Rouge stood over her son, her only boy who'd never known her and grit her teeth in a fury. Her hair flared around her body twisting like snakeheads, yet there was no wind to move it. It acted through her emotions, which could not be contained.

Her baby boy, for years she'd been forced to watch abuse heaped upon him by the sheep of the world. The drunkard idiots who wouldn't know their ass from their face and frankly sometimes she couldn't even tell the difference with the shit they spewed.

For years she'd watched her son be told by ignorant bastards that he was worthless. That if he were ever discovered they'd keelhaul him, torture him, murder him. Her baby, her precious Ace was told again and again he was worth nothing.

So when he had the chance to prove he wasn't by capturing a traitor she'd been unsurprised he'd jumped at the opportunity. He'd thrown himself into a hopeless chase even as she soundlessly screamed that he didn't have to. Cried that his adoptive family would accept him even if he didn't. Grabbed straight through his arms as she told him and again they loved him and would never blame him for Teach's actions.

By the gods of the sea if only he could hear her, just once. She'd tell him how much she loved him, how much he was worth. How she could not be prouder of how kind he had turned out to be despite everything thrown at him. Her baby still loved, still protected, she was so so proud of him.

The non-existent wind around Rouge calmed. A hundred children dead because of the marines' foolish attempt to capture her son. She would be forever grateful for Roger's forethought into contacting Garp, for Roger sacrificing himself so his death could be a distraction; one she and Ace could use for achance to survive. Her only regret, while she lay on her death bed, was that she would not be able to see her son grow, that she could not protect him.

Soundless Rouge snarled in anger, it was always the marines. The marines then that caused her death, and now they had locked up her son like he was some sort of animal. Her son was going to be executed because of who his father was, for no other reason but that. They didn't care that he was a pirate who had committed minimal crimes, an occasional bit of looting and a few accidental deaths in battle had been the worst he'd done. Not that it mattered the marines… they would have done this even if Ace had followed Garp's words and had become a marine.

By the gods, Ace didn't deserve this. Her son had never hurt an innocent. He'd saved children, had purposely avoided civilians when the marines ignored them, had gone out of his way to save others when he could. He was a good boy. The marines, those cursed beings only cared about what his death would symbolize. All they cared about was Roger, and though Rouge loved Roger with all her heart, right now a part of her cursed how much of a public figure he'd ended up as. If Roger had been a regular pirate Ace would not be in this situation. Ace wouldn't be about to be executed before his adoptive family.

"Dammit," Rouge's nails bit into her hands, though they didn't bleed. The dead couldn't after all; there was no 'life-blood' left within her. She was nothing but a ghost unable to save her child. "Dammit, dammit, Dammit!" she swung on the place and punched a wall. Acted as if she could damage the blasted thing. She couldn't; it didn't even hurt, her hand passed straight through the wall. Another blatant slap in the face about her inability to change a thing.

"Excuse me?"

Rouge paid no attention to the voice, the woman that had spoken could not be talking to Rouge. After all, Rouge didn't exist, and the living could not see her.

"Miss?"

She scrunched her nose and tried to punch the wall again. She failed and snarled at it.

"Hey!" a hand tapped her shoulder.

Rouge was not ashamed to say she screamed and jumped a foot in the air. Swinging around Rouge attempting to punch at the 'thing' that touched her for the first time since her death. The woman who had done so yelped and quickly dodged backward with a shaky unpracticed movement. As if at one point she'd been used to dodging projectiles but had not been a physical fighter. Rouge instinctively cataloged this assuming the woman had been a ranged fighter and hadn't often been in involved in hand to hand combat. While a moment later Rouge had frozen up in her fighting stance because… someone had touched her.

The woman before her held up her arms defensively showing herself as unarmed. Which didn't mean much they were dead after all. Not to mention in her own life while Rouge had fought with pistols, she could still fight unarmed. 'Unarmed' meant very little to her.

The woman herself had deep burning red hair quite a few shades darker than her light pink - which she'd never liked until Roger complimented it. Rouge had personally always wanted her mothers blood red hair; she thought her odd pink was 'faded' and not worth much. Ironically the woman before her could have passed for Rouge's aunt before her untimely death; their hair was near about the same shade. It was the eye color that told Rouge this woman wasn't her aunt, this woman's eyes were an eerily glowing green and Rouge's aunts had been chocolate brown like her own, like Ace's.

On top of this, the woman's clothing was beyond strange. She appeared to be wearing pajama's of all things with deer on them. Rouge, of course, didn't blame the woman for her choice in clothing. Rouge herself had died in a hospital gown from her pregnancy which left her eternally wearing the soft pink material with her back-end exposed.

"Hullo," the woman greeted tentatively, "um, are you good?"

Rouge straightened herself and lowered her own hands in embarrassment. What was she doing in battle stance? She was dead, this woman couldn't hurt her. She was being ridiculous.

"I'm fine," she reported.

"Oh good," the woman lowered her hands in relief, "I was a bit worried I'd make a poor first example, and I really didn't want to do that you know? Especially since it's you. I don't interact with other dead people too much."

"Indeed," Rouge thought a bit bemused, "I haven't interacted with any dead people."

"No one?" the woman startled slightly, "well, that's not too surprising, I guess. Most people choose to go 'on' when Death presents the option."

Rouge inclined her head to that. She'd been given the same choice back when she'd first died. After dying she'd found herself in what she knew was the path into the Grand Line, the waterfall that moved up the red line to the unknown. Around it she'd been given a dozen ship options, Rouge had refused to take any of them. When faced with the prospect she'd turned back, she had a son to watch over, a baby that needed her.

"Personally I was at king's cross… ah, that's a train station." 'Water Seven?' Rouge wondered as Lily continued, "Death gave my husband and me several train options, but I wanted to watch my daughter grow up. So we went back to follow her," the woman's expression grew cold in a way Rouge was intimately familiar with, a mothers fury, "It's bloody well good that I did."

Rouge couldn't help but relax in the face of the familiar emotion. She made several jumps of logic thinking perhaps this woman's daughter was like her Ace. Suffering from the stupidity of others, from marines. "Is she in Impel Down as well?" she asked, glancing out of the cell walls behind the woman.

"No." The woman shook her head sending the red locks swinging, "No, she's… actually, that's a bit of a complicated explanation. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first, yeah?"

"I suppose," there wasn't much else Rouge could do but watch her son life slip away as he remained chained up in a cell. A proper conversation to get her mind off his fate, one to vent to was something she was in desperate need of.

"Portgas D. Rouge, a pleasure." She held out her hand, and the woman quickly shook it.

"Lily Potter."

Rouge recovered her hand, feeling it tingle quite bizarrely. How strange it was to finally have sensation in her hands due to Lily's likewise dead state. Rouge had missed physical contact, a part of her quite wanted to tackle Lily into a comforting hug, if only to feel another person in her arms again. She resisted, barely.

"He's your son?" Lily asked looking at Ace with an openly curious expression. Rouge followed Lily's gaze to Ace who had bowed his head in an attempt at sleep. He'd allowed himself to fall limp hanging off the obsessive amount of chains keeping him still and weak. Rouge was glad he was resting, if only because Ace hadn't slept for a single minute since he'd been captured. He was protecting himself, not allowing anyone to sneak up on him, in that, he was showing his strength. Rogue didn't need to see it to know her boy was strong, he hadn't even blinked at what Teach and his crew had done. Nor had he during the 'bath' the marines gave him when he'd arrived at Impel Down; a hose-down that had nearly ripped Ace's skin off his bones due to the sheer force they'd used. Rouge had looked away, unable to watch that happen to her son.

"Yes, that's my Ace," Rouge smiled softly. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, Ace lost all the tension he carried while awake when he slept. It was an expression to this day Ace only did when away when Luffy had been around. For only with Luffy was Ace wholly unguarded. Though Whitebeard and his crew were coming close to earning the same.

