Chapter 2: Cursed!

"We need some kind of flower. I think different flowers have different effects." Rebecka started to scratch down notes in a small notebook. She lounged across the couch, the magic book placed delicately on a pillow beside her. She carefully turned all the pages, taking pictures as she went. "You never know what might happen." She explained to Kat who was complaining about using up the battery. Kat couldn't argue with her logic.

"And I'm sure you want to triple back up all those pictures as well." Kat remarked dryly. Rebecka looked up, the way her eyes narrowed her her lip curved just slightly at the end Kat knew that she would die before she lost the pictures. Kat could feel her paranoia start to creep into her mind.

"Don't talk about the book falling apart! Why don't was just take it apart and laminate everything." She shouted, "I had a nightmare last night. I picked up the book and it turned to dust. Then the dust started swirling around me in a hurricane of black magic, sucking my soul out from my mouth and onm noming on it as it possessed my body!"

"I want to try the ritual thing again." Rebecka said slowly, carefully sitting up so not to hit the book. "There's something to this Kat. It's not just a mystery, it's an adventure! Isn't this the kind of thing we're always writing about! You write because it's fun. I write because it let's me do things I could never do. It let's me live the life I could never have, but now... but now... This isn't a story! At least I hope it's not some story. No, it's not! I'm just, so excited about this! Finally, I can have the life I could only dream about."

"Woah there girlie. One step at a time. Hell, that's supposed to be your line!" Kat was very serious when she said this but it was like they has switched places. Rebecka was the serious one, not the dreamer. They burst out laughing together. Kat nearly burst into another laughing fit when Rebecka fell of the side of the couch.

She propped herself up, pausing to catch her breath. Wordlessly she looked from Kat to the stand surrounded by wilted rose pedals. It has been a week since their first experience with the book's magic. Only Kat was shy to try again.

"R-right now? Shouldn't we get new flowers or something. It might not work with wilted ones. Do we have to do it today even. I have homework!Wait! I wasn't supposed to think about the test our science teacher is giving! Crap, I'm gonna fail it. Must... cram!" Kat motioned dramatically with her arms, and speaking with a high, theatrical voice.

"We can't afford to buy new flowers right now. Besides, we want to experiment with this for a while don't we? It's Friday so we can have the whole weekend to do this. You're not chickening out are you?" Rebecka said challengingly. Kat froze where she sat at the computer table, her emotions torn.

Rebecka laid on the pressure and she caved. Kat, contenting herself to mutter about 'peer pressure', ran upstairs to get oil. She asked why they didn't use gasoline but Rebecka said oil would last longer.

They set up the stand, Rebecka placing the book on top. Producing an old cloth wick they dipped it in the oil and laid it partly into the bowl. Rebecka took a match and lit the wick.

The fire instantly caught, it's glow splashing across their faces. "What now?" Asked Kat from behind Rebecka.

"I don't know." Rebecka said. "Duplicate what we did before?"

Kat rolled her eyes. "Okay then. First we have to shout at the top of our lungs, kick a door down, get our butts kicked by an annoying boy and say 'we wish to go to the One Piece world'.

"I think we can skip most of that..."

"You said to duplicate the-" She stopped suddenly. Before Rebecka could wonder why she felt cold air circle around her. The room grew frigid. Kat ran to their room quickly, coming back with two wool comforters. Rebecka started to say thanks when a jolt ran through their bodies. They were too stunned to speak for a moment. Gradually the feeling faded.

"That wasn't as bad as last time." Rebecka dryly commented pulling a comforter around her. Kat nodded, her wide eyes focused on the fire. Inside the small flame was an ocean, vast and blue. A strange notion came to Rebecka. It was only a theory but she had to prove it. "Kat, what were you thinking about last time we looked into the fire?"

"I was... uh..." Kat started to blush.

"I thought about sailing across the ocean in a ship." Rebecka admitted.

Kat turned away to not look Rebecka in the eye before saying. " I was thinking about... Eustass Kid."

"Start thinking about him again." Rebecka ordered. Kat jumped back slightly.

"W-why? What do you want me to think about? If I think something pervy this thing wont suck my soul in or something." Kat believed she had every reason to be scared. In all the black magic movies the perverted one went first. Rebecka promised she would be fine and that she'd think dirtier things. Kat didn't know why she just do it herself but Rebecka insisted that they both try.

"It worked!" Rebecka cheered, seeing an image of Kid laying on his bed.

"He looks so real, not like in the manga." A red blush crept across her cheeks. "He's even hotter."

Eustass Kid tensed where he was, his eyes darting around the room. Kat was to far into lala land to notice but Rebecka caught it.

"I think... he can hear us." She said in a barely audible whisper. Kat looked at her shocked.

"I said he was hot and you tell me he heard it!"

Eustass Kid jumped up. "Who the hell is here!"

The two girls closed their mouths, though Kat couldn't help but comment that his voice was almost identical to the Japanese anime voicing. Kid started to trash his room, looking around every nook and cranny.

"Show yourself now!" He yelled, his eyes sharp.

Rebecka swallowed hard, knowing that what she was about to do was stupid. "We can't."

Kid flinched, hearing a girl's voice but unable to discern where it came from. He started swearing every word he knew-all learned when fighting Marines-until he his eyes caught the oil lamp hanging beside the door into his cabin. He looked into the fire and saw two girls. A relaxed red-head and a scared, blushing brunette.

