(Pictures are Téras)
I knew where Téras was.
But I didn't tell the crew that when we split up to look for Luffy. I wanted to be the one to find him.
Part of it was me being selfish, and the other part was me knowing this wouldn't go well for anyone who hasn't met him before.
I let them all pick the paths they wanted to take first because I knew that none of them would choose to go back the way we came.
Although, when we split up and I started walking back, Robin gave me a knowing smile. I could tell she knew I was just sending them off to wander around the temple. But she didn't say anything, so I didn't.
The main hall was still flooded with water, though it's spread out enough to only reach just above my ankles.
I made my way back to where the guard's hall was and into the prison masters office.
The office was nothing special, the only thing in it was a desk and a chair. On the desk were files and papers that looked important. And because of my pettiness, I took a second to place my hand over them, heat up my skin, and burn them.
It made me feel a little better.
Moving right along.
This temple was just full of secret passages. And me, having been a 'favorite' of Téras, knew where most of them were.
In order to keep his reputation up, Téras would sneak me through the tunnels and into his private chambers so no one in BB would see him walking me to his room.
I shivered at the thought of going back there.
I placed a foot on the front of the office desk and kicked it straight into the back wall. The drawers flew out and the desk crumpled in.
I creepily molested the wall where the desk was against until I found a small, almost flat button. I pushed it and a little trap door appeared on the ground next to me.
With a triumphant: "bingo", I swung open the door and climbed down the metal ladder into the dank tunnel. It was even darker and colder down here than up in the main corridor.
As I navigated a route I've walked a thousand times with ease, I tried not to think. Which was not easy, cause you can't exactly turn that off.
Horrible memories of my time here bubbled up and became so hard to ignore that I clawed my arm to use the pain as a distraction.
I just need to get Reeth and Luffy, leave, and then I can put everything behind me. Won't have to ever think of this dreaded place again.
That thought fueled me on and in only a few minutes I was at the other side of the temple.
The tunnel came to a dead end with a ladder and hatch just like the entrance.
I climbed the ladder and shoved open the trap door.
I shielded my eyes from the bright light. Having been in the dark so long, it took a while for my eyes to adjust.
When I could finally see, I crawled out of the hatch and onto a marble tiled floor. I kicked the door shut behind me and looked around.
The room was a wide and open room with high ceilings and tons of natural light flooding in from the intricately designed stain glass windows on the ceiling. Large quartz pillars surrounded a master bed in the center of the room. Very fancy red curtains hung all the way down from the ceiling and covered the glass wall behind the bed.
This was Téras' room.
And just like the papers on the desk, I set the bed on fire along with the curtains. It felt good to burn the bed, as many of my haunting memories happened there.
I shivered at the thought.
Something silver caught my eye and I looked over in the corner of the room. There, sat a massive empty silver and gold bird cage. A few Orange and red feathers were piled up at the bottom.
"Reeth..." I whispered. I carefully walked over there and picked up the feathers.
I clutched them in my hands and stuffed them angrily in my boot. There was blood on them.
"I swear to god if you've killed Reeth I'll rip your head off and shove it up your ass!!" I seethed with angry tears in my eyes while marching over to the now exposed glass wall.
"That's some nice fucking glass you got there Téras!" I growled, "it would be a shame if someone were to... SHATTER IT!!"
I slammed my foot straight through the glass, breaking it. A shower of glass shards rained down as the entire wall shattered. Fresh cuts appeared on my cheeks, shoulders, and arms from the raining shards. But I didn't even notice as I stormed through and into the garden.
Steam rose up from me due to the sweltering body heat I gave off. Which tended to happen whenever I got angry.
The garden was just as nice and elegant as the bedroom. Large trees lined the garden with vines and flowers hanging from them. The tree roots held up a wall of dirt over an ocean bay. In the center of the garden sat a stained wood gazebo with ivy and moss growing on it. And in the gazebo was Téras.
(Téras is the chapter photo)
AN: picture is not mine it belongs to Snail Lord, a comic artist on WEBTOONS go check her out. The picture is from the comic Nightmare Factory. Which is so good you should read it.
Téras sat facing me with his eyes closed and a fancy tea cup with a gold henna design.
He smirked and lifted his head up to face me, still keeping his eyes closed, "ah, Little Ant. I was wondering when you would get here," he set his tea down and crossed his hands on the table, leaning forward, "I see you remember our little secret passage."
My eye twitched and I clenched my fist, "where's Reeth and Luffy-san?!," I growled through gritted teeth.
He frowned, "if you mean that brat wrecking the temple?" He took a drink of his tea, "then he's coming down the stairs. And don't worry about your other friends from the holding cell, they're occupied with my special operatives."
I frowned. He let me get crew out of the cells. He's letting Luffy make his way here. He wants us to come to him. But the thing that bothered me the most was the garden. Téras loved the garden, so why would he choose it as the battle ground?
"...what are you planning?..." I hesitantly asked and looked around the garden as if it would give away everything he was hiding.
He leaned forward with a deadpan face, like he was gonna tell me a secret, "I'm going to completely destroy you....Red..." he said my name mockingly, "I'm going to take away what you love most."
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked around. My heart clenched with fear as I realized something, "where's Reeth?"
He grinned, "you mean that pretty bird you had," he set his cup down and stood elegantly. He gestured to the corner of the garden.
I spun around and then instantly collapsed onto my knees. My hands flew up to my mouth and tears filled my eyes, "R-Reeth?"
"I had his wings clipped," Téras spoke from besides me, "he was struggling too much. Now he can't fly away. I said I'd destroy you, and my plan has already started."
