A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid & OC)

Chapter 8: Shattered Shackles

"Wait, please! Don't leave me like this again!" Loklynn called after them after they'd shut the door. "Kid? Killer?!"
It was no use; their footsteps faded and she received no answer.

Loklynn huffed and let herself fall back on the bed. Did he really have to tie her like this, and with such short chains? Her hands were fastened above her head, wrists together, held up by the chain looped around the headboard. She could hardly move at all, and she could already feel her arms cramping. she'd have some choice words for that jerk if her wrists were chafed.

She glared at the ceiling for awhile, counting the seconds as they passed slowly by. One Alabasta, two Alabasta, Three Alabasta, four Alabasta...
She got all the way to a hundred and fifty-two Alabastas when the first booms of cannon fire sounded.

Her eyes widened, staring straight up at the ceiling as if she could somehow peer through it and see the chaos on the deck. Lord, she wished she could; she didn't necessarily want to go on deck herself, it was just that she was being eaten alive by suspense and worry. She wanted to see what was happening, wanted to break her shackles-

Her eyes widened as her ears began to ring, her vision whiting out.

She'd been here before.

She'd been here before, she'd been here before, she'd been here before...

"Strip it. Let me see what I'm buying."

What are they doing? No, don't look at me...

"Would you like to brand it yourself, Saint Charlos?"

What are they talking about? No, let go!

"Yes, yes, I'll do it. It'll be mine, after all."

What is that? Get it away, get away from me!

"Hold still now..."

It burns...

IT BURNS...!

Loklynn didn't fight as she was man-handled into a simple, shapeless, light blue dress. Her pain had faded a little bit, but so had the rest of the world, and she swayed dazedly on her feet. She was so... sleepy. There were a few more words exchanged that she couldn't understand, nor did she really care to. Her eyes were just about closed...

She was wrenched back from the brink of unconsciousness by a deafening explosion, rattled awake by the resulting Shockwave. Loklynn was dropped roughly on the ground, and cried out as she landed on her fresh wound. She blearily watched the two bad men panic over the bubble-headed man laying on the ground.

"Saint Charlos! My lord, are you hurt?"
"Please, say something!"
"We need to get him to the hospital, let's go!"

They carted him off, fussing all the while, thankfully too busy with their ordeal to care about her. Loklynn blinked rapidly to clear the tears and dust from her eyes to look around. Half of the cell block was in ruins. Bars had been bent, walls toppled over, and portions of the ceiling crumbled down in haphazard heaps of stone detritus. A fire, still in its infancy, was spreading from the center of the blast in a bid for the rest of the room... and their cell was its closest target.