A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid & OC)

Chapter 27: When The Mind Screams

Loklynn didn't look away until the moment Killer disappeared over the lip of the galley stairs. Her hands shook and her eyes filled with angry tears. Damn him. Damn them both, why did she even try? Why did they just keep on pushing her?!

'Then where is he now?'

'You're just way too much to fuck with.'

'You're weak. Pathetic.'

...

"Are you angry, Saoirse?"

The voice came from right behind her, shattering through her righteous indignance and freezing her in place. She could practically feel the breath of the words brushing the back of her neck, burrowing into her ears and into her skull, screaming for her to remember.

Loklynn whirled around with a shriek lodged in her throat, fully expecting to see a familiar pair of jagged golden eyes gleaming down at her, staring straight into her soul. She ducked away, Haki flowing into her hand as her fist shot up to block the vicious blade aiming straight for her throat-

"WOAH!!"

Her mind cleared when her fist burst through something both soft and coarse, like a worn curtain. She blinked the vision away and looked up to see none other than Heat, neglecting the cabbage rolls in favor of checking on her. He was slightly crouched and leaning back awkwardly to avoid her fist that had missed his cheek by mere centimeters. A few dreadlocks were hanging off of her wrist, caught in the crossfire. His eyes were blown wide with shock that quickly bled into worry as soon as he realized he wouldn't actually have to fight her.

His greeting was a quiet rasp.

"Heya doll. Mind puttin' that down?" He slowly pointed to her fist still in his face, grinning when she flushed and yanked it back like his hair had burned her. "Thanks. Lemme guess: eggs overcooked?'"

He was clearly teasing, but it was still a stinging truth; Loklynn huffed and softly jabbed his arm before finally lowering her hands and relaxing out of the unfamiliar combat stance she didn't even remember dropping into.

"I wouldn't exactly put it like that," she muttered sullenly. She looked down. "Look, Heat, I didn't mean to-"

"Nah."

Heat proceeded to literally grab her face with one giant gray hand. She was effectively muted with his palm covering her mouth while five spindly digits spread themselves wide to engulf the entire rest of her face. Peeved to no end, Loklynn groaned and slapped at his wrist and the back of his hand indignantly. When that didn't work, she went for the man to whom the offending appendages belonged.

"'M twyin t'folchise, l'me gho!" To her righteous annoyance, her flailing hands were met with thin air, unable to compete with his superior height as he held her back at arm's length.

"Nope," Heat wheezed out a short snicker. He let her struggle for another couple seconds before he quietly stated:

"...I get 'em too, Loklynn."

Her eyes shot to his, and something in them made her pause. He waited for his statement to fully register and for her to still completely before relaxing his hold, allowing her to grip his hand in both of hers and lift it off her face.

"What do you mean?" She asked, not letting go. Maybe it was an attempt to avoid her eyes, but he seemed almost transfixed at the sight of her gripping his hand.

"Happens a lot less now," he sighed, "but I used to have a lotta flashbacks 'bout my time on Blow-Billow Island, where I lived before the crew saved me an' Kid invited me aboard. Been three years now, but I still..."