Praise the Liberators, I got a review! Major thank you to Garnithor for not only read and reviewing THIS fic, but for seemingly taking the time to read the original and comparing them! You really made me day. Don't worry, the number of characters you need to keep track of SHOULD drop this chapter... that said, on with the fic. I still don't own Chrono Trigger.
Back in the darkness of the hold, Lyn stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting for her eyes to adjust after the sunlight. Once she could make out enough not to trip, she picked her way to a corner of the room and sat, looking blankly ahead. After a few moments, Shanda scurried over, stopping a couple of paces from her daughter.
"A-are you okay, Lyn?" Shanda asked, crouching to bring herself onto eye level. "Th-those mamono didn't … didn't do anything to you?"
Lyn blinked a little and shook her head. "No. The Mazoku didn't do anything," she stressed the word 'Mazoku'. "He wanted me to finish healing Luke." Remembering Esaku's other… suggestion, Lyn traced her twin bruises, surprised at how easily the healing power responded to her call this time.
Shanda was looking at her oddly, the same dark flicker from earlier showing in brown eyes. "What… was that you called them, Lyn?"
"Mazoku," Lyn repeated in a whisper, frightened by the way her mother was looking at her. "It's… what they prefer to be called. Ma- mono is… an insult." She stopped, reading in Shanda's face that she had said something wrong.
"Why… do you care if you insult them?" Shanda asked.
Slowly, Lyn answered, knowing this conversation could not end well. "I don't want to make them angry. If—"
Shanda cut her off, "Don't want to make them angry! Lyn, what are you talking about! They attacked us, they killed us, and you're worrying about their feelings? Lyn, how plain does it have to be for you? They're not Human!"
"But they are people!" Lyn hissed back. Shanda gasped and flinched back, and Lyn curled into herself, panting. Why had she said that? Did she really think that they were… people? The memory of Widow Marie, struck down by a marmalade Diablos… a Diablos she had followed here not a candle mark earlier. Tobias, always a proper young man, desperately in love with Maris, and cruelly slaughtered by Esaku… The same Esaku who took Luke under his wing, who fed him fruit and poured her wine. Herbert, whom she had known all her life, attacking her with hatred, and fear behind that, who hit her harder and more fiercely than the insulted Mazoku had.
Lyn shook her head and wished she could scream, wished she could talk to someone, wished she didn't have to deal with her thoughts. Her thoughts just went around and around, and she didn't know how to stop them. Surely there was a way to live, to make a life among the Mazoku, without betraying her people.
Herbert and his group surrounded Lyn, shooing Shanda out of the way. "You're comin' with us, girl," the leader snarled, grabbing Lyn's arm.
She tried to pull back, but he just tightened his grip, pulling her towards the stairs as the villagers cleared a way. "What do you mean?" she asked, still trying to pull away.
"You spoke to 'em, we all know that!" Herbert snapped, whipping her around to face him. "An' we figured, jus' in case ya told 'em about what we're plannin' t'do, we'd take ya with us."
Lyn began shaking her head, compulsively. "That… are you… That's death."
The old man didn't answer, only giving Lyn a grim smile. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and what it meant.
Barely noticed by the people in the hold, the sun slowly crossed the sky as the ship crossed the ocean. As the sun fell toward the waves, the sky turned red, and then darkened into purple. No lanterns were lit on the ship. None were needed, as Mazoku could see well in the dark.
The time came to feed the captives again, and after some thought Esaku sent a Hench in. Ialinu had let him use the ship's Sorcerer to cast an illusion on the Hench, and now he looked like a gray Diablos. If the Humans attacked, the Hench would let them 'overpower' him, then attack from behind.
The villagers knew the door had been opened mostly from the sound, as next to no light came from the deck. There were light footsteps, and a pair of cat-eyes gleamed in the darkness as the disguised Hench descended the steps and looked around. "I can see you," he purred with a heavy accent, the spell even changing his voice.
Lyn shook her head, but Herbert had his hand covering her mouth so she couldn't give a warning. With a brief nod at his group, he indicated for them to start the attack, and they charged the Diablos. The feline gave a surprised cry before he fell, and the rebels continued their charge up the stairs. In the dark, nobody noticed the fallen Diablos melt into a Hench.
Esaku had to hold back a caw of surprise when he noticed Lyn being pulled onto the deck, but she wasn't his concern right now. If she didn't want to fight, she knew what to do. With a few quick motions, he sent the Hench at the Humans, letting them indulge their taste for fighting.
With a roar, half a dozen Hench ran up to engage the Humans, and Herbert released Lyn to better defend himself. It took her a few seconds to realize she was free, as scenes from Algetty painted themselves over starlit deck. In the darkness, she thought she saw Esaku standing apart for the fighting, and she began to stumble towards him as some sort of anchor in the madness.
Lyn screamed when the Hench who had just knocked Herbert down stepped in front of her, grinning. She stepped back, eyes wide, but the large creature made no further moves, watching her with an almost curious look.
"She set up us!" a woman screeched, the old woman who had been reluctant about joining this. Lyn looked over in horror, and saw the few standing Humans all looking at her blackly.
In a flash of understanding, Lyn realized that she could not go back. Her own people had already rejected her. She looked into the Hench's purple eyes and whispered the word Esaku had taught her, hoping she didn't mangle it too badly.
Esaku had no real worries for the safety of the Hench in this fight, and he focused on the healer girl. He was a little put out when Blanim moved between himself and the girl, but it didn't matter in the long run. The Outlaw allowed himself a moment of triumph when Blanim moved out of the way and the girl ran toward him.
Lyn stumbled to a stop a few steps away from Esaku, looking at him with conflicted eyes. He motioned her to stand a little behind him. Grown suddenly timid around so many of the various Mazoku, Lyn nervously did as she was ordered, dropping her eyes to look at her feet.
A request was made in the lilting Mazoku language, and then a new voice rose in a brief chant in a language that was neither Medinian nor Zenese. Around the ship, a dozen or so of the chill blue flames bloomed, lighting the deck enough for Human eyes to see. It took Lyn a few moments to realize that the fire had been called by magic, and she shivered again, wondering just what she had chosen.
The seven Hench were guarding the defeated rebels, most of who were glaring darkly at both the Hench and at Lyn. Ethrurrion selected a couple of his men, and they went below decks. Before long, the Humans who had not fought came out of the hold, looking around curiously and shrinking against each other when they saw the grim-faced Mazoku.
Lyn recognized the air of suppressed furry and anticipation as the same feeling that had filled the air before Tobias was killed. She hoped Esaku was quick about it, but she couldn't quite muster pity for Herbert. He had chosen his own path, and tried to drag her down with him. She was just saddened that he'd found so many willing to follow him.
"I shall be generous," Esaku spoke, words cutting through the night, as he addressed the 'innocent'. "I shall assume you were ignorant of the depravity taking root in these fools." He made it clear that he assumed no such thing. Opening his beak in a smile, Esaku continued. "After all, if you knew and did nothing, I would have to kill you all. Harboring lawbreakers is the same as allowing their crimes." He waited for a few heartbeats, long enough to see comprehension and understanding dawn on a few faces, and then Esaku turned to the condemned.
In the clearer light, Esaku recognized Herbert, the old man who remembered the salting and who had tried to stop Lyn from healing the Diablos. Lizard, what idiots these Humans were, running to their own deaths. "You knew what would happen when you chose to disregard your betters. One within your own ranks warned you, and you didn't listen. I am through with you." Switching to Medinian, he ordered, "Throw them overboard, and don't let them back on."
The Humans didn't know what was happening when two Hench grabbed the first of the doomed. Ignoring her pathetic screaming and kicking, the red-skinned creatures went to the rail and threw. A splash cut of the scream, and then the screaming resumed, going from fear to indignation, and then back to fear.
Two more soon joined the first woman, four Hench carrying out Esaku's order while the other three prevented any attempts at escape. Horror began to claim the Humans' frozen minds as they realized this wasn't some ghastly joke. Esaku had such little regard for the rebels that he was simply going to let them drown. More splashes, and the screams echoed over the water. It was a warm spring night, but the ocean was deep and cold, and those in it couldn't swim.
From the knot of villagers watching, a voice rose to protest. Esaku silenced it with a glare, golden eyes catching the chill blue light. The only ones he allowed to speak were the damned, and to them he paid no attention even as they cursed him.
The first woman's voice was weakening as cold water and injuries sapped her strength. It withered entirely, and Lyn knew the ocean had claimed its first victim. She wanted to scream at the horror, to cry. She didn't understand, how could Esaku be almost kind to her, to Luke, and so heartlessly cruel to these others? She didn't understand his actions, but neither did she understand how her own people could be so foolhardy and… Her thoughts died, and she watched blankly as the final person, Herbert, was thrown over the rail and the remaining captives were once more herded into the darkness of the hold.
With his job finally done, Esaku thanked Ialinu for his help, and the loan of his Sorcerer's power. The Grimalkin nodded, then excused himself and went to the helm, a job Esaku left him to. Giving a last order to Ethrurrion to sit above the hold and listen to the slaves, the Outlaw then turned to Lyn, sighing when he saw the fragility in her eyes. She was far closer to breaking than he had anticipated, and if she broke now she would be utterly useless to him and to anyone else, except perhaps as a bed slave.
"Come, you can care for the child," he said in Zenese, starting towards his cabin. Lyn followed because that was what was expected, and because he was the only one left that she knew.
The rest of the voyage, a day and a half, Lyn spent in the cabin, or occasionally on deck, watching Luke. It seemed Esaku had bought him some toys, brightly colored Mazoku dolls made of wood, and a surprisingly delicate flute which Luke loved to blow. When they ventured on deck, the sailors smiled indulgently at the three-year-old who seemed fascinated with every aspect of the ship. For a short while, Lyn could almost forget the tragedies of the recent past.
After they landed, and after the remaining captives had been put into yet another cage, Lyn quietly asked Esaku what was going to happen to them. He answered honestly, that he was taking them to Maou Castle, where they would be sold off, and after that he could not say what their fates might be.
"And Luke…?" Lyn asked, looking at the child who was laughing at the bustling street.
"He is mine," Esaku answered calmly. "I will raise him as Human-born," he said the word once in his language, and once in hers, "And when he is old enough, I hope he will choose to join my clan."
"Human… born," Lyn tried the unfamiliar word, the second word of the Mazoku's strange language that she had been told. "Like the man who was on the ship?"
"Yes." Esaku wondered if she would find the courage to ask about her own fate. It seemed she would, but then she shook her head a little and gave her attention to Luke.
They spent the night in a hotel of some sort, apparently made for passing bands like theirs. The next day, Lyn was walking behind Esaku while carrying Luke, who was happily blowing in his flute.
The town gave way to farm land, faint dusting of green sprouts covering the black soil. By noon, the farm land had faded into a forest, of a kind unseen on human lands. The trees had dark brown bark, almost black, and they held leaves that were a grayed green. Soon, the branches covered the wide road, until almost no sun slipped between the foliage.
Love those trees. Anyway... Esaku turned out much more sympathetic than I expected. So, again, the Liberators bless those who review! I even give review-backs, when I can.
