Ch.7: Tearful Partings
Disclaimer- Uhhh…by now you should know what I own and what I don't.
- - -
7th sun, 31st day of red larkspurs
(Saturday, July 31)
My family left me today, this time, for forever. I was hoping that I could live with them and be a part of my family again, but I should have known that death, though invisible to my eyes, was standing in between me and my family the entire time, completely crushing all of my hopes of being with a family that would always be there for me. If only I would have known…
- - -
Zoro stared in disbelief, "What? How?"
"It happened three years ago, when Emily was starving. The night before we left her with a friend of mine, we were cursed. It was given to us when she was sleeping. An old man came up, saying that he was going to take Emily to be with "her own kind", but all of us refused to give her up, so the man said that he'd curse us all if we didn't. We refused to let her go and on the same day, everyone in the circus will die." Papa explained.
Zoro still stared, "Does Emily know about any of this?"
Mama and Papa paused, obviously saying that they hadn't.
"How much longer do you have?" Zoro asked them.
"We'll be dead by 2:00 tomorrow afternoon." Mama softly answered.
"And you didn't tell her?" Zoro practically yelled.
"We…couldn't." Papa mumbled.
"Hell, you're going to have to! The ship is leaving tomorrow and how do you think she's going to react when she finds the closest people to her dead?" Zoro yelled, softer this time.
Mama sighed, "You're right. We'll tell her after the performance."
As soon as she finished two figures: one in green and one in lavender, walked up.
Mama smiled at them, "Are you girls almost ready? We're going to perform in a half an hour."
Mimi nodded, but Emily cried out, "My flute! It's on the ship!"
Without being asked to or saying anything, Zoro ran back to the Going Merry, in search of Emily's flute.
- - - -
"Man, where are they?" Luffy grumbled. He really was hoping to bring Emily to the circus.
"Hey! There's Zoro!" Usopp shouted, pointing at the swordsman running towards the ship.
The second Zoro got on the ship, Luffy asked, "Where's Emily?"
"She's going to perform in the circus. I just need to get her flute." Zoro answered.
Robin went into her room and brought out the box with Emily's flute inside.
Zoro thankfully grabbed it and started walking towards the traveling circus. The entire crew followed him, knowing that nobody in this small town would steal the ship.
- - - -
"Mama? Can I ask you something?" Emily asked Mama.
Mama smiled, "Of course. What is it?"
Emily leaned in towards Mama's ear and whispered her question.
Mama thought for a minute then nodded her head.
Emily gave Mama a huge hug and ran backstage to Mimi, "Mama said that it's okay."
"That's great! Now, we just have to practice." Mimi cried.
"Is your family going to come to the performance?" Emily asked Mimi.
Mimi shook her head, "Ever since my father left, Mom hasn't wanted to go anywhere for entertainment and my brothers don't want to go anywhere or do anything with me."
"That's mean. Why not?" Emily asked.
Mimi shrugged, "Beats me. Probably because I'm nothing like they want me to be."
"Emily!" A familiar voice called out from behind the two girls. Emily turned around and saw Zoro running towards her, her flute in his hands, "Master Zoro!"
Zoro handed her the box breathlessly.
"Thank you." Emily thanked him and put her flute together.
"Good luck." Zoro whispered in her ear before joining the crew in the crowd waiting outside for the circus to start.
Emily and Mimi silently practiced while the members of the circus performed. Mimi took a look out in the crowd and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked her friend. Mimi stuttered, "M-my mother and b-brothers…t-they came." Mimi pointed into the crowd at a brunette woman and four boys, two older and two younger than Mimi, "I can't believe it…"
Emily smiled, "Now you'll have to impress them…"
"And now after a three year absence, Emerald Emily will perform once again on her flute," Papa announced to the crowd, "while Takenaka Mimi dances."
Most of the crowd look surprised, not because of Emily, but because of Mimi. None of them expected that she could perform in front of people silently, but nevertheless, they cheered.
Mimi and Emily stepped out on the stage, looked at each other, and nodded.
Emily put her flute up to her lips and Mimi got ready to move. The music then started and Mimi's feet started tapping. The music being played was much different than the other Straw Hat Pirates had ever heard and Mimi's dance moves matched the beat perfectly.
The crowd stared in amazement at the performance of the two girls. When they both finished, everyone in the crowd clapped and cheered, Mimi's brothers smiled, and Mimi's mother had tears in her eyes and smiled. The girls entertained the crowd with two more songs and dances before they stopped to let the rest of the circus perform.
"You were great!" Mimi exclaimed.
"You were, too." Emily told Mimi. Both girls softly giggled and watched the rest of the show from behind the curtains. Emily was happy to see all the members of the traveling circus perform after three years, but not prepared to hear the conversation she'd have with Mama and Papa in a few minutes.
After the final performances, the crowd got smaller and smaller.
The Straw Hat Pirates and the Takenaka family walked behind the curtains to Emily and Mimi. Both girls were praised for their work, especially by the Takenaka family.
Mimi went into the carts to change back into her normal clothes, but the circus let her keep the clothes she danced in. Mimi thanked them, said a final good bye to Emily, then left with her family.
Emily smiled and thanked her crew members for all the compliments being given to her. Zoro looked at Mama and Papa.
Both of them sighed.
"Emily, come to the main cart. We have to talk to you." Mama said seriously.
Emily nodded and followed both Mama and Papa to the front and largest cart. The door then closed and they told Emily the sad truth about themselves.
Emily's face paled, "No…please tell me that what you said is just a joke."
Papa shook his head, "I'm sorry, Emily. But by tomorrow afternoon, all of us at the circus will be dead."
"Why did you decide to tell me this now? Why not three years ago when the curse was placed on you?" Emily asked with tears in her eyes.
"Because you were already weak and if we told you at that time, you would have given up on life." Mama answered.
"Isn't there anyway to lift the curse?" Emily asked.
Mama and Papa shook their heads. Now the tears were flowing.
"I don't want you to die. You're the only parents that I've ever had for as long as I could remember." Emily cried.
Mama and Papa felt tears stinging their eyes and rolling down their cheeks.
Emily ran into their arms and cried her eyes out. It was silent outside with only the sound of crying coming from inside the cart.
- - - -
Pam walked through a dark, damp hallway. The hallway was full of jail cells, mostly occupied and most alive. The only living prisoners were extremely thin from being starved. She opened the door to a cell and walked to a figure chained to the walls. Pam put her hand under the figure's chin, lifted its head, and stared into its brown eyes, "So, are you ready to give in?"
"Never!" The figure answered, moving its head.
"Come on, Kayleigh. I have your life in its own cell, and I can easily destroy it." Kayleigh's eyes widened. The psycho woman was right. Kayleigh's life was in a tree in the gardens and Pam could easily chop down the tree and kill her. Kayleigh was silent. Pam grunted, "You have until the end of tomorrow to make your decision." She stepped out of the cell, slamming the door behind her.
A tear rolled down Kayleigh's cheeks, "What am I going to do?"
- - - -
Emily spent nearly an hour crying about the circus dying.
Zoro had told the Straw Hat Pirates the truth and how it would affect Emily, so none of the crew said anything to avoid upsetting the girl.
Mama, now looking a bit weak, walked up to Zoro, "Will you allow Emily to stay with the circus for the final night?" Zoro nodded. "Thank you." Mama told him.
Papa walked up next to her, "And we have a final request."
Zoro nodded, "Okay. What is it?" Papa whispered what he wanted in Zoro's ear. Zoro's eyes widened, "You sure about that?" Papa nodded. "Well…okay. If that's really what you want." Zoro said before turning to Emily, "I'll pick you up tomorrow, Emily." Emily nodded. Zoro left for the ship, the rest of the crew minus Emily following him.
All of the members of the traveling circus were getting really weak, but they forced themselves to act strong in front of Emily on their last night of life. A campfire was in front of the carts and everyone was gathered around the fire, talking and laughing like they all did three years ago. Everyone talked and laughed long after midnight. Emily wished the night wouldn't end.
THE NEXT MORNING- - -
Emily opened her eyes and looked around the cart she slept in. All the girls inside laid under blankets with eyes closed and peaceful looks on their faces. They looked like they were sleeping, and inside Emily prayed that they were. She walked over to April and shook her, but April refused to wake. Emily then remembered that Chopper taught her how to tell if somebody was dead, so she checked April for breath and pulse, but there was none. The acrobat was dead, as were the other girls.
Emily walked outside and to another cart that held all the men except for Papa and James (Papa and Mama had their own cart and James slept outside with the animals). All of the men were, like the girls, still. Emily checked the pulse of the men, but there was none or no breathing. All of them were dead.
She stepped out of the male's cart and stopped by James and the animals. Emily checked James and confirmed that he was dead as were all of the animals but one.
