The Story of Aquabluu: Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Fallen Moon

***
Big bro, where…where are you going?

I’m leaving the house…there is war all around us now…I have to go help!

B-but, what’s gonna happen to us?

I don’t know when I’ll be back, sis. If you really wanted to be with me, you should have learned to fight too…

N-no….No! Big bro, don’t go…!

Goodbye Aqua…

“D-don’t leave me….Pyu!”
***

Aqua jumped out of her bed in a panic, looking around frantically. There was nothing but the stillness of the early morning. There was no war, there were no Morphos; it was a bad dream. But what did carry over from her dream into reality were the tears in her eyes; Aqua was genuinely scared. Scared that she would one day lose her beloved older brother, and be all alone in the world.

After wiping away the tears and calming herself down, Aqua tiptoed out of her room, going over to the opposite side of the house where Marin’s room was, and peered inside. No one. Marin must have already woken up and left for the neighbor city; he’s used to being early for everything, Aqua thought. Sitting down in the living room, she sighed. Today was the day off from training she had longed for so much, so, why wasn’t she happy?

Walking out of the house, Aqua saw the first crack of dawn over the surface of the ocean, and Marin’s little training ground prepared just for her, which was still in a mess from yesterday; coral bits scattered all over and little holes and mounds of sand from all her missed bubble shots. Neither of the two siblings had the mood to clean it up yet. Flashes of what happened here went through Aqua’s mind, including her little temper tantrum. Aqua winced when she thought of that; so immature of her! She wondered if she really was being too playful…but at the same time, thought she was still not ready to be fully responsible for heavy stuff like protecting herself and learning about the world.

It seemed to her that nothing felt like the right choice. What she didn’t know, was that her big brother was thinking the same as he was making the journey to Luna.

---

“Hey Marin, what’s up? You look glum.” A concerned friend, accompanying Marin on the way, asked him.

“Hm? Oh…um, it’s nothing. Let’s just quickly get to Luna, do our work and go.”

“You don’t seem as full of energy as you usually are, Marin. Come on, you can tell me.” He confided in Marin.

“Well…I was just thinking about my sis back home….you know, about yesterday?”

“Oh, that. You did the right thing, I reckon, after all, she was really pushing the limit there.”

“But I slapped her. You know how terrible that feels?”

“Well, you’re just trying to keep her safe, right? You’re just doing your duty as a big bro. Yeah.”

Marin couldn’t find a good response to that. True, that was exactly what he was doing, but deep down he wondered if there was another way to solve the problem…and his friend was not making him feel better.

The pair arrived at Luna and looked for the rest of the Defense Force. Luna, a large fairy city not very far away from Lumii, and famed for its moonwatching spots, was surrounded from all sides by a stately wall of rock, which acted as a defense against impending attacks. Locals assert the rock wall was a purely natural formation, but one look at it and it was obvious that some fairy modifications had been done to fortify the original, though one would concede that it was a natural wonder that a rock slab would be so strategically shaped and positioned in the first place.

At that very moment, and true to the word received by the Lumii Defense Force the day before, Luna was a wreck. Only half of the wall was left standing. The other half had crumbled to the ground, and, perhaps by a stroke of luck, fell outwards, instead of the grim alternative of three-quarters of the city being pulverized by its own fortress wall. Cannons and other large weaponry lay half-buried in the sand of the shallow ocean floor. They looked like they have not seen much use in recent days. Looking at them, it would seem extremely implausible that the city could have fallen so easily; and that was the major question everyone wanted answers to on that day.

As Marin swam into the city and took a good look around, he noticed that many houses were not destroyed, and the ones that were didn’t end up that way by brute force; rather, they looked like they simply sunk into the ground, in organized clusters and lines instead of any structural damage. Nothing in Luna showed any sign of physical attack by the Morphos themselves, and neither were there any signs that showed a big fight took place yesterday. Marin was puzzled…really puzzled.

Luna was abuzz with activity despite half of it being torn down, with water fairies from all over chipping in with the repairs and helping out the city’s residents, who were also for the large part spared from any encounters with their shapeshifting enemies. The pair of young soldiers reached a large clearing in what seemed to be the busiest part of town. This flat space was being used by Luna’s fairies as a relief center. There were fairies carrying rocks, constructing temporary homes, cooking, and treating wounds. Most of Luna’s fairies seemed cheerful despite all that happened; the water fairies were optimists by nature and made the best out of bad situations. It shouldn’t be too long before every fairy would be able to get back to their daily lives, Marin hoped.

Marin and his buddy approached familiar faces from the Lumii Defense Force.

“Oh hey guys! We’re just about done with this area. You can join us in clearing the rubble from the east side. Um, wasn’t Commander Darcee supposed to be with you two?”
Marin paused for a moment. “I think he mentioned needing to do something back home? I’m not sure what exactly, but he’s going to be running a little late.”

“It’s really not like him to be late for duty…wonder what’s up?”

Shrugging the matter off, the group of soldiers headed to a different part of town to continue their cleanup work. The goal was to clear up as much of the wreckage as possible, so houses could be quickly rebuilt. As they proceeded to lift up a particularly large and heavy slab of rock which might have been part of a wall of a house, the ground beneath them shook and opened up without any warning, causing Marin and the others to lose their footing and drop into the sinkhole.

“W-woah!”

The wall they were trying to lift then dropped down, covering the entire hole like a lid and trapping the soldiers inside.

“W-we’re caved in! Anybody? Help!”

“Hey! Is everyone alright down there?” A few Luna fairies and other Defense Force members hurriedly rushed over and looked down into a small gap at the trapped soldiers.

“We’re fine, but…how did this happen?”

