Sharing the Pain

After the match with Martyn in the dojo, Ace was relieving himself from his stress with a shower. The DWMA locker rooms had pungent odor that Ace didn't like much, but seeing as he didn't have running water at his house, he didn't have much of a choice. Thinking back on the events, he remembered something that he hadn't noticed in its occurrence. There was a fourth party attending their match. It was an attractive young girl with pink hair, and she seemed a bit more squishy than Ace cared for.

A cool burst of air filled the showers as the roar of the scalding water was silenced. Ace made his way to the locker room doors, wearing his towel around his waist. His clothing still smelled of sparring and sorrow, so he would have to ask a teacher for a spare uniform. Pivoting on his heel, in order to face the exit, Ace twisted the doorknob and exited the locker room.

And bumped directly into Sarah. The younger Farron flailed a bit, stumbling backwards and ending up on her rear end. She quickly scrambled to her feet. "A-Are you ok!? I'm sorry, I didn't expect the door to open!" Then she got a look at what he was wearing. Or rather, wasn't. Blushing, she span around, rubbing her head. "S-Sorry!"

Ace quietly watched as Sarah fell to the ground, then freak out as most girls would do when they caught Ace at these sort of moments. Seeing her face again, Ace couldn't help but blush, though his expression remained stoic as always. "Are you hurt? Did you need to go to the nurse?" His interrogation was brief, and void of most emotions. Despite the concerned nature of his questions, Ace showed no signs of care or worry for this girl's health; he merely seemed to be trying to get her out of his face.

Sarah shook her head, slowly turning back to her. "I'm fine, just a little...startled. Wait... You're Ace, right? I saw your spar with Martyn..."

"Yes, my name is Ace, and I saw you on my way out." Ace scratched his head quietly. "Look, kid, you need something, or are we just exchanging awkward glances and pretending I'm clothed?"

Sarah scratched the side of her head. "I'm... Kind of failing to picture you in your clothes... And actually... I'd like to ask you about how you treated Martyn and Mr. Sylas... I don't know if anyone's told you, but you're kind of pompous."

"I get that a lot. I'm not exactly looking to be anyone's friend here, I know what I'm capable of and where I stand, your inability to mentally cover my body proves that you're uncreative or that you would rather see me unclothed, and I don't need to be lectured by the likes of you on how I treat other people." Ace began walking away, hoping that he had answered enough of her questions to get her to leave him alone.

Sarah gave a bit of a scowl, following after him. "I understand your reputation now, given that. As it stands, I was in something of a shock. That, and given the fact that I wouldn't know what to regularly place you in means that I didn't know how to picture you otherwise. And I'll have you know that while I'm not as creative as my sister, I'm still plenty creative enough. So there go both of those points into thin air."

Ace had gotten to the point where he'd had enough for the day. He was making his way through the main entrance of the school, his new "friend" right on his tail. A tone of despair touched Ace's voice as he began walking towards the city, when he said, "Please just leave me alone...." Despite his efforts, Ace knew that this girl was more than likely never going to let up, until she had decided that she made some kind of progress.

Sarah continued on behind him, crescendoing into a full on rant. "And y'know, you really should respect your teachers more. I mean, I couldn't even see Sylas's soul, and you just told him to do something like he was your butler. I mean, I've seen some crazy things, but that was down right insane. Do you recognize anyone's authority but your own? Are you the only higher power you believe in?

Shut up.... shut up.... shut up.... shut up.... Ace envisioned himself inside his soul, smashing the dirty plates in his dishwasher with his forehead. It granted him some kind of satisfaction for the time being, but he wasn't sure how much more he could take. The next time she opened her mouth, he would stop where he stood, turn to look her in the eyes, and shout at her. He was losing his temper. "YOU aren't my mother!"

Sarah stopped for a moment, staring at him, before scowling. "Well obviously SOMEONE needs to be, because I don't know if there's another way to get you to understand what a pompous ASS you are! And I'm already basically my sister's mother, so I guess I might as well add a petulant child to the mix!" Sarah stopped suddenly as what she just said truly dawned on her, and she covered her mouth, mortified of what she'd just let slip through.

