With different eyes

Unexpected consequences

Lucia's POV

And again back in the in-between. Only the scenery seems to have changed. I'm at the cliff Ace brought me to. Why do I know it's the in-between? Well it's daylight and yet there was a night sky. And the most important clue. Ace was standing in front of me grinning.

I laugh and let him pull me to my feet. He looks around and says, "So it's not our clearing." "Well combined Sherlock." I say and walk back toward the cliff to let my legs dangle. I sit on the edge again and look out to sea. I feel Ace come up behind me. "Who's Sherlock?" asks me Ace. I have to laugh and wave it off, "A very intelligent book character, doesn't matter." Ace sits down behind me and stretches his legs past my sides. He rested his chin on my head. We stay in that position for a while as something occurs to me. "Ace, before we were pulled here, there was something you wanted to tell me. What was it about?" I ask him curiously. I feel him stiffen. Then he wraps his arms around my stomach and presses me against him.

Narrator POV

Ace wakes up again on the cliff and sees Lucia lying there on the ground sleeping. He stands in front of her and waits for her to wake up. Maybe it is better that they are here and he can tell her everything face to face. Even though he doesn't really have a clue how to tell her to stay in this world. They would find a way to drag her body here. Father and the others would surely miss her, too, if she was gone. And Marco would have no one left to help him keep all the chaotic people, including himself, under control. He has certainly gotten used to that. Ace sees how Lucia seems to be slowly waking up. He grins as she looks around, blinking, and then smiles at him. He helps her to her feet. Ace is irritated when she calls him by a different name. Who was this guy? Did she have someone in the other world? 

He stands behind her and asks her who the guy was. She just laughs and says it's not a real person. Ace is very relieved about this. He doesn't want to share her. Now he sits behind her and sticks his legs past her. After that he puts his head on the top of her head and just enjoys the closeness to her. No one can disturb her here. And nobody can watch her. Nevertheless, he has problems to confess his feelings to her. She had once said that she liked him, but was there more? When she asked him what he wanted to tell her, he didn't know what to do. He was not a man of words, he rather let actions speak. He wraps his arms around her and presses her against him. He does not want her to leave. But would she leave if he confessed to her how he felt. Could she love a demon like him?

Then he remembered what she had said when they were on deck. Remembered that she didn't care whose child he was and that she didn't despise Roger. He must try, or he might regret it forever. He stood up and pulled her with him. Then he turned her to face him. He just couldn't tell her but show her. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to hers.

Lucia's POV

I notice how Ace presses me even tighter against him and then lets go. But I don't get an answer. All of a sudden Ace pulls me to my feet and turns me around. The next thing I really notice is that Ace presses his lips on mine. He presses me closer to his upper body. I stiffen in surprise. From my lips a tingling went over my whole body. I relax and start to return the kiss. Ace presses me even closer to him. My heart races in my chest and I have the feeling that it must actually jump out of my chest. Ace breaks the kiss and buries his face in my hair. He still didn't say anything and I bury my face in his chest while I wrap my arms around him. I feel comfortable with him and my whole body is tingling by now. From Ace emanated a fresh smell of salty sea and smoky fire and something that was all Ace. 

All of a sudden Ace starts talking, "Don't go!" Go where? I snuggle deeper into his embrace, "Go where?" I ask him. I feel him swallow and say, "To your world. Stay with me, with us! We'll manage to get you a body of your own, just don't go!" I feel his body tense up, as if it took him a lot of strength to say those words. If I'm honest, I haven't thought about home for a long time. I didn't really want to leave, but an answer. "Tell me why, why shouldn't I go?" I ask him. He tenses and releases the hug. Then he pushes me away from him a bit and takes my face between his hands. What he then says now brings my heart completely out of balance.