Earlier in the day, W. D Gaster had been intent on returning several library books. He'd been doing research, as best he could, into the various types of magic. Blue magic, especially, despite his best efforts, the little skeleton monster just couldn't seem to properly manifest it. But as he'd raced down the cobblestone path, only a few dozen feet from the library, Gaster had run into a human girl. Literally!

His books had flown everywhere and he and she had begun picking them up, and then it had happened.

His hand touched hers as he and she reached for the same book. She'd slightly gripped his bony hand, her teal eyes gazing into his own black sockets, and she'd stared at him, mouth agape. And the words she'd said.

"Your HAND." She whispered out.

"Yes?"

"It's...fuzzy. It's so...soft." She murmured, looking down at it, lifting it up, feeling over it with her own hands, her eyes getting wider. "Like...it's like the hair on a comfrey leaf." She muttered out. "I thought it would be hard and bony but...its so fuzzy. It's...nice."

She held his hand, looking at it for a long time, then at him. He stared back into her, and as she held it there, the other humans looking at each other, confused, a bit surprised, Gaster thought he saw the girl crying, and trying to hold it back in her eyes. She let his hand go, picking up the last of her books and quickly walked away, leaving Gaster's books in a small pile right in front of him.

Her eyes. Those…those deep teal eyes. Why did he keep thinking about them…?

Meanwhile, Gerald was astounded at how much progress Leopold had been making in his work to build up stamina. The long and white haired young man was now able to race in laps around the town square with ridiculous ease, and without even getting remotely winded, which was more than Gerald himself could say. The poor, squat, rather ugly-looking monster may have had more than two legs but even that didn't allow him to move as quickly as Leopold could.

So now, Leo had taken to holding him in his arms as he barreled around the town square, or at least, he'd done that for the first month. Now in the second month of training, he was actively carrying Gerald in the air with his blue magic.

"Hup-hup-hup-hup-hup!" Leopold jogged vigorously around the town square as people looked on, Gaster watching with his mother as they stopped at the town square to observe people were crowded around several men that were taking money.

"Step right up, step right up, place your bets!"

"What on Earth is all this?" Arial inquired, looking confused, the rather slender-armored female skeleton monster approaching, tilting her head a bit. A few of the humans nervously shuffled to the side, but the bearded man who was taking people's gold and putting it into a bag as he eagerly watched Leopold and Gerald grinned at them.

"Ah, you've noticed our fine friends over there are training? Well, when our white-haired young lad finally comes to a stop, poor Gerald gets sent flying because Mr. Leopold hasn't quite learned how to turn his blue magic off at just the right time. He always forgets to lower "Gerry" down, and because he's tied the magic to himself, when HE comes to an abrupt stop, ol' Gerry goes flying! WOOSH! Right through the air and crashing into something, and we're all a-taking bets on what he'll crash into!"

"Has he ever managed to stop Gerald from crashing into something? Once?" Gaster spoke up as he adjusted the glasses on his face, his red scarf slightly wafting about in the air as he looked at Leopold, watching him run. The way that his white hair wafted about in the air as the wind blew through it reminded him of his scarf, it flowed so smoothly and sleekly…

"Not once, nope. Not at all."

"Could…I make a bet that today, he does?" Gaster asked. "I have a little gold."

Arial gave Gaster a frown. "Gaster, you should SAVE such gold for what we really need."

"I earned it fair and square, mother." Gaster protested as he shook his head back and forth and looked up firmly at her. "There's no harm in betting just one little gold coin on this." He said, handing the gold coin to the bearded man as he took the coin and looked it over. He bit it, testing its texture, and then nodded.

"Monster or human, gold's gold." The man chuckled. "Everyone's equal in my eye, lad. Let's see if you actually win anything. The smart money today is that Gerald's going to go flying into the vegetable stand." He said, the red-haired man gesturing at the vegetable stand off in the distance, not far from what was clearly a FREQUENT spot that Gerald flew into, the window of a bakery that had been a frantic baker putting up boards, hammering away swiftly.

"No wonder Leopold has to wear the same clothes over and over, all his money must go towards paying for repairs." Arial intoned as Leopold began to pick up the pace, reaching his final lap. "Oh! I think he's just about ready to stop."

Indeed, Leopold finally came to a halt, skidding on the stony ground below, Gerry letting out a squeal as he went flying right towards the vegetable stand, is owner tearing at his hair. "My cabbages!" He sobbed aloud. But then…

WOOMP.

Gerald halted in midair, his form still clad in blue magic, Leopold holding out a hand as he then clenched it, and…WHUMP. Gerald landed on the ground below, panting, wiping his brow a bit as Leopold turned around and smiled in delight at everyone else assembled, giving a very enormous, shit-eating grin.

"Of all the days he pulls it off…" Some people were muttering and mumbling rather mutinously as Gaster grinned and collected his VERY sizable winnings, which he deposited into his and his mother's pocket as the crowd dispersed and Leopold and Gerald made their way over.

"Did you want some?" Gaster asked as Arial shook her head.

"Son, no, you won that fair and square."

"I don't want any." Leopold said with a smile, giving Gaster a very knowing little wink indeed. "I knew you were watching and I overheard what your bet was."

"WAIT." Gaster's black eye sockets bulged wide. "Wait a moment. Have you been capable of stopping Gerald from soaring off this whole time?"

"Only in the past two weeks. I've been letting certain people's bets win." Leopold said with a chuckle. "Gerald and I have gone around to folks houses and encouraged them to come see my skill, and while we're there, we've gotten a good peek at how people are living, if they're doing well, if they could use a little extra money, so we've been sort of "fixing" the whole thing to help them out. Now that you finally showed up, we decided you deserved a bit." Leopold laughed.

"We don't want any charity." Arial protested.

"Speak for yourself, mom, I like gold." Gaster laughed with a snort as Leopold sniggered.

"There's no harm in bending or breaking the rules every once in a while for a good cause." Gerald intoned to Arial. "After all, Gaster's been doing alchemy, hasn't he? And that's forbidden."

Arial deeply blushed at this. She knew full well about it, that was true. "Well, I mean…okay, you may be right, I don't mind him going against the ruling upon alchemy. We monsters have never had such a taboo against it."

"So then there's no harm in a little charity like this, then." Gerald said with a big smile as Leopold nodded, and the two walked off, heading for their home. "You two have a nice afternoon." He called back as Gaster thoughtfully stared after them.

Come that night, Leopold was awoken by somebody knocking at his window. He rubbed his eyes, looking outside, seeing Gaster of all people was there, and he opened the window up. "Yes?"

"Listen, I…I'm not good with blue magic myself. I didn't just take up alchemy because I've got a talent for it and because I wanted to make a little extra money for my family. I took it up because I found it easier than accessing the talent for blue magic within. Could you…give me a little help? How did YOU first master blue magic?"

"Okay, okay, sneak in." Leopold urged him, Gaster climbing into the room as Leopold quickly closed the window up and he brought Gaster over to his desk, lighting up a candle by calling forth a small pair of stones that he swiftly struck together, the sparks striking the candle wick and making the room light up as Leopold smiled. "Look here." He told the skeleton monster as he pulled out a collection of papers from his desk and set them down.

Gaster looked them over, tilting his head slightly to the side. The papers showed an image of a human body, and what looked like a sun on the inside with rays beaming out from within. "Blue magic is an inner power that's tied into a human soul. Even the faintest glimmer of a human soul, a soul barely held together, barely human anymore, can access blue magic, and blue magic is the magic of Integrity. In fact, Integrity and Perseverance are sort of brother and sister to "Determination"."

Gaster scratched his head. "How so?"

"Perseverance means continuing to try, trying to keep moving forward, to keep at whatever it is you're doing. Integrity means sticking to your principles, owning up to the wrongs you've done and trying to do right, even if its hard. And determination is the resolve to change fate, to keep living, staying true to what you believe. All of them involve some kind of will and resolve, they're like three sides to a triangle." Leopold reasoned.

"How can you master Integrity magic if you don't bending the rules? Wouldn't sticking to the rules show integrity?" Gaster asked, scratching his head.

"If you think you can do more good by NOT doing that, it's not showing no integrity at all. It's sticking to your moral code, and that IS integrity." Leopold said.

"So sometimes you have to enter the darkness to preserve the light." Gaster asked as Leopold nodded. "I admit, that isn't exactly a very…well, "Christian" way to look at it."

"We don't exactly live in a "Christian" world." Leopold said. "If we all lived like how God has asked us to, there wouldn't be suffering or agony or evil, we would have stamped it out ages ago. But we've fucked things up for years and years and now we're surprised at the rather lousy world we left ourselves. I don't blame God for what happened to my family, people chose to do evil."

"I know the theory. Evil didn't come from God, it came from good." Gaster said with a gentle nod. "Evil is good spoiled, good gone rotten. It wouldn't exist if not for good, and a world without goodness wouldn't be a moral world at all."

"So that's why we have to be good to each other, and stick to our ideals." Leopold said. "We do that, and we'll make a better world for everyone."

"If they're the right ideals, of course."

"Yeah, that's fair." Leopold said. "So remember, when you're using blue magic, you need to think about the ideals you hold." He told Gaster, taking his hand. "Hold onto them. Picture them in your mind, almost grasp them like a friend. You do that, and the rest will begin to come naturally to you. Start off small, lift little stuff. Kitchen things. Rocks. Leaves. No living things, they're far harder."

Leopold realized that Gaster had slightly blushed. His cheeks were a little flush right now and he let go of the skeleton monster's hand, blinking down at it in surprise. "Your…texture. It doesn't feel hard at all, it's so…soft. Almost like the tiny hairs on a leaf." He murmured quietly.

"I've only ever had one other human hold my hand like that." Gaster admitted. "A brown-haired girl with glasses. We ran into each other on the street, I spilled my books all over, she began helping me pick them up and our hands touched. It was so…strange." He confessed. He seemed to be staring ahead as if at some far-away point, and then he shook his head quickly. "Anyway, th-thank you sincerely for your help. I'd like to meet you again later. Goodnight." He quickly murmured, sliding out the window again and racing off through the alleyways, heading for home, and slinking in his own bedroom window.

He closed it up, flopping onto his bed. That girl's eyes. Leopold's hair, and the texture of the human's hands. So…soft, yet firm. Like his own hands.

A thought had popped into his head. A thought that kept repeating every time he began to look at other humans his own age.

Why? Why are humans such beautiful life forms?

"Oh my Lord." He murmured aloud, his black eye sockets bulging wide. "I'm such a perverted little skeleton. I'm desperately in love with the existence of humans!" He realized. "I…I have a twisted desire for humans! To think my puberty would lead me to this!" He moaned. "UGGGGHHH."

His family was going to drive him nuts over this, they'd never approve of him being into humans. He had to keep this a secret. He just had to. But even as he drifted off into sleep, promising himself he'd never tell anyone of his feelings, he kept dreaming about holding so many soft hands, feeling their bodies pressed up against his in tender hugs, and…

Lips.

What did…human lips feel like?

Was it nice?

He wanted to know. So badly.

…

…

…

…Seiichi had known that Sakamoto the dragon was going to have to eat something. Now, at last, the dragon had touched down not far from the green lands, not far at all from Ireland at least, by comparison. They had touched down in Kiev, the skies about clear of clouds, and not an ounce of wind blowing as they landed. It was cold out, very cold indeed, you could faintly see your breath lingering in the air as Seiichi looked about. They'd landed by a beautiful river, the Slavuta, to the Slavic people, or the "Dnieper" to the Russians, and Sakamoto was taking big, long gulps from the river's edge as Seiichi noticed that the city of Kiev wasn't far off from something they'd seen only moments before, soaring above in the sky.

As they'd approached Kiev to let Sakamoto get some food for himself since Seiichi wasn't personally hungry, they had seen an immensely large band of brigands. In fact, they were an outright horde of brigands, wearing thick boots designed for horseback riding, a sash tied around their waists with tobacco pipes and knives and cups and other things hanging off them. They'd had big robe-like wraps around them like an overcoat, closed diagonally from the side to the front, and they were carrying wicked-looking weaponry as they raced on their horses, towards Kiev.

Now Seiichi could see them setting up encampments not far from where they were right now and Sakamoto raised his head up, the dragon's eyes glittering.

"Ahh, I recognize them. Mongols. They're not a very pleasant people at all. Their leader Genghis Khan, has ravaged much of the land of China and he personally executed the entire Imperial family of the Tangut, who reigned over northwestern China." Sakamoto intoned. "I've heard tale he even ordered one of his sons, Joichi, poisoned. I wouldn't put it past him."

"What're they here for?"

"I imagine Kiev." Sakamoto suggested as he focused, transforming himself on the spot from his enormous, draconic form into his more humanoid appearance clad in robes and his fancy necklace. "Look." He pointed with a clawed hand, Seiichi looking across the lake and seeing what was distinctly catapults. "You don't have weapons of war like that if you are just visiting, oh no. Not at all."

"We have to try and talk them down."

"You do that, you'll die." Sakamoto informed Seiichi. "Plain and simple. The mongols don't believe in pacifism. Genghis might allow Buddhists to teach what they want if you just pay your taxes to him, and he believes very strongly in religious freedom. One of the only things we dragons respect about him. He may be a brutal, ruthless genocidal warlord, but at least he'll let you believe in whatever you want. He's a "Tengrist", a believer in Shamanism, not Buddhism."

"Well we can't just let the people of Kiev suffer." Seiichi offered. "Can't you, like…scare the mongols off by being all big and scary and going "RAHHHRR!" He waved his hands in the air. "THIS CITY IS UNDER MY PROTECTION, TRIFLE WITH ME NOT" or something?"

Sakamoto chuckled. "Dragons do not go "rahrrrr"." He laughed. "But tell you what. I'll try and scare them off. You, meanwhile, can pay a little visit to Kiev and tell its people that we're here to help, but we're also rather hungry, and could use, perhaps, some cattle to tide me over?"

"I…suppose that's fair." Seiichi said, though he was clearly disturbed by this. "A fair trade for saving the city. I'll go speak to the cattle themselves, even." He offered as Sakamoto smiled back at Seiichi.

"Your concern for the lives of others is an honorable and noble trait. I do hope you never lose that." He confessed as he stepped back and transformed anew, his enormous, draconic form manifesting as he flew off towards the Mongols, and Seiichi made his way to Kiev, people already beginning to form at the front gates, looking astounded and shocked as Seiichi approached them.

"You were speaking to that dragon!" One of them finally spoke up, as their whispers and murmurs got quieter. "Are you his emissary?"

"What would he ask of us?"

"Does he want our virgins?"

"Or maybe our sluts? We've got a lot more of those."

"No, no, no. He'd just like a little cattle, he's very hungry." Seiichi insisted. "I'm going to try and find some for him. Could you lead the way? He's trying to scare those awful mongols encamped on the lake away from you, they have catapults and want to sack Kiev." He told them as the people of Kiev murmured even more furiously amongst themselves. Seiichi could see clear, obvious fear beginning to manifest in their eyes before one of them spoke up anew.

"You're welcome to come inside, we'll go get our mayor and have him speak to you. We've no doubt a dragon can easily contend with those mongols." They said. "But I take it you have some kind of…ability? A dragon wouldn't just travel with any old human, especially wouldn't let them RIDE him! They're far too proud."

"I am but a humble Buddhist mage." Seiichi confessed. "I can speak to all animals, that's my ability, good people." He said as he bowed, clasping his hands together. "It's a simple skill, really, and I am a simple person with simple needs and desires. I only want to try and help your city and keep it safe from sacking. I've asked the dragon to show mercy even towards the mongols, to try and simply scare them off without harming them."

"I doubt they'd show such kindness to you, but come on in." They let Seiichi inside as the wind began to finally pick up, wafting his ponytail about as the rather tubby young Buddhist was brought along towards some large pens of cattle. "We'll get our mayor, you can, ah…pick whatever cattle you like."

Seiichi nodded back at them as he cleared his throat. "Hello, good bulls and cows. I am Seiichi."

The cattle all gaped at him in surprise as he held up a hand and warmly smiled. "I'd like to talk to you about what's happening. There are mongols close to Kiev with weapons of war, they want to claim the city. I have a dragon who's a good friend that's trying to scare them off, but in exchange, he'd…well…" Seiichi's smile faded. "He wants to eat a few of you as payment for saving the city."

"And you'd like to ask some of us to give up our lives for a dragon?" One of the cows asked as the steers slightly grunted amongst themselves, others looking about. "I suppose you think it's fair, a few sacrificed to ensure a multitude don't die."

"I don't like it at all, good sir." Seiichi insisted to the cow. "I'm a Buddhist. I detest the loss of any life."

"An honest human." The cows and steer looked intrigued. "Wow. That's new." They murmured amongst themselves as Seiichi sighed and hung his head, the guilt stinging slowly up his body like the tiny pricking of bee stings when he felt, suddenly, a shudder stick into him. A horrible, nasty coldness that made him lift his head up. "The Willies".

Something had went horribly wrong with-

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHRRRRRR!"

Seiichi wheeled about, eyes widening as he raced off for the front entrance of Kiev, people staring in shock and terror, eyes bulging, mouth agape. Sakamoto's frame had been hovering in the air above the camp but now…now his form was shrinking, turning into his more humanoid form as nets were thrown on him and…and his body was surrounded in a blue glow. Oh no. OH NO.

"They've got mages too." Seiichi realized with a sense of horror. "Oh dear. Oh dearest Buddha no…"

Meanwhile, out on the sea, Eri groaned, rubbing her head, something odd bathing over her nostrils. She cringed as she rose up, shaking Hadiya awake, and the two rubbed the sleep from their eyes. "Do you smell that?" She asked as Hadiya looked about, getting out of the bed and then halting just before she reached the doorway out of their little room on the ship.

"…Eri…I've smelled this before." She murmured as she quivered a bit, and looked pale, disgusted and…disappointed?

Eri realized what the smell was too.

Blood. Broken bones and blood and gore, the same horrible, terrible smell they'd gotten from the Hagia Sophia. Slowly they opened up the door, and beheld what laid beyond, at what…remained…of various crewmembers. Their heads had been…pulped. There barely WERE heads anymore, and it looked like their bodies were somewhat dried up as if they were left out in the sun like fruit to be sucked free of all water and juiciness. Resisting the urge to vomit, they walked down the hall, trying not to cringe as their feet stepped in large pools of blood, getting closer and closer to the captain's cabin, hearing voices.

"You're not getting away with this." Captain Abel Roger's voice rang out from inside.

"Your type disgusts me. You've been "getting away with it" for years and now you've the gall to act like I'm wrong for wanting to get even…how pathetic."

"My men and I have nothing to do with what you endured, you just want a scapegoat."

"You're not innocent, you're CATHOLIC." It was definitely Uttu's voice, and she was filled with fury. "Your type destroy everything. You'd murder me and my children the minute you found out I was pregnant. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", after all."

"I wasn't going to call you that. I'm a gentleman. Even if you are clearly no lady." Abel said, his voice still ringing with clear defiance and pride, even though from the tone of his voice, Eri could tell he was badly injured. It sounded like Uttu had broken his jaw. "I only would have thrown you overboard if we couldn't get to land in time. I know your species's desire for lots and lots of meat. Wouldn't' you have eaten my crew? Eri? Hadiya? Mr. Solomon?"

"They're good people. I'd never hurt them. Unlike you. You're not good people, you're…animals. All your type are animals!" Uttu said darkly. "And I'm putting you down like one."

"Your friends will never forgive you for this cold-blooded cruelty." Abel said as Hadiya felt a fury rising in her. She clenched her fist, her eyes a-glittering, body faintly aglow with yellow light as Eri took hold of the door and stood to the side, ready to swing it open for her beloved.

"No, and I don't expect them to. But I can live with that. And what I'm about to do to you." Uttu admitted.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Hadiya roared out as Eri swung the door open and Hadiya swung her fist forward. Uttu's eyes bulged out, she barely had time to cry out as Hadiya's yellow projectiles shot forth and struck the Arachne over and over. THWAM-THWAM-THWAM-THWAM, she was sent spiraling out, barely clinging to the opened-up wall as the waters gnashed outside, the ocean slightly rocky as a very-badly-wounded Captain Abel Rogers laid in a slightly crumbled heap not far away. His jaw looked almost broken, his leg HAD been broken, very obviously, it was twisted at a bad angle, and yet he stared defiantly at Uttu as she used her many arms to cling to the walls. "I defended you! I stood up for you! And you're…you really are just as awful as I had insisted you weren't! You're a murderer!"

"Those people in the church deserved what they got, defiling that place, defiling me!" Uttu insisted angrily. "Don't stick up for those Catholic monsters!"

"The only monster here is you!" Hadiya yelled angrily. "You didn't deserve my friendship! I ought to kill you right now for all you've done!"

"Monsters like you give monsters like you a bad name!" Eri added angrily as she helped Captain Abel away, Hadiya clenching both her fists tight, ready for more. "You're going to pay for all these innocent people you've murdered!"

"They're not innocent, they're all Catholic scum! You've no idea how much dam-" Uttu began to say.

"Stop it, just stop it!" Hadiya snarled. Even more yellow projectiles shot forth, Uttu dodging them, scurrying up, up to the deck of the ship, Hadiya barreling out the door and racing to meet her as Uttu spat forth strands of webbing out of her mouth. Hadiya barely dodged in time, the strands almost grabbing her head as she thrust both fists out. More thick yellow balls of magical power manifested, embedding in the deck, missing Uttu as she scurried away, up to the crow's nest. "I could get, maybe even forgive you doing that sort of thing to those pigs who turned the Hagia Sophia into a toilet, but to murder this innocent crew when they hadn't done anything just because they're Catholic…you've gone insane!"

"You have no idea how much those people hate monsters like me and what they've done to us over the years!" Uttu yelled back. "You can't know, because you're just a human! You've NO idea the suffering we've endured! They chased me out of my home town! They wouldn't listen when I told them that Arachne husbands are supposed to offer themselves to their wives, they just called it murder and tried to kill me! I can't forgive them for that!" She roared over the spiraling, cascading smashing of the waves about them as she leapt through the air, trying to crash down on Hadiya!

Hadiya rolled away just in time, tossing another projectile at Uttu, knocking her across the deck and into the mast. KRAKA-THROOOMBH! It shattered into pieces, the boat was practically coming apart as Uttu launched another strand of webbing at Hadiya that managed to ensnare her arm. "That doesn't make what you did here right!" She yelled, trying to tug herself free as the moon began to rise above the clouds above, casting soft rays down onto the ship.

"It IS right if it's done against people like-" Uttu began to say as she twirled Hadiya around and around, about to let go and launch her over the deck, but then…

THWAM! Solomon had shown up. He slammed himself fully into Uttu and knocked her down, making her release Hadiya as she skidded over the deck. Eri, having set Abel down somewhere safer, had just raced out onto the deck and she now dove across it, focusing as hard as she could. THWOOOP! Blue magic wrapped itself around Uttu, Eri panting a bit. She wasn't too good at blue magic, but she thank goodness she was good enough to do this. She hovered Hadiya back to the deck and began ripping the silken webbing off as Solomon and Uttu struggled about.

"GET OFF ME!" The Arachne roared out as Solomon kept his arms tightly around her neck, cringing, closing his eyes. "Get off you pathetic, disgusting-"

Then she sniffed. Hard. She sniffed his body and her eyes bulged wide just before she kneed him in the crotch, making him reel back as she gazed at him in shock. "You! You're…you're one of-"

This time Hadiya's shot didn't miss at all. She flung her arms out, her yellow projectiles struck Uttu right smack dab in the head, and she went sailing off, off the deck, stunned, mouth slightly agape…flopping into the ocean as the moon hung high in the sky.

Eri held tightly onto Hadiya as they struggled over to Solomon, who was lying on his side, panting heavily, and…changed. His hair was still long and white, but now…now he had a distinctly spider-esque body. A thick, muscular humanoid chest, but a big black abdomen, black-scaled frame, reddish hands, clawed and powerful-looking, thin, multiple legs, mandibles instead of a proper mouth with sharp fangs, and so many red eyes…

"You're a…a monster. An Arachne?" Hadiya mumbled out.

"I'm a "were-spider"." Solomon confessed. "My type only manifest our "real" forms at night, when the moon shines. I didn't want to tell you because, well…Uttu being here and what she'd done, I felt you wouldn't trust me."

"You did save my life, though." Hadiya confessed. "…thank you for that." She added as Eri cringed as she looked out at the waves, and where Uttu had been only moments ago, where now…only dark water remained. "…I just…I wish it hadn't…I…" She trailed off, covering her face with one hand and taking in a long, deep, sad breath as Solomon rose up and dusted himself off.

"I know." He trailed off. "I'm sorry she couldn't overcome how she felt towards people like the captain. I didn't want to hurt her. I would have stopped her sooner but I wanted to believe she could be better. I was wrong."

"We need to help the captain reach shore." Eri finally spoke up as she bit her lip, trying to think. "And they're going to ask questions if they see all these dead bodies. We need to…we need to dumb them overboard and clean everything up and…and make it look like a storm took most of the crew." She murmured. "That way people won't ask questions." She reasoned quickly. "With Uttu gone, we can't blame her for what happened here."

"Fair enough." Solomon said. "Good idea. I'll…give you two some time alone though while I help patch the captain up."

An idea came to Eri as she raised an eyebrow. "Solomon, does…does he know what you are?" She inquired of the white-haired, spider-like monster.

"Yes." Solomon smiled a little, despite not truly having a mouth. "He knew I was a Arachne. Good ol' Abel's a damn decent man." He said as the smile faded. "Maybe if I had told Uttu what I was, and that the captain didn't mind, maybe…she wouldn't have done what she did." He wondered aloud, heading off as Eri and Hadiya just sat together on the deck, looking out at the waves.

"…do you want to talk about what-" Eri asked.

"No."

"…do you want me to just hold your hand until you feel a bit better?" Eri suggested instead.

"…yeah. I'd like that." Hadiya said, squeezing Erimentha's hand, resting her head on her shoulders as the ship rocked about in the waves. The wind ruffled through their hair, blowing it about as they silently gazed out at wave over wave, just letting everything that had happened wash over them just like the waves washed over the ship.