Chapter Eight: Raw Embrace
Killer moved his head in to inspect the tattoo of dark blue, near black thorns that ran diagonally over his right eye. Across his forehead and cheek the bold, opaque patterns went and without thought the blonde used his left, free hand to run a thumb over the inked feature. Short, dark eyelashes and mysterious eyes of colour Killer may never see. His hair was pale, pale grey and white. Short and soft, cropped even with a few tousled locks twirling out here and there.
But the main aspect was the tattoo. So very few had such a mark. The mark of the Blue Thorn Slavery System. Without a doubt the most intense, unstoppable, secretive human trade market there was. But...no way was Penguin part of it. No one ever got out, they were born and bred in there. Generations of people went through the system so...
Before the massacre soldier could think, the lashed lids fluttered and there was a glimpse of his eyes for a moment. Shit, Killer couldn't move quick enough, about to tug down his hat, Penguin weakly gripped his arm and opened his eyes properly. Taking it all in for a moment before his eyebrows raised and a vicious blush of horrified crimson flushed over his face. Killer's arm stayed beside his head and against the wall as Penguin curled into himself and tried to cover his face up. The blonde didn't move, not knowing what to do.
"I...I'm sorry" he stammered. He never stammered.
"Why?"
"...I invaded your privacy-"
"No, just...why would you do that? Why would you-" Penguin was trembling, slipping on the ground a few times as he tried to curl up even more.
"I know...I'm sorry...what the captain said...it-"
"What? What captain?"
Penguin took this chance to have a look around and his mouth fell open when he realised they were once again captured.
"Oh...oh god...where are we?"
"Captain HurstSand Mirage's Ship, he's selling us back to Captain Arabella Mint"
Penguin gave a jolt, a sudden sob startling the blonde who peered down to see Penguin's expression. Suddenly aware of the blood from the fresh head wound seeping down his left cheek, neck and shoulder.
"I'll sort your wound out"
"No"
Killer was taken aback. He knew he had crossed a pretty fine line but the guy was injured for gods sake. He couldn't expect to just bleed out. Especially as the man didn't seem interested in doing anything but curling up and shivering.
"Well you can't bleed out, so let me just bandage it"
"Look, no, please...just go away" Penguin pushed the blonde's hand away and tried to move away but Killer's arm was in the way so he just sunk into the wall.
"I don't care you know" A quietness settled in the room and Killer hoped for a moment that the younger man understood and believed him.
"...But you know and that's bad enough" Penguin replied. A simpering murmur alerted the kid pirate and he watched a few tears roll down the flushed face. Eyes widening beneath the mask he let the man have some space, leaning back a bit.
"I haven't tried revealing your face...s-so why would you...why would you..." he sobbed, loudly.
Penguin wasn't crying because of the involuntarily revelation of his face and tattoo alone, he was crying because he was still trapped, because he was to be sold, because he was probably going to end up as someone's sick sex toy, because it brought back memories of his time in the Blue Thorn Slave System, because he hadn't seen a single sign from his captain or crew and because he still feared Killer. The only man he had been with this whole time.
He was breaking down.
That's when Penguin grabbed the underneath of the white and blue mask and yanked it up roughly, dragging at Killer's face and over the top of his head. Killer all but threw the other man across the room as he reached for the loose helmet, Penguin watched him intently.
"How. Fucking dare you" Killer snarled, fastening the familiar mask back over his face with a spitting snarl. Words laced with venom.
"Now we are even" Penguin whispered. Killer was enraged. He had let the man in for a moment, dropped his guard and the bastard broke that by-god. The blonde moved as far as he could to the other side of the albeit small and dusty room but any distance was fine.
"Don't fucking come near me again, you hear?"
Penguin looked up, shoulders rigid.
"Excuse me? You breached my privacy!"
"So you act wrongly to make a right?"
"It was only fair you got a taste!"
"I'll make you taste nothing but your own blood if you don't shut your mouth"
Penguin was shaking again, from sheer anger. The audacity of this man. Penguin didn't care how fucking good he was with a pair of blades or how arrogant and proud he was next to his ruthless captain. Didn't he understand the basic principles of 'an eye for an eye'? Apparently not. Penguin curled into the wall and held his bleeding head with an unstable hand. He felt a little guilty, taking advantage of the calm situation but...he had been pissed. Pissed about his hat being taken off.
Unwillingly yelping at the searing pain in his shoulder. Killer didn't even wince. He had returned to the stone cold massacre soldier he always had been.
For a moment; for the dim-lit-split-second moment Penguin had to survey the other's actual facial features, he didn't seem like the Killer he had been named. With his almost charming half-scraped back half shaggy falling locks over his forehead, his thick arching eyebrows and actually rather slender nose. His eyes were different to what the heart pirate had expected, instead of the assumed blue, they were a deep, forest green. Stern and thoughtful in a way that could never be understood.
Killer must have seen his own eyes, when he first opened them and looked around. It had been absolutely nerve-shattering when he realised what was going on.
The door shuttered and a knocking sound was heard, making both men forget their problems and respond frantically. A guard entered and looked at them both from his looming height and before anything more could happen he turned to Penguin.
"Come with me, the captain wants you"
"F-For what?"
The guard paused and with a subtle side-cocking of his head, realised the hat-clad man was crying.
"Follow me" he simply claimed and Penguin shuddered. So desperate not to go. Killer didn't step forward to help as he was picked up and slung over the shoulder of the large man and taken out like a child having a tantrum. When the door was shut and locked. The silence was colder and more agonising than before.
Neither Kid nor Law spoke and the weight of pressure of who should speak first nearly crushed them. They were back in the small, seated control room. Law sitting with his head facing the ground sternly and Kid across the way, pouring himself another drink.
"We can catch em soon again you know" he offered finally and Law looked up so fast, Kid thought the small shot glass in his hand might shatter.
"But we missed maybe our only chance then, just because...just because of me"
Kid was a little startled, he knew Law to be laid back, devil may care if you will, but the opportunity to save his shipmate slipping through his fingers broke him more than the redhead would ever have thought.
"Seems whoever was on that ship had some pretty fucking weird powers, either that or you need more sleep Trafalgar" Kid was actually attempting to keep the mood up. Refusing to let go of any determination to rescue his own crew mate. Without Law being fully prepared, things would get nowhere.
"I don't know if you are just being sarcastic or trying to make me feel better but...thanks" Law told him weakly, by the sound of it he was appreciative of the redhead's brash attempts at moving conversation and progress forward.
But the intense fear from earlier, the fear of losing his precious, life-depending hands with their devil fruit ability and medical talents, his sword skills and general movement was tormenting. One of his worst fears and it had sent him into a frenzy with the night air and adrenaline from seeing the ship making him nauseous. Even so he was ashamed of his response infront of the wild, younger captain.
"If there's a chance that ship did have Killer and Penguin on then we should go after it, wait till they've docked off somewhere" Kid explained, standing up and wandering over to the wide blue screen after grimacing at the still oily blackness of the nightly ocean.
"There's an island coming up just North East so we'll try that one, if they don't go there then we'll just ask around...by which I mean threaten and force" Kid sneered and slipped the headphones on. Law watched him, startled. This new, mature and serious side of the redhead was bewildering to say the least and the doctor wondered if he really did have a 'mother mode'.
This theory only increased when Kid swirled round on the chair, simultaneously shrugging his coat off.
"Get some sleep in the meantime, use this if you want or a blanket or something...you were woken up before" he chucked the large attire to the older man who caught it swiftly. Law nodded in thanks but couldn't stop his analytical eyes raking over the broad, muscular frame of the other man. He was very well built and considerably attractive for such a childish brute. But the surgeon of death couldn't continue gazing as Kid spun back to the desk and started watching for a white blinking dot intently.
Penguin was dumped back into the room and the door bolted. Same old, same old. Killer didn't even raise a question to what had happened and the heart pirate didn't seem keen on sharing. Penguin sat by the wall, stretching one leg out whilst the other curled up. Staring at the ceiling corner infront of him he thought about the interrogation he just experienced.
He had been requested to confirm the identity of the blonde as the infamous massacre soldier 'Killer' from the crew of Eustass 'Captain' Kid from a discovered wanted poster. Penguin just stated the obvious and claimed it was indeed the same person. Something in his mind actually hoping it would deter them as the fearsome reputation could scare anyone. Then he wondered why he was worried about the older man's well being, after his last display of arrogance and ignorance.
The heart pirate had sat legs apart and arms crossed in an angered, pleased stance whilst going against Killer for a moment. It was nothing of a severe betrayal but what did they have between them anyway? The man had actually revealed his identity without second thought and then questioned him on it. It was just brutish and sent white hot fire through Penguin's veins. Captain HurstSand Mirage had sent him back with a sceptical look, thrown off by his lack of hesitation to going against what must be his escape-partner. Pebble; sitting on the desk behind the captain, shook her head with a shrug.
Now, back in what could only be described as a cell, the two sat in cold silence like the first day they met in that bunk room. The sudden revelation that he may end up back in that scratchy, narrow bed or worse, some grotty strangers bed made Penguin resort to his instinct to curl up and bury his head in his knees. Tears brimming in his bloodshot eyes once more and he sniffed angrily at his weakness. But he...he was so tired, and sick and-
"Why haven't you asked about me?" Killer spoke up, his voice painfully loud in the small, silent space.
"...What do you mean?"
"My face, you haven't said anything"
Penguin bit his lip and his heart lurched with a sharp weight. As if he didn't already have enough pressure on him.
"I didn't want to cross a boundary"
"You did when you removed my mask"
"And you crossed a pretty thin line when you pulled my hat off!" Penguin's voice raised involuntarily and he settled himself back down into a normal speaking tone after a few deep breaths. "What's there to ask about?"
"Why I have no scars?"
"...Why would I care about that?"
"Most people assume I wear it for hideous scars or markings on my flesh...but now you know I don't"
"...Why do you wear it then?"
Killer laughed bitterly and rested his head against the wall.
"That's for another cold, sickly night" he told the younger man.
That sentence triggered something off in Penguin the heart pirate would never anticipate. A raging fear and rage inside him as he dwelled on the fact there would be another cold, sickly night if he was dragged back into the slave business, or even back onto the Mint lady's ship. Why did he deserve this?!
Killer wondered if Penguin knew he was crying hysterically. He didn't seem to, too wrapped up in his thought's no doubt. But the trembling and rocking was making the blood from his head wound flow faster and Killer narrowed his eyes. Like fuck was he letting the guy bleed out. With a brief sigh, the blonde got to his legs, wincing at the tender soreness of his still injured knee and shuffled over to the heart pirate who so far was unaffected by his presence.
"Calm down, let me see your wound" he commanded harshly but Penguin made a high-pitched whimpering noise like a nervous animal. Killer knelt down and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Seriously, take a breath, you'll lose it if you carry on"
Then he did something Killer couldn't even begin to expect. He fell forward into the older man's chest and tenderly wrapped his arms around the broad muscular chest.
Killer's response was more shocking to him than it was to the heart pirate. He took one arm and wound it round the lean shoulders of the younger man, drawing him in with uncomfortable, unfamiliar movements. Penguin was considerably cool and it was a refreshing feel. His head sunk into his chest. Like a child he snuggled further for warmth and shielding. Killer hissed at the tear drops and blood stains no doubt ruining his clothes but the way the man smelt of frozen water and vanilla washed his negative aspects away.
Killer moved forward toward the wall and Penguin was moved back, holding onto Killer around the neck as he was let go in favour of Killer also leaning against the solid wood. Shuddering and sobbing, he started shuffling from the blonde.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...It was impulse, it was wrong, I-"
The heart pirate was cut off when Killer thrust him into a nearly painful embrace.
What was he doing? He was Killer, the massacre soldier, on the crew of the infamous, high-bounty price pirate Eustass 'Captain' Kid. And he was holding this man like he was a lifeline. God, frequent imprisoning was making him soft. Certainly the softness of the younger man's body was driving him a little out his mind but like hell would he try anything else. He didn't even want to, not now. When things were as fragile as glass.
Penguin marvelled at how...firm the man was. It made him dreadfully self-conscious of his own lithe frame. Stronger than the wood and smelling just as rich. His tears were subsiding and he was calming down though the odd sob shook through his spine and the heart pirate would've sworn the tight vice around him got tighter with each tremble.
Killer remembered the younger one's eyes, just before he was shoved away after he had removed his hat. Unusually sharp, for someone who gave off such a...soft impression; Killer had expected the wide, bright eyes of a child yet they were nothing less than the eyes of a pirate. But bright they were, a dark grey outlining, and just edging the circle of his pupil was a shocking, nuclear blue.
When the guard returned to take them up to the top, the masked man was in the middle of wiping up the bitter flow of blood from the younger ones injury. The hat-clad man was holding a bundled piece of what looked like ripped up material and sure enough, the kid called Penguin had ragged ends to his once long grey sleeves.
"We're going, island in sight" the guard told them and they got to their feet after Killer had finished the knot. They walked single file down the narrow corridor up the stairs where the two were surprised to see very little of the crew. Only Pebble, Oasis, three or four guards and the captain. The night was a spread of black, with slithers of pale blue lights slipping through like glowing cracks of ice protruding from an Arctic ocean at night. How the sea matched the oceans in some ways was terrifying yet amazing.
Pebble walked up alongside Penguin who flinched a little but she sighed light heartedly.
"Don't worry, I ain't gonna bother you...bet you're wondering why hardly anyone decided to show up"
Penguin blinked under his hat and shrugged, glancing to Killer. The morning light was rising up over the horizon and sure enough the distinct crooked shape of an island was coming forth.
A/N: BLUE THORN SLAVERY SYSTEM BELONGS TO ME and will be explained in more depth soon. I just thought it would be interesting that Law took Penguin in even when he was degraded, a little like the Jean Bart scenario. I don't have much reason for my idea to be honest, it just came to me and looks pretty good when I draw him.
Things are getting interesting, my sister was yelling at me since it was chapter eight and nothing drastically intimate or romantic had happened yet. So I made it happen. And more is going to happen. LOOK AT ALL THE CUDDLE AND COMFORT.
-LAW09
Fallen Seraphina: It's a pretty long answer so I have PM'd you :) Thank you for the review!
Thanks to all my favouriters and followers!