Chapter 12 (Here you guys go! Chapter 12! Yay! A dozen! I forgot to say this, but last chapter I broke 4000 words! Hooray for me! :DDD That felt like a major achievement for me, so I'm proud of myself. Anyway, onto the chapter!

Anna Banana: Yeah, no. Don't worry, Hare didn't steal Ace's soul. PTSD is still bad, but you're right, at least it's more curable than a stolen soul.

Thank you! The White Rabbit isn't Hare, though.

YES! I actually really respect Rouge as a character. I've always loved Italian, and I don't know…I can just see her speaking it. You should learn Italian! It's a cool language! Venice is a really cool place, I hope you get to take that trip. :) It's awesome that you can learn languages well, I kind of suck at it XD

Rambling is fine. It's fun to do, so I don't blame you :) Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I always try to update as soon as possible because I know as a reader how annoying it can be to have to wait a super long time for updates. I'm glad you're still loving it!

My French reviewer (sorry but you didn't leave any kind of signature): Thank you so much! That's great! I'm glad you like it so much you check every day. :D

I'm kind of evil…I torment poor little Ace so much… I think at this point you can definitely call me sadistic. XD

I hope this is out fast enough for you! Enjoy! C:

If you anonymously reviewed and I forgot to reply, I'm SO SORRY! My email randomly deleted like half my emails, so I might have lost some of the reviews…D:

Anyway, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!)

Marco, Thatch, and Whitebeard stared at Selma, stunned. Thatch looked down at Ace.

"PTSD? How does a 10-year-old kid get PTSD?" Marco spoke next.

"Can you fix it? I mean, now that you know what it is? And what did you mean when you said it was rare?" Selma looked down at the child.

"I…I hope I can fix it." She looked seriously worried. "When I say rare, I mean there have only ever been six documented cases." Marco looked up.

"What's going on with him? I mean, what's he feeling right now, while he's like this?"

"Well, with this kind of PTSD the victim went through some kind of severely traumatic experience, so traumatic they fled. Somewhere the experience couldn't follow them."

"Meaning?" Selma sighed.

"Ace has fled deep into his own mind. Created a kind of fantasy world where he can escape. While there, he doesn't feel anything that's going on in this world. You could stab him and it wouldn't even register." Whitebeard was the next to speak.

"What happened to those people? Were they ever cured?" Selma looked up at him. She swallowed.

"…No."

"Is there anything we can do? Any way we can help him?" Selma swallowed.

"There's no known cure." The room went silent, each feeling despair settle over them like a shroud. Marco sat down next to Ace again, gently taking his hand between both of his. He bowed his head.

"My God." After a moment, Selma raised her head and set her shoulders. "But I'm going to find a cure. There is a way to get Ace back." Her voice went quieter, she spoke only to herself, and her own doubt was audible. "…There has to be."

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Jozu…wasn't really paying attention to his job right now. He was down in the storage hold doing a routine check of cargo. He was supposed to be cataloguing, making sure everything was accounted for, but his mind was elsewhere. Specifically, upstairs in the infirmary with the child, his brother, who, no matter what he was told otherwise, was still in that room hurt because of him. Jozu's guilt felt like a stack of bricks on his chest.

He rounded some crates, brooding. What could I have done differently? What should I have done? A thousand different scenarios ran through Jozu's head. A thousand different choices he could have made. He gave a deep sigh, trying to push away his regrets and focus. He rounded another corner, looking up. He gasped and froze.

There was someone sitting on the floor.

It looked like a girl with long black hair. She wore a stained, slightly tattered white dress. Her back was towards Jozu and he couldn't see her face. She was sitting in the middle of the floor, nearly still, her only movements being a small, barely noticeable sway from side to side. Jozu walked closer, and she made no movement. Jozu regarded her with suspicion, leaning slightly to the left to try to get a look at her face.

"…Hello?" The girl stopped swaying. She stayed still for a moment, making no movement. Slowly she turned her head. Jozu stopped moving towards her and stared.

The girl had no face.

The entire front side of her head was just smooth skin. Jozu stood there, frozen. The creature had no eyes, and yet Jozu felt he was being regarded like a fly in a spider's web. The creature before him lifted an arm and slowly extended it towards him. The limb was thin, and the skin shone pale and unhealthy. The fingers were unnaturally long, and the nail on the end of each protruded into a jet-black point. The hand reached towards Jozu and he remained there, hypnotized. Paralyzed. The arm reached what should have been its natural limit, but it continued its slow movement. From out of the sleeve came a second elbow. Jozu was horrified, but he still could not bring himself to move. The hand grabbed one of his wrists and he felt himself being led forward, towards this nightmare. His mind was panicking, mentally shouting commands at his body to fight or run, but his body would not resist.

The creature brought up a second hand. It lifted it up towards its face, still moving at a slow, hypnotizing pace. Slowly it dragged one of the black nails against the skin of its face, creating a crescent-shaped gash. From the wound a small trail of black blood ran down the head and neck. Jozu stared with morbid fascination. And then the gash opened. Behind the bleeding flesh Jozu could see three rows of needle thin teeth. Further back in the mouth he saw a second set of jaws, the teeth inverted to prevent anything from escaping. These teeth were less needles and more human. They would have been completely human if not for the much longer canines and serrated edges. And still the creature was leading him forwards, towards itself.

It gave him a predator's smile, black blood staining the forest of teeth. Jozu still could not free himself, could not break away. The hand led him to stand directly before the face. His mind was screaming at him to move, run, kill, do anything but remain here for another instant. And still he could not. The creature opened its jaws, head moving to bite Jozu's arm. Jozu stared in horror. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't even access his devil fruit to protect himself. The pen fell out of Jozu's hand and clattered on the floor. The sound seemed much louder in the dead silent room.

And it was enough to wake Jozu.

The creature gave an inhuman screech of frustration and it's jaws snapped shut on Jozu's arm. Jozu turned his arm to diamond a moment before the creature's teeth met it, awaiting the satisfying crunch of the breaking teeth. And gasped in pain. He looked down to see the thing's teeth sunk as deep as they could go into his arm. His diamond arm. Thinking fast he turned his arm back to flesh and tore it away, wanting to get it out before it got caught by the second set of jaws. Jozu pulled back as hard as he could, and then retreated a few steps. The creature hissed around the bloody piece of meat in its jaws. Jozu glanced down at his injured arm, seeing a wide bite sized chunk missing. The edges of the wound were jagged, some strips of flesh hanging down. It was bleeding pretty badly. He winced and let it hang by his side.

The thing lifted its arms, placing both hands on the deck as if to lift itself to its feet. Jozu watched from a safe distance away. The creature was struggling, almost writhing in its dress, the two overly-long sleeves flapping around chaotically, leather straps wrapped around the entire thing.

Wait…That's not a dress…Jozu's eyes widened. That's a straight jacket. Jozu looked at the writhing creature and saw that while this was a straight jacket, there was one big difference. It had eight sleeves, not two. Jozu backed up a little further, putting more distance between himself and the monster.

With his uninjured hand he quickly reached into his pocket and whipped out his den-den mushi. Keeping his eyes on the creature, he lifted the receiver to his mouth.

"Marco. There's something down here. I need back-up now." There was a sound of ripping fabric and Jozu saw that all eight arms were now free. The thing seemed to sneer at him for a moment, inhumanly long tongue snaking out around its lips and teeth, licking Jozu's spattered blood off its face. It lifted itself on all eight of its hands, limbs arching up like a spider's legs. Jozu put himself into a loose stance, ready to react as the situation called for it. The spider-like abomination screech-hissed at him, then charged. The thing moved impossibly fast, and Jozu barely had time to throw himself out of the way. He turned to face it just in time to be hit by a barrel the thing had flung after him, and it took him to the ground.

The thing charged at him again, and Jozu got back to his feet, again barely managing to dodge the creature. This time, the thing lashed out with one of its back arms, throwing Jozu a ways across the room. Jozu got back to his feet, climbing out of the wreckage of several crates.

"Come on Marco, when I said now I meant now."

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Several moments earlier

"Marco. There's something down here. I need back-up now." At the words, Macro stood. For a moment he debated sending one of the other commanders down, but Jozu had sounded serious. Really serious. Marco grit his teeth and looked down at Ace. Sorry, I have to go. I'll be back soon. He turned to Thatch.

"You coming?" Thatch looked indecisive for a moment, but then his face set and he gave a determined nod. Marco smiled at him briefly and the two headed out the door. They moved at a quick pace, not quite running, but definitely at a good jog. After several moments they reached the door to the storerooms. On the other side, the sounds of movement and combat could be heard. Marco paused by the door for only a moment and looked to Thatch to make sure he was ready. Thatch nodded gravely and Marco threw open the door.

Inside, Jozu was still trying to dodge the creature's attacks. Jozu saw them, barely dodged another attack, and spoke.

"It's about damn time." He was panting heavily and his arm was bleeding badly. The room was in a state of mild wreckage, with broken barrels and crates strewn about the room haphazardly. A ways away, the creature had noticed them too. She was standing on all eight legs, swaying from side to side. Marco and Thatch stared at the thing in disgust.

"What the hell is that thing? I've never seen anything like it. How the hell did it manage to get on the ship?" Jozu shook his head, wiping sweat off his face.

"I have no clue. But it bit me. While I was in diamond form." Marco glanced away from the creature for a moment to look at Jozu's arm.

"Holy shit. Seastone?" Jozu shook his head.

"Don't think so. It's not Haki either." Thatch's voice broke through their conversation.

"Guys. It's doing something weird." All three turned their eyes to the creature. It had stopped swaying. Now it was moving its two middle sets of arms strangely. Its skin was undulating and bulging on its torso. It noticed their watching and gave them a bloody smile. There was the sound of breaking and dislocating bones, and all watched in strange fascination as the thing retracted the four arms back inside itself. The sounds of snapping bones and ripping tendons continued coming from the creature and it slowly took on a new shape. With much snapping and popping, its spine straightened and it became more upright. Bipedal. Its last pair of hands now acted as feet, and with its unnaturally long legs it would be pretty damn fast. Its arms changed shape too. The skin on them started bulging strangely and one could see the arm bones from the retracted limbs being moved down the arms under the skin. Once the bones were in position, they pierced through the skin, accompanied by more black blood. Now on the back of the arms there protruded bony blades, slightly hooked back towards the creature. From the palms of both hands protruded a scythe-like blade of bone about six inches long. The fingers elongated to an unnatural length, each becoming more like a separate limb than a finger. The nails on the end of each grew longer, deadlier. The creature gave another hiss and bent low, swaying from side to side.

It was on them almost instantly, one arm reaching forwards and lashing out with its fingers and blade. All dodged, but the suddenness left Thatch with a thin series of gashes across his chest and Jozu landed awkwardly, taking a moment to recover. Marco looked at Thatch.

"Thatch, are you alright?" Thatch brought himself to his feet and nodded.

"Damn this thing is fast. Maybe if we-" He was cut off as the creature attacked again, this time seizing the distracted Marco and throwing him across the room. He crashed through a stack of boxes and was dazed for a moment. Thatch looked after him in alarm.

"Marco!" Marco shoved some loose wood off himself and regained his feet.

"M'alright." Jozu had temporarily distracted the thing, keeping it away from the downed commander. Marco ran back across the room, coming to stand back beside Thatch. The thing focused its attention back on them, slashing out with its right hand. Both dodged, and Thatch quickly looped around to its back, drawn sword ready to stab the thing. Without even turning the thing caught the sword on its bone scythe. It closed its hand around the weapon and Thatch gasped, trying to pull it away. With a grinding screech the monster shattered the sword in its fist. Thatch was left to stare at a hilt with maybe 6 inches of blade attached, ending in a jagged point. The thing lashed out with its left hand at Thatch, and he barely dodged aside in time. During the whole engagement the thing had also been making an attack against Marco with its right hand, dealing out attacks faster than Marco could retaliate.

Finally Marco found the opening he needed and turned into his bird form. He flew at the thing, attacking with open flame. The thing reached out an arm, taking a wide sweep at him. He dodged and hit the thing with blue fire. The creature shrieked and the smell of burning skin filled the air. Marco pressed on the offensive, keeping the creature from lashing out at the other two and slowly driving it back. Eventually the thing collapsed to the floor. Marco retained his bird form, but came to land beside Jozu and Thatch who were busy catching their breath. The creature before them shuddered, and with more sickening popping and snapping of dislocating bones, drew all its limbs into itself until it was just a mound of flesh with a head. And then it was still. They regarded it warily for the next few moments, but it made no further move. Finally, Marco sighed in relief.

"Alright. I think its dead now." The others began to relax as well, and now that there was no present danger, they felt curiosity. Thatch was looking at the thing confused.

"What the hell was that thing? How in hell did something like that get on the ship without us knowing?" They heard the patter of light approaching footsteps and all whirled around, ready to fight again. Serpent froze, staring at three battle-ready commanders.

"…If I move am I going to be killed instantly?" The three relaxed and Serpent padded forward, drawing closer to them. "What're you all talking about?" She looked around the room. "What happened here? You sure did make a mess." She rounded the corner of a crate and saw the dead monstrosity. She stopped in her tracks. "Oh, shit." Marco snorted.

"Yeah. That pretty much sums it up." Serpent's eyes were focused on the monster.

"No, I mean oh shit." Marco turned to look back at the monster to find the mound of flesh was undulating and rippling strangely. Marco turned back into a bird, taking to the air and circling it, regarding it warily. The thing continued its strange movements, accompanied by its sounds of popping bones and tearing muscles. It seemed to gather itself, condensing into a smaller lump than it had been before.

And then it attacked.

Eight arms came tearing out of the thing, all heading directly for the phoenix. Marco dodged as fast as he could, weaving and diving, but two of the hands caught him and slammed him into the floor, momentarily stunning him and causing him to change back into human form for an instant. But that was all it took. The creature was on him in less than a second. It seized him by the throat and held him off the ground against a wall. Marco choked and struggled to breathe. The creature faced him dispassionately for a moment, then brought its face close to Marco's, neck stretching with more sickening pops.

"The face of death is terrifying." The voice hissed out from the inhuman face, dribbling across the air like oil. Marco struggled to breathe, feeling himself beginning to lose consciousness. The darkness at the edge of his vision was quickly moving inwards and his struggling grew weaker. He was slowly going numb. Sensation had faded entirely from his feet and legs, and his hands were quickly growing weaker. He felt himself slipping into the void. The room, the creature, the world, all of it was growing distant. Unimportant. Darkness closed in and he felt himself being gently pulled away into the blackness. Marco's body went limp.

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Moments Earlier

When Serpent had come up behind them, they had all just about jumped her. Thatch blamed it on adrenaline, and even now wanted to go over and stab that abomination about 50 times just to make sure it really was dead.

"…If I move am I going to be killed instantly?" Thatch forced himself to calm down and back off, still clutching the broken sword in his had tightly. He took some deep breaths, trying to get his body and emotions under control. Serpent was looking at them curiously. "What are you all talking about?" Thatch watched her examine the room. "What happened here? You sure did make a mess." As she came around and saw the beast her eyes widened. "Oh, shit." Marco snorted, almost chuckling.

"Yeah. That pretty much sums it up." Serpent's eyes were still glued to the monster, and Thatch felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Serpent's eyes widened further.

"No, I mean oh shit." Thatch stared at her in confusion and Marco turned to look at the creature. His eyes widened too and he took to the air in bird form again. Thatch turned to the thing to see it moving and stared in shock.

"It was dead. Marco killed it." Serpent's eyes showed deep concern.

"Dammit. I had really, really hoped this wouldn't happen." Thatch turned to look at her in confusion when the thing suddenly lashed out at Marco. Thatch stared in shock as it tore him out of the sky like a paper airplane, dashing him on the ground before pinning him against a wall, suffocating him. Thatch was frozen in shock, and everything was happening fast, too damn fast. Thatch could only watch in horror as Marco's struggling grew weaker and weaker, the fight beginning to leave his eyes. Thatch was watching the whole thing, unable to help and unable to turn away.

Serpent raked his leg with her claws.

"Damn it all, Thatch, do something!" The words and the pain woke Thatch out of his reverie and he threw himself across the room as fast as he could. Hold on, Marco. Please hold on. I'm coming, I'm coming. Just a little longer. Please. Please please please please please. Thatch reached the creature. It was focused solely on Marco now. Marco was still, terribly, horribly still. Thatch kept his attention on the monster and raised his broken sword high above his head, holding it with both hands. He brought it down hard and fast. It sunk in up to the hilt in the creature's torso, right into where the human heart would be. The creature grew abruptly rigid. A screech rent the air, and the thing's black blood came splattering out. Where it made contact with wood or flesh, it hissed, burning like acid. Some of it landed on Thatch's arms and chest, and he grimaced, grunting in pain. He twisted the sword, driving it still deeper.

"Die you son of a bitch!" The creature fell silent. A shudder passed up its spine. Its jaw hung slack and it trembled for a moment longer. Slowly, very slowly it crumpled to the ground.

So did Marco.

Thatch ran to his side, crouching down beside his terribly still brother. He felt desperation and horror and panic rising up in him. Marco wasn't breathing. Thatch looked him up and down, searching for any grievous bodily injury. There were none. He grabbed Marco by the shoulders, shaking him.

"Wake up. Come on, wake up." Marco flopped limply, and no trace of life echoed in him. Thatch's shaking grew more frenzied and desperate. "Come on, Marco. Come on, come on. You made it, the thing's dead. Come on, open your eyes, breathe, breathe!" He felt tears forming in his eyes, throat and chest growing tight. He stopped shaking him and bowed his head. His voice was weak and choked. "Come on…Marco, please…please…"

Abruptly below him, Marco inhaled a great gulp of air and began panting furiously. His blue eyes opened and he continued gasping, bringing a hand up to rub his bruised neck. After a moment he brought himself into a sitting position, looking around the room. He saw the dead creature, sword hilt still protruding from its broken body. He turned to see Thatch staring at him with a truly unreadable expression. Thatch stared at him for a moment longer. With absolutely no warning he raised his hand and punched Marco across the jaw, hard. Marco fell back against the floor, bringing a hand up to his shocked face. Thatch glared down at him murderously.

"Don't you ever fucking do that again!" Marco stared at him in shock from the floor. Thatch harshly pulled him up into a sitting position and hugged him tightly for a moment. Marco was damn confused now. Thatch pulled away and spoke quietly, barely audible. "…I thought you were dead…" Mentally Marco smiled. Thatch rarely outwardly showed it, but he worried almost constantly about everyone. Marco clapped a hand on Thatch's shoulder and stood a little unsteadily. Thatch stood as well and looked at him with concern. Marco waved him off.

"I'm fine, Thatch. It'll take more than one seriously fucked up spider to kill me." Thatch smiled and nodded. The two began making their way across the mutilated room, walking around broken crates, shelves, barrels, boxes and such. They reached the door to find Serpent sitting in the center of the opening, looking up at them. They stopped. She regarded them carefully and seemed to come to a decision.

"…We need to talk about that thing." Thatch and Marco exchanged a glance. Thatch spoke.

"You know what it was?" Serpent nodded.

"That thing…it's called the Black Widow." Marco spoke next.

"Where did it come from?" Serpent looked away, seeming to frown.

"It's...It came from…" She hesitated, seeming unsure of how to give them the news. Finally she sighed.

"That creature you just killed came from Ace's mind." Thatch and Marco stared at her in a mixture of shock and confusion.

"…What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Serpent sighed and flicked her ears.

"Ace…Ace has a lot of raw potential for Haki. Far more than I think you realize. In his current state, all of that potential is left to manifest itself as it sees fit. What you just saw, what you just fought, was simply an illusion. A projection of Ace's mind onto this world." Thatch and Marco exchanged another look. Thatch gestured to the shallow scratches on his chest.

"Then what about this? How is it possible that an illusion could hurt me?" Serpent sighed again and rubbed her face in frustration.

"Okay, I take back what I just said. This isn't Ace's projection on the world, it's his projection on the minds of each and every person on this ship. Those scratches? Those aren't really there. Your mind just thinks they are because of the interaction between the threat your mind saw harm you through a careful manipulation of Haki." Thatch and Marco were both utterly confused again.

"So you're saying Ace was controlling crazy spider-bitch over there?" Serpent shook her head vigorously.

"No, that is absolutely not what I'm saying! In Ace's current state he has no control over his Haki and its manifesting itself randomly, pulling random images from Ace's current mind. I'm saying that this thing was a product of Wonderland." She looked over to the dead spider. "And you're damn lucky it wasn't the Queen or the Hatter that showed up." Both were looking at her in utter confusion.

"You're saying that Ace thought up that thing? And what's Wonderland?" Serpent looked between them.

"…Kind of. His imagination also manifested itself randomly, originally creating images that would be soothing or comforting, but now…Ace's mind has been…changed. Affected by his recent experiences. His mind is…well. It's not exactly a pleasant place to be right now." She turned to look at the Black Widow, and Thatch and Marco followed suit. "Wonderland is where Ace has fled. But sanctuary has become prison, dream turned to nightmare. And now? Now it's becoming reality."

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(A/N: You guys have no idea how much I wanted to end the chapter with Marco's 'death' from his POV. NO IDEA. It was SO TEMPTING! But then I realized I'd have a mob situation and I realized how bad that could be, so I kept writing. XD

Just out of curiosity, how many of you thought I had actually killed Marco? I'm really curious.

This chapter's about 4500 words, so YAY. I didn't fail you all! Oh…wait…yes I did…I promised I'd have this done by Tuesday and I'm 20 minutes late! I'VE FAILED YOU ALL! T.T *dies* I'M SO SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO!

Anyway, please review and say what a nice person I am for not leaving you in suspense over whether Marco died or not! Also, let me know if you actually thought I was going to kill him off! I'm curious of whether that was well written enough that it felt like it. C: Love you all, as always. See you in the next chapter! ~Mountain97)