His boots thudded lightly on the concrete flooring, it echoed unnaturally in the empty station, but Roger paid it little mind. He'd existed in a similar environment for years so the silence was no longer jarring on his senses. Just as the lack of his own heartbeat no longer bothered him two decades after his death. He strode through the station pausing in time to see the small soul fragment curled under a chair.

Roger clicked his tongue at it: "Fate's a bitch, isn't she." He commented to the Horcrux fragment, which would be doomed for the rest of eternity. Tom Riddle's soul would never be reunited without regret, and the man's mind was too far gone to feel anything close to regret. Riddle would be trapped within the in-between for the rest of time, forced there as hundreds of thousands of souls passed him and went on.

Yes, Fate definitely was a bitch of a lass.

Roger dismissed the Horcrux and moved on, striding along the paths within King's Cross until he found the spot he knew she would arrive, there he waited. Waited not for her, but for him. Albus Dumbledore, ah, now that man had made some enemies among the dead. But few could do a thing against him. Lily and James had chosen to remain spirits, and unfortunately, Dumbledore would be long gone by the time they moved 'on.' They could not punish the man for what he'd done, they couldn't do a thing to stop Dumbledore from cornering Holly in the in-between.

But Roger could.

He'd watched Ace and Holly's lives in his spare time, he knew what Ace's little soon-to-be-wife had suffered because of Albus Dumbledore's mistakes. And Roger also knew the damage Dumbledore would do to Holly's soul should they meet again. Damage that Ace had unknowingly spent weeks repairing. Roger had no intention of allowing Dumbledore to ruin his son's hard work. So when the man appeared moments before Holly did, Roger didn't waste a second.

He did as Holly desired, and punched the fucker in the throat.

Dumbledore hit the ground with the force of Roger's strike, which he'd hadn't pulled in the slightest. It wasn't like the man could die again, nor could he fall unconscious. The ground cracked under the man's crumpled body, and he screamed. Roger watched on unimpressed as it took the man hours, in spiritual time anyway, to get back up again.

"Who… who are you?" Dumbledore finally panted as he returned to his feet.

Roger wondered if it was an act or if he was truly clueless. He had to assume the former considering Roger had no rested until he knew everything about his opponent. He didn't answer regardless, instead Roger said: "you've made enemies of the wrong people old man, did you not realize the dead would find a way to gain their revenge?"

"Enemies?" Dumbledore recoiled slightly, still playing the innocent old mentor, Rouge would be infuriated by that, then again, she had been the quicker of them to rise in anger. "Perhaps I have, but I accept that. That is why I'm here, to atone-" he was like a damned noblewoman this one, Roger thought, before cutting him off.

"Oh, stuff it." Roger picked his position carefully and noted Dumbledore was not aware of where Roger was standing and why he'd chosen that spot. A mistake in his man's case and one Roger intended to take advantage of. "I couldn't care less about your atonement," he also doubted 'atonement' was the reason Dumbledore was within the in-between, Roger suspected instead that it was punishment. Dumbledore likewise probably assumed Roger was in the in-between for precisely that, he wasn't, he'd made a deal for his kid. Not that Dumbledore needed to know that.

"I could also care less about this conversation, but I'm aware of four particular individuals that would just love to let you have it. They, unfortunately, cannot. So now it's my job." He straightened and lazily grabbed hold of his haki. Truthfully he didn't need it, but oh, was it ever satisfying to see such a prideful figure brought down by just Roger's willpower. Slowly, not wanting to overwhelm too soon to ruin the message he had, Roger dropped Dumbledore to his knees. Watching the man crash to the floor, Roger furrowed his brows, there was less power in his haki than in his punch, and it was surprising to see the man drop regardless. It seemed he may have over overestimated the man a touch.

Roger cleared his throat to cover to say quite simply: "You fucked up." He started with that because if the man had any consciousness at all, this would strike a brutal blow. "Holly did not need to die, within your reach and hers, within even that man Snape's grip was a dozen different ways for her to survive the removal of the Horcrux. And even without its removal, there was a dozen other paths to defeat Riddle without her death."

"The prophecy-"

"Come on now, you really think you can pull that on me?" Roger dropped more force on the man's spine, direct opposition to the smile he had stretched across his lips, "that prophecy was utter bullshit you planted because you were losing that war. You can't pull that shit with me." Lily and James had no idea that fact, but Roger knew precisely the circumstances of their deaths, and it wasn't needed. Dumbledore had set them up, planted and sowed the path of Voldemort's first defeat. Three souls, six if you counted the Longbottom's, for countless in response to civil war. And then had forced Holly to suffer through hell to ensure that 'victory' stuck.

Perhaps the revolutionaries and that Dragon kid would have approved of Dumbledore's methods. Roger certainly didn't, but then he had a vested interest in Holly Potter's life, happiness, and survival. That girl was attached to his son, that girl would actively save Ace's life, and Roger was feeling particularly attached to her.

"I did not intend for Holly to-"

Roger snarled, finally finding his anger. He dropped his haki onto Dumbledore until it was impossible for the man to speak and finish his sentence. He'd thought the man would drop the act early in the conversation, he should have known better.

"Your negligence is the reason Miss Potter to this day flinches when she's hugged. Why she always hides a little bit of food away in case she cannot get any more. Why she panics when she's left in spaces too small to stand. You did not check on your own ward after killing her parents, and she has countless scars because of it, physical and emotional. You do not get to tell me you didn't know. You didn't care to look." Roger would not abide by hearing that. His own son had suffered, but he'd never looked away from it. He'd watched over Ace from the in-between because that was all he could do after his failure. After his plan brutally backfired in Rouge's death and Ace being raised so isolated.

"It is a direct cause of your secrets and your choices that Holly was convinced she had to die and its by only the grace of the dead that she knows better." Roger felt the shift in the air and knew he was running out of time. He hoped Rouge, Lily, James, and Sirius would be satisfied enough with that. He hoped Ace would be as well once he was finally told the extent of what Holly suffered. Hopefully, without her downplaying it too much.

Dumbledore suddenly straightened his spine, forced back against Roger's haki; "you have no idea what I carried boy," he took a shot at Roger's age but Roger found it easy to brush off. Instead he acknowledged what the man had also revealed. Albus Dumbledore may have been watching over Holly, but he had not gone so far as to look into Ace as Roger had looked into Holly. Roger had the advantage once again. "you have no idea the circumstance and the lives in my hands. I weighed them, I had to weight them and I made my choice and as I said, I am prepared to atone for that. I know that child suffered-"

"The boy did as well." Roger commented idly, interrupted as if it were an after thought. It wasn't. Roger had planned this move from the get-go, not because he cared, but because he understood people, he could hear their souls, he saw the voice in all things. Roger knew the exact points to push, always had and that boy was one of them.

"Boy?" Dumbledore had straightened completely, was trying to regain lost ground. He'd wasn't going to reclaim it, not when Roger was a dozen steps ahead and Dumbledore did not even know Roger's name.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." He'd spotted the fragment below the bench and he'd seen. From that brief glimpse Roger knew he could plant the entire war, and the creation of Voldemort, solely at Dumbledore's feet. And he would have, if he had the time.

"Now see here-" Dumbledore claimed a step, just one, "you… who even are you to speak as if you know anything about it."

Dumbledore continued, Roger was relatively sure he'd do so for awhile but he was out of time, shame, perhaps he'd come back later to finish the job. But his priorities had already changed. Roger took a step back, just one so that when Holly appeared, he could grab her to remove her from the presence of this toxic being. Then he allowed a smirk to touch his face and offered a flourishing bow that put his hand close to the ground: "Gol D. Roger, former king of the pirates."

Holly appeared in a flash of light behind him, her soul weak and still unconscious because of the trauma of her death. Realization flickered in Dumbledore's eyes, but oh, it was much too late. Roger sank fully to his knees, his already lowered arm scooping under her back. Then he lifted her straight off the ground, barely allowing her soul to touch King's Cross. Finally Roger offered a cheery: "and Holly Potter's father in law… tah mate." He mocked the man's accent with the last word and vanished with Holly right along with him.

A world away, he landed on his ship and gently placed Holly's soul on the deck. He ensured she was properly clothed aware she wouldn't have the mind to dress herself until she was fully conscious. Then, he settled in to wait. It could take some time he knew; the more hurt a soul was by their death, the longer it would take and Holly… the poison in her veins had been a brutal death even if it truly ended with the killing curse.

Roger still idly watched her and wondered if she'd notice when she woke up. If she'd notice that he didn't breathe, that his heart didn't beat… but she did, and hers would be. The souls that came to him to be ferried on were dead, their hearts didn't move at all, and the automatic habit of taking in breath faded at the same time. Those souls had to be reminded to breathe just as they were encouraged to wear clothes lest they burn out his eyes. But Holly wasn't completely dead, so her heartbeat and her breath kept coming.

Holly was a tiny thing, but she was a survivor. He knew without a doubt that she'd thrive in the blues, thrive as a pirate. Rules were not meant for this girl who'd grown up continuously under another's thumb. It would be fascinating to watch her come into her own when she could answer for her own life.

He looked down at Holly as she slowly began to stir and mumbled to himself: "Ah, kid, what a pirate you're going to make; you're going to take that world by storm, and I can't wait to see it."

---

Rouge couldn't handle it; Lily's screams as they realized they were too late, couldn't handle the woman's anguish as she realized they'd failed. The absolute collapse of a woman so strong because of their failure. Rouge… she'd thought maybe that wonderful young woman was fine. Only to be brutally slapped in the face by Ace's grief and realization. He'd known the truth immediately, even if his words said otherwise. He knew just as she had when they announced Roger's… how long had she spent staring out to the sea that night trying to convince herself it was a lie-

A split second, she'd been a split second too slow. If only she'd asked sooner. If only she'd learned how to move Ace to Holly's world before she'd needed it. She'd failed her son and daughter; because Holly was her daughter, and now she was dead.

Rouge pressed her back to the walls of Ace's cell and cradled her head in her hands. She kept her eyes open, focused on the rise and fall of Ace's chest because he was alive when Holly was- She focused on his breath, instead of closing her eyes and seeing Holly's corpse in Ace's arms while he shattered. Rouge watched her son breathe instead of picturing the stillness in Holly's being. A being that had been fluttering with hope and light before.

God, they had been so proud of her. Holly had come so far so quickly; she'd been actively resisting her death and hoped for her future. She'd grown so much, they both had and now…

Rouge crawled forward and placed her hand close to Ace's heart. She couldn't feel his skin, but it was almost like she could feel his heart-beat. It was better than what James and Lily had. James and Lily… James had vanished after Rouge pulled her hands from Ace's shoulders. Had vanished the moment he caught the horrified expression on her face. And Lily, Lily, was likely still at Holly's side, still screaming when Rouge had pulled Ace away.

"Hell-" Rouge grimaced as she realized Sirius was still clueless to what happened. James had sent Sirius after Luffy, sent him to watch over Ace's brother because they all should have been able to handle Ace and Holly without him. He had no idea she was dead… and she was the only one who could tell him. But if she left… Ace only had so much time remaining before-

Rouge didn't know what to do.

Ace hadn't moved since she'd pulled him back, hadn't even taken a full breath. He was blank, his face emotionless. He stared into space, and to Jimbe looked like he was still a world away, and he was, but not in the same way. He... he was likely reliving it again and again in his head. Repeating his failure over and over, and convincing himself that, once again, he didn't deserve to be saved. And once more there was nothing Rouge could do, they were back to square one… no, they were worse off now. Because Ace hadn't lost the love of his life before. They were far worse off, and Rouge wasn't sure if she regretted it or not.

Had she regretted Roger when she'd known he was dead? It had broken her, but she'd had Ace, she'd lived for Ace as long as she could. Eventually… eventually, if she'd survived, she might have been able to find new love... but it would never have been the same. Roger had been her soulmate, and Ace had just lost his.

The realization was a terrifying one because Rouge suddenly had a feeling that Ace was not going to fight. He was shattered by this, and he would likely just let them execute- his only hope, her only hope now was Luffy. Luffy, one teenage rookie against the absolute power of the marines.

"Oh, Roger… what do I do?" she dropped her head into her hands

Footsteps echoed down the hall. Rouge wrenched her head from her hands to look. How long had it been? Maybe it was just a patrolling guard. Hopefully, not one that would try and hurt Ace more, like the others had. Jimbe, from the corner of her eye, shifted. They both turned to look as Magellan and his guards appeared before the cell.

It was nine on the dot. It was time.

Rouge surged to her feet and bodily placed herself between them and Ace despite knowing it would do no good. Not one of them could see her. She was back to square zero and no longer had even Sirius, James, or Lily to back her up.

"Well then, Portgas D Ace, I hereby take you into custody for transportation to your execution ground, Marineford."

"No!" she yelled in denial once again alone and helpless. She surged forward as the guards entered the cell, as Ace limply gave himself up. She clawed at the guard's heads, spat at Magellan, and screamed every curse she knew.

But nothing happened because she was dead. She was dead and gone, useless…

There was nothing she could do.

---

"Holly Lily Potter… it about time I met my future daughter-in-law."

She snapped her body around when Holly heard the voice from behind her. Hands planted on the wood below her, she found herself staring at a pair of thick leather boots. From there, she slowly looked up along a set of long legs, a bright red cloak, a firm chest, to the oddest mustache she'd ever seen. It was a man, a tall man who stood behind her. Holly lifted her eyes from the bizarre mustache to his eyes and felt her lips press together. There was something familiar about this man, but she couldn't even begin to place why.

