A/N: BOOM! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 25: Drinking with the Enemy

April 14, X792 - Morning

Swabbie had landed hard on the middle vessel of Storm's Helm, donning his standard rock armor. Tan rocks covered the areas that a set of plate armor would and included a crown styled helmet. All the mages on the deck jumped in surprise by his landing, but many of them took on defensive poses, prepared for the worst from the intruder.

"Who the hell are you?!" Aria shouted, gripping onto the handle of Hiryu, the katana being her usual go-to sword.

Swabbie didn't answer her with his name. Only a simple grunt of, "Map."

"He is here for the map," Alisa said, "That must mean he is from the Black Skulls."

The two women readied themselves for battle like everyone else on the deck, their bodies tensing up when Swabbie took a step forward. While he at first wore a determined look, his eyes quickly caught sight of a bottle of rum at one of the bar countertops. He changed his direction towards it, taking a seat at the bar and immediately began drinking from the bottle.

"Uhhh…" Aria began, unsure of how to react to the change of events. She looked over at Alisa, who wore a surprised stare as well, "Are ya sure he's from the Black Skulls?"

"I was fairly certain he was," she answered, keeping hold of her lead pipes just in case the man changed his mind, "What are you doing?" she hissed when she saw Aria approaching the man.

Aria ignored the blue haired woman as she began poking the man in his back with her sword, "Oi! Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Swabbie stopped drinking for a moment to glance back at the tall woman, "Are you a wizard…?" he slurred out.

"What the hell?! Half the bottle and you're already drunk?!" she shouted turning back to Alisa while pointing at Swabbie, "He seriously can't be someone that the weirdo captain sent after the map!"

Swabbie continued drinking the rum until the bottle was empty, "Another!" he said as he slammed down the empty bottle.

"Do you really think we'd just give you more of our alcohol?! Do you know what that cost us?! We had to use the master's dirty money to buy that!"

"Dirty money…you are honestly still going on about that?" Alisa questioned, but didn't wait for an answer from the sword mage, "Just give him another bottle. It will keep him busy long enough for us to figure out what to do in the mean time."

"Ugh! Fine! But if Cordelia gets mad at missing bottles, you're gonna take the fall for this one!" Aria said as she made her way behind the bar and pulled out a fresh bottle of rum. She pulled the cork to open it and slammed it down in front of the man. He took it without a second thought and began chugging it, causing one of Aria's eyes to twitch, "Ya know, the least you could do is say thank you!"

Swabbie stopped in the middle of a drink and eyed Aria up and down, "Ya know…I'd make…a damn sexy zombie…"

Aria stood in complete shock at his answer, her mouth dropping open as she watched the redhead continue his drinking, "What the fuck?!"

"Keep calm, Aria!" Alisa said as she ran behind the bar and held the younger woman back, "We must figure out what to do before attacking."

"Screw that! This freak is just fucking with us!" she shouted as she started swinging her sword around randomly, "I just want to chop his head off! That's all! So let me go! It won't take long at all!"

Swabbie looked up at the struggling women and with the straightest face said, "Where does…the lotion go?"

Chills ran up both of their spines and caused another outburst from Aria.

"See! I told you he was just fucking with us!" she shouted as she turned her glare on Swabbie, "And if you think I'd ever be with a woman like Alisa-"

Swabbie stood from his seat and bowed towards the lightning mage, "Alisa," he said in greeting before sitting back down and returning to his drinking.

Aria could only let out a shout of anger in response, making it harder for Alisa to keep her held back.

"Is it odd that I find his manners much better than your own, Aria?" Alisa asked, nodding at Swabbie in her own greeting.

"Don't nod at him! He's just some weirdo that happened to hear your name! Manners my a-"

Swabbie suddenly stood up and did the same greeting towards Aria after hearing her name.

"Just his head! I just want to chop off his head! That's all!" Aria continued after his greeting.

Alisa only rolled her eyes in response before they landed on Zinnia and Drayden who were running towards them.

"What's…uh…what's going on here?" Zinnia asked.

