Thank you for all the nice feedback, guys! Here comes the new chapter, and it you're interested, I've made a playlist loosely based on this fic. The link is: 8tracks unseated4th / eyes-like-the-sky-after-the-rain
Chapter Eight: Powerful Words
Ten minutes earlier.
Franky wasn't buying it. Not even for a second.
As he strode through the town, his fists tightened in unspent rage. He should have pummelled Itzal right then and there. However, Robin must have had a reason for stopping him. There had been a silent desperation in her eyes, as though she were crying out for his help. In this case, that would mean to go along with whatever she was playing out. While Itzal was around, at least. But he wasn't around right now. Franky was now left to his own devices.
His mind replayed the events of their exchange from start to finish, and something had been wrong right from the start. Whatever had transpired could only have happened in the hours following breakfast, in which he'd been in town and Robin had been out on that walk, during which she'd met Itzal…
"I don't want to be with you. Leave. Don't ever come back."
She had seemed so sincere and Franky would be lying if he said it hadn't hurt a little. He'd be lying if he said it hadn't hurt a lot, and he was still yet to realise a reason for her actions. When he'd accidentally knocked her over, Franky had felt as though it had been himself that had been suddenly slammed to the ground, ten times over. But Franky wasn't ignorant. Even before Itzal had intervened on their exchange, evidence suggested Robin had been manhandled in an earlier encounter. She was hurt, she was crying, and if Itzal truly expected him to simply up and leave after that, he had another thing coming. Franky knew better than take Robin's words for face value, even when the depth of which they'd cut was far deeper. Simple fact came above all else for this matter; there was no way in the world the Robin he knew would ever abandon any of her Nakama, including himself. For now he needed answers, or at least time to strategise a little before returning. And he knew just the guy to go to.
Conveniently enough, his destination was the in the same immediate direction to which he'd been bannished. If he could somehow contact the crew and get them to arrive within the next few hours, they'd deliver to Itzal the most chaotic of retributions. The guy didn't know what he'd gotten himself into, nor what would transpire should the rest of the crew show.
But was there time for that? The thought of leaving Robin here alone, even for a small amount of time was the least of things Franky wanted to do. There had to be some way to alert the others, and that's where Ernest would come of use.
Franky arrived at the boathouse and entered to find the man he was searching for busily going about some sort of procedure. He cleared his throat and Ernest jumped at the sudden announcement of company.
"Ah yes, I've been expecting you," he greeted upon seeing his guest, "How might I help?"
"There's a boat here now, right?" Franky asked.
"Yes," replied Ernest indicating just outside the window, to the inside of the boatshed, "Only a small one. I've been instructed that you will be boarding it. Is that correct?"
Franky turned and looked out the open door behind him. A small part of the village was in sight, and behind all that was the forest in which Itzal's manor sat. "What exactly was said?" he asked.
"Well," began Ernest, "Governor Itzal informed me you would be heading back to your crew once this boat arrived back on our shores. All he said was to let you on and send you away."
"I'm not getting on that boat," Franky said.
"Why not? Ah, it's that lady, isn't it?" Ernest enquired, "Nico Robin… yes, I see…"
"What do you know about her?" Franky shot back.
"You love her." It wasn't a question.
"What does that have to do with all this?" Franky asked, "Never mind, I need your help. Is there any way at all I can contact my crew, and super fast?"
"I'm afraid it could take a few hours," Ernest said, shaking his head.
"Do what you can," Franky said, turning to leave, "I'll be waiting."
"Wait!" Ernest called after him, "You can't leave just yet!"
Franky drew to a stop, "Why's that?"
Ernest quickly looked around the room and out into the empty town, as though to be sure no one else was watching. "Do you even know about that woman's past encounter with 'Governor Itzal'?"
Franky's eyes narrowed. "Past encounter? You mean they've met before this?"
Ernest nodded grimly. "I've heard Itzal speak of it many times," he said, "It all happened before he took me as a prisoner, but that's another story. If you were aware of what transpired, you wouldn't be planning to leave here without her at all."
"I'm not," Franky maintained, "Send the ship off without me."
"No one's on it," Ernest pointed out.
"Exactly. Just make it look like I've left, to fool that bastard."
"I've never betrayed his orders before," Ernest admitted, "But very well."
A moment went by, in which Ernest exited the room and entered the boat shed. He untied the boat from where it was anchored and prompted it to sail out of the boathouse and away from the island, unmanned.
He returned to the room and again addressed Franky. "Itzal is probably busy at the moment. This boat house is one of the few places he doesn't watch, so I suppose I can tell you a few things."
"What happened between him and Robin?" Franky asked.
Ernest shook his head, "They share a bit of a history… Didn't she try to tell you anything before you left?"
Franky shrugged. "Maybe. But after Itzal arrived, she said that she didn't want to be with me. That she wants me to leave and never come back."
"And do you believe she really wants that?"
"I super don't."
"Was there anything else?"
"There was one thing…" Franky reached into his jacket pocket. "She left me her favourite book."
"Why would she have left you this?" Ernest pondered.
"I'm not sure…" Franky said as he flicked through the pages, "She said something about seeing how it ends…" he flipped the book to the final page, where the story concluded.
"Well what does it say?" Ernest queried, "Has she left you a message? Highlighted something? Underlined anything?"
But Franky's attention was not drawn to any of the words on the page. What caught his attention was tucked into the book's spine, and was spilling out over the page like the light of the sun through dark storm clouds. One of his smaller hands withdrew from his large palm, and lifted the red ribbon Robin had bought early in the day they'd arrived at Oculto Island.
"Interesting…" Ernest observed the strip of material, "Does this mean anything to you?"
The ribbon lay in his fingers as Franky recalled Robin's words from the night before. "The two characters in this story are bound together by the red thread of fate," she had explained, "And although there are times they are far apart, physically or otherwise, even through conflicts and struggles, the thread is never broken. It's something that can't be broken, after all."
Franky nodded in affirmation to Ernest's question. No sooner had he begun to say something however, his attention was diverted by an ear-splitting boom which shook the boathouse. "What?!"
The ship he was supposedly sailing away on bust into a fireball, erupting up into the sky volcanically.
Ernest looked on, his eyes widened in mild disbelief. "That kind of explosion could only have been caused by Itzal and his incubators… he just tried to kill you!"
Franky turned back to the boat keeper. There was no time to stand by in shock. "I need you to help me out, Ernest."
Ernest sighed and gave a nod. "Perhaps by assisting you, I'll be put to death and thus earn my freedom…"
"I'll get you out of here myself, no need to die over it," Franky promised, "Just tell me everything."
Robin was jammed to the spot, as though an invisible force had taken control of her being and prevented her from feeling anything at all. And it very much had.
In the background, Victorigen prattled away something Robin could not comprehend. Her gaze did not leave that place on the water. It was surreal. Her eyes widened at the sight of the cloud of smoke in the air and flaming debris on the harbour. Nothing else could penetrate her senses but an overhanging shroud of a chronic and acute despair.
No.
A moment later, Victorigen was pulling her along again. His iron grip led her back down the spiral staircase.
No…
They exited into the town. It was empty, though Robin didn't take note. She felt as though her legs would slip out from beneath her, but Victorigen dragged her along at a quickening pace. She let him lead her, paying no mind to where they were headed. Only to the event that had just occurred, the explosion replaying fresh in her mind as she tried to process what had happened. But she couldn't.
Small details around them were suddenly so much louder. Small cracks in the pavement seemed like canyons, threatening to open up and consume her without any notice, although it felt as though that had already just occurred. Lengthening shadows of buildings on the street foreboded a sense that she would crushed by an enormous pressure, though it felt as if that was already happening.
A narrow, but tough-looking pipe lay idly on the pavement nearby. Robin glanced at it as they neared, something that usually wouldn't strike her attention.
Victorigen was distracted. He had her in a loose hold, confident she wouldn't be trying anything more. His voice faded in and out of her sense of hearing, though she was paying no attention to his words anyway. He hadn't taken her up there to say a silent goodbye as Franky sailed away. He'd taken her up there to demolish any sense of hope, to destroy one of the only things that could have helped her overcome the events of eleven years ago. Again, her past had caught up with her, and in a way she had only experienced in the worst of nightmares. But this was real.
She couldn't come to terms with it. Not yet. A wave of pent-up adrenaline hit her, and in an instant, Robin shook herself from Victorigen's grip and launched herself for the pipe. Quicker than he could react, she seized her chosen weapon and slammed it hard into Victorigen's chest with all her might.
Her force was enough to send the man backwards a few paces, before he caught himself, something like surprise in his eyes, which quickly turned to fury. He clearly hadn't been expecting such a move from her. "You little shit," he spoke, wiping blood away. It seemed she'd struck him mid-sentence, causing him to bite down on his own tongue.
Robin gripped the pipe firmly. She couldn't let go. She couldn't think about anything but the man before her right now and how she would bring him down, no matter what it cost her. It had already cost her more than she could ever retrieve.
She nimbly dodged Victorigen's arm as he lashed out to strike her, and made to swipe his legs out from beneath him.
However, he was quick as she was, jumping over the pipe before attempting to kick the weapon from her hands.
Robin leapt away from him, keeping a few meters distance. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to discern an opening. She attempted to bloom a pair of arms around him to snap his neck, but he was quick to grab hold of any appendage with his seastone grip, causing her to painfully recoil and dissolve the extra limbs.
Then Victorigen made a move.
Robin ducked just as a fire of bullets came her way from the cyborg's body. It seemed he had firearms embedded in his shoulders, poised to attack whenever he saw fit. Luckily for Robin, basic aim seemed to be one of the few things Victorigen was still working on perfecting, though she didn't want to risk being caught up in his barrage.
She ducked around a corner, taking the bulk of a building for shelter. But Victorigen was close behind. Robin hissed in agony as one of the bullets grazed her upper thigh, but continued at her steady pace, rounding another corner.
She leapt down behind a nearby wall for a moment to catch her breath. The blood rushing through her body was loud in her ears, and she tried to breathe as quietly as possible.
Victorigen's footsteps echoed from the other side of the wall, reverberating against the silent soundscape of the empty town.
Robin leaned her back against the wall, sticking to the lengthening shadows as the footsteps passed, her heart hammering in her chest. While she was free, she had to fight back. And she would fight with all she had.
She ran, just as Victorigen's fist smashed through the wall from behind her. Robin leapt aside, barely escaping the range of the flying rubble as it was blasted from its foundations. Once she'd escaped his immediate grasp, she turned poised to attack. She had to fight. Even if Franky was…
Another shower of bullets rained over her, and Robin had no choice but to retreat further. She ran, her feet taking her across a narrow bridge above one of the town's waterways.
The gunfire sounded from behind her, far more vigorous than before, and a moment later Robin felt herself falling, the bridge's foundations having been destroyed. She was having no luck with bridges lately…
She plummeted toward the channel below, the cold water grappling at her as she submerged. She was in the water for the briefest of moments, before a hand ensnared her by the upper arm and pulled her upwards. Coughing up a mouthful of the seawater as she was deposited unceremoniously to the narrow embankment below.
"What will the others think?" Victorigen supposed from above her after a pause, "These so-called Nakama of yours? What will they do when they find one of their Nakama has been killed because of you?"
No, she couldn't think about that now. She had to fight, if only for her other Nakama. She would stay strong for them. She would stay strong for Franky… Robin again moved faster than what he was expecting. She grabbed the pipe once more and made to attack, but Victorigen blocked the blow with his arm.
"He died because of you, Nico Robin," Victorigen maintained, "Haven't you been around long enough to realise that no one can stay with you forever? Your sinful existence is going to take its toll on all of them eventually, one way or another."
Robin retained tight hold of her weapon, but her legs gave out beneath her.
"It's already begun. No one deserves a burden like you, Nico Robin. Your existence is what killed him. It's your fault he's dead, and you're going to have to live with that thought for the small remainder of your abominable existence."
The reality of the situation struck her harder than she wanted it to at this moment, and Robin felt her bearings slacken as grief began to settle in.
Victorigen seized the moment of weakness as his opportunity. His seastone hand grabbed her by the throat and slammed her hard against the wall behind her.
Robin gasped for air as the impact pounded her body, the pipe dropping from her hold as she went entirely limp.
"Don't try escaping again," Victorigen warned, "You're going to die anyway, but your actions just might dictate what happens to those remaining Nakama of yours. Behave, if only for them."
A dry silence stilled the air when Ernest finished his recount.
Franky said nothing. No words, none of his usual loud bawling at such stories. Only cold silence as he gradually processed what he'd just been told. He remembered the day he and Robin had arrived at this place. The scar on Robin's back, how she'd mentioned someone had hurt her years ago…
"I was nineteen, and still the slightest bit naive as it turned out. I met someone… too nice… and I was foolish," Robin had explained mere days earlier, "He was a bounty hunter who only got the best of me temporarily. He's long gone."
Slowly and wordlessly, Franky stood and made his way back the way he'd come. As he exited the boathouse, he firmly secured the length of red ribbon around his wrist.
It was clear now. All this time, Robin had been acting distant as a means to protect him. But this man, Victorigen, hadn't died all those years ago as she had thought. Franky subconsciously tightened his clenched fist. Unlike eleven years ago however, Robin now had real Nakama. And unlike eleven years ago, Franky himself was right here.
It was growing colder.
There was a chill in the air when Robin arrived at the intended destination with Victorigen. The island's true winter climate must have been trying to take over once again as nightfall came. The cold water hadn't helped either, but Robin didn't shiver against the island's elements, nor did she betray any feeling or emotion that may have granted the former bounty hunter with any satisfaction.
He'd taken her into a large building near the town's centre. The walls were thick and they'd travelled at least four rooms into the structure. This room was large and empty, with nothing but a few chains attached to the stone walls that held up the ceiling. It must have been a dungeon, Robin figured. She wasn't sure why he'd chosen this place specifically. Maybe because it reminded him of his bounty hunting days before he'd had the misfortune of crossing paths with her.
Having finally reached their destination, Victorigen closed and locked the door behind them before turning to face her.
