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nethhiri · 6 days ago

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Flying Blind Chapter 8- Finale

A/N: Shriek has her much-needed talks with the guys who started this whole mess.

I can't even begin to put into words how special this series is to me. It allowed me to give Shriek emotional depth and growth I never thought possible a year ago. It helped me hone my writing craft. And most important of all, it's my first major collaboration with one of my best friends and her own amazing characters and crew dynamics. @dissvicious, I thank you so, so much for letting Shriek play in your world and get an awesome mom out of it too! Plus it goes without saying this cover page is amazing and provided some much-needed inspiration for the climax. Enjoy the fruit bats of our labor, everybody!

C/W: Nothing except that I take no legal responsibility for any flood damages your homes might receive from teardrop flooding. Endure! But in a good way this time hopefully!

“She hates us, Kill”

At any other time, Killer would have been sticking a blade to the neck of whatever imposter clearly had been hallucinating his captain, because Kid never spoke in such a defeated tone. But he couldn’t possibly begrudge him for that now.

“Fuck… I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised but …” Kid ran his hand through Ozzy’s fluffy pink locks in as much an attempt to comfort himself as his son “I mean she’s always bounced back so quickly before”

“I don’t think we’re ever going back to ‘before’” Killer mused glumly, wiping a tear trickling down Ziggy’s little cheek. “We made sure of that”

Kid bit his lip so hard it was hard to tell whether or not it was beginning to bleed. Killer gently reached out to run a thumb along it for good measure.

“She didn’t say she didn’t want to talk to us ever. Just that she didn’t want to do it right now. She’ll come around. We just gotta give her time”

The extra time Shriek was unknowingly blessed with was well-spent.

For starters, it allowed her to learn that this dollhouse castle wasn’t even on Elbaf but a smaller island just off the coast. Apparently, the grown-ups thought it was better for everyone to take some time away from the mainland for a little bit. At least until the literal smoke from the North-Western Hunting village died down and the giants there stopped reflexively drawing their arrows at every bird flying overhead.

There was also something about some knights having ran around while Shriek was out of it and nightmare monsters and lots of fires starting, but even hearing all those bits of information short-hand was enough to make Shriek’s head spin. It probably wasn’t that important.

Having already scuttled around and rummaged through every nook and cranny of her new room as soon as it was deemed safe enough for her to get out of bed for longer than a few minutes, Shriek was itching to see what secrets the rest of this new base held inside and out.

She knew she had to time it for when Mama went out with, ugh, Loki. Even though Mama spent as much time looking after Shriek as she could now, bringing her meals and playing with her and staying by her bedside most every night, Shriek didn’t think she’d be able to leave her room until she was fifty the way Mama was hovering over her.

Well, Mama wasn’t here now (just for now, she’s coming back for sure) and that meant it was time to get this show on the road.

Creaking open the door with a scheming look in her eye, she sniffed around for anybody that could be lurking in the semi-spiral passageway. The hood of her new wolf hoodie was pulled tight around her fluffy face.

With her wings still partially bandaged, she crept down the stone steps that felt pleasantly cool to the touch, careful not to make a sound. Which would probably be a lot easier if her claws didn’t clack against the floor with every delicate step she took. And then of course she was so focused on not making a noise that she missed a step due to her lingering aches.

“Crap!” she yelped before she could stop herself, waving her arms and wings in circles for a moment before righting herself backwards. That prevented her from seeing whatever large form she ended up bumping against.

“Pup?”

Ears twitching at the voice she would know if she heard it even among a volley of cannon fire, Shriek lifted her head and saw the familiar masked face peering down at her.

“What are you doing out of your room??” Killer asked, immediately crouching down. “Are you okay? Did you need something?”

Shriek’s eyes darted every which way in a panic, searching for somewhere to hide or maybe flap off to. “N-no, I’m fine. I just… I…”

It had been five days since she had woken up and curtly refused Kid and Killer’s attempts to talk to her and she hadn’t seen them save for watching them coming and going to the castle and moving some furniture around. Shriek still didn’t feel ready for the industrial-size can of worms that was a conversation with Kid, but Killer… well, Killer should have been easier to talk to but it still filled her with a nervousness that never gripped her before.

The traitorous grumbling of her stomach broke the awkward silence.

Killer fwa-fwas in the soft way that tells Shriek he’s actually amused and it’s not just SMILE. “Guess it is around lunch time. Do you think you can wait a bit while I whip something up?”

Shriek adjusted her stance defensively for a moment, then straightened up a bit and twisted her paws together only a little anxiously.

“I can help you make it”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah” Shriek nodded “Beats sitting in bed all day. And I want to see the kitchen.”

“Well that’s more than alright with me” Killer acquiesced “It’s a bit of a ways though. Do you need help getting there?”

Part of Shriek wanted to snap that she was fine, but she crushed that thought like an ensign’s skull.

“I wanna try going down the stairs by myself. After that… if you wanna carry me, you can”

She could hear Killer’s breath hitch as he rose to his feet.

“Sure thing”

“You’re not gonna get all panicky if I wobble a little, right?”

“Nope. I won’t do anything without your word, pup”

And sure enough, he didn’t. He let Shriek make her way down the remaining steps, running her paw along the wall for support and taking short rests when necessary. Not once did he insist that it was too dangerous or haul her up into his arms without asking. He just trailed by her side at an even pace like he was her own shadow. Albeit a very muscly shadow with hair that looked like squirrels were break-dancing in the back of it.

It was only when they reached the bottom leading out into the hallway that Shriek raised her arms and consented to Killer lifting her into his. For a brief moment, she forgot all about the past month and was content to sink into his embrace like she had so many times before out at sea. The only thing getting in the way of that illusion of the past was this new change of scenery.

The castle itself was impressive, sure, but it was a little on the plain side for Shriek. She figured if she popped open a dictionary, flipped to the c pages and saw pictures of this place staring back at her, she’d be like “Yup, that’s a castle alright.” Not like the castle the crew had found last year which was perfectly dark and musty, full of crypts and flickering torches and cobwebs twelve dozen layers thick and so many bats roosting in the rafters chittering and flapping about. Now that was a real castle.

Although there were some things here that made her do a double-take. Like some chipped paint that looked like a dog’s butt, some flowers on a coffee table that were very clearly plastic, and one entire wall that was painted a different color than the rest which Shriek didn’t realize were letters written in sharpie until she craned her neck back to look.

“Who’s Hajrudin and why does he stink like horse farts?” she asked, ears flopping as she gave a quizzical head tilt.

“Loki’s brother. He probably wrote that back when they both were kids.” Killer answered evenly as they crossed through a patch of sunbeams amongst a row of glass windows that lined the hallway to the kitchen. “Guess Hajrudin used to tease him a lot for even having a dollhouse. Didn’t fit Elbaf’s warrior image”

“That’s stupid. Pirates and warrior’s have dollhouses too. You guys had a whole bunch of them you used for planning raids and drawing up maps!”

“Those were more miniatures than dollhouses. But yeah, I get your point. People get all worked up over the dumbest shit”

Shriek knew she couldn’t agree more when she saw the kitchen. It was big enough where at least half of the crew could comfortably have a meal there. The cabinets had all sorts of incredibly detailed wood paneling with carvings shaped like wolves and bears. A long kitchen island marbled like Damascus steel stood in the center. Colorful tiles that looked like a rainbow had frozen solid and been scattered around lined the bottom of a deep sink.

The little bat mink looked around in quiet wonder before her face suddenly screwed up in thought “Wait, if this is a dollhouse then nothing in here’s gonna work, right?”

“It will. Electricity’s up, we got running water from the stream and… well there is one way we’ll be able to heat stuff up but I haven’t really tested it yet. But we’ll make it work.”

Make it work. Shriek mulled those words over as Killer got out a little box of recipe cards on the counter.

Lunch would be spaghetti carbonara with parmigiano-reggiano. Partly because they had plenty of cheese as part of the generous dollhousewarming gifts Ripley and her family had given them. And partly because Shriek likes the sound of parmigiano-reggiano.

Shriek was given the very important task of grating the cheese while Killer boiled the water over…

“There’s a lightbulb on the stove. Did you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah I did” Killer sighed, masked head dipping in shame “But it’s got us this far”

After the cheese was thoroughly grated into a pile almost the size of Shriek herself, they got ready to chop the lettuce and some bacon into chunks. Only instead of Killer doing it, he gently instructed Shriek where to place the lettuce under the knife and told her to take her time. The shock at this gesture turned into a quiet determination as Shriek slowly cut through the lettuce leaf. It wasn’t the first time Killer had let her help with cutting up ingredients, and they had both sliced through far tougher things and people outside of the kitchen. But he had never let Shriek use the knife while he took his hands off before until today.

Even if it was only one chop, it felt like they were in whole new territory now.

“That really happened! I got to use a knife in the kitchen!” Shriek grinned, sitting on the counter and looking at her paw as though it were a gleaming gem “Was that a one-time thing or do I get to cut more stuff?” Those hedges outside looked like they could use some hacking.

“It’s gonna be a while before you’re chopping stuff by yourself” said Killer, cutting up the bacon into slivers. Probably a long while if Shriek was thinking what he thought she was thinking about the hedges outside the window “But you can practice with that more often so long as I’m here to help you, okay?”

Shriek’s ears shot straight up at the sentence before slowly pinning down. Her triumphant expression from a moment ago melted away and was replaced by one that was more uncertain.

“What if you aren’t there to help?”

Killer looked up at that “You mean, like if I’m out in town or hunting?”

Shriek traced a forlorn claw along the countertop. “You weren’t out in town when we got to Elbaf.” she continued quietly “You weren’t hunting that day I found the crew in the forest”

Each word was like a dagger launching itself right into Killer’s heart. He nearly staggered against the sink as the shock and guilt crashing over him. Handwashing was immediately cut short as Killer walked over to Shriek and delicately took her little paws in his hands.

“You’re right, Shriek” he confessed “I wasn’t where you needed me to be. Where your mother and brothers needed me to be. I keep thinking back to that day and asking myself why I didn’t go with you all in the lifeboat. Why I didn’t push harder about us not picking a fight when we got here.”

Shriek gave a small shrug, still not looking at Killer “Captain’s orders, right?”

Killer shook his head, tightening his grip on her paws “That’s not a handwave for everything, pup. Kid means the world to me, but he’s not my whole world. I have a family. One that I should have fought harder to protect than I did. That’s why I went to talk to your Mama when you came back”

“You did?” asked Shriek, finally looking up.

“I needed to apologize to her and let her know that I would always love her. But even still, I saw how much you were hurting but… I figured since you weren’t injured and the camp was a safe place, that you would be fine for that moment. But you weren’t, were you?”

Shriek shook her head as tears began to well up in her eyes “A bunch of the others left. And Kid was all mad and drunk”

Killer pulled her into a gentle hug. “You never should have had to deal with any of that. I’m so sorry, Pup. That must have been scary”

“Not as scary as you sayin’ you were gonna leave for good. When you punched Kid’s lights out. I heard you!”

Killer gave a small but horrified fwa-fwa of realization. How he honestly keep forgetting about the pinpoint accuracy that was a bat mink’s hearing after six years, he will never know.

“Pup, that wasn’t the whole story. I was telling Kid that he needed to get his shit together or I would be leaving with you and your mom and the boys.”

“With us?” Shriek balked at that. Killer had been by Kid’s side for as long as Shriek can remember. It was impossible to consider one going anywhere without the other. Was he truly willing to leave to be with her and Mama and Ozzy and Ziggy? Shriek wasn’t sure if she could say that made her happy, but… wow.

“Can I take off your mask?”

As soon as Killer nodded, Shriek gently placed her paws on the side of the mask and gently tugged upward, revealing blue eyes as misty as her own and a strained smile.

She had always preferred when Killer wasn’t wearing the mask, though she didn’t blame him for always wanting to keep it on after Wano. Truth be told, Shriek was a little frightened of the constant smiling and laughter at first. Not because she found those things scary themselves. How could she? Killer’s laugh was one of her favorite sounds in the whole world. What bothered her was how Killer looked to be in so much pain. She could see it in his eyes how much it was hurting him. It was the same look that she saw right now.

And if she thought back hard enough to that day when he crossed into the woods, it dawned on her that she saw that same look then too.

Was being a grown-up really this hard?

“You hurt me a lot. You and Kid both did” said Shriek. Killer averted his eyes, ashamed, until Shriek placed a paw on the side of his face nearest the SMILE dimple. “But after… you were doing the best you could with what you had. And even it did still hurt, now we can make choices that don’t lead to so much hurt later down the road, right?”

Killer looked at Shriek as though he were seeing her for the first time.

“When did you get such a good head on your shoulders, little lady?”

“You helped me grow it” Shriek grinned, nuzzling under his goatee. As Killer hugged her again, she found herself thinking about another mane of golden hair flying in the breeze. Shriek wondered if she would be proud too?

A question that couldn’t be dwelled on for too long since the pot was starting to bubble over. Whoops.

Nothing some egg-beating, olive oil pouring, and pan-flipping couldn’t solve.

By the time the late afternoon sun was filtering into the kitchen, they were munching on the cheesiest, savoriest pasta they’d both had in a long time.

And it would be far from the last.

Soon, Shriek was finally allowed to spread her wings. Which was to say, her wing bandages were finally able to be removed along with most of the other ones too. And that meant she got to start up physical therapy. Which was to say, exploring every corner of the castle garden. Calling it a garden might have been a bit of a stretch, it was more like a meadow. Shriek recognized a bunch of the flowers she had glimpsed on the mainland and in the illustrated field guides she had browsed back at Ripley’s house.

There were purple moss campions and clusters of magenta sedums. Drabas and Svaldbard poppies were poking out from between the rocks like tiny cobras swaying before a strike. Carpets of chickweed were scattered everywhere and fronds of crooked sheep’s sorrel stuck straight up in the air like witch’s fingers.

The flower Shriek saw the most was a small white one with a red circle in the middle and equally red branches. Giants called it “the mistress of the mountain” and they had apparently liked it so much they made it the national flower of Elbaf. And it made complete sense to Shriek. They reminded her of bloody jaws and tongues opening wide, hungry for more carnage.

You just can’t get a more awesome flower than that!

It was among these flowers that Shriek buried herself to watch the honeybees at work. These ones weren’t nearly as big as the ones on Elbaf, but they did have little horns in addition to the antennae. They were mostly for locking horns with other insects or predators to chuck them off the flowers so the bees could get their sweet polleny reward. Paws on her knees, Shriek was practically trembling trying to control her excitement as she observed one bee shuffling between the petals of one mistress of the mountain. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t think twice about pressing her snout as close to the flower as she could to look at the bee up close. But the last time she did that with an Elbafian bee, she almost flapped away from it without a snout. She gave a squeak of surprise as the bee suddenly flew off, but she was spared from disappointment when she saw the flash of a mantis’s barbed forelegs as it hunted a cricket.

And on it went for a little over an hour. When Shriek spotted something moving, she chased it on clawed feet and leather wings, grateful that all her bedrest hadn’t dulled her natural speed in the slightest. She shook off a stag beetle that pinched the tip of her nose, dug up some field mice nests, allowed her fingers to act as a furry jungle gym for a caterpillar, and sunned herself on a rock next to a green and blue lizard with bulgy eyes. Every now and then Mama or Killer would call to her from the window and ask if she was doing okay and not straining herself too much and she would shout back that she was (the first part anyway).

Just as Shriek was debating if she could get away with scrambling up the spruce tree to observe the little birds whose names she didn’t know yet, some butterflies started fluttering nearby and really how could she not want in on that? Later, birds!

The little bat mink giggled while making playful swipes and them and watching the array of colorful flapping wings. Red and violet copper and checkerboard and silver…

No, not silver. Metal. Shriek would know that glint anywhere.

She had seen the dozen little bolt bodies and sheet metal wings with squeaky hinges countless times. She knew the skull faces well. Just as well as she knew the scent of iron and sweat and cedar wood that was now drifting about.

With only a little hesitation and the slightest twitch of her ears, Shriek reached out her paw and the nearest metal butterfly alighted on her clawed index finger. She looked over her shoulder at the footsteps she heard coming far before her captain had stepped out into the garden.

He wasn’t wearing the new mechanical arm he’d constructed since the last time she saw him, but his red fur coat was still draped over his shoulders and he clung to it somewhat anxiously.

“Been a while since I made some of these” Kid smirked in a nervously casual way that didn’t fit him at all. “Hope I didn’t bug ya with ‘em. Heh, get it, bug?” Shriek just gave him the same slow blink as Zap when he was annoyed that he couldn’t stuff a bunch of catnip into his face at a given moment. “Seriously though, you don’t mind them do you?”

Shriek shook her head, turning back to the butterfly “Nah, they’re fine”

To his credit, Kid had given Shriek plenty of distance out of respect for her wishes. If what she heard from Nina and Killer was true, he was already starting to set up a makeshift workshop somewhere in the castle. Probably already drawing up the blueprints for a new ship.

Three days after her talk with Killer, Shriek had told Mama that she was ready to start speaking to Kid again. The young mink had struggled a lot over what to do before finally making up her mind. In fact, she had gone out to the garden to try and get rid of the stuff nerves she had been feeling ever since waking up. That had crept back in the minute Kid had arrived.

But like hell was she going to show him that.

“Do you remember the first time I made those for you?” asked Kid. Shriek shook her head.

“I remember the first time I saw ‘em. Kinda” She traced her talons along the seams of the metal butterfly crawling along her hand up to her arm “I thought they were pretty. Their wings weren’t the same as mine, but it didn’t matter. They made me wanna fly.”

“Took ye ages to figure it out” Kid chuckled, sitting down in the grass next to Shriek “All that flappin’ and trippin’ over your wings and diving off the railing. Shit, I almost broke a rib diving after you once. But then you were up in the air, and you’ve never come down since. You made the sky yours. I think that’s pretty damn cool, pup”

The praise didn’t make Shriek beam like it would have a few months ago. In fact, it did the opposite.

“Not as cool as me being loyal?” she asked sourly. Kid raised a stunned eyebrow

“Eh? The hell’s that got to do with any…. oh”

“Yeah, ‘oh’” Shriek snapped in a tone she’d heard Killer use countless times before. The “You’re a fucking idiot” tone. It’s something that Shriek had never used before, so both of them were caught off-guard for a moment. But keeping her eyes on the butterflies allowed Shriek to get her bearings quickly

“What would you do if I wasn’t loyal, huh? Would you be saying bad stuff about me behind my back too?”

Kid instantly flinched and averted his own eyes “That… shit, I can’t even call that a low blow cuz you’re right.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair “I was drunk and stupid and pissed and I… I don’t know, I was just being an ass! It’s what I’m good at. I mean, I don’t want to be good at it, except when I do but… FUCK!!” Why was wording so damn hard? He didn’t know how Killer did it.

For a long time, Shriek regarded him with a tired bitterness that she had also never felt before today. Guess they were both out of their depth.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell her” she said quietly. “She’s happy now, and I don’t want to be the reason that goes away. I’m fine keeping secrets if it means she won’t leave again”

Kid stared at the little mink, completely stunned. Then he closed his mouth slowly and his eyes took on a new sense of calm.

“That’s not your responsibility to bear, pup. We’re the adults here, and I’m the one who fucked everything up. I’ll talk about it with your ma when the dust settles. She deserves honesty as much as you and Killer do”

“No, don’t!” Shriek said, finally looking Kid in the eye. Didn’t he hear any of what she just said??

“Pup…”

“I said no!”

She shoved him with all her strength and he toppled into the grass. Her fur was beginning to bristle and surge.

“Why don’t you ever listen to anyone?! All you do is make things worse!!”

A stray spark of Electro hit two butterflies and they fell to the earth in a shower of broken wings. Shriek gasped as if woken from a dream and her rage disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Kid sat up as he watched her delicately scoop up the remains of the butterflies with shaking paws. One severed wing was pink, the other charred steel.

“Shriek…”

She looked up at him with frightened, remorseful eyes and ran off with a whimper. She crossed a sizeable distance before reaching a human-sized bench and pressing her face against the frame, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

This time her pinned ears didn’t move when Kid’s footsteps were within earshot. He knelt next to her and reached out as if to place a hand on her shoulder, then retracted it. All the while guilt was etched into his face.

“You didn’t hurt them on purpose, pup”

“But I hurt you on purpose” she sniffled “And I still don’t know if I feel bad about it or not!”

“I wouldn’t” Kid admitted “Had it coming being an ass”

“I’ve felt mad before, but that was…” Shriek wiped her eyes with the back of her arm then looked at the clawed hand at the end with an anxious expression “I don’t know where that came from”

Kid leaned against the bottom of the bench with an arm on one knee, looking down sullenly at the chickweed clusters “I think I do. It came from me”

The young bat mink looked over at him questioningly.

“You’ve always been watching me ever since you came onboard. Captains set the tone for the crew, that’s obvious. But it was different with you. Ye were so young. Ye didn’t know any other way and we were all ye had to go off of. All of us went through life kicking and screaming and killin’. And we passed that on to you. I passed it on to you. Probably onto your brothers too, so… that’s pretty fucked.”

As he spoke, Shriek slowly pulled her face away from the bench frame and turned to face him. She reached out to grab onto the wooden seat, bracing herself for the question that was bubbling up in her throat like lightning laced with bile.

“What was it that stopped you from doin’ all that to Mama?”

Kid’s head shot up and he regarded his pup with bewilderment “What??”

“When you were gone from the camp, I knew you were going after her. You don’t leave people who piss you off alive.” Shriek murmured in a dull voice “That’s why I flew off. I thought if I stopped you in time, she wouldn’t get hurt. But I lost my way in the branches. And the moon was out by then. Was that what changed your mind?”

Kid whitened. He felt like he was going to be sick. He looked for some sign, any sign that pointed to Shriek making some kind of joke that was in the worst taste imaginable. But he didn’t find one. His pup really thought that he… that he might…

Kid grabbed Shriek’s shoulder and shook her maybe a little too roughly. Yeah, way to prove your point, jackass

“Pup, listen to me” he pleaded with a choked voice “I know you got every reason to think the opposite, but I need you to understand; no matter how mad I get, no matter what happens, I won’t ever lay a hand on your Mama, or you, or your brothers, or Killer. I’d never hurt you, sweetheart, any of you! I’d rather die!”

The tears began rolling down Shriek’s furry cheeks again and her lip quivered.

“But you did hurt us! You hurt the Punk too! You got her killed!”

Shriek’s wings drooped as she continued to tremble. Something in her voice changed, from anger to absolute despair.

“Was fighting him when we got here really the only way?”

There was a long and terrible silence.

“No. It wasn’t.” said Kid at last “The only reason he and the giants swung at us like they did was because I was out for blood. Still ridin’ the high of taking down Big Mom. I didn’t see how much the deck was really stacked against us. Red Hair ain’t some geriatric granny that I could tag-team with Trafalgar to beat down. He’s in his prime and he had the homefield advantage too. If I’d have just shut up for a second, I might have realized that. Might have listened to Killer and done some negotiating. But I didn’t”

He heaved himself onto the bench and looked out at the grassy horizon.

“I mean, ye pretty much hit the nail on the head with why. I’ve never been good at listening to anyone. Other than Killer, nobody back on Kutsukku ever listened to me. And the more overlooked I was, the angrier I got. So I decided to carve out my own place no matter what anyone else thought. Carved my way through oceans and storms and marine fleets and even the damn Red Line. But I couldn’t see just how much shit I was breaking while doing that”

Shriek watched as he took out the broken pieces of the metal butterfly from his pocket, hanging his head in defeat as tears and snot dripped down.

“Couldn’t see how I was the one making everyone go unheard. And that’s the one thing a captain is never supposed to do. I told you I was gonna give you the world, and I wrecked the one ye already had. I’m sorry, Shriek. I’m sorry.”

It was far from the first time she’d seen Kid cry, but none of those instances had seemed so raw as this one.

This felt different from the last time Shriek saw a side of Kid that she never knew existed too. She got the sense that these were old, old feelings that he was dredging up with some difficulty, like an old crane on a fishing boat lifting a net that was carrying schools of tuna from the deep.

How long have these regrets been bolted to his heart?

A memory found its way to the forefront of Shriek’s mind. One full of compressed metal and lightning and the snarls of an out of control beast.

“I’m done breaking things. I’m done talking over you. I hear you, Shriek!”

Pulling herself up onto the bench beside him, Shriek fished out some stray mouse bones and insect exoskeleton from her pockets and gently reached out for the bits of the metal wing in Kid’s palm.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be a captain yet.” And it was most definitely a yet, that was a promise “But I know that they’re not the only ones who break things.”

Now it was Kid’s turn to watch with red eyes as his pup tried to fasten the metal wings onto the animal parts in a makeshift structure. Her movements were careful and precise, an engineer’s approach.

Well, she had been watching him all this time.

“Sometimes we can fix it. Sometimes we can’t. I still don’t know how that’s decided. But I think, if you really want to fix something, that’s a good place to start”

Shriek struggled with fixing the wings to the cicada shell until a bolt and some tiny wires flew in to lock it into place. Glancing to the side, she saw Kid giving the smallest smile as more scrap metal affixed itself to the butterfly.

Well, you couldn’t exactly call it a butterfly anymore. Shriek’s pretty sure butterflies didn’t have cracked mice skulls for heads. But whatever this new thing was, it was here. And it was beautiful.

Kid ruffled Shriek’s scruffy hair and took a moment to revel in the first laugh he’d gotten out of her since before this all started.

“You’re the treasure of a lifetime, you know that?”

“Well, that and the One Piece”

Shit, there was no avoiding it now. This time Kid was the one who needed steady himself for what he had to say next.

“We’re not going after the One Piece”

“Yeah, I know. We kinda need a ship for that. But I bet with some Adam wood, we could…” Shriek paused as Kid put a steadying hand on her paw

“That’s not what I meant, pup. We’re outta the race. We bury the anchor here”

Shriek blinked as a bird flew overhead.

“WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!”

As Kid took a minute to cuss and tend to his aching eardrums, because holy crap people in Alabasta were probably wondering what the hell that was, Shriek stood up on the bench like she had been jolted by her own Electro

“What do you mean we bury anchor here?! You can’t say that! Pirates don’t say that unless they’re like done done!”

“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’!” Kid responded “We talked it over and-“

“If it’s cuz of him, we’ll train more! I’ll get stronger! I-I’ll figure out how to control my Sulong! We can get the Poneglyphs he stole back, I’ll fly out where they sailed and-“ Shriek was already in the process of spreading her wings when Kid put a hand on her arm.

“Shriek! Shriek! Deep breaths! Look and listen. This has nothin’ to do with you, a’ight? This is something we all want”

“We all want?” asked Shriek with a tilt of the head.

“Yeah. Your Ma and Killer and I have been talkin’ it over, and we think it’s time to settle down. Give you kids a chance to grow up without havin’ the navy on your backs. I know, ye can beat the hell out of ‘em if they try” He fought a chuckle as Shriek huffed at her argument getting snuffed out before she could make it “But ye shouldn’t have to be doin’ that to begin with. Ye like this castle, right?”

Shriek nodded.

“Well, it’s gonna be home now. Just the six of us, Heat, Wire”

“Loki?”

Kid tried really hard to suppress the instinctual grumble as he glanced towards the tell-tale black horns off in the distance. Listening to another one of Nina’s songs like a lovesick loon, no doubt.

“Yeah well, guess there’s worse neighbors to have. But you’re okay with all of this?”

“Am I okay? What about you!” Shriek said in distress “The One Piece is your dream! It’s why you became a pirate!”

Kid shook his head. “I became a pirate because I didn’t want to live in a confined world like the one I came from. Used to think the One Piece would give me everything I wanted. But I found somethin’ a hell of a lot better than that.

“What?”

He smiled warmly and ran a thumb along the side of his pup’s cheek.

“You knuckleheads. You’re my One Piece”

Right then, Shriek thought back to the woman with slitted pupils looking back at her from the deck of the Victoria Punk. Her eyes were a slightly different color from Kid’s, but they shone in the exact same way. A smile crept onto Shriek’s face

“That’s so cringe”

Kid barked a laugh “Maybe, but I can live with that!”

Shriek’s grin grew sunnier in return and she laughed right along with him. After a few moments of shared laughter, Kid gently scratched one of her ears “Ye didn’t answer my question before. Are you okay with settin’ down roots”

Shriek took a moment to think it over, gently scratching the metel skelefly between its antennae.

“I think so. Does this mean we won’t be pirates anymore?”

“Not in the same way we were before. We’ll still travel, go out for the odd plunder or two. But my captain days are behind me, pup.” Kid pulled off the coat that Shriek loved to hug and nestle into as she perched on his shoulders as they greeted every new day with a smile and promise to kick it in the ass and draped it over her shoulders like a queen receiving a mantle “The next captain in the family’s gonna be you when you set out on your own one day. But even if ya don’t, that’s cool too. I know whatever ye end up doin’, you’re gonna fucking rock”

Shriek was at a complete loss. She was filled at once with a completely unnamed emotion that the word “admiration” seemed such a pisspoor way to describe. Part of her was quietly snarling that Kid was lying and that she’d be better off flying away before he hurts her again… but she didn’t want to.

Because she missed Kid. She loved her captain.

Wait… captain?

“I don’t think your nickname’s gonna work anymore if you ain’t a captain” Shriek pointed out.

“Yeah, prolly not” Kid chuckled “Always did think that one was a little on the nose”

“You said you liked it!”

“I said I could get used to it. But if you got any new suggestions, I’m open”

A tiny clawed hand played with the edges of the red coat before Shriek gave her answer

“Does Dad work?”

Instantly, Kid’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and suddenly very hard to see out of.

“I mean, we could try ‘Dadptain’ but it’s not that catch-OOMPH!!”

While Shriek wasn’t exactly conscious to tell if her ribs were broken during the hunting village incident, they definitely felt like they might have been now. Kid had swept her into his arms for the biggest bear hug she had ever received in her life. He was absolutely shaking with sobs and shaky breaths and now that his makeup was running his face looked like a panda with the worst sinus infection.

“Sure, pup. I can get used to that”

For some reason, only the tiniest of tears popped up at the corners of Shriek’s own eyes as she hugged him back with a contented smile. They stayed like that for a long, long time.

“So what now?” asked Shriek when they finally pulled apart.

Kid wiped his snotty nose on the back of his arm before Shriek offered up the edge of his old coat as a hankie. “Well, there is one other thing we gotta get ironed out. Somethin’ me and Kill have been wanting to do for a while. Could use some help with the brainstorming.”

“I’m all ears!” Shriek chirped, ears wiggling about with excitement.

So they chatted on the bench as the metal skelefly fluttered up, up, up to join its mechanical and real counterparts in the brilliant afternoon sky.

For Elbaf was a land of possibilities.

#well god dammit I thought my heart was broke before

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nethhiri · 6 days ago

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Flying Blind Chapter 7

A/N: Shriek finally stirs from her sulong-induced slumber to have the first of many heartfelt reconciliations.

You know the drill, I heap praise upon the immeasurably exceptional @dissvicious for these exquisite cover pages! This one's a bonus by being a CMK panel from when they got the castle.

C/W: Yay, I don't have to write one this time! Well, I guess there's some brief insinuations about Nina spiraling after the Punk went down, but nothing explicit. Come and get y'all's fluuuuff!

Shriek cracked her eyes open at the swell of the waves surging around her. All she could see in front of her was the bright blue sky. Clouds drifted slowly by and a few seagulls cut across the path of one with a languid call. Aware that she was sprawled across something warm, she took a deep breath before sitting up and looking down at the large sun-bleached skull she was sitting on.

Gently running her paw along the top, she tried to picture what the sea king or dinosaur or whatever creature this skull belonged to was like when it was alive. Before it was Victoria. It couldn’t have known that it would go on to sail across so many rough and strange seas long after it was skewered and boiled to become the figurehead. Shriek had sat up here and dangled between the fangs so many times, but only now was she wondering if she had ever truly known this side of her home.

Was Victoria really happy journeying with them? Was she happier now at the bottom of the Elbaf bay wrapped in that cold familiar ocean?

Just then, Shriek’s ears twitched at something approaching. A shadow fell over her blocking out the sun. She looked up and saw a face that both was and wasn’t her own. Eyes redder than Shriek’s peered back at her from white fur, looking at her with an emotion she couldn’t even begin to describe. The closest thing she could guess was a deep sadness.

“I’m sorry” the huge bat softly rumbled, the words completely out of place coming from a maw of sword-like fangs.

They both stood looking at each other for a long time. There was a part of Shriek that wanted to offer comfort to the beast. And another part of her that wanted to launch herself at it with a scream and her own fangs bared. But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do either of those.

Instead, she gave the smallest nod of acknowledgement and walked past the great white bat, down the stairs from the smaller skull towards the deck.

If the great white bat was watching her go before disappearing, Shriek wouldn’t have noticed.

She trailed a paw along the wood of the railing as she looked out at the water. The sea was so calm it was practically like glass. It didn’t look like there were any other ships or islands around for miles.

The Punk was unusually quiet too. She glimpsed the steering wheel through the open door under the stairs. Outside the galley, Gig’s bass lay against the wall waiting to be picked up and strummed. The cannons under the captain’s quarters glistened, standing ready to fire upon an enemy that may never come. One of the doorposts bore notches that added up to the height Shriek was at seven years old, and there was another much smaller one for Ozzy. They were supposed to start Ziggy’s this year. Shriek had this strange feeling that she was the only one on the ship right now, and yet she didn’t feel lonely.

“Pretty decent wind today, huh?” a low voice piped up, causing Shriek’s ears to swivel as she went to grab the rigging.

She looked up at the tall woman glancing out at the horizon with a self-assured smile. One of her dinosaur claws was held up above her eyes so she could glimpse the horizon and her heavy tail swished about with excitement. She was decked out in various spiked bracelets and a scaly girdle and ripped leggings. The wind was whipping her preposterously long and fluffy hair into a gorgeous tangle.

Shriek didn’t bother to ask for her name. Why would she? It was far from the first time they saw each other. But it was so long since the last time.

“Yup. Clear sailing ahead” the woman sighed. When she realized that Shriek’s eyes were on her, she flashed a fanged smile at her with a conspiratorial snicker.

Shriek’s chest tightened and she rushed forward to hug the woman’s legs.

“Whoa, pup! What’s with the waterworks? You ain’t the kind of kid to get all weepy at nice weather”

Both of them knew the woman’s gruff teasing was only that, and soon she knelt down to gently place a clawed hand atop the little bat mink’s head as she let Shriek sniffle into her hair.

“Guess I can’t really blame ya. You’ve been through hell ever since leaving my deck. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you when you needed me.”

Shaking her head furiously, Shriek looked up at the woman with stinging eyes and a runny nose.

“Don’t give me that crap! I’m the one who should have been there for you! If I hadn’t left with Mama and Ozzy and Ziggy I-“

“Would be dead by now” the woman finished bluntly. “Level with me. What was your plan to take down an emperor right there on the spot? What about his two giant buddies? Or his fleet?”

Shriek opened her mouth, then shut it again.

“I would have bit ‘em” she muttered, averting her eyes and drooping her ears “Like, a lot” The woman belted out a hearty growl-laugh.

“My point exactly! Ain’t nothing you could have done that would have made shit turn out any different. So don’t sweat it, aye? And for what it’s worth, I’m glad you weren’t aboard. You got your whole life ahead of you, kiddo.”

Wiping her nose roughly with the back of her arm, Shriek turned her head towards the rigging, the woman following her gaze.

“Ready?”

The little bat mink nodded and grabbed onto the ropes, hauling herself up the rigging side-by-side with the woman.

“You said… there was nothing I could have done that would make shit turn out different” Shriek practically whispered as they continued the climb. “But that’s not all true. I… I felt so angry. And I did bad things.” Shriek stopped and dipped her head that had Hop’s words ringing through it “That’s the real me isn’t it? When you’re at your lowest, that’s when the real you comes out.”

The woman pivoted and grabbed onto the rigging with both arms as she faced the open sea.

“You remember that one time in the South Blue when a fruit bat snuck up on you while you were eating guavas? Startled you so bad that you slapped it outta the sky with your wing? Guess you must really hate fruit bats, huh?”

Shriek immediately lifted her head, dumbfounded. “Of course I don’t!”

The woman smiled “I know you don’t. Because that wasn’t the real you. That was just the you that was scared.” She resumed the climb with Shriek scuttling after her to keep pace “Fear and anger put us all out of our gourds now and then. End of the day, we’re all just a bunch of dumb panicky animals doing the best we can with what we’ve got. And sometimes we fuck up, and leave a bunch of broken shit in our wake. Sometimes we can fix it. Sometimes we can’t. But the world keeps spinning” She looked Shriek right in the eye, her reptilian pupils shining in the warm sunlight “There’s nothing wrong with being scared or mad, pup. So long as you don’t let it change you forever. And you haven’t.”

Shriek stared at the woman slack-jawed, turning the words over in her mind. If there was a way to argue against the woman’s confident wisdom, she wasn’t finding it. Instead, she continued the climb. She didn’t even realize that at some point she had sped up ahead of the woman.

When they finally reached the crow’s nest, they looked out at the open ocean. A whole world of shining seawater spread out before them. Shriek gave a small grin at the beautiful sight, only for her ears to droop once more.

“I’m gonna have to go soon, aren’t I?”

“Yup. Bats belong in the sky”

“I… I don’t think I’m ever gonna see you again” Shriek’s eyes began to mist over, but before any tears could fall she felt a sharp pain as the back of her head was smacked with a closed fist,

“OW!! The hell was that for?!” she snarled, clutching her sore head as the woman rolled her eyes unrepentantly

“Obviously something got knocked loose in that fuzzy little head of yours! Do you really think I’d leave my crew just because I can’t set sail anymore? Fat fucking chance. Sorry, pup, but you’re stuck with me. Even if it’s not the same as before”

The pain immediately vanished and Shriek’s eyes shimmered. A massive pressure she didn’t even know was weighing on her heart suddenly lifted. She looked out slowly towards the horizon. It was a sight that filled Shriek with a kind of sad contentment.

She felt an ending was coming. Or maybe it was a beginning? Either way, the clouds looked so fluffy that Shriek was filled with the uncontrollable urge to fly up and brush her wingtips against them.

There might have been two shadows behind her. There might have been five. There might have been none. It didn’t matter.

She took a deep breath, smiled broadly, spread her leathery wings as wide as she could, and took off into the bright blue sky

Shriek cracked her eyes open at the sound of birds chirping. All she could see in front of her was a grey stone ceiling.

Shit, was she in some sort of jail cell? Did things really go that bad after she blacked out? Well, if Shriek was in prison then it had to have been a pretty crappy one because she couldn’t feel any chains tying her down.

Aware that she was sprawled on something very soft and warm, she sat up with some difficulty. All of her muscles were aching for some reason. Still, Shriek hauled herself to a sitting position with some extra lift from her wings and looked down at the bed she was sitting on. An actual bed. Not a makeshift one made from a giant’s powder puff case or a biscuit tin. But a real, Shriek-sized loft bed with Shriek-sized sheets. She glanced around and to her disbelieving eyes, the little bat mink saw that this Shriek-sized bed was in a Shriek-sized bedroom.

Some of the stone walls, what were surely castle walls, were decorated with colorful star stickers while others were painted with a variety of jungle plants. Not random ones either. There were South Blue Jasmines and fishtail palms, ruffled fan palms from the Kanno Kingdom, sea mangoes and agaves and weeping figs. The plants didn’t stop at just wallpaper either, as Shriek spotted a large potted banana tree nestled between a toy chest flanked by stuffed dinosaurs and a small desk.

A banana tree in a castle with stuffed dinosaurs. Anyone else might have been thrown for at loop at such a weird combination, but this was the Grand Line after all. Anything could happen.

“Is this Heaven?” she questioned, and as soon as the words left her mouth she felt someone stirring by her side.

“Shriek?”

“Mama? You’re okay??”

Sure enough, Mama was there. She had been sleeping next to Shriek this entire time. She was wearing Killer’s blue shirt which was way too big for her and though the bags under her eyes were still present, her eyes seemed so much brighter than before. Especially now when they immediately began to tear up as they locked onto her pup.

“Shriek! My baby!” she cried, throwing her bandaged arms around the little mink girl gently as she could to mind the bandages Shriek only now realized were covering her own furry body. “You’re finally awake! And you’re okay! KID! KILLER! SHRIEK’S AWAKE!!”

While still tucked into Nina’s embrace, Shriek looked down at her mama’s arms. From the edge of the bandages, she could see telltale Lichtenberg figures snaking up Nina’s biceps. Her memory was still hazy, but Shriek didn’t need it to know how those marks got there. She saw them with every pirate and marine she swooped down upon in battle.

A lump rose in her throat as she clung to her mother, ears dipped in shame to accompany her sobs. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Mama!”

“No, no, none of that” Nina shook her head, stroking Shriek’s hair with immense tenderness “You have nothing to be sorry about, baby. Nothing at all.”

She held her pup close until Shriek calmed down, then the latter’s ear twitched at the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Moments later the door burst open as an exhaustedly bewildered Kid and Killer stumbled in, Ozzy and Ziggy strapped to their backs in baby slings.

“SHRIEK!!”

“PUP!!”

Immediately they set upon the little mink they had been fretting over for nearly a week and a half, pulling her into bear hugs that Nina snapped at them to knock off because “yer gonna crush her and she’s not even halfway close to bein’ healed!”. Then they started firing off multiple questions a minute.

Was Shriek okay? How was her pain on a scale of one to ten? Was she hungry? Thirsty? Did she need help going to the bathroom? Was she breathing okay? Did she like her new room? And in between all of that Ozzy and Ziggy were squealing and cooing and making grabby hands at their big sister.

At any other time, Shriek would have giggled at them yammering like a bunch of muppets or rolled her eyes at the babying. But… when she looked at the two of them, all she could hear was shouts that stunk of whiskey and all she could see was a turned back retreating into the forest. It tied her stomach in sailor’s knots.

“Um… I don’t… really wanna talk to you guys right now” she uttered, red eyes hidden under her bangs and fists balled into her sheets. Saying it took every ounce of courage she had.

For a moment, an expression of shock and hurt flashed across Kid’s face and Killer’s permanent smile tightened. But then it was replaced a look of consigned understanding that was shared by Nina.

“Sure thing, pup” Kid said, trying his best to sound casual “You and your ma got a lot of catching up to do”

“We’ll be right out here if you need us” Killer agreed, a bit more sadness leaking through his voice.

As they gently shut the door behind them and set about comforting their now wailing sons, who were not at all happy about their visit with Shriek being cut short, Shriek was thoroughly puzzled.

They had listened to her? They weren’t mad at her? They weren’t mad, but they had looked so sad. Was saying that really the right thing?

“I’m not a bad person for that. Right?” she whispered, more to herself than to Nina. Nevertheless, the pinkette wrapped an arm around Shriek as she leaned against her side.

“No, pup, you’re not. The hurt’s still fresh, and that’s okay” She chewed her lip, as if debating on what she was going to say next “If you really don’t want to talk to me right now either, that’s fine too.”

“No!” Shriek protested, grabbing Nina’s wrist “Please don’t leave again, Mama!”

Nina took in a shuddering breath and took both her daughter’s little paws in her hand. “I won’t, baby. I’m done running. I’m not leaving you and your brothers again. That’s a promise I will never, ever break.”

“Not even for Loki?” Shriek asked. She realized the question came out with a bit more bite to it than she intended when Mama flinched.

“Gods, I really screwed up with that”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Boy, you’re coming out swinging today, aren’t you?”

“Well, you’re the one who said you loved him!” Shriek huffed, crossing her arms.

“That part I don’t regret. I love Loki just the same as I love Kid and Killer. And yes, they know about that.”

“And they didn’t crush him or slice him into cabbage?”

“That would have been a tall order even for them” Nina smirked “But we’ve worked it all out. He saved all our lives that night. Yours too.”

What?

“He’s the whole reason we have this castle, to be honest.”

What??

“It was his old dollhouse”

The world was officially just fucking with Shriek at this point. With all this new information swirling around in her head, Shriek brought the nearest stuffed animal to bury her face in and groaned loudly.

“So this whole thing’s already fine now and I went rabid for no reason!”

“Sweetie, take it from someone who’s been through a shitload of crashouts, we don’t get to choose why and how they happen” said Nina, consolingly rubbing Shriek’s back between her wings. “Anyone would have gone batty with all that stress piled up”

Shriek had half a mind to argue, but that was when she noticed the stuffed animal she was holding had very familiar patchy red fur and floppy wings.

“Beetroot? What’s he doing here?”

“Oh yeah, I don’t know how much you remember but Ozzy gave him to you. When you looked at them both, it helped bring you back to your sense- whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Nina had to put her hands up to stop Shriek’s attempts to climb out of bed “Shriek, you can’t get up yet! What’s wrong?”

“I have to give him back to Ozzy. Beetroot’s his now”

“What? Since when?”

“Since I gave it to him when we were staying with Ripley.”

Nina’s eyes widened at that. Beetroot had been Shriek’s most treasured toy since long before she and Zap had joined the Kid Pirates. There was no way she would have parted with him willingly even to pass it down to her brother.

“Did somebody tell you to do that?”

“Uh-uh. I did it on my own” Shriek confessed, absent-mindedly caressing one of Beetroot’s ragged ears “I mean, that’s what big sisters are supposed to do. They give their special things to their little brothers who need them more… even if they really… really don’t want to.”

How long had it been since she held Beetroot close to her like this? If she closed her eyes she could still smell the faintest hints of the detergent Killer used the last time they did laundry on the Victoria Punk.

“Honey, just the fact that you didn’t want to do it is reason enough you shouldn’t have had to”

“But I did have to!” the little bat protested “He wouldn’t stop crying because he’s always slept next to you but he couldn’t because you were gone!”

There was a long pause as Nina lifted a hand to her mouth. Shriek drew up her wings around herself and Beetroot like a little tent.

“I didn’t know what else to do” Shriek murmured.

“You shouldn’t have had to do anything.” said Nina, trying not to think about how much her heart felt as though it was going to burst from the pain. “You needed me, just as much as your brothers did and… I dropped the ball.”

“Why’d you have to go?” asked Shriek, peeking out of her makeshift wing canopy. Nina took a deep breath.

“Mama… Mama was doing really bad after the ship went down” She thought about picking at her cuticles for a moment before grabbing a pillow instead “The Punk was the first place I ever felt at home. The place where I belonged. Where I met my family. The loves of my life. Where I met my amazing daughter and had my incredible sons. So to see it all go down in flames was just… and then when we found Zap’s bandana… he was my first baby, sweetheart. He kept me going when I didn’t think I had anything left. It was all too much.”

She wiped her eyes and Shriek’s wings drew back more and more with each word Nina uttered.

“Your Mama’s never been very good at dealing with pain. Or anger. Or… any crappy feelings really. I knew that I was going to be in a bad place and the last thing I wanted was to drag the three of you into that.”

“We could have helped you, Mama” The little mink couldn’t bear the thought of Mama weeping out in the forest all alone like Shriek had been doing that night “We’re your crew. We’ll always help you”

Nina gave a watery smile and caressed her daughter’s fluffy cheek.

“I know, but more than that you’re a kid. My kid. I’m the adult here. It’s my responsibility to look after you, not the other way around. That’s why I brought you and your brothers to stay with Ripley. I wanted the three of you to be somewhere safe. I didn’t want you thinking that it was okay to stay somewhere where you’d get hurt or you wouldn’t be listened to.” She looked guiltily away “But the truth is I was the one who wasn’t listening. All I taught you was that you had a Mama who wouldn’t be by your side when you needed her the most”

Feeling Shriek’s crimson gaze on her, Nina looked her daughter in the eye.

“But I want you to know that I love you so much, Shriek. And I know it doesn’t change the pain I put you through. I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making up to you and your brothers for that. I meant what I said earlier. I’m not leaving you again. You’re stuck with me, PUP”

Shriek let out the tiniest gasp and in her mind’s eye she saw the waves and the most reassuring fanged smile she had ever seen.

She knew exactly what to do.

“You know what, Mama? That wasn’t the real you who left us behind. That was just the you that was scared.” She delicately wrapped her arms around her mother “I think this is the real you. The you that wants to make things right. And I love that you best of all”

Tears immediately began pouring down Nina’s face as she returned the hug.

The leaves on the banana tree swayed from the breeze in the open window as the sun glimmered brightly outside.

And… inside too? Wait, there was something metal in the doorway? Something metal and furry?

“MEOW”

“IS ZAP A ROBO-ZOMBIE?!?!”

Ah shit, Nina knew she had forgotten to mention something.

#this might be the best thing I’ve ever read and I’m not just saying that #so powerful #I might have teared up ngl #just ugh the whole beginning was amazing and wow

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nethhiri · 6 days ago

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Flying Blind Chapter 6

A/N: The storm rolls in to Elbaf. It takes three to quell it.

At this point I am smooching @dissvicious on the mouth not just for these covers but for all the extra comic panels for this chapter especially.

C/W: Violence. Blood. Sulong Shriek being scary as all shit Past mention of a critically injured toddler.

Nina had long since accepted that her life was going to be full of odd combinations.

A princess flanked by ghosts. A black cat with a metal arm, and later a metal everything else. A gentle lion in a whirlwind of scythes. A tulip atop a bull.

And now a bat in overalls sulking under the docks.

“Good thing the tide went out this morning, eh?” she asked, sauntering over as she looked out at the clear sea. Shriek’s ears twitched, so Nina knew her pup heard her. Hell, she probably heard her making her way down from the wharf a couple yards away. But the young mink gave no response. Just continued to sit with her ebony-furred arms against her knees as she kept her eyes on the horizon.

Glancing over at the mid-sized box next to the uncharacteristically dour mink, Nina continued her casual observations.

“Man, there’s a bunch of cool shit that washed in. I see a crab claw… some fish bones… and y’know what? I think I saw a sand piper’s head by the Punk’s anchor chain. Wanna go boil it for the skull?”

Normally, Shriek would be all smiles at that. But her ears were still pinned back and her face twisted into a grimace.

“Why do you gotta do that?”

“Do what?”

“Erngh, you make me want to do something I don’t want to do but I do want to do when I don’t!” The little mink dragged her claws through her hair in frustration as Nina tried to piece together this new piece of kid logic. She was faced with a lot of moments like that over this past year.

“Why wouldn’t you want to do it, pup?” Nina asked gently.

“Because if I do it’s just gonna make them all run away screaming again”

Nina didn’t have to ask who “they” were. She had heard from Killer how Shriek had taken her ‘treasure chest’ full of animal bones, sea king skins, leaves, and *shudder* insect exoskeletons into town. She wanted to show it off to the other girls her age who were oohing and ahing at the jewelry boxes handed down from their mothers or received as birthday presents. Given how Killer last saw Shriek flying off to the docks with angry tears in her eyes, it hadn’t gone over very well.

“I thought you liked it when people ran away from you and screamed? Blood-Bolt Banshee who makes the Grand Line run red!” Nina’s encouragingly fierce grin did nothing to lift her pup’s mood.

“But I wasn’t trying to be scary this time. I was just being like them” Shriek picked up the box and rested her jaw on the lid. “But they thought I was weird and gross. Just like the girls on the last island. And the island before that. And the island before that. I don’t know how to be a girl, Mama. And I don’t even know if it’s ��cause I’m a mink or if it’s ‘cause I’m me. All I know is that I’m doing it wrong.”

Nina looked at her daughter with a weary sense of familiarity.

A seagull’s cry echoed somewhere in the distance.

“Hfff… pff… hff- Ack! Fucking stump!”

Nina was all but gasping for breath as she ran through the forest. The leaves and smaller branches of the Adam tree were swaying so fast and hard, they almost knocked her off her feet several times. And that was on top of the bigass deer and bears she had to try her hardest to dive out of the way of, lest they crush her in their panicked frenzy. Farther back she could hear their growls of shock and a colossal thud followed by some cursing.

Seems her lovers weren’t content to just dodge the fleeing beasts.

Beyond the wildly waving plants, she could just make out the pointed rooftops of the nearest village. Everything was shrouded in the electric blue tinge from burst upon burst of lightning. It almost reminded Nina of that one island further back in the New World plagued by a never-ending storm.

As she was rapidly approaching the village outskirts, she could hear the shouts of giants.

“Where is it?! Where’s the beast?!”

“It’s circling somewhere around the southern side of the village! Get to Branch 27, the branches are too thick for it to swoop down”

“The chief’s hut is on fire!”

“It’s a Nidhogg! Like the one that’s ransacking the Village of Warriors!”

“No, it was furred! White fur! With eyes like hellfire!”

Each new outcry made the leaden feeling in Nina’s gut worse, but she continued slamming one foot in front of the other. They could call her what they wanted, that was her daughter. And Nina would be damned again if anything else happened to her.

The village was in full pandemonium. Several fires had broken out and the air was thick with smoke and the scents of burning wood and ozone. Everywhere she looked there were giants running for their lives, tearing off the animal pelts they were clad in and were already starting to burn from stray embers caught in the furs. Children were crying their eyes out as their parents desperately carried them or pulled them by the hand. The elderly were carried on the backs of younger giants who had dug them out of collapsed huts. Warriors were armed to the teeth and looking up at the sky like panic-stricken rabbits awaiting the descent of a relentless eagle.

They didn’t have to wait long. A high-pitched whistling suddenly filled the air.

“Princess, get down!”

Nina gave a yelp as she was knocked to the ground right at the moment an explosion of what could only be described as plasma rang out and turned a nearby tower to splinters. From under Killer’s protective embrace, Nina saw something white flash across the sky and all but crash into another cluster of structures.

“Shit!” Nina gasped as she tried desperately to return the favor by shielding Killer from the incoming shrapnel.

A mass of iron screws and anvils formed a defensive wall in front of them which the splinters bounced harmlessly off of.

The wall of metal dipped to reveal Kid’s relieved face as he rushed over to his partners.

“Next time wait for me, aye?”

“Next time haul ass a little harder!” Nina and Killer snapped in unison.

Their banter was cut off by a noise that made their hair stand on end more than the lightning did. Somewhere between a roar and a scream.

A massive shape rose from out of the pile of charred wood. Nina’s breath hitched in her throat as it came into view.

The beast had to have been about ten feet tall, with fur as white as the moon and a mane of wild, wavy hair, all of it coursing with what could only be described as red lightning. Its long muzzle was full of fangs as long and broad and sharp as swords and dripping with foam. A pair of ears so big and pointed they were practically horns sat atop the beast’s head. It was muscly in a way that looked painful, with bulging veins dotted across its limbs and its great leathery wings like pieces of a pulsing spider’s web. All three Kid Pirates instantly recognized the beast’s tattered clothes.

“Shriek?” Nina all but whispered.

Upon hearing the name, the beast’s ears twitched and it slowly turned its head towards them with a hellish grunt. The blood-red eyes glittering behind that disheveled hair were those of a wild animal.

Hurts. Hurts. Stop the hurt. Stop the hurt now…

The world was a bloody haze. Nothing but endless sounds and shapes, all of them unfamiliar. All of them a threat.

Kill. Kill everything. Don’t stop. Never stop!

“SHRIEK!”

A voice. Know that voice

See something. Someone. There’s one… no, two. One then two. One is two two is one one is two two is one is two is one is two.

Red hair. Scarred eye. Left arm gone.

THEM

HIM

“yOuUUU” a voice gurgles from that fanged maw. Raspy and booming with a growling echo. The pirates were frozen in shock.

None of them had ever heard Shriek speak in Sulong before.

“YoURr faULt… AlWAys yOUR FAuLt”

At these words, Kid looked as though someone had reached into his chest and crushed his heart like a vice. Nina put her hands up to her mouth in horror. Some tears were already starting to trickle out of Killer’s mask holes.

The beast slunk forward like a panther about to strike “YoU rUInEd EVERytHing.” Her wings flared like a cobra’s hood.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!!!”

She leapt upon them with a guttural scream of rage.

Kid had just enough time to assemble a couple of rudimentary metal arms and shove Killer and Nina out of the way before grappling the furious Shriek.

“Pup, stop! It’s me! It’s gonna be o-“ He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before a sparking claw strike slammed into his chest and knocked him through another house.

“Kid!!”

With another frenzied screech, Shriek rushed forward with a swift wingbeat and began mercilessly tearing at Kid with high-voltage teeth and claws. Still, Kid held fast, blocking her blows where he could with some scrap metal. But with each scratch and punch more metal was getting knocked away and soon he would be defenseless.

Shriek was so busy attacking she didn’t notice Killer sliding behind her and sweeping her legs, causing her to crash to the ground with a startled bellow. Enraged, she swung her wing around in a wide-reaching arc that Killer easily dodged by leaping into the air.

“Shriek, it’s me! It’s Killer! We’re right here!” Killer’s desperate attempts at placation did nothing to stop Shriek. If anything, the fire in her eyes seemed to burn brighter.

Kill Yellow Kill Yellow Yellow go away Yellow traitor Kill KILL

Something was wrong. In the very few times Shriek had gone Sulong up until now, Killer and Kid’s voices had always managed to calm her back to her senses with only a sentence or two.

Can you really blame her? Killer thought, nearly avoiding getting his shoulder torn off by an incoming claw swipe You’re not exactly her favorite people right now

“Please, Shriek! Baby, you need to calm down!” Nina screamed pleadingly, only to be caught off guard by the passing shadow of a giant charging forward with a battle cry.

With a resentful snort, Shriek caught the giant’s downward-swinging dagger between her fangs and cleaved it in half with a single chomp of her jaws. Killer only barely managed to avoid getting shocked by the screaming electrified giant as they collapsed to the ground in a heap. Nina could see her daughter’s wings unfolding as she prepared to take flight

“Shriek!” She leapt forward and grabbed onto the bat mink’s ankles. It was like grabbing onto a bundle of livewires and Nina’s scream of pain was immediate. But Shriek took no heed and soon she was rocketing through the air.

“You okay?” Killer asked, helping the aching and not a little singed Kid to his feet.

“Forget about me, we have to get them down before Shriek drops Nina!”

It was the obvious next step, but one the giants weren’t taking heed of.

“The Nighogg’s taken to the air again! Archers! Ready your arrows!”

If this is what it was like to fly, than Nina didn’t know how Shriek did it on a regular basis.

Gritting her teeth through the pain of the continuous shocks, Nina clung to her daughter’s ankle and tried desperately to avoid getting scratched by the deadly talons on Shriek’s back feet. The wind was roaring as the bat mink flapped through the night sky at terrifying speed. It was as if the whole world was a blur.

Blur. Blur. Everywhere blur. Kill blur. Kill Kill Up Up Up KILL KILL

“Shriek, Mama’s right here!” Nina shouted, her ears popping “Mama’s right here! We have to-“

ZING!

Her sentence was cutoff by a massive vertical line barreling upwards just past Shriek’s left wing.

“Was that a fucking arrow?!”

It was indeed a fucking arrow. Several of them were being fired into the sky by lines of giant archers down below.

“No! Stop! Hold your fire!” But they were too high up for the giants to possibly hear her. Not that it mattered with Shriek zig-zagging to avoid the strikes one after another, making Nina’s stomach lurch with all the sudden turns.

As the giants were reloading, they gave a cry of surprise when their arrows suddenly dug themselves into the earth. No matter how hard they tugged, they couldn’t pull them up.

“Watch it, assholes!” Kid growled, fist sparking with his Devil Fruit Power “That’s my girl and my kid you’re shooting at”

“D’ya expect us to lay around like sitting ducks while the beast picks us off?!” a giant in a black bear pelt retorted angrily.

“No,” said Killer “Just draw her fire over here” He turned to Kid “We need to get her out of the moonlight.”

Immediately an expression of understanding crossed Kid’s face. “Can ye keep her busy while I set it up?”

Killer fixed his gaze up at the sky. “Trust me, that’s not gonna be a problem”

Against all odds, Nina had managed to heave herself up onto Shriek’s back. She could barely see through her own windswept hair and Shriek’s fur, but she crawled forward as close to Shriek’s ears as she could get.

“Shriek! Baby, we have to land! You’re so good at finding places to land? Can you do that? Can you do that for Mama?”

Those bloodshot eyes looked at Nina with maddened contempt.

Pink. Pink pain? Pink kill? Yes? No? Yesnoyesnoyesnoyesno STOOOOOOOP!!!

“Nina!”

That was Killer calling her name. Nina dared to cast a look down at the ground and saw Killer with one of the archers.

“Lion!”

“Get her to veer to the left!”

Summoning all her courage, Nina muttered a quick apology to her daughter before placing both hands on her cheeks.

Shriek let out a raspy bellow as she bucked to the left, just in time to see some arrows fire off in the opposite direction. Casting her gaze to the ground with a snarl, she folded in her wings and dived. Lightning poured out from her throat as the archers scrambled out of the way. A flash of blue appeared in the bat mink’s vision.

Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill

Killer sped towards the western half of the village, winding through the streets and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Since he kept looking back over his shoulder, it was difficult not to collide with any rubble or overturned cart in his way. Shriek continued to pursue him, swiping like a hawk trying to snatch a vole and shooting lightning bolts randomly in a fit of pure wrath.

“You can’t catch me!” the little four year-old mink squealed as she fluttered around the grassy field at dizzying speed.

“Still gonna try!” Killer chuckled, doing his best to keep pace with her. But damn if it wasn’t getting trickier by the day. Shriek was alternating between flying and running, making Killer think she was running out of steam before leaping into the air or dropping into a roll.

It was good that she was getting all her energy out after so long on the ship. Children raised on the sea often had trouble getting their land legs. He was especially worried about Shriek given that she’s spent so much time in the air. But it seemed she was growing just fine.

Shriek’s laughter echoed through the park as she sped around wild and free, cutting off in a giddy squeal as Killer suddenly pivoted and took her into his arms to pepper her little face with kisses.

“No fair! That’s cheating!”

“Since when was it cheating to have quick reflexes?” he teased, putting her hair back in order.

“Since you did it when you weren’t supposed to!” the little bat huffed with no malice behind it.

“We’re pirates. We never do what we’re supposed to. Have you met our Captain?”

Shriek giggled conspiratorially at that before grabbing at the thermos full of water Killer handed her.

“But your reflexes are getting pretty sharp too” Killer continued, sitting down in the grass while Shriek glugged the water “You might just catch up with me one of these days”

“I wanna catch up soon!” Shriek crowed, not caring at all about the water trickling down the side of her mouth “We’re heading for the Grand Line in a couple weeks! There’s all sorts of flying stuff there, right?”

“Yeah. Mostly birds and bats”

“I’m gonna be the fastest one of ‘em all” Shriek grinned, standing up in Killer’s lap. “I’m gonna be the fastest flying pirate in the WHOLE WORLD!!!”

Killer gave a rare “fwa fwa fwa” as he pulled his pup close.

“I know you will”

Killer’s exhaustion was starting to reach its peak. He didn’t know how much longer he could go until his legs gave out or Shriek caught up to him. More importantly, he needed to find a way to get Nina off of Shriek’s back before-

He gasped as Nina was swung upwards like a screaming sack of potatoes, cartwheeling through the air and Shriek was just about to take a bite out of her.

Channeling every ounce of speed he could muster, Killer turned back around and leapt atop of Shriek’s jaws, shutting them and sending the bat mink pitching into the dirt as he caught Nina bridal-style before bolting to a safe distance.

“You good, angel?”

“No, we passed good months ago. We are faaaaar out of good.” Nina wheezed, trying her best not to hurl.

As Shriek was rising to her feet, her ears suddenly began to sting from the clanking of metal. Multiple swords, axes, spears, hammers, cooking utensils, and other metal objects were beginning to envelop her like a dome. It almost threatened to block out the moon.

“We’ve been here before, pup” Kid’s voice called to her, eliciting a bitter hiss from Shriek as he stepped forward. That’s it. He had to keep her eyes on him and not the moon.

“Ye were too little to remember. First time we brought you under the full moon, ye went wild just like now. Wiped out three whole battleships. If I hadn’t have put up a dome like this then…”

It hadn’t even been a year since they had gotten their newest crewmate and it might have just been her last.

Kid hadn’t left the infirmary since the night he rushed the two year-old bat mink in a week ago. Her head was flopping lifelessly, her fur was drenched in sweat and blood was trickling from the corner of her mouth.

They had no idea what the hell that was. One minute they were going over some last minute planning for a night raid with Shriek playing with some metal toy bats Kid had made her, comparing their shiny wings to the little leathery ones on her own back.

Then there was a scream. A sudden freak lightning storm and she…

It had to have been some kind of mink thing. Emma was looking into it. When he saw the fear in some of his men’s eyes when they looked at her, it made him want to spit nails. How dare they look at her like that? Like some kind of monster??

Killer had gotten him to see that they were scared for Shriek and not of her. And really, Kid couldn’t blame them. The kid wasn’t showing any signs of waking up.

This was all his fault. He should have been keeping a closer eye on her. He should have been more involved with the researching. He should have put off their raid til another night.

These were the thoughts that dug into his brain like railroad spikes as his eyelids traitorously fell.

He was stirred from his involuntary slumber by some chitters and squeaks. Some very familiar chitters and squeaks.

Kid practically jumped in astonishment from where he had fallen asleep leaning on the bed.

Shriek was sitting up in bed, not even glancing at the IVs attached to her tiny arms. Her attention was completely captivated by a metal toy wind-up dinosaur, another of Kid’s creations.

She sneezed and then looked over at Kid with a beaming smile.

“Kih, look! Dino!” Her eyes were sparkling like little rubies in the sunlight, full of nothing but trust.

She was far too little to understand what it was that was making the tears stream down Kid’s face. Or why his hugs were far gentler than usual.

“I promised right there that I wouldn’t let that happen again” said Kid, fighting the urge to bite his lip. Shriek glared back at him, fur bristling with Electro waiting to be unleashed.

“This fucked up world doesn’t give chances to folks like us. I saw so many things that could hurt you and your brothers and your mama. I should have never let one of them be me.”

Break Break Break Break Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill

Kid pulled some scraps of metal together to make a little metal dinosaur. Shriek’s growls increased in volume

“But I’m done breaking things”

Liar

“I’m done talking over you”

LIAR!

“I hear you, Shriek!”

LIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIAR!!!!!

“C’mon! Tell me how ye really feel!”

A blinding crimson light and a high-pitched scream pierces the night. And the dome collapses.

In a crater of charred grass, nearly carbonized buildings, and burnt metal, a beast with sizzling fur hunches over panting. The target of its rage is covered in electrical burns and struggling to hold himself up with some metal. Before the beast can begin its rampage anew upon the hunters who were starting to get their second wind, everything fell silent in the wake of footsteps.

Earthshaking footsteps.

“You really did a number on this place, didn’t ya, lass?”

Shriek’s eyes shrunk to crimson pinpricks before filling with a hatred as strong as acid.

Y O U

YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU!!!

If Loki was unnerved by the white beast flapping towards him with slavering jaws and outstretched talons, he wasn’t showing it.

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKI-

“Sheeeek!”

It’s almost comical how one tiny little voice made the world go just as quiet as the previous footsteps.

Ozzy stepped out behind Loki’s foot with Ziggy in weasel form at his heels.

He stepped. His first steps.

Ozzy.. Ziggy… No hurt… Never hurt…

It was as if Shriek had suddenly become bolted to the ground. Without an ounce of fear, Ozzy toddled up to her, Ziggy trotting behind and nudging his brother whenever it looked like he was about to fall over.

Ozzy was holding something in his hand, offering it up to his sister.

Beet...root?

There's another moment of pure silence. And then a trembling claw reached out and took the worn plushie from the one year old. Shriek looked down at Beetroot with shuddering breaths.

“Why ye call him Beetroot anyway?” Kid had asked.

The three year-old Shriek simply giggled and hugged her batty friend tighter

“Because he’s red like beets and he roosts instead of roots but roots is funnier! Duh”

It made perfect sense to her

As Shriek’s eyes were locked onto this peace offering, her body began to change. Her long wolfish snout was receding and her fangs were shrinking too. Even her hair was starting to become a bit less unruly.

Then the earth shook again.

“Shriek!”

“Pup!”

From out of the corner of his eye, Loki spotted one of the archers letting an arrow loose in a clear shot towards where Shriek was standing. The sheer size of it was more than enough to kill her.

Rushing in front of the bat mink, Loki launched out his arm and took the arrow right in the shoulder.

“IT’S THE CURSED PRINCE! THE CURSED PRINCE HAS BEEN FREED!”

“You’ve got more important things to worry about, you scum!” Loki roared, slugging the archer in the jaw and keeping his companions at bay with wave after wave of Conqueror’s haki.

Killer and Nina were the ones who had shoved Shriek and the babies aside to keep them from being unintentionally trampled underfoot by Loki. Killer scooped up Ozzy and Ziggy and winced as the rumbling of Shriek’s growls and Electro started up again. She couldn’t take any more time in Sulong. Any more of this and her heart would surely pop.

Nina took a deep breath and got to her feet.

I don’t know how to be a girl, Mama. And I don’t even know if it’s ‘cause I’m a mink or if it’s ‘cause I’m me. All I know is that I’m doing it wrong.”

Nina looked at her daughter with a weary sense of familiarity.

A seagull’s cry echoed somewhere in the distance.

“Do you think Mama’s stuff is girl stuff?”

Shriek tilted her head, causing one of her ears to flop.

“I mean, yeah?”

“Well… the stuff in Mama’s room is piercings and chainsaws and preserved body parts in pickle jars. And what about the stuff in Emma’s room?”

Shriek screwed up her nose in concentration.

“She’s got those musty perfumes and the books about sad vampires”

“Yeah, and Hop?”

“Pink fluffy pillows and Soul King posters,

“Hip?”

“That cardboard cutout of the guy who sells dishwashing detergent!”

“I shudder every time I look into his eyes” Nina nods sagely “See? All that stuff is girl’s stuff. So long as a girl likes it. There’s always gonna be someone out there who’s on your wavelength, even if it takes a little while to find them. And y’know what?” Nina gently taps her daughter’s heart-shaped nose. “You’re lucky. Because you found a whole bunch of ‘em”

“Like you?” asked Shriek cracking a smile.

“Mmhm. Doesn’t matter what kind of girl you are, Shriek. Good or bad. Girl or not. I love it when you’re Shriek best of all”

At this, the grin fully spreads across Shriek’s face as she picks up a fishbone.

“I like that too, Mama!”

Her legs feel like nothing short of jelly but Nina strides forward with a smile and outstretched arms.

Shriek growls, but it doesn’t have the strength it did earlier “I’m glad… that you got to show me your Sulong. You’re such a strong girl. I always knew you were. But strong or not, I love when you’re Shriek best of all”'

Shriek has shrunk down enough to where she's only a little bit taller than Nina. Her mother's hands gently caress her cheek, barely flinching even as the electricity continues to surge into her.

Ma...?

"...MA?"

With each word, the red haze lifted more and more. In spite of Shriek's shaking, the Electro was dying down. Her fur gradually darkened and scelera lightened as her eyes returned to their normal shade of red. Her body began to shrink and shrink until she was small enough to fit into Nina's arms which wrapped around her in a gentle embrace.

The minute the tiny pointed ears hear the declaration, the moon's power fully leaves Shriek. The storm breaks and the dam along with it.

She cries. She cries and cries and cries as though her heart will break into powder. She clings to Mama so tightly her claws nearly tear the fur of her pelt. Kid and Killer pushed aside their injuries to wrap their arms around the girls, which made Shriek cry even harder. Ozzy and Ziggy were also held close and they bated at their sister's tear-soaked face with concerned coos.

Through it all, Shriek continued to sob.

The minutes passed, but to the little family it felt like hours or even days. Until finally Shriek's exhausted coughing started to show blood and she passed out. Nina didn't even have time to call her name in concern before her own injuries took their toll. The same was true for Kid and Killer.

Soon only Ozzy and Ziggy were conscious and their anxious whines started to turn to cries of their own.

Cries that were cut off by the footsteps of the approaching Loki. Several giants were lying in puddles of blood, but the prince of Elbaf was in no worse shape than when he made his way up to the Sun Realm.

Without a word, he carefully scooped up the adults, the children, and the absolutely miniscule plush bat.

Loki turned to glare at the remaining giants who wisely decided to turn their attention to putting out the fires.

From within the vast web of his conqueror's haki, Loki could sense the presence of the ones who humiliated him when he was chained to the tree.

He would have his revenge on them soon enough.

But that could wait. For now, he had more important matters to attend to. Such as making the trek to the house of his love's giant friend she said was nearby.

Far beyond the branches of the world tree, a raven calls.

#SHRIEK WAHHHHHHH #the bit with Beetroot WAHHHH

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nethhiri · 6 days ago

Text

Flying Blind Chapter 5

A/N: Shriek sees just how bad the rest of her crew is holding up. And realizes for the first time that nobody hurts you more than your family.

Much much thanks as always to @dissvicious for the cover! Is there truly nothing more 'child of divorce' than curled up with your hands over your ears trying to drown out one parent ragging on the other?

C/W: Gonna be honest, y'all, this is probably one of the darkest things I've ever written. Alcohol abuse, verbal abuse towards a partner, violence, vomit, and all-around frightening imagery. Endure! 👋

They were cursed. There was no other explanation for it.

Elbaf does nothing but take and take and take until there’s nothing left. And it isn’t even upfront with it like when pirates come ashore. It teases you with the glossiness of a bag of candies so you think everything will be alright.

Like how, a brief snowstorm aside, Shriek hardly had any issue locating the other Kid Pirates. All she had to do was keep flapping ahead and filling her lungs with the traces of their scents like a dealer sorting through a deck of cards. She found them in a cave right on the edge of the forest. When they saw her dropping down from the sky in their direction, there were immediate cries of relief as Heat waved her down. Shriek couldn’t help the wince she let out as she saw that he and many of the others sported a fair number of injuries. And there were a couple people that she didn’t see at all.

They were probably out hunting or sleeping in the cave. Or under it.

Dive was the first to reach her, the two of them topping into the dirt as Dive tackle-hugged her little sister. Shriek later learned that she was the one who got most everyone to safety after the Victoria Punk split down the middle. Being half-fishman was the coolest thing ever.

Killer shoved his way to the front of the crowd and scooped Shriek up into a bone crushing hug before immediately looking her over like an anxious mother hen. Shriek usually went back and forth between finding it funny how he fussed over her like that, or rolling her eyes at it. Really, he should have a little more faith in his fellow crewmate. But right now, it made some of the nervousness Shriek was feeling ebb away.

Before she could open her mouth, she heard that familiar raucous voice give a loud whoop and right away she was being scooped up in the single flesh arm of her captain. Kid was cheering to Killer about how their pup had finally come back to them. Pressed against his chest, Shriek took in his comforting musk and warmth. No matter which new storm or sea king or giant killer pirate emperor the world threw at them, Shriek never felt safer than when she was on Kid’s shoulder or in his arms. She and Mama both. Man, Loki is in for it now. She’d better tell Kid what’s been going on so they can go save Ma-

“Good pup! You’re loyal! Not like that bitch!”

What?

Shriek’s ears didn’t feel cold or wet so she knew for certain there wasn’t any snow in them. The gust of wind that drifted through the camp was further proof of that. All of the chatter that Shriek’s arrival triggered immediately died down and an uncomfortable silence spread over the Kid Pirates.

Kid’s manicured hand pulled Shriek into a tighter hug, but the young mink barely felt it. He boasted to Killer about how their little girl chose them over… that they didn’t need such a treacherous…

Shriek couldn’t say that she knew for certain what sluts or whores were. But she knew they were bad. Even if she hadn’t been told this by her crewmates the few times she had asked, she would certainly guess it now from how Emma and House recoiled as if they had been bitten.

How could Kid say that about Mama?? Did he already find out about Loki? But that wasn’t her fault! Loki should be the one they were all mad at, not Mama! Kid doesn’t know the whole story!

She was just starting to tell him that when he ruffled her hair and told her not to worry. That everything was okay now. Things were going to go back to the way they were before Mama. It was nothing but a bad dream.

He didn’t get it. This was the bad dream!

Shriek turned towards Killer, calling his name in a shaky voice. Begging him with her rapidly misting eyes to say something.

Anything!

But he didn’t. His piercing gaze remained fixed on the forest where Shriek had emerged.

As Kid carried her into the cave, Shriek finally understood how someone could be surrounded by people but feel so alone.

The sun hadn’t even set and things were still getting worse.

Before now, Shriek never encountered a cave she didn’t like. They were dark cavernous tunnels full of all kinds of beautiful little worlds and fellow bats clinging to the walls, chittering happily. But Kid had done the impossible. He stayed in this cave all day, curled in on himself like a wounded bear. He wouldn’t even poke his head out when Oscar and Haikei brought food.

But he drank plenty. It seemed like the only thing he would do now was chug bottle after bottle of grog and rum. The sour, burning smell of alcohol wafted through the cave like a noxious mist.

He called Shriek over a few times, but she ignored him. There was no way in hell she was going anywhere near that cave. And the booze was only part of the reason.

Kid had so many bags under his eyes even his bags had bags. Dark rings that reflected his dark eyes that were once brimming with defiance.

Who was this stranger wearing her captain’s face? What happened?

The only time Shriek had seen Kid this out of it was after they first went up against him and Kid lost his arm. That day was something of a blur for Shriek. A confusing blend of clanging swords, a gunshot, and a left arm flying through the air in a spray of blood followed by ear-piercing screams. She remembers the aftermath much clearer. Banging and clawing at the door of House’s infirmary until it was finally deemed okay for her to be let in. It’s not like pirates losing their arms and legs was a big deal. Shriek had already seen her fair share of those. But none of them were Kid.

When she saw the stump where Kid’s arm had been, the tears started pouring out anew. But Kid said it was no big deal. He gently guided her little paw towards the stump to feel the scar tissue. Said it would take a hell of a lot more than being down an arm to keep him from bouncing back.

Where was that confidence now? Why was this so different? Because this time he lost his heart and not an arm.

She wishes she could ask Killer, but he was long gone. He had disappeared into the woods shortly after Shriek had arrived back at camp. The day wore on and he hadn’t returned. Maybe he found some giant lady to run off with?

Arguments were beginning to break out among the rest of the crew. Not the fun kind where they fought over which Ramones and Misfits songs were the best, or the even funner kind that could only be settled with some grappling and friendly slugs. These were the grown-up kind of arguments. The ones that involved scary voices and finger-pointing and ‘don’t tell me to calm down!’

Boogie was saying that he couldn’t take it anymore. Two months ago, Shriek told him a joke that made him laugh until he said he couldn’t take it anymore.

House’s eyes were steely as she all but hissed that she was done letting Kid jerk her around. Three months ago, she all but hissed at the newest scrape Shriek had gotten while tumbling from a tree after catching a bird.

Reck was shouting at Papas and the two were seconds away from punching each other. Four months ago, they were laughing over some seafood while Shriek played on the floor between them.

When Shriek tried to get in between them, Emma pulled her back and sat her on a log. Then she gripped Shriek by the shoulders and looked at her for a long time before mumbling an apology and walking away. Five months ago, she looked at Shriek tying a sailor’s knot for the first time with a soft smile.

Shriek blinked and stumbled after her for a minute before her ears twitched at the sound of Hop weeping. She turned to see the woman all but begging Hip to join her. Six months ago, Shriek turned while on the beach to see the sisters laughing as they romped in the water before waving over at the little mink to come and play too.

Hop asked her sister how could they possibly trust Kid after the things he said about Nina. Hip argued that he’s in a ‘bad headspace’ and that he didn’t mean any of it. Hop shook her head grimly. She said that the truth always came out when people were at their lowest, especially when they were drunk as fuck. There was no way for them to know if he was ever serious about seeing them as equals or if that was just a lie to get their loyalty. But Hop wasn’t waiting around to find out.

And so Hip sobbed while watching her sister head off with the others, as Shriek tried to catch her breath. She felt like she had been pierced by a dagger.

The sun had tinted the world red as it dipped behind the giant mountains. Shriek was beside the rocks by the cave, hugging her knees to her chest and staring ahead with dull ruby eyes. Truth be told, she was still scared to be near the cave. Pirates don’t get scared, what kind of pirate are you? But she needed to hear the truth.

It had been hours since a handful of their crewmates had left, but Hop’s words wouldn’t stop echoing in Shriek’s minds. Along with one of the first things Kid had said to her when she arrived.

“Good pup! You’re loyal! Not like that bitch!”

Loyal. What did it mean to be loyal? Did it mean following your Captain no matter what?

Was Mama not loyal? Of course she wasn’t, do you see Mama here right now?

But… House, Emma, and Hop had followed Kid without question, but Kid had still hurt them.

But Kid hadn’t hurt Shriek.

But that wasn’t really true. Every slurred word that came drifting out of that cave was like someone was taking Shriek’s ears and shoving them into a forge.

Bitch.

Disloyal heartless wench.

Fucking woman.

Kid hadn’t mentioned a single word about Loki, and he never held back against the people who made him mad. Clearly he didn’t know about Mama falling in love with him. Which meant he was probably mad at her even before that happened.

He hated Mama. That was no other explanation for it.

He really, truly hated her.

A part of Shriek wanted to storm in there and start screaming at him. Who the fuck did he think he was saying that about her? But he’s not wrong about Mama leaving. So you agree with him? You coward.

But what would happen then? Would he get angry with her? Angry enough to kick her out of the crew? Would he start saying bad things about Shriek next? Who’s to say he doesn’t already? You were gone for so long.

She asked herself these questions all through the night. It’s not like sleeping was an option. He wouldn’t shut up. At one point, Shriek started looking around for Beetroot so she could bury her face in his fur but she couldn’t find him anywhere. Then she remembered she left him back with Ozzy and Ziggy.

Ozzy and Ziggy… Kid hadn’t asked about them even once. Why was he so happy to see Shriek and not them? Because they can’t fight like you can. Why do you think he keeps you around? You're so stupid for not figuring that out sooner.

Dawn was just beginning to break when Killer finally strode back into the camp. Shriek didn’t even have the strength to look up from where she was lying under Wire’s cloak and ask him to pick her up so she could cling to his hair. She barely felt his hand run through her hair as he told her to go play with Dive. He needed to talk to Kid.

Shriek imagined that it was hard to talk to somebody who wouldn’t stop drunkenly rambling. Dive did her best to distract Shriek from whatever was going on in the cave, but it’s not like bat minks could just turn off their hearing.

Shriek heard Kid gloating about how Mama would never listen to Killer. Stop it. She would never listen to anyone. Stop it, Captain, please. Never be good enough for anything. Shut up. They were better off without her. Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup-

The sound of a fist striking flesh and the clatter of wooden crates made Shriek’s ears stand up for the first time in days before she immediately pinned them down with her paws to drown out the sound of Killer’s yelling.

She had never heard Killer sound so angry before. Not even in the heat of battle. Not even on Onigashima.

It’s not that she didn’t want somebody to yell at Kid, but now that it was happening she felt so scared. What is wrong with you? Your crew is falling apart and you’re doing shit to stop it! You’re a pirate! Act like one! Say something already, you hairy little idiot!

There’s more yelling, Dive’s voice is muffled and Heat and Wire are rushing over, but it all seems miles away. It’s like she’s a corpse sinking towards the bottom of the ocean while the big battle is still happening above the water’s surface. There’s only one thing she can hear with crystal clarity… Killer’s voice saying “I’m leaving as well”

When Shriek opens her eyes again and takes her paws away from her ears, the sun has climbed to its highest point. It’s noon and not many people are at the camp. There’s a cup of water by her side and Wire shouts to Heat that ‘she’s coming back around’. Shriek ignores the tall man’s instructions for her to have a sip and looks around like a frightened deer.

Where… where’s Kid? Where’s Killer…

She can’t even finish her sentence. She knows where Killer went. Killer left.

Killer left just like Mama. Just like everyone else.

Because of Kid.

Who also left.

Wait… he left. He said they didn’t need Mama anymore…

Oh seas, no. Shriek knew what Kid did to things he didn’t need. How many pirate and marine ships had she seen ripped to shreds by his mechanical constructs?

Mama was in danger! She had to warn her!

Spreading her wings, she flapped off at the speed of a bullet, Heat and Wire’s desperate shouts for her to come back fading away. She soared through the forest, not caring how many animals she scattered or the occasional giant she startled. If she hurried, she might still be able to catch Kid and… And what? Fight him? You know you don’t stand a chance.

But between the thick canopy and the mist rolling in from the Underworld, she could scarcely tell which way she was going. The forest seemed like an entirely different place than it was when she was exploring it with Ozzy and Ziggy and Colon, and Shriek’s anxiety continued to swell.

It was too hot. It was too cold. The trees were too dense. The branches were tearing at her skin. She was smelling smoke somewhere. Something in her heart was beginning to rumble and spiral out of control.

Eventually, she was able to burst upwards through the foliage and with a last few clumsy wingflaps she landed with a crash to the forest floor. Shriek rose shakily to her feet, resting one clawed hand against the Adam tree’s trunk, overwhelmed with nervousness and exhaustion.

After retching stomach acid onto the trunk, she coughed and struggled to catch her breath as she looked around. It was already nightfall and she… she was back in the Sun Realm.

She went in the complete opposite direction.

Her breathing sped up and the little mink collapsed to her knees with a cry of pure frustration. Over and over, she slammed her fists on the branch, tearing up the moss and bark and shrieking every curse word she knew. The world grew hazy until she could no longer make out shapes through her tears and snot.

Who knows what had happened to Mama and Ozzy and Ziggy by now? They’ve all forgotten you.

Who knows where Kid and Killer were?? They never cared.

She hadn’t been able to do a single thing!! Everyone’s a liar, and you’re no different.

She hates it. She hates this stupid island! She hates the stupid giants! She hates stupid Kid and stupid Killer and stupid Loki and stupid Mama!

She couldn’t even stop her stupid crying! Shriek roughly wiped the tears flowing through the stains of bile on her cheeks, having half a mind to scratch her tear ducts out right then and there.

That something in her chest was about to explode like a collapsing star. She had to keep it inside because… because why?

As she panted while staring at the ground, she noticed that she had become completely covered in soft light.

Moonlight.

Tonight was a full moon. Shriek had only just become aware of the reason why she had never been allowed to look at the full moon. She knew now without a shadow of a doubt that it was connected to that something in her chest that was trying to break free.

In between feeling as if every ounce of blood in her body was reaching a boil, she remembered something. A dream, maybe. A comforting voice drifting down from the heavens themselves. Silver hair. Eyes like autumn moons.

Shriek clawed at the dirt as she tightened her fist.

“You said… you’d always be by my side” she muttered hoarsely. She was surprised at how ugly her voice sounded. “That’s what you said… you promised…”

She pulled herself to her feet.

“If that’s true… then make it stop…. I’m tired of hurting… I’m tired of everything… please!”

She looks up at the full moon with blazing teary eyes.

“PLEASE JUST MAKE IT ALL STOOOOOP!!!!”

The thing in her chest finally splits open along with her skull mask.

If an ear-splitting S C R E A M rings out through Elbaf like a thunderclap, Shriek can no longer hear it.

The whole world was tinted red.

#NO SHRIEK BABY #NOOOOOOO #damn from Shrieks POV they’re all kind being shitty fr

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nethhiri · 6 days ago

Text

Flying Blind Chapter 4

A/N: Shriek's joy at reuniting with her mom has an asterisk. A giant pink-haired, horned asterisk.

Lots of love to @dissvicious and the covers that keep firing on all cylinders! This one is from an earlier CMK panel that we both love for Shriek's glowing eyes!

CW: None this time... but trust me it's not going to last.

This was all wrong.

Shriek should have been happy to have Mama back. And she was, she really was. When she and Ozzy and Ziggy ran into her out in the woods, they were over the moon. They rushed up to hug her and she swept them up in her arms with a breathless laugh, kissing them and stroking their fur. It felt like old times again, when she stepped out onto the beach after a day in her clinic and Shriek would rush over from where she was digging for sand fleas. That was one of their favorite things to do. Walking along the beach, Shriek hovering companionably by Mama's side as they chatted. Or they would play flying saucer where Mama would pretend to be a cow that was running away from Shriek gliding after her to bring her up in the tractor beam.

She was finally back.

Mama’s eyes might not have gotten their brightness back and her smile didn’t quite reach them like they used to, but she was back. She was still the same mama with the same pink hair and the same comforting scent of corn dogs.

Mama still listened as Shriek told her all about their adventures with Colon and the Walrus School and the woods. Although, she did kinda seem a little distracted from that. Which… okay, that wasn’t all that weird. Sometimes Mama’s attention darted back and forth between stuff. She called it “ping-pong brain”. But she didn’t usually do it while talking to Shriek or Kid and Killer.

When Shriek showed her the pile of Adam wood they had gathered, her eyes got this funny look that was half-sad and half something Shriek couldn’t quite place. Disappointed? Did she do something wrong? Maybe they didn’t get enough wood. Shriek knew she should have went after a thicker branch.

As they were catching up, Shriek noticed that Mama was bringing them closer and closer to the outskirts of the forest. If they kept going, they would be out of what the giants called the Sun Realm. When Shriek brought this up, Mama gave a cheeky grin and said that was the point. They were heading for the Underworld. Shriek tilted her head at that.

Why would they be going there? They passed the Underworld already two weeks back when they were heading away from the beach with a flying sval after all that walking in the coastal forests. Was that where the rest of the crew was hiding out?

Mama said no, they weren’t meeting with the crew. There was someone else Mama needed to introduce them to.

The Underworld sucked all of the butts.

Shriek saw why they didn’t come through here the first time. Even with her thick fur, the cold stung like a million needles and it was practically snowing sideways. She could scarcely see a few inches above her snout. It got to the point where she didn’t have the strength to keep flying and had to drop to the ground, holding tight to Mama’s hand as they crunched ahead through snow that felt more like cement blocks those gangs from the North Blue used. Ozzy was nestled in Mama’s other arm while Ziggy was tucked into the sling on her bag, both wrapped in warm furs as well as their half-zoan forms and both grumbling unhappily.

Whoever this person was couldn’t have made it easy and met them closer to the Adam tree??

Okay, apparently, he could. He was tied to the damn thing.

Of all the giants Shriek had met in Elbaf, this one had to have been a giant among giants. Basically a mountain of tattooed muscle. His pink hair was more like a lion’s mane, at least the parts that weren’t braided. He had the horns that curved like bananas drenched in squid ink and the grin of a horse that thought it was a great white shark. Maybe he had the eyes to match, but there was no way to tell with all those bandages wrapped around them. If he was hurt, he wasn’t showing it.

In fact, he seemed incredibly happy the minute he showed up. He and Mama greeted each other like they were old friends. Guess they must have met each other while Mama was off doing… whatever it was that she was doing.

Damn, if this big dude was joining their crew, they really were going to need a lot more Adam wood for that new ship.

When he said his name was Loki, it made Shriek remembered those nights when Colon made them a tent out of his bedsheets after Ripley thought they were asleep and showed Shriek all the drawings he made in his notebooks during school, because everyone knew that was the best time to make them. It was filled with sketches of all the warrior adventures Colon was going to have and the monsters he was going to fight. One of them was a huge pink-haired horned giant called Loki. Apparently, he was the strongest and wickedest of all the giants who hated him so much they shuddered to even say his name.

This guy was strong, no question. Even beyond just looking at him, there was this air around him that made your stomach feel squeezy and your eyes want to dart away. Shriek remembered that feeling from when she first saw Whitebeard from up in the skies at Marineford. And she got it again when first seeing Kaido on their old hideout island and Big Mom when she washed up on the beach in Wano. Whatever training Colon was doing to fight someone like Loki, he’d have to do it for at least another million years if he wanted to even stand a chance.

But the wicked part? Shriek didn’t really see much of that. He was nice enough when Shriek told him her name and was intrigued when she told him she was a mink instead of confused or scared like most new people were. He said it had been quite a while since he last met a mink. Ozzy and Ziggy took a liking to Loki really quickly, giggling when he waved his fingers above their heads. He said that he never could have imagined that Mama was a mom and it was… the best gift he could have given her? And then, Mama… kissed his fingers???

Why the hell did she do that?? She only ever kissed Kid and Killer and her and the boys! Was she really that good friends with Loki already?

Apparently… she was. She said that she and Loki have been friends for quite a while. More than friends.

She loved him.

She loved him?

How could she love him? Why did she love him? She already had a true love! Two true loves!

Kid and Killer were the ones she loved! They slept in the same bed and made food together and laughed at stupid jokes Shriek didn’t always understand and wrestled at night until their necks were all covered in lipstick marks.

Kid and Killer were the ones she had kids with. If that didn’t make them true loves, then what did?

This had to have been some kind of trick right? Mama was just playing a prank like when she replaced some of Kid’s tools with worms on strings or swapped out Wire’s eyeliner for mayonnaise?

Well, if it was a trick then it wasn't a funny one. And Loki was a real idiot to fall for it. He said that Mama was his greatest treasure not just because of how pretty and nice she was but that she gave him other treasures too. Two sons and a daughter.

Shriek snapped that Mama wasn’t giving him shit because he obviously wasn’t their dad and he must have rocks for brains if he thought otherwise. She waited for Mama to agree with her.

But she didn’t. Mama got mad and made Shriek apologize for saying that. Why was she defending him? He was trying to take Kid and Killer’s place! Didn’t that make her angry? It was definitely going to make Kid and Killer angry when they found out about this shithead. And Shriek had no problem telling Loki that her captain was going to rip his guts out and drip battery acid in whatever was left of his eyes for this.

Mama told her that was enough. They weren’t going back to the crew.

They…. what??

Mama said she knew all along that they weren’t going to be going back. She said that it wasn’t safe for them to be with the crew anymore because… because Kid and Killer didn’t care. Not about her. Elbaf is where she belonged now, and she wanted Loki to be a part of all their lives.

All their lives?

All their lives were back on the Victoria Punk! There was no Victoria Punk. All their lives included Kid and Killer and Heat and Wire and everybody! Were they even still alive?

Shriek wanted to say this, wanted to scream it but Mama got that sad-angry-whatever it was look on her face again and continued to insist that Shriek apologize to Loki. Shriek's mind went blank. She racked her brain for an answer, an argument, but she couldn't come up with anything. Not a single thing.

Except saying she was sorry in a voice barely above a whisper.

Mama said they could talk more about this later. The sun was going down and Ozzy and Ziggy were getting hungry.

Shriek didn’t eat a bite of the meat and snowberries Mama had gathered. She didn’t listen to any of what Mama was happily chatting about with Loki over the fire. She didn’t react when Ozzy nudged her with his snout for one last game of tag before bed or Ziggy curled around her neck. Through it all, she never said a word except when everyone was settling down to sleep and she said that she would be taking the branches of a nearby pine. Mama probably wouldn’t think that was odd.

And so that was where Shriek stayed for the next few hours. The stinging wind had died down, and if there were any animals moving around out in the night, their footsteps and calls were swallowed up like the snow that shined in the moonlight. But the snow didn’t shine with the crimson glow of Shriek’s embittered eyes locked onto where her family was sleeping on Loki’s knee. Ziggy flopped on his back in that twisty ferret sleep pose he always did and Ozzy right next to him sucking on a pacifier and with Beetroot securely under his arm. Mama had her arms wrapped protectively around them both.

When Shriek saw Loki wrap his fingers around all of them, she had to stifle a growl and her fur bristled with some sparse Electro bursts.

How dare he?

She felt like she was going to throw up. Shriek had heard before that some pirates had looks so mean it was almost like they could kill a person with them, stab them with the shock of their spite.

She wanted more than anything to do that now. She wanted to melt Loki with the sheer force of her hatred, and if that wasn’t enough than her Electro could do the job.

Except she knew she couldn’t. Because Mama would look at her with eyes full of nothing but anger and contempt. Shriek saw her look at his ship shrinking over the horizon with eyes like that. She knew Mama would never take her side on this.

Maybe she never would again.

No. No, she would. Mama’s just confused, that’s all.

She said she was sure that Kid and Killer didn’t care about her. But if Shriek showed her the truth, that they were tearing up all of Elbaf looking for her, then Mama would see that they did love her! Things could go back to the way they were before. They could all be together again, start making a new ship, and Loki? Loki could go piss up the chains he was tied up in for all Shriek cared, as long as he never so much as breathed near Mama and her brothers again.

With new determination in her heart, Shriek spread her wings and flew off in the direction of the lower branches of the Adam Tree she remembered seeing when they first came up to the Sun Realm on the sval. If she could find those, then she could back-track to the coast easily. The crew had to be somewhere around there.

I’m gonna make this right she said in her head to the waning gibbous moon guiding her way.

#damn like #kinda upset on behalf of Shriek #such a good perspective

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