concoursec | (no subject)

Entry tags:

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Character(s): Ace, Marco, and anyone else.
Location: The Training Center
Rating: PG-13 for SHOCKING violence and probable swearing.
Open/Closed/Finished: Open [FINISHED]
Summary: The result of remembering your little brother's birthday is happening a world away. PLUS: Added pirates for your viewing pleasure!

[Ah, the training centre. Ace hasn't been here before, but he's certainly enjoying beating and burning the crud out of the grats (and maybe a T-Rexaur while he's at it. Being trapped in some weird world with magic and no World Government? Fine, he can handle that. Mercenary school? No problem. Missing his little brother's birthday and not knowing what's happening to him? Not so simple to deal with.

At least going homicidal on a bunch of monsters is distracting, which is why you if you go down to the ~~woods~~ training center today, you might spot Ace hurling balls and streams of fire around, barely restraining himself from setting all the vegetation alight, and punching various beasties in the face. Hard.

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Marco couldn't help it. He smells fire? He goes to where the fire is. And seeing it was ~~his hallucination~~ Ace didn't help put his mind at ease. He hesitated. Marco already remembered it was Luffy's birthday back in their world, but did Bizarro Ace care? Marco was definitely starting to rethink the idea it was just a figment of his own imagination however because Ace was burning things senseless in the kind of way only Ace in a bad mood could.

"Need help?" He offered as gently as he could. He didn't want to scare Ace, but since the kid disguised as a marine hadn't made to approach Marco, he figured maybe Ace had been enchanted enough not to remember the Whitebeard crew at all. Even if he did look more like he did when he was 20 than 17. Not a time thing. Maybe just a ghost thing.

The voice cut through Ace's ~~homicidal rampage~~ casual training with all the speed of a rhinocerous on crack. He paused, dousing one of the small fireballs he was about to throw and flicking the other at the grat he had stumbled across, and glanced over his shoulder at the speaker.

No way. That can't be. He's got to be seeing things.

... No, he's not imagining it.

"Marco the Phoenix?" He doesn't care about the snarl in his voice or the disgusted expression he's using.

And that cuts like a knife so Marco just stepped back. Angry Ace was not a good Ace to try to deal with. Maybe it wasn't that Marco was from Ace's future, maybe the marines wound up... what? Stealing the body from Shanks and instead of the funeral the Whitebeard pirates gave him turned him into a marine? What could possibly make sense about any of that? Even for the World Government. Marco swallowed lightly and grinned even lighter. He wasn't hugely hopeful, but maybe...

"So you do remember me Ace?" he grinned gently, keeping an eye trained on Ace for any signs of violence. "Mah, I guess I should have said hi earlier then. What's with the whole marine disguise?" And Ace D. Monkey. What happened to basing his name after Portgas? Maybe Ace just got too many hits to the cranium from Garp. That would confuse anyone. "You okay kiddo?" Marco frowned with a glance at the devastation.

"Disguise...?" Ace is utterly confused. Damn right he remembered the guy, even though they'd never met - Marco the Phoenix, notorious criminal and 1st Division Leader of the Whitebeard Pirates. Why the hell would he have said hi? And his uniform was hardly a disguise.

He shakes his head, glaring at the man and resisting the urge to just incinerate the bastard and pretend he never saw him. He doesn't have the authority here though, and there's probably cameras, and-

"Stay the fuck away from me, pirate." The last word is a curse, coming from his lips.

A chill cut Marco to the bone. Well so much for being able to find old friends in this place. And Ace was dead. So it was still better to see him alive at all. Besides it was just like the wildfire Ace had been when he first joined. Full of unexpressed rage ready to lash out at everything and anything. "That's going to be impossible since we share about half the same classes," Marco reminded. It was closer to five but out of fourteen a year, it was still a lot.

And he wasn't completely the way Ace had been when he first joined, "Since when do you hate pirates?"

Ace snorted at that. "I'm sure we can avoid each other is most of the classes, at least." He turned away slightly, lashing a palm of fire out to bitchslap a grat that had decided to try and jump him, before looking back in disgust. "I've always hated pirates. What the hell business is it of yours?" The pirate was being too familiar, almost politely civil. "And don't call me Ace."

"I'm not calling you Monkey. Or marine. And I haven't called you Portgas..." Marco shook his head and cut himself off. He didn't want to confuse his nakama worse than he was already confused himself. "Fine Freckles. What's the last thing you remember in your world, eh?" Marco couldn't ask him about Impel Down and if Ace was under some sort of enchantment, it didn't seem like he'd remember it anyway. "No, forget that too." How the hell was Marco supposed to explain he'd just sacrificed his own life and live of their entire crew to rescue Ace from something when Ace couldn't remember anything or any of them? Maybe it wasn't even really Ace. "How old are you marine, kid?"

He didn't care what Ace said. Ace was not a marine. So far as Marco was concerned, it didn't matter how many hits to the head Ace took from his grandfather or anything else, Ace was always going to be one of Marco's closest nakama. And to have him here in this place and yet so fucked up... the universe was teasing him.

He froze for an instant at that. Portgas-? How did the pirate know that name? Ace ignored the questions, though his anger sparked further at the nickname the Phoenix plastered him with, and lunged forwards, grabbing his shirt. "Portgas?! What the hell do you think you know, you bastard?!"

Realising he was starting to leak haki, Ace repressed it, glaring death at the man who seemed to know far more than he ought to. "What are you playing at, bastard?!"

Marco gave Ace a withering look and brushed the hands off his shirt. He want to leak outrage too, just lose it on something, about how damn unfair it was to lose half of his world so quickly and to just have it twisted like this. "Let go Ace," Marco stared him down coolly. "Because apparently you don't know me. You don't remember me even though I've spent years with you. I know about your Mom, your Grandfather, and--" No, damn it. Ace was already freaked out.

"And the last thing I meant to do was hurt you." Marco grit his teeth and lit a cigarette with a blue flicker of flame off his forearms. "Look kid, I can tell you all about how I know you and why, and I doubt you'll even start to believe it all. If you want to call a momentary... truce..." he frowned around the words. Ace wasn't just a best friend, he was a nakama, he was someone Marco would die for, he shouldn't even need to ask for a truce. "We can talk. This whole... Time Compression thing, right? Maybe I'm from the wrong world. Or time. Or something. In mine? I knew you. You were a friend. And I guess to you, I'm just a pirate, right?" Just a pirate? Since when was Marco just anything? This was worse than if Ace was 17. It was confusing and frustrating and Marco took a deep breath. First things first, he needed to find a way to stop scaring Ace without giving up on him either.

This was far, far too confusing. Ace stepped back, managing not to stumble, and he didn't know what the hell was going on. The confusion only grew, mingled with disbelief as the pirate went on, saying things that didn't make any sense. Okay, maybe this version was from a different world than Ace was, but how could they ever be friends? Ace wouldn't befriend a pirate, ever. Simple as that, and he refused to comprehend a world inwhich he did.

"Stay away from me." He didn't care about anything else, that was all Ace wanted. "Just don't talk to me. At all."

"Ace," Marco reached out an arm to his shoulder, not caring that he'd probably get punched. "I can't. I need to know why. At the least. How would you feel if Luffy showed up and didn't remember you, wouldn't even talk to you?" In this Ace's version was Luffy still a pirate too?

A world where Thatch and Ace were never friends? Where he didn't chase Blackbeard down for revenge? He was alive, but without knowing Pops, what did that count for.

Ace didn't want to hear any of this. The Phoenix knew far more than he should - about his mother, his brother, and the ridiculous story of a world where they were friends was... stupid. Impossible.

He shook his head, slapping the hand away and stepping further back. "Stay the fuck away. Didn't you understand that the first time? You're lucky I don't kill you right now, pirate." He glared at the man, not willing to turn away and trust his back to an enemy. "And I told you, don't call me that.

"You know what Ace, go ahead and try it. You've heard of me, so you must know at least some of the reputation of Whitebeard commanders," Marco answered calmly, letting an arm coast over with blue flames. Hell Ace used to be the second division commander himself. "And kid I don't care what fancy rank they gave you, you'd still be out of your league. Especially if I remember you and you don't remember anything about me."

Marco had the strangest urge to talk to Ivankov about the feeling. It definitely wasn't pleasant.

"Or, you could be mature for a first," it would certainly prove to be a different Ace. One that wasn't a reckless wildfire Pops adored. One that got himself killed from it. "And sit down and we can talk. I'm not asking you to believe me yet, but I'd at least like to figure out what happened." So he could fix it. "I'm going to find out either way. This gives you a better chance of getting rid of me."

He wanted nothing more than to punch the bastard, followed rapidly by killing him. Firstly for duty, secondly for satisfaction, and thirdly simply to be contrary to the pirate's apparent wish to talk about things.

The only thing that held Ace back - except that he probably shouldn't kill a fellow student - was the desire to prove his maturity and reclaim the moral high ground that was rightfully his.

He kept glaring, refusing to stop doing that, at least. "There's nothing to figure out. All we need to do is avoid each other as much as possible. Eventually we'll be sent home, me to protect people, and you to sail around being scum. Simple."

"Simple. Yeah. Right," Marco scowled. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who had to watch three of the most important people in your life walk out on it." Marco was tempted to turn and leave, to just give Ace the space the kid said he wanted, but he couldn't. Because it was Ace. Because in all the many times Ace had blown his cork at Marco, the world, Pops, everything someone in the crew tried to be by his side. Because Jozu and Vista weren't there to stop Marco from still trying to get through to the kid.

"It's Luffy's birthday, right?" Marco asked calmly. He still wasn't sure this Ace gave a damn. If he didn't... then Marco would need to get space for himself because an Ace who didn't care about Luffy was an Ace Marco wasn't sure he could like so much.

"How the hell-?" No, stupid question. The Phoenix would just spew more bullshit about 'being friends'. He flushed slightly, clenching a fist. "Don't you dare mention him, you bastard. I don't care if he's supposedly your 'friend' as well, I don't-" He shook his head, lashing out another fistful of fire at a pair of grats.

"Get this straight. I don't care who 'walked out of your life'. I don't care about your past. I don't care about you. I don't care about being civil or 'sorting this out', or anything like that. What the hell is so hard about staying out of my way?! I'm not demanding a fight to the death, or anything!"

"Because Ace," Marco's voice dropped to a rare, extremely serious tone. "It's been my job to look over you little idiots for so long, it's the only thing that matters to me with Pops gone. I'm not asking you to remember something you can't or be something you're not. And since you don't remember me, I'll let it slide this once. But know this. A Whitebeard pirate never turns his back on a crewmember. I don't care what you wear, or who you say you are. As long as you've still got it in here," Marco tapped Ace's chest over his heart, "And I've still got it in here," he pointed to his head referring to the memories, "You will always be a nakama. And nothing, I mean nothing will ever change that. Not all the spells or time-space crap in the universe. Got it?"

"Whoever you think you know, they're not me." Ace stared at him, face set, fury building as the pirate dared to touch him, insult him, call him nakama like being a pirate's nakama wasn't utterly repulsive.

"I am a Marine. I don't want anything to do with pirates except kill or arrest them. The only thing I have in my heart that has anything to do with you Whitebeard pirates is complete and utter loathing. And if you touch me again, I'm breaking your damn fingers."

Edited 2010-05-08 14:59 (UTC)

Marco grinned idly, "And again, Ace, you're welcome to try. Something you should know though, since it's really only fair. I've heard you insist a thousand times over that you hated Whitebeard and were going to kill him. And in the end you were still the one to go yell at Admiral Akainu for insulting him even though you got your ass handed to you for it. So don't be surprised if I don't just up and magically accept everything you're going to claim on the matter. Especially when I've heard it before and seen you become smart enough to overcome it."

Fuck it. Ace had heard enough of this bullshit. None of this was of any interest or made any sense, but Ace didn't care about that - he cared about that smug look the asshole wore, the way he refused to believe in Ace's duty, the way he brushed off everything Ace said, the way he expected Ace to just conform to his view and memories as though he were in the right.

His eyes narrowing was the only warning Ace gave before he brought a hakii-infused fist around, lunging forwards, fully intending to beat the pirate to death and screw the consequences.

Marco had seen enough of Ace's attacks, had once helped train a bunch of Ace's attacks, that he could have dodged him instinctively. He ducked to one side with an almost fluid grace since haki hadn't fazed Marco when Gol D. Roger did it and it didn't faze him when his son did it either. Still, Ace was smart, albeit the most reckless person Marco have ever known, so the phoenix kept a lazy eye open for seastone, one hand shoving Ace's head to push the marine brat's momentum further in the direction Ace was already lunging.

On the bright side, he was pretty sure he'd made Ace forget about missing Luffy's birthday. For now. How much worse the kid might feel later would have to wait and see.

Ace grit his teeth at the pressure to his head, twisting his body and kicking out at the basard, hoping to bring him to his knees.

"Have some decency and stay still for me to kill!" he snapped, one hand snapping back up to grab hold of the wrist and pull the pirate forwards as well, his other hand flaring to fire and aiming for Marco's neck.

His cuffs were waiting back in his room, and Ace cursed that fact.

If Marco was fighting a real enemy he would have pinched the arm grabbing for his wrist and twisted it sharply enough to break it, but as it was, he had no intentions of hurting Ace ever. So instead he delivered a talon kick to Ace's chest and turned his arms into wings. "Tell you what kiddo," Marco explained, flapping the wings to get a little more air, "You start listening to one of my requests, and I'll consider one of yours."

"Fuck you!" Ace grabbed for the wings, trusting his fire to protect him, aiming to snap the hollow bones he knew birds had. "I've listened and listened and ALL you've done is fucking ignore everything I've said or laughed it off!" He threw another fist, a kick flying at the same time. "I refuse to hear any more of your bullshit!"

"Bullshit?" Marco had been about to turn into a full phoenix, grab Ace, and dump him someplace high, but not now. "Don't you EVER call it bullshit!" Marco got serious enough deliver a kick to Ace's midsection that would have killed anyone who wan't immune to fire and coursing with the kind of haki filled rage. "You stupid kid," Marco fumed, "He died to save you! And if you can't remember," another kick with the other leg, "If you can't be grateful," he pulled back forcing himself to back up from Ace before he really did something stupid. "The least you can do is not insult him." Marco's blood boiled, all he wanted to do was lash out and kill something. "Fuck you Ace," he growled and continued backing up. "He was your Pops too. No matter what you say or remember. He loved you like a son. He took on the entire fucking marines to save you."

Marco flew up high. "I didn't once ignore you idiot. I wanted to talk. Should've known better. You want your space? Have it. Drown in your misery for all I care. I'll check in later." He needed to get space for himself. Before he did something he regretted or threw Ace into a wall. He flew off and didn't look back. It might be Ace, but for now, it might as well just be an impostor, and Marco couldn't stand to think he'd almost rather Ace wasn't alive and there.

It was all nonsense, of course. A father? He wouldn't accept any, let alone a pirate. And to pretend the man would love him?

"You acted like my words didn't even matter," Ace muttered as he watched the pirate leave, resolving not to go anywhere without his cuffs from now on. He grimaced, touching where he'd been kicked. "Damn maniac..." At least he'd left him alone for now. Ace sighed, resolving to wait a minute for the Phoenix to leave before heading out and to the infirmary. Might as well get it looked at.

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1/idek

2/4?

3/4

done! \o/

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1/2 icon semi-snap!

2/2

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