Disclaimer: Even though this is a quite long story, I still don't own Slayers
Shipwrecked?
Almost made it to the outer world!
It was early evening, the captain had assured them that they would reach land early the next morning. The weather was getting worse. A strong wind had started blowing and the ship was rocking back and forth. Eruk stretched on his bedroll, the weather didn't bother him much. I wonder how the others are doing he thought I sure don't hope that they get seasick very easily. He turned his head as somebody emerged from the inside of the ship. "Sylphiel how are you doing?" he asked, hoping that she had forgiven him for staring at Filia. "oh Ceiphied" she cried and ran to the side of the ship. Eruk noticed how her face turned into several interesting shades of green, before she reached her destination. He looked away while she made her sacrifice to Deep Sea Dolphin.
She coughed weakly as she headed back to her cabin. "You okay?" Eruk asked. She shook her head "I feel terrible" she confessed, all of her anger towards him forgotten. He got up "here, let me help you back to your cabin" he offered. She gladly took his hand, and let him guide her down below. The further down they came, the better she started feeling. As she climbed into bed, he noticed a small trapdoor in the floor. I wonder what's down there? He thought. Out of curiosity he opened the door. It lead down to the very bottom of the ship, and was probably used for maintenance.
He climbed down the rope ladder that was attached. Down there he could barely feel the ship moving at all. This is just what Sylphiel needs he thought happily as he climbed back up.
Sylphiel was still feeling sick as he came back up from his little exploration. "Found something, Eruk dear?" she asked weakly. She wasn't even thinking of her own words. "As a matter of fact" he stated "you can go through here, and into the very bottom of the ship. Maybe if you don't get any better here, you should try going down there yourself. You can barely feel the ship moving when down there". He quietly left her alone.
Once back on the deck he settled in on his bedroll once again in hope of getting some sleep. It was getting dark now, and he settled in, and tried to go to sleep.
Normally the nights Eruk spent on the deck had been very peaceful. The sailors very all professional people, who knew their way around the ship. None of them the would ever fall and make the sound that woke Eruk up. He sat up. Something was very wrong. It was almost like he could fell an unknown presence. He heard some voices nearby, he felt certain that they didn't belong to the sailors either.
Carefully he stalked closer. One of the voices belonged to a man, the other to a woman, but none of them seemed familiar to him. He moved a little closer, hoping that he would be able to understand what they were talking about. "You are a huge klutz Neela" the man sneered "that's the tenth time you trip over you own cape. Why can't you just dress normally?". Eruk moved behind a barrel a short distance away. Even though it was dark he could see the mysterious couple fairly well. The woman was sitting on the ground, rubbing her head. "Oh it was just an little accident Ascard, see I'm fine!" she jumped to her feet, only to step on her cape once again, and fall back and hit the deck with a loud *THUD*.
"I don't care about you one bit" the man, Ascard, growled "In my opinion you are just another idiot in my way. And if you keep that up, I'll just have to get rid of you, with or without lord Loids approval".
He reached down and pulled Neela up. "ouchie" she cried "you big meanie!". She rubbed her sore arm in an attempt to ease the pain. Eruk did a double take as something small left Neelas shoulder. "yeah, you big meanie" Nimph the fairy squealed "you just back off, or I'll take care of you!". Ascard took a step back and sweat dropped "Umm… sorry?". He sent Neela a concerned look before he turned his attention back to the angry fairy, who at the moment, were busy punching at his nose. "Take that, and that, and that!" Nimph kept up her vicious attacks without noticing that she wasn't really hurting her "enemy". Ascards eyes darted back and fort between Neela and her angry pet. He could already see how Neela was changing in personality. He had seen it several times now, apparently every time Neela lost physical contact with the fairy, she turned extremely aggressive.
"I said I was sorry, alright?" Ascard desperately tried to save the situation AND his dignity "just go back to Neela, and …. and I'll buy you some more candy, ok?". Nimph immediately stopped her attack and looked at him with star filled eyes "really? Like really really?" she squealed in delight "OK then!" she happily flew back and settled in on Neelas shoulder armor. "Don't worry mistress, I took care of the bad man" she assured, while Neela turned into her normal whiny, cherry self. Ascard sighed, at least she wasn't going to blow something up with her magic now.
Eruk swallowed deep, he was certain that those two had appeared just now. As far as he knew there were no other tourists but themselves on the ship. Ascard drew his sword "Let's just get rid of the failure, and leave already". Eruk started to back away. What happened next can best be described as universal law. Whenever you really need to do something right, it usually goes wrong. As Eruk tried to move away, he slipped in a piece of soap, some careless sailor had forgotten when he swapped the deck.
As Eruk turned around, he found Ascard staring at him. "Well, isn't that nice" he gloated "but to tell the truth, I had hoped that you would be more of a challenge, even if you're just a lousy failure". Eruk barely managed to roll out of the way, as Ascard brought his sword down in a slash that most likely would have finished the battle before it even started. He stood back up "why are you calling me a failure?" he asked, while dodging another blow, "and why are you out to kill me?".
Ascard smiled wickedly "so you don't remember me at all? I'm very disappointed". Eruk dodged another blow "You know who I am?". Ascard pressed forward "of course I do, the last time we met, I killed you". Eruk dashed out of the way, trying to understand the new piece of information he had received. Ascard slowly advanced on him "Surprised?" he smirked "Well, so am I. Usually my enemies stay dead". Eruk continued to back off.
He heard a door open nearby. "Eruk? what are you doing?" Taki was stunned by the battle that took place in front of her. Eruk shot her a short look great why now, and why her? If only I had remembered to give her those guns I bought. "Taki, get out of here now" he shouted "Go get miss Lina and the others". She didn't move "but…but what about you?" she protested weakly. He ducked under Ascard sword, and ran for the doorway "Taki snap out it. I can hold on for a while. Just go get Lina!" He pushed her back inside the ship, and slammed the door shut.
"So you think you can take both of us on all alone" Ascard smirked. Eruk rolled out of his reach "both of you? So far you are the only one to attack me". Ascard looked at Neela, who at the moment was busy preparing a tea party for herself and her small companion. Both Eruk and Ascard stopped death in their tracks. "Neela, What the hell do you think you are doing?" Ascard yelled. He quickly regretted his harsh tone as she slowly began advancing on him. She had turned evil once again "I thought I already told you, that I don't like that tone" she hissed. Eruk sweat dropped as the bluehaired girl started to toss fireballs after the menacing swordsman.
"Just what is going on here?" Lina asked as she and Gourry emerged on the deck. Eruk shook his head "I wish I knew. One minute these guys wants to kill me, and the next…" he gestured to Ascard, who was now running around in circles, screaming "I'm sorry!" back at Neela, who at the moment was chasing him and swinging her mace around like mad.
Before anyone could react, a white lightning bolt shot past them and up into the crows nest. Even though Eruk was the newest person on the team, he had a pretty good idea of what to come. "Villains who threatens all that is good…" Amelia shouted, while posing dramatically on top of the mast, "Even though Mr. Eruk is the newest defender of justice, I Amelia Will Tesla Seyruun, will not allow you to hurt him…". Neela stopped chasing Ascard around and stared at the self proclaimed defender of justice in disbelief, "Ok, that idiot Ascard may be annoying, but you are even worse" she growled.
Ascard used the confusion to run to the front of the ship. "Oh no you don't!" Lina shouted and followed him. There was no way she would let this chance to relieve her boredom slip between her fingers that easily.
"Fireball!" a burning ball of flame shot from her hands and flew towards the armored man. Ascard turned around and smiled, as the spell bounced of his armor "You gotta do better that that, little boy" he laughed "but unfortunately I don't have time to play with you anymore". Moving at an incredible speed, he planted his sword in the deck "Damu brass!" the spell fired of and blow a hole all the way through the ship. "LITTLE BOY!!!!???" Lina furiously threw herself at the latest source of insult. Fast as Lina might be, Ascard was faster and phased out of existence before the furious sorceress supreme even got hand on him.
Eruk blocked another blow from Neela's mace. He had taken it upon himself to defend the mast Amelia was currently standing on. "…Therefore evil must be smashed by the hammer of justice and…" Amelia raved on, blissfully unaware of the effort Eruk made to ensure her safety. Without warning Neela stopped her attacks, and gazed at the small fairy in front of her "Get out of my way, you annoying pest" she growled. "But…but mistress…" Nimph sniffed and landed on Neelas shoulderpads "Ascard has already fled".
The blue haired girls eyes lost their purple color and returned to normal blue. "Oh dear" she looked around nervously and found Lina, Gourry and even Eruk advancing on her. She swallowed hard "why can't we just be friends?" she asked hopefully. Lina smiled predatory as she advanced "SOMEBODY has to pay for that LITTLE BOY comment you partner made…". Neela slowly backed away from the angry sorceress "umm sorry?" she yelped and phased away, just like Ascard.
