This is the chapter The Ninja thought she put out on Valentine's Day, but she didn't. Just goes to show you that people should get a good full eight hours of sleep at night. Snooore

Here's a 'what if' question for you. Aside from the fact that wars would be violent and one sided to the group that had them, why aren't guns featured in any of the plots? It seems like all anyone knows are swords. That's pretty strange since there's guns in real Neopia. Ah well. We touch a little on the subject in this chapter.

Let's see if anyone knows who Angela really is now! Yeah, all the characters so far are based on 'real' Neopets characters.

Session 09: Hold My Hand

Hannah didn't know what to expect when she found the source of the smell, but she had to check to make sure anyway. Along with the scent of blood she picked up what species the poor guy might have been. Once she got a lock on it, she immediately got a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. It felt as though there were thousands of little Feepits scurrying around inside her, their fur tickling her insides.

" H-hello? "

A groan was her only response. Swallowing her fears, Hannah headed for the place where Angela laid him.. There were no beds in The Golden Dubloon due to the owner's rules about everyone clearing out at the end of the night, so she made him a makeshift one out of some tablecloth and a bag of flour.

" ... Han-nah ... "

The voice! From that moment Hannah could feel every motion of her heart, and a rush of heat that made it hard to stand. Despite her best attempts to stand, she fell to her knees beside the cot immediately to look for herself. " Kanrik ... " Disbelief played true in her voice as she reached for the gelert's face. " Why ... are you here? "

He tried to get away from her hand, but he just didn't have the strength. Taking his snout and chin into her hands, she pull his head onto her lap out of instinct. The cloth fell, and she could see near the full extent of the damage. Blood accumulated at two spots on his upper torso; the lower stomach and a few inches higher at the base of the chest. The fabric looked to be burned away adjacent to where the puncture wounds were. Such wounds she had never seen before in her time treating them, so she had no idea where to begin.

Could he speak? He tuned out to the world around him early this morning, letting adrenaline take him wherever it would lead. That's long since expired, and now he struggled to even stay conscious. " Are ... you ... all right? " Did he think it or say it? He gave up on himself long ago. Kanrik only lived for the sake of fulfilling his duty to her.

" I'm fine! " Hannah was more interested in trying to help him. Honestly, she was frightened out of her wits that anyone could hurt him this badly. Back in the Ice Caves he cleared the way flawlessly, so she had to question just what happened between then and now. " But you're tore of pretty bad ... "

" I ... know. " The thief examined himself the best he could. He's quite thankful that he lost feeling in most of his body, and yet he wanted to feel. He couldn't feel that his head was on her lap, or that she held him by one of his long ears. " Don't worry ... about me. " By Fyora he felt guilty! He should have told her back at the Ice Caves, but he had to put his pride and own ambitions first. " Worry about yourself. "

" Don't talk like that! " It was not the words that he used, but the way he spoke them. It was like he had lost all hope for himself. " You're a strong person. Just hold on and I'll get something to make you feel better ... "

Hannah tried to stand, but Kanrik grabbed her by the wrist. " Please ... stay here a little longer. " He begged her, turning his head so he could look up at her. " I need ... to ask you something. "

Reluctantly Hannah settled down on her knees. " Yes, what is it? " She tried to calm her nerves, and convince herself that the worst was not happening.

Hannah had to hold onto his hand and ask for his support. Luckily, he was able to squeeze back.

" I don't know what the hell's wrong with her. "

It didn't take long for Garin to return to his normal cocky self, but his crew knew better than to think he was over it. Oh no. Garin never got over anything as easily as this. Eventually Angela managed to get him out of the hidden passage and into the tavern where several members of his crew were already waiting. Jacques was not there, and he questioned only for a moment where his best friend could have gone off to before falling into that old tired conundrum.

Settling into a corner booth with friends to all sides of him, Garin started to his second pastime: drinking away his feelings. " I pour my heart out to the girl and she shrugs me off like I'm nothing, I swear ... " He paused to take in his drink. " It's times like this that I don't even want to bother with women! " He noticed a few guys around the table giving him odd looks, and chuckled. " I love 'em to death, but I can't read them for the life of me. " Then, they grinned.

