literature

Incursio Part 3: Requiem-32

Deviation Actions

IamHaden's avatar
By
Published:
274 Views

Literature Text

  Ned and Emma quietly stepped into the bridge while Captain Hobbes had his back to them, watching the fading smoke and haze outside. "Have you come to kill me?" he asked, not recognizing the sound of footsteps, or perhaps pretending that he didn't.
  "Don't make me laugh, Captain. If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it all on my own a long time ago," Ned replied.
  Hobbes scoffed and turned around. "Indeed, you are right on that note. Of course you would have. But, believe me, there have been so many instances when I have badly wanted to kill you."
  "I do believe you," Ned started in reply.
  "Just be thankful you won't be dealing with him for a while after today," Emma said for her boyfriend while nudging his arm with her elbow.
  "I am thankful for that, but you know me. I'm an old man. I don't know just how long I can enjoy that," the captain of the Leviathan said, slightly looking away.
  "Hey, now, don't be all down about that. What happened to the strong-minded, willful, courageous Brit that I thought I knew?" Ned said, then gave a grin. "Come on. These men of yours- they're lucky to be led by a leader such as yourself."
  Hobbes looked back up at Ned and gruntingly showed a bit of grin as well. "I thank you, sir. Those words do mean a lot. And I believe I can say similar things about you, too-"
  "Wait, hold that thought," Ned interrupted and pulled a pen and notepad from his coat pocket. He opened the notepad to an empty page and wrote the title, "Why I'm so Fantastic: Captain Hobbes Edition." He then pointed the blunt end of the pen toward the captain. "Okay, go on."
  Hobbes frowned at him. "Are you going to take notes on this?" he asked in near disgust.
  "Well, yeah, I gotta keep score, right?"
  Emma just turned away from the two of them while laughing.
  Hobbes shook his head and just continued, "Whatever. As I was saying, you are also strong-minded and willful, though I think you're courageous to the point where you can get reckless-"
  "Yes, I've heard that before," Ned said, just writing each compliment down in the notepad.
  "-but you still are quite intelligent, which is shown by all the technology surrounding my primitive ship and your fabrications which can eat ours alive. ...Is that enough for you?"
  Ned wrote down the last comment. "Yeah, that should about do it. Just please tell me that our survival in the face of almost certain death gets you to believe that there must be some higher conscience watching over us."
  Hobbes sighed. "I wouldn't call myself a convert, but perhaps there is someone up there that guided us along our path."
  "Well, like I said before, I can't force you to believe in God. The human mind is such a stubborn thing that if it were made tangible, it would take ten cranes to get it to move an inch. But will you at least visit a church sometime?"
  "Perhaps, I will consider it."
  "Good, that's all I can ask." Ned placed the notepad and pen back in his pocket and produced something else from another compartment. He then tossed it to Hobbes, who caught it in his right hand. Once he opened his hand to look at the silver cross on a short, broken chain, Ned added, "That belonged to my father. He barely ever would take it off. Since you also gave me one of those as a medal late last year, I thought I should return the favor. It probably doesn't mean as much as that to you, but it's a treasure to me and I want you to take care of it."
  "Wait, that was your father's," Emma interjected. "Are you sure you want to give it up like that?"
  "Life's about sacrifice. The man who got nailed to a cross knew that better than anyone else. And, well, I guess I should make one as well," Ned answered.
  Hobbes closed his fist around the crucifix in his hand and lowered it to look back to the man before him. "Well, if you would insist on this, then very well. Don't worry, I will take good care of this," he said.
  "Thank you," Ned replied with a nod. "Remember, that's sterling silver and it's older than I am."
  "Say no more, I will be careful with it," Hobbes reassured. "But come now, I'm sure you deplore long goodbyes, so just go and do whatever else you need to do before sending us back to our world."
  "Yes, that is a good point. I should get going," Ned replied, shaking Hobbes' hand. "Don't crash this ship while I'm gone, you hear?"
  "I'll try my best not to let that happen. It's already happened once before and it was quite unpleasant then as it is, so I do not intend on seeing another such incident happen under my command." After Hobbes said this, he turned his attention to Emma. "And you, Miss Emma Sitnam, you take good care of your man here."
  Emma shook his hand as well. "I most certainly will, Captain. He's just about all that I've got, after all. I don't even have a family," she replied.
  "You don't? That's a shame. What happened? Did they all die?" Hobbes asked, sympathizing.
  Emma turned her eyes away, hesitating with the answer that she should really give that question. "Yes... yes, they did," she replied, which in a way was the truth, but was a lie in another way.
  "I'm very sorry for you," Hobbes said. "But, Ned, she seems to be quite restrained, as I have seen. I believe you are rather lucky to have such a woman by your side-"
  "Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about," Ned said, pointing a finger.
  "Oh, relax, Ned. Just go see your other companions so we can go home," Hobbes replied.
  Ned laughed in response. "All right, I'm going. I can still find my friends from your crew where they normally are, right?"
  "Yes. Well, except for Alek and Deryn. I believe they went back onto your ship to find you."
  "That's okay, I actually wanted to save them for last anyway. See you around," Ned said, raising a hand and starting to turn to leave.
  "Take care of your giant whale, 'kay, Captain Crunch?" Emma said, doing the same.
  Hobbes gave a grumble. "At least you two are a perfect match," he replied as the pair left the bridge.
  
  It didn't take a long trip down the hallways before Ned and Emma encountered Dr. Barlow, Count Volger, and Hans Bauer. Clearly, all three of them must have been looking around for them.
  "Isn't this a nice surprise?" Emma asked. "We were just about to see you all."
  "We couldn't miss your departure, could we?" Dr. Barlow replied.
  Ned nodded in agreement. Really, his departure wasn't something they could miss even if they wanted to, seeing as he was going to send them back to their separate world.
  "So, Doctor, about that blood sample I gave you a while back…?" Ned asked.
  "I sent it to the fabrication center I work with. It's still being analyzed. Apparently, the scientific community there doesn't entirely trust you," the boffin answered.
  "Even after all I've done for them and their country, huh? Well, if you get a chance to speak with them, tell them I said that all they have to do is be careful with it, could you?" Ned said.
  "I most certainly will. Perhaps I should also add that if an undead menace threatens our world again, it would be a big help." Dr. Barlow replied.
  "Right, that would be an important little detail," Ned said and turned his attention to the others in the group. Count Volger had his arms crossed as usual, but he and Bauer both wore casual expressions. "How about you two? What do you plan on doing while we're gone?"
  "I presume we will do the same thing that we have been doing before you first came to this ship," Count Volger answered. "We will be caretakers for Prince Aleksander, as his mother and father ordered us to."
  "Well, for all we know, we may very well find ourselves in a devastated environment with the constant threat of bloodshot dervishes wanting to suck the marrow out of our bones at some time in our lives. We might have to keep ourselves prepared for that in case it ever happens to us," Bauer added.
  "Of course, you wouldn't want Alek or his closest friend to be a bloodthirsty mutant's lunch and fail the last mission given to you, but as long as his Serene Highness has the Bloodstorm, you should have one less thing to worry about," Emma said reassuringly.
  "She has a good point. He still has that sword, right?" Ned asked.
  "Yes, it's back in our cabin, under my care," Volger answered.
  "Good, I did not work months on that weapon for it to end up getting lost so easily. Just be sure to keep it out of the German military's hands," Ned replied.
  "That goes without saying. Or would you prefer that we swear it on our lives?" the count said, putting on an expression that almost said, "You don't say."
  "That won't be necessary, I trust both of you fully," Ned replied. "Well, not all the way to 100%, seeing as my experience has shown me that you can't trust anyone completely. After all, they may very well turn around and but a knife in your back, or change their minds about how they see their own causes and defect to the opposing side. Or maybe they were never really on your side to begin with. That's why one should have to plan to kill every person they meet, or they would end up dead themselves-"
  "You're rambling," Emma pointed out, elbowing his arm.
  "-But anyway, all three of you obviously have more important things to do than listen to my lengthy advice," Ned said, putting himself back on track. "Dr. Barlow, keep in mind that Albert Einstein has nothing on you. Count Volger, with the things you have to do, you must be a man of great patience. Hans Bauer, you do your employers proud like you've done with me."
  "Thank you, I will," Bauer said. "But last night, I did have a nightmare about that creature on your ship."
  "I think we all have, sir," Dr. Barlow said.
  "Of course- a freaky thing like that?" Emma agreed. "Even a mother would be hesitant to love that face."
  "So, I leave you in peace," Ned interjected. "Send the others my regards while I'm gone, please."
  All of them gave one last goodbye before Ned and Emma started to leave the Leviathan and return to the Salvation to prepare their departure.
Just a few more chapters and an epilogue and this will be over. It's come quite a long way, now that I think on it...

Previous: [link]
Next: [link]
First: [link]
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
satellite-hearts's avatar
It's almost over??? :( It really has come a long way. I'm going to miss reading all of this. And I smiled when it said that Ned was rambling because I tend to do that a lot as well. :XD: