Porcelain Waters

Rebound

~A/N~

Hey all! I just wanted to leave a little note here that I'll be changing this story from being an xReader over to just another OC insert. Since the Reader was already named with defined traits and appearance, I just have no interest in keeping it an xReader. Equally, I think I will be hereby graduating from writing xReader stories from this point on, unless I receive any very particular and intriguing requests. I just simply don't gain as much joy from writing them as I used to.

Sorry to anyone that preferred that perspective!

Penguin's POV

Things had become very quiet since that night. Despite being pirates and being involved in small skirmishes, none of them had ever encountered anything so extreme like that. By morning, the fires had finally calmed- burnt out to tiny cinders that sent up little smoke trails as they finished eating through what had once been a small, yet quaint town. As the sun peeked up over the horizon, still faintly muted by the dense mist that hung over the destruction, Law had stepped off the Polar Tang by himself, commanding the rest of the crew to stay put. He'd claimed he was going to check for any survivors, but Penguin suspected he just wanted to be alone. In truth, his crew knew the events of that night hung heavy on their captain.

None heavier than Clione though. Penguin still didn't know him well, had barely exchanged more than a single sentence with him, yet he could tell the kid was normally not this silent. Not a single utterance had left Clione since that night; his screams had faded to sobs of grief while he clung to his limp sister and only when she was buried did the sound of his voice completely cease. For some time, Clione just sat with a deadpan stare. He would listen and nod or shake his head to answer, but he'd simply stopped speaking.

Uni, too, had gone back to not speaking. The taller boy stayed close to Clione, especially once Paprika was buried. It was no surprise that they were close, but what poked at Penguin's insides the most was the similarities he saw between those two and himself and Shachi. Sometimes, Uni would give Clione a warm smile and make calm hand gestures at him, fingers etching kind words into the air between them. Other times, when that wasn't enough, Uni would leave his hand gently atop Clione's head as they stood side by side. Such a simple gesture, but Penguin could tell it held far more weight between them than anyone else could see.

Penguin remembered the days when he would sit and rock Shachi, the younger sobbing and crying for his mom. Sometimes...he wondered if children were born just to suffer at the hands of adults.

"You've been quiet."

The sound of Edeth's voice made Penguin flinch, his grip on his coffee mug tightening just a little in reflex. He'd been too lost in his thoughts to hear her approach; hadn't even realized how he'd zoned out to stare down at the table. He couldn't really be blamed, right? Everyone had become like this- lost in their thoughts while they reflected on their failure.

"Everyone's been quiet." Penguin's tone was hushed, almost as if speaking had become simply too taboo.

"May I?" Edeth forced a soft smile and glanced down at the seat next to him, taking it when he nodded. "It's been...some time now. Almost two weeks have passed since Clione and Uni joined the crew."

"Grief doesn't pass that fast, Edeth..." Penguin murmured down into his coffee.

A look of surprise morphed onto her face only to be mellowed into one looking quite sorry. "I know... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She paused and searched for her words. "I know how grief feels too, you know? I lost my mom when I was pretty young. I had to learn to take care of myself since dad was never around anyway."