Chapter 19 (Sup guys? How's it hanging? PLEASE READ THIS IT'S IMPORTANT FOR ONCE! Alright, so here's the scoop on life. I start school on tomorrow. As in Thursday the 16th. Basically, this means I'm not sure how frequent updates are going to be. I know they've been growing more and more…inconsistent, but life is busy and stuff with school coming and all, so I haven't had a lot of time and when I do have time, I really do try to get these updates out for you guys and that's what counts, right? I will be continuing this story! That's a promise! It will see a conclusion! I already know what the last scene of the story's going to be, and have about 2/3 of it written in my head. Okay, onto the next matter of business. I'd like to give a massive thank you to all of my readers, especially those of you who take the time to review! You guys mean the world to me and I just want to take a moment to show my gratitude for your support all this time. I LOVE YOU ALL! YOU ALL ARE AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE, MAGNIFICENT, SUPERB, BRILLIANT PEOPLE AND I REALLY APPRECIATE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!

E: You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Panda Bear: 1) Good guess, but incorrect.

2) No, I'm fairly sure it's spelled Jabberwocky. That is partially correct, however you're missing a piece of the answer. :)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it so much! I hope this meets your expectations!

Guest (no signature): Hahahahahahahaha That's kinda funny. Hope you didn't get into too much trouble… I'm glad you liked the chapter though. I'll definitely try! Well that would be a spoiler and I never give out spoilers. I do epicly foreshadow for those people perceptive enough to see it, however. I've already told you all who Mr. Savage is. I gave you the most blatantly obvious hint in the entire world, and yet nobody's guessed yet! I'm kind of surprised…Is it possible that I'm more subtle than I thought? O_o

Anyways, for those of you wondering, the answer to the challenge questions will be in the Author's Notes at the bottom of the page. This Author's Notes was getting too long and I didn't feel like boring you all anymore. ON WITH THE CHAPTER.)

"You son of a bitch!"

"I barely recognized you."

"You don't know what he's done, he deserves to die!"

"Not gonna have any more fuckin' nightmares."

"Nothing in this entire world is worse than helplessness."

Marco's breathing was uneven. His eyes were wide. "My god…"

Hare smiled. "How's Sabo doing?"

Marco spun around. "Guys I-" Just then the door to the infirmary burst open, Selma rushing out into the hall. Her face was a mask of complete fury, and every muscle in her body seemed tensed, ready to tear something apart. Her voice was harsh and almost loud enough to be considered shouting.

"Where is he? Where is he? I'll kill that son of a bitch!" All three were looking at her in surprise. Whitebeard and Thatch looked confused, but Marco realized she must have discovered the same thing he did. Thatch took a hesitant step towards his enraged crewmate.

"Selma, calm down. Who are you talking-" Selma turned to look at him, mask of passionate hatred still on her face.

"Where. Is. Edward. Hare?" Thatch blinked at her in surprise.

"I-I don't know. But what does he have to do with this?" Selma's expression didn't lighten.

"His name was only carved into Ace's shoulder." Selma spat the words, snarling. "That lying, two-faced, inhuman monster! Where is he?!" Thatch stepped back, eyes wide. Whitebeard was staring at her in open shock but a moment later, his face became just as angry.

"He's the one that did all this? Are you sure?" Whitebeard's voice was the kind of pissed that isn't conveyed by shouting. His voice was as smooth as usual, but had such a coldness to it that it was obvious that whatever came next was going to end in blood. Selma looked at him and nodded assent. Whitebeard drew out his den-den mushi, speaking into it with absolute authority. "My children. This is an order. From this point onwards you are to apprehend the marine Edward Hare on sight. If this isn't possible, kill him. Report any sightings of him directly to me."

The commanders must have caught on to Whitebeard's tone, for less than a moment later, a voice echoed through the receiver. "Oyaji, I'm sorry, but I don't think that'll be possible. Edward Hare left the ship two hours ago. With the size and build of his boat, he's long gone by now. We won't be able to pursue effectively. Please, why is this so important?" Whitebeard had closed his eyes, scowling. He was trying hard not to crush the snail in his hand, rage pumping through him faster and hotter than blood. His voice was cold when he next spoke.

"Edward Hare is the man responsible for Ace's current condition." Gasps and other sounds of surprise came through the snail.

"Ace's current condition…Wait, but doesn't Ace have PTSD? Are you saying that Hare did something that gave Ace posttraumatic stress disorder?"

"Yes. And that's why if he is ever spotted again, if his ship is ever in range, I. Want. Him. Dead." The voices on the other line didn't hesitate for an instant, the positive responses coming out in various levels of anger ranging from pissed off to complete outrage.

"Understood."

"Nobody fucks with our crew and gets away with it."

"Hare's going to get one hell of a surprise if he thinks he can just hurt one of our brothers and walk away."

"That fucker's days are numbered."

"That bastard!"

"I hope he realizes just who the hell he pissed off."

"He's going to pay for what he's done."

Whitebeard smiled at his sons' responses. They all contained a righteous fury, prepared to exact vengeance on someone who really deserved it. Whitebeard turned back to Marco and Thatch. His anger hadn't faded, but he had it under control now and was thinking rationally.

"That's about all we can do for now. Hare can't hide from us forever. It's just a matter of time. What's more important now is that we have to help Ace. From here on out, Ace's memories aren't going to be pleasant. I'd understand if either of you wanted to stop now. Seeing this kind of thing…it isn't just watching. There's more emotion to it than that. If either of you want to pull out, do it now. We won't be taking any more breaks until Ace is back." Marco and Thatch looked at Whitebeard evenly. Marco spoke.

"Ace needs us and trusted us enough to let us in. Abandon him when he's placed this much faith in us? Abandon my otouto when he's asking for my help? Never." Thatch nodded agreement, face set. Whitebeard nodded back at them and raised his voice.

"Serpent!"

Serpent looked at the three pirates. "Are you ready? What you've seen so far is just the beginning. Are you sure you can stomach what's coming?" All three nodded. "Alright. Here we go. Close your eyes." The three did, and Serpent approached each in turn, touching them gently. Each crumpled to the floor ungracefully, completely limp. Serpent looked at the three, something akin to sympathy or pity in her eyes. "It's going to be hard to watch. Good luck."

At first Marco's vision was just a smudge of darkness, but as the moments passed it grew more in focus, the bars and walls forming themselves out of the darkness, Ace's small shape near the back wall becoming clearer and clearer.

"My name's Sabo." Ace pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"I'm Ace." Ace thought he heard sounds of movement from the cell beside his.

"So why are you here?" Ace snorted.

"Family problems. You?"

"I suppose you could consider mine something similar. My father was a world noble. I hated his guts. I hated our whole society's guts. I'd been manipulating his bank accounts for years to fund the revolutionaries. Everyone blamed him for the "misspent" money, so being part of his family is now a crime. Therefore and thusly, I'm here." Ace nodded. That reason sounded like the kind of thing the world government would order the arrest of a child for, corrupt, pig-headed aristocrats that they were. Ace grinned.

"Wanna get out of here?"

"Wh-What? Escape?" The grin stayed on Ace's face.

"Yeah. We're still close to the island I come from. If we grab something that floats before we go, we're close enough to swim back." Sabo sounded mildly exasperated.

"Ace, that doesn't solve the problems of the locked cells or armed marines." Ace pushed himself to his feet. He was a little unsteady at first, probably from the blood-loss of the day and the probable concussion he had got when the marines first captured him, but was able to walk over to the door without leaning on the wall for support.

"Don't worry about the doors, I've got them covered. As for the marines, I don't suppose you know what time of day it is? If it's night time, that'll be best. Unfortunately, unless you have some kind of watch or other timepiece, it's just going to have to be a gamble. We can probably sneak through the majority of the occupied rooms, but once we get to the deck we're going to have to just all-out sprint. They'll be caught off-guard, which gives us the advantage."

"Ace…but what about your back? And I know you haven't seen me yet, but I'm not in exactly perfect condition either. That's salt water out there." Ace reached under the bottom of the left leg of his pants. Felling along the underside of the fabric, he found the seam he was looking for and tore it, taking the bottom inch of his shorts with it. Ace opened the fabric and squinted in the darkness. A grin came to his face. The entire set of lock picks was still there. Again squinting in the near-blackness, Ace selected a rake pick from the set, reaching around through the bars and inserting it into the lock. Moving slowly so as to be quiet, he raked the head of the pick over the pins of the lock, getting a feel for the interior of the lock cylinder.

"These are our choices, Sabo. We can stay here and that marine will do god-knows-what to us until we die, or we can try this. Yes, there is quite the possibility of death with this option, but if I'm going to die, I want it to be on my own terms. Stay here if you like, but I'm at least going to try to escape." There was a moment of silence.

"I'm coming." Ace grunted his approval. He withdrew the rake pick and switched, grabbing instead a half-diamond pick and a tension wrench. He inserted them into the lock and deftly manipulated the interior pins, pushing each to their respective shear lines. With a definitive click the lock gave way, the plug turning to the right. Ace withdrew the picks and pulled the door. It swung inwards silently on well-oiled hinges. Ace felt a surge of triumph.

"Alright, I got my door open. I'll come and do yours now. Are you shackled or do you have free movement?"

"I'm not shackled. Ace, you have to hurry. There's no telling when the marine's are going to come down here to check up on us." Ace walked to Sabo's cell, again lifting the picks and fiddling delicately with the lock mechanism. A moment later this lock clicked as well and the door was open. Ace pushed open the door.

"Let's go, Sabo. Not getting any younger here." There was a rustling of fabric, and through the darkness Ace could discern movement. Sabo stepped out into the better-lit hallway and Ace blinked. "Oh my god. How long have you been here?" Sabo had pulled on a dark, elegant, mildly dilapidated dress coat. Even though it covered the majority of his torso, the remains of a once-white shirt were visible beneath it. The shirt was stained with dried blood, caking one shoulder entirely in the dark red-brown, the stain continuing down under the sleeve of the coat. A purple-red bruise painted one of his cheekbones, and a smaller, darker one graced the lower part of the right side of his jaw. He grinned and Ace saw he was missing a tooth.

"Too damn long. Come on, let's get out of here." Ace smiled back.

"Right." Ace turned, looking down the hallway at a flight of stairs. "When they brought me in, we came from that direction. I couldn't see, so I can't be absolutely sure of directions beyond 'we have to go up.'" Sabo nodded and the two began making their way up the stairs, moving silently.

Passing through several unoccupied hallways and up another flight of stairs, Ace felt certain they were nearing the deck. They'd had a close call when a group of marines had come around a corner unexpectedly. Ace had been able to pull Sabo and himself out of sight before the marines had seen them, but it had been a near thing. The two came to another corner and Ace stopped them, pressing against the wall and listening. He could hear no sounds of movement from down the hallway, and moving slowly he stuck his head around the corner just enough that he could see down the hallway. There was a flight of stairs leading up to a sturdy wooden door. A real smile came to Ace's face.

"Sabo, I think I see the way out! We're almost there!" Ace looked back to the other boy grinning and saw his own relief and happiness reflected in Sabo's face. A moment later, he sobered. "Okay, when we get on deck, it's really just going to be sprinting as fast as possible. We still don't know whether it's day or night, but either way we're going to have to move fast. The main objective is to get over the rail and off the ship. Best-case scenario? We hijack a lifeboat. Worst case? We just have to swim. Whatever happens, the most important thing is getting off of the ship." Sabo nodded and the two walked down the last hallway and up the stairs. They stopped a moment at the door. Ace looked Sabo in the eye and Sabo nodded again. Ace nodded back. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

Ace flung the door wide and both burst out onto the deck, sprinting as hard as they could. Ace felt a little hope fall as the sunlight dazzled him. It was still daytime. Or had an entire day already passed? Either way, it meant more marines out on deck. Ace took a moment to get his bearings, then began sprinting again, heading for the edge of the deck. He heard a marine shout in surprise and realized their advantage was almost up. He glanced to each side and saw Sabo running a little ways to his right.

"Stop them." Ace heard the voice and a small chill shot down his spine. The officer didn't sound angry, didn't sound upset. He didn't even sound surprised to see them. Ace glanced over to check on Sabo and saw he was still running. The other marines were beginning to react, running towards Sabo and Ace.

Ace hissed as several marines leapt in front of him, dodging to the left before they could grab him. "Shit."

The officer's voice was as cool and collected as ever. "Use whatever means necessary to stop them. Don't kill them, though." Ace saw the marines beginning to raise their guns, taking aim at him and Sabo. The gunshots began and Ace and Sabo both began dodging, moving from side to side as well as forward to make a harder target. Because of the marines' positions on deck, they had been forced to run for the bow, making their way across the majority of the deck. There was only one marine between them and freedom now, and he was quite a ways off. He had his gun raised, but his hands were shaking. He looked fairly young, and his conscience seemed to be getting in the way of duty. Ace blinked. Yes he seemed to be dealing with his conscience, but his aim was perfect. The 'shaking' in his hands hadn't been unintentional, he was tracking their movements up and down as they ran. Ace grit his teeth. Damn this guy's good. If he shoots, there's a high chance that he won't miss. But Ace kept running. Because freedom was worth the risk of death. The marine in front of him took a deep breath.

"S-Stop. Please. I don't want to hurt you, so please, stop. It can't be that bad, being prisoners, right? Stop now or I will shoot." Ace scoffed.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, 'can't be that bad'?" Ace and Sabo continued their dash, their strides bringing them closer and closer to the aiming marine. He looked completely torn. Finally he took another deep breath, steadying the gun.

Ace's eyes widened and he instantly hit the deck. The gunshot seemed loud compared to how silent Ace's world had gone. It was a moment of hyper-clarity, of near slow-motion for Ace. The bullet went over his head by about 3 inches as he fell to the deck, sliding on the polished wood. He heard a shout of pain from behind him and realized the bullet must have hit one of the marines pursuing him. The marine in front of him blinked, gritting his teeth. "Dammit." He brought up the gun again, quickly changing targets. Ace's eyes widened.

Sabo wasn't going to be able to dodge.

He had been distracted when Ace slid, thinking him hit by the bullet. He had slowed down, checking if Ace was okay. In that moment while the marine was aiming, Ace realized Sabo wouldn't be able to dodge. He also realized Sabo knew he couldn't dodge. Looking back at the marine, Ace realized that he too knew that Sabo would be hit. Time froze as all three faced this fact. Ace's eyes locked onto the marine's. He looked absolutely broken with guilt. Ace saw his lips move, but barely a sound came out.

"I'm sorry." Ace's eyes widened and he met the marine's eyes.

"No, don't!" The marine's eyes were focused on Sabo now, the gun growing steadier as it honed in on its target. Ace was trying to move over to Sabo, bringing himself out of the slide and trying to reach him, but he could tell he wasn't going to make it in time. Ace saw the marine's finger tighten on the trigger. "STOP!"

And it did. For an instant, the entire world went completely still. But Ace didn't. He kept running, moving through the paused moment as easily as if it were in real time. All around him marines were frozen in their positions, some reaching out from behind him to try to grab his arms, some taking badly aimed shots at him or Sabo. Ace even saw a few bullets hanging in midair.

And then time started again.

In that instant, three things happened. Ace grabbed Sabo, nearly all of the marines fell to the ground, unconscious, and the gun went off. Ace's momentum carried both he and Sabo to the ground. Sabo grunted as he hit the ground, the air being forced out of his lungs as Ace landed on top of him. The bullet hadn't hit him. Sabo heard footsteps as the few marines left standing closed on them.

"I'm sorry Ace. This…this is my fault." Sabo felt something warm drip onto his chest. "Ace?" Ace was trembling lightly, his teeth clenched to keep from crying out. His shoulder was burning with pain, blood dripping steadily from the bullet hole. Sabo sat up, supporting Ace's weight and turning him over so he was face-up. "Oh my god, Ace!" Sabo lifted a hand and pressed it against the wound, eliciting a gasp. The wound wasn't going to be fatal, but losing too much blood would have adverse affects. Ace shut his eyes and grit his teeth, biting back a yell. Ace heard the officer give a tired sigh.

"Take them back to the cells." Instantly several marines closed in from the circle, grabbing Ace and pulling him away from Sabo. Sabo was grabbed too. Ace struggled against the marines, but stopped as his shoulder shouted its protests in bright hues of pain. As he was brought back towards the door that would lead to the lower decks, he saw the marine officer. He was standing near the railing of the ship, facing out towards the sea. Ace turned to face him, snarling.

"You can't keep me here. I'll escape again." The officer raised his hand and the men bringing Ace back to his cell stopped. The man turned to face Ace, showing his face for the first time. Edward Hare's face was calm, devoid of nearly all emotion.

"No. No you won't." He turned towards the young marine who had shot Ace, emotion still devoid from his face. His voice was nonchalant. "Break his legs. Both of them." The marine looked at Hare in utter horror, frozen where he stood. Once it was clear he wasn't going to move, Hare walked over and took the rifle from his hands.

"Give me that." He turned and began walking towards Ace, the rifle looking comfortable and familiar in his hands. Ace felt real fear rising inside of him. He pressed back against the marines, try to get as far as possible from the approaching Hare. The marines holding his arms tugged him down a ways so that his knees were bent. As Hare drew closer still, Ace's struggling grew more desperate, ignoring the pain from his bleeding shoulder. Hare finally stopped directly in front of him. Ace abandoned his struggling, recognizing it as futile, instead staring up at the man with widened eyes. Hare regarded him dispassionately; cool blue eyes meeting widened hazel-grey ones without empathy. Hare turned the gun in his hands, aiming the butt of the gun towards Ace and getting a firm grip on the barrel. Ace's eyes were focused solely on the gun now, fear pumping through him. Hare raised the gun, the late afternoon light reflecting off the barrel in a flash of yellow-gold. The gun came down hard and fast on Ace's right calf. The snap that the bone made was loud enough to be heard by everyone across the silent deck.

And for the first time, Ace screamed.

He hung limply between the two marines restraining him, right leg bent unnaturally. The word 'pain' did not even begin to describe what Ace was currently experiencing. The sensation was neither hot nor cold, having no feeling besides utter and complete agony. It blocked out any thought, any words, any protest Ace might have made, filling his mind solely with its blinding, undeniable existence. After a moment, Ace came back to his senses somewhat, slowly opening his eyes and swallowing thickly. The pain was still there, burning away any rational thinking. Ace's breathing was uneven, coming out in gasps and small cries of pain. He watched helplessly as Hare raised the gun again and again brought it down, this time on Ace's left leg. Ace screamed again, the same indescribable white agony arcing up his leg and purging all thoughts from his mind. Hare tossed the gun back to the marine, face as calm and collected as ever. He addressed the two marines holding Ace.

"Back to his cell." Ace hung between the two, unable to support his own weight. As he was carried between the two men, his legs were left to drag behind him. New pain was born with each foot he was dragged, eliciting gasps and small cries from Ace. And then they reached the stairs.

And Ace knew what hell felt like.

Each drop of each stair elicited its own shout of pain from Ace, a flash of agony born with each thump as his useless legs hit the bottom of each stair. The pain completely numbed Ace's mind, no thought or feeling getting through beside the all-engulfing pain. The hallways and staircases all ran together in one bright shade of agony, and Ace's mind blurred them together. He wasn't sure how long it took to get back to his cell, only that it took exactly 324 steps from his guards and 58 steps over the 4 staircases they went down. Ace was thrown into his cell, automatically trying to catch himself on his feet. His legs crumpled beneath him and he gave yet another yell of pain. He heard the marines outside the bars snicker and then they began to move off, leaving Ace lying on the floor.

Ace was trembling lightly, his entire body shaking minutely. The part of his mind that hadn't been drowned in the torrent of his suffering said that he was going into shock, that his body had sustained too much damage for one day. Ace didn't really care though. Too much of him hurt for him to care about the science of why he hurt. His vision was blurry, the edges of things smoothing over, growing indistinct.

But he could still see the silhouette of a man outside the bars.

Ace heard him taking footsteps and saw him growing closer and blinked hard, forcing his eyes to focus. It was the officer. He smiled coldly down at Ace and lifted a scalpel. Ace's eyes focused on the knife instantly, tracking its movements.

"Now then, let's get that bullet out of your shoulder." Ace didn't know how he managed to speak, not even forming the thought fully before sound came out of his mouth.

"Stay back!" The man's smile widened and he continued to draw closer.

"Now Ace, I'm a doctor. Quite a talented surgeon, if I do say so myself. Don't you trust me?"

Ace lay on the floor of his cage surrounded by a small pool of blood. Hare had left moments before, taking the only light down in the cellblock with him. Ace lay in total darkness, mind blank. His breathing was shallow, uneven, and raspy. He could barely speak anymore he was so hoarse from screaming. Eventually another light appeared, coming slowly down the hallway. Ace's unfocused eyes tracked its progress. Is he back already? Has it been a full day since he left? Ace blinked several times and forced his eyes to focus on the person approaching his cell. It's not the officer. Too short. Then who…? The light stopped outside the bars and the person came to face Ace for the first time. The unidentified eyes in the unidentified face widened.

"Oh my god…what did he do to you?" Ace blinked the fog out of his brain and forced his eyes to focus on the person in front of him. His eyes widened.

"You." The rifleman that had shot Ace was staring at him in mild horror. Ace forced himself into a sitting position, pushing a hand against his still sluggishly bleeding shoulder. "What? Here to make my life worse? I'm not sure that's really possible anymore after how much you screwed me over this afternoon." The marine looked to the floor.

"I…I came to apologize." Ace snorted.

"Apologize? And what the hell good does that do? Relieve you of your guilty conscience?"

"I'm sorry…I-I didn't know-"

"Didn't know what? That your captain was a monster? What about Sabo? Based on the fading of the bruises I saw he's been here for weeks. How is it possible you 'didn't know' about him?" The marine apparently could not meet his eyes.

"I…I brought you both some food." Ace snorted again.

"Oh wonderful. Another gift from my oh-so-generous benefactor. I had such a great time with your last gift." He tapped his shoulder, indicating the now-removed bullet. "And even your captain seemed to like it! He enjoyed cutting it out of my shoulder with no anesthesia whatsoever, I think. Let me give you a hint about human anatomy. Another person's fingers do not belong in your shoulder under any circumstances." The marine was still staring at the floor.

"I'm…I'm so sorry. You're right, I don't deserve forgiveness. It's my fault you didn't escape today. I can't do much for you, but I can ensure that you're fed. Captain Hare told me not to bring you food, but…I knew you'd need it. Please…let me do what little I can for you."

"So that's his name? The man with the cold eyes, your captain? Hare?" The marine looked up to his face in surprise and confusion.

"Yes, but why is that-"

A grin came to Ace's face. "Because. Once I get out of here, I'm going to need his name if I intend to hunt him down and kill him."

(A/N: The end of this chapter sucked. The overall chapter was meh. Whatever. It's late and I have to go to sleep because I have to wake up for freaking SCHOOL tomorrow. SUMMER! WHERE DID YOU GO? So anyways, no promises on an update schedule from here on out. Trust me, if I was allowed to sit in front of my computer all day and just write this, I totally would. But unfortunately I'm going to have homework and classes and projects and all that 'lovely' stuff, so I'm going to be a lot busier from here on out.

Challenge answers:

1) 90% of you guessed this correctly. The 'grin floating in midair' is none other than our very own lovable Cheshire Cat!

2) Most people got this semi-correct, but nobody got the full answer. *Pouts* Honestly why do I even write details if nobody even remembers it? Okay, so basically the cherry was still the hot coal, but Ace's PTSD mind changed it to a cherry. Why? Well, how about you all go read chapter 14 again. That should give you the rest of the answer ;)

Anyways, I hate school, I hate homework, and I really want summer back. That's the summary of my mood right now. Oh well. I'll live. Please review! Make me happy! The first week of school always makes me depressed. Thanks for listening! ~Mountain97)