Writing Exercise #1:

Prompt: Last Words

Pairing: Zosan

Type: AU

Time limit: 26 hours

A/N: Hello! So I wanted to try and get better at writing with a short period of time so I'm going to be doing a few little projects. This one I started yesterday around 8 pm and I had until 12am tonight. It's already written so I'm going to go ahead and post it.

I'm not editing these with my editor due to the fact I want it to be all skill based so what you've got here is basically a rough draft. (Hopefully I'll grow to be a better writer from this.)

With any learning experience the first few times aren't going to be good. They'll be crappy. And I understand this. Learning isn't meant to be good right at the start it's meant to be messy and unorganized. So pleeeaaseee only give me constructive criticism! I want to know what all I can fix I just want to see that in a...nice way.

So here's my first exercise.

He'd got off of work early and picked up Tony from school. Then he quickly whipped up a light dinner for the two of them and got the kindergartener ready for his graduation.

"Is daddy coming?" The small boy asked as the cook straightened his small tie.

"He said he would be." Sanji grinned at the brown haired kid who in turn grinned back. "Now get your shoes on you don't want to be late."

He grabbed his own tie off the edge of his bed and moved to the mirror as the child scampered out of the bedroom and into his own. Sanji frowned and made his tie as good as it could be and then checked his phone. Zoro hadn't responded to his text or his call. He better not be late. To miss his son's only kindergarten graduation he'd ever get was unforgivable.

He was about to call him again when he heard the front door open and Tony's excited squeals. Sanji smiled and walked back to the front room of the house and leaned against the wall as he watched Zoro lift the small boy up and give him a hug.

Tony had been Zoro's son from a previous girlfriend who dumped the kid on him and left. He'd raised Tony the best he could and had done a good job. When Sanji had came around two years ago and didn't mind that Zoro had a kid they'd started dating. Sanji loved Tony like his own and Zoro was really glad that he could have a family environment after only having Zoro for a while.

"Okay come on." Sanji walked forward and took the graduate from his boyfriend's arms. "Moss for Brains needs to get ready. We leave in thirty." He warned the green haired man.

"I'll be done in ten." Zoro said, removing his coat and hanging it on the coatrack in the hall.

"Mmhmm." The blonde hummed in response as he let the squirming child down to go play for a bit. Honestly he knew Zoro could be ready in ten he just liked messing with him. Zoro was easy to aggravate and Sanji took advantage of that.

"Cook," Sanji turned to see what he wanted. "Time me." And then he went off to put on a clean shirt and pants that Sanji would probably make him go back and change.

"You have nine minutes as of now!" He called out before moving to clean up the pan from dinner.

Around six minutes in, Sanji heard a crash coming from Tony's bedroom and he dropped what he was doing to see what had happened. "Tony are you okay?" He asked as he got to the room.

"Can't get the coat." The boy muttered as he lay on his back surrounded with things he'd stacked trying to reach his doctor's coat.

"This is why you should have asked first." The chef scolded. "If you had just asked I would have got it for you, you know."

"Can you get my coat?" Tony asked with a grin on his face. "Pllleeeeeaaaassee!"

Sanji sighed and smiled as he got down the coat for him. "Paging doctor Tony!" He said sliding the coat on his arms over his little suit.

"Not Doctor Tony!" The small doctor shook his finger at him. "I'm Doctor Chopper!" He put his hands on his hips and nodded.

Sanji laughed and ruffled his hair. "Sorry, Doctor Chopper. I must have had a momentary lapse of memory. I might even need to be checked to see if anything's wrong." Tony gasped and grabbed his plastic stethoscope and carefully listened to sanji's heart.

"You're going to be there a while if you want to find all that's wrong with him, Doctor Chopper." Zoro said from the boy's doorway. He was in a nice pair of slacks and a dress shirt and his patch of grass was tamed as well as it could be. But the tie was wrong. So very wrong.

"I beg to differ." Sanji raised his visible eyebrow. "I can see one thing wrong with you."

"Tie?" He asked with a scowl.

"Give the guy a prize." Sanji said as he stood up to fix it.

"I tried." Zoro frowned, trying to watch the way Sanji tied the fabric.

"I know." Sanji smiled, grabbing the now perfect tie and pulling down on it. He gave him a kiss and then let go. "You just do a crappy job of it."

"Eewwww." Tony laughed at the sight of his dad and Sanji kissing. To him, the sight of two adults doing anything romantic would probably give him cooties.

"Okay come on, no more time for games we need to leave. Franky and Miss Robin aren't going to be happy if you're late are they?" Sanji asked the boy who quickly removed the doctor gear and raced between their legs to the front door.

"That got him going." He grinned. "Now go. Follow your son's example. Shoo." The blonde switched off the light and pushed Zoro out the door and down the hallway to the foyer where Tony was left bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Alright buddy," Zoro said lifting him up and carrying him out the door. "Let's go see you get your diploma."

The event went as kindergarten graduations normally went. The children all lined up backstage and the teachers tried to get them to settle down and put on the cheap plastic robes. Then one by one the kids were called up to get their paper diplomas tied together with red string and shake the hands with the principal.

Sanji and Zoro stood up and cheered along with Luffy, Nami, Usopp and Brook who were friends of the small family. Coach Franky and Vice Principal Robin, also friends of the family, cheered from their places around the cafeteria.

After the ceremony, Sanji took out his camera and dragged everyone around to different places to take pictures of their little graduate. By the end of it all there were probably about 60 picture in all.

"Can I go home with Aunt Nami pleeeaassseeee!?" Tony asked the two as they all walked towards their cars.

"If it's okay with Nami it's okay with us." Zoro responded, ruffling the kidos brown hair.

"Yes!" The kid yelled before racing down the sidewalk to where the redhead waited. Sanji and Zoro waved at her before getting into their own car.

"We're kid free what should we do?" Zoro asked as he turned the key and put the car in drive.

"We could just walk around town?" Sanji suggested not exactly knowing what to do with this newfound free time. Living with Zoro and Tony for a year had him used to taking care of the child instead of doing what he wanted all the time.

"Sounds perfect, Dartbrow." Zoro grinned. And turned the car left.

"Wrong way mosshead."

"I knew that."

They'd parked at the town square and walked down Main Street hand in hand. It'd been awhile since they'd had any time alone. They talked about their jobs, the world, Tony, what trends they thought were stupid and just enjoyed themselves. They talked about the future and what their plans were for the next few years. Around 11:30 they decided it was a good time to turn around and head back to the car.

Halfway back they'd stopped at a small hole-in-the-wall shop to look at a toy in the window Tony would like. They decided to come back the next morning to get it and moved back down the sidewalk...just in time to see a car moving fast toward them.

"Shit!" With nowhere to go, Zoro pulled Sanji in close to him and turned his back to where the car was going to hit.

There was pain.

And then nothing.

Sanji woke with a splitting pain in his head. He opened his eyes slowly and was met with a blinding white light. 'The hell?' He thought looking around at the foreign room.

He was in the hospital.

Everything came flooding back to him at once. The car, the pain. 'Zoro.' He thought frantically. He'd shielded him. He'd received the full force of the car. Where was he. Where was Zoro. He needed to see him. He needed to watch him breathe, see him move watch him live. If Zoro was dead... Oh god if Zoro was dead...

No.

Zoro wasn't dead. He was fine. Absolutely fine. Zoro was strong. If anyone could survive that he could. He couldn't be dead. What would happen to Tony? The poor boy would be destroyed.

Tony...

Oh god did he know? Did any of their friends know? Who had found them? What happened to the driver?

He needed out of this hospital bed and answers.

He ripped the IV out of his arm and pushed himself up in the bed. It was at this time he became painfully aware of the cast on his right leg. Could he move with that on? He didn't care. He needed answers. He needed to see Zoro.

He slid his legs off the bed and tried to stand, falling back on the bed a few times before he mustered up the strength to stand. Ignoring the pain as much as he could, he hobbled to the door and then to the nurses station down the hall.

"Crutches." He said out of breath, leaning up against the desk.

"Sir!" One of the girls said sternly. "You are not supposed to be out of bed!"

"I don't give a shit about that I need crutches!" He yelled out. Inside he was cursing himself because he'd yelled at a woman but right now he was in pain and his boyfriend was nowhere to be found and he just wanted to see him alive.

The nurses gave each other a look before one of them went to the closet to get a pair and handed it to him. When he was situated he looked at the one who'd handed him the crutches."I need to know where Roronoa Zoro is." He said. She nodded, probably knowing there wasn't anything that would stop him and looked him up.

"He's in the ICU right now sir. Stable but still in critical condition." She frowned at him. Sanji's heart fell. ICU. Critical condition.

"Can I see him?" He asked, a numb sensation creeping up from his legs to his chest.

"I think you should go back to your room. It is one in the morning." She said honestly. "But you don't look like you want to do that so follow me." He didn't realize what time it was. So that's why no one was around. Everyone was asleep. He felt shame for a moment but decided that his actions were justifiable.

He hopped after her through a few doors and down the elevator before she stopped at a door and let him in. He hesitated before finally hopping over the invisible threshold. Suddenly he didn't want to know what Zoro looked like. But he pushed the fear down and kept moving forward.

In the bed in the middle of the room lay the marimo. His Marimo. All bandaged and hooked up to various machines. But he was breathing. And alive. And that's all Sanji had wished for as of now.

"Can I stay with him?" He asked the nurse. She nodded and pulled up a chair by the bed and helped him get situated.

"Thank you." He meant it. He was thankful that she was helping him out. She didn't have to.

"You're welcome. I'll send in his doctor when he get here in a few hours." She smiled softly at him.

"I appreciate it." And then she was gone leaving him alone with his bandaged moss ball. He reached forward and grabbed his hand and intertwined his fingers with Zoro's. "Be okay." He whispered, looking at his hand in his own. "Be okay for Tony. Be okay for yourself. Be okay for me. Just please, please, please, please be okay." By now tears were spilling over his eyelids and crashing into the cold tile hospital floor. The morphine, which he'd torn out of his arm, was wearing off and he could feel the pain from his leg intensifying. But the pain of seeing his best friend, his marimo, his boyfriend, in critical condition hurt worse. Why wasn't it him that was laying in the hospital bed? Why did Zoro have to be the hero and shield him?

A few days pased and Sanji still sat by his side. Doctor Trafalgar Law had come in a few times and talked to Sanji about his condition. He took the blunt force from it and it caused massive internal bleeding. They'd done all they could to make him stable but there was nothing they could do until he woke up.

Ace, Luffy's older brother, had also come in to talk to Sanji. He was a cop and when he'd heard that Sanji and Zoro had been in a hit and run he took the case. As of now no one knew who did it. A shop employee who was locking up across the street saw it happen and called 911 but was too concerned about the couple to pay attention to the car.

Luffy himself had been up too. Along with him were all his friends and Tony who looked like he'd been crying his eyes out for eight days. When he saw Sanji he ran straight into his arms and sobbed into his chest. Sanji sat and held him, rocking slightly back and forth and muttering soft calming words to him. He refused to let go of Sanji the whole time, sitting on the leg that wasn't in the cast. It wasn't until Doctor Trafalgar caught his attention with medical lingo he didn't know that he spoke. The doctor took to greeting him as Doctor Chopper whenever he walked into the room.

On the fifth day Sanji sat holding his hand and hoping to whatever deity existed that Zoro would be okay when his hand moved. Sanji's head shot up and stared at Zoro and watched, holding his breath, as his eyelids fluttered open.

"I feel like shit." His raspy voice said and Sanji started crying. He was okay. His Marimo was okay. He was breathing and talking and okay.

"Well of course you do, mosshead." Sanji breathed out, wiping away tears. "You took a hit from a car you aren't going to feel like you just slept on the correct sleep number."

Zoro's head turned to Sanji in confusion and something in the way Zoro looked at him made the blonde's blood run cold.

"Who..." He started before going into a coughing fit. "Who are you?"

Sanji couldn't say anything for a moment. Zoro didn't remember him. Instead of saying anything to Zoro, who now help his hand to his head in pain from a headache, he made his way to the hall and called for a nurse. She nodded at him and help up a finger to tell him just a moment.

Zoro didn't remember him. And she was giving him a moment. Unacceptable. He was glad he was okay. God was he glad he was okay. But he didn't remember him. Did he remember his son? His job? Anything?

But before he could get any of these questions asked the heart monitor Zoro was hooked up to started beeping rapidly. Sanji hopped back into the room, heart racing in time with the monitor.

Zoro was clutching his head in pain with one hand and his chest with another. His eyes were shut and he wasn't taking in any breaths.

"NURSE!" Sanji shouted can ditching his crutches and launching himself at Zoro's bed. "HELP!" He didn't know what to do. He couldn't help him. Zoro was in pain and he couldn't help him.

The heart monitor raced faster and faster and Sanji felt more and more useless. Nurses ran in and pushed him back to try and fix whatever was wrong.

And something was wrong.

The nurse who'd helped him find the room grabbed his arms guiding him out the door. "I'm sorry but we need you to wait in the hall." Tears ran down his face and he stood numbly facing the door.

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Zoro. Oh god Zoro.

"Sanji!" A voice shook him from his spiraling thoughts. Turning he found Nami, Robin and Franky all looking at him with concern. Tony sat on Franky's shoulders wearing his doctor's coat. At the sight of Sanji Robin motioned for Franky to take Tony out of there. "Why is Sanji crying, Franky?" He heard the boy say as the coach quickly walked down another hall towards the waiting room.

Nami immediately pulled the blonde into her arms trying to comfort him as much as possible but he didn't feel her. His arms stayed at his sides tears still flowing freely down his face. His eyes flew back to the closed door, waiting for anything.

"Sanji tell us what happened." Robin asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"He woke up. He woke up and then he started coughing. He...he...I don't know what happened...one moment he was fine and awake...and the next...the next..." He started shaking, his breathing getting faster. "His heart rate...rapidly...clutched his chest...he..." Sanji looked hopelessly at the vice principal, vision clouded by the tears that he couldn't stop.

"It's okay Sanji." Nami said, tightening her hug. "It's okay just calm down. But it wasn't okay. It wasn't. Zoro wasn't okay.

"He...he didn't...remember..me." He choked out. His boyfriend didn't remember him. The man he loved couldn't remember him. He wasn't okay and he didn't remember him.

"Oh, Sanji..." Nami pursed her lips, tears filling her eyes now. "I'm so sorry..." Robin clenched her fists and but down on the inside of her lip. She felt for the blonde. For all he's been through. If Franky was in the position Zoro was...

"It's was the last thing he said to me." He muttered in a shaky voice. "He asked me who I was...I didn't say anything back...I didn't tell him I loved him...I need to...I need to talk to him-" and then the door opened. The friendly nurse walked out looking everywhere but at Sanji. Sanji listened for any sign of life. Anything that told him Zoro would be okay. He'd deal with the amnesia. He'd deal with anything. He just wanted him. He wanted to hold him, to tell him he loved him, to see all their future plans come true.

All he heard was a flat line. And Doctor Trafalgar. "Time of death...4:36pm."

And the future shattered to pieces.