hnnnng thinking about. sanuso royalty au.
sanji is a prince in the germa kingdom—same old, same old. third in line for the crown of a kingdom he can’t stand, forced to live with a family whose ideals he hates and who would rather see him dead.
being deemed the family failure has some benefits. when he sneaks away from the castle, no one comes looking for him. (except his sister reiju, but she just wants to make sure he’s okay.)
one evening, sanji comes across a garden towards the outskirts of the town. he’s entranced—it’s filled flora and fauna, fruits and vegetables in all states of growth. even more interesting than the plants is the long-nosed fellow who tends to them, a story of epic proportions falling from his lips as his hands tenderly reap and sow the ground.
sanji watches him move and listens to him speak, mesmerized by the smooth confidence of his hands and the cadence of his voice. when he finishes his tale, sanji gives him a round of applause, laughing when the man practically jumps out of his skin in surprise.
he calms the man’s panicked stutters and frantic apologies when he realizes just who his company is. tells him he’s off-duty and just wants to admire the plants, so will you tell me about them, gardener?
‘usopp,’ the man corrects, and tentatively begins telling sanji all about his garden, becoming more bold as the prince asks him about his flowers, what methods he uses to get his vegetables so big, is he planning on cooking with them, because if so he has a ton of recipes.
they talk until reiju comes to find him. remind him of his duties.
‘i’ll see you tomorrow,’ sanji promises. and he does. he sees usopp the next evening, and the one after that and after that, until he is spending every free moment he can talking, laughing, and bonding with usopp.
falling for him. falling for his bad jokes and spot-on impressions. falling more and more in love with the way he looks at sanji. falls for all of his smiles: when he takes the first bite of a dish sanji whipped up using the fruits of usopp’s labour; the prideful smile when he shows off his impressive marksmanship; his shy smile when sanji can’t help but stare at him under the pale glow of the moonlight.
before he knows it, prince sanji has it bad. usopp is all he’s thinking about.
unfortunately, people begin to notice his absences and overall distraction. the wrong people.
reiju warns him and sanji runs. runs to go find usopp and protect him from the cruelty of his family.
he’s too late.
sanji lets out a primal cry as his flaming foot connects with yonji’s face. he catches usopp—battered and bruised usopp, as the man falls from yonji’s hold.
there is a promise of death in sanji’s eyes as he looks at his other brothers, who rush to yonji’s side.
‘i’m sorry,’ he tells usopp tearfully. ‘this is all my fault. i never should’ve let myself close to you—everything i touch gets ruined, i should’ve known they’d come to hurt you. i’m so sorry, usopp. hang in there, i love you!’
‘shut up ‘n run away with me,’ is the reply he receives. sanji stares in shock as usopp clutches him, tears in his pretty brown eyes, wheezing breaths leaving his chest. ‘i love you sanji, let’s run away together—there’s nothing for us here. let’s start over somewhere far away from here. i want to run and be happy with you.’
sanji’s heart doesn’t know what to do with itself. it squeezes and pulls and tries to jump out of his chest as love consumes him from the inside out. suddenly there is nothing else that matters but usopp and taking him as far away from this wretched kingdom as he can.
sanji presses his lips to usopp’s, professing all of his longing, adoration, and devotion for him in the action. usopp holds him, reciprocating every emotion and making sanji feel so, so loved.
the prince stands, both legs aflame as he stares daggers at the monsters he calls brothers. determination wells up within him like never before. there is one more obstacle for him to overcome before he is free to live his life as he chooses. with the people he chooses.
‘i’ve got your back,’ usopp says behind him, slingshot and pop greens at the ready.
sanji smirks. for once, the future looks bright.
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So I don't know if it was ever revealed how Duncan felt when we killed Malistaire all three times but I'm wondering if maybe some part of him could hate us for that too. Like you hear that and you go "but why. Malistaire was terrible and even Duncan knew that(?). Why would he hate you for getting rid of him."
But like I think it's so....... interesting in a very, very, very sad way how Duncan so easily latches onto anyone who directly feeds into his delusions of grandeur. And that's no fault of his own that he was manipulated by the nasty Schism but when you think about how desperately clung to the idea that Malistaire, easily one of the greatest necromancers any of us had ever heard of (at that time), somehow actually recognized Duncan's talents (even when canon supports that Duncan wasn't all that talented, at least no more than the next necromancer) and then praised him for it so often that Duncan believed that he would be the next Death Professor is. I mean ☹️
So like with that mindset I unfortunately feel like it would be quite easy to twist even Malistaire's death as something that's horrible and awful and all our fault. ESPECIALLY if the Schism was feeding into Duncan's already broken mind and shattered ego and was constantly telling him that everything bad that ever happened to him ever in his life was Our Fault. That's like a realistic conclusion that someone like Duncan could come to
And like, at this point in time, are Malistaire's crimes even a factor in how he thinks????? Was Duncan ever able to separate Malistaire's talent and skills and prowess from the terrible and awful things he did? If Duncan wasn't able to consciously tell that distinction in the first place I can't imagine it would be any better during the years he was being manipulated and isolated and lied to
Like in Duncan's mind it probably isn't, "maybe I shouldn't idolize a national criminal, or idolize anyone at all for that matter, and aspire to be like someone so harmful when I can recognize my own talent and build from there" it's probably more like, "you (the wizard) permanently got rid of a brilliant mind, an innocent person who just made a few mistakes, and someone who believed in me no matter what just so that you could be the better than me and loved by everyone else" and that's! very sad actually!
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