A/N: I listened to "Level Plaguing Field" by Michael Giacchino and "Finish It" by Clint Mansell for these chapters.
Penumbra: haha! That rule has been broken indefinitely XD Boys have it convenient – they can go anywhere!
Naghi-Tan: More to come, these dirty, sinning creatures. It's going to be one of THOSE fics XD
: : Eleven
It was a daunting task to move through the abandoned city at night, using the full moon's light to walk long abandoned streets to the freeway they'd used on their way over. The calls of night animals rang out in the unsettling quiet, and the freezing temperatures weren't that comfortable, either. But it was easy to continue moving and not give attention to the things that skittered off into the shadows, challenging the bigger things that barked at them from narrow alleyways. Night birds called out from high above them, his companion tensely quiet as he kept close to barriers and walls, giving the birds a disadvantage. While cautious, Law felt that the only predator out on the street was him. His mind was occupied with what he could find back at the base, trying to think of all the little details that he could've missed after awakening.
It had been a normal day – Kid's tantrum had been disruptive, and Law remembered standing off to the side with a sullen attitude. He'd burned down the library the day before, and he'd just emerged from solitary to join in with the others when Kid grew enraged at their instructor. Kid was temperamental in the sense that if he felt sensitive about a subject, he'd go overboard with it. That sort of thing was both good and bad – good because it provided a good distraction from the others, and bad because Kid should pick his battles wisely. Being laughed at was a sensitive subject for Kid.
When all of them were apprehended with sea-stone shackles, they'd complained noisily about Kid. Kid was proving a worthy weapon, already destroying the living room with his strength and abilities, the Marines moving hastily to subdue him. Law remembered standing in line with Perona and Luffy when Sengokou appeared from the office hallway – the one leading away from the main entrance. All of them had to face the wall – if given a chance, Law could teleport himself out of the bunker with just that visual, so they made sure he couldn't see it.
'Send them to the pods!' he remembered Sengokou order, a different tone to his voice than his normal. It caused Law to look at him, seeing the tension in his features before a Marine forced him to look back at the wall with an elbow to the temple. As his temper simmered, Law heard Sengokou disregarding Kid's fit, ordering for all of them to be fitted into their body suits. Law heard Corazon ask clumsily, 'For containment purposes?'
Sengokou had snapped at him for questioning him, but the trio were ushered off to follow through. As they were taken to the medical ward, where others were hastily preparing the suits, Law had seen that Sengokou was marching alongside them. The sweat at his temple betrayed the look on his face – Perona had been wearing a thick sweater to make up for the AC.
"Have you lost control?" Law had asked Sengokou. "Or found a new way to forget we're humans?"
"Enough of that, now," Sengokou said. "You'll know when the others do why this is necessary."
"I want my books," Law had said stubbornly. "It's not that hard of a request. Or are those considered dangerous as well?"
"You've lost your book privileges with your little stunt yesterday," Sengokou had snapped. "What's the point of having something if you're just going to destroy it?"
"Is that the same question you ask yourself before falling asleep at night?" Law challenged, Perona shrieking with dismay as she was forced to disrobe in front of all of them to get into the suit.
"My underwear isn't matching today!" she'd roared. "I don't look cute!"
"I don't want to wear that!" Luffy had complained. "My legs are going to sweat and I'm going to feel stuffy!"
"I understand if you feel you're smart enough to start dissecting someone upon our consideration," Sengokou said tightly, "but there are limits to what we are willing to provide! Yes, it's fascinating that you want to learn more about your role with your particular abilities, but we will not give you something that we feel you'll also use against us."
"You raised us as human weapons, and now you feel wary about what we could do? You make guns but also rules on how one can use them?"
"I don't trust you," Sengokou answered low, finally looking at him. "And that's the end of it."
"So, I learn for myself?" Law asked as another challenge. "Rather than provide me with the materials I requested, you'd rather I learn for myself - ?"
