Time Stream
Neo didn't want to wake up. She knew they were gone. Her nightmare had come true like it always does. A good chuck of her crew and the Straw Hats were all taken away from her while the rest of their crew remained back on the island with no clue they had been taken. She didn't want to face that. Alone. But she knew she couldn't just lay there forever. Her body was aching, in more ways than one. First her body was aching from lying on her back for so long. She rarely ever laid on her back. Secondly, her body was aching a lot harder from the visions in her head that constantly replayed what happened on the beach. Her heart took sharp painful beats each time she saw Law and her family being covered in that strange blob thing. Her breath hitched in her lungs when she saw her fingers being pulled from Law's. His words rang in her ears like bells. "Neo, be strong for me. If we are separated, we will find our way back to you. Just wait for us. I promise you everything will be fine. Please, just be strong. You can handle whatever happens."
She reminded herself again and again to be strong. She had to be strong until they returned. She just didn't know if she was going to be able to do that. This was the first time, since Luminous, that she's been taken away from her family.
She opened her wet eyes and wondered how long she had been crying. She couldn't bring herself to wipe away her tears or even sit up. So she just laid there, staring up at the ceiling and noticing it was a light purple. Wherever she was, she was at least inside somewhere. But where was everyone else? Where did the person or thing that took them take them? She knew they weren't close to her at all. She couldn't sense Law, Bepo, Chopper, or Luffy. She closed her eyes and tried to reach out for Law. 'Law? Please…answer me.'
He didn't. She was only met with silence.
Her stomach twisted from the deafening silence that met her and her pregnancy. She closed her eyes again. Her warm tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she took slow breaths to try and calm her stomach down. After about two minutes of breathing, her stomach relaxed again and her tears started to subside as well. She reopened her eyes. She remained laying there for a few more seconds before finally pushing herself up into a sitting position. Starting down at the bed she wondered if she should Project herself to Law. She had to force herself to not do that. She had no idea where she was or if she was in danger. Projecting to him could cause her some serious problems. It hurt her not to do it but she knew that's what Law would want. It's what they agreed on when they learned of this ability.
Dragging her eyes over the room she found she was lying on a large bed that could easily fit five people comfortably. Looking to her left she found two double doors and one single door. She assumed the double doors were a closet and the single one a bathroom. The doors were purple ombre and angled in odd shapes. The double doors were skewed rectangle shapes while the single door looked more like an out of proportion eight with a golden knob sticking out of it.
Moving her eyes along she found another door straight ahead of her. The shape of this door reminded her of a picture of a germ Law had once showed her. It too was a purple ombre color with a golden doorknob. Moving on to the right side of the room, she found a set of light blue see through doors that took up the majority of the wall and led out to a balcony. Beyond the balcony she saw some type of structure that resembled a lighthouse with a two pincher claw mounted on top. Her breath hitched in her lungs. She wondered if anyone else was here. The place seemed oddly quiet to her. Her fingers reached up to Law's hat. She fingered it for a few seconds before letting her digits drop to his ring. She bit her bottom lip, wondering if she should stay where she was or if she should get up and look around.
Several minutes passed before she finally, and slowly, moved over to the edge of the bed. Placing her feet on the floor she found that it felt like fuzz but didn't look like there was carpet there at all. She pushed herself to her feet and took a few steps towards the door she believed would lead her out of this room. She glanced over at the balcony, wondering if she should go through those doors instead. Would it be the safer choice? Was there going to be an ambush waiting for her beyond both doors? Was that blob thing still around? She didn't know. And she wouldn't know just by standing there.
Swallowing, she continued on her way over to the door. Her hand trembled as she reached for the golden doorknob. Her fingers curled around it. Her heart thundered in her chest when she slowly turned the knob. She cracked the door open and paused. Listening for any signs of life on the other side of the door. She didn't hear anything. She continued to open it until it was open enough for her to peak out. The hallway appeared to be the same light color purple as this room. But no lights were on so it looked darker than it did in here. She saw several doors lining both sides of the hallway. Beyond them was an open area that looked to lead to a staircase. On the other side of that was an identical hallway with the same amount of doors this one had.
Gnawing on her bottom lip she debated whether or not it was a good idea to leave this room. She just wasn't sure. She had no clue where that blob thing was or could be. And with how much trouble they all had in dealing with that thing back on the beach, she knew she didn't stand a chance of taking it on by herself. Feeling her anxiety rise, she quickly closed the door and back away from it. Bringing her hands up to her chest, she started fingering Law's ring again in an attempt to try and figure out what she should do. She wondered what Law would do in this situation. A small chuckle passed over her lips, filling the room with her bells. She knew Law would be angry. He probably would slice this place up with his Room, demanding whoever took them to give her back. But he wasn't here. And she wasn't willingly the destructive type.
She turned away from the door and walked over to the balcony doors. She paused when she noticed they didn't have any door handles. For a split second panic settled into her upon realizing she might be a prisoner here. She wondered if this was actually a window that didn't open instead of a door. She shook her head and calmed her breathing. That couldn't be true. Why would anyone put a balcony outside of a window but not give a way to access it? She stepped forward. When she was about two feet from the doors they slid opened with a light swish. The unexpected move caused her to jump. She exhaled, calming herself down before stepping out cautiously onto the balcony. She gave a sigh of relief when no one appeared to be set to ambush her and for not being a prisoner after all.
Her eyes locked onto the lighthouse like structure over in the distance. Upon a closer look it didn't have any windows so she figured no one was living in it as she previously thought. She dropped her eyes down to the area below the structure. There was a small forest around it and the majority of the grounds appeared to be fields. But she wasn't able to tell what kind of plants were growing there. They didn't feel like anything she's grown before or come across. She carefully scanned her eyes over the area again. She was looking for animals but couldn't find any at all. She didn't like it. She felt too isolated and alone. Then she wondered if she just couldn't sense them. Since the plants felt a bit different than what she was use to maybe the animals would feel a bit different too. She glanced back into the bedroom. She didn't want to leave it but she didn't want to stay here either. Someone else might be here with her. So she summoned a wind crystal and took to the air.
For whatever reason, she turned to look back at the building. A gasp passed over her lips when she saw it. The entire building was designed like a grandfather clock. There even was a clock face at the top of the building but the numbers on it weren't like the number she was use to. They were odd lines that looked like they had been randomly glued together. A pendulum was swinging back and forth inside of the clear windows, but made no sound at all. The color of the walls was also a purple ombre but the colors were moving up the walls of the clock. Dropping her eyes down to the ground she found an organic shaped patio with organic shaped chairs and a birdbath like pedestal with some pearl colored stone laying in it.
"Such and odd place," Neo said while she continue to hover in the air. "The hallway looked longer inside than it does from out here. I wonder how they manage to pull that off." She scanned her eyes back around her surroundings. "And where am I? I don't sense the sea anywhere near me. Did that blob take us to really massive island were I can't sense the sea from where I am? Speaking of that thing, I wonder where it went. Why hasn't it come back yet? Or was someone else controlling it? Am I really alone here?"
She turned away from the clock building and headed for the other only structure she could see. While flying over to it she scanned her eyes on the ground below her for any signs of crews possibly being here with her. The more she flew around the less hopeful she was feeling about finding an ally here. Her heart sank lower in her chest with each second that passed and she didn't find anyone around. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She wondered how she was going to be able to survive alone. Ever since Law had found her, she had never been alone. She was so use to having the crew around. Now they weren't.
Distracted by her tears, she didn't see a vine snapping up towards her. She looked down when she felt something wrap around her ankle a second before it jerked her body downward. She increased her wind, stalling herself three feet from the ground. "That was way too close. What are you doing? Release me at once."
The vine didn't respond.
"Don't tell me these vines aren't going to lis-wait…" Neo paused when she noticed no kind of life was coming from this vine at all. It was completely void of life. She kneaded her eyebrows in confusion. Is this plant really not real? From the corner of her eyes she saw movement of something striking at her. Increasing her winds she shot herself into the air, freeing her ankle as she went. She glanced down to find several vines, which were also lifeless, following her. She gritted her teeth and started to duck and dive them as they struck out at her. Unknowingly moving herself closer to the lighthouse structure. She gasped and faltered in her flying when an entire wall of vines shot up between her and the structure. She flinched when a sharp pain shot through her left arm. A vine had hit her when she paused from the unexpected vine wall. She flew back away from it as quickly as she possibly could. She glanced back over her shoulder to see if the vines were still following her. They were. But when she got far enough away from the structure, the vines pulled back and disappeared below the tree line.
She paused. Placing her hand over her pounding heart as she watched the last of the vines disappear. She said, "Well, I guess getting close to that thing is forbidden."
She turned her eyes down to the warm, sticky blood dripping down her arm. Her stomach twisted into knots at seeing the red against her skin. Penguin was hurt when they were back on the beach. And she wasn't any where near him to heal him with her solar crystal. She started to wheeze. Faltering in her wind control, she dropped a few feet before Law's words shot through her mind again. She regained control over her wind and rose back into the air. Closing her eyes she worked on slowing her breathing down until it was back under control. "Calm down. Penguin will be fine. He knows how to handle himself. I'm sure he'll find something to clean and bandage his wound. He's strong. They're all strong. They will come back to me. I just have to wait, be patient, and strong. I can handle this. I can handle this."
She summoned her solar crystal. Releasing its healing glow over her injury, she inspected the cut for any dirt that might be inside of it. She didn't see any. Turning away from the lighthouse structure, she flew as far away from it as she could. If whoever brought her here didn't want her near that thing, then fine, she didn't want near it either. She continued to fly away from it until she saw something in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at the image in front of her. It looked very familiar yet she couldn't place where she's seen it before. Suddenly, she jerked to a halt when the image became clearer. A strangled, "No" escaped her lips.
Her solar crystal faded as she reached towards the image with trembling hands. Her heart skipped three solid beats before it started beating normally again. Her hands landed on a smooth, slightly cool surface. Her brain buzzed. It couldn't be possible. She took off like a shot. Following her faded image all the way around until she came right back to the spot where she started. She then flew upward, desperate to get away from her reflection and drawing in wheezing breaths when it still followed her. Her image curve upward with whatever it was reflecting on. It rounded like some kind of dome. By the time she reached the other side her breathing was out of control. She was a prisoner after all. Her cell just didn't have bars on it like the one she was put in back on Luminous. She pounded on the glass or plastic that was trapping her inside, desperate to get out. But her hits made not a sound. The strange structure wasn't even vibrating from her hits. She screamed, "No! Law! I can't do this! I can't…I can't be trapped! Let me out of here! Law! Penguin! Chopper! Someone! Help! Get…get me out of here!"
She flew back from it. Summoning five crystals of each element, she unleashed all of the elements onto her prison. When her attack faded away, she moved forward to find she didn't even scratch the surface. Moving back, she summoned over a hundred of each of her crystals. Blending all the elements together for the strongest attack she could manage in her panicked state. She moved the attack forward.
"Wait! Don't do that!" a small voice cried out. "You'll put us all in serious danger!"
Neo whipped around, turning her attack to whoever called out to her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her eyes scanned all over this place, but she found that she was still alone. But if that was true, then who called out to her just now? Before she could put anymore thought into it, her stomach turned with a violent threat of a second appearance of her fancy dinner. She dropped to the ground. Immediately falling to her hands and knees she retched up everything she had inside of her. With the jerk forward, Law's hat fell off her head and rolled away a few feet.
When her stomach decided it had nothing left to give, she straightened up and cover her mouth with one hand while cupping their baby with her other hand. Exhaustion hit her hard. It wasn't going to be very long before she fell asleep again. She knew she shouldn't, but she wasn't going to be able to stop it. So she crawled over to Law's hat. Clutching it to her chest, she laid down on the ground. All of her crystals faded away as her eyelid became too heavy to keep open. Tear drops leaked over the corner of her eyes just before her eyelids closed. She whispered, "Law…please, hurry up and come back to me. We need you."
…
"What are you doing?" Neo heard a small male voice asked when she started to wake up some time later.
"I'm just checking on her," another female voice said. Neo noticed that this one sounded familiar. It kind of sounded like the voice that yelled out to her. "She got sick. The poor thing must be coming down with something."
"Hm…judging from the roundness of her stomach, she's clearly coming down with the baby flu," the male voice said.
Neo's heart skipped a beat. Whoever these people were, they knew she was pregnant now. She had to wake up. But for some reason, she felt too groggy to move. Maybe this was just a dream she was having. That would explain why she couldn't move.
"I like her!" a third, younger female, voice said. "She's pretty!"
"Neither of you should get so close to her," the male said.
"Aw, why not? She's really, really pretty!" the young voice said.
"Pretty doesn't mean she's safe," the male voice said.
"Doesn't mean she's not safe," the older female voice said. "You know she doesn't belong here. No one's been traveling between the domes for months, for centuries. He had to have brought her here some how."
"That could be true, but we don't really know anything for sure yet," the male said. "We should at least wait until she wakes up. And what about that attack she almost did? Do you think she could have possibly damaged the dome with it?"
"It's a possibility," the female voice said. "I didn't want to take the chance and find out."
"I like her!" the youngest voice said.
"Celeste! Get away from her!" the male said. "You really shouldn't touch anyone you don't know!"
Neo gasped at the thought of being touched. Her eyes popped open. She shot up into a sitting position and looked around. Oddly enough, she didn't see anyone anywhere near her. She exhaled and ran her hand over her face. "It was just a dream, nothing but a dream. No one's here but me. No one's going to touch me at all."
A soft rumble of thunder made her look up to the sky, or what should have been the sky. The strange dome ceiling began to darken like a storm was rolling in. The wind, coming from small vents placed in various spots that she didn't notice before, began to blow through the area. It teased her hair and the leaves from the trees and bushes. She wondered for a split second on why she didn't feel this storm coming in. She shook the thought from her head. It really didn't matter right now. She just needed to get back inside of the clock house before she got wet. Raindrops then started falling. They landed beside her, prompting her to summon a wind crystal again.
Lifting herself into the air, she headed back to the room she woke up in. The doors opened up for her once she was close enough. Standing just inside of the room, she watched as the rain came pouring down. It was only then she realized there weren't any real clouds in the sky of this place. The glass, or whatever it was that she was going to attempt to break was only colored, or whatever, to look like storm clouds. The rain was coming from somewhere else. Sighing she said, "Since there are no rain clouds here then it's probably some kind of watering system that's making it look like rain. I hate it here already. I don't have Law or anyone else with me and now I'm figuring out I'm a prisoner in some strange place that won't have real weather. How am I going to survive this? I have to keep calm. If I was brought into this place then there is some way to get out of it. I not really trapped. I…I just don't know how to get out of here."
She stretched out her hand to catch some of the raindrops. When she brought her hand back to her face to inspect the drops, she found that instead of pooling into a tiny puddle, they maintained their droplet forms. They didn't mix together at all. She tilted her hand, allowing them to fall to the balcony floor. When they hit the floor they immediately absorbed into it. She gave it a confusing look before looking back out into the fake storm before her. "What is this place? The house is a clock that doesn't make any ticking sounds, a lot of the plants are lifeless, the lighthouse just sits there with its seemingly useless claw with no light inside of it, and now raindrops that hold their shape. Why am I even here?"
Neo turned away from the balcony. Walking back into the room she barely heard the doors closing behind her over the rumbling thunder outside. The thunder was even fake, probably just a recording of the real thing. She looked around the room again before walking over to the single, eight like shaped door that she assumed to be the bathroom. She opened it carefully to find it was indeed the bathroom and empty of life. It had the exact same facilities as the sub, a toilet where the bowl protruded out more than it should, a bathtub that looked like two eights laying together on their sides, and a floor to ceiling shower with skew rectangular shaped clear doors. She couldn't help but notice the layout of the bathroom, despite the odd shapes of the facilities, were in the same locations as those in their room on the sub.
Kneading her eyebrows in confusion, she walked back out of the bathroom and looked over the room again. She easily noticed that the layout of the room was almost the exact same as her room back on Luminous. The only major difference was she didn't have round bed, there was no canopy, she had a balcony here instead of a window seat, the bathroom and closet were on the opposite sides of the room, and the door to leave this room was in a different place as well. She hugged Law's hat to her chest. "This is just very weird. This place kind of looks like a mixed up version of our room on the sub and the one we stayed in on Luminous. Is this all just a coincident or was it done on purpose?"
She closed the bathroom door and walked over to the other double doors in the room. She opened it to find it was a closet filled with clothes and fluffy looking house shoes. There was a variety of clothing that was light pastel colors. They all had strange angle cuts to them around their neck, legs, and arms. She shook her head. These clothes wouldn't suit her at all. Hopefully she wouldn't be here long enough to have to wear them. She closed the closet door before walking back over to the bed. She sat down on it and looked over to the bedroom door. Pulling her feet upon the bed, she continued to cling to Law's hat. She bent her head over so her nose was buried into his hat. She breathed in his scent, wondering where he and the others were right this second. Tears gathered back in her eyes. She started to debate on what she should do next. "Should I just stay right here in this room? Or should I check out the rest of the house? It doesn't seem like there's anyone else here. If there were surely they would have noticed me outside a while ago. I wonder what Law would say about all of this. What would he want me to do? Trust my instincts most likely. But I'm not sure if I can. The only situation I've been in that's similar to this is when the Elementals took me. At least they were there and told me what was going on more or less. Here I'm totally in the dark and alone."
Suddenly, Neo's instincts kicked in and she sense someone was coming up from behind her. Tightening her hold on Law's hat, she pretended to be deep in thought until she couldn't hold her ground anymore. With lightning fast reflexes, she summoned a wind crystal, jumped off the bed, and trapped whoever was behind her in a whirlwind. She moved into attack but stopped when a rather cheerful voice cried out, "Weeeee! Faster! Faster! Go faster!"
"Faster…what the…" Neo slowed down her whirlwind. When she did her eyes widened at the thing she had captured. Spinning around in her whirlwind was a creature about three inches tall. Its skin was a light orange, its hair was a pumpkin orange and all of it was style up into a point, while its eyes were a bright orange with a darker orange pupil that was shaped like a cat's pupil. The fabric the creature wore was a one shoulder strap revealing midriff leaf shaped top, with matching shorts, the color was a brownish orange that reminded her of fall leaves on certain islands they had stopped at before. Her eyes went to the creature's back. She blinked at the dragonfly shaped wings. They were black on the outline and sparkling veins that ran over the rest of the transparent wings. "What…what are you?"
"I'm Time Sprite!" The little orange creature smiled brightly as she chirped her reply. "I'm Time Sprite! Time Sprite! Sprite Time!"
"It's okay. You don't have to be scared of us," a familiar female voice said.
Neo looked up to where the voice was coming from to see two more of these creatures hovering near by. They both had bluish green hair and their skin was four shades lighter than their hair. Their eyes had the same pupil shape as the orange sprite. The girl's hair was long and pulled up in two pigtails on top of her head. Her top was a two toned grey strapless bra that hugged her small chest tight, her pants were grey and straight legged but flared out at the bottom with square patches on them. She had silver braces that seemed to hover above her wrists and ankles that didn't move no matter if she was moving or keeping still. The boy beside her was wearing a white open vest with no buttons or any other kind of latch and his pants were baggy and black. His hair was cut short and spiky. Their facial structures were the same so she guessed they were twins.
"She was just curious," the female said as she and the boy continued to hover in the air. They had dragonfly like wings as well. Only theirs were transparent bluish green with the same black outline and sparkling veins. "We're not here to hurt you."
"I thought I was dreaming before," Neo replied as she released the creature from her whirlwind. It caught the creature by surprise and she fell a few inches before zipping back up into the air with a happy giggle. "But clearly I wasn't."
"That's correct," the oldest girl said. "We're just as real as you are. I know things are a bit confusing for you right now, but I assure you are safe with us."
"I'm safe with you," Neo mumbled.
"That's true! That's true!" The orange sprite flew up into her face. "You trust us, don't you?! We good! We're friends now!"
"Well, I, uh." Neo looked over these three again. She wasn't sure if she trusted them just yet, but she knew they weren't here to hurt her. If they would they had plenty of chances to do that when she was asleep. "I'm not really sure. I'm still a bit confused at all of this. But I do believe that you are not a threat to me. If you were you wouldn't have waited until I woke up to reveal yourselves to me."
"So you're not really with him, huh?" the boy asked.
Neo turned her attention to him. She noticed he was inspecting every inch of her body. She also noticed when his eyes paused on her stomach. His cheeks flushed pink before he could look away from her. She then remembered they had already figured out that she was pregnant. But she brushed it aside for now. Something else was more important. She asked, "What do you mean? Not with who?"
"Pendumdum!" The little girl threw out her hands and legs while giggling wildly.
"Pendulum," the oldest girl corrected.
"Pendulum?" Neo asked. "Who's that?"
"Pendulum is the guy who most likely brought you here," the boy said while shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Why?! Was he the one who sent that strange blob thing to attack us?! Did he take my friends too?! Do you know where they are?!" Neo asked, her words practically running together in one long question. "Do you know how I can find them?! I really, really need to get back to them!"
