Thousand thanks for the wonderful Rainripple for beta-reading this story ^^
Chapter 2, From desperate research to unexpected finding
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Eustass had the dreadful impression he had never really left this airport's hall. The place was still the same with its concrete pillars and plastic seats. The huge bay windows were obscured by the dark sky. Nightfall was close and the clouds didn't help to lighten the atmosphere.
He was pacing up and down like a caged lion, making the few travelers quickly step out of his way. Killer was calmly sat on a seat nearby and could only watch his best friend dwell on the little information he had obtained from Law's companions. The past events kept running through Kid's mind and Killer felt he would soon be at the end of his tether.
The first call Eustass had received was from Penguin. A week ago Law's companion had informed Kid that Law hadn't shown up at their camp for a couple of days. All his crew had lead search teams but the doctor was nowhere to be found. It was often in Law's habit to explore the temple which was assigned to his team by himself. However Law was careful, as the temples were deeper as they had suspected including galleries going further inside the mountain. Kid's husband usually carried a cell phone and always let others know where he was going. Neither he nor the equipment he brought had been found by now.
Kid had contacted every person he knew was directly or indirectly related to the archeological expedition. He might have scared the living shit out of some academics but he couldn't care less as long as someone would be able to tell him what had happened.
People kept assuring Eustass they were doing everything they could but he was having none of it. He required Killer's help to enter the university's folders and they found nothing suspicious in the files or in the daily registers written by the expedition's groups.
Law had disappeared without leaving any trace and nobody seemed to care!
About two days ago, Killer and Eustass found out that Law's men were being sent back. Without their leader, they hadn't managed to pursue the work begun. As such expedition was needing a certain amount of funds, Law's unit was dismissed and came back home that night. Kid angrily watched their plane land on the tarmac. All of these men had better have answers to give him.
Eustass hadn't the slightest mercy regarding their worried and sleep-deprived appearance. They probably all looked as pathetic as Kid himself. They were still wearing their white overalls dirtied with mud and dust. Penguin held his breath when he caught Eustass' expected silhouette. He wasn't ready for this yet. The tired researcher had hoped for a chance to lie down first but Kid was already running toward them.
The red head gave him credit for approaching him and even starting to apologise before Kid punched him in the face. Penguin hit the floor, his bag cushioning his fall and his hat flew away.
"Where is Law?" Kid spat between his teeth.
Penguin's companions blocked Kid's view before the researcher could answer. Killer followed right behind but not before Eustass broke another nose and a few ribs. The red haired man was out of his mind, trembling and disheveled, his blood boiling in his veins. Killer was the only thing that prevented Kid from physically taking his rage out on the scientists.
"HOW COULD YA COME BACK WITHOUT HIM YOU FUCKERS?!"
"We're sorry Kid."
Bepo was helping Penguin to stand back on his feet and Shachi carefully gripped his bleeding nose.
"We were helpless."
"We did everything we coul–"
"QUIT THAT FUCKING BULLSHIT!"
Kid freed himself from Killer's grasp. The blond man had seen his friend in a fury many times but it'd been nothing compare to this. His voice was rough and sharp as a blade when his gaze fired Law's companions.
"Everything you did wasn't enough. Now I want answers. What happened?"
Bepo firmly held his beaten ribs and lowered his head in despair.
"We already told you everything we know…"
Eustass raised a fist and the hefty pale man curled up on himself. Then the angry red head turned around and beat a retreat instead of more bones.
"Kid!" Killer shouted. He caught his friend at the airport entrance and forced him to stop. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find him myself. I'll go in that fucking mountain and violate every fucking temple if I have to, but I'll get my husband back and I'll kill him myself for making me worried."
"But have you–"
"I didn't ask for your opinion." Eustass cut roughly. "I need a helping hand. Ya're with me or not?"
"Did you hear that?" Killer suddenly said.
"Not from the moment you blew out my eardrum." Eustass grunted as he adjusted the volume of the earpiece he wore on his left. "Seems the academic's network is workin' fine."
"More than fine" Killer added, souding impressed. "I can't believe I'm talking to you from my bathroom at the other side of the world."
"Spare me the details. What did ya have for me?"
"Team three has left their scanning equipment ready-to-use as planned. You'll be able to fix it with the time left?"
"I'm the one who damage these scanners of course I can fix it. I could build a mind reader and scan their boring dreams of mud and brushes before the night is over."