"What's going on is this freak of nature just showed up on the ship and started drinking our rum and talking about sexy zombies and lotion!" Aria shouted, causing the rest of the deck to sweat drop in response.

"I have no idea how to respond to that," Drayden said as he looked back at Alisa, "So what's really going on?"

"Dear Aria here is partially right, unfortunately," she answered, "He showed up looking for the map originally, so I do believe he is from the Black Skulls, not that we can really get a direct answer from him. The rum seems to be keeping him distracted though."

"I see," Zinnia said before a wide smile appeared on her lips, "Then I suppose the only thing to do is to drink with him!"

Aria stared at her in disbelief before letting out a shout of, "WHAT?!"

. : + : .

Eli was finishing up with the last bounty hunter while Seth and Matilda made sure the rest of them were tied up nice and tight.

"See, you put the rope through the loop and twist like so and then you should have two loops, so you pull the bunny ears really tight and that's how you capture an idiot!" Matilda rattled off as she tied up the last bounty hunter in her row.

"Just make her stop! Please!" the hunter cried.

Cordelia could only laugh in response as she looked down at their leader in front of her, "Seems you weren't able to make me remember your name, Bon-Bon Nokia," she said as she patted the top of his head, "But you did try your best, so that's something."

"For the last time, it's Ben Nolan!" he shouted as he tried to bite her hand.

"I think Bon-Bon suits you much better. You're about as tough as one," she snickered as she poked his cheek.

"What are we gonna do with them now?" Eli asked as he walked up to her, leaving Matilda to tie up the last hunter he had just finished with. They could hear that hunter crying as well while the navigator danced around him while singing about what she was doing.

"I'm not real sure at the moment. I was thinking of letting Matilda entertain them for a bit."

"Anything but that!" they all cried.

"Oh! But we could have such fun! I'll tell you about how I started out as a navigator and all the books I had to read. I don't get to talk to people about that often, you know, so it'll be great talking about everything!" she said as she tied off the last hunter. As soon as she was finished, she fell flat on her face, snoring instantly.

"Looks like they lucked out," Seth chuckled, "She'll be power napping for a few hours."

"Then we'll just leave them here," Cordelia said, "I want to check out what's happening on the main ship since we heard that loud crash."

"You're just going to leave them here like this?" Eli asked.

"Why not? I have Hagi below and I'm sure Sam will show up here soon. Plus, if they do anything to wake up Matilda, they'll be sorry. You do remember the last time that the other guys dared Ace to do that, right?"

Eli and Seth exchanged fearful glances, remembering exactly what had happened.

"Yeah, I suppose Matilda is the perfect watchdog at the moment then," Eli said.

"Let's get going then," she said, smiling back at Ben and the others, "All right Bon-Bon, I suggest you don't do anything stupid while we're gone. Or else you'll have to deal with my lovely navigator," she said with a snicker before walking off towards the main deck.

Soon enough, the trio had made their way to the middle vessel. They stared at the scene before them in surprise, seeing Zinnia dancing around on top of the bar top with a redheaded man, both holding a bottle of rum in their hands.

"Zi! What are you doing?!" Cordelia shouted as she approached the bar with Eli and Seth in tow.

"Having a party!" she answered while linking an arm with Swabbie's, "He's quite the dancer when he's drinking!"

"Who is he?"

"Don't know!"

"Didn't we have this talk before? You're not supposed to dance with strangers when you've been drinking. It never ends well…" Cordelia said, remembering the last time this exact chain of events happened.

"But he's such a cutie!" Zinnia said, poking the redhead on his cheek.

"You don't even know his name!"

"So? Have a drink with us!"

Cordelia stood there for a moment contemplating on what to do before she gave in with a shrug, "Why the hell not. Aria! Give me a bottle too!"

"What?! You're all fucking crazy!"

"Aren't you usually one for partying?" Cordelia asked with a smirk.

"Not when some guy is talking about sexy zombies and lotion!"

"Dear, I would suggest not saying things like that," Alisa sighed as she handed Cordelia a bottle of rum and a glass to go along with it, "We do believe he is from the Black Skulls, so I would be wary even if he seems like an idiot."