"You'll be given nothing!" Sengokou snapped at him impatiently. "And if you even choose to use them on one of us, the consequences of your actions will be severe! A smart weapon can still malfunction if given an improper prompt, and I fear your malfunction will come at an inappropriate time for the rest of us."
Frustration, anger and pent-up distrust built up in Law at that moment – because he couldn't use his hands, he used spit to get his feelings across. Sengokou reacted with a startled stumble backward, the guards suddenly aware of what was happening. Law found himself roughly shoved to his knees, kicked in the chest to knock the breath from him as Luffy and Perona were moved away. Breathing harshly, Law was angrier at himself for losing control of himself than the situation.
"If there is a malfunction, it's your fault!" he insisted hotly. "You can't get mad at your designs if you were the one to design it!"
Sengokou wiped his face with a towel handed to him, ordering tightly, "Make sure he doesn't do that again."
Once fitted with the hood, Law seethed hotly underneath it. He couldn't see, and the hood gave him enough to breathe, but it was suffocating and frustrating because reading the expressions of those around him would give him an idea of what they weren't telling them as they were being outfitted for the pods. They'd used them before – as drills, punishment, learning that these containment units would hide them from the world until the world needed them.
"You're going to sleep! Just for an hour or two. Don't worry about the details, just know we're taking care of you," he heard Sengokou order, Perona still complaining and Luffy reluctantly slithering into his suit with noisy action. Law felt his own clothes were being cut off to give them the least amount of trouble, and while he lost the sense of modesty long ago, he still felt vulnerable as he was roughly manipulated into his. They could hear Kid being forced into the ward, still hollering, the sound of Marines holding him down to do the same to him causing much clatter and distraction. Sengokou was speaking low to someone out of Law's hearing range, but he did hear the man mutter about being free of them.
"They should've never let us do this in the first place," was one of the things that caught Law's attention. "What a waste."
Law wasn't sure what he meant by that, but he felt like a waste. If they ever were to be released, they wouldn't fit into society. But it didn't make sense to get rid of them now, not when they'd progressed so far. It hurt when the zipper to his suit caught onto his flesh, but he ground his teeth to bear the pain as Perona shrieked about having her hair caught.
"Load them up, we'll just have to wait it out," Sengokou had said before the entourage he was with caused the Marines to move around them to let them out of the ward. Law had stiffened at that point, hearing both Perona and Luffy cry out with shock and complaints moments before he felt the awful jab of something sharp thrust against his neck - the telltale prick of a tranquilizer shooting through his blood made the feel of defeat even heavier. The others' words began to slur and his thoughts grew sluggish as they unwillingly became more compliant with the Marines' demands.
"It's just a nap for a couple of hours. Precautions will be taken once you're under," Law heard Corazon whisper to him while passing by. Law imagined that he would've had to crouch very low to do so, considering his position on the ground.
When they were loaded into the pods, Law was sure that he'd heard Luffy complaining about his shackles. Kid was still furious and his pod was shut first as a result, the hissing sound of the sleeping gas filling the tank. Law knew that they would have to breathe in this gas before the pod filled with oxygenated liquid to stay under, and that made him uncomfortable. Breathing in liquid to sleep for an amount of time, with no real guarantee of waking up.
But they had – and the mystery of Sengokou's actions still persisted, along with Corazon's. Law needed to find out why.
It took hours to reach the bunker – he simply wasn't used to the conditioning that Sanji was, and it was a mental and physical struggle to try and match the other's strides. He could hear the blond struggling himself – it made Law feel good to know that he was just as strong as him; like he'd found a suitable subject that supported him, rather than fight or mislead him like the Marines did. True, Sanji was only doing it because Law forced him but he didn't cause trouble or protest; just stayed as much aware of his surroundings as he could in his state. Law felt satisfaction with that. It felt different for someone else to be taking his orders after taking orders much of his life in the bunker.
