Recall

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

Shachi was getting rather fed up of being in the infirmary when it wasn't his fault. When he was the one lying in the bed it wasn't so bad – usually because he was unconscious for most of it – but the chairs for the not-sick weren't the most comfortable (they weren't supposed to be in the room at all as they weren't bolted to the floor like the rest of the furniture, but Law had given up complaining for the moment, maybe because he was in his own chair the other side of the bed).

Law had said it wouldn't be long before Penguin woke up. His injuries weren't too severe – here, there'd been a disapproving glance at Shachi's now heavily bandaged side – so Law claimed he wasn't too worried. Shachi would have been more inclined to believe him if he wasn't slumped on one of those chairs he hated so much, golden eyes fixated solely on Penguin's unconscious form. He hadn't asked what Law was worried about, not wanting to know.

Law was the best doctor they could hope to have. Shachi trusted that, whatever it was, the younger man could fix it. Law was only waiting, wasn't frantically pushing himself to save Penguin, so it couldn't be too bad. His hands trembled where they were fisting the sheets Penguin lay on. He had to believe that, otherwise what did he have left?

"Ow," came from the bed, and Shachi's attention snapped to Penguin's face in time to see eyes blink open lazily, protesting at the light. Penguin shifted, stretching his muscles and wincing. "What the hell happened?"

"You-" A tattooed hand stuck itself in front of Shachi's face, startling him into silence.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Law asked, and Shachi didn't like the way his mouth pulled taut as they waited for Penguin to answer. It felt like an eternity before he looked at them, brow furrowed in concentration – no, confusion, Shachi realised with a bad feeling. There was no recognition in his eyes.

"Why don't you tell me what it should be and we'll go from there?" Penguin responded sharply, pulling himself into a sitting position against the head of the bed. His eyes flicked constantly between Shachi and Law, and Shachi hated the way his first thought was 'like a cornered animal'. He wasn't the only one that noticed; Law moved to the other side of the bed, now next to Shachi. The ginger didn't like the way he was treading carefully, pulling on the air he held when dealing with people not in the Heart Pirates. This was Penguin.

"Do you know who you are?" Law asked, far too calm considering the implications of what he was asking. Shachi's hands had stopped shaking when Penguin had woken, but they started up again with a vengeance. If Penguin had forgotten-

"Penguin," Penguin said, as if Law was asking stupid questions (and Shachi had no way to escape the fact that it wasn't his 'you're being stupid, Law' voice, it was his 'who's this idiot' voice, although he tried). Law nodded, seemingly pleased but Shachi knew that set of his jaw meant nothing of the sort.

"Do you know where you are, Penguin?" he asked, and the older man's eyes narrowed as he took a quick glance around before his eyes snapped back to his nakama.

"An infirmary," he shrugged, and Shachi almost collapsed off the silly, not-bolted-down, chair he was still perched on. This was wrong. This was very, very, wrong. Penguin should have been able to identify it as the Tang's infirmary, not just any old infirmary. He saw the line of questioning Law was taking, but didn't know if he wanted to hear the next exchange.

"Do you know who I am?" Shachi didn't make up his mind to flee or not before Law asked the question he'd been dreading.

"The doctor of this infirmary, I would presume," Penguin retorted, and this time Shachi really did fall off the chair, which clattered away noisily as he landed heavily on the ground. He bit back a cry as his injured side protested. "Are you about to tell me I have amnesia, doctor? That guy seems to think I should be giving different answers."

That guy.

Shachi's breath caught in his throat, cutting off his attempts to regain his feet.

That guy… He couldn't have been talking about him, could he? Penguin… Penguin hadn't forgotten him? Had he? The tremor in his hands had extended up his arms and Shachi felt a pressure behind his eyes, one that warned he'd be sobbing like a child any moment. He blinked it back fiercely.

"What do you think?" Law asked, and Penguin made that humming noise he always did when he was thinking hard.

"I think things aren't adding up," he eventually said, sounding out the words slowly and carefully as if he was still thinking things through. "You're wearing a Jolly Roger, so you're a pirate. This is probably your ship, but I'm not restrained, so either you think I'm no threat, or you know me. The ginger guy is getting upset, so either he's a good actor and this is some brainwashing tactic, or I'm at the very least an ally."

Shachi couldn't take it any more, the fact that Penguin had considered brainwashing before nakama one blow too many.

"What the hell are you talking about, Penguin?" he demanded, pulling himself to his feet despite the pain. "That guy, that ginger guy… You can't have forgotten me! It's me, Shachi! We're nakama, hell, we grew up together! What the hell you doing saying you don't remember us- remember me?" He ripped his shades off, despite the light in the infirmary, because Penguin would tell him off, and then everything would be fine. Everything would be fine.

"Shachi!" Law said sharply, and there were hands on his shoulders, pulling him back from where he'd ended up looming over Penguin. Shachi fought his grip, eyes watering fiercely although he didn't know how much of that was the light and how much was his own emotions. "Shachi! Stop!"

A hand clamped over his eyes and he stumbled backwards, against Law. The only sound was his own laboured breathing. Penguin hadn't said a word, still didn't as Law forced a thick blindfold on Shachi. It was only once Law was finished, a warning hand clamped on his shoulder, that Penguin spoke again.

"Your eyes…" he trailed off, as if thinking, and Shachi held his breath, feeling Law similarly tense. Had it worked, was Penguin out of his funny five minutes? "What happened to them?"

The world disappeared from under Shachi's feet and he stumbled, even with Law's hold. This- this was real. Penguin would never take a joke that far. He didn't know what was going on anymore, didn't know what to think. Penguin didn't remember him, didn't know him at all – didn't know any of them. What was he supposed to do now?

"Hey?" Penguin asked, his voice tentative, and Shachi felt him reaching out for him. He recoiled – he didn't know this man, this wasn't Penguin even if it wore his skin and used his voice – stumbling out of Law's grip as well and sprinting for the door, tripping over his own feet uncertainly as he did so.

The combination of the blindfold and Shachi's turbulent emotions had him running straight into something soft and giving, crashing both of them over to the floor.

"Oof!" the cook exclaimed involuntarily. "Shachi, wha-" Shachi clung to his uniform, too drained to get back to his feet as he sobbed into the blindfold. "Shachi? Shachi, talk to me!"

There were more footsteps, several other members of the crew close enough to at least hear the collision running to the scene – no running in the hallways rule be damned, apparently – and the voices rose in a clamour around him as they all started asking questions. Shachi just shook in the cacophony, a quivering leaf in the centre of the storm of his nakama.

"Everyone be quiet!" a booming voice ordered, cutting through the noise sharply. Everyone fell silent, and Shachi regained enough awareness of his surroundings to hear Jean Bart's unmistakably heavy footsteps resounding through the corridor. They stopped less than a metre from where Shachi was still using the cook as a cushion, his nakama's hand stroking his hair gently in an attempt to calm him. "Shachi." There was a captain's order in the tone, despite the fact that Jean Bart had never been his captain. The deep rumble did what the panicked questions hadn't and cut through the haze in Shachi's mind. "Did something happen to Penguin?"

Shachi nodded into his nakama's chest.

"Amnesia," he managed, his voice quivering and breaking as it forced its way through his constricted throat. "H-he doesn't k-k-know w-who I am!"

There was a collective intake of breath from everyone who heard him.

"It'll be okay." Uni broke the silence. Shachi shook his head. It wasn't okay, how could it be okay? What if Penguin never remembered? Shachi couldn't face seeing that empty husk of his best friend forever more. "He'll remember."

"And won't be pleased with you reopening your wounds," Ikkaku said sharply. A gentle hand pressed lightly on the bandaging on his side and he gasped. "That needs rewrapping." He was coaxed to his feet gently, and stumbled along as they guided him… somewhere.

It wasn't back to the infirmary, he knew that much, but it wasn't until he was lightly pushed to sit on a bed that his brain kicked in gear enough to recognise his location as Law's room, the unofficial back-up infirmary. His bandages were gently but firmly changed, and at the end a warm mug was pushed into his hands.

"Drink up," the cook said, sitting on the bed besides him and putting an arm around his shoulders. "You'll feel better."

The hot chocolate was sweet, and while Shachi cried at the taste – just one of thousands of memories he'd shared with Penguin over the years – his hands finally stopped shaking.

I got a request for amnesiac Penguin, either as a stand alone or multiple chapters... haven't decided if I'll leave it as this or not yet.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari