Ace had been initially angry when he was rudely awoken from his sleep by a stinging slap to his cheek. He had woken with sleep blurring his vision and rage fueling his actions, and a few things had been slammed into the walls.

After Izo had come in to explain, Ace had had half a mind to march down the stairs and return the blow to Koala. Who did she think she was going around hitting people like that, especially after his warning? But both Thatch and Izo prevented him from doing so and persuaded him otherwise. Then Luffy had filled Ace in on the events since his waking, telling him of how he remembered his older brother and a few stories of what the two had done in their youth.

The realization that Luffy remembered Sabo got Ace thinking, and not about something he was too keen on, so Ace went to the one place where he knew he could sort through his feelings by himself.

The moon had risen to its peak not too long before he heard the quiet shuffling of slippers on the roof. Sabo had come to join him, and Ace let him approach just as he had all those other times before, finding that with each time he minded less and less.

Sabo approached Ace, sitting down with him the way he had all the times before, looking up at the sky. "Thank you," he said after a beat, figuring it was as good a place to start as any. "You saved my life."

Ace looked over to Sabo with slight confusion creasing his brow. "You… don't have to thank me you know. If anything, I have to thank you for saving Luffy, and he tells me he remembers you now… I'm glad," Ace said and he meant it, chewing on his bottom lip before he spoke again.

"He also made me see that I was wrong about you being in his life again. His memories of that time with the man are not something I ever wanted him to remember, but to see him talk about you the way he does and how you two used to be so close... well I'm sorry that I tried to stop that from ever happening."

"But I wanted to," Sabo shrugged, though there was a smile on his face. "You don't have to thank me either though, Luffy will always be my brother whether he remembered everything or not. And I'm sorry to say it, but I wasn't going anywhere whether or not you wanted me to," he teased, bumping Ace's shoulder with his own. "Either he would have remembered or he wouldn't. I'm just glad he did, even if everything else came with it too. But now we're here, so he doesn't have to be alone any more.

"And I know I probably freaked you out then, just randomly slicing my arm like that, so sorry," he offered, smiling meekly. "It was my best option at the time."

"Yeah that was…" Ace ran a hand over the phantom cut that had been there not even a day before. "I'm not gonna lie Sabo, that was… scary. I could feel your dread and fear over the situation, and then when the cut came… Sabo it's something I don't ever want to experience again, not knowing where you are or what's happening, it's a torture in itself," Ace confessed, eyes still on the moon and unable to look at Sabo just yet.

"And I'm not just saying that because of the link between you and me, I wouldn't want you to get hurt even if it didn't come back at me and bit me on the ass. And I realize that I am probably the last person who should be saying anything about hurting you because I know that I am your worst offender, but it's true. I don't want you to be scared or be hurt outside of these walls or within them."

"Yeah, sorry," Sabo sighed–feeling Ace's distress and self loathing–and leaned his head on Ace's shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "I'm not planning to ever repeat that, believe me. Is that what's holding you back? You still feel guilty about what happened in the dungeons?" he asked softly, thinking back on what Koala had said.

"I forgave you for that the minute you showed up in the clearing. You saved my life, and Koala's, when you didn't necessarily have to. If that doesn't make up for almost killing me, I don't know what will. Yeah, the tar ruined a lot for me, but I'm still alive, and I'm grateful for that."

Ace flinched at the outward mention of the dungeons, Sabo may have forgiven him, but he still hadn't forgiven himself for his actions. "I killed a ghost of the past; he should have been dead fourteen years ago but because I assumed he was dead, he was able to return to haunt us. I had slit his throat open, but he recovered from that it seems."

A long pause passed between the two and Ace tentatively rested his head on top of Sabo's. "You wouldn't have been in that danger if I had cut off his head that first time, twice you've almost died and all because I was either ignorant or stupid. So yes, yes I do still feel guilt over what happened," Ace confessed and closed his eyes.