This plan had already worked well. Eustass wrecked the stuff he needed by day and used them at night for his own research without the academics ever noticing. But each time he only had one night of use and had to put everything back in place before sunrise. Killer was a great backup to cover him and make sure Kid's searches didn't appear anywhere. His friend had accessed the expedition online system with mere difficulties. Devices' security wasn't their strong point.
The device Kid was using tonight was a portable scanner. It hadn't been easy to get hold of this beauty but it was worth it. With this, he could be a step further towards Law.
But Kid had to be more careful than nature allowed him to be. He couldn't leave a single track revealing his actions. Scientists might be naïve however any trace of his path would lead to university's collaborator to go after his ass; and the last thing Kid wanted was to deal with the Donquixote family.
The family was the main partner of the Japanese expedition. They assured the expedition's security and financing as long as they kept a close look on the archeologists' works and earned a fair amount of the resulting profits.
Eustass didn't like these guys. He saw his bad feeling confirmed when one of the executive came across him. Kid was told for his own good he should stop asking questions and bothering the archeologists otherwise an arrest warrant would be made with his pretty name on it.
That was enough to ensure Kid's resolution to go on.
"They really shouldn't let the sweepers play with that." Eustass smirked as he brought the scanner back to life. It truly was a beautiful machine that allowed him to see through walls and detect basic traps, as long as you know how to use it.
"You're going back inside the mountain?" Killer asked.
"Ya got it. Law's journal is leading me there."
Killer sighed. That damn journal was the best hint Kid had found since his arrival in Japan. He had faithfully pursued Law's way, but it was guiding him on a dangerous path.
The first thing Eustass did when he set foot in Japan in the midst of its cold and rainy spring, was to settle in Law's former apartment. It was close to the archeological site, in a building that should have known its best days in feudal era at least. It was a big house separated into small flats. The scientists had tried their best at adapting it to their needs; however it didn't hide the whole place's decay.
The flat had been visited before Kid's arrival. He assumed many people, starting with Law's men, had turned the place upside down. Eustass had cleaned everything up but he didn't find more information than he already knew.
He had gone through every thing Law had put online during his research but it merely revealed how annoying Feudal Age could be.
Most of the apartment's stuff was equipment for exploration's safety and analysis while the rest was paperwork, maps and Hiragana characters studied on papers. The expedition was taking place in the ruins of an old white city. Villagers had found it, lost in a mountain of Northern Japan, about twenty years ago. The Japanese government had only allowed strangers to study the city once they were certain there was nothing left to be found. But Law and his peers were convinced of the opposite.
As Kid had sat on his lover's desk, his eyes had fallen on an inscription carved into the wood.
Just come and find it smartass.
Law had written this for Kid's eyes only. That thought alone had put a smile back on Eustass' face. Trafalgar had left a track for him to follow; he just had to find it.
At nightfall Kid was plunge in the darkness. He hadn't expected the electricity to work albeit it would've been appreciated. Eustass reached for Law's torchlight he had put back on the desk during his cleaning. As he switched on the torch, the light flickered and the red head casually stripped down the tool in order to fix it.
His dumbness hit him hard as he opened the torch and found a journal balled-up inside. Law was obviously the clever one. He had written down his main researches in a leather-cover logbook and hid it in a place only Eustass could have found.
Eustass didn't spend time to wonder why Law left him his logbook instead of one of his men. Seeing how they returned home empty handed, Kid was glad to be in charge of finding his husband. The red head was the most capable of kicking his ass for disappearing and making them all so anxious.
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Using the logbook prove to be harder than Kid expected. It wasn't Law's doctor-like handwriting that caused him the biggest problem rather than the content.
Law's work was dedicated to a place of worship supposedly attached to one of the main White city's temples. The person it was dedicated to was a true mystery. There were many deities in Japan mythology however this one didn't appear to be a god. It rather seemed some kind of protector for the White city. Like an average man raise to a divine position and it particularly fascinated Law. Since the city had fallen centuries ago the archeologist had hypothesized that the temple he was looking for could be a hidden gravestone.
Details were troubling him though. That deity wasn't mentioned in any sacred or imperial vestiges they knew up to then. The only concrete evidence Trafalgar had discovered referring to this man was ancient writing on a hidden building stone. A huge square bloc he and his crew had exhumed through advanced devices.
Trafalgar was ecstatic in his own way; a very jaded way in Kid's opinion but Law never had been one to express much emotion. His lover had seemed more and more confident as the weeks had passed by.
The man seemed to have taken many forms and gotten its power from the people who worshipped it. The most interesting part, according to Law, was how few hints they had found about that individual. That part had gone over Kid's head, how finding nothing to prove your point could be interesting? He found his answer further in his reading. It was not that there wasn't enough evidence preserved but rather that the man had consciously been erased from history.
Law seemed to be the only one to truly believe in its existence, it actually helped Kid to do the same. He was bitterly regretting though to not have listened more carefully when Law had told him about his researches. Usually Kid was half-listening, more interesting by what he was working on or what was in his plate.
He spent the rest of time looking how serious and concentrated the dark haired man was. He had engraved in his memory the way Law twisted his mouth or ran a hand through his hair spikes. The intense concentration in his grey eyes haunted Kid as he looked through the journal.
Between ancient Japanese symbols there were often notes directed at Eustass. A sharp remark or a recall only Law and him shared. Kid frequently reread it by night when nightmares prevented him from sleeping. Eustass couldn't believe he was following an archeological track rather than his husband's but to date it was the best lead he had. Law had left it to him to follow; Kid just had to trust his husband.
A few days before his disappearance, Trafalgar was progressing well. He had finally located the hidden tombstone he was searching for all this time. It was hidden right under their nose from the beginning.
But he hadn't let his men know about it and had gone exploring by his own means. Sneaky little shit. Law hadn't told anyone where he was going but he had left enough hints for Eustass to find him.
From what or who were you covering yourself Law?
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Kid progressed slowly in a secondary tunnel linking up to a sacred place whose he was unable to pronounce the name correctly. His hiking boots were stomping on the stony floor as he crossed a familiar path in mining tunnels. The White city had a lot of stone quarries in the mountain.
Down these ruins he was alone –the university's communication network wasn't that effective– and every time founded him a bit nervous even slightly claustrophobic. The perspective of finding his long lost love chased all that feeling away though.
Often Eustass thought about how Law had probably taken the same road he was walking now. The red haired liked to picture his husband busy, with dirty gloves on his hands, giving orders here and there, his spotted jacket hanging lose around his lean frame.
He only lost himself twice this time. Eustass could handle fair well trudging and abseiling, but these buildings were fucking underground mazes. He was sweaty and short of breath despite the depths' coolness when he finally reached the entry Law was talking about in his logbook.
Kid's experience secured his descent and he landed safely on the wet stone floor before securing his rope. The red head lifted his goggles on his forehead then moved forwards raising Law's torchlight to examine his surroundings. Eustass definitely liked that tool since it lit up the way several meters ahead. He could see the now familiar Hiragana characters written on the rock. Kid knew from the journal it told Law's mysterious deity story.
Symbols beyond Eustass' understanding were telling the long story. The man had been touched by a demon. He had been cursed and ended up sharing his body with a devil spirit.
Awestruck worshippers had carved the lightning shocks coming from its hands, the sword it used to cut flesh and lands, the way he ripped out the hearts of his enemies and how powerful that individual could be if you prayed to it enough.
The story took a fatal twist when the man who had been a great protector for the White city happened to turn his evil powers against his worshipers. His cursed presence had brought misfortune on the White city and he slaughtered them all. Sentencing a great city to fall in ruins.
Law's researches were shambles from this point. That brutal ending didn't make any sense. Why was a protector who took his strength from those who believed in him killing his worshippers?
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Ignoring all that, Eustass set up his tonight equipment. Pulling his goggles on his forehead, Kid switched on the portable device. Through it he would finally find the entrance to that damn grave. Law had discovered it by himself but hadn't detailed the means in his journal and Kid wasn't an archeologist. And all he could see right now was a fucking wall blocking his way.
The device came to life under Eustass' expert hands. The scanner's humming filled the room and echoed between the stone walls; not loud enough for Kid to be caught but sufficient for his remaining anxiety to vanish.
He began to read the tight screen, progressing slowly from left to right. They were traps in the corner, old tricks Eustass could easily trigger with proper lures. But a feature caught his attention. The traps were already disabled. Kid smiled. Looks like somebody had already been through here.
He just had to find the door now. Kid held his breath and prayed harder than he had ever done. Come on demon or whoever you are, I have to find Law…. Give me a hand and I swear I'll convert myself right now.
Eustass didn't care if his prayers were heard from the moment the screen showed an old mechanism in the wall. It was there… Right under his nose as usual.