In the corner of the garden was an elegant silver birdcage with the bars formed like branches. And inside the cage, was Reeth curled up on his side unconscious. His wings were gone, the stumps cauterize and the feathers around curled and charred black. A sea stone collar chained him to floor of the cage.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and I bit my hand to stop from screaming, "monster," I whispered through my hand.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" He leaned down next to me with a fake smile and his eyes still closed.
"I said you're a monster," I replied a little louder. Not caring about the consequences anymore, "and I can't wait until you die," I continued and glared up at him.
His mouth twitched and before I could react his hand thrust out and grabbed a fist full of my hair. He yanked my head forward and slammed it into the grass. He kneeled down next to me and spoke alarmingly calm in my ear, " listen here Little Ant because this is your only warning. I don't like that tone and if I hear it again you'll regret it!"
He sighed and leaned back on his heels, letting go of my hair, "I would make good use of that bed since we haven't seen each other in so long. But seeing as how you've burned it I guess I'll just have to wait until we get rid of that little pirate group you've been following around like a lost puppy."
I pulled in closer on myself and bit my lip to stop from firing back. Instead I dug my nails into the soft dirt.
He stood up and chuckled, "now, now Little Ant. No need to take it out on my garden," he adjusted his hat and neck tie before continuing, "now!" He clasped his hands together, "let's just go back to the gazebo, enjoy a nice cup of tea, and you can tell me everything that's happened since we last saw each other."
God he talked like we were old friends, and not like he had destroyed my childhood. Like he hadn't hurt Reeth. It made me sick.
"Don't, make, me, ask, again," he said slowly in a warning tone.
I made this low sound somewhere between a growl and sigh before releasing the dirt and standing up on shaking legs. I glanced back at poor Reeth for just a second before turning on my heels and walked towards the gazebo with my head held high. At least I could pretend to look dignified.
Téras had already poured another cup of tea and was pulling my chair out. What a gentlemen, I thought sarcastically.
And even though I had the biggest urge to ignore him and pick the chair farthest from him, I didn't.
He pushed my chair in after I sat and elegantly sat in his own seat.
"Now," he started and grabbed his tea cup, "tell me about what's happened since we last saw each other," he took a drink while I assumed stared at me but it was hard to tell with his eyes closed.
I stayed quiet, just stared at my lap and played with the ribbon around my wrist.
He sighed and angrily dropped the tea cup onto the table, shattering it and spilling tea , "don't be like that Little Ant," he seethed, "I'm trying to have a conversation with you, and you keep rudely ignoring me."
"I wonder why," I mumbled sarcastically, not meaning for him to hear. But unfortunately he did.
He was fuming, his hands were tightly clenched into fist as he stood slowly and towered over me.
Suddenly his eyes flashed open to reveal entire pitch black eyes and he thrust out a hand and wrapped it around my throat. I gasped and wrapped my hands around his to try and pry them off.
"I gave you a warning!" He spoke through clenched teeth and lifted me up out of the chair, shoving me into a wood pillar, "I said it was the only one you get! And I said if you do it again you'll regret it!"
Black smoke curled out from the corner of his eyes and drifted towards me in tendrils. My eyes widened and I quickly shut my mouth and held my breath as the smoke surrounded me.
He smiled creepily at my attempts to fight him off.
I fought him, but soon my lungs began to burn and subconsciously I breathed in. The smoke filtered in through my nose and filled my lungs. It didn't take long for it to crowd my blood stream and flood my brain. All my nerves stopped, my vision turned black, I couldn't feel, smell, hear, or taste anything.
And then the images started. Horrific images of creepy monsters, eery sounds, and the feeling of long bony fingers dragging up my body.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and my breaths rapidly increased. The feeling of a hand clenching around my heart sent shivers up my spine and I tried to move but my body was limp and no longer under my control.
I heard Téras' laugh somewhere in the back of my mind.
I felt a breath on my neck and I couldn't hold back my scream anymore. An agonizing sound left me, one filled with so much pain and fear that I almost didn't believe it was mine.
But this was Téras. He could make anyone scream with fear because his eyes could see our fears.
"DONT TOUCH RED!!!" A voice shouted so loud even I heard it. My heart skipped a beat and my tears stopped at hearing Luffy. I looked around in the darkness but he wasn't there. That meant he wasn't a part or Téras' images, he was really here.
"Luffy-san?" I whispered in a shaky voice.
The smoke cleared from system and my senses came back. My vision came back and I looked up to see a seething Luffy standing over me as I laid on the hard floor of the gazebo.
"Red! Are you okay?!" He asked without looking at me.
I coughed and raised a hand to my sore throat, "y-yeah..."
"Tauras!!" Luffy addressed Téras who was just now recovering from a hit Luffy had given him, "where are my nakama?!?!!"
I coughed again and spoke shakily, "Luffy-san, I already got them out. *cough* they're safe."
He smiled with relief at me, "that's good. You can go back to the ship, I'm gonna kick Taurus' ass!"
My eyes widened, "what?! *cough* no! We have to leave, don't fight him!"
"Why not?!" He tensed up with his feet apart and his arms ready to fight at his side.
"Because," Téras spoke up from the other side of the gazebo and dusted his hat off before putting it back on, "someone might get hurt."
He looked at us and I was released to see that his eyes were once again closed.
"That'll be you!" Luffy glared back at him.
Téras just laughed, "I'm not here to fight you," he strode forward into the gazebo, "The only reason, Straw Hat, that I approached you in the town square, was because you had my Little Ant with you. And the only way you can have her, Straw Hat, is when she'll. be. completely. broken,"
"You can't break her," luffy's eyebrows furrowed together, "she's stronger than you think."
"Oh no. You see, I've seen all of her fears," he tapped his forehead next to his eye, "I know just what she'll need."
"You can't break her!" Luffy repeated more sternly.
"Oh yeah? Who's gonna stop me?"
"Me!!"