🖤 Emotions♟ | angst 💔 | Zosan 💚💛

7 | Silence.

"You...don't remember? Sanji, you've been in a coma for a year."

...

Silence.

...

Sanji's eyes were wide and he stared at Chopper in disbelief.

"Sanji? Are you alright?" Chopper tilted his head to the side as he spoke. Sanji bagan to write again.

Has it really been that long?

Chopper looked at the paper and nodded.

"I'm afraid so. We docked at the harbour and you went missing, and then... Zoro came back with you, and you had serious injuries. He wouldn't tell us what actually happened until three weeks later." Chopper said.

Speaking of Zoro, why was he so angry earlier?

"Zoro? He was so worried about you, every night he comes in and sleeps by your bedside even though I kept telling him that there was a very small chance you would ever wake up."

Do you have any idea why he was so upset when I woke up?

"I'm afraid that he blames himself for everything that happened, he barely eats and drinks, he believes that he doesn't deserve it because he couldn't help you."

Sanji's heart sank once more.

"He barely talks, he's always locked up in his room, training for hours on end. He wants to become stronger, for you."

I'm sorry.

Chopper sighed and placed a hoof on Sanji's left shoulder.

"It's not your fault Sanji, I'm not sure what you went through to become like this, but I'm sure it's not your fault."

Sanji looked away and squeezed his eyes shut as pictures of them flashed in his mind.

"Sanji."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

...

Guilt was like a knife, stabbing Sanji in the chest and twisting it. Guilt was whispering in his ear, telling him that it's all his fault.

Sanji felt tears sting in his eyes and his heart collapsed, shattering into thousands of pieces.

"If your going through such pain, tell us. We're your crew mates, we're not going to be upset if you feel sad. We're only going to be upset if you suffer in silence."

Sanji nodded, he felt bad again. 

"I... Zoro... Zoro told me, about when you tried to um... kill yourself."

Panic. 

Sanji shook his head and scrambled away before throwing the blanket over himself to cover the state his face was in.

"Hey, hey, It's alright Sanji. I'm not mad."

The duvet cover didn't budge from on top of Sanji's head.

"Sanji... are you- scared?"

The small reindeer crawled around Sanji and gently pulled the duvet off, only now Sanji was able to really observe the reindeers features. He looked a bit older, he was a lot bigger that's for sure. Sanji really had been asleep for a year.

Sanji nodded slowly.

"Don't worry, we're all here for you. Me and everyone else will help you get through this, I promise." Chopper hugged Sanji, though he was careful not to touch any of his wounds just in case.

Thank you. How is everyone?

"Aha, you sure do have a lot to catch up on. Come, you should be able to walk alright, we can go see the others!" Chopper turned into his larger reindeer form as Sanji slowly managed to get out of the bed. Sanji wobbled but used Chopper as stability. They slowly shuffled to the door, Sanji occasionally nearly tumbling over.

Sanji eventually made it to the door of the kitchen, he heard footsteps and voices, mostly laughing. Sanji turned the nob on the door and pushed it open.

Silence.

Silence and horrified looks from all his crew members.