Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 3
(PART 3)
“What do you mean by that!?” shouts Daey.
Ernest shoots them a cold glare and replies, “I meant what I said, I want him off my ship.”
“That's ridiculous! Where do you expect him to go!?”
“I don't care, I've prepared a life boat with a few days of supplies on it.”
The fact that they have already gotten everything ready for him to leave so quickly after he had just woken up has gotten Tsubiri and Daey extremely angry.
Tsubiri is about to speak when her shoulder is touched by the hand of Ubica.
“It's okay.”
He walks his bandaged body past the two and grabs his shirt that is hanging off the desk by one of the windows, he then grabs a couple of accessories as if packing for a trip.
“You can't be serious...” Tsubiri says in disbelief.
Ubica's facial expression doesn't change when he replies, “I understand why he'd want me out of here, if I was in his position I'd do the same.”
Ernest smiles and speaks, “I'm glad that you are so reasonable, personally I like you, but I like my men a whole lot more. I can't put them in danger by keeping you around, if you attract another monster like that I doubt we'd survive next time.”
Ubica chuckles and grabs his last accessory, his sword.
He holds it over his shoulder and the reasonable tone he once held turns demanding. “I'll leave with no problems, but there will be conditions.”
Ernest's eyebrow twitches, “And that is?”
“All of my comrades stay, and you give me a copy of that map leading to the Gate.”
Ernest glares at him and then shrugs his shoulders, “Fine, I don't have any problems with them anyway. I'll have one of my men make a copy immediately.”
“Good.”
Despite the desperate glares of Tsubiri and Daey beating him in the back, he calmly walks out of the room, but not before leaving Ernest and his men with some final words.
“Listen close, I'll be at the Gate before you guys will, and if I find even a scratch on one of my comrades... I'll kill every last one of you.”
This causes a cold sweat to fall from their temples in fear, after witnessing the power of the enemy's attack on Ubica last night, they can't help but feel that he has an incomprehensible power himself because he was able to survive being slammed into the ocean at such an incredible speed. The three men stand in silence as he walks out of sight, only to turn and see a sight just as frightening, the hate filled frowns of two teenage girls.
Tsubiri walks out of the room and scoffs at Ernest.
Following behind is Daey, who hisses, “You people are cowards.”
Ernest and the men simultaneously sigh and with his big black hand he rubs his head in relief.
He looks at his two underlings and says, “That went well.”
Ubica takes a deep breath while he's walking up the stairs that lead to the deck. “It's gotten a lot harder to act like a tough guy to people nowadays. At least with my threat I'd doubt that any of these crew members will try anything funny .”
He opens the door and prepares himself for a good scolding by his comrades because of what's about to happen.
“WHAT!?!?” Trojia exclaims when Ubica tells her the situation that has unfolded.
Ubica smiles and says, “Come on it's not that bad, I'll be seeing you guys soon.”
“That's stupid! How can you just go out on your own like that, what if that guy from the other night comes back and attacks us while you're gone?”
“That won't happen, he only has a track on my location, he'll follow me and abandon you guys.”
“That's even worse! You'll be all alone.”
“It's what I have to do to keep you guys safe, you gotta trust me on this one... I'll be fine.”
Trojia frowns and bites her lip, with her head lowered she says under her breath, “You sound like my father...”
She says this because throughout her years, Zurvick has been out of her life for long periods of time, every instance when he left to go to battle or some kind of political excursion he'd always pat her on the head and say the same kind of thing. Of course he came back each time, but the length between returns were far too long for her liking, and this is the same kind of situation.
Messor stands on the deck waiting for her chance to speak.
She walks up to Ubica and looks him square in the eye and declares, “I'm coming with you.”
“No you can't, you have to stay behind and help the Captain's men with their powers. Plus the ship needs someone strong to protect them just in case something happens.”
Her eyebrows steepen and she clicks her tongue. “Help these pieces of shit? Those pitiful ants are lucky I don't kill the whole lot of them for this.”
Her words are sharp and ruthless, what's most terrifying about it is that she is completely serious. But Ubica has a feeling that she would do no such thing and he smiles at her reaction.
“I'm counting on you Messor...”
“So you trust me?”
“You've shown me that I can, but you can eliminate all doubt if you do this favor for me.”
Messor turns sharply and whips his face with her silky white hair. “Hmph! How cunning you are giving me an ultimatum, do what you want.”
She walks into the door that leads to the barracks and disappears out of sight.
Ubica takes a sigh of relief and thinks that she must be trying really hard to hold herself back against the crew members of the Dandelion. If she had any ounce of her former self still left, the men would most definitely be dead by now. He is truly beginning to trust her with all he has to offer and he can't help but feel happy at how things have progressed when it comes to his Idol.
He hops onto the wooden single sailed life boat and cuts the rope to drop him into the water, he starts to drift away when the figure of Ernest is seen from above.
He throws something down into the boat and says, “That's the map...”
Ubica gives him a look full of skepticism and he replies to it.
“Don't look at me like that, the thing's legit.”
From behind Ernest come the faces of the others wanting to wish him good bye.
He begins to drift away from the ship and he says to an onlooking Napoleon, “Hey, you know what you have to do until I come back don't you?”
Napoleon smirks and answers, “Of course I do.”
“Thanks Napol--------Gbbhhh!?”
Ubica is interrupted by a heavy bag hitting his face extremely hard, he looks up to see who threw it and sees Tsubiri standing in a position that screams out 'I'm the culprit!'.
“Hey! What the shit was that for!?!?”
“Enjoy you're trip you jerk!” she yells and sticks her tongue out at him, she turns and walks away.
Looking around to see what she threw at him, he finds that out of the bag came about a dozen limes that rolled onto the life boat's floor. Gratitude overrides his anger for getting pummeled with that bag, the reason for this is that there was nothing but kindness and concern in her intentions. Limes are used by sailors because the citrus in it prevents a sea inducing disease called scurvy; though the chances that Ubica could actually catch that illness is very slim.
He is happy for her concern, and to add to his happiness Daey adds, “Don't forget to eat and get a lot of sleep out there! Stay healthy okay!?”
Ubica smiles and says “ Okay I will! Would you stop worrying about my health already??”
“As long as you are an unhealthy guy I can't. Goodbye Ubica, I'll see you soon.”” Daey waves to him and walks away out of sight as well.
Strauphius doesn't say anything and nonchalantly salutes him, he has a light in his eye signaling that he is up to no good, most definitely it's something about how he is going to take advantage of Ubica's absence with Tsubiri.
The last one watching him float farther and farther away is Trojia, she is trying to think of something to send him off with but the distance between the two boats grows greater with each second. Finally, with a blushing face she shouts something at the top of her lungs. But sadly, there was a huge gust of wind that blew her voice out into the ocean so Ubica didn't hear a word of it.
In order to not look mean he smiles and waves to her.
Trojia is so flushed that she didn't even know that what she said couldn't be heard so she takes his reaction as somewhat of a reply and turns around.
She puts her hands on her face and with look like she is surprised she says, “I-I-I said it!?”
She gives a final look in Ubica's direction and he is almost completely out of sight, she smiles and says, “Now you have to come back...”
It has been three full days and now the fourth night has fallen on Ubica who is alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean. His sail is not set but the small wooden life boat is moving around quickly as if there was some kind of motor on it.
That motor is Ubica's hand, he has it rested in the water and a green light surfaces around it making the sea have an odd colored glow in the propelling boat's wake.
He hasn't just been sitting around in the boat trying to find land, if he really wanted to he'd be there by now, but he has been using every moment possible to train himself under the sea. Various exercises have left him physically exhausted.
“This is a perfect opportunity to train myself in the sea so I can stand a chance against Leviathan. Plus this allows me to protect the rest simultaneously, this actually couldn't have worked out any better.”
He sighs at his optimism and takes his hand out of the water, he has yet to sleep so he decides that this night is as good as any because the weather is perfect. He lays on his back and gazes into the stars and the three moons of the sky. With this peaceful image engraved in his mind he shuts his eyes and falls asleep.
“Hey... Are you dead?”
This voice of a girl is ringing through Ubica's dream, he subconsciously feels that there is someone standing over him and slowly opens his eyes. The heat of the high noon sun beats on his face and causes his vision to be blurry, but when the sun is blocked and the shadow of a person is cast on him, he can see very clear.
It is a girl, she looks to be in her late teens and has amber colored hair and azure eyes, she is undeniably pretty and she gives off a sense of freedom by the clothes and the hair style she is wearing. A small yet loose black tank top over her body and under that some very small jean shorts, her hair is oddly tied upwards but it fits her face and slim body type perfectly.
After glaring at her for a few short seconds his face turns bright red, but not because of her good looks, he just happened to shift his eyes from her face down to her visible chest. He can see everything because she is leaning over atop him causing her small shirt to hang down, she seems to be so used to not wearing a bra that she doesn't even notice that this is happening.
“Uaaaahhh! Who are you??” Ubica asks as he backs up rather quickly, causing the boat to rock a little.
The girl tilts her head and replies, “I should be the one asking that, are you a pirate? Ooh lemme guess a shipwreck right! How long have you been out on the ocean in the life boat!?”
Being pummeled by questions, Ubica takes a deep breath and answers them all one by one.
“No. Kind of, and I don't know. It depends on how long I've been asleep for, but if I were to guess it'd be around five days.”
“Five days!?” she shouts in surprise, she immediately grabs his arms and begins to check him in a few spots as if expecting to see something wrong with him. “You must be in terrible shape! My brother is a doctor in town so you should come with me so he can make sure you're okay.”
Ubica nervously smiles and says, “N-No that's not necessary...”
“Nonsense! If what you said is true there is no way that there isn't anything wrong with you.”
He sighs at her persistence and looks around the area to scope where he is, he finds that he has floated into a lagoon of a land mass. His life boat has floated all the way to land, a large island to be exact, and this particular one is surrounded by large rock forms that look much like cliffs. Houses and buildings are built on these rocks, and on the shore, in the middle of the lagoon are wooden steps that scale a small cliff, leading into a bustling city.
The girl puts one hand on her thigh and then points at him with the other, with a serious face she declares, “My name is Amber Lockeford, and you're coming with me!”
“I told you that I'm not going!”
Before he knows it, he finds himself reluctantly following this girl around the city, there are a lot of people doing daily activities so he comes to the conclusion that this city must stretch a long way into the island. This place has the feeling and look of a coastal city in Italy, all the buildings have different colors to them but somehow look really good in comparison to the surroundings.
“Hey, Ubica right? Stop zoning out we're here.”
Looking up he sees a two story building that has some weird writing on it, but he assumes that it has something to do with signifying that it is a doctor's residence.
“Is this where you live?” he asks.
"No, my brother lives here by himself, I still live with my parents.”
“Ohh...”
“Come in.”
Ubica stops at the door and glares at her discouragingly.
She raises her index finger to this look and says, “Just go in, you'll never know how it'll end up.”
“How in the world did I end up in this situation!?” Ubica asks with a bitter look on his face when he finds himself sitting on a dinner table with six people he doesn't know.
"Buaahahaha! Because our family never turns down anyone in need!” says the burly amber bearded father named Albert as he slaps Ubica really hard on the back.
Ubica sighs and says under his breath, “I already told you guys that I'm fine..”
“Although I must say, you are in surprisingly good health after I took a look at you, what did you do to stay in such good shape? Amber said you didn't have much food on board when the two of you docked the boat.” asks the doctor Nicklaus, who is also the brother of Amber.
He is the oldest child but looks like a complete outsider compared to his father and the rest. He seems to be very frail and he wears glasses that add to this meek look of his.
There is one person at the table that obviously has Albert's genes, her name is Allison and she is a woman in her late twenty's with two little ten year old twins who sit one a piece at each side of her. “Now that I think of it... You haven't touched any of the food!!”
Ubica leans back in his chair and raises his hands, “Well you see I'm not hun--”
“Is my cooking not good enough!?” the elder sister exclaims.
“N-No that's not it at all.”
Amber's mother Melissa chimes in, “Oh no, that's never good when a mother can't cook.”
She always has a slight smile on her face and really fits the homely wife type.
Allison takes a deep breath in shock, she looks at her two twins, one a girl and one a boy and asks, “Alice, Jeremy! Is my cooking good!?”
The two twins stare at her dejectedly and in a non convincing manner they both eerily answers simultaneously.
“S-Sure...”
“Whaaaaa!? That was a terrible reply!”
She grabs the two kids heads under her each of her arms and begins to strangle them, it would seem that they are used to it but from an onlookers prospective it really looks like child abuse.
“Waaaah! Your food is great! I swear I swear!!” the little boy named Jeremy yells frantically.
“I don't believe you you little brat!!!”
Albert just sits back and laughs obnoxiously loud as he watches this scene that would make a normal child loving parent cringe.
Amber takes a sigh of exasperation and looks to an uncomfortable Ubica who seems to feel a little guilty because the two kid's torture is a direct result of him not eating.
She senses this and says, “Sorry my family is a little crazy.”
“No it's nothing, to be honest my group isn't much different.”
Melissa overhears this through the noise and asks, “Now that you mention it, what brings you here anyway?”
With this question, all the noise suddenly halts and the awkward atmosphere hits Ubica really hard.
He tries to scramble and find something to say, “Well due to some circumstances I had to leave the ship that I was on and I just drifted here while I was asleep.”
“No no, that's not what I meant..” she reveals a lecherous smile and finishes, “Could it be my little Amber made a move on you?”
“Haaah?” Ubica groans as he tilts his head in confusion.
Amber's shoulders jump and her face turns red.
“Mom! What are you talking about!?”
“I'm just saying that it's not too often that a boy this cute falls on your lap like that. You never struck me as the type to bring someone to meet the family so soon after you first met. Oh-ho my daughter is finally growing up!”
“D-Don't just jump to conclusions like that! I would never------”
Amber is interrupted by the sharp voice of her elder sister saying, “Yeah that would be ridiculous considering the fact that Amber gets so nervous she can barely talk the guy she likes, there's no way that she'd hit on a random fellow.”
Ubica has no clue what is going on but he is becoming increasingly more awkward with each passing second.
Nicklaus tilts his glasses up and agrees, “True.”
Ubica's uneasiness reaches it's peak, this is certainly not something he should be hearing from people he had just met, and by the look of it, Amber is about to blow steam out of her ears. Ubica attempts to save her from this cruel and unusual punishment from her family and stands to his feet.
“Thank you very much for the meal, but I really must be goi---”
His speech is halted by the sound of the front door being knocked behind him, the house is fairly big but one could see the entrance from the dining room.
“Oh he's here!” Albert says in excitement, he walks over to the door and opens it.
There in the doorway stands a shining man with blonde hair and light brown eyes. He looks to be in his lower twenties and emits a radiance to him that feels more like he belongs to some kind of royal family.
“Tuscany, it's great to see ya! Come on in I'll set up a seat for you.”
The man named Tuscany smiles politely and says, “Thank you.”
The two walk up to the table and both him and Ubica catch eyes for a moment, Tuscany looks at him in an odd way and back to the others.
“Who's this?” he asks.
“He's a drifter that Amber picked up out of the ocean.” Melissa answers in a carefree fashion.
“M-Mom that makes it sound bad...” Amber shyly says.
Tuscany glances at her and reveals an accepting smile, “I'm sure you had your reasons.”
He takes a seat and a heavy feeling reaches Ubica's body which makes him really feel like he needs to leave, but to be polite he decides to stick around until he finds the right moment.
Things quiet down and the introduction process finally begin.
Ubica looks to the new guest and politely says, “My name's Ubica, nice to meet you.”
“Tuscany Reinhart, it's my pleasure.”
The two force a fake smile at each other and sit in silence for a few moments, when out of the blue Albert looks to Amber and blatantly asks, “So... Have you kissed yet?”
“WHAT!?!?” Amber shouts.
Tuscany puts his hand over his mouth and slightly coughs, obviously flustered.
Albert gets right into their business and yells, “Ahhh! How can I have another grandson if you guys can't even get to first base!!?”
Amber hides her face in embarrassment on the table as Albert waits for an answer that will never come. Ubica is embarrassed for her and because of this his awkwardness hits an all time high, he has no clue why he'd say something like that to his own daughter but he gets a little info from Nicklaus.
“In case you're wondering, Tuscany and my sister are engaged. Please excuse my father's rude behavior, he's not used to guests so he treats these kind of situations like there is nobody there.”
“Oh I see..”
Ubica looks to Tuscany and Amber, with a bright smile he says, “Congratulations.”
The two say their thanks, Tuscany seems proud of that fact and Amber seems shy.
The dinner seemed to last forever but it's finally finished, and with it all of Ubica's patience; he hasn't wanted to leave a room so badly in quite a while. It's not like they are bad people, but meeting people for the first time and spending a good amount of time in their daily lives is usually a little too much for a person to handle.
“Thanks for inviting me to your home, it was a pleasure.” Ubica says in the nicest way possible.
Tuscany had already left earlier due to some appointment so the family members all say their goodbyes and Ubica hurriedly walks to the door.
But before he can leave, he is halted by the soft voice of Amber asking, “Wait, where are you going to stay?”
“Hmmm, I haven't thought that far yet, but I'll figure it out.”
They all look at him in a worried way, which catches him off guard cause he doesn't see why they'd care.
Albert takes a step forward and says in a serious manner, “Well if you don't find somewhere feel free to come here, the door will be open for you.”
This makes Ubica somewhat happy, not because he knows he has somewhere to go but rather the fact that there really are kind people who would do such a thing as let a stranger in need into their home.
“I guess what you said was true, the Lockeford family always helps someone in need. Thank you, but I've already imposed enough on you guys.”
“Buaaahahaha of course! Remember, the offer still stands Ubica.”
Ubica walks out the door and onto the road, he turns around and smiles, “I'll keep that in mind. Goodbye everyone!”
“Huuaaahhh finally out of there.” Ubica sighs.
He walks down the steps that lead to the lagoon his boat is docked in, once at his boat he finds that nothing has been stolen out of it so he is quite relieved. He hid it behind a batch of rocks so nobody can see it easily, but the lagoon is fairly secluded so one would really have to look hard too spot it and ransack it if they really wanted to, so he's happy nothing went wrong.
He gets ready to jump in the boat when he happens to look out into the ocean, thinking about it, he finds that this is an ideal place for his training.
This lagoon is just enough out of the way from the town where he can get away with whatever he wants without notice, and the numerous islands out in the distance are good spots to swim to for fishing, so food would come easy if he ever got hungry.
The most important part of this is that the crystal clear water of this lagoon seems to be warm even at night, it's something that is desperately needed. If something happened where Ubica was tossed overboard and the water was freezing he would literally die in an instant.
“Alright, I can stay here for a couple days.” he says as he puffs out his chest in determination.
“You can stay at my place you know?” said Amber, who is sitting on the stairs leading up to town.
“Whoah what are you doing here!?”
“I came to find you before you left, I wanted to give you water.”
“Ooh thanks, I forgot to get some while I was in town.”
Amber walks down the stairs and walks into the water, splashing her legs around she says, “You are a strange guy, why wouldn't you accept help when it's offered to you like that?”
“Some people just don't like to impose.”
“Hmmm, sometimes I think it's more rude to deny help than it is to accept it.”
Ubica never thought of it that way so he puts his hands together and says, “I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you in any way!”
“It's not offensive, it just gets me fired up.”
“..?”
“I'm not gonna leave you alone as long as you stay in this lagoon.”
“Why would you wanna do that?”
“To make sure you're okay you idiot!”
“Hey you didn't have to insult me!”
“Of course I do! You seem like one of those dense guys who have to get insulted before he realizes that he's wrong.”
What she says hits him like an arrow in the chest, he can't think of how many times he's been called dense or clumsy, or an idiot by Daey, Troji, and especially Tsubiri.
This gets him riled up and he forgets that he is talking to someone he had just met when he says, “Well not everyone can be like your fiancee.”
Amber instantly becomes flushed and frowns at his words, she doesn't speak but gives him a look that shows how much displeasure that caused.
“I'm sorry, I went too far.”
“It's fine, but you're right... You aren't like him at all, he's well spoken, polite, smart and proper. He's every girl's dream guy.”
Ubica tries not to take offense by that and takes it with a grain of salt, he sighs and pulls his shirt off to get ready to go into the water.
He walks past her and smiles when he says, “Then it looks like you got yourself a good one.”
“Hey... Do you have a girlfriend?”
Ubica blushes and turns away, “N-No...”
“Then is there anyone you like?”
“U-Uh... I don't quite know yet... Wait, where did these questions come from!?”
“Y-You see, I just wanted to get some advice, I'm too embarrassed to talk about it with my family so I was hoping you'd know something about what I'm going through.”
“What you're going through? Aren't things perfect for you right now?”
“I guess you can say that, I mean... I've had a huge crush on him in secret since I was real little but I never had the courage to talk to him even once, but around three months ago he came up to me and asked me to marry him.”
“Wow that's random.”
“I know right!? But I had to say yes, I was so happy that I thought I'd die.”
“Then what's the problem?”
“Since then.. I still don't really have the courage to talk to him, I always get so nervous that everything I say is really short and pointless. I can't even imagine touching him in any way, so I don't get why he'd still want to marry me when I have so little to offer.”
Ubica laughs a little, for one, he has no clue why she is confessing this to him like he is one of her girlfriends, and the other is because she is so innocent.
He jumps into the water to get used to the temperature and then back out, with his hair hanging over his eyes he says, “I hate to say it but you are barking up the wrong tree by asking me that, I have no clue what those feelings are like... but.” He shakes his head to get the water off out of his hair and smiles at her. “You are a beautiful person. If you keep that in mind it might give you the courage to accomplish what you want to do.”
Amber gives him a slight smile and slightly blushes at that statement, she looks away for a moment then looks back, and to her surprise she finds that Ubica is gone.
Out in the distance he pops up and says, “Now go home! It's getting late!”
She huffs air out of her nose and walks away, heading up the stairs she stops and thinks about what he had just said, her body warms up and she says to herself,
“...I'm beautiful huh?”
It's been four days since Ubica drifted into this somewhat secluded lagoon, and the training he has put himself through has been vigorous and difficult. Such things like lifting the heaviest of boulders from the ocean floor and staying under water for hours on end holding his breath are a daily occurrence. The gist of what he is trying to do is become completely adapted to moving and fighting in the water, he knows that the chances of fighting Leviathan under water is very high so he must be as natural as can be when the time comes.
As of now he is laying on the sand under a makeshift umbrella made out of his shirt and a blanket that came with the life boat, but he is not alone. Every day a certain girl he met always meets him in the morning, afternoon, and even the evening.
“So are you ready to stay at our house yet?” Amber asks as she stands over him with her hands on her hips.
“You've been asking me this everyday and my answer never changes, so give it up already.”
“Not a chance, the Lockefords never give up on someone in need!”
“Do I look needy to you!?”
“Yeah you do, where in the world do you shower!? And what do you eat and drink!?”
“Hello there's a big city just on top of that hill! Everything I need is up there, I'm just not sleeping with a roof over my head.”
“You do everything else but you can't come stay, you make no sense.”
“I'll tell you what Amber, when it rains I'll come to your house.”
Looking up, one can see that there isn't a single cloud in sight and it is obvious that unless a freak occurrence happens there is no chance that it'll rain anytime soon.
“Ahh geez you are so stubborn! Fine, I'm coming back tonight to take you back.”
“Good luck.”
Amber tut-tuts and stomps off, this has become a usual happening so the two have been spending a lot of time together. For the most part they get along really well, and when he is not getting pestered to go to her house they have very normal conversations that any pair of friends would.
