Hi there, friends! Summer here has been really hot though that helps with the writing for a tropical setting. Enough of me, how about reviewer replies?
Kaiban: To clarify on OCs, you're correct on all points. It's kind of a cheap move to have my OCs come from a different place/universe from Lore but I also have plans for other fics staring other OCs (and some general stories). And if nothing has been said about their species, we shouldn't jump to conclusions. There's also a lot of love being thrown around or lack of it heh. There's a lot of speculation going on and I like that. I'm going to keep you guessing on a bunch of things so stay tuned~(And the AUs coming soon too. I might need a beta for this *hint hint*) And funny that you point out the possibility of Trakath (I still can't get enough of that) might not work out. He technically has Robina as his canon love-interest (it's stated in the forums somewhere) and since I dislike him very much, it's entirely possible that ships will be sunk. I can't wait. But don't worry about it too much. Besides, you won't have to wait long before I rip them in two I hope you'll stick around for that.
Alka M.C: Thank you once again for the help with typos and mistakes. I would die if it weren't for all of your help! And with Alison, we'll just have to take her word for now. I haven't decided if I like Alison yet. She/He/it has always been a wild card for me to write. Alison's one of my older characters and her backstory has been very trying. I won't say any more beyond that. As for Tomoe's machinations, since all the other OC ninjas were big shot idiots, it was kinda hard to tell if Tomoe was really up to something or just as clumsy as everyone else. Then again, he had to live with Yumiko for most of his life. Imagine living with that. I'd think it's enough to drive anyone crazy.
As an overall statement, I really am happy that you're enjoying my reimagining of the Wind Orb Story Arc. I hope you'll like me reworking of the others as well. But for now, enjoy. As always, I love you all.
Not For Your Eyes
"Good afternoon. Are you new in town?" The golden haired princess at the counter in the inn greets us.
"Why yes we are, my dear," I bow with a flourish. Blaire nods in acknowledgment and continues to stare blankly at the air. "We'll be living here quite soon but tomorrow we're off to visit an island," I explain, walking up to the counter and placing our luggage on the floor. "Maybe when we come back, you can show me around. May I ask for your name?"
"By any chance, do you know Ty?" Serenity asks, worry crossing her flawless features.
"Why yes. She's my darling younger sister. I've been told that she's made quite the name for herself here. How did you know we were family?" I lean over the counter and flash my best grin.
"She went about the same way greeting me. But, do you know what's happened to her?" Serenity asks, putting a hand on my arm.
"I was told that she went to a place called Sho'Nuff." I reply, glancing briefly at Blaire. She had the expression of a nonplussed brick wall.
"I'm so sorry. It's terri-" Serenity stops herself, not wanting to upset us. She thinks about the different ways she could break the news to us without distressing Ty's family but decides to settle on a straight answer. Dancing around the subject will just make it worse in her opinion. "She's been kidnapped by the pirates or ninjas or both at the island. But please don't worry! Everyone went over to help her."
I fake a gasp of horror and look over to Blaire. Still no change. At least pretend to be worried!
"How long? How long has she been gone?" I demand, making my shoulders shudder and I grasp Serenity's hand for added effect.
"It's been just over a week since we got the message. Please don't worry. Everyone's gone to save her. We'll bring Ty back for sure!" Serenity assures us, squeezing my arm tighter to comfort me.
"Is there any way we can get to Sho'Nuff now?" I inquire pleadingly.
"It's getting quite late. If you can get a carriage to take you now without any stops, you could make it to Sho'Nuff by morning maybe?" She says, gently letting my hand go and examines the map of the continent on her counter top. "But I'm not sure if there are any willing to take you."
"You could come with me," A man cuts in. He had just come down the stairs, having heard some of our conversation. "There's enough room in the carriage I'm going in. Though you might want to travel lighter. Most of the room is taken up by my tools," He says as he approaches us. "I'm Konnan by the way," He reaches out to shake my hand. "Your sister will be fine. She's strong. She can handle herself."
"Thank you very much! My name's Eric and this is Blaire," I introduce myself and Blaire, who had disappeared. "Where did she…"
Blaire had walked off to read some fliers on a nearby wall. I suppress a sigh and go back to the conversation.
"Don't mind her," I shake my head. "She's…something. I don't know." I shrug. Even to me, Blaire was unreadable. More so than usual as of late.
"The carriage is close by. Just give me a moment, I need to grab some other things." Konnan says before running back up the stairs again.
"Is there any chance that we could leave some of our bags here for the time being?" I ask Serenity. "I'm not sure where Ty and Alison are living at the moment and I don't even have a key so…"
"Of course. Let me find a place to put them. Which ones will you leave?" Serenity asks, stepping around the counter.
"These two," I lift the bags and hand them to her. "Thank you so much."
"No problem." She takes the bags and opens a door to what I think is a storage room. I wait until the door closes behind her before I slide up behind Blaire.
"You think we can make it when the real action starts?" I hug her from behind and rest my chin on her head. I had to bend low since she was so short. "We even came here early so we could see Ty trounce them with their backs turned and…what are you looking at?"
"These are all wanted posters." She states, scanning through the crumpled pictures of ruffians and their value on the bounty hunter market. One of them catches her eye and she frowns. For a second, a strong feeling of astonishment courses through her mind but vanishes in an instant. Being Blaire, she showed no sign of it outwardly.
"Who's this?" I tear the poster that Blaire was so interested in off of the wall. "Drakath Slugwrath. Unfortunate name but this guy's worth a fortune! Him or his corpse. But it's strange…" I examine the poster closer. "Blaire, do we know him?"
"No but…I cannot explain this in a way that is reasonable…We have never seen this man but there is something familiar about him."
"So you feel it too. Hmmm, interesting." I fold the poster and stuff it into my shirt pocket.
"Alright, I'm all done here," Konnan comes back down the stairs with a chest. "Shall we go?" He seems to be struggling with the chest but would not accept any help if I offered.
"I put your bags away. They'll be safe while you're gone." Serenity smiles and bows after she comes out from the storage room.
"Thank you Miss Serenity!" I smile back as I open the door for Blaire and Konnan. "I can't thank you enough." I blow her a kiss jokingly.
"See you soon." Konnan says as he leaves the inn. Blaire follows and so do I.
"Wait a minute," Serenity, after a moment of late realization, tries to stop us from leaving. "When did I tell you what my name wa-" The door closes behind us before she could finish.
"That was a close one," I sigh, stretching my arms. "Hey Konnan. Are you friends with my sister?"
"Yeah, I think we're friends." He replies as we head to the carriage outside of town.
Not For Your Eyes: Side of A
"Alison!" I yell as loud as I possibly could. Alison lunges for the ship, her roar shakes the island and cracks the ice.
The man, Rhubarb, seeing that he and his crewmates were cornered with no time to counter, he stares straight ahead unflinchingly prepared for death. Some of the others were in the middle of jumping ship but with what Alison just demonstrated before, creating energy magic with her horns, there was no escape in the water either.
I cover my eyes, not wanting to see Alison obliterate them. I hear people screaming and Alison roaring and after what seemed like agonizing hours…
Alison's roar is abruptly stopped. Confused, I peek through my fingers to see Alison's jaws snap closed just a hairs length away from Rhubarb. Wondering how his torso was still connected to his legs, he furrows his brow and asks Alison a question.
"Why'd ye stop?"
"Hmpf. A brave one," Alison narrows her yellow eyes to further examine him. "By any chance did I hear correctly? Your name's Rhubarb?"
"And what does it matter, serpent?"
"Are you kidding me?" Alison rears back and groans, splashing the water out of frustration. "I was building to the climax and everything! Damn it!"
The other pirates peek out of their hiding spots and peer curiously at Rhubarb and at the monster throwing a tantrum by the ship. I was preoccupied by the waves crashing on to the ice because of Alison's movements. It was probably going to get worse from here so maybe I should just hurry and get to shore. But I don't want to leave Alison alone. It's not just because I'm worried. I'm afraid of what she might do if she knew I wasn't here to see it.
"Okay then," Alison sighs, her misty breath nearly topples the ship. "So since you're Rhubarb, I'm going to let you go."
"Wha-What?" Rhubarb and the other pirates gape at Alison. "What is the meaning o all o this?" Rhubarb demands, growing irritated. "We don't e'en know who ye are. Yer not pirates or ninjas. What do all o ye want?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Alison flicks her tail in annoyance. "We just want all of you dead. Except you," She points at the first mate with her tail and sea water drips on to the deck. "We just need you gone."
"Who are ye? Are ye working wit the ninjas?"
"That hardly matters," Alison scoffs, slapping the water with her tail. "And besides, the ninjas are going to be gone soon too. In a dead sense I mean."
"Alison! What are you saying? We didn't come here for that!" I try getting her attention but she either didn't hear me or ignored me.
Since when were we aiming to kill them all? I thought we were just here to bring back Ty! No one wants to actually kill anyone! I hope…
"I got a letter from my sister saying that she got attacked by you. And not only that, you hurt one of my friends. So hurry up. Are you going leave on your own or am I going to have to drag you off by force?"
Rhubarb takes a thoughtful stance, trying to make sense of what Alison had just told him. The other pirates were watching wearily, ready to fight back or flee if commanded to. Surprisingly no one, from where I could see them, look like they were suspicious of Rhubarb. They trusted him completely.
"Be ye saying one o me pirates took yer lass? Me an' me crew don't know anything about this! The ninjas must be the ones who took 'er!" Rhubarb concludes. There's something about the way he's speaking though. It's like he's grasping at straws now.
"Nice try but we know the ninjas are in it with you," Alison leers at them as they begin protesting their alliance with the ninjas. One even threw down his peg leg for emphasis. "Both of you crashed her ship and forced her off with her friends. One of them being your own. That's despicable, even for pirates. Have you no honor?"
Even if I was all the way down on the ice from where they were, I could tell Rhubarb was not taking that accusation well.
"No one accuses me o' bein dishonorable. Especially not a serpant," He grits his teeth, taking a step forward. "How do ye know it be one o us who took yer lass? Give us yer proof."
"If I do, will you consider leaving by yourself without a fuss?"
"I'll consider." Rhubarb nods.
"Fine," Alison sighs again, flicking her tail. "I don't have the letter with your threats right now but I can call up my captive sister with my magic to point her kidnapper out."
From her bag, that was somehow still in the boat with me, a crystal ball rolls out and floats into the air. It flickers gold light as it flies to Alison.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Alison tries to whisper quietly into the crystal but it still ended up sounding like shouting. "Ty, are you there? Ty? What the…" She squints at the crystal. "Are you sleeping? Wake up, sleepy head. Come on, wake up!" She was so loud that the pirates had to clamp their hands over their ears to keep them from going deaf. I hold my head between my knees to do the same.
"Grawwwwaawababble," someone on the other end growled. It was Lib!
"So you're the only one awake? Can you get Ty to wake up for me?" Alison asks.
