Chapter 33: The Other Side of Paradise
Perhaps it was tacky to say, but Aria loved flying. Being able to zoom past the land beneath her and travel without obstacles was thrilling. In her sound form, there was no wind biting her cheeks and she wouldn't get chilly.
But Aria wasn't in her sound form. No, she was strapped to a giant bird, praying she didn't fall off. She had acted tough in front of Arlong because she had wanted to impress him. How foolish of her! Usually when she rode a Fioran Tern, she would at least have riding leathers on to keep the wind from cutting at her skin.
No, instead her eyes teared up as the wind pierced her face. Her lips were going to be terribly chapped after this, but worse would be the skin on her arms and legs that were dealing with the full assault of the biting air.
To make matters worse, Twinny wasn't used to passengers. Guiding Twinny to the boat took a monumental amount of effort. Aria had to keep nudging Twinny back to the right path and keep her altitude low. All Twinny wanted to do was follow the wind further up into the sky.
Aria was tempted to slump off of Twinny's back the second she touched down, but she was loath to have to remount.
The terrified looks on Gajeel and Kaneshiro's faces made it worthwhile. Aria didn't even bother to hide her snickering.
They were making quick progress on the first floor of Farren's base, so Chew went up the ladder to the next floor to grab Farren's clothes. With Rinka and Farren finally alone, Rinka made sure to keep her eyes peeled. She didn't want another scenario like Grenouille to happen. It would be so frustrating if Rinka let her guard down and left herself and her crew open to danger as a result.
Rinka kept an eye out for traps and kept close to Farren with the utmost diligence. Farren paid Rinka no mind, not concerned in the slightest. Farren looked around the room, and hummed as she thought about what next to pack up. Her eyes settled on the door she had stopped the others from going inside earlier. This was a good of a time as any.
The door was kept well-guarded by many locks, but Farren disarmed them with practiced ease. Rinka watched the intricate ritual intently and committed it to memory. She held her breath as Farren grabbed the doorknob and pulled, the hinges creaking ominously.
Farren stepped into the dimly lit room, with Rinka hovering behind her. The fishwoman thought she had been prepared for anything she would come across, especially with Farren's earlier warning, but nothing could have prepared her for that room. Especially not the stench, it was absolutely wretched. Rinka gagged and covered her mouth. It took her several moments to blink away the tears welling up in her eyes.
There were bodies in tanks, floating in some sort of pale opaque liquid. Rinka recognized the tanks as the vats the perfumers on Mata Nui would use while extracting the scents from petals. Her breath caught in her lungs as she stared.
Even as she escaped her stupor, there was more to see. Beakers and vials lined the metal shelves along one wall; two shelves were filled with blood-like fluids. Another shelf only had milky white liquid inside vials. Towards the bottom of the shelves, Rinka noticed human bones stacked neatly together. She found herself pressed against the far wall, hands clenched tightly as she spied several barrels filled with an unidentifiable sludge.
"What is this for?" Rinka asked, unable to keep the anger out of her voice. Farren, who had been packing things into a crate, turned around with a questioning expression. Rinka pointed towards the vats and then the bones.
"I specialize in virology. These are all my test subjects." Farren motioned towards the vats. "They are all long dead, do not worry."
Rinka didn't know how that was supposed to make her feel better. These were all women in the prime of their lives, reduced to science experiments. It reminded Rinka of Barcombe, after she had been sold at Sabaody. Now she wanted to throw up for a different reason.
"You are not convinced, I see." Farren crossed her arms and sighed deeply. "You went to Cinnabar, yes?"
Rinka narrowed her eyes, curious as to what that had to do with anything. "I did."
Farren leaned against the table behind her. "This island is not hospitable, as you can tell. Cinnabar is the closest island for supplies. There is an old man there. A bit strange. He took an interest in me, and intended to use me for his goals."
Rinka put two and two together. "Grenouille?"
"Ah, so you know of him."
Baring her teeth, Rinka growled, "I would have killed him if Arlong-sama would allow it. He attacked Hachi-sama and kidnapped Aria."
"Tch. Of course he did." Farren shook her head in disapproval. "He is not the smartest of men. Of course, no one who stands against Farren Laurels can be called smart, but I digress… After some convincing, he agreed to supply my bodies."
