Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Insidious. This is a fan-made fiction.
Warning (s): An attempt in making a horror fanfic set in modern AU, characters might be OOC.
Part Nine
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." – Ambrose Redmoon (J.N.H.)
Law's P.O.V.
"I… I couldn't reach him. I couldn't get to him at all."
I stood up, unconsciously wanting to grab Zoro by the collar of his shirt but had stopped myself, knowing misdirected anger won't help. "What do you mean? What will happen to Luffy now?"
"I'll do it again. I'm going to get him this time." Zoro swore.
"Guys…? "
Sanji held on to Zoro's shoulder tighter. "But Zoro… didn't Robin said that you can't go there again as soon as you just did?" His mixed emotions made his expression inscrutable.
But Zoro sounded firm. "I have to try! If you saw what I did, then you'd know that it's probably already too late!"
What does he mean by already too late? It can't be. "What exactly happened?"
"That dickwad of an entity…" Zoro involuntarily placed his hand over his stomach as he tensed, seemingly suffering from some unseen injury.
"Damn it Marimo! But if you go on recklessly, it might not be only Luffy that we're going to have to save anymore!"
"Guys!" Cora-san shouted.
"WHAT!?"
He looked unnerved and pointed towards my housemate. "What's happening to Luffy?"
The three candles atop the coffee table were suddenly extinguished as the temperature dropped. Luffy started to shake violently against his wheelchair, foam bubbled from his mouth, his head hung low. The air felt heavy and crowded even if there were just the five of us in the room. We backed away slowly. Then Luffy stilled.
"Luff…? "
I inched closer to him cautiously, reaching for his hand.
"…Luffy?"
"…Law…," was the weak response of the boy in front of me.
I was overwhelmed with relief and immediately freed him from his constraints. Then without any thought, I took him into my arms, enclosing him, afraid to let go. He survived. He made it. I felt his arms weakly wrapping itself around me, his head perched to the nook of my shoulder.
His fingers dug into my back a little too deep.
"Law! Get away from him!"
Before I could register the Sanji's warning or the unchanged coldness of the body against me, the hairs on my body stand on end as the sound of an all too familiar insidious chuckle deeply reverberated against my ear – his chilled breath sent shivers down my spine.
"Fufufufufufu…"
Zoro was right. We were already far too late.
The End.
(Just kidding…)
The three candles atop the coffee table were suddenly extinguished as the temperature dropped. Luffy started to shake violently against his wheelchair, foam bubbled from his mouth, his head hung low. The air felt heavy and crowded even if there were just the five of us in the room. We backed away slowly. Then Luffy stilled.
"Luff…? "
There was no response.
"What the hell just happened?" Cora-san looked perplexed, we all were.
After a while, nothing had changed. I walked up to Luffy to wipe off his foaming mouth, checking for any other changes in him. Zoro's voice broke the stifling silence once again.
"I have to try again. It's our only chance to save Luffy." Zoro looked straight into Sanji's worried eyes as he held the blonde's arm. "I won't be defeated. I don't intend to die." With the resolute air he had on him, Sanji only sighed and responded to the fool he chose to be with. "Good, 'cause if you die, I'll kill you."
"But I'll need your help, Law."
I turned sharply to the green-haired man. "My help?"
Zoro settled back to his seat and clenched his hands together. "It's true, I should only go there voluntarily once in a while. Willing myself to go to the Further not only depletes my energy, but also makes me vulnerable to paranormal attacks. But if I can share the load with another person, I might be able to make it again."
"But it's not only for that reason that I need your help in particular."
"…What do you mean?"
"I can barely sense the entity. I couldn't see him clearly. It kept on attacking me and I can hardly retaliate. This is just a theory, something that I had come across before but hadn't really thought about much until now. I figured I needed someone who has both a bond with Luffy and the entity in order to have a chance to fight against it, much less a chance to get Luffy back."
"Why haven't you told me this before?"
"I couldn't. Too dangerous. I was considering it before but there were too many risks involved. If only I was able to get to him during my first attempt, it wouldn't have to come to this."
"Risks?" Sanji curiously asked.
"Since Law doesn't particularly have an affinity to see the unseen, it will be difficult for him to sync into the Further. What it means is that it'll make his body more vulnerable and the process would deplete more of his energy. Considering that this entity had been following him from the start, it might even kill him."
"That's…"
"Bullshit! Those are just theories, even you don't know for sure what will happen. And even if it were really the case… I'd still do it! I was the one who dragged him into this in the first place."
"I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but… even so, from what I heard, Luffy did make the call. If he didn't, this might not happen. You can't entirely blame yourself for what's happening."
"Hey geezer…"
"It doesn't change what I want to do. I'll help Zoro. If I don't… " I won't be able to live with myself.
"I guess I can't convince you otherwise. Just be careful, Law." Cora-san had a knowing smile on his face. "You too, Zoro."
"So how will you go about this?" Sanji inquired.
Zoro crossed his arms and thought for a second. "We will need another person in here."
The six of us formed a circle in the living room. On each side of Luffy, who was still unconscious and tied to the wheelchair, were Zoro and myself. Next to Zoro was Sanji who unconsciously fidgeted and beside me was Cora-san who appeared rather serious. Between my cousin and the tattoo studio boss was Eustass-ya who looked really, really lost. He occasionally glanced at Luffy.
The only light in the room came from the three lit candles on the coffee table.
"Ah… what exactly are you guys up to? I mean, I'm not one to judge or anything… "
"Why does he need to be here anyway?" I hissed at Zoro.
"Since the two of us need to go the Further and we would be coming back with Luffy, we will need three other living persons who will act as anchors so we wouldn't get lost. Their life energy will help in leading us back. It won't be risky though. All they have to do is not break the circle at any cost."
"Why can't it be Nose-ya or his girlfriend, or even the landlord?"
"About that… Usopp and Kaya are at another city. They can only make it by morning even if they rushed here." Sanji replied.
"The landlord is too old. While being an anchor is relatively without risk for most, it can prove fatal for those who might be nearing their natural end." Zoro reasoned.
"Plus Kid-kun was already down the building so it cuts us some work!" Cora-san chirped a little too cheerfully and turned to his red-head employee. "Relax Kid, ya just need to hold on for some time. I'll even let you off the hook for that mistake you did yesterday."
"Hey, that ain't my fault." Kid retorted. "Just treat me to lunch for a month or something for whatever this is."
"Sure, sure Eustass-ya." I sighed.
Knowing Cora-san brought Zoro to our apartment, Eustass decided to bring the new designs directly to him for tomorrow's rather important client. Thus prompted his untimely involvement in our paranormal rescue mission.
Zoro cleared his throat and spoke. "Let's get started."
As Zoro murmured instructions, I closed my eyes and cleared my head, focusing on one thing and nothing. The hairs on my back stood on end as slowly I began to see something akin to an unclear haze. I felt my eyes opening even if they were shut close.
This was unlike anything I have experienced before. It broke the limits of what I previously believed.
I stood alarmingly barefoot in front of my unmoving body, which was still seated at where I was just on earlier. It was surreal, an out of the body experience. My curious mind wanted me to go near it, to touch it but Zoro had warned not to engage in any contact with my body unless I wanted to go back to the land of the living. I was now in what they call the Further.
Beside my still body was Luffy's and then Zoro's.
"This way." Zoro hoarsely croaked. I spotted him by the apartment's entrance. On his hand was a single candle.
The only other source of light were the two candles lit atop the coffee table. The apartment looked no different apart from the absence of the three others. However, it was dark, grim and hazed all over. The stagnant air filled my chest with every breath. It felt damp and cold. I took a candle and followed Zoro outside.
The empty hallway seemed longer. At one end was the red door of the ill-functioning elevator while at the other, a seemingly unending void. I saw a figure peeking at us from one of the other apartments.
"There's…," My throat burned by just uttering a word, it was sore. I tapped Zoro's shoulder lightly and pointed towards the mysterious figure. He nodded in acknowledgement and moved to approach whoever it was.
The peeking figure had ebony hair, relatively slim build with a fairly tanned complexion. It looked achingly familiar, wearing the tattered clothes Luffy wore when I found him at the apartment upstairs. But its face – its face was a blank. It literally had nothing on its face save for a small scar under where its left eye is supposed to be.
"Luffy?"
To my surprise, the figure hugged me and nuzzled against my chest. I felt no apparent sense of danger. I turned to Zoro, raising an eyebrow. Zoro spoke to it. "Where's… the rest of you?"
It weakly raised its hand and pointed upstairs.
Not knowing what exactly this, I assume for now, entity now latched on my arm is, Zoro's question piqued my suspicion. Where's the rest of you? What does he mean by that? I opted not to ask for now, keeping my thoughts to myself.
As we got closer to the stairs leading to the next floor, Zoro shook his head and signaled me to take the elevator instead. Dangerous, he hissed as he stood in front the elevator doors which opened without a button being pressed. When I entered inside the dimly lit elevator, the entity beside me disappeared.
"Don't let the light disappear." Zoro warned.
The light flickered slowly, on and off. As the elevator door opened, the temperature significantly dropped. A gust of unnatural wind greeted us. I hovered my palm over the candle on my hand.
As soon as I took my first step on the fourth floor, my feet felt the sensation of a viscous liquid lining its soles. The metallic smell hit my nose. We went on, pacing with heavy steps on the suspiciously dark red floor.
"Shishishishishi…" A figure sniggered as it ran across the hall. Its laugh echoed as it went through the walls. It moved very fast but it halted almost immediately in front one red door I remember entering before. It snapped its faceless head towards us and went through the said door.
But before we could walk further into the Further, I saw a flash of something thin sweeping through the air. "Dodge!" I hoarsely shouted to my companion in the nick of time. While I managed to evade whatever it was and tumbled forward, Zoro had been squarely knocked out to the floor. As if he was the target in the first place…
I turned to help Zoro but the floor between us vanished, leaving a seemingly bottomless pit. "Go!" I heard him shout as another one of those faceless doppelgangers tackled him to the ground. "We don't have much time!" He added, wrestling against the particularly aggressive entity.
He was right.
I ran to where the faceless figure stopped – to the red door. Engraved on the wooden door is Room 405.
As my hand made contact with the metal door knob, the pit of my stomach churned, as if warning me of something. I broke out a cold sweat as the realization of meeting again this monster sent shivers down my spine – that same monster who chuckled as he made a precise thin slice across that nameless boy's throat.
The feelings and thoughts I had on that night, thirteen years ago, when I quivered against the rusting metal cage with the knowledge that I would soon be lifeless in that tub, silently praying that death would claim me swiftly, came over me at this moment. Scared shitless can be a term I could use to describe it as a whole.
In that one second, I became that kid in the cage again. I know this entity – this Doflamingo would be much powerful. He became beyond human. He, no – it became a demon and I have an idea why it became that way and why it still lingers. I shuddered. If we fail – if I fail…
But if I don't try –
"Mhm, I ought to say meat but umm, bread rolls maybe? … Shishishi, I'm just kidding… how about rice balls?"
If we don't try…
"Traffy…"
Why was I here in the first place? There was no turning back now and I know it. Even if there was no denying the fear inhabiting within me, my reason for being in this godforsaken place gives me strength. I gulped, casting other thoughts aside then I swung the door open.
"Fufufufufufu, I have been waiting a bit too long for you… little one."
It was the last thing I understood as darkness engulfed me.
To be continued…
A/N: The end is near – literally, it's the next chapter. Thanks for reading on!