"Ah…" Zero woke up very slowly the next day. He was warm, comfortable, and… curled up with Leviathan, under a blanket. Zero blushed terribly, remembering what they had done the previous night. He hesitated, then reached out to gently touch her hair. Leviathan sighed, burrowing tightly against his side… Larkspur was higher than any other town they had stayed it, and it had cooled over the night. Some thoughtful soul had provided everyone with blankets after the festivities, more to ward off the chill than any concern for modesty. Zero was fairly sure 'modesty' and 'Larkspur' generally didn't get mentioned in the same sentence.
Zero pushed himself up with one arm, and glanced around. A few people were awake, and some were pulling on smocks and brushing out their hair, before trotting off to their morning duties. Axl and X weren't present… Zero wondered what they were doing. Gate was awake, drinking a large mug of tea and eating… French toast? Whatever it was, it smelled delicious. Zero realized how hungry he was… he hadn't eaten much before…
Leviathan stirred with a sigh, and Zero looked down into her beautiful blue eyes. She smiled shyly, pushing herself up and nuzzling him affectionately. Zero hesitated a moment, then returned the attention. But…
"Levi… we're still enemies," he said softly. "Should we be doing this?" Leviathan winced, then shrugged.
"For now. But we have a common enemy, don't we? Weil," she said his name with smoldering anger. "Isn't about to leave Neo Arcadia alone, after all. And if we can get steady power sources from this place, we won't even need the Ciel system. We should be able to come to some kind of peace." That diverted Zero to a different thought.
"If it were that easy, though, why didn't Copy X trade for all the power you needed?" Zero wondered out loud. Leviathan was silent for a moment, then grimaced.
"I can only guess, but if I had to guess, I'd say that he didn't want us to be dependant on them." Leviathan glanced around the room, a little uneasily. "Even here… several of these people are combat models, Zero, maybe a little less powerful than Guardians, but Larkspur isn't as advanced as the real Hope's Dream, either. What will we find there? Was X right to worry?" Zero considered that, and didn't like the taste of it. But…
"He might have been right to worry, in terms of how many warriors they have and what they could do," he said softly. "But not what they would do. Larkspur is independent. So are Hell's Mouth, those fishermen, and all those places X mentioned we were going to visit. If they were going to conquer, wouldn't they start at home?" Leviathan stared at him a moment, then smiled, reassured.
"You're right. Of course, Master X couldn't have known about that." He had never gone across the sea. Leviathan stood up, pulling on her clothes as Zero looked away with a blush. "Ohh, I'm so hungry… what's for breakfast?" Gate looked up from his meal.
"We have French toast, or scrambled eggs with toast, if you prefer. There's some maple syrup for the French toast, as well, and tea, milk or water." Gate waved with his mug to another door. "Just go through there."
"Thank you," Leviathan said with a smile, then looked down at Zero. "What would you like?" If she was going to get her own, she might as well get his too. Zero considered it for a moment.
"French toast and tea, please. With sugar and milk, if they have any." Zero always preferred his tea sweetened. Leviathan nodded, leaving the room. Axl and X came in a moment later. They were both looking very bright, chipper and happy, and X was carrying a large bag that tinkled. Zero quickly got dressed, before sitting back down on the rugs.
"We sold all those gemstones to a jeweler," X said, pleased. "For a whole bunch of gold chains, bangles and rings!"
"That's why he's looking so glittery," Axl put in with a grin, and Copy X snorted, sticking his nose in the air.
"You're just jealous. Why don't you wear some, besides that belt?" The only jewelry Axl wore was a belt made of golden chains and black silk cords. It was knotted on one side, with chains dangling so they could be easily broken off. But Axl only laughed.
"And look like an advertisement for a jewelry store? No thanks. I'm too old for that style." Axl grinned at X, then winked at Zero. "When I was young… and Zero was sort of young… the only ones who wore that much gold were pimps." Zero blinked at that reference to his past, and eyed Axl speculatively. He'd already known that the other Reploid had known him from a long time ago, but this was the first hint that he remembered everything clearly.