Toby was barely alive when Emily checked him. Toby looked at her with his golden eyes, took a deep breath, then died. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she ran to the final cart of people.
Mama and Papa were barely alive and laid under their blankets.
"Mama! Papa!" Emily cried. Mama sat up and held Emily in her arms. "Everyone is dead. Why did any of this have to happen?" Emily cried.
Mama stroked her emerald hair, "It was destined to happen and we all had a good life. And we're giving the carts and everything inside to you. You can decide what to do with them."
Emily looked in her eyes, "No, don't talk like that. I don't want you to die!"
Mama sighed, "I'm sorry, Little Emerald. But we can't stop death once it starts. Do you see that light blue chest over there?" She pointed to the left.
"Yes." Emily answered in sobs.
"That chest holds items that everyone in the circus was going to give to you the next time we saw you. And inside is a red book, but I don't want you to open it until you're on sea." Papa said sitting up.
"Papa." Emily sobbed.
"We asked your master to help in cremating all the bodies of the members of the circus then toss them into the ocean." Papa told her.
"I don't want you to die! I want you to stay alive with me!" Emily cried.
"We can't stop death. And I want you to be alive. There is something special about you and I want you to live to discover how special you truly are." Mama told her, laying on the ground, "Promise that you'll stay alive."
Emily kept crying, "I promise, Mama. I'll live." Mama smiled, sighed, then closed her eyes. "Mama? Mama?" Emily cried. She checked the woman's pulse, but confirmed that the woman was dead. Emily looked at Papa, who was now starting to lay down, "Papa, no! Please don't leave me!"
Papa chuckled, "I never will, Emily. None of us ever will. No matter what. I promise." He then breathed his final breath and closed his eyes.
At first Emily refused to believe that he was actually dead, but she took his pulse and the truth slapped her in the face. She covered her face with her hands and wept. The door to the cart opened and a muscular hand landed on her shoulder. Emily looked up and saw Zoro.
"I'm sorry, Emily." Zoro said to the girl. Emily didn't say anything.
It didn't take long for the cremation of the bodies to start or end for that matter. Emily looked one final time at the members of the circus before they were burned to ashes. Josh was smiling and everyone else looked like they were sleeping.
Mimi and her older brothers were there for the cremation and were silent. Mimi's brothers helped move the ashes of the cremated bodies into a vase without missing a single ash.
Emily forced herself not to cry when the cremation was over. She turned to Mimi, "Mama and Papa gave me the carts and everything in them, but I can't take all of them with me. If you would like to, you may pick out what you want."
Mimi nodded, "Okay." With that, Emily led her inside her room first.
There were empty chest in the room, but there were closets and dressers full of clothes and books. Most of the clothes went to Mimi for most were too big for Emily, but the rest were given to Nami and Robin, who were helping Emily and Mimi. Robin took the books. Next to the dresser, Nami noticed something carved into the wall. In childish handwriting were the words, "Emily, aged six."
Once the room was clean, it looked so empty. The next room was the men's cart(Mimi's brothers, Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper were mainly the ones in there). Usopp grew fascinated with some of Will's unfinished projects and took them to complete on the sea. Mimi's brothers, Charlie (aged 16) and Joe (aged 18), took the clothes and packed them into trunks and left them alone.
Emily asked everyone but Mimi to go through the storage shed and take what they wished from it. Emily drug Mimi into Mama and Papa's cart. Emily automatically claimed her trunk and Mama's jewelry box along with a blanket or so. Mimi took the rest of the blankets and most of the clothes. She gave Emily a beautiful blue dress and matching shoes that were once Mama's and a few other things.
"Hey, Emily? Did the Ringmaster and his wife measure your height?" Mimi asked, pointing at painted marks and dates left on the wall.
Emily nodded and kept packing. When they finished, the room looked and felt so empty. Joe had gone home to bring a horse and cart back to the circus carts to load up all of the things going to the Takenakas.
Chopper went back to the ship, pulling a good load of items to the ship. Soon, all that was left was the circus carts.
"What are we going to do about the Sky Gypsies' carts?" Mimi asked, "There's no way they could stay at my house. We've got no room for them."
"I don't know. I can't take them with me overseas." Emily answered.
A silence followed before Luffy broke it, "What about sending it to your sisters in Yokuna?"
"I guess I can do that," Emily answered, "But I'll have to buy some other things, too." She ran to the Going Merry and brought back her prize money from Nanahana.
With Zoro next to her, Emily was able to buy a pair of strong oxen to pull the carts and have a delivery ship deliver the carts. All of that almost costed half of her contest money.
Joe volunteered to drive the carts to Misao and Haru's home in Yokuna for free on the delivery ship in the morning.
Emily took a key from under Mama and Papa's pillows and looked around the room.
She noticed a men and piece of paper on the desk. She walked over to it and wrote a note on it before leaving both of them on the desk. She looked around the room one final time, remembering the times she had in there and looking one final time at the markings on the wall, showing her height since she was six. A final sigh left her body and she stepped outside of Mama and Papa's cart and locked the door behind her.
Emily locked up all of the rest of the carts. She handed the key to Joe along with a piece of paper with Misao's address written on it. "Please give my sisters this key. On the paper is the address of my sisters and the name of who carts will be going to." Emily told him.
Joe nodded, "You won't regret asking me to deliver the circus carts."
"Thank you." Emily told him, then turned to Zoro, "I'm ready to leave now, Master Zoro."
"Are you sure?" Zoro asked Emily. Emily nodded. "Well…okay. Let's get back to the ship." Zoro said.
Emily turned to Mimi and her brothers and forced a smile on her face, "I want to thank you all for helping me. I would like the carts to be delivered to Haru and Misao as soon as possible. And Mimi, I want you to know that even though we may not live in the same town, we will still be friends." Mimi, Joe, and Charlie nodded.
Emily grabbed the vase of ashes and walked with Zoro on top of the Going Merry. Nobody wasted any time getting the ship to leave port. Emily looked over the side at Redding as it got smaller, wondering if Mimi would be standing and waving. But she wasn't. It didn't bother Emily all that much. The two of them weren't good enough friends anyway.
- - -
Back in Yokuna, Misao and Haru were sitting at the dining room table, eating sweets and looking through the paper that was delivered at the Morimura's mansion just a few hours earlier.
Misao, although she was free and adopted to a rich and loving family, had missed Emily. She didn't even know how her sister was doing and was dying to hear Emily's voice again or see her with her flute again.
Haru picked up a piece of the paper and her violet eyes widened, "Misao! It's Emily!"
Misao gasped and looked at the paper and sure enough, there was Emily standing with an older boy and girl. In Emily's hands was her flute and a bag and a smile on her face. Misao dragged the paper towards herself and started to read the article by the picture:
The music contest in Nanahana on May 23rd was indeed the best one so far. Our first place winner for 7 years, Glory Ryan had finally been beaten. This years winners are: in 3rd place, Mori Miki; in 2nd place, Glory Ryan; and in 1st place, Emerald Emily. The winner, Emerald Emily played the song 'The Enchanted Savior', which has not been played perfectly in 40 years, perfectly.
Although the reporters of Nanahana were unable to get a good report on Emily, we can only assume that her family spent millions of berries paying for her flute lessons and now it is paid off with the 10 million berries she won in the contest…
Misao didn't read anymore after that, "Wow! Emily's rich!"
"Yeah, I know. And the people of the circus didn't even spend any money teaching her how to play the flute…and she mastered it in a year. Just imagine having 10 million berries all to yourself. She's so lucky." Haru exclaimed with her eyes wide.
Misao giggled. Now she knew how Emily was doing.
- - -
The Going Merry was now 30 miles away from Redding. The sea was completely empty and wide. Emily stood by the edge of the ship, the vase in her hands and tears in her eyes. Slowly, she twisted off the lid to the vase and dropped the ashes into the ocean. Streams of tears ran down her cheeks as she choked out a "good-bye, everyone." The crew was a short distance from her, feeling upset themselves.
Eventually, Zoro walked up to Emily and put a hand on her shoulder. Then, for the first time, Emily wrapped her arms around Zoro's sides and cried heavily, burying her face in his shirt.
At first, he didn't know what to do. In his entire life, nobody, not even Kuina, had ever done what Emily had just done. By the time Emily stopped crying, half of Zoro's shirt was soaked.
She mumbled an apology and walked like a zombie off to her own room.
The entire crew watched her walk off, but not in shock, especially not by Nami. Just watching the cremation and throwing of the ashes into the sea reminded herself of Belmeil and how both Nojiko and her own hearts ached seeing her die right in front of them…and they could do nothing to stop her. It was just like how Emily felt.
- - - - - - - -
"Mark!" Pam screamed into her glass ball onto her desk.
Mark appeared and winced at her scream, "Yes, Lady Pam?"
"Your clues for finding the final living Almani haven't been helping me! I want to know where she is!" Pam screamed.
Mark sighed, "The girl is on the pirate ship with the straw hat sails."
"Excellent." Pam said evilly before leaving the room.
Pam walked down to the dungeons and up to Kayleigh's cell, "So, what's it going to be, Kayleigh? Are you going to give me your powers or do I have to get rid of your only source of life?"
Kayleigh looked into Pam's eyes, "Okay. I'll give you my powers."
Pam smirked, "Perfect." She took out a purple pendant and stuck it onto Kayleigh's chest.
Kayleigh screamed in pain as she felt all of her powers being sucked out of her.
Pam took the pendant and smirked at Kayleigh, who then collapsed to the ground. Pam locked the cell and left the dungeons.
- - - -
Four days had passed since Emily had dumped the ashes into the ocean. She didn't eat anything until the 2nd day and didn't speak until the 3rd. Emily opened her chest already, but didn't open the red book inside…until this very moment. The book was a photo album filled with various photos from the Sky Gypsies. A few of them made her feel lonely inside, but a few of them made her feel really great and laugh. In every picture, the members had a smile…except one, which was a picture taken of a six-year-old her, asleep on Toby's back as the lion walked along the carts.
She was going to put the book back into the chest when a folded piece of paper fell from in between the pages. Emily put the book away then carried the paper with her to Nami's orange trees. The second she sat down, Emily opened up the note and started reading the words written in Mama's delicate handwriting:
Emily,
By the time you read this note, the Sky Gypsies will be no more. None of this curse is your fault and it never will be. We had to give you up to protect you and save your life. Also, about a year after we left you with Michelle, we came across the pirate that saved you when you were a month old, "Red-Haired" Shanks.
My husband and I asked him if he remembered you and he answered that he did and he even had a few pictures of you and his crew together. In this chest, inside the orange box, is one of those pictures. I asked why he left you when you were just a few months old and he told me that he knew there was something special about you, something that involved the person that killed your parents.
He figured that something was going to come and kill you if you stayed with him, so he gave you away to protect you as my husband and I have done to you. In the orange chest is also something that belonged to your family(the pendant with the wings in a fireball). He said that you can find out who you truly are if you show the pendant to the mayor of your hometown of K-
Emily didn't have time to read any more of the note. Before she could finish, the sea shook violently. A group of men entered on the deck of the Going Merry fully equipped with swords and other assorted weapons. Emily regretted not having her boomerang with her and did the only she really could do…she screamed.
In an instant, Luffy Sanji, and Zoro ran up to the deck to see if anything was wrong with their mourning musician. The men started advancing on her and she was completely helpless. The fighting started when the sword of one of the men sliced the paper in her hands to shreds and tossed the pieces into the sea.
"No!" Emily screamed, desperately trying to reach the ripped and damp note, but it was pointless. There'd be no way she'd get it back.
Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro finished the men in two seconds flat and tossed their bodies into the ocean, where they sunk like anchors.
"Are you okay?" Zoro asked Emily.
Emily nodded even though she felt like she was beaten on the inside. She thanked Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro then walked off to the light blue chest in her room and opened up the orange box.
Like the note said, a picture of grown pirates was in there. The man in the middle, a red-haired man was holding a baby girl with green hair in his arms. Under the picture was a beautiful pendant that looked like a flame with wings on the inside, like Mama said.
Shaking off her sadness, Emily slipped on her pendant and looked at herself in the mirror. "I don't know where I'm from or who I really am, but I will find out no matter what."
- - - - -
A/N: Okay…I tried to make this chapter a little dramatic, but I don't think I did a very good job of it(I'm not a dramatic person. I prefer writing comedy), but I tried, so that must count as a good part of this chapter. The town "Redding", is an actual town in California (my sister's friend is from there). And if you have any ideas for my story, don't hesitate to give me them in either e-mail or review.
Oh, and this next note is for the people who read some of my other fanfics: at the beginnings of my stories, I specifically explain if or what I make fun of, so don't flame me for making fun of them. I recently got a flame for one of my other fanfics when I made fun of the characters in my fanfic(it was a Zelda fanfic) and Pokemon even though I stated that I was going to make fun of those. So next time, read the entire story before you start to flame me because every person is allowed to hate what they hate and I hate Pokemon.
Okay…R/R if ya want, but please don't flame me.