Chapter Twenty-One: The Sound of Crushing Dust

"From dust you came and dust you shalt return."

Hissing to myself as I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into my knees, I looked over my shoulder at the nurse behind me.

"I think tha's enough pokin', don't ya?" I said to her, and she simply frowned before prodding again at the red skin that was still healing around my tattoo. I had seen what it looked like with a mirror, and Whitebeard's nurses were making it seem worse than it was. Finding no more patience in this meeting with the nurse, Nalo I think her name was, I stood and grabbed at my coat.

"Wait! I'm not done—"

"Oh yeah you are," I turned on my heel, hissing at her hair before letting down my hair from the leather strap that held it up and walked out of the nurses' cabin on the deck. Ratch sat off on the far side of the deck, going through another one of his books with a telescope sitting beside him. He had officially taken over the post as land-lubber, or in other words, the guy that locates land when it is in view.

He looked up at hearing my boots click on the wooden floor, and he smiled to me, waving. I waved back, passing back, letting the sun seep into my pores as we, the Whitebeard Pirates and their seamstress, rolled along the current of East Blue.

All was peaceful.

But that peace was broken by a sharp and annoying caw of a seagull. Thatch caught the Daily News that it delivered before opening up the pages. I watched as the seagull disappeared, hoping peace would come back, but it didn't. Instead, a fury of whispers surrounded the paper as it was read with a few eyes. One name did catch my attention though.

Vice Admiral Callaghan.

I pushed through the crowd, and Thatch saw me instantly. He was one of the few that knew of my heritage to Callaghan Vian, but he couldn't stop me from grabbing the paper and reading it. I read the first sentence. And then the second. And then the third and then –

No.

No, it couldn't be it – I wouldn't allow it to be!

I gripped the paper tight in my hand and ran. There wasn't far to run to, since the ship was in the middle of the sea, I was an anchor, and I had a throng of very powerful pirates chasing after me.

This can't be true.

The doors to the mess hall flew open as a crowd of crew members filed out, all laughing and joking like they always did after lunch time. The sunlight no longer felt warm on my face. The throb in my shoulder could never compare to the throb in my heart now. I slammed the paper in front of Marco, interrupting the conversation he was having with Jozu and Ace. He looked up, instantly seeing the tears that I hadn't realized were falling.

I never thought this day would come.

OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS

"Hello mother," the old woman spoke softly as she look down at the grave at her feet. She sat silent other than those two words, resting in her wheelchair since her legs no longer wished to cooperate with her old age. Faye held her small notebook in her hands, feeling the pages that had been bent and straighten for her writing, and the number that had yet to be touched.

"I've gotten old, as you can tell."

More silence. The cold winter wind blew without mercy onto Faye's chapped lips, rustling her thinning hair. Even the two thick blankets wrapped tight around her body could not keep the harsh cold out. Behind her stood a shivering young man who was obviously not used to the weather as much as she was.

"I miss you mother."

OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS

I stood, staring down at the sack lying on the bed, unsure of what to pack. Should I pack a week's worth of clothes, or just a day or two? Should I pack my book and orders, or just a small amount to get me there and back?

Should I even go?

That was the number one question that I had never been able to answer correctly to anything else. When I shouldn't have gone, I did. When I did go, I shouldn't have. So many choices in my life have been the wrong one. Would I make another wrong choice? Or would I finally be freed from that stupid curse that has plagued me since I ran from home?

"Faye?" I didn't turn when Ace called to me, I couldn't bear to look at him. Too much was at stack and I wouldn't have him change my mind over some stupid crush that I had on him. "Flicker is ready whenever you are."

Ace would be my ride to my mother's funeral. No matter how much Whitebeard trusted me, they couldn't have me be captured. I knew too much about them to be apprehended and tortured for answers. Of course, I would happily take that torture over what I was about to go through.

"I'm ready," I mumbled, not even putting a package of food in my bag before grabbing my jacket and flipping it inside out, the black dark as the sun lowered in the afternoon sky. It reflected as gold on the sea. Marco hugged me, and I weakly wrapped my arms around him. I had cried all I would cry, and that had only been for those first few moments when I realized what had happened.

Vice Admiral Callaghan Vian's wife has died today due to what doctors are calling heart failure. Her funeral will be held on her home island of Ynis Witrin in North Blue. She has one child, Captain Callaghan Jyrik of the Loyal Marines …

They hadn't even mentioned me in the article. I was no child to Vian and Lynette. I was a girl without a family – all I had were my pirate of an uncle and the crew that called me sister. Marco let me be, and I smiled my best to the crew before being gently let down and onto Flicker, Ace's small fire-propelled boat. He had finally named it. I thought it had been cute.

Sitting on the front of the boat, I felt the warmth of flame flickering from his feet warm my back and we set off into the late afternoon of East Blue and headed for North Blue. The ride would take long into the night, and even though we would be exhausted, sleep would not overcome the two of us. Ever since I learned of my mother's death a mere twenty-four hours ago, Ace and I had not held a conversation going over ten words each.

I couldn't bring myself to try and use my infatuation for him to bring back the emotion in our small, growing relationship. With the death of the one person that had been on my side my whole life, my heart began felt … unfixable.

Water splashed on my face, but I did nothing to wipe away the sticky salt water as it made my already weak body weaken more. In fact, I began to doze, and sleep washed over me and—

"FAYE!"

Splash.

Water became the world I knew. I looked up, just barely seeing the white light of the moon and the orange flame of Ace's fire as he reached out to grab me. This was it. There was no one to save me. I was sinking faster than ever, and I welcomed it. The death of my mother was the death of me.

Jyrik was truly getting what he wished. I would be mourned by the few of the Whitebeards that knew me personally, but my grave would be at the bottom of East Blue, just miles off the coast of Loguetown, where it all began.

And where it all ended.

OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS

"You've been visiting an awful lot of graves lately, Ms. Faye," the young pirate said as he rubbed his hands together to cause friction and warm up his body. Faye smiled softly.

"I am simply visiting the people that I must before I join them," she told him, handing him a cup of warm coffee.

"What do you mean, miss?"

Faye smiled, relaxing in her chair as she looked at the fire. "You will meet five people in the afterlife. Each person you have somehow changed their life in inexplicable ways. And after you meet your five people, you will go on to be one of the five people someone meets, and once you've done your job, you simply… go."

He frowned, still not understanding. Faye chuckled. "I'll explain further."

Taking her large leather book from the bag on the back of her chair, Faye opened it to the middle.

"Mia Kelvin was my best friend. Because of me leaving her to go find a pirate, she was killed, thought to have been me."

She turned the page.

"Alastair was the cousin of the woman who did my one and only tattoo. He died knowing he had a friend out in the world somewhere."

Each page she flipped held a picture she had sketched of the person. The third page was a very familiar page.

"Portgas D. Ace," she whispered, and the boy pirate knew that name all too well.

"You knew Fire Fist?" he asked in amazement. He had only heard stories of the great and powerful Fire Fist Ace. Faye chuckled and looked at the boy.

"Knew Ace? I was the one that gave him his signature hat. Made it from scratch. Was a bitch to get that shade of orange."

He continued to look on with awe, before his brow furrowed. "How did you affect his life?"

Faye smiled a true smile. One that shown with a love that she hadn't felt in decades. "We were lovers, silly boy." She flipped another page, this time landing on the smooth, soft sketch of her mother. Put a picture of Faye and Lynette together, and they could be sisters.

"And Callaghan-Emery Lynette. My mother."

The boy frowned yet again. "Your mother?"

Faye looked to him, but no longer smiling. Her face looked grim. "When I ran away from home, it set off a chain reaction of heartbreak and abuse for my mother. She died a horrible death."

OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS

"I would like to thank you all for coming to my wife's wake."

I sneered at the face that was a mere thirty feet from me. He was the reason for this. He was what caused all my anger and pain.

"He looks so much like Marco," Ace whispered to me from behind. Both of us were hidden by black hoods, but it was reasonable due to the thick snow that fell on the funeral of my mother. We were not suspicious. My father, Vian, continued to drawn on about my mother and how such a wonderful wife she was. She was a wonderful mother, not a wonderful wife.

I didn't cry – there was no need to. My mother was gone, and no matter how much I cried, no matter how much I begged and pleaded with the Almighty above, he would not bring my mother back.

"… I would also like to have this in memory of my beloved daughter, LaFayette."

I looked up in surprised, my breath caught. There was a murmur against the crowd. None had known about me. Vian was going to tell them about me? The horrible, rogue daughter that went against daddy's orders?

"She could not be here today, for she is no longer amongst us either. She was killed a year ago in a pirate raid in Loguetown."

I stood. The chair beneath me scraped against the snow underneath my feet. All eyes were trained on me. Should I simply walk away, or make a scene? If he thought I was dead, there would be no more problems between us. I would be dead to him, and he would be dead to me.

"How dare you show your face!" Jyrik yelled as he stood from his seat, pulling his gun from his holster at his waist.

"Wha? Can't show up to mah own motha's fun'ral?" I called back, ripping the black cloak from my body. Father stood stock still, but Jyrik took his shot. Ace jumped in front of me, easily melting the iron bullet before it did any harm to anyone.

"Fire Fist! Get them!"

And from there, Ace and I found ourselves running to Flicker, bullets of kairoseki and iron raining down on us. Ace held up the flank, stopping the bullets before they could hit either of us – but mostly me. This boy – no, this man – was seriously going to take a fucking kairoseki bullet for me.

"So much fo' not makin' a scene!" I yelled over the rush of wind, laughing slightly as we ran even faster. He laughed with me, the sound warming my cold body. My heart … it felt … fixable now.

"Are you going to be okay with this?" he yelled back, pulling me behind an old building, covering my mouth with his hand to silence our loud breathing as the marines chased in the wrong direction. We stood for a few silent minutes, listening for any sign of them coming back. His body warmth was so much warmer than my coats. I kept close to him, letting my breath blend in with the steam of snowflakes burning off his skin.

"I'll be fine," I mumbled in answer, but he heard me. I know he heard me.

Waiting a few more moments, there was no sound other than the sound of snow falling, and even then, our breathing was louder. Ace took my hand, keeping me close as he went in the direction that Flicker was docked in. "Try not to fall off this time, okay?" Ace joked playfully, sending me one of his familiar grins. I grinned back, but nodded anyways.

Maybe I could keep living. I had a reason – and he was holding my hand for dear life. I don't know why. We had not really been showing feelings for the other for very long. Only a month at the most. He had saved me countless times now, one time being only twelve hours ago. Had it not been for that rope that he tied to his waist and used to take us back up, I don't think I'd be here at the moment, saying I'm fine when I'm really not.

If it wasn't for Ace, I would have never been reunited with my uncle, or found family in the least likely places. I wouldn't have found hope in such a hopeless place. He was full of surprises.

After all, he was my flame boy.

A/N:

You like? 8D

If so, review! If not, review!

Nothing much to say. Another chapter out soon, maybe? :3

xoxo. Bri