Robin stood in the centre of the room, unsure of what to do or say. Eventually, the words came to her. "You said he wouldn't get hurt."
"I never make promises, Robin," Victorigen stated, "That cyborg was going to die regardless, just as you will. The way it ended up happening though, we had the added benefit of him never knowing your true feelings, and not just that, your last words to him were that you didn't want to be with him! That you wanted him to leave and never come back! What do you think his last thoughts concerning you were?"
Robin felt her entire body tense at Victorigen's words. She tried to ignore him, but there was no denying what she had seen. The boat Franky had been aboard had been incinerated where it sailed. There was no surviving something like that…
"Think of it as part of my revenge strategy," Victorigen continued as he began pacing around her, "I may have been what caused him to perish, but you're the one who broke his heart and made him board that boat."
Robin tried hard not to let the statement sink in, if only to demerit Victorigen of the reaction he so desperately sought. But Franky's response to what she had said… it ended up being the very last time they interacted, and Robin had to pushed him away.
After Franky had risked his life for her when all he'd been taught of her was that she was a danger, after he'd saved her in more than just physical senses, after he'd been so kind to her until the very end… and her final action to him was to send him away. He'd died thinking she saw him as a nuisance.
Robin looked down at the floor, trying desperately to maintain her passive exterior, to keep her breathing even. She couldn't cave in now. She couldn't bend to Victorigen's desires. She needed to remain strong.
"As you can imagine, I am still unsatisfied," Victorigen stated as he came to a stop directly in front of her, "Even that little event on its own. The man you love was killed and you can't even shed a tear for him! You really are as heartless a monster as they say you are." He placed a large hand on her shoulder and Robin involuntarily flinched. "Or are you hiding it away, Robin? Perhaps we should force it out of you…"
His grip on her shoulder increased to a crushing force and Robin felt as if she were gripped any tighter, her bones would snap. But still, she showed him noting.
"I've been waiting eleven years for your anguish. Don't disappoint me, my dear."
"I'm not going to give you what you want," Robin maintained flatly.
"Very well then…" Victorigen intoned placidly, allowing his fingers to trail alluringly through her hair, "I'll make sure your last few hours are hell. Forget about those 'Nakama' of yours, you'll be begging me to let you join your dear cyborg in death."
Robin located his foot by the touch of her own, and stomped down as hard as she could.
Victorigen yelped at the sudden strike of pain, but his discomfort was short-lived.
Robin was met by the back of his hand as he slammed her to the ground, the force of the impact knocking the wind out of her.
"Maybe I'll span this over a few days, for good measure," he supposed, before his boot connected with her side, sending her sprawling, "I'll elongate and enjoy your suffering as much as possible."
Robin's stomach lurched from the blow, before Victorigen kicked again. Pain shot through her entire body and she heaved, spluttering droplets of blood.
Victorigen crouched beside her and waited for her coughing to subside. "Shall we try another approach?" he queried, reaching out and grabbing Robin by the hair, "No one ever escapes the front man of the Calypso Division. All this is no more than you deserve, Nico Robin."
"You'll never get away with this," Robin stated, "When my Nakama arrive, they will destroy you."
Victorigen pulled her up by the hair, before dropping her to the ground. "'Cause I'm the bad guy, right?" he questioned, "And that's what you do to the bad guys. And maybe I am an antagonistic person, Nico Robin. I've told lies in my life. I've stolen, I've destroyed and I've betrayed, and there are a few occasions I regret. And that's where my faults lie. At my core, I'm only human."
Robin clenched her jaw to prevent from crying out as Victorigen delivered another kick to her body. She skidded across the floor, slamming into the stone wall.
"But your sin lies in just existing," his voice resonated throughout the room as the ache enveloped all her senses, "I'm doing the world a favour by taking away your life. You're a monster, Nico Robin. No one who comes into contact with you comes out unscarred, and those who pass with mere scratches are the lucky ones. It's pathetic to think that there'd be anyone out there who'd truly call you their Nakama or love you. Can't you understand that?" he stomped down hard against her midsection with each word for added emphasis, "The moment you took your first breath, your existence had already cursed the world! And no one is coming to save you!"
As Victorigen continued his vicious onslaught, his voice while loud and crisp as ever, seemed to fade away. All Robin could hear was a different voice. Although she knew it was only a memory, it somehow resounded much louder and more powerful than what Victorigen's did, like a shield to all the pain otherwise pulsing throughout her body.
"No matter what weapon you hold, just existing is never a sin!"
Franky… the name consumed her thoughts as her vision was bedimmed with unshed emotions. As everything else clouded into nothingness, Robin vaguely made out an explosion of light from somewhere in the background, and then nothing but that name remained.
There are just two chapters remaining, and I have an announcement to make at the end of next chapter. Maybe you'll be able to guess what it is, but idk.
Feedback appreciated, update coming soon..