Ponzo and I arrive at the bank together, Carol left towards the west gate after I caught up with the two. They were more serious than usual. It was literally sobering.

"The vault is…" He says speaking quietly when we step past the locked front door. "I have to…"

"Wait a bit Ponzo. You stay here. I will close it." I offer after stopping him with a hand.

This situation is strange. I know for a fact Ponzo wouldn't leave the safe open, and from how I understand it nobody else in town can open it.

I spin a few dials on the vault door, cranking the handle twice and pressing it in. I turn the dial back to fifteen and then pull the handle.

*Hissss*

The bars on the exterior thrust out and lock the vault door back into place. I slap my hands together and turn to Ponzo who still stands in the doorway a few dozen paces away.

"You know how to…" He says beginning to step forward in the bank towards me.

"Yeah, I've watched you do it enough times. But stay there. Actually you should leave first. And I am going to borrow this lamp."

"But that bank is… I can't possible leave after…"

"Leave, just for now. I have to deal with this alone. Don't worry I will lock up after me."

"Understood." Ponzo finally says giving me an odd look but reluctantly stepping from the building.

Good, I can do this with static variables, a dynamic one would make it difficult.

I walk carefully through the bank while holding the lamp, I glance behind me occasionally but it seems I haven't messed up yet.

But now the real adventure begins.

I step out into the well-lit festival grounds carefully looking around the square. I choose a path and make my way around the square.

I had to hunch down a few times which elicited some odd glances from those around.

Just ignore me. Assume I am drunk or something, just don't interact with me, please.

"Captain. There you are."

Ah, damn it Aqua.

"Sorry Aqua, I had stuff to deal with. Now you have to join me." I say to her who was a step away from behind me.

"What?" She asks arching her eye brow.

"Don't worry about it. Just follow me carefully. Don't take a single step differently from me understand?"

Aqua grows a worried face before nodding firmly to my demand.

After an exhausting walk down a dimly lit road, we finally arrived at my desired location for the confrontation.

"Aqua face me and stand close."

"U…Understood." She says catching her own voice.

She follows my command and steps her body within inches of mine. "Now, create a ball of light while walking backward carefully."

"Yes."

She creates a small ball lengthening both of our shadows while simultaneously splitting them apart.

Now he is in one or the other. Which will he have chosen?

"Time to come out." I say turning my back to Aqua and facing the dark shadow behind me.

He hasn't had the chance to escape. Or if he has I didn't notice. I felt two presences before I began closing the vault door, but one vanished immediately. This is completely theory at this point but I figure it's someone with shadow magic.

"Captain what are you…?"

"Don't worry about it. Just watch your back." Although I doubt they will be in any condition to fight after they finally appear.

Finally, a soft sound of feet striking sand resounded behind my back. "Pahhhh. What the hell? So you… it was on purpose? Just who the hell are you?"

"Wahhh!" Aqua screams at the sudden appearance of a voice behind her.

She reacts in a way I call unexpected. Instead of fearfully leaping behind me or just running away, she swings her fist at the man.

But her fist wasn't all that appeared. Her ball of light, still burning pure white, impacts the man's face before her fist passes through.

The light turns a dark red and a sound like thunder resounds through the area.

*CRACK*

A soft mist began to fall in the darkness. Our eyes, having been accustomed to the light of Aqua's ball were blinded momentarily.

Aqua again lit the ball, both of us were somewhat curious what just occurred.

There was nothing left. Even the light, although once again brilliant white, appeared pink due to the cloud of vaporized man. Both of us had thick streaks of blood dripping off our faces.

Holy shit.

"What did I just do?" Aqua asks looking at her left hand in utter shock.

"I don't honestly know. But we should probably get out of here. We look kinda scary right now."

"R…right."

I grip Aqua's trembling hand and pull her towards the empty ETC pier.

We ran in relative silence, nothing but the sounds of our soft breath and the clamor of the distant festival could be heard. Only when our footsteps were on the wood of the Excalibur did Aqua finally speak.

"Captain that was… I just… I didn't mean to…" The blood on her face began streaking with red tears.

I wrap my arms around her and pat her damp back. "Hey, it's ok. I know. It's ok."

"But I just… I'm not a monster Captain, I swear."

"I would never think that. You are my adorable Aqua, nothing could change that opinion." I tuck a lock of short, now strawberry pink, hair behind her ear. "We should get cleaned up though."

Aqua looks at her somewhat calmed hands grimacing at the blood across them. "Right."

"I think I still have a warm bucket of water in stor…" I begin, hunting in my storage for a moment before noticing Aqua moving around the boat. "What are you doing?"

"I'll get clean in the ocean." She says stripping the thin dress off and wiggling her butt a few times to drop her panties. She again turns to me. "You shou... You have to come with me."

"Wha… That's… Um, Ok."

"You… You have to too, or else it's embarrassing." Aqua says wrapping her hands to block some skin on her front.

"Naked?"

"Mhm. I mean, it seeped through my clothes, I'm sure it did for you as well."

"I… I suppose that's true."

"Mhm. Come one hurry." She turns again facing her small butt towards me. She steps towards the non-dockside of the ship and carefully maneuvers over the railing before diving gracefully into the water.

What the hell is happening? How did this turn of events occur? It's not a complete leap logically, but this is still extremely bizarre, and fairly out of character.

However, on the other hand, my mind is reluctant to leave her alone long. It has nothing to do with my arousal over seeing her naked, absolutely nothing to do with that.

I follow her lead after a few moments of mental and physical preparation. Spotting her head bobbing on the surface of the water I dive towards a spot beside her.

It's surprisingly warm.

I so rarely take the time to enjoy the water. I like swimming but I was never much one for swimming in the ocean. However, here in the port, the waves are minimal. It's like a warm bath, except salty.

"Captain, was that person…"

"It was a bad person. You would have been in danger had you not done what you did. Don't beat yourself up over it, you made the right choice. You protected me, thank you."

"I…" She hesitates a moment while treading in place. "I protected Captain?"

"That's right. So you shouldn't worry about what you did, I was moments away from doing the same, except less impressively."

"I was, impressive?"

"Are you kidding me? You were phenomenal. That was definitely flashier than some lightning show." I say patting her head.

Her bloodied cheeks turn a shade pinker. "Thanks."

"Right, well let's get cleaned up. I have soap if you want."

"Wash me."

"Wash you?"

"Yes." She says nodding and turning her back to me before drifting closer. She lowers deeper into the ocean so only her nose and ears are above the water.

"Alright then." I draw some water into my palms pouring it over her hair. "Oh, I have an idea actually."

"Hmm?"

I take a thin silky rope I acquired from the capital and tie it around her waist. I do the same to myself.

She clutches at the silk sash wrapping her stomach with a confused expression before turning her sunken head to me.

"Ready to dive?"

She takes a deep breath before nodding. I suppose she doesn't understand my plan. I slide a blue scale into her sash while holding her carefully. I add one to my own sash and we both drop to the bottom of the ocean.

"Oh!" She says realizing my meaning and clutching at the scale on her stomach. "But this thing is cold, you could've warned me."

"Sorry. But I figure its easier to get clean under here." And it's less embarrassing.

"But this doesn't count you still have to clean me," Aqua says again placing her back on my chest.

"Fine, fine. But why are you being so forward about this?"

She stays quiet for a moment before answering. "Rou said I should attempt to get Captain to see my body with lust. That I should be more alluring towards you. I know this is a bad time but… there is no better time."

"I see."

"D…Did it work?" She asks turning around in my grasp and placing her bare chest against mine.

"It… A little too well." I honestly answer, adjusting the scale to better cover my lower self.

"Not fair." She grips through the silk and pulls on the scale tossing it over her shoulder.

"What… What are you…"

"Now you can't let go of me even if you want to." She says with a giggle pressing the scale at her stomach against mine. "Please forgive this selfishness Captain."

"No, it's ok."

"Please don't tell Rou about this." She whispers clutching my body tightly. "This is my secret time with Captain."

"Ok. Understood." I say brushing a hand through her loosely floating hair. She looks beautiful, even if I can't see perfectly this deep in the moonlit water, I know that much for sure.

"I don't want to ever do that again."

"Kill someone?"

"Mhm. That magic is meant to heal. Not whatever that was." She says shivering.

"I also don't want you to ever have to do that again."

"But that color. It looked like Captain's color for a moment."

"Oh. The red? I noticed that too. Perhaps it's a demon skill of some kind."

"I see." She says pondering for a moment. "Do you think that would be enough to beat Captain?"

"Of course. I think that would probably annihilate me. I consider our tie reversed, with that power you could have beaten me."

"But I was only able to get this power from Captain killing me."

"Please don't say it like that."

She giggles in response before grabbing the soap from my hand and focusing her attention on my back. Not fair, I wasn't done.

We took a little longer than necessary to wash each other. Once both satisfied, I place the scale at Aqua stomach as well as the ribbon into my storage. Sudden buoyancy is a strange feeling. It's like the opposite of the falling sensation when you are nearing sleep.

We both gasp when we reach the surface. When had we last breathed air? Shouldn't we be sputtering water? I can't for the life of me understand how Aquarou's tool works.

"Ah, there you are!" A voice from above us says, startling us half to death. "Carol and Ponzo are looking for you, Captain."

"Oh, El…" Aqua says blushing and glancing down at the surface of the water.

"What's with the bloody clothes?" El asks leaning on her arms over the railing.

"There was an incident. Could I ask you to grab us some towels?" I say attempting to move her away from the deck so I can properly get out of the water.

"Meh, I'm sure you have one in storage, right?" El says smirking at us. "Come on, hurry up they are waiting at the bank for you."

She is doing this on purpose, huh?

"Ah, is captain over here?" Rou's voice says from above. El turns and smirks at her but says nothing.

Come on, help me out here.

~ ~

After getting myself out of that sticky situation in the most logical way possible I went to the bank where I first picked up my short-lived passenger.

The girls seemed to have something to talk about so I was going alone. Not that I particularly minded. Ideally Aqua wouldn't have been in that situation with me earlier.

I mean the violent situation, not the… not the other one. The other one was fine. Pleasant even.

But what was in the vault wasn't pleasant.

"The vault is a vacuum?" I ask grimly looking at the scene before me.

"Vacuum? I don't know what that means. The vault purges all air from its inside when closed. It's a precaution for this very purpose. I thought for sure you knew based on your quick action." Ponzo explains over the body of the young boy.

"I didn't… This is kind of…" I stammer feeling slightly weak.

This really wasn't my intention. I thought I was simply storing the thief away for later. How many people now have died by my hands? This is surely the youngest.

"You did the right thing. He was a thief. Two others were killed by the guards at the west gate. And I also hear there was some kind of altercation at the beach?"

"It was… nothing really."

"Well nothing is missing so I would say it ended well. I deeply apologize for this situation. We will never allow it to happen again. In fact, it amazes me they were even able to make it this far."

"They had a low-level shadow manipulator."

"Shadow magic? Then perhaps they still…"

"No, that person was killed."

"I see," Ponzo says with a hand to his chin. "This must have been an organized group then. But this should act as a good deterrent, assuming of course that you will even continue to trust us with your money."

"You all responded quickly. I think you did a fantastic job. And as you said nothing is missing so no harm done."

Although maybe it would be a good idea to add a vault to ETC and maybe a safe for EBC.