The Clown's Kiss (Buggy Fanfiction) [One Piece]

Pushing for Change

At around 2 a.m., the world outside was cloaked in darkness, and Scarlet found herself in the solitude of her simply lit home. The rain, a gentle but persistent presence, taps insistently on her windowpanes, its rhythm echoing the inner turmoil that swirls within her.

She sits at her cluttered desk, surrounded by a disarray of materials and memories, as if the chaos outside had seeped into her very soul. The soft, rhythmic drumming of the raindrops served as a somber accompaniment to the restless thoughts that tugged at the corners of her troubled mind, each drops a poignant reminder of the tears she couldn't bring herself to shed.

With trembling hands, Scarlet reaches out for a pristine, white sheet of paper that stands out starkly against the chaotic disarray of her workspace. The paper had clearly been recently added to her haphazard organization, and she couldn't help but fixate on it.

She has no knowledge of who had slipped it into her mailbox earlier in the afternoon, but its contents continue to gnaw at her, leaving her in a state of restless unease.

The paper bore a list of names – Tommy, Jimmy, Sarah, and two more – etched in ink. It delivered a message that struck at the core of her being: these children would no longer participate in any lessons until the safety concerns surrounding their teacher persona 'Miss Moore' were resolved.

"The possibility of child endangerment," Scarlet repeats the phrase to herself, each utterance of the words carrying a different emotional weight. At first, the term had shocked her, then it had left her feeling despondent, but now, a simmering anger bubbles within her. It was a righteous indignation that courses through her veins, a fire ignited by the injustice of it all.

"This is fucking bullshit," the young teacher mutters, the frustration evident in her voice as she uses uncharacteristically strong language to express her dismay. Pushing herself away from her desk, she snatches the paper up with a sense of determination, folding it messily until it could fit into the pocket of the jacket she'd usually wear.

"I'm not putting any children in danger," she mutters, her voice growing increasingly animated as she contemplates the accusations leveled against her. "I didn't ask Buggy to cling to me and hang around."

Scarlet should logically be seething with anger when she reflects on how Buggy entered her world and seemingly brought it to ruin. However, paradoxically, whenever she remembers the moments she shared with the clown, a peculiar warmth unfurls in her chest. Instead of the expected fiery surge of hatred, her heart is bathed in a soothing, nostalgic glow.

As she hastily got dressed, she donned her jacket and pulled the hood over her head. The hood provides only a slight shield against the relentless cold rain that awaits her outside, but she welcomes even the meager protection as she prepares to leave the comfort of her home in the dead of night.

Scarlet slaps her palms against her cheeks, producing a sharp, stinging pain, and reddening her face. "Pull yourself together," she urges herself, her own voice infused with determination. "I'll Buggy to leave me alone, once and for all."

Scarlet is adamant about painting the clown as the antagonist in her internal dialogue. "He's the bad guy, terrorizing the villagers for months," she recalls and swiftly remembers the reckless disregard for her safety when he willingly subjected her to perilous stunts on the stage, the times his knife-throwing act left her physically wounded.

But, her resolve wavers as Scarlet becomes a battlefield of conflicting memories.

In the midst of her mental struggles, a torrent of recollections flooded in - those moments when he took her hand, his gaze locking onto hers with those mesmerizing, shimmering blue eyes, his swift, reassuring presence whenever she needed comfort.