Chapter Text
"I didn't want to lose him." She was strikingly beautiful, a tree in the middle of furious waves, eyes the same colors as yours but in her, they shine in a way they don't on you.
They glint in melancholy, sorrow and grief tinting the hues, an artist worse and highest dream.
"You understand, don't you? You also lost someone special, I can feel."
Her hands—your hands—grip the collar on her neck tightly and it's the same as yours, except hers was cracked on the gem, shining and fading like a dying firefly.
You can't talk, not with the salt water bubbling on your mouth and threatening to spill.
"Help me help them, I can't undo this mess...but you? You can. I know you can."
"You're their only salvation, [Name]."
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
Popping off your shoulders and grunting when a satisfying 'pop' resonated, you don't answer Koby's question; rather, you worry yourself in not breathing through your nose as you venture yourself through the vents, Koby travelling behind you like a little mouse.
You decided you wanted that Alvida hoe gone, because she threatened you with a ruler? Yes but also because you have some issues with figures of authority.
And something about the teachers doing whatever the hell they wanted bothered you deeply, so, why not help a fellow student in need? You're soo benevolent.
You're really hoping doing some good deeds there and there will have you back to your home, you don't care anymore about the competition—fuck this, you do—you just want to go back.
Back to your annoying as fuck roommate, back to your home you just recently finished paying, back to the ocean.
Oh, how you longed for it—to feel your fingers pads getting wrinkly from too many hours on water, to swim and swim, using your arms to go beyond everything.
"Found it."
The teacher's office—accordingly to Koby's map—was divided in subdivisions, teacher's that entered by a exam and the ones that entered by recommendation of the principal. On paper, they didn't had many differences except some bureaucracy, socially?
Well, if the way some teacher's office is the size of a room on the big city and others are a suite, there's some drastic difference.
Anyway, Alvida's office was small, pink and obnoxious. Too many hearts and you're pretty sure you saw some BDSM shit.
The plan was simple; don't get caught as Luffy caught her attention to far away, probably using his trick of the foam spray, God knows where he got that shit.
"C'mon, help me here, cunt."
He's quick to help, opening the vent with his fingers and hissing when the iron risked his skin, but he bites down any whimper and forces the thing open, hand coming out reddish and warm.
You go down quickly, feet already moving towards her cabinet; a eraser, the huge ruler she uses to torment students, her car key and a love letter.
Huh, a love letter.
Fingers tracing the paper, the ink still fresh—it smudges on your fingertips—you eyes scan over the methodical and elegant handwriting with boredom.
'My dearest, Luffy,'
Y'know what, not the cup of worms you're trying to open.
There's nothing but disgust when you pocket that letter, stuffing it so further on the pocket of your denim jeans you're sure it ripped somewhere on the way. Moving on, you open gabinet after gabinet, checking for anything compromising before your eyes landed on it.
A stack of files and when you looked through it, thousands of letters of students complaining about her abuse, each one mediated by her, there's some names you recognize like Koby, but the rest is all unknown.
You're about to put them on the bag you stole from some nearby students when a sudden ruckus happens outside the door, loud banging and screams scaring the shit of you as you fumbled with the files, putting them hurriedly on the bag—
until you saw another one. Pink, lovely hearts and a nametag.
For Luffy.
The door banged—loud, impetuous and unforgiving—and you had to make a decision; the backpack was small, mostly to carry a kindle and be cute so you couldn't put more than one stack of paper on it.
Which one was more prone of doing something? Which one would make people hear and not turn a blind eye?
Fingers moved before you brain did, gripping tightly the pink one and shoving it on the bag, pushing your feet on top of her desk and launching yourself on the hole of the vent.
Your fingertips barely scrapped it when Koby's hands gripped your wrist, forcing you up in the exact moment the door burst open, the obese and wavy black hair fuming at the messed room.
You guys didn't stay to hear whatever she said, but if the way she roared was anything, it wasn't good.
"Excuse me!"
Koby had to go to his afternoon's classes and Luffy didn't show up, you don't have a working phone nor their numbers so you just shrugged and resumed whatever you were doing before their crazy shit started;
Nothing.
You blinked your half-lidded eyes towards the feminine voice that called for you, instantly widening it when the cutest girl on the whole world stood in front of you.
Wetting your lips before speaking, your muscles relax and your fingers drum on the inside of your thigh, scrapping agaisn't the jeans as you waited for her to speak with a arch of your eyebrows.
She gets the hint, smiles widening before clumsily handing you a infographic; it included details of the waste of water on the academy, where all the water comes from and where the wasted one goes and etc.
"Oi! sorry to bother, my name's Koala and we're doing a protest for the unconventional waste of water here on Grand Line Academy so it would be really good if you could come! Did you knew every time you take a bath the water is throwed at the ocean?"
You feel the material of the paper before answering, humming before meeting her eyes. "Which day it'll happen?"