"I've been hearing quite a bit about him," Lily mused not moving closer, "a bunch of celebrity nonsense for the most part. I didn't take it seriously, no more than I would listen to what they say about my daughter." Lily spun on her foot and asked curiously, "Is he a good man?"

"Is my pirate son a good man?" Rouge asked in amusement, "that's not something people typically ask."

"I'm not typical," Lily said with a light shrug then sobered, "I'm actually quite desperate."

Rouge arched a brow eying the stranger, why was Lily here? Rouge hadn't wondered yet, but she was wondering now. "I don't understand."

"Not a surprise, it's not normal, none of this is." Lily didn't look away from Ace, Rouge felt herself tensing up wondering if the woman was a threat. "I heard about him in passing, first from the papers. The world Government of your world spread them all over a week ago reporting they were going to execute him. But the funny thing was, I keep seeing people who aren't happy about that."

Rouge hummed unsurprised, and Lily seemed to latch onto her response eagerly.

"Do you mind if I tell you a bit of a story? About my daughter?"

"I don't see why not." The more Rouge knew about Lily and her reason for visiting, the better.

Lily, however, didn't start where Rouge expected her too. "Have you ever tried to use your energy?"

"Energy?" Rouge's lips pinched downward, "what energy?"

"Energy. As souls, as the dead, we gain a small amount of energy as time passes. My husband noticed it a year after we died, he was able to unlock the door to what my pathetic excuse of a sister gave my daughter for a bedroom."

"And what was that?"

Lily's teeth snapped together with an audible click: "A cupboard, they put her in a broom cupboard till she turned eleven years old."

Even Rouge felt the stirring of anger hearing that, picturing a baby with Lily's features trapped in such a place by her own family. Rouge knew some people existed who would do such a thing, but to hear it was Lily's own family that had done so. She couldn't fathom that. She knew if any of her crew had lived, or if any of Roger's crew knew the truth about Ace, they have protected him in a heartbeat. Rouge had often thought she should have let them know about him; if she had perhaps Ace would not be captured now. Or maybe he would have earlier, Roger's crew had been in no state to protect Ace from the world.

"My husband unlocked the door, and we managed to get some water and food to Holly."

"They starved her?" Rouge gasped, "your family starved her?!"

"More than that," Lily gave Rouge a pained look and forced herself to continue, "for the first few years of her life we used that energy to help Holly survive. To get her food and water, to heal her wounds. We thought, we hoped, that when she turned eleven things would get better, that someone would notice and do something. At least then she'd be in the public eye, and the people we called friends and family would do something anything."

Lily heaved an exhausted breath and tugged at her hair, "It wasn't until she turned eleven we realized what was happening. No one was going to fix it, my friends were all dead, and James' were blocked at every avenue. Her god-father was thrown into prison without a trial and the one man I thought would help her can't do anything but protect her in secret."

"I'm so sorry!" Rouge moved forward and wrapped her arms around Lily hugging her tightly. The woman looked like she needed it, and frankly Rouge was tired of denying her own desire. Lily accepted her comfort readily, and for a moment they stood together. Lily tapped Rouge's arm when she was ready to continue, and Rouge released her gently.

Rouge wondered if she had this energy Lily was speaking of. Her first instinct was to say she didn't, she'd never been able to touch anything, to help Ace at all. But no, no she had been able to do it once. Ace had been ten at the time, facing against a group of 'pirates' about to shoot Luffy. She'd pushed her king's haki into him, helped him use it to protect them both. Rouge had convinced herself later that Ace had done it alone. Even if she was aware that ten was far too young to use the king's haki, no matter how strong her son was. Not to mention Ace hadn't used it again since that time.

"This energy, it's haki?"

Lily made a curious noise. "What's haki?" then it was Rouge that was confused, how had Lily used haki without using haki, unless… her energy wasn't haki? Rouge quickly explained to Lily what haki was, giving her an overview of observation, armament, and conquerors haki and how each worked. Rouge and Roger had both possessed all three she told Lily.

"That makes sense," Lily mused pacing around the cell, "it works different for us, your soul uses haki in limited use, while mine uses magic."

"Magic?"

