Story: 'Back to the roots' or 'Taking a whole new path' (chapter 12)

It couldn’t be. For him to be here...it simply couldn’t be. Harle didn’t realize she was screaming at the top of her lungs until her back hit the wooden rail behind her, causing a sharp intake of breath.

So he was real after all. He existed. It hadn’t just all been a bad dream, as Harle had come to tell herself over the last, peaceful days.

A bad dream. Ridiculous. She had known all along that she could never escape the dragons, that they would keep on haunting her until the very day she died. She had been so foolish to hope for the contrary all this time. So foolish.

Her red eyes stared at the black dragon in front of her, wide with dread, but also infuriated with deep anger. Why her? How did she deserve all this? Why did she have this disgusting dragon blood running through her veins? And why was she so powerless to stop them? Her arms so weak, her body so frail compared to the dragons’. She didn’t know, didn’t want to know what kind of wicked twist of fate this had all caused.

Harle’s eyes softened again as she saw a familiar figure running towards the dragon with drawn dagger. Kidd. There she was again, trying to protect her, as she had done countless times before. As she always did. Because Kidd wasn’t afraid or just gave up on things. She was strong and determined, always ready to give everything she had.

But her gaze turned to ice as she saw someone running up to her, a sword raised to stop Kidd. ‘Non!’, Harle screamed inwardly, unconsciously reaching out her trembling hand. ‘S’il te plaît…don’t stop her…’

However, Eve did no such thing. She determinedly ran up to Kidd, raising her sword with both hands. It just wasn’t fair. The dragon hadn’t done anything yet, other than looking at them. It had even saved her from Viper a short time ago. To just attack it like that…

Just as Kidd leapt forward to stab the dragon, Eve brought down her sword with all her might. The sword hit the blade of the dagger, knocking it out of Kidd’s grasp and directing it into the wooden flooring with a loud thud.

Eve quietly smiled at her achievement but instantly grimaced as she found herself unable to come to a halt, thus crashing into Kidd with full force, knocking them both to the ground.

While Eve took a few seconds to recover, Kidd was already up again, grabbing Eve fiercely by her collar. “What the hell are ya doin’!”, she shouted angrily, but didn’t wait for a response. She just pushed Eve back to the ground and quickly regained her dagger, readying herself for another attack on the dragon, which stood only about two metres in front of them. She wouldn’t let herself be stopped like that. Not now that she finally faced him. Not now that she could let him feel the pain he had caused Harle.

“Stop it, Kidd! It hasn’t done anything!”, Eve shouted, swiftly picking up her sword again, pointing it towards Kidd for emphasis.

“Ya don’t know anythin’! Ya don’t know what they have done!”, Kidd screamed, her voice broken. And to Eve’s surprise, Kidd had tears in her eyes as she looked at her angrily. Her fists were clenched, trembling with emotions left restraint. “Ya don’t know...anythin’.”

Eve realized that Kidd was serious, and also that she wouldn’t be the one to stop her. There was more behind this than Eve knew. The past of these two girls were somehow linked to the dragon. A past that seemed to have scarred them for life.

“Kidd, I-“, Eve started but winced as she felt a sharp pain in her right hand, causing her to drop the sword she was holding. As she turned her head to look down at the cause, she saw a thin line of blood appearing on the back of her hand. A red line that went from her thumb across the whole hand.

Looking past her hand to the ground, she saw a playing card stuck in the wood beneath her. She noticed a thin layer of blood covering one side of the card. She also noticed that the Joker on the card smiled kind of evilly.

“What the…”, Eve mumbled as she turned around to search for the owner of the card. The only thing she found however, were Harle’s blazing red eyes, which were more than enough to silence her. She had never seen something like this before. Eyes, which seemed to shine with a light of their own. Despite Eve’s efforts to the contrary, she was quite intimidated.

“Don’t stop her…”, Harle whispered eerily, her eyes flaring with anger and resentment. In both of her hands she carried five of these unusual cards. “Don’t stop her from killing ze dragon...”

“Harle, no!”, Kidd shouted and ran past Eve over to Harle, grabbing her by the shoulders.

Eve was slightly relieved as she watched Kidd, having the feeling that she knew how to deal with this strange girl. In the back of her mind she wondered what kind of relationship those two had. They way she had heard Kidd speak about Harle had sounded very close and familiar. But then again, they looked too different to be siblings…

“Just leave Eve outta this, she doesn’t know what she’s doin’! I’ll take care of him!”, Kidd said hurriedly. Harle’s eyes kept their angry look.

Eve grimaced. She knew very well what she was doing. Obviously Harle was the one who didn’t, attacking her like that. However, she wondered more about the way Kidd had spoken about the dragon. She had referred to the dragon as him…but it was just an animal, was it not?

Meanwhile Clair, who had simply been watching this whole scene motionlessly, looked back and forth between Eve and the others and the dragon. Everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing. It made her feel out of place. And scared.

Clair’s heart was beating fast and she dreaded the first step of the dragon, but up until now, it had hardly moved, even though the cage was wide open. Clair guessed it could have already killed them all if it had wanted to, but it hadn’t. The dragon didn’t even look especially angry or evil, and Clair just started to believe that Eve had been right after all, when she heard a familiar voice.

“Well, well. Seems like I got here a little late.” At the sound of his voice, everyone turned around abruptly. Kidd even let go of Harle’s shoulder, recognizing this voice in an instant. It was Viper.

“What the hell are ya up ta, Viper?”, she yelled and took a few steps towards him. Her voice was strong and angry, hiding Kidd’s surprise at his sudden appearance. She hadn’t known that Viper had been on this ship as well, and even if she had, she would have thought that he was somewhere locked up in his cabin until the fight was over. But now it seemed as if he was the one responsible for the cage mechanism and the dragon. Bastard.

“Isn’t that obvious, my ladies?”, Viper asked with a voice so sickeningly friendly sounding that Kidd could hardly bear it. But his voice soon took a downturn as he continued. “I’ll crush you and your whole ship for daring to steal from me!” He stood proudly, a wicked smile on his face.

“Oi, seems these bloody maps are actually worth somethin’. Can’t wait ta see what you’re hidin’!”, Kidd spat back triumphantly, trying to sound unimpressed. She was thankful for the fact that Viper was still standing a few metres away from her, or otherwise he would have noticed the pearls of sweat on her forehead and her quick breathing. Because when she was honest with herself, she was getting highly uncomfortable. There was the dragon, who would already be bad enough by himself. Then there was the rest of the crew, who had to be fighting for their lives right now, with the odds against them and neither her or Harle to help them win this already risky battle. And now there was Viper, who was a strong enemy to deal with. He was old, but far from weak and immobile.

And of course, Harle too. Kidd knew that those eyes were bad news, and she’d rather not remember the last time she had seen them. Kidd didn’t exactly know why Harle became like that, but it had to do with her being a dragon. This unrepressed anger and all this hate radiating from her eyes…it wasn’t her usual self. It was something different, dragon-like. At least Kidd liked to think that.

“I’m afraid you won’t live to see it.”, Viper said self-confidently, running his hand through his long hair. Looking over to the dragon, he finally shouted: “Kill them!”

And just as if the dragon had waited for this, he walked forward, snorting angrily at Kidd and Harle. Now that he had gotten out of his cage and stood upright, he seemed bigger than before. More threatening.

Harle, who had been trying to compose herself now gave in to her anger and dashed forward. Kidd tried to grab her wrist but was too slow to stop her. Harle was out to kill, no matter the cost. Her eyes showed it clearly. She wanted to crush him, make him feel the pain she had endured for so long. She wanted him to pay. And Kidd could do nothing to stop her.

Staring incredulously, she watched Harle leap high into the air, throwing all her cards at once. The cards flew rapidly through the air, all aimed for the dragon’s head. However, the dragon simply lifted his paw to shield his eyes, blocking every single card with ease. The cards couldn’t even penetrate the thick layer of scales, every single one dropping to the ground.

Shortly after, Harle reached the ground again, gritting her teeth as she pulled out the next ten cards. Just because the dragon had overcome her first attack didn’t mean he had a weak spot. And she would find it, definitely.

Kidd now stood beside her, gripping her dagger firmly with both of her hands. It was just a dragon. They had killed him already once, and they would be able to do it again. So there was nothing to fear. It was just a dragon.

This time, both of them charged the dragon simultaneously. Just like before, Harle attacked from the front again, while Kidd would try stabbing him right into the chest once he lifted his paw again to block the cards. He would be too slow to bring his paw down in time.

Again, Harle flung her cards at the dragon, and just like before, the dragon stopped them easily. Kidd, who had expected this, raised her dagger and ran towards the now open chest of the dragon.

However, just as she was about to pierce into his flesh, the dragon swung his tail and tossed Kidd several metres backwards. She met the hard floor with a scream, feeling something break within her. Harle reached the ground shortly after, watching Kidd in shock. For a moment her eyes lost their glow, but as soon as Kidd moved to stand up again, they flared up, even brighter than before.

“Zat iz enough…”, she mumbled angrily, her fists trembling. How dared he doing this to Kidd. She had nothing to do with it, he just wanted her. She wouldn’t let him do this twice.

By the time Kidd managed to stand up again, Harle was already attacking the dragon again. This time with her bare fists.

“Harle, no!”, was all Kidd managed to shout as Harle charged the dragon. She jumped forward, and as the times before, the dragon lifted his paw. Only this time there were no cards. Harle hit his paw with full force, resulting in an audible crack. The dragon howled and withdrew his paw.

Kidd watched her friend in awe and shock. Harle possessed a strength she had never known her to have. A strength not fitting her lithe and small body. A strength so inhuman.

Harle herself simply smiled at the dragon, a look in her eyes as if she were looking down on him, even though the dragon was easily twice as tall.

The dragon swung his tail at her, no infuriated. Harle dodged it quickly, already leaping up again to attack. The dragon, however, wasn’t fooled again. He didn’t rely on mere defence anymore. Instead, he caught the other girl in mid-air and thrust her to the ground with a loud thud.

“Viper! You have to stop this!”, Eve gasped as she shot a glance to her side, seeing that both Kidd and Harle were lying on the ground. However, she didn’t have much more time to concern herself with them, for Viper continued to attack her with his sword.

He had attacked her out of the blue, just when the dragon had started moving. She hadn’t wanted this. At all.

It was one slash after the other, without break. And Eve was starting to think that he was just playing with her. He was just too strong. Every time she tried to strike, Viper merely side-stepped or met her blade with his, just using one arm, while the other pushed her to the ground. It was useless.

“Stop this? It’s merely starting!”, Viper said and laughed madly. Another parry. “You know, it’s quite sad to lose a soldier like you. You had great potential.”, he added.

“Don’t make me laugh!”, Eve yelled and attacked with a vertical slash, putting all her strength into it. Viper however simply moved to the side and sent Eve to the ground by hitting her neck with his elbow. Eve gasped but didn’t have much time to react. As soon as she reached the ground, she quickly rolled aside, just in time to avoid the otherwise lethal stab from Viper.

Standing up again, she was greeted with another row of attacks. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as she desperately tried to counter every one of them. She didn’t stand a chance against him, as much as she hated to admit it.

Meanwhile, Clair simply stared at them in a daze. Everything was happening so fast, she didn’t know what to do. She wanted to help, but her body wouldn’t move. Her eyes simply darted from the dragon to Viper and back. Her mind was spinning with doubts of herself and her legs were growing weaker with every passing second.

The dragon, how was she supposed to fight such a thing? She had never seen one before in her entire life!

And Eve…she wanted to help her fight Viper, but she wouldn’t be of any help at all. She knew she didn’t have enough skill with a sword to be of much use against an enemy like Viper, but she couldn’t use her rod either. A rod just worked well against groups of enemies, for which she didn’t even have to aim to hit them all at one point or another. But this fight with Viper and Eve was completely different. Her rod was too heavy and hard to handle to differentiate between allies and enemies. Sooner or later, she would hit Eve instead of Viper. And she knew she wouldn’t live to regret it.

Her eyes darted in all directions, trying to find a way. She knew she was panicking, but found herself unable to calm down. As another shot of a cannon reached her ears, Clair decided upon the only option left: She ran.

“They’re coming from downstairs!”, Jack puffed, having quite a few difficulties to get rid of his share of soldiers as well. The Radical Dreamers had spread out into six groups of two, each trying to block the corridors to stop the opposing soldiers to get onto to the upper deck, from where they could leap over to their ship all too easily. However, the odds were against them. For every soldier they defeated, three other seemed to appear.

And Jack wasn’t the first one to think that this was a hopeless battle.

“Bugger! The others better hurry up with the cannons!”, the captain grumbled as he pierced his sword through the thigh of the soldier before him, causing him to scream and tumble to the ground.

“Which ones?”, Jack asked absent-mindedly as he disposed of the last soldier to his left by ramming the hilt of his sword deep into his stomach. It wasn’t really his own sword for he usually used throwing knives, but they had proved themselves too ineffective in close range combat like this.

“Both!”, the captain snapped irritated as he indicated Jack to follow him deeper into the ship.

‘I couldn’t do anything.’

‘You could’ve helped Eve.’

‘I couldn’t…’

‘Viper might kill her.’

‘He won’t…’

‘You left her alone, Clair.’

'I didn't...’

‘She trusted you…believed in you.’

‘She can do it alone!’

‘You ran away.’

Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she dashed down the stairs and along the corridors. How did this all happen? Just a few days ago, she had been a proud Viper soldier. She had worked so hard in the past to achieve this goal. But now? She had merely been a soldier for a little more than a year and she was already about to end it. She was just nineteen years old, and she had already wrecked her own life so badly.

It had all begun when Eve had come back from her mission. It was then that they had started mistrusting Viper and collecting information about his doings. It was then that things had really gotten out of hand in her quiet, peaceful life. And now she was here, risking her life for people she didn’t know, didn’t even want to know, all because of Eve.

But no, she didn’t blame her. She never would. Clair knew how badly she had wanted to help Eve. They were roommates after all. Friends. But Clair knew best that this alone was hardly a reason to go to those extends for her.

Strands of dark-brown hair got into her face as she ran along the corridors, blurring her view. She didn’t care, however. There was only one thing left she could do.

She didn’t care much about the three soldiers appearing in front of her. The first one let out a surprised gasp as one end of Clair’s rod hit his face, twisting his neck at a dangerous angle. The next soldier met the same fate as the other end of the rod hit him. They both stumbled backwards, leaving the last of them alone to face Clair’s sword, which all too soon had hit his own sword out of his grasp, leaving him without any means of protection as Clair pierced through his shoulder without effort.

Thus having cleared her way for the time being, Clair continued to run along the corridors. She could hear battle cries from all sides and hoped that the people from the other ship could put up against the soldiers, who all but outnumbered them.

But from what she saw, things were going well enough. The corridors were already littered with bodies, all of whom Clair completely ignored despite their desperate pleas for help from their supposed ally. She had no time for this. It was their fault for obeying Viper. Now it was her turn to try ending this whole mess as soon as possible.

She had tried countless times by now but the dragon had parried every single attack.

“Harle! We have to think of somethin’!”, Kidd shouted as she leapt to the side to evade the dragon’s tail once again.

However, Harle didn’t listen. Instead she charged the dragon with a roar, only to be thrown backwards once again. Kidd could hardly bear looking at it anymore. Every time that damned dragon thrust her to the ground made her run over to her and help her, but because of the continuous attacks of that beast, Kidd had her hands full just saving her own life.

This couldn’t go on like this. Sooner or later they would lose concentration and strength to evade the dragon’s attacks any longer. His continuous attacks didn’t seem to stop anytime soon.

“Stop it, Harle! It’s no use!”, Kidd shouted desperately, but to no avail. Harle weakly stood up again, but still bore the same angry look. Her fists were clenched and her teeth gritted. She didn’t look like someone who even considered the idea of giving up or losing hope.

Kidd marvelled at Harle’s willpower and endurance, but she knew that if she didn’t end this soon, Harle wouldn’t survive this. She already had countless cuts and bruises all over her body and it seemed as if those flaring eyes were everything that still kept her standing. Her eyes were still the same, but the strength she had been radiating was gone. Kidd truly pitied her.

She wanted so much that these damned dragons were gone, so much that she was willing to fight bare-handed…but it was no use. Even her inhuman strength hadn’t been enough to beat him. And Kidd was starting to believe that there was no way of defeating him.

But then the thought struck her that she should have gotten long before. Elements. She hadn’t considered them until now because she simply didn’t have the time to cast an element, with those steady attacks of the dragon. But it was possible. However, a sacrifice would have to be made.

The dragon tried to grab Kidd with his paw but she evaded the attack with a back flip. She already regretted it from the bottom of her heart, but she didn’t see any other way any more. She had no control over Harle, couldn’t tell her to stop…and she hated herself for even thinking for a moment that this might be for the better.

While evading the next few attacks, Kidd made sure to move into the opposite direction of Harle and also as far away from the dragon as possible. Of course the dragon noticed and walked towards her. That was when Harle attacked, shouting in fury.

The dragon couldn’t help but stop and deal with Harle first, which seemed as easy as the countless times before. He simply swung his tail and whirled her into the air, already focusing his attention back on Kidd.

But it was too late. Even though her face was streaked with tears, she tried to concentrate on the element. After endless seconds, she finally succeeded in casting it. As soon as she saw the photon beams crashing down from the sky, she ran, not caring about the dragon anymore. She just ran, hoping that it wasn’t too late already. As she reached the limp form on the ground, her tears started to fall.

At least the cannons wouldn’t be a problem anymore. Nobody was there to fire them. And as long as nobody else knew of this, no replacement would come.

Looking around the room, she regarded the number of cannon balls for each of the four cannons. Only four shots had been fired, apparently only from the second and third cannon. She knew the first shot had missed. The second one had struck a mast on the other ship. The third one she had merely heard. The fourth one had gone unnoticed.

Two cannon balls wouldn’t be enough to sink a ship. In most cases. If the lowest deck of the other deck wasn’t divided however, it just might have been enough. But not many ships had this extraordinarily weak spot. It would destroy the whole concept of a battle ship. But then…what had Eve told her?

Clair racked her brain to remember the details but with little success. She would have to go and look for herself. The Longinus One was first and foremost a ship used for transport, so a large storeroom was necessary. If that storeroom happened to be on the lowest deck, this alone could decide the outcome of this uneven battle.

With a determined look on her face, Clair turned to leave the room. There was nothing to do here anymore. However, just as she attempted to step through the door, something firm got hold of her right ankle, stopping her immediately. As she looked down to regard it, she saw that it was a hand, trembling with pain.

Her eyes twitched with dread as she turned to regard the soldier whom the hand belonged to.

“Why…why are you doing this?”, a weak voice asked even before Clair had the time to regard the soldier. But as she did, she gasped in shock, shaking her head.

“Randal?”, she whispered incredulously, her voice high and quavering. She regarded him more closely, even though she could hardly bear the sight of him. Blood ran down on the left side of his face, just barely missing the expressionless eyes. Looking away from his face, she saw a pool of blood emerging from underneath his chest.

She hadn’t even recognized him. As she had entered this room, most of the soldiers didn’t look at her, thinking she was on their side. So she had merely attacked them from behind, the easiest way to deal with this many people at once. And the dirtiest as well.

“Why are you doing...this?”, Randal repeated, sounding weaker than before. By the look of it, he would die of blood loss soon, Eve thought grimly as she stared down at him.

“Why?”, Randal asked again and coughed, his grip on Clair’s ankle loosening.

“Because you’re on the wrong side.”, Clair squeaked, her lips trembling. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she turned around before they fell. She hated herself for wavering, but it was only now that she fully realized what had happened.

“You…should have told us…”, Randal managed to say between his coughs. Surely Clair had stabbed his lungs as well.

Clair couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t have simply told them! Nobody would have listened to her…everyone just following Viper’s orders.

‘You could have at least tried. They didn’t know they were on the wrong side. It wasn’t their fault.’

‘Nobody would have listened! They would have killed me!’

‘But you were the one preaching about avoiding casualties.’

‘There was no other way!’

‘No, you were scared. Backstabbing is all you’re good at.’

‘No!’

Clair’s hands quivered as she took out an element, attempting to cast it on Randal, who was now lying behind her, still coughing weakly.

This was the least she could do for him now. A small sob escaped her lips as she cast it before running out the door, away from Randal.

Eve hissed in pain as she stood up again. Damn. He wasn’t playing with her anymore. Ever since she had managed to scratch his face with her sword, thus creating a cut that ran from his forehead all the way down to the corner of his mouth, Viper had been a lot more serious than before.

But Eve couldn’t give up now. She had almost done it once, so she should be able to do it again. However, the pain in her neck from Viper’s first hit and one presumably broken rib made this battle harder with every passing second. Her vision was already getting blurry from exhaustion and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to last.

Viper on the other hand was barely sweating, and still bore that disgusting smile of his. He also didn’t leave her much time to recover from the last attack, already raising his sword again. Eve grunted as she got ready, trying to think of the best way to escape this sharp blade. She could fend it off, but that required a lot of strength, and would probably bring her down to her knees anyway.

So she decided on a rather risky attempt. As the blade came down, she met it from the side instead of the more secure way of blocking it from underneath.

Her eyes widened as Viper’s sword didn’t seem to halt and merely gliding down along Eve’s sword, hitting the hilt. Realizing this was now or never, she put all her strength into her arms and pushed her sword even harder against the other.

Finally it broke, the tip of the blade whirling to the side only a few centimetres in front of Eve’s eyes.

For a moment Eve wasn’t sure who it belonged to, and had to look at her sword to be certain. It was Viper’s. The blade of her own sword seemed unscratched and still shone in every colour. So Kidd hadn’t lied when she had said that this sword was almost indestructible. And Eve was endlessly grateful for that.

As she noticed the sharp intake of breath, Eve looked up to Viper, shock written all over his face. Without saying a word she pierced his right upper arm and his right knee with the next strike, which made a disgusting sound Eve would have preferred not to hear.

However, as she looked down at him and saw how desperately he tried to crawl backwards, she knew it was necessary.

Leaning down, she picked up the broken blade and threw it over board, just in case Viper got any bad ideas.

“You actually deserve to die, but I want you to see the end of this. You will regret every minute of your life while drowning along with this ship.”, Eve said icily, a look of utter hatred on her face.

Viper merely whimpered at this, trying to stand up despite his injuries. However, as soon as he stood, clutching the rail for support, Eve harshly beat him to the ground again.

“You’d better sit. I don’t want you to pass out before you’ve seen the best part.”, Eve said, a wicked smile appearing on her lips. But before Viper could say anything, Eve was gone from his view, probably heading for the cabin in the middle of the ship.

After Eve had shut the door behind her, she took a deep breath to calm herself. She couldn’t believe what she had done just know, but there was no time to be impressed about that. She had to think of what to do next.

Her first thought was to help Kidd and Harle, or at least see how they were faring. In her fight with Viper she had unwillingly distanced herself from them more and more, always walking backwards to escape Viper’s blows. And because of the large cabin in the middle, which contained the two walkways which lead downstairs and a now obviously deserted navigation room, she couldn’t see the other side of the ship.