In response, Lib growls again and it sounded like he was frustrated.
"You can't? Then, would you mind telling me about the pirates that attacked you?"
A long string of growls and babyish squawks follow. Alison nods at Lib's description of the pirates and finally concludes "I have no idea what you're saying. Is there anyone else that can translate?"
"Eeeeugh….who's shouting?" A voice, a man's voice, groans groggily. Who's that? He sounds familiar but I can't really tell who he is.
We hear him move around, gradually getting more aware and distressed about his surroundings.
"Where am I? What the-Are these ropes? Why am I tied up? What's going on?"
"Is that who I think it is? Number eight, is that you?" Alison swishes her tail back and forth in the water from amusement. "You got caught too? Or are you and Ty just messing around to pass the time?"
"Wait a minute. That voice…I know you. You're-"
"Right, so can you do me a favor?" Alison cuts him off. "I can't understand a thing Lib is saying right now and it'd be great if you could translate for me."
"What makes you think I'll do what you want? I can't even speak Dragon." The man scoffs. "And would you stop shouting? You're going to make this place cave in!"
"Hahaha," Alison laughs loudly on purpose, shaking the island. "Tell me, Eight. That monster can survive being crushed. Can you? I don't mind putting a body back together. It'll be just like a chunky jigsaw puzzle. It'd be a nice change from ripping them apart." She goes into another fit of laughter.
She's joking right? She has to be joking.
"Stop. Stop laughing so loud. You're going to kill us- Fine! Fine, I'll do it!" He shouts over Alison's crazed giggling. "But I told you, I don't understand Dragon speak."
"Right, you did mention that," Alison does the serpentine version of a shrug. Some of the pirates, thinking that Alison was distracted, thought that now was a good time to sail or swim away but a flash of energy from Alison's horns told them otherwise. "You know what a dragon amulet is, right? Use one."
"I don't have one."
"I know you're tied up at the moment but if you scoot over to where she is, you'll find a dragon amulet around her neck," Alison snickers. "Just touch it and you'll be able to understand him.
"My hands aren't free. Tell the lizard to set me free and I'll translate for you." The man offers.
In reply, Lib snarls and the crystal flashes brighter. The man yelps and that probably means that the man, whoever he was, wasn't going to be able to use his arms for a while.
"Shit! Okay, just back off." He gives before going completely silent. Then, I hear him grunt as he struggles to get up. Assuming his hands were tied behind his back and maybe his legs too, it was going to be awkward.
"Are you done yet?" Alison sighs, annoyed at his incompetence. "Hurry up."
"Shut it. Give me a moment…" He sounds flustered. "Ummm… how do I…Maybe if it's this angle…" We could hear him shuffle around, apparently as confused as I was on how to touch a girl without making it look weird. Luckily it was him making a scene out of it in front of a bunch of pirates and not me.
"…There. I'm touching the amulet." He says, voice muffled my something.
"Okay, mind repeating the description for me Lib?" Alison asks again and Lib goes over his description of their assailant with more growls and tiny high pitched roars.
"Eye patch," The man translates. "Black teeth. Might have been missing a limb. Bad sense of humor. "
"Ring any bells?" Alison leers at the wary pirates.
"That'd be describing near all o me buckos." Rhubarb replies without any sarcasm.
"He was also ugly," The man continues to translate. It wasn't helping. "But that's describing all of the disgusting pirates." That really wasn't helping.
"Okay, so I guess that didn't work out. Thanks for the help anyways, number eight. Be seeing you real soon." Alison promises before wrapping her tail around the crystal ball and tossing it over to me.
"Hey, wait-"The man tries to get one last word in before the crystal ball crashes into the ice.
Forgetting that she was now a gigantic leviathan monster snake, she threw the crystal ball right through the probably three foot thick ice. It sinks into the water and now there was no way for me to talk to Ty or that man.
"Since that option fell through," She turns her full attention back to the pirates. "Maybe that gave you some time to think. What'll it be Rhubarb? Are you going to go or are am I going to have to make you?"
"…I'll go with ye," Rhubarb bows his head. Some of the other pirates gasp in shock and others threw jeers at him, calling him a coward. He looks up again, glaring straight into Alison's eyes. "Well? Aren't ye goin to pick me up?"
"Aww man, I was hoping you were going to fight back. It would have been a better challenge but oh well." Alison leans her head closer to the ship to pick Rhubarb up.
"Well if ye want a challenge so bad," Rhubarb chuckles as he stomps twice on the deck and two hatches on the front of the boat open to reveal two loaded cannons. "Let me give ye one."
I shout Alison a warning but she notices too late. One cannon fires and hits here square in her stomach, making her double over. The other fires right after and hits one of her horns. The cannonball collides with the metal spike and knocks her back, shooting her energy beam into the sky.
"Move!" Rhubarb barks at his crew and they all jump into action. He raises a hand to signal the other ships to move closer together, surrounding his ship in a protective circle.
"Woah…" Alison shakes her head, trying to get a hold of herself. The strike to her horns rang her bell and she loses her balance, collapsing back down into the water.
"Alison!" I jump out of the boat and begin pushing it towards the water. I wasn't sure how I was going to help but I was going to try.
"To the ice!" Rhubarb commands just as Alison leaps out again. She aims for Rhubarb, jumping right into the middle of the circle of ships towards his. Just then, one of the other ships shoots something at her belly.
It wasn't a cannonball.
Alison screeches in pain and falls just short of Rhubarb's ship, crashing into the water. Immediately, the other pirates fire their weapons and now I could see clearly what they were.
"Ye must be new around these parts," Rhubarb calls to Alison as she staggered up from underwater. He was standing next to some sort of launcher. "We be pirates. We not be lily-livered like those land lubbers that fled. Sure we raid ships, hunt fer treasure but these waters be dangerous. Sea monsters swarm the eight seas of Lore. But this be the first time I met one that could blubber and moan," he mocks Alison and she lunges for him. He quickly releases the trigger on the launcher and a harpoon is shot into Alison's neck. Roaring in pain, she tries to dive back into the water but with all of the harpoons stabbed into her body, she couldn't escape.
"Me crew and I had these pretty lass' custom made fer yer kind," he pats the launcher. The harpoon launchers were bolted to the deck of the ships, ran on a system of gears, had chains connecting the launcher to the harpoon that were made of iron and two large cranks on both sides to let the pirates pull their target in. The pirates work fast to trap her. The ships circle around Alison and the pirates tighten the chains. The barbed harpoons pull and twist Alison and she contorts, screaming in pain. The chains and ships must have been incredibly strong. She was flailing and struggling but the harpoon launchers stayed bolted to the deck and the chains don't give. "The winds are blowing in me favor!" Rhubarb whistles and the pirates begin hauling her towards the ice. "
"Alison!" I push the boat on to the water and hop in, paddling my way towards the ships circling Alison as fast as I could. I probably couldn't do much to help the situation but it wasn't safe to sit on the ice either. The pirates that had jumped ship were already climbing up on the ice. I don't think they'd be willing to be civil.
Alison charges her energy attack, aiming for one of the ships but a cannonball hits one of her horns again. She goes limp, dropping into the water and starts to whimper or sob. The ships stop their movements and I paddle faster.
The pirates start to cheer, seeing that victory was theirs but Rhubarb raises his arm for silence. There was something wrong about this.
As Alison's whimpers grew louder, it became a cross between hard sobs and joyful giggling.
"…Yes?" He answers back, cautiously.
"How are you still just a first mate?" Her eyes turn up at him, curious. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now. I just hope I can get you and that other guy out of here with all of your limbs still attached."
"I don't think yer in the right position to-" Rhubarb begins but then Alison's huge golden eyes roll back in their sockets. Rhubarb yells a warning to his crew to hurry to the ice as Alison starts to spin, wrapping herself up in the chains and pulling the ships down. Her movements were erratic; she was completely acting on pure instinct.
The pirates panic as she snarls, thrashing about. Her tail slaps one of the ships, crushing the hull and snapping one of the chains that bound her. The broken ship slowly sinks and its crew quickly abandon ship to escape being sucked down with it.
The other ships change formation to compensate and more cannonballs are fired at Alison. Though they seemed to have hurt her before, they did barely anything now. She attempts to dive, threatening to pull all of the ships trapping her.
The pirates fight back, pulling away in different directions to keep her from diving. Rhubarb was right; the wind was in his favor. It was starting to get crazy; blowing in all directions.
Do pirates use magic? What's going on?
Whatever it was, it was keeping the pirates afloat and throwing me around like a toddler at one of Falconreach's victory parities. In other words, I was being tossed around violently and I might cry or vomit if it doesn't stop.
The waves and wind were going to make the dinghy flip over and I can hardly paddle with one good arm let alone swim.
By some miracle, I had made it close enough to the fray to have one of the ships narrowly missing me as it crashes down into the water, unable to handle Alison's strength. Their harpoon launcher is ripped from the deck and the ship had tipped over in the process. The pirates jump into the sea, swimming towards the ice for safety.
"Help!" Someone cries. Looking over, I notice that close by one of the pirates had attempted to escape using a dinghy of his own. I don't know how it happened but half of his boat was missing and he was sinking fast. He was panicking and batting away at the water like he was convinced he could keep it away.
That's weird. Can he swim? Shouldn't pirates know how to swim?
By the time he was waist deep, his eyes begin to water and he glances around for his fellow pirates for help. All of them had hopefully reached the ice because none of them were here.
I couldn't just leave him to sink there. I paddle over the wild waves and poke him with one of the oars that I still had.
"Hey, you okay there?" I ask as he grabs on to the oar and kicks himself towards my boat as his sinks.
"Two sea monster attacks in less than a month," The pirate hacks and coughs out water as I pull him up with my good arm. "How do ye think I feel?" He takes off his eye patch and wipes his eyes. When he blinks, I realize that he still had both of his eyes. "I didn't know that the lass wasn't a slimy ninja. She be lookin a lot like the ninjas. And he really was still kicking," He frowns as another ship is smashed to bits by Alison's energy magic. A cannonball had hit her just before she fired the shot at the water and killed everyone. Wood splinters as pieces of the ship scatter across the water along with its crew. "This wasn't supposed to 'appen."
"Sorry, mister," I back up to the end of the dinghy. "I don't understand what you're talking about."
There were only four ships left now and one of them was Rhubarb's. The wind was blowing up a storm. Dark clouds were gathering overhead and it was starting to look like a hurricane was going to form.
The winds that had been helping Rhubarb and his pirates up till now had reversed and were pushing them back. It was going absolutely nuts, shoving and jerking the ships all over the place. It would only take expert sailing to even stay upright in those ships while this was going on.
"Oi, lad?" The pirate sniffles and rubs his red nose. I was startled. I didn't think he actually noticed me. "Be that yer friend?" He asks and I wasn't sure how to answer. Maybe picking him up was a bad idea. What if he tries to throw me off because I was Alison's friend?
"Um well…" I take a glance at Alison. She was hurt. The water, which had been somewhat clear before, was now stained with a dark, near pitch black, red. The expertly aimed harpoons and cannonballs had done their number on her but Alison wasn't backing down.
"This is nothing!" She snarls, barely comprehensible. She throws herself at another ship. Even with the other three trying to pull her away, she manages to crash against the ship and partially wraps herself around the body. The mast splits and tumbles into the water as she squeezes and crushes the ship, ridding herself of one of the harpoons in the process.
The pirates scramble for safety on the crumbling ship. Alison hisses and charges up her energy attack and, out of terror, I basically scream "Alison, stop!"
A cannonball hits her in the teeth, keeping her from attacking again. Rhubarb's ship sails by and, having lost its harpoon, resorts to distracting Alison.
Alison must have seen through the tactic and flings the ship across the water to crash into the icy shore. The wrecked ship shatters on the frozen surface along with its crew.
I wince at the sight, feeling helpless and useless as Alison switches her attention to the last two ships tying her down.
"I have no idea what's going on," I bury my face in my hands. "Was she lying to me? No, she didn't. Then why is this happening. We aren't here to invade or anything. This is all a misunderstanding. It has to be!"
"Oi, lad?" The pirate nudges me and I almost jump into the water from fright. "Ye ain't sure about what be happening?" He asks morosely, water dripping down from his nose.
"I just want to know what happened to Ty." I watch as Alison rams into one of the ships just as Rhubarb's ship hits her with another cannonball to keep her from using her energy magic. One missed cannonball and everyone in the water's dead. We might be in danger too. Even if we were in a wooden boat, it got pretty wet already.
"Pass me the paddle," He reaches out towards me with an open hand. I stare down at it, confused. Does he want to run away? "Yer arm be wrapped up," He points out the cast. "I'll row us to yer friend. Can ye get them to talk to me?"
"Huh? Um…Maybe…I'll try my best," I stammer. "I'm not sure I can though…I don't want her to do this either."
"Then holler as loud as ye can," He starts paddling towards Alison. "I be a coward at heart but…" He trails off as one of the ships barely escapes Alison's jaws. He paddles faster and swallows hard before continuing. "I not be letting all o Osprey sink to Davey Jones' locker o'er me mistake."
"Wait! Wait a minute!" I wave at him to stop. Alison had slammed one of the ships into the ice with her horns, crushing it like a walnut. With only one ship left that was tied to her, she dives dragging the ship down with her and we were getting too close.
The pirate curses and switches direction to keep from being sucked down with the ship. Pieces of wood and cloth float up to the surface and I hold my breath, waiting for someone to pop up to the surface.
"Come on, Alison," I plead, grasping my knees even when my fingers start to ache. "You aren't actually like this are you?"
The pirate overhears me and asks "Does she know yer watching?"
"Maybe she thought that I ran away when I saw her." I stammer, not wanting to think that Alison, or even Ty for that matter, was really capable of using that kind of power for something so…evil? Should I describe them as evil? "But they're my friends. I lived with them. I know them. I think I do."
"Don't ye think too much," The pirate tells me, taking the…disappearance of his friends pretty well. "Youngin's these days. Both ye lads and lasses bein more melodramatic than they used te," he grunts, paddling over a high wave.
Suddenly, huge bubbles rise to the surface and Alison bursts out, letting her triumph resonate across the sea.
I slowly stand and turn to my pirate companion "Hurry, we have to get to her before they drown. Maybe I can convince her to save them and-" My words get caught in my throat. Rhubarb's ship, having somehow caught a strong straight gust and huge wave in all of the chaos, was shooting towards us with unnatural speed.
"By the powers, jump!" The pirate throws himself out of the dinghy. Grabbing Alison's bag, I leap out of the way narrowly escaping being sliced in half by the ship. I plunge into the cold water, holding the bag tightly to my chest. The waters were dark and I didn't see the rough hand grabbing on to my shoulder for dear life.
I struggle to keep afloat and luckily, I got a hold of a stray plank of wood. I pull myself up, letting the pirate clutch my shoulders from behind.
I got up just in time to watch Rhubarb about to run his ship into Alison. At the same moment Alison, with only the whites of her eyes showing, aims another blast of energy at them. Rhubarb shouts at his crew to not falter and surge ahead.
I didn't even have time to shout her name again.
Just before the two collide, Alison releases her attack in a flurry of light and fire but before it could hit the ship, it descends down the crest of the wave just in time to let the energy beam burn through the mast. Caught off guard, Alison is smashed into the ice by Rhubarb's ship and it pushes them both on to the slippery surface.
Pinned by the heavy hulking ship, all Alison could do was struggle as the pirates climbed down from their ship, battered but still alive.
"Are you kidding?" Alison writhes and squirms under the ship, unable to comprehend that she had actually lost. "No. Not to a human. No way! There's no fucking way! It's impossible!"
"No creature of the sea, be they mouthy, cocky or not, 'ets the better of the pirates of Osprey," Rhubarb hobbles towards Alison's head. He was bleeding and bruised, clutching his limp left arm to his side. "I'll give ye a wee bit o credit. Ye mana'ed to catch us off our guard an' ye almost sunk all o me ships. But in the bloody end, we won." He draws his cutlass, getting closer and closer to Alison.
I start to kick myself towards her with the pirate still attached to my back. I need to get to them before it's too late.
"Now, serpent," Rhubarb points his cutlass at Alison's wary eye. "We know nothin' about yer missing friend and we would rather burn our booty than work with the ninjas. Since ye be in position to listen, we can talk."
