Ayo, i have 3 assignments due soon and i wanna commit game over. Also, like always, sorry for the long update.

Thank you as always for reading and for your patience, and hope you'll enjoy!

The day had started off well for Ace.

Luffy had his friend Usopp for a sleepover the night before, which means they had stayed up late and would wake up long after Ace could hoard all of the bacon slices and stole the eggs with the runniest yolks during breakfast. He hits all green light on his way to work, except for one intersection, where once the green light shifted to red, a cheerily dressed group started rushing from car to car, offering a ballon along with a voucher for a newly opened barbecue place nearby. Nice, a new restaurant neither he, Sabo nor Luffy had been blacklisted from. Maybe he'll take Sabo there after his discharge tomorrow.

Because of the lack of traffic, he arrived 15 minutes early, and after parking his car, Ace wandered about the neighbourhood planning to waste time when he noticed a sign by the station's favorite coffee shop that said half priced coffee and breakfast rolls as long as the stock last. And there's not much line by the cashier yet. He bought enough to feed his team, buying the more expensive roast as well in hope it'll be enough to dissuade his boss and his coworkers to let him get off early today.

He was humming happily all the way back to the station, arm full of delicious buttery rolls and cup carriers stacked high, when his luck decided to simply run out.

This come in the form of a sudden massive body bulldozing out of the garage, knocking him on his back with the power of a bullet train going full speed.

"Get out of my way!" those words were barked out so angrily and aggressively that Ace can hardly discern it from a row of growls, and in his dazed state, he only belatedly recognize the blur of angry white and red jacket and faint smell of cigar fleeting by. Ace also belatedly register the crunching sound of the paper bag where his newly acquired rolls were, being crushed right underneath heavy boots worn by an over 6'5 and nearly 280 pound mass of angry man.

When the sight of numerous spilled coffee cups came to his attention as well, he finally sees red, "Why, you—"

"Ah, ah, ah, boy," a hand grabbed him from behind all of the sudden, pulling an irate Ace almost stumbling backwards against someone's chest. He turned to see a familiar face grinning at him apologetically while the hand on his shoulder began to pat him appeasingly, "Sorry about that, it's just been a bad day for us. Could you please just let this go?"

In the couple of years he's been working in this station, Ace had only met Lieutenant Borsalino a couple of times, but even then, he could tell this is the most worn down he'd ever seen of the man. His usual easygoing smile held a certain strain to them, and there were bags underneath his crinkling eyes, signalling days of unrest. The yellow clad officer let him go with a small sigh, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. From inside, he pulled out a 3 5,000 belli bills, and practically pushed them to Ace's hand, "To cover your loss. Hope this is enough, hmm?"

A loud, enraged holler cuts Ace from replying, "Borsalino! Stop wasting time!"

"Yes, yes, Sakazuki, i'm going," even still smiling, there was certain snap in his voice that sows he's not as pleased as his expression showed, "If it's short, just call the department and ask for me. Or ask for Kuzan if i'm not there," this time, an impatient honk from a car cuts him off, and the smile began to slip off from the normally friendly Lieutenant, "Yes, Sakazuki, i'm going. See you around, kid," Ace watched him walk - stomp, even - towards the precinct car and entered the passenger side, slamming the door too loudly than needed. The very same second the door was slammed close, the car zoomed right out of its parking space in the speed that Ace could tell was borderline, if not pass illegal.

Now left alone, the dark haired fireman glanced to the wreckage around him, the pavement painted brown with milky blotches, and the sad, crumpled bag with most definitely unsalvageable rolls. He glanced down to the handful of bills, and sigh as he balled his hand.

And it had been such a good morning too.

"So who pissed in that asshole Sakazuki's cereal this morning?"

And of course Ace's morning continues to go downhill. When the chief founds out about the mess left on their front step, he was ordered to hose and clean them off as soon as he puts on his uniform. The cleaning itself hadn't been that big of a deal, but it's clear that his little incident had worsen the chief's already stormy mood. Great, now he might not be able to ask for an early leave.

Just great.

"You think he's the type to eat cereals for breakfast? I thought he's more of the kind who ate newborn babies instead," Kid looked up from the crushed bag of rolls he picked up, critically stared at the flattened bread he had picked out of it and shrugged before taking a bite of it. He told Ace that it would've been a waste to throw them away when it was the bag that was stepped on, not the food inside. People who called Ace a mindless glutton obviously had never seen a grown man eating bread that already has a clear boot print over it and think there's nothing wrong with that.

With a disgusted grimace, the dark haired man looked away and continues with hosing the pavement clean of any mess, "True. But that doesn't answer my question. The chief looks really pissed off too, did something happen?

"Oh, yeah. They had a meeting since early in the morning about the city hall arson case,"

That got Ace's attention, "Sabo's case? What happened, did they have a new lead?"

"Nah, it's the other way around," the red haired man took another large chomp out of the poor roll, demolishing it in that very same bite before licking his fingers, "They found jack shit. Went in on Chief Neptune, accusing our department for sloppy work, hiding evidence," Kid's lips smacked wetly as he chew and continued to speak, his eyes rolling upwards in recollection, "I don't know, a whole bunch of shit. The chief wasn't taking that lying down and started blaming the police for being corrupt. Fukaboshi had to hold him back before he and Sakazuki could start throwing hands,"

That explains why the chief's eldest son had been in his office earlier and why he had been in such a hurry to shoo Ace away, "So what, there's no progress at all? They hadn't found anything? Any suspect?"

"Nope," The word was followed by a loud swallow, before the red haired fireman reached into the bag for another roll. He was only a second too long before Ace felt like slapping the bag away and forcing him to speak already, "Well, we've investigated to hell and back and it's clear by now this isn't an accident. Because it's the city hall, they thought it might be spoliation since it happens too close after the bi-annually courthouse spring cleaning and a lot of sensitive documents are going to be in one same place. Maybe Sanjuan Wolf is back to cover his tracks all those years ago, or maybe it's someone helping him,"

Though never convicted, Sanjuan Wolf was once accused for the murder of Absalom, a local reporter, for arson on the Thriller Bark Daily where the man was employed, and the only suspect in the 5 years worth of mysterious arson cases. Even then, the evidence against him were circumstantial at best. His fingerprint was found around the crime scene and on a bat near Absalom's charred body, which somehow miraculously didn't end up burned enough to erase the evidence.

A deranged ex-prisoner and an unstable individual supposedly living on the streets after his release from prison, he somehow managed to get represented in court by Van Augur, a famous defense attorney of certain notoriety, and got a not guilty verdict. Sanjuan Wolf supposedly disappeared off the street afterwards, and there is no telling if he is still in the city or not.

Everything was suspicious from start to end, but in the end, no conviction was made, no criminal was punished, and the town remained gripped in fear as the next fire struck.

"I was a volunteer back when he was caught after that newspaper incident and i managed to see him during his trial. The guy was weird, he was clinging all over his lawyer like some scared kid. No way he did all of those fires and kept getting away without any help. If you ask me, he must have an employer," the sneer of disgust on Kid's face looked like it was aimed to the half eaten roll in his hand, but not even the sad looking baked goods earned that sort of scorn.

Ace nodded half-heartedly, "That's the theory flying around isn't it? That there's some vandal group masterminding behind all of these fires?" he aimed the hose in is hands closer to a persistent dirty spot, gritting his teeth, "Well, i couldn't give less of a fuck, i just want whoever's responsible to be caught already, or else, where's the justice for the victims? People who got hurt like Sabo, all those people who died like that reporter or the other victims," the dark haired man clutched the squirming hose in his hand tighter, feeling his chest hitching when he added quietly, "What about the people who lost their loved ones?"

How many times by now had he seen the way Marco's eyes turned distant, peering away from the room they're in and to see him completely missing his family around him? How many times had he see one of the doctor's brothers reaching over only for their hands to go through him, unable to reach him anymore? And he had only known Marco for a couple of weeks, what was it like for the Newgate family for the last 5 years? How does it feel like for Marco, who has never let go of that loss for just as long?

And he was so close to losing his best friend, one of the few people in this world who knew him in entirety and still treated him like kin. If he had lost Sabo, Ace didn't know if he would've fared any better than Marco.

Marco, who lost all of his family in a single night, now all alone, hating life.

The weight in his hand suddenly got lighter, and Ace peered down to see that heavy pressure water no longer spouted from the end of the hose. He turned in time to see Kid straightening up from the hydrant the hose was attached to, presumably to turn it off, "The pavement's clean already, you're just wasting water at this point," he pointed out, before sighing after a few seconds of silence, massive shoulders drooping, "I know it's been hard on you, Ace. I mean, for most of us, it's still a job, something that ends the moment we hung up the suit but for you, it's personal now. Someone you know got hurt. Wish i could say anything else to make you feel better, but i doubts words meant much,"

"Not much, no," Ace admitted with a shake of his head, yet still threw Kid a wan smile, "But thanks anyway,"

In the end, he didn't get to leave early, but Ace was passed feeling annoyed about what happened in the morning by the time he drove off from the florist, a bouquet of Black-Eyed Susans sitting and strapped by the seatbelt on the passenger seat.

There was an odd change in the air as soon as he entered from the entrance door, a feeling of sudden wariness that overtook him. The ghost girl by the front door hadn't looked particularly cheery when he greeted her, her body language timid and shy, and every staff member that he passed by had looked to be on the edge, occasionally glancing back somewhere deeper into the building and whispering to each other.

When they were far enough, Ace frowned and asked the girl if something happened before he came in, "A man just came in," she finally said with watery voice, fiddling with the single stem of flower he had just given her, "I don't… like him. Something about him scares me,"

That doesn't answer much, but at least that told him enough that something did happen. Steeling himself, Ace bid her a quick goodbye before walking through the hallway, pass the front receptionist and waiting room where he began to pick up both the sight of half-formed crowd and a loud, stern voice that becomes louder the closer he walked over. It wasn't quite on the way to the patient's wing, but curiosity got the better of him, and the freckled male made a short detour to the gawking crowd.

In the middle, right between three confused and unsure security guards were two men, an older one wearing the same lab coats the other doctors had on, with the look of absolute disdain on his face, presumably for the man in front of him. The other man's entire posture was relaxed, even almost mocking as he reacted with the old doctor's gruff, angry voice with a nonchalant shrug, lifting up his shoulder along with the hand carrying a small bouquet of flower, "—repeat one more time that you are still banned from the premises, Mr. Teach, and if you do not remove yourself from this facility in the next 5 minutes i will call the authorities,"

Mr. Teach, large, robust, and still holding the same mocking smile with his shoulders lifted up in incredulity, "I'm not trying to step on any shoes here, Dr. Crocus, i just want to visit a sick friend of mine, why is that so wrong? In fact, i should sue this place for not informing me of his condition, you know i am the closest thing to a next of kin that he has left—"

"Out!" Whatever semblance of control Dr. Crocus seems to have left obviously has left him, as he advanced threateningly. Just as the security guards suddenly jolt, probably thinking they need to restrain the doctor, Ace caught Mr. Teach's little jump backwards. Maybe he wasn't feeling as flippant as he seems, "Before i call the police! I've made myself clear on what i thought of you 5 years ago, Mr. Teach and as long as i live, i will make sure to protect every single one of my patients and staff from anything, anything at all!"

One of the security guard, finally deciding he had enough, walked over behind Mr. Teach and roughly grabbed him by the elbow. Following his example, the other security guard by his side does the same, while the last one made his way over to Dr. Crocus instead, murmuring something low before stepping in front of the old doctor. Mr. Teach, probably knowing he's not going to win this one, made a grand gesture of lifting both of arms in surrender, subtly shaking off the guard's hand on his elbow, "Alright, fine! I'll be leaving! What a shame to see a hospital treating a model citizen so poorly. I'm sure Daily Raftel and every radio station would love to hear about this during my next interview with them,"

Dr. Crocus' face twisted in anger, ready to yell out what would probably be a string of profanity judging by his expression, when the security guard and nurse near him crowded by him, obviously telling him to calm down. Mr. Teach gave him a wide, ugly smile, big enough that Ace could see a hole on one of his teeth as the man walked towards the crowd, followed closely by the two security guards. The crowd dispersed to make way for him like a wave, the air filled with unease and stiff movements.

Ace himself backed away, eyeing the dark haired large man carefully when, suddenly, Mr. Teach stopped in front of him, eyeing him from top to bottom before his beady little eyes were stuck on the Black-Eyed Susan in Ace's hold. Unconsciously, he held the flowers closer to his chest.

Mr. Teach gave him an eerie smile, not the kind that reassure Ace further about his character. He swung the bouquet in his own hand and casually tossed it over to Ace, who caught it albeit with a little fumble, "Looks like i have no use for that anymore. A shame, really, aren't they beautiful? He would've loved them," he gave a unique, dastardly sounding laugh before walking away, vanishing behind he bright light shining down the entrance door.

The crowd around him was starting to disperse, and with an angry huff, Dr. Crocus disappeared along with the security guard and nurse who held him back. Left standing alone, Ace glanced down at the flower Mr. Teach gave him, and felt an odd sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knows people doesn't always give flowers based on their meanings, but there was something eerie about this one, something wicked he just couldn't explain.

He fingered one of the petals, and swallowed.

Black rose, petals as dark as night sky.

Black rose, the symbolism of death.

"Hey, Marco, sorry i'm late, but something happened downstairs and i— What the hell?!"

Okay, in retrospect, for someone who's been thinking and saying how sad it is that he was the only (alive) visitor in this room, Ace thought maybe he shouldn't have reacted so violently to the sight of someone other than himself or the hospital staff by the doctor's bed. But still, he thought he's still pretty justified by his reaction, because there is absolutely no reason why this person is here. At all.

"Oh, Ace! You're finally here!" Rouge Gol smiled sunnily at her shellshocked son, and started waving at him to come closer with one hand. The other, Ace saw as he stomped over to his mother, was holding a familiar container filled with her famous homemade cookies. It wasn't the type he was familiar with, definitely not the chocolate ones he liked, and without even looking, Rouge was still pushing them towards Marco.

Marco who, for his part, kept looking at Ace with the expression of a cornered rabbit, mouthing 'Help me' almost too frantic for him to catch.

"Mom, why are you here?!" Ace demanded, ignoring the blond increasingly desperate look, "Aren't you supposed to be down with Sabo and helping him pack?"

"Oh, Koala's helping him with it. I also want to give them both some alone time, you know they won't have some time alone in a while after he's released tomorrow. So i'm here to keep Marco company waiting for you to come," the red haired woman turned back to the harried looking patient on the bed, who froze in alarm, "Now come on, dear, you need to eat more. Oh, if only Ace tells me things i would've bring something more nutritious than these oat cookies. You look so pale, are you even eating right? That's why you're in the hospital now, isn't it? You must not be eating right and got sick,"

"Mom—"

"Ace, you're old enough to know that it's rude to talk to me when i'm still talking to someone else," Rouge gave him a glare, and as quick as it appear, her smile and warmth was back as she turned her attention to Marco again, "I'm so sorry for him, he's usually knows his manners. If he's every rude to you, just let me know, okay? He's never too old to be put on my lap and spanked,"

Somewhere in the room, almost forgotten due to his predicament, at least a couple of the Newgate siblings, including Edward Newgate himself started laughing, quiet snickers slowly turning into loud guffaws. The heat that crept up Ace's face, especially at the incredulous look on Marco's face, felt way too hot to be normal, "Oh my god, Mom!"

When Rouge kept looking expectantly at him, Marco finally stammered out a reply, eyes darting between the mother and son, "Uh, y-yeah, he's… alright. I mean, he's been keeping me company,"

The red haired woman smiled, pleased by the answer, "Oh, that's good. He gave you those flowers too, right? I taught him those, you know, i'm actually really happy to see him still remember them. Now, come on, take some more cookies,"

Thatch walked over to Ace, still laughing and clutching his stomach in hilarity, "She's been here for hours, talking our ears off and scaring Marco into eating those cookies. We should've known this is your Mom, you two look so similar,"

Oh god, this has been going on for hours? "Mom, can i talk to you?" Ace finally gritted out, half tossing the bouquets in his hand near the vases and flowers that decorate the bedside table and added, "Outside?"

In a behaviour unbefitting a 50 - not that she looked it - years old woman, Rouge gave her son an eye roll and an indignant pout, "Fine," she said with a dainty click of her tongue, and turned to Marco again with that disarming smile. Ace thought Marco looks more scared than reassured, his eyes sharply going to the manicured, lithe hands reaching for his forearm, "Kids. I'll be right back, and when i get back, i want to see those cookies all gone, okay? You're not going to disappoint me, right?"

"No, no, no. I'll eat, i'll eat," The way Marco whimpered over this small woman would've been hilarious, if Ace doesn't completely understand his feeling. His mother has that effect on people.

With one last smile, she stood up, patting her dress down and doing it so slowly that Ace had to round her up and practically escorted her outside the door. Once the door was closed behind them, Ace wasted no time in showing his absolute disbelief, "Mom, why are you here?! You can't just waltz in inside someone's hospital room like that, you don't even know him!"

"Oh, and you do before his family's ghost came to you?" Rouge immediately retorted, crossing her arms, "I don't know what's the big deal is, you're here because his family's ghost ask you to come keep him company, but you have work to do so i'm keeping him company instead. What's so wrong about that?"

"There's so many things wrong with that, and how do you even know about those stuff?"

"Sabo told me," Ah, of course. Something tells Ace it's probably not voluntary either. Knowing both of them, his mother was probably curious where he kept going to and Sabo, who would avoid uttering the word ghost and its synonyms from his mouth, was forced to because no one says no to Rouge Gol, "And you mister, how can you keep something like this from your mother? That poor man looked so lonely and sad, and he looked so unhealthy, i could've cooked for him, i've seen what this place fed their patients,"

"Mom!" in his frustration, Ace almost missed Thatch phasing through the door, no longer laughing but with a present large smile on his face, "Look, this is different, okay? This isn't just some ghost stuff, Marco is seriously troubled and he doesn't like people, it took a while for me to be able to talk normally to him, or hell, for him to want to talk to me," he glanced to the side to find Thatch, whose expression melted has to one of grim acceptance over his words, "If you know all that, you should also know who he is,"

"I know, Sabo told me too, poor family," the long haired woman pressed both of her hands on her chest and gazed at the door melancholically, "And that poor boy. When i came today i just want to see how he was, but then i look at how thin he is, his pale and clammy skin, and there was this look on his lonely face when i first came in and, oh, as a mother and a woman, it broke my heart, sweetheart. I can't help it, maybe i can't see his family like you can, but i want to help him too. Your father knew his, if Roger could be here today, he would've come with me. We're a family of bleeding hearts, Ace, you know we can't help it,"

At Rouge's sincere expression, Ace knew he couldn't exactly argue with that, "Just… no barging in like this again, okay? Marco actually looks terrified of you and as someone who's been your child for over 20 years, i can't blame him,"

"Well, you can't blame me, like i said i want to meet the person you've been seeing,"

Though the meaning quickly registered in Ace's mind, it didn't stop his cheeks to flare up again, "Can you please word that better?"

"Why? You have been seeing him, and be honest with yourself, he's actually kind of a looker," Rouge smiled playfully, nudging at Ace with her elbow, "I won't be surprised if you tell me right now you have some other ulterior motive coming here every day,"

Why is his face getting hotter? "No, i don't! I'm just here to keep him company, nothing else!"

"Well, you did kind of slept with him once,"

Swallowing a squeak and realizing a few seconds too late that his mother can't hear Thatch's comment, Ace sharply glared to his side, "You, shut up, and you know that's not what happened,"

Rouge's gasp almost gave Ace a whiplash over ow quick he turned again to face her, "Is one of Marco's family member here with us? Hello, i'm Rouge Gol, Ace's mom. I'm sorry i can't see where you are but it's very nice to meet you," after a quick pause, she then added to Thatch's general direction, "And what happened? Did something happen?"

"Hey, Ace, tell her what happened. And tell her, word for word now, 'Lovely to meet someone so beautiful, madam', because dude, your Mom's hot!"

"One, i am not telling her that, two, i am not telling her that, and three, i am not repeating that, that's my mom!"

"Oh, what did he say, Ace? Come on, introduce us,"

"Mom, this is Thatch Newgate and i am so glad you both can't talk to each other,"

His mom and Thatch both laugh in an eerily synchronised way, which just made Ace even more disgruntled about this entire situation, "Fine, i'll be going. But don't forget to pop in to Sabo's room before you leave later, okay? Uncle Garp and Cousin Dragon even took a day off today so they can visit later, and i know Uncle would want to meet his grandkids before going back to base next week," she started to turn away, before stopping herself mid-way, "Ace?"

"Yes, mom?"

A smile bloomed on Rouge's face, the kind that held grace and comfort behind them. The one that always made Ace so grateful he got her as a mother, "I want you, you, Marco, Thatch, the entirety of the Newgate family to understand one thing. Marco lost his entire family, but that doesn't mean he can never get a new one," she glanced somewhere next to Ace, an empty space for those who doesn't know better, but Ace saw from his periphery ow Thatch stiffen up, realizing she was trying to speak to him, "And if he ever wanted it, he will never be turned away from ours. We cannot replace those who has always been with him until one point in his life, but we can make sure he will not be alone for the rest of it,"

With a respectful bow and one last smile, Rouge finally walked away, her heels echoing through the empty hall.

"Ace?"

Ace turned to the sound of his name, and once he saw the look on Thatch's face, he respectfully turned away again, watching his mother walk away. He waited silently for Thatch to continue on his own, only humming to show that he is listening, "I wish you told her what i said, man," Thatch finally said, the shakiness in his voice unmistakable, "I wish i could've said something, anything to her,"

When Rouge finally disappears behind the elevator door, her son nodded slowly in agreement.

"You actually finished those cookies?"

After taking a moment to compose himself, Ace came back inside to find the container his mother left behind only had one single oatmeal cookie inside of it when he was sure there was at least 4 before they walked out. Marco was on the middle of nibbling half of one, and didn't even try to finish as he spoke, "It's actually really good,"

"Mom would love to hear that, she's always so proud about her baked goods," The dark haired man walked over to the bedside table, picking up the two bouquets he put away earlier. He picked up his the yellow arrangement, before making a face at the black roses. Glancing at Marco to make sure he was still distracted with the cookies, he lifted the small bouquet and used one hand to clasp all of the petals and crushing it by balling his hand. It's such a waste, and the flowers' only crime was being picked by some inconsiderate asshole, but he can't helpful the looming dreadful feeling of bad omen attached to them. He should've looked for a trash can before getting here.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," he replied before tossing the now crushed arrangement into the trash can by the table, pushing them deep along with the rest of the waste. Once that was over, he moved on to the new bouquet of flower, putting them away as usual along with the rest of the arrangements.

For a while, there was no sound in the room aside from the quiet 'swish-swish' of flowers being moved around, and Marco's quiet munching. Then, after a while, the blond suddenly spoke, "Oh, that's right,"

Ace paused on his arranging, to see Marco peering off distantly to the wall in front of him. Unbeknownst to him, it was where Newgate Sr. sat, watching his son with alert eyes, "What is it?"

"This is an oatmeal cookie, right? That's why it felt so nostalgic," the man murmured quietly, raising the now roughly crescent shaped cookie up to eye level, "Pops always wanted to eat one of these,"

The stem Ace had been holding fell from his lose grip, but he didn't even notice it. Sitting on the end of the room, Edward shifted, back straightening up as he took a deep, emotional breath. Marco took another bite out of it, cutting right half of the crescent shape. He chewed slowly and swallowed, and as he spoke, there was a rasp on his voice that didn't come from just swallowing a dry food, "He's on this strict diet after his checkup result came back less than satisfying, and i had him put under strict diet. One of them being oatmeals for breakfast," he laughed, the sound a painful mix of amusement and grief, "He hated them so much,"

He laughed again, hiccuping once. Ace placed down his unfinished work and walked over by his bedside, watching the older man carefully, "Marco…,"

"He says that, maybe if the oatmeal he has to eat actually taste good, he'd take it. Then he heard about oatmeal cookies and wanted them for his breakfast instead because 'it's the same thing' and if there's two things he loves, it's alcohol and sweets," a smile appeared on his face, shaky, but present, "Everyone all conspired behind my back to make that perfect batch of cookies that met both my requirement and Pops' taste. When they finally came to me to show me their bright idea, i rejected each one of them. One as ingredients Pops shouldn't take for his diet, some with too much calorie, others were healthy but it doesn't taste good and that defeats the purpose. They called me too strict, i called them enablers,"

Marco raised the last cookie bite, but stopped mid way, his hand and shoulder shaking, "To the end of his life, Pops never got to eat those oatmeal cookies he wanted. All he wanted was something so simple, i couldn't even let him have that," the cookie fell back into the container, clattering against the plastic surface as the blond used both of his hands to cover his face, curling into himself as sobs began to wrecked through his body, "There's still so much… So many things i never said… things we never do… Why? Why were they taken away from me? Why can't i join them?"

"Marco," Edward's sorrowful deep voice beats Ace to the punch, as the man stood up from his seat and made his way to the bed. His effort to touch his son's shaking shoulder was futile as his large hand passed by him, and despite that, he still try to grab on to him, and in the end, with a scowl on his burnt face, he rushed forward, arms wide and motioning for an embrace.

He went right through him again.

If Ace was to explain in the future why he did what he did, he would tell anyone who ask that for that split second he felt possessed, he felt like he wasn't in control of is own body. Not the kind of possessed one would relate to ghost either, it was as if his body has a mind of its own, and decided his actions faster than his brain could.

Or maybe, maybe it was something he always did wanted to do, something he felt like he should've done.

The bed made a loud creak when he climbed it, and the sight of Edward's arm jutting out from the side of his chest was weird to look at in retrospect, but Ace noticed none of that. He couldn't see much of all beyond Marco's limp golden tresses, his head lying on the juncture of Ace's neck with his heaving, shaking body against his own. Ace couldn't notice much beyond feeling the warmth of Marco's back underneath his arm, could hardly register the wetness slowly dripping down his face as well.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that, but he know he stayed in that position for a long time; his thighs almost straddling Marco, face buried in blond hair and feeling each cries tearing out of a grieving man against his chest that he didn't feel his own.

Ace held him tight, mourning along for a family who he never met alive, all the while hoping that his own warmth was a suitable substitute to the one Edward Newgate can no longer gave his children.

"Hey,"

"Oh, i thought you're asleep,"

Marco gazed at him blearily, eyes still swollen red. Ace didn't think he's looking any better anyway, "You never told me," the older man whispered, voice rough from sleep and tears, "What those flower means,"

Ace tilted his head up from where he lays it on the bed, his hunched over body protesting slightly at the strain. In the end, he straightened up, stretching his stiff back from how long he had sat, nearly dozing off in that position, "You didn't know?"

With furrowed brows, Marco seems to consider them. In the end, he shook his head, "If i do, it's slipping my mind right now,"

Stretching up again, Ace reached over for one of the flower stems, plucking it out the bouquet and bringing it closer to Marco. He held the bottom of the stem as the older man tentatively gripped the top of it, just by the base of the bloom, his fingers curiously poking the petals.

"They're called Black-eyed Susans," Ace told him, watching those long fingers caressing the flower petals, "And they mean 'Justice',"

Well, lemme know what you think so far, i'm pretty sure by now it's pretty obvious what's going on, but it's not like i can hide things when some particular names are already on the tag and stuff...

Anyway, thanks again!