As she caught her breath, Eve wondered what all those soldiers were doing. There had to be at least sixty men on board, if not more. But still, none of them had come up yet. And even though Eve had no knowledge of these things, she doubted that they needed this much time to get a gun from the lowest deck and load them. She hadn’t tried it herself until now, but to her it seemed like a matter of a few minutes. But surely Clair knew more about this than her.

Clair. Eve suddenly gasped, having all but forgotten about her friend while battling Viper. Where could she have gone? Eve remembered Clair defending her against Kidd, but she couldn’t remember since when Clair was gone. Kidd and her friend had fought the dragon and she had dealt with Viper. Closing her eyes for a moment, she concentrated on what she knew. Clair couldn’t have simply disappeared.

Finally she remembered. The sounds of running, which definitely belonged to someone who wore the same boots she did, which could only be a soldier like her. Clair. She also remembered a door being opened with a squeak.

Eve didn’t waste a second thought before she dashed down the stairs. As much as she would have liked to help Kidd and Harle, she had to find Clair first.

As she reached the first corridor, she saw various bodies lying on the ground, most of them hurt, a few unconscious…or dead. Eve gulped as she passed them in a rush, surprised to see that they were all soldiers. No signs of pirates or anyone without a uniform at all.

He had parted with the captain just a few minutes ago. They had reached a junction, leading in two directions. Having no idea where the soldiers would come from, they had decided to follow each way separately. Whenever one would reach a dead end, he was to return to the other.

Jack had thought that this was a really bad idea. Probably without him noticing, the captain had saved Jack’s life countless times already back there. And now he was alone. But he knew that this was necessary. They couldn’t risk any soldier to reach the upper deck and leap over to their ship. Their friends they had left behind to fire the cannons wouldn’t be able to protect themselves. Most of them were well-trained sailors, but still without much fighting experience. Whenever, new people joined the Radical Dreamers, they were first trained in the field that was needed the most.

Jack was unspeakably relieved when he eventually reached a dead end. The way unmistakably stopped here. There was a door, however. Jack slowly walked towards it, pearls of sweat forming on his forehead. He couldn’t turn back before he had seen what was inside. It wasn’t mere curiosity. Maybe there was something useful to find there. Maps, weapons, any kind of information at all.

He leaned closely to the door, checking for any voices from inside. There were none. With a shuddering sigh he laid his hand on the handle, pushing it down slowly.

The door opened with a low creak and Jack let himself in, carefully closing the door behind him. Looking around, he couldn’t quite hide his surprise. The room was well furnished and the countless silvery decorations on the chairs and desk told him that this wasn’t an ordinary room.

Someone important worked here, he thought as he scanned through the sheets on the desk. Letters with seals on them, blueprints.

He was just about to open the drawers when he felt a sharp pain in his neck, causing him to stumble to the ground unwillingly. He passed out even before he reached the ground.

Behind him stood a tall woman, chuckling evilly. Closing the drawers again, she looked down at him, her grin widening. She threw aside the injection needle she had just used and grabbed the limp young man under his arms, heaving him into one of the chairs. After a few moments of searching, she found a few metres of rope with which she tied the man, even though she knew it wasn’t necessary. Her doses were always exact and she had plenty left to keep the boy sleeping for three full days. But still, she wasn’t a person who blindly relied on such things. And besides, there wasn’t anything else to do. She had to wait for him to return. He decided on such things, and even though she disliked it, she had to obey him still. But she already looked forward to the time when her influence on him was big enough to completely manipulate him. It had worked well enough so far. She had given him the feeling of might and power, without him noticing that he was actually doing just what she wanted him to do.

Just as she finished tying the ropes around the boy’s hands and feet, the door opened abruptly. She knew who it was without looking. Standing upright, she faced him, absent-mindedly pushing her glasses a little upward to see him clearly.

“You don’t look good.” She spoke slowly, carefully pronouncing each syllable. But even though they were slow, her words carried the usual cool tone as well as her indifference to the situation. Viper noticed this and merely grunted in response.

With slow, dragged steps he carried himself past her and over to a nearby chair, sitting down weakly. The woman noticed the trail of blood he left behind, and suppressed an amused smile.

As he caught his breath, Viper began fumbling with one of his drawers, taking out a few elements he had stored there. The woman smiled as she looked at them, recognizing them as Heal elements.

“Who’s that?”, he asked after casting one of the Heal elements on himself. The effect wasn’t as good as he had expected, but it eased a lot of his pain. He still cursed himself for only having carried one of those with him. He had cast it as soon as Eve had left him, but it hadn’t nearly been enough to fully restore his knee.

“Someone who happened to come here.” Again, she spoke slowly, her answer ever elusive.

Viper scrutinized Jack, his fingers tapping on his desk. “Maybe he can be of use to us, we’ll take him with us.”

The woman watched him curiously as he stood up and took a few things out of his drawers and cupboards, putting them into the various pockets of his long, black coat he always wore. “We have to leave soon.”

The woman noticed the angry look on his face as he said this and simply nodded, gathering a few small bottles, needles and ampoules from the cupboard next to her.

Viper cast another Heal element on himself, draining his stamina in the process. But at least the pain had receded to a numb throbbing, enabling Viper to walk almost normally, albeit weakly. “Let’s go.”, he said, already opening the door.

The woman just followed silently.

But those thoughts aside, the dragon should have shown some kind of reaction, but the attack hadn’t bothered him in the least. And too late had Kidd realized that the price she had paid had been too high.

Harle laid a few metres behind her, Kidd trying to protect her motionless body till the end. She hadn’t moved ever since the last attack and Kidd tried not to think about the very real possibility that her most precious person was dead. She had wanted to defeat the dragon instead of protecting Harle. She didn’t know why she had even considered such a thing, but it was too late now. The price had been paid. And it was all her fault.

