A/N: The title of this fic comes from 'Black Water', from Of Monsters and Men.
HS: As I wrote this, it turned into something different from the other horror fics that I've written and that's all I'll say lol The mystery of the basement is here in this chapter! There was one other person on the beach – the entire scene will come out soon, because this turned into a rather short fic.
Fyoyaran: I love Kid. Have I mentioned that before? XD All these questions will *hopefully be answered soon!
jjcoop95: Thank you! :D
FOUR::
When the bricks finally fell, Luffy pushed through first. Kid wrangled the jackhammer back into the living room, removing his safety glasses. Peering through the hole made in the brick wall, Law was reluctant to actually venture down into the darkness to see what was down there. Luffy ran to the end of the stairwell and paused on the last step – the light from the kitchen didn't reach down here, and the darkness was a little overwhelming now that he was looking at it. He looked back at the others to see if they were coming, fingers tapping together nervously.
"Hurry up, you pussies," he said, hoping he sounded motivating. Law rolled his eyes at him while Kid pushed past him with a gruff noise. But once he reached the teen, he realized with a grimace that he could not see a thing. He looked over his shoulder at Law.
"Bring a flashlight down here! What are you hanging back for?"
"I'm waiting for whatever it is to kill you two first so I can safely flee," Law answered, looking for the spotlight Kid had used earlier to find the jackhammer.
"Too bad for you!"
"It ain't going to happen! We'll kill the ghost first!"
"We can't actually kill ghosts - !"
"We can try!"
"Ha ha ha! Kid, you're so ambitious!"
Sighing low with agitation, Law found the spotlight and tested it before reluctantly making his way back to the stairwell. He ended up hugging it to him as four grabby hands reached for it. Kid impatiently shoved him ahead of them in reaction and Law stumbled once his feet touched down onto concrete. Whipping the spotlight up, he saw that the basement was largely clear and empty. Kid and Luffy sounded disappointed as they joined him, the three of them huddled together as they followed the spotlight's focus within the slow sweep Law made with it. At the sight of a stacked pile of bricks, aged with time, set against the back wall, the three of them nearly wilted.
"No sign of dead bodies," Luffy said with a wheeze of relief.
"I…am kinda disappointed," Kid admitted, scrunching his face with the expression.
Law felt some of this as well, but he kept it to himself. He ventured in that direction, the other two continuing their close step after him. He ended up elbowing them both away for some space, both of them crying out with surprise and complaint. Kid shoved him back and Luffy gnawed on his arm, the three of them reacting with violence, spotlight dancing around the walls. It dropped to the floor, the cone of light catching a pair of legs sticking out from behind the pile of bricks. They pulled in slightly with a scratch of sound that miraculously caught the trio's attention.
Once they realized they were seeing black clothed legs with leather shoes, all of them stilled. The legs shifted again, pulling away out of sight. Kid jumped into Law's arms as he stumbled, Luffy freezing as a whoosh of air left them. The heavy stillness of the basement was suddenly suffocating – the silence was immense. Dust motes floated about in the spotlight's range as they waited for something to happen.
Law dropped Kid as he retrieved the spotlight, eyes rounded with horror. Luffy clung to his arm, jostling the device as Kid popped back to his feet. The three of them cautiously ventured over with bated breath. It took Law a few moments to find the courage to look over the pile – once they saw nothing back there, all three of them hurried back to the stairway. Luffy ended up pushing against both of them, preventing hasty escape.
"Wait!" he cried. "We can't be running from this thing! This is the reason why we're down here, right?"
"Why am I in the back?" Kid snarled, pushing them both aside to make his way to the safety of the stairway.
"It's not there anymore, what are we going to do to it if it's not there?" Law asked with gritted teeth, trying to push his way through. Luffy pushed against them with a mighty struggle. Kid snatched the spotlight from Law's grasp and blinded them both before whipping it from side to side, scanning the basement for any sign of the disappeared thing.
"We can't show it that we're scared," he growled, pushing them both back into the basement in front of him. "Who the hell are we? Why are we showing this thing we're scared of it? Don't be pussies!"
"Says the guy using us as a shield!" Luffy exclaimed, looking around himself with round eyes.
Law exhaled harshly, trying to settle his wildly racing heart. Once he saw that there was nothing in the basement, he could feel himself relaxing a little. Kid whipped the light around to focus on the pile of bricks, venturing over with heavy steps. Law thought that Kid was walking in this way to somehow scare the thing, like one would with a mouse or snake. Luffy pressed up against him and Law shoved him away again. There was a concrete mixer near the pile, along with some bags of product with old style lettering. Tools were abandoned near the wall. The dust layering over it suggested that none of it had been touched in years.
