Eternal Tears
Book One: Morun
Chapter II—Touching the surface
That night, Kwazii never had a nightmare, which was something good. He needed the energy for tomorrow.
He woke up at the break of dawn. The ocean was still quiet and dark, except for occasional swishing of fins made by fishes swimming past. He had no idea why he woke up that early; he never did. However, he needed some time to recollect his thoughts.
The dwindling hallways of the octopod was dead silent, so silent that one can hear his or her pulse. The only sound that could be heard was Kwazii's boots strutting on the ground. Reuniting the Octonauts back together, huh? How hard can it be? In actual fact, it was not. It could be easy, but that depended on their thoughts and emotions to the sudden tragedy.
Staring at the ground, Kwazii didn't look where he was going. That was when he bumped into someone. The sound of thumping was followed by a loud clatter of an object hitting the ground.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't pay attention to where I was going! I deeply apologise!" An australian voice apologised profusely.
"Nah, it's alright. You okay, me hearty?" Kwazii stood up on his feet and glanced at the person that he had bumped to, which turned out to be a very familiar dog.
She got up to her feet and dusted her skirt. She then shifted her head left and right frantically, as if searching for something. When her eyes laid on that something, she let out a startled gasp. "My camera!"
"I'm sorry Dashi. It was my fault, not looking where I was going." Kwazii apologised sincerely as he picked up the camera. There wasn't much damage to it, just a few cracks here and there, and they were fortunate enough that the lenses did not crack.
Dashi swooped her prized possession from his hands. It was her favourite camera, and she simply couldn't live without it. "Thank goodness its still okay...sorta. I'd better get it fixed when Tweak wakes up."
"Hey Dashi. How do you feel about the whole tragedy?" Kwazii blurted out from the blue, earning a pained expression from the dog.
"Well... I... nngghh... heartbroken. He's such a wonderful leader to me and all of us." She began twisting her right foot.
"Okay. So how is your relationship with the others coming along, eh?"
Dashi was stumped for a moment, speechless. She took some time to recollect her thoughts before replying with a sigh, "not good at all, honestly. Somehow, after the captains' death I started to have short temper and cause sudden outbursts. My emotions are like a roller coaster, and this causes my friends to hate me. I'm so confused right now."
Everything that Dashi said was true. With her new fiery temper, it got tougher for her to even have a friendly conversation with her fellow crew mates.
"Aye matey, have you tried having relaxation exercises? I bet that can help."
"I don't know..."
"Come on me hearty! You're one of the most approachable souls I have ever met! Surely socializing isn't much of a problem. Plus, with your gentle personality, I'm sure that you'll patch things up with your friends."
Dashi looked uncertain for a second or two, and Kwazii was starting to think that that wasn't helpful advice at all. However, his worries waned when a small smile crept up the dog's face.
"Maybe I'll give it a shot. Thanks Kwazii." She then turned and left. Kwazii's spirits lifted.
...
"Ahoy there, Tweak! How's it going?"
Tweak didn't even bother to face Kwazii when he stepped into the workshop. Instead, she bowed down and continued her work as if she never heard him.
This made Kwazii a little annoyed. He personally walked up to her workspace and peered over Tweak's shoulder. "Um, hello! It's me, Kwazii! Can ya hear me?" When Tweak yet again refused to respond, he waved a paw in front of her face. "Yoho, anyone home?"
Kwazii's paw was immediately smacked away roughly, making him jump. "Go away! Leave me alone!"
"Are you alright there me hearty? You seem a little.. distressed..." He asked softly. However, this only caused Tweak to steam with anger.
"I said GO AWAY! Don't you have someone else to bother?! Leave me alone with th-" Tweak's yelling was cut short when sobs began choking her throat. Tears pooled at the edges of her eyes as she allowed them to flow freely, unable to hold them back any longer.
Naturally, Kwazii placed a paw on her shoulder, and managed to ask in a soothing and gentle voice, like. mother comforting her child, "Tweak, is something wrong?"
The green rabbit jerked her head to glare unrelentingly at the cat, her eyes like burning embers. "What's wrong? You know what! Do I have to explain? What are you, a little kitten?"
It was when it suddenly dawned on Kwazii-he knew about Tweak's secret crush on the captain, always acting all blushy and jittery when she saw him. Now that he's gone, it would be natural for her to go berserk. The only problem was, how should he calm her down and tell her to move on?
"Look Tweakster, I know you're crushed, but please listen to what I have to say. We have our ups and downs, but life goes on. There is no point crying over spilt milk, now is there? After all, there is no way you can bring back the dead, am I right?"
"I... I... I hate to say this but... you do have a point there..."
...
"HEY PESO!"
The penguin squeaked and jumped in fright when he heard his friend telling his name at the top of his lungs. "Would you please stop scaring me like that?"
Kwazii coughed. "Sorry, I was caught up in... something. Never mind, what are ya reading?"
"You mean this?"-Peso pointed a flipper at the book that he was reading-"It's a comedy book. I thought it would cheer me up after... y'know."
Peso wasn't the type who read (except medical books), but reading a comedy book to lift one's spirits up does make sense.
There was an awkward silence between the two as Peso continued to read his book. When he was reading, he did not even smile, much less laugh. After he finished the book, he still had that dull expression ever since he attended the Captain's funeral.
"So... was the story funny?"
Peso nodded half-heartedly. "Uh huh. It was really funny." How ironic.
"What's the story all about, me hearty?"
The penguin gasped and shook his head vigorously. "It's… er.. nothing! None of your concern, really!"
Kwazii raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying his story. "None of my concern? Really? What's in that book that is so personal that I can't read it?"
There was an awkward silence between the two Octonauts. After whag felt like an eternity, Peso finally spoke up, "this... is not a storybook. It's... the Captain's... diary..."
Diary?! When did the Captain even kept a diary?
"I think that... maybe I should hand it over to you now... since you're the new captain and all. Plus, I know your close relationship with him."
With shaky paws, Kwazii took the diary from Peso and hurriedly left without saying a word.
...
When Kwazii was in the confines of his room, he flopped himself on his bed and read the first entry.
Dear Diary,
Today was a blast! There was this professor called Inkling who was searching for a crew to help marine life. I was offered the position as Captain, and in order to prove how worthy I am to take that position, I made a deal with him to observe how I work (I'm the captain of a passenger ship after all).
Everything was going smoothly as first, until pirates came and attacked the ship and tied everyone up with rope. I kept my stance. There was no way I'll quiver in fear in the face of danger! I am a captain, for god's sake!
There was something that I noticed about a particular pirate that was tying the passengers up. He tied the knots loosely. At first, I thought he had lost his marbles or something, until he threw me an expression that carried a specific message-to escape with the passengers when we get the chance. It was then realisation hit me like a tidal wave-he wasn't loyal to his crew.
Soon after all the pirates left the deck, I hastily undid the knots on the rope and helped the others free. One by one they climbed into life boats and sailed away into the unknown.
Then there left me and one final passenger that was just about to escape when the pirates returned with the professor, who was struggling against his captors.
One of the pirates caught the passenger who was trying to get away. When he tried to kill him, the good pirate managed to save him in the nick of time. They got into a fight. When I spoke up, another pirate picked up a fight with me, but he was no match for me.
After the good pirate and I defeated the bad pirates, we tied them up and I called the coastal police. The good pirate revealed himself to be Kwazii. He thought his crew were pirates that did not believe in stealing nor killing, thus he joined them. All he wanted was to be like his grandfather-an adventurous and kind hearted pirate. Inkling offered the position as lieutenant to Kwazii, and he gladly accepted. I also got my position as captain.
I need my sleep, so I'm signing off now.
~Barnacles
Kwazii clutched the diary in his arms and huddled it close to his body. He could remember those days when he was part of that crew. He cohld still feel the stinging pain when he found out they had betrayed him. Tears started to well in his eyes, but he furiously blinked them away.
Kwazii placed the diary on the top of the shelf and went to bed, exhausted.
...
"... and thus the H2O will be converted to oxygen. Any questions?"
"W-what?! Huh...? Is the talk over?" Kwazii murmured drunkenly as he rubbed his eyes to face Shellington's annoyed expression.
"Kwazii! Were you even listening?!" Shellington snapped, scowling a little.
The truth was, Kwazii fell asleep after ten minutes of the talk. He never had any interests in the biologist's experiments or talks. The annoying thing was that Shellington always forces him to listen to the boring things he has to show or say.
"To be honest... no."
Shellington face choked with rage, steam pouring from his nose and ears. "Are you serious?! I burned the midnight oil just to prepare this talk for you! Don't you ever feel grateful?!"
Kwazii felt a stab of guilt digging into his very heart. "I'm sorry me hearty. It's just that... I was never interested in your experiments to begin with... no offense." He said a matter of factly.
Shellington bit his lower lip. "I.. never thought of that. I thought that after you're the new captain, you would actually grow an interest in my stuff. Guess I am horribly wrong."
Kwazii patted Shellington on the shoulder comfortingly. "There there. It's not your fault. I was the stubborn one. I should have been more considerate and put myself in your shoes."
"You know, I have to apologize too. I should have been more thoughtful. I can't please everyone, nor can they be interested in some things that I do."
"I guess we both have learned valuable lessons." Kwazii said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Kwazii's sour expression soon cracked into a smile. "Enough of the gloomy faces. So, do you mind explaining to be your new device?"
SHORTISH CHAPTER! AND IT'S LIKE LESS THAN 2000 WORDS! (not counting the authors notes) I ALSO TOOK MONTHS TO DO THIS SHIT AHHHAHAHA
XD
I kinda rushed that last part with Shelly... ah well.
The diary entry's events were taken from Storylover149's fanfic. Hope you don't mind, Storylover, if you're reading this. ^^