A Festive Farewell: Between Friends or Family?

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #53

Looking at Danielle as if he was trying to remember something, Gabriel smiled, reaching for the whole bag of delicious cookies.
“Well, I clearly remember that you dropped it not me, but since it’s your farewell party, I think I can do an exception.”
The Professor teased the Treasure huntress giving her the whole bag. They were still warm, probably finished by Hariyama not so long ago.
“Yes! Let´s eat from the table!”
Beast exclaimed, clearly excited by this new possibility her Devil Fruit afforded to her.
And so they ate and talked and ate even more. Halfway through the breakfast Namkhai excused himself and headed to the upper deck, returning a few minutes later.
“All right, I tried some magic, and its not as bad as I originally thought. We are off the course we planned, but if you´ll take one of our rowboats, you can make it to the island in an hour or so.”
He said, trying to hide his emotions behind a neutral face.
“Hour of rowing, now that’s a workout.”
Grinned Hariyama.
“Yes, unfortunately, we can´t take you back. The whole island will be swarming with Marines right now and if they´ll see you with us, I am afraid you won´t be able to escape bounty.”
From Gabriel´s voice was obvious, that he was upset by the fact that Danielle will leave them alone sooner than absolutely necessary, but if they wanted to keep her safe, there was nothing much to do.
“Don´t worry Professor.”
The sumo wrestler smiled.
“I prepared something for her, so she won´t die from hunger on her way back.”
Laughing, the giant of a man reached for a large bag filled to the brim with water bottles, cookies and his dumplings.
“Oh come on, it´s just an hour-long trip, not a year-long expedition.”
Eponine growled, making Hariyama shrug his mighty shoulders.
“Well, better safe than sorry!”

[Bobbie]

Danielle had an argument against Gabriel’s claim, but she decided not to voice it and simply snatched the full bag of cookies with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Breakfast was delicious, as one could expect of Hariyama’s glorious cooking. There was more than enough food for everyone, and the treasure huntress ate more than she really needed to, perhaps to savour the taste of every item on the sumo wrestler’s menu. Once everyone was done eating, it quickly became time for Danielle to be on her way, as Namkhai returned from the upper deck with clear instruction.

The blonde might not have had the perceptive skills of the Professor - not including social cues - but she had a heart sensitive enough to understand that the neutral face that Namkhai wore was a mask. Still, there was little she could actually do to make this any easier and assumed that trying to address it will only hurt more, so she let things be.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, an hour of rowing is a piece of cake after training with these two.” She replied, only half joking and trying to lighten the mood. As the crew’s designated chef offered a large bag filled with water and food, Danielle couldn’t help but laugh as she had the same thought as Eponine, only she didn’t blurt it out. Shifting her gaze toward the woman who spoke instead, she raised an eyebrow for a moment. She wondered if the dark-haired woman was angry at her for not saying a proper goodbye like she did to the others…

“Thank you, Hariyama, I am now reassured that I will arrive on shore twice my original size.” With a playful snicker, she took the bag and looked around the kitchen for Hayden. He wasn’t easy to spot, but she figured Sigrid would be - and wherever that giantess was, there obviously being no space for her in the kitchen, her brother should be.

Deciding to waste no more time, she shook her head and turned to The Professor. “Would you please let me brother know that I am leaving? He’s all yours if you want him.” Despite her sensitive nature, the blonde’s sense of humour was a lot harsher when her brother was involved and she had no shame in it. Sibling rivalry was a thing, whether it was necessary or not. In any case, she didn’t wait for a response, before making her way to Eponine.

“Hey…” she started, but quickly found herself lost for words. Letting out a sigh, she shrugged, Hariyama’s goodie bag in her hand. “Look, you and I may not have always seen eye to eye on things, but I’d like to know that you’re… at least sort of alright… before I leave.” It wasn’t much, but it was the most that she could offer to the woman who seemed to have recently shot up tenfold on the angst meter, but the truth was Danielle couldn’t blame her after all that she had been through. “Are you good?” A subtle feeling in her gut, however, was nagging at her, like there was something that she needed to remember which included Eponine… but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #54

When Danielle playfully boasted about the results of her training, Gabriel smugly smiled as a parent that was praised for the accomplishments of his kid.
“We did our best.”
He said, his voice revealing that the smile on his face was genuine.
Hearing the treasure huntress´s comment about the amount of food he prepared for her Hariyama showed teeth in a wide grin.
“Good, that means next time we´ll meet, I will be able to teach you some sumo!”
The whole kitchen erupted in laughter causing Beast to accidentally spit a mouthful of dumplings at Namkhai.
“Oh come on!”
The Titan protested in jest.
“If you won´t behave you will return under the table!”
His words were followed by another wave of laughter, this time it take Beast some time to join as for a moment she was afraid, that he meant it seriously.
“Hayden? But he is…”
Following Danielle´s request, Gabriel pointed a finger at an empty chair where he thought the blonde twin was sitting the whole time, only to find out, that he was so focused on his cookie, that he didn´t even notice him leaving.
“Hmmmm…I mean, he is probably upstairs with Sigrid, so you can tell him yourself…speaking of which, I have something for you, just…wait right here!”
He exclaimed, quickly rushing back to his new cabin, leaving his crew behind.
The young black-haired medic was watching him leave, before turning her eyes towards Danielle who suddenly approached her.
“Oh? Yeah, I will manage.”
She muttered, suddenly jumping on her feet to hug the treasure huntress tightly.
“I…thank you. It really helped me…the yesterday I think.”
She whispered, before releasing the blonde, her pale face showing signs of blushing.
“Ehm…if I may…”
The Professor cleared his throat, already standing back in the doors as he rushed through the corridors with the help of his Phantom step, unwilling to lose even a minute from the remaining time they could spend with Danielle.
“Danielle, you are a part of this family and you will always have a home here no matter what the future brings so this is just a formality, but here…”
The Professor reached to her with a simple envelope bearing his personal seal.
“It´s your M.A.R.I. membership. I put a letter of recommendation in, together with a contact address on me and other members. I mean we are not that big yet but, if you´ll ever find yourself in troubles these people will help you.”

[Bobbie]

As Danielle was about to reply to Eponine, the woman suddenly jumped to her feet and threw her arms around her. Quite taken aback, the treasure huntress was frozen for a moment, thinking about her words.

“What helped you yesterday?” She asked, before she suddenly got a brief flashback. They were in a crammed space, one of the corridors outside the cabins… she was blushing just like she is right now. Instinctively, Danielle stepped back away from Eponine. Her back hit an empty chair behind her as her gaze remained fixed on the woman, her eye wide in shock.

She kissed me… or did I kiss her? Why did we kiss!?

The thoughts running through her mind left the blonde speechless for a moment, her own cheeks slowly growing closer to the tint of Eponine’s. Gabriel re-entered the kitchen at the perfect moment and she turned to face him, eager for an escape from this dreadful situation.

“What?” Confused, she tried to regain her bearings as he held an envelope out to her and she looked at it. Listening to his explanation as she took the envelope, she eyed the seal on it and slowly nodded.

“Thank you…” prying her eyes away from the design on the envelope that remained sealed, she looked at him and offered a soft smile as she appeared to be considering his invitation to join them.

“This means a lot to me, Professor.” While this was true, however, it didn’t prevent any awkwardness as she wasn’t quite keen on hugging him. Instead, she extended her hand to grab his and gave it a shake, whether he consented to that gesture or not.

Thankfully, her things were already packed, so as she left the kitchen to make preparations for her departure, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Saying goodbye to everyone was the hardest part, but she got through it efficiently. After goodbyes were shared between her and the Professor, she decided to settle for the talk she and Namkhai had in the cabin as their final words before leaving and the last one left was Beast. This task, Danielle delayed until the very end as she was at quite a loss for how to go about it… she adored the malamute.

As the treasure huntress stood at on the deck, leaning over the taffrail, she threw one of her bags down to land exactly on the rowboat that was tied and secured to the side of the ship. She didn’t have many bags to take with her, the dress from their dance that felt so long ago now took up an entire bag, while all of her own belongings were in another. Lastly, there was the bag of food from Hariyama.

“Beast…” she called the massive dog over to her, immediately giving her scratches behind the ears upon arrival. “You take good care of everyone while I’m gone, alright? Be good for the Professor… waste no food that Hariyama put all his heart into preparing, and have a good wrestle with Namkhai for me. Make sure Sigrid doesn’t start any crazy rumours, and don’t let her teach you anything bad! Keep an eye on Eponine… make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid to herself, and remember no more swimming for you!” the dog lover sighed as she pet her coat while she speaking. “And Niko… I don’t know, he’s an odd one, isn’t he?”

Pausing, she glanced over toward her brother, who seemed to be saying goodbye to Sigrid. Returning her attention to Beast once more, she gave her a tight hug, and then began to climb down the rope ladder to reach her row boat.

“She’ll be a wreck…” Hayden decided to take a more heroic stance in his narrative, portraying himself to be the nobler twin to watch out for his other sibling. It wasn’t entirely inaccurate, but the dynamic between the pair was clearly less in his favour than he acted it was. Nevertheless, the goodbye he had to offer was nothing like Danielle’s, as he had every intention of returning to Sigrid and he made sure that she knew it.

“When we meet again, maybe we can go somewhere nice… somewhere special. You know, like a proper date!” His grin was soon swept away when he saw Danielle start to descend the ladder. “Hey, she’s leaving without me! Danielle, wait! You need me!”

Turning back to Sigrid, he shyly gestured for her to move her face closer so he could kiss her cheek, and then asked to be put down to be reunited with his twin.

---

On the rowboat, Danielle was quiet, and Hayden respected that. While he wished for nothing more than to see his sister smile, he didn’t try to change the grumpy frown that found its way onto her face. This time, and perhaps this time only, he could understand that it needed to be there…

In truth, Danielle didn’t know what was bothering her more, the fact that she was leaving, or all the rowing that she was doing by herself while Hayden sat there, stupidly staring at her and probably jumping to all sorts of conclusions.

Was she upset about leaving them? Yes, very much so, but it was difficult to focus on that while rowing, and while she didn’t have the luxury of privacy to allow those emotions out.

“Am I going to have to row the entire way back?” She finally snapped, breaking the silence as Gabriel’s ship had become so small on the horizon.

“I have delicate arms, you know this…”

“Some strength training would do you good, you’re like a shrimp.”

While Hayden smiled, Danielle shook her head and turned to look away. Adjusting her position to row more comfortably, she felt something in her pocket pressing into her thigh. It was the ring…

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #55

Gabriel´s face widened with a genuine smile when he realized how much Danielle liked his gift. He accepted her handshake, before grabbing her in a one-arm hug.
“I will miss you pup…Danielle.”
He corrected himself, holding the treasure huntress tightly for a few seconds, before finally releasing her to go and take her stuff.
While Danielle was fetching her things the rest of the crew moved to the upper deck, to give her a proper goodbye. There was another round of firm handshakes and hugs, as the treasure huntress was heading towards her rowboat.
The last one for the goodbyes was Beast, who decided to take on her human form for this occasion, right after Danielle scratched her behind ear. Her face was wet from a flood of tears that were running from her eyes, and she hugged her best friend.
“I…I´ll take good care of them…”
Beast sobbed.
“…until you´ll get back to us!”
Above them, Sigrid was trying her best to not cry in front of Hayden, but she wasn´t doing a really good job. She finally found herself such a lovely boyfriend and now he was leaving her to accompany his sister.
“That…that would be nice.”
She sobbed, patting his head, before pulling him closer for the kiss.
“You know, I really like you, so don´t you dare to find some tiny girlfriend before we´ll be back.”
Sigrid tried to smile, kissing him back before she put him carefully on Danielle´s ship.

---

And so, they were standing at the taffrail, waving and yelling their goodbyes at the slowly disappearing rowboat, until it was nothing but a small dot on the horizon.
“What a terrible day for a rain.”
The Professor muttered, drying his face with a sleeve.
“I know what you mean…”
Nodded Namkhai, blowing his nose in a large handkerchief.
Looking up at the clear, azure blue sky above, Niko shook his head and walked towards the helm.
“All right guys, we should move too!”
Giving one last look to his leaving puppy, Gabriel nodded.
“Yeah, we should...go home.”