Chapter 16: Banished
"Da da doo doo." Zeke whistled as he stepped out of the ship.
"Good lord, Zeke, move!" Karina hissed and pushed Zeke slightly.
"If you say the magic word." Zeke looked back.
Karina glared at him. "Numb nuts?" She hissed.
"Fair nuff." Zeke shrugged and stepped out of the way.
Karina smiled briefly at him and he smiled back. She then turned and ran out of the cockpit, Bart and Brad waiting.
"Karina!" Bart grinned and Brad grabbed her.
"Let me see you. Are you hurt?" Brad whimpered.
"I'm fine, Brad." Karina smiled a little and pulled away. "It's all thanks to Zeke." She looked back and Zeke waved.
"Yo." He called.
"Karina." Billy pushed past Bart and ran up to Karina.
Zeke's eyes widened and he ran over one of the bars on the cockpit door, sprang off of it and did a sort of flip and landed in front of Karina, drawing his phaser pistol and pointing it at Billy.
Billy stopped and blinked, Bart reaching for his whip.
"Zeke. calm down. This isn't the same Billy." Karina murmured, and then pressed her hand on the barrel of the pistol and made him lower it.
Zeke blinked, the reached back and scratched his head. "Oh. Oh yeah! Oh, man, sorry dude!" He grinned. "It's just that, well, y'know."
Billy pulled back and folded his arms. "No, not really." He murmured, and then pushed past him and reached out for Karina's hand.
"Hi, Billy." Karina sighed and looked down, a light blush on her face.
"I was so worried, Karina." Billy smiled. "But I feel so much better now that I know you're safe."
".I'm so happy to see you again." Karina whispered and hugged Billy.
"Oh, I missed you too!" Ziggy pushed in and hugged her, resting his head on her chest and snuggling her. "Oh, you're so soft and warm and plush!"
"Urrrggg." Karina blushed and knocked Ziggy upside the head.
Brad and Rico both tackled Ziggy and commenced to kick his butt. Poor Ziggy.
Zeke blinked. "And you like. hang out with these wackos?"
Bart walked up to him. "Ya got spunk, kid. I like ya."
Zeke eyed Bart. "Dude, tell me you're not hitting on me."
Bart's eye flashed. "WHAT?! Dah! A-pssshhh! Ugh! Eugh! HELL NO!"
"It's okay if you were. Just sayin' you're barkin up the wrong tree, buddy."
Bart sighed. "Ah, I'll train you yet, kid. I'll train you yet."
"To do what?" Zeke blinked.
"Be like me, of course. We'll have them all on their toes soon enough." Bart laughed and walked away.
Zeke leaned towards Karina. "I think he's gay, Karina."
"He is." Jessie put in.
Zeke turned to Jessie. "Whoa, where did you get the scars?"
"Zeke!" Karina hissed.
Jessie chuckled. "Long story, kid, long story. I'm Jessie Black."
"Zeke LeCross, sir." Zeke smiled and shook Jessie's hand.
"Ah, Zeke. I see you've met my boy, Billy." Jessie grinned and grabbed Billy.
"Dad!" Billy hissed.
"Don't try and get too familiar with Karina though. The boy'll shoot your royal jewels off for foolin' with his wife."
"Did someone say Karina, fooling around and wife in the same sentence?!" Brad yelled.
Fei walked up. "I'm Fei Fong Wo-Don't you even start Bart." Fei warned when he heard the beginning of a booming cackle from Bart.
Elly smiled. "I'm Elly Van Houten, and this is Emeralda."
"Hello. I'm Maria Balthasar." Maria added and walked up next to Elly, Emeralda, Fei and Bart.
"Uh. Who's the big green dude?" Zeke blinked.
Rico snorted. "Rico. Rico Banderas."
"OK. Hey there." Zeke shrugged
Primera stepped up and clung onto Billy's leg.
Zeke smiled and bent down next to her. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Primera. Her name is Primera. She's my little sister." Billy replied.
Zeke looked at Billy for a moment, then back at Primera. "Hey, Primera. I'm Zeke."
Primera smiled shyly and waved a little.
"What's wrong? Am I too scary to say hello to?" Zeke smiled again.
"Primera can't speak very much, Zeke. And she's shy." Karina said and looked back at Sigurd. "Say, Sigurd?"
"Yes, Miss Rinsuchii?" Sigurd smiled.
"There's something flashing on the radar screen behind you." Karina said and pointed at the radar screen.
"Hmn." Sigurd blinked and turned around. "It's a Gear." He announced.
"A Gear?" Bart blinked and stepped forward, looking at the screen. "Sig, what in the hell is a Gear doin out at night like this? And heading straight for the city?"
"Or straight at us." Sigurd looked at Bart.
"What?" Bart blinked.
"Look at the identifier. I've only seen one Gear with those kinds of adjustments made to the body structure." Sigurd looked down.
"What? Oh man, you don't mean." Bart looked out of the Gear dock.
"It's Blitzkrieg." Sigurd replied.
Bart looked back at Sigurd. "Sierra."
Sigurd sighed and looked back at the others, who were conversing. "Bart, listen. Andvari is repaired, I want you to get into it and order her to land on the ground outside of the Yggdrasil. The reason you're going in Andvari is-"
"In case she plans to attack. Our cannons are still down and Andvari can attack with more precision anyway. That and you don't want to give her a chance to get into the Yggdrasil and possibly cause any damage. I know, Sig. I know the way your brain works." Bart nodded.
Sigurd nodded and walked up to the group.
"What is it, Sigurd?" Fei asked.
Sigurd looked down. "Sierra."
"Oh, really." Citan folded his arms. "I'd think she would have more sense than to come back here."
"Oh, come on, Hyuga. You know your 'If you do it again, we'll shoot you' threat never actually falls through." Jessie added and looked down. "So, what are you doing?" He asked as Bart ran to Andvari.
"The Young Master is keeping her from getting in here and we're going to get the truth out of her." Sigurd said.
Jessie rolled his eyes. "I say we just blow her up."
"I second that!" Brad added.
"Can I third it?" Billy murmured.
"Ah. The Yggdrasil. I'll bet I can talk my way back to them." Sierra said and looked down at her chest. "That or my little convincers will have to do a little Sigurd wooing."
*Hey, Sierra! Don't even think of coming closer!* Bart's voice yelled over the radio. *If you do, I'll be the one to take you down!*
"What the hell are you talking about, Fatima?!" Sierra blinked and Blitzkrieg came to a halt.
*Hah! That's a funny one, Sierra. What do you think it is?! You're not coming back onto this ship, even if your life depends on it!"
"Listen, Bart! I have a explanation for all of this!" Sierra replied. "Just let me talk to you all!"
*We'd like to ask you a few questions too. Land from where you are and stay there.* Bart's voice cut out and Andvari lowered to the ground.
"Whatever." Sierra looked down, her Gear following his to the ground.
Bart stepped out of his Gear and pulled out his whips. "Hold it, Sierra." He warned as she stepped out.
"Shut up, Bart." Sierra sneered.
"Sierra! Drop your weapons, now!" Sigurd put in as he, Billy, Jessie, Karina, Citan, some kid in green with blonde hair and practically every person on the ship arrived.
"Oh, hey Sig." Sierra smiled.
"Do what Sigurd told you." Billy said and drew one of his guns. "Now."
"Put that pea shooter away, kid." Sierra snapped and threw her swords to the ground.
Billy stepped in front of Karina and kept his gun drawn.
Karina trembled. "W-Why did you lie to us?!" She cried.
"Hey, I had to, it was best for all of you." Sierra explained. "You see, the day Billy was shot, I got a transmission from Luscious Rangar's little lapdog, Irvine Rinley. Quite frankly I think they're gay, but that's beside the point."
"Then get to the point!" Bart snapped.
"Hold your pee in, patchie." Sierra glared at him. "Anyway, Irvine told me that if I didn't bring Karina to him that they would kill you all."
"Why didn't you tell any of us of this transmission?" Citan jumped into the inquiry.
"Because. I just didn't, OK?!"
