Deviation Actions
Literature Text
He felt like he was falling through the ocean.
It was very different from the searing pain that had overwhelmed his senses only moments before. He had a vague memory of smiling through his tears before finally letting go, and now he felt as though he were surrounded by them.
The sensation of sinking had made him reopen his eyes, and he was amazed that he was no longer in the middle of a battlefield, but in a vast sea. A sea so blue it could put any tropical paradise to shame. If he looked beyond the surface, he could see clouds nestled in a cerulean sea of their own.
He vaguely recognized the fact that he was no longer wounded. The only thing he could feel now was the water that slipped past him as he sank further. A hand reached toward the surface of the numbing ocean and he realized it was his own; as if trying to grasp for something solid, something familiar.
"Is this death?" he wondered as he gazed toward the sky.
A sense of loss and longing overtook him as he came to terms with his situation.
"Luffy…" he mourned, "I'm so sorry… I couldn't keep my promise to you or to Sabo."
He felt the sensation of tears in his eyes, and noticed that the water rippled around him, as if in response to his grief.
He only hoped that his family would take care of his brother for him now. They would all be devastated as well, but he trusted them to not forget the young pirate even with their own loss.
For the first time in a long time, he felt alone.
The water rippled again at this realization, the ocean of tears responding to his internal turmoil. In these waters, he was severed from everything but the product of the many years of insecurity and pride that had never allowed him to cry. But he did not drown, he drifted.
Just as he felt himself give in to the loneliness, he felt a pull.
As if he were surrounded by a pair of strong arms, he felt a heat that could be equated to that of a live body. He could not see who pulled him, but a familiarity tickled in his memory.
He ascended from the depths of his despair quickly, a sense of hope filling him. His body broke the surface and he saw his savior.
A gasp left him when his eyes took in cropped blonde hair and a warm smile that was missing a tooth. He felt the arms surrounding him tighten as he was embraced by this phantom from his past.
"Sabo," he breathed.
He buried his face into his childhood friend's shoulder, which had somehow become broad. He knew not how the afterlife worked, but his blood brother seemed to have aged just the same as he would have had he lived.
Sabo pulled away to look at his friend and smiled warmly.
"You came too early, Ace."
"Well, you know me. I'm never one to pass on a nap."
The blonde laughed and cupped Ace's face in his hands.
"I've missed you…" he said, his eyes sad and longing.
The freckle-faced kid he had grown up with had become so handsome in his absence. He lamented his premature death, but was grateful that he had not become trapped in his younger form.
As if sensing the hidden meaning behind Sabo's comment, Ace wrapped and arm around his shoulder and pressed a kiss into his friend's cheek.
"Well, if he plays his cards right, Luffy won't be here for a while…" he alluded.
Sabo was taken aback at the lack of rejection in Ace's words, and even more shocked at the implications of what he had said.
"So, you plannin' on makin' a splash, then?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
Ace returned the grin at the pun, his hand coming up to draw Sabo closer.
"I could do with some splashin' around, if you catch my drift…"
Not even the sea of tears could wash away the happiness of their reunion and of the years together that followed. It would only evaporate little by little, losing more and more as he felt the love of those he had lost and those who would join him later. The small pool that remained vanishing only when the beloved little brother finally came too.
