Black Heart [One Piece x OC]

Warming Up

Just popping in to let you know that since this one of my older works, you may see some things that ended up being part of some of my other works (I am a creature of habit ;P).

The icy air clawed down her throat as Onyx sucked in a desperate breath.

She was running.

She was running and she couldn't remember why.

The snow underfoot muffled her frantic scrambling as she sped through a grey and formless landscape.

Where was she?

What was she running from?

Why did her heart feel like it was being gouged out with a thousand knives?

Onyx rested a hand on her heaving chest only to pull it away when she encountered something sticky. A scared whimper left her lips upon seeing her palm smeared with red.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she stumbled to a halt. Her extremities began to go numb as a shadowy figure emerged from the hazy background.

Suddenly she remembered.

She remembered everything.

Her heart stuttered and the pain in her chest grew ten-fold.

"You-?!" it was her own voice that broke the heavy silence.

The figure lifted a hand and beckoned to her.

Come here. Come with me.

Onyx tried to run to him, but her legs were suddenly buried thigh deep in the snow drifts.

"W-wait!" she let out a panicked shout as the man turned away, his cloak shrouding his silhouette in a feathery darkness.

Her struggles only sunk her deeper into the snow. It was now up around her waist.

Her chest.

Now her shoulders were engulfed in the heavy drifts.

She tried to lift her arm, tried to reach him, but the man walked steadily away until he disappeared into the grey shadows at the edge of her vision.

As she let out a final scream, a pair of pink glasses appeared out of the whiteness and hovered over her vanishing head.

"Onyx! Onyx! Wake up!"

Her body stiffened as someone grabbed at her shoulders.

A scream ripped from her throat and she shot upwards.

"Whoa there!" a familiar voice grunted as she wrestled against the arms trying to restrain her, "Calm down, Darlin'! Yer havin' a nightmare."

A nightmare.

Onyx blinked her surroundings into focus and recognized the pink curtain and the small cabin beyond.

The hands on her were removed and the mattress shifted.

Onyx felt her muscles relax as the scent of wood oil and sawdust washed over her. She let out a low whimper as pain seared across her chest, but it was slightly dulled by a smile that tugged at her lips.

It had been a while since she'd seen him... she couldn't help but be thankful for the dream.

"That was a rough one," Paulie's gruff voice anchored her to the present.

"Y-yeah," Onyx took a deep breath and ran a hand over her aching chest, feeling her heartbeat steadying, "Sorry about that. Did I interrupt your work?"