A/N: YOSH! A new chapter!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 9: An Empty Vault
April 7, X792 - Morning
"Good morning you two!" Cordelia smiled widely as she made her way into the navigation cabin on the front ship.
"Morning Cordelia!" Matilda answered cheerfully, almost knocking over her cup of coffee from turning to look at the guild master. Luckily, Sam had been there to hold down the mug, even if a bit of the hot coffee sloshed up onto his fingers, "How did you sleep? You need some coffee? Are we going to figure out where to go today?"
"Morning," Sam said quietly while Matilda continued to spit out question after question. He shook his hand a few times from the coffee hitting them before Cordelia passed a napkin over to him, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Cordelia answered, the two of them still ignoring a jabbering Matilda for the moment, "How have things been this morning?"
Sam wore a flat look on his face as he turned to stare at Matilda, "How do you deal with it?" he asked, watching as the navigator acted out something from the party a couple days ago.
"Uhhh…good question," Cordelia answered with a nervous laugh, "I suppose by letting her have all the coffee she wants…?"
"Do you really think that adding coffee into the mix is really doing any good?"
"Have you seen her when she hasn't had any?"
"No. Is it that bad?"
A sudden chill came over the two as Matilda slinked up behind them. A black aura covered her as her bangs fell over her eyes, her hands trembling upwards to grip either of their shoulders, "No caffeine and all work makes Matilda a dreadful monster," she said in a low and dark voice. The other two were frozen in their place, afraid to make a move for the moment. Though, the air quickly cleared and Matilda was smiling widely again, "But we have plenty of coffee, so there's no need to worry about that right now!"
Cordelia and Sam sighed in relief as the woman let them go and moved off to where she had been sitting previously. Cordelia fixed her coat back into place before looking over at Sam. She was about to say something to him, but the bags under his eyes caught her attention first. She stared at sight of the tired boy in front of her and frowned, "Sam, have you been sleeping okay?"
Sam looked up, surprised by the question. Even Matilda stopped her antics to look over at the two when she heard the question. Now that she had taken the time to really look at Sam, she realized how tired he looked.
"I…I've just been up late…working on things for my new position," Sam answered quietly, looking down at the deck.
Cordelia and Matilda were quiet at the answer. Matilda looked over to the guild master to see an oddly serious look on her face as she studied Sam. It was almost as if she could tell that the boy was lying, but Matilda had thought the answer made sense to her. She was often up for long periods of time herself before crashing out.
Cordelia turned fully to face Sam, her arms cross in front of her as she narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her. Sam was still looking down at the wooden floor, and from the look on his face, Cordelia could tell that he was hoping she would drop the subject. While she wasn't sure about the reason behind it, she knew that he was lying. It wasn't that hard to tell. But still, there was no use forcing him to answer honestly, not so early into their new positions and friendship. Eventually, she sighed and dropped her stance, her arms falling to her sides.
"I appreciate you working so hard already," Cordelia began, "But I don't want you pushing yourself like this. You'll be no use to me if you don't get rest so you can be at the top of your game."
"I understand," Sam answered, "But you don't need to worry about me."
"Don't be stupid," she smiled widely, "Of course I have to worry about you. I'm the guild master, so that means I need to take care of everyone and worry about them all the time. It's in the job description," she explained, setting a hand on top of his head while still smiling at him, "You're my family, so I get to worry about you like family. And that also means you can come to me with any problems. Remember that, yeah?"
"Yeah," he answered, staring at her smiling face with surprise in his eyes again. That warm feeling that belonged to real families had caught him off guard. He didn't know what else to do or say other than the response he had given her. If he had been a more excitable person, he felt he might have given her a hug for her words, but instead, all he could do was stand there in silence. Though, it didn't seem like Cordelia minded his reaction much, considering she was still smiling at him. Plus, Matilda was able to interrupt the scene and save him from having to say anything else.
"Such a beautiful speech!" Matilda cried as she launched herself onto Cordelia, hugging her tightly and nuzzling her face against the guild master's, "Does that mean I'm your family too?! Please say I'm your family, you won't regret it, I want to be a part of the family too! You're already becoming such a wonderful guild master, just like Duke, when's he coming back?! I want to show him off to you and I-"
"All right! I get it!" Cordelia shouted, trying to pull the woman off of her, but only succeeding in knocking the two of them to the floor, "You're my family! You're my family! Just let me go!" she cried while desperately trying to crawl away from the woman.
Sam could only stare down at the pair with a sweat drop rolling down his forehead.
"Yo! Cordi!" Ace shouted, suddenly appearing in the doorway of the cabin, his feet stopping right in front of the pair on the floor. He saw Sam first and then looked down to see what he was staring at, "Huh? What the hell is going on here?"
"Ace," Cordelia cried, streams of tears falling down her cheeks as she grabbed onto one of his ankles, "Save me!"
"How can you call yourself the guild master when you can't even get away from a single mage?" he asked. Though, he still grabbed onto her arms and yanked her free from Matilda.
"Thank you!" she said as she hugged him in thanks.
"You're such a weirdo, Cordi," he mumbled, but still patted her head in return.
"So mean!" she cried again, "What happened to my baby brother?! You used to be so cute too!"
"GAH! So annoying! Don't say embarrassing things like that!" he shouted in return, "I only came up here to get you to check out the storage ship!"
"Ah! That's right! I need to check on the supplies!"
"And somehow I'm the stupid one."
"You are the stupid one when you thought that barrel was a giant pineapple and you tried to eat it," she huffed as she walked out of the cabin.
"I was six! And you were the one that painted it to look like a pineapple!" he shouted in return as he followed her, "You even had Eli tell me that it was real!"
"You shouldn't have trusted him."
"He was eating pineapple while he told me! What else was I supposed to think?!"
The duo continued arguing as they made their way off of the front boat and to the ship right behind it where all the supplies were kept.
"Then explain the Tarzan incident that happened a month ago," Cordelia huffed as she walked down into the lower decks of the ship.
"You still won't let that go?! That was a whole month ago!"
"Still, it didn't help your reputation any."
"Hey! At least I'm not known as a prick like Gordon."
"I'll give you that," she answered, as she began looking around at everything they had in stock, "You brought a pen and paper to write stuff down with, right?"
"Yeah," he said, pulling out the writing utensils he had made sure to grab that morning.
"Looks like we need to stock up on food supplies for sure," she began, "That party wiped us out a bit," she said, beginning to list off different food supplies that they would need to stock up on as she looked through crates and barrels and even in the refrigerated section of the boat. For a half hour, the two went through everything they would need to restock the guild with and how much to get when they stopped in port. It was easy to complete this task with her brother, considering they had both lived in the guild all their lives and knew exactly how much to get for everyone and how long it would last until the next stop.
"This looks about right," Ace said as shoved the pen and paper back into his pocket, "We have enough money to get all this stuff, right?"
"Yeah, we should," Cordelia answered as she walked up to a sealed, metal door. It had a hand print on the front of it where the guild master was to press their hand in order to unlock it, "Earlier this morning, dad registered the lock on the treasure vault to read my hand print as the new guild master," she explained as she placed her hand on the large print, "There should be enough money in here to pay for the things we need. Although, depending on how much is in here, we may need to do a few jobs in order to replenish the vault."
"Sounds good to me," Ace answered, "It's been a little boring around here lately if you ask me."
"Well, we shouldn't need too big of a job to fill it up if I remember what it looks like from the days that Duke and dad ran this place," she said, hearing the door unlock. She pushed it open, expecting to see large piles of gold and jewels. Though, only an empty room with dust balls rolling across the floor appeared before them, causing both of their jaws to smack to the floor in response.
"What the hell?!" Ace shouted, being the first to recover from the shock, "Where the hell is all the treasure?!"
Cordelia felt her whole body twitch in anger, fire suddenly exploding around her, "GORDON!" she roared before busting out of the vault at top speed to go hunt down the former guild master.
"That guy's a dead man for sure," Ace said as he ran after his sister to watch the showdown.
. : + : .
Ace had managed to find the fight on the boy's dorm ship just in time to see Cordelia slam Gordon down onto the deck.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Gordon shouted, a crowd already beginning to form around them.
"What the hell is my problem?!" Cordelia returned his shout, pinning him down to the deck, "Your complete lack of responsibility and care for this guild is my problem!"
"I didn't even do anything!"
"And that's the problem! You didn't do anything for three years!"
"What's going on?" Jay asked as he and Drayden came to stand next to Ace.
"She opened the vault to make sure we had enough money to pay for supplies at our next stop," Ace answered, "And when she opened the door, there was nothing in it."
"Seriously?!" Jay shouted in response.
"So basically, he's about to die," Drayden added, earning a nod from Ace.
"What did you even become guild master for?!" Cordelia continued to shout, "Because you sure as hell made sure not to do anything with that title once you had it!"
"What does it matter now?! You're the master now!"
"It matters because I have a whole guild to feed and keep healthy out in the middle of the ocean and I don't have the damn money to pay for it! Why is the vault empty?!"
Gordon looked shocked for a moment before looking away from her.
"Hell no! You don't get to get out of this one!" she yelled as she grabbed onto his hair to make him look at her, "Where's all of the guild's money, Gordon?!"
He stayed quiet, too embarrassed to answer her in front of everyone.
"Answer me! I swear! You better answer me before I start smashing that clunk of metal you have for a head into the deck!"
"I spent it, okay?! I had to spend it to keep the guild fed!" he finally shouted in response.
"What?! In three years, you wasted away all that money?! Why didn't you replenish it with jobs?!"
"I didn't know how! Is that what you want me to say?!" he yelled, bringing everyone into a silence, "I got the master position and I didn't know what I was doing," he said in a lower voice, "So I had to use that money to make sure everyone stayed fed and everything."
Cordelia clenched her teeth in anger as she stared down at the man under her, but she managed to keep herself from lashing out again at him. At least he had admitted that he didn't know what he was doing during his time as master, "All you had to do was ask for help. That's the first mission I'm giving you as you're new master. Learn how to swallow that pride of yours and ask for help."
"Tch, I don't need to do that now that I'm not the master anymore," he grunted in reply.
"Everyone needs help at some point, Gordon," Cordelia retorted, her tone almost sounding sad at the man's response.
"Yeah, well, not me. Now get off. You've humiliated me twice in one week. Isn't that enough for you?"
Cordelia didn't say anything further as she got up off of the man. He quickly got up and walked away, people jumping out of his way as he moved to go down into his dorm. Things were quiet for a moment before Jay approached Cordelia, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you all right?"
Cordelia suddenly turned around to the face the crowd with a bright smile, "Yeah, of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?"
"But Cordelia…what about the money and Gordon?" Jay continued, knowing just as well as Ace and Drayden that she was forcing the smile.
"Don't worry! I'll get everything figured out before we get into port! Things are just fine, so no worrying about it, okay?"
"Yeah…okay," he answered.
"Good! Now, I've got to go let my navigator know which port we need to head into, so be ready to enjoy some time on land soon!" she said, continuing to smile as she made her way back towards the front ship.
"She's faking it," Drayden mentioned once she was gone from sight.
"Completely," Ace agreed, "But it's her way of making sure the rest of the guild doesn't panic."
"I don't think that's healthy," Jay mumbled before he walked off to the middle ship with the other two men.
. : + : .
Cordelia sat at her desk with her head down on it. She had already told Matilda to head towards the closest port on the northwestern shores of Fiore since they were so close to it now. She was sure that in just another few hours they would be there. She had then disappeared down into her office to try and figure out how to pay for the supplies they were to get, but she had yet to think of anything at all. And while she had told Gordon to swallow his own pride, there was no way she was going to start asking her guild members to give her any of their personal money.
"This would be easier if we could go on a treasure hunt first," she sighed into the table, "But even then, I don't know where to look at the moment or even how everyone will work together. What the hell am I supposed to do?" At that question, her office door opened and quietly shut, causing her to peek up to see who had entered. She was surprised to see her dad standing before with the usual stoic look on his face, "Dad?" she questioned, her eyebrow quirking upwards when she saw something large tucked under his arm.
"Morning," Finn answered as he made his way over to her desk. He then pulled out the object he was holding and set it in front of her, "Here."
Cordelia's eyes went wide upon seeing the large treasure chest that had been set down before her. She looked up at her dad and then back down to the chest, finally popping open the top. She was once again surprised by the amount of money that was stored in it, "Dad…I can't take this. This is money you've been saving up."
"Seems like the right time to be using it then," he answered as he sat down in one of the seats across from her desk, "Ace told me about the empty vault."
"I don't want to take your personal savings."
"Then what do you plan to do in order to buy supplies?" he asked, Cordelia staying quiet since she had no answer for him, "Your mom and I have more saved up, so you don't need to worry about that."
"But…I didn't do anything to earn this."
"Cordelia," he began, catching his daughter's full attention, "I am giving you this money. Let's call it a gift for becoming the new guild master if it bothers you that much. You stepped into a new, important role without having everything you need, so learn how to accept these things when they are given to you," he said, earning a nod from Cordelia, "Besides, I'm your father and I still reserve the right to take care of you when you need it."
"Thank you," she said quietly as she shut the lid to the chest and slid it under her desk, "Dad…did you ever feel overwhelmed when you were master? Did you have problems like these?"
"All the time," he answered, "Especially when I first started. Everything was a giant mess when I took over and it took me a while to get things in order. I thought about giving up a few times too. Everyone was so troublesome and caused me headaches everyday."
Cordelia smacked her head back against her desk upon hearing his answer, "How did you deal with it then?"
She heard him chuckle softly before he answered, "That one is actually easy to answer. I simply remembered to love them. You love your guild…your family, and things will fall into place. You show them love and they will love you back. Once you have that love, Cordelia, then you have the world."
"Do you think I can have the world?"
Finn was quiet as he stood up from his chair. He came to a stop right next to Cordelia and laid a hand on top of her head, "I believe that one day you'll have the world ten times over. I have faith in your love and what you're willing to do for your guild. And I'll smile in pride when you surpass me…and you will surpass me one day. Just keep moving forward even when you think you can't go any further."
After finishing his words and figuring that Cordelia would be all right for the time being, Finn began to make his way out of the office. Though, he managed to hear an 'I love you too' before exiting the room, causing him to smile softly.
. : + : .
Just as Cordelia had thought, the guild came rolling into one of the ports on the northwestern shores of Fiore. Due to the large size of the guild, most of it stuck far out from the docks, only the front ship and one of the front corner ships being able to touch the docks, but it was enough room for people to walk off the guild and to bring supplies onto it. Cordelia had a few of the men drop the anchors as well as tying the guild to the docks to keep it in place.
"All right!" Cordelia called out to the guild before she let them free, "We'll only be staying here for a couple days, so don't be late returning to the guild if you choose to stay on land. You are free to do as you please, but I do need some volunteers to help buy supplies and load it onto the docks this afternoon. So those of you that wish to help out with that, stay behind for the moment so we can sort out who will be picking up what in town. Otherwise, you all are free to do as you please until we head back out to sea."
Most of the guild began to disappear into town after her instructions, wave after wave of people exiting off the ships. They ignored the stares they received from the people that lived in the town, having become used to them over the years. Once everyone had left for town or had disappeared back into their dorms, a small group stood in front of Cordelia, consisting of John, Securus, Seth, Eli, Ace, Jay, Aria, Nanami and Vi.
"Thanks for staying behind to help out," Cordelia said with a smile, "You've got that list from earlier, Ace?"
"Yeah, but how are we gonna pay for everything?" he answered, pulling out the list they had made earlier.
"I've got it covered," she replied, "So no worries there," she added, pushing the treasure chest from earlier in the middle of the group, "Once we figure out who's getting what, we'll split up the money to make sure everyone has enough to cover the cost of things," she explained, everyone staring down at the money with surprised looks. Though, they kept their comments to themselves about where the money had come from, happy just to have the funds to pay for supplies, "Now, we do need to stock up on ammo, weapons and metal supplies. I'll leave that to you Vi since you know what to look for and how much things should really cost for those types of supplies," Cordelia began, handing over a smaller paper to the woman, "Although, here's a basic list of things that we should probably get the most of, but I trust you in knowing what to get and what not to get."
Vi glanced over the list given to her before nodding her head at her, "Seems easy enough. Consider it done already."
"Good. And John, I want you to go with her to help carry the supplies back here."
"No problem," he answered.
"All right then, you two can go on ahead while we figure out how to break the rest of the list up."
The two nodded at her and took the money she handed them before walking off of the guild. Cordelia turned back to the rest of the group, glancing at the list Ace had written earlier while puzzling in who would be best suited to get certain supplies.
"I want Seth and Eli to get water and other drinks since you two should have the easiest time carrying all those barrels back here. And don't try to buy everything at once again!" she said quickly and loudly, "Buy the water first and then bring it back here. Then go get the wine and so on and so forth. I don't want to have another batch of wasted liquor because you thought you could carry it all at once!"
"Okay, okay, geez," Eli grumbled in response, "We'll do them one at a time."
"You better," Cordelia said, eyeing the two men for a moment, "All right then, I want Shiraki and Securus to get dry food supplies. Here's a list of the things we need for them," she said, handing over a paper to Nanami, "And don't try hustling people in town to carry the supplies back this time, Securus!"
"But it's just so easy to get them to do it," he grinned.
"Don't worry, Cordelia-san," Nanami said when she saw the woman's eye twitch, "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything like that."
"Thank you," she replied, "Jay and Aria, I want you two to get the cold foods," she said, handing Jay the paper of the needed refrigerated foods, "And don't eat any of it on your way back to the guild either!"
"What the hell?!" Aria shouted, "You can't just guess that's what we're gonna do!"
"I'm not guessing! I know!" Cordelia retorted, "You better keep her in line, Jay!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"All right, off you all go then!"
"What about you and Ace?" Jay asked.
"We'll be waiting for you here to help load everything on the ship, but there's something I need to run out and get first in the mean time," Cordelia answered, "And Ace will be coming with me."
"What?! The hell I am!" Ace shouted, "You know that neither of us can step on dry land!"
"I'm not letting that issue stop me from getting what I need!" she shouted, "But I'm not gonna die alone either!"
"You're the worst sister ever!" Ace yelled as Cordelia looped her arm through his and pulled him off of the boat and onto the dock. The money had been split up evenly through everyone and Cordelia had managed to even grab some for herself for what she wanted to buy, "You're not making me step on land!" he continued, desperately trying to pull away from her and back to the guild.
"You're coming with me and that's final!" she said.
Though, she quickly came to a stop where the deck ended and dry land began. The two gulped loudly as they stared at the ground before them. Cordelia finally lifted one leg up and moved it forward, forcing Ace to do the same. As soon as their feet touched the land, they instantly face planted into the ground, a sickly green color covering their face. The group behind them only sighed in response, having already known that was going to happen.
"I'm gonna die!" Ace groaned, "This is why Ingrid and Lance stayed on the boat!"
"I don't think their cases of land sickness is anywhere near either of yours," Eli said as he approached the pair, "Look, whatever you need to get, Cor, probably isn't worth all this fuss. Just give me the money and tell me what you were going to buy."
"No! I want to get it myself! I'm an adult! I can do it!" she answered, trying to pull herself across the ground.
"You're only gonna make yourself sick and I'm not gonna be the one to clean it up!" Eli retorted, "Just go back to the boat! Or at least on the docks!"
"No!"
"You're always so stubborn!" Eli growled, "The rest of you go on ahead. Seth and I will take care of these two," he said to the rest of the group, rolling Ace and Cordelia to make enough room for them to walk through.
"Good luck," Securus chuckled as he quickly followed everyone else into town.
"Yeah, thanks," he grunted in reply. He then turned to look back at Seth, "I'll take Ace back to the guild since she really had no point in bringing him this far. Try and see if you can reason with her in the mean time."
"I'll try, but I doubt it will do anything," Seth smiled as he walked over to Cordelia. He bent down to lean on the balls of his feet near her, "I think you should go back onto the boat. You don't want to get sick, do you?"
"No, but what I need to buy is very important!"
"Can't you just let us buy it instead?"
"I want to buy it myself!"
"What is it you need to buy anyways?"
"I want to go to the music store and get Devin a new pair of headphones since his got ruined in that fight," she said before another wave of nausea hit her. She groaned as she rolled onto her back to finally look up at Seth. She threw her hands up towards him, "Carry me there?"
"Well, I can't really say no now that I know what you want to buy," he grinned, "But how do you expect me to carry those barrels back while also carrying you?"
She dropped her arms back to the ground while large streams of tears began to fall down her cheeks, "I…I…I just want to buy Devin some new headphones!"
"Geez, you're still such a bratty kid," Eli suddenly said. Though, he quickly lifted her up and heaved her onto his back. Her arms hung over his shoulders while he held her up by her legs, "You better not get sick on me," he mumbled.
"So warm," she said, knowing he was using his Fire Magic to heat his body up enough to get her to relax and fall asleep. She snuggled up against his back and was asleep within minutes.
"She seems comfortable," Seth mentioned with a laugh.
"Tch, she never learns. Always causing trouble like this," Eli grumbled as he began walking into town.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem like you mind either," Seth said, following him, "You are carrying her into town instead of putting her back on the ship like Ace, after all."
"I'm only doing this so she doesn't throw a fit later," he retorted.
Though, he refused to look Seth in the eye when he said it, causing the older man to laugh loudly in reply, "Whatever you say! I suppose we should look for the music store first then?"
"Sure, whatever," he answered lowly, still not looking up at Seth, which only caused the man to laugh louder.
. : + : .
John and Vi quietly and quickly made their way through town. Vi had made stops at this port before, so she knew exactly where she was going. She was glad that Cordelia had paired John up with her since the man tended to be on the more quiet side and he was able to keep up with her so far without any problems. He also seemed like a hard worker and she respected that. Plus, she was happy to have someone around that could help her carry back the heavy supplies that they would be buying.
"You sure know your way through town," John commented as he watched her weave around people with ease.
"Been here before," was all she answered with.
John didn't seem to mind her short answer as he continued to follow her until they both stood outside of a weapons shop. He watched as Vi scanned over the things on the list before she nodded her head.
"We should be able to get everything here," she said to him, "I also have a good relationship with the owner, so we should get a good deal."
John simply nodded in reply before they stepped into the shop.
"Welcome!" a man's voice boomed out from the front counter. A middle aged man smiled at them as he turned to look at them, "What can I do for…" he began before suddenly stopping when his eyes fell on Vi. Sweat quickly began to pour down his body before he shouted loudly, "It's you! Take whatever you want! You don't even need to pay! Here! I'll pack everything up for you even!"
As the man continued shouting, he threw all kinds of weapons, ammo and metal materials into large boxes. John wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he suddenly found himself standing back outside of the shop, holding three large boxes while Vi held two.
"I…uh…I mean…well…what the hell just happened?!"
"I told you I had a good relationship with him," Vi answered, beginning the walk back to the ship.
"Whatever just happened doesn't account for a good relationship!" John called after her, "What did you do to that guy?"
"He asked me one day if I knew how to properly use a gun, so I simply answered him by telling him a hundred different ways that you could shoot a gun and hit a person and where it would hit the person at. He didn't seem to believe me since he didn't say anything, so I proved it to him by shooting one of the guns in his store."
"You shot him?!"
"No, he ducked," she said bluntly.
John only sweat dropped in response, "I think his initial question was meant as a joke."
"Why would someone joke about knowing how to use a gun? He asked a question, so I simply answered it."
"We may need to work on your social skills some."
"I don't see the problem. He seemed to like me enough after that since he gives me things whenever I stop by his shop. Cordelia likes the deal too."
"Of course she would," John mumbled, "Still, I think you should learn when someone is joking and when someone isn't."
"Only if it's given to me as work to complete," she answered, stopping to look over at John expectantly as if waiting for him to laugh.
John just stared flatly at her, "Learning a joke shouldn't be work."
"And I was making a joke myself. Maybe you're the one that needs to learn how to be funny," she said before she started walking again.
"You're not supposed to have a straight face when you crack a joke!"
"Cracking a joke is physically impossible as a joke isn't an object. You tell a joke."
"It's just a phrase!"
"That was another joke, John."
"You're really bad at this!"
. : + : .
"Aria! Stop trying to eat the food!" Jay shouted from behind the tall girl, making sure to keep a better eye on her this way.
"Stop being a party pooper!" she replied, but shoved away what she was about to snack on nonetheless.
"It's a good thing that Cordelia didn't send Haruna or Squall with you or else you would be bringing nothing back with you."
"You're only tryin' to show off in front of Cordelia," Aria smirked.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" he shouted with a blush, "Now get moving!"
"I wonder where Cordelia got all that money from anyways. I heard that the vault was empty," Aria mentioned as they made their way through the crowd of the town, "Ohhh! What if she had to sell her body for that money?! We just paid for the guild's food with dirty cash!" she said, her smirk widening into a devious smile.
"Cordelia would never do that!" Jay yelled in reply, "What a horrible thing to imply about your own guild master!"
"Haha! But it's so fun getting' you all worked up like that!" she laughed loudly, "You're too easy of a target, Jay! Even Miss Proper Alisa puts up a better fight than you!"
"If you want a fight, then I'll spar with you when we get back to the guild, but in the mean time, stop trashing Cordelia's good name!"
"Sword against sword?" Aria wondered for a moment, "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've fought against you yet. But I'm sure you'll be pretty easy to beat."
"Don't underestimate me! Besides training on my own, I've been training with Ace too."
"Psh, like that's somethin' to be proud of," she snickered, "I can beat Ace!"
"I haven't seen you do it yet," Jay replied, now being the one to smirk, "Ace may not be the brightest bulb in the guild, but he's wicked awesome with a sword. And unlike you, he uses two at a time."
"I can use two at a time!"
"Not very well. Maybe you should take some lessons from Ace."
A vein ticked on Aria's forehead from Jay's comments, causing her to eventually drop the food and pull out her sword from its sheath, "Let's show him how it's done, Hiryu!" she shouted, igniting the katana blade in flames. She slashed the sword forwards in a hard arc, sending a fireball off the tip of the blade. Jay easily dodged the fireball and the two watched as it flew into a building, exploding on impact. They stared the destroyed building with wide eyes before Aria shoved the sword back into its sheath and picked up the dropped food, "RUN!" she shouted before taking off at top speed back towards the guild.
"What the hell?!" a man shouted, appearing out of the burning hole of the building with a still sizzling mustache. He narrowed his eyes at Jay, who flinched in response to the glare aimed at him.
Jay laughed nervously before he eventually flung the rest of the money Cordelia had given him for the food at the man, "Sorry about that!" he shouted back towards the man as he ran from the area much like Aria had.
. : + : .
Nanami looked up when she heard a loud explosion go off from the other side of town. She had just finished paying for the flour that was on the list, which happened to be the last item they needed to get. She sighed lightly, knowing that the cause of the explosion was sure to be one of her guildmates.
"Sounds like someone is having fun," Securus chuckled from next to her, his teeth chomped down on a cigarette.
"It's probably Aria-san too," Nanami said before thanking the shop owner they had bought the flour from, "Pick up a bag please, Securus-kun."
"You've got it, Shiraki," he said, picking up one of the two giant flour bags and throwing it over his shoulder. Nanami picked up the other bag and soon the two were making their way back towards the guild.
"I'm surprised you volunteered to help out today," Nanami commented, "Normally, you just relax around the guild when we're in port."
"Stop trying to be nice and just call me lazy, Shiraki," Securus said, managing to blow smoke out of his mouth without removing the cigarette, considering that both of his hands were full, "But I figured it would be good to help out Cordelia since she can't walk on land and all."
"You must be in a considerate mood then."
"Something like that I suppose," he shrugged, "I suppose it's also because I know she had a hard time earlier with finding the empty vault and then dealing with Gordon."
"Well, I'm sure Cordelia-san appreciates your help," she smiled over at him, "But you are right. That empty vault is rather troublesome to think about. We'll have to think of ways to help fill it back up."
"Haven't you heard?" whispering voices suddenly interrupted the pair, quickly catching their attention. Both Nanami and Securus stopped to hear whatever the rumor was, "They say that someone in town has the map to Blackstroker's hoard!"
"Are they gonna go after all that gold? Where is it buried at?"