Before any of them could react Zel burst through the door to the ships interior, closely followed by Taki and Filia "Hurry you guys, this ship is about to sink, get to the lifeboats, quickly!" he shouted. Lina went wide eyed "sinking? NO! Hurry Gourry, we have to save all that poor defenseless food from ending in a horrible watery grave!". Zel ran past her "there is no time for that, COME ON!" relying on his chimera strength he grabbed the now panicking sorceress by the waist, and dragged her with him into a lifeboat. Gourry quickly dived into the lifeboat with the rest of them, but Eruk hesitated. "Wait a minute" he looked around "Sylphiel isn't here yet". Zel and Gourry had already started to lower the boat into the water "just come on, she knows how to take care of herself!" Zel shouted.
"Maybe you don't care about others, but I do!" Eruk shouted back and slowly backed away, before he turned around and started running back towards the shrinemaides cabin. "At least save the food!" Lina cried, as the small boat was lowered into the water. On the way he picked up his backpack, it made no sense to just leave it there anyway. Even though Sylphiels cabin was in the very bottom, it was fortunately located in the rear end of the ship. He just hoped that it would be the last part filled with water.
Sylphiel woke up with a shock as a powerful explosion shook the ship violently. The shrinemaiden blinked a few times, while she tried to remember where she was. This was not her cabin, that much was certain. As she looked around she started to remember, she had moved her bedroll down the small trapdoor, just as Eruk had suggested. "I wonder what happened?" she thought out loud "it sounded like an explosion, I hope nobody was hurt". She quickly strapped the bedroll on to her backpack, and climbed up the rope ladder leading to her room. When she tried to open the trapdoor, she found that it was much heavier than she remembered. "Oh my, am I trapped down here?" she kept calm, even though there seemingly was no way out. "I hope that it wont take too long before the others start looking for me" she sighed.
She sat down and started eating some travel bread she had kept hidden in her backpack. Keeping food hidden was something she had learned pretty fast after she had been introduced to Lina Inverse. She was blissfully unaware of the water that at the very moment was rapidly filling the hull.
Eruk rushed towards Sylphiels cabin. The fact that he didn't meet her on the way made him worry even more. A lot of the things inside the ship had been tossed around, A few tables and chairs had even been thrown up against the walls, and lay splintered on the floor. He could feel how the ship was sinking, time was running out. He smashed through the door into the shrinemaidens cabin. "Sylphiel?" he shouted. looking around, he found no trace of her. "She hasn't gone down there, has she? he thought as he looked at the heavy bookcase that had fallen on the trapdoor. He fell silent, had he just heard something? He looked around, hoping to pinpoint the sound. He heard it again, he was certain that someone was down below. Letting his ears guide him, he found the source of the knocking sound "Sylphiel, is that you down there?" he shouted. The knocking sound stopped "Eruk? Is that you?" Sylphiel cried from below "get me out of here, it's filled with water".
He took a step back, and hit the floor with all his strength, letting his blades penetrate to the floor below. Water started to splash up through the holes he had made. He started to panic, if she didn't get out of there fast, she would drown. "Sylphiel, dive under the water, I'm going to blast my way through" He cried. He waited a few seconds before he charged his claws with a fire spell. Another explosion rocked the ship, as Eruk released his most devastating attack. The floor crumbled at the power of his magic. Salt water splashed up through the hole, and into his face. The was no trace of Sylphiel anywhere. Without thinking twice he dived down through the hole.
It was dark down there, the only source of light was the hole. He took a deep breath before he dived under the surface, Sylphiel was somewhere down there, and he was determined to find her. He was unable to see anything, so he had to feel his way forward. He felt something at his right hand. It almost felt like hair. He was starting to panic as he grabbed hold of the floating mass and dragged it with him towards the light. He found the hole quite easily, but water had already filled most of the room above.
He found his way to a small air pocket. He quickly took a breath of fresh air, before Sylphiel emerged beside him. "You didn't have to pull me by my hair, you know" she complained while she rubbed her sore head. "I got you out, didn't I?" he snarled "but it's to no use, we can't get out, we're going to drown!" His voice was filled with despair, indicating clearly that he was panicking. "Eruk dear, calm down, we're not going to drown" Sylphiel was desperately trying to talk some sense into her friend. Eruk was to far away in his own thoughts to even notice her voice.
He dived down under the water in a hopeless attempt to swim out. Sylphiel chanted a spell before she dived after him.
Relying on his memory to guide him out of the hull, Eruk swam as fast as he could. No matter how good a swimmer he thought he was, he found himself running out of air pretty fast. He desperately tried to locate the surface, or any other place that would allow him a breath of air. In his panicked state he didn't notice Sylphiel swimming towards him.
Using all of her strength, she wrapped her arms around him, and held him tightly. For a second he stared in disbelief at her face. She was completely calm, unlike him.
Eruk looked around desperately as his lungs cried for oxygen. As far as he could see, there was nothing but water. His gaze returned to Sylphiel, who still held him tightly. For some reason the situation didn't seem to bother her at all.
She could feel that he was running out of air. Unlike her, he didn't know any spells that allowed breathing under water. The aqua breath spell she had cast before made it possible for her to breathe, as if she was above water. She looked at Eruk's struggles. She had once heard of a way that allowed two people to share an aqua breath spell. As she edged closer to Eruks face, she started blushing. During her training she had heard the older shrinemaidens tell romantic stories about lovers that stayed under water for several hours like this. She had never even thought of doing that with anyone before, not even with Gourry dear.
Before she could change her mind, she reached out for his face and pulled him closer. As their lips met Eruk could feel how clean air started flowing into his depleted lungs. After a while Sylphiel pulled away and looked down, embarrassed by her first "kiss". With Eruk leading the way, and Sylphiel supplying him with air, they made their way out of the sinking ship. From there the way to the surface was straight up.
Both of them closed their eyes to prevent any more sea water from hurting them. Slowly they began to swim towards the surface. It felt like they had been swimming forever, when a couple of strong arms grabbed hold of Sylphiel from behind. Her eyes snapped wide open, as she was pulled out of the water. "What? Who?" she panicky looked around to find out where she was. Her confusion vanished as she looked into Gourry's smiling eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked, as he handed her a blanket, "that water looks awful cold" Taki added. "It is!" Eruk shouted "It's fine that you took care of Sylphiel, but what about me?".
Lina carelessly reached down for him, "Aww and here I was thinking that you were all fired up from that little stunt of yours", the tip of her fingers were dragging along the surface. "Lina come on now" he begged "a sorceress of your caliber should be able to recognize a spell like, well like whatever it was that allowed her to breathe under water!". Lina smiled as Eruk reached out for her "oh that little spell?" She pulled away from his hand "Sure, the aqua breath spell. I know how that works, but I have never heard of it being necessary to keep close contact, even after you reach the surface". A shiver ran through Eruks body. Taki was right, the water was really cold. "Lina, have you had your fun yet" Zel grumbled " he's going to get sick if you just leave him there". "Oh alright" Lina sighed and reached down for Eruk's hand. Without any effort she helped him climb into the lifeboat. Once out of the ocean he gratefully accepted the blanket Gourry handed him. "So does that out there mean that you two are a couple now?" Gourry asked while pointing out at the ocean.
Eruk sighed, getting the blonde swordsman to understand what had happened could prove to be quite difficult. "No Gourry, we are not a couple. Not more so, than we were before". Gourry blinked a few times "so what you are telling me, is that you two have been a couple all along?" he concluded. "Yes Gourry" Eruk groaned, "we've been… a couple… all along". It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. Eruk had been with Sylphiel a very long time now, and he had though of the two of them as a team. Not to mention that she, in his mind, was the closest thing to a family he knew.
He moved away from the curious swordsman, and moved to the back of the boat where Sylphiel was sitting. As he took place beside her, she leaned closer to him. "why did you say that?" she whispered, while blushing like mad.
"Well, you know how persistent he can be when he set his mind to it" Eruk told her "With a little luck, he'll forget all that has been said in about 5 seconds" he added with a smile.
"I really don't care about any of this" Zel spoke up "but I must admit that I'm concerned about those two that attacked you".
"oh yeah, the swordsman and the crazy sorceress" Lina added, "a combination like that could be really dangerous".
"yeah, Ceiphied knows that we have seen that proven more than once" Zel grumbled. "What was that Zel?" Lina slowly turned around while a fireball formed between her hands "why don't you speak up Zel, I couldn't hear you!" she hissed.
It took the combined power of all the people in the boat to hold the angry sorceress down, and thereby saving Zel, and the boat, from a fiery end.
Authors notes:
Wow, I can't believe I actually wrote that underwater scene. So very much not my style… I guess there has to be a few sappy parts in a Sylphiel fic…
Eruk has already been killed once? Just what is going on here? Those who have been along since the beginning knows that it's useless to ask, I wont tell anyway! Just keep reading ok?
