A/N: Surprise chapter! ...and it's several months late. I am so ashamed. But I am going to put in a more scheduled writing time, hopefully, and get this fic really going.
This chapter is the last you'll see of ten year old Marion, we're gonna get into a more adult territory after this in other words. But boy is this chapter long! Take it as an apology if you will.
Now without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstance own One Piece nor any of it's characters, if I did, well, I would have to change gender, name and nationality and I have no intention of doing do. I do however own several non-canon characters and parts of the plot.
Chapter 2
Lost
Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. - Corrie Ten Boom
Marion, as she woke for good in the morning from a restless night's sleep, when red shone through the room's small window and birds began to chirp, was exhausted and every part of her body seemed to ache. Her limbs were stiff, her head was pounding and her feet felt as though they were on fire. Her cheeks still stained by tears after last nights ordeal and eyes surely red. She awoke with her back resting against the wooden bedstead, her knees tucked beneath her chin, and it was a wonder her whole body had not locked itself up due to the awkward position she had slept in. The hard floor had at least done a good job numbing her legs and buttocks. Not that Marion herself was not a culprit in the crime as well. But she blamed that on her nonexistent energy and sleep deprived stubbornness. Why move up into the bed when she was perfectly exhausted there on the floor?
Marion strained herself rising to her feet. Groaning as her bones creaked like an old woman's and her limbs popped. But she stood nonetheless and finally decided to climb atop the bed in front of the window. On the small windowsill she placed her backpack, which she had used as a cushion when she'd slept on the floor. Her fingers numb as she let go of the thing - she held it like a stuffed animal through the night. Then Marion flipped the lock on the window and opened it.
Fresh air swept into the room with the force of a typhoon. Or, to Marion's fatigued mind it felt so. Swift and wild, mixed with the smell of salt and ocean - one Marion had always loved. The cold morning air brought her mind out of it's haze, as though she had splashed ice cold water on her face, and she exhaled shakily once the sight of the small fishermen, pirates, village embedded itself in her mind. It was all real. The night before had really happened.
That was a surreal thought in on itself.
The small village was still far asleep. Only a lone fisherman standing by his boat at the harbor seemed to be awake yet, readying himself to ride out and start his day of fishing. The colorful lanterns of last night had been put out, and compared to the intense red and orange painting the east in the sky as dawn chased the night away the colorful widows of every wooden building in the town seemed dull. Too bad, Marion thought. It had been the most beautiful thing about the village. Instead the town had taken on a cloak of dirt and grime, rivaling the stories she'd heard and read about Victorian London. Or any other place before modern things of hygiene were invented for that matter.
After a few minutes of simply gazing lazily upon the village, Marion closed the window and stepped down from the bed.
Before she decided to head for the bathroom that had been pointed out to her the night before Marion found her gaze caught on the many, many rows and stacks of hand-drawn maps. The brass parchment shone golden in the morning light. Tiptoeing, because her feet ached with every step she took - she needed to clean and bandage her feet before something worse happened to them -, to one of the piles she noticed that they depicted neither any place she recognized, nor did they look like any other 21st century map she'd ever seen. They looked old, very old, yet were seemingly recently drawn judging by the half finished ones on the one small desk standing by the door. The only thing that seemed to not be dusty in the room. Beside the unfinished maps stood an opened, but full inkwell. Perhaps it was a hobby of someone who lived there?
Marion frowned and tiptoed back to the bed. She crouched by it and fished with her fingers beneath the thing until her hands touched something soft. The clothes Cassis had mentioned before she'd left her in the dark room. She dragged the clothes out from beneath the bed and hit them a few times to remove the dust which had piled on top of them. How long had it been since someone had worn them? Marion wasn't sure she wanted to know.
The clothes were a pair of jeans shorts with suspenders and a grey t-shirt. She usually preferred dresses but beggars can't be choosers. They were good enough until she could change at home, which she hoped wasn't a long time off.
The young girl carefully tiptoed out the room, the door groaned as she opened it, and moved to the bathroom, through the small corridor and into the third door labeled by it's function. She was fully intent on taking a long bath had it such a thing, and as she opened the labeled door, this one also creaking, she was not disappointed.
While most of what the ten year old had seen of the inn had been brown, and dusty, or something associated with the bad drink - alcohol - the bathroom was not such a place. Pristine peach marble made up the walls and floor of the room, the ceiling painted white, and it smelled like blueberries. Her favorite berry. In front of her, in the far end of the square room, stood a porcelain white bathtub with a shower. Beside the bathtub was a small row of cabinets and on the third one there was a squeaky clean washbasin with a mirror hanging on the wall above it. Opposite that stood the, just as white and spotless, toilet. Above it there was a clock which read 5.30. Marion couldn't remember the last time she had wakened so early.
The small bathroom reminded her of the one at her house, only hers was slightly larger. The thought of her home saddened her.
Marion closed the door behind her, locking it and testing said locking twice for good measure. She wriggled out of her clothes, all of them as dirty as she'd ever seen them, and took off the red wristwatch, which still did not seem to work, throwing it all on a heap on the floor. Maybe she could ask the innkeeper, weather that was Cassis or someone else, if she could wash them. The clock however she did not know what to do with. It was supposed to have been waterproof.
The silver necklace she wore, with the circular locket, she laid upon the cabinet beside the tub. She was glad that had not been a thing she lost in the near drowning. It was the only thing, along with a double which was Tereza's, she owned from her biological parents, and though she wasn't specifically interested in who they were, nor why they had given their children the lockets and then abandoned them at a beach, she still thought it one of her most prized possessions. That and the words written within it; "As a bird flies, so does it's children".
Marion turned the knob on the bath faucet and let the hot water flow into the tub. When it had become about half full Marion stepped in - hissing as the scalding water burned her cold skin. She scrubbed herself clean from yesterday's dirt and grime with a soap she found by the side of the tub and carefully cleaned her feet from blisters and sand, all the while they bled. The dirt and grime and blood mixed with the water and turned it near brown. It looked awful.
For three hours she sat in the water, soaking, easing up her tense muscles. And when she finally finished Marion felt better than she'd thought possible. At least in this place.
As she let the dirty water drain Marion washed her dress and underwear in the washbasin - they were dirtier than she had been and it did not take long before the water turned murky and brown. She had to soap the clothes twice before the dirt was gone and her dress no longer smelled of seaweed, sand and sweat. Before she put her borrowed clothes on Marion found a hairdryer in one of the cupboards, the first one closest to the door, and she used that to dry her panties - which were the only pair she owned at the moment. The dress she hang over a towel rack beside the bathtub.
When Marion exited the bathroom she wore the clothes she'd come to borrow, her necklace was once again around her neck and she had braided her hair. Her clock she had decided to, for the time being, let lay in her dress' pocket. She had no use for it as it seemed broken, but didn't want to throw it away if it could be fixed. Marion had also bandaged her feet, though clumsily, as the bleeding had not yet stopped. She decided it would be a lesson for later times. Running around without shoes - where hers still by the dock at the Thames? - would only lead to pain. And bleeding.
