Pairing: MarcoAceSabo

Prompt: 'Little Red Riding Hood AU' For Anon.

Rating: T to be safe (plus I should mention this leaves you with more questions than answers *grins*)

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"This is absolutely mortifying." A mutter came out of me and the man next to me adjusted his red cloak before looking to me.

"You know how the village is, they are hoping that the Wolf will leave us be to fully pass." I looked to green eyes before sighing out with arms crossing, shifting the basket hanging on my arm.

"The Wolf is said to cater to dark haired females, but 'Grandma' only trusts females. Why are we being sent, yoi?" I asked and Sabo made a shrug before tugging at his gloves, making me frown on when he tugged extra on his left one, trying to hide the scarring. No matter how many times I tried to tell him he looked amazing even with the scars, he wouldn't listen—especially after what the elders said to us both.

"The Wolf won't bother you both with such... attributes." The way they spoke I knew he was speaking of Sabo's scarring form a fire years ago and about my short life span I have. It was no wonder they were trying to hit two birds with one stone. If the information got to Grandma then it was all good and if the Wolf were to kill us then they wouldn't have to worry about wasting anything on us; not that they would.

"Anyways," I started off again while moving to the door of our hut and knew they would sanitize this place after we leave to have someone live in it that they thought to be more worthy. I knew they were waiting for me die so they could have an easier means to kick Sabo out and use his fear of fire against him. "We should head out so we have a decent amount of time to reach the home and still be daylight out."

Sabo agreed with me as we began for the edge of the woods, knowing no one would see us off like they did the others. The code name of 'Grandma' was actually someone who was part of the Sanction, a place that dealt with supernatural beings that caused trouble. I assume they thought our village was fine with no reports, but we were starting to rely on close sources and running severely low on food and other resources, the community had started relying too heavily on outside connections.

Walking along down the path that had started to be covered heavily with weeds and clovers, we kept a normal pace next to each. I had the hood on, having a matching cloak to Sabo's, and he left his down while keep an eye out. Out of the two of us, I was stronger by just a hair and Sabo was somewhat dependent with me since kids. I knew he would have been fine once I finally die, but at the same time I hated thinking I was leaving him alone. I knew that's what he feared most was to be alone and have no one to turn to. The only problem was that I have been keeping it hidden that I was getting weaker and tried hard not to let him know, but my days were running short.

A low growl brought my thoughts to a halt and we continued on, but both highly aware we were not alone anymore. It only took a few more steps before the bushes rustled before us on the side of the path and out came a large wolf, stalking and barely had been covered by the forestry. Dark fur was long enough to give the beast a good coat for the winter, but not heavy enough to weight it down. Eyes glimmered darkly with a silver lining and the large paws moved along the dirt path as the growl was lowly emitting from teeth slightly bared.

"Let us pass, Wolf." Sabo spoke firmly to show we were of male, though the beast probably already knew that. "We have no business with you." The remark was there as I watched those eyes flicker between us and land on me solely longer. I assumed it wanted me to speak, but instead began moving closer towards my direction.

A strain was in me, but I decided to hold firm as the growling stopped and Sabo was somewhat shifting nervously. When it got close in proximity, I could really tell how it was half my six foot height, but just barely at that spot. The head tilted curiously as the beast eyed me before moving to sit back and just kept its head high as it eyed me more. Eyes bore into me before it made a muffle noise in exasperation and I gave a raised eyebrow.

"Did it just laugh at me?" I asked towards Sabo who was staying in his spot with a light noise of confusion.

Before Sabo could mention something, the wolf again moved closer to me as if it was nothing more than a docile stray. It moved up closer to me to sit before moving a paw to press at my thigh and gave ears twitching a bit down with a whine. A noise of surprise was leaving Sabo as I stared to silver-like eyes in shock and slowly let a hand rise to begin rubbing to the muzzle. A huff was there from the beast before it moved to press the nose to my stomach with heavy sniffing and I made sure to keep myself firm and let the animal explore with no provoking it.

Shortly it made a huff before stalking over to sniff at Sabo more freely, most likely noticing me as not a threat. After the beast seemed satisfied of whatever it was looking for, it pulled away to sniff around at the basket hanging on my arm before growling to it while biting to the wicker. A noise left me as if to stop the wolf before it got it fully off and stalked off with it to the bushes not far. I gave a quick look to Sabo as he did the same back, not sure what to do since our whole purpose rests in that basket to take to Grandma. The tail of the beast was moving slightly as it got the basket shoved away before stalking back over while sitting back down in front of us. A whimsical look was in silver eyes as I soon sighed out with arms shifting in a shrug as I looked to Sabo.

"What now? It's obvious the Wolf doesn't want us to take the basket to our destination, yoi." I mention before Sabo crossed arms over his chest with an exasperated noise.

"I don't know…. Go back?" He suggested which earned a growl and it surprised us lightly as teeth snagged my cloak and tugged. Eyes glimmered in a serious way and gave more tugs of protest, making me stumble a few steps towards the wolf before it snapped to Sabo's cloak and tugged to it as well.

The Wolf didn't want us to go back?

I looked to Sabo after he gave way to being next to the wolf as we were on either side of it. This wolf just sat back down looking like it accomplished something and I was highly confused before carefully stroking its head. There was a tension before it relaxed with its head tilting to be scratched more along an ear. A feeling stirred in me as I soon moved to be kneeling and began ruffling the large animal that perked up before shifting to roll to its back, making Sabo stumble a bit out of the way so he wasn't knocked over. By the show, I knew immediately the wolf was a male, but merely scratched at his belly as he wagged his tail and it made everything feel like a big joke.

This animal was the big scary wolf that killed people?

This animal that was happily taking the pets I gave him with such enthusiasm and wiggled around with noises of pure enjoyment? It made me laugh inwardly as I continued with eyes find green ones that stared in fascination before the wolf stopped and rolled with a growl down the path we just came from. We were both confused as I soon stood up and Sabo was being booty bumped by the wolf to be next to me and this beast was… was… protecting us?

"They are my prey, mutt." A man mentioned and I recognized the voice before someone in a black cloak was approaching, but everything seemed familiar about him. The wolf growled with a feral tone as he moved to have us back away from the man in the cloak and gave some snaps of his jaw. Hair were standing along the back of my neck as I began to notice why the man in the cloak was familiar before letting out a shaky breath.

"It's one of the elders…" I whispered so Sabo could hear and felt as a hand gripped to my arm and we were pressed together.

"Just like the last few, you won't be able to do anything." Confusion flared through me on hearing those words before there was movement and a flurry as the wolf before us was up and then there was skin.

"I won't let you have them!" A light sputter was leaving Sabo as if trying to speak, but I was utterly speechless as I peered along the muscled back with deep scarring of claw marks across it in three different areas. "I won't let you take anymore souls!"

"That is not your choice, I have already marked one." That had me stiffen, knowing that the elder had to be speaking about me and would call out on his name, but wasn't sure if I was right or not. Even so, the elders became corrupt after the head one took over and they just followed him, making me wonder if they knew about this. A hand was lifted as a finger began to curl and there was a pull on me, making me stumble a couple steps.

"M-Marco!" Sabo panicked as he tried to pull back and the wolf turned to look at me with those dark eyes and I noticed freckles sprinkled along his cheeks before he moved. A flare of pain was through me as I hollered with it, "NO! NO! GET OFF MARCO!" Sabo was shouting as teeth were in my neck and there was a searing heat and I heard an angry shout.

"You will not take a prime one from me!" The elder shouted as I was able to flicker eyes to notice the man in the black cloak quickly shift forward, but the wolf released me to shift and clash with the man. Fear trembled through me as I had collapsed and Sabo was grabbing me to stay sitting up.

"Oh gods, Marco…" He was gripping to my neck as the sensations in me felt… lighter. There was no pain and it was like a burden was lifted from my shoulders, like I was able to breathe easier. I quickly pulled up my shirt to look at my abdomen to notice the dark markings fading away. "It's… it's disappearing…" We both looked to each other in shock as I was basically marked with death before looking to the two fighting individuals, the wolf trying to hold off the elder whose hood had fallen. It was Akainu, as I thought, but that meant he was the one who was going to kill us form how he said we were his prey. Did that mean the wolf was just the excuse needed to scare them away from this animal that was potentially trying to save others?

The only thing I could really ask out everything was, "What is going on?"