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Onion followed the song from the sea.
They'd promised a friend that they'd find it. In fact, their only friend. This was the most important thing Onion had done since… since… Well, they couldn't remember, which had to mean it was really important. They were not going to let a friend down.
But… they hadn't expected it would take so long. The song had been at the bottom of the lake, hadn't it? But when they'd gone to the bottom, it just wasn't there! It was still far away. Somewhere deeper. So they'd followed it, down further, and the lake had widened and deepened and gotten colder until…
They surfaced. It had got dark a while ago but now it wasn't dark anymore. Little flecks of gold danced across the surface of the water. It was very pretty. The lake was never usually this pretty. Recently it had been covered with leaves and twigs that cluttered everything up and made Onion feel dirty and itchy. That's why they hadn't been to the shore, until they'd seen someone who looked like a friend waiting for them.
Onion looked further out. It didn't look like there was a shore anymore. No leaves or twigs or trees or friends or scary dragon girls. They didn't really know where they were. They'd never been this far out. To sea, probably. That's where they were. But they'd never gone there. Just looked out at it. It was pretty, but Onion was a scaredy-cat. The lake was nice enough. It was quiet and warm and cozy. There'd never been anything for them out in the sea. But now there was. There was a song, and Onion was going to find it for their friend.
The song! Onion heard it again. And this time, yes! It was getting louder! They started to swim toward it, following the sound, trying this time really hard to keep it in their memory to tell… Crisper? Kliss? Something like that.
As quickly as the sun had started to come out, it had vanished, Onion realised. The water was getting rougher, and it was covered by a grey fog. This happened when the lake got cold all the time, but, it wasn't the cold time of year yet. Were things that different out on the sea?
The song was definitely getting louder now. Onion was almost there! But, they started to realise… Was it different? The old one sounded like… a girl? Singing? This was not a girl. This was louder, ruder? More excited? Was this part of the song from the sea? A part Onion hadn't heard while they'd been living in the lake? Maybe…
A huge dark shape burst through the fog, nearly slicing Onion in two. They jumped out of the way. This was very odd. Usually, they were the biggest thing in the water. What was this?
On top of the big dark thing, a blue man looked down at Onion and grinned.
“Avast, thee whoest lives beneath the waves!” the man cried. He shook his cut-less at Onion. “I am in charge of this Pi-ráte Shippe, and I commandeth it to blow thee to smithereens!!”
Onion did not know what smithereens were.
“Prepare to die, worm!”
Onion was not a worm. They were about to tell the blue man this when a little black thing flew down from high up and laughed incomprehensibly. The inside of its mouth looked like the sun setting beneath the waves. Like fire and hot.
“What?”
“Wheee-he-hee,” the thing laughed again.
“No, he is aseleepeth! It's my turn to be in chargeth of the shippe while he doth slumber!”
“Wheee-he-hee!”
“Ugh, alright, fineth!” he sighed.
A bird the colour of the sky stood on the other side of the blue man and repeated the laugh.
“Yes, I getteth it! I lack the sufficient authorisatione to bloweth anyone into a smithereene until he awakes.” He looked back at Onion. “Um, this is awkwarde. Please may you follow our shippe until the Captaine awakes? We are headed towardseth our Pi-ráte Hideoute!”
A grey man walked up behind the blue man. “Hey! We're not supposed to tell anyone about that!”
“Mmm yes, that ist true. Buteth! I am in charge here! So please, go whippe thineself or something. Hahahaha!”
The grey man sulked off. He muttered something to another grey man, who shrugged. Neither man started whipping themselves. The blue man cackled a completely un-threatening and pathetic laugh at Onion while shaking his cut-less and then walked off too. Onion thought he was funny. Probably another friend? So they were going to follow the ‘ship'.
The song started again, and Onion could hear it was coming from everybody aboard. It sounded like fun, so they tried to sing along. But, sadly, they realised they didn't know any of the words. So they hummed instead.
A while later, Onion was still humming the song, happy to have made a bunch of new friends. They couldn't quite remember what they were doing or where they were going, but the friends knew, so that was okay.
“AHOY. WE MEET, AT LAST.” a voice came from above.
Onion looked up. A different man looked down from the deck of the ship. But there was something very different about this man… Yes! That's it! He didn't have any skin. He was just the bones. Well, if men can be blue, why can't they be bones, thought Onion.
He was wrapped in a fantastic looking coat and pirate hat. His clothes had a trim that was green and in between the otherwise black fabric. He looked cool.
“Heya!” called Onion.
“MY APOLOGIES FOR THE INCONVENIENCE,” the man said.
“I HOPE MY… ASSISTANTS DID NOT TREAT YOU POORLY?”
“Ummm, no, not at all!” Onion smiled. “They're all very friendly, y'hear?”
“I DO.”
“IT IS NOT LONG NOW. UNTIL WE MEET OUR DESTINATION.”
“ARE YOU PREPARED? TO TRAVEL QUICKLY?”
“Mmmmmm, no…” said Onion, sadly. “My ten-tickles are slow, just too slow, y'know? I can't get anywhere fastly with these.”
“THEN, I WILL PROVIDE AN ALTERNATIVE.”
He walked to the back of the ship and took the steering wheel off its post. He held it up to his face.
“PLEASE, ENSURE SAFE PASSAGE,” he said to it.
The steering wheel laughed a different, stranger laugh than the Sunset Smiler had, and the man threw it overboard. Just before it hit the water, a smile appeared on the side facing Onion. It sank.
“WE WILL MEET AGAIN SHORTLY.” the man said. “FAREWELL, FOR NOW.”
The ship jolted, and started to move quicker. It got faster and faster, splashing through the water, disappearing into the fog. As the back of the ship passed Onion, they could see it was being pushed by a flying person dressed in a black cloak. This person also looked a bit like a skeleton, but they were moving too fast for Onion to be sure.
Then, Onion was alone again. Should they follow the ship? No, it was going too fast. Onion would never catch up with it.
Out of the corner of their eye, they thought they saw something. It looked like… the smile from earlier? This time, without a body. Was that right? Could a smile exist without a body? Onion went over to investigate. Into the fog, they followed where they thought they'd seen it. The fog got thicker and thicker, to the point where they couldn't even see the ends of their tentacles, until…
They saw an island. An island! Somewhere to rest their tired limbs! Onion was overjoyed. They started to swim around the island, looking for somewhere safe to rest. A tiny, pale blue girl on top of the cliffs started to wave maniacally at Onion. They waved back. The girl jumped down from the cliffs and landed on Onion's head. She started bouncing up and down, spinning around.
“Onnie, Onnie!” she laughed. “Come follow me!”
She jumped back up to the top of cliffs and waved again. She then started jumping and spinning again, around the island, just out of view from Onion. They followed her, every once in a while seeing her spinning head pop up above the cliff edge. After a minute, they saw the ship again. It was docked in an inlet next to several crude-looking houses and a tiny indigo castle with white windows that had been painted on.
Swimming past the ship, the water felt warmer and shallower, until they were able to sit down on the seabed next to a steep beach at the end of the inlet. They leaned back, looking up at the sky. They were in the shade here, but it still felt very warm. Nothing like the cold, dirty lake in Hometown this time of year. This place was nice and hot. After such an exhausting night, they could just fall asleep in a place like this…
And they did. When they woke up, the sun had moved all the way across the sky and was now shining down the inlet. As Onion sat up, they cast an oval-shaped shadow across the beach. The blue girl from earlier was building a sand castle with a bucket and spade. Next to her, the blue man was wearing a hideous yellow mankini. He had a six-pack and chest muscles that, again, appeared to have been painted on. He was also building a sand castle, although this one was as big as him and featured many battlements and towers, as well as a wooden drawbridge over a moat. He was adding grains of sand individually to one of the walls.
The girl sat down for a minute and blew a raspberry. Then, she got up and jumped up and down and span on her castle. The blue man laughed, before she spun over to his castle, crushing it in one jump as well.
“WHAT ON EARTHE HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!?” he yelled at her. “I SHALL HAVE YOU HANGËD, DRAWNE, AND QUARTEREDETH!!!”
“Nuh uh!” she blew a raspberry at him. “Sun's still up, so you're not in charge! Hee hee hee!”
