Part Thirty-One: Welcome to the Felony Club

Rushia stumbled to her feet and looked onwards. Nothing but a white expanse of nothingness. She confusedly began readying her necromantic magic, quickly turning her head from left to right. Nothing was there. Her heartbeat began to normalize as she let her guard down. She grimaced.

"Where is everybody…?" she muttered to herself, slowly treading a path in the pure white expanse. It took nearly 30 minutes of straight walking to come across anything of note. But, what she did find, however, made her jaw drop. It was a bar. The very same bar she met Marine in. And the very same bar she became the captain's friend. She quickly dashed to the door, hungry for answers.

'Why is this here? Where is everyone? What even is this place?!' Rushia pondered, all of these questions danced through her mind, almost as if tiny voices were yelling at her in her mind. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. She burst open the door, and gasped.

"What… the… hell…?"

Behind a glass screen was a certain red-haired captain with a large pirate hat and singular eyepatch, tied to a cross as three bird-like winged Malice savagely tore her apart. Rushia watched in absolute despair. She quickly used her necromantic magic to see if Marine was part of the living or dead. Upon confirmation that she was still with the living, Rushia went up to the glass barrier.

"M-Marine-chan!" she yelled, attempting to get the girl's attention. She didn't say a word. Rushia repeated, this time even more frantic. She didn't say a word. The necromancer grimaced and balled her right hand into a fist.

"What the hell is this?!" she screamed, small beads of tears forming in her eyes, "What's going on?! I don't understand!"

She punched the glass barrier. It didn't break. She grunted in pain upon the glass not breaking and balled her left into a fist, promptly sending a jab at the glass. Just like last time, she merely recoiled in pain. As she attempted to do this, the winged Malice were finally able to tear off an arm, causing Marine to wail as blood sprayed the area. Rushia gazed at this, her pupils shrinking and her hands covering her mouth.

"STOP!" she demanded, her anger rising and her tears getting larger as this carnage went on, "Stop doing this to Marine! She's never done anything wrong! Please, stop this!"

The monsters didn't relent, fighting for the now torn off arm. Accidentally tearing it into thirds, the bird-like winged Malice each took a small piece of the captain's arm, wolfing it down without even chewing. This was the thing that caused Rushia to look away, causing her to throw up in a mixture of dread, bewilderment, and repulse. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve and managing to look back up, she found Marine coughing up a hunk of blood. She couldn't take this any more. She began to bang on the glass repeatedly as long sobs came from her eyes and fell down to the ground like rain.

It was to no avail, as the moment Rushia began doing this, the winged bird-like Malice swooped down towards her head and clawed at her neck, tearing off her head. Rushia stopped dead in her tracks. Her sobs stopped and tears stopped rolling down her cheeks. Her jaw gaped open as she witnessed the captain's body go slump as the bird-like winged Malice picked at her head. Suddenly, the glass barrier faded away allowing Rushia to enter. She ran up to Marine's head and picked it up, tearing up as she looked into the captain's lifeless eyes.

"You…" she growled at the monsters that took her love's life, looking down, "You goddamn monsters!"

She quickly turned and created a nail-like shadowy weapon using her necromantic magic and thrusted it towards one of the beasts, creating a large hole in the Malice's stomach. Jumping over and ripping the shadow weapon out of the bird's corpse, she then hurled the weapon at a second Malice. The third reacted quickly to this and attempted to grab at Rushia's head. The necromancer merely sidestepped and grabbed the bird. She pinned it down onto the ground and began punching it repeatedly, blood splattering onto her face. Her punches became less and less powerful, and she eventually pulled her red hands away from the creature. She rose from the pool of blood she was resting in and stumbled to Marine's head. She dropped to her knees and held the head in her arms. Her soft sobs echoed throughout the odd place she had found herself in, while recollections of the times she had spent with the captain echoed throughout her mind. The good times, the bad times, the laughs, the fights, everything came rushing back to her like a flood tearing through her brain. She cried out in desperation.

"MARIIIIIIIIIINE!"

...

"My, you're a young one, huh?" a red-haired girl with a skimpy outfit, a pirate hat, and an eyepatch walked up half-drunkenly, "Aren't you a bit too young to be out here, missy?"

"And aren't you a bit too old to be getting piss drunk at a bar in Shinjuku?" a teal-haired necromancer sitting at a small table coldly replied, reading a tome of sorts.

"Hey, I'll habve you know I'm SEVENTEEN!" the pirate stumbled into the opposite chair from the necromancer, who didn't even give the redhead a glance.

"That's below legal drinking age here in Japan, you know," the necromancer replied, her eyes glued to her book. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a book on Better Communication With The Damned. "I could report you here and now. Get you in trouble with the police, maybe? I'm sure you'd love that, Miss Shipless Scourge?"

"Ehhhh?! How did you know about me?!" the pirate's yellow eyes widened, "D-don't tell the popo! I won't report you either!"

"Good," the necromancer grinned, giving a sweet smile although she didn't look up from the guide she was reading, "Truth is, I've been looking into your work for quite a while."

"Ooooh, you're one of THOSE fans, then, aren't you?" the pirate leaned over the table seductively, slightly swaying back and forth to exaggerate her breasts' bounciness, "I guess I can give you what you deserve…"

"You wish," the necromancer grumbled, "I've come in contact with some anonymous sources and heard you frequent this bar. And I just want to say… you're sloppy."