"I've been afraid to admit it this entire time, I admitted I regretted the action yes, but I never told you how much I wish I could take it back. I was ready to kill you, and for no reason other than for what you were. In a way, that made me no better than the humans that killed my mom and Roger. I had turned into my own nightmares and I was frightened to admit that so much that I had never dared say it aloud."

"But because things happened the way they did, Luffy remembers all of the good parts of his childhood as well, and I have my brother back too. What if he'd come back a hundred years from now, when we're all long dead and Luffy remembered too late? You can't blame yourself for something you had no knowledge of Ace, you couldn't have known he would survive an injury like that. It's the same principle as my not protecting Lu from being taken in the first place," Sabo insisted, knowing very well the irony behind the situation.

"You can't let yourself be swallowed by what if's and should have's, they'll only eat you alive, I know that better than anybody. There's nothing we can do to change the past, whether it was yesterday, fourteen years ago, or two hundred years ago. The difference between you and those men is that if you could, you would take the order back. Do you think they ever felt remorse for what they did? You can't compare yourself to them," Sabo said softly.

"I wouldn't have back then," Ace murmured, "I know I would've done it again and that is why I am like them, but then I got to know you and everything changed."

Ace snorted softly. "I guess I have Izo to thank for that, locking us in that room. It was the day I first got to talk to you, not like one of them, but just you, and then–" Ace stopped, unsure of how to form the words that were playing in his mind. "The wea–Koala, asked me something while you were still asleep, or out cold really." Ace tried to shrug and remembered that Sabo was on his shoulder, so he shrugged his unoccupied shoulder, biding his time.

"She asked if I–Well. She asked if– she asked what my reason was for going there and rescuing you and well her too." Ace supplied lamely.

"I want to say it was all because of Luffy. I wanted to tell her that Luffy and the man that turned him were the only reason I was there, for revenge and nothing more. But that isn't true, or at least not all true. Luffy wasn't the only reason."

Sabo smiled, straightening his legs so they suspended in the air and he was able to get a good view of his newly replaced dragon slippers. "You came for me too," he said simply.

"You didn't know that the Dollmaker was around, and I could have just cut myself accidentally. But, you came because you were worried." Sabo knew he was right. Koala's words were perfectly aligning with Ace's, and a warm feeling was pooling in Sabo's chest. He felt... safe, up here with Ace. There was nothing quite like being around people who cared about you, even if one of them wouldn't admit it.

"We're not going to let you turn into a monster, Ace. You'll never be like those men because we won't allow it- I won't allow it. You have a good heart, even if it is damaged."

"I know accidental cuts Sabo, sleeping at random times in the oddest of places has its advantages. Such a straight line was either intentionally self inflicted or someone was attacking you. The angle was wrong too; an accidental cut wouldn't have been directly right here," he said taking Sabo's hand and used Sabo's fingers to trace over where he had felt the cut the previous day, sure that Sabo would feel it on his arm without the pain that way.

Ace studied Sabo's hand as it traced across the invisible line that had stung not even a day before, and then tentatively he pulled his arm up, his palm against Sabo's and laced their fingers together. A smile flourished on Ace's lips as their hands fit together, warmth shared between them and filling Ace in a way that left him wondering if he was indeed experiencing his own feelings or Sabo's, but ultimately not caring who's they were.

"Thank you," Ace whispered his smile refusing to leave. "Thank you for the reassurance, Sabo. Really, I mean it; thank you for giving me a second chance, for putting up with my shit and for... just being you."

Sabo observed their linked hands with interest, noticing how pale and grey Ace's skin looked when compared to his own skin tone. It was still odd at times, thinking that Ace of all people was his soulmate when it seemed like there were just so many differences between them. By all logic they should have hated each other. Sabo should resent Ace for what he'd done and Ace should despise Sabo for being even remotely similar to the men who'd ripped his family apart, but they didn't. Trying to describe it was hard, there was no good way to explain why things just seemed to be falling into place.

