Here it is, the chapter many of you have been eagerly awaiting :3 hope you enjoy, hehe
Sabo hummed quietly as he read alone in his room. It was one of the rare times he wasn't sleeping or crowded by vampires, so he could afford to lower his guard some and relax. He'd taken the liberty of asking Izo to bring him something from the castle's expansive library to pass the time. The curtains next to the bed were open, allowing sunlight to pour in through the window onto his body. The warmth it provided was calming, leaving Sabo in a state of trance-like peacefulness.
The nurses and doctors visited him as little as possible. Whether it was because Sabo was human or because there wasn't much they could actually do until the necessary treatment supplies arrived, Sabo didn't know, and he didn't mind either way. It was nice having some time to himself, even if those moments were few and far between in the days that had passed since he'd first woken up.
He'd taken his alone time as a chance to consider what he should do next. He still planned to leave the castle as soon as possible, but things had admittedly changed. The vampires had reassured him that he wouldn't be held here against his will, but Sabo's issue lie somewhere else now. The doctors had given him a recovery time of six to eight weeks, and that was in the best case scenario.
Standard procedure with the hunters gave him one full month to return, and then he would be considered missing in action and presumed dead. His position would be filled, not to mention his name would be placed on the dead list for everybody he knew to see.
Sabo'd been here for a little over two weeks now, and it would take at least one more before he would be allowed to walk again. The interrogations and malnutrition had done quite a number on his body, and though there was nothing terribly wrong with his legs themselves, walking was strictly off limits until some of his more severe wounds began to heal.
So, while the bloodsuckers claimed they wouldn't force him to stay against his will, Sabo knew that they certainly wouldn't let him leave while he was still so heavily injured, either. His injuries would slow him down and, if he was being honest, he wasn't entirely sure where the nearest hunter encampment was. Meaning that he would need to leave even sooner in order to give himself time to get his bearings and figure out just where he was going other than 'down'. He would leave himself as much time to heal as possible, but his first priority above all was returning to the hunters.
That wasn't the only problem with going back, however. He would undoubtedly be questioned about the vampires that had kept him; what they'd done to him, where they were based, what he'd found out about their strengths and weaknesses. The list went on and on. Over the past few days, Sabo had met just about everybody in the family, including Marco, and he was not disappointed.
When Izo had described the man as having a 'distinct silhouette', Sabo hadn't suspected in the slightest that she was talking about the shape of his head. Sabo was fairly certain he wouldn't have been able to make that connection on his own, but now that he knew, it was just one of those things he couldn't unsee.
Marco was calm like Izo, but he seemed older and moved with a confidence that said he was much stronger than he might look at first glance. Where Izo had been curious, interested, Marco was cool and analytical. The rest of the family was wildly different from person to person, but it was clear why they called themselves a family when they weren't strictly related. They were much closer than a typical coven bound by interest or turned blood; they truly regarded each other as brothers and sisters, with Whitebeard as their father. It had certainly been a surprise for Sabo to find that he'd been captive of one of the most infamous vampires around, but like the other family members, Whitebeard didn't seem to hold any bad will towards Sabo despite the information he still withheld from them.
That wasn't the main reason that Sabo found himself hesitant to tell the other hunters everything he'd learned though. Luffy lived in this castle, if Sabo divulged what he knew, the word would spread. They would inevitably plan a siege against the castle and kill everybody inside, Luffy included.
The castle was a strategic stronghold that could most certainly turn the tide of this war in the human's favor, should they ever succeed in taking it over. It was perched on top of a mountain yet blended into the scenery so it was completely unnoticeable from below. Sabo suspected that was the main reason the camp had been destroyed in the first place; they'd had no idea it was so close. As a hunter, it was Sabo's duty to support the cause in any and every way he could. If he was caught withholding this much information, it would be seen as nothing less than treason.
The door to the room opened, pulling Sabo from his thoughts.
"Izo said that she's sorry, but she can't clean the tar off now, so she sent me in her place." The voice was clipped, far lower than Sabo had been expecting. Izo was by far his most common visitor, followed shortly by Thatch and Luffy. Those two tended to burst into the room in a cacophony of noise without warning, and the newcomer had fallen back to silence.
So when Sabo lifted his head to find none other than Ace standing at his door, he was more than a little surprised. The vampire was determinedly not looking at Sabo, studying the contents of a basket hooked in his arm instead. His muscles were drawn tighter than a bowstring, but he had a resigned air about him. It didn't take a mind reader to see that Ace would rather be anywhere but in this room, not that Sabo was particularly thrilled to see him either.
The blond cleared his throat uncertainly. "I see."
His eye drifted to the basket on Ace's arm, and Sabo allowed himself a small smile as he recognized the contents. "Is that the mineral oil?"
The tar sticking to his skin no longer burned, but it was lumpy and awkward to lay on, not to mention it itched like hell. Sabo was glad to be rid of it, even if it was Ace was doing the job.
"What else would it be, a heartwarming gift basket?" the prince snorted, moving closer and setting the basket down at the foot of the bed. He reached over and jerked the heavy curtains closed, casting the room into considerable darkness.
"I know what you're doing," Ace spoke quietly, sifting through the basket of with a frown. "You might have everyone else fooled, but I know you're only biding your time here. The others are too caught up in thinking that they have a new family member, they think you'll come around despite the circumstances. What they somehow fail to realize is that we can't trust you," he bit out.
"You caught me," Sabo replied dryly. "I let myself be captured and tortured to the brink of death just so I could secretly trick and kill you all while lying immobilized in this bed. What ever will I do now that you've found me out."
Ace didn't answer, giving the human an unimpressed glare. "Are you just going to sit there? Move to the edge of the bed," he snapped, popping off the top of a jar of oil.
"Well it's not like I can do much else at the moment." Despite his irritation, Sabo set aside the book he'd been reading and scooted closer to the agitated vampire, defying all of his instincts telling him to get away. Everything about this made Sabo uncomfortable, but at least Ace clearly felt the same. Hopefully this would be over with quickly, for better or for worse.
"Do you even know what you're doing? I figured one of the nurses would at least be around for this."
"I know basic first aid, yes, but Izo told me how to do this. If you don't want this to hurt, you better sit still. It'll sting like a bitch if any of the oil gets into your wounds," he warned, his voice slipping into a hiss that sent shivers up Sabo's spine.
"Is that mineral oil or fucking acid?" he asked incredulously, scowling. "Look, I don't want to argue with you and I'm certainly not going to put myself at further risk just for the sake of pissing you off. I don't want to be in this castle any more than you want me here, but as you may or may not have noticed, I'm incapacitated. I can't leave. If you don't want to do this, go find somebody else, it doesn't matter to me."
"But it matters to Izo," Ace muttered unhappily. "She would not give me acid to burn you with, she likes you." Having said that, Ace poured some oil into his hands and began to massage it around the edges on the tar on Sabo's left thigh. All of the smaller bits rubbed off easily enough, leaving the larger chunks that stung whenever Sabo accidentally pulled on them.
Neither of them spoke as Ace worked silently, coaxing the dead skin cells underneath the tar to flake off. The only comparison Sabo could make to what it felt like was peeling off a facial mask. It was strange in more ways than one, namely the fact that Ace was actually being quite gentle.
Now and then the tar would unexpectedly stick to his skin, eliciting a spark of pain as it ripped off some skin. Ace always gave pause when that happened, waiting for the pain to settle before moving on.
Sabo had to take off his shirt once Ace reached his torso, and he didn't fail to notice how the prince's eyes lingered on the glimpses of burnt flesh underneath the bandages for a moment.
The more tar Ace removed, the more amazed Sabo felt at the light sensation of freedom on his body. After spending days trapped beneath a layer of tar, the air felt cool and sweet on his skin as it was finally allowed to properly breathe again. His body felt warm and cold at the same time and the newly freed patches of skin itched more than ever, but Sabo would trade this dissonance for the uncomfortable lumps of black on his body any day.
He watched with almost morbid fascination as Ace continued peeling away the tar, exposing the burns and lacerations hiding beneath. A strange silence had settled between them, one that Sabo couldn't quite describe.
Ace had reached Sabo's shoulder by now, and judging by the increasingly frequent sparks of pain, he must be having trouble getting it to come off properly. His shoulder had been the point of origin, where the first few drops had fallen before the rest was poured out, so the tar was far thicker there. There were no more nerves there, but Sabo's shoulder throbbed with phantom pain at the memory.
His muscles spasmed as a particularly strong spark of pain came from the back of his shoulder. He couldn't see what Ace was doing from this angle, and Sabo bit his lip, contemplating the merits of asking a question.
It would probably just be spat back in his face, but it couldn't hurt to ask, could it?
"Do you know who Capricorn is?"
Ace's hands stopped. "Capricorn? If you want to talk astrology, go to Thatch. He might not look it, but-" Ace cut himself off. "There's nobody by that name here. And why would you care? It's not like you're planning to stick around, all you're doing is tricking them into taking care of you until you can sneak away and go back to the hunters. The others are too quick to trust, especially when it comes to poor, injured humans, " Ace spat, his voice laced with bitterness.
"Just what do you think is going to happen if and when the hunters traced you back here? What would Luffy do? He would never understand if dangerous people burst in and started hurting his family."
It was far more of a reply than Sabo had been expecting, even if it was stuffed to the brim with false accusations. "First, I didn't choose the name Capricorn, Thatch did. It's what everybody's been calling my soulmate. I've yet to meet him and nobody will say a thing about him," he sighed, fingering a newly freed numb spot on his hip.
"Second, I'm not making them do anything. No, I don't plan to stick around, but you want me gone either way, so what does it matter to you? Whether you believe me or not, my sole desire in life isn't to eradicate all of your kind. I'm not planning to nor do I even want to kill your family. I have a family of my own to protect," he stated firmly.
"Trust me, I know all too well just how innocent Luffy is. You may be his father, but-"
"But what? I could never love him the way he deserves? I'm incapable of it because I'm not human?" Ace interrupted coldly, making Sabo cringe as he realized how the vampire had taken the words. "I didn't come here to fight with you, human, I came to make my sister stop her nagging."
The vampire promptly resumed his work of peeling off more tar, and Sabo sighed. The air between them was tense once more, and Sabo almost longed for the strange silence they'd shared before.
He was surrounded by a semicircle of tar flakes that Ace hadn't bothered to brush away, and Sabo found himself fiddling with a piece nervously. This conversation had gone wrong, but really, it should have been expected.
"Are you eager to meet him?"
The question surprised Sabo; he'd figured Ace would refuse to say any more after that disaster of a conversation. "What difference would it make if you did know who he was?"
Sabo bit his lip, choosing his words carefully. He had no idea what Ace's relationship to Capricorn was, but he didn't need to piss off the vampire any more. "Curious would be a better term. I know next to nothing about him, so I have no clue what difference it would make. Clearly a big one going by how everybody's been tiptoeing around the subject. Should I just assume that you won't tell me, either?"
Sabo shivered as Ace's cold hands moved to his neck. It was odd to be in such a vulnerable position with somebody he knew didn't like him. If Ace chose to, he could easily snap Sabo's neck with a quick flick of his wrist. Ace was capable and willing to kill him at any point, but Sabo felt no fear for his life. If Ace was going to kill him, he would have done so at the very beginning before Sabo had a chance to get a word in edgewise. Of course that could always change, but Sabo had the impression that they'd reached an impasse of sorts.
"What would you do if I said it was Oyaji? Have you given any thought to why all of his sons and daughters are being so nice to you and how you escaped life imprisonment due to the discovery of this link? Have you not wondered why all of the others warmed up to you so quickly? Even Marco's begun to fuss." Ace's voice had softened some, and Sabo wondered if the vampire was even aware of the fact.
"You should see him out there, checking in with nurses and with Thatch to make sure you're being properly taken care of. He only does that with his family, something he's convinced you've become in the past three days. We all care about Oyaji and everything he stands for. This family wouldn't exist without him, perhaps the others are denying you his identity because they fear you might wound yourself and turn him in. Wouldn't your people relish in his downfall?" he pressed.
"More so, have you given thought to why you're allowed so much freedom and why they want you to get well soon? Oyaji is one of if not the most important person to all of us, naturally his partnered soul is to be treated with care. What will you do with this information, hunter? Can we let you leave when you hold the life of our dear father in your hands?"
"...Whitebeard," Sabo repeated dubiously. "And you're being serious?"
Ace didn't respond, and Sabo took that as a yes. He considered it, not knowing what to say to such a wild idea. It would certainly explain why they were so eager for Sabo's forgiveness, why they were being nice to him, but the scenario didn't sit right. "That would be… weird," he admitted haltingly. "I've only seen him once, he's so much older than me. And he has so many kids, I'm only twenty two."
Sabo's lips twisted into an amused smile. "Wouldn't that make you my son then? And Luffy my grandchild?" His nose wrinkled, however, as that train of thought continued. "I refuse to be the mother."
"But, as for what I plan to do with this information, I don't know. There are more people who want his head than there are stars in the sky, but I never expected this. I… I can't hurt Luffy like that. I don't want to inadvertently be the reason he's killed, because I know you're right." Sabo's voice quieted, but he still felt like he was being far too loud.
"No true hunter would care to distinguish between any man, woman, or child when it comes to vampires. Maybe you shouldn't let me leave. Maybe you should just kill me now, so you won't even have to worry about it. You can't trust me just as I can't trust you. Sure, I would like to leave, and I can tell you over and over until I'm blue in the face that I'm not planning anything, but ultimately, it's up to you guys," he sighed, tilting his head forward to offer Ace a better angle to work with.
"This is all a mess," he muttered under his breath, repeatedly turning a chunk of tar over in his hands.
"You're telling me," Ace murmured back, the words so quiet that Sabo almost missed them entirely. He relaxed some as Ace didn't immediately refute his answer, mulling on his words.
"I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to. I couldn't do that to them or Lu, and especially not to Oyaji," Ace said tiredly. "But don't think for a second that I'll call you mom. I could probably get Lu to call you nana?"
Sabo snorted, and he could practically feel Ace's smirk of amusement. "And don't think for a second that I even want to be the mom. But sure, why not. He already calls me everything other than my actual name. Oh, speaking of nicknames, who's responsible for Pineapple? I asked Thatch, but he claimed that he doesn't kiss and tell."
"Does it matter where the Pineapple came from? It's like trying to figure out what came first, the chicken or the egg. Though in our case it would be the hen and the pineapple," Ace chuckled. The moment was short-lived though, and Sabo could pinpoint the exact moment that Ace shut down again, refusing to say any more.
The easygoing smile faded from Sabo's face and he sighed once more, wishing Luffy was there. He had a way of dissolving awkward silences like the one currently taking charge of the room. Sabo would take Luffy's endless babbling over awkward silence any day, even if it was just the hundredth retelling of how he'd gotten his hat.
His hat.
Sabo realized with a start that he hadn't seen Luffy's straw hat once at the castle, and the corners of his lips tugged down into a frown. Luffy used to wear it absolutely everywhere… was it possible that he'd forgotten its importance during the changing? The thought saddened Sabo, and he found himself asking, "Does Luffy still have his straw hat?"
"How?" Ace asked, his voice low. "How could you possibly know that he has a hat? Did you…"
Shit.
Sabo hadn't seen Luffy's hat since his capture, meaning he shouldn't have known it existed in the first place. He could feel Ace sizing him up, and Sabo knew that he would have to choose his words carefully should he want to survive this encounter. "I... met him a while back. He helped me, and I remember that he had this straw hat. I haven't seen him wearing it around, so I was curious, that's all."
"A while back," Ace repeated, his voice hardened and icy, and Sabo knew instantly that he'd said the wrong thing. He strongly doubted there had ever been a right thing to say to begin with, actually.
"You expect me to believe that Luffy helped you and never once said anything about it? He never steps out of the castle walls without one of us by his side, and while my family might tolerate your kind, they do not tolerate hunters. The only way you could have encountered him would be if you knew him while he was human." With every word, Ace's voice grew darker and deeper, his hands tightening on a chunk of tar on the back of Sabo's neck.
Sabo gasped, his body bending backwards unnaturally in an attempt to relieve the sudden, sharp pain in his neck. His hand instinctively reached up to behind his shoulder where he usually wore his staff but grasped only at empty air. With growing horror, Sabo realized that he was unarmed and therefore entirely unable to defend himself from Ace. He was at the mercy of a pissed off vampire, and in that moment, Sabo was afraid.
"Ace."
Izo stepped into the room, seething, and Sabo felt his heart drop out of his chest. His breathing hitched from a rush of panicked adrenaline, but he still could do nothing to defend himself. Ace's firm hold on his neck rendered Sabo completely immobile, lest he wanted to rip out a huge chunk of skin in the process. All of his muscles were rigid and tense, waiting for one or both of the vampires to attack.
"You're done. Go," Izo said sternly, her eyes reflecting an unsaid order. And, to Sabo's disbelief, Ace obeyed. He released Sabo's neck and furiously swept out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
His sole eye blown wide, Sabo's hand flew up to cover the back of his neck. Ace had ripped off a good chunk of skin in his anger, and it stung like a bitch, making Sabo grit his teeth. His fingertips came back red, and Sabo could feel blood oozing sluggishly from the new wound.
His hands were shaking, the adrenaline coursing through his system and flooding his body with unrestrained energy even after Ace had left. Sabo's mind had snapped into survival mode, and his body automatically shifted into a more agile and defensive position. His eye was trained on Izo, dissecting her body language, trying to predict her next attack before it would happen.
No such attack came though, and Sabo blinked. Opposite to what he'd first thought, Izo seemed more frustrated and concerned than aggressive. Her stance wasn't wide enough for any type of fast movement, and her fangs weren't even out despite the fact that she must have been able to smell the blood in the room.
She wasn't about to attack, but why? By all means she should have sided with her family over a hunter and yet, here he was, still alive. She'd protected him without even knowing what Sabo had done to provoke Ace. Just what the hell was she doing?
Izo attempted to give Sabo what he assumed was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but soon let it drop. "Don't be afraid Sabo, please. This is my fault, really, I insisted that he come in my place, I should have expected something like this would happen. It wasn't my intention to put you in danger, I swear."
"Why?" Sabo asked, his voice hard and steely. He didn't drop his guard for a second, trusting his instincts over his mind. "Why did you stop him?"
Izo's lips pressed together into a thin line. "Because it was more than a brawl. Ace was set on blood, not a friendly spar. To kill a family member goes against everything we stand for." Her eyes ventured over the discarded pieces of tar surrounding the hunter, and she dared to take a few steps closer. "Now, let me finish removing the tar so we can clean and treat the burns. You want to heal as quickly as you can, don't you?"
"I know that," Sabo replied tersely, ignoring her question. "But why do you care? I'm a stranger, a human, and a hunter on top of that. I trick and kill vampires for a living. You are being entirely irrational in liking me. None of you make any sense and it's confusing me." Maybe pointing that out was suicidal of him, but Sabo was past the point of caring. He needed answers and he needed them yesterday.
Izo only laughed, however, and Sabo stiffened, giving her an incredulous look. "Does family ever make sense, Sabo dear? We don't always choose our family and we don't necessarily choose who we love, but I'm afraid you've gone beyond the point of being a stranger to us. No, we may not know you all too well yet, and you are a human and a hunter, but you're still family. Most of us used to be humans too, even Haruta used to be a hunter of sorts like you are. We all have different backgrounds, but that's never stopped us before, so why should it now?" she asked, continuing her slow approach.
"And if I don't want to be part of your family?" Sabo asked, a sharp blue eye tracking her every movement. "I know too much, you can't just let me leave. What's to stop me from betraying you all?"
"Somebody that plans on betraying another wouldn't look so guilty about it. If you don't want to be associated with us, we'd understand. Don't think that you would be the first person to deny us," Izo said softly and dared to reach out and gently card her fingers through Sabo's hair. "That won't stop us from caring about you, Sabo. And quite truthfully, I don't see any unkindness in your eyes, either. You would never betray us, family or not. Or am I wrong in assuming that?"
Sabo closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He made to jerk away from under Izo's hand, but his body didn't move. Her touch was comforting somehow, and his breath slowly released, confused by what he was feeling. His fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly as Sabo tried to get a grip on himself. His head dropped down, exposing the marred skin on his neck and back.
"I just… I want to go home," he whispered, using his hair as a divider between himself and Izo. This was just all too much for him; the attack on the camp, his imprisonment, seeing Luffy again, this whole soulmate thing, losing his eye... all of it. His body was at its limit trying to carry the weight of it all, and his hands were shaking.
One hand pressed to his mouth to prevent any other noises from escaping. He hadn't cried since the day Luffy went missing, choosing to focus on the future and the present instead of the past, but now he could feel tears burning in his eyes, threatening to spill over.
"Shh, child. I promise that you will not be forced to remain here against your will. You will not be held as a prisoner or hostage of any kind ever again. Oyaji would never allow it, and I would never allow it either. Do you wish for me to come back later? You can't remove all of the tar by yourself, but I can give you a moment to calm yourself, if you need one," she offered benignly. She sounded just as pained as he felt, grief saturating her voice.
"No, let's just get this over with. There's no chance for my eye, but maybe some of the other skin can still heal." With that said, Sabo took one last stabilizing breath and lifted his head. He'd allowed himself a moment of weakness, and that would have to be enough to hold him over until he could get away from this castle and all of the pain it had brought him. He just wanted to put all of this behind him already.
Izo nodded and gently ruffled his hair. "I'll treat you to my special conditioner later. Trust me, your hair will feel as light as a feather once I'm done with it. You'll hardly notice it's even there, and it does wonders with split ends." She smiled reassuringly, and in a much more cheerful tone, added, "and it's strawberry scented!"
She got to work without another word, wiping away the blood that had spilled from his neck and massaging some oil into her hands just like Ace had done. Sabo shivered as her cold hands came into contact with his overheating neck, and he had to remind himself that Izo wouldn't attack him the way Ace had.
They talked about menial things to pass the time, and Sabo appreciated the fact that she didn't try to figure out just what had happened prior to her arrival. He didn't want to talk about it, and even after Izo had finished and left Sabo some time to himself, he couldn't stop the slight tremors that wracked his body from time to time.
He'd fucked up, big time. It was only a matter of time until Ace spilled what he now knew, if he hadn't done so already. Izo said he wouldn't be held here, but then again, she hadn't asked what had happened with Ace.
Sabo pulled his knees up to his chest, watching the door morosely. Izo was the closest thing he had to a friend here, he hated imagining her upset with him. The future looked bleak once more, and the most frustrating part was that Sabo was entirely helpless to prevent it. He wasn't the type to crack easily under pressure, but in the heat of the moment, his body had frozen. He couldn't think of what to do next, letting the abrupt change in Ace's demeanor get to his head.
It was no wonder Sabo's friends thought he was dead; he was an idiot, plain and simple. A vampire hunter unable to fight vampires was as good as dead.
Sabo buried his head between his knees, pushing back the despair rising up in him. He would not cry. There was too much at stake to cry. As long as there was still something to lose, Sabo would not cry. He repeated those words in his mind like a mantra, shoving all other thoughts aside.
The moment he gave up would be the moment he would lose everything, and Sabo would never lose anything ever again.
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