𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐞 | 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 ✔️

and

It's cold, so cold that her body feels numb. She hadn't even gotten dressed, simply walked outside with William in his wheelchair and placed him under the protection of the patio cover, while she sat by his side breathing in ice.

 Yet, Masayoshi doesn't care-- doesn't even acknowledge the blue covering her skin or the chattering of her teeth. The only thing she can seem to focus on is the green eyes and she decides that's the only warmth she needs. 

It's the only green around them with all the snow covering them, but she finds herself trapped in them and suddenly she's in a meadow of too much green, with him.

William hasn't spoken properly in two weeks, nor has he looked at her, but that same gleam in his eyes remains and so the hope in her chest does too.

Before it's buried under that snow.

William turns to her. "I... know I'm supposed to... love you, but I don't know... who you are."

Usually, when he speaks she doesn't hear the words that come out of his mouth, typically all she ever hears is him. Masayoshi wonders why it can't be that way right now, and why his first sentence in weeks is something so heartbreaking.

She thought her heart had already been broken, but it has yet to tear and fall. It'll happen, she's positive of that, but as long as she's captured in his warmth her heart will remain.

She turns to the snow. "There's this special person in my life. He's kind, confident, happy, and caring. So caring, that I can't believe it sometimes. He never stops smiling, either. He taught me how to smile-- but now he's teaching me how to cry."

"That's, okay." William whispers, and she knows he's growing tired of speaking. "Crying is good."

"That's what he would say."

"He... sounds lovely."

"Yes, my love. He is."

She just needed to talk to someone about her love, about how amazing he was even if it was the lad himself. Even if he can't remember her lover being him.

Something trickles out her left eye and along her face and it freezes before it falls off of her chin.

William speaks one last time. "...Am I, that lover?"

Silver eyes stare into green.

"No."

There's another crack, but she can't hear it.

Alfred places a cloth on her head, gives her medicine and changes her blanket from time-to-time, ensuring she's well taken care of and just to keep her in place, William is in the bed next to her. She's panting very quietly that he barely notices, but her gaze is fixated on the blonde haired boy next to her. 

Alfred had found the two out in the cold, one dressed properly and the other not, and had nearly gotten a heart attack when he saw her blue skin. He made quick work of the herbal tea in his kitchen, offering it to her in order to warm her body up. Had he been a moment slower, Masayoshi would have gotten frostbite.

At first, he'd wanted to reprimand her. But then his eyes fell to her own and he stopped. Out of every part of her body, they looked the coldest. 

He left to go continue his job, but not without delivering a small kiss to the young girls forehead, doing the same with the young boy. Neither shifted nor replied to his affection.

The young captain stares at the ceiling, long and silent before an attempt to speak is made. Surprisingly, her voice is hoarse and broken, so much so that it's nearly beyond recognition. A pit forms in her stomach, and her eyes widen, hand reaching out in pain.

 "I..." Is all she can seem to get out. She gathers all of her strength, telling herself that she'd been through far worse physical pain than this- and it's true. However, she's never been in so much emotional pain and the combination isn't exactly comfortable.

In a panic, Masayoshi falls off of the bed and barely catches herself. On her path towards his bed, she staggers and constantly trips until finally the soft fabric of his shirt is clenched between pale digits.

"W-William," She rushes, shaking him back and forth. Her mind pauses, struggling to form words but her heart is ready and she just needs her body to comply. His eyes grow more hollow, as does the pit in her stomach.

"I..."

Blonde hair ruffles as a head shifts to lean closer to hers. For a moment, it's as if he remembers who- what they are.

Her fingers shake as they interlock with his own.

"I... William, I- I love you. I love you. I-"

His eyes bore into her own, and unlike normal, there's no light or warmth in them.

She opens and closes her mouth in a desperate attempt to repeat the three words once more until she receives a response. 

Finally, she manages to speak clearly and with confidence- a greater confidence than when she regards her father as the strongest man in their world, a greater confidence than when she fights against a weaker opponent and is guaranteed, a greater confidence than when she tells her soldiers that she is strong enough to handle herself. 

This confidence is full of love, something she's been taught to do by this one boy cradled in her arms as she rests on the left side of his bed.

"William, I love you!"

She never receives a response.

Masayoshi wait's hours until she gives up, resting by the boys side and holding his hand. She doesn't cry- doesn't want to when this is her final moment with him, and it only makes the silence even more deafening. 

She closes her eyes and lays with him, wishing that somehow he'll wake her up in the morning with a smile and ask to dance.

In her arms, at night, William offers his soul to death.

Damn... So, uh...

Rest In Peace, William?

Next chapter we possibly see the whitebeard pirates.