Kailen

He was standing on the branch of one of her giant trees. Hidden from the eyes of the others down below on the beach he watched, as they were defeated. He couldn't help them. He knew nothing he could do would be enough to stop this. But she should have been able to stop it. So why didn't she? Why didn't she put a stop to this darkness already?

It was all so confusing. He wanted to go down there and save her. But he had no choice but to stay right where he was and watch helplessly. His heart hurt like someone had placed a mountain on it. He watched as they trapped three of these pirates in a wave of water. He watched as she tried to free them from their watery prison. He watched as she turned to him, looking for answers that none of them apparently had. He watched as the two strongest in the group exchanged words that were obviously painful for both of them. He watched as she tried to escape. He watched as she was easily overpowered and knocked out. He watched as he tried to get to her before he was knocked out as well.

Now it was over. No…it had only just begun. They had her now. But he wasn't going to let them keep her like this. He was going to try and save her still. But he knew he couldn't do it alone. He needed help. He needed to know why she didn't utilize her crystals. He needed answered before he could try and figure out a plan to save her.

He watched as they picked her up. A couple of them turned back to the pirates. Summoning their crystals, they spread out a multicolored powder -sleeping powder no doubt- over them then left the island by using wind crystals. Those of the wind took a hold of those who weren't of the wind. Soon the group, of about twenty plus her, disappeared into the distance. He sighed heavily. The smell of smoke and crackling of fire refilled his numb senses. In the mess below he had forgotten about the fire. The heat was obvious now. He turned back to the fire she had unintentionally set when creating her firewalls. He needed, wanted, it to be put out before he made his next move.

He summoned his earth crystals. Twisting together a ton of seaweed, he raised as much water out of the sea as he could. He guided the water over the burning forest and released it. He carefully poured the water out over the blaze, making sure it was out completely. Once the dark smoke began to fade away, he knew it was out and he could leave this place. He lifted a vine to himself and stepped onto it. As he lowered himself to the ground, he lowered the seaweed back into the ocean. He turned to look at the forest. He said softly, "I'm sorry I can't heal you right now. But, in time, you will be back to the glorious beautiful forest she turned you into."

He jumped off the vine once he was close enough to the ground. He patted the vine like it was his pet before sending it to lie back down on the ground where it was before he moved it. He quickly walked over to the unconscious pirates. He ran his eyes over them and their body sizes. He then scanned his eyes over their ship or submarine. The yellow sub that seemed to sit so sadly on the water's surface. Maybe it was just his imagination. How could it be possible that a sub could feel sad? He shook his head. It didn't matter. He had more important things to worry about.

He once again summoned his earth crystals. He spread his crystal's glow over their bodies. He didn't detect any serious injuries. He sighed, grateful for that at least. They didn't hurt them much, physically anyway. Mentally however…he shook his head. There was no time to think about that. His vines slowly wiggled out of the crystal's glow. He slid his vines under all of the pirates' bodies before lifting them all over, plus Law's sword, and onto the deck of the sub.

He grabbed a hold of the door and shoved it open. He walked inside first before using his vines to pull them all inside. Not knowing the layout of this sub, he laid them down just inside the door. He pulled the door closed then turned to inspect this place. Rushing down the stairs and through the halls, he found room after room but no way of controlling this massive piece of machinery yet.

After about twenty minutes of looking around, he found the control room on the bottom floor. His hopes were soon dashed when he looked over the controls of this sub. He had no clue how to work this type of ship, this submarine. He only had a little knowledge of sailing regular ships that he had picked up over the past twenty years. He released a frustrated growl as he ran his hand through his green hair. He turned back to the door and left the room. He ran back towards the door that he entered this sub from. He looked over the pirates before him. He had no clue how long they were going to be out. He had no clue if he was going to be able to use his abilities to wake them up any faster.

He was going to try, but first he had to get this sub sailing towards their homeland. He closed his eyes. His earth crystals appeared in the sub. He called up for seaweed to wrap around the sub. He used it to pull them out into the sea. Once far enough out, he called upon the fastest sea creatures he could find. Fifty sailfish answered his call. He then ripped the seaweed from their roots. He wrapped them around the sub in as many places as he could then wrapped the other end of the seaweed around the sailfish. "Please, take me back to Luminous. Take me home."

Obeying his pleading command, the sailfish took off, pulling the sub like a horse would pull a carriage. He sighed again. "Thank you. Thank you all for your help."

He turned his attention back to the unconscious pirates. He walked over and sat down next to one of them. He reached out and wiped some of the powder off the pirate's face. Bring it up to his own eyes, he began to study the powder to try and figure out which one it was and if he could possible counter its effects.

Neo shifted when she started to wake up. Her entire body was hurting, but she couldn't remember why. Then she did. She and the crew had been attacked. With a gasp, she opened her eyes and shot up into a sitting position. She whimpered when the movement shot more pain through her body. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"So, you're finally awake."

Neo turned her eyes to her left. She flinched when she saw so many unfamiliar people staring at her. There were at least ten of them. They were so dark. Something about them radiated darkness. Their hair was dark shades of reds, oranges, greens, purples yellows, blues, and just about all colors in nature. Their eyes were almost black. The cold stares they were giving her sent a shiver up her spine. She trembled and scooted back from them until she hit something solid. All of this darkness was the same darkness she felt from that wave and from the elements when they got attacked. Her eyes widened. "The captain and crew. Wh-where are they?!"

"Not here," the one who spoke before said.

Neo's heart hammered. She tried to locate the one who spoke. The group of people surrounding her then all parted to give room for a short, half bald, old man with a long white tapered beard that fell to the middle of his chest. He wore tribal like robes, purple in color with an orange broach attached to the collar, and was carrying a wooden staff, that curled at the top. With in the curl sat a dark blue, almost black, orb.

Beside him was a tall young man with dark blue hair and an extremely bored expression on his face. He wore very regal looking clothes. His white button up shirt and tan pant legs were straight as can be. The clothes matched his expression very well.

They both walked up to her. She tried to scoot farther away from them but the tree kept her in place, its bark bit through her shirt. She glanced around the strangers, finally noticing they were in a forest. When the old man squatted down in front of her, she flinched at the eye contact she made with him then lowered her eyes to his chest. He hummed. "Interesting. You're not quite what I was expecting."

"Father, this is ridiculous," the clean pressed man said. "We should just kill her before she awakens to her full magic."

Neo flittered her eyes to him. Awaken? She wondered what he meant by awaken, but didn't ask. Her body trembled too hard for her to form any more sentences. She just wanted to locate Law and go to him. Her heart seized up and her breath hitched in her lungs when she couldn't find him. She couldn't sense him anywhere.

The old man scoffed, causing Neo to jump. He said, "Nonsense, Tao. If she were going to awaken, then she would have done it all ready. She has to be the weakest royal we've ever had. Let's just proceed with the plan."

The old man stood up. He walked away with Tao following him. The group let the two pass by then turned back to Neo. They all held malicious grins on their faces. It made her shiver again. One female summoned a fire crystal. She shot a spark at Neo's bare feet. Neo jerked her feet back from the flame. The female elemental chuckled. Her fire crystal flickered. She said," You better get to running. It's going to be a long day."

Neo did. She scrambled up to her feet and took off into the forest. She had no clue where she was. Or where she was going. All she knew was she wanted to get away from them. She wanted to go back to the crew, back to Law. She had to find them. But she didn't know where they were. She tried to feel out again to find where Law was. She wasn't able to. All she could feel was darkness.

Suddenly, her body jerked to a stop. She finally noticed her surroundings completely. She was on an unfamiliar island. The animals were hiding. The island itself appeared to be scared. But one thing on this island was familiar. Dark crystals. There were dark crystals coming up out of the ground just like in her dream. She walked in a stumbling circle. It wasn't just those people she felt that was dark. This entire island, the crystals, trees, flowers, animals, even the air and ground was emitting a darkness.

She shook her head. "No…I don't want this! I don't want to be here! Law, where are you?!"

Neo took off running again. She could feel their eyes watching her. She could feel them searching for her with their crystals. They were just carefully watching her, observing her. She tried to force them out of her head. She tried to focus on finding Law. "Law! Where are you?! Penguin! Shachi! Bepo! Everyone! Where are you?!"

Neo summoned her wind crystals. She wrapped the wind around her and took off into the air. She broke through the canopy of the forest. A gasp escaped her and she almost lost control of her winds. She really had no idea where she was.

This island definitely was not the island she was previously on. This island was way larger and had several buildings, houses, and one very tall building that was taller than the majority of the trees on the island. She didn't recognize it at all. She's never seen a building like it before. It had multiple points rising up towards the sky, but it also looked like multiple buildings were stuck together to form this large, unfamiliar structure. It was a dark purple color. And it was also emitting darkness.

"No…" Neo wheezed as she turned her body to look over the island. There were a group of mountains in the distance behind the largest building. And the sea was all around her even thought she could only see the water from one point at her current location. Her breaths became short and sharp. She knew, for sure, in that instance that Law wasn't going to be on this island. And he wasn't anywhere close by. The only plant life she could sense was on this island and in the sea nearby. If there was another island, it was out of her range of sensing it. She was completely separated from the crew. Probably by miles or even days. He was no longer with her. She was alone.

She shook her head, fighting back her tears. Gathering as much wind as she could, she shot herself towards the part of the sea she could see. Maybe she could get away from here and make her way back to Law. She was going to go find him and the crew, somehow.

Just as she flew out over the sandy beach, a blur shot up in front of her. It knocked her down to the hard ground. Air was forced out of her lungs from the impact as sand flew up around her at the contact of her body to the ground. The grainy sand crunched between her teeth when she bit down. She spit as much of it out as she could before she heard a guy say, "I guess, Master Atlas was right. She's not strong at all."

"This isn't going to be as much fun as I thought," another guy sighed.

"Maybe." A third one shrugged. "But it'll still be fun to watch her squirm."

"This is dangerous," the fourth one, a girl, said.

"Don't tell me you're going to agree with Tao." The first guy huffed. "If she was strong at all, she would easily be able to defend against us. She's nothing. She's weak."

"You serious think this is normal?" the girl asked. "She's a royal. She should not be this weak at all. She's not even trying to fight us. We should just kill her right now."

"You know Master Atlas wouldn't like that. Just go home if you're going to be to afraid to face her," the second guy said. "You're in the way here other wise."

"Fine." The girl stomped her feet as she walked away. "Tao is right. We should just kill her now and get it over with. Don't come complaining to me when she kicks your elemental tails all over this island!"

Neo cracked open an eye just as the girl walked off from them. She wasn't sure, but she thought she only felt fire coming from the retreating girl. One of the guys stepped closer. He bent down with a dark chuckle. For a split second, Neo thought she only sensed the wind coming from him. His hand shot out towards her before she could figure out if what she was sensing was correct or if she was just imagining things. She flinched and screamed when he grabbed her arm. Her blood ran cold, imagines from her past flashed through her mind. The wind began to howl, dark clouds rolled in above. "No! Let go of me! Don't touch me!"

"Shut up!" he hissed. He pulled her to her feet then slammed her back against a palm tree. Her head spun from the impact. Nature when back to normal then. "You're not going to get off this island. If you think you found a chance to escape, you're wrong. So don't bother to even try to get away from us. You're trapped here until we decide you can go. And the only way you are going to leave this island is through death. Now…" He shoved Neo away from them. She stumbled to the ground. Her entire body ached and trembled from the abuse she was enduring. He continued talking then. He said, "Get going."

"No," she whispered.

"What was that?" one of the other guys demanded.

"I want to go home." Neo pushed up on her feet. Her bangs cast shadows over her eyes, as she turned to them. She forced her voice to remain calm and steady even thought she was so scared and wanted to just curl up in Law's arms again. "Where am I? Where's my family? What did you do to them?"

"Those humans you were with?" one of them asked. "Don't worry about them. They are no longer your concern."

"Why would you want to be with those weak humans anyway?" the third one asked. "They could do nothing for you. They're probably dead by now."

"No," Neo whispered. Her body shook more. But this time it was different. She felt something inside of her chest that she's never felt before. A strange, almost burning like feeling, began to build up inside of her.

The one who grabbed her started to walk up to her again. He reached out for her while saying, "I said, 'Get going'! I'm starting to get bored!"

Just before his hand could touch her, she summoned twenty fire crystals and screamed, as did the guy who tried to touch her. She flared up a firewall between herself and them. As she screamed at him, the fire closest to her crystals burned a whitish-blue while the fire farthest from her burned an orange-reddish color. "Stay away from me! You don't have Law's permission to touch me!"

Her outburst surprised the three guys as her fire towered over them. Neo turned and ran back into the forest. She didn't notice the damage she had done. The guy's hand was right in the way. He jerked back from the hot flames but not before they scorched his skin. The other guys shrieked and pulled back from the heat that almost touched their own skin and clothes. The one with the burnt hand cursed under his breath while using his wind crystals to cool the burn. "I guess she's a little more powerful than we first thought."

"It doesn't matter," the second guy said. "She's still not strong enough to beat all of us. We'll wear her down in no time at all. You better go get that hand check out by a healer."

The man cursed again. "Fine. Just take care of her. And don't kill her. You know that's not what the master wants."

"Yeah, we know," the remaining guys mumbled. They then separated. The two guys followed after Neo while the other one headed off in another direction to get his hand taken care of.

Law's chest throbbed. His head spun. His stomach lurched. Still, through all that, he somehow managed to notice that he was no longer outside on the beach. The smell of the warm sand and the salt of the sea were replaced with a very familiar metallic smell. He recognized that he was back on the sub. He had no clue how that happened. Last thing he could remember was Neo. His heart took a sharp beat.

"Neo!" Law bolted up from his spot on the floor. His head spun wildly from the sudden jerk of his body. He swayed while placing his right hand on his head while placing his left hand on the floor to steady himself.

"Easy, Captain," Shachi's voice said. "You've been out of it for hours."

"What?" Law looked up to his subordinate's face. Shachi was kneeling down beside him. Although the man's hat and sunglasses covered the majority of his features, the pirate captain could still easily tell how distraught the man was over what had just happened. Law's chest tightened again at the painful memories and words he had spoken to her. He grabbed his chest. His heart was striking his chest with sharp, short beats. His order for her to run didn't do anyone any good. She was now their prisoner. And who knows what they had planned for her? Were they going to kill her right off? No, if that was their plan they would have done it instead of taking her away from him. So what was their plans for her? What were they going to do to his little girl?

Law's eyes shot back up when he remembered that all of his men, including him where knocked out. He quickly ran his eyes over the room. Everyone was still accounted for. Some looked to be waking up just like he just did. Some looked to have been more awake and were obviously feeling better than others. His eyes then landed on Penguin. The black and white hatted man was sitting away from them all. Leaning against the wall in a corner, Penguin had his legs pulled up to his chest and was hugging his knees, seemingly to be oblivious to the world around him.

Law gritted his teeth. He knew Penguin was hurting and scared for his little sister. He too was scared and hurt, but mostly he was angry. He was angry with himself for not being able to protect her. He was angry with them for attacking her, making her cry, and taking her from him. And they were going to pay dearly for that. He then realized he had to find them first. He pulled his feet under him and forced himself to stand up. He wobbled when he tried to take a few steps.

"Easy now, Captain," Shachi said carefully. He placed his hand on his captain's arm and steadied the man. "That sleeping powder isn't completely out of your system yet."

"Sleeping powder?" Law looked at his subordinate in confusion. "What sleeping powder? And how would you know about it when you were passed out like the rest of us?"

"Oh, um, he told me about it when I woke up." Shachi pointed to someone in the room. Law followed the man's gesture. His eyes widened when they landed on a familiar green haired, green eyed man that didn't belong on his crew or his sub.

"You!" Law hissed. Before anyone could say or do anything, he rushed forward with lightning fast reflexes. He grabbed the unfamiliar, yet familiar, man's shirt and pinned him against the wall. "You! You were at that island with that festival! Who the heck are you?! How do you know Neo?! Where is she?! What did you do with her?! Answer me!"

"I didn't do anything to her," he replied, his voice even and calm. A touch of fear flashed through his eyes, but vanished quickly. "I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her."

"Then why did you look so surprised to see her at that festival?! You better answer me! And answer me quickly before I kill you!" Law demanded, his eyes flashing with anger.

"I was surprised to see her because I haven't seen her in twenty years," He said calmly. "I couldn't believe that she was still alive. I mean I was hoping she was still alive. But after looking for her for so long…I was starting to lose hope. I was starting to think she was dead. But then…there she was. I was so shocked that I just turned and walked away."

"No way…" Law loosened his hold on the green haired man's shirt. He ran his eyes over the stranger's features. Suddenly, he got the same inhuman feeling from him that Neo gave off. "You can't be. You…you're Kailen, aren't you?"

"You know my name?" Kailen raised a confused eyebrow at the pirate captain.

"So, you really are her brother," Shachi said. His eyes roamed over the stranger, taking him in carefully.

"But how did you…" Kailen's voice drifted off as Law's hands dropped from his shirt. The elemental barely registered that he was now free from the pirate's grip and fury.

"The Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh told us about you when we met with him on Amazon Lily," Shachi replied. All of the crew turned their eyes to Kailen.

"Silvers Rayleigh, huh? Yeah, I think I remember Shanks mentioning him before. He told me that Silvers Rayleigh would be an ally if I ever ran into him and needed help. That's good. I don't have to go over everything with you all then. But you can tell me something," Kailen said, looking over them all. "Tell me why she didn't use her solar crystal. She should have been able to easily purify those dark elementals."

"Solar crystal?" Law asked as his crew exchanged confused looks behind him. "What solar crystal?"

"She doesn't have a solar crystal," Bepo added.

"What are you talking about? Of course she does." Kailen ran his eyes over the pirates again. He quickly noted their confusion. "You don't know about it?"

"No," Shachi answered with a shake of his head.

"I don't understand. How could that possibly be? You all know about her other crystals, right?" Kailen asked. They all nodded. "This doesn't make any sense. If she's using her element crystals, she should easily be using her solar crystal."

"Perhaps you should explain what you are talking about to us," Law said. He crossed his arms and glared at Kailen.

"Well, what all did Silvers Rayleigh tell you?" Kailen inquired.

"He told us that Neo is an elemental, that Red Hair Shanks is her godfather, he told us about you of course, that her people were after her for some reason, that she was born on Shanks ship, her parents died protecting her and you, he said that Red Hair was supposed to meet up with you and Neo after you took her and ran, but ever found either of you," Shachi quickly summoned up.

"Okay…well, he never found us because we were attacked by some dark elementals. I tried to keep her safe, but they were just too much for me to handle. I was trying to escape with her with the help of a giant bird. When the dark elementals attacked, I lost my grip on her." Kailen raised his hands and looked at them. It was clear to them all that his mind was drifting back to the point in time. "Her crystals must have protected her when she fell. I tried to find her, but never could, especially with all the dark elementals wandering around. I was only eight years old then. I knew I couldn't fight them all. So I didn't. I only hid from them while trying to look for her. I always hoped and prayed that someone good found her and took her in. I've been looking for her ever since. I never found her until I just happened to run into her back at that festival."

The crew flinched at his words when Kailen said he hoped and prayed someone good had taken her in. They all knew that didn't happen. Kailen didn't notice their flinching or the thick air that settled over the room. When no one said anything, Jean Bart spoke up. He asked, "If you knew that was her back at that festival, why didn't you say anything then?"

"I was kind of scared to." Kailen ran his hand through his hair. He then held his hand out to them. "I mean, what do you say to your little sister when you lost her for twenty years? I didn't know how she would react to me if I did choose to confront her with all of this. I was scared. So I pulled back. I wanted to observe you all. To see what kind of people she was with. I also wanted to speak with the old elemental baker before deciding what to do."

"Elemental baker?!" Law asked. His eyes popped open in disbelief. "That woman was a…"

"That's right." Kailen nodded. "That baker woman you two were talking to is an elemental, too. She's also a good friend of Shanks. So she already knew who you were when she saw you two together."

"What?" Law's voice was flat. He should have known. He knew something was up with that woman with how she was acting towards them and with how comfortable Neo was with her. He gritted his teeth as he thought back to that time. Neo must have subconsciously sensed who that woman really was and knew she wasn't a threat to us.

"I spoke with her shortly after she left the festival. She said she received a letter from Shanks asking her to keep an eye out for you and your crew. He told her that his goddaughter was in the care of the Heart Pirates," Kailen explained. "Shanks has apparently been keeping a close eye on you all since you've been housing our princess."

"Your princess?!" the Heart Pirates, but for Law, shouted.

"Are you saying that Neo is a princess?!" Bepo shrieked.

"You didn't know?" Kailen blinked in disbelief. "The Dark King didn't tell you?"

"No," Law hissed lowly, but dangerously. He clenched his fists. "I knew he was keeping something from me."

"I thought he was just calling Neo a princess as a pet name or something like that. Or maybe because of how we all were treating her," Archer said. "I never would have guessed she was a real princess."

"She's just full of surprises," Conner said.

"Huh…well, it is possible that he didn't know," Kailen said thoughtfully. "I mean our people are a fairly deep secret from the rest of the world. Shanks and his crew are part of the small handful that knows about our people. And I'm not sure how much Shanks would choose to reveal to others. If he asked the Dark King to keep an eye out for us then it is possible that he might have known and just chose not to reveal that to you for whatever reason. I don't know though. I don't know how much Shanks trusts that man."

"So you and Neo are royalty?" Conner asked.

"No." Kailen shook his head. "I'm only Neo's adopted brother. My mother died when I was five from an incurable sickness. My dad left the island shortly after that and, as far as I know, never returned. He was never much of a dad to me anyway. Since my mom was a good friend with Neo's parents, she asked them to take care of me just before she died. But, even if I was her biological brother, I still wouldn't be a royal."

"What do you mean?" Shachi asked.

"Our royalty is chosen differently from how your human royalties are formed. On Luminous, a royal is an elemental who is born with all four elemental crystals and the solar crystal," Kailen explained. "Only they have those five crystals, plus wings. And there's only one royal born at a time."

"Neo has wings?!" the crew shrieked again.

Kailen gave them a quizzical look. "She hasn't shown them to you?"

"We didn't know she had wings," Law said.

"So what's your element crystal then?" Shachi asked.

"I'm only an earth elemental," Kailen replied. "Some elementals are born with two or three elements in their arsenal, but it's pretty rare. Only one in about four hundred thousand has two crystals. And I'd say, about one in eight or nine hundred thousand has three elements. But only royals have all four element crystals, the solar crystal and wings."

"The element crystals are pretty self explanatory," Jean Bart said, "but what's the solar crystal for? What does it do?"

"It's to purify the darkness crystal," Kailen replied simply. "The solar crystal also has healing capabilities. Our earth crystals also have healing capabilities, but we have to study medicine and plants to be able to utilize the earth crystals healing properties while the healing magic of the solar crystal are automatic. If we don't study them we could accidentally use the wrong medication and hurt who we are trying to heal. Although, not all of us earth crystal users study to be healers."

"There's another crystal. Neo has another crystal. How many crystals do you people possess?!" Shachi slapped his hand to his head. He, like everyone else, was having difficulty processing all of this.

"Well, our island is actually filled with a lot of different types of crystals, but we only possess the element crystals, and the solar crystal for a royal, with in our existence. We're born with them." Kailen said with a shrug. "We're elementals. That's just how it is. How we are."

"So who has the darkness crystal then?" Jean Bart asked, tilting his head slightly.

"No one does. Or no one is supposed to actually possess it. No one has ever actually seen the darkness crystal before. It's just a crystal that grows somewhere on our island because where there is light there is darkness. One can't exist without the other existing," Kailen explained. "But all the past times that the darkness crystal has appeared, it only cast its darkness over the island. Then the royal at the time would use the solar crystal to purify our island. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Are you saying that your people were ambushed by this darkness crystal?" Bepo questioned.

"I'm not really sure, but, yes, that seems to be how it happened. Or I assume that's how it happened," Kailen said with a sigh.

"You don't know?" Shachi asked.

"No, I don't. Like I just said, no one has ever seen the darkness crystal before. No one knows what it even looks like." Kailen ran his hand through his hair again. "If we only knew what it looked like, we might have been able to stop all of this from happening. Typically, when the darkness crystal starts to spread its darkness over our island, our people just start acting darker and more aggressive. And the royal of the time is usually a teenager or older. This is the first time that the darkness crystal has attacked an unborn royal. It might have been because shortly after Neo was conceive we all knew she was a royal."

"What do you mean by that?" Law demanded. He kneaded his eyebrows. "How could you possible know that?"

"It was pretty shocking to us all too. elementals never find out what their child's element is until after the child is born. And they certainly don't use their element until at least three years of age," Kailen replied. He scratched his cheek then rubbed his hand over his forehead. "This is just too much."

"Are you saying that Neo used her solar crystal when she was conceived?" Shachi asked with a gasp on his lips.

"Yeah." Kailen nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck and shoulders with his hands, massaging the tension out that was growing there. "No one really knew why. The darkness must have been creeping up on us, somehow, without anyone realizing it. Or something like that. I just don't know."

An intense shush washed over the room. They all looked down at the floor. The Heart Pirates were having even more of a hard time trying to process all of this new information spinning in their heads. Things were a lot worse than they had thought.

"Betrayal," Law suddenly said through the thick tension in the room.

"What do you mean?" Kailen looked at him.

Law clenched his fists even tighter. He gritted his teeth before looking up at the green haired man. "Your story sounds like one of a betrayal. You said your people have never seen this darkness crystal before, right?"

"Right." Kailen drawled with a slow nodded.

"And you said that in the past all your royal whoever had to do was spread the glow of the solar crystal over your island to purify it, right?" Law continued.

"Right." Kailen nodded again. He held an unsure look in his eyes at Law's words, but that uncertainty was quickly replaced with realization. "Oh sweet crystals of Luminous! It had to be a betrayal!"

"What do you mean?" Bepo asked cautiously.

"While my people are more, uh, pure than you humans are, we are not immune to evil desires and some have left Luminous to live among humans for various reasons. It is possible that someone did decided to betray Luminous and sought out the darkness crystal in an attempt to do it. Or, maybe, it's possible that the darkness crystal sought out someone to do it's bidding, especially since Neo used her solar crystal at the time of conception. It must have known it couldn't defeat her." Kailen let out a frustrated growl. He rubbed his hands over his face. "It must have formulated a plan to try and catch us all off guard to kill her. It must have hidden its dark magic until it found a host strong enough to do its bidding. Or the person seeking it did all of this."

"You make it sound like these crystals are alive," Bepo said, his body involuntarily shivered. Feeling too tired to stand anymore; he sat back down on the floor and crossed his legs.

With a sigh, Kailen said, "They are, in a way. While our crystals are somewhat alive they can't move around on their own like we can. The darkness crystal would be stabilized on the island somewhere. It would need someone to pick it for it to be able to move." He knocked his head back against the wall. "But I can't think of a single person who would willingly betray our home and royal."

"It almost sounds like the crystal itself did in fact create this plan to ambush your people. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was a willing betrayal by an elemental. The darkness crystal could have just taken someone over to do its bidding," Shachi said thoughtfully. He tapped his finger on his chin. "That's actually a very creepy thought. Who knew crystals could be so dangerous?"

"You might be right. That incident twenty years ago seemed too precise, too calculated. But I still don't have a clue who would have willingly let themselves be taken over by the crystal. Or how no one noticed someone being taken over. It's usually a pretty obvious occurrence." Kailen ran both his hands through his hair. "But…none of this explains why Neo didn't use her solar crystal to purify the elementals who attacked you."

The crew fell completely silent. All their eyes went right to their captain. Law could feel their eyes on his back. He was clenching his fists so hard now that his nails were pierced through his skin. He could feel his warm blood running over his skin, but he ignored it. He swallowed hard. Forcing himself to speak, he said, "I…I think I know why she hasn't used her solar crystal or her wings."

Kailen blinked when Law obviously hesitated to speak. He asked, "And why's that?"

"Because she was…abused." Law forced that last word out of his mouth. He then proceeded to explain to Kailen what had happened to Neo before he found her.

Kailen's eyes widened in shock as Law told him what happened. His back slid down the wall of the sub when his knees gave out on him. He laced his fingers together and pressed his hands to his forehead while resting his elbows on his bend up knees. "So that's it. All of that abuse caused her to suppress her crystals and her wings. She must not even be aware of her solar crystal or her wings. Sweet mother of Luminous what have I done to her?!"

"You didn't do anything to her," Shachi said softly. Sympathy was dripping from his voice when he spoke. He felt sorry for Kailen. Kailen was obviously a good man and cared very much for Neo. He wanted to do or say something that would help, but didn't know what that should be.

"Yes, I did. I couldn't protect her. I was too weak. I should have protected her better. It's my fault she went through all of that," Kailen said with obvious pain dripping from his voice.

"No," Penguin suddenly said. Everyone's eyes, but for Kailen's, went to him when he finally broke his silence. He got up from his own spot on the wall and walked over to Kailen. He knelt down in front of their guest. Placing his hand on the elemental's shoulder, he said, "No, Kailen. This is not your fault."

"But it is. I was supposed to protect her. Shanks told me to protect her. I failed. She went through all of that pain…all that abuse because I was so weak," Kailen whispered.

"You were only a child then. You were outnumbered by a group of people who had been taken over by darkness," Penguin said with a bit of force. "Adult elementals and pirates couldn't even stop them. What chance did a kid have? None of this is your fault."

"But how can I face her? After all of this?" Kailen asked. He looked at Penguin with watery eyes. "She's going to hate me."

"No, she won't. Neo won't blame you for anything that's happened," Law said. Kailen looked up at him.

"He's right," Penguin said. Kailen dropped his eyes back down to Penguin. The pirate smiled. "Neo is not the type to blame someone for something like this. She'll understand that you did what you could to protect her. She'll need time to process this information, but she will love you for what you did and because you're her brother."

"I don't know. I just don't know." Kailen shook his head. He lowered his eyes to the floor.

"Well, we do know," Penguin said. He looked at his fellow crewmates before looking back at the elemental. "We've had her with us long enough to know what she's like. She won't blame you at all. You'll see that when we finally rescue her."

"Rescue?" Kailen asked, bring his eyes back up to Penguin.

"That's why you brought us all into the sub and woke us up, right?" Bepo asked with a light smile. "You wanted our help in rescuing her."

"Yeah." Kailen nodded at the bear. "I do, but I'm not sure how we can."

"We'll figure it out," Penguin said with a light smile.

"This solar crystal…" Law started but then hesitated. Everyone turned their eyes back to him. Slowly, he forced his question out. "Is it why Neo was able to survive all of her suicide attempts? Because it healed her?"

"Yes." Kailen nodded. "Like I said before, in a way, our crystals are alive just like we are. And sometimes they do act on their own to protect their wielder. They worked together to keep her alive and somewhat nourished. If she didn't have them, she would have definitely died back then."

"She's extremely lucky then," Archer said.

"I don't know about that considering everything she's been through, but she's a lot stronger than you obviously know at this point," Kailen said.

"And that means?" Archer asked.

"I've been watching you all ever since I found her back at that festival. I noticed she was holding back when using her crystals. And with what you all have told me, it's now clear that she's not using her crystals to their full potential because of all the abuse she has suffered. But, even though she's holding back, she still has the means to defeat, or at least fend off, the dark elementals until we can get her to realize she possesses the solar crystal," Kailen said thoughtfully.

"How is that possible that she couldn't control the elements when the dark elementals were controlling them?" Shachi asked.

"I'm not really sure. She should be able to control them even though the darkness had control of them. The elements are still the elements. They're not good or evil. They can't be turned dark. The darkness is just blanketed over them to make them appear scarier than they really are. While she's not aware of the solar crystal, the solar crystal was still backing her up in those fights and all those years she was abused," Kailen said. "It was protecting her. The darkness probably just threw her for a loop since she's not use to it or even aware of its existence. She just needs to become aware of the solar crystal to actually use it. The same is true for her wings. She's a royal. She is, by far, the strongest elemental alive because she has control over all of the elements instead of just one. She can survive this."

"No, it's not going to be that easy," Law said. Kailen raised a confused eyebrow at him. "She's neophobic. Even if she becomes aware of the solar crystal, or her wings, she's going to be afraid and hesitate to use them. I need to be beside her for her to do that. I'm the only one who can get her to use them."

Kailen didn't say anything. He just continued to stare up at Law, to study him. Law, in turn, stared back. He noticed at first Kailen's eyes showed no emotion whatsoever, but then his green eyes turned soft almost sad. After two minutes of staring passed between them, Law narrowed his eyebrows with a low growl. He stared to question Kailen about the staring, but Kailen started to speak before he could. He said flatly, "You are in love with her."

Law's body ticked as his face flushed.

Kailen sighed. With a wave of his hand, he stood up and said, "Don't worry about it. I pretty much already knew that from the way you two were always together, how you held hands and all. We can discuss that later. Right now, we have more pressing problems to deal with. We have to get to Luminous before they kill her."

"They're going to kill her?!" Bepo shrieked. He kicked his arms and flailed his arms wildly. "We can't let that happen! We have to get there! Now!"

"How long will it take us to get there?" Jean Bart asked. "And how long were we all knocked out?"

"It'll take us about three days to finally reach Luminous at this speed. You all have been knocked out for about eight hours. I tried to wake you all up sooner, but I only have a few years of experience in healer training. Trying to counter the effects of the sleeping powder wasn't easy," Kailen said. He walked over to one of the portholes and looked out at the creatures. He looked at the giant sea king snakes that were now pulling the sub. "I've been using the fastest sea creatures I can call upon to pull us to Luminous. Once they get tired I call on some more. It's a lot faster than using your sub's engines."

Kailen turned back to the pirates. He said, "While I don't believe Neo is in an immediate dangers of being killed, we still need to get there as quickly as we can. If they wanted her dead then they would have done it instead of taken her back to Luminous. The darkness crystal must realized that something isn't right with her and her solar crystal and decided to take advantage of it."

"But why?" Penguin, now standing, asked. "If she holds the solar crystal then she's still a threat to it. Why take the chance of taking her hostage when she can purify it?"

"Who knows why evil does what it does?" Kailen shrugged. "It probably has a big ego. It probably thinks it can get away with anything. There's really no point in trying to figure that out. Right now, what we do need to figure out is how to get you all on Luminous and how to fight the elementals. This is not going to be an easy fight."

"Neo has been disoriented before by some kind of powder," Shachi said. Law looked at his subordinate then over at Kailen. "Can you make some of that? I'm assuming it was the dark elementals who created it."

"What?" Kailen looked at Shachi confused. "What do you mean?"

Shachi quickly told him about the mercenaries who took Neo from them.

Kailen nodded. "Yes, I see. It was them then. They probably just had the mercenaries attack her like that to see what she was capable of doing before planning out their next move. It seems they have been aware of Neo's presence a lot longer than I thought."

"Then they have been spying on us for quiet a long time," Penguin growled. He gritted his teeth and punched a fist into the palm of his hand. "We didn't even know how much danger she was really in."

"Steady, Penguin," Shachi said calmly. "No point in beating ourselves up over what happened in the past. We need to stay focused on the here and now."

Penguin forced himself to relax. He nodded. "Right."

"Yeah, it's no surprise she didn't notice them. We elementals are very good at blending in with nature. With practice, she'll be able to over come that and we won't be able to hide from her anymore," Kailen said. "As for the powder they used, I can't make that powder since my skill level isn't that high yet. I can, however, make a sleeping powder."

"Then do it," Law hissed. His impatience was starting to take hold. His body was itching and twitching to get his hands on the ones who took his girl from him. He wanted to get to Luminous right this second. But he had no choice. He had to wait.

"I will, but I won't be able to make enough to take out everyone on the island," Kailen said with a sigh. "Most of their skill levels are beyond mind. Besides, there are far too many to take out."

"How many elementals are there?" Bepo asked.

"Well, when I was on the island twenty years ago there was over nine hundred thousand," Kailen said. "I'm sure the numbers have grown since then."

"You mean Neo's kingdom holds about a million people?!" Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo shrieked.

"Probably. I never paid much attention to how many of us there were, especially since not all elementals live on Luminous. But I'd say a million is a pretty good guess." Kailen nodded.

"Never mind that," Law hissed, gaining everyone's attention. They all flinched at the harsh storm brewing in their captain's eyes. The pirates knew that look very well. They knew their captain didn't care how many of them there were. He would kill each and every single one of them that he got his hands on. They committed the taboos of hurting, taking, and making Neo cry. "We need a map of Luminous. Bepo will help you construct one with Kailen. We'll also need to form a plan on how we are going to handle the elementals when we get there. Also, Kailen we'll need to see what all you can do with your earth crystals. That means we have to spar with you and get to know you better."

"Of course." Kailen nodded. "I'll do whatever you need me to do."

"Good." Law nodded back. "Now get to it! All of you!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew shouted and saluted.

Law nodded back at them. He then turned from them, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked away from them.

"Where's he going? I thought we had planning and training to do," Kailen asked. He pulled his eyes from the retreating captain's back and looked back over to the crew.

All eyes when to Penguin. Penguin returned their looks before looking at Kailen. He said, "It's best to just leave him alone right now. He's feeling extremely guilty that he couldn't protect her. He'll come back to us when he's ready to move forward. He'll want to be in on all of the planning anyway."

Kailen nodded. "He really is in love with her then."

"You have no idea how deep their connection really is," Penguin said softly with a gentle smile. "They've bonded on a very deep level."

"Bon-ded?!" When Kailen's voice wavered they all looked at him again. "Do you mean that…when they bonded…did she engulf him in a white glow?"

"Yes, she did." Penguin nodded. He tilted his head when the color drained from Kailen's face. "What's wrong?"

"You look sick," Bepo said. "Do you need to sit down?"

"N-no." Kailen shook his head. "I'm fine. Let's just get to work. I'll try to recall everything I can on how Luminous looks. Do you all have paper we can draw on?"

"Sure." Bepo waved for Kailen to follow him. "Just come with me. My navigation room is this way."

Law, with his hands still in his pockets, sauntered mindlessly down the halls of the sub. His entire body hurt. His mind was spinning too fast for him to even completely comprehend everything that he just heard. He really didn't want to think about that now anyway. All he could think about was her and how scared she would be.

The only thing he knew was he wanted to be with her again. He wanted to have her back by his side. He wanted to hold her, to touch her hair, to take her hand in his, to tell her everything was going to be fine. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't do any of that when they were miles, days apart. It hurt that he couldn't do anything. It hurt even more when he could feel all of her pain and fear, but couldn't reach her to tell her everything was going to be fine. That he was coming for her.

Law's body paused when he reached his…their room. He shadow covered eyes slowly turned to the door. He clenched his teeth. Forcing himself to take a hold of the door handle, he pushed it open. A cool wave of wind brushed across his skin when it opened. The click of the door being closed barely registered in his ears after he stepped inside. He pressed his back to the door and looked over his room with shadows still cast over his eyes. The only light that shone in his room was from the lights on the outside of the sub. It only gave a tiny beam of light that shot over to one certain corner of the room.

His eyes followed the beam until landing on the large stuff bear sitting in the corner of the dark room. Pain shot through his chest again. He pushed off the door and walked over to the bear. He clenched his hands while staring at the lifeless thing. His entire body started to shake. His anger reached its boiling point. He pulled back his right arm and slammed his fist into the wall of the sub just a few feet above the bear's head, denting the wall.

Pulling back from the damage he just did, Law's fist was now red and throbbing. He didn't care. He didn't even really feel it. This pain was nothing compared to what Neo was going through. He pressed his back to the wall and slid down to the floor. He bent his legs up, crossed his arms over his knees, and hide his face in them. He was unaware that his body started to glow white as he whispered softly into the darkness. "Neo…I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. But I'll make it right. I will. I will come to you. I am coming for you. Just hold on. Just wait for me."

Neo was lying on her back, staring up at the dark crystal green ceiling above her. She wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the ceiling or how long she had been in this place. She didn't even know where she really was right now. The last thing she could recall was not being able to fight against them anymore. She was just too tired from fighting and running all day to fight anymore. She had collapsed by a stream, weak, hungry, and thirsty. Too weak to even form her crystals anymore. Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her skin was spotted with more cuts and bruises she had accumulated during the hours she was hunted. Law wasn't going to be happy about that, if she ever saw him again.

Her senses were turning dark, as they had gathered around her. She vaguely heard them talking about taking her somewhere before the world around her when black. When she woke up again, she was here, in some kind of prison cell. No one else was around now. All of the other cells were empty. Her only company was the light that was coming from dark yellow crystals hanging on the walls that gave off a nauseatingly yellowish green glow.

The quietness of the prison was interrupted by footsteps, laughing and talking. "I know. I can't believe she's this weak."

"I can't believe we're not allowed to kill her yet."

"Where would the fun in killing her now be? We can have lots of fun with her for now. So let her suffer."

"I suppose you're right. This is a lot more fun. It would be even more fun if we were allowed to bring those humans here. They're such weak creatures. It would have been fun to play with them a bit longer than we got to."

"Naw. They would be too easy to beat. You saw how easily they went down when we attacked them. They barely put up a fight against us. At least she's more of a challenge than humans, even though she's as weak as she is."

Neo didn't bother looking at them. There wasn't any point. They obviously weren't going to answer any of her questions, if she asked them. They just wanted to hurt her, to taunt her. She felt one of them pour their magic into the bars that separated them. She then heard a scraping of something on the crystal floor. "Eat up, brat. You'll need your strength to fight us again tomorrow."

The group laughed while they headed back out from wherever they came from. Once their talking and laughter had completely faded away, Neo turned her head to her left to see what they had given her. Laying a few feet from her was a tray with an apple, a small loaf of bread, and a cup of water. Her stomach turned. The mere thought of eating made her feel sick. She was too tired to eat. She rolled over onto her right side to get away from the nauseating food.

The hard crystal ground aggravated her bruises and cuts, but she ignored them. That pain didn't compare to the pain of being away from her family…from Law. She hated that she couldn't sense him anymore. She didn't know why. Maybe he was just too far away for her to sense him still? She wanted to believe that he was coming for her, but how could he? He, nor any of the crew, knew where this place was. They didn't know where she was. If they did try to find her, they could end up going in the wrong direction, therefore moving farther away from her. Her heart clenched with an icy grip.

Neo sniffled as a couple tears dripped from the corner of her eyes. She lifted her hand and touched Law's hat. At least she still had that with her. She lowered her hand back down and looked at his ring. She also had that with her. But they weren't a decent substitute for Law. They couldn't hold her like he could. They couldn't give her comfort like he could. She wanted him.

She brushed her fingertips over the smooth texture of the ring. She closed her eyes, unaware that her body was starting to glow white again, and wished he were beside her again. "Law…please…I need you. Come find me."

'Neo…' He placed his hand on her hair and stroked it tenderly.

Neo gasped when she heard him say her name and felt his hand on her hair. She sat up. She blinked when she saw him sitting there. Or some form of him. His body was glowing and transparent. She hesitated to reach for him, afraid that this was nothing but a dream. Her hand trembled before she placed it on his cheek. She felt him. "Law…you're here."

Law reached up his hand and brushed away her tears. 'Neo, it'll be all right.'

"Law." Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wanted to say more, but couldn't. "Law."

Law looked over at the tray on the ground. He grabbed the apple off it and brought it up to her. 'Here. You need to eat.'

"No." Neo shook her head, her voice finally returning to her. She shifted closer to him and curled into his chest. "I don't want to. I only want you."

'I know you do. And I am coming for you.' He wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing her into him as much as he could. He then took a small bite out of the apple. He brought the started apple to her lips. 'Eat. You need your strength to get through this.'

Neo sighed. She really didn't feel like eating, but did as she was told. She parted her lips and allowed him to feed her the apple; it was tasteless to her shot senses. He kissed her hair while she slowly chewed it. 'Good girl.'

They remained in silence until she finished the apple. She then whispered, "Law, I'm so scared. I don't know what to do. I can't handle this. I can't. I need you beside me. I'm scared."

'I know your scared. But you are going to be fine. And you can handle this. You are a lot stronger than they are. You have all four element crystals while they only have one. A couple might have two or three of the elements, but you have all four and a solar crystal,' Law said.

"What?" Neo turned her eyes up to him. "What solar crystal? I don't understand."

'I know. And I can't explain everything to you right now, but you can handle this. You will survive. I'll be there in a couple of days.'

"But how? How do you know where I am? I can't sense you. You're too far away."

'Your brother is showing us the way.'

"Penguin?" Neo lifted off of Law's chest and looked at him better.

'No, your other brother, Kailen. The one the Dark King told us about,' Law said. He stroked her cheek, his body fading from her sight. 'He was following us ever since we left that festival. He saw us there.'

"I don't under-Law! You're fading!" Neo grabbed onto his shirt. More tears poured down her face as she begged him not to go. "Please! Don't go! Don't leave me!"

'Neo, listen to me…you have to fight. You have to survive.' He ran his hands through her hair and pressed his lips to her forehead. 'Survive for me, okay?'

"I can't," Neo whimpered. "I can't fight them. They're too strong. The darkness is too strong."

'No, it's not. You are stronger than them. The elements aren't evil. You can still control them. All you have to do is become playful with the enemy. That's your developing battle style, remember? Remember how playful you were with those pirates? How you weren't scared because you didn't have to hurt them to win? That's all you have to do here. Ignore the darkness and just play with them for a couple of days, okay? I promise I'll be with you again then. Just live! Okay? Be playful. Become playful and survive! I order you to become playful and survive!'

"Law!" Neo gasped. She reached for him as his body finally faded away from her. She snapped her eyes around the once again empty room. She was desperate to find him again, but he was no longer there. Panting, she pressed her right hand to her face. "Dream? Was that a dream?"

Neo dropped her hand to her lips when she tasted the apple in her mouth. She looked down to find only the core of the apple remained. She held up her hands and looked at them in confusion. Had she actually felt him? Was he really there, somehow? "What did…what did I just do?"

She lowered her hands to her lap. She tried to convince herself it was just a dream. After all, she still couldn't sense Law nearby anywhere. But it wasn't a dream. She knew that Law was somehow in this place with her. He had held her. She felt his touch. He fed her the apple she didn't even want. The flavor that she could now taste in her mouth was proof of that. She wouldn't have eaten it if he hadn't made her.

She looked down at the bread on the tray. Slowly, she reached out and picked it up. She pulled her knees up to her chest. With her left arm wrapped around her knees, she nibbled at the bread with her right hand. She sniffled and brushed away her remaining tears. "Be playful, huh? I can do that, I think. I can do that for you, Law. Just come find me like you promised. I don't want to be alone anymore."