The New Boy (LuNa)

help

With those final words, Ace went limp. As if in slow motion, he slipped from luffys shoulder and onto the bloodied bed. The monitor flat lined.

Hoards of nurses streamed in.

Luffy heard voices call his name, felt hands pulling him away. Away from his brother.

Ace...

Luffy was numb. He had gone into shock. His brain could not, would not process what had happened in that room. In his last moment of sanity, he felt his hands reach Into his pockets and type one word to one person.

Help.

And then the pain hit him like a bullet.

After that, luffy lost track of time. It could have been days, years, hours. He was in a haze of pain and anguish.

The hospital were searching desperately for a relative they could call to come and pick the boy up, to get his as fat away from the scene as possible.

But there was nobody. No mother, no father, no anybody.

The boys were all each other had.

The nurses had all seen a great many things as health professionals. They had all seen tragic stories. But this left all of them sobbing uncontrollably. Even the hospital therapist.

After about 25 minutes, bell mère and nojiko came bursig in through the doors.

It was shear luck that Nami had been up at 3:40 actually, that was a lie. She was almost always awake by 3. She ha dgot luffys message and proceeded to get dressed and wake up bell mère. Nojiko was left asleep and bell mère scribbled a hurried note for her.

Within 15 minutes, the pair were back In the car. By 4:05, they burst in through the doors of the hospital.

The receptionist looked stressed. She was tapping desperately away at her keyboard. The name on her tag read nat.

She noticed the pair and looked up. There were tears in her eyes.

'Can I help you?' She asked kindly. Nami stepped forwards.

'Yeah. I'm here to see a friend.'

The receptionists eyes widened.

'T-this friend... could his name be Ace?' Name froze. Why did she sound so scared?

'N-no.' She stuttered. The name Ace did sound awfully familiar, but her brain at that moment was not functioning very smoothly.

The receptionist visibly relaxed.

'Sorry. What might their name be?' She said, drawing herself up and hovering her hands over the keyboard expectantly.

'Luffy.' Nami said. The receptionist froze, paling once again.

'Did you say you were a friend?' She asked, standing. Nami nodded.
'Right. Come with me.'

She led them through a maze of corridors and Into the staff quarters where they had managed to drag luffy. He had clung to his brother's corps for quite a while, but they had eventually managed to pry him off.

Eventually the paused outside a door that appeared to lead to another corridor.

'He's in here.' She said, using a card around her neck to unlock the door. Turned as if to leave, but turned back around last minute.

'Please be carefully with him. We... we just lost his brother.' Her eyes began to fill with tears. 'It also all so sudden...' she put a hand over her mouth and left then there, shocked.

Nami could hear his choked sobs from the doorway.

Luffy sat curled in the corner, shaking aggressively. Nami left bell mère standing in the doorway, shocked, and rushed forwards, dropping to her knees before her hurting friend.

'Hey luffy, its me, I got your message...' She didn't know what to say. He didn't seem to be listening anyway.

Luffy lifted his tear streaked face. The amount of pain inscribed in his features physically hurt Nami. It hurt her soul. She pulled his head into her chest and wrapped him in the tightest hug she could manage.

'N-nami.' He whispered, making himself as small as possible in her embrace, burying his head in her chest.
'It hurts... so bad.'

The tears in namis eyes spilled over. She wanted to tell him 'I know' but knew better. In truth, she didn't know. She k ew first hand how annoying it was for people to pretend they understood how hurt you were. She knew she had no idea.

Instead, she pressed her face into his hair and breathed 'I'm here.'

Bell mère dropped to her knees a short distance away, her own grief swelling in her chest.

'Why?' She whispered. She thought back to her conversation with the boy the day before.

'It's just me and my brother.'

'Its not fair ' She sobbed. 'He's so young and so alone. It's not fair!'

Eventually, after the pair had spent a good deal of time cursed up on the floor, bell mère stood and placed a hand on her daughter shoulder. She jumped, lifting her head from where it rested k luffy's.

'Let's go home.' Bell mère whispered. Nami nodded, drying her tear filled eyes.

'Luffy.' She whispered in his ear. He shifted slightly in her arms, still shaking violently from the sobs that racked his body.

'Come on. You can come with us, ok?'

He nodded, relaxing his grip on her slightly so she could move.

She shuffled into a crouch and hooked an arm around luffy's waste. With soen help from bell mère, they stood. Luffy leaned heavily on namis shoulders, pulling his hat down over his eyes as they exited the corridor.

Nami was fairly sure he wasn't fully with them. He seemed distant, like was somewhere else, drowning in a pool of his own sorrow.
The walls he had put up to keep himself together meant that he had shut himself in all alone.

The nurses watched then go with mystery and pity written all over their faces. It seemed most of them knew luffy.

On their way out, Nat handed them a bag.

'That's luffy's.' She explained. 'Thank you for coming here for him. I was beginning to think he had nobody left.

Hey exchanged nods before finally exiting be hospital.

Wordlessly, bell mère unlocked the car and took her seat. Nami led luffy around to the back and climbed in. He sat by her side, leaning into her with his knees drawn up and his face hidden. Nami wrapped a protective arm around his shoulders and drew him close.