Silence

Chapter three

--Good intentions and bad omens--

Nikki glanced back at him again, discreetly, and frowned. He half-noticed in a distracted fashion, but was far too busy with yawning to really care either way. Yes, he was tired. No, he wasn't sleeping. And he wasn't very happy with the mist either. It made him sleepier, and Glenn unbelievably edgy. Nikki was probably the only one of the three of them who cared at all for this weather, and then, it was just his overblown sense of drama, no doubt.

Just as the subject of his thoughts was about to open his painted lips to say something, a particularly brutal wave brought them almost to a stop. "Wha-?" He half-mumbled. Nikki and Glenn, both much more alert, peered out into the thin mists.

"Looks like a ship," Nikki commented, sounding rather more surprised than Serge thought the situation merited. They were on the ocean. And there was a boat. Wow. What amazing coincidence.

"A ghost ship?" Glenn answered, more confused than afraid.

"It certainly doesn't look like a ghost ship," Nikki sniffed in disdain. They both looked at him, and all he could offer was a helpless shrug. Unfortunately, he wasn't a master of 'mist-boat' etiquette.

His companions took one look at him, and then turned to each other, deciding what to do. It was just as well; he moved in a daze, following them over to the larger vessel and coming to a sea-sick stop once they'd made it. He didn't even really notice the pirates surrounding them, or hear what their leader said. Three battles passed him without breaking him free from the grip of his nausea, and just as the black-haired pirate captain fell to one knee, almost defeated, the last of his strength fled him.

"Serge?" Glenn's voice was distant, a thing that could not touch him.

He fell, and kept falling long after he'd lost consciousness, into a place where finally, he could rest.


Nikki struggled up from under the sack of grain he had somehow gotten stuck under. Across the little room, Glenn was awakening as well, a little confused but mostly annoyed. Nikki could sympathize. They'd been tricked and taken hostage, and he hadn't been inclined to think well of pirates to begin with. Blowing up a few strands of unruly blonde hair, his companion in captivity sent him a slightly amused look.

"Kind of stuck there, are you?"

He glanced back at where his legs should have been, and noted that the pressure he felt was the fault of two very large sacks of rice. Sacks which he likely had no way to remove from his person. Casting a wry look back at Glenn, he replied with a smirk, "No, this is the part where I do my magic trick and turn into a bird that can fly away."

Glenn shook his head, chuckling. "Let me help."

Several minutes and one great expense of energy later, they turned about to search for their supposed leader. It was easy enough to find him, sprawled out on the floor, skin a shade too gray to be called healthy and sweat beading on his brow. But at the very least, he looked to be sleeping; when he'd collapsed, there hadn't been a chance to worry, but Nikki was certain that that pirate Fargo hadn't once touched Serge with the 'jellyfish stingers' that had knocked both himself and Glenn out for the count.

Which meant Serge was exhausted, not drugged. And that was worse.

"So, how are we planning to get out of here?" Glenn wondered quietly, walking over to the window and peeking out in curiosity. The portal revealed little, other than the fact that it was nighttime. The expression on his face was unreadable, but the tone of his voice reflected Nikki's feelings. "I don't think Serge is going to be better any time soon. He hasn't eaten anything more solid than a handful of breadcrumbs in the past week."

"He did say he got seasick pretty easily," Nikki offered.

The other man arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh? And how likely is that? He grew up in a fishing town, and I'm sure he's been around boats and the water all his life. He doesn't want to tell us something, and he's starving himself over it."

What to say to that? He looked back at the blue-haired boy, lying prone on the floor, untouched perhaps because they feared they would wake him. He wanted to defend his friend (hah, friend...imagine that, I actually have friends for the first time in my life...), but he didn't know how to do it. "...I guess we'll have to fight our way out."

A nod; Glenn had been expecting as much. "The question is, will he be able to help?" Regret, fleetingly, passed over the Dragoon's face. Glenn disliked the idea of treating Serge like a liability as much as he did, but there was no help for it.

"I don't think so. He was having trouble using that damn swallow of his to block, Glenn. He was shaking. He needs help."

Serge chose that moment to groan and pull himself up, each movement defined by aches they knew he was hiding. They traded chagrined looks and moved to help him the rest of the way to his feet-- too late, of course-- and tried not to look too worried as he smiled weakly at each of them. "What happened?" soft tenor sounds broke the silence, just barely, a moth fighting through tissue paper to surface.

"The pirates drugged us, but beyond that, we're not sure. We just woke up."

Glenn, still at the window, happened to notice a shift in the faint light. "Both of you, come look. Something is happening." Serge half-stumbled over, shoulder bumping with a loud thud into the wall he somehow couldn't avoid. They said nothing, but watched him as carefully as was possible without giving their concern away.

Outside, the world was nothing but swirling mists and a vague sense of wrongness that made Serge shudder at the familiarity. From the way the others were looking at him, he was the only one particularly disturbed by what he'd seen. Maybe explaining what had happened would help. He wanted to explain; needed it. And maybe...maybe it can't kill me if I tell them about it. Maybe it'll all turn out to be a silly dream, once somebody else knows. "Um...there's...there's something I--"

The door slammed open, revealing a little army of skeletons. Walking, creaking, clanking skeletons. Glenn froze beside him, Nikki slipped into a battle crouch, and he wondered distantly if the terrible thing inside of him was really as powerful as it seemed. Had it summoned the skeletons to shut him up?

They slid into defensive positions, prepared for battle, before he was able to finish that thought.