Warning!
This fic contains descriptions of violence and gore. I am not at all squeamish, so I have no gauge to tell you whether this is actually gruesome or not. I'd say it's not, I laughed when I read over this, but only you guys can be the real judge of that. I am rating it as M because it probably should be.
This chapter can simply be a stand alone one shot, but I have an idea to turn it into a multi-chapter fic'! :D
This fic is definitely going to be more horror than shippy, so there you go, I have warned you.
I had this idea back in April and it was a LawNa fic, then KidLaw started to sound like a really good idea for it and the possible plot took two different directions. I have now decided to mix both together (leaving out KidLaw, except for platonic stuff). So this fic will be Law x Nami, and will have Sabo, Koala, and a lot of other character in it too.
And I know I posted this recently, but I had to delete it because I felt bad for the people who were following it for KidLaw, because its not that ship anymore.
I still kind of have writers block.
I hope you enjoy this little bit of horror ...
Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece and all of its amazing characters.
The Fall of Flevance.
Day Two: 21st September.
The heavens opened up, cleansing the streets below which had been mercilessly sullied in the night's events. It was as if the City itself had given the order, Flevance was certainly conceited enough to believe it held the power to command the rains to fall.
It was known as the White City, not simply for the pale aesthetics of its architecture, but for its riches and brilliance. Flevance had a significant population, and was far more technologically and medically advanced than any other city in the Northern World. It was meant to lead the way to a better and brighter future for everyone, at a price of course, but despite the efforts of its people their futures were short, and the future itself was much darker than anyone could have ever foreseen. Flevance, the White City, was sure to keep its moniker because of the bloodless skin tone to the mindless residents which now roam its streets.
Like a smoke signal curling into the clouds, currents of crimson flowed with the falling rain water, flooding the pallid street's gutters, and rushing along the conduits to the nearest grid. It was a symbolic and vivid depiction of exactly where the lives of the people, and the city itself were now so very quickly headed; down the drain.
Everything had happened so quickly it was hard to find one's bearings, or perhaps it was the double shift that Trafalgar Law had pulled in the A&E department of the Flevance General Hospital that was slowing his mind. His day had started out quite normal, but soon turned hectic with an aberrant amount of accidents occurring, and an inordinate number of presumed drunks and drug abusers being admitted yesterday. He never thought that that was the first hint to the chaos that would soon overrun the city.
He didn't know what to do anymore. No where seemed safe. Someone had stolen his car from the hospital garage so Law was forced to take a dangerous route and leave on foot. Down every street he'd ran and around every corner he had turned, someone was being brutally attacked. And though it did not sit right with the doctor in him, Law didn't try to help any of them. He didn't have time, he'd had other priorities; Lami, and getting her far away.
Though, they didn't get all that far.
With his back flat to the marble façade of the office block behind him, Law sank to the curb with a heavy heart. It was as though the very gravity of what had just transpired around him had gripped him by the organ in his chest, and painfully dragged him to the ground by it.
He had observed some macabre sights in his time. Through completing his residency and now pursuing a fellowship in cardiology, Law had always been surrounded by death and disease. But, none of his training, nothing he had ever seen before could have prepared him for the incident that took place just moments ago. It was by far the most terrifying and scarring thing he had ever witnessed.
Why did she turn on me like that? How could my own sister attack me? He thought as he stared at the bloodstained scalpel in his hand, the one he had just buried in her heart moments ago, instinctively removing it straight away for a quick exsanguination.
Her lifeless form lay before his feet. Her glazed, unseeing eyes staring up at him. He couldn't bare to look at her, he wasn't able to accept what he had done. I killed her. His mind repeated as his eyes fixed on stream of red pouring from her chest, and spilling all over his white shoes.
Law almost felt he could still hear Lami merrily calling his name, begging him to take her to the fair, the way she had done so many times during their youth. Lami would always disturb his medical studies, always ready to play and eager to enjoy life. Now, Law watched as the remainder of her life force streamed out of her and into the sewer, along with everyone else's.
He remembered her warm smile, and her happy melanic eyes. That was what hurt the most when he had turned to Lami to see what the matter was. Her olive skin had blanched, and Law knew in that moment that a smile would never again appear on her cracked, grey lips. He had tried to push her away, but Lami clung to him as desperately as she had as a child. She no longer knew who he was though, there was not an ounce of recognition in her vacant and dull eyes, only wild hunger shone through her cloudy cataracts. Nothing of his baby sister remained in the creature that ensnared his arm, and was viciously snapping its teeth at him.
At least I know they're not vampires. Law thought to himself as he glimpsed the silver crucifix that was hanging from a small chain around Lami's neck. If the legends were true then Vampirism was supposed to be contracted through a hunter biting its prey, and Lami was bitten. But crosses were also meant to be an apotropaic to them, so surely she would have reacted to it if that was what she had become.
Law scoffed to himself then, shaking his head as he found small amusement in the fact that he wouldn't have to rely on God for aid in the hell that had arisen around him. He didn't believe in a god, not anymore. Not after this. Law already had one cross to bare, and he was grateful that he wouldn't have to carry another one around with him.
His gaze then moved to the wound on her arm, the spot where she was bitten. It looked far worse to him than it was, deeper too, as the pair of them had tried to flense the infection from her, almost baring her bone. Within a few hours her skin grew feverish, and her epidermis started to blister. Law had still not lost hope for Lami at that point, but it had become imperative that he flee from the infested hospital before it was too late, and he refused to leave her behind.
Tears stung Law's eyes and a his throat felt tight, like his Adam's Apple had just tripled in size. He swallowed repeatedly, but no matter how many times he did, he couldn't seem to get rid of that damn lump. He wished then that he had made more time for Lami. He loved her terribly, so aspiring to be a great surgeon didn't feel like a good enough excuse for why he'd ignored his little sister's pleas for his company more often than not. All the studying he'd done certainly wasn't going to get him very far in life, not now anyway.
Then, the contrary began to nag at him; if he had spent less time with her in his youth and worked harder, would he have been a skilled enough doctor to have known how to treat her? If Law had sacrificed the relationship he had with Lami, if he had loved her less, then he might have been able to save her. And if he couldn't have saved her life, then at least the loss of her wouldn't feel so great.
Like a clawed fist closing around his heart, pain gripped him again. He managed to keep what should have been a loud wail to an almost silent, momentary sob. Law hated his torturous conscience and his train of thought, so he cast his eyes down the street in the hope of finding something else to occupy his mind. However, no matter where he looked he couldn't escape the nightmare of his reality.
The smell of blood stained the air, it was so thick he could almost taste it. He could hear the wet sound of footsteps traipsing through the blood and rain from the shambling corpses nearby, and the muffled screams of distant victims falling prey to the undead. Everywhere Law looked he could see someone being eaten, or the remains of a mangled carcass that he knew was soon to rise.
A dark haired man was lying on the ground not too far away from him. The small of his back was arched over the curb, his legs stretched out into the road. A young woman was crouching over him, ripping the flesh from his bones in a frenzied feast, devouring every morsel that she tore from his body, then sucking her fingers dry in an insatiable bloodlust. Law watched until she ripped out the man's throat. The sight of bloodied gristle and bone didn't bother him at all, it was the morbid thought that was circling his mind that made him look away. That could have been Lami. That could have been me. He thought as his eyes found their way to the tip of the man's shoes. He watched as they moved from side to side as the man's foot rocked on his heel, his body jolting with every bite that the undead woman took out of him.
The wind picked up and the rain seemed to become heavier then, the downpour creating the perfect ambiance for the thoughts which then began to run through Law's mind. The atmosphere was chilling to the bone, and melancholic enough to compliment the guilt that he felt for putting an end to Lami.
I am still alive.
The notion made him feel numb. It was a cloudy realisation, and one which took its time filling his mind, allowing white noise and disbelief to muscle in. Not for long. His mind whispered to him. What good would it do to prolong the inevitable? Everyone else was dead, so for just how long did he expect to survive with the entire city as his enemy. He had just narrowly escaped death by the hands of Lami, and through the close quarters of their scuffle Law was convinced that death would creep up on him soon enough anyway.
He wanted to give up. It was an easy way to silence his conscience. As he began to contemplate what his future might hold if he didn't give in, his thoughts were interrupted by a soft moan that sounded near his feet. He quickly looked to Lami, feeling his chest tighten as she stirred to life again. She reached towards his legs, slowly flexing her jaw with a breathy groan of hunger.
Law pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his left arm around them to keep them out her reach. "Lami?" He futilely called to her, hoping she would respond, but knowing full well that she was already gone.
She replied with a gargled groan, and started to drag herself along the pavement to get closer to her meal; him.
Law remained frozen in place, riddled with guilt and disgust. He watched as the ashen skin on his baby sister's fingertips fell away as she raked them across the ground, clawing ever closer, her dull, lifeless eyes fixed on him. She's not your fucking sister anymore! He internally screamed, trying to shock himself out of his petrified state, to flee or attack, to do something other than watch the line of drool fall from her fissured lips and land on his thigh.
With a deep breath he lifted both his arms. Lami turned her head to bite him as his left hand found her right shoulder, and with a quick jab, and a spray of red, Law buried the scalpel in his other hand right through her left eye. He heard a snap as the sphenoid bone behind her eye cracked, and the scalpel went straight into her brain, killing her instantly.
I'm sorry, Lami. He sobbed as he guided her to the ground, ensuring that she didn't collapse on top of him.
He stared at her for a moment, his pulse thundering in his ears, and his heart pounding in his chest; like an internal clock reminding him that despite it all he was still ticking. But for how long? He wondered again, clutching at his scrubs over his sternum. He knew his future now couldn't possibly be defined as living, not the way he would describe it, at least. Struggling may be one way to say it, surviving another, but not living.
Is anyone else still alive? He wondered, then slowly reached inside his pocket for his cell phone, hoping to see at least one reply to a message he had sent out earlier.
No text, no email. Nothing.
He had been awake for almost twenty four hours now and felt sufficiently wired. Law unlocked his screen to check that he had actually sent the mass message to his friends and family. It had been on his mind so much that he was unsure as to whether or not he had imagined sending it.
'Mom, Dad, & 3 more …' The message showed were the addressees. He hoped that in all the chaos the networks had simply become jammed, and that was the reason he had not received a message of any kind.
Law cast his head back to allow the rain to fall on his face, to hopefully help clear his mind a little and wash away his guilt. He truly wasn't sure if he should be mourning or rejoicing in the fact that he was still alive. He had just killed his sister, twice. The first time by not being able to cure her, and the second by ensuring she didn't come back again. He was saturated and alone, in a broken city surrounded by the dead; he felt helpless and forsaken.
Am I the only one? He asked as he slowly opened his eyes to stare at the clouds above.
A disgusting feeling crept over him then as the rain trickled down his face. He somehow felt like the heavens were raining down on him, trying to fill him with a sense of hope, or blessing his victory in a grotesque survival game of theirs. It sickened him to think that someone may have done this to the people of Flevance, that someone or something might be watching all that was occurring.
How could turning Flevance into a slaughterhouse be a source of entertainment?
He wasn't asking God, he didn't believe in a God, not anymore at least. How could he after all he had just witnessed, after all he'd had to do? And if a deity of any sort did exist, then Law utterly hated them. Surely a God would not allow such a thing to pass. How could God let man turn on man, or family turn upon family? Why would they allow such an abomination to rise and devour mankind? Unless … Law thought, remembering something he had learnt in Bible studies, what if this heavy downpour has been sent to drown these zombies, just as God sent a great deluge to rid the world of the Nephilim who also ate humans?
