Chapter Twenty-Two

The chill of the ocean sunk into her body, muffling sounds from above. The water felt so peaceful, gently dragging her down. She heard screams from the battle above her, saw shadows on the ice moving violently. Occasionally, some blood hit the water where she had fallen in. It dispersed slowly, blossoming forth into the salty depths and tinting the water red.

Below was darkness, a bone-chilling cold amplified by the melting ice on the surface. Tendrils of seaweed reached out as if they had a will, lightly brushing her body as she sunk deeper. She could not hear anything. She could not see anything except the light from the hole she fell through.

The light shone directly on her body, illuminating the pale, ghostly skin. The water around her was tinted red with blood, but not from the hole in the ice. Looking down, she saw the gaping hole in her stomach.

She suddenly started to panic. Large quantities of water filled what was left of her lungs when she tried to swim upwards. The hole was getting smaller, farther away than before. The light was fading from her world.

She noticed hands, and an orange glow above the hole. They were reaching out to her desperately. She struggled to swim. Her body lacked the energy necessary to do anything more than drift. It didn't even have enough air left to float to the surface.

After a while, when she sunk further away, the hands were slowly withdrawn from the hole. That little hope she had been sticking to had vanished. The light had faded from view, completely gone.

She wondered when she would hit the bottom. If she ever did.

Sabo slowly opened the door, peering into the dark room. The quiet sobbing came from a lump under the covers on the bed. He knew it was Yuki, and he silently wondered what made her so afraid, to be huddled in a lump under her covers.

As he stepped in the room, a floorboard creaked under him. The small sobs quieted. Only a moment later, a weak and shaky voice floated out from the lump.

"Wh-who's there?" she muttered, still visibly shaking.

Her hair was wet and she looked like she had just spilled water all over her. The cup they had set next to her bed was on the floor, empty. Her lips were bluish, and he guessed that she wasn't just shaking from fear.

He sat on the far edge of the bed, away from her, and replied softly, "It's me, Yuki. It's Sabo."

She peered at him through a small gap in the blanket. "S-S-Sabo?"

He rubbed her back gently, smiling warmly at her. "Yeah. What's wrong? You look really cold," he asked. He could feel the chill in the room and wondered what had been the cause of it.

"N-nightmare," she muttered fearfully. "It... has to be..."

He pulled her into a tight hug, gently rocking back and forth. "Your big brother is here. I'll protect you from the scary things. Shhhhh... relax. It'll be okay. I've got you, now. Don't worry."

Yuki allowed herself to be comforted, gently being rocked back to sleep. Her body got warmer, and the shaking stopped. Sabo stayed there for another hour, taking care of his little sister and keeping the nightmares at bay.

When morning rolled around, Sabo was pleased to see everyone looking happy, including Yuki. There was no evidence that she had been having a nightmare, minus small dark circles under her eyes.

She sat down on the deck, staring into the sky. "Are you gonna ask me what it was about?" she asked Sabo quietly. The waves crashed against the ship and a salty breeze blew her hair away from her face.

Sabo shook his head. "No, I think that's your business. If you want to tell me, I'll listen, gladly, but I'm not gonna press you to." He was calm, content to go with whatever she decided was best. He wouldn't have to ask unless she had more nightmares.

"Oh." She paused. "Maybe... I'll tell you about it in private?"

Sabo nodded. "Okay. After breakfast."

"Okay."

She stood up and went over to Ace, who had come up from the cargo hold with a large selection of meats and sweets, plus a pint of ale. Sabo watched them laughing about something, and decided to join them.

Breakfast was a series of flying meat, lightly torched by Ace's fire, and a few sauces Sabo had nabbed from the party the previous night. It was punctuated by Robin coming up on the deck and nearly getting hit in the face with a stray slice of ham. Needless to say, the three toned it down after that.

Following Sabo down to her room, Yuki thought about the events in her dream. It wasn't a purely a nightmare. No, there had been the peace before she saw the gaping hole in her midsection. It was a blissful silence, floating in nothingness. All of her worries had been wiped away like a clean slate.

The nightmare had started once she had become aware. Aware of the cold, so bone-chilling, aware of the blood mixing in the water, and aware of the crushing loss of hope. Nightmares were made of fear, and her fear was mainly abandonment.

She couldn't reach them. Her pulse raced. They had given up on her and drew back their hands. Her throat tightened. She was left to drift alone. Her chest ached.

Taking shallow breaths, she leaned against the wall to steady herself. Her vision darkened before she remembered to breathe properly. That fear welled up inside her, and she focused on Sabo's back, walking in front of her.

"Sabo," she muttered. "Can we stop here?"

Sabo turned back towards her. He grabbed one of her arms to pull her along, providing support. "No, you wanted to talk in private. I'm here for you, so you can relax and follow along. I know you're worried about being abandoned."

