I Will Always be by Your Side (ZoSan)

Chapter 11

It was dark. Too dark. Almost as if his eyes were closed. But they were not. He held a hand to his face. He saw only darkness

Sanji looked around the area he was in, or at least he felt like he did. It was just the same darkness everywhere he turned.

He took a few daring steps forward and heard it echo all around him. Was he in a cave?

Sanji slowly began to walk forward, making sure to listen to his footsteps and for any other noises around him.

The floor beneath him seemed to shimmer like water. His steps making ripples that disturbed the rest of the floor.

He had no clue where he was or what was going on. He just hoped that he could find a way out of the weird place he somehow ended up in when he knew he was on the Sunny just a few minutes ago.

Suddenly a spotlight shot on very far in front of him. Sanji shielded his eyes from the bright light.

He looked forward again and noticed something underneath the spotlight. It was a lump of something laying still on the ground. Sanji became curious.

He slowly walked towards the light, as he did the thing under slowly became more clear.

It was a large rock, then a pile of blankets, then an animals, then... a person.

Sanji made it under the spotlight and leaned over the body. His eyes widened in shock and horror at who the body belonged to.

Zoro laid on the ground. His eyes wide open and dull. His body unmoving. Blood seeping out his mouth and head. Sanji fell to his knees immediately and reached out to Zoro, but his hands hit a wall.

Sanji banged his hands against the invisible wall and started to scream out Zoros name. Taken aback by the fact that he could not hear his own voice.

He continued to bang and shout, but no noise could be heard. Tears steamed down his face as he shouted for Zoro to get up. But he just laid there. Still. Motionless. Dead.

The spotlight started to flicker. Sanji only banged on the wall harder and screamed louder.

Then his pounding slowed and more tears streamed down his face. He stopped pounding on the wall and began sobbing.

He rubbed his eyes with his hands as he screamed and cried. It could not be. Zoro could not be dead. But there he was, right in front of him. Dead.

Then, the light flickered some more, until it went out completely. And Sanji was shrouded in darkness once again.

ZOSAN

Sanji bolted awake with a gasp. He coughed several times and gulped in huge breaths of air.

His whole body shook uncontrollably and his hands gripped the sides of his chair with white knuckles.

The cook looked around and noticed that he was out of that cave and on the Sunny again. Then he looked over to the bed directly in front of him to see Zoros green hair poking out from under the blankets.

Sanji gasped and stood up as quickly as his shaking legs would let him. He stumbled over to Zoro and started to shake his body.

"Zoro! Zoro wake up! Please!" Sanji yelled at him.

Suddenly the swordsman shifted in the bed and groaned. He readjusted himself and then relaxed again.

Sanji stopped shaking him and stared at Zoro. Then realization hit him.

It was only a nightmare. Zoro was still alive.

Sanji looked down at Zoro who was in a deep sleep again. He laid on his right side. His body rose and fell as he breathed.