Chapter 4

"So, how and when did he got here?" Dad asked.

"Almost four hours ago. He just appeared in my room earlier." I answered.

Before Dad could said anything, Mom put a steaming bowl in the table. The bowl contains spaghetti. She also served some toasted bread and salad. Justin set the plates and some orange juice.

"What's that?" Ace asked pointing the spaghetti.

"Spaghetti. It's made of pasta and tomato sauce." Mom answered him.

"Try it, it's so gooood!" Justin grinned. He likes spaghetti after all.

I gave the spaghetti to him. Ace eyed it with sheer interest as he put it into his plate. He took a mouthful of it with a spoon. His eyes widened as he blinked.

"It is good." Ace let out a smile.

"Told ya!" Justin laughed. "But you should it eat with a fork."

The dinner continued with everyone putting the food in their plate. Everything was going smoothly as it seems. Ace who was usually eating without manners was using a fork as he eats. Seems like he liked the spaghetti to much and already halfway in finishing his meal.

"How much did these two has said to you?" Dad asked.

"Well... Being fictional in this world? That's the only thing I got from them." Ace replied.

Dad looks unsure. He leaned to me and whispered something close in my ears. "Didn't he die in the show?"

I let out a sigh and whispered in Dad's ear. "He did but don't tell him that yet. He's at Marineford before he got here."

"So, do you know a way to get Ace back to his world?" Dad asked in a casual voice away from me."It's not that we're throwing you out but... This is not where you belong."

Ace halted and put his fork down. "I don't know too... Have any idea?"

"Tala, Justin?" Dad said.

"Why us? We don't know too." Justin shrugged with a mouthful of spaghetti in his mouth.

"You two are the One Piece fan here. I may have watched a couple of episodes but I'm not very knowledgeable." Dad explained.

"Maybe a Devil Fruit?" Justin suggested.

"I don't think so. I haven't heard something like that before." Ace countered.

"You're at Marineford before you got here, right? What do you remember before you got here?" I questioned in monotone.

"I see light struck me and before I know it, I was in your room." Ace explained.

Using Luffy's logic, this was what I am going to call as a mystery. It was still a big question about how he got here. I did see a light in my room also and then Ace just appeared.

We continued to eat in quite comfortable silence after that. Soon enough, we finished our meal. Justin was cleaning the table and Mom was going to wash the dishes. I drink my meds immediately as I forgot to do earlier.

"We still have one spare room for you. There's a bed in there for you to sleep." Dad said to Ace.

"Thank you for hospitality." Ace bowed half of his body.

Dad let out a small chuckle. "No big deal. Tala, please direct him to the guest room. Go to your room after that, you need to rest. You're temperature's still high."

"Yes, Dad." I nodded.

We stood up and went back to the second floor. The guest room is still neat. There were mattress and pillows in the bed. My cousin was here last two days ago. The guest room remained untouched after she left.

While at the stairs, Ace spoke up. "Your family's nice."

"They are." I let out a small snicker. "That's what family is for, right?"

"...Yeah." Ace replied awkwardly.

I let him first in the room as I switched on the light. He scanned it. Trees were seen from the window. There was one made bed and a nightstand beside. It did not look that much. The important thing is, Ace have a room he can slept it rather than sleep in the couch.

"You fine in here?" I asked.

Ace nodded. "Of course. Beggars can't be choosers."

"You're hardly a beggar." I commented. "Anyway, if you need something... You know where my room is." I turned back intending to leave.

"Wait." Ace called.

I stopped turned to him. "What is it?"

"Can I..." He looked unsure. "Never mind. Try to get some sleep, Tala." He said. I can see a smile on his face.

I returned the smile. That was the first time he called me by my name. "Good night, Ace."

I left the room to give him some privacy.

• • •

I woke up from my deep slumber.

Pain was the first thing I felt. My head was throbbing. My throat was burning. I put my hands on my forehead. The temperature did not went down instead it goes up. I overdo myself today. It was to be expected.

I sat up in my bed and opened the lamp. My breaths were short and heavy. I groaned. I feel like hell. My feet searches for my sandal and after putting it on, I stood up. I intend to go downstairs to drink some water to ease my pain. I went to the hallway. It was dimly lit. Trees do surround our house preventing the moon's light to come in. I passed the guest room. The door was wide open. Then I remember the incident earlier about Ace appearing in here. I halted. My brain told me to peek inside. My footsteps were light not wanting to wake him up. I stopped at the door frame and looked inside.

There was no one inside.

The bed looks like it had been used. Pillows were scattered and the blanket was on he floor. There was no light inside but I can tell that no one was in the bed.

At that moment, my mind went awake. I stared inside the room with wide eyes. Shock engulfed my whole body. There was no way that he could ran away from our house. He seemed to be fine earlier.

Calm down, Tala, calm down. I reminded myself.

It was so hard to be calm. I do have anxiety what do you expect. Millions of possibility entered my mind at once. The first thing that my mind told me was to find him in the whole house. And so I did, I hurriedly tried to went downstairs but something caught my attention.

The door for the way up to the rooftop. It was wide open. Dad always make sure it was locked at night. My feet immediately went upstairs. The cold breezy air of the night gave chills down to my spine. The full moon shine brightly in the night sky. The stars shone, twinkling.

That was when I spotted Ace. He was sitting in a bench. Even though it was dark, I could see his face features. His eyes were close and looks like he was breathing in some fresh air. The wind blows harshly making his raven hair wave. His freckles stood up at most. In short, he looks very calm.

"Ace...?" I finally found my voice but it was coarse.

He turned to me. If he was surprised, he did not show it. His gray eyes stared at me. "Tala... You're supposed to be in bed, you know."

I sighed. "And so you are. I was supposed to get a drink when I stumbled upon in your room and didn't see you in there."

"I'm sorry. Just went up here to get some fresh air." Ace shrugged.

I smiled lightly. "The stars look beautiful tonight."

"They are." Ace nodded. "I remember the time when Luf -"

"What about Luffy...?" I asked.

"Luffy, he..." Ace paused. "Luffy and I used to stargazed every night back in Dawn Island. We ate some food preferably meat. And when it became late, Lu will fall asleep in my shoulders and I would carry him back in the treehouse."

"You miss Luffy, huh?" I asked quietly.

"Yes..." He nodded.

He sighed heavily. He look so stress and tired. He was supposed to be in bed after all it was in the middle of the night. Everyone needs to sleep at this time.

"Why don't you sit here with me?" Ace offered.

I blinked. I did not expected that one. "Sure."

I sat beside him in the bench.

"Can I ask you some thing...?" Ace asked.

"I'll try to answer it."

"I died didn't I?" Ace said seriously.

I looked up at him with my brown eyes wide open. I guess there was no point hiding it. My expression was already a dead give away.

Ace and I stared at each other for the longest time. His expression showed seriousness but somehow also sad.

"What's the last thing you remembered...?" I finally said with a sigh.

"I remembered protecting Luffy." Ace said. "... And then Akainu got me..."

"That's basically what happened."

Ace's gray eyes suddenly went wide in fear and worry. He spoke frantically. "Pl-Please tell me that Luf-"

"Luffy's fine. He is the main character after all." I laughed trying to humor the situation to calm him down. "Don't worry. Luffy has a lot of friends who help him get throught it..."

"I hurt him..." Ace declared in a whispered broken voice.

I was speechless. I do not really know how to comfort him. It was true that he hurt Luffy in an emotional way. Luffy hurt himself after remembering what happened to Ace. If Jinbei didn't interfered, Luffy would probably kill himself that time.

"Yes, you did." I let out a sigh then looked up at him. "But I told you didn't I? Luffy has nakamas who help him. You don't need to worry about him now. He is still trying to reach his dreams of being the Pirate King together with his crew."

But it was not only Luffy who suffered from his death. There's his remaining crew from the Whitebeard pirates, Shanks, Jinbei, Garp, Makino, Dadan, Sabo... and also me.

I remembered when I first watched Ace's death. I couldn't believed it. I was one of the many people who thought that no one dies in One Piece. Seeing that Ace suffered before he died. That he was killed just because of his blood, it made me cry. Even though he was just an anime character, I felt sympathy. That was the first time ever in my life for me to mourn for an anime character.

But now that he was real and sitting right besides me... I don't know how to comfort him.

A somewhat comfortable silence fell between us. Ace was deep in thought. I let him be. I don't know what it feels like to know you're dead so I can only imagine. He was handling this better than I could imagine.

He let out a heavy sigh before standing up. "Come on, Tala. You need your sleep."

I nodded slightly. I'm still worried about him. I highly doubt that he would be able to sleep tonight. I hope I can do something to lessen up the pain he was experiencing.

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~Star_Crystals ⭐