Prologue
When the RMS Teutonic came under attack, the entire ship shook violently. Bolted steel bended and moaned from the unnatural strike, causing the bottled up panic of the passengers to boil over into pandemonium.
In the midship section, where most of the twelve hundred passengers had been shepherded earlier, the unrest was quickly getting out of hand. Those panicked souls clung onto whatever they could - from handrails in the halls, to any piece of furniture that was bolted to the floor, to their fellow passengers. Their fears were stoked further when the electrical lights throughout the vessel flickered on and off.
Mass hysteria started to take root. A cacophony of screams, shouts and cries in a myriad of languages filled the midship section and spread like wildfire. The few remaining service crew and the six bodyguards of the Lowry expedition had six rifles and nine pistols between them, but they knew that their meager arsenal would be nothing compared to a maddened crowd.
Suddenly, the doors of the midship's banquet hall burst open. Amelia Watson marched out into the great hall, followed by the shaken Ina, Gura and Ophelia. The detective led the pack, wearing a poker face as she made her way to the balcony. From there, she saw all four floors of the midship's great hall - and the terrified crowds of people that packed each one.
A frown formed on Ame's lips and she drew out her Webley revolver. She pointed it up to the wooden ceiling and pulled the trigger. Her pistol shot rang throughout the great hall and silenced the crowd. All eyes in the hall then turned to Amelia Watson and her smoking gun.
Now that she had their attention, Ame kept her gun raised up high and addressed the crowd at the top of her lungs. The Teutonic was under attack by a horrible beast, she told them. However, she showed everyone her gun and vowed that the attacker would be defeated.
Whispers started spreading throughout the midship section. The guards and staff parroted Ame's words, but pockets of doubt remained. Moments later, the Teutonic was rocked again by another strike on the hull - this time from the starboard side.
Ame, however, stood strong and repeated her promise. The crowd held their breaths and quieted down. Even though the uneasy tension remained, they quietly accepted the detective's offer.
After all, what other choice did they have?
This was Ame's cue to call for volunteers.
All six Lowry Expedition guards came forward with their Lee Enfield rifles. Nine of the remnants of the Teutonic's staff also volunteered, showing their constellation of handguns of all shapes and sizes. It was a true rag-tag militia.
Ophelia Lowry herself joined the ranks and brandished her own rifle - an American Krag-Jorgensen/M1892 Springfield rifle. The aristocrat's daughter furrowed her brow and hissed at the detective.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Watson. I'm going to haunt you if we die here."
Ame scoffed at the remark and countered, "If you can shoot that thing, then we'll be fine."
"Count me in too, Ame." Ina, unarmed as she was, volunteered next, "I can use the spotlight to track the beast."
"Thanks Ina." Ame finally managed a small smile, "You'll be our eyes. We'll be counting on you."
Gura watched the Teutonic militia get organized from the sidelines at first. The chambermaid lowered her head and then stole a glance of the banquet hall behind her. There, the omnipresent fresco of Poseidon returned her gaze. It was as if the Olympian god stared straight into her very soul, wordlessly warning her.
Her hand was tempted to reach for the fishbone-shaped pendant that she wore, but Poseidon's gaze made her stop halfway. Prodded by that glare, Gura reached into her maid uniform's pockets instead. She drew out her Single Action Army revolver and approached the detective.
"I'll fight too, Ame." Gura volunteered gamely, "Lead the way."
A small smile formed on Ame's lips. She then spoke warmly, "Thank you, Gura. Let's go."
Gura's smile in response, however, was half-hearted.
AlterMyth
Daughter of Atlantis
Twenty-Third Scene - Wanted Dead Or Alive
For as long as Gura could remember, she was a girl on the run. She lived as a drifter who moved from town to town and worked odd jobs to make ends meet. In that time, she was able to pick peaches in Georgia, buy a hat and traveling coat in Tennessee, get a revolver in Kentucky and then learn to ride a horse in West Virginia.
During that time, she acquired a thick country girl accent and learned to work and live off the land. Aside from those memories, however, those past few decades were a blur in her mind. She met all sorts of people and saw all sorts of places, but her friendships were shallow and fleeting. She had lost count of the number of times she had snuck aboard the midnight trains without telling a soul.
Crossing state lines became a routine for her. After all, her many odd jobs often pitted her against rough characters and - sometimes - put her on the wrong side of the law. If you were to ask her, she would probably have said that she was hailed as a hero in two counties and wanted for disturbing the peace in three others. The exact number of counties - and the crimes she was supposedly wanted for - would change, however, every time you asked.
