Walk little walk
Small talk big thoughts
Gonna tell them all just what I want
That street two streets I see you and me
Hanging on the empty swings
Count high low don't worry my eyes are closed
I'm a superman and it's my show
One shoe two
Gonna kick with my new shoes
I'm going to kick until I need new shoes

-"Don't Stop" Foster The People

XxxX

Over the period on the next week or so Sanji started seeing his therapist more often. He tried his best to put off scheduling appointments for as long as he possibly could but with Zoro glancing worriedly over his shoulder that made it quite difficult.

Sanji hated this new transition with all of his everything. He hated how so quickly the situation could be morphed into something so annoyingly twisted against him. He felt truly awful about it. Sometimes they talked about it but keeping with Sanji's wish Zoro never brought up the part about himself or his friends being involved.

Speaking of those friends, Sanji was correct in assessing that they also had their memories wiped. They all noticed something was up with Sanji and they were all very concerned with him.

Despite his best efforts Sanji did end up going to see a therapist a few times a week and he hated every second of it. It wasn't that he hated his therapist, he hated the fact that he had to go to therapy. In fact, he didn't mind his therapist much as a person. The guy was not what he had first expected. What he expected was someone who was very happy, open, and who pretended to be concerned with everything he said. What he got was Doctor Trafalgar Law. He looked like the kind of guy who needed therapy rather than gave it. He was tall, a good four inches taller than Sanji, with dark sideburns and a soul patch. He was constantly scowling and he had a good number of visible tattoos, including the word 'DEATH' across his knuckles. Outside of a therapy session he gave Sanji the creeps but when he actually in session he was quite good. Sometimes Sanji even felt bad for not listening.

When Sanji wasn't listening doctor Law would ramble on about things that didn't really matter until Sanji became interested in whatever it was he was saying and they would start up a conversation. Little by little Law began to gain Sanji's trust. Sanji, of course, knew that it was his job to win over his trust but as they got to know each other he didn't mind so much. Apparently, Law used to be a surgeon but had lost the ring and pinky finger of his right hand to a car accident and the rest of his hand was no longer as dexterous as it once was. The experience had fucked him up pretty badly but he had hated going to therapy because his therapist sucked so he resolved to be the best god damned therapist ever. Sanji suspected that he could go onto bigger and better things if he wanted to, for how long he was stay in this job Sanji suspected not long. Despite his oddities, Doctor Law had managed to do something that Sanji's other therapist had not; he got him to talk. He told Law all about his experiences, omitting the part of his rescuers, he did so uncomfortably but willingly. Law listened intently and talked with him about what it could mean and disproving Sanji's fantasies with a stunningly smooth logic. It hurt at first to have his memories dismissed as fiction but in a way it comforted him. Part of him didn't want to believe that it had happened at all.

It had all felt so real but then all delusions felt real to those who experienced them. Maybe it was all a part of his imagination. Last time he had gone through therapy he hadn't been willing to listen and therefore had not gotten any better but he was an adult now and he wanted to listen, he wanted to get better. He was so tired of those kind, pitying looks, they made him sick.

Gradually, Law began to convince Sanji that it really was all in his head and Sanji began to get better. This was not by any means an easy process, it was long and difficult. The first step had been diagnosing Sanji with a mixed delusional disorder. Delusional, Sanji hated that word, it made him feel crazy when he knew he wasn't. Maybe that was the problem, he kept telling himself that he wasn't crazy when he was. He couldn't trust his eyes on this, but then what could he trust?

The months passed slowly with small amounts of progress. He still couldn't move without thinking that cameras were in him, watching his every move. He was still conscious about the things he did just in case someone was watching. What great fun paranoia was. Sometimes he felt boxed in like he couldn't get away from the camera lenses and he couldn't breathe. He began to hate taking showers.

XxxX

It was halloween night and Sanji and Zoro were getting ready for Luffy's ridiculous Halloween party. It was actually being held at Nami's house but at Luffy's request and it was always completely absurd. Luffy just so happened to be a huge halloween advocate and Sanji had been warned that his costume had to be amazing.

Sanji as a kid never really celebrated Halloween. He usually passed our candy when other kids came by, he never went out with them they made him feel different. The blond had decided that he would do something that was either very ironic or kind of fucked up, either way he felt that it probably helped with his therapy. He was going dressed as an alien. He had ordered this fucking weird shimmery costume to wear along with an iconic green alien mask and a headband with green balls at the end. All of his exposed body was painted over in green. He felt oddly giddy in this bright costume.

That was nothing compared to Zoro's costume. Zoro half made and half ordered a fucking amazing samurai costume. It was probably one of the most impressive things Sanji had ever seen. When Zoro had first stepped out with the costume on Sanji had let out a whistle. The blond was already in costume, his mask pulled to the side of his head to allow him greater vision. "You look like something straight out of a history book," Sanji commented with a grin.

"You look like an alien in a pop tart wrapper," Zoro shot back, gazing at Sanji's shimmery space suit. He looked even sillier because he had Napoleon Dynamite style space boots and a ridiculous kids gun.

Sanji grabbed the gun and unholstered it, pointing to the center of Zoro's chest. "I warn you, my phasers are set to kill so you better not fuck with me."

Zoro drew a wooden sword from his belt, he couldn't go around carrying his real ones after all. "Try it, I dare you."

The air was still as they glared at each other. Then Sanji's finger pressed the button as Zoro ducked out of the way of the imaginary blast as the toy let out a whirring noise and lit up in time with the action. Sanji quickly fired another shot as Zoro lunged toward him. His aim was off and there was soon a wooden sword pressed against his green painted neck. It wasn't all bad though, he did have his gun pressed under Zoro's chin. The air was once again very still as they waited to see who would make the move to kill.

"The gun is a coward's weapon," Zoro said, his eyes not moving from Sanji's.

"Cowards and aliens, we can't all be samurai," Sanji whisper back, trying to anticipate the next move.

"I say we call it a draw," Zoro decided, "Put down your weapon."

"I'll put down mine when you put down yours."

Zoro nodded and cautiously drew back his sword as Sanji drew back his gun. At nearly the same time Sanji pressed the gin into Zoro's chest and fired while Zoro stabbed him in the gut. They both flew back, imitating over the top deaths.

"You were... a worthy adversary..." Sanji gasped out dramatically, "I am and always shall be your friend, live long and prosper." And then he went limp.

Zoro was laughing, "You're such a dork."

Sanji sat up with a sudden gasp. "Your blatant disrespect for the dead has brought me back to life in order to punish you for your crime."

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Zoro said in monotone.

"You must come back with me to my home planet where we will become bonded for life."

Zoro wrinkled his nose, "That sounds like some freaky alien shit, not sure if I'd be into it."

"That's racist and you don't have a choice."

"I do have a choice and it's xenophobic."

Sanji rolled his eyes, "Whatever," Sanji slid over to sit next to him, "I'll just get my alien friends to kidnap you. Trust me, being abducted by aliens isn't fun," he jested.

Zoro laughed but a little bit of sadness worked it's way into his mind at that last comment. "I think you'll find me able to stand up to any torture you may inflict." He jabbed Sanji in the side making him spaz out a little bit. The shiny fabric he was wearing crinkled oddly under his touch. Amused, Zoro started to pat at Sanji's costume.

Sanji wore an expression of the upmost confusion and he looked very uncomfortable. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asked in a strange voice.

"This stuff is weird," Zoro said, messing with the fabric at Sanji's stomach to illustrate his point.

"Can you stop? Because you are seriously weirding me out."

"There's a change of pace. How's it feel to not be the weird one?" Zoro teased.

"I don't like it," Sanji decided, glaring up at the ceiling. It made him uncomfortable.

As they continued in their odd way they lost track of time and only rushed out when Nami texted Sanji asking where he was.

Sanji texted back that he was sorry, their banter had gotten out of hand. Was it banter or flirting? He could never really be sure, he supposed that it was half and half. Whatever, he liked banter. It was bant-astic. He liked to thing of himself as a bant-osaurus Rex. He often liked to imagine he was the Archbishop of Banter-bury. Sometimes he even took trips to Bant-anamo Bay, although it wasn't a savory place. Other times people had to take Banti-acids because they couldn't handle his sick banter.

...God, he was a dork, wasn't he?

At Nami's house everyone was already there, Luffy was dressed as a garden gnome, a red pointed had sat on the curved part of his straw hat. Chopper was dressed as a reindeer which felt more Christmasy but it suited him well enough. Brook, as he apparently always did, was dressed as a skeleton and was relentless with his bad skeleton jokes. Nami was dressed in Ancient Greek style clothes and said she was Plutus, god of wealth. Usopp came dressed as the best Captain America outside of the movies.

Everyone looked fantastic and the party went well into the night. At some point in the night Sanji slipped out onto Nami's little porch for a breath of fresh air, the air inside was suddenly constricting. The night was cool, as it usually was in October and he shivered in the darkness. The other houses along the way were dark by this time and the water glistened like thick oil.

Sanji tipped back his head and looked up at the starry sky. It seemed a little silly now that he could have thought he had ever been abducted by aliens. He could not trust his memory now, however convincing it was. He flinched a little but was the door opened letting forth a brief sound of talking and laughter. Zoro had stepped out into the darkness with him. He should have suspected that he would be followed.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked, he wasn't sure quite how to take Sanji's sudden leave of the party.

Sanji turned his head back to the open sky. "Trying to spot my alien brethren."

"Any luck?"

"No, I'm afraid they've grown tired and left me to rot down here. I suppose I'll do better down here anyway," Sanji sighed.

Zoro stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around his shimmery body. "If it's all the same to you, I think you're better off down here too. You can't keep your head up there in the clouds forever," he commented, his breath warm against Sanji's neck. His armor was bulky and awkward behind Sanji's back but the chef didn't move away, although, this was mostly because he was cold and Zoro was radiating heat.

"I guess you're right but I've never been one much for being realistic."

"Your goal isn't to become the world's greatest swordsman," Zoro chuckled.

"That goal is more realistic than not and you know it, mister samurai," Sanji grinned. He looked down to the water again then back up to the stars as they twinkled in the sky so very far away. So old and so very far away. It made him feel so small like nothing he did really matter and maybe it didn't. He turned away from the sky, twisting in Zoro's grip light until the were face to face.

"Let's go back inside," Sanji requested with a half smile.

Zoro hummed in disappointment, "I was enjoying this quiet."

"There is time for quiet later, now is the time for party." For some reason that sounded like some kind of proverb, although if it was it was surely backward. Regardless, Sanji leaned forward and pressed their lips together shortly and then turned his head to go back inside but Zoro's grip was still upon him, holding him lightly in place.

"No so fast, alien scum, under intergalactic law I'm holding you under arrest for setting down upon this small dirt planet," Zoro said very seriously, pressing Sanji lightly against the railing. Sanji had the flashing image of himself tumbling over the side and into the water below but he trusted Zoro enough not to flip him into the dark waters beneath them.

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I had no idea the the space police were now including ancient earth samurai in their ranks."

"We acquired the means to build a time vortex and hire mercenaries to do our bidding. We are many in number so you had better come along quietly."

"Oh dear, well, I would never last in space prison, they would tear me to pieces," he sighed dramatically then raised his eyes, "Tell me, mister space samurai, is there anything I can do to clear up this little... misunderstanding?" He inclined his head forward his expression indication he knew exactly what he could do.

And Zoro couldn't stand it, he burst into a fit of laughter. It was too much, that face. In his fit he had stepped back slightly allowing Sanji an escape. The blond slid away with a triumphant whoop, "Hahaha, you'll never take me alive!" he shouted as he ran to the door and slipped inside back to the party.

Zoro grinned after him for a moment then swiftly followed to hunt down the escaped alien like the bounty hunter he always knew he was at heart.

XxxX

Zoro's twenty sixth birthday came and went without incident and with much celebration. Another year of life, congratulations to him. But about a week afterward Sanji got a call that Zeff's health had taken a turn for the worst. It seemed very sudden but then Sanji hadn't been there to see Zeff's decline and that very much bothered him. Zeff had been taken into care by a hospital, something he very much disliked but he didn't cause so much of a fuss for the various doctors and nurses who went in and out. His body was giving out on him but the hospital staff were frantically trying to make him live.

After receiving this call Sanji was rightly upset. He took a leave of work and decided to stay down with him for a few days. The doctors said that he had at most a few months left to live, maybe more but probably less. Zoro drove up with him but was only going to stay the weekend, he had an overload of work to do with winter coming and it couldn't be done so far away. When he was explaining this to Sanji the swordsman had only repeated "Winter is coming" in a harsh northern accent over and over again until he was kicked over the couch. Maybe he deserved that.

The drive down was long and boring under the weight of the depressing thing they were headed toward. Zoro got the feeling that he was mostly there to force Sanji inside the building to see his adopted father. Even when Sanji wanted to go it took a good amount of effort to get him inside the hospital, he had to be lead by hand like a child and pulled along because he kept stopping but when they finally made it to the correct room they saw Zeff dozing in one of the beds.

He looked smaller somehow than he had the last time Sanji had seen him but he wasn't sure how. Zeff had always been a large and solid figure, a force to be reckoned with but now he looked almost vulnerable with his pale skin, lax expression, and the sack of something dripping into his IV. The sight made Sanji feel sick and he very much wanted to run from the room. Zoro blocked his path, he was sure he would be thankful of that later but now he only felt irritation. This place made his skin crawl and he wanted out. Fucking hospital, hospitals and spiders. They would be the death of him. If he ever saw a herd of spiders in a hospital he would probably drop dead right there.

Zeff's chest rose and fell with his even breathes, the doctor said that he would do a lot of sleeping and need a lot of blood transfusions. They were blasting him with chemo, trying to vanquish the cancer inside of him but the outlook wasn't good.

Zoro pushed Sanji down into one of the bedside chairs when it became obvious that he wasn't going to move for himself. They waited patiently for Zeff to wake up. After a time, he did stir and focus his eyes on his two visitors.

"Oh, guess I should have expected you at some point," Zeff grunted, he sat up ignoring Zoro and scrutinizing Sanji who sat back in his chair with his arms crossed, a ball of tension.

"Yes, you should have," Sanji replied sharply.

"Come to hound me for all my riches before I die, are you?" Zeff laughed.

Sanji didn't find it amusing. "You're not going to die," he said with force, like if he said it with enough determination then it would be true.

Zeff scoffed at that, "In the time you were gone did you learn how to see the future?"

"Yeah, I've got my fucking third eye open and I'm seeing you in the future, so don't go talking about your fucking death when you don't have to," Sanji glared at him.

"I'll talk about it as much as I like, brat, you don't have to listen but it won't stop the inevitable."

Sanji looked like he wanted to kick something. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"I'm an old man, what else is there really?"

"Lots of things," Sanji said in exasperation, "The Baratie could take off, I could get married, have kids. Isn't it every parent's dream for grandkids? You could win a million dollars, the earth could turn inside out, the Yellowstone super volcano could erupt, human kind could be overrun by aliens. I don't know, anything could happen!"

The old chef raised an eyebrow. "You say that assuming that I care about any of that."

Sanji scoffed, "You have to care on some level. You're not that much of a heartless bastard."

"Eh, when I'm dead I'll just watch it all from a window in heaven or some elegant bullshit like that. I expect you to have many grandkids, adopt as many as you can." He cast a look at Zoro as well. He was assuming that them adopting children in the future would be legal, because currently it was not. He was also assuming that their relationship would last. It seemed steady so far, it had certainly been the healthiest Sanji had ever hand and he did love Zoro so he hoped that they would go the distance.

Sanji let out a dry laugh, "You don't believe that rubbish and we both know it." It was true that Zeff had no real faith in any deities. Sanji had never been to any churches as a child and Zeff never made any mention if any higher life force. They were a different kind of alien. One that even Sanji was dubious of.

"Maybe not but then once I'm dead, I'm dead and nothing will matter anymore."

Sanji just glared at him with seething rage.

"There are worse ways to die," Zeff said lightly.

Sanji was not impressed. "And there are better ways too but they all end up the same. For good or bad there's no such thing as a dignified death."

"What do you know about death, little eggplant?"

"More than you might think." Sanji thought back to when he lay on a metal table, his insides stretched open to the stingingly cold air. He thought he would die right then, and there had been other times when he was give injections that he seemed to be on the edge of death but he was always brought back and it was terrifying every time. It was like hanging over the end of an endlessly dark pit by only one hand. Sanji had pulled himself back into the cliff side but others had not been so luck, Sanji had seen them taken out through the halls. Death was a terrifying blackness, cold and deep with no comfort. Despite everything that had happened he would never want to let himself fall into that darkness, there was too much uncertainty lurking there.

But that hadn't been real, had it? It had felt real but all delusions felt real, that's why they it was so hard to convince crazy people that they weren't real. He couldn't let them rule over him like this. Things that don't exist should frighten things that do. But try telling that to nearly every rationally irrational child to ever walk this earth.

Sanji realized that was shaking, he was clenching his arms tightly around his chest and his breathing was harsh. Zeff looked as concerned as he was capable of and Zoro was trying to shake him back into reality.

Sanji took a shuddering breath. "I'm fine," he managed, brushing Zoro's hands away. He felt suddenly very embarrassed and turned his head away.

"You can't stay here," Zeff determined after a long silence, "It's not good for you."

"Shut up, yes I can. I can't just leave, who will look after the Baratie while you're here?" The words 'when you're gone' had almost slipped from his mouth but he corrected them before he could make the mistake.

"Those idiots can manage on their own, I'm sure. There's no need for you to take over things."

"Bullshit, they'll never do as good a job as me and you know it!" Even Zeff had to admit that much.

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter, you aren't staying here and you aren't taking over the Baratie." The words were spoken with immovable determination.

"You can't stop me," Sanji said, his jaw set in determination.

"I've already told those imbeciles who work for me to get rid of you if they see you hanging around the restaurant and I'm not leaving the Baratie to you." There he went talking like a deadman again.

The words cut Sanji deeply. His throat burned in anger and for a moment he didn't have any words. When he found his voice it was tight with restrained emotion. "Why not?"

"Because you have your whole life ahead of you and I'm not going to dump something like this on you when you could be doing something better."

"You wouldn't be dumping it on me. I enjoy working there, I've been doing it for almost all of my life."

"And now it's time for you to move on. You're already halfway there." He had friends back with Zoro and he wouldn't want to leave they behind but he would because he felt he owed Zeff for taking him in as a dumb, damaged kid.

Sanji still would not accept it. "No."

"Yes, and there is nothing you can do about it. That is my final word on it and you'll hear the rest after I'm dead, I don't have to argue with you anymore." The two glared at each other but the matter was settled for now.

Sanji looked away and his eyes met Zoro's. Funny, he had nearly forgotten about the swordsman's presence while they were arguing he was so quiet. He looked uncomfortable, like he was out of place or wasn't really supposed to be there.

Sanji made a face at him, "Hey, marimo, stop being so quiet; it's weird."

"Yeah, don't be such a stranger, boy," chimed in Zeff, "You're having sex with my kid, so you're pretty much family now."

"I hope that's not the only qualification you have for determining who's family and who's not," Zoro said, an unpleasant expression on his face. He had a feeling that now that the full attention had been turned onto him he was in for a lot of teasing.

Sanji was making an embarrassed face, "Are we really going to do this?" he asked miserably.

"What?"

"This thing where you barite people into fear."

"If he can't take the heat he should find someone else to sleep with."

Ugh, why did he have to be so- so- fucking infuriating?

"Fat chance of that happening," Zoro smirked, "I will have sex with your son as much as I see fit."

They were both infuriating.

"Um, excuse me, but I'm pretty sure that you will only be having sex with me for as long as I see fit. Don't make me sound like some maiden you won in a bet or something. Can we change the subject, please?" he requested with a noticeable strain in his voice.

"I'm only being a good over protective father," Zeff said.

"Shut the fuck up, your just being an asshole because you can."

Zeff shrugged, "Same thing."

Sanji glared at him with much malice.

"What? It's not my fault that you decided to get together with this hooligan," Zeff said pointing to Zoro's scowling face.

"I'd apologize but I don't care and don't say the word hooligan, you sound like an old person."

"I am an old person."

"I mean a really old person." Really old people made him thing of turtles, he supposed that it wasn't such a strange thing seeing as turtles lived for so long. Sanji thought turtles were kind of cute, especially when they were eating food but he would never say something that that. It was against the man code to used the word 'cute' to describe anything other than a person's attractiveness.

Two headed turtles were especially adorable. He wished that he had a whole bucket full of baby turtles that he could dump into a pool and swim around with. But unfortunately, most abandoned swimming pools became infested with frogs and horrible little Mosquitos larva rather than adorable little turtles.

Speaking if mosquito like critters, Zoro had told Sanji stories about the mayflies on Kelleys island. Mayflies were a sort of fly that looked like a cross between a mosquito and a damsel fly. It was about the size of a quarter and it did not bite or sting. They just flew around and didn't do much of anything. They only lived for one day and in the summer they swarmed. At night if you had a bright light out they would swam around it, falling to the ground in literal moving matts mating and dying. You could see the babies crawling away from the masses. If they were on the sidewalk and you walked though them they made popping noises under food. In the morning the ground would be covered in dead mayflies and the next night the same thing would happen over again.

"Sanji," Zoro said drawing the blond back into the present. He hadn't realized he had been daydreaming.

"What?" he asked.

"You weren't paying attention."

"Keep the conversation lively and I won't have to distract myself."

They stayed not much longer, Zeff slipped back to sleep.

XxxX

A/N: Law would probably be an awful therapist which is why I gave him the job. I feel like he would use it as a chance to torment people.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) : ) find your local NAMI today XD

All the banter puns.

As mature adults in a mature relationship I imagine there would be *cough* mature content somewhere in those months but that's not something I can handle. I will never be able to read or write that sort of thing. At least, I don't think I ever will.

You didn't think I'd forgotten about poor old Zeff, did you? Because I assure you that I did not. The life expectancy of someone with AML isn't great when you are on the older side like Zeff, which really sucks : ( I can never write Zeff right...

Thanks.