"Don't know. All I know is that they supposedly have a map and some clues. But could you imagine finding that much treasure? Your great-great-great-grand kids would be set for life with a fortune like that!"
The whisperings died down as the gossipers walked away from the two S-Class mages. Nanami and Securus quickly exchanged glances, Securus smirking over at the woman.
"I don't suppose you have a thing against stealing from pirates, do you?"
"Of course not, Securus-kun," she smiled in return, "What are pirates to do with money except bury it on a new island?"
"I like the way you think!"
. : + : .
"Sir, I don't think it's wise to flash that map around like you're doing," a young man said, looking to a middle-aged man wearing a heavy black coat and a worn and dusty, black pirate hat.
"You worried about someone trying to take it from us, boy?" the man replied, looking up from under the hat with a dark smirk.
"It's not that…it'd just be easier for us if people didn't know we had that map."
"What a boring way to live. Don't you think men?" the cloaked man asked. A crowd that filled the bar cheered in response. He then turned back to the younger man, pushing his hat up out of his eyes by the shining silver hook that was his left hand, "I'd like to see someone try to take Blackstroker's map from Madmartigan and the Black Skulls!" he shouted, laughing loudly with the rest of his crew.
A/N: And there were are! I hope you all enjoyed it!
I was really happy to be getting into an actual arc and this one should be good too! Pirates and treasure hunts! Definitely gonna be an interesting time for the guild!
And I've actually been watching One Piece for the first time recently, so that's been giving me a bunch of inspiration for this story. I never thought I would like that show, but thanks to a few people telling me to watch it, I'm now hooked. So thanks to Origm2012 for being one of those people, lol. Seriously, I don't think I've ever connected with characters so quickly before for anything! I just love it so much!
Also, kudos to anyone who knows the movie I gave a shout out to in this chapter with the name Madmartigan.
I would also like to thank those of you that have sent in ideas for the story so far! They've really been helping me out in mapping out new arcs to come! Or even adding ideas to the arcs I already have in mind. So if any of you think of a mission or something you'd like to see, let me know and I'll see if I can't work something in there. Can't promise how quickly it would show up though, but I'll see what I can do.
Now! Onto those lovely reviews!
Thanks to all of you that reviewed last chapter!
Sakura-Fiction - LOL, well I don't think I would be able to work Haruna and Jack together for a couple of reasons. Jack actually already has a pairing set for him and considering the age difference between the two, I don't think it would work out very well. But I'll keep a look out for someone for Haruna since I know you mentioned in her profile that you wanted her to be paired up with someone eventually. But I'm glad you liked the party! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Ogrespi - Haha! Yep! That was the whole idea behind that new Stylist option for him. But I'm glad you're enjoying the interactions between all the characters and they come off as being alive like that for you! Glad you enjoyed the party and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Origm2012 - Glad I could surprise you with that game of Twister, lol. And yeah, I think Eli is about the only person who could be mad while playing it. And I did keep picturing Seth being pretty bad at playing the game too, mostly because of his size, but in the end, Regina's sneeze won out for ruining the game. LOL! Glad you liked that parrot bit with Gamu and I feel it's only fair to get someone to laugh out loud at work when I've done that myself before! Haha! Team Rocket for Ingrid and Kasra! That was great to try and picture! And yeah, rollerblading on a ship can never end well. Although, I'm not sure if we'll ever learn the mystery behind all the skates being in Tazz's room. Yeah, Nanami was definitely able to pull off that revenge bit with her magic! Yeah, I can't be having Mia pulling a Gray so early on, lol. Although, the rating may change depending on how some of these eventual arcs turn out. Some of the fight scene in my head may have it going up a notch, but we'll see. And I'm glad you enjoyed the interaction between Squall and Zhuue! I've been waiting for that too! Yeah, I figured Seth would work out really well as a middle man between Cordelia and Eli, considering how mellow he is when compared to those two. Muwhahahahaha! Can't be having those relationships playing out so easily yet! And you all don't even know the half of it yet! I can't wait for a certain little detail to be exposed here soon! It's a like a cliff hanger in a review response! HA! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Robinfyre - Glad you enjoyed the party for the ending of the Introduction Arc! And I'm glad the characters having been turning out so well for you. They're all really fun for me to write! And the descriptions are something that I'm usually working on. Like you said, it's a bit different with these types of stories just because readers don't know what all these new OCs look like. But now that we're out of the introductions, we shouldn't get some many like that in a row. But I'm happy to hear how much you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to enjoy it! And I hope you enjoyed this new chapter!
