Asteria Nightmare
Part six of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma
A Quick Note: It seems there was some confusion from my reviewers in the last chapter! Please note that Brook's stun ability has to do with music in general and not at all with Bink's Sake in particular. If you read the scene again, you'll notice he only played Bink's Sake once before moving on to other songs, which still stunned the Nightmares. Perhaps this will help with your theory-crafting :)
Disclaimer: I do not own, or pretend to own, One Piece or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. The only thing that belongs to me here is the concept for the story.
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
~Marie Curie
Nami and the others arrived at the new village, Remia, around five in the afternoon, approximately an hour and a half before the sun would start to set. The walk had taken a little longer than anticipated, which made the navigator extremely nervous. They had only a little sunlight left, the only thing they were fairly certain was keeping them safe, and by now there wouldn't be enough of it to reach the Thousand Sunny safely before nightfall. If she had known it would take this long to reach their next location, she might have insisted they try it tomorrow instead.
But no. Every time she considered doubling back and waiting for tomorrow, Luffy's pale, ashen face and nearly dead appearance floated into her mind, and she would immediately abandon the thought. Luffy wouldn't let something as silly as the dark stop him from rescuing his nakama if they needed him. Luffy would smash through dozens of Nightmares in a blazing fury if the key to their rescue lay on the opposite side, dark or light, terrifying or no. Nami was no Luffy, and maybe she wouldn't be able to toss the evil, terrifying Nightmares aside with her bare hands, but she certainly could risk the dark to try and save her captain. The others seemed to feel the same way, and as the patches of light that made their way through the thick foliage above began slanting further and further with the sun's gradual setting, nobody, not even Usopp, suggested turning around.
Even so, almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Remia came into view, and even the tension in Zoro's shoulders lessened by a fraction. As with the previous, unnamed town, the trees parted at the rough edges of the collection of broken-down buildings, allowing pure late-afternoon sunlight to flood down into the ramshackle streets. It felt safe and reassuring, and Nami felt herself relaxing almost enough to forget the edge of fear that had been with her for most of the day. Almost, but not quite.
Robin once again took the lead while the rest of them followed, searching out the next chapel that might hopefully offer them a cure to Luffy's situation. Remia was much bigger than the last village, and the crumbling buildings (what remained of them) were much larger, probably from having such close proximity to Asteria's one city. Nami had been keeping a rough map of the island in her head, and knew by now they were much closer to the center of the island, where the city—Oneirosa, Robin had called it—was reported to be. Whatever the reason, it made traversing Remia much more difficult, with more streets and more broken-down stone buildings to check.
As they traveled, Nami once again kept an eye out for Dreamshards, with Usopp and Sanji-kun walking next to her. The sniper put his sharp eyes to use helping her with the search as well, while Sanji-kun (at her insistence) kept a reluctant watch on Zoro, now trailing behind them, to make sure he didn't wander off. Big as Remia was, it would take forever to find him again if he did.
"Why do you suppose they call them Dreamshards?" Usopp asked absently, as he scuttled over to investigate something glinting in an old, crumbling doorway. It was only a section of minerals from the stonework, glittering in the afternoon sunlight, and with a disappointed look he came back to the rest of the group.
"Everything else here is named after dreams and nightmares," Sanji-kun pointed out. "Robin-chan was brilliant enough to point out to us that it's part of the religion. Why not the jewels too, then?" He considered thoughtfully. "I wonder if they had any dream foods, too?"
"Don't forget nightmares," Usopp said with a shiver.
Sanji-kun scowled. "Why would anyone ever make nightmare food?"
"What would nightmare food even be?" Nami asked, puzzled.
"I bet it tastes terrible, and gives you indigestion," Usopp offered helpfully. "Or makes you an insomniac, or makes you have bad dreams, or—"
"Enough!" Nami cut him off, since Sanji-kun was starting to look deeply annoyed at the thought of using food to create such horrible symptoms, and she didn't want him starting a fight and attracting trouble if they could help it. "Look, it doesn't really matter anyway, since unless Robin's found secret carvings of ancient Asterian recipes, we'll never actually know what they ate."
"I have not," Robin offered absently from the front of the group.
"There you go," Nami finished, and if Sanji-kun looked a little disappointed, at least he wasn't getting ready to start a fight anymore. "As for Dreamshards, who knows...and more importantly, who cares? Sanji-kun's probably right, they're likely just named as such because of the religion here, but it's not like that affects us. All that matters is they're gorgeous and worth a veritable fortune, and we need to find them!"
"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji-kun said, practically swooning as he agreed with her.
But they saw no Dreamshards along their route in Remia, either, and twenty minutes later Robin had located the newest chapel that would hopefully provide answers for them. They piled in carefully and thoroughly searched the building, just in case, before settling down. Zoro, once again, stationed himself at the only entrance and exit, while Robin made a beeline for the chapel's altar and the rest of them sat around to wait.
"This will be difficult," the archaeologist said after a moment. "The glyphs are in better repair than the last chapel, suggesting the recorders here were more experienced in their construction. But the stone itself seems to be heavily in disrepair. This altar is cracked in many places. And this..." She frowned at the wall behind the altar, where she had told them engravings of the island's major events were found. Nami grimaced at the state of it. It was so old, pitted, and scratched up, it would be a wonder if Robin would be able to make out any of the symbols at all.
"I'm sure you can do it, Robin-chan," Sanji-kun offered in sing-song encouragement.
"I will do the best I can," she said in reply, and ran her fingers over the carvings on the altar as she set to work.
Fortunately, she seemed to be rapidly adapting to the unusual dialect and strange 'misspellings' she had told her nakama about earlier, and the translation went much faster than it did in the last village. Robin scribbled key information down in her notebook as she studied the altar, and only twenty minutes after she had begun, she stepped away from the worn stone table and returned to them with a frown.
"What is it?" Usopp asked curiously.
"More stories," Robin said slowly, "for the altar at least. The wall will take me a good deal of time because of its condition, and the stories contain a puzzle of their own. It will give you something to think on while I work."
"A puzzle?" Nami asked, intrigued despite herself, and Usopp and Sanji-kun looked up in interest as well.
"Something like it, at any rate," Robin agreed with a nod. "The altar had many of the stories from the previous chapel as well, regarding Nightmares and dreams, although I could only make out pieces of them through the damage. But there was another story listed here as well. It mentions a being known as the Queen of the Night, over and over." She consulted her notes as the rest of them leaned in, curious and strangely excited and fearful all at the same time, like children listening to a campfire story. "Supposedly, the Queen of the Night was born millennia ago, in the World of Dreams. She was dangerous and beautiful and deadly, and for a human being to see her almost certainly meant their death. But she was trapped in the World of Dreams and could not escape it on her own. Only if a human being faltered or failed in their dreams would they find her, but if they did, she would kill them slowly, draining their dreams from them." Lifting her eyes from her notes, she gave Nami and Sanji-kun significant glances, and the navigator knew almost immediately that the strange other version of the 'dream' glyph was once again in effect.
"But humans were taught to be more and more steadfast in their dreams," Robin continued, "and the Queen of the Night grew hungrier and hungrier. So she tore pieces of the darkness of night from herself, and molded them into servants; servants that understood her hunger and her desire and her fear, that were intimately connected to her, and that could help her find more things to feast upon in the World of Dreams. Even when a human in a steadfast dream entered her World, her servants could find them, if they crept carefully and searched hard, and they could steal from even the most powerful. All of them were equipped with different weapons and skills, in order to please their—" here Robin paused, considering. "The translation is unusual here," she finally told them, her voice slow, thoughtful. "Part of the puzzle. Before she is always referred to as Queen of the Night. After the creation of her servants, the title is still in place, but it is always underscored with the same unusual term from the last chapel—the 'heart-mind.' They become interchangeable as the text continues."
Usopp opened his mouth to say something, but Robin held up a hand for silence, and Sanji-kun kicked him (very lightly, for Sanji-kun) in the shin to make him be quiet, as though Robin's gesture hadn't been enough. "We can discuss when I am finished. Please listen further." Usopp, wincing and tearing slightly from the sharp pain now in his leg, nevertheless managed to nod in agreement, and the archeologist continued.
"All of the servants were equipped with different weaponry and skills to serve and feed their Queen—their heart-mind. She created Harvesters, capable of culling the herds of their dreams, stealing them away and taunting them to her for her to feed upon their fear and their despair. Because the Harvesters were single-minded and anxious to please, she created Shepherds to guide them, to make sure they did not lose themselves and bring themselves to destruction. Because she was desperate for strong, powerful dreamers and the void their dreams filled, she created Generals, to weaken them enough that they might be harvested. And because she considered herself powerful and majestic, she created for herself three Attendants, to cater to her whim and deliver and prepare whatever her lowest servants harvested for her to feast upon."
Robin raised her eyes to the group once more. "The text began to speak of ancient battles between names that I assume were the island's heroes, and these creatures, but the remainder of the altar's writings were too damaged to effectively make out. The puzzle, however, still stands."
"I'll say," Usopp scowled. "World of Dreams? Queen of the Night? Harvesters, Shepherds, Generals, Attendants? It all sounds like some old folklore to me, just like the last place."
"There's a little more to go on, though," Nami said thoughtfully. "Like...what was it again, the 'void their dreams filled,' for the Generals?" Robin nodded, and the navigator continued, "And these Harvester things didn't steal the dreams to feed to their queen. They stole them to taunt the person they stole from closer. Like holding a hostage, or putting down bait."
"Or food preparation," Sanji-kun added. The rest of the group gave him bewildered looks, but he said perfectly seriously, "You don't eat vegetables straight out of the soil. You wash them first. You don't eat meat as soon as it's cut off the animal. You need to cook it or you'll get sick."
"You think these things get sick if they eat dreams?" Usopp asked.
Sanji-kun shrugged. "Can't be sure yet," he admitted. "For all we know, it could just be flavor. Maybe dreams taste bad to Nightmares and they're just removing that first. I'm just thinking of last night...that Nightmare didn't even try to eat Luffy until it poisoned him or stole his dream or whatever the hell else it could be happened first. It bent over Luffy again after that, but me and Zoro intervened before it actually could eat." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the swordsman still in the doorway—Zoro was peering out into the late afternoon streets with a frown on his face and one hand on his white katana, although they knew he was still listening to the entire conversation quietly.
"It would make sense," Robin agreed slowly. "Both the text here and in the last village were in agreement that nightmares and dreams stand in opposition to each other. Perhaps it is simply natural to remove the troublesome dream before it can feed."
"That's another thing," Usopp said. He looked nervous, afraid of whatever was on his mind, but deadly serious all the same. "What if the one that attacked Luffy wasn't going to eat him?"
There was a sharp click behind them all as Usopp finished, and everyone, with the exception of Robin, jumped suddenly. Looking over her shoulder hastily, Nami saw that Zoro had come to a stand, and an inch of steel was visible between the white sword's sheath and hilt as their swordsman popped it open with his thumb. "What, what is it?" she asked, fighting to control her fluttering heart—this island, of all places, was a terrible spot to be startled at.
"I—" Zoro frowned. The sword was still partially unsheathed, and he had his other hand on the hilt now, even as he jerked his head back and forth and peered out onto the streets. Sanji-kun was on his feet as well now, looking ready for combat, but after a moment Zoro shook his head and growled under his breath, "Nothing. Sorry."
"What...jumping at shadows, marimo?" Sanji-kun said scathingly, but Nami could see his face was still a little too pale, and he sat down too slowly, like he was still expecting trouble. Something had unnerved him.
"Shut up, dartboard," Zoro snapped back, but his retort, too, seemed out of habit, and he sounded almost frustrated. "I was not. I thought—no. Never mind. It's nothing."
"You sure?" Sanji-kun sneered. "Not gonna start crying when the wind rustles the trees or the stone starts creaking?"
"Dammit, curly-brow," Zoro snarled back, "It's nothing! Nothing happened." The furious exclamation seemed to surprise even Sanji-kun, and he closed his mouth with an abrupt click, cutting off whatever new retort he'd thought up. He remained tense, whipping out a cigarette with a frown on his face. And while Zoro grudgingly slid the white katana fully back into its sheath, he remained standing in the doorway, staring out into the streets grimly.
"Ah...what...what was it you were talking about, Usopp?" Nami said slowly, trying to push some of the tension out of the way and bring the conversation back on track. Seeing both Zoro and Sanji-kun unnerved was enough to unsettle anybody, least of all her.
"I...um..." The sniper started, looking just as confused and anxious as Nami felt. As he spoke, though, his voice gained strength, warming back into the topic. "Well, I was saying...the thing last night. What if it wasn't trying to eat Luffy at all? What if it was just planning to...I don't know...take him away instead?"
"Why would you say that?" Nami asked, confused. From what she had seen last night—though it admittedly hadn't been very good lighting—the thing had definitely bent to sink its teeth into their prone captain, once Luffy had been knocked out.
"I was just thinking," Usopp said slowly. "The story Robin read us talked about harvesters, like they were specially designed to retrieve food. Like collecting grain, or picking apples."
"You're calling Luffy an apple?" Sanji-kun said with a raised eyebrow, but he looked thoughtful all the same.
"Well, I mean, I guess," Usopp said, shifting a little under Sanji-kun's scrutiny. "The point is, it sounded like these harvester things were supposed to go out and get food for this Queen or whatever, and bring it back. So they go out and find food, and maybe clean it off or make it taste better," he said, with a nod to their cook at his earlier idea, "but then what? They'd have to bring it back to their master. Maybe that's what it was trying to do, but Zoro and Sanji stopped it before it could."
"If that is the case," Robin stated, with remarkable calm considering the grisliness of the conversation, "then I have a feeling the Nightmares will continue trying to retrieve their meal. It would do them no good to prepare something for their Queen and then ignore it completely."
Nami, Sanji-kun, and Usopp exchanged grim looks. If that was the case, then Luffy was still in danger—as were Chopper, Franky and Brook, who were still back on the Sunny with their unconscious captain.
"We have to warn them," Usopp said. "If those things still want Luffy...they'll all be in danger. And the longer they stay in place, the easier it will be to corner them and knock them out too."
Nami shook her head. "It's too far," she said, "And we've been gone all day. We definitely won't make it back before nightfall hits, and the Nightmare will probably attack when it gets darker. We'll just have to hope they can hold out. And anyway, in a worst-case scenario, they can always take the Sunny out onto the ocean and wait there. These Nightmares have never been seen off of this island, so they must not be able to swim."
"Indeed," Robin agreed. "There is nothing we can do to help the others, and as it is we have our own problems. If Usopp is right, then that makes the spider creature you saw last night a Harvester. If that is the case, then there are at least three other kinds of Nightmares on this island, not to mention the Queen herself. And we are currently less than an hour away from the time that they will become stronger and more mobile, directly in the middle of their territory, without any understanding of how to kill them." Her voice still sounded remarkably calm, stating the dangers as though reading a shopping list, but the purse to her lips and hardness to her eyes said otherwise.
There was silence for a few moments, before Usopp abruptly leapt up and started running around in a panic, apparently only just beginning to understand the sheer danger of their predicament. Nami shot to her feet as well, shivering despite the fact that it was warm enough in the building, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Bad," she gasped, "This is really, really bad."
"Nami-san!" Sanji-kun had jumped to his feet as well when she did, and waved his arms in front of her placatingly. "Don't be afraid, Nami-san, I'll defend you with my very life!"
"Hopefully," Robin said slowly, "It will not come to that. Though perhaps it is time to consider a strategy for nightfall. Perhaps fortifying a building to use as shelter, that we might better defend ourselves."
Usopp was still yammering in a panic. Nami covered her ears with her hands and hissed, "Sanji-kun, shut him up! Robin's right, we need a plan, and I can't think like this!" Sanji-kun obligingly did so, kicking some sense into the sniper's head (literally), and after a few moments Usopp collapsed into a shivering, but thankfully quieter, heap.
"Robin's right," Nami repeated slowly. "We need a good defense. Someplace with all four walls and a roof, and a way to defend all entrances." She glanced around at the chapel, and said slowly, "We could stay here."
"It is one of the more intact buildings," Robin agreed. "The people of this island regarded their religion highly, no doubt. If we remain here, it will give me more time to study the writings, as well."
Nami nodded, plan slowly formulating in her mind. "There's only one entrance and exit," she said, gesturing to where Zoro still stood. "We can take turns keeping watch, if Zoro needs to rest. I'm pretty sure he won't mind sleeping by the door, just in case. Right, Zoro?" she added, raising her voice to address the swordsman on the other side of the room.
"Fine," he growled back at her, his voice unusually testy. He still looked tense, his shoulders and back rigid, his hands gripping sword hilts like steel vises, and when he answered her he didn't even bother to turn around and look her in the eye. His gazed remained fixed on the streets outside, and his head jerked back and forth sharply, like he was looking for something.
"Don't take that tone with Nami-san," Sanji-kun ordered, his voice a low growl. Zoro didn't even bother to respond, which was more than a little unnerving. Zoro always rose to Sanji-kun's bait. The fact that he was too distracted—or perhaps too focused—to respond now was a little frightening.
Sanji-kun seemed a little puzzled too, but after regarding Zoro quizzically for a moment he finally shook his head and looked away. "There's enough food in the packs for dinner," he said instead to the rest of his crew-mates. "I didn't know how long we would be out today, so I packed for both meals. If we split it up we should have enough for a meal now, and breakfast tomorrow. We can pick more up at the Sunny after that."
"Good thinking," Nami agreed (to Sanji-kun's wiggling delight). "Go ahead and set up dinner now, I'm a little hungry and we could all use a meal." He did so cheerfully, digging into their packs with enthusiasm.
"I think I shall return to my translating in the meantime," Robin decided, rising smoothly to her feet. "There is still the wall to decipher." And she strode off, heading to the section of wall directly behind the altar to begin her studies.
The packed dinner was ready fairly quickly. It wasn't a hot meal, which Nami would have loved, but at least Sanji-kun had made something edible that still tasted delicious when cold. He brought some to Robin at the wall, cooing compliments and praises the entire time, and then gruffly called for Zoro to come grab his share as well. Zoro ignored him, and didn't budge.
"Hey," Sanji-kun snarled. "You even listening to me, marimo? I said—"
"Shut up," Zoro hissed, his voice a sharp rasp, like the sound of a sword leaving its sheath. The intensity of the order—and it was definitely an order, as the technical acting-captain—was so strong and startling that Sanji-kun, once again, fell silent with a blink.
"Fascinating," Robin said suddenly from the other side of the room. "If I can just—"
Zoro's head jerked up, and for the first time since they arrived he turned to look into the building. Then he was moving towards them suddenly, a blur of black, white, red and green as he came at them with bewildering speed. For one startled moment Nami thought he was attacking them, and she couldn't even begin to fathom why. The writings said nothing about mind control, just stealing dreams—
But Zoro's hands didn't fly to his swords as he charged at them. Instead, he reached out, snagged Nami by the collar of her jacket and Usopp by his overall straps, and dragged them away from the altar while roaring, "Robin, move now!"
Nami gave an undignified yelp as she was hauled backwards by their ridiculously strong swordsman like a sack of potatoes, and Sanji-kun yelled angrily, "Damnit, marimo, what the hell do you think you're doing—"
There was a crack, a groan of rock, and then the back wall of the temple seemed to explode inward, sending chunks of stone and clouds of dust pelting towards them.
Nami's eyes widened in horror, and almost immediately she stopped fighting Zoro's grip; beside her, Usopp had gone limp with terror, his eyes wide and bulging as he stared at where the wall had been. Sanji-kun was next to them, mouth still open in the act of reaming Zoro out for his improper actions, but almost immediately his angry expression and tone vanished, replaced by frantic worry. "Robin-chan! Robin-chan!"
"Here," came a coughing gasp, as she darted out of the clouds of dust. "Run, quickly—"
There was a rumbling noise coming from the back of the temple now, interspersed with short, sharp, booming barks, and Nami decided to take Robin's voice to heart. Whatever was causing that noise, she was sure she didn't want to run into it. She tried to stagger to her feet—a process made difficult, since Zoro still had a grip on her collar, and he was taller than she was even with her heels on. The swordsman was already hauling her and Usopp towards the door he'd been guarding only moments ago, with Robin hot on his heels, and Sanji-kun—idiotically chivalrous even at a time like this—bringing up the rear to make sure both girls got out safely.
The barking behind them got louder, and a new sound accompanied it: a scraping noise, like something sharp being dragged over stone.
"Thank you for your warning, Swordsman-san," Robin said, still coughing on the dust, as they ran. "I am sure it would have caught me if not for that."
"Thank me when we're out of here," Zoro growled, still dragging two of his crew mates after him. He hit the door first, and Nami breathed a sigh of relief at the exit—one that quickly turned to a moan of fear.
Two of the spider-Nightmares, the Harvesters, waited outside on the streets for them. One was missing a length of its own tail, but it looked no less terrifying, or less dangerous, than its kin. Both clicked sets of mandibles curiously, excitedly, and gave soft, hissing screams as they started to pace forward.
"Damn," Zoro hissed, eyeing the newfound obstacle. Without missing a beat, he slid to a halt and shoved both Usopp and Nami (who was starting to feel quite disoriented, getting dragged around like this all the time) behind himself, before drawing his swords and standing defensively between the spider-cats and the rest of his crew. Likewise, Sanji-kun spun around to face back into the temple, attempting to defend their rear from whatever was approaching from within.
"Intriguing," Robin said quietly. Nami and Usopp, sandwiched along with the archaeologist between their two top fighters, gave her stunned looks. She met their eyes—her gaze was wary, grim, but not terrified, not yet anyway—and shrugged. "Don't you think it odd?" she said instead. "That they devised a trap for us like this? It's almost as though we've been herded."
Herded...
"You don't mean..." Nami began, horrified, and glanced back into the temple's confines as best as she could around Sanji-kun's bristling, tense body.
"I do," Robin said, her voice dark. "I believe we are about to meet the Harvester's masters from the legend. The Shepherd."
Fun fact: My written works seem to affect my real life status in ways entirely related to the subject matter at hand. For example, while writing Mindshattered I inexplicably lost ten pounds despite not drastically changing diet or exercise plans. For Asteria Nightmare I started having really bizarre dreams when I started writing it. Not quite nightmares, but definitely unsettling. Well...I guess this means I just have to avoid writing about anything fatal then, right? Eheh heh...
You guys know the drill. Thoughtful reviews if you decide to leave'em at all, yadda yadda...
~VelkynKarma