Law began to laugh manically at himself then. I must be more tired than I thought if I'm this delusional!
However hysterical he found his state of mind, Law quickly silenced his laughter. He did not want to draw any attention his way, though it seemed that the nearby zombie was still too busy feeding to pay him any mind.
The only sort of 'gods' Law believed in these days were a powerful handful of men within Flevance who believed themselves to be so high and mighty. Donquixote Doflamingo was one such man, lifting the status of those who worshipped him, and utterly destroying the ones who opposed him. As the owner of half of the businesses within the city, Donquixote Doflamingo's standing and influence was unmatched, even by the major.
The prestigious Flevance General Hospital was also one of his enterprises. Law's father was the chief of medicine there, so Law had had the honour of meeting Doflamingo on more than one occasion. It seemed that he'd instantly gained the man's favour, and Doflamingo seemed to take a peculiar interest in his work. Law, didn't really know the man so he couldn't be sure, but was certain that the current fellowship he'd been awarded was Donquixote's doing.
Law had climbed the ranks of FGH quite quickly, and before hell broke out in the city, he had relished in the idea that just like Donquixote Doflamingo, he was almost a god too. The God of Death; essentially deciding who could live or die with the surgical abilities he now possessed. Though, within less than twenty four hours he had grown weary of that idea, and was angered by it.
He was no god, and neither was Doflamingo. There was nothing to stop death from claiming either of them, just as it had claimed everyone else, then reincarnated them into some kind of flesh eating monster. He was a mortal man and couldn't stop that process. Childishly, Law no longer wished to be associated with his previous belief about himself being the God of Death.
Unless ... he smiled sadistically as his resolve changed. I can still decide who dies absolutely.
Law looked to Lami's ghastly face. With a wet pop he removed his scalpel that was protruding from her left eye. "I'm probably going to need this." He said apathetically, but smiled ruefully at her. He knew this would be the last time that he ever saw Lami. Well, he certainly hoped it would be.
Law carefully picked himself up off the ground, then checked his skin to make sure Lami hadn't put a scratch on him. All good. He told himself, and his hateful gaze turned to the woman feeding on the dark haired man not too far away. He looked out into the street then, quickly checking that it was free from any other zombies that might be heading his way. Deciding that it was clear, he crept up as quietly as possible through the rain water, then waited behind the feeding zombie for the right moment to strike.
She took a bite from her meal, and Law could see a ribbon of flesh dangling down from the side of her mouth. As she pulled back to devour it, Law pushed his scalpel past her hair, through her grey skin, right at the top of her spine to penetrate her brain stem. She instantly became still, then fell forward, sliding off his weapon with ease and landing with a wet thud on top of her victim.
Strangely, Law felt nothing as he ended her. No remorse, no satisfaction, nothing. Even after remembering how he had thought that she could have been Lami, even then he was unmoved, and his anger did not falter.
I'll kill them all. His voice echoed in his mind, and as it did drove his scalpel through the dark haired man's throat at an angle, ensuring that he hit his brain stem. "Surely you can't come back from that." He said as he stepped away, still feeling nothing.
Law cleaned the blade on the back of the woman's jacket, then turned his attention back to the surrounding street. His heart still lacked any real sense of purpose. It was filled with enmity, but at least it wasn't empty.
He felt a little determined now. He would survive this hell. He definitely would. He'd find a way out of the city, taking down as many of them as he could. And if he couldn't get out, then Law hoped that Death himself would take him, before anything else could.
Okay, so I know it maybe feels a bit short, but I had to leave it this way in order for it to be a one shot. It has to be a scene setter, and I didn't want to bore people with too much gore. I feel I have built it enough for you guys to see the direction it might take if I continued it.
I would really love to know what people think. This is my first time writing anything like this, so I don't know if it has potential. You tell me.
I'm setting this to complete for now ...