Awaken

Characters: Shachi, Law, Penguin. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Everything hurt. Or rather, that's what Shachi's mind expected to find as it resurfaced from the depths of a coma. Having very definitely had his stomach blown out – he'd fainted, sure, but not for several seconds after it had happened, his body too in shock to realise it shouldn't be conscious – meant there should be agony to go with it.

The truth was that there was little more than a dull ache, leaving him to wonder if it had been a particularly vivid dream. Not that he'd be complaining, of course. He'd take a vivid dream over actual near-death any day.

His eyes wouldn't open, feeling a bit like they'd been sewn shut. Well, as long as he wasn't actually blind, he could deal with the darkness a little longer as he tried to sort out what was fact and what had been a dream. No shades, no hat. That told him nothing; either he was in his own bed, or a bed in the infirmary. Either way, he wouldn't be wearing either item.

His left hand was far warmer than the rest of him, and at a funny angle. Lifted up away from his body, it felt like someone was clinging to it. That didn't bode so well for the 'just a dream', although if the nightmare had been violent enough, then maybe. How anyone was holding his hand without touching him elsewhere if he was in his bunk was a mystery, though. There wouldn't be room… so maybe it hadn't been a dream?

Or he could have been lazy and crashed in Penguin's bunk. That was an option too.

The incessant beeping in the corner didn't sound like their alarm, though (and if it was, Penguin would be jostling him by now, reminding him it was time to get up and face the new day). The room smelt clean, the crisp scent of a sterilised environment, not the slightly musky scent of a room lived in by two men in their twenties. That was a couple of concerning points for the 'not a dream' camp.

"He's waking up," he heard, a voice off to his right and therefore not belonging to the hands clutching his left. Said hands tightened in response.

"Shachi?" the presumably owner of the hands said, the voice weak and cracking slightly in the middle. It sounded like they hadn't spoken for days, their throat scratchy and hoarse. Uh oh, that really didn't bode well for the whole 'probably real' thing.

"Don't hurry him," the first voice chided gently. It was strained, worried, and familiar. Shachi knew that voice, now who… "Let him wake in his own time." Law. That was Law's voice. Okay, definitely in the infirmary. Law didn't invade their room unless they dragged him in. And if Law was there, then that meant…

He fought with his fingers until they moved, twitching lightly in the grip that held them. His reward was a sharp intake of breath, the hands encompassing his shifting slightly in response. Emboldened by the success, he tried again, this time managing to distinctly squeeze them.

"Shachi?" the other voice repeated, full of hope and pain and yes, that was Penguin. Oops, the blown-out stomach thing really really had happened, hadn't it? While far from averse to physical contact, Penguin rarely did something quite as sentimental as hand-holding.

"Yo," he croaked, pleasantly surprised that his voice was still in working order. From the state of Penguin's, he'd probably been out of it for some time. He attempted to open his eyes again, succeeding long enough to see his nakama was hatless and a mess before wincing and closing them again. "Ow, too bright," he complained. He'd never been a fan of bright lights, and the whiteness of the infirmary after unconsciousness was not at all welcome.

"How are you feeling?" Law asked. Shachi heard some shuffling off to his right, where he deduced his captain was, before the familiar weight of his shades very gently returned. He opened his eyes again, easier now that the tinted lenses were defending his eyes from the brightness.

"Better than you two look," he replied, looking at them both and seeing just how dishevelled they were. Like Penguin, Law's hat was nowhere to be seen, and his usually untamed hair looked downright wild. Both had bags under their eyes (not that that was anything new for Law, but they were more pronounced than usual), so it was easy to deduce that they'd barely slept since… "How long was I out?"

"Four days," Law admitted. Huh, that was a long time. Law could usually fix them up in less than a day. Oh yeah, blown out stomach. Shachi remembered Mugiwara's nightmare surgery and recovery. Two weeks. Maybe four days made sense. His right hand crept towards his stomach, feeling for the bandaging, only to be caught in a gentle yet firm grip. As his left hand was very definitely still in the custody of Penguin's hands, it had to be Law. "Leave it alone."

Shachi acquiesced, turning his hand in the grip to squeeze Law's hand softly instead.

"I'm okay," he reassured them. It probably didn't have the desired effect as he was still weak. "You two go get some rest." It was clear that neither of them had done so since the battle, and Shachi felt guilty for worrying them so much. "Shachi's Orders," he added with a grin that was more forced than he'd wanted when neither so much as twitched.

"Since when do you have authority to order me around?" Law asked him, although he sounded more amused than offended. Penguin's response was to merely tighten his grip on Shachi's hand.

"Since you two are being idiots and not taking care of yourselves," Shachi retorted.

"Says the one that got a hole to the stomach," Penguin groused. Shachi squeezed his hand again, trying to convince him to move. He appreciated the company, he really did. If he'd woken up alone, he probably would have panicked. But he wasn't having his nakama run themselves to the ground on his behalf. They didn't need all three of them out of commission. Presumably Bepo had taken command, possibly assisted by Jean Bart – he might be the newest, but he had a good head on his shoulders and didn't panic as easily as some of the rest of them – but Bepo hated being in charge. The weight of responsibility was too heavy for him to bear for long.

"Says the one that got a hole to the stomach," he agreed, not that he could feel it. That was probably due to a large amount of anaesthetic and his captain's abilities rather than because it was already fully healed, though. "Now scat, you're helping no-one running yourselves down. Not me, and certainly not the rest of the crew."

He saw the two share a look and frowned. It wasn't often that they teamed up – usually it was him and Penguin teaming up on Law when he was making stupid calls – but this was clearly one of those rare occasions. A familiar blue sheen expanded, encompassing more of the infirmary than Shachi could see without turning his head, and in all honesty he wasn't sure he had the energy for that.

"Shambles."

He didn't see what Law moved, although the resounding thuds sounded heavy enough that it was something substantial. Penguin let out a noise that almost passed for amusement.

"Works for me," he said, and dammit now Shachi really wanted to know what stunt his captain had pulled. Penguin stood up, releasing Shachi's hand gently and letting it fall back to the bedside – Shachi had no energy to keep it suspended even if he wanted to. Shachi let a satisfied grin grace his face, until Penguin simply lay down on the bed that definitely hadn't been there earlier and closed his eyes.

"You don't get to tell me when I'm leaving my own infirmary," Law said from his other side, and Shachi glanced across as best he could to see the taller male mirroring Penguin's actions on a bed the other side of him. Shachi just sighed, hearing his companions succumb to sleep faster than he was willing to bet they'd wanted. It was another reminder that they'd been neglecting themselves for him – if he found out they'd been skipping meals there would be hell to pay – and he stared at the ceiling, letting the steady sounds of their breathing, as familiar to him as his own, calm him.

He couldn't blame them, not really. If it had been either of them in his position, he wouldn't have left their side for anything either. He took a deep breath, exhaling slightly shakily as he mentally reviewed how close he must have come to leaving them. Far too close.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," he murmured to his sleeping companions.

A follow-on from chapter 2, Vigil, because someone asked for Shachi waking up.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari