Sorry about the massive delay of this chapter! I had quite a bit of stuff come up- school, midterms, sickness, starting a and planning two webcomics, getting obsessed with video games (DBD, Little Nightmares, The Forest, BRG), etc- there wasn't much time in all that for me to write. That said, I finally got this one done and am finally able to post it! So- thank you for waiting patiently!


There comes a low hissing sound, like steam escaping from pipes in a high pitched whistle that somehow echoed over the buoyant clouds that hung as islands in The White Sea. "The bastard son… He has taught El Blanco to hide their scent. How will we find them now? To take the knowledge we gave them and to spit in our faces like this-?!"

"Quiet…"

"Those thieves, dirty little monsters with no sense of honor-"

"I said, quiet."

"-to sneak into our own home and to steal one of our most precious jewels-!"

"Silence. You blithering fool," there is a snap, not unlike a whip and the initial speaker stops, seething, "let us think."

It's quiet, but only for a moment.

"They always come seeking. Those filthy humans of the Blue Sea, with their legends and lies," he muttered, "El Blanco is just the first to succeed. The Valkyrie would cry to learn how their people have fallen-"

"You do not know what you speak! You dishonor the Valkyrie by thinking those Blue Dwellers are anything other than specks of dirt beneath our cl-"

A tired, exhausted voice cuts through the building argument, a dull clicking noise snapping throughout their words: "You both speak of things you don't understand so spare me your chatter," he sighs, and somehow the calm voice lulls them into complete silence as they bow their heads, "La Golondrina… has betrayed us with this slight- commiserating with El Blanco… I do not know how he managed it. To take from us and to release the feathers from the Capistrano's factories at the same time- I am at fault for misjudging both his intentions and his abilities."

There comes a startled, horrified: "No! We would never blame you. Golondrina is the one to blame-"

"The fool leaves himself with no allies now that his kingdom is lost to him and El Blanco will find no help amongst the denizens of-"

They quiet themselves as the exhausted sounding one lifts his head with a great rise of movement that moved the heavy furs that covered him, falling into heaps and great swathes of clothing that let the moonlight touch his rough, scarred skin and gleam across it. He takes a great sniff of air, nostrils flaring as blind, mutilated by old scars, eyes gaze into an unknown emptiness. "More Blue Dwellers approach the entrance."

A snarl wretches from one of their mouths and a cruel grin begins to fix itself to their faces, "El Blanco is a fool to not teach their allies how to hide from us-"

"Do not worry, we know exactly how to teach those Blue Dwellers what it means to act as our enemies."

The exhausted one blinks, "Not all Blue Dwellers-"

But it was too late, with a cackling, the pair turned away. Whispering and planning and taking the call to action with a righteous fervor.

"-young ones," he shakes his head, falling back into his furs and blankets, "they are much too overzealous. But I suppose their anger is fair, after all…"

He curls an arm out from beneath his bedding, wrapping around the nest he sits protectively around. Large, silvery eggs, splashed with vibrant, shining colors, lay among his grasp. The warmth he exudes only misses the empty space, where an egg might've laid in another time.

-0-

It's with a great strength that Ace honestly forgot he even had that he forces himself to lift his head up from the countertop. The side of his face is crusty with leftover drool that's starting to seal one eye shut. For once, Ace can say that he hadn't fallen asleep due to a narcolepsy attack- instead fading in and out of sleep much like a typical person would when they were tired. It was a nice break from the norm, even if he has to force himself awake before it can last more than a few minutes, eating away at what little of a schedule still remained with him. And, undoubtedly, it would've screwed him over, if he had remained asleep-

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one aware of that.

"I know how it is Ace. But you gotta keep your eyes open," Quinn mutters, poking him in the cheek with her finger as he lazily lifts his head.

"You know," he slurs, words garbled and voice scratchy, more of a croak than anything, "you're doing more harm than good right now."

"What?"

It's a bit unfair actually. Because she's just making him want to sleep even more. The poking is supposed to be annoying, and it is in some ways, but Ace had grown up with Luffy waking him up and she wasn't exactly going out of her way to press hard. The touch, if anything, was gentle. And provided a sort of rhythm that could definitely lull him right back to sleep. Then there was the fact that she was going out of her way to talk an octave lower than she did normally and it certainly did not help matters.

Ace could feel his head bob and then jerk with the force of himself trying, desperately, to snap his eyes back open because he hadn't even realized they'd closed.

"Do you not want my help then?" A slightly irritated looking Quinn asks, mistaking his words for complaint- which they only half were because a good chunk of Ace doesn't care if he screws up his schedule if it just means he can sleep now. If not yesterday.

"Not what I meant. At all."

It was beyond helpful having someone know his patterns- quite honestly, before Narcolepsy had begun to really affect his quality of life, Ace could never imagine having someone else know his weaknesses like his crew did. Other than Luffy and Sabo that is.

...And Dadan, Makino, and, even Garp, now that he's thinking about it.

(That particular belief had been beaten out of him rather quickly. Both for the unfortunate situations he wound up in, wound up leaving Luffy in, and because Makino had nearly yelled at him.

Makino didn't yell. She just- didn't. And the fact that she had even gotten close was… In Quinn's words, Yikes. She'd been especially horrified at him keeping secrets like that. But that may have been due to her thinking him sick after he collapsed in front of her the first time.

That last one was a… sizeable chunk as to why he hadn't even thought to keep his narcolepsy to himself. Not intentionally, at least, because, to be fair, he had forgotten to mention it to Quinn for a good while there in the beginning. Which could've been a disaster.)

Quinn makes a low huffy noise of complaint in the back of her throat and stops poking him.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes. A low rumble in his throat that killed the croak in his voice, leaving it just scratchy. "Where'd Kat go?"

"Out on deck."

He must have nodded off just as he'd left then and didn't notice.

Quite pathetically he lets his head fall back down onto the counter, and Quinn watches with mild fascination and no small amount of humor as he turns his head, peaks an eye open, and, without moving anything other than his mouth and neck, rolls a piece of takoyaki into his mouth. And then another one.

"...need any help there?"

"Mnff." Not exactly an answer, that. "Heyff, Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"...Did that bastard Crocus say anything weird to you?"

He's tired but he still notices her hands go rigid and harsh against the countertop. Something heavy falls into the pit of his stomach and Quinn- "Depends. He was mostly rude to me."

"Rude?"

"Aa, we didn't get along. Though that was mostly my fault," she nods to herself in a 'what can you do?' sort of manner, overly nonchalant, "what do you mean by weird?"

"I- uh…" He hadn't expected a directed question like it. Neither did he expect Quinn's eyes to fall on him in an almost… it was like she was preparing for something or, more likely, like she was waiting for him to say something and Ace hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. Crocus had said he hadn't told her. "It's nothing. I just…"

He trails off, unable to think of an excuse.

Quinn waits a moment longer and then it passes and she seems to join him, slumped on the countertop across from Spice.

Who side-eyes Quinn, a suspicious and curious gleam mixed in his eyes, one that changes to him shooting Ace an inquisitive raised brow when he glances over his way.

Ace's shoulders come up to hug his neck and he doesn't say anything. Just goes back to scarfing down takoyaki in a rather undignified position. The excuse of having food in his mouth is a good way to get out of talking and awkward conversations that he'd prefer not to have.

Spice's lips purse.

And Ace wants to ask what he's thinking, especially when something harsh and almost… indignant? For some reason? Passes across his expression and his gaze whips back over to Quinn, who meets it with a flinch.

Yeah, Ace isn't even going to try to figure out what they're both going on about, because he can see the conversation happening between them with facial expressions alone. It's kinda funny actually. Considering that Spice's are incredibly minute and difficult to grasp in meaning, it always felt as if they were only getting a fraction of what he'd intended to convey- it'd gotten better over the weeks, as they learned how to read him, but still. Even now, they had a lot to learn -and Quinn wasn't much better in that aspect. While much more expressive, comparatively, most of hers seemed to fall more towards the negative categories of emotion. Neutral for other people seemed to mean happy for her. And it was clear that the silent conversation was meant to be just for the two of them.

Ace just knows that it ends with Quinn scowling, brows furrowed downward as she picks at what little food she still has and Spice gives her such a flat, unimpressed expression that Ace is a little offended on her behalf. "What's with that look?" He quickly swallows his food, it's impolite to talk with his mouth full.

Spice startles, looking honestly surprised and confused by the sudden question. "What look?" Even Quinn turns to him.

"Both you guys." Ace frowns. "It's- Are you…" He's trying to run it over in his head. Picture it again now that it's been wiped from their faces.

Despite popular belief, Ace does actually pay attention to the things happening around him. The experience of growing up in a forest and facing all the predators- both the naturally and unnaturally strong ones that prowled Mt. Columbo's mountain side- gives someone a certain amount of awareness for their surroundings. Both for the environment, animals, threats, but also, for the people around him.

Especially for the people around him.

Because, as much as Luffy was his little brother, and when they were younger he'd been stuck at his heels since day one, it was still Luffy. And while Ace wouldn't say that he had grown out of chasing him down, it had definitely become less fervent and desperate and different- point was, Luffy was a whirlwind that needed attention like a fire with wet wood. And going from that level of attention to bouncing between a group of three-

Well, Ace's crew were nowhere near as high maintenance.

So- Yes.

Ace did notice that something was going on with his crew.

Unfortunately, also because of his experience with Luffy, his social understanding did not translate as well.

Luffy was not similar to his crew. At all.

Quinn was not similar. Kat neither. And Spice? Definitely not. Hell, he couldn't even treat them like Dadan and her bandits, or Makino and the Mayor, or Garp, or- Well. That's all the people that Ace knows. At least the ones that he holds any bit of fondness for.

Ace did not have a lot of people he was fond of.

And he was not good at social intricacies that didn't involve those who'd grown up around him. So, while he hadn't a clue as to why, Ace still knew when something was up.

He'd be an idiot and a liar if he said he hadn't noticed.

"Are you fighting?"

There's suspicion in the question. But a good mix of disbelief too. And the moment he finishes it, both Quinn and Spice share a glance with each other and a grimace that all but confirms it without even saying a word and-

Ace boggles. Mouth opening, closing, brows furrowing, and then mouth opening and closing again when no words come out.

It was hard to imagine. Even if, technically, Quinn and Spice were always "fighting" with each other. They were both prone to butting heads with their personalities that were, not clashing, but, much more likely, too complementary to one another. But there was a difference between barbed words with intent and poking fun in a playful way- as Quinn was prone to with Ace- and-

It must show on his face because both of them lean back, looking disgruntled, as he ruminates on it.

Fighting. Was different.

Arguing. Was different too. But, given their twin reactions, Ace was willing to bet it wasn't so simple.

So, just as quickly as the confirmation hits him, another question is on his lips before either of them can get a word in edgewise- "Why-?"

Ace doesn't know whether it's a good thing or not that he gets interrupted. On the one hand, now he has time to reorganize his thoughts and realize that his crew is fighting, and figure out how to approach it. On the other hand, his crew is fighting, and he doesn't know why.

Unbeknownst to himself, Ace starts to copy Quinn, taking one from her book and chewing on his bottom lip in a softer version of her nervous habit.

(It's happened more often than he would realize. But the more often he hung around Quinn and saw her go to bite her lips, the more he began to worry his own in a similar fashion.)

"Guys," Kat stumbles in through the door, he sounds breathless. Not as if he'd run a marathon but more like somone had suckerpunched him in the gut and he was still recovering. "You've gotta come outside and see this."

Quinn seems to jump at the change in subject but a quick glance at Spice tells Ace that he was ready to continue the conversation right then and there.

"What is it?"

"I- I can't explain- you just have to see-!"

Maybe it's the fact that Ace has never seen Kat ever as starry eyed as he does now but he doesn't take Spice up on his silent offer to carry on. Shaking his head slightly, suddenly feeling much less tired than he did before. There's a hint of steel in his stomach and Ace doesn't feel as hungry as he did before.

And, he wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but a vague feeling of failure wafts over him. It's not his fault, he knows that much- Kat doesn't have the same signs that Quinn and Spice do. He doesn't look at either of them like he's trying to bite back words and Ace is thankful for that because he couldn't, for some reason, comprehend Kat getting into a proper fight with either of them but especially Quinn. So it must be something that's just between the two eldest on Ace's crew- but somehow it still feels like it is and… Ace knows why it feels like that.

Because he had noticed something happening, he hadn't known what, sure, but he still hadn't said anything.

And what kind of a Captain was he if he ignored something as important as this?

Not a very good one.

Ace winced as he let his lip free from his teeth. He didn't know how Quinn did it all the time- or got hers to bleed to the point that she often did- he had been biting hard and he still hadn't broken the skin. Just left teeth shaped bruises.

"It's- well, I don't want to spoil you- but it's amazing!"

Kat's insistence is endearing with his wide eyes, waving hands, and bouncing from foot to foot. As if he's two seconds away from running straight back outside to look again.

It briefly falters a little when Ace doesn't immediately jump up like he normally would, and instead slides from his seat, mind still occupied somewhere else, as the trio make their way outside, much to Kat's enthusiasm.

And-

Wow.

Just… wow.

The small gasp that Quinn lets out is definitely fitting.

"I know right?!"

It's astonishing. Seeing feathers fall from the sky, as if rain from clouds, but this was the Grand Line and already they were getting a feel for just how strange it was-

"Quinn?"

She's gaping, and startles at the address.

"You've ever seen anything like this before?"

The wild shake of her head tells him 'no', no she has not. This is as new to her as it is to them.

-Ace can only nod absentmindedly, completely taken away by the sight. The startled, absolutely bewildered look on their faces is one they all share. Especially Spice, funnily enough, who looks a little like someone shoved him.

"Feathers are falling from the sky!" Kat gestures wildly, pointing exuberantly, as if they could possibly have missed it. "Like- Like snow?!"

Spice blinks, then rubs his eyes. Disbelief evident. "Did someone spike my drink with somethin'...?"

"If your trippin' then we're all trippin'." Quinn mused. She's running her hands through her hair, fists scrunching it up and pulling it from her face so she could peak between the strands, getting a better look at everything. A sight like this… it shouldn't be hindered by hair. "And I don't know about you but I don't think, even if I was on the good stuff, that my mind could come up with something as amazing as this."

Ace snatches a handful of feathers from the deck. They must've been falling for a while now because the topside of their ship was absolutely covered with the things- broken, malted, and gradiented with white, though many of them were, it was still surprising that so many had survived the fall whilst still remaining intact. "What bird is this-? Something that lives in the clouds?"

"Well, if it was just birds, you wouldn't think they'd need a ladder." Spice dubiously points out. "What's that for anyway?"

Ace doesn't forget the conversation they'd been having. It's too important for him to ignore but, for now, he can get away with letting it sit on the backburner. Until he could come up with a plan for how to deal with it. They have much more obvious things to attend to.

He feels the smirk creep over his face, not long before his cheeks begin to hurt and his dimples crease deeply. "Isn't it obvious? It's for us-"

Ace follows the rungs, far reaching into the sky.

"-It's an invitation!"


"What do you suppose is up there?"

"Can't be heaven. We both know I'm not headed there, that's for sure."

"Heaven-adjacent?"

"Aa, you don't even deny it…"

"Are we sure that the Log Pose is pointing up there?" Spice asks Katsura, even though he can very well see the proof staring him in the face. "Really?!" It's not that he doesn't believe it, or thinks Kat is wrong, but even with the ladder staring them in the face… it was just so flabbergasting that he had to ask. As a principle.

"Yeah, of course! You think this means there's an island up there somewhere?"

"A Sky Island…?"

"Huh. More likely than you'd think." They turn to Quinn, who is shading her eyes from the sun as she looks up at their soon to be path.

The ladder doesn't come all the way down. It sits a couple feet above the tallest pink-leaved palm tree, so it'll take some gymnastics to grab it, but certainly not impossible. Overall, the tiny little ladder island is small. Mostly made up of white sands and pink palm trees and smashed pink feathers, it's got the makings of a spring island verging into summer and is maybe a mile long in radius. Not much else in sight.

"You know about Sky Islands?" Ace asks, curiosity mixing with excitement as he adds on: "They're real?!"

"Yeah. But I only know of…" Quinn scratches her head, looking like she's struggling to recall something exactly right. "Two? I think? One where a man titled God lives and another with funny old weather men. This isn't either of those islands though. The first one is on another route and the second one moves around. At least, that's what I remember?"

"I'm sorry, did you just say God?"

Quinn waves the question off, "It's… A Whole Thing. Really, too much to dive into. Politics."

Spice coughs into a fist, "Noble."

Quinn glares.

Ace steps between them both, cutting off their line of sight, and Quinn's gaze immediately falls back to normal. It's got a frown jumping to his face. One that Quinn catches and noticeably falters at the sight of, hunching in on herself a bit. "Anyways, this is probably a Sky Island- or something like that upstairs, but even if it isn't if we don't register it with the Log Pose, we won't be able to advance."

"You say that like we weren't planning on heading up."

"Uhh, one problem with that Ace…" Quinn raises a finger. "That's a ladder."

"So?"

"Last time I checked, ships can't climb ladders."

"...Oh."

Shit.

He… actually forgot about that.

Yeah, that could prove to be a problem, except- "Well, we'll just climb back down once we're done!"

"And leave the ship all alone?" The tone in Quinn's voice is enough to deflate him.

Quinn gets an elbow to the shoulder for her troubles. "You're doing it again." Spice mutters low, brow twitching.

She rubs the spot with a hiss, that was going to bruise tomorrow. Teeth barring, "Is this not important? We can't exactly leave our ship all alone. It's our home." The vehemence with which she says it startles even her.

"Still. Give him a minute, he would've realized that."

"Sure. But it wouldn't have been as efficient as me pointing it out."

Spice sighs, "But did it have to come out so condescending?"

"Oh, that's rich coming from yo-!"

"Guys."

They both fall silent. Only now becoming aware of the looks pointed in their direction, causing them to simultaneously turn away from each other. It wasn't unlike two pouty kids getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar actually. And Quinn's cheeks flush a humiliated red hue that only furthers the image. "I-If we end up having to split up, I can stay behind. This stuff is way newer to all of you anyways."

Ace can tell that she's trying to be blasé about it, both the arguing that her and Spice had descended into and about the splitting up. Anyone could see that, when she glanced up, she was just as taken by the adventure on the horizon as the rest of them- she wants to go. If not more than they all do, even if she eyes the ladder, as a concept, with trepidation.

Surprisingly, the volunteering has Spice frowning down at her, looking more annoyed than anything, though Ace doesn't know why- "You're just too scared to climb, aren't you?"

Quinn looks like she's about to bite through her tongue, just to keep herself from saying something back.

Ace's lips thin into a line. And his grey eyes find Katsura's brown, the both of them sharing a look. This… wasn't as bad as Ace had been imagining, which was bloody, but somehow that made it worse.

Maybe it's because Ace is so used to solving problems with his fists. The fact that Quinn and Spice are at each other's throats and not actively trying to get the other to lose a couple inches-? It was honestly a bit unsettling. Just how far out of left field all the fighting was.

"No way. We're sticking together for this! No one is missin' out."

Now, one would think that- given the subject of the argument and with each side they were on, that they'd at least come to an agreement on this, or fall back on what they were arguing before. Instead, Quinn's eyes shift to relief and a bit of excitement and Spice is even more disgruntled than he was before.

Ace… doesn't understand his crew mates.

"We'll have to figure out a way to make sure no one steps foot on our ship while we're not here…"

That, though, that Ace could do. A wicked grin spreads across his face, dimples prominent and it has all three of them blinking at him in a starstruck wonder. "Don't worry… I can take care of that."


"Traps?!"

"Wow, these are really good." Kat mused, tilting his head at the ropes and creative contraptions that Ace was setting up with a startling amount of speed and skill. "They're way more creative than the ones that I used to make."

Ace perks up in interest, "You did them too?"

"Yeah, when I was still trying to live on the surface of Belle. People used to break in or throw stuff at my old place," it's said with a disturbing fondness, that had Quinn grimacing over his shoulder and Ace nodding along with way too much enthusiasm. "I had this one with a tripwire that would dump a bunch of rocks on someone's head. These wet, barnacled ones too that scratched them up on the way down and everything."

"Oh, we just used an axe-"

Quinn doesn't groan. She doesn't. But she's suddenly struck by how tired she is. The chasm of differences between them only grows.

The trap that Ace has set up is an ingenious piece of work, especially considering that it's made from whatever wood scraps had remained from their fixing of their ship and the exhausted look on his face is filled with a boyishly proud grin. Meant to fling weapons and other heavy objects at whoever didn't know to look out for it. It wasn't as good as someone on board to keep people off but it was definitely something.

They don't start climbing immediately. Or, rather, they can't. They have too many preparations to make.

It's dark. Deep into the late evening and they wouldn't be able to see a thing, no matter how much they climbed to get closer to the moon, but, even then, they had no way of reliably guessing how far the ladder went upwards and, if it was even double the length they could see, then it'd be a trip that took a couple days.

And it was a ladder- they couldn't exactly rest on it.

Not normally at least. That's what the ropes and carabiners were for.

"-got it?"

"Huh-?"

Quinn rubs her eyes and Ace simply stares because- he absolutely hadn't been listening, at all, too busy dozing while standing up as she lifted up the loop of ropes in her arms and, irritated, restated what she'd been saying. Ace had the feeling that she was also dumbing it down and had half a mind to stick his tongue out at her. "We should partner with the person closest to our weight. So if one of us falls, the other can catch them. You especially."

It was a good thought. One that, unfortunately, was going to take a minute to figure out the semantics behind because, while some of them were closer to each others weight than others, that didn't mean that said-other person was going to be strong enough to catch them. And doing all four of them was just asking for one of them to slip up and drag the other three down considering the amount of spare rope they had. The combinations, if they were going to go by weight, would be Quinn and Spice and Ace and Katsura. Not because Quinn and Spice were especially close in weight, Spice was easily a significant amount heavier from muscle alone but the height definitely added in much more, but that they were closer than Ace was to Spice. And Quinn wasn't going to be able to catch Spice if he fell.

(There was also the fighting, and while Ace knew they were both sensible enough to push it aside, it probably would cause an unnecessary amount of tension and that would only exacerbate whatever was going on between them.)

Quinn and Ace would be a good combination. They were probably around the same weight because what Quinn had in her hips and chest he had in his own set of muscles, and it would be more feasible for her to catch him. But that left Spice and Katsura together and- say what you will about fishman strength and what have you, but they weren't exactly banking on Kat being able to catch someone who likely had giants blood somewhere in his family history.

And so that left Ace and Spice together and Quinn and Kat together.

The plan was ropes tied around one another's waists and carabiners whenever they needed a breather. A sort of makeshift safety harness modeled after what Quinn vaguely knew about rock climbing and whatever conglomerated experience the others had- which was… all without safety measures, she learns, and all three laugh at her slightly horrified face.

(To be fair, she knows that's not all that odd, even for her world. The human body can do amazing things when one is determined, experienced, and addicted-to-adrenaline enough.)

The crackle of the fire that Ace feeds brings him out of the memory, even if it has him still chuckling, and he grabs a fresh piece of wood and lets it burst into smoldering flames that he can feel feed on the oxygen around him. It was an oddly ticklish feeling.

The campfire was set up to keep the slightly cool air away, even if, admittedly, Ace couldn't really feel the chill like the others were, since they weren't planning to sleep on the ship tonight. One could only enjoy the sway of hammocks so much and Quinn wasn't gonna complain about the loss of her bed. Blankets and bags were prepared, tossed next to them, for the trip first thing in the morning. Enough non-perishable food to last them a day or two- if Ace was responsible and, thankfully, he usually was- then they would make it to… wherever the ladder led with only callouses to deal with.

"Isn't this when you're supposed to sleep?"

Ace startles a little at Spice's voice coming abruptly from behind him. Huh, and here he'd thought that everyone was asleep already. "Yeah," he was dead tired, could feel his feet sway underneath him and every blink made it harder for him to keep his eyes open, "gimme a minute."

Spice hums from where he's laid down, leaning against a tree as Ace tosses the wood into the fire and sets it up to make sure it won't spread and will keep burning for a couple hours more, just to give them some extra warmth. He thinks that Spice goes back to sleep when he flops onto a blanket and closes his eyes, willing himself to finally fall into sleep: "I am just your chef, and you are my captain." That isn't the case.

...Bit of a non sequitur.

Ace's heavy eyes come awake slowly to the sight of the moon and stars between the palm leaves of the trees above them. "Yeah?" He croaks, absolutely befuddled.

Spice once again falls silent and Ace is blurry eyed and wondering what's on his mind if it's got him hesitating like this.

"Oy, Ace?"

Shit. He'd nearly nodded off in the spot of silence.

"How did Quinn join the crew?"

He's a bit startled by the question. Just for how out of leftfield it is. His brows furrow down, "Wait- why?"

Spice just looks at him. As if he's willing him to answer and Ace's lips purse before he's blowing a raspberry at him. He answers, boredly, with, "She was going to be executed. By the Marines. And by a Pirate." Which- there was a lot of details in between that he doesn't say much so he quickly adds on: "Over her Devil Fruit." And some of the disdain creeps into his voice at the reminder.

Of all things to kill someone over… A devil fruit. It was ridiculous.

Ace had never truly wanted a Devil Fruit. And, if he had known better, had been in the right mind to realize what he'd been holding, he wouldn't have taken a bite. Even if fire was a… better power compared to what he might've ended up with. Statistically, he had hit the jackpot -That didn't mean he didn't still have his reservations.

There's disappointment in Spice's face, in his frown, as he comes to a conclusion that Ace couldn't even begin to understand. "You saved her."

"Not really."

The perplexed look he gets has him sighing and sitting up. He glances off to the side. Quinn is tucked into a bundle of blankets, one of her feet tossed out and her pant leg pushed up and twisted around her leg. He's about to turn away when he has to do a bit of a double take- She's completely out, dark circles under her eyes slowly fading and speaking of the nights where she'd woken up and no one had been there to join her, curled in on herself into a ball, but because her leg is out and the fire is still going strong, he sees the light flicker and catch an imperfection on her skin that looks a bit like a scar-

Ace turns back to Spice. Though a frown is more firmly centered across his face. He can't quite make out anything in the dark and Quinn's far enough away that all he'd be doing is straining his eyes.

"She could've saved herself if she really wanted to." Ace mutters, rubbing his eyes. "I just offered her a place to go."

You know, it's been awhile since he's even thought of that first interaction.

There's a solid image in his mind of their first meeting. The same that there is of Katsura peeking his head out from the ocean's surface to look into their boat, red hair dripping, and eyes nervous and of Spice standing in the forest, the sun hitting his spot through the tall trees above and the defeated beast beneath him. But- that's not a fair comparison, is it? The structure isn't the same, the image isn't painted with the same freedom, because it literally can't be- He remembers her with bloodshot eyes, a blank expression he couldn't pick apart then, and blood dripping from her lip and down her chin, but now he thinks he can put words to the memory. Now that he knows her and knows what to look for.

She looked-

(defeated. overwhelmed. completely ravaged.)

-like she was about to laugh. Not a happy laugh, not even a fake one. But hysterical and pointed and likely to break part way through into something devastated and spiteful.

(Like she'd just realized how the world had conspired against her in a mix of shock, irony, and hilarity all to screw her over both physically and mentally in the same moment.)

Ace grimaces, the mental image- it was like something was missing from her that made her fundamentally… her. The question is- glancing back over towards her- if that piece was still missing or not. Ace's memory could be inaccurate, sure, but he didn't remember her looking good or lively- just frustratingly vengeful. A mood that Ace could get behind.

(If he could actually hold the image of her then and now, side by side, he'd have noticed the fact that her cheeks were much more filled out, less dark circles under her eyes, and the color returning to her skin. As it was, the only thing Ace could really say was that she ate more- though the difference he notices wasn't incredibly significant, considering that she already ate like a bird.)

"Does this have anything to do with you guys fighting?"

If he was expecting a reaction, he wasn't going to get one. "...It can't really be called that."

"Can't it?"

"We have some problems with how the other goes about things. That's it."

See: The problem is that Ace is inclined to believe him when he says that. Spice isn't exactly a liar. But he doesn't think that's all there is to it because a simple disagreement wouldn't have Quinn as wound up as she was and Spice as untalkative as he's being- at least, he doesn't think so. "You were alright with each other before."

"Were we?"

"You were."

"Heh. Well," he seems at a loss for words for a moment before he shakes his head, eyes closing, "-I am not the one telling you how to run your crew."

Ace's brows both furrow and his sleepy mind somehow manages to get the sentence to compute and-

"Wait."

He sits up abruptly.

"You… think she's pushing me around?"

It bubbles up in his chest and slapping a hand over his mouth doesn't do anything to stop it. Ace is laughing, loud and unchecked, so hard that it tosses his head back and makes his stomach start to cramp. He's lucky that Quinn and Kat are both dead tired from the Grand Line weather otherwise they would have both woken up.

And- is his mind playing tricks on him or is Spice blushing right now?

Ace's mind stutters to a stop, gears turning and his laughter ebbing away. Eyes blown wide as he stares at Spice, "Wait, oy, oy. You're not serious, are you?" The silence is deafening. "What gave you that idea? It's not like she's making me do anything." And Ace would know if she was- he was pretty sure of that at least.

"Fair. But what would you call someone that questions their Captains motivations?"

"I-" He opens his mouth and… doesn't know how to respond to that. The thought though- that hurt. Ace could feel his heart squeeze in his chest and he had to physically keep the pain out of his voice. "Is there something I need to know about?"

Spice doesn't scoff, he doesn't, but it sounds like he wants to. "Does she not point out the obvious to you? Question your orders almost every time you give them?"

"That's different. She's always been like that."

"So she's always disrespected you?" The disbelief is evident in his voice.

Ace snaps, "No!" Because- That's a sudden jump in logic that he can't comprehend. "That's not disrespect-"

"Then how would you have outsiders see it?"

"I- What does that have to do with anything? I don't care what others think of me-" Ace scowls, "-so long as it's me that they're seeing." There is a lie in that but not one he wants to dive into. "We're pirates. We shouldn't get hung up on what others think of us- it's practically an- an… oxymoron!"

Spice's eyes open and meet his, searching and- he doesn't look as bothered as before but he doesn't look like he understands. "Your First Mate pissed off that Crocus guy an awful lot, didn't she? Makes me wonder what she did that we don't know about-" Ace freezes, tasting iron in his mouth. Spice scratches the side of his face, tone too dull for the content of his words. -and it's odd that so many things don't add up with her. Don't tell me you haven't noticed." He spares a glance her way to see if she's been woken up by them but Ace doesn't think he would even care if she did hear them. "But that would be easy to forgive if we could tell if she favored the crew over herself. Sneaking off, pissing off potential allies, lying about her background- Tell me, has she proven, beyond a doubt, that she's willing to actually fight for us?"

Holy shit.

Ace opens his mouth. So unable to say- anything that he stalls, even as Spice frowns and leans back against his tree, waiting for a response. There's a tumble of emotions inside of him and half of him wants to punch Spice in the face and the other part is stuck on it all as a whole- "Quinn is…" He trails off after a minute, mouth opening and closing. It feels like a punch to the gut, that question, not because he doesn't know the answer but he can't believe that it even needs to be asked.

And he can't find the words to say it, not the right ones, so he hopes these are good enough: "She's-"

-0-

"...little monsters…"

Katsura's eyes snap open.

So sudden and abrupt that he bolts straight up into a sitting position. His heart is hammering in his chest, a mile a minute, and he's gasping for breath- lungs inflating with air and helping to put a cap on the rush of adrenaline that has him covered in a cold, clammy sweat. His teeth catch the scars on his tongue, pulling and making it ache with the familiar burn of iron on his taste buds but it doesn't go any deeper than that- he lets it go with a nervous thrum deep in his belly.

It's the middle of the night. The waves of the ocean gently lap at the shore and the dull creak of the anchored Stellar makes his ears twitch and listen closely, he hears nothing out of the ordinary-

Katsura's head whips to his left.

"...away…"

It's Quinn, muttering something in her sleep that he can't even begin to translate. Partly because it's gibberish, partly because it sounds like a good portion of it is in another language, and because the few words he could have possibly understood mean absolutely zilch on their own.

The rapid beating of his heart ebbs away. He lets out a deep exhale, a shiver running down his spine.

He doesn't know what woke him up.

Just that something sits in the base of his belly like a rock and his throat feels constricted. It wasn't a dream- or a nightmare, Katsura felt like he would remember it if it was. He was just- He had the strangest feeling, goosebumps jumping up all over his skin. "The hell…?" He wiped a hand over his face, glancing around. The campfire was starting to die, nothing but orange smoldering charcoal left and the scent of smoke rising steadily into the air.

Ace was sleeping, brows furrowed down in a disgruntled expression and arms thrown around, like he had been searching for something to grab in his sleep. The closest thing to him was Quinn, who he was getting close to finding, with Spice on his opposite side, one leg crossed and a similarly disgruntled look on his face. There'd definitely been something neither of them liked stuck on their minds when they went to sleep.

Kat grimaces, glad that he hadn't been awake for that.

He let his gaze wander across the island they'd discovered. In his sleep, even more feathers had fallen and it took all he had in him not to sneeze as one drifted in front of his nose, shaking his head. There wasn't anything that Kat could see, but his hair was standing on end, goosebumps breaking out over him, and a rising paranoia had him standing up and taking a few steps forward-

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

It didn't help the feeling. If anything, it made it worse.

The darkness was oppressive and, had it not been for the light breathing coming from those still asleep, Kat might've let fear grip his heart. As it was, he squints. The only noise out of the ordinary, and even that wasn't entirely true, was coming from the Stellar. There was creaking- and it could be just from the waves hitting the sides, but Katsura knew water and understood it and their ship wasn't so far damaged that it would sound like that… it was almost as if someone had placed a great weight on the floorboards and they were straining to hold it, unused to it.

It's odd. But he thinks there must be something playing tricks on his eyes. Perhaps he's feeling his exhaustion or, even, that he's still asleep and this is all an elaborate dream because, as the ship comes into focus, the shape of it has his head tilting in curiosity.

It seems larger than it should. The cabin. And, for some reason, a voice in the back of his head is telling him that the mast is wider and more elongated than it should be.

He blinks.

And the mast wasn't as long as it had been before.

Katsura walks up to the ship, feathers snapping beneath his feet and getting stuck between his toes. Leaving his sandals behind him, the soft sand shifting near silently underneath him, that he-

"...the air is so heavy…"

-his head snaps to… to something on the ship's silhouette. The image seems flat. A darkness on darkness that feels entirely one dimensional and way too pressed, concave, and deflated.

His gaze gets drawn back to the mast. There doesn't seem to be anything strange, other than that first moment where he'd been mistaken, the flat image doesn't change, and Katsura is suddenly struck by the realization that the ship had become quiet. Unnaturally so. It's not as if the waves stop but the heavy creak from before has disappeared almost completely and it seems like the air is holding its own breath.

It takes a minute to realize why.

It's because it is. Someone is.

It takes a minute, and the time seems to tick lazily onward, completely unaware of the strain it causes, but Katsura flinches as a deep exhale releases itself by his ear. Unable to hold any longer. It's light and fast, like someone struggling to regulate their breathing- or unused to it. And it sends a shiver running down his spine.

Katsura swallows, mouth suddenly dry.

The weirdest thing about it though is that, by this point, Katsura has stepped into the ocean water. He's up to his knees and it's soaked his pants and had enough time to freeze. There was no way a person could stand behind him, not without them stepping into the water as well but, if that was the case, then he would've heard them come up behind him. He would have felt it. Yet there's nothing.

Except that cold breath on the back of his neck, making his hair stand on end.

Part of him wants to scream, the other part is frozen, and all he manages to do is… is take a step forward. The breath doesn't follow him but he can still hear it, and he hopes beyond hope that if he doesn't react, they won't either. There's a silhouette stretching off the ship that is definitely wrong and he purposely turns away from it, bending down to duck his hands into the water, using it as an excuse to glance from the corner of his eye- not at them. Katsura doesn't think they realize that he knows they're there and there's an airy shudder in the breathing pattern, like barely contained laughter. He cares more about checking on the others than the threat to himself.

An intense feeling of relief falls over him when he sees them all unbothered. Ace had even managed to finally grab onto Quinn in his sleep and had his arms wrapped around her leg, drooling onto her hip. There is no shadow that stretches over them, entirely focused on Kat and he hopes it stays that way.

Because Ace's traps extend all the way down to the anchor, in order to keep people from getting the ship moving anywhere, and will send an axe flinging in their direction if it's triggered.

And Katsura is right next to one of the wires.

In fact, he can feel one of his fingers curl around a string as he splashes his face with water, playing it off, even as something sharp begins to slowly sink into the back of his shirt, dangerously close to his skin and just about to draw a thin line of blood.

He pulls it free.

And, in quick succession, there is a screech as an axe is sent whirling through the air, everyone who was asleep snaps awake and Ace is on his feet, Quinn is upside down after having been yanked up by the leg he'd latched onto, and Spice's sword was already pulled free and he was- well, instead of using his sword he runs up and immediately drop kicks the first enemy he sees.

Ace trips over a blanket and Quinn yelps, leg nearly being pulled from the socket.

Quinn moans through a mouthful of sand, "Ace, what the 'ell? Lemme go!"

"Sorry!"

It's a stumbled reaction, him letting go and chasing after Spice, and leaves Quinn spitting and sputtering dust and patting the sand in search of her weapon which had somehow gotten tangled up in the blankets they'd had out and get dangerously close to the smoldering remains of their campfire-

Woosh!

Quinn's mouth drops open in horror.

She was really starting to think there was some sort of negative karma that came with having the Luck Luck Fruit.

Ace doesn't really know what's happening. One minute he's asleep, the next he's wide awake, holding onto Quinn, and leaping into the fray against- against-

He's not sure what they are.

It's too hard to see and a Fire Fist only illuminates the clearing for so long before it dies out, letting them only catch flashes of the perpetrator that had been- given the traps that Ace clearly remembers setting up, he'd hazard a guess and say they were trying to sneak aboard. It didn't matter in the long run. Only that there's a fight to be had and every rush of his Devil Fruit has glimpses revealing themselves.

The warm glow, red's and oranges, light up the night and let them catch brief sight of serpentine scales glistening in what might've been a pale color; the long bodies of surprising length reveal themselves, and the frills that popped up around their heads made them look so large and intimidating, a mane of feathers underneath it. The weirdest thing though- and Ace nearly fails to dodge a high speed lunge from a sharp tail stabbing through where his head had just been- is that they're flat. As flat as paper. It's like watching origami fold in on itself and flash out at such a speed that it turns their paper-like bodies into the thinnest and sharpest of blades.

When they attacked, it was as if they could see the shadows fold, their silhouettes performing unnatural angles as their bodies very literally folded in half- no, in sixteenths- in order to change direction at the last possible second to try and cleave one of their heads off.

(Ace was pretty sure Kat was missing part of one of his eyebrows.)

They let out a hiss that was some sort of weird amalgamation of a snake and birds call. "Dirty little blue dwellers," escapes the chimera'd voice, "think we don't know what you're up to!"

"Tell me, how do you sleep knowing that your kind has stolen from us one of our most precious of artifacts?!" Another hisses, and it's hard to distinguish between the two. The only reason they even realized it was another person speaking was because of the direction the voice had come from, otherwise they all would have assumed it was from the same person.

"What are you talking about?"

"Stole? What did we steal-?!"

There is a loud scoffing noise. "Should've known that blue dwellers are so used to thievery that they can't even keep track of what they hoard-"

"-I wonder how you would feel if we stole something from you?"

Spice's response is a simple, "You're annoying." And a sword sent to the… face area. They weren't exactly sure where that was. And it doesn't result in a slash, more of a dull thud as the flat of the blade meets flesh and does nothing but push the assailant away.

But Spice hits with enough force to leave a good bruise on anyone so there's that.

There wasn't time to talk, or to figure out what they were on about. The middle of the night, in the midst of a siege, was never the best place to try and sort through the claims coming from them. And all of them are tired enough that it doesn't even cross their minds.

Ace throws a punch. Watching in an odd bit of fascination as the body contorts around his fist in a last second dodge, feels the sharp grasp of a beaked and fanged mouth coming down to snap around his arm, in a painful bite that has a gasp escaping from him and then- "Oh, shit!" There's an odd popping sound, thankfully not his shoulder dislocating, but the next thing he knows is that he's twenty feet in the air and being held up by a now-bloodied arm.

There'd been enough saliva to draw blood from flames but not enough to fend off the sudden instinctive scorch of fire that bursts out of his side.

"Devil's Fruit!" Comes the horrified yelp.

And Ace falls back down with a smirk on his face- that is, until he hits the water and remembers, quite suddenly: "Oh shit. I can't swim."

He… definitely wouldn't have been as smug as he was if he'd remembered that. In the moment.

He catches a glance of a sharp grin, a bulging mass of silhouette that was very different when compared to the flat ones from before, just before he's completely submerged and staring at the surface of the water, unable to hold his breath from the force of it being knocked out of him.

Huh.

That went well.

Relatively quickly, a hand reaches down to wrap around his wrist and Ace finds himself gasping desperately for air as soon as he can feel the chill night air on his face again, weak and drained of all his strength. He opens his eyes to the startled face of his savior- Katsura. Who is pale and tossing up a stream of water behind him to block what might've been a lunge in their direction: "You can breathe, right?!"

Ace coughs. "Y-Yeah."

He was still completely limp though. And they were far enough from shore that it would take a minute for him to regain his warmth and ability to move. It at least gave him a minute to pause and look over everything with eyes that weren't still glued shut by sleep.

Spice was holding his own, the highspeed fighting not even causing him to break a sweat, but multiple fast opponents would have anyone stuck concentrating on where the next attack was going to come from rather than keeping his complete attention on his surroundings. It wouldn't have been so bad. Not if the rocks hadn't been as slippery as they were and a swordsman losing his footing being such a dangerous thing, to everyone. So, when Spice slips, it's with a shocked look and his sword carefully thrown out in a practiced maneuver to keep him from beheading himself.

The attackers, for some reason, don't capitalize on the misstep. Even though they could. And something in Ace unsqueezes and files away the information for later. "What the hell were they talking about before? Stealing? What did we steal-?" Ace slurs, trying to lift his head up and fails. "And what'd they mean when they said they were going to steal from us?" It was an ominous threat, more for how much it didn't specify and, unbidden, he spares a glance towards Quinn once he realizes that he hasn't seen her in a bit.

He can't help but snicker lazily as he spies her busy stomping out a growing fire. The noise falls away just as soon as Ace looks back at Spice and shifts into one of confusion as Kat pulls him to shore. Their attackers had… retreated?

That's what it looks like.

"What are they doing?"

They'd fallen back onto the Stellar and, even though they couldn't see it, all of them could feel the glares being sent their way.

"Something strange."

"Tell me about it."

Something strange indeed. They all had to tilt their heads in confusion as a low whistling noise started to reach their ears. It started out as a low hum, barely perceptible over the sounds of the sea, before it slowly began to grow. It could only be described as someone sucking in air, taking a deep breath, gaining more and more traction as the time ticked onwards. "Are they… getting bigger?"

"Uh…"

That's honestly answer enough.

It was like watching balloons inflate and suddenly the image wasn't as flat as it had been before. The appearance was distended, and the vague visage of feathers, frills, and scales became vaguely… see-through. It was as if the light of the moon was showing through their skin, and something told them that that was exactly the case, before- all at once- the sucking noise stopped.

And a creaking began.

"What the hell is that?"

"What are they doing?!"

The ship made a noise and there was an odd sound of metal popping out of the water and- huh? The Spade Pirates didn't know what they were looking at, but all of a sudden they were all aware of the fact that their ship was no longer in the ocean. In fact, there was a wide gap between the keel and the water, and it was slowly growing.

They gaped, their eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"They… They're stealing our ship!"

Ace tried to force himself forward, closer to shore, practically throwing himself out of Kat's arms so he could pull himself onto the sand. "Damn it, damn it, damn it…!" He felt his knees hit dry land and his body wasn't quite as limp as before, even if it was still weak, and began to try and pry a spark forth from his body. None of them had anything long range, not really. Katsura leapt back out to water to try and fling a torrent of water up above but it fell just short of hitting and any other attempt wasn't much better. "I got it!" Ace grinned triumphantly as a blaze managed to burst across his fingertips.

It was, at this same moment, that Quinn looked between the fire she was still stomping out and the weird, balloon-like creatures they'd found themselves against, that she was struck by a sudden thought and gasped. "Wait, Ace- don't! If you do that then-" Too late. The fire misses, thankfully not hitting the ship either, but it still falls beneath them and that's exactly what Quinn didn't want to happen. And Ace's mouth falls open in shock as the ship seems to zoom into the sky at a breakneck pace. "-then they'll… just… rise… even faster…! Urgh."

"What was that?!"

Quinn's hands are buried into fists in her hair, comical, given that she was still kicking out the fire. "They're… They're like hot air balloons…!"

"What?!"

Well, shit.

Their whole ship had just gotten stolen.

And they were left, jaws dropping, staring up at the sky and where they'd disappeared into the clouds.

-0-

"Ready?"

"As ever."

"Let's go!"

Quinn eyed the ladder with trepidation, but soldiered on; it was a bad time to remember that she didn't have any gloves and her hands were about to be calloused to hell and back. "Hey, Spice, can you boost us?" He was tall enough that, if he held them up, they might just barely be able to catch the bottom rung without having to climb a palm tree.

She didn't want to climb a palm tree.

"Us short people need your height."

"Sure."

It was a bit wobbly, but they managed, and Quinn stuck her tongue out just as her fingers brushed the bottom metal and was left hanging. Oh, gosh. What a bad time to remember it's been awhile since she'd last done a pullup.

She shifts, swinging her weight up, just barely managing to hook a foot up and pull herself the rest of the way. Lifting herself up on the opposite side of the ladder to Ace, who was sitting between rungs, until they were face to face- "What about Spice?" -but she was already tying a rope between them and tossing it down, just as Kat manages to pull himself up as well. "Oh, good idea!"

"Thanks. I have them sometimes."

Ace leaned his head against the rung of the ladder between them, cheek pressed down and squished against the cold metal. It was later in the morning than they had planned to leave, and all of them were dressed down in what Ace was ready to coin as "adventuring gear." While Quinn wasn't all that different from the last few days- it was best to wear an outfit for multiple days when possible, none of them had a lot of clothes and it was a massive waste of water if they couldn't do it in a single large batch- but him and the others had grabbed their best clothes for climbing. Generally.

Kat was, unfortunately, stuck in pajamas, because he'd forgotten his packed bag on the ship. And his shark plushie- Lasagna- was currently strapped to his back with rope like some kind of adorable shark backpack. Ace liked to imagine the plushy looking very confused and concerned.

Spice, who'd tugged on a red vest over a white button up and cuffed pants. It'd taken Quinn a single look to call him a "Lord of the Rings-looking asshole." Whatever that was supposed to mean.

And Ace was still in his shorts but he'd tossed on another belt to help with the rope attachment and a black jacket over his usual yellow shirt, a pair of gloves on as well, even though they were fraying at the edges and worn out.

He hummed, eyeing Quinn as she looked down and watched the others finally join them, trying to get their ropes and carabiners ready for the trip far, far upwards. "Hey… your hair's singed." He tugs at a lock of black, watching her eyes flicker towards him-

She smiles, eyes rolling, it's been awhile since he'd seen it, actually, now that he's thinking about it, "Ace, you're a damn fire hazard, you know that, right?" She hadn't been smiling as much as she normally would. Not since her and Spice had presumably started fighting, so it was good to see it again.

Briefly, Ace had to ruminate on the smile- it wasn't much more than a tired quirk of her lips, not big, but it reached her eyes and made them soften with an almost addictive quality. One that had his own mouth falling into a grin- one that probably looked silly and dorky and stupid, especially considering how his face was pressed- and twiddles the caught strands between his fingers. "The damage doesn't look too bad?" He tries, a little awkward, it wasn't a lie, just probably not what she was wanting to hear.

She rolls her eyes.

The climb up the ladder isn't as harsh as it would seem, at least, not in the beginning. The metal was smooth and without faults but the carabiners were coming in incredibly handy because it would get significantly harder to hold on if there was so much as the smallest of breezes. It was a ladder though so so long as they held on and kept going up, they'd finally make it wherever they needed to go- even if… they still hadn't seen any progress towards anything. Just clouds in the sky and endless bits of ladder ahead.

The only thing good coming from them having been attacked by those weird inflatable, hot balloon creatures was that they'd gone upwards when they'd made their escape. It made to reason that there was some sort of something up there.

And they were doing fine.

Sure, Quinn's muscles were screaming at her, her body discovering places she didn't even know she had, and maybe her hands were shaking and blistered and starting to break open and bleed from both the rubbing and the cold air sucking out all of the moisture in her skin, but they were having fun. It was easy to see that they were having a good time, especially when their break came around- Ace had nearly fallen off the ladder laughing and had only been saved by the rope tying him to Spice- and everything was going good.

...Until Kat looked down.

Now, Quinn had never been fond of heights, she's actually begun to rather hate them recently, they made her stomach drop and her legs feel wobbly and just overall sick to her stomach, but she knew how to combat it well enough. Kat, who was quite used to having his feet firmly planted on the ground, thankyouverymuch, did not have the same luxury.

"C'mon, Kat! Deep breaths, you got this!"

Quinn called down to her completely frozen, aside from the shivering that is, crewmate.

"Huh, who would've thought Kat would crack first." Spice says thoughtfully, posed rather lazily on the ladder sideways, one hand on his hip and the other looped through an upper rung so he could rest his head on his cheek. He gives a glance to Quinn that she one hundred percent notices and one hundred percent ignores.

Ace probably doesn't help. He's upside down, arms crossed behind his head and hanging by his knees. Quinn hadn't pointed it out but it seems like his braced arm was beginning to falter, he kept trying to avoid using it or would shake it out every now and then. He'd mentioned he'd broken an arm before, that one, and Quinn was sure it had been a bad break if he was still wearing a brace to this day.

(Her own arm was doing surprisingly well. She was still in pain, but it was more numb than anything.)

"We've already come so far…" Ace muses. "How did you not notice before?"

They'd gotten so high up that the island beneath them was getting hard to see. It wasn't much bigger than a dot anymore and whenever Quinn glanced down at it her vision would blur slightly and she'd have to take a deep breath, rubbing the back of her neck, fingers pulling at the edge of her scar that was beginning to itch unnaturally. "Kat, it's not so bad!" She doesn't know exactly what to say to help.

"Yes it is!" Kat hisses between clenched teeth. "I was not made for this!"

"I mean, I don't think most people were made for this-"

"I especially wasn't! You know what I was made for? The ocean. You know why? Because the ocean is nice! And there's no falling to your death or- or- falling to your death!"

"You said that twice."

"I know I said it twice!" Kat shrieked and then went back to squeezing his eyes shut and firmly trying not to think about the possible descent below him. He moaned pitifully, forehead pressed to the ladder, "How do birds deal with this?!"

"They keep going." Spice replies, bored to the point that he was checking out his nails. "And, you know, wings."

Kat is near hysterical. "Well, I don't!"

"You have ropes?' Ace offers and it does seem to help. Because Kat nods wildly and tries to open his eyes, it's a long process, but even as he starts to shake even worse, he does manage to gain enough composure to open his eyes and try and mentally prepare himself to keep going.

"Okay, okay, okay…"

"You good?"

"No. No I am not." Well.

"Don't think about it and it'll get better?"

"I don't think it works like that!" Kat wheezed. But he was coming out of it, talking to himself and trying to push through the shaking in his limbs. The others trying to convince him that, if he just kept moving, he'd get used to it.

Quinn didn't know about that. It'd already been awhile and her feelings hadn't changed, if anything, the higher they got, the more sick she felt and the more the back of her neck itched.

"-oh god, why couldn't it have been an ocean ladder? Oh, gosh, oh gosh, oh goosh-"

"Come on, Kat, nothing bad is gonna happen!"

Ace tilts his head, looking upwards- though, in his case, it would be him looking down between his knees- and squints. "Do you hear that?" He asks. Just as a faint sound starts to reach all of their ears and slowly began to grow louder and louder as seconds tick by. Everyone looked upwards, even Kat.

Just in time to see something… white, human, and screaming hurtling passed them.

They stare.

The person gets progressively smaller and their screaming progressively quieter as they follow them with their eyes downward. As one, Ace, Spice, and Quinn turn- blank faced- to stare at Katsura. Who was similarly blank faced, looking down below them. Frozen stiff.

And then he slowly lets out a whine that builds into a shriek: "I don't like this ladder!"

All three of them facepalmed.

-0-

Sleeping on a ladder was an… event.

It took awhile to finagle themselves into a comfortable position that wouldn't have them falling to their deaths like that person from before.

(Quinn decides the best course of action is to not think about it and hopes that they don't have to return to the small island to find a corpse amongst the feathers. She'd rather that be someone else's problem.)

And even then, they were held on by ropes and carabiners and legs and arms looped through rungs and- they just hoped that nothing bad would happen. At least Katsura hadn't said anything about a storm headed their way because, quite honestly, that would be a nightmare even just thinking about it.

Given the fact that, ever since they started climbing- they'd been climbing essentially on either side of the ladder to both try and keep the weight distribution even, but also to not lose track of someone lagging behind- Quinn finds herself nearly nose to nose with Ace. Practically sitting in his lap from the little space she could wrap a leg through. It was probably the safest way they could manage, suspended thousands of miles up in the air like they are, but it still wasn't the best.

At least, with Kat and Spice, Kat's slighter frame fit much better against their giant of a chef. The two were out like a light before long. Completely dead to the world. Obviously tired out from the sudden wake up the night before and the amount of exercise they'd been put through.

"Is it just me… or is the air getting thin up here?" She mutters, unable to help herself really- she feels lightheaded and her nose is kinda itchy, she thinks it might start bleeding soon. She hasn't been adjusting well to the climb.

Her body feels prickly and limp and her muscles are so thoroughly screwed that it's hard to feel them anymore. She's just kinda… numb.

"Just you?" Ace offers, honest confusion written on his face.

"Mnh."

She closes her eyes and tries to will herself to sleep. It's a losing battle. She'd be lucky to get a wink- so thoroughly wracked with tension. Suspended in the sky… not a quality, relaxing place to sleep, is it?

Damn it.

Quinn had only ever been on a plane once before. How the hell did she get talked into doing this?

"Quinn, you cool?"

"It is kinda cold, yes."

"Not what I meant."

Of course not. She sighs, opening her eyes back up. The good thing coming from being stuck next to Ace, especially during the night- was that he made an excellent heater. His body temperature was what one would describe as "cozy" because, while he ran hot, it wasn't enough to burn and it was a constant warmth that he just seemed to exude. Quinn wishes she could say that she didn't know that it was because of his Devil Fruit but it was one hundred percent because of his Devil Fruit. She'd slept practically wrapped up by him before and he definitely didn't have the same type of heat as he had previously.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine."

"You know, something tells me that's not true."

She glances down. "Brings up bad memories is all…" Quinn changes the subject. Not even trying to be sneaky about it. "I don't feel as if I really know you."

It's so abrupt that Ace seems to visibly startle, sparing her a bemused glance and wondering where the hell that had come from. "What do you mean? Of course you do."

"Well. I know you have a little brother, Luffy, that you love~" He flushes and his shoulders come up to hug his neck but he doesn't deny it. Quinn didn't expect him to. Maybe to tell her to buzz off but he doesn't do that either. "-and that you brag... " He shoots her a look, Quinn corrects herself. "-talk about all the adventures you'd have together when there's nothing left to say or, godforbid, someone asks-"

He's not actually that bad, in her opinion. But that might just be because Quinn can't help but enjoy listening to his rambles, for one thing, she could always count on them being entertaining, and for another… She bites her lip. It had started off as just an excuse to learn about Luffy, even though she honest to god didn't really, truly care, on the off chance she needed an explanation for possibly knowing too much, but- Well, at some point, she found that it was hard to pull away her attention, especially when he sounded so… alive and real.

Quinn's voice stutters a little mid sentence. "-b-but even if I know you like food and freedom and other miscellaneous things, that doesn't really amount to much. So," she rolls her head to look over at him, trying to not think about how her position on the ladder wobbles, "what's up with you?"

Ace stares at her.

And snorts. "Really?! That's the best you got for conversation?"

"What do you want me to say? We're miles above the sea, Ace."

"What about you, huh? Huh? All I really know about you is that you have a grandmother who taught you to sew, that you're from some place called New York, that you like coffee and you won't even tell me what your dream is." It started off joking, but as Ace went on his grin seemed to falter and it was set in a full on frown by the time he lists the last one. Particularly the last one.

"It's… a silly dream."

"No dream is silly."

"Mine is." She smiles a tad sad before shaking her head. "But that's beside the point, 'cause that's not really what I mean."

"What do you mean?"

"...I don't know."

Ace laughs at her. She ducks her head, blushing.

"Well, I… I…" Quinn struggles to come up with something to suggest while Ace's eyebrows slowly creep more and more upwards. "What's the dumbest thing that's ever pissed you off? The stupidest thing you can think of."

"The stupidest thing…?"

He tries to search back through his memory. Honestly, he got pissed at a lot of stupid shit when he was a kid. He remembered being pent up and angry all the time, that even the slightest, dumbest of things could get him throwing out punches left and right.

"Okay." That said, there was one memory that stood out. "There was this one time, with Luffy and-" He falters, contemplates whether or not he should say his name. Wonders what questions it might incite if he were to share it now, because he'd never mentioned him to Quinn before and… He needs to stop thinking.

If there was one bit of advice that he could take from Crocus, it was-

"You should tell them. At least that girl of yours."

-it was that he needed to start trusting his crewmates a bit more. And Sabo- Sabo was much, much more precious to him compared to any secret that had to do with Roger, but if he could share a piece about his brother…

Ace thinks he could do it one day.

"...and Sabo, we- we ended up heading over to Grey Terminal…"

He waits for the inevitable.

"Sabo?"

It comes.

"My… My other brother." He grasps his arm, his tattoo- Sabo's flag- and waits for more. It doesn't come. Instead, Quinn simply leans more into him, her hand squeezes his shoulder and he wonders if she can tell. Can see that the wound is still deep and open. "He's…"

"You don't have to tell me."

He nods. He doesn't want to. "We- I ended up lagging behind because we were looking for something specific to add to our treehouse and I thought I might've seen it so- you know how I mentioned how we were well known around those parts? For stealing and fighting, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there were these guys- who'd dressed as us, and were trying to intimidate people with our reputation, right?" Quinn nods. "They had drawn on freckles and everything for me and a crappy top hat for the other but the guy they had as Luffy…!" There's a deep offense in his voice and still a vengeful note that had her waiting curiously in anticipation. "He was the ugliest guy I had ever seen! They'd made my baby brother out to be some sort of sick-"

Quinn can't hold it in.

"-freak of nature and completely ruined-"

She laughs.

"-my brothers face- Quinn? Quinn!" Ace's face pinches as her laughter only grows and she covers her mouth with her hand, trying to keep from waking up the others and leaning back- She lets out a tiny yelp as it throws off her balance and is only saved by Ace lunging to grab her and pull her back. She's still laughing. "It's not that funny."

"It is." He rolls his eyes and hitches her up higher, trying to help position her in a place that won't have her falling. "Hang on, hang on… Keheh." She pulls on the length of rope and pulls it around her waist twice, careful of Ace's arm which keeps her centered, before tying it and looping it through a carabiner attached to the ladder. "Really? The fact that the dude was ugly- that's what pissed you off?"

"You asked!"

"I did. I did. And I am so glad that I did."

"Oh yeah? Well, what about you?"

"Me? I…" Quinn's lips purse. "I can't really think of something specifically stupid- but I used to, and I mean, I still do, but whenever I pick up a book and find that someone- instead of using a bookmark- folded the page down instead. Especially library books and not, you know, one they own… I lost you, haven't I?"

Ace nods, chuckling. "So maybe that wasn't such a good question for you."

No, definitely not.

They sit in silence for a few moments and Quinn panics as it slowly grows awkward before blurting, "What's your favorite food? I-I mean, I know you like food as much as the next person, but I don't actually know what your favorite is."

"I don't really have a favorite. So long as I eat, I'm happy." Yeah, she got that much. Still… to not have a favorite food-? "Wait, no! There was this one thing. A kind of pepper. Makino said… oh, she's that barmaid I told you about? Anyways, this one time, she came up to the bandits hut to make food and she brought this pepper- said it was an imported delicacy from South Blue. Something-ghoul."

"A ghost pepper?"

"Yeah, that's it! Luffy took one bite and almost passed out, I don't know why though, it was spicy sure- but it was super good!"

"Ghost peppers… can't say I'm not surprised. That suits you almost too much."

"You said that you'd never been on a boat before- all the way back when we were leaving Saigen- but you acted like it was… You'd really never seen the ocean before?" Oh, she felt like this might've come up again. Ace was used to places being islands and the shore always being near. He'd never even heard of someone who hadn't seen the ocean at least once. And, hell, it wasn't even that Quinn was exceedingly young or anything. She was older than him!

"Saigen…. When I got there, that had been the first time I've ever seen the ocean in person. It's not like I never had the option but- Where I lived it was more inland. I guess I got so used to the tall buildings and crowded streets that I… hadn't really thought about it before?"

"I don't know how you lived without having seen the ocean before."

He was still stuck on just the thought.

"It's… a bit more likely than you'd think." Quinn snickered at his expression, "I didn't think I could honestly get used to… this-" She waved out over the dark expanse of the sea below, the smattering of clouds that hung beneath them. "Now, though? I don't think I could imagine that kind of life anymore. So I get how you'd think it was crazy."

She licked her lips, trying to come up with another question- but none would come to her. Just a mounting sense of… something building deep within her belly and her throat suddenly feeling constricted as she looked out over the far below ocean. They were… They were all just up so high. So much as a slip and one of them could be dead before they even knew it and- Quinn's voice comes out hoarse and tense and, to her at least, it ruins the relaxing mood that'd fallen between them. "You know," she croaks, "I have a secret."

"Do you?"

"Yeah, I just… I don't know how to tell it."

"It's a secret for a reason, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Then why would you need to?"

At that, she doesn't know what to say. Nothing, maybe? But it feels wrong- it is wrong- to say nothing when so much of it could- "I- I, uh. I don't know if you'll trust me if I tell it-" That gets his attention and she rubs the back of her neck, fighting the urge to bite her lip. "-but I know you definitely won't ever trust me if I don't."

Ace doesn't say anything for a long moment.

"Oh… it's that kind of secret."

"Yeah…"

"I." He stops, pauses. Then starts again. "I have one of those too."

"Oh, yeah?"

It was hard to see each other. The night had only deepened the dark shadows on their faces and the moon was hidden behind the clouds, but Quinn could make out the silhouette of his cheek, the white puffs of warm breath mixing with her own.

It was enough to have her shivering, hand coming to cover her mouth- she realizes then that she's shaking, trembling with something like nerves and worry and the only thing seemingly keeping her stable is the arm wrapped around her waist. Ace hadn't made to remove it and the warmth that it provided- helping to pull her close, wasn't something she'd forsake.

The night ticks on.

"Do you want to?"

She wishes she could see his face, there's something wrong with not being able to make out his eyes and she wishes desperately that she had some way of knowing what he was saying.

Quinn knows his secret already. It feels like a sin, one of the worst kinds, and she wishes he could take the knowledge from her and give it to her when he wanted to.

She wishes she didn't feel guilty.

That she didn't actually want to tell him.

"Sometimes."

She supposes that was the difference then. Because, if he was someone else, she'd probably be fine with it. She has no urge to go find Luffy and tell him Sabo is alive or that his brothers execution is almost an inevitability, doesn't care about Vivi and her country, or has a plan to find Robin and teach her friendship without betrayal waiting in the wings-

But with Ace, it was getting harder and harder to keep her mouth shut. To not spill her secrets.

"How bout you take a chance on me?"

"H-Huh?"

"Figure out how to say it. Whenever you do, it can be now or a year from now, it doesn't matter-" Ace doesn't want her to see his face. She'd see how tense he is, how he squeezes his eyes shut and offers something that he doesn't know if he can truly commit to or not but knows that he will anyway.

Trust.

Trust. Did he trust her? More than he'd be willing to admit. Because, for all the odd things she did, for all the behavior that he noticed, she was always trying.

"-but if you take a chance on me, I'll take a chance on you."

"...Really?"

"Che. You… You won't want to stay if you hear mine…" He looks away. "You're not stupid. So, I-"

She giggles, it sounds a bit wet.

"Trust me, Ace, there's nothing you could say to me that would chase me away."

The scary thing is? He believes her.

"...Night, Quinn."

He drifts off to sleep, arm still uncomfortably stuck through the rungs of the ladder and curled warmly around her waist. He nearly misses the soft feeling of fingers carding through his hair or the gentle murmur that helps lulls him further into the throes of sleep, "Goodnight… fire hazard."

-0-

Starting back up again the next morning was especially hard. Quinn had to bite down on her tongue to keep from whimpering as the blisters on the palms of her hands broke open and the stiffness in her back made it all the more painful. Her face puckered and focus waned as the clouds grew thicker and thicker around them.

The feathers falling in their faces certainly weren't helping. At least they could be used to guess how much longer they had to go- they had only grown in number as they continued the journey upwards, growing thicker and more densely packed as they slid through the fluff of clouds and disappeared.

Ace and Spice were pulling ahead, with her and Kat only just barely keeping up between her pain and Kat's newfound fear of heights.

Or they would have, if Spice hadn't trailed behind to keep pace with her.

It was the first time she was actually seeing eye to eye with him. Usually he towered over them, and honestly, she kinda preferred it. Looking him directly in the eye was kind of… intimidating.

It didn't help that his gaze was unmoving, even as the steps of the ladder passed them by.

"Say, Quinn. What were you talking about with Ace last night?"

Her shoulders tense.

"What do you mean?"

"Something about a secret?"

"...If I haven't told Ace yet, what makes you think I would tell you?"

Spice snorts, shaking his head and pushes onwards, leaving her practically in his dust.

Her brow twitches.

It's like he's trying to make asshole his new personality. Quinn sniffs, and goes to hurry after him, even as her hands leave patches of blood behind and Kat, who climbs behind her, frowns and pauses to take a look at the sudden wetness on the ladder. It wouldn't have been unusual, considering the condensation from the clouds around them, but Kat felt it was different from that and had to actually take a moment to look-

He pales quite suddenly and his head whips up so he can look at the others, "Uhm, is the ladder bleeding?" Stupid question, but no one else seemed to be hurt in anyway so he didn't think it was that-

"What?"

"No, that's just me. Sorry."

-or he was completely wrong.

Kat squeaked. "Your hands are bleeding?!"

Quinn didn't seem to find anything wrong with that fact. "Yeah?" She raises a brow at him, genuinely baffled by the question, unaware of the frowns sent her way. "Why wouldn't they be?"

"Why would they be?!" Kat's voice jumps an octave.

"Uh… because we've been climbing for a literal day and a half now?"

"But doesn't it hurt?"

"...Yes? So?" She finally noticed the looks sent her way and scoffs, rolling her eyes. Even Spice is eyeing her hands with a troubled, curious look in his eyes and, blink and you miss it, the barest glimmers of respect. "Why are you all looking at me like that? The faster we get somewhere the sooner we can get off this ladder. Let's go." She didn't exactly leave room for argument.

Quinn doesn't understand the big deal. She figured this would happen from the beginning.

(It's not so much the fact that it happened that gets them, it's the fact that it happened and she hadn't said anything. It's also the fact that, when they pull their own hands away from the ladder and look at them, they're sore and calloused, yes- but they were nowhere near close to bleeding.)

The day had started off with them trying to stretch their limbs and, really, it wasn't quite day anyways. None of them could handle the uncomfortableness of sitting on a ladder for any longer. So the sun was just barely on the horizon and the sky was still half dark with night just beginning to fade, silhouetted in red as they climbed.

So, of course, that's when they hear it.

A whistling noise that comes from above them. It's high pitched, loud, and only grows as they pause to look up- And the ladder rumbles beneath them, nearly bucking them off with the force of the vibrations running down it. Just keeping their feet was hard enough but seeing what laid ahead was enough to have all their jaws dropping in shock-

A pair of creatures sat vertically above them.

A breeze hits the ladder and sends it swaying, light from the burning sun peaking through the space between them and the ladder and catching the shadow of the beasts above them. Because they don't know what to call them. Creatures that they recognized- even though it had been dark before, they would notice the flat, distended shapes of their body anywhere; the scales and feathers and oddly toothed beak.

"What even are you?"

They can't help but ask and no one really knows who poses the question.

They don't even expect an answer, but they get one.

"Occamy."

Shit.

"And we smell El Blanco on you."

Shit!

And whatever anyone tells you, just know, that a ladder in the middle of the sky is a terrible place to have a fight. Especially against something that has wings and can float and fly.

Because they lose.

Badly.

Too much of their time is taken up trying to simply hang on for any one of them- other than Ace because he can light himself on fire and ward off claws and teeth- that they're not able to retaliate with any amount of strength. It wasn't so bad- not at first- as they managed to jab and stab and poke the Occamy away from them, keeping the serpentine birds at bay.

Until Quinn lets out a shriek as a cord-like tail from one of their foes wraps around her ankle and her grasp entirely free from the ladder.

The only thing keeping her connected and away from a long drop to her death was the Occamy's own hold on her and the ropes that tethered her to Katsura. Who now could only hold on tight, fingers and a squealing, breaking carabiner keeping him in place. "No-!" He yelped, eyes snapping open to the cloudy descent below him, heart near leaping out of his chest in sheer terror. A drop like this, it would kill him, and there would be nothing he could do about it- the air too thin, the clouds not thick enough with water for him to truly control, not as they were, and a fear of heights that was only getting worse by the second.

"You damn birds!"

It's a precarious situation.

And Quinn cries out as sharp claws, three of them, sink into the flesh of her stomach and tear at her skin. Thrashing seems to only worsen it and she feels a heavy horror as the gravity of it all finally falls over her. There's nothing she can do. She's weak and in pain and her hands are trembling with broken open blisters that make her wince and unable to even dig her fingers into the hide of the Occamy to try and pull them away-

She feels absolutely pathetic.

No amount of luck could possibly get her out of this situation and she knows that for a fact, the gold marks she'd previously set up on her skin disappear at a startling rate, doing nothing but keeping her slippery enough in the grasp of the enemy that they can't quite get a proper hold on her, but it's steadily running out. And, soon, she knows the part holding her and Kat to the ladder will snap beneath the strength of the Occamy.

She cranes her neck, face pulled into a grimace and-

It's maybe a second in reality, if that, but it's enough for Quinn to come to a rather simple conclusion as she takes in the wide, terrified eyes of Kat who's so desperately trying to cling to the ladder to keep himself from falling to his death. If someone had been watching her face closely, they would have been able to pinpoint down to the moment when she shifts from blind panic to something a bit more contemplative.

Ace notices it too late.

The only thought that really crosses her mind is: Huh. If I fall, then both of us will fall.

It's not a moment later that her fingers find the hilt of her sword somehow in the mess of talons and she brings the blade down on the rope attaching them together.

"Wait- No!"

It drops Katsura back to the safety of the ladder and Ace lunges forward, his hands swiping at the thin air where Quinn had just been and- a hand grasps his shoulder before he can move, plunging into a mess of flames, but still somehow momentarily catching his physical body just long enough to yank him back to the ladder and-

Both of them gape as Spice leaps from the ladder- and Ace realizes that the rope is slack by his side, cut and left to hang in the wind- and grabs the serpent-bird by it's beak before there's a screech, a flurry of feathers-

And then nothing.

Ace's gaze flashes to rage as he stares at the empty air. Both Kat and him left to cling to the wildly swaying ladder, both of them missing familiar weights by their sides.

"What… the fuck was the ropes for… If you were just going to cut them?!"

-0-

Feathers.

Pink and soft and broken beneath bare feet that pitter and patter across the glossy floor that would have been otherwise clean and bare of even the tiniest specks of dirt. Or it would be, if not for the red that recently spilled across it.

There were specks of blood that littered the floor and their outfit was torn, a fresh wound pierced into their side, but it didn't make them falter in their steps. Not even once.

"A mirror…! A mirror! Give me a mirror!" They whispered, growing in an intense fervor. "I must see- I must-!"

Ornate, embedded in gold, a mirror is discovered and placed within their hands, letting them finally catch a glimpse of themselves- They gasp. Tears springing to their eyes and spilling over their eyelashes, hand caressing the skin of their cheek and feeling the softness and supple nature of their flesh: "Beautiful." They whisper, almost reverential in nature. Their voice feminine and hoarse from screams that had previously torn through their throat but that- that would fix itself. "Oh, and the pain that corrodes me-" They let their fingers glide over their skin, calloused and trembling hands digging into the wound that pierces them. It would have to be treated, yes, lest their body rot away, but for now, they could enjoy the ecstasy of something-

-something new.

"So pure, and fresh and glorious-!"

They can't help the giggle that slowly escapes them.

"And it's all mine, mine, mine-!"

They cackle.

And behind them, the body of a bird- with a long neck and pink feathers once fluffed up in rage- lays unconscious on the ground. It is left to lay on a lush pillow, eyes closed in a small sector of the large, golden room it'd found itself in.

.

.

.

I ended up cutting quite a bit of stuff from this chapter- either it messed with the flow, or it seemed like too much, or it's something that might be better placed in a different arc/chapter. Such as: finally arriving at the end of the ladder, which will be next chapter. That said, I still really enjoyed writing it and going over the character dynamics, conflicts, etc.

I know that some people dislike the conflict of Spice and Quinn, but it's smth I think is important for their characters to go through.

So: predictions? What do you think the Spades will find on Flamenco? Where do you think the Occamy took their ship- took Quinn and Spice? Who is El Blanco? Who is La Golondrina? What did they steal? How did they betray the Occamy? What is up with Quinn and Ace? What did Ace tell Spice about Quinn? Who was the person who fell past them? What's up with the ending?

Honestly I just really want to hear people's thoughts even though its pretty vague right now! :D Feel free to ask questions about anything, I'll try my best to provide spoiler free answers!