PULSE

Dark Abyss

"Why did you do it, yoi?" Marco's stone cold voice echoed in the darkness. "Why." His voice, a breathy whisper.

"I didn't!" Ace shouted desperately, voice horsed. He had been screaming the same line ever since he woke up and found Marco with him. Only, instead of white walls and the sent of pain killers, he woke up in a dark place. He woke up in Mody Dick's brig.

For almost a month now, Marco had been following the same routine. Wake up from a restless sleep, do paper work, check on oyaji, then the crew and then back to the infirmary to see Thatch. And just before someone came to trow him out of the infirmary, Marco would go down to the deepest parts of the ship, the prison cells, and question Ace. Over and over and over again.

And as for Ace, he wakes up with blood in his mouth and a hole in his stomach. With no one to talk to, and no sunlight. Ace wakes up to a plate of leftover food someone managed to sneek in for him. He eats every bit of it, though harder with seastone cuffs. He stays up in the dark, alone. Until someone in a mask brings him food and water. It isn't enough...but it keeps him alive. Every night, Ace reassures and comforts the man who gives him comfort. And just before he falls asleep, Marco would come down...and Ace hopes...but it's all the same...Marco would ask why he hurt Thatch, when he didn't... Marco would throw him against the wall and pin him down, talents piercing his skin and crying out "Why?!" Not sparing a moment for Ace to catch his breath.

The same routine happened over and over and over again...
Wake up, paper work, check on crew, check on Thatch, question Ace, sleep.

Wake up, eat, talk, drink, hide the dishes, Marco comes, hurt, sleep.

As for the rest of the crew, Izo was still in denial. He couldn't believe Ace had hurt Thatch. But then, why would Teach lie to them? Ace had killed Teach, so they couldn't ask him...all there was left to do, was wait until Thatch woke up...
Izo, like Marco, had barely ate. Thatch meant so much to him...he only wished for Thatch to wake up. Maybe then...

As for the other commanders, Haruta was torn and broken. Both of his best friends weren't with him...he felt lost...
The older commanders were able to pull it together and keep the ship sailing, but it was hard...so so hard...

As for Whitebeard, he was heartbroken. Why has his son betrayed him? Was it Ace? Or could it have been Teach? If so, then why? He couldn't see any reason for either Ace or Teach to betray them...

The Moby hadn't been so quite since they first got it. The deafening silence was depressing... No one talked about it, so most didn't understand, but everyone kept remembering that night...that night when everything went down hill...

.

..

...

Flashback~~

Almost everyone woke up to a loud explosion. Commander Marco, Jozu, Vista and Haruta were the first to have reached the top deck.

What they saw made them sick.

Thatch was lying in a pool of blood, he had a few burn marks, but there was clearly a stab wound. The devil fruit he had found was lying at a corner.

Ace and Teach were fighting. Until Teach saw the crew. He yelled, "Ace hurt Thatch!!!"

But while he was distracted, Ace snuck up on him and slit his throat with his dagger. That definitely killed Teach, but just as Teach's body fell, Ace's did too.

Just then, the entire ocean shook. Whitebeard had seen the end of the fight, and he was furious.

Marco ran towards Thatch and found a pulse, he then ordered the others to get Thatch to the infirmary.