FicWad

"Casper!" Summer shouted, struggling to get into the submarine carrying her unconscious friend. There was a bit of a drop down to the ground and she didn't want to risk causing further injury to Liam. Nevertheless, she had to get him to the infirmary before he died of his wounds. "Casper, where are you?" She shouted.

"In here, lass." Called the cook's voice. She limped in the direction of the kitchen. The sub was mostly silent, but through her labored breathing and the adrenaline rushing in her ears, she could make out the sound of someone banging against something. A voice accompanied it, but it was too muffled to make out.

Rounding the corner, she found herself face to face with Casper who looked a little worried. He sat at one of the mess deck tables, holding a large kitchen knife in his hand. Upon seeing Summer's entrance, he stood up and set the weapon down.

"What all happened?" He asked, and she gave a brief summary of their rescue mission.

"Law's still with the rest of the crew at the mansion, but I needed to get him here as soon as possible." She panted, gesturing to the dead weight on her shoulder.

"Let me out! Mr. Casper! Please! I'm scared! What's going on?" Kat's muffled voice came up through the kitchen doors. A loud banging followed her screaming, and Summer realized she was still locked in the food storage. She didn't even give her a second thought.

"Let's get him to the infirmary, now. It'll be best if he's layin' somewhere instead of being carried around." Casper said, ushering her out of the mess deck and taking Liam's other arm around his neck. It was then that Summer realized how weak she felt after carrying her nakama for so long. Her arms shook, the limbs feeling something close to jelly.

Casper pushed open the double doors and helped her drag Liam over to a bed. They set him down as gently as possible, conscious of the horrible state of his back. After that, she stood back in panic.

"I don't know how much longer Law will be." She muttered, pacing the floor in front of Liam's bed. Casper laid a hand on her shoulder to still her movements, gaining her full attention.

"Summer, we're gonna have to start treating him now. If we wait much longer for the captain to get back, there's a large chance he won't survive."

"But I don't know anything about healing people! I've never done something like this before!" She practically shouted, her breath quickening with every second.

"Neither have I but we have to do some basic first aid." He nodded towards the unconscious man. "Those lashes run a serious risk of infection. Even I know that much."

"But I-"

"Summer." He cut through, placing both hands on her shoulders. She stopped at the desperate sound of his voice, something she wasn't used to. He had only ever been calm and confident, and now was the first time she had seen him begin to lose his control of the situation. She stared into his eyes, her own on the verge of tears. "Liam will die if we do not help him."

After a few moments, she felt herself nodding silently and he let go of her shoulders. He stepped back and began searching the room.

"Alright, we need to get rid of his ruined clothing." Reacting only to the authoritative tone of his voice, she rushed over to the bed and began stripping Liam of the bloodied and ripped clothing.

Casper came up beside her a moment later with a simple first aid kit and a bottle of some kind of liquid.

"Hydrogen peroxide." He answered her questioning glance. She nodded and threw the last of his dirty clothes to the side. All that was left was his boxers, which would have made her blush if the situation weren't so dire.

"Umm...we have to clean it first, right?" She asked hesitantly. He nodded and opened the red first aid kit. He came out with large cotton balls, giving them to her along with the bottle of peroxide.

"Be gentle around the open wounds, they'll sting like hell." She took a deep breath and accepted the materials. Unscrewing the cap, she poured it all over the cotton and gave the bottle back to him. She slowly lowered the ball to his skin, pulling back immediately when Liam unconsciously flinched from the pain. Casper quickly rushed to his side and held him down so he wouldn't struggle.

"I can't do it, Casper. He's in pain and I-"

"Do this for him and he will live to thank you! I know you don't want to hurt him but this is the only way to make sure he doesn't die of infection." He told her sternly, holding down a still twitching Liam.

"Ok...ok...I can do this." She whispered to herself. She approached him again, more determined to get this over with. "You'll be alright, Liam. It'll be over soon. Captain will come back and fix you up." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more, herself or her friend.

The process took longer than Summer had ever imagined it to be. There were so many wounds that needed cleaning. Each swipe of the cotton across his skin had him jerking and twisting beneath Casper's grasp. Distantly, she could still hear Kat banging against the kitchen door. This only fueled her resolve.

'Whether it be Kat or her mother, someone will pay for Liam's pain.'

She hated her. Hated Kat with all of her being for bringing her friend pain. Each groan of pain he yelled, each especially violent twist of his body, every drop of blood that seeped out of his wounds...she took that growing anger and directed it to the red-head locked in the storage room.

The worst part was having to flip Liam over to reach the wounds on his back. He had cried out in pain, louder than what he had been doing, and whimpered softly into the bed's sheets. Summer's own eyes shed a few tears in sorrow. Seeing him in so much pain was the last thing she wanted.

Finally, after a tiring battle of wanting to help him and not wanting to cause him pain, all of the wounds were cleaned. She hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath and released it once she tossed the cotton into the trash.

"You did well, lass." Casper panted, recovering from holding the medic down for so long. She only nodded in gratitude, too emotionally spent to say anything.

"I think we should bandage the most severe cuts." Casper said finally, noticing that some of the wounds were still bleeding a little heavily. He rummaged in the first aid kit again, coming up with a small roll of cloth bandages and a small pair of scissors.

"I don't know if that'll be enough." Summer said. Casper sighed and shook his head.

"I'll look for more but we'll have to make do for now." She took the bandage and scissors from the cook, turning back to Liam as Casper went to search out more bandages.

"Hang in there, Liam. You'll be alright" She whispered, more to comfort herself than anything. Her hands shaking slightly, she cut a length of cloth and placed it over a particularly deep gash on his thigh. The bandage stained red, but looked to stop the bleeding to a degree.

"Ok...Casper, I'm gonna need your help lifting him up a little. I need to get a few on his back."

He hurried over and helped raise Liam to a semi-sitting position in the bed. Casper made sure to support his head, other wise it would loll to one side at an unpleasant angle. Summer quickly wrapped the cloth around his chest before tying the ends together. She repeated this two more times before they set him back down on the bed.

"I think that's all of them." She said, breathing heavily. Taking care of Liam was more mentally taxing than she ever would have thought it to be, though the possibility of him dying added much more stress to the situation.

"That's about all we can do, lass. We'll have to wait for Captain to really fix him up." Summer nodded. "Let's go back to the kitchen and keep watch over the girl."

"Alright." She whispered, turning towards the door to follow the cook. It was then that all the emotion seemed to come to her, all the guilt and sorrow she had bottled up overcame her all at once. Tears sprung to her eyes and her vision blurred. Only a few steps forward and her legs gave way beneath her. She collapsed to the floor, Casper rushing to her side in worry.

"Summer, lass, are you wounded?" He sounded slightly panicked, as if he feared she would need medical treatment as well. It was difficult for her to answer, the tears she had been holding back welled up inside her and dripped down her face unbidden.

"I-I...couldn't do anything...to help him. He was...in...so much pain…" She cried, curling into herself on the floor. "I should've been the...one they hurt instead of him. He...didn't deserve this!"

"Lass, there's nothing you could've done. Don't start blaming yourself for this." He gently patted her shoulder as she cried into the floor. Several minutes passed this way, Summer releasing all of the pent up emotions over the past several hours and Casper sitting next to her patiently as she let it all out.

"I'm...I'm ok now." She shakily said after calming down, wiping the moisture from her face with her uniform sleeve. She had forgotten that she was still wearing the maid's uniform, and only realized then that she was not wearing her normal clothing. It was still back in the mansion.

"Why don't you go change? Get some fresh clothes on ya." Casper said, almost as if he were reading her mind. Sniffing loudly, she nodded and stood again to leave. Casper hovered next to her, fearing she might collapse again, but backed away when it became evident she was alright.

"Thank you, Casper." She gave a weak smile and pushed out the door. He nodded in reply and watched her go. He stayed a few moments after the door shut, looking towards the still unconscious man.

"Just pray the captain gets here soon." He muttered to himself.

"Fall back!" Penguin shouted, spotting Bepo running outside into the great expanse of yard where the conflict was still taking place. "Back to the sub! Let's go!"

Men detached themselves from their battles and ran towards the alleys in the direction of their submarine. Law noticed his first mate still had Scarlet and Reid in his arms, and ran towards him.

The overwhelmed guards of the house followed only a small distance before letting the pirates go. Law assumed this was because they were still confused as to why they had even attacked at all. Thankfully, none of them had spotted the woman of the house slung over the bear's shoulder.

"How is he?" Law asked Bepo, gesturing to Reid who was wrapped snugly in his embrace.

"He's still alive, but he hasn't woken up yet." Nodding, the two ran after the retreating men.

"Did Summer make it back to the sub?" Bepo asked, worried about his female nakama. Law smiled just a little, though the bear didn't notice.

"Don't worry about her, Bepo. She can take care of herself and Liam-ya."

"Please! Why won't you let me out?" Kat called, banging against the door. Summer sat in the mess deck, distractedly listening to the girl's desperate sobs. It was approaching a half hour since she had brought Liam back from the mansion, and she was starting to get anxious. Law couldn't be that far behind, could he?

Every once in a while, Kat's obnoxious yelling would interrupt her thoughts. She kept crying to be let out, crying that she was scared. To be honest, she could care less about what she was feeling. In her mind, she deserved everything she was getting.

'What has she done to you?' The rational part of her brain asked. Angrily, she shook her head.

'It was /her family /that almost killed Liam and Reid. She might not have directly hurt them herself, no. /No way in hell /does that make her innocent though. She can rot in hell for all I care.'

"Can anyone hear me?" Kat cried, banging harder against the door. Casper had gone to check up on Liam, making sure that he was still breathing. It wasn't like the two of them knew what to do if he actually did stop breathing, but just sitting in the mess deck and doing nothing felt wrong. They at least wanted to be there for their nakama. If only to be next to him.

"Captain Law! Please! Let me out!" Summer finally snapped, unable to take any more of the girl's useless crying.

"Shut up already!" She shouted, standing up suddenly and striding to the door.

"Summer-san?" Came a weak reply. Summer's breathing was heavy and quick at this point.

"Just shut up already! Shut up! No one is letting you out of there!"

"But-"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? You aren't part of our crew! You aren't useful in any way! Everything you do causes us problems! You just existing gives me a migraine! You're useless! We only used you so we could get money! And I'm certainly not your friend!

"I'm not your friend, Penguin's not your friend, Shachi, Bepo, Liam, Reid, Law...none of them are your friends! You aren't welcome here! You never were! Why don't you just crawl back to your goddamn mansion and cry to mommy?"

There was only silence behind the door, but Summer wasn't done yet.

"The only reason you're still alive is because Law wanted to use you. If it were up to me, you'd have been dead the first day we brought you in! You have no idea how long I've wanted to kill you myself, with my own two hands!

"I'm gonna ask Captain personally if I can wring your neck, so I would start saying prayers, counting down to your last day...whatever. Just be ready when I come to kill you."

Standing up, she walked down the hall towards her bedroom. No doubt Casper would have heard her yelling and would be able to hear it in the silence of the sub, but she really didn't care at this point. Finally she was able to let go of all the hatred and hurt and confusion and sorrow that had been building inside of her since Kat's arrival.

It had felt amazing to just let it out and not pretend to be that idiot's friend anymore. God, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders! Now, maybe, she could get a good night's sleep. She chuckled softly as she opened her door.

'Sweet dreams, Kat. Hope you think of me.' She thought with a cruel smirk, shutting the door behind her.