Kid almost threw the device as he moved forward to reach the crack in the wall. The red head slid his whole hand in and cleared a hole large enough for his arm. He used his whole strength to pull out the rock blocking his way, until it finally yielded with the red head's loud grunt.
After wedging the rock to prevent an unfortunate closure, Kid went through his bag and searched for the match sticks he always carried. It didn't shine as far as the torchlight but it was a god way to mark out the rooms he visited. Dropping a few ones at the entrance, Eustass rushed into the tombstone.
He could hear his deafening heartbeats resonating through his head. There wasn't that much dust inside the room and Kid carefully started to follow the walls. The deity's story appeared to continue inside.
Colored engravings that would have made any archeologist faint from joy decorated the room. A long Japanese saber lay on the altar at the back of the room. But it was almost as Kid didn't see any of it; Prints and relics weren't the treasure he was looking for.
Heartbeats were covering his footsteps and a soft light bathed the place when he dropped all of his sticks. Eustass' eyes fell on the coffin dominating the space. Uncertain of what he expected to find the red haired man moved towards the dark wooden piece.
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Kid's steps stopped dead. On the coffin's side lied an unmistakable human form. His limbs were aimlessly spread as if he simply fell. Kid's legs weren't responding until the mechenic's blank mind filled with angst.
Eustass hurried and fell on his knees in one movement beside the body. The first thing that caught his eyes in the torchlight was the ancient costume the body was completely clothed in. No. Not completely. When the light reached the resting face Kid's heart quit beating.
The face was Law's. And it hit Eustass right in the gut as though his heart had sunk down his stomach.
"No…"
Without any further thinking, Kid took the dead-still body in his arms and desperately searched for a breath, a pulse,… Anything.
"Law… Law you better not be dead."
Kid's voice was hoarse however he never ceased to call his lover. The red head felt himself dying at each second passed.
"Trafalgar… come on… LAW!"
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A sharp breath lifted Law's chest startling Kid who mimic his deep inspiration a split second later. In his arms the man was struggling to take air into his lungs. It looked harshly painful but Eustass hugged him tightly. He wasn't gonna let him leave anymore.
Trafalgar's back arched as he gasped for air and his arms tense against Eustass'. The red haired man gave him more room without letting go completely. Law glanced all around him as he tried to figure out where he was.
"It's okay. I'm here…" Kid continued, his eyes slowly wetting.
Eustass' voice seemed to ground Law a little and reminded him he was trying to escape the red head's grip. He pushed Kid away harder and attempted to talk but it proved to be impossible to form words with his dry throat. Law coughed and kept away from Eustass, glaring daggers at him. It wasn't hard enough to keep the mechanic at a distance though.
"Law, it's me… I'm with you now, everything's fine."
Seemingly it wasn't.
The dark haired man begun to throw panicked looks all around him. Law ripped off his wrap-over top as if he was suffocating and only the sash at his waist prevented him from taking off more. Eustass tried to catch him before he hurt himself. Law jerked in response and an electric current hit Kid's temple so hard he was forced to loosen his grip. Eustass rubbed his painful temple and wondered where the fuck did Law get that from?!
Trafalgar's furious gaze landed on Kid as he stood up, furiously panting in his saggy costume. The revived dark head snatched the sword on the altar and drew it at the red head while struggling to make sentence, his numbed tongue taking an eternity to comply.
A chill went down Kid's spine that had nothing to do with the blood dripping from his eyebrow arch. His attention was caught by the dark head's bare chest where the big heart tattooed on Law's torso was no longer present. The tattoos on his arms, his chest and shoulders weren't there either. Kid knew these tattoos by heart and the nude skin he gazed at now wasn't his love's ones.
"D…Do…not c…ome…closer!" Law growled.
For a moment Eustass assumed he'd been punch harder than he thought.
"What?" The red haired whispered
"Know your… place… mortal! You… are not allowed to touch me!"
"Speak English dumbass. I don't understand a goddamn thing you say."
Kid's panic cranked up a notch; the man he faced looked identical to his husband but neither appeared to recognize him nor bore the same tattoos on his skin.
The swordsman was short-winded and he started to shiver from his earlier efforts. He passed out, with a "I do not know you" dying on lips. Eustass caught him right before he hit the floor.
It was a little bit too much for Kid's unstable mind. He was on edge for so long it took him an eternity to acknowledge the man he was holding wasn't the Law he hoped to found.
"…Who the fuckin' hell are you?"