Angela smiled nervously as the crew continued this conversation, but her thoughts were with Hannah and the stranger in the back. She considered going back to check on them, but she was still technically on the clock and couldn't afford to. That was until a red kyrii stumbled through the doors, looking exhausted.

Garin looked to the door. " Jacques! " He stood up without thinking, his knees bumping the table to topple it over. " Heh. " He looked towards Angela, who looked horrified for more than one reason. " Sorry miss. "

Jacques stepped over the broken plates and dishes so he could meet the crew. " Did I come too late? " One of the lower crewmen shook their head. " Good. I'm really sorry, but I heard some rumors about a big battle happening under Smuggler's Cove last night. I went to look for myself and found some interesting stuff ... " He trailed so he could dig into his pockets.

" I have to admire how you focus on important manners even during times of crisis, Jacques. " Garin commented. When thoughts of that brown haired usul plagued his mind he forgot about the menacing creature that he was supposed to be.

" I doubt that I can make you part with your Maractrice dagger, but these might be to your liking. " Jacques said as he pulled a long blade from his pouch; a blade made of a near transparent metal with gold trim flowing elegantly down to the handle.

" That is ... the blade of the Moonfade guild leader! " The other members of the crew were as equally astonished. The blade was a trademark; no other pet in the world had one. " You found them in the caves?

Jacques nodded. " I found three. " He took the other two out of the pouch, handing each in turn to Garin. " The first I found on the upper levels by the entrance of the cove. Two were on the banks of the river flowing through the lower levels. "

" You don't suppose ... " Was it possible that the guild leader had been killed? " Have you heard anything about the fate of Moonfade while you were out there? "

" No ... " Jacques shook his head, frowning. " If anything happened, it's too soon to know for sure. " Jacques knew what this was really about, but wouldn't dare bring it up in front of the other crew members. What and who he and Garin talked about in their downtime was none of their business, so he changed the subject. " I also found a strange device ... " He reached into his pouch again, and when he pulled this object out Angela squeaked.

It was a blaster with a narrow barrel where the blast came out. Angela recognized it immediately, but the pirates seemed perplexed. " Hold on! " Panic struck her as Jacques started to hand the foreign object off to Garin. " Don't touch it! STOP! " She screamed.

Garin was highly confused at the aisha's strange behavior. " What's your problem? "

Angela rushed forward, but did not take immediate action. " Give it to me ... " Her tone was dead serious, but Jacques didn't comply. " I'm serious! You're going to kill someone with that gun! "

Jacques eyes widened. " That what? "

The aisha looked down at the blaster. " This ... is a gun. It's a terrible weapon that should've never seen the light of day. " Just seeing one of these perfected weapons brought tears to her eyes. " Back in the back ... there lay someone dying because he was struck down by one of these. Medicine on Neopia isn't advance enough to treat wounds caused by these yet. Those who are injured by these just may very well die, so please. " Angela looked to Jacques. " I'm the only one who can safely dismantle it. I need to destroy it before somebody else gets hurt. "

Jacques seemed to understand, but Garin was hesitant. " How do you know so much about this 'gun'? " He questioned, glaring at her.

" I made some terrible mistakes in the past. " She replied swiftly, feeling like she's being persecuted. " I want to make amends, if that's possible. "

" You don't have to give it to her, Jacques. " Garin said as he turned to face his friend. " You found it, so you should follow suit with the rules 'Finders Keepers'. Who knows? You might be better with that than with a sword! "

" I'm not sure. " Jacques looked at the gun with a frown. " I never actually ... you know ... before. " He had serious doubt in his voice.

Angela couldn't believe what she was hearing. Chances were slim that she'd get the blaster now that Garin stepped in, so she slunk away from the group. " You're right. " She said to Garin, bowing out of formality. " I shouldn't tell you what to do with your spoils. Now if you excuse me ... "

Without another word Angela slipped into the back, trying to suppress her memories about the origins of that weapon. Once she stepped through the back she heard sobbing coming down the hallway. The source was the room where she left the wounded gelert. Against her better judgement she walked down the hallway to check on her friend, peeking through the crack of the door.

Hannah was crying, her back facing the door as she sobbed into her hands. One of them still held Kanrik's hand ... and he wasn't squeezing back.