The bunker was cold, eerily dark – almost too dark for their flashlights and lanterns to ease. They'd reached the open door in the ground, the stairs running down in a steep angle. He had a little fear of the darkness – the bunker was always lit, and while he told himself he shouldn't fear anybody or anything, there was something about the unforgiving shadows ahead of him that made him hesitant to barge in. He hoped there was still power running to the living quarters. As they made their way down with Sanji leading the way, he finally noticed that Sanji's movements were growing clumsy and his steps looser. When they touched down onto the landing, Sanji lowered the lantern to his side and suddenly sat down on the bottom step.
"'m right tired," Law heard him mumble. The sun was due to rise, soon and he remembered that he hadn't seen Sanji eat anything. He took the lantern from him, turning toward the main door leading into the bunker. Without saying anything, he grabbed his arm and forced him to his feet to continue walking with him.
It was almost disheartening to see the bunker in full black. Nothing responded once they crossed the threshold. The air felt thin and limited, but the open door allowed in a fresh breath with the night allowed in with their venturing. If they were still trapped here, the lack of oxygen would have killed them slowly. The intense silence there could drive anyone mad, he reasoned. The darkness was so intense that the light he held was barely enough to cast anything around them. Though he knew the place by heart, the mess Kid had left behind was enough to cause a painful obstacle course.
Because the doors no longer responded to any electronic reasoning, he propped it open with the loveseat. The moonlight that barely reached the stairway gave him no comfort – but he hoped the sun could make its way through the heavy smoke to give them some light in the morning. He figured he'd start looking in the main offices where they'd exited, turning away from the door and finding Sanji sprawled over the couch cushions, hard asleep.
Frowning, Law used his boot to nudge him. He wasn't about to go looking in the intense darkness on his own. When Sanji didn't respond, he gave a harder kick. The man was out, sleeping so intensely that he didn't even react to the action. Law stood there in the heavy silence, hearing only the sound of Sanji's breathing in the empty bunker. Where there had always been sounds – voices of the Marines, the other three, the hum of electronics, the thick stillness seemingly made it possible for Law to hear his own thoughts out loud.
Despite his earlier strengths on feeling like an untouchable subject in this time and place amongst mutated animals and threats of starvation and thirst, the darkness truly felt like a different sort of enemy. One that he didn't feel comfortable tackling.
With reluctance he set the lantern down. He could see his breath as he breathed, glancing at Sanji as he slept, and considered the distance to his room. He ventured over in that direction with his flashlight and examined the blankets. They were fine, if not falling apart in some sections. With some reluctance, he ventured into Perona's room and gathered her blankets from her bed. Large sections fell upon his action, but there was enough remaining to take to his room. He unrolled the ones he'd taken from the house in the colony and felt satisfied with the makeup. Venturing under the blankets, he found it was warm if he kept his cloak wrapped tightly around him. He set the flashlight onto the nightstand to face up, illuminating the ceiling. Laying there, he could hear a faint sound of wind rattling something metallic in the distance. The longer he laid there, the more things he thought of that he could convince himself he was hearing. It was silly to admit that the dark left him uncertain – not scared, he wanted to stress to himself. He denied that aspect.
He could hear Sanji's breathing coming from the main room and attuned himself to the sound. He thought of what happened in the bathroom and felt uncomfortable. But the thrill of that moment wasn't easy to deny. His body remembered that aspect, and he shifted about uncomfortably as the rush of blood made it impossible to ignore. Gritting his teeth, he laid there to focus on his mission and not on pleasures of the flesh. It made him regret bypassing entire sections in the books he'd read because the subject hadn't interested him. Why bother thinking about something that wouldn't happen? he'd reasoned back then. Now if he had, he would have been better prepared to handle what had happened.
Because now that he had a taste of it, he wanted more of it. More of that, more of this – whatever it consisted of to get pleasure. It had to be different with a man than the traditional approach with a woman – maybe this was all men did to please each other. He wasn't tired – with a grunt of displeasure to giving in on himself, he left the warmth of his nest and headed back into the living room. He couldn't even rouse the man into standing – Law figured after the full moon's two nights, Sanji's hyperactivity had finally caught up to him. He made to drop him back onto the couch when he realized how cold his skin was to his touch.
Reluctantly, Law switched the man with the pillow on his bed. He retrieved the pillow and lantern, and headed back there, having to shift and push Sanji against the wall with irritated muttering. Once he set the lantern down to replace it with the flashlight and was under the blankets, he pulled his cloak around himself and sighed heavily, the sound echoing out into the chambers. It was so loud of a sound that he stopped it short. It made his skin crawl to hear the echo.
He thought of Perona's 'babies' just down the training hall. They were only alive when she activated them, but they were actually a scary bunch to consider. After all, some had some of their faces missing, limbs broken, and they uttered creepy chittering noises.
Law recognized he was scaring himself, and drew his cloak hood over his head to somehow block some of the lantern's light. He inwardly scoffed at himself for his racing heart and strained hearing, suddenly more aware of Perona's ghosts than ever.
But then if people had died with the bombing, what if their ghosts were wandering the halls upstairs? What would he do if he heard them? Several minutes passed by, and something thumped noisily in the distance. The sound carried so intensely without any recognizable identification, but it caused Law's heart to jump in his chest and he sat up quickly to look at the door. He used his powers to shut it, and the light in the room became brighter because of it. Sanji continued to sleep and it irritated Law that he could do so when he was the one still up and hearing these odd things.
Some shuffling ended up with Sanji in front of him – so the monsters could get him first, allowing Law a chance to escape – and he tried to relax once more. He stared up at the flickering shadows on the ceiling while the man's breathing next to him continued without interruption. Because his mind continued to race with thoughts of unknown and known creatures creeping up to his room door in the immense darkness, Law turned his attention to Sanji. Looking at him calmed him. He admired the light freckles over his nose and on his cheeks, the flutter of his lashes over the heavy dark shadows under his eyes. When he had his dick in his mouth, his lips were curled neatly, pinkish against his skin.
Law felt his heart jump for another reason, and he felt his face heat with a flush. He reached out and gently ran his finger over those lashes, the feathery touch prickling his skin. He combed Sanji's hair from his face to expose both eyebrows, noting a faint tan line from that style. He traced the shadows under his cheekbones, the sharp lines of his jawbone. Settling in closer to him, Law could touch all of his unprotected skin without worry, but he watched the man's face cautiously as he explored the length of his throat, the exposure of his collarbone. He squished his face between his hands, finding that his skin warmed his palms better than the blankets or cloak did. Then he settled back just to watch him, wondering if it were true that Sanji lost his memory of this event when he was more lucid. If he did, would he remember what happened between them? Law wasn't sure how to feel if Sanji forgot what they did.
As he was brushing his hair back along his scalp, he felt the cold on Sanji's ears. He covered that with his hand, sure it would help. He shifted within the blankets to get comfortable, reaching out to make sure Sanji had his share, too. He was still cold, and Law uncomfortably pulled him closer against him. It was similar to hugging a pillow or clasping onto extra blanket material, only this was warmer, sharper and heavier than that. But it felt nice.
It gave him a warm feeling that felt more welcomed than the extra blankets. Once again, he positioned his arm so that he could keep Sanji's ear covered from the cold. He finally felt tired once he was in a comfortable side position, and closed his eyes to sleep.
He woke up at the feel of movement against him, his entire body tensing as he expected the lights to come on and Marines to come through the door for a rude awakening. But once he realized it was Sanji moving restlessly against him – in fox form – he froze. The furry animal was grunting as it sought a comfortable spot, cold fur brushing against his face as he sluggishly nosed under Law's neck and flopped against him, only to rise and sniff at him with anxious squeaks. Law saw that the door was still closed, but the fox was a rude awakening for him. Fur caught on his lip made him sputter, the fox pulling away from him to look at him with bleary eyes. Its ears twitched before its snout hit him in the chin, sniffing and squeaking with distress as light nips caused Law to jerk his head away. It paced away from him to sit curled up at the edge of the bed before returning to him with a low whine.
