Author: The Dark Crimson Blood
Story Title: The Brothers Who Were No Longer Brothers
Word Count: 1,939
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Warnings: AU...
Summary: Two brothers suddenly disappear, leaving the third behind without a word.
They were brothers in everything and anything but blood.
Sabo and Ace were the oldest at eleven; they were the big brothers to Luffy, who was only seven years old but didn't let his age stop him from doing the things that he wanted. The three of them were a trio; they were best friends, brothers, and orphans whom had lived together for practically their whole lives.
It was hard for people to adopt a group of kids instead of just one or two; most that came looked to Sabo since he was the most refined, or to Luffy who was the youngest. None of the three children made things quite that easy; throwing tantrums when separated and easily changing the minds of potential parents.
They had decided they would go together or not at all.
It was because they always did everything together; they couldn't be separated, they would not be separated. That was their promise and they were supposed to live by it for the rest of their lives until they were either adopted together, or grew old enough to move out on their own.
Then one day a man arrived. He was different from the rest; most people wanted to adopt only one of them, but he had smiled and declared that he wanted two of them to become his sons. He wanted both Ace and Sabo; the boys had nervously looked at each other before accepting, because this was the best that they were going to get.
They accepted, just without letting the third of their trio know.
They'd be back for him.
Ace and Sabo don't say goodbye when they leave. Luffy would've cried and begged and pleaded for them to either take him along, or for them to stay with him a bit longer. The two of them felt guilty enough or leaving like this; having to look at their teary eyed brother would've made things ten times worse.
Makino had been the one who broke the news to him; it happened right when he woke up, in a bed that's normally shared by two other bodies. He was alone when she placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes pitifully; her eyebrows had arched as she talked to him.
"Luffy, your brothers have been adopted."
He hadn't reacted positively.
The first emotion that came was anger; he wanted to destroy everything in the room but that would've been pointless, if he destroyed his precious belongings then he'd have nothing left.
The second thing that came to him was sadness; for the next week he avoided people and locked himself up inside, never once getting out of bed unless it was to use the bathroom or grab a drink of water.
The third was denial. Ace and Sabo could have never left him behind; they promised! All three of them promised that they would find a way to be together no matter what; there was no way that they would just disappear like that without planning on coming back.
With a newfound resolve; Luffy spends his days waiting for them to return. The people dared to tell him that he'd been abandoned and left behind were introduced to his fists, or ignored completely.
"They're coming back! Just watch!"
He's nine years old when someone finally offers to adopt him; naturally, he turns it down. He made a promise after all; he promised that he wouldn't go anywhere without them and he'd stay true to his word no matter what!
They'd be back any day now.
Luffy hasn't been truly happy in a long time and everyone's noticed. His smiles are flat and his eyes are dull; the bubbly bouncy being that once Luffy seems to have disappeared completely and everyone's worried.
The adults try to cheer him up with promise of sweets or his favorite foods but nothing works; he never seems to want to do anything more than sit by the window or the door or the phone until he can hear from one of his brothers.
He's ten years old when he starts picking fights with the other kids at school; the bigger ones who aren't as skinny and tiny as he is. He comes home each day with a new injury but never talks about what happened; he's not okay by any means, but he pretends to be.
The adults and older children pity him, but he doesn't accept any of it. He never wanted it in the first place anyway; the only thing he wanted was for them to stop lying to them about the absence of his brothers.
Right now they were just somewhere else, that's all. They'd be back someday soon and they'd all be adopted together and live with an awesome family that ate meat every night and loved him no matter what; he just had to be patient.
He just has to wait a little longer.
At twelve years old Luffy visits the hospital for the first time.
Someone much bigger had started a fight with him and it ended with Luffy on the ground; cradling a few bruised ribs and a broken arm after knocking the other boy out with a well-aimed punch to the temple.
They blamed him.
He was always getting into fights anyway; he was a problem child after all, of course it was his fault. This time around even Makino is angry with him; she slaps him across the face and leaves a red mark on the side of his face, she scowls.
"Get your head together," She sounds upset and angry all at once; her face is contorted in a way that Luffy has never seen before. It would seem as though she's done pitying him. "Ace and Sabo are never coming back and you need to accept that already."
He wanted so badly to correct her.
"If you don't start acting like a good little boy then no one is ever going to want you and you'll be stuck here for the rest of your damned life. Do you really want that?
Luffy thinks back to the older boy who had decided to pick a fight with him because he'd knocked around the guy's little brother last week; the feeling of jealously still hadn't left his system. That kid had an older brother to protect him when things got heavy, but his were nowhere to be found.
"I'm not going to be stuck here forever," He finally says as he leans further against the backboard of his bed, ignoring the pain from whatever bruises that had decided to form on his body. "And for the last time; Ace and Sabo aren't gone."
She slams the door when she leaves.
The other kids at the orphanage seem to hate him too; all of them and it's confusing at first but he understands. At some point in his life he's yelled or hurt them but it was only because they started it, and it's not as if he gave them anything more than minor wounds.
When he stops fighting them all together; they take advantage of his passive attitude and beat him up instead. Makino doesn't ask about his injuries anymore; she stops asking about everything and doesn't even bother looking at him anymore.
She doesn't care.
'No one does' He thinks, ignoring her just as she does to him.
Luffy's never makes any friends. It seems as though it will always be something that's impossible for him; most avoid him anyway. He doesn't really care at this point; it feels as though his life is on autopilot and he's watching everything from the back seat.
For a moment he wonders when this became normal for him; but the question disappears just as quickly as it had arrived.
He's thirteen when a familiar face appears for the first time since his brothers disappeared; it was the man who had saved him when he was seven and left him with the straw hat that he was so fond of today.
Shanks wanted to adopt him,
Luffy really wanted to go with him but had promised; it was heavy on his shoulders and yet at the same time it was the only thing he lived his life by. He wouldn't know what to do if he broke his promise.
What if Sabo and Ace came back and he wasn't there?
In the end, he declines. 'I promised my brothers I'd stay with them'
The man's lips had pulled up far enough to reach his eyes as he crouched down in front of the small teenager; reaching a single hand out to rest on the boy's fluffy black hair. "Then why don't you get them too? I'll happily take all three of ya."
He feels ecstatic and bubbly and happy and excited and everything that he hasn't been for the past six years; but it doesn't last. The light in his eyes dies just as quickly as it was ignited. "They're not here right now, but they'll be back! Can you wait a little bit?"
Shanks had given him a defeated sigh and a slight shake of the head; "Sorry, Luffy. I'm moving in two days; I travel the world, remember?"
Luffy would've loved to travel the world; but instead he nods slowly and the man hesitates before taking off again. "You won't come, no matter what?"
Again, he nods. "I'll see you again soon, Luffy."
Somehow it felt as though he was watching his happiness walk away but he couldn't stop watching; the man disappears around the corner and all Luffy can think about is what could have been.
He hopes Ace and Sabo would come back soon; he missed them.
By the time he's fourteen years old he finally accepts the fact that his brothers are gone and never coming back; his grandfather shoves the truth harshly into his face after adopting him, telling him that Ace and Sabo had both been adopted by a man named Edward Newgate.
They were never coming back.
Luffy doesn't cry until he's alone in his new room that felt just as empty as he did right now. Why hadn't they at least said goodbye to him? Why had they disappeared without even telling him that they loved him? Why had they broken their promise?
His chest clenches in pain and he digs his hand into his shirt in attempt to stop it but it doesn't work; of course it doesn't work. It just hurts more because his brothers have abandoned him and probably never wanted him in the first place.
They were probably laughing about it; wherever they were.
His brothers had broken their one and only promise.
His brothers abandoned him and left him behind to suffer for seven years running.
His brothers were no longer his brothers.
Another depressing story... In one day!
*Sigh*
~The Dark Crimson Blood
(17/02/2018 - 02:00am) Update: It's 2018 and I'm still chronically depressed! :D