"The fact that something built a wall to prevent its own escape still bothers me," Kid whispered, finding the other entrance into the basement. He was fairly certain that the brick wall had been made from inside. "So…where is it? There should at least be a body here."
There wasn't a body print where the legs of the man had been sitting. Kid ended up with his nails to teeth, gnashing nervously as he whipped the spotlight around them once more. There was something shoved up against the back of the staircase, he saw, elbowing one of the men at his right. Law rubbed his nose as Luffy caught sight of the box caught in Kid's spotlight.
The three ventured over to investigate, their boots scraping noisily against the floor. Something in the house settled, causing a sound that made them all jump. Law caught Kid's jacket and Luffy's hair as both made to run. Kid jerked away while Luffy howled in response, rubbing his head.
"Let's find out what this is," Law said steadily. With the light shining upon it, he could see that the box was handmade – but gently detailed with some images burned into the wood. The name 'Sanji' was burned into the lid. Law felt no reaction to the name. He reached for the metal clasp but Luffy suddenly lunged forward and threw himself atop of it.
"We can't!" he declared, looking at the pair with determination.
"Luffy, move," Kid ordered.
"I wonder if this is a Pandora's Box sort of thing," Law mused. "We open it, we release complications of which cannot be reversed…"
"We can't open this. This was here for a reason. The old man put it down here to avoid anybody looking into it!" Luffy said, wrapping his arms around what he could. But he had to understand that this box was built to fit the width and build of the back of the staircase.
"Treasure," Kid whispered with awe. "Like savings! He obviously wanted us to have it! He told us to come down here!"
"Maybe it holds all the evidence to past crimes," Law muttered. "Perhaps he's the murderer."
"He's not a murderer!" Luffy exclaimed. He slapped his hands on the box. "This is obviously his porn stash! He built this and left this here because it contains all the filthy smut he's ever bought from the dawn of time!"
Kid and Law stared at him for a few moments then both of them yanked him away, tossing him aside. To Luffy's dismay, they both opened the box without any other hesitations.
"You guys are sick, sick scumbags," he muttered, but hastily pushed his way in so that he could see for himself what it was Garp was hiding.
The smell that hit them caused them all to recoil away from it. The musty dust that rose with the lid opening spilled over the edges and wafted away with their movement. Covering their nose and mouths with the collars of their shirts or hoodies, the trio peered in. Inside was a half skeleton with its arms crossed over its sternum; a folded set of clothes wrapped in a plastic bag against it. Leather shoes covered in dust had been piled aside of it.
None of them had anything to say at that moment. But Law reached in and grasped the skull to pop it away from the spine, noticing that it was missing the lower mandible. It also felt soft and mushy in his fingers, flexible enough to mold with the pressure. There were dark scales pushing up from the upper ridge of the eye sockets, like a row of spikes leading up and over the skullcap. He couldn't tell if this were some well-crafted Halloween decoration or an actual leftover of some fabled relic. Kid reached in to nudge at the broken ribcage, his fingers coming away with dust. He ended up pressing on it once more, noticing the flexibility.
"Is this fake?" he had to ask aloud, looking to Law for answers. Seeing him holding the skull, all the worst of Hamlet jokes came to mind, but he refused to release them during this important moment.
Luffy furrowed his brow – he was a bit disappointed that this wasn't anything what he'd thought. But he sighed with relief. "I'm so thankful I will never know what kinds of Playboy my gramps was into."
"Why is there only half of it?" Law asked, looking into the box for the possibility of hidden compartments, but the box was simply made. He gently set the skull aside and handled the oddly curled fingertips that had been positioned up against the ribcage. They looked exactly like the ones he'd seen earlier that day, clinging to the tub. He dropped the hand abruptly, like he'd touched flame.
"This is that thing he spoke of," he said in an incredulous whisper. He indicated the severed spine. "This is only half a man."
"Duh, it's half a man, anybody can see that," Kid pointed out. "That thing? You mean that thing pulled from the ocean? That thing? No. That was just some…"
"Where's the rest of him, then?" Luffy questioned, reaching down to rattle the box and upsetting the skeleton within. He dropped it with a gasp. "It's the mermaid I was talking to!"
"You weren't talking to a mermaid!" Kid exclaimed impatiently.
"I did! Before we broke the wall down, I asked it if it were the mermaid and it said yes, and no, Kid, I asked, it didn't tell me how it pooped."
Over the sound of Kid slapping Luffy across the head, Law murmured, "It's looking for the rest of it. This word here…this is its name."
"Sanji," Luffy repeated, furrowing his brow as he rubbed his head.
"Looking for what? It's tail?" Kid asked skeptically. "Shit. That is…are you high? First of all, we can all agree here – there is a man walking around this house. There is a man here. This is…not a man. I mean, it is, but it's not what we saw."
"Look at the clothes, idiot."
Kid had to admit, he could not deny the presence of the clothes in plastic. He jerked that out from the box while Luffy once again looked in at the skeleton left behind. He grabbed the skull to examine it further. With some short movements, Kid yanked out the clothes from the bag, revealing black pants, a black coat and a blue shirt. All of them were faded and creased with age. But something heavy clinked within the coat, and after rummaging through the pockets, he withdrew the same gold lighter that Law had found the other night. He flipped open the lid to see the engraving of a mermaid inside.
All of them looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
"What'd you do with those clothes you had on?" Kid asked Law.
"I put them back in my closet."
"And these aren't the same?"
"No," Law answered shortly. He examined the clothes once more with a thoughtful expression. "They were a different set."
"And the lighter?"
"I'd left it in that jacket."
"Go. Check."
"I was already in the process of doing so, I don't need you telling me what and how to do it," Law snapped at him, abandoning the pair to do so with some minute relief. As he tromped upstairs with an agonizingly slow pace, Kid returned looking at the items in hand. He set the spot light down at the edge of the box while Luffy made faces as the skull.
"It's like a kid, so was this Sanji a kid?" Luffy observed, measuring it against his. Kid had to admit it was pretty small in size, but Luffy was made differently from other people. "So, should I ask Garp what this was?"
"Yeah. But…" Kid looked over everything with a frown, tossing the clothes over the other edge of the box. He retrieved the spotlight. "Why is it in here? What answers does this give us? We opened it, we found it, so…what's the old man trying to say?"
"That what he was saying is true," Luffy said enunciated, as if Kid were slow.
"That a bunch of people killed an actual mermaid named Sanji?" Kid scoffed at the concept, looking over the skeleton. The fact that its spine was mangled at the edges prompted closer investigation. Without any careful regard, he propped the skeleton against the box, bones crunching noisily as pieces crumbled to the floor.
"Don't break it! You're going to kill it!" Luffy cried with horror.
"Enough of your observant powers, they're useless here!" Kid took some time to examine the spine, noticing that the bone was scarred with what looked like knife lines. They were cracked, spreading into thin fractures that suggested immense force had been used to separate it from the hip. If there was a hip… "Not gonna lie, but something cut it. Separated it from, uh…his legs..."
"They cut off the tail. Law said something about Garp looking for pieces," Luffy said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "What if they had cut off his tail? What if that's what the mermaid is looking for?"
"Fat lot of good any of us can do about that now, years later," Kid said. "Because if they cut it up and threw it away into the water at that time, those things are long gone. Fish food."
"Cannibalism," Luffy muttered with a shiver.
Because the teen technically wasn't wrong, Kid had to agree. They heard Law walking back down the stairs.
"It's…not in here," he had to admit, shaking the jacket he held.
"So how did you get it in the first place?" Kid asked with bewilderment.
"I don't know. I know I pulled on my overalls that morning, so…"
"That Ambien stuff is no joke. Good thing you don't have a Twitter account…"
At the stares the older men were giving each other, Luffy decided not to bother with that.
Kid returned his attention to the box, shaking his head. "So…what do we do? What does this stupid ass ghost want from us?"
"You said he said 'give it back'," Law said slowly, folding the jacket he held over one arm, "so what is it that it wants back?"
All three of them shrugged a shoulder.
"When I saw it," Law said slowly, unsure if he wanted to reveal what might be more confusing parts, "it told me 'Don't leave me.' I have the understanding that…we are connected in some way."
Kid wiped his nose with his fingers. "Considering your sleeping problems and overwhelming debt, I wouldn't be surprised if you're some walking ghost."
"I would not be shy about my damn death!"
"Call the old man, wake him up," Kid ordered Luffy, retrieving his cellphone.
The basement door slammed shut, causing all of them violent jolts. It was a race to the stairway as they abandoned the box, pushing and shoving to climb up first. Once Luffy realized they were leaving behind the spotlight, he went back for it, hearing Kid and Law push each other on the way up the stairs. He made to run after them when he caught sight of someone standing nearby. Frozen, Luffy realized his fingers clenched tightly around the spotlight but he couldn't draw it up. It was enough for him to see the pair of legs that he'd seen earlier, leather shoes gleaming under the light.
The very same leather shoes that were stuffed into the box.
His mind went blank as dust motes fluttered around the cone of light. Light flooded down the stairway as the door was slammed open, Kid demanding an explanation once he burst out into the kitchen.
Shaking, Luffy lifted the light up the length of the body. Catching sight of the horrible face that Kid and Law had seen, his mouth dropped open. He was unsure of how to react, so he just froze. Millions of questions ran through his mind at that moment, but none of them emerged. He swallowed noisily, blinking repeatedly as the thing stood there in silence. Sanji, he remembered, but he could not bring himself to address it by its name. It felt improper giving something so horrid a name.
It moved towards him with a low hiss, cracked lips pulling open to show off white teeth. "I want it back," it croaked, clicking sounds following right after.
"I already ate it," Luffy said stiffly, quite positive that it wasn't what he really needed to say, but his thoughts were in knots. He smelled the heavy scent of the sea, realizing the thing was dripping on him. His clothes bore the wet drops of moisture as the thing loomed over him. He was frozen stiff, throat working as he struggled to release words.
There was absolutely nothing in those eye sockets – just black, empty caverns with horribly saggy skin around it. Skin that looked like the underbelly of a fish. Luffy could see its skull underneath – the flimsy lines of all its crevices pushing against its skin.
Before he could move, one hand plowed right into his midsection – Luffy expected to feel the force of the blow, the strength of the punch he could see and reacted with a loud shout. But there was nothing physical present – he looked down to see that arm retract slowly from his stomach, pulling with it a pile of what looked like slimy, red matter. He touched his midsection with panic, unsure of what the thing had taken from him.
"Then you'll never eat again," it told him venomously. But for a moment its shoulders wilted heavily. Shaking, pale hands settled over its left breast. It seemed to give a mournful sound, turning away from the light and disappearing into the shadows. Luffy stared ahead of him, confused by the action and the promise left behind. Blinking, he twisted around himself, looking for the spectre. He rubbed and punched at his midsection, pain making him wince. But he quickly made his way upstairs to join the others.
"Guys," he said breathlessly, "that thing was mad at me because I said a few things."
"You saw it?" Kid asked with horror.
"Yeah, we had a full conversation. It looks pretty creepy, no wonder you guys cried after you saw it."
Both of the men looked at Luffy with insulted expressions. The teen wasn't as freaked as they were when they had seen it. Luffy dropped the spotlight onto the couch, blinding Kid for a moment as the light hit him. The teen pulled up his sweater and shirt to look at his muscular stomach, flexing for a moment. Then he rapped on himself.
"There might've been some misunderstanding," he then said. "He said he wanted it back, I told him I already ate it, he punched me and took out my insides and I don't know what's going on, but he seemed pretty mad about it."
Kid looked as if his mind was blown. He wiped his face with both hands and dragged his fingers down the length of it while Law wondered if Luffy had just been cursed.
"What is it looking for?" Kid asked with exasperation.
Luffy shrugged, smoothing down his clothing. "I guess I call the old man and ask."
"Why can't we call it by its name?" Law asked curiously. "Are we still going to call it an 'it'?"
"Yeah, I mean…it's not a person, Law," Luffy said pointedly. "You can't name something that isn't a person."
Before any one of them could move, the woman's voice caught their attention. Law looked at them with a start, indicating that they listen to it. He was surprised at the volume. It was coming from the basement. He was pretty sure they hadn't seen any type of electronic down there, and stared into the shadows below with mystification.
Kid listened to it for a few moments, then furrowed his brow with concentration. He then looked at the clock nearby. 3:48 am.
The house rumbled, wood popping and crackling. The windows were battered by a strange surge of wind, pushing tree branches against it and sending loose debris rolling in the streets. It was of catastrophic force – loud snapping sounds and the crash of falling trees alerted them to alarm. Glass shattered somewhere in the house, wind howling fiercely all around them. The roof rattled and protested noisily, debris flying away. Car alarms began to shriek and the electricity fluttered before cutting out.
The woman continued to sing.
The wind died just as suddenly as it arose, the silence within the house immense. Car alarms continued to shriek until their owners shut them off. Dogs barked frantically. The three of them looked at each other with uncertainty.
They managed to get some sleep and woke later in the day to some panic. There were a line of cars with over-stacked roofs, and trucks hauling trailers all along the road outside their driveway. Law watched them progress slowly, giving him the feeling that people were abandoning the town in preparation of an incoming storm. Kid had the local news on, and the stoic faced anchored expressed his own mystification of their small town coming under siege.
