Blame by Faith&Fantasy
Wow! So many views! I'm honestly blown away. I NEVER would've thought that this story would evoke this much interest, but I'm so glad it does! Thank you! *bows*
I played around a lot with this chapter, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. To avoid confusion, I'll tell you a few things now:
- this chapter starts with a flashback-thingie
- the chapter then continues from ACE'S POV from about the middle of the last chapter (right before Luffy walked into the treehouse)
Also, I use POV a little...incorrectly. Not as in the "I am doing this" or the "I said to him while eating a peanut butter cup" sense. But as in which character (and their thoughts) that part mainly focuses on. I hope that made sense.
My apologies for this long A/N. Just trying avoid confusion.
This an AU. The characters and their backstories up to a point are the same. Of course, this does not occur in the manga/anime.
- OOC
- no pairings
- rated T for violence (will change to M if requested)
- warnings: abuse and violence, mild swearing
Summary:
Sabo's death hit Ace and Luffy hard. Confused and suffering, Ace looks for someone to take his grief and frustration out on. Someone to take the blame.
Disclaimer: I own only the storyline. All characters, references to characters, settings, etc. belong to Oda.
Answers to reviews are again found after the chapter. Let the feels commence!
Chapter 3: Conflict
"The most dramatic conflicts are perhaps, those that take place not between men but between a man and himself - where the arena of conflict is a solitary mind." ~ Clark Moustakas
"Hey kid!"
A black-haired boy clad in a dirty orange tank top and faded yellow short spun around at the sudden shout in the otherwise quiet forest. An iron staff clutched tightly in his small fist, the boy's eyes darted around anxiously, looking for the source of the sound. His gaze landed on the quivering bushes to his right. The boy tensed, waiting for whatever had called out to appear. He didn't have to wait long.
Another boy, this one with blonde hair and a top hat with googles barged through the undergrowth, his face livid.
"You! You're the one who stole my treasure!"
Stunned, the black haired boy lowered his staff slightly. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The blonde stepped forward angrily, standing on his toes to get right in the raven's face. "My treasure! You stole it, I saw you!"
The taller boy blinked before scowling at the other child. "I have no idea what you're talking about." The raven shoved the other boy backwards. The blonde stumbled for a moment before landing on the ground with a pained 'umpf'.
"Liar!" The blonde shouted while jumping to his feet. He dusted off his blue tailcoat and straightened his top hat before turning to look at the raven. Seeing the confused and annoyed look on the other's face, the blonde child sighed. "I saw you at the Grey Terminal this morning. You were beating up these two big guys with that-" he gestured to the staff the raven clutched in his fist. "-and then you ran off with the brown sack they had been carrying."
The dark-haired boy looked surprised. He didn't think anyone had seen him this morning. Shaking his head, his face contorted back into an angry glare. "Prove it."
The blonde sent him a withering glance. "You hid it up in that tree along with the rest of the money you've stolen." The boy pointed up to the large tree above their heads.
The raven gaped at the other boy. He was positive that no one had ever seen him hide his treasure up there. He double, no triple checked! But the child wasn't bluffing. Hand's on his hips and chest swelling with pride, the blonde smiled a smug little grin as he watched agonized shock wash over the other's face.
His smile didn't last long however. Next thing her knew, he was pressed up against the tree behind him, the iron staff pressed crushingly against his chest. Eyes going wide, the blonde looked up at his dark-haired attacker.
"Look, if it's a fight you want, you got it. I got that money fair and square from those two guys."
"Yeah, and they stole it from me!" The blonde shoved the other boy off of him, causing the taller to stumble in surprise. "Look kid,"
"My name's not 'kid'."
The blonde blinked. "Fine. My name's Sabo." The raven stayed silent. "...and your name is..?"
"...the money is mine. It's my treasure now."
Sabo gaped at the boy for a moment before shaking his head. "Sheesh. Look, I know why you need the money." The boy looked at the blonde suspiciously, his iron staff still held defensively. Sabo looked directly into his obsidian eyes. The blonde's deep brown eyes reflecting the other's dark ones, determination shining in both.
"You want to be a pirate."
The raven's eyes grew wide before narrowing suspiciously. "Are you a stalker?"
"What!? No!" The blonde shook his head viciously, hands waving in the air. "I saw you staring out to the sea longly after you hid the money this morning." Sabo turned to where he knew the shore was past the base of the mountain. "I've looked like that before too." He turned back to face the dark boy. "I want to be a pirate too."
"...So you are a stalker."
"Are you even listening!?" Sabo exploded. The blonde let out a sigh, rubbing his temple while scowling. "I want to make a deal with you."
The raven lowered his staff a bit. "Explain."
"Let's work together! We could get twice the amount of money in half the time. Then we could set out to sea together." Sabo noticed how the other boy wrinkled his nose in distaste at the last part. "Look, I've read books about life at sea. It's way too dangerous for one person to set out alone, no matter how old they are. But with two we could watch each other's backs and all, ya know?"
The raven thought about it for a second, his eyes distant, before turning his harsh gaze back to the blonde. "Why should I trust you?"
A sly smirk broke out on the top-hatted boy's face. "I've known where your money was hidden since this morning. I easily could've taken it back by now, plus whatever else you have hidden up there."
"So, blackmail."
"Pretty much, yeah." Sabo replied with a cheeky grin showing a gap where a tooth was missing.
The raven turned away from the other, thinking. It didn't look like he had much of a choice now. The stupid brat would blab where his money was before he would have a chance to move it. And he had made quite a few enemies since he started his treasure hoard.
"Fine."
"Awesome!" Sabo fist pumped into the air, before sticking his hand out for the other to shake. "Then it's a deal."
The dark-haired child looked at the hand before letting his obsidian eyes meet the shining ones of his new partner-in-crime. "Ace."
Sabo blinked. "What?"
The raven grasped the other's hand firmly, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "The name's Ace."
"ARGH!"
Ace slammed his fist into the floorboards next to him, causing some of the wood to splinter. Pain prickled in his knuckles but the boy didn't even notice.
Why isn't it working? He clutched the sake bottle in his fist forcefully, the glass threatening to break. The drink was supposed to take his mind off of his lost brother, not bring up even more memories of the boy.
Pissed, the ten-year-old kicked the plate filled with the remains from his hunt to the center of the room, some of it's contents spilling. There was barely any meat left, and what was left would be eaten by maggots and flies by the morning. Ace looked over to where the freshly-tanned bear pelt was hanging to dry. Ace had caught the bear while it was sleeping, his pent up frustration had taken out on the animal in a battle that lasted less than ten minutes.
Sighing, the boy stumbled to his feet and made his way over to the closest window. The moon had disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds and rain was just beginning to fall. Ace pulled curtains over the window, securing them tightly so they wouldn't blow away in the storm. Grunting, Ace leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. He dimly registered that he had left the only lantern that was lit by the plate, but he couldn't care enough to get up.
I wonder what Luffy's doing.
Ace shook his head, rubbing the sting from his eyes. He shouldn't care what the brat did. Ace wanted nothing more to do with him
As if on cue, Ace's head snapped up at the sound of rustling coming from just below the treehouse. Putting years of training his ears to use, Ace determined that the sound was from some small creature, most likely a rabbit or a small fox. Tensing in preparation in case his deduction was wrong, Ace leaned to reach for his staff what he suddenly heard the familiar twang of rubber stretching and retracting followed by a thump from which he assumed was two small, sneaker-clad feet landing on the porch outside the hut.
His suspicions were confirmed when he heard the distinctive side-to-side foot hopping motion his little brother was so fond of doing when he was trying to decide what to do. When the younger made no move to enter, Ace decided to call out to him, albeit hesitantly.
"...Luffy?"
"Ace, is that you?" The younger boy replied as he ducked into the hut, eyes blinking in the sudden onslaught of light from the lantern. Ace's own detached gaze widened as he took in his little brother's form for the first time in a week.
The boy was thin, frighteningly so. His shirt and shorts seemed to hang off his body and Ace could make out the defined shape of his jawline and collarbones in the candlelight. His skin had lost it's healthy glow, the tan color replaced by a startling shade of grey.
Eye's finally adjusting, Luffy's nut-brown orbs searched the small space for his brother. They lit up upon landing on him, and Ace noted how even in his unsightly state, the boy's eyes hadn't lost their childish gleam.
He saw Luffy open his mouth to call out to him when he suddenly noticed the discarded pile of bones in the middle of the room. In the blink of an eye, the seven-year-old was at the bones, gnawing on them and slurping away loudly. Ace's face contorted with disgust as he watched saliva and bits of grind fling into the air. He pulled his foot in with detest as a glob of said substance landed on it. He wanted to yell at the kid to get away from his food and get the hell out of his sight.
But he's so thin...
Ace shook the thought away. Luffy didn't matter to him anymore. He could care less what happened to the boy. Still, Ace found his eyes roaming over the younger's body with practiced ease, searching for areas of concern. Catching himself, Ace forced himself to look away when Luffy raised his eyes expectantly to him. The kid must've asked a question, but with all the slurping and munching, Ace hadn't noticed. Guessing by the curious look on the younger's face and the way the tiny hands fingered some of the licked-clean bones, Ace deducted that the question had to do with the kind of meat.
Figures he wouldn't bother asking BEFORE eating. It could've been poisoned and the idiot would've never even known.
Shaking the thought away, Ace answered his brother blankly, finding it hard to actually summon the words to his mouth. "...it's bear."
Luffy stared at Ace with shock that quickly melted into unadulterated admiration. "Onii-chan's so strong!" Ace cringed at Luffy's voice. God, he gives me a headache. "And you repaired our fort! It looks so cool!" Ace didn't reply and simply tried to tune out the annoying sound coming from the smaller boy.
"Umm, A-ace?" Dammit. Luffy's stuttering voice broke through his wall.
"Hn." Ace noised, hoping the child would hear the annoyance in the simple tone and just shut up.
"Well, I was wondering if you are going to come back to Dadan's..." No such luck.
"Why would I go back to that shitty place?" Ace replied, his voice louder and more forceful. "This is where I live."
"O-oh. Right." Finally. He's done with these annoying questions. Why won't he just leave me alone? Ace intentionally ignored the warning bells in the back of his head that were pointing out his younger brother's obvious sadness and hurt. He's not my little brother anymore.
Suddenly remembering the sake bottle still clutched in his hand - when did he start holding onto it so tightly? - Ace lifted the drink to his lips and took a long sip. The alcohol might not be doing anything to stop the heart-tearing memories or his emotions, but the hazy buzz lingering in the back of his mind was almost pleasant. Besides, he went through so much trouble to get the sake from that red-haired old bat in the first place, he wasn't about to just waste it all.
"Ace, is that...sake?" Ace almost choked on the liquid as Luffy's whiny voice cut through his head, effectively shattering to bits whatever had remained of the numbing feeling in his head.
"What does it look like?" Ace growled, now thoroughly pissed at the younger boy. He watched with anger smoldering in his coal-black eyes as the other boy rose from his spot and actually had the gall to approach him.
"Sake." Luffy responded, looking upset. "You stole it from Dadan, didn't you? She won't let it go like last time. She'll be really upset." Oh, so now the brat was bringing her into the conversation. Ace wanted to smack the boy to get him to just stop talking.
"So what?" He drawled, rising to his feet. He was just trying to get the boy to back off and leave him alone. His headache was worsening, and Luffy's insistent questions were not helping in the least. "That old hag doesn't care crap about us anyway."
He saw the younger's face frown in disagreement, but Luffy didn't say anything.
Ace's eyes narrowed. Why was he even still talking to the kid. He needed to show him his place. "Besides," He continued, taking a threatening step towards the smaller raven. "What I do is none of your damn business." There. That aught to shut him up. Now he'll leave me alone and I can have some peace.
The younger stumbled backwards as though Ace had shouted "Boo!", crying out pitifully when his back his the wall. "I-I just don't want you to get in trouble, Ace!"
Ace saw red, and before he knew it he had Luffy's neck grasped tightly in his free hand and the small boy pushed up roughly against the wall, his tiny legs kicking the air. Ace's mouth was parted open in a yell, and he heard words leave it but he wasn't quite sure what he had said. All he knew was that he was mad.
Luffy's small hands scrabbled against Ace's hand, trying to pry the fingers off of his neck. Ace watched in disgust as his little brother's eyes started to well with tears. He's such a crybaby! Luffy's pathetic gaze met his own, and Ace felt his eyes narrow angrily.
And like that, everything just exploded.
The struggle to hold back had been lost to a red, hot anger.
All he hate, the anguish, and blame just came rushing out of the hard-hearted boy and into the small child in his grasp.
"You took him away! It's all your fault! ALL YOUR FAULT!" With each word that shot searingly out of his mouth, Ace tightened his grip around Luffy's neck, squeezing the air out of his throat.
He's a murderer! He killed Sabo! He killed my brother!
Luffy began to gasp for air, his wide eyes filling with panic as his face turned blue. Strangled words bubbled over his lips. "A-ce-pl'se-stpt!"
He's still talking! No! SHUT UP!
Ace raised the almost-empty sake bottle high in the air, briefly registering the struggles from the younger boy slowing down. With one last surge of rage, Ace brought the glass bottle down on Luffy's head.
CRASH.
Ace released Luffy's neck, the child's limp body falling to the floor with a dull thump.
Silence pounding in Ace's ears like ocean waves. The only sound was his own harsh breathing and the steady sound of rain on the wooden roof above. Luffy lay at Ace's feet, unmoving. Taking a shaky breath, Ace raised a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes shakily. He felt the adrenaline rush recede and his headache return full force.
Ace look down at Luffy, numbly registering the ever-so-slight rise and fall of the boys small chest. He was alive, just unconscious.
Almost as though someone else was controlling his body, Ace leanined down and grabbed the boys thin arms roughly. Rain was beginning to seep through the bottom of the window and spread across the floor nearest to the wall. Ignoring the small trail of blood, sake, and glass shards on the floor, Ace dragged Luffy towards the center of the room. The lantern had gone out and the entire hut was bathed in thick darkness. Ace dropped Luffy's body unceremoniously into the center of the floor. He look at the small boy for a moment before heading over to the small chest against the opposite wall. Grabbing two wool blankets, Ace walked back to his brother and quickly spread one over the small form.
Clutching the other blanket, Ace stumbled over to the corner, far away from any windows, and settled down. Exhaustion spread throughout his limbs and his head throbbed painfully. Ignoring this, Ace cocooned himself inside the blanket and curled up, facing the wall. He shut his brain down, not allowing it to think, and let sleep overcome him.
DUN DUN DUN. Hopefully not as bad as a cliffhanger as the last one? Maybe?
This seemed much more graphic than the last chapter. Even though technically the same scene. Hm.
Footnotes:
- I made up my own "Sabo and Ace meet" backstory. I'm sure there are a ton on FF, but I myself have never personally read one (I don't know why haha). I know it wasn't very complex, but I didn't want to take away from the main storyline too much. I felt like Ace and Sabo would've met in a fight over something stupid, but then Sabo (being the more rational) would try to find a way to avoid fighting. So he used blackmail XD
- I'm not sure if Sabo is shorter than Ace or not (the top-hat makes it difficult to tell), but for this I made him an itty-bitty-bit shorter
- I hope this doesn't seem like too much of a filler. I honestly thought it would be important to see the previous chapter through Ace's eyes and see his thoughts instead of just "ACE IS HULK-SMASH!" stuff. Although that's fun too.
- Ace did ALMOST care for a second, but he let his emotions get out of control. He was too stubborn to see past what he has already decided in his heart: Luffy is at fault for Sabo's death.
To my Reviewers!
noname - I still feel like I'm the one who should be thanking you hahaha. Without you reading it, I wouldn't have a reason to write it! :) That story looks interesting! I will definitely be checking it out. Thanks for the suggestion! Hope you liked this chapter.
Resha Tsubaki - Something about the idea of the D. Brother bond just going horribly wrong has intrigued me for a while. And TA DA! This was born! The outcome is definitely tragic. :( Thank you for reviewing! I really hope you will continue to read! *begging hands*
FuuYuki34 - Haha, a lot of people are very upset about the bottle! As you can see, yes, meanie Ace hit poor Luffy in the head with a SAKE BOTTLE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CHILD? When writing both of these chapters, I had to keep stopping because my heart was beating so much! And I apologize for the cliff hanger. Hopefully this one isn't as bad? Thank you so much for your review! :3
FlightWulf - Okay, first I need to tell you that your review LITERALLY had me falling to the floor laughing. Seriously, my dog was very worried. Your response was just so genuinely distraught and pissed at Ace. I LOVED IT. And I really liked how you saw that Ace wasn't drunk when he hit Luffy (as I tried to show better in this chapter). His emotions were just out of control, but he knew what he was doing. Which is bad. I'm a horrible person. And yeah, Dadan is gonna FREAK when Luffy doesn't come back. Well, as freaked as she can be and still retain her "I don't give a rat's ass" look. The Dadan-Luffy scene was fun to write. I was choking on sappyness, so I ended up with Luffy saying something stupid and Dadan yelling at him. *shrugs* just the usual. Anyway, THANK YOU for your review. It was very encouraging to read and I hope you will continue to read/review my little story! :)
SABO - hehehehe no YOU are awesome for reading this! And I hope you brought tissues for this chapter. It was very sad. I'm sad just thinking about how sad it was T.T Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
Torao - Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I hope you'll read more :D
On another note, I uploaded a cover image that I quickly painted myself the other day with some acrylics and oaktag I had laying around. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I'm not a very good people-drawer (I stick mainly to critters), and I can't do that fancy computer art (that stuff is awesome. I so wish I could!). So yeah, just some old fashion paints. Anyway, let me know what ya think of it!
I hope you enjoyed (err, as much as you can enjoy someone strangling someone else and hitting them with sake bottles) this chapter. Drop a review, and it would make my day! Chapter four should be up soon. Back to Luffy's POV for that one :)
Respectively yours,
F&F