Chapter 6
Sanji stopped as he passed the iron gates. He noticed how they had rusted and decayed, and he imagined how they once would have been smooth black, and beautiful. He let his gaze trail over the graveyard, the ground was barren safe a few autumn leaves, and spindly roots snaked their way over the crumbling stone walls. He hadn't noticed it when he first woke up, too preoccupied with dealing with his situation to care. But the figure was right, it was a sorrowful sight.
"I do," he hesitated. The figure was standing with his back to him now, facing the dais. It was dressed in black and had a hood over its head. He looked over his shoulder into the forest, it still wasn't too late to turn around and find the shore.
"You will not find it, as it is not meant to be found."
The voice was smooth and deep, and sounded very, very old, Sanji thought. Like old wine, that had yet to go sour. "I beg your pardon?"
"You wish to find the ocean, but this forest is thick and will not let you leave," The figure turned slowly towards him, "And I am pleased to know you have good taste, I do not often get compared to a fine wine." The figure smiled warmly at him, and Sanji had to force himself to not take a step back in shock when his eyes landed on his face. He was strikingly handsome, but undeniably very, very old. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place it, like someone he had met in a dream he had forgotten he ever had. But there was more, he had his eyes, his piercingly cerulean blue eyes.
"Wha-." He stared dumbfounded. This had to be a joke, right? "What the fuck?"
The man's smile faltered, "Ah, yes, I suppose some explanation is in order."
"You think?"
Sanji watched as the man gently lowered himself down onto a step of the dais and laced his fingers together slowly. He felt heat rise inside him, the bastard was taking his sweet time and it was pissing him off.
"Fighting me will be pointless, will you not instead indulge in a conversation with an old man." He gestured to the step he was sitting on, "Please, sit."
Sanji growled. He wanted to kick and scream at the old man to go fuck himself, and then leave this damn graveyard. But he again felt himself walk towards him, his gait calm and resolute.
"Your temper has not changed, I see." The old man seemed to study him before his warm smile returned, "But I am glad to see your manners have improved."
Without wanting to he took his seat next to the man, and he too laced his finger together. He decided not to speak, though he had a million questions run through his mind.
"I am surprised, though pleased; you are not bombarding me with those questions you are longing to ask." He didn't look at him, but instead had his eyes fixed on the iron gate. "Yes, we have met before, a long time ago when you were just a boy. Why the Crone asked me to bring you then, I will never understand. You were wild and dare I say very rude in your behaviour towards me. You did however, as you still do today, possess a very kind heart." He finally turned towards him, and Sanji felt himself shrink a little under the piercing stare he had on him. "I am amused to see we share a common flaw, our kindness is so often misconstrued is it not? Our efforts of giving compliments are misinterpreted as mindless adoration, and too often brushed aside. And yet we never cease to do it. But, alas I am getting off topic. You are of course wondering who I am, and what I want with you."
He turned his gaze back to the gate, and Sanji found himself breathing a little easier.
"I am called by many names, most are gruesome and so very wrong, you might know me as The Bringer of Death, or simply just Death, or maybe by my favourite-," He chuckled softly, "The Grim Reaper." He shook his head, "But my true name is the Shepherd. Cursed by the Crone to walk between the veil, between the now and what once was. My punishment for loving too much and too deeply, I suppose. Which is why I have yet again met with you." Sanji let his gaze turn to the gate as well; he could feel the melancholy in the air around them.
"For twelve years I have been trying to find my way back to this place, to tend to my duty of watching over it and helping those who rest here speak. You have undoubtedly felt it, I imagine, because we are still linked it would seem. I do not know the reason, but I am apparently back early, and I think you know that too."
Sanji blinked and turned his head back on the old man sharply, then narrowed his eyes at him. This is ridiculous! "I don't know what you're getting at old man," he growled, "but that's the most bullshit thing I've heard in a long time!" He took his cigarette and relit it, "I have met a lot of weird people in my life, but you've got to be crazy if you think I'm going to believe any of the crap that just came out of your mouth!" He took a deep drag of his cigarette and held it for a few moments, seeing if the old man would say anything, when he didn't he let the smoke out of his lungs slowly. "I don't know you, and whatever devil fruit you've eaten has nothing to do with me!"
As he was about to stand up, fully intending to leave, the old man sighed and bowed his head, and he found he couldn't get up, growling he tried to fight against it. It was just like it had been back in the infirmary, he couldn't move a muscle. "Let me go!" He snarled.
