Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter!

I know this is late, sorry about that

But here it is!

Hope you enjoy

Read and relax

Ace sat on his bed, not sure what to do as he felt really bad. Today was the anniversary of Sabo's death and he usually had Luffy or Deuce to comfort him. But Luffy was still back on their island and Deuce was on Moby 2. Ace moved to lie on his bed on his back, hands over his face as he tried to not cry. This was his first anniversary of Sabo's death without Luffy or Deuce and Ace felt so… awful. He felt sad, bad, and other things he didn't know how to name. As he felt he was failing at not crying, he moved to bite the inside of his cheek, until he bit off a small piece and the familiar taste of blood entered his mouth which made him realize he bit too hard. He knew he shouldn't do this and moved to clench his teeth so he wouldn't bite the inside of his cheek anymore. He hated this day so much.

After a bit, Ace just moving his hands a bit and clenching them to not just lie completely still, he didn't like that, he noticed something when his thumb went over his index finger and looked at it and saw he had a cuticle which was standing up. Just a small one, most likely since he had dry hands. He usually bit them off, don't ask why he did it like that, but that was how he did it as pulling them sometimes didn't work out in his favor as it peeled off some of his skin down his finger. He knew he should let them be, but he couldn't do that, that was impossible.

But as he was about to move the finger to his mouth to bite it off, he blinked, before he moved it down and looked at the finger. After a few seconds, he moved the other hand to it and grabbed the small cuticle and started to slowly pull on it. He didn't pull fast or hard and made it so the cuticle got longer and longer and made sure not to make it rip off as it moved down his finger. After almost half an inch some blood trickled down his finger as the familiar sense of pain washed over him. And not the ouch this hurt type of pain, but more in the sense this is a pain I control. He chose how much this hurt, and to be honest, it didn't hurt as much as it probably should have. But the same went when he cut… himself…

Ace got his mind with him and realized what he was doing was wrong. Yes, he wasn't using a thing to hurt himself, but he was hurting himself nonetheless. He shouldn't give into that urge like this. He moved his hand away and looked at his finger and he had blood trickling down it and the wound was maybe half an inch long, but since he had done it slowly, it was a bit deep. Not really deep, but for being a cuticle it was deep. As he looked at it he felt the need to continue to pull it or scratch at it, which made Ace move his other hand to cover it as he looked up at the ceiling. He shouldn't do this. After a bit, he didn't know how long, he stood up and headed out the door.

He, at first, was going to head to Pops, but it was really late and he wasn't in his chair and he didn't want to wake him up. So, he decided to go to another room and gave a weak knock, in case he was asleep. But Ace instantly regretted it at once. How could he explain this? What would the man think? Ace had hurt himself. As he was about to just run, the door opened and Izou stood there, blinking at him. "Ace? Why are you up?" Yep, Ace shouldn't have done this at all, but he had started this, so he took a breath. "I… don't want to be alone right now." Izou blinked. Ace wasn't the one to seek out others like this usually, but he didn't want to make the thought to harm himself win. Or, harm himself much more.

As Izou was on his way to talk, his gaze lowered a bit and saw he was still holding around his finger and when Izou looked really shocked. Ace looked down and yes, blood was dripping down between his fingers. It wasn't much, but it was there. Probably since it had been a few minutes now. And based on the horrified look, Izou knew this was self-inflicted. Izou quickly got him inside before he made Ace sit down on the bed. "What did you do?!" Izou almost yelled as he grabbed a piece of cloth as he moved towards him. And Ace was on his way to talk, he really was, but no, there was a lump in his throat that prevented it. As he was about to try again, Izou was close and hugged him. "Don't cry. I'm not mad, I'm not, I promise." Ace blinked, and did realize that yes, he was also crying now. He was so pitiful.

After a few seconds, Izou let go of him and crouched down in front of him and looked concerned. "I'm not mad. Just worried. May I see?" Ace swallowed, but nodded a bit as he moved his hand away and showed his index finger, which was bleeding quite badly. He knew hands, which included fingers, bled a lot, but this seemed a bit extreme to be honest. But then he realized it had been a while since he really bled. His fruit always cauterized his wounds. But as usual, this was self-inflicted, his fruit wouldn't heal those wounds. Izou then moved the cloth he had gotten to it and that honestly made him flinch as it hurt a lot, him now realizing his index finger was throbbing in pain. Why did it suddenly hurt so bad?

As Izou had the cloth on his finger to stop the bleeding, Izou spoke. "What did you do?" Ace swallowed. "I… had this cuticle and I was going to remove it by biting it, when I started to pull on it carefully…" Izou blinked. "All this blood is from a cuticle?" Ace nodded. "I don't know why it's bleeding so bad." Izou blinked, before he moved the cloth away to look at his finger before he looked shocked. "This is really deep for a cuticle. You must have done it really slowly. Doesn't it hurt?" Ace sighed. "It hurts now…" Izou nodded and put the cloth back over. "Hold this here, while I get a band aid." Ace nodded and did.

Izou then grabbed a small box and put it on the bed and it was full of bandages, band aids, strips, and other things. Ace blinked. "I didn't know Bay allowed this. I thought she wanted to know every injury. You got strips?" Izou hummed as he found the band aids and got one that fit. "I make clothes. I have scissors, needles, some knives, and such. Bay got sick of me showing up multiple times a day some years back. So, I am allowed to have this. Unless it is very necessary, she doesn't want me there. She knows my judgment is good enough to trust me to seek help when needed. Although I did need to prove this." Ace nodded as Izou found a band aid and put it on, before he put the box back.

Izou then came and sat down in his chair and looked at him with kind eyes. "What made you do this? Did someone say or do something?" Ace took a breath. He knew he needed to tell why, so Izou wouldn't think this was something that would happen again right away. "I… today is the day that my… younger brother died." Izou blinked. "Luffy?" Ace shook his head. "No. He is… was, my other brother… I watched him die years ago. We grew up together. I… miss him." Ace's voice broke at the end and more tears fell.

Izou moved and hugged him. "I'm sorry. No one should lose a brother that early. But you have a lot of memories you can look back at, right?" Ace nodded and moved a hand to his arm as Izou let go. "He gave me my first butterfly. He started it. Told me to not kill them. And I… when he died… I did." Izou nodded. "That's why you can't promise you won't kill them." Ace nodded. "Yes. I already broke that promise to him. I can't do it again." Ace felt so bad about that.

Izou moved a hand to his leg. "You didn't mean to break it. I am sure if he was here, he would get it." Ace nodded a bit. "He was like that. He would always do anything he could to help me or Luffy. He would do anything just to make us smile." Izou nodded. "Tell me about him. From what you've told about you and Luffy, I am sure you two or three had many fun adventures." Ace nodded and started to tell about stuff they did, and that made him feel better. It had been a while since he had thought back on Sabo, even longer since he did it and didn't feel like he wanted to cry. He even managed to laugh a few times and smile.

When he had been going on for a small while, Izou nodded. "Sounds like an amazing person." Ace nodded. "He really was." Izou moved a hand to his leg. "Remember. He might be gone, but he will never be forgotten. He will always live on in your memories." Ace nodded, Izou was right. And that made him feel better. They then spoke about small things, Ace glad he was allowed to stay here. He knew Izou had said to come to him if he needed anything, but it was hard to do. But now it felt like he did the right thing.

After a bit, he felt tired and Izou said to lie down and rest, and Ace saw no harm. He didn't want to be alone and Izou seemed okay with him here, so Ace nodded and did and was asleep after a bit. He felt much better.

-x-

Izou looked at Ace who fell asleep and Izou felt bad for Ace. But he was also really glad Ace had come to him. He got this would be a hard day, losing a brother young was awful, even worse as Ace had watched him die. It was clear Ace was down today, and Izou got it. Remembering good memories could help feel better and it seemed that helped Ace, which was good. Hopefully, Ace will feel better tomorrow.

Izou then went and started to do a few things to progress his current projects, making sure not to do anything that made a lot of sound, mostly sticking to sketching, sowing by hand, and tracing fabric with a special pencil. He was sure Ace needed the sleep.

After an hour, Izou looked at the door when he heard a knock and went and opened it and was shocked to see Marco. "Marco?" Marco gave a small sound. "Are you okay, yoi?" Izou blinked. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Marco motioned a bit to the floor. "There are two blood drops by your door, yoi." Izou blinked and looked down and saw two very tiny blood drops. How did Marco even see that? Well, he was a phoenix and had good sight and smell and all that. Izou sighed, before he looked into his room and saw Ace was still asleep, and he knew Marco knew about Ace's past, so he moved to open the door more so Marco could see Ace asleep on his bed.

Marco blinked as he saw Ace, before he looked worried. "Did he…" Izou nodded. "Yes. Today is apparently the anniversary of the death of the brother he grew up with." Marco nodded. "I see, yoi. Is he okay now?" Izou nodded. "He was okay when he fell asleep. Hopefully he will feel okay when he wakes." Marco nodded. "Hopefully. I am glad he came to you, yoi." Izou nodded. "I am too. I just hope he won't feel embarrassed when he wakes." Marco hummed. "He might, yoi. But I am sure you are able to handle it." Izou nodded. "Good to know you believe in me, Marco." Marco chuckled. "I always will. You're my brother, yoi. How bad was it?" Izou sighed. "I don't get how it created this much blood, but it was from a cuticle he pulled on. It was deep for a cuticle. But he is okay." Marco nodded. "Good, yoi."

Izou blinked a bit. Marco got this look in his eyes when he said that which he hadn't seen before. Before he was sure he recognized it and then it hit him. All the looks Marco sent at Ace, all the caring and kind smiles. Then Izou realized how blind he had been all this time. Izou looked at Marco. "What do you think of Ace?" Marco looked a bit confused. "I like him, yoi. He might be a bit closed off, but I am sure he can open up with time. I think he would be a perfect brother to us." Izou nodded. Good to know he wasn't the only blind one here. But at least his eyes were now open. Now he just needed them to open their eyes.

He shared a few more words with Marco, before he left and Izou went and sat down on his chair again and looked at Ace. Now he needed to figure out if this was even a possibility. Based on things he had seen, yes, yes it might. Izou did wonder if he was the only one who was no longer blind about this. But he guessed only time would tell.

And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it

We are moving along and more plot is happening. Hopefully it won't take so long for the next chapter to be up

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