XXX

Ace held his baby brothers face in his hands hardly able to wrap his head around the reality in front of him. He had Luffy back. After all this time, all that searching. Ace had begun to believe he would never see him again. But here he was right in front of him. Staring up at him with those familiar dark eyes, huge with surprise.

Sometimes when they were growing up Ace swore he could just look at Luffy and just know what he was thinking. He knew that kid better then he knew himself at times. It was only now, when Luffy moved his head, pressing his cheek into Ace's palm, desperate for comfort, that Ace knew what he was thinking. he could finally understand how Luffy felt. Because he felt it too.

And for the first time in a while Ace felt tears well up in his eyes and he furiously blinked them away. There was no time for that right now. This wasn't about how he felt, it never was. So he forced the feelings that threatened to bubble over back down.

"Are you okay?" He asked his little brother.

When the other didn't answer Ace let go of him, pushing back to get a good look at him. But when Luffy felt him try to pull away he followed him, pressing forwards on his knees as he threw his bound arms around Ace's head.

Ace felt the unnatural coolness of the sea stone cuffs against his skin as Luffy did so, plus the impact of Luffy sent them both down to their knees. Luffy refused to let go the entire time, his arms wrapped around his neck as he pushed closer to his brother.

It caught Ace a little bit off guard. Luffy had always been an affectionate kid. He took whatever he wanted from people be it their food, clothes, friendship or companionship. But Ace had never seen him like this. He was so- quite… complacent maybe bordering on scared. Worst of all he looked so fragile. -Traumatized. Teach's word came to mind. That's what he was wasn't he. Not that Ace hadn't been expecting this. He just hadn't given it much thought aside from keeping Luffy breathing. He knew he could figure everything out later. And it wasn't later yet.

Ace closed his arms around Luffy, leaning down so his chin rested on Luffy's shoulder.

"I'm sorry I'm so late." He told him, his voice low. Of all the things he had to apologize for that was far from the top of the list. But in the moment, it felt like the most important. And if he truly started apologizing, they would be here all year.

Luffy didn't say anything, only moving a bit in response.

"Just hold on?" Ace asked him again. "I'm not going to let anything else happen to you…. Okay?"

"….Luffy?" He asked gently after a moment when the other still did not move. Ace could still feel the frantic beating of his heart from everything that had just happened. …Traumatized. The word ran though his mind again and if he was being honest Ace was feeling more than a bit traumatized himself. And resisting the urge to shake Luffy out of his shock and demand to know if he was all right or not was taking every bit of self-restraint Ace had. Patience had never come easy to him, especially in situations like this one, where every protective instinct he had was screaming. But Ace's feelings didn't matter. He didn't get to be hurt or scared or upset, not when all of this was his fault. He had to stay firm. That was the only way he would ever be able to begin to fix things.

He reached up gently to tap Luffy's cheek, trying to pull him out of it.

"Stay with me Lu?"

"Hmm?" Luffy said as Ace pulled back just enough so he could see his face. There was a slightly glazed look in his eyes and Ace didn't know it was from everything that had just happened or if he was on something.

When he went to lift Luffy's arms off from around his neck he snapped out of it. Luffy made a nose of protest from the back of his throat frantically pulling him back. To Ace's surprise it was Luffy that rose up to his knees, wrapping his bound arms around Ace's head once more as he pulled the older boy to his chest. When he moved in surprise Luffy held on tighter.

"Lu?" Ace asked in surprise, Luffy grip tightening in protest when Ace tried to move.

"I missed you." Luffy told him finally resting his cheek on the top of Ace's head.

Ace moved his head a little bit, so his voice wasn't muffled against Luffy's collar bone.

"I missed you too," Ace told him. More than he could ever know.

"I- I thought that …Teach was- he had a gun- you were just standing there…Why were you just standing there." Luffy asked.

"I'm sorry I scared you." Ace told him. He wasn't supposed to see that. "Why don't you ever listen to me?" Ace asked him softly. He hadn't really been expecting an answer but Luffy liked to catch him off guard.

"Because sometimes you're stupid." Luffy told him with that famous blunt honesty of his and despite everything Ace smiled.

"I am aren't I"

"Hmm," Luffy's arms' tightened around his head. "You can't just stand there! He was going to shoot you." He told him, his tone implying that he thought Ace hadn't known this.

"Luffy it's okay."

"Not Okay!" Luffy told him raising his voice a bit. "You were going to let him kill you! That's not fair!"

"Sh-shhh," Ace tried to shush him before he got too loud that they would be detected. "Luffy I wasn't going to let him shoot me."

"You weren't?"

"Of course not!" Ace told him pulling away so he could meet Luffy's eyes so the other could see how serious he was. "After all the work I put into saving you, I can't just show up and die right, what kind of rescue would that be?"

"A stupid one," Luffy agreed.

And Ace felt something snap in his heart at that for no explicable reason. He moved forward quickly, easily breaking free of his brothers grip to grab him. Luffy made a sound of surprise as he was pulled into Ace's arms firmly as Ace clumsily kissed his temple. And then because Luffy was squirming, and just because he could, he kissed his forehead and then his cheek. Something he had never done before and would likely never do again, but right now he didn't care about any of that.

When Luffy started to squirm more he finally let him sit up. "I just missed you," He said again to Luffy questioning look.

"Mmm," Luffy agreed. "I was worried I wouldn't get to say goodbye."

And suddenly all of the overwhelming relief Ace was feeling left as quickly as it had come.

"What!" He asked sure he had to have misheard. Luffy didn't say goodbye to anyone, least of all to Ace. He liked to say 'see you later', especially to those he wanted to meet again. That was just how he was, he hated goodbyes. So why?
"Goodbye, why goodbye." Ace asked forcing out the hardness in his voice. "You're not going anywhere." Ever again. Right now Ace didn't want to even let him out of his sight. "Okay!" Luffy just nodded, easily agreeing. Offering nothing else. Ace tabled that for later, he really couldn't deal with whatever Luffy could have meant by that.

He stood up, gently pulling Luffy up after him so he could look the other over. There was no easy way to say it, but Luffy looked awful. And that was in the dim light of their hidey hallway. He was much too small, and his legs trembled under his weight which prevented Ace from letting go of him. It was hard to see how injured he really was with all of the bloody grime and bandages, but Ace knew it had to be bad. Worse then he wanted to think about, both inside and out. But Luffy was strong, he wouldn't still be here if he wasn't. And whatever it was, whatever had happened to him Ace would fix it- somehow.

There was one thing that he had held on to all these months, one thing he kept repeating over and over in his head. Like a prayer to whoever or whatever might be listening. Not that he really believed in that stuff, but grief made people a bit crazy, crazy enough for him to do anything. So he kept bargaining with the gods that controlled the fates of people. He would tell them, furiously, over and over for the last few months;

'Just let him be alive- Please! You can take everything else away from me but not him. You can't have him.'

And Ace swore that if he was all right then for the rest of his life, he would do whatever Luffy needed, wanted him to do. He didn't care. He just… needed him.

"Can you hang on a little bit longer?" Ace asked as Luffy leaned his head on his shoulder. Looking about ready to fall asleep- or maybe pass out.

"Umm," He agreed forcing his eyes open sleepily.

There was a sound, far off for now but getting closer. Marines. Ace looked over with a frown. For a moment there he had forgotten about them, about everyone and everything. He wished that for just a little while everyone could just stop except Luffy. But life wasn't that easy.

They had to run from the throne room as fast as possible. Ace had held Luffy while Marco had grabbed the other three. When he dropped the smoke bomb the two of them hadn't bothered with the door, knowing the marines would just slow them down. Instead they had entered the way they came. On the ceiling rafters there was a break in one of the corners. A break Marco had made, that led them to the next room, from there Marco and Ace knew exactly how and where to run to avoid detection.

