Other Fan Fiction ❯ The Treasure of Oritemp ❯ Part VIII ( Chapter 8 )

About a year had passed since Sirius had left. Arianna and Argus were still with Ben, searching for the Maiden, but have yet to get close. Arianna was standing to the left of Ben as he steered the ship and shouted orders to people who were just standing around. She had the sword she had made Sirius at her belt and her arms were crossed over her chest.

Argus walks up to her and stands next to her.

“Have we found any leads yet? Any trace?” he asks.

“I heard someone mention that the Maiden was spotted back at my home town,” she replies, adjusting the sash she wore around her waist.

“Your home? Why would it be there…?”

“I don't know, but it never hurts to look.”

Once she was done talking, she heads down to the decks to check on the progress the crew was making. The crew was all on their toes, keeping up with the proper pace. Argus, who was walking with her, sighed.

“You look like you have something on your mind,” he says.

“When don't I?” she replies, looking over a couple things before leaning against a cannon, “After all, it's where I met… him.”

She didn't look to happy about the thought of going back, but she knew she had to.

“You're hoping he's there, aren't you?” he asks.

“Yeah, so I can kick his ass,” she snaps, “Bastard up and left.”

“There's no guarantee that you'll ever see him again…”

“I know, but that won't stop me from hunting him down.”

“Are you sure you don't hate him?”

“I don't know what I think anymore,” she admits, “He left and all I wanted to do was become a pirate so I had a distraction, turns out that it isn't distracting enough.”

“Have you ever wondered… why we are still looking for the Maiden? Sirius isn't here… and none of us can find the treasure. Only Sirius has a chance at that. Why do we bother?” Argus asks her, looking out to the sea.

“Because now, I want that ship… where the Maiden goes, I'm sure Sirius will follow. Whether in disguise or not.”

“Have you considered the possibility that he has given up? We haven't seen or heard anything of him in a year. I would have expected him to follow the same leads that we have had, and yet, he's nowhere to be seen.”

“Then I want my locket back… if he's given up on saving his mother, then he has no need for it.”

She turned her back on Argus, signaling she was done speaking on the subject, and went up to Ben.

“How much longer?” she asks.

“Less than a day perhaps if we keep to the speed we have now. I suspect that we should have view of this home of yours before sunset,” Ben replies.

“Alright, thanks Ben.”

With a nod, she leaves him be and heads down to her own area of the barracks, which she had also set up as a smithy so they had enough shots. She lies down on her cot and pulled out what looked like a journal and started to write.

Long hours passed by, and one of the crewmen shouted that there was land ahead. From the light that came through the port hole, it was already sunset. Having dozed off, Arianna snaps into awareness and ran up to the decks, a smile of satisfaction on her face when she saw the outline of her home. There were many ships at the harbor when they arrived, but none were the Crimson Maiden. Many of the men on the ship seemed weary from the long day and began to file off the ship when they made port, more than likely heading for the pub.

“Damn, it's like the fucking thing sank,” she mutters as she heads for the pub with the men.

When they got there, she found a seat by herself and ordered some rum having gotten the taste for it a while ago. As the bartender walks away, a man in the corner of the pub was making a ruckus.

“You call this rum?!” he shouts at a woman who had brought him his drink. “You people charge me an arm and a leg and this is what I get!?” His voice, though a bit raspy, sounded slightly familiar.

Arianna went up to the man, her hands on her hips, and glared.

“Is this man bothering you?” she asks the waitress, though her eyes were trained on the man, “Because I know that this is no way to treat a woman who only works here to feed her family.”

The man looks up at her and glares at her.

“Who do you think you are to come over here and-” he cut himself off as he took a closer look at her. “You look like someone I know…” he says.

“Yeah, I hear that a lot,” she says, rolling her eyes, “Just leave this man be Miss, obviously he's having issues… and here.”

Arianna hands the girl a silver coin and smiles.

“Th-thank you!” the woman says happily, giving her a smile as she walks away.

The man at the table snorts and gets to his feet.

“Place sucks anyway,” he says, leaving the pub.

Before he really had a chance to leave his table, Arianna placed a hand on his chest and forced him to sit down.

