The Winged Woman

Chapter 3: Who is Kaye?

Ace Pov
After the girl walked off, I was left reeling by what she had said to me. 

'She doesn't judge anyone for anything? That can't be true! Everyone judges anyone they meet, so that's a lie! She won't just accept anyone, least of all me of all people! She doesn't even know me...and why didn't she interrogate me? Isn't she mad at me trying to kill that old man? What is she trying to pull? A joke so that once my back is turned she can accuse me of things that I haven't done? Well I'm not trusting her for one second... then again... ugh! Who is this Kaye person and what's her story?'

Kaye's Pov
After I spoke to Ace, I went to find Marco, Thatch, and Izo. 

I could probably guess that they would want to see me alive and not hurt, as well as wanting to know what happened. 

When I was just arriving at my room, about to go inside, Thatch called out my name. I turned towards the shout, seeing just who I was wanting to see. 

I waited for them to come up to me, then opened my door while waving them to follow me inside. 

"How are you still alive?!" Thatch nearly screeched, as I took off my shoes and placed them underneath my bedside table. 

As I plopped down on my bed with a contented sigh, Marco said dryly "Glad you're ok, but I wasn't really expecting you to be this calm." 

"Why wouldn't I be calm?" I scoffed, looking over at my three best friends, who had sat down in different places (Izo in a chair, Thatch on the floor, and Marco in another chair). 

"Better question is: why are you so calm? You shouldn't be this calm, I certainly wasn't" Izo muttered to himself. 

"Yeah why are you so calm? No, how can you be so calm?! You did meet Ace!...didn't you?" Thatch asked, looking a bit confused. 

I rolled my eyes. 

"Of course I met Ace. I did all the talking, which was kind of strange not having any form of answer back, but it went fine. I told him what I tell anyone: I'm here for him if he needs to talk to me, and I'll listen without judging him. I don't know if he'll ever take my offer, but it's ok if he doesn't. In any case, I'm not really worried about him. He'll come around...and if he doesn't, oh well." 

"'Not worried? Oh well?'" Izo replied, sounding annoyed, and I looked at them all with narrowed eyes. 

"Look, if he chooses to join, that'll be awesome. If he doesn't, it's not our call to stop him. We can't force him to join us, that's just wrong. And I'm not worried right now. If I get worried, he'll give me a reason to worry." 

They all looked at me in disbelief, and what I said next made them all stiffen, "All I know is this... if anyone on this ship tries to force Ace to join us... they will answer to me. Got it? I won't tolerate anyone being forced to do something they don't want to do, you know that. And if I have to get physical with anyone who hurts Ace in any way while he's here, they better be grateful that I won't turn them over to Pops if it happens. So don't go wining to Pops and complain if I beat someone up for trying to force him to join or if they hurt Ace. You catch my drift?" 

Even though they didn't look happy with me, they nodded. 

After they agreed, I smiled and said "Good. Now please get out of my room. I'm going to rest a bit, but come and get me if anything major happens, just knock on the door. I'll see you guys later."