Law lifted his head to see what was wrong with it – with Sanji – and the fox barked noisily at him before curling up on the bed with more whining.
Law remembered seeing the animal curling up on Zoro's lap that other night – he supposed Sanji was looking for his partner. Feeling rejected, he turned his back to the animal, hearing it whine as it stood up on all fours once more.
"He's back at the colony, shut up," he muttered, feeling annoyed that the fox would prefer its werewolf partner compared to him.
He felt the animal stiffen as it listened to him – not 'it', it was Sanji – then dart up onto his arm to balance himself there. Law felt his cold snout pressed against his ear and it jolted him with surprise, sitting up to whap at his ear as unwelcome shivers went through him. The fox leapt away from him to run to the edge of the bed, look at him, then race back to nip at his arms. Sanji then leapt off the bed, racing in circles around the room with high pitched parking and whining before leaping back up and slamming into Law's side. He then raced off at a high rate of speed to run around the room again, shuffling underneath the bed, and in and out of the closet. He repeated this several times, Law watching with bewilderment before the fox leapt onto the bed for a final time, panting.
He flopped over onto his side, ribs heaving as his tail wagged noisily against the blankets.
"What is wrong with you?" Law questioned, perplexed to his behavior. More anxious sounds erupted from the fox, and its high pitched quality made him wince. Once again on his feet, the fox slammed into him again before racing up onto his shoulders to nip at his hair. Sure that he was being attacked, Law slapped at him. The fox was too fast for the contact, racing off the bed and running in wild circles around the room.
Panting, the fox was once again on the bed, sitting primly before erupting in near screams that rang within the walls of Law's room. Law snatched the pillow and threw it at him, the fox ducking underneath it to race in circles around the bed. He leapt off and disappeared into the closet, barking and howling in such a way that Law made to slam the door shut when the fox raced out and was back in the bed, sliding into the spot he'd just vacated. He rolled about as Law looked at him with absolute confusion. Sighing heavily, Sanji rested there, tail flopping against the blankets. Cautiously Law returned to the bed, Sanji's teeth suddenly bared scarily towards him. He didn't want to lose the other man's company so Law disregarded the impulse to teleport the fox out from the room so he could escape, but he didn't want to get bit, either. Whatever Sanji's problem was, he wasn't communicating it properly. With a grumble, he snatched the blankets from Sanji's side, the fox still barking and snapping at the material like Law was playing with him, and made his bed on the floor.
Just as he grew comfortable with his head pillowed on his arms, he looked up to see the fox hanging over the edge of the bed, looking down at him with what looked like a grin. Law slapped at him, the fox's teeth snapping at him before racing in circles around the mattress.
Utterly bewildered, Law pressed his back up against the mattress and tried to go back to sleep again. In what felt like hours later, he felt like he was being strangled – the fox had left the comfort of the warm bed and sprawled itself over his shoulder and neck, its heavy tail resting over his face. He sputtered noisily as he sat up, the fox rolling away from him with a startled squeak. Coughing, Law wiped fur from his face and neck, feeling it stick to sweat accumulated there from the fox's position. The animal yawned noisily, dangerous teeth bared for a moment then looked up at him sleepily.
"Are you going to change back?" he asked, the fox blinking long lashes at him for several moments before flopping back onto the carpet, intending on getting comfortable.
Utterly annoyed with how his evening ended and his morning began, Law picked him up and grabbed the running lantern. Walking out of his room, he was treated to sunlight streaming in from the entrance way, providing some light to the bunker but not enough. It wasn't as bone chilling dark and cold as it was last night; it was easier to move around. He made to move towards the medical ward when the fox bit him, squealing noisily as it leapt from his hand and ran back into his room. Law nursed the wound with a hiss, noting that it didn't break his skin but left a tingling pinch. He looked back into his room to see Sanji pulling his clothes off the bed, uttering muffled noises that sounded indignant. Law understood what he was doing, yawning as the fox did what he could to drag the rest of his clothes out from the room.
"You have to ask me yourself," Law told him firmly. "So change back."
The fox barked at him, sitting dog style on the floor as his ears flattened and his tail flapped against the carpet. He seemed to give Law a dirty look, baring teeth briefly before getting up to continue dragging his clothes towards the man.
Law watched the struggle, feeling charmed by the animal's efforts. The indignant noises he made was muffled by the material in his mouth, and his body was too small to properly pull all of it, so it was a comical struggle. He was sure he was looking at the scene with a dopey expression, so he looked away with a huff and wiped his face again. He was covered in fur – black wasn't appropriate when blond fox fur stuck to everything. He didn't look so menacing.
The fox dropped his clothes at Law's feet before looking up at him with his tail perked. When Law reached down to grab them with a grumble, the fox darted around his feet so tightly that Law tripped over his own boots just trying to avoid stepping on him. He stuffed Sanji's clothes into his backpack, the fox doing everything it could to not make things easy. He kept darting up and off the bed, racing in circles around the room and leaping into the backpack before leaping out again. When Law finally straightened up to pull the backpack on, the fox raced out from the room and barked, filling the bunker with its high pitched sound. Law stood outside of his room to see the animal racing with neck break speed around the clutter, not even pausing to save himself as a mountain of books slipped out from under its weight. He merely picked himself back up and darted down the dark hall ahead of Law, barking the entire way.
Still perplexed to this behavior, Law slowly began moving, hearing his stomach grumble as he did so. From the darkness the fox darted right at him and slammed up with a spectacular leap against his stomach. He stumbled awkwardly before catching himself, Sanji darting off with more sharp barking. Wondering why the man just didn't change back but still welcome to having company, Law headed through the medical ward to the door leading up to the offices above.
Up there, he noted the Exit they had taken to get out. He saw another door leading from the one where the stairway was located, and used the key to open it. When he remembered that the power was out, he sighed heavily before the fox made his presence known, leaping atop of the desk near the security windows. Law looked at him before seeing the block map located there just underneath the window. Sending papers flying, Sanji darted off the table and ran to the open door nearby. Law reached out and studied the map – beyond the door that was denying him was a short hallway with a conference room, some offices, restrooms and a cafeteria. Pausing in front of the door, he exhaled slowly. It would be a gamble to teleport somewhere he couldn't see, but if Sengokou wasn't expecting his escape and Corazon had, he had to trust that there wasn't a booby trap of some kind on the other side.
He called Sanji to him, the fox taking a few seconds to run the length of the hallway back to him. It was awkward to speak to an animal, but Law said, "We have to teleport to the other side."
Understanding him, Sanji leapt up so Law could catch him, and it felt weird holding the animal. Just last night he was perving on the man's body, so feeling this one in his hand – heaving sides caused by exertion and warm fur – made his skin tingle. He looked at the map again, focusing on the conference room. He imagined there to be chairs around a long table, similar to those that were once in the library. Long backs with adjustable seats and comfortable cushions. With that in mind, he made the transition. Once the dark room made its cold presence known, he opened his eyes with relief on the right guess.
He set Sanji down and lifted the lantern to place it on the table.
Stilling, he realized he was looking at three skeletons in haphazard position against the table.
Their uniforms were stained heavily from the neck down, and judging by the color, Law had to assume that it was blood rather than dust. Sanji leapt onto the table, sniffing noisily up and down the length of it as Law took the steps necessary to the closest skeleton. The tag on the shoulder read 'Sengokou'. He froze, observing the sunken hat against the chair and skull, finding the stains on the material disturbing. The man had been shot from the side, so Law looked to the skeleton sitting two chairs down from him. Sanji stepped over the gun there to sniff at the hand resting beside it, one finger still trapped within the trigger guard. Crossing over to it, Law reached out and investigated the name tag – 'Donquixote'. He froze, unable to imagine Corazon shooting his superior for any reason. The other skeleton was in the same condition as Sengokou's – but it held evidence of a different sort of splatter, gun dropped between skeleton and table, caught in a downside position against its lap. Tense, Law studied the scene. What had happened for these three men to die in such a manner? His mind raced back to that day, struggling to catch any tension between the men while they were outfitting the group for the pods. But the only thing that stood out was Corazon questioning Sengokou at that time.
