Chapter 9 is here! Thank you to everyone who reviewed. When I started this, I told myself I wouldn't ask for reviews - I wanted people to review because they chose to, not because they felt obligated to. I can't deny they're great encouragement, though. I love seeing people enjoy what I write, and it makes my day when I get one. So thanks! c:
Chapter 9 - Dreams
"…ffy. Hey, Luffy!" Usopp's voice sounded distant, and strangely garbled, as if Luffy were hearing him from underwater.
Slowly Luffy shook himself out of the daze he was in, refocusing himself in the present and glancing up at Usopp. The other boy was sitting across the table, a worried frown on his face. "Huh? What's up, Usopp?" Luffy asked him, blinking to clear his vision.
"…Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it, y'know? You're not even eating. Are you getting sick again?"
Luffy's gaze dropped to the table and the nearly-untouched plate of breakfast in front of him. "…M'fine," he mumbled.
"You look terrible!" Tony was perched at the edge of his seat, his face a picture of concern. "Something's wrong, right? You can tell us!"
Luffy bit his lip. "I…" He wasn't sure what to say; wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything. The dreams had returned after that one night of peace, and they had gotten increasingly vivid, to the point that it sometimes took Luffy a while to remember which world was dream and which was reality. And they weren't always pleasant. More and more, he'd had dreams of being hurt, of seeing his friends hurt. There were battles, lots of battles. People trying to kill him or others with swords, guns, poison – and strange abilities that even Luffy's over-imaginative mind knew couldn't really exist in the world. Sometimes he only saw pieces. Occasionally, he would get to see the outcome of a battle, and at these times, he was slightly reassured to see that he and his friends were all right and had managed to save…whatever it was they'd been fighting for. Their reasons were rarely clear to him, but they'd won, and that was good, right?
But sometimes they didn't win. Sometimes bad things happened, and there wasn't a way to pick himself up and make things right again. Once, someone had died right in his arms – Luffy hadn't been able to make out the face, but he knew this person meant the world to him and he could feel his heart breaking as he watched. Even the dreams which contained good things were becoming hard to bear. Each time, everything was brighter, louder, overwhelming his senses and draining his energy.
Luffy's nights alternated between constantly jolting awake, often with the sound of his screams echoing in his ears, and a sleep so deep he felt trapped in the dreams and couldn't seem to wake up no matter how hard he tried. Both left him equally exhausted, and whatever boost to his health he had received from the mysterious man finally seemed to be wearing off. He felt weak, his head fuzzy, and even Sanji's excellent cooking couldn't inspire him to eat much.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" Usopp's voice cut into his thoughts and Luffy dragged his attention back to the other side of the table with an effort.
"I…" He didn't want to lie to his friends; they'd listened about the man, hadn't they? Besides, maybe it would help to talk about it. Maybe if the dreams weren't all bottled up in his head, they'd go away – or at least be less intense. "I'm having dreams," he said at last.
"Bad dreams?" Tony asked.
"Sometimes. Sometimes they're good. But they aren't like normal dreams. Even the nice ones make me feel all tired after." Slowly he explained the things he'd seen: the battles, the strange powers, the people who looked like them. Had there been one who looked like Tony? Now he thought about it, he didn't think so – but he was sure the boy was there, all the same.
Usopp and Tony were staring at him with a mixture of worry and excitement. "We're all in them?" Usopp whispered. "Me and Tony and Brook and Nami and everybody?"
Luffy nodded. Brook was one of the faces he couldn't see clearly, and the musician seemed even thinner than he was now – quite a feat – but Luffy could still tell it was him. "Even your dad, Usopp," he said. "But I don't think he's your dad in the dreams."
"And you're sure the mystery voice is in them too?" Tony asked.
"Yeah." Luffy glanced out the window towards the bay. "I can't see his face, but I know he's there."
"Do you…do you think he might be causing this?" Usopp asked in a near-whisper. "Maybe he's not a nice guy like we thought. He could be trying to hurt you!"
"He wouldn't hurt me." Luffy was completely sure of this. The mysterious man hurting him purposely would be like a fish refusing to live in water – it just couldn't happen. "I know he's involved in it somehow, but…it doesn't mean he's sending the dreams."
"Even if that's true, maybe he could do something! If you could talk to him about it—"
"I can't," Luffy said in frustration. "There hasn't been any mist at all since that day. I've been down there lots of times, but nothing's happened."
"You gotta keep trying, then!" Usopp said. "If these dreams keep getting worse, you're going to make yourself really sick! And then even if it does get misty, you won't be able to go down to see him."
"You could try talking to him even without the mist, Luffy," Tony chipped in. "It's not always natural mist, right? Sometimes it comes and goes really quickly. Maybe he can choose when it shows up, and if you can get his attention somehow, he'll come!"
His friends were right, Luffy decided. He'd had enough. Whatever was causing these dreams needed to be dealt with somehow, and the ghost ship and its mysterious inhabitant were the only lead he had. He'd go down every day, every hour if he had to, until a response came. That evening, just as the sun was starting to slip out of sight, Luffy made his way down to the bay. He'd had to sneak out again; Nami had taken one look at his flushed face that morning and confined him to the mansion, with further threats to restrict him to his room if his condition worsened.
He moved quickly down the path, skirting the edge of the garden and trying to stay out of sight. As he passed the summerhouse, he tensed, but it was empty – Franky being busy with something up at the mansion and no one else having a reason to go there when Luffy wasn't using it. At last his feet hit sand. He was nearly running by now, desperate to speak to the man again. He stopped at the edge of the water, the waves brushing against his toes.
Luffy took a deep breath. "HEY!" His voice echoed across the water. "I need to talk to you!"
Nothing happened. The sky remained clear, the golden reds of sunset fading into twilight.
"I know you're out there! Answer me!"
Still nothing. A soft breeze stirred Luffy's hair, but there was not even the faintest hint of mist.
"I…" Luffy's voice was quieter now, desperation lacing the words. "I'm having dreams. Dreams about you, and others…people who I know here, but they're not the same, people I still can't see…" He scrubbed a fist across his eyes. "And the dreams keep getting stronger. I don't know what's gonna happen if they don't stop."
He looked out at the bay, voice rising back to a shout. "I know you're connected somehow! What do I do? What do you want from me? Why am I having these dreams?"
Luffy tried for another half hour, but there was no response. At last he trudged back up to the house, tired and discouraged and only just managing to avoid being caught by Nami on the way in. He had no appetite at dinner and barely resisted when Nami put him to bed early. He didn't want to sleep, didn't want to dream again, but his tired, ill body overruled the objections of his mind, and soon he was dropping off.
He knew at once that this was different from the other dreams. There were no friends, no ship, no islands, no battles. He stood in darkness; the only sounds were his racing heartbeat and nervous breaths. "Hello?" he called at last. "Is someone there?" At first, it seemed nothing had changed, but gradually he thought he could detect a faint lightening of the inky black surrounding him. Was it his imagination?
"Why am I here?" he shouted into the dark. "What is this place?"
It definitely wasn't his imagination. The sky – or whatever it was that was surrounding him – was definitely getting brighter. A warm orange-red glow was coming from somewhere; he couldn't seem to pin down the direction but somehow knew it was moving towards him. And suddenly a voice broke the silence, startling him.
"These past few weeks have been pretty hard on you, eh, Luffy?" The voice held a note of sympathy. It sounded as if the speaker was directly in front of him, but Luffy couldn't see anyone.
He knew the voice, though. It was a man's voice, but it didn't belong to the mystery man from the ship. He couldn't place it to any face he'd seen, either in or out of the dreams, but it was familiar all the same, and he trusted it instantly. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Typical Luffy, always curious. Maybe I'm your guardian angel?" There was a pause as the voice considered, then came a short laugh. "Nah, that sounds stupid. Can you picture me with a halo and fluffy white wings? Ha! And there's another guy who'd probably have a better claim to the title right now, anyway. But you were in trouble, so I had to do something, right?"
"Why? Why would you care if I was in trouble?"
A hand ruffled Luffy's hair, though he still couldn't see anything. "Let's just say that bonds between some people really do last forever," the voice said. "I'll always care what happens to you, Luffy."
Luffy swallowed. He felt tears pricking his eyes at the words, and wished he could remember how he knew this unseen person. He was sure it was important. "I'm in trouble…'cause of the dreams, right? Why am I seeing this stuff? Why does it feel so real?"
"Those're big questions, Luffy," said the voice. "And once you know the answers, you can't take them back. You could just make the dreams go away, you know. I could help you."
"No!" Luffy scowled. "I want to know. I can't let this stuff bother me any more."
"You sure this is what you want?" the voice asked. "Are you sure you're ready to know?"
"YES! TELL ME ALREADY!" Luffy shouted.
The voice laughed again, longer this time, and the sound made Luffy grin in spite of his impatience. "Just what I'd expect from you. All right, then. Good luck." Warm hands touched his face, and Luffy felt another forehead pressed to his. "Be happy, little brother." And then the hands pulled back, and Luffy caught just a glimpse of dark hair and a freckled face before the fiery glow faded, and the darkness swallowed him again.
Luffy bolted upright, gasping for breath. What was that? That hadn't been like the other dreams at all. And that voice,,,who was it? He had called him "brother," but as far as Luffy knew, he was an only child. And why had he just left like that? I thought he was gonna tell me about the dreams, Luffy thought, irritated. He shouldn't tease me like that and then disappear!
He was pulled from his thoughts abruptly as a curious sensation brushed against his mind. His head snapped towards the window. Is it the ship? He wasn't sure. It didn't feel like the same tugging he'd felt before. This was lighter – a polite invitation rather than an insistent call. Luffy knew that if he lay down to sleep again, the presence would retreat. Instead, he hurriedly struggled to throw the covers off and make his way to the window. He looked out.
Everything was bathed in silver. Moonlight streamed across the grounds, lighting up the garden, the summerhouse…the bay was silver, too, but even from this distance Luffy felt sure that there was more than moonlight there. The mist had returned at last. He was about to head for the door, preparing to run as quickly as he could, when a gleam of brighter silver from near the forest caught his eye.
Something was moving. Luffy watched carefully, and saw that it was an animal of some kind, standing proudly on all fours. Luffy had the distinct impression that it was staring at him. Its head bobbed, and he saw that something else moved with it, attached to the head. Was it a horn? The unicorn? He couldn't be sure. The shape seemed too wide and branching, but maybe there were unicorns with horns like that. Whatever it was, though, there was something undeniably magical about the creature.
Its head dipped again, and this time there was an accompanying tug from the gentle presence in his mind. It's waiting for me, he realized. He paused for a moment longer, afraid the creature would disappear if he looked away, then turned quickly in a mad dash for the door.
Luffy made it out of the house undetected despite his haste. It's a good thing that even Nami has to sleep sometimes, he thought. He came in sight of the forest and had an instant of panic when the animal was no longer standing there. But he could still feel the gentle pressure, and a moment later, he saw it. It had stepped back into the trees, and as soon as Luffy locked on to the silvery form, it turned and headed deeper into the woods. Luffy followed quickly, not wanting to lose sight of it again.
The unicorn – if that's what it was – never let Luffy catch up to it, but it moved just slowly enough that Luffy could follow its trail. They were so deep in the forest now that very little light should have penetrated the thick canopy, but somehow the creature still had a silvery glow about it, and Luffy found he could see the path ahead without much difficulty.
He wasn't sure how long the unicorn had been leading him. It could have been minutes, or hours. Luffy felt as if he was standing outside of time, and if he'd been told a thousand years would have passed by the time he returned to the world, it wouldn't be unbelievable. But even in this magical setting, his body had its limits, and he was beginning to feel tired as he stepped into a small clearing filled with moonlight. As his feet hit the soft grass, the quiet presence in the back of his mind faded, and looking around, he saw the unicorn was gone. He stood still, hoping it would reappear, but everything was still. Luffy waited, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do next, when he noticed for the first time the object in the center of the clearing.
It was a rock; moderately large and gleaming almost white under the moonlight. Luffy approached it slowly. He wasn't sure why the unicorn had thought he needed to see a rock, but something told him that this was what it had been leading him to. Luffy circled the rock, inspecting it carefully. On the far side, near where the unicorn had disappeared, he found what had to be his clue. There was a mark carved into the stone – the edges worn with time, but the design still clear enough to make out.
It was a Jolly Roger; a very familiar Jolly Roger. Hesitantly Luffy reached out and ran his fingers over the grinning skull, the brim of the hat that had been yellow as straw when he'd seen it on the sail of the ghost ship. His breath caught, and his vision blurred as unbidden tears sprang to his eyes. The sudden rush of emotion nearly made him miss the second mark, but as his fingers slid off the stone, Luffy saw that an arrow had been carved beneath the skull, pointing to the ground in front of the rock.
His eyes widened. Something's buried here! Perhaps it was treasure, but Luffy didn't think the unicorn would have led him here for simple gold and jewels (though at least Nami would be happy if that's what it was). He cast around frantically for something to dig with. His hands landed on a sturdy branch, and he set to work.
It was hard going. The branch he'd found did not make for the best shovel, and Luffy's frail body was both unused to manual labor and already tired from his trek through the woods. He knew it might be smarter to find help, or at least a proper shovel, but whatever was here was incredibly important, he could feel it, and somehow he knew that if he walked away from the clearing now, he wouldn't be able to find it again.
So he continued. His breaths came in gasps, his limbs were shaking, but he dug his branch into the ground again and again, and slowly, the hole grew. I have to make it, he told himself repeatedly. I have to reach whatever is here…they're counting on me. He couldn't have said who "they" were, exactly. The unicorn? The ghost ship and its guardian? The mysterious figures that populated his dreams? It didn't matter. He would dig until he found whatever was here, and that was all there was to it.
And we're back to cliffhangers, haha. Chapter 10 is next, oh god. *hides under bed* It was one of the hardest for me to write, and I'm kind of really nervous to see what you're all going to think of it. But until then...I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!
