A/N: Storm's Helm Sunday! CHA!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 32: Broken Man

25 Years Earlier

Finn frowned deeply as he made his way to the main ship of the guild where he was sure Duke would be. His best friend had gotten back to the guild two days ago, looking worse for wear, but at least he had made it back alive. He had told Finn that he had completed the mission without too many problems, his beaten form being a consequence of taking on Wiley, but Finn could tell there was more to his story that he wasn't telling him. He had known Duke for a long time and he could always tell when he was lying and not being completely truthful with him. Finn had let the subject go while Duke was healing and it had seemed that nothing had really come out of his mission, until he had read that morning's paper.

Finn had quickly spotted the table Duke sat at with a few of the other men in the guild, white bandaging still wrapped around his chest. He made a bee line for the table, throwing down the newspaper to have the headline facing Duke, "We need to talk," he said in a low tone that had the rest of the table quickly leaving the area.

Duke glanced over the headline that read 'A Mutiny in the Sawtooth Pirates'. He wore a straight face a moment longer as he looked over the article before forcing a smile up at Finn, "Looks like the pirate got what was coming to him."

"Is that all you really have to say?"

"What do you want me to say, Finn?" he asked, leaning back in his chair as he lit a cigar, "That my mission had something to do with this? I wasn't anywhere near Barracuda's ship and I already gave you the details of my mission."

"I know when you're hiding things from me, you idiot," Finn said, keeping his eyes locked on the man in front of him while Duke had trouble keeping his stare on the guild master, "Something happened on that mission that you're not telling me about. And I also don't think it's just a coincidence that this uprising on Barracuda happened after your mission. So what happened Duke?"

"Nothing happened," he answered, though he was still unable to look Finn straight in the eye.

"Dammit Duke! Stop lying to me!" he shouted, causing the area to clear out even further, "What happened on your mission?!"

"I had a run in with one of Barracuda's men," Duke said in an even tone, finally looking straight at Finn, "His name was Madmartigan and he was looking for Wiley too. Barracuda wanted to recruit Wiley into his crew and Madmartigan was sent to bring him in. I stopped that."

"You said you handed Wiley over to the Navy. Was that dead or alive?"

Duke was quiet for a short moment before he answered, "Dead."

"What were you thinking?!"

"I don't want to hear that from you! When Killian was on this guild, you-"

"Don't throw that in my face! You had just as many bad ties with Killian as the rest of us!" Finn shouted, bringing silence over the place. He let the tension settle that the name had brought up through the entire guild before he continued in a calmer tone, "So now that Wiley is dead and this Madmartigan had nothing to bring back with him to his captain, one can only assume that things went south between the two and Madmartigan was the one that turned on Barracuda."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It is, considering the amount of power Barracuda held in the south. Now things are going to plummet into even more chaos and when things were so close to being finished with the Libertatia Pact too. Now that will take longer to complete with no sign of a lead power in southern waters among the pirates."

"Wouldn't Madmartigan take over?"

"Does it look like that man wants to take over the Sawtooth Pirates?" Finn asked, pointing down at the picture of the burning ship in the picture, "He wiped them out, Duke. The strongest force of pirates in the south just taken out like it was nothing. He doesn't seem to be the type of man to listen to reason or make any sort of pact with his brethren. That's the type of man you picked a fight with."

Duke went quiet again as he thought things over. It had been something he had briefly worried about on his way back to the guild. Whether Madmartigan would actually get back at him for ruining his mission or not. But then he figured there were always other men out there for Barracuda to recruit. They could always find someone else to take in, so Duke let the worry fade from his mind. Now, though, with the newspaper in front of him and Finn throwing logic in his face, he felt that worry begin to ebb its way back into his mind. Still, he didn't want to fully believe that his mission had been the cause of everything in front of him.

"We still don't know the true reasons for the mutiny or that it was even Madmartigan who did it. I'm sure that Barracuda made plenty of enemies that could have done this to him."

Finn sighed heavily as he grabbed hold of the paper again, "That could be true too, but what reason would those enemies have to attack Barracuda before the Libertatia Pact was made? With that pact in place, it would give Barracuda full control over the southern waters, at least in the pirate world. If they really wanted to take him out, they would have waited until that happened in order to take his place and have the writing in hand that said they were now the rulers of those waters," he explained, seeing that Duke was unable to say anything in response, "Look, I'm really not trying to scare you here, but I think you should be cautious, at least for a while until this blows over and the pact has been made. I'll be contacting Burningham shortly to have him head over into our area."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because if this Madmartigan is the type of man I believe him to be, then it's a possibility that he would head here…for you. I want to have backup in case that happens, no matter how strong you think you are."

"But he's no longer under Barracuda's command. What would he gain out of coming for me?"

Finn stared down at the paper in his hands, his eyes scanning over the picture again before glancing back at Duke, "It's not about gaining something. It's the principle of the matter now," he said before walking off and leaving Duke in his worry.

. : + : .

It was just before dawn on the guild, but Duke had been awake most of the night. He stared up at the ceiling of the room he was laying in with Cheyenne asleep next to him. He glanced over at the woman next to him and the doubt Finn had planted in his mind the previous day ignited again. He had a lot to live for now and he had to wonder if he really should have taken that mission or handled it the way he did. If Madmartigan was out for some sort of revenge, Duke had a lot on the line to lose if he came to the guild for an attack.

As if hearing his thoughts in her sleep, Cheyenne woke and slowly turned to face him in their bed. She smiled up at him at first, but it quickly fell when she saw the serious look on his face, "What's the matter?"

Duke didn't know how to answer her at first. As far as she knew, he had only fought with Wiley before turning him into the Navy. He didn't want to worry her over something that could be nothing, but if he didn't give her some sort of answer soon then she would worry regardless, "It's nothing. Just thinking about a lot of things really."

"Duke, I know when yer lyin'," she said, stopping him before he tried to give her a retort, "But I also know when ta leave well enough alone. So whatever's really botherin' ya, ya don't have ta tell me if ya don't want ta. But I hope ya know that ya can tell me anything no matter what it is. Ya know that, right?"

"I know that. When some things have died down, I'll tell you about my worries, all right?" he said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face, "I don't want you stressing out over pointless things."

"I'm sure they're not pointless if it keeps ya from sleepin' all night," she frowned at him, which caused him to frown in return, "But all right. I'll go along with it fer now."

He pulled her in close when he saw she was going to roll back over, "You know that I love you, right?"

"I know," she answered with a soft smile, "And I love ya too."

"Just…always remember that, no matter what happens."

Her brow furrowed at that comment, "Duke? What is that supposed ta mean? Ya make it sound like yer gonna go somewhere."

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise," he said, pulling her in tighter to him, "But I just want to make sure that you'll always know that I love you."

Cheyenne didn't know how to respond to him other than nodding her head and hugging him back as well. She suddenly had a feeling of dread hitting her stomach from his words, as if he knew something bad would happen that he wasn't telling her about. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to get an answer out of him until he was ready.

"So in other news," Duke started, wanting to lift the tension in the air, "I thought up some names while I was away on my mission."

"Ya did?" she asked, having to force the words out of her mouth, "What are they?"

"I thought up more boy names than girl ones, so maybe that's a sign it'll be a boy," he smiled widely, finally bringing out a smile from Cheyenne. He opened his mouth to continue, but a loud crashing sound from the upper decks of the guild interrupted him. He sat up quickly, ignoring the dull pain that was still in his chest from his previous mission. Cheyenne moved with him as another crash echoed into their room. Duke wasted no time jumping out of bed and grabbing his staff that was leaned up against the wall of his room.

"Duke," Cheyenne called out, throwing the blankets off of herself as well. She moved around the bed quickly in time to grab his wrist to stop him from going out the door, "Yer chest. It hasn't fully healed yet."

"I have to go out there to see what's going on," he answered, twisting his wrist free and turning to look at her, "If someone is attacking the guild, I have to help with protecting it."

"But Duke…"

"I'll be okay, so don't worry," he said as he pulled her in for one last hug before leaving, "Just make sure you stay here. I don't want you fighting."

"But Duke, I should be helpin' ta protect the guild too."

