My heart, it stopped beating right then and there. My stomach, it dropped. I was helpless, so far out of reach, unable to do a damn thing as I watched another crew member become another traitor.
My breathing was now jagged and I could barely stand to watch the scenes unfolding below me. But at the exact same time I couldn't tear my gaze away.
I hated being up here for more than one reason. I had the prefect view of everything that was going on before me. I had a bird's eye view of the war, of the deaths, of the fights and the struggles, I could see everything, and it was all because of me, of disobeying Pops who was standing there, one of his sons having just stabbed him, having betrayed him for one reason or another. All of the deaths of my friends and family who were all trying to reach me, save me, I could do nothing to give them any aid of any sorts. I could only kneel here cuffed in sea stone and watch.
I wanted them to all go home, to leave. I wanted everyone to be gone, to be safe. I didn't want them racing to their deaths, not for me at least. I didn't want to take anyone else down with me, I didn't want anything to happen to anyone, especially not my brothers, or my sisters, I didn't want to drag Pops down or any of our allies. I wanted everyone to leave, no matter how much it pained me to say. And even though if any one of them were in my current predicament I'd be doing exactly the same thing as them, I decided to accept my fate.
If the blades of justice reached me before Luffy, Willow or any of the men and women down there fighting for me, before a hand could be extended to me, for me to grab, then so be it.
Pops and Squard stood there, exchanging words but I don't know what they said, only that Pops must have understood or forgave him because he hugged him to his chest before racing off to battle. The ball had just started rolling for real now, now that Pops was in the game.
My execution is ordered and I am ready this time, ready to accept my fate. I braced myself for the impact wondering what it's going to feel like. I didn't want to die but maybe if I did then they'd all go home, all of this fighting would be over, they'd all leave and that would be the end of it. I couldn't stand watching Luffy, Willow, Pops and the rest of the crew, even strangers fight for me, for my life and my freedom, it pained me, I felt every slice, punch and death that I witnessed from my not so safe place on the execution platform.
I bowed my head and braced myself, closing my eyes hoping that everyone could forgive me. But when nothing happened I cracked open just one of my eyes to take a peek at why I was still waiting, when I looked I saw that someone had knocked the two guards away, efficiently stopping my execution. I saw that it was Crocodile, some random pirate. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who was surprised; it seemed that everyone else was surprised as well. I was glad I wasn't the only one.
I watched Little Oars Jr. get up, apparently he wasn't dead, which I was extremely thankful for, and I watched as he helped bring most of my family into the plaza, the space that had been closed off by walls before. He didn't last long however and was taken down for a second time, this time by cannons. When he fell for a second time my heart broke even more. I so desperately wanted to do something but I didn't get to dwell too long on that because that's when I noticed that Garp had joined the action and had punched Marco who was on his way towards me.
Suddenly I was whisked back to the past where I was sitting on the shores of my home island with Garp. I remember asking him if I should have even been born. I also remembered his response, his exact words. I remember that he told me that the only way I could find the answer to my question was by living.
Tears welled up in my eyes and streamed down my face, blurring the scene before me. It was horrible that I was happy that everyone cared enough for me to come, to risk their lives for me but it was the truth I had been denying since they arrived, I was happy that they were here.
I managed to hold back a few sobs, but the tears just wouldn't stop and I realized that I really did want to live, that I didn't want to die, that I didn't want to let their sacrifices go to waste.
I wanted desperately to live, to annoy everyone with stories of Luffy. I wanted to fight alongside my friends, my family. I still wanted to avenge Thatch if I could. I wanted to laugh and drink, I wanted to party. I wanted to tell Willow those stories I had promised her, I wanted to see how she had grown. And most of all I wanted to tell her what I hadn't yet had the chance to tell her in person, the words I had been holding back until I got back to her.
With Luffy collapsed and Willow charging ahead on her own, swinging her blades, her feet and her body twisting and contorting around attacks. I admit she had gotten a lot better; it was certainly something that she should be proud of.
It was hard for me to keep my eyes on everybody, on every fight and even though they wondered a bit they were focused on Willow, though I was watching Luffy out of the corner of my eye, I had to make sure he was going to be. He was near a purple haired person and was down for the moment.
Willow was out there by herself. But she was doing ok … ish. She was slowing down and was obviously tiring. I wanted to scream, to tell someone to back her up, someone, anyone! But I didn't, the words went no farther than thought.
Something happened to Luffy and a scream from him drew my attention away from the blue haired girl. As Luffy began advancing once again with the purple haired guy with him my execution was ordered for like the third time or so. Luffy either killed or knocked out a pink haired boy- probably knocked out, knowing him- and continued on only to be attacked by things called Pacifistas. But the female war lord stepped in and they backed down, which I found strange despite everything. Did Luffy have help from the inside? If not what was up with him and the woman?
Marco tried to face Kizaru only to get caught by sea stone cuffs. Jozu got half frozen and seemed to have lost an arm. It wasn't the first time that everyone had been shocked today, you'd think that after everything that had happened today that nothing else would shock them but it seemed that wasn't the cause they seemed to be shocked once again.
Was I shocked? I'd be lying if I didn't say yes.
Was I scared for everyone below me? Hell yes was an understatement to be honest.
Would something else shock us before I died or before I was freed? Probably, in fact I was betting on it.
Sengoku told the Marines to take Pops head but they wouldn't be able to manage the feat even if he wasn't as young as he used to be, even if they had hit him quite a few times. They weren't going to get him; they weren't going to take his head. I couldn't let myself think otherwise.
As they advanced everyone tried to rush towards him but with a few words Pops stopped the pirates, telling them that he didn't need their help, that he was Whitebeard after that he began swinging his weapon around, sending marines flying like figurines. The crew gathered behind him to defend his honor only to be called foolish by Pops himself.
Sengoku berates Pops, which made me grind my teeth. But as he did so the guards raised their weapons, ready to execute me for yet another time. I wish if they were going to do it that they'd get it over with instead of keep raising them then not executing me, then raising them and not executing me for another time. Even though I wanted to live I wish they'd stop messing with me.
Pops said that not even he could stop it as the pirates called out my name. I bowed my head once again. I guess this was it. There was nothing anyone else could do, Pops was too far away, there was too much space, too many marines between Luffy and I and Willow, bless her heart, she couldn't reach me even though she was closer to me than Luffy was. As I bowed my head, with my eyes closed I muttered an apology and a word of thanks. I was grateful for all the blood they had spilled, all the lives they had given to try and free me, but it seemed that despite their efforts it had all been in vain.
I could hear the whoosh of the blades as they were swung up, the pause as they reached their peak and then the whoosh as they changed direction and were brought down. Together they were going to send my head rolling, just like they had my father. Of all the ways I had thought I'd go out, this wasn't the preferred method. I wanted to go out fighting for Pops, fighting to give him the title of the Pirate King. I didn't want to die because I had disobeyed his orders because I had been so over taken by rage that we had a traitor who had been biding his time. But want it or not it was going to happen.
"STOP IT!" I heard Luffy shout, drawing out both words to extreme lengths. And when his scream ended and the patter of his footsteps was the only sound to be heard for just a second I looked up unable to resist the curiosity. When I looked I saw that the guards were unconscious besides me, laying on the platform. Had I not been restrained I would have poked them and then used that to determine exactly how out they were but just looking at them, they were pretty out. Unfortunately it hadn't effected Sengoku, unless you counted shock, then he was really shocked, not that I wasn't but he stood there with his mouth agape.
Within seconds the fights resumed. Marines attacked Pops, the crew, the other pirates, Willow, everyone. Luffy practically had an army running behind him. But unlike Willow he needed it, most of their attention was on him and therefore the help was needed. A path was cleared for Luffy and a ramp was cut out of the street that led straight to me. He had a straight shot; rather he did until Garp got in the way, shouting about how Luffy was his enemy now. Pops stopped an attack from Kizaru and the war lord Boa Hancock fired pink heart arrows at marines turning them to stone as he reached our grandpa.
Thankfully Luffy was able to beat him with a punch that sent him off of the ramp that had crumbled. Despite the falling chunks Luffy managed to make it to the platform just before me. As he ran around to my back it seemed that Sengoku was displeased and used his devil fruit power. He reared his fist back and as it got near Luffy turned towards him and inflated his body like a balloon. Some guy created a shelter around us as not to be crushed by my idiot brother. The force more or less destroyed the platform and sent all of us flying.
As we fell through the air I could hear cannon shots echo one after another. But before anything could reach us the cuffs suddenly released their hold on me. I grinned as they fell off.
I was back in action baby!
I wasted no time grabbing Luffy and telling him how even after all of this time he never changed. Really was he ever going to change? He was still reckless and crazy just like he had always been but who was I to talk?
We hit the ground back to back, my sending out a wave of fire to incinerate everyone who was close. As Luffy and I fought the incoming marines back to back, as we made the perfect team and as we began making our way away from the platform I heard my name being shouted. It wasn't the collective shout of a group of people, of Pops crew, but the shout of a single person. I lifted my head and turned towards that shout with a smile, to show that I was ok, that I was going to be home soon.
-Willow-
There was an explosion and when I looked Pops Jolly Roger was shining through the black smoke, made out of flame that was alive. At that instance my weariness was gone, the aches and pain, the toll of fighting so much, it was all gone replaced but joy at its purest. I watched three figures land on the ground not far from the platform. Through my own fights, through the small chances I was allowed I saw small glimpses of fire and rubber working together as though they were one.
I was absolutely overwhelmed with it. Ace was free! He wasn't going to die; things were going to be ok. All we had to do now was to get out of here. Of course that was probably easier said than done but at the moment I could have done just about anything.
"ACE!" I shouted to grab his attention after I swung an uppercut that cup vertically up the chest of a man and then slashed across the face of another, to let him know that I was trying to make my way over to him, to tell him that I was glad to see him.
Apparently he heard me because as he ran with this stupid smile on his face he looked over at me. I smiled at him. He smiled back but only for a moment before this horrified expression took over his face and he started to veer off towards me. At first I didn't understand it but then I felt it, something, no two something's, sliding into me from behind.
Instantly I looked down to see two crimson blades protruding from my chest, both at different angles. My eyes widened and my breath began hitching. I couldn't do anything but stand there and start to breathe heavily, which was a reaction I couldn't help despite the fact that I could feel every shallow inhale and quick exhale. In disbelief I looked up at Ace as if that would confirm that this was real.
"Willow!" I heard Ace shout as they both changed course simultaneously. He was just a little bit ahead of Luffy. And it was hard to read his face between the panic that I was feeling and the black dots that were clouding my vision.
"Artist-san!" Luffy exclaimed kicking everyone aside who was in his way, everyone Ace hadn't already gotten or toasted.
As cliché as it was time seemed to slow, my life didn't flash before my eyes thankfully but somehow I knew that no one was going to reach me in time. Not Luffy, not anyone else who had happened to witness my downfall, and most certainly not Ace.
Tears welled up in my eyes, not from the numbing pain in my chest. "I'm sorry." I muttered once, the same two words kept flooding out of my mouth. I was sorry that I was stupid enough to turn my back to the enemy, sorry that I was dying before their eyes. I was sorry that I couldn't stop my body from slowing down. But I wasn't sorry that I was here, wasn't sorry that I had been fighting for Ace or had managed to see him smile on last time. There was a list much longer that what I had time to go through of things that I was sorry for.
Those hot tears fell from my eyes, as though floodgates had been opened and they wouldn't be closed. And a hiccup jarred my chest painfully. My lips were quivering and I was trying to be strong by holding back every sob that threatened to rake through my body, every noise that threatened to come out, to let the world know of my pain.
"No you don't!" A voice shouted too loudly before there was a thump and a groan from behind me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered the words, "I love you Ace." I wish I could have told him that myself but it felt good having gotten it out at last.
-Ace-
Luffy kicked a marine who was trying to finish Willow off away from her with a frown on his face. He stood with his back to her, watching for anyone who had the nerve to attack us. Anyone who did wasn't going to live to tell the tale.
Luffy reached her before I did but he was busy fending marines off to notice her lips move, to notice the tears running down her face. I reached for her, to do something, I wasn't exactly sure of what I planned to do when I reached her but before I could do anything she wobbled and then fell, her green eyes half lidded as she began her descent.
I reached her before she could get far and so I caught her, like any gentleman would, like any man would the woman they cared for. As I did so, as she landed in my arms, my heart froze.
Willow wasn't.
She couldn't be.
But I didn't need to check her pulse, I didn't need to look into her vacant eyes, I didn't need to know exactly what places those katanas had hit to know that she was.
"Willow." I whispered her name, unable to utter it any volume higher. "I'm sorry." I hugged her body tightly to my chest. It didn't matter how tightly I held onto her, I didn't have to worry about suffocating her or killing her, not anymore. I loosened my grip and looked at her face; the remnants of a smile lingered on her lips if only a little.
"Is she…" Luffy trailed off, stilling near me. I just nodded. "Oh." He got quiet too.
But unfortunately there was no time to mourn the passing of his artist, of my Willow because the marines took advantage of our sorrow, of our fallen . . . friend and had surrounded us.
"We gotta go." Luffy muttered after saying that even if he got another artist that he wouldn't forget her. He grabbed my upper arm and tugged on it even as bullets flew through various parts of my body.
I nodded, and then quickly lowered my face down to her upturned one for just a few seconds. Tears blurred the image of her face and I quickly blinked them away. Real men didn't cry, not on battlefields and not in front of their little brothers or their enemies.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that not only I should have done this long ago, but I also knew that kissing a corpse was usually considered disgusting and disturbing.
But when my lips met hers they were still warm with life. When they touched I couldn't help but wonder if she could still feel me, if she could still hear me, if she knew what was going on. I wondered if her soul had already slipped from its shell or if she were still in there somewhere. It'd be nice to think that it hadn't, that she knew that even though I hadn't reached her in time that I hadn't been too late to catch her. It would be nice to know that she fully slipped away with the sensation of comfort, with strong arms holding her up and supporting her, that someone had indeed been there for her.
I suppose though it didn't matter at that moment if it were disgusting. Because in a way I was apologizing for having to leave her body here in Marineford where after we left her body would be at the hands and mercy of the Marines who didn't give two shits about any pirates even though she was one of the nicest ones I had ever met. She would be left to the Marines who wouldn't give her or her corpse the proper respect, the respect she deserved.
I didn't exactly drop her but I didn't exactly lay her down softly either, there wasn't time for that, I had to catch up with Luffy who had started running without me. I raced to catch up to him. I swallowed any emotion pertaining to Willow, pushed away any thought about her and said to Luffy, "You've gotten stronger Luffy." It was true. He was a lot stronger since I had last seen him. Which made me happy; I was happy for him and any growth he went through. After all if he wanted to be the king of pirates he couldn't be weak.
"One day I will surpass you Ace." He replied looking over at me as we continued our way through, around and over the marines.
I nodded, it was inevitable. "Until that day let me cover for you." There was nothing I could do to stop Luffy from surpassing me but while he grew, I was going to grow too. I wasn't going to make it easy for him to surpass me, but one day we all knew he would.
And with that I went ahead and countered Aokiji's ice bird with my fire.
A ship, with Squard on its deck began plowing its way into the plaza. Pops stopped it singlehandedly- literally- and said that he was about to deliver his final "Captain order" I was in shock, as well as Luffy and the rest of the crew. He told us to all make it back to the New World, a place Willow hadn't gotten the chance to really discover, which was such a shame, we could have done lots of fun things together.
Pops continued his attack and the marines his attack on him. The crew reluctantly began obeying Pops last order, moving Jozu to the ship and retreating while Pops continued fighting. We had to go, but before we did I had to show my respect for the old man.
I stopped despite the chaos around us and bowed.
"Was I a good father?" I heard his voice ask.
I jerked upright to look at him. "Of course!" He was better than good a million times over. None of us could have asked for a better father!
At my response he laughed.
I nodded and continued on, to join the rest of the crew, who were all nearly ready.
We were all running towards the ship, getting closer and closer to freedom, closer from being away from this place. From behind us one of the admirals began speaking but Kindew told us that he was trying to provoke us. And I knew that, it was obvious that he wanted us to stop.
I had no intention of stopping, of being provoked until I heard the words, "After all Whitebeard is nothing but a loser from a dead era."
At those words I slowed down and stopped, making Luffy stop a bit ahead of me and call out. I stood there for a second running his words through my head knowing that I had heard him correctly. "A loser?!" How dare he call Pops a loser!?
I clenched my fists and turned towards him. "Take back what you just said!" If he didn't he was going to pay.
Just like when I was running after Teach, people tried to stop me; they tried to convince me that keep running, to not bother with the admiral. But just like crew members didn't kill members and get away with it, Marines, or anyone in fact, could insult Pops and get away with it.
"He bad mouthed the old man." I said shrugging them off and facing him, my fists alight.
"Ace!" I heard Luffy shout from behind me. But I ignored him; I couldn't let this slide, not even this once.
"Take it back you say? I have absolutely no intention of doing so. Why would I?"
Because I asked nicely? And if he didn't he was going to cease to exist. That's why.
"Your father, Gold Roger, conquered the entire Grand Line. He gave his life to open the door to a new era, the Great Age of Pirates…" He continued talking, badmouthing Pops and insulting him. All was still; the only sound was him talking and the quiet crackle of the flames dancing dangerously on my body.
As I began walking towards him he didn't stop or shut up. He was as good as a dead man now, admiral or not. "Stop it." I warned.
Even if he stopped now I wasn't going to forgive him, he was going to regret every single word that he was saying, every word he had said and every word he might yet say. He didn't stop talking, saying that Pops played house, saying that he lived an empty existence. But no matter what he said, that wasn't true.
"Cut it out!" I roared. I was going to kill him. No one insulted Pops and got away with it. Whitebeard didn't force us to call him father, old man or Pops. As Marco had once said, it may be just a word but it made us happy, we wanted to call him those things.
"Don't fall for it Ace! Turn back!" I heard a group of people, maybe Izo from somewhere to my side. But like I had Luffy, I ignored them.
"The old man gave a place where we belonged!" I began, still advancing. I could barely contain my rage. And in a few moments I wouldn't have to contain it. "What do you know about the old man's greatness?!"
"If man does not live righteously than he does not deserve to live at all." The admiral before me said. "You rogue pirates don't deserve 'a place to belong'."
Bullshit! I thought. I had a place I belonged, I deserved a place to belong, as did Willow and Marco and Everyone else, even Squard who had betrayed Pops. Who was he to say that we didn't?
"Cut it out!"
"Whitebeard will die a loser, a fitting end for a little fish in a big pond!"
"Whitebeard is the great pirate who created this era!" I shouted back at him. "Don't make fun of the man who saved my life!" the crew around and behind me and Luffy might have said something but I didn't hear them over the crackle of my fire as it roared to life. "The name of this era is Whitebeard!" I exclaimed rearing back, fire fanning out around me.
My fire fist met his magma fist. My hair was whipping around my face and I was seeing red. NO ONE INSULTED POPS AND GOT AWAY WITH IT!
"Whitebeard, and you fools who call him Father, share the same fate as losers!" He turned himself into lava, it dripped down from his hat and when he pushed harder I flew back, clutching my fist. Aww shit that hurt! Had I been burned?
Apparently I had because someone shouted that I had been. So this is what it felt like? I knew it hurt but jeez.
As I pulled my arms up from my sides to stand he began speaking more. Just like Teach, only this was a million times worse.
"You were overconfident because you ate a logia, the mightiest of all devil fruits, right? You are merely fire. I am magma, that which will burn even flames!" He said, as if I hadn't just figured that out the hard way. "There is an enormous gap between your strength and mine."
I gritted my teeth and lifted my shoulders off the ground. To say the least this sucked.
"Ace." I heard Luffy's voice and a few footsteps. But those stopped, had he fallen?
Jinbe, the fishman, said something but I don't quite know what.
The admiral stood above me, one of his arms still lava as he spoke. I listened a bit but what got my attention was the last bit, the part where he brought Luffy into the conversation, where he said that even though he'd let everyone else escape from this accursed place that he wouldn't let neither Luffy nor I go, that we wouldn't escape.
"Now, take a look…" He said.
I looked up, shouting, "Wait!" I scrambled to my feet and as I tried to reach my brother before Akainu did I shouted Luffy's name, hoping to get his attention, hoping that he'd move in time. He wasn't going to take Luffy! Not after they had taken Willow and not after Pops was going as well. I didn't think, just acted, and even if I had the time to think I would have don't the exact same thing.
I got his attention and he looked up just as Akainu's lava fist descended down upon him, just as I slid in between my brother and the incoming danger.
I had made it in time. That much I was grateful for. I watched Luffy's widen, his mouth fall open at the sight before him. The fist of lava had punched straight through my middle and to say that it burned, that was an understatement. But it didn't matter. I had told Luffy that until he could surpass him that I was going to cover for him.
The magma fist retreated, pulling me with it before it pulled out of my body. I fell to my knees, unable to stand only to be caught by Luffy who had both arms around me and his hands pressed to the wound at my back, straight through Pops tattoo.
"I probably wouldn't even have wanted to live . . . if it weren't for that whole deal with Sabo. . . and having an unruly little brother like you." I could hear Luffy's intake of breath. "Oh, right if you ever see Dadan, then give her my regards."
My voice was that of a mere whisper and I was glad that I couldn't see Luffy's face. I don't think I'd be able to stand what emotions it held.
"For some reason, now that I know that I'm gonna die even her name sounds touching to me."
"I keep telling you . . . Don't die!" I could hear the pain in Luffy's voice as he spoke, as he propped me up and held me close.
"I only have one regret." I continued talking. I had to tell him this, I just had to, he had to know. "That I couldn't see you fulfill your dream. But . . ." I took a labored breath. "I'm sure . . . you can make it." Around us I was vaguely aware of the still fighting pirates and marines. "You're my little brother." I told him. And that was why he was going to reach his dream, because he was my brother and I had faith in him, it had always been his dream and even though I wouldn't get the chance to see that dream become a reality I knew that one day it would.
"On that day. . . Just like . . . we promised on that day the way I lived my life, I have . . . no regrets about it." I smiled a bit. I had no regrets about how I had lived out my life, it had led me to plenty of nice places, and it had brought me to Pops and taken me to Willow. I had made friends and found a family. I had belonged somewhere; some people wanted me alive, they were glad that I was alive . . . most of the time.
"It's not true!" Luffy sobbed into my shoulder and the crook of my neck. "Don't lie to me!" The pain in his voice, it was unbearable. It was horrible to be dying in his arms, but I could only imagine what it felt like for him for his brother to be dying before his eyes.
"I'm not lying." I told him. The blood that circled down my arm and fell off the tips of my fingers, made a quiet plop plop plop on the cobblestone ground. "What I truly wanted wasn't fame or anything like that after all." It had never been what I had wanted, even though it had been nice, and quite a lot of fun, maybe even some trouble on occasion.
"Was it . . . good that I was born?" I asked. That's all I ever wanted, was the answer to that single question. "What I wanted was just the answer to that question. "I . . . can't speak loud enough for the others to hear it," I began, my voice getting even quieter than it had been, it took more effort to talk now. As my eyes began watering I continued on, "Please . . . pass on . . . what I'm about to say."
I paused for a second but Luffy said nothing, not that I had expected much of a reply.
"Old man . . . Everyone . . . And you Luffy . . . Even though I'm so worthless . . . Even though . . . I carry the blood of a demon . . . Thank you." My voice rose a bit there and I swallowed hard. I wasn't going to be able to hold myself together for much longer. This was just too much. Tears began falling down my face and even if I wanted to I wouldn't have been able to stop them. ", for loving me."
As I cried on Luffy's shoulder I felt him holding back sobs and I felt his tears slide onto my shoulder. My lips were quivering and I hoped that this was how Willow had died, knowing that someone loved her, that someone had been there for her.
I was happy to die in my brothers arms, yet at the same time not. I was happy to have died protecting him, what more could a big brother have asked for? I regretted having let all of his and the crews, all of Pops and Willow's efforts gone to waste.
-Marco-
We held their funeral on an island in the New World, and despite the event it was a nice day with a light breeze, sunshine and blue skies. Here we stood before three graves with many swords stabbed into the ground behind them. Behind Shanks and I was a crowd of pirates, allies or people who had been part of the crew split in half by the path that Shanks' arrival had created. It didn't really matter who they were because they were all gathered here to mourn the loss of Whitebeard and Ace, most of the crowd didn't know Willow, so not many were here to mourn the loss of her life.
The first and the largest of the three was that of Pops. It had his captain's jacket flapping in the wind on top of his weapon and at the very top our flag was tied.
Beside the grave marked Edward Newgate, there stood the second grave, this one marked Portgaz D Ace. And unlike the purple flowers that covered the top of Pops grave, orange ones adorned his, matching the orange cowboy hat he always wore and, the dagger that was strapped to his pant leg.
And next to Ace's was a grave of the same size with dark blue flowers on its top. It was simple marked Willow; no one knew her last name or her middle so that's how we left it. She and Myra's crescent blades were on display but that was all. There was no hat, no jacket, no glove, nothing else to represent her.
We exchanged a few words and then he decided that it was time to go. I watched him walk down the path that had been created and watched him board his ship before turning back towards the graves.
I slipped my hand into my pocket only to remember that the folded and yellowed piece of paper, the note with the wearing letter and apology for a broken window, that the paper that I usually carried in my pocket had been purposely left in my room, on the top of the dresser so that it wouldn't get stained, ripped or lost. Along with The Moby Dick that letter was gone.
Now, with her daughter and the old note, gone the only things that remained of Myra, the woman I had never really let go, even now, were the two crescent blades that she had passed onto her daughter.
I bowed my head. Myra's child, my captain and father and, one of my best friends were all gone, just like that. What was left of them was displayed proudly before me, before the other pirates.
"Forgive me Myra." I muttered under my breath before turning away from the graves and walking away.
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A/N: It's not the end I promise you…unless you want it to be. I have another chapter because I honestly HATE sad endings (plus I figured you'd all KILL me) … so I kindda fixed that. So stay tuned if you want.
Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.