Hello once again my dearest readers! You're all wonderful. Especially you reviewers:
Jen567, ichigo1508, Youz, Vampire Revan, Moonlight Calls, TrunksgirlBlaze27, Falling Right Side-Up, Shiary, SniperKingSogeking0341, lexzly, and Clumsy0132
And thank you setsuka510 for messaging me and putting the proverbial boot in my rump.
And since I haven't done this in a while: I don't own One Piece or any of the One Piece cannon characters, I do own Alana, her former crew mates, and most things from her past.
~Last Time~
Lana followed, chuckling about how bossy her captain could be. "Of course."
~ And now: On with the story! ~
Alana lay in bed that night, thinking.
After the incident with the rope, Nate had gone to what their mother had called "The Special Doctor," a child psychiatrist. From then on, things were better. Nate seemed happier, less violent, less angry. Alana still flinched when he asked her to play with him and Connor, but slowly that too changed.
The day Nate and Connor left for the Marines, he asked Alana if he could take her picture.
She had readily agreed, floating up into the air, suspended by an up draft that made her short blond hair splay out from her shoulders and her white tank top billow.
Nate and Connor left.
A week later, a letter came from the Marine training compound Nate and Connor were at. It was addressed to Alana, from Nate.
She could still see it in her mind's eye: her brother's hurried writing, the hole his pen had cut in the paper from his heavy hand, the words, burned into her mind:
Lanie,
Connor told the Captain that you're going to be a pirate; that you're a fruit user; that you can sail through the calm belt.
Run!
Nate
Alana sighed and rolled over.
The picture Nate had taken ended up on her first wanted poster.
She stole a boat and ran.
Captain Wolfe picked her up two weeks later.
For a year and a half, they marauded around the North Blue, building up their treasure and their crew before heading into the Grand Line. It took them six months to reach Shabody Archipelago where they abandoned her.
A knock on the door pulled her from her reverie.
She got up and opened the door.
Law was grumbling sleepily. "Can't sleep with Jean Bart's snoring."
Alana blinked as Law pushed past her. "Huh?"
"I'm sleeping in here." He plopped down on the bed and lay down.
Alana sighed, closing the door. She walked around the bed, to the side Law wasn't laying on and lay down, her back to Law. "Good night, Captain."
The weight on the bed shifted. "Good night, Alana." Law whispered in her ear before rolling over, away from her.
Alana snuggled closer to her pillow as she woke, her eyes held lightly closed.
Someone chuckled and it rumbled through her pillow.
The wind woman grumbled.
Fingers ran through her hair, brushing against her neck.
In an instant, she was on the other side of the room, her back against the wall, heart racing with fear. Her stormy eyes found Law.
His dark chocolate eyes bore into hers as a frown set upon his lips. He was laying on the bed, propped up on his elbows. "Alana…" he got up and walked over to the young woman. "Your pupils are dilated," he grabbed her wrist, "your pulse is racing," he pulled her hands up to eye level and let go, watching as her hands trembled. "Are you afraid of me?"
Alana shook her head, eyes still wide.
"Then what are you afraid of?" Law ran his fingers through her hair.
She pushed him away and walked toward the bathroom. "You… you just startled me is all."
"Someone who's startled jumps and yelps. Someone who's frightened flinches." Law watched her pause at the bathroom door. "But someone who fears for their life runs away as fast as they can and gets quiet."
The wind woman said nothing, just stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. The click of the lock sounded in both rooms.
Law ran his hand through his hair as he fingered the key in his pocket before snatching his hat from the bed and leaving.
Alana was quiet throughout breakfast, giving one word answers and rarely looking up from her plate.
Law left without a word halfway through the meal.
After breakfast, Alana began cleaning up and started working on dinner. Two hours later diner was cooking, the dishes were cleaned, dried, and put away, the kitchen was clean from top to bottom, and the wind woman was sitting alone at the table, her hands holding her hair up, in a tight knot, on the back of her head. Her toes curled and uncurled against the cool metal floor as her tornado green eyes were focused on a knot in the surface of the wooden table.
Demitri sat down across from her. "Are you alright?"
She let go of her hair, flinching minutely as her hair brushed against her neck. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She looked up from the knot on the table. Her eyes lingered on Demitri's hat, taking in the red puff ball on the top and the word Penguin written in black above the yellow bill.
"Well, you're quiet, you aren't smiling, and whatever's in that pan," he pointed to one of the pans, "is burning."
She knocked her chair over as she hurried to stir the food, cursing under her breath as she tried to fix her mistake. "I lost track of time, that's all."
"You slept with Law last night, didn't you." He pouted minutely.
Alana blinked and looked back at him. "That has nothing to do with it."
"But you did sleep with him."
She looked back at the pan. "We slept, that's all."
"Well, you were fine yesterday, you slept with him, and now you're not fine."
"It's nothing to do with Law, now please, either do something productive or get out of my kitchen." She picked up a knife and began chopping vegetables for lunch.
Demitri's eyes lingered on the large knife before getting up. "I'm just worried about you Alana… we all are." He walked out.
Alana sighed and finished making lunch. She carried one bento box down to the engine room for Roland and the other four up to the deck. Demitri, Nicolai, and Bepo were all lounging around, but Law was nowhere to be found.
He didn't turn up until dinner, when he said nothing until everyone but Alana had left.
"Who is Nate?" Law's voice carried over the sound of her washing desert dishes.