A/N: Welcome back! CHA!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 45: An Invitation
April 17, X792 – Morning
"Breeze Blades!" Mia shouted while standing in front of a large group of people.
While most people on the guild had managed to find cover from the icy sparrows of Roberts' attack down within the ships of Storm's Helm, there was a group that had been forced to seek shelter behind one of the bars. Hagi and Mia had worked together to get everyone into one spot. This made it easier on Mia to play defense against the birds.
Her air blades had been managing to do the trick well enough, cutting down any sparrows that came within a few feet of them. There was a brief pause in the onslaught of birds, causing the group to look around the ship for any other signs of danger.
"Is that all of them?" Hagi asked, the blonde coming to stand next to Mia.
Mia narrowed her eyes trying to see out into the rain, only hearing the rain beat down onto the deck and the shouting still coming from the battles going on with Roberts and Rika.
"I think so," she said, glancing back at Hagi and the other mages she had been protecting. She could see blue blotches on some of them from where the sparrows had hit them, "Looks like we'll need to get people down to the infirmary quickly. Let's get everyone mov-
"Mia!" Hagi shouted, pulling on her arm to whip her back around.
Her eyes went wide when she saw people coming up out of hiding only for those people to be met by a huge burst of the icy sparrows. She grabbed her scythe that she had set aside after gathering everyone up. The pole of it was a simple design, being made of black metal with swirly white carvings running up along it. And where there was supposed to be a blade, it was blank until Mia touched it. As soon as her fingers grasped the pole, a glossy blade of air jutted out from it.
"GET DOWN!"
Her voice boomed across the deck, causing everyone to look her way just in time to see Mia pulling the weapon behind her. Thunk after thunk sounded off as people went down, covering their heads with their hands.
Mia let out a loud shout as she swung the scythe forward, releasing the glossy blade with it. The blade of air soared across the deck, slicing all the sparrows it came into contact with. It whooshed across the rest of the desk and even out towards the smaller ship next to it that Securus and Vi were still on. It connected with the mast of that ship, easily cutting a chunk off the top of it. The wooden pole fell down in between Securus and Vi, causing the two to throw back an unamused stare at the brunette.
A bead of sweat rolled down Mia's head, "Sorry!"
"That's my girl!" Hagi hollered as he wrapped his arms around her.
Mia simply smiled in reply.
"Hagi!"
The pair turned to see Cordelia and Isaak running up to them, a bottle of bright red liquid being carried by Isaak.
"I'm glad we found you up here," Cordelia said once they came to a stop.
The two quickly noticed what they thought were bruises all along her arms.
"What happened to your arms?!" they both asked.
"That's what we needed to find you for," Cordelia said, "The sparrows that the Roberts guy used were made of a super cold ice. I'm okay now thanks to Jack."
"Where is he at?" Hagi asked.
"He went off to make sure no one followed the group that went onto the island for the clue," Isaak answered, "In the meantime, he wanted you to help out with issuing the Liquid Lava to the people that were hit by the sparrows," he said, motioning to the bottle in his hand, "He said you would know what to do."
"And I do!" Hagi said with a smile, "Costume Change: Nurse!"
Light covered the blonde momentarily before revealing him standing in a new outfit. He now wore white nurse scrubs complete with an apron, gloves, and a cap. He held out a white gloved hand to Isaak, the silver haired man handing over the bottle. He then turned back to the crowd around them with a confident look.
"Anyone that was hit by the sparrows, please form a line next to me!" he said just as he made a syringe appear in his hand. He glanced back at Cordelia and Isaak, "Mia and I can handle things from here."
Cordelia nodded at him with a thankful smile before her eyes landed on the now shortened mast, "Who wrecked my guild?!"
"Ahaha," Mia laughed nervously before turning away from the group, "Oh hey, I think there's some people over there that need help," she said before running off to gather up more people with icy burns.
Cordelia let out a sigh, knowing she'd have to talk to Mac later so she could get the mast fixed.
"We should go check on the others," Isaak said, nodding his head towards the pairs that had fought against Roberts and Rika.
They made their way over towards Seth and the others, quickly noticing that John was unconscious.
"Is everyone okay?" Cordelia asked as she moved over towards John, "I hope Roberts didn't do this to him."
"Nope, I did," Eli said, picking up John and throwing him over a shoulder.
"What?! Why?!" Cordelia snapped.
"The dude was going insane," Eli said, "He'd have crushed Roberts' skull in if I hadn't stopped him."
"Roberts was trying to kill us though. I'm sure he was doing it to protect everyone."
"Cor," Eli sighed, "What he was doing…it wasn't right. He was out of his mind. Roberts called him something…Blood Rage John, I'm pretty sure is what it was. Has anyone heard about that title?"
Silence filled the deck.
"Yeah, I thought so," Eli said, "As soon as he started calling him that, John started losing it. He wasn't in his right mind. It wasn't right to let him kill a man like that, so I stopped him."
Cordelia stayed silent for a moment longer before looking back up at Eli, "Alright. You should take him to the infirmary just to make sure he's really okay."
"Heading there now. Oh, and Cor," Eli said, stopping to look back at her, "When you talk to John about this whole thing, because I know you will," he said, earning a huff from the guild master, "Don't go making anymore promises."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Yeah, you do," he retorted, "You already have other promises you've made. You can't keep bogging yourself down with them. I know of two for sure you've made with people just in this small group here and I'm sure there are others out there. Just…just don't wear yourself thin, okay?"
Cordelia didn't answer him. She couldn't answer him. She knew he was right, and yet, she also knew that she wouldn't stop making promises. It was what she did. And it was what she would always do.
"Tch, fine," Eli huffed as he began walking towards the infirmary, "Don't take my advice then, but don't come running to me when you can't handle things anymore."
Cordelia stuck her tongue out at him before turning to look down at Securus and Vi. Her eyes widened upon seeing all the dead bodies across the deck. She looked over at Securus, knowing the gunshots in their heads were courtesy of him. He stared back at her with an apologetic look. Nothing was said between them, but Cordelia knew she needed to finish the treasure hunt as soon as possible. Securus wouldn't be able to hold the thing back for much longer.
"I need to go get some coins," she said as she turned to head towards the vault.
"Already on top of it," Ace said, appearing before the group with a bag of coins in his hand, "I saw the mess down there and figured we would need them."
Cordelia smiled at him as she took the bag from him, "Thank you."
"Coins? What do you need them for?" Seth asked.
The smile faded from Cordelia's face, the woman's face soon matching the grim looks everyone else wore.
"The Ferrymen," Gamu said.
"What? Who are they?"
"You will see," Cordelia said as she began making her way down onto the ship that Securus and Vi stood on, the others following her.
"Doesn't look like I'll be able to shoot those cannons off after all," Vi said, staring after the black ship that was already a good ways from the guild.
"I'm sure you'll do fine when the time comes to use them," Cordelia said.
"So what are we going to do about all the bodies?" Vi asked.
"We wait," Cordelia answered.
And so the group waited, a crowd gathering up above them on the main ship to witness what was going to happen soon. It wasn't everyday one got to see The Ferrymen up close and personal. Some were awed by them. Others were frightened of them. But all showed respect when they appeared.
It wasn't long before dull lamplights appeared in darkness of Pluvia's rain. Dot after dot of light appeared, and with them, a horde of small black boats. The boats sailed across the water smoothly and silently, not seeming to shake along with the waves of the ocean. And within each boat was figure covered in dark robes, each figure pushing along a thick black oar. It was the figure in the boat at the head of the horde that disappeared and reappeared before Cordelia and the others.
To say that the figure was intimidating was an understatement. While it stood a slightly hunched over, it still stood well over Seth's height. Heavy black robes covered its entire body, the hood of the robe being pulled up as well. No one could distinguish what was under the hood. Only pure darkness seemed to stared back at them, sending down chills through everyone's spine. A thick leather belt was around its waist, jingling with bags of coins tied to it. Mist poured off of it and an icy chill emitted from it.
Cordelia and Ace quickly bowed towards the figure, every other mage soon following suit. This seemed to please the figure as it waved a bleached white, skeletal hand at the guild master.
"Rise, child," it said, its voice low and smooth.
"Welcome to my guild, Charon," Cordelia said.
"Such politeness in the face of death," he said, almost sounding like he was smiling, "You were taught well."
"Yes, I was taught who you were and what you were owed when you came seeking the dead," she said, holding out the bag of coins to him, "There should be enough in there for all the bodies here."
He held out a hand towards her, Cordelia setting the bag down in it, "You would pay for these poor, unfortunate souls even when they do not belong to you?"
"Yes," Cordelia answered, "It is not their fault that they were following orders. And it is not their fault that their captain sees no value in their souls being carried safely to the other side."
