Chapter 8: The Crossing
Ursa sat behind the table that served as the spot she would always sit behind whenever she found herself in significant need of being alone and with her thoughts. Rarely did she ever invite anyone inside, and rarer still was it ever with the intent to talk with them. Her crew, until apparently quite recently, had never made it such where she required time to speak with them alone over an issue that had arisen about their person. They were loyal and capable, and so her cabin became a place to rest and grant herself the occasionally required dose of solitude she often found she needed to fall back on.
Sasuke stood in front of the door that closed behind him, however, and Ursa was reminded just how foreign this situation was to her.
His expression was calm and unapologetic, and Ursa supposed she couldn't fault him for being pitiless over the killing of a man who had openly attacked and tried to murder the woman he traveled with, as well as himself. Still, it was more than a little infuriating to see such an open apathy towards the situation that had nearly broken out into something much worse on deck. He had openly witnessed the near murder of his companion and had sliced the life from the man who would have taken her, and still he stood there looking no more at odds with the situation than a fisherman who felt he had cast his lure too far from his boat. In his eyes, he held the simple suggestion that things had been able to be remedied and so they had at the edge of his blade.
"I had wondered if you were going to kill him or maim him, when I nodded to you," she finally said. In actuality, she was still trying to figure out what it was she wanted to say to Sasuke, but for now, she would settle on prodding him.
"He nearly split Yue's skull with that practice sword and then made to kill both her and I," Sasuke said, his voice reflecting the same lack of penitence that his face also exuded. "I have no desire to overstep my bounds aboard your vessel, or usurp your authority, but I fear that even if you hadn't given me permission to act, I would have struck him down regardless."
His honesty was brutal and biting, but Ursa found she appreciated it.
"Would you have continued to strangle him had I not first intervened?" she asked, and Sasuke nodded.
"By my hands or my sword, I don't imagine much would have given me cause to show mercy."
Ursa thought back to the look of wild fury that had coated Delrin's face and she shook her head. Of all her men, he had always leaned to the suspicious and paranoid side of things, but he had never shown passengers such hostility, not by a vast margin. His actions this day were rash and hectic, and did well to reflect the unease he must have been feeling about both their journey and the people they had harbored on board. Sasuke and Yue had rubbed him deeply the wrong way and he had paid for his crazed behavior with the ultimate price. Still, Ursa thought back to all the laughs, conversations and journeys she had shared with the man that she realized she had all but ordered to be cut down.
It struck her just how much this voyage meant to her; were others of her crew fostering similar animosities for what they were going to attempt? Had Siado's words before their departure been true, and they really were willing to follow her wherever she ordered, or was there more hidden to their side of things than she even cared to think about? Her rabid desire to reach the Elemental Nations, she realized, was blinding her very much to the wellbeing of the men who were to make it possible.
Fighting down shame, she found herself getting to her feet so she could meet Sasuke's eyes on a more even level. There was a small amount of satisfaction to be gained in the fact that she stood just slightly taller than him, and she felt a silent battle for mental dominance being fought passively between them.
"You were quick to protect Yue," she said at last, hoping to turn the tables and have him be the one to show some bit of emotion, some reaction to what had just transpired. "Yet you insist she is only companion to you. Your swift actions suggest otherwise."
She realized with a start as she spoke that she was awaiting an answer rather tensely.
As if, she thought with a slight shake of her head.
Ahead of her, Sasuke didn't seem to have anything but a shrug to offer her.
"I would protect anyone I care about with the same fervor; that doesn't mean we foster such emotions towards one another."
Rather as though her own body was taunting her, Ursa felt a fidgety warmth pass through her insides and she angrily beat down the feeling as she smirked at him in a knowing bluff.
"There is another then?"
That, on the other hand, was enough to cause a twitch at the corner of Sasuke's mouth. He didn't reply to this vocally, but that was because he had answered her purely through his miniscule movement and silence. So, there was someone, someone perhaps residing with the Nations that Sasuke cared for.
"There is no one, not anymore," he said, far too late for his words to have much meaning. Ursa walked around the side of the table and leaned against it, crossing her arms at him and inclining her chin slightly.
"You speak of needing to reach the Fire Nation, but I can see in your eyes, Sasuke. There is more you're hoping to find."
She cocked her head somewhat.
"Or, perhaps hoping to rediscover."
Another bout of silence told her that she was succeeding in poking him, giving rise to feelings that Sasuke surely would rather have kept to himself.
"Did you just call me in here to try and dig into my personal life?" he asked coldly. "If that's all, I'd like to go check on Yue."
Ursa flicked a look above his shoulder to look through the glass panes of her cabin door; it was impossible to discern anything through them because of their make and the way reflections passed through in a blurry fuzz, but she tried to picture her men, Delrin's friends, attempting to clean up the mess his deceased body had surely made.
"Sasuke," she said with a sigh. "Surely you've realized by now that my crew's actions are things that I only hold a certain level of control over."
"I don't hold Delrin's actions against you," he said rather quickly as though expecting this to have been something that was going to be addressed. She gave him a curious look; he was to forgive the violence raised against him and Yue so willingly?
"I understand that there are sure to be suspicions raised by your men," he said. "There is fear regarding both who I am and our destination. I can tell by their expressions and attitudes that there is hardly going to be a semblance of confidence, or goodwill towards me or mine as such."
His eyes were focused and bitter chips of black ice.
"But I will defend myself, and Yue. If something of this nature happens again, I cannot ensure I will be able to first get your permission."
Ursa affirmed this with an understanding nod. She didn't think that there was a single man aboard other than Delrin who had maintained such heightened feelings of animosity, either out of their own common sense, or respect for her command.
As though reading her mind, Sasuke added, "But I don't anticipate that happening. Beyond Delrin, I sense a much more collected sense of respect and loyalty to your leadership. I'd be proud of that if I were you."
