Chapter Two: Rebirth

She woke up and groaned as she lifted her arm to shield her sensitive eyes from the blinding light shining down on her. 'What's going on?' She thought briefly before reality caught up to her and she remembered what had happened recently. Her eyes began to burn as tears threatened to overrun her face. 'No!' This couldn't be happening to her; she couldn't be alive as her beloved baby brother lay permanently still across the other side of the room. She couldn't be alive as her only family member lay dead to her and the rest of the world; life wouldn't be worth living then.

Dorian was about to let the sob that had been building up in her chest out when she realized that it was wrong. Everything about her current situation was wrong. For the first time throughout her almost two year stay in the small, dirty apartment, she couldn't feel the itchy, thin hay-stuffed mattress underneath her clammy skin. Without even opening her eyes, she knew for a fact that her position in the cramped apartment had never before allowed for her to feel the morning sun lick her face and the electricity hadn't worked in the abandoned building for ten years, so what light was shining on her face that was strong enough to bring her out of the most peaceful sleep that she had experienced in years? The most obvious sign that she wasn't in her personal hell any longer was not that the air she was breathing was no longer heavy and putrid, nor was it that the shackles that had held her down during the entirety of her stay no longer bound her to her prison, but the fact that she wasn't in pain any at all.

When was the last time she didn't feel any pain? Dorian could barely recall the time she spent with her brother outside of hell without any kind of pain, the long summer nights filled with laughter and games, but even then she could still remember the emotional pain inflicted on her from her parents.

Dorian sat up abruptly and instantly regretted it when her stomach lurched up to her throat and her head pounded at the sudden movement. 'Ah, there's the pain; I knew it was too good to be true.' She brought her hands up to her head and held it between her legs as her eyes got used to the lighting without them blurring immediately. When she was finally able to open her eyes without them stinging, she was astounded by her surroundings. She was literally sitting in a white void; there was nothing surrounding her. Everywhere the eye could see was white. The words "Am I dead?" seemed to have slipped out of her long-unused throat quietly without her notice.

She whipped her head back quickly when she heard the soft tinkling sounds of laughter coming from behind her. Her indignant exclamation died in her throat as she gasped at the figure behind her. The person—no, being behind her (because no person could be that beautiful) was gorgeous; she was like a bright shining light as her pale skin seemed to glow. Beautiful, baby blue eyes were framed by silky-looking, snow-white hair that trailed all the way down to her feet. She was wearing a Grecian-styled white tunic held together by a gold colored band underneath her bust, she wore no shoes but it didn't seem as if she needed them as glided through the room towards Dorian. Her plump lips were turned up as she smiled bemusedly at the girl, she lifted a small dainty hand to Dorian's cheek as another giggle escaped from her lips before she replied.

"In a way, child, you are, but in another, you are not."

Her voice was as pleasant as her Tinkerbell-like laugh and made Dorian feel warm as the being's words reached her ears.

Confused, Dorian intelligently let her know.

"What? Who are you?"

Alright, maybe not so intelligently, but it still got her point across. It also made the being laugh once more, making Dorian smile back at the beautiful creature despite her confusion and grief.

"Child, what I mean is that, while your body on earth no longer breathes, you're here... still living." Seeing Dorian's expression become even more confused, she continued to explain.

"You are dead to the world you were born in, but I felt that you deserved a second chance at life... because of all the suffering you experienced and how your life was cut short unfairly." She smiled serenely at Dorian before her lips quirked up once more before stating, "Child, I'm known as Fate to those who believe."

"What do you mean, I get a second chance?" Dorian whispered as she stared, hypnotized really and blatantly ignoring the jab at Dorian's piss-poor excuse of of a life, at the translucent figure crouching in front of her. Fate? Really? Such a being existed? Then again Dorian couldn't deny that there was something other-worldly about the being serenely claiming herself to be Fate.

"Exactly that, child. You and your brother both deserve to live your lives out fully," the unearthly being's soft voice replied to her. Dorian couldn't bring herself to be angry at being called 'child' by Fate; it warmed up her soul to be called so sweetly by such a caring figure. There were very few adults in her life that had ever given a damn about her enough to cal,l her by sweet endearments.

"Brother?" Dorian parroted Fate absentmindedly before the creature's words seemed to make a connection in her tired mind. "Dylan?!" she exclaimed, looking at Fate's bright, glowing really, blue eyes.

"Dylan," she repeated once more as she looked around her, as though she was expecting him to pop out all of the sudden. "Where is he? Is he here, too? Please tell me where my brother is!"

"Shh, hush, child. Be calm, young one. Your brother is no longer here; he has already started his journey," Fate consoled her as she threaded her nimble fingers though her hair.

"Journey?" Dorian mumbled as her brow scrunched up in confusion as she looked at Fate imploringly.

"Yes, child, journey. Dylan has already started his journey in his new existence, one you would probably recognize as the 'Naruto' Universe," Fate said in a serene manner, as if the words that had just spewed out of her mouth actually made sense.

"Naruto?" Dorian's eye's widened as she finally made the connection between the manga and the place her baby brother had been sent to.

"You mean he's real? They're real and…and Dylan's there!" she spat out in alarm, "My baby brother is in a world dominated by power-hungry, gay-pedophilic ninja who wouldn't think twice about ending Dylan's life or doing worse..." Considering the shit-hole that had been their prison for the last two damn years of her life, didn't her little brother deserve to be reborn elsewhere... Preferably in a universe where war and death didn't exist!

'I need to sit down...wait, I'm already sitting... Why's the world still spinning?'

Fate giggled once more at Dorian's reaction, before her expression became more serious and she explained to the now panicking and hyperventilating teen. "Child, you need to calm yourself down before you accidentally pass out. And while your brother has found himself situated into another more dangerous world it was all out of free will. He chose to go there."

Dorian breathed in and out deeply three times as her mind wrapped the idea around her head that her (idiotic) baby brother chose to be reborn into such a dangerous environment. Like a dumbass. She hardened her expression and glared at the creature that had just turned her entire world upside down.

"What's the catch? There has to be some logical reason that my brother decided to gallant off into an unknown situation without me." Her voice cracked at the last syllable of her sentence, expressing her troubled sorrow at being left behind by Dylan.

Fate gave her another smile full of kindness as she gently lifted her hand to caress Dorian's cheek, exactly how Dorian had seen the mothers of her friends do to them. It made her feel like a small child again, but most importantly it made her feel loved. "Child, before your brother left I gave him two choices, the same two I will offer you. You will either ascend to the afterlife, known to many as heaven, or be reborn into another, but somewhat familiar, world. Where you will both have the chance to actually live your lives."

Dorian stared at the serenely smiling creature. Her eyes were already starting to sting as she unsuccessfully began to fight the stubborn tears beginning to flow down her face. Brokenly, she asked "So we will never see each other again? He chose to leave me behind? He chose…" Dorian never finished babbling her sentence as she began to sob in earnest. Dorian thought that the worse thing she'd ever have to experience was her brother dying on her, but this... this was so much worse.

Fate rubbed her back gently as she reassured the broken and sobbing teen in front of her that 'No Dylan did not blame her for their kidnapping' and that 'Yes he still loves her unconditionally.' By the time Dorian had finally stopped sobbing, she had confessed all her guilt and self–hatred to the being holding her as if she were a small child.

It felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off her chest, and Dorian couldn't help but feel light headed at the end of her crying-fit… That and more than little embarrassed that she had just poured her heart out to the angelic and comforting creature, Fate was still a stranger even if she was everything she could have ever wanted in a mother-figure.

"Child you didn't let me finish explaining. You will see your brother again, if choose to be reborn once more that is, at One Piece," Fate explained patiently. One Piece? As in Dylan's favorite manga, One Piece? As in pirates, weird marines and fish people... and retards that kill children for pleasure or because of the people that you happen to related to?

Dorian blinked. "So what you're saying…" she sniffed out, "…is that at the end of my journey, I'll see him again… And he chose to go off into a new world in the hope that I would follow him and meet him in the end!" By the time she ended her sentence, Dorian was shouting indignantly while searching the room futilely for the cause of her ire.

"Yes." Fate stated bemusedly, "He was rather confident that you would follow after him, he specifically said 'She would have chosen to go straight to heaven if you'd had met her first, 'cause as much as I love her I'm not delusional enough to believe that she'd take the easy way out because she's afraid of the change…. But now she'll definitely come! If only to keep me out of trouble, not that I'm going to get into trouble, I mean look at me I'm too adorable to get into problems… then again…' Your brother than continued on telling me about how he wasn't a 'trouble magnet' and that you were just a 'worry-wart of epic proportions' while exaggerating his facial expressions and hand movements." She giggled out, while staring at the now infuriated teen.

