The gun lay at Sanji's feet, heavy and forgotten as the blond still had a raised – now empty – hand extended towards Zoro in shock as he stared at the smirking man in horror. Not entirely trusting his eyes, but surely mistaken in his assumption that something had just taken place that could not be possible.

Zoro's aggression faded as he slipped his hands into his pockets, looking down at his chest with a bored expression at the place where the bullet had entered – where it should have entered – as though pretending to look for whatever Sanji was staring at. Peering over Zoro's shoulder he saw the large bullet hole in the wall directly behind the man, unable to fathom how it could have penetrated the wall at that point without have passing through Zoro.

"As I've said before Sanji." Zoro murmured simply as he turned his gaze back unto Sanji after casting a curious glance at the damage to the wall behind himself. Snatching Sanji's numb hand out of the air by the wrist, nose drawing across the flesh of the blond's inner forearm with a reverent caress, eyes locked on Sanji, "You can't escape me."

"H-How?" Sanji stuttered horrifically, his shock keeping him from responding and repulsively pulling his hand from Zoro's grip. Instead it remained slack in his hold as he finally met Zoro's gaze with thinly veiled dismay as Zoro returned the look calmly, until the corner of his lip jerked up in a smirk and his eyes glinted mischievously.

All at once a crippling pain lanced through Sanji's head as a sudden surge of memories had him nearly doubling over in pain. Eyes scrunching shut, knees buckling, he slammed his free hand against his forehead in a vain attempt to ease the pain as the only thing keeping him from crumpling to the ground was Zoro's hold on his wrist.

The headache pierced his temples jaggedly as memory after stunningly lucid memory assaulted him with a brevity that was both shocking and frightening. Each scene playing out with a familiarity that shouldn't have existed; memories that he couldn't recall happening playing out perfectly from his perspective as though he really had experienced them.

It was him in the car, head against the dash board as blood steadily dripped down his nose to mix with the water pooling at his feet from the sinking car. Icy cold as he snapped upright and glanced to his left before being rendered speechless at the mangled and motionless form of his father slumped over the steering wheel. And that's the moment the memory shifted and Sanji felt like he was watching himself anew.

The terrified look vanished to be replaced by a blank, calmness as Sanji turned to the glove box, pulling it open to grab the emergency window breaker. Immediately turning to break the window open and without even a look back, jumping from the car out into the freezing water of the river.

Cold, wet, frothing sensations burnt at Sanji's mind until he found himself on the river bank, staring up in to the face of some woman whom was asking his name and various other questions that made no sense. Before everything became black he felt a single word leave his lips, and when he awoke in the hospital the name the nurses kept misusing towards him was remembered with chilling clarity; Zoro.

A few years later and he's in a foster home; the surly man and flustered wife only took him in for the monthly payment that the government gave them. Sanji's starved, forced to fend for himself mostly, until the beatings start. Skinny and under fed he began parting his hair so the bangs would cover the black eyes that his foster father constantly gave him.

The man is drunk and furious, as he usually got after a long day of work, self loathing manifesting itself in violent actions usually taken out on Sanji. The hand was coming down with a swiftness that was sure to leave a mark that even his hair wouldn't be able to hide from the teachers at school. Fear and unconsummated anger swelled through him as he felt utterly helpless before once again the shift took place and his exterior snapped, replaced by something primal and deeply hidden.

Hand snapping out to grip the man's wrist, he can vaguely remember the feeling of the sinews grinding against bone under his palm as he levelled his foster father with a look nothing short of murderous. Eyes flashing dangerously as this other personality within him had no problem punishing the man for the things he's done. Twisting the man's hand painfully to the side he can feel the once more foreign words slip over his lips, "Don't ever touch me again."

"W-what do you think you're doing, brat?!" The man shouted, spittle flying from his lips as he struggled against the youth's grip, yet the fear in his words was tangible.

"I said," Zoro's words falling from his lips, "Don't."

Arm raised as he pulled the man's hand up along with it, "Touch."

Raised knee, "Me."

Slamming the man's hand down as hard as he could he connected his wrist with his knee and could feel the cracking of the delicate bones, and hear the snapping under his palm. A viscerally haunting memory as a newly born rage that didn't belong to him bellowed, "AGAIN!"

There's hysteria; the man is in tears from the pain and the woman is screaming hysterically while being of no use. Sanji's body is guided away to his room and he began methodically packing all of his things. The few days spent with that family suddenly terrified of him, and then being transferred for an unknown reason is all explained.

Sanji is back in his old school yard, fists amateurishly raised as he's being circled by an older kid while a group surrounding them jeer excitedly. The older teenager is hardly scathed while Sanji's hair is in disarray – falling into his face – dirt mars his clothes, and some blood his trickling down his cheek from where his head had just previously connected with the ground from a rather nasty hit.

He has no clue how to fight, and his lame attempts at kicking the older kid have done absolutely nothing except earn himself an even harsher beating. The boy began reeling back his fist, cocking it forward as it connected directly with Sanji's nose and sent him sprawling back on the ground as darkness enveloped his vision. Only this time the memory doesn't end; and he doesn't wake up in the nurses office being berated.

Instead a primal rage surges through him and has him lurching back to his feet a moment later; blood spilling from his fractured nose as he launched at the other boy viciously. It's a flurry of savagery as this suppressed emotion finally broke to the surface and it isn't long before he's on top of the other boy.

Punch after punch wailing down on him until the other child had practically gone limp and the group of kids had gone from cheering to stunned silence. Sanji is quickly torn from the other teen and dragged away before he does actually black out this time.

A horrified scream ripped itself from Sanji's throat as he brought himself back to the present where he knelt on the plush carpet as all those confusing incidents in his youth became clear. Memories that had never before existed in his mind from his childhood rising up in a wave of sterile clarity that had Sanji choking on his tongue in a panic.

All of the confusion making sense; of people eyeing him carefully as though he were the one that was insane for such simple actions and questions when it turned out it was all in his head. Every conversation, action and question was all imagined as everyone around him was left to wonder why he had been talking to himself; why he hadn't been acting like himself. Legs feeling numb, he remained on his knees, collapsed by Zoro's feet as his very world was rocked to its core. Gasping around his dry throat as he breathed out in denial, "No..."

"You see..." Zoro implored with a soft smile, dropping to a knee so he could be on level with the blond. The memories picked up speed as small bits of their time together flashed before his eyes with a new perspective and the images contained only himself instead of the two of them, "I've always been there for you."

"Is he hot?" Ace asked, already leaning in as Sanji pulled out his phone.

"I'd like to think so." Sanji admitted modestly, pulling up the man's profile picture from his phone's photo album and turning it toward the black haired man; an unknown, nondescript photo of some random stranger displayed across the screen. Not at all the photo of the green-haired man he had remembered showing his co-worker as Ace let out a low whistle that was mixed with a long stream of smoke before glancing up at Sanji with a smirk.

Sanji is in Zoro's clinic, approaching the desk as he vaguely remembered wondering if everyone working at the clinic was always so astoundingly gorgeous. Leaning against the counter slightly to get the secretary's attention as he asked politely, "Hey, is Mr. Roronoa in today?"

The secretary looked up in surprise, taking in Sanji and his question with an expression of complete confusion, eyes blinking up owlishly as though Sanji had suddenly grown a second head or something equally as abnormal. Kalifa – as her name tag read – continued to cutely stare up at Sanji as he leaned against the counter and watched her back equally as quiet. The silence continued to stretch before Sanji realized how stupid his question must have sounded.

"Sorry." Sanji corrected quickly, "Obviously he's in. I mean can I see-"

And once again the shift over took him as he dropped his head with a muffled grunt before the innocent expression he had been holding transformed to a more serious moue. Raising his head to glance at the secretary as he sent a charming grin before gesturing vaguely at himself, "Sorry for the confusion. This is Sanji; I mentioned him to you before."

The look of confusion was quickly replaced with clarity and she sent a understanding grin towards her boss, before correcting herself politely, "Of course. Sorry about that. I'll remember from now on."

A relaxed smile graced Sanji's face before pushing himself away from the counter and making his way back into the office; where had been previously before Sanji had thought he had been in control of his body. The woman watching him leave with interested eyes, as the conversation Sanji and Zoro proceeded to have appeared to all take place in his head.

Sanji's in the shower, his hands and face covered in dirt from burying the bones of the young girl, the brown murky substance trailing from his body and swirling with the water down the drain. Numbly and methodically he scrubbed the dirt and evidence from his body, neither remembering nor having control over his motions. A moment later his hand reached out to turn the tap off and he stepped out of the tub, leaving a small pile of granular dirt in the bottom of the tub.

Sanji's outside Level 5.5; alone. A stoic expression plastered across his face as he passed by the bouncer, the man merely gave Sanji an assessing look before jerking his head and allowing him in. A flicker of confusion worked its way onto his previously impassive features as he makes to grab his wallet; his attempt quickly waved off. As he turns back to open the large steel door that was before muffling the music – now allowing the heavy, raunchy bass to come flowing out – he cast a quick glance back at the bouncer just before the door closed, long enough that he was able to catch the cheeky look sent his way. Only his way.

Sanji made for a booth on the second floor that over looked the craziness taking place on the dance floor below; taking a seat by himself before calmly waving over a waiter with the same nonchalant behaviour Zoro young, pink-haired man greeting cheerfully, "Hey, Mr. Roronoa!"

"Yo, Coby." Zoro's words falling from his lips as the amiable grin was now gracing his face rather than Zoro's, "How's the back?"

"A lot better." The young twink chuckled happily, as his complete ignorance of Sanji became horrifyingly clear, "Anyway, what can I get for ya tonight?"

"A few beers for now, and a scotch on the rocks." Sanji grinned, "Some shots later perhaps."

"Right away." Coby perked up happily, scribbling it down on the small noted pad he had with him before making for the next tables' orders. For the rest of the evening Sanji remained sitting alone in the booth in Level 5.5 aside from the second visit from the pink-haired boy. His words shifting in tone and stiffness as though the blond couldn't make up his mind over how he was intending to speak; Coby frowning down at him in confusion over the odd behaviour.

Sanji's on the dance floor, grinding with the redhead, when suddenly an irate and dark look casts a shadow over his face and he's pulling away. The red head starting to defend hotly, not entirely happy about Sanji's behaviour. "I thought..."

An undignified snorted shook Sanji as he started to open his mouth to state just how sorely wrong the man was about that, when he was quickly cut off as a wave of annoyance over took him as he stepped forward challengingly. An entirely different persona controlling his actions than how he remembered.

"For the dance. Only." Sanji gritted out, before turning away and making towards the bar as he sent a final glare back to the man left standing there completely floored by the flaky behaviour.

Sanji's standing in the laundry room holding Zoro's wallet in his hands as he opens it to inspect whom it belongs to, pulling free the driver's license from one of the sleeves. Holding it up as he noted the information on the card; height, weight, address, and the name boldly printed across the top.

Roronoa, Zoro

All of the information matching up to the other man perfectly, except for the photo – that had previously housed a picture of the green-haired man in Sanji's distant memory – now held simply a photo of himself. Everything in the wallet suddenly marked under a different name, but unequivocally belonging to him.

Sanji entered the sex shop with an arrogant and stiff air that was completely foreign to his usual demeanour as Shaky glanced up and welcomed him with a companionable greeting.

"Welcome." A smooth voiced greeted as she gave him a curt nod of acknowledgement before murmuring, "Roronoa."

Sanji's hardened face softened in his attempt of a smile, and gave a small inclination of his head in greeting and continued into the store, occasionally muttering to himself in self directed conversation as he selected items from the shelves. When he returned to the counter to purchase everything, the conversation between him and the woman continued exactly as it had in his previous memory; except this time it was him voicing Zoro's part of the conversation.

"I'm spoken for."

"He's spoken for." Echoes in his mind as his body is once more taken over by another force entirely, the displeased expression he remembered on Zoro's face now written across his own as he stared down Doflamingo angrily.

"Figures." The man sighed petulantly, glancing down at his half finished drink before back up at Sanji with that unnerving look of predatory hunger, "Though I'm not surprised."

The displeased growl that Zoro had given was this time coming from his own throat as the Dom continued playfully, "How do you feel about switching?"

Hand coming out to stroke Sanji's arm, it was swiftly caught in a vice grip by Sanji himself, fingers digging into the tendons with intent. This time the memory of the wrist in his grip was painfully clear; skin, bone, and tendons. The other man barely flinched, but he paused his motion nonetheless, watching Sanji with critical eyes; the previous playfulness all but gone.

"You do not have permission to touch." Sanji growled threateningly, hand tightening further on the pale wrist that was inches from touching his face. Zoro's hardened voice spilling from his own seething lips, "I'd suggest you go find yourself another sub."

The Dom scowled darkly, no longer offering a light-hearted grin as he retracted his hand from Sanji's grip with a vicious jerk and muttered threateningly, "Your Dom should do a better job at restraining you; you're far too undisciplined."

Spinning haughtily on a polished heel, he began strutting away as Sanji scowled indignantly and took an aggressive step after him he shook his fist at the retreating figure while shouting, "I'll discipline my foot up your ass, you Truffula looking motherfucker!"

Sanji practically broke down the front door as he ran into Zoro's – his – clinic, he could hear the small bell that usually chimed when someone entered clang unpleasantly behind him as he rushed inside. Making for the reception desk breathlessly, sweat soaking his clothes from the sprint here.

"Kalifa! Is Dr. Roronoa in today?!" Sanji gasped heavily as he leaned against the desk perhaps a little too urgently and startled the poor woman. Kalifa looked up at him in pure bewilderment, brow drawing down as she cast a glance towards the offices of the clinic before back at Sanji.

"Um... no." Kalifa stated slowly, enunciating her words a little too slowly, as she looked up at Sanji wearily as she worded her sentence very carefully, "He doesn't work today."

"Oh..." Sanji muttered in disappointment, as he turns his gaze away and completely misses the scrutinizing stare of the woman whom was currently trying to gauge the odd personality within her boss.

"Sanji?" Kalifa asked carefully, eyes still wandering all over Sanji's frame as she still seemed confused by his presence, "Right?"

"Yeah. Yeah..." Sanji mumbled absently, fingers fiddling nervously with the phone in his pocket as he still was unaware of her critical stare, "So he should be at home then?"

"Uh, yes..." Kaifa muttered, the confusion so much more obvious now as Sanji realized why her words had been so slow and cautious, "He should be, anyways."

"Okay." Sanji nodded gratefully as he began backing out of the office, "Thank you!"

"Sure." Kalifa mumbled shortly, watching Sanji leave with that same curious expression plastered across her face; only this time Sanji understood the cause of it...

Sanji remained silent, staring hollowly at the floor as the last few months of his life were being rewritten within his mind in horrifying clarity. Leaving the other memories – the false memories – a hazy shadow of their former selves as his own mind turned against him. Faster and fast they whirled before him until suddenly there is a vivid flash of his hands held out before him – just like in his dream – as long strands of garnet trailed down in sickening rivulets to fall to the blood soaked floor.

Eyes focusing beyond his trembling fingers to see the lifeless body of the poor young boy that had gone missing months ago, his cheerful smile replaced with a lax lips and a gaunt expression. The memories of the murders he had been responsible for began to form in his mind; the images causing his stomach to churn as Sanji was faced with the destructive reality of what he had done. What they had done...

"I don't..." ...understand. Sanji finally managed around the thickness blocking his throat, the muscles working erratically to keep him from retching onto the floor between his splayed hands. Everything around him felt numb, his body buzzing in his manic confusion as the room began to quake under him from the weight of what he was being forced to accept.

"Your life was too controlled." Zoro shrugged simply, pushing himself back to his feet as he stared down at Sanji calmly who lurched forward with a dry heave as he fought down another surge of bloody memories. A young girl in his minds eye as he stripped the flesh from her bones, knife held expertly in his dexterous hand as the memory formed from his perspective with acute detail.

Dancing in and out of reality, it took several moments for Zoro's words to even reach him, but when they did they had him forcing himself to look up at the man shakily. Glaring through memories of a curly-haired boy being strangled in his own hands as he murmured hoarsely, "What are you talking about?"

"You had every single person in the palm of your hand, could twist anything to make it work for you, everything was under your control and you hated it." Zoro smirked tauntingly, "You wanted to be controlled, you wanted to be outsmarted, you craved having a challenge in your life."

A final vivid memory of a young boy being cut into meticulous pieces forced him over the edge, hunching over with a wretched noise as acid stained his tongue and bile splattered across the carpet. World spinning, throat stinging as he took in painful gasps to try and calm himself despite the images of the tasks he had done.

"No. No. No." Sanji hushed out nervously under his breath, denying Zoro's words as he still desperately tried to come up with an argument to back them. Letting out a shuddering breath Sanji shook his head vehemently as he desperately tried to wrack his brain for any other possible solution to what was happening. There had to be some other explanation, Zoro must have just been playing with him, there was no way that any of this could be happening. "This isn't real..."

"Of course it is." Zoro supplied with a roll of his eyes as Sanji reached a shaking hand up to wipe a strand saliva that hung from his lower lip, swallowing around the acrid taste in his mouth as he fought down a memory of an elder woman and the blade that he held against her unconscious throat.

"I wouldn't do this..." Sanji groaned as his stomach quaked again despite there being nothing else for him to hurl. A hauntingly vivid memory of his long dexterous fingers working in front of himself to strap the body of the eviscerated man to the bottom of a vehicle burning behind his eyelids, "I would never do that!"

"Oh?" Zoro inquired with an air of innocence, though his tone festered with something far more malicious, "Well now, we both know that's just not true, is it?"

"Urk..." Sanji gagged around Zoro's words as he fought against his very mind to keep the memories from resurfacing, leaning unconsciously forward in his disbelief over the words Zoro was taunting him with. Heaving as he tried to calm himself, the deep breaths only marginally managing to steady his swirling haze of horror.

"You scammed people of their lives, you made them miserable, and you were never once stopped." Zoro murmured, "At first it was exhilarating – satisfying – but soon the ease of it began to annoy you."

Sanji shook his head in annoyed defiance hating how the words that Zoro spoke rung true with thoughts that he had never dared think. Horrible ideas that he had buried deep down with denial to keep himself from even contemplating; and here Zoro was speaking them as though reading from a page of Sanji's mind.

"There was no challenge to your life." Zoro continued as a distinct image of an older gentleman being lowered into barrel of liquid flashed across his vision, "No game."

"Stop it." Sanji murmured darkly as his panic induced anger began to swell in indignation at the words. Shaking his head desperately to rid the image from his mind, refusing to let any more in as he slowly raised his head to look up at Zoro with a tortured expression.

"You needed to take it to the next level." Zoro continued with a jeer, "First; destroying lives. Second; taking them."

"Shut up." Sanji tried again, but this time the words were barely discernible on his trembling lips as he was stripped raw with the knowledge that was irrefutably being presented before him. His words practically turning to pleas as he wished that it wasn't real; that it was all a terrible nightmare.

"Naturally though your conscience was against the fundamentally immoral reasons behind killing another human being..." Zoro drawled out lazily, striding away from Sanji as he stared out the window calmly. And Sanji watched in slight awe and trepidation of the man currently shadowed by the streetlights outside, outlining the figure of the unnatural being. Spinning abruptly Zoro turned to face Sanji, arms open wide as he smirked down manically at the blond, "And so you used me."

"No." Sanji breathed out quietly, fear and denial flitting across his lips as he shook his head slowly, never once breaking eye contact with those sharp brown eyes. Everything he knew was becoming a lie, and he was being torn apart from the inside as he felt like he no longer recognized himself.

"I was the uncontrollable being you craved to be." Zoro boasted proudly, "That you couldn't be."

Despite the quivering of his limbs Sanji managed the strength to get a foot under himself, and then a second as he pushed himself to a trembling stance as he stood before Zoro. Watching in awe as he tried to understand how something so real – so integral to his life – was somehow simply a figment of his imagination. Did that mean that all of his emotions were too; was his love but a facade?

"What about our time together?" Sanji murmured hollowly, "Everything..."

"It was all in your head." Zoro supplied with a simple shrug, his tone singing with condescension, as though Sanji were a fool for not realizing it. "Though you're starting to realize that now, hm?"

"This..." Sanji choked out quietly, his own mind betraying him at every turn. Trying to recall upon memories that now no longer existed – replaced with other images – seeing himself sitting alone in a dark room with his eyes closed muttering to himself. Or pacing around a room carrying on two parts of a conversation aloud despite there being no one else around, "This doesn't make any sense."

"You wanted your control taken away; I bound you. You wanted to take your little game to another playing field; I killed for you." Zoro declared succinctly, "You wanted a change in your life so badly; so I became you."

"SHUT UP!" Sanji finally bellowed desperately, loathing every word that came from the taunting man that he was desperately trying to understand; trying to figure out how this could even be possible. At what point did he end and the other man begin; why were his memories melding into a conglomerate of lives he did not remember living?

Zoro stopped at that, eyeing Sanji carefully as the blond continued to rack his brain to try and understand the memories he was assaulted with and the presence of the man in front of him. The manipulative words spilling from his lips only causing Sanji further strife as he began to try and convince himself of something that didn't seem rational.

Who was in his body right now?

"Y-you're not real..." Sanji murmured the words with odd realization, despite how redundant it sounded saying it aloud, it gave him courage to continue firmly, "You're just in my head..."

"Or maybe..." Zoro intoned playfully, hands coming up to lightly gesture towards himself as a delighted smile danced across the man's maniacal face, "Maybe I'm the one in the body and you're just the illusion now; maybe you're the one fading into insignificance."

For so long it seemed like he was living a life with this man; when it seemed that his memories were now telling him a completely different story. A story about a man that carried on talking to himself as thought he weren't alone, a man that thought he was with the person he loved when really he was being used as a puppet to kill, and a man that two lives yet only one body.

Was everything Sanji experienced a lie...?

"No..." Sanji finally breathed quietly, eyes narrowing as he glared shrewdly up at the man currently antagonizing him as his previous revelation gave him further credence. Back straightening as he squared his shoulders, matching the domineering man with an unyielding stance, "No."

"No?" Zoro echoed dangerously, eyes brows climbing as he lowered his arms, his previously jesting all but vanished as he clearly was not impressed by Sanji's defiant behaviour.

"If you were in control then that would mean you would be struggling to keep me from regaining my body." Sanji reasoned quietly, the thoughts he uttered occurring to him as he spoke them, "That would mean I'd be on the offensive..."

But that currently wasn't the situation; that had never been the case. Zoro had always been antagonizing him, always constantly on the offensive; even now Zoro was the one threatening him. Zoro was the one that had contacted him from the beginning, Zoro was the one that had kidnapped him back to his apartment, and now it was Zoro's power over him that was keeping him pinned to the spot. None of this would be happening if Zoro was in control of Sanji's body; only if he was struggling to overtake it.

Glancing up at Zoro with a determined glare he muttered, "But I'm not."

Zoro remained silent, though from the dark glare beginning to form across his face it was clear that Zoro was livid over Sanji calling his bluff. The line of his shoulders hunching in annoyance and his fingers twitching at his sides as he seemed to be restraining himself as he observed Sanji shrewdly.

"You're the one attacking me." Sanji continued as he began reaching for his pocket for the phone he knew was in it, "You're the one trying to get in."

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked sharply, eyes darting to the motion of Sanji's hand warily as he slowly began making his way across the room towards Sanji. The blond hating the way his feet felt like the were melded to the floor under the other man's dominating gaze.

"I'm turning us in." Sanji responded resolutely; he may not have been able to do anything when he had thought Zoro was responsible, but now that he knew the truth the answer was simple. Getting himself arrested was the only way to stop himself from doing anymore damage; to stop Zoro from doing anything else.

A large hand shot out, gripping his wrist in an iron grip as Sanji was immediately sent back to the numerous times those amazing hands had grabbed him the most intimate of ways. Forcing himself to remember the falsehood of those memories as he looked up at Zoro with a hardened glare and breathed out menacingly, "Let. Go."

There was a small moment of hesitation before it seemed as though Zoro was unable to resist the order. Retracting his hand with obvious reluctance while watching Sanji like a beast waiting to strike. Clearly waiting for a break in Sanji's resolve so that he could dive in and take control of Sanji's body once more.

Sanji's arm shook as he returned to trying to pull the phone from his jeans pocket, muscles tensing in his arm as though fighting an invisible internal force that was desperately trying to keep him from his objective. As his fingers painfully closed around the device he knew it was Zoro, within him struggling to take control of his body; force him to drop the phone. Gritting his teeth he strained against it, pulling the phone from his pocket and to himself with great effort.

The building fury in Zoro's eyes was haunting, but Sanji ignored it as he desperately punched in the three numbers he needed to end this whole painful ordeal. As Sanji raised the phone to his ear and the ringing could faintly be heard on the other end, Zoro had become like feral beast within a cage. Pacing back and forth in front of Sanji angrily, obviously waiting for a moment to strike and tear Sanji apart.

After three painful rings a woman finally picked up, her honey sweet voice soothing for only a moment before she launched into an unnecessarily long scripted dialogue that was inconvenient for Sanji's impending emergency.

"H-Hello?" Sanji pleaded quietly into the phone, even his voice beginning to scratch painfully from the constant strain on his entire body. Even though Zoro was feet away it felt like his hands were grasped around Sanji's trying to pry him away from the phone; a puppeteer tugging viciously at his strings as he tried to force him to obey.

"Seattle Police Department." A smooth, calming woman intoned down the line, "What is your emergency?"

"I need you to arrest me." Sanji rasped into the receiver desperately, it was beginning to feel like his throat was trying to collapse in on itself to keep him from forming words.

"Excuse me, sir?" The woman murmured calmly, "What is your situation?"

"I'm at Kuraigana Apartments; building E, floor 20, apartment 13." Sanji strangled out, "I killed someone."

"Calm down sir!" The woman informed him sternly, though it was clear from her tone that she was shocked by his admission, "Help is on its way; just stay on the lin-"

Dropping the phone in relief he collapsed back into the chair with a groan of pain as Zoro circled around him, eyes dark with a wrathful annoyance. Hands shot out to grip the arm rests of Sanji's chair as the man leaned in swiftly, critical eyes scanning Sanji's face as he tsked disapprovingly, "Bad boy."

Zoro's eyes flashed as a grin began to replace his previously annoyed expression, hand reaching out to grip Sanji's jaw in an affectionate hold, "Though you like when I call you that, don't you?"

"Don't touch me." Sanji hissed viciously, jerking his head to the side to yank his jaw out of the pinching grip of the other man before turning back to level Zoro with a dark look. Baring his teeth he growled lightly as words were beginning to fail him in his irrational anger; never had he thought he could be capable of murder, but he was beginning to see how he could find it in himself to do it again. "Touch me again and I'll kill you."

"Ha!" Zoro barked the word as he stood casually once more, keeping his hands off of Sanji but by no means getting out of his personal space, "Now who's being the idiot?"

"You're just in my mind..." Sanji gritted out quietly, desperately trying to convince himself of his own words as he glared down the man that for so long had seemed like the most real thing in the world to him, "I can get rid of you whenever I want."

"Oh?" Zoro quirked a brow in humoured interest, swiftly dropping to a crouch as he rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. Resting his chin on his clasped hands he peered up at Sanji while practically molding himself against Sanji's legs, eyes innocently watching Sanji even as the blond could sense the mockery beneath, "Then by all means; show me."

Sanji remained silent as he glanced down at the man, so calm on the exterior and yet a maniacal beast raging beneath. Instead he just watched those dark eyes quietly as he tried to convince himself that it was just empty space he was gazing into instead of the man that he had fallen in love with.

"C'mon then." Zoro prodded once more, a tinge of laughter breaking through his words, "Kill your imaginary friend. Make me disappear!"

Another few seconds passed as Sanji glared at Zoro, desperately trying to force himself to look through the man bearing down on him. Trying with all his might to see the wallpaper that sat on the walls behind the man's head. Zoro leaning down upon Sanji, eyes boring into the blond as a victorious smirk began spreading across his face when Sanji failed to make him actually vanish.

"You can't!" Zoro spat, a dark scowl forming on his previously soft face. Pushing himself away from Sanji, he once more loomed over the blond before narrowing his eyes angrily. Hands snapping out to tangle in Sanji's shirt as he hauled the blond forward abruptly, lifting him until his toes barely brushed the ground and Zoro was nose to nose with him, "Because I am you!"

"No!" Sanji strangled out petulantly as his hands snapped to Zoro's wrists as he tried to pry the grip open so he could get out of the choking hold. The iron grip wouldn't budge, even when Sanji dug his short nails into the tanned skin. Zoro remained impassive against Sanji's struggles as the grip only fastened tighter, like Sanji was being gripped by the hand of statue rather than a person. "You're not!"

"I've been a part of you since the very beginning!" Zoro roared, "I protected you, I fought for you, I am every bit a part of you as you are! I've carried the both of us!"

"Not anymore!" Sanji snarled back venomously, jerking disobediently in Zoro's grip as the seams of his shirt cut into his back and under his arms from where he was being hoisted. Sanji's words causing the man to still as he levelled Sanji with an icy glare, grip lowering minutely as his dark eyes flickered.

"Excuse me?" Zoro prompted calmly, voice entirely too smooth for the anger currently burning behind his composed exterior.

"Put me down." Sanji murmured sternly, eyes fixing in on Zoro's as he could read the obvious shock washing through the other man. Hands relaxing their grip on Zoro's wrist as he began to realize that the balance of power swung both ways; that it always had even if Sanji had never noticed.

"What?" Zoro tried again, clearly attempting to get Sanji to reconsider his order.

"Put. Me. DOWN!"

Zoro's arms slowly followed the command, unfurling as he gently lowered Sanji back onto his own two feet before letting go of his shirt with clear reluctance. It was obvious that Zoro was just as furious about his body's lack of control as Sanji was over his.

"Don't move." Sanji spat angrily and once more Zoro's eyes read the anger that was raging within him at the fact that his body was not following his commands. And as Sanji sent a quick glance around the room for an idea on how to restrain the both of them until the cops arrived, his gaze fell to the window as a confusing thought hit him.

It was still dark outside.

Sanj had left for the airport in the distant hours of morning, Zoro had brought him back, and Sanji had been unconscious for god only knew how long. The timeline didn't make any sense; the sun should have rose hours ago... And suddenly it was all so painfully clear, as the words that Zoro had spoken earlier made everything fall into place.

It was all in your head...

Every time he and Zoro had been together had been a fictional visage in his mind; each conversation, every copulation, any moment alone. They were all a facade of imagery and emotion Zoro had woven in his mind to keep him occupied while he took over Sanji's body to use it as he saw fit. Whether it was to live an ordinary life, or to kidnap children and commit murder; the closer Zoro had gotten to Sanji, the easier it had been to suppress him. Which meant that even now as they stood opposite each other in this room; it was just another one of Zoro's tricks designed to distract him.

Who knew what his body could be doing at this very moment?

Without even a second thought Sanji realized he needed to stop himself, and if this was all a dream then there was one very simple solution to get out of it. Stooping down he numbly picked up the gun that had been discarded on the floor, the piece of metal feeling startling heavy in his clammy grip as he slowly straightened. Righting the weapon in his grip until it lay comfortably in his palm, he curled his finger around the trigger once more as he began forcing himself to focus around the sensations that accosted him and instead on what was beyond them.

"What are you doing?!" Zoro demanded viciously, taking an unconscious step forward and glaring down at Sanji obstinately. Looking up from the pistol that was beginning to feel weightless in his nervous grasp, for the first time ever Sanji could actually discern panic and fear in that usually scathing gaze.

A small smile flitted across the blond's lips as he raised the gun slowly to his own head this time, pressing the barrel against his temple as he could feel the cool metal kiss his skin gently. Letting his eyes fall shut, he finally placed his trust in the only hands he could truly rely on; himself. "Waking up."

Sanji's finger retracted on the trigger – praying that he knew what he was doing – as once more a sharp bang rung out through the small room. The crack had barely echoed in his ears before everything fell away rapidly and Sanji was bolting upright in bed with a sharp gasp and a jagged cry.

Several moments of panicked breathing passed as Sanji convinced himself he was still alive and that he had not actually killed himself; glancing around Zoro's bedroom as he confirmed that his plan had actually worked. Gaze falling on the window as he could see the faint vestiges of the sun rising over the city in the distance leaving the past several hours feeling like a vivid dream.

Looking down, he found himself dressed in the clothes he had donned before trying to sneak out several hour previously, turning his palms slowly upward to note the torn flesh from when he had falling getting out of the cab. A final glance across the room at the backpack that was discarded near the wall – which must have been taken off by Zoro when he had brought their body back into the apartment before laying down – that was a testament to everything that had just happened.

Sanji had to know for sure.

Slowly pushing himself out of bed he placed his sneakers on the floor before shakily getting to his feet and making his way around the bed. Hollow step after dreadfully hollow step he meandered out of the bedroom and into the main area of the apartment as he continued to look around himself in a mystifying concoction of confusion and awe. There was a silence that hung over the apartment that was eerily unfamiliar; where once there had always been two presences in the flat, there was now just his own.

Still weary of everything around him as he wasn't sure exactly what was real or not anymore; needing anything to prove to himself he still wasn't imagining everything. Passing through the kitchen he ran a hand slowly across the island counter, fingers trailing along the cool marble as he remembered countless mornings spent enjoying breakfast across from each other. Memories now that had a blurred lens cast over them in the wake of his realization that those had all been figments of his imagination put there by Zoro.

Pausing as he noted the picture on the fridge with a small frown, reaching up and snagging the corner he pulled it free from the magnet as he stared at it with confused clarity. The smile, the gown, and the graduation cap was all the same, but the man in the photo was not. Where there had once been a smiling green-haired man in the photo; Sanji now only saw himself.

Allowing it to fall from his hand carelessly, he became aware of pressure in both of his back pockets as he reached back and pulled a wallet from the right pocket free. Flipping it open to find his information; driver's license, debit and credit cards, social insurance number, and myriad of other things he had remember having on him the past several years.

Reaching back with his left hand to snag the item in his left back pocket, he found with chilling absurdity; Zoro's wallet. The exact same wallet he had remember finding in his pocket after their night at the bar; opening it he found everything in the other man's name, except for the fact that every piece of photo I.D. had his picture in place of Zoro's. The green-haired man's stoic gaze written across his face in an expression that Sanji had never been privy to seeing on himself before.

Hands lowering he gazed ahead of himself numbly as the stark reality of everything Zoro had told him earlier began to sink in. The hysteria from before replaced with a cold, dawning acceptance as he let both the wallets fall from his hands as he numbly padded his jeans to find his phone.

Pulling his phone from his pocket he flicked through his messages and noted hollowly the absence of one very important person's number. All the texts and pictures that had been shared between them the past few months were gone; or had never existed in the first place.

Had it really all been a figment of his imagination?

Memories of heinous acts and malevolent crimes that were seared into his mind told him definitively that while he may not of been conscious; it was by no means false. The evidence was irrefutable; and by extension, so was his guilt. Choking down the disgust that threatened to rise at the notion of what he had done, he steeled himself in face of the reality of what he had to do. Sanji had hardened his resolve before – and while it seemed that phone call had all been in his head – it was time he would properly turned himself in. For the blackmail, the money, the murders...

For everything.

Staving off the horrendous memories that were now his burden to bear, he flipped through his phone to find the keypad as he typed in the number for the police for a second time; only this time he could discern the reality of it. Placing the phone to his ear, he listened to the shrill chimes as he shuffled his way through the living room and towards the balcony, pulling open the sliding glass door and stepping outside. Bare feet enjoying the cool sensation of the flooring as he leaned against the railing just as his call was answered.

"Seattle Police Department," crooned a smooth and calm individual, "How may I direct your call?"

"I'd like to confess to a crime..." Sanji murmured softly into the speaker, voice barely audible as he continued to keep his gaze pinned to the glorious sunrise glittering on the horizon. Rays reflecting off of each piece of metal and glass creating a hypnotic display of glittering lights that was nearly blinding. The faintest of smiles touched the blond's lips as he memorized the breathtaking sight that would probably be the last one he would ever see.

"What have you done, sir?"

Oh...

Where to begin?

TBC...

A/N (Edit): Meant to add when I posted the chapter a few things;

The inspiration behind this fic from the beginning was 'Mr. Brooks' and if you get a chance to ever watch it I would highly recommend it. It's about a man with a spilt personality that convinces him to be a serial killer; I thought it'd be fun to write about someone whose spilt personality was responsible without them knowing. So I'd like to credit to the movie for inspiring me.

Secondly, the ending was an homage to Fight Club (I had a different ending planned but changed it; clearly that was the wrong choice since many of you did not like it. I am sorry.)

Thirdly, if you read the note in the next chapter I'm currently struggling with some confidence issues in my writing so I apologize if this was not the ending you envisioned. I currently feel like I ran a 3yr marathon and tripped at the finish line and ruined everything. I am sorry.