Just Like Fire (Ace x Reader)

Chapter 27: Not Yet

The next week was a blur.

You and Sabo had no intention of going back home, and so you utilized the facilities at Sabo's job and video conferenced with your parents. Considering the topics you were going to discuss, you'd done so with lawyers present for both yourselves and your parents.

Sabo took lead, and his boss, a man so imposing you were intimidated, supported him. Between the two you didn't have to say much of anything.

With the recording in your possession you didn't have to divulge the details of your curse, only that you were. Even then the decision was made to bring it up because you and Sabo wanted your parents to release both of you without contest. After all, if one of their children spontaneously showed signs of being cursed, then it was very possible it could happen to Sabo as well.

Which was completely impossible, but the agreed story for public release meant not disclosing the fact that your parents had been poisoning you your entire life. So it was agreed that you had simply manifested your abilities after a local doctor had miraculously cured your chronic illness. For his own safety the doctor's name wouldn't be released to the public, Law would never know a moment's peace if that happened, and might even be pressed into government service.

In the end, you and Sabo were struck from the records. No longer did either of you have any association with your parents, at least not legally. You didn't have the perks and benefits of nobility, but you also didn't have the responsibilities or risks from it either.

Technically it would give your father more leeway to have you murdered without facing any consequences, but Sabo warned that harm to either one of you would release the entire drama to the public. People wouldn't only know that your parents had tried to have you killed, they'd know about the poisoning and suppression - that your parents knew you'd been cursed since you were born.

How nobles could be cursed.

One of the biggest secrets the government wanted to keep out of the public arena and it would be their fault. There was no way the dragons would let something like that go. Their hold on the world was already far more fragile than they wanted it to be, and a large secret like that coming to light could be the start of a revolution.

You were in calls for hours every day for the whole week.

It seemed like something that should've been so cut and dry, but instead it was a legal marathon. Sabo held up well throughout the whole thing, working his full shift outside the time spent in the room. His boss seemed more exhausted by it all than he was.

Maybe it was just harder on you because all you could do was sit there, watching and listening as everything unfolded. It did so quickly, and so slowly at the same time. The stress of it all was the worst, but you felt that the bigger reason was that, no matter the outcome, your brother would get what he wanted.

Revolution.

You and Sabo had talked about the world and how broken it was for years. You had childish conversations about it as children, trapped in a life and world neither of you wanted. A conversation that started in a hospital, as you sat besides Sabo's bed, talking to him while he healed from wounds earned for having the wrong friends. A desperate conversation, born of pain and anger.

Anger you both carried, though yours didn't quite burn with the same ferocity.

It wasn't something you could be a part of. At least not then. It wasn't anything you saw happening in your life time. At least not then. You were too sickly, too frail, and too doomed to a short life, there was little you could do, and even less that you could hope for.

At least back then.

On the bright side, every long day in the office with Sabo, ended in a quiet night at home with Ace. The more you tangled into his arms after dinner, the more comfortable it got. For you and Sabo. More than not the couch turned into a pile with you, Ace, and Luffy in it, and Sabo putting a blanket over all of you before going back to reading.