"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, honey." The older girl held up her hands. "Calm down. Are you saying there's more of you here?"
"Well, they're not here in this place. I don't sense Law, Chopper, Bepo, or Luffy anywhere near by." Neo flinched and pressed his hat harder to her chest.
"Who Law? Law who?" The little girl flew up to Neo's face. "You call his name when you were sleeping too."
"Law is my husband," Neo answered.
"What's husband?" The girl tilted her head.
Neo blinked in confusion. "You don't know what a husband is? Where exactly am I?"
"He's her helpmate, Celeste," the older girl said then snapped her fingers. "Oh, right! We really should introduce ourselves." She jerked her thumb at Celeste. "As I've already just said this little lass here is Celeste. My name is Velocity. The more quiet one over here is my brother, Elian."
"My name's Neo." Neo looked back at Elian who adverted his eyes from hers. "And, yes, as you have already guessed, I am pregnant."
Elian laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry. We didn't mean to intrude or anything."
"Neo! Neo!" Celeste cheered. "Pregnant! Pregnant!" She flew down to Neo's stomach. "Hello, baby! I Celeste! Nice to meet you!"
"I doubt the baby's old enough to hear you, Celeste," Elian said.
"How far along are you?" Velocity asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"I'm going into my fourth month," Neo said. "So where exactly am I? And who's this Pendulum you mentioned before? Is he holding my friends hostage as well?"
"Well, you're in the Time Stream," Velocity replied. She flew over to the balcony and looked up at the dome ceiling. She waved her hand in the air. A bluish green glowing gathered around her hand before shooting up to the dome roof, suddenly the rain stopped pounding down on the balcony. "Come look."
As Neo walked over, she saw Velocity waving her hand again. A telescope appeared on the balcony. Elian and Celeste flew passed her. Stepping out on the balcony, she looked up to see a glowing bluish green shield had been formed before she dropped her eyes down to watched as Elian repositioned the telescope while Velocity looked into the glass and shouted out commands to him in a language that she didn't understand or recognize. He obeyed her orders and changed the angle of the telescope.
Velocity then looked back up to Neo. "Here. Take a look inside."
Neo nodded and stepped over to the device. She leaned over and peered into it. She gasped in shock at what she saw. There were countless domes of all sizes hovering in an unseen stream of something. "What…what is this?"
"It the Time Stream," Elian said. "This is our world. We are literally floating in the stream of time from your world."
Neo jerked back from the telescope. Her eyes shot to the little sprites standing on the device. "Are you saying that I'm not in my own time or my own world? I'm in the future or something?"
"Well, you're not in your world at all, but you still are, sort of in your own timeline," Velocity said as she sat down on the telescope.
"I don't understand," Neo said, shaking her head. "What do you mean?"
"It's not an easy thing to understand, but I'll try. Our world is a different world from your own. We're floating in the Time Stream that is in a constant state of flowing between the past, present, and the many possibilities of the future. We don't stop for anything and if we leave the protective spheres of the domes we could be lost in time forever and mess up the delicate balance of time."
"Where did this place come from?" Neo asked.
"It's been here since the beginning of time," Elian said. "Just like your own, there have been several debates on where the Time Stream actually came from. Some believe God created this place as well as us, while others believe that a god of time actually created the time along side some others gods who created things like animals, the air, the water, fire, and so on."
"I'm not sure I really understand, but I guess I don't really care about all of that. I'm more concerned about finding Law and the others. How do I find them? Where did they go?" Neo asked her voice rising in panic. She wanted to cling harder onto Law's hat, but also didn't want to damage it with her fingernails. Tears swelled up in her eyes again before leaking down her cheeks. "Please, tell me I can get to them. I…I need them. I need Law."
"No cry! No cry!" Celeste pouted. She flew over and hugged Neo's cheek. "Pretty girl don't need to be sad! Friends be all right!"
"She's correct, Neo. I'm sure your friends and your husband will be just fine," Velocity said as she rose to be eye level with Neo. Reaching out, she brushed a tear away.
"But where are they? And why did that guy bring us here to this place?" Neo wiped her tears away and exhaled.
"My guess is they are probably on other Time Domes," Elian said as he rubbed his chin. "Since you're alive here and he took the time to actually bring you here, it should be safe to say that they all are alive as well."
"Is there a way to get to them?" Neo asked. "To the other Time Domes?"
"There use to be." Velocity flew closer over to the edge of the balcony. She landed then pointed downward. "See that pedestal down there? The stone laying in it is a Time Sphere."
"Time Sphere?" Neo questioned as she looked over the edge. "I saw that before. It looks like a giant pearl. What is it?"
"It's the device we use to jump from Time Dome to Time Dome. Usually it glows a soft off white, but it hasn't done that in about five hundred years now. Since that time we've all been stuck on the Time Domes we were in when they stopped working," Velocity explained.
"Why did they stop?" Neo asked.
"We assume they were damaged in a battle between Pendulum and Empress Futura. Pendulum's been trying to take over the Time Stream for centuries," Elian replied.
"Take over the Time Stream?" Neo asked. "What is he wanting to do with it? And what does this have to do with me and my friends?"
"Pendulum is just a power hungry, sadistic jerk," Velocity said, twirling a strained of her hair. "We have no idea what he's really after or what he would want with people who don't live here." She pointed to the lighthouse structure. "Whatever it is it has something to do with that strange building out there. He built it a short time ago."
Neo looked to the structure she tried to get close to before. She barely notice Elian landed on her shoulder. She flinched lightly at his touch, but remained surprisingly calm. He said, "For your safety, it's best to stay away from that place. If Pendulum catches you there he might hurt you."
"So that guy is here somewhere?" Neo asked.
"He's been coming and going since he started building that thing out there," Elian replied as he sat down on her shoulder.
"But you said no one can travel anymore," Neo pointed out.
"We can't, but somehow he still can," Velocity said, tapping her chin in thought. "I bet that's how he brought you all to the Time Stream. He brought you here through whatever means that's letting him travel back and forth to this place. The only questions we don't have answer to are, 'How is he able to travel?' and 'Why did he bring you all here in the first place?'. If only we could get a message to Empress Futura. She might be able to help." She fell back on the balcony railing. "Ugh! Why do we have to be stuck here?! It's driving me insane that I can't leave!"
"How long have you been here?" Neo asked. "And are you three the only one's here?"
"No, we're not the only three. There are others. The Time Sprites have always lived here," Elian said. "The ones who live here maintain this dome for travelers or vacationers. Since Pendulum has taken over this place the Time Sprites remain hidden inside the mechanical workings of this dome."
"So there are other Time Sprites on the other domes?" Neo asked.
"That's correct," Elian said with a nod. "Every Time Domes has Time Sprites that take care of them and the weather."
"So the weather isn't real," Neo said with a sigh.
"I'm afraid not," Velocity said. "It's impossible to have real weather inside of here. The domes are very thick and hard to break, but they're not impossible to break. It would cause a lot of damage to the time stream if they were broken and all of the people in the dome were lost in time."
"Lost in time," Neo said. "I think I can see how that would cause a lot of trouble. They could alter someone's future."
"You got it." Elian nodded.
"Time Sprites! Time Sprites!" Celeste cheered as she did cartwheels through the air. "Time Sprites keep domes happy!"
"And that would explain why a lot of the plants here aren't real either," Neo mumbled.
"What do you mean by that?" Elian asked. "And since we're asking questions, you don't exactly feel like anyone we've ever met before. I'm not sure how to explain it, but you feel very different."
"I didn't notice that before," Velocity said. She sat up and looked up at Neo.
"Oh, um." Neo bit her bottom lip. She still felt slightly unsure about these creatures. But they were being so helpful she didn't fell to good about keeping her most of her identity a secret. "Well, the thing is, I, uh…"
"You're a shy one, huh?" Velocity smiled at her. "And you're not very trusting."
"I'm sorry," Neo mumbled. "It's nothing personal. I just…"
"Don't worry about it." Velocity waved her hand dismissively. "We understand that trust is earned. I'd be cautious too if I got dropped in the middle of a strange new world without my helpmate and friends and had three strange creatures suddenly popped up out of no where with a bizarre story about total time take over from a sadistic sociopath."
"Story! Story! Bizarre Story!" Celeste chirped while she made loops in the air.
Neo raised an eyebrow at the orange sprite. "She's a bit…unique."
"It's best to just ignore her most of the time. She still has a few years before she hits maturity," Elian said. He then chuckled and added, "Plus, I think she hit her head a couple times when she was learning to fly."
Neo slowly nodded as she continued to study the little orange creature that was still making loops in the air. Her stomach then released a low growl before anyone else could say anything. She felt her cheeks heat up and remembered she had, involuntarily, gave up everything that was in her stomach.
Elian flew off her shoulder and looked at her. He said, "We should get you something to eat. You really need to remain strong and healthy since your pregnant."
"Oh, yes." Velocity clapped her hands together then joined her brother in the air. "We must get you and your baby something to eat."
"Is the food safe for me to eat?" Neo asked. "I mean, since I'm not from this world?"
"Yes, it's safe for you and your baby," Velocity said. "While it's not typical for people from your world to come here, we have on occasion had people stumble into this world. Some of them have even chosen to stay in the Time Domes with permission from the empress. Our food will look and taste different from yours, but it's eatable."
"And it's very healthy for you and your baby," Elian added.
"That's good to hear. Law will be pleased," Neo said.
"Let's get you something to eat now." Velocity waved for Neo to follow her back inside.
"Eat! Eat! Let's eat!" Celeste said. She flew past them all and right over to the door. She opened it and disappeared into the hall before the remaining three even entered into the bedroom.
When they got to the door, Neo hesitated. Through the now open door, she carefully scanned the hallway and the doors before stepping out of the room. The building felt a lot more inviting and less lonely with these three around, but she still knew she needed to take precautions until she knew more about this place and why Pendulum brought her here. Law would want her to as well. She brought his hat to her nose, breathing in his scent before she finally walked through the hall. Cautiously, she glanced at the doors as she passed them. She remained ready to summon her crystals if she needed them. But nothing came out of them and she had reached the stairs before she knew it.
She looked at them. There were actually two sets of stairs. One went down while the other went up. Both the stairs led to another platform before another set of stairs descended or ascended from it. She went down. Standing on the second platform she found the stairs going down into the living room. There were two L shaped couches, each long enough to hold ten people on each wing. Between the couches were several organically shaped armchairs that were accompanied by organic shaped mini tables with one leg each that hovered inches above the floor. Opposite from the main doors she saw from outside was a couple other doors that she assumed was a bathroom and possibly more bedrooms. And opposite from where she currently was standing was another doorway that didn't have a door. It was opened up to the kitchen when the sprites had just entered into.
She continued on down the stairs. She walked over to the kitchen and stepped inside of it. Calmly, she inspected this place like all the others. The cabinets, fridge, counters, table, chairs, everything was organically shaped. Her eyes stopped on the large fridge. It took up an entire wall. "Sanji would really love this kitchen."
"Sanji?" Elian questioned. "He one of your friends?" He waved to a chair. "Please, sit down and rest."
"Yes, he's the cook of the Straw Hat pirates," Neo nodded and sat down in one of the chair that looked to be hovered over the floor. She tested it and found that the legs were just very thin at the bottom and it was stable before sitting down. She kept Law's hat in her lap as her eyes followed the sprites around the room. They opened the fridge door and pulled out several objects using their magic that Velocity had displayed before. Or she and Elian did. Celesta was busy using her orange colored magic to ride around on a jar of something.
"Pirates?" Velocity asked, pausing for a second to look at Neo. "Are you a pirate as well?"
Neo twitched, wondering if she shouldn't have said anything about being pirates or not. "Well, yes. I'm the co-captain of the Heart Pirates. My husband, Law, is the captain and one of the founders of our crew."
"I see," Velocity said, before proceeding to lay her items out on the table and counter top.
"You don't mind that I'm a pirate?" Neo asked, carefully.
"Not really," Velocity said, heading over to the stove. She pulled out an organic shaped pan, placed it on the burner, and turned on the stove with a push of a button before scooping some grey stuff out of a jar. When the contents of the jar hit the hot pan it sizzled like bacon would but smelled sour.
"So what kind of magic do you three have?" Neo asked when the pirate talk didn't go any farther. "It is magic, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's magic. And, well, we can make things float, obviously." Velocity giggled as she placed another plate of food on the table using her magic. "We can change things shapes, colors, transport things short distances, basic stuff like that."
"You should eat," Elian said.
Neo looked down when he pushed a plate closer to her. It was filled with food that she couldn't identify. Her grip grew tighter on Law's hat. She wondered if this was a good idea after all. Surely these little creatures weren't lying to her. She would have sensed it if she couldn't trust them. Still, she hesitated. She had a baby inside of her to think of not just herself.
Elian then grabbed some of the food to prove his point. "You don't have to worry. We're not trying to poison you or anything. Our food here is very healthy. And it tastes great too. Well, it does to us since we've lived here our entire lives. It might taste a bit odd to you at first. And I'm sure you'll have your likes and dislikes of the food. But that's okay. We can always cook what you like when you figure that out."
"Yummy good food! Yummy good food!" Celeste chirped before diving into something that looked similar to jello. When she popped back out of it, she licked the stuff off her hands and arms. "Yummy!"
"Celeste!" Elian said, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's food! Not a cleaning tub!"
"Food tub!" Celesta chirped with a giggle. "Tastes better than water!"
Elian sighed. "You're such a child."
"Here you go," Velocity said when she brought over whatever she was cooking. "Careful now. They're still hot."
"What are they?" Neo asked.
"They're bercons," Velocity replied.
"Bercons?" Neo tilted her head.
"Just try them," Velocity said. "They're kind of sweet but also salty."
Neo blinked down at the grey blobs on the plate. They really didn't look very appetizing at all. She wondered if she should just grow her own fruits and vegetables like she normally did. But the more she just sat there staring at the food, the more she wanted to just eat it. Plus, she knew she would get tired of constantly eating the same thing over and over again. She didn't know how long she was going to be here after all. She might not have a choice. Her magic did still occasionally cut out on her. She reached out, picking up what she thought was their version of a fork, which only had two prongs on it, and stuck it into the bercon. Bringing it up to her face, she sniffed it before putting it into her mouth. Its texture was smooth and it did taste sweet and salty. The sweetness reminded her of a strawberry while the salty part reminded her of bacon. "It's not bad at all."
"Glad to hear that," Velocity said before joining the others at the table.
Neo soon found herself picking at everything they had set out. Just like she did at new restaurants they visited, she tried a little of everything. She found she liked most of the stuff. Some of it, however, she didn't care for at all. And those typically ended up having a very bitter tastes. One thing that she really enjoyed eating was a little carnation looking flower that tasted like vanilla pudding. It had a velvet texture to it and had almost zero sugar in it. Just as their lunch was winding down there was a strange change in the pressure around them. "What's going on?"
Elian said something in the strange language she heard Velocity use upstairs while he and his sister, who grabbed Celeste's wrists, ducked down behind some dishes. Velocity clamped her hand over Celeste's mouth while Elian pinned down the young girl's hands and wings.
Neo jumped to her feet when a strange man wearing a grey and purple robe appeared in the room. She started to back away from him, but paused when he took to one knee. "Who…are you?"
He crossed a pastel blue skinned hand over his chest. His black mane like hair fell over his face, shoulders, and fish like ears. He said, "Welcome to the Time Stream, Elemental Princess Neo of Luminous. I see you have already made yourself at home here." He looked over at the sprites. "And made some new friends. I'm sure they have already told you all about me but I'll formally introduce myself anyway. I am Pendulum. The one who brought you to this Time Dome."
"H-how did…how did you know that I'm a princess and an Elemental?" Neo stuttered as she took a cautious step back from him. She took another step back when he looked at her with hollow yellow eyes. She felt like his gaze was suffocating her. She had to moved her eyes up to look between his eyebrows.
"I know all about you, Princess of the Elementals." He smiled, but it wasn't warm or inviting. It was more like a victorious smile, like he had won a game or something and knew he was going to win from the beginning. "I've been watching you and your friends for quite some time now."
"My friends! Law! Give him back! Give them all back to me right this second!" Neo narrowed her eyebrows at him. She clenched Law's hat and summoned as many of her crystals that she could possibly fit into this room. Without another warning, she fired all of them at him. She gasped when her attack suddenly stopped moving. It just hovered in the air. "What the…what did you just do?"
"Now, settle down, Princess." Pendulum said.
Neo froze when she sensed the man was now behind her. But how? I didn't see him move at all. Is he just really fast? She shivered when he leaned closer to her ear. She knew she should move away. She wanted to move away. But her body for some reason wouldn't listen to her. It was like whatever had frozen her attack in place also had a grip on her.
"Easy now. I'm sure your precious lover wouldn't want you to be stupid and hurt yourself before he can reunite with you," he whispered.
Neo shivered again at his warm breath fanning out over her skin. She hated that he was this close to her, close enough to touch.
"And I know all about your phobia," he said.
Neo swallowed. She could feel him lifting up his hand. She could feel his hand reaching out for her neck.
"You wouldn't want me to touch you, now do you?" he asked.
Neo clenched Law's hat. She took a couple deep breaths as her angry flared inside of her. "Why are you doing this? Just give him back to me. Give them all back to me."
"In time." Pendulum chuckled at his own joke and pulled away from her.
Relief washed over her body when he moved away. She watched as he walked calmly around the kitchen, grabbing some food off the table and tossing it into his mouth. After swallowing he said, "I'll give them all back to you in time. For now, you'll just have to be patient for them to get their tasks done."
"What tasks?" Neo asked.
"I just need their assistance in retrieving something from other Time Domes. And as soon as they get them, they'll be brought here to you. So just relax for now and enjoy your new home."
"This is not my home! It will never be my home! What are you forcing them to do?! Where are they?!" Neo demanded. "Are they hurt?! Your blob thing hurt my brother! Let me go see him! I can heal him!"
"With the exception of your…brother, no they are not hurt. You don't have to worry about him. He'll be fine. The wound isn't that bad at all. He and his two friends will find they have everything they need to survive, they all will. And all their doing for me is retrieve some mirror shards that I lost some time ago," Pendulum said.
It made Neo's chest burn with anger. She clenched her fists over Law's hat, thunder boomed in the dark clouds that gathered near the ceiling. It sounded like all he did was just sent them to the store to pick up some milk and that they would be back in a little while.
"Easy, Princess," Pendulum said. "I'm sure the Time Sprites warned you about what would happen if you damaged the Time Dome."
Neo flinched. She forced herself to release her anger and her brewing storm.
"I know they all are pretty strong so I assume it shouldn't taken them very long to retrieve the shards. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that they all might be back with you in about a month or two."
"Two months?" Neo squeaked as all the air left her lungs. She became lightheaded and felt her knees threatening to buckle underneath her.
"I can understand why that would cause you such concern. After all you've tried to kill yourself so many times in your life before coming to live with your family. I'm sure you worry constantly about reverting back to that scared little child you were." Pendulum chuckled. "So how long do you think you can survive without them? Or, more specifically, your sweet lover? You have such a hard time sleeping without him near you."
"Shut up!" Neo snapped. "You don't know anything about us! I'm not that weak little girl anymore! I can handle this just fine! Law raised me to be able to handle myself!"
"Oh, I know everything about you all, Princess," Pendulum said as he continued to walk around the table. "Like I said, I've been watching you all for a long time now. But I will do this for you. If you can be a good little princess and not try to attack me again when I visit you I'll let you see your lover."
"What?" Neo asked. "You will?"
"I will." Pendulum nodded. He then waved at her still frozen attack. "But you can't do this again when I drop in on you."
Neo gritted her teeth. His offer was tempting but she had no idea if he would really take her to Law. She didn't even know if he was the one to stop her attack in the first place. If he did, then she wouldn't be able to attack him and win anyway.
Pendulum walked back over to the spot where he appeared. He turned to her with another smile and said, "Until the next time, enjoy the comforts of this Time Dome. You're free to roam around in it as long as you stay away from the other structure outside. It isn't complete yet and I don't want it to be damaged. Farewell, Princess Neo of Luminous."
Pendulum then disappeared from the room. When he was gone, Neo's attack came back to life. It hit the wall of the kitchen.
Neo felt her head spinning like crazy. She barely was able to call the elements back into her crystals before placing her hand over her mouth. She gagged. Her stomach threatening to release everything she just ate once again. She dropped to her knees and gagged again. She barely noticed one of the sprites landing on her shoulder or the fact that which everyone it was began to rubbed their hand on her shoulder.
"There, there. Calm down now, honey. Just take slow deep breaths. It'll be all right," Velocity's voice said. "I promise it'll be okay."
"No cry. No cry. Pretty girl shouldn't be sad," Celesta said. "Please no cry."
"Is it true what Pendulum said?" Elian asked carefully. "Are you really a princess?"
Neo looked up at him. With a few deep breaths, she told them everything about herself.
…
Author's Note: Some chapters aren't going to come out as long as others. And I don't think I'm going to linger much in the Time Domes. I do have other stories I was to do. So we'll just see what happens.