Warnings: AU, Language, canon-typical violence, possible Out of Character moments, implied past sexual content, temporary character death, Fantasy AU

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. I simply play with them for my, and your amusement.

Authors Note: This story is unbetaed and was originally posted to tumblr at fromthedeskoftheminister on April 24 2016. More notes can be found at the end of the story.

Swords & Sorcery

The sound of something whistling through the air behind him was the only warning Marco received. Fortunately it was the only one that he needed. Pushing himself forward, Marco turned and drew his sword in one fluid motion. Blades met with a resounding clash and sparks flew. Frowning at the sudden attack Marco pressed forward, putting his opponent on the defensive. No words were exchanged and the forest was silent save for the clang of metal and heavy breathing.

It was strange this battle, Marco concluded as he continued his attack. He wasn't entirely sure why he had been attacked as he wasn't even supposed to be here at the moment. He was simply returning home from investigating reports of someone raising the dead in a nearby city. It had turned out that the entire thing was an over-exaggerated rumor and nothing to worry about in the slightest. Given that he was now fighting for his life it would appear that the entire thing had been designed to draw him out and away from his family.

But if they had gone through all the trouble to attack him, why not set up a more elaborate ambush? Why just one man even if the one man was doing a rather remarkable job at keeping up with him?

Marco's answer came moments later as a lucky swing nicked the strings holding the clasp of his opponent's cloak. Panic was the only way to describe the other man's reaction to the unfortunate accident as he nearly lost an arm in his attempt to keep the cloak on. Unfortunately for him, it didn't help in the slightest and the garment lost it fight against gravity sliding off the other man's shoulders with a soft thwump. Marco pressed forward once again and his opponent backpedaled nearly tripping over his desperation in an attempt to get away. For the life of him Marco couldn't figure out why the man was so desperate to remain unknown as the man had attacked him of all people.

It was then that Marco got a good look at his opponents face. It was a familiar face, one that he had thought he would never see again and Marco nearly dropped his sword in shock. It was only the feeling that something that something was terribly wrong that saved his sword from an unfortunate collision with the ground. Even so, it did not prevent him from disengaging and backing up a couple of paces so that he could stare like a backwater country buffoon.

"Ace?" Marco whispered in disbelief. "You're alive?" Marco mentally berated himself for not recognizing Ace sooner. No one else could keep up with him as this opponent had and after all the time they had spent sparring one would think that he would have been able to recognize that particular style of swordplay. It shouldn't have mattered that it had been years or that Marco had spent the last two thinking the other was dead but apparently it did. Once upon a time Marco would have known this man anywhere.

The feeling that something was wrong only grew the longer the pair stared at each other and Marco mentally catalogued the difference. A massive burn scar covered Ace's torso and Marco held back a wince upon seeing it. That had been the wound that the Whitebeard Mercenary Troupe had believed to have taken Ace from them all those years ago. It appeared that they had been partially correct. Ace was still alive, but at what cost? What had happened to the other man during the years they had believed him dead?

The scars were not the only change that Marco could see. Ace's normally expressive face was blank and the lack of expression was only one more sign that something was wrong. There were no emotions in Ace's silver eyes and the color itself had dulled to a muted grey. "Ace." Marco repeated again attempting to get any sort of response from his former lover. When none came a rather sorrowful noise escaped without Marco being any the wiser and he asked the question that he'd been wondering since he had realized exactly who stood in front of him. "What in the all the realms happened to you?"

Strangely enough that was the only thing to garner a response. It wasn't much, just a slight tightening of the mouth but it was enough for Marco to take notice. It was the only warning he got as Ace suddenly launched himself forwards forcing Marco to take a step back and it was his turn to be forced on the defensive.

Sparks flew yet again, catching Marco's attention. Sparks wouldn't normally fly as frequently as they had been in a sword fight. It was a mark of an improperly made sword or incorrect technique. Neither of which was a good explanation for the sparks appearance. Ace was much too good of a swordsman for it to be his technique and Marco highly doubted that someone would send anyone to try and kill him with shoddy equipment.

A spark landed on his bare arm and suddenly a surge of foreign emotions flooded through him. Relief, joy, and anger were among the most prevalent. Given that they had also been accompanied by a surge of warmth and affection that Marco had only ever associated with Ace, he suddenly had an idea to their source. Ace was generating the sparks but disguising them as being a byproduct of the fight. Marco wasn't entirely sure why but surely it had a point and the very least he could do would be to make it easier. Changing his defensive pattern ever so slightly Marco was able to lure Ace into a much more rapid paced striking pattern. It was rather disheartening to see no change in Ace's expression but the number of sparks did increase which left Marco rather hopeful that Ace had understood.

The sparks flew often fizzling out before they got anywhere but few landed on the forest floor where they were quickly put out by the cold earth or trampled underfoot. The lucky few that Marco made contact with sent a very confusing stream of images and emotions at him with no explanation. Caught off guard by one such set that contained a rather disturbing series of images Marco misplaced his foot as he stepped back to block the next swing in the pattern loosing his balance.

That was all the opening that Ace needed and Marco's eyes widened as the disturbing images that the had suddenly witnessed made sense. That last spark had contained images that made up Ace's plan. "Its ok." Marco whispered with a soft smile as Ace closed in with a solid thrust.

Marco let out a pained grunt as he felt the blade pierce through his leather armor and into his heart. Just as quickly, the blade was pulled back out and Marco placed his hand over his now bleeding wound. It didn't matter that he couldn't die from this, it always hurt. The blood was coming faster now and Marco swayed on his feet before finally falling back making it appear as if Ace had won their battle.

Marco wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be waiting for as the images Ace had sent through the spark hadn't detailed this bit. Remaining as still as possible, Marco slowly focused his own power towards the injury in his heart. Healing the would have been rather simple had he allowed himself to do so normally but something was going on here and Marco wanted, no he needed to know what it was so he focused on keeping his heart beating and the flesh wound from sealing. Keeping his eyes unfocused and open as he stared up at the forest canopy was especially hard and became even more so as he felt another presence joined Ace in the clearing. The owner of this slimy, vomit inducing presence couldn't have been what Ace was waiting for, was it?

Apparently it was, Marco realized as a high whiny voice asked "Is it done?" There was no answer from Ace but apparently it wasn't required. "Oh! It is!" the voice sounded delighted and Marco wanted to puke. The pure joy this random person was taking in his apparent death was disgusting. "This is good. This is very good." The voice continued then disappointment and strangely enough surprise entered its tone. "You're actually showing some emotion." The voice stated. "Why?"

Again there was no answer but this time an answer was clearly expected and the sound of something hitting flesh soon followed. "I asked you a question." The voice said coldly. "Why?"

Marco forced himself to remain still as the realization that Ace was not doing this of his own free will thundered through him. He had hoped that was the case but it was nice to have it confirmed. The silence persisted a moment longer then Ace finally spoke. "I know…" Ace started, then trailed off his voice rough with disuse, "I knew him."

"Ah." The voice was decidedly uninterested in this answer. "Well, that's irrelevant now. Whitebeard's Commander is now dead at your hand and will be unable to interfere with any more of our plans. Come." It said, fading slightly as the owner presumably walked away, further into the forest. "We have places to be, people to kill."

Marco refused to move thought he wanted nothing more than to look and see Ace one last time. He couldn't risk the owner of that disgusting voice knowing that Ace wasn't as cowed or gone as they all thought. After a moment and only after the shuffling noises caused by the pair's movement had faded away into the distance and the birds had resumed their calls in the trees did Marco allow himself to relax.

The moment he did an eruption of blue fire sprang forth, neatly healing every scrape, bruise and more serious wounds that Marco had incurred during his bout but Marco himself took no notice of it. Casting a furtive glance at the trail Ace had left, Marco allowed his flames to engulf him completely. It took less than a second for the flames to finish their job and fade away leaving a bird in place of the man. Marco took one final look at the trail Ace had left and let out a soft mournful coo at the situation his mate had found himself in. Turning away, Marco flapped his powerful wings and shot above the trees before taking off for his original destination. Pops needed to hear about this as soon as possible, as Marco certainly wouldn't be able to free Ace from by himself.

AN: Hey all! Look at that, you get two stories from me today! Mainly cause I figured I should probably store my little ficletts other places than just tumblr. Anyways, this story is from like, late April and I wrote it as a singular idea then posted it. It has not been beta read at all so you are all reading what is pretty much my unfettered writing style. Its a bit different from my other stuff I know. Anyways, please let me know what you think. I love hearing from you all.

Edited Sept. 21 2016