"Not a very good defense, Sierra." Jessie snapped. "We could've defended ourselves just fine. You didn't have any idea of what they were gonna do to Karina, did you?"
Sierra glared at Jessie. "I don't understand why you all care soooo much about the safety of her! Don't you care that I tried to protect you all? It's all apparently about Karina! Apparently she's some flippin' freak or they wouldn't care so much about stealing her all the time!"
Karina stepped back. "I'm not a freak, Sierra! This is about you betraying us!"
"Us?! There is no us with you guys! It's just this little group and whatever messed up chick they pick up next!" Sierra yelled.
"Shut up, LeRage!" Billy snapped.
"You don't have any right to talk back to me, Black!" Sierra snapped. "Karina wouldn't even be under the wing of the mighty Yggdrasil if it weren't for your disgusting little crush on her!"
"Try and act your age for once, LeRage, and leave my son and Karina out of this." Jessie stepped forward.
"Anyway! Even after I did that, my plan was to get the reward money and bring her back here, and then everything would be hunky dory! But then they betrayed me and were gonna kill me! And MAN, you guys have got some messed up freaks on your ass! That little clone of Billy was there and he wrote a message in some guard's BLOOD about Karina!"
"Betrayal does sound like the work of Luscious Rangar and Irvine Rinley. They do that sort of thing all the time. That part of her story checks out." Zeke said.
"Yeah, what he said!" Sierra nodded.
Sigurd sucked on his tooth for a moment then replied. "Nonetheless, you could betray us any other number of times. We warned you before, and I am not letting you off. The fact of the matter is, no matter what excuses you may have, and you lied to us. You deceived all of us and shattered that part of what my be left of your so-called honor."
"But Sigurd!" Sierra stepped forward and Sigurd stepped away.
"No excuses, Sierra! You're a grown adult and you can't be making mistakes and having to use excuses to back them up!" Sigurd gritted his teeth.
"Sigurd. But I." Sierra bit her lip.
"No, Sierra. No more." He sighed and looked up. "No matter what you say it doesn't change the fact. As such." He paused and looked at her for a moment. "You cannot return to the Yggdrasil for any reason. You cannot contact us for any reason whatsoever. You will no longer be guarded by the Yggdrasil's power. From this moment on, you can consider yourself banished from this place."
Sierra stepped back and looked around.
"Go!" Sigurd snapped.
Sierra continued to step back, looking at the faces of the crewmembers. She drew in a breath and said slowly; "Never in my life did I think I would see the day that Sigurd Harcourt lost whatever of a backbone he had." She looked at them one final time when no one replied and then stepped into her Gear.
Karina watched at the cockpit door shut and she could've sworn she saw tears on Sierra's face. She looked at Billy with desperate eyes and he looked back, a weak smile on his face. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her waist and leaned his head on hers
Slowly the Gear stood, and as if in a flash, it was off the ground and gone out of sight in almost seconds.
Slowly the group mingled back inside, though no one had much to say about anything. Everyone's hearts were heavy, though they didn't know why exactly. The darkness soon crept upon them and still Sigurd remained outside, sitting in the grass.
Someone walked up behind him and sat down.
"Do you judge me for what I did?" Sigurd whispered.
"I don't know if I am in the position to judge." The person replied.
"She affected you as well." Sigurd said.
"Not as much as you, I see." The voice wavered. "However, if you want my opinion, I think you should've listened to her side of the story a little more."
Sigurd looked back. "But she betrayed you more than anyone!"
"But she did it for you. And I think her heart was in the right place, though maybe her mind wasn't."
"I'm sorry to say that I didn't understand that too well." Sigurd said.
"Sometimes people do some pretty crazy stuff. Sometimes they don't have a reason, sometimes they do."
"Okay."
"But then again, I don't think that people can really control what they do, when they're in love." The person stood and began to leave.
"I think that's good judgment." Sigurd smiled a little. "What do you suggest I do?"
"I suggest that you follow your heart. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest." The person turned and continued.
"Goodnight." Sigurd replied, then stood and turned to the person. "Oh, and Miss Karina?"
