Chapter 1
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lily Luna hears her mother’s worried voice ask. She turns to her mother, a smile on her lips, and looks at the woman whose face is a near mirror of her own. Her mother stands just beyond her bedroom door, green eyes staring at the trunk she was packing.
Lily ‘hmmed’ as she set down the shirt she’d been folding and sighed. “I want to have my own adventure, meet my soulmate, and just… live away from my responsibilities. It isn’t forever, Mother but I have to live my own life.”
There it is, in her mother’s eyes, the conflict of pride and worry that has been ever-present since she declared her intention to leave, to travel to another world, the world where her soulmate had been born just a few short years ago. But to get through to his world, it was possible that she’d have to travel through a few different ones. Dimensional travel was tricky and required the most precise calculations and it had to factor in certain things about the person traveling. So it was a hit or miss, and in the end, her family would know if she failed by the puddle of… well… liquified remains in the ritual circle.
She knew why her mother was worried, it was certain death or… the possibility that she would never see her daughter again. Lily had more hope than that, though. They were Magicals, they lived in an Empire ruled by magic where their lives were counted not by the decades but by the centuries. And three hundred years or so was an awfully long time for Lily not to find a way home to her family.
“It’ll be fine, I promise.” She told her mother as her trunk snapped close and proceeded to shrink. “I’ll see you again, one day. And who knows how many grandchildren you’ll have by me when I get back.”
Sweet laughter filled the air as her mother relaxed and their hands intertwined. “You better!” She said with a teasing lilt. “I expect at least twelve grandchildren from you.”
She laughed along with her mother. “Oh, you’ll see my gaggle of children flocking around the estate and you’ll despair that you ever demanded grandchildren of me by the dozen.”
They walked through the halls of her childhood, greeted by the portraits of her ancestors, as they went down for one last dinner. A glance at the red curls she’d inherited from her mother, at the feeling of love and safety that her mother often exuded had her tightening her hand. She wouldn’t miss much, Lily figured, just her family.
The ritual area was filled with a mass of hair colored reds, browns, blacks, and blondes. This was her family, all of whom had come to see her off. Their young faces belie the decades and centuries lived by those gathered around her. Her father smiled but the mischief was gone from his eyes, he was, Lily knew, trying not to cry.
She kissed each one of them goodbye and promised them the same thing, that she’d return with her soulmate and a brood of her own to rival her grandmother’s. And she only broke down when her father began to cry. Her father who had always been so happy, so cheerful, cried because his little girl was leaving him.
She loved her parents equally but a small part of herself knew she would always identify herself as George Weasley’s daughter. Her father who taught her the tricks of the trade when it came to pranking, who gave her lessons on potions brewing and adapting it to fit muggle physiology because her mother had been so busy rebuilding the world that she’d barely had time for children in the early years of the Empire, rebuilding it to something better and fairer as her father would say.
George Weasley who had given his children all the time that they could want with him would sit them on his lap as he experimented on new products for his pranks while her mother was playing the hero. Her mother had been so very busy for years as the world shifted and the muggles emerged from their last war to a devastated environment and a significant portion of their population lost. But that had been so long ago, more than a century and a half, and now was not the time to think on those years.
Her father’s hug was tight but he wouldn’t talk her out of this, would never try to. “Don’t worry Daddy, I’ll be back soon.” She told him before she stepped away and into the ritual circle. And just as the runes began to glow, she held her breath and stared at the people who held her heart. “I WILL DEFINITELY SEE YOU AGAIN!” She yelled out.
Rouge was hungry and cold, she was also very afraid. She didn’t let that last one show, though. No, she held it in and refused to let anyone know how utterly terrified and alone she felt. Her eyes flickered to the women who were barely clothed and dressed in the tattered remains of what they had worn when they were taken from their homes. Rape was a word that she’d become familiar with all too suddenly as the women of her village were taken one by one by the slavers, dragged away from their families, and returned hours later with their clothing ripped and their bodies bearing scratches and bruises, spirits utterly broken. The men who had tried to protest, tried to fight back were beaten within an inch of their lives. Eventually, the women went quietly, if only to spare the men’s lives.
She glanced at one of the men who had been the victim of one such beating. He was old and he’d fought to spare his daughter from such a fate even when his daughter went along quietly. No one would be fighting for Rouge when the time came, her father had been cut down in the initial assault on their village and her mother was long dead from the plague that swept through South Blue. She was alone in every sense of the word.
It was a different man that came this time, and all of the women turned away, tried to hide their faces but Rouge recognized this one, he’d been eyeing her for a while now. She flinched as her chains were yanked and he dragged her away. No one spoke, no one protested, no one would look up.
Away from her neighbors, Rouge began to kick up a fuss and she was happy to say she’d gotten a few good kicks in. The jeers from his crewmate seemed to have been enough for him to snap and she lost her breath as his fist connected with her stomach. Rouge was ten and she knew she couldn’t fight the man off but she was also a D. and that meant she wasn’t going to give up that easily. She bit the man’s hand and spat out the blood that spilled from the wound in disgust and felt a slap to her face. But for all the effort she tried to put up, Rouge was only ten and had been starved for days and that meant she was weak.
There was a bright flash that illuminated the deck as a woman appeared. She was looking around, blue eyes gazing around in confusion before landing on her and her beautiful face shifted into one of anger and disgust. “And just what…” The woman began, voice low and dangerous. “Do you think you’re doing to that child?”
Her voice seems to snap the slavers out of their stupor as they rush at her with weapons drawn. Rouge is to horrified to think, too stunned to even contemplate shutting her eyes and in the end, she’ll think to herself that it was for the best that she didn’t because the woman moved fast, hand snapping up as a wooden stick appeared in her hand and lights of red and green flew out from it, men falling to their feet. Some seemed to have fallen unconscious, those that had been hit by the red lights, while others… those that were struck by the vibrant green light fell to the ground dead, eyes glassy and bodies still.
The woman was suddenly crouching in front of her, a gentle smile on her face as she touched the cuffs and it snapped open. “Let’s go, little one. I’ll take you home.” The woman told her, moving to carry her.
Rouge stepped away from her. “I can’t… my neighbors… my village… the slavers have them here!” She thought of Miss Anna who often gave her sweets whenever they saw each other and of Old Man Takazuki who was the most recent of the captives to be beaten. She thought of all the others, of the kids like her who were sitting with their parents, scared and chained.
“Slavers.” She heard the woman whisper softly before nodding. “Alright, take me to them. I’ll set them free.”
Ninety-seven. That had been Lily Luna’s final count as she stared at the people who were gathered around the deck, the slavers had been tossed off the ship by a rather vindictive group of men but she kept one or two for questioning… initially, they went the way of their friends as soon as she’d gotten what she needed from them. She didn’t consider it much of a loss, she held no respect for anyone who thought that they had the right to enslave another being.
The ship was moving smoothly as the people of Baterilla proved their aptitude in everything sailing as they took control of the ship and steered it home. Their spirits seemed to be rising as the hours dragged on and she watched as the pink-haired little girl that had started all this ran around directing others. Portgas D. Rouge, as she’d introduced herself earlier, had been the Mayor’s daughter.
An orphan now. Her father had fallen in defense of the village but had culled the slavers numbers by quite a bit. She had to admit that she was surprised by their willingness to return to the ruins of their village and begin anew but she supposed that in times of great upheaval familiarity was the most comforting thing in the world. But that didn’t change the fact that at the end of the day, Rouge would be all alone. She could already see it happening as the women began to usher their children away to the freshly cleaned rooms but Rouge didn’t have anyone.
She glanced at the three men she’d selected for the night watch before approaching the little girl. “Come on, little one. I believe it’s time for bed.” She said as she led her into the Captain’s cabin that she’d commandeered for herself. There was a little bit of protest coming from the girl but she’d not done much to put up a fight and was soon asleep in the freshly changed sheets.
Fingering the ledger she took a deep breath and opened it. Hundreds of transactions were listed there, each detailing just how many were captured, how many were sold, and who they were sold to. Three-fourths of the transactions happened in auction houses and slave markets but a fourth of the transactions listed people simply known as the Saints as direct purchasers.
It was a sickening thing but she forced herself to read through it, even as she saw a breakdown of each of their captives, not by their names but by their description and numbers. ‘I need to learn more about this world.’ She thought as she glanced at the map open on the table. Four Blue Seas each named after the four cardinal directions where they lay and hundreds if not thousands of islands detailing a body of water known as the Grandline.
Lily had come here to search for her soulmate but… but there was a little girl all alone in the world. She couldn’t in good conscience abandon the child, not when she knew that this world’s slave trade was flourishing. And it seemed that her choice was made for her. She was staying with these people of Baterilla, at least until Rouge was old enough to fend for herself. It was a good thing she came from a large family and had had plenty of opportunities to take care of children. Rouge was one girl who, as far as she knew, couldn’t use magic. How hard could it be?
It was very hard. Rouge was… many things that she didn’t think a kid could be, especially not a little girl who was as thin as a wisp. She was strong (the railing of the ship was a casualty), a glutton (she was ten times worse than Uncle Ron), and she was insane (why did she jump into an invading pirate ship?)... oh, and did she mention Rouge was narcoleptic (she totally did not have a panic attack when the girl's head dropped into her plate in the middle of dinner)... by the end of the first day, Lily was ready to give up and run away.
Lily was certain that none of her cousins, siblings, and her were ever this much trouble, not even combined. And by the time they’d reached the village, she’d had to forcibly restrain the girl while she took some men and ‘dealt’ with the bodies. Positive identification was necessary for a proper burial, after all. Lily hadn’t even tried to hide her magic as a quick rundown of the world from very liberal use of legililimens on the few she’d captured had shown her that the world was filled with ‘devil fruit’ users who ate special fruits that granted them a certain power in exchange for their ability to swim so she shrugged her shoulders and decided to let them assume.
She’d conferred with the villagers before they’d even landed and most had agreed that they wanted to return to their homes even if it had been burnt down but she’d assured them that it wouldn’t matter. Wood, after all, was a great magical conductor.
So she was a show-off, no one could blame her after finding a captive audience, magic was commonplace in the Empire, after all. She could hear the gasps of awe as she walked through the ruined village waving her wand as buildings repaired themselves. Soon the village was back to the way it had been before the slavers came. 'Magic' she thought. 'Is awesome.' She looked around contemplative before she flicked her wand a few more times and the houses changed colors breathing a not so subtle difference into the town to remind them that not everything was the way it was from before. Somethings, she knew, could never be returned. She glanced at the women she'd given clothes too and remembered the state they were in when she'd met them.
Lips pursing in anger she calmed herself as she focused on her soul mate's emotions. Childish innocence and happiness spread over her. She smiled at the thought that whoever it was, was still safe. When Rouge was older, she'd do something about the slavers but for now she was going to bid her time, gather information, make a plan, and teach these people to survive. Baterilla was as a good a place as any to shelter and use as a base. Eyes tracing the horizon as she glanced down to the village from the hill that Rouge's house was on, her eyes traced the coast and began to mentally map the island as she considered which areas the runes were going to be carved in.
A loud roar drew her attention as screams filled the air and people pointed towards the sky. A shadow descended on Baterilla as another bond tugged at her. Lily's lips squirmed up as she glanced at her old partner from her days in the Empire's Aerial Combat Division. 'So you've followed me to this place too, my old friend.' She thought just as a dragon landed right in front of her.