the forgotten and the forsaken

by fanficguuuuurl

"Be careful, Luffy," Makino would chide, fearing for him every time he stared into the sea too long. Her hands would shake as she dried the seawater from his skin and wiped the sand from his feet, "If you aren't careful, the sea gods will take you." a series of au drabbles/oneshots that will be updated sporadically and in no particular order

9. all he has left are embers

Back once more with an update! Hope you enjoy and remember that I do not own One Piece. Also, a big thanks to everyone who has liked, followed, or reviewed this story! :D

All he knows is his name. He is Sabo. He has blond hair and blue eyes. His hat is precious and his bandages itch. He knows little else, save for a feeling he dare not voice. Not to Dragon who stoically stares across the sea as if all the answers he seeks are out there. Not Iva whose flamboyancy never ceases to amuse him. Not even Kuma whose silence and soft-spoken nature is sometimes a balm to the noise that pounds in his head when he sits on deck. He has this sense, this feeling that grabs hold of his guts and twists. He feels…

Confined.

The walls are closing in on him, every rock of the boat is the potential to be crushed, to be suffocated. It takes him a while to figure out that it is not the walls of the ship he fears, it is his skin. It crawls as gooseflesh raises, a sense of wrongness extending from his toes to the hair atop his head. He feels… he feels too small for his body, as if he is bigger and grander than the figure in the mirror. His fingers twitch with the sense of missing. It is the strangest juxtaposition of 'too much' and 'too little' that wars within him. The sailors laugh at his seasickness and pat his back and he thanks them even as he feels his skin stretch another inch over what is inside him even as he lists with the uncomfortable lightness of containing too little.

He feels as though half of his soul has left him. Perhaps it has.

Iva tells him he was found in the East Blue. He cannot remember the 'East Blue' he was found in. But when he pauses to concentrate, to try to remember, he is struck by disjointed memories.

The almost good (there is laughter on his tongue and the sense of being complete and he thinks of bonfires and warmth and-)

And the bad (there is hunger he is starved and splitting he has been forgotten and he waits and waits and there is hunger).

He shivers when he tries to remember, and he has to assure the polite crew members that his skin is not cold, it is his soul.

Dragon tells him he found him in a burning blaze.

(He feels as though half his soul has left him. Perhaps it has.)

Dragon tells him he was rescued from scorching flames.

(All he has left are embers.)

That's it for now everyone! See you soon!