After many days of toiling, I've finally finished chapter 8! YAY!! Yipee! Hoorah! Now I shall dance around like an idiot! Oh yeah! Do the rock away! Hope you like it! Review!
Chapter 8: The blood to be repaid
Beat sat up on the bow of the Interceptor, letting the salty mist spray his face. "I love doing this..." He said to himself with a grin. Beat had tried to sit on the bow before... okay, many times before, but either he got caught... or he fell off the bow and into the water.
"Hey, Beat!" The auburn haired boy spun around to see Yoyo behind him. "You look depressed. Do you miss Rhyth already?" Beat turned a deep shade of red.
"W-What are you talking about?" Beat retorted. "Why would I miss Rhyth?!"
"Because... Yoyo grinned "... Rhyth's your girl!" Just as Yoyo finished his last word, Beat jumped off the bow and whacked him in the head.
"For the last time, Rhyth's NOT my girl!!" Several other GG's turned their heads to hear the argument.
"Oh, just face it!" Yoyo teased. "You have the hots for Rhyth. You just won't admit it."
Beat punched Yoyo in the face. "Just go argue with your lover and leave me alone!!" He snapped. Yoyo started to speak, but Beat had climbed back onto the bow. The green haired boy let out a sigh. Whenever Beat was really angry, he would distance himself from everyone with a tough obstacle, like a jump, a really high ledge or -in this case- a small plank of wood to slowly walk across. Yoyo knew that he had had his fun and now it was over. The only thing that was important to Beat right now was saving Rhyth. Beat DEFINITELY wouldn't admit to it, but he did care for her... like a sister... or maybe even out of love.
Beat rested on the very tip of the bow. 'Me? Have the hots for Rhyth? That's a laugh!' Beat's eyes narrowed. He cared about Rhyth... but more like a sister than a lover. He didn't know what would happen if he and Rhyth got together... and in this story, it seems like the Will dude fell in love with Elizabeth! "Let's hope someone else falls in love with her in this stupid story..." Beat rested his head in his hands and let out a small sigh as he thought back to the first time he saw Rhyth in the dream... then when he saw her getting taken away. She was in nothing more than a nightgown... Beat blushed at the thought. Yoyo 's words were getting to him... Beat's thoughts were stopped when a raindrop fell on his hand. He looked up at the sky, which was now covered in dark clouds. There was a flash of light, a loud bang, a few more raindrops and Yoyo yelling orders to everyone.
"Everyone, tie the sails!" After there was no response, Yoyo let out a sigh. "Take those ropes over there, and tie them to the knobs over there!" Everyone's blank expressions turned to expressions of realization as they all set to work. Beat watched as the waves beneath him threatened to pull him down.
"BEAT!!" The auburn haired boy turned around to see Jazz holding one of the many ropes and tying it down. "Get down from there!!" She yelled. "If you drown in this strangely realistic dream, Rhyth might die!"
Beat crossed his arms and looked away. "Feh. Why do I care? You can't really die in dreams!"
"Not true!" Jazz protested. People have been scared to death by nightmares! This dream isn't any different!"
Beat was hesitant to get down. Then again... Jazz had seen the movie... she knew exactly what happened and when. Now that he knew the dangers of the dream, Rhyth's safety was more important than his own.
Beat jumped down from the bow and strolled down the deck. As he passed by Jazz, he let out a dignified snort. 'Stupid Rhyth! Why the hell did you get captured?! You could've beaten the crap out of them!' He let out an exasperated sigh. 'When we save you, I swear I will...' Beat trailed off. 'Rhyth...'
"Yo, Beat!" Corn leaned down in front of him. "You're spacing out! Speak to me!"
"Huh? Oh... sorry." Beat looked out at the waves that were starting to form. "I'm just thinking..."
"About Rhyth?" The blonde asked with a smirk. Beat felt his cheeks get hot as he looked away. "Don't worry about it, man." Corn said, patting his friend on the back. "I'm slightly worried about her too."
"She'll be fine." Beat replied, smiling slightly. "If she can beat the hell out of captain Johnny Pigeon over there..."
"I HEARD THAT!!" Yoyo yelled from the wheel. The two rudies grinned.
"...she can survive that Bar-bossy guy." He finished. "Now tell me... why is Yoyo using a compass that doesn't point north?"
"Well, we aren't trying to find north, are we?" Corn laughed as he grabbed one of the ropes and tied it down. "That compass somehow points to the Black Pearl. How, I do not know, but if we were on the black pearl, that is when it would point north."
Beat stared at the blonde. "I think that makes sense... wait for it... yep, it does." Corn rolled his eyes.
"You're hopeless, Beat." Corn teased, punching him lightly in the arm. The two talked for several hours despite the fact that the storm to try to pull them under the waves.
& & & & &
Rhyth watched through the window in the captains quarters as the waves crashed against the side of the boat. She turned around and watched as the candles slid across the wooden desk. The pirates had finally stopped tossing Rhyth after about three hours. Apparently, one of the pirate's arms had fallen off while tossing her up with the cloth. That was when they called it quits. She sadly watched as the candles slid in the other direction. Rhyth thought back to Beat... his warm brown eyes... his messy red hair... Rhyth was always tempted to mess it up more than it already was... but refrained from it. Beat would probably snap at her... as usual. What was wrong with her? All she did was try to cheer him up... and the only time that had worked was when he seemed more distant than normal. Rhyth went to visit him and try to see what the problem was. And she found out... a little too well...
Rhyth Flashback
"Beat...?" Rhyth slowly opened the door to Beat's room. "Beat... are you here?" A soft grunt came in response. Rhyth opened the door further and stepped in. Beat's room was dark... as usual. The bed lay in the corner and the floor was littered with sheets of music.
"What do you want?" he growled. His face was hidden in the shadows, but Rhyth could see his silhouette perfectly. He wasn't wearing his headphones, or his goggles. It was just the familiar red head that she had seen so many times.
"I..." Rhyth swallowed. "You... don't seem like yourself lately... and... I was... wondering... if something was wrong..." Rhyth started to fidget with the hem of her skirt. She didn't dare move closer, in fear of what Beat might do.
"It's none of your business!" He snapped. Rhyth saw his head turn to face the wall. "Just... get lost."
Rhyth felt anger start to boil inside her, but she ignored it.
"There is something wrong, Beat." She growled. "You may be dark and distant, but even you, the 'King of Darkness' smiles at least once a day!" Rhyth started to feel more comfortable saying what she thought to him... in his room... where he could easily kill her without anyone hearing her scream. "I mean... it's been a week and not even a single SMIRK out of you!"
Yep. Happy, giddy, bouncy Rhyth was gone... and was replaced by a dark, easily angered Rhyth at the moment.
"Shut up." He said quietly, not moving from his spot. Rhyth did no such thing.
"You may not have noticed, but I treat everyone like a friend! Since they are my friends, I KNOW when something's wrong! Now spill it!!"
A sharp pain on the side of her face stopped Rhyth from speaking. She turned back to Beat, who was still holding his fist up.
"Shut up!" He yelled. "You have no right to snoop around in my business!" He punched her again.
"Well, it's not going to get any better if you hide from everyone!" She retorted. This ended up in another blow to the face. She spat out some blood, but didn't dare retreat.
"Well, they don't know anything about it!"
"How would you know?!" Rhyth was punched once again. "How would you know if you don't tell anybody?!"
"Shut up!" he said again as he punched her in the stomach. Rhyth collapsed to the floor in pain. "Do you really want to know?!" He asked as he "I just found out that my mother was slaughtered by some serial killer! How can you expect me to be happy?!"
"Well, it's not as if you're the only one that's lost a parent!" Rhyth yelled back. "Both of mine died when I was seven! And you think you've had it bad?!"
"...!" Beat was left speechless, so Rhyth continued.
"A lot of people have had it bad, Beat." She said, this time quieter. "You're lucky you've had your mother for this long..." She looked down at her bruised arms. "At least... you got to grow up in a house for a long time..." She then smirked. "Me... I lived on the streets for several years. I was lucky enough to teach myself to blade... and still... I seem like one of the happiest people around..." Tears started to sting at her eyes as she told Beat about her life.
"...Rhyth..." Beat looked down at the bloody girl. She looked like this because of him... because of his anger... "I... you..." He let his legs buckle from under him so he was face to face with the blue-haired girl. "I'm so sorry..." He quickly forced her into a hug, being careful not to hurt her any more than he already had. "I feel like such an idiot... I didn't realize who I was talking to... until it was too late..."
Rhyth forced a smile onto her bloody face. 'Blinded by anger...' She thought silently. "Don't worry about it." She muttered, her voice cracked from crying. "I'll just go to my room..." She was about to stand up, but Beat stopped her.
"Don't... go, alright?" He pleaded. "Just stay here. People will get suspicious about your bruises... and don't say you got them while you were out. Everyone knows you stayed here today." Rhyth smiled.
"Thanks Beat." She said, hugging him again. Beat just smiled, thanking her back silently.
End of flashback
Ever since then, Beat had treated her way better. Sure, they fought quite a bit still, but they were much closer. Besides, if they didn't fight, everybody would think something was going on between them. Rhyth smiled to herself as she pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She stayed like this for the rest of the trip, doing nothing but thinking about Beat, Yoyo and how they were going to save her from Hayashi and his creepy perverted pirate crew.
'Please come...' Rhyth pleaded silently to herself. 'Please save me...'
& & & & &
"Dead men tell no tales!" Garam 's parrot squawked from it's perch. Corn scowled at Garam, who flinched.
"Sorry." The parrot said. "It was the right time to say it." Beat laughed lightly as he looked down at the hammerhead sharks under the water. They were pretty fascinating creatures... kind of funny looking, but not as funny looking as Hayashi, so it wasn't that bad. He then noticed that the sharks were swimming around sunken ships that had tried to come through here. This worried beat slightly.
"Hey, Corn." Beat nudged his friend. "We do make it past here, don't we?" Corn nodded.
"Yep. And after this, you get to go save Rhyth!" Beat's eyes narrowed, but inside he felt like jumping for joy. He could save Rhyth, then the dream would be over... right? It seemed shorter than he expected... maybe that book had big font... no... There was a catch...
"Oi, Beat!" Yoyo called. "Let's go!! Into the boat!" Corn pushed Beat in the direction of the green haired captain, who was now standing in front of one of the lifeboats. He muttered something to Cube, who was standing beside him, then turned back to Beat. "What are you waiting for?! Hurry up molasses!"
This reminded Beat of a joke that Rhyth had told him once, which made him walk faster. The joke happens in a large field. There were three moles. A mama mole a papa mole and a baby mole. One day the mama mole sticks her head out of the hole and says 'hey! I smell honey!' The papa mole sticks his head out of the hole and says 'Hey! I smell maple syrup!' The baby mole tries to stick his head out of the hole, but fails, because it's parent's are in the way. So he says 'Well the only thing I smell is molasses!!' (funny? Huh?) Beat thought about this as the boat was lowered into the water. Yoyo took the oars and started to row into the cave.
"Now... one thing we have to remember, is springing out at the opportune moment. This way we'll catch them by surprise." Beat nodded, showing that he understood. "So... here comes operation 'saviorlova.'"
Beat translated his sentence and whacked him on the head with one of the extra oars.
"Ow..." Yoyo mumbled before falling out of consciousness. Beat raised an eyebrow in question.
"That..." Beat informed himself. "might come in handy." After several hard minutes of trying to switch seats with an unconscious Yoyo, Beat got a hold of the oars and started rowing. As he rowed further into the cave, he noticed that the bed of the stream was covered in gold coins. 'If only this were real...' Beat muttered to himself silently. He immediately stopped rowing when he hears Rhyth's cry.
Beat beached the large rowboat, leaving the lifeless rudie inside and continued up to a good hiding place with a good view of the room where the pirates were. It was then that he saw who Barbossa really was.
'Hayashi?!' Beat couldn't believe his eyes. 'What the hell?! Why is he here?!" He stood up on a giant pile of gold, a huge stone chest sat at his feet. Beside him was the familiar girl that Beat had been working his ass off to save. Rhyth. Her blue eyes darted around the room, as if she were looking for something. Her gaze finally met his, and Rhyth seemed to relax a little. Beat did the exact same thing. Stepping back silently, he gave Rhyth a reassuring look before disappearing into the shadows. He crept down to the side and crawled into the water. The rudie swam around to the back -surprisingly not being seen by anyone- and waited for -as Yoyo would say- the opportune moment.
"...now! Hayashi yelled, pulling a knife out of his pocket after a very strange speech. "For the blood to be repaid!" He pulled Rhyth's face down near the chest by pulling her hair. She let out a small cry of pain. Beat was about to move, but he caught Rhyth's gaze, which told him to stay where he was. Her head was immediately jerked upward, causing her to let out another whimper. Hayashi took the rudie 's hand. He sliced the girl's palm and let it bleed on the coin. Beat held his breath as the coin was dropped into the chest...
TBC
Wow... so long... one of the longest ones I've ever written! Sheesh! You would think I would take a break... nah! Hope you liked it! Nine coming up! Fluffiness!
By the way, if you are a Khakibluesocks fan, she really likes my Inu songfics! Go look up Hey yasha! I got high sock honours!
