"I think that's everything." Bob said as he put the last of the logs in the backpack.

"That's good."  Paul said as he zipped it up.  "I don't think we can fit anymore in here if we tried."

Bob laughed as he gestured to the super packed backpack.  "Right so."

Paul then grabbed the backpack and swung it over to his left shoulder.  But right as he did, he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder again.  He closed his eyes as he grunted from the weight of the bag as it hit his left shoulder blade.  Bob looked over at Paul with a concerned look.

"Are you okay?"  Bob asked as he looked at Paul.

"Yeah.  I'm..." Paul started to say when suddenly.

"What the fuck was that?!"  They heard Mike shout.

"I don't know."  Rick replied.  

"I think it went...SHIT!"  Mike started to say until suddenly something jumped out at him from the cabinet.

He quickly responded by firing off a couple shots.  Bob and Paul both gave each other a startled look.  Then they both quickly ran out of the room and headed for the hallway.  Bob stopped right by the curtain and pushed it open as he looked at Mike who was breathing heavy as he looked at the cabinet in front of him that he had just shot at.

 "What happened?"  Bob asked Mike when he poked his head out as he pushed the curtain wide open. 

"Something just jumped out of that cabinet and tried to grab me."  Mike said as he kept his gun trained on the cabinet.

"You sure it wasn't a rat?"  Paul asked as he gave Mike a slight smile.

Mike turned and gave him a dirty look.  But right as he did that, you noticed something in the background behind your dad that stopped your heart.

"DAD!  BEHIND YOU!"  You shouted as you saw two red eyes staring right at him as you looked through Mike's camera.

Your dad quickly turned around and saw a goblin smiling at him with it's fangs as it was crouched low to the ground.  Your dad took a step backwards as Bob moved out of the hallway and onto the bridge.

"That's not a rat."  Your dad said as he quickly drew a gun and aimed it at the goblin.

The goblin snarled at your dad as it started to move forward and towards your dad.  Your dad moved further back as he kept his gun trained on it.  Bob gestured to Mike and Rick to head towards the door to leave the bridge.

"I think it's time to go."  Bob said as he turned and followed Mike and Rick out of the bridge and to the stairwell so that they could leave.

"I couldn't agree more."  Paul said as suddenly there were more red eyes showing up as he moved closer to the bridge.  "And I propose we run."

"Way ahead of you!"  Mike shouted as he ran for the stairwell.

"Shit!"  Paul said as he turned and started running.

But right as he did, the goblins leaped out of the shadows and started chasing him.  Paul quickly ran for the stairs as the backpack bounced on his shoulder.  He gritted his teeth as he quickly put his other arm through the other arm strap so that he could take off some of the pressure from his left shoulder.  Then he quickly started down the stairs as he followed the others as they flew down the stairs.

"You know I'm getting really tired of running from shit on ships."  Mike shouted as he raced down the stairs.

"Well we didn't exactly expect to find monsters on this ship you know."  Rick said as he kept pace with Mike.

"We weren't expecting it the last time either."  Mike shouted back.  "And look what happened."

"Can we not talk about that now.  We have more important things to worry about."  Bob said as he was right behind them.  "I highly doubt that those goblins are the only thing on this ship."

"Less talking and more looking."  Paul said as he quickly caught up to them as they reached the bottom platform.  

Only to be stopped in their tracks as a giant half woman half spider like creature dropped down from the ceiling and blocked their path to the boat.  All of them froze in their tracks for a moment as they watched the creature as it stretched across the entire hallway.  There was no way past it.  Your heart dropped as you stared at the screen in horror.

"Shit."  You heard your dad say.  "Looks like we'll have to figure out another way."

"Quick!  This way."  You heard Rick say as he turned away from the creature and started running down the passageway in the opposite direction.

Quickly everyone turned and started following him as he ran through the passageway as he headed for the door at the far end.  "I remember seeing that their gangway was just down the hallway from where we boarded earlier."

"Man I hope your right."  Mike said as he followed him.

He watched Rick as he kept looking for the walkway that would lead to the gangway.

You watched Rick suddenly disappear from your dad's camera.  You quickly looked at Rick's camera and saw the gangway that he was talking about.  It was secured to the side of the ship with the usual tie downs and locks.  Rick quickly went to work unhooking everything and getting it ready to lower down.

Once he had everything ready, he turned to the crank motor that was used to lower it down.  But when he tried to start it, it wouldn't do anything.  You watched him start to fidget with a some of the nobs and buttons as he tried to get it to start.  But nothing seemed to work.

"Shit!  The motors dead."  Rick said as he stood back up.

"Hurry up guys."  Your dad said as he watched at the spider monster started to make her way down to them as suddenly a whole slew of goblins started rushing past her and running right at your dad and the others.  "We have company."

"Fuck!"  Mike said as your dad and Bob started firing at the goblins and taking them out one at a time as they rushed down the passageway and towards the group.

Mike then quickly pushed Rick out of the way.  "Get out of my way.  Let me see what I can do."

"You got it."  Rick said as he moved back out into the passageway and pulled out his gun as he started to fire as well.

You were torn between watching Mike as he make quick work or disassembling the motor to see what the issues was. And your dad and the others as they were taking out goblins like target practice as they were quickly picking them off as they raced towards them.  The spider creature screeched at them as she slowly made her way over to them.  The whole scene had the entire radio department watching from behind you as if they were watching a movie.

Suddenly your dad turned around.  Your heart almost stopped as you saw more goblins starting to race towards them from the far end of the passageway.  You couldn't seemed to breath as your dad starting firing at them as he continued to pick them off one at a time.  The sound of the guns weren't making you jump any more since you seemed to be numb to it now as the sound resounded through the space.

Suddenly you heard something roar to life as the sound of a small engine starting filled the room.  You quickly looked at Mike's camera and saw the motor shaking as it run while black smoke seemed to pour out of it.  But as you watched, the gangway started to slowly drop down as the engine turned the spool that the wire rope was wrapped around as it was holding it securely against the ship.  The wheel started turning and lowering the gangway with each slowly turn that it did.  The gangway creaked and groaned as it was lowered inch by inch as the motor ran loudly.

"Got it!"  Mike shouted as he walked away from the motor and joined the others.

"We just have to hold them off for only a few more minutes guys."  Mike said as he joined your dad in defending their position from the pursing goblins, whose numbers seemed to be endless as they raced towards the group from the other end of the long passageway in what seemed like the thousands.

"We may not have a few minutes."  Bob said as the number of goblins rushing them didn't seem to stop and neither did the spider creature.

"We have to stall out enough for the gangway to be low enough for us to jump from safely.  Which has to be more than halfway down at least.  We're too high up to jump from here."  Rick said as he kept firing.

Suddenly all you heard was clicking sounds as the guns were running out of bullets.  

"Shit!  Shit!  Shit!"  Rick started shouting as he was starting to panic.

"Get to the gangway!"  Your dad shouted.  "I'll hold them off!"

"Are you fucking nuts!"  Rick shouted over to him with his eyes almost bulging out of his head.

"Trust me!"  He shouted back.  "Now go!"

Then you watched in almost pure terror as Mike, Rick and even Bob, turned and ran towards the gangway and left your dad by himself.  You felt your blood run cold as you watched the goblins get closer.

What the fuck is he doing?  Your thought as you felt your heart almost stop as he put his hand guns back into their holsters.  

Only for you to gasp as he suddenly summoned a machine gun and started to sweep back and forth across the goblins on both sides.  The gun was making quick work of them as it was wiping them out as he fired the gun.  Your breath caught as you watched the goblins dropping like flies and disappearing into smoke as he pelleted bullets at them so fast, that as soon as you saw one, it dropped.  Soon the number of goblins started to quickly dwindle down to only a few left.  But there was still the spider creature.   Who had stopped when he pulled out the machine gun and stood there screeching at him.  Within a few more moments all of the goblins were gone and it was down to just the spider creature and him.

"Is it down yet?"  Your dad shouted as he stopped firing and was simply studying the creature as it looked around as it tried to figure out how to get to him.

"It got stuck about half way down!"  Rick shouted.

You quickly looked at the other cameras and saw that he wasn't kidding.  The gangway had only dropped about half way down before it had stopped.  Mike was frantically fighting with the motor.  But he couldn't seem to get it to move anymore.  Bob and Rick were both trying to undo the connection that was holding up the support wire as  a means of dropping it down.  But even that wasn't working since the bolts were to rusted.

"Fuck!"  Alex shouted from beside you.

You jumped from his reaction and looked over at him in surprise.  You had been so wrapped up in what was going on that you hadn't even realized that he was even near you.  Alex started rubbing the back of his neck as he watched the whole scene in front of him.  You could see the worried look on his face as he stared at the screens.

"I have an idea."  You heard your dad say.  "But I need everyone back out here with me."

"But we're out of bullets."  Mike shouted at him.  "And that spider bitch is still out there."

"She won't be for long.  But I can't take her down until your off the ship.  Now get over here so that I can drop that down.  I don't want to accidentally hit you with a stray bullet."  Your dad said before he fired a couple shots at the spider creature as a means to get her to back up.

Which she did, as she angrily screeched back at him.  Paul gave her a slight smile before he turned his attention to the wire connect that was visible though the broken window on his left side.  He knew that he had to be quick and accurate if this was going to work.  Time was of the essence.

They all quickly ran back over to him and stood behind him.  He then turned his machine gun towards the wire connection that was holding the wire and started firing at it.  At first the bullets were missing their mark.  But then as you dad focused more, the bullets started striking the metal connection and was taking away the rusted metal bit by bit.  After several very successful strikes, the connection snapped and the gangway quickly gave way and fall the rest of the way down.

"Go, go, go!"  Bob shouted to them.

Everyone quickly made their way back over to the gangway and quickly started running down the stairs.  Which wasn't an easy task since the railing hadn't been put up.  But this didn't seem to slow them down as they ran down.  As you looked at the screens you realized that your dad had stopped at the top of the gangway and was firing back at the spider creature as she was now right by the short walkway that lead to the gangway.

Once Bob and the others reached the bottom of the gangway, they quickly dove into the water and swam for the boat.  Your dad stood his ground and kept pelleting the spider creature with bullets.  You watched as one by one the team members boarded the boat and quickly started to untie the boat from the ship.  Then you heard your dad groan out loud and slightly drop as he kept up the gun fire.  Then you saw him turn slightly as he heard the rib boat start up and move over to the gangway.  

"Come on!"  Rick shouted up at him.

Your dad then quickly dropped to one knee and removed the backpack from his left shoulder.  You heard him groan loudly again as he removed the bag.  Then he stood back up and moved closer to the edge of the gangway when he saw the rib boat was right by him.

Then he held the backpack out over the water with his right hand.  "Catch the backpack!"

"Alright.  Drop it!"  Bob shouted as Rick brought the boat right under where your dad was standing.

Your dad then released the bag and quickly grabbed the machine gun with both hands again and started firing as the spider creature screeched at him as it fought to try and get to him.  The new wave of gun fire made her screech louder as your dad was aiming right for her head.  Your hands felt like fire from you rubbing them as you watched your dad fighting for his life once again.

"We got it Paul!  Now get down here so that we can get the hell out of here!"  Bob shouted at him as Rick moved the boat closer to the end of the gangway.

"Not yet.  I don't want anyone else to have to deal with this thing."  Your dad said in a deep tone as he glared at the spider creature as she screeched back at him as she inched ever closer to him.

You watched as your dad released the machine gun.  Only for you to gasp as the gun disappeared in a sea of blue mist and was replaced with a bazooka type gun in its place.  Your dad then knelt down on one knee and aimed right at the spider creature and pulled the trigger.

"Say goodbye bitch." You heard your dad day.

Then you watched, in what seemed like slow motion.  As the rocket itself launched from the end of the gun and flew through the short entryway and slammed into the spider creature's chest and threw it back towards the wall.  The creature screeched just before it slammed up against the bulkhead and exploded from the rocket impacting the metal wall.

The sound of the blast rattled the whole radio room as it echoed off the walls. You jumped and quickly covered both of your ears with your hands as you kept your eyes transfixed to the screen.  For after the rocket exploded, your dad was thrown backwards from the force.  Which was enough to send him flying off of the gangway and away from the ship.  

The blast had been enough to knock him out cold as his limp body went flying away from the ship.  All you saw was the blue mist from the bazooka disappearing as his limp body was headed down to the cold water below.  As you watched, you could have sworn that you were silent as you stared at the screens.  But as he hit the water, you realized that you had been screaming the whole time.

Rick quickly moved the boat over to where he fell in the water.  Then right as he reached that point, Mike quickly dove into the water right where your dad had landed.  You watched in bated breath as you could see the surface getting further and further away as you watched your dad sink through his camera.  Then you saw Mike quickly approaching your dad right as both of their cameras stopped working.

"No no no no no no no no.  Bring them back up!  Bring the cameras back up!"  You shouted as you were now starting to panic as you stared at the blank screens.

"I'm trying."  One of the guys in radio said as he was frantically flipping switches as he tried to get the cameras back up.  "But nothing seems to be working."

Then after a few moments, you saw Mike surface with your dad as Rick and Bob leaned over the slide of the boat when they spotted them coming back up.  Tears then started to pour down your cheeks as you watched Rick and Bob pull your dad and Mike out of the water.  For Mike seemed fine, except for the heavy breathing.  But your dad wasn't responding.

"Get us back to the ship!  NOW!"  Bob shouted to Rick as he went over to your dad and laid him flat on the floor of the boat and started CPR.

Rick quickly turned the boat around and started flying back to the ship.  You quickly got up from your chair and ran out of the room as you headed for the weather decks.  Once you were outside, you saw the boat pulling up to the side of the ship.  Your heart almost stopped as you saw that Bob was still working on your dad.

You then quickly turned around and started running through the passageways as you headed to the ladderwells so that you could get down to the main deck.  Everyone quickly moved out of your way as they saw you come running towards them.  Then they would simply stop and watch as you flew down the ladderwells and passageways as you raced to your dad.  Time almost seemed to stand still as you ran.  Because all you heard was your heart beating in your ears as you raced through the ship.

I can't lose him.  Not here.  Not now.  I can't lose my dad.  You thought as tears streamed down your cheeks as you ran.

You were so out of it as you ran, that you didn't realize who or what you were racing past as you flew to your dad.  This include Chris as he quickly moved up against the wall as he saw you racing towards him.  Only to fly past him as you ran down the passageway by the galley.  He then glanced at Henry who had peeked his head out of the galley doorway at the commotion.  Henry followed you with his eyes for a moment.  Then he turned and looked at Chris as they both seemed to reflect the same concerned look on their faces.

When you reached the main deck, you ran over to the crowd of people as they all stood by the railing below the boat davit.  You quickly ran over to them and shoved your way between them all so that you could get through.  Once you were through the crowd, you saw with great relief that your dad was slowly starting to move as he looked around as everyone cheered.  The medical team had him still laying on the bottom of the boat as he slowly looked around as he tried to get his bearings.  Bob was looking at him with relief as he panted from his lose of breath from doing CPR like that.  Your whole body started to tremble from relief as you tried to climb over the railing to get to him.

"Hold on kid."  One of the corpsman said as they pulled you away from the railing.  "Let's get him out of the boat first.  Shall we?"

You turned and looked at the person as if they had two heads.  But then you stopped as you tried to clear your head.  You knew that what he was saying made sense.  Even if your mind was screaming at you to get to your dad.  You knew that it would be best to wait until they had him safely back on the ship at least.

"Make way!"  You heard someone shout from behind you.

You were then quickly moved out of the way as the crowd shifted as the rest of the medical team came through with a stretcher on a gurney so that they could get him to sick bay.  Then you watched the team as they carefully loaded him up into the stretcher and out of the boat.  Your heart broke as you watched his clench his teeth as they picked him up and set him in the stretcher.  Then he seemed to pant as they tried to make him comfortable before they slide the stretcher out of the boat and onto the gurney.

Then you watched as Doc came up to him and checked his vital signs. And after looked in his eyes with a flashlight.  He did a once over to see if he noticed anything else, other than the obvious.  After not seeing anything.  Doc stood back up and put his light away in his jacket pocket.

"Get him up to sick bay so that we can run some tests."  Doc said to his medical staff as they looked at him.  "He seems to be fully awake now.  But let's makes sure we're not missing anything.  And let's get him in for x-rays to check for any broken bones or hairline fractures."

"Yes sir."  The team said in unison.

Then you watched them as they secured your dad to the gurney so that the stretcher wouldn't fall off.  You tried to slow down your racing heart as it felt like it was beating out of your chest.  Your dad groaned loudly as they moved him in the stretcher as they strapped him to the gurney.  Your heart shattered as you heard him hissing from the pain as they tightened up a few of the straps that were holding him down.

"Come on."  You heard someone say beside you.

You looked over and realized that it was Alex.  "Let's head up to wardroom for the moment while they get him settled."

"But...?"  You quietly started to argue.

"We'll head to medical as soon as they get him settled and stable."  Alex said as they moved the gurney very quickly away from you as they headed for sick bay.  "There's nothing else we can do right now but wait.  Let doc and his team take it from here.  Okay?"

You were frozen in place as you stood beside Alex and watched in shock as they took your dad away.  You couldn't feel anything anymore since your whole body seemed to be numb.   You couldn't even think of a single coherent thought as your mind raced with what had just happened. And hell after all that.  You barely remembered to breath as you stood there.  You felt so helpless as all you could do was watch them carrying him up the stairs and in through the emergency exit to sickbay.

"Come on."  Alex said in a reassuring tone as he placed his hand on the small of your back.  "I think you could use a bowl of ice cream."

You absently nodded your head as you dropped your gaze as the door closed behind the medical team.  You then let Alex take you up to the wardroom to wait it out.  You knew he was right as you walked quietly through the passageways.  There wasn't anything you could do at the moment as they checked him.  

After they had left perhaps you could do something.  But not now.  Not with everyone standing around your dad in a busy medical ward.  No you would have to wait until they cleared out some before you could do anything. 

You deeply signed as you walked as you felt your frustration start to build.   Sometimes having magic capabilities was a pain in the ass.   All you were trying to do was help someone out.  But at the sametime you wanted to keep people from freaking out.

You knew that you should be grateful for them getting him awake again and for not letting him drown.  But as you sat in the wardroom and waited to hear from Alex to say that it was okay to go see him.  You couldn't help but to worry.  Because all you could do was sit with your knees to your chest as you tightly gripped your legs as you sat there on one of the long couchs.  Even though they offered you ice cream, which you turned down.  Nothing anyone said or did seemed to help. 

Because the whole thing reminded you of when you had watched him being thrown through the front window of that boutique and right into the pillar when Ifrit had attacked Insomnia.  The only difference was that you got to see him sooner after this incident.   Unlike when you had to wait until Ifrit went away before you could even get to him.

"Would you like some company?"  You heard a familiar voice say as they sat down next to you.  "You look like you could use some."

"That would be nice."  You quietly said as you kept your arms around your legs.

Henry gave you slight smile as he wrapped his arm across your shoulder and pulled you closer to him so that you were leaning against his shoulder.  "I can't do the full hug.  On account that someone might say something.  But I can give you a strong shoulder to cry on as I give you a half hug."

"Thank you Henry."  You quietly said as you laid your head in his shoulder.  "It really means a lot to me.

"Your more than welcome."  Henry said as he relaxed back against the back of the couch.

After about an hour, you saw Alex come walking into the wardroom.  You slowly looked up at him as you tried to keep from shaking.  Which didn't seem to help your heart as it started racing again as you were anxious to see your dad.  Evrn as Alex looked over at you and gave you a smile.  You still felt like you were in a trance as you slowly stood up.

"Is he...?"  You started to ask in an almost whisper.

"He's fine.  There wasn't any major damage."  Alex said as he looked at you.  "Doc told me that he just bruised a couple ribs and his left shoulder.  So at most he will be sore for a few days.  That machine gun of his did a number on his shoulder though.  Let alone the CPR from Bob." 

"My dad is a quickly healer.  So that shouldn't be a issue."  You quickly said as you headed for the door, and for medical. 

"Your dad's lucky that he wasn't hurt more from that fall."  Doc was saying as you walked over to your dad's bed.

"Luck has nothing to do with my dad getting away with only bruises."  You said in a flat tone.  "There is a reason why he's in charge of the entire Investigation team in Insomnia.  He smart and very well trained."            

"And perhaps slight blessed by the gods?"  Doc said with a slight smile.

"Perhaps."  You said as you slightly smiled back.

Then as soon as you saw your dad, your breath caught.  They had him sitting up with his shirt off,  left shoulder wrapped up, oxygen tube across his nose, and an IV in his left hand.  You slowly walked up to him with a few tears starting to fall from your eyes as you looked at him.  He smiled back at you as a few tears seemed to form in his eyes.

You then quickly ran over and wrapped your arms around him.  He returned the embrace and slightly shifted so that you were sitting on his lap as he hugged you back.  You heard him slightly grunt from the motion.  But then he didn't say or do anything else for a few minutes as he held you.

"I was so scared."  You said through your tears as they rolled from your eyes.  "I thought I was about to lose you."

"So did I."  He returned in a quiet tone as he tightened up his grip on you.  "But your mom and brother both sent me back.  They said that my job's not done yet."

Your tighten up your grip on him as the tears now poured from your eyes.  "Oh, and they wanted me to tell you they miss you and that they love you."

You now couldn't even respond as you whole body shook as you cried hard into your dad.  He tightened up his grip on you as you cried.  Then he gave you a kiss on your head as you shook in his arms.  You couldn't seem to calm down as everything seemed to hit you at once as you hugged him.

Finally after a long while, you leaned back and looked at your dad.  He gave you a teary smile as he moved your hair behind you ear so that he could see your face.  You gave him a slight smile back as you fought to smile as your throat felt like it was in knots.  You then laid back against him and placed your head on his right shoulder.

"I'll heal you once the rest of the medical staff leaves for the night."  You quietly said to him.

"You don't have to."  Your dad quietly returned as he ran his fingers through your hair as he brushed it away from your face and around your ear.  "And besides, these are old wounds that can't be healed by magic I'm afraid."

"Let me try."  You said as you glanced up at him as you kept your head on his shoulder.

He looked at you and gave you a slight smile.  "Okay.  I'll let you try."

******Author Note******

Okay, so this one I had to do really quick so that no one was freaking out about it.  Plus I didn't want to lose momentum. ;)  I hope you liked it.

I would also like to thank everyone for me hitting another milestone as this book hit 21k reads!  Technically it hit before I finished the last chapter.  But I forgot to mention it in the Author note.  Which worked out for me since I can mention it now and not mess to much with the suspense.

Of course now we are faced with the return trip back to Altissia and a very conflicting reunion that will be waiting on the pier when the ship arrives.  Will it be too much for Paul to handle as it tears his world apart once again?  We shall see.

Thanks for reading.  :)

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