The darkness swallowed her whole, leaving her abandoned in a sightless void. Her head ached with a terrible pounding sensation, like someone was beating it with a metal pole. She had a dull notion that if the darkness went away, so would the pain, so she focused on creating light. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen; she had no idea how to illuminate the pressing darkness.
Her head began to throb painfully, and the darkness pulsated with an angry red light. She wanted to scream, just to let out the pressure that was building in her skull, but the void that surrounded her allowed for nothing, not even sound. As her panic set in, the throbbing grew stronger and more painful and the angry red pulsation grew more and more violent until, finally, everything exploded into fragments of burning white light.
Or at least, that's how it felt.
In reality, her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright in what looked like a hospital bed, causing a sharp tugging sensation on her left arm. Looking down, she saw something strange and blue connecting her arm to a bag filled with an odd liquid. Alarmed, she tugged on the strange blue thing, trying to separate it from her veins. Before she actually succeeded, a voice came from her other side.
"Miss, that IV is the only reason you're still alive. Please don't pull it out."
She stopped yanking on the 'IV' and turned her attention to the origin of the voice. The speaker was a tired-looking, average-sized male wearing a toboggan and a black and yellow hoodie, sitting in a reclining office chair.
"Where am I?" she asked warily. "Who are you?"
The man leaned back in his chair lazily and thought a bit before answering.
"Well, specifically you're in the sick bay of the -Holly Dodger-, the Heart Pirates' ship."
He sighed a little, then spun his chair to face the desk in front of him.
"Miss, could I have your name? I need to take some records."
She shook her head, and reached her left arm surreptitiously into empty space. Flicking her wrist, she pulled a small kunai knife from out of thin air and threw it at the wall next to the man's head.
"Your name." she said simply.
The man raised an eyebrow as the knife sunk deeply into the wall. He spun around to face her, still with one eyebrow raised.
"Ingrate. I save your life, and you throw knives at me. I'm almost hurt." he replied sarcastically, glancing her over.
"If you really must know, I am Trafalgar Law, 'Surgeon of Death,' captain and doctor of the Heart Pirates. There, you know my name. Now miss, I really need to take these records, if I could have your name..."
She let her left arm relax from its stiffened and ready position, thinking. To be honest, she didn't quite remember what her name was, except for a few half-remembered syllables.
"Eris... I think." she answered, feeling like she was forgetting something crucial.
Law raised his eyebrow again.
"You think?" he repeated, and Eris nodded tautly. He nodded and scribbled her assumed name on a piece of paper.
"Amnesia, looks like. Not surprising, really, considering the major concussion you suffered." he mumbled to himself, still writing on the piece of paper. Eris stared intently at him, trying to deduce his intentions.
"When you've... fixed me, what are you going to do with me?" Eris asked hesitantly, keeping her eyes fixed on the back of his head.
He didn't even look up as he answered.
"Well, it'd be a waste to throw someone I so carefully healed overboard, so we'll probably drop you off at the next island. That said, we are in the Grand Line. You probably wouldn't be able to get back home, even if you somehow managed to get a ship." Law leaned back in his chair, glancing at Eris's blanched and expressionless face.
"Don't look so scared, Eris-ya. There's one more option..." he continued, and Eris's hands relaxed around the bedsheets they had been so tightly gripping.
"If you don't like the prospect of being left alone in the Grand Line, you could always join my crew. That ability, pulling knives out of thin air or whatever, could come in handy."
He gripped the handle of the kunai that had been embedded into the wall and pulled out, tossing it back to her in one fluid motion. Eris caught it expertly with her right hand and drew a small line in space with her pointer finger. She then tossed the knife into the hole she had made and 'zipped' it by moving her pinky finger up the line in space.
"I'll think about it..." she muttered uncomfortably, though she already knew what her answer was going to be. Who would want to be left alone in the Grand Line?
A/N: Currently, there is no official name for the Heart Pirates' ship, so I came up with a temporary one. If Oda decides to name it, I will change the name of the Holly Dodger.
Anyways, as always, reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated. ;)