A/N~ Happy birthday to Law. ^^

Life on Dressrosa wasn't all that bad, at least not for members of the Donquixote family. All they had to do, was serve the Young Master and follow his every command; for which they would be rewarded with a life which contained little suffering. It was a secure and nice way of living, though it played with people's sense of morality. Living on Dressrosa as a member of the Family felt like winning a game by cheating; they couldn't lose.
A country with such a dark underworld, the suffering and horror many people must go though everyday; all of it was unknown to the Family. At least that side of life was.

"Purupurupurupuru"

I sighed as soon as I heard the Den Den Mushi and with reluctance, I put away the newspaper and got up.

"Yes?"

"Saria, we'll need your expertise again tonight."

"You make it sound like I have a Devil Fruit ability, Diamante."

"Then I gave you quite a big compliment, hm? Be ready at nine, we'll probably have a lot of victims."

"Yes, sir."

That idiot; Life saving doctors were more valuable than Devil Fruit users. At least more than their kind of users: The fiendish kind.

As I threw back the horn a little too roughly, my gaze was being pulled towards the window. When I saw the lump of pink feathers move towards the castle, I instantly panicked. The Young Master was an unpredictable man and whenever he was around, something bad was bound to happen.
Acting on the feeling of uncertainty that welled up inside me, I dashed out of the room in search of my older brother, who should have returned this morning. Even though he was known for his unrivalled loyalty towards the Young Master, he still hadn't made it into the family. While thinking about his sense of duty and loyalty, I couldn't shake the memory of what I thought had been an order to kill.

It had happened three days prior, while I had been roaming around the palace, looking for one of the patients. I had heard Diamante talk on the Den Den Mushi and had clearly identified Dellinger as the receiver.

"It's a direct order from Doffy himself."

"Really?" Dellinger had sounded excited.

"Yes, you are to kill him on sight. That's all."

I hurried through the corridor, peeking behind every door that was ajar and knocking on those that were closed. About fourteen doors later, I finally heard the "come in" I wanted to hear and entered the room, closing the door behind me.
Bellamy was sitting at the foot of the bed, seeming to be doing nothing in particular.

"Hey, what brings you here?"

I closed in on him and grabbed his wrist tightly. Even though I was standing straight, he was still slightly taller. He had grown so much over the last two years, he was probably closer to Doflamingo's height than to mine.

"Doffy is back. Listen, I heard something about an order to k-"

With a fair amount of noise, the doors swept open and in walked the big lump of pink feathers I had seen outside. Bellamy immediately got on his feet and stopped listening to me.

"I had a feeling I'd find you here, Saria. Follow me."

He only used the words necessary and walked right out the room again. Bellamy slightly pushed me forward, after which he resumed his sitting position.

"Tell me, dear:" Doflamingo turned around, standing three meters tall, looking down on me. Small, devil-fruit-less-me. "I have been told you've been eavesdropping. You know that's a bad habit don't you? Why don't you tell me just exactly what you've heard."

As he took one step forward, I took one back, until -after a few steps- I found myself unable to move.

"I should let you know that I'm an impatient man."

"I haven't heard anything, Sir."

I felt the strings that were holding me tighten and let out a shallow grunt.

"Fufufufu, does it hurt? You'll die if you don't start talking."

"You wouldn't kill me, I'm the best doctor you have."

Within a second I could feel the strings tugging and before long my wrists were held with one hand as the other prevented me from dangling like a doll by supporting my bottom.

"Just be glad it's not you." He hissed. "Who I choose to kill is none of your concern, got it?"

I wanted to speak my mind. Well, part of me wanted to. That part wanted to break free of this twisted lifestyle; the way life was treated like a game, existing purely for entertainment.
But I kept my mouth shut, in fear of the punishment I was facing; in fear of Doflamingo.
If only I had a way out; a key that could open the door to freedom.

"Yes, Sir."

"Fufufufu, good girl."

As soon as he had put me down, he started to walk down the corridor again, slowly strolling towards one of the rooms close to mine. I thought no one resided there.
Doffy pushed the door and entered without saying anything. He didn't have to, for as soon as I entered, the screams I let out were probably saying it all.

"What happened to him?"

I rushed over to the guy lying on the bed and had to hold him down to prevent him from clawing at an open wound on his arm. He had his eyes closed though, and seemed to murmer something. Was he even conscious? It didn't seem like it.

" He tried to betray me, patch him up."

I took out swabs and tweezers and for a minute, I had trouble containing myself.

"If your intention wasn't to kill him, why did you go this far? Look at him, I'm not even sure he's conscious.

"Fufufufu, do I hear disagreement, Saria?"

As the Young Master put his left foot forward, I devoted my attention to the guy again and started to clean the wound.

"I'll come check on you later. You are not to leave this room."

As soon as the guy opened his eyes, his attention was fixed on the bandages covering his body. He examined them thoroughly before looking up to see my worried expression.

" You did this?"

His voice was weak and contained a sense of wariness, which made sense, at least to me.

"Yes. Don't move, you'll open up the stitches."

"Are you a professional doctor?"

"Yes. Hey-" I smacked him on the back of his hand. "I said 'Don't move'."

I sighed and grabbed the glass of water he was pointing to, after which I took place on the foot of the bed. For the first time today, I smiled.

"I'm Saria, the one who will take care of you. Is there anything you n-"

"Where's Doflamingo? "

The guy sounded determined, even though his face told me he didn't have much energy to back him up. The bags under his eyes indicated a severe lack of sleep.
I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know. He is a busy man. Tell me, what's your name?"

For a brief moment, the flickering of wariness in his eyes turned into what appeared to be affection of some sort. He sighed and stared at the door while mumbling.

"Trafalgar Law."

It took me a few seconds, but then his name finally sunk in. I crawled over the bed, yearning for a better look of the face that belonged to the protagonist of the many stories I had heard. Unfortunately, I had never had the pleasure of meeting the famous 'Surgeon of Death.'

"So you're Law, huh."

My fingers were tracing the lines of his jaw as I carefully examined his features. So this was the guy who had dared to oppose the one man who killed without remorse.

"I didn't know I was that interesting. Maybe I should get hurt like this more often."

I shot up and mumbled an apology. As soon as I noticed my cheeks started to feel warmer, I quickly turned my face away from the bed.

"It's just that I've heard many stories about you. So I guess you could say that you're interesting."

"Tell me:" Law made an attempt to sit up straight, but I gently pushed him back and with a stern face, ordered him to stay put. "Do you like life on Dressrosa?"

His question was so sudden, asked with a certain purity; all I could do was stare at him in awe, until finally, I shook my head.

"Room"

Law lifted his hand and before I could stop him, he had created a blue orb around us.

"No one can listen in on us now."

His voice was calm: calm and collected. It was as if he didn't fear the Family or even Doflamingo himself.
I could see Law's lips move and I could hear the words coming out of his mouth, but his proposal was so preposterous, I couldn't believe he meant them. After his monologue, all I could do was mutter a single sentence.

"So, you're my Key, huh?"

To be continued