It wasn't said as a forced pleasantry, and Ursa could tell that he genuinely meant that. Beyond that current of hate that she could tell was swirling in his head that made his general demeanor so cold, there was much more of a man than she might have realized. For all the cold and contentious attitude that seemed to practically steam from him, she didn't have to look too deeply to see the core of what was a very hurt and potentially broken person; she wondered what exactly it was that Sasuke had to hide. The intrigue held her still for perhaps a moment too long and she was forced to clear her throat and regain control of herself.
"I am, very much so. Their willingness to take this journey is as much confirmation as I need to know their loyalty to me knows no bounds."
There was a brief quiet between them before Ursa gave him another nod, quite like the one she had given him before he had taken Delrin's head. Thinking back to it, she felt a chill run up her spine at how his head had remained on his shoulders, even as Sasuke's blade had passed cleanly through his neck at a perfect angle, faster than she even believed most men on that deck had seen. It took some effort to pull free of her curiosity of him and remember just how dangerous he was; she wouldn't have believed before today that a man could move that fast with a sword.
Or make coin rain from the heavens, that was also a new one.
"You may go," she said, and he nodded in return before striding smoothly from her cabin, the door swinging shut again at his passing.
Ursa let herself sigh as she leaned heavily against the table and closed her eyes, letting the gentle rocking of the ship lure her back into a semblance of calm and control. Delrin's face kept flashing in her mind, that look of abject desperation and defiance that had so spurred his violent actions. No doubt Siado was on deck and ordering the cleanup that had surely been necessary once the head had finally toppled. She realized that she would miss him, even being the loner that he was; he had provided some security to her and the rest of the crew with his skill, even if it brought him to be somewhat vain at times. But he had known the consequences of so defying her well more than once. And in turn antagonizing perhaps the only man Ursa had seen in all her years of being among the archipelagos that had quite caused her to feel such a spurring of interest.
After all, she didn't suppose that their respective ages were that problematic.
As the thought resounded in her head, she turned her gaze up towards the ceiling and let out a brief, but hearty laugh at the thought. There was no time to be thinking on such matters; one of her men was dead, the rest of the crew was surely now even more on edge than they had been, and they were sailing right towards an obstacle that Ursa realized she wasn't certain wouldn't leave them all dead. She had spent so much time trying to rid herself of the sheer terror she had felt the day that her ship had been destroyed, and now she was willingly heading right back towards the creature that had filled her with such fear.
And she would have made the same decision again if prompted she knew, if only to get back home.
For the hundredth time that day, she thought to Sasuke's mention of a Fire Lord Zuko and reality itself swam before her eyes. No amount of deception and trickery could have made a con artist strike her with a detail that precise and pertinent, especially when that con artist didn't know who she was, nor her relation to such a person. She knew Sasuke was telling the truth about where he had come from, because he had only recently implied that her son was now head of the Fire Nation. Her finger clenched tight at the table as she tried to keep herself from feeling faint.
So many questions swirled in her mind; she wanted to ask Sasuke about all of them, but if his previous interactions had been any indication, he was not willing to say more than he already had. Ursa had barely been able to keep herself from erupting with anxiety over the thought of getting back to the Fire Nation and what it would mean to her, a land that would be believed as only myth to anyone amongst the islands where she had made her home for the last fifteen years. And it didn't matter what he withheld anyway; she was going to get back, she knew she was. She had to, even as she pondered their chances of getting past that sea monster.
Zuko is Fire Lord? What happened to Ozai? Is Azula alright? What happened with the war? Was the Avatar found? What of Iroh?
The questions whirled about in her mind, and repeated, and she grit her teeth at how overwhelming them felt. Pushing herself to her feet and straightening, she stretched, feeling her back muscles tighten and flex as she forced herself to concentrate on the moment at hand. These questions would debilitate her, perhaps fatally, if she kept entertaining them as they sailed into certain peril.
But she allowed herself to release a silent wish as she left her cabin to head down below deck to return to her charts.
Zuko and Azula… please, let them be alive..
Everywhere Sasuke looked, he saw a man peering at him before turning away quickly anytime he made to glance at them. He wouldn't have expected any different after what had just happened between him and a certain swordsman aboard the Bjorn, but it still came as an undesirable reminder of times past.
They think me a monster.
He stood ahead of Ursa's cabin, looking over the deck and felt a bitter smile touch his face. There was no sign of Delrin's head or body, and there was no blood there either; clearly the crew had been quick to clean up the mess and remove any signs of what had happened there.
Let them think me whatever they'd like. All they need know is that I'm no one to be trifled with. Anymore of them come for me or Yue, and they should know exactly what to expect.
He drew a hand back and thumbed the handle of Kusanagi, relishing how light he knew the blade to feel, as though it were an extension of his own hand, as easy to whip about as a finger. He thought to Yue's match against Siado and then Delrin, and found himself being impressed at how she had handled herself. She had been more than capable of toying with either of them, and it had nearly gotten her in trouble with her second fight, but ultimately, proof of her skill was in how overmatched the two men had been.
Suddenly, as Sasuke looked around, he realized he didn't see Yue anywhere on deck.
There came to be a throbbing feeling just behind his ear, a hammering of his pulse at such a point that he rather felt his body tremble briefly. He whirled, his eyes scanning swiftly around the deck, waiting for his eyes to make contact with her; she had been just there by the mast, being tended to by the hook-handed mate, and now, just like Delrin, she was missing from where he had left her.
His throat began to constrict as he saw no sign of her silvery hair, just the grudging and suspicious glances of the crew as they milled about quietly, an atmosphere of cold apprehension settling over the ship. Sasuke very nearly leapt down to grab one of them roughly and demand Yue's whereabouts before he felt something hard and thin prod him.
Turning, he saw Siado standing just beside him, having prodded him with the curve of his hook hand.
"That was quite an impressive display," he said, his eyes carefully assessing; Sasuke knew he had to be careful of this man, his touch of the analytical was very apparent.
