"You filthy Mudblood! The Dark Lord will have your heads for this! You will scream and beg for your pathetic existences, you'll- Grk-"

Striding into a clearing Ace tossed his shoulder upward and bounced the banshee on his shoulder, slamming her stomach into his shoulder. Bellatrix's lungs protested as she hacked and coughed trying to regain her breath for the umpteenth time that day. As she did Ace smirked pleased to have temporarily silenced her vitriol even if it was only a temporary reprieve. No matter the length, it was a blessing to have a few minutes of silence. Bellatrix had been screeching endlessly since she realized she'd been kidnapped effectively, by an invisible muggle. A fact Holly had the great pleasure of revealing; even if it cost Ace his hearing for the next hour of travel.

This was not the first clearing Ace and Holly had passed through, but like every one before it Ace shot a considering glace at the area. It was a habit he had possessed since he'd been a child wandering the forest with Sabo and later Luffy. Venturing out into the vast expanses of Dawn island and selecting camp sites with great care lest they be attacked by something Ace couldn't handle. After turning seventeen and setting sail, Ace found less reason to be out far enough into forests to need to actually camp, until he'd run into Holly. Habit had Ace scenting the air for a sign of nearby water - even though Holly could conjure water out of thin air and was carrying a house. He checked the forest for visibility, outside and in, to see threats from a distance, but also allow the tent to be hidden while they slept. Ace also took into account the animal tracks as they'd been walking for hunting and not for threat considering the size and breed of the tracks Ace had spotted. All in all, it was a good spot, and he turned to Holly automatically to tell her exactly that, and found her staring up at him.

Holly's hair was a tangled mess, sticks and drying blood clung to it. Her lip was split, and her eye was blackening from being stuck at one point during the fight. The damage at Holly's head was the only sign of the battle as her dueling robes ran all the way up to her chin, and seemed to protect the rest of her body. Quite unlike Ace who showed absolutely no sign of anything he'd done that day and instead carried the noticeable bruising from his real body still trapped in Impel Down.

Ace couldn't speak as he realized Holly had been waiting for him. She had purposely stopped, purposely paused all so he could check the area. Holly trusted him to select their campsite, and it did funny things to his stomach. He was probably hungry he told himself and forcefully looked away before he did something like blush. "This spot is good." He said watching from the corner of his eye as her lips quirked subtly and she pulled her bag off her shoulder.

"Brilliant, I'm beat." Something was off in her voice, perhaps it was because of what they soon had to speak about. Ace didn't question it then as Holly dumped her bag on her floor and flicked her wand summoning the tent from within and directing it toward the middle of the area. With another flick, the rocks and sticks surged off the ground and careened into the forest a split second before the tent hit the dirt and exploded outward as it assembled itself with a brush of her magic.

Ace tilted his head more and more as she worked watching her hands twist, and her wand rose and fell in elegant patterns. Holly gave no sign to the amount of running they'd been doing across the countryside, nor did she- he caught the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange sneering at Holly. His mood sobered instantly as he caught the plotting expression, and he purposely bounced the banshee in punishment. Bellatrix choked and swore furiously with a purple glow in her eyes that screamed madness and power.

"I'll kill you! You'll go mad like the Longbottom's-" Holly beside him flinched, her whole body jerking as her eyes flew wide, "you can join them in the hospital named mad potty-"

"Silencio!"

Bellatrix's mouth worked, but no sound escaped it, Ace's brows hit his hairline as she struggled in his grip soundlessly for the first time that entire afternoon. Bellatrix was muted, the banshee was silenced. Irritation sparked, and he shot Holly a mock glare: "You couldn't have done that earlier?" he rubbed his eye with his free hand, "my ears are still ringing thanks to all her screaming."

Holly reached up in an automatic move of embarrassment, and she rubbed the back of her neck, the moment her hand made contact her breath hitched oddly, hurriedly she dropped her arm and said: "Would you believe I forgot I could?"

"Right." Ace rolled his eyes in tease as her cheeks tinted. He made a mental note to ask next time if she could do something like say, mute the endlessly screaming banshee hanging off his shoulder. Holly's blush raced up to her ears as she dutifully avoided eye-contact and Ace made a derisive noise with his nose before changing the topic. Mostly, because if he was admitting it to himself if that blush moved any further, he was going to give her a better reason for it. "Got a room for her?" he bounced Bellatrix who soundlessly swore up a storm.

Holly physically shook her head as if to shake away whatever thought had been plaguing her, then she nodded, and oh how he wondered what had been going through her head at that moment. "Err, yeah, yes! Past the bathroom we have a room we aren't currently using, so that should work."

Ace gave Holly a thumbs up before turning toward the tent which popped as it fully assembled. He left her to the wards while he secured their prisoner with his methods. The banshee was a witch and from what he understood was clueless about 'Muggle' methods. Which meant she'd be helpless to the ways he knew to keep her still. Pending he removed all the magical items from her first.

Inside Ace passed the bathroom as Bellatrix truly started to struggle, apparently she'd both gotten her energy back and had forgotten he was vastly stronger than her. It was in fact with practically no effort that Ace had been able to cart Bellatrix all over the countryside. The only mild concern he had was her claws which could potentially be used to attack his face; however, that threat had been removed when Holly bound Bellatrix with magically conjured rope. Now all the woman could do was wiggle and scream, or just wiggle now. Passed the bathroom was a single unoccupied room, Hermione's former room he assumed since Ace was currently using Ron's.

Ace opened the door and gave the room a quick glance and got a decent judge of Hermione's character with a glimpse. The bookworm was clear from a split-second glance, as however, was the people who had touched Hermione's life. Pictures lay all around the walls of people he'd never seen and probably wouldn't ever meet, yet still had meaning to the girl who had once slept there. Unwilling to give Bellatrix any sort of edge, he swiftly struck the back of her head and knocked the woman unconscious before she could get a look at any of the images. Ace was practical enough to be aware she could escape, and he didn't want these people to be put in danger as a result. Tossing Bellatrix's bound body carelessly to the bed, Ace gathered the pictures, books, and anything else with sentimental value. Then he picked up anything that could be used as a weapon or a method of escape, anything. Finally, after he'd finished that he stripped Bellatrix of any items which could have magical power, which to Ace meant just about everything. Holly had told him of an old boot which dragged her across the country, and he was not allowing such a thing to steal away their prisoner. This left Bellatrix in a room stripped bare while tied to the bed. Which… didn't admittedly look great, he could just imagine what his brothers would say about it. But it wasn't like they had a jail!

Locking the door behind him, Ace headed back to the main rooms and came to a stop. After all the time he had taken, he expected Holly to be already waiting for him. Ace knew very well exactly how long it took to put up the wards after seeing Holly do it so many times. Ace had been securing Bellatrix for longer than that, which meant she had to be finished but was still outside. Instinctively he knew why. The conversation looming over their heads, the secrets ready to be told, Ace understood how that felt. He knew what it was like to be preparing mentally to say something so huge that it froze you down to the core in hesitation. He'd done it with his father and the truth about his blood.

He knew Holly was avoiding it, avoiding him. It was why they'd spent the entire afternoon running about after a battle which had injured and drained Holly. Ace knew how to hide his tracks, Holly knew he knew how to do that. Just as Ace knew Holly had actively been covering her magical signature as they ran all over the place to 'lose Voldemort's trail.' Yet they'd traveled far farther than the needed to, far longer than was required, all because Holly was avoiding speaking to him.

A part of Ace wanted to force the issue, to get the answer he deserved. To demand she tell him what she was hiding so that he could fix it, so they could come up with a plan. But the larger part of his mind thought of Marco. Thought of his eldest brother who had sat patiently at Ace's side until he calmed down enough to tell them the truth. Who had told Ace that he didn't have to do it, that they trusted him regardless of his history. Marco had given him the space needed to allow Ace to gather himself, and now Ace could do the same for Holly.

So instead of heading outside, Ace strode toward the kitchen.

They still had stag leftover from the previous time he'd hunted, and Ace pulled it out admiring the fridge once more. He was truly beginning to appreciate magic, and all it could do. The refrigerator alone was a godsend, it allowed food to be eternally preserved, frozen in time. Thatch would have probably murdered someone for a fridge like that, just as he could see Marco bodily tackling Holly for some of the potions he'd seen in the bathroom. Blood replenisher, the sheer idea of it, Ace didn't have words.

Humming idly to himself Ace started to cook inspecting the food of Holly's world with a critical eye. He was used to trying strange things considering he was a pirate, but Holly's world did have some truly odd things. The candy had to be the best though, it was incredibly unique, and Ace honestly wished he could give some of it to Luffy for his birthday. In another universe that might have even been possible.

Feeling his mood sour Ace wrenched his mind to a different topic as he absently tasted some of the exotic spices Holly had claimed to be from across her planets oceans, evidentially easier to access than the islands of his. He put a bit of it in his mouth and shrugged, Thatch might have been horrified at him, but it tasted decent, so he tossed it on and hoped for the best. Which did make him wonder, how was Ace able to eat? If he was in an astral body, and his real one was still trapped in Impel Down, then how could his spirit consume food? It shouldn't be possible.

"How is that?" he asked himself.

"How is what?" Came Holly's voice causing him to start. He'd been so relaxed that he'd stopped keeping his observation haki active. The shock had that had him momentarily forget she'd asked a question because Ace could remember the exact moment he'd stopped using haki around the Whitebeard pirates. The very day he'd decided to trust them not to hurt him while he slept even if he hadn't joined the crew for several weeks afterward. It was the day Marco had answered his question about why they called their father what they did.

Ace stared as his entire world rocked. He trusted Holly. How had that happened?

"Ace? How is what?" Holly repeated her question as she closed the tent flap behind her and waved a hand at the fireplace. A fire started up on the spot warming the entire tent and dispersing the constant chill to his skin. His shoulders relaxed as he turned to answer her as he caught her walk right passed the coat-hanger where she always hung her robes, except for then. And as she headed straight for the bathroom leaving the door open a crack so she could hear him.

"How… I can eat." He stared at the coat hanger, his brow pinching together at the sudden change in habit. Why would she do that? A memory flashed in his head, of Holly splayed across the ground attempting to stand covered in blood. "Is this is an astral body, I shouldn't be able to eat, right? Yet I do."

In the bathroom, Holly heard his response and forced a noise in her throat to tell him she'd heard him and was thinking about it, and she was, but Holly could admit she was distracted. With her palms pressed on the bathroom sink, she grit her teeth as her neck twinged painfully. Hissing a breath through her teeth, Holly reached up and undid the first button of her dueling robes and nearly groaned in pain as the fabric caught on her wounds. Ace thought her clothing had protected her from the attacks Voldemort and Bellatrix had wrought on her, and he was half correct. The fabric protected her from cutting spells and some darker magic which was hard to shield against. But they did not protect him something like the cruciatus, or the blunt force trauma of being hurled into a spelled oak table. Nor did it protect from the item wrapped around her vulnerable neck.

While her torso was covered in bruises, her lip was split, her ankle sprained, and she was certain she'd at least bruised a rib on the table, the worst damage was on Holly's neck. Wearing it had been a necessity, wearing it around Voldemort was a mistake. The Horcrux had fought to get back to its owner, and Holly's neck had been the only thing stopping the soul fragment from returning to its main soul. The entire battle it had been wrenching brutally on her neck to return, and as a result, Holly's neck looked like someone had attempted to strangle her, and had nearly succeeded.

Her throat was a mess of bruises and deep open wounds. Tender slices raced across her throat, and what was the beginnings of a crushed larynx made every sound she made excruciating. That which wasn't bleeding had already turned a painful black from the bruising. Holly winced at it wary of pulling the rest of her robes off because the fabric had dried against her open injuries. Still, she knew to fix it she'd have to have access to it, so Holly began the process of pulling her clothes off.

