A/N: As promised, it's my birthday and here's the chapter. Please be okay with it, even though it sucks. Sorry I'm taking so long to update...

Everyone on the ship was acting strangely. There was a quiet… eerily quiet… air around the older members, and the newer members seemed to understand, as they skirted around like bandits and while not as sullen, seemed to be in deep thought.

Breakfast seemed an oddly melancholy affair, and it was all Ace could do to hold in the question of, What's going on?

Thatch's usually exuberant air seemed to have deserted him as he halfheartedly scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes into Ace's plate, "Morning, Ace." He sighed wearily as he poured some gravy on top.

"Not a very good morning." Ace noted with a slight frown. "What's wrong?"

Thatch offered him a halfhearted smile. "It's... it's just today. It brings up some..." He passed a hand over his face, like a ghost. "...some bad memories, I suppose."

"What..." Ace paused as the realization struck him, and he asked in a softer voice, "Who?" He paused, and then flushed. "I mean, if you don't mind or anything. If you do mind, then you don't have to tell me. It's just..." He ducked his head down, and shrugged awkwardly.

"I don't mind." Thatch replied, lifting one shoulder into a shrug. "It was Aram, our second division commander. I was, um, close to him, so it's just a little hard to..." He bit his lower lip, then raised his hand to make a vague gesture, before shaking his head and sighing again. "Yeah."

"I get it." Ace agreed quietly as he put down his tray. "He was... the second division commander? The division that I'm in?"

Thatch nodded. "He was really strong. Only Oyaji and one or two of the commanders could beat him. When he was around, the second division was really strong, too. More like a family. After he... you know... it sort of just fell apart." He paused and raised his head to peer curiously at Ace. "But now that you're here, it's kind of like when he was around. Everyone's a bit closer, now."

Ace blinked owlishly at Thatch, and offered him an awkward smile before asking, "How about I take over for you? You should take a break from serving people food. You've got enough on your mind, already."

"I can't..." Thatch shook his head, and frowned distantly at Ace. "You'll mess up my kitchen, you disaster freak."

Ace rolled his eyes. "I'm be extra careful today." He promised. "You go and talk with the others. Try to feel better, you look creepy when you don't have your stupid smile."

"...You'll burn down my kitchen." Thatch replied with a shake of his head. "You're a pyromaniac. And a kleptomaniac. You'll steal things from my kitchen. You'll finish off the chocolate cake that I made last week. You'll down the icing sugar. You'll throw flour everywhere. You'll... you'll mess it up."

"I haven't done any of those things." Ace replied, bewildered.

"I know." Thatch agreed. "Because I'm not stupid enough to let you into my kitchen."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Thatch, just trust me and go."

"I don't know if I should trust you."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "You're spilling gravy onto the spaghetti."

Thatch raised the spoon, startled, and sighed, "I guess you're right. I'd probably make an equally big mess. I'm too distracted today."

"Exactly." Ace agreed in satisfaction. "I'll serve, and everything will be fine."

And oddly enough, it was.

0o0o0o0o0

When Ace found Aiji, oddly enough, he was in the library with Yuu and Mori. Holly was there as well, sketching a picture of Yuu reading.

Even more oddly, despite the fact that Aiji and Yuu were together... something that was usually a loud affair and consisted of them tossing barbs at each other... the atmosphere was heavily quiet and somber.

Mori was hunched in a corner, his shoulders pushing up his ears and his knees drawn tight to his chest. Aiji sat across from him, idly polishing a knife, while Yuu leaned against his arm and read a book so thick that it made Ace dizzy just looking at it. Holly lay on her stomach across from Yuu, and seemed to be chattering about something or the other... but even she seemed detached from her words, babbling only to settle her nerves.

Though he'd felt just fine when he was searching for them, now that he had found them Ace felt an uncomfortable knot tying itself in it's stomach.

Luckily, he was spared the need to speak when Aiji noticed him and called out, "Ace!", his voice filled with obvious relief.

"Aiji." Ace returned the greeting, feeling equally relieved. "It's good to see you."

Aiji offered him a ghost of a smile, and replied in an uncharacteristically halfhearted tease, "Yeah, you too, you pyromaniac."

Ace frowned slightly as he sat down and peered curiously at Aiji. "You're feeling down, too?" He asked rhetorically.

Aiji's ghost smile vanished as he slipped bright smile onto his lips... dimpled cheeks, bright eyes, flashing teeth. If Ace had never met Luffy, had never seen Luffy's empty smile, he might have fallen for it. "What do you mean?" Aiji asked with faux innocence. "I'm fine."

"Don't bother." Yuu murmured as she knocked lightly on his forehead, her eyes never leaving her page as she pressed her back even firmly against Aiji's. "Ace can tell when somebody's empty. Besides, we're family. You're not supposed to smile like that... at least, not to us."

"That's right." Ace agreed as he crouched down, head tipped loosely to the side, thin fingers barely tracing the ground. "I hate seeing smiles like that. My little brother... well, Luffy, I've got a lot of little brothers now, I guess... he used to smile like that." He lifted a hand and traced a smile onto his cheeks. "I hated it."

"Sorry." Aiji's smile slipped as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Just... habit, I guess."

"Bad habit." Holly replied as she erased a line and redrew Yuu's neck. "Yuu, stop moving, my proportions are already awful, I don't need to mess them up even more."

Yuu offered Holly a breathy laugh... not exactly amused, but more as though she had needed to laugh, and Holly had given her an escape... tinged with relief. "Sorry." She replied. "I won't move anymore."

"For that to happen, you'd have to stop breathing." Mori cut into the conversation dryly.

"That would be bad." Ace agreed.

For a long moment... so stretched out that it was almost painful... silence filled the room.

Then, Holly agreed in a soft, slightly cracked voice, "Y-yeah, that would be really, really..." She paused, and lowered her head so that her hair blocked her face from view, "Really bad."

Mori seemed to have realized his mistake, because he instantly apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean to... that wasn't supposed to..." He trailed off, and muttered to himself, "I'm such an idiot."

"You're just fine." Yuu reassured him, a pale smile dimming her feature. "We know that it was just a joke."

"It was a dumb one." Aiji agreed, picking distractedly at loose threads in the cloth that he was using to clean his blades.

"Sorry." Mori repeated, seeming for once to have no insult to throw back at Aiji.

Silence reigned. Yuu looked slightly pained, as though she wanted to reassure Mori, but didn't know how to, while Aiji's features had become far more faded than usual, almost like those of a lost child. Holly was staring at her drawing, a blank expression that Ace remembered Sabo as always having when he was with his parents drawn tightly across her pressed lips and dead eyes.

Ace scowled. "Stop saying sorry." He told Mori firmly. "You don't need to say it, they get it. Besides, you're family, it's not like they want you to feel worse. You're always there for them, so go and be there for them. You didn't really mess up, you'll only mess up if you just sit there in self pity and not telling them how much you care."

Mori cast the silent three a contemplative look, before mumbling, "I think they need time alone."

"Maybe." Ace agreed. "But they don't need to feel lonely. Just don't break into their space."

"I'm not that close to them." Mori protested. "I screwed up."

Ace rolled his eyes. "First of all, it doesn't matter how screwed up you are, or how much of a freak, or whatever. Family's forever. And second of all, you seem pretty close to Yuu. With Holly, even though she doesn't approve of you spending so much time in here, I know that she only does that because she cares. And as for Aiji..." Ace frowned slightly. "Well, we'll deal with Aiji later."

Mori rolled his eyes. "You're going to stay?" He asked hopefully.

"Nah." Ace shook his head. "I'm going to see Whitebeard. Loosing family's got to be tough for everyone, but for Whitebeard..." He trailed off hesitantly, and Mori dipped his head in a nod.

"Are you going to take Aiji with you?" Mori expanded.

Ace nodded. "Is there anyone else that Aiji's really close with?"

Mori shook his head. "Most of those in the crew from his time that were close to him went down in the battle that Aram died in. He's never really been that close to anyone after that," He paused, and added quickly, "...or so I've heard. I don't really know."

"Right." Ace's voice turned brisk as he turned to Aiji. "I'm going to see Whitebeard." He called. "Come with me."

Aiji glanced up at him. "You're not giving me an option?" He asked teasingly.

"Do I need to?"

Aiji seemed almost startled by Ace's reply, before offering him a small smile. "I guess not."

"Good." Ace returned the smile. "Let's go."

0o0o0o0o0

When they found him, Whitebeard was talking with Marco. As they approached, Marco seemed to have come to some sort of a conclusion, as he dipped his head into a nod and murmured something softly, eyebrows drawn together in thought as his fingers tapped his legs with an uncharacteristic nervousness.

But then again, Ace thought, everyone was acting odd today.

"Whitebeard. Marco." Ace waved as they approached.

"Ace." The word seemed hesitant on Marco's tongue, and Marco's hesitant gaze felt oddly troubling. "Aiji. It's nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too." Aiji replied.

Their words felt odd, like cardboard, but Ace passed it off as a side effect of it being the anniversary of Aram's death. "You have some time for us, Whitebeard?" Ace asked, his voice light in an attempt to stop the mood from turning completely dark.

"Always, son." Whitebeard replied softly. "Marco, would you like to stay?"

Marco shook his head. "I should go tell the others about this." He replied, eyes flickering over to Ace for a second... straying, like he wanted to say something, but he said nothing, and merely offered his goodbyes, before leaving.

Ace hopped onto Whitebeard's knees. "You doing alright, old man?" He asked gently.

"I have my children." Whitebeard rubbed Aiji's head. "What more could I ask for?"

Silence fell, and Aiji asked, "Do you think he regrets it?"

Whitebeard shook his head. "Never."

"Then why are you sad, Oyaji?" Aiji prodded.

Whitebeard stared at Aiji for a while, before countering, "Why are you sad?"

Aiji lifted a shoulder and ducked his head down. "I miss him." He replied.

"Yeah." Whitebeard agreed. "I miss him, too."

For a long time, silence reigned.

Not melancholy... just them drinking in each other's presence. For now, that was enough.

A/N: The last paragraph was a little rushed, and the last sentence... too cheesy, I know... sorry, guys...