She tensed, but let herself be propelled down the hall. "You were the there when I woke up. You didn't leave me alone. How did you know it was that?" she asked.

Sabo didn't look at her. "I remember how you talked about your parents. As a kid, I mean. They left you on Dawn Island, with no one to take care of you. You've never even met them, have you?"

She nodded, tearful again. Sabo sighed, slowing down as they reached the room where she had been sleeping earlier. He knew what not living up to his parents' high expectations was like, but he had run away from them.

"Listen," he went on, "you've never met your parents, but they left you with Garp and Luffy and Makino. That has to count for something, right? Garp is a wonderful person and an amazing father-figure. If they didn't want you, they would have dropped you off in some orphanage far away from anything and everything."

"Sabo, thanks, but I just can't think of it that way. I've never even met them, and I find out that I have a younger brother who grew up with them. How does that come across to you?" she replied, bitter.

"You have a younger brother? Biologically, I mean?" Sabo asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I met him while we were in Alabasta," she explained.

"I... I get it now. I felt like they just couldn't take care of you, I mean, you're an amazing person and really intelligent, too. I guess that was the last straw, though. You have a brother. Wow." Sabo wasn't sure what to think.

He looked at her, curious. "Is he a pirate?"

Yuki shook her head. "A marine. And he hates Luffy and Ace."

"Great," he sighed. "Just what we needed."

Yuki nodded solemnly. "So, about my nightmare."

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't scary, at first. I was just... drifting. It was quiet. And peaceful," she said, closing her eyes. She was brought back to that scene, the dark water, the faint light, and the cold wrapping around her.

"What was happening around you?" Sabo asked.

"It was... during the Marineford battle. I was underwater, I fell through a hole in the ice, I guess. The ocean was cold, because of the melting ice. I heard muffled shouts and screams, but it was distant."

He nodded, and she went on.

"It only became scary after I noticed the blood around me. I was surrounded by a red haze, and when I looked down, I saw the hole. You probably know what it looked like better than I didn't really have the energy to study it closely. Anyway, I started to panic and struggle to swim. I still had my Devil's Fruit power at the time, so it was very hard to do anything other than float."

"Wow," Sabo muttered. "That sounds... really horrible"

Yuki sighed. "The worst part was that people were trying to reach me. Ace, Luffy, and other pairs of hands. I couldn't get to them. I couldn't do it. I just kept sinking until the light was gone, and it was completely dark. There wasn't a bottom to the ocean, either. Just a black pit."

Sabo thought about the dream. She was definitely suffering from a fear of being abandoned. She was completely alone in her nightmare, and she had lost all hope of escaping that darkness. He had a vague idea of what might help.

"Hey, Yuki?" he began.

"What?"

"I think I have an idea of what might help with your nightmares." Sabo was a little embarrassed, he didn't want to say something like this to his sister.

"Well, what is it?" She was mildly annoyed that he didn't just get to the point like he usually did.

"Um... you could... sleep... next to someone," he said, each word quieter than the last. He blushed a little. He didn't want to be taken the wrong way, but something like sharing a nightmare with someone else was a very personal thing, and they were adults now. It would be weird if that thought didn't occur to them.

Yuki was blushing a bit, too, but nowhere near as much as Sabo. "I get what you mean, Sabo. It's actually a good idea, if you think about it. Maybe I could ask Robin or Mizuki to..."

Sabo was surprised. "Y'know, Ace would be fine with it, too. I mean, you're both head-over-heels for each other. It's pretty obvious," he said before he could stop himself and be more delicate.

Now it was her turn to blush madly. "I-I-I can't even- what- there's no way..." she stammered. She obviously didn't have the ability to ask for something like that.

"I can... ask him for you. I mean, you'd probably be pretty awkward about it, and all I have to do is tell him about the nightmare," Sabo offered bravely.

Bravely, indeed. A pillow came flying at his head and hit him squarely in the face, knocking him off-balance. Yuki was mildly annoyed and very flustered, a dangerous combination to be at the receiving end of.

After a brief pillow fight, more violent than intended, the two calmed down enough to go back to their discussion. There were feathers everywhere, and neither of them figured out which won the pillow fight.

"I really can ask him, though," Sabo said seriously. "You need someone to be your support, rather than you being the support. Ace doesn't need it anymore. You know that, don't you?"

Miserably, she replied, "Yeah. I don't want to make trouble for anyone, though. What if he doesn't want to? He also has a crew to go back to. I don't think that they'd want me accompanying them everywhere."

"Don't worry about it," Sabo replied calmly. "You two are so innocent, good lord!"

Yuki grinned. "You think so?"

Sabo smiled back. "I know so."