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I glare at the man currently crouched in a corner under my boot. "What do you mean you think you saw a girl like that, it is either you did or you didn't, so which is it?" I seethe. I was asked to look after Azami, I promised. I made a promise to protect her.
"A girl with pink hair did come here, but she was unconscious." The man says covering his head with his arms. "I didn't see her face, but Lord Charles comes home with girls like that often."
"Zoro, that's enough." I hear Sanji call from behind me. "We can check out this Lord Charles guy and if he has Azami we'll get her."
Lifting my foot off the guy I turn, stuffing my hands in my pockets. I can't get the look Azami had on her face out of my head. I head back to the table where Luffy and the others are seated. Sanji follows behind me silently, smoking as usual.
"Did you find anything out?" Nami asks looking at a map of the island we've docked at. Nami in particular is determined to find Azami. Azami had pushed her out of the way; Azami gave herself up so that Nami wouldn't be taken.
Taking my seat I let Sanji handle explaining it, I have too much going through my head. Her face flashes through my mind again. The terrified look on her face, she'd look as though she was pleading for me to save her, to get her out of the thing that had grabbed her. The claw that grabbed her was made out of kairoseki and she was pulled overboard into the water on top of that.
"Robin, Usopp, Sanji-kun and I will head to the castle to see if we can get some more information. Zoro, Luffy and Chopper wait here." Nami says, looking up I glance at her and shake my head. "Zoro, we can figure out that to do next. We need to get information; we need to know she is there before we just go barging in."
"Azami is my responsibility. Her Uncle asked me to make sure she's okay." I argue; I'm angry with myself, angry that I couldn't get her out of that claw, angry that she had that look on her face and I couldn't save her in time. "I'm going to save her."
Chopper has a worried face. "Azami suffered a panic attack the first night she stayed on the ship, I'm worried she'll have gone into complete shock."
"It'll happen after she's safe." I say glancing down at my drink, I'm not sure how I know, but I'm positive Azami will hold herself together until she's back on Merry.
"You can't know that!" Nami urges glaring at me. "We'll get her back, but we have to do it carefully."
Robin leans forward from her spot at the other end of the table. "I agree with Kenshi-san, Azami-san's first instinct is going to be to shut that part of her down until she is safe." Robin's probably talked to Azami more than the rest of us, though Azami isn't particularly personal about anything; Robin is good at judging some's actions. "We can assume that whoever abducted her will have kairoseki handcuffs or cell, we can also assume that she isn't in Marine custody."
"What difference does that make?" Chopper asks quietly, still worried about the pink-haired girl. Something about Azami reminds me of Chopper a bit, same for Robin. She's a little but like both of them.
"It's what will separate her from being panicked and unresponsive or from able to do something. When we were escaping the island that had the Marines attacking suddenly she shut down. It was completely different from the way she had herself composed when we were training. She'll be on her toes; her fighting style doesn't rely on her devil fruit. Azami's fighting style isn't something she just developed half-assed either, she's not just well trained, she's experienced." I state. When Azami had her hands on my head, they were poised to snap my neck, though I have a feeling that's just her preferred way, quick. "She could have easily killed me when we were practicing." I tell them dryly.
"She'll get a feel for the situation, collect information, make a plan and then go into action." Robin says after letting what I said sink in.
"How are you so sure?" Usopp asks in his usual shaky voice.
Robin glances at him and blinks; she doesn't say anything for a moment. But when she does, it is more or less is what I expected for her to say. "It's what I would do." With that said, the only things said next are that Luffy, Chopper and I are to stay in town while the others gather information on this Lord Charles guy, and try to poke around his castle to see if Azami is there.
…
"My lady, you need to return to your room." Camila says ushering me out of the library. I stare at her as I slip around and continue to browse through the collection of books. "Your ladyship, we've been asked to have you dressed for dinner."
"Dinner is hours away." I tell the girl as I'm dragged out of the room, my suspicion is that something is going on; there are several more guards other than Damion escorting me from the first floor's library and back up to the tower. "What's going on?" I ask ripping my arm out of Camila's grip.
"Nothing for you to worry about." Damion answers in a terse tone, he's leading the way. "They'll be airing the corridors; you should put your hood on." He says glancing back at me, when I don't move to do so, Camila does this for me.
"I still don't understand why I have to be escorted by so many people." I say in a huffed tone, a degree or two louder than I would normally say something, I suppose it's on intuition, but I have the feeling that someone showed up unexpected, someone I'm not supposed to see or have the chance to see, the same going for any visitor.
"Your Grace, it's to block any chilly winds." Camila lies as we walk down the halls, and as Damion said, they appear to be airing the corridors out.
I let out a loud sigh as we walk down the hall, glancing up at the tapestries and paintings lining the wall. I take note that we're taking a very long way to get to the lift, if I remember correctly it's only a short walk going by the entrance which is closer to the library than the route we're taking currently.
By the time we're in the tower, Camila and I locked into the room to prepare me for dinner, I'm already planning on escaping. I watch from the bed as Camila pulls out a blood red dress, with black accents, varying shades of black ruffles for the rather revealing dress. Camila holds it up to me; there are also ribbons and specs of gold dusted on one of the black pieces of fabric. While the back is high up, the front of the dress is rather scandalous, with cut outs and hardly anything on the chest, but then again I'm not exactly busty either.
"We'll need to get this fitted for you, Your Grace." She says placing it on the bed, along with a pair of sheer red tights, the same color as the dress; she pulls out a pair of dusty gold shoes that match the golden parts of the dress.
"You're kidding me, what's the big idea behind all this?" I ask feeling hesitant about wearing the clothes, "What exactly is this Lord expecting from tonight?!" I ask running my hand over the fabric. While soft and comfortable against my hand, it leads to too many assumptions.
"Your Grace is to stay here with My Lord," Camila says as though that makes sense. When I shake my head her eyes narrow at me. "My Lord has chosen you to remain by his side."
The thought doesn't sit well, and I'm still not sure what exactly Camila can do, slipping one pair of tights off in exchange for the other, and then changing with my back towards the wall for the dress, it fitting me rather well. It hugs against me tightly, the soft material flows well and is easy to move around in; though I have a feeling it'd tear easily. The dress is actually shorter than I thought, longer in the back and shorter in the front, which makes me weary of how high I'm willing to lift my legs.
Camila comes to my side and ties the ribbons; she then pulls the sleeves of the dress off my shoulders and tugs the lace around my chest tightly against me. "This way My Ladyship," She says leading me back towards the vanity to do my makeup.
Camila does her best to decrease how noticeable my scar and freckles are. My pale eyes are pronounced more by the smoky black eye shadow, and eyelashes she's putting on me. I decide to play obedient and wait until tonight on the way back to my room to make a break for it, though I still have the problem of the kairoseki bracelet to take care of.
"Camila can you pin my hair up?" I ask her, noticing two heart shaped hair sticks, the hearts are elaborate with designs cut out of them. "With those?" I request.
Camila nods her head, pulling a large part of my hair back, pinning them up. "Your grace will need to be careful with the cloak's hood if you wear it in the corridors." She says in quiet voice pulling them up and twisting pieces.
As she finishes my hair I hear the door open and then close, Liliana enters the room with the heeled shoes in hand. "Your Grace, dinner is served." She says helping Camila slip the shoes onto my feet.
Standing I let out a long sigh, this is going to be a long night.
Both girls help me into the cloak, Liliana does a succession of intricate knocks, each time we come and go they change. Meaning I have little chance of getting out once in this room, I noticed from the outside it isn't exactly the best plan to try scaling out through the window, the winds are strong at night, and the already chilled temperatures during the day only means it's colder at night.
I'll have to slip away, hide somewhere until I can sneak outside and through the gates, and that's assuming I can get out of the gates and all goes well. There wasn't a whole lot of information about island's animal and plant life in any of the books in the library.
Damion and several other guards escort me towards the dining hall; the walk is long and chilling. As I enter the dining room I see the longer table has been set, with two seats set across from each other, the two seats closest to the fire place.
"You look lovely Azami." This Lord Charles guy says smiling at me, I nod my head curtly; I still haven't been able to decide how dangerous he is. Taking the seat offered my back to the fireplace I stare at him warily as he waits for us to be served. "You look absolutely ravishing," He says with his hands forming a steeple shape.
"I feel less so," I answer dryly as I hold his gaze, my hands folded on my lap.
He frowns as two plates with covers are set in front of us, each being removed, glasses of wine poured before they leave. "And why is that my dear?" He asks with genuine concern, at least that's what it looks like.
Raising my wrist I point to the bracelet. "It is a rather draining piece of jewelry." I say letting out a long sigh. "Though I can understand the need to keep it on a prisoner," I tell him as I cut the chicken looking meat on my plate.
"Just until I'm sure you're not planning on leaving." He says dismissively. "You're no prisoner I assure you." Lord Charles says as he begins to eat as well. Everything he does he does to emulate how much power he has. I watch, deciding it'd be best to be quick about leaving, though if I have to I suppose I could live with the bracelet on my wrist.
"Well how disappointing." I say indifferently as I eat the food, though it is delicious, I'd prefer Sanji's. I'd rather have dinner with the others on Merry, even if I had only been there for a day. They'd made meals exciting and fun.
He chuckles at my comment, he watches me a moment and shakes his head. "You're rather tricky, aren't you?" He says wiping his mouth. "Just be assured, if I wanted you as a prisoner, you'd be in a cell and not in a lofty room in a tower."
"There are many kinds of cells," I state finishing the food, leaving the wine in the cup.
I sit and watch as he eats slowly, his serving was much larger than mine, a lot of it seems to be a bit psychological; the way he talks, trying to bait me with sweet words, feeding smaller portions to me, probably on account of how rude I'd been this morning.
Damion comes to the table, on Lord Charles' side, whispering something to him, him looking rather alarmed.
"Well handle it, kill them." Lord Charles says irritably as he stands. "Take her to the tower, no one gets to her." He says stalking off with several other guards coming to his side.
Damion turns to me, I'm already standing and heading around the table to look out the window, ignoring his objections, when I look down at the courtyard I see several people storming the place. Though I can't make out much from where I am, but I have a good feeling it's the Straw Hats. Turning I see Damion waiting for me to follow him, walking behind him I pull the hair sticks out of my hair. "This way Your Grace," He says leading me towards the lift. Walking close behind him I take the pin and stab him in the arm, he lets out a sharp yell, using the cloth from the cloak I wrap it over his face, Damion struggles against my hold, I hold him firmly and wait until he stops moving after a few minutes. Pulling the hair stick out I head off towards the stairs and walk down them quickly.
I glance out the door to see Lord Charles having the front of the door locked, though I suspect with it being a wooden door it won't matter much. Sanji, Zoro, or Luffy could easily take care of it.
I watch as another guard comes running towards Lord Charles; whatever is said visibly angers him. "Then find her, I don't care what you have to do, you find her and lock her up in her room." He yells furiously. Ah, someone found Damion, or was expecting Damion to have me in the tower already. "Azami isn't to leave these walls; I want her found and alive." He yells at several others, each scrambling to head off to search for me.
I'm not going to be able to hide here for long, besides I still have to watch out for Camila and Liliana, the pair isn't to be taken lightly, at least that's the feeling I get. A loud crash comes as half the door is sliced off the hinges and falls to the ground, a large crash caused from it, followed by very cold gusts of wind and snow being carried into the room.
"Where is she?" I hear Zoro ask in a low almost growl like voice, stepping out from the stairs, still cautious of the two girls supposedly my hand maidens I make my over towards them.
"Azami, you should be in your room." Lord Charles says; he's having a hard time hiding his anger when he notices me, Zoro looks at me and smirks. "Why don't you head there, while I handle these pirates?"
As several guards turn towards me, inching closer, I wait until one is in arms reach before I use the hair stick, jabbing it into his right shoulder, then other into his left, this sends a very clear message to the others. Ripping them out of his skin I doge him trying to knock me back, I jab him in both shoulders quickly and with a fair amount of force. His arms being useless now, do a succession of similar moves to several others, getting either their arms or legs.
By the time most of the men are on the ground either knocked out or unable to move Zoro has this Lord Charles guy between two of his swords. "I need this handcuff off me." I state walking over to Zoro.
The others are holding off a fair amount of men, each other them standing strong. "Well, where is that key?" Zoro asks him. When he doesn't get a reply, Zoro presses his swords a little deeper into his neck, giving him a shallow cut.
"I'd rather her suffer with it on." Lord Charles says maliciously.
Something in me snaps, it's like part of me steps out and watches as my body moves and does things I hate, things that only bring my past back up, things I am ashamed of. I knock Zoro's swords away from him, knocking him on the ground I use the hair pins to stab through his arm and into the ground. "I don't need my Devil Fruit to inflict punishment; I assure you I'm quite capable without it."
Withering in pain, but refusing to scream out in pain he glares at me. "I'd have kept you safe from them," I realize he doesn't mean the Straw Hats' he means someone else. "Do they know what it means that you 'deserted' your post?" He mocks me.
"Then you know just how twisted he had been, you know exactly what I can do to you, while keeping you conscious." I whisper back to him. "Where is the key?" I ask him one last time.
It isn't until Robin places her hand on my shoulder, bringing me up and holds the key in front of me; taking my other wrist in her hand she unlocks it.
I watch her aware that I hadn't been able to control who I was, I'd been Cherry. I'd turned into that monster again, and what is worse, everyone saw and heard. Misting up I fly out of the room and out into the courtyard, running out of there I pass through the gate that had been dropped and I continue to run.