It had come and gone over the years. There one night, so real and vivid she could of sworn it was happening right before her eyes even after awakening, and on others it seemed as if it was only a shadow. One that tricked her mind as it danced along the wall, bringing back her darkest memories as she lied helplessly, unable to fight an enemy that only existed inside her tortured psyche. But Robin knew it was the same dream. It had morphed throughout the years, growing with each new demon that haunted her, but she knew. As a child it was the overwhelming fear that gripped her hours after awakening, making her tiny body shake as she fought to choke down her tears with laughter. As a teen it was the bitter acceptance for the lot she had been cast, and the numbness only years of conditioning could bring her as she reached adulthood. Only now, twenty-two years after the dream had first started did she look forward to it as she fell asleep, the ending made it worthwhile.

The beginning had always been the same, bombs shaking the earth under her tiny eight year old feet as she ran to a home that no longer existed. Her body aged as she continued running, and then hands started clawing at her adolescent form while faces of the traitors she had been forced to work for flashed before her eyes. All of them smiling at her pain, their greedy laughs at the thought of what she could offer them filling her mind before they all formed into one man. She didn't run at this part. The darkness the world knew as Nico Robin, the monster they saw her as didn't run when Crocodile appeared, she had accepted her fate at this point. She saw the casualties of her missions as she calmly walked beside the scarred man, and then the cold pain in her chest came. She would look down to find his hook poking through her chest before she was thrown into the water. Then she was drowning, her lungs straining against the prison of her rib cage as she faded. The light in her eyes dimming by the second as the world became engulfed in black, then came the ending.

She stopped sinking. She watched the sky getting closer as she was propelled out of her watery grave as eight individual hands began pushing her from below to the surface. A large metal one pressing into the small of her back while two soft ones, one male and the other female, pressed against either of her calves. A gentle furry one on her right thigh contrasted greatly with the brittle boniness of the one on the left, and and the dark-colored one in the center of her spine. The last two always stuck out more to her, the strength she felt as they propelled her up and the heat of their flesh as their warmth traveled throughout her body were different from the others. One of them managed to hold her entire head in its palm, the fingers stretching beyond normal human reach as it supported her. The last one was placed directly under her heart, steady as it slowed the frightened rhythm of her own heart with its strong, reassuring beats.

Then she was in her current body, swaying gently in the swordsman's strong arms as he ran his hands over her skin, soaking up the contact as they danced to the same unheard music. That was the part she woke up from now, safe and secure in the embrace of the man that had claimed her heart and had offered his in return.

"Something wrong, Robin?", asked Zoro tiredly, tightening his grip around her waist after feeling her awaken suddenly.

"No, just a dream is all.", answered the historian, reaching to stroke his short green hair as he lay against her chest.

"Was it a bad one?"

"No, not anymore.", said the woman with a smile.

"What do you mean not anymore?", asked the sleepy swordsman, his mind still foggy from sleep.

"The ending is different now then what it used to be, but we can talk about this later. Go back to sleep for now, Zoro-kun."

"Yeah, okay." Zoro tilted his head up to press a kiss below the archaeologist's jaw before rubbing his face against her soft chest as he settled back down to sleep. "Night Robin.", yawned Zoro, already drifting off.

"Good Night Zoro." Robin watched as the young man sleeping against her quickly fell back to sleep, his breathing evening out almost immediately with a smile on her face. You gave a different ending to my story than the one I thought was set in stone, Zoro. You showed me that my dream didn't have to end in the darkness of my past, that I could have a future with you and our nakama. Robin turned her head towards the wooden crib that sat a couple feet away from the Roronoas' bed then, watching the rise and fall of her infant daughter's tiny chest as she slept. That even a woman like me could create something beautiful and innocent, that I could have a family of my own. We have our own story now because of you, one that's just starting out, but I know that the ending will stay the same, that you'll be by my side. "I love you, Zoro.", whispered the historian, pressing a kiss to the sleeping man's forehead before closing her eyes, letting sleep take her.

A/N: For megaME who wanted more Robin thinking about Zoro. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter even though it's a little different then how I normally write, at least for this series. Thank you for the sweet reviews, AhnYuri, Otaku-SIG, Guest, DjGinsu13, Sketcher1994, rebecca18, LegendaryOrigin, and megaME. I really don't deserve the amount of praise you guys give me, but thank you so much because it makes my day every time I get to hear from you amazing people!