It was always cold now, both night and day. She could feel the frost under her bare feet as she walked along the street doing her best to appear invisible with mixed results. It was hard to blend in with the blonde dirty mess she called her hair, which made it hard for her to stay out of sight. It never would do what she wanted it to do. Mongrel also did little to appear inconspicuous. He stood out with his massive amounts of fur and gigantic size and constant loud barking. He was running up ahead, tail wagging behind him as he smelled stands and passer bys. Mother's pulled their children close as he approached, giving both Mongrel and her dirty looks as if she'd just released some horrid beast onto the streets.

She could feel the glares of the normal people, the ones who got to go home to warm beds when it got dark. Who had a good hot meal cooked over hot stoves waiting for them when they got home. The children who got to hear bedtime stories every night and got kissed goodnight and felt safe as they feel asleep, not afraid of what lurked outside in the cold nights. The normal, average citizen that the Marines would care about if something were to happen. The people that weren't Marko.

She scratched her scalp, flakes of dirt fell out of her hair. She looked around the marketplace. There were still some who didn't want to pull their stands in for the winter, who were still adamant to keep them outside for a little longer until the snow decided to remain permanently on the ground.

Their island stood out from the other islands on the grand line. It was normally a spring island, most of the time. But once in a while, once every few years, it would get really cold and snow would fall. Marko had managed to learn that it usually happened once every two to three years. She hadn't realized that herself, it had been Jones who had told her that years ago when she'd been younger before the other had disappeared. It had taken some time but eventually Marko had learned to recognize the holiday lights as a sign of time passing, now it had been three holidays since the last winter, so it was only natural that it would happen now.

Marko didn't like the cold. It made her worry about Mongrel and the other street kids she got to know over the years. She wasn't much worried about herself. The blue flames kept her alive, not necessarily warm, but definitely alive. Plus, she had Mongrel to snuggle up to. His warm fur and large body would wrap around her like a fluffy and warm blanket. They would snuggle up in some alley at night and keep each other warm.

The hardest part about winter was finding food. All the trees would die and all the crops and fruits would go away for months before growing back. The marketplace would become bare as the shopkeepers moved their merchandise and food inside to keep it warm and fresh. It was harder to steal from a shop with enclosed space than it was from an open market where she could run away quickly without someone noticing too quickly. Winter had the highest mortality rate for the street kids and Marko had seen many come and go over the years. You became numb to the loss after a while when it didn't happen to the ones you cared about, but eventually you had to learn that those might go away too. Like Jones and Stacie.

Marko coughed, more for the effect of looking weak and miserable than anything else. If they felt sorry for her they might just let her steal the food without much arguing.

It didn't take her long before she spotted the baker. The best in town, it was said. He baked the bread fresh and sometimes even on demand where you could come pick it up later. To the normal people he was a very nice man who smiled a lot and laughed with the children, sometimes even giving them a free sample. With Marko and the street kids it was different. With them he was cold and mean. He would always yell at them and call them freaks or misfits.

"Mongrel!" she hissed, waving for the dog to come back to her side. "Mongrel! Come back here."

The huge fur ball stopped, tongue out and wagging his tail. He barked happily and ran back towards her, nosing her in the face. His nose was damp and she had to wipe her cheek afterwards.

"Shh! Be quiet, he's going to notice," Marko said, ruffling his ears. She pointed towards the door of the bakery and said, "Speak."

Mongrel quickly ran over to the door, passing a woman who gasp as he passed her. She hurried away as if he was some monster, making a gesture with her hands that Marko had learned to recognize as an insult to others. Then he spoke, barking as loud as he could and jumping around to grab attention from the passer bys.

It didn't take long before the baker came out, spatula in hand and waving it around at him. "You fucking beast, you get out of here! Go! Shoo!" he yelled, as he came closer to Mongrel while the dog moved backwards away from him. Leading him away from Marko and the outside stand.

She quickly hurried over to one of the bread stands with old loafs. There was probably something wrong with them or they weren't up to his standards, that's why they were out here instead of inside the warm shop. She snatched one and held it against her chest in an attempt to hide it.

"Mongrel!" she called, ready to hurry away from there before the baker caught her.

He stopped before hurrying back towards her, large paws making thuds as he ran. As he came closer a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and shook her around.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Let go of me!"

The baker glared down at her with fiery eyes. "You little thief! What do you think you're doing?"

"Let- let go!" Marko growled, pulling on her wrist to get out of his grip. He only tightened it and pulled her closer.

"You better pay for that, you brat, or I'm calling the marines," he said. He huffed as he kicked at Mongrel as the dog started to growl at him, getting ready to attack and defend.

"Don't hurt him, you asshole!"

Then a small thud came from next to them followed by a small clink as metal met with one of the wooden tables. The baker immediately put on a kind face, turning towards the customer. He looked at the coin on the table and beamed. "Thank you, sir, pick any loaf you'd like! We have freshly made ones inside-"

"It's not for me," a loud voice boomed, almost echoing.

Marko's eyes widened as she noticed the large shadow that had been cast over them and had to look up to see the face of whoever had spoken. She gasped as she saw the huge man smile down at them. He was almost the size of some of the larger buildings at the market. Never had she seen a man that big before! She could barely see his neck from down where she stood.

"It's for the kid," the man explained.

"Are you sure, sir?" the baker said, raising an eyebrow. "She's a regular thief here, you don't have to bother. I'll just call the marines on her."

"No need to do that. It's for the kid," he said, nodding.

"Whatever you say, pal," the baker huffed letting go of her arm as if it was poisonous. He snatched the small coin like a greedy weasel, eyes glaring at Marko as he walked back inside the bakery. Marko could still see him glance back at her from the open door in the side of the building. When he turned away, Marko gave him the finger.

