Summary: AU. Ace thinks getting captured by Teach is the worst thing that could happen to him. However when his captor brings him another prisoner to keep him company he realizes things can get so so much worse.

Characters: Ace, Luffy, Blackbeard

A/N: Sorry if Blackbeard is a little OOC... Also sorry for the angst and the overly dramatic Ace, I may have gone a bit too far, especially at the end...

Worse than Nightmares

"Hey, Luffy, have you see the stars?"

"Uuhh? The... stars? Ace, what..?"

"Have you see the stars, Lu?"

"Of course I have... Who hasn't? What's going on?"

"But have you seen them like I have? Come with me, I'll show you."

"Ace..."

"Come on, let's go."

A small smile showed on Ace's bloody face at the memory. Luffy had been having a nightmare and he had used the first excuse that had come into mind to wake him up. That night the brothers had gone up in the highest part of the mountain where it was further from the lights and closer to the stars... It was the most beautiful place in Goa. But Luffy's smile that night had shined brighter than all the stars combined.

And now, Ace's life has turned into a nightmare and he couldn't wake himself up. First it was Thatch's murder, Teach's treason, then the long months away from his crew with only the thought of revenge to keep him company and it all ended up... here. In the darkest part of Teach's ship, cuffed and chained to the wall, waiting to be handed over to the government. Where he would either be put to prison for life or executed.

Damn it. How could he have been so stupid? When did things turn out so wrong?

What was he going to do? He couldn't die... He promised. He promised his brother. Shit, things were so screwed up.

Ace didn't know how long they had been traveling but suddenly he realized that they had stopped for a while now. It had also been a while since he last heard any noise from the ship. Where was everyone? Curiosity was eating at the man and he bit his tongue to keep himself from calling out.

He didn't have to wait for long anyway. A while later booming laughter was heard from the ship. Teach and his crew had returned from wherever the heck they had gone and they were clearly happy. After a moment, the captain himself walked in and stopped right outside of his cell, grinning with an alarmingly mischievous look.

"Ace! How are you doing?" The only reply he got was a glare. To be fair, Blackbeard didn't expect anything different. But he was dying to see his reaction to what was coming next. "You know, Ace, I feel kinda sorry for you... All alone in this cell..." Ace's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "So I brought you some company!"

"Company?"

"Do you remember what I told you I'd do... before our fight?"

It took a moment for the raven haired man to connect the dots but when he did, a burning anger settled in his stomach, mixed with a gut wrenching despair at the thought of... the thought of his... his brother...

"You bastard! Don't you dare!"

"Dare? I already did!"

"No! You bastard, how could you?! Where is he?!"

"Hey, guys! Where the hell did you put the kid? Bring him here to meet his cell mate!" Teach yelled at his comrades.

Ace audibly growled at him, fury burning in his eyes. Teach knew, he knew Ace had purposefully fought to save his brother yet he went ahead and went after the boy anyway! Oh God, what did he do to Luffy?

"There he is!" Blackbeard laughed and opened the cage to put the boy in. Ace's head snapped up to see.

His blood froze at the sight.

A member of the crew tossed an unconscious, sea stone bound Luffy into the cell and closed the door behind him. The kid was covered in blood and dirt, his clothes torn at the edges. His breathing was deep and uneven and it scared Ace to the core to see him like that.

"What did you do to him?" He asked, voice low and threatening. In reply he only got a laugh that only fed his anger. "ANSWER ME! What the hell did you do to him?!"

"Nothing much different than what we did to you. Kid put up one hell of a fight, though. Especially when he learned of your... current situation."

Ace felt like dying. Luffy, being the idiot that he was, had been worried about him. Care about yourself for once, idiot! He strained against his chains. "Luffy!"

With another laugh Teach turned to leave, not without making one last comment, arrogance echoing in his voice. "Enjoy your little reunion boys. We'll be arriving at a marine base soon. I can only guess but I imagine they won't hold you together there."

Once the door of the room closed Ace desperately tried to reach his brother. His hands were chained to the wall so he used his legs, stretching as far as he could and wrapping them around Luffy's waist and pulling him closer. With more than a little fear seeping in his voice he called out his name, more urgently every time he got no answer.

Luffy stayed as still as a corpse through it all. He was never so still, not even when he was sleeping. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of his chest the older man would have thought him dead.

"Come on, Lu. Nap time's over, it's time to wake up. Please. WAKE UP, LUFFY!" He heard laughter from outside because of his little outburst but for once he didn't give a single damn about his pride. Not when his little brother was lying motionless in front of him with no signs of waking up.

The boy's hand twitched a little and Ace held his breath, waiting for the kid to finally open his eyes. He had to bite back a sigh of relief when those huge black orbs of his brother turned tiredly to him.

"A... ce?" His voice was small and pained and the older sibling couldn't help but wonder how much of a fight he had put and just how much had been needed to subdue him. Just how hurt was he?

"Luffy! Are you ok? Talk to me, what in the world happened?" Once again he rattled the chains desperately wishing he could free his arms and get to his brother.

"He... found us at Thriller Bark. We were all exhausted from the fight we had with... with Moria. No one but me was in any condition to fight. Ace... Ace, I'm so sorry... I- I tried..."

"Stop it, Lu. Don't you dare blame yourself for this. It was my responsibility to take care of Teach, not yours. I'm sorry you got involved with this." I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from him.

It was like something from a nightmare. Ace was immobilized, trapped in the cell of a traitor, incapable of helping himself, much less anyone else. And Luffy, his innocent little brother who had absolutely nothing to do with any of this was injured and held captive right next to him. So close yet he was unable to reach him. And all because of him.

"Luffy..."

And if that wasn't enough they were going to be handed to the marines, probably to be executed shortly. While Ace didn't give a damn about himself, he couldn't bear the thought of the always grinning idiot named Luffy being executed. Especially not like this.

"... I'm so sorry, Lu."

"Don't sweat it, Ace," he smiled. He actually smiled as if nothing was wrong with the world. "We'll figure something out. But man, that bastard didn't take my hat with me. I hope my crew found it."

"I'm sure they did," Ace smiled a little, not really feeling it.

"They'd better! That hat's the mark of my promise. It shows me the way."

"Your promise..." He whispered, deep in thought. "To become the pirate king?"

"Yeah... Sort of."

No. Ace was wrong. This was worse than a nightmare. There was no waking up from this...

Luffy had dreams to chase and promises to keep and a crew that depended on him. Teach was planning on taking it all away from him. And Ace could do nothing about it. He couldn't protect his little brother who looked up to him, who trusted him so damn much.

Sabo, he thought up to the heavens, trying to keep calm, to not destroy Luffy's still somehow bright mood, please, please help me. I can't keep my promise to you, I need help. I don't know what to do anymore.

Hey, Luffy, have you ever seen the stars?

Once upon a time, Ace would find an excuse to wake up his baby brother from his nightmares. Now he needed someone, anyone to wake him up from this, something so much worse...

A/N: And once again I'm wondering what in the world is wrong with me.. Oh well. You know the drill, leave a review! Oh and for those who haven't seen it already I started a new story Finding Your Way Home. Check it out if you have time! Thanks!