"There is no shame in wanting to live." Charlotte looked up from her scabbing arm, blinking the tears from her eyes to stare at the elder neighbour with three scars running across his face. "Do whatever you can to live. Use being a kid to your advantage; play on the heart strings of others if you must. There's not a lot of people who can off a child who has barely lived life yet just like that. Cry and beg if you must."
Charlotte played with the words in her mind, letting it simmer and roll around. She frowned, "Can I use being a kid as an advantage to save others?"
"ARE YOU STUPID?!" Charlotte flinched at the shout, good arm coming up to press against her ear. She slinked in her seat, dejected. She toyed with the stained fabric in her lap. She heard the old man sigh, and when he spoke again his voice was much softer. "Worry about yourself. And only yourself. That's the only way to stay alive here."
She gripped at the awfully stained ragged barely holding itself together. It was the same one that her neighbour had used to wrap her bleeding arm last time. "...Then why are you telling me all this? Isn't it helping someone else other than yourself?"
He watched the child silently. His lips tug lower at the dried blood splatters still coating her fingers. What perverted cruel bastard puts a child this young through something like this? He thought. "Heh, don't mind it. I'm just a bored old man who's tired of your useless crying and yapping!" He brushed off cheekily. His lips twitched and a barking laughter escaped him at the flame that lit up in her eyes at the taunt. That was good, brats should act like brats.
Crossing her arms, Charlotte puffed her cheeks and glanced away, "Well, sorry for being a useless brat!" She scoffed, yet not truly offended. If anything, she was glad that he was there to talk to her. As annoying as he says she was. He reached between the bars separating them and ruffled her hair with his big hand and she blushed smiling softly.
"You won't be once you start killing more people." Charlotte paled. "That means there'll be less people I have to kill." His laughter echoed between their suddenly awfully empty and cold cells.
"B-But... killing is wrong..." Charlotte muttered quietly, voice trembling. Her body flinched when his laughter ended abruptly, and the child shut her eyes tight. The warm hand suddenly terrifying.
"Did you know? People used to live by killing animals." He started and Charlotte was surprised at how calm his voice was. Slowly, hesitatingly, she turned to meet his gaze, relaxing at the friendly look on his face. "Have you ever eaten meat, my dear?" She nodded and then added after a moment with more vigor that made the male smile, "Uh, before I came here, I did."
He nodded solemnly, "It's the same thing: People killed animals for their meat to survive; you're just killing a different type of animal, not necessarily to eat, but to survive." He reasoned, watching Charlotte ponder on the reason for a moment. She nodded quickly and he smiled.
"I hope I never have to face you in the Ring though."
His smile dropped at the innocence in those words, and it pained him to be the voice of reason. But she needed to face reality and it's better that she faced it sooner than later. "That's wistful thinking. It's bound to happen sooner or later." He hoped later though. That way he'd be able to watch her grow up more. She was just so young, have so much yet to live. "Do you know what you'll have to do then?" He tested her.
She paused, pondering again. She thought back to their earlier conversation and all the training he's been trying to drill into her. "Will it work on you? The advantage of being a kid?"
His lips twitched upwards into a snarl and with a deep guttural laugh, he spoke. "Definitely not. I'll kill you instantly."
Platinum eyes glared at the bars before her, keeping her locked up, and the two guards jumped in fear at her stare. Her anger seething out of her and intimidating the two guards on the other end of their small station. Not that she was aware truly cared. Her attention far too focused on the bars keeping her locked up. The sight felt too familiar. Her being stuck on the wrong side of the bars, cuffed and alone.
Charlotte had been framed. Or at the very least wrongfully accused. Her interrogation had failed in supplying them with any useful information yet oddly useful at telling the huntress exactly what she was suspected of doing. The town's treasure was stolen, and she was suspected of having stolen it. Why she would steal or how didn't seem to matter to them. When she told them that she had only arrived earlier today while the core went missing a few nights ago, they didn't believe her though.
"Oi!" She called and the guards jolted to a start.
"Y-yes?" He stuttered, eyes following the little wisps of dark aura wafting from her.
"Why am I the only one here? Don't you guys have more criminals? Surely, I can't be the only one behind bars."
The guard scoffed at the question. "All criminals are sentenced to die in Vhils. You'll learn all about it soon enough once your trial sentences you to exile."
Charlotte settled back onto the bench in her cell. Vhils? They don't keep them here? Her thoughts were interrupted when her Haki picked up the two pirates that had been tailing her since her captured. Why? She wasn't a quite sure. But she wasn't going to stick by to find out. Especially now that there was a distraction she can leverage to escape; a small round ball rolled into the centre of the station, fizzling smoke quickly.
"What the—quick, grab your mask!" One of the two guards shouted, slipping on his wooden mask, while the other panicked next to him. "No! It's a bomb, we have to get out of here!" He shouted instead, grabbing his buddy and rushing out of the room.
Charlotte stared at the fizzling ball for a moment more and then the unguarded prison station. Her lips stretched into a grin. Charlotte had spent enough time in her life locked up to stay locked up behind some stupid bars.
Rike and Cole stared at the not-so-subtle hole in the cell that once held the person they were here to rescue. "Why the hell isn't she here?" Cole asked, voice strained and far too tight. He had used one of his special pseudo-bombs just to get them in here to rescue her and she was no where in sight!
"I-I think she may have escaped herself during all the chaos." Rike swallowed thickly while Cole gripped at his head and groaned loudly, bending backwards in frustration. He stilled suddenly and jerked back into an upright position. "Oi, do ya think she's finally out of our hairs?" He beamed, grin far too wide to be hidden. She said she'd leave on the next island; this was the next island. He was finally free from the Blasted Witch! "WOOHOO!"
"In here! I heard noises!" A voice sounded not too far away and Rike quickly slapped the other to be quiet. But it was too late, the guards had returned with their strange trumpet-shaped guns and in the next moment Rike and Cole were both arrested for helping the criminal escape.
Back at the clothing store, Charlotte grabbed the scrawny shop clerk, lifting him up by his shirt collar. Her karambit spun out around her finger, the curved end pointing dangerously along his neck. "You have three seconds to tell me how the police found me or never speak again. Decide."
"Y-your cuffs!" The clerk spat out quickly and as promised, Charlotte dropped the other instantly. "Only criminals are handcuffed." He coughed and Charlotte blanched. Then glared at the chains between her wrist blaming the inconvenient misunderstanding as Law's fault.
I told you they'd bring unwanted attention! She hissed, yanking her scarf from her neck. She re-wrapped it around her wrists, covering the cuffs. "For the record, I am not a thief, and I did not steal the Remedial Core!" She corrected as she strolled out after another glance of her new outfit in the mirror. "I'm a hunter." And she'll hunt down the real thief tarnishing her name.
"Did you hear? We may be okay after all! The police caught the culprit!" Charlotte strolled through the town in silence, picking up whatever gossip her ears could hear. "I heard that she escaped!" Charlotte frowned. News travel fast here. "Shh, it'll be fine. They caught the two helping her." Charlotte stopped. Huh?
Charlotte hid behind the backwall opposite of the station she escaped from earlier. Her eyes fluttered close, and she relied on Haki to help her see what her physical eye could not. Focusing, she stretched out the range of her ability until it coated the entire station and her lips trudged down. It really was the Strawberry Kid and the Old Man. That still didn't explain why they were there. Charlotte pressed her ear against the window.
"This is all your fault." She heard the Old Man grumbled, followed by an exasperated sigh. "You were the one who suggested breaking in after we gas bomb the place!" Charlotte blinked. They were in charge of that weird ball thing that came in earlier? "And it would have been fine if you hadn't been so loud about it!" Charlotte rocked back on her heels, resting her back against the wall. They came in afterwards to grab her, but she had broken out... and then they got arrested. Her brows knitted together. But why?
"What are you doing here? Where's Rikers and Cole?" A voice questioned, pulling the huntress back from her thoughts. Platinum eyes landed on the word PENGUIN printed on a baseball cap before she took in the lower half of his face. The top half shadowed by the hat. Shachi stood off to the side next to the other.
"Double checking something." Charlotte answered calmly, and then added causally. "Oh, and the two watchdogs are in jail."
The two pirates blanched at the easy confession. "What do you mean they're in jail?" Shachi asked, lips thinning into a serious frown. Penguin eyed the unusual way Charlotte was wearing her scarf. Her neck was bare, and hair pinned up by her knife. The red muffler sat wrapped around her arms like giant balloon sleeves, effectively covering the cuffs around her wrists. Her arms remained bound before her. Though the scarf did a good job in making the action look slightly more natural and less awkward.
"When you get arrested, you tend to end up in jail." Charlotte explained easily with a shrug.
"And why weren't you? Why aren't you with them?"
Charlotte pushed off against the wall she was resting on. They should leave the alley. "I was." She corrected much to their surprise. "I escaped and somehow the two of them got arrested." She answered vaguely. She got the gist of the picture from what little she heard earlier. They had been were trying to break her out, but she left and they got caught instead.
"What were you in for?" They questioned.
"Stealing the Remedial Core."
"The what?" They never heard of such a thing.
"The Remedial Core." She stated again and then at their blank faces, she added. "A treasure that the townsfolk desperately needed in the upcoming days as The Change happened, and the treasure that went missing a few nights ago." They immediately caught on to the timeline of events, something the guards didn't.
"The Change is the great changing of the seasons where overnight the island would go for unbearably hot heat to icy cold winter. Because of the great changes in temperature, the island is often struck with a seasonal flu that proved fatal if no antidote is made fast enough. The Remedial Core is a tool that allowed them to cure the fatal flu. Without the remedial core and with The Change so close, the city was in trouble of a massive plague that would likely kill hundreds." Charlotte explained and the two held off their comment on whether the huntress understood what a plague was given her lack of medical knowledge and her lackadaisical response.
"We need to break them out of jail then!" Shachi exclaimed and Penguin nodded next to him. While Charlotte strolled towards the opening of the alleyway, with a "Good luck" called over her shoulder. She stopped when a hand clasped over her shoulder. She shot the other a warning glare. "Touch me again and I'll cut you."
"You're helping us." Shachi declared boldly, shades glinting in the sunlight.
Her lips slant and she didn't need to see their faces to know that they will be angry with her next words. "Why should I have?"
"Why you!" Shachi grumbled and charged forward. He yanked at her collar, bringing them face to face. "Because we're friends!" Charlotte's eyes widened at the last word. "We're going to rescue them!" He pulled her back deeper into the alleyway. "We need a plan."
Charlotte broke herself free from his grip. She stared at the burning ground that seem to dance slightly under the intense heat. "A brat your age should have friends. A lot of them!" Then lifted her gaze towards the lowering yet still blaring sun, avoiding their eyes on her. There is still an hour left of Working Hours. She pivoted, forcing her thoughts away. Reopening her eyes, she met his gaze with steady eyes. "We're not friends!" She corrected, adamantly. "I don't do friends."
"Answer me this, Hunter." Penguin started drawing Charlotte's attention to him. "Why did you help us escape Marineford back then?" Shachi grinned and the huntress blinked at him curious. How was this related? "You guided us out of Kizaru's light attacks and even lied to Rayleigh about being captured. Wouldn't it be easier for you and your hunt if we were out of the way?"
Charlotte lifted her chin, and she turned around, lacing her fingers together and stretching forward. "As if I need a handicap like that. I'll have your Captain just as easily with the crew fending me off or not." She scoffed, looking at the two of them over her shoulder. "Also, whoever said I did all that to help you guys? I was on the sub too, if it went down, it'll be a trouble for me too."
She paused at the opening of the alley again. "The sun sets in about an hour. Rescuing them then would be far easier, if the two are too dumb to take the opportunity to escape themselves." Charlotte told. Now that the two of them were here, they could do what she had intended. She couldn't tell if they understood what she was saying or if they were surprised by it. But it wasn't up to her anymore. "Remember the sun sets in an hour." She said, cradling her head against her bounded hands as she made her way out of the alleyway.
"And where are you going?" Charlotte slowed, maybe she should warn them of the incoming attackers. They were in their patrol zones. "Captain doesn't want you wandering off alone." She stopped, pulling her left foot to meet her right.
"... He's not letting me go unsupervised." Charlotte rephrased. She watched them avoid eye contact with her.
"He doesn't want you running off." They admitted.
She exhaled deeply, annoyance crawling up within her at their admittance. The hairs on the back of her arms raised and her instincts were telling her to get out now, but against better judgement, Charlotte stood her ground. Her lips curled devilishly. "Hey, how much longer until the log pose set?"
They blinked at her sudden question. "A couple more hours, I think. Captain wanted us back tonight and ready to depart by dawn."
"Oh." Charlotte hummed lightly. She could hear their footsteps now. They were rounding the corners now and more were above them, lining the two buildings on either side of the small alleyway. "And what happens usually if we're, I don't know, late?"
"We try not to be. Captain's doesn't like it when things don't go according to plan."
Charlotte hummed again. Playing the part to look like she was taking in the new information and considering it despite having already guessed it given her target's personality and habits. "Well, I guess then he won't be happy about this."
Before the other two could ask her what she meant. A man with a strange looking gun appeared behind Charlotte. A weighted net shot out of the gun, easily wrapping around the huntress. She just grinned knowingly at them as nets shot out from above on either side, capturing the three of them.
"What are yas doin' here?!" Cole asked, surprised as the three of them walked into the local police box. The strong net caging their arms to their sides as the guards pushed them forward. "And what are you doin' here after all the trouble we went through to help ya escape?" He hissed rounding on the huntress. His red headband pressed against her forehead as he stared down at her.
She frowned at him, swiping him off his feet quickly with hers as a quick hello. She stepped over him to sit on the bench. "Ask these idiots. I was leaving and these dolts kept me here to be caught." She jerked her head towards the other two still trying to catch up with what just happened.
"It's our fault?" One of them questioned, confused, while the other asked, "What's going on? Why are we being locked here?" A sinking feeling growing in their stomachs as they eyed the people in the cell and then the clock on the side. This was everyone who was allowed off except for Bepo and Law. And they are supposed to meet back on the sub in less than an hour.
"The city's treasure is stolen, and they think we had something to do with it." Rike explained somberly. He spotted the parkas hanging off the two's back and beamed, glad that he wasn't the only one who thought it important to prepare for The Change.
"Treasure?" Shachi perked, his shades glinting in anticipation. His excitement fell short when Rike shook his head.
"No idea. But whatever it is. It's already gone. It was stolen before we even got on the island, but the idiots here don't believe us. They won't let us go until we tell them where it is."
The four pirates shared a grim expression with each other before their eyes all darted to the analog clock. Law was not going to like this. Meanwhile, Charlotte leaned back, cradling her head against her arms. A self-satisfying grin on her face.
"What are ya lookin' so relaxed for?" Cole questioned suspiciously, catching the lack of concern on Charlotte's face.
"Seems like we'll be here for a while. Might as well make ourselves comfortable." Charlotte retorted easily, intrigued at when she saw a Penguin and Shachi doing the same. She assumed they'd be more upset with her. Their parkas falling too the ground along with the top half of their boiler suits. The heat getting to them.
"We're all gonna be in big shit, and this is all ya fault." Cole pressed, glaringly.
Charlotte quirked a brow and crossed her leg over her other one. "How did you figure that out? I didn't ask you to help me escape or get yourself caught."
"Ya could'a waited for us to come get ya!"
"How was I supposed to know what you two were doing creeping around the corner? Haki isn't a mind reading ability!" Charlotte groaned, running a chained hand through her hair. "Also, who told you to get caught on your rescue mission?" She felt exasperated.
Shachi and Penguin deadpanned at that. "She does have a point there."
Rike elbowed the technician. "Can't blame her for your own loudmouth."
Cole glared at the others in disbelief. Why was everyone against him? He growled at their stares before rounding on the huntress again. "They didn't have to be here though." Cole continued pointing at Shachi and Penguin who was throwing their tanks over their lap or shoulder. "They could have been back on time and told Captain what happened."
Charlotte eyed the revealed skin curiously. "What happened to the two of you?" The group turned to her confused at her suddenly question, noticing the way her platinum eyes were glued to their exposed chests. Shachi grinned and flexed his muscle at the attention only to be confused when her gaze didn't shift. She lifted her hands and gestured to the scars on Shachi's hip and Penguin's arm. The scars far too large to be a causal wound. Those hits were fatal if experience told her anything.
"Ah, these? We got them while we were kids."
"They're fatal wounds. You two would have bleed to death yet you're still here." Maybe not Penguin, but he'd for sure lose an arm. Charlotte noted silently. She quirked a brow. "Are you two also doctors?"
"Collectin' data on us?" Cole interjected but Charlotte only rolled her eyes at the comment. Her attention still focused on the two.
"No, we're—"
"Then who?"
The two grinned proudly, and the next words that came from their mouths shouldn't have been surprising. Yet Charlotte found herself wide-eyed at the simple response. "Captain did."
"Ah, debt to get you to follow orders." Charlotte brushed it off with an easy shrug. She nodded to herself. That made sens—
"Nope. We choose to follow him afterwards out of respect. We were bullies before then." Shachi corrected with an embarrassed scratch. "He fixed us... because well, he's a doctor." Penguin added after a pause, easily reading the question off Charlotte's expressive face.
Charlotte blinked again, blanched. Mind processing slowly at the words and their implications. "You mean he doesn't have anything on you?"
They shook their heads.
"Blackmail?"
"Nope."
"Maybe he took a piece of you without you knowing." The chains around her wrists clanked loudly in the open space. A loud contrast to their silent No's and laughs about how they'd likely notice a chunk of their bodies missing by now.
"You mean to say... you all follow his orders... just cause?"
"I understand it may be difficult to understand that given your, uh, circumstances," Rike added, gesturing the hidden chains. "But we follow Captain out of our own free will and in respect of him."
"Captain may look scary, but he's really a nice guy. Who did you think treated all your wounds from Sabaody Archipelago?"
Charlotte opened her mouth to speak but it drew a blank. She hadn't thought about it then. She noticed the wrappings, but she hadn't actually paused to think who put them on her. Given the shock and anger of everything that happened afterwards, it never came to mind either. She stared back at the crew and their bright grins. The huntress wanted to say something to rebut, something to call it all a lie—a ploy. Anything to match the news and the many articles she's read on Law as nothing more but a barbaric, sadistic, manipulative, self-serving pirate. Because otherwise then that would mean that Law is nice.
And that was a toxic thought to have about her hunt.
Yet as she tried to call their words bullshit, she found herself doubting her own news sources just from the clear look in their eyes alone. So, when the guards came to shush them for being too noisy, she was somewhat relieved that their conversation had been cut short.
"Captain, do you really think it's going to snow?" Bepo questioned, happily. He hadn't seen snow in a long while and it would be great change to this unbearable heat.
"Who knows," Law replied shrugged. "But we're not staying to find out." He said much to the other's disappointment. The Change that turned the island from summer season to winter season brought along with it a fatal illness, none of which the doctor had heard about and doubted that his crew had the antibodies against. To make matters worse, there were no real documentation on what kind of illnesses the winter flu was. The only thing that was listed was that it was 'cured by the Remedial Core' whatever that is.
He frowned as he scanned at the horizon and the setting sun. None of the others had returned and it was already five minutes past time. He expected Charlotte's group to be late given Charlotte's tendencies for disobedience, but Shachi and Penguin hadn't returned either.
"Bepo." Law called out into the darkness. The sun had set moments ago. He heard the bear stand to attention quickly.
"Captain! I can't see you, but I can hear you!" The bear replied sounding worried for but a moment. There was a shuffling noise. "I'm saluting in case you can't see." He added.
Law stared out into the pitch black, a scowl settling on his face invisible to the eye not that anyone could see in the night. Massaging his template with the heel of his hand, Law turned back towards the metal door of the sub. Law squinted at where he was pretty sure the door should have been. He saw nothing but darkness.
"We'll grab them tomorrow." He told the bear. They weren't going to find them like this. "We'll head in for now." He will have to hope that The Change won't be happening tonight. For all their sakes. He made a note to review winter diseases tonight.
"Aye, Capta—umpgfh!!"
That sounded painful. He grimaced at the echoing sound, feeling for the bear. He made a mental note to check him for injuries afterwards. "Room," he called, "shambles."
"My eyes!" Bepo cried, shielding them quickly as they teleported into the lit hallways of the Polar Tang.
"Wow, it is dark." Shachi whispered, taking off his shades in hopes that it would make the world around him more visible. It didn't. The guards had all taken off a little while ago, much to the pirate's confusion. They mentioned something about how Working Hours were about to end and how it'll be pitch black. They didn't understand what the guards had meant until the sun had set, and they couldn't tell left from right anymore.
They heard a shuffling and the group turned towards the sound. The habit instinctual despite not being able to see anything. "Who's moving?" Rike finally asked for the group.
"Not you, clearly." Cole scoffed, pulling his hand back with a yelp. "Sit still will ya? Ya stepped on my hand!" He swiped out at the direction, hitting something.
"Ow! But I'm not moving." Penguin said, rubbing his stomach. He just wanted to nap. There wasn't anything they could do in this dark anyway. He was originally thinking of breaking out now that the guards have left but given how they couldn't see anything. He grabbed his shins and rolled himself into a sitting position. The plan sounded too familiar.
"Hey Charlotte." He called out into the darkness and over the rest of the chattering pirates still trying to figure out who was moving. They quieted at the call, realizing that Charlotte was the only one hadn't spoken. "Are you still here or have you left on your own?"
"What?!" Cole hollered indignantly. He snapped his head around in the dark as if he could spot the woman's red scarf.
"... I'm still here." Charlotte replied and Penguin nodded at how close the voice was. "But I may not be for long." She admitted. She took a step back to dodge Cole's incoming fist, stifling a laughter when the male flopped on his face. She shuffled her way out of the cell they were in and returned her attention towards Penguin.
"True, you did say to escape when the sun set. You knew the guard would be gone and that it'll be dark." Penguin said confidently, arms crossed, and Charlotte hummed appreciatively at his deduction. "You can see too. Is it because of colours of Haki?"
The rest quieted at his words and their gazes settled in random directions of where they assumed the huntress would be.
"I'm not compelled to answer that. But I'm feeling nice since you don't seem as dumb as the Old Man." Perhaps he could awake his Haki one day. Not that it'll help with the current. "Yes. Of the three sources of Haki, Kenbunshoku Haki granted the user a sixth sense so to speak. This sixth sense allows the user to sense the presence, strength, intent, and emotion of others. In some cases, advance users also gain the ability to see the future."
"See the future?!" Shachi cried astonished for the group. Charlotte nodded instinctively though no one would be able to see it.
"Only advance users can see that."
"What about you? Can you see into the future?"
Charlotte paused thinking back. There was one time where she thinks she might have done it, many years ago. It had saved her life then, but that was the one and only time she could. Since then, no matter how hard she tried, the feeling was never quite right. "... no."
"Oh, something even the great Haki user Charlotte can't do." Cole snickered and Charlotte glared at him.
"At least she can still see in this dark," Rike sighed, and Cole clammed up instantly.
"What about your surroundings? How do you know where non-living things like walls are?" It was Shachi who spoke this time.
"I don't. But I also don't need Haki to know where the walls and doors are when I've already committed it to memory. I took four steps in from the door before turning to avoid the table and another sixteen steps before they locked us in here." She answered and they could hear the chains clang together as her hands move, supposedly to gesture towards the door they assumed.
The rest of them fell silent at her simple words. While the words held no ill intent and weren't meant to be a stab at them, it did. While they lounged around in the cell waiting for a chance to escaped, she made a plan to escape.
"Before you go, how did you know that it would be this dark and the guard would be gone?" Rike asked, shuffling to face the huntress. His hands pressed against his bent knees as he sat cross-legged. He looked like a young apprentice thirsty for knowledge.
Charlotte was surprised at the boy's words. They weren't going to stop her. They were going to let her go first. "I did some digging. It comes easy with the territory of bounty hunting. Knowledge is wealth and can only add to your advantage." Charlotte said and squatted down, so she was at eye level with the young medic. The cell's bars being their only divider. "Now, I have a question for you." She said and the young male jumped at the sudden voice next to him.
"Y-Yes?" Rike stuttered, a hand pressed against his chest to calm his heart. Wasn't she on the other side of the cell just earlier?
"Why did you come to rescue me?" The action still confused the huntress. It made no sense to her. "You even got the Old Grandpa over there to help out." She knew better than to think that the Old Man was the brains behind the plan.
Rike ignored the indignant cries from Cole and turned towards the direction where her voice was coming from and smiled, hoping that her Haki allowed her to see that too. "Because we're friends." He said instantly and earnestly. "They didn't do anything to you while you were captured, right?"
Platinum eyes widened at the response. There it was again. That word: Friends.
"What?! You got no friends in a place like this! That can't do! Someone your age should have friends. Tons of friends! Hey, you know what? I'll be your friend. Of course, if you don't mind having a wrinkly old man like me as a friend." The doddery old man that took up the neighbouring cell grinned widely at her. Several of his teeth missing and the patchy stumble on his face only made him seem all the crazier. Three gash marks started from the center of his face drawing diagonally through his lips and towards his chin. Maybe even down his neck, but she couldn't tell. It was blocked by a large metal collar.
"There, there. That's a good girl, don't cry. Now come closer and let me have a look at that arm of yours." He said, right arm reaching through the bars towards her and his cheek smushed against the poles.
Hesitantly, Charlotte scooted over quietly and held her injured arm out. She watched him scowled at the injury, muttering something under his breath, and her eyes darted towards the limp left arm hanging by his side. "Don't you go worrying your little head off, girlie." Her eyes drew back toward the man, and she ducked slightly realizing that she had been caught staring. "Your arm isn't going to turn out like mine. You'll be fine." He promised, tearing off a piece of his clothes to wrapping around her arm.
Charlotte eyed the yellow rag uncomfortably. It was itchy against her skin, and it smelled awful. He apologized when he saw her stare, promising again that he'll have a cleaner one next time. She doubted it but chose not to voice it.
She took her eyes off the ground, darting them at the older man for a moment before looking away shyly. "Why are you helping me?" Charlotte asked or really murmured. Her eyes caught interest at a lone pebble on the ground. She kicked at it aimlessly. The words "next time" hung in her mind, and she bit her lip. "Will you help me again next time too?"
"Always! Because we're friends and that's what friends do."
"Charlotte?" Charlotte blinked, shaking her head, and refocusing on the present. "Are you still there?" She could hear Rike's concern in his voice and Charlotte pushed herself back to standing. She looked at the four pirates sitting in the cell before her.
Friends. They thought of her as friends.
"N-No... no... NO! I DON'T WANT THIS!! PLEASE!" Charlotte wailed, body shaking as she stared at the opponent at the other end of her blunt blade. The blade wavering just like her conviction. "PLEASE ANYTHING BUT THIS!" She begged into the sky. Her weapon falling to her side as she turned around to the many masked faces, until she finally found the one she was looking for. "P-PLEASE... P-please..." She fell to her knees, their cold, unwavering, and unmoved eyes staring back at her--apathetic. "P-please..." she wept, voice dulling as the bell rang loudly above them.
Her opponent leaped into the air, blade raised above his head and crazed eyes staring at her defenseless back as she begged the Masters to stop. "Remember what I told you!" He screamed as he pinned her to the floor. He grimaced at her sobering mess of a face. "Do whatever you must to survive!"
"B-but..."
"I told you, I wasn't going to go easy on you. I'll kill ya if you don't kill me first!" He raised his weapon above her.
She shook her head feverously. "P-please...you're my only... friend..." She choked. Platinum eyes boring into the face that looks just as awful as hers.
The yellow cloth against her wounded arm splattered red.
Her lips drew down and the huntress twisted on her heel, making the twenty paces out of the station.
Charlotte didn't have friends.
She didn't need friends.
Friends would only bring her trouble.
Friends were a liability.