Still, Marion felt better than she had in the last couple of hours, loads better.
Though she was very hungry.
Thinking with her stomach, Marion then decided to head towards the kitchen, the first door in the corridor, where now noises - shouts and clatter - could be heard from. The inn had awakened during her bath it seemed. When she opened the door she was greeted by the sight of a kitchen on fire. Or...it looked. The kitchen was by far not the most well kept she had seen, but by far the liveliest. Industry lights hung from the ceiling, casting blinding light on the marbled floor and all which stood on it. Ten chefs and/or cooks stormed back and forth between stations with food, utensils and other things she could not name in their hands. Transfixed in their own world as they prepared meals for the inn's guests. Whether breakfast, lunch or both Marion could not point out. Salmon was fried at the same time as oatmeal was baked. The stoves burned and the dishwasher washed. Everywhere before her Marion could hear something clink, see some sort of food be prepared or smell something mouthwatering.
As someone who had never been in a restaurant's kitchen before this was an extraordinary thing to witness for Marion.
"Hey, is the bread done?!", one of the cooks shouted from somewhere within the bustle.
"Yeah! But the cheese's rotting!", another yelled.
"Take the other one then, the one we used yesterday for the gratin!".
None of the men or women working in the kitchen had noticed Marion's entrance yet, which she deemed lucky - some of the employees looked rather...scary. But it was no wonder. Nothing was quiet, and everything made some sort of noise in the room. It was so loud in fact that even as she stood closest to the open door Marion could not hear, or simply did not notice, when someone approached her from behind.
"Bo!".
Marion screamed. And as through it were the trigger to a domino staple; the chef closest to her dropped the pan he'd been holding, one of the few women in the kitchen let out a shriek, another chef cursed, and the door on the other side of the room - Marion guessed lead to the bar area - slammed open. It would have been the funniest thing she'd seen had Marion not been frightened stiff.
What followed was brief silence - save the water which still hissed and the food which was still cooking - then the loud, feminine, laughter of the person behind Marion broke through.
Marion turned her head, and was greeted by the sight of the eccentric Cassis, howling in laughter at both her and the employees unfortunate surprise.
The older woman and , Marion suspected, owner of the inn looked nothing like she had last night. Instead of the carefully combed array of black hair she had when Marion ran into her, Cassis' hair this morning was in a disarray of tangles and knots. Sticking out everywhere. She wore a plain, red, button up pyjama with white cuffs, a necklace Marion hadn't seen yesterday around her neck (a golden chain with a small charm) and walked barefoot. That must have been the reason Marion hadn't heard the woman as she'd approached.
After a few moments Cassis ceased her laughing. But still smiled a cheshire smile, and her shoulders shook slightly.
"The - rats - boss! What the hell was that?!", the chef who had dropped the pan then asked. He looked as through he were a teen still, perhaps close to becoming an adult, and had a tribal tattoo on his neck, sticking out beneath the hem of his chef's uniform. The man glared at the black haired woman, though Marion couldn't help but to think that it wasn't very serious.
"Oh, man! You should have seen your faces!", Cassis chuckled and did a strange thing. She patted Marion on the head as though she were a dog.
While some of the cooks snickered along with the older woman, others then shook their heads and went back to work. One, a large man with a mustache, even slammed his knife down on the cutting board before him. Muttering angrily under his breath. Marion couldn't say she blamed him.
"That was mean...", Marion muttered, and sent a weak glare up at Cassis. She couldn't keep up her charade for long however and her frown soon blossomed into a smile. What else could she do? It was a harmless prank, and if Marion were to stay angry at the woman she should have stayed angry at Tereza whenever she had done the same. Marion never could.
"Who's the kid, Cass?", a chef standing by one of the larger stoves asked. He was, to put it bluntly, a dwarf, with a trimmed brown beard and squinting eyes.
Cassis smiled down at Marion, mischief glinting in her eyes. That was a look Marion hadn't seen the night before, nor had she acted as playful - kind even -, what had happened to the annoyed woman from last night?
"She's a stray I picked up last night", Cassis frowned and her eyebrows quirked. A questioning look overcame the older woman's face, and she averted her eyes to the white ceiling before once again looking at Marion. "...what is your name pup?".
Ah, introductions had been forgotten last night, and had she just called Marion "pup"?
"ehm...It's Marion, Marion Williams...ah, but Rion's okay too", Marion answered.
"Rion, huh? Sounds like something from West Blue...", Cassis mumbled, "You from there?".
Marion shook her head. She had never even heard of a place named so.
"No, I'm from London", she said.
The dwarf by the stove snorted, "That's a name of an island, right kid? Cass meant what sea you were from".
Sea? What did he mean sea? This dwarf was as strange as the man with the rough accent from yesterday. She wondered absently if the dwarf would also not know of the Thames, or even Great Britain as a whole, as the man from yesterday had. She wouldn't be surprised if it were so. The island (because as far as Marion knew it was one) just continued to become stranger and stranger.
"So, are you from here, or any of the other three seas?", Cassis asked and crouched to Marion's height. The older woman was smiling again, and looking at the ten year old with something akin to pity - though not quite. "You don't really look like someone who's been to the Grand Line".
There was a word Marion recognized, "the Grand Line". However she could not quite remember where she had heard it. Marion did not recall it being a real place. But perhaps a nickname for one?
Marion opted for playing the confused card when she answered, "I...uh...don't know? Around here I guess...".
Cassis frowned at Marion's answer. But seemed to pay it no further attention. Instead, Cassis patted Marion on the head as tough she were a dog, before standing once more. Stretching her arm and yawning all the while.
"Well, no use in thinking about that now. Let's just eat something", she said when her yawning had ceased.
"ah, okay", Marion replied.
Cassis then yelled at one of the cooks, the one with the tattoo on his throat, to bring them both some food. While Marion stood and waited, still by the door, Cassis walked up to one of the cupboards beside the entrance and brought out two glasses. Both of them she filled to the brim with water from the sink upon the cupboard beside her. Taking a large gulp from one of the glasses she walked back to Marion and handed the other to her. Marion immediately drained the whole thing.
"Thirsty aren't ya?", Cassis teased, but drained her own glass soon after.
Marion simply nodded, and walked over to the sink to fill her glass again.
"Oh, and if you don't mind", Cassis addressed Marion again, "I have a letter which needs to be delivered to the old guy outside town, Lugh, the one who sent you here yesterday? I was wondering if you would like to do the honors? I need it to be delivered as fast as possible, but neither I nor my dear employees have the time today".
Marion turned from the sink when her glass was full again and walked back to Cassis - who now had seated herself upon the counter beside the door, where the tattooed teenager had stood before, cutting carrots. Cassis' eyes were fixed on Marion's feet as she approached, and remained upon them when Marion had stopped.
"If your feet aren't too hurt that is...didn't you have any shoes on yesterday pup?", Cassis asked, but she appeared to not expect an answer from the ten year old, and her eyes then drifted to the approaching tattooed cook with two food filled plates in one hand and cutlery in the other. "Ah, here's our food, thanks Arima".
The tattooed teen, Arima, smiled and handed one of the plates, filled with scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon, to Cassis - along with a knife and a fork. The other plate, filled with much the same things, Arima gave to Marion. But not before commenting; "Here ya go kid, the best breakfast you'll ever have".
Marion took the plate (and was also given a spoon, a fork and a knife), and sat down on the, relatively clean, floor with her back to the cupboard opposite the one Cassis sat on. The food smelled mouthwatering. She filled the spoon with the scrambled eggs and stuffed it in her mouth.
It tasted divine.
Marion, as soon as she had chewed and swallowed the first bite, took another spoonful of the food, then another, and another. She had hardly noticed how hungry she was until the plate was before her, and soon she had eaten nearly all of the food she'd been given. All the while Cassis had long since eaten her share and was talking to Arima - who seemed proud due to how much Marion ate of (what she guessed was) his food.
"Told ya kid, the best you'll ever have", Arima spoke when Marion stood and gave the near empty plate back to him. She thought of washing and putting the plate away by herself - Ellen had always insisted she do so on her own - but figured she did not know where anything was in the kitchen.
"Maybe, I might find some I like better, but as of yet they're the best", Marion replied and grinned.
Arima laughed and addressed Cassis, "I like the kid. But as I was saying, room 32 is a mess, and the captain staying there wants to speak with ya".
Cassis frowned and looked to the ceiling again. It appeared she did that whenever she thought of something. She rubbed her temple, exasperated, and hopped down from the counter. She looked down at Marion once then back at Arima.
"Tell the bastard I'm on my way, I'm just gonna get the pup going then I'll deal with him", she said and crouched to Marion's height.
Arima nodded and walked, through the crowd of tinkering cooks, towards a door on the other side of the room which Marion could only guess lead to the bar and restaurant area she had seen the day before. He closed the door behind him just as Cassis reached inside one of her pyjama pants' pocket and took out a letter. Marion couldn't see an address written on it - jokingly, she amused the idea of this town not having any. Cassis held out the letter for Marion like an offering.
"So, can you do me this little favor?", she asked.
Marion thought on it. Did she want to see the strange man again? No, definitely not, Ellen had always claimed that mad people were best left alone - depending on how mad they were. But did she want to give something back to Cassis for helping her? Yes, she very much would like to do so. There seemed to be no police or military - save the mentioned marines - and Cassis had no obligation to neither give Marion shelter nor food. She had still done this.
Marion still wanted to head home as fast as possible however.
"I can do it, but I want to borrow a phone when I get back", Marion requested.
A puzzled expression blossomed on Cassis face.
"A what?", she asked.
Marion wanted to dump her head into some water. Maybe she had fallen into a coma after the drowning and instead was dreaming inside a hospital. Ugh, Marion thought, she hated hospitals ever since her sister's vanishing act. What kind of people did not know about a phone?
"A telephone? I...need to call my parents...", Marion tried again.
Cassis' frown deepened. She was staring at Marion with that mix of pity and amusement again. Did she think Marion was joking?
"I'm sorry, is that a nickname for a den den mushi?", Cassis asked, her tone uncertain.
Marion blanched. She really must have fallen into a coma, or maybe she was dead. Could Cassis and the man from yesterday too be delusional? Was this a disease on the island? Marion decided for the moment to let the matter go and maybe ask some of the other citizens and people in the town for answers. Though if everyone she talked to would have the same answer she would not know what to do. Marion nodded, slowly.
"Yes...um...well I'll give the letter to...", Marion said.
"Lugh, his name is Lugh Boyd, really smart man, good with children so you shouldn't have any problems with him", Cassis said and her smile was upon her lips again. Though she still appeared perplexed about Marion's words.
"Lugh, okay", Marion mumbled and accepted the letter. The man, smart? Marion didn't know if she could believe it. She stuffed the letter into her left pocket. Then Cassis stood up and stretched.
"Okay, so you can take the backdoor out the inn, just at the end of the hall past my room, and then you'll follow the small road down the cliff, bam! There the old man's door!", Cassis chuckled, "You would have to have the directional sense of a crab to miss it".
Marion nodded. She doubted the road would be very hard to find when she'd managed just good last night when it had been dark.
"So, it's a done deal, you get the letter to the old man, and you can borrow my den den?", Cassis said, and took a step towards the open door behind them.
"Yeah, sure", Marion said.
Cassis turned and started for the door Arima had exited through, but just as Marion was about to leave the kitchen as well Cassis turned back and called out, "Oh, and you should borrow a pair of my shoes, take the fluffy ones, it'll be good for your feet!".
Marion grinned. Where had the annoyed woman from yesterday gone?
"Yeah, sure!", Marion called back before she broke out in giggles.
#
Lugh Boyd sat on the flaying recliner outside of his house, looking over the waves lapping at the cliffs in front of him, with a smoking cigarette between his chapped lips and squeaking seagulls above his head. The sun shone brightly upon the island, and midday had just about passed. In his hand Lugh held a small crossbow loaded with bolts he fully intended to fire.
The middle aged man, with dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail, a slight burn on his neck, and his white t-shirt torn at the front, had decided upon his waking that morning, that damned be his reasons for it, he would murder the fuck out of the flying pests shitting on his roof that day - if it so earned him an audience in hell later in life.
He had been sitting upon the old recliner since daybreak, and while no hits upon the evasive birds had been made, he had earned himself a nasty stiffness he was sure would haunt him throughout the day. And night if he was unlucky. Not that he needed help with his inability to sleep at night. His restlessness during the days already did that for him. It was as though his body cried out for him to get back out into the sea.
Unfortunately his legs, now two peglegs, deemed that wish impossible.
Lugh pushed the safety button on the modified crossbow, for the fifth time that day, and aimed it on one of the seagulls. A bolt was automatically loaded into the flight groove. Focusing on his target the man let his pointer finger slide to the trigger.
Bang!
The bolt hit the target dead on. One of the screeching birds fell from the sky, letting out a final squawk, before plunging into the depths of the sea beneath the cliffs. Lugh felt like letting out a holler of victory, but refrained. Instead he let a smirk grace his lips as the rest of the white feathered pests, in panic, fled the area he deemed his. It reached from his house, all the way to the beginning of the forest. Which was an impressive size since there was the giant glade between the two.
Lugh arose from the chair, his bones groaning and his limbs - those that were left - numbing. He stumbled upon his wooden legs, and had to grip the house frame as to not fall over. This happened way too often since he'd lost his legs. Lugh cursed and straightened up, stretching his arms before lightly hitting his left pegleg against the grassy ground beneath him. It helped with the numbness. But just as he was about to head inside his house, to bring out a book to read for the remainder of the day, a loud knock reached his ears.
