Feathers and Fires

Time Traveler [Ace/Reader]

Summery:
When an opportunity arises to fix the things that have happened in the past, she can't let this chance slip by. However, things don't always go the way you plan...

Request

Tags:
Time travel, angst, mentioned character death, mentioned underage child at war, trauma, reunions (sorta)

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[y/n] wakes up drenched in sweat, her clothes sticking to her body like second skin as she gasps for air. Her heart thundering in her chest, hands violently shaking as she presses one against the violent beating drum.

Another nightmare. They keep coming back at her whenever her eyes close, sleep always their prime target.

The images containing blood and death, moving pictures showing swords skewered into men while others are decapitated, but no screams. Never the screams. Those are the worst; images relaying the agonizing howls of pain, screaming and begging till their last breath. They never end, engraved in her mind and coming out to haunt her; torment her.

Making her remember how useless she was, how utterly powerless she felt when that red-hot fist drilled through the one person that meant the world to her. How bloody and death he looked as he spoke his last words, his brother's face paralyzed in distress. How broken the entire crew looked as he fell down with the last breath leaving him, content smile on his face.

Those images are the worst. Not to mention seeing her father die right in front of her...

[y/n] shakes her head, exhaling a shaky breath before pushing herself out of bed. Nothing good would come from laying around and lingering on those nightmares. It's in the past... for now.

Without missing a beat she gets dressed, packing the few items she brought along the journey in her favorite bag. It is small and not that special looking, yet to her the watermelon patterned bag means a lot. [y/n] gathers the last of her stuff, dawdling on the black notebook in her hands. The hardcover is stained and has several tears along the sides, even the pages have had their best days by now, but it is one of her most prized possessions. If she loses this then all will be for naught.

She shakes her head once more and throws the bag over her shoulder. Despite it being so full of items, [y/n] forgot the add enough beli to pay for food and in this case, the room in the inn she rented. So instead of paying like any good citizen, [y/n] jumps out the window and scales over the roof. When she has enough money she will come back and pay her debt, however, now is not the time for such trivial matters.

A good distance away from the city and some stolen food from market stalls later, [y/n] finds herself sitting against a tree to gather her thoughts for the next steps in her plan.

From her backpack she gathers the black book, a pen and some paper. She flips the book open to the page that matches this day, closing her eyes for a moment before focusing on the page in front of her.

'March 14. We visited Ryugu Kingdom, the first time I got to see it with my own eyes after all the stories they told me. It's such an intriguing concept; the underwater city with merfolk and fish-men. But it's beautiful nonetheless.
Commander Izo had taken me to some of his favorite shops and bought me so many clothes that I wonder if the Moby could ever carry them. Then Commander Thatch and Ace went food shopping with me, Ace even sneaked me a few pieces without Commander Thatch noticing.
Commander Marco and Pops had been talking things over with the King, but I have no clue what exactly, Commander Marco was mean and didn't want to tell me. He is being a mean chicken and Commander Thatch said he is going to pluck him bald and sauté him for dinner if he doesn't play nice.'