HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Scouring the Ruins

    God it was hot. The air around the volcano was extremely hot, a product of all the lava that was streamed down the mountain. Thankfully, from our perch overlooking the exposed top of the prison, we were still rather far away from the lava, although we could still feel the heat from the molten rock. I wiped the sweat off of my face as I heard the rest of my friends coming up the small path that we had found, and I saw Noel leaning against Botan, both of them having exhausted looks in their eyes as Chloe nursed a nasty wound on her side.
    "Micheal, we gotta take a breather." Noel said, grimacing as Botan struggled up the side of the mountain. "I gotta get some of my strength back."
    I wanted to keep going, to release as many of these people as possible, but she was right. All of us were injured in some way or another, there was no denying it, and we needed a little bit of rest.
    "Aye, lets stop here for a bit."
    I didn't even have to make sure any of them heard it, because before all of the words left my mouth, both Botan and Noel collapsed, trying to get comfortable on the very rough volcanic rocks that peppered the ground all around us. I took a small flask out of my pocket, still half full of rum, and I got ready to take a swig of it, until I saw Chloe nursing her wounds, and I stared at the flask, thoughts racing through my mind. I reached over to her, then handed it to Chloe with a smile, who took it gingerly as she began dressing her wounds.
    "Thank you." He said quietly, looking nervously around at the mountain.
    "All good." I said. "Here's hoping he wins, huh?"
    "Aye." She said, wincing from the sting of the alcohol in the open wound. "By the way, I wanted to say thank you for letting me in the crew, even though I might've said it already."
    "Even I you did, its all good." I said. "After all, I'm pretty glad we got an assassin on our side for this mission."
She gave me a nod, the passed the alcohol back to me as I sat back against the rocks. Minutes passed without anyone saying anything to each other, but after a moment, I saw Noel pull a canteen from her tool belt, unscrew it, and hold it above her lips. But, right when all of us thought the stream of water would come out, all that dropped out of it was a single drop of water, and she put away the canteen with a sign.
"Well, I guess we gotta get going." I said, hauling myself to my feet.
"Aye that, lets get down to the prison." Noel said, pulling out a spool of rope from her tool belt.
She handed me the rope, then, I turned back to the cliff face, and I tied the rope around a large outcropping of rock, making extra sure that it was secure, and I began to rappel down the side of the cliff.
"Hey Micheal?" Botan said from up on the cliff.
"Aye, what's up?"
"I'd really hate to carry you the rest of the way with a broken leg, so please be careful."
"Aye, go it." I mumbled, my feet planted against the surface of the rock wall.
I continued down, closing the distance between me and the top of the prison, and when I got down to the top, I looked up, watching as the women rappelled down the side of the cliff, and Noel landed next to me first, followed by Botan, then Chloe, and all of us drew our weapons, holding them at the ready as we stared at the prison before us. Part of the roof had collapsed with the destruction of the Man from the Star's fortress, and I saw that there was a partially broken staircase that led down to the inside of the prison. I made my way over to it, then braced my legs as I jumped down, landing on one of the stairs and grabbing onto the newel post to steady myself as I made my way down into the dimly lit corridor. I looked back up at the surface, and I saw Noel and the rest of them staring at me.
"All good for jumping!" I said, then turned back to the corridor in front of me.
Even with the bright lava around the ruins of the prison, the inside of the hallway was so, so much darker than the outside, but as my eyes began to adjust, I saw that the prison cells nearest me were all empty, but at the very end of the hall, I could feel something, almost like how people can sense a presence in the room with them, and I turned to the others before dropping my voice down to a very, very low whisper.
"There's someone, or maybe a lot of someone's down at the end of the hall." I said to Botan. "We gotta be quiet. Hopefully they didn't hear us come in."
"Aye that, do you know who it might be?"
"No, but its probably someone that he hated. If we free them, they can get the hell out of here while they fight." I whispered.
I then started to go down the hall, passing up the dark and dank cells, and surprisingly, in here, the heat from the lava wasn't as bad, which was a nice little relief from the sweltering heat of the fire and death all around the prison. I wiped sweat from my brow, then hefted my sword and continued down the hall. And as I got closer to the cells at the end of the hall, I noticed that behind one of the pillars, there was the girl with the purple and blue hair, kneeling in front of one of the cells. I raised my hand to stop everyone, but it was too late, as the girl popped up on her feet and drew a flintlock, pointing it right at my face.
"G-g-g-go awa-away." She said, her eyes shining with fear as she stuttered. "The Ma-ma-man from the St-stars comm-ma-mands it."
    "Fuck the Man from the Stars." I said, keeping my eyes on the flintlock aimed right at my chest. "Listen, I saw you on the top of the fortress with him, and you looked scared of him. Are you?'
    She shuddered for a moment, then shook her head and gripped the gun, trying to act threatening, but I saw straight through her guise. She didn't have the empty, cold eyes of a killer, she had the soft, tired eyes of a child that had been abused for too long. I slowly trudged forward, staring right at her eyes as I did, but I noticed that she couldn't hold my gaze. She kept trying to look away, and I recognized that look. It was the same one of the kids from my school, who we all knew had abusive parents. It was that look of perpetual shame and embarrassment, and I started to pity her more and more.
    "Listen, its alright." I cooed, keeping my voice low as to help calm her down. "We're not gonna hurt you, and the Man from the Stars won't hurt you either."
    Her expression softened the tiniest bit, and I knew I could get her, but still, with a flintlock pointed at my chest, I wasn't keen on taking that many chances.
    "Listen, what's your name?" I asked, giving her a smile. "I'm Micheal Fuentes."
    "....A-A-Aqua." She said, hesitating quite a bit. "Aqua Min-minato."
    "Aqua Minato? I like that name."
    Her expression softened a lot more, but right as I thought she would let go, she clicked the hammer back and aimed the gun yet again, followed by the sound of Botan growling from behind me. I snapped a look at her, and she was staring directly at Aqua, with that terrifying expression painted all over her face as she gripped her spear.
    "Wait, I think its alright." I whispered to Botan. "I don't think shes got the nerve to do it. She's just scared."
    "Aye, but Micheal, shes got a gun right at your chest."
    "Aye, she does, but the look in her eyes tells me she won't do it." I said. "Just trust me, I know this, and I've done this before."
    She gave me a reluctant look, then lowered her spear, which seemed to calm Aqua down a lot more. As I watched, I saw her eyes darting from me to everyone else, and I saw the pistol begin to waver, a product of her groaning unease.
    "H-h-he hurt m-me." She stuttered, lowering the pistol slightly.
    "How did he hurt you?" I asked, keeping my hands visible for her.
    She pointed at her face, and I saw that in the light of the lava, there was a very, very hard to see red mark that plagued her cheek.
    "H-h-hit me." She said, her eyes watering.
     "I see that, and I won't let it happen." I said, giving her a slight smile to help add onto my point. "We'll keep you safe, I promise."
    At that promise, she lowered the gun all the way and disarmed the hammer, and she dropped to her knees. The moment her knees hit the hard stone floor, she planted her hands on the floor and began sobbing, tears streaming down her face as she hiccuped and sniffled. Noel rushed past me, then grabbed onto her shoulder and held her tightly, trying to help calm her down, even a little bit. I strode forward and patted Aqua's shoulder as she sobbed, and Noel mouthed the words "Ive got this," to me, and with that, I turned to the other prison cells. And, the moment I saw them, I knew that today would get so, so much worse for the Man from the Stars.