WARNING: There is slight swearing in this chapter. Sorry if you don't like it but you'll just have to deal.
Rokuro POV
When I heard a cry of pain I turned my head to look. What I did see shocked me. I knew Cale and Riko had already been there. Hell, I had tried to kill Riko. What I didn't know was that Riley was also in this world.
Back then Riley and I had been cell mates. The Lost were kept in jail cells. It was all communal. There were no 'boys' or 'girls'. To the Society there were no genders. She had been there when I was marked with the 6. When they gave us our names, she was there. After experiments when I came back beaten, bloody, and sobbing, she had comforted me and given me hope that somewhere there was a better place.
"Riles..." (I almost never said her full name.)
I let my hand drop back to my side and momentarily forgot about Riko and Cale. I dragged my now heavy feet towards her but that ass Cale had to get in the way. He was gripping his shoulder and panting a little.
"Don't go near her. I don't care what happened in the past, you are not the Rokuro we both know."
His words were meant to sting but I no longer felt anything. I tried. I tried so hard not to feel anything, but the look on Riles face still fills me with that soaring hope.
"I don't care. I was sent to kill you. Having her here is only a bonus. I get to destroy 3 Lost now."
"Listen to yourself. You are a Lost! You kill your own kind. You're a monster. Nothing but the Society's bitch."
Rile's face still held that easy confidence and showed her care free attitude. She was the same Riles who cared for others more than herself and still managed to crack a joke in the midst of a war.
"Rokuro."
One word that's all it took. She never called me by my full name. My knees felt weak and my heart ached. I remained calm on the outside. On the inside I was breaking down. Her eyes were hard and unforgiving.
"Cale move. It's okay he won't fight me. No Lost can be completely controlled by the Society and Rokuro is no exception."
I watched as she took confident and easy steps towards me. Her dark pools of oblivion softened and her tone changed. She was in Lets-all-be-friends mode.
"Roki...I missed you. I'm sorry for what they did. I didn't want to let them. Now you're a TEN and I can't do anything..." She trailed off but I could hear the sorrow in her voice.
THIRD POV
WITH USOPP
Finally after being left out of the conversation for so long Usopp butted in.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"
Klahadore and Jango had both left 20 minuets ago and Usopp had been waiting for someone to explain anything to him. This creepy guy had just shown up and started chucking knives at people! Cale still had a knife sticking out of his shoulder and was bleeding profusely! Usopp had no idea what was going on with Riko! Riley was going on about something called the 'TEN'! Shit. What had he gotten himself into?
Now the heads of four Lost swiveled to stare at the panicking boy. Riley released a sigh and calmly walked over to Usopp.
"Sit down. We'll explain everything. I knew you were going to have to find out eventually, right sensei?"
She tilted her head and smiled sweetly at him. Usopp smiled back and despite the feeling that told him to run he sat down and tried to listen to what Riley and the others had to say.
The others formed a semi-circle around Usopp and he got the impression of an intervention. A small sweat drop formed at the sight of their serious faces.
Cale spoke first.
"In every world, when people are born, most of their fate is already decided. What world they end up and who they will most likely become are all ready decided by the Society. It's like you come with paper work or an instruction manual. The TEN are the ones who enforce these decisions and make sure everything runs smoothly. Rokuro here,"
He gestured to the quiet scarlet haired boy who looked like he wanted to puke.
"Is a TEN, but an assassin who works for them. The TEN are an organization made up of ten Lost. But there are some people who on the way to wherever they are meant to go, lose their paper work. They have the ability to travel between worlds until they find the one they truly belong people are called Lost. Riley, Riko, Rokuro(*) and I are all Lost. The TEN originally didn't like the Lost because they would change the order of things in other worlds and screw up their plans. Soon they found a way to find and capture the Lost. Their goal in doing this was to break the free spirit all Lost naturally possess. If they could manage to do this then maybe somehow they could use the Lost as weapons. In some they succeeded. In others their spirit was too strong to break. The unbreakable ones where but in cells for testing and experiments. I became the leader, Riley was the first General. She never lets us doubt that we can't be free. She holds so much hope that it doesn't matter if you don't have any. Riko was our second General the one with the biggest will. I have no clue what Rokuro's deal is. He's always been a little funny..."
Rokuro shot him a glare and his hand twitched.
"It wouldn't bother me to send another dagger into you. Maybe aim towards your heart a little more?"
Riley scowled at them both and looked at Riko who was unusually quiet. She thought to soon because Riko decided it was her turn to tell the story.
"Somehow to ways only known to him, Cale managed to break every single Lost out of the hell we were all locked in. That means there are good and bad Lost roaming between worlds. It was pure luck, I guess, that the three of us all wound up here. Rokuro was sent to kill us for escaping or whatever. The one who knows the most about Rokuro is Riley but I do know that he can summon swords, knives, daggers, you name it. He can also levitate them and send them flying towards people. That is the result of the tests the Society performed on us That should be about all of it for now. We need to get a move on before Kaya dies."
And with that she stood and started walking back to the village. Riley smiled at her new friends antics and followed gladly. Usopp was still confused but less so. Even he followed the two girls, a new fire burning to save Kaya. Cale shot one more glare a Rokuro before tearing out the dagger and throwing it to the ground. Rokuro shrugged and trailed after Riley. Cale stared, dumbfounded, until he came to his sense and raced after the group. This was going to be a long, long, long, walk...
DISCLAIMER: I don't own One Piece. Riko belongs to Crazydoglover
AN: 1(*) There are a lot of 'R' names. -.-'
Once again sorry for the swearing. I felt this chapter called for it. I hope their past wasn't too confusing, if you have any questions ask in a review or leave me a PM. Thanks for supporting Riley and her dream so far. This chapter has been completely redone as of 1-20-13.