spoiler-free entry
Feb. 10th, 2010 09:45 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
printfogey.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
onepiece_300Title: Funeral Pyre
Rating: G
Media: fic
Character: Robin
Word Count: 297
Prompt: Fire
Spoilers/setting: From chapter 430 (Going Merry's funeral).
It held on just long enough for the Galley-La to reach us, thought Robin, looking back at the broken ship from the raft they'd been loaned; watching as her captain lowered a torch to set the hull on fire.
Inside her mind she saw other flames, from Ohara so long ago when fire, explosions and ice had eradicated her home island and everyone she had ever known. Until the sea was frozen with the one small opening left for her to escape on by the whim of a single Marine.
You had to protect yourself from burning down. And she had been cold, frozen inside, ever since.
Then another image filled her head, the one with the World Government's flag, burning.
Robin wasn't crying now, even as the masts broke and the timber crackled loudly, as smoke filled the air like memories. There was no need. She had cried enough last night, so many tears falling unstoppable as she had felt herself thawing, finally daring to have faith in others, to allow herself the will to live. To feel she had the right to exist and be a person.
I will never forget that again,, she thought, standing with the others as their friend and home burnt down, hearing the spirit of the ship talk to her. To forget would mean she'd be dishonouring Merry's sacrifice as much as the struggles of her living crewmates who had fought and bled for her sake.
And as the voice stopped talking in her mind and the remains of the ship slowly turned to ashes and charred timber, she felt old shadows leave her at the same time - not forgotten but finally allowed to go, as if guided by the spirit of Going Merry down into the waiting waves.
Rating: G
Media: fic
Character: Robin
Word Count: 297
Prompt: Fire
Spoilers/setting: From chapter 430 (Going Merry's funeral).
It held on just long enough for the Galley-La to reach us, thought Robin, looking back at the broken ship from the raft they'd been loaned; watching as her captain lowered a torch to set the hull on fire.
Inside her mind she saw other flames, from Ohara so long ago when fire, explosions and ice had eradicated her home island and everyone she had ever known. Until the sea was frozen with the one small opening left for her to escape on by the whim of a single Marine.
You had to protect yourself from burning down. And she had been cold, frozen inside, ever since.
Then another image filled her head, the one with the World Government's flag, burning.
Robin wasn't crying now, even as the masts broke and the timber crackled loudly, as smoke filled the air like memories. There was no need. She had cried enough last night, so many tears falling unstoppable as she had felt herself thawing, finally daring to have faith in others, to allow herself the will to live. To feel she had the right to exist and be a person.
I will never forget that again,, she thought, standing with the others as their friend and home burnt down, hearing the spirit of the ship talk to her. To forget would mean she'd be dishonouring Merry's sacrifice as much as the struggles of her living crewmates who had fought and bled for her sake.
And as the voice stopped talking in her mind and the remains of the ship slowly turned to ashes and charred timber, she felt old shadows leave her at the same time - not forgotten but finally allowed to go, as if guided by the spirit of Going Merry down into the waiting waves.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 11:16 pm (UTC)You had to protect yourself from burning down. And she had been cold, frozen inside, ever since.
I especially love this line! It really captures how Robin was prior to putting the ghosts of her past to rest.
Very touching and strangely uplifting at the same time! Wonderful job!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-11 09:07 pm (UTC)Robin had her visible catharsis on Justice Island, but I thought it might fit if she finally let go of the past here, peacefully, while saying goodbye to Merry as well.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 08:01 pm (UTC)Very glad and touched to hear it!
Just noticed a weird word-typo: She had cried enough last times
should be: She had cried enough last night
sorry!