Chapter Text
It started as a headache.
Sabo had not been having a good day. He usually wakes up at 7 o'clock sharp due to his occupation, but today he woke up before the sun even thought about rising. He woke up to a pitch black room with a splitting headache. It only got worse from there.
During breakfast, some new recruit had passive-aggressively commented about the quality of the food. Usually, Sabo would let someone else handle snarky rookies, but he went to bed at midnight, woke up before the sun did, his head felt like someone was slowly dragging their nails across his brain, and he had just been informed about some paperwork he had to do.
In short, he was prepared to let out some pent up frustration.
He had made his own passive-aggressive comment, restraining himself from going too far, yet the recruit looked ready to cry. A large part of him felt regret, he had dug into raw wounds. It was a dirty shot, he had said that the rookie shouldn't have gotten used to mama's meals if they wanted to take down a government. (The rookie's mother was enslaved by a Celestial Dragon, all the staff knew this was the reason they joined.)
Yet the other part of him felt dark satisfaction, he'd been waiting to be snarky all day. He had pent up too much aggression, and now Koala was giving him a sort of angry-kicked-puppy look after dragging him from the canteen. It didn't make him feel intimidated, but it succeeded in making the guilty part of him rise in shame.
Koala sighed, giving him a searching look. "Go to bed, Sabo." She told him. He wanted to fight her on that, he's the Chief of Staff! But before words could form, a sharp pain went through his head. Ah, right.
"Okay," he exhales through his nose, pressing a palm to his forehead. Koala gave him a sympathetic look.
"I'll tell Dragon-san you'll be taking a break, go relax." She told him, softly patting his cheek before leaving to the direction of the Revolutionary Leader's office. He weakly smiles at her retreating figure before heading to his quarter's, longing for his comfortable bed.
He opens the door, locking it behind him. It's a habit he's never broken, he doesn't remember where or how it originated either. He glances at his desk to see how much paperwork will be waiting for him after he gets some sleep, but his eyes immediately lock onto two bounty posters sitting innocently on his desk. For some reason, something in him loosens at the sight of the pirate bounties. Rookie pirate 'Straw Hat' Luffy and Whitebeard second division commander 'Fire-Fist' Ace, to be exact.
On a whim, he grabs the bounty posters, eyes scanning over the parchment. He already knows how much their bounties are, it's ingrained in his brain at this point, but something in him worries about forgetting what they look like. It's illogical.
'Twenty-one…' Something in him whispers, directed at Fire-Fist's poster. Sabo quirks a brow in confusion, twenty-one what?
'Twenty-one freckles…' He amusedly notes. The finished thought makes more sense, he remembers counting those freckles when the other fell asleep first but the young blonde stayed up, struck with insomnia.
The amusement is quick to fall, what? He doesn't remember this guy? He looks at Straw Hat's poster instead, intent on dismissing the memory.
His heart goes soft at the image, Luffy's posing for the bounty on purpose. He's always been a bit goofy, hasn't he?
A spike of pain goes through his head, and he grunts, letting the posters go to grasp and his forehead. Right, he was heading to bed so the ache would go away. He takes his gloves off and sets them on the desk, ignoring the ragged scars lining his palms that he still doesn't remember the origin of as he shrugs his jacket off and takes his hat off.
Discarding his shoes, he slips into the welcoming embrace of his bed, sighing contentedly at the softness of his pillow hugging his head. Yeah, his headache will go away soon. He slips into the blissful darkness of sleep.
He wakes up uncomfortably, his clothes feel stiff and the belt he forgot to take off digs into his hips painfully. His palms and forehead feel slick with sweat, and his throat feels dryer than the Alabasta sand, tongue sticking to his teeth. He feels physically weak, something is wrong. What happened?
He turns his head to look around, his previously stiff neck popping loudly and causing him to wince. The sound catches the attention of Koala, who looks even more tired than Sabo is. How did she get in? He catches a glimpse of his bedroom door, ah, it's broken. That explains it.
His attention is grabbed again by Koala, who's nudging a glass of water to his cheek. The glass is nice and cool, and he's torn between quenching his thirst and cooling his skin. Koala looks like she's about to make the choice for him, so the blonde sits up as much as his sore body will let him, and he slowly sips the water.
The glass is taken from him when it's empty, and he's about to ask Koala what happened before suddenly his face is being grabbed, cheeks pinched between slim fingers painfully. He yelps.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU WERE FEELING SICK?!" She shouts at him, sharp teeth and seething. She pulls his cheeks harder, refusing to let him answer, "You've been out for three days!" She shouts again, though at a quieter volume. Her eyes welled up with tears, "After the first day we looked everywhere for you, we thought you were hurt! We found your door locked and we couldn't get in, so Hack broke it so we could find you!" That explained the door. She lets his cheeks go, and Sabo rubs them soothingly.
"You had a fever, you were boiling hot!" She exaggerates. She pauses for a moment, before pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. "Your fever only recently broke, so we're still waiting for it to go down." She quietly explains, taking her hand back, "I'll go tell the others, don't go anywhere." She tells him, as if he could get up.
When she leaves, Sabo assesses himself.
He doesn't really remember what exactly happened, all he knows was that he was looking at his brother's bounties and going to bed, then suddenly he was out for three days!
Wait, back up. Brothers? Since when did Sabo have brothers? Wait, no, he remembers how that happened. Ace had taken him and Luffy to a stump with saké cups, and after pouring the alcohol he stole from Dadan, he said this was how they became brothers! He nods decisively, he remembers that. He remembers the treehouse too, and shitty gramps, Dadan and the bandits, Makino too. And the fire in Gray Terminal, and the Celestial Dragon that blew him up.
Fuck. Fuck.
They all think he's dead, here he's been for over a decade, twiddling his thumbs while his brothers mourn the loss of their brother, who isn't even dead!
He throws the blanket off his body, ignoring the loud pops his joints gave in protest, and grabs a bag, packing the essentials in it.
He packs clothes obviously, nothing much. Just a few pairs of cargo shorts, a few shirts, and a couple gaudy Hawaiian shirts Koala gave him for his birthday last year. He doesn't need to be dressed up while sailing, after all. He also packs a hairbrush and a toothbrush, then somehow manages to stuff his blanket in the bag. He tosses the bag around his shoulders at the same time Koala enters the room again.
Sabo clears his throat, wishing for another glass of water as he waves to Koala, oh and Hack too, who just walked in. "I'm heading out, I'll tell Dragon-san I'm going on a quick vacation!" He enthusiastically tells them, gently pushing them aside as he makes his way to the Rev. Leader's office. He bobs his head in dismissal and suddenly bile rises in his throat, which he's quick to bite back as he scurries away. Can't give them reasons to worry, or they won't let him go!
He enters the office after knocking a singular time, which would ordinarily earn him an unamused look from Dragon and a scolding from Koala, but the leader must have noticed his… Disheveled state, for he just sighs at the young man.
The leader levels the Chief of Staff with an even look, "It's about time you decided to take a break," he says, and Sabo blinks, "With the amount of vacation days you've skipped, you have almost ten months in total to use." He neutrally informs Sabo. The blonde gapes, then decides he might throw up if he does that again.
"I was just gonna ask for a few weeks off?" He tells the man, but it comes out as a question. The corners of Dragon's mouth lilt in concealed amusement.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" He questions, looking Sabo in the eyes. He saw the bag around the blonde's shoulder, he just wanted to know if the Chief was going to inform him about leaving or not.
The blonde in question grins at the stoic man, "Telling!" He gleefully exclaims, "See you later! I'm gonna go find my brothers!" He reveals, waving as he darts away, most likely to find a small but fast boat to sail in.
Dragon doesn't react to the revaluation, "It's about time," he muttered, watching the blonde leave. He's happy the young man got his memories back, having lost them over a decade ago when he was shot by a Celestial Dragon. He sees Koala searching for Sabo and watches Hack trail after her in amusement.