fierybluebird | Ace and Sabo are gone // Written, Action

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Ace and Sabo are gone // Written, Action

[The first few times Marco tries to find his voice, he can't. This is what Robin, what everyone tried to warn him about isn't it? And he didn't listen. He always refused. Even if his father had been here and told him the same things, he wouldn't have listened to him either. At first he tries to seek solace in the rooftop, the memorial for his Pops, but today, not even that is enough. Where can he go other than "home?" And home is no longer CH3. It is still Luceti, scattered throughout his loved ones, but other than Leanne, that describe CH3 now.]

[He opens the journal and tries to speak, but he can't. So he winds up writing instead.]

Happy Post-Valentine's Day to anyone. I hope many happy couples found each other and no one was too disrupted.

[His hand shakes, and then clenches and the pen breaks. Too angry, so much rage. He uses the bottom half of the quill as best as he can to write more.]

My little brothers, [A long pause. He looks up at the flag and... it's not enough. Nothing is.] are both gone. Even knowing that every single day they had here was extra time, and as grateful as I am for that, they deserve more. I can't tell you they've gone to a better place, because they haven't.

[The last thing Sabo saw before his death was fire. And Ace died crying and smiling at the same time.]

But they're in good company I guess.

[Good company? He was jealous of them, still, even now. He had a huge fight with Ace about it, but he was jealous. Ace was jealous that Marco could be with the living, and Marco was jealous that Ace could be with the dead, could protect someone he loved that deeply by dying for them, something Marco never could. It was a dumb thing to be jealous about, but even knowing how infantile it was, didn't make it go away. It's a good time to go get a new pen. So Marco jumps down and goes to the item shop, finds a pen and right there, in middle of the shop, sits down on the floor and continues.]

I've lost a lot of nakama before, but Ace's affected me the worst. He brought with him a new era. He saved the man who will be the New Pirate King and renounced the world's idea of villains and heroes. [Marco sets the book and pen down so he won't break them again and it's all bit before he picks them back up.] In legends, phoenixes are supposed to herald the changing of eras, but I hate it. Mankind's eras in my world are tragically majestic things, but what use are they to an individual?

I'm not going back to the apartment for a long time. And I might move when I'm ready. I took the important things with me, but I'm not going back there.

Luceti is still my home. Make no mistake, I'll fight forever for my right to stay and the right for anyone else who wants to stay. I always will. That's who I am.

[He needs to talk to people, to try to comfort them in the wake of Ace's absence, in the wake of Sabo's, but all Marco wants to do is fly away. It's too cowardly though, so he won't. He wants to switch into phoenix form and stop feeling anything, but that's also cowardly and he know Robin's been trying to break him of the habit.]

If you think you can find me, you can try, otherwise, say the word and I'll come find you. No promises about the state I'll be in.

- Marco

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Exactly... [Sighs.]

Mah... I'm not sure he believes in afterlife. Not really anyway. That's why I was extra glad to have him here. He just sees... saw... what he was missing out on, which was getting to see Luffy achieve his dream, eh?

And as he sees it... he achieved his own.

In my world that wouldn't be a problem, I saw Hell more times than anyone would care for. But even if there's no afterlife, it's still the same. He only saw what he was missing out, but he didn't see what you are going to miss out.

I guess it's really hard to get someone with just one life to understand that how it feels to not being able to really die just because of your nature.

[He's not sure about Marco, but he has died before and even tried to stay dead only to be kicked out, only to be rejected even by Hell itself. It's ridiculous, how people want to live forever and don't get it, while he wishes he could just die and remain dead.]

As some here would say "they may return here".

Aye...

[His eyes really do well up with tears now.] He did see Hell... the closest we have in our world. Impel Down. They tried to make it a layered torture cell. Boiling, cutting, starvation, heat, cold... [Blinks away the tears, it's easier to stave them off when he's angry.] It's pointless anyway. They forget that simply being in prison is torture enough for people who only want freedom.

But I think that might be why he believed in the afterlife even less. I don't know.

I hope he does return. Both of them. Is that terrible?

I've heard about that one, everyone keeps describing it that way.

[Ikki doesn't deny it may be Hell on Earth, he hasn't seen it so he's no one to judge. Though in his opinion Hell is far worse, after all Impel Down is a prison, not everyone ends there even if it's questionable if all the ones who end there deserve it or not. But Hell, the one he knows, has everyone and anyone ending there regardless of what they have done in live.]

I think the one forgetting something is you. Or you are just not realizing how frustrating and vexing it must be for people who want to control everything to the smallest detail have people wanting to just have freedom to do whatever they want. The torture is probably their way to release that childish frustration, because otherwise having you all be killed on the spot rather than bother with creating a prison would be more efficient in making others give up on wishing for freedom.

[It's lovely to see what a low opinion Ikki has on the World Government of Marco's world, specially since his bff is a freaking Marine. One would think that Ikki would look at it more positively, really.]

You're a pirate, does it matter to you if it's terrible or not?

[A heartbeat.]

I would say it's normal. Even I would hope for that if Esmeralda or Kenuma and the others came here and left.

[Something in his tone says that he won't say that out loud ever again.]

Che, it's less than the likes of Crocodile and Blackbeard deserve, but I only hate it for what they did to Ace and Jinbe. Just because they were strong enough to handle it doesn't mean I can forgive it.

Thank you. At least I know I'm in good company, eh? [Leans a little on Ikki, borrowing his strength.]

Your World Government has never sounded to me as one to really care about who truly deserves something. And I wouldn't forgive it either.

[Ikki will be your strength if you need him to, Marco, no questions asked and even if Smoker is his bff, Marco is closer to a brother than anything else. Not that Ikki would dare to say that though.]

That's right, you still have Robin and everything.

Aye. They do it to save face. Because they need most of the world to think they're right and we're wrong. They're too insecure that they're wrong.

I do. Robin, Norma, Rei, Leanne. [Gulps.] Fuck. I really...

Every day with him was extra right? [Bluuuh he just wants to cry and can't.] He was like Pops. Something I never knew I needed in my life until suddenly he was there and I never felt so alive.

People who are that insecure are probably wrong in many things.

[If not all.

Ikki sighs understanding what Marco is talking about, however he refuses to accept that he has people like that. He refuses to admit that there are things that he needs in his life, it's why he always tries to keep to himself and back on his world it was one of the reasons why he never hanged around the others for long. Guilt played a great part on it, but he couldn't bring himself to give in to them, be part of the group completely. Because if he keeps the lone wolf attitude and all, even if he's surrounded by people, when he loses them he will be able to keep going on alone.]

You still have others, and I'm sure he will return some day. It's not the first time he leaves here after all, is it?

All of them.

And aye... He might. But I don't know if... [If he should do more. If there even is more he can do. If holding onto hope itself is something that might crush him in the long run. He doesn't finish it. He doesn't know if Ace ever will again, and that really does say it all.]

There's nothing else we can do, Marco. Sometimes all we can do is just sit, wait and hope, as annoying as that is.

[Pain slips into Ikki words for a second. He sighs, wondering if he's even saying the right things... But it's the only truth he knows, his own experience and he's not the type to shut up just because it's not nice.]

You're going to be a phoenix forever, whether we like it or not. And people insist on seeing the figure of a phoenix as one that has hope tied to it, because we will always rise again. If we stop having hope, we may be committing the worst sin possible.

[He says this now, but he himself probably will want to throw away hope and whatever later on. That's how Ikki is.]

I'm a pirate Ikki, I live and breathe every sin imaginable.

But... hope... eh?

[His father still had hope. Hope in mankind, the future, all of it.] I think I rested too many hopes on Ace once. But now that I think of it... they weren't really misplaced. Things I hoped from him happened. I just wanted to live and enjoy time with him. I guess hope for more of that can't really hurt. Pops believed the future rests on Ace's little brother's shoulders. It's a heavy burden to bear, eh? But he carries on Ace's will so he'll survive. We'll make him survive.

[Despite Ikki worries about right or wrong words, he's actually helping quite a bit nonetheless.]

[Ikki chuckles at the first remark.]

None of them are worse than that one would be.

[And he honestly thinks so. There was a time he didn't, but Seiya and the others reminded him of it. They give him back something he thought he had long since lost and while it didn't return that which he had lost just recently, it gave him enough to rise again.]

It's a heavy burden, but if you guys make him survive and all I don't think it will be hard for him to carry it. Nor for you to carry on Ace's and pops' will. That's the last thing family is there for after all, if family doesn't do that, no one else will.

[Specially not when the world is against them or they are orphans or both.]

Maybe so, eh?

It is something I can throw all of myself into without regret, eh? And there aren't too many other things I can say that about these days.

I can see that. It makes sense anyway, Ace died for him, didn't he? As far as everything goes, right now Ace's heart lives in that kid.

There's really nothing better I could think for you to be doing besides that. Or searching revenge, but that's sweeter when it's cold served as they say.

[Then again being a phoenix anything Marco serves will probably be hot anyway.]

Aye, he did, eh.

I'm not sure I can ever cool down enough to kill Akainu and Blackbeard like that, but I want to, so I'll give it my all. If I'm cold-blooded about it, I'll get to savor it more.

Indeed, I didn't get to savor anything of it when I killed my master. Only more anger, hatred and pain. You have enough of that already.

Your master? I don't think you've told me about him before.

Probably because there's nothing worth to tell. He was the man who trained me, if you call training to beat me to half death. He taught me a lot though, he taught me to let anger fill my fists when I strike, to use it as my strength rather than let it cloud my reason. He taught me to hate, to hate him, the world around me, myself... He was always "you have to hate everything, Ikki. Only then you can hope to become the phoenix".

[There's a brief pause before he adds.]

He killed Esmeralda, though that was my fault. Had I not dodged the strike wouldn't have hit her. Had I not hesitated to kill him before he wouldn't have launched that punch. And ultimately, had I not befriended her and made foolish promises to her she wouldn't have been there then.

I killed him right after she died in my arms, mad with anger, hate and pain. It didn't feel enough, neither satisfying. And then he told me about who my father was so I knew what he had done to us and how he had died already so I couldn't get any revenge back so... So I would always live with that hate and anger inside me.

[For a second it sounded as if he was going to say something else, but he doesn't. Instead he bites his own tongue and just finish the sentence nonchalantly. He doesn't explain about Esmeralda either.]

[If Marco wasn't always deadpan, he'd be showing a lot more of a reaction to that. As it is, there's still a giant sweatdrop.]

[Well, Ikki's fears when it comes to Kotomi-chan just made a lot more sense at least.]

I hate a lot of things Ikki. There are a lot of days I feel like I'm being consumed in the flames of that hate. But hating the world, hating everything is more like Blackbeard. Pops was the strongest man in the world because of his love for everyone. His family, his crew, the islands, his friends, all of that. Ace was strong because of that too.

Losing things... Losing people hurts. But it should hurt. It has to hurt, or we'll never get stronger. Each pain is like another rebirth, eh? We can't show our physical scars, so we only receive scars like that inside.

Loving someone can never be a weakness, only a strength. Losing them isn't because you didn't have enough hate, it's because you hadn't learned enough at that time. The world might have a lot of hate, but we just have to use that as our own flames to rise above it. Got it?

Also, I hate your mentor.

[And you don't even know how special and important Esmeralda was for Ikki yet, Marco. Did you think that having the heartless of Whitebeard as a father was all the shit he has on his back? Ikki chuckles at his brother's words.]

I know. That happened long ago, Marco, you don't need to worry. I have died way too many times after that, there's not a drop of blood from that time left in my body. It has been over five years since I hated the world.

[Now he only hates himself, he won't say that though, neither explain much about his deaths. Specially the first one. He doesn't want Marco despising him. Instead he laughs again.]

I bet he would be happy about that with how much he liked to be hated.

Five years isn't really that long though, eh? Especially not for us.

[Leans on Ikki's head.] He really hated himself that much too? I guess I should just pity him then, just so he can't have the satisfaction.

Five years with almost one death per year may actually count as long if you see each death as a rebirth.

[Ikki pauses at Marco's next words, he had never considered that Guilty hated himself... Or anything at all. The man made a point from the start to keep Ikki from getting attached to him, always berating him for respecting him as his master. Talking about his life would have been the opposite of what Guilty did.]

Maybe he did. I doubt Guilty was his real name and he always wore a mask, I thought it was so that I wouldn't see him as a human being, but maybe there was more to it. I don't really hate him now anyway, I actually don't feel much about him now.

[The only way Guilty stirs emotions in him is by remembering Esmeralda and her death, nothing more.]

That seems the best way to think of it.

Who was Esmerelda? [He hates the idea of poking at old wounds but it's looking to be pretty necessary, and if nothing else, Ikki can back out of the discussion if it becomes too much.]

[He sighs and shifts a bit uncomfortably before he speaks again.]

She was a slave. She was a native of Death Queen Island and was sold by her own family in exchange of three bags of flour... It was common practice there. I met her during my training, rather she found me half death after one of the training sessions and helped me. Despite being a slave and mistreated she always had a smile and was very kind and compassionate. She reminded me of my little brother, Shun, both in appearance and character.

She was the only good thing in that place, a flower born in the middle of a hell of lava and ashes. I... I wanted to save her. I wanted to take her away from there, even if that was all I could do, she would have had better chances in the world outside the island than the life she had there. But because we became friends, she worried about me and supported me, always cheering me to continue training, to grow stronger so I could leave the island and find my brother again. She probably was worried that I wouldn't be able to do so during the final test, or maybe she wanted to cheer on me. It doesn't really matter, she died because of me either way.

Ace and Sabo are gone // Written, Action

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