"He left me no choice," Sasuke said, assuming that to be a safe answer. Siado was clearly looking to pry free some details on what exactly it was that Sasuke had done to so quickly and abruptly dispatch Delrin, but Sasuke wasn't planning on biting.
"No, I don't suppose he did," Siado said, stroking his chin with his free hand. Pulling it from his face, he jerked his thumb lightly over his shoulder.
"Yue's up top, looking over the head," he said, and Sasuke brushed by him without another word. If the first mate wanted to exchange pleasantries or try and engage in small talk, that could come later.
Taking the stairs two at a time up the gangway, he came on top of the gunwale to see Yue standing very near where she had been when they had spoken that morning before sailing out. It took a surprising amount of effort to not heave a huge sigh of relief to see her standing there, looking to be mostly alright. He found it rather unsettling how quickly his mind had started assuming the worst, that she had been thrown over, or worse, when he hadn't seen her. Sasuke had to push aside this rather disconcerting thought as he walked gently towards her; such sudden anxiety was hardly a good sign.
She had yet to put anything on over her breastband and leggings, and Sasuke took it as a good sign that none of the men had been peering over top the gunwale trying to get a good look at her. They had that much restraint at least, he supposed, or it might have just been fear that kept their gazes at bay. It was no secret that Yue was nothing if not a gorgeous young woman, and Sasuke didn't want to have to worry about hopeful suitors deciding they wanted to make a move on her on top of everything else he had to worry about.
Yue had pulled her hair back in a ponytail, and she leaned over the railing, looking out at the open sea. Sasuke couldn't see her face, and he wondered if she was angry at him for what he had done by way of intervention. He turned to see if anyone was anywhere nearby and upon making sure they had the entire gunwale to themselves, he turned back to her and lowered his head; apologizing was something that he had always found rather a chore to make it through, but the last thing he wanted right about now was to be on Yue's bad side.
"I'm sorry."
It took him a moment to realize the words hadn't come from him. Ahead of him, Yue lowered her head slightly, giving it a small shake. She toed the travel cloak that lay in a bundle at her feet, her sheathed greatsword resting atop it. Her apology caught him off guard long enough for her to decide that she wanted to say more.
"I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I wanted to show them all that I was wielding around a sword for more than just show. Or maybe it was something other than pride. I don't know, I just… I know I shouldn't have done that."
Sasuke did his best to regain control of his tongue.
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "It looked to me rather as though you did quite well."
Yue finally turned to face him, and he saw the bandage that had been applied to right side of her forehead where she had been struck by the wooden blade. He blinked as he realized there were tears in her eyes; her mouth a tight line, the corners of it pulled up slightly into the smallest of smirks.
"I told myself I wasn't going to cry…" she muttered and Sasuke tried to feel anything other than totally helpless facing her expression.
"You don't need to cry," he said stupidly, and immediately cursed himself inwardly. Yue looked up to him, her brown furrowing as two perfect tracks of tears rolled down her face.
"I let my guard down," she said bitterly. "I made the worst mistake I possible could, in front of a man who I knew wanted to hurt me, and wanted to hurt you. He was dangerous, and I completely took those few seconds and dismissed him as a threat."
She shook her head again as she crossed her arms and looked to the side, not seeming quite able to meet his gaze.
"I was sent back to this world with a purpose, to guide you, and protect you. How am I supposed to do that when I can't even protect myself?"
It occurred to Sasuke that Yue was opening up to him as she never had before. They had been traveling together for over a month, and while they certainly had gotten closer to one another and comfortable in one another's presence, neither of them had particularly had a moment where they were this vulnerable. He could see the strain on her face, how much this admittance was emotionally exhausting her.
"Yue, it's alright," he tried. "You can't expect to—"
"Do you know who I was before I died?!" she suddenly half-said, half-shouted, seeming to have completely missed what it was he had been trying to say. Sasuke looked at her a long moment, watching the pain dance in her eyes before slowly shaking his head. They had spoken at length about their duties, and he knew that she had lived in the Nations before whatever had happened to her. The nature of her life, however, he truly didn't know.
Yue looked to the ground as though embarrassed to share the memories that clearly plagued her.
"I was a princess," she snapped. "Born to the chief of the Northern Water Tribe. I was frail and weak as a child and my parents prayed to the Moon Spirit to protect me and grant me life; the Moon Spirit complied and I was given a gift of a portion of its life. I grew to be a teenager before disaster struck the spirit and my tribe. When its mortal form was struck down and my people were threatened, I gave my own life to restore the Moon Spirit and restore order to the ways of the waterbenders, whose bending was struck down without the Moon Spirit."
Sasuke listened to this, and felt a sick feeling ripple through him, the kind of anger that he hated the most. It was a vehement and wrathful urging, the sort that made him feel rather as though he wanted to draw his sword and drive it into the source of this anger.
Those spirits… they took her life, and gambled with it. She never even had a chance to live, and her life was taken to fuel their sick game of control on the people of the Elemental Nations.
It was unfair, it was cruel, and Sasuke found he couldn't quite stand it. He was reminded of another young person he had known what felt like a lifetime ago who had been asked to offer everything in order to achieve peace, a mere boy who had the duties of Avatar thrust upon him.
This didn't seem to be the source of Yue's distress however, as he continued to listen to her.
"While with the spirits, I was at peace for a time. Then, things changed as you and your kind appeared in the material world. Chaos and talk of interference began amongst the spirits, something that had been deeply forbidden until then. I feared for the world I had once lived in, and sought to train myself in the ways of the blade, to grant myself some kind of ability to defend what I cared for, the land of my people, my family. I began to spend time with Roku and anyone who would train me with a sword; when we learned that there was to be an invasion on behalf of the spirits, Roku told me of his hope to warn the Avatar and reunite you with them in an effort to offer the people of the Nations a chance to resist being overrun by spirits who have no place in this world, to keep their order and way of things from being completely destroyed."