Maybe you can ask for her number, you did like ginger girls with personality.
"It's after tomorrow! 6th of December."
You stay still, barely moving or blinking. "I'm sorry, which day is today, sweetheart?"
Her head tilts at the endearing nickname, fingers twisting the end of the flyers as her smile spreaded. "It's 4th of December, which means it's—"
Your ears don't understand the rest of her sentence, suddenly, you're underwater.
It's almost comforting; that so usual feeling of holding your breath, counting to yourself as you stared at the blue tiles of some pool, water bubbling in and out of your ear as you stood still like a preying shark.
You've been doing it for the last ten years of your life, staring at the deep unknown as you tried to hold your breath more and more, until dizziness overcame and you grasp for breath.
Until it's not, until you're reaching for your neck to grip the collar your mother gave you tightly, almost crushing it as you try to gather your senses because—
The competition is in three weeks, then.
If you can go back on time to home; If, not when, never when. But if you can find a way to be back, you'll be on time to compete, you'll win the prize it's already yours.
But can you? You don't even know how you ended up here nor how to go back—but it's so close, there's a new chance for you to do it. To prove yourself. And it's on reachable distance, fingertips grazing it before you fall back down to earth.
You can't stay idle and watch it go away, no way in fucking hell.
"Thanks for the reminder, I got to get goin' but thanks, sweetie." She looks disappointed but when you graze her fingers to grab one of her flyers, a stunning smile appears on her face and ginger curls bobs on her head
"Thank you! I hope to see you there, miss!"
You wave, already moving towards your next target; the library.
The library was huge but quaint, too much but never overbearing, there had students scattered, some studying and others quietly gossiping but in geral, it was pretty with bookshelves that reached almost the ceiling and never ending books.
You had one goal in mind; discover where the fuck you were.
And you haven't been succeding, book after book disregarded on a ever growing pile, your senses are starting to blur and lines are starting to move like a furious ocean.
God, my head is killing me.
"Are you perhaps reading this one?"
Blinking weary eyes away from the dancing lines, they meet pristine brown ones, fox eyes staring intently at you, sharp and focused as they dissect you on broad daylight, eating your soul alive with the barest of glances.
She's intense.
"Uh, which one?" And she nods towards the big, old one you mindless flipped the yellow pages, not bothering to read anymore when your brain was starting to short circuit to motion. The book she pointed at, 'Geography; A Study From Red Line Perspective', and your eyebrows furrow at it. "Oh, go off, queen, didn't even saw this one here."
"Thank you." But instead of walking away with the book, she takes a chair and sits next to you, hot secretary glasses sliding off her face in a way that almost entrances you. "You've been here for a while, studying for a test?"
"Didn't knew you were watching." Raising a well placed eyebrow, your eyes tries to skim over the tired and overused words again and again, huffing in frustration when they don't come up with sense and reason with them. "Nah, tryin' to understand where the fuck we are on the scheme of things."
And now it's her turn to raise her thin, black eyebrows that are almost concealed by her trimmed bangs, her hooked nose slightly scrunching when she huffs what almost sounds like a laugh.
"Philosophical. You're cursing history?"
You blink, bloodshot eyes from exercising them so much slowly coming to it's sense.
You don't actually know what you're cursing, do you?
On your other life you did marine biology, you wanted to try and go for athletics, maybe try a pos graduation with water sports but for now you wanted to be as close as you could with water.
Now? You have no idea. You didn't even looked what are your classes, the person's here and the person's you are two completely different people if her taste in clothes said anything.
"Good question, probably not." And her face doesn't reveal too much; be it shock, amusement or the likely thought process you're nuts. Her face seems to be pulled on a tight made mask of small, cunning smile, sun-kissed skin and sharper eyes and dark eyeshadow that pops their color. "Do you think it suits me?"
Now it's her time to react, eyes squinting in concealed amusement, eyes drifting back to the old and sturdy book on her hands, her nails—small, almond with black nail polish—traces the title with endearment, like that old thing is something precious.
You watch as the woman with tanned, golden skin and golden hoops on her ears and golden bracelets flips the book open like it's routine, a lover's skin she knows every nerve and back by the palm of her hand.
"Here." Eyes snapping at the page she suddenly stopped at, you squint your eyes trying to make sense of it's shape until you realize—
It's a island.
A huge, on the middle of nowhere, fucking island.
There's no strength on you to do anything other than let your jaw go all the way down, not caring for the amusement displayed on the woman's face next to you.
"A island." Your tone is heavy with incredulity.
"A island." Hers is laced with amusement, like a cat toying with a mouse.
"In the middle of nowhere."
"Actually, there's another island one hour from here."
"Oh, great." On the middle of nowhere with another island on the middle of nowhere, that's such a fun way to experience college. "What? Do you guys have frat parties at the edge of the island and kill yourselves jumping on the ocean on the day of pranking freshmen? What the fuck."
You can't even escape this godforsake prison, stuck on something you never asked for and for what? There's no prize on finishing college except a certificate you'll bury deep on your drawers.
But the woman next to you—hair that reached her shoulders, a cunning smile and painted nails that drummed on the table with a purpose—stares at you like she's trying to put together a new favorite puzzle.
"You sound surprise and yet, you're not new here." She tilts her head like a owl, like changing perspective will make your tongue loose enough to spill your secrets. "What about things you already know that surprises you so much?"
You realize she doesn't want you to spill it, she wants to pluck it apart herself, discovering the mysterious on her own. You cock a smirk at that, tilting your head to match hers. "I'm a bit aloof, can't blame a gal for it, yeah?"
She doesn't buy it, but she doesn't disagree either; rather, she flips the book one more time and points her finger to a map, a island with nothing but another smaller island near. "The greatest college in the whole world, people from all places die to have the opportunity to study here in the middle of Pacifica."
Eyebrows scrunching, you don't realize you're invading her personal space until she side-eye you and you follow the hint, slowly distancing yourself. "Pacifica? I've never been to Pacifica." Grunting, you squint your eyes towards the huge island, it's practically a country at this point. "And there's just a hugeass school on the middle of a island? Nothing more?"
"Every season has a type of festival that merchants and street vendors comes rushing for and outside of the college there's an village." When she speaks, it's like a fox setting a trap for an sheep, eyes squinting with underlining crafty.
You hum, eyes travelling towards each point of the island—type of rocks, vegetation, mountainous volume—and you decide it's for no use, there's no way to escape and, anyway, you don't think you have the will to
Well, for what else reason would you wake up here if the answer isn't here? There must be some type of mysterious, Metflix teen series type of shit going on, right?
"Fuck all this mind-blowing shit."
Robin doesn't understand you.
She knows you—of course, as every other student in this university does—and knows what you stand for. What you fight for, what you humiliated yourself over and over for. She knew a superficial you, someone she never deemed worth the attention you had.
That person she knows—that she watched, analyzed from a distance—is nowhere found when her eyes lock with yours, now more sharp, intelligent and awhare.
It's strange. Like you are a walking metamorphosis.
It makes the corner of her mouth turn upwards.
"You're weird."
"Says the woman who's giving witch of the east vibes."
Her eyebrows minimally arch at that and, looking at her sharp and witty eyes, you don't notice the way your collar starts shining under your shirt, getting warmer and warmer, like her bare presence activates it.
She opens her mouth, ready to retort with something probably smart when the library door is suddenly burst open and all heads turns towards the offender and—
"OOOII!!"
"Fuck my sad chugus life." Twisting your head when a loud, boisterous and dipshit of a man with a straw hat searches the library for you with the biggest smile on his face, you can't help but groan in shame. "He isn't searching me, there's no way, we don't even know each other."
"DID ANYONE SAW A GIRL WITH THIS FUNNY HAIRCUT?"
You try to hide your face on the book the woman next to you was busy reading, not caring for how she watched you with attention.
"Interesting acquaintances you're making."
"Shush, do you want him to find me?"
Her face slips a smirk with barely concealed ill-intention.
"What's there for me?"
"You can't be serious."
She tilts her head again, changing her point of view in a matter of seconds. "Do you want him to find you?"
'No way this bitch is using my words agaisn't me.'
"You know what? You have been a great help, whatever your name is." Pushing the book you were using to cover your face down, you grimace when Luffy's eyes fixed on you on a instant. "But I don't do favors, y'know? I'm a loner, a rebel."
Her eyebrows raises in amusement, eyes following your movements like a predator at the top of the food chain and you're her prey of the hour.
Which, thank you, but you're not.
"Shhh! Don't scream on the library!"
"HUH? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Your skin prickles with the attention this pure shitbrain of a dude is bringing, every set of eyes on the room darting to him and then at you, when you fist your hands on his red tank top and pushes him towards the exit while murmuring; 'Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this..'
"You're telling me you just made a whole fucking scene on the library because...you wanted to eat with me?"
"Yep!"
"Okay, okay. First; fuck you, what the fuckin' hell is your problem? 'Funny haircut'? Do you want to be kicked in the nuts?"
He shivers at that. "I don't know your name!"
"It's [Name], you fuckin' cunt!" Hissing at him, you try to ignore the glances you both were receiving; the cafeteria was packed, lunch time had all time of people talking on the line, awaiting with muffled conversation.
You and Luffy decided to sit on a empty table; you because you didn't want to be associated with another person who could be at the table and him because he just wanted to follow you.
"Besides, why are you followin' me around?"
"'Cus we're friends, duh."
Your eye twitch involuntary. "Luffy, are you a young sibling by any chance?"
"Yep!"
"Thought so."
"Oi, what the fuck are you doing with this wimp?"