#4: Storms on the Sea Are NO Joke.

After the ship started to calm down again, it was back to normal pirate duties. Haekos was doing what they called swabbing the poop deck.. it was an odd way to tell someone to mop. Haekos was having fun, and she ship was sparkling. 

Haekos looked to the captain. "Captain! Any other things you want me to do?" she beamed, smiling as wide as she could. The captain smiled back and shouted back, "Just make yourself busy with whatever you can find, kiddo!" Haekos nodded, and ran off to find another thing to do.

She kept taking jobs, left right and center, until she finally joined Palinorus who was still carrying the crates that were still out there into storage, all while he was being bombarded with attention from Saal.

"Paliiiii~ Can you carry this for me, I'm soooooo tired." Saal groaned, leaning on Palinorus. Palinorus nudged him away. "I'm not doing anything for you, you freak." He hissed. Saal made a fake sad face, and stared at him, trying to get him to look back at him. He never did. Saal stuck his tongue out at him.

Haekos overheard their interaction and cringed. "Yeesh," she said, recoiling a bit. Palinorus jolted when he realized she was behind the two this whole time. "H-Haekos!! Goodness, don't scare me like that.." he said with a shaky voice. Saal looked to Haekos, then to Palinorus, then back to her. He gave her a toothy grin. "Your big bro's kind of a wimp, eh?" he teased. Haekos giggled, and Palinorus rolled his eyes. "Haha, hilarious."

Suddenly, a drop of rain fell on Haekos's nose. She looked up and saw the blue sky get clouded over with ashen gray clouds. Slowly, the rain started to sprinkle everywhere. It started out gentle, and the crewmates can still work. But eventually, it got harder and more aggressive. The captain shouted out as loud as he can, "Get as much stuff as you can inside and start prepping for a storm!"

The crew members began to rush to get the crates inside, but the ship was starting to get a little rocky, and Haekos was losing her balance. She tried to ground herself, but the wind was blowing in her face, and she felt the rain sting her eyes. She looked around and saw some of the crewmates hoisting the sails to navigate, some other crewmates hurrying inside, the captain yelling commands, and the navigator spinning the helm. Haekos was kind of overwhelmed by all the noises, but at the same time she couldn't help but be excited.

Palinorus, who was inside, realized Haekos wasn't inside, and he ran out to get her. He ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and was about to go back inside, when he felt the ship almost lower... Then, he heard a waterfall. And then he realized that there are no waterfalls in the middle of the ocean. And he turned around slowly to find that the ship was about to get overtaken by a massive tidal wave. 

The captain looked out to the ocean and grinned madly. He gripped his hat so he wouldn't get blown away, and he pointed to the wave. "YOU ALL BETTER HOLD ON TIGHT! PREP THE SAILS! PULL!!"

The people controlling the sails pulled the ropes as hard as they could, and the ship started to turn. Palinorus started to stumble a bit, but he planted himself on the floor.

The winds were getting more and more violent. Palinorus tried to move some of it in the other direction, but nature had other ideas. Haekos was looking around to find one of the crewmates that were supposed to be pulling the ropes on the verge of slipping off into the sea. She kept staring at the struggling Aetyr until she saw him about to slip off.

And she bolted straight for him.

She let go of Palinorus, running through the wind with ease, almost as if a surge of power got to her. She almost felt like she was flying, with how fast she was going. She had no idea what she was doing, all she knew was that she had to help this Aetyr. When she finally got to him, he was barely clinging on... and he let go, screaming. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" But Haekos grabbed him before he could disappear into the ruthless gray sea, pulled him back, and held on to the rope with all of her might. She didn't even notice the bright blue glow surrounding her. The strength came easy to her. She wondered why.

She kept holding on, as the ship was about to ride on the inside of the wave. The closer they got to the wave, the more it covered the sky. Haekos kept her eyes closed, but Palinorus saw it all. The way the wave covered the sky.. The way the water sprinkled over the heads of all the Aetryim. The way the ship was almost consumed by the wave. It was horrifying.

But they made it out.

When they got out of the wave, the crew cheered, and Haekos sighed. "That was so.. cool.." She said, as she stumbled forward a bit, and fainted from exhaustion. Palinorus ran to her and held her head up a bit, and noticed she had a bit of a nosebleed. The captain ran over and crouched down. "What the hell happened?" he asked Palinorus, but he only shook his head. "That was... Her magic. I try to keep her from using it, but it always does its thing when she wants to help" he whispered. His face darkened. "Her body can't handle the stress from the magic. It'll overflow."

"If she used it for any longer, she might've torn herself apart."