They had stopped in in this small hallway, a split off from the main one, removed enough that it wouldn't initially be searched, in order to wait out the group of marines. With any luck they had a good enough head start that they wouldn't double back for quite a while Or at least that was the plan.

They had taken a break in this small run off hallway to give the marines a head start, but from the sounds of it the second wave of search party was heading their way.

Ace turned to Marco, to make sure he knew. If he was being completely honest, he had forgotten about them for at least the last ten minutes. But it was clear they had not forgotten about the two of them. Izo and Haruta turned away quickly, pretending they hadn't been staring. It was only Thatch who was still looking at them, unapologetically watching.

Usually Ace would be embarrassed. He was never this affectionate even to Luffy, let alone in front of a huge audience. But right now he could only manage to be slightly flustered. But rather than curious like the other two Thatch just looked happy. Really happy as he looked at Luffy pressed against Ace's side.

"Oh kid, you're a sight for sore eyes." Thatch told him his smile growing larger. During the time Ace had been focused on Luffy Thatch had been reuniting with his brothers. His already messy hair was mussed from their hugs and tasseled and Haruta's arm was slung half casually and half protectively over his shoulder.

"I'm glad your okay," Ace told him and he meant every word of it. Thatch's fate was weighing heavily on his conscience. The man was one of his first friends on the Moby and had never failed to cheer Ace up when he was feeling bad.

"That's your brother," Haruta said again. Only there was no disbelief in his voice only interest. He was asking Ace to introduce them.

Ace looked between him and Marco. Something must have transpired while he was caught up with Luffy that had softened the pirates a bit to him. How much was still to be determined But they didn't seem to want to kill him right now so he would take it. He nodded after a moment a bit unsurely. Ace no longer knew where he stood with them anymore, after months on the opposite side and that made him hesitant.

Haruta turned to Luffy next, "Are you okay?"

There was only concern in his voice, but Luffy still drew back at the attention. Pressing closer to Ace. Maybe he was picking up on Ace's obvious hesitance or maybe he had just become wearily during captivity- either way he acted nothing like the trusting overly friendly boy Ace had grown up with.

'Worry about it later,' Ace reminded himself. 'Even if it takes me the rest of my life I'll make it up to him- fix him.' He didn't know if there was anything he could even do but the words comforted Ace to think about. And he meant them, more than anything. He would do whatever it took to make this right. But right now they needed to get out of here.

"Can you still run?" Izo asked Luffy, turning the question onto Ace when he once again didn't answer. Ace nodded. Truthfully, he didn't know. But he knew how tough Luffy was to keep down.

But Izo didn't look convinced as he looked Luffy over once more. "Marco?"

"I'll look over both of you once we shake the tail," He promised looking to Luffy then at Thatch.

"No worries about me," Thatch said beaming at his ship brothers. "I think I could climb a mountain." His smile only seemed to grow bigger as time stretched on. Thatch was ecstatic and all the previous adrenaline had turned into happy contentment. He had gotten everything he had wanted, had dared to hope for, in the last few hours and nothing could ruin his jovial mood.

"You might want to save the mountain climbing for later," Marco told his friend with a small, but sincere smile of affection. "You look awful and we have to go." The pounding footsteps were getting closer they had to go.

"You know your way around here?" Izo asked and Marco nodded.

"Lead the way."

XXX

Thatch had begun to think of the day as one of the worst in his life. It hadn't begun that way, not at first. He hadn't been happy. Ever since 'losing Luffy' his days had gotten much darker and he had lost track of the passing of time. That was until, out of nowhere Luffy had been shoved back into his life and it had nearly given him a heart attack from surprise. From then on the day had had been an unbelievable roller-coaster of emotions. He knew Teach hadn't reunited them out of the goodness of his heart, but at the time Thatch had been too content to question it. That was until they had been dragged into the throne room and everything rapidly went downhill. For a man like Teach who was continuously challenging himself in reaching new moral low points, he had outdone himself. Thatch would never forget the way Luffy's voice sounded as he screamed, so desperate to save him. Thatch honestly didn't know he cared so much. Of course he knew the kid liked him but not like that, like his world would end if they shot Thatch. And if he hadn't had a gun to his head in that moment, he would have found it overwhelmingly sweet. But the whole mess was little more than a blur of adrenaline and desperation.

The whole time Luffy was screaming Thatch honestly believed that they were alone here, no one could have possibly found them out here. But his brothers had and they had come all this way on their own to save him. Thatch had felt his heart stop when they had stepped forward.

And in that instant all of his doubts and fears from the previous months abandoned him and a new kind of fear replaced it. A self-less kind. Just the sight of them was all he could have asked for. It was confirmation to something he already knew. His family had loved him, and they had come to save him. But it also reminded him what was important- them. And he realized in that moment that he would rather take the bullet then let anything happen to them. The sight alone of his family risking everything to interject would be reward enough for his struggles, and their safety would be worth his death. If only he could tell them that, or Luffy who kept screaming the entire time. It honestly made Thatch sick to listen to. He wished more than anything in that moment that he could take Teach with him, but it seemed that it wasn't meant to be.

He told himself the kid would be okay; his brother would take care of him in Thatch's place. Somehow, they would just look at him and understand what he went through. He could see the sky and even if Thatch never got to see it with him he would somehow know Luffy would be okay- as would his family. And at the end of his very long and wearisome day Thatch would come home to Marco, and all the brothers and sisters he had lost too soon. After every ending was happy if you were patient enough.

But then Luffy started screaming for Ace and Thatch nearly lost his resolve. Because he just didn't sound okay. He sounded wrong, broken. And then Teach told Luffy 'not this again,' and Thatch realized with this horrible heavy feeling in his stomach that Luffy had been screaming for Ace this whole time. He had never understood that he was crying the name of a dead man to come save him. Because he really believed Ace was still coming for him. And Thatch just couldn't leave him like that. With everyone he loved already dead. Traumatized and abused within an inch of his life, tortured to death only to come back and be completely alone in the world. That was beyond cruel, even for the tough little kid.

He had tried his best to get Teach to shut up, but his well-meaning and completely idiotic brother had confirmed Teach's claims. And Thatch saw the panic in his eyes as, for apparently the first time, he began to believe Teach.

And then, in what had to be the most shocking moments of Thatch's life, Ace answered Luffy's cries. He seemed to come from midair, bringing a god like vengeance with him that scorched everything that wasn't his friends. And most of all he rattled Teach. But Thatch was too shocked by his appearance to reveal in his captor's failure.

And then, when the dust had settled Ace had let the man turn the gun on himself to protect Thatch. And Thatch had to agree with Teach when the man said that Luffy had been traumatized enough without having to watch his brother die. But Ace was too confident not to have some kind of plan. And he did. But what was even more surprising was Luffy's reaction. Not the screaming, although that was horrible in its own way. Thatch had honestly believed that nothing could be worse than his cries up until that point. But there was something about the way he tried to bargain for Ace's life that was somehow worse. There was no need to wonder who he loved more. Not when months of Teach's attempts to break Luffy were all upstaged by a single instant when he pointed that gun at Ace and Luffy started to break for real. Begging Teach to kill him instead and finally, for the first time since Thatch had known him, he promised to obey. But all that went out the window a moment later when Luffy lost it for real and in a shockingly powerful display from someone so young released a huge wave of conquerors haki.

But all his suffering had been for nothing. Ace had had a plan, not that he could of told Luffy that. And his plan turned out to be Marco. Who must have been monitoring the situation closely, ready to interject at any point to save them. They were never in any real danger of getting shot. Not with his friends' powers. Which would have been great to know beforehand.

But Luffy had served as a good distraction, allowing them all to break free and in that moment, it was like the universe slid back into place for them. Thatch felt his brothers' arms around him, hugging him and pulling him against them. He returned the gesture wholeheartedly reveling in the feeling of this- being loved lost and reunited. And one of them, he honestly didn't know who murmured, "We got you, your back, your back." Over and over like a pledge. And Thatch felt his eyes prickle as he knew the words to be the truth. He was home with them.

When he clued back into reality Luffy was already back with Ace. He had ran strait for him like he was the only safe place left in the universe, ignoring everything and everybody in favor of his brother. Ace asked if they were okay and Thatch returned the question, unable to take his eyes off the trembling shape in Ace's arms. He was acting very unlike himself and he had been ever since they were forced into this awful room. But now?

The day felt like an endless parade of revelations, one right after another. Ace had never betrayed them, not on purpose. Everything he had done had been for his brother. Thatch had always thought this was true but it came as a total shock to his brothers, as did Luffy being Ace's brother. And not only was he not dead but he had spent the last few months planning the revolt against Teach, learning his games and deceiving him. So entirely that he had managed to convince everyone with the exception of his brother, who seemed to have an endless amount of faith in Ace. And then, in what might have been the most surprising thing yet to come out of Teach's mouth, Ace was Rogers son? The same Roger that Oyaji was close friends with, the one that would come hassle the crew on occasion. The one that loved the smile and whose laugh sounded like a clap of thunder. How little Ace acted like his father. If he had thought that he knew nothing about Ace before the more he learned the more he felt like the less he knew. But he was Ace's father not Luffy's. Because Luffy wasn't really Ace's brother. At least according to Teach. Thatch tabled all of that to deal with later. It didn't really matter. The only thing he cared about right now was the way his brother's arms felt around his shoulders and how tightly he hugged them back, and watching the way Luffy seemed to relax in Ace's arms as he protected all of them against the threats. And things just seemed to feel right.

And then, just when it seemed like Ace was all out of tricks, he still had one final one. Marco. He broke through the ceiling like a storm, shattering it with his anger and landing between the two groups, as protective of them as ever. And that was the instant Thatch just knew that everything was going to be all right, and it had been for the last little while. Because even if they didn't know it, they had a guardian angel watching over them. And Marco freed them all. Distracting the marines with a smoke bomb he grabbed Thatch, collecting the other two in his phoenix talons as he took them into the air, up where the smoke couldn't reach them, hidden from the marines. And Thatch was finally free.

…

They had a had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time it would take the marines to sort themselves out. For a few moments the small group had done nothing but run, Haruta helping Thatch and Ace carrying Luffy. And miraculously Marco seemed to know where to go, the same way he knew which abandoned hallway to stop in to give the Marines a chance to pass them. He signaled them all to stop, pushing the small group behind him in a protective way as he looked out, watching the feet thunder past from a safe distance. They had a few moments to collect their breaths.

All Thatch had thought about for months was this moment, getting his brothers back in arm's reach just for a moment. He wanted it so desperately. Just like Luffy had done all those weeks ago he had thought over and over what he wanted to tell them, how much he wanted to translate how he felt about each one of them into words. And now that they were finally here, all of his wishes answered in an instant he forgot all of it. The only thing he could do was sit there stupidly feeling first Haruta tackle him to the ground, followed rather uncharacteristically by Izo and then finally Marco. The man returned from the watch to pull Thatch to his feet only to give him a light hug, one that Thatch instantly turned into a deep bear hug.

"I freaking thought I lost you," He told his brother, his voice strained from shock and grief. "I really thought…"

"You can't believe everything you hear," Marco told him hugging him tighter in comfort.

"Don't even start!" Thatch told him hitting his arm lightly. "Try living in a mad man's match box and see how picky you can afford to be about your news." He wasn't angry, just relieved and worried. Marco knew this and smiled.

"I'm sorry. I wish we could have found you sooner."

Thatch did too but he shook his head. "You were just in time," He told his friend. "But between me and you don't cut it so close next time." He looked over at Ace and Luffy. "Not all of us were having as much fun as you were in there."
Marco followed Thatch's gaze to where Ace was kneeling, Luffy held tight in his arms. The younger boy looked pale and in some kind of state of shock. He was hurt, everyone could see that. And all of this could not be good for him. Not when he was likely to pass out at any moment. Ace had tried to get his attention, but when it failed, he dropped his hands. And that was when Luffy moved, quickly reaching back for him. Wrapping his own arms around Ace, desperately pulling him back. He crawled forwards so his own arms were wrapped around him. Pressing Ace's head against his chest as he rested his cheek on the others hair. Something Thatch had never seen Luffy do before. It warmed his heart.

For months he had been forced to watch Luffy be abused and tortured and there was nothing he could do nothing but watch the tiny kid get smaller and more injured. Luffy hardly accepted or asked for comfort throughout their captivity. He would lean against Thatch's side when he was falling asleep. But Luffy seemed hard wired to deal with the pain and stress himself. He never asked Thatch for help or to protect him or anything a normal teenager might have done. Aside from the one-time Thatch had never seen him cry over anything that happened to him or break down.

Thatch watched along side his brothers, all in surprise as Ace grabbed him clumsily kissing his face. Something none of them would have thought him even capable of. His brothers were shocked. But Thatch could only feel happiness as he watched them.

One of the only things Thatch had wanted while they were here was to know that Luffy would be okay, maybe not right then, but one day. And then he had lost him and suddenly all of that hope went away. For months he had to live with the knowledge that Luffy had died all alone, hurting and cold in that horrible room…

But Thatch didn't want to think about that right now. Not when Ace was right here hugging Luffy. And it was obvious he had missed his little brother every bit as much as Luffy had missed him.

He had been worried- or he just wondered why Ace had never said anything about his little brother. Thatch had wondered it so much it had kept him awake sometimes. He just needed to know that Luffy would be cared for once they left this place. That somebody aside from Thatch in the wide world gave a damn about what he went through.

-And now he knew that somebody did. They cared a lot.

Behind him Haruta was squeezing the life out of Marco. He heard Izo's low voice. He had been speaking for a while.

"Teach said he killed you? Everybody thinks you're dead."

"It was supposed to be Ace," Marco told him.

"Huh?"

"Teach ordered Ace to kill me," Marco clarified. "I'll tell you later. There's no time now."

"Wait- wait?" Haruta said ignoring Marco's words. "Ace really isn't on Teach's side?"

"Of course not!" Thatch cut in hearing enough of the conversation. "How could you guys think that?" Sure he had doubted Ace, pretty hard. But never once had Thatch thought Ace would hurt Marco by choice. He looked back at Izo, the man silently listening. He had always been quicker on the uptake then Haruta."

"So he didn't pick Teach over us?"

"No," Marco told him, his tone impossible to read. "Not Teach. He chose Luffy over us."

And regardless of how his ship brothers might feel about that Thatch was nothing but grateful that he had.

XXX

Thatch's new therapy is watching Luffy being cared for : )

Not much happened but you guys deserved a non-cliff hanger chapter with nothing but cuddles. And oh boy, I needed to write this chapter more then anything. I am in desperate need of some fluff.

Next chapter will be from the rescuers point of view and how everything played out. And Ace has to leave Luffy (super briefly) leaving Marco in charge of him. And Luffy is going to go full feral on him.

I am so sorry about the spelling and the lack of replies. I don't have much (any) free time anymore. I'm here for another month but after that I will come back and re-edit this and answer all of the wonderful words. I figured even a bit of a rushed chapter would be better than a cliff hanger. I promise I always love hearing from you guys!

Hopefully the next update will be quick! I'll do my best. End of august at the latest.

XXX