Once upon a time, there was a beautiful red-headed girl who loved the color blue, and circles, and dragons, and older things, and unique things. This girl happened to be very poor, and though she grew up privileged by her mother, Shelby, and her father, Doflamingo, she still decided she wanted to live on her own, making her own way. So currently, she was pretty broke.
Well, she had saved up some money, but spent it on this beautiful mansion. They say this mansion once belonged to a very rich Shichibukai, back in the age of pirates, whom her father was named after. But the rich Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo, lost his mansion and the rights to all the material things on the main floor to another Shichibukai of the time named Trafalgar Law during a poker game.
Now, it's said that Trafalgar Law used to have a lover named Lillianne Sarafina Bohemia, but one day, she was kidnapped by a mean, hateful man by the name of Eustass Kidd, one of the eleven supernovas, in order to get back at her adoptive mother. This angered Law very much, but he was unable to find her. He fell into a deep state of sadness, and one day, fell asleep.
Never to wake up again.
The great age of pirates left, like dust in the wind, and now the girl stood in front of this very same mansion. She had saved up every last Beli she earned and now had a huge fuck-off mansion that overlooked the ocean, her favorite place. If only it weren't outlawed to be a pirate now...
She looked up with determination, and finally, Lillianne Hartford began her journey into a world she felt more than ready for.
However, she may or may not have been ready for the shadow that flitted from the window two floors up.
Now, Lillianne was a very strong girl, with a strong voice. She was known throughout her town for having the most beautiful voice, and would often do street performances and garage concerts, all in the name of money and music. Currently, she used her voice for a different reason entirely.
"EEK! SPIDER!"She shrieked and jumped back, then took of her flip-flop and proceeded to swat at the tiny creature.
When she finally shooed the creature away she let out a sigh of relief.
She didn't realize she was singing when she started, as it was a nervous habit, I suppose.
"I don't like walking around this old and empty house."
"So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear." A baritone, smooth voice echoed back to her.
Lillianne swiveled around, but saw nothing. "Hello?" She called out, met with no answer. Thinking it was just fatigue, she made her way up the stairs. It was dark out anyway, and very near her personal bedtime - fuck-this-shit-o'-clock. Once upstairs, she found herself in front of a rather large door and tugged at the brass knob. She thought to herself, 'It won't budge...' and finally gave up. She also made a mental note to find out about this 'Doflamingo' guy who had owned the house originally, as she highly doubted Law was very tall and would renovate a house just to make it taller. Logically, the original owner must have made it tall.
She continued down the dusty hallway , following strangely familiar twists and turns until she stopped at a dead-end with a door directly in front of her. There were cobwebs in the corners around the door, a staircase to her right that led up into an abysmal black nothingness, and the porcelain knob on the previously mentioned door looked as though it hadn't been touched for decades.
It probably hadn't.
She didn't want to break the fragile porcelain, so carefully, she placed her small hand on it, and gave an experimental tug. Surprisingly, it came open with that gentle tug, and whined as it swung on its hinges. The floorboards also complained as she stepped across the beige carpeting into the room with white walls that had random drawings all over them, mostly of a smiley with 'T' shapes on the outside...and spots scattered between those drawings...lots of spots...
She ran her gaze over the large room and landed it on an oak dresser, piled high with papers that also had doodles of random drawings, and a small cherrywood box laid on the center of it. She walked over, ignoring the moaning floorboards, and peered closer at the surface's contents. The drawing themselves weren't actually random, but were very detailed sketches of a woman with long, brown highlighted hair, and a much taller blonde man wearing a fluffy pink coat. She moved here attention over to the small cherrywood container and reached out, touched its smooth, dusty cover. Slowly, she opened the lid, and was surprised to find the soft red plush inside still intact. Lain almost delicately onto it was four small golden hoop earrings, what looked like a moonstone scrying necklace on a silver chain, one amethyst (proposal?) ring, and one large diamond ring.