"That is quite some moral compass you carry," he said before suddenly bending down to come face to face with Cordelia. Her body tensed when that pure darkness was aimed right at her, feeling like she was going to be swallowed up in it. Soon her eyes locked onto glowing orbs from underneath the dark hood. They were like chilled ivory, glistening beautifully and frighteningly all-knowing, "I can see you, Cordelia Murdock. I can see all that you are, were, and will become. Lying to me is not in your best interest right now. Do not do it again," he warned, his voice cutting right through her. Her knees almost buckled right then, "Now I will ask you again, you pay for these souls when they do not belong to you?"
"Y…yes," she managed to choke out, "I do not want their souls on my hands…on my guild. I do not want them to haunt me or my mages. I pay for them so that they will leave us in peace."
Charon stared down Cordelia a moment longer before standing back up and the dangerously beautiful orbs disappeared within the hood, "That is the correct answer. I will take your payment, the bodies, and the souls," he said, adding the bag of coins to the collection on his belt. With the bag in place, a black oar appeared in his hands. He banged the end of it on the ship once, a loud solid thunk echoing across the deck. The bodies of the dead disappeared, reappearing down in the black boats below.
"Thank you, Charon," Cordelia said with another small bow to him.
"One more thing before I take my leave," he said, causing Cordelia's body to tense up again, "You are on a hunt for Blackstroker's treasure, correct?"
"Yes."
"The next island you will be heading towards then is Caligo, the island of mist. It is also my island and you cannot enter it without my blessing," he said, letting a moment of silence pass through the guild. Cordelia was beginning to wonder if she was going to have to beg him for his blessing when he finally began to speak again, "I am giving you my blessing to come upon my island, but that blessing is to Murdock blood only. Any other person that you try to bring with you will not be allowed entry and will become lost on Caligo. And trust me when I say that you do not want to get lost on Caligo. Men wish for death when faced with the madness that finds them there."
"Why give me your blessing?"
"Do you not want it?"
"I do!" she answered quicker than she had meant to, "I…I'm just curious."
A dark chuckle came from Charon as the haunting, ivory orbs appeared again, "You are an interesting woman, Cordelia Murdock, and we have much to speak about."
With that, Charon disappeared from the deck and back down into the black boat he had come from. In one single motion, The Ferrymen pushed their oars through the water, smoothly moving across the water again. Everyone watched the horde disappear, no one moving and everyone barely breathing as the lamplights blurred out of eyesight in the rain.
Once Cordelia let out a sigh and fell to her knees, the rest of the guild seemed to followed suit.
"Man, that was intense!" Seth said, "Why didn't anyone tell me about The Ferrymen before?"
"It isn't something that can really be explained," Isaak answered, "I mean, we can tell you that they come to collect the dead and everything, but it never really does it justice. You can never really explain Charon with the right words. You just have to experience it yourself."
"Cordelia…are you okay?" Gamu asked, crouching down beside her. She had fallen forward on the deck and a little, white cloud floated out of her mouth, looking like her soul was floating out of her. Gamu poked the soul-like cloud, which caused Cordelia to mumble incoherently, "It's not healthy to puke up your soul, right?" he asked, looking up at Seth and Isaak while still poking it.
"Don't poke it!" Ace shouted, moving in to pick his sister up. As soon as he had Cordelia on her feet, he began shaking her, "OI! Snap out of it! We're in the clear for now! Charon is gone!"
Her soul quickly sucked itself back in and life came back into her eyes. Her hands quickly latched onto Ace, Cordelia beginning to shake him too, "I lied to death! Oh my god! I fucking lied to death! Why did I do that?!"
"I don't know!" Ace shouted, shaking Cordelia harder, "Mom and the old man taught us better than that! Are you stupid or something?!"
"Don't call me stupid!" Cordelia shouted in return, shaking Ace harder now, "You're stupid, stupid!"
"I ain't the one that just lied to death!"
"Well you're coming with me when we get to Caligo!"
"The hell I am!"
"You're going and that's final!"
"You're a horrible sister!"
"And you're a terrible brother!"
"And I think that's our queue to get out of here before we get pulled into the fight," Isaak said with a laugh, moving out of the area with everyone else following after him.
"You still have a broken mast to fix!" Ace said, wanting to hit her where it hurt.
Cordelia went still, staring at the broken mast a few feet away from them. Her eye started to twitch in annoyance, her anger no longer on her brother as she let out a shout that Ace was certain echoed across all of Pluvia.
"MIAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
. : + : .
April 17, X792 – Evening
"Ahaha…well…this was unexpected, ne Sho?" Haruna said, looking down at the maroon cat in her arms.
