A/N: I am back from my break! Hope you enjoy this next installment of Weeping Waters.


It had only been minutes since Lucy left the cabin to find Mateo and Gray slumped down onto his hammock. He was having a hard time understanding what had happened while he had been inside sulking. One moment Lucy had slammed the door on him and the next time he saw her, she was being choked silly. There was seriously something wrong with this ship, and he was going to figure out what it was.

Getting to his feet so he could pace the floor restlessly, much like he had done most of the day, Gray spotted some of Lucy's papers that had fallen to the floor, probably when he had rushed outside at the sound of her alarming yell.

The ice mage shuddered as he remembered seeing Lucy struggle while Mateo's hand was closed around her throat and hurriedly picked up the papers strewn about trying to forget the image. Glancing at them, he saw that most of the papers were something Lucy quickly jotted down her thoughts on, but a few of them sporadically had doodles on them. One doodle in particular caught his eyes and it stopped him mid-motion. It was a pair of eyes, nothing more than a few strokes of a pencil on the white of the paper, but they looked eerily familiar. He was sure he had seen them somewhere before and recently at that. Scratching his head, Gray sat down by the desk with furrowed brows, before scanning the titles of the books on the table. He had a lot of reading to do.


Meanwhile Lucy found herself taking a deep breath as she was about to enter the holding cells onboard the Empress. Bart had explained her that they rarely used them as they seldom took prisoners, so this was actually the first time Lucy set her foot inside. The entrance to the cells was located in the middle of the deck and was usually covered by a lattice, which had been pulled back and was now looming over her. There was something unsettling about going into a dungeon on a ship, possibly the fact that it was one of her friends that had been imprisoned and was being interrogated, but Lucy brushed it aside, remembering that he had attacked her out of the blue.

Kai was the first one – well, the only one actually - to notice her when she strode in with all of the confidence she could muster. He quickly glanced at Ed, whose arms were crossed and chin was resting on his chest. His light snoring had filled out the otherwise unbearable silence, and the young pirate had been extremely grateful for not being alone. Jumping up, he quickly made his way to Lucy, meeting her halfway. Doing his best to conceal the frown forming on his face, he stopped in front of the blonde, who grimaced a little in turn.

"Purple usually suits me." Lucy commented dryly, moving past Kai, whose eyes lingered on the horrible bruises around her neck. He couldn't believe that his own brother had been the cause of those bruises and silently followed Lucy, who was waking Ed up.

"Blimey lass! Don't be sneakin' up on people like that!" Ed jerked back when he saw her inches from his face. The older pirate blinked a couple of times, still not completely awake, before addressing the blonde mage in front of him.

"How are ye feelin'? He asked softly, eyes going to her neck. He knew she was tough, but anyone would have been shaken up after being ambushed like she had.

"It doesn't hurt that much." Lucy mumbled as her eyes swept the empty cells, until they rested on the lone figure in the very last one. He was staring blankly into the air and showed no signs of awareness. He would blink every few seconds, but the motion seemed sluggish and sometimes a flicker of confusion came over his features, but other than that Mateo wasn't responsive.

"He hasn't said anything the past few hours." Kai told her as he gazed absently at his brother, still trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Lucy's brown eyes shifted from one brother to the other as she tried to think of what they could do to snap him out of his daze.

"I'ma go see the cap'n for a bit lassie, ye can handle this." Ed announced as he stood up and stretched. Patting Lucy's head, he moved past the two young people and made his way outside.

"Hey, Lucy?" Kai asked a few moments after Ed had left. The blonde turned her attention back to her companion, and prompted him to continue.

"Do ye think he's been possessed?" The nipper asked, his voice just above a whisper. Lucy's eyes widened once she processed Kai's question. Just earlier that day they'd tried to exorcise whatever ghost or demon that had been haunting the Empress, why didn't she think of that?

"We still have some holy water left, right?" She asked, as she turned to run back to her room. Kai put a hand on her arm and told her he would get it and in a few long strides he had reached the exit. Lucy let out a small sigh of frustration. Shaking her head she looked over her shoulder and almost jumped when she saw that Meteo's eyes were fixated on her every movement. She hadn't even heard him move, but he was pressed flush against the bars of the cell gripping them tightly. Lucy involuntarily took a step back and stumbled into a wooden crate, letting out a gasp of pain that stopped Kai in his tracks and made him turn around.

"Can you hear me?" She asked Mateo once she had taken a few breaths to calm herself. Moving her weight to the other foot, she felt goose bumps crawl all over her skin as those steel grey eyes followed the slight motion. Mateo was completely silent and just kept staring at her.

"Careful." Kai called out anxiously, fidgeting where he stood. He could feel panic rise in his chest, but forced himself to breathe deeply. The way Mateo's eyes were transfixed on Lucy was unnerving and his behavior was…unnatural to say at best.

"Let's go get the holy water." Lucy spoke and stepped away from the cell. Kai followed her outside and told two of the pirates loitering around to keep watch until they returned. Usually, they would have commented something about not taking orders from the nipper, but sensing his distress they let it slide and went down to the cells. That, or Lucy's new authority made them go in without complaints.

It took them no time to retrieve the flask they had put Lucy's holy water away in. Lucy had briefly updated Gray when they entered the room, but had declined his offer to help them, because he had been nose deep in a book and taking notes. He told her he was researching and promised to let her know if he found something that could explain the 'curse' on the Empress. So far, they were both looking into possession by evil spirits. Meanwhile, Kai had gone to the captain's quarters and updated Ed on the situation, before meeting back up with the blonde.

Once Ed and Kai returned, Lucy uncapped the flask containing her holy water and said her prayer as she splashed it over Mateo. Initially, he just sputtered and coughed, but that was the first response to anything that he'd had for hours. Then he rubbed his eyes vigorously and cursed in Piratese, not noticing the three pair of eyes on him. Finally his coughing fit was over and he looked around in confusion. He was wet, standing on the floor of a cell and three persons were staring at him like he was a ghost.

"Shark got your tongue?" He asked and raised one of his eyebrows. He noticed that Kai was looking relieved, Ed astonished and Lucy grim and he didn't know how to interpret the situation. He didn't get to ask anything else as Kai threw open the door of the cell and flung himself on his brother. Mateo caught off guard by the public display of affection awkwardly put his arm around Kai.

After letting him go, Kai launched into the story of how he had ended up in the cell and by the time he was done Mateo's eyes were fixed on Lucy's neck and the bruises he had given her. He couldn't believe what had happened and felt a knot in his stomach every time he made eye contact with her. The blonde seemed strangely unfazed by hearing the recollection, but her brows knitted together every now and then. Ed had once again gone off to let Bart know that Mateo was back to normal and they all trekked their way to the captain's cabin, where they spent the next hour questioning the young pirate.

"So you don't even remember what happened?" Lucy asked for the third time, getting increasingly frustrated. Mateo had started his day like any other, but his memory got foggier as the day went on and he couldn't recall a single thing. It was like he had stepped into a mist sometime in the morning and then kept walking until he was completely engulfed.

"Nay." He sighed. His stomach had been growling for the past five minutes and it was making him impatient. Apparently, being possessed made you hungry. Mateo didn't like the idea of anything possessing him and it sounded more like something out of the tales Dagger told, but he had no other explanation as to what had happened.

"Let the poor lad breathe, Lucy." Bart spoke, his deep voice slightly amused, but also firm and commanding. They were getting nowhere and he could see the exhaustion on Mateo's face as well as the tension in Lucy's. It would do the younglings good to take a break and rest up a little, which he told them and ushered them out of his office.

Once he was alone, he rose from his chair and stood by the triple pane window behind his desk as he did whenever he was lost in thought. Letting his eyes roam over the water as the sun started setting, he hoped to catch a glimpse of whatever was hunting his men, but the waves revealed nothing. The longer he stared at the water, the sillier he felt for being paranoid. He had two powerful mages on his ship and a whole crew who knew how to handle a sword, there was nothing to be worried about. Sighing, Bart closed his eyes for a moment and returned to his mahogany desk, pouring over his maps and parchments. The captain was convinced he was imagining things, because he couldn't stop hearing a distant wailing.


It was rowdy as usual down in the galley, but this night there was some tension in the air that Mateo tried his best to ignore. Of course he had noticed the side-ways glances he had been receiving from the other pirates, but no one had said anything to him. He didn't blame them for not being chummy with him; he had after all attacked Lucy in front of the crew and injured a few of his fellow pirates. That, however, didn't mean he approved of the bastard-might-still-be-possessed-better-ignore-him-an'-pretend-he-isn't-batshit-crazy-tactic. He'd rather they confronted him and challenged him to a duel upfront. He returned his attention to the food in front of him and spooned some potatoes into his mouth. He was squashed between Kai and Ed, and in front of him were Lucy, Dagger and the Ice Mage. Lucy was fending off Romano's somewhat harmless advances and Mateo watched the interaction between her and the others at the table.

There was something special about Lucy. She had the ability to make everyone feel welcome and create a setting that no one wanted to leave from. She reminded him so much of his little sister that he sometimes had to stop himself from calling her Elyana. Kai had the same personality as their sister and although Lucy vaguely resembled her in appearance, it was this ability to enthrall her company that was so much like his baby sister.

Before Elyana fell ill, she had wanted to become a teacher so she could share all of her knowledge with others. Remembering how she would crawl onto his bed and explain whatever she had read, made him feel warm inside. The warmth was replaced by an ache he could never fulfill, and he remembered how she slowly lost all her energy and became a shell of her bubbly self. Refusing to relive the day she passed away, Mateo looked to his left and saw Kai waiting in anticipation for the conclusion of Lucy's story.

Listening to the blonde's story put him a little at ease and some of the warmth returned to him. That was until his eyes once again fell on her bruises, and he felt bile rise to his throat. A prickling on his neck told him he was being watched and this time he looked up to find the ice mage's blue eyes calmly observing him. Gray looked like he was ready to pounce if Mateo as much as stepped a toe out of line, which the pirate acknowledged.

"Nice punch." Mateo commented off handedly. He harbored no warm feelings for Lucy's teammate and wasn't trying to extend an olive branch either. He merely admitted that it had been a good punch since it knocked the living daylights out of him. That took skill, which apparently the ice mage possessed.

Gray had only been half-listening to Lucy telling about Magnolia's harvest festival; instead he had kept an eye on Mateo the whole night. Even Gray could tell that he was being somewhat shunned by the other pirates except for a few, so he didn't feel it necessary to make the pirate feel miserable. He figured Mateo was doing that just fine on his own, if his guilty looks in Lucy's direction were anything to go by.

Lucy was in the middle of one of her stories when Gray saw the pirate fidget. He had been quiet all night, but had remained calm. If he was planning on ambushing Lucy again, Gray would skin him alive. Tensing up, he observed him as different emotions crossed the pirate's face. He looked relaxed, then sad and then relaxed again, before he noticed that Gray was looking at him. Hearing his comment made Gray loosen up a little, and he merely nodded at the faint praise. It wasn't long before Kai announced that he and his brother would be hitting the sack and left the table.

Now that Lucy wasn't in immediate danger, Gray let himself feel a little bit of the satisfaction from knocking Mateo out that he had kept at bay all day. It had felt good to blow off some steam earlier, even if his first priority had been to help his friend. He was glad that she was feeling well enough to participate in the usual evening activities. She and Dagger more often than not told stories around dinner, and Gray found that he enjoyed listening to them more and more. Inspired of the events that had transpired earlier, Dagger was telling a story about a sailor who committed crimes and claimed that a woman in his dreams told him to do it. Hearing this made Lucy freeze up beside the old pirate, which they all noticed.

"Luce?" Gray asked tentatively, worried that she was about to faint or something. Her mouth had formed a small 'o' and her eyes suddenly snapped to his. The pirates had no idea how to react and merely stared at the beautiful mage, hoping for some clarification.

"The siren's song!" She exclaimed and scrambled to her feet, nearly knocking her food over in the process. Gray followed suit and trailed right behind her as she rambled on. From the corner of his eye, he faintly registered Ed getting up and following them.

"Sirens! It all makes sense now, why didn't I see that myself?!" She crossed the deck and threw open the door to their cabin and headed straight for her desk. She grabbed one book after the other while muttering incoherently to herself. Meanwhile Ed had appeared in the doorway, looking equally as confused as the ice mage.

"What's going on Lucy?" Gray asked and stepped to the side as she reached for the chest beside her hammock. Flinging clothes out of her way, Lucy pulled out a book with yellowed pages and wrinkles in the spine, and hastily flipped through the pages. She finally stopped her frantic search and scanned the page before thrusting it at Gray, who let his eyes roam the page while Lucy started explaining.

"Sirens are mythological sea deities who lured sailors to their deaths with their enchanting voices! That's how they've been controlling the attackers every time. It wasn't a vengeful spirit, but a siren!" The stellar spirit mage said in a rush. It finally felt like she had come across something substantial with the sirens. First of all it would explain how Mateo had been 'possessed' and also how they could follow the Empress without being detected.

"But I haven't seen any strange bird women flying around." Gray argued. He had skimmed through the few pages about the half woman, half bird hybrids and wasn't convinced yet. How could they be sea deities if half of their body was a bird? Wouldn't it make more sense if they were part fish? Like mermaids, he reasoned.

"Aye lassie, sirens 're nothing more than wives tales." Ed added, frowning. Lucy deflated a tiny bit, but quickly regained her composure as she took the book back from Gray and tucked it under her arm. She understood why they didn't believe her – she had no proof after all, but she couldn't think of a reason why it shouldn't be sirens behind the attacks.


"I've been roaming the seas for many years, but never have I encountered a siren." Bart rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He had been surprised to find Lucy marching back into his study for the third time that day, but the determined glint in her eyes told him she was sure of her discovery. He could understand the rationale behind her thoughts. It would make a lot of sense if sirens – or angry mermaids as Gray suggested – had been preying on his crew. If it was true, the puzzle was nearly complete and the mystery almost solved, but some crucial pieces were still missing. Why would sirens – or mermaids – be after him and his crew? And how many enemies were they dealing with? Voicing his concern, he took a moment to study the expressions of the two mages in front of him. Lucy was frowning and Gray's attention was solely on her.

"Well according to legend, sirens usually hunt in pairs of two or three, so I think it would be wise to assume that there is more than one, if, of course we really are dealing with sirens." She spoke slowly, letting her eyes roam over the sea behind Bart. For a second she looked haunted, but she quickly masked her emotions, putting on a neutral expression.

"You seem awfully insistent on the mermaids being behind this, Lucy." Gray noticed. He had watched her fidget in her seat ever since they entered the captain's office. Lucy stopped her fidgeting and glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and quickly looked back down to inspect her fingernails.

"Are you hiding something?" Gray's question made her eyes widen a smidge and she stalled for a moment. She hadn't told anyone about seeing something scaly in the water, she had only confided in Kai about her nightmares. She looked over at Gray who immediately recognized her guilty look and prompted her to answer.

"I am pretty sure I saw one of these… creatures one of the first days I was standing guard. Other times, I felt like I was being watched, and when I would look around, I would see these red eyes that would vanish immediately." Lucy admitted, feeling silly for not bringing it up earlier. To be fair, she had only just found the connection between what she thought was her imagination and what kept attacking the Empress.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Gray asked, his tone turning harsh. It felt like Lucy kept hiding things from him and he felt anger slowly seep into his mind.

"I thought I was imagining it. And look, you're doing it again." Lucy pointed out, making the ice mage scrunch his brows together in confusion.

"Doing what?"

"Getting angry for no reason. You were doing it this morning as well." The blonde explained. Gray's abnormal behavior had also been part of the reason Lucy thought of the mythical creatures. If she was to guess, then the siren couldn't control him because of the magic he possessed, and therefore chose to enchant Mateo, who didn't have a drop of magic in him and wouldn't be able to put up resistance.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked, perplexed. He was sure their fight that morning stemmed from his jealou- no not jealousy, just his concern for her. He had been drinking the previous night, so the alcohol might have still affected him, he reasoned lamely.

"Remember when I woke up this afternoon? You told me I sang in my sleep, but I don't do that Gray, and if I did, you'd have experienced it countless times already." Lucy said. At first she had thought that she might have hummed in her sleep, but as far as she knew, she didn't even snore.

"Are you telling me I might have been… influenced by the mermaids?" The ice mage asked and suppressed a shudder. He remembered the voice he had heard that night. It had been a sweet, feminine melody that woke him up and although he was disoriented, he figured it was Lucy who was humming while she worked. Except, now that he thought about it, Lucy had gone to bed the instant she returned from the party, so it couldn't have been her.

"Yes. Otherwise you wouldn't have been so angry at me." She leaned back a little in her chair. She was hoping she had argued the points of her hypothesis well enough, but she had to admit that it sounded far-fetched. Gray had fallen silent and was mulling over what he had been told. He could see Lucy's point, but mermaids preying on pirates? That was unheard of.

"Or maybe it is my proximity that shields you?" Lucy mumbled and glanced in the ice mage's direction, before letting her eyes fall back to the image of the siren in the book on her lap.

"How do we prove it is mermaids?" Bart asked thoughtfully. He was sure Lucy had already thought of a plan and he was keen on hearing how she would go about it.

"That's obvious isn't it? We go fishing." Lucy grinned deviously.


I hope you're as excited for what is to come as I am! (=w=)/