Chapter 23

Ari sets sail! The battle between responsibility and running!

Ari struggles to regain her footing as she's suddenly put back on her feet again.

"Well, don't just stand there! I got us out, but we gotta keep running," someone says.

Ari looks up to find that she is indeed right outside of the auditorium hiding behind some bushes. The sky is dark, save for the light of the full moon. In Ari's company is a stranger who looks to be just about as old as she is. Maybe older. The first thing she notices is her long, blonde hair. But before she can pick up on anything else, the stranger pulls at Ari's wrist, almost causing her spiked bracelet to come off.

"Well, do I need to say it twice? Come on!" The stranger pulls on Ari's arm again, but this time switches so that she pulls on her other arm, the one without the bracelet.

Tears run down Ari's face and she can't utter a word in her current state of shock. Beads of sweat form along her brow and her hands shake uncontrollably. Her fragile state is worsened by the fact that Ari still hears those voices.

Escape.

Crazy devil fruit powers.

Hurry!

The girl places a hand gently on Ari's forearm. "Listen, explanations later. Just follow me, okay?" The girl's eyes plead with her. Ari caves and runs alongside the girl, following her to wherever they need to go. Normally, Ari wouldn't be so careless about going off with strangers, but she's so grief stricken from losing two of her dear friends and the mystery of the tragedy just now that she doesn't put up much of a fight. Besides, they're in Shimotsuki Village, Ari's hometown. Ari's familiar with the place even at night. They run through the backstreets as to avoid any unwanted attention. The girl and her run for what seems like hours, but in reality is probably only minutes. By the time they come to a stop, Ari's muscles are burning from the exercise. The blonde girl however hasn't broken a sweat, despite her scrawny build and high heels. It seems like they've landed in the middle of a forest somewhere.

Ari remains silent, catching her breath.

The blonde girl shouts in frustration, "How'd I end up here?!" She throws her hands up in the air as if asking the universe, 'why me?' She sighs. "Well, anyway, I'm Pheonix," she says, extending out her hand for Ari to shake.

Ari shakes her hand out of courtesy, but doesn't say her name out of fear that when she opens her mouth a sob will come out instead.

Pheonix takes in their surroundings once again and shakes her head. "Well, we should be safe for now, but we'll have to keep a look out." She looks oddly paranoid, and even takes an extra minute to have a staring contest with a bush before nodding her head as if affirming that it is indeed a bush. "It's too bad I couldn't find the port," she mutters to herself, obviously trying to figure out where she went wrong.

"I can't just run."

Pheonix silently turns to face her.

"Those were… people. I did this."

Pheonix furrows her brow and sucks in her lips. "Yes, yes you did. But it's hardly your fault. You have a crazy devil fruit power that is almost impossible to control."

Ari looks down at her feet. She has a point… but this is my responsibility. I can't just run from it. Ari shakes her head. "I can't," she says again, choking down a sob.

Pheonix frowns and crosses her arms. Why does she have to take responsibility anyway? Pheonix, of course, wouldn't understand such a principle since she ran away from home when she was just a girl. 'Responsibility was for the rich' she used to say. And Pheonix never wanted to be one of them. "Okay," Pheonix sighs, "you want to know what will happen? I'll tell you. The marines will take you away, have you imprisoned, or worse: executed. Then what?"

Ari opens her mouth to object, but Pheonix cuts in again.

"Listen, responsibility isn't always the answer. Sometimes, running keeps you alive. And surviving is what's important."

"I have a family here! I have brothers, parents! How do you expect me to leave them?!"

Ari's words strike a chord in the blonde girl and she shrinks away. Pheonix gnaws on her lip.

"This is my home! I made friends here, I-I lost friends here. I can't just leave because some stranger shows up and tells me I have to!"

"You have… a family?" She cocks her head at the brunette.

Ari is dumbfounded and replies like the answer should be obvious, "Yeah."

"I see." Pheonix gnaws her lip once more. "Could you um," she says under her breath, "point me to the port?" She ducks her head and attempts to hook her thumbs in her pockets, but realizing that she doesn't have any, lets them hang at her sides.

"That way," Ari sighs and points to the east.

"Thanks." Pheonix leaves, but in the opposite direction.

"Wrong way, turn around."

Pheonix's face flares as she turns and heads on her way yet again, this time going the right direction.

XXX

Later that night, hours after Pheonix and Ari parted ways, Ari sprints through the streets with a huge bag strapped on her back. Her feet pound the dirt and her hair whips past her face. Despite her intense lung training from playing the flute, her breath comes in irregular gasps. She clenches her hands into fists to keep them from shaking, but her teeth still chatter from nerves and her stomach is tied in knots. Finally, she arrives at the port and looks this way and that, searching for the stranger she met earlier. Finally, her eyes pass a small rowboat. The blonde is on board! She barrels to the little boat desperately and prepares to make her case known to the stranger.

Pheonix looks up and smirks when she sees who's coming towards her. "Finally caved, huh?"

"Listen, I," Ari stutters, "I changed my mind."

Pheonix raises a brow at this.

"You're right. I can't stay here." Ari fiddles with her fingers.

Pheonix turns back to her boat and continues with her work. "Alright, climb on."

"Just like that?" Ari asks.

"Uhuh."

Ari steps over the side of the boat and it dips down in the water at her weight. "I thought you said you had a ship."

"I may have slightly exaggerated. Besides, it looks like a ship to me."

Ari forces down a laugh at the blonde girl's comment. Ridiculous how a tiny boat like this could be a ship.

Pheonix releases the rope tied to the dock and off they go into the night.