"Ah, I didn't mention that did I? I'm a witch." Rouge nodded accepting this like she had everything else. After all, she'd seen stranger things in her travels through the world. So Lily continued with her story. "When we realized nothing was going to happen to help her, I started to save my energy. I thought I'd need it for something big."

"Are you still saving the energy you collected?" Rouge wondered even as she wondered if perhaps she could use her haki to aid Ace somehow. When she'd been younger she'd used haki to break sea-stone chains on her crew, but Rouge had only done it once and she'd been dangerously weak afterward.

"I am! and it's the reason I'm here now."

"Well?" Rouge gave Lily a curious look, "explain away."

Lily didn't hesitate. "Much as happened since my daughter's eleventh birthday, on that day she was introduced to her heritage."

"Her magic," Rouge realized.

Lily inclined her head showing Rouge was correct, "She began her schooling to learn to become a proper witch, and she's so powerful," Lily preened with parental pride then sobered, "She was eleven when she was tricked into killing someone. Dumbledore, that bloody old fool told her it was 'my love' that saved her. Utter Nonsense. It was her magic that protected her, that always has protected her."

Rouge gave a wan smile as Lily corrected herself, "not to say I don't love her. But it wasn't love that kept her safe when we died. I spent a year developing a spell, a blood ritual, that allowed me to give my life for hers. So she could survive even the killing curse itself if she needed to… and she had needed to." Lily shook her head, "I had hoped I wouldn't have to use it, I wanted her to grow up with her parents, grow up safe. But that wasn't in the cards for us. Thankfully that day James stalled long enough when Voldemort attacked to allow me to perform the spell. It saved Holly's life killing Voldemort and if not for those Horcruxes it would have been permanent-"

"Lily. I'm a bit lost," Rouge told Lily stopping the flow of words.

Lily blushed, "Sorry, it's common knowledge in my world for the most part. Voldemort is a dark lord, a racist blood purist who is trying to destroy our home and kill all people who don't fit his 'standard' which is everyone. My husband and I were part of the resistance,"

"Like revolutionaries?" Rouge mused, "my aunt was one."

"Probably it's similar. When I fell pregnant a prophecy was given saying a child would be born to defeat the dark lord. Dumbledore, the man - our leader - who we had stupidly put our trust in, allowed the prophecy to be released. Voldemort found out about it and decided my daughter fit the criteria of the person who would defeat him according to what he'd heard. Voldemort decided she needed to die. In response to that James and I were placed under 'protective spells' and kept in the house. A spell that would keep us safe so long as someone we trusted kept the secret of our location and took it to his grave."

"I assume he did not," Rouge figured since Lily was in fact dead.

"The man we choose, Sirius, did until he and James got it in their fool heads that he was too obvious of a target. Admittedly it was because Sirius was constantly being targeted by his cousin since he was an obvious choice for us. So James and Sirius swapped our secret keeper to another of our friends, a man named Peter."

"Why is it you did not keep the secret yourself?"

"Dumbledore told us it could only be someone who did not live at the location itself. He might have lied, he might not have, I have no proof regardless. I only suspect it was a lie because the secret keeper can visit the safe-house without issue." Rouge gave her a judging look and Lily wilted. "I wanted to leave, to take Holly and leave the country. But James, he's so thick-headed, he wanted to fight, to defend our world. I should have followed my instincts,"

"So you were betrayed, and this Voldemort killed you," Rouge said, "then this Voldemort was temporarily 'killed' but managed to come back to life."

"Yes," Lily confirmed, "he used my daughters' blood as a base and brought himself back to life when she was fourteen years old. He started the war up again a short year later and Dumbledore, because of the prophecy, placed Holly as the leader of the war even though she has next to no training and is only seventeen years old."

"As old as Luffy. Why does she have no training? Surely if a prophecy existed, someone would ensure she could lead? Could fight?"

"Dumbledore," Lily snarled, "he claimed he wanted her to have a childhood."

"Even though she was abused for eleven years?" Rouge asked incredulously, "and killed someone at eleven?" Ace had done so at much younger than that - though she hadn't liked that he'd been blooded so very young. Not to mention as terrible as a guardian that Garp had been, he'd ensured Ace, Luffy, and Sabo could defend themselves. It seemed Lily's daughter had not been given the same chance.

"Holly has never been a child," Lily stated, "Dumbledore kept her in the dark, and we only recently found out why. I was spying on a man I used to call a friend a few months ago, and we learned from him that Holly has a Horcrux in her."

"You mentioned that before, what is it?"

"A soul fragment. Voldemort split his soul seven times to bind his soul to the living world ensuring he never dies. One of these pieces was placed within my daughter when James and I died. Dumbledore knew it, sensed it the moment he held her after our death. He's known for seventeen years and planned for it."

"How do you remove it?"

"Death."

Rouge's eyes slid closed. She understood now. "He ensured she could not defend herself so that she'd die in the battle."

"'For the greater good,'" Lily mocked.

"That poor child," Rouge whispered, "surely something can be done?"

"There is," Lily's green eyes burned in the darkness, "James and Sirius are attempting to use their energy to lead Holly to a set of three items. We believe if she has them in her possession and dies, the items will return her to life. They are known in some circles as a temporary block to death's embrace."

"That's wonderful," Rouge brightened up, relieved Lily's little girl had a chance. "But why tell me all this?"

"It comes back the energy I've collected and your son," Lily looked to Ace, "Right now Holly has no one, no reason to live. She has no hope for the future and has been trained and molded to not fight for her own life. Right now… right now she would walk to her death without hesitation. Dumbledore ensured she has nothing to fight for, nothing to linger for, to live for."

Rouge watched Lily move toward Rouge's son and felt herself shift sideways almost defensively. She sensed no malice, but someone so close to Ace while he slept made her nervous.

"I had enough for two particular spells of my own invention," Lily's teeth flashed, "I've had a lot of time to play around with charms in the last seventeen years. When you don't have to eat or sleep, or even breathe, you get a lot done."

"What spells?" Rouge demanded as Lily waggled her fingers. Before Rouge's eyes, a line appeared connected directly to Ace. It was bright emerald green, almost the same shade as Lily's eyes. Rouge watched as Ace began to glow a soft orange the same shade of the hat he wore so often. The orange bled into the green line coming from his middle, then the line darkened and zipped away into the darkness beyond them.

"Lily?" Rouge pressed, "what is that?" she wasn't afraid of it; instead, it made her feel so warm. Like seeing it made her feel immense hope.

"That," Lily said, "is a soul bond and it is directly connected to my daughter."

"A soul bond… a soul mate? They exist?" Rouge moved forward as the colors around them faded.

"They do," Lily confirmed, "It's easy to see them on the dead." Lily waved her hand again showing off her red glow that vanished racing away into a shade of gold. Rouge at the same time turned a soft pink attached to a deep red that reminded her of Roger.

"I created a spell that allowed me to see Holly's, difficult because she's alive, but I managed. Once I figured it out, I followed it here, to Ace."

Rouge shook her head despair forming in her chest, "Ace is going to be executed soon, Lily. He's trapped here, helpless. He's going to die."

Lily's smirk gained teeth sharp, vicious, "I have a plan for that as well. It's not exactly what I originally intended for my second spell. But I can make it work."

"Explain."

"I'm going to connect them mentally," Lily tapped her forehead, "Holly needs a reason to live, a reason to fight and Ace can give it to her. While Ace, it seems needs the same… and a prison break."

Rouge didn't dare to hope, didn't dare breathe even if she couldn't. She begged Lily with her eyes to say it, to tell her the words.

"I'll tweak the timing and applications; time will run slower for Ace than it will for Holly. He'll be present mentally at Holly's location. That way, they can get to know each other. Holly will get a reason to live, and if it all works out, she will waste no time in rescuing Ace. With magic, it shouldn't be at all difficult, she's broken into more challenging places already."

"They can save each other," Rouge said breathlessly.

"Yes."

"How?" Rouge grabbed Lily's shoulders desperately, pleadingly.

"Just repeat after me."