The gigantic man laughed at the gesture and crouched down to her level with a smile. He still towered over her. "That's not very nice," he chuckled.

"He's not very nice. I'm starving, yoi," she snapped.

She hugged the loaf closer to her chest as if she was cradling a child or an important treasure. To her, it was the greatest treasure of them all: food. Since he'd paid for it, it was technically his and she wasn't willing to give the loaf up.

Mongrel growled beside her, baring his teeth and turning his attention on the giant stranger. He wasn't the smartest dog, seeing as the giant man could crush the large dog with his hand if he wanted.

The stranger turned towards Mongrel, still with a smile and held out his hand towards him. He cupped it into a fist with one finger stretched out towards him to sniff. Mongrel hesitated as he nosed closer and closer to the finger, carefully sniffing it. At first he seemed unsure about the giant man, but stood straight as he continued to sniff the man's hand before looking back at Marko with his tongue out, tail flapping behind him as if he'd decided that the man wasn't all that bad.

Marko pouted. "Traitor."

The giant laughed and patted the white fluff that was Mongrels head while the dog seemed to have no problem leaning up into the finger. He seemed to have definitely decided that the stranger was his new friend.

"I didn't need your help, yoi," Marko huffed, glaring at her traitorous dog. Normally she trusted in Mongrels ability to detect an asshole or a nice person, but she didn't like this stranger. She definitely didn't like it when strangers assumed she needed help just because she had to steal to eat. "I can take care of myself, yoi."

"Is that a speech tic?" the man asked, completely ignoring what else she'd said.

Marko held up a hand over her mouth, blushing at having it pointed out to her. She couldn't help it, it came naturally to her. "No! It's voluntary!"

He chuckled again, rubbing her messy curls with his finger. Kind of like a normal sized human would do with their hand while ruffling someone's hair. "What's your name, son?"

Son? she blinked. He thought she was a boy? She looked down on herself, seeing her baggy and oversized shirt and the pants that she'd tied up the legs and midriff with rope so she wouldn't trip over them. She didn't look very feminine, true, but she'd stopped pretending to be a boy long ago when it had come out that she was a girl. It hadn't done much for her anyway.

"I'm-" she stopped, pulling her lips into a thin line. "Why do you want to know? You don't tell strangers your name!"

"I'm Edward Newgate," the giant said, holding out his finger for her to shake. She just glared at it. "What's your name?"

She huffed, not accepting his hand- or finger. "Marko." Then she crossed her arms as best she could. "And not a boy."

Newgate blinked, looking her over. It making her uncomfortable. "Marko, that's an odd name for a girl."

"Are you making fun of me?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No, no, absolutely not," Newgate chuckled, holding his hands up in defense. "What are you doing stealing? Shouldn't you be home with your parents?"

"I don't have parents, yoi…" she muttered. "Never had parents."

She wasn't sad about it. She was glad she didn't have parents. She heard stories about rules and regulations and what you couldn't do and that you had to go to something called a school and stay there all day and you had to listen and couldn't do whatever you wanted. Why would she want to do any of that when she could do whatever she wanted on the streets without having to worry about someone yelling at her for not listening? Of course, it would be nice to have a warm bed to come back to, but she didn't need someone to tell her what she could and couldn't do.

"I don't want parents, yoi," she said, pushing her nose into the air. "They just yell at you and force you to do things you don't want to do."

Newgate nodded as if he agreed with her. "I didn't have parents either, so I wouldn't know. But I know that it's nice to have people who care about you."

"I have people who care about me, yoi!" she argued. "I have Mongrel! And Jones and Stacie!" She became quiet and looked down on the ground. "I haven't seen them in a while… but I know they cared, yoi!"

"Are they your foster parents?" Newgate asked.

"No… they're- thirteen and six…" Marko mumbled. "But they cared!"

She was worried that something had happened to them. They had disappeared and Marko had no idea where they went, but she knew that she was probably never going to see them again. When kids went missing off of the streets, especially street rats like them, no one would bother looking. They rarely ever came back.

"You're hungry, how about I buy something real to eat?" Newgate proposed.

"I don't need you help, yoi," Marko said again. This was usually the moment that her stomach would grumble had her powers not kept it silent, but she did make a grimace at the pang of hunger that hit her at the thought of actual food. A plate full of whatever she wanted to eat instead of a loaf of measly bread definitely didn't sound very bad. She looked at Mongrel who was looking at her face with his tongue out and wagging his tail at her as if he was begging her to accept the offer. "Can Mongrel eat too?"

She knew he was real skinny underneath all that fur. She would often give him her bread because she could survive months without collapsing from the pain. She would lay there without any energy to move, but she wouldn't die from it. She'd learned that when she was very little and had gone months, sometimes it would feel like years, without eating anything.

"Of course, a good companion needs a good meal too," Newgate said with a grin, standing up straight and once again, Marko felt absolutely miniscule. Then he leaned his head to the side before asking, "Do you want to ride on my shoulder?"

She stared up at the man's shoulder and she did find herself wanting to know what the view from up there would be like. She wondered if she would be able to see the ocean from there. Maybe she would even see as far as to the next island from up on his shoulder!

"No, I can walk, yoi," she said. She needed to be able to run away fast if something happened. She couldn't trust this man just because he paid for her bread and offered her food.

Mongrel smiled as best at her as a dog could. She glared at him before she patted him on the back. He crouched down close to the ground and she swung a leg over his back. She gently grabbed his fur to hold onto as he hurried after Newgate. He glanced down at them with a raised eyebrow but she ignored him.

/Co-posted on Archiveofourown under the same name