I'm so, so sorry for the late update. I've got more things to say, but I'll save them for the end note. For now, please enjoy the (short) chapter!

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4. An Awakening

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Pitter-patter.

It was raining.

The sound of rain made Ace think for a minute that he was still dreaming the memory of the other Ace.

But soon Ace realized that it was somehow different. Besides the sound of rain, everything was quiet. There was no lullaby, no laughter, no hushed whispers. Nothing.

Then Ace noticed that everything was dark. He couldn't see a thing.

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'Oh, my eyes are closed.'

Ace realized belatedly.

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Ace tried opening them, but it took him considerably more effort than he had expected. It was like moving boulders from where they had been lodged firmly in for ages. But Ace was nothing if not tenacious.

When Ace finally managed to open his eyes to small slits, he was greeted with the sight of a much too familiar back.

Somebody must have shifted Ace from when he last saw himself (himself—the body was his now, no matter how hard it was for Ace to wrap his head around the whole concept of parallel universes), as he was now lying on his side, facing the room. A man dressed in a white chief's outfit was sitting at the desk across the room, busily scribbling away on some sort of document.

'Thatch.'

Ace breathed out the name in his mind. Thatch. His brother. The brother that Ace had lost. Thatch.

If Ace could, he was sure that he would have cried and shouted out his brother's name. But as it was, Ace barely had energy to keep his eyes open.

'Thatch!'

Ace called again in his mind. He really, really wanted to see his face again. He wanted to see that gentle smile and kind brown eyes.

As if he heard Ace's inner cry, Thatch slowly turned around.

However, Ace's treacherous eyes closed just as he was fully turned.

'Damn it,' Ace cursed as he was once again sucked into deep slumber.

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Marco was trying to find the miscalculation in the last quarter's spending. For some reason, the numbers didn't match up. If it was small, he would have just thrown it away as a lost cause. But as it were, the amount was actually quite a bit. Marco massaged the bridge of his nose. This was getting really tiring.

"Hey Marco, you got a minute?"

Just then, Thatch came in with some paperwork in hand. Great, more work, Marco muttered to himself.

"If it's the report about the last week's excursion, just leave it there yoi."

"Huh? Oh yeah, here," Thatch dumped the thick report on Marco's desk distractedly, "actually there's something else I need to tell you."

"What is it? Thatch, I really don't have much time right now," Marco sighed.

"Well, um… I thought about just keeping this to myself, because you know, not setting ourselves up and all that, but, I don't know, I thought I should at least let you know…. But then again, maybe not. You know what, Marco? Never mind. I actually don't have anything to tell you now, so I'll leave you to your numbers," Thatch pulled a tight grin and made a move to leave. Marco rolled his eyes and stopped him with a slight tug on his wrist.

"Now you got my attention. Spill, whatever it is."

"It's just… I was in Ace's room just now, because I wanted to spend some time with the little one. I was working at the desk and had this strange feeling that somebody was watching me. So I turned around and, I swear Marco, I saw Ace's eyes close. And if they were to close, it means that they were open at first, right? I mean, I might've been just seeing things, but really, Marco, you gotta believe me, I saw Ace's eyes."

Thatch had started pacing the room at one point as he retold the story and kept pacing even after he finished his account.

"…."

When it didn't seem like Marco would say anything soon, Thatch crossed his arms and glared at him as if in challenge.

"Well? Say something!"

Another beat of potent silence, and Marco sighed.

"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just… you know how many false alarms we had over the years yoi. You're right, we better keep this to ourselves, at least for now."

"You don't believe me." Thatch sounded hurt.

"I just said that I believe you! I'm just saying, let's be cautious, all right?"

"It sure sounds like you believe that Ace's never going to wake up!"

Marco growled and grabbed Thatch by the collar of his shirt.

"Damn it, Thatch, that's bullshit and you know it. There's nothing I want more than to see Ace wake up. I'd sell my soul if that's what it takes. Do you know how many times I thought I saw Ace wake up? Do you know how many times, how many nights I spent sitting by his bedside, because I was sure I saw his finger twitch? You have no idea."

Marco's chest was heaving in pant-up anger, frustration, and sorrow. But what Thatch could not bear to witness was the look of defeat in his strongest brother's eyes.

Thatch let out a long sigh and gently clasped Marco's forearm.

"I'm sorry, Marco. That was uncalled for. I just… I just really want our baby brother to wake up, you know? I'm not sure how long he, and we, can survive this. And I also have had my fair share of false alarms. That's why I wasn't sure about sharing this with you to begin with. But this time it feels different somehow. So I'm going to keep on hoping. I'm not asking you to, but I'm going to hold onto this, because there's no other option for me."

At Thatch's words, Marco deflated and let go of his grasp. He shook his head and threw his brother a rueful smile.

"You've always been the believer among us, Thatch."

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If any of you followed my previous story, you most likely know that I'm not really good with updates…. When I hit a wall, I just can't get past it. My plan for this chapter was to have Ace actually wake up (properly) and have at least a bit of interaction with his brother(s). But I kinda got stuck after Thatch & Marco's conversation. So I just kept holding on to this for the past few weeks… but since I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer, I decided to just publish what I've got. I'm sorry if I disappointed any of you :(

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My plan for this story is to have memory chapters and story chapters take turns (memory chapter – story chapter – memory chapter and so forth). So the next chapter will be another memory of Small Ace. I've got a few ideas rolling around my head and haven't decided which one to write, but I hope I'll be able to update sooner than I did this time.

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Thank you all who left encouraging comments in the last chapter. I could post this chapter all thanks to you :)