Work Text:
Sengoku-san waited two months before asking about Mary Geoise.
They were sitting on the porch, the sun slowly plunging itself into the sea and Sengoku's pet goat between them, asleep.
He asked and then waited as Rosinante dropped his gaze to his small hands- to the purple bruises that adorned his still too-pale wrists.
Rosinante remembered very little of his previous home. He could still imagine the soft smile that bloomed on his father's face anytime his mother would dance in the middle of their living room, and her long hair coming alive with each movement.
And then the flowers, gold shining under the sunlight and a mermaid with pretty pink scales waving at him from the large fishtank of his uncle's property.
His memories of Doffy led him back to the day they lost it all. His brother's face as their mother died, his screams when they got hanged from a building- the stoic, final bang of a gun.
One thing, however, still lived alive in the high hallways of Mary Geoise, and with a shaky voice, he started to speak.
They were running down the prohibited corridor of the Pangean Castle. His brother was before anyone else, followed by their cousin and Rosinante struggling to keep pace with their excitement. Doffy's delighted laughter resounded through the hallway and Rosinante could not stop shaking.
If they find us, he thought as he stopped to catch his breath, they'll say we are just like them.
« Causing storms is the least godly thing one could do », the elders would say, before starting the punishment.
« Be a good child, my love, obey the elders », her mother's words as he would nest in her skirt, face hot with shame and salty tears wetting her robe.
He felt a jingle and turned around. The nice lady that would follow his cousin anywhere had reached him and was looking beyond his shoulder, her hands grabbing either side of the heavy-looking necklace she wore. She would always do that when his cousin was not by her side.
«Please don't run off Young Master, we shouldn't be here... »
She tried to scream but choked on the last words and only Rosinante could hear what was left.
She would always do that, as well.
Both his brother and cousin came to a halt once in front of the great metal door. They looked so small when compared to the greatness that it held: an imposing construction in gold and silver, an intricate lock and bearer of a simple, yet final command: You're not allowed to cross my sacred walls.
Silence descended upon them. Rosinante took a fistful of the lady's robe, sheepishly watching his brother's back from behind his bangs. His ears were still full of his laughter, and in the silence of the palace, it sounded more like the cackling of a vulture than childish joy.
Doffy turned around and looked right at him.
What are you doing there, come here. »
Neither a question nor a command. Rosinante knew he did him wrong, for brothers had to stick together. Even though he wanted to find comfort in the lady's eyes, he forced himself to hold his brother's gaze.
« It's prohibited. »
He simply said.
Rosinante followed the rules, he was a good boy. He obeyed the elders. Doffy was also good, of that, Rosi was sure.
« Nothing should be prohibited to us. »
They weren't new words, coming out of his mouth.
« I want to know what's stored inside. »
His tone was flat, almost understanding. Rosinante liked when his brother talked to him like he wanted him to understand, rather than obey.
Still, there were things he just couldn't bring himself to do.
« Father doesn't want us to be here. »
He tried again.
Doffy didn't move from where he was.
His ears were empty once again from any sound. A chill ran down his spine and his lips started to wobble.
« I don't like it here... I'm scared... »
His eyes felt on fire, and not because he was forcing them open to look at his brother's face as it fell into something darker, a broken mask cracked by anger.
The burning sensation followed him anywhere, from his wake after a nightmare to the cruel stunts other children would play on him. Doffy never made him cry, and when it happened in his presence it was for something else, something that would go above his celestial form.
Doffy was never the cause, only the solution.
Finally, his brother started to walk towards him, their cousin loudly complaining behind him but following nevertheless.
Doffy stopped in front of him and tore his hands away from the lady's robes. She didn't emit any sound.
« Next time I'm going somewhere, you're following me. »
Rosinante nodded and felt a wave of relief as he started to drag him away from the corridor.
The next time Doffy went to Mary Geoise, Rosinante was on a Marine's boat with his father's visceral remains attached to his hair and clothes. His eyes were burning and the raging wind going against the body's ship sounded like the cry of a vulture.
As he finished recounting his story, Rosinante realised that he still had to follow Doffy somewhere. He would come to reclaim him, in one way or another.
He looked up to where Sengoku was sitting. He ignored the hard expression on the man's face and prepared himself to speak again.
"Next time he's going somewhere, I'm following him. I won't be a coward again ».
Rosinante looked for him on Spider Mile, but in the end, it was Doflamingo that came for him one last time and made sure he couldn't follow anymore.
As he exhaled his last breath - as he cried for the boy that came to love - he wished for his brother to come to find him again in Hell, where they both belonged.
Heaven was prohibited, to them.