"I see. Still a party is a party!" Cordelia grinned before pouring herself a drink.

"What the hell, Cor?! Aria just said something about zombies and lotion and you want to have a drink with this guy?!"

"Seth doesn't seem to have a problem with it," she said, pointing back up to the pair on the bar to show that it was now a trio with Seth having joined in on their drinking and dancing.

"What the hell?! What are you doing?!" Eli shouted up at Seth.

"We're supposed to be having a party, right?"

"Not with the enemy! You always do this!"

"Just shut up and have a drink already!" Cordelia said as she shoved a full glass in his hand, "Besides, he'll do a good job of watching over Zi to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Won't you, big guy?"

"Whoever this guy is, he's great!" Seth answered as the three of them started kicking in sync while they danced.

Eli's face fell in response while Cordelia started laughing. Eli finally gave in with a sigh before downing the drink in his hand.

"There ya go," Cordelia said as she refilled his glass, "I hope you know you still owe me a dance. I never got one at the last party."

"You want me to dance with you? Right now?"

"Why not? It's what the cool kids are doing," she said while pointing up at the still dancing trio.

"Look here, babe," he began with a smooth smile, "I've always been one of those guys to go against conformity. A rebel if you must label me."

"Rebels can dance too. Aren't you all able to secretly swoon girls that way?"

"I don't need completely awesome dancing skills to swoon the ladies. They might actually faint if I went that far."

"Then maybe we should find out if that's true."

"Could you please not flirt right in front of me?!" Aria shouted, "I'm already having a hard enough time dealing with the freak of a pirate dancing on our guild and drinking our rum!"

Cordelia and Eli both froze as heavy blushes covered their cheeks as the realization of what had been happening dawned on them. Luckily, the both of them were saved by Drayden stepping in after smacking Aria upside the head.

"So Zinnia mentioned that you wanted to see Alisa and myself," he said, looking over at Cordelia.

"Oh right!" she said, pulling out the rolled up map and handing it over to Drayden, "I want you two to go inland and look for the mirror the newest clue is talking about. It'll more than likely be on a beach since it talks about shores of glass. I figured you two could handle the island best due to your magic types, but just be careful all the same, especially with the map."

"I think we can handle that," Drayden answered, tucking the map away in his white coat, "I think Alisa and I will head out now while there's still a party going on," he added, Cordelia being able to picture the smirk he most likely wore under the cowl.

Cordelia smiled in return, "That's probably best," she nodded as she watched him and Alisa sneak their way away from the bar area to head towards the docks.

Off in the distance, loud and angry shouting could be heard coming from the black ship that Cordelia had spotted when Ben and his hunters attacked, causing Cordelia to laugh, knowing that the shouting had to belong to Madmartigan. The shouting affected Swabbie quite differently though, the man freezing up once he realized that he had forgotten his entire reason for coming onto the guild.

"Map," he grunted, bringing the dancing around him to a holt.

"Sorry about your luck," Cordelia said, "But it just left with my mages. Good luck getting it now."

Swabbie narrowed his eyes in response. Though he had enjoyed drinking with the lot of them, he had his orders, "Rock Armor: Heavy," he said, causing the standard armor he came onto the guild with to fall away. It was quickly replaced with thicker rocks which covered most of his body this time, the armor being the heaviest and most durable in his arsenal. Seth attempted to catch him before he got away, but Swabbie ducked and tried to land a hit on Zinnia.

"Shield Make: Knighthood!" she shouted, the shield appearing just in time to take the brunt of the hit. Though, the force of the hit still sent her flying off of the table.

Swabbie took the opening, jumping off of the bar with a heavy thud and running towards the first bridge he eyes landed on. He made a run for it, the bridge heading down towards the ship that the infirmary was located on. Without Cordelia having to bark orders, the group followed him, the guild master helping Zinnia up to her feet along the way.

"I don't think my Knighthood is going to hold up very well against him," Zinnia said as she recalled the shield, "But I have one that should work well enough. I just need someone to throw me in front of him."

"You're in quite the spontaneous mood today," Cordelia said with a smirk, "But all right. Seth, you heard her. Throw her in front of him."