She gave a small smile, and Sasuke saw the confidence that was betrayed in the expression.
"I was quick to volunteer myself to be sent to the other side, to find you and take you back. Roku told me it was a large risk; without a direct portal opening up like those spirits who wish to pulverize to the old world and create it anew are waiting for, my transportation back here would be much chancier. But I still agreed to do it, and it worked. All my training could pay off, and I would be able to escort you safely back to the Nations and begin to make things right."
Her smile widened and tears leaked fresh from her eyes as she closed her eyelids.
"And I almost just was killed because I let my pride forge my way ahead. Delrin could have killed me."
Gritting her teeth, she sank down to sit on the deck, her back against the railing as she rested her arms against her pulled up knees and tucked her head against them.
"I was once a naïve, frightened and fragile princess. I did everything I could amongst the spirits to harden myself in order to defend that what was most important to me. I've killed since I've returned to the material world, despite how much I've hated it. But I've taken my steel against others and they've proven not hardly a challenge for me. And yet still, my naivety almost meant my death."
Yue sighed and her whole body seemed to exhale along with her.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. For failing you and for this. You don't want to listen to me reflect on how weak I am, and you surely don't want to hear excuses for my foolish actions. But I really am sorry."
It was the last thing that Sasuke had expected, to hear Yue's confession and to see her offering such vulnerability to him. He found that it hadn't much occurred to him just how much baggage she might be struggling with herself as a result of her situation and what she believed was expected to her. She had guided him just fine on a month long journey back through the islands and had proven herself more than capable in a fight. With this confession however, the usual deadly precision she fought with made more sense to him, despite her hatred for killing.
She's trying to keep me safe.
Very nearly saying aloud that he didn't need protecting, Sasuke caught himself as he realized that was the last thing she would want to hear. Who Yue had been before was still very much at odds with the person she was now, and Sasuke could tell that the weakness that this occasionally brought about in her was doing more a number on her mentally than physically.
"Anyone could have been caught off by someone like Delrin," Sasuke finally said. "He was a snake, using the opportunity he had to try and hurt you."
Yue's mouth started to open and he could tell that she was about to launch into a fresh bout of self-degradation as a result of her slip-up, and Sasuke supposed that perhaps some tough love could help here. Either that, or it would distance him from her even more, but he could tell he needed to try something drastic regardless. That, and Sasuke hated self-pity almost as much as he hated treacherous behavior. It was nothing short of counterproductive and senseless, and Sasuke wouldn't have Yue wallowing in it.
"And I won't hear another word about it. If you want to dwell in self-hate, you can do so; I know the feeling, I spent a decade living with that. But considering we have a long way to go before our duty is carried out, so I would suggest you get yourself back into a place mentally where you can be of sound mind. I'm going to need you going forward, and if you're going to be in a place like this, you're not useful to me."
Sasuke saw the expression of raw surprise on Yue's face at his demeaning statements, but he preferred that look to the tearful and shamed expression of before.
"You're not a spirit anymore, you're a human, and you're bound to me for now, no matter how much you might take odds with that. But I know you're capable, if of course, you can keep yourself together. You're much more than a princess, or some ethereal being; you're my companion and while you're caring for me, I have to do the same for you."
She said nothing in reply to his words and Sasuke found his own expression twitching with annoyance at how personal he had just made things. He hadn't meant to rather open up to her like that, with his thoughts on her being, but there hadn't been much choice. Swallowing and no longer making eye contact, Sasuke waved his hand and headed back for the stairs.
"I'm going to lie down for a bit," he said over his shoulder. "Whatever the deal is with dinner, I wouldn't mind having some brought to me, if you'd be able to fetch me something; after what I did to their crewmate, I imagine there wouldn't exactly be thrilled expressions waiting to see me."
Hoping that his rather clumsy verbiage had been enough to at least put Yue back on a track that would keep her focused, even if that meant anger towards him, he put his hand on the railing and started back down towards Ursa's cabin. But as he did so, he could have sworn he heard something just behind him, though it might have been a trick of the wind through the tackle and rigging and sails about the ship. Regardless of cause, they sounded a good deal like two words.
"Thank you…"
At a hand on his shoulder, Sasuke couldn't keep himself from springing up as a force of habit. Trust and decent nights of sleep were two things that he had been mostly deprived of over the past several years, so it took him setting eyes on Yue to catch himself and keep from going further than having seized her wrist violently. Taking slow breaths to bring himself to wake, Sasuke let go of her arm and pushed his feet over the bed to sit up and place his head in his hands; his dreams had been restless and disturbing, though he couldn't remember so much as a single detail.
"Are you okay?" Yue asked, and Sasuke lifted a hand to wave aside her caution.
"Why'd you wake me?" he grumbled. "Dinner?"
Hearing the tone of Yue's voice, Sasuke looked up to see her expression and saw the thinly veiled concern and fear behind her eyes.
"We need you on deck," was all she said, and he didn't need to hear anything else. Pulling on his sandals, he reattached Kusanagi to his waist and strode from the cabin, with Yue just behind him.
The entire crew was on deck or at the helm beside Ursa, who had her hand on the wheel, her expression tense. Every member of her crew was looking with the same emotions that Sasuke had just seen on Yue, worry and dread eating at their features, and every person there looking past and above him. Looking up to see that the sky was still blue, thought dimming and changing color as they approached evening, Sasuke's eyes saw what it was that had the crew so stunned into silent paralysis as his gaze wandered further over the sky. Now wanting to leave anything to his senses taking leave of him, he sprinted towards the stairs to the helm and bounded up them to stand just ahead or Ursa, staring out at the horizon. While the sky above still shone with the early evening blues and purples as the sun dipped low, ahead of them told a very different story.
Stretching all across the horizon was a blanket of black clouds, looming and seeming to inspire fear with their mere vastness alone. Occasionally, the clouds would flicker with a dim light and Sasuke knew that to be lightning flashing in the perpetual void of dark billow just ahead of them. The ocean itself seemed to melt into the carpet of shadow that stretched above it, high into the sky, which too was blackened by the oppressive dark that the storm generated. As far as the eye could see, to both the north and the south, the storm stretched, a distant, swirling torrent of gloom.
They had made it: the wall of black cloud before them told the story, the first indicator that the story he had told just that morning might perhaps have an inkling of merit. Still, Sasuke wasn't interested in being proven right as there were a plethora of more pressing matters on his mind.
"I thought you hadn't estimated us reaching this point until at least tomorrow," he asked, struck by how quiet the deck had become, no wind pulling at the now doused canvas, no crew moving about and not even the ocean against the ship itself seemed to produce much more than a soft creaking. His voice sounded like a rapturous split among them and he noted several of the crew looking around in surprise as though they had forgotten what it was to hear the sound of someone speaking.
"We weren't supposed to," Ursa said through gritted teeth, and Sasuke could see the death grip she had on the wheel. "I've double and triple checked our charts and there is no sense to be found that we have gotten here this quickly; I've followed the plot of our voyage so far perfectly and there is no explanation as to why we've reached the storm by now."
Her voice became a touch softer as a look of potential realization crossed her face and her eyes glazed over.
"Unless…" she said quietly and Sasuke nodded in affirmation of the supposed theory that he knew had to be now buzzing in her head.
"Unless the storm moved," he finished, and he nodded to her as she looked to him with an expression that told him that for the first time since they had departed, she had been gripped with real fear. Sasuke remembered the glow in her eyes that spoke of her dread of encountering this place again, but now that the place itself was as transitory as the monster beneath the waves, that seemed to have struck Ursa particularly hard. He could tell that she was doing her best to maintain composure before her crew, but it was clear too that she was only barely managing to keep from turning to her fright of the situation before her. Even with the absolute vehemence she seemed to possess that fueled her desire to make this trip, Sasuke knew that this was the last place she wanted to be right about then.
"Why would this storm… this thing that keeps anyone from crossing just shift like that?" Siado asked from Ursa's side. Next to him, the stouter crewmember was plucking at a stringed instrument that was generating a very somber and haunting tone that started to flow over the deck. Sasuke wanted to grab the instrument and smash it for doing nothing but add to the anxiety that was surely passing even amongst these experienced and seasoned warriors, but he instead made to address Siado's question.
"I only have a single potential answer," he replied. "If the storm and the serpent are connected, are somehow products of one another, then it only makes sense that the storm moving means the serpent has moved as well, however many miles west that it's been brought."
Ursa's expression was tight and rigid as she deduced, "It was getting closer to the archipelagos, it was coming nearer to us."
Sasuke started out over the miles between them and the storm and gave a shrug.
"I would imagine that in another few dozen years it might have actually reached the easternmost islands, the ones to the north. I don't know exactly what might happen then, but it's not in our best interests to worry about that just now."
There came a stretch of silence as everyone on board the Bjorn surely took a moment to contemplate their situation. Sasuke had no doubt that there were many of the crew who might be starting to question their dismissal of Sasuke's claim now that they were confronted by this massive length of a storm and the thought brough some sick satisfaction to him. Surely there had been a couple in the same mindset as Delrin, dismissive of his story and disbelieving of his claims. Oh, to get into their heads right about then to have a chuckle at the fear and worry that surely was rotting away their internals just then.
They haven't even seen just yet why this storm is such a frightening thing. Because of what it heralds, not the storm itself.
"Are we ready to proceed then?"
At Ursa's voice, Sasuke looked back to see her gaze turned expectantly his way. The men near her turned to their captain, looking perhaps somewhat off put that their captain was turning to someone else for direction, but from the looks on the faces of the crewmembers like Siado and the stout musician, they seemed to understand the necessity.
It was Ursa's face that Sasuke found reason enough to pause, if just for a moment; their was a vibrant curiosity in her look, rather as though she had asked his direction merely for the cause of gauging his reaction, rather than actually needing his instruction. There was almost a hungry excitement there in her eyes, and Sasuke couldn't quite shake the feeling that he had seen that look before.
Still, he remembered their situation and shook himself free of her rather captivating eyes.
"Push on for another couple kilometers, but start preparing the Bjorn and making sure everything is loaded into the double-canoe, supplies, valuables, and any men that don't need to be aboard. Our timing is going to have to be as impeccable as we can manage."
Ursa turned away from him and began barking out orders, and the men who had just recently been as still as statues sprang to life at the behest of their captain. Even know, in what was rapidly becoming a more and more uncertain time, they still were as loyal as hunting dogs, rushing about to follow her command. Ursa herself strode among the men on the deck, coordinating and calling out where she needed to, every in the thick of things as Siado and her other first mate, a man Sasuke knew to be named Ario, relayed her orders in rough bellows.
As the ship moved further towards the storm and the sky above darkened slowly with a gentle menace, Sasuke moved to stand by Yue who was looking out over the storm and ocean, as it all blotted out the horizon. She was chewing on her lower lip in what could have been read pretty easily as a frightened anxiety, but Sasuke could see the determination in her eyes. It was a good sight, and Sasuke found it as uplifting just then as anything could be.
"Do you really think this will work?" she asked without looking at him. Sasuke turned his eyes around and watched the slowly unfurling canvas snap in the air above him.
"We have as good of wind as we can ask for. We'll be moving quickly in the double-canoe, it's just a matter of how far we can send the Bjorn and how long it takes the serpent to take it down. And of course, whether or not it notices us afterwards."
It was hardly a reassuring answer, but Sasuke knew that this was just as much a gamble as anything could be. He had spent the weeks while they journeyed trying to come up with some sort of solution to dealing with such an obstacle and this had been about as good as he could manage. Finding the double-canoe, a much lighter vessel than a sailing ship like the Bjorn, had been a massive stroke of luck as well and would certainly provide them with the best odds they could manage. He had failed to mention that he might have knocked the owner unconscious and stolen the vessel after the man had refused to sell, but Yue didn't need to know that just then, he thought with a smirk.
