Chapter 20 (Holy crap this chapter is SO BEYOND LATE! I'm so sorry everyone! You wouldn't believe how much homework I'm already drowning in. I did over 4 hours of history (and that was just history!) homework yesterday. It was crazy. I wanted to shred my textbook by the end. I guess that's what I get for taking an AP class, huh? But you guys didn't come here to hear my moaning, so I'll shut up now.

I feel like some of you misunderstood what I said at the end of the last author's notes. What I meant when I said 'most people got this semi-correct' was that yes, the cherry was the hot coal. Good job to those of you that got that far. The full answer was a little bigger than that, though. If you'll remember in chapter 14 Serpent laid out specific rules about the do's and don'ts of Wonderland. If you'll remember, one of the rules is that if you eat any food from Wonderland, you're stuck there forever. The Jabberwocky and Wonderland's other inhabitants want Ace to come back, and if they had gotten him to eat the cherry, he would have had to go back and he would have been stuck there.

Next bonus question: Why would they want Ace back in Wonderland? I may not have explicitly given you the answer to this, but let's see if anyone can guess. See how perceptive you people are.

Panda Bear: Yes, school kinda sucks. It's not that I'm not smart, I'm just lazy. C: Too much work for me. AP World History + Honors Chemistry + Honors British Literature + Honors Algebra 2/Trigonometry + French 2 = DEATH. DEATH BY HOMEWORK.

TFR: *tears* Too kind. I'm glad you like my story that much. But go spend time with friends and stuff too! I don't want to ruin your social life!

Thank you! I'm just kinda a perfectionist which means dissatisfaction with pretty much everything I do…^u^'

Well, you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?

Thank you! Wow that's a pretty long summer break. I think it's about 2 weeks longer than ours. Man, I already want summer back…

Munchkin: Your cookie will come when you say something relevant to the chapter… :)

WARNING: This chapter contains references to violence. Not really any actual violence, and if you made it through the last chapter you'll be fine. I might say the word 'blood' a few times, but at this point if that freaks you out I wonder that you're still reading this story.

ON WITH THE CHAPTER!)

"Why did you hesitate?" The marine blinked, but Ace didn't see it in the near-darkness.

"What?"

"Why did you hesitate? Everyone else was just firing away. You're the first marine I've seen on this ship with a conscience." The man looked at the floor.

"Because you…you remind me of someone." Ace raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" The man smiled, but the expression spoke more of loneliness than joy.

"My son." Ace blinked in surprise. The marine bowed his head once more. "I…I had to shoot. I couldn't…I can't…" A tear dripped down his face. Ace looked on in surprise as a gentle sob moved the man's chest. "He's…he's about your age. Maybe a little younger. He's only six years old. I…I keep seeing him in you, everything about you. But I want you to understand. When I pulled that trigger, I felt like I was shooting him. In your face, I saw everything that he is. Everything that I love about him. But I had to shoot." His body was shaking lightly. "He still…he still needs me. As much as it tore me apart, I had to fire. If I hadn't, Hare would have considered it treason, and I can't…I can't afford to die. Not when he still needs his father…" The near silent sobs continued to wrack his frame and Ace felt his anger fade, replaced by a deep loneliness.

"What's his name?" Ace's voice was quiet, any trace of his former spite gone. The marine's face pulled into a small smile, tears still leaking from his eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, the thick, durable kind used for drawing. His eyes focused on the unpracticed sketch, the lumpy people, the bright, crayon-colored faces and clothes.

"Aaron. He turned six last May." Ace, using his hands, dragged himself over to the bars, trying to move his legs as smoothly as possible over the wooden floor. All the same, he had to bite back any sound of pain as the smooth wood slid beneath his broken limbs. He leaned back against the bars, close to the marine. The marine seemed to sense Ace's curiosity and, after smiling down at the drawing for a moment longer, handed the sheet of paper through the bars to the sitting Ace. Ace accepted the sheet and studied the picture. He drew in a startled breath. His loneliness tripled, his chest constricting painfully. In the picture, two figures were standing on a simple background. Both were lumpy and disproportional, the childishly drawn proportions and riot of colors attesting to the youth of the artist. Scribbled sloppily above one of the figures was the word 'me.' Above the other, taller figure the word 'daddy' was written in equally messy handwriting. Drawing in a shaky breath, Ace reached into one of the pockets of his shorts. It's still there.

Ace drew out the folded, rumpled piece of paper and opened it slowly.

Luffy's sloppy drawing met his eyes in its own childish guilelessness. The two figures still smiled off the sheet from their wide, uneven faces and the words still shown out in their blue wax from the crayons Ace had gotten Luffy for his last birthday. 'Me' was proclaimed over the shorter figure, dark hair and brown eyes identifying it as Luffy. The other figure was taller, with the same dark hair but different eyes. Above this was scribbled 'Onii-san' in the plain, unwittingly blunt writing of naïveté. Ace felt tears biting at his eyes but forced them back. The marine was studying him closely, but hadn't looked at the picture, seemingly waiting for Ace's permission. Ace swallowed thickly.

"I…I have a family too, you know." Ace drew in a shaky breath. The marine continued to watch him in silence, waiting for Ace to continue, seeming to sense Ace's need for companionship. "A little brother." Ace blinked back his tears. "The best person you could ever hope to know." The marine continued to watch Ace in silence. Ace stared at the drawing he had taken from Luffy's sketchbook for another moment. Desperate loneliness wracked through his frame, sobs trying hard to escape the steel wall Ace had locked his emotional side behind ever since being taken by the marines. Finally Ace swallowed back his tears, forcing them down. From his loneliness he drew determination. His eyes hardened, his shoulders set. "And by God I'm going to see him again. I don't care what it takes. I will get out of here. I will survive this. That bastard Hare won't break me. He won't be able to. Memory is my lifeline and it will sustain me until I get out of here. And I'll never let him near my little brother again." Ace looked down at the drawing, freezing every detail into his mind. After he was sure he would remember every tiny feature, he flipped the paper over and pressed it into the trail of blood he had left when he brought himself over to the wall. The marine gasped in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Ace continued to hold Luffy's drawing in the blood until it was completely saturated, the crayon no longer visible.

"Protecting that which always has been, always will be, most important to me." Ace turned back to the marine, handing back Aaron's drawing. He offered the man a small smile. "You have an amazing son. A real miracle. Cherish him."

Ace lay on the floor of his cell, his breathing ragged and uneven. His eyes were unfocused and he was in a kind of daze, the pain of the day's beatings and tortures clouding his mind. Ace roused himself a little. Several days ago, Ace had been forced to swallow a hot coal and his voice was still almost nonexistent. His throat was healing, but he still could do little more than whisper hoarsely. Over the time that Ace had been here, everything had been taken away. Hare had torn it away. Now Ace couldn't even scream. That primal defense mechanism programmed into every human being, to cry out for help, even that had been pulled out of his reach.

Being that they were trapped inside and there were no windows or holes in the wall, Ace had no knowledge of the passage of time. His only method for measuring how long he had been here was by counting the number of visits Hare had made. He made a small mark on the wall each time Hare came to his cell, and by now he had nine. The marine who had shot Ace had also been visiting, usually at least once for every time that Hare visited. The marine would bring food for him and Sabo, and when he had time he would talk with them, trying to help them take their minds off the pain of their newest injuries. Ace assumed that Hare visited him once daily, and the other marine would visit them as often as possible, usually two times out of every three days. As time progressed, Hare's tormenting had grown crueler and crueler. Today's torture had been exacted with a scalpel and powdered salt. After making cuts of various lengths and depths, Hare had individually packed each with salt. The injuries to Ace's throat had been reopened by his attempts at screaming, and by the end he had been spitting up blood instead of sound.

But that wasn't what hurt him the most.

In the cell next to his, he could hear Sabo's equally uneven breathing, the air hitching in his throat from suppressed sounds of pain. Over the time that Ace had been here, he and Sabo had become friends. Maybe it was their shared torment that brought them closer together, but at this point, Ace felt Sabo knew him better than almost anyone. That was why, after Hare left Ace's cell, Ace knew his torment wasn't over yet.

Because it was Sabo's screams that hurt him the most.

Both Hare and the marine had already visited for the day, and while the passage of time wasn't measurable down here, Ace knew instinctively that it would be a while before either returned.

"What's your home like?" Sabo's quiet voice brought Ace out of his daze.

"What?"

"Your home. The island you come from. What's it like?" Sabo's voice was weak, full of a sadness Ace didn't understand.

"I come from a small island in East Blue. Fuushia Village." Ace furrowed his brows, feeling concern for the other boy.

"Describe it to me." Sabo's voice was hollow, wrung-out.

"Sabo?" Ace felt real worry growing inside his chest.

"Please?" His voice sounded different, tight and thin. Ace blinked in surprise. He's crying. Ace turned his head towards the wall that separated them. He swallowed.

"Okay." Ace took a deep breath, sifting through the memories of his home, trying to remember every detail. "The island I come from is really rather small. There's only one village on it, and it doesn't have more than 80 people. The east coast of the island is beaches and the village is situated near the water on that side." Ace's eyes drifted closed, the memories swelling and flowing around him.

"The sand is white and warm, and in the summer when the sun shines on the water, the whole ocean looks like a sapphire. The sky is blue topaz, and there are no clouds, as if they're afraid to make the scene less beautiful. The coast slopes up to the village, which is about a quarter of a mile away from the beach. The houses are simple, but each has its own identifying feature. The people smile as you walk by, and every house's door is open, everyone is your family, everywhere is home. The fishermen laugh loudly, complaining about the weight of their catch but the smile never really leaves their eyes.

If you continue west from the village, there's a trail that leads from the village and up the mountain. The trail weaves through a forest lazily, not in any hurry to get you up the mountain. The breezes sigh through the trees in summer, the light dapples the floor with flecks of white-yellow brilliance. Birds sing. It rains here sometimes, in the late afternoons or early mornings. And afterwards everything gets this feeling of renewal, like the entire island was just remade. It smells like life and water and light, and the mist will occasionally get caught under the trees in the fall. And the leaves…the leaves during autumn take on all different shades of amber and yellow and red, and for about 2 weeks of every year the whole island looks as if it's on fire. In winter all the leaves are gone, but sometimes after a snowstorm the trees will have snow on all their branches and it looks like they're all wrapped in lace, and suddenly it doesn't matter that the leaves are gone or that it's freezing because it's just so beautiful.

As you continue up the trail, you'll eventually come out onto a small meadow. This is where my house is. It's not big or ornate or really that impressive, but it's warm and sturdy and home. There's a small garden out back where I grow vegetables and herbs, and during the spring the whole meadow is filled with wildflowers. During that time the whole place smells like spring, each flower bringing its own scent. There's lavender and harebell and western wood lily, and it looks like drops of paint just fell from heaven and colored the place. Butterflies roam haphazardly over the whole area, and they only add more color, looking like delicate paper secrets, sashaying around in hues of ruby and tanzanite. On winter nights the whole area is covered in frost or snow, and the air nips your lungs as you inhale. The stars, though, shine brighter than the moon, and each stands out in glacial clarity. Orion stands watch over the world, Canis Major patrolling diligently by his side. The whole winter is shaded in blues and whites, and the icicles on the trees hang like delicate wind chimes, daring gravity to bring them down. And it's quiet. So very, very quiet. The whole world sleeps, shrouded in snow. Yet there is a tension in the air, the life force of the world just waiting for its cue to burst back into shades of green and yellow and brown, the harsh majesty and elegance of Skaði giving way to the warmth and jubilance of spring.

If you head northwest from here, you'll reach one of my favorite places on the whole island. After passing through a grove of birch and juneberry trees, you come out onto another small meadow. This one, during the spring and summer, is filled with knee-high grasses. It's on the western coast of the island, and it has a fantastic view of the sunsets. This side of the island, though, doesn't slope down to gentle beaches. This side is made up of cliffs. The stone juts almost perpendicular to the water, and the cliffs reach up about 150 feet. The stone is darker on this side of the island, and the soil is rockier. The grasses there are sturdy and dependable, able to withstand the thunderstorms that occasionally assault this side of the island. Sometimes during the summer, me and Luffy'll sleep outside here. The air is fresh, smelling like mountains and sea spray, and the stars blink sleepily from their positions in the sky. What're amazing though are the fireflies. It's the only place on the entire island where they live, and at night it looks like the stars have come down from the sky and are waltzing lazily around the field. My favorite part about that whole place, though, is the sound. The waves. They beat lazily, rhythmically crashing and sighing against the stone. The gentle murmur they make when the sea is calm, the thundering boom as they slam against the cliffs during a storm, it's…indescribable. It sounds like...it sounds like…" Ace trailed off, opening his eyes slowly, the images of his home fading.

"It sounds like freedom." Ace's head snapped to the side, facing towards where he knew Sabo was. He blinked several times in surprise, mouth hanging slightly open. He knows. He understands. He closed his mouth and his eyes softened.

"Yeah. It does." He heard Sabo shift in the cell next to his.

"Thank you." Sabo's voice still held that deep sadness that Ace couldn't name, but it seemed lessened. "Thank you." Sabo's shoulders shook gently, tears still falling from his eyes. "I…I can't remember my home anymore. I can't remember anything about it. I can't remember my mother's face, what it feels like to be embraced by someone who loves you, the warmth of sitting by a fireplace reading, it's all gone. I have no home anymore. You've shared something precious with me. Thank you."

And Ace understood, now, what Sabo's grief was for. Not only had his family been ripped away from him, probably killed already on the whim of the government, not only had he been abducted from his home and tortured for no good reason, but now he was losing his last link to the life he had known before, the better life, the happier one where men weren't monsters and where your entire world wasn't framed by the bars of a cage. As Ace understood this, he also came to understand that he didn't want Sabo to feel like this, to have no hope left and feel completely alone in a world that was much colder and much more painful than either of them had thought possible. He didn't want to hear that despair and that grief in his voice, he didn't want to hear Sabo scream again, he didn't want to see Hare leave his cell and feel that crushing fear that this would be the last time he ever heard Saob's voice, an agonized wail that ended in a gurgle or just tapered off into silence, and nothing ever after it. He understood what it meant, and a small smile came to his face.

"But you do have a home." He could hear Sabo's suppressed sobs coming from the other side of the wall.

"I don't. Not anymore. It's been taken from me along with everything else that ever meant anything."

Ace shook his head. "That's not true. You still have a home left, you still have a family." He pushed himself into a sitting position.

"No I don't. I watched my father's head roll and my mother's right after his. Our house was burned to the ground and there's nothing left, and no one remaining to even care."

"I care. And you do have a family. And a home." The smile on Ace's face widened, even as he sensed Sabo was about to protest again. "Mine."

"W-What?"

"You may have to wait a little longer, but we'll be going home soon. Luffy's going to love you, I can just tell."

"Ace, what're you-"

"What kind of a person would I be if I didn't share my home with my own brother?" A moment of silence passed.

"B-Brother?" Sabo's voice was shaking.

"That's right. And as soon as we get out of here, you'll get to meet the third member of our little family. It may be a bit less…organized than your last family, but it has its upsides. And I'm sure Makino and Shanks are going to love you too."

"Ace…"

"We don't have a third bedroom, but that's fixable. And I sure could use your help taking care of Luffy. The last time he got sick I was up for three days straight." Sabo felt something growing in his chest, something warm and bright and real, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. The feeling of actually being wanted. The possibility of a future. Home. A little brother. An island full of people who know my name and smile at me. A smile danced onto his face.

"I can't wait to go home."

(A/N: Sorry it's shortish. I really am. I just have other stuff (read 'homework. Mountains and mountains of homework.') that I have to do. So…yeah. I really have nothing of value to say down here besides telling you all that it's probably going to be another inordinately long time until my next chapter is posted. Sorry about that too. We'll see. Maybe my teachers will be nice and not drown me in assignments this week.

Just in case you didn't bother to read this in the authors notes at the top, here:

Bonus question: Why would the inhabitants of Wonderland want Ace back? I may not have explicitly given you the answer to this, but let's see if anyone can guess. See how perceptive you people are.

Bonus 2: I referenced a specific kind of mythology in this chapter. Somebody find it and say what mythology it's from. Shouldn't be too hard ;)

Yeah. So have a nice time everyone, and I guess I'll see you when I see you. ~Mountain97)