Ember, Clare, June, Alex, and Jake were all sitting outside enjoying the early autumn weather while eating lunch. The forest around them was slowly turning all shades of yellow, red, and orange. They were prepared for when their first winter would come so they all decided to take a break and enjoy themselves for once. Even though Ember still had nightmares about what had happened four months ago she didn't let it affect her daily life anymore, granted the others didn't know and she had no intention of telling them it was in the past and she would move past it with time. Today was actually Clare's birthday so they wanted to do something special for her which was a little difficult since she didn't want anything except to be with them and just have fun like they always did.
*/o\*
Meanwhile on the other side of the island.
"Sir, the scouts have located their position, we are now awaiting orders," An man bowed in front of his superior as he gave his report.
"Surround them, go after the Devil Fruit user first throw the sea stone net over her and tie up the others, use haki if only necessary," The large bearded man dismissed his subordinate.
Another man walked up next to him a sly grin on his pale face.
"Shall we kill the other four, we won't need them?" The man questioned.
"Yes, we will,"
*/o\*
The five were playing a game of tag to pass the time. In the trees around them, men were hiding waiting for the signal. Ember stopped funning and Alex caught up to her.
"Is something wrong Ember?" Alex picked up on her uneasy stance as she listened to what was around her.
"Doesn't it seem oddly quiet to you?" She asked looking around.
"A bit yeah..." He trailed off.
A sharp whistle sounded around them and before they could understand what was happening more than thirty men came sprinting towards them from all sides. Someone threw a metal net on Ember and she fell into the group helpless as all the strength in her body was taken from her. She watched as the other four tried to fight back but they were soon overpowered and tied up.
"Take her back to the ship and kill the rest," Ember's blood froze and her eyes widened tears started to form.
'No,' She thought as she was dragged away.
"NO!" Alex yelled trying desperately" to get out of his bindings as did the other three.
"ALEX, CLARE, JUNE, JAKE NO!" Ember screamed tears flowing out of her eyes.
Her view was blocked as she strained to catch a glimpse of her siblings. She heard four gunshots one after the other and four bodies hit the ground and her world was crashing down all around her.
"NOOOOOOO!" She screamed as she was taken away she could hear nothing but her own screams.
She could do nothing but scream, she screamed so much that her voice became hoarse the only thing that made her stop was when a man hit her in the back of the head with the end of his rifle.
*/o\*
The next time Ember woke up she was in a dark room chained to a wall. Around her were wooden walls and metal bars closing her off from everything else. She couldn't tell what time of the day or night it was but she didn't care, her eyes were dead and she stared blankly in front of her, her tears had long since dried on her face as she had been crying for hours had none left to shed. She knew she was on a boat because of the swaying, it was storming outside and it was a pretty bad storm since the ship would rock violently to one side and there was shouting coming from the deck. She secretly hoped the ship would sink so the men who killed her siblings would die even if that meant she would perish as well.
Ember continued to drift in and out of consciousness throughout the whole journey. She would occasionally be woken up to be fed and given water, some of the men would come down and hit her or just ogle at her, mess with her when the captain wasn't looking. The whole trip felt like a year but in reality, it was only two months and once they reached their destination Ember's eyes no longer had any spark or hope in them.
She was taken from the ship, and for the first time in months, she saw the light of day. She flinched at the light but once her eyes adjusted she stared in shock and what she saw. The 'island' the men on the ship spoke of was a huge ship with a castle in the center, it looked as if pieces of it were missing but nothing looked broken.
"Oh, what a site to see I guess he sent the other sections out to conquer more land in the North Blue," One of the men holding her muttered dragging her forward once again.
Ember lowered her head once again and let the two men drag her all the way into the castle, she didn't make a sound she just stared at the floor with unfocused, dead eyes. they threw her into a cell without bothering to chain her to the wall before leaving her to lay on the cold damp floor. She didn't know how long she stayed there when a small voice drew her attention. Looking up she saw a boy about her age with bright blond hair covering one eye while the other stared at her curiously his swirled eyebrow.
"Who are you?" He asked getting closer to the bars.
She didn't answer him she just laid her head back down and stared at the floor. The boy looked sad at her ignoring him but he soon went away leaving Ember alone in the cold cell. Soon, however, a man came in and unlocked her chains and put smaller ones on her wrists that took her energy away just as the last ones had. He forced her to walk down the long and bright hall, she kept her head down her red hair falling in front of her face.
"Head up." The man guiding her hit her back and she looked up her hair was still in her face but she didn't care.
They stopped in front of a door and he knocked soon a maid opened the door and they spoke in hushed tones and the maid took one look at Ember before dragging her into the room and she shut the door. The stripped her ragged clothes off and made her get into a tub filled with bubbly water that was freezing cold and they scrubbed her until her skin was raw.
Once they finished they made her get out and put on a black dress that hugged her torso and flared out at the end and stopped right before her knees, black heels, and they put a black ribbon around her neck that had little grey stones around the inside that pressed against her neck. They took a key and removed the cuffs around her wrists but she didn't feel any better and she assumed it was because of the ribbon around her neck. They dried her hair and put it up in a messy bun before shoving her out the door and into the previous guard's arms who gripped her shoulder and pushed her forward down the hall. She walked at a steady pace occasionally stumbling because of the heels she was wearing.
Ember didn't know where she was being taken to and she was honestly a little scared but she didn't let it show on her face as she walked stiffly down the long seemingly never-ending hallway. They passed a few maids all of whom glared and walked faster as they passed her, soon they came across two large oak doors and the man escorting her pushed one of them open and shoved her inside closing the door behind her.
"Ah, there she is the girl I've been waiting for, come closer child," A large man gestured to her in a kind manner but she did not move from where she was because the man next to him had her frozen where she stood.
"Ember, what a pleasant surprise!" Cornelius smiled brightly at her and she took a step back shaking and eyes wide with fear.
"Oh, you know each other?" The blond haired man asked.
"I was training her to be my personal assassin before she and her self-proclaimed siblings escaped a few months ago," Cornelius explained with a fake look of sadness.
Ember had internally flinched when her siblings were mentioned but she didn't let it show on her face as she stared at the man who had done so many horrible things to her.
"I guess you get to have fun with her now, treat her right," Cornelius shook the man's hand before walking up to her and bending down," I'll have you one way or the other my precious doll," He licked his lips as he left the room while Ember just stood rooted to the floor in pure fear with hatred mixed in.
Once the door fully closed she let out a shallow breath but apparently she wasn't the only to not like Cornelius as the man shook his head and glared at the door and spoke in a hushed tone," That man is creepy as fuck," He then turned to her, no longer did he have the sweet and friendly face on anymore.
"Get over here brat NOW!" He yelled the last part and she quickly made her way to him bowing her head once she was five feet away from him. Her actions had been instinct since Hendrick would yell at her like that in training.
"So, you do know how to listen good," He turned away and walked over to his desk and pulled out a den-den mushi.
He talked to someone for a few minutes Ember didn't listen to the conversation she was trying to stop shaking. She stood there for a few minutes when another person entered the room and huffed when they saw her.
"That's the brat you want me to train?" The man asked Ember internally flinched at the word 'train'.
"Yes, I was informed that she killed two trained men easily and without hesitation, she also has the Devils fruit I wanted to get my hands on," The man she had yet to learn the name of informed the other.
"Jude, I'll do it but you are seriously going off of the word of someone in the West Blue?" The man questioned still unsure of Ember.
"If you're so hesitant of her why don't we take her to the training room and have her spar with one of my boys, they just started training and they're the same age," Jude was grinning like a madman and the other nodded.
"Get moving girl!" The man ordered and Ember followed him out of the room and down the hall Jude following close behind keeping an eye of Ember.
Ember managed to keep up with the man all the way to the training room but it was difficult since she was much shorter than the man who was a giant compared to her and yet he was still shorter than Jude, who still towered over the other man. Turning a corner Ember heard the faint shouting of children coming from a room up ahead.
Upon walking into the room or what looked more like battlefield Ember saw four boys and one girl training. The girl had bright pink hair that covered one of her eyes, she was also wearing a bandana around her neck and pink dress that went just above her knees she also had boots on. The boy closest to the pink haired girl had bright red hair that also covered one of his eyes his shirt was also red and had the number one on it he to had a bandana around his neck and he had pants and boot on as well. the next boy had bright blue hair that sort of covered one of his eyes he had goggles on, his shirt was blue with the number two on it and he had a bandana around his neck and pants and boots on. The next boy she recognized as the one who stood in front of her cell earlier in the day he had blond hair that covered one of his eyes a yellow shirt that had a three on it, just like the others he also had the bandana around his neck with pants and boots. The last of the children had green hair but it did not cover either of his eyes, he wore a shirt that had the number four on it and with the bandana around his neck with the same pants and boots on. Around the five there were men laying on the ground knocked out and a few were left standing but once the three entered the room everything stopped. The kids looked up from what they were doing but only four of them looked happy to see Jude the blond haired kid almost looked scared but it was hidden by indifference.
"DAD!" Four of the five shouted and they ran up to Jude while Ember and the other man quickly moved out of the way as to not get trampled.
"Hello," Jude greeted in a deep voice full of love.
"Hey, who's that?" The boy with green hair pointed at Ember, the others looked at her in confusion.
"This is Ember she will be living here from now on," The other kids looked up at their dad.
"Will she be training with us too?" The red-haired boy asked crossing his arms.
"No, but she will be training, say how do you feel about having a one on one sparring match with her Reiju?" Jude asked and Ember looked at the boy and he looked back.
"Sure I'll beat her though!" Reiju declared confidently.
"Then go to the center of the room and you can start," Jude smiled at the boy and he ran to the center and Ember was pushed by the man behind her and she calmly walked to the center.
Reiju was already in a fighting stance when Ember stood in front of him and she took up her own stance just as Jude called for the match to start. Reiju instantly charged her with a punch which she blocked, knowing she wouldn't be able to beat him through brute force. So she ducked under him and punched him in the jaw he flew backward landing on the ground. From the sidelines, his siblings looked on in shock, as they watched Reiju get up slowly and shake off the hit. He charged again and this time Ember sidestepped the sloppily thrown punch and tripping him so he would land on his face. Ember could tell he was used to slower and bigger opponents. He grumbled under his breath getting up and charging at her once again, this time Ember jumped into the air and brought down her foot on the back of his neck, driving him into the ground and knocking him out.
Jumping off of him Ember took a few steps back just in case he was still conscious. Looking up the boy's siblings were all shocked to some degree at seeing their brother beaten so easily.
"Niji how about you try," Jude suggested and Niji grinned.
He used the same tactic as his brother Reiju and he fell just as fast, Sanji, the yellow-haired boy refused to fight so Yonji went not learning from his previous brothers' mistakes. Jude looked disappointed but there was still one last person to fight Ember and that was the only other girl, Reiju.
She took a different approach, Reiju was faster than Ember but her attacks were sloppy and missed most of the time. Dodging around as many attacks as she could, Ember did her best to catch the older girl off guard by falling to the ground. Reiju took the bait and tried to pin Ember down only for her to roll out of the way and jump on the others girl's back and pinned her own into a choke hold.
Reiju struggled against the hold but couldn't get herself free, soon her struggles became weaker as she slowly blacked out from the lack of air.
"Enough," Jude stood up and Ember dropped Reiju on the ground and stepped away staring straight ahead.
The pink haired girl coughed holding her throat, glaring at Ember.
"I think the girl's proven herself enough, she'll start her training tomorrow take her to her new room Alex," Jude ordered the man.
Ember froze at hearing the man's name and her mind didn't even register that Alex had taken a hold of her arm and led her down the hall. When she finally got over her shock she realized they had stopped in front of a door and that the man's grip was oddly gentle. He let go of her arm and unlocked the door and guided her in and shut the door behind them.
"Alright," He spoke softly it was completely different than before when they were in Jude's office," This will be your room from now on, you may change things around as you please, I'll bring your dinner to you for the first few days until you get settled in, we'll discuss what we will be doing later and I hope you enjoy your time here," He pattered her shoulder as he left the room gently shutting the door behind him.
It's been awhile I know I didn't mean to take this long with this chapter but I got stuck in where to take this so I apologize.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter
bye bye
