Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Scurvy, Jolly Rogers and a Whole Lotta Booty ❯ On the Usefulness of Obscure Ceremonies ( Chapter 12 )

On the Usefulness of Obscure Ceremonies

Quatre took several steps away from Treize and looked down at the necklace in his hand. The green glow was even fainter and the fog around the ship was beginning to clear up.

"I am ever so pleased to have you aboard the Epyon," Treize said as he fingered the hilt of his sword.

Quatre nodded. "Thank you for having me," he said as all the lessons on good manners took over for his confused brain.

Treize merely smiled at him.

"You didn't want to work for my father then?" Quatre finally said after the ghost pirate's smile started to unnerve him.

"Of course not," Treize laughed. "Mr. Winner rose my crew, my ship and myself from the dead to do his bidding. We were having quite a nice time at the bottom of the ocean."

"I'm sorry he did that. He doesn't always understand other people's feelings."

"No. He is a truly selfish man. I am surprised you are his son."

Quatre smiled, for all that he had heard about the ghost pirate Treize he really wasn't that bad of a guy. "Why did my father want you to work for him? Why didn't he just become a pirate himself."

Treize laughed again. "Mr. Winner a pirate? He gets seasick on a tube ride. He's keeps the company that makes Dramamine in business."

Quatre nodded slowly. He was learning so many new things about his father and none of them were good. He had forced Treize to work for him, and he was a lousy land landlubber. "I can't believe it! My own father gets seasick!" he cried out in anguish.

"Yes, I know it is a shock," Treize said in a soothing voice. "But from what I've seen you make a very good cabin boy. I've never seen a cleaner ship than the Zero Star."

"Really?" Quatre said and smiled slightly. "What do you think is going to happen to the rest of the ship's crew?"

A dark look fell across the ghost pirate's face. "Oh, something terrible indeed. I am assuming they will be sacrificed in order to make a new binding necklace for me."

Quatre gasped. "But Trowa and the others. We have to rescue them!!" he said and began to look around franticly.

"We don't have to do anything," Treize said, "but we will help. For a price."

* * *

Relena, Mr. Winner, and the strange old man with Heero in tow headed out of the little hut and began to walk away from the village. They passed through a small patch of trees and then out into another clearing.

Heero tried struggling with the old man, but he was incredibly strong for his age. Plus, Heero was still rather disturbed.

The clearing had nothing but a well right in the middle of it surrounded by a large circle with markings Heero didn't recognize. The stones around the well were stained with a dark substance that Heero knew must be blood. It could have been spilt ketusup but he had a feeling there weren't too many barbecues taking place in there.

"Here we are, Captain," the old man said in what can only be described as a mocking tone. Then he began to tie Heero up to a large palm tree at the edge of the clearing.

Relena and Mr. Winner were making last minute preparations. The old man hurried to help after he finished tying up Heero.

"I'm coming," he called as Relena squawked at him to hurry up.

Heero scanned the rest of the clearing and saw his loyal crew and Duo being held by some very big and ugly zombies. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their shirts were gone. Wu Fei did have a rather nice upper body, Heero thought, he must have gotten it from working out to all those Bruce Lee movies. Trowa was tall and slender but well defined. Then Heero looked at Duo. He hadn't seen Duo shirtless in a long while. He was slim and wiry, the perfect swimmers body.

Heero noticed Duo looking at him after a moment and he tried to give him some sign of reassurance. But there was nothing he could do. He had completely failed as a captain, and he would pay for it with the rest of his life.

Suddenly Relena appeared very close to Heero's face and he moved back quickly and knocked himself in the head. "My poor baby," she cooed and petted the back of the captain's head.

Heero held his breathe because he already felt light headed, that mixed with Relena's fowl odor would render him unconscious for sure.

"You should be fine," she said as she finally removed her hands and stepped far enough away for Heero to breathe again. He was nearly blue. "Well, finer than they are going to be a few moments, anyway," she indicated his crew and smiled.

Heero merely glared at the voodoo priestess and looked back at his crew, longingly.
The braided thief was the only one looking back.

Relena moved farther away and Heero began to rub his ropes slowly on the tree. I can still free myself, he thought, I can still save them.

Then Relena yelled, "let the ceremony began."

* * *

The crew of the Zero Star were being held very securely by some giant, stinky zombies. Duo had long ago given up trying to struggle. It only made it worse because they would swing at him with their decaying hands and leave little bits of zombie flesh where ever the strike fell. It just wasn't worth it.

"Someone's coming," Wu Fei said. He was the first person to speak since they had left the hut.

Trowa looked up, but then looked down despondently when he noticed it wasn't Quatre. "We are going to die like a couple of sacrificial chickens," he said softly.

"Ha," Duo spat giving a fleeting glance in the direction of the voodoo priestess and her cronies. "That is no way to think about it. I can get out of this even if Captain Heero can't."

Wu Fei shot a glare that would have invoked the death of a small child or very old and frail woman. "Captain Heero has probably already escaped and is planning a brilliant rescue at this very moment!"

"Oh really," Duo said and smiled. "Is that the same Captain Heero that is tied to that tree."

Wu Fei looked in the direction Duo had indicated with his head. The braided pirate was right. His captain, his hero, was helplessly tied to a tree. And to make matters worse Heero wasn't even looking at him, but at Duo. Wu Fei looked away and began to sulk.

Duo, however, didn't take his eyes off of the restrained captain. Not even when the voodoo priestess yelled for the ceremony to start and the zombies began to push them toward the well.

* * *

"Anything!" Quatre cried as soon as Treize finished.

The ghost pirate smiled for a moment. "That is quite an offer, my lad."

"I will do anything for them, for Trowa," Quatre said softly and bit back a sob.

"Very well. We will help you rescue the crew of the Zero Star, but you must let us go back to the bottom of the sea."

"Agreed!"

Treize smiled again. "And, I want to kill your father."

"A. . . ." Quatre stopped himself. "Kill my father?"

Treize nodded. "After everything he has done to me, I must have my revenge."

"But, he's my. . . ."

"Yes, but do you want to save your friends or not?"

Quatre thought about if for another moment, but he knew there was no time to loose. The ceremony could have already started. "Agreed," he said with less conviction.

"Very good, indeed," the ghost pirate said. "We set sail at once!" he called to his phantom crew. "We need to head due east to the beach and look for a drain pipe!"

* * *

Duo, Trowa and Wu Fei were pushed right up to the lip of the well. It wasn't a very big well, maybe five feet across at the most. But it must have been very deep because the light didn't reach the bottom. It was swallowed up by the darkness and the pirates were left staring into the void.

The old man joined the pirates and was now brandishing a big, curved knife. Relena was inside the circle holding the necklace, and Mr. Winner was nearby but not in the circle, a look of triumph on his smug face.

"Let me guess," Duo said, "you're gonna cut our throats and throw us in this well, right?"

The old man shook his head and laughed. "You have it all wrong, or partly wrong. We aren't going to slit your throats. You would die too quickly and he wouldn't like that," the old man said and looked into the well.

"You mean there is a person in the well?" Wu Fei asked. "What does he want to do to us?"

"Not a man," the voodoo priestess said as she approached, "a god."

The three pirates merely looked at her.

"A god?" Duo said, "right and I'm a saint."

"I don't care what you are!" she shouted so loudly that they all jumped. "Now, it is time." And she walked a little away from the well but still well inside the circle.


* * *

Captain Heero was sure the rope was starting to unravel when the ceremony began. He was scrapping it so hard on the tree that his wrists were severely rope burned and bleeding, but saving his crew was more important than that.

He watched as Relena began to chant in very bad French. He wasn't really sure what she was saying, but it had something to do with monkeys and chickens doing things they really shouldn't do to each other. Only someone as perverted as the voodoo priestess Relena would sing something like that.

Then the chanting stopped and Relena walked up to the pirates. She held out the necklace and the old man held out the knife.

* * *

The Epyon reached the drain pipe in record time. In fact, Quatre had no idea a ship could travel so fast, but he supposed it had something to do with the ghostliness of it.

Treize jumped into the row boat Quatre had tied to the side and Quatre hopped in after him.

"I just hope we're not too late," Quatre said as they neared the pipe.

Treize nodded in agreement, but for a very different reason.

When they reached it the ghost pirate floated inside and Quatre scrambled to follow him. It was a large drain pipe, big enough to walk in. And there was a trickle of water coming out of it.

"Come," Treize shouted and Quatre began to run with him into the pipe, into the darkness.