How frail life seemed to be.

It was easy to forget the morality of humans when he, himself, was typically so immune to the danger that waited around ever corner. A normal bullet would pass through him as little more than a breath of air, harmless and almost amusing.

But through those that lacked his logia abilities, the sharp crack of gunfire was met with a sickening result, bone and flesh yielding under the lethal force a single bullet could inflict. A single bullet given aim and precision was the difference between night and day, light and dark,

life and death…

"JENA—"

She didn't scream, didn't even cry out as cold steel shot through her middle. There was only a split second of shock, surprise coating her young face and filling normally warm eyes with an emotion Ace had never wanted to see upon her face.

Fear.

Then Jena was falling, and suddenly Ace was too far away, arms and weapons grabbing at him as the marines attempted to force him back and away — away from what had been a mistake but an unforgivable sin in the raven's eyes.

A bullet meant for him. A bullet that had passed through his flesh harmlessly in the wake of fire. The same bullet meant to cripple Ace had done its job, but in an entirely different way. for the moment her small form hit the floor, Ace was broken, mind and heart shattering in every direction as his eyes zeroed in on the dark crimson pooling around her still form. Dark eyes desperately seeked out the bright blue but found only a dim reminder of the vitality and strength that had once coursed through her.

They were empty — hollow. What little hope Ace had clung to snapped in that moment, a scream raking upwards from somewhere deep within, bellowing the sorrow and rage that boiled up from his core and tore everything else asunder.

Fire, bright and angry leapt around him but Ace didn't notice. He didn't notice the hands fleeing from his burning form, cries of pain and terror sparking to life in the wake of the sudden inferno that surrounded him.

Fire and heat and pain.

Ace was on his knees, pulling the prone form towards him as he cradled her head in his arms. The fire did not touch her, instead folding around them as all else burned, a shield to protect her.

Though, he had failed to do just that.

Words would not rise, instead choked sobs racking his form as he held her close. His precious daughter.And he had failed her. He had allowed himself to love, to grow close, and now that love had been snatched from him once more, blown apart and left to bleed out on the cold, unforgiving floor. That same floor now stained black with her blood.

Sorry

Sorry

Sorry…

The same word echoing in his mind, a mind blank of all else as agony pierced at his soul, ripping his heart apart at the seams and allowing it to sink. Lips met with a cold forehead, Ace rising a shaking hand to close hollow eyes that stared back at him blankly. Unseeing and cold.

And still the fire burned on, tearing the remains of the home to pieces and blackening all that he had held so dear. Memories of what was now gone.

He was choking, the smoke billowing about though he hardly noticed through the film of tears as he allowed Jena to slip from his eyes. The flames devoured her and faintly Ace hoped that she would rise again anew, much like a friend held so close to his heart.

Jena was no phoenix though. She was human, painfully human.

And now she was gone, ashes carried up and into the wind, scattered across lands he had once hoped to travel with her.

That dream was dead though.

Just as she now was.