warfangwhowrote requested some cute Oyama family featuring uncle Harlock. The best of friends.
~700 words
Emeraldas showed emotion when she saw fit. She had such a strong grasp on what she revealed on her face that almost everyone found her intimidating. Though he would never admit it, Harlock was one of those people.
Because of that, he sat in a circle with us on the floor of my workshop, gluing together our makeshift pile of craft supplies into objects vaguely resembling ornaments. Sitting beside the pile, Mayu played with a strand of red ribbon, while we all watched to make sure she didn’t try to eat it. She teetered on occasion, threatening to fall over like all toddlers without a complete grasp on how to balance.
“She is going to have a good, normal Christmas,” Emeraldas told Harlock through gritted teeth when he tried to say otherwise. “I don’t care how hard it is to get a tree or ornaments. I don’t care if we have to make them all ourselves.” She pressed a finger into his chest as his eyes expression squirmed in discomfort. “She will have exactly what I never had, and she’s getting a perfect Christmas. You’re helping.”
Harlock’s pile of attempted ornaments were the worst of the bunch. He struggled to find ways to morph bolts and bottles into anything other than what they were. It was clear he ran out of ideas when he tied a hook to the base of a wine glass and set it upside-down in his pile. “Harlock, at least paint it somehow,” Emeraldas said.
Harlock’s brows pinched together. “But I can’t use if I paint it,” he said. “I want it back after we’re done with the tree.”
“You’ll just smash it anyway,” I snorted. “Give this one up for Mayu and paint it.”
Harlock always caved at those two words – “for Mayu.” Then again, so did I, but that was another thing Harlock would never admit. Emeraldas let a smile warm her lips as she watched him huff and grab the paint. “What should I put on it?”
“Holly would be nice,” Emeraldas said.
“And if you’re gonna hang it upside-down like that, you can make it into a bell,” I added.
Despite the irritation on his face, he nodded. Mayu took an interest in his paintbrush and stood to waddle over to him. Without needing to look up, he unfolded his legs and stuck out his foot to block her path. Emeraldas didn’t usually approve of his way with kids, but I thought he did fine.
As I stacked gears of varying sizes into a mini replica of a tree, Emeraldas scooped Mayu up and pulled the squirming girl into her lap. “Here you go,” Emeraldas hummed, handing Mayu a snowman ornament she’d made.
“Careful she doesn’t try to throw it,” I said. But she appeared content with shaking it in her pudgy hands, her eyes bright with curiosity.
“You know, if I’m going through all this trouble to make these silly little things, can we at least have a skull and crossbones to put on the tree?” Harlock asked. His steady hands made for some nice holly painted along the outside of the glass. He could have made for a decent artist if he wasn’t always shooting things.
“I suppose we could have one,” Emeraldas said. “You’ll have to find a way to make that.”
“I have a flag we can just drape on the tree. It’ll take up lots of space, and we won’t have to make as many ornaments.”
Emeraldas eyed him with all the sharpness of her saber. “You will make a normal sized ornament, or we won’t have one.” Harlock threw a glare right back.
“Boy,” I cut in before he could say something stupid. “I sure am glad we’re such good friends, so we can spend the holidays together and have a great time.” I did my best to sound genuine despite the joke.
“Such good friends,” Harlock huffed.
“Yes, a great time,” Emeraldas muttered.
Mayu squealed in unbridled joy. At least someone honestly agreed with me.
I actually had to look up what eggnog is made out of, because I think it is the grossest drink in existence. So here's a tiny drabble of the tiny happy family Eme, Tochi, and Mayu for anon.
~ 600 words
I saw no difference between this thick, soupy drink and sludge. Though I’d never tasted sludge, I imagined the two weren’t far apart. The way it sloshed around as I tilted the glass made me think of spoiled milk. “Tochiro, what is this made from?”
With Mayu swaddled in his lap, he showed no interest in looking my way. That usual contented smile warmed his face as he watched over our daughter. She grasped one of his fingers, while his other hand held his own glass.
“Tochiro,” I called again. When that still didn’t grab his attention, I switched tactics. “Harlock is taking the Arcadia out for a test run.”
His head shot up, eyes wide behind those thick glasses. “What!? But it’s not finished yet!”
Before he could jump up and run around like a headless chicken, I raised a hand to stop him. “I lied. I just wanted your attention.”
He blinked, a bright grin breaking out across his face. “You can always have my attention.”
“Unless Mayu is stealing it,” I said. He shrugged, unable to deny it. Pulling my hair forward to lie over my shoulder, I strode over and sat in front of him. The glass I placed between us with a solid clunk. “So, what is this horrible drink made from?”
“You don’t like it?” He took another sip of his glass, his head slightly tilted. “You know, I have no idea what eggnog is made out of.”
This did not convince me to continue drinking. “It has the consistency and taste of sludge,” I said. “I’m not convinced it’s safe to drink.”
He laughed through his teeth, as he was prone to do. “I think it’s alright. I’d guess it’s made with eggs, and that’s why it’s kind of thick. They’re in the name anyway. If you want, you can always add some alcohol to drown out the taste. I know Harlock puts bourbon in his, but he spikes everything. Anyway, I’ve been drinking it for years, so I promise it won’t make you sick. Mayu would probably like it.”
My eyes narrowed in on him. “Mayu does not need to be drinking anything of the sort.” Harlock already had a bad habit of giving her bits of food and drinks she didn’t need to be anywhere near. Unless Tochiro felt like joining him on the list of people banned from babysitting, Mayu would not suffer through a sip of eggnog.
Tochiro immediately shook his head, a nervous laugh bubbling at his lips. “I was kidding. I don’t think babies are supposed to drink the stuff anyway.”
Even so, I pulled the glass from his hand and picked mine up from the floor. “You shouldn’t be drinking it either,” I said. All of this horrible drink needed to go down the drain.
“Aw, don’t throw it out,” he pleaded, but he couldn’t move with Mayu sleeping in his lap. His eyes darted from the drinks to his daughter until he gave up with a sigh. I paused at the sink before echoing him. Of course the gross drink was harmless, and he wouldn’t give it to Mayu. He’d never let anything harmful anywhere near her, other than Harlock at least.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll put it in the fridge for now. You can have it later. Just drink my share while you’re at it.”
His expression lit up back to its usual carefree grin. “Thanks, Emeraldas. I would have felt bad if I had to tell Harlock we threw it out after he went to the trouble of getting it for us.”
I blinked at him, the fridge door hanging open. “Harlock is the one who got this? Oh, it definitely needs to be thrown out then.”
SPCH-verse; Requested by Emerarudasu: "Emeraldas and Tochiro (and maybe Harlock) take Mayu trick-or-treating."
Rrrrrgh, I tried; unfortunately, yes, Harlock warning; I can't do the title thing warning
Heavy Meldar wasn’t the most ideal place for trick-or-treating. It was windy and a bit hot for stuffy outfits. The desert landscape constantly kicked up dust, so it was best to always wear clothing that covered all over. There weren’t many houses in a row, and candy was hard to come by, but the resilient people refused to let that get the better of their holiday. They made it work.
Tochiro admired that about them, how hard they worked just to have one night where everyone could enjoy themselves with something simple. They were all so giving.
“Ready, Mayu?” he smiled, squatting down to her level and holding out his arms. She crawled toward him, her arms a bit unsteady. Her costume, a little pale gray dress with darker dray splotches, drug along on the ground until he scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder. His cloak was a mix of deep blues and greens with occasional swirls of white. He thought he’d done a pretty good job on costumes if he did say so himself.
“What am I supposed to be exactly?” Harlock questioned as he stepped outside. The outfit he’d been forced into was a warm crimson with patches of black. Each outfit was obviously handmade with paint, and Harlock wasn’t so sure about his friend’s artistic ability. “What are we supposed to be exactly? Why did I agree to this?”
Emeraldas appeared behind Tochiro, carefully brushing her little girl’s hair back into place. “Because sometimes you actually enjoy having fun, Harlock.” She wore a flowing dress that glimmered with warm reds and golds as though it were fire.
“We’re the solar system!” Tochiro laughed. “Well, some of it anyway. Didn’t have enough people to make the whole thing. You’re Mars, can’t you tell?”
No. “I guess so.”
“It’s for Mayu anyway,” the short man shrugged. “But we can’t stay out too late, because she has to get to bed.”
The sun was already setting, and the young girl watched the warming sky with bright, curious eyes.
“Fine-fine,” Harlock muttered. She obviously didn’t have any interest in trick-or-treating. She wasn’t even one yet, and she couldn’t eat candy. But she was very cute in her outfit... Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad.
The town bustled as much as it could for such a small area. All the children eagerly ran around from house to house or person to person, singing “trick-or-treat” in a plea for whatever they could get. Mostly, it was homemade sweets, sometimes fruit, and sometimes cakes. They were all happy with any of it.
“Hey-hey, you guys!” the young, orange-haired scamp called as he raced up behind the group of planets and the star. He was carrying an armful of treats, and he held them out with a grin. “Look, I made some stuff for the kids. You all can have some too.” His eyes brightened at the sight of Mayu. “Ah, she’s so cute.”
Harlock felt a strange surge of protectiveness shoot through him. He’d never had any problem with the boy, but he’d suddenly decided that Mayu didn’t need to be near him. In fact, she didn’t need to be near anyone that wasn’t her parents or her godfather.
Luckily he was able to push his feelings aside because he did like the scamp well enough, and he took a wrapped rock candy as his friends did.
“You have to say ‘trick or treat’, Mayu,” Tochiro explained. The girl responded with a soft coo and was given two candies.
“She’s so cute,” the boy said again before running off with a wave.
“He says they’re for the kids, but he’s just a kid himself,” Emeraldas frowned.
Harlock’s words fell from his mouth before he could stop them. “I think we shouldn’t let the other children near Mayu.”
“What?” Tochiro blinked, slowly turning toward his friend.
“They might try to harass her,” the taller male explained.
Emeraldas raised a brow. “Harlock, she’s not even one. She’ll be alright. No one’s going to bother her.”
“But they might do…something,” he growled.
“I thought you liked kids,” Tochiro frowned.
“I do! I just…like them better when they’re not around Mayu.” None of what he was saying made much sense, and he knew that. But Mayu needed to be protected from things, because she was so small and adorable, and as godfather, it was his job.
“Have you been drinking?” Emeraldas snapped suddenly.
“What? No!”
She glared at him, leaning in close. “Then stop being weird. My daughter is going to have a good Halloween. You understand?”
Harlock quickly nodded, his eye wide under her firm stare. And he did try his best to behave, but he’d find himself glaring at the kids who stepped a bit too close. Everyone adored Mayu’s costume even if they didn’t immediately realize what she was. “She’s Daddy’s little moon,” Tochiro explained to a woman who asked. “She’s just as bright and beautiful as the one in the Earth’s night sky.”
Harlock forced himself to think that they were having a much better time here than they ever could have on Earth, and it was true. There was no way they could have gotten along as well with the apathetic people of Earth, but he knew his friend missed the blue planet.
They played a few of the simple games that had been set up. Tochiro had to drag Harlock and Emeraldas away from the shooting range before they decided to spent all night there trying to see who was better. Mayu was particularly adept at throwing the rings at the bottles. She never actually got close enough to hit a bottle, but she was very good at just throwing them. She received far more treats than she could possibly do anything with.
At the end of the might, as she dozed in against her father’s shoulder, the group divided up the haul and set to work eating it. “Remember Halloween when you were a kid and your dad stole all your candy?” Tochiro smiled as he reminisced.
“My father never took any of my candy,” Harlock muttered in confusion.
“We didn’t have Halloween,” Emeraldas added.
“Wha-!? But my dad said that everyone’s parents took a share of their candy.”
His friend tried to stifle a laugh. “Your dad was lying.”
“That jerk.”
Emeraldas stared down at her pile of treats. “Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?”
“No,” the short man decided. “I saved her the stuff that she could eat, but the rest of this would be bad for her.” They had to agree with him simply because they didn’t feel like giving up their stash of food. “Think when she’s a little older she’ll be able to trick or treat on Earth? Think it’ll be better before she gets too old like us?”
“Yeah,” Harlock smiled tiredly. “I think it will be.”
“We’ll make sure it is,” Emeraldas hummed, reaching out to pet her baby’s hair.
Tochiro grinned, relieved by their assurances. He leaned his cheek against the top of his little girl’s head. “Happy Halloween, Mayu,” he whispered. “Maybe next year you can have all of your candy to yourself.”
SPCH-verse; Chapter 6 - Sleep Peacefully, Rest, It's Now Goodbye
I need to stop making things up for the Mazone warning
The Arcadia had been surprisingly easy to infiltrate. Despite how much trouble it had given them in battle, it appeared its defenses were not as formidable as its offenses. Perhaps the pawn their commander had put into play had caused enough of a distraction to allow the green-skinned woman easy access. At least it had bothered to do something right. Never send a half-breed freak male to do a pureblood woman’s job, she thought as she crawled her way through the underbelly of the ship.
She’d simply have to get rid of him along with all the others. A few well-placed explosives ought to do the trick. And once they were all set up, she could spend her last hours prowling the ship and taking out the trouble-makers one at a time. Her mission had been a one-way trip, but that didn’t bother her. Victory. If not victory, then death. It was time the pawn learned that much.
He must have been asleep, because she couldn’t feel his presence. She would have thought him dead if not for a short span of wakefulness that brought their attention to one another. For a moment she wondered if he’d give her away, but he was gone again before she’d even finished the thought.
Honestly, it was surprising he’d lasted so long. His orders had been to kill the Arcadia’s crew immediately. Part of that was to finally be rid of the pirates, but the immediacy was also necessary because of how frail the body they’d given him was. He couldn’t last long without a sun, a fact the woman knew all too well. Even though she’d only arrived hours before, she could already feel the darkness of this ship. Hopefully he’d suffered for his treachery.
The explosives she placed about the bottom corridors of the ship had been designed to be undetectable. They wouldn’t show up on any scans and were nicely camouflaged. This would teach those scoundrels. Once she had them all set up and the timer counting down, she decided she’d pay a visit to her brethren. He really didn’t deserve such a title though. He was more like the black sheep of the family than anything.
Stealth was her brigade’s specialty, but it was child’s play to move through the ship undetected while the crew mostly slept. She headed up toward the direction she’d felt that light presence coming from. Curiosity had taken hold, and she simply had to know what had become of their doll. It was time for him to be completely broken.
___________________________________________________________
It was simple to wake Harlock. The lightest tap on the shoulder could rouse him unless he hadn’t been getting decent sleep, in which case he could hibernate like a bear. But recently his sleep schedule had been sufficient, and just calling his name would have been enough.
Mayu apparently didn’t think so. “Harlock! Harlock!” She tugged on his arm as though she were ringing a church bell. “Brother is having a bad dream!”
He bit back questioning exactly what she wanted him to do about that as he saw her terrified expression. Across the room, the sleeping boy gasped in a desperate bid for breath. Each wheeze sounded as though it hurt him, and his face reflected it with twinges of pain. He shuddered and fought, a whine escaping him every few seconds.
“I can’t wake him up!” Mayu cried.
Harlock wasn’t sure if waking the Mazone up would save him from this “bad dream.”
“I can go ask Zero if there’s something he could use to calm him down,” the captain offered. He hesitated for an instant, unsure about leaving her alone with him. A line of blood began to trail from the corner of the dying boy’s mouth, and as though a switch had been flipped, the captain shook himself free of the worry. Daiba wouldn’t harm her.
“Stay and watch him,” Harlock said to his goddaughter as he stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Mayu nodded and ran back to her brother’s side, scrambling up on the bed as her godfather disappeared into the hallway. “Don’t be scared, brother,” she pleaded, gently shaking him. “It’s just a bad dream. I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt you. Just wake up.”
But no matter what she said, he slept on. Trying to shake him any harder caused him to cry out, so she curled up next to him instead. She thought about what could make him feel better, realizing it was just the same as what made her feel better.
As she hummed his song, just over his piteous whimpers, she imagined how it was played on the harmonica. She didn’t have the instrument with her, but she’d learned the song perfectly, just for him.
Her lullaby cut off with a surprised squeak as he sat up, coughing and hacking horribly. She couldn’t see as he held her tightly to his chest, his whole body shaking around her. It sounded really gross though.
“Are you okay?” she asked timidly when she thought he was done.
“Sorry-sorry,” he gasped unevenly. “It was just- oh…o-oh no. W-where’s Harlock?”
“It’s okay!” she chirped, pulling back in order to see him. “He told me to stay here with you. Ah! Brother, there’s blood on your face!” There was actually an unhealthy amount of blood smeared across his jaw, but that didn’t seem to be bothering him. His eyes darted around the room like a trapped animal’s.
“One of them is here,” he murmured as he dropped his feet to dangle over the floor. Walking had previously been out of the question, and walking while carrying Mayu was likely impossible, but he couldn’t let her run off alone while one of them was nearby.
Placing weight on his legs sent knives up through them. He nearly fell over as soon as he stood, but he fought the weakness that consumed him and took a step forward. Each movement was like hitting a bad tooth with something sweet. They stunned him, continuing to surprise him with pain.
“What’s going on?” Mayu frowned, gently tugging on his hair. “You’re not supposed to be out of bed, Brother.”
He wasn’t sure what kept him moving, maybe it was adrenaline or worry for his little sister. His legs urged him to just collapse, even as his hand reached the door. Finally, his screaming, aching body won out. The door was locked against his desperate tugging, and he fell against it, sinking to the floor.
“Close your eyes, Mayu,” he whispered, his voice shaking from exhaustion and hints of fear.
“What for?”
“Just stay close and shut your eyes,” he pleaded.
He forced himself to turn until his back was against the door. Thankfully she hadn’t seen the third figure now standing in the room. He wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret, but maybe he could at least spare his sister the sight.
How the female Mazone had gotten in, Daiba wasn’t sure. She looked a few years older than him, her eyes an inky black and her lengthy hair drawn up in a tie, though everything else about her mimicked him. She eyed him curiously, taking in the way he protectively held the small human.
“It seems you’ve malfunctioned,” she noted. “Luckily, you will be terminated.”
Mayu tried to tear away from him to see the sudden intruder, but he held her tightly, whispering an uneven “shh.” “Just close your eyes,” he pleaded. “I’ll protect you.”
“How strange,” the woman mused. “I suppose the brainwashing didn’t have quite the effect it was intended. You’re much too soft, caring for humans.”
“Don’t you dare try to hurt them,” Daiba growled, glaring up at her as though he had the strength to back up his words.
She tilted her head slightly, her expression unchanging. “Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Little doll, your body is falling apart, and even if it were not, you would still be unable to do me harm.”
“Maybe there’s no reason to be afraid of me, but there sure as hell are other people on this ship to be afraid of. But I think you’re underestimating me. You didn’t design me to last. You designed me to kill, remember?”
He was stalling. It was all he knew to do. He had no weapon or defenses, and one shot would be enough to pierce through both him and Mayu with their vulnerable position. Someone would have to notice that something was wrong. Someone had to come by to check on them. It was the only way he’d be able to get Mayu out of this.
“Yes,” the female nodded. “And had you completed your mission properly, the commander would have happily rewarded you for it. I never expected you would though. It is a foolish plan to put trust in anything that is partially human. You are useless creatures, and it is merciful to the universe for us to eradicate you.”
“No!” Mayu retaliated, breaking through Daiba’s weakening arms to glare hatefully at the intruder. “Brother is a good person! He makes pretty flowers and pretty music! And Harlock is a good person! And so is Miss Kei! People are good. You’re the mean ones.” She shook in fear under the all too familiar gaze of a Mazone woman, but if her brother could be brave, then so could she.
Daiba sat there, awestruck. They’d both referred to him as human. He was human in the eyes of the Mazone. It was a liberating idea.
The intruder breathed a sigh though her nose. “Do not be foolish, small human. Your kind is cruel and despicable. You make too many mistakes. Not a single one of you is pure.”
“Why should it matter?” Daiba hissed. “You’re no better than us. No one’s perfect, and your stupid ideal of it doesn’t make you superior.”
The Mazone woman watched him for a moment in silence. He made no sense to her, nothing but a little rambling fool, crazy like all the other humans. It disgusted her that such a thing shared her makeup. “At this moment, to us, it does not matter. Soon enough, our lives will all be forfeit for the Mazone Empire.”
Daiba didn’t like the way that sounded. Were there more Mazone around? Were they headed into a trap? They were so close to Earth, and he was so painfully tired. Despite the danger, it was hard not to just fall asleep.
“S-stay awake, Brother,” Mayu begged in terror as his chin began to droop.
“You really aren’t worth my time,” the Mazone woman frowned. To Daiba, her voice was nothing but a dull buzz. It was so hard to focus, so much more comfortable just to close his eyes. Just as he began to doze, the comfortable bundle in his arms was torn away, and his head jerked back up.
“Awake now?” the intruder smiled, her insect-like eyes dark with malice. She held Mayu by the throat as the girl struggled to hold herself up against the Mazone’s wrist in order to breathe.
“Put her down!” Daiba gasped as he desperately tried to regain his feet. His legs could no longer support him, and he fell with each attempt, bruising his knees against the metal. “Hurt her, and I will end you!”
“It doesn’t matter,” the woman reminded him. “We’ll all be dead soon. Killing her now is merciful. Otherwise she could be sucked out into space.” She tightened her grip on the girl’s throat until the frightened whimpers became crushed choking sounds.
The girl’s wide, tear-filled eye met her brother’s, and his vision flashed red. The unnatural blood within his veins broiled as rage caused him to overheat. No one hurt Mayu. He would protect her, and this bitch was going to die.
“Let go!” Daiba roared, violently gripping the metal floor in front of him. “Don’t you touch my sister!”
To the Mazone officer, flower manipulation was barbaric, like cutting someone down with a guillotine. So as the red blossoms appeared beneath her feet, scurrying up and around her legs just like the spiders they were named after, she was too startled to fight back immediately.
Then the thorns grew from the twisted stems, tearing into her legs. As a reflex, she dropped the girl, her hand going for her gun before it too could be covered in brambles.
“Mayu,” Daiba panted, blood dripping gruesomely from his mouth. “Close your eyes.”
Too frightened to do anything else, she curled into a ball and hid her eyes against her knees. She heard a gun blast followed by agonized screams. Finally she put her hands over her ears, hoping she wouldn’t hear anything else.
Daiba’s flowers had completely encased the intruder up to her neck. She could no longer hope to escape, and the boy took notice of the pain and desperation in her eyes. “Sorry,” he whispered, one hand clutched over the hole in his stomach. “That was a bit brutal. I’ll make this quick.”
He had to make it quick. His time was almost up.
As the door suddenly opened behind him, he closed his hand into a fist. The telltale scream of a Mazone dying filled the room as blue flames turned her to ash and covered the flowers that had caused her death.
Harlock caught his youngest crewman as he collapsed to the side and yelled for his goddaughter. Mayu’s head shot up. “Harlock!” she cried in relief, rushing to cower against him.
He’d been gone for five minutes. He just couldn’t leave his kids anywhere.
“Daiba,” he called, placing his hand over the wound. There was nothing he could do now. The shot was fatal, and the boy wasn’t going to last much longer.
His crewman winced but smiled up at him, just happy to hear his name. A comforting but heavy weight pressed down on him, and warmth spread out across his body. Soon enough the flames would come to claim him too. He could feel them under his skin, just like his blood. He was dying. Yes. Maybe.
“Brother?” Mayu called timidly. “A-are you okay?”
No, but that was fine. “Can you hum me that song again?” he requested, his voice a raspy whisper.
“W-why?” It sounded like a final request. Her brother couldn’t die. She refused, but he kept smiling.
“It gives me strength.” It would keep him breathing for now, just long enough to try something. The captain grabbed his hand to stop him from reaching out as one of the lilies bowed toward them, listening to his call as it bathed in the flames.
“It’s okay,” Daiba assured him. “It’s my last chance.” His skin was beginning to sting from heat. He was running out of time.
Mayu began to hum, the notes held out too long or too short, the pitches off due to her nerves. To Daiba, it was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.
The lilies all bowed to him, reaching out to his hand. To Harlock's amazement, the flowers weren’t being burned. As soon as Daiba’s hand connected, the flames tore up his arm. “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “They won’t hurt you.”
“How?” Harlock questioned, dumbfounded. If a Mazone blew up, the blast would have killed them. Why should these flames be any different? When they neared him, they didn’t latch onto his clothes or burn. They certainly felt hot, and yet Daiba didn’t appear to be in any pain, even as they covered the entirety of his skin.
“The flames aren’t our death,” the Mazone boy smiled, finally understanding. “They’re our life escaping us. This is what kept her alive, so I’m hoping it will do the same for me.”
Mayu was too happy to focus on singing anymore. She cried out hopefully as she saw the gun blast in his stomach close off. The green of his skin slowly returned to its healthier hue, and he took a deep lungful of air as the flames dissipated. It wasn’t dark. He could breathe. The flowers of death crumbled away along with their thorns.
“Brother!” Mayu sobbed happily, tackling him in a hug.
“Sorry I keep scaring you like that,” he whispered, hugging her tightly back. “It’ll be the last time.” Taking her hand, he held his over her palm. Her eyes shone with joy as his hand moved to reveal dozens of purple buds in a miniature bouquet. He ruffled her hair and stood, but she latched onto his legs, refusing to let him go anywhere.
He honestly didn’t mind.
“Captain,” he called, motioning the man to pull in close. He kept his voice low. “Don’t want to freak out Mayu, but there are a bunch of bombs in the cargo hold of the ship.”
“What?” Harlock frowned, already pulling out his communicator.
“We’ve got about another hour, but there are ten there.”
“How do you know?”
“I got some of that Mazone’s memories though the fire. It was weird. Remind me not to do that again.”
“Then don’t get yourself nearly killed again,” the captain smirked, shaking his head. Before rushing off to the cargo hold, he gave a quick nod to both of his kids.
____________________________________________________________
“You’re green!” one of the children called in amazement.
Daiba was getting tired of hearing that. Obviously he was green. It didn’t take a genius to notice that. “Yeah, and you’re ugly, but you don’t see me pointing that out,” he grumbled.
His captain threw him a firm glare of disapproval.
“This is my brother,” Mayu explained, grabbing the taller boy’s hand. “He can make flowers!”
The Mazone was feeling somewhat like a circus attraction, but at least the kids seemed to be interested instead of afraid.
Harlock watched in amusement as the children pulled Daiba’s hair until the teen’s temper flared, and he scared them all away. Mayu scolded him, smacking his head. The captain was just happy to see that she’d have someone to look after her and keep her company.
The Earth’s sun had brought Daiba completely back to life, and they couldn’t risk taking him from it again. He would have to stay on Earth alongside her, but he had someone to look after, someone to keep him company as well. Neither of them had looked angry when they realized they were being dropped off.
He’d come back to see them once the war was over and they were safe. In the meantime he’d look for a cure to the steady ticking away of Daiba’s life. His body hadn’t been made to last, but there had to be something. No matter what the doctor said, there had to be a cure.
If there wasn’t… at least he’d spend his last few years happy with his little sister. And he did look happy. They both did.
“Harlock-Harlock!” Mayu cried joyfully. “Look!”
Daiba placed his hands to the ground, breathing life into the earth. A sea of flowers crawled up in hundreds of brilliant shades. “Happy flowers!” Mayu cooed, twirling her way through them.
The children returned one by one to play alongside her and to talk to the strange, green human. As he presented a young girl with a flower, she eagerly hugged him in return before rushing off to play.
The sun was bright, and the flowers tinged the air sweetly as they waved goodbye to the Arcadia. Daiba stared out at the sky even after he couldn’t see the ship, brought back only when the children yelled.
“Come inside, big brother!” they all called.
He turned, his chest feeling warm. Mayu ran up to him, taking his hand to lead the way. He remembered what it felt like to be human and to have a family, and finally, he truly felt he had both.
SPCH-verse; Chapter 5 -Preserve Energy To Achieve Life
Nothing happens in this chapter at all warning
Just when he’d started to feel calmer around his youngest crewman, Harlock found himself growing increasingly irritated with the teen.
“He’s not here,” Mayu frowned as she scanned the bridge. “You said he’d be here.”
“I said he might be,” the captain corrected.
The small girl dangled from his neck, sighing over the disappearance of her brother. “What if the ham made him really sick? Can I go check his room?”
“Not right now.”
“Um, actually, Captain,” Kei called, standing from her post. Mayu’s expression brightened at the sight of the flower necklace in the older girl’s hands, but Kei remained nervous. “He’s with Zero right now.”
Harlock blinked, lowering his goddaughter to the floor as he took in the information. “Watch her,” he decided, nodding to the blonde. “Mayu, stay here.”
“What? I wanna see Brother!”
“She’ll be alright to see him,” Kei agreed. Her captain threw her a look of disapproval, but she hardened her expression, staring him down. “He wanted to see her.”
Harlock waited to see if she’d back down, but still, she held her ground, and he gave in with a slight nod. “Alright, come here then.” He turned, the girl quickly rushing to follow. She barraged him with questions about her brother’s condition that continued no matter how many times he insisted that he had no idea what was wrong.
Upon their arrival, the doctor glanced up from his sake but offered no immediate explanation. He appeared unusually drowsy, though the source was obvious – the melodic plucking of a lullaby from the Juran beside the sleeping Mazone.
“I was wondering where you’d gotten off to,” Harlock said, eyeing her curiously.
“Kei requested that I keep him company,” Miime explained, her soothing song continuing. “Because he was so alone.”
Mayu raced to her brother’s side, scrambling up onto the bed. “What’s wrong with him?” she demanded, her eyes wide with worry as she examined him. The natural green of his skin had faded to a lighter hue, and his strangled breaths came with effort.
Zero breathed a tired sigh. “I’m not completely sure, but I have a guess.”
“You’re not sure?” Harlock frowned.
“I’m no expert in plants. Humans are more my forte, but I’m guessing this is pretty simple. Think about it, Captain. Plants need three things in particular to survive.” He held up a finger. “Water.” He held up a second. “Carbon dioxide.” A third. “And-“
“Ground!” Mayu decided.
“Ah, well,” the doctor blinked. “Yes, soil. Normally that’s also necessary for plants, but not that one in this case. Then again, maybe that would help…”
“Just before he passed out, he said it was dark,” Miime interjected softly.
Harlock’s frown deepened. “Sunlight?” he realized. “But the Arcadia’s lights contain artificial sunlight, don’t they?”
Zero nodded, taking another quick drink. “Yes, but there’s a catch there. The artificial sunlight is only a substitution of what we’d need, not him. Plants take different nutrients from the sun.”
“But Mazone ladies have spaceships,” Mayu huffed.
“And they probably have their own means of artificial sunlight, the kind that they would need.”
“Then we need to go find him a sun!” the girl decided. “And some ground!”
“I don’t think he’d wish to be planted,” Miime hummed in amusement.
“We’re not going to stop anywhere until we reach Earth,” the captain said, firm in his decision.
The doctor lowered his voice, making sure only the man beside him could hear. “I don’t think he’ll make it that long. He’s been in and out of consciousness, but he’s steadily getting worse.”
“Can you give me an estimate?”
“Afraid not, but I wouldn’t say he has long at this rate.”
Mayu would have argued with her godfather’s decision, but her brother had commanded her attention. “Come on,” she encouraged softly, watching his eyelids flutter. “Wake up, Brother.”
He felt impossibly weak, and a weight crushed his chest, holding him down. But there was Mayu, his little sister. It was worth it to fight through the haze to see her. He managed a wobbly smile as she came into focus, and in return the worry eased from her face. She grinned brightly down at him.
“Good morning,” she cooed.
“Morning,” he whispered.
“Did Miss Yuki like her flowers?”
Ah yes, straight to the important matters, Daiba thought. “I don’t know. I wasn’t the one who gave them to her.”
“Aw, you chicken.”
“I know,” he sighed. He could feel the blood boiling and churning under his skin, but he fought back against it. He couldn’t risk frightening his sister.
“Can you go stand by the window while we pass a sun?” she pleaded, her worry returning.
It took effort for him to raise his arm, as though an invisible weight fought against him. Sluggishly, he placed his hand atop her head. He didn’t want for her to worry, no matter what truths he had to give her. “The ship is protected from outside interference. I wouldn’t get anything from those suns.”
“But you can get better from our sun, right? When we get to Earth?”
“Yeah.” He wondered how far it was to Earth and what was going to happen to him in that time. Maybe if he’d fully been a plant he would have had the energy to spare for the trip, but as things were now, his human half was killing him. “It’s just a couple more days, right?”
Mayu nodded, though she wasn’t exactly sure how much longer it was going to be. She wondered why they even needed to go back to Earth. There were certainly better places to be than there. But if it made her brother feel better, then it was all worth it.
“You’re gonna get better,” she decided, catching his hand as it began to slip from her hair. He was much warmer than usual, almost as warm as a human. Usually he was cool like the Mazone.
“Are you going back to sleep already?” she protested as his eyelids began to fall once more. “You haven’t given me a harmonica lesson yet, and it’s time to get up.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” But he could barely find the strength to talk anymore. Movement was impossible. He suddenly found himself afraid that the last few days of his life would be spent in flickers of consciousness. Awake for shorter and shorter spans of time until he finally wouldn’t wake up at all.
No, he had to live. He had to live for her. She was counting on him to. If he could just hold on long enough to make it to Earth, if he could just make it that long, she wouldn’t need to cry over him. He found it comforting, that there was at least one person who would mourn if he was gone, but he refused to let her.
Before his vision was completely gone, he caught sight of her pout and breathed a laugh. “I’ll just rest for a little while,” he murmured. “Then we can practice.”
“Fine,” she huffed, throwing a hug around his chest. It startled her to find a heartbeat drumming against her ear. “Are you sure Brother’s not human?” she asked as he slipped into an uneasy sleep.
Her godfather scooped her up, placing her on his shoulder. “Not by definition.”
“But he’s got a heart. If you’ve got a heart, aren’t you human?”
The doctor chuckled at her childishness. “The heart’s just for pumping his blood. I guess you could call him a hybrid. That’s probably the most accurate term.”
As Harlock started to turn from the room, he found a sharp protest hitting the top of his head. “You haven’t said goodbye to him,” Mayu scolded, smacking him.
“He’s asleep.”
“You should still say goodbye. You’re being rude. Give him a hug.”
She was trying to make him be nicer to the plant, he realized. A hug wasn’t going to happen, but to appease her, he reached out patted the sleeping boy’s shoulder.
“Now say bye,” she commanded.
“Goodbye…” he muttered.
“Say, ‘goodbye, Daiba’.”
Oh, so that was her plan. Fine. “Goodbye, plant Daiba.” It’s a good thing you’re asleep, he added in his head. Calling the Mazone Daiba wasn’t what bothered him. It had to have a name after all. Whether it was Daiba or not, it was now a Mazone named Daiba. He’d come to accept that much.
The problem was having Mayu order him around. Both Miime and the doctor were obviously amused. He needed to stop spoiling her so much.
“Okay, now let’s go see Daddy,” she decided, finally approving of his farewell. “I need to tell him we’ve got to hurry because Brother is sick.”
Harlock wondered if she realized he’d be leaving her once they got to Earth. He hoped she didn’t think she’d be staying with him, because he had to drop her off there, for her own sake. And Daiba…maybe he’d need to drop him off too. Perhaps she’d even be safer with her “brother” there to protect her, but could he chance that?
_______________________________________________________
Daiba awoke earlier than the doctor expected, though the horrible retching that began as soon as the teen sat up explained it. Luckily Kei had taken Miime’s place and was quick enough to grab the trash can for him.
“Is that all blood?” she questioned in mild terror.
The Mazone’s attempt at confirmation was a slurred mess.
“He’d make a great blood donor if there wasn’t so much plant matter mixed in,” Zero added.
Kei sighed, worried about the teen’s pallor, and reached out to rub circles into his back. “Don’t strain yourself. Take it easy. Do you need some water?”
She was already a much better doctor than Zero, Daiba decided, and he adored her for it. Water sounded like heaven, so he croaked a yes at the offer.
As she returned to him with a glass, his hazy vision took in the bushel of pink flowers hanging around her neck. “Sorry,” he murmured, smiling. “Guess it’s pretty childish.”
“What?" She glanced down to the necklace, realizing it was what he was referring to. "No, it’s lovely!” She dabbed at the blood on his lips with a handkerchief between his sips of water. “Thank you for making it for me. I’m so sorry I ran away at first. I just… I don’t know. I suppose I needed to grieve.”
“Because I died?”
“Maybe,” she frowned. “Because what you were died, but this is you now.”
His throat tightened, and his chest warmed. “So you believe me then?” he asked, a plea in his voice.
She searched his eyes. “Yes. I’d always believed you. I didn’t want to – I wanted to believe I’d wake up and you’d be just like you’d always been. But everything you’ve said has been so sincere. I can’t possibly convince myself that it’s an act.” She smiled, pretending to be firm as she spoke. “It had better not be an act.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I’m a terrible liar, Kei. You know that.”
“True.” She plopped down on the bed beside him, her smile fading. “It’s going to be two days before we get to Earth. Are…are you going to make it?”
He couldn’t answer. The urge to go back to sleep was already beginning to swallow him. He wondered, did you know when you were going to die? Did your body give you some sort of sign, some sort of message telling you it was the end? He only knew that he felt weak and he was getting weaker. Already he couldn’t walk, and soon enough he wasn’t going to be able to sit up on his own. The blood production was increasing, trying to make up for the energy he didn’t have, but it was only killing him faster. He could at least feel that much.
“You can’t…die,” she whispered, her hand shaking as she placed it to his cheek. “I already lost you once, and I spent so much time that I shouldn't have afraid of you… You have to make it to Earth, a-and if you can’t, we’ll make the captain stop on a planet that you can see a sun on.”
“Who’s we?” the Mazone sighed. “You and Mayu and maybe Miime are the only ones on my side, and the captain’s more concerned about Mayu’s safety than anything. Anyway, he should be. I’m not as important as her. If I…If I can’t make it, then it’s my own fault.”
“No…” the girl murmured shakily. “No, it’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. If we could just stop for a few minutes-”
Daiba placed his arms around her and pulled her close. He wasn’t sure which one of them he was doing it for, but human contact made his blood rush, made his body warm. As she held him tightly in return, he remembered what it truly felt like to be human again. It was strange to realize that he'd forgotten this warmth.
They both cried, Kei from fear, and Daiba from happiness. Even if he didn’t make it to Earth, he’d at least have Kei to remember him. Above all else, he didn’t want to be forgotten.
“We don’t need to stop,” he breathed. “It’s going to be fine.”
She hesitantly pulled away, keeping her hands on his shoulders. It seemed he’d fall back if she let go. Sleep was stealing him from her. “What does it feel like,” she questioned softly, “to need the sun?”
His eyelids fell, but she led his cheek to her shoulder, cradling him as he murmured his answer. “It feels like no matter how bright a room is, everything is so dark that you have to swim through pitch-black just to be able to see. Everything is so cold, the air especially. I’m breathing…but I’m not taking in any breath. I just want to lie down somewhere that it’s warm.” He leaned into the buds surrounding her neck. “And I want to breathe.”
“Hang on,” she commanded gently, carding her fingers through his hair. “You just stay with us, and we’ll get you to the sun.”
For once, the nightmares didn’t come. He dreamed of the Earth, of the Sun. The rolling hills covered in flowers and the trees that breathed just like him filled his mind. No wonder the Mazone were so interested in the Earth. It was such a beautiful, warm place. The people were a bit of a nuisance though.
“Brother,” Mayu called. “Brother!” He looked around the rusting grasses of the hillside, wondering where she was. “Wake up!”
His eyes opened to find her leaning over him, frowning. “Morning,” he whispered hoarsely.
The worry in her eyes didn’t let up. “I thought you were gonna sleep forever, Brother. It’s time for bed now.”
“I was awake earlier, when Kei was here.”
“That was hours ago. I told Daddy to get us back to Earth fast, but you can’t sleep too much.”
“Sorry,” he sighed. “Just so tired. I was having a nice dream though.”
“Well, I’m sorry I took you away from it, but you made me worried,” the girl huffed, moving his arm out enough that she could curl up in its crook. She snuggled against his side until she was comfortable, unbothered by her godfather’s protest.
“Mayu, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to sleep here tonight,” she decided.
“You said you wanted to tell him goodnight. You didn’t say anything about this,” Harlock countered, his arms folding across his chest.
“Brother is cuddly,” she argued in return.
Daiba himself wasn’t feeling completely lucid and wondered vaguely what was happening as he tried to fight off sleep. His little sister was arguing with the captain about something, though the young Mazone wasn’t sure why. The captain always seemed to lose arguments against Mayu. In fact, she was the one person that he’d actually seen truly overpower Harlock.
The teen decided to close his eyes for a second while the two duked it out. Just one second… Or maybe it was a bit longer than that, since the lights were off and the room was quiet when he opened them. That small bundle of warmth had remained at his side though, sleeping soundly.
Across the room he found his captain, dozing in a chair. The man still looked slightly ticked off about something, even when he slept. Though he did look slightly smaller, probably because his cape was gone.
Daiba blinked at the blanket he realized was covering him and Mayu, slowly coming to terms with it not actually being a blanket. It worked just as well though.
He wasn’t sure what had woken him up this time. There was…something off. He grasped for the nagging feeling, trying to understand what it could be, but his exhaustion dragged him down. As he faded back into a pleasant dream, he hoped he wouldn’t cough up any blood on his captain’s cape.
Harlock set out a specific, straight rule for Mayu: Don’t talk to the Mazone.
By the end of the first day, he gave in to his goddaughter’s stubborn tendencies and changed the rule: Only talk to the Mazone if you’re in my sight.
Daiba wasn’t particularly fond of the rule. Being within the captain’s sight meant a constant, threatening eye on him. “Make one wrong move,” Harlock had said, “and I’ll kill you.” He always was straight and to the point.
But at least the teen had Mayu to keep him company.
“Tadashi,” she sang as he stepped onto the bridge. “I learned a how to play something!”
“Did you?” he smiled. She trailed eagerly at his heels as he walked toward his post.
“Uh-huh, it’s my ocarina song. I spent a long time figuring it out.”
He plopped down into his seat only to find her crawling into his lap. The captain’s disapproving gaze settled on the two. His goddaughter caught his eye and stuck out her tongue at him as she settled herself across her Daiba’s lap. “He’s just jealous,” she whispered, giggling.
“Jealous?”
“Mm-hm, because I’m mad at him, and you’re my new friend.”
“Are you sure you’re not just using me to get back at him?” the Mazone smirked, lightly pinching her cheek.
“Maybe a little,” she grinned as she placed the harmonica to her lips to pick out her song. It was slow and disconnected, punctuated by the occasional wrong note, but Daiba felt like it was the prettiest thing he’d ever heard.
“Still don’t have it perfect,” the girl huffed once she was done, puffing her cheeks.
“You did amazing. You’re picking it up fast. All it takes is practice. Once you get a feel for it and know where all the notes are, you’ll be able to pick out anything you want easily.”
She beamed under the compliments, happy to impress. “What’s your favorite song, Tadashi? I want to learn that one next.”
“Ah, alright, let’s see…” He frowned, unsure how to teach her. Again, she handed him her ocarina, and after he removed his gloves, he easily found the tune for her, playing each note and waiting for her to find it on the harmonica before moving on to the next one.
“The difference is you’ve got more leeway with the harmonica,” he noted. “Instead of playing each note individually you can sometimes just move up or down a row to get to them. Sounds more natural that way.”
She nodded eagerly, pretending to completely understand. It was just easier than asking questions.
“Hey, did you give Miss Yuki her necklace yet?” the girl prodded in a whisper.
She sat across the room working on something, always working. Daiba hadn’t talked to her since the first disaster. Of course he didn’t want to keep it that way, but he was scared. A Mazone afraid of humans, it was almost funny to him. “If I say yes, will you believe me?”
“No, you gotta give it to her!” Mayu hissed, tugging on his hair as punishment, and partially because she liked the way it felt. It was soft like flower petals. “What if the flowers die before you give it to her? She’s not gonna want dead flowers.”
“Ow, hey,” the green boy huffed. “They won’t die. I can keep them alive for as long as I need to.” Just by touching a wilting flower, he could easily bring it back to life, and he’d been working to keep the necklace from falling apart for when he did have the courage to give it to her. He wasn’t exactly sure how the whole thing worked. Honesty, he didn’t know how anything worked. It all came on instinct.
“Really?” Mayu blinked, always astounded by his abilities. “You’d make a good gardener, Tadashi.”
“Um, thank you.”
“Then you’d have lots of plant babies.”
“We’ve been over this,” he sighed.
“Okay, but you have to give her the necklace. If you don’t…um…I’ll do something! Something you won’t like.”
“Sounds scary,” he laughed. “Alright-alright, I’ll give it to her.”
She nodded in approval before another wild thought struck her. “Hey.”
“Hm?”
“You can turn green and like me, right?”
“You mean my skin? Yeah.” Daiba wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. He usually didn’t, but Mayu always got a kick out of whatever games she could come up with.
“Can you be other colors? Like pink?”
He frowned. “I…might be able to.” Yeah, he probably could. The Mazone often had varied skin colors, but the deeper green was his natural base.
Her expression lit up. “You have to try, Tadashi! It would be so cool!”
He sighed, his blood automatically shifting under his skin as he willed it to. He didn’t really need to think about it. Sort of like walking, it just came naturally like everything else.
What he didn’t know how to do was how to adjust the color correctly.
“That’s too red,” Mayu frowned as his skin became the color of his blood.
“Ah, oops.” He tried to lighten it, but the green mixed in.
“Now you’re brown,” she giggled.
“Hang on, I’ll get it.”
“I wonder if you can make yourself pink with blue polka dots.”
“I’m just trying to get one color right now.” He finally hid the green, looking over his hands to make sure they were right. Yep, about the color of his old outfit.
“Cute!” Mayu squealed. “Okay, now you have to do polka dots.”
“Oh jeez, uh…” Since only his hands and face were visible, he picked out a quarter-sized spot on one hand and began working on the color blue. “Will a light blue work?” he offered, finding it was the most he could do.
“Uh-huh. It’s pretty.”
The blue made his skin feel cooler, making it easy to know where he placed each one across his hands and face.
Mayu beamed at her new creation. “Oh-oh! Can you change your hair color too?”
He playfully stuck out his tongue at her. “No, I think you’ve had enough fun ordering me around.”
“Aww, but you could make your hair purple.”
“I can’t change my hair color,” he smirked, pinching both her cheeks. “Besides, the green looks good with the pink, doesn’t it?”
She fell to a mess of giggles, batting his hands away. “No! It looks terrible.”
“Oh, your words hurt me,” he gasped overdramatically. “How will I ever cope?”
“You’re so dumb, Tadashi.” She reached up, taking her turn pinching the dots on his cheeks. The teen laughed as she tugged on his face, but when he glanced up, he found Kei smiling at them from her post, and he lost his concentration. “Aww, you’re turning green again,” Mayu pouted.
But his face was warm with a light blush. Even as he caught her eyes, the lady pirate didn’t turn away from him. Everyone turned away from him. She widened her smile, her gaze trustingly warm against his. Then she slowly went back to work.
He needed to give her that necklace. That way he’d have an excuse to approach her and talk to her. Otherwise he was still too nervous.
“Hey… Hey!” Mayu pinched his cheeks hard, bringing his attention back to her.
“Ow, excuse you, little miss.” He grabbed her hands and carefully pried them off, but to his surprise, he found her blushing and staring the skull on his uniform in order to avoid his eyes. “What is it?” he questioned, ruffling her hair.
“I was gonna ask you something, but I decided not to,” she huffed.
“Aw, what is it? At this point I don’t think you could shock me.”
She picked up one of his gloves fiddling with it as she muttered her request.
“What’s that?” He tilted his head, unable to hear.
Finally she looked up to him, determined. “W-will you be my big brother? I’ve never had one.”
“Um…neither have I.” He blinked, still trying to process the question. Be her brother? How was he supposed to do that?
“I mean,” she mumbled, squirming under his gaze. “I’ve always wanted a brother…”
“Sure, uh, I can be your brother.” If Harlock didn’t kill him first. “Uh, how does that work?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed, furrowing her brow. “But you have to be a good big brother.”
“Then you have to be a good little sister.”
She finally relaxed, her usual smile returning. “I don’t think that’s one of the rules.”
“Really? I thought you didn’t know the rules.”
“I know that’s not one of them,” she nodded assuredly as she pulled on his gloves. The ends of the fingers flopped emptily, and she placed her hands up beside her face, clawing with a childish "Rawr."
Daiba stiffened as Harlock stood suddenly from his high-backed chair and made his way over toward them. He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t look anything. It was so hard to tell what the captain was thinking, and the teen found himself on edge.
“It’s time for breakfast,” the captain said, scooping up his goddaughter.
Daiba blinked. That was it? No threats? No glares?
“Oh, I am really hungry,” Mayu realized.
Harlock turned without so much as a glance to his youngest crewman and started toward the door. But he called back, “Are you going to eat?”
The Mazone couldn’t even muster up a response. He captain had said something…normal to him.
The young girl peered over her godfather’s shoulder. “Come on, Brother!” she called eagerly. “Let’s eat!”
“Uh, I don’t really…” But it was an invitation to be around them. He stood, following them in a slight daze. The captain was allowing him to be close to them without any tension. He was almost being accepted, and despite no one else in the halls offering the same consideration, he had the girl smiling over Harlock’s shoulder at him, and maybe he was starting to have the captain and Kei as well.
They were starting to trust him, at least a little, because he wasn’t one of the monsters. He wasn’t the enemy, and for the first time he was starting to truly believe that.
Still, he wasn’t human, and he turned down the offer of food. Despite that, he found a plate set in front of him as Mayu once more took her place in his lap. “You should eat,” she scolded, holding up a skewered piece of ham for him.
“I don’t eat,” he shrugged. “Just water.”
“But water tastes boring. You can still eat stuff.”
“Not sure how my system would take that.”
“Eat it,” she prodded, waving her fork in front of his face.
He figured he was too willing to do what she wanted in order to please her, but he was a bit curious, so he gave in and took a careful bite. It was awful. Had ham always tasted so sickening? Still, he swallowed it, shuddering as he did so. “That’s plenty of breakfast,” he huffed.
Harlock, who had taken a seat across from them, watched him curiously. “You’re just sustained by water?”
“I guess.” Daiba shrugged. “Gotta do that whole photosynthetics or whatever.”
“Photosynthesis,” the captain corrected.
“Yeah that.”
“What’s that?” Mayu questioned.
“It’s where I run on water and make oxygen and stuff.”
“What’s that?”
“Oxygen? It’s the air you breathe.”
“What air do you breathe?”
“Carbon dioxide.”
“What’s that?”
“Uh…it’s the stuff you breathe out.”
“But I thought I breathed oxie-gin.”
“Uh, well, you’ll learn this all in school later.”
“Okay. It all sounds dumb.”
“It is. Nothing you learn in school is important. You should just skip it.”
“Okay.”
The captain threw the teen an unamused frown as the plant tried to hide his smile.
Within a few minutes, he was particularly regretting eating. “I’m going to go vomit,” he explained calmly as he picked up his little sister to remove her from his lap.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Before he could set her back down, she kissed his cheek. “Feel better then, Brother.”
As though it had been her goal, his face lit up in a blush, and she giggled brightly. “Ahh, stop that,” he squeaked, quickly settling her down and rushing from the room.
“Mayu,” the captain began in a tired attempt to scold her.
“Isn’t my brother so cute?” she cooed.
“I don’t think I’m equipped to answer that.”
“You know he is!”
Harlock decided just to leave her be as she hummed to herself and ate her eggs, kicking her feet to the familiar tune. If she was safe and happy, who was he to take that away from her? He just needed to keep a close eye on the Mazone. No matter how many assurances he received, he wasn’t sure he’d ever trust the thing around her.
The Mazone himself had collapsed onto his bed after a rather unpleasant few minutes emptying his stomach and the excess blood from his body. Making flowers now was taking a lot out of him, so it was easier to just get rid of the blood without them. Actually, the whole ordeal had shot his energy, and he found himself drifting off against the cool bed sheets.
He caught sight of Kei’s flowers sitting on his bedside table as his eyes slid shut. He’d give them to her when he woke up. Just a short nap was all he needed. Just to rest his eyes for a few minutes…
…What?
Where was he?
Oh, his room. Right. He’d come in here.
The lights had been on when he’d come in, but now they’d been shut off. Maybe the automatic system had done that…meaning most everyone was asleep for the night. But he’d gone to sleep right after breakfast, and he’d slept the whole night through previously.
God, his head was swimming. He fought sluggishly against it to drag himself into a sitting position. Maybe it was from too much sleep. Maybe Mazone could hibernate or something. Sure.
Usually Kei was still awake for a good portion of the night though. Hopefully he could still go talk to her, and there was probably someone else on the bridge keeping her company, so he wouldn’t be breaking his rules.
He dangled his feet over the side of the bed and pushed himself into a standing position, his breath quickly rasping at the effort. He just needed to wake up a bit more was all. He took a gentle hold of the necklace and forced his heavy, aching limbs to move.
By the time he started down the hall, his knees were shaking. Without warning, blood began to drip from his mouth to splatter against the cold metal floor of the dimmed halls. Well, he hadn’t gotten rid of any in hours, so it was to be expected. He was fine. He was…fine.
He continued to tell himself as much as he stumbled against the wall for support. He was just being weak. He needed to clean himself up or he’d freak Kei out.
“What’s wrong, little Mazone?” an airy voice called.
The teen had to blink a few times to even out his vision. “Miime…” He managed a wobbly smile. “I’m not supposed to…to talk to anyone alone.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“Why is it…that everyone who should hate me…doesn’t?”
“Why should I hate you?” She stepped up to him, cupping his face to help him look up as he teetered on the edge of consciousness.
“I…” He didn’t have the strength to answer her. Instead he held up the necklace as his blood spilled down onto her thin hands. “K-Kei,” he breathed. “Give it…t-to her…”
Miime took it from him, leaving one hand against his face for him to lean on. “Slow down, little Mazone.”
He noticed a withering bud. No, he couldn’t have that. It had to be perfect for Kei. He reached out for it, bringing it back to a bright, beautiful blossom with a simple touch. Now she’d accept him. She wouldn’t cry…because of him.
The ground rushed up to meet him, and he found himself resting against the icy, hard metal. Finally his breathing began to slow. Miime knelt beside him, her hand so warm against his numbing skin. “Hang on,” she whispered soothingly. “We’ll help you.”
“It’s…dark,” he realized. That was why. The Arcadia was so dark. It was drowning him.
Super angst muffin green Daiba warning; Mayu is a strange child warning
While sleep wasn’t fun, Daiba decided it was less upsetting than the waking world. The second time he jolted awake from a dark dream, he found himself with a face-full of blood-red flowers. “The hell?” he murmured, dragging himself up.
“You made them in your sleep.”
The teen nearly fell from his bed in startled surprise. “Ahh! Shit!” He suddenly realized who the owner of the small voice was, standing just in front of his closed door. “Uh I mean…shoot.” Harlock probably wouldn’t want him teaching curse words to his goddaughter.
“I scared you!” Mayu sang, giggling. She tiptoed up to the side of his bed, staring at the green-skinned boy as though he were some sort of zoo animal. “Why are you so upset, Mr. Daiba?”
But the Mazone had more important questions on his mind. “H-how long have you been in here?”
“I dunno. Just a little bit. You were making flowers with your hands.” She climbed onto the foot of the bed, sitting down across from him. “They’re really pretty. Can I see some?”
As she held out her hand, Daiba backed away, pressing himself against the wall. “You can’t be in here, Mayu. The captain’ll kill me.”
“Why?” she frowned. “Harlock wouldn’t hurt you.”
The teen glanced over himself. Yep, still a plant. He wondered if the girl was still suffering from PTSD after her ordeal. Surely the Mazone hadn’t brainwashed her to like them or anything.
“Mayu…aren’t you scared of me?”
“Why?”
“Because…I’m one of them.” Admitting it aloud made his throat turn dry. He was one of them. Damn, how disgusting.
“But you’re Mr. Daiba,” she countered. “Aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” he whispered shakily. “But I’m still…” Someone believed in him. Someone who shouldn’t have, who should have hated him. Little Mayu with her innocent mind and smile – why did she of all people trust him, when he was so similar to the ones that had hurt her?
“You look like them,” she nodded, “But I can tell you’re different. Your eyes aren’t mean. They’re just really sad. You don’t need to be sad, Mr. Daiba. It’s not fun. Being happy is much better.”
“You don’t have to call me, Mr. Daiba,” he muttered, trying to hold back a sheepish smile. “Just Tadashi’s fine.”
Her eyes brightened. “Okay, Tadashi!”
“But the captain’s still going to kill me if he finds out you’re in here,” he sighed, shaking his head. “He doesn’t want me alone with anyone, and he’d probably take my head off for just breathing the same air as you.”
“That’s dumb.” She stuck out her tongue in disapproval. “Harlock’s being silly. If Daddy doesn’t think anything’s wrong, then nothing’s wrong.”
“Uh, alright.” So he had a little girl and a sentient ship computer on his side. Fantastic.
“I really like your flowers,” she smiled. “They’re all so pretty.”
Daiba wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about his flowers, many of which he’d made unintentionally, being called pretty. He wasn’t even comfortable with them being called his flowers. “Th…thank you?” he managed.
“Can you make lots of different colors?”
“I guess.” Allowing himself to scoot a bit closer, he carefully took one of the velvety red blossoms and urged it to grow a stem. Then he held it out toward her, the weight in his chest easing at the sight of her overjoyed smile.
Taking it, she laced the stem behind her ear to place the flower against her temple. The teen realized it was a bit odd, considering that flower had been colored with his blood. Mayu didn’t need to know about that. When she looked back up to the elder boy, she giggled again. “You’re blushing.”
“Huh?”
“Your cheeks are kinda red.” Daiba placed his hands to his face, confirming that it had warmed up considerably. It only made him blush more, and Mayu broke into a bright laugh. “That’s funny, Tadashi. Hey, can you make me some more color flowers? I want to make you something.”
“Like a flower necklace?”
“Can you make them too?” she gasped. “Let’s both make one. And I can make one for Harlock. You should make one for Miss. Yuki. I bet she’d think it was really pretty.”
The Mazone ducked behind his mossy bangs. “I don’t think Kei wants any flowers.”
“You should give her happy flowers. You make lots of sad flowers, and they’re pretty too, but happy flowers are prettier.”
“You can understand them?” he frowned as he closed his hands, growing a new bud.
“Kind of. It’s easy to see when they’re happy or sad though. Don’t they just look like they are?”
Daiba nodded, handing her an orange flower. He’d never noticed as a human though. Flowers had always just been flowers until he’d been given this body. But he’d never been all that perceptive, and Mayu certainly was.
After he made a few dozen rainbow blossoms, he began to feel drained by it. Of course, he realized, he couldn’t just create matter without putting something into it. Putting something into it...like his skin? Alright, he needed to stop thinking about the science of his weird new species.
But he needed to eat or…something to keep his strength. But he didn’t feel hungry. He was getting pretty damn dehydrated, and there was something else…something.
Instead of bothering to fix that, he began to weave together the flowers he’d made, which was still strange to think about. Maybe if he stopped doing weird things, he’d pass for a human better, but it all felt so natural, so normal.
“So, if you’re a plant,” Mayu began as she looked over a finished necklace. “And these flowers are plants. Does that mean that if you make them, they’re your babies?”
The green boy found himself choking on nothing. “N-no! Not at all!” Actually, he was pretty sure most plants used flowers for something related. He decided to push that thought away too.
“That would be cute though,” the girl hummed. “Little flowery babies.”
“Please stop talking about that.”
“Can you have babies? I mean, you’d have to somehow because the Mazone must have babies. You know, I never saw a boy Mazone. They were all girls. Are there any nice Mazone girls you could marry so you could have flower babies together?”
The teen’s face burned. Wasn’t she too young to know about that sort of thing? “I-I really don’t want a wife o-or babies,” he squeaked.
“But maybe Mazone babies are really cute.”
Daiba was coming closer to having a minor breakdown. “I don’t think so.”
“Can you make fruits and vegetables too?”
“No…” He was pretty sure he couldn’t anyway. “Uh, which flowers do you think Kei would like?”
“The pink ones,” Mayu nodded, sure of her decision. “What do those ones mean?”
“Beauty,” Daiba mumbled, his cheeks warming.
“Then those are perfect!” the girl cooed. “Miss Kei’s so pretty, isn’t she?”
“Y-yeah…” He still felt he had a chance to win her over. Maybe he’d lost everyone else, but Kei would accept him. She just needed a little time and maybe a couple bribes.
“We should make a necklace for Daddy!” Mayu cried in sudden excitement. “Make a bunch more flowers, Tadashi!”
“I don’t think I can make any more right now,” he laughed, ruffling her hair. “But I’ll make some later so we can. We’re going to need a lot of flowers to get around that, er, him.”
“See?” she smiled warmly, relishing in his new disposition. “Being happy is better.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I guess you would know that better than any of us. I really don’t understand why you’re being so nice to me.”
“Because I was worried about you. You couldn’t play your music, and you looked so sad.”
“Oh…you saw that?” He glanced back to his harmonica, still sitting on his bedside table. “Yeah, I can’t… I don’t know why…”
Crawling closer, she draped the lei around his neck. Then she pulled the ocarina from around hers and held it out to him. “You can play this if you want.”
He squirmed in discomfort. That was hers, a gift from the captain. “I don’t think I’ll be able to,” he mumbled. “Besides, I don’t know how.”
“I’ll teach you. So here.” She forced it into his hands, scolding, “Don’t give up before you’ve even tried something.”
“Alright-alright.” He yanked his gloves off, taking the instrument. The smooth wood warmed to his touch. Though it was long-dead, this was something that had once breathed.
Mayu stared at his hands. “Did you know that your skin blends in with your uniform? They’re almost the same color. You’re really green, Tadashi.”
“Thank you,” he huffed dryly, moving the instrument’s mouthpiece into place.
“Oh, I can teach you a song…” She trailed off as a mellow tune began to fill the room. “Wow! I thought you didn’t know how to play!”
Daiba stopped, blinking in confusion. “I don’t, but…I can feel how to. Nothing really makes sense anymore,” he sighed.
“It’s because it’s a plant!” Mayu realized. “It’s made from a tree, like you. You’re like family.”
A moment of silence passed as the teen attempted to process her statements. “I wouldn’t say…family.”
She giggled at the disturbed expression on his face. He was starting to think she was just saying all this to get a reaction out of him. “Okay,” he began with a smirk, “since you ‘taught’ me ocarina, I’ll teach you the harmonica.”
Her eyes sparkled in amazement. “You could teach me?”
“Sure.” He grabbed the silver instrument from his bedside table and placed it in her hands. “Not like I can get much use out of it anymore.”
The young girl noticed the pain in his eyes as he spoke. “It’s important to you, isn’t it? Don’t worry, Tadashi. I’ll take care of it for you.”
A sharp ringing noise stole his smile, coming closer, louder and louder with each nearing footstep. Daiba was frozen in terror while Mayu calmly placed the harmonica into the pocket of her dress. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get mad at you,” she assured the frightened teen.
As the captain stormed into his room, the Mazone was sure there was nothing Mayu could say that would keep him alive. Harlock immediately drew his gun, pointing it at his youngest crewman as he grabbed his goddaughter from the bed.
“Harlock!” Mayu began in a whine, but the captain wasn’t paying attention to her.
“I gave you specific instructions,” he hissed. “I told you exactly what was off limits to you. Was there some part of staying in your room alone that you didn’t understand?”
“I-I didn’t- I mean no!” Daiba stuttered, his eyes flicking between the gun and his captain’s enraged expression. “I didn’t touch her!” he swore.
Mayu kicked and squirmed, trapped under her godfather’s arm. “Stop it!” she demanded.
“Then what did you think you were doing?” Harlock demanded.
“I don’t know! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The teen cowered back.
“What do you mean, you don’t know!?” The captain pressed the barrel of the gun to the Mazone’s forehead. He’d just gotten Mayu back from them, just managed to make sure she was safe and healthy. He refused to take any chances with another one of them.
“I didn’t hurt her!” Daiba gasped in terror. “I never hurt anyone! Captain, please!”
“Why don’t I take you down to the brig so we can talk more easily?” the elder growled.
“Leave! Him! Alone!” Mayu screamed. “I was just talking to him! Stop being so mean! You’re being a big stupid, Harlock! Stupid! Stupid! I hate you!”
The Arcadia’s captain suddenly looked like a child who’d just been scolded. Hesitantly, he lowered and holstered his gun. His goddaughter hung limp against his arm, simmering in irritation. “Mayu,” he began at length. “I told you not to go near him.”
“Because you’re dumb!” She stuck out her tongue at him. “I’m going to talk to him if I want to.”
“But, Mayu,” he attempted sternly. “You can’t-“
“Because you’re being a jerk for no reason! You be nice to Tadashi! He made me cute flower babies!”
“What?” Harlock blinked.
“T-they’re not…babies, Mayu,” Daiba whispered, placing his face in his hands.
“Okay, but they’re cute,” she insisted with a pout. “I made you a necklace, Harlock, but I’m not going to give it to you, because you are mean.”
The captain still seemed confused, but guilt leaked into his expression. “I’m sorry,” he gave in. “But both of you broke the rules I laid out for you, even if there was no malicious intent behind it.”
“I broke the rules because it was the right thing,” Mayu huffed. “Just like you do.”
Harlock was at a loss for another scolding. He frowned down at her as he searched for an answer. “We don’t know for sure that we can trust him, so don’t talk to him by yourself again. Do you understand?”
She puffed her cheeks, pouting, but he glared down at her until she gave in with a curt nod. Then he turned to the Mazone. “I’ll be back to talk to you in a moment.”
“Yes sir,” Daiba mumbled tiredly.
“You’d better not be mean,” the girl warned as she was carried out. “If you do, we’re not friends anymore!”
“Mayu, why are you up?” Harlock sighed. “It’s time for bed.”
“I’m not tired!”
The door closed behind them, and Daiba’s shoulders dropped as the tension left his body. He began breathing normally again. Alright, the captain wasn’t going to kill him, at least not right now. The man was probably going to come yell at him for a bit, but the teen could deal with that much.
He realized he was still holding the ocarina, and he uncomfortably held it out to the intimidating man once he stepped back inside. Harlock carefully took it, eyeing the Mazone. “You don’t have an excuse for breaking the rules I laid out for you,” the captain began. “I can’t trust you, and I especially can’t trust you around Mayu.”
“I know,” Daiba sighed. Picking up a flower, he began tugging its petals off. “I won’t talk to her again.”
“I want to trust you,” the captain reminded him.
“But there’s nothing I can do to prove myself, and I’m just one of them now.”
“We don’t have a choice but to see it that way. If it had been Kei or Yattaran, we’d be taking the same precautions. Daiba would probably have suggested we kill them already.”
The teen’s gaze fell, his mess of bangs dropping like a curtain to hide his expression. “You won’t even acknowledge me. You won’t even call me by my name.”
“As far as I’m concerned right now, Daiba is dead.”
The young male crushed the flower in his hand, his knuckles aching as he tightened his fist. “Does that make it easier?” he hissed. “It’s easier to accept that I’m dead than that I’m one of those bastards?”
Harlock lowered his voice. “That’s not it, and no matter what happened, I don’t want to accept it.” The Mazone glanced up in confusion as his captain turned away. “Because either way,” the man murmured, “it’s my fault for not holding on. If you are Daiba, then I’m sorry for that.”
“Me too,” the young pirate murmured as his captain disappeared behind the closing door. “I’m sorry I didn’t die.”
