Chapter 10 – Into Darkness

Water from the now broken fountain flooded the square, soaking the boots and soon the knees of all standing in the vicinity as they fell to their knees before the princess. Whether it was out of reverence or mere shock at seeing her alive, Zoro wasn't sure.

Zoro saw to his companions as Helena turned to her people. Seething with anger, she stood with naked blade in hand, back rigid and eyes open wide.

Zoro's crewmates seemed to be doing decently enough. He was thus able to observe, and be impressed, as Helena addressed those remaining in the square.

"General Hector," she barked. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Princess!" he cried from the ground, "You're alive!"

"On your feet, General!" she commanded. "Face me, and explain just why you attempted to execute pirates that I personally had acquitted and promised safe passage from our shores."

The big man stood to his full stature, and yet even he seemed intimidated by the Princess' unmasked anger.

"Princess Helena, these pirates caused your death, I…"

"Caused my death? Caused my death?" she spat. "General, as you see I am very much alive. But even had the duel resulted in my death, my promise still would have held. Or do you believe my oath is only valid while I am alive?"

The General did not respond. This was clearly a rhetorical question.

"Gods help you if any of these men and women have died," she said to him. "Zoro," she turned to him sharply, and he blinked at her in surprise. "How are they?" She was a completely different person when she went into her commanding mode. Before he responded she turned back to her men. "On your feet! We may need a doctor. General…"

"Your highness, all of the doctors have either been trapped inside the castle or killed here in town," a man with a calm voice said. His demeanor was so mild that it was hard to say if he were intimidated by the Princess at all. He had dark hair, pale skin, and so many decorations on his dark navy uniform it was clear to guess he was somewhere around second in command.

"Then send for someone outside the walls," she barked.

"It's all right, Helena," Zoro informed her. "They're fine."

She turned to survey the rest of the crew, and sure enough, all of them, though coughing and spluttering, were loudly alive. Helena breathed a sigh of relief and seemed to lose some of her stiff stance, but then the soft-spoken man spoke again. Though his voice was level, his tone belayed his anger:

"How dare you address the Princess so informally, pirate," he spat.

"Zoro may address me in any way he sees fit, Lieutenant General Troy," Helena retorted, again stiffening into her commanding mode. "He is my friend, my fiancé, and your future King."

Troy's expression changed drastically from indignance to confusion. The soldiers who had stood upon Helena's command suddenly fell to their knees again, this time facing Zoro.

Zoro swore under his breath. He had a feeling something bad would come of all this. He didn't want to embarrass the Princess in front of her subjects, but he didn't exactly have a choice.

"Helena…" he started, but Troy cut him off.

"This man?" he asked the Princess, "This man has defeated you? But you swore to your father that you would never cross swords with Roronoa Zoro…"

"I made no such promise," the Princess informed him. "I was defeated. Both his crew, and General Hector are my witnesses."

"General…" Troy looked back at Hector, who sighed and nodded, turning his face away. "This can't be…"

Troy's cheeks flushed, and Zoro realized suddenly just who the man was. More than a Lieutenant General, this had to be one of Helena's potential suitors. Funny, she hadn't said anything about him. From the way she addressed him, she didn't hold him in very high regard.

"You will bow to your future King, Lieutenant General," Helena commanded.

"Zoro's getting married?" Luffy put in suddenly. Zoro was wondering when that idiot would chime in. "But I thought he didn't accept her offer."

Helena turned to look at the captain, then at Zoro. He couldn't make out her suddenly stoic expression. She must still be in commanding mode. In any case, it was clear she was waiting for him to answer.

"Idiot!" Sanji said, suddenly lowering a foot down on Luffy's head. "He could have accepted it after we lost sight of them."

"Hmm?" Luffy rubbed his head, then suddenly got it, because he started laughing. "Oy! Zoro, are you really getting married? That's great!" Sitting cross-legged, he slapped his thighs and laughed harder. "I get to be best man, eh? Ha ha ha ha!"

It was Nami who hit the captain over the head this time. "Idiot! If he gets married to a Princess, then how is he supposed to sail out with us?!"

Luffy pondered this for a moment, then another light bulb went on, because he stopped laughing. He jumped to his feet and started shouting. "Oy! Zoro! You're not allowed to get married without my permission! I'm your captain!"

"As if I'd need your permission for something like that, idiot," Zoro muttered under his breath. He saw Helena smile. She must have heard him. It made him feel worse for what he was about to say. "Don't worry, Captain! I never accepted her proposal."

The smile disappeared from Helena's face. She didn't say another word, but Zoro turned to her apologetically as her bowing subjects started to straighten up in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Helena," Zoro went on. "I kept meaning to tell you, I just never got the chance…"

She hid her face in her hand for a moment. If she was about to cry, he was about to feel even worse.

But she didn't shed a tear.

"I'm a fool," she said quietly. "I should have realized…"

Murmurs ran through the crowd, but despite the utter embarrassment of the situation she maintained her courtly composure. Again, Zoro couldn't help but be impressed.

"What are you waiting around here for, fools?" Helena barked suddenly. "Evening is upon us. Retreat to the shore!"

Most of the soldiers started to retreat. Rather than go toward the shore, they retreated to nearby houses where lights burned brightly in the windows.

Lieutenant General Troy and General Hector did not retreat. The former had an extremely concentrated, concerned look on his face. He looked a little flushed from the whole ordeal. Zoro felt impressed by him also; based on his expression, he cared about the Princess very much. Rather than look relieved, he seemed concerned with Helena's well-being.

He'd make a good match for her.

Before Zoro could decide how he felt about this, a voice rang through the encroaching evening and made everyone's blood run chill.

"Princess Helena," it growled. It seemed to rumble from every shadowed corner of the square, but emanated predominately from the palace. "How foolish of you to return."

"Nemo…" she uttered, turning toward the palace with eyes open wide. Her shadow stretched out long in front of her, reaching toward the palace but not quite touching it in the light of the setting sun.

"In truth, it was foolish for you to leave at all," Nemo went on. "Did you think that I would spare your father? Did you think you were calling some sort of bluff? Think again!"

Something rolled from the darkness at the mouth of palace. It came at such a trajectory that it cleared the steps leading away from the darkened front door, bounced a few times, and came to a stop at Princess Helena's feet.

She retrieved the round, golden object with shaking hands. It appeared to be a solid gold pomegranate.

"Father, no…" she uttered. A moment later, something else flew from the darkness. – A golden laurel crown and a sword. They clattered across the courtyard, again landing at her feet.

"The king's sword…" Hector murmured. "Princess…I'm sorry. The king ordered me to rescue only you, I couldn't…"

She held up a hand to silence him.

"What more do you want?" she shouted out toward the Darkness. "You've taken everything from me! What can we do to appease you?"

"You have not given me everything yet, Princess," the Darkness replied. "Give me your life."

"Gladly," she shouted back. "Come and take it, but let my people go."

The Darkness laughed. "Brave words from one who can no longer die, immortal one. Do not offer what you cannot give. I will make you suffer for those words."

As they spoke, the sun sank deeper and deeper, and their shadows grew longer. As the Darkness finished speaking, Helena's shadow had grown long enough to just touch the shadows within the doorway of the palace. Suddenly she fell as though a rug had been pulled out beneath her, dropping the pomegranate as she went down. Something in the Palace dragged her across the hard cobblestones, reeling her in by her shadow.

Dark laughter peeled through the square. "You will suffer until you'll wish you could die, Princess. Suffer for all the time you and your ancestors and your gods have mocked me. Suffer for your immortal line!"

Zoro could see the fear in Helena's eyes as it pulled her toward the mouth of the palace, but she didn't do anything to resist. She simply let it drag her, sword in hand, toward torture. He wasn't about to stand for that.

He dashed toward her, sliding downward beside her so he could pull her to him. When he had her firmly in his grasp, he used his other arm to grab onto one of the pillars.

Again, Nemo laughed.

"You must be one of her highness' young suitors," it said. "Would you care to join her?"

He felt the tug on his shadow – a disconcerting feeling to be sure – and had to hold on with all his might to keep them both from disappearing into the mouth of the palace.

"Zoro, the Nemomora…" she said.

"But we don't have the antidote," he replied. "Even if we did, the sun's going down…"

"It's all right," she replied. "If I eat it I should be fine. I am immortal now that my father has passed on…"

He started to loosen his grip on the pillar, but her sudden cry made him tighten his hold:

"Wait! I may be immortal, but you're not," she said, her voice straining as the darkness pulled and stretched her. "Don't you dare go in there with me; I can handle this myself. It'll be better if I don't have to worry about you."

Zoro shifted, trying to put the shoulder bag within her reach. She grasped at it, but in the process of shifting, Zoro's grip loosened just enough, and she slipped out of his arms.

"Helena!" he cried, but there was nothing more he could do. The moment he let her go, more shadows wrapped around her from within the palace and pulled her into the darkness. Now that it had the Princess, it lost interest in him. Zoro got to his feet and called out her name again.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and the sound of water spilling from the broken fountains in the square. But then, a scream rang through the twilight. Helena's scream.

Whatever she had asked of him, he wasn't about to wait out here while she was tortured. Squaring his shoulders, he made sure the bag hung securely on his back, drew two of his Katana, and dashed toward the darkness.

The shadows around the entrance of the palace became solid tentacles that knocked him back. Try as he might, he couldn't cut his way through. A moment later, he realized someone fought alongside him. It was Sanji.

The Cook swore as he was knocked back by the tentacles, then said in response to Zoro's queried look, "You don't think I'm about to abandon a beautiful lady in need, do you? – Whether or not she's your fiancée."

Zoro smirked despite himself, but then became serious. "You should stay out of this, Curly-Brows. You have no idea what you're dealing with, here."

"Neither do you," an even, tenor voice said beside them. Lieutenant General Troy had also chased Helena to the door, and fought the darkness with two gladius blades drawn. "Whatever you think you know, whatever the Princess may have told you, you know nothing until you've experienced it up close."

Thin brow furrowed in concentration, he dodged a tentacle that knocked Sanji and Zoro flat on their backs. They got upright in time to see Troy dodge another barrage of tentacles.

"You can't have Helena, fiend!" he declared in his quiet way, and suddenly he disappeared between the dark tendrils and into the doorway.

Zoro and Sanji blinked at him in surprise. Troy had dodged blows that seemed impossible to avoid.

Helena screamed again, a pained sound that went on for several moments longer than should be humanly possible. Zoro dashed again at the door, Sanji at his heels, and fought desperately with the darkness, but the lower the sun sank, the stronger the shadows grew, until at last they blasted him and his crewmate back into the flooded plaza.

"It's no use, lads," General Hector said from beside them. "You'd do best to retreat for now."

"If he was able to get in, so can we," Sanji pointed out.

"He managed to slip by while the shadows were still weak," Hector advised. "They are now approaching their strongest."

Helena screamed again, but then the sound cut off, almost strangled. Zoro turned to Hector, anger burning through him.

"How can you listen to that and think of retreating?" he breathed. "She is your Princess…!"

"I never said I should retreat, pirate," Hector spat. "You talk pretty big for someone who knows little to nothing about her."

"I…"

"If you knew her, you would know better than to shame her in front of her men!"

Charging toward the front door, Hector used his powers to mold himself this way and that to dodge the tentacles defending it. As a big man, he couldn't help taking a few hits, but eventually one of his stretching, branchlike arms made contact with the wooden door. He melded into it and disappeared from view.

Zoro stared after him. Though his swords hung at rest at his side, he clutched them in tight, shaking fists.

"He's got a point you know," Sanji said, lighting up a cigarette.

"Shut up," Zoro replied caustically.

"Well, what are you planning on doing now, lover-boy? Do you trust those guys to rescue your Princess?" Sanji was taking far too much delight in Zoro's current plight. For once, Zoro didn't feel like rising to his goading however. Too much was at stake to start a brawl now.

"You all need to get to shelter with good lighting, or get outside the city walls," Zoro informed him and the others. "Once night falls completely, anyone trapped on the streets is as good as dead."

"Idiot!" Nami put in. She looked wet, and miserable, and ready to clock Zoro good in the head. "What business is this of yours? Now's our chance to escape. We should steal a new log pose, commandeer a ship and run."

"But what about the Merry?" Usopp insisted.

"Now's not the time to worry about that!" Nami informed him. "This is life or death! There's something wrong with this place, and we need to get out of here before they decide to execute us again."

"There's no time to search for the log pose exchange," Zoro pointed out. "Unless you already know where it is."

Nami had been about to retort, but she bit her lip. Clearly she didn't know.

"Get out of the city," Zoro told her again. He sheathed his swords, removed his bandana from his arm, and tied it around his head.

"Just what do you think you can do to help her?" Nami demanded.

Zoro removed the shoulder bag from his back and rummaged inside it. Helena had said she had some of the mushrooms. She didn't say how she had stored them. He didn't have to look long, however. She'd kept them inside a lantern, which she'd wrapped in thin fabric to keep sunlight from withering them away.

It was dark enough now, Zoro had no qualms whatsoever with unsheathing the lantern. Drawing one of his swords, he started toward the palace doors, mushroom light in tow.

Night had fallen, far darker than could be called natural. Zoro could barely see anyone outside the light of his small lantern. He didn't pay that much mind until he had taken a few steps and suddenly heard a choking noise.

"Sanji!" Nami screamed as the cook started to gag, what's going…?!" her voice cut off, along with the voices of the rest of the crew.

A rubber arm shot toward him in the darkness, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and pulling him back toward the crew. The soft green glow of the mushrooms soon revealed his crewmates, floating a few feet above the ground with something holding their throats, though Luffy had somehow managed to wiggle free.

"Don't go just yet, Zoro," Luffy told him. He had his serious face on. "She may need you, but we need you first."

The moment the light touched them, whatever held the pirates bound dropped them back to the soaked cobblestones. From the brief moment Zoro could see before the darkness dissipated around his companions, it looked like they were being strangled by their own shadows.

"What was that?" Usopp wheezed in a panic.

Zoro paused for a moment. Wherever he went now, the rest of the crew would have to come with him. They had waited too long.

"That was Nemo," he said quietly. "In this city, the darkness come alive at night. We are only safe so long as we are standing within light."

"Then before you go running off to play hero, I suggest we come up with a plan," Nami shrilled.

"We don't have much time," Zoro informed her. "The darkness does whatever it can to put out the light. It may target our lantern."

"How, if it can't abide the light?" Sanji asked, puffing on his cigarette.

Something flew through the darkness, aiming for Zoro's lantern. He pulled it aside, barely preventing a large stone from crushing it. At that exact moment, a piece of glass from the broken tanks shot through Sanji's glowing cigarette, shooting it to the ground where it immediately extinguished itself.

"Can't even take a smoke in peace," Sanji muttered.

More bits of rubble shot at them. It became clear that while the main objective was to put out the lantern, it was also aiming at the pirates themselves. The lantern only provided a small radius wherein to dodge the debris.

"We need to find cover!" Nami pointed out loudly. She, Usopp, and Chopper had crowded closer to the light, allowing Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to fend off the barrage of attacks. Robin simply stood where she'd stood from the start. It was clear she trusted her crew mates to defend her, meanwhile she had her arms crossed in front of her, eyes closed in concentration.

"Interesting," she said after a moment.

"What's interesting at a time like this?" Usopp demanded.

"A lot of things," Robin said with an esoteric smile. "But I've been listening to the goings on inside the palace. Lieutenant General Troy seems to have found the Princess. He is fighting with a great beast now."

Zoro stopped fighting a moment to look at her. Luffy had just blown up like a balloon to knock back a bunch of rubble, so he had time.

"I can't tell anything about the creature. It is too dark to see. But…ah, they are coming this way…"

A great rumbling snarl rent the air, coming from the direction of the palace. Then came an explosion, accompanied by the sudden cracking of wood and gravelly roar of breaking stone, as though something had burst through the front door.

Still, the pirates could see nothing from without the circle of their little lantern. But they could hear the beast Robin had reported to them moments before. Nemo, if Nemo the beast truly was, no longer responded in intelligible words. It growled and grumbled and roared, and sounded rather large and all-round indomitable.

"Return the Princess to us, beast!" they heard Troy cry.

"I am the nameless," the Voice rumbled intelligibly at last. "I give what is due."

They heard Troy give a strangled cry, and then he flew through the air to land in their circle of light.

"I guess Dodgy Troy isn't so dodgy all the time, hmm?" Sanji observed.

The Lieutenant General had taken a blow to the head that let a trickle of blood loose from his hairline. Chopper made to approach him, but the lithe man jumped upright, blades at the ready, and charged into the darkness.

Nemo must have been fully distracted then, for the debris stopped flying toward Zoro and the rest of the crew. He and Sanji exchanged glances, and made to follow Troy, but the darkness had become a solid wall trapping them in the circle of light. They ricocheted off of it, cursing loudly.

"Interesting," Robin observed when they fell back with the momentum of their mad dash. "It would seem Nemo would like for us to watch."

"If that's the case, then Troy's in trouble," Zoro observed.

Robin nodded. "I wonder if it will tear him limb from limb."

"Why would you say something so morbid?!" Usopp groaned.

"In any case," she replied, "It is clear that Nemo wants us to watch his defeat."

Lieutenant General Troy had a good deal on his mind as he battled the beast. His powers did allow him to multi-task some, but with his attention divided between pirates, princess, General Hector, and the beast everyone identified as Nemo, he'd managed to get bashed pretty good on the head.

No matter, pain was only temporary. And this was his moment to show Helena he was worthy of her, her kingdom, and her gods. He'd struggled for so long and so hard to impress her, but it was never enough. He couldn't defeat her in combat, try as he might, but perhaps if he could save her now…

Despite the Kingdom's grim situation, Troy felt rather good about how this would all turn out.

The beast roared a challenge to him through the darkness. It didn't like leaving its lair. Troy charged him, swords at the ready, and used his powers to dodge the next few blows from the creature's mighty hooves

Few people knew what it looked like, here in the darkness – the many drawings of the demon, Nemo from history books were so varied it was clear no one really knew what it was. Troy only knew that the beast he currently fought was a Minotaur of sorts, but larger than life and quadrupedal. It had the head of a bull, body of a man, and legs of a horse. In one enormous hand it carried the Princess like a rag doll.

"Release her, demon! I may just spare your life."

On cue, the beast snorted derisively, pawing the cobbles of the courtyard loudly with an enormous hoof. It charged toward the sound of Troy's voice. He was directly in line with the strange, green circle of light where the pirates stood. If Troy wasn't careful, the demon would charge into their circle of light and spoil everything. The Lieutenant General wasn't about the share his victory with the likes of Roronoa Zoro. That man didn't deserve to look Helena in the face, much less compete for her hand. Not after he'd shamed her in front of everyone.

This is it, he thought. This is the final blow.

He focused his powers and energy, and leapt into the air. The beast stumbled, and the darkness suddenly cleared a split second before he landed the blow. The full moon lit the courtyard, and everyone present saw as he split the beast's skull.

It fell with a mighty crash, its bovine snout barely within the green-blue glow of the pirates' lantern light. Troy landed just beyond it and flicked the blood from his swords, before teetering a bit under the blow he had taken to his head earlier. He needed to rush to Princess Helena and get her out of the beast's grip. He needed to be the one she awoke to see.

The battle had taxed him too much. He stumbled his next step and fell.

"Lieutenant General!" he heard Hector cry. The General had been trapped just within the doorway of the palace. While he'd been able to sneak in and out of the palace before unnoticed, the Darkness wasn't one to be duped twice.

Hector dashed out into the moonlit plaza as soon as his bonds released him, and he caught Troy in a comfortable bundle of leafy branches before he went down.

"He…len…a," Troy muttered, reaching a hand toward her desperately. Through clouded vision, he saw a man with green hair and another who was blond pry open the hand of the deceased Minotaur. Roronoa Zoro gently lifted the bloodstained princess from the creature's grip, Troy cursed, and everything went black.