"I'm booooored," Luffy complains as he flops onto the couch.
They had been released from the hospital a day ago, but the doctors gave strict orders not to do anything strenuous while their wounds heal. Marco takes this time to lock Ace in his room and practically tie him to the bed frame so he can't move.
Ace is pretty sure that Marco and Thatch are quietly laughing about it behind his back.
"Can't do anything about it, Lu." Ace says, completely bored himself. There's nothing on the T.V and all his other friends are still at the shipyard. While he appreciates Marco and Thatch watching over him and keeping him company, he knows that they have lives outside of this.
Ace is pulled from his thoughts by someone ruffling his hair. He bites back a venomous response.
"Stop that," he says, jerking his head away from the hand. Thatch starts laughing.
"You look pathetic, lazing around on the couch like that." Thatch says. Though he Ace both know Ace would do anything else if he weren't confined to bedrest, Thatch seems insistent on rubbing it in. Luffy grins at him from the other side of the couch.
"Ace is moping!"
"I don't want to hear anything from you, idiot. You're in the same position I'm in."
"Ace, quit picking on your little brother." Marco says as he walks from the guest room. He doesn't have a shirt on and has a toothbrush in his mouth. Marco's making himself at home (though he's practically been living here since Ace and Luffy were hurt, trying to take care of them).
"He started it," Ace grumbles.
"Ohhh, Mama Marc has arrived," Thatch says with a laugh as he disappears into the kitchen. With how much Ace's stomach has been growling, he hopes Thatch is making breakfast.
"Luffy, stop antagonizing Ace," Marco says and takes the toothbrush out of his mouth. "Just turn on the TV or take a nap."
Ace and Luffy look at each other in panic at the word nap. Every time Ace tries to get even a small amount of sleep, his dreams are filled with blood and explosions and fire. He always wakes up feeling disoriented and terrified. Yesterday, Luffy had dubbed both 'sleep' and 'nap' taboo words that were not to be said in the house.
"No naps," Luffy says and Ace nods his head in agreement. Thatch pops his head out from the kitchen.
"You guys have barely gotten any sleep since you've been discharged. Why aren't you sleeping?" Thatch asks, concerned.
"Nightmares," Luffy says, "They're awful! There's always a bunch of screaming and blood! And these weird people will show up every once in awhile that looks like someone me or Ace know. I saw you once, Marco! And I've seen Ace! There's also Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook! Except Franky looks really weird, Chopper's a reindeer, Robin is old and Brook is a skeleton!"
Ace blinks once. He never has dreams thatstrange. He has seen his friends in his dream—mostly Marco, sometimes Thatch. Oyaji is there, tall and proud and larger than any human ever should be. There's a whale ship and blue oceans until suddenly he's somewhere else—high above everyone and watching them die on a bloody battlefield.
"You've got quite the imagination," Marco says, but otherwise doesn't react.
"It's not our imagination," Ace mutters in defense of his brother. He doesn't say it loud, but Marco still hears it.
Marco raises an eyebrow in his direction.
"Then what is it, Ace?"
"Hell if I know."
They fall into an uncomfortable silence. Luffy turns his attention to the TV and is quickly glued what's on. Ace tries to watch, if only to keep his mind off of his dreams, but quickly loses interest. Instead, he looks out the window, only to see dark clouds forming overhead. Ace frowns; five minutes ago it was nice and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Since when did weather change so fast?
Marco notices it at the same time and sighs, leaning with his back against the countertop.
"Looks like it's going to storm soon."
"Yeah," Ace agrees. "Hey, Lu?"
"Hmm?"
Ace holds his hand out.
"Can I check the weather really quick?"
"No," Luffy says stubbornly and holds the remote away from Ace. Ace, not in the mood, swipes the remote out of his hands. Luffy cries out, lunging forward, but Ace holds the remote up teasingly. Luffy puffs out his cheek and huffs.
Ace clicks the channel button just when a large rumble of thunder makes the whole house shake, starling its inhabitants. Rain pelts down on the windows and a flash of lightning streaks through the sky. Ace stares out the window in amazement, not expecting it to hit them that fast.
"That came out of nowhere," Marco says as he walked towards the couch Ace was on and flung Ace's legs off so he could sit. Another rumble of thunder was heard and this time it was Thatch that came into the living room, probably thinking that the brothers did something.
Thatch whistled from somewhere in the kitchen as his voice calls out, "Was it supposed to storm today?"
Ace sighs and leans back against the couch, closing his eyes. He feels exhausted, yet he doesn't sleep. Something in his gut is telling him to wait just a bit longer, as if something were going to happen.
He listens to the rain pounding on the outside of his house, wind knocking over the trees. There's a soft whistling coming from the outside, almost humming, as if—
"Sometimes the blood rushes to my head and I feel like, if I run, I'll lose something important."
Ace's eyes shoot open. That's his voice.
It's the same voice that comes out of his mouth every morning, and it's the same voice that uttered the words thank you for loving me. There's an image in his mind; a figure standing tall and proud with a purple tattoo on his back. He's surrounded by fire and enemies are approaching, but he doesn't seem worried.
Ace doesn't know who this person is—because it sure as hell isn't him—but whoever they are, they need to get out of his head.
It's then that he notices the silence in the house. Even Thatch's humming from the kitchen stops. He looks around and, for the first time, he notices everyone staring at him, wide eyes.
"Um . . . " Luffy says, looking at him. "Ace did you say that?"
Then it clicks. They all heard that voice.
"No," Ace answers.
His body stiffens as he realizes something; he and Luffy had heard these kinds of things before (usually in his dreams but sometimes there's a strange echo in his head that won't go away)—but Marco and Thatch had never heard what they heard.
"Marco. Thatch. Did you hear that too?" Ace asks them, shifting his position on the couch to look at them.
Slowly, the two of them nod.
"Is this what you and Luffy were talking about?" Thatch asks. "These…voices?"
"Compared to the 'righteous' greed of the rulers, the criminals of the world seem much more honorable. When scum rules the world, only more scum is born."
There it is again.
Though this time, it's a new voice that Ace doesn't reconize. Marco and Thatch look as lost as Luffy and Ace feel. He never hears the voices unless he's was asleep. Those came with dreams—giant ships, laughing people, a war, blood, death.
The dreams always end in death. No matter how happy or how sad, there is always something wrong.
"Pirates are evil!? The Marines are righteous!? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history! Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right! This very place is neutral ground! Justice will prevail, you say? But of course it will! Whoever wins this war becomes justice!"
"Pirates?" Thatch says quietly, his voice shaking. He slowly inches his way in the living room with everyone else. "What the hell is it talking about…?"
"We don't know." Luffy says as he glances at Ace. "But I feel like something is trying to warn us."
Thatch tenses. "Yeah, I had that feeling too. But I still don't get it—"
"You want to keep everyone from dying? That's naive. This is war. People die."
"That's Luffy's voice," Marco hisses.
Luffy looks startled. "I wouldn't say anything like that! I'm not even in a war!"
"Protecting what we cherish most as men is the reason why we formed this pirate crew!"
Then, before anyone can comment, another scream rips through the air. One sounding so broken, so full of pain that Ace wants to cover his ears. To make it even worse—he knows exactly who the voice belongs to.
"I COULDN'T EVEN SAVE EVEN ONE OF MY NAKAMA!"
Then lighting flashes, lighting up the room, before the power shuts off, leaving everyone in darkness.
"Is everyone okay?" Thatch's voice fills the dark room.
Ace looks around frantically, but he can only see the outlines of the others around him. The storm only lets off a little light, not enough to see everyone's expressions. The only reason Ace knows who's who is height differences (and Thatch's annoying hairstyle).
Ace rubbed the back of his head as 'Marco calls out, "We're fine. It's just a power outage. I don't think any of us were injured."
"Yeah," Thatch mutters. "But still that scream—"
Luffy shifts on the couch next to Ace and says, "I don't want to talk about that."
"This is terrifying," Marco says and Ace agrees—storms, voices and darkness. What could possibly go wrong? It's like the start of a bad horror film.
Ace sighs, thinking back to the scream. The scream sounded so much like Luffy and the worst part is Ace doesn't know why. Why would these (ghosts? Voices? Something else?) sound so much like Ace and his friends and family? Why them?
The lights flicker back on, making Ace's eyes sting from the sudden brightness. He shades his face with his hands and surveys the room once more, making sure everyone is okay.
"Shit," Thatch says, pressing both of his hands to the window. He waits for a few seconds, listening. "I think the voices stopped."
"Friends or foes? That's something you'll have to decide on you own!"
"And the universe loves proving me wrong," Thatch sighs, turning his body around to face everyone in the living room. "Should we go to a hotel or something?"
"That didn't help us before," Ace mutters. His heart is beating so loud that it echoes in his ears and he's sweating—everything about this was absolutely terrifying. "I..I think something is going to happen."
"He must be hurting so much right now! I should be with him when he's hurting! That's what friends are for! LUFFY!"
Everyone's eyes go directly to Luffy, who's blinking in confusion. "Huh? There mystery voices know me." Luffy puts a hand to his chin in thought. "But the mystery voice said I was in pain."
"Are you in pain?"
"I'm scared," Luffy says. "But I'm not in pain."
The room is quiet now—no new voices echoed through the occupants' heads and there was no more screaming. They wait a minute, then five, then ten. There is no sound except the beating on rain on the windows and the rumble of thunder.
"Did it stop?" Marco asks as Ace still tries to calm his racing heart.
"Thank god," Thatch puts a hand to his chest as he tries to calm his breathing. Marco is doing the same, but not as dramatically. Even though Ace won't admit it to anyone, he finds himself wrapping the blanket that covered him tighter around his shaking body.
"I don't think it's over," Luffy says suddenly. "I think it was just the beginning. Ace's right. Something is going to happen. Whatever that was—It was just a warning."
"Fuck," Thatch says.
"It's probably just a prank," Marco says, ever the voice of reason. "Your neighborhood has always been rowdy, Ace. Maybe they did something to the house."
"But me and Luffy heard these voices when we were in the hospital," Ace argues and shakes his head not matter how much he wishes it's true. "There's no way that they could've done something like this. And it doesn't make sense—why say a bunch of nonsensical words with our voices?"
"It's from another world," Luffy interrupts.
They all stare at him, causing him to shift uncomfortably, but Luffy understands the silent question.
How?
"I had a dream," noticing the disbelieving glances Luffy quickly adds, "I'm not kidding! But it wasn't like the ones that me and Ace usually have. It was a battle—but it was different. I could hear and understand what the people were saying."
"Did you recognize the people?" Thatch asks. Luffy looks uncomfortable—shifting and not meeting any of their eyes.
"One of them was me—but he was older, I think . . . And he had this really big scar on his chest, like an 'x'." Luffy traces the spot on his chest. "The other man was that guy…. It was on the news. Torch? Team? Te—"
"Teach?" Marco asks and Luffy nods.
Known mafia boss, he had a nasty reputation for getting what he wanted. He's been the cause of numerous deaths in the city and was still at large. The police couldn't touch him with how many people working for him.
"Me and that guy were fighting and it was really fast. Then Teach commented about 'Ace's death' or something like that. Then other me was really pissed off and told him that he was a traitor and the reason that Ace was dead and everything which was really confusing because Ace isn't dead and he's sitting right there and I wanted to yell at him but I couldn't move my body at all—"
Thatch ruffles Luffy's hair. "You're getting off track, buddy."
Luffy blinks, before he slowly nods. "Other me attacked him and then there was a lot of screaming, and blood and insults, but I couldn't really make out anything until both of them jumped back looking really tired and beat up. Other me was really pissed then Teach told other me that he was going to put me out of my misery and reunite me with my brother. I woke up after that."
To say that Ace is unnerved is an understatement. It isn't because Luffy had a dream like that—no, that dream only proves something that Ace doesn't really wanted to be proved. The lines 'thank you for loving me' have been bothering him since he first heard them.
Now he knows why.
Those words were his last words he had said to his brother in those dreams.
Ace isn't really sure how he knows this, but it seems to fit. Like a missing piece of the puzzle was finally put in place.
Thunder blasts and shakes the whole house, reminding Ace of the raging storm. A quick glance out the window has Ace believing that the storm looks like it's getting worse—rain pelts even harder and lightning flashes more frequently.
Just thinking about how much damage this storm is going to cause makes Ace's head hurt. He doesn't want to be cleaning branches from the front lawn.
What he doesn't know at the time is this storm is going to cause a lot more trouble than he thinks.
Marco picks up the T.V remote and tries clinking the power button, only to get static. "Looks like the storm took out your satellite, Ace. What do we do now?"
"We're hearing voices," Thatch says with a sign.
"I don't think we shouldn't tell anyone about this." Ace says. "Just… a gut feeling."
"Yeah," Luffy agrees. "It's our secret."
Marco and Thatch agree just as the power goes out again. Luffy yelps in surprise, but Ace is expecting it. The lights were flickering on and off right before it happened, so it isn't that surprising.
What is surprising is the voice that follows.
"If you were to go on a trip... where would you like to go?"
Ace blinks once before realization hits him. He does not want to deal with this again. Especially in the dark.
His friends and brother groan, probably thinking the same thing.
Lightning flashes though the shut curtains, and another rumble of thunder shakes the house. The voices however, do not continue. Ace's eyes narrow suspiciously. "What the hell?"
"I don't kn—" Thatch started to say, before he was interrupted by the storm. A bright light shoots through the window, shattering the lights and any other glass around the living room. Thatch yelps, but is too slow to do anything other than watch as the streak completely destroys everything. When it stops, the only thing left in one piece is the window that it came from.
The jaw-rattling boom isn't what Ace is expecting as an after effect. Thunder shakes the house more violently than ever before. Ace hears Luffy scream, but he can't help his brother now. His hands fly to his ears, trying to muffle to sound, but it ends just as quickly as it came.
Silence floods the room as everyone tries to process what just happened.
Lightning, Ace realizes with a surprised jolt. Lightning had just invaded his living room.
That honestly doesn't make him feel any better.
"Is everyone alright?" Ace calls, jumping to his feet as fast as he can. He squints through the darkness, but can only make out the outlines.
"Yeah," two other voices—Marco and Luffy—call back to him. He hears Thatch cursing, so he assumes that the redheaded is okay as well. Ace runs his hands through his hair, assessing as much damage as he can in the dark.
It's then that he notices the two new bodies in his living room.
still looking for a beta if anyone is interested (pros: u get to read the entire story asap bc it's complete, can add creative input/new scenes if u want, can read my notes) (cons: u get to correct my shitty grammar mistakes, read the messy af version, can read my notes)
I originally wrote this when I was going through my "don't say says/said" phase. y'all, just use the word said/says after dialogue. i promise it's much better.
this is technically ch. 2 & 3 combined for anyone who read the old version. Pretty sure ch. 4&5 from the old version will be combined too