"I would if I could, but I am afraid this is not my doing. The Crone has ordered you to stay, and so you must." He turned his head towards the sky, "Her powers are of immense strength, we are foolish to fight against it." Still staring unblinkingly up at the sky, he sighed again. "It was not lies or, as you so crudely put it, bullshit, I just told you. It is my duty and my punishment to walk this path; I am nothing but a tool to aid those in need, even if they are not aware that they need it. I am old yes, and I have been linked to many men throughout my years of service, I have no say in this matter any more than you have to be bound to me. You might not recall our meeting twelve years ago, but you undoubtedly felt its repercussions. It is all there in your mind, and you are thinking now about your headaches, your nightmares, and your difficulties each autumn harvest that has happened for so many years, are you not?"
Sanji's eyes widen and he had to fight to not gape at the old man, he had been thinking of it, though he wanted to refuse the connection. It was just too out there, too insane to even be a possibility. And yet, and yet… He let out a frustrated growl, before he spat, "And why the hell would I be bound to you? What kind of sick joke is that?"
"I am afraid I do not know the answer to that, as I said before, I do not know why the Crone has done this. All I know is that nothing can break our bond except the Crone, as she is the one that made it." He lowered his head, and Sanji thought he saw him struggle to take his eyes away from the sky, before he let them fall on his hands.
"So, what? She needs to be defeated in order for the link to be broken?" He tore his eyes away from the man and glared at the ground, "We'll be cursed forever."
"Yes we will be," the old man sighed, "She can never be defeated by the likes of us, we share too many flaws. And she can never be reasoned with, so until she decides to break it, we will do our duty each Samhain, until she is satisfied." He looked to Sanji and smiled sadly, "Or, until she is satisfied with you and let you go. I will still be her humble servant, bound to another man to continue my punishment."
Sanji still held his eyes on the ground, though his glare had disappeared and had been replaced with a thoughtful stare, "So, I will have to keep living through those hellish migraines, the blindness, the loss of bodily movement and everything else each autumn harvest until she feel it's time to let me go. That's a shitty deal!" He ran a hand through his hair, "What did I do to deserve such a punishment?" He breathed dispiritedly.
"I imagine it is the same as mine," the old man sighed, "We love to deeply and too much."
Sanji let out a bark of mirthless laughter, "What a shitty thing to be punished for."
"I quite agree, but I can not bring myself to argue with her when she is ever in my presence, even in her astral form she is as beautiful as the setting sun." He sighed, a hint of dreamy longing in his voice, and Sanji knew that feeling well. It was how he spoke of his beautiful flowers back on the Sunny; he suddenly bit down on his cigarette, the Sunny, the crew! He needed to find them, they were probably worried sick. He had been so engrossed in the conversation with the old man, he'd totally forgotten about them. He wanted to kick himself, how could he forget them so easily!
"You can not find them now; I have already told you this. The forest will not let you leave." The old man lifted his head towards the gate again, "We have a duty to uphold, until then we are bound to this place."
Sanji gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated sigh, "You keep talking about our duty. And what duty is that exactly?"
"To allow the dead to speak," the old man looked forlornly around at the graves around them. "I trust you know about Samhain and the reason it is celebrated?"
Sanji looked around at the graves as well, "Yes," he almost spat the word. "It is the day the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, it was a day where people were once able to speak with their loved ones who had passed away." He let his gaze fall to the ground again and narrowed his eyes, "But it has been a long time since people actually celebrated it for that, now it's just an excuse to dress up in stupid costumes and throw a party."
The old man nodded sadly, "Yes, it has been like that for almost a century. I remember well when we met twelve years ago that it was happening everywhere we went, it was quite the shock for you to learn the real reason for Samhain, you called it Halloween then. Derived from All Hallows Eve no doubt, a stupid name if you ask me."
Sanji glared at the ground, "I hate it!" he spat the words like venom.
"I see." The old man smiled warmly at him, "So even after all these years, after you had repressed all the memories of our time together, you still retained the lessons I taught you."
It was true; he hadn't really known how he knew about Samhain or the reasons for it, that too was something he had come to know after Samhain when he was nine. Twelve years ago. Had it really been because of this? This connection to an old man, who was supposedly cursed to walk between two worlds. Then why couldn't he remember it? And why the fuck had it only happened then and not every year? And why all the pain?
"You ask a lot of good questions. Some I have already answered, and some of which I do not know the answer to, but I have my theories. Do you wish to hear them?" The old man was looking at him with that piercing stare again and it was making Sanji uncomfortable.
"Would you please stop reading my mind?" Sanji growled before looking at the ground, feeling like a child as he almost pouted. "But sure, go ahead."
"I think that you are unable to remember it because off your life at the time, you did not have an easy upbringing that is for certain, your mind was not fragile, oh no-," He looked apologetically at him, as he undoubtedly read his mind again, "far from it in fact, but as you were so young it was simply too much information at the time. Then the year after, you were yet again in a situation where you mind could not deal with it, I see it still haunts you greatly." He shook his head sadly, but there was no pity in his eyes, only sadness. "After that you closed you mind to it. Repressed it as well as you could, and every year during autumn harvest I tried to make my way back here," he gestured to the graveyard, "But because you refused the connection, I was unable to find it. I believe the pain you have suffered is because I have tried to find it, to break the bond between us in my search." He lowered his head, "For that I am truly sorry, if I had known how much pain it caused you I would have stayed where I was and waited until you were ready."
Sanji bit down on his cigarette, so that's the reason, huh. He looked at the ground furrowing his brows, it made sense somehow, those years had been hell. He had been in that cell when it had happened the first time, and no one had even cared that he was in pain, the second year was not long after they had been rescued and it was put down to his pains after his starvation. It had been easier the years after that, it hadn't been as painful so he had been able to hide it from the geezer, during the last two years it had been a little worse, but manageable, this year however. He couldn't remember it being this painful before. "But, if you've been searching for this place all this time, then why have I only felt it during the autumn harvest? And why have it always been worse on Samhain?"
"Ah, yes. As I am able to walk through the veil just once a year, my strength is weakened during the rest of the year. In fact it is as if I am asleep. Once I wake up I am often unable to recognize the world around me, and it takes time for me to understand and comprehend who or what I am. As Samhain gets closer I remember more and more, and on the eve of the celebration I am fully aware and try desperately to come back here, to fulfil my duty. But as I have told you, I never made it, until now." He stroked his goatee thoughtfully, "This time was different somehow though, I was able to retain my memories faster, it is as if the wall you put up to block our bond has been weakened somehow. I was able to hear your world to some degree. I listened as your crewmates, Chopper your ships doctor was one of them, called out for you, but as I started to move there was a blinding light and I fell back to sleep. When I awoke the next time there came this sound of dripping water," He furrowed his brow in annoyance, "It was rather painful if I am to be honest, and as it became louder and louder I lost my consciousness."
Sanji stared at him, the dripping in the I-V, that had to be it.
"The next time I awoke after that it was quiet again, but this time as I stood up something stabbed me from behind and I had difficulty breathing before I again lost consciousness," He was clutching the bridge off his nose now, apparently frustrated with the whole ordeal, and Sanji could understand him, that had to have been that fucking lumbar puncture Chopper had done on him, he gritted his teeth in frustration as he thought about it too.
"The next time I awoke however I was finally able to move without anything happening, and I was finally able to gaze upon my dear beloved again. My Crone, in all her radiant astral glory." He sighed despondently, "She told me I was early, which I yet do not understand the meaning off, and then she told me to find you." He gave Sanji the same warm smile as before, "I must say I was surprised at first, I will not go so far and say I had given up hope, I knew that one day I would come back here, but in some part of my mind I believed I had to wait until our bond had been severed and I would be bound to another." Suddenly he gracefully got up from where he had been sitting, "I had hoped that you would recognize me, I was wondering what reaction you would have, I am sad to say I was a little disappointed when you did not, I am however glad that you are taking this meeting rather well."
He turned and walked up the stairs of the dais, "Now, I believe I have told you enough for you to trust me, so shall we get on with our duty?"
Sanji didn't move as he sat there staring up at the old man. He knew the old man was telling the truth, he knew it, and yet, he wanted to refuse it. He wanted to yell at him that he was wrong, but how could he? The pain, the nightmares, and everything else that had happened for so long, it was all because of this. He could feel it the moment he laid eyes on the old man that he recognised him, and now he could also feel that he recognised the graveyard, in some distant dreamlike memory. It had to have been real. He let his gaze drift over the graveyard as he slowly got up, glad that he was able to move again. Though, he did suspect that if he so much as made one move in the direction of the gate that he would be stopped again. He looked at his cigarette; it was almost gone. Letting out a sigh he raised it to his lips and lit it again. One final deep drag of smoke filled his lungs, letting the ember almost touch his fingers as he marvelled at the feeling of his lungs burning ever so slightly, before releasing it slowly. "Okay," he nodded, "Where are we going?"
The old man was standing on the mark in the middle of the dais, looking down on it with the same warm smile he had given Sanji, "To the other side, we have a few people to meet."
AN: So you might have noticed a slight shift in the story, that's because this is all from Sanji's perspective. It will continue like this from now on as it's hard to switch between them going forward without it getting confusing. I hope you'll still enjoy it though.
And as always, if you enjoyed the story so far please fav/follow and or leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback.
