A/N: I own nothing but the words. All the characters and stuff go to Oda. Enjoy this heart wrenching tale.
There had been a scientist, when the fearsome phoenix had been young, that had once told him something he would never forget. 'If you're ever in a pickle, just think of something sad,' He had said, confusing the boy, 'For phoenix tears have healing abilities.' He hadn't believed him then, brushing him off as nothing more than an old coot.
Sure, he was a phoenix, but just because he had the form, didn't mean he had the same abilities as the legend assumed.
Until the need to use it happened.
He had been no more than seven at the time, working on a model boat with his father when the slip of a knife meant a rather serious cut on the man's finger. He had protested and protested, but Marco wanted to give it a try. So he thought of the saddest thing his seven year old person had experienced—the death of his mother. Within a couple minutes the tears had dropped, landing onto the cut, and to both of their amazement, the red coloring left, and the cut disappeared all together.
But this time wasn't anything compare to that.
As he dropped to his knees, hands falling to the ground, the tears streamed down his face. They hit the massive wound, trying to heal it and make things better. They had to work—they just had to. "..Damn it….work…" He muttered in frustration as more of the salty drops hit the red.
But nothing happened. He just had to cry more. Yeah, that's what he had to do. And so he thought about everything that had happened in the course of his lifetime. The experiments, the deaths, the betrayals. "Wake up, brat…"His hand grazed over the top of the wound, where there had once stood a tattoo signifying his brother's loyalty to his family. It had been so precious, so dear to all of them, and to watch it be destroyed was one of the hardest things Marco had ever witnesses.
"Please…Ace…"
More of the tears slipped, and the phoenix clutched the ground below him.
That wrenching feeling had hit his gut, and he knew the one thing he had dreaded this whole time.
No matter how hard he tried, or how many tears he shed... Ace wasn't coming back.