Warnings: Dark themes, lots of mentions of death, strong language, human experimentation, experimenting on children, child abduction, graphic descriptions of experimenting, lots of needles, lots of violence, poor descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of blood, rated M for safety.
*If I need to add anymore warnings please tell me in the reviews or a PM and I'll be sure to add it!*
Chapter 12: Bittersweet 16
Ages:
Ace, Sabo- 16
Luffy- 13
Another year passed by and the brothers were still locked in the facility. It was getting closer to the deadline they had set for themselves to get out, just one more year. Sabo didn't know what would happen if they didn't get out by then. Ace would probably lose all hope and go back to being a suicidal idiot ready to do absolutely anything it took to get out while Luffy would probably lose his smile for good. It was already becoming a rare occurrence to see Luffy smile and if Sabo never saw it again, he would probably join Ace in his suicidal adventure to get out.
The last year had been spent planning, as it seemed every year was spent the same way. With no progress, Ace was getting progressively more annoyed and frustrated, ready to give up on a plan altogether and go out fighting the second they could.
The doctors continued their testing, though Sabo suspected they would even if the apocalypse began outside. Sparring also continued and Ace and Sabo would probably have gained a lot more muscle if they didn't have only two bowls of horrible soup a day. All of them were extremely thin to the point that it was sickening, but there was nothing they could do except hope for some bread with their food.
With Ace and Luffy's appetites and the lack of food they were given, their stomachs seemed to have never stopped growling sense they had gotten to the facility. When they got out of here Sabo was prepared to make a feast for them, exclusively meat if he could.
The doctors had tried pushing the brothers' limits during sparring, and because of that, the three had found out something pretty helpful. At one point they were fighting a child who had the power to sharpen his skin as sharp as a knifes edge, making the fight difficult to win. At one point the child had gotten Luffy into a hold, ready to stab him, when Ace freaked out and somehow knocked the kid out from the other side of the room. It had confused all of them, but seemed to make the doctors extremely happy as they came in, babbling about the 'rare third haki'.
Turns out, Ace had the conquering kings haki.
They didn't really know the full extent of what that meant, but the doctors didn't explain it much, just rambled on to themselves how they could try so many new tests because of this. After that, they forced Ace under immense stress over and over again, whether it be by nearly killing him or nearly killing Sabo or Luffy. Ace activated the haki a few more times, knocking out the doctors every time, but all three of them would always be strapped down so they couldn't try escaping when the doctors were down.
Other than that, nothing new had happened during training or sparring. They were finally running out of chalk though, onto their very last stick, which upset Luffy sense, as he said, 'it was the last thing they could remember Emily by.' After he had said that the three decided not to touch it. They would rather keep the piece of chalk that reminded Luffy of Emily rather than use it up like they had the others.
After the catastrophic event of Luffy dying last year Ace had taken a complete turn in personality, becoming much nicer to the brothers and doing whatever he could to keep them happy and safe. Sometimes, though, it became a little annoying.
"But what if Luffy gets hurt?!" Ace asked. Sabo sighed for the umpteenth time, rubbing a hand down his face, still the only one of the three to not be cuffed 24/7.
"Ace we're all bound to get hurt. It's not like the guards are just going to ignore him because we ask politely." Sabo said. This argument had started after Sabo suggested another way to get out, though it was a little risky for all of them. Since Ace had become nicer he had also become a slight bit more overprotective as well.
"I'm not expecting them to, but why can't I be there so I can kick their asses?" Ace asked, wishing he could cross his arms.
This was a common argument amongst the two. Whenever they discussed ways to escape Ace would want to be the one to do all the fighting, which just wasn't possible unless Ace wanted to get himself killed, which Sabo wouldn't put past him.
Sabo was happy that Ace was much more open than he used to be, but like he said previously, it could get annoying. After Luffy had almost died the doctors had done lots of testing on him and found out that, after literally dying from extreme amounts of poison, he now had a high tolerance to it.
"11097, today's your lucky day!" Haru sang as he came towards their cell, stopping Ace and Sabo's argument. Luffy looked up from where he'd been sitting in the back, listening to Ace and Sabo. None of them liked the words or the way Haru said them as he finally reached their cell. Luffy stood up, obediently walking out seeing as there was no use fighting it. Now on their fifth year in the facility, they were all older than the other children in there and knew that they should just follow the doctors' orders to avoid unnecessary pain. Sabo sat up straighter in the cell, ready to listen to whatever they did to Luffy and relay it Ace. Luffy was led into the lab, Haru humming cheerily beside him, while Luffy walked silently, trying to ignore the insane doctor.
Even after five years the feeling Luffy got from Haru never left, it was a perpetually uneasy feeling. There was just something... off about the man. It was like a darkness that surrounded him, trying to cling to Luffy, and he didn't like it one bit.
The youngest was led into the lab and strapped into the same chair he had since they were first there. There was only a handful of doctors in the room this time seeing as Luffy was the only one being tested on. They began almost immediately, except they did something different from usual.
They were strapping weird sticky pads to his head. The pads had wires coming out of them and they connected to a weird machine. He had no idea what it was or what it did so he just turned back to the doctors, Haru holding a needle.
"This one's going to pinch more than usual." It sounded like it could have been a warning, like Haru might actually be a little sympathetic, but the smile on his face and the tone in his voice contradicted the wording as he stabbed the needle none too lightly into Luffy's shoulder.
It hurt a lot more than a pinch.
The liquid was injected into him and it felt like everything was on fire. It was a searing pain that crept through his body, first from his arm, then to his chest, then his legs, and finally his head. He had one of the worse headaches he had ever had in his life and it felt like his head might explode from all the pressure he felt.
There was a pain in his eyes as well, making him squeeze his eyes shut in an attempt to ease some of it, but it did nothing to help. He thought the pain would have started to die down like it normally did, but, if anything, it got worse as time passed. He didn't want to move anything in fear that the pain would only intensify, but it was hard not to move when it felt like thousands of bugs were crawling under your skin. Sweat was pouring down his face now and when he opened his eyes the doctors saw they were bloodshot. He was panting heavily, and after ten minutes the pain slowly began to ebb away until he felt normal again.
Well, normal in terms of feeling no pain. Besides that, something was... off. There was something different about what he was feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. It seemed like there was just... something. Something in the air maybe? He tried focusing, tried pinpointing where the feeling was coming from, or even what the feeling was, but it was hard. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere at once, but was stronger in some spots more than others.
"11097?" A voice brought him back to reality, the doctors all staring at him expectantly. The second he looked at the doctor who called his number though there was an immense pain in his head again and images began flashing behind his eyes, confusing him. He could barely make out the strange pictures, but it seemed like a child growing up with their parents and eventually leaving home. He didn't know what was happening but suddenly the child was a teen, reading books a lot, and then there was a flash as they talked to some weird marines. The next thing he saw was the teen as an adult, a very familiar one, and they were in the facility, walking through the cell hall and taking children to the lab. He saw himself in one of the chairs, younger.
The flashes went away and Luffy opened his eyes, the pain gone as well. The person he had seen was the doctor he had just looked at.
"-spike in brain wave activity."
"11097, look here." Haru's voice called him and Luffy obeyed, another pain making him close his eyes as more flashes began to flare behind his eyes. It was much like the other flashes, a child being the focus, the child growing to a teen, then adult, talking to some marines, and being here in the facility, testing on children, seeing himself, Ace and Sabo as well, except this adult was Haru, not the other doctor.
Again the pain went away and he was back in the lab, panting heavily, feeling exhausted.
"It seems he can't control it yet." As Luffy looked over at the doctor who had spoken they met eyes and the pain was back, the flashes were back, and then they were gone. The raven didn't know what was happening but he didn't like it. It hurt a lot and it was disorienting, the flashes making it hard to process what was happening around him.
"11097, don't look at their eyes." At the command Luffy obeyed, not looking anyone in the eyes and found that the pain didn't come when he looked at someone.
"Wonderful! To think, we could create something like this!" Haru cheered happily, clapping his hands together as someone scribbled words down beside him.
"Next! '097, I want you to focus on a single person, don't look in their eyes, try to feel what their feeling. Use me as a practice if you must." Haru said, a smile wide on his face. The teen nodded, trying to focus on Haru, feel what he was feeling. He didn't know why he was doing this or what was supposed to happen, but Luffy didn't question it, opting to follow instructions and get this over with.
Luffy went back to focusing on Haru, trying to feel what he was feeling, but how do you feel how someone else was feeling? You could only feel what you felt, right? But as Luffy focused he could feel the waves of happiness radiating off of Haru, shocking him. He tried focusing harder, enjoying the feeling of the happiness, but when he did there was the sudden, intense, feeling of darkness that Luffy always sensed from Haru. It engulfed him like smoke, making it hard to breathe and clouding his thoughts. Luffy immediately stopped trying to feel Haru's emotions and the feeling went away, relieving the boy.
"Good! Excellent! Perfect! Try it on him next!" Haru said, pointing to the man beside him. Luffy didn't want to feel that darkness again but did as told, focusing on the person beside him. It was a lot easier to do this time, a slight feeling of happiness rolling off the man, but also something that felt like indifference. Digging deeper Luffy felt a hint of sadness that Luffy decided he didn't like the feeling of. Stopping he was met with a large grin from Haru.
"Amazing! Why don't we begin control now, hm?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Luffy! Are you ok?" Sabo asked as the boy came back into their cell. Sabo had heard everything but didn't have a clue what any of it meant, Ace either.
"Mm... I'm fine, just tired." Luffy mumbled, sitting against the wall.
"What happened?" Ace asked, hiding his concern. He may be a lot more open with his brothers, but that didn't mean he liked to show them all of his emotions. Luffy shrugged.
"They gave me something weird, it hurt a lot, felt like fire, but it went away," Luffy said, not being all that descriptive.
"What did it do?" Sabo asked, remembering some of the things the doctors said.
"I don't know. Every time I look at someone's eyes it hurts a lot and there are these weird pictures, and-"
"Weird pictures?" Ace asked, confused. Luffy nodded, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.
"Mm. They're different everytime but it starts with a child and then they get older and older and then they're adults and they talk to some weird marines and then they're here at the facility, and they're always one of the doctors. Sometimes I saw us in the flashes too." Luffy explained. Sabo looked at him in confusion, having a hunch.
"Luffy... are you seeing their memories?" Sabo asked. The youngest tilted his head, seeming to be thinking, before shrugging.
"I dunno." Sabo sighed.
"Why don't you look in one of our eyes. If you see our memories then you'll have your answer." Sabo said. Luffy stared at the ground, a frown forming on his face and fear flashing in his eyes.
"B-but it hurts when I do. I don't like it!" Luffy whined. Sabo and Ace gave him worried looks.
"Just once. Besides, Sabo told me they said something about controlling it right? A way to look at people without seeing the flashes?" Ace asked, placing a hand on Luffy's shoulder. Luffy nodded slowly, still not looking up.
"So then you need to practice. If you do, it'll hurt, but then you won't have to stare at the ground for the rest of your life." Ace said. Luffy hesitated, but slowly lifted his head, though didn't meet any of their watching eyes.
"A-alright... I guess I'll try..." Luffy said softly. They both nodded.
"Well, then have a look, you guys already know how I grew up," Sabo said with a shrug. Luffy nodded again and looked at Sabo in the eyes, the pain returning as the flashes came. He could see Sabo as a child in a weird room with a lot of books. There was a man and woman there too, and another kid, Sabos biological family. Then Sabo was in the Grey Terminal, a place Luffy hadn't seen in years. And he saw Ace too, a lot younger than he was now, and then there was himself! Oh, and Dadan, and Makino, and Garp! But then, he saw them get captured, saw them taken to the boat, saw them locked in a closet, Ace shouting a lot at Sabo, and then they were in the facility, in their cell, tested on. Time passed quickly as Luffy watched, tests being done over and over again until one test happened where everyone had to leave except Sabo, and then Sabo wasn't breathing. Everything went black and Luffy thought he fell asleep, but when the light came back it was still the flashes, and Luffy realized Sabo had died. He watched the years go by until they were back to the present, the flashes fading away.
"What happened?" Sabo asked as they saw Luffy's eyes refocus, pupils which had dilated shrinking back to normal size. Luffy blinked a few times before looking back at the ground.
"I-I saw your memories, all of them," Luffy said softly, cherishing the glimpse he'd seen of Makino, Dadan, and even Garp.
"You saw his whole life in less than a minute?" Ace asked. Luffy hadn't known it happened that quick, it felt much longer. He shrugged.
"I guess." Sabo sighed.
"Well now we know what's happening, so all we have to do is control it, right?" Sabo said, trying to encourage his brother. Luffy nodded slowly, still unsure.
"Come on, we've faced five years of hell, you can beat a few hours trying to control this." Ace said encouragingly. Luffy stared at the ground, a slow smile forming on his lips, causing Ace and Sabo to smile as well.
"Mm! I can control it!" Luffy said happily.
"Great! The doctors said that all you had to do was block it. I don't know exactly what that means, but its a start." Sabo said with a shrug.
"Try thinking about not seeing the memories when you look at someone." Ace suggested. Luffy nodded, preparing to feel the pain but forcing himself to believe that he wouldn't see any memories when he looked up.
The brothers practiced for hours, dinner coming and passing, but having no progress. Even if Luffy glimpsed at someone's eyes he saw their memories. He didn't like it, it felt invasive. Memories were precious and Luffy didn't like that he could just go and see them without trying.
"It wasn't expected to get it down in a day Lu, we'll get it eventually," Sabo said encouragingly, patting Luffys back. The raven nodded, staring at the ground.
"Well, what else happened when you were in there?" Ace asked, changing the subject as the three laid down, getting ready to sleep.
"I can feel peoples feelings," Luffy said, yawning at the end of the sentence.
"Is that what was happening? All I knew was Haru was really adamant about you trying to guess what people were feeling." Sabo said, eyes closed as he laid on Aces chest. Luffy nodded.
"Mm. If I focus on a person I can feel what they feel. If they're happy I could feel happy, if they were sad I felt sad. I didn't like sad though so I stopped when I felt that, but happy was a nice feeling!" Luffy said cheerily, remembering what the feeling felt like.
"Oh yeah? What else?" Ace asked. Luffy hummed.
"Well... there was this bad feeling coming from Haru..." Luffy said, voice going soft.
"Bad feeling?" Sabo asked, peeking his eyes open. Luffy nodded.
"It was... dark... I couldn't breathe and it didn't feel good at all..." Luffy said, shuddering at the memory of it. Ace and Sabo shared a glance.
"Well... maybe you shouldn't focus too much on him then, it doesn't sound like a good experience," Sabo said after some thought. Luffy shook his head.
"It's not." He confirmed with a frown. After that they settled down, ready to sleep, but Luffy suddenly remembered something.
"Oh yeah, I also keep feeling something, but I don't know what it is or where it's coming from," Luffy said, feeling it now, though it was different, warmer.
"What do you mean?" Sabo asked. Luffy hummed again.
"I dunno... it's like... something in the air. In the lab, it felt all jumbled and weird but here it feels warm and nice." Luffy said, liking the feeling.
"Is it emotions?" Ace asked offhandedly, taking a guess. Luffy opened his mouth, prepared to say that it couldn't be because he wasn't focusing, but then he realized.
"Oh, it is. You're smart Ace!" Luffy said happily, laughing to himself while Ace flushed.
"Wait, it is emotions?" Ace asked, slightly shocked that he had guessed right without trying. Luffy nodded.
"Mm! I couldn't tell because I wasn't focusing on anyone but I can feel everyone's feelings. They're not as strong as when I focus on someone though." Luffy said, focusing on Ace and finding that the warm feeling was emanating from him, then focusing on Sabo and feeling the same feeling. Luffy didn't know quite what emotion it was, but it was nice and was only what Luffy could describe as the nice feeling of being hugged.
"At least we figured it out. Tomorrow we can try controlling your new powers more." Sabo said, the two nodding their agreement as they all fell asleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Control it 11097," Haru said strictly, an unhappy look on his face. Luffy could feel the frustration and annoyance flowing off of the man, making him feel bad. The negative emotions impacted him more than his own emotions did and it was harder to concentrate. Luffy looked up from the ground, trying to block any flashes from coming through, but as he looked into the random child's eyes he saw their memories, flashing behind his eyes.
"Again!" Haru said, anger rising. Luffy looked at the ground, his head pounding from all the memories he'd seen. They had been trying to control it since morning and Luffy was trying as hard as he could to do it like the doctors wanted him to, but no matter how hard he tried it didn't work.
"You have three more tries '097. If you don't do it by then there will be repercussions." Haru said in a dangerous tone. Luffy knew he wasn't bluffing, the doctors feeling of anger ensured he would. Luffy felt fear begin to take form in him, his heart beating faster as he raised his eyes to the child again.
He can't see the memories, if he does he'll be punished, and he doesn't want to feel more pain.
"Two more tries!"
Luffy winced at the onslaught of memories but tried again, looking into the child's eyes.
"One more!"
The tone was harsher than before and Luffy felt like the walls were closing in as he panicked. He tried as hard as he could to not see the memories, imagined building a wall behind his eyes so he wouldn't see them, and when he looked up, he only saw the child.
He almost didn't believe it at first, but as he stared into the terrified child's eyes he relished in the fact that there was no pain, no memories, just a person. Luffy looked at Haru, excitement in his eyes as he felt the anger leave the doctor, being replaced with a happiness, excitement.
"Perfect."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Congratulations Lu!" Sabo said as Luffy told them how his day went.
"And it didn't hurt, and I didn't see the memories, and I can look at people instead of the ground!" Luffy rambled happily, feeding off the happiness coming from his brothers, as well as that warm feeling.
"So now you don't have to worry anymore." Ace said, sitting beside Sabo. Luffy nodded.
"Mhm! If I wanna see memories all I gotta do is take down the wall, but I don't wanna do that 'cause it hurts and memories are private and they're peoples treasures so I don't wanna ruin them." Luffy continued. It was the most lively the brothers had seen him in a while.
"And then I had to learn how to control all the feelings coming from people, and now it's not so powerful, and if I focus on someone I can feel all their emotions. If I don't its still there, but not as strong as before." Sabo and Ace merely nodded along, seeing no point in stopping their brother when he hadn't had a chance to be this happy in a while.
"But after we did all that they made me get another shot, and that one hurt my head again... and my eyes," Luffy said, voice toning down a bit. Ace and Sabo frowned. They hadn't been in the lab that day, only Luffy and sometimes another kid, but Sabo hadn't been listening closely, he and Ace had been working on the plan.
"Did it do anything?" Sabo asked. Luffy shrugged.
"Dunno. They were talking a lot but I think they said something about it working tomorrow." Luffy said. The eldest brothers shared a look but tried keeping their feelings more on the side of calm, not wanting Luffy to feel their worry.
"Well, it might just be nothing." Ace said dismissively, waving a hand. Sabo and Luffy nodded, all relaxing again.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
When Luffy woke up he realized that things seemed a little... different. Everyone he looked at had a weird color around them, Ace and Sabo having a weird transparent, light blue color while the guy who gave them breakfast had a slightly darker blue-grey color. He wanted to mention it to Ace and Sabo but Luffy didn't even have a chance to eat breakfast before Haru was dragging him out of his cell, the color around him a pure, opaque black. It wasn't very pleasant to look at or be near.
Sabo and Ace were still in the cell along with everyone else in the facility and that only confused them more.
"Its been three days, why do they keep taking Luffy?" Ace asked. The doctors had always had an interest in the boy sense, at first, he was the only one with a devil fruit, but this was a bit much, even for them.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna focus on them more this time," Sabo muttered, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes, listening so he could hear the doctors talking.
"Test #3829719 underway."
Luffy was strapped to a chair, all the doctors in the room having the same strange colors around them, all the same grey-blue, except for Haru who had pure black.
"11097, what do you see?" Haru asked, all the doctors ready to write down Luffy's every word.
"I-I don't know, colors..." Luffy said softly. He had never been asked any questions by the doctors and he was pretty sure it was the first time he'd ever talked to them, besides when he talked to Emily.
"Colors? Where? What colors?"
"Around people... They're blue... or grey... or-... or black..." Luffy said, still not sure if he should be talking, but not having much choice.
"Excellent. Can you turn the colors off? Stop seeing them?" He asked, and Luffy nearly shrugged but was restrained by the straps.
"I dunno," Luffy muttered, wanting to stop talking to them.
"Try." It was a demand and Luffy was forced to obey. He tried doing what he'd done to not see memories, creating a wall and found that the colors did dim slightly, but weren't gone completely. He tried strengthening the wall and, eventually, there were no more colors.
"T-they're gone." Haru's smile grew and a dark feeling came off him, making Luffy shudder. The doctors' attention left Luffy as they regrouped, all talking at once, and Luffy began to zone out. He tried focusing on one person to feel emotions for fun but quickly got bored, especially when most of the doctors felt neutral, no strong emotions coming off of them, not even happiness or anger.
"Let's begin the final test of the series," Haru announced suddenly, drawing Luffy's attention back to him. He was, once again, injected with a liquid. It didn't feel like anything was happening at first, but then there was a drowsiness that overwhelmed him completely, making it impossible to keep his eyes open.
"... working... strong will... mind..." Luffy couldn't make sense of the words being spoken around him as he drifted off.
When he woke up he was in the training room, except he was strapped to a chair, another one in front of him with another child sitting in it, also strapped down.
"Welcome back 11097. Let's begin testing." Luffy recognized the voice as being Haru's, the man outside of the training room. He could feel the strong feelings coming from outside the room, knowing they belonged to Haru and didn't like the nauseous feeling it gave him. The child in front of him wasn't any better, the poor kid radiating fear and panic with an intensity that began making Luffy feel panicked as well.
"Create a bridge between you two '097." It wasn't much help and Luffy didn't know what that meant, but he was told to do it so he had to. He didn't want to be punished. What if they tried to hurt Ace and Sabo? They'd done it before when he hadn't listened, so he didn't doubt they'd do it again.
Luffy looked into the child's eyes and tried imagining him creating a bridge to them. He was only trying for a few seconds before the kid looked to be in pain, eyes closing and face scrunching up as he let out a groan. Luffy hesitated but continued, trying to ignore the emotions coming from the child.
The child let out a scream, nearly breaking Luffys concentration, but Haru urged him to continue so he did. The emotions coming from the boy were hard to ignore now, the terror and panic spiking along with the new feeling of pain bombarding him. Luffy pushed through it though, imagining the bridge finally being built, connecting to the child in front of him, and for a split second there was what looked to be a wave of gas replacing the imaginary bridge, but before Luffy could examine it, it disappeared, along with both the child's noises and their emotions.
Luffy sat there for a minute, confused. He had never felt someone's emotions completely leave, even if they were sleeping, but the boy was just suddenly... unfeeling. While Luffy wondered what happened a doctor came in, checking on the child before clicking their tongue, unstrapping them and leaving the room, dragging the child with them.
"Terminated."
Luffy had heard the doctors say that word before and never really knew what it meant. When he asked Sabo he explained to him that it was when something came to an end, and after the fire, when he heard the doctors saying that all the kids were 'terminated' he knew. They had died.
The child had just died in front of his eyes.
Luffy's stomach dropped and his eyes widened in horror and shock. Had he just killed someone? He didn't want to! He didn't mean to! He wanted to run back to his cell, back to Ace and Sabo. He wanted out because he couldn't have just killed the child, he hadn't even touched him!
There was no getting out though as another doctor came in with another child and he was forced to repeat the same process he had before.
This one ended the same way, the child dying right before his eyes, and Luffy didn't know how much more he could handle. This happened over and over, new children being brought in every time, and Luffy was ready to stop, not wanting to keep doing this, but as the next child died and the new one came in Luffy was frozen in shock, fear beginning to cloud his mind completely.
"Again '097."
Haru's voice sounded distant and far away to Luffy, his mind focused on something much more important to him than following the doctors' orders.
"A-Ace?!" He couldn't do it. If he tried creating the bridge then Ace would die and he would never be able to forgive himself!
"Its ok Luffy, just do what he says." Ace said reassuringly, glaring daggers at the door where the doctor was leaving.
"B-but I can't! If I do y-you'll- you'll die! Like the others! A-ace I-I killed them!" Luffy said, tears coming quickly to his eyes, but as always, not falling. Aces glare fell, turning to look at Luffy.
"It wasn't your fault Lu, and besides, what have I always said, I won't die, not when I've gotta look after my weak little brother!" Ace said. Luffy still hesitated, despite his brothers' comforts.
"Y-you promise?" Luffy asked softly. Ace nodded.
"Promise." Ace said. Luffy still didn't want to do it, but Haru was ordering him to and Ace was telling him it was gonna be fine. Ace never lied, Ace was always right.
Luffy looked into Aces eyes and slowly began creating the bridge. As he did he noticed the noise of pain Ace made and nearly stopped until Haru told him not to. He was debating on whether or not to continue when Ace spoke up.
"Keep going Lu, I'm fine, just a little headache is all. Just focus on my emotions." Ace said, projecting as much warmth as he could at Luffy. Luffy relished in the feeling and nodded, continuing the process without stopping. Whenever Ace seemed to be in pain a feeling of happiness, of warmth, of love, radiated off of him and Luffy could continue. As he was finishing Luffy prepared for the worst, knowing this was when the others would be 'terminated'.
The wave of gas appeared, but instead of disappearing immediately it stayed. It was slightly transparent and red in color, coming from Aces chest and leading towards Luffy. The pain left Aces face and he watched Luffy in interest as Luffy examined the wave with large eyes.
"I-I... I did it! Ace, you're ok!" Luffy cheered happily, Ace smiled, ready to say something when a doctor came in, swapping him with another child and Luffy felt his apprehension return. Why did he have to keep going? He did it, so they should be done, right?
"Again."
The word sank Luffy's heart and he stared at the child, feeling their fear. He had done it with Ace, so maybe he could do it here too?
It didn't work.
He tried, he tried so hard, but the child's emotions left and so did the wave, the doctor announcing they were terminated as they switched the child out. The only solace Luffy had now was the red wave that he could still see, knowing that at the end of it, Ace was ok. It was weird, to see the wave. It went through the closed door and Luffy knew if he followed it he would find Ace.
His thoughts were interrupted once again as a doctor came in, Sabo in hand. It was his nightmare all over again.
"Hey, Lu," Sabo said with a sheepish smile. Luffy frowned. Maybe the time with Ace was only a one-time thing, maybe Sabo would die! The last child did, so maybe he didn't know how to use his powers.
"Again."
"Hey, Lu, it'll be fine, like Ace said, just focus on my emotions, ok?" Sabo asked gently. Luffy, not having much choice, swallowed hard and nodded. Sabo exuded the same warmth as Ace and it was comforting for Luffy as he did his best to ignore the pained sounds Sabo was making. As he finished connecting the bridge Luffy was amazed to find that it had worked for Sabo as well, but instead of red, his wave was a slightly transparent yellow.
"We're done for the day." Haru's voice filtered through the speakers and Luffy felt relieved that it was finally over, doctors coming in and unstrapping them both, taking them back to their cells. Luffy was right in thinking that Aces wave led back to him as they reached the cell, their brother waiting inside.
"Hey, welcome back!" Ace said with a smile.
Luffy wanted to smile as well, but he could only think of all the kids he had just killed.
A bit of a heavy chapter there, huh? Its my longest yet! With this new series of tests, Luffy now has quite a few new abilities at his disposal, but they all came with a cost. The deadline for their escape is approaching, which I know all of you are eagerly awaiting. How they'll get out is still a mystery, and they have a lot of obstacles in their way, but they have been planning for this for years, so we'll all have to wait and see if it works out for them.
With that said, the next chapter is going to one that you all have been waiting for for a long time. I don't want to give too much away so I'm going to stop myself from saying anything more, but let's just say that the Facility Arc is coming to a close.
Finally, I know I said I would start updating on Fridays, and that's still true, but seeing as we've just passed over 100 reviews with the last chapter, I decided I would gift you all this chapter a bit earlier then I intended. The next chapter will come out next Friday, and I plan on all other chapters coming out Fridays as well, but I couldn't help myself with this one.
Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews, favorites and follows, they mean the world to me! I love reading all of your reactions to my story, and I love reading everyone's opinions or theories too. Hopefully, I'll continue to write chapters that you all enjoy!
Thanks again from the bottom of my heart!