Anyone who knew her for long enough would be able to tell that she was running away from something or someone. She was always either working, traveling, sleeping or drinking in the pubs and saloons of whatever town she was in that evening. Her tolerance for alcohol was absolutely inhuman, so no one ever stayed sober enough to dive deeper into her story.
Even if there was someone with an iron liver and a brave soul, Gura would just refuse to answer and wear an apologetic smile. As such, Gura kept her secrets to herself - never letting herself get attached to anyone or anything.
Gura lived her life like this for about thirty years. Stagnation eventually set in. She spent more time drunk than sober. Her revolver started gathering dust. Even her sweetcorn had trouble growing. Before long, the drifter started wondering what she was doing with her life.
By some stroke of luck, in an increasingly rare moment of clarity, Gura found an opening in the White Star Line company as a chambermaid. It was a contract for two voyages on ocean liners - one from New York to Liverpool, and one from Portsmouth to Bordeaux.
She wasn't a stranger to odd jobs and to unusual contracts, but traveling through the Atlantic Ocean worried her. There was something about that ocean that seemed to frighten her. Any body of water wider than the Shenandoah River made her feel uneasy and she refused to tell anyone why.
However, the pay on the advertisement was generous enough to nudge her in the right direction. More than that, she would be able to leave her gunslinger past behind and start anew in Europe. Once again. Once more. So, she applied for the job and left West Virginia for New York as soon as she was hired.
Everything was going according to plan for her for a while. She was one of the best chambermaids on the RMS Olympic, the Teutonic's sister ship, and she earned a pretty penny. Her purse was filled with more threepence coins than she could count. And yet, that looming emptiness remained in her heart.
Then, on one fateful afternoon, her plans were disrupted on the bar car of a Portsmouth-bound train. She drank a little too much and, for once, reached the limit of her liver. Instead of drowning her sorrows, her sorrows were threatening to drown her.
That was when her eyes met with those of Amelia Watson. At that moment she knew that her life would be changed forever.
In the span of two days, Ame burst through the walls that Gura had built around herself like a daisy chain of dynamites. Every meeting that she had with the detective was an explosion of warmth and kindness that melted Gura's stone-cold heart. Ame even introduced her to the librarian Ina who warmed up to her quickly after their misunderstandings had been cleared.
The foolhardy detective and the usually level-headed librarian (when she wasn't secretly fawning over Ame) reminded Gura of something that she thought she had forgotten after all those years. They weren't like those fleeting, pedestrian relationships with travelers or colleagues that came and went. They weren't mere ships passing in a stormy night.
Ame was special to her.
Ina was special to her.
They were like sunshine that came to her after decades of darkness.
Thus, when the RMS Teutonic came under attack on that stormy evening, she swore to protect her sunshine. Her deep-seated history and heritage continued to haunt her and held her back to a degree.
And yet, after thirty years on land, Gura decided that she was starting to get tired of hiding from the sea.
With revolver in hand, her ancient hesitation was finally starting to melt away once and for all.
Twenty-Fourth Scene - Battle on the High Seas
Back in the present, Gura and the rest of the militia took whatever protective equipment they could find in the Teutonic's depleted storerooms. They donned hooded oilskin jackets, floating cork vests and tall rubber rain boots to shield themselves from the elements. Then, Gura took out her Single Action Army revolver and hoped to give its barrel a quick, albeit long overdue scrub.
When she did so, however, she noticed that her revolver had already been thoroughly cleaned. The last time she cleaned her gun, she was still running from outlaws in West Virginia. She then stole a glance at Ame who gave her a knowing wink in reply.
That wink made Gura scoff, but it put her at ease.
It reminded her of what she was fighting for.
Once the militia gathered what it could, Ame and Ina explained their strategy. Ina would use the spotlight to spot and track the creature. Then, Ame would lead the gunners in the fusillade to stop it from ramming the Teutonic again. Mad minutes of gunfire.
As they were speaking, the ship got rammed by the creature a third time - reminding them of their urgent situation. Once again, Gura reached for her fishbone-shaped pendant pensively - but stopped herself halfway.
Her resolve had yet to fully thaw and the glare of Poseidon forced her to stay her hand. Thirty years of living on land did not dull her fear of Atlantean laws and society - as well as her disdain for them both.
