Chapter Text
A sharp sting slammed into Senku, causing him to double over, nearly losing his balance on their freshly built motorbike.
“Shit~” he muttered inwardly, pulling his jacket tighter over the bandages wrapped around his chest, trying to keep them hidden.
It had been a couple of weeks since Stanley shot him on the deck of the Perseus. Weeks for his body to close the holes littered along his chest, but with their constant movement and everything that happened in America, he hadn’t had a chance to rest despite protests from Luna, Yuzuriha, and Francois.
The wounds had barely begun to close before he would accidentally reopen them. Whether during an experiment or through some movement that strained his healing body. The air fight with Charlotte had taken more out of him than he would have liked to admit.
He could still remember the look on Ryusui’s face when he noticed the fresh blood on his tunic as he helped him out of the wreckage.
Worried, regretful.
That had been a mistake.
Senku had insisted that he was alright and that they needed to focus on capturing Xeno, establishing Corn City, and heading off to South America. But they didn’t make it far into their voyage before his body rebelled against him, and he had practically collapsed on the deck while charting course, which of course, sent the crew into a flurry.
That was probably why despite his insistence and constant reminders of the irrelevance of owning a driver's license in the Stone Age, Gen insisted on taking the wheel. Chelsea couldn’t reach the pedals herself and anyone else would throw off the balance of the bike, so there she sat, sandwiched between the two generals. Her back pushed right against Senku’s now throbbing chest. A painful reminder of his stubbornness.
He’s brought back by the wind slapping his face as he looks up and around Chelsea's head to see Gen. His face focused on the road as they maneuver through the Andes mountains.
Should he mention the stinging? Let someone know?
After his collapse, everyone’s been lingering around him like a fragile china doll ready to break, insisting he notify someone if he felt pain. But no, they were behind as is and with Stanley on their tail, there was absolutely no time for setbacks. Distracting the driver would be a death sentence anyway.
“How's everyone doing?” he called back over the roar of the other engines following close behind.
Nods from the drivers and thumbs-up from the passengers answered him in patterns.
“THIS IS SO BAAAAD!!” Chrome screamed clung tightly to Francois, eyes glittering with excitement at their high speed journey.
Senku couldn’t help but hide a smile.
He would have loved the modern world
“You're going to let flies in if you keep screaming like that,” Kohaku shouted from her spot behind Ukyo whose bike speeds ahead of them
“How are you holding up Senku?” she called back.
“Kinda hypocritical for you to speak, don't you think?” he replied with a smirk. “And don’t worry about me, the sooner we cross this range the better. Now eyes forward, we didn’t have time for helmets and the mountains are bumpy enough. Can’t have our lioness falling off.”
“I AM NOT A LIONESS!” she yelled, but he drowned her shouting out with his thoughts.
He knew better. The bumpiness of the unpaved land, plus being on the run, mixed with the air pressure of the mountains was not helping his lungs and already shitty stamina as he struggled to keep his breathing steady.
Ukyo seemed to notice, shooting him a concerned look. Likely picking up on the soft wheezing.
“Maybe we should stop for a break.” He suggested
Curse his batshit insane hearing.
Senku waved him, off staring ahead.
“We can’t waste anymore time, keep moving.”
They drove for several minutes in silence only broken by the roar of their engines. Senku made a mental note of the terrain as they passed by. The quicker he and Chelsea could map up the region, the quicker they could develop Superalloy city and the next step in their plan to face Why-man.
He barely registered the road ahead of them when the motorcycle jerked.
Tires screeched. Friends shouted, and the motorcycle fell sharply on its side sending him, Gen and Chelsea flying off and tumbling into the dirt, rolling a couple of times before coming to a stop face first into the Earth.
Pain exploded in his chest, immediatly knocking the wind out of him. With a groan, he slowly lifted his head from the ground and looked around.
Chelsea was already sitting up, laughing as she dusted off her hands and knees. Suika and Francois jogged over from their parked bikes to check on her.
Gen layed sprawled a few feet away. Ukyo was already at his side as he nursed his head covering a spot above his brow.
Was that blood?
Senku tried to call out, but his lungs refused to cooperate. Each breath burned.
“Shit,” he muttered, looking down at the blood steadily soaking through his bandages.
He barely has a moment to react when he’s swarmed by everyone else parking their bikes and rushing forward to assess the damage.
“SENKU!” Kohaku shouts, immediately rushing forward by his side with Luna and Ryusui close behind.
Hyoga fell back, face covered and arms crossed keeping a firm guard on Xeno while everyone else tended to the fallen three.
“Are you alright did you?-“ Kohaku starts but Senku quickly cuts her off, sitting up with a pained grunt he tried to mask.
“I’m fine, nothing but a few scrapes.” He assured her brushing the grime off his hands and knees
Ryusui shoots him a hard look.
“There’s no possible way that didn’t cause damage!” Luna objects
Senku sighs, flicking dirt from his ears. “Chelsea’s fine isn’t she?”
“Well yeah but she-“ Luna tried to object, but was cut off by a call from Max who was now helping Ukyo with Gen.
“Miss Luna, we need you!!”
She hesitated, quickly looking back at Senku with pressed lips.
“Go on, we’ll watch him,” Ryusui assured, watching as Luna gave him a nod and jogged off towards the trio.
Gen’s face was streaked with blood, the white side of his hair now tinged red. Ukyo helped him up while Luna began inspecting his injuries.
Senku started to get up, but Ryusui's firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“They’ve got it handled.” He stated. “Sometimes a captain needs to worry about himself for the safety of the crew.”
Ukyo approached dusting off his hands. “It looks worse than it actually is – just a small cut. Face injuries tend to bleed worse than they let on. Lunas got it handled.”
He looks at Senku, face now more noticeably concerned. “And you?”
“Fine,” Senku repeated. “How’s Chelsea?”
Ukyo opened his mouth but Francois returned with a bow. “Nothing but a few scrapes and bruises. She’s lucky to have been between you and Gen, it seems to have cushioned her fall,” they reported. “Miss Suika and I have also concluded that the crash seems to have been caused by a pothole missed by Master Gen.”
Senku almost laughed. Faced with extinction, taken out by a pothole.
“Thank you Francois.”
“It is my duty. Should we tend to your wounds now as well.”
Senku laughs and moves to stand again, ignoring Ryusui and catching the hovering hands of Kohaku and Ukyo as he shrugged them off.
Pain sliced through him, worse than before. One, or all of his wounds had definitely reopened.
“I’m 10 billion percent.” He lied suppressing a wheeze.
If they don’t get moving now Stanley and the others would surely catch up on them.
“Is the bike still drivable?” he asked
Right on cue, Taiju and Kaseki rolled up on their bike followed by Tsukasa, pushing the wrecked vehicle with one hand and carrying a few small parts in the other.
“Normally, I’d be upset over the destruction of one of my beloved creations.” Kaseki said, fumes practically rising from his head.
He still looked upset.
“But lucky for you, most of the parts are still nearby. I can get this baby running again in about an hour.”
Still cutting it close, Senku thought
“So it’s settled.” Riyusui cuts in. “We’ll take a rest and continue as soon as Kaseki finishes.” He says with a snap of his fingers
“We don’t have time!” Senku protested with a gasp. “Stanley could catch up any moment!”
Why was it getting harder to breathe? And why did everything feel so warm? What material did he use for this jacket again?
“All the more reason to rest and recuperate.” Ryusui countered, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“I don’t think I’ll be getting us very far right now my dear Senku~” Gen chimed in as he approached, Luna trailing behind.
His own wounds are now covered with a small bandage wrapped around his head, any debris and dirt brushed out his hair to the best of capabilities.
“No concussion…I think,” Luna reported. “but he shouldn’t drive yet just to be sure. Unless someone else has a license?”
“For the millionth time – a drivers license does not matter!” Senku snapped.
His lungs were burning
“We let Taiju drive!”
Taiju beams proudly puffing out his chest.
“I’ve been getting better thanks to my buddy Carlos here!” He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the latter's neck despite his protest.
Senku groaned internally. Of course.
“Fine!” He sighs “No more than an hour, I’m keeping count.”
Chrome snorts, having kept quiet during the whole ordeal. “When are you not?”
As the group dispersed and began to set up camp, Senku slipped away.
Time to do some self evaluation.
With another shaky breath, he pulled back his jacket to inspect the damage.
Just as expected. Red.
He curses and turns only to come face to hand with Gen, arm outstretched, calculating as his palm pressed gently against Senku’s warm head.
Senku stumbled back, startled, but Gen simply stepped forward with a smile.
“I can’t say I am surprised by your lack of self-preservation,” he sighed, “But you would think the man who plans of saving seven billion people would at least try to save himself first.”
“What are you-“
“You’re not the best at hiding things my dear Senku. I noticed this morning, as I’m sure Ryusui and Ukyo. Wouldn’t be surprised if Kohaku had suspicions as well.”
He ticked off on his fingers. “Flushed cheeks.Wheezing breath. Swaying, and usually you’re so collected.”
Senku cursed silently. He thought he’d been doing a decent job of hiding everything. It had been weeks since he collapsed, and he’d convinced most of the crew he was healing, lying between his teeth as they navigated around.
“I’ve told you Senku, you can’t manipulate the mentalist.” Gen teased “I’m guessing what? One of the wounds reopened again? Two?”
“Try all three…” Senku admitted quietly.
Gen's eyes widened slightly but quickly erased all signs of panic. “Was it from the crash?”
Senku shakes his head
“Yes and no. One reopened while we were making the bikes. I think the fever started around then too or earlier this morning. The other two... probably reopened from the crash.”
Gen sighed. “I should’ve been paying more attention.”
“One can’t account for everything in the Stone World,” Senku tried to laugh, finding no air left in his lungs. “There’s no equation for something as natural as a pothole in the ground.”
He knew Gen wasn’t buying it.
He tried to lighten the mood, to reassure Gen with any of his remaining strength, but everything was growing blurry, colors mixing together like wet ink at the corners of his vision. Gen’s voice began to fade into the background.
“Senku?” Gen called again, taking a step forward as he swayed.
Senku opened his mouth, maybe to answer, maybe to deny, but the ground was rushing forward before he had a chance to respond.
I’m fine