Serious: The Fair Pirates, chapter 1: A new Beginning?

“Okay,” Avery crouched down next to his dog. “Lawrence, can you sniff out Seppy and the others? We’ll first have to go back to where we were but…”

Lawrence didn’t even wait for Avery to finish. He took off running in the direction of the place they had last seen Seppy and the others. Avery sighed wearily and ran after him. Sometimes this dog of his was a little too enthusiastic. Lawrence already had his nose to the ground and was sniffing as he ran. Suddenly, as he was nearing that place where they had been before, he cut to his left and stopped, sniffing the air.

“Got something?” Avery said, jogging up to him.

Of course, being a dog, Lawrence could not answer him. Instead he pointed with his nose in one direction.

“That’s a building,” Avery said. “What of it?” Lawrence jabbed his nose at the building again and then moved his nose upwards. “They went over the building?” Lawrence’s only reply was to turn and stare at Avery. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Avery muttered. “They came this way and went over that building. Good boy. Well,” This last word was directed at Shin. “Guess that’s as good a direction as any.”

(I don't want to get to descriptive and mess up whatever you were planning.)

Miyu stayed quiet for a long time. The worst thing was that she knew... knew! The doctor was right. If he really was a doctor, which she somehow doubted at this point. When he had left the room, she quietly dragged her legs closer and looked at Fleshton. She wished the snake whip would move for her so she could at least have someone around, not be all alone, even though the only being in the room with her would then be a living instrument of murder. But somehow, she got the feeling it was ignoring her voluntarily. Like it was sulking.
"Oh what? Like you know how I feel."
She was talking to a whip. She wasn't even loud enough for it to hear her.
"You're just.... a snake. Or whip......."
She looked at the thing, not moving an inch, not giving any reaction.
"...Sorry. I didn't..."
Now she was apologising to a snake whip thing. What was wrong? She knew what was wrong. She knew that when she stopped talking, reality would have time enough to close in on her and show her what an idiot she was. Unforgiving, arrogant, stupid, everything she had never wanted to be. She buried her face in her dress for a short while. Seppy might have made a mistake. But people did that. It was what made the people. Somehow, she felt, Miyu herself was a good example for that. She made mistakes often. She was making one right now.
Without wasting any more time, Miyu stood up from the bed. Her bones were still aching, she was still tired and she was still not feeling that well, but she knew what had to be done.
She didn't have to search for long until she found a small piece of paper and an even smaller pen. Quickly, she filled the paper with her pretty handwriting, trying to make the small letter as short as possible so it'd fit. when she was half done, she looked at the letter so far, then crossed it out and wrote on the other side of the paper.
After a few seconds, she was done, looked at it again, nodded (not like she had much of a choice, she had already used up both sides of the small paper), and carefully put the pen on one corner, so the letter wouldn't fly away.
Next, she grabbed Fleshton, who was still not making any moves, even when she slung him across her shoulder so he'd be easier to carry. She would have imagined this to be harder, but somehow, it wasn't really. Even though there was still blood on him, she didn't really mind. her whole dress had a red pattern by now, what did a little more blood matter?
She closed the door behind her quietly, and, though she knew the other two were gone already, still ran down the alley where she had met the hawk man before. She stopped in the middle of it, and looked at Fleshton expectantly.
"I'll need your help now. Please."
Nothing happened.
"I'm begging you... I... Look. I'm really sorry. I know you don't like me, but I really need you to help me track Seppy."

On the table in the dim room, the letter was lying, still since there wasn't even the slightest bit of wind. It read:
Doc,
Thank you for helping me. I know what I have to do. I' sorry, I'll be taking Fleston, I think I'll need him, and maybe he's not that bad.
Love, MD
On the other side, which had been crossed out, there was a longer version, obviously made to elaboraate on the details, but it had never been finished.
Dear mister Doctor,
I am really sorry for being so selfish, but I ust leave to help my friend. You are right, I was being stupid and childish, and I really should have known better. Thank you for your advie with that, I think I ihgt have done something very stupid, well, even more stupid than what I already have done, or-The letter ended there, abruptly.

Some time after Miyu's pleas had been carried away by the breeze, a distant echo of an echo lost to the stretching seconds that marched by, the whip on her shoulder twitched. Slowly the barbs and hooks melded into the stitched leather, smooth serpentine scales growing in their place. Within moments, what had been a blood-covered scourge made to flay the flesh from men in the most inhumane manner possible was once again a simple, indifferent python. Still fat from it's earlier meal, it flopped to the ground and lazily lifted it's board, flat anaconda head to meet Miyu's eyes.

Again some time passed, the torpid serpent staring at the young girl lazily, occasionally flicking out it's tongue. Though the face of a snake knew but one expression, Miyu could swear that the one before her was emoting. It wore a look of boredom, a look of mild annoyance. But in those black, beady eyes, there was also an understanding. The peace-loving pirate could swear that Fleshton was somehow talking to her as the words came into her mind to describe his unrelenting stare.

You owe me nothing. I owe you nothing.

Then, in an alarmingly playful move, the massive python rolled onto it's back, slithering around in place. It was an unnatural, horrifying gesture, at once revolting and disturbingly cute. Miyu was forced to conjure to mind a kitten begging for attention. Fleshton rolled onto his stomach and began slithering down the alleyway. When he looked back, she could swear the snake was smiling. This time, she read the expression as:

But we are friends.

Without further silliness, Cutcha's tongue tested the air a few times. Pointing lazily down the alley with his face, he began to slither with the languid but surprisingly fast speed of his kind, twisting and weaving at an impossibly constant pace through the alleys, in pursuit of the purple-haired cat-moron whom he would for now call master.

-------

Shin flashed the dog another thumbs up and a bright smile. Flapping his wings briefly in excitement, he began following along in a loping, awkward, avian stride that screamed loudly how much he'd rather be flying. He followed Lawrence around the ways, stopping now and again to comment loudly on what a reliable friend Avery had in that dog, or to flicker his gaze around suspiciously.

It wasn't long before Lawrence stopped besides a large warehouse, not but a few blocks from the scene of the fight. Seppy's show had cleared a huge portion of the town; until law enforcement could respond to the island and check things out, there was a high likelihood that the entire town would remain abandoned. Shin stepped back and looked up, then back at the dog, then up again.

"This's gotta be it," he crooned happily. "Jus' like that dumb mutt to put Seppy in such a obvious spot. Kyaaaaaw haw haw!"

Crouching down, Shin readied himself for a leap into the air that would take him right up to the windows. However, right before he sprang into the air, his hawk-like eyes darted to the left, and his leap took him backwards. A split-second later there was a burst of dust, Duo standing with his fist in the empty air, a crater in the ground feet away from the point of impact. Shin glared down at him with an eagle's smile, his claws and talons holding him against the warehouse wall some ten feet above the alley's floor.

"Decided ta show up, yaw friggen flea-bag?" Shin mocked, laughing his harsh, screeching avian laugh.

"Go away, Quatera," the hunter demanded, assuming a fighting stance. "Seppy forfeited his life of his own will."

"'Coz he's a maaaawron!" Shin retorted, the wall besides him cracking as he dug in even deeper with his talons. "That dumb broad he thinks he's savin's as dumb as yer goldielocks."

It was clear to Avery that Duo was restraining himself. His brown eyes flashed with rage, his muscles tensed, but he held his ground, standing so that both the avian roughneck and the young pirate and his dog were within his field of vision.

"In exchange for his life, we will protect his...his traveling companion," Duo explained, hesitating for a moment as he tried to find the right words. The canine hunter refused to imagine that Seppy could have a friend. "If you fight me now, you are endangering her safety and violating that beast's final wishes."

"Please...go now." The lilting, angelic voice of Uni drifted down from above one word at a time. Standing atop the warehouse's roof, she looked down at the three below.

"Miss Delaney...wished this." Uni stared at the birdman with a harsh, unfaltering gaze, before turning the molten amber-gold pools of her eyes upon Avery. Her expression relaxed a bit.

"Her heart cannot heal yet while that man lives," she stated. "She is a pure being, and desires only peace. Let this end."

"Aaaaaawr you freaks serious!?" Shin shouted, his voice growing shrill as an eagle's cry. "I don' give a flyin' faaaaaaaawk about that white-haired dumbass crybaby! She abandoned Seppy, so she can jus' protect her own damn self, kyaaaaaaaw!"

The wall on which Shin was perched exploded into a spray of rocks and dust as he burst into the sky. A moment later he was staring down at Uni, Duo, Avery, and Lawrence. He called back to the pirate when he spoke.

"Go get Seppy, brothaman!" Shin called down, giving his new acquaintance yet another thumb's-up. "I got these two."

"Bird brained halfwit. You know my power. There's no way I'd let him just go and get that useless-"

Duo never had a chance to finish his sentence. With a proud avian warcry, Shin dive-bombed towards Uni, hand-talon's poised to strike. A vengeful and bitter curse later, the canine hunter was gone, poised on the roof's ledge to intercept the attacking birdman of prey.

Avery and Lawrence were, for the time being, left alone.

Avery simply nodded to Shin and said to Lawrence firmly, “Stay.”

Avery doubted that Duo and Uni would care much about a simple bloodhound and he hoped that if Lawrence didn’t interfere, he would be safe. The only problem was making sure Lawrence realized that little fact. Fortunately the dog barked and sat down, wagging his tail reassuringly. Avery smiled and ran towards the warehouse.

It seemed that Shin was doing fine so far because Avery didn’t have Duo on his tail, trying to rip him apart. As he kicked off of the ground with his mechanical leg and launched himself up to a window, Avery’s thoughts turned to the last conversation. He had half wanted to counter Uni’s words about Miyu, but then Shin had cut in. Where did that stupid mutant girl get off, thinking that she knew Miyu’s heart? The whole idea was ridiculous. Sure, they had both been hurt by Seppy. Sure they had both rejected him. But that didn’t mean that they were the same! As Uni had pointed out, Miyu was pure. She wasn’t like her at all!

These thoughts left Avery enraged and as he burst through the glass of the window, he didn’t even notice when a few of the shards cut into his skin.

And then there was Seppy himself. How did dying help Miyu? If he died, would that make her happy? Would it save her life? What purpose did it serve? It didn’t. It was a cowardly death. One that was accepted by a man who apparently felt too much pain to even care anymore. But Avery wouldn’t let him die. Not now. Not like this.

As Avery began to run through the warehouse he threw back his head and yelled at the top of his lungs, “WHERE ARE YOU SEPPY? YOU COMPLETE IDIOT!”