"What. The. Hell" He started swearing again.

"You can see us?" The red haired girl said, quickly hiding her surprise behind a delicately raised eyebrow.

"Who the hell are you." Kid growled. His thin eyebrows bunching together menacingly. If looks could kill the two girls would have died the moment they saw his fierce eyes. He saw the brunette jump back in fear, and starting to hyperventilate. The other girl was more calm. Stronger, Kid thought.

She was the first was to break the silence that had crept between them. "I'm Rebecka, and this is my friend slash sister Kathline. I'm sure you're wondering what's going on."

Kid huffed, a wicked smile playing at his lips. "Oh no, It's completely normal for two brats to appear in a fire. What the hell do you think bitch."

Rebecka tensed at the foul name pointed at her but kept up her cool attitude. "There's no point in lieing. My aunt sent me a magic book and my jockstrap-for-brains brother followed one of the... ceremonies shown in a picture. Long story short he's an idiot and we accidentally initiated the magic of the book. I believe that it created a portal between our world and yours."

Kathline said quickly. "And by jockstrap-for-brains she meant bastard."

"Your world?" Kid questioned, ignoring Kathline.

Kat must have been feeling ambitious, for she pushed Rebecka back to get a better look into the fire. Rebecka would later describe it as temporary insanity.

"We're aliens okay. Deal with it."

"Kat!" Rebecka shouted appalled. She was not an alien! Kid threw his head back in laughter. "Don't listen to her!" Rebecka shouted. "We're from an alternate universe."

"Hey." Kid smirked. "I don't care if you're aliens, monsters or demons from hell. If I know one thing then that's you don't go tromping around with magic."

"Says the man who ate a devil fruit." Kat muttered.

"What." Said Kid sharply, his eyes focusing in on Kat. The poor girl felt like a knife had logged its self between her eyebrows when his eyes found hers.

"What." The girl could only dumbly repeat.

"How the hell did you know I have a devil fruit."

Kat struggled to find an answer. She saw the episodes, read the manga hundreds of times. Even Rebecka failed to see how such a thing mattered. Kid showed off his devil fruit, she knew that much from the manga. Kat's face turned red with anger. She slammed her hands down on the magic book. Rebecka gasped, both startled and scared for the book.

"I don't need to tell you that." She snapped.

Kid let out a growl, almost a snarl. "I just got my fruit power. How the hell do you know about it!"

"I can know what I want to know!"

"Tell me bitch!"

"No!" Kat screamed, thinking the most foulest thing she could think of, and imaging it happening to Kid. Rebecka wished she could slap them both for acting so childish.

Two things started to happen simultaneously, for both the heroines and Kid. For the girls, the wilted rose pedals started to glow purple, a flash of light enveloped the book for three seconds and faded away, the Chinese lettering glowing dark purple. On Kid's end. White light enveloping his left arm, then vanishing, leaving a burning sensation in it's wake.

Before anyone could say anything the oil burned out and the portal was lost.

Eustass Kid gritted his teeth in pain as the dull purple outline of a Chinese dragon slowly, agonizingly sketched itself onto his right arm. That stupid brat did something to him. What the hell did that brat do to him? Kid let out a muted hiss, the pain slowly dieing away.

Someone knocked on the door to his room.

"Captain?" Killer asked from the other side. "The log post is acting strange, we can't figure out why."

"Tell the crew not to do anything until I get there." Kid was surprised at how even his voice was. "If I ever..." he said under his breath. "If I ever see those girls again I'll kill them."

"What the popstick did you do!" Rebecka exclaimed, throwing her hands up over her head. Chills running down Kat's spine, her face turning an ominous shade of green. Rebecka grabbed her and practically threw her into the bathroom. Kat's stomach knocked into the edge of the toilet hard and she spilled her stomach out into the white bowl. Her body convulsing sickeningly as she ejected everything from her stomach.

"Um... Becky..." Kat whimpered, her left arm stretched out before her and turned upwards. Rebecka walked into the bathroom and gasped at the sight on her friends arm.

Like an old tattoo was the faded image of a tiger, standing on it's back legs, powerful forelimbs poised to strike. It's teeth bared in a snarl. At the very tip of the tiger's tail was a bright purple line, not half the length of a tack.

"Oh no... oh no no no no no...no! This is not happening!" Kat gasped, clutching her arm. She twisted to the side, falling halfway into the bathtub. She turned on the water, making it as hot as possible. She rubbed tirelessly at the tattoo with an old rag. She rubbed her arm to the point of making the skin raw.

"Stop!" Rebecka pulled her away from the tub, shutting off the water. "That's not going to solve anything! There must be a logic explanation for this... there must be."

Tears spilled from Kat's eyes. "I hate magic!" She cried. "Dammit... I knew this would happen! I just knew it."

Rebecka stared at the floor. It was all her fault. She just has to go tampering with magic. Because of her something strange is happening to her friend and she doesn't know how to fix it. Rebecka turned to Kat, thinking she could only do one thing. Apologize.

"I'm sorry"

Tally Mai-chan: Yay, chapter two. I really like this story, I keep getting idea's for it. So please tell me what you think! I love getting comments. They make my day totally special.