Frostbite, Chapter 3
Enjoy!
Zoro ran as fast as he could towards the sound of gunfire. The scents of smoke and blood were thick in the air as the swordsman sprinted through alleyways and narrow streets. He finally reached the square and was shocked to see an all-out riot, especially the center of the mob. Sanji stood, bloody and weak from the beatings he received from the rabid men. Zoro tried to call out to him, to run away, but the blonde just stayed still, not even flinching at harsh blows.
However, Zoro's voice was gone and he soon found himself unable to move. Sanji's dead eyes met his own, and were suddenly full of pain and fear. He shouted something.
"Zoro! Help me! Please! They won't stop until we're both dead, and it's out of control!" Ropes swiftly wound themselves around Zoro, aided by invisible hands. Sanji collapsed to his knees, still crying out for help.
A gun was raised to Sanji's head.
"Zoro, please! Help!" Tears began to fall freely from his eyes. "Help me, I beg of you!" The ropes were invisible to the cook.
The gun cocked.
"YOU TOLD ME YOU LOVED ME!"
The gun fired.
Zoro shot up from the floor, and a cry died in his throat, coming out as a squeak. He panted, exhausted from his nightmare. Realizing that he was not on the Merry, Zoro began to panic.
What happened? Where am I? Was that a dream? Cold sweat covered his body, and he noticed the warm lines traced on his face.
He had been crying in his sleep.
Sanji! Where is he? More tears came as he remembered the dream he had. A light snore spooked Zoro, and his eyes strained in the soft light of the final smoldering embers. Sanji was right next to him, safe and sound.
He felt cold, having tossed off the blankets in his fit of terror, and remembered what happened earlier.
"Damn." Zoro whispered. "He carried me all the way here?" The green-haired man replaced the comforter around the cook and inched over to the wall.
The last thing I fully remember is Sanji screaming at me about something. He peered out the cloudy window. The blizzard had stopped but the wind was still strong and howled piercingly. Zoro shivered and looked around, eyes adjusted to the light. Sanji was sleeping on his side, appearing as though he had slowly fallen over from a sitting position.
Zoro felt incredibly light-headed and feared he was about to fall over. Crawling over to the pile of sheets, he snuggled in close, trying to warm up. Soon, he reentered the world of dreams, tears still sticky on his face.
Back in Mushi-Mushi
As the remaining Strawhats followed Mox and Roxi deeper into the town, a small building came into view. Two stories of ice-covered brick and wood stared over the group.
"Well," Mox declared, "here we are. This is where Roxi and I live. We run a small inn, but since it's the blizzard season, we don't have many customers."
"Please," Roxi motioned, "come on in." A group gasp was heard as the nakama entered the elaborate doorway. All around them were photos and pieces of artwork that looked centuries old. Robin knew she like the two from the start.
"Please, let me take your coats." Mox offered. Now that his hat and scarves were gone, his face and hair were visible, as was his sister's. Both had dirty-blonde hair and green eyes, as well as sharp cheekbones and mildly tanned skin. Roxi wore simple clothes but had a silver necklace that Nami was sure had a high value.
"You can stay in any room you like and stay for as long as you wish. We'll help you find your friends, if you'll allow us." Mox offered as he showed them around the inn.
Rustic and well preserved. Robin would probably put it that way. Usopp thought as he passed an old, stocky water jug in the hallway.
"Do you have any other family?" Chopper asked, now in Brain Point again.
"No, just us. Roxi practically raised me, and we inherited all this from our great uncle. He really didn't like us, but we were the only heirs. At least he wasn't stupid." Mox laughed. The tour soon concluded, and rooms were picked.
Nami and Robin chose to take separate rooms but shared a master bathroom. Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper were confined to a larger room with bunk beds. Usopp lost their rock-paper-scissors tournament and was forced to take a bottom bunk, much to the girls' dismay. The shouting and pounding almost broke a lamp.
Nami gave them all a proper neck wringing.
"Dinner is ready, if you'd like some." Roxi informed them.
"Okay." Nami answered. "When we find our cook, we can pay you back in food." Roxi seemed relieved.
"Yes! Real, decent food!" Almost everyone found that comment hilarious. Except for the cook himself. Despite Roxi's apparent hatred of Mox's cooking, the meal was not all that bad.
Not as good as Sanji's, of course.
"Hey, Nami," Chopper began as they helped clear the table, "do you think that Zoro and Sanji are okay? I have that strange feeling Luffy had earlier."
"Now that you mention it, I do feel a bit off about it all. Tell you what, first thing in the morning, we'll go out and look for them, okay?" She smiled.
"Yosh!" The chibi doctor returned the grin. Their silent happy fest was interrupted by Luffy causing trouble. Snow beef was his new weakness, much to the hosts' enjoyment.
"I needed to get rid of some of it," Mox chortled as Luffy choked on a massive piece.
"OKAY!" Usopp cried, "EVERYONE TO BED! WE HAVE A LONG DAY AHEAD OF US!" For once, nobody argued with the great liar.
While the rest of the crew slept soundly in warm, dry beds, Zoro continued to have horrific fever dreams well into the night. Around sunset, Sanji awoke to care for Zoro, who's state had declined after he went back to sleep. Deciding it to be best if they waited until the sun came up and the wind died down, Sanji made a makeshift satchel out of a thin sheet, which he filled with food. Getting Zoro's clothes back on him was a real struggle.
"Shit, Zoro, why are you so fuckin' damn difficult?" Sanji muttered as he forced the swordsman's pants back on. Zoro scared Sanji half to death when he jerked away and cried his name out in pain and had to be forced to floor.
"Come on!" The cook hissed as he pinned Zoro's wrists above him, who flinched as a hand pushed against his chest.
"Sanji!" The man went limp in the cook's grasp. Sanji rushed to remove his weight off of Zoro, releasing his hands and getting his coat on as fast as possible.
He wasn't this bad earlier. Shit, shit, shit! When the door was, yet again, forced open, the landscape was void of any color except for white and grey.
At least the shitty storm is over. Gotta get him moving to town. Need to go east, that's where Nami-san said they were headed. Heaving Zoro onto his back again, Sanji took off once more.
Obliterating fallen trees as best he could with a passenger, the cook loped across the deep snow before it could absorb him. Before he knew it, Sanji was having a very painful flashback to Drum Island, which was almost impossible to shake off.
"I really hate winter islands." The cook muttered as he slid across a patch of ice. Unfortunately, the ice was much more slippery than he anticipated it to be, and smashed his face in when he slipped forward.
"I really hate these fucking shitty, retarded winter islands!" The blonde growled as his nose bled. Carefully, Sanji stood up and used momentum to skate across the ice. Zoro whimpered in pain in Sanji's ear.
"Please hold on a bit longer. We'll be with the others soon, and Chopper will fix you up and you'll be fine." The cook was actually reassuring himself, fearing that Zoro's fever and whatever the Hell else was wrong with him would kill him long before they reached the reindeer physician.
Please, let my luck be a little less shitty today! Sanji didn't know to whom he was praying to, but he needed a miracle. The last thing he wanted to be hauling on his back was a dead body, especially his lover's.
The cook winced at the thought, but couldn't shut it out.
When the cook came across endless, drift-coated tundra, he wanted to kill himself.
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHO APPARENTLY HATES ME, WHY DOES TODAY OF ALL DAYS HAVE TO FILLED WITH SO MUCH FUCKING, DAMN, RETARDED SHIT?" Sanji screamed so loudly that Zoro almost fully entered consciousness.
"Ngggh…Sanji?" He slurred.
"Shhh, it's okay. Just sleep."
"Grrgh…" he passed out yet again. Sanji began to sprint as fast he could, barely leaving footprints in the soft powder. Faster, faster, faster! He was as close to a blur as he would ever be in his life. Regrettably, Sanji's speed was a vulnerability he didn't count on. That and the pockets of air beneath the now ice-encrusted snow.
He slammed his foot into one at a breakneck speed, and as the rest of the blonde's body kept moving, Sanji's left tibia and fibula snapped cleanly, causing near pure agony.
"AARRGH!" He fell forward and tumbled over and over, knocking Zoro from his steel grip. When he stopped bouncing, Sanji crawled to him, muttering repeatedly that he was sorry. Zoro didn't move at all.
"Zoro…oi…" Sanji nudged him in the side, which brought on a twitch. "Thank God…owwww." The cook had been in worse pain, but the sudden shock of it really got him, and he couldn't even wiggle his toes.
"Why…? For the love of shit…" Sanji groaned as he attempted to stand.
No. He steeled himself. None of this prissy shit. It's just a break; you've been through far worse, you shitty pussy. Zoro needs help, and even the Shitty Geezer would be disappointed with you. Sanji stood, putting his full weight on his bad leg. Poising Zoro on his back, the blonde continued on at a medium-speed pace.
Not much later, everything just below his left knee was numb and tingly, but Sanji treaded carefully, ignoring it as he would Usopp or Luffy.
Luffy… What was the last thing I said to him? No! You shitty idiot, the last thing that's going to happen is you dying! Focus! Just. Walk.
But Sanji was too damn exhausted.
"No!" Sanji cried aloud, "I have to get him to Chopper!"
Snow began to fall again. The edge of the tundra was in sight.
But Sanji was too damn exhausted.
Ahahahahahahaha! Super cliff! Take a guess on what happens, I dare ya!
Sanji's luck really does suck, does it not?
I wrote all of this chapter on Saturday...I need a healthy social life...badly. Please review!
Fishy-Neko-Fangirl