The familiarity of him niggled at her brain when he smiled at her. It only grew when he offered her a hand, which she accepted, and he pulled her to her feet. Holly released a short gasp at how easily he tugged her to her feet. As she stood, she glanced at his hand holding her on and quickly pulled it back, she didn't mind the contact, but the growing familiarity of him was making her incredibly unnerved. Taking a step back, she focused on the color of his messy hair, the shade, the shape of his eyes, and the way he stood casually before her.

"I was right then," Holly finally said as she took in the lack of motion at his chest, he wasn't breathing and her last moments clicked. "I'm dead, this is the afterlife."

Holly looked away from him, secure in the knowledge that he couldn't do anything to her.

Holly's earlier guess was correct; she was on a ship floating lazily in the ocean. The water around them was calm, eerily so. It was like the surface of a mirror, untouched without a single ripple to be seen. Even her movements on the ship didn't effect the waters' surface. Looking out on the horizon, Holly saw no islands and no other vessels. The boat was the only thing out there, it and the water and the endless untouched cloudless blue sky.

Her eyes slid toward the ocean itself, and she took a slight step toward it. Would she be able to see motion down there? Would she see what was under the surface- a hand lightly gripped her arm and tugged her to a stop.

"Better not." The man spoke up firmly and the desire to look dispersed. "Many a man has gone mad, witnessing what lives beneath us."

"Right…" she shook herself and refocused on him as he continued now secured in the knowledge that she wasn't going to look.

"And not quite."

"Not quite?" Holly echoed as the man looked her up and down, searching for something, perhaps a reaction to the fact that she was dead.

"This isn't the afterlife," He elaborated, "No, this is the in-between. It has many forms, some better than obviously. If others had had their way, you would have seen this place as your train station, and the one to greet you would have been a shitty old man." Roger smirked victoriously, "but I'm a pirate, and I stole you for myself."

The sentence echoed in her brain, and finally, it clicked. Holly suddenly choked and pointed a finger right at the space between his brows. "You're Ace's dad!" she gasped out. Now that Holly had seen it, she couldn't unsee it. It was like a slap to the face, she could see so much of Ace in this man. But he wasn't, as so many people told her, a carbon copy. He had his differences, and Holly could only imagine those came from Ace's mother.

"You got there eventually," He teased her by patting her on the head, Merlin, the man was tall compared to her. When he got close, she had to look up at him in a drastic way. "I'll excuse the slowness considering your recent demise." Holly flinched, and he didn't even seem to notice, "I am Gol D. Roger, and I've come to lead you on."

"D?" Holly tilted her head slightly unnerved by Roger, she had a feeling he knew a lot more than he was letting on, "D like death? Are you… you can't be…" She'd heard the story of Death and the three brothers. She knew Death was an active person in that story, but he couldn't be- well, she was dead now, so it was possible she was meeting Death for real. It was possible Death could be using the face of Ace's dad to communicate with her.

"Death? I suppose you could see it that way. But no, I'm not Death… just a meddler in the grand scheme of the Gods' plans," He chuckled as if she'd made some big cosmic joke, but it went a bit over her head. So Holly changed the subject.

"What do you mean you stole me? And who from?"

"The 'shitty old man,' didn't give that away?"

Holly shook her head, curls swinging.

Roger to that offered her a single name: "Albus Dumbledore."

Oh.

He stole her from Dumbledore, prevented her from speaking to him in the afterlife. From answering the hundreds of questions she had for him, questions that grew after meeting Ace. That piled up for everything she learned about herself. Holly had never gotten the chance to ask Dumbledore anything, to know when he found out what she was. If he'd even tried to find a way for her to survive. If Dumbledore had… if he'd really wanted her to die. The idea that he might have burned in her chest had she been alive the knowledge might very well have pushed her over the edge. She'd trusted him, and she trusted so few people.

Holly wanted to scream and cry and rage at the world, at him for doing this do her. But Ace, he would have just wanted to-

"I wanted to punch him in the throat," Holly told Roger, holding back the truth. That it rankled at her that she'd never know the truth. That she'd just have to get over that just like she'd gotten over everything else. Alone.

"Good girl," Roger reached forward and pumped her shoulder, subtly testing her reactions to touch. He was pleasantly surprised, considering her history, when Holly didn't flinch. She personally suspected it was due to the resemblance to Ace he carried, but she didn't feel the need to jerk back or away from Roger. "Never let anyone dictate your life… or afterlife as the case may be… that and, you don't have to worry, he definitely got one of those." The man flexed his fingers smugly, and Holly felt herself grin, unable to help it. He really was a lot like Ace, and perhaps that was why, instinctively, she liked him.

"Why'd you steal me from him anyway?"

Roger stretched his arms out like a showman and told her a half-truth: "Because this is the in-between."

He stepped backward slightly, and Holly followed him, unaware she was doing so. Roger took the time to listen to her soul as she did. It was damaged but not too severely, proximity with her soulmate, with Ace, had repaired a lot of what she'd suffered. Still, there was a brutal tear where she was connected to Ace. Roger looked closer, noting the tear had not come from her side, it was torn because Ace believed he'd lost her forever. The rip was his soul crying out in loss. It hurt Roger to see, though he took relief in the knowledge that the wound would thankfully heal once he sent Holly back to him.

Lazily Roger leaned back against the railing of his ship, and Holly stopped in front of him, curious and trusting. That was a bit refreshing, few people trusted him due to what he was and what the ship was. Roger hadn't seen such an expression in a kid her age since… hm, probably that kid a few years back who'd wanted to be a pirate. It made him glad that Ace's little soulmate was willing to hear him out. He was certain Ace wouldn't do the same, not with all the harsh words Ace had heard about Roger over the years, not after everything Ace suffered because of who Roger was.

Clearing his throat, Roger pushed away that particular thought and started to explain. He didn't have forever with Holly, and he had to keep that mind, even if he wanted to ask her a thousand questions and give her a hundred messages for Ace and Rouge. "Within this place, souls are offered a choice. This is where you choose to become a ghost, choose to wait, or choose to go 'on.'"

Holly's sucked in a sharp breath automatically, and Roger smothered his smirk to that, he'd been right, she hadn't noticed she was breathing.

"What does that mean? On?"

"Can't tell you that," his nose scrunched in sheer displeasure, "one of the rules.'"

"Oh, I bet you just hate that there are rules." She sassed him unable to stop herself, and Roger's eyes darted to the sky as he dramatically rolled them showing her without words that she was both correct, and that he didn't mind her sass. It had to grate on Roger endlessly, that he had to listen to the gods in this place. Especially after a lifetime of piracy and running toward the goal of being the freest in the world.

To distract himself from it, Roger reached over and ruffled her hair like he'd so often done to Shanks and Buggy. Like he'd longed to do to Ace.

Rouge… she'd always said he'd been destined to be a father, always told him that he made her 'ovaries do stupid things' when he'd interacted with the kids on different islands. In the end, though, he'd been a father… but not a dad, no matter how much he'd wanted to get a taste of that particular adventure. Another thing that damned Newgate got on him.

"So it's just 'on' then." Holly mused as pulled away from his hand, unsure how to handle the easy affection. He didn't mind, Holly had never had a parent despite the set watching over her. She did not know what to do with his offering. "And… waiting? Can you tell me about that? Or are you not allowed that either."

"Hmm," he crossed his arms and cast a look at the skies. Clear still, he had time. "That is what your parents and my lovely wife Rouge decided on." Which ought to be explanation enough if she was as clever as he thought she was. Rouge watched her brows pinch, then clarity hit. Yup, she'd gotten the connection, so he continued to say, "it's sort of in between the two options, you're not trapped as a ghost for the rest of eternity… no idea why anyone picks that nonsense," he rolled his eyes, "but it's not 'on' either. It's… people who pick it typically have loved ones they left behind that they can want to watch over, and when those loved ones pass, they move on."

"All the odd things that happened to me, that was mum and dad wasn't it?" her eyes grew wet and her cheeks pinked in emotion, "they were watching over me… are they…" she looked away from him, unable to look into his face to ask her next question, "were they the reason Ace…?"

"The reason Ace came to you?" he probed gently, "Yes. Ace coming to you was a result of a pair of meddling females. For some odd reason, they didn't want their children to die and thought, well, perhaps a soulmate could help."

Holly choked on air and still didn't notice she needed it. Not as she spun on the spot wide-eyed and shocked as she looked right at Roger. "What?!" she demanded, unable to believe what he'd just offered as an off-hand comment.

"Surely you sensed it?" he was playing the fool entirely too amused by her reactions. It was refreshing, a soul who didn't kick and scream and beg him to send them back. Someone who didn't try to pitch themselves over the edge of the ship into the cursed waters below.

"I didn't think soulmates were real! That's book stuff, fairy-tales!" Holly stared at her hands, looking between them at a hurried pace as her mind sped along. Ace was her… Ace was her- he was-

"Tom Riddle split his soul seven different times, and you didn't think soulmates were possible?"

Holly blushed hard in embarrassment. She nodded, still avoiding his eyes and felt… felt tears build at the corners of her eyes. Because Ace was her soulmate and her mum and dad had brought him to her to give her hope, and she'd… she'd still died. She'd left Ace alone and hadn't even finished Voldemort off.

She'd failed so badly.

Roger continued to chat despite her brain mentally crashing. "A good decision on their part, I think… considering Ace finished off that man for you. Pity he had to see you die to do it."

"He what?" her head brutally snapped up, in an instant, she was right in front of Roger staring at him. Suddenly him seeing her reactions didn't matter; none of it did because Ace had- oh Merlin. What he must be feeling. She'd wanted so badly to ensure he never saw that happen to her, had known it would hurt him long before she fell for him, and he'd seen- Holly should have expected it. She couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to her. Of course Ace had killed Voldemort, finished the job for her, he was just like that!

Roger, as if uncaring to his own child's pain continued on: "And then poor Rouge had to bring him back to Impel Down convinced the love of his life was dead, but worse yet he'll soon be sent to his execution… and he probably won't fight it either. Not with his soulmate dead." There was the hint of an accusation there, and Holly cowed back as she felt it hit.

Roger felt a fissure of guilt for that; he did not want to hurt Holly Potter, did not want her to dislike him, and wanted less to manipulate her as Dumbledore did. He could tell himself, comfort himself in the knowledge that he was doing it for her own good. But Roger was not Albus Dumbledore. He was manipulating her with the knowledge he had, Roger was doing so because he needed her to make a specific choice. That was on him, and Roger had to accept that.

On top of that, Roger truly did feel frustrated with her and Ace both. As hard as it was, if they'd trusted each other with the full information faster, then Ace and Holly wouldn't be suffering in this manner. If she'd trusted Ace to know she was a Horcrux, he could have done something about that. Ace was a smart man, a captain in his own right. He would have had a plan. Now though, Ace was going to just walk to his death without fighting- and she was the key to ensuring that did not happen, and he had to ensure she took it. Because she would gain a second chance that Ace never would.

He needed her to make that choice.

"Y- how- you can't just-" Holly sputtered in horror, the horror that Ace's father was commenting these things so nonchalantly as if he didn't care.

He did, by the gods above he did, but now was not the time to convince her of that. "Now, obviously we won't be allowing that." Roger pushed off from the railing and leaned down until they were face to face, "so, in the choice between on, waiting, a ghost… or returned to life… I assume you'd prefer the latter, no?"

Lily and Rouge started the ball rolling, James and Sirius nudged it toward the correct path and Roger… he'd ensure it ended in the right hole. Five deceased parents to a pair of self-sacrificing morons that needed all the help they could possibly get.

"What?" Holly was definitely feeling pitchy now, but no one ought to blame her, considering the madness that was Gol D. Roger.

"Do you accept?" he grabbed her by the shoulders, "well?"

"I don't even know what I'm accepting."

"Come on, Potter, you're a smart girl. You've been paying attention."

"I was poisoned, I'm dead- I can't just-" Roger caught hold of her hand suddenly, pulled it toward him firmly, and pointed at her middle finger. He twisted her hand until she was staring at the object there, and she froze. It was a ring, Tom Riddle's ring. It sat snuggly on her finger as if it had always belonged there, and Holly gaped.

Roger, with hands still firm on hers, stared her down: "Who said? Your body is already healing,"

"That's not possible-"

"You're magic girl." He shook her hands, frustrated with her, "you breathe even though it should be impossible, your heart beats even after your death." He nudged her hand upward, took hold of her index figures, and forced her fingers to her pulse point. There was a breath too long to be a normal one, and then there was a thump under her fingertips. Her heart was beating, it was slow, but it was there. "That wand of yours is already repairing your body." Holly flexed her ankle, felt the pull of pain, but it was dulled. "That ring, it calls your soul back to your body even now." And she could feel it, a tug at her naval that was far weaker than any portkey. "That cloak, that gift from the past hides you. No reaper will ever locate you, not unless you allow them too. Its magic protects you from their sight."

"The hallows," Holly stared down at Gol D. Roger as it clicked. It was impossible, so impossible because Dumbledore's wand was in Voldemort's hands, and it had been Ace that killed him, but… no, Draco disarmed Dumbledore hadn't he, and she'd disarmed Draco. She had the wand's allegiance, she had the cloak passed from her father, and she even had the ring- the stone because Dumbledore passed it to her. She had the powers of the hallows, the power to master death.

"I'm… I'm not in Ace's world," Holly argued, unsure why she was, because she wanted. Gods above how she wanted what Roger was telling her to be the truth.

"I stole you." Roger dismissed her concern, "should you accept, you'll end up in my world, in his world. Unless you'd prefer to go back to yours?" If that was true, he'd be honestly shocked and highly disappointed in the girl. He'd been rather convinced she wouldn't hesitate, but perhaps he'd taken her character incorrectly.

"No!" Holly gasped recoiling slightly, her hand tugged in his grip, but he did not release it. "If I had the choice…" she trailed off suddenly as it hit her. She could. Roger was actually offering her the option. "You're telling me… you're actually telling me that I can? That I return?"

He released her hands to knock her head firmly on the head, "a bit slow, aren't you, good thing my son is quick."

"Oh my god." Roger wasn't kidding. The Horcrux within her was gone, Voldemort was dead, and… and she could be with Ace. She could actually- tears filled her eyes and Holly suddenly threw herself at Ace's father. She embraced him effortlessly as if she'd initiated countless hugs before as if physical touch was no big deal to her. Truthfully though, at that moment, it wasn't. "Do it! Do it, do it, do it!"

Roger laughed, plucking her from her feet to properly hug her. He swung her small form in a circle giving her the embrace he longed to offer Ace. When the turn ended, Roger set Holly back on her feet and dropped his head close to her ear. Then, he did something he knew he'd get in trouble for. It was against one of the rules, after all. He'd suffer the consequences for it, but it didn't matter.

"Watch out for Akainu," he urged Holly as she tensed up in his grip, "don't let that man anywhere near Ace if you want him to live. Fate is a stingy bitch, and that man will stop at nothing to end my line. Never let him close." He pulled back and watched her eyes fly wide in alarm.

"Wha-"

He gave her no chance to ask, gave them no chance to stop him either.

Roger shoved Holly backward away from him. Pushed her right off her feet and sent her tumbling backward, she fell arms pinwheeling to catch herself. But the ground never came. Holly continued to fall and fall and fall. Far past the ship, beyond the water, endlessly backward until Roger was long gone. His satisfied expression fading away as she fell.

Onward Holly fell, back and back until she was certain she'd be falling for the rest of eternity. However, the moment she thought it, she landed. Her feet struck stone, and her knees immediately gave out. Holly tripped while trying to compensate for how far backward she'd fallen and ended up her hands and knees, her fingers cut into roughened stone while within her palm, she felt the familiar sensation of a wand. Holly shot a look at her hand and furrowed her brow, Roger had told her she owned it, but she was still surprised to find Dumbledore's old wand in her hands. Especially since Voldemort had been using it before her death.

A sense of revulsion hit Holly as that thought occurred. Her stomach rebelled against the idea, rolling unpleasantly, and Holly sat up to throw it away from her- when she noticed where she was.

Impel down. The place Ace's body had been kept while his spirit raced across the world with her. It was a cruel looking place, the temperature was worse than the dungeons at Hogwart's during the dead of winter. The walls were blackened with dirt and blood. In the distance, she could hear screaming, mad cries, and pained ones all mixed up together to make her skin crawl. It was not a place she'd ever wanted to visit, but- slowly Holly pushed to her feet, automatically tightening her grip on her wand. Ace was here, he was in this place and needed help. Holly couldn't and didn't dare to toss away her only weapon as long as he needed her help. She fought back the feeling in her stomach and firmed her grip as she cast her first spell with the thing: "Point me, Portgas D. Ace." It spun in her fingers danced along her palm. The wood circled once, twice, then pointed left and up slightly. That was where Ace was.

"Right." Holly looked down the hall, and then started jogging forward- "ah!"

She staggered on her feet, winced as she put pressure on her left ankle, and shot a look down as her legs nearly buckled. This wasn't the dulled pain from the in-between Holly realized. Roger had said her body was healing, but it was far from 'healed.' There was still basilisk poison in her veins, the sign of them blatant in the deep green veins of discoloring racing up her ankle. Holly grabbed her jeans slightly and pulled the leg as far as she could. The veins climbed up her legs all the way up to her thigh from the feeling of it. As she watched, the shortest of them slowly faded, the poison was leeching away, her wound was healing. But it would not be a quick thing.

"Healing, but not healed." She said to herself. It would take time to heal from the wound entirely, but that didn't honestly surprise her. Even when Fawkes healed her during her second year, it had taken days for the basilisk venom to completely leave her system. She'd spent days in the infirmary just throwing up from both the pain and the poison ravaging her system. Not to mention some of the lines remained even after the poison faded, thankfully they'd been removed by Madam Pomfrey's magic once Holly was able to handle solid food. Holly suspected she'd be keeping those lines considering she no longer had access to a magical healer.

Holly would be in pain for the near future, every step would be agonizing. She'd be forced to walk on the leg until she could rest. Forced to ignore it until Ace was safe.

Holly grimaced, just another thing to deal with. One more scar to add to her collection. She'd not let it bother her. She wouldn't. Holly instead stood and pushed herself, she started a loose jog forward-moving slowly. She looked Forward and kept her head on a swivel. She ran like Ace had taught her to do so. Because he was now her measuring stick to the powers of his world and Ace was fast. He moved faster than she could believe people could truly move, which meant those currently keeping him imprisoned had to be faster. These people were dangerous, as dangerous as Voldemort, and Holly refused to forget that. She could not fair, she had to be careful, and she had to succeed.

She'd accept nothing less.

Holly passed cages of various sizes, from some that could hold Hagrid to those that would hold ten Gwap's. Those particular cages were ridiculous, but from the dark shapes she could catch within them they were needed. Oddly though, Holly didn't fear the people inside those cages. Giants were slow, easily avoided if you were quick. The men in the regular-sized cells had to be close to Ace in strength and most likely were a great deal less kind than Ace was. They would be the ones to watch for.

"What's a sweet thing like you doing out here?"

"Oh, I'd love to cut up that skin."

"I'll make your scream for me gorgeous."

"If you just-"

"Let me go-"

Holly's skin crawled as she followed the point-me spell down the halls. She tried not to listen to the catcalls, some sexual, but the rest a great deal more violent than that. The people within the cells' here, they intended all manner of cruelties toward her. Holly nearly paused a few times, she couldn't help but think about Sirius as she passed these people. About the fact that her innocent godfather had been tortured to years because of a failing government. Were there people within Impel Down that were the same? Ace was one clear case, a good man being executed for reasons beyond her understanding.

"Let me out-"

"Find the keys-"

"Come here, baby-"

Holly turned away. She didn't have the time to judge them, didn't have to knowledge to honestly decide if they should be there or not. Holly was there for one man and one man only.

"Roger could have put me in front of his cell." She muttered as a distant scream echoed down the halls of the prison. Holly turned a sharp corner as the voice bounced along the halls. She frowned as another followed it. They were coming from the location she was running to. It made her slightly paranoid; it didn't sound like Ace… but. Holly shook it off and cast another point-me to ensure she was heading in the right direction and frowned.

Skidding to a stop and causing her leg to brutally protest, Holly stared at her wand. The direction of the point-me had changed; it was now pointing up. That meant Ace was moving. "Morgana's tits, how long was I dead for?" she cried. Were the marines they already moving him?! Holly put on a boost of speed and immediately ran into a problem as she passed a cleverly hidden door.

She was halfway past a random empty wall when it opened, and a dozen men and women in uniform piled out brandishing weapons in her direction. Her immediate thought was that she'd tripped some kind of monitoring ward. But no, this was Ace's world. It had different technology, different ways to locate people, and for all Holly knew she was currently on camera.

Guards poured out toward her as she slowed herself to a stop. They gestured at her, and one yelled out: "Halt! Identify yourself!"

"Err, no thank you." Holly dipped her head a bit as if she truly regretted that. Then, she flicked the elder wand toward them. Ace had taught her much when it came to fighting the people of his world, they'd sparred enough that she knew a single spell wouldn't help her much. Ace could dodge one spell without effort but rapid-fire? That actually forced him to properly dodge. So Holly released a barrage of bright red spells without warning, as she did she darted backward placing distance between herself and them. Rapid-fire spells, simple ones, shields, and space were her friends, especially against a non-haki user.

The guards dropped, not one was left standing by the time it took Holly to move back slightly, and she paused. None of them dodged like she'd expected. Her stupefy's had taken them down. Holly tentatively assumed it meant the typical guards were weaker than Ace. She rearranged her internal strength level list. It left Ace leading on top, Voldemort sitting below him, and Holly sitting below that to tie with maybe Dumbledore.

Holly stepped forward, walking over the bodies so she could spell the door they'd come through closed. She'd rather not be attacked by a second wave from behind. As she did, she offered a cheery apology to their stunned bodies. They were just stunned after all, they were perfectly aware while paralyzed.

"-Where are yooouuuu…." The voice from earlier echoed down the halls with far more clarity. It was once again coming from the direction she was heading, but now it was clearer, much clearer.

Holly continued along the halls and shot a look behind her to check to make sure no one was coming up from that direction. No one was, but she did catch the unfortunate eyes of one of the prisoners within Impel down. The man was covered in bloodied wounds, fresh and old, which made the blatant mistreatment clear. The prisoners were physically beaten, starved, and tortured, and Holly was trying very hard not to think about Ace would look considering the bloodied wounds she'd caught on him.

"ACE WHERE ARE YOU!?" That was the clearest yell yet and the name used… she wasn't alone in rescuing Ace.

Holly turned directions with her wand finding a dead end and internally swore. She was right, Ace was being moved, and she had no short cut to him. Holly couldn't apparate to his side without a clear view of his location. Nor could she fly straight there because she didn't have a broom. Not to mention she still didn't know who Akainu was and why Roger thought to warn her about him.

"Bugger." Holly rounded a few cages as she caught the tail end of a collection of people. None of them wore the uniforms the guards had, which was comforting, though she also had never seen, in her life, an odder dressed group, and she'd been to the quidditch world cup. On the upside, they were taking out every guard on their path, a path that led in the same direction Holly was going. Holly joined the end of the line, was accepted easily enough in her half Muggle, half magical clothes.

Running along with the group, Holly shot a look at her wand, pointing firmly upward now, then looked to the head of the pack… and spotted a man. A floating figure, half see-through, was running a step behind a teen with messy black hair and a straw hat. The teen, well she didn't care that much about, because the man was unmistakable, if impossible.

"Sirius?!" Holly cried out, and the figure stopped dead to spin on the spot.

"Holly?!" he yelled, equally shocked.

"What are you doing here?!" they then both yelled as Sirius spun on the spot, charging toward her at the end of the group. They met in the middle of the prison, and Sirius moved to give her a jumping hug, like a dog welcoming their person home, and he passed straight through her body to hit the ground on the other side. Holly tripped slightly before realizing what happened, Sirius was a spirit just like Roger had told her.

"Sirius, why are you here?" she asked as the man recovered nicely from his fall to bounce up to her.

"Oh! Ace, we're here for him. Luffy, Ace's brother, is trying to save him- wait, how did you even get here yourself? Nope doesn't matter! Ace is so close, you gotta go get him. Hurry!" he flailed his hand at her as if he wanted to physically push her into action, and he pointed her toward the cell that the group had just reached.

Holly shot Sirius a disgruntled look annoyed by the rushing. Then she dismissed it, he was right, they could talk later; Ace came first. So Holly spun and raced after the large group heading for Ace, only… she knew he wouldn't be there. Ace had already been taken.

"He's not here?" came an exhausted voice as Holly caught up and bypassed the group entirely to rush toward the lift. Her wand already told her to go up, so up she'd go. Sirius, however, stopped not knowing Ace had already been taken.

"He's gone?! What the- Rouge! Rouge where are you?!" Sirius started to yell while finally giving Holly a name for Ace's mother, who was involved in this whole mess. Holly assumed the woman must have been at Ace's side, a good thing, Ace deserved someone to be. Sirius rounded back toward Holly, who was already halfway toward the lift, he rushed after her assuming she knew what she was doing. A step behind him, though he couldn't see Sirius, was Luffy.

"He's up," She hissed sprinting for the nearby lift looking thing, really it was a giant hole in the side of Impel Down, but Holly was reasonably sure it was some manner of travel. Holly reached the opening at the same time Luffy did proving once again that Luffy and the people of Ace's world were far faster than her. Holly didn't mind that though, she and Luffy were on the same team after all.

Holly leaned forward, craning her neck to see the top of the lift. If she could just see it, she could- a hand grabbed the back of her shirt. She was abruptly wrenched backward and thrown to the ground by Luffy himself. It was perfectly timed too, for the platform within the lift had been cut free of its ropes, and an enormous spiked trap landed where she and Luffy had been standing only seconds before.

"Hell! Holly, be careful!" Sirius caught up quickly and shot a look up the lift, squinting as she had in an attempt to see the top.

"Damn." Luffy cursed, realizing the path was closed to them. But he, like Holly, refused to give up. "No! We'll just have to go up the way we came." Luffy turned sprinting away.

As he rushed away, Holly hesitated a moment. She hesitated because Roger said… he said Ace thought she was dead. He'd said Ace was hopeless, so much so that he may just walk to his death without fighting. Holly… she knew just how brutal it was to be willing to accept her own death because there was no other hope. Ace had pulled her from that, taught her another way. Now she didn't have to feel like that, Holly had all the hope in the world, and she knew she needed to share that with Ace.

"Holly? Come on, we have to go!" Sirius told her. He watched her as she twisted the elder wand in her hand, settling on a path, then Holly pointed the wand tip straight at her throat.

"I have to do something first." She told her godfather with her eyes on the lift and cast the spell: "Sonorus." A buzzing sensation filled her throat and settled on her vocal cords. It made the very breath she was taking in a dozen levels louder. Like thunder she inhaled the full strength of her lungs, Holly sucked air between her teeth and held it only a moment. From the side, Sirius grinned and blatantly covered his ears when he caught what her intentions were, and damn if he didn't approve.

Then Holly screamed.

"ACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The prisoners and the group behind her all flinched, they staggered at the force of her yell. It echoed up and down every hallway of the six leveled prison. It shook the stones and vibrated into the ocean outside. It bounced along the walls of the lift, and six floors up, the intended recipient of her call, stopped dead.

Chained by his ankles and hands, surrounded by guards and Magellan himself. Portgas D. Ace stopped walking. Stopped even though the guards were actively prodding their weapons into his back, causing even more wounds to pile up on his body. Stopped because that- that voice was-

"I'M COMING ACE!" the voice rattled the spines of those unprepared for it and drowned out the desperately hopeful whisper Ace let free.

"Holly…" He turned slowly, looked back at the lift, and stared. Stared unaware, his mother was at his side doing the exact same thing in abject shock. Rouge's were bugged right out of her skull, while Ace felt pure unmitigated hope fill his chest. It was impossible, utterly impossible. She had died, he'd held her corpse a world away… and yet- yet that was her voice, and everyone around him had heard it. It wasn't just his imagination playing a cruel trick. It was real.

Holly was alive.

She was alive and with Luffy- they were alive and trapped in Impel down. Determined energy surged in his blood, and Ace without warning slammed his body to the side. He twisted it so he could snatch one of the pole weapons from the nearest guards' hand. Ace flipped the weapon in his chained hands and violently lashed out. He attacked anyone who came close to him, struggled against the sheer number of them. He utilized what he'd picked up from Holly's time. Because of Holly, he knew how to fight with sea-stone draining him, had wasn't gutted by the loss of his devil-fruit as he had been when fighting Teach.

But in the end, he was physically overwhelmed.

"No, no, Ace! Ace sweetie, stand up! They're right there, you've got this!" Rouge encouraged him despite Ace being unable to hear her. Encouraged him despite Magellan himself shoving Ace's face into the dirt, despite the warden himself pinning Ace to the ground. Snarling Ace bucked the man, his hands clawed at the ground as he fought on despite being pinned. He felt the stones rake across his cheek, felt them bite under his nails. He struggled and bit at Magellan's hand, unafraid of the poison that could be released. The damned Marines wanted his death public, they wouldn't kill him here, he had no fear of Magellan's poison.

"Surrender Portgas, you have already lost."

"Fuck you!" Ace spat the blood in his mouth at the man. He'd fought damned Voldemort with half his arm blown off, he could fight Magellan against the drain of the sea-stone. He could- Magellan shifted and splayed his hand across Ace's mouth. Instinctively Ace closed it and tried to hold his breath. With the palm covering both his nose and mouth, however, Ace was forced to take a breath eventually and choked on liquid.

Instantly his vision went hazy, and his struggle grew sluggish. The damned poisoned warden was pumping Ace's body full of paralytic. Forcing him to feel everything but be unable to control his body. Magellan removed the hand as Ace's body started to go limp, as the struggles faded, and they both knew it would only be a few seconds until he was completely paralyzed. So Ace did the only thing he could think of. He opened his mouth and prayed Holly would be able to hear him in return.

"HOLLY! LUFFY!"

Anything he might have added to that became impossible. Ace's head dropped brutally to the floor, his body went completely dead as he dropped. He couldn't move a muscle even as he felt Magellan's hand clamp around his neck. Ace's body was perfectly limp, paralyzed, as he was bodily dragged off the floor. He couldn't even choke at the pressure at his neck as Magellan shoved him into the grip of his escorting guards. Could do nothing as he was dragged from Impel down and away from his family who needed him. He could do nothing to stop it just as his mother beside him. He could do nothing but have faith in Holly and Luffy both, despite everything in him screaming that they were all doomed.

On floor six, Holly observed the lift wondering if she could transfigure a path, but it would take every bit of her magic to manage it. Not an ideal option when she needed her magic to fight against an unknown number of Marines between her and Ace.

"I heard him." Sirius suddenly said his head tilted to the side, a benefit of being a canine animegus, he heard better than the average person. Sirius pinched his lips together, concerned by the tone in Ace's voice; he didn't mention it to Holly. There was nothing she could do about it, nothing but worry anyway: "he heard you, Holly."

"Good," She said, deciding she'd just have to do it. She'd have to apparate constantly until she reached the top, it would take an immense amount of concentration but "what is that?!" Holly recoiled as think purple smog began to trickle down the lift. "Uh-oh."

"Oh no! Poison! Bad, Holly!" Sirius grabbed for her arm to pull her back, both forgetting she was magic and that he couldn't touch her.

Holly hurried to cast a bubble-head charm before she breathed any of the dark cloud in. Beside her, Sirius slapped his face with a palm, he'd forgotten that spell. "How do you know it's poison?" she asked as the smog moved toward her, would it affect her skin? Should she expand her spell?

"Magellan, he's the warden of Impel Down. He's a poison devil-fruit user… did Ace explain that?"

"yeah, he mentioned devil-fruits."

"Move please," Holly glanced to the side as a man with white and orange hair, with honest to Merlin scissors for hands, stepped up beside her. She stepped back as he cut up the floor and lifted it to cover the lift and prevent the poison from getting to them. Holly dispelled her bubble-head, realizing it was safe enough without it.

"Another devil-fruit?" she asked Sirius.

"Yeah, that's Inazuma." Sirius quietly answered.

"Sirius!" a woman floated out of the walls after he'd said it. Holly didn't need to see how her body was see-through to know precisely who she was, either. This could only be Ace's mother with those eyes and freckles.

The woman floated close and swiftly spotted Holly. When she did her face split open into Ace's smile, and Holly's heart hurt to see it, suddenly she desperately missed Ace even if she'd have him back soon. Rouge meanwhile was delighted to see Holly, over the moon frankly. The very idea that Holly was alive was not something that Rouge would get over soon. Hope had been blatantly to returned to them all, to Ace and to Rouge both… Ace, Rouge sobered, and she turned to Sirius, unaware that Holly could see her. "They're putting Ace on the ship now, we don't have long until they reach Marineford, they have the currents and the lead."

"Right Rouge-"

"You have to get Holly and Luffy out of here, and you have to find James and Lily. They don't know she's alive- I cannot believe she's alive. How did she even manage it."

"What do you mean they think she's not alive?!" Sirius sputtered even as Holly said.

"You can thank Roger for that actually ma'am."

Rouge's eyes rolled her eyes to the sky fondly: "that man! I should have… known… he…" she focused on Holly, who tentatively waved. She was two for two now, meeting the parents. The dead parents. Honestly, her luck was mad. "You can see me? Sirius… she can see us?"

"Yeah, not sure why that is, but I'm not complaining," Sirius said idly and spun toward Holly, "okay, pup. You get out of here and catch up to Ace, I'll find your parents. We'll meet in the middle."

That, Holly, could admit, was a terrifying thought. To actually meet her actual parents. Shakily Holly nodded at Sirius, trying to play off how terrifying the idea actually was, and her dog-father vanished into the nearby wall. He left Rouge behind, who floated close. The woman lifted her hands and rested them a breath away from Holly's cheeks, she peered deep into Holly's eyes just as Roger had. As if they saw beyond Holly's face right down to her soul. Rouge apparently saw what she wanted because she treated Holly to a genuinely kind smile causing her eyes to crinkle just like Ace's did when he truly smiled.

"You are good for him." Rouge told Holly, "you're so good for him, and I am so very proud to consider you my daughter… if you'll accept it?" Rouge didn't know how long this phenomenon would last, so she had to tell Holly everything before it ended. And end Rouge was confident it would

"If… err… if you want to?" Holly shuffled as her face heated nervously, she hadn't been offered such easy acceptance since Molly Weasley, but it was… nice. Nice to know Ace's parents approved of her, that they were watching out for them both.

"Good. Now go, I'll be with him." Rouge knew someone had to be because Holly and Luffy couldn't, and soon Holly would have her own parents to support her.

"Tell him I'm coming." Holly requested even if Ace couldn't hear nor see his mother. Rouge still swore to do so anyway, and she slipped away, returning to her son's side.

At the same moment, Holly turned her back on the sealed lift and jogged to join the small group gathered together. She passed the cell that Sirius pointed out as Ace's and paused. There were obvious signs that Ace had been present. Where he'd once sat, she saw blood coating the walls and floor, it stained the stones in the exact place Ace had been chained the entire time she'd known him. Holly's eyes burned slightly as she took it in as she pictured him sitting there, while in spirit, he'd been with her.

He must have been in so much pain the entire time, and he'd never given it away. It had never occurred to her that his wounds had physically been that bad. It should have, for any level of bruising to show up on Ace's spirit, the real injuries had to have been far worse. Realizing that, though, acknowledging that… well, Holly lost a lot of sympathy or pity for any guards that would try and stop her from reaching Ace moving forward.

That said, Holly pulled her eyes from the spot Ace had sat and looked to the large blue man being released from the same cell. That had to be Jimbe, the bunk-mate Ace had briefly mentioned. He hadn't said he looked like a merperson on land. Considering he had literal blue skin, shark teeth, and gills. His very existence made Holly wonder if mermaids, dragons, and other beasts also existed in Ace's world. She'd have to ask him after they met again.

Jimbe joined the building group surrounding Ace's brother, Holly followed behind him a step to see what their plan was. They had the same goal after all, and Holly was rather limited at the moment by what she could see. Holly couldn't apparate right to Ace's side if she couldn't see him after all, and these people knew the way out of the prison… that, and since Luffy was Ace's brother, Holly would have to make sure he got out alright. She knew Ace would have done the same for Ron and Hermione if he could, actually… in retrospect, he had.

Holly was loosely introduced to the most important individuals of the group as they were introduced to Luffy. While she listened, a general plan was set. Holly memorized names and faces. There was Inazuma, the man with multicolored hair and scissors for hands. Ivankov, who was scantily dressed and had a comically over-sized head with bright purple hair. Crocodile was clearly a rogue element, but 'Iva' had dirt on him to calm him down, secretly though Holly still intended to keep one eye on him until he was far away from her.

"And who are you?" Iva was the one who asked, bringing the attention of the rest of the group to Holly. Luffy alone seemed uncaring. He was a man on a mission, and everything else was unimportant.

Holly didn't actually answer either; it was Jimbe who did.

"You're her," The man commented as he looked to Holly, "the one Ace was seeing, you're the woman he loves."

Holly's face flamed because they'd never actually said it yet. They hadn't and to hear it second-hand like that-

"Ace's love?" Luffy's took interest then, his head snapped toward her, and then she was met with the most blinding smile she'd ever been witness too. It was like the sun had descended upon her, and the entire world faded away. That smile was entirely and wholly accepting, and considering this was Ace's brother, the fact that he'd offered it to her at all the more important. "Ace loves Holly?" that seemed to greatly please him, and Holly offered a sheepish little smile.

"Yeah, I'm Holly Potter… err hi,"

Iva, having decided she was welcomed into their group at Jimbe's word and Luffy's smile changed topics to their next step. Holly was mildly regretful that she didn't have the time to speak to Luffy properly, but she decided she'd take that time after Ace was safe.

She tuned into Iva's thankfully well-explained plan to Holly's gratitude. She was deeply out of her depth here, and the more information she had, the better. As she understood it, she and the group were currently on level six of Impel down, a prison that was entirely underwater- which ruined her intentions to just blast a hole in the wall and escape that way. Ace was already being transported out of prison to a place called Marineford, where he'd be executed. Their goal was to head up through the levels and follow. It was a rather effective and straightforward plan, Holly decided, as Iva ordered Crocodile to disintegrate a circular hole in the wall, leaving space for Inazuma to craft a spiral staircase out of the floor to lead them to level five of the prison. Hearing that plan, Holly elected to conserve her magic, she had a feeling she was going to need vast amounts of it and soon. Because they would be, without a doubt, fighting their way out of the prison. Fighting against brutal super-powers, that, from Ace's earlier comparison, could easily match Voldemort.

She'd be lying if she said that didn't make her nervous. But it wasn't like that nervousness would make her chicken-out either. She'd chosen this world, she'd chosen Ace, and she was not living in it without him. No matter how much she suffered to ensure he was returned to her side.

"Let's go." Luffy proclaimed, easily leading them.

It was time to go.

It was time to save Ace.

---

"Lily! James! Where the bloody hell are you!" Sirius screamed into the void. He'd checked the magical world, had run all over the prison even after Holly's stunt with the sonorous, but neither Potter could be found, and it was intensely annoying. Their daughter was fine and actually could see them; she could communicate with them all and actively could use their help, and the two had vanished.

"JAMES! LILY! I SWEAR-" where were they?! Not with Ace apparently because Rouge would have mentioned that. They also weren't in Gringott's where Holly died, Lily probably would have noticed when Holly's body was pulled from that world anyway. So where else would they go? Maybe- his eyes went wide, and Sirius quickly slipped through space. He vanished out of Ace's world and landed in the mess that had become of Godric's Hallow. Sirius flew through the front door and exhaled in relief when he spotted him. James was there.

James knelt in the spot he'd died, staring at the stairs that had been his final resting place with nothing in his eyes. Sirius suspected Lily was upside looking at Holly's childhood crib in the same way. Thankfully for them, neither of them needed to do that, and Sirius would ensure they knew that right then. He flew forward, placed himself directly in front of James' face, and grabbed his best friend's stupid shoulders to shake him into awareness.

"James! What the hell are you doing here? Holly needs us!"

