, while Chloe and Senel shared cuts and scrapes all over their arms. Will wore a large bruise on his forehead which had begun to bleed, while Jay held his left arm carefully as if he'd broken it.
Shirley… wasn't there.
Walter's brows furrowed in confusion and he looked in the other corners of the room before asking. "…Where's Shirley?"
Senel's shoulder flinched from his position near the counter, and Walter's eyes narrowed. The blond turned on his heel and strode over to the group's leader. Stopping in place a few feet away from him, he stared at the group's leader without an ounce of humor in his eyes. "Senel, where is Shirley?" He asked again, voice steady but tense; as if he didn't want to know the answer to his question.
The white-haired man didn't reply nor did he look up at him, and Walter growled in response. He turned to the rest of the group, eyes flashing. "Damnit, would you all just say something!? Where the hell is she?!" He yelled, frustration covering his features now.
"She's gone." Senel replied quietly, his eyes shrouded from view.
The blond froze in place, his eyes wide in disbelief and a cold chill running down his spine. He whipped around to look at Senel, his face showing rare unguarded dread as he quietly choked out, "…What…?" It was almost more of a statement then a question, as if he were trying to make sense of it.
Senel's eyes clenched shut as he softly continued. "She was taken by them… Musette and Shirley were cornered by soldiers before Chloe and I could get there. She had Musette run away and she kept them from going after her as best she could. Madam Musette managed to get away safely, but…" He swallowed hard. "When we got there, the soldiers and Shirley were gone. Chloe and I searched the rest of the night but we didn't see or hear from her since then."
"…What?" Walter repeated, not wanting to believe it. He took the slightest step backwards and felt the cold lump in his chest warm with flickers of fury. He didn't take any heed of it as he stared at the white-haired man with incredulous anger. "Shirley was captured?"
Jay and Chloe gave each other worried expressions. From how their Ferines comrade was beginning to react, and what happened the last time Shirley was kidnapped, this conversation would not turn out well. "Walter—" Chloe began, but the blond just spoke over her.
"Are you trying to tell me Shirley was captured by, of all the nations of the world, Gadoria?! The exact same country that's been after her ever since the battle with Vaclav?!" Walter growled, his eyes passing icy and going straight to glacial in their level of withheld rage.
Senel raised his head to speak, his own expression showing emotions of tightly compacted anger, worry and desperation. "What are you talking about? They haven't been trying to capture her since—"
The blond interrupted Senel, rounding on him with his eyes flashing like fire. "You wouldn't know because you weren't at the Altar of the Sea. You weren'tthere when Gadorian soldiers were slaughtering—"
The blond stopped himself, taking in an unsteady breath and trying to ignore the rage boiling in his chest. "The entire reason Gadoria sent those knights to interrupt the Rite of Accession was to arrest Shirley for conspiring with Vaclav! A few months later they sent Solon and his shinobi to kidnap her again! The Kingdom of Gadoria only wants her because she's the Merines, she can power the Nerifes Cannon." By then, his voice had steadily grown to a yell, his biting words echoing in the room. "They want the power source to the most powerful weapon in the world sans the Wings of Light, and now they have her!"
The white-haired eren suddenly cut in, glaring angrily at the enraged blond. "Don't you think we already know that, Walter?! We were trying to figure out how rescue her when you walked in-!"
Walter interrupted him with a bark of bitter laughter, his face devoid of all humor. "Oh by all means then, don't let me stop you! It's not like you haven't had ample experience rescuing her already, either from Vaclav or her duties. I'm sure taking on an entire army will be a cinch this time around! It isn't like you haven't had any experience pulling miracles out of your ass at the expense of everyone around you."
Moses' head bounced to and fro between the two, and stood up in alarm. "Now hold up y'all! Ain't no need to bite each other's heads off!"
The two ignored the redhead as Senel's glare intensified, straightening and turning to face the scathing blond. "Why are you taking this out on me? Shirley was protecting Madam Musette, who you forget is the Holy Sovereign of Rexalia. If she got captured the war is as good as over, so stop blaming me for everything wrong that happens!" Senel snapped angrily, his hands clenched into fists.
"I'll blame you if it's your damned fault! If you had been there; if any of you had been there then she wouldn't have gotten captured in the first place!"
Senel shook his head. "Shirley could have defended herself against those knights; Musette couldn't! Shirley did the right thing covering her escape-!"
"And you weren't there to protect her when she needed you most!" Walter roared, his eyes flashing and fingertips shimmering a dark violet.
His teeth clenched painfully as he bit out, "Damn it all, she chose you! You're the one she wanted to protect her, and you were supposed to keep her safe! Safe from the likes of Solon, from Schwartz and Gadoria! Especially from Gadoria, what with everything that's been happening with this weapon they're building, with that damned relic! What the hell kind of fucking protector are you if you can't even keep her safe from a few knights?!"
"Shirley saved Musette by distracting those knights! She was captured because she put Musette's safety above hers and you should be helping us figure out how to save her rather than blaming me for everything!" Senel thundered back, his eyes like chips of ice. He saw the blond falter ever so slightly and continued. "Besides, no matter how much I may have screwed in the past, I always succeeded in saving Shirley when it mattered most! Just how many times have you ever saved someone you cared about, Walter!? Before you died the first time I'd say that number was probably zero!"
There was a split second that Senel wanted to take the words back, but part of him couldn't help but revel in the brief flash of pain that crossed the blond's face. Then immediately after he saw the light blue eyes darken, and he regretted ever opening his mouth.
In an instant and before anyone could react, Walter rushed at him and slammed an eres-powered fist into Senel's cheek. The heavy blow sent him careening into a wardrobe with a crash, sending books and splintered wood flying. The others jumped to their feet in shock, and the white-haired eren groaned slightly as he lifted his head slightly. He saw the blond step towards him and roughly grabbed the man by his collar, pulling him up to nearly eye-level in a surprisingly show of strength. Senel glared at the blond; even if he knew what he said definitely earned him that punch.
The Ferines glared at Senel with murder in his eyes, his eres shining brightly from his fingers. "How dare you." He began, his voice a low growl of rage. "How dare you assume you know anything about me, you insignificant worm! You have no idea what sort of hell I've lived through nor the kind of guilt I live with every single day. If I ever hear you say something as monumentally stupid as that again…" The hand near Senel's throat tightened. "I'll break your arms." Looking entirely like his past self from when they fought in the Mirage Palace where the blond was fighting to kill, Senel believed him.
Walter practically threw the white-haired eren to the floor, the echoes of cracking wood and splinters echoing in the still silence of the room. The blond's glared daggers at Senel, his body shaking with rage as he resisted throttling the man in front of him. Without another word, his fingers clenched into a white knuckled fist as he stormed out of the house, door slamming behind him so hard the windows quivered slightly.
The tension in the room dissipated as soon as the Ferines departed, and Jay rolled his eyes with all the sarcasm he could muster. "Well, that was productive of you, Senel. Please, do try and turn our teammates against us, especially the one with lingering anger issues towards you." He made to shrug, but winced when the movement made his arm twinge painfully.
"I didn't mean to, it just slipped out!" Senel grit out as he gingerly touched the side of his face That was going to turn into a nasty bruise by morning.
"Well, look what ya'll got from that? You gettin' clocked somethin' fierce in the jaw and now we're missin' one of our main fighters." Moses piped up, earning an exasperated groan from Senel.
Chloe shook her head and walked over to offer her friend a hand up. "Coolidge, as much as I can understand your anger, lashing out at Walter isn't how we're going to rescue Shirley. You purposely went after a subject you know is a sensitive one and you wanted to get a rise out of him. Congratulations, it worked." She pulled him to his feet and crossed her arms with a frown. As much as she came to love the man in front of her, he had his moments where he didn't think thins through.
"Frankly, I'm surprised he left with just that." Will sighed, slipping off his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Either way, we know Walter and Norma are safe, and the relic is still with us. We can't do as much unless we learn more about the relic and how it relates to this weapon Gadoria is building."
"Not to mention, Shirley is with Gadorian forces and we don't know their location. They could be anywhere on the Legacy by now." Chloe pointed out.
