the blackness that caresses the heart- part 2

"And that's how I lost my fifth girl friend." He said musing. Zoro sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, something he's been doing a lot in the past few hours; seeing how it was the only thing to do other than listen to this guy and his rants. "Then, this one time my friend got into this fight and—"

"Listen…Kenton was it?" Zoro sighed deeply into the palm of his hand. "As exciting as all this is I was just curious as to when you might be done." Kenton continued on as if he said nothing.

"Did I ever tell you that I'm related to someone famous?"

"No…can you please—"

"Yes, a pirate known as Brook."

"As interesting as—wait…what did you say?" Zoro didn't even breathe as he waited for a reply.

"Huh, what,"

"Kenton, what did you just say?"

"Brook,"

"Yes, that!" Zoro practically jumped up from his spot against the wall. Kenton jumped away from him, almost knocking the candle over with the tip of his foot. Raising his hands above his face for protection he said, "What, what…don't kill me just because of that…"

"Eh—sorry," Zoro calmed himself and sat back down, replacing his hand back onto his throbbing side.

"What's up with you; have a grudge against pirates or something?" Kenton straighten himself up and pushed his back hair out of his eyes.

"No, nothing like that…Just forget it…" He sighed. Kenton moved his gaze to the candle and watched the dwarf flame flickered whenever a breeze managed its way inside their little room. Then, without much warning, he randomly plucked the wax up from the ground and shoved it just inches in front of Zoro's face.

"Jeez, what's your problem?" Zoro recoiled from the candle; Kenton was too in shock to reply.

"Y-You're…You're him…" He mumbled with eyes as wide as baseballs. "That guy…The one who took on all of those Red Snake members…The Slasher!" He exclaimed accidently dropping the candle onto the ground where it surprisingly landed safely on its base.

"Someone's slow…"

"No…I—I just…" He bit his tongue in the middle of his sentence. "I just couldn't see you all that well in the dim light…" He finally got out.

"Mmmhmm," Zoro nodded. "Sure…" He opened his eyes and stared at Kenton intently. "I expect you know what's going to happen if you tell." The teen had a shiver go up his spine and his eyes warily glanced at Zoro's katanas which were resting against the wall.

"O-Of course; why would I tell…?" He tried to smile through his fear. "As long as you don't tell anyone I'm related to Brook; pirates aren't well liked in this city, even if they are just our ancestors."

"I won't say anything." Zoro said sternly. Then, as Kenton started to fiddle around with a stylish, metal ring on his finger, Zoro decided that it was his turn to figure out who he was really talking to. He reached down and picked up the candle, holding it in front of Kenton's face with slightly less abruptness.

Kenton blinked a few times, his eyes were a dark, navy blue resting underneath strands of thick, black hair. He had pale skin which reflected the dim light in a way where it seemed like he was glowing. Kenton's finger nails were painted black, matching much of his black attire consisting of: a slightly torn, black T; baggy, grey jeans with a loose belt around the middle; and military-like boots which were covered in a thin layer of now crusted mud.

With the back of his hand he wiped some of the strands of hair out of his face, but afterwards they just returned back to their original position over his eyes.

"Gorgeous, huh," He laughed. Zoro smirked and put the candle back down. "So, Mr. Slasher,"

"Zoro,"

"Huh,"

"My real name's Roronoa Zoro."

"Oh, okay…quiet a medieval name you got there, Zoro."

"You don't know the half of it." He sighed.

"Well, Zoro, were you running from the cops or something like that?"

"'Cops'?"

"Law-enforcers…" Kenton corrected himself with attitude.

"Oh, no; not really. You see I live with these other two people and I guess you can say we had a fight." Kenton nodded in total agreement.

"Yeah, roomies can be a pain like that."

"Well, actually, now that I look back at it I don't really see what the big deal was. It was mostly my fault and at the time I wanted to kill something but…now…"

"Is that how you killed the Red Snake members?"

"That was a complete misunderstanding." Zoro fixed. "But anyway…"

"Do you want to go back now?"

"What,"

"Back to your friends; now that the argument doesn't seem like a big deal I'm sure they wouldn't mind." He shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I'm just not sure what I want to do really."

"Get over it; move on." He answered bluntly. "Arguments are nothing but words lashed out at one another."

"I guess…" Zoro wondered if he could even get over the fact that Mia was related to Vegapunk, the man whose creation brought him here; that she was recreating the Pacifista and—

"Oi, Zoro look." Kenton jumped up from his spot on the ground and ran over to the open door. "The rain, it's finally stopped!" Like a child waking up on Christmas morning. Zoro looked outside at the still air, but was too deep in his thoughts to get worked up over it.

Kenton leapt outside and started splashing his feet in some of the puddles. Throwing his hands into the air he said, "I love the smell of everything after it rains!"

"Mmmm," Zoro stood up with a grunt and slid his katanas back onto his hip; walking outside after taking the sphere HoverBoard out of his pocket.

"Hmm, what's that?" Kenton looked at the sphere curiously.

"My HoverBoard," Zoro said proudly; he pressed the button and showed Kenton how advanced it was, folding out into the actually shape.

"That's amazing; how'd did you get it to do that?" The teen jumped up and with overwhelming excitement.

"Uh—one of my friends made it for me." The board dropped to the ground and Zoro stepped onto it, arranging his feet correctly.

"Wait, does this mean you're leaving?" He looked almost disappointed. "You may be the Slasher but I never said I didn't enjoy talking to you; what about your wound too, can you fly with that?"

"I'll manage; besides, I never said I was leaving because of you." Zoro started to hover in place, the blue energy gently pushing him slightly higher and higher.

"A-Are you going back to your friends,"

"Depends,"

"Maybe we'll see each other again."

"Depends,"

"I'll be watching you on the news!" He exclaimed, waving goodbye.

"Yeah, see ya." Zoro turned to fly off when a thought came to him. "Wait, Kenton,"

"Huh,"

"Are; can you play like a million instruments?"

"How'd you know?" Kenton smiled with a laugh.

"Just a lucky guess," Zoro grinned to his self and took off without another word.

Kenton watched when a great burst of blue-tinted wind shot out from underneath the man's board and in less than a second sent his flying away into the brisk night of the city. He stood there, silent and still for a moment before kicking at a stone in front of his foot. This city sure has its ways of making everyday interesting… He thought before a swarm of footsteps came rampaging up behind him, he turned to face the other entrance to the alley and saw a group of thugs glaring at him, each with their own switchblade in hand.

"We heard you were like a cat with nine lives." One said; gruff and slurred with alcohol.

"Well, technically—"

"We wanted to see if that was true." Another laughed, holding the blade just right so the moon's light glistened off it. Kenton took a step away but showed no sign of fear.

"Pirate blood's black, isn't it?"

"Maybe you should go back to biology class and check." Kenton took another step away, yet keeping his voice calm and collected. "There're plenty of other people in this city who have pirate ancestors, many whose ancestors are from the Straw Hat crew; you don't always have to pick on me."

"Yeah, but they'd all die right away, unlike you." These were their last words before the small mob charged at him. Kenton took off into an immediate sprint down the sidewalk of the deserted Area 0-0. The men behind him screaming and cursing for him to slow down and face it like a man, but who would be stupid enough to actually listen to them.

After running for few blocks Kenton was sure that he had the upper hand when it came to speed, but those guys were persistent. Ugh—maybe I should've made Zoro stay, just a few seconds longer… He moaned with exhaustion.

"Get back here you worm!"

"I-I'm friends with the Slasher now; it be best if you don't hurt me or I'll send him after you like a mad dog!" Kenton called back to them.

"Yeah right pussy; come on!" Kenton moaned some more and continued running; at least he was in shape, seeing how this happened practically every night.

flying through the city…

Unlike before, flying now after the storm was much more feasible and relaxing. The sky was perfectly clear and stars were shinning in an array of lights above his head; the air was brisk and that kind of acted like an ice back for his throbbing side. He didn't have to pay much attention to anything, though the occasional passing HoverCar did make his heart flutter slightly; one was bad, but getting hit twice in the same night would just be—pathetic. The only bad thing was that he had no freaking idea where he was. Why must this city be so confusing?

Then again, did he even want to return to their place? He still wasn't sure of that. Zoro just continued to fly around in circles, or squares, or triangles—whichever way he was going he continued to do so. Turning curves so tightly that if he wanted to he could reach out and graze a skyscraper with his fingers. He watched his reflection in the windows zoom by next to him like a whole other person. It was only when he looked at it did he remember that it was his self.

