They Don't Know About Us
Author's Note: Hey everyone and welcome back to They Don't Know About Us! I do hope that you are enjoying this fic! Thank you all for all the comments and kudos! I really do appreciate them all! I get so excited and happy when I see them because it lets me know that you are enjoying the content I'm writing. I dunno, just makes me giddy inside xD Anyway, enough of me!
On with the fic!
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Life and Death: An Angel Named Lacey
Chapter Summary: Shanks awakens to find himself face to face with a girl named Lacey, who he has a connection with, in more ways than one.
Shanks grimaced as he sat up. His entire body drenched as he looked around. He was surrounded by fire but sitting in the middle of a small stream of water. He coughed as he sputtered out the water that had gotten into his mouth. The last thing he remembered was the tree that was breaking above him, pushing Buggy out of the way before he had slipped. He vaguely recalled covering his body in haki as he fell into Ace's flame net before rolling down a hill and into water.
He placed a hand on his chest, the odd sensation that something had gone through it. He didn't hit anything. He knew that.
He pushed himself up, pulling himself back to his feet before he started back up the hill he had gone down. The Omega stopped as he noticed that Ace, Luffy, Sabo, Law, and Buggy were screaming out for him. All confused on how he was gone.
"I'm right here." He said, confused as he walked forward.
He froze as he felt Ace slip right through him.
What the hell?
"This… what's happening?" Shanks questioned, his breathing picking up as he once again reached out for the closest person.
Luffy.
Once again, his hand went right through him.
"What is this?"
They couldn't hear him. They couldn't even see him.
"That won't work." Shanks spun around as the new voice filled his ears. The air caught in his throat as his eyes landed on the small form of a child. A little girl. Her hair was falling in soft curls to her shoulders. Bright red. Her eyes were the same shade of gold that Mihawk's were. She had a soft smile on her face as she twirled on her feet, hands clasped behind her back.
"Who are you?" Shanks questioned.
He didn't know her.
He knew that.
But she was familiar.
She smiled again, "You wouldn't know me." She replied, "But I know you, Momma."
Shanks froze, his eyes widening. "What is going on?" This little girl just called him Momma. She didn't look that old and he only had two children.
Except.
The realization dawned on him as he caught the soft cherry blossom and berries scent. She was still smiling as she moved forward, reaching out and taking his hand. "It's okay, Momma. You never got to know me."
Tears came to his eyes as the area around them turned from the fire filled forest and to a cliff. Shanks turned, seeing himself laying on the ground with a man pulling a knife from his chest. What he noticed immediately was the blood on his chin but the wound in his chest and healed up the second the knife was taken out of his torso.
"He pulled you from the water." The girl whispered, "He put you to sleep. That's how you're here."
He didn't even remember losing consciousness. How did this happen?
"Momma, it's okay to be afraid, but he can wake you up." The girl said, giggling slightly as she turned to stand in front of him, grabbing his other hand. "I've always wanted to meet you. I've watched you… and Papa… and Ace and Luffy. I'm sorry I couldn't be a part of that."
Shanks looked down at her, the area around them changing again, this time to a field that looked awfully similar to his home village in the West Blue. The flowers that had decorated the yard of his childhood home. The little girl laughed again, rushing forward.
Shanks was panicking. He didn't understand any of this. What was happening? He needed to get back to Ace and Luffy and get them home. This couldn't be.
"They are okay, Momma." The girl said suddenly as if she could read exactly what he was thinking.
Shanks looked back down, seeing her smile flashing up at him. The more he looked at her, he saw his own features in her face. He kneeled down, "Where am I?" He questioned.
"The middle." She replied. "It's the place between life and the afterlife."
He was in purgatory? It was so beautiful. But it was like it was pulled directly from his own memory. Why was this girl here? Was it her?
"What's your name?" He questioned.
The girl smiled, "Grandpa Roger named me Lacey!"
Shanks released a sharp breath as the tears fell from his eyes. This couldn't be something he was just dreaming. It felt too real. "It's you." He whispered, bringing the girl – no, Lacey, her name was Lacey, into his arms. "I'm so sorry… I couldn't protect you."
Small hands curled into his shirt, her head leaning against his shoulder, "It's okay, Momma."
Lacey pulled away from him, smiling again as she reached up to wipe the tears from his face. "You're beautiful." Shanks whispered. "I wish… I wish things were different. That I got to meet you."
Lacey grinned, a smile similar to what he had seen on both Ace and Luffy in the past. It was a large toothy grin. "I watch you a lot. Me, Grandma Shay, and Grandpa Roger do."
"You watch…"
Lacey nodded, pulling away and looking away from him.
Shanks turned his head, the air catching in his throat again as he saw Roger standing there next to a woman with red hair and freckles dusting her cheeks. "Dad…" He whispered, standing up in disbelief.
"Shanks." Roger replied.
"Am I dead?" Shanks questioned.
Roger shook his head as him and the woman walked forward. Lacey immediately rushed from his side, jumping into the arms of the woman. The woman laughed, standing up and placing her on his hip. "No, son, you're very much alive."
