A.N. Hi guys! I know that I already published a Christmas special, but oh well, I just couldn't miss a chance to add this little rewritten poem here. I believe all of you know Jingle Bells, right? Well this is how my friend and I rewrote it this Christmas, yes this, though it's a shame, if we had written it last year it would have been a hit… So when reading this version don't forget to hum the rhythm! ^-^
Warings: Yaoio – manxman, AU, mention of future LawLu, one shot.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything...
Law's POV
This is the story of how I died, don't worry, this story isn't that sad, after all, death isn't such a bad thing as people describe it. Well at least mine wasn't, though I never was afraid of death, the only thing that frightened me, was that I had no idea what awaits me after death. The thing that scared me the most was a thought that I'm going to fade away, that I'm going to disappear and that all my life till then was meaningless. But somehow all these fears disappeared and when I died, I was able to die with a smile on my face, I think it was a good death, it wasn't meaningless after all…
I walked out to the cold air and took a deep breath; damn, I stayed way longer then I intended… I pushed the sleeve of my coat and looked at the metal clock on my left hand; all the busses have already left, it means walking then. I started walking slowly, without any rush through the empty streets; it's the Christmas Eve after all, everyone is with their families celebrating. Even though me, lone wolf, Penguin and Shachi invited to their dinner I was still alone at the very end…
But I don't mind being alone, I'm used to it already, though it was nice from them. Snowflakes started falling and for a moment I stopped to look around. The black crushed snow was getting a white layer and became nice again, the previously clean cars were getting white. As wind blew the snowflakes danced their winter dance, I started walking; tomorrow everyone will gather at my house for Christmas dinner… It's strange that during these Christmas I got a day off at the hospital, usually almost all doctors are working that day…
I pulled my scarf higher on my cheeks as the cold started biting my cheeks; when I'm back, before going to sleep, I'm going to drink a cup of herbal tea, I don't need any cold… A strong gust of wind blew me an echo of a voice, it got louder with every step and I understood that it was singing. The melody was familiar and I brushed it of as someone singing Christmas song to make the night more cheerful. But soon I could hear the words clearly and as my brain digested them a shudder went through my body; it was Christmas song, but it definitely wasn't the usual one…
Christmas hell, Christmas hell
The world is gonna end,
I don't know if I should tell,
But you're all gonna die, hey!
What kind of a sick song is it…? Even for my tastes it wasn't right; who the hell thought that song up? I noticed a small figure up ahead, it was bouncing from the direction I was going to, our meeting was inevitable. I pulled my scarf even higher; dam that song just got all of the Christmas spirit I had in myself…
When we got closer to each other I saw how the person who was still singing that one column looked like. It was definitely a he, though he wore a white and red stripped coat and a straw hat on his head. He had scarf on his neck, but it didn't hide his face at all, I could clearly see a grin on his face; singing a song like this and grinning? This guy has a weird taste for humor…
When we were just in front of each other the guy stopped in the middle of my road, he grinned even wider and I noticed a small scar under his left eye. "Hello."
I ignored him and tried to walk around him only to find him standing in front of me again, he had a pout on his lips. "It's rude to ignore someone who's talking with you."
"It's cold and I wanna go home, I don't have any time for any Christmas jokes."
"Uhhh, that's cold from you, but it's alright, you seem like the right type of guy, so let's play a game!"
I again tried to walk around him, but unsuccessfully. "I just said I don't have time to play, can I please go now?"
Maybe if I will be polite, he will leave me alone? The guy shook his head. "Sorry, no can do, you're gonna play a game with me, want it or not!"
I gritted my teeth; is he going to bother me till I listen what kind of game he wants to play…? "Alright, but make it short and I'm not playing it if it's something inappropriate."
The guy grinned. "Great! It's a short game! Though you will have twenty-four hours to think of an answer!" Great, it's going to be some kind of a riddle… "Now you have to choose, if you better die and I leave everyone in this town alive, or everyone else dies and you stay alive! For you to be sure that I can really can destroy this town let me demonstrate."
What? This joke is really sic… My thoughts disappeared as the guy flicked his fingers and a light blue ball of something I could only describe as energy appeared on his palm. The guy aimed for a nearest row of cars and the ball flew there. The cars immediately exploded with a loud 'boom'. What the hell?!
The guy turned at me with that grin still on his face. "You can choose to believe that this was a trick, but even if it was don't you think that I could have more of these bombs? It would take me several hours to destroy city of this scale…"
I eyed the guy unbelievingly; is this guy crazy? Sure seems like it… "Why should I play this game with you?"
"Well if you don't, I'm going to destroy this town and you with it, it would be much easier, but rules are rules. I will find you tomorrow at this time, I hope you will have your mind made up by then!"
The guy walked through me and again started humming the same song, I left there standing as the song little by little faded away.
Christmas hell, Christmas hell
The world is gonna end,
I don't know if I should tell,
But you're all gonna die, hey!
I don't know for how long I was in that daze, but when I finally got out of it my limbs were freezing. "Shit, I should have taken a taxi."
When the next morning came the whole thing seemed like a bad dream to me; I mean the whole town is going to die if I don't die? Nonsense. But the more time went by the more real the events from yesterday seemed, that guy, that song stuck in my head, I remembered every single detail of our meeting, as one of the street lights behind his back kept blinking. How police sirens howled passing me after that guy left and I left the site of the exploded cars immediately.
Everything seemed like it really happened and the more I believed it was truth, the more I started thinking about what decision I should make. Should I die? But for who? There isn't a person who I love and would die for, my family is dead anyways and there are definitely some people I would be happier if they disappeared. But if I choose to live that means that my friends are going to die too… They don't deserve that…
At evening my friends gathered and we had Christmas dinner, exchanged gifts and simply drank talking about this and that. For a moment I even forgot all those thoughts, but not for long, soon they started peeping into my mind again. Once again they ruined my Christmas mood and I fell into stillness. My friends noticed that, but none of them said anything about that, they tried to lift my spirits, Bepo tried to make funny faces and Penguin with Shachi tried to improvise dancing tango.
None of the things they done were funny, but their struggle sure was. My mood was up, though those thoughts stayed in my head. When the little party was over and I closed the door behind my friends my mind was made up; I'm gonna die, for them. They deserve long and happy life, Penguin and Shachi have each other and Bepo is still only an intern at the hospital, he has a bright future up ahead and a big loving family. And I, a lonely wolf, I don't have anyone else without them that would miss me, and even they, eventually, would live with the thought that I'm gone.
When the clock hit eleven I was already standing outside and waiting; at similar time that guy approached me yesterday. I waited for maybe five minutes till I heard that song again, soon that guy came into view, he was grinning like last time and his grin widened a little when he saw me. "Oh! You're already here! That's good! So what will be your answer?"
"I choose to die."
"You choose to die for this town? For all these people who you don't know?"
I shrugged. "I'm a surgeon, I save lives of people I don't know for bread."
"Shishishi, you're an interesting guy, alright!" He flicked his finger and the light blue ball appeared again. "This is the last chance to change your mind!" I just shook my head and he flicked it towards me, I felt it hit me. For a moment I still could feel myself and I thought about my friends; yea, I made the right decision… I felt a small smile appear on my face as I collapsed on the cold ground; I regret nothing…
No POV
Luffy squat down and poked the cheek of the guy who he just hit with the truth spell, if you're thinking different things than you're saying it kills you. But if your actions match your thoughts, your body starts to change, well technically you die too, but then you're reborn with a fire instead of a heart. The cheek that Luffy poked was getting warmer and not colder – it was clear sign that this guy isn't dying.
'Hmm, so he really chose to die for the town…? Man am I lucky…' Luffy lifted the lifeless body with ease and started walking while humming the same song, at first he didn't like it, but now he grew quite fond of it, after all it was their sign…
Law's POV
To say that I was surprised that I could feel my body, would be an insult, the last thing I remembered was being hit by that light blue ball and it should have meant death… I focused my senses on my body and took notice that my body was quite warm for a man who was supposed to be dead. I slowly peeled my eyes open and immediately was greeted by big brown eyes. "You're awake! That's great!"
I slowly sat up. "Why is it great? Did you destroy the town as a chance that I'm not dead?"
The guy puffed his cheek. "I'm not some bad guy who destroys towns without a reason - that was just a threat."
I raised an eyebrow; just a threat? Why would he do something like that…? "What would have you done if I chose to live?"
He shrugged. "You would have died."
So if I chose to die I live and if I chose to live I die… "What was the whole point of that?"
The guy jumped up from the chair he was sitting on. "To make you one of us!" I continued staring at him waiting for more information. "Now you're a guardian! For now you're going to be my apprentice and learn spells and after you've learnt all of them you will have to do a mission – go to random town during Christmas, find a lonely guy and give him a question. And depending on his answer you either kill him or make him a guardian!"
"What kind of sick people are you? Killing people just because they decided to live."
The guy pouted. "Those guys are reborn soon after instead of waiting in lines for a body, they get one immediately, they're lucky."
I glared at him; I still don't get any of this. "But those people still have to leave everything behind."
He sighed. "Didn't I tell you? We choose a lonely guy, if he chooses to live it means he doesn't have anyone he wants to protect. And people like you have someone they wanted to protect, so it's only fair, they get a chance to start life anew and this time they can live it differently."
I shook my head. "It's still sick."
The expression on that guy's face didn't change. "You will see for yourself and understand and now get up, your body is fine and we need to stand training. Oh, and by the way my name is Luffy."
I stood up; it's better if I listen for this guy for now… "Trafalgar."
"Alright Traffy." Luffy opened the door. "Welcome to your new home."
We walked outside and for the first time I could clearly see the features of the guy that made my life go upside down, for my surprise I found him being really cute. A crazy, cute guy who says that he will teach me spells? This is Christmas gift I didn't ask for…
A.N. Alright, this got really weird… :D how about an epilogue? Okay, here I go…
Epilogue
I looked at the vast blue sea and the setting sun in front of me; I've been on this island for half a year now. And during that time my opinion changed almost about all of the things I first classed as crazy. Now I know some spells, met other guardians, learnt the rules and stories of other people and even though I miss my friends, the life I'm living right now is so much better than the one I had before…
I rubbed my forehead; it seems that it was years since I met Luffy, though today it's exactly half a year… I heard light footsteps approach me. I turned my head and saw a drowsy Luffy rubbing his eyes and with his hair sticking at all sides. He had a blanket we were laying on, wrapped around his naked body. "Traffy? What are you doing here alone?"
I put my hand around his lean waist and put a small peck on his lips. "You were sleeping so nicely that I didn't want to wake you up…"
The guy who turned out to be the most naïve, cute, smart and attractive man I've ever met pouted. "Then you could have continued lying next to me!"
A small chuckle went out of my lips. "Alright, next time I will do so."
Luffy nodded his head seriously like a very important matter have been solved, then his eyes gazed upon the sun which was already half way through horizon. "Do you regret that I met you that evening?"
I leaned and kissed his forehead; I noticed that sometimes he would want to ask that question, but stop himself from doing so. "No, I met you that evening, there's nothing I regret about that evening." I stayed silent for a moment. "Though that song is really terrible, I regret hearing that."
Luffy looked at me with very serious eyes. "Don't say that! You will have to learn it too! And sing it!"
I rolled my eyes. "I believe I can manage without that song."
"No! You wi…"
I silenced him by puting my lips on his; I am not singing that stupid song…
A.N. Hmmm, yea, it's better now… Hope you enjoyed! ^-^