He sank to his knees, arms raised, shouting up to the sky. “Curses!!! Is second-in-command goode for NOTHINGE aroundeth here???”
“Nope,” said a third grey person, who'd been sitting on the beach motionless until this point. They continued to not move.
They looked, Onion thought to themself, a bit like someone Onion knew. Someone they'd seen by the lake, maybe? Oh yeah, that's it, their friend! Kri-
“Hey!!” the blue girl shouted, so loud that the blue man had to cover his ears. “Un-yun is awake!!!”
“Hiyaaa!” Onion said back to her.
“Ooo! Wanna playyyy??” she asked.
A clown who had been sleeping, buried up to the neck in sand, suddenly woke up and jumped out of the ground at these words. “Play play, a game game!!” he sang, jumping around in circles with the girl.
“Oh Angel's saketh, no. Remembereth the ROUXLS of this ISLAND! It is dinnerre time sooneth. You must go and get cleanëd up beforehand!”
The girl blew another raspberry. “Boo!!! You're no fun!” she said.
“Yes! No fun, fun!” the clown agreed.
They bounded off, circling each other, towards the houses. The blue man turned to the motionless grey person. “You too!”
The person cocked their head to the side.
“Yes, of courseth. We will have Salty to-nighte. Your favourëd dishe.”
The person nodded, stood up, and walked off.
“So, esteemëd gueste,” the blue man said. “Would you careth to be joininge us in the dinnere halle? We sweare to obey the Rouxls Of Hospitalitie and taketh goode care of thou.”
“Oo, yeah, okie!” Onion said. “Y'know, I haven't eaten since… since… I don't even remember! Y'hear? It's been ever so long a time since I've eaten! I'd love to join y'all for dinner!”
“Verily goode, verily goode. And, can thoust eateth fishe? You know, given your…” he trailed off, gesturing at Onion.
Onion was upset. “What? I'm not a fish, y'hear! I'm! A! Onion! Y'see!” they said, pointing at the top of their onion-shaped head.
The blue man started to say something but then stopped himself and cleared his throat. He spoke, calmly, “Of course. Well then, I haveth some lackeys constructinge a poole for you by the table as we speak,” he said. “Cometh over to the jetty and we shall collecteth you when we are readie.”
He walked off.
Onion took their time going to the ‘jetty', looking all around the cove first. Now everything wasn't in shadow, they could see all the houses better. There was the blue castle they'd seen earlier. Its paint was crusting in the evening sun. Outside the front was a lopsided fountain, shooting water bravely up into the air and down into a damp patch in the dirt. There was a bright blue doll's house next to a circus tent. The sides that faced each other were dented and torn and covered by hundreds and hundreds of knives. In the center of the town was a large… a-vee-airy? That was a big word, but Onion had been taught it by a clever little bluebird back in Hometown. Usually, he was the only one who could come to the lake and talk to Onion. One end of the a-vee-airy was black and full of smoke that seemed to come from nowhere. The other end was painted blue and yellow, and almost completely full of what looked like… meat? Hanging down from the ceiling. This end was also filled with smoke, blowing up from a wood fire underneath the meat. The only patch of ceiling not covered with meat was a small area on the edge, out of the smoke, containing a perch. It looked like there was a perch down the other end of the a-vee-airy too, but it was too dark and indistinct to see for sure. Behind the a-vee-airy were three identical grey houses, neatly in a row, that had absolutely no features on them at all. At the far end of the town was a large hall - probably the ‘dinnere halle', and one more building. It was a little hut between two trees. There was something interesting about the hut, but, as soon as Onion looked away, they completely forgot what it was. Up the top of the hill, by the cliffs, were two doors. One was a large, double door, covered in vines and grass on top. The other was a grey door cut into the rock.
Having swum around the entire cove and looked at everything, Onion remembered they were hungry. The only thing in the water was a long line of wooden boards next to the ship, so Onion had to assume that was the jetty. As they swam up to it, they saw two people were already standing on it: the other grey man they hadn't seen speak yet, and the cloaked black skeleton.
The grey man spoke, “Our brilliant captain will be hosting dinner now. The Knight will carry you there.”