Dorian's eye began to furiously twitch, "I'll kill him, I'll be reborn and go on this adventure, just to find his dead ass and strangle him for saying that entire BS!" as she grounded out, all the while making strangling motions with her hands.

Fate laughed at her expression, as Dorian stopped her murderous ramblings and sheepishly apologized to the extremely amused being.

"Child, you and Dylan are both amusing mortals." Fate giggled out, to the now very embarrassed Dorian, before she became serious "So you have decided to be reborn into the One Piece universe Dorian."

"Yes, I'm going to sail through the entire damn ocean if I have to meet up with Dylan at the end! I will still be kicking his butt though!." Dorian said full of determination, before asking tentatively, "But where exactly is he?"

"Good, I am proud of your decision Child." Making Dorian smile at the being's words before she continued on, "The Elemental Nations described in the Naruto world is a large land mass shrouded in mystery and hidden somewhere in Paradise, that is somewhere in the Grandline, I have full confidence that you will be able to find it. After all the previous Pirate King did as well. Child, you will be arriving in the One Piece world at the age of 9 ½ summers old, and sadly the scars of the torture and various injuries that you received while in the hands of those monsters will follow you into the new world." The being said in a regretful tone.

"Its fine, I actually prefer it like that, this way I won't ever forget about the pain I went through at their hands… Besides, it could probably help me build a background story..." Dorian said thoughtfully.

Fate smiled serenely once more at the contemplating Dorian, 'This mortal has one of the strongest wills that I have ever encountered, even if she has yet to discover it for herself, and I know she and her brother will make it far.'

"Child this is where you and I will have to part, someone will find you soon. Hold onto the driftwood tightly, and I'll make sure that you won't encounter any sea creatures as you wait for your rescuers." Fate told Dorian as she snapped out of the daze she had fallen into.

Dorian nodded faintly before her head snapped up to look at the now fading figure of Fate, "What do you mean!?" Dorian yelped as she fell back and hit the sea water that had materialized around her.

The water stung her eyes and various injuries as she resurfaced to the top and took gulping breaths of air, her hands blindly searched the area in front of her, grabbing at the cool water, in a seemingly futile attempt to find something to hold onto that would keep her afloat. Her efforts weren't in vain as her small scarred hands grabbed onto a crate floating in the water. Lifting half of her body over the crate, she rubbed her eyes and looked around the vast area of water in a confused manner. Her injuries were screaming, especially her inflamed wrist.

"Ugh," she groaned, "I guess it's too late to change my mind…." She grumbled out softly as the edges of the world began to darken. "Dylan you are so dead when I find you again…" she whispered out into the silence before she allowed her tired eyes to close.

Preview:

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

"I'm Shanks, the captain of this ship. What's your name chibi?" the Red-haired man asked her curiously.

"You brought me back a present… that's not a present… that's a girl!" The black-haired boy cried out (literally, he was bleeding pretty badly), whom she knew was Luffy, pouted cutely in Dorian's opinion… even though there was blood running down the left side of his face, from where he well stabbed himself. "Baka" She quietly mumbled from Shanks side as the rest of the crew freaked out over the self-inflicted stab wound.

Author's Note:

Hey, hey! I'm back!

So did you like it! I'll admit the second chapie wasn't very exciting, but it had to be done!

A special thanks to my BETA Erin and my fist reviewer Itachi (Guest), this chapter is dedicated to you since you're the reason I got off my ass and finished the 2nd chapter!

By the way here are the answers to your questions:

As you can see, Dylan won't really be a part of the story; he's more like a goal for Dori. He was her entire world so completely taking him out would have probably driven her insane and eventually killed her… Also that wasn't Dori (hopefully the new picture I posted is visible) that was the profile picture of me and Nana (we share this account)… and I'll be updating (approximately) every 2 weeks, as I am a high school senior and I have so much makeup work due before midterms

Do you guys think I should make another Fic portraying Dylan's POV in the Naruto universe?

Words: 2570

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Mara-Chan (o l l o)