A/N: YAS! Storm's Helm Sunday!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!


Chapter 29: A War to Come

April 14, X792 - Late Afternoon

Cordelia stood at the head of the small ship, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead of her, waiting for the black ship to appear. She could feel her anger and agitation grow the farther they moved through the ocean. Pictures of what could be happening to Zinnia on that ship continued to flash through her mind and she knew that she wouldn't be able to let Madmartigan go this time. He knew she hated to see her mages hurt and she knew he was using that to his advantage, but this…this was too far.

"Cordelia-san," Nanami called out.

Cordelia simply glanced back over her shoulder at her briefly to show she had heard her before turning her attention back to the sea in front of her.

"You aren't planning on fighting that captain, are you?"

"I may, Shiraki."

"Not to be rude, but our main objective should be getting Zinnia back to the guild."

"I know that, but that man has gone too far this time. I will make him pay for what he did to Zinnia."

"Cordelia," Securus sighed, knowing that Nanami had been right in this situation, "If Zinnia is hurt, we need to get her back to the guild quickly."

"Then you two will need to take care of that for me."

"But Cordelia-san-"

"That is an order!" Cordelia shouted, "I have to make this right not only as Zinnia's guild master, but as her friend too. I sent her out on that island and now she's in the enemy's hands because of that decision. I can't just let this one slip by so easily!"

The other two were quiet for a moment as they exchanged a quick glance before Nanami spoke again.

"We will do as you wish, Cordelia-san, but please do remember that you cannot control everything that happens. By trying to right this wrong before the right time, it could potentially make things worse. As the guild master, you have a right to avenge Zinnia, but you also have a duty to protect the rest of the guild as well. Please do not forget that in your anger."

Cordelia was quiet as the words sunk in. She eventually let out a sigh, "I know. I will do my best to-"

Though, she wasn't able to finish her sentence as another small boat began to appear in front of them. The flashing lightning around them made it hard at first to pick out who or what was on the boat until they were just a few yards in front of them. Cordelia's eyes narrowed at Mingo, who stood at the front of the boat like herself. Her stare stayed locked on him for a moment before moving back towards Swabbie. She would have glared at him for a long moment too if it hadn't been for the woman that he was holding. Cordelia's eyes widened upon seeing Zinnia unconscious with blood covering her torso, even with bandages tied around her. Any rationality that Nanami had managed to talk into Cordelia went flying out the window as soon as she saw her best friend.

Mingo felt panic rise up in him for a moment. It seemed that he had been right about Cordelia coming for her mage and by the look on her face, he knew that anger wasn't enough to describe what she was feeling. He did his best to compose himself, hoping that he could talk himself out of the situation before the woman in front of him unleashed her anger.

"It looks like we can make this exchange much quicker than I had thought," Mingo began, wearing a nervous smile.

"So you came to give Zinnia-san back then?" Nanami asked once it was apparent that Cordelia wasn't going to speak.

"Of course," Mingo answered, "We…I didn't want to create problems with your guild. Not on this level. So I wish to hand your mage back over. That's all."

"And why should we trust you?" Securus asked, a hand already on his rifle, "That sharpshooter could be hiding somewhere."

"Where would he hide in open waters filled with lightning?"

"Sarcastic remarks will only get you killed faster right now," Securus said, narrowing his eyes at the blonde man.

"Look," Mingo sighed, "I know you don't have anything to go on but my word, but we really did come here to give you back this woman. We have no plans of ambush or anything of the sort. I don't want to see her die, so please take her and head back to your guild and we will head back to our own ship."

"You think that you can just get away with this so easily?" Cordelia asked, her voice low while her eyes were still locked on Zinnia.

Mingo looked over at the woman with a frown, "I didn't ask for this to happen. Madmartigan made the call to send in Daniel onto the beach along with Swabbie," he explained, motioning back towards the redhead.

"You are to blame for this as well as the first mate. You let that call be made."

"I didn't order Daniel to shoot her! He was only supposed to get the map back!"

"That man didn't care about getting the map back," she said, bringing forth her blue seal of magic to hang beside her in mid air. She reached in first with her left hand, pulling out a long , blaster-like gun that had a blue core within the black metal frame, "That man simply had one thing on his mind," she continued, reaching into the blue seal with her right hand now. This time she pulled out a custom made .45 caliber silver revolver, the gun being a classic six-shot double-action with a top break reloading mechanism that fired .45 Long Colt ammunition. An engraving on one side of the gun read 'Murdock' while the other side read 'Burningham', "And that was to kill my mage!" she shouted as she used the blaster gun first, freezing the seawater to create a path towards Mingo's boat.

"Cordelia-san!" Nanami shouted, trying to reach for her to hold her back.

Though, Cordelia was quicker and had jumped out from the boat and onto the ice just as Nanami's hand passed through the air where she had been standing, "I will not sit idly by anymore! You bring me back a wounded mage and I will send Madmartigan back two!" she yelled as she rushed up to the boat holding Zinnia.

"Shit," Mingo cursed, looking back at Swabbie, "You make sure she doesn't get hurt any further," he said, pointing towards Zinnia before jumping onto the ice to take Cordelia head on.

From out of his coat sleeves appeared forearm length, crimson laser-like needles. He shot the two needles off quickly at the guild master in hopes of stopping her in her tracks. Instead, she used the freeze gun to create a new path that lead outwards to the right of Mingo. She quickly made the veer to the right, letting the ice slide her body passed the blonde, aiming the revolver right at his face. His eyes widened as he stared the barrel down, feeling as if everything was happening in slow motion. He watched as her finger moved to pulled the trigger, Mingo using that small indication to take the time to duck as the gun ricocheted back and the bullet came flying out. The bullet whizzed right over the top of his hair, taking a few strands with it, but he managed to remain unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief, feeling happy about his decision now to have enchantments tattooed into his palms and feet to enhance his speed. He turned on the ice to see Cordelia using the blaster to create a wall of ice to stop her sliding. She lifted a leg up to stop herself from slamming into the wall completely, the woman looking over her shoulder to see that Mingo had been able to dodge the bullet.

The two took a moment to stare each other down before Cordelia pushed off from the ice and Mingo did the same from his spot to meet her in the middle. He had new needles at the ready, sweeping them downwards at her when he came close enough, but his attack wasn't precise since he hadn't been aiming to kill or even hurt her. He simply wanted her to stop her onslaught, but it seemed that Cordelia wasn't going to back down any time soon. She jumped up over the needles, flipping up and over Mingo. In the course of jumping over him, she used the revolver again, the gun now aimed at his back. She shot off another bullet, Mingo barely having enough time to turn and block the bullet with a needle. Though, the bullet was strong enough to break the crimson weapon in half, Mingo having to move to the left to continue dodging the bullet. It managed to hit across the top of his shoulder, ripping his coat open and causing a thin stream of blood to trickle down from his shoulder. Mingo gnashed his teeth at the sharp sting of pain that rose from the wound, but it didn't stop him from concentrating on the woman in front of him. He shot out the unbroken needle at her, feeling like he would have to make some kind of hit on her now to get her to stop. Cordelia was landing back on the ice when she saw the needle coming at her, but she didn't show any signs of being worried about the weapon coming near her as she simply lifted the freeze gun towards it and froze it in mid-air. She watched it land with a clank against the ice, her eyes moving back up towards Mingo with a straight face. Though, she didn't have any time to glare at him as he was rushing up on her, using the greaves he wore on his shins against her as he began attacking her with hard kicks.

"If you would just listen to me, then I wouldn't have to kick around such a pretty woman such as yourself," he said, hoping to get through to her.

Cordelia bent backwards, watching one of his legs soar over the top of her head. She didn't say anything in response, her mind already made up to avenge her best friend right there and then. The blood across Zinnia's body making it easy for Cordelia to attack without a care, even if Mingo hadn't been the one to hurt her. The man was still a part of the Black Skulls, a part of the group that had put Zinnia in that condition. There was no way in hell she was going to let the two men leave without some sort of retribution.

She used her bent form as momentum in her own kick, putting her weight on her left leg as she brought around her right leg to slam into his side. Mingo caught onto what she was doing though and used a needle to run up the side of her leg to stop her. She dropped down onto the ice as the needle made contact with her, but she didn't let out any sound of pain as blood dripped down from her leg, even coming up and out of her boot. The bright red shined across the ice, spreading out until it dripped down into the unfrozen water around the ice.

"I really didn't want to do that," Mingo frowned down at her, stepping up to her with his needles at the ready still, "And I will apologize for it, but I needed to stop you somehow," he said. Though, he took a step back in shock when she looked up at him with a dark stare. She looked more dangerous now than when they had started the fight, "You can't seriously be thinking of continuing this fight."

"I said I would send back two wounded mages, and that's exactly what I'll do!" she shouted, ignoring the pain in her leg and lunging forward towards Mingo. She slammed him down onto the ice, the two sliding across it until he had slammed back up against the boat holding Swabbie and Zinnia. He tried to moved his needles towards her again, but she was faster with her revolver, shooting off another two bullets to break the needles before using the blaster on his hands and arms to freeze them in place against the ice. Mingo struggled for a short moment until the barrel of the revolver was pointed right at him, "I've got two bullets left. That's more than enough to wound you and your friend back there. Would you like to choose where the bullet goes?" she said, her voice low and filled with rage, "Though, I'm sure that Zinnia didn't get to choose anything. How about I shoot you in the same place she was hit?" she continued, moving the gun down towards Mingo's stomach and pressing the barrel against his bare skin.

Mingo stared sadly back up at the woman. He knew that she was angry over what had happened, but he could also see a heavy guilt in her eyes. It made him feel his own guilt for letting something like this happen. He knew that she had every right to be acting the way she was. He honestly respected her for going so far to defend one her mages, but he just couldn't shake that guilt that hung in her eyes.

"This isn't your fault, you know," he said in a calm voice despite the gun pressed to his stomach.

Cordelia froze at those words, shock taking over her eyes instead of the anger that had been there before. Though, she was unable to say anything to him.

Mingo took the silent moment to continue, "I truly am sorry that she was hurt, but it's not your fault that happened. That's why you're so angry, isn't it? Not just because she was hurt, but because she was working under your orders when it happened."

Cordelia continued to stay silent, but Mingo felt the gun against him begin to shake.

"I'm not trying to save my life here, but I just can't stand to see a woman so sad," he said, "You must know that you can't save everyone. As a master or a captain, sometimes bad things happen and you have to learn how to accept and deal with these bad things. Do you think this is how your mage would want you acting?"

"What do you know?!" Cordelia finally snapped, "And how am I supposed to believe anything you say?! How do I know this isn't just some ploy to get us to trust you?! Zinnia was hurt because of you and your crew and all you did was wrap her up in some shitty bandages and bring her back like some peace offering!"

"Because I've had to watch men from my crew die. I know that feeling of helplessness. But unlike a legal guild, no one would ever step in to help a crew of pirates out. I don't wish to put those same feelings onto you. To see you suffer in helplessness at losing a piece of your family because of some stupid man's thoughtlessness. That is why I brought your friend back. I'm not doing this because I have some hidden agenda. I'm doing it because it is the right thing to do."

Cordelia gnashed her teeth together at his words. She wanted to believe him, she really did. He sounded honest and sincere, but she just could get the picture of Zinnia bleeding out of her mind. It was on a continuous loop in her mind, as if her conscience wanted to put her through a constant guilt trip. What else was she supposed to do to get rid of that picture than to take revenge for what had been done to her?

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her cheek. Cordelia snapped her head up to see the green eyes of Zinnia staring at her. The brunette smiled at her softly, "That's enough, Cordelia."

"Zi…" Cordelia breathed out, "You're okay?"

"Well, I suppose I've seen better days," she said, her other hand holding onto her stomach, "But I'm alive, so let them go."

"But they-"

"These two really did save me. Don't be angry with them. They kept Madmartigan from finding out I was on their ship and he saved me from Daniel," she said, motioning back towards Swabbie, the redhead staring at Zinnia in worry from her moving around so much, "And they brought me back to you, so let them go."

Cordelia stayed in her current position for a moment longer before she eventually gave in and pulled the gun away from Mingo. She recalled both of her weapons and stood on shaky legs, having to put most of her weight on her left leg. She looked over at Swabbie for a moment before turning her gaze down at Mingo.

"You have my gratitude for bringing Zinnia back," she nodded down at him, though she continued wearing a straight face, "But you are still under the command of Madmartigan and so that still makes you my enemy. I won't hold back if we have an encounter in the future if you continue to choose to be a part of his crew and his actions. I would think long and hard whether you really want your death to come from following a man like that."

Mingo could only nod at her in response, silently thanking that Zinnia had come back to when she did.

Cordelia moved towards the boat and helped Zinnia out of it. She then turned her eyes onto Swabbie again, "The same message goes towards you as well," she said, only earning a grunt from the man.

"Thanks again for helping me," Zinnia smiled at the two men, surprising them both that she could still smile so kindly towards them after what she had been through. She then let Cordelia help her back towards their own boat, both Nanami and Securus helping them into the boat.

"Mingo!" Cordelia called out before they set off back towards the guild. Swabbie was breaking the ice around his hands so he could get up. The blonde looked back towards her as she continued, "You tell that captain of yours that if he continues like this, it'll only end in a war between us and I can assure you that I won't be the one dying in that war! You better make sure he treads carefully from here on out!"

Mingo simply frowned in response as he watched their boat move away. He knew that she was right, but he also knew that his captain wouldn't turn away from the path he had created for his crew. A battle between Madmartigan and Cordelia was coming and he knew that only one of them was going to survive it.

. : + : .

April 14, X792 - Night

Cordelia sat in her office that night, her right leg bandaged and propped up on top of the desk. She had hovered over Zinnia until about an hour ago, Jack having to chase her off by force in order to ensure that Zinnia would get the proper rest she needed after he had taken care of her wound. She wouldn't have a lot of strength over the next few days at least from all the blood she had lost, but Jack had assured Cordelia that the bullet hadn't hit any vital organs, so Zinnia would eventually recover, albeit with a bit of a scar from the bullet.

In the time she had left to get Zinnia and while she was hovering over her best friend and also getting her own wound fixed up, Drayden and Alisa had returned with the map and the new clue on it. They had explained that they had been trapped in an underground cave, having to go through a maze to get out of it, exiting out on the other side of the island and having to make their way back to the guild. Cordelia had thanked them for their efforts and sent Alisa to get her own gunshot wound looked at.

Cordelia was now staring down at the map, reading over the new message and clue that had appeared again, "Looks like you found the water needed for this clue. I suppose it's admirable that you were able to find that mirror and avoid getting struck by lightning," she read off, rolling her eyes at that last line since she had in fact been struck by lightning earlier that day, "But the next clue will be much more tricky to figure out. I hope you have some wits on your side! So I continue to wish you luck! William Blackstroker," she said, her eyes moving down to the white lettering that gave the next clue, "On a booming island, there you will find the spirit of wishes. Seek him out and play his game if you want the next piece of the map. But keep in mind that not all games test strength and speed."

Cordelia sighed after reading the clue again. She knew the next island they would need to head to was Tonituri, the island of thunder, but she was really beginning to wonder if they should go. After what had happened today, she no longer felt sure of the treasure hunt. She didn't want any of her mages dying over it. Their deaths wouldn't be worth it. But then she had made that declaration towards Mingo about a war starting if things continued. And then there was all the big talk she had been making against Madmartigan about winning the treasure hunt. It would be really stupid of her now to back down and she was sure that many of her mages would be angry with her for stopping the hunt after everything they had been through so far.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she said quietly, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling. She didn't want to go to her father again for advice. He'd only give her some cryptic response that she would have to figure out the meaning to herself. She didn't wan to go to any of her mages either. It would make it seem like she was weak and unable to lead them. Even if some of them would be understanding towards her problems, it wasn't something she wanted to burden them with, "We need all that money, but I don't want anyone to die over it. But we've come so far and gone through so much, that it would be stupid now to stop. What am I supposed to do?"

At that question, her coat fell from the hook it hung from on the back of the office door. As it fell, the journal she had found earlier that day also fell to the floor, having been tucked away into the coat. She stared at the brown leather journal for a long moment, remembering that it held the answers she needed when it came to Duke and Madmartigan. Maybe it would also hold the answer she needed to make her decision on what to do next. She eased her leg down from the desk and slowly made her way over towards it. She picked both the journal and coat up, hanging the coat back on its hook. She then made her way back over towards her desk, pouring herself a glass of whiskey before she started her read through the journal. She took a sip of the liquor first as she eyed the journal, finally seeing how large it really was.

"Am I even going to be able to find what I need in this thing?" she mumbled as she finally flipped the cover open. On the first page was simply the name Duke Ramirez written in a smooth, flowing handwriting. She knew the writing belonged to Duke, having seen it many times growing up. She flipped through the pages, his smell of cigars wafting up towards her. It had been a long time since she had smelled that scent and it instantly brought a warm, comforting feeling over her. She smiled softly as she continued drinking her whiskey and flipping through pages, seeing that he had dated every page, "Well, at least he was smart enough to do that," she said, skimming over a few pages to read their content. She knew she would have to make time to sit down and read over everything properly, but she was anxious to find any mention of Madmartigan in the journal currently, "Come on, Duke. I know you had to write about your encounter with him. Dad even said it would be in here, so where is it?"

She then came across a page that quickly caught her attention. Unlike the many pages before it that held the same smooth and flowing writing that he had been using, the handwriting on this page was much more scratchy looking. The lettering was thicker, like he had been pressing down on the pen roughly, a few places on the page actually having small holes in them from where he had pushed the pen down so hard it went through the paper. The writing seemed frantic and angry and it was so unlike the man that Cordelia knew. She was fairly certain that this must have been what she was looking for, but it was confirmed when her eyes managed to catch the name Madmartigan on the page. She flipped back to a few days prior to the angry writing to start reading from there, knowing that it would be better to understand what was going on up until that horrible writing. She took one last drink of her whiskey before setting it down and picking the journal up. She looked over the date before she started in with reading the journal entry.

. : + : .

25 Years Earlier

A twenty-five year old Finn walked across the guild, having just left the front ship with his navigator. He was now headed towards the main vessel of the guild for a drink since his work was completed for the morning. Things had been moving smoothly for the guild for a few years now, compared to how things had started when he took over the guild, but a time of peace had come over the guild, giving Finn time to really come into his position as master and get everything under control. He had even started a family during this time, having married Regina and having a child. Cordelia was close to turning one now, her birthday right around the corner in June. And he adored his wife and daughter more than anything in the world currently, so it wasn't a surprise that a bright smile appeared on his face when he came to see both of them on the ship, near the bar area he usually sat at.

"Morning," he said as he came to kiss his wife before taking the baby in her hands from her. He looked down at the small girl, seeing her smiling brightly back up at him. Her hair was still fairly short, covering her head in messy, thin layers of neon green, matching his own neon colored hair, "And how are we this morning?" he asked, smiling at his daughter. Having a daughter had changed his demeanor greatly, causing the man to become much softer and gentler. Cordelia only cooed happily in response before Finn kissed her on the top of her head.

"It seems that fatherhood is rather becoming of you," a man said, chuckling afterwards.

Finn looked over to see his best friend, Duke Ramirez, sitting at a table near the bar. The man wore a large smile, his green eyes filled with amusement at seeing Finn so open with his family. His dark brown hair was slicked back and reached the nape of his neck, a few pieces falling off to the side of his face. His muscled frame seemed to overtake the chair he sat in, but he leaned back in his seat regardless. He was just snuffing out a cigar when he spoke to Finn, tossing the ashtray back onto the table.

"There's no need for you to be so jealous," Finn smirked back at him, taking a seat next to him and sitting Cordelia on the table in front of him, "Course I suppose anyone would jealous of such a cute daughter," he added, smiling when his daughter reached out to play with pieces of his hair.

"Yeah, no thanks to you. All her cuteness came from your wife, I hope you know," Duke retorted.

"That's not true!" Regina interrupted, "She has Finn's smile!"

"How can you tell when the man never smiles?" Duke asked, earning a glare from Finn, "See?! He just looks grumpy all the time!" he said before laughing.

"That's because I have morons like you to deal with all the time."

Duke let his chair drop back down onto all four legs as he leaned forward to slide Cordelia in front of him, "Uncle Duke isn't a moron, is he?" he asked, watching as the small girl cocked her head to the side as he talked to her, "It's just that daddy has a stick shoved too far up his a-"

"Duke!" Regina yelled before smacking him upside the head.

"What?" he said, rubbing the back of his head, "She's gonna hear worse than that on the guild eventually."

"I don't want that to be the first word she learns!"

"Ah right," he said, turning a grin back on Cordelia, "We've gotta learn how to say Duke first and then we can start building your collection of curse words," he said, earning a bright smile from Cordelia when she saw him smiling.

"You're horrible! Finn! Don't let him teach our daughter weird things!"

Finn sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're already causing me problems and it's still morning."

"You'll have bigger problems than me when this little cutie gets older. Isn't that right, baby doll?" he said, gently tickling Cordelia's stomach and eliciting a bubbly laugh from her.

"Yer causin' lots a problems again, ain't ya?"

The trio looked up to see a beautiful dark haired woman, her chocolate brown eyes shining in the morning sun. Her long hair reached her hips, her bangs framing her face and covering her forehead. Her body was nicely curved with an ample bust, her skin a sun-kissed tan. She wore tight, light blue jeans that were tucked into heeled, brown ankle boots. She wore a black top with the sleeves ending at her mid-forearms with a simple silver bracelet on her left wrist.

Duke's gaze softened upon seeing her, sending her a warm smile, "Cheyenne."


Storm's Helm Question Corner!

Today's question comes from Cat the Alien for Zinnia:

If you were suddenly a type of food, what would you be?

Zinnia: What a fun question! I'm really happy that this is the first question I get! So I can pick anything, right?

Watson: Right, but just don't make it anything too weird. I don't need to get sick by picturing some weird gross food.

Zinnia: Cotton candy?

Watson: Isn't that a little too sweet?

Zinnia: You don't think I'm sweet?!

Cordelia: You calling my best friend salty?! If you make her cry then I'll make you cry!

Watson: What the hell?! That's not what I said at all!

Cordelia: Then why can't she be cotton candy?! She's totally sweet! *hugs Zinnia* She's definitely sweeter than you!

Watson: And I still have the ability to write you paired up with Gordon, so shut up already unless you want that to happen! *Cordelia goes quiet as she takes a seat next to Zinnia* Now then, what I meant was that I think she should be something more substantial than cotton candy.

Zinnia: I suppose you have a point. Hmm…ooohhh! I know! Pop Rocks! They're still sweet, but with a bit of excitement to them!

Cordelia: It's perfect!

Zinnia: Then what would Watson be?

Watson: That wasn't part of the question!

Cordelia & Zinnia: A crabapple!

Watson: I'm a fucking peach, thank you very much! *kicks both women off set* That's it for this interview! See you all next Sunday!


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

Credits

Cheyenne - MyDearWatson

And finally! We come to the start of the long awaited past of Duke and Madmartigan! And yes! I did stop it right there! Gotta keep you all looking forward to something next week! Muwhahahahaha! It was just too perfect!

But I'm super excited to be showing off this part of history finally! So hopefully it all turns out as well I'm picturing.

I will be curious to see if anyone can figure out what I used to base that revolver off of that Cordelia used this chapter.

But anyways, I don't have much else, so I'll jump right into the reviews!

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!

LightandDarkHeart - Yeah, Cordelia was not happy at all with Zinnia being taken, but luckily things didn't escalate any more than they did in this chapter. But yeah, I think Swabbie and Mingo both got some big brownie points for bringing Zinnia back like that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Origm2012 - One can only hope that Cordelia can handle all these promises going on. But yeah, I'm excited myself to be able to see her start to get them all solved. But I'm glad you liked that scene between Securus and Nanami figuring the shield out. I enjoyed writing out their analysis like that. Haha! That smile line got me too! I just loved it too much! But glad to hear that Mingo is still on the likable list! And I'm glad you enjoyed that Question Corner! Thanks for that question again! And I have to cheat somehow or else that counter will never go up! Just like this chapter too, haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

ThePrinceOfLight - Glad you enjoyed the opening scene between Alisa and Drayden. Their banter is pretty enjoyable for me. It seems that Securus could make a pretty good detective. But I'm glad to hear that silent moment between him and Cordelia turned out well! And I'm happy to hear that you liked the interaction between Swabbie and Zinnia! I really enjoyed that myself! And we'll eventually find out why he became a pirate. Yeah, Daniel does a pretty good job of making enemies, so I'm sure he'll have plenty of people coming after him eventually. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Joshua1277 - Yep, both Alisa and Drayden are fairly level headed, so it wouldn't be like them to freak out over the mirror breaking. Haha, I started picturing Securus and Nanami walking onto the scene all slow motion-like wearing sunglasses with that cliché music playing in the background after reading your CSI comment. And now I really want to see it played out in full animated style, lol! And yeah, hell almost broke out if Zinnia hadn't woken up when she did or if Mingo hadn't started talking when he did. They got lucky this time, but that final battle is coming up eventually and we can only have one winner from it! And it seemed that both Mingo and Swabbie went way up on the respect list for a lot of people. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Momochan77 - ^.^ I'm glad that everyone seems to really be liking Swabbie and Mingo after this last chapter! But luckily they managed to hand Zinnia over without anyone dying. And I'm glad you liked the question corner! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Benthino - But at least one pirate has to have morals, right?! Or else they wouldn't have survived against Cordelia for this long! LOL! But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and the moments with Swabbie there with Zinnia! And yeah, Daniel will be in a lot of trouble eventually. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Sakura-Fiction - Haha! Glad you enjoyed that ZinniaXSwabbie moment! I really enjoyed it a lot myself! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

GhostOfOnyx - Hey, no worries! Just glad to hear that you're liking how things are moving along with the story so far! Yeah, Drayden and Alisa really did work well on that island, considering their magic. Big advantage for them. And I'm glad that you're like the interaction between Zinnia and Swabbie! Originally, I didn't think it'd turn out like that, but then it just sorta happened and it really seemed to work out so well! And yeah, that Dark Water is a pretty nasty thing, so I'm sure it'll only be worse whenever it makes another appearance. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

silverhawk88 - Zinnia definitely made a friend with Swabbie there! She lucked out with that for sure, with him saving her life and all. But yeah, things are starting to get a little shaky for the Black Skulls, what with Madmartigan acting the way he is currently. And yeah, Cordelia was not happy at all. Mingo lucked out that no one died in their confrontation this time. And thanks for the new question! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

potentialauthor18 - Other than dealing with a maze, Drayden and Alisa made it out of that cave pretty easily. But yeah, Zinnia lucked out with getting help from both Swabbie and Mingo. Though, the two pirates lucked out this chapter themselves since things could have been much worse for them when dealing with Cordelia. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Dreadburner94 - You got that review in just a bit earlier than usual, so I suppose that's progress, lol! But yeah, I was happy to see Securus up and moving around too after that whole thing in Cordelia's office, even if he only gave Cordelia bad news from looking at Zinnia's shield. Yeah, I think Swabbie and Mingo both really lucked out with how that fight with Cordelia could have really gone this chapter. But Poor Swabbie only meant well in bringing Zinnia back! It's not his fault that he's not as good of a talker as Mingo! Anyways, lol, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

That should be it for this time around!

See you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson