Marco's POV
It had been a few weeks since Talia and Thatch had woken up and Talia was finally starting to look like herself once again. True to her word, Talia had been training endlessly constantly pouring herself over books and trying to lose herself in trances to see if she could force herself to remember spells she had seen when she was younger. Her spell weaving was flawless, but just as I had expected, it took a lot out of her. Thatch and I took up rotating shifts with her training to make sure she didn't push herself too far.
Though everyone was worried about her involvement in rescuing Ace, no one could deny her strategic knowledge, already with her attending meetings we had a solid plan. When Talia wasn't training, or strategizing she spent her time locked away in the library and I noticed many of the rookies bringing in tons of writing supplies, paper, ink and quills. She wouldn't tell anyone what she was doing, but said it may come in handy for Ace's rescue. When we questioned the rookies they merely shrugged and said she was writing but they didn't know what.
The sun mercilessly beat down on the deck of the ship, the temperature had skyrocketed in the past few hours. The weather was always unpredictable out on the harsh seas. Talia was sitting beneath the mast tracing imaginary symbols in the air, she'd been trying to find a way to cast her spells without having to write anything down or have a tome with her.
She uttered strange words under her breath as she continued tracing the strange shapes in the air. From the tone of her voice, I could tell she was getting flustered with herself as nothing was happening and sighed as I headed over to her. Perhaps it was time to take a break, her skin was pale, her cheeks were flushed and she was sweating quite a bit thanks to the sweltering heat.
"Talia let's take a brea-." I froze as thorn covered vines shot from the deck at her feet climbing higher and higher into the sky creating a strange prickly barrier around her. The thorns came alive as she waved her hands and moved with her like giant deadly serpents.
"I did it!" Talia cheered as the thorns dispersed and I felt my heart drop as I spotted blood dripping from her nose. She jumped as a drop of blood splashed onto her bare legs and quickly wiped at her face.
"Come on, let's take a break." I sighed as I swept her into my arms and carried her off toward the galley for some cold drinks.
"I can walk." Talia blushed.
"I very much doubt that." My voice sounded harsher than I had intended and I threw her an apologetic look, "You're shaking. That took a lot out of you."
"It's probably just the heat." She whined cutely. "That one wasn't even that hard of a spell."
"It's probably not when your casting it from a book or writing it out. Doesn't this add a level of difficulty?" I questioned her.
"Well yes, but it's not that bad." She avoided my gaze.
I bit my lip to keep from arguing with her, it would just upset her. This was something she wanted to do and learning the spells made her feel closer to her mother and the majority of the spells she'd perfected could be quite useful both offensively and defensively. Fire seemed to be the easiest and most natural for her to wield and didn't cause her too much stress. The nature spells, earth and weather seemed to be the most difficult for her to grasp and had strong side effects.
"After lunch I want to see if I can make a cyclone." Talia said softly.
"That sounds safe." I noted sarcastically.
"I won't hit the ship." She promised.
"That's really not my concern." I sighed as I set her down at an empty table.
"You don't like me using my spells, do you?" She asked morosely.
"I don't like the side effects." I grabbed a napkin from one of the tables and gently dabbed beneath her nose as a small amount of blood began to dribble once more.
Talia blushed and quickly took the napkin from me. "It's not that bad. I know I can do more."
"I don't doubt that, but at what cost, Talia?"
Tears welled in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." I kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair back gingerly.
"Trouble in paradise?" Thatch pondered as he slumped into the seat next to Talia and menacingly waggled his fingers at her in a tickling motion causing her to smile and scoot away from him dramatically.
"What happened to my Little Talia?" Izo panicked as he noticed Talia holding the now bloody napkin to her nose. He claimed the seat on her other side and began fawning over her. "Which one of you brutes hurt my precious Talia?" The crossdresser turned to Thatch and I with a glare.
"That was her doing." I noted as I folded my arms across my chest.
Thatch looked guiltily at the table.
"I don't know that I like you practicing something so dangerous, Talia." Izo said softly.
"It's not that dangero-." Talia cut off as I threw her a skeptical look. "I'm fine."
Thatch ran his hands through his wavy auburn hair, since he'd recovered he hadn't been fashioning it in his usual ridiculous pompadour, he let it hang in waves that fell nearly to his shoulders or often would pull it back in a ponytail, it was strange seeing him without it, but his goofy pompadour didn't really fit his new serious behavior. I had no idea what he'd experienced when he was knocking on death's door, but whatever it was had certainly affected him. He'd even made Talia cry, it was very unlike him.
"What are you working on next?" Thatch asked her after a while.
"I think you should call it a day, Little Talia." Izo stepped in shooting Thatch a dark look.
"I'll be okay." Talia smiled, "I really want to see if I can make a cyclone."
"That could definitely be useful." Thatch noted.
I shot him a glare as I clenched my fists at my side.
"So could an army of ninja warriors." Izo snorted, "That seems like quite a tall order, little Talia, I think you should take it slow."
"I don't have time." Talia whimpered, "I have to do everything I can to save Ace. It's my fault he left-."
"Talia!" My voice roared throughout the galley startling everyone in the room and causing the delicate girl to jump and cower away from me, "Don't you dare go blaming yourself, it was Ace's decision to go off on his own, we all tried to stop him. It nobody's fault."
My heart fell at the pained look that crossed her face and I mentally kicked myself as she withdrew into herself, crumbling inward and wrapping her arms around herself. Ever since she and Thatch had awakened, everything was off. It seemed like all I did was scold her and upset her.
"I'm not hungry." Talia whispered softly before making a mad dash out of the galley, retreating to her library, confining herself in solitude.
I groaned and flopped onto the bench between Thatch and Izo and dropped my head into my hands. "I don't know what to do."
Izo smiled and pat me on the back, "I don't think anyone does. We're in quite the predicament. Honestly, I've contemplated having her kidnapped and whisked away to a safe house, for her own good, but there'd be no living with her after, especially if something happened."
"Let her do what she wants to do." Thatch noted seriously.
"And if it kills her?" I challenged him with a glare.
"She's stronger than you give her credit for." Thatch retorted and Izo looked between the pair of us with growing concern.
"She IS strong." I glowered, "But she seems to throw caution to the wind when the life of someone she cares about is on the line and puts her life at risk." It was harsh, but it needed to be said. None of us may have known what Thatch faced on his deathbed, but he also had no idea what it was like to watch the woman you love throw her life away and allow herself to fade away to nothing in pure desperation. He didn't know the helplessness and hopelessness of realizing that no matter what was said or done, I couldn't pull her from that dark place in her mind. I couldn't shake her from her grief. The man who was supposed to be her rock, her light the one who was supposed to take care of her and see to her happiness, always, was nothing more than a failure.
Thatch cringed and looked as if he were going to say something, but was cut off as Haruta burst into the galley with a newspaper in hand and panic on his face. "They've announced the date of Ace's execution!" He cried and I felt my heart sink.
Video- "After You" By Meg Myers
AN: Chapter 44.5 is a lemon and has nothing to do with the story line, please skip it if you aren't mature enough for such content.