Time [Ace x Reader]

chapter 14 / mystery boy

Ace's POV

When I woke up I found myself to be in the same darkness as before.
I guess I'm dead after all.

However something felt different. I felt heavier somehow. I tried to move my arm. It was incredibly hard however with enough effort I managed to wiggle it slightly.
I felt something soft.
A blanket? Wait are there blankets in the afterlife?

I tried to move again. This time my entire body.
With every move I made my body regained it's sense of feeling. The numbness that had possessed me faded away being replaced by the feeling of being wrapped in a cozy blanket. A feeling of nostalgia swept through my body.

MH, this is nice.
I slowly tried to detangle myself from the blanket I was buried under.
Was moving always this difficult?
I had only shifted my body a little and already felt exhausted.
Panting I laid still to rest, listening to my heavy breath.
Then suddenly a wave of sound hit me.

It was incredible and utterly overwhelming. I felt like a newborn hearing everything for the first time.
Birds, waves, where those voices? When was the last time I heard life?
A tear rolled down my cheek into my mouth.
Salty. When did I last taste anything?

I had been stuck in that numbing labyrinth for what felt like a life time. Not feeling, not hearing, not tasting, not seeing anything than burned walls.
Okay, that wasn't quite true. I did hear something. A voice. Probably the only thing that kept me sane.
I wonder if I'll ever hear that voice again.
Then I heard her.

"Lou! Lou, come here quick!" I think he has woken up!"

I groaned at the volume of the shouting voice. I wanted to hold my ringing ears shut, no longer used to loud noises, but utterly failed as I couldn't lift my arms higher than a centimetre without them collapsing back onto the soft mattress.
Ugh, why can't I lift my arms?

"Hey mystery boy, can you hear me?"

I felt a figure lean closer to me. The familiar voice obviously belonged to her. But why couldn't I see her? Why was everything still so dark?

*Are you sure he moved?" Another voice asked from farther away.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

I tried to answer them. Tried to tell them that I was awake and that they should please turn the lights on. However all I could manage was to open my mouth slightly to let out an embarrassing attempt at human language.

My throat felt parched and my voice was horse and cracked by the mere thought of using it. It was like it had been rusting away for years.

"Water~" I barely breathed out before my voice could fail me again.

"Of course, one second. Ha, I told you Lou!"

"Yeah, yeah."

I heard the figure move away, followed closely by the sound of a running faucet. In a matter of seconds the figure was back beside me and I felt a cool soothing liquid run down my throat as my head was lifted slightly.
Water. Thank the heavens or what ever is out there.

The person whom the voice belonged to laid my head back down and swept my hair out of my face.

"How are you feeling?"

I groaned and finally managed to speak with a raspy voice.
"Why-(cough) It's dark." Embarrassing

"Wha-" The voice cracked up in an obvious attempt to prevent themselves from laughing.

Hey what's so funny?

"Why don't you open your eyes mystery boy. Then you can tell me whether it's still dark or not."

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment.
My eyes. I'm such an idiot.
I hadn't even noticed that my eyes where closed before.
I heard another lighter voice crack up in an absolute laughing fit further back in the room. Now I wasn't so sure whether or not I preferred staying in the dark for a little longer.

My face was glowing red and I tried to slip further under the blanket in a desperate attempt to hide it. However once again my attempt failed by the missing strength of my limbs.
Stupid paralysis. How long is this going to last?

I furrowed my brows and slowly opened my eyes. Before me I saw a young woman with (h/l), (h/c) hair and (e/c) eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. From the first glance I could tell she was gorgeous, although Makino once told me that beauty is a matter of perspective, so who knows what others might have thought of her. She seemed to be of a similar age as me and was now waving her hand in front of my face with a worried expression on hers.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Shi*t did I stare?
"Oh, yeah sorry. I have to process some things right now," I said as I innerly face palmed myself. Good job Ace, now they definitely think you're stupid.

"Yeah, I figured given you've been out cold for the past two and a half years."

"Wait what?"

"You've just awoken from a coma that lasted two years and a few months. Portgas D Ace I have to give it to you, the fact that you survived is incredible."

Two and a half years. Shi*t what- I left Luffy alone on that battlefield and then disappeared for two and a half years? Is he okay? What about my crew?
With a sudden surge of energy a sat up jumped out of bed and grabbed the young woman by her shoulders.
"Where is my brother, my crew? Are they safe?" The lady stared at me, mouth agape with huge eyes.

"I-, you-, they-"

Before she could stammer out an answer to my questions the surge of energy left me and I slammed into the floor. Stupid paralysis.
Desperately I tried to pick myself back up but my body wouldn't budge a bit. Instead the crimson red colour that had graced my cheeks after my eye faux pas returned with new depth.
Stupid, stupid paralysis!

I heard a giggle from above then someone lifted me up and layed me back down on the bed.

"I had been wondering where you got the power to move like that after not using your muscles for two and a half years. I am impressed most people wouldn't even make it out of that bed."

Wait, my muscles? I'm not paralyzed, but too weak?
Never in my life had this happened. Sure I had been 'too weak' before however never to an extent that I couldn't even move my own body.
This is going to suck isn't it?

And it did. Over the next weeks I was introduced to my saviours Y/N and Lou. They where really nice and helped me a lot. However needing help for things a toddler could do on their own was breaking me in whole other kind of way. The weeks went by and slowly but surely I lost all sense of embarrassment that had ever existed in me.
However I wasn't going to stay this way.

Everyday Y/N And Lou helped me exercise and after a mere two months I was able to walk and even run (short periods) on my own.

"How the hell are you already standing?"

That was Lou's reaction to my progress that apparently was way quicker than it should be.
It was glorious to see the cheeky fairy all baffled over one of my accomplishments. She was incredibly annoying and was always teasing me about being a walking baby. Surpassing her best expectations gave me a thrilling sense of revenge for all her taunts.

Y/N on the other hand just threw her arms around me and grinned at Lou stating:

"He's my mystery boy after all."

Mystery boy, huh?
I smiled as I looked out onto the white sea.
I don't mind that.

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Authors note:
Heya, I just noticed were on chapter 14 and it's the first time that we and Ace had a conversation.
You have no idea how glad I am to finally have reached this point of the story. Thanks for reading this far and I hope you'll like what follows.
Oh and please leave feedback if you have any. This is my first time writing out a story and I'm always open for suggestions to improve my writing style.
See you in the next chapters,
Bye.