A Terribly Unoriginal Title

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Title: Little Things
Word Count: 300
Topic: Little Things
Rating: PG
Pairing: If you squint, ZoSan
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda and not me.

Warning: Dark.



It started with the little things: where he left that pan, whether he was supposed to take watch at one or two, how many cigarettes he had left; things as trivial and unremarkable as the bug bite on the back of Sanji’s neck. He attributed his absentmindedness to the distraction of the increasingly frequent marine attacks and continued as usual.

Days passed, and he still couldn’t find that pan. He forgot Zoro’s birthday, which didn’t really bother him, and dropped Nami’s dessert, which did. He walked on deck to ask a question and forgot it just as fast. He blamed his lightheadedness on the weather of the string of summer islands they were passing and reassured Chopper that he didn’t need to lie down.

The little things became Big Things much too quickly. The day Sanji walked into the storeroom and almost passed out before he remembered what he went in to fetch, Chopper put his foot down. The empty horizon once again became his enemy when the doctor made his diagnosis. They needed a big port, a city with a diverse enough market to make the obscure cure.

They needed a miracle.

They got the wrong one.


Zoro carried the silent chef out to the deck to see the waves. Below, the impossible ocean teemed with fish from all over the world – All Blue. Sanji stared out at the sea, his gaze dark and dull and indifferent, and Zoro cursed the fate that brought a man his dream and didn’t let him remember it. He shook the cook, yelled and shouted and swore that he was going to laugh at him when he got better for missing his dream. Sanji just put his head on the loud man’s shoulder and told him not to worry about the little things.

Comments

[lacquerdragon.livejournal.com]

-tear-

So sad. Poor Sanji. ;_;

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ::offers tissue::

[lacquerdragon.livejournal.com]

-sneeze-

Gorgeous. Incredible. Aagh, knife in the chest, twist, pull. <3

[geuna.livejournal.com]

How very tragic... so Sani ended up getting some sort of sickness that ate away at him ability to retain memories... that is... so terrible... T__T Short, sweet, and so full of emotion, I loved it! If only it could have had a happy ending, though not everything works out the way you want it to, ne?

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Life tends to throw the balls at us, rather than to us, and Sanji has the misfortune of having that spiral eyebrow look a bit like a bullseye. I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Was it at least a good heartbreak?

[saarlos.livejournal.com]

Oh God, yes! You've succeeded. I've got tears in my eyes.

I love your use of the English language. The subtlety of it all is probably what makes it so heartbreaking for me. The way you never outright say what the actual problem is, the fact that there's no dialogue, starting and ending with the "little things", all infused with this melancholy tone - just WOW. The interaction between Sanji and Zoro at the end just speaks volumes about how close they actually are and OH MY GOD THE SADNESS.

I will now officially give up on speaking coherently.
ASDF;LKWTH;ASDFL;KEHADF; <3

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'm so glad it had the effect I was hoping it would. ::offers tissue::

[(Anonymous)]

I totally loved this fic. I'm a sucker for angst, and especially well written angst too. Awesome job you did. Good idea too. Makes me want to read it over and over. You did you goal of making hearts hurt. Definately one of my favs.

[devlinnreiko.livejournal.com]

forgot i wasn't logged in. well that anonymous comment was from me.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly. Angst is my forte. I specialize in coming up with new and interesting ways to make people suffer. I'm glad you enjoyed.

[kikkuma.livejournal.com]

Ahhh.... shiiiit. That made my chest ache so badly, but I assure you, in the best of ways.

Wonderful; as always, I get sucked into your angst fics wholeheartedly.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Flan-chan! I'm so glad you liked!

[mango-32.livejournal.com]

Zoro cursed the fate that brought a man his dream and didn’t let him remember it.

So heart-wretching...*sobs* Poor Sanji!>_< (But this is really...beautiful, especially the last line.)

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly. I'm very glad you enjoyed, even if it was painful. ::offers tissues::

[yuki-kokoro.livejournal.com]

So. Much. Pain. ;_;

It always stuns me when something as short as 300 words can make my throat close up but you succeeded. "Sanji stared out at the sea, his gaze dark and dull and indifferent." That pretty much broke my heart.

I also really liked your use of "they needed a miracle, they got the wrong one." Poor Sanji, poor Zoro...

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Originally, this fic was going to be much longer, but then I remembered there's a word limit on drabbles, and had to shave it down drastically. I like the end result better than the first draft, though, so I think it all evens out.

[yominator.livejournal.com]

Damn it. Now I've got writer's block AND I'm tearing up, even though only one is really your fault. Nice wording.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry (about the writer's block). Tearing up is kind of what I was hoping for. Thank you very much.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

;_; Aws. That's so sad.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I do try.

[sakurazuka-jae.livejournal.com]

Agh... the lines: "They needed a miracle./They got the wrong one." were just incredible, and so darkly painful. And the ending... waaaaah...

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

::Offers tissues:: Thanks muchly. Sadly enough, those were the two easiest sentences to come up with in the whole fic.

[bumpgrrl.livejournal.com]

I agree! That summed it up right there. ow.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad it had the desired effect.

[orange-smaug.livejournal.com]

Did it ever. Can I call you Queen of Heart Wrenchings and Tear Jerkings? ;_;

(I think this is also the first time I've seen a fic where Sanji finds All Blue but doesn't care/isn't coherent enough to know.)

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

o.0 Well, you're certainly welcome to do so; the title I used to use was "Master of Psychological Torture That May or May Not Include Angst".

I like playing around with the idea of getting what you want and not being able to enjoy it, either because of something internal or because it turns out to be something else.

Thank you very much!

[the-shy-wolf.livejournal.com]

You enjoy breaking hearts don't you? *hugs the boys, gets beaten up in return.*

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

Yup! It's my favorite (and most successful) pasttime.

Honestly, though, I can't write happy stuff to save my life.

[tripoverhercats.livejournal.com]

**Wibbles and sniffles**

A very terrible double-edged knife there, Sanji lived, but lost so much.

Pets Zoro, the big-hearted lug.

[mettathron.livejournal.com]

::offers tissues:: Thank you. It's the losing that hurts so much.

[rab-rumrunner.livejournal.com]

wow, that is so depressing. Poor sanji in this is breaking my heart, *sniffle* : (

[popkin16]

Well, that was a punch to the stomach.

I don't really care for angst (it always depresses me so, which is the point of it I suppose, but I hate feeling that way), but this was beautiful and heart-wrenching. Probably doesn't help that I'm currently listening to a sad song >.<

Great job! I'm adding this to my memories =)

*sob*

[mishagirl.livejournal.com]

OH nuuuuuuuuuuuuu!