A promise to kill

Killer

She kisses me with a desperation that I wanted nothing more than to save her from. She grasps my arms, trembling despite her smile. She turns away from me, as if she's made up her mind to ignore her fears. 

I'll never know what ails her body and mind, she'll never tell me but she smiles as if everything will be alright. 

Yet Kid, our friend, our captain, our Kid, frowns deeper, glares harder, kills more mercilessly as we walk through these castle like halls. He, doesn't let her step even a foot away from us. He keeps her between him and I, with every blast that's heard, I see his hand flinch towards her, ready to grab her.  

I can't ask him why because I know i can not ask him to pick between Layla and I, and undoubtedly, he will not answer anyways. 

"Kid. He's here." She whispers as if she's afraid of her own words and before anyone can even process what she's said bullets rein down on us from above. 

" Kaido-sama has been looking for you Lady, We've heard you've got an interesting Devil fruit power." Queen grins from his post as he creates chaos around us. 

" I think this is where we part ways Kid, Killer, everyone." She turns smiling again, as if everything is alright. 

" No. We can take him We don't run from a fight." Kid states gripping her shoulders but she slowly pushes them off crouching to the floor. 

" Kid, I don't want to fight with you in these last few minutes. I want to be helpful. I want to contribute something to my crew one last time. Please let me at least help you before they take me." She still smiles and finally, she faces me. She finally meets my eyes and I see her breaking. Her resolve breaking. 

" What happened to staying by my side from now on?" I try to make light of the mood but her forced laugh breaks me. 

" I love you Killer. I trust you. I trust this crew to find me. I'll be waiting for you to find me after everything is over. So one last time, let me send my fire to the sky, let my lehua bloom." She touches my cheek so softly. The world is in chaos around us. Samurai and Pirates falling, dying even but here she is, proclaiming that she trusts us. 

Branches start to grow around us. Piercing, tangling, hanging, comrade and enemy alike as the branches reach for the sky. Screams fill the air and only our crew is safe within the walls of her creation. 

" Killer, Kid will explain everything to you, I'm sorry that I was never able to tell you anything. I never deserved all the trust you put in me but never doubt that I love you. It's you who I'll wait for. It's you who will wake me from my slumber. Killer, wake me up when you find me. Know that everything I'm doing now is to protect you, to protect the crew, to protect my brother. I am defying the king of beast. This is my way of fighting against him. I will win against him and now it is you all turn." 

I notice him screaming. Queen. I can hear them trying to get to us through the trees. 

" I made you a path to the top. Please, go. I don't want you to have to watch me leave." She finally has tears in her eyes. I feel the ground beneath my feet shifting and I feel myself and the crew getting lifted farther from her and I do the only thing I can do. 

I reach for her and place my lips on her in one finally, desperate attempt to convey my love and I stay there until we are to far from one another to touch. She's balling at this point but she turns away to face the men who have finally reached her. She snaps her fingers and bright red flowers, flowers that look like small fires, begin to blood all around us and she, even at this distance, I can see her. I watch as she sits against the beautiful tree that she's created and smiles. 

She smiles. The damn fool smiles. She becomes unable to move. Our ascend stops and I know, she is gone. I watch the last few moments as the tree seems to swallow her into it's self. until all that's left is a single flower in it's place. 

Even in the end, she chooses to leave me but I can't help the tears that gather under my mask. How dare she. How dare she leave me again. How dare Kid let her leave. 

" Get off of me." His voice is calm. Of course it would be. He knew that this would happen. He knew what she would do to me. I tighten the grip i have on his collar. 

" She knew you'd act like this. You love her too much for your own good. " He all but mutters and I want to punch him. I want to drag him to where she once stood and make him stare at what's left of her. 

" Why." it's all I can ask myself. Why didn't she trust us to protect her. Why didn't she trust me to help her. Why did she have to leave me again. 

"She didn't want to be used by Kaido. She knew that with her powers, she, she could recreate devil fruits. She could grow a devil fruit tree and she knew that Kaido knew this. She didn't to give the chance for Kaido to use her after he lost the smile factory. " His voice is even but there isn't any emotion to it, as if he's rehearsed this a million times. 

" Why didn't you stop her." I can see him balling his fists. 

" You don't think I did!?" He finally yells. He finally blows up and pushes me back. Metal flying all around us reacting to his anger. 

" You don't think I fuckin did? I wanted to turn the damn ship around and avoid this fight for her! I wanted to hide her in the middle of the ocean! I would have given up one piece for her! You think you're the only bastard to love her!?How do you think I felt when she told me. Fuckin helpless and useless because she was right. I'm the captain of the kid pirates. I can't run from this fight for a single crew mate. I can't abandon my dreams and my crew for her. She put her trust in me to keep this crew alive. Because I'm Eustass Captain Fuckin KID." He roars " I'm the captain of this damned crew and a girl isn't going to stop me from fighting Kaido." He punches the wall and I realize that he isn't trying to convince me, no, he's telling himself. 

because as much as I love her, he loves her just as much. Only, he never had the chance to be more than her hero. 

(I will explain many things soo so please bare with me ~nijiha)