"Ocean blue eyes looking in mine, I feel like I might sink and drown and die."
A simple girl, daughter of a pirate captain, meets the future "King of the Pirates" and begrudgingly decides to join him on his adventure to find the One Piece.
CO...
TW: Talks of child sacrifice, religious factors, mentions of blood and the consumption of blood, suicidal thoughts, and self-deprecating thoughts.
***
First nights were always rough. That's what Artemisia always said. She didn't realize how much that statement would torture her after recent events. The crew didn't stay for long after everything was over. The villagers were angry at Elias, that was to be expected. From what she heard, they locked him in jail and were planning on contacting Marines to take him away to rot in prison for the rest of his life. Something that Artemisia didn't judge them for. They tried to let the crew stay for another night as a way to show sympathy for everything that happened. Artemisia got uneasy at the thought of it so the offer was immediately shot down.
So, they packed their stuff, got on their ship, and sailed away from the island. It took a bit of effort to get past the storm but they made it to the other side with no problems. Everyone decided to take time for themselves once they were in the clear. After everything in the temple and at the feast, they all needed it. Artemisia, especially. She found herself hanging out where Luffy usually sits at the ship's figurehead. It was peaceful, which she liked. The others left her alone and let her sit in silence.
It didn't take long for the night to fall. When it did, the crew got in their rooms to sleep. All except Artemisia. She could faintly hear them discussing convincing her to come to bed as well but that idea was useless. She continued to sit on top of the sheep figurehead, looking out at the miles and miles of ocean ahead of her. Everyone had presumably gone to bed at this point. She had the deck to herself.
It was the first night of dealing with the trauma of what happened. It was safe to say that she was not doing so well. After she cried in Nami's arms, she acted like nothing happened. She didn't try to force herself to act like her regular self. She was mostly quiet. It was hard to be loud when all your thoughts were doing that for you. She could hear her thoughts screaming at her for the things that happened.
In times like these, she would usually do the trick Axel taught her. Close your eyes, imagine roots growing from the bottom of your feet, let them take root, and breathe deeply. It worked a lot of the time. This time was one of the only times it didn't. As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw the eyes of the boy from the feast staring back at her. She could see the blame in them, the fear as well. It was all she could see once her eyes went dark. Not wanting to see it anymore, she kept her eyes open. She refused to sleep. She tried to blink as little as possible. Artemisia tried to avoid looking in areas of the ship that were dark. She didn't want to see it.
