Will Lucci wake up this chapter? Will Celosia speak with her parents? Will there be another confrontation between Remus and Jyabura?
Not a clue. I just write what pops into my head. Read on, everyone! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: No, I don't own One Piece. Or Harry Potter.
Claimer: Vito is so totally mine, though.
Here the Chapter Starts
She woke to yelling. It wasn't inside the room, but out in the hall. And it wasn't multiple voices, just one alongside the calmer baritone of Blueno. Letting out an exhale as she sat up, Celosia looked around the room. Despite having two rooms upstairs for their use, all of the agents that are able to reach this room decided to stay together in it. Sirius and Jyabura, both in canine forms, were curled up on the floor while Kaku and Kalifa decided to split the other bed. Vito hadn't moved from his spot or Hattori from the headboard.
Just to make sure everyone did get enough rest, Blueno kept guard in the hallway, even after he was told that the house responds to Sirius and if the Lord of the house says none shall enter a room, then none shall enter that room. She thinks Blueno just wanted to feel useful after his defeat. He went to that gatehouse with the intent to stop Mugiwara Luffy from advancing any further, and he failed.
Another shout reminded her of the commotion outside. Glancing towards Lucci to see if he was waking from the noise only showed that he is as non-responsive as he was before. A low whine drew her attention to the two canines, the Grim with his head raised and ears perked.
"I can handle it," she reassured lowly, waving her hand to him. Sirius let out another whimper, lowering his head but keeping his ears up. Easing off the bed without jostling the other occupants, she got to her feet and tiptoed to the door. With a near silent click, she opened it.
"Don't you know who I am?! I can go anywhere I want in this house!"
Sirius growled lowly, causing Jyabura's ears to twitch.
"Blueno," she whispered, patting the larger man's lower back. He took a step to the side, allowing her to see the one disturbing them so early in the morning.
A teenager, sixteen years old, with shaggy dark hair and hazel eyes, chunkier than she expected him to be and nearly as tall as James. Even if he was only five the last time she saw him, she would know the boy anywhere, as much as she wished to no longer know him.
"You're too loud," she warned him. "There are people trying to sleep in this room, people that require privacy. I suggest you shut your mouth and move on."
"Why should I listen to you?" Aiden scowled angrily. "I'm the Chosen One! I can do what I want!"
"Does that mean you can kill and rape at your leisure?" she suddenly asked, causing him to blanch at the unexpected question. "Can you simply destroy a whole city out of sheer want? Or kidnap children to force yourself on them repeatedly?"
"That's disgusting!" he shouted at her.
"Just because you think you can do whatever you wish does not mean you should," she advised calmly. "Take it from me, from all of us. Your fame will only take you so far. No one is untouchable. All that reach for the top soon trip over the corpses of those before them and fall right back to the bottom. You are no king, but a simple boy with no humility, handed everything ever desired on a silver platter. You will not get that with me or with this group. Our platters will be made of wood and the only thing you will get on those platters is what you deserve, not what you crave. So shut your mouth and let the injured rest and recover."
"And just who do you think you are to tell me what to do?!" he snapped angrily, drawing his wand out and pointing it in her face.
Blueno cocked a brow curiously, wondering how a stick could be a threat. Celosia just stared into the hazel eyes of her twin before sighing sadly. "You truly are a sad little boy," she mocked, turning back and returning to the room. "I wonder how many of your friends are true friends and how many clamor to you in order to bask in your fame."
"I have plenty of friends!"
"Then go bother them and leave us alone," she told him sharply, glaring at him over her shoulder. Two growls stretched around her, drawing Aiden's attention to the large Grim and wolf in the room that were baring their fangs at him. "We are not here for your amusement nor for your curiosity. Now leave us."
Blueno did not need to be told to close the door, standing back in front of it with his arms crossed as he stared down to the boy in front of him. If this kid is supposed to be Celosia's twin, then he could not understand how she is so different. A much better different. Probably because Sirius raised her.
Inside the room, Sirius and Jyabura sat down, the wolf looking to her curiously. "What did that brat want?" he asked.
"I don't know nor care," she answered, sitting on the bed and checking over the bandages on Lucci to see if they need to be changed. "He's a spoiled child that expects to do anything he wants."
"Watch him go crying to Mommy and Daddy about how his big twin sister won't let him into the room," he cackled, laying back down.
"You joke about it, but I fully expect it," she pointed out. "Kreacher, I require more bandages, please."
The house elf appeared in the room with a bundle of bandage wraps in his arms. "Kreacher has what Mistress Celosia asks for," he said, setting the bandages down on the table. "Does Mistress be wanting anything else?"
"No, thank you, Kreacher," Celosia answered, giving the elf a polite nod. "Tell me, though, who is in the house?"
Kreacher scowled. "Nasty half-bloods and mudbloods and blood traitors," he listed. "Old schoolmaster is being here as well, Mistress. No one leaves after Master and Mistress return."
"We will look into the matter when we can," she promised him. "Thank you, Kreacher. Will you please return to cleaning the house? I do not want to risk any infections setting into anyone after spending so long treating their wounds."
"Kreacher be cleanings house, Mistress," Kreacher accepted, disappearing with another crack.
"That thing still freaks me out," Jyabura muttered, earning a playful tug on his ear from Sirius.
Here is a line!
Humming a random tune under his breath, Sirius occasionally glanced to the doorway into the kitchen before looking back to the sizzling steak in the pan. So far, no one has wandered in, leaving him to cook in peace. For now. He knows it won't last long.
As he expected, another walked into the kitchen and it was someone he hoped to avoid for a while longer. "You're up rather early," Remus commented as he came to the other's side. "I seem to remember you having a bad habit of sleeping until one in the afternoon if I didn't wake you up."
"Raising a little girl taught me to wake early," he informed firmly, flipping the thick steak. Some blood still leaked out of it, but this steak isn't necessarily for him. "And I've had twenty-two years to change myself. I'm not who you remember anymore, Remus. Best you remember that."
"Yes, I'm well aware," the werewolf sighed, looking over his shoulder. "The Sirius I knew wouldn't take a lover more than a decade his junior, after all."
"I must have a weakness of some kind," he chuckled humorlessly, lifting the steak from the pan and dropping it onto a plate. The juices were still tinted red and still leaked past the brown exterior, just the way his wolf likes it.
"Can't imagine what you see," Remus scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Kind of violent, isn't he?"
Dropping the next seasoned steak onto the pan, Sirius turned to Remus with a glare. "You don't know him, nor what he has been trained for, or what he does for his profession," he pointed out with a scowl. "And you of all people should know better than to pass judgement on someone you don't know."
"He's a possessive brute," the werewolf informed.
"And if I choose to leave him, he will accept it and pout without begging me to come back," he returned. "We started with a fling and I have been with him since. You and I are long done, so nothing you say really matters anymore."
"You're just going to brush off all the time we had together?" Remus pressed, placing a hand on the Animagus' shoulder only to have it shrugged off. "What, it all meant nothing to you?"
"No, you meant nothing when I realized just how callous you are," Sirius growled. "When I realized you were trying to force me into giving Celosia back to a home of neglect, to wander around her home and remain unseen by her parents. That was when I decided we're through." Shaking his head, he let out a hollow laugh. "Here I thought you could open your eyes one day. Guess even someone as intelligent as you can still be so stupid."
"She is their daughter, Sirius. I doubt James and Lily were neglecting her. She was still a healthy young girl when you took her away. She wasn't being starved or wearing clothes too small or too worn down. They were still taking care of her."
"I gave her birthday and Christmas money every year," Sirius pointed out, shoving Remus away from him before flipping the steak. "She saved up whatever she could get and bought her own clothes, if I didn't get them to her first. The house elves made her enough food to keep her at a healthy weight. James and Lily did nothing for her!"
"That's extreme, Pads," Remus denied, shaking his head.
"Wouldn't doubt it being true, though," someone commented, causing the werewolf to jump and glare to the intruder. Sirius only smirked. "Should have seen that kid when we first met her. Of course, she was a cat when we first met her. And my bitch wouldn't let anyone near her." He grinned wildly at the glare the amber-eyes man shot him. "Grabbed me by the throat and pinned me down just for looking."
"Get enough sleep, Jyabura?" Sirius chuckled, holding the plate of rare steak out for the wolf to take. "Here, made you something."
"Making yourself something, too?" he inquired, taking the plate and sniffing it with a wild grin. "Yeah, just the way I like it."
"I am making one for myself, yes," Sirius answered, looking over to the zoan. "Everyone else up, yet?"
"Lucci's still out like a light," Jyabura informed, stabbing the steak with a fork and placing it on the counter to wait for Sirius to finish cooking his own steak. "Blueno was forced to rest in an actual bed. Celosia is helping Kalifa find some clothing since we couldn't get her to agree on anything except my shirt. Kaku is exploring the place with Vito. Haven't checked on Fukuro or Kumadori yet." He looked over to Remus then grinned wide enough to show off his canines. "So, are we going to have that problem now?"
"Break anything in my house and you may end up cursed," Sirius warned.
Jyabura blinked at him. "Really?" he asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah," the wizard continued on with a smirk. "You know how breaking a mirror can give you seven years bad luck? Well breaking a mirror in this house will guarantee those seven years. And make sure you avoid opening an umbrella inside. One of my ancestors really hated it when someone kept doing that, so placed a curse on the house to cause whoever does it to trip walking out the door and break their leg."
"You're screwing with me," the zoan accused. Sirius knows how superstitious he can be and must be playing a joke on him.
"Nope," Sirius denied, earning a confused look from Remus. He ignored it, however. "Just about everything in this house has some kind of curse on it." Still smirking, he turned to his lover and crossed his arms. "Still want to fight and potentially breaking something in my house?"
"Rather not risk it," Jyabura replied, shaking his head as he raised his arms. "I've lived this long avoiding shit like that!"
"Chapapapa, Jyabura once walked under a ladder when he was thirteen on Friday the thirteen," Fukuro announced from the doorway that expanded around him. "He got lost in the forest during a bad thunderstorm. And he fell into a pit, chapapa. And he got bit by a venomous snake."
"Do you ever shut up?!" Jyabura snarled, grabbing the zipper and forcing it to shut Fukuro's mouth.
"Oh, so that's why you're so suspicious of everything," Sirius teased, spinning back around to remove his steak from the pan and put it on his plate. Remus just watched the scene play out in utter bewilderment. "Fukuro, you hungry?"
Fukuro unzipped the corner of his mouth to speak. "I'll make something for myself," he stated.
"Alright, then the kitchen is yours." Grabbing his plate as well as a pair of knives and another fork for himself, he headed into the dining area. Jyabura looked to Remus and growled warningly at him before he picked his plate back up and followed his lover.
"Jyabura will kill you if you keep pushing, chapapa," Fukuro informed him as he started opening cabinets in search of food. "He has a doriki of two thousand one hundred eighty. I bet you don't even have eight doriki."
Remus shook his head, having no clue what 'doriki' even is. He decided it was best to leave the kitchen, though there is only one opening. To the dining area. As he entered that room, his eyes easily found Sirius with his new toy. Said 'toy' was leaning against his shoulder, grinning while muttering lewd things that caused Sirius to laugh into his hand.
Stupid pup. Sirius was his first.
Here is a line!
"Is there anything but robes in there?" Kalifa sighed, tossing another article of clothing onto the nearby chair.
"I'm sure we can find something," the raven-haired woman replied reassuringly as she dug into the closet. "Maybe not in a style you prefer, but we should be able to find at least one thing comfortable enough for you to wear." A small smirk twitched at her lips as she pulled out a long-sleeved tan blouse and a deep blue skirt that would reach to Kalifa's heels. "This looks well enough to last until we can buy some new clothes for you."
Taking the outfit, her fingers felt the fabric before Kalifa nodded. "It will do for now," she accepted, shedding Jyabura's shirt in order to put the blouse on first. She already has to borrow underwear from Celosia and bandages to bind her chest. "Celosia, may I ask you a question?"
"Very well," Celosia answered as she collected the discarded robes and dresses. Even she has to admit that they would never do.
"That boy you said is your twin," the blonde started, buttoning up the blouse. It was a little tight around her chest and the bottom rested at her hips, but it would be enough until they can go shopping. "He has quite an attitude that makes him your complete opposite. I know your parents spoiled him while Sirius raised you, but why are you so different?"
Giving the other woman a sad smile, she answered, "Because he was handed the world while I was handed to my godfather. Because the couple that conceived us favored him over me. Because he was spoiled while I was taught humility. Because he has friends that want him for his wealth and fame while I have friends I can trust and would never consider abandoning nor replacing."
Slipping the skirt up her long legs, Kalifa nodded to the woman's response. "If only there were some way to teach him humility," she suggested, securing the waistband of the skirt. Then with a coy smile, she turned to Celosia and placed her finger to her chin. "We can think of something, can we not?"
"I am sure we can, but I do not wish to," Celosia denied with a shake of her head. "One day, he will fall from his high horse and his spirit will be broken."
"Why do you say that?" Kalifa asked curiously as she picked up Jyabura's shirt and folded it on her arm.
She smiled to the blonde woman mysteriously before telling her, "Because he is not who he and everyone thinks he is."
Here is a line!
The house is a strange one, Kaku has to admit as he looked over the various portraits of different people interacting with each other. Going from frame to frame and talking to each other or to him and Vito. Vito, sitting on his shoulders with Hattori on his dark hair, was completely captivated by the portraits. He wasn't quite sure what to think of them just yet.
