The night continued in a roar of defiance and alcohol. The threat of Blackbeard's spy hadn't dampened the mood; if anything, it had ignited a celebratory fire. The crew of the Empress didn't just eat; they feasted like kings of the sea. "I'm telling you, she didn't even blink!" Rakuyo hollered, waving a turkey leg in the air. "She just looked at him and bam! Blood-spikes everywhere! That's our girl!" The scene was a carbon copy of the golden days before the Paramount War. Izo was laughing as he tried to keep a drunken Jozu from accidentally crushing the campfire, and Vista was showing Maye how to balance a sake cup on the tip of a sword. For a few hours, the shadow of Marineford felt like a bad dream someone had told a long time ago.
Maye sat beside Ace, their shoulders pinned together. They spoke in hushed tones, the rowdy chaos of the crew acting as a curtain of privacy. "You did good today," Ace whispered, his hand resting on the small of her back. "Pops would have been proud of that look in your eyes."
"I don't want them to be afraid for me anymore, Ace," she replied, her gaze softening as she watched the crew. "I want them to look at me and see a sister they can rely on, not a ghost they have to protect." Eventually, the sake did its work. One by one, the commanders collapsed into heaps of snoring limbs. Maye squeezed Ace's hand one last time before retreating to her small, solo tent at the edge of the camp. The transition from peace to horror was instantaneous.
The moment Maye's eyes closed, the tropical breeze was replaced by the suffocating smell of ozone and burning flesh.
*Flash.* A sky choked with black smoke.
*Flash.* The sound of a thousand men screaming, a symphony of steel and agony.
*Flash.* "ACE!" The scream wasn't hers, it was Luffy's, raw and shattering.
Then came the sensation that stopped her heart. A heat so intense it transcended fire. She felt a phantom weight in her chest, a searing, liquid agony that felt like her very soul was being boiled away. She saw a wall of red-hot magma, and then, a pair of wide, horrified dark eyes. Ace's eyes. "Daughter! Move!" A voice like thunder, Pops, roared through the carnage, but it was too late. The light was fading. The blood was everywhere.
Maye bolted upright, a strangled gasp dying in her throat. Her heart was a trapped bird, slamming against her ribs with terrifying force. She was drenched in a cold, sickly sweat, and her hands were shaking so violently she had to sit on them to make them stop. The silence of the island felt wrong. It felt like the silence of a grave. Trembling, she crawled out of her tent. The cold sand felt like ice against her bare feet. She looked across the dying embers of the campfire to the larger tent where Ace slept. She walked toward it, her footsteps hesitant. A part of her felt like an intruder. She still had holes in her memory, large, gaping voids where years of intimacy should be. Was it okay to go to him? Was she overstepping the boundaries of this 'new' life?
But then, the phantom smell of magma returned, and her resolve snapped. She couldn't be alone. Not tonight. She slipped through the flap of Ace's tent. The air inside was warm, radiating from him even in his sleep. Ace shifted, his honed instincts pulling him from the depths of slumber the moment the air changed. "Maye?" he rasped, his voice thick with sleep. He sat up, his eyes immediately finding her silhouette in the dark. He saw the way she was clutching her shawl, the way her shoulders were hitching. "What happened? Are you hurt?" "I... I had a dream," she whispered, her voice cracking. She didn't move closer, standing at the edge of his bedroll like a frightened child. "The fire... and the red heat. I heard you screaming. I just... I didn't want to be alone. Can I...?" Ace didn't even let her finish. He reached out, his hand warm and solid, and pulled her toward him. "Come here," he murmured. He moved over, making a space for her on the narrow bedroll. Maye sank down beside him, the heat of his body immediately beginning to chase away the icy chill of the nightmare. She tucked her head under his chin, her hands clutching the front of his shirt as if he were the only thing keeping her anchored to the earth. Ace wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on the top of her head. He didn't ask for details; he knew exactly what she had seen. He had lived that nightmare every night for a year.
"I've got you," he whispered into her hair, his heart steady and strong against her ear. "I'm right here. We're both here. The war is over, Maye." Maye let out a long, shaky breath, her eyes finally fluttering shut. The scent of salt and embers acted like a balm, soothing the jagged edges of her mind. In the safety of his arms, the "Fog" and the "Fire" both faded away, leaving only the quiet, rhythmic pulse of two hearts beating in sync. They drifted off to sleep together, two survivors holding onto each other in the dark, finally finding the peace the world had tried so hard to take from them.