ASLEEP

Chapter Thirty-Four – Gusts

**
Regular parents tell their kids horror stories about the boogyman under the bed, about things with more mouths than eyes, about things that we comfortably acknowledge don't exist. My dad told me horror stories about Lucien, and made it very, very clear that he was real.

"Hey, kiddo. Is your dad home? What's he up to?"
I did what any sensible person would have when the definition of their nightmares arrived – I grabbed the notes and ran. It was a stupid idea in hindsight, but how was I supposed to know?

That's the thing about Lucien. He can get in your head, in ways he really shouldn't be able to. I ran, and ran, but there was no point.

He'd gotten in my head. He knew everything I did. He knew what my dad had spent years – almost two decades now – planning. All that effort to make sure he never knew, wasted. Almost as good as throwing it into the flames – flames. SHIT, FIRE!

Screw these sheets. Let's get them off of me. Okay, what time is it? Dawn, okay. Well, looks like Pheros and her troops are still following us. Because avoiding that would be too easy. Great well – who's at the door?
"That dream again, wasn't it?" Severa said quietly from the other side. "...can I come in?"
"Easy, princess. People might start thinking you care." I chuckled to myself, opening the door. "After all, mine can't be any worse than anyone else's. We all came away from the future pretty shit."
The princess flopped down onto the bed, her twintails replaced by one sidetail that covered her Mark and made sure the Valmese wouldn't lynch us as soon as they saw it. "...we all came away bad, Mal, but at least we understood that the things that happened weren't our fault."

We'd had this conversation almost every week since I'd found her – what on earth convinced me to go looking for her first anyway? - and to be honest, she's right. What happened to Fire wasn't my fault, not really. What could I have done against Lucien? Knives and laughter, screams and mind tricks...

I shuddered involuntarily at the image before pausing. "...how did you know I was having that dream? Were you outside the door or something?"
Silence.

Well, that's awkward.

"You were, weren't you-"
"I-I just wanted to wake you up fairly early today!" Severa stammered, clenching her hands into fists. "I didn't realize it wasn't dawn yet, so I gave you some time and-"

"Alright, princess, I believe you." I chuckled. "I should probably go take the wheel from Laurent anyway. Is Gerome back?"

Severa snorted. "Take a wild guess. He's vanished without a trace again."

Well, we can't rely on him for scouting. "Alright." I sighed, standing up and throwing on a shirt. "...thanks, Severa."

She didn't say anything as I left the room, shutting the door behind me. Knowing her, though...I pressed my ear up against the door just in time to hear her sigh – of all the traits to inherit from her mother - thinking I was gone.

"Anytime, Mal."

General Pheros was waiting for me when I exited out onto the deck, her face grim.
"Captain. I understand we are approaching the rock you spoke of?"
I nodded drowsily. "Yeah, bigass rock with a fort on it surrounded by pirate ships. You can't miss it, honestly."

Pheros nodded slowly, scowling. "...well, we don't see it yet."

I grumbled to myself, not really thinking straight about how you should behave when you've got an enemy general right next to you. "Yeah, well, it's only been a day and we've been running from those ships for three. It'll take some time." I promised her. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, thank you." She said stiffly. "My own cooks shall suffice."

I shrugged. Well, if she doesn't want to have any of Noire's breakfast pastries then fine. "Suit yourself. YO, INIGO!"
Our current pilot-in-training glanced sleepily at me from the wheel. "Yes, Mal?"
"Head inside, get some food from Noire, and get some sleep. You've earned it." I smirked, patting his shoulder as I took control from him. I froze and glanced at the even-more-frosty than normal Pheros leaving the ship. "...please tell me you didn't."

"You've got this policy against lying-" Inigo said sheepishly. I took off my hat, handed Inigo the wheel, and began applying my forehead to the side of the ship at a steady beat of one a second.

"Gods-"WHAM"-damn"WHAM"IT!"WHAM!"INIGO!"

I turned away, rubbing my head and glaring at him. "WHY WOULD YOU THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO HIT ON THE ENEMY GENERAL?!"
Inigo chuckled. "Well, it wasn't really that bad. I only really asked if she'd like to join me for tea."

I patiently waited for him to expand on that.

"...or something stronger." He sighed. "And it was going so well before that! Okay, well by my standards, but still! How was I supposed to know she was religious?"

"Gee, maybe by paying attention to those briefings dad left me?!" I snapped, snatching the wheel away. "...gods damn it, you're a complete idiot sometimes."

I glanced out over the ocean one last time before groaning. "...go get some food and some sleep."

He waited a couple of seconds.

"...because I've earned it?"
"No, Inigo. Because it'll get you out of my sight before I impale you to a wall."

Laurent was back up and walking again, which was good. Right up until he decided to keep me company.
Look, I don't have anything against the guy, it's just...conversations between us feel weird. Like we don't really support each other all that well. I'm glad he's here, but that's only because magic is insanely useful on the high seas – especially wind magic. We'd probably have been chased down by those pirates if it wasn't for him.

"Sooo..." I trailed off. "You doing good?"
"...I believe what you are trying to say is 'are you feeling better'?"
You see? That right there. His stickler for how things work ruining my fun-on-the-high-seas voice. Can't he just let me have that?
"Yeah, yeah..." I grumbled. "So, made any progress on that weather stuff?"
"Meteorology." Laurent said through gritted teeth. He's really not got either of his parents patience. "And yes, I have. That's why I came up here."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "It's nice and calm though."

"Too calm." Laurent sighed. "I think it might rain."

I glanced up at the clear skies before sighing. "...well, if you think so..." I glanced up the crows nest and cupped my hands.

"YO, NOIRE! SIGNAL PHEROS AND HER SHIPS FOR POTENTIAL RAIN LATER TODAY!" I yelled. Noire waved back, and slowly the signal flags went up and down. She's probably reading them out of the book.

"Why tell them?" Laurent asked with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged and drummed my fingers against the wheel.
"I'd rather stay in her good books. If it's just a shower then, well, no harm done. If it's a thunderstorm, she'll thank us frequently. If nothing happens, it's on you not me." I grinned off into space. "See how it all fits together?"

Laurent kept quiet after that, remaining outside for a few more moments before retreating inside. Yeah, run you coward. Run from my amazing intellect.

Huh, wind's starting to pick up a bit.

OH DEAR GODS THE RAIN

"A little rain he said." I grumbled as the wind nearly blew me away from the wheel...again. "Might get a little wet, he said."
He never said anything about ancient rain gods apparently deciding the first day to reveal their hatred for me in all my time sailing would be one I really could do without it.

Does that sentance even make sense? Well golly gee misters, it's not like I can concentrate on my internal monologue while there's a godsdamn storm in my face!

"MAL!" Severa yelled, poking her head out the door and glaring at me. "STOP BEING AN IDIOT AND COME INSIDE!"
I spat a mouthful of water and blinked through the storm. Gods, the blue hair is really hard to see in this weather. "NO CAN DO! IF WE COLLIDE WITH ONE OF PHEROS' SHIPS WE'RE SCREWED!"

I glanced out over the ocean where the Valmese ships were, I'll say with more than a hint of pride, having much more difficulty staying on a straight course than I was.

...unfortunately, that means they're being blown towards me by the winds. On the bright side, it means those waves hit them instead of me and we don't have to worry about it as much. Actually, it might reduce the size of the fleet and leave us with less of a problem later on – oh, right, I forgot that the Valmese military doctrine is 'we have reserves'. Bugger. Not much we can do about that, though.

"MALCOM YRIEL!"

"SEVERA, I'M NOT COMING IN!" I yelled back, glaring. It's hard to look intimidating when you've stuffed your fancy hat down your shirt so it doesn't get blown away and your damn ponytail's come undone in the storm. Now all my hair's stuck to my face. "IT'S A NON-OPTION! THE OPTION HAS CEASED TO BE!"

Severa let out a scream of frustration and slammed the door. Well, that's going to be a fun conversation to have when this lets up. It'll occupy my head for a while, that's for sure.

Are they even steering their ships right now?

**
After one hour of dealing with the storm, it finally passed away. As per Laurent's instructions, everyone stayed below decks for half an hour to make sure it wasn't just the eye of the storm, then cautiously came out.

Brady let out a low whistle.

"Damn, you look miserable."

I attempted to glare at him with as much dignity as I could muster, pulling my feather hat out of my shirt and plopping the very wet piece of cloth on top of my head with a faint plop sound.

"I am going below decks and I am drying off" I said, walking down the steps. Water fell off of my clothes in streams, covering the deck as I crossed it to the door, shoving past the roaring Inigo, Brady and Severa with a scowl.

Severa managed to stop laughing for long enough to give me a look of pure triumph. "I told you so."

"If it wasn't for me, we might have drowned." I snapped back. "Next time, somebody else can get wet."

With that, I slammed the door shut and walked the five paces into my cabin, shutting the bolt behind me. I just dumped my sopping clothes in the corner and began frantically drying with a spare towel, managing to go from dripping wet to moderatly damp before the towel also joined the pile of 'too wet to use' items. Rummaging through my footlocker, I groaned when I saw what was available to me.

"Seriously?"

With a few choice mutterings about certain gods, I pulled on the overalls and yellow shirt. Honestly, I should have paid more attention to what I was buying while I was in that town.

Ugh, I want my trenchcoat back.

**
"You look completely ridiculous." Severa deadpanned when I eventually worked up the courage to step outside.

"I'm well aware of that fact." I snapped. "Thank you for informing me."

Glancing around, it looked like more than half of Pheros' fleet had either been scattered or sunk during the storm. You see, this is why you keep someone on the wheel at all times. Maybe if I built some kind of cabin over it so that you don't get as wet next time...

Dammit, her flagship wasn't one of those that went glug glug. I guess the sea gods don't like me that much. Wait, is she heading towards us? Welp, time to bundle Severa away in the hold again until she's gone.

"HEY!"
Throwing her through the door then slamming it shut might not have been the most diplomatic way to go about doing it, but my gods was it satisfying. Rubbing my hands, I strolled over to where Pheros' ship was docking against ours.

"Glad to see you survived the storm, general!" I grinned, stretching. "How about your fleet?"
Pheros snorted indignantly. "No such luck, Captain. We are still numerous enough to deal with simple pirates, however – what in the name of the gods is that outfit?"

There are very few people that are able to catch Valmese generals off guard. Specifically, those people are Robin, Rufure and Mark because tactics. I, on the other hand, am the only one who has actually seen one completely bewildered by what they are witnessing.

I wonder if this is what Excellus looked like when Robin's plan came together...

Seriously, this is just beautiful. Oh, right, the explanation.

"I stayed out in the storm to make sure nothing crashed into Serenity." I shrugged. "These were the only clothes I had left."

Pheros frowned and nodded. "...I see. That was very brave of you."

"Crew first, then captain." I said seriously. "People who try to hurt me and mine are going to get hurt worse, even if they are sea gods."

Pheros rolled her eyes at the mention of 'sea gods' and turned to leave. "I trust we arrive at this rock tomorrow?"
"Bright and early!" I said with a grin and a wave. "See you then!"

Her two bodyguards glared at me and pulled away the boarding planks, unhooking our two ships. I let out a sigh of relief as soon as the ship was out of earshot, and then – OW!

"DAMMIT, SEVERA!" I yelled, rubbing the back of my head. "THE DEFAULT RESPONSE TO KEEPING YOU SAFE IS NOT TO THROW A PLATE AT ME!"

Well, there's the rock. Inigo glanced nervously at me, trembling a little bit. "Okay..how do we get away from Pheros?"

"I don't know." I admitted. When I came up with this plan, I was under the impression that we would not be joining the assualt. The general had other ideas. In our current position, we'll either get sunk by pirates or survive and dragged to join the Valmese navy, at which point there's only so long we can hide Severa before they find her Mark. The pirate fleet had helpfully decided to mobilize, so we're in full out naval warfare mode. Hopefully Pheros has some practical experience with this, because I've only got theory under my hat for this one, and it's not like Serenity's armed. Pheros signalled for full sails, attack speed, so I guess we're boarding them. Full sails does give us one good excuse to prepare running away, at least.

"Full sails!" I barked, running over to the wheel and wrenching it to the side. "We are getting out of here!"

"...WAIT!" Noire said nervously from the crow's nest. "I can see something...strange."

"Strange how?" Brady grunted, preparing his staves on a table. We'd run out of Physic's a month back, so he'd have to move in close to heal us as soon as his Rescue wore out. Because it's not like I'm expecting to escape Pheros, we're probably going to do some fighting today. Noire – for once – pulled out her telescope and glanced through it, before stifling a gasp – or that's what it looked like anyway.

"There's a woman standing on the water! Middle of the fleet!"

What? Standing on the water?

"Let me see that!" I yelled. Noire dropped the telescope and I grabbed it before it could hit the ground, shoving it to my eye – ow – a little two hard. I barely managed to get a glimpse of a red hair and a purple coat – is she flying? - before everything went green.

The massive blast of wind obliterated the pirate fleet in seconds, those ships that survived the initial impact sinking through shrapnel holes. Serenity was blown almost a full one hundred and eighty degrees, facing the other way. Pheros' ship capsized, and the massive wave rising from the origin point of the spell smashed into the rest of her ships. Thankfully, Serenity was behind the Valmese flagship for cover so we only got very wet. Spitting water, I glanced around to make sure that everyone was okay.

"WHAT THE GODS WAS THA?!" Brady spluttered. Noire dangled from a sail, holding on for dear life and ranting angrily. Severa and Inigo staggered back onto their feet, while Laurent clambered back onto the ship from where he'd been flipped over the side. Groaning, I unhooked my overalls from the spokes of the wheel and glanced at our sails. Still working.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Well that's not true, I have an inkling of an idea. "But quite frankly, it's given us an opportunity to run like hell so we're taking it."

Laurent staggered upright with a groan. "Where are we headed?"
"We're going to have to lay low for a while." I grumbled. "...the Celican islands are a seperate state, right?"
Laurent nodded in confirmation, any grudge from a few nights back forgotten. "Yes, they don't belong to any other nation yet."

"Good. Alright, lets head to..." I racked my brain for any way we can turn this into even more of a win than it already was. "...port Yalen."

Dad did say that's where we'd find Cynthia, and after all of this bullshit I could do with a laugh.

**
A/N: And so things start to get weird. Allow me to clarify one thing for those of you who are panicking/complaining: Anna was killed for plot reasons, not shipping reasons. It plays a large part in both the overall plot of the timeskip and (naturally) Cameron and Mal's character development.

Even Julian, to an extent.

Good news: Cast is off. Bad news: My left arm is atrophied like no tomorrow, so a lot of my time's going to be taken up by physio. On the bright side, I can still write this story on the bus to school. Once my hand's back up to speed, I intend to go back to working on Fool of Fools (Frigging FINALLY) for a week or two, so that'll be a little mini-hiatus for this story. It's a good month off, though.