As she worked her spell activated, the same one she'd cast the moment she realized had bad it was. She'd learned it back in her fifth year after her uncle took retribution on her for the twins' actions against Dudley. When she'd been picked up by the Order Holly had hidden her neck and had avoided speaking at all, so no one discovered the damage. Holly had played it off as anger toward the silence they'd given her for the summer, that as a return she wouldn't speak to them either. Holly had done so until she'd discovered the Grimmauld Place's wards covered underage magic and allowed her to use magic even if she'd only been fifteen. The spell she'd learned right after that moment allowed her to disguise her voice, in that case, with her own healthy voice, so no one found out anything was different.

The spell worked perfectly as she spoke through the pain: "It's likely because of energy. The energy used to power the spell comes from somewhere. It's possible the food your taking in is like your haki, it's helping power the spell and taking some of the cost off whoever is actually casting it." It couldn't be an easy thing to do, to send an astral body across worlds.

As she explained, Holly pulled the rest of the fabric away and ignored the prickling tears of pain forming as they ran across her cheeks in thick trails. She was no stranger to pain, so she didn't cry out. Casually Holly tossed the robes toward the corner of the room into the laundry basket then moved to grab the hem of her shirt to pull it up and over to get her first look at her torso. Standing in a sports bra that she did not want to bother pulling over her head, Holly debated just cutting the bloody thing off and getting a new one. It might be possible to get away with leaving it on because Holly had no open wounds on her chest, but then… she really didn't want to keep wearing it either.

Hissing Holly felt the locket give a brutal tug on her neck in punishment for her escape. It was coupled with a burning sensation in her scar, a constant since she'd fled from Voldemort earlier that day. Grinding her teeth to stop herself from crying out, Holly wrenched the thing off her neck and tossed it into the sink. It clattered, and blood splattered as it hit coating the porcelain, but she didn't care.

For now, Holly leaned up and opened the mirror, revealing her extra potions. The shelf had once been heavily stocked. Holly had spent the summer spam owl ordering potions in preparation for the hunt. As her supply waned, fear had overtaken her, a doubt that she wouldn't be able to replace what she used since she could not access Diagon Alley anymore. But that fear evaporated after Ace had appeared, after he showed her exactly how she could still get more.

Smiling slightly, Holly reached up and selected a larger vial and pulled it down- and a hand touched her neck.

Holly screeched hands flailing as her accidental magic surged. A red arc raced through Ace's body and splashed against the hallway wall cracking the wood and shattering a painting that had been placed that. Ace gave no mind to the attack, as he leaned forward casually and caught the vial she'd all but tossed in his direction in her surprise. Holding it in a loose grip, his eyes roamed her body, but there was no heat in his gaze.

"Ace!" Holly felt her ears burn at her undressed state, even as she pressed her hand to her chest to still her frantic heart. "Don't do that!"

Ace's brown eyes darted from bruise to bruise before they finally landed on her neck and his lips pressed together firmly. Something flashed in his eyes then, something Holly had seen before but still didn't recognize that anyone would look like that for her. It was something protective, something concerned and yet furious in defense. And for that moment Ace looked like he was about to storm from the room and rip apart Voldemort with his bare hands for daring- but he couldn't possibly be thinking that; Holly didn't deserve that from him. Not when she was lying to his face about her fate, not when she intended to keep him utterly clueless to how this war would end.

"Snake-face do this?" he reached up, and Holly watched in fascination as black slipped up his hands a split second before the tips of his fingers brushed against her chin. He didn't touch her neck out of wariness he'd hurt her, but the need to feel was still present, so he settled.

Holly's eyes were wide as she stuttered something, probably a confirmation, but her mind was too fogged to recall precisely what she said. Then Ace lifted his eyes, 'wow Ace was close, when did he get so close' she thought before blurting: "Yes! Yes, that was Vold-" his fingers tapped her lips and her brain short-circuited. Bloody hell she really was gone for him.

"Let's not summon the small fry, I just finished cooking." He commented before pulling his hands back, reminding her of the taboo and how awful she was about not saying Voldemort's name. Honestly, she'd wished Dumbledore never taught her to say his name, it was a habit now, and it was putting her life at risk.

Ace lifted the vial in his fingers and checked the label then waggled it in front of her nose. "'Bruise paste.' Just rub it in?"

"I can do it myself," Holly argued automatically. She could handle her own wounds, Holly always did if she could get away with it, she didn't need his help-

"Easier for me." He retorted quickly and thumbed off the lid with one hand, while the other nudged her until she was facing the mirror with her back to him. Holly scowled even as she let him do it, even as she reached up and snatched another vial that was needed to heal the open wounds, one which she had to drink. Holly downed it quickly as Ace's hand sank into her hair, causing her to stare at his face through the mirror. Holly watched mesmerized as he twisted her hair and tied it up without a hair-band or tie, she hadn't even known that was possible, and she was the one with the long hair.

"How'd you do that?" Holly couldn't help but ask as Ace tipped the bruise paste onto his fingers while the wounds at her neck slowly healed from the potion. Holly twitched violently as his fingers finally made contact with her tender neck and he began to rub the paste in.

"Didn't always have time for a hair-cut when I was a kid." Ace told her, giving in to his instincts and allowing himself to pass on a small piece of his personal history. "I taught myself to do it at first, my guardian's wouldn't so-" he shrugged idly and rubbed upwards into her hairline which caused her knees to go a bit weak. He was basically massaging her, and the longer he did it, the better it felt as her wounds were quickly healing. He rubbed firmly, and Holly gasped and leaned forward torn between a small amount of pain and leaning into his hands, his touch… she wanted all of that- oh Merlin-

"My bad, that hurt?" he reduced the pressure, and Holly's cheeks flamed. She thanked Circe that Ace thought it had been pain that caused the noise and not the truth.

"Nope, it's fine, keep going!" did that sound desperate? She was pretty sure she sounded a bit airy at the least.

Ace hummed unconvinced but kept going: "Anyway, I used to use sticks or vine because I couldn't afford the fancy shit. That was until I met…" he hesitated, and Holly's eyes slid open unaware of when she'd actually closed them. She watched his expression as he internally debated his next step before settling; "This lady who would come down to visit me, she taught me to cut my own hair. Sometimes I'm still too lazy to do it though." He shrugged gesturing to his hair which was beginning to brush against his shoulders at certain angles. "Probably need a cut soon." He added as an afterthought before mentally adding, 'if I live.'

Moving away from the morbid thought Ace took a careful look at Holly's neck as the bloodied wounds knit together and gave it a critical eye. He wasn't Marco, but he could still tell the difference between the bruising from hands, and from chains, and the injuries Holly had was from the latter. Ace shot a look at the blood coated locket in the sink and scowled, it was likely Voldemort had attempted to summon it, and it had gotten caught on her neck. He'd have to make sure she didn't wear it the next time they fought the man.

He leaned back, pulling his hands fuly from her neck. "Do you have bandages?"

Holly jerked her head in a quick nod and nearly tripped over herself to summon them to her hand. Holly all but shoved them into Ace's chest, face to face she watched as he wrapped her neck. His hands were butterfly soft as he took the utmost care not to hurt her further. Finally, he leaned back and shot her bruised chest a look. Seeing it, Holly's face flamed once more realizing the specific locations where she'd been hurt. As much as one part of her wanted, the more significant part realized it would be a terrible idea for Ace to be rubbing those spots.

"I… can do the rest myself."

"I figured." He handed her the vial with a smirk that screamed flirt.

Holly swatted his shoulder, aware that he'd allowed it since she couldn't touch him otherwise. "Shoo." She said, pointing firmly at the door. He gave a laugh and raised his hands innocently ready to back off, ready to leave, when he remembered the locket in the sink.

"Oh." He reached for it, "here, don't forget this."

Holly had felt it before. That ground shaking horrible moment when the whole world seems to slow, and yet speed up all at once. It was as if everything was happening at once, but she alone was frozen. Stuck there and forced to watch as her world shattered. It had happened the day Sirius fell into the veil, as his body took forever to vanish and yet she'd been unable to do a thing. And it happened again then.

Every instinct Holly possessed screamed at the same moment. It was with perfect understanding that she knew Ace, as a muggle, should absolutely under no circumstances touch a Horcrux when it power wasn't being blocked by her magic. The piece of Voldemort's soul which had plagued Ron's mind until he'd become violent even with his own magic as protection. Holly couldn't imagine what it would do to Ace, Ace who was in an astral body, a literal spirit without any protection at all.

But even as she understood this, even as her mind raged against it. Her mouth refused to work, her body was too sluggish to stop it.

"Shit- Ace!"

"Stop him, Holly-"

"Don't-"

And Ace's fingers slid around the locket, and the world exploded in a cacophony of noise.

Holly was sent hurtling backward as pure black magic surged out of the locket as it cracked open without command. Darkness encircled Ace in seconds and took physical form shoving Holly backward. Her knees struck the back of the tub as she staggered and she tripped tangling in the curtain. Holly's head cracked against the tiles as smog entangled her further. Holly's magic leapt to her command, there was no spell on her lips as her personal energy batted at the darkness, attempting to push it away from her. Green crackled against black, but despite everything leading her to believe she ought to be stronger than the Horcrux, she was losing.

Standing right where he'd been the moment his hand touched the locket Ace did not have Occlumency or magic to defend him. Instinct told him to drop the jewelry in his hands, but when he tried the chain gained a life of its own. It circled around his wrists like sea-stone snakes and stopping his haki had no effect as the chains dragged him down as it were the ocean itself and with force far stronger than Ace had felt from even Voldemort himself. He crashed to his knees breathless as his arms were yanked to the sides and out; he was trapped in the exact position he was in Impel Down, and he fought it.

The smog wrapped around his neck, squeezing. His body rebelled gasping despite that, and he inhaled pure magic, causing him to choke. The whispers began drowning out a high pitched scream of pain.

"Portgas D. Ace… or should I say Gol D. Ace." He snapped his head up as the smoke twisted a person appeared within it. Thatch, more bloodied than in Ace's memories glared down at him with a fierceness Thatch hadn't ever shown in life. Ace remembered the moment Thatch had died, he'd bled out in Ace's arms because Ace had been the one to find him. Ace remembered screaming Marco's name, remembered putting pressure on the wound and feeling Thatch get colder and colder. As Thatch gave his dying wish that Ace did not go after Teach alone, a wish Ace had blatantly ignored-

"Cursed blood." Thatch spat at him, "demon child… I should have known that blood of yours would doom me, doom us all! This is what I get for trusting a stain like you." Ace flinched as if he'd been physically slapped, and a slap would have been better.

Holly watched in horror as Ace's head dropped and his eyes went utterly dead to the strangers' words. Fury exploded in her heart, as the man she'd come to know as endlessly powerful, wickedly smart, and beyond kind crumpled before her very eyes over a few choice words. And then Ace, staring at the floor, did something she hadn't expected.

"I didn't mean for- Thatch I'm sorry! I tried to- I didn't know Teach would-" he stuttered helplessly, his eyes pleading for forgiveness at whatever crime the shade was accusing him of.

"Don't give me your excuses you demon. You think you deserve it?" 'Thatch' sneered, "you don't! The only thing something like you deserves is death. How someone didn't stamp you out long before this will forever shock me." Holly watched as 'Thatch' looked away from Ace and locked eyes with her, his eyes flashed blood red, and an unnatural smirk crossed his face. It was the same smile Tom Riddle had given her as he bragged about what he'd done to Ginny. The same one Voldemort allowed to slip onto his lipless mouth after he'd been revived with her blood in his veins.

Holly renewed her struggle screaming Ace's name, but it was drowned out as more people formed in the smoke, as the power of the locket grew while it devoured the energy Ace possessed.

Ace found himself staring at Izo crumpled on the floor holding a blood-stained shirt. His eyes lifted, bright red and blotched with his anguished tears: "It's your fault he died, your fault I'm alone now."

"If only you'd realized, Teach was in your division." Marco looked at him passively, almost indifferent except for the wicked red in his normally blue eyes that screamed fury.

"And now the entire family will die." Edward Newgate cast out a hand as a field of bodies piled up around him, all his siblings with great bloody chunks ripped out of them, "all because you selfishly ran off thinking you could fix it. One would have thought you'd know better… you can't fix anything."

"Ace!" Holly's magic surged. The shades Voldemort had summoned weren't even staring at Ace any longer, he watched her with red taunting eyes and looked at her as if to scream, 'see how helpless you are.' Gritting her teeth, Holly snapped her hand out shredding the curtain holding her still; she shoved away from the tub valiantly struggling against the smog choking Ace. Holly's magic pressed against Voldemort's but it was like fighting a wall. She could not move toward Ace, and her spell did nothing against Voldemort's power.

Why was it so strong? She should have been stronger? She should be able to defend him- to protect him but- "Ace!" she tried again desperately.

"Ace." A voice, young and achingly familiar whispered behind him, and a boy, no older than ten stepped up at his side. Sabo.

Ace flinched away from his brother who's very skin seemed to be melting away. His face seemed to be begging for help, but Ace even struggling against the chains, could do no more as an adult than he had as a child. Sabo reached forward, small hands that would never grow, and took Ace's chin in hand and wrenched his head up brutally. It was the final blow, Ace knew he wouldn't survive this, Voldemort knew it was finished, Holly knew she had to do something before it happened. But they were helpless, forced to listen as Sabo spoke: "Everything you touch dies. Like Sabo died, like your mother died, like Thatch." Voldemort savored the moment as the light in Ace died, "It'll be all your fault when Holly meets her brutal end, like that brother of yours… what was it… Luffy-"

Glass shattered. Metal shards struck the ground with soft clinks, and the black magic in the room heaved. Like a gasping breath, the smoke expanded, then all at once surged right toward Ace. The shades screamed as they were whisked into the wave before they vanished with a crash. The room was left empty for all but Holly pressed to the floor, and Ace with a bloodied hand sitting with his head bowed.

Pressing her hand to the floor, Holly stood in confusion. The shades were gone, Voldemort's magic was gone… but what happened? He had won, so why?

Holly stepped toward Ace, trainers crunching the metal and glass on the floor, but her mind didn't connect why that was happening yet. She was more focused on the fact that Ace didn't even seem to be breathing. Holly slid to her knees in front of him, uncertain if he'd accept any comfort from her, if he even could… what if he was possessed, what if she'd lost him?

"Ace?" she reached forward and watched her hand slip right through his shoulder, in theory, it should be a good sign? Shouldn't it? "Are you… Ace?" he couldn't be alright, not after that.

Holly twisted slightly trying to see through the curtain of his hair, trying to see if his eyes were still brown. "Ace?" she called once more, and his shoulders jerked. Wary, she leaned back slightly as his head lifted, and she exhaled when his hair parted revealing brown eyes.

A sheepish smile crossed Ace's face: "Sorry Holly."

Relief lit up her heart as she sagged. It was a bad sign how fast he'd adjusted to what happened. That was something she'd do, brushing off such harsh words because she believed them. Holly hated the idea that Ace would agree with any of what the shades said, and yet still didn't question it when she did the same thing. "Why are you sorry? I'm just relieved you're alright… Vold- Snake-face… that was his locket, a piece of his soul was in it. An item just like it possessed Ron's sister when I was twelve, I was worried it would…"

"Possess me?" Ace suggested, "You don't have to worry about that, I can handle snake-face just fine." He didn't want to admit he nearly had lost himself, if Sabo hadn't mentioned Luffy at the last second. Which- "Now I'm wondering why you were wearing Snake-face's locket… which, sorry about this, but I think I broke it." He lifted his hand and wiggled his bloodied fingers in front of Holly's face. And he watched her expression shift from concerned worrying, to stumped disbelief.

"YOU WHAT?!"