Heart's Fire

Chapter 10

At the actual crack of dawn, I had been awakened and dragged into the bathroom by a bunch of maids. They stripped me down and tossed me into a tub of hot water. Two began to scrub my body as the other two began to wash my hair. "Easy," I stammered out as I tried to move away from them, "I would like to keep some of my skin." "Hold still!" They hissed as they jerked me back over to them and continued to scrub. They had managed to scrub the writing off of my arm and questioned why my knuckles were wrapped up. "We don't have time for questions." The woman in charge spoke harshly as they pulled me out of the tub and began to dry me off. I turned my head away from the hair dryer as she blasted the hot air into my face like a fool, "That burns!" "Stay still!" They hissed out again. "Why did you have to wake me so early?" I tried to start conversation. "We need to make sure the dress that he bought fits you and enough time to make any  adjustments." The younger one answered as she ran a brush through my hair. It had grown out a little bit since the beginning of my journey with the Whitebeard Pirates. She pulled out a curling iron and began to do my hair as the other two pushed the mannequin over to an open space and my jaw dropped to the floor. "He wants me to wear that?" "It's a lot of dress." The younger maid winced a bit as she looked it over. "It's a beautiful ivory wedding dress modeled off of a ball gown with off-the-shoulder short sleeves and a backless blushing pink appliques. And a lace cathedral train ruffle." The oldest woman explained as she pointed to each part of the dress. It was such a mouth full to even name the stupid thing. "It'll swallow me!" I gesture to the enormously long bottom of the dress that was laid out a few feet behind the mannequin. "Well that's what the man wants to see you in." They looked at me as if they were all thinking about the same thing. "Why are you marrying such a terrible guy?" I gaped at them in shock, "You think I would actually marry this man of my own free will!?" "He told us that you had been kidnapped by pirates back when you were first going to get married years ago and he had been searching for you for years." The youngest walked over to me and gently tugged me over towards the dress. "He's lying to you." I stop in front of the dress, "He is forcing me to marry him." I pulled down the robe to show off the old brand marking on my lower back and the new one bruises on my body from his flaring temper. They gasped in shock at how they could just foolishly believe this horrible man and began to apologize profusely, kind of making excuses for not thinking by themselves. I shook my head and covered myself up, "Just help me and all will be forgiven." "How can we help?" The youngest asked as she stepped forward with a determined look upon her face, the same branding mark shown on her chest. "We need to continue on like nothing is different. Dress me." I gestured to the oversized dress. "I need one of you to go out into the woods and find an orange cowboy hat, take it to the large ship made into a whale and give the hat to a man named Ace." The youngest nodded "I understand!" She looked at the other women, who looked nervous with this plan. "Please sisters, I don't want to be trapped here against my will any longer. It's time we fight back!" She stomped her foot. "Are we even sure that you can find this Ace?" The second oldest whispered as she bit her lower lip as the third and forth girls just readied the dress. "I am positive." The youngest exclaimed, "Even if I die, it's better than this stupid place!" She hissed, the flare of life suddenly danced in her dead eyes. "I want to see the world and be free!" She stomped her foot again. "I will find this hat and this Ace person!" She smiled before hurrying over to me, hugging me "You're a brave woman to fight back." "You're a brave woman for helping me. What's your name?" I asked her. I wanted to remember her forever. "My name is Alice." She smiled at me and I gave her a smile back. "Be careful." We warned her as she excused herself from the room. "I have an idea." The eldest walked over to the closet and pulled out a pair of shorts and a roll of bandages from the dresser draw, "If you're going to escape you need to wear something under that dress." My eyes lit up as I understood her thought process, "Smart." I gave her a sly grin.

Alice pov
I peeked carefully around the corner of the wall before slowly stepping out into the hallway, tiptoeing over to the side door that was usually unguarded. I opened it and squeezed through before closing it behind me.
"Aren't you supposed to be dressing the Lady?" I gave a soft squeak and turned to see "Oh, Aaron, you scared me!" I whispered harshly as he giggled at me, "Skipping out on work again?" I shook my head no, "Sh." I gestured him closer and began to explain the situation as I began to sneak away from the giant manor on the cliff side. "Where are we going?" He asked in a softer voice as we started in the woods that swamped this side of the island. "The Lady is wanting help to escape. I have the important job of finding this hat and returning it to some man named Ace." I stepped around the few trees, pushing the small branches and brambles out of my way. "A hat? What color?" He asked as I shrugged, "Uh, she called it an orange cowboy hat." "Oh, I remember seeing one!" He exclaimed as he grabbed my hand pulled me in an opposite direction that we were heading. "I don't know this Ace guy but I can led you to the hat." I grinned, "Awesome!" As we rushed off through the woods, "I guess we are escaping with her?" Aaron glanced back at me and I gave him a nod. "I'm tired of being pushed around like a slave. I want to see the world outside of this island!" I couldn't help the starry eyed look I gave him as I thought about the world, "I heard so many beautiful stories about it from the pirates that stop by the island to restock." "Sounds like a plan to me." Aaron grinned back as we climbed over a fallen tree. "How did you manage to convince your sisters?" "Well it's a little easier when you have someone else backing your hopes." I admitted as I remember the passion that seemed to just engulf the lady as she talked about escaping. "She's so brave." I jumped down after Aaron as he held out his arms to catch me and then gently set me down onto the forest floor. "....relationship..." He muttered under his breath. "Huh?" I asked him, confused, only catching the end of his sentence. He faked coughed into his fist "Nothing!" Before picking up the orange hat in quite a hurry, "Here." "Ah! Perfect!" I squeal in excitement and hug him tightly before rushing towards the town out of the woods, "Now we just find Ace!"

We stared at the busy town and I clutched the hat closer to my chest, "How do we even begin to look for him?" I asked Aaron nervously, my eyes dancing from group to group trying to figure out where to even start looking. "Did she tell you anything else about this man?" Aaron asked as he grabbed my hand and we started to walk in to the town. I frowned slightly as I thought about to what she had said to me, "Uh? I can't remember." I bit my lip. Aaron stopped and turned to me, "You are just nervous, just take a deep breath and focus." He took a exaggerated breath with me. I closed my eyes and let out the breath as slowly as I could, trying to calm my nerves so I could think straight. "Go to the large ship shaped like a whale." My eyes snap open as I gasp out, "I remember!" I glance around before rushing off towards the docks. "Where are we going!?" Aaron called out as he hurried behind me. "We have to go to the ship shaped like a whale!" I glanced back at Aaron and he pointed in front of us, "You mean that one??" I look back in front of us to see a giant white whale ship docked at the end of the beach. "Perfect!" I hollered excitedly, seeing people gathered on the deck. "ACE!!" I let my voice ring as loud as I could go and began to wave the orange hat as wildly as I could muster. "ACE!" The group on the ship all turned to look as I shoved my way through the large crowd "I HAVE YOUR HAT!" I grinned widely as the adrenaline rushed through me. Is this what freedom feels like? Is this what happiness feels like? "Alice! Get down!" Aaron hollered and I felt something heavy collide with my back and I slammed face first into the rough, sandy beach. The hat that was in my hand tumbled to the ground and then there was loud sharp cracks that followed. I curled in on myself in fear at the sounds before I heard Aaron let out soft groan, "A-are you okay, Alice?" And the weight on my back slowly lift off of me. I sit up, "I'm okay." I reach forward and grab the hat before turning to face Aaron, "What-?" My eyes widened and my heart dropped to the pit of my knotted stomach, "Aaron!" He was laying out on the sand, blood pooling underneath his body and he groaned out slightly, the crimson liquid also dripping from the sides of his mouth. I hurried to his side, setting the hat down, and pulled him up onto my lap, "A-aaron!" Tears began to well up in my eyes as I stared at his body in complete shock. Those were gunshots, he was protecting me! "Please hold on!" I looked him over, trying to assess the damage done to his body. He reached over to the hat and thrusted it weakly in my direction, "You have to deliver the hat." He winced and then coughed up blood before taking a ragged breath. "No, I can't!" I put the hat down next to us, "I'm not going to leave you! Not after you risked your life to protect mine!" "If you don't then you will never get out of here." He wheezed out. "No, I won't leave you!" I closed my blurry eyes and let the tears begin to roll down my cheeks in droves. I felt a warm hand against my cheek and opened my eyes to see Aaron trying to wipe away the tears, "I'll be okay." I shook my head no before pulling him closer as I saw feet out of my peripheral vision. "Where did you get this?" A voice asked as someone grabbed the hat. I look over to see a man with short ebony hair. "A-are you Ace?" I whimper out as I glance around to see more people. "I am, do you know where-?" He started and I interrupted him "She's in the manor on the cliff. She's being force to get married to our Master and is trying to plan an escape with my sisters." I give the blonde a side eye as he bent down to look at Aaron. "He's wounded, let's get him back to the ship." The blonde looked at me, "If we are going to save him, we need to act now." I gave him a slow nod and let go of Aaron. The small group broke apart into smaller groups. One taking Aaron to the ship infirmity and the other group leading me onto the deck. "Could you tell us about the manor?" The man with the hat, Ace, asked with a serious look in his eyes. "Can you tell us about this man?" I bit my lower lip and then messed with my hands. "Is Aaron going to be okay?" "He's in good hands." Another man answered before I cleared my throat, "I can draw out the manor for you." And Ace hurried to get some paper.