Coherence

Ace' first thought on emerging from sticky, cloying darkness was barely even a thought at all and more a sensation of blind, primal panic that made him lash out blindly at whatever it was that he knew shouldn't be there.

On Kuraigana Island Zoro jerked awake, rolled over and swore horribly, rubbing his chest where the green fireball had blasted him. So what if it wasn't real; it had still burned like hell!

The feeling quickly passed however and he flailed against the heavy feeling weighing his body down. He felt like his bones had been turned to lead and his brain was full of treacle. What had happened? Where was he? Why did everything ache?

"Uuuurgh," he moaned, rubbing his eyes with one hand. As he tried to roll over he hit a warm –familiar– body. Fox, whose damp hair was loosely braided and tangled around his other arm. From what he could tell he was only wearing bandages and boxers, but she seemed to be wearing even less: bikini bottoms and nothing else, by the feel of things. Then there was the matter of the bed and the room, neither of which he recognised. There was a faint smell of old blood and sake hanging around, they were on a fairly large ship by the feel of the roll and he could hear familiar voices filtering down from the deck, but this definitely wasn't the Moby Dick or any of the other ships in the fleet.

As he shifted a sudden deep ache in his chest brought him up short, gasping for breath. What had-

Impel Down. Marineford. Luffy.

Akainu.

Ace tried to breathe deeply and evenly; setting the sheets on fire because he had hyperventilated would be bad, especially with Fox wrapped around him. His sudden spike in temperature disturbed his bedmate, who grumbled incoherently, rolled partly on top of him and opened her eyes a crack.

"Ace?" she mumbled, one hand untangling her hair while the other ran up his chest, glowing softly and tickling under the skin. "Whazzup?"

"Where are we? What happened? Where's Luffy?" Ace asked as his brief instant of terror faded away and left him feeling like he'd just tried to wrestle with Pops and lost.

"In order, the Red Force, you nearly died and safely healing," Fox muttered, stretching like a cat and yawning. "Your almost-execution was three days ago, by the way. Now go back to sleep." She curled up against his shoulder, buried her face in the side of his neck and drifted off in seconds. Ace wanted to ask more, but exhaustion rolled over him like a tidal wave and he sunk back into oblivion like a stone.

Ace dreamed. First he dreamed of Impel Down, of darkness, isolation and being forgotten. It was boring and lonely and disheartening but it was also distant and unreal. Then he dreamt of Marineford, standing on that execution stand and seeing Luffy trying to rescue him but failing and falling and Akainu reaching out a molten hand towards him and Ace screaming for his brother as Luffy burned-

"Ace!"

He woke up with a jerk and clutched at the warm body hovering over him, gasping and panting as tears rolled down his face.

"Luffy is fine," a soothing voice told him, cutting through the horror and the terror and the smell of burning flesh etched in his memory. "He's sleeping and healing and there is nothing wrong with him other than exhaustion. Calm down. Your brother is safe and so are you. Breathe, Hothead."

The nickname brought him back to reality more than anything else. "Fox," he rasped, clinging desperately onto her body and burying his face in her neck, breathing in the scent of seawater, steel and limes that was uniquely her. A hand rubbed firmly up and down his back as his best friend hummed a drinking song under her breath. The gentle vibration and the steady comfort helped Ace get himself back under control and his grip on Fox' ribs loosened.

"Sorry," he whispered, aware that it was the middle of the night.

"You're forgiven," Fox said promptly, "but just for waking me up; a nightmare is nothing you need to apologise for. I've had more than my fare share, remember?"

Ace did indeed remember. Fox' nightmares had been infrequent but extremely disturbing, leaving her terrified, incoherent and holding onto him so tightly he could barely breathe. Her babble never made any sense when she was like that and neither did her fears, but he recognised that fear wasn't rational and had generally managed to persuade her to go back to sleep. Why Fox would fear people taking her away in the middle of the night Ace had no idea, but he had a sinking feeling that particular fear had a basis in fact no matter how strange it seemed.

"Are you sure Luffy's okay?" he whispered, feeling stupid but having to ask.

"I'm monitoring him," Fox mumbled, twitching her braid so he wasn't lying on top of it. "He's unconscious and healing. Jinbe's with him."

Oh. Ace had asked Jinbe to keep an eye on Luffy for him if the worst came to the worst, but the fishman hadn't made any promises. That he'd gone through with Ace' request was… nice. Reassuring too; Jinbe would look after his brother. He relaxed abruptly, suddenly feeling tired again. "Sorry," he muttered again.

"S'okay," Fox yawned. "I worry 'bout him too."

Ace frowned. He seemed to remember Fox saying they were on the Red Force, but that didn't make sense. He was a Whitebeard Pirate, so he should be on the Moby Dick. Just like the quiet voices out on deck should have been; he'd recognize the distant rumble of Jozu speaking anywhere.

"Why are we on the Red Force?"

"D'you remember Akainu tried to sink the Moby Dick, so Spitfire had Jaws move it?"

"Yeah…" Ace conceded.

"Well it's in a bad way and needs fixing. The coating's shot for one and there're holes in the deck and half the rigging's ash. So Spitfire's putting it somewhere safe where it can be fixed later and Shanks is giving us a lift back to the New World."

"I don't remember Shanks being at Marineford," Ace said slowly.

"He arrived after you passed out," Fox said quietly.

Passed out; what a nice euphemism. He'd had a hole burnt right through him. "How am I even alive?" he whispered incredulously, suddenly understanding why he hurt in all kinds of places and could barely move.

"Luffy ordered me to keep you from dying," Fox muttered, one hand gripping the nape of his neck, "but I probably would have done it anyway. Can this wait until morning?"

Ace closed his eyes. He hurt, he was tired and he could tell the coming conversation would not be even remotely fun. "Sure it can wait," he sighed, pulling her closer into his arms and letting his mind drift. Whatever Fox had done to bring him back from the brink of death probably had something to do with the way he could feel her heartbeat in his head, but right now he didn't care. He was alive, Luffy was alive and that was enough.

Ace wakes up. Unpleasant revalations will keep until later though.