hc that there's a gala hosted on Jason's birthday to honour his memory, and every one of the Wayne kids is obviously required to attend. Jason, naturally, can't—being legally dead, and all—so he enjoys his night watching the security cameras with Babs. Popcorn in hand, he amusedly enjoys his siblings try to fumble their way through a whole gala centred around Jason, all while trying to pretend that he's still dead and they didn't talk to him literally a few hours prior.
Tim: Oh, I never got to officially meet Jason before he died, but from what I hear from Dick and Bruce, he was truly a great soul.
Jason, listening to this: He's totally tryin' not to explode 'cause I ate his pistachios earlier.
Babs: Tim likes pistachios?
Jason: Yea. They're his favourite, so I steal them all the time.
Babs, fondly amused: You know Tim's favourite snack?
Jason: Yeah, so I can steal it. Keep up, Barbie.
Babs: Sure.
Socialite: Dear, would you happen to have any stories about young Jason?
Dick, grinning: Absolutely! Just last w—I mean—the last time we went out shopping before he died. Yeah. That. Last time we went shopping he tripped on the escalator. Should've tied his shoelaces.
Jason: That happened last week.
The thing is, Dick has more free reign over answers, since he knew Jason before he died. Tim has a little bit of leeway, since he can chalk up any stories to small interactions he had with Jason as their neighbour. The rest of the kids, though? They have to keep their mouth shut, because if they slip up they'll be questions.
Things are fine until some of the socialites start 'discreetly' badmouthing Jason, saying that there shouldn't be such a big event happening for a glorified street rat. Jason himself isn't really affected by the comments, used to them already. He's pleasantly surprised when he sees every one of his siblings look absolutely livid on his behalf. He sees his siblings shut down every single rumour, even though they logically don't have to—rumours can't hurt the dead, after all. He watches as most of them defend him despite not being able to say anything about actually knowing him, and decides then and there; he has a call to make and paperwork to sign.
Time to defend himself—hanging out with and defending his siblings in public is just a bonus.
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sometimes i want to reach through the screen and shake sabo by the shoulders because. god. there's just so much going on with him.
he's first introduced through the veil of luffy's memories- here he's just another feral jungle kid, sticking it out with ace and luffy, the 'nicer' brother in young luffy's eyes. and then boom. you find out he's a runaway noble trying to escape his abusive, neglectful family- and this changes nothing, they still get to become sworn brothers, but just as quickly as this is resolved, his asshole of a dad takes the three of them hostage. and what does sabo do? he gives up the little sliver of freedom he'd fought for, is willing to become miserable and lonely again if it means ace and luffy are spared. and then he comes home to find that in his absence, his parents have already found a replacement! great!
and he doesn't even get to address how fucked up that is, because stelly runs his mouth and now sabo's too busy trying to figure out how to stop his brothers and their home from getting burnt to the ground. he never gets to give them a proper goodbye- he exhausts himself trying to reach them, but he can't because. you know. he's ten. so where does this leave sabo? ten years old, with nowhere to go- he sets out to sea to try and start over, and for the crime of wanting to escape a terrible life, he's punished with an explosion to the face. he loses his memories, his brothers lose him- and so the cycle continues.
then the army saves him, takes him in; he's essentially a child soldier, with how prodigious of a fighter he is from the get-go. but hey, he thinks he's finally found his footing, even if his past's a blur to him- then it all comes flooding back. in the worst way possible. he sees his brother's corpse and he remembers, but it doesn't matter, does it? he's too late, ace is gone, and sabo's lost ten years of a life he could have shared with his brothers. we don't even know how (if, even) he recovers from this- except for a single passing statement from koala, asking him if he's 'had that dream again' because he'd been crying in his sleep. this is never brought up or addressed again. great!plus, we never do find out if getting blown up at the ripe old age of ten could have left any lasting fire-related trauma; and if it does, what does that mean for sabo, who's pretty much made of it, now?
both of these questions are answered at once- sabo treats the fire as if it's ace. it's ace's legacy he's carrying on, and it's ace he seeks freedom for. he copes by making sure ace lives on in his flames, and how can he ever hate the fire living in him if that fire is all he has left of the brother he never got to see again?
i just have to wonder about him, because he's got so many Issues that just. don't ever get addressed? every time we see him deal with his grief (episode of sabo, his own retelling of events in dressrosa) we never really discover anything about him. i wonder how it felt to finally remember the childhood that eluded him, just to find out he was an unwanted, replacable child. how he feels, living with the knowledge that he could have done something to save ace, that he'd failed to remember the two people he loved the most? i wonder just how terribly that guilt must weigh down on him- because where luffy's already begun to heal, sabo still sees ace in everything he does. his title of flame emperor is a direct callback to ace's final attack in his fight against blackbeard. he talks to his goddamn fire like his brother is still in front of him, which is sweet and heartbreaking and, considering his backlog of unaddressed trauma... incredibly unhealthy. i know these will probably be left unresolved for the sake of moving the story forward- but god, sabo, are you okay?
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