Chapter 5: Free as the Pirate King [2]
Ace woke up. He blinked at the ceiling, not quite sure what exactly disturbed his sleep. Clouds must have covered the moon, and the sun was yet to rise, so the room was covered in murky darkness, filled with shadows and barely distinguishable shapes.
Ace rubbed his eyes. Sighed. He felt so tired. He turned his head to the side to look at Luffy, to make sure he was okay. Squinting, he tried to make out his brother's silhouette in the bed next to his, and his breathing hitched when he realized that all he could see was only a pillow.
Ace shot up, panic rising, but before it could fully set in, he finally made out a sitting shape on the futon. Relief flooded his veins, despite his heart still trying to pound violently out of his chest. "Luffy?" he called out quietly. "What are y—"
Ace's back hit the floor with a startling force and, for a split second, the impact robbed his breath away. He had no time to comprehend what was happening when a weight settled on top of him, pinning him down. Steely fingers wrapped around his throat, strong enough that he felt them there but not hard enough to choke him.
Clouds parted, and the moonlight poured through the window.
Luffy stared at him, face void of emotions, yet danger glinted in his eyes like smoldering coal. Muscles tense and ready, his posture held an overwhelmingly unnerving intensity. His presence seemed to be filling the room up to the point of being nearly suffocating.
Ace felt like prey being pinned down by a huge predator. The feeling built along his skin, setting his hair on end. A feeling that he would have never thought to associate with his clumsy, lovable baby brother. And for one terrifying moment, Ace thought that Luffy would strangle him.
But then Luffy blinked. Recognition flickered across his features, and the phantom pressure let up. "…Ace?" he whispered in utter disbelief. He shifted his hand from Ace's throat to his face, feeling around his cheek, nose bridge, and eye. It was such a gentle action. As if he was touching something fragile, something that might disappear on contact. His expression was startled and scared and maybe a little bit hopeful. "I-I thought… you were just another dream."
Something hot pressed against the back of Ace's eyes. He gulped in a breath, then another, desperate to keep his shit together so he could fix this somehow. "It's not a dream, Luffy," he choked out. "I'm real. You're real. And you're back home with me."
Didn't seem that those words found a perch in Luffy's mind, the boy's focus moving from Ace's face to his hands. He curled fingers around one of his wrists and rubbed it a few times, repeating the same thing with the other one and eventually his neck. What started with a gentle patting around his throat turned into scratching until he all but clawed at the bandages, lips pulled into a sneer and eyes glaring at something that wasn't there.
"Luffy!" Ace cried out in alarm. "Look at me, Luffy!" His arms shot up to catch his brother's face and draw his attention to himself. "Stop it! Don't hurt yourself!"
Luffy froze, slowly blinking back into reality. "There are no shackles, Ace," he whispered, his tone tinged with bewilderment and awe. "No collar either."
Ace couldn't will away tears this time. His brother went through so much, and he really, really didn't know what to do to make everything better. He felt weak and so very pathetic, that it made him sick. Taking a deep breath, he pushed through it.
"No shackles, Luffy. And no collar," he said as firmly as he could.
"No them?"
"That's right, no them." Ace carefully pushed away from the floor, arms sliding around his little brother until he was safely tucked against his chest. Luffy didn't refuse, so he counted it as a win. "They aren't here. No one's going to hurt you anymore." He didn't know who 'they' were, but God forbid they would return to take Luffy away from him. He would sooner burn the whole world before allowing it to happen again.
A few silent minutes passed as Luffy gathered himself. Ace gave him time to build himself back slowly, being the patient and steady support his brother needed so he wouldn't drown in horrible memories.
After what seemed like an eternity, Luffy's arms finally came around Ace into a desperate hug. "Sorry," he whispered as he hid his face in the crook of Ace's neck, arms tightening around him.
"That's okay," Ace murmured. "You're safe. You're with me. I won't let anything happen to you. You'll be fine." He kept muttering reassurances to the point where he didn't know if it was to convince Luffy or himself. Probably both.
"Where's Sabo?"
An unexpected question made Ace stiffen. Only briefly, because he forced his body to relax. "He—He's with his parents," he lied.
"Can we go visit him?"
"I don't think so, he's pretty busy. You know how those nobles are."
Ace instantly cursed himself when he felt Luffy flinch. But there was no way he would tell the truth about Sabo's death now when his brother was in this state.
"Liar."
Luffy's breath was warm against his neck as he said it, and Ace's heart might as well have stopped beating.
"Sabo's not a noble. He ran away. He's our brother now."
Ace sucked in a breath as his heart restarted despite the guilt spearing it through. "Yeah," he exhaled. "Sabo's our brother. Nothing's going to change that."