I rather like this chapter, too. Got a soft spot for Pelta. Anyways, I don't own Chrono Trigger. And you are, btw, free to borrow my characters (Except Lyn), just tell me if you do, k? So, on with the story.
Esaku noticed the Humans' fear increase as they looked at the ship, but he paid them no mind. He had more important things to worry about, like getting his captives on the ship before they realized what was going on. Things had been bad enough this trip, and the last thing he needed was more trouble. "Hey! Hey there!" he called, trying to get someone's attention.
A Human man came up by the gangway, wearing Mazoku fashion and waving. "Ahoy there, Battle-Captain!" he called, speaking Medinian with a light accent. "Capt'n Ialinu told me about ya. I'm Pelta, second mate of the Mystic Dawn. If ya want, y'can start loading anytime!"
Ialinu hadn't mentioned that he had a Human as second mate. This could prove interesting, Esaku thought, nodding at Pelta. Ostensibly turning to order Blanim and Ethrurrion to start getting the slaves on board, the Outlaw used the time to watch the slaves' reaction to Pelta.
Pelta came to stand near Esaku, careful to maintain a respectable distance. Commenting on the stares and murmurs that came his way, Pelta asked quietly, "They never seen a Human-born before?"
"Most haven't. They still think we're monsters," Esaku answered, watching as his captives began to climb the gangway to the ship.
"Ah, yes…" Pelta sighed, half-laughing. Sudden movement around Esaku's feet drew Pelta's attention as Luke peered around the Outlaw's legs. "Well ahoy there," the man smiled. Luke simply looked at him with his big blue eyes. "He gonna be another Human-born?"
A clawed hand came to rest on Luke's head. "You know that's up to him. But if I have anything to say about it, then he will."
"You know most 'is age are smart." Looking up, Pelta frowned. "If you'll excuse me, Battle-Captain, I have to go." Without waiting for a reply, the second mate ran off, yelling at some Hench who were loading boxes onto the ship.
Luke tugged lightly at Esaku's hand. When the Outlaw looked down, Luke pointed at Pelta with his injured arm, normal solemn gaze turning questioning. "It's okay," Esaku answered. "He's like you." Repeating his words in the Human language, "He's like you. Human-born, but Mazoku."
Lyn, like most of the captives, was taken by surprise when a Human showed up, apparently in a position of some authority on the ship. She watched with undisguised curiosity as he casually chatted with Esaku, both of them using the lilting Mazoku language. She wondered why he was working with the Mazoku, as he didn't appear to be a …slave. Had he… chosen this life, she wondered, and what was his status in it?
"Oh, by the Lady!" Shanda gasped quietly, watching the man smile with Luke. "It's… a… mamono sympathizer. Blessed Lady, I'd heard rumors…" There was nothing but disgust in Shanda's voice and hatred in her gaze.
As the man ran off, actually yelling at some Hench, Lyn took her eyes from him, looking at her mother for a moment, then paying attention to her footing as they climbed the gangplank. "He looks pretty comfortable living here…" she ventured.
"He works for the mamono. He lives like one of them! He's not even Human anymore, he's nothing but a traitor," Shanda hissed, carefully keeping her voice low so she didn't attract attention.
Lyn nodded a little. "Yeah… I guess he is." She hadn't thought of it that way. Of course choosing to join the Mazoku would be betraying the Humans. But then, she'd never even heard that there might be the chance to make such a choice. It didn't really matter, she decided. She'd probably never have to make that choice herself.
Food was handed out as they were pushed below decks, more of the same stale bread and water. The people were so busy eating that they didn't realize how dark and crowded it was until the doors were shut and they were closed in. They sat in the dimly lit hold listening to the sounds above them as the Mazoku went about their business. The ship wasn't moving yet as they had been loaded early, while the streets of the city were clear.
In the dark there wasn't much to do besides talk, but talking led to depressing thoughts, and soon most were quiet, a few trying to catch more sleep. Maris sat with her family, apparently still in shock, but occasionally responding to their conversation. The older people sat together, speaking in low tones in some sort of argument. With nothing to do, Lyn started circulating through the villagers, asking if any had injuries they wanted healed.
"But what happens if…" an old woman asked, voice rising from the murmur the other oldsters were using. She was quickly shushed, and the villagers studiously ignored the group.
Lyn glanced around and felt her heart sink. The elders of the village… They couldn't be foolish enough to be thinking about another attempt at escape, could they? She picked her way closer, stopping and offering healing now and again, until she was close enough to eavesdrop.
"Are you really willing to live the rest of your life serving these mamono? To let your children and grandchildren live out their lives under mamono rule?" Herbert asked.
The woman from earlier shook her head, obviously coming around to his way of thinking. "No… I wouldn't wish that life on anyone."
"So then. Tonight—" he stopped and looked up at Lyn. "What d'ya want, girl?"
Lyn looked at the man with shadowed brown eyes. "Are you… planing to revolt again?" she asked quietly.
"You got a problem with that? You maybe want to serve the mamono the rest of your short life? But then maybe you do,healer girl," Herbert sneered, twisting the title that he had heard Esaku give her.
"They'll kill you," Lyn answered, left hand unconsciously raising to cover the bruise Esaku had given her. "You heard them. You can't win, and they'll kill you." Her voice was hollow, insistent.
Herbert stood and hit Lyn, hard, knocking her to the ground. She caught herself with her free hand, biting off a cry of pain, and looked up to find no pity in his dark eyes. "Better dead than serving the mamono!" he hissed. "You think you can just sit back and sprout self-righteous nonsense? You're practically one yourself, girl, with your unnatural healing, and everybody knows it!"
He raised his hand to hit her again, but the old woman stopped him. "Don't worry about her. There's nothing she can do, just ignore her."
As he sat down, Lyn staggered to her feet, hand now on the other side of her face, covering the new injury. As she tottered away, no one would meet her eye, looking away or down, almost seeming ashamed. Lyn picked her way through the people, hardly noticing how a path was cleared for her, until she reached the stairs to the upper deck. She collapsed onto them and started to shake.
"Don't… the Mazoku will kill you all," she muttered, thoughts leaving her mouth without conscious filter. "Why are you throwing your lives away… What do you hope to gain? Isn't any life at all better than death?"
She could tell Esaku. The thought came softly, insidious in it's logic. If she told him now, maybe he could stop it. Maybe… maybe the Mazoku wouldn't kill as many. But then she'd be a traitor. She'd have sold out her own kind, even though she would do it to save them… If she told Esaku, it wouldn't be any different than if she killed them herself. But was there a difference if she stayed silent? The ship began to move, a rocking motion that seemed to fit the rhythm of her thoughts. If she told Esaku, she would be a traitor, if she were silent she would allow the elders to die. And if she joined the rebellion… she would die.
Across the hold, Lyn saw her mother. There was something dark and frightened in Shanda's eyes, but Lyn didn't get long to look. When she realized her daughter was looking at her, Shanda turned away.
Hatred. There had been hatred in the old man's voice, his eyes. Herbert had lived in Algetty before Lyn was born, had known her for her whole life, and he had looked at her with hatred. Her gift, her healing tech, which had saved so many, had… earned her his hatred, his disdain.
The door opened, and everyone in the hold looked towards it, squinting at the light which spilled in. The marmalade Diablos entered and glanced about the room, finally noticing Lyn sitting at the bottom of the steps, seemingly unaware of him. "You, girl," Ethrurrion said, trying to get her attention.
When nobody else answered, Lyn slowly turned her head. Ethrurrion rolled his eyes impatiently. "Yes, you, girl. Get up, you're wanted."
Lyn turned away from the Diablos, then stood. Briefly looking at the small knot of elders, she shivered when Herbert looked back. She turned around and hesitantly climbed the stairs, approaching Ethrurrion. Once he was sure she would follow, Ethrurrion turned and lead her to the deck.
Blinking briefly at the sunlight, Lyn trailed after the Diablos, ignoring the various sailor Mazoku going about their jobs. Ethrurrion stopped at a cabin door and motioned for Lyn to enter. Entering, she stopped a few steps in, as the door closed behind her.
"Healer girl," Esaku acknowledged, sitting on a bed, Luke beside him. "I assume you had been healing this boy?"
Lyn staggered a few steps closer, looking blankly at Luke. When she spoke, it was hesitantly. "Yes… sir."
"I would like you to finish," he ordered, standing and moving away from Luke a little. Lyn moved past him almost without noticing, kneeling before Luke and reaching for his injured arm. "What happened to him? That looks to have been a bad wound," Esaku asked, keeping his voice low. He wanted her comfortable around him, and around his people, if for no reason other than that would improve her healing.
"He found his father's chisel. He was playing with it. He tripped. Sera ran to find me, and I did what I could," Lyn answered, staring at the half-healed wound.
"Why aren't you healing it?" Esaku asked, noticing her inaction.
She turned her head to look at him, and the Outlaw blinked rapidly when he saw the new bruise. "It's better for the body to heal naturally. Using an unnatural skill like I have will weaken the body, and it will loose its healing ability."
"What?" Esaku squawked in surprise. "Who told you that drivel? The faster a wound is healed, the less chance it has of festering, and how a power you were born with can be counted unnatural… Humans never cease to amaze me with their superstitious assumptions."
"It… won't hurt him?"
Esaku shook his head while Luke solemnly looked on. "No, healer girl. The healing you wield won't hurt the body. That is a lie which I must assume comes from fear."
Lyn studied Esaku, and again he allowed her boldness. After a while she nodded and gave her attention to Luke. A white aura built around the Human girl, and she carefully directed it to Luke. In a matter of moments, the wound scared completely. When she stopped, it looked like it had been healed for years.
"Sit. Rest a little," Esaku ordered, motioning at the bed. Lyn did as he said, fear flickering in her eyes to die at the hands of apathy.
Esaku poured a little wine, then handed Lyn the glass. Motioning at the new bruise, larger and far uglier than the one he had given her, he asked, "What happened?"
Realizing through the fog of her confusion that this was the time to make her choice, Lyn hesitated. Now was the time to tell the Outlaw about the festering rebellion, if ever she was going to. Nervously, she sipped the wine she'd been given, thoughts whirling about her head.
"I don't like being lied to, healer girl," Esaku said quietly, allowing a hint of warning to color his tone.
Lyn looked at pitiless golden hawkeyes, and found them more welcoming then that hate-filled eyes of the elder from her own village. "They're doing it again," she whispered. "They still think they can achieve something besides their own deaths. Please, sir! Please, you can stop them. You can make it so that… so that less people die! Please…"
Esaku tilted his head a little, trying to fathom what the Human's heartfelt plea had to do with a new bruise on her face. "You already tried to stop them, didn't you?" he guessed. Lyn looked down, all the answer he needed. "If they won't listen to the voice of reason from within, what do you think I can do, healer girl?"
"You… could stop the Mazoku. Or… I could… tell you who the leaders are…" Lyn's last suggestion barely made it from her lips.
"They know what will happen to them, healer. If they choose suicide, who am I to stop them?" Esaku placed clawed fingers under her chin, lifting her face to his. "You call us Mazoku now?"
Even facing him, Lyn didn't lift her eyes to his again. "The other word seemed to insult you."
Sensing he had pushed as far as she could take, Esaku dropped his hand and moved away from Lyn. "Finish your drink. If they continue to give you troubles, find a Mazoku and ask for help." He said the last word in his own tongue.
Lyn quickly drained the glass, then sounded out the new word, "H-help?"
"Just like that. Ethrurrion will take you back to the hold. I suggest you heal your face."
His words were clearly a dismissal, and Lyn stood. Cautiously, she reached towards the table where he'd gotten the wine, and placed her glass down. Opening the door, she slipped out, silently following the Diablos.
Esaku sighed, a soft caw, and looked at Luke. "Healing will weaken the body… Sweet Warrior, where do they get these things? So quick to turn on themselves, how have Humans survived this long?"
There was a light knock at the door, and then Ethrurrion let himself in. "I've got an extra watch on them," the feline said, anticipating his commander's first question. "So, what's her status?"
"Sympathetic, I think. She told me they're planing another rebellion, and begged me to stop it with as small a loss of life as possible," Esaku answered off-handedly.
"When I went in, she was on the steps, and no one would quite look at her. You think she'll need rescuing?"
"Possibly. I told her what to do."
Ethrurrion bowed and left the room. He'd worked with Esaku for years, and could tell when the Outlaw mercenary was working on plans. The green-haired girl obviously figured in his plans, but it didn't bother the Diablos. Anything that would benefit Esaku would sooner or later benefit the group, and that was why he was such a good and respected leader.
Dum dum DUM! The introspection is begining to come to an end, really it is. Janus is in, like... three more chapters, I think. And please, will one of my ten readers review? Thank You.