“What kind of monster are ya? Why are ya doin’ all this?”, Kidd cried, her whole body shaking. Ever since Kidd’s last attack, neither of them had moved to attack. They just stood, staring into each other’s eyes. And just for a moment Kidd thought that the dragon’s eyes seemed just as lost as she felt herself. “Why us?”, she asked, her voice reduced to a weak whimper. She had no strength anymore. Her legs were already trembling, begging for rest, but she refused to let them have their way just yet.

The dragon didn’t answer, he just stared. His eyes lost their dangerous glint, as if the dragon was really thinking about what Kidd had asked.

“Ya don’t know what ta say, huh? I bet ya don’t even know why you’re doin’ this yerself. Bastard.”, Kidd said finally, looking at him. However, she didn’t meet his eyes, for he was facing the ground. If Kidd didn’t know better, she would assume he was feeling guilty. But that would just not work for her. She wouldn’t let her guard down because of his antics, only to be caught off guard at his next attack. No. She was prepared. Even though she had no clue as to what she would do when that time came.

“Answer already! Ya weren’t so shy the last time we met.”, Kidd snapped, now irritated. She was prepared for long talks of him, doing the usual mind games. She had expected talks about how evil humans were. But this...it was highly disturbing and Kidd had now idea how to deal with it.

The dragon didn’t answer. But what he did next, came just as unexpected. Before Kidd could react, the dragon spread his wings. He stretched them wide out, as wide as they could possibly reach.

Kidd gaped. Those wings...they were huge. Gigantic. Different. Kidd had to turn her head to the side to see just how far they reached. She didn’t remember the dragon’s wings to be this wide. But that wasn’t the only thing. Kidd was even more surprised at the way the wings looked. They weren’t black.

Kidd tried to look at them more closely, but they were reflecting the sun so strongly that she could hardly see anything. She squinted harder, wanting to find out. The wings looked as if they were streaked with long metal bars. However, she couldn’t see where they met. They seemed to naturally emerge from the flesh, as if they were raw bones. In between there were plates which looked like they were made of copper. Again, they weren’t especially connected. They were embedded into the skin, as if they belonged there naturally. This strange fusion of skin and metal made Kidd’s breathing come to halt.

“So this is...who you are...?”, Kidd gasped out before she sank down to her knees. This was too much for her. It only took a few seconds until she passed out, the dragon just watching her sadly. After a few moments, he drew in his wings, back to their normal look. Back to his appearance of an ordinary dragon. If there ever was one.

How foolish to save one man when she had wounded or killed so many others. She didn’t even like him. But just remembering how kindly he had offered to help Eve get a room was enough to shatter her wall of indifference. It was foolish. Helping one didn’t make her guilt go away. Maybe he would die anyway, she would never know. She doubted she would see him ever again.

Now that she had reached the lowest deck, her suspicions were confirmed. The deck wasn’t divided. Clair scanned the area, finding no people left. They must have all gone upwards. Clair nodded to herself. It could work. She had passed a few pirates on her way down here, all of whom struggling with the remaining soldiers. They would have enough time to escape, Clair guessed.

She walked through the dim room, searching for a box with guns. There had to be at least one left. And one would be enough. The wooden walls were thick, but they would be useless against what she had in mind.

After a few moments of silent searching, she had found what she was looking for. There were even a few bags with bullets and gunpowder left. She took the weapon into her hands, carefully inspecting it. She loaded the gun slowly. One shot would be enough. Walking away from the box which contained the guns, she reached three barrels, each of them filled with gunpowder for the cannons. She had known they would be down here. After all, the guns were down here too.

There were fewer barrels than she had expected, but they would still be enough, Clair guessed. She rolled the barrels over to the wall farthest from the door, which was more strenuous than she had expected. But after a few minutes, she had rolled each barrel over to the wall, placing them as close to each other as possible. With one last look at them, she walked back to the door, grabbing the loaded gun she had left there.

She felt dread at what she was about to do, but it seemed like the only way. As long as this ship existed, the battle wouldn’t end. One side had to win no matter what. And she was determined to fight for the pirates, as much as this thought felt wrong to her. And even if her first impression of this Kidd person wasn’t a really good one. She thought of her as rude, aggressive and incontrollable. But Eve had spoken so nicely of her, so Clair tried to believe her.

But ever since this had started, Clair’s worries had grown gradually. As much as she tried to believe in what Eve had said, as much as she wanted to believe that the pirates weren’t bad, she felt her doubts were growing stronger. And now, that she was here, she was so afraid. Her doing would change so much in this battle. She had to do it while the soldiers were wounded or busy dealing with the pirates. She couldn’t risk them getting the upper hand. But what if her decision was wrong?

“Eve...I hope you know that I’m doing this for you.”, Clair whispered, aiming her gun on the barrel at the far end of the room. Exhaling deeply, she counted to ten. Then she pulled the trigger.

As soon as she heard the click of the trigger, she felt a sharp pain. The air left her lungs for a moment as she saw the gun in her hands being pushed to the side. Then she tumbled to the ground, dropping the gun she was holding. As she looked up again, she saw a man above her, a soldier.

“I have no idea why you are doing this, but I won’t let it happen.”, he said coolly, clenching his fists. He looked angry.

Clair guessed she didn’t have to try to convince him that she was on his side. He saw her shoot, even though this shot had missed.

So instead she tried to stand up and run away, to gain distance between them. Her rod was still strapped onto her back, so she shouldn’t have any problems with him. However, just as she moved a little forward to stand up, the soldier reached out and backhanded her so hard it threw her to the ground. It made her dizzy.

Damn. She should have searched more thoroughly. Being surprised by a soldier was the least thing she could use right now.

Clair just wanted to open her mouth to speak when the soldier grabbed her by her shoulder-length hair, forcing her to stand up. Clair winced as he pushed her across the room. Several times she tried to kick him and struggle free, but the soldier was stronger than her, gripping her firmly.

“Is that how you treat a fellow soldier, much less a woman?”, Clair gasped, almost crying in pain as the soldier just pulled harder. With his right hand he held both of her hands tightly behind her back, while his left hand had a firm hold of her hair.

“You weren’t exactly nice to my comrades either.”, the man simply said and pushed her forward. Clair could only look at the ceiling, for her head was arched back as much as she could, in a futile attempt to ease the pain. So he must have followed her. Must have been watching her. She wondered who this man was, who, at a time of war, obviously had enough time to follow fellow soldier out of mere suspicion instead of helping his mates.

As they reached the opposite wall, the soldier pushed her against it face first, quickly tying her hands together, then her feet. Just as Clair thought he would leave her alone now that she was defenceless, he rammed his elbow into her stomach, bringing her down to her knees.

“I’ll deal with you later.” With that, the soldier left. Clair didn’t hear, for she was already unconscious.

She had already searched through the first two decks, but to no avail. There was no trace of her friend. With dread she thought about what Kidd had said to her mates. She had warned them not to go to the lower decks, for her crew would be trying to strike there with their cannons. Surprisingly enough, though, none had hit the Longinus One yet.

Eve let out a sigh of relief as she went down to the next deck, which was the second last. As expected, there were no soldiers or pirates down here anymore. Still, she was cautious as she walked around each corner.

Then suddenly, she heard soft footsteps behind her, startling her. With drawn sword she turned around, prepared to fight anyone who tried to stop her. However, all she met was nothingness. And silence. She listened a few moments, expecting to hear something, but the only sounds came from above her.

Turning around again, she shrugged, deciding to let it go and continue her search. However, the same moment she set her foot to the ground to walk, the floor and walls started shaking, and if Eve weren’t aware that she was on a ship, she would have thought it was an earthquake.

Together with the shaking came a loud noise, one she had never heard before. It was somewhat muffled but undeniably the sound of tearing through something. It sounded like something had hit their ship. Eve’s eyes widened as she realized that the sound came from underneath her.

She was awake with a start. A sound so loud and deafening it would have woken the dead seemed to pass directly by her ears. Her vision was a little blurry at first, but the next sound that reached her ears made her eyes widen with shock. It was the sound of water.

Frantically, Clair tried to sit up, which wasn’t easy considering her hands and feet were tied together. Looking at the source of the sounds, she had to fight hard to remain conscious. Torrents of water were flooding inside through a huge hole in the wooden wall, which only got bigger due to the pressure of the water.

For a few moments, she just stared. Stared at the water level rising at a rapid rate, staring at broken pieces of wood floating on the surface of the water. She had to think of something. This ship would sink all too soon and Clair with it.

Pushing herself against the wall, she managed to stand up. She tried to wriggle her hands free, but the ropes were tied too tightly. That soldier, whoever he was, knew what he was doing. Clair started to cry in despair, trying to think of something.

She looked down, seeing that the water level had already risen up to her ankles. Only a few more minutes and the whole room would be under water. Her hands behind her back fumbled wildly until they hit against something at her side. Her sword. Clair gasped at the sight, trying to pull it out of its sheath. The movement of her arms was limited, but she eventually succeeded in doing so. However, the sword fell to the ground as soon as it was freed. Clair just heard the splat of water and looked to the ground anxiously, trying to see where it lay. As she spotted it, she knelt down, facing the opposite direction of the sword, while trying to lift up the hilt of the sword.

Finally she found it and tucked it between her feet, trying to hold it firmly. Then she reached back tentatively, trying to find the sharp blade. She winced as she did, accidentally cutting her index finger. Clair closed her eyes, concentrating. Behind her back she tried to draw her hands as much apart as possible, and then laid the rope in between them onto the blade. Rocking forward and backward, the rope slowly got thinner until she could finally tear it apart.

As she did, Clair immediately turned around and grabbed the sword, quickly freeing herself of the rope around her feet as well. Her feet hurt a little as she eventually stood up, but that was her smallest worry right know. Without thinking she moved over to the door at the other end of the room. Clair groaned as the pain in her stomach returned, dully throbbing with each step.

By now, the water already reached up to her knees and it was getting harder to move quickly. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached the door, grabbing the handle to pull it open. It didn’t move.

Clair pulled even harder, telling herself that it was only difficult to open because of the water pushing against it, but this illusion was quickly dispelled as she realized that the door wouldn’t open. It was locked.

Without realizing, Clair started shouting, banging her fists against the door. The water already touched her thighs. Her mind was spinning, analyzing every possibility that was left. Her sword wouldn’t do much against this solid door, at least not within the short amount of time she had left. If the water level weren’t so high already, she would have considered running against the door, ramming it with her rod. But running was impossible by now. Also, she could have used a gun to shoot the lock of the door if it weren’t for the fact that all the remaining gunpowder was surely soaked by now. So her mind soon stopped coming up with more ideas, for there weren’t any left.

It was too late. Within a few minutes she would be a floating corpse. But at least the ship was sinking, just like she had wanted it to. Soon Viper would get what he deserved.

Clair was content beside herself, even though the tears in her eyes wouldn’t stop. At least she ship was going down, even if it wasn’t her doing. Even though she hadn’t achieved anything despite causing pain to those who trusted her. Even though she would never see Eve again.

She closed her eyes, leaning against the door with her back. Was Eve even still alive? She didn’t know. Viper could have killed her.

‘It’s your fault. You should have helped her.’

‘I know.’

‘But instead of helping someone important to you, you waste your time, thinking you could end everything alone.’

‘I know.’

‘And you don’t even regret it, do you? You enjoyed fighting them, telling yourself it was all for her sake.’

‘Yes.’

The water reached up to her mouth now, and Clair silently continued to breathe through her nose. She didn’t bother to stand on tiptoes, it would only gain her a few seconds more. A few seconds she would waste on thinking where she had gone wrong. A few seconds she didn’t need.

It was quiet. The water had risen above the hole in the wall, and the water continued to flow in almost soundlessly. It was almost peaceful, Clair thought as she stopped breathing, waiting for the air in her lungs to run out. In front of her eyes she saw her rod floating upwards. Of course, it was made of wood. As she heard a dull knock at the door she was sure that it was only her rod, the current pushing it against the door.

The knocks continued, almost persistent. She heard a voice too, quiet and seemingly far away. It called her name.

Eve ran against the door, trying to push it open, but it didn’t budge. There was no other way. She had to use it.

Quickly, she took the gun which was strapped onto her back, carefully loading it, trying to remember what Clair had told her. As soon as she finished, she aimed it at the lock, hoping she wouldn’t hit anything other than that.

She pulled the trigger with a sense of dread, and soon water gushed through the hole she had just made. The room had to be full of water.

Now with the lock destroyed, Eve tried to push the door open. However, as she succeeded in opening it a bit, the water flooded out rapidly and Eve almost slipped. But she continued to push harder.

Suddenly the door loosened and threw her back. A torrent of water escaped from the room and soon the water in the corridor had reached knee level.

Eve weakly tried to stand up again and held up her arms just in time to shield her from large boards and other pieces of wood that threatened to hit her face. Thus shielding her head, she didn’t see the body coming that crashed into her and knocked her off her feet.

It took her a few more seconds to get out of the water and stand up to get her bearings, but when she did, she immediately grabbed the body in the water, which was threatening to flow past her, and carefully turned it around.

She had known since she had seen the long hair. It was her. But still, Eve let out a gasp, looking at the pale face of her friend. Wasting no time with thinking about how this has happened, Eve gathered her in her arms, checking her breathing.

Tears started to trickle down her already wet face as she found none. She frantically shook Clair’s shoulders, doing anything to make her open her eyes, to no avail. The water around them was rising and Eve realized there was only one thing left.

She carefully lifted Clair up in her arms and started to dash through the water. Soon her legs started to hurt, but she still tried to hurry as much as she could, with the water almost reaching her thighs. Still, she reached the stairs within less than a minute and immediately ran upwards. It would take the water some time to reach the second deck, so they were safe for now.

Once up, she laid Clair onto the ground, kneeling beside her. She remembered Clair telling her once what she needed to do in case someone has stopped breathing. Eve had never tried it out.

Her fingers trembled as she quickly opened Clair’s jacket, revealing the blue shirt underneath. Her hands trailed down on her chest, trying to find the spot Clair had explained to her, right between her ribs. Putting both of her hands on the spot, she began pushing them down in an even rhythm. She couldn’t remember the exact number Clair had told her, so she simply decided on her lucky number, even though she didn’t feel very lucky right now. After thirteen pushes, she took Clair’s head into her hands, moving it slightly backwards. After taking a deep breath, she pressed her lips onto Clair’s, exhaling. She had almost stopped as she felt how cold Clair’s lips were. Maybe too much time had passed.

Eve looked down at Clair after she finished, waiting for a reaction. Maybe those things didn’t even work. A few seconds passed, and Clair didn’t start to move like she had promised people would.

“Liar...”, Eve whispered and started sobbing. Clair had told her this would work. But it didn’t. But Eve refused to give up. She had nothing to lose anyway. She wouldn’t leave this ship without Clair. And if she were to die, Eve would blame herself for this eternally. After all, she had been the one who had tried to convince her that they had to do something against Viper. Without her, Clair wouldn’t even be here. It was all her fault.

She began repeating the things she had done just now. Maybe it simply wasn’t enough. Again, she pushed thirteen times. It had to work. Again, she took a deep breath and just as she was about to meet Clair’s lips again, Clair started to cough, water flowing from her mouth. At first Eve was taken aback, wondering what had happened, what she had done wrong, but as Clair opened her eyes, a wide smile crossed her face.

“Eve...”, Clair whispered weakly. Her eyes were dull, seemingly staring through Eve. Slowly she lifted her hand, wanting to touch her, see if she was real.

Even before her hand reached its goal, Eve took it into her own, pressing it against her warm cheek. Her cold trembled faintly, soaking up the warmth.

Clair needed a few seconds to realize what had happened, but when she did, tears ran down her cheeks.

“You scared me, you know.”, Eve said softly, wiping away her tears and gently putting aside a few strands of hair that clung onto Clair’s face.

Clair just smiled in return. She didn’t know what to say anyway.

“And you know how much I hate it to cry in front of someone.”, Eve continued as new tears welled up in her eyes.

Clair’s smile just widened. Her hand was still pressed against Eve’s cheek, but the touch was broken all too soon as Eve lifted her into her arms and stood up.

“We have to get out of here. The water has already reached the second deck.”, Eve said, noticing the water around her feet. Clair simply nodded, her head resting on Eve’s shoulder. Eve quickly headed for the stairs that led upward.

A few men threw their ropes over to the other ship and leapt over. Once on board, they took a long plank, long enough to reach from one ship to the other, and put it between them.

Next came two men, each of them carrying one of her mates. One carried Kidd, the other Harle. A few men followed, and the captain was the last to return to his ship.

“Let’s get the hell outta here!”, he called and a few men were already retrieving the plank when one of them suddenly shouted.

“Soldiers! Two of them!” Everyone turned their heads to see the soldiers in question. To their surprise, they were both women. And they didn’t even aim their guns at them.

“Leave the plank where it is and let them on board!”, the captain ordered, causing the others too look at him curiously. “Now!”, he shouted fiercely.

They immediately obeyed and left the plank where it was, calling out to the women to come on board.

Eve nodded thankfully and slowly walked over the plank, holding Clair firmly. As she reached the other side, she felt the glare of the pirates, the mistrust and hatred. But she had other things to worry about. Clair needed help. She had fallen unconscious again, and Eve worried about her condition.

As Eve laid her down onto the ground, she felt that pain again. The pain she had tried to supress until now.It felt like someone stabbed her into her chest, a pain so unbearable it drained the air from her lungs. Eve clutched her chest, coughing and gasping for air, before she collapsed in front of the eyes of the pirates.