One Piece One Shots (Requests: Closed)

Loneliness (Ace, AU)

1) This was supposed to be longer.
2) Lowkey inspired by the current situation
3) I figured that since my first oneshot was of Ace, I should end with Ace. So here we are.
I hope you're all staying safe out there.

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He wakes up, on the ground, there's nothing but blank, white space all around him. He sits up, looking around, there actually seems to be a shadow in the distance. So he stands up and starts to walk towards it. Once he gets closer, he realizes that it's actually a person.
His black hair sways as he starts to run in their direction. Suddenly, he runs into an invisible wall, at about six feet away from the person. He can now see that the figure is a woman, she's kneeling on the ground. She has (h/l) (h/c)-hair, and her back is turned to him so he can't see her face.
There's something about her that makes him want to get closer. Something that makes him want to see her face. It's drawing him in. A magnetic force that's pulling at him, despite not being allowed to get any closer. He bangs in the wall, the sound coming back dull. And it seems that she can't hear him from the other side, because she just continues to do whatever it is she's doing.
He wants to know who she is. He feels like he should know, but he doesn't recognize her. It pains him, and he has no clue why. So he just bangs on air, hurting himself, but getting no where. After what felt like minutes of him trying to get her attention, she stands up and walks away.
She fades away, as quickly as her silhouette first appeared. He's left there with his hands on the invisible wall in front of him, he turns around and slides down it. Now that she's gone, he no longer feels the need to do anything. His eyes suddenly feel heavy, so he closes them.
  He sits up in bed, rubbing his eyes. The blank, white room reminding him where he is. The only escape he has is in his dreams, and then he comes back to this place. He looks at his arm, the IV still clings to him, and he lets out a sigh. Just when is he allowed to go?
  The sound of someone opening the door echoes around the empty room, and it causes his eyes to move towards the noise. It's a girl, and she's hooked up to an IV as well, and she looks completely shocked to see him. Her (h/c)-hair is pulled back, out of her face, and her (e/c)-eyes are wide.
  "(Y/n), what are you doing in here?" a nurse opens the door and puts her hands on her hips. "You know-"
  "I thought it was my room," the girl looks over at the nurse and gives her a smile. "And I'll be fine. It's not like I'm touching him. I just entered the wrong room, I was just leaving."
  The girl pushes the stand on wheels toward the door, waving at the black-haired male, "Sorry for the intrusion."
  His throat is dry, she looks like the girl from his dream, "Don't sweat it..."
  The nurse watches the girl as she leaves before she follows her out the door, shaking her head, "One of these days you're gonna go into the wrong room... and get yourself killed."
  Ace tilts his head to the side, what's that even supposed to mean? He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath, he's too confused. Why would he have a dream about her, he's certain she's the one who appeared in his dream. But maybe he's hallucinating because all he saw was her back.
He clutches the blanket and the door opens once more, so he looks over and it's the girl again. She gives him a smile as she puts a finger in front of her lips to tell him to be quiet. He nods slightly as she makes her way towards him, but she stops about the same distance away from him as in his dream.
"What are you in here for?" she takes a seat on the arm of the chair against the wall. And when he doesn't answer fast enough for her she nods to his wrists, "What happened for them to wrap you up that badly? Was is... attempted suicide?"
His eyes widen slightly, but he doesn't think it was really that noticeable. She asked the question so naturally that it caught him off guard. She tilts her head to the side to wait for his answer, observing him in his full glory.
For some reason he feels inclined to tell her, but at the same time, his voice doesn't want to cooperate. So instead of saying anything, he just nods slowly. He hasn't told anyone about it, sure Sabo knows, and he's sure Luffy does too. But he doesn't confide in them because he doesn't want to concern them. It's a vicious cycle because he knows that him not telling them the truth is just as bad. Especially when they try to respect him and secretly worry about it.
She hums taking in a deep breath afterwards, "How long have you been here, Ace?"
"Three days," he looks at the ceiling before he quickly looks at her. "How'd you know my name?"
She rolls her eyes, "It's on the door. I've been in here for half a year now, so you don't have it so bad. You get used to it."
He furrows his brows, "What are you in here for?"
"Cystic fibrosis," she gives him a small smile as she watches his face contort slightly in confusion. "It's a genetic lung disease. I can't be in close contact with people and have to minimize the amount of germs around me."
  "What do you mean?" he brushes hair from his face. "Are you telling me that you're going to spend the rest of your life here?"
  She shakes her head, "I'm just waiting for them to come out with a new medicine that could help. I've gone through all the others and built up an immunity to them. I won't be here forever... but I think my parents have given up on me."
"That's..." he turns his head and looks out the window. He can't say anything on that subject, his parents have never been around. Granted, it really isn't their fault. But the world's. "That's pretty sad. To hear that."
She shrugs, "They've known for a while that it'll be hard for me to give them grandchildren. And all I've ever done was put them in debt... with all the medical visits. And the average life span for people with my disease is thirty-seven. And they can't even hug me. They have to stay six feet away at all times."
"Six feet? All the time?" he scratches his nose. "Do you ever get lonely?"
"Well, of course I get lonely," she gives him a half-smile. "We all do, but it is what it is. I'm not complaining. But it's not all the time, just times like now. When I'm not on any medication. Is that why you did it? Because you were lonely?"
He shakes his head, but then thinks about it for a few seconds, "Maybe. I mean, there are more reasons to it than that. But I guess that could've been a reason, though I'm doing it to myself. I'm the one pushing people away."
"I feel that sometimes. It's easier to never have a relationship than to lose it."
"Yeah. I guess that's the best way to put it," he nods, it's strange how this is the most real conversation he's had in over a year, and he just met this woman. "Sometimes I just don't think it's worth the trouble. All the second guessing and lies."
"You just haven't met the right person yet," she gives him a smile. "I'm sure that someday you'll find the person who'll make you want to live."

He just did.

~Loneliness End~