"Oh, so that's where all this is coming from!" Ace took a step towards the small girl, and pierced her gaze. "You don't have a mother EITHER, so you think that you have to step up to the plate take on her role for your sister! I don't pay much attention to other people, but I'm pretty sure she's older than you, and you should BOTH be old enough to make decisions for yourselves. I certainly know that I am, regardless of how much of an 'ass' I am to other people. Just because she's gone, doesn't mean that I need someone like you to take her spot!"

Sarah scowl quickly became a snarl, and she walked up to him and gave him several sharp pokes in the chest. "Don't you DARE try to understand what Claire and I have been through. The things she has to go through and the things I've had to sacrifice. I mother my sister because she'll damn well fall apart if I'm not there for her, so shut. Your. Mouth!" Each of the last three words were punctuated by a poke, and she continued to glare up at him.

Frustrated with Sarah's overwhelming desire to prove that she'd lost more than Ace, the weapon grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her off to his residence. He presented her with the old, decrepit mansion, worn and gnarled by the hands of time. "I lived in the basement of this place for 7 YEARS. My brother forced me to eat and drink, because I refused to do so myself, and he eventually got so fed up that he left. I became afraid to die, so I left. I LIVE in there. You have your sister to keep you company. She didn't leave you like Dante left me! You think that you've been through hell? What killed your parents, a fire? Mine were killed by my best friend, and my mentor. That man is a Kishin Egg now, and I can't even take revenge on him!"

Sarah looked over the mansion for a few moments before turning back to Ace, still glaring. "My parents died three years ago. My sister stopped living after that. She refused to leave the house. She barely ate. I had to become something for her to latch on to. I was, and am, Dante. You think you have it sk rough? You don't even know what your brother went through. I do. Its hell. So don't use your tragedies to earn sympathy with me. It won't work."

"No... you don't know... because unlike you, he didn't do it because he loved me. He did it because he was taking pity on me. I've met him once or twice after he left." Ace chuckled to himself. "I can see in his eyes that he only kept me alive, because he wants to kill me. He's a dark weapon now, and it was silly of me to ever think that he loved me." A tear fell from Ace's face when he shut his eyes, and when he opened them again to see it hit the ground, he was accommodated with a look of surprise. Not wanting Sarah to forget the fact that he was in a fight with her, the weapon quickly tilted his head down more. His hands were clenched in fists of, not rage, but sorrow.

Sarah noticed his tears, but she didn't forget that this was a fight. She bowed her head, her voice become somber, yet still with an undertone of anger. "Then it's even harder for me. When you hate someone, it's so much easier. When you love someone, and you see them suffer... It burns..." She lifted a hand, clenching it over her heart. "Right here. Every day Claire was locked in our home, it burned..."

"Are we done?" Ace's voice was cold and quiet. All he wanted was to go inside, get drunk, and cry at the foot of his parents' shrine. "I have battle tactics to plan..." To himself it was an obvious lie, though it probably sounded pretty accurate to a person that had just seen what his preemptive thinking was capable of. He had nothing to plan for, other than another night alone in his run-down estate. Moving quickly, Ace scratched the side of his head, just as he would on any other occasion, but sneakily used the palm of his hand to rub the tears away. Now that his face was dry, he was willing to look Sarah in the eye again.

Sarah kept her eyes downcast, but shook her head. "There's no battle to plan for, Ace... Unless you plan to start a fight..." She lifted her head, looking him in the eyes, and he would see pain there. "We both burn, Ace. An idiot can see that."

"I'm sorry...." These words were foreign to Ace. He hadn't caught himself apologizing to someone in a long time. Then, acting purely on instinct, another thing that Ace never did, he caught himself embracing Sarah. Tears filled his eyes and he needed something to cling to. After a few moments, he realized what he had done, and prayed to himself that she wouldn't slap him for it.

Sarah was dumbstruck for a few moments before giving a sad smile and wrapping her arms around him. "Hey, it's alright... Nothing to be sorry about..." She started to gently pat his back, hoping to relax him.

After a few more minutes, Ace wiped away his tears, and let go of the girl. "I don't believe we introduced ourselves appropriately to one another. Ace Toromaki." He was still void of most emotion, but Ace no longer seemed angry, or irritated by her presence.

She took his hand and gave it a single firm shake. "Sarah Farron. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"You said that you didn't have a weapon yet, right?" Ace shoved a hand in his pocket.