Third one-shot:
Curses&Kisses
Synopsis:
No pirates, no devil fruits.
Marco is a talented hunter, having been training almost his whole life. Recently, he got interested in the 'witch problem' their local hunters talk about...
Word count: 9115-ish
Enjoy reading! ^^
XXX
"I understand everything, father. I just want to see this famous witch, yoi. You know that I'd never do something that would do harm to the innocent. Let's just say, I'm interested in the witch.. It's not every day we have a witch roaming the kingdom." Marco, a skilled and experienced hunter spoke. He was from the royal family of Moby Kingdom, a kingdom that's situated on the more mountainous parts of the world, taking quite a big amount of land. His father, the king of their lands, Edward Newgate stared at him for a moment before nodding. He knew his son well, Marco would never do anything that'd harm the kingdom or the witch that he'd be looking for.
Now, Marco might be a hunter. He might be the first prince and the heir of Edward's throne, but he's no man of cruelty. He would never do such thing to someone innocent. Innocent how exactly? You might ask. Well, this witch.. They have never killed someone or done any harm. They live in a cave that outlooks the ocean, truly a beautiful place. Rumors say they have the forest in their curse, killing anyone that steps foot close to their house, but rumors will always be rumors.
"I'll trust you to not cause problems, son. You are free to go. But be back before the garden party." Edward told, giving Marco the permission to leave. His son nodded and bowed his head, excusing himself. Marco then went to his room, which is at the top of the main castle. He readied himself a backpack with all the necessary items he will and might need. Medicine, bandages, some herbs, food, his knife, plenty of arrows, water, a compass, a map and more, including his camping kit. He put the backpack and his cape on, took his sword and his bow, then finally he left the castle alone. With the occasional 'Where you going?' questions from his brothers and sisters.
XXX
It has been two days, Marco was still on his way to the highest mountain where the witch's cave is located in- Mt. Colubo. He heard some stories, none really saw what the witch looked like. They don't even know if the witch is a woman or a man. But most believe they are a woman, given the occasional witch stories some old folk tell. There hasn't been many stories about witches in their kingdom in general, but some of their old folk who used to travel had told stories. The witches were always women. And if he's honest right now, he would love to see the witch turning out to be a man. He thought it'd be a fun change.
Back to the adventure of his. He's crossing the thick forests full of big old trees. He had been hunting and cooking some animals in the woods, using his swordsman skills. As the next heir, Marco had mastered his skills of using bows and swords. He now uses them both as a fighting method, but choses to rely on his strength more- which means he uses his sword. As he has mastered these two, he kind of had the upper hand to turn the tables in a fight, either it be quick switching from a sword to a bow, or vise versa.
He was getting hungry as he climbed up the mountain little by little. The blond decided to hunt for animals so he can cook them and eat. After looking for a bit, he found a wild and alone deer, kind of smaller in shape and took out his bow and an arrow. Sliding the arrow through the bow, he aimed for it's neck and once steady, he shot it. The arrow pierced through the deer's neck, killing it instantly without the deer even noticing. Marco jogged to it and took out his knife to take all the game from the deer.
Setting up a small campfire, Marco started cooking the meat he got. He had a lot, the deer was smaller compared to other ones but it had a lot of meat. Marco just cooked a portion of it, enough for him to eat and kept some of it in a small bundle he quickly made from the skin. It wasn't the best looking bundle, but it did the work so it was okay.
After eating, Marco continued his way up the mountain and searched for the cave.
XXX
By night time, Marco reached the top of Mt. Colubo. The scenery up there was so beautiful. He couldn't get his eyes off of the moon's view on the water. The sky was clean, he couldn't see any clouds. It was almost full moon and there were millions of stars circling the moon. He finally turned and started looking for the cave and found it in no time, as it was actually easier to find. Anyone who decided to go witch hunting would have easily found this cave. But he saw no light when he looked in, it was completely pitch black.
Marco lit an arrow's tip on fire so he could travel around the cave with no problems. It actually looked like a normal cave. Nothing that'd give the hint that someone lived in here. After walking deeper into the cave, he was met with three ways. He chose to go in the middle one, but oh was this cave system massive. He realized that this cave was originally used as the mines, there were signs of it being dug but nothing else. He was met with dead end and walked back to try another way, this time going left. And this, he saw, was the right way to go when he saw small light emitting from the cave. He put the light out and put his arrow back, moving his hand to his sword in case anything went wrong. Like a hidden trap or something. Slowly walking to the light source, he was met with a door and a small window. He looked through the window but the view was closed by a red curtain. Marco contemplated on knocking on the door or just going in, but he chose to be polite.
He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. It was still late at night, so the witch was probably asleep. After hearing nothing at all, he knocked again, this time a bit louder. But still, he heard nothing. Well, that's strange, Marco thought. Does the witch not live here anymore? Or is this a trap? Or maybe they are out? He stood there for a minute and decided to go in, taking his sword out for any potential traps. But going inside, he was met with a nice, furnished room. No one was inside, and he heard nothing in the room.
