Law had retreated into the office room on the first floor of the house by the time Ace returned from the store, laden with groceries. Ace had barely made it into the kitchen before Luffy rushed in with a great big grin on his face. Ace set the groceries on the nearby counter and began to put them away, addressing his bother as he worked, "What is it this time? Did you hear ghostly rapping on the wall or something?"
"No, and that only happened one night." Luffy crossed his arms, "And you said that it was faulty pipes."
Ace put some of the food into the fridge, before he glanced over at Luffy, "I said that it could be faulty pipes. I never said anything about it not being a ghost."
Luffy gave Ace an unimpressed look, "You don't even believe in them, and you always tell me that they don't exist."
Ace turned away, and grabbed a sandwich from one of the bags, which he tossed at Luffy, "You can believe all you want, but there's no such thing as ghosts and spirits and things that go bump in the night. That's robbers, by the way. They get their heads bumped by me if they ever try to sneak into a place that I'm living."
"Except that one time it was Grandpa, and you knocked him out." Luffy examined the sandwich he had caught, before taking a bite, "What happened after that anyway?"
The fact that Ace continued to put away the groceries led Luffy to believe that the exchange wasn't exactly pleasant. Luffy munched on the sandwich some more. It was tasty. By the time he had finished it, Ace was done putting the groceries away. It was only then that the younger teen remembered why he had come into the kitchen in the first place. Luffy seized Ace by the arm and tugged him toward the living room, "I found some treasure, Ace! I told you I would find something in this house!"
Ace allowed himself to be all but dragged into the living room, where Luffy let go of him to seize two leather pouches that he had left on the coffee table. Ace sat on the armrest on one end of the couch, and watched as Luffy upended one of the pouches.
A handful of large, golden coins clinked out onto the glass, old but still obviously very valuable.
Ace reached over and picked one up, twisting it this way and that between two fingers, "Where'd you find it?"
"Down in the basement."
Ace gave Luffy a look, "The basement Law wanted you to stay out of?"
"I didn't touch anything down there, other than the brick wall. That's where I found the bags. They were hidden behind some bricks."
"A brick wall that you'll now have to fix, or the person that Law is renting the house from is liable to get upset."
"I already put the bricks back. It doesn't even look like anything had been done to it." Luffy upended the other leather pouch over the table, and a ring fell out with a flash of gold and silver. A tiny, folded up piece of paper, faded with age, fluttered out after the ring. Luffy didn't seem to be as interested in the ring, but he carefully unfolded the piece of paper. It could be a treasure map. Luffy was very disappointed that it only had writing on it, so he set it aside. The golden coins were far more interesting to him now.
Ace examined the coin he held more closely. Just from a brief glance, it was obvious that the coin was very old, and there was no date on them. Only engravings and other markings, none of which made much sense to him. It almost resembled the golden medallions that Luffy was always yammering on about that pirates had in their treasure chests. Because pitates were always after treasure, and gold was one of the more valuable ones. Ace set the coin back down, ignoring Luffy scooping it up to look at it.
Ace's hand strayed to the ring, and picked it up. He held it up, and inspected it closely as he had the coin. The outside of the ring had gold and silver weaving in and out of one another, forming the ring itself. On the inside of the ring, it was all silver, and while it was tarnished with age, Ace could just make out a thin script that wove its way all around the inside of it. Ace set the ring back down on the table, and picked up the note that his brother had unfolded, but dismissed as uninteresting. It was small. Only about three by four inches, and the majority of it was taken up by neat handwriting.
Even though the text that had been scrawled had faded with time, Ace could still make out what it said:
E.
I picked this up the other day from one of my 'transactions'. Thought you'd be able to make some money off it because it has gold in it.
I do hope you're ready to pay for what you did last week.
I'll see you soon, though it'll be when you least expect it.
T.
Ace wasn't sure what to make of that, but he pocketed the ring while Luffy wasn't looking. Since the person who had received the ring hadn't pawned it off, maybe he would be able to see how much it was worth.
