Time was blurred. Robin didn't know how long she had been here. It could be only be a few hours, but it felt like days. She had been moved from room to room, been asked the same questions over and over again.

She had stopped answering a while ago.

So she sat in her cell, staring at the wall, her eyes tracing patterns in the cracks and stains.

The man, whom she had found out was Commander Sengoku, was the only one who had said anything she had cared about. It was like her world had been shattered all over again, but this time she didn't know what to feel. His words hung on her every thought. Maybe she had known all along, that her people were killers? That maybe they were bad people. Maybe she had just been in denial all this time.

There had always been such a clear black and white, but now everything was just grey. Herself included. She sighed, picking at a hole in the wall. She would easily write these off as a problem for another day. But she had nothing else to do but sit, deep in thought.

The rattling of keys made her turn. The door to her cell swung open, and the guards motioned her up.

She got to her feet and let them lock her wrists into cuffs before following them. This was all just getting repetitive, down hallways, and corridors that she looked at without seeing. Until finally pulling her into another room. Classic interrogation room. Mirror on one side. Table in the middle. Three chairs in the middle.

She let them sit her down, then stared at the mirror, wondering who might be behind it. She didn't feel so afraid anymore, just drained. Tired of this.

When the door opened, she rolled her eyes up, expecting to see another guard or officer, come to read questions off a sheet of paper.

But she straightened a little when Sengoku appeared. He nodded to the guards, and they left, without a word. She could already feel something was different about this time. Sengoku hadn't come to see her since she had first been captured.

He didn't say anything, dropping a folder in front of her before taking a seat across from her. She hesitated, but he motioned her forward.

"Open it." He said gruffly, "You deserve to read your sentence with your own eyes."

She froze. Her sentence.

Of course, she had known it was coming. She'd been waiting. But now that it was here…

She took a deep breath and picked it up, suddenly feeling a million miles away. She opened it, her fingers numb. She felt sluggish as her eyes scanned the neatly printed sheet.

Her name.

Her crime.

All wrong.

Her sentence.

She took a shaky breath, the world pressing in on her. "Federal Death Penalty." She barely got the words out. A loud bang made her jump, but Sengoku's eyes only narrowed. She met his hardened gaze, searching his face. But he was unreadable, stoic as he had been from the beginning.

"In three days time." He said, without blinking.

She shivered, closing the folder again, "Is there any way…any way I can see my friends before?"

He sighed, looking away, "Not unless you want them all in jail with you. Aiding a wanted criminal is still a crime. Not something I can just ignore. Even for a dying woman." He gathered the folder back up, and left her, without another word.

She blinked. A dying woman. The words went right through her, surprisingly peaceful. So this was it. What she'd always been trying to outrun. It now sat before her. Three days. She took a determined breath.

She had put up too big of a fight for too long. She would meet death with her chin up.

Zoro absentmindedly chewed on a fingernail, watching Robin and Sengoku on the other side of the glass. Robin looked better then she did before. She had been so worn down the last time he saw her, tears in her eyes. He missed the energy she used to have, the fire in her eyes. He smiled, remembering the first time they met, and she had smashed a chair over his head.

He straightened up when Sengoku dropped a folder in front of her. She turned it around and opened it, and he strained to see if he could read anything. He watched her tense, and his heart dropped.

"Federal Death Penalty" Her voice came over the radio so quiet and small.

"NO!" He slammed his fist against the glass, "No!"

The guards were instantly on him, yanking his arms behind him, and pulling him away from the window. He fought against them, wanting -needing- to stay near Robin. The closest he could be to her.

She spoke again, to Sengoku, and he stopped struggling, watching her.

"…Any way I can see my friends before?"

Sengoku sighed, and Zoro strained forward to hear his response.

"Get him out of here!" Spandam's voice drowned out the Commander's reply, and Zoro whirled on him.

"Did you know?" The guards struggled to hold him back, and Spandam didn't move as Zoro stopped inches from his face. "Did you know?"

Spandam's eyes were laughing at him, dripping with hatred. "Of course I did. Why do you think I've been working so hard on getting her taken in? It's only reasonable a killer should die."

Zoro lunged at him again, and the guards hauled him out, finally dragging him through the door. Sengoku was just closing the door a few feet away. He glared up at the young detective.

"I thought I told you to keep your damn mouth shut!" He stormed toward them, and the guards instantly let Zoro go. Sengoku grabbed his collar, slamming him against the wall. Zoro stared up at him in surprise. He had never seen the Commander this angry before.

"I've been too lenient with you! I didn't lock you up when I should have. I've still let you walk around like you own the place, and this is how you're going to act?" His backed up and let him go. "Get the hell out of my building."

He turned away, and took a deep breath, paging through Robin's file again.

Zoro could only stand there for a moment, in shock. "Sir, I-"

"I told you to get out." Sengoku's voice was dangerously calm, and Zoro shut his mouth instantly. He didn't even look up from the folder in his hands, "Effective immediately, Detective Roronoa Zoro is released from duty. He is to be escorted off the premises within the hour."

The guards snapped to attention, and saluted, "Yes, Sir!"

Zoro couldn't move.

"Do you know how many people we've had hunting her down?" He closed the folder, but still wouldn't look at Zoro. "How many good detectives have been ruined by her?"

He finally turned towards him, but Zoro looked down. "You brought us the closest we'd ever been. And at the same time, you did the most to get in our way."

"All 'cause you had to go and fall in love with her."

Zoro opened his mouth to protest, but couldn't find the words.

"I won't let your feelings get in the way of my justice."

He frowned, his stomach turning in anger. "Justice?" He glared up at the Commander.

Their gaze met, fire between them.

"You call this justice? Killing off a bunch of innocent scholars? Murdering their families, hunting down their children. For what? Knowing too much!"

Sengoku's eyes narrowed in warning, but Zoro ignored it.

"Don't stand here and pretend this is justice, you just want to cover your tracks!" No sooner had the words left his mouth, that he gasped in pain, the air shoved from his lungs. He crumpled as Spandam pulled back his punch.

"Get him out of here." Sengoku said, turning to leave.

Zoro just watched him go, his stomach sinking. What was he going to do? What was Robin going to do? Was there any way out of this? He got up and followed the guards, thoughts swirling.

A vague thought floated by. A thought that grew once he clung onto it. A plan started to form, risky and dangerous. But maybe, just maybe…

He straightened up, keeping his face expression neutral. Maybe there was some hope after all.

So...I just realized the last two chapters are RIDICULOUSLY short, and um - whoops. Sorry about that :\