Marco X Ace: Genderbender Ace

Part I

Dedicated to AceMarcoLove

Marco runs straight into the dark tunnel, led by the streak of light. The light flashes and dissolves into glowing green hue as he runs past the arched entrance opening up to a vast area of wet rocky stone and layers of colorful moss overlying it, like corals. From afar, he sees Ace crumple down in defeat before the smiling face of the weird man they pursued. Both stayed their ground on a circular shallow pool created by uneven land and one of many craters peppering the area.

"Ace!" He shouts. The younger man has his back on him, his head lowered low and Marco feared he may have been wounded because of the lack of response. He prepares to strike the other man down with a ferocious 'Marco famous phoenix kick'.

"Don't!" A female voice exclaims. Marco stops in his tracks, he was a step before the water and seconds away from injuring the huge man. The voice was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It sounded like Ace, but softer and less audible, like a voice heard because it was carried by the wind...but there is no wind here. His hesitation allows the man with violet cloak to climb up the thick half-submerged trunk of the massive tree with branches like vines crawling all over arching walls; the foundation keeping the upper limit from crumbling.

Marco realized it could only be Ace. Suspicious eyes stare at Ace, he examines the tattoo on his back and then his back. He notices the back being curvy? Instead of a lean back sharpened by broad shoulder and young muscles, it was petite. The arched line in the middle is the most noticeable, making the mentioned back appear very feminine with a graceful curve.

Marco eyes the water, plunging down a sandalled foot into surprisingly freezing cold. Another step, and his body feels a weight slightly dragging him down as he continued to wade through knee-height water. His nose caught the scent of salty sea somewhere.

Marco's eyes rolls up at layer of jagged rock above. They are very deep underground and the sea waters reached this far and had infiltrated the underground, creating channels. It's a possibility that the rhythmic thrashing of waves is coming from above, wherein there must be a cove or shore. If the water leaking from the jagged ceiling is connected to sea then it is only natural for Ace's flames to be hindered.

Marco regrets chasing those troublesome pirates in this island. If they remained on the ship, they wouldn't have ended up in this maze of caverns. They had gotten themselves into the deeper sanctums that even with the ability to fly, finding the way around will be challenging.

Cautiously, he reaches out a hand and cups a wet narrow shoulder. There's the possibility of a trap and an imposter here so he waited for a response. The milky skin was smooth and he didn't notice his thumb circling it to obtain a better feel.

Ace, who wasn't very responsive flinches, feeling numb then notices the goosebumps made by invasive touches of a mere thumb.

Wet raven hair whips around and huge black eyes glinting from the candescent light stares above. Skin glistens from the reflections of the water bouncing back, making Ace glow and look like a beautiful being out of this world.

Marco almost gasped. The hand pulled away as if in terror "Ace???"

The picture was enough to make a wave of black wipe off the existence of the rest of the world except for Ace's.