He looked to her as she turned her head back, expression hard.
"I know this has to be done…" she said reluctantly, her tone betraying her unease. "But I know that you're right, about that thing beneath us."
Sasuke gave her a raised eyebrow, saying. "You don't have to trust me on it, it's only a matter of time before we're probably going to get a pretty fantastic look in just a few—"
Yue shook her head firmly.
"No, that's not what I mean. I mean, I trust you, Sasuke, I do, but… maybe it's my connection to the spirits or my intonation to the natural world or who knows, but… I can sense it."
It took Sasuke a moment to get past the fact that she had just told him she trusted him, to blink and acknowledge the latter half of what she said.
"The serpent?" he asked and she nodded, swallowing as though she were trying to keep from being sick. She looked back to the black clouds before them, her ponytail and stray strands of hair dancing in the wind.
"Something is down there, something massive. I couldn't ignore it if I wanted to."
Sasuke wasn't entirely sure there was anything he could say that would ease her mind, nothing even that might take her thoughts off of her feelings. From the look on Yue's face, she was doing all she could not to betray how on edge she was at what was about to be attempted; it was clear how little she actually wanted to be going through with this, but she understood the necessity just as well as he did. Looking away from her, Sasuke felt himself scowl almost involuntarily as anger blossomed in his gut as it was so prone to do. How easy it would be if he could just draw free his Susanoo and spirit himself and Yue across the ocean…
He didn't realize just how long he had been stewing and venting inwardly, feeding that sick burning in his stomach until Yue gave his arm a sharp shake and he blinked, turning to face her.
Ursa was standing before him, Siado and Ario at her side. As Sasuke looked past her, he saw that the ship had become deserted; looking back to the double-canoe, he saw that the crew had piled into each stretch of timber and were making the rigging ready to be put to action at a moment's notice.
"We're ready when you are," Ursa said. "I'll be the last one off the ship. I'll turn the ship hard port and lock the wheel at a gently starboard turn on your mark and we'll detach the tow."
As Sasuke nodded to her words, he realized that he was feeling his own sense of trepidation at what was to come; he had managed to go quite well without his jutsu, but being helpless to use it and against such a foe as the one they were hopefully about to avoid certainly made him feel that touch of worry that was surely plaguing everyone else.
"Let's do this," he said however, not willing to waste time letting his weakness get the better of him. He and Yue followed Ursa's mates down the stairway and as they prepared to ride the longboat over to the double-canoe a few dozen yards in tow behind them, Sasuke felt what he supposed was a bit of a pang for the vessel. Though he had no connection to it himself, there came the feeling that this perhaps meant a good bit more to the crew and captain then he might have realized. They had been sailing on this ship for years and were now going to sacrifice it willingly, in the pursuit of this final challenge, this achievement that had previously been seen as unattainable, in the orders of a captain that was trusted entirely by her crew. With this in mind, Sasuke couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the now empty ship before him, its wooden structure seeming melancholy with its lack of traffic and people aboard.
But a minute later and he was standing at the head of the rightmost canoe as the two outriggers rocked softly in the slowly increasing swell of the waves as they drew nearer to the stormfront. He looked over to the second hull and then back to the Bjorn and then to the ocean before him. In reality, he was well ready to detach from the Bjorn and begin their attempt at crossing, but he somehow couldn't bring himself to make the decision. It wasn't nerves that held him, but he knew that every second that passed would be another second in the long run that their more buoyant craft would be able to slice across the waves. With every thud of his heart, he was buying them more time.
At last, he could take it no longer and he shouted out for Ursa; the moments passed and a few lower sails unfurled on the Bjorn and they snapped taut in the wind before the captain herself bounded over the back of the vessel, sheathed sword making to slide her down the tow line which she sliced apart just before dismounting next to him. Nodding in approval at her impressive show of litheness and skill, Sasuke watched as the large single-hulled ship pulled sharply away from them, angling into the storm as its sails pulled it along quickly away from them.
"Going to miss her?" Sasuke asked without looking over.
"She's just a ship," Ursa said bluntly in reply, but he could hear just the faintest underbite of regret in her tone.
And with that, they entered the final, most critical stage of Sasuke's plan. Ursa had locked the rudder at a perfect angle, and the Bjorn was very slowly turning into the black clouds as it drew further and further away. But Sasuke knew that it was all going to come down to his timing now; if they went too soon, they might be noticed first, and if they went too late, they would blow their use of a decoy. Everything about what was going to happen needed to be as perfectly timed as he could manage it, even though he knew that what he was about to do would be a guess at best.
It froze him to his core then as he realized just how helpless he was to control this situation. They had one shot at this and he not only had his own life to worry about, but Yue's, and Ursa's, and the crew's. His eyes flicked between the two large canoes and he couldn't make out a single expression that didn't indicate to him that many of them were coming to grips with the possibility that they were going to die. A wild piece of him wanted to shout out frantically then, to tell them to turn around and to head back to the hundreds of islands that made up the region west of the Elemental Nations, to save those among him now and ensure that their lives weren't risked for such a wild endeavor.
But as he looked to Yue and saw the frightened determination reflected in her eyes, he thought of all those who might die if he didn't succeed. And all that was between him and them now, was this damn monster.
Sasuke felt his muscles tighten as purpose and hate seized at him and his hand wrapped tight around the rigging from the front of the ship to the sail to keep himself held steadily up. There was no decision to make here.
He was making this crossing.
The Bjorn drew further and further away, and the seconds became minutes as the sea beneath them did no more than swirl and writhe softly, not anything close to the worst waves that Sasuke had weathered through before. He could feel the anxiousness and unease of the men around him stir and stew about as they surely considered what might be near to happening, letting their imaginations draw the wildest of conclusions and ideas as to what they were about to see. The ocean was a vast, throbbing carpet of dark water, as oppressive a force as the storm that was alive above them as slowly but surely, their vessel eased into the black waters.
