HWM: Chapter 25

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.

Enjoy!

I'm so goddamn tired. What the fuck. Ugh.

Chapter 25 - Wakeshead

Luffy wakes slowly, to the sound of snoring. It's quiet. There's a clock ticking somewhere. He can feel warm, thick sheets on his skin. He wakes up warm for the first time in a very, very long time.

Slowly, he opens his eyes, and a rush of deja vu hits him. Shanks is asleep in a chair beside the bed. They're in the medical bay of Wakeshead. Shanks looks awful, with dark shadows under his eyes, and one of his hands is rested on the bed, close to Luffy's own. He's passed out, dead to the world, and Luffy is hit with a wave of affection and disbelief in equal measure as he looks at him. It's hard to even comprehend that he's there, real, right next to Luffy. Close enough to touch.

Glancing around, Luffy sits up. The room is filled with natural light; morning sunlight pours through large, bay windows lined up along one wall, catching on the pale blue curtains draping either side of them. Besides Shanks, there's nobody else in the room - that is, aside from Ace and Sabo, who are both asleep in pristine beds on either side of Luffy. Sabo's hooked up to an IV, pale, and his skin looks strangely grimy against the bright white sheets. Ace is curled up, facing away from Luffy. Neither of them are moving.

Luffy himself feels sore all over, he realises. It's like the strange feeling you get when you run for a very long time and every muscle in your body burns at once. His face in particular aches, as though he's been punched in the mouth, and one of his eyes feels watery and tender. He tries to sit up a little further and the movement shifts Shanks' resting hand.

The man jolts awake. He blinks for a few seconds, catching his bearings, and then his eyes slide over to Luffy. His face goes through a range of emotions in half a second; shock, disbelief, sadness, immense happiness. Luffy grins at him, though it feels strange on his bruised face, and Shanks asks, dumbly, "Luffy?"

"Shanks!"

Shanks stares for a moment. "This is real?"

"I think so…?"

"This is…" Shanks shakes his head roughly, as though to break himself out of some kind of dream. "You're actually here. Luffy, I found you! You're… you're here! You're alive!"

His voice is so filled with joy that Luffy can't keep the wide grin off his face. "Yeah! And you are, too! And you saved us!"

Shanks shifts upwards to sit on the bed and Luffy abruptly feels like it's all those years ago all over again. They clutch one another and Luffy feels six again, having just had his operation, mourning the loss of his wing. Only this time…there is no loss. Luffy isn't mourning. He hasn't lost anything. Ace is alive and Sabo is alive and Shanks is here and they're all going to be okay, and they're safe, and he hasn't been this happy in a very long time.

"You're alive," Shanks says again, as though he still can't believe it.

"Yeah. I am. And you're alive, too."

Shanks pulls away, swiping at his wet eyes. "I… tell me everything. From the beginning. Please - I have to know."

Luffy hesitates for a moment and then nods, watching as Shanks takes his seat again. "Okay. It's a… long story."

"We've got time. We've got all the time in the world."

Luffy takes a deep breath...and begins to talk.

He tells Shanks about being left alone in the city, and those first few days of terror and being sure that he was going to die over and over and over. He tries not to look at Shanks as he relives the confusion and the fear, and then the relief of finding Ace, somebody who would take care of him, somebody just as scared and abandoned and confused in this strange new world as he was.

"Ace is from Wakeshead," Luffy says, pointing over to his brother on the other bed. "And he hasn't told Marco yet. I mean, Ace'll tell him, we just… gotta give him time. It's really hard for him."

"I can imagine." Shanks shoots a glance over at Ace, whose huge wings almost hide him from view. "He looked after you? He took you in?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't have lived that long if he didn't," Luffy says truthfully. "I was really weak."

"What did you two do? Did you get off the streets? Did some kind of adult take care of you?"

"Nah," says Luffy flippantly. "But we were okay. Ace was ten but he was really strong and we ran around and stole and lived rough for a few years. It was kinda tough, but we were okay. And when Ace was fourteen, he got into gang work and we found a place to live in the grey district, and we've been there ever since."

"He was… he was fourteen? And he was associating with gangs?"

"Assoe-siat-ing?" Luffy wrinkles his nose. "He was in a gang, if that's what you mean. He did jobs for them."

"Which gang?"

"The asshole's one. Blackbeard's." Luffy sounds angry even at the mention of him. Shanks is wide-eyed. "But still, he paid Ace enough money and we could get by. Ace eventually got enough cash to get me into school but I didn't like it and the teachers said I had ADHD but Ace said I should stay there anyway, because he never got to go to school and he thinks it's really important. So I carried on, and he carried on working."

"You never got into gang work though, right?" Shanks' eyes flit between Luffy and Ace. "I don't think you get how bad it is, Luffy. For a kid to be in a gang. Especially the Blackbeards - Marco told me about them. They're vicious, Luffy."

Luffy laughs. "I know it's not good. It's not what you should have to do if you're a kid. But… you gotta, if you live in the grey district. Me and Ace aren't smart like Sabo - we don't know how to change the way things are. You haf'ta do something to survive, and we did it. We can't change the city, so we've just gotta do what it takes to live in it."

Shanks stares at him wordlessly for a moment and then says, quietly, "I should never have let them send you away. God, Luffy, I'm so sorry-"

"Don't be sorry; it wasn't your fault. And I'm not lying. I'm okay. I've got Ace and Sabo and you and I'm happy!"

Shanks looks like he's trying but failing to smile as he says, "What happened then? Did you stay in school?"

"Yeah. Met some really awesome people out in the other districts and we started a gang; the Strawhats. We're not the most wide-scale group but we had a base and we made a name for ourselves. And the rest of the gang looked after me and I looked after them, so we were pretty safe."

"What happened then?"

Luffy grimaces. "Then, we met Sabo. He was a human; used to live in the High District, so Ace took a job and tried to kidnap him. Long story short, it… didn't work. And they met one another and Sabo was really, really nice and Ace kinda didn't want to kidnap him so they separated."

"And then?"

"There was a…incident. I got stabbed. I was okay, really, but Sabo found me and took me to his level on the Stacks and patched me up, and he called Ace up as well. We spent a while with each other and Sabo is really, really awesome so we got along really well and Ace liked him and we became friends."

"...Stabbed," Shanks repeats.

"Yeah, that's what I said. Anyway, we were friends and Sabo's Stack got blown up so he moved in with us and I said we were brothers and Sabo agreed and Ace was stupid about it but he agreed too. We lived together for a while, until the Hunt-"

"Is that what happened to you? Were you okay? Did you guys get hurt?"

"Nah, we were fine. I mean, I got roughed up a bit and Sabo didn't eat enough but we were alright. The Hunt happens every year; it's not a big deal," Luffy says dismissively. "It only really went to hell when...well. The other day, Blackbeard declared war on a gang we know - the hearts. And a few days later, he burned down my gang's base. He's starting a bunch of fights. And we tried to keep out heads low but…"

"But what?"

"He found out about Sabo." Luffy's voice is quieter now, tenser, as though each word is more of a struggle. "And he hates humans. He came to the apartment last night and knocked Ace out and I tried to fight him but one of his men socked me in the eye and then held me back. And another one held Ace and Blackbeard started talking to Sabo and he kicked him, really hard, and-"

Luffy looks away, towards Sabo. Only the blonde's head and neck are visible; the rest of his body is obscured by blankets. It's almost as though somebody is trying to hide the damage. Luffy isn't even sure he wants to see the state of his hand. There's silence in the hospital room for a moment as Shanks waits with bated breath for Luffy to continue.

Eventually, he takes a deep breath and forced the words to keep coming. "He beat Sabo up. Real bad. And Sabo was bleeding and yelling and he's so stupid, it's all stupid, he just kept acting like it didn't hurt when it did and he wouldn't listen to Blackbeard so he just kept hitting him and hitting him and it didn't stop for ages. And Ace was crying and we couldn't do anything - we just had to sit there and watch as they nearly killed him. And- and-"

Shanks reaches out, tries to touch Luffy's arm, and he flinches away sharply. There's tense silence for a moment. Then, Luffy suddenly shifts into action, scrambling to his feet and clambering across to Sabo, as though he can't get to him fast enough. Shanks says, "Wait!"

Luffy doesn't listen. He doesn't try to touch Sabo, simply hovering by the bedside for a long moment, staring down at him. It's almost as though he's afraid to touch him.

It hits Shanks in a rush how much seeing something like Luffy did can mess up a person.

He had to watch as one of those he cared about most in the entire world was torn apart. He and Ace were helpless as a terrifying man like Blackbeard must have threatened them and hurt them and hurt somebody they loved. And now, as Luffy looks down at Sabo, Shanks can see that there's a glint of something unbearable in his eyes, as though he can almost hardly believe that Sabo is even alive at all.

"Luffy," he says. "He's going to be okay. The doctors said he's going to live."

"I…" Slowly, Luffy nods, turning back towards his own bed. He climbs under the covers slowly. He says, quietly, "Okay."

There's tense silence for a while. Shanks stares over at Sabo, trying to imagine what the kid must really be like for Luffy to love him so much. He used to live in the High District - Marco said that only the richest live there. Sabo's human, with thin, pale features, and slight bags under his eyes. He's all long limbs, lean in a way edging on unhealthy, in stark contrast to Ace and Luffy's stockier builds and darker complexions. Ace and Luffy and Sabo are as different as chalk and cheese.

Shanks considers telling Luffy about the operation and decides against it. They can breach the subject later. Instead he asks, gently, "You three escaped, then?"

"Yeah." Luffy wraps his wing around himself. "Yeah. Sabo kicked Blackbeard in the balls."

"...Wow."

"Yeah. It was awesome." Luffy smiles a tiny smile. "And then he socked the guy holding me and we ran, all the way to the pub, and then… I guess you know everything else. That's the story. That's everything that's happened since I've been here."

Shanks lets out a long breath. "I'm-"

"Don't say you're sorry." Luffy doesn't even look up. "It's been shitty but I met Ace and I met Sabo and I love them and if I had never left, I never would have known them. And that's all that matters. So stop saying you're sorry. I'm tired of people saying they're sorry."

Luffy looks up and meets Shanks eyes, and Shanks can't read the expression on his face but it's passionate and striking and true.

"I'm happy."

Shanks blinks. After a moment, he says hesitantly, "I guess I am, too. Now that I've found you, kid, at least."

And, surprisingly, Shanks finds that he's telling the truth.

Ace's eyes slip open. The first thing he sees is white light and for one bizarre moment, he's sure that he's died and gone to heaven. Or Hell. He squints into the light, trying to distinguish some kind of shape, and after a moment, the silhouette of a head swims into his vision. He blinks, confused, as a voice reaches the misty edges of his senses. This doesn't feel much like heaven.

"-ce? Ace? Can you hear me?"

In a jolt, Ace jerks awake, shooting up in bed and nearly colliding with Luffy, whose face is a few inches from his own. Ace blinks, trying to gather his bearings, and when he's sure that he knows which way is up, he lets his eyes land on Luffy.

"...You look like hell," is the first thing that comes to Ace's mind to say. It's true. Luffy is sporting a violently purple black eye and a pair of pyjamas that are obviously three or four times too big for him. They fall wide around his neck and over his wrists. Ace is so disorientated that it takes a few minutes for him to notice where they are.

"So do you!" Luffy replies cheerily.

"Where… where are we? What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is…"

Pain. Blackbeard. Blood. Bruises. Raw skin. Sabo. Yelling. Tears. Sabo. Hurt. Sabo. Sabo.

Ace physically reels a little, memories hitting him like a ten-tonne truck. They reached Wakeshead in the early hours of the morning and everything else is a blur. He glances around, suddenly panicked, asking, "Sabo?!"

"He's right over there. Don't worry, the doctor lady said he's going to be fine."

Ace glances over, to where Luffy is pointing. The only visible part of Sabo is his mop of blonde hair, and his lean form is very still under the blankets. Some small part of Ace is glad that he can't see the bruises from here.

"What was the worst of it? Did they have to operate at all?"

Luffy shrugs. "Shanks didn't say."

"Shanks… you talked to Shanks." Ace's head is spinning - too much is going on. "How was it? Are you alright? Did it go well?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." Luffy grins, clambering onto the bed. "It went awesome!"

"I'm glad."

Ace closes his eyes, mind buzzing with information. Shanks and Luffy. Sabo. Marco. There's too much going on and too much has happened and his head burns with it. Luffy slips under the covers, seeing to sense that Ace is having trouble, and his warmth against Ace's side is somewhat grounding, like some kind of anchor. Ace takes a few deep breaths and says, "We actually lived. We actually made it out of there alive."

Luffy nods. "Yeah. We're all alive."

"We can't let that happen again," Ace says, chest tight. "We can't let him go through that again." I can't watch that happen again.

"I know." Luffy glares at the ceiling. "We won't. No matter what."

"I'm gonna kill Blackbeard. I'm gonna rip out his heart."

There are a few moments of silence in the infirmary. Ace glances around, chest aching with familiarity. He remembers this place, remembers the light, airy feeling of the room, can recall with perfect ease the sharp smell of antiseptic in the air. Nostalgia hits him in a wave and he can't push away the feeling of wrongness - the feeling that he shouldn't be here. After all of these years, he's back at Wakeshead.

They hate you-

"What are you thinking about?" Luffy asks.

Ace shakes himself out of fast descending thoughts. There's no use in getting into the same thought process he's been subject to for years, at least not right now. He can deal with the thoughts and the fear and the doubt when he's got less to think about.

"Nothing, really. Sabo. You. Marco."

"You mean pineapple dude? He was up here a while ago. Asked if you were awake. I told him no, and-" Luffy lowers his voice mischievously- "I locked the door when he left."

"You're a little shit," Ace tells him. "Thank you. At least that gives me time to think things over."

"Anytime!"

Luffy clambers out of Ace's bed and wanders over to Sabo, sitting down beside the blonde and poking at his cheek. "He's still asleep…"

"How's he lookin'?"

"Really pale… and he's got this big bruise, like, everywhere." Luffy gestures to the whole of his face. "Ow…"

"Sabo's tough. I'm sure he'll be okay." Ace finds that he's having a tough time convincing even himself. "Did they say when they think he's gonna wake up?"

"No. I hope it's soon…"

"Me too, kid. But it won't be long. He's strong."

There's a tense kind of grief on the air. What happened is weighing heavily on Ace, and he can feel the memories pressing and pressing against his mind, trying to force their way in. The previous night feels like it lasted a million years. Ace feels almost raw with it, as though the whole thing is rubbing at his brain with sandpaper. It hurts to even try to remember it at all.

"It's gonna be okay," he says.

Luffy doesn't answer, still staring down at Sabo, and that's answer enough.

The main hall is in uproar as Marco comes down the marble steps. Hundreds of his family are crammed into the wide space and many look up as he descends. The hoarde is clustered around a youngish woman, one of the nurses, but it appears as though she's told her story and now people are processing what it meant.

Marco reaches the bottom of the stairs, confused, and Thatch shoves his way through the crowd towards him. "Marco! There you are!"

"What's going on, yoi?"

"Bella just told us; we took in three people last night? From the city?!"

"Yes, yoi. I know one of the boys, and Shanks knows another. We couldn't leave them, now in the state they were in-"

"That's not what I mean!" Thatch grabs his shoulders. "She says one of them looked just like Ace! Is he the one you knew? Is Ace really back?!"

"Thatch, Thatch, wait!"

But Thatch obviously can't be calmed down; most likely, none of the crowd can. Voices reach Marco from everywhere, asking for answers, asking questions. It's very loud and eventually he tells himself, fuck it.

Marco steps back up the stairs a few steps, then turns to look over the crowd and calls out, "QUIET!"

His voice echoes through the hall sharply. The room silences in an instant. Heads everywhere turn towards him, voice dying mid-sentence as people stop to listen to him

"Alright, listen up folks, yoi." Marco takes a deep breath. "It's true that we took in three boys from the city last night. One was injured badly. The other two weren't in great shape either, and the three were very close, so we took them all in. Two of the boys are called Sabo and Luffy."

"Shanks' godson?!" somebody in the crowd calls.

"The very same, yoi."

A murmur ripples through the gathered crowd. Somebody else shouts, "What was the third guy called?"

"We don't know his name yet, yoi - he refused to say."

"Could he be Ace?!"

"Yeah, is it him?!"

"Is Ace back?!"

"He's alive!"

Voices erupt through the crowd and Marco sighs, calling for silence again. Only this time, his voice makes no difference. The crowd are brewing with energy, excited and elated and curious, and he can't make himself heard.

Suddenly, from the very top of the wide staircase, another voice calls out, "Shut it!"

Silence falls slowly, but it falls. Heads turn everywhere and Marco looks up, surprised to see Shanks of all people standing over the stairs. After a few seconds, it's completely quiet. Every eye rests on Shanks.

"Alright. I'm going to be honest." Shanks takes a deep breath. "The guy up there, in the infirmary, is Ace Portgas. Your Ace, though he's changed his name since he knew you. He's the kid who you lost all those years ago. That's all there is to it."

A tremor runs through the hall like a seismic wave and it's obvious that the yelling is going to restart but Shanks carries on, unwilling to let himself be drowned out.

"So yes, your Ace is up there. But listen to me for a minute." He sighs. "The kids up there are all injured, all used to living out there in the city. Ace seems almost scared of you, according to one of his brothers. They've lived in depravity for years and even if they're here now, they still aren't exactly willing to trust as easily as you all might like. All I'm saying is that you gotta be careful, you have to try not to crowd them. They pretty much only trust one another, and it's going to stay that way for a while."

Marco's head spins. So the dark-skinned, freckled kid with blood on his face really was Ace. He can barely comprehend it, but at the same time, he isn't very shocked. Of course Ace would grow up to be a fighter, to be a protector like the teen up there is. As the volume picks up in the hall, people chattering and yelling and marvelling over the incomprehensible news, Shanks nods to Marco and turns away, disappearing deeper into the manor.

Ace is back. Ace is back.

Even with the elation soaring through him, Marco finds it hard to stay cheerful about the whole thing. Because Ace has changed. He's older, more wary, more scared. And he has a brother - brothers. New people to care about, new people to protect. It feels as though Marco's already lost him, before he's even gotten him back properly.

But at the very least, Marco is going to try to get him back. After all these years, it's the least he can do.

Thanks for reading!

Im so sorry for the lack of replies again but it's 5am and im legit about t

I love yall more than i can say

-lee