"Please Cheyenne," he said in a hard tone, "For my sake and for the baby's sake, stay here this time. Please."

Cheyenne stared him down for a long moment before she gave in with a sigh, "Fine. I'll stay here."

"That's my girl. I'll be back soon."

"Just be careful."

"Always."

And with that, he was out the door.

. : + : .

"So this is the infamous Storm's Helm I've heard so much about?" Madmartigan said, smirking darkly as the smoke faded from the bombs he had thrown up onto the middle vessel. The faint morning light from the oncoming sunrise caused a purplish-blue glow to illuminate around Madmartigan and his new crew, the rest of the pirates smiling just as darkly as their captain, "Seems like a poorly put together piece of trash to me. How you all honestly manage to live on this scrap of metal is a mystery to me. Seems almost pointless to take out such a guild when it already appears so weak."

"Then leave," Finn said lowly, facing the man in black with most of his guild members already behind him.

"Oh, so demanding," the pirate said, his smirk seeming to grow, "Although, you should really be careful where you aim those words. You did see what happened to Barracuda in the papers, correct?"

"So you were the one to take him out?"

"Yes, I was, so what do you think will happen to this pathetic guild then?"

Finn called out a large, silver revolver from his re-quip space, one that had 'Murdock' inscribed on one side of it while the other had 'Burningham' on it. He quickly shot off a bullet, the round whizzing right passed the pirate's ear, "Leave. That's the only warning shot you'll get."

Madmartigan stood still for a moment, a frown etched into his face. Though, his frown soon formed into a smirk again, "You really only have one of your own mages to thank for my appearance here today. If he had simply stayed out of my way, then I wouldn't be here."

"You got your freedom from your captain and now run your own crew. You should be thanking my mage instead."

"Yes, but you see, it's the principle of the thing," Madmartigan said, holding out a hand in a position for him to snap his fingers, "He humiliated me, he took away my prize from me and I had to overthrow Barracuda sooner than I had wanted. He took away my moment to prove to the pirate world that you don't need some piece of paper to state you are the strongest. Now that Barracuda is out of the way before the Libertatia Pact is in place, I will never get to have that moment of satisfaction. And that's all thanks to your mage, Duke Ramirez. So I've come to repay him what he took from me. Are you ready to take on his consequences too?"

Finn only narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his gun in response.

"I'll take that as a yes," Madmartigan said before snapping his fingers. With that simple snap, his crew charged Finn and his mages, the two crews clashing hard as they met in the middle of the deck.

Finn had set his sights on Madmartigan, watching as the man in black stayed standing in the background for the time being. Though, he had to fight off the pirates in front of him first to do it, but he didn't have to wait for long for backup to show up. He heard Duke first before he saw him, the man easily knocking pirates out of his way with his staff and magic. In just a few short moments, Duke was standing right next to Finn, huffing slightly from running and pushing his way through pirates to meet him.

"You still need to finish healing, you know," Finn said, shooting off another bullet at a pirate that tried to sneak up behind Duke.

"You know as well as I do that wasn't going to happen," Duke answered as he swung his staff down on a pirate that now tried to sneak up on Finn, "You know you're happy to see me here anyways."

Finn sighed as he called out a long sword from his re-quip space in order to spin and attack an enemy, "You know you're only going to worry Cheyenne by being out here."

"She's a tough girl, so she'll survive," he answered as he turned himself to attack his own enemy, "But what about your wife? I'm sure she's worried about you too."

"Gina's watching over Cordelia. I'm sure if any men make it up to the front of the guild, they'll be wishing they hadn't."

Duke let out a loud laugh at that, "I suppose that Feline Soul of hers can be rather nasty when she wants it to be, especially with her mama instincts kicking in too."

Madmartigan closely watched the two men fighting, knowing he'd have to break them up somehow if he wanted to get a full crack at Duke. He called over a group of his men and ordered them to the head over to the ship where Finn had said his wife and daughter would be at. The captain could only smile widely once Finn caught sight of the men heading towards the front ship.

Duke watched as a look of worry and panic came over Finn's face. He looked to see where he was staring and managed to catch sight of a group of pirates running off towards the front ship. While both Duke and Finn knew that Regina could take care of herself, it didn't stop them worrying any.

"Go on and make sure she's okay," Duke said, pushing Finn forwards.

Finn looked back at him, "What about you? You're not at a hundred percent yet to be able to fight like you normally would."

"I'll be fine. Besides, you'll be no use to me until you go check on your family."

Finn knew he had a point about that and nodded at him, "Just make sure to watch yourself," he said before running off after the pirates.

Duke watched him run off for a moment longer before turning back to his own fights. He continued spinning and slamming his staff into his opponents and in the middle of the melee, he managed to catch a glimpse of Madmartigan staring him down. Duke felt a bolt of anger run through him at the sight of the man, causing him to swing his staff out in a wide arc to clear his path of the other pirates.

"Are you scared to face me on your own, Madmartigan?!" he shouted.

"That's not the case at all," the dark captain answered, holding out his hand to snap his fingers again, "I'm just wearing you down a bit first," he said as he snapped his fingers.

Duke watched as a crowd began to form around him, "I see, so you're playing dirty then?"

"I'm a pirate. It's what we specialize in," he smirked before the crowd of men dove in on Duke.

Duke did his best to keep the pirates at bay, swinging and spinning his staff around to defend himself. Though, eventually he felt blades of knives and sword cutting at his skin, but never enough to critically hurt him, just enough to slow him down. He could feel the blood running down his skin and clothes and that the bandages around his chest were beginning to unwind as well, but he ignored it all as he continued to fight against the pirates. He managed to push some of them away, but they were only replaced with new ones. Some of them were able to use magic too as Duke felt swipes of sharp wind, ice and fire across his skin in place of the blades. When he felt himself stumble from starting to give into the pain on his body, he finally decided to let loose a pulse of his magic to get all the pirates off of him. The shockwave was effective in blowing the pirates away, but it also knocked down some of his fellow mages in the process too, leaving him to defend himself as Madmartigan finally took a step forward. Duke felt his breath coming out in ragged huffs and blood continue to slide down his body as he watched the captain steadily come closer and closer towards him.

"You don't seem so confident in yourself this time, mage," Madmartigan said as he came to a stop directly in front of Duke.

"I'll take on anything you give me, pirate," Duke answered, forcing himself to stand up straight.

"Is that so? You still seem a bit weak after our fight."

"I'm sure you are too."

"Ah, but you're in a much worse condition than I am now," he said as he readied a fist, "It should be much easier to take you down this time," he added before moving to slam a hardened fist into Duke's gut. Duke managed to block it in time with his staff, but he was still sent flying across the deck. And while the steel had managed to take most of the blow, it had been enough to break it in half. Duke coughed hard before he forced himself back to his feet, holding his staff in either hand now, "How noble of you to get back up for a fight you know you can't win," Madmartigan said, "I could have taken your life with that hit, but where's the fun in that? It's not a good enough payback for me. You can't feel humility or failure if you're dead. So I think I'll just take your guild from you instead," he said before slamming a fist into the deck and blowing a hole through it from the force of the hit.

"Stop it!" Duke shouted, running towards the man when he saw he was going to make another hit. Duke swung one of the smaller staffs at Madmartigan, forcing him to move backwards to dodge. He then used the second staff to his advantage and swung back at the pirate with it, the end of it barely managing to catch Madmartigan in the side. The pirate skidded across the deck from the force behind it, but he stood back up much quicker than Duke had been able to do. Duke swung the two ends of the staff in his hands as he took up a fighting stance against the pirate, "Let's go!" he said before charging the man again. This forced the two into a clash of steel-like fists and shockwaves, the added power between the two men continuously meeting one hit after another. Every time Madmartigan threw a punch, Duke would be there to meet it with one of the staffs; and every time Duke would try to slam the steel into the pirate, Madmartigan would be there to block it. Magic constantly exploded outwards from each of their hits, keeping anyone trying to help either of them at bay, unable to break through the force the two men created.

"This isn't getting anywhere," Madmartigan finally said before letting out a sharp whistle.

"You afraid you're gonna lo-" Duke began, but was soon cut off as gunshot went off and he felt something pass through his body. The shock kept him from feeling the pain at first as he looked down to see fresh bullet hole through his lower torso. Once his eyes made contact with the wound, he felt the pain shoot up through him and brought him down to his knees.

"Painful, isn't it?" Madmartigan asked, "But don't worry, I had my sniper shoot in a place to keep you from dying. You'll just suffer miserably while I tear your guild apart."

Duke only answered him with a shot of spit to his shoes, keeping himself from falling over completely by holding his body up with his two staff ends.

Madmartigan made a face of disgust before he planted a boot into Duke's chest to kick him backwards, "But you are rather annoying and I suppose you are the type to come looking for me in revenge, so it may just be better to end you here and now," he said, pulling a fist back and aiming it towards Duke's chest, "Any last words before you go?"

Duke only stared defiantly up at him.

"Such a waste you are, mage," he said as he began to bring his fist down on him.

"Cheyenne! No!"

Duke's eyes widened when he heard Regina's shouts. He looked passed the pirate in front of him to see Regina running as fast as she could to catch up with Cheyenne, but the dark haired woman was much faster at the moment, her speed fueled by her need to reach Duke in time. Duke didn't even have time to call out her name before she had appeared directly in front of him and had taken the hit for him. Duke could hear the cracking of bone in her chest before her body was flung across the deck. He watched her body sail and then skid to a stop, her form unmoving once it had stopped.

"Chey…Cheyenne," he stuttered, hoping that it would get her to move, "Cheyenne!" he called out louder, forcing his body up from the ground and the red stain of blood that had been growing underneath him, "CHEYENNE!" he practically roared as her body stayed unmoving. He finally managed to get his legs moving, the large man stumbling forward to where Cheyenne was lying. He dropped back down to his knees and pulled her up into his arms, "Cheyenne!" he called out again, wanting to see her eyes open. His wish was soon answered as her dark eyes locked onto his, "Cheyenne! You're okay!"

"Duke, I…ya know that I'm not okay," she said softly.

Duke looked over her again to see blood trickling out of her mouth and that her chest couldn't fully rise to take in a breath. Her breathing was steadily becoming more shallow by the second, "It's all right. We'll get the doctor to look you over. You'll be okay."

"Ya know that's not gonna happen either."

Duke felt his teeth clench together as tears began to prick at his eyes, "Why? Why did you do it? I told you to stay in the room!"

"Because I know how ya are when yer fightin'," she smiled softly at him, "Always needin' someone ta watch yer back when ya get reckless."

"I could have handled it! You were supposed to stay in the room! I would have handled it!"

"Duke," she said, reaching up to cup his cheek in her hand, "We both know that hit would have killed ya. I did it because I love ya…and ya still have things ta do here in this world…people that need ya."

"Yeah, but I need you. I need you to stay here with me," he said, his voice growing lower as his tears finally began to spill over.

"I'm sorry, Duke, but I'm gonna have ta leave soon," she said, taking in a breath and coughing out from the pain it caused, "But it's okay. It's okay Duke," she said, trying to wipe away his tears as her own stared, "I got ta be part of this family…and I got ta have a man like ya love me. Ya made me happy, Duke. So it's okay."

"Cheyenne, stay with me," he managed to say in between his tears, laying his forehead against her own, "Stay with me."

"Duke, I need ya ta tell me that ya love me before I go…and ya can't forget that ya have people here that still need ya….ya can't forget about them when I'm gone…ya have to promise me that too," she said, her words becoming faster and panicked as she knew her time was coming to a close soon.

"Cheyenne…"

"Promise me!"

"I promise."

"Good…now…now tell me ya love me…I need ya hear it…one last time."

"I love you…so much."

"Thank ya, Duke," she said, her eyes closing with a smile on her face while tears still ran down it, "I love ya too."

Duke felt her body go limp in his arms, his forehead still pressed against her own while his own tears continued to fall, "Come back. Please, come back. I can't lose you, so just…come back," he repeated, hoping that his broken chanting would ignite life back into the woman in his arms.

Heavy black boots appeared next to him and a haughty voice began speaking, "Well, it seems like I was able to take something away from you after all. What a fallen man you are now, mage. I like this punishment more than your death."

Duke's entire body went rigid in anger as soon as he heard the voice. He didn't move during Madmartigan's ramblings as he let his anger fill his entire being. What happened next was like a blur in Duke's mind as Madmartigan reached for him with his left hand, thinking Duke to be a completely broken man. As soon as his hand had neared him, Duke grabbed onto his wrist tightly in a vice grip. He gently laid down Cheyenne's body and stood up to face Duke, his eyes appearing dark as he stared the pirate down. Madmartigan attempted to make a swing at Duke, but the mage easily met his fist with his own, hearing Madmartigan's bones crunch under the force of the direct hit of his Aftershock magic. Madmartigan yelped out in pain and attempted to pull away from Duke, but his grip only tightened around his wrist. Duke pulled him in to land another punch on his shoulder and then his gut and then his chest, the aftershock mage continuing his assault on the pirate like he was some sort of rag doll.

"Stop! Enough!" Madmartigan shouted, continuing to try and pull away from the man, "I'll make the call to shoot you again!"

Duke's eyes only seemed to darken in response as his hand on the pirate's wrist moved to fully envelope it. Once Duke felt his fingers and thumb touch, he shot a pulse of his magic up through his arm and down to his hand, letting it circle around the hand in his grasp. Almost in an instant, the hand was blown off from his arm, Duke never flinching even as blood splattered across his face. Madmartigan stumbled backwards and landed hard on his butt as he started screaming over the pain, the pirate now holding onto the stub that was his arm as blood poured from it.

"Kill him!" he shouted to his crew members. Though, most of them had been taken out by the guild and the ones that were left had fear written in their eyes from an oncoming ship they had spotted.

"We have to go, Captain," one of his crew members said as they pulled him backwards across the deck towards where their own ship waited.

"No! Kill him first!" he shouted, pointing at Duke who was slowly approaching them.

"There's no time, Captain! Burningham's crew is here and if we stay any longer, we really will be killed!"

Madmartigan continued shouting as his men pulled him away from the guild and onto their ship.

Finn, who had appeared on the scene shortly after Regina, stepped in front of Duke. He had originally been carrying Cordelia with him, but he had handed over his crying daughter to Regina before moving towards Duke.

"There are more important things to take care of right now, Duke. Other…matters to attend to."

Duke looked down at him with an empty stare, not bothering to say anything as he pushed Finn aside and continued walking towards where the pirate's ship had been.

"Duke! Madmartigan won't be coming back! Stop this!"

Duke continued to ignore him as he walked towards the edge of the guild's deck. Finn noticed the way he looked like he was about to jump off the edge to follow the pirate's ship. He knew that Duke wouldn't last long, considering all the wounds he had taken. And they had to take care of Cheyenne's death now. He couldn't let Duke walk away from it all in order to exact his revenge, especially not after that promise he had made to Cheyenne. This was exactly what she didn't want him doing. It would only get himself killed and then her sacrifice would be in vain.

"I'm sorry, Duke, but I can't let you go," he said as he pulled out a large taser gun and aimed it at the man. Before he could reach the very edge of the deck, Finn shot off the gun, letting it stun him for a long moment before releasing it and bringing the large man down in the process.

Silence filled the area as everyone took in what had just happened. The only sound that permeated the air for a long time after that was the sound of Cordelia's cries from her place in her mother's arms, bringing with it a sadness that filled the hearts of the entire guild.

A/N: There we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

And I managed to write it! Even with all that sadness, I managed to write it! T.T

And for time (and feels) reasons, I'll be skipping the usual Question Corner and review responses. It just didn't seem right to put a Question Corner in with that ending. And I don't think I would have been able to come up with something funny after all that anyways. But everything will be back around in the next chapter.

And for those of you that read Thunder Stone, don't worry! I'm working on a little something special for that story. I know I missed out on Thursday, but some things happened, and I wasn't able to get to it. But like I said, I think you'll all enjoy the surprise that's coming for that story!

Well, that's it for this time around!

I'll see you all next Sunday!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson