Prediction Of The Future
There is heat. Lots and lots of heat. Luffy feels desperate and he doesn't know why, and he feels scared, but he doesn't have any answers.
And then there is danger. A lot of danger and fear and the preparation of hurt. Luffy glances up and the devil is there, and he tried to scream but he doesn't and Luffy doesn't know why because he's scared. There is pure hatred in the granite eyes and Luffy feels the heat of Hell coming closer and closer—
And then there is a savior.
Luffy feels relieved for a while; secure. He feels as if he knows this person, and he somehow knows that this person loved him very much and will always protect him. But something is wrong and Luffy frowns because he doesn't know what—
And then there is pure, simple terror.
Because Hell hit through his savior's chest and Luffy's mind goes blank and red at the same time because nononothiswasn'tsupposedtohappen! They were supposed to escape together and-and—
The savior falls.
And Luffy catches him.
Something feels familiar about him but Luffy only stares at the devil for a moment before he glances at his savior and he sees—
Black hair. Wavy. Long.
Familiar.
And Luffy realizes with horror and terror who this is and the sudden grief and the pain is toomuchtoosoon and the agony twists in his stomach because this is—!
Luffy wakes up with a shuddering breath.
He frantically looks around the room and sees the same wooden ceiling of his room and the same bō staff leaning against his door, but he doesn't relax because there is still grief and pain and it confuses him because he doesn't know why.
Luffy is shivering and there are tears in the corners of his eyes, but he isn't cold and he isn't sure why he feels like bawling on the floor like a baby when everything is alright.
He bites his lip and curls into a ball, tears escaping his eyes and trying to rub them away; it's useless because there are more and more and Luffy is so confused because he doesn't know what's going on. He is afraid to fall asleep again and he doesn't know why.
There are flashes of heat and deep grief that leaves him breathless and makes his heart stop. He sees flashes of a place and he painfully buries his eyes into his knees to block out the images, because he somehow knows that they will hurt him in a way nothing has ever done before and Luffy doesn't want that.
He grips his hair and pulls it, and the images disappear with the pain. He pulls harder and is satisfied when he can't see anything and when the guilt lessens, although he doesn't know why he should feel guilty.
He relaxes and plops back down onto his pillow, hands already reaching out to grab the duvet; but there is a flash of somebody grabbing him and Luffy's eyes rip open in an instant because there is so much griefpainlamentdesperationfearhorrorthat he chokes on air.
Luffy stumbles out of his bed before he is even thinking straight, painfully knocking his knees against the floor. But he doesn't mind because it clears his head for a while; he has to go somewhere (where?), somewhere specific, he knows (safety), somewhere where he isn't scared and secure (assured).
Ace.
Ace.
Luffy falls over his feet twice before he reaches the door, shakily turning the doorknob and stumbling over to the door opposite to his; the name 'ACE' proudly written on the door makes him breathe out in relief. He desperately yanks down the handle of Ace's door and practically runs inside.
He dives under the covers; there is heat and warmth and a smell that is Ace, and his brain immediately translates that to you're safe.
Luffy has never been so glad to agree with his brain.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
There is anger. A lot of anger. He hasn't felt this angry since years, and anger isn't unfamiliar but hard to control for him. But he doesn't know why he's angry, and that confuses him because there's usually a reason for him to be mad. There is the anticipation for a fight, a desire to hurt somebody. He is familiar with that feeling and he wonders what that person had said to make him so angry.
And then there is complete and utter terror.
He world is suddenly ice-cold and his heart hammers in his throat. He turns and runs and everything is just a blur of gray walls and fire and Ace is so confused because he doesn't know what to do or why he feels so frightened.
And then there's pain.
So much pain.
There is a stab that goes through his chest, followed by unbearable heat and he coughs up something—blood, maybe, although he doesn't know anymore—before it retreats. He falls, and he is prepared to fall to the floor but he doesn't because—
Someone catches him.
And that someone feels familiar to him but he can't place it because pain overrides everything else in his mind. But he glances at the person who caught him and he sees—
Straw. Red. Black hair.
And then there's peace and tranquility and he relaxes because he knows this person very well. But then, there is pain in his stomach that has nothing to do with his injury because he knows he will die and he promised he wouldn't to this person. He promised because he loves this person very much.
With horror, he realizes he is dying in the arms of—
Ace wakes up when he hears his door bounce against his wall.
He doesn't have much time to do anything when something dives into his covers; he wants to punch it, merely out of instinct, but stops because he hears sobs and he sees a tuft of inky black hair peak out of his duvet.
But mostly, he stops himself from punching his little brother because his brother senses are going insane inside his head.
He gently lifts up his covers and glanced into the darkness. He is glad that it is full moon tonight because otherwise he wouldn't be able to see anything; but it only takes one look and Ace wishes he hadn't looked.
Luffy's wide eyes stare back at him, terrified like the eyes of a rabbit cornered by a gigantic bear. There are dried trails of tears on his otouto's face and he is biting his lip in a very obvious effort to keep himself from crying.
Ace immediately pulls his little brother into his lap, grabbing the duvet and placing it over Luffy's shoulders. He ignores the fact that his little brother is nearly fourteen and leans against the wall, taking his otouto's arms and putting them around his neck gently.
He feels his little brother slump in his hold, and he gently pushes his brother's head under his chin, leaning his cheek against the crown of the boy's head. It seems like that action broke the dam because his little brother's grip tightens and he buried his head deeper into Ace's collarbone, sobbing.
Ace carefully strokes circles onto his little brother's back, rocking slightly just like he used to do when Luffy was younger and running into his room because of a storm. The gesture is nostalgic and feels somewhat melancholic to Ace, and he smiles slightly at the thought.
"Luffy?" Ace asks gently, glancing at his little brother but only seeing the inky blackness of Luffy's hair. "What's wrong?"
Luffy has to breath a few more times before he can answer. "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Ace asks back, swaying from side to side. Years ago, he would've been mad and might have even hit Luffy for not knowing and wasting his time, but he doesn't anymore because he learned that it takes patience to deal with his little brother. Ace has enough patience now (half of it painfully beaten into him by Makino's classes).
"I'm scared," Luffy admits, a feat in itself because his little brother usually fears nothing. Ace starts to worry.
"Scared? Of what?"
"I don't know," Luffy whispers brokenly, and Ace reaches up one arm to stroke his brother's head gently. "I just feel as if something really bad just happened. Like, really really bad."
"A nightmare?" Ace suggests, thinking back on the dream and he feels dread pooling in his stomach (a warning), but he ignores it because Luffy comes first. "Or maybe you ate something bad?"
"I don't know," Ace feels his little brother bury himself further into his collarbone and sights, rubbing circles again and swaying from side to side. "I don't know, I'm sorry."
Ace quirks an eyebrow and tightens his grip on his otouto. "Why are you apologizing?"
"I don't know," his little brother whispers, and Ace hears the sobs and feels the tears again and he looks worriedly at his little brother. "I'm sorry. I don't know, I'm sorry. Sorry, Ace, I'm sorry. I don't know. Sorry—"
And for the first time in years, Ace does shushing noises again. The cries only get louder and the nimble fingers of his little brother dig into his shirt painfully,Luffy;s shoulders are heaving as if he is crying out all the grief in the world and it breaks Ace's heart into a million pieces because he doesn't know what to do.
"Stop apologizing—you have nothing to say sorry for, Luffy," he whispers, ruffling hair and rubbing his otouto's back and placing the covers back onto the quivering shoulders. "It's alright."
Ace feels his little brother nod against his shoulder, pressing his eyes into his neck and Aace grimaces, because it hurts slightly. But he only adjusts the duvet back onto his otouto's shoulder—
The last thing he remembers is his head hitting the wall.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
When Dadan sees Luffy's door open, she is surprised. She glances into the room and rolls her eyes when she finds nothing. Of course. She turns around and looks at Ac'es door, noticing that the door isn't properly closed. It is only slightly unusual since Ace tends to fall asleep as soon as he steps through the doorway.
She carefully pushes the door, just enough to peak her head in, and peeks inside. She smiles around the cigarette in her mouth at the sight and sighs. She has to bite down on her cigarette so that she doesn't laugh at the image. She closes the door.
And when Dadan walks down the corridor, she bursts our laughing because the image of Luffy's arms around his big brother's chest and his legs encircling Ace's hip and left leg while Ace strokes Luffy's hair just makes her smile.
The smile widens when she remembers that Ace was asleep and did it unconsciously.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
Author Note:
The beginning nearly makes me cry T.T
Sorry, this is quite short-ish, but I'll write some more over the next week or so, depending on my mood. I seem to have some kind of obsession of Luffy and Ace sleeping together, I don't know why XD The image is just so cute with a capital 'C'.
This is also sorta the chapter I promised to one of the reviewers, Honeydee, who asked for some more hurt!Luffy. It's not very long, but I'll post another chapter with more hurt!Luffy and Panicked!Ace because we all know that Ace otherwise doesn't get it (at least, while he's younger. The older he gets the better/more accepting he is towards his brother, or something like that).
Any requests? I'm open for any ideas.
Hope you enjoyed and please review!