Dr. Heart Stealer
Ch24: The Great Escape!
"Sadao-ya, I need you to go tell the crew on the island to meet here. Me and Bepo will stay here to wait for them," Law ordered. Sadao gave a curt nod and stood to leave. Law turned to Bepo. "Now, Bepo, we wait."
~X~X~X~
Harmony was sitting in her room, small beads of tears at the corner of her eyes, when she heard a high pitched screech. She covered her ears and shut her eyes tightly in a vain attempt to block out the ear-shattering noise.
"Is this thing on?" a voice burst through the loud den den mushi in her colorless cabin. Another voice in the background yelled something about being quieter, although the young girl could not identify who the voice belonged to. "All members of the crew please report to the island! Hiro over and out!" A click signaled the end of the transition. Harmony continued to sit on her bed wondering. 'Do I count as part of the crew? Maybe this is my chance of escape! I could leave with the crowd... if there happens to be a crowd... no more stuffy submarine for me!'
With a huge grin, she jumped off of her bed and rushed to the door. Harmony pressed her face up to the door to listen for any footsteps. The sound of pattering feet echoed through the door and rattled her eardrums. But finally the sound dimmed into nothingness.
That was her cue to get out of there.
She gently pushed open the door avoiding all sounds. Harmony glanced up and down the hall connected to her room, and caught a glimpse of a beige jumpsuit going around a corner. She speed down the hall with the silence and grace of a black cat. Once she had reached the corner, she pressed her body against the wall and looked the direction the person had gone. No one was there, although a red sign with the word exit, indicated that they had most likely left through there.
While being twice as sneaky as before, she made her way to the door, that would hopefully lead to the outside world that she hadn't seen in so long.
As the door crept open, a blinding light flooded the dark and bleak hall. Harmony had to shield her eyes from the disorienting light that shone through the door. But soon enough, the light seemed to dim as her eyes adjusted to the luminance.
Her eyes widened in awe of the sight before her. An open ocean of clear deep cerulean blue clashed against the deep red and oranges of the beautiful setting sun, the stunning colors only marred by a few boats out in the distance. The whole scene looked like a surreal painting.
She tore her eyes away from the stunning sight that she could gawk at for hours, to look at the island the Heart Pirates had docked on. The beach was rocky, yet was somehow still capable of having palm trees grow on its unstable ground. Behind the stony shore stood tall buildings and skyscrapers, all the lights were on like little glowing stars in the fading daylight.
Harmony jumped down from the yellow submarine, and onto the uneven shore. She lost her footing but quickly regained it, as she had managed to land on one the the scarce flat rocks. The young girl walked towards the massive buildings carefully, so she wouldn't fall.
~X~with the Heart Pirates~X~
The Heart Pirates had gathered together at the hotel on the outskirts of town.
"Captain, why did you gather us here? What if the sub is taken?" Itsuki asked Law thoughtfully. Law ignored his comment and looked to Jake.
"Jake-ya, what have you found out about this island?" Law asked the blonde. Jake looked over to his captain and hummed.
"Well, I found out that the Festival of the Sharpshooters will start in six days. And that's also when some marines will make their appearances, apparently a captain that protects this island. If I can remember correctly I think his name was Osamu And may I also add that the supernova Capone Bege will be here as well? It does come across as strange, seeing as he was recently spotted in the New World. What do you think he's doing back so soon Law-kun?" Jake asked his captain. Law shrugged.
"I don't know. I guess that we'll have to find out why he's back," he said calmly. Jake groaned.
"It's a shame that Harmony isn't here to help. Well, she is, but..." Jake looked to the side and sighed "Well, I guess that we'll get someone else to investigate that. I wonder how she's doing right now."
"She'll be better soon enough, so you have no need to worry," Law said.
"Oh, right, the log pose sets in three weeks. One week before the festival ends," Jake told him happily, a smile on his lips. Law smirked.
"Well, a festival might just be what the crew needs. We won't look for an eternal pose this time." This earned a smile from the near by crew.
~X~with Harmony~X~
The blond girl trudged over the rugged terrain, and slowly made her way towards the huge city ahead of her.
Only a little farther! She chanted in her mind. Droplets of salty sweat poured down her face, making it shine in the very dim sunlight. Her small legs moved along the jagged rocks with difficulty, seeming to be uncertain of every path available, she waved her left arm out to the side as she began to lose her already wavering balance. Harmony glanced ahead of her, hoping that she was near flat ground. And with a smile, she noticed that only a few more jumps away would be her safe haven.
The sweet, sweet level ground.
She nearly burst out of her skin with the speed she took off at. No longer worrying about her balance, she was going to fast to lose it at this point. Two bulky boulders away from the enchantingly smooth ground, she took a leap of faith.
She planted her foot only a few inches short of the ground, and on one of the uneven rocks. She tumbled forward, luckily getting her hands to break her fall instead of her face.
She didn't even want to think of the scars she would get from face planting on this kind of terrain.
Her hands were on the flat ground, her body was in a pushup position, her toes balanced on the rock that seemed to be trying to throw her off of it's annoying surface. She took a deep breath as she lowered herself onto the even ground that she so longed for. Using an army crawl she finally found herself on the cement of a city, and off of the horrid rocks that tried to damage her and her balance.
You would think that the dance classes she was forced into as a child would help with the balance.
She let out a shaky sigh of relief escape her mouth, as she hugged the area below her. She sluggishly moved to a sitting position, and took in her surroundings.
The tall buildings she had seen from the ocean were intimidatingly over towering. They loomed above head, and you couldn't see the tops.
She was truly frightened.
She was alone now.
And worst of all, in her opinion, she had no where to go in the intimidating city.
Of course, this had been what she had originally wanted. To be free of her captors, and out of harm's way. Although, this seemed to just throw her into the alley way of the bowling ball known as suffering. Now all she wanted was to turn back and run to the yellow submarine she had slowly come to like.
But her stubborn pride wouldn't allow that to fly.
With shaky steps she made her way into the ever bustling city of lights and air conditioners.
~X~With Masanori~X~
The old man waved farewell to the crew members staying at the inn. He was going to go back to the sub along with Jake, who had recently received his own den den mushi from a local store.
The two men trekked back to the sub over a dock that they had moored by. They boarded the submarine and walked to Harmony's room.
Well, they stopped by the galley first to get her some food. But either way, they were going to her room.
Masanori knocked on her door three times, a smile on his face as usual.
But there was no reply.
He tried again, this time slightly louder.
Still they were greeted by silence.
No light snores.
No sorrowful sobs.
Only deafening silence.
This time around, Jake tried. He knocked until his knuckles turned bright red. He attempted to knock again, but Masanori grabbed his hand and shook his head. A frown marred his usually joyful face. The old man twisted the door handle.
The door made no sound as it was opened, but it might as well have been equivalent to an ear splitting screech with the silence coming from the muteness of the room. The, recently, never joyful room was unilluminated and whist. Every single breath taken by the two seemed to resound in the dead air.
Jake's footsteps broke through the solemn silence, as he made his way over to the young girl's bed. He shook the bed a bit.
But there was nothing there but air and messy sheets.
Jake whipped out his den den mushi from his pocket.
"Law-kun!" he shouted into the snail. It groaned.
"What is it Jake-ya? I was-" Law was cut off by Jake's yelling.
"Harmony disappeared! We've got to find her!" he shouted. The snail's eyes widened before going back to normal.
"She couldn't have gotten far, she is still on the island. Unless she was stupid enough to go swimming with the sea kings. We will look for her tomorrow," the captain said. Jake was about to scream back a response, but the den den mushi turned off with a click.
The blonde man's knees buckled and he fell to the ground wailing like a three year old who was not allowed to eat candy. He beat his fists on the ground until they were red and raw. His eyes were red-ringed and puffy as he screamed for his sister.
Masanori sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, muttering words of comfort. Although his attempts to soothe the bawling man down were in vain.
~X~With Harmony~X~
Harmony walked through the city that she had just escaped to. As she walked on the buildings seemed to get taller and taller, never ceasing to scare her out of her wits. Sure she had grown up around the huge buildings of a heavily populated city, but these seemed to get ready to fall and shatter her small body. Towers like these could only support so much weight. Just how impressively study were the skyscrapers that she gazed up at?
She weaved through the crowd with unconscious ease. Her thoughts never on the crowd, but ways to get back home. She knew that she was far, far away from her home. After all the people were speaking in Japanese.
But, to her luck, her younger brother had always had a burning passion for the language. She had taken classes with him while they were both still young. Japanese was like a first language to her.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
"Watch out!" a teenaged voice yelled. Her eyes burst open as she side stepped the path of a skateboard.
Well she tried to at the least.
She fell down and landed on her but painfully. Looking across she noticed that she was not the only one that got part of the blow. Opposite of her was a girl her age with short purple hair that hung over her right eye, her eyes were a deep gold, orange freckles dotted her face like stars in the night sky, and her mouth was set in a position of pain.
Harmony jumped up and held out a hand for her, Harmony's face over flooding with concern.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry for not getting out of the way fast enough!" she ranted. The purple headed girl laughed as Harmony continued to apologize. Harmony stopped and looked at her. The teen stood up.
"No need to apologize. Really. You did no harm it was my fault. And as a marine, I really should have been more careful of the citizens," the girl held out her hand, Harmony took it. "The name's Rin, lieutenant Rin Key." Harmony smiled at Rin.
"Harmony, pirate captive Harmony Zepheron. Well, un-captive now," Harmony told her, Rin stood there with her mouth slightly agape. Rin put her hands on the blonde's shoulders and looked her dead in the eye.
"Are you okay? I've heard about people like you. People that survive the cruelties of pirates while being prisoner. C-can you tell me about it?" she asked hopefully. The blond grinned and nodded. Rin took Harmony's hand and began to run off in some random direction looking for a cafe, and completely forgetting her skateboard.
~X~X~X~
~X~X~X~
A/N: I am aware that this chapter is short. But I'm okay with that, because it is on time and awesome! Again it's probably full of mistakes, as my editor has yet to come back, but I'm doing my best to correct it as I'm writing it and after I finish writing the chapter. The next chapter might not be up for a while... I'm having a bit of writer's block and I'm slowly reverting back to heavy dialog chapters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I really enjoyed writing the bit where Masanori and Jake start panicking because they can't find Harmony. Oh, I never really cleared this up, but as so not to confuse myself, When Kazue was turned thirteen I decided to go with her original name because that's what she thinks her name is. Until next time, keep being awesome!