Death Do Us Part

III

"Luffy!!"

"Luffy!!"

"Luffy!!"

Zolo's, Lovely's, and Alice's voices break through the darkness of the forest. After the all-clear signal was given in the shelter, Lovely insisted that they try to find Luffy as she had hoped that he was still out there somewhere. Even though they had many doubts that he was even alive, Alice and Zolo agreed to help her search.

Please... Lovely prayed. Answer my voice, Luffy...

"Luffy?!!" Alice breathes, shivering in the snow.

Zolo holds up his lantern to see a large lump of brown clothing covered in the newly fallen snow. He carefully makes his way over to it, cautious that it might be a vampire setting a trap for an unsuspecting human. He sighs with relief when he sees that it's only a person laying unconscious. He takes care to dig up the person from the mountain of snow only to pull back in shock. He picks up his lantern and looks around the circle of trees surrounding him.

"Alice!! Lovely!!" he shouts.

They hear his calls and gasp. Lovely runs through the trees as fast as she could, her heart pounding fast. He must have found him! She would be able to hold him again and comfort him from the freezing weather. But what she saw next would stop her in her tracks. She drops her lantern, holding both hands over her mouth. Zolo carries a body in his hands, looking down sadly. The body was, without a doubt, Luffy's.

"Luffy..." Lovely softly cries, running to him. "Luffy, wake up. It's Lovely. My love?"

No matter how many times she tried to get him to speak to her, he wouldn't respond. Lovely gasps and sobs into her husband's chest only to make out the silent traces of a heartbeat. A small gasp of air and a long groan came out of his lips. She gasps and frantically grabs Zolo's shoulders.

"He's alive!!" Lovely screams. "He's still alive!! Oh, God!!"

Zolo hushes her and looks at Luffy. "That's a relief, but he still needs medical attention right away."

"We need to take him back to the shelter," Alice says. "Chopper will know what to do. He may be young, but he has more knowledge in the medical field than the rest of us do."

Zolo nods and looks around. "What part of the forest did we come from?"

Alice groans at his lack of knowledge in navigation. It would have been a better option to take Nami instead. Luckily, Alice knew which way the village was from where they were. She taps Zolo's shoulder and runs in that direction.

"Follow me!!" she exclaims, running through the trees. "And try not to get lost, Zolo!!"

"I didn't get lost!" Zolo exclaims. "I was thinking about it!!"

Lovely stops him before he could follow behind and asks if she could hop on his back to watch over Luffy. He complies with a sigh. Lovely hangs onto his shoulders and wraps her legs around his waist. He follows behind Alice, trying to keep Luffy as warm as possible. Lovely prayed silently to God that He wouldn't take her love so soon. They've only been married for three months. He wouldn't take him if they were planning to bring new life into the world, right?

_____

"Chopper!! We found him!!" Zolo yells throwing open the door to the shelter. "Get him treated quickly!!"

Chopper rushes out from a back room where more injured people lay on mattresses blood-stained from their wounds. "Thank goodness we have an empty bed," he said. "Bring him here!"