"Wh- the hell you mean, sloppy?!" the pirate growled, smashing her hand on the table separating the two girls, "You've got nerve for a pint-sized cutting board!"

"Call me a cutting board again," the necromancer finally looked from her book and threatened, revealing her deep red eyes.

"Haha! You're one of those girls! I like your type!" the pirate laughed boisterously, nearly falling out of her seat, "So, did you just come here to insult me or do you wanna get laid as well?"

"Neither," the necromancer rolled her eyes, "I want to help you. Let me be your partner in crime. I'll take 40% of all earnings we make as a team. God knows you need some help. And trust me, I know how that feels. Besides, I think we'd make a good team."

The pirate looked at the necromancer somewhat surprised. As she looked into the sweetly smiling girl's eyes, the pirate blushed slightly and grinned.

"Smart move, negotiating with a girl while she's fucking hammered," Marine chuckled, "I'm in. Welcome to the felony club, girlie."

...

"H-hey, Marine, hang on!" Rushia yelled, noticing the pirate taking a cutlass from another and slicing his head off, claiming the ship she was fighting upon as hers, "Don't tell me you're…"

"That's right. I'm going after the treasure of Chimera Island," Marine grinned at the teal-haired necromancer.

"No, you can't! That's too dangerous!" Rushia told, her cheeks puffing slightly, "You don't even have a crew yet! How the hell do you think you're gonna take down the Shigaraki brothers?!"

"That's where I'm gonna shock you…" Marine's smile grew even wider, "I got myself a crew! Ta-daaaaa!"

"Wh-how-who?!" Rushia gazed at the captain with an utterly shocked expression.

"Don't underestimate a pirate's connections," Marine smugly laughed, crossing her arms, "I've got the head of the Shirogane line of knights, Shirogane Noel, the half-elf warrior, Shiranui Flare, and the princess of Pekoland, Usada Pekora!"

"Th-those are some big names," Rushia stepped back, completely taken aback by the claims Marine was making, "But still… four people? That's not enough, is it?"

"I agree," Marine nodded, "But good thing there's five of us, huh?"

"Five…? Wait, you mean me?!" Rushia asked, putting her hand on her chest.

"Yeah, who else?" Marine shrugged, "You've been my first mate for what, two, three years now? You're not missing my biggest heist!"

"No, I don't want to go…" Rushia shook her head with a somewhat sad expression, "If you get hurt out there and I see it, I'll never forgive myself…"

"Rushia, don't say that," Marine's smile began to fade.

"But it's true!" Rushia said with passion as the pirate girl walked toward the necromancer, "If I couldn't stop you from getting hurt, it would mean I'm inadequate, right?!"

SMACK!

Marine smacked Rushia right across the face. Rushia grimaced and clutched the cheek the pirate had slapped.

"The hell was that for?!" Rushia yelled angrily.

"Say I die out there and you were with me. You need to promise me this," Marine's voice got much more grave and serious, "You aren't going to cry. You aren't going to mourn. You're not even gonna have a funeral for me. I just want you to remember the good times you had with me and move on. I'll always want to be a part of your memory, but if you find it necessary, forget all about me if it means you'll move on. Because there's nothing I fear more than holding others back."

Rushia looked at the pirate in awe. She had no idea of this side of Marine, despite being her first mate for so long. She closed her eyes concededly.

"Fine. I promise," Rushia complied, hanging her head, "You better not be trying to pull some suicide mission shit, though."

"I admit, a mission like this does sound like suicide," Marine smiled, "But we're FANTASY!" We'll never lose!"

"FANTASY? Where did that come from?" Rushia asked.

"I thought it'd make for a cool crew name," Marine explained, putting her hand on her neck in embarrassment, "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect," Rushia smiled, "Now, introduce me to your crewmates. I gotta learn their powers so I can develop some strategies…"

...

As those memories echoed through her mind, Rushia opened her eyes in shock.

'Don't cry? Don't mourn? Don't even host a funeral?!' Rushia thought, her eyes flaring, 'How the hell could I do any of that?!'

She looked into the decapitated head's eyes with contempt. How could she demand such things. But, as she looked into her eyes, she couldn't help but feel as if she had to comply. She stood up and held Marine's head in her arms.

"You're right, Marine…" Rushia sighed, looking at the body on the cross, "I guess… you are kind of holding me back right now. And god knows you probably hate that. But you'll always be a part of my memory. I love you, Marine."

With a lot of mental preparation and strength, she let go of the pirate's head, watching as it plummeted to the ground. She then looked at the body fiercely.

"Senchou, everything I do now will be in your honor. I hope you watch me from the afterlife," Rushia smiled softly. She had found her new resolve. She was fearless. And this horrible world of nightmares couldn't affect her any longer. A sudden wave of memories came flooding back to her, even more intense than the one she felt when she held Marine's head. Her smile faded and she grimaced, looking down.

"This was all some illusion?!" she grumbled, stomping her feet on the ground, "Is this some kind of twisted joke?! I had to see my lover be killed?! Fuck you, 002, die in hell!"

Her swears were eventually muffled as she became engulfed in a white light, whisking her away from the world born from her innermost fears.