𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙? ☆ [ONE PIECE]

1. Cherries

Loud cries ring through the orphanage as two new arrivals are brought in, both with their limbs intertwined with the other. A tuft of brown curls can be seen from beneath the knitted blanket that barely covered both children.

Fluorescent lighting shines straight downwards and onto the faces of both girls. The younger of the two, with her dark brown eyes and tear stained cheeks, is handed off to a female caretaker as the sleeping curlyhead is cradled by the woman who previously brought them in.

The woman hikes the baby up to rest against her shoulder as she examines the basket the babies came in. She runs a finger softly over the woven names ingrained into the basket before removing the baby off her shoulder and looking at her.

The basket, worn out and just slightly torn, read two names, woven in shades of red and green respectively. Both names inscripted in a cursive, yet readable font.

"Are you Alastor?" She pauses her gentle movements, hand hovering just a tad above the green thread.

Upon hearing the name, the baby begins to stir awake. She blinks big brown eyes towards the caretaker before breaking out into a fit of giggles, making grabby hands towards the woman's ponytail.

"I knew it." She smiled.

She pokes the baby's cheek, causing her to giggle even more. Alastor glances around, seemingly looking for something.

Or someone.

Realization settles in her stomach as she turns her head towards the doorway across from them. Almost as if it was planned, the lady who had whisked the other child away steps into the room. It seemed as though they'd been looking for each other. Their other half.

From the moment they took their first breaths, it seemed as though the two had, not only their limbs, but their lives intertwined. Two sides of the same coin, it's as if the two had existed together across multiple universes, across multiple lifetimes and timelines.

And maybe, just maybe, they did.

-

"Jenny, do you ever miss our lives back home?"

Alastor, now a hyperactive 5-year-old with crooked teeth, rolls onto her stomach clutching a pillow as she peers down at her best friend sitting on the floor below.

"A bit, do you?" Jenny shuts her book and looks up at her best friend, leaning against the bedframe of Alastor's bed. "I miss my parents."

"I don't miss school."

"That explains why you're dumb."

Alastor pouts and draws out a loud, lengthy whine. She rolls around in her covers, accidentally detaching the left hand corner of her bedsheet as she falls head first onto the ground right beside Jenny.

"You're so mean!" Alastor screeches, grabbing her pillow and using it to slap Jenny across the head.

"What did I do?!"

"Exist."

At the age of 5, the girls had recovered the majority of their memories from their previous life. Memories up until the 9th grade, at least.

Their mental ages being vastly superior in knowledge and intelligence made it difficult for either to make friends with other children at the orphanage, leaving the two girls to confide with each other. But despite having the mental and emotional capacity of a 14-year-old, the two girls retained the personality of a 5-year-old.

"Can we go play?"

There it was, the question Jenny had been anticipating since her best friend came bursting through their shared bedroom with the intention of disrupting her peace and quiet.