** The beginning of this chapter is From Eustass Kid's point of View **
Seeing the airplanes disappear into ash is a nice sight, and for a minute I almost considered building a prosthetic that has a flame thrower built into it. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about new builds. This attack was sustained, and a lot of items that were used weren't metal. I know I shattered at least three brittle ceramic blades, and the number of airplanes was fewer than the times before.
Something about the implication of that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I want to say something, but I don't want to worry Mouse, so first thing is to get her back inside. I turn to look at her just in time to hear the swear slip from her lips as the long katana slips into her body.
For a cold, terrible moment, there's no air in the world.
"MOUSE!"
Her hands move to the hilt as she sinks to her knees and all I can do is thank the gods she doesn't grab it. I'm by her side before I even knew my legs had moved, cradling her body so she wouldn't slump to the ground and cause more damage.
"Heat, go get House. Killer, call Law." I command. There's almost no way that creepy doctor will make it in time, but I have to try. I can barely keep my voice steady, but there's no room for rage right now. If I lose my cool I'll rip the blade out.
"(Y/N), stay with me."
There's already too much blood. It's in her teeth and coloring her breath. She's beautiful when she's red, but not like this.
When she looks at me, I know why she's going to say before she says it. Not that it's any easier to hear.
"Out..." Her voice is rough, too rough and I can barely keep my power in check. "You... have to get it... out." Her words bubble up in shades of red and my stomach twists.
"We need to wait for House." I say. House can't fix this. We don't have the facilities for it, and I already know that. Stitches aren't going to be enough; she needs a hospital. But she'll go into shock and cardiac arrest before we can get her to a hospital.
"I can heal..." She puts her hand on mine and it feels cold. "I can't while it's... still in."
I know she's right, but I know the risk. "If you pass out you won't heal."
If she passes out, I'll burn this entire fucking city to the ground. People will choke on the ashes Decken's bones while the rest burns.
She nods weakly. "You're right."
I can't risk it, I need her. I've never needed anything before, but I understand how screwed I am right now. People have called me a mindless beast my entire life, and I've leaned into that role because it protects the crew. If I lose myself to it, not even Killer will be able to pull me back, and I don't know that I'd even want him to try.
"House can-." Can't. House can't. I already know.
"Kid." She interrupts me. Her voice is too soft, but I can't stop her. "House can't... help me. You can. It's metal."
This isn't acceptable. There's too much I need to say, too much I want to say. She forgave me for not using my Devil fruit to save her hand before I even had a chance to beg for it, and I would've. I would've kissed the fucking dirt for days if it was what she wanted and she didn't even want a godsdamned apology.
I wasn't thinking about future shit, just the next day. The one after that. Another after it. The future was for idealistic suckers, promising tomorrows they couldn't see, and I'm not like that. Optimism is for freak shits like the rubber bastard and his crew.
"Please."
I'm a beast covered in blood, screaming curses at a cursed fucking world. It's an objective view.
If I don't do anything she'll die. No chances, no opportunities, no tomorrows. I'll hate this world if she dies from this, but if I do nothing and just let her go cold without trying, I'll hate myself more.
"Wire, hold her steady." I command.
Wire braces her from the side before I let go. I have to stand behind her, I need to eject it straight back out as fast as I can. I pull the lines of force through my core, coiling it around and around as I build the power I need. I've never hesitated in using this power, and now more than before I can't hesitate.
I'm going to rip Vander Decken apart inch by inch for this. He'll tell me where the One Piece is before he dies and it'll be the truth – prophesized into his soul by the pain I'll inflict. It'll be the last mercy the Universe grants him in exchange for the hell I'll show him.
I've never felt pain like this before, not even when that red-devil bastard took my arm.
"Repel."
The blade leaves her body and I'm taking her back from Wire. Somehow she feels impossibly light, as though all the weight of her body left with the sword.
There's more blood, but there's still light in her eyes, she's not losing consciousness despite the pain she's going through. She's tough, I knew she was long before now, but that doesn't make watching her go through this any easier.
"... heal." I can hear her soft voice forcing herself to focus.
I'm reminded of the surgery and talking her through the pain while the doctor did what he needed to. I don't know that I'll ever tell her how I learned that was a good way to get through some excruciating shit, but she probably learned that lesson on her own. Focusing on something other than the pain makes it possible to push through it.
After a moment there's concern on her face makes my blood run cold.
"It's... not..."
My heart drops.
It's not working.
.
.
.
.
.
**Reader's Point of View Resumes**
"A magnetic field isn't a needle, it's a battering ram."
The words echoed in your mind as the force flung the katana out of your body. The pain was searing hot and electrifying at the same time. It had gone in so easily, but coming back out was a pain you couldn't brace for.
Your weak breath shatters in your throat and the pain's too much to even scream about. But you've had powerful pain for hours, and it wasn't that long ago.
– if you didn't breathe, you'd pass out and you didn't want to have to try and do this a second time.
... you only needed to focus on staying conscious.
"Talk to me, Mouse." Kid ordered.
Heal, just heal. Focus on healing, don't worry about a specific body part. Don't think about any of that.
"... heal." The word barely forms at your lips and you're aware that Kid's holding onto you. You can feel the ability activating, you've been familiar with it for as long as you could remember.
Your face scrunches up. This isn't right. "It's... not..."
You reach up for him. It's not working, and you don't know why, but if it's not working, you want to touch him. Once more. Once more for the thousands of times you still wanted to, just
one more
light
touch.
You freeze as your prosthetic came into view. The glass fingers are glowing. Dancing around the impossibly thin wires that powered the hand were motes of golden and copper light, shifting through the glass like faeries through water.
Your brain is still trying to sort out what's going on in the midst of the cold pain spreading through your body when Kid grabs your wrist and pushes your glowing hand against the gaping wound in your torso.
The sensation you expected to feel before now rushes into your body. Organs knit, blood vessels form, the pins and needles itch of accelerated healing crawls through you like a million little crackles of light. You gasp, sucking in a deep breath, and pulling yourself up against Eustass as you cough free the last bits of blood that had been pooling in your stomach from the katana.
Eustass holds you while you cough and catch your breath. You can feel him shaking almost as much as you are. He's warm. You're warm. You're sure you're bruising each other you're both holding on so tightly. But you can breathe, and you don't want him to let go right now.
"(Y/N)," Eustass' voice is relief and fear, but the sound of your name right now almost makes you cry with joy.
"I'm here." Your voice is quiet, but there's no strain or scratch in it. Your hand's in his hair and your prosthetic is holding onto his back. "I'm alive."
Kid's arms tighten and you can feel the conflict in him.
"You're not locking me away in a tower, Eustass Kid." You say, turning your head enough to kiss his cheek.
"(Y/N)?" His grip loosens a little and you can feel him start to relax.
"Yeah, Kid."
"Don't ever fucking scare me like that again."
"I'll do my best, Captain." You assure him. Kid pulls back from you, glaring into your eyes. "I can't see the future, but I'll do my best!" You assert.
He starts to say something, but you lean forward and kiss him. Your hands are on either side of his face and you hold him in place as you continue to kiss him. Soft, persistent kisses that deepen once his shock passes. You want to be closer; you want to almost disappear into him, but more than that you want to walk beside him.
Even if it was hell you were going to walk through.
"Call me Mouse," You demand, looking into his eyes.
Kid's grin was perfect. "Bossy bitch, ain'tcha Mouse?"
You can feel yourself starting to tremble, but you keep yourself as steady as you can. "I... I was going to wait, but I can't. I'm not -." You shake your head, starting your thought over again. "I don't need the words from you, I already know, but I love you and I need to say it. I can't see tomorrow so I need to say it."
You lean your head against his chest even as you could see the coloring rising in his face.
"Holy shit I'm alive."
Killer clears his throat. "Hopefully embarrassment doesn't kill you," he says as you flinch against Kid.
"I haven't heard a confession like this since I was in school," House laughs. "Well, I'm glad at least we're not trying to do emergency surgery on the kitchen counter. I know you're mortified right now, (Y/N), but let me look you over."
You let out a breath, knowing there was no saving your state right now, and turn red-faced toward House. You get to your feet and lift your shirt enough to give her a chance to clean you up and make sure the wound was closed up.
"There's not even a raw spot," House muses. "Face aside, how're you feeling, girl?" She asks this as she turns you around and lift the back of your shirt up, cleaning it up too.
