Hedgie and her two workers left early in the morning to go clean up the tavern. The task was large and physically demanding. Before they new it the Blaze was burning its hottest as it was noon.
"Jeez, Hedge! I think ya screamed a rupture in my ear? It's still ringing!" Kent rubbed his ear with his face twisted in discomfort.
"Oh stop complainin' cap! It's been hours since I yelled at ya and yer still talkin' about that damn ear! You were on the other side of the door there ain't no way I ruptured anthin'!" Hedgie lifts a long piece of broken wood over her shoulder and walks it over to a large pile of more rubble. She tosses it down and some dust kicks up when the wood lands on top.
Kent's eyebrows drew in as he glared at Hedgie. "I'm just sayin'! Ya didn't have to yell at me. I would've come help even if you just asked." Kent turned around and continued picking up the rubble.
Alix, meanwhile, was currently standing in the center of what was once the room she slept in. The only things that were left in the vicinity were some of the Lumi Crystals and her bed. The rest of her stuff was just gone.
Her catalysts, her spell notebook, her pens and pencils everything was just gone!
"Tch!" Alix clicked her teeth in aggravation. 'I will need to pay another visit to Omnicia.' She planned the trip for the future as she started cleaning some of the rubble. With some...."help".
'Oop, ya almost missed one, Lexi! Next to yer leg there!" Mo gestured to a piece of splintered wood behind Alix. She turned around and picked it up.
"Over there too! On yer left!" Alix looked up at Mo with a frown. He was sitting in his fishbowl off to the side with a large grin on his face. "What're ya so upset at me for? I'm just tryin' to make sure ya stay on top of things! Like that spot over there too!" Alix rolled her eyes and collected an armful of rubble then took it to the trash stack.
Nuka, unlike Mo, was actually helping so when she saw Mo clearly taking advantage of the situation to be annoying she knew she had to do something. She flew over to Mo in a huff.
"Hey, fish! If you're not gonna help then don't say anything!" Mo was grimacing in disdain before he even fully turned to face Nuka.
"I'm just watchin' out for my best friend unlike you over there. Flapping that beak just like those silly wings of yers. Uselessly."
"Scraw?! What did you just say to me you lazy floater!!"
"Oh you did not just call me a floater you aerophilic flapper!" Mo and Nuka started insult each other with bird and fish derogatory terms that they each came up with themselves. Meanwhile, Trouler just continued to push the rubble into the pile.
What a diligent little helper he is.
The wood in Alix's hand thudded as it landed atop the large stack of rubble. She took a moment to stretch before starting to work again. While stretching, her eyes naturally started to scan the dock.
Scorched wood was everywhere. Massive holes were in the dock from the fight last night. The sight was not pretty.
'We made quite a mess of things, didn't we?' Alix lamented. She wished she could say that this destruction was the result of her losing control. That she was just lashing out at everything like a wild animal but that would be a lie.
Alix looked down to the gloves on her hands. They were dirty with soot and ash just as were the rest of her clothes. She could vividly remember transforming into that armor. She remembered being angry.
She had been furious at not just Francis but at the entire city. The city that rejoiced as her father was executed. The city that didn't even bat an eye when her and her mother had to leave their home for to protect their identity. She wanted all of the residents of this cruel city to pay for the torment that they'd caused whether they knew it or not.
She remembered hearing the peoples screams and smiling to herself when Castle Island caught her eye. She directed Nuka to fly at the castle. The home of root cause of all of her torment, the King and Queen. She was just about tell Nuka to attack when they both sensed Francis and all of the pain that she had caused them came flooding back.
Alix clenches her fist tightly. 'If Francis had not fallen victim to the flames at that moment, I would have..." Alix stares at her fist that was trembling from how tightly it was clenched. She was frustrated that she had let something as fickle as emotions cause her to lash out. That was not something that she should be doing yet it happened and she could do nothing about it.
'This damned ability! What even caused that?!' Alix questioned and cursed in her mind.
"Are you alright, mother?" Alix looked away from her fist to see who had called her. Her eyes landed on a perplexed looking Kent.
"What do you want, Tyrant?" Alix didn't try to hide her frustration from the boy. His eyebrows rose at the sight.
"Clearly the answer that question is no. Well, could you be frustrated and clean up the rubble? I really don't want to be out here all day." Alix's brows creased and she look at the surrounding rubble.
"I think even if I helped that this would still take all day." Kent smirked.
"You're probably right. At least that would be the case, had I not asked for a few extra hands to help us out." Kent gestured to his side prompting Alix to turn and see what he was pointing at.
"Mom! I'm here to help! And I even managed to drag Holiday here! Nasak and Denver came too. Oh, and principle Vance and the Instructor Bizen!" Alisa introduced as she was standing at the head of a small group of people.
"You just love to talk, don't you?" Eric said under his breath but was still loud enough for Alisa to hear him. Alisa turned and scowled at him but did not say anything as speaking would only prove the boy right.
"See, that should speed things up a bit for ole' Hedge." Kent a proud smile came to Kent's lips as he stared at the approaching group. He then turned back to Alix.
"Now all we need is for you and those monsters to put in some effort and we'll have this stuff cleaned up in no time." Alix looked from the group of helpers back to Kent. She still felt frustrated by her action from the previous day but seeing all the people gather to help Hedgie reminded her that she had something else to focus on right now.
She nodded. "I understand. Though, you do know that you also need to do some work?" Kent flinched then sighed disdainfully.
"You don't need to remind me. Man, I just want to go back to the inn and rest. My whole body's sore from yesterday."
"That complaining is why Hedgie yells at you."
"How is this complaining? It's the truth!" Alix and Kent engaged in causal conversation as they joined the rest of the cleaning crew and helped clean up the rubble of the Pirate's Worst Nightmare.
Though the presence of everyone from yesterday does pose one very vital question.
What happened to Francis and those knights?
...
Francis slowly awakes. She groans as a raging headache plagues her upon her awakening. She tries to rub her head but finds that her arms are bound behind her by chains. In fact, she realized that she was completely bound! Arms, legs and all. "Where am I?"
"That's such a common thing for someone to say when they've found themselves detained, isn't it?" An eloquent feminine voice questioned. Francis started scanning around the room for the owner of said voice. The room was dark so she couldn't see well but that darkness allowed her easily notice the light shinning through a small barred window over her head.
"Who's there? Where am I? What have you done to me!?"
"Hmph!" Another voice grunted. This one was masculine, deeper and more disinterested than the first. "We've done nothing to you yet. Stop with that incessant yammering of yours." Francis growled.
"Who are you to order me around! Do you have any idea who I work for?!"
"It's those filthy Grand Alchemists, yes?" A sinister grin grows on Francis's face.
"So you do know? Then you'll also know that we have some very powerful enforcers working for us. And that they hold me in high regard, so they wouldn't be afraid of sending some of those enforcers out here to save me! So I suggest you release me!"
The voices sat in silence for a moment and Francis's grin grew bigger. "What's that, gone quiet? Did you find yourselves in a far more dangerous situation than you'd hoped? Don't worry, I'm sure that I can convince the enforcers to let you off as long as you let me go."
"We're not gonna do that." The masculine voice said coldly. "In fact, I think that you've overestimated your worth to that bunch of drug smugglers. They would never dare step foot on this land." Francis let out an amused grunt.
"Oh really. Are you saying that we're sitting on some sort of sacred ground? What? Am I sitting on top of royal soil or something?" Francis mocked.
"Yes. That is precisely where you currently find yourself." Francis's eyes shot wide. She felt her entire body begin to heat up. Sweat began to trail down her back.
"Th-th-that's some sort of joke-No a bluff! That's right you're bluffing! There's no way that I'm at the castle! The king shut the doors years ago and hasn't opened them since. And the queen's away from the city to maintain diplomatic relations throughout the year! You're bluffing!!" Francis breathed heavily as she desperately tried to convince herself that these people were just trying to make a fool out off her.
"Look at that! We've managed to unnerve you! Beaux, why don't you go down and prove to her that she's where we say she is?" The masculine voice let out an affirmative grunt then began to move.
Francis couldn't see him but she heard him. His heavy footsteps that seemed to grow louder and louder the more afraid she became. The footsteps moved from behind her, to her left side. The sound of a door creaking opening echoed through the hall.
The heavy, metallic footsteps marched forth, stopping directly in front of Francis. The owner of those footsteps was still obscured to Francis as they never stepped into the light.
"I-is somebody there?" Francis asked her voice trembling in fear. The voice did not respond. "He-hey! Wh-what's wrong? Nelia snatch your tou-" Francis was cut off as a metallic ring slowly echoed it's way through the room.
*Ssssssshhhhhhh*
It was slow and methodical. The way the metal rang. No, the way it cried. It was unlike anything she'd ever heard before. At that moment, Francis saw something glowing in the darkness. She instinctively squinted to try to see what it was. They looked like symbols that were appearing in thin air. The metallic ring continued for a few seconds but it felt like an eternity to Francis.
"The reflection of the moonlight shinning from the sea, that is where my blade gets it's lunar glow." The person before her spoke in a deep, serious tone.
"This is Chandra, the wistful blade of the mourning sea. And I am it's wielder..."
*SHING*
The slow whistle was abruptly ended when the person suddenly fully drew the blade. An ominous energy began resonating off of it and a bright silver light filled the entire room. Francis closed her eyes from the sudden blinding light. As she slowly opened them again she bore witness to a tall, domineering man standing over her with his blade drawn to the side.
"King of Pesin, I am Beaux Pesinroux." The king announced coldly then pointed his blade at Francis's throat. Francis was thoroughly terrified and intimidated by this point no longer denying her location nor trying to seem more powerful than she really is. She met the king's cold eyes as he slowly opened his mouth.
"Tell me, do you know the origin of the monster that nearly burned my city to ash?"