“Now, care to tell me what the hell your problem is mister?” she demands, “Because the rum here is perfectly fine unless you already had some cheap ass liquor somewhere else.”

“I don't have to sit here and listen to some wannabe pirate woman who thinks she can barge into someone else's business. Why don't you go back to whatever puny ship you crawled out of and hide in a corner somewhere,” the man snaps.

Not a second later, she had her/Sirius's sword drawn and the tip under the man's chin.

“Listen here buddy,” she hisses, “I've been training with swords all my life, as well as making them, as for being a `wannabe' pirate, there is no wannabe in it… I am, and I will kill you if you continue to piss me the hell off.”

The man looks down at the sword in her hand and then glares at her.

“Where did you get that?” he asks her, his voice dark.

“I made it, and the male I made it for left after giving it back, what's it to you?” she demands, pressing the tip forward a bit harder.

“On the Black Island…” the man says as a small trickle of blood runs down his neck.

“How the hell would you know where?!”

The man pushes the sword away and stands up.

“Forget it. I never said anything,” he says, going to leave again.

She grabs his wrist, the movement all too familiar to her because it had been done to her so many times.

“How. Do. You. Know?” she hisses.

“It doesn't matter,” the man says pulling his arm free.

Without thinking, she turns him around and brings her sword down, slicing his shirt only, though in truth, it took all she had not to just slice him in two as well.

“Yes, I think it does,” she says.

As his shirt was cut, a locket, her locket, could be seen dangling around his neck. She seemed to freeze as she stared at the locket, then she looked him straight in the face.

“Where did you get that?” she asks, mimicking his own question.

“The Black Island, one year ago. By a girl who thought I was nothing but a man who was there to hurt her,” he snaps, turning away from her and scratching his unshaven face.

She was silent for a moment.

“I didn't think you were only there to hurt me,” she said, “I just thought that loving you was a foolish thing to do… Sirius… am I right?”

Sirius turns to look at her a moment before turning away and walking off.

“I've got to go…” he mutters.

This time, she let him go, just like she had at The Black Island, only this time, she expected the pain as she was left in the middle of the lively pub, the only person not moving. Upon seeing her standing there, Argus, who was on his first drink, walks up to her.

“Are you alright? What are you looking at?” he asks.

“Huh? Nothing… that man was familiar is all, I was wrong anyway,” she says with a shrug, going back to her seat just as the waiter brought her her rum.

Argus joins her at her table and takes a sip of his rum.

“I would think you know a few people here considering this is where you used to live,” he says with a bit of a grin.

“Yeah, guess so,” she replies, sipping at her rum, though she really wasn't paying attention, “You know… I think I'm going to stay at an inn tonight so I can visit some people while you guys are on the ship.”

“Is that so smart? I mean, you went missing here after we came a year ago. Don't you think that people will be a little… I don't know, curious?”

“Let them be, because the only person worth seeing is my old Blacksmith teacher, I'll be fine, don't worry.”

“Alright then…” Argus takes another sip of his rum and looks at her again. “You keep looking at the bloody door like you expect that guy that was here to come back.”

“Maybe I do want him to come back.” And this time stay. “I'm going to go now, I'm sorta tired and in need of a bath.”

“Alright… I'll be seeing you tomorrow then. Be safe.”

She nods and leaves the pub, going to wonder the streets for a bit before walking up to the smithy and knocking.

“Hello?” she calls.

Her old teacher was standing at an anvil, hammering at a piece of steel. Many of the swords that were hanging around were all very well done, but seemed to lack the soul the used to. He turns to see who was at his door, but he didn't really seem to be paying attention.

“Yes, yes, come in,” he says.

She walks in and sets her sword down in front of him.

“Do you recognize this work?” she asks.

“Of course I do… this is my work, done by hands that could only have been trained by me. Where did you get it?”

“From the only female apprentice you've ever had… me.”

Her trainer looks at her up and down, his eyes seeming to lose the glaze that was over them.

“It can't be… Arianna,” he says, looking her in the face.

“The one and only, though your work seems to have lost something… thought I'd give it back to you.”

Her trainer takes her in his arms and holds her tight to him.

“I thought you were dead!” he cries into her hair.

“I'm very much alive,” she says, “But you can't tell anyone, I'll be hanged if you do… considering I'm a pirate now.”

“A pirate! But… why? Why would you become a pirate?”

“Because I couldn't come back here knowing what I know… and I guess it's cause some guy left….”

“Why didn't you come back sooner? How long have you been a pirate?”

“Oh… about a year. You see… I wanted him to train me… but he kinda threw it in my face… I made that sword for him and before he left… he gave it back to me.”

“You didn't come back because you went looking for this boy… am I right?”

“Yeah… found him here to… only… he doesn't want anything to do with me… at least… when he found out who I was it seemed that way.”

“Then why bother with him? Why try to find someone who wants nothing to do with you?”

“Because… the only reason he stays away is because he thinks he'll hurt me.”

“Will he? Has he ever hurt you before?”

“Not intentionally, but I became a pirate and… I find nothing really hurts me anymore.”

"Are you... going to leave again?"

"I have to... but don't worry; you know I'm alive now..."

She smiled at him and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry... I have to go... and I have to find him again," she murmurs

"Well then... I wish you the best of luck..." her trainer says.

"Thank you."

She smiles and leaves the smithy, going to an Inn and hoping to find Sirius again. When she arrived at the inn, Sirius was talking to the inn keeper.

"What do you mean you can't give me a room?" he nearly growls.

"I'm sorry, but we can't. We have no rooms left," the inn keeper says.

Arianna's eyes locked on Sirius as she walked up to the inn keeper.

"You have to have at least one," she says, "And I don't mind paying double... he can room with me."

Seeing her, Sirius sighs. "Never mind... I'll find somewhere else," he says, going to turn away.

"Why do you keep walking away?" she asks, "What did I do?"

"Are you following me? Did you come here so you can tell me off? Well go ahead if it will make you leave me alone..." Sirius says, not looking at her.

"I... I... I wanted to ask you to stay," she replies, her voice shaking a bit, "And... ask why you left... why you didn't ever try to contact me... did you think I lied when I told you I love you? Sirius... you never really hurt me... I wanted to become a pirate so I could keep up with you."

"I don't care that you wanted to be a pirate... I just..."

"You just what?"

"It doesn't matter. You know, even now, after all of this time, you still somehow find me and continue to piss me off! After I finally found a place I can just stop and give up, you show up!"

She took a step back from him, a hurt expression on her face.

"You... alright... if you want to give up on saving your mother then do it! I promised you I'd help you find what you were looking for... but I never thought you would just give up. Maybe I am a fool for loving you... seeing as all I do is piss you off and interrupt your self-pity and wallowing!"

Arianna shoved past him and out of the Inn, going straight back towards the ship.

"SELFLESS MY ASS!" she shouts, loud enough for Sirius to hear her.

Sirius watches her go, his expression angry, yet pained. "Am I... Selfish...?" he mumbles to himself.

When she reached the ship, she just stood in front of it, wanting to go on, but at the same time, finding she wanted to stay in her home for the night. She stood there a few minutes before turning around and finding herself face to face with Sirius.

"Okay, I'm selfish; I'm an ass and anything else you can come up with. I won't deny it... But you still piss me off... but I don't care. I've missed you..." he mumbles.

She was surprised to see him, but that didn't stop her from throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"I missed you too!" she says into his chest.

Sirius hugs her back, his arms tight around her.

"Just keep pissing me off... I miss that..." he says into her hair.

She couldn't help but laugh at that as she held back her tears of joy.

"Alright, I guess I can do that," she says before kissing his forehead, "But you need to shave that rat's nest.”

"Maybe later, right now, I just want to get on board and get a good night's sleep."

"Alright... come with me," she says, leading him to her room.

Sirius sighs when he sits on the bed and his shoulders relax a bit.

"Get some sleep," she says, "And don't worry if I'm not here... I'm pretty much the Captain's first mate on this ship now..."

"First mate?" Sirius asks as he lies down.

“Yeah… is that… a problem?” she questions.

"No... Just... surprising..." Sirius says and falls asleep instantly.

She smiles and goes to Ben's Cabin. She knocks and when there was no answer, then peeked her head in quietly.