Marco paused to adjust his grip on the stack of books that was slipping from his hands. He cautiously set the tower on top of his usual table in the back corner of the library, picking up the first book on the stack and settling down to skim its contents.
Since Ace's attack a few days ago, Marco had been researching the incident as much as he reasonably could along with his other responsibilities, chasing random ideas and following every potential lead he came across. He wasn't having much luck, however, and as a result, he'd been hard pressed to expand his search criteria so wide that he was quite literally chasing fairy tales by this point.
"You're going to get sick from not eating, have you had any sunflower seeds or anything lately?" Thatch asked, setting down a plate of fruit in front of Marco. He pulled out a chair and sat, eyeing his eldest brother disapprovingly.
"You've been holed up in here for ages, Marc - even more than usual, and that's saying something. When are you going to get a full day's rest? The others are getting concerned, myself included. First Luffy is freaked out, then something went down with Ace and you're all hush-hush about it, and then you shut yourself up in this cage for days on end," Thatch listed, his tone light but clearly concerned. "You're not nesting in here, are you?" he asked with a teasing smirk.
Marco only hummed in response, eyes still skimming the book. It wasn't what he was looking for, and Marco sighed, delicately setting the book down on the floor behind him along with the dozens of others that hadn't been returned to their proper places yet.
He picked out an orange from the plate of fruit and took a bite, peel and all, if only to placate his brother. "Sorry, yoi. I've been doing research so there hasn't been much time for me to eat." He selected another book from the stack and started skimming it the way he had the first. "I'm fine, honestly."
"Well I don't know what 'fine' means in your book, but in mine, it doesn't mean looking like shit while trying to read half the library in one sitting. Seriously Marc, you're starting to worry me," Thatch confessed, pushing the plate closer to Marco. "Now eat some more before I have to stuff it down your throat."
"I'm eating this orange right now, Thatch," Marco said, taking a bite of the fruit for emphasis. Not that his body strictly needed it, but ordinary food was an easy way to tide vampires over between feedings. Marco could go quite a while in between feedings if done right, somewhere around five or six days, so really, he was doing fine in terms of his hunger.
He could see the genuine concern in his brother's eyes though, so Marco reluctantly set the book aside, giving his full attention to Thatch. "Sorry, I'm trying to research a topic that I don't know much about, so it's difficult to discern what's useful and what's a waste of time, yoi. And it's possible that I've become more invested in the challenge than is healthy, but," Marco trailed off, at least having the decency to look contrite.
"Care to share?" Thatch asked curiously, leaning his chin on his open palm, eyes roaming over the titles of the books Marco had dug up. "That's some pretty obscure reading you're doing there. I may not be a bookworm puzzle master like you, but I am a master storyteller. Maybe I've heard some stories about whatever you're looking for that isn't in those books. What do you say, turkey boy, let me in the know?" he grinned.
Marco rolled his eyes at the nickname, selecting an apple from the tray. He turned it in his hand, observing how the light reflected off of its shiny red peel before eating it the same way he had the orange. Identifying Ace's unknown condition was Marco's first priority now, after all of the work he was required to do as the crown prince, of course. A fresh viewpoint on the subject would be invaluable, but he'd promised not to say anything just yet.
"I shouldn't, I made a promise that I wouldn't say anything about it until we know more, yoi. There's no need to worry about me."
"Maybe I don't have to, but I'm choosing to, feather brain. That's what brothers are for," Thatch stated simply, frowning. "I know you promised somebody that you wouldn't say anything, but how can you expect to be helpful when you're half starved and sleep deprived? You don't have to tell me everything, but I want to help, Marc. Is this about Ace?" he ventured, taking a slice of pineapple from the plate. "He's been acting strange lately and now I find you here studying yourself to death… when I brought that soup up to the attic for Luffy a couple days ago, I could smell blood in that room."
Marco only sighed, wishing that there was something he could say. Keeping things from his family wasn't something Marco enjoyed, but it was exactly what he had to do now. Reassuring others had never been his forte, that was something he usually relied on Izo for. Her Inclination was useful in that regard, while Marco's was geared towards logic and reasoning. The truth of it was that Marco simply didn't know what he needed to say in order to keep Thatch from worrying further. The brunette had already found out more than either Marco or Ace had initially planned, there would be no way for Marco to simply brush it off or downplay the fact.
"That's… I can't say, Thatch," he finally sighed, dropping his head into his hands and rubbing at his tired eyes. Promises were something Marco took seriously. While Ace still kept feeling cold at odd intervals, he'd mentioned no other symptoms, so there was no firm reason that would justify Marco telling the others yet.
The attack in the attic hadn't reoccurred, but Marco was operating on the assumption that Ace's condition would get worse. It wasn't something Marco liked to consider, but it couldn't be ignored. There was a growing possibility that there wasn't anything he would be able to help his brother, and it would become a guarantee if he was unable to uncover more information.
"It's not really anything you should be worried about now. If it becomes an issue, I'll say something. You have my word."
"I don't like this," Thatch muttered, crossing his arms. "You have two more days until I start bugging you about this again. Keeping your word is important, I know that, but so is the safety of our family."
Marco's lip instinctively curled at the very suggestion that he'd put anything above his family. He knew that wasn't what Thatch was implying, but this family was everything to Marco, it would always come first above all else. He was doing this for Ace because he knew that for now, not saying anything would be the best way to protect the others from unnecessary worry. He didn't want to say anything now, because they would undoubtedly have questions that Marco didn't have any answers to.
"You know, I can still help you even if you don't give me all the super juicy details," Thatch offered, smile returning as he bumped his fist against Marco's hand.
Marco rolled his eyes at that, and he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. It couldn't hurt, Thatch was right, but Marco was accustomed to doing things like this by himself. It was unlikely that Thatch would be able to figure out exactly what Marco was researching anyways based from the books he was currently looking at, so why not? "How familiar are you with fairy tales, yoi?"
"I know some like the back of my hand, but is this really the time to reminisce over some age-old kids' stories?" Thatch mused before moving on. "Which one do you want to hear? There are a couple I can name off the top of my head; the monster in the mountains, the weeping crone, the dark hound, any of those sound good?"
Marco thought on that as he took another fruit from the plate, not paying any attention to what it actually was. None of them sounded like what he was looking for, but he'd been working for a while now, the distraction would be nice if nothing else. "Tell me about the dark hound."
Thatch rubbed his hands together eagerly, tilting his chair back until he was balancing precariously on its hind legs, wearing his trademark grin. "That one's a human favorite, you know. Humans are such fascinating creatures, their imaginations are so vivid, though we can't really blame them considering that vampires are the ones who make them see things in the night.
"So, we begin our story in a small village at the base of a mountain. In that village, there lived a man. He was strong, handsome, very much like myself so I hear." He winked in Marco's direction, who only gave him a flat look.
"Anyways," Thatch plowed on, not deterred in the least. "This man was the best hunter around; there was nothing that could escape his sights, not a bear, a mountain lion, or even a sly wolf. However, there was one creature during his time that continued to elude him; a hound with fur as pitch black as the night, and eyes that were a bright, glowing red. Many called it the Hound of Thanatos, you know that Greek god of darkness? It was called that, because it was seemingly able to meld into the very shadows with ease. It was known for appearing in the corner of your eye at night, only to disappear into the darkness when you turned to look.
"So, this guy dedicates his life to the surrounding woods, to trapping and killing the fabled Hound of Thanatos. The first year he set out with high hopes, only to end up empty handed. The second year was much the same, as was the third and so on. It wasn't until the eleventh year that he came across something peculiar. In the middle of the forest, he came across a woman covered in blood, but with no wounds to speak of. She'd followed her lover into the woods, concerned for his life, as he was hunting the Hound of Thanatos as well. When questioned, she told this hunter the direction he had gone, begging him to save her lover. He gave chase, hot on the trail for the hound for the first time in over a decade. An epic showdown ensues between the hunter and the hound… I'm boring you with this, aren't I?" Thatch frowned, noticing Marco's faraway gaze.
Marco stood up, his mind focused on one particular aspect of the story. Was it possible that he'd been looking into the wrong type of myths? With a thankful but distracted nod in Thatch's direction, Marco was off again, heading back into the maze of bookshelves with a new destination in mind.
"Mister Yeti! Are you here?"
Sabo jumped, the sound of Luffy's voice snapping him from the half-awake haze he'd fallen into. It wasn't uncommon for him to get lost in his own head as a way to pass the time by now, but being snapped from a winding train of thought was disorienting.
A smile broke out on his face when he saw a familiar figure standing outside his cell, and Sabo shuffled closer to the front of the cell. Luffy never entered the cell, he always sat beyond the bars, and Sabo had to wonder what the symbolism behind that was; having Luffy so close but ultimately unreachable. "Hey Luffy, I haven't seen you in a while."
"Acey got sick," Luffy announced unhappily, but his sombre mood almost immediately dissolved back into a smile. "But he's better now. Have you been-"
Luffy interrupted himself, leaning forward and sniffing the air. "Oh, something smells tasty! Do you have food too, mister Yeti?"
Sabo shook his head, brushing aside the way his stomach ached at the thought of food. He hadn't been starved per say, but after who knows how many days of living with the bare minimum amount of food needed to survive, Sabo could hardly remember what not being hungry felt like.
He didn't like to think that he was starving, slowly fading away in this cold stone cell, or that he would almost certainly be dead within the next few weeks at least.
It was a depressing concept, but there was no shortage of dark thoughts for Sabo to explore locked up in this cell, with his entire future cloudy and uncertain. He'd lost track of how long he'd been here after only two days, embarrassingly enough, so he couldn't even roughly estimate how long he had left.
"No, but I'm glad to see you. I wasn't sure if you were coming back again or not." Maybe the fact that Luffy was here again was a bad sign for Sabo, but he didn't really care any more. Hallucination he may be, but Luffy brought with him happiness; something Sabo was in great need of. He would take whatever he could get.
"Of course I came back, we're friends, right? Friends stick together, silly Yeti. Oh! Want to know something cool?" Luffy didn't even wait for an answer from the blond. "I have gold coins behind my ears! They only come out once a day, but I've been saving them and adding them to my pirate fund! Do you have gold behind your ears too? Or do you have snow cause you're a yeti?" he asked, genuinely curious to hear Sabo's answer.
Sabo chuckled and obligatorily reached up to feel behind his ear the best he could with his cuffed hands. Of course, he found nothing except for the odd bruise and probably some dirt. "No, only skin. Having snow behind your ear would be awful." Sabo shuddered at the thought. He'd never been a fan of the cold, one of the reasons staying in the frozen cell was so miserable.
"Skin is boring," Luffy pouted. "Snow is so cool though, it's all mushy and you can make snowballs to hit Pineapple and Thatchy with!" he exclaimed happily. "We've all gotten into gigantic snowball fights, and sometimes Acey gets Izo or Haru or mister Moustache to fight too! It's the funnest thing ever! Have you met any of them, mister Yeti?"
Sabo's head tilted in confusion, trying to think of where he'd heard those names before. He remembered hearing somewhere that the brain can't make up entirely new people, or was that just their faces? Pineapple and Moustache were odd names, but he must have heard them somewhere at some point, right? "No, I didn't even know you liked the cold,"
"Yeah! We make entire armies of them in the winter and we make them fight with snowballs too! I'll show them to you when the snow comes, we'll make you a Yeti snowman!" he chirped happily, rocking back and forth and gripping onto his ankles for stability.
"I like your hair," the boy said suddenly, his head cocking to the side as he scrutinized Sabo. "It's all wavy, and… it's not soft."
Sabo's fingers came up to comb through his matted blond hair at the mention. While his 'bath' a few days ago had mostly succeeded in getting rid of the caked-on dirt and dried blood on his body, the removed grime had easily been replaced within a day or two of their rough treatment. His hair had been for the most part ignored all this time, thankfully, but it hadn't been washed, either, so Sabo could only imagine how filthy he must look.
"It's not like I've had the opportunity to properly wash it," he muttered defensively.
Luffy's face fell. "You're hungry," he stated, looking troubled. "I can give you one lunch," he warned the blond, shrugging off his backpack and pulling out a plain looking lunch box.
Sabo's eyes narrowed at the sight, feeling a strange mixture of desire and disgust curl in his belly. Logically, Sabo knew that that food didn't actually exist, but it smelled undeniably good, and he was so hungry. His mind readily supplied fantasies of what could be inside, anything from a burger to soup to fish.
Sabo turned his head, stomach churning unpleasantly from being empty for so long. "I don't want it."
"I want you to have it," Luffy insisted, pushing the lunchbox through the bars of the cell stubbornly.
"No! Stop offering me food I can't eat, it's just… too cruel," Sabo whispered, voice pained as he avoided Luffy's gaze.
"Are you a… a herbore?" the boy asked bewilderedly. "Meat is good! Eat it, you'll like it!"
"Herbivore, and no," Sabo corrected, sighing and dropping his head into his hands. Talking to Luffy was one thing, but offering food was just too much, too close to torture; the one thing he was looking to escape from.
"You're not real Lu, and neither is whatever's in that lunch box. Just leave me alone already," he muttered. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, the fact remained that Luffy was dead. There would be no getting him back, and the sooner Sabo accepted that the better.
"I am too real!" Luffy shouted, hitting the metal bars separating the two of them and causing Sabo to flinch. "I'm here and you're being mean, mister Yeti! Being mean isn't nice, mister Moustache said so! Thatchy said that not eating food is rude too," he pouted.
"I can't, I can't," he moaned under his breath, eyes squeezed shut. This hallucination was quickly losing its appeal, and Sabo just wanted Luffy to go away. He pulled his knees up to his chest and tucked his head between them in a vain attempt to escape the child.
Luffy hummed in confusion, and Sabo's chest constricted at its familiarity. Grief overtook him, his emotions running high after what felt like weeks of nothing but hunger and loneliness in this empty cage. It was all too much for him to handle, and Sabo felt the cold draft of his stone cell now more than ever. "I don't know who those people are, just leave me alone already! Why did you come back now? Wasn't losing you once painful enough?"
"Mister Yeti?"
Sabo refused to respond even when he heard an unnatural creaking sound that sent a shiver down his spine. Soon after, a pair of arms wrapped carefully around Sabo's head. "There there, you're okay mister Yeti."
Sabo let out a shout of surprise, ducking out of the embrace and scrambling away with wide eyes. He stared at Luffy, mind completely blank and yet racing impossibly fast at the same time.
What..?
Luffy was a hallucination. He could say things, he could answer things, he could offer Sabo food. Sabo was pretty sure he could even interact with the environment. The one thing that Luffy, as a hallucination, could not do was touchhim. He couldn't wrap his arms around Sabo's head and he most certainly could not bend solid metal bars with his bare hands. He couldn't, and yet the evidence was right in front of him.
But Luffy's dead. He can't be here.
For a wild moment Sabo wondered if this was some random kid he'd somehow misidentified, but no. He'd talked to this kid for the past few days at least, Sabo knew without a doubt that this was Luffy. They were just too similar for it to be a coincidence.
But then how..?
"Luffy? What… how are you here?"
"Shishishi, I walked here," Luffy giggled, and Sabo watched as Luffy retrieved the lunchbox and shoved it into Sabo's hands. "Now eat it, before your tummy eats you."
Sabo focused on the lunchbox now in his hands. It was undeniably real, which meant that Luffy was too. He looked back up at the child in question, blue eyes drinking in every single detail. Luffy was here, he was alive. How? He didn't look a day older since Sabo saw him last, and a horrible sense of foreboding made his stomach twist.
"Do you… remember me? Sabo?" he asked hesitantly, afraid of what the answer would be.
"Shishishi, of course I remember you mister Yeti! I was here um… two days ago!" Luffy said, counting with his fingers and presenting three digits to Sabo.
Sabo's heart sank, and a nagging idea began to eat at him. He shook it off though, hiding his pain behind a smile once more. He turned his attention back to the lunchbox and carefully lifted the lid to see what was inside, stomach rumbling in anticipation.
Meat. It was stuffed to the brim with meat. Of course it was. Sabo almost wanted to laugh, unsure of how he could have expected anything different.
Looking at all of this hot, fresh food had Sabo's mouth watering, and it took all of his willpower to not just dig in. God, he wanted to, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to stomach all of it after going for so long with so little. In the bottom corner of the tin, Sabo spotted a small container of pineapples amongst the meat and pulled it out, setting the rest of the food aside. He ate the fruit slowly, savoring the sweet taste on his tongue. It was undoubtedly the most flavorful thing he'd eaten since being taken captive, and it was absolutely delicious compared to the stale chunks of bread the guards had tossed at him with a lovely side of mocking sneers.
Luffy was content to explore the small space while Sabo investigated the lunch box, poking at the poor excuse of a mattress and jumping up to grab at the windowsill, peeking out at the view Sabo had of the grounds outside. Sabo watched his wanderings with a small smile, wondering what he could possibly find so interesting in here. The child's gaze kept trailing back to Sabo, and he wondered just what Luffy was thinking.
"So... did Acey make this? He's your friend, right?" Sabo asked after a moment, finding himself equally unable to look away from the boy that was now sitting in front of him.
Luffy visibly brightened at the name. "Shishi, he's my father silly, he's way more than just a friend! We go on adventures all the time and beat up bears that're this big!" He threw out his arms dramatically, an equally wide grin spread across his face. "We beat up giant cats too, and then there are these funny birds that we get to eat sometimes, they're amazing! Do you hunt bears, mister Yeti?"
Sabo gave pause at Acey's title of father, and he realized that Luffy must not remember his real father, either. Had he forgotten everything from his childhood? Sabo frowned at the thought, but didn't dwell on it.
"I used to, before I came here," he answered, still slowly working on the pineapples. He wanted nothing more than to just scarf them all down before moving on to the meat, but food was scarce, and Sabo needed to pace himself, or he would regret it later.
"Did the bears put you here then? Is that why you're all smelly?" Luffy asked curiously, and Sabo only shrugged, not wanting to give a specific answer.
"Do you live in the castle?" he asked instead, turning to subject from himself.
"Mhm! I live here with Acey and Pineapple and Thatchy and mister Moustache and Stefan and-" Luffy rambled on, clearly content to talk about himself and the others in the castle. He listed off name after name, counting them on his fingers at first but losing track somewhere in the middle.
Sabo was taken aback by just how many vampires were living here, especially considering how he hadn't come across a single one on the way in. And Luffy being able to name each and every vampire here was a feat of its own. "Shishishi, there's more but I can't remember them. Oh, and you!"
Well, maybe not all of them.
"That's a lot of people, I'm impressed you can name them all. Do you… like it here? They're taking care of you?" he asked softly, lowering the container of pineapples to hear his answer. The question was out of place with the rest of the conversation, but Sabo just wanted to know that Luffy was happy and being cared for here. He knew just how difficult looking out for Luffy was; the child wasn't exactly low maintenance.
"Yeah! It's awesome, we have so much fun together! You should come with us the next time we have an adventure! Oh, oh, I'll go get Acey, then we can all go treasure hunting together!" Luffy grinned and hopped up, bouncing with excitement at the idea.
There was a rather large part of Sabo that didn't want Luffy to leave, not so soon after being reunited, and he tried to think of a way to stall the boy. Sabo hadn't failed to notice how Luffy's eyes seemed to be drawn to the untouched meat in his lunchbox, and when the child started drooling, Sabo figured enough was enough.
"Do you want it?" he asked, holding out the container with an amused smile. "I'm not hungry, you can have it."
Successfully distracted, Luffy's eyes flickered from Sabo to the lunchbox and back again, trying to decide whether it was okay to take it. "Shishishi sure!" he agreed after a moment, taking the lunchbox and plopping back onto the floor with it. "Thatchy is the best cook ever!" he declared, digging into the meal happily, and Sabo watched his fangs slip out. He could see some veins too, but they weren't as prominent as with adult vampires.
Sabo only sighed at the sight, eating some more pineapple as he watched Luffy tear into the meat like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He had no clue how he was supposed to feel now that his suspicions were confirmed. Angry, shocked, relieved, mournful, glad, spiteful, disgusted, bitter, guilty? Or was there something that was in between everything?
It was confusing to say the least, and Sabo looked down at his nearly empty pineapple container. In hindsight, eating in here probably hadn't been a very wise idea. The guards would almost undoubtedly be able to smell the food the next time they made their rounds, and who knew what would happen after that.
Shit.
Well… if he was going to be punished or interrogated for having food, then he might as well finish it all and try to salvage as much energy as he could from it. The fact that he even needed this type of mindset was depressing, but necessary.
Sabo sighed, shaking his head to ward off those thoughts. There was too much for him to process, he'd have to save the in-depth thinking for after Luffy left when he'd have relative peace and quiet. "How long have you lived here?"
Luffy hummed, licking his fingers and cocking his head to the side. "You mean in the castle?" He smiled wide and moved onto the fingers of his other hand. "I've lived here since ever, but not as long as Pineapple or mister Moustache, they're old. Hey, do you want to see my room, mister Yeti? It's huge, and there's swords and a ship so we can be pirates! And-" Luffy paused, tilting his head. His eyes unfocused slightly, as if he was listening to something Sabo couldn't hear.
"Acey's back! And he brought a bear!" he announced delightedly after a moment, jumping up once more. Luffy raced out of the cell only to almost trip over the backpack he'd left by the entrance. As a second thought, he turned to peer back inquisitively at Sabo, who hadn't budged an inch. "C'mon mister Yeti, he won't bite."
Sabo looked at Luffy, looked at the newly made gap between the bars keeping him trapped. He looked around the small cell he'd become unwillingly accustomed to over the days and at the small glimpse of the night sky his tiny cell window offered. God, he wanted to leave. He wanted it so badly that his chest ached with the unbridled yearning.
But he couldn't.
He would undoubtedly end up caught one way or another if he attempted to slip away into the surrounding forest, and by this point it was painfully clear that Acey was a vampire living within the castle. Why on earth would he want to help a prisoner escape? Sabo was surrounded by monsters, and they were all faster and stronger than him. If he hadn't been able to escape before when he was at his peak, he had next to no chance now.
So, despite his every wish, Sabo shook his head. "Nah, you can go have fun with Acey."
Luffy pouted at that, tackling Sabo in a long hug before finally peeling away. "It won't be as fun without you," he said sullenly.
"I'll still be here, you can tell me all about it when you get back," Sabo reminded the boy, giving him a small smile. "Could you bend the bars back when you go? You shouldn't leave them all bent up like that."
Luffy nodded reluctantly and scooped up the lunch box, stuffing it into his backpack. He then stepped out of the cell and bent the bars back into place, much to Sabo's wonder. They'd felt incredibly solid when he'd tested them that first night, and to see a five year old boy manipulating them so easily was strange to say the least.
"I'll be back with snacks tomorrow!" Luffy promised before shouldering the backpack and dashing away down the corridor, leaving Sabo alone to his thoughts once more. He felt strangely hollow now that Luffy was gone and let out a heavy breath. His head tilted back, eyes staring at the ceiling uncomprehendingly.
What the hell just happened?
