Wasuremono: The Things We Leave Behind
Author's note - sorry this took so long! In the last installment - the villainous chemist, Solomon, used a unique perfume to make Nami his love-slave! Sanji leaps into pursuit to stop the swinish swain before he can do anything too interesting to her, and chases the elopers into the mirror hall...
Chapter 6: Stupid's Arrow
The endless reflective corridors seemed to go on forever. Sanji grunted in frustration - still no sign of Solomon or Nami, nor any clue which way they'd gone, just his own face, darkened with concern, reflected hundreds of times from the walls of the house of mirrors.
By now, he could be anywhere in here, the cook told himself. He could even have gone right out again, right under my nose! And he and Nami could be....
At that moment, whether by Solomon's machinations or merely the age of the lighting system catching up to it, the lights flickered and died, and abruptedly Sanji didn't have confusing reflections to worry about. It was pitch black.
"CRAP!" Sanji yelled. "Enough of this!" He drove one powerful leg into the wall, smashing the mirror there, crushing through light wood and the glass of another mirror, opening a jagged hole into another corridor. "I'll kick this whole place down if I have to. NAMI-SAN!!"
"You'll bleed to death," a voice said softly in his ear, "trying to kick through all this glass. You've probably already got some nasty gashes."
"Robin-chan?" Sanji said, startled. "Where are you?"
"Just my mouth and an ear. I wanted to stay in communication with you."
Sanji reached up to the side of his head, feeling Robin's soft lips on his temple. Ambivalence churned in him. On the one hand, extra facial features sprouting on his head was pretty creepy, but on the other... well, they'd never been this close before...
"It's no use, there's no sign of them." Sanji said. "I'll have to kick down the walls. No other choice."
"Sherry won't be happy if you wreck her house of mirrors. It's almost the only thing in this part of the park that's in good shape. Besides, I think I've got a better way."
"How?"
"I can track them."
Outside the building, Robin crossed her hands on her chest and closed her eyes, concentrating. It was so hard when she couldn't see inside! She opened an eye on an inner wall of the building, then closed it again - completely dark. But there was another way...
"Narices Fleur." she whispered, and dozens of noses unfolded from the mirrored walls like the wings of bats.
Instantly she almost gagged as Solomon's distinctive aroma assailed her from the northwest corner of the building.
"I - I can smell him!" she gasped with the mouth near Sanji's ear. "Try to make your way north -- no, no, turn here--"
"OW! That's a wall!"
"Sorry!"
"Don't worry, Robin-chan!"
Sanji staggered through the dark for some time, feeling his way around the walls, following Robin's directions as she tracked the scent-drenched chemist through the maze. The problem way, she could tell his position, roughly, but she couldn't smell the intervening walls, after all, so the cook hit quite a few dead ends along the path.
"He stopped!" Robin reported. "Very near you - just a little to the east. I -- uck!"
"Robin?" Sanji asked. There was no response. Even the mouth and ear on the side of his head had vanished. Fearing now for the woman behind him as well as the woman ahead, he charged in what he desperately hoped was east. Whatever had happened, there wasn't much he could do for her now. After bouncing off a few walls, he slammed into a dead end and simply charged through, splintering the mirror.
The sharp stabbing pain in his eye briefly terrified him, as he envisioned a shard of glass in the socket - but no. It was simply the pain of seeing bright light again after so long in the darkness. He could tell right away Solomon was in the room with him from the powerful odor of philtres and char. He blinked his way back to vision, the uncomfortable realization dawning on him that the thing coming into focus was his quarry aiming a nasty-looking crossbow at his chest.
He took in the rest of the room quickly. A medium-sized chamber, not part of the mirror maze - a control room, or storage maybe? There were plenty of things scattered about. Solomon was seated casually in a folding chair, and there next to him, grinning dopily but otherwise unharmed, was Nami. Nami! He'd never been so happy to see her fully clothed!
Of course, if he didn't do something about that crossbow, Solomon would have his way soon enough.
"I'm surprised you managed to find me here. Didn't realize that dog was a bloodhound."
"Robin-chan, a 'dog'? Those are the sourest grapes I've ever seen." Sanji said, uneasily. "How did you--"
"Oh, it just so happened that one of those distinctively oversized noses popped up right near me. So I had my darling Nam-Nam here smash it with her little.... staff thingy." He ruffled Nami's hair, sending the entranced navigator into paroxsyms of joy. "I imagine that must have had an interesting effect on the other end."
"Nami?" Sanji said, crestfallen. He wouldn't have though even a chemically lovestuck Nami would attack a friend just on Solomon's whim.
"I wouldn't try to talk to her right now." Solomon said. "She was causing all sorts of trouble. Didn't want to crush Robin's nose, didn't want me to point crossbows at you. So I just poured everything I had down her throat." He gestured to the small mountain of empty vials at his feet. "Right now she's so full of love and devotion for me she's practically sweating it from her pores."
Nami wobbled to her feet. "Thass right your damn right I am, Sanji. Robin got what she had comin' for tryin' to interfere in my life. So just back off oright?" She hiccupped.
"You got her DRUNK?!" Sanji said incredulously. "NOW?"
"She's not drunk!" Solomon snapped back heatedly. "The effects of so many potions all at once can be... unpredictable. She's feeling many different kinds of love for me."
"She's plastered! What percentage alcohol are those potions, anyway?"
"Sixty or seventy -- wait, why am I arguing with you? I'm the one with the crossbow!" He waved his weapon threateningly. "And THIS one is tipped with a potion of death, I assure you. One nick and you're done for."
Sanji tensed. If he leapt forward -- under the shot -- he might be able to disarm Solomon --
"He's gonna jump you, honey." Nami slurred.
"Oh -- uh, thank you, Nam-Nam." Solomon smiled evilly. "He's a sacrificing hero type, I see. Well, my beloved little tangerine, why don't I point the death bolt at YOU instead?"
"Hey, good idea!" his snockered thrall hiccupped.
"Right." Solomon said, pressing the crossbow bolt into Nami's temple. "I'd rather not spoil a pretty girl, but if you force me, she'll get this through her head. And then get poisoned, which I can assure you will be completely unnecessary at that point. So just stay still while I finish doing what I was about to do when you burst in like a rhino." With his other hand, he pulled a syringe from his pocket. "I just inject this right into her ear, and she loves me and only me, permanently. Soaks right into the brain. Makes 'em dumb as logs, but it can't be helped."
"I thought you said that mindless slaves were boring." Sanji said, fighting down his rage for Nami's sake. He had to hold himself still.
"Yes, but I don't like this one too much, honestly." He rolled his eyes. "It's all blah-blah-blah about some stupid map she wants to draw for me."
"Some romantic." Sanji spat. "This is what's behind all that flowerly talk from outside? You want to make love to zombies or... or girls who are so drunk they don't know what they're doing --"
"FOR - THE - LAST - TIME!" Solomon roared, bonking the crossbow into Nami's head for emphasis. "She is NOT drunk!" He readied the syringe.
Nami gazed at him with rapturous adoration, and threw up.
End of Chapter 6 - Coming up next! A very unpleasant chapter filled with pain and suffering for almost everyone. It's time for violence! (I know, I said that last chapter, but this time for real!) Solomon and Sanji go at each other! Nami needs to get reality knocked back into her crazy potion-addled head! Nico Robin straightens out her broken nose with a horrible cracking sound! And a lot of projectiles and things flying around, in the next chapter of "Wasuremono"!