"She doesn't," James said with a deadened voice, "we failed her, I failed her… she's dead-"

"No, nope, she's not dead." He sounded chipper because he was, their girl was fine. Sure he didn't know the circumstance, sure she might still have a fragment of Voldemort in her head, but he didn't give two shits if she did. Because he no longer cared a thing for the magical world or the war. His precious people were with him, and his beautiful pup was alive and finally fighting to live. In Circe's name, he was so proud to see her in Ace's world and see her sprinting through Impel Down's halls, not giving a shit to what she'd left behind. He was so proud to see her shrug off all the darkness she'd gained from her childhood and all the stress Dumbledore had, knowingly or not, dumped on her shoulders.

"She is." James looked away from him, "we watched it happen… Voldemort he- he killed her. Ace- oh god." James covered his face with his hands, shielding Sirius from seeing his tears. "We were too late for Ace, he was right there. He saw it happen… I couldn't face Rouge after that. The expression on his face-"

"I'm sure it was tragic," Sirius interrupted and wrenched James' hands away from his face, "but Holly's alive and Ace knows it. Pretty sure that means our plan worked, and the hallows saved her, but that doesn't matter now! What matters is Ace is heading to his execution right now, and Holly needs us-"

"I just told you!" James rounded on her, Sirius approved of the brainpower it took. Much better than black depression any day, and he ought to know. "She's dead, Sirius! She's dead- she… Holly is-" he dropped landing brutally on his knees, or would have if he wasn't a bloody ghost.

Sirius heaved a sigh: "James mate, I need you to listen to the words coming out of my mouth for once in your life." He bent down and grabbed James' face to force the man to look him in the eye. "Holly. Is. Alive." James' eyes flicked around unfocused, and Sirius shook his head a touch brutally, "Holly is alive. Holly Potter is alive. Your daughter is alive. She's dancing on Voldemort's grave out of spite because she's alive. She's currently running around Impel Down, trying to rescue her boy. She's probably going to catch up while I'm repeating this until you get it into your bloody stupid head. She's alive!"

James finally looked at him, actually looked at him. "You're not lying… are you…"

Thank Merlin Sirius was beginning to think James had really let his brain go to the other side, "James come on mate, keep up a bit-"

"Holly's alive."

"Yes and she-"

"She's alive!? What are we waiting for then!" James abruptly vanished under his hands, and Sirius scowled at the space he'd just been. Clearly, Sirius living an extra decade and a half affected his mental processing for the better. Because Sirius was thirty-six when he'd died and James was twenty-one and a moron. "One," Sirius said to the air, "you forgot your bloody wife, and two, you didn't let me tell you that Holly can hear us!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. He hated death, death made him the mature one. He turned away from the stairs and floated upward, as he'd expected Lily was staring at Holly's bad. Heaving a sigh, Sirius rolled up some imaginary sleeves and stepped forward.

One down, one to go.

"Lily Evans! Get off your angst thestral and come with me. We've got a daughter to save!"

Sirius landed in Holly's room and almost let it overwhelm him. He remembered Holly as a pup, remembered her tearing across the house on her little broom chasing the cat. He remembered her snuggling deep into his canine body because he was warm, and she hated her first winter. Her young giggling voice, full of energy and joy as she babbled nonsense. The expression on her face when Lily released a hundred colorful bubbles from the tip of her wand to circle around Holly's head. The day she squealed in delight yelling 'pafo, pafo!' when he'd come over one brutal shift as an Auror.

It almost laid him down right there, and he knew she was alive. It had nearly happened before. Sirius had practically given up in Azkaban, about to let the dementors overwhelm his mind so he could just… stop… and it in that he knew how hard it was for Holly to fight against her fate. Sirius knew the terror of it, and he knew how easy it came. Knew he could have just given in and knew Holly had been so very close to doing the same when she had nothing but Dumbledore's voice in her ear. It was why he knew… why Sirius knew that she needed someone to pull her from the edge. Why he'd gone along so quickly with Lily's suggestion to find her soulmate. Because people needed people.

He forced himself from his memories of the days in Azkaban and the last days of Lily and James' lives. He pulled himself into the present, wrenching himself away from the easily trapping thoughts. Because he was dead and it was so very easy to just stop… existing… stop… moving… but no, he refused! Sirius looked to Lily and found her hunched over Holly's crib. He expected to pull Lily from her state as he had James only to realize, their grief was very different.

James fell into inactivity, a direct opposite of his living self. He found his spot and simply… stopped. He would have remained there for the rest of eternity if Sirius hadn't found him, would have eventually faded away.

Lily did the opposite.

Her hands were on the crib bars, they gripped tight to the wood that she should not be able to touch. Her fingers sparked the wood, creating smoke that filled the air slowly. Her hair was whipping around her as if there was a fierce storm blowing, and there was one… inside a building. Toys, figures that had been left there preserved were ripped from the walls and thrown clear across the room. Sirius went unaffected by the debris, but his very being was unnerved as Lily snapped her head toward him. The motion was too fast to be natural, it would have broken her neck had she been alive, and Sirius felt his heart plunge.

"Mom told me once," Lily said, and her voice bounced against the walls, affecting the world when it shouldn't, "she said ghosts can't hurt you. She said the dead were dead… they had their time, and their time ran out. She told me when I was scared… told me after Sev- after Severus told me there were ghosts at Hogwarts." Lily's fingers clenched on the crib, and Sirius could see the beginnings of a fire there. "Grandmother was over that day, she overheard, and she came to be after mom went to sleep. She told me… that a ghost wouldn't hurt me… but a poltergeist-" Lily cut herself off and wrenched her hand from the crib.

It burst into flames a moment later, a swiftly building fire that would soon completely overwhelm the entire house. A magical fire that would envelop the preservation charms and remove the place of Lily and James' death finally from the earth. "I can touch things now, and it doesn't matter. Voldemort is dead… how can I take revenge on him if he's dead?"

Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well… Lily…" he eyed the fire as it dropped to the carpet and swiftly crept to the walls, "he's a bit beyond our grip now but-"

"I could help Ace," as Lily suddenly said, her mind was a whole conversation away, her eyes and head drifting away from him to follow the flames. Distantly Sirius found approval in the use; the house really didn't need to be around anymore. It was just a brutal reminder of a tragedy. Or he might just be more attached to fire considering Ace's abilities: "Holly loved him… I should…"

"Or- now here me out here." Sirius interrupted her, "you could just help Holly… considering she's not, you know, dead."

Lily's head snapped back to him after it wandered away and Sirius held back the wince from the sound as Lily, in a complete deadpan demanded a firm:

"What?"

Well, at least she was quicker than James to listen to him.

---

As it turned out, Impel down was a prison with six distinct levels. Level six, where Ace had been placed, was for the worst prisoners and looked… frankly like Azkaban according to how Sirius had described it to her. It was all stone, cells, shackles, and guardrooms. Missing from the description was the mad screaming and the dementor's presence. To make up for their non-existence was the blood-stained stones and frequent physical torture from the guards of that level.

Moving upward, Holly and her new group reached Level five, and that's where any resemblance to a regular prison ended. For, as she popped her head through the floor into level five, Holly realized they'd arrived in a frozen tundra. Before her were honest to Merlin wolves running around the area, real fully grown pine trees, and hills of snow. The roof above them looked endless, and for a place without magic, enchanted; it looked like the real sky, like flurries in the middle of the winter. The temperature also plummeted. It went from a chilled night at Hogwarts to full-on the-middle-of-a-blizzard in seconds. The entire thing made her think that was actual magic involved in the crafting of Impel down. Because how else would you explain the literal frozen tundra? She had asked Luffy because it could have been magic, but that earned her a relatively confused look from Ace's little brother, and she'd hurriedly dismissed it.

Racing upward toward level four in knee-high snow, Holly was half a step behind Luffy and doing her best to pretend it wasn't affecting her. He was a similar size to her, slim and shorter than average; this meant, as he raced through the snow, Holly was able to avoid doing the same. Instead, Holly followed the path Luffy carved, a blessing she knew because her leg was already screaming from the stairs, and it was only going to get worse. This was only level five, and they had to reach the top of level one. In an ideal world, Holly wouldn't even be using her leg until the basilisk venom had fully faded. Unfortunately, 'ideal' wasn't really in Fate's plans for either her or Ace.

"I'm surprised you aren't cold, Holly-san," Jimbe commented as they raced out of the snowy tundra and into a collection of cells. Holly offered the fish person, she wasn't sure his species yet, a wan smile. She refused to also fight against the cold. The moment Holly felt the drop in temperature, she'd tossed a warming charm on her clothes. Though to Jimbe she shrugged off an answer, Holly trusted him and Luffy well enough, but Crocodile was also with them, and he made her skin positively crawl. Holly had no intention of letting him know she had magic unless she absolutely had to.

"It's pretty cold where I'm from." Holly offered in explanation while side-eying the cells they were passing. Holly's lips pressed together like her aunts used to when she'd seen something of particular dislike, but a man with long hair had nothing on what Holly was currently disapproving. It was inhumane what the so-called 'Marines' were doing to the prisoners here. Half the prisoners she saw were freezing to death, the other half was covered in frost-bitten wounds or had missing fingers or toes. 'Hell,' Holly thought, these people weren't even the worst of the worst like Ace was considered. Though Holly was personally glad, Ace hadn't been on this level even if she believed he'd been missorted. She knew his problems with the cold, had seen the gratitude in his eyes every time she'd lit a fire in the tent, or shot his spirit with a warming spell. Holly had figured, for as much torture as he'd likely received on level six, the brutal cold of this level might have been worse.

"The treatment of the prisoners here," Holly spoke up, glancing at Jimbe, "is it common? Do people ever… protest?"

Crocodile barked a laugh at her question, a mocking and cruel sound: "This, little girl, is considered kinder than other levels." he shot her a side-long look, "the cold makes you numb, and you'll simply drift away in your sleep one night. A fun way to go, don't you think?"

Holly bit her lip as her fingers flexed helplessly on her wand. A step behind her, Jimbe cleared his throat and answered. "No, no one protests… many would, unfortunately, approve, in fact."

"Suppose that means there's no such thing as rehabilitation here either." She muttered as they rounded another corner, Holly was beginning to think Muggle's were the out-liners when it came to humanity for crime breakers. Azkaban... the dementors spoke enough for Azkaban, and now there was Impel down.

"You remind me of a revolutionary," Jimbe commented, having heard her under the breath comment.

"What's that?" Holly asked as the cells cleared away to reveal white painted walls and a set of heavy doors. It was likely their path to level four... and another set of stairs, fun.

"Should we survive this, I will explain," Jimbe told her, "or you may ask Ivankov, they are a member of the organization."

"I'll do that." Because she definitely intended to survive; though, while she was on the thought, "hey Jimbe, what's the general crime of the people here?"

Crocodile grunted her an answer to that question, he spoke straight over Jimbe: "Level five… anything between casual piracy to mass murder. The Marines like to put us in category's more attuned to strength than actual crime. They're just bullshitting. It's all random." Jimbe didn't disagree with that statement either, so Holly took it as an honest one. Still, it made her wonder, and it made her pause.

Stopping at the bottom of the steps, Holly glanced back while Luffy tossed open the stairs toward level four. She peered at the cells in smaller sizes and clenched her fists. A part of her wanted to just release the people here, but as she looked to those closest to her, she knew she couldn't. It was one thing to protest their treatment; it was another to release potential mass murderers into the world.

As Crocodile had said, crime didn't matter, and there was no way to tell the difference between prisoners. Nor did Holly had the time to slowly check the memory of everyone she came across before releasing the less 'guilty' ones.

Though she could do… something. Something to ease her consciousness, something to help, if only a little bit.

Holly dropped to a knee as the other three vanished up the circular stairs. She took a moment to plant the tip of the elder wand- not hers, hers was lost- into the frozen ground. There was a spell that was used in most wards to prevent ice from building onto broom handles or stone flooring. Holly had picked it up after the large icing problem that plagued her during her third year quidditch season. Months Holly had struggled to keep her grip on her broom during the chaotic dives she was known for. After Wood taught it to her, the spell had become her most used, for both her broom and her glasses.

Chanting quietly, Holly shoved magic into the floor. She felt her core expand, and her magic stretch out to coat the ground of level five. Holly wasn't releasing the prisoners, but a little humanity went a long way, she thought.

Where Holly stood, the ice began to melt even though the chill remained in the air. Soon, the entire floor, everything her magic had touched, would be clear of ice. And because it was magic, the Marines couldn't do a damned thing to stop it or revert it, not unless they wanted to build a new prison.

Holly gave a light cackle feeling quite pleased with herself. Then, she turned and started up the stairs. Holly apparated several times to provide herself with a bit of a short-cut until she caught up with Luffy, Jimbe, and Crocodile. She arrived just in time to catch the tail end of their conversation, and at the same moment, she spotted Crocodile's legs, he was ruddy flying.

"You! Are! Cheating." Holly blurted at the man. She felt a rush of offense at his devil-fruit ability, though she couldn't explain why. Perhaps it was just because she didn't like him, or it was because of the pain in her leg. Holly didn't bother analyzing it regardless. She was offended, plain, and simple.

Crocodile was literally floating up the stairs, his entire lower half was made of sand. The man smirked at her tauntingly, and she huffed, glancing away.

Admittedly Holly should probably just focus on keeping up instead of him. Her stamina was definitely not at the same level as these three, she was already huffing and puffing from the run while they scarcely seemed to notice it. Which was totally unfair. Jimbe and Crocodile had been prisoners and should have been closer to her level considering their inactivity. Luffy meanwhile had already come down all these stairs and was already going back up them, he should be tired too. Yet none of the three were. It was just her.

"The execution will be at three sharp," Jimbe spoke up, and they all glanced at him.

Holly reached over with her free hand and tapped her wrist. She had died at night and had been dead for an unknown amount of time. Holly had no idea what time it actually was. So casting a subtle tempus, she found out. It was ten in the morning, a full twelve hours at least since she'd died,, and a total five hours until Ace ran out of time. Holly grimaced at the thought while Jimbe explained what was likely going to happen after they escaped Impel down.