"How is this possible?" Shanks questioned. Roger didn't look a day older than he had whenever he was executed. The tears came to his eyes again as he choked on a sob and leaned into Roger's chest, curling his hands into his jacket. "What's happening to me?"
"You've been put under a Devil Fruit power that emulates death. Your physical body is still alive. Your mind is alive." Roger explained, bringing his arms up and placing a hand on the back of Shanks' head. "It's not your time, son. You can only see us because of this power. Your haki is running low and it's what is sustaining your body, so you have to fight this."
For a second, Shanks didn't even want to fathom the idea of leaving Roger.
He had too.
He had to get back home. To Ace and Luffy. To Mihawk. To his nakama. His mother. Garp. Dragon. Sabo. He couldn't leave them behind. He didn't want to die.
"You're not going to die." Roger muttered. "It's not your time, Shanks. Until the moment you go back to the world of the living, we will be with you."
The woman stepped forward, reaching out and placing her hand on his back, a soft smile on her face that reminded Shanks so much of Rouge. It clicked for him. That must have meant this woman was Shay. His namesake. Rouge and Dragon's mother. "It's not time for you to join us yet, Shanks. You are so… beautiful. You look just like your mother."
Shanks let another another cry as he stepped back, wiping at his face. "How do I get home?"
Roger gave him a sad smile. "Unfortunately, the power you've been hit with can only be broken by the person who used it on you." He explained.
Shanks shook his head, "There has to be a way." He stated, "I still have to get Ace and Luffy off of that island. They were only there because of me. If something happens to them… I would rather be dead."
Roger smiled, placing his hand on the Omega's shoulder. "They are fine. All of them. Ace had a bit of an… incident, but he is healing now. Shanks, what you can do is fight to keep your body alive. If your haki drains, I'm afraid you might be stuck here. You have to will yourself to live."
Lacey popped back into his vision, her smile bringing his attention to her, "Live, Momma. You don't belong here."
"Live, Shanks." Shay added, "You just have to want it. You still have power left in you. You have to use that."
"It's okay, Momma. Even if you feel weak. We'll help you stay strong." She said, reaching out for his hand again, "C'mon, come play with me. We have time together before you have to go back."
Shanks followed without hesitation, looking back at Roger and Shay as the two walked along with them. He looked back down.
This girl was his daughter.
His daughter. His father. His grandmother.
They were all here.
"Why did this happen to me?" Shanks questioned as Lacey kept going, stopping at the flowers before reaching down and picking a white lotus from the field and lifting it up.
"What makes us powerful. What makes us want to continue living… is the people in our lives. The bonds we carry." Roger stated, "You were used to defeat Teach once and for all. That bastard will never harm any of you again."
For a moment, Shanks could feel the sense of relief. Like a weight was being pulled off of his chest. A smile came to his face as he looked back down to Lacey. Her big doe eyes looking back up at him. If only, she could have been with them all this time. She was beautiful. Everything he hoped she would have been. The one thing that haunted him more than anything was the loss of her life.
Life was unfair. It wasn't equal. It wasn't peaceful.
Yet, in this moment, he felt peace. Something he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Will I be awake in time to know that they are safe?" Shanks questioned, looking out to the ocean ahead of them.
"I can't say." Shay replied, "I don't know much of this power, but the man who uses it… is dangerous. He plays a deadly game. Bringing to life those who he deems deserve it. Taking the lives of those he decides deserve death."
Shanks looked over to her, seeing the dark look on his face. There was something she wasn't telling him. "What is it?"
Shay sighed, looking over to him, "No one has ever survived the power of eternal sleep." Shanks' eyes widened as he felt like he couldn't breathe. That would mean that he was as good as dead. The warm feeling he felt before. It was this. The blood he could have sworn he had felt was him being stabbed. "Eternal sleep is meant to be a peaceful way to go. You feel no pain. Your haki is the only thing keeping your heart beating right now. That's why you have to will yourself to live. You have to use your haki to fight back."
Shanks shook his head, "If that's the case. I'll be dead. My body was already weak. I was running off of adrenaline. I was getting to a point that I couldn't hardly move anymore."
He only looked away from her as Lacey sat down in his lap. "You're Momma. You can do it. Just think about Papa and my brothers. Grandma Rouge and Uncle Dragon. You have every reason to keep living." She smiled as she turned her head and tilted it, "Also, you have a promise to keep to Luffy!"
Shanks was shocked. How did she even know about the promise? To think about it, how did she know so much.
Once again, it was like she was reading his mind. "I know everything, Momma. I've been watching. You have to get back. You can't stay here. We came here because it's peaceful."
Shanks nodded. The fear was coursing through his veins now. Mihawk and his children flashing before his mind as he wrapped his arms around Lacey. Bringing her close.
He had to will himself to live.
Apparently, he didn't have much time left, but he had to fight it.
He could do this.
At least he thought so.
"I want to… live."
Author's Note: a href=" /zbaUczAYwb" The Moby Hangout /a