Broken Faith

Lesson 21: Blood is permanent. Whether you like it or not

You were running. Running and running and running and running and running and-

There was something on your head. You couldn't breathe. AirAirAirAirAir! Your fingernails scrabbled against the object, the bowl, the bubble, leaving gouges that just knitted themselves together again. But suddenly there was only one hand. The other was gone, and so was the forearm, the elbow, and now the entire arm. It was gone. Gone gone gone. But it should be? But it was.

-ning and running and running and running and running a-

It huuuuuurt! It hurt so much! Why was it so hot and orange and red and simmering? And you didn't know where to go. Which way was forwards? Which way was up? There wasn't a floor, even when your knees buckled under you and you fell.

And fell.

And fell.

Into the orange.

Into the red.

Into the hands.

The hands that caressed the back of your neck and led to a pair of lips that hissed into your ear.

"It's time for you to come home, brat."

Your eyes shot open to a blue midnight coated room. Frantically you whipped your head around. Where... Oh. There was Luffy, snoring happily next to you. Ace and Sabo were a few feet back, also snoozing away in blissful ignorance.

This was the treehouse. You were still on Goa.

You were safe.

Groaning, you hid your head in your hands. That had been... terrifying. The particulars of the nightmare you'd just had was already quickly fading away, but that heart clenching fear...? That soul destroying helplessness? A shudder ran through your body.

You weren't going to get any more sleep that night. That much was certain.

It took some time to untangle Luffy from you, mostly because you were worried about him waking than anything else. But no. Thankfully he had always been a heavy sleeper. So you ducked under the final loop and shuffled to your feet, a little awkward with the blanket still wrapped around you but for some reason you just couldn't let go.

You didn't want to go to your office. While that was normally your 'safe space', you didn't really trust yourself anywhere you were used to right now. It felt too raw. Too tangible. Your nose twitched.

Cold.

Slowly, ever so slowly, you waddled your way up the ladder. It was a little tricksy considering one hand had to hold the blanket up but you managed it somehow, and eventually you found yourself clambering over the edge of the makeshift crow's nest. You weren't exactly sure what this was from. Some sort of large barrel? A faint smell of red wine still lingered in the air even after it had been out here for so long. For some reason you found the smell soothing. As if the tang could keep you awake for longer.

The stars were different here. That had been one of your first thoughts after you'd left Mariejois, sailing on Iva's boat across the calm belt and into the East Blue. You couldn't quite put your finger on why, but it just felt different. Further away even. As if the several kilometers of height the Red Line had was comparable to thousands and thousands of lightyears through space.

So. The truth was out. Well, not the exact truth. You had very deliberately danced around the questions Ace and Luffy were throwing at you for that. Fatigue. Work. General solitude. You had thrown up as many roadblocks as you could to prevent them from prying further. And it had worked. As far as they knew, you had heard a name when running through High Town and had frozen up. No more. No less. And you'd like to keep it that way if you could.