"Ptth… oh, food!" X beamed at Leviathan as she came in with two plates of French toast, and two mugs. "Can I have some?"
"No," she answered promptly. "Go get your own." Copy X sighed, dejected, but went with Axl. Leviathan sat down beside Zero, passing him his plate. Zero smiled and thanked her, trying the toast. It was sweet and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Leviathan took a sip of her drink and almost choked.
"Puuh… what is this stuff?" She gasped, and Gate looked over, puzzled.
"Oh, you mean the goat's milk?" Gate smiled, faintly. "It's a touch stronger than cow milk, but we don't really have enough space for cows here."
"Oh." Leviathan wrinkled her nose, but tried the milk again and managed to hold it down with a faint shudder. Zero tried his tea, and winced slightly… he could taste the goat's milk in it. But he drank it anyway.
Soon, they were heading back to the lookout post. They were all happy, but Leviathan was especially so… Gate had been true to his word and had provided them with the plans for the class B generators. And Leviathan had gotten something else she wanted, and it was more than just sex… Zero was really interested in her, she was sure of it.
Of course, that left open the question of how Ciel would react to that. Leviathan wondered if a threesome might actually be possible. She was sure Zero was fond of Ciel too… and while she would never give up Zero willingly, it would be good not to step on Ciel's toes… On the other hand, she would rather break Ciel's toes than give up Zero.
Fortunately, they didn't have to address the question immediately. When they arrived at the lookout post, they found that Ciel and Ema had made themselves useful cleaning it up, to the bemusement of the normal inhabitants.
"It must be a female thing," Fortran theorized. "This dreadful intolerance for dirt. Personally, I rather like dirt."
"We could tell," Ciel replied dryly, pulling on her backpack. Ema chuckled softly. She was no neat freak, but she'd gone along with Ciel, mostly because the house really had been intolerably messy. "Try not to get it dirty again too quickly."
"Well, we'll give it a shot," Cobot said with a grin, then waved. "Good luck on your trip!"
"Good luck!"
"Zero, what is going on with you and Leviathan?" Ciel demanded quietly, as the boat slowly floated back down the river. There wasn't much privacy on the boat, so all the lovers were doing was holding hands. But that was more than enough to tingle Ciel's mental radar. She was sure SOMETHING had happened between them when she had been forced to stay behind, and didn't like it a bit. Zero blushed, looking over the rail and into the water. He was expecting Ciel to be upset… Leviathan was an enemy, after all. Pretty vicious in battle, too.
"Ciel… in Larkspur, we both tried their sacred smoke stick," Zero was very embarrassed, admitting that. "And then we became… intimate. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take up with an enemy of the rebellion. It just happened." Ciel stiffened, then sniffed, and Zero looked at her, surprised. "…Ciel? Why are you so upset?" He was expecting her to be a bit upset, but this seemed excessive.
"You… you are so STUPID!" Ciel sobbed, before whirling around and ducking back into the ship. Zero was left staring after her.
"She's right, you really are stupid." Zero turned to look at Axl, who was leaning against the deckhouse and grinning at him. "I can hardly believe you're Zero. When I knew you waaaay back when, you were never this clueless about girls."
"You knew me a long time ago, didn't you?" Zero demanded. Axl smiled, and nodded. "Tell me about it! I can't remember anything. Please." The greatest desire Zero had was to get his memory back. Axl tilted his head to one size, thinking about it.
"Well, I liked your old armor a LOT better. I think all these new styles are sort of nauseating on guys. Looks too much like bikini briefs." Zero flushed, embarrassed, but gave Axl a glare as the other Reploid grinned at him.
"That's not what I meant. What happened? How did I know you? Tell me!" Axl sobered at that demand, and slowly shook his head.
