Drabble for Sherri
Jul. 19th, 2005 06:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsTitle: Parting (gah, why do I suck at these so DAMN much?!)
Pairing: ZoSopp
Rating: G
Word Count: 432
There hadn’t been time. Not a single moment – not a one – in which he could pause, take stock, let himself realize what was truly happening. And he, he had to be the strongest one. It wasn’t fair sometimes. He hadn’t known the full burden of responsibility he was accepting by following Luffy. To the present, he still didn’t know if it was simply because he had been the first or if it was due to the wordless bonds of understanding he shared with the captain. Bonds he hated at the moment.
He knew how much it had hurt Luffy to tell Usopp the Going Merry wasn’t repairable. That fact alone had had Luffy agonized immediately after destroying Franky’s goons. And he knew even better what it had cost the captain to face his nakama, to fight someone closer in many ways than family. Luffy was crushed, the full weight of being a captain bearing down on him, making him cry, making him hurt. It was his job, his duty to take some of that pain onto himself, make what happened next a little easier.
There was no one else to do it. Nami, Chopper, both of them, for all Nami’s skill at hiding it, had lost too many people, had sacrificed too much. For Nami, it was Luffy’s actions. It was almost like betrayal, only worse somehow because it wasn’t. And Chopper, poor guy, he loved them all and relied on them the way he never had relied on anyone before or after Hiruluk. Sanji had surprised him just a little. Then again, he’d heard how the chef had wept at leaving his restaurant, the whole floating mess of sea cooks bawling was a sight he sometimes regretted missing. And Sanji would want to support Nami first and foremost; that he understood. As for Robin, who the hell knew where that woman was in all the mess? Being as he was, he couldn’t quite help believing it to be just as well.
So, he had been the rock, the anchor, the solid stolid voice making everyone pack, making everyone leave. And he’d walked along as they left the happiest home he’d ever known and hadn’t looked back. He couldn’t look back. Usopp, that annoying, yammering, stammering, lying, clever, talented, unique, beloved guy, was suffering. If he had to face it even a second longer, he wouldn’t be able to do what was necessary, what Usopp wanted even in all of his heartbreak. He had to keep the remaining nakama together, keep them moving forward. Even if his own heart was anchored elsewhere.
Pairing: ZoSopp
Rating: G
Word Count: 432
There hadn’t been time. Not a single moment – not a one – in which he could pause, take stock, let himself realize what was truly happening. And he, he had to be the strongest one. It wasn’t fair sometimes. He hadn’t known the full burden of responsibility he was accepting by following Luffy. To the present, he still didn’t know if it was simply because he had been the first or if it was due to the wordless bonds of understanding he shared with the captain. Bonds he hated at the moment.
He knew how much it had hurt Luffy to tell Usopp the Going Merry wasn’t repairable. That fact alone had had Luffy agonized immediately after destroying Franky’s goons. And he knew even better what it had cost the captain to face his nakama, to fight someone closer in many ways than family. Luffy was crushed, the full weight of being a captain bearing down on him, making him cry, making him hurt. It was his job, his duty to take some of that pain onto himself, make what happened next a little easier.
There was no one else to do it. Nami, Chopper, both of them, for all Nami’s skill at hiding it, had lost too many people, had sacrificed too much. For Nami, it was Luffy’s actions. It was almost like betrayal, only worse somehow because it wasn’t. And Chopper, poor guy, he loved them all and relied on them the way he never had relied on anyone before or after Hiruluk. Sanji had surprised him just a little. Then again, he’d heard how the chef had wept at leaving his restaurant, the whole floating mess of sea cooks bawling was a sight he sometimes regretted missing. And Sanji would want to support Nami first and foremost; that he understood. As for Robin, who the hell knew where that woman was in all the mess? Being as he was, he couldn’t quite help believing it to be just as well.
So, he had been the rock, the anchor, the solid stolid voice making everyone pack, making everyone leave. And he’d walked along as they left the happiest home he’d ever known and hadn’t looked back. He couldn’t look back. Usopp, that annoying, yammering, stammering, lying, clever, talented, unique, beloved guy, was suffering. If he had to face it even a second longer, he wouldn’t be able to do what was necessary, what Usopp wanted even in all of his heartbreak. He had to keep the remaining nakama together, keep them moving forward. Even if his own heart was anchored elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 05:01 am (UTC)