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Homecoming Hill	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 2656 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Homecoming Hill

6

Ace of Hearts

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�If you don�t fight this place, it can�t get to you. You don�t let it get inside your skin, you�re fine. Hell House doesn�t mind a guest or two. Anyone can stay here if they don�t mind fun and games. What it doesn�t like is people who attack it. Belasco doesn�t like it. All this people, they don�t like it, and they fight back, and they kill you. He�s a General, did you know that? A general with an army. He directs them� [and] no one makes a move without him.�

-- Hell House by Richard Matheson

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Zoro went down for breakfast, unsurprised to find that he was the last one up.

He�d spent the time getting dressed convincing himself that he�d had a very creepy but interesting dream, provoked by fatigue and the memories of what had happened the day before. It was easy to believe, albeit disappointing. After all, he�d fallen asleep in the bed last night and he�d woken up in the same place.

And once he really thought about it, Sydian hadn�t been barking when the baby cried in his dream, and that just didn�t make sense.

Besides, a ghost that wasn�t a ghost had a calm conversation with him in the dead of night while a baby that couldn�t exist was screaming outside in the hall way? Can you say �farfetched�?

He took his seat in the dining room beside his sister who was already halfway finished with her CheeriosÔ
. �So how was your first night, Sprite?�

She shrugged. �Not too bad. I fell asleep with the drapes open, and Syd started barking at the moon a couple hours before dawn. But he didn�t bark for long. It was pretty funny, actually. He started barking, and then it was like he just fell asleep right there in the floor in mid-bark.�

Zoro stopped chewing. ��Was he okay?�

Kuina nodded. �At first I was kinda freaked, but then he started snoring,� she giggled to herself. �Stupid dog��

Zoro was about to say something else, but Sanji blustered in, hands covered in dirt, and made straight for the sink in the kitchen. �I found the propane tank,� he declared. �It�s completely empty. Looks like it has been for an ever or so.�

�For an ever� was Sanji�s unique way of saying �for a long time�.

Zoro was hardly surprised. �Do you know how long it would have been there full and unused? If it had been full and you used it, it probably would have exploded or something.�

�Well then where the hell is the fire coming from?�

�I don�t know.� Though he had a pretty good idea.

Sanji grumbled, scrubbing dirt from his hands.

�Don�t worry about it,� Zoro said. �It�s working now and if it stops then we can call someone and live off cold food for a while. It�s not that big a deal.�

Sanji sighed and finally nodded, �Alright,� and grabbed a towel off the counter to dry his hands with. �I�m going down to see about a phone. Why don�t you check out the rest of the house and number how many more rooms are demolished, if any. Everything will need to be revamped, but the more the we can keep that�s original, the better.�

Zoro nodded, �Okay,� though he didn�t really like the idea of looking in any more random rooms in this house.

Kuina�s account of what Syd had done that morning had Zoro thinking about the dream he�d had. He was sure it was a coincidence, but it was a weird coincidence� One that Zoro couldn�t just get over.

--------------

Kuina went with Sanji and Sydian into town after breakfast, leaving Zoro alone to check out the rooms.

He decided to start in the west wing, because according to the Key, there was a gym there and he wanted to see it.

He made his way down the first floor, only opening doors in here because there weren�t supposed to be any bedchambers or private chambers in this wing. In the first room he entered, the electricity wouldn�t work and he�d flashed his light around a little before realizing he was in the pool room. The swimming pool wasn�t really big or small. It was just an ordinary lap pool. Empty of water, rectangular, three feet deep on either end and just over four in the middle. Lanes were painted on the bottom in red.

Nothing spectacular.

He closed the door and moved on to the next. Before he opened this door, however, there was a hard gust of wind that seemed to want to push him on to the next one that was much further down the hall.

Well, if it was so obvious that he wasn�t going to get a warm welcome stepping into that room, it wasn�t really a place he wanted to be anyway. He moved on, the wind behind him, until he reached the next door, whereupon the wind abruptly stopped.

This was a creepiest place he had ever been in his life. Thank God they hadn�t looked in the west wing for their bedchambers the night before.

He opened the door to step into a fully illuminated room, just like the day before, and immediately picked up on the familiar presence in the room.

Recognizing the presence as a friendly one, Zoro felt slightly more comfortable. At least more so that he probably would have without it, because he was now positive that there were a LOT people sharing this house with him.

Including Luffy. He no longer thought of his encounter last night as a dream. There was just too much weirdness in this house to support it.

He was in the gym now. It was full of a ton of equipment the had been assembled and added over the last hundred years or so. How fascinating. There were mirrors lining the far wall to make the space seem bigger than it was, but Zoro honestly couldn�t see how they were necessary.

He walked over to a very old piece of machinery and began trying to figure out how it was even used.

�You know��

Zoro�s heart leapt into his throat as he spun around to be met by a young man who was not Luffy, but sure shared a lot in common with him. Specifically the whole transparent, not-a-lot-of-color feature. That was particularly prominent trait that this man shared with him. Although Luffy was much more transparent than this guy was.

The young man smirked a little and continued to speak as the doors closed behind him of their own accord. �You really shouldn�t be wandering around alone. Especially in the west wing of the house.�

He was older than Zoro. He didn�t quite look it physically, but he had the expression of someone who was wiser than his years. Also there was the way he looked at Zoro. Older people tended to look at younger ones at a certain way when they got to their late teens and early twenties. Like they knew every thought that went through your head, and were usually right about it.

He had dark curly hair and brown eyes from what Zoro could tell. He was dressed not in night clothes, but in clothes from the same era as Luffy had belonged to. �If that was an okay way to classify him.

The young man kept smiling at him. �So it�s true. You can see some of us already. And hear us at the same time. How many, I wonder.�

Zoro didn�t feel threatened in any way by this young man, and sat down on the weight bench that he was next to and got comfortable. It may have seemed strange to anyone else, but losing his father had made Zoro think about several things this morning after meeting Luffy, even if he had thought it was a dream. When his father had died, Zoro had certainly not stopped thinking of him as his father, and had never even considered the idea that his father couldn�t hear him when he talked to him.

After talking to Luffy, he recognized that his feelings were the same toward others as well. It was perfectly reasonable. Just because someone might be dead didn�t mean they weren�t still people that could hear you. It was just that now Zoro had met some that could manage to talk back.

This young man only seemed mildly surprised when Zoro took his seat. He was visibly pleased, though.

�Are you not trying to be seen?� Zoro asked. This person seemed to be more forthcoming with information than the boy the night before had been. For starters, he was smiling a friendly smile and looked approachable. That alone put Zoro at some ease.

�Oh, I am gathered. If I didn�t want you to see me I�d be dispersed around the room. We can only be seen and touched if we�re gathered, but that�s really not the issue. Try as we might, most people cannot feel our presence. And never right away. Needless to say I was very impressed by the vibes you gave off yesterday as you went from room to room.�

That was a weird type of compliment� �You were following us?�

�Several of us were following you. Can you blame us for being curious? I�m sure you know that it has been a while since anyone was last here.�

Zoro nodded. �Fifteen years.�

The man�s smile faded slightly. He looked sad. �Is that all it�s been?� he whispered.

Zoro wasn�t sure whether he was being addressed or not, but answered anyway. �Yeah.�

The man nodded his understanding like he regretted being forced to admit to something. �We lose track easily. Time has no meaning here. But if what you say is true, then I�ve been twenty two for over seventy years.�

That was an interesting way to say it. To say that he�d been here for seventy years was one thing, but to say that he had been the same age for that long was strange.

�So if you were following us, you know a bit about my family and I.�

The man nodded. �I know that you have plans to turn the Hill into a resort of some sort. You should know it won�t work. Everlasting Manor and the Hill around it is already occupied, in a manner of speaking, and they don�t like guests in large numbers.�

�I gathered that.� Zoro wasn�t sure what kind of story he would have to create to convince his family. Greek Gods and �bloody Injuns� weren�t going to get the job done.

The young man nodded and took a seat in mid air. �Many of them have become secluded, and sharing a room is not a feasible option for them. I selected your roommates carefully.�

�Then you ARE the one who led me to my room yesterday��

He smiled. �My name is Portgas D. Ace, and I keep the peace for the entire east wing of the manor.�

Zoro inclined his head in greeting. �I�m Zoro. But then you know that already.�

Ace only smiled disarmingly, patiently. As wary as he felt about someone knowing everything about him without Zoro having seen him once, the young man felt very comfortable around this Ace character. Zoro tended to get along well with anyone who was friendly and bore no desire to harm him. Zoro hoped he wasn�t being lulled into a false sense of security.

It was quiet for a few seconds as Ace and Zoro just watched each other. It wasn�t like the night before when Luffy had stared, but eventually Zoro figured out that Ace was waiting for him to ask something.

He wasn�t sure what, but lord knows Zoro wasn�t short on questions, so he just picked one. �What do you mean you picked our roommates? You wanted me to be in Luffy�s room?�

Well, that got a reaction. Ace almost seemed to switch personalities. He �stood� and sighed. �Aye, Luffy. He�s what I came to find you about. What do you think of him?�

Zoro hesitated.

Ace picked up on it right away. He turned to face the wall and put his hands behind his back. �Just be honest,� he shrugged. �I�ll know if you�re lying.�

And Zoro believed him. He thought for a few moments, and then said as carefully as he could, �I honestly don�t know what to think. When he pinned me to the wall yesterday-�

Here Ace spun to face him sharply. �He pinned you?�

Startled, Zoro nodded.

Ace groaned and ran a hand through his hair as he waved for Zoro to continue.

Zoro did. �-And when we touched it was like I could feel all of this sorrow and pain come into me.�

Ace�s shoulders slumped, as though Zoro had confirmed something he�d been worried about. �I�m sorry. I didn�t expect you would be touched before I had the chance to properly greet you. Luffy formed what we call a �channel�. It doesn�t always happen, but when a few of us who have experienced� more hardship than others get very emotional, they sometimes have a hard time controlling it. It�s rather involuntary. The energy releases into the beings around them. It rarely happens with most of us, but Luffy�s a bit of an exception, and as a result he�s rather reclusive. He didn�t mean to scare you.�

�He didn�t scare me, exactly.� Zoro corrected quickly. �I was just really surprised is all.�

He remembered that loneliness that he�d felt through the channel and couldn�t help but speak a little softer as he said, �I�d never felt anything like that before.�

Ace looked at Zoro curiously now. Surprised, and hopeful. The hope with just a touch of excitement was worn openly.

After a moment Ace sat back down on thin air again. �Do you think you could get along with him? I mean, would you be interested in possibly getting to know him? He�s a very gentle boy really. It sounds more like he�s more afraid of you than the other way around.�

�Huh.� Zoro reflected on the night before. �That actually makes sense.�

Though answer enticed Ace, he said nothing.

After a moment, Zoro looked up again. �It�s just, last night I asked him if he minded me being there. He didn�t exactly answer me.�

Ace clasped his hands in front of him and didn�t say anything for a while. Then finally- �I expected him to have mixed feelings about this.� He looked up and smiled a little, �But I�m sure you can persuade him.�

�But wh-�

Ace suddenly unfolded his hands. He looked toward the door and became perfectly still. Zoro froze as well, Ace�s body language telling him not to make a sound.

After a moment, Ace relaxed slightly and turned back to Zoro. �I need to go back to the east wing. I�m stronger than any of the others, but I�d rather not use any power over here. You should leave this wing when I go. You don�t want to get caught here. They don�t know you�re here yet, and you want it to stay that way, trust me. Go back to Luffy�s room. He�ll probably be there, and he�ll be able to tell you more.�

�Stronger then the others how?� Zoro asked as he got up, realizing in hindsight what a stupid question that had been.

Ace turned to look at him for a moment. Then he put his hands in his pockets, looked at the floor and pursed his lips in thought.

After a moment he looked back up.

He held up one finger in front of him and said, as if Zoro was getting some sort of special privilege, �Just a little glimpse. Just so you can see what kind of danger is here.�

Suddenly the fireplace burst into flame, heating the whole room in seconds while simultaneously frosty lances of mist scrawled across the glass mirrors until they were completely covered in crackly ice. Zoro felt himself lifted sharply off the ground and spun around in the air to face the mirrors that -with no warning whatsoever- exploded outward with the force of an erupting volcano, but made no sound. Thousands of shards shot straight across the room at Zoro and he squeezed his eyes shut.

All at once it became completely still. A few seconds passed.

Zoro opened his eyes slowly and gasped. The room had been plunged into darkness, save for the fire, which was now dancing around him in a series of tiny flames like fairy lights. The glass shards had formed a perfect ring around him from head to toe, and had stopped inches from impaling him from all sides. They hovered, frozen in mid air, reflecting the firelight.

It was dazzling. Zoro could only have appreciated the beauty more if he hadn�t been seriously in fear of his life at that moment. Ace let it stay this way for only a moment before he brought the light from nowhere up and the fire went out. Zoro watched as the glass shards flew back across the room to their frames and reestablished themselves into smooth surfaces of mirror. Then he was lowered gently to the ground.

�Of course, that was just a visual show. But you can see what kind of damage even a tiny bit of control like that can do to you and your family.� Ace�s voice recalled Zoro only slightly from his stupor. �I�m stronger than any of the others in this wing, I�m sure. You see--� he approached Zoro and touched his shoulder.

Zoro spun around, startled, then his eyebrows creased with the realization that his mind was totally clear. He�d snapped out of his daze like an alarm clock had gone off in his ear. Except it hadn�t hurt. Like when Luffy touched him last night and he became exhausted. And earlier he�d been floating.

These things -beings- could control his body. To what extent, Zoro wasn�t sure. But he didn�t want to find out. Of THAT, he was sure.

Ace continued right where he�d left off after the brief pause. �--we all have different levels of power. Most have almost nothing. A few have little more. Any of them can destroy things to some extent, even if it means they have to pick up a hammer and smash it. But aside from me, there is only one other Everlasting that can do what I just did, and then STOP it from finishing it�s job in mid-air, and then FIX it. The others just don�t have that much control over your plane of reality. So if they were to attack you, there�d be no take-backs.�

Zoro nodded a little dumbly. �Oh. Well, I�m glad you�re on my side�?� he shrugged.

�You have no idea,� Ace said seriously. �Come on. You�ll be fine in the east wing. We shouldn�t linger here.� The door opened and the light in the gym disappeared.

They went down the hall in silence and didn�t speak again until they were at the entry stairs that would lead them up and east. Ace hovered over the railing and drifted along upward as Zoro climbed the steps.

�It�s safe to talk now,� the older boy said.

Zoro nodded. �Okay.� But he was thinking on his own about so much that it took him a minute to find something to talk about.

�What about the west wing?� he asked, suddenly. �Does it have a- a moderator?�

Ace shook his head quickly. �Oh, no no. The people in this place wouldn�t take well to that. You see, there�s sort of a natural gravitation that happens in it. For some reason, the really violent and angry Everlastings usually end up over there. There are exceptions, but I think it�s just because they like to have others to fight with. It wasn�t always that way, but when Luffy and I started interfering with their fights in the east wing, they left to fight somewhere else. They didn�t want to be stopped.�

Zoro looked a little nervous now. He got the gist of what Ace was telling him. �So it�s safe to say that there�s more crossfire in the west wing that I could get caught in.�

Ace nodded almost enthusiastically to make Zoro understand how on track he was. �Not even that. It�s much more likely over there that you could just be attacked outright. And now you know that we�re capable of hurting you - or worse, if you meet the wrong occupant.�

Zoro was thoughtful for a moment. �Are you warning me to leave?�

Ace�s expression remained neutral. �No. I�m warning you of danger.� Then he mumbled more to himself than to Zoro, �Anything more will start Quakes, and then everyone will panic.�

Zoro raised an eyebrow. Quakes�?

He decided not to ask. Ace would have elaborated if it was free information.

�Luffy helps you� pacify the east wing, then?�

Ace�s blank expression became forced, as though he didn�t want to give anything away, and now there was actually something worth hiding. It took a few seconds for Ace to answer. �He used to.�

They stopped in front of Zoro�s door, and Zoro turned to him. �What about my sister? And my cousin? Luffy said something about someone named Nami-�

Ace nodded and interrupted. �Your sister is in Nami�s room. She�ll watch her. She�s a very close friend of mine and Luffy�s. And your cousin is in Usopp�s room. Neither of them are very strong at all, but they�re also very rarely alone. I�ll be monitoring them as well. You stay with my little brother, and I�ll stay with your family. My room is in the second corridor.� He pointed at a door across the corridor at a smaller hall the linked it to the next corridor, which had more bedrooms. �Just go down there and turn left, then it�s the second door down on the left. Knock if you want to come in. Otherwise the door won�t open. I�m not in there much, but I know if someone knocks and I come when I can. Works the same for everyone around here. Welcome home, Zoro.�

With that, Ace started to fade out of vision.

�Hey, Ace?�

Ace continued to disappear. �Aye?�

He vanished completely, but Zoro could still feel him there. �Why did you choose me to stay with Luffy?�

There was laughter as Ace�s presence began to move down the hall. Like the day before, a small voice whispered in his mind, �Ennie meenie miney mo.�

Zoro frowned. This was becoming a trend with this guy, and he�d only encountered him twice�

Then he realized something he�d missed the first time around.

Little brother?

---------

Luffy sat on his bed, holding Lucky Hat.

He imagined that Zoro must have left with his family hours ago, and had come in here to think.

He was so very curious about this new family. He didn�t dare get close� but they seemed so nice. And he missed it! He missed having someone to keep him company.

He had everyone in the East Wing, sure, but they all had their own agendas.

Luffy wasn�t like them. He needed someone to focus just on him sometimes. And make all the problems go away. Just like how Shanks had.

He needed someone who could remind him that maybe this could all end. That nothing could stay bad forever.

He clutched Lucky Hat tighter. It�s presence had been enough for a long time, but it just wasn�t the same as Shanks. It wasn�t the same as a real person who wasn�t afraid to talk to him because of what had happened so long ago. It wasn�t the same as someone to spend time with.

He was so lonely. So so lonely.

How long had he been here anyway? It felt like forever.

He held up his hand and looked through it. Try as he might, he couldn�t make it become any more solid than it was now even to his own eyes.

Luffy had the feeling that Ace was worried about him because of the Shifting. Luffy didn�t think he would ever have to worry about the Shifting, he was way too strong, but big brother didn�t seem to agree.

Luffy looked up from where he sat on his bed when the door opened.

Zoro seemed slightly surprised to see him lounging casually on the bed. His entrance faltered slightly, but didn�t stop. Zoro wasn�t running away. In fact, once he was inside he was trying to appear casual, sticking his hands in his pockets, though he didn�t approach the bed.

And who would after the way you treated him yesterday? Luffy scolded himself.

All the same, Luffy knew how to appreciate a gesture like this. Too many times had he been looked at in horror. Too many times had his opinion of self-worth been diminished by a stunned gaze that identified him as something too disgusting or frightening or horrible or unnatural to exist. Now, Zoro offered him a half smile and a shrug that Luffy read to mean a cross between �I don�t know what to say�� and �how�s it going?�. It was so strange to appear in front of an Outsider and not have his heart ripped out by a look of fear and loathing.

He shouldn�t do this. He shouldn�t be doing this. He shouldn�t even still be here now that the Outsider was in the room! �But he so wanted--

�Hi,� Zoro offered when Luffy didn�t speak.

Luffy couldn�t answer. It was a bad idea to encourage conversation! It always led to bad things, always!

�But Zoro had said hi. He�d said it nicely, all friendly-like. It would be rude not to answer�

Okay, being polite is okay. There�s no reason to be rude to someone who�s being nice to you, Luffy, especially given how often that happens. Small talk is safe. That won�t hurt anyone.

�Hi,� he felt himself replying. And he felt a small smile appear on his face.

***
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Homecoming Hill