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flyiing-giraffe · 3 years

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Update #2

Ahhh, sorry I'm late! Hope you're all having a good week!

Working my way through the revisions of the older chapters! Really glad I'm doing this; I feel like I didn't really have the time to do the sentence-level revisions because of how I set the schedule. For the next one I think I'll definitely try something else.

I've been working on a pretty time-intensive project for my family recently, so I haven't has as much writing time as I would like, but hopefully I can take a lot of time for Haunted on the weekend.

It was an unexpectedly good day for kudos! Thanks again to everyone who has commented/left kudos/reblogged/retweeted stuff! It means a lot to me!

Below the cut is a scene from ch.5. In the final version it is replaced with the turtles scene, although it takes place on the boat (the trip was longer in the original version). Also I was messing around with canva and I made a collage Anyway, have a good week! Hope you enjoy!

“Hey, hey wake up.”

Crocodile blinks slowly, looking up to see Doflamingo leaning over the bed, a hand on his shoulder.

“What time is it?” Crocodile grumbles, turning over.

“It’s five, but just come with me for a minute, won’t you? I got something to show you.”

Crocodile groans, but begrudgingly gets up.

Doflamingo looks as exhausted as he feels, and Crocodile promises himself that they are actually going to sleep tonight.

It’s just so tempting not to.

They both have two entire lifetimes of sexual experience; naturally, they’ve been putting it to good use.

As if to remind him of the consequences, Crocodile’s entire body protests when he gets up.

Doffy wraps a fleece blanket around his shoulders and hurries him out of the bedroom, up onto the steps. The sun has not yet risen, but the night’s blackness has receded, leaving a blueish-gray sky in its wake. They move to the port railing. For a moment, nothing happens, and Crocodile is ready to start complaining about being awake for no reason when a spout of water shoots up a ways out from the boat, followed by the spine of a whale.

“I’ve been trying to pinpoint them for the last two days,” Doffy says, resting crossed arms on the railing and leaning forward.

Crocodile pulls the blanket tighter around himself and mimics Doffy’s posture. The whales breach the surface, their great tails disrupting the ocean as the dive back down.

They are absolutely enormous; truly a magnificent sight. They are possibly feeding, or engaging in some other group activity, because they stay in sight of the boat for much longer than Crocodile would have expected. By the time they are beginning to move off, the sun is shimmering on the horizon, turning the sea pink.

“Are you happy?” Doffy says, suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

It’s a very vague question, really. Generally? Right now? With the vacation?

“I mean, are you… happy, here. In this life, I guess. Does it… is it—does it feel worth it? To have come back?”

“I… it’s difficult to say. Why do you ask?”

“The whales. They’re some of the biggest things to ever live on this planet, you know. But I’ve seen creatures as big as islands. I’ve see men taller than houses; people who could turn into dragons or fire, or could level mountains with a sword. I think of those wonders, and this life fades like an old photograph. I wish I could onlysee whales. As they are. Understand them entirely in their context; be in awe of them. But they seem like… afterimages.”

Crocodile looks out at the ocean, where the pod is moving away from them. A whale jumps out of the water, briefly, landing with a huge splash. It is impressive. But, of course, he has seen better.

Crocodile sighs.

“We should learn to swim.”

Doffy laughs, startled, and turns to face him.

“What?”

“You are right, that there aren’t many things which can compare to what came before. We lost… so much. But there are things we can experience, that we can build, here, that we weren’t able to have before.”

Doffy smiles slightly.

“Like learning to swim.”

“Exactly,” Crocodile says with mock solemnity.

Doffy giggles, looks back out to the ocean. The whales are almost gone.

“There is much to grieve for,” Crocodile murmurs, “But there is… freedom, too.”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

They stay there, watching the sun rise over the water.

“Come,” Crocodile orders, when the whales are well and truly gone and the sun has cleared the horizon, “Back to bed.”

“To do what?” Doffy asks, eyes lighting up hungrily.

“To sleep, you insatiable wretch. I’m exhausted, and so are you.”

“Aww, is my darling Crocodile getting too old to keep up with me?” Doffy mocks.

Crocodile rolls his eyes, beginning to walk back towards the cabin. Doffy trails behind him.

“Shut up and let’s go.”

“If you want me to be quiet, I can think of a few things we haven’t tried yet that involve my mouth and your—”

“Enough,” Crocodile turns around to find Doffy at his back, grinning unrepentantly.

“Once more,” Crocodile says, sternly, holding up a finger, “And then we are going to sleep.”

“I think what I have in mind will convince you otherwise.”

“We’ll see,” he says, descending the stairs. Privately, he thinks Doffy may win this one, though. He does have a way with his mouth.

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