The black skeleton - The Knight - jumped into the air and flew over the top of Onion's head. They picked them up and did a backflip in mid-air, throwing them up into the sky. Onion rolled backwards through the air. The Knight swooped around in a big circle and caught them, heading back towards land. They flew over the ship and right through the front door of the dining hall, where they threw Onion over the table and into a pool of water that had been dug into the floor. They landed with a splash, drenching the blue man who was sat next to them. The blue girl and the clown, both sat opposite the table with bibs around their necks, started to howl with laughter, rocking backwards and forwards on their chairs.
“Hey! No flyingeth indoorse!” the man shouted. The Knight's mouth shifted around its face in a way that looked like they were rolling their eyes. They sat down in a chair and leaned back, one arm over the backrest.
The sky-coloured bird was walking around the table, putting down plates of cooked fish and potatoes in front of everyone. The only people not eating this meal were the grey person, who was busy pouring a large amount of salt onto a bowl of fries, and somebody else, who was eating a boiled egg.
The skeleton captain began to speak. “WELCOME, GUEST. I HOPE YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR STAY HERE TODAY TO HAVE BEEN PLEASANT.”
“Well, yessiree I have!” Onion said. “I've had a wonderful time, ‘specially with the spinnily girl!” The blue girl giggled and smiled widely as they said this.
“WONDERFUL. YOU ALL MAY BEGIN TO EAT AS I SPEAK. FOR OUR GUEST, I AM AWARE IT HAS BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME.”
Everyone started eating their food. The blue man used a wide selection of elaborate knives and forks to carve the fish into the shape of his own face. Meanwhile, the blue girl and clown stabbed their food repeatedly while tearing it to pieces with their teeth. Onion struggled to hold the knife and fork in their tentacles, but eventually managed to get a bite into their mouth. They didn't think they'd ever had cooked food before. They hadn't had any friends to cook for them until now. They smiled at the blue bird - the one who'd probably cooked this meal - who simply stared at them back. They looked back at their food.
“YOU HAVE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE DAY,” the captain said, “AND YET WE HAVE NOT PROPERLY INTRODUCED OURSELVES. WE DID NOT WISH TO DISTURB YOUR REST EARLIER.”
“Oh, of course, that makes a-sense!” Onion said.
“I WILL START. I AM THE CAPTAIN. I HAD A NAME, A LONG TIME AGO, BUT IT HAS BEEN LOST TO THE DEPTHS OF TIME.”
“Oh, that's sad, y'hear?” Onion replied.
“NOT SO MUCH. IT IS NOT IMPORTANT TO ME.”
He pointed to his left, at the blue bird. “HIS NAME IS ‘NORMAL'. HE IS NORMAL. HE IS MY ASSISTANT. HE PERFORMS SO MUCH WORK AROUND HERE. IT IS VERY APPRECIATED.”
“Much work, work Much!” squawked the bird. He continued to stare at Onion.
The captain pointed to the left of the blue bird, at the Knight. “I BELIEVE YOU TWO HAVE ALREADY MET. HOW WONDERFUL. THE KNIGHT PUSHES OUR SHIP FORWARDS. THEY KEEP IT ON THE PATH THAT HAS BEEN SET.”
He then pointed at the grey person next to the knight, who was focused on their bowl of fries. “VESSEL. INTRODUCE YOURSELF.”
The person looked up and spoke in a flat voice, “I am the Vessel. My favorite food is SALTY. My favorite blood type is D. My favorite color is GREEN. I have the gift of BRAVERY. I did not hear how my creator feels about me. They answered honestly. They acknowledged the possibility of pain and seizure. Their name was-”
“THAT IS SUFFICIENT INFORMATION.” The captain cut them off. “THANK YOU. YOU MAY RESUME YOUR MEAL.” The Vessel buried their face in their bowl of fries again.
The captain introduced another person - a man sat next to the Vessel. A flower vase had been put in the middle of the table between Onion and the man, and so they could not see his face. He talked for quite a while about himself and some other things. He talked for so long that, once he finished, Onion couldn't quite remember anything he'd said.
