Fractured
Disclaimer: I'd rather make my own, but I'm merely borrowing characters for now.
AN: Because the idea of your imagination being more than just the mind's whimsical musings appeals to me very much.
1 Colors and Dreams
His favorite color was orange.
Most would've assumed it was red due to its overabundance in his wardrobe as well as the ribbon he always wrapped around his favorite ratty straw hat, but that was just coincidence. Orange was his favorite color because, as he's told them many times before, it's warm, bright, happy, and kind just like his older brother.
And they would all smile indulgently and nod, as if his explanation was completely logical. Had it been from any other boy it would be, but he was Monkey D. Luffy, orphaned at the age of four by a car accident that claimed the lives of his parents and left him in the care of his grandpa that died a year later from a heart attack. Luffy had no brother, nor any living relatives. He was alone in the world.
Yet nobody had the heart to call him out of his fantasy.
"Let him have an imaginary older brother," they would say. "Children his age always have make-believe friends. Besides, every orphan dreams of having a family, right?"
Oh, and Luffy had plenty of dreams, too. Not just about a caring older brother that reminded him of orange, but also of adventures on the seas as a pirate, with his own motley crew of friends that were more like a family than anything else. He dreamed of fighting bad guys with unusual powers, sometimes with the bad guys also having unusual powers, and being chased after by Marines. Of exploring new and wondrous places while having plenty of fun with his friends, though often dragging them into trouble that they'd eventually escape. He dreamed of meeting amazing people like a princess fighting an evil organization in order to save her homeland, people living in the sky under the terrible reign of a cruel wannabe god, and of dangerous fellow pirates that aspired to become the best of the best.
Luffy had a lot of dreams, though not at once, and he saw a lot of colors, too, in them.
However, there came a time when he was eight years old that a myriad of colors in those dreams were overshadowed by an ugly shade of black, and then the worst happened.
Orange mixed with red, soon followed by white, and all Luffy could do was scream in absolute anguish before he passed out and was later taken to a special hospital.
On January 1st, 2012, Monkey D. Luffy was admitted to the Foundation for Unique Individuals. That was the day a war began and psychologists diagnosed it as nothing more than a young child's fantasy.
He stared down at the dull gray trousers that were part of the Foundation's standard uniform for boys and frowned at the loose string hanging from it. Picking at it, he wondered how much longer it would get before someone noticed and told him to stop. It actually wasn't much longer when he heard a familiar voice say, "Please stop that, Luffy. You're ruining your clothes."
Luffy blinked and looked up, his gaze slightly unfocused. "I'm not ruining it," he said in a dreamy tone. "It's already unraveled itself, and there's nothing anyone can do to fix it."
The older man shook his head and gently pulled the fourteen-year-old's hands away from the seam. "Of course it can be fixed," he said with a small smile, having caught onto the teen's distracted mood. "Even so, you shouldn't pull at it so much. You don't want a hole in your pants, do you?"
Luffy stared thoughtfully at the man for a moment before his vacant gaze wandered down to the man's chest and a shudder ripped through him. "No," he mumbled, looking away with a troubled expression. "No, I do not."
Dr. Portgas inwardly frowned at the odd reaction but filed it away for later, choosing instead to talk about something else that might cheer Luffy up. He leaned forward a bit in his chair, a warm smile on his face and said, "So I heard you had a visitor this morning, Luffy. Did you have fun?"
Immediately, the somber mood the boy had been wearing vanished and was replaced by a wide grin and a lot of enthusiasm. Luffy nodded excitedly and exclaimed, "Yeah! Miss Makino came today and brought lots of cookies and a movie and a radio, and some other stuff and we had a party and everyone else was invited and we all had tons of fun and—"
"Whoa, calm down, Luffy!" Dr. Portgas interrupted, chuckling as the teen halted with a blush and murmured apology. Dr. Portgas waved it away good-naturedly. "It's fine, Luffy. Just remember to breathe every now and then when you speak, all right? I don't want you to pass out from being too excited again."
Remembering the first time he'd chattered himself unconscious, Luffy grinned sheepishly before continuing in a much calmer manner after an encouraging nod from Dr. Portgas. "After the party was over, Miss Makino told me that she wouldn't be able to visit again until next week because some new kids were moving into the home, but she'd have Shanks visit me instead, so I wasn't too upset."
"Shanks," Dr. Portgas repeated before it clicked. "Ah, you mean the man that gave you that hat?"
Luffy reached up and plucked the straw hat off his head, studying it fondly much in the same way Dr. Portgas had seen other people admire their prized possessions. Despite it being so old and ratty, Luffy's straw hat was still in relatively good condition and would likely see many more years to come with how well the boy took care of it.