Ubica lays in the sun and decides to shut his eyes and take a nap, he hasn't slept much but this is as good a time as any to do so.
Once he doses off, Amber comes rushing back and says, “I forgot my---eh?”
She hasn't seen him sleeping yet so she starts to tip toe around him to pick up her wallet that she dropped right beside him. Trying to be extremely quiet she stubs her toe into a rock and loses her balance.
With a rather loud “Kyahh!” she falls straight on top of Ubica.
“Shit Ubica I'm sorry I...”
To her utter shock she finds that he is still sleeping like log, she definitely fell straight on him and her full weight it still pressing against him. She has to double take when she finally realizes this, and the feeling in her finger tips that rest on his bare chest reaches her body, the feeling of her legs intertwined with his makes her hips jolt.
She immediately jumps off of him, grabs her wallet and stands to her feet, she looks down on him and her face gets really red.
(What in the world was that??) she thinks to herself, she puts her hand on her chest and feels her heart beating quickly. (I-I'm sure its nothing.)
The truth is that it is something, though it is not much, she has finally realized that Ubica is a guy, and an attractive one at that. Before that moment, she didn't think anything of him. She forcefully throws the image of Tuscany into her head and this calms her down, with that she smiles as if nothing happened and heads into the city.
Amber is on her way from her house to the lagoon where Ubica is staying, the sun is almost down and because of some sporadic cloud coverage that finally showed up a picture perfect sunset can be seen over the cliff that leads down to the beach. She normally comes after the sun has already set but decided to come early cause she was already out and about, she gets down to the beach and sees that Ubica is nowhere in sight.
{Huh? Where is he?)
She looks around the area and still has no luck, she assumes he is swimming so she looks out to the ocean to check if she can see his wake. But something catches her eye that makes her heart skip a beat, it is Ubica, but he is not swimming, rather he is standing with his back turned to her on the slightly breaking water. She can only stand there in disbelief as she watches this scene, and it's only going to get more foreign for her because Ubica gently sinks into the water and disappears.
“Wait wait wait wait, that couldn't have been real....Could it?” she asks herself in denial.
She waits for Ubica to come up out of the water but after few minutes she becomes worried.
“Screw this, he can't hold his breath for that long!”
She unhesitatingly rushes into the water and dives in. Swimming as fast as possible to the location where she thinks he is, she finds that things under water are getting hard to see now that the sun is going down.
(Damn it where is he!?)
Things begin to look hopeless when she runs out of breath and breaks to the surface to breathe, she takes one giant inhale and swims back down, and when she does it's like she had just swam into a different world. There is a bright green light that shines so bright that it looks like everything under water is actually out in the plain day, the fish that are swimming look like they are floating in the air and all the other sea life seem so surreal.
In the middle of this gorgeous scene is a certain lad with his eyes closed standing impossibly on the ocean floor, and the light seems to emit from him as if he is some kind of god.
Amber is in awe at this sight, this is the definition of an out of body experience. She wants to get close to this light so she moves towards it, this is so entrancing that she forgot she was under water and tries to take a breath. It seems that the gulp of saltwater put her back to her senses, she realizes that she is almost out of breath but this time it's too late. She will not make it to the surface in time and it looks like she will drown, that is until she feels her body become weightless and is sent upwards.
This is a similar feeling to what she had earlier under water, but this is on a different level then something that should belong in the realm of reality.
Amber opens her eyes and is staring up at Ubica as the setting sun shines over his outstanding figure and the thousands of droplets of water. Under his feet is a stream of water that he is balancing on and the orange tint of the setting sun shines through it making it look like he is standing on a beam of light. At this very moment she is apart of something right out of fantasy novel, in the arms of this incredible person suspending in air as everything around them slows down.
After a few seconds of this she unconsciously speaks his name, “Ubica...”
The water that once surrounded him in mid air falls and splashes back into the ocean.
He falls along with it and looks at her in confusion.
She gives him a shocked frown and musters up the courage to ask, “...What are you?”
“I wonder how he's doing?” Tsubiri asks Daey, who is standing right next to her looking at the sunset.
“Who knows... I bet he's being really unhealthy though.” Daey replies.
Tsubiri sighs and says, “Nine days... That's a long time for any one of us to separated, it feels like it's been forever since he left.”
“Yeah, it doesn't help that I feel really uneasy about all this with him not around.”
“Like how?”
Daey has her hair down so she is twirling it with her finger, not in a ditsy way but rather she does it unconsciously in deep thought. “I just have a feeling that by simply being away from Ubica, it doesn't make us safe from those monsters. Every night I feel like something is getting closer to us.”
“Uhhh, that's a creepy thought you got going there.”
“Well it's true.”
Tsubiri again sighs and this time even louder, “You're making this worse.... Hmm?"
Something out in the distance catches her eye and she squints to get a better sight of it.