Dreadburner94 - Haha! Glad you enjoyed that scene with Tazz and Nanami! That idea of yours worked out so well! Yep, Isaak definitely had a plan going on with that dancing! Sneaky little guy! And I think Gamu will continue to be an interesting dude, considering his personality and everything. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Raiyane - Okie dokie, so! I'm gonna try to smoosh a response to all your reviews into one, lol, so this might be a bit long. First off, I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story overall so far and that you're caught up on it! YOSH! Glad you enjoy Matilda! She's always super fun and energetic for me to write! And of course I can't help myself with that romance being thrown in there! Although…I'm still trying to work out everything with the eventual pairing for Cordelia. And I'm glad you're enjoying all the fight scenes and that they're turning out so well! I'm also glad you enjoyed that scene between Jean and Sam. I was laughing while I wrote that one. And I'm glad you like Sam too. Every time I write him, I just want to hug him! And I enjoy Archive magic as well, so I'm glad I got both Sam and Matilda. And I think 'chill' describes Securus pretty well, lol. Can't wait to put The Defender into action! CHA! Yeah, Devin can be scary, but really, he's a cool guy. Kato just happens to be an unlucky (and slightly stupid) guy that messes with him too often. Glad you liked Zhuue too! She really is adorable! Sigh…yeah…Cordelia really doesn't pay attention to romance all that well…but she is better at it than Eli! And I'm glad you like the drawings that are being done right now for the story! Glad you enjoyed both Alisa and Alai! As well as the Murdock family! That Twister scene was a spur of the moment idea, so I'm glad it turned out so well! No, I don't think it's a bad thing to picture Nanami sounding like that since I do that often myself, lol. Haha! Yeah, that scene with Mia was really fun for me to do! And I'll have to keep you guessing a bit with Cordelia and these boys around her for possible romances, lol! But I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so much! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
DarkHyena - Glad to hear that the girls have moved up on your favorite characters list! Glad you enjoyed the party and that you're liking the whole guild! And we're about to get into some exciting stuff for this arc! And I'm glad you're enjoying the fan art! I'm sure XLil MEkoX appreciates the great feedback! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
RansomeNote - Yep! The guild definitely knows how to party! And I'm glad you're enjoying all the descriptions and such and that they're turning out so well! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
XLil MEkoX - LOL, glad you liked the party! Yeah, it seems like a lot of people liked that Twister scene, lol. Yeah, I'm not sure how those poor guys (although I shouldn't feel bad for them for the show they got) didn't die of blood loss from Mia's antics. And oh no…are the shipping wars already starting? LOL! We'll just have to wait and see how things play out for Cordelia's love life! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
reven228 - Glad you enjoyed the party chapter! And now all I can picture is Cordelia stuck in a pinball machine, lol! Poor girl! I hoep you enjoyed this chapter!
CryptozoologyConundrum - Happy to hear that you enjoyed that last chapter! And yeah, poor Sam! Being thrown around like that, lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
GhostOfOnyx - Glad you enjoyed the party! And I'm glad to hear that you like Hagi's character so much! Yeah, poor Kato got framed! And no worries on the review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Momochan77 - Glad to hear you enjoyed all the moments in the last chapter! I really had a lot of fun with it, so it's good to see that you all enjoyed it too! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
AkumaXHwaorang - Glad you enjoyed those scene with Gamu! I really do have too much fun with him right now! But that's a good thing! Yeah, that Mia scene seemed to make most people laugh, so I'm glad to see you enjoyed it too! One of my friends said they wanted to play Portal after reading that scene with Nanami and Tazz, lol. And I'm hoping things turn out as epic as you're all hoping, lol. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
LightandDarkHeart - Happy to hear you enjoyed the party! And I think those scorings sound about right for all those characters, lol. And now we get to dive into the new arc, so I'm glad that you're excited for that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
silverhawk88 - Glad I could make you laugh with that last chapter! Yeah, that Twister scene was sorta spur of the moment, so I'm glad I thought of it when I did. And I'm glad you enjoyed Mac's little prank to everyone on that dance floor! And I'm glad you enjoyed that Mia scene too! Seems like most people got a good laugh out of that too. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Benthino - I thought you might like that mute friendship! And of course I can thank the artist of the fan art! I'm sure they appreciate that you all are enjoy thing the artwork! And I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
ThePrinceOfLight - ^.^ Happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! That Twister scene was so much fun for me to write too! But I'm glad you enjoyed all the other scenes going on too! And yep! It's time for some treasure hunting to begin! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
frozenwolf94 - Glad you enjoyed the party! Yeah, it seemed that a lot of readers enjoyed Nanami getting her revenge on Tazz, so I'm glad you enjoyed that too. And yeah, poor Mia having that other side to her when she drinks. But it makes for some pretty funny scenes! And now we can start getting into some more fun and action packed stuff in the new arc! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Joshua1277 - Sorry to hear about the lack of internet. I know how that can be! But I'm glad you enjoyed the party! And I figured for a feel good chapter then all the characters should be having a good time as well, even if there were just having a drink on the side. And no, drunk skating is not he best idea, but it worked out so well for the scene! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
That should be it for this time around.
So I'll have the next chapter up soon!
Please remember to review!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson