What Keeps the Fire Burning Chapter 4: Extinguished, an one piece fanfic

Marco/Ace Week Day 4: Angst

6Lisa9: Thank you! I'm glad it still worked out this way.

Aerle: Ah, no way, I would have never done that to Marco and Ace! And thank you, I might even do that. I'll have to think about it once this week is over, because I actually really liked the idea of that story altogether.

LeiaGrey: I'm so happy you liked them. And I might do that, when I get the time for it. :3

I don't really have anything to say about this one? Just, enjoy reading I suppose. :3

Extinguished

Purupurupuru...

Marco's fingers involuntarily trembled as he held the small snail in his hands.

Ace had never voluntarily missed one of his calls before.

Something must be wrong, Marco thought. What if something had happened?

...

Purupurupuru...

"Hey, Marco!" The excited voice on the other end of the line said happily. "It's only been two days, what's wrong? Are you lonely without me, old man?"

That stupid snail did not do Ace's mocking smile any justice, Marco thought, but he smiled nonetheless.

"Of course. I miss you after all, yoi." He responded with the same mocking tone to his voice, although his words were definitely the truth.

"It's only been two days, geez." The younger man replied, rolling his eyes as he did so.

"I could've come with you, you know, yoi." The blond said, knowing that Ace would refuse it anyway. But there was nothing more that he wanted than to be by the younger one's side.

Ace was silent for a moment, but then responded with a smile. "You got enough to do there and I got stuff to do here that only I can do. It's my responsibility after all."

"Alright." Marco replied, although he really did not care about the circumstances at all. But he wanted to respect Ace's decisions, even if he did not like them.

...

Purupurupuru...

"I've seen my brother today!" Ace exclaimed without as much as greeting the person on the other end.

"It's been weeks." Marco mumbled. He had his glance cast down. He looked sad, disappointed.

But Ace failed to notice that in his voice and in his rush of excitement he simply overheard Marco's utterance.

"Luffy's grown so much. He seems so happy, too. And he's found himself a capable crew! I'm really glad for him, it makes me worry less about him. Thought I'll probably never stop worrying about him anyway, he's my little brother after all!"

Marco stayed silent, he wanted to tell Ace that he, too had found a place for himself to stay and that there really was no need to go after Teach anymore. But of course he knew that was impossible.

"Hey, Marco, are you still there?" The raven haired man asked now that his excitement had died down a little.

"I miss you." The blond simply said with a longing in his voice that made Ace stay quiet for a bit.

"I'll be back soon." The youth replied after a while, although they both knew that wasn't true.

...

Purupurupuru...

"Hey." Ace voice answered the call. He seemed absent-minded, sad. Marco was not really sure. Usually the youth would talk and talk about all the things that had happened and that he had seen, but apparently not this time.

"What's wrong, Ace?" The blond asked the other one worriedly.

"Just..." He started, but then seemed to search for the right words to say. "It gets a little lonely, I guess." He finally admitted.

It made Marco's heart sting. Because he, too, was lonely. He wanted to have Ace back at his side.

"I love you, Ace." The blond finally said, not knowing what else to say. He could not ask Ace to return to him and he could not ask him if he could accompany him. What else could he do then? There was nothing but these sporadic calls anymore. They had nothing else left.

...

Purupurupuru...

"Any news?" Marco asked quickly. It had been a while that they had talked. Ace was getting further away from him. Sometimes the snails failed to make contact to each other completely. Sometimes Ace only answered shortly and quickly, as if he had become too busy to even talk to him now.

"I was thrown into a river." The youth laughed. "But some girl, uhm, Moda's her name, pulled me out. I stayed at her place for a while."

"Excuse me?"

"Ugh, not what you think, Marco." Ace seemed to roll his eyes at him again. "Anyway, she wanted me to deliver this letter to a marine base, so I did. They have really awful coffee there, by the way. No wonder marines are always so cranky. Well, in the end I got some really useful information on Teach, I think."

"Do you know where he is?" Marco's heart tightened as fear took a hold of him.

"I think so."

"I could come there, you know –"

Ace interrupted him quickly. "I can do this alone." He snapped. "I'll be back soon." He promised.

And Marco remembered the last time the youth had promised that. Such a long time ago.

"Marco?" Ace's voice had quieted down a little.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

The line was silent for a moment as Marco looked at the snail with sad eyes, thinking about how much he wanted the person on the other side to be here right now.

"I love you, too."

...

Purupurupuru...

"He's still not picking up?" That was Izo who had poked his head into Marco's room upon hearing the familiar noise of the transponder snail trying to make a call.

There was a quiet clinging noise as the snail's attempts stopped.

"No." Marco replied drily.

"Don't worry, he's probably fine!" The man said.

"Yeah, I guess so, yoi." Marco replied with a smile.

Maybe Ace really was fine. He really wanted him to be fine. He did not want his assumptions to be true.

Maybe tomorrow, he would pick up the transponder snail and greet him with his happy voice once more, telling him that he had been able to defeat and catch Teach.

Maybe in a few days, Ace would be back at his side, back where he belonged.

Or maybe, in a few more days when Marco was reading the newspaper in the morning he would find out that his lover was dead, killed by the man that had betrayed them all.

There were tears rolling down his face as he thought about these possible worst-case scenarios.

A moment later he wiped them away with his arm, thinking that he should not allow himself to think this way. Ace was probably fine. He was fine. If he would call him again now, the youth would pick up and mock him for his stupid fears...

Purupurupuru...

The snail however, would never transmit Ace's voice again.

And the next time they met, a battlefield would lie between them and Marco would never be able to feel the other's warm touch on his skin ever again.

'I'll be back soon.' Had never held any truth to it after all, because Ace was never coming back home.