Plain Sailing

Sailing probably isn't all fun and games. This is a short and random ficlet about antics on the ship. Just trying to get myself back into the whole writing thing, really.

Some PiersxFelix hints thrown in as well. I couldn't resist.

Camelot owns Golden Sun!

Only a week of sailing on the ship and already most of the Adepts, as well as the rambling old sage, Kraden, were in peril. No, it was not simply a monster or two leaping onto the deck, though that happened too sometimes. There was a particularly violent, cranky manifestation of pure evil lurking in the corridors of the ship, waiting to feast on tasty, juicy children... wait, scratch that.

"Jenna," Sheba said tentatively, approaching the particularly violent manifestation of evil and looking nervously at the cushion she ripped apart. "Um, are you okay?"

"I'm sick of sailing," Jenna said in an odd voice, twitching dangerously. "So sick of it. All that water. I think I might need to burn something."

"Heh," Sheba said, swallowing heavily. "Well-" She broke off as Jenna's head whipped around and Jenna fixed her with a piercing stare.

"Is something FUNNY, Sheba?" Jenna growled. "Do you maybe find my situation FUNNY?"

"No!" Sheba screamed, turning and running for dear life before Jenna could get really angry and toast her. Somehow, Jenna had undergone a transformation that made her very cranky and prone to blowing things up. In fact, Jenna was probably not even sleeping. She never slept...

Jenna moodily looked back at the cushion and then it burst into flames. The flickering flames lit up her face and her mouth spread into a twisted,insane grin.

Sheba ran out onto the deck, a frightened expression on her face. She went up to Felix who was trying to steer the ship. He'd just learned how to not go in circles. Apparently, he was making great progress. Though Piers had sounded a little sarcastic when he said that, so maybe not.

"Felix!" Sheba gasped out, distracting the Venus Adept. The ship promptly made a 90 degree turn and he didn't even realise as he looked at Sheba, his attention drawn away from the tiller. "We have got to dock soon! We need to get back on land... Jenna is... she's going crazy!"

"No, really?" Felix looked ruefully at the burned end of his cape. His beautiful magical color-changing cape! Burned! "But... well... the thing is..."

"Huh?" Sheba tilted her head.

Felix looked very sheepish. "I need to find land first."

Sheba groaned and slapped her forehead. She stormed away in disgust and found Kraden staring at a dolphin.

"Look at this, Sheba!" Kraden pointed at the dolphin. "This is a bottlenose dolphin, or tursiops truncatus! It inhabits warm and temperate seas. It is also the most common and well-known dolphin species. The adults range in length from 2 to 4 metres and weigh from 150 to 650 kilograms. Males are slightly longer and heavier than females. They typically swim at a speed of 5-11 kilometres per hour for short times, they can reach peak speeds of 35 kilometres per hour. Do you know an interesting fact about dolphins, Sheba? Dolphins are in fact not fish, but mammals. Every 5-8 minutes, dolphins have to rise to the surface to breathe through their blowhole. Bottlenose dolphins normally live in groups called pods. This species is most commonly known for its friendly character and curiosty toward humans immersed in or near water. Would you like to hear even more about dolphins? Sheba?"

Kraden looked down to see Sheba in a snoring heap on the floor. "Well, really! How rude!" He made a loud harrumphing noise and walked away to distract Felix. Sadly, Felix had been on course to Izumo, only to be distracted by Kraden and turn around, heading in the direction of Alhafra.

Piers walked into the lounge area of the cabin and was quite surprised to find most of his furniture pretty badly burned. "My ship," he whimpered, looking around for the culprit. Obviously, it was the cackling girl huddled on the floor, giving him a deranged glare. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was grinning maniacally as she clutched a burned cushion to her chest.

"Hello... Piers..." Jenna whispered in a witchy voice, rocking back and forth. "Is something the matter?"

"Why did you burn my furniture?" Piers asked.

"It was annoying me," Jenna said moodily, throwing a look of loathing at a burned chair. "The furniture was talking to me. That sofa never shuts up, Piers. Always going on and on about how tasty spinach is. Damn sofa. And don't trust that armchair, Piers! It's plotting to rule the world."

"Jenna... are you... hearing things in your head?" Piers asked weakly, approaching the traumatised girl.

"Once... I could call my head my own..." Jenna said in a quiet voice. "Then they came and invaded my mind. It belongs to them now. It is no longer mine. Every day... I hear the voices... telling me to burn..."

"I think we need to get to land," Piers said, fleeing from the cabin. He hurried across the deck and found Felix sleeping on the tiller as Kraden rambled at him.

"Kraden," Piers said gently as he pulled the old man away. "Why don't you go and speak to Jenna? She's desperate for a lecture on how to make a roast dinner. Really desperate."

"Ah yes! I will tell her everything!" Kraden said gleefully, running off to the cabin.

"That stupid old man knows too much," Piers said miserably, shaking Felix. "Wake up!"

Felix blinked sleepily and stirred. "Oh, Piers... is it morning yet?"

"Felix, where are we?" Piers asked anxiously.

"I... don't know..." Felix said, standing up and shaking his head. "Where are we even going?"

"Felix, we need to reach land," Piers said urgently. "Your sister is going batshit insane!"

"Jenna doesn't like water much," Felix said, staring at the tiller as he turned it in random directions. First left, then right again... hold on, wasn't it supposed to go in one direction? Maybe it didn't matter. "And being surrounded by it with no sight of land... I guess she can't cope with it easily. Just give her time, Piers."

"It's been a week," Piers said desperately. He sighed and then gazed at Felix for what was not the first time. Damn, he sure was hot. Piers loved to watch him, admire his sexiness... that head of messy chocolate hair... those chocolate eyes... A trail of drool ran out the corner of his mouth.

"Piers, are you drooling?" Felix stared at the Lemurian.

"Uh, no," Piers said quickly, wiping his mouth. "Say... do you have a girlfriend?"

"No..."

"Oh. Good. Very good."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

It was almost evening now and Felix still hadn't found land. Thankfully, the whole ship wasn't a heap of burning cinders at this point. Sheba glumly sat at the table in the kitchen, staring at a banana. Sheba was sick of fruit. Fed up with fruit. But everything else had either gone off or been eaten. If they didn't get more food soon, she was going to end up destroying every single fruit out there.

"Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a padded room. I died in that room. They put me in a box filled with worms. Worms! Worms drive me crazy! Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a padded room. I died in that room. They put me in a box filled with worms. Worms! Worms drive me crazy!"

Sheba looked up as Jenna walked into the kitchen, chanting the odd phrase. "Hello, Jenna. Want a banana?"

Jenna didn't say anything. She just got down and crawled under the table. Sheba nervously looked down and flinched as she saw a pair of wide, mournful eyes staring back at her.

"Do you remember grass, Sheba? It was green," Jenna said. "Just like your eyes."

"Really?" Sheba looked away, shivering.

"And your hair... it makes me think of... crops," Jenna sighed. "Flowing yellow fields of wheat..."

Sheba bit her lip. Jenna was obviously missing land.

"And parts of your clothes are brown too," Jenna said wistfully. "Trees were brown too, weren't they? And they had leaves on top... I miss the trees so much..."

Sheba groaned and ran from the kitchen, clutching the banana. She would just eat it in her room. Jenna was really being too much for her right now. Sheba had no desire to end up like Jenna.

Jenna curled up in a ball, remaining under the table and started repeating the worms speech. Then Kraden came and crawled under the table next to her.

"Hello, Jenna, I heard you wanted to learn how to cook a roast meal," Kraden said. "Would you..." He broke off as Jenna let out a maniacal cackle. "Actually, I remembered something else I have to do." He quickly crawled away and ran away out of pure fear, unwilling to risk provoking the wrath of insane Jenna.

Piers walked along the hallway, feeling a little exasperated. It was already evening and since Felix hadn't found land yet and it was dark, it looked like they would be spending another night on the ship. Felix was just so damn hopeless and sexy. He couldn't even stay mad at the hapless brunette. Piers smiled ruefully and decided to seek him out.

Then he found Felix pacing back and forth along a random corridor in the ship, looking very bored. Everyone was bored, stuck on this darn ship. "Why, Felix, it looks like you have absolutely nothing to do," Piers spoke in a cheerful tone.

"I'm tired of being stuck on this ship." Felix shot him an annoyed look. "Why don't you try sailing for a change? Maybe we would actually get somewhere at this rate."

"Now, now, Felix, you'll learn how to sail eventually. There's no need to be impatient," Piers said calmly, looping an arm through his and holding it so tightly that Felix couldn't easily pull away. With that, the Lemurian led him into a room with a comfy couch and most importantly, a bookshelf. "Why don't we spend some quality time together?"

"Don't want to," Felix said in a grumpy tone.

"Come on, Fe." Piers released him and walked over to the bookshelf. "Now, why don't we read one of these nice books together?" He paused, looking at the books. "Oh, yes, I particularly like this one," he said finally, pulling out one of the books.

"I don't feel like reading." Felix scowled as Piers pulled him over to a couch, but he sat down anyway. Piers sat down next to him and dropped the book in his lap. Felix quietly sighed and picked up the book, reading the blurb on the back.

"Sounds like a smutty romance novel," Felix said, grimacing.

"Let's read it together," Piers said, snuggling up to Felix. "Go on."

Felix's face flushed and he nervously opened the book, feeling quite disturbed. Piers was snuggling up to him. Was it just his imagination or was this a bit too cozy? Still, it was quite comfortable. Felix struggled to relax and focused on the first page.

Kraden walked along the hallway, reciting utterly useless facts to himself. He quite enjoyed repeating his own knowledge that he had far too much of, it was a very fun experience. Currently, he was talking about the life stage of a butterfly.

Suddenly, Sheba ran past him, screaming as flames danced upon her head. Kraden slowly turned around, stared at the retreating Sheba's back as she hurried toward the pool where they had defeated the Aquahydra, then turned back and blinked. "I must be seeing things."

Then Jenna came along, looking around furtively. "Hey, Kraden, did you see where that potato went? I was trying to bake it and it ran away screaming. How weird." Her stomach growled hungrily and she groaned. She could really do with a yummy baked potato right now.

Kraden stared at her incredulously, his jaw dropping. Now he knew she was seriously going insane. How could she possibly have mistaken Sheba's head for a potato? Okay, so maybe her hair was shaped a bit like a potato, but it was still ridiculous.

Somehow, everyone remained alive until the next morning. Sheba's hair was looking a little singed and she was suffering from a phobia of certain female Mars Adepts, but otherwise she was fine. Felix was feeling a little disturbed after last night. Piers seemed to have really enjoyed cuddling up to him while he read that smutty book, but maybe he was just imagining it. That book had been so trashy, it had made his face burn when he read it out loud, but at least Piers hadn't made him read the whole thing.

Jenna was sitting on the side of the ship, sullenly lobbing fireballs at alarmed seagulls. Sheba sat up in the crow's nest, watching her with a fearful expression. She hoped that Jenna wouldn't turn and lob a fireball at her. Kraden was at the other side of the ship, exclaiming over a turtle swimming nearby.

As for Piers, he was standing very close to Felix and watching him. Felix was trying to concentrate on sailing, but he couldn't stop thinking about Piers standing right there and watching him with that stare. He glanced over his shoulder and flushed as he looked into Piers's bright yellow eyes.

Darn, why did he suddenly feel hot? Felix looked away again, furiously shaking his head. It had to be because of that book he read. Yeah, that was it. It made him feel all embarassed for no reason at all. There was absolutely no way he was getting feelings for Piers.

Wait, why would he have feelings for Piers? He didn't have feelings for Piers, did he?

Suddenly, the ship hit a wave. Piers used the momentum to 'accidentally' wrap his arms around Felix's waist and bury his face in the back of his head. "Whoops," he mumbled. Felix let out a surprised exclamation, his body stiffening. Piers was hugging him. He had a nasty feeling it hadn't just been that wave he hit.

"My goodness, that was a horrible wave," Piers said, still holding on to him. "Maybe I should keep holding on to you in case we hit another one. I'm scared I might fall over."

"You have got to be kidding me," Felix hissed through his teeth. Strangely enough, he didn't actually mind. It felt kind of nice that Piers was holding onto him... wait, what? How come he was thinking all these funny thoughts right now?

He did not have feelings for Piers. No. Absolutely no way.

In his frenzied thoughts, Felix practically crashed the ship into Apojii Islands. Well, at least they had finally managed to find land, even if completely by accident. How wonderful it was to finally be able to take a quick break from sailing. Life on a ship really wasn't all that fun for some.