"Is something wrong, Gura?" Ina asked her when she passed by, "You're sweating."
Gura shook her head and wore a restrained smile.
"I'm fine, Ina." Gura reassured half-heartedly, "We'll be counting on you up there!"
Ina glanced at Gura for a moment but eventually decided to take the chambermaid at her word. The librarian then excused herself and climbed up to the crow's nest. Ame, on the other hand, led the militia onto the deck of the Teutonic.
Gura heaved a sigh and followed Ame and the others.
Marching together with the militia gave Gura some hope. Her allies were confident - and the lively, albeit harsh banter between Ame and Ophelia kept everyone's spirits up somewhat. For a moment, Gura even felt that they may have that battle in the bag.
However, as soon as Ame opened the door to the deck, Gura's fleeting delusions were eviscerated by the harsh reality before her. Howling winds, frigid near-freezing rain and high, billowing waves rocked the boat to a deathly rhythm. It was as if Death itself was cradling them to their final slumber.
Flashes of lightning reflected in Gura's blue eyes when she stepped onto the deck. The wind whipped off her oilskin hood and rain drenched her head of white hair. Her Single Action Army revolver was slick with rain in her clammy hands and the memories that she had been fighting so hard to suppress threatened to rise to the surface of the eye of her mind.
The bloodstained memories of her first encounter with this very same sea serpent from thirty years ago.
A loud click rang from the crow's nest above the deck and Ina's high-intensity spotlight turned on. That powerful ray of light pierced through the darkness of the stormy skies and then swept through the Teutonic's deck.
Moments later, that spotlight focused on the creature that was attacking their vessel. The creature's ancient, armored scales glistened with seawater under the watchful gaze of the spotlight.
Gura regarded those scales and the broken remnants of polearms and tridents that stubbornly clung onto the serpent for thirty years and counting. Rainwater streaked down from Gura's oilskin hood and slid down her cheeks as she stood there in a trance.
Hatred, anger, sadness and fear mixed together in the chambermaid's heart. That concoction of emotions stewed there and threatened to boil over.
Then, she felt a hand tap her on the shoulder. Gura whirled around panicked, but she saw Ame wearing her confident, albeit fragile smile.
"You don't have to force yourself to fight, Gura." Ame politely offered her one last chance to retreat.
Gura promptly shook her head and wiped the drops of rain from her cheeks. Before she could say anything, however, the creature started slithering quickly towards the Teutonic. The sea serpent's menacing red eyes met with Gura's, tainted with primal hunger. Then, it swam towards the Teutonic with breakneck speed.
Ame broke away from Gura and drew her revolver. She then cried out.
"It's coming! OPEN FIRE!"
The detective fired first and struck the serpent's armored head, barely missing the approaching creature's eyes. Further down the deck, Gura heard the safeties of rifles switched off with metallic clicks and the cocking of revolver hammers. All the while, Ina kept the spotlight firmly on the attacking beast.
Seven rifles and nine pistols went off intermittently, guided by the lone spotlight. Their fusillade sent bullets of various calibers flying towards the serpent, but those shots hardly did any damage. Gura fired her recently-cleaned Single Action Army too to join the fusillade, but she was met with the same fate. Her shot - and the shots of her allies - were deflected by the powerful scales with near impunity and her heart sank.
The serpent's scales had grown harder over those past thirty years, Gura realized. Now, they were strong enough to deflect the most modern rifle rounds. The few shots that managed to pierce the scales or slip between them left only shallow wounds at best.
Gura then shuddered when she turned to Ame. The confident sharpness in Ame's eyes had waned. She could tell that the detective made the same realization as her. The both of them had made a grave miscalculation - and they knew that they were about to pay for it dearly.
Ina, Ophelia and the other members of the militia probably realized that too. Now, all they could do was brace for impact.
The ancient, aged serpent rammed the portside hull with unnatural strength. Its blow sent shockwaves throughout the entire ship. Gura and the other defenders held onto the rails of the deck and clung on for dear life. All the while, the electric lights of the Teutonic - including their vaunted spotlight - flickered wildly and dimmed.
In the midst of that chaos, Gura's senses sharpened. Heavy rain and sea spray bombarded her and allies with water and frost, making it hard for them to hold on to the rails and to their weapons. Then, for a brief moment, Gura's shaken blue eyes met with the serpent's malicious red.
