Chapter 2
He groaned as light suddenly hit his eye, "Mmm." He tried turning his head away from it, but it was held steady by something.
"Sanji?" Chopper's voice was almost inaudible.
He groaned again as the light had suddenly moved over to his other eye, "Ugh," his throat felt dry, "W-wha?" He tried to move his head away from the light again.
Chopper gave a sigh of relief, "Thank god!"
The light was suddenly turned off and something let go of his head, and he was finally able to move it again. He closed his eyes before opening them slowly. As he tried to focus however, there were only spots dancing in front of him. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Still there were only spots. "I…" he coughed and he felt it rasp the inside of his throat, "I- I can't see…" he coughed again and hissed at the stinging pain that accompanied it. "Drink…"
"That's normal; it'll clear up in a moment," It sounded like Chopper was trying to assure him, but he wasn't sure how sincere it was, "hang on."
Sanji heard the little doctor turn and pick something up not far from him, before he felt his head being lifted up and a glass was pushed to his lips. He parted them slowly and felt a liquid slowly trickle down into his mouth, it tasted disgusting, but he swallowed it and felt it soothe the pain. "Ugh, what the fuck was that?" He coughed again; this time without it feeling like sandpaper was scraping him up inside.
"Cough syrup, nausea relief and pain medication." Chopper answered him grimly as he felt his head being lowered down onto the pillow again.
"Ah, so I did end up throwing up after all then," he said dejectedly as he blinked a few more times. There was no change; he just couldn't seem to get the spots away.
"Yeah, and quite a few times as well, I had to put you on an I-V as you were losing so much fluid." Chopper sounded distraught, but Sanji had no way of knowing the extent of it and it was slowly starting to piss him off. He wanted his damn sight back.
"What?" There was definitely concern in Chopper's voice. That, Sanji could identify.
"I still can't see…" He sighed.
"You can't?" He heard Choppers footsteps walk around the room, clearly looking for something.
"No, only thing I see are dancing spots of different colours of white and yellow." He blinked again, "It's starting to piss me off," he growled.
"O-okay, let me check them again," Sanji heard Chopper click on something and he could clearly see a change in the spots as a brighter light hit his eyes. He wanted to pull them shut, but they wouldn't close. "Lay still, I know it's uncomfortable."
He tried not to huff as he resigned himself to go through with the assault on his eyes, at least it didn't hurt much thankfully.
"Hmm, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the retina or the optic disc," the light flashed a few times and Sanji had to do everything in his might to not squeeze his eyes shut. "Nothing on the lens, pupil or the cornea-," he noticed as the light moved back and forth in front of him, "the aqueous humor seems fine," the light clicked off. "You did notice the change in light, right?"
"Yeah, it kinda hurt too," he furrowed his brows and looked towards where he imagined Chopper was, "is that good?"
"It is…" It sounded like he was hesitating.
"But?"
"It's just, since your eyes seem to be fine, there-" he heard the little reindeer swallow audibly, "there might be something wrong in your brain instead," he heard the slight quiver in Chopper's voice as he said it.
"Like what?" He tried not to make it a growl, but he knew it had come out harsher than he wanted to.
"I- I don't know yet, I have to do some tests to see," He heard Chopper jump down to the floor and scurry over to the other end of the room, "but you should close your eyes; the light might be making it worse."
He sighed, but did as he was told and shut his eyes. Thankfully the spots weren't as ubiquitous when he did so, and it made him relax a little. He seriously hoped Chopper would be able to fix it; he would be useless if he lost his eyes. "Hey, did we ever get to that island?"
"Oh, yeah, we-" He heard the hesitation in Chopper's voice, "we got here a few hours ago," he trailed off.
"A few hours ago, huh?" He sighed with relief at that; he hadn't been out that long then.
"Yeah, we arrived not long after you collapsed, but it's mostly been Luffy, Nami, Robin and Zoro who has explored it yet," He heard Chopper put something heavy on his desk, probably a book of some kind. "Nami said it's an autumn island, and that it's full of pumpkins." He heard him flip through some pages. "I haven't seen it yet though," there was an unmistakingly longing in his voice as he said it, and Sanji felt his heart ache a little as he knew he was the reason Chopper hadn't been able to run outside and enjoy the new island.
"I think I'm gonna try getting some sleep, why don't you go and enjoy the island a little," he turned his head, still with his eyes closed, towards where he thought he remembered Chopper's desk was, and smiled at the little doctor, "I'm sure my eyes, and brain, will be able to wait a few more hours."
"B-but," He heard the hesitation in Chopper's voice at that, he knew the little guy had difficulty leaving a patient if there was still something wrong, but if he had been out for several hours already, a few more hours probably wouldn't hurt. Besides, he was starting to feel a little drowsy.
"I'll be fine, besides the other's will want to know what's going on as well," he hated the fact that everyone would know about his lack of eyesight, but it couldn't be helped, they were nakama and they had a right to know, no matter how much it hurt his pride.
Before he heard anymore from the little doctor however, he felt himself drifting off.
oOo
The cold earth felt cool against his back and he had a mind to stay there just a little bit longer, but as he took a deep breath he felt his eyes open. He was lying on the ground, or at least it felt like it. It was not hard, but neither was it soft, it reminded him of the earth on a forest floor. Though as he gazed upon the perplexing sky not a single tree was in his sight. How he knew the way a forest floor felt, he was not sure, but he found that it did not really matter.
As he lay there he knew he had to get up and move. He had a feeling there was something he had to do, something he had to find. But as he tried to lift his body, he felt his movements lethargic and slow, or maybe it was the world that had halted its pace. It does not matter, he thought as he fought to stand up. He let his feet support him as he stood for a while, just feeling the body as it pulsed with life. And yet, it did not feel like his own. It felt too tight, but also too loose. He frowned. Could a body even feel like that? He brought up his hand to look at it; the movement so agonizingly slow despite his effort to quicken its pace. He felt how it frustrated him, though he was unsure why. Once he held it in front of his face, he saw the pale skin and long fingers. They were just like he knew they would be, but even so, they did not feel right.
Drip…
Letting his hand fall back to his side, again halted in its movement, he let his gaze trail over the barren landscape stretched before him. And even though he knew the sky would be the same as it had been once before, confusion showed upon his brow. He felt how his eyebrows furrowed at the thought, the sensation odd, but not unknown. Once before? Had he really been here before? It all felt so familiar somehow, but yet he did not know why or how. He turned around, again his movement so agonizingly slow, and while he wanted to grit his teeth in frustration, he also wondered why? Why was it making him feel that way? Could it be that it was not natural? But why should he move faster? What was the point of that?
Drip… Drip…
As he kept turning around so slowly it nearly hurt, his eyes scanned the world around him. He felt that something should be there; he just did not know what it was. Then he caught something in his peripheral, something that was shining brightly, but as soon as his eyes focused on that spot it was gone. When he looked away from it, it reappeared. He had to stop himself from gritting his teeth in frustration yet again. He wanted to see it, he needed to see it. And then almost before he had thought it, he had started moving towards it, albeit still as slow as before. He realised now, the reason he felt so frustrated about it; he was in a hurry. Though yet again, he did not know why.
Drip...
As suddenly as it had started his body halted its movement, and he felt himself straining his ears. What was that sound? He looked towards where he knew the shining light would be, and again it vanished as soon as his eyes reached it. His hand balled up in a fist in anger, but he let himself stand still as he listened.
Drip…
It was a sound, but of what, and from where?
Drip…
Water? Yes, that made sense. Or, he thought, as much sense as anything could in this barren wasteland, where there was only a shining light far in the distance and a sky in constant flux.
Drip…
He turned his body slowly, trying to find the source of it, but it came from all around him. And for each fraction of a second it came, its volume grew increasingly louder.
Drip…
It was starting to hurt, though he did not know how. How could a sound, albeit so omnipresent and deafening, be this excruciating?
Drip…
He fell to his knees, the sound vibrating around him. He felt it wrap itself around him, strangling him and restraining him.
Drip…
He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears with his hands as he clutched his head. Stop! Please, I beg of you, make it stop!
Drip...
AN:
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