“Ah, sorry for not warning you guys.  We found out a little earlier that the Morphos dug tunnels underneath the city, sooo there are a few places where the ground is a bit…unstable.”

“That explains how they got through Luna’s defenses. By creating holes underneath the ground, they caused the walls and houses to collapse. No wonder there wasn’t much other damage at all.” Marin mused to himself, putting two and two together. “But it’s a little too late for that warning, don’t you think?” Marin scowled.

“Sorry, sorry! We’ll go get help. Hang in there!”

“…Hmph. Oh well we’ll make do with what we can find out from down here, I guess?”

Marin and the others inspected the surroundings of the newly-formed cave.

“Well, there’s not much to see here, it’s…well…an ordinary sinkhole.”

“What are these though?” Another soldier inspected curious slabs of stone lying face-up, and dusted the sand off of them. “There’s some weird picture-like…things on them.”

Marin swam over. “It looks like…writing? Not in a language I’ve seen before…wait a minute.” Suddenly getting an inkling of their importance, he went over to the small gap and signaled at the fairies on the outside.

“Hey, guys! Heeey!”

“What is it, Marin?”

“Call the expert! We need him to see this…after you guys get us out of here!”

---

Back at the training ground, Aquabluu was still sitting and pondering.  She was so lost in thought; she didn’t notice a special visitor walk by and give her a tap on the shoulder. Surprised, Aqua turned around.

“Uncle Darcee! What are you doing here?”

“Hoho, little one. I’m not your uncle; just an old friend of your dad’s.” Darcee looked at Aqua with compassion in his eyes. Despite being a fierce and strict leader of the Defense Force, there was a softer, kinder side to him, which only showed when he was not doing his work. He was well-liked by the townsfolk both as a protector, and as a jovial old fairy whom everyone was comfortable to be friends with.

“Just going on my morning swim. What are you doing out here, Aqua?”

“Well, I…um…”

Aqua found it difficult to reply to the old fairy. She wasn’t doing anything in particular besides groveling around the house feeling sorry for herself. Coming out to the training ground, she even thought of forsaking her day off to practice her bubble shot a little, though it seemed a little pretentious to do so after getting that huge scolding from her big brother.

“Still all shaken up from yesterday eh? Thinking of your big bro?” Darcee read right through her. It wasn’t very difficult for anyone to pinpoint the source of Aqua’s worries. Aqua relented and gave a little sigh.

“Yeah…” she replied, in a shaky voice. Aqua wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it, trying to hide her emotions. However, Darcee, being one of their neighbors, knew her and Marin quite well. He knew little Aqua was scared of being alone, of losing her brother. He knew, despite the little fights the two of them got into occasionally, they would always eventually make up, no matter how bad things were. He was confident that this would be one of those times too, despite the topic at hand being more serious than usual. Determined to get them together again, Darcee continued to get Aqua to open up. Simply asking about it surely wouldn’t help; he had to choose his words ever so slightly more carefully. He hit upon an idea.

“Hey. You know what I’d always do, whenever I made someone mad?” Darcee sat close to Aqua, leaning slightly closer.

“I would say ‘I’m sorry’.”

No response from Aqua yet. But Darcee wasn’t done.

“I would say ‘I’m sorry’…but not in front of them. I’d find an open space, like this one right here, and shout it out to the sky, in the loudest voice I can make, ever. ” Aqua slowly turned her head to look at Darcee. It was a simple twist…but it caught her interest. She was curious.

“Wanna try it? It’ll make you feel better. Don’t be shy.” Darcee gave Aqua a playful smile, before standing up, inviting her to do the same. Aqua stood up, brushing the sand off her body. She looked towards the ocean surface and took a deep breath. Just as she was about to say it, her face winced; her mind telling her to hold back. All she did was mutter the apology under her breath, and it was barely audible.

“…I…I’m sorry…big bro…”

“What was that, Aqua? I can’t heeeear yoooouu.”

“I’m sorry big bro…”

“Oh, you wanted to swim with a Morpho? I can do that if you wanna.” Darcee pretended to mishear Aqua, prodding her to shout even louder. Aqua was now smiling.

“I…I’m sorry big bro!”

“Big bro’s aaaaalllll the way in the next city, little Aqua! Let him hear it! Louder!”

“I’M SORRY BIG BROOOOO!!!”

Aqua finally let herself loose and repeatedly called out at the top of her lungs, her heartfelt apology to Marin. Her voice echoed through the area of fairy homes, causing a slight stir. A few curious fairies peeped out of their windows just to see what was going on, but it didn’t bother Aqua in the slightest. Running out of breath, Aqua lay down on the ground, a satisfied smile crossing her face. Darcee bent down, speaking in a gentle voice.

“Did that help?”

“Yeah Uncle Darcee. I wonder if big bro really heard it, though…”

“Oh he heard it alright. In fact I think he’s rushing back here right now to say sorry to you too!”

“Naaaah I know it didn’t Uncle Darcee, you don’t have to tell me that like some little kid.”

“Hoho! Well then I’ll bring you to a place where he can hear you! Whaddaya say?”

“Okay!” Caught up in the moment, Aqua immediately says yes, and then ponders for a bit. “This is the real reason you were hanging around our house, isn’t it Uncle Darcee?”

“Guilty as charged, little one! Come along now, we’re going to Luna! Time’s-a-wasting!”

“P-p-pyu? But I haven’t gotten ready yet!”

Without sparing another moment, Darcee drags Aqua along with him, swimming briskly past the fairy homes, the bustling town square, and down the eastern street. Everything blurred past Aqua quickly as she quickly swam to catch up with Darcee, who was in a great rush to head out from town. Aqua noticed the main gates approaching. A place she had never in her life crossed before. Her heart started beating fast; what was she about to see outside of her little home?