The Fire & The Requiem

Chapter 11

A day of lies and Horrors

Ace and Luffy had finally returned from their trip into town where they had been tracking down a few items the crew needed to continue their journey when they realized Yuki was no where in sight.
"Hey, where is Yuki?" Ace asked as he helped Luffy back over the rail.
The crew paled on the inside and Nami quickly came up with a lie.
"Oh she said something about following a rumor for a requiem."
"Oh? Is that so? She didn't say anything about that to me."
"Yeah happened a bit ago so you guys just missed her by an hour or so."
Ace frowned, something wasn't right but again why would Luffy's crew lie to him anyway right?
"Right if you say so."
Luffy also felt like something was wrong but wisely said nothing for once.
"Oh lemme go see Chopper real fast then we can finish catching up Ace."
Ace nodded and watched as Luffy left and frowned. Still bothered by the fact Yuki wasn't in his sight.
"Chopper! I wanna see the new stuff you got!"
Chopper however paled, which was odd considering he was a reindeer.
"Not now Luffy! I am working on new poisons!"
He was panicking he didn't need Luffy coming in and seeing what shape Yuki was in. Especially since both he and Ace had made the crew promise to keep Yuki safe.
"Okay? I'll just get a face mask."
Now Chopper was in trouble. "Come by later Luffy! I need to concentrate and you ask a lot of questions."
Luffy frowned but wisely left in search of a face mask.
Ace looked up at the sound of the door closing and raised an eyebrow. "That was fast."
"He didn't even let me in. Something about working on poisons so I was gonna get a mask."
Ace nodded and yet he couldn't hide his frown. What the fuck was going on here?

Hours later.

It was finally time for dinner and there was still no sign of Yuki or any type of contact. What also left Ace baffled was the fact he and Yuki had arrived together. So how did she leave without a boat?
He was so lost in his own world that he didn't see Luffy slip beneath the deck.
Luffy for his part wanted to see the new stuff Chopper had gotten and now that he wasn't messing around in the infirmary he could finally get a look.
Opening the door Luffy looked around until he heard a loud beeping noise and glanced over to what made it, only for his heart to freeze in his chest.
Laying on a bed under plain white blankets was none other then his big sister. Yet what had him freeze was the fact she was not only hooked up to the heart monitor, but she had an iv attached to her arm and an oxygen mask over her mouth. Her body covered in white bandages, some that were also slightly red.
"Yuki? Yuki onee-Chan?" Luffy spoke in a broken voice.
Walking over he carefully shook her shoulder, like he did when he was a child. "Yuki onee-Chan? Wake up. Wake up please?" He was begging, his voice wavering like he was gonna cry.
"Onee-Chan you need to wake up now....you...you gotta eat." His voice was getting lower, more desperate. When all of a sudden the machine for her heart stopped beating and he heard it. He heard her heart stop.
He froze, his eyes wide in horror before he let out a wail as he shook her. "Yuki! Wake up! Please! Please wake up. You can't leave! Please? Please wake up!"
Yet nothing happened, Yuki was gone. Luffy was lost, he couldn't process it. His wailing though had finally gotten Ace's attention and he made his way downstairs and opened the door only to freeze in horror.
He saw Luffy sobbing as he was rapidly performing CPR to none other than Yuki.
In that moment his entire world came crashing down around him. His yuki, his best friend, his light, one of the few good things in his life was dead and his younger brother was hysterically trying to revive her.
"Ace? Ace move I need to see-"
Yet Chopper was quickly cut off by the lost look to Aces eyes. A look that left the entire crew unsettled.
After what felt like an eternity Yuki's heart restarted and she inhaled sharply yet didn't wake up. Oh no, she was still indeed heavily sedated.
Luffy finally stopped pumping her heart and sat back. His eyes wide, bloodshot as well. As he finally let out another choked sob.
"Onee-Chan..."
Ace felt it, the relief of knowing she was still alive flood him. And then he turned on the crew murder in his eyes. Yet before he could demand an explanation did Shade appear.
"Shade! Dude you're all hurt."
Shade weakly laughed as he leaned against the wall. His body bruised and bloody. "Yeah, that's what happens when you're trying to save someone."
Ace turned on his heel and stared at Shade. The requiem of shadows saw the look of loss and murder before he sighed.
"It was an ambush. Marines showed up out of no where. Yuki sensed them and just moved. I can't tell you how many times she was shot."
Ace froze. The last time Yuki had been shot was years ago. When they were 10. Now he was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"I did what I could. But without the ability to heal herself...this will take time."
Ace was numb. He was just numb. Luffy's crew had lied to him and Luffy as well. And needless to say both brothers wanted bloodshed in that moment.
"Why the fuck would you lie to me?!"
Nami flinched but no one had a good excuse. What they did was wrong and Ace had all rights to be livid.
"Do you Fuckin know what it's like? Do you know what it's fucking like to see your kid brother frantically performing CPR on someone you care for?! No! You had- you had no right to keep this from us!"
Luffy was silent, his body shaking with unbridled rage.
However before anyone else could fly off the handle did Yuki let out a soft groan.
"A....ce? Lu....ff...y?" She croaked out as she struggled to escape the drug induced haze.
Ace quickly turned and was by Yuki's side in a second kneeling beside her as he cupped her face.
"Hey princess, easy now. You're really fucked up...."
Yuki wanted to laugh but for some reason her chest was on fire.
"Hurt....s...."
"I know princess." He was silent for a second as he laid his forehead against her own.
"It's gonna hurt princess, you died."
Yuki froze, she had died? But how? How was she alive then?
"I- I died?" Her voice was a bit more steady and Ace choked back a sob.
"You did....you were gone for a few minutes. But it's okay now. Luffy started CPR and brought ya back. Probably have some busted ribs." He chewed on his lower lip.
"Scared the fuck out of me too."
Yuki was thoughtful for a moment. "I'm....so sorry."
"Shhh princess it's okay." He sat up a bit to look into her eyes and frowned as he saw how fuzzy they were.
"I'm gonna head back to pop's ship. Do you wanna come with me?"
Yuki let out a small hum of agreement. She didn't wanna leave Ace.
"Alright princess. Lemme go tell pop you're coming with. Just so he's warned." After all it wasn't that uncommon for Yuki to be on the Moby Dick. She had sailed with them a few times since her own ship had been destroyed. Curtesy of said man named Ussop.
Yuki only hummed again, the drugs still having a good hold on her.
Ace clenched his teeth and left to call his old man.
"Pops?" His voice cracked and WhiteBeard felt his eyes widen.
"Ace what's wrong son?"
Ace didn't know what to say, he felt lost. Until he just blurted it out.
"It's Yuki."
WhiteBeard felt his heart freeze. The way Ace sounded did not bode well with him.
"What happened son? What happened to Yuki?" His heart was hammering in his chest. What could have happened to hurt his son so badly and what happened to the woman he called a daughter even if she hadn't officially joined his crew yet she was still his brat.
"She died...."
WhiteBeard froze. Yuki had died?
"But Luffy got her back....I'm heading back and-"
"And she's coming too. I'll have Marco waiting for you both." And with that he ended the conversation. Slowly he exhaled, he had almost lost a child. And with how Ace sounded he knew he was going to need help.
Ace took a few seconds before he went back to Yuki who was now awake and despite everyone yelling at her -minus luffy -to lay back down.
"You're in no shape to be moving!"
"Luffy stop her!"
Yet luffy did nothing but help Yuki sit up and motioned for Ace to come take her. "She'll be ok with you?"
"Ya pop's cleared it."
Luffy nodded and watched how Ace gently lifted Yuki into his arms and frowned. He knew her jacket was now gone and she was gonna need a new one when Ace spoke.
"I'll replace her coat." Was all he said before he left for the upper deck the rest of the crew following him and demanding for him to wait. That is until Ace lost his shit.
"Fuck no! I left her here for safety! The town we went to was crawling with marines! Bastards she can normally fight without ending up with half of these fucking injuries! So no! I am not stopping!" And then he looked down at his striker and almost groaned. He didn't think this through. But now he had to carefully jump down and keep a hold of Yuki.
"Okay princess you gotta hold on real tight cause we gotta jump."
Yuki nodded as she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck and bit back a hiss of pain. Only to fail as Ace landed with her in his arms on his mini ship.
"Fuck I'm so sorry princess. I'm so sorry. But the hard parts over okay? You just sleep till we get there."
Yet Yuki didn't answer in fact she had already started to fall back asleep.