Mayu walked out of the Princess Mayu, as her ship had landed inside the Deathshadow island.
"Have a look around captain. I will see if I can find some where in the main computer just why the Deathshadow is not following the Arcadia, and see if they may have left some clue, as to where they may have gone." Kikan said as Mayu walked out.
"I trust you to find it. If any one can, it would be you. I go see if there are any clues as well." Mayu said and walked into the halls of the Deathshadow island. Walking on, she looked around on the metal walls and door, feeling a little lost in this metallic world. Most of the life she could remember, she had played in the green grass and in the forest. What was she gonna do here?
Then suddenly her foot kicked a empty bottle down the hall, before she even knew what she was doing, she had drawn her gun and fired of a shot that made the bottle brake in hundred bits.
"Wow, that sure surprised me." She breathed relived before looking down on her smoking gun.
"Why am I able to do things like this? I fired of that shot so smoothly like it was second nature for me... When did I learn that?" She sighed heavily, realising that she had no clue to where she had learned to fire a gun. Looking at it she was both glad and a little sad as she saw the Tochiro invention mark on her Cosmo Dragoon. Her father had left it for her in the captain's room of the Princess Mayu. She sighed and placed the gun back in the sheath. She looked around and smiled as she saw all the things that lay in the halls. She could quite clearly remember how the crew of the Arcadia used the hang around in the halls of the ship. The island of captain Harlock would have been no different. Still the death silence in the island made her worry. It was all to quiet.
Then she could hear a weak sound of waves hitting land. Following the sound, she came to the door that lead into the island itself. She stopped as she had walked into the door and looked around. The island lay quiet in the night, a gentle wind made the threes wave gently as her hair and cape moved in the wind. She looked over the artificial sea that lay quiet in the darkness, the only sounds where the wind and waves. Walking slowly deeper into the island, walking under the threes, her mind were flying back to the memories she did have of Harlock and her family, wondering just where they had gone.
--
Fritz had lead the DeathShadow back to the DeathShadow island. As their ships landed in the docking bay, they noticed the familiar and yet unfamiliar ship that lay there.
"Do you know that ship, Fritz?" Little Harlock asked, as they came out for their own ship meting up with Fritz.
"It looks so alike the queen Emeraldas, that it is uncanny." Riki-ken said worried. Fritz nodded.
"I have no idea who's ship this is... Or even how they have known the code to open the docking bay..." He said, as he looked at the ship before him. Silvereye moved worried on his shoulder.
"We should check around the island. Who ever that ships crew is, They will probably be around in the island by now." Silvereye said, as he landed on the ground and changed back to his true form, of the grey wolf. He quickly sniffed around on the floor, picking up the sent of the one that had come out from the ship.
"Strange... I only pick up the sent of one person, a woman. The sent itself is... strange. Familiar... like Tochiro jr's, in a strange way..." Silvereye said and followed the track of her, quickly followed by Fritz and the two boys.
"Careful Silvereye, looks like there are a lot of glass shards here." Fritz said as they walked further into the halls. Silvereye nodded and lifted his nose higher to not cut his nose on the shards, and were careful on where to place his paws. As they moved into the Island itself, Little Harlock and Riki-ken stopped and looked around. As Fritz followed Silvereye, they quickly followed after them.
"Wow, this place is so big.." Riki-ken muttered as he followed. Little Harlock nodded.
"Dad told me that the Deathshadow island was the first island Tochiro sr had made." Little Harlock said, as he looked around feeling like he has following his fathers footprints.
"Listen.." Silvereye said suddenly, as he had stopped, his ears were turned forward listening.
"What is it?" Fritz asked, coming up to his side.
"An ocarina. I can hear a ocarina." The wolf whispered low.
"An ocarina?" Little Harlock asked confused. Silvereye nodded, not taking his eyes of the road.
"Lead the way." Fritz said hard, even as confused as he was now, but not doubting his friend's ears.
As Silvereye lead on, they could soon hear the ocarina as well. Fritz cursed low as he recognised the melody. His father had learned him the melody a long time ago, and he had often heard Harlock and young Harlock play it as well. The melody that had been handed down generation by generation in the Harlock clan.
Who the hell is this? How the hell does she know that melody? Fritz growled inside of him, making Silvereye growl as well.
Riki-ken cast a few nervous looks over to Fritz and his friend Little Harlock, as both of them had tensed up.
--
Mayu had sat down on some rocks, looking over the sea. Her heart was heavy and she felt lost. She looked over the moonlit sea and sighed. Resting her hands by her sides, she suddenly felt the ocarina she had fastened in her belt. Loosening it from her belt, she took her to her lips and played a melody that had not been played on this island for over a year. Not knowing that someone else were listening as well, she closed her eyes. Sitting playing calm, feeling the breeze that made her hair wave.
As Fritz and the two boys made their way up where she sat, Riki-ken suddenly tripped over a rock and landed on his stomach with a painful sound. Mayu stood up, and spun around while grabbing her saber as quickly as her mother could have done. Her saber clashed against Fritz's saber, as the young pirate were as quick as her. Her brown eyes widened as she saw the scar over Fritz face. At the same time Fritz's eyes widened, as he saw who she looked like. Both of them pulling quickly back and looked at each other.
"Lady Emeraldas?" Fritz asked at first, before shaking his head. He saw the blue hair of hers, as it waved in the breeze. Her suit were the same as Emeraldas, only her jacket were light purple and a red cape.
"No... Who are you?" He asked, lowering his saber. Silvereye seemed unsure whether to grow at her or not. Mayu looked at Fritz and his wolf. She guessed he was around the age 25. His auburn hair and grey brown eyes made her realize, she was not looking at young Harlock. The suit the man had on were very different as well. Black with grey edges and a grey skull and grey sabers mark on his chest. The wolf next to him were young, she could tell. His silver grey fur matched his one eye but made the blue one stand out. She looked back into Frtiz's grey brown eyes. She looked at him long before looking at the two boys by his sides. For a few seconds there she got really confused, as at first she believed she was looking at Young Harlock and Tochrio jr. As they looked so strikingly alike them from her memory, but seeing the tone of red in Little Harlock's hair and the darker tone in Riki-ken's hair, as well as remembering how much older she was now, she knew it was not them.
"My name is Mayu Oyama. Who are you?" She asked as she looked strait at Fritz. She got surprised as the others quickly pulled back in shock, hearing her name.
"Mayu? As in Mayu, Tochrio Oyama sr and Lady Emeraldas daughter?" Silvereye asked. She looked at the young wolf a bit surprised, but nodded with a faint smile. Fritz and Silvereye exchanged looks and so did Little Harlock and Riki-ken. Shaking his head, Fritz desisted to leave his questions behind for now and introduce himself first.
"I am Fritz Harlock, son of Falco Harlock. A distant relative of Captain Harlock. This is my guardian and friend, Silvereye." Fritz said, as Silvereye changed back to his bird form and rested on his shoulder yet again.
"This is Franklin Harlock or Little Harlock, the youngest son of Captain Harlock and little brother of Young Harlock. His friend Riki-ken, Kai Oyama's son." Fritz said and pointed to the two boys. Mayu greeted them kindly, even as she was still confused as to how long time had passed.
"Is that ship in the docking bay, your ship?" Riki-ken asked beaming. Mayu nodded.
"The Princess Mayu. My father build her for me before he died." She smiled. "I just found out aboth that myself." She added as she saw the surpriced looks she got. Fritz cast a quick look over to to Silvereye that looked at him with one of his golden eyes.
Fritz looked down to Little Harlock.
"Let your crew know that they can wander around like they want to. We'll stay here for a while to restock and rest up a bit, before we take up the search up again." He said. The two boys nodded and ran back to their ship to let the crew of theirs and Fritz ship know.
"Lady Mayu, will you follow me to the Captains room? I think you have about as many questions as I have." He said with a smiled and started to walk. Mayu nodded and followed him quickly.
"Mayu, just call me Mayu." She smiled as she came up to him again. Fritz smiled.
--
Arriving in the grand room of the Deathshadow captains room, Mayu was struck over how alike it was that of captain Harlock's room in the Arcadia. She walked around looking at the chair and desk and over to the great windows. Fritz moved with out a sound over to the wine charpinet and took out a bottle and two glasses. Filling the two glasses, he gave one of them to Mayu. Not saying a word, he sat down in Harlock's chair by the window and looked at her. Silvereye landed on the skull on top of the chair and looked down to his master.
"What's on your mind, master?" Silvereye asked worried.
Fritz looked but but flinched a bit as his left shoulder screamed out as he moved. Silvereye flapped his wings.
"Master!" Hecalled worried. Mayu turned and saw Fritz sit bent over holding to his left shoulder.
"Fritz-san?" She asked moving quickly up to him, just as she was gonna touch his shoulder Fritz sat up again. He was still holding to his shoulder and was breathing hard.
"I'm okey. Just some old brushes that started to burn." He said smiling faintly to reasure her he was okey.
"Old brushes master? It has not even been a two days since those guards got hold of you." Silvereye said and made sure Mayu heard him.
"Guards? What did you do?" Mayu asked as she sat down on the other chair across from Fritz . Fritz looked up at Silvereye with a look that could quite easy kill. Silvereye just nodded his head. He knew well that Fritz did not want Mayu to hear about it, but Silvereye was worried about him.
"Not much... As I am sure you are aware of, Captain Harlock and my father Falco Harlock has disappeared with all of their friends including your mother, Lady Emeraldas. This was almost a year ago. I have been looking for them during all that time. Two days ago, me and Silvereye travelled to earth, more precisely Arcadia, to talk to an old rival of captain Harlock. To tell the truth it could have gone a lot better. Silvereye was almost killed be course of me and I was well on my way for another run in with those hell-cursed electrocution rings." Fritz cursed angry, as he remembered all to well how much that blasted thing had hurt. Mayu looked confused.
"Electrocution rings?" She asked worried as she saw how tense Fritz were now.
"Metal rings that gives out strong eclectic shocks. They are fastened around the neck of its victim and then when used, they paralyse, burn and give out strong shocks at the same time. Too many of us have already felt it. Harlock, Young Harlock, Falco, Fritz, Lady Emeraldas even Tochiro jr had a run in with them. The bastard that were behind them, created two versions of it. The first of them were sold to the Governor of the Arcadia ,that he gave to his bounty hunters to use on the Harlocks or friends of them to keep them under controll, until they could be delivered to him. The other version were made after he started to work for the mech empire, to force humans to give up their bodies in exchange for the torture to stop. We have tried to stop them from spreading but no matter how many factories are destroyed , they are always ready with more." Silvereye cursed angry. Mayu paled.
"And you have been tortured with one of them?" She asked worried, looking at the young man in front of her. Fritz took a deep sip of his glass an looked at her with his grey brown eyes.
"When I was ten years old me, Silvereye and my father was captured by the Hunter Brothers. Three bounty hunters that were working for Draghund then. The bastards nearly killed my father with the damn thing and tortured me just for the fun of it, and to make my father more angry so that they could get to torture him more." Fritz growled and took around his neck to where the scar had been. Sometimes in the right light you could still see a faint mark from it. Mayu looked worried as Silvereye landed on his arm and made a low sound, a sound of worry. Fritz stocked over the birds head and calmed his friend down.
"And you thought maybe Draghund had something to do with the pirates had gone missing?" She asked looking at him. Silvereye nodded. Fritz on the other hand, looked at her coldly.
"I believed that then yes, but he had no more idea then we... Yet seeing you here..." Fritz said standing up. Silvereye moved up to his shoulder again. Fritz moved over to the window and looked out at the island, as he and Silvereye discussed low between them self with the mind speak.
"I don't think she knows anything. She would have said something by now if she did." Silvereye said low.
"Or she knows and will not tell." Fritz said taking another sip of his glass.
"Not likely. I would have seen it in her eyes if she did lie." Silvereye reminded him. Silvereye had a gift of seeing into people's hearts and see when they lied or not.
"Then how do you explain it?" Fritz asked, closing his eyes.
"Maybe you should just ask her? But gently, master. There seem to be some thing bothering her as well." The falcon said. Fritz nodded and turned and looked at her. Indeed it seemed like something bothered the young pirate queen. Mayu sat still looking strait into the chair, not really seeming to be there, only taking a few sips of her glass.
"Where did you come from Mayu? Harlock told me you had been missing for quite some years." Fritz asked turning around. Mayu jumped a bit hearing him speak to her and looked up at him. Fritz stood leaning his back to the wall, crossing his arms across his chest, holding the glass in one hand. The falcon seemed to rest on his shoulder, yet looked at her with its golden eyes.
"I don't know. I sort of woke up a week ago, back at my old school where I apparently disappeared from, but I have no memory of any thing. All I can remember is from when I was a child to up to being nine years old. Then nothing until a week ago." She shook and held her ocarina in her hands, looking at it.
"Sounds like what happened to Marian. Do you think it could have been a Alberich monster?" Silvereye asked worried seeing how worried Mayu was.
"Might have been, Mayu did mean a lot to Harlock. She would have been a good target for Alberich." Fritz cursed.
"But still... Why let her grow up? It is not like any of the Alberich monsters we have met, that would take that time to let her grow up and then when it had Harlock, let her go. Alberich would have killed her in front of Harlock as soon as he had the chance." Silvereye whined pointing out a good point.
"But who else could have the power to make then disappear?" Fritz asked looking at Silvereye in the corner of his eye.
"Mayu, what else do you remember?" Silvereye asked looking at her. Mayu shook her head.
"I don't remember anything... I have lost half of my life. As far as I can say, I am still nine years old, and where I learned to train with a saber or gun... I have no idea. I just know how, like it is almost second nature." She cursed and looked up at Fritz worried.
"Mayu... My father told me to wait on Titan for them, as him, Harlock, Young Harlock and the others set out a year ago, as you had been spotted on on of the planets. A adult version of the nine year old girl that had disappeared 33 years ago. Then they were never heard from again... and then you show up here.." Fritz asked carefully. He stopped as Mayu turned white.
"What..." She gasped worried and she started to shake. The nightmare that had been bothering her for days now, suddenly flashed in the back of her mind, the scene of Harlock priced by her saber, made her sick to her stomach. Was it true? Had she killed him? Had she killed her stepfather as he had come to find her? Her mind became a complete mess and she dropped her glass on the floor. Seeing her shake like she now did, Fritz realised that something was very wrong. Steeping in front of her, she did not even look up, before he rested his hands to her shoulders. Knelling down to her, he looked her strait in the eyes.
"Easy Mayu, they are not dead. iIf they were Silvereye or one of the other wolfs would know. None of them would die so easy. You know that with in your own heart as well." Fritz said looking in to her eyes, his grey brown eyes shined with a determination that she knew so well from Harlock's single eye. She nodded slowly, feeling how her heart relaxed. Fritz smiled.
"Get some rest. We can talk about what to do tomorrow. It has been a long day, and too much has happened. I think we all could use a good nights sleep. Again she nodded and stood up.
"Fritz-san... I..." She stared to say. He shook his head slightly.
"Don't worry. Harlock would not have you worrying. Neither would my dad so don't. We'll figure it out together, that is what friends are for." He smiled and for the first time, Mayu smiled for real.
"Mhm." She nodded and stood up. "Kikan, my main computer is already looking into the files of the Deathshadow island. There might be a message there from my father, on where we can find them." She said showing her courage at last. Fritz nodded as Silvereye called glad.
--
A strange calmness seemed to lower its self over the Deathshadow island. A clam sort of joy as the island again were inhabited with pirate life. Fritz lay in his bed trying to sleep, he lay looking up into the roof of the captains room, listening. The crew of the Talon and the new crew of the Deathshadow, had been rampaging around in the island but now they seemed to be falling asleep. He lay wondering about Mayu. She had refused a room in the island and had gone back to her ship to rest. He lay wondering just what that made her react like she did, yet why she could not tell him what. He turned his head slightly and looked to the window, right below it Silvereye lay resting in a dog bed, sound asleep. His silver grey fur shining in the light.
We have to find them. If not... He thought to himself but stopped his line of thought, as a voice spoke to him.
"Didn't you just tell Mayu not to worry? How about following up on your own advices?" Silvereye asked. As Fritz turned his head to the bed again, the wolf had not moved. As he looked at him Silvereye lifted his head and looked at him. His silver grey eye shined in the dimmed light. Fritz smiled faintly.
"I should shouldn't I?" He sighed as he sat up. Silvereye moved carefully up to him and rested his head on the bed. Scathing Silvereye's ears, he smiled.
"I just hope we are not to late. A whole year has passed.." He muttered holding a hand to his head. " If who ever took Mayu back then, has also dad and the others now.. Seeing what they did to Mayu.. What's is happening to the others now?" He asked, cursing as he closed his fists. Silvereye whined.
"I still feel my Uncle's mind... I just cant get through to him or anyone else.." Fritz petted him over the head.
"It's okey Silvereye. I am sorry. You are trying your best. I cant ask any more of you." He smiled. The wolf whined but smiled faintly.
"Let's get some sleep, tomorrow we will find those clues we need and find them." Fritz said strongly as Silvereye jumped up beside him and they both fell asleep.
Authors note:
So here it is, the fourth chapter. I was planing to make it longer but found out it worked like this.
Sorry for the long wait.
Next chapter will hopefully coming soon as well.
Ligthingtooth.