Ace

I regret a lot.

I could go back to the very beginning and name out every single naive mistake I've made so far, and even within the first week, the list would go on for miles. But, it's pointless to do that. It wouldn't help me, or anyone for that matter, so what's the point?

But right now? I regretted my choice in becoming "Human". For quite a lot of reasons actually, but the main one was that I should've thought twice about it.

Because before, I had an upper hand. They were all so human, even if they weren't. Their emotions were all over the place, they had so many fears and pressure points that were actually surprisingly easy to pinpoint if you knew were to look. I was much less so. Emotions were easier to deal with, given there was only the basic ones, and I didn't have a pressure point.

Now, I had all of the same weaknesses. So many complicated emotions all the time, like guilt, which was strange because I had no idea what it was about, and so much confusion.

It didn't make sense... Ever since last night, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It just didn't make sense! Why would someone jump in front of an attack? What good does it do? You get hurt either way and it's not stopping the attacker from attacking the person afterwards, so what's the point? Why would you let yourself get hurt?

It... It didn't make sense. It wasn't logical, or smart or anything! All it does is get you hurt and then the other person has to deal with you being in pain. Where's the upside to that?

I felt myself shiver as I leaned back against the walls. That was another thing: Cold. I never got cold before but now it was affecting me. The invention of sweaters was suddenly a genius idea.

I had currently resided in a long maze of tunnels, which had quite a few empty spaces being used for nothing but animal territory and just a bunch of vines growing everywhere. Kinda dark and gloomy, but I was hidden away from everybody else, and that's all that mattered.

It took a while, but as the shivering only got worse, I had no choice but to seek out warmer clothes. Currently I was surviving on a gray T-shirt and some black pants that I stole from somebody's house and that wouldn't suffice if I were going to be surviving out here.

As I stood up, a low, almost growling sound emitted from my own body. Why does it keep doing that? And why does my core feel... Weakened? Am I doing something wrong?

I shook it off and proceeded to the exit. Hopefully, I could find something of use.

New body or not, I stuck to staying hidden from other people. Sneaking into alleyways, dipping behind houses and weaving anyway I could just to avoid others attention. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I looked like, I never really checked because I didn't think it was important. But now, every time I caught anyones eyes I just wanted to shrink away and run until they couldn't see me anymore. Self consciousness... Another human thing. What was I thinking? Why was this a good idea again?

As I quickly moved through the space in between the houses to walk behind them all, I was reminded. Stability. Power. But then logic had to ruin it with: You know, I'd rather choose not having to actually take care of a physical body and just using other bodies for short bursts of time than having cool sparky powers.

The stability, no matter what the consequences were, was one thing I couldn't argue with.

Though a busy market might seem risky, it actually helped a lot when it came to shoplifting, which I had to do due to no money. All the workers were so distracted that they didn't notice me silently taking things off the rack, pretending to look interested and consider buying it and quickly rushing out of the store and out of anyone's sight. It was hard to tell if anyone saw me, but since nobody followed, I figured it was okay.

I quickly looked down at what I managed to grab: A pair of blue jeans, a yellow shirt and a gray jacket. Not a bad find, definitely something I could survive off of.

Ducking behind a large cluster of coral, I changed into the newer clothing and left the old where it was. Someone else could find it later, or not, I didn't care either way.

I almost left right then and there. In fact, I was already walking away from the market and ducking behind the houses to head home, but overhearing a voice I recognized stopped me where I was. Two voices in fact.

"Hey! Stop pulling me!"

"Well if I do, will you still follow me?"

The first voice hesitated. "I... I have a lot of work, okay? Peace Treaty, remember? Kinda a big deal."

"What's also a big deal is that we haven't have any alone time together in forever. You're going to come out with me, and you're going to have fun, whether you like it or not."

I slowly peeked from out between the spaces of the two houses and confirmed my theory. Cody and Sam.

Sam had her hand firmly wrapped around Cody's and her teeth were showing in a huge grin. Cody barely resisted her pull with a more tame smile on his face to match it. His eyes rolled a little. "You know I have work to do. Really important work." His voice... Didn't sound convincing. At all. Almost like he wasn't trying to convince her in the first place, which really didn't make any sense.

"Yes, you do." Sam answered, smiling as brightly as before. "And it's called a picnic. Can't make a peace treaty on an empty stomach."

She tugged him towards the market, and though Cody followed her this time, she didn't let go of his hand.

Cody was one of the great threats and I had spent a good time observing him to get more information about him, but right now he was acting slight... Off in a way. A lot different than I had ever seen him act to anyone else.

I had to follow them from behind just to check if my theory was right, and I noticed little things. Like Cody constantly looked at her, a lot more than he looked at anyone else, and especially when she wasn't looking. How long they were holding hands, which was quite a while surprisingly. Sam kept checking behind her to make sure he was there and never stopped smiling.

The pair ended up buying a bunch of food before settling off. I still found it weird that Cody abandoned something so important just to eat some food outside. Really just didn't make any sense to me, but maybe I'm missing something? Is eating food outside somehow... Better?

The pair settled down somewhere far away from civilization, and just started eating and joking around. I had to settle a ways away to avoid being seen, but they didn't seem to care about anything else. In fact, despite the dangers of being further away from any help, they weren't scared at all, not even on edge.

Cody was acting a lot less rational and that... That was a weakness. Somehow, Sam was a weakness. Something about her specifically to him, because he sure didn't act this way to Professor or Tanith or Selena, not in the same way at least. Just Sam.

I contemplated striking right then and there, but Cody's own power made me hesitate. Even alone he was still a huge threat, and I couldn't risk that. So, I left before I could get spotted at all.

But, the way back proved today would be even more eventful as I nearly stumbled into a conversation if I hadn't heard it and stopped myself.

"-then he just shot all this lightening and Darrel just flung himself in front and I-"

"KK! Breathe! You're talking really fast!"

Tanith and KrakenKid. Not a doubt in my mind. And the only thing blocking me from them was a slight hill that I promptly used to hide the rest of me. Why does this keep happening? I swear I have the worst luck today...

A deep breath was let out, presumably by KrakenKid as I listened. "I'm sorry but I can't and I just-" His voice broke off and let out a small noise I didn't recognize. "He's... He's not waking up. The Doctors aren't sure if he'll even live but at least right now his heart is still beating... He had a heart attack... Tanith, I can't... I can't deal with this! He can't die! Please! He really can't!"

His voice turned to wailing, and a shot of electricity shot through my mind as it remembered something painful. My own voice, screaming in the same desperation. I clawed at the side of my head until it stopped and focused back in on the conversation.

"I can try healing him but... No guarantees it'll work. Somethings are really hard to fix."

"Please. I'm willing to try anything at this point. He's always been there for me."

There's that feeling again. What do I have to be guilty of? Darrel made his own choice, I made mine. Simple as that... Or it should be. Why doesn't it feel that simple? Stupid emotions...

"Can I ask a favor?" KrakenKid's voice brought me back to what I was listening to.

"Anything! Within reason of course."

"Can we go somewhere? Anywhere at all? Just anywhere where I can forget everything that's happened for a moment. Remember when you said you wanted to be "Free to be you and me?""

There was a silence, which made me peek over and noticed a soft smile on the hybrid's face. "Of course. I can probably find somewhere that people aren't it, everyone seems to be doing their shopping today instead of being anywhere else. I think there's a sale or something?"

"Anywhere is fine, let's just go."

They went silent and after a check, they were retreating, thankfully in a direction away from me.

But once again, I noticed that as Tanith lead the way, she was pulling KrakenKid along, even though he didn't need it. She made a small comment to him, one I couldn't hear, and he smiled really wide. Once again, there it was. The staring, even when she wasn't looking. The check ups to make sure he was alright. The small laughs when he spoke.

They're acting so different around each other. KrakenKid was acting different, maybe even a little more irrationally. And that, was a weakness. Once again, a person as a weakness, and a major one at that. Not something you see everyday.

And just like before, the thought of attacking right then and there came to me. After all, though he didn't appear to have the same abilities as Cody, KrakenKid was still a leader. A king. That was more dangerous than anything. But, I tried that the other night, and his gun hurt, even though I didn't get hit directly by it. I was not in the mood to try that again, especially when he had someone with force fields on his side.

So instead, an idea began to form in my mind.

***********

I got lucky that the lab was restocking it's supplies as night fell, and when a large white van held some of the supplies I needed, all it took was some electricity and quickly learned the basics of how to drive said van to take all of that.

Needless to say, I wasn't a good driver, but I managed to get the van to where I was residing in mostly one piece. It was missing both of those things on the side of the truck, whatever they are, and the front was pretty busted up, but it made it.

It took a while to unload everything I needed, which was materials to build a large tube and some other machines I'd need later, but it was worth it.

Eventually, I got to plop on the floor with a heavy sigh and begin to piece things together. Seeing all the lab equipment made me twitch and my electricity act up, but I forced all the memories down and just worked.

Instruction manuals of how to build what I needed came with, but it was a bit confusing. Adding in the screw to the mix, I didn't get how I was supposed to do that. Why did I kept mentioning a screw driver? What is that? And why is the hammer so tiny-

"What are you doing?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin and whipped around.

The being behind me appeared a human boy but was really small. A child. He had brown curly hair and purple eyes, as well as fairly pale skin. His eyes were a light purple. He wore a gray sweater with a patch off to the left side of his chest, and a pair of jeans with a similar patch in his left knee. He wore old sneakers as well, and stared at me, eyes examining me.

I paused for a moment before groaning. A kid. A kid found me! What kind of luck do I have today? "You gotta be-" I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "I don't have time for this! Shoo! Shoo! Go home!" I made a gesture to match what I was saying.

But, he didn't so much as move a muscle. His eyes still watched me like hawk. I hesitated before letting my arms flop back on the ground. "Am I not saying that right? What do you parents say when they want you to go away?"

Something flashed in his eyes as he spoke up. "Why does it matter what my parents say?"

"Because you listen to them, don't you?" I rose an eyebrow. "That's why they have kids, right? To have little minions who do whatever they want and so they can shape and form them into whatever they want?" The boy opened his mouth but I quickly stopped myself, remembering how humans worked to their core. "Never mind, stupid answer." I slapped myself. "Stupid! Of course I know why! You humans get so sentimental about everything and have all these emotions. Why do you guys make everything so complicated?"

Once again, he looked like he was going to answer but I stopped him. "Never mind that, why are you still here?"

He stared deep into my eyes. "Can you entertain me?"

I sighed, slouching down and gave him a bored look. "No, I'm busy. Go back to your life givers."

"They're busy too."

"Well I don't see why this is my problem-"

"They're always busy." He went on, looking down. "I rarely get time for them to spend time with me..."

I paused for a moment, really feeling something, then squinted at the kid. His purple eyes met my... Whatever my eye color is, I still don't know. Probably blue. "Are you... Guilt tripping me?"

A spark was in his eyes as all the previous sad emotions drained away. "Is it working?"

It took me longer than I thought to answer, and when I did, I found myself nodding. "Surprisingly, a little... I blame this body! I'm feeling all these new emotions and I just can't deal with it! I didn't sign up for this! I never had such weird emotions before it happened."

I almost went on, but then once again, came that weird growling sound from my own body. "Also, that! Why does it keep making that sound and why do I feel like my core is in pain?"

"You're hungry." The boy answered simply.

At his answer, I immediately started laughing. "Oh, no, no, no! You don't understand: I used to be just a soul and energy, I don't need to eat."

"Well," The boy shrugged. "You said it yourself that your human body makes you human emotions. Chances are, basic laws of energy use applies here too."

It took me a moment, but soon I felt my own eyes widen and my heart skip a beat. "Crap..."

The boy dug into his pockets and pulled out a brown, lumpy thing wrapped in plastic wrap. It seemed to have little bits of food in it, and consisted of something I didn't recognize.

"Here," He held it out to me. "Homemade granola. I made it myself and it's my personal favorite snack so maybe you'll like it."

I eyed it suspiciously before slowly reached for it and quickly snatching it out of his hand when I could, drawing it close to my body. The boy's eyes flickered but otherwise, didn't move much other than lowering his hand.

As I unwrapped it, I couldn't help but point something out. "You do realize it's just a bunch of chemicals, right? That's all food is. Molecules and chemicals. I never understood why it's so big among you-" As I took a bite, I shut up. Suddenly, it all made sense. It might've just chemicals but if I didn't just want to cry from joy right then than I was a huge liar.

"HOLY-" I didn't even want to talk as I stuffed most of it in my mouth. "THE FLAVORS ARE AMAZING!" I screeched as I chewed.

The boy's mouth twitched upwards, and he laughed. That made me stop in mid chew and made my heart start to pound. "What are you doing?"

He stopped for a moment and tilted his head. "I'm not doing anything."

"Yes you are." I argued, narrowing my eyes. "You're laughing, why are you laughing?" A horrifying thought made me nearly drop the granola bar. "Wait... Did you poison me? DID YOU JUST POISON ME?"

"No!" The boy shook his head. "I'm laughing at you! Why? Is that weird?"

I nodded, slowly shoving the rest in my mouth. "Yeah, because no one does that to me."

"Well, why not?" He asked.

"They just don't." I swiveled back around and began to look around for whatever a "Screwdriver" was. The whole room was silent for a long time.

But, he couldn't stay quiet for long. "Why is your hair blue?"