"Zero… what good would that do?" He said gently. "If I told you about our adventures together, our times with X, the time we gave Spider a wedgie or when we spiked Alia's punch… would that really make you happy? When you can't remember anything I'm talking about? Would it really?" Zero and Axl's eyes met, and Axl held his gaze until Zero turned away to look into the water again.
"It's not fair," he whispered softly. "I want to remember." But Axl was right. If he told Zero about the past, and Zero still couldn't remember, what good would it do? It would only make him feel worse.
"Life's not fair, Z," Axl said, but there was compassion in his voice. "You just have to make new memories for yourself, with the people that matter. The old ones had as much pain as joy in them, anyway. Take my word for it. Sometimes, I almost wish I could forget." There was a long silence, as Zero looked into the water and Axl watched him. Zero finally sighed, and looked up.
"You were saying something about Ciel?" He said, changing the subject. Axl grinned again.
"Oh yeah! You DO realize she would probably just LOVE to roll in your hair?" he teased Zero, as Zero turned to stare at him. "Along with the rest of you, naked on her bed?"
"WHAT are you talking about?" Zero demanded, then blinked as he suddenly realized… "You can't be serious. She can't feel that way about me." Although… now that he thought about it, Ciel WAS rather affectionate. In fact, sometimes almost flirtatious. But surely it was just friendly! Axl rolled his eyes.
"See what I meant about being dense? Believe me, your old self would be trying to get them both in his bed at the same time about now." Axl smiled nostalgically. "I still remember how you helped me lose my virginity." That made Zero stare at him again.
"We DIDN'T!" Zero exclaimed, a bit higher pitch than normal. Axl took one look at the expression on his face, and broke out laughing.
"Gods, no, of course not!" He managed to gasp out. "Oh, the expression on your face! No, you introduced me to… ah, nevermind. But it was a really weird night. Don't even MENTION cherries to me." That only confused Zero further. "Or bail fees. Or… ah! Nevermind. The story is WAY too tangled and I can't even remember all of it. You got me so DRUNK. You were BAD back then." Axl took pity on Zero as he began to look horrified. "Just think about it, okay? And I bet Leviathan already knows how Ciel feels, so maybe you should discuss it with her. She might not like it, but she'll probably be willing to talk about it."
"Maybe." Zero sighed. He really didn't want to have to deal with all this personal stuff, pleasant as it could be. He did love Ciel, but he'd always thought of her as a friend… and Leviathan as an enemy, for that matter.
It was all getting very confusing. He wasn't sure how to deal with it at all… and surely he could put it off for a while. Nothing was going to happen soon, on this cramped boat.
The trip down the river was fairly uneventful, except for a certain coldness between Ciel and Leviathan. And also some distance between Ciel and Zero. But Zero was still doing his best imitation of a turtle, hoping if he pulled back far enough in his shell he would be safe. It wasn't making for good relations.
But when they reached Hell's Mouth, the situation waiting for them managed to take their minds off that minor issue. Well, for a short time.
"WHERE are my soldiers?" Ciel demanded of the ship's captain. He shrugged expansively.
"In jail, Lady Ciel. Along with five members of my crew," he added sourly. "And actually, three of your soldiers managed to escape. They're just hiding below deck."
"Get them out here! Now!" Zero loped over easily to help her out with that. Soon, the bedraggled soldiers had been rounded up and presented to Ciel for inspection. A few of them looked a little scorched around the edges, and one had lost her eyebrows. Unfortunately for Reploids, hair did not grow back. It had to be fixed. "Now what happened?" There was a long silence, before a male soldier cleared his throat.
"Did you know alcohol burns?" He said brightly. "And, if you use a flamethrower in a bar it can explode?"
"Actually, regular alcohol wouldn't do that," Copy X said with professional assurance. "They probably had some weird chemicals there too, for the Reploids that can ingest them. There are some really strange cocktails that'll make your hair spark."
"Thank you, X, for that useless information," Ciel snarled at him, furious, then turned back to the soldiers. "Which one of you idiots was using a flamethrower in a bar? I didn't even know you had flamethrowers!"
"We don't!" The girl immediately protested. "There was a huge fight over a… a… uh, female, at least I THINK she was female, and it was the other guy who had the flamethrower! Well, one of the other guys, there was a whole bunch of them."
"A fight over a whore," X interpreted. "And probably with one of the street gangs. They have some serious weaponry although they're usually not that dumb-"
"Can you PLEASE leave this to me?" Ciel hissed at him, and X shrugged, spreading his hands. Then she fixed the captain with a sharp look. "Why haven't you bailed them out of jail yet?"
"Yes, I was just about to ask," Leviathan cut in. The captain was her responsibility. The captain grimaced, then shrugged again.
"I wasn't certain we would have enough money for the rest of the stay if I did. And besides, cooling their heels in jail is doing them no harm. Although I hear prisoners who can't pay their fines get sold as slaves." That surprised everyone, except the native trio.
"Oh yes," Axl said with a grim smile. "Slavery is alive and well around here. Not so very common, but a lot of Reploids have served five or ten years in the mines over things like this." That silenced everyone for a moment.
"This place is so barbaric," Leviathan muttered, then shook her head. "How much is the bail going to be?" The captain told her, and her eyes about bugged out. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"
"Nope. That's why when I smash up a place, I make sure I'm never caught," X said with an amused grin. "They're basically charging you guys for the price of the tavern, then a bit more for their trouble."
"But what about the idiot with the flamethrower?" Ciel protested, and one of her soldiers piped up.
"Um, he's dead. The tavern owner and all his family went after him with vibro knives and cut him to pieces. Err, and two of the ships crew. It was sort of a hard part of town." Leviathan rubbed her head, feeling a migraine coming on. "And we think maybe Jancrie's dead too. He got hit on a head with a frying pan so hard, the pan sort of molded itself to his helmet."
"Please, just give us more bad news." Leviathan said wearily. "Who do we talk to about getting this sorted out?"
"I'll take care of it," Axl volunteered. "I had to post bail for X, once. If you give me all the profits you made on the emeralds and sapphires, I should be able to sort it out." Leviathan hesitated, then handed over the pouch with a sigh. It hurt to loose all that gold, but it would hurt worse if she came back and Harpuia found out she'd let five of her crew be sold into slavery. "Ciel, your share too. You can split whatever's left over." Ciel winced, but handed over the share Zero had made from the fiasco with Raphael. "X, Ema, while I'm doing this can you secure a cargo?"
"Sure thing," X said cheerfully, making Leviathan blink.
"A cargo?" She said warily. X grinned at her as Axl vaulted off the boat to go secure their friend's liberty.
"But of course! You're not paying us enough for our exclusive attentions. Killing pirates and looting the bodies is fun, but it's only a sideline. We buy items and trade them, or carry cargoes for other people." X looked over the Wandering Gypsy thoughtfully. "If you have enough room, maybe I could arrange a cargo for you too." Leviathan considered that, then shook her head.
"We still have almost all the spices on board. Any more weight, and we'll sink." X nodded.
"Well, spices fetch good prices everywhere. You can sell them off at our next stop, and get something new."
"I see," Leviathan murmured. She had trouble imagining Copy X as a legitimate merchant, but it was obvious he doubled as one. That probably explained how he was so rich, if he was good at anticipating what cargoes would make a lot of money in what ports. Also, he wouldn't have to worry much about being overcome by pirates. That probably made quite a difference, in this place. "Well, good luck on that."
"Thanks!" X and Ema set off, as Zero, Ciel and Leviathan exchanged glances.
"This place is maddeningly barbaric," Ciel finally said with a sigh. "…Why do I like it?" No one could answer.