Warnings for semi-graphic panic attacks/flashbacks, self harm, blood, gore, etc etc.
Sabo didn't even react besides a quiet, pained groan when Ace finally tried to put him down. The bleeding had finally stopped, at least– but both of them were still absolutely covered in it. Ace wasn't sure whether he'd even be able to keep the shorts he was wearing, with the sheer amount of blood caked into the fabric. He had learned the hard way that there was no removing too much blood and this was definitely past that threshold.
At least with Sabo unconscious, Ace could settle that lingering worry of new human in the house, in my territory that still nagged at the back of his head.
He just wasn't sure whether it would be harder or easier to hide him. Neither Dadan nor the bandits would likely hear them talking (or screaming, he couldn't help but think, and nothing he thought of next could make his fur lay flat again) but he also would have to bring Sabo inside without jostling him or making noise himself.
Or without hurting him further. Something that sounded so simple, if only Ace wasn't as admittedly violent as he was– was he even built to be gentle? (Just glancing Sabo over, he could pick out the thin pink welts and lines from his claws. Scratched out of fair skin like tattoos, crisscrossing all across exposed and dirty wrists and arms. It wasn't his doing, but Ace's nails were caked underneath from blood. If he clenched his fists he could feel it buried under his claws. Unable to shake off. To wash off.)
It was easier said than done, and he wasn't managing to fail or succeed just by standing outside.
Anything would be better than how they were now. Sabo was still panting raggedly, slumped in his arms. Sweat-soaked and silent. He hadn't even opened his eyes since Ace first picked him up. Ace wasn't about to try and nudge him awake now whether it would be easier or not– it was probably better for the both of them, that Sabo just stayed unconscious.
I'm not sure how I would react if he was awake right now, Ace's brain whispered treacherously. Injured, hurt, for me– but in my territory. On forest Ace had scented, had claimed. Bleeding out in his arms, as Ace willingly took him to his den.
He couldn't stop thinking about how he had found the other for the entire run. Every time his eyes caught the blood still wet on his hands Ace could see the look on Sabo's face– eyes huge and unseeing, glazed with pain and panic and face splattered with his own blood up to his brows–
Just how powerful do humans make these traps?! A growl shook Ace's chest and he didn't even try to push it down, disgust twisting the anger in his gut.
(Fear took a backburner, still cold and dense in the framework. But for now, it was just muffled; Just barely blanketed by the heated relief that rage brought. Just like every other time, Ace took his fear and dug, and dug, and dug until it was so deeply buried it was like a solid, tiny, cold little cyst rather than the obsessive amalgamation it always was.)
Do they really want me dead so badly?
(Why does everyone want me to die so much?)
Ace bit his cheek so hard his teeth punctured the fragile skin, and for the first time, the taste of blood almost made him want to throw up. "Come on," He murmured pointlessly, and tried not to think about how automatically gentle he was in lifting Sabo back up into his arms. He had taken so long that it was too dark to see past the tree line surrounding the Bandit's den– long enough that Ace doubted any of them were even awake, if not already stupidly drunk.
Too drunk to remember me bringing in a human, he hoped. Too drunk to question the blood.
He didn't have to worry about either. The only bandits still awake were so drunk Ace doubted they would be able to stand up, much less ask him about Sabo. He couldn't even guarantee they saw anything different about Ace at all– and not for the first time, he wasn't complaining. Not being hassled for once was one less obstacle to getting Sabo into his "room" and actually helping him.
His paw pads barely whispered across creaky floorboards, his claws making tiny little snickt snickt sounds with every careful step. The den was luckily small. Small enough that even at the slow, cautious speed that they moved Ace was quickly pressing the door to his "room" closed behind him and carefully setting Sabo down by the far wall.
All Ace really had was one of the ratty blankets Dadan begrudgingly lent him that he hadn't managed to rip up yet– and an extra pair of shirts and shorts– all of which he dragged over. The shorts he tucked under Sabo's ankle, careful not to let the still raw wounds scrape across the floor or fabric. He didn't really understand why the bandits always elevated bad legs, but it couldn't hurt, could it? Not any more than Sabo already was, at least. His claws tore through the shirt like thick strands of yellow paper. The human cringed, almost jerking out of Ace's hands when he moved to cautiously hoist his leg into his lap.
I'm lucky that's the worst I'll have to deal with. Sabo was never much of a finicky person, from what little he knew about him. Always keeping his thoughts off the surface and off his face. It was a large part of why Ace hadn't wanted to just walk up to him, those first weeks in the forest– at least hidden in the bushes, when Sabo didn't know he was there, the human didn't feel the need to hide.
Even in his sleep, his eyes screwed up in clear pain when Ace tightened the makeshift bandages into a firm knot. Ace wasn't sure whether it was a bad sign or not, that seeing the human in clear, uncontested pain, was so relieving to him.
(He's not hiding. He can't hide this, not from me. I won't screw up again.)
He'd have to clean up the blood he had gotten smeared across the floor. Hopefully what was left of his shirt would be able to mop up the worst of it– Dadan didn't have his nose to be able to tell bloodstains apart from whatever other stains were littered around the den. It was one of the small, tiny ways he could try to fix the situation as best he could.
There was nothing else he could do to hide the human beyond hoping the bandits would all have hangovers enough to be downed all day.
Even Ace knew that was in no way a solid plan. What he could do now didn't account for what would happen tomorrow, or the day after that, or after that– how long were humans supposed to take to heal, compared to werewolves? Certainly not fast enough to make their escapade clean and unseen. With a wound like that, Ace himself would have been downed for at least a handful of days– and unable to walk for some of them. Dadan had warned him that humans were just a little flimsier, that their bones were more brittle and their skin thinner– just how much did that mean for?
"I'm just trying to stay alive," Sabo said, eyes down, voice quiet as if he wasn't entirely sure he even wanted Ace to hear, "We all are."
They'd just have to make do, like always.
At least, he reassured himself, eyeing Sabo's leg carefully, I know how to wrap a proper bandage.
—
They were both awake barely before dawn.
Ace barely slept in the first place. Not that he didn't try. He spent hours as still as possible. Aimlessly trying to just drift off only to get up what felt like every 5 minutes to pace in a new circle and settle right back down again. It was simply possible to relax. His ears were constantly twitching between Sabo's harsh, shallow breathing and the snores of the bandits out in the other rooms. He only really gave up once Sabo groaned, the pain shaking the human awake.
Immediately, Ace was on his feet. Paws melted to hands and he prodded carefully at the bandages, unable to help the small, instinctive whine in the back of his throat at how they had soaked through.
The leg twitched under his nose. Sabo didn't manage to move more than a centimeter before his body tellingly stiffened, expression tightening in pain. "...Ace?" Sabo murmured. The human looked even more exhausted than Ace felt. "W-where— Ace where are we?" Shaking pale hands groped around the floor and Ace watched Sabo's eyes fly open as it clicked that he was unarmed. "Ace?" He asked again, voice pitching in panic.
There was barely time to hesitate. (There was plenty of time. Why should he have to answer? Why would he so easily give up his home and it's location to some human—) "You're in my den," Ace said briskly.
Blue eyes stared uncomprehending. Glazed with pain and confusion, Ace wasn't entirely sure if the human was even listening. Ace flushed hotly, snapping, "they would have found you if I left you!" The expression remained fixed on Sabo's face and Ace growled, turning away to pick instead at the meager first-aid kit he had swiped from Dadan's pantry in a fit of late-night restlessness. "Just— just shut up and let me fix the bandages, okay?!"
The reminder of last night was what finally kick-started Sabo's brain. Had him freezing, stony and silent as he remembered–
(blood, everywhere. Dark, dizzying, dirt under his fingernails and bone scratching wet against metal wrong wrong wrong under his skin, in him– keeping him pinned, keeping him still, keeping him caged– Ace– they were after– Ace––)
In an instant, Ace was choking on the stench of fear.
(Coupled with the still heady reek of blood, Ace's vision wavered with dark forest floor muddy with blood. Teeth clamped so deep into pale flesh that the metal no longer gleamed. Sabo's screaming—)
Ace spun around, quickly pressing Sabo down against the floorboards just as the idiot human reached for his leg. "Don't you fucking dare!" He snarled.
(Vision still spinning. Stuffed with the hazy sight of Sabo's trembling. Desperate human hands slick with blood, frenzied pale fingers digging into his own wounds—)
"Don't touch it! Don't fucking touch it, I'll kill you if you move!"
Sabo just looked up at him, wide-eyed and frozen. His smell was replaced by cold shock and surprise, staring as Ace panted in front of him. He could feel his hands shaking. He could feel everything shaking– vibrating off and out of place, unable to stop.
(Blood everywhere. Ace could hardly believe so much blood could be in a person. It took him hours to scrub off-– trying over and over with ears pressed back, trying and failing to pretend he wasn't glancing back towards Dadan's den. The scratches and welts had all healed by the time he had gotten back, but he could still feel the blood under his claws. Stuck in his fur, in the creases of his palms. Every sneaking look down only mocked him with how they continued to shake.)
What am I doing?
"...Don't touch it," Ace ordered, more quietly this time.
When he pulled back, the human didn't move. Blue eyes stayed pinned on him. Ace's chest felt tight with the weight of it, skin pulling foreign and wrong. "...I'm… I'm just going to check the damage," Sabo said slowly. The words fell awkwardly off his tongue, swollen and hesitant, as if he was testing them out as he spoke.
Liar.
Ace didn't reply. He was still struggling to break through the afterimages of blood and fear, wholly weak and human fingers clawing at the dirt for purchase. The fear hadn't disappeared from the air, though it had faded. Filtered out in the face of Sabo's shock. "Ace?" Sabo asked carefully. Ace could only smell pain on him. Pain and blood, blocking out everything else. "Are you okay?"
The question hurt. Hurt in a way that was stupid and selfish, that made Ace want to bury his face in his arms and not look back up. "I'm fine," he choked out. "I'll just— change the bandages. And then you can go home." He doubted Sabo wanted to be anywhere near him. Who would, human or not, after nearly losing a leg over him? Over him, because of him, his fault— tears pricked his eyes and Ace ducked away, furious with himself. Why am I so mad? Isn't this what I wanted...?
(Sabo injured, Sabo hating him, Sabo gone.)
(Ace, alone in the forest with a useless pack that hated him.)
(Please don't leave me.)
"Ace, I..."
"What?" Ace snapped. He couldn't help himself— the sudden fear rose up in his throat like magma, searing hot and choking. "Don't you want to go home? You can go and— and—" his claws bit into his palms. "—go and just. Do stupid human things, and—"
He jumped when a hand slapped onto his arm. Sabo's face was twisted in pain, braced precariously on one hand and one shaking knee to reach ace. "Stop that," he said, voice bitten off in a mix of anger and agony, "You fucking idiot, you goddamn dog—"
The insults weren't even registering past the sudden roar of what are you doing. "What the hell?!" Ace started. "What are you— no, lie back down your leg is practically shredded—"
"–and what, you think I can go back to the terminal with a "shredded" leg?!"
Ace froze but Sabo just barreled right on. "Who do you think did this to me, Ace?!" Ace couldn't help the inner mantra of me, it was me, what are you talking about— "Bluejam's goddamn lackeys set that trap specifically for us! Even if I managed to get back to the terminal, they're all there and I'm screwed if I can't fight or even run— And I'll be dead anyway because it's the fucking terminal—" his grip tightened almost painfully on Ace's wrist, knuckles white with exertion. "—I'll either die slowly of infection or I'll die slowly as a slave," Sabo finished numbly. "Please. Can I stay here for a bit?"
Ace couldn't help but stare. If Sabo had bothered to say anything else, it was utterly lost on the werewolf- Ace could barely think through the roaring buzz in his ears.
(The one that pulsed, throbbed, raced like his heart on a hunt. Beat out a pathetic stay? With every thump.)
(It was all he could focus on, and nothing he could comprehend.)
That hand loosened, Near imperceivable to Ace's cold nerves. He could see Sabo's lips move but hear none of it.
Stay? His brain still whispered, he wants to stay?
Someone would still want to...?
A large hand clapped down into Ace's shoulder and he jerked violently. Sabo's lips had pressed into a thin, white line, eyes huge and face pale and Ace turned.
"I'm not going to ask," Dadan said, "just this once."
Her eyes, when Ace followed them, were pinned to Sabo's leg as he slowly tried to pull it under him, carefully but quickly struggling backwards. There was something almost uncomfortably subdued in her gaze. Something knowing, seeing in a way that Ace didn't understand. "If he stays, you're responsible for any blood on my floors, brat," she eventually huffed.
The boys watched her stomp back out with a remarkable lack of yelling. Ace was still gaping when he turned back to Sabo. The blond was completely frozen, one hand braced on the wall and the other on the floor; poised as if he was ready to launch himself to his feet at the slightest movement.
He looked almost naked, fingers straining subconsciously for his pipe.
"...She's not a werewolf," Sabo eventually said, and Ace's brain seemed to finally start working again.
"None of the bandits are," he managed. "Only Gramps is, an' me." He was pretty sure Gramps actually did offer, at some point— even if he couldn't remember it. But Dadan called werewolves filthy, and she clearly wasn't one now, so...
He carefully pushed down the tiny, whispered memory of her drunkenly muttering about protection and humanity. It didn't matter. She wasn't a werewolf, and she wasn't his pack.
"...let's just... fix your bandage," Ace said awkwardly. The blood that had already been soaking through the wrap had been jostled too much by Sabo's extra movement. If they didn't change it soon, there really would be blood smeared around that Ace would have to clean. "And then I'll go and find an extra blanket, or something."
He had to duck his head down, fiddling with the ratty old first aid box left on the floor instead of possibly facing whatever expression Sabo was making. The "thanks" was unavoidable anyway. Quiet, whispered. It still made Ace flush, the word chasing him out of the room.
Sabo slowly relaxed against the wall, a tiny grin quirking on his face.
once again, sorry ch 3 was posted so late. on the brightside ch 4 is now here enjoy lol
thank you for commenting on the last chapter! i spend much less time on FF compared to Ao3 so its nice to still see some reaction even if much less