[voice]

[firefreckles]

[His body feels cold when he wakes. Cold and sluggish but warming, and breaths are easier than they were the last time he was conscious. Layers of filth coats his skin and clothes, thick, dried blood flaking off as he moves. He can feel it crusted at the corners of his mouth and taste it on his tongue, a strong copper flavor along with ash and

Comments

Video for now! :D

[flowerofthesand]

[Have a very distraught princess practically yelling over the NV. She's been just as frantic about him as she was when Nami disappeared.] Ace?! Ace! Is that really you?? Where have you been? I-we've been so worried!

[voice]

[firefreckles]

Ah--[Another video, and this one is more recognizable to him than the last person, but only because he had seen her more recently, and in his own world. The blue hair was also a little hard to mistake, seeing how not many were blessed with a color like the sky.

He gives a short, breathy laugh at the excitable girl on screen. She must have missed him.]

What's there to worry about? It's [not like you've seen a ghost] me. I'm here. I guess I went back for a couple years, that's all.

[video!]

[flowerofthesand]

Of course I worried about you! You vanished in a giant explosion and no one could find you and-! [Her tearful babble is cut off abruptly.]

Wait. A couple of years? [No...he couldn't have, could he? The island couldn't have been that cruel...] How long...exactly?

[voice]

[firefreckles]

At least the island knew how to give me an exit..

[He's about to tell her she should settle down when he has to pause, suspicious that she already knows the answer to what she's asking.]

I'd guess over two. [He wasn't sure how long he had been stuck in Impel Down.]

[video]

[flowerofthesand]

I...I see...[She mentally calculates the time, his words confirming her worst fears. But...how could it be possible?

He is alive now though, that's all that matters.

She quickly turns from the camera and scrubs her eyes. After he must have just faced, the last thing he would need is more sadness. When she turns back, her face is bright again.]

Does that mean you remember Alabasta now?

[voice]

[firefreckles]

[She can't see it since he's using audio, but, when she wipes away her tears, it makes Ace smile.]

How could I forget? I saw you there, with my brother.

[video]

[flowerofthesand]

How can anyone forget all that sand? [She laughs a little, feebly. That's what people usually remembered of her and the sandy island.]

...Are....are you okay?

[It's awkward. How do you ask of someone who just... She bites her lip and the sand in her miniature desk garden begins to swirl. She hadn't seen it first hand and had barely been able to read the article in the newspaper the next day. It still sat crumpled at the bottom of her desk at home, unable to look at it again, but unable to throw it away.]

[voice]

[firefreckles]

I wasn't there long but the sand does leave an impression. I never figured out how it got under my hat. Or was that rice..

[It seems like a very long time ago that he had visited the desert kingdom. The stark concern in her question causes his voice to lose a little of its soft, teasing quality, and his next words are more serious and honest.]

I've never been better in my life.

[video]

[flowerofthesand]

[Somehow, this causes a real laugh to come bubbling out. The sand in the garden settles back among the rocks, cacti, and odd sculptures that might be ducks.] The sand does tend to get into everything and everyone that comes by. Most people say they have to come back several times just to return it all.

And I'm glad. I really am. [Her words are simple but there's a great deal of emotion layered deep within them.]

[voice]

[firefreckles]

I'm sure it's a nice enough place.. Staying in one spot too long was never for me. [He'd always been restless, even at a young age.]

Good. [Ace is glad too. He doesn't need her crying when he felt... strangely fine, all things considered.] Anything happen I should hear about..? Apart from you worrying, of course.

[video] /fails so much (also, that icon is adorable~)

[flowerofthesand]

[She could remember his wild energy well. Even in the short time they had traveled together she had seen the fire dancing just below the surface of all of his movements.]

It's pretty much been business as usual around here. Your brother causing trouble, he and Zoro going off on monster hunting sprees. It looks like everyone's powers have calmed down though. And we finally got all the sand out of the building. [She turns the NV so he can see the clean room.]

[voice] *pets*

[firefreckles]

[What can I say? He is a wildfire.]

[Powers had been going bonkers at one point... He seems to recall something about a burnt bathroom and running through the ocean.]

Sounds like I didn't miss very much. It must be like I was never gone. [Life goes on.]

[video] *cuddles*

[flowerofthesand]

You were missed though, even though you weren't gone from here nearly as long as you've been gone in our world. I'll really never understand the differences in the passage of time.

Would you...like to come over? To get cleaned up, I mean. And to have a cup of tea. I've gotten a little better at cooking. [And so she can confirm his safety with her own eyes. Given his first few words of his original message, she could guess the exact moment the Core had decided to pull him back. ...For once, she's thankful for the strange island.]