Ace would reach Marineford first and be placed upon the execution platform. Following that, Whitebeard would arrive to wage war against the Marine's to get Ace back. If Whitebeard succeeded, Ace would be saved. If Whitebeard failed, Ace would die. The latter was an unacceptable end.

"They won't execute him before three, that's what matters," Luffy said as he took the stairs four at a time, "that gives us time to save him."

"Agreed," Holly grunted as they came up to an enormous door. She lifted her hand to unlock it when Crocodile surged past, disintegrating the wood and metal with a touch. She blinked a bit in surprise as he blatantly explained to them that he was made of sand and could pull water straight out of things. Oddly helpful exposition for her considering she was somewhat lost. Holly still made a note to never let that guy touch her and to soak him with an aguamenti spell if he ever made a move to attack her. She did not feel like disintegrating, thanks.

They burst out of the door to find an army of guards waiting for them. Holly, probably unwisely, paid the guards less attention that she did her surroundings.

Holly felt herself frowninng deeper. It was no wonder Ace didn't question her magic overly much considering this damned prison. A level below them had been as cold as the top of a mountain, and a set of stairs later, they were in the deepest pits of hell.

She cringed at the drastic rise in temperature. The cold hadn't been as harmful to her personally because she was used to being left out in it. As a kid, Holly had angered her aunt on multiple occasions. This resulted in Holly being kicked outside, barefoot, in the snow waiting for her aunt's temper to cool.

In retrospect, it had likely been her parents that actually got the door open that one night her aunt forgot about her. They'd saved her that night. Holly knew now, that had she fallen asleep in the snow, she might not have woken again.

Either way, Holly was used to the cold but preferred being warm. A good thing Ace was her soulmate ironically considering his devil fruit. But this heat was a touch too hot. It was frying pan hot, cook an egg on the floor hot, burn your skin against the walls hot, and she had a- had a bloody warming charm on clothes from the first level. Holly hurriedly swapped the warming charm for a cooling one and was met with immediate relief.

"What is with this place, and the drastic temperature changes?" Holly wondered aloud.

Jimbe gave her a slight side-eye questioning why she didn't know, but he didn't voice the question. Not as a few dozen guards lined up before them ready to attack. Holly stared at one of the men at the back, speaking into a… something, she couldn't make it out. It was likely a walkie-talkie or something to communicate to whoever was monitoring their progress. She wished she could get a hold of it, to see what she had to look out for when it came to technology.

"This is level four, Shichibukai Jimbe escaped from level six, intruder Monkey D. Luffy, former shichubukai Crocodile, and unknown female intruder have arrived. Requesting backup!"

Holly perked as she caught that announcement, she really was an unknown, but that worked just fine for her. She had been notorious in her birth world, so she'd stay an unknown for as long as she could in this one… for however long that lasted.

Just as the thought occurred to her, Jimbe, Luffy, and Crocodile suddenly darted forward, throwing themselves into battle. Holly was left staring as she grasped the truth; she was drastically out of her element. Bullets rained down and went straight through Crocodile's sand body. Luffy fought and moved so quickly it looked like he had a hundred limbs at once. While Jimbe fought with literal shock waves, causing them with just his fists.

Holly exhaled a nervous laugh feeling for a terrifying moment that she was only going to be a hindrance to the mission. Suddenly Ace's explanations of strength levels made far more sense. Why Ace was so confident he could fight Voldemort and kill the man when so many others couldn't. Because to Ace and the people of this world, Voldemort was just one powerful man, one among hundreds. Holly swiftly reevaluated her own physical strength and drastically altered her average.

Then she straightened her spine as a bullet struck Luffy and stretched his skin backward until it rebounded. Her eyes bugged out slightly; she hadn't realized Luffy also had a devil fruit.

She knew it now, physically she was much much weaker than these people. Her stamina was lower. Her speed was minimal.. but Holly wasn't useless. She gripped her wand and reminded herself that she could do a lot of things Luffy, Jimbe, and Crocodile couldn't. Like apparate, brew potions, and draw out runes. She could make herself invisible and soundless. Could fly with aid, and she could revive from the bloody dead. Roger called her Ace's soulmate. That meant she was his other half, and if Ace's strength was physical, she'd fight another way and save him all the same.

But how?

"Holly-girl!"

She turned, spun on the spot as Ivankov came rushing up the stairs. The man stopped a breath away from her and suddenly shoved something into her hands. Holly glanced down- and gaped. It was a set of keys, a whole chain of them just dangling there. "Wha-?" she started to ask.

"Hurry Holly-girl, ve need all the help ve can get!"

He… he wanted her to unlock the cells. But she'd just said- but no, it didn't matter now did it. On the level below, she had decided to leave the cells be, had decided not to risk the people of this world. To release countless pirates and civilians suffer the consequences. But in the end… it didn't matter. How nasty could these people be? To be forced to live in this place, tortured, abandoned, forgotten by the world and… and have the guards be praised for it? She didn't accept that, and even if she did, her priorities were set.

Ace came first.

She was done being a savior.

"I don't need them." Holly pushed the keys back into Ivankov's hand then sprinted toward the nearest collection of cages. Straightening up, Holly gripped the elder wand and, without much warning, stabbed the tip forward and twisted. Like unlocking a door, like using a key instead of magic. "Alohamora!" Cell doors flew open, dozens of shackles hit the ground as she raced up and down Level five. As she darted past the guards without engaging, as she blatantly avoided them because she elected not to be a physical fighter.

One path led her to already open cages and a set of keys being passed around. She wasn't sure where they came from, and had no idea who to ask to get that information. Instead, she changed up her focus and shot a look upward. After a few seconds, she spotted a platform far higher than the average height of the floor. Taking it in Holly apparated on the spot and landed on it. Then she leaned over the edge and took in the level.

Holly saw a few people flickering at a distance, hovering by the ground looking pained or upset, but she passed her gaze over them trying to find- there he was! Luffy was brutally taking down guards with a… ballerina? At his side. He was thankfully easy to spot, considering the straw-hat on his head was unique. Likewise, Ivankov was easy enough to catch considering the hair, and Jimbe with the blueness of his body. It was becoming more challenging to keep track of them, as an army of prisoners built from the emptied cages. Holly, watching the chaos, decided the next time she was next to Luffy, she'd put a tracking spell on him. But first… where were the stairs for the next level-

"Holly! You're alive!"

"Gah!" she flailed, striking out at the see-through figure that spawned beside her. Her hand went straight through his head before she realized whom she'd just tried to slap. Then once she did, she felt instant brutal guilt. He was a tall man wearing round glasses with a hair cut she'd carried for a long time as a kid. She froze and looked at the moving form of a picture she'd stared at every night after she'd received it first year. This was James, her dad. Her dad was here, and her mind shut down even if Sirius had warned her.

"Wow, glad you can't actually hit me, pup?" James' brows pinched like hers did, "but you shouldn't have even known to…" his eyes went to the ring at her finger, "you're wearing the stone… does that mean… Holly, can you see me?"

"Y-yes?" she choked out. What was it with people and sneaking up to yell her name lately?! Though… this one wasn't inherently something she disapproved of.

"Oh, Merlin." James' building smile was remarkably like Luffy's as it grew across his face. He whooped in utter joy and bounced on the spot, aware he couldn't touch her, but he was quite unable to contain his happiness. "Pup! My pup can see me! Oh, gods Holly, everything I've wanted to tell you, and I finally can." He swiped at his eyes and moved his hands to hover over her own, it was almost like he was holding them. Then, he spoke fully confident, voice dripping in sincerity like he'd practiced it a hundred times in the mirror. "You Holly deserve the world, you're amazing pup. So resilient and brave, you've made me the proudest father that ever existed. Everything you went through and survived - and Merlin, I can't apologize enough for the fact that you had to suffer that - but I'm so proud of you that you did. That you came out of it all the stronger and more caring than I ever imagined someone could be. You did so good."

This was it Holly realized. This was the moment she'd craved since she had been old enough to understand it. This was her being accepted and loved by her father, the real man Holly had longed for every cruel night and every harsh day. This was her being told she mattered and was accepted without hesitation. Being told so by the one who brought her into life, by the one who died to protect her. This was actually happening.

Holly felt hot tears run down her face as James spoke, as he freely offered every kind word she'd wished with all her heart to hear. James was proud of her, he thought she'd done well. It was almost too much, almost. She swiped helplessly at her eyes, doing nothing helpful against the ocean of tears finally escaping her heart.

"You are a beautiful soul Holly, a beautiful soul that never deserved any of what that shrew did. In another life-" he cut off voice thick, swallowing against the sudden frog in his throat. What he wanted to say, what he wished had happened would never be, and James had to accept that. Had to push onward despite it. "-It doesn't matter. Just know that I love you Holly, beyond this afterlife, beyond what comes next, beyond any other soul to exist, I love you. Never ever doubt that, alright? Even if you never see me again after this, know that I love you."

"O-okay," she sobbed the word out. Holly swiped at the helpless tears pouring down her face and nodded through them. She sobbed as James gave her an utterly fond look.

Then, when she calmed down slightly, he said. "Now… its time you started to rebel against society like any proper teenager should, I'm prepared for it. I got a speech and everything prepared for you and Ace! Come on, we've got your soulmate to save, and I have to tell your mother." He gasped in horror, "oh bugger, your mother. Lily is going to revive me just to kill me for not telling her you're fine!"

Holly released a desperate giggle and turned back to the battle. James stayed to the side of her as she finally spotted the stairs to the next level; a thin vulnerable bridge led to them, and she sharply nodded. Holly would take the bridge and remove the guards blocking it. "Ready?" she glanced at her father, who seemed entirely too delighted by the chaos in the prison. Then again considering what she knew about him, and the fact that they'd been forced inactive in this place for ages... well, she could understand.

"Oh, pup, I died ready." Holly didn't know he was more delighted by the fact that she'd asked him, that she could ask him. James thanked his ancestors desperately for that, and for the ring that made it possible.

She rolled her eyes, and his grin widened. Holly then stood and turned on the spot, she apparated straight behind the gathered guards at the stairs. Their only warning was the crack of sound drowned out by the overall volume of the fighting. They weren't expecting it when Holly spawned behind them and swung the elder wand in a series of swift arcs causing the air to fill with bright red magic. From her sparring with Ace, Holly knew not to bother with a single complicated and magically draining spell. A flurry of simple ones worked far better. The people in this world could dodge magic, and one hex would just be wasted on a faster opponent. A flurry of stupefies though? Holly was guaranteed to at least brush skin, and that was all that was needed to stun someone.

The guards dropped aware but paralyzed to the floor, leaving only one oddly dressed man standing. He spun toward her, shocked at what she'd done without a sound or warning. Hannyabal was the vice-warden of the prison and had a theory about this particular woman. Now, his opinion had just been proven correct. Somehow the unknown woman attempting to save Ace had a teleporting devil fruit. She had to be the reason Monkey D. Luffy had gotten into the prison and was likely limited to what she could see, which would explain why she hadn't come earlier to rescue Portgas.

He'd spotted her on the records of the den-den Mushi's for level six. He watched her appear out of thin air and immediately make her way toward Portgas' cell. He'd gone over the recordings, every one of them before she'd first been spotted, and she was nowhere to be found… at least not within their sight. The only way that was possible had to be a devil fruit. Now, she'd teleported directly behind him without a sound and taken out his men at the same time.

She was a teleporter, he was sure of it.

Hannyabal swiftly offered a report on his mini-mushi warning the guards that to imprison her, they'd first need to catch her with sea-stone. Then he turned his attention to her. This was like sparring with Kizaru, she'd be as fast as him or quicker. He had to prepare for an attack from behind, the sides, or even above him if he wanted to take her down.

Holly eyed the oddly dressed man as James explained: "That's Hannyabal, the vice-warden. Be careful fighting him Holly, he won't be as weak as the rest." Was that odd clothing considered normal? Then again… Ivankov, maybe she was the odd one for her jeans and robe.

"Got it," Holly said to her father and stepped forward to meet Hannyabal even though she could turn her back and head right up the stairs if she wanted. Holly didn't, she didn't because she was part of a team now, and if she was getting out of Impel Down, so was Luffy at the very least. "Bring it ugly!" she taunted and brandished her wand at him. He pulled a halberd from somewhere? As well as a set of thick blue stone shackles. Then he swung the weapon over his head in an elegant move.

At his feet, the aware but stunned guards watched their vice-warden having faith he would defeat the strange girl who had taken them out from behind. James, at the same time, knew she'd handle him just fine. She had something to lose here, and the man was merely defending a jail.

Then, the vice-warden began to twist his weapon in the air quicker than James thought possible. The metal burst into flame as the halberd sped up faster and faster before he charged toward Holly. James and Holly realized it at the same moment, Hannyabal was distracted. He was acting as if she were going to pop up right behind him, he was splitting his attention, and it gave Holly the instant advantage.

Twisting the elder wand, Holly hurled two shields up between them, one halfway between them and a second hovering around her skin. Then she hurriedly cast a powerful aguamenti and soaked the man entirely to put the flames out. Hannyabal swore suddenly realizing he was wrong, and her weakness was actually the seemingly pointless stick- but it was too late. Holly sent a literal wave of water at him, and it shocked him enough to stall, just as his weapon smacked against her shield.