It didn't make sense.
When did Corazon go back to apply those changes they'd found to emerge from the containment room before coming back here to shoot Sengokou? What was the true event that motivated these men into leaving the scene so permanently? Was it all before the bombing, when they realized there was no escape?
Scratching caught his attention, seeing Sanji nosing and digging at a set of papers in front of Corazon. Once he realized they were there, too focused on the men to have seen them in the first place, Law caught sight of the writing there.
'They found out,' one line read. 'Nothing more for us to do. Hide the evidence. Hit us first. No return – mission a failure. Unusable. Unstable. No guarantee to commands. Unable to return as productive - '
It wasn't directed to anyone – it was just Corazon taking notes as someone spoke. Probably as a way to cope with the situation. Law shuffled through the papers – the words were written on the back of emergency memos, alerting base personnel to missile launch and expected hit times. Nothing stood out as to what caused this distress.
He was positive the four of them could have stopped the direct hit – Kid could grab hold of the metal, Law could cut it apart in mid-air. Why didn't they consider using them to stop it?
He looked back at the notes Corazon had taken. 'Unusable. Unstable.' Most likely the discussion was about them – they were a failure to them. But he wondered why – if they had known, they would have used all their power to stop the hit.
He supposed it was the 'after' that made the higher-ups worry. He sunk down into the chair next to Corazon, unsure of what to feel or think. So they were expected to die in those pods – that was Sengokou's orders. But if the missile was supposed to hit so suddenly in the midst of that turmoil, then how did Corazon find the time to fix their situation so that it would help them if they should escape?
He looked back at the paper. 'They found out,' he read over again. Who found out? Their enemies? Was that why they were hit first?
What a waste, he heard Sengokou's voice interrupt his thoughts, just as strong as it was that day. Of course it was a waste – they secluded the four of them inside of the bunker as children and raised them as weapons; to do away with them because they were 'unstable' made him feel all the negative things he could feel with just that one word. He tossed the papers away from him and hung his head between his hands, fingers tense in his hair.
Not only did they not die, they were displaced in time. Reawakened two hundred years later without any way back, unused to society and civilian lifestyles; to normal relationships and basic human interaction. In a way, he felt angry at Corazon for even trying – that clumsy man had made a muck of the situation by saving them.
Now what were they supposed to do?
He felt a wet, rough tongue on his forehead, Sanji leaning over to lap at his face with anxious action. Law jerked his head up to escape that attention, the fox following him with light whining as he looked up at him with seemingly worried eyes. Law remembered he wasn't alone, that he was showing his emotions to somebody else and quickly rearranged his features into a scowl. He shoved the fox off the table with abrupt movement, irritated with his presence. Sitting there for some seconds, he glared the length of the surface to the chair at the end, his blood rushing to his head with a surge of frustrated anger.
The fox returned to continue whining, looking at him with his ears flattened. Looking at him again, Law thought about the colony. They'd already upset their dictator with his actions – already made enemies with the colonists with their presence. It was comforting to think that they were still the strongest beings present – but what was the point of having that strength if it was only gained for one thing?
The fox's tail wagged with worry, brushing against the table as he continued to regard Law with concern. In the apprehensive silence of the conference room, the skeletons' presence only part of the tension, Law wasn't sure where to go from here. The fox ventured near him, crawling low on his belly in a show of passive action, tail moving from side to side with frantic movement. Law looked at him again, Sanji settling on the table with his back legs splayed out and his front paws in front of him, ears flattening once he realized he had Law's attention again.
"You're stuck with us," Law said thickly. Thinking about the words Corazon left behind, he added bitterly, "And it's probably not a good thing."