DREAM CHASER
Haroo everyone, 8) Welcome to the first chapter of the Dream Chaser: the Sabo Chronicles. I won't bore you with a long introductory Author's note but I would just like to say:
I hope you enjoy the chapter and the story. This is dedicated to my friend Millie Ishtar Motou, without whom there would be no story!
000
CHAPTER ONE
The flames seared at his skin, the smoke thick and scorching in his mouth, bitter and ashy in his lungs, painful, he could feel his arm-hair shrivelling as he desperately tried to smother the flames with his coat, only succeeding in fanning them higher as he whimpered in frustration. He wasn't naïve, he knew that he had seconds to make his escape before the ship was sunk, the Tenryuubito were even more heartless than the Nobles he was born into. Some kind of genetic superiority complex coupled with the cruelty they stewed in since birth and the authority to do anything they wished for whatever reason they wished. It was hard to tell what was a greater monster, Pirates, or the Tenryuubito, at least the Pirates were honest about their cruelty and actions – at least they had honour!
"Why'd they shoot me?" he hissed, yelping as the flames swept up and threatened to take his eyebrows off as well as his arm hair. He had stayed out of their way, sailed to the side allowing them unimpeded access to the harbour. Was it really the Jolly Roger he hoisted up?
Distantly he could hear someone pointing out that he was just a child and the cold response of 'Saint Jalmack' claiming that anyone who flies a black flag is a pirate no matter who it is. He guessed it really was the Jolly Roger he was flying, but everyone knew kids played Pirates and Marines at his age, normal kids anyway, not kids actually sailing out to sea to try and become Pirates.
"But most importantly..." the noble growled, disgust and scorn thick in his voice as he roughly reloaded his rifle. "A commoner shouldn't cross paths with my ship!" he snarled, making Sabo's blood run cold as he looked over his shoulder. The Tenryuubito pulled the trigger of his pump-action Blunderbuss.
A split second. A breath.
Sabo threw caution to the wind and dove through the burning hole in his deck, hat flying off, closing his eyes as he hit unforgiving wood and the ship exploded, heat and fire and splinters flaying his back, scorching his skin and prompting a howl of pain that drowned in the sudden flush of frigid sea-water the shattered hull allowed to burst in and sweep around him like a tidal wave, soothing the heat and burns but making the open slashes and splinters agonising.
Pain and darkness took him.
000
It had been hard, she was exhausted but most importantly, she was free!
Eight years, eight goddamn years, she had been a slave working on that Kami-damned Bridge, rain, shine, snow, sleet or heat, it didn't matter, you worked or you were whipped or thrown off the bridge. She laughed, she laughed long and loud because there was no one to hit her for it, no food rations to take away, no solitary confinement to suffer through, no stones to be thrown at her.
She laughed until she cried and had to stop doing both as her stomach started to hurt, hunger and bruising making her curl up and cradle it with a miserable hiccup of pain as she looked at the endless expanse of blue around her. She was free, but it looked like she was going to die long before she was able to enjoy that freedom. Just typical. It was a task and a half escaping from Tequila Wolf but she had finally managed it only to die in the middle of the ocean on her own after drinking the last of her water the previous day.
She might as well try and catch some food, this was the ocean right? There should be fish that she could catch. She hadn't made it this far just to die of dehydration and hunger now! She swore she was going to be free, she was going to live and she was going to enjoy her freedom now that she had clawed it back! Her! The bastard daughter of a Guardsman and a Slave, the Rape Child who fought her way to freedom! She would not die here!
Getting to her knees, she leaned out over the side of her boat and promptly screamed, scrambling backwards, away from the edge as the first thing she saw was a corpse.
Panting and clutching at her chest she slowly forced herself to calm down, this wasn't the first time she'd seen a corpse, it was just startling to find one so soon after her escape and so suddenly in her face when she looked overboard.
Crawling forward, she looked at the floating body carefully, blond hair, slightly charred, burnt and blistered red skin, he was face up so she could see that he was quite the cute kid, a few years younger than she was herself with what looked like a missing tooth between his open lips. Reaching out she tugged at his clothing, it wasn't ideal, being burnt and soaking wet, but if she dried it she could have an ordinary change of clothing, which was a hundred times better than the Slave issue boiler suit she was wearing. Gripping him under the armpits, she hauled the corpse out of the water and onto her ship, wincing in sympathy at the mess his back was, poor kid hadn't met a very pleasant end that was for sure.
With steady hands, she went about stripping the boy, ignoring his body as best she could – he was surprisingly well built for being such a midget – she measured herself against his clothing and cursed, they were too small for her. Not for the first time she cursed her budding womanly curves, because of them, her new clothes didn't fit, at all. Her hips were too wide for the trousers and her breasts were too big for the top, it made the armholes dig in to her shoulders rather painfully and she was worried that the seams would split if she tried to force the issue. Tugging the wet clothing off she tossed them down in a bad mood and reclothed herself in the horrid boiler suit and gave Corpse-san a bitter kick.
He groaned at the pain and this time she fell overboard with a shriek of horror.
000
Pain throbbed through his body obnoxiously as awareness began to return to him, Sabo groaned as he shifted, stiffening and whimpering as his back screeched in agony making his vision flash and spin, white hot fire racing across his back and the side of his neck and face. Whhhy? Why did he hurt so badly?
He panted, body tense as he tried not to move, willing the pain to go away so he could breathe properly, rerunning the last few moments of his memory to try and figure out why he was in such bad shape.
He jolted and hissed in pain as someone touched him, rolling him onto his stomach, the blinding pain finally tapering off into a maddening all consuming throbbing pain. Hot pain but at least it wasn't blinding fiery pain anymore. What had he been thinking diving below deck instead of overboard? The thing was on fire and he had seen what those shots did, why hadn't he tried to go for the railings?
"You are one tough nut, kiddo," a female voice told him, grudging admiration in her tone.
Dark eyes cracked open and peered upwards at the speaker, a young woman, about thirteen maybe fourteen years old, she wore a large and baggy pale grey jumpsuit, she was alarmingly thin with pale skin and a pretty face, her hair was quite long, loose and somewhat dirty and tangled from the sea-breeze and salt water, such a unique shade of blonde though. He knew Nobles who would pay through the nose to get a wig of hair that shade, caramel gold, almost amber and somewhat wavy, it looked like polished metal in the sunlight.
"Don't move, your back is basically ralphed kibble-meat right now," she told him sternly, eyes sliding away from his face to his wounds with a troubled expression. She shook her head and reached for something beside her, he blinked, watching as she used a pocket knife to split open some kelp-weed and carve out the white fibres inside. "Here, I ran out of water a few days ago, this should keep you hydrated though," she told him, gently easing it into his mouth, "Chew, suck and then spit it out when its dry," she advised, carving herself some as she did so.
"T-thank you," he muttered around the weeds, she glanced over at him and gave him a bitter smile.
"Don't be. I only dragged you out of the water to steal your clothes," she told him flatly as she stuck a few good-sized chunks in her mouth, "I didn't even know you were alive until I kicked you," she admitted, leaning back against the railing of her ship and looking skyward, watching as a seagull arced through the sky. "What's your name anyway, Kid?" she asked.
"S-Sabo, you?" he rasped, sucking greedily on the bitter juices in his mouth and swallowing them, it felt like heaven on his parched throat.
"Don't have one." She carved some more of the kelp-pulp with her knife, not looking at him.
Sabo frowned in confusion, "H-how can you not have – "
"None of your business," she snapped, glaring him into silence for a few moments before turning her attention back to her knife. The two of them sat in silence for a long time, listening to the seagulls crying overheard, the waves lapping against the hull of the small ship. "They called me Six, back at the Bridge where we worked," she finally explained, "I hate it, its not a name, its a number because we're not human enough to deserve names according to them," she spat, glaring at the wood above Sabo's head. She pulled at her jumpsuit, "I was born there, everyone else had names because they came from somewhere else but... I was born there and they stuffed me in one of these suits, the suit of a dead man and gave me his number." She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, biting down on the thick fabric of her sleeve, worrying at it, Sabo could see similar torn threads and the occasional patch here and there were she had obviously bitten through the cloth on previous occasions.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you," she mumbled, burying her face to hide her expression.
Sabo stared at her and wondered if Kami-sama were laughing at him. Here he was, a Noble who had been shot by his own people being saved by a girl who was so poor she didn't even have a name, shown more compassion than even his parents gave him by a girl who had been born into a place so cruel that she wasn't even considered human. He looked at her and wondered if this was how Ace felt before they met, listening to people throughout Goa say that he shouldn't exist without ever knowing that they were steadily driving him to question is right to live. But Ace knew he had been loved, he knew that someone had loved him, his mother who had died for him, he knew that he was precious and important to that one woman who thought the world of him. This girl... she didn't even have that.
"Do you... do you want a name?" he asked, arm moving up to tug at the baggy leg of her jumpsuit, gritting his teeth against the pain moving brought to his back.
Damp brown eyes looked up at him in shock from under her messy gold hair, her expression was difficult to read, disbelief, shock, hope, pain, so many things that he couldn't even begin to describe them all as she realised he had seen her tears and roughly brushed them away with the back of her grubby hand. "I thought you had to be someone important to give another person a name," she admitted quietly, twisting a strand of hair nervously.
Sabo grinned weakly, "I am important, I'm your friend, right?" he pointed out as he heard the girl's shaky inhale.
"I... I've never had a friend before," she admitted, looking bewildered by the prospect, "What do I do, how do I be one?" she asked.
Sabo chuckled and winced slightly in pain as his body reminded him that he was in a pretty bad state, "Well, you don't have to do anything right now," he told her, patting her leg awkwardly. "Friends are people you trust, who'll protect and help you when you need it," he explained reaching up and touching her hair thoughtfully. "Amber," he decided, making her blink in bewilderment as he smiled up at her, "Your name, Amber sounds nice and it matches your hair," he admitted, flushing slightly in embarrassment. "If you don't like it we can think of something else," he told her quickly, well aware of the fact he was completely at the surly girl's mercy like this, he couldn't have moved even if he wanted to.
She opened her mouth to speak when they heard someone yelling, her mouth snapped shut as she jumped to her feet, their small boat rocking precariously under the sudden movement as she looked around, her eyes landing on a large ship not too far away with a group of people, hooded and cloaked, moving around the deck. One of them was pointing in their direction and drawing the attention of others, the girl's face went white as she desperately looked around, for land or another ship Sabo didn't know, either way, she looked utterly terrified as the ship turned in their direction.
She crouched down beside him, "There's a ship approaching, a big one, I..." she swallowed and gently touched his scorched curly hair, "I don't know the people on board but..." She bit and worried at her lip, looking up at the approaching ship and the people shouting down at them.
"Heeeey! Are you two alright?" a male voice shouted from over the side.
"Hey I know that kid! Its Sabo!" another voice cried.
"That punk? What's he doing out here?"
"He survived the fire? Are the other kids there too?" a female voice exclaimed as people began to clamour around the railings of the large ship as they got closer.
Sabo craned his head as best he could before his mouth split into a wide grin. "Its everyone from Grey Terminal, they made it out of the fire!" he exclaimed excitedly and started coughing painfully, blood beginning to fleck his lips.
The girl swore, badly, Sabo didn't think he had ever heard such foul language before in his life, even in the trash heaps! "Is there a Doctor on board?" she shouted up at them, "He needs help! His back is shredded and his lungs are scorched!" she told them as several ropes were thrown towards the tiny ship, she grabbed them and tied the tiny boat off with them at each side, crouching down beside the blond as she heard everyone amass to haul their little boat up on deck.
"You kids hold tight!" the woman's voice shouted, "We'll have you up here in a jiffy!"
"Someone go get Iva!" another voice shouted. The two children assumed Iva was some kind of doctor or the captain of the vessel as their little boat was hoisted out of the water.
000
She didn't trust this 'Dragon' guy and she made sure he knew it, the bastard just smirked when she flat out informed him that she didn't trust him or like him much at all, he told her that was fine, she didn't have to trust him to accept his help. All he asked for in return was information. Things like where she came from, at which point her mouth slammed shut so fast she nearly bit her tongue off, she didn't trust him not to ship her straight back to Tequila Wolf in exchange for your usual Slave Price. He must have noticed her reaction because his smirk just widened and he called in one of the women that knew Sabo to go and take her to be cleaned up and fed, they would finish their conversation later.
Amber, because she had decided to take the name her friend gave her, followed a woman out and down the stairs, quietly enquiring about her friend's health now that she didn't have to be afraid of a whipping for asking questions. "He's with Iva-sama and the Ship's Doctor. Don't you worry Ojochan, Sabo-kun will be right as rain before you know it, Iva-sama is the Miracle Worker," the woman explained warmly, clearly very respectful of this Iva person.
Amber, however, was confused. "What's a Miracle?" she asked, blinking up at the woman who jerked and stared at her with wide eyes before her face crumpled with something the fourteen year old had never seen before but would come to recognise in later years as pity.
The woman quickly tried to force a smile, "Its when something so wonderful happens that it can only be the work of Kami-sama," she explained gently as she led the young girl towards the women's quarters where she could find her some spare clothes.
The fourteen year old scowled monstrously at this, "Kami-sama doesn't DO miracles," she informed the woman sharply. In her experience... "Kami-sama's only ever brought anyone misery, don't lie."
Startled and unsure of how to respond to this, the woman swiftly bowed her head and went in search of clothes and escorted the difficult little girl to the bathroom where she could wash up and change. Left to her own devices, for the first time in her life, Amber had a hot bath, a real one with bubbles and shampoo and sweet smelling things. She washed her hair – giving thanks for the first time to that kind old woman who taught her how to read and write and count using an old wax tablet and a nail, without that she wouldn't have been able to figure out the instructions on the bottles. There was one thing that was certain she decided, relaxing in the hot water with her knees drawn up to her chin, she was never ever giving up baths.
She stayed in the water so long her skin wrinkled up like a prune and all the bubbles were gone, the water seemed tepid and lukewarm as she climbed out and bundled herself up in a gloriously fluffy white towel that felt so wonderful on her skin that she never wanted to leave the bathroom. She could quite comfortably live in there if someone delivered the food to the door, she didn't mind if she ended up more wrinkled than Baba Juni.
The thought of Sabo waking up on his own in the hands of strangers spurred her to dry off and reach for the basket she left her jumpsuit in – only to find it replaced with something else.
Amber frowned, lifting the garments and studying them. She didn't think she'd seen anything like it save maybe in the pictures one of the older girls tore out of an ancient magazine she stole from a Guardsman who took a shine to her. It was a soft linen dress, she didn't know the name of the colour though, but it was a soft and pretty shade, like blood mixed with snow or wind-chapped cheeks. She checked and there were some white things that looked like the underwear she'd seen in the magazine tear-outs, knowing how it was supposed to be worn she hastily fumbled her way into them before pulling the dress on. Not knowing or particularly caring that she had put it on inside out and back-to-front.
Stamping back into her work-boots, the blonde girl stepped out of the bathroom, finding that the woman who had shown her around earlier was no where in sight. She huffed in mild annoyance before squaring her shoulders and going off in search of her friend. She ignored her self-consciousness as she made off in the direction that she had seen the other blond carried in, the dress swirling uncomfortably light and open at her knees.
She didn't stumble on anyone until she reached an area of the ship that smelt distinctly of medicine and clean things, it was a largely unfamiliar smell but she still recalled the one time she visited the Hospital Wing of the Slave Camps. She had been forced to carry a Guardsman who slipped and broke a leg, of course none of the slaves had ever used the room, it was exclusively for the Guards and visiting Noble Overseers.
The person she nearly stumbled into was huge, towering over her with a head that almost dominated the narrow passage way, thick curly hair of such a bright, bright blue colour she squinted at it, a strong masculine jawline and paint pasted across what she was quite certain was not a feminine face. She barely came up to the giant's waist as she stared up at the figure in blood-coloured leather and black fishing nets, why this person would wear fishing nets she had no idea but it was such a frightening face that she could feel the blood draining from her face the longer she stared up at it – him, she was fairly certain it was a him.
To Iva, the tiny little slip of a girl dressed in one of her Candy's favourite pink dresses, backwards and inside out, with her face slowly bleaching white and yet still stubbornly standing her ground, was pitiful. She would be a very beautiful young lady one day but right now, it was clear she had no instruction in the feminine arts, for goodness sake, the waif-child was wearing it inside out and the wrong way around, not to mention she looked wholly uncomfortable wearing it. She was holding her ground well though, regardless of her terror, that, at least, the Okama could respect her for.
"Vell, look at you, vearing your dress all skeviff. Come here girl," he commanded, crouching down and grasping the hem of her dress, easily whipping it clean off her scrawny frame. The girl was skin and bone and sinewy muscle, not a single ounce of spare fat, her skin patterned with thick scarring at almost made the seasoned Revolutionary pause before he was able to finish turning the dress the right way and sliding it back over the bewildered child's head.
It was so fast she didn't even have time enough to scream in shock as she was stripped before she was reclothed properly again. Amber was shaken and her terror must have shown when she stumbled half a step backwards, her skin now turning grey as huge dark eyes stared up at the Okama.
Iva wondered just who this girl was, he didn't recall her from the Goa Burnings, "Zere ve go. You had your dress inside out," he explained to her with a small smile. He really did have a soft spot for children as all those with the hearts of maidens did.
Amber swallowed, emboldened by the smile – though it was terrifying it was clearly meant to show he had no intention of harming her – she spoke, "W-where's the medical bay?" she asked weakly, starting to tremble slightly.
The Okama hummed, this must be the young lady that was brought up with Dragon's little friend, the boy who denounced his noble heritage. He refrained from snorting, the noble and the slave girl, how romantic. He didn't comment though and merely turned to the side and gestured at the girl to follow him, already wondering if her scarring was beyond his help or if the right hormone treatments could see to their removal. Pretty girls should not be patterned by hardship in such fashions.
A moment later, Amber was inside her friend's room. He was wrapped head to foot in crisp white bandages and sleeping peacefully.
"He vill sleep for many days," the big headed man explained softly so as not to disturb his patient, "He vas very lucky zose burns did not become infected, vhat ever you did for him vorked. Still, zey vere sapping him of his strength. Rest easy, my Candy, he vill make a full recovery in time."
Amber nodded distractedly and Iva sighed with a small defeated smile. The girl wasn't going to be moving any time soon.
000
Sabo slept for six days. He would have woken sooner had Iva-san used his Healing Hormones but given how the boy's injuries were not direly life-threatening the hormones were deemed too big of a risk and discarded in favour of traditional and safer ointments and bandages. Amber remained by her friend's side the whole time, forcing Dragon to see her when he wanted information on her Slave Heritage. It was only Iva-san and the ship's doctor whom the blonde haired girl had grown close to in the days she had been haunting the Medical Bay that made the girl finally relax and give her information on Tequila Wolf. Neither the Okama or the Doctor would not allow her to return to Slavery and soon after coming clean she learned just what a Revolutionary was.
Despite being thoroughly interested in fighting for the freedom of all those she left behind, she turned them down. She had every intention of sticking with Sabo no matter what he did. The other blond had given her a name, he was her friend, her first and only one and she knew that meant you didn't ditch them no matter what. When forced between saving the people she grew up with, the ones who would sell her out just for a meagre reward such as a bar of chocolate and the young man who gave her something so precious, an identity, and trusted her at his weakest moment... she would choose the young man every time. Dragon smirked at her reasoning, saying that he could definitely respect that sentiment, telling her that she was free to remain with them until such a point they wished to leave, no one would hold them back or try to stop them.
They were free to do as they pleased he declared as he left the room, Iva smirking in amusement as he did so.
By the time Sabo was conscious, they were already in West Blue.
000
And that's Chapter one. Hehe, I hope you guys have enjoyed the first Chapter of Dream Chaser.
This originally started off as an RP between myself and a friend, wondering how Sabo would survive and how things would progress after that. Looking back on it, it was a lot of fun to RP but rather unrealistic XDDD still, I wanted to see if anyone else had focused on our lost brother only to find that... well, no one actually HAD done Sabo's own adventure. I've found a few oneshots, but nothing that really grabbed me, y'know?
Well, after that I decided that if I'd gone looking for it then someone else must have as well and been equally deprived. Which prompted me to take the RP I did with my friend, rewrite and revamp it with new characters and situations and storylines.
The original had slash, but I'm thinking of leaving ALL romance out of this for the simple fact of not wanting pairing wars and due to how the One Piece world views Nakama. I can't pair the Strawhats together because they're Nakama and if they hook up romantically, it just feels like the bond between them is cheapened. Maybe I'm just weird like that but I think they're closer than lovers and a lot more important to each other.
Lovers come and go but friends stay forever, as they say.
Anyway, thoughts and opinions welcome!