Even in the dark of midnight the city and buildings were still silver, they glistened in the moon's soft glow; always, constantly—silver. But then, soon after turning around an average sized building, Zoro came to something he has not seen before, or at least he's not seen it in the city before. He came to a dead halt, hovering just and few feet from the metal. There in front of him was a legit, melanoid building. It shouldn't have fascinated him as much as it did, but there was something about it that seemed so different from the rest of the skyscrapers.

And it wasn't just that fact that its metal and frame were made of ink colored steel; the moon still reflected off of it making it seem glossed and sleek. Zoro moved a little closer to inspect it. He reached out and placed a tentative hand on the glass, which was also tinted black. Sure, he looked normal in it, nothing wrong here. Although, when touching the glass he could tell that it was extremely cold—below freezing if he had to guess. It wouldn't be surprising if frost started to appear on his finger, but just to be safe he took it off anyway.

Still floating there, he looked down then up at the building. Okay, stretched down to Area 0-0, all normal. Windows went both ways. The building ended at the top in a point with a long antenna stretching up another ten feet. Zoro put a finger to his chin. It was all really starting to irk him. However, he had to pause in his thoughts when he saw that the antenna on the top was started to spark and glow. The sound of crackling slowly reached his ears and he floated away from the building, just enough so he could get a good look at it.

As more, what looked like blue electricity, started to collect at the apex of the building the glow intensified and Zoro had to shield his eyes with his arm if he wanted to still stare at it. But then, suddenly, a pulsating wave was shot out in all directions, bending around the black building with facility. The shockwave came at it so quickly that he had no time to react and it hit him—or went through him, actually.

As it passed through him it terminated all thoughts; he could hear nothing but a low moan; he felt as if his heart stopped and breathing was ceased. It also kept him from emitting any energy and he fell off his board. However, the HoverBoard had a safety system so it was able to float for a few more seconds before it too fell.

Holding on for dear life, Zoro tried to muster up any remained energy left and pull himself back up when a second shockwave came and smacked into him again. Grunting, he gripped the board to his chest and waited till everything died down and the pulses ceased. By now the HoverBoard was beginning to fall and he had to get on as quickly as possible.

Once he managed that he didn't care how much it was, he just let out all remained energy that was storied inside of him and bombarded away from the dark building. Making a metal note to himself, dark skyscraper = bad, he kept going in one direction 'away' and never looked back.

somewhere he wasn't sure he wanted to be…

Okay, so they already fixed the sliding door—what does that mean? Zoro stared at the glass door he broke just a few hours before. One Mia's robots probably repaired it. He reached for the handle but was unsure if he wanted to enter. The living room was bright with all of the lights on, but he couldn't see anyone inside. Should I… He garbed the handle with his hand but couldn't go any further. Do I want to? He took a deep breath and tried as hard as he could to open the door but he couldn't. "Ugh…" He stomped his feet on the patio like a child. "Why can't I make up my mind?"

alone in edward's room…

Alone in his room, Edward lay, sprawled out in his bed; he didn't even bother to take his lab coat off or get under the covers. His hair was a mess from the stressful day; his head thankful for the pillow it rested on. He sighed and stared up at the white ceiling with glazed eyes—exhausted yet unable to sleep.

The storm had stopped outside. He languidly turned his head to its side so he could see the time: 12:39. With another sigh he returned his gaze to the ceiling. After Zoro had left Mia immediately ran off to her room and he wasn't stupid enough to follow. So after bringing their groceries down to the kitchen he attempted to make some dinner for himself, but he couldn't eat and only sat there staring at a plate of something for maybe two hours.

Edward was too worried for Zoro's safety. Mia had gone too far, but she also didn't know that Zoro was a pirate. Edward wasn't positive himself but he had his right to assume, especially after how swordsman had reacted.

So…Here I am… He rolled over onto his side and just stayed there. He was about to attempt sleep once again when something began to burn—his back to be specific. It happened often whenever he'd get emotional or worried; he'd get the pungent sensation of flames being spread across his back like butter on bread.

The first thing he did was: rip off his lab coat, actually ripping it in the process, and threw it to the ground, caring less where it landed. Useless—next he took off his black T; that landed on top of the lab coat. Tears now welled at the corners of his eyes, like always. Edward then ran out of his room and into the bathroom right next door. Even with his pants still on he jumped into the shower and turned the cold all the way.

Within a moment he was lavished with the freezing water and he finally broke out into sobs. As the cool liquid washed over him, numbing the old wounds and scars on his back; the tears eventually fell, rolling down his cheeks with the water. Edward's shoulders heaved up and down with the unbearable pain—he had to lean with his head against the wall or else he would've fallen to the ground by now.

Blood from the old wounds began to seep from their place beneath the scared skin. Rolling down his well toned back the crimson moved slowly until joining the clear water down the drain. This always happens… He thought between sobs. Whenever I get scared or depressed…The memories from back then just come flooding back—the pain from that time… His breathing started to slow and he was soon rid of enough pain where he could open his eyes. Always…When will I be rid of this past…? He brushed a quivering hand over the scars on his back. I guess…Never…

Edward was now sitting, waiting for relatively most of the pain to fade. At least the blood's stopped. He lifted his head out from his curled in legs and reached for 'Cold' knob when he swore he heard a door opening upstairs. He froze and tried to listen over the sound of the running water. The wind? He turned the water off and used the wall to push his self up without taking his eyes off of the ceiling; ears as keen as could be. Zoro…Maybe…Okay, that's probably pushing it. He stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel hanging on one of the hooks. He started dabbing his hair and torso with it, quietly; however, he was still listening upstairs.

Walking out of the bathroom his completely soaked pants left a trail of water behind him as he once again entered his bedroom. Forgetting about the noise he had heard upstairs he swiftly changed pants and underwear and collapsed onto the bed—literally falling asleep in less than ten seconds. Too bad for whoever was looking for him upstairs.

alone in mia's room…

Rigorously stacking the rest of the blueprints into one pile Mia abruptly pushed away from her orderly desk. With one last glance at the finished Pacifista blueprints she turned and stared pacing around her room; hands behind her back.

After her argument with Zoro she stormed right up here and stared furiously finishing up the designs and finished in what could be record timing. So she had one less thing to worry about, but then there was still the bigger issue of Zoro to worry about.

Mia stopped and stared at the floor. She never wanted him to leave; it was his fault anyway. If that idiot kept his mouth shut and didn't lash out at her—but now it doesn't matter he's probably caught by law-enforcers by now, or got into an accident or something…

She started to fiddle with her fingers nervously. She never wanted him to get hurt either—what's so wrong with being related to Vegapunk anyway. He was a genius in Zoro's time unless Zoro was a pirate then he'd hate the man and the odds of Zoro being a pirate were… The physicist did the calculations in her head and ended up slapping herself for her stupidity. No one he got so upset at what I said.

"They plundered from the poor; picked on the weak; all of them disserved to die! My Great [ect] Grandfather helped as much as he could; exterminating their breed!"

"For a genius in physics I'm retarded when it comes to social skills." She mumbled; her feet grew heavy with guilt. But then, she heard something downstairs. Mia's heart skipped a beat and she jumped a little. Burglar? No, that's just stupid. It-It was probably just the wind. Her mind began to race not matter what she told herself. Then she heard some more sounds and couldn't help but move closer to her door. Z-Zoro, is that even possible?

She waited, with her hand hovering over the doorknob until all of the scurrying downstairs halted. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and ran for the stairs. Making sure to be absolutely silent when going down them she reached the living room and found herself staring wide-eyed at the couch.

"M-Making us worry for nothing; that idiot; I'll be sure to kill him when the time's right." Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance. Clenching her fists she took a deep breath and exhaled. Apologize first. Quietly, she walked up to the couch and looked over the back of it down at the swordsman who was sprawled out with his head nestled in the crock of his arm.

Glancing, then ignoring the blood on his shirt Mia said, "Um—listen Zoro," He moaned something. "I just…I had no idea that you were actually a pirate and…well…I don't normally do this but I just want to say," She looked at him, but he was silent. "I just want to say that I sorry." She finally blurted. He made no response and Mia's face grew insanely red. "Eh—" She cleared her throat. H-How made is he? She eyed him up nervously. Can't he just say something already? What's with the silent treatment? "Zoro…" She tapped and pulled on his shoulder, forcing his head to roll her way—only to reveal his sleeping, snoring face.

Mia started flailing and screaming in anger. "A-ARE YOU SERIOUS," Zoro jerked away.

"Huh,"

"YOU WERE ASLEEP THIS WHOLE TIME…WHILE I WAS APOLOGIZING!" She motioned to herself dramatically.

"What's up," Zoro rubbed scratched the back of his head and yawned. Mia seethed and hissed through clenched teeth.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! WHEN A LADY SUCH AS MYSELF TAKES HER TIME TO APOLOGIZE TO A BLOCKHEAD LIKE YOU, DON'T GO AND FALL ASLEEP ON THEM!"

"Hey, Mia," Zoro gave her a small wave but cringed when she lashed out again.

"AGH—IDIOT; IMBOCILE; MUSCLE-HEAD FREAK; DUNDERHEAD!" She turned and stomped back towards the stairs.

"Okay, goodnight Mia." Zoro gave her another wave, completely oblivious to her obvious anger. (Partly because he was waken up from sleep and was still slightly delusional).

"Welcome back…" She grumbled before running up the stairs. Zoro watched her until she was gone and then plopped back down onto the couch. Snuggling his face back into his arm he immediately fell back asleep and reentered his dream.

He was on a rock-like platform in the middle of ocean; there was a storm raging over head and waves constantly snapped at his ankles like ravenous dogs. He had his swords out and was having a friendly spare with Brook; next to them was Kenton or ten Kenton's to be specific; all playing a different instrument—like background music for a battle scene. Whenever he and Brook clashed there was a flash of lightning and thunder; within the thunder he could hear a familiar voice screaming words such as: 'idiot', 'dunderhead', blockhead', imbecile' and so on.

'Shut up you Ero-cook',' Zoro would yell.

'It's not me, Marimo." Sanji would scream back from the clouds. Zoro glared up at him until Brook would bring him back to the present of his dream. And basically it went on like that until a soft voice woke him.

"Zoro-kun," It said. Zoro groaned and waved away the pest. "…Zoro-kun," He could feel someone shaking his shoulder. "I won't stop till you wake up."

"What do you want…" He murmured, squinting one eye open. Zoro saw an Edward smiling down at him; the historian bending over, hands on his knees.

"It's good to see you again." Edward said.

"Yeah, you too;" Zoro spoke into the air of the couch. "Now goodnight," He rolled as an attempt to get away from the annoyance.

"But Zoro-kun, it's already 10:00 in the morning; can't you see the sunlight?"

"Blind…" He groaned hopping it would make him go away.

"Just leave him be." Mia scowled from the opposite side of the room.

"Nice to see you too, sunshine," Zoro growled back; he pulled his legs up to his chest so he was in a feudal position.

"What did you just say?" Mia snapped her finger in the air like a spoiled teen.

"Mmmm," Zoro dug his face deeper in the back of the couch. "Go away!" He whined in a high pitched voice, "Zoro tired."

"Listen, he's just mocking us!" Mia rushed over to the two men, lifting her clipboard threateningly over her head.

"Please, Mia-chan, just ignore him." Edward acted like a shield for the unaware swordsman, jumping in between the two. Mia snarled and pushed him aside with brute force.

"Mia-chan," Edward pleaded, but it was too late and Mia had already smacked Zoro in the head with the clipboard.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?" Zoro sat up and glared at her, rubbing the back of his head profusely.

"Guess you—look what you did to my couch!" She jutted a finger at the blood stains on the white couch which came from Zoro's ribcage.

"Oh; sorry for being hurt," Zoro sneered. "I guess I forgot to stop bleeding in the middle of the night." He put his hands up for protection sarcastically.

"Yes; how dare you bleed." Mia narrowed her eyes until they became nothing but slits; Zoro did the same.

"Hey, guys, I got an idea," Edward spoke up fearfully from his spot on the ground. Both turned and glared at him.

"What?" They snapped in unison.

"H-How about," He clapped his hands together for enthusiasm. "We go…and have breakfast." He jumped. "Yay, how does that sound?" The tow glanced at each other and nodded. "So, let's go and—" They smacked Edward in the back of the head, sending him spiraling to the ground.

"Eh—glad you guys could agree on something…" He mumbled before passing out into the black of unconsciousness.