Of all the things Sasuke remembered from that day so long ago, the storm that had heralded the serpent's presence had been one of the last things on his mind. And as he looked above him now, the sky no longer offering its calming clearness, he realized this was hardly a storm that was akin to those he had seen before. The ceiling of the clouds seemed very high off and far away, the black mass above seeming as far away as the heavens in a strange sense; the lightning too that flickered far off was so distant that Sasuke couldn't hear so much as the faintest rumble as the flashes glowed brightly above. He noticed too what seemed to be a sort of optical illusion with how the swells beneath them came and went, but unlike any sort of usual wave activity that he had encountered yet on the seas. The waves were almost like enormous hills that slowly drew them up and lowered the steadily; if would have been impossible to notice had the horizon been any more obscured by the dark of the storm. But slowly, they were being rocked by swells that were hundreds of meters long.
Is it breathing down there?
Sasuke found his mind drifting to the possibility that the monster slumbering was perhaps the cause of the swells that slowly brought then nearer and nearer to the inside of the storm. Ahead of him, the Bjorn was becoming a brown speck with how quickly it was being carried away. At any moment, Sasuke was expecting the sea to begin to change and then he would shout out for them to move. The crew about him were sitting with rigid backs and nearly unblinking gazes, not a single word passing between them as every second passed like the thud of a heartbeat. Sasuke didn't trust himself to even so much as blink as he watched the ship float further and further away.
The moment came in a way Sasuke hadn't expected; suddenly, behind him, Yue gave a great shuddering gasp and that became enough reason for him to turn and look at her as she grasped his wrist tightly. Her knees shook violently and he wrapped an arm around her to keep her from collapsing completely.
"What's the matter?" he asked in as calm a tone as he could manage, despite everything that was happening around him and then Yue now having an episode of some kind compounding with everything else. She looked up at him and gave him no reply as she panted and pulled in gulps of the salty, warm air around them, but the look in her eyes was enough for Sasuke to realize what had just been the cause of her sudden panic.
Sasuke had been traveling with Yue for over a month now, and had become accustomed to her strange abilities that led them on the right path. By concentrating and closing her eyes, she was able to direct them precisely towards where the Elemental Nations rested, an ability that without, Sasuke would never have been able to make this journey in the time that he had. Something about her present physical and metaphysical self allowed her to tap into a sixth sense, one that directed them straight and true through the islands and the seas between. But Sasuke had also noticed that perhaps this sense was even more than he thought it might have been; Yue had taken moments where she was given to sudden bouts of hypersensitivity that manifested as mild panic attacks to the eyes of anyone else, things she was sensing perhaps thousands of miles away or in a different plane of existence entirely. Sasuke had sat with her many a minute and let her dig her nails into his arm as her heart rate came back down and her breathing returned. But he would never forget the look in her eyes that came with these episodes of hyper clairvoyance. It was pure fright that ruled over every other emotion in her pupils, and it was the only time Sasuke had felt need to really watch out for her safety, so capable was she on her own at all other times.
This was the look in her eyes now.
Without any more thought, without even considering the possibility that he was misinterpreting her expression, without so much as laying eyes on the beast, he shouted out over the wind and the waves.
"Now!"
Ever the readied and able-bodied group of men, Ursa's crew threw open the canvas the moment the word had left his mouth. The double-canoe gave a great creak of timber and surged forward, forcing everyone aboard to grip tight or else be flung down at the sudden acceleration. With the wind catching perfectly at the angle the sails were directed, the large vessel began to skim over the rolling ocean with a speed that shouldn't quite have been possible for a ship that size, but they were soaring across the waves quickly, practically gliding as a result of their swiftness. It wasn't until a half minute or so had passed that Sasuke was even able to right himself to the point where he could look around and scan the horizon behind him for the Bjorn, to see the brown object far in the distance sailing along and perhaps starting to be tossed about by the incoming Force that would wipe it clean from the face of the earth.
But no matter how Sasuke strained his eyes, he couldn't spot out the ship they had sent forth as aa decoy.
Their own vessel continued to surge forward, rising smoothly over the great gentle slopes of the sea, spray occasionally spewing up towards him. He risked a moment to glance away from his scanning of the horizon behind them to look down at Yue who was sitting on the wooden rest at his feet. She looked somewhat ill like she was fighting back a fever, and potentially the urge to throw up. It wasn't lost on Sasuke that she had taken his hand and was holding it tightly to the point of driving some circulation from his fingers. However she had sensed the monster, it was something that was proving difficult for her to come down from.
As the wind whistles in his ears and the blanket of black clouds rolled above them, Ursa moved to come up and stand beside him. Sasuke could see the nerves in her eyes and he knew they were likely the same one he felt. This was confirmed as she spoke, raising her voice to be heard over the rush of water against their vessel.
"I can't see the Bjorn. But I also haven't seen… it."
Sasuke shook his head and continued to scan his eyes over the dark sea.
"Neither have I. When I came this way before, it raised such hell, throwing up waves the size of mountains and its coils exploding up from the ocean. We should have seen it by now."
Ursa nodded, indicating affirmation of his recollection. "It was the same way for me. You don't suppose that…"
She trailed off, letting the beginning of her question float there, but Sasuke felt no urge to offer his thoughts on the matter. In the chance that Ursa's suggestion was at all correct, and despite how stupid it was to be even slightly suspicious like that, he wasn't going to allow himself to think like that. The moment he decided to stop thinking that the monster was rolling about beneath the black waters—
Sasuke found that he would occasionally think back to the moment that the world lit up and think that he hadn't even finished casting aside suspicion when it had gone wrong.