The beaches were flooded with a sort of high tide that spilled into people's yards and crept slowly through the parking lot. The pier was gone, the marina destroyed. Without a reasonable explanation, the sea slowly rose up into the small town.
Fishermen were forlorn to report that their boats had been damaged in last night's freak storm. Pieces were scattered about, the news team present catching sight of boats laying on their sides in parking lots and yards. The water continued to rise and people were evacuating hastily. Their house was located high above town for them to see the waters invading, but had no doubt that they were to evacuate as well.
"It's too weird," Kid muttered.
"We opened the box," Law said.
"Pandora's box!" Luffy shook his head. "Man, Pandora is pissed. Maybe we should'nt've done it."
Law frowned at him for allowing the expression to zoom right over his head. But something was bothering him. Luffy hadn't ate a thing since he woke up, and the kid was always with something in hand, or having his mouth full of a snack he'd hide from the others. To see him watching the events unfolding outside without anything in hand made Law think that the ghost of the thing they found had cursed him.
"We should apologize to him," Luffy said, nodding. "Just say we're sorry."
"We didn't do anything to him," Kid pointed out. "The old men did!"
"From the restaurant," Law said.
Luffy frowned with consideration. "Then we should have them apologize for this mess they've made."
Nearly an hour later, they left on foot from the house – with how traffic crowded the roads in order for people to evacuate, it was difficult driving anywhere. The parking lot was empty, but there were three older men standing outside, smoking and drinking from insulated cans, watching the water creep up through town. Houses and establishments closer to the shore had already been covered by swirling dark water, news crews frantically catching as much of the phenomena as they could. Townspeople were steadily evacuating, wearing faces filled with horror and sadness as they were forced to leave nearly everything behind. The water continued to move, inching over streets and pushing against debris caught in the force.
"We're closed, boys," their waiter from the other day said, gesturing at the sight. "For obvious reasons."
"We're not here to eat," Luffy stated firmly. "We opened Pandora's Box, and we're going to apologize for it. This only happened because it did."
At the blank stare from the men, Kid swept Luffy aside. "Don't listen to him, he's weird. Look, we talked to Garp because shit was happening in our house. He said something about you guys killing a mermaid a long time ago. We've been seeing it around the house, and it's haunting us."
The three men stared up at him. The one holding a cigarette dashed ashes to the side. It took them a few seconds, but they ended up laughing at him. Kid reddened as veins bulged in his neck and temple.
Law pushed him aside with a hand to the face. "I'll handle this. Both of you are making us look bad."
He walked up to the one chortling over his can of beer. He was short and burly, white hair swept away from his face and eyes covered with some bifocals. Like the others, his skin was spotted with age and his hands shook with every move he made. He stood in such a stooped manner that it seemed his spine had curdled into the shape of a handle of a walking cane. But years ago he was young with a ponytail and was capable of lifting whole barrels atop of one beefy shoulder. The name came to him as easily as the memory.
"Carne," he said slowly, testing the name as the man looked at him with a start. "I talked to Pudding the other day."
He looked to the others as Carne stiffened, can dropping from his hands. "Charlie. Vinton. Laugh all you want, but Garp told us what happened. Pudding confirmed that she'd seen it happen."
The trio stared up at him like they'd just seen a ghost. Kid and Luffy watched their reactions with expressions of doubt, shifting around to hide cold hands into their jacket pockets. They could hear the water rising steadily, dogs barking in the distance as traffic continued to move. Sirens sounded off in the distance.
"The box in Garp's home," Law said, eyes locked on Carne, "was that of a half skeleton. Said skeleton has been making itself comfortable around us. It wants something it's missing. And only you guys can tell us what."
"And it's name is Sanji," Luffy stressed, crossing his arms stubbornly.
None of the men said anything. The can Carne had been nursing rolled slightly, spilling its contents onto the wet pavement. After several long moments, they looked to the water they could see rising towards their area. Something flitted across their expressions. Whether it was regret or shame, Law couldn't tell. Vinton examined his cigarette before putting it out on Law's cheek, causing him to jerk back with a startled yell.
"Garp kept the thing?" Vinton asked with outrage. "It should have been let to sea that night!"
"For all the evils in the sea, he let that thing remain on land – of course it would be angry!" Charlie added, expression speaking volumes. "Of course it would rise once it was released!"
"We were fine with dying the way we were but you let that thing out of the box! This is your fault! You fix it!" Carne snapped as Vinton and Charlie retreated to the restaurant. Law hissed as he pressed his hands against his cheek, Kid and Luffy looking at him with horror. With that, the old man stalked to the restaurant, the doors shutting behind him with a bang. Kid stared incredulously after them.
"We don't even know what the fuck's going on!" he protested, arms out wide, facing the restaurant. He turned to Luffy. "Goddamn it! Now what were they blabbing about?"
Before Luffy could say anything, Kid stalked up to Law. There was a burn mark in his cheek that made Kid wince before Kid said, "And that was your brilliant plan? Pissing them off?"
"Not exactly," Law confessed, wiping his hands on his jacket.
Kid shook him impatiently. "Then tell us what you know! The context of this entire encounter is that there are actually two things out there!"
'Did you make some sort of an agreement with a sea witch?'
'Dummy…there's no such thing as 'sea witches'.'
Law straightened up, hearing those voices clearly. He furrowed his brow then looked to the sea with trepidation. It continued to rise up through the town like a slow moving creature, eating everything in sight. Trees rattled under the force and sea gulls screamed noisily. He couldn't imagine the force behind that power, unsure of how to accept that the sea was rising up to take some sort of revenge.
"In that movie, Ariel made an agreement with Ursula. She took her voice and told Ariel that she had to do a certain thing before she could get it back," Luffy pointed out grimly, hands in his pockets. "Ariel had to get the prince to fall in love with her so she could stay human. Maybe this mermaid did the same thing. So Ursula's coming to get everyone because she didn't get her end of the deal."
Kid looked at him with rattled impatience while Law found that crushing pain in his chest return. He rubbed it with trepidation as Kid exclaimed, "So Ursula's going to come out of that water and get us? The thing is dead! There's nothing to get!"
Kid grabbed Law's shoulder with a jerk. "I think we should throw that thing in the box into the water. I bet you money that the water will retreat and we'll end up saving this town. We can get out of our contract with that act of heroism."
"You just stole my idea!" Luffy exclaimed with outrage.
"We don't even know anything about the thing in the first place!" Law snapped, slapping his hand away. He pointed at the restaurant as Luffy's cellphone rang, Luffy answering it with a heavy sigh. "Those guys do. Look at the way they reacted. Guilt all over their faces…that woman mentioned they were the perpetrators. If we can get the exact story from them that we couldn't with Garp, then maybe we can ask the thing at the house what it wants."
"Like they're going to tell us anything," Kid scoffed, hands in his pockets. He looked back at the water with worry. "If it's a big octopus thing with old, saggy tits, I'm just going to tell you guys right now, I'm going to die first. Because that is not something a healthy, robust man like me wants to see."
Law stared up at him with disgust, shaking his head as Kid worried over this. Luffy slid his cellphone into his jacket pocket with a dazed expression.
"Hey, guys? Hey…I think…I'm going to go home," he said as they looked at him. "The old man died last night."
All the words on their tongue left them. Their expressions turned sympathetic as Luffy gave a low exhale, looking sad.
Awkwardly, Kid turned to him. "I'll give you a ride there."
"Thanks, buddy."
Law looked back at the restaurant as the pair began making their way back to the house. He could feel that they were being watched from behind the wide windows of the place, and the sting of the burn on his face ignited his anger. But he fisted his hands deep into his pockets and walked after the others.
The sea continued to rise behind them.
: :
Once the pair left the house, Law sat on the couch with a sort of dazed expression. With how vivid the images had been beforehand, he didn't understand why he wasn't receiving much of them now. The house was quiet, fire burning in the wood stove with a gentle crackle, and he could hear traffic moving quickly outside. The sea gulls were screaming today, fluttering around the town with heavy flaps of their wings. While Law understood that finding the box was significant, he lacked a great understanding of the overall event.
So he began to put them in order as he found his weed supply.
The ghost had first approached him that one night – waking him up with the song. He did recall that it had been nearly four am that morning.
It begged him not to leave him behind.
It said the same thing in the water when he was pulled under. He'd lost a week after that – so the thought that he could have been possessed in that time made him feel terribly uncomfortable.
Smoking outside, he watched people evacuate the town.
It seemed he was approached in a more mournful manner than the other two, who were confronted angrily. Were they a part of this as well? Reviewing memories that weren't his, he felt like the ghost mistook him for someone else. He couldn't help but wonder if his father had ever been a part of this town. But that didn't make any sense because his father's age misplaced him from the timeline.
Law couldn't help but realize that this was a failed romance. Garp had mentioned that Pudding had felt scorned, and Law had to acknowledge that the feelings, the expression he remembered sent his way – those were very real moments of romantic tenderness. At that period in time, he understood that homosexuality was quiet and rejected from society, so it made sense that it was conducted in secret. Pudding was angry at being rejected, so more than likely she'd exposed them.
Maybe that was the motive of the murder. The "creature from the sea" was only a victim of homophobic violence. But the memory of actually seeing the creature was vivid and very real.
Law headed back inside, sufficiently calm and relaxed. With the way the water continued to rise and the fact that they were high up on the hill, he didn't feel any urgency to evacuate. In fact…maybe without the other two present, he could do his own investigation without having them interfere with their inane hysterics.
He picked up the spotlight and headed downstairs. With the effect of his drug, he didn't feel the whole panic and fright thing – just a dazed disassociation from the present. The basement felt heavy and thick – he could taste the smell coming from the box. His stomach rumbled noisily, and he thought of Luffy's assorted chip stash hidden away in the cabinets upstairs.
It came as a soft but very clear whisper. "Are you hungry?"
Law paused on his way to the box, and flicked the spotlight around for the source of the voice. He didn't see anything, but the voice was loud and clear. He wasn't sure how to respond to it, tightening his lips in response. He ventured over to the box, looking down at the skeleton Kid had upset, and the clothes tossed atop of it. He picked up the skull, noting the difference that set it apart from a human's – he set the spotlight down, propping it so that the light gave him enough illumination to see. He ran his fingertips over the soft spiky scales that stretched up and away from the skull.
Something outside rumbled noisily – it sounded like the beginnings of a storm building in the distance. A roll of heavy thunder that echoed against an enclosed space – it made the hairs on his arms rise up. For a moment Law could convince himself it wasn't thunder but a low chuckle – something human.
The image of the creature he saw in the net came back to him. The traditional image of a mermaid wasn't this one – this creature was fit to swim in deep waters, with all the design of deep water fish. Its teeth suggested that it was a vegetarian, but capable of ripping apart flesh. The nose cavity were two tear drop shaped ducts, but slimmer than a human's – he remembered seeing them carved along the jawline, down the neck. The near translucent skin was spotted, allowing it camouflage from predators amongst the sea floor.
But what did a mermaid fear deep within those waters?
The memory that hit him showed him the human that emerged from the sea was clumsy with his legs. He had to be taught how to walk properly before others could see him. Law could see his feet leaving behind delicate impressions in the sand, the weight and feel of his hands clasped in his. Both of them were laughing.
He set the skull down abruptly, unnerved by the vibrancy of the memory.
It was upsetting to think that this was an actual part of him.
'Were you granted a reprieve from the sea king?'
This memory placed them both sitting against rocks beaten by the sea, hidden from the town's view. They could see the far off horizon of the world, settled by thick storm clouds and a setting sun. There were boats drifting in from the far left, and they were safe because they were angled away from sight.
'There are no sea kings,' he was told, by a mouth that smiled so delightedly. Then he was pierced by eyes that seemed to reflect honey in the settling light. They were brown, like the sea shore lapped with water but with the sunset hitting them, the color was nothing like he'd ever seen before. For a moment, that smile shifted. 'Just promises.'
'What happens if a promise is broken?'
'It's not something you'd have to worry about,' he was assured, being smiled at once more. 'Because by the time the sun sets within a fortnight, I'm sure the payment would be in full.'
'That sounds a little suspicious…payment to something that gave you a promise?'
Blond eyelashes fluttered with trepidation. Lips were tucked between teeth as an expression of worry and regret passed over a face that seemed more human than his own.
'I'd do anything to be human…to be with you.'
A clatter of sound jolted Law from that memory. He was frustrated when the picture left him, abruptly fading away like the blank screen of a television set. He wasn't sure what the sound was, but he wasn't going to worry about it. It felt like he was going to receive his answer. He looked around himself with a fitful expression.
He looked back down at the skeleton, gently settling the skull within. Then he attempted to pull the box out of the space, grunting as he did so. The clatter of sound caught his attention again and he straightened up. When he heard the sound of water spilling into what sounded like metal, he abandoned the skeleton to go look outside.
The water was lapping at the edge of the driveway. The police were already on his front porch, and Law knew he wasn't ready to evacuate quite yet. So he stood out of sight while the door was pounded upon with urgency. Someone on a loudspeaker ordered all those on the premises to evacuate immediately. After some minutes passed, and Law watched them quickly hurry away, he exhaled with relief. He looked around himself, then retrieved a trash bag from the kitchen.
As he was stuffing the remains of the skeleton inside, he asked aloud, "Who is looking for these bones?"
He heard what seemed like a shaky inhale from nearby. Glancing about, he didn't seen any change to the shadows or any shapes.
"That no longer matters," came the reply from what seemed like a broken voice. "It is too late…"
Law felt agitation rise within him. Furrowing his brow, he looked around once more. He recalled that Garp was looking for "the pieces."
"What pieces should I look for?" he asked, wincing because it felt like a useless question.
The sounds that filled the basement were uncomfortably raw. It was hard not to acknowledge the despair of a broken man. His chest ached. That heavy sense of responsibility and shame filled him so hotly that he winced once more, rubbing at his chest. He had to brace himself against the box because he was positive the feelings were sapping at his strength. Guilt, shame, cowardice – things a man felt and tried actively to run away from; tried to bury so that they could continue on, pretend that everything was okay.
It wasn't okay.
Are these truly my feelings? he thought with bewilderment.
He caught sight of the forlorn shape of a man sitting on his knees in the far corner of the basement. It was not the thing he'd seen – it wasn't the creature, but a flesh and blood man that looked like he'd had his heart ripped out from his chest. It was alarming to see because Law felt a sense of responsibility and pain he'd never felt before.
He'd seen this man before. Being pulled out of the old restaurant by a mob of men, shouts and cries of panic piercing the air. He'd watched safely from behind an old shed, grateful he hadn't been identified. It was horrible seeing this man search for him, looking for his help. It was gut churning how scared he himself was because the mob could turn on him. He'd watched them drag the man towards the beach, to the place where the pier had yet to be built – where cries of outrage turned into cries of terror. Where people stood at the cliff side to watch as a man turned into a creature of the sea.
Law released the trash bag, the light giving him enough illumination to see features of the man he'd only seen in these strange memories. Tentatively, Law stepped back because he wasn't sure if he were talking to an actual man or a ghost.
Resolutely, the man lifted his head to look at Law. His expression was full of bitterness and regret. "He'd warned me that I would have to learn the hard way of what evils human beings were capable of."
Law couldn't respond to that. He felt the accusation like it were a piercing instrument, stabbing into his lungs, his heart – he knew it was true. But there was a smaller part of him that whispered of his own acknowledgement; he knew himself that there were human beings capable of evil in this world. The news ran a steady stream of it. He couldn't just stand here and be accused of something that he felt a strong denial over.
"Garp wasn't an evil person. He tried to help you – "
"He'd only slowed the process." A deep, troubled sigh flitted over the intense quiet of the basement as hands were examined with a long face. "I promised to give the sea lives in return for being human. That was the understanding."
Law looked to the open box, and realized that the waters rising were intending on swallowing them. The thought felt like a slap to the face. He looked at the trash bag of bones – what would happen if he'd returned them?
"Then those men killed you for being an abomination had a reason to do so – "
"I didn't know that it was an abomination to love a human being. If I had known, I wouldn't have given up everything because I decided to love a fisherman."
Well, who is the idiot, here? Law thought blankly. Like a deer falling in love with a hunter…
"I learned that the hand that feeds you can also be the hand that kills you. That human beings can only love to the extent of their comfort – they can abandon it just as quickly."
Law thought of that memory once more – of cutting down the net that held the creature. He furrowed his brow as he considered that one act of kindness. Then thought of the recent memory, seeing this man pulled away by a mob. Feeling the return of gratefulness in that he could slip away unnoticed, the secret buried for self-preservation. Shame and guilt hit him like a mallet to the gut.
The man stood, standing on legs that seemed wobbly and new. He looked upon Law with heavy regret. Then he looked to the floor, his hands moving over his chest – rubbing fitfully, as if it hurt. Law realized that his own heart tugged immensely, as if it had been stabbed repeatedly, then clenched within a heavy grip. He realized then that this pain he felt – it wasn't entirely his own.
It was the ghost's.
He touched the area over the heart that felt these horrible things, feeling disturbed. Immense sadness filled him with a rushing wave – then was replaced with bitter regret all over again.
"I have your heart," Law stated, mainly to acknowledge the horrifying feeling rising up within him. The man's bitterness was the only confirmation to this fact – when Law blinked, rubbing his chest, the ghost was gone.
"You left me. He'll finish what I could not, and I will help him."
"Am I some sort of fucking ghost?" Law exclaimed, unable to understand. "I've lived my entire life self-aware, so why - ?"
"My heart only remembers here. I can hear it."
Uncertain of what that meant, sure that this was only a broken sentence, Law considered the heaviness in the disembodied voice. Resolution hit him.
"You want your heart back?" he asked low. "You can get it back."
The rumble in the distance sounded again – thunderous and strong, causing something upstairs to vibrate noisily. Law listened to this sound, sure it was only an incoming storm.
He realized that the ghost had spoken of a 'he' but had not explained what 'he' was.
