The morning entered the great hall of the Mugiwaras with a warm summer breeze. The room was full of the beautiful mosaics, shelves full of books and an imposing military decoration. It was larger than the office where they usually met, where he had met Law for the first time, the garden views were much more beautiful from here.

The four men in the room however were ignoring all the beauty and laid seated in the deep looming silence. All thinking about that.

The two legitimate sons of the family were sitting together in one of the armchairs in a shocked silence. Ace, had just woke up a few minutes ago with the biggest hangover of his life and had just now received the horrible news. He now was like a statue, with his head in his hands, pale, looking sick and paralyzed.

Luffy, the youngest of the brothers, had the same expression of defeat and betrayal on his face. His eyes were wet with tears but he was managing to contain it by sheer will. He hadn't move from Ace side for even a second as if his brother sole presence could help him overcome all this.

Then the grandfather of the family, the old man with grey hair who had a neutral and serious expression on his face, as if it the news hadn't affected him in the least. However, if you looked closer you could see how his fists were tightly clenched, how his eyes hid a deep huge anger, or how the frown was slightly more dangerous than usual.

Eustass Kidd, general of the Delphi army, was the last man on the room. He kept pacing around the room like a caged animal wanting to escape from his prison and murder the first man who came too close. He seemed to be on the verge of screaming and lashing out at any moment. His hair was a mess, his clothes undone, teared, dirty. His hands keep clenching and unclenching as if he needed to grab into something. A blade. A spear. A neck.

He still couldn't believe it, reality was just too horrible to be true.

Law had abandoned him. Forever.

Kidd didn't understand. It just didn't make any sense. Not after yesterday. Not after...

"I can't believe he did this" Garp murmured "I don't understand."

Kidd glared. A wild, insane red glance. He stopped his pacing around the room, as if suddenly he had been poked with a burning iron. Luffy looked at him, but his eyes looked so lost to do or say anything.

"Maybe if someone hadn't gone partying selfishly and had been supporting him when he needed it the most, he wouldn't have left this way" he hissed with furry.

Garp and Luffy looked at him surprised, knowing deep down that he was right, that they had not supported Law when he needed them. Even so it was the first time that the redhead, had spoken to them like this. So full of anger. Two betrayals in a day were more than they could assimilate.

"What did you say?" Ace asked, standing up and facing Kidd. Reassuming to violence as Kidd was going to get over the pain. They were soldiers after all, they only knew how to deal with things in one way.

Kidd glared at the young boy, violence contained in every line of his body, tense, prepared to fight. They both needed to let off the pain, they needed to get rid of that feeling of frustration and betrayal, a good fight would help with the pain and...

Garp slapped a table with clenched fists, hard, loud, attracting their attention. The man looked tired, pained and helpless. He watched them both with a dangerous glint in his eyes, and the two of them retreated into their previous positions. Garp was the commander, if they wanted to fight they would have to do it elsewhere.

"Stop being childish" the old man ordered with a "Eustass I won't tolerate you insulting my family. Ace, I haven't educated you to be like this, we're civilized people, not barbarians"

The redhead looked at him annoyed, the rage and storm still curling around him, but after a moment he ignored the man and resumed walking. This were his allies, this people wanted to help Law too, he shouldn't hurt them, no matter his emotions.

"I don't know why Law has left us so suddenly without even saying goodbye, but we can't do anything about it" Garp finally let go, leaning back in his seat with that tired face "... after all, it was his decision"

Ace and Luffy lowered their heads saying nothing.

Accepting it.

"What the fuck?!" Kidd roared, walking to stand in front of the table on which the old man was sitting. The commander frowned at him, Kidd clenched his fists, containing the murderous instincts "You are not going to do anything?"

"No" the old man repeated "It was his decision and you should also accept it ... although I still don't understand why you are so upset, you barely knew Law, why so angry?" he asked him inquisitively.

Kidd ignored the question. Instead he looked at the old man holding his gaze, showing his horrible emotions in his eyes. Rage going to a deep disappointment. Garp returned the glance, angry for a while, but in the end, he turned away, unable to stand Kidd's red eyes.

"You know why Law entered the temple like this," Kidd hissed low, with a strange calm tone that failed to fool Garp. The man trembled in front of him. Squirming as if in shame.

And then he replied simply.

"Yes" he commented "It was his duty"

Kidd wanted to scream. Kidd, Garp, Ace...they all knew exactly why Law had entered the temple. It was not because of such bullshit as duty or honour. Law had never been like that. It was because he had no other fucking choice but to accept it. Because he believed that they would not be able to do anything to stop this all, because he was protecting them, saving them the trouble, allowing them to live normal lives. Law was sacrificing himself for them.

"You are not going to do anything" it was a fact, not a question. Kidd finally understood it. They were cowards.

"No" plain and simple.

Kidd left the room slamming the door a moment later, his eyes ones of a mad man. Ace and Luffy looked at their grandfather without believing it, without wanting to accept that Garp, their hero, would do nothing to save his brother. What if it had happened to them?

Garp's stood up with slumped shoulders and left the room without saying a thing.

Luffy began to cry silently. Ace circled his brother's shoulders with his arm and stroked his hair while trying to contain his own tears. He still couldn't understand it. How his life had turned into such a bad way in just a few hours.

They would not see Law again.

Ever.

...oOo…

Hours later Marco walked across the training field inspecting the row of boys squared in front of him. This year, the newcomers he had to train made a total of five boys, and among them was the dark-haired one who had caught his attention so much.

Marco proceed to explain them then how the army worked and what they were going to do in the following months. It mostly implied training to increase the resistance and strength of the boys at the beginning, it was also the hardest part when entering the army and the one that showed the difference between an average soldier and a leader. Then they would go to the specializations, with swords, horses and the rest.

He explained them that he had gone himself through the process and remembered it with a mixt of terror and affection. Mostly terror, thanks to Kidd, but, they would survive. Or at least, most of them. It was in those first months where everything started. Where you put the basis of what you would become later, where you got real friends, developed skills.

It was there where he had started his friendship with Kidd, whom he now considered a twin brother.

Marco frowned at the thought of his friend. Kidd had not shown up today in the training camp. It was the first time in all their history together where he hadn't come, Kidd always came to train, even when he was sick or with an impressive hangover. Why hadn't he come today?

Sighing, he looked at the five serious boys, assessing them. Half of them were looking green, probably they were trying to overcome the hangover from last night's party. Then there was Ace. His face could have belonged to a dead man, his gaze fixed on the ground, his skin pale, and he didn't seem to be paying enough attention to what Marco was saying.

It curiously pissed him off.

Another blond newbie who seemed to be Ace's friend and who, if Marco remembered correctly, was called Sabo, kept looking at his friend with a worried look, as if knowing what was happening but not daring to say or do anything.

Marco already disliked him badly.

"Well, now let me show you the camp so you can orientate yourselves" he commented, hoping that walking would help Ace forget his dark thoughts.

Most of the boys hurried quickly behind him excited and trying to hide his headache, but it did not escape Marco that the two friends separated a bit from the group as if needing a little space to talk.

Marco convinced himself that he didn't care about it.

They toured the camp while the blond explained to the boys more or less how it was assembled. There was a part with white and elegant tents where the high commanders met to discuss tactics or simply study how they could better train the soldiers. There was also a series of tents where the armour, weapons or fighting material were kept. Marco let the kids go into one of those for a while to explore and when they left everyone's eyes shone with excitement.

Even Ace's. Marco sighed with relief.

Then I show them the stables, the training camps, even the latrines. In the last one he explained that one of the punishments for disobedient soldiers was to send the rebel to clean those few holes where more than two hundred soldiers met their needs. It was a lie obviously, still the face of panic some put made it clear that they would obey him.

God, it was so fun to mess with the rookies.

At the end of the morning the training finally began and he made the boys ran in circles around one of the free lanes. He smiled proudly when he saw that the five boys held up without gasping in tiredness. Apparently, this year he would have a decent group.

He took that moment to look at Ace worriedly. The brunette seemed a little better than a few hours ago, but he was still with his mind elsewhere, not paying attention to what he was doing. Marco had lost count of the times when he had stumbled over a stone in his path and almost fell to the ground.

He sighed, the view making him almost cringe each time the boy stumbled.

"Ace," he called "come here"

The boy paled a bit, probably thinking about the latrines he had spoken earlier, but obediently, he approached him.

"Is something wrong soldier?" The blonde asked when he had the youth in front of him.

Ace looked at him surprised for a moment, with those deep black eyes of his, like a night full of stars, before lowering his head again with a hurt look.

"Not really," he began "It's just... family problems... my brother went to the temple this morning without saying anything to anyone. We...won't see him again" he said in a slightly broken voice.

His brother? the arrogant raven boy with tattoos? Well, it explained many things, including why Kidd had not come today to train, fuck he had fallen deeper than Marco had predicted. Still it was weird that no one had tried to stop him, especially taking into account how overprotective Garp and Kidd were. Normally in these situations the families fought, they asked for another trial before the assembly. It never changed the decision, but still, it allowed them to have a few more days with their loved ones.

But if the boy had left on his own, ignoring his family and friends...

Well. Shit.

Marco watched the boy in front of him who was again lost in his thoughts with that hurt look again in his eyes, with those clenched fists, with that betrayed frown. He looked as if he was about to cry.

Marco, of course, had then a terrible desire to hug him, comfort him, and tell him that everything would go well between soft kisses. But that would be too weird, wouldn't it? Where had all this shit came from? He had never been...romantic? God help him. He didn't even know the boy, they had shared but a few words, he was Garp's son, Marco was his superior, it wasn't the moment and...

He sighed. Yeah, he was his superior, and as that, he should not allow the child the slightest weakness, he needed to strengthen and turn him into a ruthless soldier.

Still...

"You can go home if you're not well, Ace" Marco proposed "After all, today we will do nothing but run around trying to gain a bit of resistance. You seem to have enough of that already"

Great! Now he was subtly praising him as a fool in love. He was so fucking done. Ace was mourning his brother and Marco flirted with him. He was such a great general.

He couldn't have a relationship with one of his recruits! Garp will murder him! He had to finish with the strange obsession!

Ace was looking at him a surprised, grateful. Marco tried to hide his thoughts with an innocent smile. Ace shook his head.

"No, I'm fine, it'll be alright in a few days," he said with little smile appearing on his face.

Marco hated the smile the instant he saw it. It was simply too false, too sad and self-deprecating for Ace's freckled face. Without realizing it, Marco frowned and clenched his fists impotent, with that strange protectiveness rumbling in his person.

He couldn't do anything to the other, no hug, no touch, no patting his head, he reminded himself. So he simply nodded towards the field giving the minor permission to return to the training.

When Ace got enough far away from him, Marco clicked his tongue angrily with himself and with the world in general. It was not even mid-day and he was already pissed. God, where was Kidd when he needed to punch someone?

...oOo…

Kidd hit the door furiously once more while the people in the street looked at him in terror. He didn't give a fuck. Anything else didn't' matter. He had been pounding and shouting expletives for half an hour on that damned piece of wood, but as always, the door of the temple remained sealed.

No one ever saw the deepest parts. The god's chambers. The real temple.

"Law!" he screamed feeling his throat raw from his shouts "Law come out of the damn temple and move your tattooed ass up here" he shouted furiously giving another kick to the door.

The people on the street had formed a circle around him and looked at him as if he had gone mad. And maybe he had indeed turned mad.

"Isn't him the new general?"

"Who is Law?"

His mind ignored them. His mind was simply focused on the door of the temple. He was going to enter, period. He was going to kidnap Law and get them out of this damn place. Then he was going to fuck him until the brunette couldn't walk away from him, and couldn't even remember his name and his stupid plans and ideas.

But the huge wooden door stood in his way. It was too big to be smashed with fists or even a blade. It was too strong to break it, so all he could do was beat it with raw knuckles and wait for someone to open it from the inside.

Or course it never happened. It would be a blasphemy

He shouted again and gave another punch full of his frustrations to the door. Deep down, he knew this was impossible. The door was not going to open no matter how hard he hit it. It never opened. It only did it for someone to enter the temple and serve the god. Nobody ever came out. And he was not going to be let in.

But he could not stop. That would be like recognizing that he had lost Law forever. It would be like surrendering and giving up. He couldn't do it, not after seeing Law surrendered under him, after having made him his at last, after having seen that desperate look for help or the one full of love when he had kissed him in the middle of that ecstasy ... he could not leave him, he had promised, he had said he loved him, that this was not a game. He couldn't betray Law's trust. It was not an option.

But what happened when it was him the betrayed one?

Kidd did not know what to think about what Law had done, but definitely, he was not going to think too much about it. He'd get Law out of there, there was nothing else to think about. There was no questioning or wondering anything.

He hit the door again furiously and, finally he heard armour at his back. He knew who that was and why they were here, but he ignored them.

"Law, fuck you, stop hiding and get out here you coward" he hoarsely shouted knowing that his time was running out.

"Kidd, stop this nonsense and leave this place" ordered a familiar voice.

What? So they had sent Marco to stop him? his dearest friend? Assholes! He hit the door again, ignoring everything and calling Law back.

"Kidd, I don't want to do this and you don't want me to do it" Marco reminded him too what would happen "Please stop"

Kidd continued to ignore him as if he couldn't hear him. Marco sighed tiredly and Kidd wanted to scream when he heard that simple words.

"Get him"

The fight erupted around him as a group of five regular soldiers tried to trap and immobilize him. Of course, he resisted and returned the furious attack. He threw punches and kicks without really knowing what he was hitting. His mind was still focused on the door.

"Law!" he shrieked, his voice pathetically broken.

Two soldiers finally managed to immobilize his arms and push him away from the door, but still they couldn't handle him and was taking them too much effort to maintain the grip. After a while it was clear that they were not going to be able to stop him, he was a general after all, so Marco intervened.

Kidd was too busy trying to break free from the soldier holding him by the waist, so he couldn't defend himself in conditions when Marco pressed his thumb into a strategic nerve between his neck and shoulder.

He collapsed instantly on the floor with no strength left in his muscles to hold into. He felt his chest collide with Marco's and his friend's arms wrapped around his waist and shoulders holding him easily in place.

Kidd then wanted to hit him in the face for having done that to him, for not helping him as a friend should do, but his body just couldn't respond. It would take half an hour for his body to start working again.

Lucky Marco.

"Come on Kidd, let's get out of here," the blonde murmured against his ear, gently charging him as a friend would do for his drunk friend. "Let me invite you to a tavern."

Kidd grunted without being able to say anything else. Stupid Marco for understanding him so well. Stupid world for always going against him. Stupid Garp for doing nothing. Stupid Law for not believing in them.

Unable to move and without the willpower to do it even if he could, Kidd let the blonde man lead him down the street while the curious group of people began to dissolve.

A well-known tavern crossed their path and Kidd felt the anger transform into something worse. A knot gripped his throat and his vision blurred. A deep wounding pain spread on his chest. This time Kidd didn't know if Marco would be able to help him overcome this. He had never felt so fucking shattered.

Maybe, after all, drinking was not such a bad idea.


Yeah, I know, where is Law? Are they really gonna leave him like that? Would Kidd turn into an alcoholic? Where the hell os Zoro? Let's go slowly, the next few chapters will be solely dedicated to Law, so no worries, about Kidd, well, I can't tell much, but he would overcome it, I promise,

Again, thanks for the reviews, for reading and for the suport, love you guys.