All at once, everything seemed to become bathed in a sickly red light that seemed to come from all around. The water became red, the wood and sail of the ship became red, and everyone aboard seemed to become cast in a deep scarlet aura. Having been cast in the relative darkness of the storm and waves, Sasuke had to blink away the crimson sheen as he listened to the frenzied shouts around him; these men were surely hardened over many a battle, and blood spilled over their swords, but with the raw unknown terror that this inspired, their reaction was far from unwarranted.
Instinctively, Sasuke's eyes flicked to the skies above to identify the sudden illumination, but saw nothing above but dark skies, too high to reflect much of the light that had erupted beneath them. And as he found that the water beneath them was shining the brightest of any of their surroundings, he leapt up onto the rail of the vessel, and looked down into the waves.
Throughout his tiring and violent life, Sasuke had seen all manner of disturbing, irrational and impossible things. But as he looked at the red sphere shining up beneath them, he felt a twinge of foreboding sink deep in his gut.
"Douse the sails!" he barked and was thankful when Ursa relayed his order immediately without asking. Looking away from the light and back to her, he could tell by her expression that she was quite pale, despite how difficult that might have been to tell in the luminous red. Their vessel went from skimming over the rolling waves to sliding to the barest crawl and only then did the crimson sphere move away from underneath them, sliding silently beneath the waves before breaching the surface.
Even with how slow the monster rose, water still crashing loudly around it as its sheer size. A body the width of a massive building, it rose up from the ocean as a pitch black mass, blotting out what little light made it through the stormclouds above. As Sasuke had feared, the red sphere had been one of its enormous eyes, gazing down and illuminating them from above as it slowly moved its head, a mountain of a shape, black too and shimmering with the water cascading down its form. What Sasuke would have been in the eye of Aoda, the Bjorn would have been in the eye of this great beast. As he looked at it, not even quite able to breath properly, the gargantuan head began to shift its shape, something that looked quite alien to him, before he realized it was opening its mouth.
From the depths of its colossal innards, a hissing reverberated with the volume of rolling thunder just above them, shaking Sasuke to the bone and vibrating his body.
"Sasuke!"
He heard Yue shout his name over the hissing; she seemed to have recovered from her brief spell, but now being on her feet, she looked ready to sink back down in fright at the mere sight of the mammoth serpent. Ursa's mouth was slightly agape and her expression looked to be one of defeat and exhaustion. The crew was in disarray, half of them climbing over one another in a panicked frenzy, the other half staring up at the immense eye as though it had hypnotized them. This was it; the monster that kept anyone from crossing from the ELemental Nations to the islands to the west, the snake that had nearly killed Ursa and attacked Sasuke's convoy of ships years ago. Here they were, face to face again, and there hadn't been a damn thing he could have done to stop it.
For a long while, the vast creature merely loomed at them with its eye; it would need only have closed its eyelid and pressed it down to completely crush the entirety of their ship and then some, such was its size.
It found us, Sasuke thought bitterly. All that planning and preparation, everything he had done to preclude the possibility of them being caught in the grips of this monster, all of that had been a waste. Yue gripped his wrist and Ursa's slumped body told him everything he needed to know about her what she believed was about to happen, as she stood beside him and looked up. He had done his damnedest to keep them safe, to shirk around this final obstacle that rested between him and the Elemental Nations, and it hadn't paid off.
He clenched his fists and eyelids, gritting his teeth. Anger hammered him in sickening waves, not because of what had happened, but because he knew what had to be done now.
Finally, the serpent seemed to grow weary of just examining its prey. Its head pulled back and the vast black shape of its body made to curve into a readied stance that Sasuke had seen from many a snake before, usually ones about a dozen feet long at most. The leviathan was getting ready to strike, to completely pulverize them under its weight or in its mouth, wiping them from existence. It began to move towards them quite suddenly, with a speed that shouldn't have been possible for its great body. Sasuke listened to the crew shout in their last moments, watched Ursa lower her head and close her eyes, felt Yue bury her face in his arm.
Sasuke closed his eyes.
And opened them.
The serpent came to a jerking and spasming halt. The sudden stopping of its motion sent a wave rolling out towards them and the vessel bucked wildly over a thirty foot crest before stating to shakily even out. Having been tossed about, the crew started to pick themselves up and look about, surely wondering how it could have been that they were still alive. Ursa slowly got to her feet and stared up in stunned silence, Yue pulling away from Sasuke's arm and doing the same.
The enormous body above was no longer moving. It simply loomed above them, great trunk of a body suspended as though frozen in time. Crimson eye peering down at them, the serpent didn't so much as twitch. Sasuke stared up at it, hate surging through his veins.
It had been that easy. That simple to survive. But he had been forced to do it. To break his one rule.
Shock held the other passengers silent and motionless as they looked up at their would be fate before Sasuke finally let out a blistering snap of an order.
"Get us moving!"
This time, Ursa didn't relay his command, merely turned to look at him along with her crew, her eyes stunned and in disbelief.
"Now!" Sasuke bellowed and she seemed to be somewhat stirred from her shock. Turning shakily, she called out orders in a voice much lower and less in control then he usually heard from her. Slowly, the crew began to move about, letting loose the sails and looking about nervously at the shape above them, the black mountain that had nearly crushed them.
Eventually, their vessel began to move again. No one seemed able to keep from looking at the great black leviathan as it remained suspended behind them, a colossal black snake the body of which must have run for miles and miles.
It had been just that easy.
Sasuke moved away to the front of the first canoe, not daring to look at Yue. It was a testament to her understanding the necessity of what he had done that she didn't say a word to him behind her, but Sasuke didn't need to look at her to know the expression she was wearing.
And he didn't want her to see the pure and unbridled hate that had his face set in a furious snarl.
They sailed on towards the Elemental Nations, just having shattered the stigma of legend, but Sasuke couldn't have felt worse about it. He knew what he had just done, and he couldn't shake the images of the faces of the people he was fighting so hard to reach from his head.
He knew he might very well have just doomed them.
He knew he might very well have just doomed her.