Luffy traced the red ribbon wrapped around the hat, his eyes going distant once again as he lapsed into another memory.
"This hat is very precious to me. Take good care of it and return it to me once you've fulfilled that dream of yours, Luffy."
"You bet, Shanks!"
Suddenly, a shrill ringing noise sounded and Luffy was snapped back to the present. He blinked as if waking from a dream and watched as Dr. Portgas answered his office phone. "This is Dr. Portgas."
Luffy couldn't hear what was being said on the other line, but judging by the annoyed look growing on Dr. Portgas' face, it wasn't something good. He fidgeted nervously in his seat as he listened to the man's half of the conversation.
"Why are you calling me right now, Marco? You know that I'm—"
"Yes, of course he is. I told you he was persistent. Have you tried—"
"Damn, that usually works. Well, what about Pops? Did you call him?"
Unconsciously, Luffy's fingers went back to picking at the loose thread on his pants as his gaze darted around the room. Most of his focus remained on Dr. Portgas, but he wasn't very comfortable about it. Miss Makino told him it was rude to listen to other people's conversations. But he couldn't help it! For some reason, the name "Marco" had sounded vaguely familiar to him, and he wanted to know why. So he had no choice but to listen, right?
Dr. Portgas' face developed a frown at the response on the other end. "All right, I'll be over there in fifteen minutes," he sighed. "Just let me finish up a few things here."
Whatever this Marco said prompted a roll of the eyes and a wry grin from Dr. Portgas. "Yeah, thanks, Marco. I'll see you soon," the man said and hung up. Then he turned back to Luffy with a smile. "I'm sorry about that, Luffy. What would you like to talk about?"
Luffy remained silent, his eyes widening fractionally as he finally recalled why the name Marco had sounded so familiar. He couldn't even hear Dr. Portgas as he was pulled into a very brief memory from that world.
The world lit up momentarily in a flash of bright blue and yellow. It soon swirled together and formed into an impossibly beautiful yet fierce bird. Instead of feathers, intense blue and gold flames licked along the creature's body—was its body—and a sense of awe fell over him.
This man, his new comrade and friend, was a legendary phoenix!
"Luffy?"
The boy jerked away from the hand on his shoulder in surprise, his body shaking from the sudden rush of adrenaline brought on by the vision. He blinked several times before focusing on the face decorated with freckles that was hovering close to his, those dark gray eyes full of concern.
"Phoenix," Luffy murmured, not seeing the man's shoulders tense at the familiar name. "I . . . know him? No, only once. During the . . ."
Exhaustion overpowered by determination. He could feel the desperation beneath all that as he fought through an endless battle to save his—
Screams all around him, drowned out only by the pounding of his heart as he watched the world erupt into utter chaos before him. Never in his life had he felt so afraid and helpless. Forced to watch as his comrades, his brothers, his loved ones, his friends risked their lives to save his. And then his heart stopped for just a moment in dread as he saw his most precious person enter the fray.—
He had to protect the kid. Now that his brother was—No, don't think of that right now, he mentally scolded himself. He let the blue flames envelop him, their light intensified by the absolute rage that had awoken inside him, and blocked the magma fist heading towards the catatonic boy. He would protect him, because that's what his brother and best friend wanted.—
"—y! Luffy! Are you all right? Snap out of it!"
The world was shaking. No, he was. He was being shaken by Dr. Portgas, he realized, and felt a horrible pang in his chest when he looked into the man's eyes and saw the worry and concern in those stormy gray depths. And something warm was running down his face.
He reached up and swiped at the warmth, his hand coming away wet. "I'm crying," Luffy voiced, his tone detached.
Dr. Portgas sighed and reached into his coat's pocket, pulling out a surprisingly bright orange handkerchief, which he handed to the boy. "Perhaps you should head to your room now, Luffy," he suggested gently as the boy hesitantly accepted the cloth and wiped his face. The man forced his expression and voice to become calm again, even though Luffy's distant behavior worried him. "You've had a very exciting day and it'd be best if you got some rest."
"Okay," the teen agreed softly, so unlike his normally boisterous self. He went to hand back the handkerchief but was waved off with a smile.
"Keep it," Dr. Portgas said. "Orange isn't my favorite color, anyway."
Liar, Luffy thought, but pocketed the cloth in his pants. He lost a bit of that cold, distant feeling by focusing on the barely noticeable weight of the orange handkerchief. It was oddly . . . grounding. Comforting. A smile formed on his face as he left the room.
He really liked the color orange.
AN: Even though I already have several ongoing stories in the Naruto-verse, sometimes I just need to take a break and try something different. If people like this story enough, I'll most likely continue it. If not, well, it will end here. So leave a review and let me know what you think, please? I'd appreciate it.