A shadow fell across the back of the couch, but when Ace turned around, the shadow was gone. Ace did hear what sounded like a door being closed, but he dismissed it as Law doing the action. He hadn't realized that the doctor was still holed up in the office.
-x
The whispers, Law had decided, were by far one of the most aggravating new developments he'd had to deal with since seeing the red head in the reflection of the mirror. The sounds and noises and whispers were all much more audible than they had been before. It was a male voice, and the tone was normally either angry or annoyed. Law presumed those emotions were aimed at him, for whatever reason, and by the ghost that was haunting the house.
Law had also begun to catch glimpses of the red head in other mirrors in the house, as if the ghost were trying to communicate with him. The dark haired doctor tried very hard to avoid looking directly at the red head, and had even began to avoid any and all reflective surfaces altogether.
The only time Law seemed to be able to escape from the ghost stalking him was at work. In short order, the hospital soon became his sanctuary. A place where the surgeon could go to ground himself and rationalize things. If he were calm and collected, Law had a much better time being able to ignore the ghostly intrusions into his life when he had to return to the house.
Law didn't realize that the more time he spent in the house, the more the ghost seemed to try and latch onto him, as if it was in desperate need for interaction. Law wasn't about to sympathize with it. The red headed ghost was dead, so that meant it should have moved on by now. Law was quite done with being touched unexpectedly, and feeling as if he had been drenched with cold water.
-x
"Law?"
Law paused mid-step at the mention of his name, and turned to see Monet walking toward him.
Monet held back a laugh at the questioning look Law wore on his face, "Don't be so suspicious." The green haired woman lowered her voice, "Can we talk?"
Law immediately picked up on her tone, and nodded, speaking aloud as a nurse walked by, "Yes, I'd like to get some information on a patient."
Monet beamed at him with a practiced smile, "Right this way, doctor."
Inside the file room, clearly alone with no eavesdroppers, Monet held out a scrap of paper to Law, "The boss was hoping you had time to do something for him. If it worked in with your schedule."
Law looked at the short hand written request, a little hesitant when he realized what it was that Doflamingo wanted him to do. However, it provided an opportunity to spend more time away from the house. Eventually, Law spoke aloud, "How discreet would I need to be?"
"Not very. The guy in question is going to be alone, so it should be quick for you if you move fast enough." Monet shook her head, "It'll need to look like an accident, but if you can't manage that, then make it seem like a robbery gone bad. That would be fine too."
"When?" Law asked, still studying the paper silently.
"Tonight." Seeing the weary glare thrown her way, Monet added, "You get done with work in a few hours. You won't have to worry about the cops. They'll be busy with something else that will coincide with the hit." Monet was silent as she watched Law think about it, before adding, "I know you don't particularly care for assassinations, but the boss believes that you'd be able to take care of it on your own."
"...I suppose if I go in prepared things will turn out all right. And that means I'll have to stop by the house to get ready, if Doflamingo-ya wants it done tonight." Law wondered if he ought to mention to the blond that he'd rather only do smuggling runs if he really wanted him to still work for him on occasion.
Monet left the room with a wave of her hand, "You'll get a call at the house when you get back from work, with some details."
-x
Law went through his day without much thought about his new plans for the night, or his slowly increasing problem with the ghost in the house. Law had almost gone back to tell Monet to have Doflamingo call his cell, but he knew that his on again, off again boss wanted a secure line. Which was what Crocodile would have put into the house.
Law was ready for the phone when it rang, and picked it up as soon as he knew that neither Ace nor Luffy were within hearing distance. Law didn't even give the other man time to speak, "You know, Doflamingo-ya, if you want me to kill someone for you, you should just give me a call. You didn't have to have someone else offer the job to me."
Doflamingo laughed at that, "Fufufufu. I figured that you would say no if I called you, doctor." There was a slight pause, before he spoke again, tone questioning, "You'll do it?"
"Yes, I'll do it. Who is it, and where are they going to be tonight?" Law picked up a scrap of paper and scribbled down the information that Doflamingo relayed to him. Law frowned, "I thought he was working for you." Law felt the temperature in the room start to drop, and he set his jaw, determined to ignore the red headed ghost.
"Bellamy is a little too overzealous, so we need to stop that before he exposes all of us. I've had quite a lot of trouble trying to keep things covered up, but some of the cops are starting to become a little suspicious."
"You want me to handle him on my own?" Law wasn't at all surprised to hear that Bellamy, and some others, for that matter, who occasionally worked for Doflamingo weren't being as discreet as they should have been. They seemed to think that they could do anything and get away with it, but there was a point that even Doflamingo couldn't fully keep things from getting out.
"You should give yourself more credit Law. You can be very nasty when you want to be."
"Provided that I have enough time to act before he tries to attack me when he realizes what's going on." Law really didn't like the sound of this, but figured that he did want a distraction from his ghostly problems. Law looked away from movement that he caught out of the corner of his eyes.
"Do you want me to have someone else do it?"
"...No, I'll handle it. Just make sure someone deals with the body when I'm done." Law closed his eyes briefly as the room temperature dropped further, and twitched when he felt an unseen hand brush across one of his legs. He really didn't need this right now.
"Give me a call when you're finished, and I'll send someone out."
"I'll do that." Law hung up, moving a little more quickly than was necessary, because the hand that had brushed up against his leg had just squeezed his thigh. Law was silent as he gathered what he needed for the night. The red headed ghost had followed him, thanks to the rather chilled air that lingered in every room that he went into. Law pointedly ignored it, and as soon as he was ready, he went out the front of the house, and shut the door behind him. Law walked a few steps, and while he shivered, he figured that it was just the brisk night air.
-x
Kidd followed after Law, though he had to open the door again when Law shut it on him. Bastard. This whole ignoring him was starting to grate on his nerves...
Kidd grit his teeth, as a sudden wave of vertigo hit him, and he swayed just over the threshold of the front door. It almost felt as if he was being held back from exiting the house by some unseen force. Kidd pulled against the sensation, and started to strain more forcefully when he began to hear a very, very faint voice telling him not to go. To stay there in the house. Kidd blocked out the barely there voice, as he was far more intent on tagging along after Law. He wanted to see what his lover was getting up to. From the phone call the red head had just overheard, it had sounded like it was going to be dangerous, and illegal. Two things Kidd quite liked.
The sensation of being held back slowly diminished, and Kidd almost felt that someone or something was disappointed that he was leaving the house. Kidd quickly dismissed the idea of ghosts and spirits. He wasn't going to deal with that fucking shit. He wasn't a very superstitious person anyway. Kidd cast a glance back at his house, and thought he saw someone standing in the window to the right of the front door. Kidd did a double take, but when he looked back, there was nothing there. Kidd spat a curse and turned away. The red head immediately laid the blame on Law for what he'd just thought he'd seen. The skinny son of a bitch had been ignoring him for so long that Kidd was starting to imagine seeing things that weren't actually there.
Kidd caught up with Law a few moments later, before he slowed to a leisurely pace, and followed along after the dark haired doctor. Kidd was interested in what Law was going to do with all of the dangerous toys he had brought with him. Kidd was feeling a little left out, and offended, that his lover hadn't offered for him to join him.
-x
Back inside the house, in the cellar-basement, the sound of footsteps pacing back and forth, while still faint, increased in frequency. The scraping and scratching noise from behind the boiler increased in its intensity, and went on for hours without any one noticing it.
And as suddenly as it had started, it ended, almost as if it had never been there. A feeling of sadness, disappointment, and complete and utter frustration had seemed hang in the air during the cacophony of sound. But as soon as the noises had stopped, so had the melancholic and frustrated air.