“Hey look at that... Is that a boat?”
Daey takes a better look as well and replies, “Yeah.. I think it is.”
“You don't think it could be...” Tsubiri says as hope fills her eyes.
Daey starts to become excited as well when she tries to clarify, “It looks like the same kind of boat.”
“I gotta go tell somebody! I'll be right back.”
Tsubiri runs down into the barracks below the deck to tell Strauphius, Messor, Napoleon and Trojia.
Looking on as the boat keeps getting closer and the figure of a single man can be seen, this description fits Ubica's perfectly, a small boat occupied by one person in the middle of the ocean.
By now the ship's men have all caught wind of the boat and Ernest comes to the railing to greet the incoming vessel. He is really hoping that it isn't Ubica but it is a little rule of his to pick up anyone who is stranded in a lifeboat due to a past experience. So he stands out there waiting to take him in, he tells a few men to bring some food and water just in case.
Getting closer, the man is almost seen, he seems to be bundled up in some sort of red cloak and his face still isn't visible.
Daey looks really hard and is suddenly struck with a sickening feeling in her stomach, her face turns blue and the sight of the man is finally seen perfectly.
“That's not Ubica...”
She choppily turns to Ernest and gives him an intense glare when she says, “You absolutely must not let that boat anywhere near this ship.”
“What the frig' are you yapping about? There's no way I'm gonna leave someone stranded in the middle of the ocean by himself.” He then turns and shouts to one of his men, “Throw down the anchor!”
Naturally, the man obliges. It's now official. They are stopped here and they will be taking this drifter aboard no matter what and Daey doesn't seem too thrilled about this.
In fact, she is devastated.
She turns away from the railing and runs through the door that connects to the stairs leading down to the barracks, she slams the door behind her and sees that the rest of the group are all heading up the stairs courtesy of Tsubiri's high hopes.
“Don't go out there!!” Daey shouts.
The rest all look at her confused and Napoleon asks, “Why not?”
“You just have to trust me, we have to find somewhere to hide!”
Judging by how frantic she is, the rest feel very uneasy about this, and this makes Napoleon want to investigate all the more.
He walks past her and says, “I'm sure it's not that bad.”
He opens the door and despite Daey's pleas to keep him there, he walks onto the deck.
He gets to the railing and joins a group of about twenty or so men who are greeting this incoming boat, he has to shove a couple of them out of the way to get a good sight and as soon as he does his eyes widen and a cold sweat falls down his temple.
He quickly ducks and literally crawls in an army style back to the barrack door, he enters the stairway and leans up against the wall while breathing hard. The rest look at him anxiously and he replies to their looks by saying,
“This is bad..”
“That doesn't answer my question at all, there's no way I'd accept you saying, 'It's best that you don't know' as anything more than a roundabout.” Amber says.
Ubica shows her a strained smile and apologizes, “I'm sorry but that's the best thing I have to offer you.”
“This is stupid, how is it a bad thing that you can do those things? I don't see why you can't explain it to me.”
Ubica stays silent and looks away, he's not good at saying no so it's best for him to just not say anything at all, even if this makes her hate him he knows that this is what's best. Besides, he plans on leaving tomorrow anyways, it wouldn't make any difference if she came to dislike him.
“So you're just going to stay quiet... I see.” she huffs air out of her nose and walks off. Half way up the stairs she turns back to him and says, “I told you everything about me, the least you can do is return the favor.”
Ubica smiles sadly and thinks to himself that she is only having the natural reaction any other human would after seeing such nonhuman abilities, these kind of things would spark curiosity in just about anyone. Ubica really feels that this could be the last time he ever sees her, he'd be really surprised if she'd want to see him before tomorrow ends so he'll probably leave before they even get a chance to have a proper goodbye.
But before Amber reaches the top of the hill she turns again and says one last thing.
“Don't forget to come over to my house if it starts to rain.”
This surprises him, she can still invite him over after seeing those freakish abilities of his; he wonders if there is some backward motive in this, however, he comes to the realization that there really are people who will accept someone like him unconditionally.
None the less, he still has no intention of going over there.
He smiles at her kindness and says under his breath, “I wish I could tell you... But I don't want you to get involved with me..”
As soon as he says this, he feels a breath over his shoulder into his ear saying, “Too late Ubica.”
He quickly turns around and a dreaded sight beholds him, it is the very man that he is training to fight against, the second in command to the Hierarchy.
“Leviathan!?”
“Now now, don't look so surprised. I'd hope you weren't foolish enough to think that I wouldn't find you eventually.”
Ubica dashes for his sword and pulls it out to slash him with it.
Completely not phased, Leviathan smiles and says, “Easy there, just because I came here doesn't mean I want to fight you.”
“Cut this bullshit already! Just what the fuck are you planning!?”
“Oh? I seem to have gotten you quite rattled. This is good, I need you to become that way or this whole thing is pointless.”