Shuffling behind him alerted him to the people standing nearby, but he didn't turn to them. Vito looked down at them curiously until Hattori swatted the boy's nose, causing Vito to jerk back and blink in surprise. The pigeon cooed harshly to the group behind them, waving his wing in a signal to go away.
"Um, excuse me?" a feminine voice called shyly.
Humming curiously, he turned to them with a kind smile on his face. "Hello there," he greeted. "Can I be of some assistance?"
"Actually, we were wondering if you were lost," the girl, a teenager of sixteen years with long bushy brown hair, replied.
"You must not have been here when we arrived," Kaku chuckled. "We came here just a couple days ago."
The two boys, one a raven and the other a redhead, looked at him with mocking smirks. "What happened to your nose?" the raven taunted with crossed arms.
"Aiden!" the girl scolded. "That was incredible rude!" Turning back to Kaku, she smiled apologetically. "Everyone has accidents with spell work. If you need help fixing it-"
"Much obliged by your offer, but I was born like this," he informed, slipping into the dialect he used back at Water Seven. It tended to make others drop their guard easier and underestimate him.
"Bloody hell, your Mum must have been on something bad," the redhead said next, earning a hit from the girl.
"I really wouldn't know, I never met her once I was weaned," Kaku stated with a shrug of his shoulder. "Ain't that just the foggiest? Oh well. I never ended up standing on my beam ends, so I consider myself quite lucky."
"Really?" the girl said in surprise, blinking her eyes rapidly. "You don't know your mother?"
"Not at all," he answered. "But my friends and I are of the chock-a-block kind."
"Just how old are you?" the raven boy asked, sneering at him. "You talk like an old man."
"I get that a lot," Kaku chuckled. "I'm actually twenty-three."
"Kaku is really funny," Vito threw out with a grin, wrapping his arms under the zoan's chin. "He says things no one else says." Then his nose scrunched up as he regarded the trio of teenagers. "You're really rude, you know."
The girl blinked at the young boy curiously, not understanding why he was saying such. "Ah!" Kaku exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "I'm afraid we have been quite rude ourselves. My apologies. My name is Kaku, and these two are Vito and Hattori."
"Oh, I am so sorry," the girl exclaimed, though seemed surprised that Kaku didn't already know who they are. Beyond the boy Celosia says is her twin, he didn't know why she would think that. "I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley and Aiden Potter."
The boy Aiden puffed up arrogantly, like he was waiting for something. Kaku just nodded. "Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said then glanced to Aiden before adding on with veiled taunting, "I'm sure."
It flew over the boy's head, though he still looked offended. "You don't know who I am?" he demanded with a sneer.
"Am I supposed to?" Kaku returned, looking up curiously. "Vito, are we supposed to know this boy?"
"Boy?!"
"I never heard of him," Vito replied, sticking his nose in the air.
Kaku laughed gently. "Indeed. I suppose we really have come across quite a sea change."
"How have you never heard of Aiden?" the girl, Hermione, asked incredulously. "Everyone in the wizarding world knows who he is."
"Because they are originally not from this realm," a calm voice answered the girl, causing the trio to jump in surprise. Kaku simply looked over to Celosia and Kalifa, his eyes taking a quick glance over the blonde woman. He doesn't think he's ever seen her wear something covering that much skin, though it did look to strain against some aspects of her body. "Kaku. Vito. What are you two up to?"
"Look, Mom, the pictures move!" Vito exclaimed, pointing to one of the whispering portraits. "And they talk, too!"
"It's quite a sight," Kaku agreed. "Just boggles the mind."
"Wizards have been doing such for centuries, trapping the likeliness of their ancestors or those of fame within these near immortal scenes," Celosia explained, straightening a crooked frame. The occupants thanked her for the slight fix. "Never do they think that the picture is not the person, does not hold their memories or their soul. It is but a mimic with limited knowledge." She turned to him and gave the man a small smile. "Your little friends?"
"You should know who I am!" Aiden declared with a huff. "You saw me earlier."
Humming with mock curiosity, she stared down at her twin with a hard gaze. He started fidgeting under her eyes within a few seconds. "Indeed I did," she accepted then looked to Kalifa before back to Kaku and Vito. "We were just about to go down and fix some lunch. Would you boys care to join us?"
"We would be most honored," Kaku replied with a sweeping bow, Vito laughing on his shoulders as he clung to the zoan in order to not be thrown off. Celosia picked him off of the other's shoulders, placing him on her hip before Hattori took off, flying through the door as Blueno stepped out. "Ah! Blueno! Can we interest you in a bite?"
"Yeah," the larger man said with a nod.
"Would you care to join us or stand guard up here?" Celosia offered, though knew what the man would say.
"I'll eat up here. Best to make sure no one tries to disturb Lucci while he's still recovering."
Aiden scoffed in annoyance. "Just who is this bloody Lucci fellow anyway?" he asked with a huff. Just how can these people not know who he is? Or dare to stop him from going where he wants? Or act like they care more for some guy than they should about meeting him?!
"My Dad," Vito growled out, earning a startled jerk from the teenager. "And my Dad can kill you with just a poke of his finger. So shut your stupid mouth and leave him alone!"
Blueno coughed into his hand to hide his laugh, though Kaku didn't bother disguising his amusement any. Kalifa simply readjusted her glasses, the light reflecting off the lenses in a bright glare. The trio looked at them with wide eyes and dropped jaws, bewildered by the behavior of the agents.
Celosia sighed, carting her fingers through her child's hair before walking by Kaku towards the stairs. "I'll make something for you, Blueno, and I will send Kaku up with it," she informed over her shoulder.
Here is a line!
"Mum! Dad!" Aiden called pathetically, running into the room his parents were occupying. "Can you believe it?! Those people have no idea who I am! They insult me and don't listen to anything I say!"
"Aiden, calm down," Lily soothed, placing one hand on his shoulder while running the other through the messy dark hair on his head. "Now, tell us what you're talking about."
"None of them act like they care about meeting me," he whined. "Me! The Boy-Who-Lived! The Chosen One! Not a one of them even knows my name!"
"Aiden, son, come here," James called as he sat in a chair. Aiden dragged his feet over to his father. "Take a seat. What your mother and I are going to tell you will come as a shock."
He looked to his parents curiously, but sat on the couch adjacent to them. "So, tell me," he impatiently demanded.
"Well," James sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as Lily took the chair by him. "You've seen them wandering around the house now. Have you seen the young woman with black hair and green eyes?"
"What about her?" the teenager grumbled, dropping against the back of the couch with his arms crossed.
To him, that woman is the worst of the lot. Any girl would swoon before him, giggle behind their hands as he walks by, no matter their age. She just stares at him like he's nothing more than a bug crossing her path and she was debating whether to step on him or not, then chooses not to because it would end her amusement of watching him flail.
"There is something we haven't told you," Lily started. "Aiden, you're a twin."
He blinked at his parents. "What? No way! If I'm a twin, then where's the other one?"
"Your sister was taken away by the man we asked to be her godfather," James explained. "He thought we were neglecting her in favor of you, so he took custody of her. A few months after that, they vanished and no one knew where they went. You were only five when it happened, so you wouldn't remember her. Your sister's name is Celosia. And she is here. That woman is your twin sister."
Aiden scoffed in disbelief. "How stupid do you think I am? There's no way she's my twin sister. She's too old!"
"We're not sure how it was possible, but Celosia and Sirius both are much older than they should be," Lily stated. "Celosia should be your age and Sirius should be closer to ours. We don't know how they aged so rapidly, but we do plan to get to the bottom of it. Now, your sister is here. So at least try to get along with her while we find a way to return her to her rightful age."
Unknown to them, another person was in the room, hidden in the very atmosphere. His eyes narrowed as he turned and walked from the area. He can't wait until Lucci wakes up. Celosia on her own is a force to fear, but adding in Lucci would be much worse. It is time these people learn not to mess with CP9 or anyone they claim as their own.
Here is a line!
It was a subtle movement at first, a slight shift under the blanket before eyes slowly opened, blinking to clear away the blur of sleep. Slowly, he sat up, the blanket pooling on his legs as he looked around the room. The room he was in was dark, the window curtains drawn close to block out sunlight from pouring onto him. Another bed was against the opposite wall from him, the blankets neatly arranged back into a smooth cover on the mattress.
Sitting at the foot of the bed he is currently on, Celosia with her feet tucked against her. She was smiling gently at him while rolling up a bloody bandage. His brows furrowed as he looked down on himself, seeing his bare torso wrapped tightly with fresh bandages and another one around his arm. "How long?" he asked, his voice raspy from lack of use.
"Three days," she answered. "Welcome back to the world of the living, Lucci. We have quite a bit to fill you in on."
Here the Chapter Ends
So Lucci finally woke up. Yay! Now he gets to meet Celosia's parents, her twin brother, and a whole bunch of other people! Bloodbath, anyone? We'll see.
You know the drill, people! Let me know what you think! ^^