Chapter 16: Camaraderie
Lir rubbed her burning eyes in an attempt to bring the blurry forms of the Mirage Bandits' sentries back into focus. Despite them being immobile for hours, she knew in her gut that the second she looked away they would move. They had been crouched in the woods on a hill overlooking Cedar Cove all night, waiting for the Mirage Bandits to make a move that they could take advantage of but they proved more disciplined than they anticipated. Their ship was anchored in the middle of the cove with a perpetual lookout in the crows nest and the forest along the beach was lined with even more bandits.
The sound of crunching leaves piqued her attention but the casual pace of the footsteps told her it was Gajeel and not a bandit.
"Anything?" he asked, emerging from the trees.
"Nope."
He scoffed before crouching next to her, pulling a water bottle out of his rucksack and taking a long drink.
"If we wait too long they'll probably leave for another port," he said.
An idea had come to her just as Gajeel left to scout. She bit her lip and watched his face to try to glean any of his thoughts from his expression. He looked no more annoyed than usual so she figured it was worth at least seeing what he thought.
"I have an idea," she said.
He held a hand up in a "go for it" gesture.
She gave him a brief overview of what she intended to do with the caveat that a significant amount of luck was involved.
"This might go pretty fast, so be ready."
They both got to their feet and stretched their stiff legs before Lir headed down the hill to the ocean. She walked right into the surf before kicking off the rocky ground and propelling herself through the water with her magic. The sea bed fell away all at once and she shot down the side of the drop off and into the increasingly dark water where even her dragon slayer enhanced vision struggled to adjust to the pitch black. She activated Bioluminescence which did little besides provide a few second warning before she would collide into something. Or something would collide with her.
She slowed dramatically, moving along side the cliff face while scanning every nook and cranny of the rocky surface. After several moments swimming through the cold dark she spotted a cave larger than she was tall. Moving carefully as not to disturb the water and prematurely alert anything potentially inside, she swam right up to the pitch black maw of stone. There were no obvious signs of anything inhabiting the hole but that didn't mean something wasn't temporarily resting inside; at least she desperately hoped because she didn't have another idea.
"Water Dragon's Roar!"
A jet of pressurized water and bubbles shot into the cave, disrupting the sediment on the walls and releasing a billowing cloud of silt. Then a muffled roar echoed out and the water vibrated around her. But she didn't move yet, the creature needed to see her first. The shadows in the cave stirred before a giant creature came rushing out at her, its powerful tail pumping vigorously and its webbed, canine-like forearms stretched out.
A cetus. Perfect.
She shot a jet of water towards the ocean floor, rocketing her up to the surface, the cetus chomping its fish-dog jaws at her heels. Turning on a dime, she tore into the bay and led it right for the ship, her body burning from the speed she demanded of it but the eight ton monster behind her provided easy motivation. The ship grew rapidly in her blurred vision and at the last possible second she redirected all of her momentum in a pivot downwards that felt like being hit by a train. The cetus crashed headfirst into the hull with a loud crack causing the whole vessel to rock violently. Immediately, spells pierced the surface of the water, drawing the cetus's attention upwards and allowing Lir to back out of its immediate reach.
The barrage of spells continued and the creature sunk its massive canines into the keel and tore a chunk of wood away. Then a dinghy rushed over her head and straight to the cetus, signaling her to get back to the shore. She jetted away from the ship and the second it was shallow enough she dropped her feet to the seabed and popped her head out of the water. Gajeel stood at the top of the hill with his arms folded over his chest and a roguish grin on his face.
"Nice job, Leviathan," he said.
She wheeled her hand and tilted her head in a mock bow as he walked down the hill and into the water. They ducked under the surface and she grabbed him by the shoulder of his shirt before jetting back to the ship. The dinghies had pushed the cetus about a hundred yards away but one of them was overturned and another was being violently jerked around. All eyes were focused off the bow when they reached the stern. Gajeel grabbed her under the arms and then shot a chain out of his palm that wrapped around the railing. With a snapping jerk, they launched upwards and vaulted onboard in one movement. The cetus must have moved on to ramming the ship because she could feel vibrations through the wood and hear frantic shouting. They dashed across the afterdeck, down the stairs, and then below deck which was mercifully empty.
Gajeel stalked down the passageway with remarkable stealthiness for his size and she followed, pressing her senses out. She could hear only the crew members shouting and the cetus's attacks so she focused on the scents and the flow of ethernano and the resulting lack of information did not put her at ease despite Gajeel's unaffected stride.
They descended another narrow staircase into the main hold of the ship. Barrels, crates, and chests filled nearly every square foot of space and the piles towered over their heads in precarious stacks. The hull rumbled from another impact of the cetus but Lir wasn't convinced that the creature would distract the bandits long enough to search them all.
"I didn't realize they were this good," she said.
"Me either," Gajeel grumbled.
He squeezed between a narrow gap in the stacks and began loudly rummaging through the containers. The sheer volume of them made her stomach twist into a knot; there was no way they would be able to search everything before the cetus was chased off or killed. But without another option she joined the painstaking hunt for the jewelry. But crate after crate contained nothing but alcohol, fabrics, spices, and perfumes. Her heart leapt when she pulled down heavy chest that rattled with clinking metal only to plummet when she discovered it was full of coins.
After no more than ten minutes, her eyes started to ache like she had been staring at an overly detailed painting for too long. The discomfort started to push back into her head and she had to step away and rub her eyes.
"Something's off in here," Gajeel called out.
"You think?" she asked, unable to restrain her sarcasm.
He pried himself out of the agglomeration, at a different crevice from which he had entered, and took several steps away.
"Any idea what the mirage is?" she asked.
"No."
He raised one arm with his fingers extended before making a fist and then snapping his arm back to his chest. Every metal fastener in the room rattled before a quarter of the containers yanked towards him while the rest remained in place, even if they should have toppled over. Despite the fact that the magic was being employed by thieves she couldn't help but be awed by it. They had been rummaging through the illusion crates none the wiser for at least ten minutes and it took Gajeel exerting his magic over all of the metal in the room to disrupt the spell.
"I'm scared this whole ship is an illusion now," she said.
"They seem pretty concerned with the cetus destroying it," he said.
He repeated the move, this time with less force, and an even smaller portion of the containers jerked towards him.
"It's one of those, they're all full of metal," he said.
They both made it a single step forward before an ear splitting crack slammed into them from behind followed by a blinding stab of pain in their heads. Lir didn't have time to even think before her consciousness was ripped from her and she collapsed.
Embarrassment and frustration flooded her system the first moment she realized she was waking up from being knocked out again. Her head pounded like someone had kicked her in the skull. For several minutes the throbbing dominated her senses, making it nearly impossible to take account of the rest of her body, even cracking an eye open was too much. She craved water but the process of procuring it sounded like climbing up a sheer cliff face so reached deep inside herself for her ethernano reserves and let the energy leak into her body. Gradually the pain receded and she was able to tell that she was otherwise unharmed. It didn't even seem as if a physical blow to her head that caused the pain. Then she recalled the mirage magic.
She tried to move and found herself laying on her side on the floor with her arms bound to something behind her back. Gajeel groaned from somewhere in the room and the shackles on her wrists tugged away from her, painfully wrenching her shoulders.
"Uuugghh stop," she groaned, and pulled her arms closer to her back.
Whatever she was attached to yanked back hard and she yelped in pain.
"Leviathan?" Gajeel asked groggily.
She pushed herself up on her elbow so she could peer over her shoulder and found him in much the same position as her, their wrists handcuffed together.
"Aw fuck," she said.
He strained to turn around, caught one glance of of the shackles, and collapsed back to the floor with an angry sigh.
"How the hell did we get caught?" he demanded. "I didn't notice anything until we got knocked out."
"Me either."
He flexed and pulled against the chains and she could feel his magic sparking through his skin but the metal didn't budge.
"Pretty sure these are tungsten," he said.
"What does that mean?"
"It's the hardest metal there is, I can't break through it with my magic."
"Nice."
"It's brittle as fuck though, if we could hit it on something hard enough it might crack," he said.
They shifted the shackles around, twisting and contorting their shoulders to see what angles they could achieve and found nothing useful; they were going to have to break one or more elbows for anything worthwhile. He grumbled a string of swears before pushing himself up into a sitting position, jerking her along so she had to scramble to not have her shoulders dislocated.
"Stop squirming so much," he huffed.
"Then stop dragging me around," she retorted, giving an exaggerated push against him.
He pushed back and she wrenched their arms to the side, triggering a bout of useless struggling against each other. After a few minutes they ran out of steam and slumped in a panting heap. She was tempted to snap at him that fighting each other wasn't going to help at all but she was equally as pissy about the situation; he was far stronger than her and could just haul her around if he wanted.
"Alright," he finally said. "Let's get off the floor."
"Okay."
She thought there was going to be some kind of discussion about how exactly they were going to do it so when he just stood up, nearly tearing her arms off, she let out a strangled yelp.
"Can you tell me before you just start blundering around?" she demanded.
"We don't have time to take it slow," he retorted.
To prove his point he started walking towards the door without regard for the fact that she was attached to him.
"If you break my arms it's going to take even longer!"
He stopped suddenly. "Yeah, fair."
After a beat of silence she asked, "now what?"
"The captain's cabin. Our best bet will be finding keys."
Then he turned sideways so they could shuffle to the door together but when they reached it they found it locked. She felt him press out with his magic again and the door knob and hinges rattled.
"On three, slam the door as hard as you can," he said.
He gave a countdown and then they slammed shoulder first into the door, the metal shattered, and the door launched out of the frame.
"You lead, going sideways will be too slow," she said.
He moved into the hall first and she had to fight the urge to look over her shoulder as they walked; she would do more good keeping watch behind them. Barely a few seconds after they made it out of the room, two bandits barreled down a ladder from the main deck.
"Incoming," she said.
Without hesitating, Gajeel leaned forward, lifting her off the ground and she snapped both of her legs out in a kick, launching a jet of water at the pirates that slammed them into the back wall of the passage. The second her feet were back on the ground he started dragging her down the hall faster, wrenching her shoulders. Word must have spread instantly that they were out because she heard a set of footsteps ahead of them just before Gajeel came to a stop.
"Move," Gajeel ordered.
"Not a chance," the bandit retorted.
"Fine."
Gajeel grabbed her wrists and then pivoted hard, swinging her through the air so her legs slammed into the pirate. He staggered, giving her an opening to sling her legs around his neck in a triangle choke and squeeze. His eyes bulged and he clawed at her thigh but she didn't stop until he went limp and collapsed. They stepped over his body only to be confronted by another that dropped down from the deck. His hulking frame filled the entire passageway and his arms were so massive she knew he'd snap her legs like twigs if she tried the same move again. She backed up and thankfully Gajeel didn't fight her.
The bandit lunged, his fists suddenly covered in shards of ice.
Then, without any discernible signal passing between them, they moved together, pivoting so Gajeel intercepted the blow with his iron scales. Then she stomped hard with both legs, shooting a jet blast of water at the floor and launching them, Gajeel's head first, at the man. They collided with a loud, metallic clang and the man staggered so he followed with an impressively flexible high kick to his skull. The man went totally boneless and collapsed.
"Good grief, did you kill him?" she asked as they stepped over him.
"You want to stop and check?" he asked.
She didn't answer but continued to move with him.
As they precariously climbed the narrow and steep stairs they crouched lower and lower to avoid being visible on the deck. Gajeel peered over the ledge for a moment. The cetus's roaring and the bandits shouting still filled the air and the deck was otherwise empty.
"Let's go," he said.
They darted across the deck with more grace and speed than she thought they were capable of and reached the captain's cabin without issue. Once inside they pulled each other in an absolutely ridiculous, frenzied circle, scanning the room for anywhere the keys could be.
"Check the desk," she said, already moving.
They shuffled around to the back side and painstakingly pulled open the drawers one a a time. In the very bottom were several rings with even more keys on each. Lir let out a frustrated grumble as they knelt down together.
"I got this," Gajeel said.
He grabbed the key rings one at a time and sent a pulse of magic through them until he settled on a thin, small ring with four tiny keys. Then he confidently picked one before jamming it into the keyhole on her shackle. The lock released and she quickly turned to open the rest of the locks.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"I can feel the shape of the pins in the lock and then I pick the key that matches."
They both stood and rubbed their sore wrists and shoulders.
"How many tries did that take to figure out?" she asked.
"More than a few," he said with a devious grin.
"Sounds like you're not so good at not getting caught," she replied slyly.
He gave her a hearty punch on the arm before heading for the door where he cracked it opened to survey the deck.
"Now what?" she asked.
He watched outside for a moment, listening to the shouting of the crew and roaring of the unflagging cetus.
"Let's try to catch all of 'em. We could get a way bigger payout if we dump these goons on the mayor," he said, a devious glint in his eyes.
To her surprise, her heart leapt at the challenge and the fact that he thought it was worthwhile to pose it to her. Was that how Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Laxus felt when they took on their insane jobs? It sure felt the same way finding an ancient ruin exploration job did.
"Let's do it," she heard herself say.
He gave his distinctive laugh. "Great. Let's go commandeer a ship."
AN:
Thank you so much for reading, any feedback is greatly appreciated.