"Anytime," he replied easily, and he meant it. "Though if you keep being sentimental like this you might trick me into thinking you actually like me," he teased, pressing against Ace's shoulder and feeling that same pressure on his own on the other side.

Ace rolled his eyes and set their hands down between them, though what he had first taken as a flippant comment, he soon realized that it had more meaning that he had given it credit for. Maybe Sabo hadn't meant to load the sentence as much meaning as Ace was placing on it, but Ace couldn't see the words any other way now that he heard them and with his, Izo's and Koala's conversation earlier that night.

Sabo's words caused something to coil tighter in Ace's stomach. Ace searched that feeling, and came to realize that it was nervousness.

"Would it be a bad thing… for me to like you?" Ace asked quietly.

Sabo could feel the nerves, noticed how Ace's body language wasn't as relaxed as it could be. Maybe it was due to the fact that Sabo was so close to Ace, enough so that they were touching that made them so in tune with one another, or perhaps it was something else, or nothing at all. It could have been the time they spent together that Sabo knew how to discern small changes in Ace. But the shift was there, clear as day and so easy for Sabo to spot.

"No..." Sabo sighed after a moment, his eyes closing gently and just absorbing Ace's presence.

The fluttering anxiousness in his stomach was tripping Sabo up too, but he didn't think it was just Ace who was nervous now. He swallowed the feeling down though, even as he finally gave breath to the thought that had been slowly growing in the back of his mind for months now.

"It would be nice. I like you, a lot actually. I like being around you, whether it's as friends or... something more," he confessed, face heating up. "Or not. It feels..." he trailed off, not knowing how to explain what he was trying to say. "Better than right. Not perfect, but close."

"Do you really?" Ace asked before he could help himself. Sabo liked being around him? Yes they had been getting to know eachother better and they had talked for hours on end, but to think that Sabo actually liked being around him, considered him a friend? The concept and idea of it was so foreign to Ace that he was unsure of just what was happening between them.

"Something more?" Ace repeated in a question. "You mean like family? Does that mean you will be staying here with us? You won't be returning with Koala to wherever it is you came from… don't you have a home and family waiting out there for you?"

"Well, yeah, you think I did all that paperwork for you cause I like doing paperwork? Stop acting so surprised, it's making me feel weird," Sabo accused, though his tone showed no real annoyance. "I told you I was staying earlier, but I guess you don't remember that," Sabo sighed and shook his head fondly.

"No, I love Koala and I love where I grew up, but home is wherever my family is. There's nothing left for me with the hunters or any of that. I never originally wanted to join and be a hunter, but Dragon-san said it would be the best way to protect everybody, so I figured that's what I should do. Not that I didn't like it, but pursuing a career in vampire enforcement was never what I wanted to do with my life," he revealed hesitantly. It was something he'd never told anybody before, and having something like that out in the open was unsettling. "I love the villagers, but they're not my family the way Luffy is."

He will never be a part of my family.

Sabo paused, licking his lips uncertainly as he thought back to the conversation he'd overheard in the library all those months ago. "I... want to join yours, if you'd be alright with that."

"You told me, when?" Ace couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice and his cheeks felt warm even as he realized that he was doing the exact opposite of what was asked of him. When exactly had Sabo told this to Ace that he didn't remember? Yesterday? Last week, a few hours ago? He couldn't recall.

"I don't remember," Ace said honestly unable to keep the growing smile that was becoming more and more present with every moment he spent with Sabo up here on the roof. "Of course you're family, idiot," Ace scoffed, though no bite was added to his words.

"I believe that was something that was explained on the very first day that Izo talked to you, you are part of this family whether you're here with us or away doing your own thing. You have a family with us whether you choose to live here or not; I'm afraid you're stuck with all of us, crazy and all," Ace stated with a chuckle and sobered up quickly. "We would all love it if you stayed here."

"Yeah, well that was still around the time I thought you all were insane and or suicidal. Still do, actually." Sabo grinned at his own inside joke, but said nothing more on the subject. His body relaxed at the acceptance, and Sabo was leaning against Ace, happy with the way things had turned out.

"What did you want to really do?" Ace implored quietly. "You can still be whatever you wish to be here, with Luffy and the family, with Oyaji… and with me."

"It's not something I ever really considered and I don't know if it even counts as something I would want to do with the rest of my life... but when I was really young, before I lost my parents, I thought that I would be an author one day. I never actually wrote anything so I doubt I'd be any good at it, but I thought it would be cool to explore the world and write stories on all the things I'd see."

"Wow..." Ace whistled lowly as he listened to Sabo speak of his interests before he was involved in their world.

"Just when you think that you and I can't be any more different, a writer huh? Literacy and art can go hand in hand but it's also quite the opposite thing. Writing is a good start though, if it really is something you want to do, I think you should pursue it. It's never too late for you to start doing it after all, maybe it's like painting. Just look out and use the inspiration around you."

"I don't know, I never really considered it but I guess I could try?" Sabo bit his lip, thinking.

"It's... weird, thinking about the rest of my life. Most hunters die young in battles or they harden, grow old and keep fighting until they just can't any more, and some keep going even after they reach that point. Being a hunter is something you dedicate your life to, regardless of why you joined. People can and have left the ranks obviously, but that group is a minority within a minority, wanting to leave then actually leaving seems like a foreign concept to most of us.

"And quite honestly, I always figured I would be part of the first group, offering up my life to save someone else's, and yet here I am, despite the countless opportunities I've had. Not that I ever wanted to die, but I figured if it's going to happen eventually, that would be the best case scenario, you know? And now that I have the rest of my life to think about, I have no clue what to do with it. I've been a hunter for so long I don't know what to do with myself now that I'm no longer one of them," Sabo confessed quietly.

He would be fiddling with his gloves if he could, but he wasn't wearing them, and one of his hands was occupied anyways. Thus Sabo settled for releasing his nervousness by tapping his free fingers against his thigh.

"That was a pretty morbid thought for someone so young, don't you think? And you're talking to the guy whose heart hasn't taken a single best for over a couple of centuries. But I can say this much-or well, if my experiences have taught me anything in my prolonged lifetime-is that you don't have to decide things here and now. Let the future be the future. Sabo, you have years to figure out what you want to do, and we can all help you find that one thing meant for you," Ace reassured him, giving a gentle squeeze to the hand he held.

"And if this" Ace swayed their hands together, "has taught me anything, it's that nothing is set in stone and there are countless possibilities as to what the future can hold. Even if many of them are ones that you can't quite see until they bite you in the ass."

Sabo only shrugged in response. "I know it's morbid, but after everything that happened, it's hard not to have that sort of mentality. Most of my mind doesn't really think like that, but there's always that one little part of me that thinks up the worst case scenarios. And if we're honest, such scenarios are most often than not the most realistic possibilities.

"But yeah, thanks. I'll give some thought into the author thing or maybe something else, you'll be the first to know when I decide to do something with my life. How about you, do you want to be an artist, have you ever done anything with them? I mean, you must've since you're really good," he complimented.

"Do I want to be an artist?" Ace repeated with mock hurt. "And here I thought I was one, or at the very least doing a pretty great impression of portraying one." Ace chuckled and shrugged his unoccupied shoulder once more.

"I never really placed much thought into selling them. The hobby was something I did as to not forget my mom, so I drew her like a madman and with time, I made her memory stay. Once I accomplished that, I started drawing members of the house, then Luffy, and now," Ace offered over the sketchbook that had accompanied him to the roof after his rude awakening.

"It started with the blue in your eyes,then the sunlight in your hair..."