“...?”
“If you truly want to know what I'm doing here, I'd prefer to tell you if you don't mind.”
“Go ahead.”
“I'm here---- no... I exist to send you into despair.”
Ubica takes a step back and wonders what he means by that.
But Leviathan takes a step towards him and continues, “How do you think I can make you so desperate that you'd cling to any shred of hope you have left? What can I do to make you so stressed that you'd fall into darkness to release the pressure? What do you think I must do?”
Ubica takes another step back and Leviathan in turn takes another step forward.
“I think I have a few ideas... If there is one thing I've noticed about you, the new you, is that you get along with people quite well. You are an easy guy for people to connect with. But it's not because of anything special, the reason is simple, it is because you genuinely care about every person you meet with all of your miserable existence.”
“That's the way it should be, every one is precious in their own way, it took me a long time to realize that.”
“In the time it took you to realize that idiotic ideal, you have nurtured it into becoming your biggest weakness.”
Ubica frowns and finally takes a step forward. “That is not weak! I've become strong because of it!”
“Then you will you put it to the test?”
“What..?”
“I'm interested to see if this is truly a strong point or not. I wonder how you will react when you find out that this thought process of yours amounts to nothing when lives are one the line.” Leviathan spreads his arms and declares, “You will fall into despair, you will become angry, you will become consumed with hate for every last living thing, you will become 'Evil' once more.”
Ubica grits his teeth and hesitatingly says, “It won't.... I won't...”
“Then I will give you an ultimatum.” Leviathan says as he walks closer to him and looks him square in the eye. “This weakness of yours has caused you to truly cherish that girl and her family right? Well... I'm going to kill them.”
Ubica grips his sword with all of his might and yells, “I'LL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!!!”
"I thought you'd say as much, which is why I must ask... Would you stop me if it costs you your comrade's lives?”
“...?”
Ubica stares at him with so much intensity it's as if the ocean behind Leviathan will boil from his glare.
“Soon enough, there will be someone commencing an attack on that ship the rest of your comrades are on, and without you there they have no chance of survival.”
“N-No way... How?”
“Another mishap on your part Ubica, have you forgotten that I come from the ocean? Anything on or in that water is in my realm, I'll always have a track on them, even if you're not there.”
“You bastard!!!” Ubica shouts as he swings his sword into the sand.
Leviathan smiles at his anger and says, “Calm down, you can still save them, if you left now I won't stop you.” He shifts his eyes toward the town and sharply says, “But the moment you leave, I'll kill that entire family.”
Ubica takes sharp breaths at revelation of these options, it's as if he doesn't want to take on this responsibility. All he can do is stay silent and allow Leviathan to keep adding brutal conditions onto him.
“So now you must pick, this weakness of yours will cost one of these sides their lives... Although, there is one way you can save them both..”
Ubica looks at him as if begging for the way how and Leviathan answers.
“Let your true self consume you, let Dantega take over... If you do that, you could possibly kill me and make it to the ship in time to defeat the man I sent there.”
“I-I can't do that...”
“Yes you can Ubica, you have no other choice, you are fighting a losing battle otherwise.”
“I SAID I CAN'T!”
“I see you do not like to be the one being tempted, perhaps I should tell you who is going to be killing all of your comrades to add to your desperation? I'll give you a hint, it's someone you know quite well.”
To add to the tension of the conversation, thick clouds form overhead and the sound of a light thunder can be heard. Ubica is absolutely dreading finding out who it is, because depending on who, he knows that there will be no mercy shown. Rain begins to pour onto them, the water seems to fall away from Leviathan but drenches Ubica as if nature is rubbing salt in his wounds.
Leviathan laughs a little and says, “The man is...”
“Okay just what the hell is going on here!?” shouts Trojia in frustration about being cooped up in the stairwell.
Daey shushes her and gives her a look screaming at her to stay quiet.
She then gestures to the little circle window of the barrack doors and points, signaling them to take a look for themselves.
Messor has been quiet because she can't sense what they are so afraid of, and personally she is not too worried because if it was Leviathan or any other of the 7 Demons from the Hierarchy, she would have felt it.
She, along with Trojia and Strauphius take a look through the window and simultaneously take deep breaths of shock when they see who the man is.
He is wearing a dark red cloak, he has light brown hair and blue eyes, in his hand he is tossing a little marble while wearing a big smile on his face.
He is none other than the man who split the group up into two by creating a crater that was almost the size of the first level of Purgatory itself. He is the man who destroyed Aria's and Strauphius' house and also the man who brutally murdered Daey's bodyguard Rudo.
Last but not least, he is the man who created the eternal abyss for Ubica and Messor to burn in for all eternity.
This man introduces himself to Ernest and the crew by saying, “Thanks fer havin' me on board. I've been dyin' to find this ship... The name's Abaddon.”
Pursuit on the Water: (END)
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