Write For Me

'On My Way'

Sabo was no stranger to robbery, he had crept into Edge Town and seen the less fortunate have their possessions stolen by those who were desperate enough to try their hand at thievery. Even he would be able to admit to pickpocketing a few times, money for the food his parents would occasionally deny him as punishment for failing them in his studies or behaviour.

This was the first time he was the prey instead of the predator in this type of situation.

"What's a kid like you doin' out here?" Alarmed, Sabo whipped his head around to find a stranger's face close behind him, much to close to his own. "Dontcha know it's dangerous?" He felt the man's hot breath on his face, he cringed away from the sensation and the smell of rot it brought. His reaction simply evoked laughter from the man who invaded Sabo's personal space, a sound gravelly and cruel in nature.

Not even having to think twice about it, Sabo pivoted on his foot in order to run away from the guy and to his soul mate. That action was brought to an abrupt halt when instead of an open path he was met with the waist of another stranger, this time a woman, who was thankfully not too close to him but was still close enough to block his path.

Slowly he stepped to the side, shifting so he was walking backwards and keeping the two in his line of sight, the man and woman followed him in such a way that offered no escape. That went on all the way up until he felt his back collide with something from one of the piles of trash.

"Where you going, lil' one?" The woman cooed, her dark brown dreadlocks swaying behind her as she inched closer to him. Sabo groped the pile behind him, trying to find something to use against the two. He concluded that he was up against a wagon wheel, not something he could efficiently use to defend himself.
(He regretted not smuggling a knife or something out of the house when he left that morning, the chances of getting robbed were much higher than the chance of his family finding a weapon on him.)

"Don't worry," Sabo felt large, rough hands slide around his neck, instinctively Sabo lifted his hands to the man's arms to try and, unsuccessfully, pry them off. The male must have gotten closer while he was distracted by the woman talking. "We won't hurt ya if ya give us tha money." He man assured, gesturing to Sabo's waist.

Freezing, Sabo looked down to the pouch attached to his belt, the pouch filled with the money his father had given him that morning. How did they know what it was? For all they knew it could have been buttons, or perhaps small chocolates!

"H-how'd you k-know?" Sabo gasped out, his breathing inhibited by the hands around his throat. The couple grinned at him, the man glanced fleetingly at the woman with dulled green eyes, she giggled in response.

"Guess we could tell you, darlin'" Purred the female. "You see, we've been following you since you left the big city! Had to wait until we could get you without too many people around, but now..." She trailed off, smiling deviously at the blonde child.
Sabo felt distinctly disturbed by the knowledge that the two had been essentially stalking him for the good majority of an hour. They probably picked him out of the crowd because he looked like a wealthy person, despite his age, and an easy target.

'Well,' Sabo internally lamented. 'It doesn't look as if they were wrong.' As Sabo's hand went to untie the pouch of money, he stopped and jumped in surprise along with the other two when an old barrel landed on the ground in front of the woman from above.
He watched as the woman glanced upwards, her dark eyes widening in surprise. She barely got the opportunity to let out a high pitched squeal when she was thrown to the ground by a piece of piping to the head, knocking her out cold.

"Helen!" The man cried out, letting go of Sabo in favour of sprinting to the side of, the now named, Helen.
Sabo stood in shock for a moment, before the sound of another, heavier, object hitting the ground not too far to the side of him caught his attention. The man not being able to hear it over the sound of his own wails.

As it turned out, it was a human and not another piece of junk. The boy was around his own age, that being 7, had unruly black hair and similar eyes. Sabo found it hard to tear his gaze from his eyes when the two made eye contact, it was as if his body was trying to convey something through sight alone.

When Sabo did look away from his eyes, it was to immediately stare at the other's forearm, where the all too familiar 'I'm on my way' was written, not in the least different from the same sentence on his own skin that he had written that morning post leaving his house.

Gently, the darker boy took hold of his hand and tugged.
"We've got to go." Ace, he quickly realised, muttered, not bothering to whisper as the man would not be able to hear, "Sadness does weird things to people." Sabo nodded and, gripping Ace's hand in return, letting Ace lead Sabo away from the couple, off of the main road.

Briefly, Sabo saw two tattooed-looking sentences on his two would-be robbers. The phrase 'Been doin' this for years' scrawled across woman's's exposed stomach and 'Well, aren't you a darlin'' half visable where the man's shirt rode up from holding his soul mate.
It was the last he saw of the couple before his own soul mate hauled him out of sight.