Title: Dead and Buried
Paring: Franky/Usopp
Theme: Grave
Rating: K+
Word count: 247
Warning: Nothing much… Angst.
Disclaimer(s): Oda's characters.
The rest of the crew had drifted back to the ship, but Franky stood in front of the grave, shivering slightly in the crisp autumn air. The sight of the sniper's grave made his blood run cold.
He'd never liked graves. They were proof that someone had died, a constant reminder staring you in the face. He was glad that they hadn't made a grave for Tom. He could remember his mentor as a loud, vibrant man instead of a cold body buried in the ground.
This grave, though… six feet underground lay a member of one of the world's most famous pirate crews, a powerful fighter and skilled marksman… dead and buried. Gone.
The cyborg burst into a fit of loud tears as a figure came over the rise of the hill, approaching the grave with a scraggly bouquet of wildflowers.
Franky reached out with his huge arms and pulled Usopp into a tight hug, still bawling.
"I'm so sorry, little bro," he wailed, his grip tightening.
Usopp gasped for breath when Franky finally released him.
"It's okay," the Straw Hat's sniper said, kneeling down and placing the flowers against the grave. "I just wish you could have met him… I wish I could have seen him again."
He stepped back and admired his handiwork for a moment. Franky's arms clasped around Usopp's waist again, tears falling into his hair.
And then tears were streaming down Usopp's face, too, blurring Yasopp's name carved into the headstone.