Beauty and the Moon

[Bobbie]

“Yeah, well…” Danielle paused, letting out a frustrated huff and then a wince as she pulled herself upright to sit properly in her seat. “He shouldn’t have done what he did either, so I guess that makes us even and it can be water under the bridge now.” As she grumbled, she looked at Gabriel once he was seated within the carriage too.

As his attention shifted onto someone else, Danielle frowned and she remember what they were waiting for - the precious paintings. Then she heard the familiar voice and her gaze followed Gabriel's.

“Yes, this outfit makes it a little hard to be quick… but I moved as fast as I could.” She explained, though in truth it was a bit of an excuse. As she was handing the paintings over to Gabriel, she let her gaze drift past him to spot Danielle, who flinched and quickly looked away again. “Can we go now?”

Taking Gabriel’s hand, the knight smiled at the pleasant surprise of hospitality and stepped into the carriage, hunching over slightly to avoid hitting anything with her bulky though flimsy armour. “Thank you…” For a moment, she stood there and looked around for the best place to sit - of course she wanted to sit beside Danielle, so she moved to sit there and promptly took her helmet off to reveal a caring smile as her gaze fell on the object of her intrigue once more, medium-length dark hair that parted to the side and fell on her shoulder with grace.

Danielle frowned and tugged on the skirt of her dress that the woman had now just sat on.

“Oh, sorry. Let me…” as both women reached for the fabric, their hands met and the knight in cardboard armour’s cheeks grew red in embarrassment. Danielle’s did too, though the cause for hers was frustration. “Just… get up…” and the knight did as she was commanded, followed by Danielle promptly standing up with a look of pure discomfort on her face as she painfully made her way across to the seat where Gabriel was and she sat down beside him instead.

As the taller woman’s inner self was brought to tears, the knight kept her brave face on as she sat down, alone, without making a fuss.

Despite her most recent outburst toward the man, Danielle sat fairly close to Gabriel without saying a word, as she tried to maintain the cover that he was her husband without acting too suspicious or raising any questions.

“My name is Eurydice O’Malley.” She formally introduced herself to the greatest obstacle currently in her path as she sat across from him, watching him closely as she wondered what Danielle could see in this man. There was no reason not to be civil, whether he got in her way or not.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Guard: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #24

The Professor watched these two women and their shared awkward moment with a gentle smile on his face similar to that of an owner who was watching his two clumsy puppies bumping into each other. However, watching the fake knight to act like that towards Danielle begged a question, could this be the famous Rosalina? If yes, it would be very awkward, but it would surely explain why Danielle was so angry all the time. However, before he could ask about it, she introduced herself as Eurydice O’Malley.

Although they were in a rather cramped space, the Professor still followed the etiquette, taking her hand for a gentle kiss.

“Gabriel Moon, it´s pleasure to meet you.”

He paused for a moment, thinking about whatever apology was in place, before deciding to add it to the introduction after all.

“Also, please pardon my previous behavior, at first, I wasn´t really sure about your intention and we were in hurry. Speaking of which…”

Gabriel paused, looking from one to another.

“How did you two even met? It´s pretty rare for someone to just help random strangers against their employer.”

Unlike the route to Mr. Gating´s mansion, their way back continued in a much faster tempo and so, soon enough they arrived at their hotel. Gabriel disembarked from their carriage first, to help both ladies on their way out.

“Good, you are alive.”

Hariyama, the gigantic sumo wrestler, who was previously guarding the staircase was now sitting in front of the hotel, with several bags around him.

“We got a message from Niko, Marines are gathering forces, so we should probably hurry.”

Gabriel nodded. This was an unpleasant turn of events, but not an unexpected one.

“Alright, Danielle please go upstairs and change. If anything happens, remember that you are our hostage, I forced you to take these paintings. No need to get into any problems just before your wedding. Pass it to Namkhai and Beast, they will know what to do.“

He switched attention to the female knight.

“Eurydice you go with her and help her out of this dress. We need to hurry.”

[Bobbie]

Eurydice watched the man who kissed her knuckles and smiled, though she glanced at Danielle as she did, as if she wanted such charm to be directed toward her instead of the man that she was locked in interaction with.

Gabriel’s apology came as a surprise as she snapped her attention back to him and shook her head, “No apologies necessary, sir.” She replied, politely. “So tonight I have met the famous Professor Moon and Mrs-” as she was about to refer to Danielle by the title of his Mrs, Gabriel put forward the question as to why she was helping them, eliciting a rather mischievous smile from the guard.

Danielle watched her, equally curious to hear the answer to this question, but she had a feeling it was a more predictable and ungrounded one than she hoped for.

“This woman was so beautiful that she caught my eye and I couldn’t help but follow her.” The plain and simple truth, as expected - Eurydice was testing the waters of their relationship as she wondered if the man would present himself as a possessive and jealous husband. However, the angry stare from Danielle prompted her to quickly continue, “Mr Gatling treats his men poorly and his women abysmally. I refuse to work for that man any longer and I quite liked the cause that you two seemed to be fighting for tonight.” Although she did not know the extent of it, simply stealing from her employer was enough of a cause that she could back.

Once their carriage arrived, Danielle followed after Gabriel out of it, leaving Eurydice to step off the carriage last. While her back was a lot better, it was the perfect opportunity to fake her closeness to her companion as she took his hand under the pretense of back pain and held it tightly as she stepped out to be close to Gabriel again. The knight followed behind, in no need for the man’s assistance, but accepted it out of courtesy.

The words spoken by Hariyama, however, who met them outside the hotel, quickly brought Danielle’s focus away from the charade and onto the matter at hand. “Marines!?” she asked, in shock. “For a petty theft!?” her voice rose in pitch as she exclaimed her disbelief, then turned to Gabriel as he explained what she was to do. Instantly, she shook her head, “You’ll take the fall for everything?”

Eurydice stepped toward them, but Danielle raised a hand, her arm outstretched to keep the knight away from her, “I don’t need help getting out of this dress, thank you!” she snapped, looking at Gabriel once more, then at Hariyama, then back at Gabriel again as she suddenly groaned out her foully worded disapproval of the situation, loud and proud, before rushing past. They were right… they had no time to argue about anything, but what would this mean for Gabriel? After everything he had done for her and how she snapped at him on countless occasions…

With a gentle nod of reassurance from Eurydice, the dark-haired lady followed Danielle.

Her back pain nearly forgotten, the adrenaline of the situation completely taking over, Danielle snatched her bag that had been stored in the carriage and bolted into the hotel, running up the stairs as her bare feet hammered on the carpeted steps, the dress in her grasp. Eurydice had a hard time keeping up.

Finally, Danielle burst into the room, “Namkhai!” she barked, with a quick glance around in search for both him and Beast. However, her search was quickly discontinued as she made her way to her room, only stopping to block Eurydice from following her. “Tell him what’s going on,” she ordered and slammed the door in the knight’s face.

Disappointed that she wouldn’t be helping Danielle out of her dress, she huffed and turned to look for this Namkhai person to explain Gabriel’s plan. Why did the name sound so familiar?

* * *

Inside her room, Danielle quickly pulled out her old clothes to change out of the terrible dress and finally be in something more comfortable. It was a struggle to get out of it, and in all honesty, she could have used a helping hand, but she refused to allow Eurydice to be the person to offer it. Once she was back in her usual leather trousers, scruffy white t-shirt and black jacket, her feet nice and snug in her flat boots, she took out all the pins from her hair and tied it in a quick side ponytail, also replacing the adorned eye-patch with her old plain one.

The struggle continued as Danielle proceeded to stuff the dress into the bag somewhat neatly - a near impossible task - but as she was doing so, a little package caught her eye.

It must have fallen out earlier as she hurriedly took her old clothes out of the bag…

Picking it up, she sat on the edge of the bed to unravel its contents, which left the treasure huntress stunned. “The… The Amulet of Fa’Ruk…” she whispered to herself as she held up the amulet from their previous adventure, completely taken aback by Gabriel’s gesture - or was this an unfortunate misplacement of the item?

Her question was quickly answered as she realised that there was a note included in the package as she began to read it…

“Dear Danielle, I am not sure how this little adventure of ours will end, so I am writing you this letter in advance. If I don't have the opportunity to tell you, I want you to know… that it is not you, but Rosalina, who has found the best woman in the world. I have yet to meet anyone who would be willing to suffer or to go to such length for the person they love… and while you probably hate me now for what I did, I have to say that I learnt to admire you. I really hope it works out for you and that this little thing brings you luck.

PS: Don't sell it to anyone you like. I'll send Namkhai to pick it up later"

As she sat there, Danielle seemed to forget all about how pressed for time they were as she simply stared at the note long after she’d finished reading it.

It was the kindest thing that anybody has ever said or written to her, as her eye welled up with tears while she remained speechless. They were such powerful words put on paper, yet she wasn’t convinced that they were all entirely true, having had it drilled into her mind from such an early stage that she wasn’t good enough - not for Rosalina, not for her studies like her brother, and not for the eye of the public to fit the general stereotype of what a woman should be.

A loud knock on the door made the girl flinch and she sniffled, quickly wiping a tear that rolled down her cheek to hide the evidence of a heartfelt though silent outburst of overwhelming feelings.

“Danielle, we need to hurry.” Eurydice called from the other side of the door. “Are you okay in there?”

Standing up, she cleared her throat as she hid the note in her pocket and wore the amulet around her neck, concealing it underneath her t-shirt, then she burst out of the room with the same energy she had previously slammed the door.

“I’m fine. Let’s get moving. Beast?” she looked around for Beast, longing for her company more than anyone’s at this given moment, feeling compelled to hide her feminine emotions and snuggling a fluffy malamute would be the best way to do it.

Seeing her no longer in that dress only seemed to tickle Eurydice’s interest further, as she could now see the real Danielle. “If she’s supposed to be like a hostage, maybe we should tie her up?” Eurydice’s very helpful suggestion was met with an angry glare and aggressive snap from Danielle, “You do anything of the sort and your way out of this hotel will be tumbling down those stairs, understand!?”

With that, she stormed to the staircase to leave the hotel and reunite with Gabriel.

“Psst…” Eurydice turned to Namkhai, “Where did he find such a feisty wife?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Guard: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #25

Some questions couldn't be answered, and so Gabriel remained silent, watching Danielle disappear into the hotel together with her new self-proclaimed bodyguards.

"They aren't coming because of these paintings."

Said Isaac when the entrance doors closed behind them.

"No, they probably are not."

The Professor sighed, sitting down on one of the steps leading inside the hotel.

"And they probably won't believe that story about kidnap either…"

Gabriel nodded.

"Yeah, they probably won't."

His voice was tired and detached like that of a person who knew he would have to do something he despised but didn't see any other options.

"That's why you won't stay here. Go inside, and when she'll be ready, grab her and take the back exit. If Danielle tries to protest, just bound her to Beast or something, but keep her quiet."

Hariyama nodded.

"And what about you?"

The Professor shrugged, without even looking at his large companion.

"You know we can simply smash through them."

Professor Moon nodded.

"Yes, but that puppy already saw too much of violence today and I don't want to drag her through this. Besides, it will be for the best if they don´t associate her with us at all."

Isaac chuckled.

"Man, you are such a big softie. But that's your problem, not mine. I still have something to do here, so I will take my leave if you are ok with that."

Gabriel nodded and before he could even raise his eyes again, Isaac was gone, using a high-speed technique of his own to leave the stage.

"You should probably go too."

The suited man turned to the sumo wrestler, who watched him in silence for a second, before grabbing their bags and running into the darkness as the back exit would be too I'm all for him to squeeze through.

The Professor didn't have to wait alone for long as Niko arrived in just a few minutes. A tall, dark-skinned man whose face and arms were covered in tribal tattoos looked somehow inappropriate in the docket's clothes he was wearing today.

"They are almost here!"

He huffed, trying to catch his breath.

"Full platoon and two officers. Lieutenant and captain, I think."

Gabriel nodded.

“Alright, find the others and go back to the ship. I´ll take care of the rest.”

Niko was watching him silently for a moment before he nodded and ran inside the hotel. Two minutes, maybe three and the marines arrived as well. Twenty armed men and women made a semi-circle in front of the hotel entrance with two figures standing in front of them. One was a short and stocky man with a bald head and stubble beard, wearing the uniform of lieutenant. And the second one was a tall, athletic-looking brunette with the rank of captain. She looked a whole decade younger than her subordinate, but that didn´t have to mean much.

“Good evening.”

The Professor greeted them.

---

When Danielle entered the room, Beast became ecstatic. Rushing to her side, she barked happily and wagged her tail like a crazy, well, only until he noticed that another woman is with her.

“Whooof?!”

She asked unhappily, wedging herself between her favorite human and this strange intruder. Only then did she start wagging her tail again, deliberately smacking Eurydice across her back with every swing.

“Woof, wooooof!”

She barked gloatingly when the cardboard knight wasn´t granted entry to Danielle´s room, sneaking inside herself.

---

“You sure took your sweet time.”

Namkhai whispered when Danielle finally left her room, pausing for a moment, when he caught a glimpse of her face, almost as if he realized something.

“Are you alright? We have to move; the Marines are already downstairs.”

He nodded toward Beast, who, as if she understood him, started sneaking out of the room.

“We will have to take the back exist and…”

Namkhai paused, giving Eurydice a scolding look.

“It leads to a small backyard that´s encircled by walls so she will have to be able to move freely. Besides, I am threatening enough for anyone to believe she is too afraid to resist.”

[Bobbie]

Even as distracted as she was, Danielle made sure to show Beast affection even if only for a very brief moment when she was stopped from leaving as promptly as she wished to.

Bag in hand, she stared at Namkhai for a moment, but she looked away after seeing that knowing look in his eyes. Perhaps in fear of the secret that she cried coming out and making her appear either feminine, or weak - or both - a frown grew on her face even while she wasn’t looking at the man. The sadness, however, was something that she couldn’t hide.

His suggestion of leaving through the back exit brought her gaze to snap back at to him. “What about Gabriel?” Danielle quickly asked, ignoring Namkhai’s self-flattering comment on his own appearance.

She looked at Eurydice, who remained silent, then back at Namkhai again. “What about Gabriel?” she repeated her question more aggressively. “We’re not leaving without him! Not with marines on their way over here!”

Turning her attention to Beast, she gently whistled to the malamute in hopes of getting her attention. Of course, Danielle was not presumptuous enough to believe that her commands would be obeyed by the massive dog, but she hoped it would be enough to make Beast pause.

Her eye was beginning to burn again and she felt a lump in her throat… he sent Eurydice up here after me, Namkhai and Beast are here, so we can all sneak away… and the note… the thought of this being an unspoken goodbye tore the treasure huntress apart, her lip quivering just slightly as she looked at Namkhai once more, but she quickly stayed her lip with a steel frown. Boots firmly rooted to the ground, she refused to move until she’d receive confirmation that the Professor would be going with them.

While she didn’t realise it at the time, even the paintings seemed to fade into the background and slip in to second place on her priority list.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #26

The Professor was sitting on the third step, leading in their hotel, with head bowed, silently watching a yin-yang medallion in his hand. It became his mantra since the ill-fated tournament, where he found out how much cruelty was, he capable of. That day, his long-held vision of himself as the righteous and just crumbled, replaced by the glimpse of the violent monster he saw so many times in his brother. Back then, he almost lost it, but then he found this little thing and it became his anchor. Yin and Yang, cruelty and kindness balanced against each other. He chose to be kind to Danielle, because she was a little puppy, whose pure and unconditional love deserved all of his protection. So now, it was the time to be cruel to protect her from the bad people who threatened her.

The bad people were there. Their arrival was announced by the sound of heavy boots, hitting the pavement. Gabriel wasn´t moving, he was watching his medallion in complete silence, while they were taking their positions in front of the hotel entrance. Twenty men and women in semi-circle rifles in hands, with two officers slightly in front of them.

“Good evening.”

The Professor greeted them, finally hiding his anchor back into the pocket of his suit. The captain, a young brunette in her late twenties, looked at the much older lieutenant by her side almost as if she was unsure what to do now, before taking a single step forward.

“Gabriel Moon?”

She asked.

“I am Captain Cottee from the Marines. We received a report about at least two wanted men residing in this establishment.”

Gabriel tilted his head to the side, watching her carefully.

“That´s right. They are at the hotel at this very moment.”

The woman frowned, something about his voice wasn´t feeling right to her and she wasn´t the only one who felt that way as several of her soldiers shivered at the sound of it.

“In that case. I urge you to move aside and let us do our job.”

The Professor tilted his head to the other side, taking a look at the sailors gathered behind her. Mostly young men in their twenties with three other women. Neither of them however looked like they had many real-life experiences. Their nervousness was both his greatest weapon and the greatest danger he was about to face.

“No.”

He finally responded after a moment of silence.

“Excuse me?”

The captain snapped angrily, her hand reaching for a pistol on her waist.

“I said no.”

The Professor repeated without any emotions.

“They are under my protection.”

Some of the marines raised their weapons as if they were about to take an aim at him, but they were stopped by a dismissive gesture from the lieutenant.

Captain Cottee frowned.

“Sir, I understand that you are probably confused. I heard that you are a noble from some West Blue country, but this island belongs to the World Government. Your protection doesn´t mean a thing here, so please step aside, this is my last warning.”

Gabriel shook his head in disagreement.

“That´s here you are the wrong captain.”

He sighed.

“It means everything. It means I will fight for them until my last breath.”

He didn´t know what she saw in his eyes, but he could guess it wasn´t pleasant sight as she flinched.

“Are you crazy?”

The captain cried out.

“We have you surrounded, there is no way…”

She stopped when she noticed the smile that appeared on Gabriel´s face as he slowly got up on his feet.

“All I am surrounded by is fear and dead men if you dare to take one more step.”

Some panicked, looking around as their fear and primal instinct overwrote several months of basic training. Some tried to take aim at him with their weapons. The lieutenant cursed, clenching fists hidden in brass knuckles, while the captain reached for her pistol. They were all too slow.

“Blink”

The Professor disappeared, covering the dozens of steps between him and the captain in a blink of an eye. As he appeared again, he grabbed her wrist with his left, while hitting her shoulder with his right. Turning and twisting, he turned captain Cottee towards her men, grabbing her hair from behind and pulling on them to force her to look up at the sky, while pressing her own gun against her chin with the other hand.

“Isn´t it beautiful?”

Gabriel asked silently.

“The stars I mean. Wouldn´t it be a shame if I had to paint them red?”

---

Meanwhile, inside the hotel, Namkhai paused as Danielle started to act out. A short glimpse of anger appeared in his eyes, while Beast, confused about why no one is following her peaked inside.

“Listen, I understand how you feel, but this is not the time or place to act like a worried girlfriend alright?”

He waved to Beast to chase her back on the staircase.

“I know that Gabriel kept you mostly in the dark, but this whole nonsense is happening to get you rich so you could live happily ever after with that girlfriend of yours, so stop wasting the time he is buying us, or I´ll gag you and let the knight of yours carry you on the ship, understand?”

Although he was trying to control himself the tone of Namkhai’s voice was showing that the only reason why he wasn´t standing by his master´s side was a direct order. One, that he hated from the bottom of his soul.

“Besides, he can move faster alone, so get going already.”

[Bobbie]

While Gabriel single handedly took care of a number of marines and their captain in, quite literally, the timespan of the blink of an eye, Danielle was upstairs without the faintest clue of what he was capable of even despite watching what he did in the garden on Mr Gatling’s property.

It was quite unlike Danielle, perhaps it was the note that she read, or the precious amulet that was left for her - whether it would be taken back or not - or maybe it was simply their journey coming to an end, but for whatever reason, emotions were high. Leaving Gabriel behind was simply not an option in her mind and Namkhai was only proving to be a brick wall of an obstacle to her concerns for a man that she had grown… somewhat… fond of.

“Wait, so they’re not actually married?” Eurydice cut in, shocked by the lie because it was so believable after watching how they danced so well together.

The blonde only offered a glance toward the knight, then rolled her eyes and turned back to Namkhai, “I’m not acting like a worried girlfriend, just a worried friend!” she snapped in response, before hearing the rest of what he had to say, and that caused the woman to glare angrily at him. “If you gag me, I swear you will lose a finger!” the once again boyishly dressed lady was almost growling at her new opponent, while Eurydice was still trying to wrap her head around what was going on.

“Girlfriend?” Eurydice was confused, but her queries were being ignored by Danielle.

“Don’t you act like you don’t want to be down there with him right now too! So either get out of my way, or we’re going to meet him downstairs!” Without waiting for a response, she briskly pushed past Eurydice and Namkhai, hurrying to the stairs that would lead to the main entrance where she could meet Gabriel and help him out of whatever sticky situation he could be in downstairs.

Danielle’s heart was filled with guilt - she didn’t need Namkhai to tell her that a lot of this was for her. She could already see that a lot of what Gabriel did tonight was for her, and that was the reason it didn’t sit well with her to just leave him behind.

Aggressively stepping through the threshold to leave their hotel room, she made her way to the stairwell, fully intent on running down those steps into a platoon of marines, if need be.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #27

A single heartbeat was all it took to turn the situation upside down for the Marines. Just a moment ago, they thought they were in control, having the eccentric professor encircled and outnumbered, now they were starting to panic as the clash with a real-life was much different compared to the training drills.

“What are you waiting for?!”

The captain cried out, her whole body shaking from fear, anger, or both.

“Just shoot him already!”

Instead of heeding her order, the marines looked at each other as no one wanted to be the one to take the responsibility for the situation.

“They won´t do it.”

Gabriel said with a dreamy voice, almost as if he was lost between the stars above them.”

“They won´t do it, because for them your life is more important than capturing me or my men. Being you, I would be proud. After all, you can always try to capture us later, but if I´ll pull the trigger now, there is no going back.”

He didn´t even have to look at her men to see that his words were like a lifeline for them. Something their ego could grab on to convince themselves that they were actually doing the right thing and weren´t incompetent cowards.

“You…you won´t get away with this! I swear on my honor as a marine captain, you won´t!”

The Professor sighed, pushing the barrel of her own gun deeper into the soft part of her lower jaw.

“Really, because in that case…”

Suddenly the lieutenant stepped forward his hands up in the air.

“Whoa, whoa whoa…just let´s don´t do anything hasty alright? I am sure we can talk through this, just…tell me what you want, I am sure we can get to an agreement.”

Gabriel looked at him, his eyes finally leaving the starry sky above them.”

“Very well, let´s talk.”

---

For Namkhai, this was one of the toughest decisions he had to do in his life. Especially because Danielle was right, he wanted to stand by his master’s side in this battle, and not sneak through dark alleys while he was facing their enemies alone. But he was bound by his oath and direct order he got from Gabriel to keep her safe and as far from the fighting as possible.

Lost in his own conflicting thoughts he was completely ignoring Eurydice, when suddenly he lunged forward, grabbing Danielle around the waist with one arm, before hoisting her over his shoulder.

“If you want to be useful grab her bag and follow me.”

He barked at the fake knight, running towards the back exit.

“I am sorry kid, I really am, but I gave Gabriel my word that I´ll keep you safe no matter what.”

With that, they got into the hallway where Danielle met Hairyama for the first time. The Sumo Wrestler wasn´t there, but instead of him, Beast was waiting there, together with another man. Tall, muscular and dark-skinned with arms and face covered in tribal tattoos. She barking silently when they appeared, before disappearing into another door, followed by Namkhai and Niko. They ran through two rooms, one that looked like the hotel restaurant and another, that was clearly the kitchen before they appeared in a small backyard encircled by a high wall from behind which Hariyama was looking at them with hands full of different traveling backs.

“What…”

He wanted to ask what kept them for so long, but when he noticed Danielle across Namkhai´s shoulder, he decided not to.

“This is why I didn´t want to bound you…”

The wrestler cursed, speeding so he could jump over the wall in a single display of incredible leg strength. He didn´t even slow down as his feet touched the ground running straight towards the port followed quickly by Beast and Hariyama who stayed behind for a second to help Niko and perhaps Eurydice over the wall as well.

[Bobbie]

Danielle was taken by surprise when she was suddenly grabbed, the wind getting knocked out of her as Namkhai’s shoulder was suddenly shoved into her stomach and she was hoisted up, like a sack of potatoes.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” she hissed at Namkhai as she squirmed with great effort, but was no match for a wrestler’s muscles. Her attempts were almost pitiful, her as slender as she was, going up against a large muscular figure who had just picked her up with only one arm and seemingly no effort whatsoever.

Eurydice nodded and picked up the bag that had since been dropped on the ground, before following Namkhai.

Danielle had the sense not to be very loud, but what she lacked in volume, she made up for in sharpness as she continued to argue. “Put me down!” for a moment, panic washed over her as she tried to reach back and feel her pocket where the note was stored - she couldn’t fit her hand into pocket, but she could feel the texture of the paper under the fabric. Then she grabbed the amulet that threatened to slip out of her collar in the current position she was forced to be in, and carefully turned it to be against her back instead of her chest to prevent it from falling out.

Once her hands were no longer busy, she went back to beating her fists, puny in comparison, against Namkhai’s back, tugging and pulling on his vest, trying everything to squirm out of his grasp.

It was just as they entered the hallway that Danielle’s squirming managed to land her heel in the centre of his face. For a brief second, she froze, having not intended to actually hit him and felt bad for it, but that was quickly replaced with her frustration once more. It served him right for carrying her like this anyway. “I said put me down!”

Unfortunately, Danielle couldn’t see very much of what was in front of Namkhai unless she managed an impossible twist of her body to look behind her. Being on Namkhai’s left shoulder meant that if she tried to look to her left, she would only see the back of his head or shoulders obscuring her vision, but if she turned to look right, that was the side of her wounded eye and her eyepatch prevented her from seeing anything at all. She didn’t need her vision to know that Beast was there, however, as she heard the malamute’s paws tapping on the ground and the gentle almost silent barks. There was another set of footsteps, but Danielle couldn’t see whose they were. They didn’t sound as heavy as she imagined Hariyama’s would be. It didn’t matter, as she was shortly carried through the hotel restaurant and then the kitchen. In the kitchen, however, Danielle had more to grab onto, trying to pick up any utensils that she could use to get Namkhai to put her down... she tried a ladle, but it slipped through her fingers, a knife seemed to be stuck in a wooden block... after several failed attempts to wrap her hands around the hanging cutlery, she finally managed to snatch a skillet.

Turning to look at his head, she gripped the skillet tightly, before bringing it up to whack him on the back of the head with it, before it crashed to the floor again. The movements of his running made a firm grip on it rather difficult, but she was sure she landed a solid hit, judging by the loud sound of the metal colliding with the man's hard skull.

Danielle soon let out an irritated groan as nothing seemed to even slow Namkhai down, and before she knew it, they were outside in a backyard. As she heard Hariyama’s voice, she tried to look back again, only catching a glimpse of the large man, then shifted her focus back onto her captor once more. “Yeah, well you shouldn’t have thrown me over your shoulder like this then! All you have to do is put me…” she froze when she noticed that he was speeding up. “What are you doing!?” In a panic, instead of trying everything possible to get away from the man as she had been doing so far, she was now clutching onto the back of his vest for dear life, “Stop! You’ll drop me, don’t even think-”

As they were suddenly both off the ground, Danielle’s entire body grew tense, her fingers buried in his clothing as she clutched onto his vest, her jaw clenched and eye shut tightly.

Eurydice watched all of this unfold, doing nothing to intervene and simply kept her eyes fixed on Danielle for the most part. As they reached the walls, she was grateful for Hariyama, thanking him for his assistance as she followed after Niko.

With the thud of their landing, Danielle opened her eye once more to yell at him, "You could have just put me down!" she exclaimed, somehow managed to keep her voice just a little below an actual yell, but definitely more than a whisper. Seeing Beast close behind, however, somehow seemed to ease her nerves, even if only momentarily. There was clearly no point in resisting anyway… while her attention was now fixed on Beast, it was still painfully obvious that the woman was very unhappy, as every other lurch of her body caused by Namkhai’s large strides caused her eye to twitch or her frown to deepen.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #28

Namkhai was a tough guy. Even tougher than his already impressive physique would suggest, so when Danielle started hitting him with her fists, he looked as if he didn´t even notice. However, even he couldn´t ignore Danielle´s heel planted in the middle of his face.

With a curse, the wrestler stumbled for a second before catching his balance back.

“Really? For someone who dresses like a guy, you really punch like a girl…DONG!”

His taunt was interrupted when Danielle managed to get hold of a skillet hitting his head with it.

“Urgh…you little!”

He hissed angrily.

“Do it one more time and I swear to gods I will slap your…”

The word face disappeared in a silent grunt as he leaped over the wall, running with full speed towards the port, followed by Hariyama and the rest. Unfortunately, the need to fulfil social expectations forced Gabriel to pick luxury over convenience, so their hotel was half of the city away from their ship, or was it rather boat? As it turned out several minutes later for a rich guy the Professor was using a simple sailboat that could barely carry ten people and with Hariyama present probably even more.

“Alright, here we are.”

Said Namkhai, while putting Danielle down, surprisingly gently given the fact that she hit him with a skillet just a few minutes ago.

“Make yourself at home…Hairyama, Niko, we need to prepare the ship to set a sail, Master should be here in no time!”

---

While Danielle was testing the toughness and patience of her ride, Gabriel was holding a gun to the Marine captain´s head, while negotiating with her subordinate.

“What do you want to talk with him about! Just shoot him already, that´s an order!”

Captain Cottee yelled angrily while writhing in the Professor´s grip, which resulted only in him jerking her head backward to keep her quiet.

“Hush you, the adults are talking.”

He reprimanded her coldly, earning even greater ire from the captured captain.

Her lieutenant looked at her with great concern, before switching his attention back to Gabriel.

“Let´s just tone it down alright? No one needs to hurt anybody; just name your terms and I promise I´ll do my best to fulfil them.”

The Professor tilted his head to the side almost as if he was confused by this proposition.

“Terms?”

He asked laughing as he realized that the lieutenant simply misunderstood his intentions.

“I am sorry sir, but you misunderstood. When I said that we should talk, I didn´t want to negotiate, I just wanted to talk.”

Both, the lieutenant and the remaining marines paused, taken aback by what they just heard.

“What, then why…”

The lieutenant started before realizing what was going on.

“You are just stalling.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Yes, I am”

Captain Cottee growled in anger and frustration.

“You son of a ****”

The Professor ignored her completely.

“Well, I think they should be in the port anyway. I really wish we could…”

The captain cursed, trying to break from his grip.

“Don´t think for a second you will get away with this you *** ***** **** ****”

A string of highly unprofessional curses was interrupted by a kiss on the forehead.

“A lady like you shouldn´t be using words like that, besides, it already did…True Step.”

As he released his grip on both the pistol and her hair, Gabriel disappeared.

“What the…where did he go!”

Captain Cottee cried out in anger, looking around until her eyes finally turned upwards.

“Shoot him! SHOOT HIM DOWN!”

She yelled furiously, but before her men could take an aim, Gabriel kicked the air under his feet again, flying with blinding speed through the night sky.

The city looked quite different from the sky than it looked from below, but in the end, the Professor found his way back to their ship just a few minutes after Namkhai and the rest of their group arrived.

As his feet hit the wooden planks of the upper deck a Hariyama, who was standing just a few steps away swung his large arm in his direction, however, stopped right after he recognized Gabriel´s face.

“Master!”

He bowed his head, before getting back to the sails.

Gabriel was breathing heavily. Not because he would be tired physically, but because part of his brain still couldn´t believe what he had just done. He held a gun to a marine office´s face. He became a criminal! Kind and cruel, yin and yang, that’s what he decided to be, however even though the cruelty went to him naturally, his conscience still had problems with it. Fortunately, there was Danielle whose presence quickly chased all doubts away.

“I am glad, that you are alright!”

Once again, the cold and detached mask melted away under a warm smile.

[Bobbie]

The reaction she got from Namkhai, although it didn’t stop him, was quite satisfying. Clearly, Danielle succeeded at hurting him, and judging by the groan and the angry hiss that came from him, the blow to his head must have hurt quite a bit.

The words he spat at her, however, were less satisfying as they ensured the treasure huntress’ squirming was reduced to a minimum and she put up little resistance after that leap over the wall.

Once they reached the ship and she was finally put down, having never been happier to have her feet on solid ground, Danielle crossed her arms in annoyance. Sure, he put her down gently now, but no other part of their journey was gentle! This man even had the nerve to mock her pathetic attempt at stopping him. Her glare was more than enough to communicate her dissatisfaction.

“Yeah, right. Make myself at home. So, what, do you expect me to thank you?” she grumbled but didn’t wait for his answer and simply turned to walk away from him, a mumbled insult directed at him coming from her lips. Danielle didn’t dare look back at him, partly out of embarrassment for how he had just carried her and partly anger for the same reason. While Niko, Hariyama, and Namkhai were busy with preparing the ship, Danielle took the liberty to walk around the sailboat and explore.

Eurydice watched Danielle, still carrying her bag, but as she approached the woman, Danielle shot a glare at her as well. Returning a smile instead, Eurydice turned around, under the illusion that Danielle simply needed to time to warm up to her. First thing's first, she needed to find a cabin that would be Danielle's - and her - room throughout this voyage.

It might not have been as fancy as a cruise ship and there was not really much exploring to be done, but it certainly was a lot nicer than anything Danielle would ever spend money on. In search for some kind of comfort while she waited, Danielle went to Beast on the deck and placed her hands under her jaw to give her scratches.

“You’re such a good girl, aren’t you? Taking such good care of me while that big mean man picked me up like a human sized bean bag.” She spoke to the malamute in a childish tone, “Mr Namkhai is very mean, isn’t he? Yes, he is… Now we need to wait for Mr Creepy Professor to get here in one piece.”

She had just barely finished her last sentence when Gabriel reached the ship, his feet landing on the upper deck. Swiftly turning to look at him, a smile appeared on the blonde’s face, though it wavered once she noticed that he looked tired or in some sort of shock after the events. It was understandable of course, but it made Danielle wonder what he was subjected to alone outside the hotel, while she was being forced to leave him behind. Again, that look of resentment returned to her features as she glanced at Namkhai, then back at Gabriel.

Perhaps she was a little angry at him as well, for putting them all in that situation.

As she approached him, her frown was still present, but was washed away as she rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “I’m glad you’re alright too…” she mumbled, as if making such a statement could reveal weakness in her. With a brief smile, she lightly nudged his shoulder awkwardly, “You know I still need to get even for that dress you made me wear, so… I kind of need you alive.” For a moment, that was the best she could do to display her real feelings toward the man she had grown to value as a friend, and she contemplated her words, choosing them carefully.

Next, she shook her head and reached over again, but instead of nudging his shoulder this time, she wrapped his arms around him to hug him. A brief and quick hug that was enough to reveal that she cared, without the notion lingering too long to be mistaken for anything else.

Hoping that nobody saw that, she pulled away from him again, a thoughtful look in her eye as she considered thanking him for the note and the amulet, but how would she go about doing that without getting all emotional again? At that point, she was reminded of how Namkhai seemed to pick up on the fact that she might have been crying in the room at the hotel... she shuddered.

What’s more, she was hoping that he would somehow forget about the amulet and not send anyone to retrieve it, so bringing it up now would serve as a reminder that she did not want to offer.

“Alright, where to next?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #29

Slightly confused, the Professor watched Danielle who was walking toward him. He was really trying to guess her current mood, but with the constantly shifting expression, it would be hard even for someone who was actually good at that. So, when she suddenly embraced him, he was taken aback for a moment. An important second that would allow him to hug her back.

“Ehm…”

Gabriel cleared his throat when she stepped back, unsure what he should do next.

“Yes, I guess I still owe you one for that. Anyway, our next stop will Fuschia Town on Dawn Island. If you want, you can travel with us, or we can drop you off at any Island that will be along the way. But now we should hurry and…”

He didn´t finish that sentence, as suddenly a thunderous scream echoed through the city.

“MOON! DON´T YOU EVEN THINK THAT YOU CAN RUN AWAY AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO ME!”

Confused, for a second Gabriel thought that captain Cottee found them much faster than he thought, but then he realized, it wasn´t her voice.

“Sigrid?”

He looked toward the town and froze with his mouth open as he saw the giantess sprinting through the city towards their ship.

“Ehm, Master, what exactly did you do her?”

Gabriel frowned.

“I threw her at the Gatling´s party when she tried to punch me…”

Namkhai sighed.

“Yeah, that was probably a huge blow for her ego…”

The Professor nodded.

“Yeah, get the helm, we should get away before she´ll get into the port.”

But that was easier said than done as Sigrid driven by her rage ran through the city without taking care about the level of destruction, she caused to its buildings or inhabitants. Leaving a trail of destruction in her wake, she ran to the port, just as their ship was slowly getting away.

“NO YOU DON´T”

She screamed angrily, grabbing the back part of their ship and pulling it forcefully back into the port.

“You think you can leave just like that?”

She hissed like an angry cat.

“I was looking forward to seeing her for a whole day! I even volunteered to stay as a guard there just to meet her and you took some woman instead?! Where is she, where is that…”

She paused as she noticed Beast who was standing on the deck, looking at the giantess in confusion. Suddenly, like if some spell was cast upon her, Sigrid´s anger disappeared, replaced with a soft smile and hearts for eyes.

“Oooooh, just look at you, aren´t you the cutest puppy in the world?!”

She asked, reaching down to gently pet Beast´s head, who immediately rolled over to get a belly rub from that strange woman.

“But of course, who is the best girl? Who is the best girl, you are!”

She giggled, rubbing Beast´s belly with two fingers.

“I am so sorry I had so little time for you, I´ll have to return shortly, but I simply had to see you. You are such an angel!”

With an ironic grin, Namkhai looked behind Sigrid´s back at the trail of destruction she left behind asking.

“Alright, who will be the one to tell her?”

[Bobbie]

Danielle smiled just a little at the Professor’s awkwardness. It made her feel a bit better to see that she wasn’t the only one who was awkward at times, though she hadn’t a doubt in her mind that he topped all of her own awkwardness on any day. She didn’t consider him a creep for nothing, after all.

Nodding, she was about to answer him, before Sigrid’s voice roared through the city. Turning her head toward the city, she saw the giantess rampaging toward them and her eye widened.

“You just had to show off at that party, didn’t you!?” she snapped at her companion whom she had just hugged moments ago. When Namkhai intervened to ask what happened, Danielle crossed her arms and rolled her eye, “Yes, he couldn’t just dodge like a normal person, he had to flip her right over and send a giantess, who was clearly a fan, somersaulting through the air! Seriously, what did you think would happen, she’d just let it slide!?”

As soon as the command was given for them to get moving, Danielle turned to go and bark some orders and make sure things were done right. Perhaps it was a good thing that Sigrid stopped her from doing that, as she only made it one or two steps before the back of their ship was grabbed, and the Danielle’s arms flailed to try and keep her balance.

The boat lurched backward instead of forward and the eye-patched woman staggered, turning around to face Sigrid once more as she realised it was impossible to reach the helm and set sail. They would be lucky if this clunky woman didn’t sink their boat!

Danielle was confused at first, but then realised that Sigrid was talking about her and she laughed nervously, before she noticed that the giantess didn’t seem to recognise her. Like many others, she must have either mistaken Danielle for a man, or... a less attractive woman. Either alternative was fine and suited her needs, as each possibility would prevent her being pummeled by an angry giantess.

Then Beast appeared and everything changed. All the anger in this giant woman was washed away in an instant and all of her focus was on the fluffy malamute. Danielle felt a little pang of jealousy as she crossed her arms once more, watching all the attention that was given to the beautiful dog by somebody else, and the dog loving every second of it. That’s nothing compared to the belly rubs I give her, she thought to herself, eyeing the interaction between them.

Namkhai’s voice cut through the air, sending instant feelings of discomfort in Danielle’s gut. Looking up, she saw his grin, which only made her feel even more sick. “Why don’t you tell her? A big strong wrestler like yourself, I’m sure you can manage the situation if she reacts badly.” As she spoke those words in a very sarcastic tone, Danielle watched Namkhai daringly, as if hoping for things not to go smoothly, clearly still upset about how he carried her - “Best case scenario, she hurls you into the ocean.”

Meanwhile, Eurydice stepped out of the cabin to see what was going on, only to find a giant hand petting a giant puppy. Following the arm that it was attached to, she saw it was Sigrid and a bright smile fell upon her face. “Hello!” she waved in a friendly manner, the precious paintings safe and sound in their lodging.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #30

The Professor stayed silent during Danielle´s snappy explanation even though he could object that if he simply dodged, she would probably be squashed by now, and let the events run around him, until the point where Namkhai suggested someone should tell the giantess the truth.

As Danielle suggested that it should be Namkhai himself, the wrestler grinned in response.

“You have some serious anger issues girl. If you won´t be careful, I might even fall for you.”

With that, he turned to the giantess who ignored Eurydice as she was completely enamored by Beast, but before he could say anything, Gabriel stepped forward.

“Excuse me, but I don´t think you should go back.”

He said calmly as if he was pointing out a minor mistake in his student´s presentation. The giantess threw an angry glare at him, before following his line of sight, looking backward on the trail of destruction she left behind.

“Oh no…no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

She cried out in shock and desperation.

“This…I just saved enough money to settle down and…IT´S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

She poked him with one of the colossal fingers so angrily, that the Professor had to use Indestructible to not be thrown across the deck.

“Excuse me?”

Gabriel asked with a hint of cold anger hidden in his otherwise civil tone.

“Yes, your fault!”

The giantess cried, with tears running down her cheeks.

“If you took this fluffy angel with you instead of that angsty woman this would never happen! So I hope you will take full responsibility for this!”

Gabriel frowned. Part of him wanted to throw her again and leave the island before the Marines gets to them, but another part was starting to see her as a large, clumsy puppy that just did a big mistake because of her love for dogs. How could he be angry with her for something like that? The answer was that he couldn´t but at the same time, after what happened he wasn´t the right person to negotiate with the marines for her.

“That´s right, just let me work for you!”

The giantess suddenly exclaimed before the Professor could reach any solid conclusion.

“I…what?”

“Let me work for you! James told me that you are the boss of some martial arts mafia or something, so you surely need lots of weapons, right? And I very good in making weapons so…”

Gabriel looked at her in disbelief.

“Yes, but…”

Sigrid shook her head.

“No buts! You have to take me with you. Can you imagine what they will do with me otherwise?”

The Professor wanted to protest again, but Namkhai directed his attention to the road that led from the port deeper in the city.

“Master…!”

Gabriel looked there only to see his marine friends sprinting down the road, weapons in hands.

“Oh no, they are already here!”

Sigrid cried out in desperation.

“Quickly, we have to leave!”

That was something Gabriel couldn´t agree more with, but there was still one little catch.

“Yes, but you are too big for…”

She didn´t even let him finish and instead jumped on a small marine patrol ship that was docking near them, tearing off the anchor chain as if it was made from paper, before paddling with her large hands to get the ship out of the port as fast as possible.

“Would you believe it…?”

Asked Niko watching the giantess in shock, while Namkhai took the helm to lead them away from the port.

“Moon, you scoundrel!”

The voice of captain Cottee was accompanied by a rain of bullets that forced the members of M.A.R.I. to take cover, but with their closest ship gone it was already obvious, that the marines won´t be able to catch up to them.

“Don´t think I will ever forget what you did to me! I swear I´ll make you pay!”

Hearing this, Namkhai burst into laughter.

“Well master, looks like you are finally starting to be popular with the girls.”

[Bobbie]

Glaring at Namkhai, Danielle rolled her eye with a scoff, “I don’t have anger issues, I just don’t like you.” She grumbled, though she did lower her voice to reduce the chance of him hearing her response. The second half of his statement made her uneasy, but it was thankfully not addressed as Namkhai swiftly turned to the giantess, seemingly to do just as she had suggested and break the news to Sigrid. Gabriel, however, stepped in before he had the chance.

The giantess did not seem to take the news very well as she soon broke out into a loud bellowing cry, before she proceeded to blame Gabriel for all of it. Danielle could agree with her on that, though for different reasons… the amused smile on her face was enough to confirm this - until Sigrid made mention of some ‘angsty woman’.

“Hey!” she frowned, shaking her head, “I’m not- I mean she wasn’t angsty! She was just uncomfortable.”

“I think she was beautiful.” Eurydice interjected, but yet again, the knight’s comments were instantly dismissed or flat out ignored.

Following that, everything unfolded very quickly and it seemed Gabriel’s hands were tied. Within moments, he had a new employee in his ranks, a massive woman who has fallen in love with his gorgeous malamute puppy. Before Danielle had any chance to protest in fear of this complicating matters with regard to the next step in all of this - selling the paintings - Sigrid jumped onto a small marine patrol ship and was on the run just beside them.

For a long moment, the treasure huntress was left speechless.

“Unbelievable…” she chimed in after Niko, her jaw left open as she stared, her eye wide. “How did we go from hunting down an amulet to… whatever mess this is?” she mumbled, beneath her breath as she shook her head.

"No matter, I just hope this doesn't get in the way of what we were really here for and those paintings can be sold without any-"

Captain Cottee’s screaming interrupted her words and Danielle whipped her head around toward the source of the voice and she gravitated toward Gabriel to stand by his side. As their ship was steered away from the dock, she couldn’t help but wonder… “Professor Moon… what on earth did you do to her?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Eurydice: #19e68c