The little cat looked just as put off about their current situation as Squall did, the young girl standing with her arms crossed and huffing in irritation.
Zhuue stood on the other side of Haruna, wearing a nervous smile that matched how Haruna felt about everything at the moment.
The group had been given umbrellas by the café employee when it was time to head up to the monument that he had told them about, but those umbrellas were down at the moment as the rain had stopped.
Haruna thought things had been really cool at first. Right at six on the dot, the rain slowed and eventually stopped. Then in a flash of white light and black shadow, two women swirled into existence, one being made up of white light with black eyes and the other being made of black shadows with white eyes. Haruna quickly introduced herself and the others and explained why they had come to their monument and showed the sisters the map. Things quickly went downhill after that.
Day and Night began fighting with each other about who was going to give the first drop of rain and Haruna was unable to find even a sliver of a moment to interrupt the two. The group had been standing there for a good twenty minutes or so just listening to the argument.
"You always want to be the good guy and say, 'Yeah, sure, you can have the first drop of rain'," Night said, waving her arms around in anger, "But then you never give out your drop of rain! I always have to be the one to give it up!"
"People always come at this time! It would be rude to make them wait another twelve hours!" Day retorted.
"That's not my problem! You need to start giving up some drops too! Or you need to start telling people no!"
"I can't tell them no! It's a simple drop of water! What's the big deal?!"
"The big deal is it's always me doing it!"
"Teenagers," Sho mumbled, "It's like they're teenagers fighting over something stupid."
"Excuse me?!" Day and Night turned on the cat, "Stupid?!"
"How dare you!" Day shouted.
"How about you create some rain yourself!" Night added.
Haruna quickly released the Exceed, not wanting to get in the middle of the fight.
"Haruna!" Sho hissed, creating his white wings to fly.
"Sorry, but you're on your own with this one!" she said as she moved back away from him right as Day and Night grabbed onto him and began pulling at him in anger.
"We'll show you something stupid to fight over!" Night shouted.
"We'll make sure you wait long and good for that drop of water!" Day said.
Squall silently laughed at Sho, pointing a finger at him in the process.
Zhuue gave her own silent laugh as well, knowing she'd need to find humor in something while they waited.
Haruna sighed, "We're gonna have to head back to the café and wait again at this rate," she said, her mind quickly going through all the food she didn't try while they were there, "Well I guess it won't be so bad so long as I can get something to eat while we wait! Let's head back to the café while they work things out!"
Squall and Zhuue easily agreed and the trio turned to walk back down the hill towards the café.
"We'll be back in a few hours. You can handle things until then, ne Sho?" Haruna said, waving to him with a bright smile.
"What?! Don't leave me here with them!" he shouted, but Haruna had already disappeared down the hill, "HARUNAAAAAAAAA!"
A/N: There we go! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Phew! I finally got back into this story! And I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit short. I really wanted to get this clue and the island of Pluvia wrapped up and this seemed the best way to do it. I want to get back into writing the longer chapters I had going for the story, so hopefully that'll get back to normal now. But yeah, I really just need to get things finished on Pluvia already since we had been there for a while and I want to get to the last three islands that I have lined up since they'll be super interesting and fun and exciting!
As for my absence for basically most of this year, well, part of that was simply to writer's block. But I had some major personal stuff going on this year that just really put a damper on things and it made it hard to focus on writing basically anything and I'd literally stare at a blank screen for hours before giving up without having written anything. It was horrible and I hated it! Things are still kinda meh in that area of my life, but I feel like I've gotten out of that slump, at least enough to get a spark back into my writing. That and Dreadburner94 and I are doing a challenge where we're matching a chapter with a chapter for his new story Lucent Knights, which you should check out if you haven't. So that's some nice motivation to get chapters written. And I also missed writing Storm's Helm and I want to be able to share this story with you guys again, so here we are!
So if you're still with me on reading this story, then welcome back! And if you're a new reader to the story, well I hope you enjoy the adventure!
Also, the update that I put out before, it's just gonna stay up. I know some people reviewed when I updated the story with it and I don't want you all to be unable to review if I take it down and replace it with this chapter, so meh, it stays.
And the idea for The Ferrymen and Charon came from AkumaXHwaorang, so thank you very much for it! I think it worked out rather nicely and I had a lot of fun writing it up!
Thank you all for hanging in there with me! And thank you for reading and reviewing the story! It's always appreciated! :3
That should be it for now.
Until next time!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson