"Sphintus, you don´t have to follow me all the damn day, so knock it off!" Titus told his boyfriend, that was right behind him. Since he was kidnapped by Nerva the dark skinned magician has turned into a guardian dog, not wanting to leave his side at any moment. "Listen, I love you, but you are making me crazy with your overprotective attitude."
"I just want to make sure you are okay. Last time I went away you ended up being kidnapped by a couple of fools" the blond rolled his eyes, but he couldn´t retort. "I will not leave your side even for…"
"Lord Magi" one of the fanalis entered to his room, bowing before him. "Milord, the wandering magi is here, apparently with something for you. Will you receive him?"
"Yes, of course" the high priest conceded, grabbing his formal cape. He was about to put it on, but Sphintus got in the middle. He helped the embarrassed blond in dressing himself until he was presentable enough to see his guest. "Sphintus, please leave me alone a bit, okay? I need to talk to him in private."
"Why?" the other magician raised an eyebrow. "Titus, I want to protect you and keep you safe. Both you and Magra. Can´t you talk with me in the room?"
"Sphintus, please…" the blond glared at him with a very strange expression, one that was completely unknown to him. And that only meant… "Listen, there are some things that could only be talked between magi and should stay between them. I don´t want to exclude you, but… I need to talk to Yunan in privacy."
"O… okay. I will… will go to see if Magra is doing okay in her lesson" the dark skinned healer accompanied him to the room where the wandering magi was waiting for him. He kissed him on the lips one more time and walked away, leaving him alone to enter. The blond sighed to himself before opening the door, entering to see the traveller. Yunan was just how he remembered, surrounded by the same energy and rukh that him.
"I couldn´t believe it when I was told that you announced himself. One would thought that you would just appear from thin air in front of me."
"I was planning to do so, but that trick won´t work well with another magi" the light blond softly answered, giving Titus a sweet smile. "I came to talk about something important, but first… I think you received unwanted visits with a former acquaintance from us lately."
"Yes, Nerva" both took seats. The high priest served both of them some tea. "The idiot thought he could kidnap me and force me to marry him… in fact there were two idiots that thought that working as a team, but the household of your former king candidate saved me. I think you they were all reunited there."
"The former generals of Sindria?" Yunan frowned for a short time, but then smiled. Despite what happened to their king, they were good people. "Were they reunited? All of them? How are they?"
"How? Fine, I guess… we didn´t talk to much" he shook his shoulders, trying not to let anything pass. The other blond didn´t need to know that he was trying to bring Sinbad back. "Yunan, why are you here? This surely isn´t a courtesy visit."
"Sharp as ever"
"More likely you never appeared without a reason anywhere."
"What can I say? I´m a free soul" the older magi took another sip of the tea. "But you are right, my dear Titus, I am not here because of sheer courtesy" he made a book appear in his hands. "Aladdin visited me a few days ago, before your kidnap. He said that he went to the Sacred Palace lately."
"The Sacred… is there something wrong? Did Elder David, the dark magi, escaped his confinement in the other dimension? Is Il Ilah coming again?"
"No, it´s nothing that bad" assured him the light blond. "The young dear talked to Ugo-sama. Apparently the old professor has never lost sight of Judal and our little singularity" this surprised Titus. He didn´t think that another one had the same ideas as him. "That´s why he hand him this book and Aladdin gave it to me."
"Why not use it himself?"
"I don´t know, maybe he needed a more experienced magi to cast the spell in it" the wandering magi shook his head. "Anyway, I couldn´t understand the spell that is in here. I don´t know…" he looked defeated. "Maybe you can help me"
"How could I? I´m literally the youngest of all magis, I doubt there is much I can do if Aladdin and you couldn´t."
"In fact, Aladdin said that you were a good choice to help us resolve it. He said that you were very intuitive and smart. Smart enough to solve the books Sheherazade left behind in a few days when no madoushi could" he smiled at him. "Help me."
"I will do what I can" Titus extended a hand to grab the book Yunan was holding. This was a golden opportunity, if he could memorise the spell… well, maybe the interdimensional travel along with the generals was closer than they thought. Or that´s what he thought until he read the first few lines. "It´s a complex spell… what was Ugo-sama thinking?"
"I think it was not his intention, he was already a complicated man when he was human, now that he is a djinn… well, he´s got a lot of free time."
"Maybe he should spend it chatting with Solomon-sama" he passed the page, continuing with his reading. "I think I have seen some similar formulas in Sheherezade-sama´s book about aberrant magic… I will go for it."
"I will wait for you" Titus got up and started walking towards his study. He picked one of the books from his stands, reading the cover carefully. It was written by his creator… his mother. Despite everything she did to him, he missed her. He shook his head and grabbed the crystal ball. "Yamuraiha-san, are you here?"
"Yes, my lord magi" the principal of Magnostadt´s school answered the call. "Is there some development in our deal?"
"Yes, Yunan arrived here today, I´m helping him with exactly the same spell we need" this surprised the blue haired female. Yunan… offering someone that kind of magic willingly? That didn´t sound like himself. "Apparently he had the same idea as you"
"He is worried about Sin?"
"Or what he might do in the other world if there are not people powerful enough to stop him" he sighed. "Anyway, when I finish with the spell I will contact you and we will set everything for the trip" they said goodbyes and he returned to the room, where Yunan was reading the book again. "Is there something new?"
"Ehhhh? Oh, you brought it" the light blond smiled at him. "Good, now show me those formulas you were talking about" Titus walked to the table and put the book between them in the page where the formula was. "I see, it´s much like aberrant magic, two things that should never coexist, two different dimensions."
"It´s a very delicate spell too" he signalled a part of the formula. "You see this? We are going to need to pass through that strange inter dimensional place Judal and Alibaba told us about. That should not be easy, probably even our staffs will… broke."
"Out staffs… Judal… he only had a wand"
"Judal should be okay, he is tricky as hell, no?" he smiled, but inwardly he was worried. "Here, this is about the places where we should do the spell. Apparently choosing the place is as important as the spell itself. If we do it in the wrong spot, then we will end up in a completely different place as them."
"Yes… how do we find the spot?" both of them sighed, sitting down. "Okay, this is going to take more than I first thought."
"Yeah"
-In another dimension-
"Tatch, you shouldn´t keep it…" the cook looked up at Judal, who was standing there in the front of the stove. Normally the raven avoided that place, so his visit caused a little bit of confusion to the kitchen staff, but soon they were back to work. "The fruit, I mean. There is something about it that…"
"It´s mine"
"Please, listen to me" he signalled the thing that rested in a table, near where the commander was chipping off vegetables. "It´s horrible. Dark rukh… energy is oozing out of it, like some disgusting substance… I fear what it might do to you."
"Woow, for you to fear something, that thing must be truly evil" the man stopped, placing his knife on the counter. "I can say, you didn´t even flinch when Akainu attacked our ship, despite he was oozing that substance too…"
"No, Akainu reminded me of how I… forget it, he was dark, but not as much as that fruit" he stretched his hand. "Maybe you should just dump it into the ocean in a metal container. That way no one could lay his or her hands on it."
"It would be a shame… but if you are afraid of what it might do to me, I should get rid of it the first chance I have" Tatch looked at the magi which he considered a brother. "Don´t worry, I won´t eat it. After dinner, I will go to Oyayi´s room and ask him to keep it into the vault until we arrive to the next island. There I will sell it."
"Don´t sell it, just dump it into the ocean…"
"Come on! I can get a good sum out of it!" Judal tried to convince him, but the commander didn´t change his mind. The raven sat down besides Sinbad in the table, keeping an eye at Teach, thinking about what he might do.
"Are you sure you don´t want your djinns back?" he finally asked his king candidate. Who looked at him in disbelieve. "With Zepar you could just…"
"Zepar is too much temptation, I don´t know if he should… be in anyone´s hands"
"But he could… save us…" he saw the fourth commander exiting the kitchen and, out of the corner of his eye, Teach following him. "Hey, idiot king, do you trust me?" the other nodded. In the past he wouldn´t trust him never, but now… now he was the person he trusted most in the world. "Follow me"
"Are you planning to go star gazing with me?"
"Don´t push your luck" they exited the place. They followed the commander in the dark, trying to catch a sign of the D lurking in the darkness. Unfortunately, they couldn´t avoid the attack. After the first stab in the commander´s back, Sinbad reacted and attacked, using his armoured hakki. Judal got out too, muttering a healing spell. Water started circling the pirate, closing the injuries and causing more cracks in his wand. Damn, it was no good, his spells were practically useless now. "Sinbad!"
"You treacherous rat!" the purple haired man spat at him. "Bastard! After living so much time under his father´s protection… do you dare to betray him?! To kill one of the men you called brother for so long?!" his expression was fearsome. "You have no honour, you vile rat! Surrender!"
"And you, Sinbad? You don´t have the right to tell me those things. Do you think no one has noticed the way you keep secrets? Who says that you are not putting us in danger with them?" the horrible man, grabbed the fruit, taking a bite out of it. "Well, if you must know, I only was here until I find this, now I don´t have a reason to stay with the fool of Shirohige"
"Bastard… so you were only using your father?!"
"Zehahahahahaha! Yes! My only purpose was to use him to protect myself until found this power!" he laughed again. "I has been expecting this for too long to let two misfits ruin it!" Judal snarled at him, trying to focus on the healing spell. The amount of damage was terrible, but he was sure the commander will live if he can maintain the spell. "At first I thought only your little friend there was a danger, but you… you who always are with him…" his body started to change. "Now I will have to end you both"
"End us both? Try it"
"Try it" darkness started oozing from his body. Dammit, it was a logia. Apparently a logia for the black rukh. He considered asking for Baal or Valefor, all of them except Zepar, but… "I surely will try it!"
