Name: Ezra ? ( Ezra means "Help" I think that's funny and kinda fitting.)
Blood Type: AB+
Age: Around Isi's age. (16-17 Closer to seventeen. I tend to put up the age they'll turn after their birthdays. So that would mean that Isis is 16 going on 17. Same for Ezra. Sorry. This doesn't apply to RAGNAROK, but it does to Marin. She is 43. I'm great, aren't I?)
Birthday: Uroboros 15th
Class: Zodiac
Hair color: Purple
Eye Color: Dark Purple
Hometown: Olympus (Olympus is a country that is full of rich people and mountains. Rumor has it that the gods live atop the highest mountain's tip.)
Height: 5'5" and a half. Ezra hates the fact that he is short. He hopes that he'll get taller one day.
Notes: Ezra is a young man who has mysterious powers. He is a god ,but no one will believe him. Gears is the only set of people that believe him. Ezra has been with the members of Gears for a long time. They are very close, and Ezra actually found them and helped them. Gears clings to Ezra and they love him like an older brother. Except Isis. Isis sees him as her husband. Ezra has the power to read minds, alter what people are thinking about, change someone's personality, and change or even erase people's memories. He tried to erase Isi's memory after she saw her mother die, but it never worked. This is because Isis is not a full human, and Ezra's powers work most efficiently on humans or gods. In order to use any of his powers on a demi-human or a non-human Ezra would have to focus on that person completely. And that would give him away to Isi. Ezra tends to get frustrated when people insult his guild ,or if they bring up guild Blue Sky. Ezra also knows a great deal about Hana, Hanasaku ,and Ryuu.
Pros: He is also a master strategist, Ezra looks nice in dresses, Ezra is advanced at using magic, Ezra has mysterious powers and slight knowledge of psychokinesis, Ezra is sympathetic, and Ezra cares for others. Also Ezra can see certain dead people.
Cons: He complains a lot, he's a hermit, he hates Marin, he doesn't get along with many guilds,he talks to the Pale Horse guild, and he abuses his powers.
Hobbies: Reading people's minds, stargazing, critiquing others, complaining ,and writing. Ezra also has a soft spot for theater, plays,and works of art.
Chapter Eleven: What's With All of These Secrets?
"Aw, man. How am I supposed to sail the seas now?" Bare whined.
"Pffth. That's what you're worried about? Talk about jumbled up priorities." Meru crossed her arms. "You have to make sure Hana doesn't screw up. And I think that you just let her."
Bare shivered for a moment. "I wasn't supposed to let them go exploring, was I?" Bare put a hand to her face. "I'm so stupid."
"You don't have to say that again."
"Shut it, Meru." Bare looked to the side. "Anyway, where are your parents?"
"Eh... They got upset after questioning and disappeared into town."
"Dang. What did you say to them?"
Meru smiled. "What were you saying about the ocean?"
"Nice subject change, you spoiled brat." Bare replied."Maybe we could get a ride from someone." She went with the change of subject.
"From who?"
"Whom."
"Whom?"
"From whom, not from who."
"Oh, yay, English lessons from the buccaneer." Meru snapped back.
Suddenly, a small group of five passed the girls. Four of them were built men and one was a young woman. She had a manly aura. The group eyed them and they stared back. It seemed like they had heard part of the girls' conversation. The man in the front had long blond hair and green eyes. He muttered something under his breath.
"And this is why we don't accept girls into our guild."
"Excuse me?" Meru heard him speak. "What did you say?" She said with an agitated expression creeping on her face.
"Nothing." The woman said from behind him. She had reddish black hair and her eyes were brown. She appeared to be a shinobi. Meru glared at the man. The woman sighed. "You two seem new." She held out her hand. "My name's Akakuri." She had a small grin on her face. Meru shook her hand.
"I'm Meru of guild RAGNAROK, and this is Bare."
Akakuri looked back. "Well, we're guild Brawn. The strongest guild in Armoroad." She bragged.
"No, you aren't!" A familiar voice called out. It was Ezra and the rest of Gears. "We are."
"Oh, look. It's the hermit guild." The blonde man stated.
"Oh, I'll totally take that from the sexists." Himi responded sharply.
"Okay, germaphobe. Whatever you say." Akakuri called out.
"Don't point her out like you aren't a cross-dresser." Isis spoke bitterly.
"Hey, hey, relax!" Bare stood between the two guilds. "Calm down, okay?"
"Can any of you give us a lift to Batavia?" Meru asked while taking the best of the situation.
"I can." Ezra answered.
"No, he can't. I can." The blonde nudged Ezra.
Bare gave Meru a look before she spoke. "Sorry, Ezra... We were told to avoid you by Hanasaku." Meru seemed baffled as Bare said that, and she gave her a stare that cried out "why not?".
Ezra gazed at Bare and a small grimace appeared on his face. "Hanasaku told you to avoid me?" He sounded offended.