Damn ta hell it many visitors I get lately, Lugh thought. He pushed the safety button on the crossbow again, and watched the recently reloaded bolt shift into the holster attached to it. Though he had been using the weapon since his sailing years, Lugh couldn't stop marveling at the piece. The automatic crossbow, he hadn't thought the creation of one would be possible. His captain had of course proved him wrong - once again. And damn he missed that.
Another knock was heard, and Lugh stumbled around the corner of the house to greet his quest.
Standing by the door was the girl from last night, clad in a pair of shorts with suspenders and a grey t-shirt, with her feet bandaged and stuck into a pair of pink bunny slippers. The girl had red hair the color of blood - which he had not seen yesterday when it had been dark - and she'd braided it rather clumsily. She also had a small scar along her right upper arm. Wonder where she'd gotten it? She didn't seem to have lived through all too many hardships in his eyes. Then again the world was a dangerous place - Lugh knew that better than most. The girl was tapping her right foot against the gravel in front of his door, but it seemed to not be because of impatience as she was also humming calmly - a lullaby he knew all to well.
"Lass, what be ye doing here?", Lugh asked and stopped in his stumbling a few paces from the girl. Had she told him her name yesterday? Or not? Lugh couldn't remember since he'd anyway been half asleep during that time.
The girl turned to face Lugh, her expression one of surprise. Her eyes took in the no doubt rather intimidating man in front of her. Blue eyes lastly fixating on his peglegs.
"Oh! um...hi...Mr Lugh?", she said, and she looked back up at Lugh's face.
"Ahoy, strange little lass from yesterday", Lugh chuckled, the poor girl was nervous, frightened out of her skin, "Didn't ye want to return to yer parents? What 'r ye still doing here on 'tis borin' island?".
The girl frowned, her eyes glazing over in thought, and Lugh couldn't help but to notice how familiar the expression was. Much more how familiar she looked over all. Had they perhaps met sometime before? When he was out sailing? Did she come from a neighboring town?
"I...yes I wan't to go home...but...um...Cassis sent me here to give you this letter...she said it was important...", the girl said and her left hand reached into her left pocket, indeed pulling out a letter. She reached out her hand and offered him the letter.
Lugh took the parchment but did not open it yet.
"Ya got a name lass?", he instead asked.
"Yeah, I mean yes, of course...It's Rion", the girl mumbled, "well...actually Marion but Rion's what everyone else calls me so...".
That was a name he'd heard before. The girl couldn't be more than ten years old, at most, and the name, along with another...Terres? Tareza? Tereza! That was what his captain had opted for as names for her twins. What a laughable coincidence. That he would come over a lost girl with the same name, and relative looks, as his captain's daughter. Too bad the twins had died in an accident five years past, otherwise he might have found a reason to send for his captain again. Wherever she was hiding at the moment.
Lugh frowned, lost in thought. His captain - or former captain as it was - had disbanded their crew of pirates when she'd lost both her twin girls to an animal attack on her home island in the Grand Line. The most dangerous sea-lane in the world - he had warned that raising the girl's there would be a hit or miss mission, there would be no in between and that the captain was taking a huge risk. After the accident of his Captain's children he'd lost both his legs in a Marine raid - and thus his days on the sea had ended.
Lugh leaned himself against the wall of his house, just beside the door and the girl. Marion. Then he decided to open the letter.
The letter was written by Cassis Baymer alright. There was no mistaking the woman's hasty writing. With an awkward little greeting of 'Lugh, you need to see to this' Cassis had started the letter, and what followed where three crossed over sentences Lugh could not read. He scanned the letter quickly. Roughly reading through the rundown of things the beast in the forest had stolen, and the people it had killed.
The message of the letter was clear; If someone don't kill that beast soon, Monmouth was going to become a ghost town. Lugh grumbled. Cassis wanted him to kill it no doubt. She knew everyone else would charge the town for it - but him she could use without a single beli being spent, the witch of a woman.
"Um...Mr Lugh?", Marion asked and brought the middle aged man's attention to her again, "Can...can I go? I don't know if you want me to give Cassis something in return so...".
Lugh laughed and shook his head.
"Ye can be off lass, I be not gonna keep ye any longer", he said.
Marion nodded and started back toward the small town. Waving a hesitant 'goodbye' to Lugh before following his trampled up path again.
Lugh in turn shook his head and thoroughly read the letter again. It seemed he was forced to head out hunting this night. The middle aged man sighed. As though he hadn't been doing enough pest control for the day.
What a pain.
#
Monmouth was quiet when Marion walked into the town after her delivery. The streets were near empty, save a few odd cases who looked drunk, and the only real noise which could be heard in the area was the cries of the seagulls - annoying pests - and the chirping of the birds in the forest behind the inn. The waves lapping at the shore drowned out by the white feathered birds. It looked quite forlorn compared to the night before. As though it was sleeping - still as dead as she'd seen it this morning. Marion thought it had looked strange when she'd stood on top of the hill, ready to head inside of the inn again and ask after the phone. What kind of town slept during the day and was awake only at night?
She had then decided to sightsee for a while. Explore while the town was empty of people who scared her.
Marion walked through the town, looking mainly at the open, but empty, shops along the first of the two streets the town consisted of. She entered the bakery when she came across it - and was greeted kindly by the baker in charge of the place (she knew so because he told her). He was a chubby man with dark skin and a kind smile. Marion looked at the pastry and bread displayed by the counter, it all looked very tasty, but had to decline when the baker asked if she wanted to buy anything. Explaining that she didn't have any money due to her near drowning. The baker, upon hearing her story, gave Marion a sample of a cinnamon bun.
"Oh god thank you so much!", Marion said and smiled at the baker, "It looks very tasty!".
"Ah, it's no matter little miss! Shipwrecks are common, but always horrible, it's the least I can do for someone who has just lived through it", the baker said.
Marion hadn't claimed shipwreck when she'd told him of how she'd gotten to the island, but didn't know what else to say. That she had been drowning at the Thames? Would the baker even believe her? No one she had met on the island even knew of London - she'd even asked two of the chefs at the inn before she had gone and delivered the letter to Mr Lugh. But none knew of anything she mentioned and had instead looked at her with immense pity.
Marion thought however, maybe is she took another approach she could get some understandable answers.
"Say do you know of a place called the United Kingdom?", Marion asked and looked curiously at the baker.
"Can't say I have miss...that were you're from? Cause none if the islands around here are called that", the baker spoke sadly.
Marion frowned, but played it off as being puzzled when she faked a laugh and spoke, "Nah, it's a place in a book I've read, but it's supposed to be real, and I want to find it someday!".
The baker smiled and waved her off when Marion started for the door to the bakery with her cinnamon bun in hand.
"Have a good day little miss! And good luck with finding that place!", he called, and Marion waved back at him as she closed the door behind her.
Out on the street again, while savoring a bite of her cinnamon bun, Marion frowned as her head lost itself in thought while heading down further upon the street - the harbor and the vast sea beyond it soon opening up before her. The baker hadn't heard of her home either. Maybe she truly was dreaming? It would explain a lot of things. Like how vastly Cassis' character had changed over night. Though when she thought about it, Marion realized that it happened to both Brandt and Ellen quite often as well. Ellen or Brandt would come home after work - annoyed and grumpy - but after a night's sleep (and strange snores) either of the both would be happy in the morning.
But this whole island being a dream could at least explain why there were so many strangely dressed people everywhere, and why pirates still seemed to exist. Marion looked over a drunk person by one of the piers where the harbor started. Then again, it didn't explain why she was hurting this morning. Or yesterday. Nor how she could taste the deliciousness of the cinnamon bun in her hand. Nor the scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon she'd had this morning.
Marion rounded the corner of the first street in the town and started down the second one with a frown upon her lips. None of anything here made any sense. She was about to take another bite of the delicious cinnamon bun when she stumbled over a rouge rock in her way. She fell, the cinnamon bun slipping from her hands, and screeched.
But before Marion met the hard gravel beneath her feet with her face, a muscular arm came seemingly out of nowhere and saved her from the impact. Helping her straighten up and then patting her on the head. Well, that was strange.
"What do we have here?", a croaky voice spoke from beside her.
Winded, Marion turned her head and was met with the sight of three people, dressed every bit the classical pirate with sashes around their stomachs and swords at their hips. Her savior, a muscular man with a moustache and no shirt on (only a pair of tight fitting, worn, red pants), stood in front of his two companions and held a hand out to Marion. Almost like a gentleman - had it not been for the quite obvious sneer upon his face. The two companions, one tall and lanky the other fat and short, wore similar sneers.
The sight unnerved Marion.
"A birdie lost from her nest, ay?", her savior asked, or more like stated, and his companions chuckled.
"No, I am not lost...Mr...", Marion lied, the feeling of dread creeping up from her toes to her stomach, "I thank you for catching me though, I could have gotten a nasty bruise from the fall".
Marion faked a smile. Better be polite and not agitate, that was what Brandt always said should she ever end up in a uncomfortable position like this, then she was supposed to run. Run and never look back.
"Oh? Cause, by that necklace - it is silver right? - you would have nothing to to with 'tis island. They're dirt poor here!", her savior said, a chortle escaping his throat, "Can't even keep family heirlooms in their houses anymore!".
Marion blanched. Was he, they, going to rob her? It was just a necklace though, a small thing from her blood related parents, how much could one such thing be worth? Marion's body tensed, the muscles in her legs twitching as they prepared to flee. Should she do it now, or wait just a bit longer?
"You're a kid from some rich family on another island nearby aren't ya?", the man smiled, a cruel smile with promises of hurt and deceit, and gripped Maerion's jaw painfully, "I can see it in your eyes kid, you've never seen bloodshed, not a single death, yet everyone living in this god's forsaken town has. Nearly daily, why is that, huh?".
Marion wrenched herself loose from the man's grip and took of sprinting. Her feet, and the 'shoes' she wore protesting by either sending a spark of pain up her calf or the slippers nearly slipping off her feet. Behind her she heard the man call out to his companions to chase her, and shortly after she heard the sound of heavy footsteps in the dirt. The sound egged her on, and she quickened her pace. Marion tore through the empty street like a storm, her eyes drifting from side to side to see if there was anybody who could help her. But the sides of the street was just filled with drunks. She ran to the start of the hill leading to the inn, pushing her feet toward until she reached the front door.
But an arm wrapped itself around her stomach before she could grip the handle and open the door.
"C'mon little wench!", the arm's owner spoke.
Marion cared little for which of the criminals had gotten to her, she was trapped - and thus became an animal willing to do anything to regain freedom even if it meant harming the man, violence was a thing she condemned. She kicked and hit as the man held her against him, trying to limit her movement, she yelled - until the man placed his free hand over her mouth. Marion shoved her head back as forcefully as she could and smacked him right in the nose. In pain, the pursuer loosened his grip, and Marion wrestled herself free of his grip.
She ran off heading for the back door. But when she rounded the last corner of the house and could see both the intimidating forest rise before her like a hungry wolf, and the door which would lead her to safety, Marion also saw the man who had saved her from her fall and his fatter companion. The latter was panting terribly. It seemed her 'savior' was not completely stupid, at least aware of her only options if nothing else, and the bastard had the audacity to look smug about it. His yellowed teeth shining in the withering daylight as he grinned when she came ever closer. Her feet were still carrying her forward. Then for a moment, a second take or give, Marion halted, defeat and fear washing over her. Like a deer caught in headlights. But when she heard footsteps behind her, as well as saw the duo before her begin to move, she gave flight and sprinted off into the forest. No second thoughts given.
#
I have just 'bout had it wit' visitors this day - Lugh thunderously thought when, for the second time that day - and that was already enough - a knock came from his door.
The middle aged man had just about started the preparations for his dinner, fried seagull meat with rice, when he'd been interrupted. With an angry growl, and a glare out the nearest window, he threw the washcloth he'd been using to clean his one frying pan into the kitchen sink before him. He stalked out of the small kitchen, heavy footsteps resounding in his small house - the house had but two rooms, kitchen, living room and bedroom in one area and but his bathroom had it's own walls and floor -, and forth to the door. Much like the night before, Lugh threw open the upper part of his stable door with a 'slam!'. He was already going to head out to hunt the beast soon. Enough interruptions were enough.
Before Lugh, clad in a training overall and with a lantern at hands, stood Cassis Beauman. Olive eyes staring at him in guilt. Her otherwise neatly combed hair was in a disarray and she was panting as though she'd been running a marathon.
"Lugh...oh by the devils of the seas", Cassis heaved out.
"Cassis, be ye alright?", Lugh asked, perplexed, a single graying brow arched. Cassis was not often troubled, strong willed and stubborn by nature, he had known her since she were a kid. Or teen. He couldn't quite recall. She had convinced the towns folk to let him stay on the island however, and for that he owed her greatly. It was the reason he could never say no to her - whatever it might entail.
"The pup, Rion...the kid you sent to me yesterday, damn, I shouldn't have let her out of my sight!", Cassis swore, "The pirates from yesterday, I forgot what they called themselves, they found the pup when she got back from delivering your letter and...fuck...I don't know why but they chased after her!".
Lugh felt guilt roar to life deep within his stomach though it wasn't his to feel. Hadn't he warned the kid last night? Monmouth was a pirates town. There were incidents concerning pirates happening every day, all year. Even the nearby Marine base often dared not come close to the island in fear of being overrun by the pure number of pirates who both visited and lived here. The whole island was named after a pirate for mercy's sake! Had no one told the kid that? Had no one cared to warn her?
"That fool ran right into th' hands 'o them scumbags?", Lugh sighed. He knew what would come next. Whether he wanted it or not. The look in the woman's eyes gave it all away. As if hunting the beast wasn't enough now. He hadn't even gotten to eat, and his stomach was already showing signs of protest.
"Not exactly…", Cassis mumbled.