Her shield held because the man hadn't used haki like Ace usually did, and the weapon brutally rebounded. Holly, in that second, pressed her advantage. She leaped over his men and sent a swarm of stunners at the vice-warden. She gave him no chance, and he dodged back eyes on her wand, on the weapon, on the tech that had to be within it. He ducked the arcing lights, darted toward her with a grace and skill Holly hadn't honestly believed he was capable of. She heard James call a warning as she cast faster and faster-

His hand snagged her wrist, the halberd came up toward her side to slice Holly straight through- and one of her spells glanced across his cheek. Hannyabal froze in place, aware he couldn't move, aware of what was happening, but he was frozen.

One slight brush of a spell was enough, one little touch, and she'd won. A benefit of magic.

And the vice-warden dropped, conscious but stunned.

Holly felt relief even as she rubbed at her wrist. The strength he'd used to grab her had easily bruised her skin. Holly exhaled and readjusted her internal power scale. She'd assumed herself to be generally weak compared to Jimbe, Luffy, Crocodile, and Ace, but perhaps she was more along with their level… with low stamina. She'd have to ask Ace to help her with that since she was staying in his world.

"Way to go Holly!" James praised as she sent a spell at the guards and Hannyabal to push them out of the way. She didn't want them to be crushed by the general public running through the area. The idea didn't settle well with her consciousness, no matter how poorly these people treated the prisoners. That done she took a defensive position to wait for Luffy and spotted-

"Are those animals?" Giant creatures were ripping through the prisoners in the distance. They walked upright and held actual weapons in their paws and claws. Holly couldn't help but stare at them as they were brutally defeated by Jimbe, Crocodile, and Luffy shortly after their appearance.

"Devil fruit users." James corrected, "they're humans that can change into animals, stronger than an animagus though they can't disguise themselves like an animagus can. They can't change their size, so it's blatantly clear what they are." He was proud of that, to know all his practice to become an animagus wasn't made useless because some moron ate a disgusting fruit.

"I see," Holly cast her eyes out, looking for any sign of Luffy and noted his hat bobbing in the crowd of prisoners, he was heading straight for her looking positively thunderous. He'd clearly run into someone or something he hadn't liked. Also, was that a female Ivankov running beside him? How had the purple-haired man/woman changed gender when she wasn't looking.

Luffy, when he spotted her seemingly alone by the stairs to wait, called out with a wave. "Holly!" She grinned at him, then turned and started up the stairs alone, she'd need the extra time to compensate for her leg she reasoned. Sure enough, a pleased Luffy, a confused Jimbe and Crocodile, caught up within minutes. They were all aware they'd left her behind at the doors to level six and had assumed she couldn't fight. Yet somehow, Holly had gotten ahead of them and defeated the vice-warden, as well as the other guards protecting the path to level four.

There was more to this girl than they first assumed they realized each trying to figure it out. Crocodile, like those before him thought she carried a devil-fruit and was trying to figure out which one. Jimbe was keeping his mind open but assumed the same. Luffy, he was more focused on the limp in her step and the growing bruise around her wrist. He believed she could handle herself, but she was also Ace's love, so he'd watch out for her if he was nearby.

"Alright, Luffy?" she panted slightly as James floated along with her.

"I'm going to check your path," James called and sped through the walls upward.

"I'm hungry." Was Luffy's complaint, which caused her to grin, maybe if she got a calm moment she could summon something to- a furious yell cut off her thought and echoed from behind them.

"STRAW HAT!" Holly didn't slow, didn't falter, but she did glance back. Back passed Luffy and the army at their heels as her skin crawled at the fury in that voice.

"Who'd you piss off?" she asked assuming 'straw hat' referred to Luffy's.

"I think this is a case of mistaken identity Holly-san," Jimbe corrected, moving ahead of her steadily he still wasn't even winded, "that was Magellan likely discovering the state of Hannyabal, which I believe you are responsible for?"

"Oh," her face heated, "if it makes him less angry, the guy will be fine?" Actually would he? Most of the time, a witch or wizard had to remove a stun, she'd assumed the magic would eventually run out… but would it? Oh dear.

"I don't think it does," Jimbe laughed as screams echoed below them. It caused Luffy's face to tighten, and Jimbe to speed up slightly. Holly, at that, started to fall behind. She shot another look back, and it nearly caused her to stop when she caught sight of a tide of purple envelop the back of their group. The people it touched or even glanced, dropped screaming in agony, and she felt a rush of fear enter her chest.

"Don't stop," Jimbe ordered, falling back a touch so he could push her slightly from behind, "anyone caught it that is lost."

"What… is it?"

"Poison," Luffy answered with gritted teeth.

Holly shot another look back as they approached the top of the stairs and saw a man who was so coated in the poison that she swore she could see through him just like she could her father. If it were poison that coated him, then that man was as good as dead just like she'd be if Magellan caught up. She turned her attention forward again. James was already waiting there, yelling the level was clear, but it wouldn't be, not if Magellan caught up throwing poison around like water from a sprinkler. But Holly could do something about that. She stopped at the top and searched her pockets.

Luffy rushed passed her: "don't stop Holly!" he yelled as he raced on. She didn't have a pen, she couldn't draw runes without something to draw with. She needed a-

"I need a pen!" she called into the crowd, "something to write with!"

"Here!" a woman stopped, pausing to recover her breath and handed over over a… tube of lipstick. Better than nothing Holly decided on the spot and accepted it with a quick 'thanks' before darting for the doorway leading back to Level five. She pulled off the top in a hurry before starting her work. She didn't have long before Magellan caught up, and she needed at least the basic runes placed by then.

"Vhat are you doing, Holly-girl?" Ivankov, the female version, asked her. She had been in the middle of the back and had stopped with Holly to guard their retreat no doubt. To give them, like Holly intended, some desperately needed space between the chief warden and them.

"Runes," Holly said, her mind on her past. On sitting beside Hermione in their tent long before Ace came into the picture. With Hermione holding a thick journal in her open palm leading Holly and Ron both through the runes that would keep them safe. Carving symbols for protection in the air, precisely the same as the lightning bolt on Holly's forward. Runes for safety, for invisibility, for being overlooked, for shielding. How they mixed together as Hermione wrote crafted her first true rune ward, something so beyond the norm that Ron had been left gaping. Because to craft something new like Hermione had usually required a Mastery and yet here was Hermione not even graduated Hogwarts doing precisely that.

She still remembered how to do it after she sent Hermione away to Ron, so they could be happy and wouldn't have to suffer the Horcruxes presence any longer. She remembered holding Hermione's journal as she tried to copy her best friend's work for the first time… and remembered Ace following her a month later after she'd gotten used to it. As that first night, she kept him in her sights because she hadn't trusted him in the least.

Look how much her life had changed since then. Holly didn't even recognize it as hers anymore.

Runes, typically drawn in circular form, were drawn into the stone doorway with a lipstick. Holly traced over them with her wand, briefly thinking on everything Hermione had drawn in that book. Thinking on how far with runes Holly had gotten as a result of studying that journal. She hoped Hermione would be recognized for that someday.

"It's supposed to be a sphere," Holly muttered for both her and Ivankov's benefit, "it works much better as a sphere, but… this will do well enough if he doesn't realize he can go around it." It would stop Magellan until the man realized that it only affected the doorway. "It'll keep them from moving past this point."

Ivankov stared at her from the back as she finished up, looked at this odd little girl attached to Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy. What she could do… that was not a devil fruit, but Ivankov had no clue what it could be instead. Something new to the world, perhaps… something everyone would need in the future. "Zen hurry, Holly-girl!"

"Yeah, got that!"

James stood nearby, invisible to all but Holly as his little girl broke magical rules with ease. As she used techniques from her past and applied them so quickly to the present. Holly didn't even realize how amazing it was; that she'd altered the design of a spherical ward to fit a doorway on the fly like that. Proud didn't even begin to describe what he felt watching her rush through runes without mistake or error. As she poured magic into the lines and across the doorway, crafting a live shield to defend her group.

She didn't even realize how amazing she was. James hoped dearly that she'd figure that out.

"Done!" she jumped to her feet, "let's go!"

Iva shook her head and waved Holly on: "go on without me Holly-girl, go save your boy." She hesitated, but Ivankov seemed confident, and she had her priorities.

Holly knew well that she didn't know Ivankov enough to argue her resolve. "You better catch up." Was all she could offer before turning on her heel to apparate right to the next doorway. She fell a fierce drain on her magic as she landed beside a patiently waiting Inazuma. Never before had she actually felt tired after apparating, that was… a bad sign. It was possible her core was nearing empty and she'd soon be facing magical exhaustion or the basilisk venom was doing something beyond healing because of how she was pushing herself.

"Hurry, my dear," Inazuma spoke up as she stared at the stairs before her. She'd never catch up with her leg, Holly would have to apparate to make up time and return to the group.

"What are you going to do?" she asked despite this awareness.

"Go," he didn't answer.

Holly went.

She turned on her heel again and vanished with a crack. She landed on the stairs and apparated again, and again. Moving the farthest distance she could in her line of sight each time until she reached the top and heard a crash behind her. Inazuma had cut the stairs to pieces to prevent anyone from following them. Had prevented even himself and Ivankov from doing the same. They had a plan Holly told herself as she rushed into level two, apparently she'd skipped straight over level three entirely… not that she was complaining.

The tail end of the group was ahead of her, all of them brutally cutting a path through the guards. Fighting tooth and nail to escape by any means. But by then, Holly was truly beginning to flag. She'd used far too much magic, and she didn't have nearly enough stamina for the sheer amount of sprinting she was doing. And as she landed at level two, Holly found the sides of her vision graying out. She was exhausted. Her leg was still burning, and it had only gotten worse. On top of all that, Holly was at the very back of the pack while Luffy remained at the front and Ace far beyond that.

She staggered, gasping for air. Holly landed on her knees and shot a look at her legs, she couldn't see past the jeans, but she knew it wouldn't look good.

"Holly!" Sirius appeared at her side. "There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you!"

Holly groaned, pushing herself back to her feet before the distance between her and the pack grew any more significant. "Can't… really… talk…" she shoved her body forward, thinking of Ace, of the last hug he'd given her, of the blood in his cell, at how she'd felt thinking death was coming and how he might be feeling now. She moved. No one was killing him as long as she drew breath Merlin damn it!

"You can do this sweet-heart, just get to the ship, and you can rest awhile." A hand nudged her back, pushing her forward. Holly didn't think about it, not like James and Sirius did with a proper view of who had done it. They both gaped as Lily's expression turned positively vicious, and her hair floated about her, tangling together as if it lived. She could touch her daughter, she could actually affect the world while remaining unaffected by it herself.

Lily nodded to James and Sirius, told them with a single look to push Holly forward. But she, she stopped and turned around to face the warden who would soon be coming to meet them. That man was going to get a piece of Lily Potter, and she couldn't wait.

Holly nodded as James and Sirius filed in beside her. Backed her as she ran, and ran, and ran. Her muscles were burning, her leg was screaming, her lungs were scarcely taking in air. But she kept on going, she kept going.

"Luffy is just up ahead Holly, you can do this," Sirius promised. Just a little farther, just a little more, just one more enemy, one more rescue and- she- could- rest-

Holly's hair swung into her face, strands plastered to her skin, and she cast aside her outer robes because it was too hot and heavy to keep them on. She abandoned that piece of herself effortlessly even while being aware she'd never wear a robe from her birth world again. Holly braced herself when guards surrounded her and forced her to throw another massive swarm of spells at them. She kept going, ducking under men's legs, kicking one in the nuts because he'd attacked just after she'd finished casting another swarm of stupefy. She swiped a hand at her forehead as her family encouraged her to keep going.

A guard bodily placed himself between her and her goal, and Holly darted around him, she was passed him when- "Ah!" Holly shrieked as his gloved hand sank into her hair and caught in her curls. She heard James and Sirius cry her name as she was brutally wrenched backward and thrown into the ground. She instantly tried to twist her body to regain her feet, but she only served to land hard on her elbow, causing a rush of pain through her body. It hurt, and Holly mistakenly, foolishly, allowed herself to feel it at that moment. The guard landed on her a moment later.

"Do not resist pirate scum!"

She'd taken down the vice-warden herself, and it was a nameless random guard that suddenly had her pinned. He pressed her to the floor and fished for a set of heavy looking stone shackles. Holly twisted and bucked, fought like Ace had advised her to after being pinned, but the guard seemed uncaring as if her attempts were nothing worth considering. It wasn't surprising either; in comparison to her petite body, he was huge, and her strength came from magic. She didn't have the physical strength to fight him.

So why was she trying to do so?

Holly stopped fighting as the guard grabbed her wrist and moved to lock the shackle onto her wrist. The moment he had it, the moment he thought she wasn't going to fight, Holly wrenched her arm to the side and pointed her finger at his chest, at any skin she could really. Then Holly cried out, loud and clear, "Sectumsempra!"

An arc of magic crossed his body, and he dropped. He collapsed back as blood welled up in a snake-like pattern. Holly instantly rolled free. Panting, Holly kicked the guard away and staggered back to her feet. Her elbow was still stinging, and she had a nasty bruise on her chin from when she fell, but she was okay. Holly was okay. She staggered away from the masked guard, left him bleeding out on the ground- she had fallen behind again- she had to catch up- Ace was-

She left a man bleeding out from a wound no one was physically capable of repairing, and it wouldn't occur to her until much later. But, in the heat of the moment, she didn't care, and Ace, he wasn't around to fix that mistake as he had before.

"Holly? Are you alright pup?" James see-through hands fluttered around her as she pushed on.

"Where is she?" Sirius asked at the same time, head flapping around as if trying to spot someone, the question was directed to James. Holly listened with half an ear as she dove under some bizarre lion looking creature and crawled away as it attacked a prisoner who'd been close to her.

"He just figured out he could go around the ward, he's attempting to fight her now." James looked a little too pleased by his comment even as he shot Holly a concerned look. She was closing the gap to the pack, but she couldn't handle many more blows like that.

"Did they… last…?" Holly asked, assuming Sirius was referring to the female Ivankov. She could see it, Luffy's straw-hat bobbing along ahead of her. It had somehow become Holly's goal, her focus when she couldn't keep track of her own path. As long as she kept this pace, she'd catch up to it. Merlin, they were so close… she needed a break. But she wouldn't get one, she wouldn't because they still had to catch up to Ace and fight a war after that. Holly whimpered at the thought and still didn't stop.

"It helped, you earned five minutes from that, and that matters pup," James told her firmly, "it would have lasted even longer if you'd managed a full circle… you may have to try that in the future, might come in handy." Luffy had stopped to fight a collection of guard. Somehow she'd caught up, and Holly raced right passed him to find a new focus to follow.

Her marauder blood perked up as she slipped past Luffy, it encouraged her to toss a taunting remark over her shoulder as she went. "Don't stop Luffy, pretty sure you told me that!" Luffy gave a delighted laugh, a second-wind finding them both as he swiftly caught up to her. Luffy, more observant than anyone gave him credit for, had already noticed that Holly was almost ready to drop, and he matched her pace.

When another wave of guards appeared between them. Before Holly could so much as grab her wand, Luffy had thrown himself forward instinctively covering Holly.

"Seriously," Holly panted as they dropped to the floor, knocked out cold, "do they not have enough guards in this place?"

Luffy laughed as they finally reached the top of the stairs to see the doors to freedom. A few prisoners were already cheering and pushing the doors open to reveal the ocean and the sun at last. Holly exhaled seeing it, they'd made it!

"It's been… a long time since I saw the sky, let alone the sun." She admitted half to herself and half to the people around her. And it had been. It had been night when they'd headed into Gringott's and Holly didn't count her time in the after-life as seeing the real sky. There was too much missing from the in-between. Subtle things like the wind on her skin that brushed at her hair even now.

"Can you see the ships?" James asked with a hand at his brow, "there should be some here."

"The Marines moved them back, smart of them, if annoying." Sirius agreed, floating upward to get a better view.

"Why?" Holly asked. Her question was multi-sided, why did they need a ship? Why was moving it back smart? Why had everyone stopped?

"This world is mostly ocean, and we're settled between the calm-belt." James explained gently, "The Calm-belt is an ocean infested with monsters that make dragons look tame. You need a ship to get anywhere, especially out of here."

"So, we get one?" Sirius dropped back down beside them, "there's some in the distance, we just have to steal one. You have a broom, Holly?"

"Err no, Roger didn't let me pack, so yeah, no." A prisoner nearby, Luffy's Ballerina, shot her a look noting she was seemingly talking to herself. Holly meanwhile leaned forward to spy the ships herself. She could see their outline, but she'd need a much better view if she wanted to apparate straight to them. What about upward? Holly twisted her body to look up. Impel down had levels above them for the guards; she could apparate there and hopefully get a better look at the ship's deck.

"The gates need to be opened," Jimbe said, stopping at her side to catch his breath, Holly felt slightly relieved that he needed to. She also felt relieved that they all seemed to have made it to the top, even bloody Crocodile and the ballerina guy.

At his comment, Holly looked toward the gates themselves, ridiculous things that they were. They were the size of skyscrapers in the distance. Holly spared no thought for why they couldn't just sail around the bloody things. She was tired enough and trusted Jimbe enough to believe he knew what he was talking about.

"How?" that was the still nameless ballerina.

"There's a lever that needs to be pulled at the right time inside the prison."

Holly shook her head, that would force someone to stay behind. No, there was another way. "I can do it without the lever." She swore mind whirling with the edges of a plan while recalling a fairy-tale Petunia had read to Dudley so many years ago.

"You can?" Jimbe asked for details without asking for them, and Holly pointed out to the distant ships.

"If you can get a ship, I should be able to make it fly right over or around the gates." She'd have to draw plenty of runes on the hull or sail, and she might pass out from the effort. But if they needed to be passed the gates to get to Ace, then past the gates they'd get.

"Consider it done," Jimbe promised, a plan to get a ship already in his head. He looked to the ballerina, "You, Bon Clay, guard her until she's ready."

"I need on the ship, I have to draw… stuff, on the ship to do it." She told Jimbe before he excluded her from it.

Jimbe altered his plan on a galleon. "Then both of you with me." He led them forward as Crocodile cut the large wooden doors from the walls of Impel down. It landed in the water, and he, with a few others she didn't have names for, hopped onto the door itself. Holly didn't hesitate to follow, she bound forward onto the wood. Her first time ever on something that could be considered a ship, even if it was just a door. As she landed, people at the back of their group started to panic as an all-mighty screech echoed through Impel Down's halls. It was an inhuman thing that made her skin crawl, while the people around her covered their ears just from the slightest hint of it.

Luffy at once put his back to them. Trusted them to get the ship while he defended their flank. At the same time, Sirius and James exchanged a look and also split. Sirius flew for Luffy to watch over him while James headed for Holly. Jimbe didn't waste a moment once everyone was settled and certainly didn't for the invisible dead man to catch up. He dropped into the ocean, which interestingly enough every member of her small team shied away from, and started to shove their little door-boat forward through the water.

"Are you sure you can handle that sort of magic, Holly?" James asked her as Jimbe, and the door-boat dodged around canon fire. Water splashed across her form, and simply because he was part of her team, Holly shot a temporary water repellent charm at Crocodile. He was made of bloody sand, and she did not need him to become useless because they were fighting on water for the moment.

"I can do it." She muttered to James, so no one on the door-boat thought her too insane. "What I don't understand is why we need these doors open." She mused louder.

James loosely explained what he did understand about it, "there is a powerful current running between here and Marineford, I don't think any ship can exit or enter it without leaving through one of the doors." Which meant there was a second door they had to pass on top of this one… she'd, she'd make it work.

A canon hit near their side and soaked Holly; she barely flinched, gazing at her now soaked shirt distantly. Ordinarily, she'd use a drying charm, but by this point, she couldn't cast anything else because of what she would soon have to do… twice. Holly didn't need to be wasting any more magic when she had to make a ship fly. Or perhaps sink. Holly recalled her fourth year and Durmstrang's ship, but no, she didn't know that charm. Flying was more draining magic wise, but less complicated casting wise.

"Stay with me!" the energetic ballerina, evidentially named Bon-Clay and a man, proclaimed as Jimbe suddenly dove under them to send them surging onto the desk of an enemy ship. Holly then didn't have the time answer. Her focus was on getting the boat to fly, not defending herself, nor taking out the Marines on the deck. Holly ducked under a swinging arm as Bon-Clay covered her side, he fought with his feet, kicking out brutally to smash Marines straight over the edge of the ship into the ocean. He was quick, extending and attacking faster than her eyes could catch. But Bon-Clay never left her side, he remained right beside her the entire time, protected her through the battle. Bon-Clay was doing his part as she'd do hers.

"Remind me to tell Ace he owes me some sort of reward after this."

"That's not something I want to hear from my daughter!" James cried.

"Eww," Holly muttered, horrified at the conclusion he'd jumped to- and the ship's deck suddenly exploded when Jimbe hurled a shock wave at it. Holly shot him a displeased look, it looked like that ship was not the one they were going to use after all.

They all moved a ship over thanks to that. Holly was carried under Bon-chan's arm when it became clear she couldn't quite make the jump. The moment they were over Holly darted for the wood, she let Bon-Clay fight and keep her safe, she focused on steadily carving runes for a spell she'd never attempted before. Each rune was boosted by the power of the elder wand in her palm. She cut symbols and signs into the wood of the deck while James followed and offered what help he could. He wasn't as good as Lily or Remus, but he did have a general idea of what could help, he'd needed runes for most of his inventions, namely the map, after all.

"Use this rune, it'll take less magic from you." He advised as the last Marine on deck dropped over the side of the ship with a scream.

"Add a tail to this rune it will allow you to-"

"Try an-"

The two of them worked in tandem as Jimbe vanished under the ocean while Crocodile, the guy with the swords for arms, and the blue-haired clown searched the lower decks for any more Marines. Well, Bon-Clay stayed at her side, observing her work in silence, and the 'clown' seemed more focused on standing at the helm and laughing in victory.

Interesting personalities the people from this world.

Time passed as she worked, Holly had no idea how much as she roughly scratched out a mistake and started again. As she linked the runes together and felt them steadily power up. With James' advice, she added a bit of recycling spell work so the magic she put into the runes could replenish. Like a fountain, except her magic was the water. Interestingly, he'd used such spells on the map, it was started when someone gave the password and offered their magic to the map, and stopped when the password to close the map was uttered.

It was a challenge, her brain was aching from the panicked effort Holly was putting forth. As she used every little bit of knowledge from her schooling and James' to get the job done. But it would work… it had to work.

Jimbe returned as she finished off the last rune on the helm of the ship. There she settled, dropped really, onto her knees to rest. Holly had the elder wand pressed between her palms as she mentally prepared for the spell she'd have to cast to get them in the air. Holly tried to meditate, to begin building what magic she had left so she could lift a damned ship with her power and some runes. Holly was rather confident that very few witches or wizards would be able to do what she was going to attempt, and fewer still would live through it if they tried. Holly was going to turn a Marine ship into Captain Hook's from Peter pan. Once she did it… well, she wished honestly that someone would be around that she could brag to. This was going to be a rather impressive bit of magic, not to toot her own horn or anything.

Jimbe approached the helm holding a small snail in his hands. Holly paid half her attention to him as he spoke into it and nearly lost her focus when Luffy's voice answered. That was one of the more bizarre things in this world. No wonder Ace hadn't known what a bloody phone was, not if that was how they communicated.

An order was given from Jimbe, he told Luffy to run straight into the water to reach the distant ship and told Holly to prepare herself, as if she wasn't already doing that. She gave him a sour look and earned an oddly fond smile in return.

The sound of whales distracted her from her thoughts. Holly stood from her position and saw them. Hundreds of whales breached the ocean's surface to literally bounce Luffy, every prisoner left behind, and Ivankov's giant head toward their stolen ship. Seeing that, Holly couldn't help herself, she laughed.

"This world is insane." But then again look who was talking.

Luffy and the group landed on their ship, and Lily dropped lightly beside them, looking utterly satisfied. Holly ducked her head sheepishly as her honest to Merlin mother looked at her. Lily beamed Holly's way while her hair fluttered at her sides oddly… solid looking. Holly caught it, the way her mother looked and opened her mouth to ask- when Jimbe interrupted her. He gave her a single firm look while people scrambled to prepare the ship for sailing. They unfurled sails, set up canons, they grabbed rigging and just acted despite being from a hundred different crews and places. They were pirates, born for the sea, they knew how to sail even while under attack and in unfamiliar territory. And sail they did, the stolen Marine ship made a solid line toward the enormous gates. While the strongest of their number brutally defended the ship, from Luffy turning into a balloon resembling Marge during her third-year summer. To the sword armed guy cutting canon's straight in half.

They were actually escaping.

"Holly-san, do it now!"

And now it was her turn to finish the job.

"Okay!" Holly turned toward the bow and lifted the elder wand firmly between her fingers. She stepped up and took a deep prepared breath and said to Jimbe: "If I pass out, slap me awake when we reach the next doors. Okay?"

"What?" he asked concerned, but Holly didn't respond; she was already starting a chant. Latin spilled from her lips, she uttered the words for flight, for aid from Mother magic, for a plea to the gods to assist her in her mission. It was all ceremonial nonsense, she thought, but Holly knew it was working when glittering magic washed across the deck and along the sail. As the ship jerked in place and slowly, achingly so, tried to lift from the water.

Awed voices exclaimed as they surged upward.

Holly chanted on as she felt the tug of resistance; the ocean wanted to keep her and the ship with it. Lost in magic, Holly recognized the ocean's surface as a living being, she felt it pull against her, and she almost lost her focus- and then Lily's voice joined her. Somehow it helped. Despite Lily being nothing but a spirit, Holly found the strength to rip the ship away from the water and send them soaring into the sky above.

Upward they went, the sail full as cannonballs chased after them despite how stunned the Marines were to acknowledge what they were seeing. Luffy was not idle either, he was awed by it as much as anyone else, but he also defended them actively and ensured her efforts were not wasted. Truthfully, it was good he did, for Holly knew that if she lost one of her runes, they'd brutally drop. Miraculously, it didn't happen, not as the wind caught her call to mother magic a full world away from Circe's grasp. Not as Circe's only touch to this world was Holly and was only just beginning to spread as a result.

The wind and mother magic seemed to push her forward, to give her power far beyond what Holly had left. As if mother magic was supporting Holly and the future she would change.

And the ship cleared the gates.

Everyone on the ship exploded in joy, they threw up their arms and screamed a call of victory. Only one man had ever escaped Impel Down, and now most of the prison had been emptied in one afternoon.

Holly felt herself smile as she saw the ocean spread out before them, as she started to lower the ship back into the sea with care. She wasn't a fighter, not really, but she was still damned useful. And- her magic, her tie to the runes snapped. The spell keeping them aloft died, and the ship plummeted straight out of the sky toward the ocean. Everyone on deck screamed, they all grabbed something to hold onto the boat lest they be thrown from it due to the drop. But Holly was dead to this. She'd finally pushed too far, and everything had gone black.

She didn't notice the fall. Didn't hear her parents screaming her name. And she didn't feel a pair of rubbery arms wrapping securely around her middle before the ship itself crashed into the water.