Twist of fate

Making an unexpected friend

Ava woke to a cool night breeze blowing hair into her face and the sound of a lite snoring. Cracking her eyes open, the sight that greeted her was a dark star studded sky. The smell of salt water hit her nose, sand crunching beneath her fingers.
  Where the heck was she?
  Her body protested when she turned onto her side, seeking out where the snoring was coming from.
Her eyes fell on the boy with wings.
  He was sprawled out on his back, wings splayed open.
He looked almost peaceful in sleep.
Computer, how long have I been out?
Thirteen hours, twenty seven minutes and sixteen seconds.
The boy rolled to his side, facing her, and grumbled. Ava held her breath for a moment, worried he might wake up.
A few seconds later he was snoring again and She let out a sigh of relief.
So it's just after four in the morning?
Affirmative
What's all left to heal?
Your left scapula is ninety two percent healed and is the last of the damage. You will still feel a bit of discomfort where you were wounded.
Last question. Has the boy been here this whole time?
Affirmative. He tried to treat your wounds. He was causing more damage, so I took the liberty of erecting a shield around you to stop him.
I have a shield?
Affirmative
Well, that was news to her!
She really needed to sit down and figure out what all she was capable of one of these days.
Rolling to her stomach, she pushed herself into a seated position with a grunt of pain. Her shoulder was still tender, just like the computer had said.
Looking back at the boy, Dacquoise if she remembered correctly, she tried to decide if she wanted to wake him or leave.
He'd been part of the ruse that had caused her to get hurt. Something that Cracker had put them up to she guessed, his name had come up when him and the other three had been talking about their plan.
But he had also saved her from being taken in. He'd hid her somewhere, kept her safe, had even tired to treat her.
But that could have been because Cracker hadn't wanted her hurt, at least not like she had been.
Did she want to risk the boy running to the man?
The answer was a big fat NO.
But she still wanted to thank him, even if he'd only saved her to save himself from Crackers wrath.
Scooting over next to him she shook his shoulder, a couple times.
He bolted awake, his wings batting at her. Thankfully they didn't hurt, in fact the membrane of them felt really soft. It made her want to run her fingers down them.
"It's okay, it's just me!" She laughed, pushing his wings gently away from her.
His unfocused caramel colored eyes landed on her and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was scared you where my brother!"
Ava tilted her head. "Your brother?"
"Cracker!"
She leaned away from him in horror. "You're a Charlotte!" It wasn't a question, just a statement. She had thought he'd just been some random kid.
"Ya!" He gave a heavy sigh. "But I promise, I won't hurt you!"
"Your brother Basans had no problem doing just that!" She growled in anger. "In fact had I been anyone else I more then likely would have died!"
He gave her a doleful look, his hands coming up in front of him, palms up as his wings settled against his back. "I swear to you that wasn't the plan. Cracker had a feeling you wouldn't want to draw attention to yourself. So we put on an act to draw you in. We didn't expect you to attack like you did, we just thought you would scare Basans away. Me and my sisters were supposed to try to befriend you after he was gone, make you drop your guard around us. We were to report back to Cracker with any information you gave us. I didn't even want to do it, but he said he would make us regret not helping him."
"He threatened you?" She asked skeptically. "I thought the Charlotte's where a tight nit, family?"
Dacquoise rubbed the back of his neck, looking down. "We are! But there are times when the older siblings get a little zealous when they want to get their way!"
Ava's face scrunched up in distaste. "Well that's messed up!"
"It can be, ya." Dacquoise nodded.
  "So, how did you all know it was me?" She could have sworn she had change enough to keep herself hidden!
  "Cracker knew if he upped the patrols on the other islands, that you would eventually make your way here to Whole Cake." Dacquoise said a little guiltily. "With that he upped his own patrol here with smaller biscuits keeping an eye out for you, more specifically your wings. We knew almost immediately when you landed here."
  Well that explained a lot, it also told her she was still on Whole Cake.
"So what happens now?" She asked somberly, rearranging herself so she could cross her legs and look out at the sea.
"I'm not sure." He shrugged. "I'm supposed to go back. Cracker will want to know you survived."
"You're not going to get in trouble since you didn't bring me back, are you?" She asked worried about the boy.
Dacquoise shook his head. "No, I shouldn't. Basans messed up our plan by hurting you. It means the whole thing fell apart."
"So, Crackers not going to punish you?"
"Nope. As long as I bring him word that you're still alive, all should be forgiven." He said surely.
  Ava felt a little better now that she knew Dacquoise would be okay.
  She reached a hand out and he took it, shaking her hand. "Thank you for saving me."
  He shook his head looking unhappy. "Don't thank me, none of this should have happened. The least I could do was get you out and away from danger."
  She slipped her hand from his, looking out to the water. "Still thank you. You could have left me to my fate, but you didn't."
  "Honestly, that was just me in a panic. I followed after you ran wanting to make sure you where going to live. I did try to patch you up, but some sort of force field erected around you."
  Ava looked at him side ways. "Dacquoise, right?"
  He nodded.
  Ava brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Look, I'm going to be upfront with you. I'm not from Skypiea, I'm not a Devil Fruit eater, I'm not even close to what your family thinks I am. You can tell them that too."
  "Then what are you?"
  "I'm nothing!" She said quietly, leaning her head back to look up at the sky feeling melancholy . "Nothing at all. I'm just waiting for my sister, and if she's not here within the next year..."
  "You're definitely not nothing Ava." Dacquoise interjected fiercely. "Anyone who's seen you knows that."
Ava looked at him with a small smile. "That's what you all seem to think. I'm something special, but I'm not." She looked back up, wishing that her sister was here. Eris would know what to do in a situation like this. "I'm just a girl, lost in a world she has no understanding of, waiting on a sister that I'm not even sure is coming."
  She probably shouldn't have told him the last part. Loose lips sink ships and all that.
  "Don't you have family you can go to while you wait?"
  He actually sounded concerned, or was he fishing for information. She guessed it didn't really matter either way, it wasn't something the Charlotte's could use against her.
  She shook her head sadly. "No, I was separated from the only family I have when I fell here."
  "That's kind of depressing." Dacquoise said leaning back and stretching his legs out. "To be all alone like that, I wouldn't even know what to do. I have such a large family and we've always been together." He gave a quiet laugh. "We may not always see eye to eye, and a lot of them have anger issues, but we support one another."
  She peeked over at him and found he was smiling. Maybe the Charlotte's weren't as bad as she thought. Dacquoise at least seemed happy with them.
  A thought struck her.
  It might not be so bad to think about joining them. If some of them where like Dacquoise, she could definitely handle it.
  If Eris didn't show up in the next year that was.
  It's not like she had to many options to pick from otherwise.
  "You guys seem to love one another a lot."
  "Well ya, we are family. For better or worse, we have each other's backs."
  He sounded so proud.
  "Dose that extend to people who aren't related?" She asked curiously. If she did decided to go through with this, she wanted to know what was waiting for her.
  "Depends. Mama says if you ain't family that you can't be trusted. But the ones who follow her.. well they are treated well as far as I've seen." He shrugged.
  "What about those that are married into the family?"
  "Don't know, she hasn't married any of us off yet." He looked over at her a little confused. "Why do you ask?"
  She sighed, not liking his answer. Placing her chin on her knees she looked back out at the water.
  "Your mother wants to marry me to one of your brothers when I turn nineteen."
"News to me, but okay. The way mama probably see's it is, family don't turn on family. So if you marry into it, it cements your place with us, give you more of a reason to help us build what we are working on. Do you know what I mean?"
Ava nodded, but she also understood it didn't always work like that. "But here's the thing, family can turn on family. I've seen it before."
Dacquoise tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
She gave a self deprecating laugh. "My father left me and my sister behind when he got caught doing illegal stuff. Went into hiding knowing full well me and her would be captured. Men came to our house looking for him. When they tried to take me and Eris, my mother tried to protect us. They killed her for interfering. Thankfully I was to young to really remember any of it, but Eris told me what happened."
He reached out and put a hand on her back. "That's harsh."
"Because of him, both me and her went through hell for five years. Eris was forced into a program called BOA. I was locked away in a small room with nothing, I wasn't even looked at as human. It's why I don't want to have my freedom stripped away from me. These last two in a half years of being some what free, they have been heaven."
Dacquoise shook her shoulder, wanting her to look at him.
She turned her head, resting her cheek against her knees, giving him her attention.
"Ava I don't think you understand, you wouldn't lose your freedom. If anything you would probably get more freedom then you knew what to do with, as long as you didn't cross the family."
That was food for thought. But she still wasn't willing to give in, not yet anyways.
"I'll think about it. But I won't promise anything."
He gave her a lopsided grin that she returned. "That's all anyone can ask for, I guess."
"You gonna tell Cracker what I told you?"
"Well ya. It will hopefully appease him for a little while, give you some time to breath before he comes after you again."
She chuckled halfheartedly. "I don't think even that will slow him down."
Dacquoise shrugged. "Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But at least he'll know you're thinking about it."
He stood up brushing the sand from his shorts. "I better get back before they send out a search party."
Ava stood to, now worried for another reason. "What are you going to tell them... about why you just let me go?" She clarified when he looked at her funny.
It was his turn to laugh. "I don't know about you but that scream you let out yesterday is enough of a deterrent from trying to force you anywhere. Besides I didn't want to move you to far, those injuries you got where bad. But from the looks of it you'll be fine."
She gave him a big smile. "I'm a fast healer."
"I can see that."
They both giggled.
  "Um... would... would you mind if I called you a friend?" She asked uncertainly. "Your the only other person I've met here, besides an older woman, that's talked to me and actually listened."
  "I'd like that!" He smiled brightly. "Maybe we can do this again sometime."
  "How about next month, same time and place. Just, don't let your brother know all the details, please. You can help me out a little, I can get to know your family, so if I decide to actually join, I'll know what I'm getting into.
  "Sounds like a plan!"
  "Thank you." She waved.
"Be careful out there Ava."
"You too."
Dacquoise took off at a run, his wings unfurling from his back and lifting him from the ground.
Ava turned back to the water, watching the first rays of sunlight spill over the sparkling surface.
Letting her wings form behind her she ran down the beach and lifted off herself, heading for home. She needed food and more sleep before she did anything.
  That included thinking about her possible future and throwing in her lot with the Big Mom Pirates... if Eris never came.