Lugh furrowed his eyebrows. What then?
"What do ye mean?", Lugh huffed.
"Well, she's a smart lil pup if nothing else….", Cassis sighed and rubbed her temple with the hand not holding the lantern, "before those bastards managed to get ahold of her she ran into the forest. Beast be damned apparently. Both I and Arima saw the whole thing from the second floor when we cleaned up after a customer...I was too slow to get down to her before it all happened".
"And now you want me to go after her…", Lugh growled. The kid was bad news. A single day on the island and she'd already caused more trouble than Cassis had during her whole life.
Lugh was loathe to admit that the kid reminded him too much of his former Captain - everything she had done, looked like, was a mirror of his captain, the gods were mocking him.
"Well you are hunting the beast in the forest, and those idiot pirates ran right after her into the forest as well. You are the strongest pirate I know Lugh, and that pup is just home sick. She's scared", Cassis spoke, firmly, and glanced at the forest.
"Former Pirate", Lugh growled.
But instead of withdrawing from Cassis request, as he ought to do - the kid had gotten herself into that screwery there, right? - he gripped his crossbow from it's place on the drawer beside the door and swung open the rest of the stable door. Cassis moved away just in time not to get hit by the thing. The sun was setting, he saw when he stepped out of the house, a bloody red color dancing in the sky to the west. And the seagulls, skypests, had quieted. Perhaps due to Lugh's slaughter of them. It was near silence had it not been for the rustle of leaves coming from the forest.
"Fine, I gunna do as ye request, ye damned witch of a woman", Lugh growled.
Lugh closed his stable door and locked it with a key hanging on a chain around his neck. A former crew mate had crafted that one.
"...just don't be too harsh on the kid, she's young Lugh. And she reminds me a bit of what you have told me about Captain Alcippe", Cassis said and Lugh could practically see her smile, though his back was turned on her.
"Don't speak her moniker aroun' me", Lugh snarled and started into the glade in front of the forest. His peglegs forcing him to limp.
He could hear Cassis sigh somewhere behind him, the sound loud in the silence, but ignored her annoyance. He knew her opinion on his former Captain. She had stated it too many times for him to ever forget it, or forgive himself for not having thought the same when he'd said his goodbyes to the Cap'n. 'Yer fuckin betrayin the crew ere Cap'n!', that was what he'd said upon their farewell, and she'd just lost her kids.
And it all because he'd been jealous. What a piece of work he was.
When the glade ended, and the grass beneath his peglegs turned to moss, Lugh took of in a half sprint. He would find the child, fast, kill the beast, then he would be allowed to return to his daily routine of brooding about his past - and finally eat his supper.
#
Marion reeled and plunged into the thick vegetation of yet another gathering of trees. Throwing herself past trunks as thick as cars, with her heart pounding loudly in her ears and her feet throbbing. Ignoring the branches clawing at her exposed skin and face. Though her small frame and quick maneuvering within the forest's terrain had given her some leverage in the chase, children were naturally more agile than adults after all, Marion could still hear the sounds of branches snapping as the criminals hunted her footsteps. The forest was thick and old, and horrendously dark with only the occasional beam of sunset light forcing itself through the trees crowns. The terrain like a ocean to get lost in. A vast sea of roots, moss and stone when you had no map to guide you and no sky to look up upon.
It was nauseating both to Marion's eyes and mind. She couldn't stand forests, too easy to get lost in, and the adamant pirates clouded her mind with fear.
It came as no surprise then when she lurched, her upper body toppling as her foot caught in a root she had not seen, and fell down a hill covered in wet leaves. She slid awkwardly, trying to get a footing, but slammed her head against a stump. Marion whimpered at the impact, white hot pain exploding behind her eyes. Her vision swam.
Not a moment later Marion heard her pursuers run past her.
Marion lay at the bottom of the hill against a hollowed out tree, cradling her head while the pain racked through her. She groaned, her mouth against the ground, but the sound came out as a sob. Thick wetness she could only guess was blood drenched her fingers, slickening her hair and running down her temple to her throat. Marion let out a ragged breath and shut her eyes.
A scream pierced through the air just as some of the last rays of daylight forced itself through the forests leaves.
Marion stilled.
The scream had come from the direction her pursuers had run off to - if her head was not completely delusional. The ten year old opened her eyes carefully, as though whatever had brought on the scream would be before her when she did, but she saw only leaves and moss. A bird chirped somewhere not too far from her form. The leaves rustled. Then another scream followed. Marion shut her eyes again and curled in on herself. Trying to make her form as small as possible. The feat was not hard for someone who already was quite petite. Her breath hitched when a third scream reached her ears.
Marion lay still in in her curled up position in what felt like hours. Breathing as slowly and quietly as she could while listening in on her surroundings. Tears fell from her eyes all the while, but she did not allow herself the luxury of crying. The sobs could attract the criminals. Though she knew not if they were what she was to be most worried about.
She lay, dampening her clothes and hair, upon the moss and grass until the sound of a branch snapping made her twitch and her breath caught in her throat. Was it an animal? The criminals? A monster?
"Shh, lass, 'tis just me", Lugh whispered.
Marion snapped up as though a bolt of lightning had hit her. Her head lifting from the moss and her back arching as she scrambled back against the hollowed out tree. The wound on her head protested the movement and she cried out in pain.
Lugh stood by the side of the tree, crossbow over his shoulder and dreads pulled back in a ponytail. He wore the same clothes as this morning, the shirt he wore was moist in sweat, and she wondered had he run all the way there? Or she had accidentally run closer to his house than she'd thought. Marion guessed it was the latter - running with peglegs couldn't be easy.
"Took a nasty fall ay?", Lugh asked and sat down by her side.
He gripped her jaw and moved her head to the side. Inspecting her wound with his free hand while Marion shook. She had finally let herself cry, and did so with loud sobs and wails. Lugh prodded the wound, moving his fingers along her skull with precise motion.
"Aye, ye might 'ave a concussion, a light one, not be left untreated however…", Lugh spoke and removed his hands from her head.
Was he a doctor? Or did he simply know such things? Did this have something to do with his legs? Had he learned of such things when he'd lost them? The questions raced though her head as though they were trying to drown out the other ones - the ones that threatened her whole world?
"I just wanna go home", Marion wailed. She was tired of this place and it's strange people and culture. She wanted her bed. She wanted her Ellen and her Brandt . She wanted her London. She did not want to be here where pirates still existed, where people chased her, or where the maps were strange. "I wanna go home to L-london, to my bed, I want my Ellen".
Lugh sighed, a hushed thing compared to Marion's cries, before he replied to the best of his extent, "I get tha' lassie, I really do, but thin' be, I've never heard 'o that place".
Marion's retort was an angered howl which could have wakened a dead man from his grave, "It's the fucking captital of Britain! It's the largest city in Europe! But no one here seems to know it! It's like it doesn't exist!".
"Could ye be quiet lassie! Were not th' only thin's in tis forest!", Lugh bellowed right back.
Marion became silent, save several random sobs, but still shook a fair amount. Lugh however seemed to listen. For what Marion did not know, nor did she particularly care.
For about a minute Lugh listened on the forest for any signs of life, a branch snapping, leaves crunching, the snarling of an animal, but he did not hear anything. Had daylight still been shining through the tightly packed trees Lugh might have considered looking about as well. The forest was too thick to see through. Lugh sighed, again, and addressed Marion, looking straight into her eyes with a serious glare.
"Look, lassie, thar be no place called any 'o them thin's, 'n I be not speakin' from inexperiance. Bin sailing a lot, 'n I own a lot 'o maps. Thar be no London, no Britin 'n no Urop. Neither in East, West, North or South Blue. I haven't even heard 'o any 'o them places in th' grand line", his expression turned somber, "Wherever ye think ye're from 'tis not here, in 'tis four seas at least".
Marion whimpered. It was mad but there was a sincerity in Lugh's eyes - and could she doubt all the people she'd asked? It was crazy, had she truly died? Was this the afterlife? Or had she stumbled upon a completely different world? Even the thought made her want to hurl. This shattered everything she had ever thought she knew about the world.
"You're lying, you have to be, how could I have ended up here otherwise? This, this -", Marion whimpered.
"I be sorry lass, but no", Lugh condoled.
Marion hiccuped as more tears fell from her eyes.
"Whar did ye get that lass?", Lugh asked suddenly.
Marion looked at the man through a thick layer of wetness. Where had she gotten what? She looked at his eyes, they were fastened on something...beneath her chin? Her throat? Marion glanced down and saw her necklace reflect whatever little light was left in the forest. Her necklace? Except the neck-hole of her t'shirt - which had become muddy - that was the only thing the man could have meant.
"...th-that's", Marion
"Let me spy that", Lugh said and gripped the locket. He turned and twisted it, then opened it. This struck Marion as odd, seeing as it had taken hours for her to simply find the latch the first time she'd opened it.
"Hey! That's m-mine! My mom and dad gave it to me!", she yelled through another hiccup.
Lugh's eyes widened, his brows furrowing - and was that tears gathering in his eyes? He stared intently on the opened locket, his eyes following the tiny text, and then closed the small thing again. His hand let go of the locked and it swung back to it's place at the middle of her chest. The silver felt cool against her skin. Marion quirked a red brow in question. What had just happened? She sniveled.
"Lass...", Lugh's voice sounded pained as he spoke, "do ye ave a sister?".
"...Yes...", Marion mumbled, "why?".
"Oh, by the devils of the sea...", Lugh massages his temple, brows furrowed still, "er moniker might not be Tereza?".
Marion's breath caught in her throat, "H-how do you know?".
"Tha seas be damned", Lugh cursed.
The tree's leaves rustled in a wind that blew through the forest. Chilling Marion a tad though she paid it no mind. Lugh knew of Tereza? How was that possible? Marion's gaze was fixated on the man in front of her. He looked panicked - his eyes wide and watering. How did he know of her sister?
"How do you know of her?!", Marion screamed. If it concerned her sister, Marion was damned to let it slide. She let out a growl.
"I knew ye parents, lass", Lugh stated, his pained eyes fixating on her own.
Marion's eyes widened. What?
"...", Marion had no words to answer that. How could she? Her parents? They were supposed to be dead, they had left Marion and Tereza on the streets when they'd been four, scared and crying. While she couldn't remember how the two had ended up on the streets of London, Ellen and Brandt constantly said that that was how they had found the sisters. And after many hours, days, of searching through police registers and negotiations Ellen and Brandt had been allowed to adopt the twins. This was what Marion had been told all her life as of yet.
The claim that her parents, her real parents, came from this strange place - a completely different world if she were to believe all she had seen and heard - was absurd. Then again her whole situation was absurd.
"...how?", she whispered.
"...that necklace, that 'n 'tis twin...a bucko 'o mine 'n me made it when ye were two", Lugh started, "ye, yer sister 'n yer mother visited here 'n we gave it to ye as a birthday present...but I'd never thought I'd spy it again".
"Why?", Marion whispered. She couldn't believe it. If he was telling the truth, what did this mean?
"Because ye 'n yer sister died", Lugh said, a tear fell from his right eye, "...or so we thought, it seems...jus before ye a pair turned four, ye ate a devils fruit named the 'wormhole fruit', but ye 'n yer sister was attacked by a island's beast on yer home island - then we ne'er saw ye again...".
"What's that? That fruit?", Marion asked.
She was starting to believe Lugh - however ridiculous the story was. She hiccuped again.
Beside that where had she heard the name 'devils fruit' before?
"A devils fruit...'tis a fruit cursed, it may give ye the ability to do extraordinary things but ye will nay be able th' swim for the rest of yer life, ya'll sink as a rock", Lugh answered with a sigh.
"...I can't swim...", Marion stated, bewildered.
"Ye, I know", Lugh said.
"Then...then...but what if you're wrong?!", Marion shrieked, denial clinging to her like a leaf to a tree in autumn.
"Ye look exactly like yer mother, lass, yer name's th' one she chose, yer sister's name is Tereza, 'n ye have th' necklace I made, ye can't swim 'n ye suddenly turn up without 'splanation - what mo' proof do ye need?", Lugh spoke harshly, "th' 'wormhole fruit' 's supposed ability 's disappearin from one place 'n appearin in another".
Marion's head swam. He was right, Lugh. Everything he was saying was adding up, and without being acquainted with her mother how would he know these things? Marion was about to ask Lugh another question, then who are my parents? When a branch snapped to their left. Lugh's head reeled at the sound. His eyes skimming the dark surroundings. Glaring. Marion stared into the darkness as well - and there was a slight movement. A shadow, big as a boat, moved behind a tree. What followed was the sound of a voice, light and beautiful, singing into the quiet forest.
"Oh, ho, sailor, won't you come and play?".
The song brought a chill down her spine. Though it had no reason to. The hair upon her back stood on end, and her body stiffened. That was a woman's voice, right? Marion stared at the shadow moving by the trees. It didn't sound like it came from it. Though Marion was unsure. The voice was an echo from every side of the forest. And it made her head hurt more than it already did. Pounding like a raging bull.
Lugh hopped from his position on the ground and drew his crossbow. He swayed on his peglegs, the damn things ruining his balance, and glared at the shadow.
"So the beast has finally come out of hiding...", Lugh spoke. Marion's eyes stared at the peg-legged man in fright.
Beast?
Her eyes started back at the moving shadow, her behind pressed firmly against the hollowed tree, just as it stepped within sight of the duo.
Before them, rising out of the darkness, came a large brown dog, or was it a wolf? It's ears were sharp and pressed back threateningly, fur dirty and unkempt. It was snarling at them, teeth glinting in the gloom, and it's red eyes glared at the two humans with hunger. Marion did a double take. Red eyes?, she thought, that can't be right. But even as Marion shut her eyes, forcing them as tight as she could, and opened them again to see if the beast was still there - she was met by large, fully, red eyes. It looked as though the beast was bleeding behind it's irises and whites.
"Ah, sailor sweet, let me play, I am so bored today, let me taste the skin of your bones and watch you as spray, red, red, red today", the song ended and the beast roared.
Marion whimpered. Her body was too stiff, mind too scared, to move or even let the thought of running into her head. She shook again. Her shoulders twitching like a broken spring. In front of her the beast pounced just as Lugh did, it's jaw wide and taunting with the prospect of death, and Lugh with his crossbow aimed. What did the man think he would be able to do against the beast? Just when the beast's large jaw was about to clamp shut around Lugh's middle however he kicked the beast with his right pegleg just below it's eye. The force of the kick sent the beast flying into a nearby tree. Breaking it in half. Marion gaped.
"Tis be th' end line fer ye damn Crocotta", Lugh growled and landed wobbly by the hollowed tree. He had to grip the bark behind him to steady himself.
The beast snarled again, and with the scream of a woman echoing through the forest, it lunged against Lugh again. Yet it didn't even come an arm's reach close to the man before two bolts, fired in quick succession, pierced it's skull and splattered it's blood upon the forest floor. The beast fell to the ground with a loud crash. It sounded like thunder to Marion's ears.
She couldn't believe it. Lugh, a peg-legged man, had slain a beast as large as a medium sized boat - easily! Marion's eyes shifted from the ginormous unmoving body not far from her own quivering one, to Lugh. He was panting and his hand which did not hold the crossbow was doing something with one of his peg legs. Perhaps adjusting it? She was too stunned to care to be honest. That was both the most exhilarating and the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. Save watching her sister vanish into thin air. Marion let out a breath she did not know she had been holding.
"Ye alright lass?", Lugh spoke and started to walk towards the large body before him. He lightly kicked the head of it when he came close enough, and pulled out one of the bolts from it's head. Then he did the same to the other.
"I...I...w-what was t-that?", Marion whimpered, her shoulders growing slack.
"A Crocotta, mix between lion, wolf 'n a dog, can talk fer some reason 'n likes human meat. No doubt ate them pirates who were chasing ye earlier", he stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. All the while cleaning the two bloodied, and surprisingly not broken, bolts he'd shot to kill the supposed Crocotta.
"I-It ate them...?", Marion paled. That was what the screams had been? And the singing that had been the beast too? That was not possible - though she had been faced with a lot of such things in the last day.
"Yeah, ye didn't 'ave these thins where ye ended up, huh?", Lugh said and wobbled back to her side, pocketing the bolts in the holster attached to the crossbow.
"N-No...I-I've never seen anything like it", Marion replied.
"Well, lass, ye will be seein a lot more o' these kinds o' things if ye want to meet yer mother", Lugh grumbled and reached out his free hand to her. She reluctantly took it and with a helping tug on Lugh's part she managed to stand up.
Until her knees buckled and she fell against the tree trunk again.
"Ah, hahaha", she laughed pathetically, "I can't feel my legs...".
Lugh sighed and gritted out, "Blood loss 'n a light concussion, right be ye, get on me back 'n I'll bring ye back to me hut, 's not far from 'ere".
"B-but your legs...you shouldn't...", Marion moaned.
"Me legs 'ave taken worse than a 60 pound lass", he jeered.
Marion nodded, and when Lugh half crouched, half sat, she climbed onto his back. Swinging her arms around his throat and encircling his waist with her legs. The situation was oddly reminiscent of how Brandt usually carried her to bed. Lugh stood and shifted slightly, readjusting Marion's position, before he headed up the hill she had fallen down. He was careful not to slip upon any of the leaves or the moss.
All the while Lugh walked through the forest, Marion was lost in her own thoughts. The fact that she had family in this...could she call it a world? There was no other word for it in her vocabulary, universe perhaps but it just sounded too not-right. She liked world better. Maybe she could find her family then, as Lugh had thought she might want to do. And maybe that was what happened to Reza eleven months ago? If Lugh was correct, and Marion did have this devils fruit power of disappearing from one place and appearing in another, perhaps that was indeed what had happened to Reza during the crash. Maybe Reza was lost in this world? Perhaps even searching for their parents.
Marion did not think about what could have happened did she run across a beast such as the Crocotta.
"Hey, who are my parents?", Marion then finally asked when she had decided what she wanted to do.
"Yer mother, she be th' Captain Alcippe Kriz, of th' Voltage Pirates", Lugh answered while breathing heavily, a chuckle escaping his throat.
"She's a pirate?", Marion balked, Lugh nodded and his stubble tickled her arms. Perhaps pirates were better in this world. Hadn't Cassis mentioned Lugh being a pirate? And he was kind, if a bit unused to kids. Marion found herself not being too disturbed by the thought of her blood related mother being one. "and my dad?", she asked.
"Pirate too", was Lugh's simple answer.
Marion wanted more than that though.
"And his name is?".
"Lass, yer father was not th' best scurvy dog I've met, yer be better off focusing on yer mother", Lugh growled and she could feel him tense. Had her father done something against Lugh? There was distaste in his words and that did not sit well with Marion.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know", Marion said and pressed her forehead to Lugh's back, "did he do something to you? Or my mother?".
"Ye, he did", Lugh replied.
"I'm sorry", Marion mumbled.
"'S not yer fault, lass, don't be goin around apologizing now, but if ye want to find yer mother, yer most likely gonna find im on th' way", Lugh spoke and readjusted Marion again.
The forest had become slightly less dense since Lugh had started his trek. A small amount of light, even if it was only moon and star light, forcing itself through the crowns of the trees as well as the space between the trees. They were nearing the end of the forest.
"You're still not gonna tell me his name, huh?", Marion muttered.
"Sorry, lass", Lugh laughed.
Marion pouted. Even if her father was a bad man she wanted to know at least his name - at most what he looked like, what he liked to eat, how old he was and how much he missed her and Reza. She wanted to know these things about her mother too but she had the feeling Lugh would be more accommodating with that topic. Besides, Marion thought, our dad can't be too bad if me and Reza turned out okay.
"Do you think Reza's here too?", Marion finally asked Lugh after a long time of contemplation.
"Probably, I'd say", Lugh grunted and climbed over a rock, "Did ye use yer powers with 'er last ye saw 'er?".
"I think so...", Marion mumbled.
"Than I'd guess so".
Marion yawned, her eyelids were starting to become heavy, and she could feel sleep crawling up upon her. But she didn't want to sleep just yet. She still had so many questions to ask Lugh. About this world and her family, and especially about these 'devil fruits'.
"Hey, Lugh, I wanna find them all, my family...", Marion mumbled before she fell asleep on the former pirate's back.
A/N: So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Review and tell me! :)
Next time we'll be skipping seven years to when Marion is eighteen, (the chapter you just read takes place a few days before her birthday which is why she is still ten), and a certain Straw hat wearing pirate will be visiting the small island.