"You're still here?" I glanced back, and confirmed what I already knew. Then, it occurred to me. "Wait, my hair is blue?" I reached up and grabbed some and tried to pull it over my eyes, which worked and found two things. One, my hair was really blue, and the other, my hair was pretty long. "Huh... I don't know, it's just like that."

I tried to turn around, but he kept talking. "Can I touch it?"

I paused for a long time, but given this guy wasn't going anywhere, I figured I might as well humor him.

I faced him and bowed my head to his level. "Go nuts, kid."

Immediately he began to ruffle it. "It's really fluffy." He commented.

"Indeed it is-" My vision was obstructed for a moment, making me chuckle. "And you jusssst blinded me. Good job-" I hesitated. I didn't realize until now, but I didn't know what to call him. "What do your parents call you?"

"Cheser." He answered.

"Well, good job, Chester." I told him.

Chester looked me up and down again. "What do your parents call you?"

I stopped. How was I supposed to answer this? "What... Do you consider "Parents"?" I asked him carefully.

Chester seemed to think on that, but eventually answered. "Whoever gave you a body."

I sighed in relief. That, I could answer. "That's me then, I gave myself a body. I call myself Ace."

Chester blinked in confusion. "You're your own parents? What happened to the people who raised you then?"

I found myself shifting under his gaze. "I- uh- don't exactly have parents. Not like you do. It's complicated but nobody really raised me. I raised myself."

Chester's confusion only grew more and more. "What was your childhood like then?"

"I didn't have one. It's complicated. Consider yourself lucky you get one, and parents."

Chester blinked but looked at the ground. "It feels like I don't have parents sometimes. They're always working, and when they get home, it's hard to get attention with so much competition. I have eleven siblings you know, so my parents try to split up the attention, but it's really hard to get any."

It took me a while, but I met his eyes. "Are you... Sad?" He nodded. "Why? Look at all the things you have! For Pete's sake, you actually have people who care about you. That's more than I can ever say."

Chester's purple eyes shot up in surprise. "You... Don't have anyone who cares about you?"

A scoff escaped me. "Do you blame them? I mean, look at me! I'm just too... Destructive!" My hand shot out and without warning, a blue lightening bolt escaped it and shot out to hit one of the metal boards laying on the ground, sending it tumbling. "See?" I gestured to it. "I didn't even mean to do that! Nobody cares about me, and nobody ever will."

Chester's eyes trailed down for a moment, then shot back up to mine. "Well, I like you."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Don't even try, kid. You don't know a thing about me."

Something sparked in his eyes, more intense than the other times. His hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched. He seemed to take my statement as a challenge. "I know you're deathly scared of something or someone."

The very statement made my heart freeze, but he didn't stop there. "I think you've denied you're scared because it's easier not to deal with them, and I think you'd rather do that with a lot of your feelings, despite the fact that it's killing you inside. I think you just tell yourself that nobody can love you because it's easier just to close yourself off then feel the heartbreak if you're right but don't guard yourself. I think you have a lot of pent up feelings, anger is definitely one of them, and it just comes out when you don't want it to because you can't control them. I think, that despite your trust issues, you feel a slight trust for me."

It all hit right where my heart was, and it almost made me want to run away, but I held my ground. "How... How did you?"

"You live in a cave for one thing." Chester pointed out. "And a lot of your behavior gave it away and... You let me touch your hair. And when I blinded you, you laughed."

It took me a moment, but eventually, I couldn't help myself. "Smart boy." I commented, getting the slightest of smiles out of Chester. I paused before nodding towards the exit. "You should probably go home. It's probably pretty dark."

Chester sighed but got up. As he left, he added something. "Will I see you again?"

I just shrugged. "Maybe, but for now, goodbye Chester."

"Goodbye Ace."

As he left, I couldn't help but think about what he said, then got back to work.

*************************************************

And here's Weakness, or as I like to call it "Ace understands literally nothing about being human, doesn't know what the heck love is, and finally makes a friend"

So here's the thing: Ace wasn't human before, so all these new human things to him are driving him insane. Eating, sleeping, everything he didn't have to do before is now priority and seriously, someone help him he doesn't know what he's doing.

And then comes Chester.

Oh boy, Chester is an interesting fellow I've been waiting to reveal for a longggggggg time. He's got a major role to play, and you'll see him again.

But yeah! Ace, Chester, lots of stuff!

I can finally post some draws too now so stay tuned for that later, probably tomorrow because I need to go to be badly why am I doing this on a school night editing is probably terrible I'm sorry

Anyways, I hope you liked this! Be sure to comment what you thought, as well as any theories you might have if you got 'em, and farewell!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter