Please, purr for me

Ch 4 - Uncertainty

Posting a bit earlier than usual since I can't put it up tomorrow morning. Please enjoy!

Ace – Unknown location

Ace his head felt like it was exploding, it was thumping in pain. Slowly he started registering the rumbling of a voice "-ious cargo is waking up".
Blearily opening his eyes, he saw a burly man with a smile full of missing teeth looking down upon him. "Good morning commander, let's have a great time, shall we?".

Marco – On The Moby

Everything was a mess, Thatch was brought into emergency surgery, all the watchmen were dead, no sign of Ace on deck...

Marco wanted to search the boat and take to the skies to look for his mate, but he wasn't allowed, pops forbade it. The other commanders were currently checking inside the ship for any suspicious activity.
Namur had already checked the nearby waters to see if anyone had followed them underwater, since nothing could be seen till the horizon above, and with the alarms going off, no one could have gotten out of view this fast unless underwater. Sadly, no clues were found and Namur joined the others on the search inside.

Marco was anxiously pacing the deck, his alpha couldn't stay still, his omega, his mate was missing, he could be hurt, maybe he needed help, he could be laying somewhere, hurt and alone, and he wasn't even allowed to search for him!
What kind of mate was he if he couldn't even look for him, he already wasn't able to protect him! -I should have stopped Ace from going on that walk, I knew something was wrong, he had been off all day, had he known something was going to happen?!-
Every so often Whitebeard would try to calm Marco and talk to him, but even Whitebeard didn't know what to do with the current situation. So with nothing else to do Marco's mind kept coming up with 'what ifs' while he patiently waited on deck for the search to be done.

With the alarms having gone off, a lot of members were on deck. Thus, many had seen that Thatch was stabbed and that something happened with the watchmen.
Some observant members had also noticed the scorch marks around the dial and linked it to Ace, but ... he was the only commander absent?
For a short moment there were hushed whispers, theories, that Ace was into the set-up.
-Some of his brothers suspected their mate of attacking Thatch, his best friend, how dare they! Ace would never do that!- It was a good thing Pops was close by and was able to pick Marco up and restrain him or he would have lunged at the offending members. His alpha already very much on edge and searching for everything that could help them find and protect their mate. So speculations that his mate was a part of this whole fiasco wouldn't be tolerated!

A few minutes later, Marco could hear the commanders calling together their divisions and checking the barracks. Seeing if someone is missing or if anyone is hiding something, or someone.

For the sole reason that Ace was involved in this, was also the reason that Marco wasn't allowed to help in the search for clues as to what had happened. Not only was there a worry that he would not judge objectively, there was also that, like just happened, a fear that his Alpha would snap. He was already growling and ready to attack just about everything that got in his way. Even the smallest thing would set him off right now, and with his strength, this was fairly dangerous for everyone under Commanders-level.

After what felt like hours, all the commanders gathered on deck to brief each other of their findings. Normally something like this would be a topic to be discussed in the privacy of their meeting room, but at the moment they couldn't afford to leave the deck unattended, not knowing if there is still someone around.
Instead, they all gathered around pop's chair and send the members inside, with the use of their haki, pops and Marco made sure no one was in the area spying on them. Also keeping a close eye on the crow's nests and the rooms underneath the deck.

"What have you all found sons?"

Izou was the first to step forward, bullets in hand, "Boat tails*, sea-stone, the ones of this calibre are very expensive to make and even more difficult to get your hands on, and that's even reasoning on the normal non-sea-stone bullet ones. Whoever it was, they came prepared and would have been able to get a hit in before the watchmen could have even seen the shooter."

Blamenco followed up, "This of course leaves all the watchmen out of pressing the dial, together with the scorch marks around the dial, it's clear that Ace is the one who set it off by hitting it with his fire."

Whitebeard hummed, "Was there any sign of Ace inside the ship?"

"No sign of Ace anywhere, and none of the second division have seen him since dinner last night. But..."
"What is it Haruta?"
"Teach was missing."

"Have all the members of the other divisions been accounted for? Maybe he is also searching for intruders, he has been here for a long time so knows the ship and its hiding spots well"

The commanders looked at each other before Jiru spoke up "We've all gathered up the divisions, counted members and did a quick inspection in the barracks, everyone is accounted for and nothing suspicious was found. Only, all of Teach's stuff is missing, while Ace's is all present."

"Haruta, gather your informants, gather all the info you can find on Teach. All the rest, dismissed – Keep eyes and ears open, and inform me of everything you find."

Splitting up Marco went back to Ace and his room, upon entering his eyes immediately fell upon a bright orange hat laying on the night stand. -Ace's hat- Marco gently picked it up and held it close. "Don't worry Ace, I'll find you. I'll save you. I promise".

Ace – Unknown location

The room was drenched in darkness, no artificial light, no natural light, nothing.
Oh how much Ace had taken the sun for granted before, even complaining when it was too bright outside, cursing it away. He wouldn't do that anymore, he would accept any form of light now, -Please, I'm sorry-.
He didn't even know if he was on the sea or on land, feeling no swaying or hearing the sea, but there was also no noise like birds or trees to indicate that he was on land.
In the end, it didn't even matter, there was only one feeling overpowering his very being: pain, excruciating never-ending pain.

-Hurts. Everything hurts. Why is this happening to me? Marco, where are you? Don't you love me? Pops... it's been so long. Have you all forgotten me? Please don't forget me!-

Footsteps echoing in the distance seemed to be coming closer and closer, -No, no, no, no, please, I've had enough, don't come in here!-. His prayers went unanswered as the turning of a lock was heard. A single tear travelled down his cheek and fell onto the dirty floor, one last thought occupying his mind on repeat, -Marco, please save me-.

*Boat tail: a kind of bullet that looks like the stern of a sailboat. The shape benefits a bullet in the same way that it does a boat: by reducing drag. The feature makes the bullet more accurate at long range. (I don't know anything about guns and bullets, never even seen a real one in real life before, I just looked up which kind seemed to be the best choice in this situation.)

I tried a bit more angst at the end, without really saying what was going on, I hope it was interesting!

In the next chapter Ace will be back on the Moby. I had wanted to do a chapter of a chase after Teach, but I couldn't get anything decent onto paper. So, until the next chapter releases, just imagine a wild goose chase between a whale and a ship that looks like an ugly raft. And after a while catching up and a flaming turkey pineapple hybrid breaking and entering.