Write For Me

First Step

In their world, or at least in love's world, there were two different types of people.

Those with a soul mate and those without.

-----

Sabo remembers asking his parents about soul mates, when he was still very young and naive. When he thought his parents truly loved him, loved each other. He does not recall what prompted him to ask nor what he said exactly, but he can hear his parent's responses clear as day.

"Soul mates are nothing but a fantasy. Something one neither needs nor should even consider wanting if they are not useful!" It was in that conversation that he learnt that his parents did not possess soul mates, learnt that the two were essentially strangers living the illusion of a high-class family life.

It was that conversation, along with the burning desire to know, that was his driving force for drawing a small smiley face on the back of his hand, some where he was sure someone else would be able to see. Where his soul mate would be able to see.
It was also that conversation that, smouldering slowly in the back of his mind, brought him to tears of relief when he found a larger smiley face drawn next to his on his hand not longer after. One he definitely did not draw.

-----

That small interaction was like opening the flood gates, because it was only after that he found his unknown soul mate almost constantly scribbling all over their skin. Sabo learnt to look forward to the daily doodles, they were a beacon of light in his figurative grey-scale world.

(He was not entirely sure, but Sabo wondered if their interactions took so long to begin because the other, too, was worried that they had no soul mate and was afraid to take that step to find out in case they did not. Sabo knew how scary it was drawing that face, how relief poured over him like a tsunami when he got that shaky lined picture in response.)

While Sabo would always send little drawings in return for each drawing his soul mate drew, he was hesitant to write anything as he was not sure if they could read or write considering the lack of words from them, that and he was aware that not all people his age or otherwise could.
They hadn't even given Sabo a name to work with, then again, neither had Sabo.

Sabo paused. He hadn't given  the other his name, had he?
Haltingly, he reached over to the pen he had especially saved just to use to communicate to his soul mate. Perhaps all he needed to do was to take that first step once again.

Slowly, carefully, he started to write upon his arm in the simplest font he could.
'Hello. I am Sabo.' Putting down the pen, he wondered what he would do if the other truly could not read. Did the other have some one else to help them? If they did or did not how would they react?
If they could not read nor write, would they feel stupid and stop interacting with Sabo?
That final question got him to wince. Maybe trying to talk to the other would prove to be a bad idea, how could he rectify the situation if-!

He paused once again when he saw the start of words appear under his own on his forearm, written hesitantly and with the same shakiness that their first drawing of a smiley face was done.
'Hi. I am Ace. I can not read or write. I have help.' The sentences were short, choppy, and letters were constantly crossed out for being wrong, but Sabo was simply glad that the other was able to understand his message, even if it was with help from an outside party.

Quickly, not without that same carefulness that his other message had though, Sabo wrote one more short sentence.
'I live on Dawn Island in East Blue. You?' He desperately wanted to know if they lived anywhere close to where he did. Perhaps, if they lived near enough, he would be able to meet them if he escaped from his so called 'family'.

'I do too. Mt Colubo.' Those few words baffled Sabo. The possibility of his soul mate living in the same ocean as him was about 1/5. He did not know what the possibility of them living on the same island as him was, but he would bet it was more than a little unlikely.
(Although, he felt a bit bad learning that the other lived on the same God-forsaken island as he did. It felt, at times, that all those on Dawn Island found their freedom and happiness ripped away from them.)

The revelation of Ace's location seemed to be what Sabo needed to strengthen his resolve to run away from High Town, from the Goa City, one day from the Goa kingdom itself. Ace and his location was just so achievable. Something that Sabo had not actually thought about, all his day-dreams of getting away had seemed far away, but now he had a place, a goal.

Sabo glanced around his room, or more accurately, his study in which he slept. The room was a reminder of his parents, of their harsh punishments and expectations for him.
His gaze fixed back on his arm. Those words, written in a way that positively bled uncertainty, and the daily drawings were a new found hope for Sabo.

Thinking about his soul mate, about Ace, Sabo found a grin creeping onto his face.
"I'm coming Ace," Sabo breathed out, feeling suddenly giddy with excitement, "I'll find you and we'll both become free."