"In other words, we're sittin' on our asses doin' jack shit. So why ain't we doin' something about savin' Shirley?" Moses stated bluntly.
"Must you state the obvious in such a vulgar way, Moses?" Jay asked the redhead in exasperation.
"Anyway!" The knight cut in with a yell, irritation clear on her features. "Should we focus on rescuing Shirley, or finding out more about the relic?" Chloe quickly asked before another fight broke out this morning. She sighed and looked over at Senel in concern. It hurt her that her own country would do something like this… The possibility of using an ancient weapon against them, and capturing one of her friends; she couldn't help but feel a bit like a traitor to both her friends and her country.
Senel shook his head and drew his fingers through his hair in frustration. "We need to know more about the relic, but… Well, Walter is right, we can't just abandon Shirley! What do we do?"
The others looked at him and then to each other. What could they do? Once again, the group had just lost one of their own, and was hopelessly confused as how to get her back.
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Norma's dreams were filled with odd images, even for her. Usually she got the average dreams other people had; like swimming through gald or finding some legendary treasure. Soon, they had begun to fill with images of her friends as time on the Legacy went by. Then they had filled with Grune after her passing. Shortly after that Walter began to pop up in them too… a lot. This dream she was having was… weird.
Norma found herself walking down the streets of Werites Beacon, but no one was walking down the normally bustling town. Not even a single bird or bug was flying through the air. She was completely alone. She reached the entrance of the town, and saw some peculiar… thing at the entrance, beyond the little drawbridge. It was large and steely grey, but she couldn't tell what it was. She walked to the edge of the bridge, and saw that it was the vast metal deck of a huge battleship. Water seemed to flow under the bridge per usual, only this time it was a vast ocean, and she was easily a hundred feet off the water.
Swallowing back a yelp of fear, she walked across the bridge quickly. The moment her heels clacked onto steel, she heard a heavy grinding sound behind her. She turned and looked back to see the bridge had been drawn up against the walls of the city, with a good couple of yards between either bank above the natural moat. She gulped and looked around the deck.
The first thing Norma noticed was the large deck was on the very top of the battleship, with a bunch of people clad in either blue capes and white lab coats surrounding a large structure of ancient red metal. She walked over, but it didn't seem like any of them saw her. Pushing her way through the faceless crowd, she saw what they were all looking at with wide eyes. It was the same weapon in the sketch Jay had showed them, only solid and very real. The structure's large base looked like it had been battered by the passing of time, with a large panel covered in archaic carvings on top and a large circular slot for the relic in the center of it. Above the base was an enormous cannon, inlaid with different lines and symbols she would never understand the meanings of.
The treasure hunter suddenly noticed she had her bookbag hanging over one shoulder, and gingerly took out the relic. Holding it in her fingers, she swallowed and cautiously approached the weapon, arm outstretched. The red relic plopped into the slot with the sound of stone against stone and… nothing happened. Norma scratched her head for a moment and then an idea popped into her mind. She activated her eres and touched the stone ball with her glowing fingertips
Suddenly, the stone glowed brightly and turned in the hole by itself, stopping when the runic symbols faced her. The magical leylines arching across the strange metal and stone glowed from the relic's power, and began to light up other parts of the weapon. The curved lines curved around the cannon like little lights, and the same runes began to glow in other places around the stone. A distinct hum began to fill the air as the wave of light reached the end of the cannon, where it began to sparkle with power. A small transparent rune seemed to hover in place above the relic, glowing a faint blue color.
Norma tilted her head at all of this, trying to memorize all that happened. Hey, if strange, possibly prophetic dreams had helped Wally save her life, it might work for her too.
Then, she noticed the same floating symbol was also glowing on the front of the relic, and for the first time she realized the two runes were the same. Curiously, she reached down to touch the symbol floating in midair, but the moment her fingers touched them, she flinched as images were shoved into her mind, one after another.
Waves… Ocean waves, and the salty sea breeze. Flash. Rain fell from the sky onto a pristine lake, ripples spreading across the surface. Flash. A giant waterfall she remembered was a popular tourist attraction on the mainland. Images of different rivers flickered in her eyes and then another bright flash blinded her.
