-Tangled Web-
A role-play/joint-fic by Digitaldreamer and Constable Remington
Chapter Twenty-four: Cold, Quiet, and Dark
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Well guys, I'm back at home. Yay and what not. Otakon was a blast, for the con report you can check out my LiveJournal.
In random news, when I returned from Otakon I discovered that my computer monitor is dying, so everything is tinted green. So now I need a new one, joy.
Right, now that that's out of the way: We got over four hundred reviews now! Woot! We're almost to five hundred, which is half of a thousand! Thanks so much, you guys!
In other news, some of you seem to be missing something: THIS IS NOT JUST MY FIC!It would not be nearly as good, if CONSTABLE REMINGTON WEREN'T WRITING THIS ALSO! SHE WRITES HALF OF THE THING, STOP IGNORING THAT! She deserves FAR more credit than she's getting. STOP ignoring her!
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the chapter, which is dedicated to Kloudy Reignfall for leaving us a novel for a review. You rock, Kloudy!
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It had started out like a normal dream. Something about a giant piece of meat attacking the city before Luffy flew in as a super hero and ate it…and then Zoro was there, frowning at the absurdity of it…or at least he was frowning before Luffy kissed him…
But that was where everything changed, and the dream did not become so normal.
Zoro vanished, the city vanished, everything vanished. It was as if the happy dream had simply fallen away to reveal an inky black backdrop. It was dark, so dark. He would wave his arms in front of his face and see nothing, nothing at all.
It was also quiet. So quiet, silent as death. He would open his mouth to speak, but no matter how loudly he yelled, it was if the darkness simply swallowed it up.
Dark, silent, and cold. It was so cold, painfully so. It hurt to breathe, hurt to suck that frigid air into his lungs. He reached up to rub some warmth into his arms, but they had gone entirely numb.
He could not see, he could not hear, he could not feel. Not that there was anything to see, hear, or feel, because there was nothing here. It wasn't the kind of darkness that things lurked within, it was simply empty. An endless, empty sea of black.
Luffy stood there for a few moments, feeling fear creep over him. He wanted to see! He didn't want to be stuck here in the dark! He didn't want to be stuck here all alone, unable to see or hear or feel or anything!
He was scared. So scared. He wanted something to hold onto, someone to see and feel and hear, someone to prove that he wasn't completely and utterly alone. He wanted Zoro here.
But Zoro wouldn't be here, because there was nothing here. Luffy wasn't sure how he knew this, he just did and it was as if his brain couldn't seem to move past this fact.
It was so cold, so quiet, so dark…
The boy let out a soundless, terrified cry, sinking to his knees and hugging his arms to his chest. He would rock back and forth, pleading for someone to be there, because try as he might he could not handle this darkness by himself.
Slowly, however, even the fear left. Everything left, any form of feeling or fleeting thought. He was nothing, just a tiny cowering boy in the dark.
"Cold, isn't it? Cold, and quiet, and dark," a voice murmured, and Luffy looked up, shivering.
The voice was laughing now, the cold laughter filling the air. "Not very nice, is it? To be completely alone, without any form of sense or feeling. To be completely numb, even to the point where you don't even have your own thoughts to keep you company. It's like death…no, I suppose it's worse than death, isn't it? In a way, wouldn't you agree?"
Orbs of dark chocolate gazed around in the dark, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Don't bother looking for me. You won't find me, after all. You'll find nothing here. Believe me, I would know. I've been stuck like this for the past six years after all, save for the few recent outings. Pleasant, isn't it?"
A hand reached out to grip the back of his head, grab a fist-full of ebony locks and pull him back. Luffy let out a small cry of pain as he was pulled back. He landed on his back, whimpering as tendrils of darkness snaked around his limbs, holding him down.
A figure loomed over him, though try as he might the boy couldn't seem to make it out.
"Look around. See this place? I'm not going to stay in here much longer. Soon enough it will be your turn," the figure hissed, reaching out to trace a long pale finger across the boy's jaw line.
"Just imagine it. The rest of your miserable life, spent with nothing but the cold, the silence, and the dark for company. Quite a party, wouldn't you say?" A pair of deep crimson eyes narrowed as they took in his tiny form.
"Though…I suppose on occasion I could take a break from my duties to visit you. After all, I'm going to destroy the world. Or rather, you will, and once you do I will be in charge of it. Surely I can take a break to visit you, hmmm? Give you a break from nothingness…" A smirk as inch-long finger nails trailed farther down to his neck, then to his shoulder, then suddenly squeezed down. Spurts of blood immediately sprung up from five identical little wounds. Luffy let out a cry of pain, eyes wide.
"Nothingness and pain. I'm sure you'll love it," the figure sneered, leaning down to capture the boy's lips in a rough kiss, biting down on his lower lip.
Luffy yelped, squirming, trying to get this person off of him! But it was as if his entire body had been paralyzed, and he suddenly found himself unable to struggle.
The figure laughed again, withdrawing and standing. "I think that's enough for now. Do try to remember what you've seen here, I'd hate for you to forget the wonderful things that lie ahead for you.
With that, it finally left.
Once again, everything was cold, quiet, and dark.
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Beep. Beep. Beep!
The alarm clock woke Zoro with its loud, piercing screeches. Groaning a bit in irritation, Zoro lifted a hand, slamming a fist over the clock. It squeaked to silence, and he cracked open a dark green eye, growling a bit.
Damnit.
Looking towards Luffy, the man smiled a little until he saw that his roommate's usually cute and shining face had scrunched into a look of pain and fear. Sitting up a bit, Zoro hissed in the pain radiating from his wound, but ignored it for now.
"Luffy," he began, raising a hand to the boy's shoulder to shake him awake when he noticed--
...blood?
Why was there blood on Luffy's shoulder?
Pulling the boy up a bit, Zoro pushed the collar of his old t-shirt away to reveal Luffy's bare shoulder. On the soft, milky skin rested five marks... five marks, right where fingertips would go...
...How the hell had those gotten there?
Luffy's face twisted in pain and he let out a small whimper, entire body shaking even in sleep. "N-no….don't want to be alone…no…" he moaned, fingers clenching at the blankets, knuckles white. Cold sweat soaked the pillow where his head lay; his entire body was as cold as if he had just been plunged into ice water.
His eyes suddenly shot open and he sat up with a cry. The boy blinked, glancing around frantically at the room, panting. His eyes finally settled on Zoro and he let out a cry, this time of relief, and flung himself onto the older man, whimpering.
Shocked and somewhat confused, Zoro stared down at the boy for a moment before patting him softly on the head and wrapping an arm around him. "Are you all right?" he asked softly. "You had a nightmare, Luffy."
Luffy was shaking uncontrollably as he buried his face into Zoro's chest. "So dark…all alone…hurt…was scared…" he mumbled before going silent, arms tightening around the swordsman.
He stayed like that for awhile, simply shivering and whimpering, though eventually he began to calm down a bit. The shaking subsided and warmth began to spread through his body again, and after a few more minutes he pulled away a bit to glance around.
"…Just a dream," the boy murmured, leaning against Zoro again.
"It's all right," Zoro said softly, petting a hand through his hair. Snatching Luffy's chin with his hand, he pulled the boy's head up, kissing his lips gently.
Luffy returned the kiss, still quivering a bit. He felt the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach vanish with this contact, and he was glad for it. Even if the dream had not been real, he was glad to have Zoro to turn to when it was over, to show him that he wasn't alone.
"Time to get ready for school," he said simply, pulling away from the boy. God, his stomach throbbed with pain. He tried to ignore it.
What a wonderful way to start his birthday.
Luffy's expression brightened. "School? YAY!" he cheered, punching his fists into the air. He didn't really like sitting still and listening to the scary teacher people talk all day, but it was fun to meet all the people there! That and gym was really fun.
A flash of pain came from Luffy's shoulder with the motion and the boy winced, hand instantly reaching down to touch the injured spot. He pulled his hand away and glanced down at the bloodied palm, frowning. His eyes widened considerably.
Hadn't that person clawed him there in his dream? But it was just a dream, dreams couldn't hurt anyone!
Maybe he had clawed at his own shoulder last night on accident? Yeah, that had to be it. People couldn't be hurt by dreams. The boy rubbed the wounds absently as he tried to think of something else.
There was something important today…what was it? He frowned, brows furrowing. Then it hit him. It was Zoro's birthday! He opened his mouth, about to wish the swordsman a happy birthday, but at the last second he covered his mouth.
He wasn't supposed to know it was Zoro's birthday today. If Zoro knew he did, wouldn't it ruin the surprise?
So instead of saying anything Luffy just grinned and leaned over to give Zoro a quick peck on the cheek before sliding off the bed.
Zoro raised a hand to his stomach idly, going to the closet to pull out his uniform. Here's where the morning routine started. Zoro didn't mind routine so much, but it got boring after a while. He got his shower, Luffy got his, they were both dressed, and, because they were running late, rushed out of the house, lunches in hand, speeding down the street, running into class just on time.
Classes from then on went as usual. By the second day, people had gotten over there being a "new kid" and were, for the most part, leaving Luffy alone. Finally, lunch time rolled around. It was raining too hard for them to eat outside, so Zoro waiting patiently at the younger boy's locker for him to appear.
Interestingly, he hadn't seen Kizuma all day.
Luffy came rushing down the hall, looking even happier than usual. "Hi Zoro!" he said cheerfully as he skidded to a stop mere inches from the older man, if he had stopped any sooner he would have knocked him over.
The boy knelt down to unlock his locker, then pulled it open and tossed his books inside. "How was class?"
"Fine," Zoro responded idly, raising an eyebrow. "Just the same as always. You look happy." He crossed arms over his chest, watching the students go by in a bored fashion.
The boy laughed out loud for no reason as he pulled out his bento and stood, nudging the door shut with his foot. Well, of course he was happy. It was Zoro's birthday! But he couldn't tell Zoro that. "Oh, I learned more about the square roots that the zebras eat!" he babbled, which was mostly true; they had learned about square roots. He just didn't seem to quite get that zebra's didn't eat them and that they were actually quite boring.
"Well... that's good." Zoro smiled a little towards him, beginning to move down the hall. "We'll have to eat in the lunchroom today," he said simply, turning and beginning down another hallway that eventually opened up into a large, noisy room with a vaulted ceiling. It was filled with tables and people chattering, and Zoro's eyes scanned for a table.
"Woooow! There's so many people!" Luffy gasped as he looked around. He then frowned. There were a lot of people. And it seemed they had taken up all the empty chairs, save for two…
Those two chairs being right in the middle of Nami's table of girls.
"Hey look Zoro, there's two empty chairs!" Luffy said loudly, pointing to them. He was apparently oblivious to the vile evil girly aura coming off of said chairs.
Following Luffy's finger with his eyes, Zoro instantly tensed. Wonderful. Fantastic. Perfect. Why couldn't Nami make a couple more goddamn friends!
But there really weren't seats anywhere else.
"Fine," he said dejectedly, beginning to move across the room and towards the table.
"Yosh!" Luffy cheered, following Zoro to the table.
A blonde girl happened to glance towards them and a wide smile immediately spread across her face. "What's this? Roronoa Zoro is actually willingly gracing us with his presence?"
"Awww, he brought little Luffy-chu too!" one with short brown hair pulled into pigtails cooed.
Nami looked up and blinked, then grinned, raising an eyebrow. "Oh come on girls, stop teasing them," she said, waving her hand as she focused on Zoro. "Seriously though, why are you willingly stepping foot here?"
"'Cause these are the only two chairs left!" Luffy chirped as he hopped into the seat beside Nami, tearing open his bento and beginning to dig in. He was oblivious to the random squeals of "HE'S SO KAWAII!" around him.
Rolling his eyes, Zoro silently began to eat. It was nice of Nami to have told them to lay off... almost too nice, and he rose an eyebrow towards her, wondering why. Still, he shrugged it off. He wouldn't question a good thing too much.
The girls eventually seemed to figure out that Zoro didn't want to talk to them, and although Luffy was interesting to talk to, the boy seemed more interested in the swordsman. So they soon enough went back to their girly chatter and left Zoro alone.
Or at least, they did for awhile.
"Soooo, Zoro-kun?" one girl pressed. "I know you don't want us to bother you, but we really must know, we're all dying of curiosity. Are you two like, in love?" she asked, gesturing between the swordsman and Luffy.
"Because…you know, if you don't want him, we'll take him..." another cooed, reaching out to pet Luffy's hair lightly.
Even Nami seemed to want to know the answer.
Luffy was oblivious to the question or the random girl hand petting his head, as he was too busy collecting the last of his food from his bento.
Slightly shocked by the question, Zoro looked up, chopsticks stuck loosely in his hand. He didn't know what to say for a moment, before he finally grunted with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You can't have him," he replied simply, irritated.
All of the girls at the table gave various 'oooh's and 'ahh's and immediately began to excitedly chatter.
"Did he just…"
"So maybe that means…"
"Oh my GAWD, SQUEEE!"
Luffy's head shot up at the squeal and he blinked, looking around. "Huh?"
Giving a frustrated sigh, Zoro shut his bento box. "It doesn't mean anything," he responded gruffly. Standing from the table, he stretched a bit. "C'mon, Luffy." Zoro grabbed up his bag, turning and beginning to leave.
Luffy blinked in confusion, then glanced down at his bento. "Aww, empty already…" he whined as he closed it and stood, beginning to follow Zoro.
"Oi, Luffy! Wait!" Nami cried, snatching his arm and pulling him down so she could whisper in his ear. "Make sure that you keep him out of the house until six, all right?"
Luffy glanced at her, then grinned and nodded enthusiastically. Nami smiled back and pushed him off. "Now shoo, I don't need your icky masculine presence ruining my table atmosphere!" she said.
Glancing back, Zoro sighed, waiting until Luffy caught up with him to keep walking. The lunch bell rang and students were beginning to leave their tables and move through the halls. Zoro stopped at his own locker, pushing the lunchbox in and grabbing a book before continuing with Luffy down the hall to his. They parted after a moment, the bell rang, and classes continued, until school was finally out and Zoro was once again moving down the crowded hall to meet Luffy at his locker.
This time, Luffy actually got there first for a change and was waiting for the swordsman with his backpack slung over his shoulder, bouncing up and down excitedly.
They were going to get Chopper today and maybe he would get his job today! And he still had to find Zoro a birthday present…
He'd find one! This was going to be Zoro's best birthday EVER! He would make sure of it!
Dodging through crowds of students trying to escape school, Zoro met Luffy at the boy's locker, a slightly irritated expression on his face. This school had too many damn students.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
Luffy grinned and nodded, grabbing Zoro's arm and beginning to tug him out of the school. "Yosh! Let's go! We need to go pick up Chopper and see if I got a job and stuff!"
Remembering the puppy, Zoro nodded a bit, moving out of the school and into the parking lot. Swinging onto his motorcycle, he looked to Luffy, nodding for him to climb on.
Luffy vaulted onto the motorcycle after Zoro, humming to himself as he latched on to the swordsman.
The motorcycle's engine started and it revved out of the parking lot, carrying its two passengers away from the school and down towards the same place it had taken them the day before. Zoro smiled a bit as they parked, planting a foot on the ground and glancing over his shoulder towards Luffy.
"It's going to be extremely difficult getting your puppy home this way, Luffy," he said suddenly, wondering why he hadn't thought of this before.
Luffy frowned as he slid off of the motorcycle, thinking about this. Then he grinned. "Don't worry! I think when you get a puppy you're supposed to carry them in one of those little puppy…box…carrying…things…I'll just hug the box really tightly so it doesn't fall off! Or I could put it in my backpack or something."
"You'll have to hold it tight," Zoro said worriedly, moving towards the pet store. "You shouldn't close it up in your backpack." Opening the door, he moved inside.
Luffy followed Zoro into the pet store, beaming. "Don't worry, I'll hold it tight! I wouldn't wanna lose Chopper right after we got him," he said.
The moment he stepped through the door Chopper started barking. Luffy grinned, rushing over and dropping to his knees to pull the puppy from its pen and hug it. "Hey Chopper!"
Zoro glanced towards the counter, but instead of the same woman from the day before, it was a younger girl, about Zoro's age, filing her nails. She looked up at Luffy as he pulled Chopper from the cage, raising an eyebrow.
"That one's been whining all day," she complained, sighing and tossing her dark hair. "I hope you're not planning on just sitting around and holding him all day."
Luffy laughed, standing and taking the puppy with him. "Nope! I promised him I would buy him yesterday, so I came back to do that!" he said, holding Chopper up and grinning.
"Wonderful," she remarked blandly, holding up her nails to examine them before moving from behind the counter, going to get a small carrying box. Moving towards Luffy, she scooped the puppy up from his arms, placing the animal inside before handing the box back to the boy. Zoro sighed, moving towards the counter to pay for the animal.
Luffy grinned widely and hugged the box to his chest before rushing to Zoro's side and giving him a one armed hug. "Thank you sooooo much Zoro! I promise I'll pay you back!"
"Yeah, yeah," Zoro gruffed, handing the woman money. She rung it up, handing him back his change. Turning from the counter, he smiled a little to Luffy. "Don't worry about paying me back. Just consider it an early Christmas present or something."
The boy cocked his head to the side for a moment, then beamed. "Okay! But I'll have to make sure to get you something extra good for Christmas then!" He then frowned. If he was going to get Zoro something for his birthday, let alone Christmas, he was going to need money…which meant he needed to get a jo-
Oh yeah!
"Hey, miss lady person? I gave the other nice lady person an application yesterday, does that mean I can work here yet?" he asked the woman behind the counter, jumping up and down.
Looking slightly annoyed, the girl looked up towards him. She paused for a moment, trying to think. "Oh yeah, you must be that kid mom was talking about. Yeah, she looked at your application. She'll probably call you or whatever; she seemed to like you a lot." She waved her hand a bit.
Zoro nodded some, taking Luffy's free hand. "They'll call. C'mon."
"Okay! See you later miss lady person!" Luffy called as he hugged Chopper's box to his chest and began to walk out of the shop.
The puppy yipped and whined within its box, and Zoro sighed a bit. This had been a bad idea. Why a puppy, of all things!
"C'mon, let's get home," he muttered.
Luffy blinked. Go home? Already? He glanced back at the clock. Only four o' clock! He bit his lip. How was he supposed to keep Zoro downtown for two more hours?
…By looking for his birthday present, of course!
"Aw come on Zoro, not yet!" Luffy cried, tugging at his arm. "Let's go look in shops or something, just the two of us! It'll be fun!" He gave Zoro a pleading look. He had to keep Zoro away from the house…not only that, but he was happy for any extra time with just the swordsman and himself. Well, and Chopper.
"Look in shops?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. "...All right, I guess... we have some time." He glanced around. "Where is it you wanted so badly to go?"
Luffy frowned, hugging Chopper's box to his chest. "Ummm…..I don't know…" He glanced around. What shop should he look in first? What would Zoro like?
He probably wouldn't want one of those spiffy stuffed animals in the window of the toy store, and Luffy doubted he had the money for the trendy clothes in the store window (he doubted Zoro cared for clothes, anyway). Meat was something Luffy would appreciate, but he doubted Zoro would want meat for his birthday.
…But what was left to get Zoro, then?
His gaze then settled on a small, old looking store, stuffed between the café and the dollar store. His eyes immediately widened at the various shimmering gems and vases and things in the window.
"SHINY THINGS! PERFECT!" he cheered, charging across the street to the shop without even bothering to check for cars.
"Luffy!" Zoro grimaced, rushing after him. Luckily, there weren't any cars around, and the two reached the curb on the other side of the road safely. Glaring into the store windows, Zoro sighed. "You need to be more careful, Luffy," the man growled. "You have to cross the street at a crosswalk, all right?"
Luffy blinked, glancing back at the busy street for a moment before laughing and scratching his head sheepishly. "Oh…yeah. Okay, I'll try to remember that next time!" he chirped as he walked up to the store. He paused at the door, blinking at the sign hanging from it.
"No pets allowed," he read aloud. The boy frowned for a moment before his face spread into a grin. That was perfect! He could have Zoro wait out here with Chopper and it would give Luffy an excuse to search for Zoro's gift without him.
"Here, you hold Chopper while I go in!" he said, placing the whining box in Zoro's arms before charging into the store.
"Wait--" Zoro nearly interjected, but was silenced by the sound of the store door opening and Luffy disappearing, a small bell tinkling as the door slid shut again. Giving a great sigh, Zoro peeked into one of the holes of the box, looking in on the tiny creature inside. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, irritated. "Don't get all worked up, he's always like this."
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To be continued…
Er…right…not much happened this chapter, I know. But there was fluff…I guess…
…sigh
I'll answer a few reviews, but I'm not going to answer all of them…that would just take far too long.
Raikou Ikazuchi: o.o Whoa, Luffy was right about love being a fruit after all! Yaaaaay…
dreamhorse: I got the un-dubbed version at you need either BitTorrent or IRC to download them, though.
ofudamaster: Actually, I think Japanese high schools might have those kinds of questions about George Washington, because I know at my high school once you get there you have to learn OTHER countries histories, thus Robin teaches U.S. History and there are questions about George Washington.
I guess that's it…I'll start replying to all the reviews again next chapter…sigh
Next Chapter: Will Luffy ever find something for Zoro's birthday? Who's this strange little girl? And how will Zoro react to his party? I dunno, see the next chapter to find out.