~ Before it's too late ~

Two figures ran through the night forest.
Only an owl and a few branches made noises under the weight of the two people. The couple tried to get to the beach as inconspicuously as possible, where their ship was anchored and their comrades were eagerly awaiting them. Meanwhile the moon was falling towards the horizon.
They made rapid progress, only a few miles separated them from their destination, the safe haven, when one of the two suddenly stopped.
Robin leaned against one of the many tree trunks, breathing hard.
This did not escape your companion. He also stopped his run and gave her a piercing look.
It was totally atypical for her to just go limp.
"We have to go on!"
"Go ahead, I'll come right after you."
"It is out of the question!"
The swordsman took a step towards the archaeologist to support her, or if necessary to carry her to the Flying Lamb, when her legs gave way and she sagged forward.He was just able to catch her. A whimper came from the woman's lips.
"Robin!" he exclaimed, startled.
Only now did he notice the blood that soaked the back of the woman's blouse.
"I told you to go ahead!" she said weakly, grimacing in pain.
"How did this happen?!"
Slowly he lowered himself to the forest floor, pulling her into a more comfortable position.
The green-haired man actually knew the answer to his question before he asked it, but his mind didn't want the situation to be true.

As so often, they had the Navy on their necks. Completely surprising, the straw hat gang on the small, inconspicuous-looking island had been attacked by the navy. They would never have expected a naval base on the small patch of land in the middle of one of the quietest and most deserted areas of the Grand Line. That was a mistake! Never underestimate your enemy! Wasn't that one of the basic rules for staying alive at sea?While the rest of the gang fled, Robin had, as so often, kept the whole unit in check, keeping her friends back free. But they hadn't expected one thing and this stranger had nullified the whole calculation. According to his comrades, one of the soldiers showed up at the scene of the incident late. From a direction he had not been seen coming from. When he registered the situation his unit was in, he had drawn his gun.
A shot had been fired, and then the latecomer was in Robin's relentless grip.
The sound of the shot had made the straw hats, which were meanwhile struggling through the undergrowth of the forest, pricked up their ears.
Zorro was worried and turned back to support Robin.
He would probably never admit it voluntarily, but he had long regarded the archaeologist as a full member of the crew, his distrust of her had long since vanished.Plus, there was another fact that he probably wouldn't even have been under torture - he liked Robin.
How much he was probably not aware of himself.
And so he did not hesitate long, but acted.
When Zorro arrived at the scene, he hadn't noticed anything unusual and so naturally assumed that the shot had only penetrated the air without any effect.

He had stuck to this view, since he had seen no reason to assume otherwise.
Until now.
Robin hadn't seen the injury.
Until now.
Now she was in his arms and tried to answer him.
"The guy ... he hit me in ... the back ..."
But she was interrupted.
"Shhh, don't say anything. Save your strength!"
He carefully straightened her up to examine the wound.
The projectile had pierced a lung, even he, with his little medical knowledge, could tell. She needed treatment as soon as possible!"Chopper will definitely manage it again!" He told himself and prepared to carry the woman to the Flying Lamb.
"You can ... save yourself and me the trouble ..." she tried to hold him back weakly.
"But…"
"Do you ... even know which ... direction you have to go?"
Again, despite the terrible situation, the mischief flashed from the blue eyes.
Zorro stared at her in amazement. He couldn't believe what Robin seemed to have come to terms with long ago. His mind refused to accept the inevitable.

She wouldn't make it.

The archaeologist tensed again under a wave of pain.
The swordsman couldn't do more than hold her tight and be there for her.
It was getting visibly weaker by the minute.
"Zorro ..." The words were just a whisper. "Before it's too late ... I want ... I have to ... tell you something!"
She paused for a moment.
"I like you ... really very much ... I fell ... in love with you ...""Robin ...!"
"I know ... you could never trust me ... and I fully understand that ... but I never cheated on you ... and never intended to!"
Exhausted, she closed her eyes while beads of sweat ran from her forehead.
"But I have long since trusted you!" answered Zorro in a tear-choked voice.
"I was just so stupid and never let you know!"
One of the archaeologist's arms grew out of his shoulder and stroked his cheek in comfort, trying to comfort him.

Only when her body finally went limp after another wave of pain and the arm disappeared, the swordsman's loss became a certainty.
Still holding her lifeless form in his arms, he let himself fall back on the floor.
"Damn it, I love you too!" were the last words before the sun rose, completely incongruous, over the whole scene.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Well, what was I thinking while writing?
I thought to myself that there are already so many stories in which Zorro dies (yes, most of them are shounen-ai, I know), I just want to try what comes out when you let another person die (nasty ne?) .
I hope nobody takes that too badly against me ...

* Distribute a round of handkerchiefs to the faint-hearted *


lg, Sydney