by David Petrie
“Can you speak?”
The fairy shook her head before dropping eyes to the floor.
“That’s weird.” Seven wondered what could cause that. A curse maybe? Did Noctem have curses?
“Sorry,” the girl repeated.
“It’s okay.” There was no sense getting annoyed if she couldn’t help it. “Do you have a name?”
“People call me Gecko.”
“Gecko is an odd name.” Seven gave her a smile, appreciating the simple exchange where no one shot at her.
The fairy shook her head, then brushed a silver locks from her eyes before giving her name again.
“Neko?” Seven tried to read her lips, an annoyed stomp told her that was wrong.
The fairy placed one hand by her mouth and mimed yelling something into the distance. Then she turned her head as if listening.
“Oh, Echo!” Seven felt a little dumb.
The fairy nodded happily then let out a long sigh as if she’d just finished a chore.
“Nice to meet you, Echo. I’m Royal Assistant Seven, but most people seem to just call me Seven.” She held out a hand, surprised at how sociable she was being. Most of the players she’d met made her want to avoid them, but there was something about the character that made her feel at ease.
Echo shook her hand, then cringed as one of the hatches flew open behind her. Seven did the same as an elf carrying a bow slung across his body burst onto the deck at the far end.
“Oh hi, Echo.” He stopped short as a pair of reynard players appeared close behind him.
“They’re right behind us!” shouted one of the reynards as he slammed the hatch shut and threw his back against it.
“No crap, Corvin,” spouted the other reynard as she spun the wheel on the door to secure it.
Ruby squawked at the intruders just as a loud bang came from the other side of the door, followed by angry voices. The wheel securing the hatch started to turn backward, clearly being spun from the other side.
Seven took a step back, unsure of what to do.
The elf with the bow leapt back to the hatch, kneeling between the two reynards and gripping the wheel to stop it from turning. It slowed but didn’t stop.
“Could use a hand.” He glanced back at Seven and Echo, then gestured to a wooden toolbox sitting on the deck by the wall with a large wrench sticking out of it.
Seven’s first thought was, Why is there a tool box here? Did the ship even need maintenance? No, it was probably just there for decoration.
“Sometime today, Echo.” The elf added.
The fairy immediately ran in a small circle before grabbing the handle of the wrench while Seven stood by and watched. With a loud clunk, Echo dragged the tool from the box, dropping it to the deck and struggling to move it further.
Seven tilted her head to the side at the sight. Sure, the wrench was large and looked heavy, but just how weak was the fairy? She shook off the thought and reached out to help, hefting the wrench up for the struggling girl. Seven wasn’t sure if she should be helping, but the three new players seemed to know Echo, and the little fairy didn’t appear to mean any harm.
“Here!” She held out the wrench to the group.
“Piper, take it.” The male reynard, Corvin, grabbed the locking wheel and held it steady.
“Alright, alright.” Piper snatched the wrench from Seven’s hands and turned to the elf. “Out of the way, Kegan.” She shoved the wrench through the spokes of the locking wheel and clamped it in place so that the tool’s long handle hit the wall. The elf, apparently named Kegan, released his grip and fell back against the door to rest.
“How is this ship’s security this bad?” He slapped his thigh. “I mean, how many stowaways are on this thing?”
“Stowaways?” Seven gripped the railing, wondering what kind of chaos had just found her. The group ignored her, still talking amongst themselves.
“Aren’t we stowaways too?” Corvin panted against the hatch.
“Yeah, just how many people did your friend smuggle on board?” Piper made air quotes around the word friend.
Kegan leaned his head from side to side. “Probably a ton. Knowing Kenzie, she just snuck in every player with a bit of hard and a sketchy motive.”
“Don’t we have a sketchy motive?” Corvin interjected.
“That’s a given.” Kegan laughed.
“Umm. Excuse me.” Seven raised one hand, getting ignored.
“Speak for yourself.” Piper shot Corvin a dirty look. “You two are the only sketchy ones here. I’m just here to back up my mom.”
Kegan scoffed. “Yeah, but your mother is sketchier than all of us–”
“Hey!” Seven stomped one foot and clenched her fists, getting sick of the inane banter. Finally, the three of them gave her their attention as she pointed at the hatch behind them. “Whoever was on the other side of that stopped banging.”
The three of them looked at each other silently then back at the door.
Of course, that was when the hatch on the opposite end of the deck swung open, spilling a group of six players armed with various weapons into the space. They wore all black, as if they were advertising the fact that they were up to no good. The man in the back even wore a helmet as if he was worried he might be recognized. He carried a weapon, but it was hard to tell what it was with the others standing in front of him.
A spear maybe?
Seven tried to remember what class that would mean, then shook her head. It didn’t matter, she was level one and a slight breeze could kill her.
She looked to Kegan and the two reynards, the scrappy bunch still pressed up against the other door. Then she glanced back at the black-ops squad that clearly meant to do them harm. She couldn’t believe her luck. All she had wanted was to wait by herself until the auction started, but somehow, here she was, standing between three idiots and their enemies.
Silence fell across the deck with only the sound of the ship’s enormous wheel rotating through the space just below. Seven’s body froze, half of her clinging to the hope that she could just step aside and remove herself from the situation, letting the chips fall where they may. It wasn’t like any of this was her problem. Her other half had other plans.
What am I doing? Seven screamed at herself as she pushed Echo toward her friends and kicked the tool box toward the six players in black. A chorus of battle cries erupted behind her only to fall apart when a player in front tripped and fell over the tool box.
Piper and Corvin struggled to get the wrench off the door but it quickly became clear that there wasn’t enough time. Seven froze.
“Do something!”
Piper weaved past her, pulling a pistol from a holster and unloading it at the group. Seven covered her ears as the scent of gunpowder filled her nose.
“No good! They have a Shield.” Corvin reached for a sword as a glowing barrier appeared at the head of the attacking group to deflect Piper’s shots. It seemed to be projected from a metal glove worn by a faunus player in front.
“Well I don’t see you trying anything.” Piper reloaded.
Seven glanced to Echo, as if the silent fairy might have an idea. She responded by hopping onto the railing and leaping off.
“Don’t just leave us.” Seven’s mouth fell open with indignation.
“Good plan, Echo.” Corvin sheathed his sword and immediately vaulted the railing.
With horror, Seven watched him fall to the massive wheel below. He hit it and rolled, coming to a stop just before falling off the edge.
“That’s my partner.” Kegan smiled down at the reynard. “Always ready to improvise.”
Piper rolled her eyes, then vaulted over the side as well.
“No sense staying here, right?” Kegan placed a hand on the rail and glanced back at Seven as if waiting for her to introduce herself.
She scoffed at him. “I’m Seven.”
“Well, Seven…” He looked back over her shoulder at the players behind her, then back to her face. �
��Try not to die when you land.”
Then he leapt over the side.
She clutched her chest and threw herself against the railing, watching him fall the two story drop to the wheel below. He slammed into its surface like a bug hitting a windshield before staggering back to his feet. She cringed, then looked back at the incoming attack team.
“I didn’t sign on for this.” She threw one leg over the rail, holding on as she placed her feet on the outer ledge. The wind rushed up to remind her that one wrong move would send her falling straight to the ground. She looked down, her eyes bulging at the insanity of it all.
“I can’t do this!” Her legs immediately turned to jelly and her hands clamped to the railing like a vice. She had to take her chances with the attacking players. None of this was her problem. She wasn’t involved. Seven closed her eyes. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can!”
Her eyes snapped back open to find that stupid elf, Kegan, aiming an arrow up at her. He fired.
“Gah, what the hell!” She covered her face with both arms. “Shit!” she screamed as she realized that she’d let go of the railing.
The sound of Ruby squawking filled her ears as she fell forward.
“I didn’t sign on for this!”
Chapter Seven
Pain shot up Seven’s legs, replaced by the same numbness as before when she’d kicked the hatch up above. Except this time the unnatural feeling ran up half her body. Unable to stop her momentum, she stumbled toward the empty space beyond the engine wheel. By the time she finally stopped, only her heels remained on the edge.
Seven let out a shrill scream as she fell forward, the ground barely visible through the clouds that passed by below. Suddenly a small glowing form rushed from underneath, pressing its body against her own to hoist her back up. Echo hadn’t abandoned her after all. A wave of relief swept across Seven’s mind as she began to rise back up to place one foot on the edge on the wheel.
The relief didn’t last.
Echo mouthed a wordless plea, struggling to hold Seven’s weight. It was too much for her.
Oh no. Seven flailed her arms on reflex as she began to tip back toward the ground, unable to find her balance. The fairy pushed, but could do no more than slow her fall down to an agonizing pace.
“I got you!”
A hand clasped around her wrist. The elf, Kegan, leaned back to counterbalance her weight before she slipped off the edge. She curled her fingers around his wrist as he did hers. The elf yanked her back from the edge, sending her toppling to the metal plating that covered the engine wheel. She came to rest on her rear, her head still spinning.
“What’s your health at?” Kegan readied his bow to fire up at their pursuers.
“My health?” Her mind locked up, not understanding what he meant before realizing that she was still playing a game. She checked her stat-sleeve and gasped. “Fourteen out of fifty.”
“What the hell? I assumed you were low-level from your gear but damn, didn’t you at least use your level one upgrade points?”
“My what?”
The elf’s face fell to a blank stare.
“You get one level free when you first log in, which gives you five upgrade points to start your character build with.” Corvin helped her up. “If you haven’t dropped them into your stats yet, then you’re essentially at level zero.”
“I don’t even know what my class does. Why would I use any of my points?” She got to her feet.
“Why the hell did you pick a class you don’t know anything about?” Kegan fired a few arrows up at the deck where they had jumped from to keep their pursuers at bay.
“My name is Royal Assistant Seven. I’m not a player, I’m here to place bids at the auction for the lady of my house. I just got the job and haven’t even been logged in for more than a couple hours. So excuse me if I don’t know what I’m doing. I didn’t know you idiots would show up and drag me into whatever this is!”
“Guys!” Piper stood behind them hooking a thumb back over her shoulder. “We should really keep moving.”
Seven followed the path of her thumb, then stumbled backward, almost falling down again.
“Oh hell!”
She knew that the engine wheel they stood on was turning, but she hadn’t really thought of what that meant for herself as she stood on top of it. In actuality, it meant keep moving… or else.
Further down, a system of enormous gears turned, pushing the engine wheel through a space in the wall where it bisected the ship. The metal shapes groaned, ready to crush anything that got too close. Only a small, dark gap sat between them.
Seven started running in the opposite direction, just as a man brandishing a sword dropped down to the wheel in front of her. She stopped in her tracks and stumbled back just as a pair of arrows struck him in the chest with a sickening thunk. The wounds lit up crimson for an instant before he staggered over the edge and vanished into the clouds.
Kegan stepped in front of her, firing arrow after arrow. His fingers moved faster than she could track, performing some sort of sleight-of-hand trick to ready each shot. Another player dressed in black vaulted the railing above, only to take three arrows before landing in a heap. He writhed, still alive.
“Damn, missed a critical.” Kegan ran forward and hopped over the man, firing an arrow down as he did to finish him off.
Piper and Corvin moved up as well to stay away from the gears behind them. Seven looked back at the corpse of the player Kegan had just dispatched. It began to shimmer just before hitting the gears to one side of the gap in the wall. She winced as the corpse burst into a cloud of glowing particles on contact. Seven blew out a sigh of relief that there hadn’t been any gore. That would have been too much for her to witness.
A third player, the faunus with the metal glove, jumped over the side. Two more members of his team followed, using his glowing energy barrier as cover to land safely. They took up a position behind him, ready to force Kegan and the others back into the gears. Piper raised her pistol and opened fire at the trio, failing to land any hits, but keeping them from moving forward.
That was when Seven remembered that there had been one more player after Kegan’s group, the big guy in the helmet. She glanced up just in time to see him take a running leap off the deck above, flying clear over her as if launched by some kind of unseen force. A roar of power erupted from him as he twirled his spear above his head in a blur. A trail of fire swirled above him from the head of the weapon just before he slammed it into the wheel near Piper. A blast of heat and smoke exploded from him in all directions.
Piper let out a howl as the wave of power hit her and threw her into the wall. She fell back down to the wheel’s surface, only to be devoured but the gears.
“No!” Seven reached out, knowing full well that there was nothing she could do as the reynard girl vanished into the dark space at the center of the grinding maw.
The large man in the helmet stood and yanked his spear’s tip from the engine wheel before stalking toward Seven. With no defense, she just shook her head and stepped back. She was powerless to stop him.
Or was she?
In that moment, she remembered she hadn’t been sent in alone. Excitement lifted her up as she thrust a finger in his direction and yelled.
“Ruby, attack!”
The man stopped in place, staring at Seven. A smirk grew on her face as a strange feeling of satisfaction settled over her.
Then it faded. Nothing happened.
The smirk fell off her face as the overgrown bird remained perched on the railing above. He offered nothing more than a disinterested caw.
“God damn stupid bird! What good are you?” Seven shook her up fist at the useless pet.
The man in the helmet shook his head as if unable to believe that she was this weak. He didn’t even attack when he passed by, opting shove her down with one hand, like she wasn’t worth the effort.
“Sit down before you fall down.” His voice sounded
annoyed under the helmet.
Seven should’ve been happy. He had passed over her, only caring to kill Kegan and his team.
She was in the clear.
So why was she so… irritated?
A fire lit in her veins that boiled her blood and clouded her vision. She started to stand as the large man stalked toward Kegan, the rest of his squad holding position behind the elf, cutting off any chance for escape. Seven didn’t know what she could do but that didn’t change anything. She couldn’t just watch.
Suddenly, Corvin placed a hand on her shoulder. She hadn’t even noticed him approach. He gestured with his head to his wrist where his health was displayed. At first, she wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but then she noticed the name next to his.
Piper’s health was still at seventy percent!
Seven spun back to look at the small gap in the wall surrounded by the meatgrinder of gears. Piper had somehow passed right through to the outside. Corvin held his wrist to face Kegan as the unknown man in the helmet approached.
Kegan glanced at his own wrist and gave a slight nod, clearly understanding Corvin’s meaning. The elf immediately lowered his bow and held up a hand before him in surrender.
“Can’t we live and let live here? You know, honor amongst stowaways and all that.”
“Sorry, you’re a loose end. Gotta be tied up,” answered the man in a gruff tone.
“Ah, okay then, I can understand that.” Kegan stole a glance at the players behind him as they crept closer using the glowing barrier as cover. “But I have to ask…”
“What?” The man in the helmet hesitated.
Kegan raised one finger and opened his mouth as if to speak, then immediately drew an arrow and fired it at the man. He dodged to the side, leaving room for the elf to dash past him. Kegan ran straight by Seven and Corvin, only turning back to shout.
“Get a move on, Piper’s gonna get lonely out there.”
Seven watched with eyes wide as he dove head first into the center gap between the gears. She looked to Corvin bedside her.
“Seriously?”
All she got in return was a shrug before he too, made a break for the wall and disappeared into the darkened space between the gears.