Summary: Wings!AU. In a world where people born with wings are considered inferior to humans, Sabo does his best to fight for equality. His whole world changes when he meets Ace and Luffy, two Fae living on the wrong side of the law. ASL Centric.
Warnings: canon-typical violence, mentioned or referenced explicit themes, cursing.
Again, thank you so much for all the favourites, follows and reviews! They mean so much and are so very motivating!
Chapter 3 - The Beginning
Consciousness comes to Sabo slowly. His head is pounding like a drum in his skull and immediately, before much else process in his mind, he can taste the blood. Grimacing, he spits out a sticky glob, feeling as though his mouth is filled with pennies. His eyelids are heavy and near-unresponsive, and he recognises immediately (mostly from prior experience) that he's probably at least a little concussed.
Great.
When he finally manages to get his eyes open, Sabo blinks into the darkness for a few seconds as his vision adjusts. His mind scrambles for some kind of explanation as to how he got here, jumbled and sluggish. There appears to be a large, bent surface of metal over him, crushed and malformed, leaving barely any space to breathe. From between the sheets of thick metal, minuscule shafts of light slip into the tiny space, and Sabo relaxes slightly with the realisation that the circulation of air is possible in here. He's got access to oxygen, at least.
It all comes rushing back, finally, when his eyes land on the body stretched out beside his. The Fae who attacked him is out cold, face twisted into a grimace of pain. One of his wings is trapped beneath the edge of the collapsed bridge, which has only not crushed them both due to the fact that it was bent by one of the support beams holding it up. Sabo's heart pounds harder as he realises how close to death he truly came.
For a second, he considers not helping the Fae. After all, the guy was presumably trying to kill or kidnap him. But Sabo takes one look at the look of pain on his face and his resistance melts - the stranger looks around his age, but the low light makes him look even younger, and his freckles give him a childish look even through the grimace. Sabo has no idea how long they're going to be here, and he can't just leave him. Blood is slowly running from a small piece of shrapnel in his shoulder, and Sabo winces, hovering over him with no idea where to start.
Bracing himself, he slowly reaches across and, as quickly as he can, tugs the piece of metal from the Fae's shoulder. The man clenches his jaw harshly and arches upwards, face screwing up with agony, but he doesn't wake. Quickly, as blood starts to flow more freely down his shirt, Sabo pulls off his sweatshirt and presses it against the gaping wound, breathing hard.
"Okay, okay, this is fine," he murmurs, not knowing whether he's trying to reassure the Fae or himself. "J-Just stay calm..."
He presses down harder, feeling his hands shake. Outside of their crushed alcove, there's no sound. Has somebody seen what happened yet? How long has it been? Surely somebody must have noticed by now, surely somebody must have heard...
But the minutes slip by, and nobody comes. Sabo tries to shout, voice hoarse and weak, but it doesn't do any good. Nobody is coming. He attempts to push up on the collapsed bridge, hands bent against cold metal, but it doesn't budge.
He's in the middle of his fourth attempt at yelling when the Fae's eyes finally flutter open. Sabo's chest loosens with relief and he leans across, lessening the pressure he's maintaining on his shoulder and smiling slightly as in result, the man's face loses a little of its pained tension.
"Can you hear me?" Sabo asks quietly, holding out his index finger. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Uh," the man groans eloquently, "Two?"
"Close enough." Taking a risk, Sabo removes his sweatshirt from the Fae's shoulder and folds it over to put under his head, trusting that the bleeding has slowed enough. The blood on the sweatshirt filling his hair, the man blinks lazily up at Sabo, eyes not fully seeing.
"Who- w-where are we? Who are you?" he croaks.
"I'm Sabo," the blonde replies, "And... Well, right now, we're trapped under a bridge. But we're in the Sabaody district, if that's what you meant."
At that moment, the stranger seems to remember everything and his eyes snap open quickly, awareness flooding them. He tries to shift away from Sabo hurriedly but stops abruptly, groaning with agony.
"Hey, hey, it's okay! I'm not going to try to hurt you or anything!" Sabo stutters.
"Yeah," the man scoffs bitterly, "Sure, I totally believe that. I tried to kidnap you and you want to be best buddies. Sure."
"Well, sorry for stopping you from bleeding out, I won't try next time!" snaps Sabo. After a moment, however, the anger leaves his voice. "Look, I don't know why you wanted to kidnap me but... You knew I used to be a noble. I'm guessing that's why you hate me so much?"
"That and you're a human," the other growls. His wings twitch aggressively. "Not like you people have a history of being buddies with us."
"Not all humans hate you, you know," Sabo says quietly. "Yeah, a lot do, but..."
"Even if you don't want to, all of you still end up the same." The man can't move much, so he turns his head away instead, glaring at his trapped wing.
For a while, there's silence. Sabo bites back the indignance that flares up inside him - the Fae has a right to be angry. He would probably be angry if he was him, too. "At least tell me why you wanted to kidnap me, then?"
The man snorts derisively. "The cash, what else?"
"I doubt I'd sell for much," says Sabo cautiously.
"That's not what I meant. We were gonna ransom you off to your parents. Bet they'd want their runaway toy back." He laughs again, just as angrily.
"Runaway?" Sabo tilts his head to the side. "What?"
"Don't act dumb," the Fae says scornfully. "You ran away two years ago. Before that, you lived in the high district with your noble parents. We know more than you think."
"Well," Sabo contemplates, "I didn't run away so much as I was forced away. S'not like they would have tolerated me much longer."
Clenching his jaw, the man looks away. "I don't want your backstory," he says shortly, even as Sabo can see the doubt swimming in his eyes. "Let's just wait until somebody sees what happened and we get out of here, and then you can blame it on me and I can go on my merry way to jail."
"I'm not going to do that," Sabo says quietly. He gets only a small, disbelieving grunt in return. After a few minutes, he breaks the silence tentatively and asks, "Can you at least tell me your name?"
There's a long silence, and for a while, Sabo thinks that he isn't going to answer. Just as he's about to give up, the Fae says quietly, "I'm Ace."
Sabo feels like what he should say is 'it's good to meet you' or 'thank you' or even 'we're going to die here', but instead what comes out of his mouth is, "Who do you work for?"
Ace does a double take and Sabo cringes, feeling him physically withdrawing. Scrambling to clarify what he meant, he adds, "I mean, I just want to know who wanted to kidnap me in the first place. A gang?"
"Yeah. A gang," Ace says shortly. It's obvious that that's all he's going to reveal. "Gotta support us somehow."
"'Us'?"
Ace curses under his breath. "None of your business," he mutters eventually, "Forget I said anything."
"I wasn't going to pry!" Still, Sabo wishes internally that things weren't so awkward and quiet between them. Outside, it's started to rain, and drops tap and ping off the metal above their heads. "I was just wondering..."
Ace looks up at him for a second before sighing and saying, "Okay, okay, quit shooting me the 'kicked puppy' look, you prick. I've got a kid brother. Happy?"
Instead of commenting indignantly on how he is in no way a kicked puppy, nor did he resemble one, Sabo nods. "It's nice of you," he says awkwardly after a moment. "To do gang work just to support him."
"It's not like a noble would be able to understand caring about people, though," Ace says in a biting tone. "Stop talking so much. God, why the fuck haven't I killed you yet?"
Pushing back his hurt, Sabo leans back, trying to ignore the pricking in his eyes. He's being a baby, he knows, but he can't help it. It's frustrating. To be shot at and tear gassed, to go to every single rally in the city, to fight so hard for equality that your own parents hate you... and then for people to still think that you don't care. Sabo does care. He knows all too well that he does. Possibly even too much. It's not like Ace will ever know or care about that, though.
"If you work for a gang, then I guess you live within the city limits, right?" Sabo asks, just to get a conversation started. Ace latches onto it with a scowl.
"What, you thought I lived on the Stacks, huh? Typical noble. I live in the grey district, asshole. I bet you think all of us live on the Stacks, huh? I bet you've never even been near them. It must be so fun to go to bed every night, knowing that everything bad in this city is locked up on the big, bad Sta-"
"I live on the Stacks," Sabo says.
Ace shuts his mouth.
"Oh," he says simply. "I- sorry, I guess."
"Yeah," Sabo replies neutrally, regaining some of his confidence. "That's what most people say when you tell them that."
Ace ducks his head, looking - if it's even possible - slightly ashamed. The rain picks up, hammering a faint rhythm on the metal. Quickly, quicker than Sabo realises, it gets colder. Before he knows it, he's shivering. To distract himself from the chill, or maybe just to break the awkward silence, Sabo speaks again.
"Tell m-me about your brother," he says through chattering teeth. A drop of rain seeps through a slit in the metal above and into his hair, running through it and down his neck. He yearns for his sweatshirt, thin t-shirt doing nothing to keep him warm, but doesn't ask for it.
Perhaps Ace feels bad, or perhaps he wants to break the silence too, because he complies. Staring up at the metal ceiling four feet above him, he says, "Where do I begin? Well... He's a bit of a wild card, I guess." His words come slow and cautious, but they come anyway, and that's what matters to Sabo.
"How s-so?"
"Hates school, hates teachers - hell, it feels like he hates me half the time. He's too innocent for his own damn good."
Sabo curls his arms around himself. "How old is he?"
Ace only hesitates for a second before answering, "Fourteen. He's gonna be fifteen next May, and his testing is the year after that, and... I don't know if he's gonna pass, or if he ain't ready, or if I've not done enough to help or..." He shakes his head. "This is stupid."
Sabo hums. "No, it's not stupid. You're worried about your family, it's natural."
Covering his face with his arm, Ace tucks his free wing around himself and breathes, "What the fuck am I doing, talking to one of them.
Sabo hears him clearly but says nothing, swiping a little blood from the corner of his lip as the rain falling into his hair speeds up its pace into a steady stream. The trembles intensify until they rack his whole body and his breath leaves him in audible stutters.
Eventually, he says, "I get that you hate me but can we just try to get along for now? You don't have to stop yourself from talking just because I'm a human."
Ace leans back into the blonde teen's sweatshirt, all his bluster back in place. "Alright, fine. Tell me about yourself then, chatty. You got anybody living with you out on the Stacks? A girl or somethin'?"
"Not really. I've been alone since I left my family." Sabo considers. "I've got a friend called Koala who lives lower on my Stack, and she's alright."
Ace snorts. It's obvious that he's trying to make things less tense, at least, and Sabo appreciates that. "A 'friend', sure." Sabo can hear the fake roughness in his voice and cringes slightly. "You sure you two aren't-"
"She's an 'I'," Sabo says quickly, and Ace's mouth snaps shut. "And I'm not into- not into that side of it, if you get what I mean."
"Ah. That's- that's-"
"Yeah."
Obviously desperate for a change of subject (Sabo almost feels bad for him), Ace asks, "You have a friend who's an I? I didnt think they existed anymore."
"There are still a f-few here and there," Sabo forces through his chattering teeth, "Especially out on the Stacks. Informal w-work mostly, like me. Though it's harder for them."
"Naturally."
"Hey, tell m-me more about your brother."
Ace sighs, but a small smile worms its way onto his face. "We're not biological brothers, but we're still related in everything that matters. Luffy's always been a weird kid. He was born to a family of Fae out in the wilds and when he was seven, he injured his right wing and it had to be amputed. After that, his family didn't exactly want him so he ended up with me."
"A F-Fae w-with one wing?" Sabo winces sympathetically. "That must've been tough for him."
"Yeah, he's... He's one of a kind." Ace pears upwards, into one of the slits in the metal above them. The sky through it is getting darker. "I promised him I'd be home tonight..."
"Crap." Sabo raises his voice and yells again, but it come out even quieter than before. "We should get out of here as soon as we can." He tries to push upwards on the metal again, with no success.
Ace raises an eyebrow. "What changed?"
"He's fourteen, right?" Sabo shivers. "I just don't really like the idea of a fourteen-year old being alone in the grey district, that's all."
"Huh." Shooting Sabo a calculative look, Ace asks, "When they come... are you going to tell them why we were under the bridge?"
Sabo laughs. "So long as you don't try to kidnap me again, I think we're cool. It's great that you want to protect your brother. If he relies on you, I don't want to get in the way of that."
"...You're not too awful," Ace says slowly.
"You're welcome."
Sabo raises his voice and this time, Ace joins him. They yell together for what feels like hours, calling for help, begging for anybody to come along and help.
And after what feels like hours, somebody finally does.
'Take care of your brother, Ace. See you.'
Sabo's last words to him ringing in his words, Ace pelts up the road towards the apartment building, feet crashing through deep puddles of murky rainwater. It falls dark from the clouds, staining everything light brown. Visibly filled with ash, it's probably undrinkable. The street is dark and Ace is alone as he crosses it, wing over his head to protect him from the rain as the other, injured by the collapse of the bridge, hangs limply by his side.
It's almost 0300 now. By the time they were rescued from the rubble, Sabo was so cold that his lips and cheeks were colourless. Ace pulled the other teen's sweatshirt over his blonde head, shoved his phone number into his hand and pushed him off in the direction of the Stacks, some tiny part of him rebelling against the sight as he watched Sabo's skinny, soaked back disappear into the dark alone. As he ran here - it was too late for trains to be running - Ace did his best to shove Sabo from his mind.
And now here he stands, looking up at his apartment door. His legs carried him here on autopilot. Both praying for Luffy to be here and praying for the opposite, Ace inserts his key into the lock and turns the doornob.
The door has barely closed behind him when Luffy stumbles in from the lounge, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Ace? Where have you been? What-"
Ace flicks on the hallway light and his entire bloodied, soaked, freezing form comes into view. Luffy barely gets a glance at him before flying into action. Ace has barely had time to breathe before he's sitting at the kitchen table, a towel thrown haphazardly onto his head, Luffy opening a cupboard across the room and pulling out a carton of water and a medium-sized mac.
"L-Luffy? Wha-"
"Shut up, you're hurt!" Ace can't see Luffy's face, but his voice is distraught.
Movements sluggish, Ace reaches up and pulls the towel off his head, using it to towel down his soaking wet hair and scrub the water from his face. When he pulls it away, there's a glass of water in front of him and Luffy is punching a number into the microwave, already having put the mac-ration inside.
"Luffy, no!" Ace darts across the room and turns off the microwave at the wall before it can be switched on, heart pounding. "You know how much heat power costs! Why would you do that?!"
"You're shaking! And bleeding, and covered in water and-" Luffy turns to look up at Ace. His eyes are fierce and a little too bright, shining with unshed tears. "And I don't know what to do but you need to get warm! At least let me do this!"
Pointedly, Ace pulls the plug out of the wall and drops it. "No. Luffy, I'll be okay-"
With a shuddering gasp, Luffy rushes forwards and throws his arms around Ace's soaking torso, freezing him in place. He can feel the younger teen shaking, even more than he is, and cautiously returns the hug as the trembles intensify.
"I-I thought you were d-dead...!' Luffy hiccups into his chest. "You're never late back from a job, never e-ever, and I didn't know what to think - I went out to look for you and you didn't come, and I-"
"Hey, hey, don't- don't cry-" Ace tries, hug more firm now. He puts a hand on his younger brother's hair, and it's damp beneath his fingers. "Please don't cry, Luffy, I'm okay. I'm alright."
Sniffing, Luffy pulls away and wipes his nose. He shoots Ace a reproachful look. "If you're okay, then why's your shoulder bleeding?"
It's as if the words are a trigger - pain slams into Ace like a battering ram and he stumbles slightly. Immediately Luffy is there, supporting him under the arms until he reaches the couch. Ace falls against it with a small groan.
"...What happened to your wing?" Luffy's voice is small, now.
"Got trapped under something. 'M okay," Ace slurs.
After a few seconds, something cold is pressed against his lips and he drinks thankfully, trying to ignore the stale tang that fills the water. He doesn't open his eyes, allowing Luffy to pour the contents of what feels like a whole mac-ration into his hand and eating dutifully. The hardness of the dried wheat and the rough, sandy nutrient powder feel horrible in his mouth but he forces them down, ignoring the protests of his gag reflex. Stomach sated, he drinks a little more and then waits, knowing what's coming.
After what feels like a few minutes, when Ace is barely clinging to wakefulness, Luffy clambers onto the couch beside him and tucks himself against his chest, curled up, single small wing wrapping around himself. Ace cocoons them both in his own huge wing, hugging the smaller boy, knowing that neither of them will sleep until Luffy's small sobs finally tail off.
"I'm sorry, Ace," Luffy finally whispers into the dark. "I wish I was stronger..."
"You're fourteen. It's not your job to be strong," Ace replies softly.
"If I was, then maybe you wouldn't-" The teen sniffs. "Maybe you wouldn't get hurt all the time 'n stuff. And I could do all that stuff and you could go to school, 'cause you want to so much."
Ace sighs. "Go to sleep, Luffy."
Luffy drops off quickly, exhausted from the force of his emotion, but it takes a long time for Ace to eventually slip into oblivion. When he does, he dreams of colourless lips and blue eyes.
'Stay warm, get out of here! Good luck out on the Stacks!'
Far away, outside of the city limits, Sabo clambers through his window. Every inch of him, from his skin to his burning chest, feels painfully cold. He latches the window, just as he does every night, and tries to tug off his sweatshirt - his hands are shaking too violently. He attempts to steady them against the wall. His breathing comes too quickly, heart pounding like a drum. Ace's blood still stains his hands even through the rainwater.
When his hands finally stop shaking, Sabo pulls off his sweatshirt and shirt, slipping into the only other hoodie that he owns. It's far too large and threadbare, but it'll do. He has to roll the sleeves up multiple times just to be able to use his hands, and occupies himself pulling them up as he tries to slow his frantic breathing. He hates climbing up here in the rain; there's a constant risk of falling, an ever-present fear of losing your footing on the slippery metal.
Sabo shakes his dripping hair out and rubs his hands together to get some kind of warmth back into them. Stumbling into the main room, he pulls his hood up and yanks on the string until the dim, grimy room around him is obscured by fabric. The shivers still have yet to completely fade. He knows that he should probably eat but the idea of a dry, cold mac and a cup of dirty water doesn't sound appealing in the slightest, and he can't afford to waste it.
His skin feels numb now. Empty stomach aching, Sabo pulls the sleeves of his sweatshirt up over his hands, curls up on the couch and yanks the oversized item of clothing over his legs, slightly comforted by the feeling of being covered fully by the hoodie. Like this, he can trick himself into thinking that he's warm.
As he drifts off to sleep, head tucked against his knees, Sabo's thoughts drift to Ace. The anger in his grey eyes, and the hint of worry that was in his eyes as he pulled Sabo's sweatshirt over his head and shoved his number into his hand. He can still feel the damp paper scrunched up in his hand but doesn't look at it, afraid that the numbers might have smudged in the rain.
When he finally gets to sleep, however, he doesn't dream. For that, he's thankful.
YJV, Chapter 2, 9h ago:
Wow, never thought of it that way XD omg, a new light and aspect of Sabo, which makes me love him even more! also , I loved your answer so much I read it three times XD yay~~ Sabo is gonna be the main character~~ XD Finally! XP and gosh, you ended on a cliffhanger with Sabo and Ace! UwU oh, gosh darn it, is this gonna be another angsty roller coaster ride?!
Hey!
thank you so so much! Im so glad you liked the chapter and my answer, it means a lot :D
and yeah, this is a very sabo-based fic! Im looking forward to getting into it, I guess :)
of course this is going to be angsty, you know me too well!
thank you so much for the review!
Guest, Chapter 1, 7h ago:
Hi, just seen this and since I really like strays, even if you like to kill all my faves, I'm going to start reading this one as well. The quality is really good and it's a very interesting concept but I can already see how much I'm going to suffer... Anyway, I love protective Ace, so protective he works with Blackbeard, and a human Sabo who fights for equality, I wonder how long it's going to take for Ace to warm up to him *hugs from a different story*
Heyooo!
a strays fan :0 hey! Its good to see you like the new story! Thank you very very much for the lovely long review :D
and trust me, its gonna take a long long time :') goddamnitt ace
thank you for reviewing, ilysm! *big hugs*
Guest, Chapter 2, 7h ago:
Its only chapter 2 so I'm guessing Ace and Sabo are alright and I can't wait to see how that goes... and for Luffy's reaction.
Oh, Marco and Ace knew each other and Marco seems really worried about what happened to Ace any chance we get answers soon?
Also the I tattoo, is that what Koala has? Really looking forward to more *hugs*
Oh gosh wow thank you very much! I hope luffy's reaction lived up to your expectations ;_;
yeah, they knew one another! I wonder how :0
don't worry, koala and her (many) secrets will all be revealed in the future :D
thank you so so much for reviewing! ily! *big big big hugs*