The room looked oddly nice but a bit messy. It was spacious, there was a big, old red rug on the floor. There were two brown armchairs to his left, and in the middle of them was a white table. On top of the table, there were a lot of books and glasses with different colored liquid inside, with a lantern lighting the area. In front of him was a big cauldron and a lot of shelves modified to the walls. The cauldron had a small firepit under it and there were broken glasses, a lot of herbs, strange items and a lantern around it. There were also two door-like red curtains which led to other rooms, most likely. He went through the door to his right, inside was a small kitchen, again lit up by lanterns. He then went to the other room, this time it was a bedroom. There was really no one inside the.. house, so Marco decided to wait.
He sat on one of the armchairs silently and put his backpack down. He took his pilgrim bottle and drank some water, patiently waiting for the witch.. or at least someone to arrive.
XXX
After about a few hours, Marco checking the clock above his head occasionally, he finally heard some sounds outside the door. Someone was inside the cave, and soon enough the door slowly opened. He looked at the door, expecting to see someone, but.. it was empty. He was sure that he felt someone behind the walls between them, hiding the person from his eye vision but his instincts were more than enough to help him know someone was out there. Maybe they know that he is trespassing and actually live here? Marco decided to talk to the person, whi is most likely waiting for him to make a move or something.
"Hello, yoi. Don't worry, I have no intentions of hurting you. I'm looking for someone and found this place while doing so." Marco tried, letting the person know he is no danger. There was a long pause, for about 5 minutes, then the man, his voice gave away, talked back to him.
"It's unlikely for the prince himself to look for someone." The unknown man started, instantly letting Marco know that he knows, even if Marco was sure he didn't let anyone see him.
"But since you came all the way for me," Marco's eyes widened, is this the witch?!"I could welcome a surprise guest." Was the last thing Marco heard, after that came silence. He just continued sitting in silence before standing up and walking towards the door. Marco looked out, but there was no one. And surprisingly, he couldn't feel anyone around now. That is, until he heard that same voice from behind. He was laughing.
"So eager to meet me, aren't you, Mr Prince?" Marco turned around to meet the witch officially, but to his distaste, he was met with an empty room. Well, of course, other than the furniture. He frowned, looking around and trying to see what kind of illusion this was. Maybe he was hallucinating, even. He heard another laughter ring in his ears, this time coming from the bedroom and he walked there. Pushing the curtains away, he looked inside and yep, again, no one here. He sighed and calmly walked back in the, what he assumed to be a living room.
Apparently, this witch liked to play games. If then, Marco would love to break his little fun time and force the man to show up. Fortunately (unfortunately) for him, he dealt with these a lot. Thanks to his siblings.
So, Marco went back to his old position and sat on the armchair, looking bored. He had this oddly peaceful aura surrounding him. He almost broke his composure when he heard and audible, exaggerated groan. It was followed by silence, but Marco knew soon enough the man would give up. If he learned something from handling his most energetic and lively siblings, they could not endure boring things. And while he would deny when others say it, Marco is admittedly a boring man in his most calm state. This guy felt like an energetic soul, almost like his chef (or troll) brother Thatch. So, it would work on him too.
And soon he found out that he was absolutely right about this. Because after a few more minutes, he heard a loud, almost angry sigh and then a thud in the middle of the room right in front of him. He looked up, as he was facing down counting the seconds (it had been 3 minutes and 37 seconds).
In front of him was a tall, muscular young man, maybe in his early twenties. He had almost shoulder length black, wavy hair. Dots of freckles spread across his cheeks. Soft lips curled down into a scowl, his obsidian orbs glaring at him. He had no shirt, but despite the lack of a shirt he did have a fully black cape with a hoodie. He wore black boots, black knee-length shorts with an orange belt, and a short second belt with a large red "A" on the silver buckle over his right hip. A small blue pouch around his left leg and a dagger in a green sheath hung at his left hip, too. And on his head, was a witch hat. Its color was bright orange, and it had two blue faces- one smiling, one frowning, with red beads around them. He also had a necklace made from the same beads, hung around his neck, giving his outfit more color. While it seemed.. odd, at first glance, it did kind of suit the man. Kind of.
"You finally showed yourself." Despite the glaring man, Marco smiled at him. "Heh, didn't take long at all, yoi." He chuckled, and then held both his hands up in the air when the witch visibly became angrier. But the shirtless man sighed and seemingly gave up - it was Marco's win.
"Who knew that Mr Prince would be like this in person... You and your family... are an interesting bunch, prince Marco." The witch smiled at him and for a second Marco thought his heart skipped a beat. Maybe it really did. But holy shit, that smile was beautiful.
"And who knew we had such a handsome guy living in the mountains." Marco smiled back and laughed when the witch blushed, clearly enjoying teasing him. He didn't continue for the moment though, as he heard a small thud come from the door which leads to the cave system. Looking that way, he saw a.. cat? No, it's too big to be a cat... Ah! A lynx! Of course, that is a lynx. The witch looked happy to see the ca- lynx. The lynx.
"There you are!" The raven head spoke, sounding a bit annoyed. Was the lynx his pet or something? Marco examined how it made some cat noises and gave his potential owner the 'attitude', looking away from him and swiftly jumping on top of the shelves, where it sat and looked down at them. Seems it's enjoying the air up there. Hearing the witch chuckle, Marco turned to look at him and pointed to the lynx.
"A friend of yours?" He asked, and the witch nodded.
"Yep. His name is Kotatsu. Don't worry, he won't try to kill you." Marco was worried about the last sentence, but he didn't dwell on it much. The lynx.. Kotatsu looked friendly.. somewhat close to being friendly, at least.
The witch went inside the kitchen and so Marco followed him to see the raven head start cooking himself breakfast. Marco didn't want to annoy the man, he also didn't want the man thinking he's going through his things, so he just sat on an available seat in the kitchen, waiting. While waiting he'd occasionally glance at the witch, watch him cook and adore his body.
Since he was home, the witch had taken his cape and backpack off, also putting his small pouch away. He had this tattoo on his upper arm, Marco thinks it's some kind of code or something. It read: ASCE but the S was crossed with an X. Maybe it had a meaning. After watching the witch cook for about 15 minutes, Marco decided to ask for his name since he didn't know.
"What's your name, yoi?" The raven head turned around to look at him and smiled, putting his now ready breakfast on two plates and giving him one. Marco thanked him and he sat in front of him, taking a bite from the pancakes.
"The name's Ace." He then said after a minute. Marco smiled and nodded, Ace.
"You have a nice name. It's pleasure to officially meet you, Ace." The blond said, and he himself started eating the pancakes Ace cooked. Glancing at the said male, he saw a small tint of pink visible on his cheeks and lightly chuckled. Ace cleared his throat and looked at him,
"So, what really is your reason to come looking for me?" He asked. Marco shook his head and smiled, saying that he didn't have another reason other than wanting to meet him. He knew Ace didn't believe him, but whatever. He'd spend quite a long time with Ace anyway, they'll have the time to trust each other.
XXX
It was nighttime already, Marco spent his day trying to have long conversations with Ace and getting along with Kotatsu. When night fell, Kotatsu was already out in the woods and Ace looked like he was going to go out too. Since the raven head was putting some items in his backpack and also took his cape, Marco was now sure that he was going outside. So he wanted to know if he could go with him.
"Where are you going? I would come along if you let me, yoi." He said after watching Ace in silence for a while. Ace, without looking up at him, continued putting more items.. like, some kind of herbs and glass containers with odd looking liquid and crystal type of things. He didn't know. Ace then hummed and finally looked up from where he was sitting next to the big cauldron.
"You can come along if you will fight for yourself. I won't help you in case of danger." He said, and put on his backpack. Marco smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I can do that." He said, and put on his backpack, following Ace. They left the cave system and went deeper inside the forest, on their way to the darkest parts. Marco didn't really know where they were going, and Kotatsu was also following them. He knew the way unlike Marco, it seems. Ace however wasn't paying attention to him or Kotatsu. He had some kind of device in his hands and it looked like an old compass to Marco. Unlike any other compasses he had seen, this one was made from dark oak, making it weaker to direct impact. It seemed to point to only one way, but he couldn't see because he was a bit away from Ace to not annoy the raven head with his presence.
The forest wasn't easy to go through at all, it was filled with dangerous mobs wandering around, attacking any unfamiliar movement they felt/saw. That unfamiliar movement being them. They were constantly attacked by the creatures. Ace didn't seem to mind these attacks, as none of the mobs could hit him. He had some kind of protection around him which prevented other creatures from damaging Ace. And Kotatsu was doing okay too, the creatures seemed to know what or whi Kotatsu was; none dared to step closer to him. On the other hand, Marco was left to fend off by himself, fighting to protect himself. Though, the mobs weren't quite strong, they had the upper hand because of how many of them were in the forest.
Needless to say, Marco was tired after fighting all of the creatures. But after walking in the forest and fighting for Marco's part, they saw a small path and a sign saying 'Proceed at your own risk'. Marco didn't like that sign. But after reaching thus part of the forest, which somehow managed to be more darker inside, making it almost impossible to see around, the creatures stopped attacking them. Marco was relieved but it didn't last long at all. It lasted for maybe 3 minutes.. Because after going inside the darkest part of the forest, more stronger mobs came out to attack them.
If Marco wanted to describe the creatures, which in his sane part of his mind he wouldn't because why would he? But this is the insane part of his mind, so he'll just do that. So, if Marco wanted to describe the creatures, the first ones had this shape which would be similar to a tall, slender human's, but with a creepy vibe to it. They had dark, almost tree-looking skin which felt as hard as a rock and was in a brown color. They had full black eyes, their eye shape similar to a human's also. Their mouth opened impossibly big and they had very, VERY sharp teeth. They had long nails which could easily dug into human flesh and rip it off.
The new creatures had more eerie vibe. They looked like humans too, and came with a lot of variations. The common one being a very tall, this time muscular shape. Their hands would be long and they also had the tree-looking skin. But instead of being brown, these creatures were all black. They had bloodshot eyes, a creepy smile and sharp teeth. Their nails were sharper, too. And they had stronger legs, which made them great runners.
Anygays. Marco now had to fight this black muscular blob of a creature which came with multicolored variations. So far, he'd seen the black one, red one, purple one and a rare white one. It's like playing pokemon but with monsters. And instead of catching them you play death match with them.
After walking for 20 minutes which felt life draining for Marco, Ace absurdly stopped making them easy target. Marco was about to ask the reason of their stop but he had to fight another black monster. Mid-fight, he heard Ace mumble something but it wasn't clear. Then the raven head started walking and Marco had to end this fight quick if he wanted to catch up with Ace.
"Uh, Ace? ... Ace, yoi? ... Fuck, where is he? The path ends here." Marco mumbled to himself after Ace didn't answer his calls, trying to look for footprints or any other sign that Ace really did go this way. The dirt path has ended and now there were 4 stone paths. Marco didn't know which to follow so he made a guess, following the 3rd stone path.
Weirdly, there was no monster attack this time and he finally had a calm walking after fighting for around two hours. But, still.. There was no sign of Ace or even Kotatsu for that matter. It was almost like.. they vanished into thin air. Not understanding what really happened, Marco just continued walking hoping to see Ace or Kotatsu. But he saw no one, and in the end of the stone path there was a small open area with a small hut in the middle. It had smoke coming from the chimney, so Marco just went to knock on the door.
Despite the smoke screaming 'someone is here!', Marco heard nothing at all. Only the cracking noises from the fire, nothing else. He knocked again, this time a bit louder, but still to no avail. For whatever reason Marco decided to go inside. Maybe the home owner was asleep or something. And maybe he could get some information from the home owner on where he could find Ace or Kotatsu or even better, leave this godforsaken forest. 'Or get killed'- a part of his mind thought as he fully opened the door.
There was no one inside the hut. It almost looked empty, too. There was a bed, a big cauldron which oddly enough reminded of Ace's cauldron, a table and a chair. Also the fireplace. There were obvious signs of someone living in here, but where that person was, Marco didn't know. He knew there was a chance of the person being an enemy, but he was confident he could fight whoever lives here. Though.. it kind of concerned him as of why someone would live this deep in the woods where any second some kind of eerie monster could attack them.. But really, whatever.
He was about to leave the house but he heard some noises coming from outside so he first wanted to see if any of the monsters had somehow managed to follow him to here, but instead of horrific screeching noises, he heard humane voices.. as if two or three people were talking, slowly walking towards the hut. Marco made quick movement and flew himself outside from the small window at the back of the hut, outlooking the forest. He ran to the forest and hid behind the bushes and trees, slowly making his way to the stone path where he heard the people. He didn't look up to see who was coming, mainly because he doesn't recognize the voices yet and also being seen by potential enemy would be bad.
".e..and try to search for him." Getting closer, he could hear two voices talking. One sounded almost childish like, but the other.. sounded identical to Ace's voice. They were talking about searching for someone..
"He'll be fine." Ah! That's Ace's voice! It's Ace and.. someone else. Were they talking about Marco?
"You sure? He might kill him if he sees him alone and lost." He? Who the heck is him? And why would he kill Marco?
Although he wanted to listen for possibly more details and information, his peace of hiding was broken by footsteps coming from behind, approaching him slowly and before he was even able to look back, react, or whatever, he heard breathing right next to his ear. This triggered him and he swiftly jumped forward out of the bushes into the open area and turned to look at whoever was there just a second before. But he was met with a whoosh of dust, leaving him to uselessly look around. He turned to look at where the voices- Ace and other person was coming from, to see two raven heads staring at him weirdly. One being Ace. The other raven head was visibly younger and shorter than Ace, he walked towards them keeping an eye on his surroundings.
"Whoa, you react so fast!" The younger raven head said with stars in his eyes. "If you reacted a second late, you would have been looking at your own heart dropped in front of you, shishishi!" The teen then noted without even a sign of disgust, and seemingly happy about it. But Marco.. oh, he wasn't happy about almost dying. Was that the he they were talking about earlier?
"Ah, you made it out alive." Ace said and smiled this dead, emotionless smile which sent chills down his spine. Marco ignored it.
"Who.. or what was that earlier. yoi?" He asked, wanting to know what the fuck that was. The young one next to Ace laughed and pointed to a certain place inside the forest. Marco looked, and upon looking closer he could see a tall man waving at them... JUST WHAT THE FUCK DID HE GET HIMSELF INTO?!
"That's my boyfriend!" The young, happy boy said with a big grin. Marco couldn't believe it. He didn't know who to be afraid of more: Ace's creepy part, the monster-like man who tried to kill him like a few minutes ago, or the very happy kid who seems to have trained that monster...
"Mr Prince, you seem scared there." Ace told and Marco cleared his throat, giving a small, almost nonexistent glare to the witch. Anyways, Ace then told Marco to follow them and the three went in the hut. Maybe the other kid lives here. Looking out the window while the two talk, Marco could see that man getting closer and closer... But there was something off about something.. No, not the man creeping his way towards the hut. The other two didn't seem to mind him, there was something else... but what?
"Alright, Mr Pri-.. Marco?" Ace turned to tell Marco something, but the blond wasn't there anymore. He feared that his brother's boyfriend might have kidnapped the first prince. If yes, it would be a BIG problem. The whole kingdom would go searching for Marco, even if all of them were sure that he died, they'd still search for his remains. Which will simply end up with EVERYWHERE being searched, including their homes. Maybe they would even go as far as destroying the forest, but Ace doubts that. That isn't important right now, they need to find the prince!
"Uh, Lu.. We have a problem.." He mumbled, just high enough for his brother to hear. Luffy hummed and looked around, his smile never fading despite the fact that the crown prince was missing.
"Maybe Torao knows where he went!" The little brother yelled enthusiastically, but soon it died when 'Torao' appeared in front of the window out of thin air.
"He went outside when you were talking. I don't know the rest." Ace cursed and went outside too, calling for Kotatsu immediately. He looked around until Kotatsu arrived, running to his calls.
"Kotatsu, you remember Marco's smell? Can you follow his steps?" He asked carefully and tried to find if he has something that Marco touched in case Kotatsu didn't remember how the blond smelt like, but Kotatsu swiftly nodded snd started sniffing the air. Don't make fun of him.
After a minute, the lynx started following a certain way into the woods, somewhere away from the actual stone path. Why would Marco go this way? They didn't know but they had to follow Kotatsu to find out what happened to the crown prince. They couldn't just leave him to possibly die out there. While you might think that the witches could be the kingdom's enemies, they are actually not. Well, some witches are, but Ace, Luffy and Law aren't. Also a few others too, but right now there's only three of them in this area of the kingdom.
Luffy is Ace's brother, and they also have a third brother, Sabo. But Sabo isn't a witch and he lives in a different kingdom so they have to travel for about more than a week to see Sabo. Law is Luffy's boyfriend. And Ace also has a friend named Deuce, who lives in the nearby kingdom a day of travel away.
After following Kotatsu for a while, maybe 30-40 minutes or so, they arrived in this dark treehouse that nobe of them had seen before. It was made out of the dark wood which surrounds the forest for miles, it's pretty common around here. It's a very durable wood and hard to obtain. But whoever lived here had managed to build a treehouse out of it. It had a ladder to climb in, but they knew better than to just enter a random house in the middle of the more dangerous parts of the forest.
Kotatsu, being the adventurous and strong lynx he is, jumped up to the tree and on top of one of the many branches. He looked inside for the longest time, just staring and doing nothing, but then he finally moved and jumped inside the treehouse. It had a deck kind of space and then the house itself. The house wasn't big, you wouldn't even call it a house it was just a small room but Kotatsu just went inside. It was as if he felt no possible danger inside. After a few minutes of silence, the three heard Kotatsu calling for them and followed him inside. Ace went in first, being responsible one for Kotatsu, and he gasped at what he saw. Soon, Luffy and Law followed him inside and they both gasped too. Yes, Law too.
Inside, was a bloody mess. In the middle of the room stood some of Marco's belongings, like his weapons and his backpack, all the essentials he needed to survive out there. But the important questions were.. Was this Marco's blood? And who the fuck did this?
Okay, so. If this was Marco's blood and he was in immediate danger or already dead, they are all screwed. It'll mean war to the kingdom. They will probably get the blame for the prince's death and the holy knights of Moby Kingdom will come looking for their heads. King Edward would surely want to avenge his son, despite the consequences it could come with. Ace knew that despite being a king, Edward loved and cared for his children greatly. Something happens to one of them, Edward is immediately there for help. He is an affectionate father.
But, then again.. why would someone kill or kidnap the prince and put the blame on them? Ace didn't understand, but he knew that they either had to get out of the kingdom immediately or try to find Marco before it's too late. If it already isn't...
"Ace. Take a look at this." The witch heard Law calling for him in a serious matter (he's always serious anyway), so he broke his chain of thoughts and went to see what the other male had found. Him and Luffy were searching Marco's bag and inside they found two letters. One was from the king, it had Edward's sign in it and it seemed the note was for his son, Marco. The letter simply gave Marco permission to be out of borders for only one month, which meant that they had time to search for Ace.
The second letter wasn't so pleasant, though. It was obvious that the letter was directed to them, not just some random people who found this letter. It had their names on it. Literally. It read:
"If you have found this, then congratulations. You just passed the first puzzle. Do you want to find the crown prince? Will you find him in time before he says goodbye to this world? We will see.. You have exactly two weeks from now on. The next puzzle:
Go to where heaven opens its doors, to where everything is possible. Even the impossible itself."
Ace looked horrid at the letter in hus hands, covered in blood. This, no doubt, was Marco's blood. What was happening? Who is playing games with them? What happened to Marco? What will happen if they fail? What will happen if they solve the puzzle? Will there be more puzzles awaiting them? So many questions. But no answers.. Luffy looked up at Law,
"Do you know a place like that?" He asked. Law shook his head, seeming to be in deeo thoughts. Ace didn't know a place like that too. What did they mean by 'where heaven opens its doors'? Like some sort of.. Heavenly place? Or.. A place where heaven opens its doors... What kind of place is that?! It's not a church or something like that, right? Or could it be a cemetery? No, that'd have been 'heaven and hell'. Hmmm...
"Maybe Sabo knows!" Suddenly Luffy exclaimed, and it made sense to him. Sabo has always been the smarter one between the three brothers and he has always been interested in things like this. He had explored a lot of places around the world, so maybe he knows.
"Alright. Let's go home and call Sabo. We should take Marco's belongings too." Before doing so, Law made sure to take a pic of the mess and the treehouse, also writing down its location behind the photo. He put his camera back and the three took Marco's things, going on their way to Ace's house in the caves.
XXX
All he could see was dark and as far as he can feel, everything hurts. Although he can't feel his left arm yet, it'll probably come back. He doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know what happened nor does he understand it. One moment he was outside the hut, the second it was all pitch black. His head hurt like a bitch but it wasn't only his head; his stomach, his right arm, his neck, his legs, everything hurt. What is wrong with his left arm, he doesn't know.
Despite the lack of light, he could vaguely see the outlines of some kind of a.m furniture? Was he in someone's house? Or is this the hut? Maybe.. Ace's cave house? He tried speaking but no noise would come out of his mouth. He couldn't still feel some parts of his body, like his face, but he is sure that his eyes are open wide. But then... He heard some noises and stilled. Not like he could move or whatever, he was completely paralyzed.
"...ca... beli...we...ght...ince...sily...hahaha!" Well, despite hearing a man talk so loudly, he couldn't seem to fully hear what he was talking about. He heard some vague lines, and this nasty laugh. But other than that, he didn't much understand what this was all about. Was he.. kidnapped by enemies? That'd be so embarrassing. He didn't even understand what was happening and he's caught by enemy? Good going, crown prince.
XXX
"I can't believe we caught the prince so easily, zeahahaha!" On the other side of the room, laughed two men at the gem they had found. It was their best find whatsoever, and they'd have so much fun playing with their little diamond and his searchers. It seemed as the absolute best witch around these lands had taken a liking to him. They will indeed have fun with their small game too...
XXX
"A place where the heaven opens its doors.. Where everything is possible, even the impossible.. That's a tough one, alright. But it isn't too hard to find if you know most of the world." Ace, Luffy, Law and Kotatsu were now back in Ace's house, the cave systems. They were talking with Sabo with the help of this magical sphere, much thanks to Ace's magic. Ace unknowingly smiled when he heard Sabo's words and told him to continue. They could see each other with the help of more magic, so Sabo was seen talking inside the sphere. Then he showed them a map and pointed to a certain place in the map.
"See here? Inside this mountain is an enormous cave, just a single cave. This is where, in words, 'heaven opens its doors'. The idea here is that this place looks heavenly to eyes, you'll see once you are there. Inside is a small pond, which never dries out. It is said that those who drink the pond's water with utter determination to find something or someone they love, will get their answers."Ace nods along as his brother explains. But there was a catch in this, he knew. It didn't matter how much heavenly it could be, how trustable it could be, there's always a catch. But it didn't really matter.. did it?
Well.. He had been hiding, ignoring it for the longest, but to be honest... Ace like- no, loved Marco. From the very first time he saw Marco in the kingdom, to the fact that the man had searched for him and teased him like that.. How he was so kind, loving, attractive, gentle.. He loved everything about Marco.
At first he had thought that he'd just forget Marco- but no, he didn't. In fact, everytime he saw the blond prince he'd love him more...
XXX
It still hurt. But somehow everytime he loses his consciousness and wakes up again, it seems to hurt more and more. He had started to confuse what was happening around him, if he was even awake or not. He didn't know the times when he lost consciousness, or woke up again. He didn't know why it hurt more, but guessed his captors were having fun beating his unresponsive body. He would occasionally hear voices from outside the room, and sometimes.. Sometimes he would hear Ace laughing in the room, behind him, in front of him, on top of him... He could hear Ace's laughs from everywhere, but.. Where really was Ace? Where is the adorable witch everyone is afraid of? Where is the freckled face he had come to miss?
And where is his family?
It's funny, isn't it? How Marco is constantly thinking of a witch he had met not long ago in this state of his mind, instead of thinking about his family. Still... No can help but love, even if it sometimes hurts. The laughs he hears sometimes, it makes him think that what if... What if Ace is the one doing this to him? What if the male was actually toying him, just so he can trap him in an illusion like this?
...
XXX
It has been more than a day of constantly using his magic and running nonstop, just so he can reach his goal earlier. The mountain Sabo showed him was pretty far away, for a normal person to get there it would have taken a week but it just took him a day and a half to finally reach his destination. A mountain taller than the Colubo. It's interesting that the mountain didn't have an actual name, but whatever. Ace entered the mountain's cave from a small entrance hidden away behind trees and bushes, and oh... the cave was heavenly beautiful, truly deserves to be called a place where heaven opens its doors.
Despite the night outside, inside the cave was pretty much sky-clear and very white. Ace was sure he could see small clouds up in the air, but he didn't understand how that was possible. There was no sun or moon in the cave, but Ace could feel a warm breeze inside. There weren't trees, but the ground was grass and a lot of flowers were scattered around. Some of the which could only grow up in certain places in the world. It was fascinating how just one place could hold all the flower types Ace knew about and more in here. Then he saw it. The pond. It was clear, Ace could see the rocks under the water even in its deepest parts. But.. Right in front of the pond, he saw something that would get in his nightmares.. An arm and an additional note. With shaking hands and tears flowing down his cheeks, he took the note to read it. He wanted to believe this wasn't Marco's arm, but.. The note said otherwise.
"You found this place, congratulations! But I bet you won't find the prince now!"
His whole body trembling, his voice shaky and legs unsteady, Ace fell on his knees and touched the disembodied arm. Marco's arm. He squeezed his eyes shut and took his arm back. He couldn't. He just couldn't.. Ace hurriedly wiped his tears and crawled to the pond.
He kneeled down and dipped his hands into the water, taking some into his palms and raising it to drink. As he drunk the water, he only thought about Marco. Finding Marco and saving him.
Then, all of a sudden, everything turned black. All he could see was black. A source of light appeared in his palms snd it helped him to navigate through the darkness. He was in a room. But.. he wasn't alone. Ace looked down, and to his shock and complete horror, he saw Marco. The blond was laying in a pool of his own blood, covered in bruises and cuts. And.. His left arm had been cut.. So it's true..
Ace hurried to Marco's side, trying to hold him, help him, whisper that he's okay, he'll be okay, but no. He couldn't. Something wouldn't let him.. then he heard a voice, almost like a whisper.. Loud enough for Ace to hear it..
"You have to search, my child.. Search for your love and find it, deep inside the deepest forest, hidden behind the waterfall. This, is your sign. You are brave,"
The voice just left in a whisper as it came, and in a blink of an eye Ace was back in the cave. He was still drinking the water. It seemed that no time had passed.. And Ace had no time to lose! He knew where to exactly go, the waterfall in the deepest parts of the forest.. He knew it! He just had to hurry before something happened! But before leaving, Ace made sure to get some of the water in a small container in case he needed it one day.
XXX
How long had it been since he found himself in this situation? He didn't know. All he knew was that everything hurt, he wasn't alone, he was locked away and he couldn't see shit. What the fuck was even going on? Who is behind all of this? He hopes it's not Ace...
"It's time to play.." He hears the same old voice sing, and suddenly there was this almost blinding light and a small bang. Someone opened the door.
As his eyes adjusted to the light finally coming inside this room, he saw the outlines of his offender. He seemed to be a tall man with a massive build. The man laughed, this time his laugh more audible and walked towards him.
"Zeahahahah! It seems you're awake this time, prince Marco!" The last thing Marco saw was the sly smile and missing teeth, before feeling great pain in his abdomen and blacking out...
XXX
'I'm coming for you, Marco! Please stay alive!'Ace thought as he used his magic to fly himself at an ungodly speed, but since it took a good amount of his stamina he stopped flying once he was a bit closer to the waterfall. It had been two days. Two very long, aggravating days. Running through the forest, he couldn't stop but thinking, what if.. Just what if he couldn't reach in time? What if he was already late?
He shook his head. No. Not right now. He has to save Marco before breaking down.
After a while more of running, he jumped through the final bushes and stopped before falling head into the water below. There he is. The waterfall. He used his magic again to fly himself and went inside the waterfall, going beyond and.. Behind the waterfall, was a whole abandoned city, where once people of Waterfall village used to live. He knew this place.
Just then he heard screams and laughs coming from one of the mansions, and ran there knowing and feeling that Marco was inside that mansion. With whoever was abusing him, his love was inside there. And Ace was going to save him.
He ran, and ran, and ran. With his magic he bursted open any door and wall that came in his way and he made his way into the mansion's basement where he heard laughter still echoing. Ace felt beyond angry, he wanted to kill and destroy everyone who damaged his Marco. He walked down and there.. He lost it.
Some tall, round man was sitting on top of Marco's unconscious, beaten body, blood all over him and his hands. He had a knife in his right hand and he stabbed Marco with it, laughing when Marco didn't react in his unresponsive state, no flinch or anything. Ace lost it the moment he saw that.
He screamed at the top of his lungs and launched himself forward at the confused man, throwing him on the floor. With his eyes impossibly wide open, Ace raised his hands and mumbled somethings, then all of a sudden, hellish fires burst from his hands and burned not only the man, but also everything behind him. Ace burned half of the basement and a few miles into the mountain to ashes. There were no remains of that man who damaged Marco. And Ace still wasn't happy with that, but it was enough for him to calm down a bit.
Once out of it, Ace hurried to Marco's side to finally hold him in his arms, caressing his abused body, whispering calming words into Marco's ears, trying to heal his wounds...
But... It was already too late.
Marco had died before he was even able to come and help him, before Ace could even say how much he loved him, adored him, looked up at him... He couldn't see the sun one last time. Couldn't admire the beauty of nature or his kingdom. Couldn't say goodbye to his family.. or Ace.
Marco died in pain. Probably from the blood loss, or.. Or from the last stab wound that man gave him...
Ace cried his eyes out that day. Screamed at the top of his lungs for Marco to come back, to breath.. For Marco to not give up, but.. it was already too late. Marco died.
He doesn't know how long he had been sitting there, crying, hugging Marco's dead body. He doesn't know when, but he finally stood up and carried Marco outside. He flew them up in the sky, looking at Marco's bloody face. He's dead... Marco is dead...
XXX
How long has it been? He doesn't know. But probably around an hour now. It has been an hour of him just flying with Marco in the air. It was his fault. Marco shouldn't have died. His death is Ace's fault. If only.. If only he payed attention to the blond.. If only he ran faster to save the blond.. Marco shouldn't have died. It should have been him. Yeah... It should have been him...
. . .
After a while more of flying, Ace finally felt his powers slowing down and he landed them down in an open area in the woods with a lot of various sized rocks scattered around. He layed Marco on the grass and stared at his lifeless body again. He couldn't stop the tears from falling again, they won't stop. Ace cried, cried and cried until he made up his mind on one thing.
He was going to take back what they took away from him... the life of his love.
He quickly wrote a last letter for everyone, and took out the water he got from the pond in the small container. Opening the lid, he started drinking, thinking about saving Marco. And almost instantly, he found himself in.. in the cave. It was the exact cave he got the water from, the place where heaven opens its doors.
In front of him stood a golden figure with wings and white eyes and mouth. He.. She.. Or it.. was smiling.
"You are a fighter, aren't you?"The figure spoke ever so soothingly, their voice calm and relaxing. Ace felt himself crying, but he ignored it. The figure flew closer to him but he couldn't move closer to them.
"Don't worry, my child. I will give you what you want. You can save your love.. but. Are you ready for its consequences?"The angel-like figure asked. Ace nodded vehemently,
"Yes, p-please! What.. whatever it takes, I want to sa-save Marco! I w-want him alive e-even.. even if it kills me.. So please! Help me... please.." Ace cried and the angel shushed him after a minute, the caring hands wiping his tears away with a loving, understanding smile. Ace felt the burden in his heart weaken at that moment, it was such a relief.
"I will help you if you are ready to give your own life to your love."The angel spoke. Ace nodded. He already knew that this would happen, the reason he wrote his last letter to everyone. The angel smiled again, and with both hands, the angel held his face. With one last smile, the angel pressed its lips against his head. He felt.. odd.. But he still felt alive? Only for a minute, though. After the minute ended, Ace felt himself getting weaker, and weaker, and weaker.. He felt so weak that he collapsed to the ground, unable to keep himself up. The angel didn't move and looked at him. Ace could see something.. sadness? in the angel's eyes..
And then everything was.. blank. Like a new, empty page. It was white blank. For the longest time it was like that, until.. He heard a heartbeat. Then one more. Then again. And again. And he saw a beautiful meadow. In the middle of the meadow, were two bodies. They were.. MARCO! And.. his body? Ace's eyes widened and tears gathered at his eyes when he saw Marco move, stand up and look around. Marco was alive! Missing an arm still, yes, but he was alive! He did it, he saved Marco!
As he cried the tears of happiness, on the other side, Marco cried tears of sadness.
Marco came back to life. Ace saved him. At what cost?
Ah.. His own life.
XXX
It had been years. Everything had changed around him. Starting with his own body to the whole kingdom. Everything had changed.
He is still Marco Newgate, the first prince and the former crown prince. He stepped back from being the king snd decided to dedicate the rest of his time to small things in life. Such as making people happy. And protecting the last wishes of his love.
He still remembers the pain like yesterday. So much pain. Seeing Ace's dead body as he wakes up completely healed from his wounds and feeling so much better than before. Crying over Ace's death and seeing the smile on his face, a letter in his hand..
"Hi, Marco.
When you read this, I will probably be dead and you will hopefully continue living your life. I'm so, so happy that you're alive even though we couldn't be together one last time. I wish I kissed you before going but you can kiss me before burying me or whatever, haha!
I just wanted to tell you that I love you Marco. So much that I willingly died for you. Just so you can live. I want you to continue for both of us, okay? It's not only your life now, it's my life too. My heart is beating for you to live. So live despite everything, okay? I love you and I'll watch over you!
Please tell Luffy, the idiot face you saw with me in that forest that I chose this. Tell him to tell Sabo that I'm grateful to both of them. I love them and tell them to continue too, please. They are my precious brothers!
Oh, and please look after Kotatsu! He will know when I die, he'll be so sad so please be there for him!
I love all of you. Continue your lives. I just.. I couldn't continue living without you, Marco, but I'm asking you to continue. I know it's selfish but please do. I believe in all of you..
- Ace"
He wishes things would have been different, but.. He knows Ace is watching him. And he can listen to Ace's heartbeat in his own heart.
Kotatsu lives with him and they constantly travel around, meeting new people and seeing new places. He had buried Ace right next to the Heavenly cave's entrance. That way, he knew Ace really was in a beautiful place.
Sometimes it can be so, so hard for him to move on with.. But he has his family, his friends, Kotatsu and more importantly Ace helping him go on. He lives for them. He lives so Ace can watch him and live every emotion with him, be one with him. He still hears Ace's voice calling for him.. But he still manages somehow.
Until he dies and finally reunites with Ace, he will continue living for him...
XXX
A/N:
FINALLYYYYYYY I'M OVER WITH THISSSSS
Took me so long that I postponed the publishing date 2 times
I'll try to finish the next part earlier as an apology!
I hope you liked thiss, stay safe and lots of loveeeee