She suddenly found herself in the capital of Corinth, shoved into the middle of a crowd at noon. People surrounded her on all sides, walking in different directions like a busy street downtown. Flash. She let out a screech as she ducked and a large man barreled past her carrying a box of food, with others quickly chasing after him. Flash. She sat on a bench at the Fountain, the chatter of gossiping citizens filling the air around her. Flash. Countless unknown faces waved past her vision as if she were running past a line of people.
Norma blinked and she was back on the ship's deck in front of the weapon again, the rune still hovering steadily over the control panel. "Water… and people…" She voiced with a thoughtful frown. Within seconds, cogs seemed to click in her mind as an epiphany truck her. "Water and people! That's what the runes mean!" She ran over and checked the rune again, realizing what piece of information had been evading the Fun Bunch all this time.
She closed her eyes envisioning two symbols she remembered from the alphabet, and they slowly materialized in midair in front of her. She opened her eyes, and pushed both of them together in a certain manner. She was missing one of the water runes, but… they looked exactly like the one on the relic. An excited grin lit up her face as she exclaimed, "The relic's main symbol! It means—"
"…Ferines!" Norma shouted aloud as she woke from her dream, her eyes wide in excitement. The girl in front of her started and nearly dropped the cup of tea she was holding. The treasure hunter blinked as she realized she was awake, and smiled sheepishly at Elsa. "…Uh, morning Ellie. Sorry I scared you."
Elsa brought her hand down from her chest as if she suffered a rather abrupt heart attack. "G-good morning, Norma. It's alright, I hadn't expected you to wake so… suddenly."
Norma gave her a curious look at her greeting, and then her gaze turned to the window in the main lobby. Sure enough, bright morning sunshine was beginning to shine through the windows. "It's morning already? How long was I asleep?"
Elsa nodded, her heart rate slowing to a normal speed. "You were exhausted after using your eres so much, so you came down here to relax a little. You ended up falling asleep instead." Elsa gestured towards the crystal eren who was slouched in a chair, her lower half covered by a small blanket.
"Huh. Go figure." The brunette remarked.
The younger girl tilted her head at the girl curiously as she took a long sip from her mug. "…What were you dreaming about anyway? You kept murmuring about a relic or water in your sleep…"
"Oh, I was just studying in my sleep again. Weird, right?" Norma laughed off the question, grinning slightly. Inwardly, she remembered the vision of the ship, and thought it better to keep that a secret from anyone outside the Fun Bunch, Granny Musette and the Bouncers.
"I guess…" Elsa replied slowly, clearly not sure whether she should believe the treasure hunter or not.
Norma stood up and quickly folded the blanket and tossed it onto the chair behind her. She stretched her arms towards the ceiling, feeling her back creak from the uncomfortable position she had slept in. "Man, I'm stiff... Hey, I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat, so I'll be seeing you Elsa."
Elsa nodded with a small smile on her face. "Same to you, Norma. Thank you for all your help!"
"Hey, what are friends for?" Norma asked cheerfully. "Speaking of which, you wouldn't have happened to see where Wally and the others went, did you?"
"Well, Will was looking for Walter early this morning, so everyone is probably at his house." The brunette answered, gesturing in the direction of his house.
After waving goodbye to Elsa, the brown-haired eren stepped out into the warm sunshine, stretching like a cat and enjoying the rays. She promptly realized she was still in her pajamas when she stepped on a rock, but shrugged it off as she walked down the street towards the inn. She'd go change into her normal clothes before meeting Wally at Teach's house… Were they even still there though, since it took her so long to wake up?
Norma shook her head as she passed over the bridge, one of the handrails sporting a large gouge in the wood from last night's battle. "Eh, I'll go meet up with them sooner or later. Besides, I could do for a nice hot shower after what happened last night."
Reaching the inn, she walked inside to see the innkeeper pushing a pile of broken glass onto a dustpan. "Yo, Gramps! Have you seen Wally come back yet?"
Frowning at her nickname for him, he shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him since last night. I've been too busy cleaning up after last night's attack."
"Huh…" So Wally hadn't popped by yet. He must still be at Teach's house "Well, thanks anyway!" Norma replied and tromped up the stairs towards her room. Along the way, she noticed the dings and scratches along the walls where the soldiers ran up the stairs last night. Biting her lip at the memory, she finally reached her room, where the door was left ajar and hanging from one hinge. Poking it with one finger, the door creaked dangerously from the metal hinge and the metal looked close to snapping off entirely. Norma pouted, "Well that sucks! I'll have to get Gramps to replace this later."
Walking inside and kicking the door shut with a foot, she looked around the room. The window blew cold air into the room, and the curtains on either side of it billowed slightly from the slight breeze outside. Walking over to her dresser to grab a change of clothes, she wondered if Walter was still at Will's house. "Maybe he just got tired and slept on the couch." She remarked to herself. Walter didn't sleep well anyways, but maybe he was taking a catnap over there like she had in the hospital's waiting room.
After taking an enjoyable hot shower, she hastily dried off and dressed. Norma walked over to her dresser to find a pair of socks, but noticed something out of place out of the corner of her eye. She looked over and saw a sheet of paper on Walter's dresser. Curious, she walked over to look over it. His familiar bold handwriting scrawled out a lengthier note than usual, with some scratched out parts in places.
"Weird… Wally doesn't really leave me notes anymore. Maybe he thought I wouldn't be back until this morning." She commented with a raised eyebrow, rubbing one of her eyes. She plucked the note off the dresser and noticed his handwriting was less precise than usual, as if he had been writing quickly. Norma shrugged off the observation and began reading.
"Norma," It started.
"If you haven't been to Will's yet, I'll tell you the news now. Shirley was kidnapped by those soldiers last night." Norma gasped in horror, her eyes widening in shock. K-kidnapped!? Not Shirl, not again!
"Even if we need to figure out how the relic works, I can't just leave Shirley with those…" There were a few words scribbled out, though she could only imagine it was some horrible insult. "…Gadorians. They've tried to kidnap Shirley twice before, and at best to make her an example for others or as a bartering piece for Rexalia. At worse, they want to use her to power the Nerifes Cannon. If they have that they could easily threaten Rexalia's capital and barter for the Relic. If they have both that and this ancient weapon they have… I don't think we'd stand a chance in this war.
"I'm going to Maurits and telling him what's happened so he's in the loop (and none of the others, of course), then I'm heading to the main hideouts on the Legacy. If I can find out where these soldiers are hiding, we'll have a better chance of getting her back.
Please, don't try and look around for me. I'll be fine; I'm used to this sort of thing. Spying used to be my job for Nerifes sake. Just figure out what that relic does and I'll try to be back soon.
Walter"
Norma looked up from the note, swallowing hard as a cold chill of dread ran down her spine. First Shirley's kidnapped, and now Walter's off trying to find these soldiers by himself. She had been terrified of something happening to her friends ever since she saw what the Relic was capable of doing. Now, that fear had come true with the Merines' capture and her best friend chasing after her. The brunette's fears were coming true, and she was sure more would follow.
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Well… Crud, that just happened, didn't it? Shirley's been taken by Gadoria, oh no! And no, she really isn't a damsel anymore I swear! She was just overwhelmed by maybe ten guys all at once, and no crystal eren can take out that many at once! And Wally's gone too, oh dear. Don't fret; both of them'll be okay… …I think. Wait and find out!
The combination of runes/Relares for ocean and people earlier is something the ancient European races often did in protection runes. Oftentimes they would combine them for a more powerful effect. For instance, sometimes they would have the rune for strength in a cross pattern to multiply the 'effect', or a few symbols for wealth, prosperity and happiness all in one. Goes along with the idea I had that ancient Orerines also used the same sort of Anglo-Saxon/Nordic runes and perhaps in the same way. Plus, I couldn't resist combining them with Relares because I am a geek for both alphabets.
As always, please review! It feeds me inspiration and makes me all-powerful—I mean, makes me write faster.