Alison stops her struggles then and glares hard at Rhubarb. Her breathing slows and she closes her eyes for a moment.
"Those weren't all of your ships, were they?" Alison asks.
"O' course not," Rhubarb replies and the rest of his pirates begin to gather around him and circle Alison. "There are still more out sailing the sea at this very moment, includin' me captain's Red Betty. Ye hardly made a dent on us."
Even if Alison was a huge sea monster now, she couldn't do anything to defend herself if she was exhausted and held down by that ship.
"I need to hurry!" I pant, swimming faster than I ever had on that plank with her bag and the pirate hanging on to my back. He must have passed out; he hadn't said or done anything.
"Tell me," Alison makes a tiny grin and a hush goes over the pirates. "Will they have a home to come back to?"
Immediately, all of the pirates look back to gape at Osprey Cove. Black smoke billows from the shore and I realize that I had forgotten about everyone else. Eli and the others…Did they go to the pirate's home while Alison distracted them?
"You tried your best," Alison jokingly consoles Rhubarb when he turns and takes shaky steps to her, ready to slay her then and there. "If you slide fast enough across the ice, maybe on your bellies, you could make it just in time to watch the last of your home turn to ash."
"You wretch!" Rhubarb raises his cutlass and opts to sprint to her in his fury. He stumbles and falls on the ice, his cutlass slipping out of his grasp and sliding to bump Alison's nose.
"Well, aren't we all sad sacks?" Alison coughs, slowly opening her eyes. They had dulled considerably and her vibrant glimmering white scales had dimmed and had begun to flake off. "This body can't take much more so I guess it's time to end this in a way I can accept." Her metallic horns start to glow blue and radiate heat. The thick ice was melting and the pirates, including Rhubarb, stumble back. Alison lets her eyes roll back one last time and in a cheerful tone, she chuckles "Either I win or it ends in a draw. Sorry, Ty."
"Run!" Rhubarb hollers at his crew, staggering to get up.
"Duck!" The pirate, having suddenly regained life, pushes my head underwater. Under the surface, the shadows above the ice are enveloped by an intense white light. The sound of Alison's body exploding, though muffled by the water, rings in my ears painfully as we were swept back inside an enormous wave. The pirate digs his fingers into my shoulders as we're tossed around by the wave. I squeeze my eyes shut with the wooden plank and Alison's bag still in hand.
The pirate jerks me to the side all of a sudden and we narrowly dodge the mast of Rhubarb's ship plunge into the water right beside us. It grazes my arm instead and I lose the wooden plank. With nothing else to keep us floating, I panic and use all of the might I had left to swim up and up. I wasn't even looking where I was going anymore. That'd waste too much energy. The pirate does his best to help me, steering us in the right direction and weakly kicking us up as well.
My lungs and limbs burned with the effort but we get back to the surface to find nothing. There was nothing but water and tiny ice fragments around us.
I find the shore, still iced over a bit but the blast had cleared most of it just as it had cleared all of the pirates, what was left of their ships and Alison herself.
"No. Is everyone gone?" I sputter, trying to keep my head above water. I blink and blink, thinking that maybe I was just too tired and my vision was playing tricks on me. I can't see that far anyway…they're probably all okay. Just hiding maybe…
"Oi. Lad?" The pirate lightly slaps my cheek. "Lad, not the time to give up now. Lad, me eyes aren't all good. I can't see anyone. Say somethin' lad. Me arms and leg ain't good either; I be a seagull stuck in the water. Lad? What in the…Incoming!" The pirate pushes me under water again. Not the best idea considering I was almost half passed out.
A large shape splashes into the water in front of us. It sinks for a second before floating back up, bobbing in the water.
The pirate pulls me back up again and I gasp at the horrendous sight.
Alison. Alison's head had fallen right next to us. Not able to see her eyes, I call out to her. Hearing no response, I jump back to action again and weakly paddle towards her. Once my fingers had touched her broken horn, I call out to her again, feebly whacking her head to get a response. I call and call until my voice became a rasp and the pirate had to warn me to stop. I was losing too much energy and he was depressed enough already.
"C'mon, lad. Yer friend would want you to live. Must've…fallen here fer a reason."
"…The bag…"
"What?" I cough, eyes stinging. "Did you say the bag? Why do you need her bag?"
"Me? Are ye hearing things now, lad?" The pirate asks.
"…The bag…"
The murmur, just a smidge louder than the sound of the lapping water, made me shiver. Without thinking much on it, I reach into Alison's bag and miraculously pull out an empty jar. Alison's head started to release steam then and her scales and skin break down. The pirate was growing frightened. I should be frightened too but I feel really really sleepy.
Alison's head was gradually falling apart, melting into the water and I let my hand fall into the water. The sea water fills us the jar at first but then something pushes it out and starts filling the jar instead.
Seeing that, I let my eyes close still holding the horn for support, instinctively knowing that I had to regain as much energy as I possibly could.
"Oi, lad! Don't fall asleep! We be sinking!" The pirate tries to rouse me but I knock his hand away.
"We have time…just let me sleep for a while," I mutter. "But Alison…I might not make it back all the way…"
The minutes tick by as I fell into a dreamy state. I was still awake and holding on to Alison's disintegrating horn but at the same time, I was far out enough to be able to rest. I needed to take all that I could get.
"…Go…" The voice inside my head breathes and it feels like I didn't get enough time.
Instantly awake, I stuff the full jar into Alison's bag and push off what was left of Alison's horn with the pirate hanging on to my back. I swim conservatively with my aching limbs, inching towards the shore. It was progress and I think I could make it far. The soft voice in my head was telling me I could, encouraging me to keep going. It whispers its apologies as well.
Pushing through the salty water, I glance down every now and then to search the water. It was hard to see anything because of how dark everything looks.
"Lad, can ye make it?" The pirate's question sounds muffled and I think it was because I was going to pass out again. Something in the back of my mind urged me to keep going but I don't think I can. "Lad? Lad, yer sinking!"
Hearing his warning, I push myself up to get a mouthful of air but only succeeded in swallowing a lungful of water instead. I was too tired to keep myself from falling deeper and eventually, it all became black. The voice softly screams and shrieks for me to wake but it was…not possible anymore.
I couldn't do anything but drift.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Strong hands grab my sinking shoulders and haul me up on a dry deck. They push down on my chest and water spews out of my mouth before I'm able to gulp in air. I turn on my stomach and go into a fit of coughs, attempting to re-inflate my lungs.
"Oh good, you didn't really breathe much in. I guess you were just about to fall asleep." A man pats me on my back. "Are you okay?"
"Lad! We be saved!" My pirate companion cheers. "Look!"
Groaning, I wipe my mouth and try pulling myself up but slump back down when my arms give out.
"Whoa there Ash, don't get ahead of yourself. Here, let me help," Our rescuer props me up in his little boat. "We came just in the nick of time. We picked up all of your pirate friends before that monster lit the entire beach up." He points down towards other ships.
I had to squint to see them but many small boats with pirates and people dressed from head to toe in black were sailing around the broken ice towards Osprey Cove. In particular, a man wearing a golden helmet and red scarf had sat Rhubarb down on his boat.
"Ninjas? I thought you guys didn't like each other." I rub my eyes, making sure I was seeing clearly.
"Aye," the pirate agrees. "Let me make a guess. There are bigger fish in the sea at the moment."
"You got a good head on your shoulders," The man smiles at the pirate. The pirate, pleased with himself, laughs joyfully and makes a crude joke about the intelligence of ninjas and something related to alcohol. The ninja laughs along before turning his attention back to me.
"We actually came to attack you first," The man, who was most likely a ninja, explains. "We thought that you pirates were planning something absolutely diabolical so we decided to make the first move. Unfortunately that weakened you enough for those outsiders to attack you. I'm sorry but I don't think there's much left of your town. They're going to check out the town but I think we'll be heading somewhere different, if you don't mind of course."
The pirate stops laughing at this and he slowly bows his head, holding his hands together. He looks kind of guilty.
"Oh and here's your bag," The ninja drops Alison's soaking wet bag into my lap. "I don't think anything fell out."
"Wow, thank you!" I bow my head gratefully to him. Then the realization hits me and I freeze before I could check on the jar. This guy was a ninja. Alison accused the ninjas of kidnapping Ty. He knew my name before I actually told him.
"Something wrong? You look paler." The ninja asks, frowning in concern as he kneels beside me.
"How do you know my name?"
"I've been hearing a lot of rumors about the new hero hailing from Falconreach. It's difficult to separate facts from elaborated gossip but if you look hard enough, you'll find that Ty is very good friends with a cute boy named Ash and her sister, Alison, is a very flamboyant new resident of Falconreach," He reaches his hands out to both of us. "But no need to worry about that right now. No need to worry much about anything. I'll keep you both safe."
The pirate reaches out to shake his hand and not wanting to look too apprehensive, I reach out as well. Instead of taking our hands, he takes our wrists. Is it a kind of custom?
"Name's Chiffon. I'd tell you I be a captain o me own ship but…I sailed into some trouble a while ago." The pirate grins, embarrassed as he shakes the ninja's hand.
"You know my name already but I'm Ash. I can't thank you enough for saving us." I copy Chiffon's gesture and force a smile.
"You can call me Tomoe," Tomoe lets our hands fall. "I'll be your kidnapper today."
"What?" I stare at him and he points down at our wrists. They were shackled together. "How? Why? I-"
"Don't think too much about it. I'm not even going to ask you questions. Don't you worry about a little thing. As long as you're my useful hostages, you won't lose your heads." The ninja begins to laugh and laugh and laugh.
"Well…" The pirate toys with his shackles. "Maybe we should ha'e drowned."
I didn't argue. I just faint.
Not For Your Eyes: Side of T
"Ty, your garden looks really nice now. You've gotten so much better." Beathan lets his fingers brush against the pink ambrosia flowers. They were his favourites.
"I grew them thinking about you. I always think of you and Virelai once a day before I go to bed." I was lying on my back in the yard of our new house. "I'm sorry I don't think about you in the day too but…I don't think I could even stand right if I did."
"I'm glad you don't then. Health comes first," Beathan comes to sit beside me. "So this is your new home in Lore? That's the name right?" He lets his eyes scan the clearing.
"I'm dreaming again? It seems more vivid than before," I ask, still enjoying the summer sun shining its comforting rays down on us. It was nice but for some reason my neck feels too hot, like someone was breathing on it. "You would have loved the sun here. It's perfect for a little guy like you. There are a bunch of fae in the area too."
"Virelai would have liked cloudier weather. And water. Lots of water," Beathan comments, sniffing one of the flowers he plucked.
"I really am dreaming again right? How come Virelai doesn't appear as often anymore?" I pick one of the flowers and start pulling off its petals.
"She'll appear sooner or later. Maybe your mom and dad will visit again too. I like talking to them."
"You definitely would have. Especially dad. You both would probably go on and on about gardening, flowers and butterflies or whatever while mom and I nap. This is perfect napping weather but-" I sit up and stretch. "I think I should wake up soon. My dreams about you, Virelai and everyone else are great but right now I have something important to do."
"Don't overwork yourself too much, Ty," Beathan pinches my cheek lovingly. "While I do like seeing you, it also means that you're close to dying from exhaustion or otherwise."
"Maybe that's why I haven't eaten anything for the last few days," I turn to him and lean closer. "I don't see you enough anymore. We used to be able to meet when I just fell asleep."
"You need to stay in reality too," Beathan frowns sadly. "As much as I love being with you, Ty, you're walking a different plane from us now. You need to-" Beathan slaps his hands over his mouth and backs away shaking his head.
"No no no, why are you here? You shouldn't be here! You should be asleep!"
"What?" I was taken aback by his behavior. My dreams of him are always pleasant. This hasn't happened since that thing in my head was about to take over me when I was asleep. So does that mean…"Beathan, what's going on? Is the monster in my head about to take over again? But I don't feel sick! I didn't think or talk about that monster! I didn't touch anyone either! Am I dying already?"
"No, it isn't her this time," Beathan shakes his head slowly, hugging his shoulders. "Ty, whatever you do…don't look beside you. Don't."
I blink and Beathan vanishes.
It was just me in the garden now. The sun was still shining and the flowers were still blooming beautifully and delicately. Birds chirp and bees buzz around the flowers as I slowly lay myself back down to gaze up at the spotless sky. I didn't dare let my eyes wander.
I was terrified. I didn't want to move. Beathan's gone. Why am I still here? Why am I still sleeping? Shouldn't I be awake back in the cave now?
"Hey," I say before swallowing to keep my voice level. "Who's there? Are you sitting beside me? What do you want?"
Silence.
I need to listen to Beathan. I can't look at whatever is lurking beside me but I need to know what's there. I reach my hand back, edging my fingers across the cool grass. I reach farther hoping that whatever was there didn't bite.
My fingers touch something deathly cold and strangely familiar. I grab at the coldness and it grabs back. A great sense of loss and fear overcomes me and forces me to turn and look.
There was just a white sheet behind me. It was covering something that was human shaped. My hand had reached under the cloth and was holding on to its hand.
Before I could stop myself, I began to tear up and lunged for the person under the sheet.
"Who are you?"
…
"What the-" Drakath winces when I grab his neck. "What are you doing?" He glares at me, wriggling in his restraints.
"What?" I scoot back, breathing shakily. I raise my gloved hand to touch my forehead. "What am I doing?" I was back in the cave with Lib and Drakath. The orb was flickering and the calm breeze had become erratic again. "I'm back in the cave…" I repeat my thoughts out loud, reassuring myself that I really was awake.
"I was dreaming about…" I trail off, biting on my cheek. Why can't I remember my dreams anymore?
"Beathan you mean?" Lib lands on my head. "You mutter in your sleep, Butterbrain," He says when I glance up at him curiously. "Who's he? Another brother? A sister?"
"No, Beathan is…" I trail off, shaking my head. I'm not hurting. I don't feel dizzy. I feel just cold.
"Who's that?" Drakath sneers from his spot on the cave floor. "One of your idiotic friends?"
"That's none of your fucking business!" I snap at him angrily.
Drakath was at a loss for words, gaping at me in a way that a child would have reacted when their parent or friend had cursed at them for the first time. I've never talked to him that way before.
"Butterbrain?" Lib hops down from my head down to the floor beside me. "Something wrong? Nightmare?"
"No I-" I take a deep breath in and hold it, closing my eyes and curling myself into a ball. "I need a moment."
Author notes: I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I'm probably going to give you vague answers. I probably have a million mistakes and typos. I'm begging you to help me with them. My eyes are shriveled up like raisins at 4 in the morning so even after five tries, I'm sure there are mistakes. Terrile ugly mistakes. Here, have some chapter notes:
Mostly Ash centric chapter today. He thinks highly of Ty and Alison. Well, he used to.
I decided on the name Chiffon for the pirate considering how most of the named pirates have food related names. I think.
First time writing a naval/sea monster battle. That was a nightmare. I probably sucked. For the most part, I'm assuming Rhubarb and co are experts in sea monster slaying. They sail the seas of lore after all. With all the hydras and such in their element, I'm thinking they'd have created a strategy to take em down. I'd bet sea monster parts sell on the market as well. Anything sells on an rpg market. Anything.
On that note, Alison changed into a sea monster. She had all the tools to win this fight but she's haughty. The pirates also stalled her enough to get ready to put their plan into action. She really shouldn't underestimate her opponents. That's probably a rule in an evil villain guide book somewhere.
Ty has dreams about those people. She's had them before even though they weren't very prominent in previous chapters. This is the most important memory/dream so far. What does it all mean? Well I'm sorry. I can't say.
Eric and Blaire show up here. They're early. Eric shows off what his ability is here. I'll tell you now. It's not as useful as you think it is.
That's all for now. Btw, the word count's pretty big now. If you've read up to here that means that you've read the equivalent to almost three short novels. I would like to thank you for sticking by this story for this long. I would like to also give you hugs, food and tickets to your favourite band/amusement park/ a movie that interests you and so on. I really do! You guys are great.
As always, thanks for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated and my sleep schedule is so messed up now. I haven't slept in almost 20 hours. Poll's still up btw. Vote if you haven't. One of the stories is really winning by a landslide though.