Chapter Text
Robin and Franky’s date had been blissful. The pair had stayed entangled in each other’s limbs late into the evening. Their conversation had flowed so naturally, paired with hors d'oeuvres and wine. The candles had burned out yet they had stayed, wrapped in each other’s embrace talking about nothing and everything.
This was the memory that Robin clung to as she flew through the sky. Or at least tried to. It was difficult with so many competing thoughts and emotions. The feeling that she should have known better was difficult to tamp down.
Nico Robin had known that Sabaody wasn’t safe. She had felt the lack of ease from Hatchan. Had she let her hubris get the better of her? Had she truly felt so infallible? Had she already let herself forget the desperation that lived in her chest for over two decades? Had she really and truly let herself forget the defenses that had kept her safe for so many years? Luffy couldn’t save them from everything, she knew that. Yet it felt like all of them had learned that lesson in the most brutal way possible.
They were gone, all of them. Every single one of her found family had been ripped away right before her very eyes. She had one final look at Luffy’s desperation. The tears in his eyes as she called out for him. She had been so blind and weak.
Robin tried to go back to happier memories but every single one of those memories contained a face she may never see again. It ripped her heart apart. The pain was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Ohara was a dull ache of longing this was the sharp and stabbing pain of loss.
Brook. She hadn’t spent much time with the skeleton but his music had been a gift to her soul. Listening to him play had emboldened her own creative spirit. She had never felt so free with music, it had always been ridged structure and strict composition. Yet playing a lovers duet with Franky had only been possible because Brook had sparked her inner desire simply by sharing his musical joy with the whole crew.
Zoro. Their sworn sword and protector. The man would lay down his life for the crew, no questions asked. Robin was one of the few people aboard the Sunny who knew the true extent of his devotion. He was for all intents and purposes, the moral compass that guided them all when times were at their bleakest. His unwavering faith in Luffy was a beacon to all.
Usopp. He had fought for her life even when he was no longer obligated to. He had proved his loyalty ran deeper than titles and tides that day. He may not be the strongest on the crew but he did fight with the rest of them. Even if he required a tall tale to rally his courage.
Sanji. The boy was devoted to her, she knew that was something to be grateful for. He cared deeply about the nourishment of the soul and body through his cooking. Despite his naïveté when it came to matters of the heart, Robin had no doubt that he could grow to be a man worthy of whoever captured his.
Luffy. Her intrepid captain. She had lost count of how many times he has saved her life. From others and from her own self destructive nature. For once she had felt calm and the seeds of safety had been planted under his leadership. She had trusted him with her life, the weight of that fully crashing down on her now. Robin couldn’t linger here, it was too painful.
Chopper. Her constant companion, her furry shadow, the closest Robin had ever felt to maternal was when he looked to her for comfort and direction. She had never seen him so scared. His desperation driving him to extremes. Would he be okay? Would she ever see her innocent doctor again? Tears flowed down Robin’s cheeks and into the air around her at the thought.
Nami. Little sister. Her first friend on the ship. The orange haired girl had been the first person to ask if Robin was okay. It had been such a simple gesture, not long after Alabasta. Yet it had been the foundation on which they had built a bond of friendship to rival any the world had known before. A sisterly bond that Robin never dared dream she could be so lucky to have.
Franky. Oh god, thinking about Franky felt like being torn apart molecule by molecule. Every moment they had shared from meeting him on the Sea Train to stolen nights aboard the Thousand Sunny hurt to think about. She had let herself become so tangled up in his essence, she hadn’t considered there may be a day when it would be ripped away from her. How was she supposed to go on with this gapping wound in her chest?
Robin was screaming into the wind, she could feel the vibration in her voice box but the sound was swallowed up by rushing air surrounding her. Tears and words lost to whatever lay far down below. Desperation was all that kept Nico Robin company as she hurtled through the stratosphere.
There was no way to determine how long Robin had been up or when she would land. She felt like she was going insane. Worry gnawed at her from within, fear that she would be alone in the world once more for god knows how long. Possibly forever. Maybe over as soon as she hit the ground.
Luffy and Franky would be able to survive direct impact, Brook possibly could as well though she wasn’t certain. The rest of her crew would be flattened with the accumulated force. Kuma’s final attack had the potential to be cruel and permanent. She wondered how Luffy and Franky would cope with the loss. Would they ever find her body and give her a proper burial or would she become bones lost in a jungle?
Franky loved her and Robin had never once said it back. Even now, plummeting towards near certain doom, she still wasn’t sure if she ever could. She had been relying on time to tell. Would he forgive her for that or would it fester into resentment? Would he realize she had done nothing but take him for granted? Or would she be easy for him to forget? What if he reinvented himself on some obscure island and found another person to keep his bed warm in a way she never could? He hadn’t wanted to leave Water7, she had coerced him. Could this be his opportunity to return home? She didn’t know how to cope with the possibility that his future may not have room for her in it.
The hours wore on under constant barrage. Sometimes Robin would cry herself into exhaustion, sleeping fitfully. Never more than thirty minutes or so, she could not settle in any meaningful way until her feet touched solid ground safely (if that was even possible anymore). All she could do now was try and rebuild the walls she had hastily torn down. It was the only way she could be certain to survive what was to come, if she made it that far.