"Well, yeah... It's because-" Bare was cut off by Ezra.
"You learned about Blue Sky, didn't you?" Ezra seemed heart broken after that. "There's no proof of that." Ezra's voice was nearly silent.
"There's plenty of evidence, you idiot." Lamia yelled.
"Oh, great. Fang's here." Akakuri glared at them.
Lamia grinned widely. "Look, it's guild sexist and guild hermit." Lamia was with Flame and Yakusoku.
"Let's not forget guild BRAGNAROK." Flame laughed.
"What are you doing here?" Everyone that wasn't in Fang spoke.
"We're just going to remind you of something." Yakusoku sneered.
"We're the strongest guild in Armoroad." Lamia bragged.
"I'm leaving. If you two want a ride, you're going to have to come with us." Ezra began to walk toward his boat.
"We'll gladly take you ladies." Akakuri grabbed Meru's arm as she went to leave.
"Take them where?" Lamia asked with her snobby voice. "To where you cross-dress?"
"I'll kill you if you don't shut up." Akakuri held her kunai up to Lamia's throat.
"Bare, please help me." Meru whined.
"We're going with Brawn. Now quit it before Marin shows up!" Bare shouted.
"Fine, be that way." Zero pouted. The two girls went with Akakuri.
"Are we gonna follow them?" Himi inquired.
"Of course we are!" Isis cheered.
"Isi, are you okay? You've been acting really funny." Kogageru rubbed his ears.
"I'm more than fine." Isi replied with a large smile. Isi's wide eyes suddenly became half-lidded again, and she just fell over.
"Did she..." Mei Ling poked her.
"We should go back to the inn anyway." Ezra said. "We'll follow them some other day."
"Aw..." Zero complied sullenly. "I wanted to teach them a lesson."
"So we're looking for a boy that's our age?" Ryuu asked Hanasaku as they walked through third floor.
"That's what I presume." Hanasaku looked down. "If he's stupid enough to do what Hana did, he'll definitely be our age."
Hanasaku, Keiko, Tsukiro, Tanaku, Ryuu, Niku, and Yoshiko were in the labyrinth. They approached a large door, and Keiko froze as he went to open it.
"What's the matter, Keiko?" Yoshiko looked concerned.
Keiko shrugged."I dunno. Something just feels wrong." Keiko went in first and everyone followed him. "Hey, I know what's wrong now."
"What?" Tanaku peered passed Keiko. "Nevermind." There was a large red hippo in the center of the room. It seemed to be glowering at them.
"H-how are we going to get passed that!?" Niku and Yoshiko cried out.
Ryuu shushed them because they had just provoked it even more. "Be quiet. It seems to be territorial and hostile. What do we do ,Keiko?"
"I don't know."
Niku sighed. "Since I'm the one who technically started this, I'll distract it. There's also a mining spot behind one of those doors. I can smell it."
Hanasaku shook her head in disapproval. "Niku, it would be to dangerous to send you off by yourself, and you'd have no way to get back home if you separated from us." Hanasaku almost glared at him. "Again."
"I'm going with him!" Yoshiko raised her hand. "I have a skill that lets me go back to town!"
"Fine, but don't strain yourselves." Hanasaku finally agreed.
"Okay! I'm ready!" Yoshiko exclaimed. Ryuu shushed her again.
"Run to the left ,you two its a farther distance away from the hippo. You should be able to distract it ,and it will go after you." Keiko stated.
After that, Yoshiko and Niku ran off to their left. The Hippo yawned and moved toward them. Perplexed, Yoshiko looked back at it. Keiko made eye contact with her.
"Hippos don't yawn because they're tired. Their yawns are meant to be threats." Keiko groaned. "You two Farmers have no knowledge of animals." Keiko said the last part to himself.
"It's not moving though!" Yoshiko shouted back. Hanasaku slammed her palm on her face.
"That means that it's charging! Move!" Hanasaku cried out.
"Wait, Hanasaku!" Yoshiko ignored what Hanasaku said. "Behind you!"
Hanasaku turned around quickly to see two Largebills. One was obviously Ernesto and the other was merely a Largebill. Ernesto went to strike Hanasaku, and Hanasaku suddenly felt Ryuu tug her to the side. Tanaku gasped and Keiko took some sort of stance.
"We've been blindsided!" Tsukiro pointed out the situation.
The other Largebill wadded toward Tanaku and nearly ate her. She kicked it away from her and scooted back. It went to hit her ,but she shot it in it's mouth. Keiko did a sort of signal and another bird appeared, but this one seemed to be an ally. It pecked at Ernesto's head at a ridiculous pace. Ernesto yelped before he chomped on the bird and ate it whole. The other Largebill seemed offended for about two seconds before it whacked Tsukiro with its beak.
"I can't use voltage so we have to escape!" Hanasaku yelled. Hanasaku ran like the wind and the group of four that was with her ran behind her. The birds sprinted after them.
Yoshiko was still staring at the Hippo, and she suddenly screamed for Niku to move. Niku ran for a second and stopped because of a loud crashing sound. He looked back at where he was standing and saw a huge dent in the ground. The hippo's used it front legs to crush that part of the ground. If Niku had stayed there he would have been crushed to death. He anxiously checked if Yoshiko was okay, and she gave him a thumbs up. She then jumped over the creature's leg and began to dash for the door with Niku at her side. The hippo, or Raging Tyrant, chased after them with surprising speed. It attempted to hit Niku again ,but Yoshiko parried the attack with her fists. She seemed shocked that it worked before Niku told her that they needed to get in the door. Niku ran in, pulled Yoshiko in ,and forcefully slammed the door.
Hanasaku was almost at the door that she thought was the exit. She swiftly went to open it ,but she felt odd. She realized that she was so focused on that door that she wasn't even considering her balance. She stumbled before she fell to the ground with a loud thump. And sadly for her, Tanaku tripped on her then Tsukiro tripped on Tanaku, and Ryuu and Keiko froze right in front of their people pile.
"We're going to have to fight these things now!" Ryuu called out to Hanasaku. "If we don't, that hippo is sure to catch up to us!"
"It's going to get us either way. Even if we try to run again." Keiko tightened his grip on his spear. He seemed completely serious. "Fetch!" Keiko threw his spear and everyone watched with dumbstruck faces. They were even more surprised when the both of the Largebills and the Raging Tyrant ran to fetch the spear. Keiko turned to face his allies. "Run, you useless pieces of scum!" He exclaimed. "That tyrant isn't far behind you!"
Hanasaku , Ryuu , Tanaku , and Tsukiro nodded and opened the door. They shoved each other to get through first and ended up falling to the ground behind the door. Keiko was still out there and the Largebills and the hippo dashed back toward him. The others looked through the still ajar door to see Keiko embrace Ernesto and say "who's a good boy". Ernesto dropped Keiko's spear form his mouth. Keiko picked it up and walked in the door and closed it.
"The heck was that, Keiko?" Tanaku spoke from the floor.
"Shut up." Keiko had the slightest blush on his face.
"I guess you aren't heartless like Luna. You really like animals." Hanasaku smiled at Keiko.
"Luna likes ice cream, doesn't she?" Tsukiro got up and helped Hanasaku up. He looked at her as he felt her hand. "Hanasaku, you're awfully warm."
"No, I'm fine. I-" Hanasaku was cut short by Ryuu.
"Oh,no. Hanasaku, you know you that you get sick easily. Even stress gives you fevers. Did you worry about Hana too much?"
Hanasaku peered down with a shameful expression on her face. "It's that, and the fact that we almost died earlier." She sighed. "I-I just didn't want to be useless."
"You already are." Tanaku stuck her tongue out. Ryuu punted her, and she responded. "All these Zodiacs are useless, okay? They get in my way. Hanasaku, you're less useless than most Zodiacs."
"Tanaku, take it back." Ryuu glared at her.
"Oh, okay mom. I take it back!"
Ryuu went to say something before Tsukiro suggested that they discontinue their search for Murotsumi's leader and tend to Hanasaku.
"That was Hana's voice." Haruka began to break her shackles off.
"Oh, brother." Rai muttered. "Did you dream about this last night?"
Haruka grinned. "Why do you think I picked this ship and pretended to be taken down by pirates?"
"I knew it. Let's go save them." Rai stood up.
"After we get our husbands. They separated us."
The two women went to get up before they realized there were other hostages that they should probably set free. Among them was a build silver-haired girl who wore Hoplite armor. Her eyes were a burning orange. They stared at the girl.
"You're Asuka Himeko." Rai looked rather impressed. "You might be helpful."
Asuka peered up at the women with a skeptical expression. "Helpful? Who are you exactly?"
"We are very close to your 'parents'." Rai knelled down and broke the girl's shackles. "If you want to come out of this as a free person, I highly recommend that you follow us."
"What about the others?" Asuka got to her feet.
"They'll be safer here." Haruka stated.
"Why don't you get along with the other guilds?" Meru spoke to Leo,the blonde. He was the leader of Brawn.
Leo looked down at Meru with disdain."We point out each of the other guild's weaknesses." Leo leaned back. "And when one guild talks about the other they try to hurt each other more."
Meru squinted at Leo. "Being sexist is a weakness to them?"
Leo glared at Meru. "We aren't sexist. We let Akakuri join and she's female."
"That's one girl." Meru put both hands on her hips.
"Your guild has ten girls and three boys." Leo retorted.
"Well, fine." Meru rubbed her head. "Why did you let Akakuri join?"
"That's personal."
"No, Leo. It's fine to tell them." The shinobi appeared next them with Bare at her side. Leo went to reply something ,but Bare fell over and startled them.
"Ninja's can teleport, eh?" She said as she wheezed. "I think that I'm teleportation sick."
Akakuri laughed. "Well, don't worry. It's more common than you think."
"Anyway~!" Meru called out. "Why did Akakuri join Brawn?"
Leo stared at the woman before he sighed ,and suggested that Akakuri should tell instead. Akakuri's grin slowly vanished from her face. The reason why Brawn had let her join was not something she wanted to remember.
"It was about something that happened about five years ago."Akakuri was speaking ruefully. "There were two girls; they were twins actually. They were not human. The eldest twin had the ability to control shadow and witchcraft, and they younger twin had the ability to control light and miracles." Bare thought to herself as Akakuri explained ,and she knew that this sounded a lot like Aoimi and Midori. "The younger sister always lacked a shadow, and the oldest always had multiple shadows. One day the twins stumbled upon my hometown. Well, I just found the younger twin lying in a field of grass. The older sister saw me and vanished. The younger twin began to complain and cry ,and desperately begged me to tell her where her sister was." Akakuri turned to the side. "I took the younger twin to the town, and saw her sister. But she was plaguing the harvest and ailing people. That village had a heavy grudge against witches and magic. So, I called down the royal guard ,and the older twin was put into prison. The younger twin began to plead, but no one cared. That was until she cured the entire village from the terror her sister brought. Then she was considered our savior."
"What does this have to do with anything?"Meru shouted out impatiently.
"Be quiet, you'll see." Leo mouth was in such a big cringe that it looked like an upper case "C" turned around.
Akakuri's body language began to change. "She was always so kind. She still went to see her sister everyday." Akakuri teared up. "The nobles insisted that they killed the older twin, but the younger refused. The nobles planned to kill her as the younger twin went to sleep. They did succeed ,but..." Akakuri's shoulders sank. "After a while the younger twin noticed her sister was gone ,and she arrived to her sister's aid right after they killed her." Akakuri grimaced before she spoke again, "Then the younger twin suddenly went berserk. She killed everyone in that town. She spared me. I don't know why. She didn't even leave another trace of that town... Or that's what I thought... I found the town's eight year-old princess in the rubble." Bare looked up at Akakuri and gasped.
'Didn't Aoimi say that there were no survivors!' Bare put her hand over her mouth.
"The princess of that town is actually Riko in guild Machaera. When I told Brawn what happened, they let me join,but they didn't let Riko join."
"Why not?" Meru asked.
"Unlike most guilds, Brawn doesn't like endangering children, and you can only join if you're above age eighteen." Leo responded.
"Oh, well... Your guild is a lot nicer than it seems." Meru muttered. "Why does your guild look so bad?"
"Gears, Fang, Machaera,and Satan. They're all idiots."
"They think that you're the idiots. You know, if you and the other guilds interacted more you'll be able to understand each other's purposes." Bare spoke from experience. That was how she saw through Meru's snobby side and saw her determined side that cared about her kingdom.
"Yeah, you're right." Akakuri agreed. "What was your guild name?"
"RAGNAROK." Bare and Meru spoke in unison.
"RAGNAROK? We'll remember that name. Won't we ,Leo?"
"Yes, we will."
After Rogue accepted the deal, Hineji and Scott leaped off the boat and landed on the DREAM. It seemed as if they had already picked their opponents. Hineji was in front of Aoimi, and Scott was nearly Luna. Rogue proceeded to jump off and land in front of Hana.
"Oh, great. We're screwed now." Aoimi shook her head. She stared at the woman's face before she looked down at her breasts. "Are they bigger than Carlos and Pablo?" She mumbled to herself. "No way!" Aoimi suddenly charged at Hineji and tackled her.
Hana eyed her opponent, Rogue, and stood still. What was she supposed to do? He wasn't doing anything. He was just staring at her. He held on to his golden Rapier and was completely idle. He had a sad look in his eyes ,and it appeared as if he didn't want to be there.
Scott was already in full combat with Luna. And Luna was doing a very good job. Even though she was on the wooden floor of the DREAM, it seemed as if she was winning.
The weirdest thing was that no one else was coming off the ship. The other guild members (Maki and Hypatia) watched with confusion. Dove watched with a satisfied expression.
"Hey, at least we have nothing to deal with." Dove commented.
"This looks like a test." Hypatia spoke. "They want to see if we're worthy enough to face them at full force."
"That makes sense." Maki replied. "Why don't we take advantage of that?"
"You mean, like steal more money from them!" Dove shouted.
"No!"
"He meant... Uh... What did you mean by that?" Hypatia inquired.
"There are only three on board currently. They seemed to be the leaders of that ship. If we took them down now, their crew would most likely be rendered useless." Maki whispered.
"You're right." Hypatia nodded. "Who should we fight then?"
"Hey, Scott! I'm gonna call you Scottie because I'm going to wipe my butt with you!" Dove ran to Luna's aid.
Maki shrugged. "You help Hana. She can't use fire."
"Okay."
Maki went to help Aoimi, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He merely stood still and watched. Aoimi was very good at handling herself. She was winning, but the thing that bothered Maki the most was the fact that she kept touching her left hand. He found it to be quite odd. Aoimi appeared to have three shadows. Even though there was only one light source, the sun. Hineji and Aoimi were fighting in a strange way. They were rolling around on the floor, and when they stopped they person on top would try to hit the other. And after a while they would roll again.
Surprisingly, Luna and Dove worked well together. They had perfect synergy and they were both very swift, but Scott wasn't a slow person. Scott was mainly after Dove. And that was because she took his money, and insulted him afterwards. Scott seemed to be winning when Dove showed up. At that time, however, they were in a deadlock. The two girls would hit, Scott would dodge and hit back, and they would dodge. Maki pulled out a gun that he had hidden next to the belt he was wearing and shot Scott three times. Dove looked back to see where the gunshots came from.
"Maki, you use guns?" Dove asked.
Maki glared at her. "Of course. Now focus on your enemy!"
Dove turned back to Scott and Luna. Luna was on the floor and Scott had a sword to her head. Dove swore for a moment.
"Scott. You don't need to be so... Hasty. Let's sort this out." Dove felt a little bad for involving these other people in her problem.
"Don't worry, I won't kill her." Scott moved his sword to Dove's neck. "I'm trying to kill you."
"What? You can't cash in a bounty if... Wait. It said dead or alive. Shoot!" Dove jumped back some as Scott lunged the sword at her neck.
"Nice move ,Misaou." Scott laughed. Dove fell to her knees. She was overwhelmed by a sudden exhaustion.
Aoimi noticed that from across the boat and called out to her. "Dove! What are you doing? Get away from him!" Aoimi looked down at Hineji and expected her to roll, but she was shocked to see Hineji's gun pointed at her throat. She felt another aura from behind,and she glimpsed back to see another Hineji. And she was also pointing a gun at Aoimi, but her gun was pointed at the back of Aoimi's head. Aoimi made a pained noise and closed her eyes. This was her second time being so close to death.
'They won't kill me. They're going to sell me. They won't kill merchandise.'
"You're worth a lot more if you're dead." The Hineji that was behind her spoke.
"How...?" Aoimi randomly asked.
"Oh, you're wondering how there is one more me? I guess you haven't heard of sub-classing, have you?"
"I have, but that's legendary. It's fake!"
"Whatever, sweet pea. As I said before you're worth a hand full more if you're returned dead."
"What?"
"Don't talk like there isn't a bounty on your head."
"How would anyone know that?"
"Stop playing dumb!" Hineji went to pull the trigger, but she stopped and fell to the floor. There was a sword lodged into her stomach area. The other Hineji grew frightened.
"What just happened?!"
Aoimi looked back to see the purple-haired man, Magnum. And at his side was Aoimi's teacher, Brac.
"You kids know how to get yourselves in some trouble, don't you?" Magnum smiled.
"Holy crap! How did you get here?" Aoimi felt relieved. She looked down at the other Hineji and saw that she had fainted. Aoimi stood up. "Wait. This means we can help the others!"
"No, it doesn't." Brac muttered. "We're going to have to take you aboard their ship."
"What? Why?!" Aoimi cried out.
"Oh,no you don't." Brac grabbed her by her arm. "You've already forgotten my first rule."
Aoimi felt strange. She was unaware on if she was happy or worried. "Oh, yeah. I did forget. The rule was no resistance to a master's orders."
"Don't worry about them, Aoimi. If they can't handle themselves... Who am I kidding? They are handling themselves!" Magnum hopped over to the pirate ship with the other two behind him. Aoimi looked back, and she couldn't stop herself from feeling perturbed. What if they couldn't handle themselves?
"Hello, my child!" Pandora came in through a window. She was in the room that Inki was recovering in. "How's the mission going?"
"So far, we're doing pretty well." Inki rose from her bed. "Ace isn't here right now. He went to apply us into the guild."
Pandora pinched Inki's cheek. "I heard that my baby girl has gotten a boo-boo!"
"Mom, I'm fine now."
Pandora wasn't smiling for once. She seemed a little upset. "When do you plan on killing them?" She was speaking casually.
Inki looked down. "I dunno. I'm okay with killing tyrants, but these people didn't do anything." Inki stopped and examined the Diabolix. She was glaring at her.
"You don't want to kill them?" Pandora laughed.
"I'm just saying that we don't need to. It's wrong."
"Oh, okay. I see. You don't want to listen to your mother. You know, the mother who saved you from the green death. The mother who found you siblings because you were lonely."
"It's not that... But... I don't want to kill anyone that is innocent."
"All I have to say about that is you got adopted by the wrong person, didn't you?" Pandora sounded hurt while saying that. Inki couldn't take the look on her green mother's face. Her sadness shifted to annoyance after a while. "Let me ask you this again. When do you plan on killing them?"
"I would have to say after they are finished with the first stratum. I can blame the deaths on the newer stratum's beasts."
"That's my girl." Pandora walked toward the window. "And if anything gets in your way, contact me. I'll get rid of it."
"Yes, mother. I understand."
"You and I have a lot in common." Rogue spoke softly.
"Ha!" Hana glared at him. "What would we have in common?"
"I don't know. It's not like we are both compared to our parents often." Rogue smirked.
"How would you know that?" Hana frowned. She guessed that Rogue was compared to Blackbeard a lot, and he did not like it.
"When Scott mentioned your mother, you began to make the same face that you are making now. You don't like her very much, do you?"
"That's a pretty good hypothesis. For a pirate." Hana pretended to be unaffected by Rogue's words. "What are you getting at?"
"If you are trying to get out of your mother's footsteps... Why are you following them?"
Hana thought for a second, and suddenly became a bit pained. She was doing everything that her mother had done. She was trying to beat her at her own game. How could she not expect anyone to compare them?
"I-I am unaware." Hana gritted her teeth. "Why are you a pirate if you don't like being compared to your father?" Hana retorted.
Rogue rubbed his hair gently. "You're saying that as if I had a choice." Rogue sheathed his rapier. "You, however, have the opportunity to choose."
Hana's expression darkened. "Is that why you aren't attacking?" Hana clenched her fists. "You want me to become a pirate? Like you?"
"Oh, sure, you can say that. It's about time you stopped envying your mother. If you become a pirate you will easily surpass her."
Hana began to twitch; she didn't know how to respond to that. Become a pirate? That was absurd. She was reckless, but not that reckless. Pirates were horrible people who had nothing. So, they decided to steal everything from everyone else. Hana was far from losing everything, and she still had one thing she refused to give up. Her integrity. She didn't want to lose that when she became a pirate. Hana could voice her opinion because Rogue said he was giving her a choice. But Hana had a feeling that he wasn't. His hand was still on the hilt of his rapier, and he appeared to be ready to strike if she refused. Hypatia rushed to Hana's side, and Rogue grew a ridiculously large grin on his face.
"Oh, I get it!" He went into hysterics. "You don't want to ,do you?!" Instead of pulling out that rapier of his, he clasped his right hand on Hypatia's neck, and lifted her above Hana's reach. "I should have known! Hana Venus Zaki wants to be the hero! The one who pities the weak!" He looked up at Hypatia. "Then how does this make you feel, hero!?"
Hana was stunned and felt like she was suffocating more than Hypatia. "Stop it! You'll kill her!"
"But those might be my intentions!"
Hana couldn't bear to watch Hypatia struggle and gasp. She felt utterly hopeless. She couldn't move. She felt like she was the one suffering. She remembered something like that happening before, but it wasn't her. When she had met Ryuu he was like that. Someone that had more power than he did was ruining something precious to him. Hana helped him even though she wasn't even three feet. Hana held her heart. No one was going to help her. She looked back at her peers. They weren't doing so well either. Dove and Luna seemed to be unconscious and Maki was fighting Scott. She thought of what Solly wrote to her. Solly had always looked up to her...
Hana closed her eyes and realized that she was the one who saved Ryuu. So, why couldn't she save herself? She felt herself charge at Rogue. She had found out that she could save herself just as easily. The next thing she knew, she was hanging on Rogue's arm because she was biting him.
Rogue screeched before he dropped Hypatia. Rogue then pulled Hana off his arm. He was bleeding where Hana bit him. Hana had some victorious smile on her face.
"How does that make you feel, Rogue?" She let out a snarky comment.
Rogue held his bite mark. "You bite pretty hard for a little girl." Rogue replied. "It's a shame. I really liked you." Rogue moved his left hand to pull out a gun. Hana frowned. She was so close ,but so far at the same time.
"I suggest that you don't shoot her." Hana gasped as she saw her teacher suddenly appear before her eyes.
"Sensei? I thought that I-" Haruka stopped Hana mid-sentence.
"Be quiet. This is for your own good."
Rogue pointed his gun at the blonde woman. "Oh, what's stopping me then?"
"See that your gun there is forged so it is able to use fire." Haruka grew a smug look on her face. "I have a skill that reflects fire with my own fire. It's called 'Fire Prophecy'. I mastered it eleven years ago. So if I use it, you will be burnt to a crisp."
"Well then." Rogue lowered his gun."I guess that I won't be able to shoot her, will I?" Even though Rogue's weapon was not pointed at them, they heard a gunshot.
"Don't move, Hana." Haruka dictated.
Hana stayed still. She knew that the bullet was headed toward her, but she also knew that her teacher was an Oracle. Haruka was the world's strongest Zodiac that was still living. Hana was hit by a breeze ,which was actually another person spawning in front of her. She had grey hair and orange eyes, and we all know her as Asuka. Asuka pulled out her spear and deflected the bullet with it. Hana squinted to see where the bullet came from. Hineji had finally gotten back up. She seemed a little shell-shocked, but she was standing up.
"This is so much fun!" She cried out. "All the others fell almost instantly!"
"I've had enough of your sick games." A sharp voice called out. Rai appeared with her purple sword in hand. "This stops now."Hineji stared at Rai as if she had seen her before. Rai gestured for her to quit it.
"Well, we'll see if that happens after Scott finishes of Larouge over there."
Haruka glanced over at Maki. He was doing well, but struggling at certain times. "No, we'll see if that happens in about ten seconds." She had a smile that went ear to ear. Maki tripped while fighting Scott ,and Scott didn't hesitate to to aim his sword for Maki's neck.
"Scott! Stop!" An obnoxious voice called out. That voice belonged to Bare. She stood next to Akakuri, and held her head since they had just teleported up to the ship.
Scott froze ,and turned back to look at Bare. "Darling?"
Bare was trembling violently. "Scott, stop it... Please..."
Scott looked down. "Retreat, and give them the hostages." Hineji and Rogue gaped at him.
"But... Scott." Hineji whined.
"I said retreat." He replied.
"Fine. Let's go, Hine." Rogue took Hineji by the hand and leaped up the to their ship.
"What was the point of taking me into the pirate ship? You knew that they were going to win soon." Aoimi asked Brac.
Magnum closed his eyes. "Brac, it's a great time to tell her what you did. You know, while Rai isn't here..." He was smiling as he said those words suspiciously.
Brac pulled out a small packet of papers, and held them in front of Aoimi's face. Aoimi stared at them with a disinterested face. She read them some ,and began to blush before she hugged Brac.
"Adoption papers?! I knew you were planning on doing that!" Aoimi exclaimed. "Now that you have, I can have a real parent!"
"Um... There's one thing you have to promise me." Brac looked down.
"What?"
"You can't tell Rai about any of this."
Aoimi frowned. "Oh, she... She didn't approve of this, did she?"
"No, no she didn't." Magnum butted in. "You should thank me because I was the one who convinced him to adopt you!"
Aoimi opened her eyes widely. "Really?!" She stared at Brac.
"Yes, Aoimi..."
"Let's head back to your ship before they start getting suspicious!" Magnum spoke with his song like voice.
Brawn used the rest of their provisions to help RAGNAROK reach Batavia. They did that because RAGNAROK technically saved that town. Bare and Meru thanked them, and soon after they went back to Armoroad. They got a bonus from the Harbormaster because of their deeds.
It was dusk when they made it back to the inn. Hana seemed a bit happy and a bit annoyed. She tried to ignore how irritated she was by talking to Hypatia. Haruka wasn't telling her why she decided to come to Armoroad, and Bare wouldn't speak about the event that she caused earlier. As they entered the inn, Hana expected to see Gears waiting, but to her surprise she saw no sign of them. Inki was sitting in a chair on the far side of the lobby, and Ryuu was sitting next to the door.
"Where have you been?" Ryuu stared at the wall in front of him.
Hana went to talk, but all of the mentors spoke in unison. "Typical Ryuu." They all laughed at Ryuu's confused expression.
Everyone began to laugh except for Bare and Hana. Bare walked away from them, and Hana thought for a moment before she followed Bare. Bare looked back at Hana ,and she ran to her room. Hana went after her and stopped at Bare's door. She tried to open it ,but it was locked.
"Bare, open the door." Hana knocked on the door.
"No." It sounded like Bare said that between sobs.
Hana sighed. "Please, Bare. I'm trying to help..." Hana leaned against the door.
"No means no, Hana! You wouldn't understand... And I doubt that you ever will!"
Hana laughed. "Oh, you must see me as the inconsiderate jerk, huh?" Hana played in her hair before she spoke again. "How about this...? You tell me what's wrong ,and I'll tell you what I haven't told the guild yet..."
"There are things you haven't told us yet?"
Hana felt herself begin to sweat. "Yeah..."
"I'm not opening the door until you tell me. You have to go first."
Hana took a deep breath. "I graduated school when I was ten..." Hana voice was filled with sorrow. "I was supposed to go to a college because I had a scholarship, but Hanasaku said that she wanted to explore this maze..." Hana laughed more. "I got a little worried, and I wanted to make sure she was safe... So, I rejected my scholarship ,and came all the way here. Just to make sure that she would be safe..." Hana heard a noise. She looked around and saw a familiar bell lying on the ground. She ignored it, and continued speaking. "And even though I sound sad... I don't regret it." Hana leaned on the door as Bare opened it, and she fell in her room.
Bare cracked the door after she let Hana in. "That man... Scott. He's my cousin, and I used to be a pirate. But I ran away from the Dominion... I thought that you would get angry if you found out... After you told me what you did for Hanasaku... I can see that you only act like a jerk."
Hana got up. "Hey, I'm nice. I act like that so people won't come up to me with all of their problems."
Bare had a weird look in her eyes. Hana could tell that she was wondering why Hana did that. Hana smiled before she said, "You'll find out soon enough." and left.
As Bare closed her door, Hana made her way to her room. She opened her door to see Hanasaku lying in her bed, and she was sound asleep. Hana closed the door. Once she closed it she saw that Ryuu was behind it with his arms crossed.
"She said she was going to scold you when you got back, but she ended up falling asleep." He stated.
Hana nodded. "Did she catch a cold?"
"Fever."
"Oh, great. She's sweated all over my bed then, hasn't she?"
Ryuu grinned. "Karma."
Hana yawned. "I've had a long day... " She plopped down on her bed. She patted a spot. "Come sit next to me, Ryuu." Ryuu looked back, closed the door, and finally sat next to Hana. Hana had a smile on her face. "Thank you, Ryuu."
Ryuu looked down at her. "Are you thanking me because I sat down?"
Hana shook her head. "No, you came all the way here. Just for me and Hanasaku..."
"Oh, you're welcome..." Ryuu began to stroke the girl's hair. He was surprised that Hana didn't say anything about it. She was asleep on him. Ryuu stared before he found that he was tired too. And before he knew it he had fallen asleep next to his two "best" friends.
"Marin, did you hear about what RAGNAROK did to the Dominion?" The Harbormaster spoke to Marin. The sun had finally set by then. Marin was at the port for an unknown reason.
"Yes, I did." Marin shook her head. "Now, someone else is trying to stand up to the Dominion. I'm not sure if that's good or bad."
"Maybe the bravery to do so comes with the guild name RAGNAROK. You were in that guild thirty years ago, right?" The Harbormaster asked.
"Yeah. I was in RAGNAROK. I was with Hanasaki, Hanami Zaki, and a few other people. And we were the only people who would even dare to mess with the Dominion." Marin muttered. "But we ended up regretting it."
"I think that you're wrong there."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If it weren't for them you wouldn't be here. And Blackbeard wouldn't have scurvy."
Marin made a face. "I guess that's good." Marin turned around. "I have to take my leave now." Marin walked toward the Via Senatus. She had a serious job, but the old woman Flowdia took advantage of that. Marin was headed there because Flowdia was making her watch the dog she had. (If you look really hard you can see it behind Flowdia. I have the art book. I know.)
Marin walked in the building, and went to open the door to senator Flowdia's office. She had her hand set on the doorknob, but suddenly ceased to move. She heard Flowdia talking to someone in there. She put her ear to the door.
"Marin is keeping too many secrets for us to even trust her. I need you two to watch her to see what she's up to."
"But wouldn't that just make her not trust us?" Marin heard a voice that was definitely Kise's. There was a long silence.
"No, it wouldn't. She already doesn't trust the Senatus." Marin cringed. She knew that was Kujura's voice.
"Do you think that because she's not telling us anything?" Kise sounded baffled.
"Oh, Kise... He knows that it's because she's not telling us anything, but that's not important. Just make sure that Marin is doing her job."
"What if she isn't doing her job?" Kise sounded alarmed.
"Her job as the Citadel of Armoroad will be given to either the Guild-master or Kujura. I will most likely give the job to Kujura since the Guild-master has to deal with explorers for much of the day."
Marin felt even worse. She didn't know if Kujura wanted to become Citadel, but she knew that his father once had that title. She looked at the door once more, and left the building. She hoped that those two didn't run in when she screwed up or when someone stronger than her was around. She felt like that was going to be hard because she had just felt the auras of people that were probably stronger than she than she could ever be. She guessed that she she would have to deal with it and find a way.
Second longest chapter! Woohoo! This only took me so long because the office I have to type in (I'm on vacation and I'm at an inn) isn't always opened, and on certain occasions someone else would be on the computer. Don't look at me like that, okay? Fine. Those weren't the only reasons. I've been playing EO3. I had to kill the Anemone. It took me forever. I had to spend some of my 700,000 en on three Smart Earrings for Hana, and at the end only Tsukiro and Hana survived. (Aoimi, Akakuri, and Magnolia died.) I also have been listening to music on YouTube. The channel that produces the songs is called FAKE TYPE. I love the channel so much!
Next time: Meru must prove herself worthy of staying in Armoroad. Will Aoimi convince Hana to not listen to Hanasaku and Ryuu?(Again) Will Bare, Hana, Aoimi, Meru, and Dove find a certain someone? Will they get Hanasaku enraged? This Might all happen next time in "The Unexpected Tyrants"!