Chapter 21
Izumi watched wide eyed as Sid fell backwards and hit the deck with a thud. She ran up to him and kneeled down frantically so she could check if he was alright. Everyone could feel the tension as it went quiet, even the Marines were staring at the two as they were curious what happened.
'Zum-Zum. Don't . . . worry. You have to keep strong.' Sid said with a weak voice as his eyes weren't focused and he could hardly move. Holding back the pain so he wont have to show it to her.
"Sid . . . you have to hang in there." Izumi whispered shaking as she looked him in the eyes.
'Thank you . . . for showing me such a . . . great adventure . . . and amazing group of people.' he said smiling slightly.
"Sid don't say that. You will make it. Heat!" she said and desperately yelled for the doctor. He quickly ran up to them and looked at the bullet wound on Sid's chest.
'I know it's the end for me Zum-Zum. Please take care of yourself and the crew.' he said as she unwillingly teared up.
"The bullet hit too close to his heart." Heat said quietly and looked at Izumi with a sad apologetic look.
"No." she whimpered with her hand on her mouth in disbelief.
'I love you Zum-Zum.' he whispered with a grin on his face. His eyelids dropped and the strength left his body as his heart made the last beat.
"I love you too." she whispered in a shaky voice as she tried to keep herself calm. She had a lot of emotions running wild inside her and she could hardly keep lids on them. She was heart broken as she could hardly believe it, she was upset, scared, frustrated and most of all pissed beyond belief.
She let out a very loud scream that turned into a growl and before people registered what was happening, she was in front of the guy who shot Sid. She grabbed him by the head and crashed him into the deck, sitting on him, she pushed her hand into his stomach and pulled his intestines out then ripped his throat out.
Everyone was quiet and could only stare at her, the Marines were terrified and the Pirates were a bit uneasy as well. They knew not to mess with Izumi when she snapped and she looked pissed.
She glanced up at another Marine, giving him a very sharp glare. They could feel the blood lust and anger radiating off her in waves, they never felt it this strong before either. She looked like a wild beast that went rabid. Before anyone could react she was in front of another Marine and ripped his arm clean off, then ripped his heart out. She attacked every Marine in her sight, leaving blood everywhere and a giant mess of body parts and organs scattered on deck.
They were surprised to see her kill with so much anger and violence. She was bare handedly ripping people to shreds like it was paper. They were just lucky she managed to tell the difference between her friends and the Marines.
She jumped over to the Marine's ship and killed everyone on there as well. She jumped back, covered in blood and slowly walked up to Sid, lightly growling with her ears stuck down and fists clenched.
They could see the anger and feel the hysterical emotions running through her as she stared at him.
Walking up behind her, Kidd hit her on the back of her head, knocking her out before she could do something stupid or hurt someone on the crew. Everyone was stunned and frozen to their spot as they had trouble comprehending what just happened. Everything happened so fast and violently and they were worried about Izumi.
"Clean up this mess! And take Sid to the infirmary!" Kidd barked picking up Izumi and walked inside.
Everyone scurried around to do just that. Heat and Killer grabbed Sid and took him inside as well.
He turned back to his golden lion tamarin form and they laid him on one of the beds. Heat cleaned him up and pulled a white sheet over him.
"What will happen to Zumi now? Will she even be able to recover from this?" Heat asked frowning. Everyone was pretty worried about her and upset about Sid's death.
"I don't know. We just have to do everything in our power to comfort her and help her." Killer said frowning under his mask.
Everyone was silent at lunch, unable to say anything and just ate what they could, most not even having an appetite.
Standing up with an annoyed sigh, Kidd walked out and to his room, where he left Izumi. He asked Heat to clean her from all the blood and change her into clean clothes, which in this case was another one of his oversized shirts. He hated the fact that one of his crew members died and he couldn't do anything about it. He also hated that he felt so helpless and shaken up. He didn't know why he was so worried about Izumi and that uneasy feeling just wouldn't go away.
Walking into the room, he walked up to his bed and sat down beside her. Even in her sleep she looked a little distressed.
"It's gonna be alright." he whispered brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
In a few hours, she finally woke up. But she was screaming and thrashing about.
"Iz. It's okay. You're alright." Kidd called as he pulled her into his arms to try and calm her down.
"Sid!" she yelled with so much pain and sorrow in her voice. It made Kidd hurt seeing her like this and he hugged her tighter.
"It's gonna be okay." he repeated as she kept screaming.
She eventually hugged him back and buried her face in his chest, shaking and mumbling incoherent things, while Kidd stroked her hair, trying to calm her.
He ended up laying down with her on top of him hugging him, as he was lazily stroking her hair. It actually helped her calm down and her breathing evened out a little.
"You alright?" he asked quietly.
"No." she replied with a hoarse voice, neither moving.
"He's gone. I will never see him or play with him ever again." she said and tightened her hold on Kidd.
"No, but you can't break because of this. Instead of thinking about things like that, you should remember the good times you had with him, all the fun adventures you went on and all the laughs. If you remember those times then he will always live on inside you." Kidd said surprisingly softly. He didn't even know he had it in him to be able to say those things.
"I know it will take a little time for you to be alright, but I'm here. I won't go anywhere so just rely on me. I can't bring him back but I can make you feel better." he said and hugged her tighter.
"Thank you Kidd." she said with so much sincerity and gratefulness. It was surprising that she was able to calm down and she just laid there trying not to break. Kidd was helping her more than he realised and she was thankful for that.
They laid there for another few hours in silence. She needed time to accept the fact that Sid was no longer with them and she needed to calm down.
She skipped dinner and Kidd stayed with her as she eventually fell asleep at night, cuddling up to him closely. He was glad that she wasn't freaking out as much as he thought she would have and was relying on him. He knew how hard this was on her and he could only hope that she would be able to bounce back and be her cheery self again.
In the morning, Kidd managed to wake up first and pulled Izumi closer to him. She eventually woke too, a bit shakily but she wasn't freaking out like she was the day before. Instead she seemed to have blocked out all of her emotions.
"You alright?" Kidd asked looking her in the eyes, but she only replied with a small nod.
"Let's go see what the other's are doing. You alright seeing the guys?" he asked and she did the same thing, just a small nod.
"Alright, you go change and I'll be right behind you." he said after hugging her as a last attempt at cheering her up and she walked out and into her own room.
Kidd quickly changed and walked into her room. She was dressed and sat on her bed looking around with a blank face.
"Let's go have breakfast. I'm sure everyone's worried about you." he said softly and pulled her up.
She hugged him tightly, mumbling a thank you and walked out with him to the galley.
Everyone sent her worried glances as they walked in. Kidd gestured to leave her be and they sat down by their table.
"How are you feeling Zum?" Killer asked softly looking at her and she just shrugged.
"It's going to be okay." Heat smiled pulling her into a one armed hug and stroked her hair as she only nodded at him.
"Why isn't she talking?" Killer whispered to Kidd worried.
"I have no idea. She woke up this morning pretty much void of emotion." he replied frowning.
"Maybe that's her way of dealing." Killer said with a very worried look under his mask.
"Maybe." Kidd nodded.
"You need to eat something Zumi. You don't want to get ill." Jake said softly as he put a plate of food in front of her.
She only nodded and picked up her fork. At least she ate something so they weren't super worried about her.
"Kidd. Because we're out on sea, I think we should give Sid a Viking's funeral." Killer said, grabbing Izumi's attention.
"That would be nice. He always said that after he finished with all the adventures he wanted a funeral like that." she said smiling lightly at the first mate.
They were happy she finally said something but worried how hoarse and shaky her voice sounded.
"We'll get everything ready." Killer nodded smiling under his mask, it was good to see some progress.
It was quiet for the rest of breakfast and a little awkward. No one knew what to say to make her feel better and they were upset about Sid's death as well. Everyone loved him and will definitely miss the monkey.
"I wanna see him." she suddenly said looking Kidd in the eyes.
"Okay." he nodded and they got up. Heat and Killer joined them in the infirmary as well.
She carefully walked up to the bed he was put on and shakily pulled the sheet from him.
"Look at what happened to you." she said with a shaky voice. Kidd walked up behind her and hugged her, hoping she's not gonna break down again.
"It's okay." he whispered to her reassuringly.
"I wasn't able to do anything to stop it." she frowned.
"It wasn't your fault Iz." Kidd said tightening his hold on her.
"But I saw it happen. I should have done something." she said gripping his arm with her ears stuck down.
"There wasn't anything you could have done. It happened too fast for anyone to do anything. Don't blame yourself." he said as Heat and Killer walked up beside them as well.
"He will always be with us Zum. As long as we remember him." Killer said resting an hand on her head and stroked it softly.
"He died a warrior and he was smiling. He had no regrets Zumi. And nor should you." Heat said and kissed her on the head.
"You're right. He would laugh at me if I cried or got depressed." she sniffed lightly smiling, thinking of his angry face.
"He would." all three of them agreed.
Kidd took her to her room while the guys got ready. She wrote some stuff down as he sat on her bed. She seemed calm enough, but he knew she wasn't alright inside.
"What do you feel?" he suddenly asked surprising them both as she stopped writhing and looked at him.
"Emptiness. Like I just lost half my heart." she replied frowning.
"I . . . hurt but you calm that. I'm angry . . . but the beast inside me is asleep. I'm scared . . . but I have you to push that to the side. So all I'm really left with is emptiness." she said quietly with a sigh.
"You will feel warm again and the joy will return to you. I promise." he said standing up and walked up to her.
"You think so?" she asked looking up at him.
"I know so." he smiled and rested his palms on her cheeks.
"It's alright to feel pain. It's natural to feel lost after someone you loved just died. I will be here beside you to help you through it." he said smiling and leaned down to kiss her forehead. The action surprised the both of them and they blushed lightly.
"Thank you. I don't know what would have happened without you here." she said smiling lightly.
"We're ready." Killer said walking in.
"Alright." Kidd nodded and pulled Izumi up as they walked to the deck.
The ship was anchored and they had a little raft set up with Sid on it, everyone was just waiting for them.
"Sid." Izumi hummed looking at him.
"It's gonna be alright." Kidd whispered and she nodded.
She watched quietly as Heat and Wire put the raft in the water and let it float a little ways away from them as they were stood by the railing at the side of the ship. Everyone was quiet and as Jin was preparing to fire the fire arrow, Izumi stopped him.
"Let me." she smiled.
"Oh okay." he nodded and stepped back.
She stood at her side and pulled her arms up in an archer's pose. White flames morphed into a shape of a bow and arrow and she pulled the arrow back, aiming her shot.
"Farewell my brother." she said softly and let go of the arrow as it hit the raft and engulfed it in flames and it turned to a normal colour as Izumi slowly dropped her arms.
Kidd grabbed her hand and squeezed it, reassuring her as she smiled up at him.
"Everybody hurts
Everybody bleeds
Everybody bends to fill a need
Everybody's born with their own curse
And I'm not alone." she started to sing in a beautiful slow melody and everyone smiled lightly. (M.I.N.E (end this way) by Five Finger Death Punch)
"Everybody cries
Everybody breathes
Everybody wants to feel they're free
Deep inside I know what I am worth
A life of my own
It could have been much worse
But it should have been better
I know I'd hurt you, deserted you
And now I see it clear
I pulled you closer, tighter
'Cause I knew you'd disappear
I just can't compromise, apologize
There's nothing you can say
We both knew
It would always end this way." she sang watching the flames dance as some of them had tears in their eyes. They really did like Sid and admired her strength for staying so calm and that her voice wasn't quivering despite the obvious pain that was evident in it.
"Everybody pains
Everybody grieves
Everybody's making off like thieves
Every soul's aching for release
You're not alone
Everybody lives
Everybody leaves
Everybody begs best on their knees
Everybody's got the same disease
No one's alone
It could have been much worse
But it should have been better
I know I'd hurt you, deserted you
And now I see it clear
I pulled you closer, tighter
'Cause I knew you'd disappear
I just can't compromise, apologize
There's nothing you can say
We both knew
It'd always end this way
Knew it'd end this way
We knew it'd end this way
I know I'd hurt you, deserted you
And now I see it clear
I pulled you closer, tighter
'Cause I knew you'd disappear
I just can't compromise, apologize
There's nothing you can say
We both knew
It would always end this way
We both know
It'd always end this way
We both knew
It would always end this way." she finished as Wire, Jake and Jin were crying and some others were sniffing as well trying not to.
"That was beautiful Zum." Killer said softly, smiling at her under his mask.
"I decided." she said with new found strength in her voice.
"If I let this get to me then he would only be angry. I have to stay strong and live for him. I will train and get stronger so I will be able to protect my friends and I will never let anyone die." she said with that determination burning in her eyes again.
"Good." Kidd said with a grin. He was surprised that she said that, but all the more proud and he gained a new kind of respect for her as the crew looked just as proud at her as he was.