Chapter 2: Fall Apart
Summary: She took everything and left him nothing.
ONE PIECE belongs to ODA sensei.
Robin finished her afternoon tea in the garden. The breeze was getting cooler. The ray of sun had moved so that it no longer lay warm on her face.
Robin fidgeted in the chair. She was trying to ignore the growing sensation of someone, or something is watching her.
Maybe she could walk the short distance by herself back to the house. The paths were well defined. The garden was surrounded by high walls. There was no way she could get lost.
The fine hairs on her nape tickled. Her arms responded to the caress of unseen eyes. She twisted on the chair to face the direction from which those sensations seemed to come.
"Is anyone there?" she whispered.
She shook her head, answering her own question. "Obviously, none."
Of course, there wasn't anyone there. The birds were still chirping merrily.
She was just imagining.
She supposed it was the newness of being alone in the garden. She really ought to take advantage of this opportunity for independence. Her step father, Kuzan, was loving and kind, but overly protective. Surely she had great archaeological skills like her mom. But how was she ever going to elevate them unless she explored?
Her hands clenched on the edge of the chair. Her heart was pounding with fear. She could do this herself. She could do this.
Then she became aware again of the sensation of unseen eyes watching her. Panic surged within her, unexpected and unexplainable.
With a soft moan, Robin rose from the chair and stumbled along the brick walk of the garden.
Zoro stood in the shade of a very old tree watching the woman on the chair.
She was beautiful, stunning, and splendid.
His fiancee.
He felt the pain twisting in his heart again. His eyes caressing her.
Robin had sat calmly on the chair. She seemed to be enjoying her solitude. A wide brimmed hat lay on the chair beside her. She was wearing a soft floral patterned, elegant dress.
Robin was truly very beautiful. Truly a beautiful sight in any outlook.
He had always been aware of that, but these past months had refined her beauty. He felt sad at the sight of her short hair, but without the weight of its length. The hair curled softly to frame her finely drawn features.
He clenched his hands into fists instead.
Damn it, Robin!
Why?
I gave you the world.
I gave you all my heart.
The world, Robin has taken. It was Zoro she didn't want. Although that knowledge still had the power to hurt, it had no power to surprise him.
He had been so wrong. About himself. About her.
Love existed. It had trapped him in a hell from which he might never escape.
As though his thoughts had somehow called to her, the woman on the chair twisted slightly, raised a hand to the back of her neck. She appeared to be listening.
Zoro leaned back against the old tree, deeper into the shadows. He would show himself soon, but not yet. He felt upset, unsure of himself and his ability to confront this woman who had betrayed his deepest trust.
Not just yet.
Again, Robin fidgeted on the chair. This time she turned until she faced him.
Looking almost directly at the spot where he stood beneath the old tree, she whispered, "Is anyone there?"
She shook her head. "Obviously, none." she said.
She seemed to listen for a moment longer. Her hands clenched on the edge of the chair.
Then, with a soft cry that could have been a moan or a plea, she rose from the chair like her legs aren't nearly strong enough to hold her up, and stumbled away from him, along the brick walkway.
Zoro's eyebrow drew together in a stunned frown.
Robin was such an elegant woman. Why then this uncertain, awkward way of walking? He saw the raised bricks of the path. She apparently did not. With a startled cry, she fell, tumbling from the path and into a bed of grasses.
Zoro walked towards her, but something about her actions slowed his steps.
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Ouch," she moaned, beating at the ground with tiny balled fists. "Annoying! Stupid!"
She took a deep, trembling breath and knelt there in the plants for a moment. Then, she began touching the ground in front of her, as though looking for something.
When her hands encountered the brick walkway, she crawled forward until she touched the elevated bricks. She patted them four or five times as though validating their existence or confirming their blame for her fall.
She dragged herself to her feet and walked carefully onto the path. Then stood very still.
Zoro equally stood still. He was transfixed by the actions of this woman he had once called mine.
Robin took one careful step. Then she stopped. She turned and reached in front of her, examining at space as she took another step.
Zoro saw her eyes, troubled, filled with disappointment. Tears quivered on her lashes. She bit her lower lip in frustration. The frustration changing to panic.
"Is anyone there?" she whispered again.
Her hands extended, palms out. "Please, I could feel that there's someone out there. I'm begging you. Speak up, please."
And the truth slammed into Zoro with the force of the worst pain he had ever felt. The pain of knowing she was truly gone.
That after tempting, inviting and successfully winning his love, she had left him.
The truth. Dear God.
Zoro bit back the involuntary cry that blocked near his heart.
Nico Robin, his fiancee, the soon-to-be Roronoa Nico Robin, was blind.
This came up when I was reminded (again) that too much reading can affect eyesight. I love reading, bookworm as they say, and I like to read late at night. So much like Robin. And at young age, I'm wearing eyeglasses now... -_-
I'm sorry if this was another sad one shot again.
Please drop your reviews! :D
