Here we go!
Thanks to talestocryover and clyde2011 for their reviews :)
Take care,
dee
Marco comes to himself slowly, drifting, and not really thinking as much as existing in a conscious manner, suspended in between (in between what, he wonders?). Then, he remembers, and there's pain and there's darkness and Marco can't see, he can't stand, he can't fight back, he can't…
"Hey! Hey! Are you okay?" The voice is young, too young, but it's too dark and Marco can't see and he hits something and there's something off with his legs, can he feel his legs? Does Marco have legs, weren't they gone? They were gone, gone, gone, like his eye and his fingers and hadn't they gutted him too? Left him to bleed and watch as his insides became outsides, Marco's stomach –as a doctor he knew it was his stomach, he knew because the shape and the color and… There's light.
There's light.
Hands reach to cover his eyes, but they're not hands but wings, but then there are hands and there's wetness on his cheeks and Marco's eyes are burning, but there's light and Marco needs to see. A gasp escapes from the other side of the room.
"Mystery Bird!" Marco looks across from him and he doesn't recognize the young man looking at him warily, hand in the light switch. He's in a room, there's wood and not metal and there's warmth, it's almost a little stifling, but so warm. There's light and Marco cannot recognize the face, but the straw hat is burned into his memory (fire and loss), and his hand shoots for his hip and there's nothing there, there's no screw there… Marco's warm and he's just sitting there, lying on his rear and trying to make sense of this new reality that he does not understand.
Marco wants to say something, ask something, is he dreaming? Did he die? His throat feels like sandpaper, scratching, twisting, bending, his legs! Marco sees his bare toes and they're there, all ten of them and he looks at his hands and there's thumbs, all two of them and it's been so long, he counts all his fingers twice just to be sure. There's a glass in his vision and for one moment fear chills him to his core and Marco pushes himself back until his back collides with something, something slams next to him and Marco screams. He curls into himself, trying to protect, to hide. There's nothing interesting in him, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing
"No more, no more, please…" Marco just wants to be forgotten, the voice that answers his pleas is kind, and it takes him a minute to describe it as such.
"It's just a book, Mystery Bird, it fell because you hit the bookcase. See?" The straw hat is showing him the cover, holding it next to his head. Away from Marco, who's pressing himself so hard against the bookcase that he can feel one of the shelves digging into his back because… (his back, his back, Marco can hear breaking glass and pins and needles are shooting down his spine and hadn't they taken out that too? Hadn't he seen the gleaming bone and the…) "–ry Bird?" The face is a little closer, but Marco isn't, Marco's not actually feeling any pain. He looks down and his… his legs are there, he can see them, he used them.
The young man shows him the glass before bringing it closer. Marco's thirsty.
"Chopper said to take small sips." He says worriedly, but Marco's shaking hands are taking the glass down and water splashes his chest and the feeling is startling and cool, but not painful and the water sinks into his empty stomach like a blessing and then, Marco's curving over and it all comes back out, the acid burns as he vomits and his entire form is shaking in exertion.
His arms are shaking and the younger man's quick reflexes are the only thing that keeps him from face-planting in his own sickness, a clear yellowish liquid. Marco's leaning against something solid and warm and he can't even muster the strength to do anything but shake. He feels something wet in his nape. He remembers, amidst the twisting, the grinding of sea stone and bone, a straw hat, a face, the man had been crying then, too.
"Where… am I?" Marco's already so tired though, and he doesn't get to hear the answer.