Rebel Waters

Fighting the Demon King

"Chase!" Percy yells.

I dodge Belial's outstretched claws, a foot away from piping hot lava that's ready to remove a limb or two. This whole island of floor is only about 25 by 30 feet. I step forward slightly, just enough to stop teetering over the edge. Belial lunges again and Percy cries out as his claws sink int my shoulder. 

But I smile. "Thanks for coming here." 

I plunge my trident into his back, dark magic searing him from the inside, as he screams in agony and collapses, squirming in pain as I rip out my trident. Blood from my wound drips off my hand, splattering the ground as I move my arm to readjust my trident.

Belial gets up, face twisted in pain and rage. "You little brat! You think that's going to stop me?!"

"Yes?" I say hopefully.

"Think again!" he lunges, pushing me to the edge of the lava. 

Lava splashes my arm, going into the claw wounds and I cry out in pain. It's burning, searing, too hot for me to stand. He grabs my arm and dips t in the lava, just for  millisecond, and I cry out again, fighting, getting him off me. My breathing is shaky, my whole body is shaky, but I'm standing. Again, he comes at me, and I slice him with my trident, over and over, a frenzy of slashes. The arm that got dipped into the lava is burning as lava drips off of it. If I wasn't a sea goddess... well, I'd lose my arm. Not a pleasant thought. As we were fighting, an obsidian wall rose, blocking the fight from view. Judging from the fact I've been seeing it out of the corner of my eye for a while, and not really processing it, they didn't see my arm get dipped into the lava. They just heard me cry out. All of the thoughts run through my head as I dodge, weave and slash. I'm too tired and injured for my powers to work correctly, so my trident is all I have as Belial keeps fighting, both of us covered in blood and breathing heavily. We fight for what seems like forever, the only sounds are of metal against metal, metallic sounds that echo through the air. I step back to try and catch my breath and take stock of my situation. My arm is completely numb and has some burns, but most of the damage is internal as the lava got into my cuts, my leg, luckily, is fine, and I'm drenched in blood where he scratched me. Not good, but I've fought through worse. Thinking I'm distracted, Belial attacks me, and without thinking, I aim a slice at him and take his head off in one clean swipe. 

"Well, I guess that's that." I mutter, still breathing hard.

Rumbling, the walls go down in clouds of dust and the lava pools back into the drains it came from. I say a quick healing spell under my breath, and the burns fade a little. 

As the wall goes down, Percy vaults over and runs to me. "Chase! Are you okay? What happened? The walls went up, and then we heard you cry out... Oh." 

He stops when he sees my arm. "I'm fine, really. It's numb actually." I reasure him.

He nods, but I know I haven't convinced him. He's still worried. I'm about to try to convince him again, when I get spun and pulled into a hug. I stiffen, suprised and a little wary. I don't like random hugs.Then I realize. It's Sanji. I relax automatically, blushing a little.

"I'm glad you're okay" He says gently.

I nod, showing that I heard, too stunned to speak. My head is spinning, although why, I don't know. On the edge of my vision, I see a teasing smile on Percy's face, altough his eyes show that he thinks this is cute. Damn him. I gently extract myself from the hug, even though really it was kind of nice, and go over to pick up my trident, wiping it quickly with the edge of my shirt before sheathing it. I can polish it later, for now, it being demon-remains/guts free is enough for me.

"Not bad." Zoro says.

I smile. Praise from Zoro is rare, but at least it's genuine. "Thank you."

He nods, and then Luffy sees the body. "Awesome! You cut off his head!" 

I shrug. "Well, that's usually how you kill a demon after all. Seriously guys, it's not that big of a deal. It's just a demon."

Percy nods. "Yeah. Chase and I have dealt with tons of demons before. Killing a Celestial Dragon however? Now THAT would be cause for a celebration!"

"If one bothers me, we might have that celebration after all." I say with a grin.

Percy laughs. "Good point. I've learned the hard way not to piss you off. Especially not in the morning." 

"And yet you still do." I reply, shootng him a pointed look.

As he fumbles for a reply, Chopper runs over. 

"Chase! How did you get burned?"

I look down at my arm. I completely forgot it was injured to be honest. It's no longer numb, and waves of pain crash over me. 

"Oh, Belial thought it was a great idea to shove my arm into the lava." I say casually.

"Oh my god! How- I mean- well..." Chopper says, shocked.

"I shouldn't have an arm? Yeah, I know. Guess I'm lucky." I reply.

"How are you so calm?!" Usopp says, in complete shock.

"Oh, I'm anything but calm right now. I just try to keep a level head." I say.

"Yeah, please don't activate your dark magic. I really don't feel like being buried alive today." Percy jokes.

I glare at him. "Not funny, Percy."

Chopper takes a quick examination of my arm. "I-I don't know how, but other than the cuts, and  few minor burns, you're perfectly fine!"

I smile, relieved. "Well, I really am lucky, I guess."

Percy grins. "Always lucky when you need to be."

"Yeah, and then the rest of the time, the universe says 'Nope! Used up all your luck!' And I'm screwed." I add, grinning.

"You got that right." Percy agrees. "I can't imagine what it must be like."

"Oh, fuck off." I reply.

"I thought you learned the hard way not to piss off Chase." Sanji adds with a sweet, teasing smile that makes my heart skip a beat.

"Yeah well," Percy shrugs, "It's worth however hard she punches me later."

"Who said anything about later?" I retort.

"I did, dumbass." Percy replies.

Big mistake. I slap him, hard. "Honestly! You're older by three years, yet you're the childish one!" I snap, exasperated.

He grins. "Deal with it."

"You're ridiculous!" I call as I walk to the exit. With that, we all leave, Ember sprinting to catch up. 

When we get back to the village, or what's left of it anyway, she says, "I'm fine here. I want to try to rebuild. I can get help from a neighboring village. But thank you... for everything." She turns to me. "And Chase, thank you. For killing Belial... and for telling me the truth about my father."

I nod. "Of course. I... I'm still sorry about your father."

She shrugs. "It's okay. He's either in heaven or hell. But wherever he is, at least he's no longer causing chaos here on Earth."

I smile. "Well spoken."

With that, we say our good-byes and leave the island. I'm standing on the deck, looking out at the ocean. Ember was a very well-spoken girl. I hope we meet again. I smile. I'm sure we wil.