Now, Lily wasn't very familiar with rocks, but she knew that one was valuable, but she still didn't really know why it was set in a silver ring. Weren't most diamond rings set in gold...? Ah well, it must have been the personal preference of whoever owned them.
She closed the lid, not bothering to pick up the shiny objects, though her fingers itched to caress them, and set her bag down. after depositing her books and clothes into the dresser, she stepped over to the queen-sized bed that was pushed up against the wall. She shook out the dusty blanket, and climbed in since the sheets seemed clean enough.
Though it was dark, and that was how she preferred it when she wanted sleep, she couldn't shut her eyes. The noises the large old house made were freaking her out. It didn't help that a set of nearby stairs, which she had earlier learned led up to the third floor, that was set on the left- hand side of her doorway when looking out into the hall, kept CREAKING LIKE SOMEONE WAS WALKING UP AND DOWN THEM.
She sighed in frustration and turned over onto her side, towards the wall. Then shivered as a cold-chill ran up her spine. Trying to sleep like this would drive her insane, so she began singing, to try and lull herself to sleep.
"The stairs creak. I can't sleep; It's keeping me awake."
"It's the house telling you to close your eyes."The alluring voice from earlier sung back to her, right in her ear.
"GAH!"She fell out of the bed, shivering. It wasn't like our heroine was scared, oh no, it just...took her by surprise...yeah...
"Some days, I can't even trust myself!"She sung out, not wanting to believe she just heard what she thought she did, thinking that maybe she was going crazy.
A shodow flickered in the mirror above the dresser and she heard the voice again behind her sing back,"It's killing me to see you this way."
How ironic.
'What the hell? Why am I hearing voices? Well...a voice...'
Then she answered her own question, sung aloud, and paired by the deep, alluring voice that haunted her as the moon rose.
"Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore." And then she screamed and ran out of the room, not noticing the figure in the shadows watch as she passed stumbling by, desperate to leave the bedroom.
A few weeks later found our favorite blue-eyed girl completely moved into the house, cleaning. She had finally seen enough shadows that shouldn't have been there move that she knew she had something, or someone, living with her. Whether it was malevolent, or benevolent, she didn't know, but when she called to it, it would flit away, like it was startled or scared. She also knew one more thing:
It was driving her insane.
She swiped angrily at another cobweb, and nearly fell off the ladder she was perched on. She caught herself just in time and climbed down, not wanting to possibly break her neck. She swore she heard a chuckle from behind her, but yet again, she only managed to see that same damn shadow flit away again when she turned to check out the not-so-foreign noise.
Huffing, she stomped her way up the stairs with finality. She knew one thing for certain, and that was that she had to draw this shadow out into the open. She had an idea of what to do, and was headed to her room to do it.
Several times when she lay down and pretended to sleep, she caught the shadow reaching out, and lovingly touching the old wooden box that held the jewelry from her first visit here whenever it thought she was sleeping. Or maybe it knew and didn't care. She didn't know. All she knew was that it was her ticket to drawing it out.
She finally reached the door, but strangely, it wouldn't open at first. 'Huh,' she thought,'normally, it opens with ease...' She tried again, this time with more force, and it took all her strength to push it open. It was like something was holding it closed from the other side. She thought she heard a voice groan as she pushed, but shoved off the idea as simply being the door needing another oiling. Once she had enough room to squeeze through, she did...
...and immediately tripped. She swore softly to herself and got up, and squeaked as she felt one of her practically hourly chills run up her spine. She didn't care what was trying to prevent her from reaching the jewelry box, but she'd be damned if she would stop. She had to practically hurl herself at the dresser it sat upon, and clung to the wood as an unknown force had wrapped around her waist. Her entire back felt cold and warm at the same time, and she wouldn't stop shivering. She reached for the lid, but for some reason, couldn't bring herself to open it so that she could grab the contents inside, which she had yet to touch, and throw them out of the window.
She hoped singing would help, and closed her eyes, hand still hovering above the clean cherrywood. "There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back."
"Well, tell her that I miss our little talks..."A voice strained out almost like it was amused, but wary of what to say, right next to her ear.
She pleaded with the voice, "Soon it will be over and buried with our past-"
The voice interrupted, trying to convince her against her plans to get rid of the mementos of another time, "We used to play outside when we were young, and full of life, and full of love!"
She found herself losing the battle quickly, "Some days, I don't know if I am wrong or right..."
"Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear~." The voice became less tense, as it knew it was winning. Then it continued, with Lillianne intertwining her melodious notes to his, knowing she had lost, "Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore."
They continued together, each with different meanings, and Lily relaxed with each line said, finding herself grow warmer and more familiar with the grasp of the ghost that held her.
"Don't listen to a word I say; the screams all sound the same! Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore."
Through the following weeks, even though the shadow never allowed her to see his full, non-shadowy self (as she learned it was a HE) nor touch the contents of the jewelry box, she made quick friends with him, and learned a lot about him. Except his name. He would disappear entirely for hours on end when asked for his name. She didn't really care, thinking it was his business, but finally got sick of it, and shouted at him when he didn't answer her when she asked. She didn't mean to, she just got frustrated.
And now he had been gone for days. 34, to be exact, and counting.
She cried into her pillow as the moon shone down into her room, adding a silverish glow to the carpet. Her cheeks werent hot from the tears that flowed down, as her sorrow washed over the spacious living quarters she had most of her conversations with him in.
The memories just wouldn't leave her head, a haunting ghost that filled her mind - literally - wouldn't leave...
"You're gone, gone, gone away. I wish you'd disappear...All that's left is a ghost of you..."She could hear his voice singing with her in the back of her mind. "Now we're torn, torn, torn apart, there's nothing we can do, just let me go, we'll meet again soon..." That definitely wasn't in the back of her head... She turned around quickly, caught in the stare of someone she found so very familiar, but she had never seen before. The tan, yet pale face had a saddened smile on it. He seemed to sigh, and time stopped for a brief moment. It seemed forever, and the memories of people long gone flashed through her vison.
She thought of the first moment "she" met him, and how "she" stole the fuzzy cap that did not currently adorn his head. She thought of the time "she" agreed to join his crew, and they made love for the first time. She thought of the time on "her" Captain's ship, when they had docked on a cross-dresser's island and "she" stole his clothes, a yellow and black hoodie with his jolly roger - the smiley with the 'T' shapes on it - sewn into the front, and his spotted blue jeans. She smiled when she thought of "their" first child, a healthy little boy with his father's hair and "her" eyes. Then of "their" mischievous little girl, "their" second - and last - child who had her "mother's" voice, and father's cocky attitude.
She thought of when "she" agreed to go, to save "her" family from being ripped to shreds by the monster who stole the last breath from "her" body. A sacrifice "she" so willingly made because "she" loved her Traffy, and Shell-sama, and Bird-brain, and two brilliant angels of children so dearly, that "she" would willingly give "her" life to save them.
She was "her".
It all rushed back to her, and she didn't ever want to let go of him again. Not after what she knew now.
He seemed to flicker, but she continued, and he mirrored her, both afraid to lose sight of the other. "Now wait, wait, wait for me! Please hang around! I'll see you when I go to sleep!"
He touched her face and they choked out their next words together, caught in a trance, "Don't listen to a word I say." An apology for what was said. "The screams all sound the same."An apology for what was done. "Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore."
She shut her eyes and sang more deperately, feeling him hold her the best that he could in his erethreal body. "Don't listen to a word I say! The screams all sound the same! Cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore." Tears stung her eyes when she opened them, and she nuzzled into the warm spirit that held her close to his unbeating heart. "Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore."
She pulled away enough to kiss the spirit, whom she now knew to be hers, and they knew they would be okay as they let the last line linger in the air when they pulled from each other's lips.
"Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore..."