This serpent recognized her. Gura's accent had changed dramatically and her hair had grown longer and whiter, but the serpent recognized her. Its glare sent chills up the chambermaid's spine.
With that, the serpent submerged its head and then dove down to the dark depths beneath the Teutonic. The creature's immensely long body followed it into the abyss, giving Gura a clear view of the hardened scales on its back - and the myriad of broken tridents and polearms that had pierced it decades ago.
The serpent was taunting her - branding her as a powerless coward.
Then, a towering pillar of water shot up from the ocean in the serpent's wake. It rose almost as high as the Teutonic's twin funnels and shrouded the entire portside deck with shadows.
"Everyone!" Ame screamed, "Hold o-!"
However, the detective couldn't finish her sentence before the pillar of water fell upon the deck. Frigid, salty water flushed through the deck for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. All around Gura, she saw the militia members holding their breaths while holding on to the besieged boat.
The scene reminded her of that fateful night thirty years ago when she fought that serpent off the coast of Florida. It was a night when twenty young Atlantean cadets were dispatched to slay a serpent that had gone mad, swayed by some unknown force. The mission failed - of course - and all but one of the cadets were killed in the hopeless battle.
A royal cadet of Atlantis named Gawr Gura was the lone survivor - forever to be branded as a coward, a traitor and a deserter.
On the flooded deck of the Teutonic, she saw the faces of those cadets who fought alongside her and bought her time to escape. All nineteen of them were dear friends to her. All nineteen of their tridents and polearms pierced the beast - but it wasn't enough.
Thirty years later, off the Atlantic coast of France, the beast still lived. For all its bluster and rigid laws and codes of honor, Atlantis did nothing. They let this beast continue to run amok. The source of its madness was never investigated either. Spurred by her bitter memories and submerged under the deluge caused by her ancient enemy, Gura made a decision.
Poseidon can eat a fishstick.
Twenty-fifth Scene - Not My First Rodeo
The deluge drained from the deck of the Teutonic before long, but the weary militia was left in a daze. They had managed to hold onto the rails of the deck and keep their weapons, but their resolve was woefully dampened. In their minds, their supposedly mighty ocean liner had become a mere toy at the mercy of nature and the serpent that assaulted them. The ceaseless rain whittled away at their hope and sanity and the harsh winds made them shiver to the core.
Cracks had also started to form on the deck, owing to the serpent's unnaturally precise tackles and the severely inclement weather. The RMS Teutonic was hanging on a thread - and so was Amelia Watson.
All of her bravado in the midship great hall had gone with the deluge and the wind and she knelt down onto the rain-swept deck. A shadow shrouded her unfocused sky blue eyes. She snapped open her revolver, ejecting all six of her spent rounds. However, her hand trembled when she tried to reload the gun.
One of those new bullets slipped from her fingers and rolled onto the damp deck of the Teutonic. The dropped bullet rolled away from Ame but stopped when it hit rain boots that were pointed towards her.
The oilskin-clad Gura picked up the bullet and then offered it to Ame. She looked up to Gura and saw an earnest smile on the chambermaid's face.
"... Gura?" Ame's defeated voice betrayed her curiosity and disbelief.
It was as if the deluge had washed away a massive weight off of Gura's shoulders. The chambermaid, however, offered the bullet to Ame again and spoke.
"Hey, Ame. I'm about to do something crazy, but I want you to trust me. Okay?"
"Something crazy…?" Ame shook her head in confusion, "What are you talking about!?"
"I've seen how this sea serpent fights. It's about to do a killing blow. It'll leap out on the starboard side, backflip onto the cracked deck of this ship and tear it in half. That's probably how it did the other ocean liner in." Gura explained with odd calmness, "But I'm gonna stop it this time."
Ame looked straight into Gura's eyes, absolutely awestruck.
"How the hell do you plan to do that!?" Ame demanded, desperation spilling out into her voice, "We're throwing everything we've got at it already!"
"Not everything." Gura gave Ame a toothy grin and laid the loose bullet gently onto the detective's hand, "Not yet."
She then stood up, stripped off her long oilskin jacket and lifted up the rear of her maid dress. Gura let the odd, omnipresent bulge on her back come loose too - the same odd bulge that Ame noticed in the train to Portsmouth.
A long, curved blue shark's tail emerged from behind Gura's back for Ame to see. It was bent somewhat out of shape, but it eventually righted itself and then swayed flexibly.
