07. Blobs of Fat

"Come on!" Mirella rattled the blade within the lock.

She had been at it all through the night, but it was hard with her fingers slowly turning to icicles from the plummeting temperatures. Her hands had started to become stiff and unresponsive. Every five minutes she would have to stop and warm her hands by placing them under her arms for heat but even that was starting to become futile. Her body core was lower than average and she was shaking uncontrollably. But she wouldn't give up, not like this, she willed herself to stay alive, for even for a second if she closed her eyes she would doze off and the cold would consume her.

Click!

Her heart leapt. She had never been so happy in her entire life to hear the sound of a door unlocking. She swung it open, only to smack straight into Hiro. Mirella stumbled back and reached for her push knives on her garter, ready to defend herself.

"You shouldn't have tried to escape." His voice was cruel and his fluorescent green eye glared down towards her with a razor sharp gaze. "I was being nice letting you keep your free-will but now I guess I'm going to have to take it away from you."

Mirella squealed, when his hand shot out and turned into green mist which slithered around her body stopping her from attacking him and freezing her to the spot. She didn't understand why but she couldn't move, she felt paralysed and fear shot through her when Hiro approached her.

"I'm a legendary spirit making me extremely powerful, especially when it comes to possessing and controlling humans." A finger trailed across her cheek. "Such a beautiful human, you're friends will no doubt come looking for you."

"I-I'm b-bait?" Mirella was finding it hard to breathe as the green aura wrapped tighter around her.

"Yes you are. With you're disappearance your crew will come looking for you, bringing the swordsman right where I want him with his spirits. I already have Gluttony's minions out searching for him."

He smirked in response and shifted his appearance to show that his left eye was covered with a green eye patch and he looked her up and down with his right fluorescent green eye, studying her intently.

"D-don't hurt my friends!"

His response was a sinister laugh. "I won't but you will."

Mirella felt a sting in her heart when he touched her chest with his finger, her breathing heightened and her eyes clouded over, flashing green. Her body was shaking all over, what was happening to her? Her eyes fluttered shut until there was nothing but darkness.

Hiro made the green aura disappear around Mirella's body. She was stood tall and upright, her body stiff and her eyes glowing green.

"You'll do as I say, understood?" Hiro stroked the purple locks from her face. "If any of your friends who are not the Swordsman so much as step a foot in this temple, kill them!"

"Understood." Mirella's voice held no emotion. She was now an empty shell, possessed by Hiro and now in his complete control, like a puppet on strings.

☠️

Leaning against the wall, with his arms folded across his chest, his facial muscles tense and constrained and his eyes adverted to the ground with a deep scowl. Alex thought deeply to himself and the situation he had found himself in. For once, he admitted to feeling lost.

How could this have happened? He thought, repeatedly.

He didn't know what to do with himself, he felt vulnerable without his swords and dagger resting on his hip, his loyal companions that were always there for him. Now what were they to him?

He already knew the answer to that question, they were good for nothing childish spirits that would only get in his way. Why of all forms did they choose to be children, spirits could choose to be any form they liked, why children?

What he hated most about the situation, was how well they were getting along with the crew. Akatenshi was playing with an electric red guitar he had manifested from his red mist and Baden was playing along with him, they seemed to get along well together.

Washiro had gone shopping with Penny to find her some more appropriate clothes. It turned out she had been cold but was too excited playing in the snow to care, but was feeling it now. While Kurome looked like he was playing charades with Levi and Oberon. His three spirits got along with everyone, everyone except him.

Alex frowned as he looked at Kurome, he could sense something was off with him, like he was upset.

"It's a monkey?" Levi scratched his head.

"Don't be an idiot Levi, he's clearly trying to be an elephant." Oberon hit his captain's head with a pathetic attempt at a fairy sting.

Oberon was tired. He had been out all morning with Vulcan looking for Mirella, to no success. They returned so Vulcan could look over the maps of the island to better search for her and would be leaving shortly with a party to go and find her again.

Kurome slapped his hand against his face, shook his head and sighed. Considering Levi was friends with his wife's master, he just wanted to know what happened to Lilith? He couldn't find her anywhere and she was last seen on the deck of the ship before she wound up in Limbo but her blade was nowhere to be found. Kurome looked towards Alex, he felt bad for all those times he had possessed his master but Kurome was a powerful spirit and Alex's mind had been weak, he couldn't help but to possess him and feel some form of freedom from Limbo. He pleaded with his good black eye, asking Alex for help.

"He's not playing charades," Alex bluntly said. "Kurome at some point had his throat slit, he can't speak that's what he's trying to tell you."

Levi and Oberon both gasped in realisation.

"How's he still alive if he had his throat slit?" Oberon' head shifted to the side.

"They're spirits..." Alex dragged a hand down his face when they didn't understand. "You know, like souls and ghosts, that sort of thing. They're not human, they can't die no matter how badly injured they become."

"Oh!" They both said in unison.

"Idiots," Alex muttered and walked out from the kitchen and stood outside, taking in a deep breath, in need of the fresh air.

He was still coming to grips with everything that was going on. His hand tightened around the railing of the deck and he looked down at the deep blue sea below, the small waves gently hitting against the ship. His thoughts landed on Jessica and he wondered what she would do if her sword unexpectedly turned into its spirit form and couldn't be turned back.

Alex sighed, he needed to stop thinking about Jessica, there was no point in drowning himself in his past. He had to think about the future, it's what she would have wanted, for him to move on with his life. The tears pricked at his eyes, remembering their shared dance at the banquet before it all went to hell. She had looked so beautiful, so happy. How was he supposed to move on from that. How was he supposed to do anything right with her gone and his swords stuck in their spirit forms?

His knuckles whitened as his hands tightened, his heart and mind in conflict with each other. He wanted his swords back but at the same time he didn't have the heart to turn the three lively children back to their normal states. They must feel free for the first time, they wouldn't want to be turned back into swords with their spirits stuck in Limbo.

It didn't matter whether he wanted to turn them back or not, he couldn't. He had never mastered the technique so he couldn't, he had to find a way to turn them back to normal first before he decided if he would or not. He didn't even know what had happened to them in the first place and research wasn't exactly his forte, his motto was usually attack first ask questions later.

Maybe Mirella might know something? Her forte was tutoring after all, she used to teach history and wondered if anything like this had happened before with spirits in the past. The only problem he had was that Mirella was still missing. She had been gone since last night and despite the crew's effects they still couldn't find her and Vulcan was becoming sick with worry and had started to pull at his own hair. Alex hoped they found her soon.

Out of nowhere, Akatenshi barged past Alex's shoulder. "I'm bored. I'm heading into town."

Alex frowned towards him. "No you're not. None of you are allowed to leave this ship without someone with you, not until we find out what is going on. Do I have to remind you, this island hates spirits."

"Their problem not mine." He commented back, running a hand through his unkempt red hair, looking bored as he waited for a comeback from Alex with a raised brow. When none came, he carried on walking.

"I said you're not going!" Alex shouted at him and instantly groaned having felt like a parent shouting at his child. He shivered as a result, he didn't want to feel like that ever again.

Akatenshi froze and slowly spun around on his heel, a daring look in his mischievous red eye.

"I don't have to listen to you anymore. Not in this form anyway. I'm a human now, which means I have the right to do as I please. So try and stop me?"

Akatenshi laughed, when Alex unconsciously reached for his absent swords and cursed under his breath.

"You're pathetic." Akatenshi smirked and headed towards the gangplank.

Strangely enough, he stopped before leaving, smacking into some sort of invisible barrier that was blocking his path, knocking him off his feet. He groaned in annoyance and disappeared into a cloud of red mist. Only for the red mist to bounce back against the invisible barrier. He slammed hard against the deck as he turned back into his human form.

"You might think you're human but you're not even close. You're a spirit, the spirit from a sword. A sword which I am the master of." It was Alex's turn to laugh now, feeling better that the rebellious teen couldn't do as he pleased. "You might want to leave this ship but you physically can't. I'm your master, my word is final. I forbid you, Kurome and Washiro from leaving this ship unless accompanied by someone."

"That's not fair!" Akatenshi protested. "I should be able to do as I please, I don't want to be stuck on this boring ship with nothing to do!"

"I don't like it either but until we figure out what is going on. You're staying put." Alex was starting to get annoyed with the stubborn teen.

"Why are you denying me a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the world outside Limbo? Do you know how long I've been trapped inside that hell hole? Three whole centuries!"

His statement struck at Alex's heart, he couldn't even imagine being stuck in a depressive realm all by himself for three centuries. So why was Alex doing this, why wasn't he allowing Akatenshi to do as he pleased, to see the world how he saw it? Then the answer came to Alex, and his eyes softened as he looked towards the spirit form of Akatenshi. He knew exactly why.

"Because I care about my spirits and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. You're my family."

☠️

"Hey are you feeling okay?" Tommy grabbed a hold of Penny's gloved hand.

Tommy, Penny, Vulcan, Oberon and Baden had recently left the Leo in search of Mirella. Vulcan and Oberon had already been out once before but came back in need of a bigger search party. Leaving Levi and Alex in charge of the looking after the ship. Tommy wasn't too found about that idea.

The search party had been looking for a good hour, crunching through the snow and had found themselves trekking through a large meadows behind the harbour town. Apparently that was where Mirella had last been spotted. However, she was nowhere in sight and they were all now heading in the direction of the small village stood at the base of the mountains.

"I'm fine." Penny forced a small smile.

Tommy pursed his lips, fine, the word everyone knew which meant you were anything but fine. He knew something was bothering Penny, ever since they returned from Atlantis City she had not been her perky self. Instead she was distant than usual, staring intently at Alex of all people. Was she taking a liking to Alex? Tommy would die a painful death if she so much as hinted to liking the dumb blonde.

"Are you sure?" Tommy couldn't help but worry. "You haven't been yourself since we surfaced from Atlantis? Is it because I'm an Atlantean, you're freaked out that I'm an Atlantean and it's finally dawning on you?" he panicked.

Penny couldn't help but stifle a laugh, her boyfriend would always be paranoid over the littlest of things, it was one of the many things she loved about him and that he cared too much.

"No silly, I love that you're an Atlantean and don't think otherwise," she giggled when he relaxed with a sigh of relief.

"Than what's bothering you?" Tommy cocked his head to the side, his silver hair cascaded over his eyes. "It's something to do with Blondie isn't it, I've seen the way you stare at him, like he's some sort of a puzzle?"

Penny's smile fell and her hand clenched tightly onto Tommy's hand as she recalled the memories of Alex being stabbed through the chest with Poseidon's trident. She was still trying to work out how he survived such an attack and Levi's outburst didn't help, screaming at her that Alex was immortal. Then there was the conversation she overheard with Morgana and the Captain about there being a possible spy on the ship. She shook her head, she couldn't think such thoughts, there wasn't a spy on the ship it was all ludicrous.  

"Wow!" Tommy pulled his hand back before Penny crushed his fingers. "Blondie is bothering you at the moment. What did he do, should I kick his ass?"

Tommy went into karate-chop mode to defend his girl. Penny rolled her eyes and carried on trekking through the snow.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it, I had a dream that was all. I just can't shake it."

"Oh, okay." Tommy shrugged and quickly skipped after her. "Blondie is nightmarish."

"Aaaahhhh!" Baden screeched, scaring Oberon to transform into his human form who startled Tommy into jumping into Penny's arm, who slipped over knocking into Vulcan who let go of his hammer which landed on Baden's head.

All of them, were huddled in a pile in the snow shivering and glaring at Baden for screaming in the first place.

"Damn it Baden, you scared me half to death!" Oberon husked in his deep voice.

"Whoa!" Penny ogled at the Fairy King. "Obi, I didn't realise you were so... masculine."

"And I'm not?" Tommy pointed Penny a glare.

"You just jumped into my arms screaming." Penny counted.

"Oberon scared me turning into a human suddenly, which I had no idea you could do by the way." Tommy frowned towards the fairy.

Oberon shrugged chuckling and shifted back into his fairy form. "Sorry," he squeaked. "When Baden screamed it literally startled me out of my wings."

"Why were you screaming, Baden?" Tommy stood up, dusting the snow down from his grey suit and offered Penny a hand.

"Because I saw the snow move." He pointed over in the direction of a small mound of snow.

Everyone else squinted towards the lump of snow and saw nothing but white fluffy powder.

"This a waste of time, we should be looking for Mirella," Vulcan huffed and leaned down to pick up his hammer. "Hey?!"

His lump hammer disappeared below the surface of the snow.

"Ow!" Penny moaned when someone pinched a strand of her hair.

"Whoa!" Baden tripped over his own two feet to find his laces had been tied together. "What's going on?"

"There's a weird marshmallow creature over here eating a cookie on a rock." Oberon fluttered around Baden's head and pointed towards the cushion sized creature.

Everyone's mouth's gawped at once towards the small white creature, with black beady eyes, who was sat casually on a snow coated rock, munching on a chocolate chip cookie and contemplating about life in general.

"I feel like he needs a glass of milk and his look is complete," Tommy hummed with a curt nod.

"Really? That's what you're thinking?" Penny shook her head.

"What?" He shrugged. "We're all thinking it?"

The others nodded their heads in unison.

"Please come back home soon, Mirella," Penny whispered to herself. "I don't think I can stand being the only girl on the ship."

Baden approached the creature and it stopped chewing on its cookie and stared deeply into Baden's eyes. "I wonder what it is?"

"From its composition, it looks like fat." Vulcan frowned, finally finding his hammer and picking it up. "There are more of them."

"They're surrounding us." Oberon flew back into Tommy.

Penny clutched onto her boyfriend's hand when the blobs of fat appeared out from the deep snow and started to circle around them. Their little feet patted against the snow, it seemed cute at first, until their eyes narrowed and their little hands balled into tight fists.

"This is getting weird." Tommy looked to Vulcan for clarification. "What do we do?"

"You're the strategist," Vulcan reminded him.

"This is a first..."

"They're kind of cute." Baden started to stroke the blob of fat sat on the rock, it seemed the cookie eating piece of fat was the leader of the blobs. "I'm calling you Cookie."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Tommy warned and further stepped back when the blobs of fat continued to surround them until they were all squashed together.

"Aren't you a cute little thing?" Baden continued to stroke Cookie.

Crunch! Cookie bit down on Baden's finger.

"Aaaahhhh!" Baden screeched loudly and kicked Cookie high into the air like a football.

Cookie squeaked in an incoherent language only the other blobs of fat could understand and all at once they hounded on the crew and started attacking them with razor sharp teeth which extended from their gums. The crew started fighting back but there were too many of them overwhelming them like cockroaches, scratching and biting them all over.

"Tommy, manipulate the ice to get rid of them!" Vulcan ordered while swatting one of them with his hammer.

"I can't manipulate solid water, only liquid water!" Tommy was using one of Penny's pink arrows to defend himself.

Oberon was flying around using his fairy stings to zap them off the crew and Baden was whacking them away with his orange cane but no matter how many times they smacked, hit or kicked away the blobs of fat, they kept coming back for more, like hungry beasts who hadn't eaten in over a month.

"There must be something we can do!" Penny whacked one of the blobs with the limb of her bow like a golf ball and it whizzed across the air.

Tommy looked towards the snow coated mountain and an idea popped into his mind. He clenched his fists and the ground beneath his feet started to rumble. The snow on the mountain shifted and a huge block came skidding down the mountainside, drawing the attention of the blobs of fat.

"Tommy what are you doing?" Baden exclaimed.

"He created shockwaves," Vulcan explained. "Good in hindsight but now we're in the path of an oncoming avalanche!"

The blobs of fat scattered, leaving the crew to fend for themselves.

"I didn't think this through properly!" Tommy squeaked. "Run!"

...

Next Chapter: 08. Glass Box

☠️ oh no what's going to happen to Mirella?

☠️ How will the others escape from the avalanche?

☠️ Did you like the blob fats?

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~ Robin Xxx