"You sure about this?" he asked.

"Just do it!" the two women responded.

Seth nodded and picked up the brunette, spinning a few times to gain momentum before launching her across the guild. Zinnia shouted in delight at the feeling of flying through the air, but she quickly came back to the situation at hand when she saw she was passing over Swabbie. She flipped herself around in the air so she would land facing him.

"Shield Make: Spartan Soldier!" she shouted as she started to descend onto the deck. In her hands appeared a large and circular shield made of thick and heavy wood covered in a layer of bronze. As soon as she made contact with the deck, she braced herself for impact. In seconds, Swabbie collided with the shield, causing Zinnia to slide back a few feet at first before managing to bring him to a stop. She pushed against him for a few moments before letting out a shout and pushing forward with all her strength, managing to knock him off balance. She let out another shout as she moved forward to slam the shield against him. Though, with the heavy armor he wore, it didn't do much other than throw him back a few more feet. Luckily for Zinnia, this was enough for the rest of their group to catch up. Swabbie turned his attention away from Zinnia in an attempt to punch Cordelia, but he was blocked by the large shield again, "Oi! I was your opponent first!" she shouted, but still smiled at him nonetheless, "Don't tell me you already forgot about me!"

"Eli! Melt his armor!" Cordelia ordered.

Eli didn't waste any time igniting himself with his Green Fire and simply grabbed onto the man's arm. The heavy armor may have kept him protected against Zinnia's shield, but it did nothing against the melting affects of the acid-like fire.

"Aria! Cut him on his weak point now!" Cordelia said.

"My pleasure!" she grinned in response as she jumped over Eli to bring down the now flame engulfed blade of Hiryu on Swabbie's exposed arm. She managed to make a slice across it before he slammed his free hand into her stomach, causing her to ram into Eli, the two mages tumbling across the deck.

Despite the cut on his arm, Swabbie covered it back up with his rock armor and ran towards the two fallen mages. He brought down another fist towards them, Aria barely missing being smashed by it thanks to Eli pulling her backwards. The force of the hit was enough for his rock covered fist to break through the deck.

"Why is it always holes?!" Cordelia cried as she watched this process continue a few more times before Zinnia stepped in the way to block his fist again.

"We were just having a fun party. Why not forget about that map and have another drink with us?" Zinnia asked, causing Swabbie to falter at the offer. He stood seriously thinking about it until he remembered his captain's shouts, quickly returning to his previous assault. The heaviness of his hits and movements were beginning to seriously rattle the ship, Cordelia having to hold onto Seth at one point to keep herself from falling over.

"This dude is like a tank," Cordelia said as she straightened herself out, "Any longer on the ship and he'll tear it apart."

"You're not going to have them go onto the island, are you?" Seth asked.

"I was thinking at least the docks so the guild won't suffer any more damage."

"You know if that happens that there's a chance he can hunt down Alisa and Drayden. Plus, there's the lightning to worry about with the other three chasing him."

"Alisa and Drayden have a decent head start now, so they should be all right. And they'll have to chance the lightning to keep this dude at bay," she answered, "Besides, I'm sure Jack's not pleased with someone banging around on his ship. I'm sure his infirmary is at least a little messed up by now and I'm gonna be the one yelled at for it."

"So you'll send them off onto an island of lightning to make sure you don't get yelled at?"

"Maybe…but I wouldn't word it like that. More like they get to chase a pirate and beat him up in order to find glorious treasure!" she announced, striking a victorious pose.

"Well when you put it that way…" he said with a shrug.

"Exactly! Now let's get them moving along!" she said, turning to look at the other three mages who were still dealing with Swabbie, "Oi! Take the fight off the guild! Head towards the docks!"

While the three Storm's Helm mages stopped to look at their master, Swabbie took advantage of the moment and sped off towards the docks to hunt down the map.

"Well? Go after him!" Cordelia snapped, causing the three to jump into action, "And make sure you look after the girls, Eli!"

"HA! It's more like we'll need to look after his dumbass!" Aria shouted in return, earning a shout of protest from Eli and a laugh from Zinnia.

