A/N: So I actually had a bit of time to write another oneshot in the past few days, and it also fits for opscifiandfantasy. Posting was extended so that means I was also able to post this withing the event period. Thanks to my beta lunarshores!

Enjoy!

Marco tapped his foot as he sunk into the plush red cushions of his auditorium seat. His siblings chattered around him excitedly waiting for the performance to start.

He felt a giant hand brush his and he looked up at his father, who was smiling down at him. "How are you feeling, son?" Whitebeard asked.

"Fine, Pops," Marco answered, he looked down at the stage. "Is that seat comfortable enough for you?" His father was larger than most humans, being half giant, so naturally his size made things complicated during visits.

"Roger is aware of my size, Marco," Whitebeard said. "He wouldn't invite us here and then make improper preparations."

"I know, but I can't help worrying, yoi." It was only natural for him to make sure everything was okay for their father since he was the eldest sibling.

"You're not supposed to worry tonight, Marco. Enjoy yourself. Just look at your siblings." He pointed at Haruta and Thatch joking with each other as Izo rolled his eyes.

"They're always like that, Pops."

Whitebeard laughed, though much more contained than usual, so he wouldn't disturb the others attending. Despite the fact that they had a private box large enough to fit their family, Whitebeard was naturally loud.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Esteemed guests!" A man walked out onto the stage, and a hush washed through the room. "On behalf of His Royal Majesty, the King, I hereby apologize for this delay! Unfortunately, we are still experiencing complications."

The audience members groaned, and some of them even felt the need to voice their complaints.

"The magic on my hair won't last forever, you know!"

"I have places to be!"

"Do you want me to cast a curse?"

"Stupid nobles," Marco muttered. They always acted entitled. Of course they would threaten curses too just when things didn't go their way. They would probably be complaining for a while, and Marco didn't really want to hear them. He stood from his seat, stretching his limbs. "I'm going to take a walk."

"Be safe, son. And don't wander too far."

The sounds of the auditorium became muffled as soon as Marco shut the door to the hallway behind him, but it was enough to be a relief. It would be nice to take a stroll through the halls, and considering the delay, he had time.

The halls were absolutely empty. The audience was already impatiently waiting inside, expecting the show to start sooner than it was going to.

Marco didn't exactly know where he was going. He really just let his own feet lead him through the performance hall, wandering aimlessly. The plush, red carpeting spread through the entire building, complementing the gold-colored walls. Various works of art lined the wall in ornate frames: landscapes of the surrounding land, portraits of the past royal family members. The entire building was just a show of wealth, though Marco couldn't really blame the current King, Roger. The performance hall had apparently belonged to the royal family for generations as a way to give back to the public, though the nobles mainly hogged it now.

"Well, I never!" he heard a woman huff. "What a ridiculous wait! I swear, he may be the king, but who does he think he is, making us wait?"

"Of course, Sophia dear."

A noble couple hurried out of the auditorium, the woman wobbling with her heels pressing against the carpet. "Come, Geoffrey." Marco hadn't even been in their way, but apparently, him occupying the same hallway as this lady was appalling enough for her to act disgusted. "Well excuse you!" She scowled, nose in the air. "Unbelievable! The vermin you can find in here."

Marco scowled at the woman, though he didn't feel like putting in the effort to argue with her.

"D-dear," the man behind her stuttered. "Th-that's Prince Marco. F-from Whitebeard's kingdom."

The lady looked at her husband, and then back at Marco, and slowly, her haughty expression turned into a gaping mouth and wide-eyes of mortification. "Oh my goodness!" She backed up to give Marco some room, and she curtsied low as her husband bowed. "W-we're so sorry! Please forgive us."

He sighed, accepting their apology so that they would leave him alone. Marco hated nobles in that way too: in one moment, they acted above everyone else, but were quick to grovel when meeting someone of higher status. So superficial.

The mood of his walk had been soiled by that run in. How much sooner until other whiny nobles came busting out of that auditorium?

He knew that he had promised Pops that he wouldn't go too far, but a breath of fresh air sounded like a wonderful idea right now.

The entrance doors were just as grand as the rest of the building, reaching up several stories. They remained open, leading into a grand courtyard with a large fountain of a pegasus. The fragrant aroma of the well-kept flowers wafted in the gentle breeze, helping create that relaxed atmosphere Marco had been looking for. He breathed in that wonderful air, a nice change from the stuffy air indoors.

"Coming through!"

Someone barreled into Marco from behind knocking him flat on the ground. "Sorry about that!" the perpetrator added, though he continued his sprint across the courtyard. Marco groaned, still reeling from the hit.

"Ace! Come back!" Someone ran up behind, but stopped as they panted. "Oh dear! Are you okay, Marco?" They offered out their hand to help him up, and Marco saw that it was Queen Rouge.

Though she was the queen, she was revered throughout the all the lands for her beautiful voice. She was supposed to be performing tonight. As she helped him up, Marco noticed that she was in her costume, decorated with jewels and lace. Her other hand was gripping her skirt to keep it from trailing on the ground.

"I'm so sorry about that," she apologized, checking him over to make sure he wasn't injured. "And I'm sorry about the wait too. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, and my family has waited through worse, Your Majesty," Marco reassured. "What was that just now though?"

Rouge frowned, looking in the direction the man had run off in. "That was my son, Ace," she sighed. "Today was supposed to be his first public appearance."

Marco's eyes-widened. So that was the prince. He had met Rouge and Roger before, but never Ace, though he had heard his name. Before, the king and queen always insisted on keeping him out of view of the public for his safety, often occupying him with voice training or magic control (or so Marco had heard).

"Oh gods." Rouge's words had transformed into worried ramblings. "I have to go get him, but I can't leave! Oh, I need to tell Roger- or get the guards. I-"

"Calm down, Your Majesty," Marco said. "I'll get him, yoi."

Her eyes brightened as if a weight was taken off her. "You would?"

"It's nothing. I know how dangerous it is for him to be out alone."

"Thank you!" Rouge cried. She lunged forward, squeezing Marco's hands. "Newgate raised such a noble son!"

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Is there any way for us to buy time?"

Rouge glanced at the hall, all too aware of the angry nobles inside. "I can hold off the show for a bit longer, but we need Ace back for the end."

Even though Marco had promised Whitebeard he would be back, he knew that he wouldn't be yelled at for making sure that the queen didn't worry herself sick.

Marco took off right away, deciding to transform to fly closer to the town to get an overhead view- not that that would help since he didn't exactly know what Ace looked like. He couldn't have gotten very far though, considering the large bridge that separated the performance hall from the rest of the town.

Though the hall had been bright, the town surprisingly was lively on its own for this time of night. Lights were on in almost all shops, and people milled about as they chatted to companions walking by their side. Marco could smell food and alcohol down below, and he was glad that people were too busy partying or going about their daily business to pay too much attention to the glowing phoenix soaring overhead.

Had had known it would be a task to look for him among the busy streets, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a crowd forming. He swooped over a nearby alleyway and transformed back into his human form with ease, landing on his feet.

"What is that man doing?"

"A performer I think, but he hasn't said anything yet."

"It's always nice to get some performers down here every once in awhile."

"Mommy! Mommy! I want to watch!"

Marco stepped closer to investigate, but just as he reached the crowd, a melodious voice began to sing, and suddenly, in that busy street, everything seemed calm.

Let me go,

Far away,

Somewhere they won't ever find me,

and tomorrow won't remind me of today.

The crowd seemed to sway with the voice, and Marco had to admit that he had been unable to resist the trance too. The spell seemed to break when the song ended though, but the audience applauded nonetheless.

Marco snaked his way past the crowd until he was in the front. At the center of attention stood a young, muscular man with a wide grin on his face, and with those freckles and eyes, Marco was convinced that he was Ace, especially since his clothes matched Rouge's costume. Marco would definitely have to admit that he was cute in it too.

Their eyes met, and Ace gasped, recognizing Marco from the performance hall. Before Marco could say anything, Ace bowed quickly and then dashed off.

"Wait!"

Now that he had caught up with Ace, it wasn't that hard to keep track of him, especially since he ran right into a dead end.

Ace looked up at the surrounding buildings, only now realizing his mistake. Marco felt a little bad for him, in a way.

He turned around to face Marco, grinning sheepishly. "No hard feelings about earlier, right?"

Marco frowned when he saw that grin. Didn't he know how much trouble he was causing? Still, he didn't want to scare Ace off."Of course not, yoi. Your mother's worried about you though." He stepped forward, offering out a friendly hand. "I'm Marco."

"Well, you probably already know who I am then if Ma sent you," Ace said, though he still took Marco's hand to shake it. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Marco raised an eyebrow at him. "Where do you think you're going? It's dangerous for someone like you."

"Just because I'm royalty?" Ace scoffed. He crossed his arms across his chest. "I can handle myself."

"You think a trader won't be able to tell that you're half siren?"

Ace's proud stance shattered when Marco said that, eyes wide. "How did you-"

"I'm well versed in magical creatures." He was one himself and had been required to study them many times over. Not many people knew that Rouge was a siren since magic creatures weren't too widely studied among particular groups (nobles liked to remain ignorant), but Marco could tell easily. "You should come back with me. It's safer that way."

"And perform like a little pet for the nobles? No thanks."

"Let me guess. You're a prince, and you're above performing?" True, Marco had never been expected to perform on this scale, but he remembered having to play a few tunes on his violin for visitors, and he never complained.

"No. It's just that the nobles are just so stuck up!" Ace exclaimed, and Marco couldn't disagree with him. "They step all over the commoners and treat them like dirt, and I don't want to put up with them doing that!"

Marco thought back to earlier when he had run into that noble woman and her husband. Their attitudes had been dirt poor, and he was sure that they treated the common people worse than they had treated him before they found out who he was. Experiences with nobles back at home hadn't been much better.

"Being royal sucks like that, I guess," Marco sighed.

"You can say that again. Hey, wait. How-"

"Royalty, eh?" A stranger's smug voice had intruded the conversation. A man slunk out of the shadows, revealing purple-haired man with a beard. "I've never sold a prince on the market before, and a half-breed too. You'll fetch for a high price!"

"Don't talk about me like that!" Ace snapped, as Marco slipped into a defensive stance.

"Traders," he growled. "Be careful, Ace."

"Hm. You look strong and young, so you'll sell decently. Boys, get 'em!"

Suddenly, the two found themselves surrounded by a gang of traders. They were on the rooftops and in the entrance. The only way out of this would be to fight.

"You said you could defend yourself," Marco said as he shifted his arms into wings and his feet into talons, bright blue fire flickering off his body, "so now would be a good time to do so!"

The leader stood back as his subordinates attacked, expecting Marco and Ace to fall any second now. But they weren't going down without a fight- or at least, that's what Marco hoped. He couldn't see what Ace was doing since he was preoccupied with kicking men away. They didn't pose much of a challenge individually, but the way they came in droves was wearing him down.

A knife blade dug into his thigh, and Marco cursed as he swept the assailant away with his wing. Unfortunately, the distraction meant more enemies ganging up on him. This would have been much easier with more backup.

"Get away from Marco!" Ace yelled. Marco looked over at him to see a fire burning in eyes- metaphorically speaking, though there was actual fire burning across his arms and fists. He opened his mouth and just when Marco thought he was going to start yelling again, he defied his expectations.

Ace began to sing.

There were no words to his melody- just a single, drawn out note that pierced the air of battle. Yet it held power on its own, putting their attackers into a trance. Marco took the opportunity to kick the foes in front of him down. It was easy to take care of them when they were paralyzed like this, though his movements felt more sluggish than usual.

Their struggle soon finished, a pile of unconscious bodies stacked at the corner of the alley with their leader on top. Marco panted, wiping the sweat off his brow. Izo would scold him later from ruining his clothes. He custom-tailored them after all.

Ace's song died down in the next moment, and he rushed to Marco's side. "Are you ok? How's your wound?" He bent down to check on where the rip was in Marco's clothes, but Marco stopped him.

"I'm fine, Ace. See?" Marco brushed his hand against where the cut would have been and held it up to the limited light. "No blood."

Ace took Marco's hand, staring at it in wonder. "Wow," he whispered.

"I'm a phoenix, Ace," Marco said. "That's why I healed."

"Oh? Is that why you used fire too?" Ace asked. As if experimenting, he brought his flames out, Marco's sparking up in return. He grinned. "Maybe you could show me some tricks sometime."

"Yeah, maybe. But for now, we should get out of here, yoi."

"Sure. I'm starving."

They left the alley as quickly as they could, though they reported the presence of slavers to a knight patrolling the town. Soon after, they found themselves sitting in the corner of a crowded tavern, Ace scarfing down on a meal.

"Are you sure you're fine with paying?"

"Just think of it as thanks for earlier," Marco said.

"Thanks for what?" Ace asked. "If I hadn't run into that alley, you wouldn't have gotten into that in the first place."

"You would've rather handled it alone? Your powers really helped, Ace. Both your voice and your fire," Marco insisted. "You definitely have potential."

Ace grinned. "You really think so? Does that mean you'll train with me sometime?"

"Like I said. We'll see," Marco answered. "Anyways, do you want to explain why you ran off? It's obviously not the performance part seeing that you have a beautiful voice."

Ace's cheeks broke out into a red blush, stopping to choke on his food. He took a giant gulp of water, slamming it down on the table when he was done. "W-were you just planning on flirting with me this whole time?"

Marco chuckled, but decided not to answer. "Don't change the subject."

Ace frowned at him, but started his explanation. "I mean, I do like singing, but it's horrible in front of the nobles."

"I thought you haven't made a public appearance before though."

"Yeah, but Ma made me practice sometimes when the nobles visited," Ace said. "She had good intention though."

"Learned to control that voice of yours then?" Marco took a sip of his own drink. No wonder he hadn't been fully affected by Ace's singing. "You did a good job focusing with it earlier."

"Thanks. Nobles would get suspicious if they were aware of the enchantment anyways."

"But commoners wouldn't be?" Marco raised an eyebrow. "No wonder your mother was so worried for you."

Ace shrugged. "Yeah, but she's my mom. Of course she's worry. I don't really care what commoners think."

"And yet we ran into those slavers."

Ace looked away, unable to argue with that point.

"Why don't you care though? They're your audience, right?" Marco asked.

"I mean, they deserve it, don't they?" Ace answered. "The nobles like to hog all the entertainers, and they don't deserve it at all! They think that performers exist solely for their amusement, and they get mad when something inconveniences them. I mean, did you hear that guy threatening curses earlier?"

Oh Marco definitely remembered. He had been thinking the exact same thing as Ace at the time.

"You seem okay though," Ace said, smiling at Marco. "I'm glad you understand me."

"I want to understand you, Ace," Marco reassured, returning the smile. "So what do we do? Do you have a plan?"

"You'll get in on this with me then?"

"Sure thing. What do you need?"

"Do you have any way to like get a word out? Like quickly?" Ace asked.

"I have an idea," Marco said. The idea was crystal clear in his mind. "Come, Ace. Take a ride with me, yoi."

Ace laughed out as the wind whipped his raven locks all around. Marco felt felt warmth well up in his heart when he heard that laugh (much like his singing, a beautiful sound).

"Hey!" he yelled to the crowds down below. "You're all invited to witness the rest of the concert tonight! Personal invitation from the prince!"

That had been the last area they needed to cover, and it was time they headed back to the performance hall. They flew back above the bridge, seeing that groups had already crossed, entering the hall. This plan of Ace's would definitely cause a stir.

"I know that we should go inside soon, but just one time around the hall, please?" Ace asked, and he sounded so excited that Marco couldn't refuse.

He turned ever so slightly, setting them off in a path around the performance hall. The lights glowed brightly from below, making the building shine as if it were gold. "This is amazing, Marco!" Ace shouted. "You better take me flying again sometime too!"

Marco didn't mind that suggestion.

He soared right through the open doors, and into the open entrance to the auditorium. The aisles were crowded with commoners, much to the protest of the nobles. That, along with the spectacle of Marco flying in, was enough to make them scream.

"My word!"

"How dare you!"

However, Marco could still hear the distinguishable laughs of King Roger and Whitebeard above the crowd.

He flew Ace right to the stage, where the other performers and Rouge, who was smiling wide, were waiting for Ace.

Ace slid gracefully off of Marco's back, turning to Marco, who had transformed back into his human form. The room had become silent watching them.

"Thank you for this," Ace whispered, stepping close.

Marco smiled, taking Ace's hand to kiss it. He silently ducked backstage, rushing back to his family's box as the rest of the show started. His siblings gave him funny looks when he returned, but Marco didn't care.

He had fun that night, and Ace's performance was absolutely mind-blowing.

"Newgate, my friend!"

After the show had finished and the commotion had died down, Whitebeard's family had met with King Roger's.

"How did you enjoy yourselves?"

"Wonderful as always, Roger. Your son is as talented as his mother."

Marco looked over at Ace to see his reaction, and he was blushing. Though not because of Whitebeard's compliment. His eyes were staring right back at Marco.

He walked up to the group, approaching Marco in particular. Marco could see a goofy grin on his face. "You didn't tell me you were also a prince."

Marco smirked at him. "You never asked, yoi."

"Were you ever going to introduce us, Marco?" Izo chimed, tapping his foot impatiently.

"You can finish flirting first if you want," Thatch added as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't mind that," Ace said.

"I was merely joking," Izo sighed, but Ace didn't seem to hear him.

"It's so good to have your whole family over for once," Rouge chimed. "We've already prepared your rooms in the castle for you to stay."

"Marco can stay in my room!" Ace chirped. He grinned, clutching Marco's hand.

"Nice try, young man, but- hey!"

Before Queen Rouge could finish, Ace ran out with Marco in tow. He laughed as he dragged Marco along, coming to a stop in the middle of the bridge.

They stopped to catch their breaths, admiring the way light shimmered off of the water. Things were quiet between them, but it was nice.

"Hey, Marco?"

"Yeah, Ace?"

"Do you think it's possible to fall in love in one night?" Ace asked. His words came out quieter than they usually would. The grip he had on Marco's hand had loosened too, lacking the confidence Marco had seen on stage. Marco couldn't blame him though. It was a heavy question.

He squeezed Ace's hand. "I'm not one for taking things fast, Ace."

"Oh," Ace said, looking down.

"But," Marco cradled his cheek to make him look back at him, "I'm willing to give it a try."

It was wonderful to see Ace's smile return, and as they walked towards the castle hand-in-hand, Marco knew that the surprises of this visit was far from over.

I hope you enjoyed this one as well! We always need some more MarcoAce here. Please review because I really want to know what you guys think and it's encouraging!