"You've been drawing me?" Sabo asked, genuinely surprised and took Ace's sketchbook at the others insistence. He stared at the worn leather cover until Ace gently nudged their shoulders. With his resolve steeled, Sabo nodded and opened the book, his eye going over the first picture, and smiling when he was greeted by Rogue.

Sabo thumbed through the sketchbook, seeing some of the drawings Luffy had mentioned earlier; him as a monkey, Izo as a crane, and Marco as a pineapple. Once past the halfway point, Sabo came across the half finished sketches of himself. And while they were all quite good, Sabo couldn't help but notice tiny flaws here and there. "I haven't seen you doing these, are they all from memory?"

Sabo was about to joke and ask if Ace watched him while he slept, but the jest died on his tongue when he came across a particular page. It was clearly a work in progress, and Sabo couldn't help but be enraptured by it. The page depicted Sabo looking out into the horizon from a window within the castle, the drapes billowing softly and the air making his hair dance as well, and Sabo looked so content, so serene, just like someone who knew exactly where his home and heart lay.

"I never ask anyone to sit still for me, not that most of them could do it even if I asked. So yeah, over the years I learned to capture moments as best as I could and jot them down until it all came together. And if I really like the scene, it often makes it onto canvas," Ace explained and flipped the page to the next sketch that pictured half a dozen Sabo portraits, some looking at the viewer and others in different angles, but all of them had one thing in common.

"I like drawing your smiles. They're not as big as Luffy's of course, I don't think anyone could ever hold a light to his sunshine, but your smiles are warm, tentative, not quite sure at times but completely sincere. They're completely different to your fake smiles too, the ones you showed everyone when you first got here, don't think the others didn't notice. The smiles you give us now are genuine and that small tint of sadness they had at first is fading away... I'm glad it's going away too, I like your smiles."

A smile came to Sabo's lips at the compliment, thoroughly flattered by Ace's words. It struck Sabo again how odd this relationship was between them, but nonetheless he found himself returning the favor. "Your smiles are nice too. You smile with your eyes, it's actually really infectious too. It's almost like there's some inside joke you're laughing at that nobody else understands and it asks us to smile along if we hope to be in the know."

Sabo knew he was borderline rambling, but he didn't care, he could do so with Ace without a worry and he took comfort in that.

"I like this one," Sabo said after a moment, pausing his skimming to focus on one particular drawing. It was of Sabo and Luffy out in the courtyard, sword fighting with sticks. They were both laughing, an eager grin on Luffy's face and a confident smirk on his own. They looked alive and full of energy, like they were going to continue the fight any moment now. "I don't see how you can draw this well, honestly. Share some talent with the rest of us," he teased.

"Lock yourself away for a century and you discover all sorts of new things," Ace said sagely, trying to hide the fierce blush on his cheeks at the compliment and chuckled. "But in all honesty, it isn't the best way for you to find a muse, so stay out here have fun and wait for it to come to you. Or if you want," Ace paused and looked away from the pages to glance up at Sabo.

"We can go look for it. You said you wanted to see places, what's holding you back now? You were restricted to your duties before, but now you don't have to stay in one set path. You, Luffy, and I can take off and see where we end up knowing full well we will always have a home to return to."

"You're serious?" Sabo looked up at Ace, surprised by the gesture. "And you'd want to come with me? All of that traveling would get expensive, I can't ask you guys to pay for it all, super rich royal family or not."

Ace laughed and nudged Sabo's shoulder playfully. "I mean it, we need to explore just as much as you do. Don't think of it as us paying, but as a 'welcome to the family, here's a golden egg'. Besides, it isn't all that expensive really if we walk, I could carry you too, if you want."

"Like I'm going to let you give me a piggyback ride around the continent," Sabo scoffed. "Luffy would get jealous."

"You think I can't carry you both?" Ace asked, brow rising in question before relenting. "Okay maybe not during the day, but at night I'll have you know I can carry at least three of you and ten Luffys."

"Stop acting like you're serious, you're not carrying me anywhere in the middle of the night." Sabo rolled his eyes, rubbing the side of his neck where soreness had begun to settle. "But I did hear from a little birdy that you guys head up to Luciera every year for the festival, true story?"

Ace scoffed in return, "You say that like you don't want me to carry you. But yeah, every year without fail we make it up to Luciera and partake in the festivities. It's the only week of the year I go outside the mountain range and stand so close to humans, I only started going in the recent decades but its fine so long as I don't get too close."

"Maybe because I don't?" he retorted to Ace's comment but let the matter drop. "I've never been there, isn't it supposed to be pretty crowded though? Do you just hover around the edges or what? That doesn't sound nearly as fun."

Ace shrugged a shoulder before adding to his response, "It's more fun than staying at the castle alone and getting scolded for trying to kill the boredom by making an indoor swimming pool or luring a couple of bears in to play hunt and go seek." he confessed with a sheepish grin, "I mean I participate in things and rope Marco and Luffy into them so that I won't be surrounded by humans. Couple that with the fact that they soothe me,it helps immensely."

"Well I'm coming with you guys this year whether you like it or not, so either you or Izo are going to have to show me around, cause I don't trust Thatch at all," Sabo decided, nodding to himself.

"Well, you can't get Izo without Thatch in the festival, he hovers around her like a large lost puppy. So I guess I'm your dat- guide, I meant guide."

"Really? That's cute, I bet Izo loves that," Sabo grinned. "You and I have got ourselves a deal."

"Izo looks forward to it," Ace agreed with a nod. "She and Thatch just get lost in the crowd content to smile and walk next to each other, and it's the one week of the year when Haruta and I promise to leave Thatch out of our pranks. But that means you're free game this year!" Ace said with sudden realization, a devilish smile appearing on his lips.

Sabo groaned, his head falling into his hands. "On second thought, I'm not coming with you."

"Hey a deal is a deal, there's no backing out now, though I guess you can chop your foot off to get out of it?" Ace suggested with a flippant shrug.

"Do it." He stuck out a leg to Ace, offering it. "Then you won't have to carry me anywhere and after I learn to walk on one foot I'll be ready to survive the trip next year, it's a win-win."

"Okay but remember that you asked for it," Ace warned and took Sabo's leg in his hands, his smirk still evident as his eyes pulsed and his fangs elongated.

Ace held the foot up and in a quick movement, he dove in to bite Sabo's ankle. And though the action very much looked like he had just sunk his teeth into the offered leg, Ace had retracted his fangs just before he bit down. Dulled teeth closed around Sabo's ankle gently as Ace pretended to bite Sabo and felt the odd tickling sensation on his own ankle.

Sabo's eye went impossibly wide and he flinched when Ace's teeth made contact with his ankle. When there was no immediate blood or pain though, his shoulders fell and he gave Ace the most unimpressed glare he could muster. "Ha ha, very funny." He bit down on his own tongue sharply, waiting for Ace to release his leg.

Ace hissed and released Sabo, but not before leaving a great deal of saliva on his ankle, pouting as he eased the pain out of his tongue. The moment the stinging vanished, he resumed his pouting. "You asked me to!"

"I asked you to cut it off, not bite it off, idiot." Sabo continued to glare, wiping the spit off of his leg with disgust before wiping it on Ace's cheek.

Ace recoiled from the feeling of saliva on his cheek and relished in the reflected feeling he saw on Sabo's face; the blonde felt it on his face too, and Ace thanked their bond for that small present.

"Same shit Sabo, but my way was smarter. A saw would take too long and you'd bleed out in minutes, but vampire spit at least slows blood flow," he retorted. After a moment, he leaped at Sabo, pinning him back on the roof and rubbing his cheek against Sabo's, wiping off the saliva though doing nothing to get rid of the feeling. The action was more based on principle than anything else after all.

Sabo frowned and huffed, glaring unimpressed at Ace's childish behavior, but he too couldn't leave it at that. So with a rush of strength, Sabo managed to wedge some space between them and pushed against Ace, rolling them over until Sabo was on top and pinning Ace's limbs with his own corresponding ones. "While I appreciate the gesture, keep your nasty spit away from me, please and thank you," he said curtly, wiping his cheek back on Ace's forehead.

Ace rolled his eyes and relaxed his muscles for a minute under Sabo's hands and immediately tensing them in order to push off of the flat surface and turn the tables on Sabo in much the same way that the blonde had done before. Then it was Ace pinning Sabo to the roof by interlocked hands and his knees placed on either side of his hips and effectively straddling the ex-hunter, all the while a smile played in Ace's eyes. "And if I don't?"

"Then that's a pretty creepy fetish you have there," Sabo chuckled, testing Ace's strength subtly. His position was sturdy though, and Sabo could barely move his body in any way that would be helpful for weaseling out. Maybe he should start training with Ace in the future, if he was capable of essentially immobilizing Sabo after a single move while he was this weak, how far could Sabo get when he was in top shape?

"To each their own." Ace shrugged a shoulder and took a moment to take in the sensory details that nagged at him. Ace could feel the coolness of his own skin where it met Sabo's much warmer body.

"This isn't as uncomfortable as I would have thought," Ace mused aloud, looking down at Sabo and paused, coming to a sudden heart racing realization. Ace's eyes widened impossibly as he realized just what sort of position they found themselves in.

Now maybe it was just Ace thinking too much on it, but how could he not think of it when they were so close to each other. Ace pressed so close to Sabo to the point where his face was less than five inches away from Sabo's.

And the way that Sabo's breath was ghosting across his chin and cheek was enough to make his insides burn, melt, and slosh around with some emotion he couldn't quite place. Then there was that one blue eye looking back up at him.

Ace swallowed, words dying on his tongue as he studied Sabo under the soft light of the moon, his golden hair glowing with a mesmerizing shimmering silver sheen. The light seemed to shift his hair into a soft halo and Ace had to refrain himself from reaching out and caressing the delicate crown. And his eye, was more beautiful than that, if it was even possible, Ace could see every diamond star in those eyes, he could see the entire universe within them and it only enraptured Ace further. "You're beautiful, Sabo."

Sabo's sarcastic remark died on his tongue as the mood suddenly shifted. He blinked, surprised by the change, and a faint blush rose to his cheeks at the comment. A nervous laugh and a self-conscious smile bubbled up to his lips. "Yeah?"

Ace hardly felt the nod he gave, too caught up with the beauty that was under him. The burst of color on Sabo's cheeks brought the ex-hunter's heart rate up. Ace wasn't sure if it was due to their proximity or their link that he could feel every beat Sabo's heart gave resonate within him, but he didn't mind it, he all but drowned in the welcome sensation.

"Yes." Ace replied without hesitance and not feeling like that was an adequate answer, he continued, "The blue in your eye is still a blue I want to never be without and one that will never be seen again by the likes of man... It's nearly indescribable, but it can be called beautiful and much more. But Sabo, you're beautiful."

"Sap," Sabo muttered, though his face was burning under Ace's intense gaze.

"I...uh, thank you?" God, what was Sabo even supposed to say to that? It was like his mind was short circuiting, and all Sabo could do was just stare back at Ace dumbly. This was completely unexpected, and Sabo was hyper aware of every spot where they were touching like they were burning.

"You're hot," he blurted out dumbly, before hastily backtracking. "Your body is hot. Uh, I- I mean it's warm."

Ace's own blush broke through to color his freckled cheeks. And disoriented as he was, he tried to make sense of Sabo's remark. "I shouldn't be.. I lost circulation a long time ago." Ace tried to reason though the sudden fluttering feeling that was consuming his insides was making even that a larger feat than it should be.

"It's your blood... Your heart is making us warm. But I like it; being warm, being with you."

Sabo smiled up at Ace, almost wanting to laugh. This was just ridiculous in every way, but it was absolutely perfect too. "I'll just have to stick around to keep making you warm then."

Sabo tilted his head as best as he could, his one eye roaming over Ace's every feature. Ace was beautiful, absolutely and undeniably so. Beautiful in a way Sabo could hardly describe, alive and free like fire, yet smooth and sharp like ice. Sabo lacked the ability to come up with a good enough description, and he wondered if Ace was just one of those things you'll never be able to fully explain nor completely understand. He was a beautiful, intricate mystery.

"You're my soulmate," Sabo said simply, like that covered all of the wild half baked thoughts running wild through his head or a statement that would tame the butterflies rampaging in his stomach. It may have been too obvious of a fact, but Sabo felt that he had never said anything as truthful as that in his life.

To hear Sabo say the words aloud was something Ace had never thought would happen. Of course they had discussed the subject many times over and the term had been dropped here and there, but the way Sabo said the word, Ace could not deny there was affection there. The words were loaded with something Ace had never thought he would encounter anywhere else but with his family. There was love in those words and Ace nearly pulled away, the fluttering in his stomach suddenly turning into uncertainty.

However, he could not bring himself to do so. Ace remained there, basking in the warmth and the beauty that was Sabo, all the while taking a moment to commit every detail he possibly could to memory.

The distance between them was slowly closing until Ace was just hovering over Sabo, "I... Sabo." The words refused to slip past his lips and they absolutely refused to be formed out of the jumbled mess that was his train of thought. After the third attempt at a coherent word, Ace discarded the notion and mentally shrugged. He was never too great with words anyway, actions though...

Ace inched closer, his lips just over Sabo's until a tentative peck was placed on them feeling the featherlike touch on his own. He was afraid to open his eyes, but Ace had to gauge his reaction. With only a brief hesitation, Ace opened half lidded eyes and searched Sabo's face for his reaction.

Sabo's eyelids fluttered shut as Ace moved in closer, and when their lips met, that was it. There was no magical explosion nor burst of light or anything like that. It was a hesitant, nervous first kiss between two people who meant more to each other in the most complicated way that they could never hope explain. It was short, sweet, and absolutely perfect.

The aching in Sabo's chest intensified, and he felt the nerves- Ace's. He could see, hear, feel the question Ace was silently asking, is this okay?

Sabo discarded words and thoughts at that moment as well, and only wondered briefly why the had bothered with them in the first place. He and Ace didn't need words to talk, not in the slightest.

Sabo lifted his head for their lips to meet again, unable to stop smiling but unable to care about that or anything that wasn't Ace, right here, right now.

He had found his soulmate.

Fin.


Emy: Hey Guys! This story was so much fun to write, it was awesome (and hilarious) seeing all your reactions to it! I'm thrilled to see that you all liked as much as I do, especially with how cheesy the premise is xP thank you so much for sticking with us and an especially huge thank you to those of you who reviewed favorited and, and followed! I love you all and hope to see you all again. God bless SaboAce

Leafy: Along with sharing Emy's thoughts I think we should let you all know that even though it was an amazing experience to write this and get to share it with all of you, there will be no sequel to RM. There is perhaps an Epilogue we will try to get to in the future but there is no projected date for that.

We loved this story and all of its characters, seeing them grow and become family was beautiful, and we couldn't be more proud of what we achieved, but this is how the story ends.

I will however, be expanding on Izo and Thatch's relationship, delving into her past and how the two met. I will be posting that side story to RM in my regular account, the prologue to Golden Sun will be posted along with this chapter.

We hope to hear your final thoughts on Red Moon, and would like to thank you all once again for sharing this wonderful story with you. Thank you all and have a great day/night!~