"I... huh." You stop, and since your back is to House you end up catching Kid's gaze. "I'm not in pain."
You step away from House and bend and twist and turn and do everything you can think of that would make your core muscles work. But there's no pain. You look at your hand in disbelief.
"What's this made out of?"
"Silica, potassium, crystal, diamond powder, copper, tungsten, silver, gold." Kid lists off. "Probably tons of trace elements, you can't keep any work completely pure, but those are the things I used."
"Huh." You look over at Kid. "Take your shirt off."
"Fu- what?" Kid jolts and looks at you in confusion.
"You're covered in bruises, and I want to see something." You're too focused on your train of thought to realize the implication of requesting that he strips and the source of most of the bruises.
As the light pools in your hand again Kid seems to catch on. "Alright," he says and pulls his shirt off.
You reach out and slide your fingers over his arm and watch with wonder as the motes of light fade from the tips of your fingers. The bruises vanish.
"Holy fuck." Kid swears in wonder.
House's eyes go wide, but then she shoves you into Kid. "Get her into the workshop Captain."
Suddenly Kid's coat is over you and you've been scooped up again. Killer and Wire's eyes go to the sky for a few long moments before Killer runs into the house. Wire keeps looking around, running off to the perimeter of the property.
"Kid?"
"Not now, Mouse." Kid says, and his voice is sharp. You try to sink into his coat more, wondering what's going on. You still can't believe that you're not in pain, and even more than that you're amazed that you can heal someone else.
Kid and House get you into the workshop. They don't say anything as you and Kid strip down and go through the clean room process to enter the clean room of the workshop. Kid walks you through everything and warns you before things happen, and then tosses you some plain white clothes when you get through to the other side. House went through the process behind the two of you, and when you're finally in the clean room, he has you sit down.
The cloak and dagger feel of everything has you feeling nervous. Kid swears in frustration a couple times before kneeling down in front of you, taking your prosthetic hand into his.
"Hopefully no one saw. I want to believe my place is locked down, but surveillance can be a bitch. Look, Mouse, listen to me and know I'm going to protect you, okay?"
"I... yeah, I know. What's going on? Why are you and House freaking out?"
Kid's brows knit, but then he just says it. "The Government was gonna want you just because you could heal yourself, Mouse."
"Imperfectly heal," House adds.
"And now..." Kid leads you with the words.
"... Oh." Realization dawns on you. "Oh fuck."
"You're like a Saintess from a fairy tale, (Y/N)." House says. "Devil Fruits have limits, and I'm sure you do too, but we don't know what those are. You just saved yourself from a mortal wound and then healed the captain head to toe by barely touching him. Not only do you not even look tired, but you didn't draw from anything else."
"The longer we can keep it under wraps, the better." Kid explains. "This is the cleanest most secure place on the planet, so that's why we're talking about it here."
"But I healed you outside."
"You did. Killer and Wire are checking for leaks." He says reassuringly. "They're like blood hounds with this sort of thing."
"What happens next?"
"Depends."
"Kid, I-."
"Mouse." Kid says forcefully, looking into your eyes. "You're a part of this crew. I'm not letting you go, and I'm not going to let anyone take you away. Even if you weren't a part of the crew, you're still my Mouse, it's not up for debate."
You feel your face go red and Kid pulls you into his arms. He whispers that it's going to be okay, and you both just sit for a few minutes.
"Whatever the plan ends up being, we gotta settle with Decken first." Kid says eventually.
There's two loud knocks on the glass that looks into the cleanroom. You, Kid and House are tucked around by the entrance to the room and not in line of sight of it. After the two knocks there's a brief pause and one more knock. Kid and House visibly relax, and you take that as your cue to relax as well.
"Let me show you around in here before we leave," Kid says. "House, tell Killer to start making something to eat, we won't be too long, and everyone else should be back in time for food. We can hash out plans for tonight then."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," House says, giving the two of you a lazy wave as she leaves the clean room.
A/N - Still a few more chapters to go! (I know I use book titles as chapter titles close to the end of things fairly often >.> ) - AND, I'm planning out a second book for this. Idk that it'll turn into a "long" series by any stretch, but if you've been enjoying it so far (I have!) there's more to come.