Sorry, sorry. I went to six flags and neglected my writing duties! I left you guys hanging too :P
Such an inconvienent place to stop… oh wait I did that on purpose :3
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece any more than I own a motorcycle :'(
"C.J.? Is that you?"
It was just as I feared. Nami had been possessed; she was no longer inhabiting her own body. And from the declaration she just made there was no doubt in my mind that the new resident was none other than Cezar's dead wife, Ilana.
Cezar collapsed on the ground before her.
"Ilana… my dear… it's really you isn't it?"
He raised a shaking hand to caress Nami's face. She covered her hand over his, closing her eyes and allowing the smallest of smiles.
"It's so nice to see you again. I'd thought…" she wandered off, looking dreamily into his face.
"Shh shh, my angel. You don't need to speak. There's nothing that need be said; I'm just glad you're in my life again." Cezar said.
They simply stared at each other for a long while. He gazed at her hungrily, as if afraid that she might disappear from view.
After a while her happiness at seeing him again must have worn off some, for she soon began to examine her body. Shakily she stood, and Cezar jumped up to assist her. She stretched one leg, then the other. She did the same with both arms, flexing them and gazing in awe at her outstretched hands. Running a hand through her hair, she took deep breaths of air.
"I never thought I'd feel the air going in and out of my lungs ever again. Or be able to stretch, or wiggle my toes." She said.
"Well this body is all yours, my darling. Now we can go back to the way things were before."
At this she froze. A miserable expression came across her face, and she sighed long and sad.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, C.J. Things are different now." He looked at her sympathetically.
"Yes, you were dead. But now you're alive again! You may have a different body, but you're still the same Ilana that was once living." He argued. Ilana ran another hand through her hair absentmindedly, reminding me of Nami.
"But how could you even consider doing this? You know full well that I won't remain in this body; it isn't mine! It belongs to someone else, and she isn't ready to give it up." She said, rubbing her temples.
"Why do you care? We're together again! And how do you know that she hasn't already given up?" Cezar growled.
"Because she's in my mind as we speak!" yelled Ilana. All of the crew's eyes widened in shock, including Cezar. "She's showing me all of the terrible things you've done to her and her crew! Why did you involve these innocent people C.J.?"" She gestured towards us. Relief was flooding through me to hear that Nami was fighting for her body and that Ilana didn't plan on staying permanently.
"Because they're worthless and unimportant! No one matters to me except for you." He walked towards her as if to take her into an embrace, but she backed away from him quickly.
"This just proves it. You are not the man I thought I knew. I don't know you anymore!" She threw her head in her hands.
"Ilana? What are you saying? I'm the same man you fell in love with…"
"No you're not! You're a liar, and a murderer!"
He froze, shock written all over his features.
"Who told you? You were not supposed to know about my past. Someone must have said something." He stammered.
"No one told me…"
"WHO TOLD YOU!" He screamed angrily.
"I'm telling you no one told me! I remembered C.J.! I remembered!" Ilana yelled and then slumped to the deck.
"I was out here one night because I couldn't sleep. Something kept bothering me, but I couldn't think of what. It had rained that day, and when I was walking back toward my room to try and sleep I slipped and hit my head against the deck. When I woke up I remembered everything; that you were the one who destroyed my village. That you were the one who killed all my friends. That you were the one who KILLED MY SISTER!"
Cezar was completely silent for several moments. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no words came out. Then:
"You weren't supposed to remember. You were supposed to remain ignorant. If I'd met you before I would have never touched your village…"
"Well you did C.J.! You took everything that was important away from me. My house. My sister, who was my only remaining family. You even took me! Even though I followed you willingly, you know damn well that if I had my memory I would have never followed you!"
"But I'm different now! I changed after I met you! Did we ever once steal from anyone while you were on this ship? Did we ever exterminate another village? No we didn't!"
"Not while I was on this ship! But it seems as soon as I died you went right back to your old ways! And the fact that you would even consider destroying a village shows me how evil you really are."
"I can change again!"
"There's a darkness in your heart that even I can't cure, C.J. If love hasn't made you a better person, then I don't think anything will."
Cezar quieted down. He stood staring at Ilana with an expressionless face while she stared back at him defiantly.
"Why didn't you tell me all of this before? Why did you kill yourself, Ilana?"
She frowned deeply.
"Because I would have had to kill you."
"Well? WHY DIDN'T YOU THEN!" He yelled at her angrily.
"Because I love you!"
Ilana blushed furiously, but stood her ground.
"I fell in love with the man you became after you met me. I loved you with all of my heart, with every fiber of my being. I promised myself that if you were ever in danger I would throw myself in front of it. When I remembered what happened I was furious, and I wanted to kill you! I wanted revenge for my sister, my village, and myself! That's when I realized that I was in danger of breaking my promise, and endangering you! I had become the very threat that I swore I would protect you from, so I killed myself before I could kill you!"
If I wasn't so talented at hiding my emotions I may have teared up during her speech. The love and dedication that Ilana felt for Cezar was unlike anything I had ever witnessed before. If only I could love half as much as she did, I would be a lucky person.
Ilana was panting for breath after her speech, and soft tears were streaming down her cheeks. Cezar was now looking at her lovingly.
"Oh Ilana. My silly, stupid Ilana. You are too nice, too noble, too virtuous for your own good! There was no need for you to kill yourself! If only you had confronted me, I would have taken my life in place of yours! Anything, anything for you! If it would have made you happy again, if it would have brought back your smile, I would have done it in a heartbeat."
She sniffled softly.
"I want to think you're lying, that you're a coward and wouldn't actually kill yourself, but I know you would. I can't deny your love for me is real, but I can't accept it. You've done unforgiveable things, and I'm rightfully dead. Our love just wasn't meant to be."
Cezar walked up to her and took her hands in his. This time she didn't object.
"Stay with me… please. I'm not whole without you, just a fragment of myself. You bring out the best in me, and then I feel like I actually deserve to live."
Ilana began to cry in earnest.
"We can't be together anymore, C.J. You gave me some of the best years of my life; and some of the worst memories. But despite all of this I still love you, for some reason. But I have to go, this girl wants her body back."
"No! Fight Ilana! Don't let her have it!" He looked like he wanted to shake her but restrained himself.
"If we can't love here on earth, maybe we were meant to love far apart…" she mumbled, and her look became unfocused.
"Don't leave me Ilana! Don't leave me!"
As a last resort Cezar took Ilana and gave her a desparate kiss. When he pulled away she had a small smile on her lips.
All of a sudden there was a blinding flash of light that came from Ilana, and just like that it was gone, and her body fell limply onto the deck once again.
Just like he had done earlier, Cezar stepped cautiously up to her and said:
"Ilana?"
She stirred, and when she raised her head I inwardly gasped. There was a streak of pure silver in her hair which seemed to glow faintly, like the shimmering essence of a spirit.
Cezar went to reach a hand out to her…
and she punched him over the head.
"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU BASTARD!"
Yup. Nami was back.
Sorry this one is so short compared to the others, but I wanted to update and I couldn't find enough motivation to get all the action stuff down. Besides, I feel like this chapter is more dedicated to emotions and explanations. So next chapter will be dedicated to action, I promise :D
Hope you enjoyed it! Review please~ pppplllleeeeaaaasssseeee~