"Yes, Sigurd?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Da da doo doo." Zeke whistled as he stepped out of the ship.
"Good lord, Zeke, move!" Karina hissed and pushed Zeke slightly.
"If you say the magic word." Zeke looked back.
Karina glared at him. "Numb nuts?" She hissed.
"Fair nuff." Zeke shrugged and stepped out of the way.
Karina smiled briefly at him and he smiled back. She then turned and ran out of the cockpit, Bart and Brad waiting.
"Karina!" Bart grinned and Brad grabbed her.
"Let me see you. Are you hurt?" Brad whimpered.
"I'm fine, Brad." Karina smiled a little and pulled away. "It's all thanks to Zeke." She looked back and Zeke waved.
"Yo." He called.
"Karina." Billy pushed past Bart and ran up to Karina.
Zeke's eyes widened and he ran over one of the bars on the cockpit door, sprang off of it and did a sort of flip and landed in front of Karina, drawing his phaser pistol and pointing it at Billy.
Billy stopped and blinked, Bart reaching for his whip.
"Zeke. calm down. This isn't the same Billy." Karina murmured, and then pressed her hand on the barrel of the pistol and made him lower it.
Zeke blinked, the reached back and scratched his head. "Oh. Oh yeah! Oh, man, sorry dude!" He grinned. "It's just that, well, y'know."
Billy pulled back and folded his arms. "No, not really." He murmured, and then pushed past him and reached out for Karina's hand.
"Hi, Billy." Karina sighed and looked down, a light blush on her face.
"I was so worried, Karina." Billy smiled. "But I feel so much better now that I know you're safe."
".I'm so happy to see you again." Karina whispered and hugged Billy.
"Oh, I missed you too!" Ziggy pushed in and hugged her, resting his head on her chest and snuggling her. "Oh, you're so soft and warm and plush!"
"Urrrggg." Karina blushed and knocked Ziggy upside the head.
Brad and Rico both tackled Ziggy and commenced to kick his butt. Poor Ziggy.
Zeke blinked. "And you like. hang out with these wackos?"
Bart walked up to him. "Ya got spunk, kid. I like ya."
Zeke eyed Bart. "Dude, tell me you're not hitting on me."
Bart's eye flashed. "WHAT?! Dah! A-pssshhh! Ugh! Eugh! HELL NO!"
"It's okay if you were. Just sayin' you're barkin up the wrong tree, buddy."
Bart sighed. "Ah, I'll train you yet, kid. I'll train you yet."
"To do what?" Zeke blinked.
"Be like me, of course. We'll have them all on their toes soon enough." Bart laughed and walked away.
Zeke leaned towards Karina. "I think he's gay, Karina."
"He is." Jessie put in.
Zeke turned to Jessie. "Whoa, where did you get the scars?"
"Zeke!" Karina hissed.
Jessie chuckled. "Long story, kid, long story. I'm Jessie Black."
"Zeke LeCross, sir." Zeke smiled and shook Jessie's hand.
"Ah, Zeke. I see you've met my boy, Billy." Jessie grinned and grabbed Billy.
"Dad!" Billy hissed.
"Don't try and get too familiar with Karina though. The boy'll shoot your royal jewels off for foolin' with his wife."
"Did someone say Karina, fooling around and wife in the same sentence?!" Brad yelled.
Fei walked up. "I'm Fei Fong Wo-Don't you even start Bart." Fei warned when he heard the beginning of a booming cackle from Bart.
Elly smiled. "I'm Elly Van Houten, and this is Emeralda."
"Hello. I'm Maria Balthasar." Maria added and walked up next to Elly, Emeralda, Fei and Bart.
"Uh. Who's the big green dude?" Zeke blinked.
Rico snorted. "Rico. Rico Banderas."
"OK. Hey there." Zeke shrugged
Primera stepped up and clung onto Billy's leg.
Zeke smiled and bent down next to her. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Primera. Her name is Primera. She's my little sister." Billy replied.
Zeke looked at Billy for a moment, then back at Primera. "Hey, Primera. I'm Zeke."
Primera smiled shyly and waved a little.
"What's wrong? Am I too scary to say hello to?" Zeke smiled again.
"Primera can't speak very much, Zeke. And she's shy." Karina said and looked back at Sigurd. "Say, Sigurd?"
"Yes, Miss Rinsuchii?" Sigurd smiled.
"There's something flashing on the radar screen behind you." Karina said and pointed at the radar screen.
"Hmn." Sigurd blinked and turned around. "It's a Gear." He announced.
"A Gear?" Bart blinked and stepped forward, looking at the screen. "Sig, what in the hell is a Gear doin out at night like this? And heading straight for the city?"
"Or straight at us." Sigurd looked at Bart.
"What?" Bart blinked.
"Look at the identifier. I've only seen one Gear with those kinds of adjustments made to the body structure." Sigurd looked down.
"What? Oh man, you don't mean." Bart looked out of the Gear dock.
"It's Blitzkrieg." Sigurd replied.
Bart looked back at Sigurd. "Sierra."
Sigurd sighed and looked back at the others, who were conversing. "Bart, listen. Andvari is repaired, I want you to get into it and order her to land on the ground outside of the Yggdrasil. The reason you're going in Andvari is-"
"In case she plans to attack. Our cannons are still down and Andvari can attack with more precision anyway. That and you don't want to give her a chance to get into the Yggdrasil and possibly cause any damage. I know, Sig. I know the way your brain works." Bart nodded.
Sigurd nodded and walked up to the group.
"What is it, Sigurd?" Fei asked.
Sigurd looked down. "Sierra."
"Oh, really." Citan folded his arms. "I'd think she would have more sense than to come back here."
"Oh, come on, Hyuga. You know your 'If you do it again, we'll shoot you' threat never actually falls through." Jessie added and looked down. "So, what are you doing?" He asked as Bart ran to Andvari.
"The Young Master is keeping her from getting in here and we're going to get the truth out of her." Sigurd said.
Jessie rolled his eyes. "I say we just blow her up."
"I second that!" Brad added.
"Can I third it?" Billy murmured.
"Ah. The Yggdrasil. I'll bet I can talk my way back to them." Sierra said and looked down at her chest. "That or my little convincers will have to do a little Sigurd wooing."
*Hey, Sierra! Don't even think of coming closer!* Bart's voice yelled over the radio. *If you do, I'll be the one to take you down!*
"What the hell are you talking about, Fatima?!" Sierra blinked and Blitzkrieg came to a halt.
*Hah! That's a funny one, Sierra. What do you think it is?! You're not coming back onto this ship, even if your life depends on it!"
"Listen, Bart! I have a explanation for all of this!" Sierra replied. "Just let me talk to you all!"
*We'd like to ask you a few questions too. Land from where you are and stay there.* Bart's voice cut out and Andvari lowered to the ground.
"Whatever." Sierra looked down, her Gear following his to the ground.
Bart stepped out of his Gear and pulled out his whips. "Hold it, Sierra." He warned as she stepped out.
"Shut up, Bart." Sierra sneered.
"Sierra! Drop your weapons, now!" Sigurd put in as he, Billy, Jessie, Karina, Citan, some kid in green with blonde hair and practically every person on the ship arrived.
"Oh, hey Sig." Sierra smiled.
"Do what Sigurd told you." Billy said and drew one of his guns. "Now."
"Put that pea shooter away, kid." Sierra snapped and threw her swords to the ground.
Billy stepped in front of Karina and kept his gun drawn.
Karina trembled. "W-Why did you lie to us?!" She cried.
"Hey, I had to, it was best for all of you." Sierra explained. "You see, the day Billy was shot, I got a transmission from Luscious Rangar's little lapdog, Irvine Rinley. Quite frankly I think they're gay, but that's beside the point."
"Then get to the point!" Bart snapped.
"Hold your pee in, patchie." Sierra glared at him. "Anyway, Irvine told me that if I didn't bring Karina to him that they would kill you all."
"Why didn't you tell any of us of this transmission?" Citan jumped into the inquiry.
"Because. I just didn't, OK?!"
"Not a very good defense, Sierra." Jessie snapped. "We could've defended ourselves just fine. You didn't have any idea of what they were gonna do to Karina, did you?"
Sierra glared at Jessie. "I don't understand why you all care soooo much about the safety of her! Don't you care that I tried to protect you all? It's all apparently about Karina! Apparently she's some flippin' freak or they wouldn't care so much about stealing her all the time!"
Karina stepped back. "I'm not a freak, Sierra! This is about you betraying us!"
"Us?! There is no us with you guys! It's just this little group and whatever messed up chick they pick up next!" Sierra yelled.
"Shut up, LeRage!" Billy snapped.
"You don't have any right to talk back to me, Black!" Sierra snapped. "Karina wouldn't even be under the wing of the mighty Yggdrasil if it weren't for your disgusting little crush on her!"
"Try and act your age for once, LeRage, and leave my son and Karina out of this." Jessie stepped forward.
"Anyway! Even after I did that, my plan was to get the reward money and bring her back here, and then everything would be hunky dory! But then they betrayed me and were gonna kill me! And MAN, you guys have got some messed up freaks on your ass! That little clone of Billy was there and he wrote a message in some guard's BLOOD about Karina!"
"Betrayal does sound like the work of Luscious Rangar and Irvine Rinley. They do that sort of thing all the time. That part of her story checks out." Zeke said.
"Yeah, what he said!" Sierra nodded.
Sigurd sucked on his tooth for a moment then replied. "Nonetheless, you could betray us any other number of times. We warned you before, and I am not letting you off. The fact of the matter is, no matter what excuses you may have, and you lied to us. You deceived all of us and shattered that part of what my be left of your so-called honor."
"But Sigurd!" Sierra stepped forward and Sigurd stepped away.
"No excuses, Sierra! You're a grown adult and you can't be making mistakes and having to use excuses to back them up!" Sigurd gritted his teeth.
"Sigurd. But I." Sierra bit her lip.
"No, Sierra. No more." He sighed and looked up. "No matter what you say it doesn't change the fact. As such." He paused and looked at her for a moment. "You cannot return to the Yggdrasil for any reason. You cannot contact us for any reason whatsoever. You will no longer be guarded by the Yggdrasil's power. From this moment on, you can consider yourself banished from this place."
Sierra stepped back and looked around.
"Go!" Sigurd snapped.
Sierra continued to step back, looking at the faces of the crewmembers. She drew in a breath and said slowly; "Never in my life did I think I would see the day that Sigurd Harcourt lost whatever of a backbone he had." She looked at them one final time when no one replied and then stepped into her Gear.
Karina watched at the cockpit door shut and she could've sworn she saw tears on Sierra's face. She looked at Billy with desperate eyes and he looked back, a weak smile on his face. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her waist and leaned his head on hers
Slowly the Gear stood, and as if in a flash, it was off the ground and gone out of sight in almost seconds.
Slowly the group mingled back inside, though no one had much to say about anything. Everyone's hearts were heavy, though they didn't know why exactly. The darkness soon crept upon them and still Sigurd remained outside, sitting in the grass.
Someone walked up behind him and sat down.
"Do you judge me for what I did?" Sigurd whispered.
"I don't know if I am in the position to judge." The person replied.
"She affected you as well." Sigurd said.
"Not as much as you, I see." The voice wavered. "However, if you want my opinion, I think you should've listened to her side of the story a little more."
Sigurd looked back. "But she betrayed you more than anyone!"
"But she did it for you. And I think her heart was in the right place, though maybe her mind wasn't."
"I'm sorry to say that I didn't understand that too well." Sigurd said.
"Sometimes people do some pretty crazy stuff. Sometimes they don't have a reason, sometimes they do."
"Okay."
"But then again, I don't think that people can really control what they do, when they're in love." The person stood and began to leave.
"I think that's good judgment." Sigurd smiled a little. "What do you suggest I do?"
"I suggest that you follow your heart. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest." The person turned and continued.
"Goodnight." Sigurd replied, then stood and turned to the person. "Oh, and Miss Karina?"
"Yes, Sigurd?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."