Chapter 11
Illian hung his head low and looked out over the Lallan sector of the island. He couldn't remember more things going wrong at the same time, ever. He knew Sen would be by soon, and he didn't care. Maybe there was still a chance...
He hummed softly and summoned a warm breeze from the sea. It blew around the marble columns of his sanctuary and freshened the air. "Sen..."
"What?" Sen was hanging upside-down from the awning beside him.
Illian made an audible gasp and jumped away from her. "WHAT THE HELL! SEN! GET DOWN!"
"You're sure big stuff thinking you can give me orders." Sen didn't move from her spot and simply enjoyed the breeze her brother had created.
"I am older than you. And I'm not afraid of you, imouto." He flopped down in a settee chair and looked up at her.
"You kinda should be. I'm not some baby you can just drop in a basket and float down the river. And I know Vandis put you up to it. He'll die slowly later. I'm still deciding what to do with you. What with you having a family and all."
"Whatever you do, don't involve them. You can beat me senseless, I kinda deserve it."
"I won't harm them. I like my nieces. They have a chance at life. You raised them right. ...Illian... I'm thirsty..." She sighed and flipped over to land on her hands and feet.
"I guess you are. I heard the rest of your sanctuary collapse. Just what were you doing in an evacuated area?" He reached beside his chair and picked a glass off of the table.
"Something invigorating. It's all weird now. To need more than to sit back and watch our clouds go by is weird. I need to be active and move around a lot and make my heart pound. But what I felt... when you abandoned me in the middle of the ocean... and when ... Illian..." Sen trailed off and put her head on her knees.
"You did violate your probation, Sen. We gave you a chance to show us that you could conquer your new powers. And besides, it wasn't like we wanted you to drown or anything…" A tiny white cloud appeared over the glass and filled it with cool water, then blew frost around it and chilled it.
She snatched the glass from him. "You didn't even try to help me. This whole thing was a big accident. Had I known, I would've destroyed the fruit. Then I'd be normal… and people would love me again…"
She managed to down the entire glass in one gulp, and held the glass out to him to refill it. He did, and she took another gulp. "Thank you. You should keep liquor in the house. It's good."
"You know we're not supposed to drink. …You weren't drinking earlier, were you?"
"…Maybe… More water, please."
"Dammit, Sen. No wonder. You're dehydrated. And you're probably drunk." He refilled her glass again. Another gulp, and she began to ramble.
"I was okay until that pirate with the green hair pissed me off. Twice. Muscle-bound guy. Kinda hot, though. And they have this cute, yet disturbing little reindeer that fixed my arm."
"I saw them. If I hadn't, I'd swear you were still drunk."
"I'm kinda sober now. And sick." She didn't move from the marble floor, but spread out since the cool stone made her feel slightly better.
"All I can do is provide fresh air and cool water. If the Shunran ever found out how fragile their 'gods' are..."
"I don't think I am anymore. Or ever was. Especially now since everyone's just tossed me away like a defect. The only thing I could do before was bear Illian's children and let him have what little power I had. Now that I can't even do that, let's ditch the bitch at the bottom of the ocean." Sen closed her eyes and bit back tears. She felt a few drops on her face anyway because her cloud had found its way under the awning.
"Sen! Don't start that, here." Illian grabbed her gruffly and shook her. He almost dropped her when he remembered Vandis telling him that she was cold. Instead she was hot with fever. "NO! We'll find a way to help you and we'll find some way to get you back to normal! I'm sorry we tried to do that to you! Stop it!"
"No… Vandis is right… this is all my fault… I shouldn't have taken the box from father's storehouse. I should have been happy with what I had… To be a privileged Guardian of the House of Lallan, even though I would've been nothing more than a housewife to Illian and an ornament for the island…" Sen began to sob and her pet cloud poured down rain on the two of them.
"It'll be okay, imouto, but you have to stop crying or we'll both end up in a lot of… trou…ble…" Lightning flashed above them as Sen's pet cloud gathered strength.
"I'll spare you the pain. I can't stay here and endanger anyone else. I don't know what would happen to me out there… I can't apologize anymore to the people I killed. And Vandis won't stop trying to get rid of me until I'm dead anyway… I'm a hideous monster… I can't stop hurting people…"
Sen pushed her brother away and doubled over in pain. As soon as he saw two black horns grow from her head, panic welled up in him. "No…"
"Ssshhhut uuuup..."
Her skin hardened into thick plates, crimson patches mixed with black. Her form grew bigger and sleeker like that of a lizard and spine plates led down to a black tail emerging from her lower back. Her glowing gold eyes were clear again but filled with pain and tears. What she was looking for sprouted from her hands; a set of vicious blade-like claws, long enough to impale, but short enough to keep her hands easily mobile. Illian immediately jumped on her and tried to pin her down, but as a hybrid, she was easily stronger than him and threw him off.
Sanji gave up and put his cigarette away as they approached a marble lighthouse. As they drew closer to it, the hot rain got heavier, the sky went to pitch black, and the sound of thunder was deafening.
"Sen is most definitely here, but I don't know whether the storm is hers or Illian's. Illian is the God of Storms, and one of the main guardians of the island. Their powers are alike, but Sen's are truly destructive should she lose control. You head upstairs first, I must see if his family is safe." Vandis ran inside ahead of them and disappeared.
"WHOA! Nice house!" Luffy looked up at the massive square lighthouse with awe.
"Not the time, Luffy! And don't look up like that. You look like a turkey waiting to drown." Zoro pulled him inside.
The center floors of the building were warm, bright, and dry. Illian's house was furnished as if he was truly royalty, with plenty of furniture and decoration. The lights that lined the walls were small towers of the same black metal seen throughout the island, and cast a white glow.
"Um... can we dry off first?" Nami turned away from the stairs and was drawn into a large cozy room with a fire going and a bowl of strange fruit on a table.
"We can't have you catching cold, Nami-saan..." He grabbed a red and orange fruit from the table and peeled it for her.
"Yeah, you guys go on up, I'm gonna dry off, and Sanji's going to see if there's a rack or something I can dry my clothes on. Soaked to the bone here." Nami's suggestion broke a blood vessel in Sanji's nose.
"Good idea!" Chopper shook the excess water off and found a spot on the floor by the fire pit.
"Waaarmth..." Luffy grinned and went towards the fire pit. Then he smelled fresh fruit. "Just a second!" His mouth was wrapped around the strange bowl and the food was sliding down his throat.
"Arrgh... Someone could be in trouble up there and you're down here eating- oh screw it... Idiots." Zoro left them and continued up the stairs. Luffy followed after making sure there were no other cornucopias in the area.
"I could be a goddess..." Nami took a bite of the apple-like food. "All I have to do is pick and choose what to keep out of what the world has to offer... And essentially I'd still be a pirate."
Chopper felt a pang of guilt. "We should be upstairs helping."
"Naah! Luffy and Zoro can handle whatever's going on up there. They've handled huge monsters before. Of course, there was that time that I took down this HUUUUGE sea cow named Mohmoo, and then went after the first mate of the East Blue Mermen!" Usopp put his foot on the table and grinned madly.
"So maybe you should be up there helping them." Sanji grumbled.
"Maybe Sen will roll over and give up after hearing your hideous lies." Nami stuck her tongue out at him.
"Uhh... You know, I don't think it takes more than two of our crew to stop anyone. So they're good." Usopp laughed nervously.
The lightning and thunder were still painfully obvious even at the center of the lighthouse, with bright flashes passing the windows every other second. A direct hit to the building caused all the black lamps and the fire pit to grow unbearably bright then dim down to half power.
"...You said that Sen was WEAK!" Usopp stared at the lamp closest to him, then tapped it, getting a mild jolt. Had he not already had an afro, that's what it would've been.
"Maybe before she was holding back for our sake, or so she could get home."
"The necklace." Sanji suddenly remembered and pulled it out of his pocket.
Before Nami could scream at him to take it upstairs, there was a shrill scream and the sound of stone crumbling. "Too late..."
"That was Sen. And that was an angry scream."Chopper shuddered.
"I shall return, Nami-swan..." He kissed her hand and hopped up the stairs.
(1) Imouto - little sister. If unrelated, little missy.