Two Hearts

Killing for My Captain

Aisuru practically fell down the hole, and continued her mad sprint to save her captain. The smell hit her halfway down the tunnel. She took off her jacket, using it to filter the toxic air with some success. Her prism-prism fruit lessened the effect as well, but she couldn't imagine what was happening to Law.

The iron door was open, letting the toxic fumes roll out. She was starting to get dizzy, even with her power and her filter. She held the wall for support, staggering into the large, cavernous room. One of the cages lay on its side towards the middle of the room. Another stood upright behind it.

At the back of the room sat a blob of steaming sludge. It was, presumably, the cause of the purple haze engulfing the room. In the very center, on top of the cage, was a nymph. Her skin was pale, and seemed to have a wooden texture. Her green hair was long, like her fingers and arms, and a crown of twisting branches circled her head. She was sitting, cross legged, with Law's head in her lap. She played with his hair absently, watching Aisuru with a curious smile.

Aisuru stared hard at her captain, barely hoping that she wasn't hallucinating the steady rise and fall of his chest. She shook her head. It didn't matter. What mattered was destroying the monsters that were trying to take him from her.

She reached down, grabbing a rock that fit nicely in her hand, and dashed across the cave. She used shave to rapidly close the distance between herself and what she thought was Connor. The nymph laughed as the sludge monster reared up. Aisuru ran straight into the toxic goop, glowing all the way.

Within seconds, she had Connor pinned to the wall. Her stomach felt sick and her skin tingled uncomfortably with the remnants of his muk-muk powers. The nymph was still chittering as Aisuru bashed Connor in the temple with her rock.

He was unconscious, dead weight the first time. She held him in place and smashed him again. The second time, she had to leave her rock embedded in his slick, bloody skull. She let his corpse drop. Her attention was drawn to Law's nodachi. There was no doubt that the monster had taken it from him, merely to store it. She picked it up, appreciating the weight, and turned to face the silent nymph. "Get away from my captain."

The nymph pouted, leaning over Law and drawing him closer to her. A wave of her hand caused twisting trunks to burst out of the ground, crashing toward Aisuru.

She drew Law's nodachi, sending her prism-prism power down the blade. The sword took her blue glow, easily slicing through the trees as they threatened to overtake them. The trunks turned black as their power was drained, withering even as the nymph sent more. The trees purified the air around them, slowly cleansing the purple haze.

Aisuru turned the fight into a dance, weaving her way through the sporadic eruption of juniper trees. She sliced the ones that got uncomfortably close, but ignored those she could avoid. The nymph rolled her hand over Law, encasing him in branches of a fast growing tree. Its roots burst through the cage, burrowing into the ground. With Law safely out of Aisuru's reach, the nymph raised her arms, then flicked her wrists down.

Massive amounts of trees grew from both the floor and ceiling, creating a dense, disorienting jungle of Juniper. Aisuru's touch alone caused the trees to die, and she was still able to slice them with ease... But they grew like the heads of a hydra: for every one she removed, three more grew to block her path.

The nymph leaned out from behind a nearby tree, tips of her fingers covering her mocking smile. Aisuru felt a shiver run down her spine. The nymph was wearing Law's hat. She took a reckless swipe at her, slicing her in half. "HA!"

It didn't have the desired effect. The body of the nymph merely turned to solid wood, and her giggles echoed through the trees. Aisuru bared her teeth, determined to get to Law. She climbed the nearest tree, trying to get a vantage point. There was a very narrow space between the top of her trees and those which were growing from the ceiling.

Her mouth fell. Somehow, she had gotten turned around. She was at the outside of the room, looking back towards the center. "LAW!" she screamed, desperate to wake him, "LAW!"

He didn't so much as twitch.

"Shhh," The nymph appeared in front of her, green eyes glittering.

Aisuru lunged, wrapping her arms around this hated devil fruit user. She felt the body harden beneath her touch, turning to black, rotting wood as she fell through the branches. She landed on her side, bruising her shoulder and hip.

She staggered to her feet, clutching the nodachi. Aisuru killed a path, sure she was heading in the right direction. Occasionally she would have to blacken the body of the nymph, who appeared solely in order to laugh at her.

Once again, Aisuru made her way to the top of a tree. Once again, she found herself at the outskirts of the room. She couldn't even tell where she had been! She climbed back down, smiting everything in her path. Her anger mounted as she heard the trees simply regrow behind her.

Aisuru wandered for an undetermined amount of time. She stopped checking her location. She tried looking for a pattern in the trees, but they all looked exactly the same. She came to a dead stop. "They look exactly the same." She closed her eyes, reaching her hand out. She felt nothing.

She opened her eyes, seeing the trees all round her, feeling them, smelling them... She closed her eyes, and every sensation was gone. Aisuru smirked. Now all she had to do was not fall into the chasm Law had made several days ago. She used the smell of Grama Grey's corpse to keep well clear, and used the nodachi as a lead.

Aisuru felt and heard it tap metal, and she opened her eyes. She was at the base of the six foot cage. She grabbed the bar experimentally, finding it completely free of the draining sea-prism stone. She slipped her shoes off. It was an easy climb, even with her eyes closed. Barefooted, Aisuru made no sound.

She could hear the nymph humming a lullaby, probably with Law in her lap again. She sent her power down the blade of his nodachi, and claimed the head of the wordless nymph.

When she heard wood strike metal, she opened her eyes. The nymph's head had rolled off the edge, and her body simply fell backwards. Aisuru rescued the hat from the edge of the cage, then stepped around the rapidly forming pool of blood and ripped away the branches binding Law's body. She pulled him to the edge, then hefted him over her shoulder.

"You. Are really heavy." She complained at her unconscious captain before stepping off the edge. She landed with her knees bent, but the force jarred Law awake. He groaned, holding his face in one hand.

Aisuru quickly set him down, leaning him against the bar of the cage. On her hands and knees, she peered into his exhausted face. "Hey," she cupped his cheek in one hand, using the other to support herself, "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

He groaned again. It took him several seconds to focus on her. "I... Messed up."

"Yeah, but you're safe." She smiled faintly. "We won't be for long, though. Here," Aisuru wedged herself under his arm, wrapping her arm around his waist.

Law leaned heavily against her, holding his face in his hand. "Sorry." His voice was tired.

"Hm-mm" She shook her head, helping him walk to the roll up door. "Can you get us outside?"

"Uuuuuuuhhhng..." He held out his hand. "Room." His power flickered to life around them. "Shambles."

For an instant, Aisuru thought they were going to die. That Law had not been capable of getting them outside, and they had been merged with the door. Then the bright sunlight stung her eyes, and she was forced to shade them.

Law sounded surprised, "It worked."

"Yeah, that's not exactly inspiring confidence," Aisuru sighed, starting down the path to the harbor where the Polar Tang was docked. "Are you okay enough to hear what's happening?"