Allriiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, chapter 4 c: Enjoy!
As soon as Ace finished singing his favorite verse, the lights flickered off. He then heard a high pitched scream, coming from the upstairs bathroom. Ace immediately jumped up and ran upstairs.
Ume jumped out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around herself. 'I can't see anything! I hate complete darkness, this really sucks."
"Ume? Are you okay? I'm coming in!" Ace barged into the bathroom, and held his hand up. He used his devil fruit powers to light up the bathroom, to search for Ume. It didn't take him long to find her. As soon as he lit up the room, She embraced him with a tight hug.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you.. I'm afraid of darkness, too. And on top of that, it sounds like it's getting worse."
Ace glanced down to Ume and felt a deep blush form across his cheeks. He quickly looked up and away and shook his head "N-no, I'm sorry I shouldn't have barged in on you taking a bath."
"Well, I DID kind of scream." She looked away and then back up at Ace. "I'm okay now, I promise."
"Come on. I'll light the way to your room so you can get dressed." He kept his hand held out, illuminating the hallway into Ume's room. He turned his back towards her, and respected her privacy by not looking. She hurried up and slipped into a comfy light blue t-shirt and matching sleep shorts with little stars all over.
"It's okay to turn around now." She started to take her hair down when she realized Ace was staring at a picture on her wall.
"You still have this picture?" He took it down and walked over to her. It was a picture of Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Ume. They were all huddled around each other, smiling as big as they could for the camera. She smiled and sat down on her bed, and gestured Ace to do the same.
"Of course, It's a picture of all of us. I could never get rid of it." She sighed softly, as tears began to form in her eyes. "I miss Sabo so much. I miss Luffy too, but I missed you most of all."
"Hey, please don't cry, Ume. I'm here and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." He put his right arm around her and pulled her into himself. Ume soon laid her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.
"Ace?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you… for coming back." She soon fell asleep. Ace laid her down and tucked her into bed. He shook off his powers, and found his way to his room from the lighting flashes that came in through the window. As soon as he reached his room, He walked over to his bed, and passed out.
The storm continued to pick up outside, the thunder growing louder with each clap. Ume shot up from her bed, and let out a high pitched cry, which of course, woke Ace up. He jumped up from his bed, and ran into her room. She was huddled together, crying softly and shaking hard.
"Ume, what is it?" He ran over to the bed and took her in his arms
"I-I'm sorry Ace. One minute I was asleep and the thunder woke me up." She gripped onto his shirt, and buried her face in his chest.
"Do you want to go to the safe room?" He looked down, a small frown forming.
She nodded gently. With that response, Ace stood up and scooped Ume up in his arms. "Alright, then I'll go with you." He carried her downstairs and laid her in the bed. "I'll be right here if you need me.." He laid down on the ground next to the wood-burning stove.
"Ace, lay in bed with me, I hate for you to lay on the floor." She sat up and stared over at him.
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your privacy."
"Ace, don't be silly. We used to snuggle together as friends all the time when we were kids. Besides, this bed is big enough for the two of us."
He stood up walked to the other side of the bed, laying down underneath the comforter. "Thank you Ume, You are too kind."
"Anytime Ace. Sweet dreams."
"You too Ume. Goodnight." He laid back and stared up at the ceiling. 'I can't believe I'm sleeping in the same bed as her. But, she sees me as a friend. Ugh, don't screw this up, Ace." He turned to lay on his side, and soon fell asleep.
The next morning, Ace woke up and turned to face Ume, who was still fast asleep. He smiled softly and gently nudged her awake.
"Hey, wake up! I wanna show you how I sail!" He sat up, and looked down at her with a bright smile on his face.
"Alright Ace." She stretched her arms and let out a soft yawn, and then stood up from the bed. "Just give me a minute to get dressed." She walked upstairs to her room, Ace followed her upstairs, but split into his room to change himself. As soon as he was done, he met her downstairs.
"Are you ready?" Ume looked towards Ace and shot him a sweet smile.
"I sure am. Remember, My vessel is on the other side of the island. So I need to go retrieve it. Go watch for me, and I'll be around there in about 10 minutes time."
"Alright Ace.. just please be careful. I'll be watching for you." She smiled to him and each of them started walking separate ways. Ace was walking west, and Ume was headed east a few paces to the secluded area. She sat down onto the sandy beach, and looked out to sea.
A few moments had passed, and Ume was still sitting comfortably on the sandy beach. She looked out, but didn't see anything. She looked down and laced her fingers together, until she heard her name being called.
She looked out to sea and saw a small boat with sails, and what looked like flames in the floor of the vessel. She saw Ace standing tall, moving his body, causing the vessel to turn. He waved to Ume, and made his vessel come to a stop. "So, what do you think?" He shouted out to her.
"Amazing Ace! Now please, come back to shore!"
"Why? You haven't even seen any of my tricks!"
Ume sighed to herself and shook her head "Alright, just a couple.."
Ace started his vessel back up and began moving at a quicker speed than before. He made his way over to a group of rocks in a quick manner, and began swerving in and out, just by moving his hips. Ume watched in amazement.
"Ace! That's amazing!"
Ace looked up to Ume and smiled to himself. He headed back to the group of rocks to swerve in and out one last time, when he was suddenly jerked forward. He reached back and grabbed onto the sails, and managed to stand up. He noticed that the vessel was still moving towards the group of rocks. He tried moving his body to the left to turn the vessel, but it continued heading towards the rocks.
"Shit, what the hell is going on, this hasn't happened to me before!" Ace struggled to move his body from left to right, only hoping to turn his vessel away from the rocks. He was 20 feet away from the group of rocks.
Ume stood up "Ace! Watch out!"
Ace got closer to the rocks, but no movements steered the vessel. He was literally seconds away from death, when he grabbed ahold of the sail, and threw his body to the left, causing the side of his vessel to collide into the rock, causing Ace to fly into the ocean.
Ume began to panic. "Ace? Oh my god, he can't swim!" She took off her jacket, and ran towards the rough ocean waters. She swam as fast as she possibly could, making her way over to the group of rocks. Smoke and debris littered the water, making it harder to find out where Ace was. Ume dove underwater, and looked around frantically. She made out a figure with a bright orange hat sinking to the bottom of the ocean. She swam down as fast as she could, and grabbed ahold of Ace's wrist.
"Please, I don't want us to die here.. Please, not now!" She struggled to grab ahold of Ace, and began to swim upward towards the surface. As soon as she pulled both her and Ace up to the surface, she struggled to hold onto Ace. She kicked her legs as hard as she could, and started to lead them both to the beach. As soon as she made it to the beach, she laid Ace on his back, and began to panic. She removed his hat and put it around her neck.
There was a small gash on his forehead along with cuts, scrapes and bruises on his chest, arms lower stomach. She bent down and put her ear to his chest. "He isn't breathing!" She leaned down, tilted his head back, and began performing CPR, hoping that Ace would come back around. She began pushing on his chest, and then giving him a few more breaths. After a few moments of hard work, Ace began to choke for air. He began to cough up water, and then soon began to breathe normally. He opened his eyes and looked up to Ume.
"Ace! You're alright!" Ume leaned down and hugged him tight. Ace howled out in pain, Ume let go of the tight hug, and laid him back down. "Ace, what's going on, what hurts?"
"My chest...right arm.. my shins, my neck, my head.. Ume, how did I get here?"
"I saved you Ace. We need to get you to a doctor, you could have broken bones!" Ume stood up quickly. "This is all my fault, Ace.. I should of never let you around those rocks."
"I'm so sorry, Ume. I have no idea what happened, I swear I don't." Ace closed his eyes, and placed his left hand on his forehead.
"Its alright Ace, I need to go get help. Just lay here, don't you dare move, ill be back as soon as I can!"
"No, Ume, just help me up. I can make it to your place, it's not that far.." Ace removed his hand and looked up to her.
"Ace, you just said your shins were hurting you-"
"I'll be okay, please I just don't want to lay here anymore.." He struggled to sit himself up with his left arm. Ume reached out and grabbed his hand, and helped him up onto his feet. She bent down slightly and wrapped his left arm around her neck and shoulders, putting all of the weight on herself. She began walking as slow as she could, making sure Ace was okay to keep up.
"Ume, can I have my hat back?" Ace held his head up, and gave a small smile to Ume.
"It's all wet though, Ace. Are you sure you want it?"
"Yeah, that hat is very important to me." He smiled as he reached up slowly with his right arm and easily removed the hat from Ume's neck. He managed to put his hat back on without straining his hurt arm. Before Ume knew it, she and Ace had made it to the top of the cliff where the house was, without stopping once. "Alright, its just a few more feet from here.."
"Ume, thank you for saving me. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead."
"It's no problem at all, Ace. I just feel awful that it happened.. How are you going to be able to finish your mission?"
"I don't know.. I would have to build another ship, and even that could take a couple of weeks to do. And I don't exactly know what I hurt but I do know this: I feel like shit."
"We are almost to my place. It's unfortunate that I don't have a one story house, because I don't think I can carry you up the stairs."
"I can make it up, it's not like it's a huge staircase.."
"You are going to sleep in my bed. Its bigger and more comfortable."
"Ume, I couldn't do that-"
"Of course you can. Because you are injured, and you are my guest.. and also that's where I am laying you down."
Ace blinked and then let out a small laugh "Alright, Ume. I'm sorry that I am taking your bed."
"Don't be. I'm just so happy that you are alive." they soon arrived at her front door. Ume opened the door with her house key, and helped Ace inside of the house.
"Now, I will be getting a doctor." She walked then both to her room.
"Ume, I'm alright, it's nothing that serious. I can manage to walk, so I must have just split my shins or something. They should get better if I rest and take care of myself. Besides, if other people know I am here, it could cause problems for you."
"If you really think you are alright, then I won't get a doctor. But I mean it, if I think you aren't recovering soon enough, I will get a doctor. Now, I need to clean your wounds. Are you able to put on your comfy pants? I hate to pry on your privacy."
"Y-yeah, I can." He sat up slowly, scooting towards the edge of the bed. Ume walked towards the door and looked back "Ill be back in a second, I need to retrieve the bandages. That should give you enough time to change into your shorts." She walked out of the room.
Ace began to slip off his wet shorts. 'I'm in Ume's room.. I'm going to be sleeping in her bed.. Keep it together, gotta be strong." He bent down slightly to put his dry pants on, but stopped mid way because of a sharp pain that went up his right side. "God damn, what the hell did I do to myself?" he said normally, as he took a deep breath, and tried once more to dress himself. He succeeded. He folded up the wet shorts nicely and placed them on a chair next to the bed. He climbed up in her luxuriously soft bed, and pulled the covers over himself. Soon after he got into bed, Ume walked in with a bowl full of warm water, a white cloth, and what looked to be a roll of cloth bandages. She placed the bowl on the window sill next to the bed.
"Hat off, Ace. I need to wash off your face." She soaked the white cloth into the bowl of warm water, and wrung the water out. Ace lifted his left arm up and removed his hat. He slowly moved his arm down, sitting his hat beside him.
"Thank you. Now, it might burn, just bear with me, okay?" She began to wipe his face off gently, making sure not to hit his forehead wound. "Your forehead doesn't look too bed.. does your head hurt anymore?"
"A little.. it feels a lot better now that I am laying down."
"That's a good sign then. I'm going to go fix you some dinner. Just try and get some rest, okay?"
"Alright, rest sounds pretty good right now." He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep. Ume made her way downstairs and to the kitchen to prepare Ace's fresh meal.
