Ace had come face to face with several different injustices over the course of his life but the situation that he currently had found himself in was undoubtedly the worst. He had eventually grown used to being a prisoner, trapped in his own body and incapable of directing his own movements, but never had he regretted not trying harder to regain control more than he did at this moment. Besides it wasn't like he would have been able to do much even if he had any sort of control. Mischi was strong and Ace wasn't sure that he could hold the other back. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to.
It had been two years. Two long years of being under their thumb. Two years of hoping that he would escape either under his own power or with someone else's help. After constantly being let down he had quickly realized that there was no chance of either. Still, two years had not been enough time for him to loose hope. It was however enough time to grow used to the fact that he was now a tool of assassination. He had never been good for much before but it still bothered him to know that all he was good for now was killing people. Most of the people whom he had been sent to kill were complete strangers, people he had never met or heard of but occasionally there were those who he could recognize by sight or reputation. Ace knew he had been lucky in some regard. In the entirety of the two long years since he had found himself in this mess and it had taken until now to run into anyone that he'd actually known personally. The traveler that Mischi had been sent to kill was someone Ace had known well. More than that, the traveler in the clearing was someone whom he had loved.
What the hell was Marco doing here? Ace angrily wondered as he took in the sight of his lover for the first time in over 2 years. He looked well, though he was still spouting that perpetually sleepy expression that he always had. It was marred slightly by the slight frown he was sporting, probably put out at being attacked in the middle of nowhere if Ace remembered anything at all about the other man. It was reliving to see the frown though and Ace had never been more thankful for the cloak that they were forced to wear. He hated the stupid thing: it was just another symbol that he had no control over anything anymore but right now it was all that was keeping him hidden. He didn't want Marco to know who it was that was attacking him, even if he wasn't exactly himself at the moment.
A sudden movement on Marco's part caught Ace's attention and he let out a cry of GET BACK at Mischi. He recognized that particular attack pattern. It was one of Marco's own design and incredibly hard to counter. It would be safer for the both of them if they simply stepped out of range and avoided it entirely.
To Ace's surprise Mischi actually listened and moved back, but it wasn't fast enough and Marco's sword sliced cleanly through the strings that fastened the cloak. SHIT! Ace said inside his mind. There went his hopes that he could remain anonymous.
To his shock, his body once again complied with his desires and he stumbled backwards frantically trying to keep the cloak on but it was useless. It fell to the ground with a soft thwump and Ace abandoned it entirely in his attempt to leave. His body stopped short at the edge of the clearing. Ace grimaced, but it made no appearance on his face. He was loosing control again. He couldn't afford to loose control. They needed to get away before Marco could identify them.
What felt like a wave of apology flooded in from the area in his headspace that belonged to Mischi, followed by a mishmashed mix of terrorfearpainexhaustion as an explanation and Ace understood. He didn't like it, but he knew that he at least had to let Mischi finish the mission or at least make an attempt to. They both knew what would happen if they failed and it wasn't pleasant for either of them.
A noise from the clearing caught their attention and Mischi, ever curious, turned to look at the source. Marco had said something but they both had missed whatever it was. It didn't matter. Marco's hopeful and shocked expression spoke volumes. It was too late. There was no way that they were going to escape from this unscathed. Marco had recognized them and he would keep after them until he gained an answer or was forcibly stopped. A sound, reminiscent to a soft bird's coo distracted the both of them from the tangled mess their thoughts were becoming. Marco's expression became pained when they gave no visible reaction to whatever it had been that was said. Even if they had heard it, there probably would not have been a reaction anyways. Mischi still had no idea how to react to anything really, and Ace was incapable of reacting at the moment.
"What in the all the realms happened to you?" Marco asked mournfully and Ace froze, his mouth tightening in discomfort and an awkward sort of relief.
They hadn't known. The Whitebeard Mercenary Troupe hadn't known. Thanks to something that he had overheard in a rare moment of lucidity when Mischi's rage had tired them both out he had thought that the people he had considered family had simply left him to this fate. But this, this was not something he had considered. The Whitebeards hadn't known what had happened, or at the very least Marco hadn't.
That meant there was only one explanation. There was a traitor in the Troupe, one who was still feeding them information on their movements if Mischi's orders to kill Marco were any indication. Ace couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh hysterically or cry. It was too much. Marco's question, his own whirlwind of emotions, the whole situation was finally catching up to him.
What happened, Marco had asked. Too much had happened since he had last seen the other man. There was way too much to tell. But he had to do something. Ace knew Marco. Now that Marco was aware that he was alive he would keep perusing this.
Ace's plotting was cut short rather abruptly as Mischi moved for Marco leading with an attack. Apparently Mischi felt that they had been standing around for too long. Ace knew that Mischi was right as he turned his attention back to wracking his brain for some sort of plan. It would be so much easier if they could talk of their own volition. He needed to figure out some way to let Marco know what had happened.
A badly blocked strike resulting in a shower of sparks caught Ace's attention. The grimace that he had been unaware that he had been sporting changed to a grin as he got one of the crazy ideas that he had once been infamous for. He couldn't tell Marco what had happened. Their inability to actually do so aside, there was simply too much to pass on and not enough time. Then there was also the fact that Marco would have questions that Ace wouldn't be able to answer. Most would be due to the fact that Ace himself still did not quite understand what had happened for him to be this way. The rest was because he did not want Marco to know all of the nitty gritty details of what had happened to him. The birdbrain did not need that on his conscious, especially when it was so clear to Ace that Marco was already starting to blame himself for Ace's situation.
But this might work. There just might be a way to communicate enough of the situation to Marco so that the man who held Mischi's chain wouldn't know what was going on.
A tangled jumble of thought and emotion was pushed Mischi's way, Ace trusting that the other would understand because he didn't have time to explain before reaching for the power that had once come to him unbidden. The power that he could now only access a fraction of and even then only when Mischi allowed him too.
There was a general feeling of acknowledgement followed by a pulse of ?whois?whowas?wasyours?chainbearerknow? as Mischi raced forward striking with the sword.
We can trust. Marco iswas Mine. Chain doesn't know. Family didn't know. Ace thought at the other spirit. He could feel Mischi's nervousness at what Ace was planning but sparks flew as the blades collided. There was no more time for Ace to try to reassure Mischi. The Chain Bearer would come to check on their progress at some point and this had to be done before he got anywhere close.
Fire filled their veins and danced at his fingertips and Ace grinned at the euphoric feeling of being in control of something once again. Swords met with another clash showering the pair in sparks and Ace knew this was his chance. Working quickly, Ace let his own sparks loose as he focused on feeding his feelings to the fire. He had no idea if this would work at all but the slim possibility that it would was enough to give it a shot. He'd done stupider and riskier things before.
The sparks seemed to float freely in the air as Ace watched, searching for any sign that his idea had worked. He was acutely aware that most of them hit the ground and fizzled out. Ace had just started to curse the futility of the situation when a single spark alighted on Marco's blade arm.
Ace waited, with bated breath to see if it had worked. He had no words as he searched Marco's face for a sign, for any sign when Marco gained a searching yet incredibly puzzled and achingly hopeful expression. It was quickly schooled back to Marco's usual placid expression but it was enough.
Mischi continued on the attack while Ace crowed at his success. It had worked and Marco had understood Ace's unspoken need for secrecy if he was any judge of how the battle had just shifted. Blows from either side were now generating sparks leaving Ace plenty to hide his own in. Now it was time to see if the rest of the plan was even feasible.
His first attempt at actually passing on a memory got him nowhere but Ace didn't let that deter him. He didn't know how much time they had so he tried to shove only the key pieces of information at Marco. The memories flickered to the forefront of his mind as he sent them out in little sparks. The clever little spell to hide his body that had been hidden in the final blow that had struck him down went first, an assurance that they couldn't have done anything, that Ace didn't blame his family now that he knew that they hadn't been involved. What he had as an explanation followed; regaining consciousness but not movement as entirely unaware and uncaring cloaked figures collected blood, his blood, and mixed it with what smelt like a mix of ash, charcoal, cherry blossoms and asphodel. The mixture being pained on his skin in strange symbols. The biting cold air from the top of the wherever the hell they were in the middle of a frozen obsidian desert. The eerie, unearthly, inhuman sound of wind screaming in pain. The scream gaining a distinctly more human sound and Ace's own scream of frustration, pain and anger underneath it all before everything went black. Waking up with something else in his head unable to do anything but sit and stare blankly at a wall while wind howled in the room, the noise matching whatever it was that was screaming in his head.
Ace shoved down the rest of the memories that followed that bit. Marco didn't need to know what Ace had been forced to endure as the bastards attempted to mold whatever else that inhabited his body into their slave. He didn't need to know that Ace felt as if he had lost bits and pieces of himself as the being/spirit/elemental had unintentionally stolen some of Ace's memories. Which ones, Ace still wasn't sure and it wasn't anything he wanted to consider especially as whichever memories it had taken had allowed it to gain some semblance of self or enough of one that Ace could communicate. And from there they had talked. Or well Ace had talked and Mischi had listened and learned.
None of that was important at the moment. The next memory was a crucial one, the one that had hurt the most but was the most important for Marco to know. The Whitebeard Spy, as the Chains had called him, gloating over what they thought was a dead body with an enslaved elemental inside. He held back what he had been forced to do from the Chain Bearers in that time. It would probably be obvious once Marco stopped to think about it. What he needed to do now was to see if he could formulate a plan and send that through the flames.
Ace grimaced as he realized what he would have to do. He hated this, but there was no other way. Or at least not one that he could formulate quickly. And this had to be quick. A slimy and numbing feeling was approaching on the edge of his awareness, the first hint that he had that The Chain Bearer was approaching.
Ace grimaced as he took his hastily formulated plan and shoved it into a spark and at Marco. This shit was going to give him nightmares for months. It appeared that he wasn't the only one. Marco blanched when what could have only been the spark that contained the plan made contact.
It was abundantly clear to Ace that he didn't understand but there was no time to try to explain. The chain bearer was getting closer and would be here any moment. Marco stumbled and Mischi closed in, and it was then that Ace knew Marco had understood. The softly whispered "It's Ok." attested to that and Ace wished he could turn away.
He didn't want to see this but his wants were ignored. He screamed within the confines of his own head. It was hard enough to watch as Mischi's blade cut through Marco's leather armor and pierced his heart. It was worse to know that this had been Ace's plan in the first place. That Marco's control over his own power was the only thing that would allow this to work but it might also actually kill the man he loved if he couldn't get the chain bearer away in time.
A high whiny voice spoke up from beside where Ace was staring at Marco's body watching as blood pooled. "Is it done?" the voice asked and Ace didn't answer. If he didn't know any better, he would assume that Marco was dying. Unfortunately he knew better. Marco couldn't die, and Ace's entire plan depended upon it. No right now, the less he spoke the better. Mischi knew what he knew, and Mischi couldn't lie. If asked if Marco was dead, they would have no choice but to answer into the negative.
"Oh! It is! Good! This is very good!" the voice of the Chain Bearer exuded pleasure and Ace couldn't look at him. He would do something rash, Mischi would let him in an attempt to escape and they would be discovered, caught, experimented on and then scrapped. Ace had seen it happen before and he would not subject himself or Mischi to that.
Mischi apparently felt the same as Ace felt a sudden surge of protectiveness and determination from his headmate that appeared on their face as a small tight frown. Ace schooled their features to the blank face that they normally presented the world but it was to late. The expression had been noticed.
"You're actually showing some emotion. Why?" The high and nasally voice of the bearer grated on his senses and Ace ignored it. A dangerous thing to do, but he couldn't leave. Not yet. Not when this would probably be the last time he saw Marco and while this sight was going to give him nightmares he couldn't look away.
Their refusal to answer was not taken well and a surprisingly strong blow from a lash was delivered to their back. It stung but they made no noise. They would not give the chain bearer the satisfaction of seeing them in pain.
"I asked you a question." The bearer stated before repeating, "Why?"
There was no way that they would be able to get out of answering now. The spell that kept them silent wouldn't let them. Ace stared down at the still bleeding body in front of him while Mischi finally answered. "I know", Knew Ace absently corrected and felt Mischi's hidden amusement and annoyance as it corrected itself "I knew him."
An unimpressed stare was delivered their way but again they ignored it as the Chain bearer began to speak again. They knew that their comment would lead to closer monitoring now that they had given an indication that they were like the others and still retained memories instead of being the completely blank puppet that the Chain Bearers had assumed and wanted them to be.
It was worth it, Ace assured Mischi as the chain bearer left the clearing and they followed, one step behind. A mournful bird song started up from the clearing behind them. There was no mistaking that sound for anything other than Marco when he was particularly upset. Ace thrust down the guilt that he felt at being the cause as he shared his hope and feelings of triumph with his headmate. Help would be on its way as soon as Marco uprooted the traitor from the Troupe. All they had to do was survive.