"Sinbad…"
"Just ask for help, quickly… Tatch needs it with your wand in that state" Judal nodded and started screaming. the dinning hall was noisy, but the screams were so loud that some of the pirates came running. Teach sensed the danger and ran for the boats, escaping before the commanders could act.
"What the hell was… Tatch!" Ace ran to his side, trying to touch the unconscious body of his friend. "What are you doing?!"
"Healing him… or at least trying" the spell was getting harder and harder to maintain. Maybe they should ship him to the healing area before the healing spell broke. "Help me, the bleeding will start again if…"
"We need to get Teach, that rat couldn´t…"
"Ace! Tatch needs help right now! We have to worry for him now yoi!" Marco restrained him, nodding to Jozu, who managed to lift the unconscious form of his nakama from the ground. The commanders followed him along with Judal, maintaining the spell with all his force. Sooner than later, the doors of the infirmary closed behind Tatch and the doctors, who started to work. "Thank you, Judal yoi"
"It… was nothing…" the magi was sweating, a proof that it wasn´t exactly a piece of cake to maintain such a spell for so long, specially with a broken wand.
"Anyway, thank you yoi. You too, Sin. Tatch might have a chance thanks to what you two did" the first commander gave him a worried look. "Maybe you should take a rest" the magi was already nodding off. "Go to your room, we will wake up when it´s morning."
"I…" Sinbad took him in his arms, taking him to the barracks. Laying him in his bed, the purple haired man sat down too, putting a few strands of hair aside to see his sleeping face better. He was really beautiful when he was so peaceful.
"So, this was the darkness you felt the first time we put a foot in here, eh?" the former king shook his head. "Judal, you might deny it, but you changed a lot, like me. I think the title of Black Sun doesn´t fit you anymore. I would call you only Sun" he caressed his cheek. "A sun that will light this whole world."
"Ummmm…"
"Rest for now, I can tell tomorrow is going to be even worse than today" he smiled and laid down next to him, hugging the former Oracle of Kou. "Goodnight"
"Hummmmmm" Judal opened his eyes, still drained. He felt something warm near him and turned a bit… only to find his king candidate holding him. The scream and curse that followed it surprised the rest of the crew, that was nearly asleep in the infirmary´s door. "What the hell are you doing in my bed?!"
"Why are you screaming at me? I wasn´t doing anything! I only felt asleep besides you!" excused himself the older one, earning an incredulous look. "Come on, Judal, do you think I would disrespect you in that way?"
"You are capable of anything when it´s about pretty things… apparently myself included" the raven covered his body. "Besides, you have more hands than an octopus gyojin… Mr. Ladykiller of the Seven Seas."
"That´s an old name"
"Judal? Sin?" the magi was about to retort when another person entered the place. It was Izo, who brought some breakfast. "Am I interrupting something? If I am then…"
"Don´t worry, the pervert was just leaving" the raven sat down in the bed, signalling the commander to enter. The crossdresser did, putting the tray on his knees. "How is Tatch, by the way? I hope that better."
"Yes, he just woke up. The idiot complained that his body is one throbbing ache, but after what Teach did I think it´s obvious" he rolled his eyes, sitting down by the magi. "by the way, we all are very thankful for what you did. Whatever it was, it saved Tatch´s life. The doctors said that without your aid, he probably would have died."
"It´s nothing, really" he took a bite out of the bread, eating in a way that would have made Kouen lecture him without mercy. "Just a bit of water… manipulation. It´s used to heal injuries where we come from."
"Woow, useful technique… maybe I should learn that too… or perhaps no, devil fruit users would be affected in a bad way by it" the commander, looked up in a worried way. "Since the doctors said that Tatch is out of danger, Ace has been throwing a tantrum" he sighed. "Apparently he thinks that we should go after Teach"
"And you won´t?" it wasn´t like the Shirohige to let someone that hurt a member of the family escape unpunished. "What´s happening?"
"Oyayi declared that, because Tatch is going to make a full recovery, there is no need to go after Teach" he sighed. "Ace is not of the same opinion, but…" there was suddenly a strange sound on the deck, making them look at the roof. "what was that?"
"I don´t know" they ran to the deck, arriving just in time to see Ace´s back disappearing away from the Moby Dick into the traitorous waters of the New World. Sinbad was tempted to follow him, but was a stopped by a command from the captain. They all looked at the old man, whose face was concerned but resigned.
"Let him go… let him go…"
-In the other dimension-
"Yamuraiha?" the young magi spoke to the crystal ball. He was exhausted after staying all the night up trying to crack the spell with Yunan, but he finally has it. "I got it, but I´m going to need a few things" he listed the ingredients and preparations. "Besides, I will show you a spell. You have to cast it. It will show you a specific place where we have to do the bigger spell"
"We need a special location?" she said surprised.
"Yes" the magi nodded. "And… we need to find it fast."
Hello! A new chapter is on. Hope you liked it. Please send your reviews!