"Excuse me?" Rinka jerked back in equal parts shock and disgust.
"Mind you, there was no use convincing him to stop his wicked acts." Farren shrugged. "Not that I cared to try. But he was letting the bodies go to waste after he was done with them. Not even giving them a proper burial."
"So you took them?"
Farren nodded, smiling without it reaching her eyes. "It would be a waste of their deaths, otherwise."
"What do you do with them?"
"Oh, I'm not sure if it will be truly interesting to you to explain it all." Farren's smile thinned.
That wasn't an acceptable answer. Rinka wouldn't let Farren out of this room if she proved herself to be up to no good. The scientist may not have been a murderer herself, but what she was doing to these women was disgusting. Rinka would not let it stand, even if Arlong could turn a blind eye. She approached, baring her weapon.
"Tell me, human, why I shouldn't kill you where you stand." Rinka growled, the sound predatory and dangerous. Rinka loomed over Farren, her eyes narrowing to thin slits. The glow of the vats reflected off her face, glinting off the thin layer of pinprick teeth. Farren's smile fell just enough, and she took an unconscious step back.
"...You haven't heard anything from Aria or where we are from, have you? She is rather tight-lipped about most things, I'm sure." Farren asked, her eyes not leaving Rinka's. "So this must seem rather barbaric, I suppose."
"I am not stationed near Aria." Rinka confirmed. "Answer me."
Farren sighed and her grin turned impish, reaching out to touch Rinka's cheek. Rinka tensed at the soft padded fingertips against her face. "You know… You lure more flies with honey than vinegar."
Rinka was not impressed. She bared her teeth more. "This is honey. I haven't popped your brains out, human."
"Hah! That is a new one." Farren looked amused, but her hand dropped and she crossed her arms. "Very well. Our country is currently being ravaged by a plague. I was sent here to study the effects of the plague against other humans, and see if there is a strain of cells resistant to the plague that exists outside our homeland." Farren motioned toward the vats. "These here are my incubation chambers for the virus. They survive longer in bodies, you see. I need to create colonies to keep the virus on hand. I cannot do my studies with none of the strain."
Science was not Rinka's best subject, but she understood the gist of Farren's explanation. The vats still made her deeply uneasy.
"And the bones?" Rinka asked.
"There are stem cells within them. Even if I don't succeed in finding a specific strand of DNA that can withstand the virus, I can create one from scratch if I try hard enough."
Rinka tilted her head. That was over her understanding. But if there was one thing she was sure about… "You don't seem like the type to save others."
A deep sigh came from Farren's lips. "I wonder why everyone says that…" Rinka thought the woman looked genuinely sad for a brief moment, before she said, "well, that is their problem, I suppose."
After a few trips to the ship and back, Aria looked absolutely exhausted. If Arlong watched her close enough, he could see the faint trembling of her legs. Her hair was frazzled and her lips curved downward. Her grip was far too loose.
"Twinny should understand what to do by now." Arlong said to Aria, strapping more equipment to the bird. "So after I'm finished packing, you're gonna stay here until everything is finished."
Aria chewed her lip, considering the possibilities. "Yeah, it might be fine now." She ran her fingers against Twinny's fluffy down. "If you do a good job, Twinny, I'll give you lots of food when we get home."
Though the bird seemed compliant enough, Aria's bribery made Twinny trill in delight. It nuzzled her with its beak, and Aria laughed tiredly. Something about the scene made Arlong's stomach flip. He wanted to look away, but couldn't manage to tear his eyes from the woman. Instead he found himself reaching for her waist, and pulled her against his chest.
Aria squeaked in surprise as Arlong pulled her off Twinny's back. He set her on the ground like she was delicate goods, but Aria's legs trembled like she was a newborn fawn. If Arlong held on to her a bit too closely, she was too preoccupied to notice. Aria bit her lip in frustration as her palm wrapped around Arlong's thick forearm to keep herself steady.
"Uhg, I think I overdid it." Aria grumbled, her hot breath tickling against Arlong's bare stomach. Despite the sun and the labor he had been doing, her breathing felt nice against his skin. But he forced that thought away as Aria's words caught up to his mind.
Arlong swore under his breath. "Do you need to sit down somewhere?"
"Probably. Perhaps over there." Aria pointed to a pile of rocks near a gaping pit, likely an exit hole of a graniteworm. It looked dangerous, but there was nowhere else nearby that would be any safer.
"Right. Don't fall in there. I won't come after you."
Aria huffed in amusement at Arlong's venomless threat. She let go of Arlong's arm despite her shaky legs, determined to at least do this much on her own. She tried to take a step and stumbled. A vile curse fell from her lips as her knee buckled, but Arlong caught her before she hit the ground.
"Hey, I've got you." Arlong said as Aria fumed at her inability to do even such a simple task as walk. Arlong pulled her up so that Aria was standing. "You want me to carry you?"
Never before had Aria's hackles raised so quickly, but Arlong figured it was more out of embarrassment than true offense. "No!"
What a stubborn woman Aria was. Arlong shook his head, his lip curling upward.
"Try not to fall."
He slowly removed his hands from Aria and watched to see that her knees didn't buckle again. Confident that she could stand without assistance, Arlong made his way over to the boulders and heaved one on to his shoulder. He carried it over and dropped it with no care at all, causing the rock beneath their feet to tremble. Aria stumbled, her hands grabbing the boulder to break her fall. She didn't have time to complain; Arlong whisked her up by the waist, and set her atop the boulder.
"Stay here and wait until we're done." Arlong ordered, their faces merely inches apart with Aria perched. He fixed her with a stern look.
"O-okay." Aria stammered out. Arlong's gaze continued. Aria's face burned. She normally would protest being manhandled in such a way, but Arlong was being almost sweet. It made her heart thump in her chest. If this was one of her romance novels, then the suitor would lean down and kiss the protagonist before leaving. Arlong wasn't about to do that, right? Of course Arlong wouldn't do that! But he was looking at her so seriously. "...Thank you, Captain."
"...Yeah." Arlong replied automatically, still transfixed. Aria swallowed with apprehension. Was Arlong getting closer or was that her imagination?
"Yo, Arlong, I've got the next load down below if you can spare a sec to haul it up, chuu!"
That broke whatever spell was over them. Arlong whirled around to face Chew. Thankfully Chew seemed to be more concerned about Twinny than whatever that was. Aria breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Chew try to wave away the bird that was trying to chew at his hair. How would she explain that interaction to Chew and Kuroobi if even she didn't know what that was?
"Yeah, gimme a sec!" Arlong said, stomping over to the bird and shooing it. "How many more loads do you reckon we got, Chew?"
Chew shrugged. "We still have one more room on the current floor, but then we have another floor after that. This has some of the second floor's crap, though."
Aria frowned as she felt something shake. She stopped paying attention to Arlong and Chew's conversation as the shaking continued. Where was that coming from…? Below?
The shaking grew more and more intense. Arlong, Chew, and Twinny all seemed to feel it at the same time. They turned around.
Just in time to see a worm burst from the ground. A split moment of brown and teeth and gravel being tossed every which way.
A split second of Aria's eyes widening as she realized what it was and where it was headed.
A split microsecond as everything crashed down around Aria and the gaping maw of the creature devoured her and the rock beneath her.
And then there was another hole in the rocky ground, leading down to the murky unknown.
"Holy shit, chuu. Did we just see Aria-san get eaten?"
Aria was, understandably, freaking the fuck out. She was inside something fleshy, humid, and warm. She hated fleshy, humid, and warm. Whatever it was, it was moving so rapidly and randomly that she was constantly losing her balance, being swung every which way. It was not helping her panic die down in the slightest.
"Oh my god, ohmygod, omigod."
Even if her legs weren't already jello, Aria doubted she would be able to keep herself up. What was worse? The fact she couldn't tell up from down anymore? Or the fact that she was being forcibly shaken away from where the entrance was?
Nausea welled up in Aria's stomach but she doubted her body would be able to tell which way to send her breakfast at this point.
Nothing in her training had ever covered this situation. She was at a total loss as to what to do. Most likely she had been swallowed by one of the island's worms. That's the only thing that made sense with the evidence she had. But how was she going to escape?
She couldn't focus long enough to do a sudden strike, like it would take to make a hole. How many decibels would it take to pierce this thing from inside? She didn't know.
The only thing she could do was output so much sound that the damn thing exploded.
Aria inhaled deep and tried to well up as much energy as she possibly could. She ignored the sudden jolts and jostling as the worm dug deeper into the earth. She tried to harness the sound around her, as disgusting as the digestive noises were.
When she finally had enough, Aria let it all out into a squall of pandemonium with enough force to rupture everything around her. The sonance caused the worm's inner walls to split outward, spraying digestive fluid and other bile onto the walls as the flesh was shredded.
Aria couldn't stop so easily, not with escape within reach. She flew towards the back of the worm, trying her hardest to keep the cacophony going as she dissolved the beast and freed the path to where they came.
Freeing herself from the rest of the worm sapped her of all but the utmost of her energy. But Aria knew she couldn't stay in the dark tunnel, not if the worms detected loud sounds for prey like she guessed. Desperate to survive, Aria followed the tunnel with all her strength.
A moment more, and she would have been food for sure as a worm crashed into the wall just a few meters from her.
Aria panicked so hard that she couldn't remember anything from that point until she reached the surface. All she knew was that she got away from that place. She survived, just barely. The sun had never looked so inviting as she flew upward and out of the tunnel. She spotted Chew, Rinka, Farren, and Arlong all discussing something. She didn't care what. But she had made it. She was safe for now.
She collapsed on the rocky surface without a care. As long as she made it back to Arlong, she was safe.
"Aria-chan." Distantly, she heard her name being called. Large fingers tapped against her cheek, prodding her awake. "Aria-chan."
Somehow she managed to open her eyes despite the head-throbbing exhaustion she felt. "There you are. You capable of flying back to the boat?"
The voice sounded familiar, and individually the words meant things, but the words weren't making sense as a sentence. She looked up and saw Arlong looking at her expectantly, his brows furrowed.
"...Whazzat?" Aria asked, her tongue barely managing to form words. "Wutsgoinon…?"
Arlong made a noise, but Aria wasn't capable of deciphering if it was good or bad. He shifted her in his arms and Aria realized he must be carrying her. The ocean water came into view and so did their ship, with most of the crew on deck and Twinny perched on the railing.
"We're ready to go home." Arlong said, his voice low and steady. "Can you fly to the ship?"
Aria frowned as she considered it. Could she…? She felt exhausted, but maybe… She tried to turn into her noise form, and managed some of her body to fizzle and crackle as expected, but that quickly sputtered out as her head throbbed with a vengeance.
"...No, m'sorry…" Aria whimpered, her fingers rubbing at her temples. "Tired. Head hurts. Sorry."
She couldn't even find the energy to be embarrassed by her weakness, as she had on Cinnabar in the steel mill in front of Kuroobi. She groaned as her head throbbed. She thought she heard Arlong shushing her, but it must have been her imagination.
"You need to hold on to me tight." Arlong ordered. Aria grimaced. She wasn't sure if she could manage that. "Otherwise you'll drown."
He shifted her onto his back, looping her legs around his waist. He told her to grip his fin tight or hold his neck. Then he jumped into the ocean and Aria's weakness magnified as the salt water swirled around her limbs and sunk into her clothing. She could barely hold on, especially at the brisk pace Arlong swam. It felt like hell, all her struggles magnifying together to cause her worst struggle. She didn't know if she would make it.
Then they were in the air as Arlong jumped to the deck. Aria's backside hit the wooden boards and she gasped in pain and started coughing. Arlong muttered a swear and whirled around to pick her up.
"Farren, get dry clothes for Aria-chan." Arlong barked. "Bandages, too."
Hands helped steady Aria from behind, which turned out to be Rinka's. Farren dug through a crate, thankfully knowing exactly where she put her wardrobe. Before long, all of the necessary supplies were gathered.
"Raise anchor and set sail for Arlong Park." Arlong ordered, Gajeel and Kaneshiro flying into action before the command finished leaving his lips. "Rinka-chan, you're on navigation. Chuu, man the helm."
"Yes, Arlong-sama."
"Got it, chuu!"
Arlong was grateful he had such a competent crew. Even though he would rather be manning the helm and handling navigation instead of Chew and Rinka, they were reliable. He could focus his attention on more delicate matters.
As if on cue, Aria sneezed.
Arlong sighed. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes and change your bandages. Kakuzu-nii will throw a fit if you wind up catching a cold on top of recovering your hip."
"Oh, I can help Aria." Farren offered. She didn't appear to be doing anything other than keeping an eye on Twinny, but Arlong prickled at the thought of Farren doing something underhanded to their weakest crewmate.
"Like hell you will." Arlong said flatly. His stance shifted just enough to shield Aria from the smirking scientist.
"Uhm…" Aria piped up, "I would prefer a woman help me change my clothes and bandages."
Arlong scowled. "You think I'm taking my eyes off you for a split second after that graniteworm?"
"Oh, so you don't just want to see her naked then." Farren snickered.
"Of course not. She's just my responsibility, as Captain." Arlong snapped without a second of hesitation. He hadn't even thought about doing anything untoward.
"I'll leave her to you then, Captain." Farren's teeth glinted.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Aria asked, barely able to keep her eyes open.
"No."
Aria rinsed the saltwater off her skin and out of her hair in the captain's quarters. That was all she had time for before Arlong was bursting in, towel in hand.
"Can I have a bit more time?" Aria whined. "The water will help my exhaustion."
"You can take a long soak when we reach home," Arlong promised. "For now just dry off so I can dress your wound."
Aria sighed and took the towel, grateful for the shower curtain between them. She stepped out once she heard Arlong leave the bathroom. She dried off as best she could and tied the towel around her chest before exiting and finding Arlong sitting on the bed of the captain's quarters. He was assessing the various medical supplies, and didn't even look up at her as she approached.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief internally. The towel opened on the side of her injured hip, so she didn't lose too much modesty as she showed the healing wound to her Captain. Despite the intensity of the day's events, the wound looked only mildly irritated. Whether that was from riding Twinny, the digestive acids of the graniteworm, or the salt water, Aria didn't know.
She whimpered as Arlong applied cold ointment to her warm skin, squeezing her eyes shut and missing the way the sound made Arlong flinch. He rubbed it into her skin with an uncharacteristic gentleness.
The bandages were more awkward. The angle of the wound meant they had to be wrapped tight from her hip to her inner thigh and around her waist. Kakuzu insisted this would keep her from moving too harsh and abruptly and prevent her from tearing the wound open. Aria agreed, but.. She really wished Farren or Rinka were here to change her bandages instead. Or that Arlong would allow her to do it herself. It was more embarrassing now to bare herself to him with her ridiculous feelings towards the man.
Would he approve? Or would he even care? Aria didn't want to find out.
"Time for your bandages," Arlong said with firmness.
"I can do them myself," Aria insisted once more.
Arlong scoffed and gave her a withering glare. "You look so exhausted that you'd fall asleep midway."
Aria pursed her lips. He wasn't wrong, but still.
With a sigh she relented and lifted her towel upward. Her face burned, but she stared at Arlong, watching his reaction. His cheeks flushed purple, faint enough that she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been looking for it, but he set about wrapping her wounds as professionally as possible. Aria tried to ignore how nice it felt to have his large hands brushing against her inner thigh.
"I wish you wouldnt look at me that way," Arlong huffed, never taking his eyes off the task at hand.
Arias breath hitched. In what way was he talking about? Did he...know?
"Elaborate," Aria managed to keep her voice calm. Internally, her stomach was flipping and she felt like her throat was closing up.
"You look at me like I'm some sort of puzzle to figure out."
"Ah." Aria was relieved he hadn't figured her out yet. "You aren't an honest man, you know. It's hard for me to know what you really mean."
Arlong barked out a laugh. "Oh, so the pot is calling the kettle black, eh?"
"I suppose we both better work on our honesty and saying what we mean." Aria said, humor lacing her voice. Arlong snorted and shook his head.
Arlong finished wrapping. "There. Hope Kakuzu-nii won't give us shit over this."
"I won't tell him if you won't." She gave Arlong a conspiratorial grin.
Arlong hummed, his eyes roaming along Aria's arms and shoulders. "You've got a few nicks here and there. Let me put some ointment on those."
"If you insist." Aria let Arlong slowly rub the new cuts she had gained, and failed to contain a few hisses. The cuts were tender from the salt water. She didn't notice when she got them, but it was likely from her tussle with the graniteworm.
The air between them was much more quiet and peaceful, now that Aria wasn't internally dying of embarrassment. She felt herself relax and lean into Arlong's touch, even if he was a bit too rough with her tender skin.
When he was finally done tending to her, Aria sat next to Arlong on the bed. "Think I have enough time to get a nap in before we reach Conomi?"
Arlong huffed. "Get dressed first." He tossed over the clothes Farren had lent. Aria grimaced. They weren't going to be comfortable to walk around in, let alone nap in.
"Is there anything else I can wear? Farren and I don't exactly have the same body type, you know."
"It's only for a few hours, you'll be fine."
Aria sighed and looked at the clothes. The skirt would likely be fine, it had plenty of elastic along the waistline and it was meant to be wide and puffy. But the top was a corset.
Aria pulled a face and displayed the corset to Arlong. "You honestly expect me to get this on by myself?"
"I certainly won't say no to helping you with it." Arlong said, before apparently realizing what he said as Aria stared at him.
"You know, when I mentioned being honest with each other, this is not what I meant." Aria deadpanned, internally trying to not overanalyze Arlong's words.
Arlong gave a lopsided grin. "It's just a corset. It's not like I haven't seen worse on women."
Aria raised a single brow. "If you insist. Turn around so I can have some privacy."
Arlong nodded and complied without question, facing the wall. Strangely, that left Aria disappointed. Aria couldn't help but wonder how Arlong would have reacted if she asked for help. She let herself have some wistful fantasies as she tugged on a pair of clean underwear and the skirt Farren lent her, before tackling the obnoxious task of wiggling into the corset.
Farren had much thinner shoulders than Aria, as well as a thinner chest and waist. The corset was snug enough as it was, and Arlong hadn't even helped lace the back yet. With a frustrated sigh, Aria called for Arlong.
"I'm not sure if there's even a point to lacing this." Aria sighed, aggravation clear in her voice.
"Calm down, it'll be fine." Arlong said, rolling his eyes. "Turn around." Aria did as she was told. She tried not to twitch as Arlong's fingers ran against her shoulders, collecting her hair and pushing it to one side. A few errant strands were missed, and Arlong took his sweet time gathering them and adding them to the bunch. Aria wanted so badly to shiver at the touch, but settled for squeezing the hem of her skirt.
Then he reached down and adjusted the corset around her bust, and Aria let out a strangled noise. "It would've laid awkward when I'm done." Arlong explained, before adjusting the corset and its bindings along other areas of her body. Then he laced her up with surprising ease. "There."
"Woah. You're good at this." Aria said, surprised by how much better the corset felt after Arlong was done with it.
Arlong shrugged. "My sister likes the fashion. I helped her out more times than I remember."
"Oh? You learn something new every day." Aria mused, before grinning slyly as she faced him. "Do you like the fashion, Arlong?"
"Don't go fishing for compliments, Aria-chan." Arlong gave her a lazy grin. "You look much better in just a towel, anyway."
Aria's face heated up and Arlong burst out laughing as she gaped at him. By the time Aria could form a coherent thought, Arlong had left, snickering all the way.
After checking their course, Arlong finally let himself relax. The trip had started out simple enough, with only a few minor setbacks.
But then that graniteworm had swallowed Aria whole and he had been a tense mess ever since.
Chew had booked it to Farren's lab, having the sense of mind to find the damned woman responsible for them even coming to this island and dragging her topside. Arlong stood watch at the hole, desperately wishing he'd brought his Kiribachi on this little excursion. Rage filled his veins and it took all his patience not to jump down after Aria.
But that was nothing compared to the utter rage Arlong felt when Farren gave her opinion.
"Unfortunately, Aria is as good as dead. We should continue packing, before more get alerted."
Rinka grabbed Farren by the lapels on her lab coat. "You dare say we abandon her?"
"Listen, it's nothing personal." Farren said, holding her hands up. "She knew the risks. I told all of you before we even got here that if you get eaten, you're out of luck."
Chew swore and looked to Arlong for guidance. "What do we do, boss?"
"I'm half tempted to feed this damn human to a worm myself." Arlong snarled. Farren at least had the decency to look uncomfortable at his threat.
"Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to help Aria!" Farren said, genuine panic in her voice for the first time Arlong had ever heard. "The only thing we could do is follow her down, but even if we encountered a worm there's no chance it would be the one that has Aria!"
Arlong swore as he saw Farren's point. "Put her down for now. She's no use to us dead."
Rinka reluctantly dropped Farren on the ground, and the scientist fell on her ass. Grumbling, Farren stood and brushed the dirt off herself. "Now what?"
Arlong crossed his arms and thought about their next plan of action. It made sense to continue packing, but like hell he was going to let Aria die so pitifully. She was nakama. And for some reason, the thought of losing her hurt more now than it did when Grenouille had kidnapped her. He wanted to destroy something, anything if it meant bringing Aria back.
But he knew that it was much more likely to lure more graniteworms if he went on a rampage.
Arlong felt powerless and it made his mouth taste vile.
Then all of a sudden, Aria was on the ground in front of them, collapsed in a heap.
The euphoria of emotions Arlong felt was staggering, and he could hardly believe his eyes. Everyone rushed around Aria, checking to see if she was alright, and Arlong let out a shaky sigh of relief.
She was unconscious but that just made things easier. She was too tired to be of any use after directing Twinny. They laid her somewhere safe while they finished packing up Farren's junk. When they finished, Arlong carried her to the ship. She was too tired and exhausted to even fly herself there.
Whatever she had done to save herself must have been an absolute last-ditch method, Arlong reasoned. He felt bad dunking her in ocean water, but Arlong had to get Aria to the ship somehow. He needed to check on her wound. He needed to make sure she was okay.
Arlong just wanted to hold Aria for a little while longer.
Thankfully, Aria's hip had been fine, from what his limited medical experience could tell. He half expected Aria to slap him when Arlong said he was going to bandage her up again, but she was too exhausted to do more than complain a bit. Her eyelids were drooping the entire time he applied ointment to her, and while he fixed up her new scratches she had even leaned against him like she wanted to fall asleep.
She damn well deserved her rest after today, Arlong figured. He would have been happy to let her pass out against him. If she were dressed, that is. As it were, Arlong no longer needed to wonder if Aria's carpet matched the drapes. Arlong fully intended to be a responsible captain, but he couldn't deny that he was attracted to Aria.
Damn, he wished she wasn't human.
Then there wouldn't be this damn nagging guilt in his chest.
Tai-nii, you'll call me a fool, but I think I'm in love with this human.
AN:
I'm still alive! The past... year? Or so? Has been crazy. Not just with covid and working from home though. I got married, bought a house, moved to a different state, got a new cat. I didn't do much writing, unfortunately. What I did write was an AU that may or may not see the light of day anytime soon. Whoops. At least it's Arlong related?
I'm still trying to get back into this whole 'writing for my own enjoyment and fun' thing, so it might take me a minute, but there will be updates. Eventually. :P
I can't remember if I said this before or not, but originally I had a much longer outline for Hellbent. A ridiculously long outline. It would've taken too long to get to the end, with how inconsistent I am with posting and how insecure I am with my chapters now. So I wound up cutting out some of the islands we'd visit in the interest of making the story drag on less. Cave Island is probably one of the most drastically changed!
It was obviously going to still have caves, but originally there was going to be a plotline of Arlong finding humans surviving in the caves and trying to subjugate them, but they didn't use money. I didn't know how to solve that issue in the slightest, because they were supposed to be a 'hidden community' that doesn't interact with outsiders. Farren was still going to be located on Cave Island, but instead of working with Grenouille, she was going to be making human experiments with animal dna. Aria was going to explode a bear. And there was going to be an amnesia trope, because I love shitty romance tropes.
But then I was playing around with Rinka and Grenouille and Chew, and moving up Cave Island before we hit the next arc felt like it would make way more sense. Plus, Aria gets to explode a worm. Nice!