Next to him, the blue girl was growling and barking with the clown. As soon as the man stopped talking, however, she turned around and jumped up to stand on her chair, hands on her hips. “I am Aqua! I'm a human! I'm the only girl of the group so I'm the best! My job is KNIVES!” she said excitedly, pulling several knives from inside her sleeves.
“She is parte of our boardinge partie,” explained the blue man. As he started to speak, the captain finally began to eat. “As is…” the blue man said, pointing at the clown next to her.
The clown also jumped up, high into the air, and hovered there for a few seconds “My name is Jevil! I am the only free one in the world! My job is chaos, chaos!” He backflipped back down into his seat and continued eating his fish like a wild animal.
“Um, captaine? Could thou'st please taketh over again? They giveth me the creepie-crawliese,” the blue man said, pointing at the next person. A cat-shaped thing sat at the far end of the table, smiling at them.
The captain paused eating to explain. “THIS IS FRIEND. THEY POSSESS THE ABILITY TO ALTER THE LAYOUT OF THE MAP. THAT WAY, WE CAN ALL TRAVEL TO OUR CHOSEN DESTINATIONS.”
To demonstrate, Friend held up a map covered with rectangles. They laughed a weird, overlapping laugh, and the map shifted. New lines connected the rectangles. Some rectangles moved about. The room seemed to get darker and darker until only Onion and Friend were in it. But still, there were some things Onion could see, just in the corner of their vision. As soon as they glanced away to see what those things were, the map had vanished and the darkness had gone.
“Umm… okay then! I see, I see.” said Onion.
The two grey men were next. Both introduced themselves as a Follower and said they worked on the night crew.
“THEY HAVE FOLLOWED ME FOR A VERY LONG TIME,” said the captain. “THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO KNOW MY NAME. BUT, THEY HAVE PROMISED NOT TO REVEAL IT.”
“Of course,” one of them said. “You know what they say. It's rude to talk about someone who's listening.”
“It's rude! It's rude! It's rude! Don't, say! Say, don't” squawked Normal. They kept squawking those words, over and over again, until the blue man held up a finger. They were silent.
“Perhapse, it is my turne now?” said the man. “I am the great Rouxls Kaard. Duke of Puzzles. I haveth beene Second-In-Commande to many great leaderse. The Spade Kinge. The Queene. Mister An-tóny Tenna. Now, I am Second-In-Commande on this Pi-ráte Shippe! I am in charge at nighte. In charge of these two… clownse,” he said, gesturing at the two Followers next to him.
“Not this clown!” laughed Jevil, jumping up again. “I'm free, free! I have no master. I am my own master!”
“But you follow the captain's orders,” said the Vessel, who had finished their fries.
“I command myself to do so!” replied Jevil. “It is my decision I am free to make, while you all are trapped by it! Trapped, trapped!”
Aqua, who had finished her fish, started to take little pieces off of Jevil's plate, so he sat down and barked at her. She pouted.
“SO,” said the captain, “IT IS YOUR TURN NOW. PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF.”
“Oh! Ummm, my name's Onion. A friend gave it to me. And I'm from the lake over'n'Hometown! I don't see all that many people round there, so it's real nice to meet all of you, y'hear!”
“I SEE. WHAT A LOVELY PLACE. IN FACT, NORMAL IS FROM THERE AS WELL. HAVE YOU TWO EVER MET?”
Onion tried to remember. “Ummmmm… no, I don't think we have.” They spoke to Normal, “but you come round the lake anytime you want and I'll make it all nice for you, I will!” The bird smiled and nodded, eyes still open and staring at Onion.
“IT IS LIKELY. WE ARE CURRENTLY TRYING TO RECRUIT A NEW MEMBER FROM THERE. A MONSTER TEEN WHO ATTENDS THE SCHOOL. PERHAPS, YOU THREE CAN ALL CO-OPERATE IN THE COMING DAYS.”
“Mmm, maybe! I'd like that a lot, I would!”
Lastly, the final person at the table - the black shape with fiery mouth - started to talk. “There are many things you could call me. Nightmare is one of them. ERAM is another. Then there's my job - the Holder. Oh, but, what matters is what you want to call me. Isn't it?”
Onion didn't quite know how to respond. ‘Nightmare' sounded scary, but ERAM was hard to say…
The Holder continued talking after a couple seconds of silence. “I am in charge of navigation. I see what everyone wants inside, and I take them there. Really, they take themselves there. I just see what others can't!”
Onion felt like they weren't smart enough for this conversation anymore, so they quietly focused on their meal. After a few minutes of trying and failing to cut the food with a knife and fork, they felt like they were about to cry, when Rouxls said to them, “Alloweth us to assiste you.”
He picked the fish up off of Onion's plate and threw it up in the air. The Knight, who had been reclined back on their chair after only eating a few mouthfuls and was busy picking something out of their teeth, suddenly leapt up, drew their sword, and slashed the air several times.
The fish fell back onto Onion's plate in neat cubes. Aqua and Jevil started clapping and cheering.
Onion smiled through the tears in their eyes. “Oh, thankyou, thankyou very much! I'm so happy for that, I am!”
The knight bowed deeply before sheathing their sword with a flourish.
A while later, Onion was back by the beach. They'd played with Aqua a little bit before her and Jevil's bedtime, and now they were relaxing in the shallow water. The sun was almost at the horizon again, casting a fiery red glow all along the cliffs and beach, except for their long shadow that now nearly covered the entire beach. Suddenly, another patch of red appeared, right in the middle of their shadow. They squinted to try to figure out what it was, until it flew upwards quickly and started circling their head.
“Hahaha, hello, Onion, hello!” said the Holder.
“Hiya up there!” said Onion.
“We had such a fun conversation earlier, didn't we all? I could tell you enjoyed it. But, there was something I realised afterwards. Something I've been wondering about the whole evening since then.”
“Oh, what's that?” asked Onion. “Maybe I can help you figure it out, maybe?”
“We all talked about ourselves, our lives, our jobs. But you know what you didn't say? You didn't say why you're here. So what are you doing, Onion? What are you doing out here in the sea, so far from your lake? What's the reason? I'm sure you know what it is, if you can just remember…”
Onion thought for a second, and then remembered. “Oh yeah! I have this friend, Krisp? And they wanted me to find something! Or, maybe I wanted to find it for them. I don't remember that part too good. But I know I'm lookin' for something, and I'm gonna find it for them, y'hear? Because that's what good friends do!”
“It is good to hear you think you can find it. Do you remember? Do you remember what it is you are searching for?”
Onion realised they didn't. They thought for a while as the Holder floated, patiently, smiling at them. “Oh! I remember it now, I do! I'm looking for a song. A song that comes from the sea. It sounds like… Hm. It's not your song from your ship. That's a different song. I wish I could remember how it goes, I wish! Have ya heard it?”
“Hmm, I think I know what you are looking for. Very good, very good. Don't move, and I will be back to help you. See you soon!”
The Holder then flew up, fast, and disappeared over the cliffs.
Several minutes later, the Holder had not come back, and Onion was getting impatient. Now they'd remembered what they were looking for, they wondered how they'd got distracted and forgot for so long. They'd be a whole day late for Krisp! They'd have to apologise for letting their friend down.
Onion decided they weren't going to wait any longer and swam out to try to find the Holder. As they swam past the ship, they realised they could hear something from under the water. They started swimming lower, with only the top of their head above the surface. Down here, they could hear it better. It sounded like a person, speaking underwater. Could other people do that? Onion thought they were the only one.
“Hey! You! Can you hear me??”
“Yeah, I think I can hear, y'hear?”
“Good! I think I recognise you from Hometown. You're that, weird thing in the lake, aren't you?”
Onion realised they recognised her voice, too. She was that mean fish who'd chased them out of the lake a couple times and thrown stuff at them. She was not a friend.
“Hey, I know you! I don't wanna talk to you. You're not very nice to me, y'hear! Not very nice at all!”
“No!!! I'm sorry. I'm really sorry I did that. Look. Don't trust these people. You gotta get me out of here. When the sun is down and everyone is asleep, come back. Please. I need your help. You're important.”
Onion liked to hear that. “Oh? Important y'say? That's very nice of you. But don't think I've forgotten about all of the things you did to me!”
“I know, I know. I promise, if you help me, I won't be mean to you anymore. I'll tidy your lake if you want.”
“Oh, I would want that! I'd want that very much. Okay, friend. I'll help ya later. See ya!”
The fish lady started to say something but they surfaced before they could hear it. They continued swimming, out towards the blood-red setting sun, until they felt the cold ocean currents underneath them. Then they turned, starting to search all round the island until they found someone.
Around the far side of the island, they passed into the shadow. Here, the water was even colder, and the rocks and cliffs made jagged shadows against each other. Onion felt a little scared, but knew they were being silly. With so many friends around, what could happen to them?
Finally, all the way around on the furthest side of the island, deep into the shadow, they came across a small beach with several figures on it. As they got closer, they recognised who they were. The captain stood talking to Normal, with the Holder circling above their heads. Behind them was a tree, and behind that was a fourth person.
“I SEE. THAT IS MOST UNFORTUNATE. FOR THEM.”
“Most unfortunate! Most unfortunate. Especially unfortunate! The most!”
“ARE YOU CERTAIN OF THIS?” the captain asked.
“I am. I hear nothing but the truth from them. It is what they are searching for.”
“THIS IS AN ISSUE.”
“Indeed, it is, it is. Well then, you know what to do, don't you…”
“AFFIRMATIVE. I DO. WE WILL DO WHAT MUST BE DONE.”
A voice came from behind the tree. “PERHAPS. OR PERHAPS NOT. MAYBE THIS PERSON DOESN'T FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. MAYBE THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY FIND. I KNOW I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT! SO, HOW ABOUT WE LET THEM GO. TOO MANY PEOPLE, TOO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER TO DO. IS THIS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO?”
“IT IS, UNFORTUNATELY. WE CANNOT ALLOW SUCH RISK TO COME TO OUR PLAN.”
“WELL, THEN. IF THAT IS YOUR CHOICE, I KNOW IT IS THE RIGHT ONE. I WILL SEE YOU SHORTLY!”
There was no longer anyone behind the tree.
The captain spoke to Normal. “IT IS MY PREFERENCE TO DO THINGS QUIETLY. IF YOU CAN FIND THEM, DO IT ON YOUR OWN. IF NOT, ASSISTANCE WILL BE THERE.”
“Do things quietly, quietly do things,” echoed the bird.
“AND YOU,” the captain spoke to the Holder. “PREPARE THE ASSISTANCE. WE WILL ACHIEVE OUR GOAL, WHICHEVER ROUTE IT TAKES.”
“Yes, of course, of course!” laughed the Holder. “The blade will be fed, one way or another. I look forward to it! I will attend to my work now, as you will yours!” They flew away.
The captain walked up the beach, alone. At some point in that conversation, Normal had disappeared. He opened a grey door at the top of the beach that looked identical to the one in the cove. Onion could not see what was inside as the captain walked in and closed the door behind him. Onion turned around to go back to the cove.
Friend smiled, floating just above the water, right in front of Onion. They laughed again, this time much scarier with nobody around. They howled and cackled and overlapped themself. Their limbs seemed to stretch down into the water and blended into the shadow of the cliffs next to them, circling around the back of Onion's mind until there was nothing else in any direction but darkness.
“AAAAAGH,” Onion screamed, and swam away, back towards the small beach, hoping to get somewhere safe away from that thing. They swam frantically through the choppy water and currents behind the island, splashing behind them to try to scare the cat-thing away, clambering over sharp rocks with their tentacles. After a minute, they turned around to see that Friend had completely disappeared. There was no trace of the cat, but the smile still hung on their mind.
They turned back to the rock they were holding onto, and saw they were not alone. Normal stood on the rock, wearing an apron and gloves, holding a large cleaver knife.
“Hey! Did y'see Friend just now? They scared me, they did!”
“Quietly do things. Especially, the things!” squawked Normal, raising the knife above their head.
Onion pushed quickly away from the rock as the bird brought the cleaver down. It just missed their face, but buried deep into their shoulder.
“OW! GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME, Y'HEAR??” Onion shouted. Normal shifted their balance to try to pull the knife out and strike again. Without even thinking, Onion swung one of their tentacles around their head and hit Normal right on the beak. They squawked in pain, holding both hands up to their face, before losing their balance and falling into the water.
As they splashed into the water, they grabbed onto the tentacle they'd cut at the shoulder. Onion was hit with searing pain. It felt like their body was being torn in two. They thrashed about, trying to get the bird off them, to no avail. Still, even after being hit in the face and falling in the water, Normal locked eyes with Onion. They were not letting go. Then, Onion had an idea.
With all their might in all their tentacles, they grabbed the one the bird had stabbed, and pushed. After a second of excruciating pain, there was nothing. They'd pulled off their own tentacle. The cleaver sank below the waves. They dropped the tentacle, leaving Normal with nothing solid to hold onto in the rough water.
Onion started to swim out to sea. They were leaving, and going to get help. Maybe someone else could come to the island and save the fish lady. Because they weren't going to do it, that's for sure. They aren't strong enough to do that! They're just Onion. When they saw Krisp, they'd know what to do. They just needed to get to Krisp.
Onion felt slightly warmer as they left the shadow of the island. Only a tiny sliver of the sun was left above the horizon. The sea, the sky, everything, was a deep, deep red. A little further out, they saw something come out of the shadow that made their heart sink.
The ship! Everybody was on board, and it was speeding towards Onion. They desperately tried to swim away as it neared. Just as it was about to hit them, they rolled to the side, narrowly moving out of the way. As it went past, they could see the entire crew on deck looking down at them. They were singing. Singing the same song Onion had followed out here. Not the song from the sea, but the ruder chant, about plundering and kidnapping and stealing. By now, the sun had gone down and the water was in shadow. But the pirates, up above, were still lit scarlet by the sun.
The captain shouted down to them. “YOU HAVE MY APOLOGIES. I PROMISE. HOWEVER, WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS A GOAL. ONE THAT IS BIGGER THAN ANY OF US. ONE THAT HAS BEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING. A GOAL WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO IMPEDE. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT INCLUDES YOU. GOODBYE.”
The ship continued to speed by, until it had entirely passed Onion. Then, it started to turn around.
It sped back.
As it passed again, knives began to rain down from the side, being thrown by both Aqua and Jevil. Most missed Onion, but several hit. One sharp prick in their side. Then another. Then another.
Just as the ship had almost gone entirely past, Onion looked up to see Jevil run up to the back of the boat and jump off. He landed on top of Onion.
“Shark to shark!” he yelled with glee.
He raised his scythe. Before he could hit Onion, they threw several punches at him. He dodged one, danced around the other, but the third hit him in the stomach. “A shark indeed!” he smiled, falling back into the water.
They pushed him away and tried to swim further. Just as the ship turned once again to face them, they realised that, missing one of their tentacles, they were starting to swim in circles.
This time as the ship went past, it wasn't knives that rained down, but bombs. The Holder cackled while flying unpredictably through the air, throwing bombs down into the water. These could not be dodged like the knives. They exploded on all sides of Onion, pushing them this way and that way and rolling them over until they were left dazed on their back in the water. They flailed their tentacles around wildly until, by pure chance, they collided with something solid. The Holder shrieked as Onion pulled it, too, down into the sea. Its mouth filled with cold water and the glow from inside it went out. It continued to thrash about until, eventually, Onion had to let go of it. It flew up, slowly, limply, back to the ship.
After a minute, they began to regain just enough strength to right themselves back up again. When they got up, they saw the ship was not sailing back towards them, but rather had stopped at an odd angle some way away. It was too far away to see who was on deck or what they were doing.
“Ha! Is that all ya can do?” called Onion. “I'm important! A hero! And you guys can't just beat me up like that, y'hear! I'm gonna fight back! And I'm gonna win! I will! So who's next? Do y'have anyone left to fight me? I bet you don't d'you? Don't wait around for me! I'm gonna go tell Krisp about this and then YOU'RE TOAS-”
A brilliant white flash tore across the sea from the ship, just above the water. On either side, it launched huge waves up, igniting the fading sky with fiery drops of pure white. There was no time to react. It crashed into Onion. And then they were silent.