"So… you were an Atlantean after all." Ame gasped. She held the bullet that Gura returned to her tightly. The fire of the detective's resolve started growing stronger again, "A shark-girl… I thought they were myths!"
Gura nodded and then turned to the starboard side of the Teutonic's deck.
"Yeah. It's a long story, but I've fought this fella before. I failed once. I ain't gonna fail again… but I'll need your help." Gura then pointed to her own back and explained, "The serpent's armor on the back is stronger now than what I remember, but it's belly should still be weak enough to shoot. I'm gonna make 'im show his belly to the ship. When it does, I need you to shower the varmint with lead!"
"You didn't answer my question, Gura!" Ame then lashed, "How are you planning to do any of that!?"
Gura shook her head and then a bittersweet smile then formed on her lips.
"You'd stop me if I told you what I was gonna do, Ame. Please trust me and get everyone ready to fire. Let me pay you back for making me feel alive again."
With that, Gura holstered her Single Action Army revolver and let her oilskin jacket fly off into the howling winds. She then knelt down on the ground and arched her back like a sprinter waiting for the signal shot. All the while, her blue tail swayed eagerly behind her.
"Gura, wait!" Ame tried to stop the shark-girl, but her words were lost in the wind.
The waters on the starboard side of the Teutonic rumbled just like Gura anticipated. That was the shark-girl's cue to run as fast as her feet would take her. She sprinted through the rain-swept deck, gathering more and more momentum with each step that she took. All the while, her eyes watched as the serpent's armored head emerged from the waters.
As if it were second nature, Gura finally reached for her fishbone-shaped pendant and ripped it off the chain. A flash of powder blue light then coalesced around the pendant and it transformed into a luminous aquamarine trident. Gura caught the trident midair and she leapt onto the starboard rails of the deck.
The shark-girl bent her knees and then launched herself and her trident at the rising serpent with every ounce of strength she could muster. She caught the serpent's head on the way up and drove her trident into it. Its three prongs pierced through the thick scales and dug firmly into the carapace beneath.
That strike made the serpent roar into the dark heavens and it started thrashing about. The serpent's attack was interrupted and it moved away from the Teutonic, twisting and writhing. It desperately tried to shake off the shark-girl and dislodge her trident from its head. Gura, however, firmly held on and slowly forced her trident even deeper into the serpent's head - then into its skull.
"This ain't my first rodeo, buddy!" Gura growled, "But this is gonna be your last!"
When the creature thrashed about, it unwittingly turned its armored back away from the Teutonic and exposed the more tender scales of its belly. Ame realized what Gura was trying to do, so she finished loading her gun and snapped it back together.
She pointed her gun at the creature's long belly and pulled the trigger. Her pistol shot flew true through the rain and struck the serpent, drawing blood. Ame then gripped her gun firmly and cried out with renewed fervor.
"Everyone! Starboard side, now! Shoot the belly of the beast!"
At Ame's command, the shaken militia cautiously took their positions on the starboard side of the deck. Ina shifted her spotlight to the starboard side too and illuminated the creature's bloodied belly. With their target painted with light, the militia started to shoot at the serpent's exposed belly. To their surprise, their shots went through too. Rifle and pistol shots alike tore through the tender scales and drew blood.
The once fearsome, invulnerable beast was finally bleeding before their eyes! They had a chance to win!
"Keep shooting!" Ame cried out, emptying her cylinder into the serpent's belly, "Give it hell!"
With that, the fusillade intensified and shots flew as fast as the defenders could pull their triggers. Every bullet that struck the serpent's belly and dug into its innards made it grow more and more unhinged.
Then, in a rare moment of clarity, the serpent coiled up the entire length of its body underwater and then whipped its head up with titanic force.
That immense force overpowered the shark-girl that had been clinging onto her trident despite her best efforts. Gura's grip failed and she was launched high up into the dark, stormy heavens. Her trident, on the other hand, remained stuck to the serpent's head - joining the many weapons of her brothers and sisters in arms.
Twenty-Sixth Scene - A Proper Farewell
"Gura!" Ame shouted in horror, even though her words would not possibly reach.
From the starboard deck, the detective watched the serpent coil up and train its wild red eyes upon the flying Atlantean. She saw it open its jaw slightly and bare its sharp teeth. It was trembling with anticipation for a meal that it seemed to be incredibly eager to take.
Ame glared back at the serpent's greedy eyes and dared to fire a shot from her pistol. However, her shot failed to reach the eye and was blown away by the wind. The detective gritted her teeth and lowered her revolver.
She couldn't possibly hit the such a small target with her pistol from this distance, or in this weather.
So, Ame turned her eyes to her allies on the starboard deck and shouted.
"Rifles! Aim for the eyes!" Ame roared like a lion challenging the howling winds, "Don't let that thing eat Gura alive!"
As soon as she cried out her urgent command, she saw a peculiar Krag-Jorgensen/M1892 Springfield rifle flying her way through the rain. Ame caught it midair and then turned to the sender.
"Lowry…" The detective gasped.
"One shot left, Watson!" The aristocrat's daughter answered Ame's call with a stern look on her face. She then pulled out a pristine Mauser C96 pistol to replace her rifle and barked back, "Make it count!"
Ame snorted, holstered her Webley revolver and promptly wielded the Krag rifle. She knelt down, steadied her aim on the starboard rails of the Teutonic and watched the serpent and the flying Gura from behind the iron sights. From there, she saw the flurry of gunfire streaking through the night sky and the shark-girl who was starting to fall into the serpent's fang-lined maw.
The detective steadied her breath and time seemed to slow down for her - almost as if on command. Even in that distance, her eyes met with Gura's. The shark-girl mouthed a message to the detective and brought a small smile to Ame's lips.
Spurred by Gura's secret message, Ame raised her aim a tad bit higher and pulled the trigger.
Her rifle shot flew true through the stormy skies and streaked through the torrential rain. The shot struck the serpent in the eye and the beast's jaw flew wide open as it howled with pain.
The falling Gura then flicked her shark's tail mid-air and began diving head-first, picking up speed as she cut through the air. She drew her Single Action Army revolver and unloaded her cylinder into the serpent's mouth. With every shot that she landed, the serpent's mouth opened wider and wider until Gura had a clear view of the inside of its throat.
Gura wore a toothy grin and holstered her revolver once again. Then, she extended her hand forward and shouted.
"Come back to me!"
When Gura said this, her trident stuck to the serpent's head dissolved with a flash of powder blue light. Those wisps of light then coalesced before Gura and retook the shape of her aquamarine trident. She grabbed the trident midair and pointed its prongs at the serpent's throat.
Tears started forming at the sides of her eyes and trailed behind her as she and her aquamarine trident fell through the night sky like a magnificent blue comet. All the while, she roared ferociously and imagined her nineteen brothers and sisters in arms charging the serpent together with her.
"All together now!" Gura cried tearfully, "One... last... time!"
Moved by the memories that she finally embraced once more, Gura slipped through the serpent's sharp jaws and then thrust her trident clean through its throat. The menacing red eyes of the serpent dimmed to nothing and its scaly body fell lifelessly onto the surface of the ocean.
So, after thirty long years, the first and last mission of Gawr Gura and her cadre of Atlantean cadets was finally complete.
Twenty-Seventh Scene - And The Moon Turned To Gold
The sudden summer storm eventually came to pass and moonlight finally peeked through the waning storm clouds. The torrential rain also mellowed down into a mild drizzle as the heartless sea was gradually made calm again.
This was the scene that greeted Gura when she emerged from the dark depths with her aquamarine trident in tow. The shark-girl surfaced a ways off from the carcass of the ancient sea serpent and struggled for a moment to stay afloat. After all, she hadn't been in water this deep for thirty years. Thankfully, her flexible shark's tail made up for the clumsy movements of her arms and legs.
Once she had found her balance, she dismissed her trident with a whisper and returned it to its fishbone form. She then strung it back into a necklace and wore it around her neck. When she did, the foghorns of the RMS Teutonic sounded and the powerful spotlight manned by Ina turned her way.
Gura waved towards Ina's spotlight and proceeded to swim after the slow-moving Teutonic. Before long, a bright, orange lifebuoy flew towards and landed nearby with a small splash. The exhausted shark-girl grabbed onto the lifebuoy and wore the inflatable ring around her chest.
With that, Gura rested her tail and let herself get hoisted slowly upward onto the Teutonic's deck. From the rising lifebuoy, Gura had a clear view of the moonlit ocean and the corpse of the sea serpent floating lifelessly therein. Her eyes were drawn to the nineteen polearms and tridents that remained on the back of the serpent.
For a moment, Gura considered leaping off of the lifebuoy to retrieve those weapons. However, before she could say anything, she was finally brought back on board the Teutonic.
The six guards of the Lowry Expedition who had hoisted her up cheered when they rescued Gura. They remembered her as the girl who drank like a fish on the train to Portsmouth, after all. None of them thought that Gura would actually be a sort of fish - let alone a mythical being in her own right. That revelation only endeared her to the guards, however, and they hailed her as their hero - the great serpent-slayer!
In the midst of the fanfare, however, another pair of footsteps approached the shark-girl. Gura turned her head and saw Amelia Watson marching towards her. The detective had her back to the moon, so shadows shrouded her eyes and masked her complex expression.
Gura opened her mouth to greet Ame and boast about their victory, but the detective suddenly picked up speed. Then, Ame broke out into a sprint and caught Gura in a tight embrace.
"A-Ame…!?"
"You dummy!" Ame scolded harshly with tears streaking down her cheeks. She buried her face on Gura's shoulders and repeated herself over and over, "You dummy! You dummy! You dummy!"
Gura chuckled for a moment, but an earnest smile formed on her lips. She returned Ame's embrace and whispered back.
"I'm sorry for worrying you, Ame. I won't worry you like that again." Gura promised tenderly and patted Ame's back, "There, there now. There, there."
Under the pale moonlight, Ame and Gura hugged each other tight. They savored each other's warmth and listened to each other's beating hearts. With Ame in her arms, Gura's mind wandered to the nineteen polearms and tridents that remained on the serpent's back.
Gura sensed their presence there on the deck of the RMS Teutonic. Her brothers and sisters in arms stood there with glad smiles on their faces. When the moonlight grew stronger, her old friends disappeared into the night one last time.
After a few more minutes, when Ame had finally calmed down, Gura took Ame's hands and looked straight into her eyes.
"I've made up my mind, Ame." Gura then gave her a toothy grin and spoke, "I want to join your expedition!"
Ame held Gura's hands in hers and nodded without a shadow of doubt in her heart.
"We'd be happy to have you, Gura. Welcome to the team."
Epilogue
Far in the distance from the crippled Teutonic, the stolen life rafts of the vessel were sailing towards the French coast. Those rafts were manned by the tuxedo-clad sailors who served directly under First Mate Chadwick. Meanwhile, the First Mate herself stood at the rear of the foremost life raft and watched the Teutonic through a spyglass.
"They actually fought it off!?" Chadwick grumbled and retracted the spyglass, "Did Atlantis intervene this time?"
"Impossible, Chadwick. Atlantis would not intervene in matters that do not concern them." A strong, deep and raspy voice spoke from behind her, "They are a fallen empire in every sense of the word. They would not raise a single trident to save a mere twelve hundred souls."
Chadwick turned around and found the old, regal Captain James Morrison leisurely puffing on a cigar
"Oh, but there was a trident there in that battle." Chadwick insisted, "I'd recognize that bright aquamarine hue anywhere."
"A rogue, then." Captain Morrison assessed. He blew a plume of smoke into the night sky and reassured the First Mate, "The status quo remains, Chadwick. The Teutonic surviving the attack is but a minor setback. Our plans remain unhindered."
"But sir…!" Chadwick tried to argue again.
"Don't let a small hiccup make you lose track of the bigger picture, Chadwick. That is how the short-lived humans think." Captain Morrison calmly interrupted her, "Focus on what needs to be done here and now. Otherwise, everything will truly be lost."
Morrison then took off his hat and let it fly into the wind. Under the pale moonlight, his white hair, his brown eyes and wrinkled skin melted away into dust. Stripped of his skin and hair, only a skeleton remained of Morrison's body. The clothes that it wore, however, remained in place. The smoke from the cigar in his mouth wafted up from his skull's nostrils and eye sockets before ominous red flames replaced his eyes.
The animated skeleton then turned to Chadwick and somehow continued to speak, albeit with a deeper and more menacing voice.
"When we get to town, contact Calliope Mori. Inform her about the RMS Teutonic. Tell her that there has been a change in plans. She will understand what that means." The skeleton of Morrison gave his orders, "Meanwhile, I shall pay the Ancient Ones a visit. The time of reckoning is close at hand."
Chadwick regarded the skeletonized Morrison, but remained completely unfazed. She then put a hand on her hip, looked up to the moon and heaved a sigh.
"Understood, Death-sensei."
To Be Continued