Uh, I have nothing to say to that 'cept that it's really depressing to read, it was depressing to write as well, so just that you know.

AU

Characters: Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Law

Genre: Tragedy, Friendship

Warnings: Character death and a lot of swearing in the middle.

Rating: T+

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, nor do I own Laleh's pretty song.

YXYXYXYXYXYXY

Chapter XXX - Flying doesn't mean you're free

I will tell your story and keep your life the best I can

He was his best friend. For as long as he could think back, there had always been the green-haired, scary looking boy by his side. They used to argue a lot, about silly stuff and they always were in a competition about anything. Who was stronger, faster in running? Who was the better soccer player? Who could get the first girlfriend, who had the better marks in school?

Sometimes there was a winner and other times they were on par. It was an old game, but they never really grew tired of comparing themselves to the other.

Then at elementary school they met two boys, both had pitch black hair. The older one was dark and gloomy but undoubtedly intelligent, while the younger one was bouncy, found everything hilarious, and was just plain reckless. It was a mystery how they were buddies, but it worked out and soon enough it wasn't a two and two pair, but a group of four.

They hung out a lot, even after school. It was nice, really, and Zoro had never believed that one day he'd have three guys he could call his best friends. They got into a lot of trouble, did reckless stuff but always came out of it laughing. They were like brothers.

Over the years, nothing changed. Maybe it was fate, but they all went to the same school even after all the years. They saw each other everyday but still they never ran out of stuff to talk about.

Now they were nearing graduation, and there was really only one question they all had to ponder about.

"Hey Law, what are ya planning for the future?" Zoro asked when they came over to his house.

Law shrugged, hardly changing his expression. "Well, my dad's a doctor so I will probably follow him in his footsteps."

Luffy rolled over from his position on his stomach to his back, so that he was facing Law upside down. "You're gonna be a doctor? That's awesome!"

"I figured you'd aim for that. Remember all the frogs we had to catch so that you could dissect them?" Zoro asked lazily.

"Yeah, that was interesting."

"Ugh don't remind me... but somehow it's fitting for you." Sanji commented. "But do you even want to learn the same thing as your dad? Being a doctor is tough."

Law's eyes narrowed a bit and he smiled half-hearted. "Medicine might be the only thing I'm earnestly interested in, so, yeah. I want to." He paused before returning the question from earlier.

"Me? I want to be a cook. I mean, I've always helped out in the kitchen since my family owns a restaurant, and I've always enjoyed it." Sanji answered, grinning.

"Heh, crap-cook, I will never eat anything you create." Zoro smirked and got promptly kicked.

"It's not like I will ever cook for you, mosshead!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I think I wanna be an athlete. Maybe boxer, or a weightlifter or something like that."

"Pfff, pumping muscles is all you can do after all."

"Shut up, moron!" Zoro barked back.

"What about you, Luffy-ya?"

Luffy rolled around some more before he came to a stop at Sanji's feet. "Mmmmm... I've never really thought about it... but if I had to choose now, I'd go for flying."

Sanji lifted his eyebrow. "Flying? You wanna be a pilot?"

"Yup! Shishishi! I've always wanted to fly!"

"I gotta say, that ain't so bad. But don't expect me to step one foot into your plane, Luffy." They laughed at that before Luffy piped up once more.

"Wooho, you know what, that's really neat, guys! Imagine that, after a hard day's work we can all meet up at Sanji's restaurant!" Luffy said, all excited and happy with this idea. The others snorted but didn't disagree.

"Doesn't sound that bad to me." Sanji had to admit. And with that, it was like an unspoken promise that hung in the air. One that would be broken sooner than expected.

Then the war came. It was sudden, kicking them into hard reality and struck them like a hurricane, messing with their minds and lives. They had to go to war, each of them, there was no running away and no turning back. So they went, but they said,

"-when we go, we go together." And they did.

All the plans and dreams they had were now meaningless. Now they focused on staying alive to see the next day.

Throughout the fighting they somehow managed to stick together. It was a little comfort in all this madness.

It was horrible, and seemed to last forever. They made it through the first weeks, more or less unharmed even though they had little experience in fighting. And as the time passed, they thought they could come out of this, even promised to live through this hell to return home together. It was a foolish thought, and they knew they had just been lucky up until know; still, that promise was the only thing that helped them to never lose hope.

It wasn't until one day, mid-evening, that their little bubble was plopped harshly. The morning had gone by without any disturbance, and it was oddly quiet. Later they would remember this as the calm before the storm.

Suddenly, they came. And suddenly, it seemed like there was more of them, stronger, more experienced than before. They had to retreat. And they ran away like fleeing rats, fear creeping in their bones and staying attached to them like a shadow.

Some grenades flew around, explosions sounded from all around them, deafening them. Law grabbed Sanji's arm and roughly pulled him down as another explosion erupted seemingly right beside the future-cook. The resuming pressure wave was so strong it tossed them around like rag dolls. Screams sounded from everywhere. They were in the middle of war's terror.

It took the four of them a few seconds to regain their bearings again and they slowly, carefully pushed themselves off the ground.

Luffy opened his eyes and spotted Zoro a few meters to his left, while Law and Sanji were a bit to his right. They got separated a bit, but much to his relief were still in inter visibility. For a moment he didn't know whether to go to Zoro or to the others since he was in the middle.

"Is everyone okay?" Zoro asked carefully, shaking his head to get rid off the ringing and the pain. Luffy coughed, then looked at Sanji who seemed to have hurt his leg but Law was taking care of him as best as he could.

He turned to Zoro who stared back at him in worry. His tongue just wouldn't listen to him right now, nor would his limbs. His whole body was shaking. When would this stop?! At that moment, when Luffy looked around him, he felt empty. Numerous of their comrades had died, and were still dying right now. No matter where he looked, he saw death. It was scaring him more than anything else, that thought, but what could he do against the reality? What if they all ended up like them? No one could do a damn thing out here, in the middle of a dark forest where they shot at each other nonstop. This wasn't about winning the war anymore, this was a pure matter of survival.

It was hard because everyone wanted to keep on living.

"Hey Luffy, stop kneeling around and come help me with Sanji!" Law's shout brought him back to reality and he twirled around. He cringed when he saw how Sanji's face scrunched up in pain as he lay beside a kneeling Law.

"Sanji...", he whispered wide-eyed. "Damn it, they got him!"

"What's wrong with Sanji?!" Zoro yelled from behind him and Luffy flinched at the echo Zoro's voice created. Silence was the answer. That's when he realized something that filled him with dread. With a jolt he shot around to look at Zoro who was about to come over to help.

"It's too quiet..!" He got up when Zoro did, and outstretched his hand towards him. "Zoro, NO! STOP!"

Zoro halted abruptly, nearly tripping. "What-", but he never got to finish his sentence. The moment his eyes met Luffy's wide ones, another explosion erupted right beside his friend and turned the world into a huge cloud of noise and dirt.

"LUFFY!"

When Sanji got up, he was strongly disorientated and it was enough to numb his own pain for a moment. He had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like he'd been out for only a few minutes. He remembered an explosion, and gunshots all around him and then he had fainted.

Had they thrown another grenade at them...? What about the others? Oh damn. Sanji tried to scan the area but his vision was still blurry. He didn't dare shout. It would only tell the enemy he was still alive. And the main reason was he was too scared. What if the others wouldn't answer? What if there was only him and the silence? Sanji wouldn't know what to do then.

He carefully looked around again as the dust cleared, but Law was nowhere to be found. 'Shit! ' Sanji cursed inwardly, 'he was right beside me wasn't he?'

A yell from Zoro's direction alarmed him and he turned around, still on all fours. He blinked through the blood and dirt in his eyes and made out a green-haired man.

"Zoro?" Sanji didn't get an immediate answer, and all of sudden he noticed Zoro wasn't alone, and he was looking at him. The next thing Sanji realized after the dizziness slowly disappeared was all the blood on Zoro. And that's when Zoro's frantic voice finally reached him.

"Help me you dumbass! Don't just sit around! Where are the others? Where's Law?! Get him! We need help, Luffy is bleeding to death, dammit!"

Sanji felt like someone kicked him in the gut. That sentence struck him like a flash, and as he scrambled to his feet he could still feel bits of electricity running through his body and making it feel all tingly. At that moment all thoughts were wiped from his brain and all he could make out was the cold despair deep in his stomach.

Zoro didn't spare him one glance, he only focused on Luffy. Sanji fought back the wave of nausea that welled up inside him. There was too damn much blood! It couldn't be all Luffy's, could it? Oh God, no, no, no, don't take him!

He shot up, a wide blue-eye searching desperately the area. Where the fuck was-?

"LAW!" Sanji ignored the rawness in his voice. "Get your ass here, NOW!" Where was that shithead?! He was good at medical treatment, wasn't he? He could save him, he would know what to do!
Shit! Fuck, shit, fuck, damn- Sanji turned back to Zoro. Watching how everything seemed to happen in slow motion, Sanji momentarily couldn't do anything about the feeling of fear and pure horror. Did that all just happen-?

Luffy's right leg was gone, and he seemed to be soaked in ugly, sticky red wetness. Sanji felt like he himself had no right to feel pain in his leg right now.

"What the hell are you standing there for, staring like an idiot?! Help me stop the blood!" Zoro shouted into his direction again and it was enough to shake Sanji from his frozen form. He crouched down near Luffy's head, not minding his own hurt leg, and pressed his hands down on the stomach wound. It was weird, Sanji thought, weird how his body knew exactly what to do while his head didn't have a clue.

"Crap, Luffy, don't you dare die on us now! Don't you dare! Get the fuck up! Luffy, hey Luffy?" Zoro swallowed hard and cupped the boy's face in his shaking hands. "Can you hear me?"

Luffy was awake but not quite there, but he tried. Slowly his eyes focused on Zoro's face and he couldn't stop the blood spilling from his mouth as he tried to speak. No words came out, and Luffy hated being unable to speak because he wanted to apologize for vomiting blood on Zoro's hands, and why was Zoro looking at him like that? He'd never seen him with such a kind of expression and dimly wondered what had caused this. Was it him? Oh yeah, he was dying, that's right. But strangely enough he didn't feel any pain at the moment. He only felt like floating. Was he flying like he always wanted to?

Sanji didn't even feel the tears that ran down his cheeks. Luffy's live was slipping through his fingers, literally, and it just wouldn't stop. Why wouldn't it stop?!

"Stop, stop, stop!" Sanji sobbed desperately, pressing down once more. He had to stop it, he couldn't let Luffy die!

Zoro bit his lip as he saw Luffy's almost peaceful face. He sensed this was the end for his friend but just wouldn't want it to be true. He put his right hand on Luffy's damp and cold forehead, and with the other he jerkily grabbed his hand and clutched it tightly.

Zoro's hand was shaking so much that Luffy's trembled in his grip, too, but he just couldn't stop it.

"Luffy, you big idiot. Y-you just saved me," Zoro muttered. He got no response other than swallow breathing.

The green-haired man didn't believe in anything, but at the moment he just wished for someone, anyone to save his friend. "Just let him live," he whispered as his tears mixed with his blood.

With a last cry Sanji finally gave up on pressing on the wound and imitated Zoro by grabbing Luffy's other hand. "We're here, Luffy." he let him know, hoping it would still reach him. If only he could stop the precious time, it was passing by too fast.

"Sa..n..ji..", Luffy managed as his eyes slowly fell on him. "Zor..o.." Luffy's body shook and he looked like he wanted to say something but just didn't know what. The other two sensed that Luffy was searching for Law, but just they didn't have the heart to tell him they had no idea where he was. Before he could ask about him, Zoro began talking again.

"It's okay, Luffy, we won't let you die alone. It's alright to let go now. It's okay." Zoro spoke quietly and tried not to sob too much, and it worked to comfort Luffy as well as himself. Luffy wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, because it was just so bitter he had to leave, but he was so glad he wasn't alone right now. He didn't have the strength to do either, but he managed one last shaky smile, and looked at them tiredly.

"Ju..st bec..cause I go bef..fore y..ou doesn't me..an we'll never s...ee each other again, r-right?"

They sqeezed his hands tightly at that. "S-see you soon, Luffy," Sanji answered silently, shakingly.

A few seconds passed, and then they both realized this was the last time they had heard Luffy speak.

And since he couldn't open his mouth anymore, they did. They opened their mouths and just screamed, loudly, pathetically, for him, and for themselves, and words wouldn't be enough to describe the despair they felt.

It was cold. And silent. It was the lurking kind of silence; it was an eerie stillness that only death left behind.

They found Law two hours later, not too far away. He lay on his stomach, and Zoro and Sanji didn't want to turn him around to see whether he was alive or not, for they already knew the answer. It broke them to see their friend like that. Pale, cold, alone on the ground... it was not how it's supposed to be. Law wasn't supposed to have a hole in his head where some asshole probably shot him earlier when everyone tried to escape from the grenades.

Law was supposed to heal others, and not die because of a shot wound. This entire picture was just so out of place, and they didn't want to remember their friend with all that blood in his face. And they hadn't been there with him, they hadn't been able to say goodbye like they could with Luffy. They just took him.

With that, the rest bit of hope they'd had vanished, and their entire world broke down. Sanji vomited, and Zoro could barely hold it back.

"Fuck it, FUCK IT!" Zoro shouted, kicking a bush and breaking down to his knees for the second time that day. "What is WRONG with us, losing two friends just like that?!"

If only Sanji had pulled Law down with him and told him to stop worrying over his leg wound, then maybe he wouldn't have been spotted and shot during the explosion.

If only Zoro had run over to Luffy and pulled him out of the way, then maybe he would still be with them.

Maybe the would be still four, and not just two. It was unacceptable, and harder than anything, but a life was very easy to take. In a blink of the eye, they lost two of their most important persons, friends they'd known for such a long, long, great time.

Zoro grabbed his hair and began pulling, and Sanji couldn't help but stare at him like some zombie. It was as if someone had robbed him of the ability to feel. He felt nothing. He saw nothing and heard nothing. Law was dead, too. No no no way. This couldn't be happening!

But it was, and for the moment Sanji couldn't deal with that. Hadn't he been with him just before? Hadn't Law helped him with his wounded leg? Forget the damn fucking leg!

"Law... I'm so so sorry... shit no...", Sanji shut his eyes and wished when he opened them, everything would be back to normal. He wished they were all at home, discussing their future or what they would watch the next day at the cinema. He didn't want to be here, in this place of death and hate.

He wanted to go home.

When they were told the news about the end of the war, everyone around them broke into a loud cheering.

But for Sanji and Zoro there was no joy and no laughter, and they returned home as quietly as they had left.

"We survived," Zoro told him one day, eyes glazed over with terror of days long gone, "but we paid a fuckin' heavy price for it." And Sanji didn't have anything to say to that.

And as they stood in front of their graves, the only thing they never understood was, what good was all that shit in the end? It took their best friends, two guys whose life was still ahead of them with millions of chances, tears, laughter.

They were young and hardly understood why they were even fighting, but they paid with their lives for it. They barely had a past and were robbed of their future.

Sanji was sure no matter what party of the war officially 'won', everyone would have losses too big to take comfort in it.

They stared at the gravestones for a long time, unable to say anything. There was no need to express themselves in words. They'd both been there and witnessed it, and there wasn't anything they could say to lessen the pain right now.

Sanji wasn't that of an affectionate guy, never had been, and Zoro wasn't either, but then and there they just suddenly looked at each other and hugged.

"Let's never forget about them."

And really, they always remembered and never forgot.

A year later, after each of them found a girl and married, Zoro's first son was named Law, and Sanji's first was named Luffy. It was a small comfort, but they felt it was the least they could do for their friends who left them forever that day. It was as if parts of them still got the chance to live on, and enjoy life.

Some die young

But you better hold on

So many things I need to say to you

Please don't let me go

And we said we'd die together

YXYXYXYXXYXY

So... yeah. Don't know where THAT came from. Don't hate me for killing Law and Luffy please T^T

I was inspired by a song from Laleh called Some Die Young, it's a really good song. I used some lines of it here (which don't belong to me, lol). :)

As always, I'm really really happy about the reviews and that you guys still keep up with me even if I don't update regularly. :D

Son of Whitebeard: Thanks! I really like one shots about their friendship, because they're an awesome crew! =3

SniperKingSogeking0341: Thank you ;) I'm so glad you always review, Sniper-san :D

sisimiura: Why thank you -bows- glad you liked it! =D

Guest: Ahaha arigatou! Sorry if it made you cry and I hope this one didn't =0

Shiary: Aah I love hearing that x3 Thanks so much, really!

JoshRand1982: Yeah, well, it's called FANfiction for a reason, you know. But still thanks for dropping a review.

~Neko11