-Recap-

"Who are you and how did you get beyond the grand line?"

I stared at the man before me, I felt strangely frightened and alone, was he trying to accuse me of something? His voice didn't even suggest that he cared for the answers he knew he was going to get. I took an involuntary step back, caught off guard by his words, his hidden meaning. The old mans eyes had turned to me also when I had been discussing the hidden meaning with myself, he stood next to me as he had been before the younger man had shown up. He appeared to be patiently waiting but I could feel it, that prickling when someone is staring through you, their eyes boring into your inner most core. I open my mouth to reply but close it quickly; something in my mind tells me that this man is looking for something, anything suspicious.

"I'm Angel, Angel LeBlanc." I hold out a shaky hand, trying to appear unfazed by his guarded stare. His eyes move down to my hand, as though its presence before him is offensive. I drop it to my side after a few seconds, my shoulders visibly drop and for the first time in my life I feel guilty of a crime, a crime I know I haven't committed.

"How did you get past the grand line?" It occurs to me now that this grand line must be really hard to get past otherwise this would be a stupid question, I decide it's best to try my luck here.

"I must have been born beyond the grand line because I've never heard of it." I want to cheer at this point, what an amazing come back, I have told a new, effective lie. However as I lift my head I realise that he has not bought into my spontaneous lie.

"Everyone knows about the grand line." He answers shortly. Damn, there's something I didn't think of, so the grand lines like America, know one lacks its name.

"Listen I really don't know what it is, so just leave me alone." I put on an insecure face in order to convey my point, no one ever wants to upset a woman especially an insecure one, surely now he'll just leave me alone and we can go our separate-

"Tell me how you got here!" He whispers urgently, grabbing my arms in a vice like grip, his eyes are level with mine, staring at me, seeing past the lies. Oh no, I feel it again, this time stronger, the ache in my neck becomes a throbbing and my eyes feel as though they're blistering, dry and hot. I've got to stay conscious. I've got to stay conscious. I've got to…

I see something, a tree. How strange, I never have visions about normal things. Wait, I hear a creaking sound coming from the tree. Suddenly I hear a woosh and I look up at the tree from where I'm standing, the man before me previously stands next to me his hand gripped around my wrist. I then move my head from side to side, we're almost at the inn now, I can see it about two houses down. I suddenly see something, a long thick shadow becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. O hell it's the tree and it's going to squash the three of us.

I come back to my senses again. The man looks at me curiously, his grip has loosened now and he is back in the same position, holding my shoulders, his head has moved away from mine. He doesn't speak a word merely waits for my answer… My answer… what was the question. O wait yes I know, time to tell the truth I suppose.

"I really don't know." He looks at me, anticlimactic for him I suppose; I do feel sorry for him. Whatever this grand line is he obviously wants to know about it.

"We should keep going, you look ill." He turns to me when he says the second bit. I know exactly what I look like, my face has gone a pale white colour to match my bright blond hair, my eyes have probably also lightened and the bags under my eyes are probably much more visible now.

We begin walking again past the old fashioned houses, some of them are more modern but on the whole they look more Victorian than anything. Then I see it, five paces away the tree I saw in my vision. I stop, the old man walking behind me walks into the back of me, giving a disgruntled grunt. I need to stall them, for long enough that we don't get squashed.

"I wanted to ask… erm… your names." I ask with all the joy I can muster, I've got to sound like I actually care.

"Roy McCarty." The old man answers, what a strange name, just for emphasis I pull out my hand, the one that is not being strangled by the younger man. I hold it out and the older man takes it, shaking it very strongly, though I shouldn't be surprised after all this man carried me to the inn. The younger man looks at me curiously again his dark eyes attempting to analyse me.

"Angus." He replies. I almost want to laugh. I was expecting something posh; something a rich family might name their child like Winston Marcus Anderson the third. He looks at me, daring me to laugh, I have always been taught to be respectful of others so I hold my tongue. I hold out my hand, again he refuses to shake it. Damn, the tree before us still hasn't fallen, what do I do now…

"So were you born here?" I ask

"Yes"

"No"

I look from Roy to Angus. Roy was born here and has never left, how curious and Angus, where's he from.

"So where are you from Angus?" I ask politely. He looks at me then turns away muttering something that sounds vaguely like "None of your business." He begins to walk forwards, what do I do?! I try to stand my ground but as suspected he is too strong for me, now what do I do? I look suspicious enough without suddenly throwing him to the ground.

"NO!" I say to the surprise of both the men and me. "You can't go there now." I think this is my first attempt at being cryptic… It's not going well.

"Why?" Angus answers shortly, looking annoyed about the whole scenario. I just open my mouth when I hear it, the crack of the tree and then the woosh. I close my eyes and the next thing I hear is a loud 'BANG'. I open my eyes again to see both men staring at me. I begin to panic, what should I do, I just blew my secret big time… wait, rational minds come back to play, it could have just been a coincidence, after all strange things happen all the time, right?

"Wow," I say pretending it was unexpected "I was just worried bout that, erm… snake." I say, yes snakes are things often missed by human eyes, could have been one around here at any point. I look at the two men; they share the meaningful look Roy shared with the young man yesterday. I get a little flustered for a moment; after all I really don't know these people and I don't know what this look means. Back comes rational thinking to tell me it's just one slip up, how much trouble could that possibly cause?