Author: hi everyone! I've been busy with refresher training with my job so I haven't had a lot of time to write lately. Also I drew some rough sketches of Ai, you can check them out on the link below. Also, I'm not the best artist soooo ^_^
art/One-Piece-OC-character-671384198
art/Childhood-PictureS-of-Ai-671390007
art/Izgubljeni-Zmaj-677299074
" Oh dear," A younger Rouge said, a small pale hand placed over her heart, her black eyes wide with disbelief.
" What is it, Your Grace?" A younger Shanks asked curiously.
" Oh dear…no, no, no!" Rouge said fearfully. " They lost her! How could they lose her?"
" Lose who, Your Grace?"
" Aiko!" Rouge said in a panic, jumping to her feet. " ROGER!"
" Yes Love?" The King said hurrying swiftly into the room. " What is it? What wrong?"
" IT'S AIKO!" Rouge said tearfully. " THEY LOST HER! THEY LOST AIKO!"
" What makes you think they lost her?" Roger asked as Rouge handed him the letter she had been reading. His eyes scanning quickly over the letter his brow furrowed in concern. " How can we be certain that this letter wasn't forged?"
" That's Thatch's handwriting, Roger!" Rouge said. " I'd know it anywhere!"
" Why would he take this long to inform you that she was missing?"
" They must have thought they would have found her by now! Thatch says she's been missing for almost two months!"
" She's probably dead then." A young Buggy the Clown chimed in from across the room.
" BUGGY!" Shanks yelled as the queen's face went pale at the teen's words.
" I'd hate to say it, but he could be right." Roger said stiffly. " If Newgate hasn't found her by now we need to be open to the possibility that she may not be."
" She has to be alive, Roger!" Rouge said in distress. " Elia's baby girl has to be alive! She's lived past her first year of life and lived through the Order's attack! She has to be! You have to find her, Roger! Please!"
" I will send search parties out to look for her, Love." The King said pulling the Queen into a comforting embrace. " If she's alive, we will find her. I promise."
" We have to find her, Roger." Rouge cried into his chest. " I can't let Elia's baby die…"
" Why does it smell so delicious?" A pale man asked curiously as Ai sat on a small rickety stool. Her clothes were now ripped and torn in several places. She was dirty as well, yet the dirt covered the bite marks and bruises that now covered her body.
" Because she is a female vampire by birth." Laffitte said cheerfully. " All female vampires have a sweet smell but born females have a stronger scent about them. This child is a second generation vampling, so her scent is obviously more desirable."
" And you are going to charge me how much for a taste?"
" 70,000 Beris."
" THAT EXPENSIVE!"
" To drink from a second generation female vampling?" Laffitte said. " Something that has never seen alive before. That is fairly cheap."
" How long do I get to drink for?"
" One minute."
" You have got to be kidding me!" The man said angrily. " Only one minute for that much!"
" Take it or leave it." Laffitte said. " A once in a lifetime chance and you are gonna throw it away because of a time limit."
" Okay! Fine!" The man said fishing out the money and tossing it to Laffitte. " This had better be worth it!"
A small whimper of fear escaped from the girl as she offered him her wrist. That small movement caused her ripped sleeve to slide back, exposing several scars from multiple other bites.
" This brat stinks…" The man said as Ai's unwashed scent wafted over to him, overpowering her sweet scent from before. " For as much as I paid you you could at least bathe it…or were you just bluffing and placing perfume on a worthless human brat."
" Keep talking and you won't get a taste at all." Laffitte said smiling.
" Then if that is the case, I'll take my money and leave."
" You'll leave with your life or you'll leave with your threat slit." Laffitte's smile grew wider as the color drained from the noble's face. " It all depends on you, sir."
" Fine…" The man said after several quick minutes of quiet contemplation.
" Ai-chan is a very good girl." Laffitte said ruffling the brunette's dirty, unkempt hair gently. " She won't cause you any problems at all."
" That brat does stink." Catarina snapped, her nose scrunched up in disgust as their most recent client left.
" Maybe you should bathe her then." Van Augur replied.
" I'm not doing it." Catarina retorted in disgust. " If I go anywhere near that whiney brat I'll strangle it."
" Is that your maternal instinct kicking in there, Catarina?"
" Shut it, Shit Head!"
" Well, she isn't eating much anymore either." Dr. Q said. " If we can't get her to eat or Feed we won't be able to sell her blood."
" And that means?"
" The child will expire and we go poor."
" I'll shove that food down that brat's throat!" Catarina snapped rolling up her sleeves.
" Or we could convince her to eat on her own, without forcing her." Laffitte said his ever present smile faltering slightly.
" You're to soft, Laffitte!" Catarina groaned in annoyance.
Ai hurt…everywhere. Every single bit of her small body hurt. Especially the throbbing pain from her neck that was swollen and throbbing, dried blood lingered around the wound. She was cold too…and hot. She didn't understand how she could somehow be both. A small whimper escaped from her.
She wanted to go home too. Yet she knew she couldn't. Her family didn't want her anymore and had even wanted to kill her. If Marshall hadn't saved her then Thatch would have killed her. She owed her life to him.
COUGH!
Ai whimpered again as she began another coughing fit. Tears filled her eyes as it continued and another rush of chills assaulted her small frame. Cold sweat trickled down her cheek and temple. She didn't understand why she felt this way.
She was hungry as well…starving actually.
Her hunger made her body ache at intermittent times. Not only did she sugar from food hunger but from blood hunger as well. She felt weak and drained. Her body felt heavy and her fangs ached as well…and her vision started to blur.
COUGH! COUGH!
" Popf…" Ai found herself saying sadly as she curled into a ball and whimpered. Even though she knew her family hated her she still missed them. She wanted to see them again, even if they wanted to kill her.
She missed her father's laugh, missed his smile and all the stories he would tell her before her naps and bedtime. She missed her brothers too. She even missed hearing them fight and argue.
Tears swelled in her eyes as she buried her face into the thin straw pillow on her make-shift straw bed. Why did her family hate her? Marshall said it was because she had been bad. What had she done that was so wrong that they had wanted to kill her?
COUGH! COUGH!
A small whimper came again as a rush of heat flooded her. " Popf… me fowwy…" Ai whimpered. " Me fowwy…"
She jumped when she felt a gentle hand brush lightly against her cheek. She felt herself tense up, fearing it was another one of Teach's patrons coming to drink more of her blood.
" Now, now my sweet baby." A soft feminine voice whispered gently, caressing her cheek softly. A sudden warmth flooded through her. " Please don't cry. Everything is going to be alright."
Ai glanced up, tears streaming down her small, round face. Surprise flooded across her as she saw who the hand belonged to. She had imagined another scary, evil looking person. One that was pale skinned and covered with warts or greasy hair.
Yet this person was different. There were no anger or evil in the sea foam green eyes that gazed down at her. Those eyes were gentle and loving, no hint of evil or hatred in them. Soft blue hair hung down around the smiling face of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen before.
The woman before her was dressed in white dress that went down to her slightly past her knees and wore pure white sandals. The woman reminded Ai of an angel. A soft warm light seemed to permeate from her.
" My sweet baby girl." The woman whispered gently, kissing Ai's forehead. " Please do not cry." Another small whimper escaped from the small blunette.
" I wamma go howme." Ai found herself saying before she could stop herself. After the first two weeks of her being in Teach's care she had given up the thought of returning to her old home. She was beginning to accept tat this was now her home…that was until this angelic woman appeared before her.
" I know, sweet baby." The woman said gently. " You will."
" Bup…" Ai whimpered, tears streaming down her face. " Mawfaww faib Pops mo camp me amymowe."
" That isn't true, baby girl." The woman said hurriedly. " Edward loves you very much. He's been worried sick about you." The small brunette's face led to obvious disbelief. " He's been searching for you nonstop for two months."
Another wave of coughing came over Ai as she hid her face in the woman's lap. She jumped when she felt the woman lift her and gently cradle her in her arms, warmth now spreading throughout her small body.
" You need to leave here, my little one." The woman said softly as Ai buried her face lightly into the woman's hair. " I am worried for you."
" Fawwy…" Ai whimpered lightly.
" I know, baby." The woman said gently. " But you need to be brave. You need to get away from this bad place."
" Go whewe?"
" Anywhere but here." The woman said softly, running her finger's lightly through Ai's hair. " Far, far away from here."
" Whem?" Ai asked.
" Now…while no one is watching." The woman whispered. " They think you are to frail to run but you are stronger then they think." A small, unsure whimper escaped from Ai. " You can do this, baby. I know you can. You are stronger then what they think. You are your father's daughter after all."
The woman kissed Ai's forehead lightly and once again a rush of warmth flooded her, only this time it was followed by a flood of images. It was the exact map to the most safest route she could take to escape. The last image that entered her mind was of a strawberry blonde woman with freckles and kind eyes. " No one is watching now, my baby blue bird. Now hurry!"
" Ace-chan, be careful!" Rouge called to a small dark haired boy with freckles. In his small gloved hand he held a well developed snow-ball. He was poised to launch it at another boy with curly blonde hair when the queen had called out to him. " Don't be to rough with each other!"
" Try not to worry, Your Grace!" Shanks said cheerfully, holding a small dark haired toddler with black eyes and small scar under his left eyes. " Boys tend to play rough most of the time." Shanks said happily.
" But she doesn't want them to get hurt, Shanks!" A young woman with dark green hair and brown eyes said as she made silly faces at the toddler.
" Boys will be boys, Makino." Shanks said as the toddler began to laugh. " See, Luffy agrees!"
WHAM!
" OW! ACE, YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" The blonde boy yelled, wiping the snow away from his face.
" YOU DON'T SCARE ME, SABO!" Ace yelled quickly making another snowball. Luffy began to squeal in excitement, reaching for the older boys eagerly.
" BOYS!" Rouge yelled worriedly.
" Mother?" Ace said curiously, unsure why his mother was concerned.
" Miss Rouge?" Sabo asked curiously. " Is something wrong?"
" Be careful both of you!"
" Yes Ma'am!" The boy's said in unison before returning to their play.
" Your Grace," Rouge turned to see Silvers Rayleigh walking towards her.
" Rayleigh!" Rouge said hurriedly. " You're back!"
" I just returned, actually." The Dark Kid replied coolly. " I came to see you immediately."
" Did you have any trouble?"
" No Your Grace, no difficulty at all." Rayleigh said smiling, adjusting his glasses lightly. " And to answer your next question, the girl was taken by Marshall D. Teach."
" How did you know that-"
" I assumed since the girl's mother was your friend that that was the reason the King sent me to find out as much information about her as possible."
" Don't be sassy!" Rouge said elbowing him slightly. " Were you able to find anything else?"
" He is selling her blood off, allowing nobles and other high bidders." Rayleigh's words caused all the color to drain from the queen's face.
" W-What?"
" The girl is a second generation female vampire that has survived past infancy. The superstitious morons out there will believe there is some kind of magical property to her blood. It is unheard of for a child like her to exist."
" I still don't understand."
" We don't fully understand why our blood decides to attack young female vamplings and not adult females who are Changed." Rayleigh explained. " Yet there are some that believe the one's that do have some kind of magical property to them…or at least their blood does. Female vampires have a sweet scent to them that helps attract their Grooms and soothe their children. That scent is stronger in born Vampresses. I am going to conclude that it is just as strong, if not stronger in a second generation."
" She's just a baby, though…"
" To some that doesn't matter. They see an opportunity to make money or a move for power, they will take it. No matter who they have to step in the process."
" Oh dear…." Rouge said wringing her hands worriedly. Makino was there instantly to rub the Queen's shoulders soothingly. " Rayleigh, we need to find her! She's just a baby…"
" Of course, Your Grace."
" Um…Rayleigh…"
" Yes Shanks?" The Dark King asked.
" Um," Shanks said nervously, adjusting Luffy gently in his arms. " Stupid questions, but…have you seen the boys?"
" WHAT?"
" Ace, should we be out here?" Sabo asked as he and the dark haired boy crawled over a fallen log in the forest that surrounding the castle grounds.
" Why not?" The young prince replied eagerly. " We haven't gone far! The castle is right there."
" You don't think your mom will be upset?"
" I don't see why, we are close by." Ace said kicking a nearby snow covered shrub. " She shouldn't b-" He froze when he caught the scent of the sweetest thing he had ever smelled before in his life. It even made his mouth water. His pupils even dilated and his breathing and heart rate increased.
" Ace?"
" Do you smell that?"
" Smell wh-" Sabo paused and sniffed the air curiously. " That's blood…fresh blood…but where is it coming from?"
" I don't know but I'm gonna find it!" Ace said beginning to search the nearby foliage for the source.
" I hope whatever it is isn't hurt bad…" Sabo said helping his brother search. " But…judging from the smell I don't think so…"
" Where is it?" Ace said determinedly. He didn't know why but there was something in him telling that was driving him to find the source of the scent. As he went he found larger and larger spots of blood and the scent grew stronger and stronger.
He paused when he heard the sound of long and drawn out raspy breathing. Maybe Sabo was right, maybe the blood did come from and injured animal. His father and his commanders had often taken him on hunts and he had seen and smelled so many different kinds…yet he had never smelled one this delicious.
A loud coughing sound to his right caused him to jump. " I think I found it, Sabo!" Hurry to a small cluster of holly bushes the boys began looking all over frantically for the source.
" We need to help it, Ace!" Sabo said eagerly. " It could be a bear that we could use to fight Whitebeard with!"
" Our maybe a giant tiger!" Ace said shoving some branches out of his way. " Or maybe a-" He broke off when he caught sight of a small girl with baby blue hair. She wore tattered and dirty clothes. She also had no shoes and a coat, and was clearly shivering in the snow. Even under the large amount of dirt, grime and bruises he could tell that she was extremely pale. Her lips almost matched her hair color. She also had the most beautiful shade of green eyes that he had ever seen.
