Title: Tempest
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: PG
Length: 1200 words
Content notes: Aftermath of a fight and a handful of peaple washed overboard and probably drowned.
Author notes: Medieval AU nonsense~
Summary: Umi, Fuu and Hikaru might have overcome their kidnappers, but the sea is something else.

oOo

The sea rolled rough underneath the deep-keeled ship, rocking her and all those on board from port to starboard and back across again. The bedraggled assortment of sailors - some dressed in worn and well-patched clothes, and a few of the samurai that had been sent to organise the kidnapping in more formal layers which still did nothing to keep the wind from biting hard through sodden cloth - were huddled at the bow, tied to each other and the hull of the ship, watched narrowly by Ryuuzaki Umi. Her stolen swords were held firmly and her stance remained solid even as the deck shifted beneath her; she had been brought up by the sea, and was no stranger to sailing, but she had never been out in conditions such as this. The gloaming was well advanced, and heavy clouds dampened the light which remained, only a few lanterns remaining lit on the deck as it swayed. The rain was hard enough to hurt, and cold with it.

It was barely two hours since she and her fellow captives had broken free, managing to overpower the men sent to check on them and taken the rest of the crew by surprise when they were distracted by the approaching storm. Now they were in control of this ship - but there were only a few sailors left, the rest having fled the ship in something approaching terror when three young women, who they were supposedly kidnapping to ransom back to their families, turned out to be far more formidable than expected. All three of them were the child of a Daimyo - and all three had been brought up around weapons. More, they had realised their kidnapping could be used to control their parents - that there were samurai in among the sailors, and that this was a plot not just to gain a large ransom, but to destabilise the current balance of power in the east of their land. They had violently disapproved of the idea.

Hououji Fuu came to stand by Umi's shoulder, somehow managing not only the bow and arrows she had taken from one of their opponents but also the many-layered formal robes she had been taken in. "I do not like the look of the weather." She said, having to speak loudly to be heard over the wind. "The sky grows only darker, and there is no land in sight - I do not know how to go about controlling a ship, but I assume we would need the assistance of some of these people?"

"We should be able to reach shore, if they would only tell us where it is!" Umi shouted back, glaring at their silent captives. "But not one of them will agree to talk to me, nor will they talk to Hikaru-dono. Would you try?"

"Are there no charts left on board?"

"None, and no compass. The Captain took them all with him when he leapt over the side." Umi sighed, glancing across. The Captain - at least the man who the crew had been referring to as such - had been headed for one of the boats when an arrow from Fuu's bow had struck him in the shoulder and an ill-timed jolt of the sea sent him over the edge. With him, it seemed, had gone near all the proof of the plot against their families. "It is far too cloudy to navigate by constellations, even if it were full night, but the sun is too low to be of any use when the horizon is hidden by these waves." A wave chose that moment to crest over the deck, and Fuu staggered, clothes tugged hard by the water. Umi caught hold of her, less hampered by the travelling outfit she had been in. She let go one blade to do so, but managed to keep hold of the other as she wrapped her arm about the nearest mast and clung on tightly.

There were shouts, ahead of them, people screaming. "The crew!" Fuu gasped, against Umi's ear, trying to pull free - Umi refused to let go.

"You'll be washed away too!" She shouted back, and coughed as she inhaled a mouthful of frigid water. Fuu turned into her shoulder, as another wave slammed across the deck, and a third. The wind howled through the rigging, cloth flapping loudly as the struts across one sail broke and rent holes in it. The ship lurched wildly, and Umi lost her grip on her last sword. She dug her fingers into the wood of the mast instead. Timbers creaked, the water dragged incessantly, and everything was madness for an unmeasurable length of time as the storm hammered the ship.

When it passed, the bow was empty of all life except the two of them.

The rope holding the captives to the ship had broken, and they had gone overboard, along with a fair amount of planking. Umi shuddered, hard, but made herself turn and look back towards the stern.

Both other masts had gone - snapped, the stumps trailing rope and splinters. Umi stared, speechless, for a long moment. But the storm was far from over, and the ship lurched again as Fuu gasped beside her. "Shidou-dono!" Fuu called, and both she and Umi staggered forwards at the same moment, making their way back to the tiller where their new-made friend had been struggling with the tiller while Umi tried to extract any information on their whereabouts from the captives. They dragged themselves over holes in the deck, and stumbled into each other more than once.

But when they reached the stern, they were greeted by a dazed, bedraggled girl, still alive, clinging to the remnants of what had been the ship's steering mechanism.

The sea was a little calmer, and the wind evening out. Although the only sail left to them was ragged and flapping, the ship was still making headway, rocked but not overcome by the waves. Most of the damage was to the upper deck and the masts; the lower hull seemed sound, still, and when they made their faltering way down below to get out of the wind, they found food and water enough to last them many weeks.

It might have to. Not one of them said it, but it was plain - they had no boat, no way of steering, and no knowledge of where they were. This ship was taking them wherever the storm decided to blow, and they could only hope that it arrived safely on some shore... and it seemed unlikely, from the few stars beginning to appear between the thinning clouds, that they were headed towards anything they knew.

But they were alive, and they were together.

oOo