I don't own anything but my ideas.
My Soul May Set in Darkness*
Zoro's back slammed up against the wall and he dropped to the ground, pressing himself as close to the wall as possible as he tried to slow his breathing down. Kid landed next to him with a slam, both freezing when something crashed in the alley across from them. Zoro inched further into the shadows, pulling the toe of his mangled shoe out of the flickering light of one of the last remaining street lamps.
They were silent for a full minute with no sounds coming from the alley before Zoro moved again, shuffling over to Kid's side to pull the blankets back from Killer's face and make sure he was still breathing. He met Kid's eye, who flicked his gaze across the street to their right where the hospital was leeching an eerie green light into the streets. Immediately behind the doors of the hospital—glass sliders with boards nailed in a crisscross pattern over the vulnerable spots—were people they could see drifting past the holes in the boards. The only reason they'd be posted there was if they had guns, which wasn't a strange idea considering a shipment of medical supplies had been shipped in recently. Zoro nodded and swallowed again, heart rate still not down from their mile sprint across town through the shadows of the alleyways.
They shifted to their hands and knees, crawling towards the corner of the building and Zoro prepared to make a dash to the front door the second Kid moved. Falling behind even a single pace could mean enough space to give an NSPH the confidence needed to take down a kill. Together, they might stand a chance, especially with Wado at his side. But there were packs of NSPH lurking around the city and not that much food and not that much shelter left. Times were desperate for everyone.
Kid moved half an inch, a sudden jerk, and Zoro was instantly on his feet, flying forward when Kid dropped back to the shadows faster than Zoro could see and grabbed Zoro's shoulders, yanking him back down where he connected hard with the wall. Zoro grunted at the impact and Kid clapped a hand over his mouth just as Zoro heard the telltale crunching and popping of rocks and glass fragments against the pavement, and tires squealed around the corner.
Two ambulances swung in front of the building, screeching to a halt violently and every door in both vehicles flew open before they had even come close to complete stops. Emergency personnel, dressed haphazardly in whatever red and yellow they could find, spilled out, rushing around to the back to pull patients out and racing over to bang on the wooden boards nailed across the hospital doors. It was a machine, poorly oiled, but well-run enough to function, and the doors slid open with sharp squeals as patients were carried and dragged towards the doors.
Kid got to his feet, ready to sprint into the crowd and slip in with the mayhem. Once they were inside they could find Law and no one would be able to kick them out, but until then no hospital staff was going to risk wasting resources on them—
"Above!" a voice screamed suddenly, and all eyes snapped to the roof, everything halting momentarily as a black shape dropped out of the sky. It landed on a gurney with a crash, taking the wheels out from under it and sending both bodies as well as the two people pushing it sprawling across the ground. The thing that had soared in like a hawk reared back, perched on top of the bleeding patient's chest, and lunged down, sinking teeth into his neck as he shrieked in terror.
The crowd exploded, people screaming and scattering in every which direction, some towards the hospital where doors that had just been opened were suddenly flooded with guards. Every one of them was locked and loaded, and the second they had set foot outside the hospital bullets flew, bursts of light and short, deafening cracks split the night air, backed by the frantic wailing of abandoned patients and people running for their lives as more and more NSPH dropped out of the sky.
Zoro's mind instantly began counting them—eight, nine, ten, eleven—when Kid grabbed his shirt sleeve and shot forward, snapping Zoro's head back with the shock of the force behind the pull. The second his body caught up with his mind and he was keeping up, Kid let go, and they sprinted into the dead middle of the chaos, sidestepping and jumping over patients and NSPH writhing across the ground like a pit of snakes.
Zoro gasped as something snagged his pant leg and Wado was in his hand before he could even think. Quick twist, a flash of silver in the green light and blood flew, followed by a hand sailing through the air as someone howled. The entire movement happened before he'd taken his next step, or flying leap over someone bleeding to death on the ground from injuries from the bomb, and he didn't bother to spare the energy to look behind him. He'd just have to trust that it was a NSPH and not the hand of some desperate, hurt person reaching out for him.
Something flashed overhead, black and moving as fast as a bolt of lighting right for Kid's back and Zoro launched himself forward, too far away to use Wado. He hit the NSPH head-on, right above Kid's head, sending both of them flying, clawing and lashing out at each other before they even hit the ground. Zoro's shoulder hit first and the air was forced painfully out of his lungs as the NSPH landed on top of him, Wado spinning away across the ground from the blow. Zoro choked, momentarily stunned, and claws slashed deep through his cheek as he ducked barely in time to miss losing his eye.
His hands snapped out and grabbed both sets of claws flashing for his throat, holding them tight to his shoulders and away from his major arteries. Above him, slightly sunken but vibrant copper eyes narrowed in fury, lips peeling back to reveal fangs Zoro had come to know too well from all of his mishaps with Killer. Zoro pressed his back against the ground, head twitching back and forth as he tried to anticipate which way it would strike at him when the copper eyes popped and the thing was suddenly yanked from his front. Zoro scrambled up, catching sight of Kid as the older man flung the NSPH over his shoulder like a burlap sack and smashed it as hard as he could headfirst into the ground. Bone crunched and blood exploded from the shattered skull, muffled only by the torn up pavement, and it flopped to the ground, twitching slightly before it stilled.
Zoro struggled to his feet, still slightly out of breath, when a hand gripped the handle of one of the backpacks he was wearing and he was yanked forward, knocking the air back out of his lungs. Zoro coughed, reaching for Wado before he realized that it was Kid who had grabbed him and that Wado was not in her sheath. Zoro gasped, whirling around in the impossibly tight grip and his hand shot out, snagging the beautiful white sword from the blood and dirt before he was thrown like a javelin through the open doors of the hospital and landed in a jumbled heap inside, cans spewing out of the backpack and clattering across the floor and into the boots of the guards shooting from the door.
Zoro wrestled out of the tangled straps of the bags, gripping Wado in one hand and ready to race back out into the frenzy now that he wasn't held down with fifty pounds worth of canned food when Kid clotheslined him with a giant arm and sent him flying, knocking the air out of him for the third time in less than a minute. Zoro rolled over onto his back and pushed himself to his knees, hacking profusely as his lungs tried to remember how to take in air. Kid's bags landed with a thump next to his head and he looked up as Kid pulled the gun from his belt, firing with the guards at the front door out into the unnaturally green night, Killer still strapped to his back. Zoro clutched at his chest, sucking a breath in with a loud gulp and leapt to his feet. Kid swiped for him as he ran past, but he made sure to be far enough away so that he could duck around Kid's hands.
"Zoro!"
Zoro dove forward, sliding across the pavement as bullets tore through the air above him, and came to a stop next to the closest person on the ground outside the sliding doors. He placed a hand over their mouth to feel for air, determined that they were dead and crawled to the next one. The woman choked, a monstrous gash ripped open in her neck, and reached up slowly, calling for him. Her voice was a thick gurgle, soaked through with blood draining into her lungs.
"P-Please…"
Zoro knew the wound was fatal, and he shouldn't have wasted time rechecking it but there was a dead NSPH next to her, face held in a grimace and fangs deadly sharp and white against the black air. She was dying and had still managed to take one down with her, so he checked the wound again before shaking his head grimly at her. Something deep, and uncomfortably private flashed behind her eyes, fear, pain, realization, understanding, hatred, resentment, calm, and hundreds of other feelings that Zoro had felt himself only an hour ago with Killer lying soaked in blood on the bed, dying under his useless hand, and then something settled behind her eyes—resolve—and her hand drifted out again to come to rest on top Zoro's hand. Wado was gripped tightly in his grip, and he blinked before realizing what she wanted him to do.
"P…please…" she gurgled again, and Zoro nodded, reaching out with his free hand to cover her eyes and he plunged the blade into her side before he could change his mind, driving the tip through both lungs and her heart. She shivered, a rush of air escaping from her lips as more blood dribbled down her chin, and then she was still. An NSPH landed in a heap next to him, a bullet wound right above its ear and Zoro yanked Wado's blade from the woman's body, crawling over to the next one.
"Zoro! Leave them!"
Zoro faltered at the sound of Kid's furious tone but pushed himself forward, crawling past three more dead bodies before he reached the snapped shin of a man. He placed a hand over his mouth to feel for breath and make sure he was still alive and then hauled the man up by his arms, dragging him back towards the hospital.
"ZORO!"
Zoro's head snapped up and his mouth dropped open at the flicker of gleaming fangs above his face and then another crack from a gun and the NSPH smashed into him, dead weight forcing him roughly to the ground. Zoro grunted and heaved the body off of him, starting at the sight of four more pair of eyes glowing at him from the roof of the building next door. He let out a shaky breath and grabbed the man again, jolting as something groaned by him and he found an old woman crumpled against the ground, twisting uncomfortably. Zoro gritted his teeth and fisted the man's jacket tightly in one hand so he could free up his other and dragged the two people over the next body they passed instead of around it to get to the safety of the hospital.
When he was in reach, two people raced out to help him bring the man and woman inside and two of the NSPH landed in front of them. The two people screamed and Zoro reacted, dropping the man and old woman and slashing with Wado so fast the two falling forms didn't even have time to hit the ground. The head of the NSPH closest to him sailed backwards and the other one dropped to its knees, riddled with bullet holes. The people that had come to help him were frozen, clutching at themselves and screaming, fight or flight response overthrown by the sheer amount of adrenaline coursing through their systems.
"Come on!" Zoro roared, grabbing the man and woman again and the two snapped their mouths closed, shaking for another second before they grabbed the man's feet and took his arms from Zoro so he could be carried inside, leaving Zoro to haul the old woman into his arms. The two dropped to the ground once inside, shaking in fear and curled into fetal positions, and Zoro set the old woman carefully down before turning back for the front doors. He had to make sure the other ones he'd seen outside were actually dead, but a fist appeared out of nowhere in front of his face, smashing him backwards across the hospital entryway where he skidded across the bloodied floor and hit the wall on the other side of the room head-on. People yelped in shock as he went flying by, confused as to what was happening.
Zoro groaned, reaching up to finger his nose gingerly as pain erupted behind his eyes, blood gushing down the front of his face. In front of him, two of Kid were standing—swimming as his eyes filled with water—on the other side of the room, shaking from how livid he was, glaring at Zoro like he'd set out to murder small children.
"You stay there," Kid ordered darkly, turning back for the glass doors as the guards started to slide them shut, sill firing blindly into the night to deter the NSPH from trying to get in. Zoro made to get up, just to spite the motherfucker for thinking he could control him with barbarian tactics like that, but the sudden motion made his brain melt inside of his head and trickle out his ears, and movement suddenly became an extremely strange notion. He wasn't sure why he'd tried to move in the first place. Zoro slid back to the ground, touching his nose, eyes, head, and neck like they were landmines, not sure exactly where the pain was coming from but understanding how much it hurt. He was going to look like a domestic abuse victim tomorrow. Though technically, it was true.
Asshole.
The doors boomed, echoing down the halls as they closed and the chains rattled as they were dragged across the boards, clicking into place. Zoro was content to just sit, but the bursting pain was getting worse by the second, and the sudden thickness of anger in the air from Kid crouching down next to him wasn't helping in the slightest.
Zoro waited for Kid to say something, imagining all of the yelling and which choice names he would pick, but the redhead seemed so enraged that he couldn't even form words and eventually just heaved Zoro over one shoulder. He ignored Zoro's yelp of pain and grabbed the backpacks Zoro had been carrying and the food that had spilled out, marching them all down the hallway like a furious pack mule, steam pouring out of his ears and leaving a trail of blood as he stalked through the nurses, doctors, volunteers racing from room to room.
-oOo-
Out of the seven patients being brought to the hospital, only four had made it inside, and out of those, only two had lived past the first five minutes inside. Including those deaths and the people that were killed outside while trying to bring others in, there were several empty beds in the hospital, and Kid wasted no time in angering a lot of doctors to check the chart for an empty room and get Killer set up in an unoccupied one.
Kid growled like a rabid wolf at anyone that tried to check Killer for any wounds or bleeds and physically removed two others that tried to call his bluff, leaving Zoro to comfort the small boy when he woke up and instantly started sobbing, pain and hunger surging through him in waves.
It was like he was an infant again, screaming for some sort of reassurance in the night that things would get better, but his physical body had no reason to accept that everything would be fine, and he was left to the mercy of his demons. His skin was pale and flaky, turning grey in some areas and peeling in layer upon layer in others. His fangs fluctuated, extending and retracting as his mind tried to make sense of what his body was feeling and a few times he sunk them deep into his own lips by accident, blood dribbling down his chin and making the situation worse. He was soaked in sweat, and his breath was coming in choked bursts, like his lungs didn't know how to take in oxygen anymore. Zoro was nearly frantic himself as he watched Killer thrash under the covers, so hungry and overwhelmed by the smell of blood covering nearly every inch of the hospital that he'd even tried to bite himself a couple times because he was the nearest source of food. He wasn't even trying to bite Zoro, who was less than a foot from him. Zoro would have cut his wrist in a second and let him drink now that he was awake, but the doctors and nurses hadn't left before and definitely weren't now that Killer looked like he was having a seizure, a panic attack, and delusions all at once. Both Kid and Zoro were getting more and more agitated every second that Killer screamed, and Kid was about ready lunge at one of the doctors just to get some blood in Killer's system.
"Get out!" Kid screamed, shoving the one closest to him harshly and making him stumble back on stick-thin legs, nearly falling over from his top-heavy frame. The doctor was tall but stumpy, like someone had stepped on his legs as a child and flattened them. Spine curved like the hunchback of Notre Dame, a curled flip of hair sticking our of his forehead, and dark glasses framing a nose as sharp as a wire coat hanger, the man looked more like a mad scientist from a children's movie as opposed to a trusted doctor. It didn't help that his voice broke like a twelve-year-old's when he talked, and he didn't seem to be able to stop smiling. Zoro wouldn't have let the fucker near Killer even if Killer just needed a routine goddamn checkup.
"Go deal with other fucking patients! No one is touching him but Trafalgar Law! You want someone to see him? Find Law!"
"I'm very experienced with acute intermittent porphyria, Law and I have spoken about his condition and medical history! I can handle his—!"
"Get the fuck out of here before I actually hurt you!"
"Mr. Kid, you're being paranoid! He needs medical attention! He might not be able to wait until Law—!"
"You're not touching him! Brain-dead son of a whore!"
"Eustass. Kid."
The whole wing went silent except for Killer's hysterical moaning, Law's deadly calm voice bleeding into everyone's ears through all of the calamity and like a paralytic. Zoro looked over in exhausted relief to where he was standing, deep blue hair matted and sticking out in every direction from days of not washing it properly, clothes burned and torn, and eyes like black fire trying to burn a hole through Kid's head.
"I hear," he started slowly, "that you dragged a half dead child on your back a mile across a city crawling with vampires with absolutely nothing for protection but a gun not really within your reach and a very short-range sword being wielded by another child." Any other time Zoro would have stood up for his range of attacks, but Law's expression told him that doing that would be detrimental to his health.
Kid just gave him a tired look and shoved the doctor moving into his personal space again. "Just go see Killer. And you," he rounded on the doctor as he started to move around Kid again to assist Law, "if I catch you in here, see you lurking about, so much as hear one of the volunteers mention that you wanted to come up here to do a follow up of any kind, I will hunt you down, dismember you and stick you in bags to catch the blood so I can offer you as a welcoming present to our unexpected guests outside. You think I'm fucking paranoid now? Try me, see if I'm kidding."
"I'll take care of it, Hogback. You go, he's far too stubborn," Law said flatly as he brushed past Kid, fixing the covers around Killer to keep him in the bed. Hogback, still smiling like a lunatic, stood watching Law's back for a moment before he abruptly turned and stalked away, grumbling to himself as he went.
"Fucking creep," Kid snarled as Law reached Killer's side, checking his temperature with one hand and his pulse with the other. Zoro moved to hold Killer down so he wouldn't thrash so much, but he sort of doubted that it was much help. Law seemed to mentally make a note of a few things before he moved onto the next tests. Kid yanked the curtain shut behind them just in case prying eyes got too close and saw something they weren't supposed to, and he was glad someone remembered to. Zoro didn't want to risk having to know if Law and Kid would actually commit murder for Killer, because something told him what the answer was and he still wasn't sure if he liked it.
"He's harmless," Law murmured, pulling a plastic bag of blood out from under his coat and hanging it up beside Killer's bed. The blonde made half a lunge for it, and then dropped back to the mattress almost instantly. He shook his head violently and screamed, throwing his head back so his fangs flashed with his movements.
"I don't like him," Kid's voice was dark, and he shot a burning glare over his shoulder to where Hogback had disappeared down the hall.
Law's voice was flat and extremely blasé when he answered, just annoyed by Kid's comments. "No one does."
Zoro grimaced, partly from Killer's movements but mostly from the flat look on Law's face. Not even Killer writhing in pain could get him to lose his cool? Zoro felt a pang of jealousy prickle down his spine, remembering how Kid and Law spoke to each other, passionate and filled with every sort of emotion. No matter how close the four of them were, it seemed there was truly nothing he or Killer could do to evoke that same kind of reaction. Kid was loud and irrational, and even volatile, but that wasn't new and certainly not exclusive to Killer. Even when Law or Kid got scared or angry, it was nothing compared to the way they got each other to feel and act. Zoro rested his chin down on Killer's bedside, taking the twitching hand gently in his own. He eyed the black bandana he had tied around his upper arm and the little spot of yellow on the bottom corner.
Law flicked the end of the tube trailing down from the bag of blood, and a couple flecks of red jumped from the tip and landed on the white sheets. As soon as it had started dripping, he gripped Killer's chin tightly and held the tube over his mouth, letting the liquid fall past his fangs. Killer gurgled and coughed as it hit the back of his throat, swallowing heavily and trying to twist away from Law's grip. Law barely struggled with him for twenty seconds, just avoiding having his fingers bitten off more than a couple times before he pulled away.
He waited until Killer had calmed down again—as much as he was going to—and then attached the tube to a needle, slipping it into Killer's forearm the next time he was still. Killer jolted at the sudden contact, but the injury wasn't big and it was soon forgotten when it paled to the agony the rest of his body was in. Zoro squeezed his hand, unable to come up with anything else he could do.
"He won't process it as well or quickly this way," Law explained with a heavy breath, and reached into the drawer next to the bed to pull out a sedative and a syringe. Zoro watched as Law filled the needle and slid that into Killer's arm, right above the IV. Almost instantly, Killer's movements slowed to a standstill, and he went silent as his head flopped to the side. "But without it in his system he won't be able to tell what's going on; I guess technically he's starving to death—no blood to carry oxygen or nutrients anywhere because he doesn't produce any. And if I'm over here and he's still screaming after too long, other doctors will start coming back. He can eat when he starts to really wake up."
Zoro nodded after a moment, his chin still pressed into the mattress, not about to move even an inch from Killer's side. Kid and Law could find somewhere else to sleep.
He was being petty, and he knew he was being petty. But still… they were only in their twenties.
Law was twenty-nine, Kid was twenty-seven, and he was seventeen. They were barely a decade apart in age, and neither of them had really signed up to take care of either him or Killer. They were still kids. They weren't a family; they were a group of close friends thrown into life together.
He knew that Kid and Law loved them, he'd be stupid not to realize it, but that didn't make them either of their parents. They were infinitely better than Mihawk or his real parents, but they had never really asked to be parents. They had just been stuck with some stupid kids that didn't have anywhere better to go. Sometimes Zoro wondered what Kid and Law talked about with Shanks when he used to bring Luffy and Ace over when they were younger. Maybe Shanks had assured them that they were doing their best and that was good enough. Maybe they had taken the time away from watching small children to vent so they didn't explode, angry that they had been forced to grow up so fast for him and Killer.
"Here."
Zoro's eyes opened from where they had drifted closed and he looked up at the glass of water and small bowl of food from the cans being held in front of his face. He stared up at Law's calm expression, a tiny smile tugging at the edge of the doctor's lips now that (hopefully) the most dangerous part of the night had passed. Zoro locked eyes with him for a moment before Law's expression dropped into a deadpan and he placed the food on the table next to Zoro.
"You have that face you get when you're thinking idiotic things about what family means."
"I don't have a face!" Zoro barked, too on edge to care that he might have woken Killer with the noise. "I'm not a kid!" also shot through Zoro's mind, but he knew better than to start that argument. Law sighed and shifted the hat Kid had brought him higher on his head to play with his bangs.
"Listen, I know the guilt thing is heavy with you, but you don't have a ton of people in your life that do things they don't want to so I don't understand why this is still so hard to comprehend. Your father didn't stay, your mother didn't bother taking care of herself before the birth of your sister so things went wrong, and Mihawk would have left you with a fulltime nanny if Eustass and I hadn't gotten you back. Which, by the way, we had to fight pretty hard to do."
Zoro just stared up at him unblinkingly, lips pinched, but Law held his gaze, strong and fearless as ever, fingers still twisted in his dark hair.
"You're here because we want you here. You're a pain in the ass, and we've had ample opportunity to walk away. Shanks even offered to take you a couple times when it looked like Mihawk would mutilate us if we asked to have you back again. But you're still here, and have been for years, so you might as well get used to it."
Zoro turned back to the bed, knowing the end of a Law Spiel when he heard one, but Law let out a slow sigh and then continued. "…Family is fucked up, god knows both Eustass and I understand that. And we understand that your idea of family is also fucked up, but you need to stop thinking that people care because they have to. It's bullshit, and no one has the energy for it, especially during a war like this. Anyone who didn't care would have walked out long ago. You think Eustass and I give a shit about guilt? I've killed people, Zoro, plural, and so has Eustass. If we didn't want you, Eustass and I would be halfway across the world and you would have died with Killer long ago in that apartment, so get over yourself and eat your food before you start wasting away and lose it too." And with that he turned and headed over to where Kid had rolled another empty bed he found behind their curtain and passed out not too long ago.
Zoro swallowed and placed his chin back on the bed. He fingered the edge of the bandana again, feeling the yellow embroidery floss and staring deeply at Killer before he groaned inwardly and picked up the food, shoving it into his mouth. He needed Killer to wake up; once he was awake and fine, almost all of their tension would drop away in a heartbeat.
-oOo-
Zoro had Wado on his side, a gun strapped to his back, and a new sweatshirt on. Both were an extra from the hospital. Zoro was pretty sure that meant the person before him wearing the sweatshirt had died, but it wasn't as full of holes or drenched with blood as Zoro's old one, so he'd taken it. He had yet to take off the bandana with Law's mark on it. The surgeon hadn't said anything and Zoro had gotten pretty used to wearing it. The gun was from a shipment flown in over the city and dropped on the hospital, which was the only place still receiving shipments from the outside—everything else was too far destroyed. And while the city's supplies were quickly dwindling—along with the city's inhabitants—the military was still trying to figure out their next attack. Apparently, according to some city officials at the hospital, the death toll of terrorists after the air strikes had not been high enough, so they had to figure out something else. Zoro had thought Kid would explode and Law would disintegrate in anger when they heard that, Killer still sleeping heavily on the other side of the room, a bag of blood dripping steadily into his arm.
Zoro glanced around the corner of the building and into the street, leaned back, took one more deep breath, and jogged out into the open. One hand held Wado's hilt in her sheath, and the other gripped the gun, both at the ready. The streets were quiet after the last attack on the hospital—it had only been a couple of hours after all—but he knew from experience that that changed quickly.
Zoro slunk up to the severely dented front door of another apartment building that had survived thus far. He tried the knob, and pushed when he found it unlocked, trying to create as little noise as possible. It didn't budge and he could hear near the top of the frame where the metal was jammed and grinding against itself. He glanced once more around the street, and then jerked forwards, slamming his whole body into the metal and it popped open. He dashed in and slammed the door behind him, wincing at the crash it made and the way it echoed down the building hallway, but he didn't stop to worry before jogging up the stairs in front of him, one hand still on each weapon.
I guess I should have checked to make sure they're actually still here.
Not that he'd have had any way of getting in touch with them.
He reached the third floor and trotted down the hallway, checking around corners before he continued and staying as close to the wall as he could. Every once and a while he'd double check a suspicious hole blown in one of the walls or have to step out into the middle of the hallway to sidestep a peeling piece of wallpaper, but it made him nervous—more so than he felt it should—and he always found himself pressed up against the wall again the second he was able.
Zoro slowed to a stop in front of the tag "3C" and surveyed the dim hallway, one light flickering at the end, before deciding he could spare a couple seconds away from keeping a look out and placed his ear to the door. Inside he could hear—barely, barely hear, they were doing an amazing job keeping their living status under wraps—the sound of people milling about. If he hadn't put his ear right to the door, it could have easily been mistaken for an empty apartment.
He pulled back and looked once more up and down the hallway, forcing himself to calm down for one second so he could let go of the gun, and tapped a finger on the door three short times.
Instantly everything inside stopped. Nothing moved for minutes, and Zoro moved to knock again when he heard something shift inside. Someone hissed sharply at whoever had moved, and then the tiny sounds of feet padding to the door followed. Zoro moved to stand in front of the peephole so they could identify him, and waited for a moment, glancing up and down the length of the hallway over and over again. The door clicked behind him, and he shot forward just as the door creaked open, sliding into the room as Ace slapped the door shut behind him. No one moved for another full minute, Ace's hand still on the doorknob, everyone straining for any sound on the outside that could have indicated a threat. It seemed that the only sound in the whole building was the breathing of everyone in the room, and eventually Ace let go of the doorknob and turned around to pad back to the couch were a beer was open and waiting for him.
Zoro stood, smiling at Marco and Thatch before he turned to Robin. The four of them had been sharing an apartment since moving to the city just months before it had been barricaded, when housing prices were so low that they could afford it. The crisis hadn't improved, as they were hoping, and they'd been locked in the city along with everyone else when the military had enacted a siege.
Robin smiled at him and instantly he felt himself relax. Not much riled her up, but she wasn't stupid, and the fact that she was completely calm meant that they had time. He slipped the gun from his shoulder where it was strapped and laid it on the small table next to the couch, settling himself between her and Ace when they scooched to make room.
"Happy birthday, Zoro," she looked slyly at him and he blinked. She'd known he would forget.
Ace snorted and passed Zoro his beer after taking a swig. "Lucky you."
"How does it feel to finally be a man?" Thatch asked from the other side of the room, his voice barely a whisper. Zoro shrugged and took a good long gulp before handing the bottle back to Ace.
"Not different." Huh. Eighteen.
"Well, it's not like we have more pressing things on our mind than the fact that you can buy scratch tickets and cigarettes now," Marco quirked a half smile and Zoro nodded, relaxing back into the couch as the alcohol hit him a tiny bit, faster than it normally did due to the fact that he hadn't drank since before the "vampire killers" struck. Had it really been that many months since he'd seen them all?
"I'm amazed you're still alive," Ace admitted after a quiet pause. "I mean, you have Law and Kid and you fight really well but this place is such a shit show. Your place still ok?"
Zoro shook his head and closed his eyes, leaning back into the couch. Oh yeah, so much better than the hospital beds. "One of the buildings next to us got hit by a bomber, the whole north side of the apartment was blown open."
"Jesus."
"And everyone's alright?" Robin's voice drifted up, quieter even than the guys, even though she was sitting right next to him.
Zoro collected his thoughts before answering, preparing himself to recount and relive what he already wanted so desperately to forget.
He sighed, and then sucked in a slow breath. "Killer—"
Zoro's throat closed. He sat staring ahead, mouth hanging open and voice locked, unable to find any words that would do it even a little bit of justice. The thick, red blood gushing out of Killer's small body at such a horrifying rate, drenching through the bed, the sheets, their clothes, maybe even leeching through to leave a stain on the mangled floor. The loll of Killer's head to the side when he was moved, the lack of breath lifting his lungs, the sallow, greenish color his skin had started to take on, making him so pale that he started to blend in with whatever white was left on the sheets. The way Zoro's heart had sped up so fast that each beat was indistinguishable from the next, and yet so slow that Zoro could count every agonizing second he couldn't come up with anything to keep Killer from dying. Zoro was pretty sure he still had red on his hands from ripping through Killer's clothes, desperately trying to find the opening to a wound that would cause that much blood to spurt from his skin, and he didn't dare look to see if that was true. Not that his neck would have allowed him to move at the moment.
"…Zoro?"
Zoro blinked, looking up from where Thatch had spoken his name. He met the concerned eyes of everyone in the room before clearing his throat quietly, mostly for his own sake.
"Killer got hit the worst from the blast, but it wasn't bad. The apartment was unlivable though so we had to pack and carry everything across town to the hospital where Law was."
Marco let out a low whistle and took a drink from his bottle. "You made it even after a bomb hit? When it was that dark outside?"
Zoro nodded and grabbed Ace's drink from him, nursing it quietly as he waited for someone else to say something. He kept his eyes forward, avoiding Robin's gaze. She'd know it was a lie. Ace, maybe, but he might just pull another D move and gloss over it for the next thing.
"And Kid and Law?" Ace asked, waiting until Zoro was done before he grabbed it back.
"Both at the hospital."
"I mean they don't know where you are, do they?"
"…I'll get back before they wake up."
"Uh huh." Ace's voice couldn't have been more vapid or disbelieving. Zoro didn't care to elaborate.
There was a pregnant silence before Thatch finally spoke up, moving to stand. "Well, I'm tired so you must be exhausted. We went out to find food today but that doesn't compare to crossing the city like that. I'll take the couch so you can have my bed?"
Zoro nodded slowly, thanking Thatch silently for his intuition. The older man had a gift; Zoro had never heard him say the wrong thing in a situation, and there wasn't a situation he couldn't defuse.
"Why doesn't Zoro take the floor in my room?" Robin spoke up suddenly, placing her now empty glass on the table beside her. "That way you three can keep your beds, and my room is for two people so we'll fit just fine. I have that blow up mattress we found anyways. If we have to do anything like run during the night, it might be dangerous to switch locations. You might not remember in the heat of the moment in the dark and that could be deadly."
Zoro swallowed again, keeping his head ducked. If Thatch's intuition was impeccable, it was second only to Robin's. She might have even figured out why he was really there before he was even settled on the couch. Why else would he have braved the NSPH in the dead of night without telling anyone he was leaving? Thatch didn't bat an eye and just nodded, plucking Robin's glass off of the side table to bring it to the kitchen sink. Ace paused, giving them both a look before Marco stood and followed Thatch into the kitchen, giving no indication even if he did know. He shrugged with his eyes after a minute and murmured goodnight, scratching his chest as he shambled into the bedroom with a heavy yawn.
Zoro watched Robin as she uncrossed her legs almost painfully slowly and stood, drifting across the room and down the short hallway. She made no motion that he should follow, but he stood to follow after her when she disappeared into her room.
Zoro stepped around her through the door, refusing to make eye contact even though it didn't seem like it would bother her, and she closed the door soundly behind them. He stood off to the side as she drifted around the room, sliding his hands into his pockets and keeping his arms tight at his side. He resisted the urge to shuffle his toes uncomfortably, keeping the soles of his feet locked tight against the floor as Robin started her bedtime routine.
"What happened to Killer?"
Zoro jolted at the sudden question, tightness in his chest and throat rushing back as his eyes began swimming again with the pictures of Killer drowning in blood. Unconsciously he pulled his hands from his pockets, inspecting the color of his palms under the dim light from Robin's one small lamp—windows boarded over and keeping out any light from the one remaining street lamp outside—turning them over and over.
"Blood stains?"
His head flicked up to where her tranquil eyes were following his fingers, looking for the same thing he was. He dropped his hands and tucked them back into his pockets, feeling Wado brush against his wrist.
He shook his head, realizing that she probably wanted an answer. "No. …None."
"Stains don't have to be visible to the eye to mean they're there."
He didn't answer, lips pinched tightly together as she continued to drift around the room, switching out of her day clothes and into a sleep shirt and shorts.
"You do the same thing with your lips that Law does when he's upset."
He pursed his lips tighter at the remark, and it took him a huge amount of effort to relax his muscles enough to keep them from pinching together again.
"Tell me what happened to Killer," she tried again, her quiet voice compelling and almost more of a gentle order than a suggestion. She had a way. "You're starting to worry me that he was blown to pieces."
Zoro closed his eyes, hot anger pricking at his tear ducts and he let out a slow breath through his nose, counting backwards from ten until the constriction in his lungs had subsided. "H-He, uh…"
"Come sit."
Zoro looked up to where she had perched herself on the corner of the bed. He weighed his options for a moment, thoughts and pros and cons and wants and desires and the anger and confusion bombarding his brain before he finally pushed away from the wall and went to join her. As an afterthought, he kicked off his boots before he settled himself and tossed them over to the door so the mud wouldn't get everywhere, though she didn't seem to care one way or another. Zoro draped his elbows across his knees and leaned his head forward, keeping his gaze away from Robin's so he had some form of upper hand to keep her from reading him. She'd probably do it anyways but it made him feel more comfortable. Already, he was sure his unwillingness to speak was writing her novels.
"We all went into Kid's room when the bombs started falling," he started finally, trying to keep the words circulating through his head as opposed to the images. "To be in the same place just in case… you know. And when the bomb hit the building next to us it blew the entire wall off and shot a lot of debris back into the room. Kid and I were fine, but Ki—" he cut off again, waiting until the heat in his eyes was gone before continuing, "Killer got hit, really badly. He had a shard of glass jammed in his throat so big it looked like a meat cleaver, and he was bleeding everywhere. There was so much blood, just like… like… like a pool or… and we did get him to the hospital, and Law's fixing him and he is going to be fine, but…" his swallowing was becoming more and more frequent and it was taking everything in him not to swipe at his eyes to make sure they weren't wet.
"It's alright to let go, Zoro," Robin spoke up quietly, a gentle hand finding a resting place on his forearm. "You're strong, but it isn't necessary right now."
Zoro shook his head sharply, letting out a huff to cool his body down. The prickling had stopped, and he could relax a little at the realization that he'd stopped the welling of emotions.
"…Robin—"
"My offer still stands, Zoro."
He looked up slowly, meeting her dark, calm eyes and staring forlornly into them.
"You are a strong and powerful friend, and have been there ceaselessly for me and everyone close to me. I would like to be able to offer the same."
So that was why. Neither moved, and then Robin, seeming to understand that he was floundering silently for anything to do, leaned forward and laid her lips against his. They were rough, not quite split, though the days since the city had been barricaded had taken their toll, but they were strong and confident, guiding him and assuring him that things would be fine. Zoro closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, beginning to move slowly along with her and he laid a hand on her upper arm, just resting it for a moment, still unsure if moving it would cross a line.
She seemed to feel his uncertainty just through touch, not that he was hiding it very well, and she moved her hands to his shoulders, pulling him lightly into her as she leaned back against the bed, taking him with her until they were pressed flush against each other.
Zoro broke the kiss, pulling back to meet her eyes, holding her gaze confidently for the first time that night. They couldn't skip over this. "Are you sure about this? Don't do this because you think—"
"My body is mine to do with it what I choose," she cut him off, gaze firm at first, and then she gave him a light smile. "Neither of us have the emotional availability at the moment for this to become too complicated, while both of us are looking for something that has yet to present itself to us, and for that I find you a very safe partner to share certain vulnerabilities with, such as this one."
Zoro nodded, letting her words sink in before he leaned back down and kissed her again, hard, rolling his body in a wave down hers as he gripped her hips tightly and she let out a content sigh, digging her fingers into his shoulder blades and holding him tightly.
-oOo-
Zoro sat perched on the edge of a fire escape that had survived the year since the first "vampire killer" attacks, looking out over the city that had just barely regained some electricity and was flickering with a dim glow, so different from how it used to look, vibrant and alive with energy and people.
Beside him, Ace sat hunched forward, his hands on his knees as he scanned the buildings in front of them. Somewhere off to their right, Thatch and Marco were watching over a different corner of the city, and to their left, Luffy and Sabo had taken another side. There were different couples scattered all across the city, most comprised of people he didn't know, every single one of them armed. After it had become clear that the military was going to do little to regain control of the city, due to backlash and the huge number of dead soldiers that always followed attacks, the citizens had taken it upon themselves to form a militia and remove the terrorists attacking their city. Zoro wasn't sure how many had figured it out, but after months of bodies turning up without blood, he knew that people were at least speculating. Reality, however, always turned to science for an explanation, so witch-hunts hadn't begun yet—thank god.
Law hadn't felt comfortable letting them out to defend the city—Luffy was only sixteen, after all—but he had no jurisdiction over most of the boys (some of which were men now) and had decided that it was better to teach Zoro how to really fight instead of find out after he was dead that he'd joined even though they'd told him no. After he said that, Kid had mentioned that he'd had gotten into the underground world at fourteen and Law when he was even younger and Law had snapped, demanding what good it had ever done either of them. They'd both been pretty quiet after that.
Shanks was mostly in agreement with Law, and was always calm enough to let Luffy and Ace do what they wanted, though Ace wasn't living with them anymore so Shanks didn't even bother trying to tell him anything anymore. Thatch's parents weren't around and Marco's were dead, and Zoro was pretty sure Sabo's parents didn't even know how old he was so they didn't care, so that left the six of them to roam the city at night armed to kill vampire killers. Life was pretty good.
A couple of nights ago, Law had even sat them all down in their apartment and pulled out the NSPH files, ignoring Zoro's aghast squawk, and explained everything to them about the truth behind the killers and why the government wasn't really doing everything they could to intervene and why they had to be extremely careful when out looking for the "terrorists". They'd all taken it pretty well, considering that Killer had to demonstrate drinking blood to convince them. Luffy had rolled with it the easiest, flooding Killer and Law with questions of food made with blood; Ace and Sabo, not ones to let their brother stand on his own, quickly shoved the new information to the back of their mind so as not to worry Killer and joined in. After Zoro finished hyperventilating, he'd relaxed enough to watch Luffy play with Killer without really being in his over-protective mode. Luffy was old enough, maybe not mentally, but he wouldn't hurt Killer by accident anymore. Thatch had joined him on the sidelines, followed by Marco, who had both given him the easy smile reassuring him that he didn't have to worry.
They were on Killer's side now. Killer had that much more of a chance that he'd survive this hellhole.
"So you and Robin, huh?"
"Nope."
"…Uh, yeah. You've very obviously been fucking for three months —"
"It doesn't mean anything," Zoro huffed, really done with thinking about it. It was a physical thing for god's sake, and already he was spending way too much time on the subject. "We're both stressed and it's good, uncomplicated release without either of us having to worry about getting attached. Those are her words," he added after noticing the look Ace was giving him. "We're way too different to ever make it work."
"…Is she good?" Ace waggled his eyebrows and Zoro shot him another withering look that Ace blatantly ignored before they both turned back to the city, sinking again into the silence alongside the flickering lights.
"…I always thought you didn't swing that way. I mean, girls are always coming after you, but Robin was the first."
Zoro sat quietly, thinking on how to answer the comment, before he finally shrugged, not looking over to meet Ace's curious gaze.
"Robin's nice. I don't really care either which way."
"…You one of those "beautiful personality" type of guys?"
Zoro made a face at Ace's tone. "Shut up."
"Hey, Ro's hot. You couldn't have picked a better match."
"Just stop," Zoro pleaded, shaking his head to himself as he finally cracked a smile. Beside him, Ace echoed with his own grin, which suddenly dropped off of his face and his eyes popped. Zoro raised his eyebrows, waiting for him to elaborate.
"…Holy shit. Saga."
Zoro made another face.
"You were ogling him that whole night. I just thought he was a great fighter… and he drove you home!"
Zoro didn't answer.
"You slick bastard! You never even told anyone that you two were leaving!"
Still nothing. Ace, seeing he'd have to use something else to get a reaction, decided to pull out the big guns and grinned devilishly.
"Does he fuck good even with one arm? You couldn't have been on your back, he wouldn't have been able to keep himself up."
Zoro launched himself at the older man, swiping at him while Ace cackled, and they tumbled across the roof for a minute before pulling apart to turn back to the city and let the quiet wash over them again.
"Wait, were you two together?"
Zoro shrugged. "We hung around each other a bit. Never really went anywhere." And by a bit he meant a lot. The only reason they'd never gotten more serious was that Saga had moved into his college dorm at the start of the school year and it was too far away for Zoro to commute. Ace didn't have to know that though. Occasionally Saga would call—Kid and Law teased him nine ways to Sunday when he did—but the phone lines had all been knocked down or blown up, and phone companies weren't really keeping up with the city anyways now so that had come to a quick halt. Ace didn't need to know that either.
"…So the military is really that much at fault?"
Zoro blinked, looking over to where Ace was twirling a long stick he'd found in his fingers. He'd lit one end with his lighter and he was trying to keep the ember alive. "You mean with the city?"
Ace nodded. "This is why I never wanted to join my grandfather in the military," he growled. "Their power makes them so much more corrupt than those that break the law." Zoro just nodded and looked back to the city.
"…Do you think the military created them? I mean, no one ever really saw a vampire; they were always kept under wraps and hidden in facilities for experimenting. It's like they were never in the outside world at all."
Zoro shrugged. "The oldest one Law has in his records is an NSPH that appeared in paperwork in 1583. Law isn't sure where he came from either."
"Exactly. And Law said that Killer is basically human except for some minor DNA mutations. So, isn't it possible that they were created as a weapon or something?"
Law had never mentioned something like that, and Zoro was so used to him coming up with these things that he'd just kind of assumed… but he guessed it was possible it hadn't occurred to Law.
"Maybe. We should ask Law later, I don't know if he's already considered that."
"Yeah."
The city was still an unearthly quiet. Without the cars and other sounds of normal life, the only light coming from the few buildings and street lamps that had electricity, and most people staying holed up in their makeshift homes to keep from getting killed, the city had become a ghost town with nearly three-quarters of its inhabitants dead or missing. Well, still dead but also missing. Anyone missing was dead at this point; there was no coming back in a place like this.
"How's Killer doing?"
"…Alright. I think it still bothers him that so many people know about him. I didn't even know until he was four, and after that it was just the three of us and him for years."
"I knew."
Zoro whipped around to stare wide-eyed at Ace's blasé expression. Instantly he was racking his brains for a situation, something he might have said or something Ace might have seen to reveal what Killer was. If Ace had noticed and come to that farfetched a conclusion, who else had figured it out? Killer could be in so much more danger than they thought—
"Conis is a vampire too."
Zoro stopped, his breath rushing out in realization, and the tension that had clenched his shoulders dissipated.
"Killer has the same, uh, symptoms that she gets. She can't be around blood when she's hungry, she's attacked people before, that sort of thing, and also how over-protective her parents are and how often they keep her home for being "sick". That's why she's so rebellious, because they've been shutting her down for so long. Kid and Law are doing a really good job at letting Killer run as free as possible while teaching him how to be safe, instead of keeping him holed up to ensure his safety. Conis never even went to school, they homeschooled her."
Zoro crossed his arms, remembering Law mentioning three other NSPH that had escaped from experiment facilities. One was killed during recapture, but the other ones…
"When did they break her out?"
"Uh…" Ace blew a raspberry, vaguely gesturing with his arms. "Maybe like five or six? She was a lot older than Killer. Which is kind of why her parents are so protective. Military doctors could still potentially recognize her. But she and Killer could talk or spend some time together, you know, just because they'll be able to understand each other so much better than any of us can."
"…Law would be happy to have someone else whose blood he could test."
"I bet he would."
A sharp scream split the black air and both Zoro and Ace shot to their feet, looking out over the tops of the still-standing buildings when a second yell joined the first—garbled words leaping and echoing through the rubble and surviving walls. It was only seconds before snarls and shouts began filling the air too, peppered with screams of pain.
"Thatch and Marco," Ace snarled and Zoro nodded, leaping off of the fire escape after the older man. He landed harshly on the ground four stories below and rolled until his feet were flat on the ground, and then took off after Ace's disappearing frame.
They tore through the darkness, occasional street lamps doing little to aid their blind sprint through the destroyed city, honing in on Marco and Thatch's voices. Zoro slipped Wado out of her sheath with a ringing sound and placed her hilt between his teeth, pulling the two swords Mihawk had given him from his side and gripping each tightly in one hand.
All at once they burst into the fight, NSPH seaming to float in slow motion over their heads towards Marco and Thatch, completely overtaking them—seventeen against two and four more dead ones lying at their feet. Both were already drenched in blood and losing energy fast. Zoro shifted his fingers slightly, following Ace's movements out of the corner of his eye as the eldest D brother clenched his fist and drew it back behind him, and they launched themselves into the fray.
Blood exploded around them, Zoro's swords slicing through body after body as he slashed, barely missing Ace as his fists danced around Zoro's swords, tough skin complementing the gleaming metal. The NSPH caught their eyes and snarled viciously, turning in midair and leaping back towards them with alarming speed, claws and fangs flashing in the black night, glowing copper eyes catching the dim light and illuminating their black bodies against the black sky.
Zoro ducked and rolled as two flew over him, leaping up to run his blade through an unguarded chest and the creature screamed, slumping against him and tearing futilely at his back with its claws. Zoro growled, jerking and trying to shake it off as another one appeared above his head. He twisted, spinal cord bending far beyond where it should have and lifted his other sword, tilting Wado at the same time and it landed on both, skewering itself with a horrendous wail. The two fell on him, lifeless and heavy and Zoro grunted, heaving them off of himself before he rolled onto his knees and just missed the claws of another that would have come down on his head.
Zoro's shins hit something soft and firm like leather and his body reacted before his mind could even process that he was feeling skin. He whirled, eyes snapping to the ground as he whipped his head to the side, intending to slice through it with Wado, but froze.
Thatch's gelled hair was drenched in blood, his eyes glazed over and his hands splayed out to the side under him. His skin had turned a sickly grey from lack of blood and there was a deep hole in his throat. A monstrous hole was torn in his chest where Zoro could see clear through to the ground, and he choked, nearly swallowing his tongue.
He was dead.
Zoro was frozen for a moment, realization that he—anyone—couldn't do anything else, when Ace barked his name and Zoro snapped back to reality, sword whipping up through the air to take the arm of the NSPH about to come in on his head and it screeched, tumbling to the side and writhing in pain. Zoro leapt off of Thatch and onto its side, holding it down as he stabbed his sword over and over again into anywhere on its abdomen he could reach.
Zoro's head snapped up as something appeared in front of him, but he stopped at the sight of Marco, stumbling through the bodies and blood towards Thatch's limp form. Marco got to his knees slowly, leaning forward and, with great care, shook Thatch's shoulder as if trying to wake him. Glowing eyes flashed in the black behind him and Zoro growled, throwing himself over Marco's head and colliding with the NSPH. It roared, claws sinking into Zoro's arm his shoulders and Zoro yelped, whipping Wado to the side and severing its spinal cord at the base of its neck. A choked gurgle rolled off of its tongue and it fell back, landing in a heap on the ground and rolling from side to side, as if trying to keep its brain from falling off center. By the time Zoro's feet connected with the ground, it had stopped moving.
More eyes flashed in the darkness of an alleyway disappearing into the night and both Zoro and Ace whirled, looking up at the massively overweight form blocking the visible stars from view. It was so huge that if its eyes hadn't been glowing like the others, Zoro would never have guessed it was an NSPH. Its shape reminded Zoro of Hogback's hunched and deformed body, and he unconsciously gripped his swords tighter. The NSPH started to chuckle, whistling sounds slipping through its teeth and Ace and Zoro slid into fighting stances, ready to leap forward when six NSPH landed in front of them and lunged.
Zoro slashed and blood spurted up from the neck of the NSPH falling dead at his feet, and by the time the blood had fallen from his field of view the NSPH was gone from the alley—vanished into the blackness.
"Damnit!" he heard Ace snarl, winding back to physically punch his way through the NSPH and chase after the enormous one when the sound of Sabo's battle cry, quickly followed by Luffy's, echoed up through the buildings from behind them.
Ace whirled mid-punch, barely recovering in time to duck under the NSPH's fangs diving for his head, and his fist snapped up, knocking its nose back into its skull with a thick crunch.
"Go!" Zoro yelled, pausing to remove the bandana with the yellow embroidery from his arm and tie it over his hair as the NSPH drifted together, eyeing him with snarling faces. Ace gave him a strange look, gaze flicking back and forth from him to where Marco and Thatch were still on the ground, and before he could change his mind grabbed a dislodged metal pipe from the ground and took off towards the sound of Sabo and Luffy's fight.
Zoro smirked, feeling Wado's stitching against his tongue, and slid into a more comfortable position. Marco appeared at his side, hands shanking in anger as he gripped a jagged wooden stake from one of the buildings.
"Come on," he breathed, and the NSPH lunged.
-oOo-
-Sarah Williams
Sorry for the lack of lemon! Don't worry about for the future though, this is a Zosan story, so that will come (haha pun intended), I just didn't want this to take too sharp of a Zorobin detour!
Also sorry for the huge background story, but this is better than feeding it through the story every once and a while. Good news is that even I'm getting bored of not hearing about Sanji. Last chapter without him! (Spoiler alert)