Wishfull-star: ~('▽^人)
Luffy was currently hiding under a desk on the third floor of a seven story building. There was a group of bad guys inside that he was hiding from. He was sweating and tears seeped from his eyes. He got separated from papa when the elevator stopped working and they were on the third story.
Luffy had climbed out first once the both pried the doors open, but then the elevator started working again, and Katakuri was sent down while Luffy was stuck in the third floor elevator area.
Then he ran to the nearest room when he heard booming noises from downstairs. He was scared to go anywhere, so he was hiding in the same empty office room. He wanted his papa but was too scared to move, able to hear all the bad guys dispersing through the building, stealing everything.
He heard what they were saying. They didn't plan on killing anyone here, and it was instead part of another job. A bomb was being moved through the underground connected to this building to the hero government building a few streets over.
The boy's hands were shaking, but he knew that nobody would have this information or any way to get it to the authorities. A lot of people would die - important people! Gathering courage, knowing he was fast, strong and could heal, he wanted to do something to help. He couldn't fight, he was too scared and inexperienced. Not courageous enough to face bad guys.
Thinking of papa down there freaking out, Lufy had to do something fast! He had to be so scared for him! So, he made sure the bad guys weren't in that area, and crawled along the floor between desks to the nearest exit. Which was an open window. Nobody was up there, the offices emptied. The whole office was part of the plot, he heard it all!
It was lucky nobody else was there. Standing up once he got to the window, he made sure nobody was behind him to see. The floor he was on wasn't too high. He'd be fine. And on his way inside, he saw the corners of the building had no windows. So they couldn't see him climb down.
He was shaking and silently sobbing as he climbed out the window. He dug his fingers into the metal of the beam he was now shimmying down, eyes closed to not get scared of the height and fall. He heard sirens and police shouting at the criminals inside to release the hostages. Papa was a hostage, and Luffy had to be the one to save him!
Nobody else inside had a plan how to get out, and he heard people being hit, women crying, on the first and second floor, where all the hostages were gathered. Luffy's been hiding under the desk, waiting for any courage, any plan, for over an hour. He continued to climb down, forcing sore fingers and toes into the metal to make footholds.
"Hey!" someone shouted, finally noticing Luffy. A hero with wings flew up and grabbed him. He had flaming blue wings and blonde hair. He landed, and demanded to know what Luffy was doing after showing concern for his safety.
"They're moving a - bomb to th-the hero capital b-building!" he cried. "S-save papa!" he sobbed. The hero crouched and tried calming him down, asking how he knew this. "I can hear it! It's under the ground and going to the capital building to kill everyone!" Luffy cried loudly. "You hafta do something!"
"Take this boy, keep him safe," the bird hero said and handed Luffy to a police officer, who hurried him out of the area and started to interview him while the bird had already left. Luffy was shaking, knowing he climbed down the side of a building. He didn't fall! But he wanted them to save papa already!
He begged for them to help him. "We will. But for now, can you tell us what you heard? It can be a great help." Luffy composed himself, and told them everything he'd heard. They had no intention to kill the people in the building, but the whole place had planned to use this hostage situation as a big distraction.
The six year old vampire boy answered all their questions and then some. He had to wait in a cop car, given food and water, for the situation to deescalate until the police and heroes finally stormed the building and captured all the villains, and then corralled all of the workers there.
Luffy knew what he'd heard, but it would be awful if it had all been untrue. But when the hostages came out, Katakuri was there, looking broken, pale, panicked. Luffy sprinted to him and jumped him, crying. He was shocked at how Luffy got outside. But he didn't ask, and just hugged him tightly.
Many of the cop cars put their sirens on and headed towards the hero capital building. Only a few minutes later, a massive explosion was heard, and they all looked up to see a huge plume of smoke and debris. Luffy cried harder, and Katakuri held him close. All of the former hostages, which were only twenty or so, were brought to the police station to be questioned.
When Katakuri and Luffy drove there, Luffy was tired, all cried out. Zoro must be extremely panicked. When they got there, the bird hero man was waiting, his flaming blue and gold wings on his back. Katakuri was holding Luffy as they headed inside. "You!" the hero called, surprising Katakuri.
"Marco Phoenix," he said in surprise.
"Luffy!" he said as he walked up to them. He was very tall, but shorter than the mochi man. "You saved thousands of lives. We managed to evacuate the whole building," he said brightly, a grin on. Luffy sniffled, relieve that people didn't die, but he was the most relieved to be with his papa again. Getting separated was so scary!
"What are you talking about?" Katakuri asked his son and the pro-hero, Marco. Marco walked them inside, to the more comfy area, and got Luffy some food to eat. He wasn't hungry, though. For him, Marco explained to Katakuri about Luffy climbing down the side of the building and giving them crucial information.
Luffy was sure his papa was angry at him for being reckless, but he didn't show or say it. He just ran his fingers through Luffy's hair, and simply said he was very brave. "It was scary! I was all alone, an-and the bad gu-uys were there!"
"I'm very proud of you. All I could think about was getting you back safely. I couldn't think of anything else, and yet you were able to climb down and get help that I was unable to," Katakuri said kindly. "Very brave and selfless, Luffy."
"It was indeed very impressive," Marco said patiently. "How old are you?"
"Six…"
"Did your quirk help you down?"
"I don' have a quirk. I'm a vampire," Luffy replied. Marco whistled, that he hadn't had any quirk help him. Luffy had managed to completely suppress any abilities that were unwanted. He was fine being quirkless, really. He didn't need things only to make him thirsty and violent. But Luffy was thirsty. "'M thirsty," he mumbled.
"I'll get you some blood to drink. Wait here." While they waited, Luffy finally fell asleep, emotionally and physically exhausted. Marco came back, but didn't wake Luffy up. They both stayed quiet and let him sleep.
-x-
To be honest, Katakuri was furious with himself, and angry that Luffy resorted to such a dangerous tactic to get out. Of course it was the only one that the father could think of to work as well, but it was still so reckless. If he'd fallen, who knows if he could have healed from that? If he'd hit his head, his boy could have died, and the last thing Katakuri had seen was his terrified expression as the elevator dropped, leaving him alone on the third floor.
Marco didn't recognize Katakuri, even though he'd met him before. In hero school, Katakuri had interned at the Whitebeard's agency, and had met young Marco. That was when he was a young child. Katakuri remembered what kind of kid he was. Obnoxious and loud. He was much calmer now, but he'd aged over 15 years since then, after all.
While Luffy napped in his lap, Marco was on the phone with his agency, trying to figure out what to do now. Katakuri was so glad he got out of the hero industry. It looked absolutely exhausting and stressful. He'd never envied Dragon's career, and hadn't ever regretted turning to helping children in a way other than heroes.
If he had been a hero, he would likely not have been able to give Luffy the life he had. Spending a lot of time with him, picking him up from school every day. If there was one thing he never wanted Luffy to do, it was to be a hero. But he had over nine years to choose. And he'd already done two very heroic things. Both involving bombs and his ehanced senses.
Katakuri didn't tell Marco of this. It didn't really matter, Luffy could say it if he wanted once he woke up. And when he did, Katakuri handed him the bottle of blood, which had been warmed up for him. Luffy chugged it down, but his shoulders were shaking. He was still terrified and shaken, and hugged Katakuri tightly. He didn't want to go anywhere but stay close to his father.
Marco tried to speak with him, but he was clearly overwhelmed still. He didn't answer, just keeping his eyes shut tightly. Katakuri took his phone and unsilenced it, and saw Zoro had called 37 times in the last two hours. Poor kid. So he finally called him back, and Luffy was glad to speak with him, crying and shouting everything that had happened.
Katakuri was waiting for Marco to tell them they could leave, but he wanted to speak of something else. But Luffy needed to go home and decompress, try and release his stress. This trip was supposed to cash a check, which would take maybe 20 minutes max. Instead, it had been four hours, most of that time spent in fear and worry. He needed to recover from this, too. The only reason he was not shaking was to be strong for his brave, terrified son.
When he wailed to Zoro about wanting to go home, Katakuri decided that was just what they were doing. "We're going home," Katakuri said to Marco. To his credit, he didn't look an ounce annoyed or impatient. Well, the boy was six and had just saved a ton of people. Maybe not the building or stopped the bomb, but the people of the building had been hurried out of it before it exploded, ruining everything inside.
"I'll give you a police escort home just to feel safe," Marco offered, and the father was more than grateful for that, accepting it with a thank you. They went to the car, and Luffy was clipped in the backseat again. Katakuri puled out of the packed parking lot, and started to drive home. Luffy fell asleep in the backseat again, so drained. What a traumatizing experience for both of them. A police car drove behind them the whole way home. Once they got there, Katakuri got Luffy's pumpkin backpack, and then carried the boy inside.
When Luffy was put down, he zoomed to his room, and hid under the covers of his bed. While he was glad all those important figures hadn't died, he was more concerned over his son's mental health. He'd not be going to school the next day. Katakuri had an appointment the next day, but felt this was a good enough reason to cancel. He hadn't missed single appointment since Luffy started school a couple months ago, and this was pretty big. He knew his boss and the client would both be understanding.
-x-
"Papa, make him leave me alone," Luffy said at the letter in the mail from Marco. "I don' wanna talk to him anymore."
"Why not?" Katakuri asked. Marco had sent him three letters, each one in thanks of those that heard about the unnamed boy that saved them. It wasn't something terrible to hear, but Luffy sounded sad and sour as well.
"I wanna forget about it," Luffy said honesty. "I don't want to think about it anymore." Katakuri took the letter, unopened, and promised he'd let the heroes know he didn't want to speak anymore. They would understand why Luffy didn't want to talk anymore. It had been a traumatizing experience, and Luffy had started therapy about it.
He may have been the hero of the day, but he was only six, had been alone in a scary situation, not knowing if his beloved parent was okay. He had nightmares about it, and had started to sleep in Katakuri's bed at night. He didn't discourage this. He wanted to help Luffy heal from the incident, and telling him to not sleep with him, to be stronger, move forward just wasn't what he was going to do.
So, he made sure all of Luffy's stuffed animals were ready and waiting for him in bed at night. Luffy woke up every night when Katakuri got into bed a few hours after Luffy did, but his whole body relaxed when he went to sleep with him. He had become clingy after school. It was good he did manage to make it to school just fine, though. Zoro and Sanji were by his side the whole time. His teachers had noticed the change in demeanor since the incident. They knew about what happened and his trauma. Thank goodness there was no PTSD symptoms yet.
So while Luffy was at school the next day, and Katakuri was on a break at work, he called the Whitebeard agency on one of the non emergency phones. "Whitebeard agency, how can I help you?" a woman's voice asked.
"Hi, I'd like to speak to Marco. Is he around?"
"Can I ask who this is?"
"If you say Katakuri is calling, he should want to come to talk." She sounded skeptical and put him on hold. It didn't take long for Marco to pick up. He thought he'd be speaking with Luffy. "It's Katakuri. Luffy's at school right now. I appreciate you trying to congratulate and praise Luffy for his brave actions, but he requested no contact."
"Oh? Why?" Marco wondered.
"He said he wants to try and forget. It's been quite traumatizing for him, and he's trying to move on from it. Letters and updates aren't making him feel better. He's only six," Katakuri explained in his office. There was a framed photo of Luffy with Karina on his desk.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I understand and won't make contact again. Nobody but me and Whitebeard know his identity, so nobody knows about him in particular doing what he did. Nobody even knows a vampire was involved. You won't be bothered regarding the incident," he said in understanding, not bothered at all. He didn't even sound an ounce disappointed. "By the way, are you Charlotte Katakuri by any chance?"
"Yes, I interned at the Whitebeard agency in high school. I was under the name Sweet Commander." He knew it was an embarrassing hero name, and would have definitely changed it if he continued on the pro hero path.
"Ah, yeah, Whitebeard remembers you, and told me to tell you congrats on having a great kid." Katakuri smiled, and agreed with his words. "If you two ever need anything, just call or come visit and you're welcome," Marco said. Then the call ended, and hopefully the incident was behind them. Katakuri wouldn't bring it up again, and would do as Luffy wished to do and try to just move on.
He would be lying if it wasn't hard to send him to school and then work across town from his school. But he wasn't going to disrupt his life any more than had already been done. When he got a call from the school, he was already at peak worry. "Katakuri-san, we need you to come pick Luffy up," Miss Robin said, sounding out of breath.
Getting his things, he hurried out, telling his boss there was an emergency while he was told Luffy had an episode. He started to cry, and then began to slam his head into the ground. He drove as fast as was legal, barley pushing it, as he hurried to the school. There was a cop car and an ambulance outside of the building in the pull in parking lot. He jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut and barely remembering to lock it.
Running into the room, he saw Luffy passed out, his forehead bruised badly. "Luffy!" Zoro had blood on his arm, from a bite, but Luffy looked sick. He had arrived right when the authorities had, and Luffy was brought into an ambulance, the father climbing in after. The class were staring with wide eyes as the ambulance doors closed and they headed to the hospital.
On their way, the bruise on Luffy's forehead was visibly fading fairly quickly as his vampire regeneration kicked in. He woke up before they got there, looking confused. Katakuri was heartbroken at seeing those bags under his eyes that weren't there that morning. The scared, sad look on his face.
Luffy should be smiling, bright and bubbly. "Hey, Luffy. How are you feeling?"
"Tired. Sad…"
Katakuri picked him up and hugged him. When the ambulance stopped, he carried Luffy into the emergency room, and was lead to a bed that he was set down on. The father sat on the bed next to him, and quietly asked what happened. No doctor was there yet and he needed to know in case Luffy didn't want to explain it to a stranger doctor. So he explained. He got overwhelmed when a boy in the class next to theirs made an explosion sound. He remembered the boom of the big explosion, and he felt himself snap. So he started banging his head so he didn't hurt anyone. Zoro tried giving him blood, and Luffy did get some, but then passed out cause his head hurt.
Katakuri took his cheek. "Do you want to take a break from school? To recover a bit?" he asked softly. If he needed to take a week or so off, everyone would be understanding, seeing what had happened just now at school. At least he hadn't attacked anybody. But Luffy shook his head. He wanted to keep going to school. He was finally starting to understand how to tell time. "Okay. We'll find how to help you with this," Katakuri replied kindly.
When the doctor came, they checked on his head, did some scans, but nothing came back bad. He was healed. But Katakuri was given a help line in case something like this happened again. He took it regardless of whether he'd use it. He and Luffy left and went to get a smoothie before they went home.
Luffy isolated himself in his room, and Katakuri could hear sniffling for a long time. The door was closed so he wanted to be alone. An hour later, Luffy ran out, bouncing on his toes, excited and happy. Katakuri was confused and had no idea what could change his mood and tone so drastically.
"Feeling better?" the father asked, keeping his voice light.
"Yeah!"
"How's your head?" Luffy cocked his head, confused. "Does it hurt?"
"Why would it? Did I bump it?! Oh no!" he shouted, grabbing the sides of his head. Katakuri was extremely confused by now. He asked Luffy if he remembered what happened that day. "Em… you picked me up early! I don't know why, but I got a smoothie, so I must have done something good."
"I see. Looks like you got a bit forgetful. Are you still sad?"
"No! Me and Zoro want to go trick or treating together with Sanji. I wanna be a butterfly this year."
"Do you remember Marco-san?"
"Whose that?" Luffy wondered. Katakuri played along, saying he must have dreamt a conversation they never had since Luffy didn't remember. He had no clue what the hell happened and how Luffy forgot it all. They said his head hadn't been hurt, and he remembered everything when he got home, and went to be by himself.
The only thing he could think of was Luffy using his random ability to erase memories, as he was starving for blood and drank three whole bottles. But it was alarming for him to use something like that on himself. To erase his own memories had to be quite powerful, and who knew how much he'd managed to erase? He wished Luffy had told him he was going to do that. Though Katakuri didn't know if he would have allowed it at the time.
They ate dinner, and while he was glad Luffy was happy again, it felt fake in a sense. But as long as he wasn't hurting emotionally and mentally, well… he could be happy about that. But he'd tell the teachers about what he thought Luffy had done. When Luffy went to his play room, Katakuri called Zoro and then Sanji to tell them Luffy didn't remember that day, and to please support him the next day.
Both boys promised they'd back up and be there for their friend. When it was bed time, he was happy to see Luffy cheerful again. He hoped it was worth it in the end. To cheat and not take the time to heal. Not that he was upset his boy wasn't hurting anymore. He was just worried a bit about any side affects.
When he woke Luffy up for school in the morning, he seemed confused. "Ready for breakfast? What's wrong?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Do you feel okay?"
"Yeah, can I have pancakes?" Katakuri nodded, and Luffy did his ritual and put his school socks on before breakfast, and he went zooming down the hall and to the dining room table to wait. Katakuri quickly mixed the pancake batter and other ingredients and made him some. He paid attention to Luffy while cooking when he didn't need to focus. He was acting normal, but did have a slightly confused look on. But when he spoke, he didn't seem to really feel confused.
After breakfast, Katakuri helped him pick out his clothes for the day. Friday's were special days where he needed help picking out his clothes. For some reason. He was in need of a second opinion. So he wore his leggo shirt and green shorts. "Luffy, I have to warn you about something. Something happened at school yesterday, but you seem to have forgotten." He wasn't going to just let him be confused all day when everyone but him remembered his panic attack the day before.
The boy was surprised, and confused. "You had a bad thought, and you started to get very upset. You hurt your head on the floor, and Zoro gave you a bit of blood to try and help."
"Why'd I forget?" Luffy asked, sounding baffled.
"I think you made yourself forget. With an ability. It was a very upsetting thought and situation that happened, so you must have wanted to be better and get rid of everything having to do with the scary situation," Katakuri explained honestly. "If it makes you feel better, then that's good. But there'll probably be some blanks in your memory from it."
"...If I did it to myself, I was really upset!" he said in worry. "Am I okay now?"
"So far, you seem fine. But I've told the teachers about it, and I'm going to get a doctor's appointment. Just to make sure everything is okay."
"Well, if I did it to myself then I trust it! Shishishi," Luffy said brightly. It nearly brought tears to the man's eyes. Having only seen the scared, nervous and quiet boy for the last two weeks. He was happy to have the natural Luffy back. He just hoped everything would end up alright. He drove Luffy to school, and dropped him off to Zoro and Sanji, and watched them head inside. Students were staring at Luffy. Katakuri hoped it went alright.
