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mekachu04Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Sex
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Summary:
Its a light rain, warm fresh water splashing his face, the edge of a tropic storm building on the horizon. It picks at his memory, like a forgotten dream, a lullaby from the few calm points of his childhood; a point of peace where he knew he was going to die, but that was okay. He's thirteen again, and his world is ending, but it's okay, because he wasn't alone anymore.
Corazon is standing at the front of their tiny ship, staring out at the storm with a look of worry. He was just as Law remembered him, large and imposing as equal as soft and kind.
It was a nice dream to die in, Law supposed.
The adrenaline of the night had started to catch up with them all, though the kids where flagging much faster than Corazon. Kidd and Law were both slumped back to back in the bed of the little boat, snoring softly, the use of their fruits throughout the night having finally caught up to them. Killer had nodded off not long after, still sitting upright along the boat's bench, body towering over the youngest of their little group. Victoria sat next to him on the bench, even their smaller frames only just fitting side by side. She was cradling the lantern in her lap, having turned it down so only the barest hint of light burned. In the absolute darkness of the storm outside, it still burned bright enough for the two of them to study each other under it's glow.
Once it was clear the two boys had hit their wall -so to speak - Corazon had dug out his and Law's sleeping gear, cocooning Kidd in Law's blankets while the Victoria and Killer tucked in close with his own. Law had been tucked in with his own black coat, the boy smiling so tenderly as he pulled the feathers in close that Corazon had frozen in place when his kid murmured thanks. It was still new enough to him to catch him off guard every time, and the two teens made a point to fuss over the lantern or Kidd until Corzaon had sat back down across from them.
Killer's question of, "You wont get cold?" was all that was voiced on the matter, Corazon giving him a tired smile. "It's much warmer here than I'm used to." he offered back enigmatically, and that was enough for the boy. And it was true enough, Corazon's clothes where mostly dry, in that awkward stiff stage that came with running around in a rain storm.
He settled in on his side of the boat, one leg awkwardly tuck under him, the other wedged under Law's own feet in the tight space. He used to long nights of watching over Law, but not in such cramped quarters. The kids didn't seem to be bothered by it though, the boys all deep asleep by this point.
Only he and Victoria remained awake, for a long moment just listening to the rolling thunder overhead, the crashing waves licking at the door step. "I can stay up for a bit, if you want to rest, Mr. Feathers."
Corazon smirked, raising an eyebrow before gesturing to his own coat-less shoulders.
"Fair point. Mr. Hearts, then," she gestured a free hand to his pattern shirt, "if you prefer. Offer still stands"
He nodded his acceptance of the name, her island accent of 'Meister Herts' slightly endearing, "That's a kind offer, Victoria, but I'm not sure I could sleep right now regardless."
"No, I understand that." She nods, looking past him to the storm, "Whatever Mini-Doc got messed up in, to bring that here. It makes my skin crawl." She returned to griping the lantern base with both hands. "I feel like.. I feel like something has changed. Something ineffable."
Corazon straightend Law's hat where it rested on his knee, studying the girl out of the corner of his eye. There was still probably a good ten years between them, but Corazon could remember that age. The uncertainty and loneliness that had followed him, no matter the friends he'd tentatively made. He'd been a marine by her age, the ward of Sengoku himself, allowing him to skirt the age of enlistment. But it meant he'd been much younger then the other cadets, struggled to find common ground with them. His connection to the Fleet Admiral meant many were either wary of him, or sucked up to him, and it had taken him a long time to figure that out.
"The world's off its axis again. It's like after Sorbet or Baterilla." She looked down at the light, whispering to the flame, "I still have nightmares about back then." Corazon admittedly did not know much about South Blue, most of his life spent on the other side of the red line. The Sorbet Kingdom did somewhat ring a bell, but Baterilla ... He'd been Victoria's age when Pirate King Gol D. Roger had been executed. He'd been aware of the execution orders for Roger's kid, born or not. It was one of the few times he'd confronted Sengoku directly, horrified that a child would die for the sins of a parent.
"They didn't have anything to do with us, but it didn't matter. Just another excuse for the World Government's Marines and the other South Blue island's armies to raid us. The world's happy to pretend we don't exist as anything more than their waste dump, until some other island upsets them, and they take it out on us because we don't have a seat at their stupid table. They make us sick, steal us kids, murder our parents, burn down our homes. The world shifts, something changes, and we suddenly we exist again, only to be pillaged and exploited. Fodder for someone else's story."
There's a bitterness there that Corazon's used to hearing from his brother. But unlike Doffy, Victoria's comes from the injustice against her people, not just herself. Her anger is not that she'd not treated like a God, but that she'd not even treated like a Person.
"Is that.." he paused, looking for the right words, "Is that what happened to your parents?"
"Baterilla was the worse, I think. I was still really little, but..." she looked up at him, "I think everyone lost at least one parent during that raid. A bunch lost both. If we were lucky, we lost both."
Corazon thought back to the way Killer had assured Law he could change his name here, if Law had wanted.
"I lost both to the Marines. Boss Athair's old lady took in those of us with no one left." she admitted, "Killer lost him mom, and Eustass, Kidd's dad, he went down in a blaze of glory from how the stories go. Took out a whole Marine ship on his own." She slumped, head resting on a sleeping Killer's shoulder, her attention back on the light in her hands. Or maybe looking at where Kidd slept just past it in her line of sight. "Kidd never got to meet him, and then his mom disappeared when Sorbet's men raided us."
Corazon looked at the young man sleeping next to her. His hair had mostly dried a this point, absurdly fluffy where it obscured his face. "And Killer's dad?"
"Boy earned his name honestly," came Victoria's caustic answer, "Just wish it didn't happen sooner, personally"
A father-killer. Not unlike Corazon's own brother. "... how old was he.. when..."
"About Kidd's age. 10 or so. Lived alone with that monster for 6 years after his mom died. Probably would still be living with him if the bastard hadn't started in on Kidd one day. Found out Killer'd been taken' food from the house to give out to the younger ones on the street. Snuck some for me sometimes too. The bastard beat Killer to hell and back, and then took to trying to figure out who Killer was sneaking food to..."
At least his own father's crime was being a naïve fool, and not something so cruel.
"Kidd didn't have his devil fruit yet, he was just some 6 year old kid who'd been hungry and somebody gave him food. He didn't do anything wrong and couldn't do anything to protect himself from a grown ass man. Killer... well. He killed him. Right there in the street. And then he killed the next guy who tried to pull some shit on Kidd. Island figured out pretty quick that Kidd's off limits."
Was that what Doffy had pictured in his own mind for the two of them, back before little Rosi had run away from him?