"See? Problem solved!" Cordelia said with a wide grin up at Seth.

Before he could answer her, part of the deck in front of them began to corrode away. A flash of black flew out from the hole first, quickly followed by Zhuue, the blonde having used her Corrosion Magic to create the hole. Cordelia and Seth stared at Zhuue in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Cordelia!" Jack shouted, having run up the stairs to the top deck as quickly as he could, "We have a huge problem! Where's Eli?!"

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's the Dark Water! With all that commotion, the jar holding it fell and broke. I thought Zhuue's magic might have been able to destroy it, but it's quicker than I thought it would be!"

Cordelia's eyes went wide at this information, "What?! What do you mean the jar broke?! You were supposed to get rid of it!"

"I hadn't found the proper way to dispose of it yet!"

"I think that's something we can discuss later," Seth said, "We need to find it and get rid of it for now."

"Fuck!" Cordelia cursed, not knowing what else to do or say. She looked out over the ships to see a glimpse of the trio she sent after Swabbie running onto the island after the man. At least Eli was off of the guild for now. If there was one thing good about Dark Water it was the fact that it would never go too far on land. So as long as the trio kept after Swabbie, then Eli should be safe. A commotion coming from up on the crow's nest of the current ship they were on caught the group's attention. They looked up to see Squall in it seeming to fight off an invisible enemy. Cordelia's brow furrowed when she managed to catch another flash of black. She took off her coat and handed it over to Seth, "Take care of that. I don't need that journal getting damaged."

"Cordelia…can you handle this?" Seth asked.

"I'm the guild master. I have to handle this," she answered as she ran towards the mast that held the crow's nest. She climbed it quickly, ducking as Squall made an upwards tiger claw motion. This sent out a small storm of raging winds, courtesy of the Wind Magic she used, and caught the black flash within it. Cordelia looked back to see that it was indeed the Dark Water that was trapped within the winds, a shiver of fear running up her spine. Cordelia ignored her fear for the moment and turned back towards Squall, seeing the young girl's eyes lit up with her own fear, "Of all the crow's nests for you to be in today, this was the one you chose," Cordelia said, reaching out a hand towards the girl, "Come on. We don't have much time before your wind fades, right?"

Squall shook her head and grabbed onto Cordelia's hand, the guild master pulling her up and out of the nest.

"Good girl," she said just as she was about to climb back down the mast. The wind from the Squall's attack faded, allowing the Dark Water free movement again. The black liquid shot out in mid-air, aimed towards Squall still. Cordelia covered her though, the substance wrapping around her wrist.

'Heretic! Winchester!'

Cordelia froze up when she heard the hissing of the water when it touched her, sounding like multiple voices in one. The hissing turned into screaming, Cordelia feeling like she wouldn't be able to take it for long. She saw the substance readying itself to strike towards Squall again, having full intentions of taking them both down into the sea, "Squall! You'll have to jump, okay?"

Squall looked back with wide eyes, feeling unsure of Cordelia's orders.

"Just trust me, okay?"

Squall swallowed her fear and nodded at her.

"Good girl. I'll make sure to buy you a good dinner for today. Now…jump!"

Squall did as she was told, jumping away from Cordelia just as soon as the Dark Water attempted to grab her. Cordelia called out her Chaos Tanto and slammed it into the black water, hearing it cry out in pain as she did so, but it was enough to lock it into place long enough for Squall to get away, Zhuue catching her from below.

"You won't be taking anyone today!" Cordelia shouted despite the utter fright she felt.

'Heretic! Winchester! Take Winchester!'

"You won't be taking him either!"

'You know Winchester! Take! Take!'

"I'm done with this shit," Cordelia growled as she pulled out her blade and attempted to cut the water from her wrist, "Let the hell go!"

Before the blade could even touch the Dark Water, it released her wrist. The surprise of the action gave Cordelia no time to react, causing her to start falling towards the deck. Right in mid-air though, she was caught by the Dark Water again, causing her body to fly backwards towards the middle vessel. It slammed her against the bridge leading up to it, forcing her to cough out in pain and to drop her knife.

"Cordelia!" Seth shouted, throwing the coat and the journal within it down without a second thought.

"Seth!" she cried, fear of what was going to happen rising up in her. In her panicked state, she couldn't think of what to do other than to call out towards the man running after her and hope that he caught her in time. She tried to reach up and claw at the water in order to break free, but it only screamed out Eli's surname again, causing Cordelia to flinch in response.

The Dark Water raced up onto the middle deck, dragging Cordelia along with it and surprising the members of the guild. They watched as Seth ran up onto the deck right after her, looking more worried than they had ever seen him before. People began to dive for Cordelia after that in hopes of catching her, but the black liquid was able to dodge out of the way every time, pulling Cordelia up and down and sideways. She was continuously slammed into tables and chairs and boxes as the Dark Water made its way towards the back right corner ship that held the women's dorms. Cordelia began to panic more as she realized that they were coming to the end of the guild, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she would be dragged down into the ocean to drown.

"I'm not drowning!" she shouted, finding courage beneath her fear to try and struggle against the Dark Water. Though, it made quick work of her hands, tying them both together and then covering them in a black shell of liquid as it continued to pull her towards the edge of the boat, "Seth!" she cried again, hoping that he was close to catching her.

Seth had made it onto the deck of the women's dorms with his hoodie gone just in case he would need to use his magic. He saw Cordelia just as the Dark Water was making its way towards the edge of the ship, "Shit!" he yelled as he pushed himself harder to reach her in time. Though, the Dark Water was a step ahead of him and the liquid pushed itself from the edge of the boat.

"SETH!"

Cordelia shouting his name was the last thing he heard before the splash of water that signified the Dark Water had reached its goal.

Storm's Helm Question Corner!

Today's question comes from Momochan77 for Gamu:

Besides Cordelia and Duke, who's your favorite person on the guild?

Gamu: Can I show them instead of tell them?

Watson: Do you promise to come right back?

Gamu: *smiles widely* Of course!

Watson: All right. Bring them back here in no less than ten minutes.

Gamu: No problem! *runs off set*

Watson: Ten minutes, ya hear?! *sighs* Somehow I know I'm going to regret that…

Four Hours Later

Watson: *kicks door open to the Murdock home* OI! Gamu! Do you know what ten minutes means?! I've got my own shit to do, ya know!

Gamu: You finally came! I found my other favorite people!

Regina: Perfect timing! I just finished up some cookies!

Seth: I didn't know you were in the middle of an interview.

Watson: You were supposed to bring them back to the studio!

Gamu: I got…uh…I was…

Watson: Distracted…distracted is the word you're looking for. But for four hours?! Dammit!

Regina: *shoves cookie into Watson's mouth* Remember, no bad feelings in my home! Now, come and sit and eat!

Watson: *finishes cookie* Yeah, all right. I suppose it can't hurt. Can you at least tell the readers we'll see them next Sunday, Gamu?

Gamu: *perches on top of Seth's shoulder* Sunday! Next Sunday!

Watson: Close enough!

A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

So I really had a lot of fun with the beginning of this chapter. I'm pretty sure I laughed out loud a few times. And then of course we end with another cliffhanger! MUWHAHAHAHAHA!

I am updating this one a day early since I'll be heading home tomorrow from vacation and I'll be driving most of the day, so I wanted to get the chapter up early since I'm sure I won't feel up to writing tomorrow once I get home.

I did take a week off from writing after the challenge for numerous reasons, but things should be back to normal now.

And speaking of the challenge week, Dread and I wanted to let you all know that he didn't give up on his part of the challenge. Some things came up for him that didn't allow for him to write, so we moved his part of the challenge to another week. So when things are all set for him again, you should see those chapters that he is going to match.

I'll be forgoing the review responses for today as it's my last day of vacation and I want to enjoy it as much as possible (not that writing this story isn't enjoyable, but ya know…vacation, lol!). But as always, your reviews were as lovely and amazing as ever! Thank you for all of them and as always I enjoyed reading all of them! You guys really are the best! :3

So that should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson