Remnants of the White City Chapter 18: The Color of Snow, an one piece fanfic

And here goes another chapter.
I hope you enjoy!

Warning: this chapter explores dark themes such as guilt, violence, torture, and physical and mental illness.

The Heart Pirates had managed to ward off the attack but the submarine had suffered considerable damage. Cannons had incapacitated both fins and punched a hole into the hull, making water flood the lower levels. Why they were headed to Blizzard Rock hardly mattered now. They needed a shipyard and an extensive selection of spare parts. Patching up the sub and stop bucketing water out of the portholes became new priority, and the crew counted the hours till their Log Pose stop.

They salvaged as much as they could from the enemy ship, that carried enough food to get them through two weeks at sea and enough ammunition to seize control of the entire winter belt. When it came to death and destruction, Doflamingo sure didn't spare any expenses. As a final act of defiance, Law personally destroyed all Transponder Snails on the ship before sinking it.

But even with the wreck on the bottom of the sea, the captain of the Heart Pirates didn't close an eye that night. What if the news had reached Doflamingo? They wouldn't be able to handle another attack unless the sub magically fixed itself and his entire crew became Haki masters overnight. And as he was stitching up the cut on his left arm, Law's thoughts settled on Savenna.

Bepo assured him she was recovering from her slight morphine overdose, but her mysterious connection to the Joker was still eating at him.

How did she know him? Under what circumstances could they possibly have met? A line of scenarios ranging from bad to worse started lining up in Law's imagination. He had watched Savenna kill her own mother, but it had been nothing compared to what had happened the day before. How badly had Doflamingo hurt her…? Thankfully, Shachi's sake held Law's rage at bay when with a hiss he splashed it over the throbbing stitches.

The rest of the crew had taken note of Savenna's massacre but that was about it. If bashing the enemy's head in was part of defeating a Loggia, then so be it. Only Ikkaku stayed clear of her cabin, silently reflecting on how wise it had been to trick someone, who's bad temper was worse than rumors predicted.

As for Savenna, Bepo had been lucky to find the epinephrine pen in her pocket when she went into cardiac arrest on their way downstairs. The old wounds on her back had opened up, concealed only by her clothes being already soaked with someone else's blood.

The first time she woke up back on her futon, she was so horrified about what she had done, that she put herself back under anesthesia. The second time, she cried until the headache knocked her out. The third time she just blinked at the ceiling and cursed. The morphine had finally washed out of her system. Fetch hadn't come back to life and she was still a nutcase.

It hadn't been the first time she had murdered a man with her own hands and again it had left her with nothing but a bad morning after. For a while, she wondered if Rayleigh could have been right, but then she cast that thought away. She had made it her life's work to make people suffer and she wouldn't start minding moral consequences now.

They had ploughed on through the night with a broken rudder and two smoking motors. It was Penguin's voice crackling through the intercom that woke Savenna from a troubled sleep. "Land in sight!" With Nell's powers exhausted they needed a while to arrange Savenna's disguise before both ventured out on deck. The crew was scurrying around their captain who remained a dark silhouette against the blue morning sky.

Savenna wanted to join him at the railing and stopped. What did one say after committing feral homicide and puking over the captain's clothes? Sorry, didn't see you there? What, this isn't a regular Tuesday for you? None of that seemed appropriate and since she couldn't find someone else to blame her actions on, she decided to stay silent.

To her surprise, so did everybody else.

And when she spotted the long-awaited landmass ahead, she understood why. Smoke hung over the slanted roofs of a small town, angry, red thongs of flames reaching into the sky. When the wind changed, the whiff of gunpowder burned in their noses.

"What the hell happened here?" Ikkaku was the first one to speak, holding a pair of binoculars to her eyes.

"Let's hope there's someone left alive who can sell us a pressure regulator," Shachi said but nobody laughed.

A half-hour later the Polar Tang docked unnoticed at an abandoned pier. They didn't have to go any further than the scalded port terminal to see what was going on. The island had been raided. And not halfheartedly. Shop windows had been smashed, carts of vegetables knocked over, spoilt food spilling onto the street. Some of the wealthier houses were still ablaze, while burning masts of sunken ships lit up the harbor.

"Careful," Bepo warned, when Ikkaku tripped, reaching out for his paw. Her face paled when she saw what had been under her feet. A dead body of a woman lying face-down in the snow. "Just keep walking," Law ordered dryly.

Savenna knew exactly what he was thinking. She was thinking it too. It looked exactly the same… Ash settling on roof tops, blood freezing on the sidewalk, empty bullets clattering between their feet, and snow silently coming down on the distant hills. It had been a long time but neither of them had forgotten the last days of the White City.

Most of the people they met didn't spare a glance for the Heart Pirates, too preoccupied with saving what was left of their homes. Others retreated or slammed doors into their faces. "They are afraid of us," Penguin realized.

"Can you blame them?" Ikkaku retorted. "This looks a lot like a pirate rampage to me."

But she too fell silent when they reached the market square. In the midst of burned out ruins, the town hospital had miraculously survived. The small, two-story building was overrun with people, trying to fit in through doors and windows. They could see nurses hurrying from one patient to the next and those for whom help had come too late were lined up outside, the cold preserving their rigid bodies, frost creeping over their blueish faces.

Penguin was the first to retch. Ikkaku followed.

Savenna pressed her lips together. As much as she had never wanted to see anything like this again, those people needed help. "Come on, these bodies need to be buried. But given the numbers, burning them would probably come cheaper…" But apart from Ikkaku who shot her a deranged look, no one moved. The crew was observing the scene with distant horror, as if it was happening far away and to somebody else. Cursing under her breath, Savenna made her way through the crowd.

"Hey, Mushroom Head!" Tending to a woman at the bottom of the hospital steps, Law turned around. She gestured toward the back entrance of the building and he nodded.

"Who is the doctor on call?" Law wanted to know after they had fought their way into the emergency room. No one took notice of them at first but then conscious eyes slowly started converging to the jolly roger on his shirt and panic broke loose. Patients were pushed aside and bed pans sent flying as the screams spread to all the rooms of the hospital.

"This just keeps getting better…" Law sighed grimly. "The hard way, then." He lifted his hand and the Room suspended all movement around them. He took a deep breath before he tried again. "Sorry to insist. Where is your doctor? We need to speak to the person in charge."

A hurried noise made them turn around. An elderly nurse had appeared from behind the screen, hair undone and face lined with exhaustion. "There's no doctor here," she admitted hesitantly. "One was killed in the attack, the other one is badly injured." She didn't meet their eyes when she spoke. "Please don't hurt us!"

"We're not going to hurt anyone!" Savenna replied, visibly offended.

"Who did this?" Law wanted to know, calling back his Devil Fruit. When sphere darted back, the screams had died down but the nurse remained silent. Savenna was losing her patience. "Who was it? Pirates? Marines?"

"Bounty hunters."

Law shot her a knowing look. So their crew wasn't the only one Doflamingo's men had disagreed with. How many islands had they raided on their way across Grand Line? The guilt she felt for killing Diamante's captain in hot blood vanished. She should have done worse. The flicker in Law's eyes told her that she wasn't the only one regretting not being able to raise the dead just to murder them again.

"This was the worst idea ever!" Savenna groaned in Nell's direction not even a full day later. "Next time, please remind me to never help anybody. Roger, is this annoying…"

Working under Law reminded Savenna why she had never become a doctor. Saving the day had been nice, but when it came to hanging around sick people, holding hands and examining body parts that never saw the light of day, her philanthropy ended. It was only for Bepo's conscientious button eyes that she didn't sneak back to the sub and contented herself with burning dead bodies instead, whenever the living got on her nerves.

And if Law had been a pain during medical practice, as a chief surgeon he was every lazy person's worst nightmare. While Penguin and Shachi helped out with the fires and secured themselves a few helping hands for the sub, the rest of them weren't allowed to rest until the entire emergency room was cleared out and even the last patient operated upon.

They took shifts sleeping on the stretcher next to the operating table, ready to jump in whenever a replacement was needed. Law kept going for hours on end. The constant caffeine overdose must have altered his DNA, Savenna thought silently cursing him as she repositioned her head on the transplant box serving as a rather uncomfortable pillow.

Whenever he wasn't looking, she poked the Log Pose on her wrist, counting the hours until they could leave that wretched place behind. They had already lost too much time on fights and deadly currents. If they didn't get a move on, the royals and their cortege would already have left Blizzard Rock, leaving nobody behind she could torment for sweet revenge.

To express her frustration, Savenna was throwing scalpels at a training skeleton when Bepo walked through the door of the nurses' room the next morning. She arched an eye-brow when the bear flung himself to the floor. "Are you sure you're not still trying to skin me alive?" Bepo breathed.

"What would make you think that?" she chuckled and put the knife away. "What's up?"

"Your last tests just came back," he said, hesitantly scrambling back on his feet. The bear had insisted on keeping even closer track of her health after her encounter with Doflamingo's men. Him being here meant he didn't like what he found. And neither did Savenna.

"It looks like the Conqueror's Haki won't be the only thing on your no-go-list from now on," he said.

"What does that mean?"

The First Mate really didn't want to be the person to tell her, but handed her the medical chart anyway. "You're getting worse. The lead is attacking the lung tissue. You'll be needing all of your Haki to keep the illness from progressing. Otherwise we'll have to get you on extra oxygen supply soon…"

Savenna couldn't believe this. "Are you telling me not use my powers at all?"

"Not if you can avoid it…" Bepo replied, eyes diligently glued to the floor as if expecting an angry outburst. But even though she knew he was playing it down, Savenna forced herself to remain calm.

It wasn't like she hadn't known. Climbing up the ladder in the sub had grown harder and the cold air outside left her chest burning if she breathed in too deep. Haki was her energy resource and it was only natural that after so many years her body wasn't that good of a conduit anymore.

"Maybe you should tell Captain," Bepo suggested, slightly alarmed by her silence.

Savenna stiffened.

Since the day they had fought off the bounty hunters, she had thought about telling him. But no matter how many scenarios she played through in her mind, the story always ended the same way. She would ruin it. He thought she hadn't heard his apology but she did. She'd even wanted to hear it again, just to make sure she hadn't been imagining it. Law still cared about her. Trusted her even. Enough to finally let his guard down.

That comforted Savenna as much as it terrified her. What would happen if she came clean? Would she trigger another episode? What if he was angry with her and would never trust her again? Or what if… he refused to look at her when he found out she wasn't as pretty as she pretended to be? There seemed to be no way out of it.

"I'll think about it," she muttered finally. Whether it was to get rid of Bepo or of the accusatory voice inside her head, she didn't know.

"Are you and Silvers getting back together?"

Law spat out a mouthful of coffee. "What?!"

Penguin raised a questioning eye brow, casually leaning against the empty operating table. The doctor hadn't even heard him enter.

"Well, you two seem to be going along just fine again," the mechanic speculated. "How did you do it? Did you buy her something pretty or sway her with your murderous charm?"

Law put the mug down, reflecting on whether he should give his crew mate a taste of the second. Bringing grease and machine oil into his surgery alone would be reason enough. But what the hell was he talking about? Was that the reason they had acted so weird? Did they actually think the two of them were a couple?

"But that stupid, half-paralyzed face you make whenever she walks by should be proof enough of your devotion," Penguin suggested.

"What…?" Law protested. "That's not what I look like!"

"If you say so…"

The captain needed to sit down. That simply couldn't could be true. He didn't care if she walked by. Maybe since he'd found out about her history with Doflamingo, he did keep an eye on her sometimes and teased her a tiny bit less. Not that it mattered, of course. He wasn't as much curious about their relationship as he was worried, silently watching out for a hidden injury or an invisible mark the Joker's very existence might have left on her. But every time she looked exactly the same.

Stunned, Law shook his head. This had nothing to do with it. How come their crew had gotten the insane idea in the first place? Was it the books? Did he really have to start censoring what Savenna lent to his subordinates, to avoid suffering a heart attack some day?

"So?" Penguin repeated, overtly advertising his death wish.

Law took a deep breath, then chuckled darkly. Even if he robbed half of the Grand Line, he wouldn't be able afford Savenna's definition of "something nice." He'd probably have better chances hunting down Doflamingo and presenting her his head on a stick. Law made a face. Why was he even thinking about his?

"Don't be ridiculous," the doctor said with as much detachment as he could summon. "We were friends years ago. I barely know her." As soon as he'd said that, he wondered how true it was. But how else was he to describe their relationship?

Penguin wasn't convinced. "Friends? Like me and Shachi?"

Law considered teleporting himself into some faraway broom closet just to avoid this conversation. "Don't you have a ship to repair?"

The mechanic masterfully ignored him. "Does that mean I can ask her out?"

"No!"

Penguin arched an inquisitive eyebrow. "But you just said…"

And Law regretted it instantly. "I mean, it's for your own good..." The words came out way too fast, but which in his rational opinion didn't make them less true. If Penguin was to be spared Savenna's overly dramatic and frankly dangerous definition of romance, he should give her a wide berth. There was no way of making sure she wouldn't show up for a dance covered in someone else's blood, or demand her enemy's heart in a box for her birthday.

"That's unfair!"

"You know what else is unfair? Chain of command," Law pointed out. "Stop being an idiot and make sure our ship doesn't sink on the way out of port."

At the back entrance, a violent cough forced Savenna into an abandoned wheelchair. Begrudgingly, she had gone on about her business ready to ignore what she had just learned, but it seemed like Amber Lead had other plans.

"Crap…" she wheezed as her hand came back bloody from her lips. With a grimace, she forced down the metal taste in her mouth. The bear wasn't exaggerating. As a little girl she'd always daydreamed about suffering from moderate consumption, but this wasn't half as pleasant as she'd imagined. Savenna cursed and looked around.

If Amber Lead hadn't gotten to her, the absolute bleakness of this place probably would have. The low, colorless sky and the crestfallen faces felt like they were slowly sucking her soul dry.

Flevance might be in ruins, but at least there had always been ways to enjoy yourself. Especially in the most inappropriate moments. Everyone including Law had probably been listening to some merchant's dirty joke the day the first funeral pyres were lit. This island, however, seemed like it had never known any joy. Hopelessness had taken root long before the bounty hunters arrived on this dreadfully dismal part of Grand Line.

Savenna's patience for suffering had always ran thin and now she officially had enough. There was still work to be done, but to prevent her spirits from sinking any lower, she decided to have some fun along the way.

When Law emerged from the operating room, Bepo was still patching up the one surviving town doctor, who to Law's standards wasn't a very competent representative of their profession. Every doctor should be able to set their broken ribs themselves when needed. Really, what was the world coming to!

He expected to be met with the usual moans and complaints when entering the ward, but giggles and snores greeted him instead. "What is going on here?" he inquired suspiciously.

The nurse looked a lot more content than the day before. "Oh, didn't they tell you? The patients received new pain medication. I would have thanked you earlier but you were in surgery…"

"What new pain medication?"

Jovially, the nurse pointed at the empty vials on the next bedside table. Law recognized it by the smell alone. Morphine. "Could I ask who prescribed it?"

"The pretty blond lady from your crew," the nurse replied. "She said she was one of your doctors. I'm still looking for her to complete her paperwork though…"

Good luck with that. Whenever there was paperwork involved, Savenna was capable of performing the most advanced circus trick to disappear. But for once Law didn't even care about that. Morphine. You've got to be kidding me… The doctor gritted his teeth. The Polar Tang was equipped with a lab, not an opium den. And judging by the number of happy patients, she must have used up all his reserves. Not even to mention that she was shamelessly neglecting her duties again.

Briskly, he marched down the corridor, ready to give her a piece of his mind. "Savenna! We need to talk!"

"In here!" her voice called from the end of the hall. Impatiently, Law opened the door to the empty nurses' room.

"Just a second…" At the far side of the room the separation curtain quivered. Remembering her habit of bursting into places, he decided to accord her the same courtesy. Irritated, he pulled the curtain aside and froze.

Her jacket and the mutilated Heart Pirate uniform lay crumpled on a chair. Next to it, Savenna was passionately fighting with a pair of white stockings. The rest of her had slipped into a white nurse hat and a matching dress that was most definitely a size too small. "You wouldn't know how to get these on, would you?" she asked and cursed as she ripped a hole into the first stocking. "No, they probably don't teach you that in medical school…"

"What on earth are you doing in here?" he managed to press out from under his breath.

"Trying on a nurse uniform! Now I can pretend I'm joining old Whitebeard's crew. Isn't this exciting?" she beamed. "Also, hiding from that scary woman with the paperwork. She'd been after me all day."

Trying to find something more interesting to look at than the unbuttoned top of her new costume, Law remembered to roll his eyes. "Exciting like drugging your patients?"

"Oh, relax..." Savenna gave up on the new clothes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. With the hat, she almost matched his height.

"Relax?" Law repeated. "You can't just drug patients when you don't feel like treating them."

"I did treat them! The murderous polar bear can vouch for it," she said. "It's just that they kept complaining about the pain, so I gave them some painkillers. Big deal. Not my fault they can't handle a few dislocated shoulders."

Law looked at her with intent. "That's because you have the delicacy of a bulldozer."

"Says the Surgeon of Death."

"At least people survive my exams," he argued. "When I intend them to..."

With no sensible arguments left, Savenna sighed and changed her approach. Maybe a good old-fashioned pervy joke would get him off her back. Her eyes wide, she gasped and lifted her fingers to her lips. "Oh why, I'm so sorry, doctor! I'm just so clumsy sometimes… I'm afraid you'll have to punish me."

He watched her performance, unimpressed. "Very funny. You just can't admit when you're wrong, can you?"

She groaned with annoyance. "Oh, come on! This is the part where the doctor says something dirty and nurse…" she peeked at the name tag from the uniform she had obviously stolen, "Mai has to fan herself with the latest issue of the local medical journal, so she won't faint from the overwhelming sexual tension."

Law made a face, secretly trying to not laugh. Nobody actually talked that way and if they did, the only punishment they would get was getting fired like every normal person.

Expectantly, Savenna stemmed her hands into her hips before changing her mind. "You know what? Forget it. You've always been terrible at playing hospital. You're too serious. Maybe Penguin can spare the time…"

"Penguin?" Law cringed. "You know I am an actual doctor, right? I cannot be bad at playing one!" How would a mechanic have better hospital-smut potential than his medical degree?

"Right… You're probably still trying to impress women with how big your MRI machine is," Savenna mocked. "Look at all these blinking lights! Did you know they can do a thousand scans per second?"

"That is not how an MRI works."

"Exactly my point," she protested. "It doesn't matter! Nurse Mai isn't into MRI machines and neither is anybody else who doesn't spend their free time with dead people."

"Their loss clearly." Law shrugged.

Why were they even arguing about this? He had no time to entertain Savenna, who was obviously going to impressive lengths just to waste as much time as possible. He wasn't as good at playing doctor - so what? He hadn't been good at playing pirate either, but that had turned out just fine. And they were too old for stupid games anyway.

But something about the way that she kept teasing him made him want to prove her wrong. Who was she to assume he had no imagination? He had read just as much hospital smut as she had - not that he would ever tell her, but principles were principles. Law always liked a good challenge, especially when it meant pushing Savenna off her high horse.

"There are actually a lot of interesting things you can do with an MRI…" he mused.

Savenna stepped closer. "Like what? Cuddle with a giant magnet?"

"Cataloguing the scans is very important," he explained, feigning indifference. "Doctors take their scans very seriously. No mistakes allowed. No doubt there would be serious consequences if nurse Mai filed them in the wrong cabinet…"

She stared back at him in awe. Had Law really just entered the game? Even though she'd provoked him, Savenna hadn't actually expected him to push back. "What happens if she gets it wrong?" she asked, putting on her honey voice.

As expected, Law remained serious. "Classic. The doctor retrieves one piece of clothing for each missing file."

Now she was officially impressed. Could he actually be imagining things like that during work hours? Savenna couldn't help herself. "And what if she gets it right…?"

"Then nurse Mai will get a very special treatment," he said matter-of-factly, a knowing smile creasing his lips. His voice though remained strict and sober, like he was finally about to punish her for the rice balls she had stolen.

Savenna felt her confidence falter. Alarm and excitement rushed like drugs through her veins. She made sure he didn't notice how her heart skipped a beat, but before she knew it her imagination demanded more. "What will you do to make our clumsy nurse feel better, doctor?"

As if he'd been waiting just for that, Law slid his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned slightly forward. "First I'd help her out of that dangerously uncomfortable uniform of course," he muttered, applying the mandatory husky layer to his voice. "Then I'd ask her to tell me exactly where it hurts."

"And if she hasn't reached that page in the anatomy text book yet?" Savenna countered.

"Then she would have to show me."

"But what if the power goes out?" she pretended to gasp. "The electrical circuit couldn't handle the majestic size of that MRI and now it's too dark to see!"

"Even better." A new, dauntless grin sneaked on his face. "Tactile senses are all a good surgeon needs to complete a satisfactory treatment."

"But how would you know if she's really pleased…?" She was draining her last reserves of defiance. The vivid images popping up in her mind didn't allow her to stop thinking about this. Had he actually done this before…? Suddenly the nurse uniform felt increasingly tight around her body. Where would he start? The skirt or the buttons in the front? Her face flushed as she realized that one step would be enough to breach the distance between them…

Challengingly, Law held her hungry gaze. "Because she'd beg me to do it again."

Taken by surprise, his eyes flashed wide open when she grabbed him by the coat and pushed him briskly behind the curtain, until his back was pressed against the wall. Her body leaning into his, Law didn't dare to breathe. Was this really happening…? He'd be lying if he didn't admit he had imagined this before, more often than was good for him. But she… he'd never thought that she'd actually want this…

Captivated by her full, slightly parted lips next to his, Law almost didn't hear when the door swung open. "Doctor Silvers, are you in here?" the nurse's voice called from the other side of the curtain.

"There are still a hundred and forty-five entry forms to be filled out…. Doctor Silvers?" Savenna shot him a desperate look and shook her head. The heat of her body pushing through his clothes, Law stayed perfectly silent. "Alright then…" After what felt like the most intense five seconds of his life, the door finally flung shut.

"Hundred and forty-five entry forms? Are you serious?" he yelped so suddenly, she almost jumped. Being upset about neglected paperwork seemed a lot easier than to express the dread about almost doing something indescribably stupid. Thank Roger that nurse had come in when he had, otherwise this would have been a great deal more awkward…

"I…I hate paperwork!" Savenna replied, voice shakier than usual.

"That's no excuse!"

"You can always examine me, doctor. My leg hurts awfully bad!" Both of them flinched when a voice cut through the loaded silence. Neither of them had noticed the elderly lady sitting behind the second separation curtain. When she waved at them with an ear-to-ear grin from her wheelchair, their faces turned ashen.

"We should leave."

"Couldn't agree more."

"What's up with you? Did someone try talking to you again?" Nell climbed onto the cot Savenna was sharing with an unconscious one-legged man. It wasn't the best hiding spot, but the patient didn't complain over the scary amount of vending machine snacks spread over his blanket. Savenna hurried to pull the hospital curtain back into place, before allowing herself to peer back inside the ward. "Sort of…"

"Who are we hiding from exactly?" Nell only had to follow her strangely intense glare to identify the target. "The good doctor? What did he do now?"

Savenna retreated sharply when Law crossed the room, eyes peeled on the next patient chart.

Yes, what had he done that made her avoid him like the plague? They had just been having fun, nothing to get worked up about. But as she tried telling herself that, she couldn't deny that something between them had changed.

It had started out as a stupid game but then the boy in the mushroom hat had vanished, leaving her with a tall, dark, grown-up version of himself that she didn't know how to deal with. The way his eyes brushed over her skin had completely thrown her off the rails, but at no moment had she wanted them to stop… Was she going insane? And why did that bastard look like nothing had happened?

When she realized Nell was still waiting on an answer, she tried a theatrical eye-roll. "Being weird as always. I just saw him mix fresh and leftover coffee into the same mug. What kind of person does that, right?"

"Right…"

While Nell tried counting the times Savenna had scrapped the mold off a slice of bread before punching it into the toaster, Savenna watched the old lines of concentration deepen on Law's face as he started the next surgery on his list.

The Devil Fruit had become an extension of his operating table, allowing him not only to summon whatever instrument he needed, but also extract entire organs without spilling a drop of blood. But even with superhuman surgery skills, Law remained just as awkward around his patients as before.

He could mend a fractured skull without batting an eye, but he still had no idea how deal with a little girl crying over a broken arm. Instead of sending her off with a piece of candy after the cast was set, Law kept looking for internal injuries and pestered her into the x-ray again to find out why she kept wailing. Back in Flevance he had run a complete CT scan on Savenna to make sure she wasn't actually heartbroken about her favorite character dying at the end of a novel. Maybe not all things had changed after all…

"Could you lend me a hand please?"

Law's voice ripped out of her reverie. Why was he talking to her? Given the circumstances she tried her best to ignore him. Maybe he would go away like a wild animal, if she pretended she wasn't there.

"You know that I can hear you, right? Eating crackers on a patient's bed is not only unsanitary but it's also annoyingly loud."

Savenna ground her teeth at Nell who was just swallowing her last bite. Begrudgingly, she adjusted the nurse hat before stumping out from behind the curtain. "What do you want, Mushroom Head?" she snapped, not feeling as tough as she'd liked to be.

Law gave her an expectant look from the nearby operating table. "The artery is damaged. I need help with needle and forceps," he said. Savenna stiffened. She was a trained medic but that didn't help. A man with deadly blades and a piercing gaze was asking her smart things and all she could understand was gibberish.

"Yes, doctor," she replied sheepishly.

Law started at her from behind the surgical mask. What did she just call him? He observed with considerable confusion as she bent over the wash basin where she dropped her gloves twice and almost tripped over the cables running across the room. When she finally reached for the instruments, he pulled his scalpel out of the patient's chest.

"That's a bed pan, Savenna," he pointed out, gesturing at the object in her hand. "I would suggest something sharper."

Sharper. Had he always pronounced that word like he was exhaling it like a puff of cigarette smoke? Despite herself, Savenna imagined sharp objects slowly tracing the curve of her body…

"Are you high again?" Law inquired when she started aimlessly poking at the patient's liver. "Seriously, this is a hospital. You can't go around putting random stuff into your mouth."

A dozen pairs turned around when the bed pan hit the floor. "No, no…I'm fine," she stuttered. "Sober. Perfectly normal!" Roger, she wished she was high! At least that would explain her imagination going overboard. She should definitely stop reading before bed.

The surgery was a success, but not thanks to Savenna. She ended up blocking the wrong blood vessel, almost sending the patient into anaphylactic shock as she mixed up the medication and nearly stabbed his coronary artery after accidentally touching Law's hand inside the chest cavity. When she finally let herself fall onto the windowsill, she felt like eating a Devil Fruit and throwing herself into the sea.

"Are you alright?" Law approached carefully, remembering what happened the last time she felt off. "You seem…distracted."

Savenna only wished he'd direct his concern at someone else and let her silently wallow in her shame. "I'm fine," she growled. At a safe distance from bleeding internal organs, her wits slowly returned. "Maybe if you let us get some sleep, I won't be in constant danger of murdering people."

Law scowled, secretly reassured by the sharp sound of her voice. He'd started to worry about her lack of general antagonism. But as soon as they were alone, he felt the desperate need to fill the silence. "Were you aware that the crew thought we were a couple?"

Startled, she looked up at him.

Oh no, why had he had to bring that up? This was the exact opposite of small talk and didn't make the situation any better. He really should have paid closer attention to Penguin's lessons. Only when a mischievous smile crept onto Savenna's lips, he realized that wasn't necessary.

Of course, she had known. Annoyed, Law's eyes narrowed back at her. "And at no point did you consider correcting them?"

"Are you kidding? I even shed a few tears for our tragic breakup!" she replied triumphantly, before cracking a window. She needed to get some fresh air if she was to survive this conversation. "Only an idiot would refuse free snacks and extra attention."

"Sure…" he said, choking down a sudden surge of disappointment.

What had punched the air out of his lungs, had just been another joke to her. Why did he even care? Because of what happened before? After fleeing from the nurses' room he'd amputated the wrong leg and was more than thankful for his Devil Fruit being able to fix it before anyone noticed. But that hardly mattered now… He had misread the signals like a complete idiot and should be happy enough she hadn't noticed.

Outside the smoke started to clear. For a while they stood at the window in awkward silence, when something wet hit Savenna cheek. Baffled, she shook crumbling snow off her clothes. "Did you just Shamble a snowball into my face?"

Law's face crumpled into a frown. "Don't be stupid. Why should I do that?"

Savenna held his gaze for a heartbeat. Then, she turned around and pushed the window all the way up. Stunned, he watched her climb onto the ledge, and cursed when her feet landed in the snow. "Do you have a death wish? It's freezing out there!"

A load of snow was hauled over his head in response.

Shit…not now.

Law froze at the numb, nauseating feeling of cold. He had barely gotten used to its crunch underneath his boots, and now it made him want to shed his skin. There was a reason why he hadn't set foot on a winter island in years. Snow was a beautiful trap burying its victims alive. An entire season had to pass until the lost, ugly things could resurface underneath. Whenever he came into contact with snow he felt like he was about to unearth the faces populating his nightmares.

"What is it, Mushroom Head? Afraid to lose to a girl again?"

When Savenna peeked out from behind a tree, he let go of the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. How wasn't it affecting her? Playing outside with that old defiant look on her face, she couldn't be more in her element.

He knew exactly what Corazon would say. Life wouldn't drop a broader hint than this. He had to face his fears if he was to deal with his past. But could indulging in Savenna's games really be the answer? Law sighed. She must have been terrified when she had helped him defeat Doflamingo's men. So if this meant slaying his own demons, he could at least give it a try…

He forced himself not to think when he jumped out after her.

The small court yard with two dumpsters and a sad bunch of naked trees was nothing compared to the setting of their traditional snowball fights. When Law hesitated to pick up his first handful, the truckload stuffed down his neck provided the necessary motivation. If she wanted a fight, he would give her one.

With the wet, blond hair sticking to her face, Savenna lowered her aim when his Room circled out over the court yard. "Do you really want to go there?" she asked with a hint of provocation. Using their powers would definitely raise the stakes. "You remember that our last snowball fight ended with your face plastered against a tree, right?"

"I dare say my aim got slightly better," he countered, raising a dozen snowballs into the air.

"Sure you're not showing off?"

"Maybe." Law shrugged. "Scared?"

"Of making you cry like a baby? Terrified."

With that Savenna sent Bepo's warnings flying and flicked on her Haki. Surrounded by deep winter and about to kick Law's butt on a whole new level, she finally felt like herself again. She wouldn't let Amber Lead take that away. Dashing across the yard and dodging the Ope Ope snowballs, Savenna realized she forgot how much fun this was.

The deadly focus remained set in Law's watchful eyes but the perpetual frown slowly started to fade. For the first time, Law actually looked his age. Seeing him having a good time had always given her immense satisfaction, somewhat like laying eyes on a rare, endangered species.

When landing with his back in the snow, a quick laugh escaped his throat. It felt better than he'd imagined. Aiming at Savenna from behind a tree had something liberating. It almost made him forget to check if someone was buried underneath. After his second shot, he finally felt like he could breathe again. Staring at the gray sky above, he remembered that he hadn't always hated winter and maybe one day he'd grow to tolerate it again. Planning on finally getting his revenge, Law jumped back on his feet and gave his arsenal another spin.

When Savenna first stumbled against the wall, he thought it was nothing. She was probably just trying to trick him. Only when she lowered her arms and gasped for air, the snowballs fell down from the sky. Her vision had already started to blur when he reached her side.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't reply. Instead a violent cough splattered blood out of her mouth and into the snow at her feet.

"Nice shot," Nell congratulated her when Ikkaku rushed back into hiding. They had originally wanted to aim for Law but figured Savenna would be easier to tempt. They had followed them to make sure they left no casualties in their wake, and Ikkaku was convinced this occasion was too good to miss out on. Shivering, they had cowered under the windowsill, watching two adults play in the snow with absurd satisfaction. "Won't she catch death in that thing?" Ikkaku asked, worrying about Savenna's rather inappropriate attire.

Nell shrugged. "She's from the North Blue. She can handle it."

Ikkaku pondered, lips creasing into a smile.

"What is it?"

"Captain," Ikkaku said. "He looks… sort of happy. Hopefully, he won't suffer a stroke or something."

Blowing into her hands, Nell giggled. But when the laughter in the courtyard turned into a serious exchange of words, she knew something was wrong.

"We need to get you inside," Law ordered without further ado. Eyes glued to the blood on her lips, he didn't even ask what was wrong. Games were over.

"No…"

"Listen, this is dangerous. You…"

"No!" She staggered away when he tried to reach out to her. As Amber Lead was tearing through her lungs, Savenna couldn't help but recall her conversation with Bepo. She said she'd think about coming clean. But now that she had to make the decision, she didn't know what to do. All of a sudden, she felt terrible.

Law had helped so many people, held her through her drugged babble and hadn't not once reproached her for bashing in someone else's skull. He had trusted her to fight with him. He had been honest with her. Today they actually had fun. And yet, all she had done was keep lying to him and to everyone trying to help her. He had grown up to be a good doctor and a good pirate, but she hadn't changed for the better.

Would he ever forgive her if he found out? What would he do when he realized she was still the manipulative, spiteful girl he'd left behind? Suddenly Savenna was so scared, she couldn't even think.

"Alright, that's enough," Law decided. "I'm not going to wait here until you suffocate."

Horrified, Savenna stared at the blue sphere shooting out of his palm, bound to teleport them back to the hospital. If he caught her, there would be no going back. He would never look at her or speak with her again. Savenna panicked. She needed to act. So she did the same thing she did the first time Law had to be protected from the truth.

"You need to stay back…"

"What? Why?"

"It's…the Haki," she stammered. "It's making me sick. I cannot always control it, so please don't come any closer. It's dangerous…You could get hurt."

Law didn't look convinced. "Why are you doing this? Let me help you for once!"

She shook her head violently. "Please, just…stay away from me. I'm not your patient anymore. You cannot help me. You never will." She turned around and forced her heavy legs into a walk, so she wouldn't have to see the lost, sunken expression on his face.

Law pushed the medical cart toward the new prison cells, staring into space. Installing them on the lowest level of the sub had its advantages. No screams reached the motor room where Penguin and Shachi had been working all day. And that was exactly what he needed.

There had been so many people he couldn't help, fates he couldn't change, fractures even his Devil Fruit couldn't set. Savenna had been the first patient he'd ever been responsible for and the one he'd failed the most. He understood it now. She couldn't have been clearer. Her lack of trust hadn't been the problem. Neither were his powers.

He was.

Whether or not it really was Haki that made her sick, he had let her down eight years ago and she would never trust him enough to give him another chance. She wouldn't allow him to help her. And she was right – he hadn't come back for her then. He had left her for dead. She had to figure out Amber Lead on her own and he had no right to expect anything from her now.

With no arguments left to sugarcoat his guilt, Law felt for the first time how deep it had buried its claws into him. The helpless, blinding kind of anger that he could only summon for himself, quickened his pace.

If he couldn't help people, there were other ways he could put his skills to use. Maybe there was another way he could earn her forgiveness…

With an idle twist of his right hand he unlocked the solitary cell.

The lights flickered on. In the middle of the room a slumped shape jerked. Confined to a chair that was screwed to the floor, hands shackled by Sea Stone, the Logia user struggled against the metal restraining him. Then he snarled, squinting into the light. "So you did come back for me, Trafalgar. I knew you didn't have the guts to kill an old comrade."

Law's face remained indifferent. "Your life is only as valuable as the information you can provide." Now that he finally had the opportunity to contemplate Doflamingo's henchman in his human form, he definitely preferred him as a puff of hot air. The gray swollen face and the greasy hair didn't exactly make up for the missing teeth and the lifelong tradition of poor hygiene.

Silently, the Heart Pirate captain retrieved a syringe from the medical cart. "Do you know what this is?"

"Let me guess," the bounty hunter scoffed. "A magic potion?"

"Almost. Potassium chloride," Law clarified. "A regular electrolyte treatment capable of causing quite an unpleasant death if not administered correctly." The prisoner wasn't impressed so Law decided to give a little demonstration. Putting as much delicacy in his injection as he had an hour ago, Law marveled at the result. Like with singing, it was surprising how people's screams rarely matched their speaking voice.

"I did teach you not to take your brothers and sisters as an example, didn't I?" Corazon's saddened voice pierced through the darkness. "But it looks like my brother left quite an impression..."

Law ignored him deliberately. Rosinante always reacted badly to torture. Law didn't really understand why he tried to stop him every time he needed to spice up an interrogation and decided to ignore him. Patiently, he administered a second injection and only refrained from the third when the prisoner begged him to. "I'll tell you whatever you want!" he panted heavily.

"What is the Joker planning?"

The prisoner's eyes went wide with dread. "How should I know?"

"Wrong answer." Law pushed down the plunger and didn't flinch at the cry ringing in his ears. "I'm only the middleman," the bounty hunter pleaded. "I haven't seen the Joker in years!" That Law could almost believe. He wasn't a big enough fish to take orders from the man himself. The message must really have been another lie. But he had come too far to stop now.

"What was your crew doing for him, apart from raiding defenseless villages?"

The man swallowed. "Smuggling."

"Smuggling what?"

"Weapons, drugs…" the rest of the words came pouring out when Law lifted the needle. "People, okay? We smuggled people but that was years ago!"

Law's face hardened. "Who?"

Wildly the man shook his head. "I don't remember. Some rich family, scared, fancy clothes… We were paid upfront. Weren't supposed to touch them." Although this sounded like ancient business, something about the story pecked Law's interest. "Where did you take them?"

"To another ship – we had to get them off an island. Some old mining city in the North Blue…"

Law's syringe froze in the air.

There had been only a handful of mining cities in the North Blue and only one where a deal with the devil was the only thing that could get you across the border. He felt his face grow cold. "What else do you remember?"

"Nothing!"

Law hardly heard the man scream when he drove the needle into his arm. "The girl!" he huffed finally.

"What girl?"

"The woman we delivered – she looked like that girl from your crew. The blond one that messed me up with Haki." Understanding crept over Law's face and the needle fell to the floor. He was talking about Savenna. Of course. Law had known her for so long, he had almost forgotten that she was only an arm-length away from royalty. She had her father's temper and her mother's pronounced Flevance traits. Which meant that…

"She told the truth." Corazon's voice drowned out the whimpering. "The royal family escaped. And my brother did a lot more damage than he let on."

Law cringed. "Doflamingo helped them …" Frantically, he searched the room for the ghost but Rosinante was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly everything around him was plunged into darkness. His mind was racing.

This was proof he had been looking for but had never expected to find. Savenna's story hadn't been a lie. The royals were alive. Doflamingo had made it possible; safe passage, medical attention…If they had lived in isolation long enough, an early evacuation might have saved them. Savenna had been telling the truth all along and he hadn't believed her. He had called her a liar, when she had needed him to listen… Once again, he had left her hanging.

"Calm down, Law. It's okay. Just go and talk to her," he heard Rosinante from far away. The ghost knew what was about to happen. But Law couldn't calm down. It was too late. He had failed. Failed her, failed Corazon, failed to punish the man responsible for everything.

Law didn't see the prisoner anymore when he slit his throat. He could hear Corazon's feathers rustle in distress, but the ghost had lost his hold over him. The cell was shrinking, pulsating like a living, aching thing. Breathless, Law rushed for the stairs but with every step the world around him shifted, and spun. The blood on his hands was the last thing he saw before darkness flooded his vision.

Nell pressed an oxygen mask on Savenna's nose and mouth as soon as she turned the corner. How her friend had found her so fast, she didn't know and she was too dazed to care. Inside, Nell carefully placed her and the oxygen bottle between two cardboard boxes.

"You can't keep this up," she said, painfully observing Savenna's miserable state. "If you attack the royals in this condition, the only person you're going to kill is you."

"I know…"

"You need to tell him."

"I tried," Savenna admitted downcast. Her hands were shaking but Nell wasn't sure it was from the cold.

"And?"

"I couldn't do it," she croaked. "It would ruin everything. He'll hate me if he finds out I was lying…I can't do that to him."

Pensively, Nell pushed one of the boxes aside and squeezed herself next to Savenna. "He won't hate you," she said then.

"But he looked so angry…"

"Probably just angry at himself," Nell sighed. How Savenna wasn't seeing this remained beyond her. "Ordinary pirates hide when that guy enters the room and most of the marines consider him a fully-fledged psychopath. You made sure to do pretty much everything to exhaust his patience – and yet, there he was ten minutes ago running around like nothing happened. So either he's the least consistent man on Grand Line, or there is just no way for him to hate you."

When Savenna didn't agree, Nell kept going. "If someone means so much to you that you hold on to their things, even though you know they are not coming back, don't you think it takes more than a lie to change their mind when you do?"

To Savenna's surprise Nell had a point.

Maybe their friendship could survive another blow… Maybe if she gave him time, he would find it in him to forgive her. When Savenna walked back to the sub that evening, she decided to put her doubts aside. It didn't matter how scared she was. She owed him the truth.

It had started snowing when she left the hospital and the solitary flakes transformed into a white storm, when she finally closed the yellow door behind her. As soon as she took off the woolen coat she had stolen from one of the corpses, she was greeted by bragging mechanics.

Despite the grim circumstances, Penguin and Shachi were in high spirits. The lower levels were now officially dry and soon the hatches would stop giving out electroshocks to everyone passing by. "The Tang should be back underwater in no time," Shachi announced, leaning against the kitchen table.

"Yeah, and if we manage to get some extra fuel, we won't have to row our butts to Blizzard Rock," Penguin added.

Suddenly Shachi' shot his crew mate a terrified glance. "Are you out of your mind?"

"What else do you think motors run on? Sake?"

"Not the fuel, you idiot! The oven!" With a great deal of discomfort Shachi pointed at the ducked-tape piece of kitchen equipment Penguin was pushing a griddle into. "Did you forget what crew you signed up for?"

The other mechanic didn't mind him as he licked the rest of the cookie dough off his fingers. "If Captain can bake bread, I am allowed a midnight snack. Perfectly safe."

Savenna wasn't paying attention to their banter. Slowly untying the laces of her boots, she wondered how she would go about her confession. Should she wait until Law was ready to talk to her? Or should go check out his cabin? And knock first this time, of course… And then what would she say? Hey, do you remember the epidemic killing everyone you loved? Surprise, I kinda managed to keep it going…Fun, right?

Behind her back, and the mechanics started bickering at the smoke slowly coming out of the oven. Some part of the previously shambled machine must have set their food on fire. Idiots, Savenna thought.

But before anyone could take action, the kitchen door flew open and a blue dome expanded over their heads. Airlocks banged open and knives started wriggling inside the drawers. Savenna just had the time to retreat against the wall when Law stormed into the kitchen, the nodachi trembling in his bloody hands. Immediately, the two mechanics leaped away from the oven.

"This isn't what it looks like, Captain!" Penguin stuttered. "Please don't be mad…"

Law, stiff and bleary-eyed, didn't reply. "Get away from the basement or I swear I'm going to decorate the room with your intestines!" he growled instead. His voice was raw, but standing flat against the wall, Savenna detected a trickle of fear in it. Meanwhile the two mechanics shot their captain a bewildered glare. "What basement? We're on a submarine, Captain." Penguin's voice was thinning. "Do you mean the cargo deck…?"

Again, Law didn't react. It's as if they weren't even there. When he raised his sword, Savenna knew something was wrong. Hurting his crew was what Law feared the most. The Heart Pirates could commit mutiny and open a bakery, he still wouldn't touch a hair on their heads.

"Captain?" Penguin tried again, advancing toward him. "Are you alright…?"

"No!" Both mechanics turned their heads when Savenna jumped in front of them. "Don't touch him," she said soundlessly.

"Why?"

Because Law wasn't on a submarine.

He wasn't here at all. For him they weren't real. Bepo had been right – the episodes returned and they did come back worse. She didn't even want to know who's blood was on his hands…

"What are you doing here?" Law's voice sounded different. Young and frightened. "Madga told you to wait outside – it's too dangerous. They are going to be here soon." Savenna stiffened when she realized his eyes had settled on her. He was seeing her.

The basement… A wave of sadness hit when she deciphered what he was saying. Law wasn't just anywhere. He was back home, in his father's old hospital. And she was the only one fitting in that bleak picture. Anxiously, her eyes searched the room for what might have triggered it but couldn't find anything, until she realized it wasn't the room.

It was her.

It could only have been her – the way she had left him standing, refusing his help, like when they had been little. How could she have been so reckless… Slowly her eyes wandered to the smoking oven. Flevance had burned for almost a week and the smell of charred corpses had travelled miles against the wind. If Law had already been in a fragile state, the smoke must have made it worse. "You need to put out that fire," she ordered as quietly as possible.

For once the mechanics didn't ask questions. Shachi reached for the fire extinguished under the sink while Penguin started waving a tea towel through the air.

Savenna swallowed hard. This was on her and she needed to calm him down. "Law…This isn't real. There is no one coming for us. We are safe."

Her stomach twisted when he shook his head, terror creeping over his features. "But the roof is on fire! We need to get Lamie out before she gets hurt…"

"Who's Lamie?" From the corner of her eye, she could see Shachi and Penguin exchanging glances. They didn't know. How could they? There were only two people left to remember her.

When the old half-angry, half-pleading look returned to Law's face, Savenna knew what this was about. She'd relived that moment in her nightmares many times. They had come back to the hospital but it had been too late. There had been no one left to save. But it was over. In the past. With a deep breath, she took a careful step in Law's direction. "There is no fire. We are on a ship," she said. "If you listen carefully, you can hear the waves…"

When Law looked outside, his face started to relax. Automatically, she stepped closer, attempting to navigate the sword out of his hand. Her fingers were almost around the hilt, when the machines spat out a sharp, whizzing sound. It could have been an old cog in the motors or a loose screw inside the air vents.

What Law heard was a gun shot.

Instantly he cast Savenna in an iron grip and pulled her onto the floor. Holding her breath, she let herself be maneuvered into a corner where she was clutched tight by trembling arms. Law's body was curled around her like a quivering human shield. The sword had left a long cut in her uniform, and was lying discarded on the floor.

On the other side of the room, bewilderment shifted into panic on the mechanics' faces. Their limbs started detaching themselves. "Oh crap! Stay where you are…!" Shachi yelped. Under the blue dome, his head started floating in the direction of the fridge.

"What the hell is going on?" Penguin cried out, desperately trying to keep his arms in place.

"He doesn't know what he's doing," Savenna said breathlessly.

"This is bad…If that Room goes out before he puts us back together, we're literally dead meat!" Her mind started racing when kitchen utensils along with the crew mates' body parts started spinning in the air. How was she supposed to contain a Devil Fruit user who had lost control over his powers?

"I won't leave…I won't let them get you," Law's feeble voice muttered next to her ear. His breath was hot and ragged, heart pumping wildly in his chest.

What…?

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry!" She could feel his fingers tighten around hers. "I should never have walked away. It's all my fault…" The words were muddled with tears she felt against her cheek. Savenna's heart sunk.

Lamie was one of Law's ghosts. And she was the other.

It had never been Bepo's bullet he had wanted to save her from on the marine base. It was the guns on the border - eight years and a lifetime ago. The day they had met again, he hadn't tried to get rid of her because he didn't like her anymore, but because guilt was eating him alive. He had gotten away. He had survived at her expense. Or at least that's what he had been telling himself. She knew because that's exactly how she had felt. Had Amber Lead not been haunting her, his ghost would have. I never wanted you to be my enemy. I know you're not. I was just scared of… of what was happening that very moment.

The poor mechanics were still trying to reassemble their body parts, when Bepo, Nell and Ikkaku walked through the door. "Is everything alright? We heard a…Oh my god!" There was just enough time for Penguin's floating hands to press themselves over Bepo's mouth and stifle a scream. Seeing Savenna trapped between Law and his sword, blood smeared all over her uniform, Nell reached for her dagger but her friend vehemently shook her head.

More violence wouldn't fix this. Savenna was the only one who still held power in his dreamworld, and she was the one to do it.

She flung all precautions aside and hugged him hard. If he impaled her on his sword by accident, then so be it. She didn't blame him for leaving. She never had. This couldn't go on. Carefully she nudged his head with hers. "Wanna know something I never told anyone?" she whispered.

He didn't move but she knew he was listening. The chances were high he wouldn't remembered any of this but she had to try. "Do you know why I hated you that first day in school?" Solemnly Savenna pressed her lips together.

"From the moment you walked in, I knew you were strong and I would have a very hard time fighting you. I had finally found my nemesis – it was the most exciting day ever," she chuckled ruefully. "And I was right. You were a pain, you were fierce and without you I wouldn't have survived. Having you by my side, made it bearable because I knew you would never give up on me. It made those horrors worth it because I knew that together we would be crazy enough to keep walking. In the end, you were all that mattered and when you left, you made me a very happy girl. You walking away meant I had finally succeeded in saving someone I loved. Never blame yourself for that."

Slowly she felt him relax and straightened up when his body weight fell against her. Then his breath grew even and the Room staggered to a halt over their heads. Within two minutes the mechanics were restored, throwing up into the sink one after the other. Unsure whether she'd just witnessed a disaster or a miracle, Ikkaku kept staring blankly at the scene.

The next step was more challenging.

They needed to get Law back into a safe space before he drifted off again, but that was easier said than done. After Savenna pulled him back on his feet, Law refused to let go of her. "Watch your step…They might have set traps," he warned hazily every time they passed under a doorway, sneaking through the sub as if walking on thin ice.

"Alright…" With the same thoroughness she had applied to their last game, Savenna diligently tested the completely smooth and empty floor with her feet, pretending to search for whatever piece of Amber Lead machinery had snagged at her leg back then.

The crew was following them an anxious distance away.

Law's cabin was just as messy as last time she'd entered. When Bepo returned with a sedative and they tried navigating him onto the bed, he let it happen. The First Mate was still sorting out the meds when Law collapsed by himself and passed out with his fingers still clutching Savenna's arm.

"What… what just happened?" Penguin's voice was tipping over as he walked up and down.

"It's never been this bad," the First Mate said, downcast.

"Wait, you knew about this?!" Shachi burst out with full volume.

The bear lowered his head. "I found out by accident. He didn't want anyone to know he was sick…I tried to help but it just kept getting worse." The crew remained silent for a while, watching Law turn in his sleep.

"But what is wrong with him?" Shachi wanted to know, shooting Savenna a pained look. The fact that doctors could become sick and that not all things could be spotted through an x-ray, had never really occurred to him. "It's as if he couldn't even see us. Then all these weird things he was saying. And the way he attacked you…"

"He tried to protect me," Savenna said hollowly.

"From what?"

"From what happened a long time ago," she admitted. "I guess it's some form of PTSD, but I don't know…" In all the medical textbooks that she read, that had always been the topic she avoided. Pullmon simply thought she didn't care, but in truth it terrified her. She remembered what it felt like being so scared it was impossible to tell what was real and what wasn't. The nightmares, ghosts and loss of control… While she could track every advance of Amber Lead in the mirror, the things lingering in her mind remained invisible, threatening to come out when she let her guard down. So she pretended they didn't exist as if to banish them from existence. Haki must have lent a helping hand.

How the hell did Law have the force to fight this for so long? Bepo might have thought she could help him, but what he needed was an actual doctor of his own, treatment and medication. Not very different from herself.

"What about Lamie?" Bepo finally broke the silence. "Who is Lamie?"

"His little sister." Savenna smiled wearily. That little pest. Dead for almost a decade and still causing her sleepless nights. "She died when we were children."

"And she wasn't the only one, am I right?" All eyes turned to Ikkaku, who during that time had studied the maps and papers on the wall. "I've heard of Flevance," she said, leaning back. "In the North Blue they told stories about that place when I was a little girl - the doomed fairy tale kingdom. The military burning everything to the ground because of some mysterious epidemic. They said no one could have survived but that's not exactly true then," she figured. "That's why Captain has a sore spot for you. You two made it out."

Under other circumstances Savenna might have acquainted her fist with the woman's face, but now she was just glad someone said it out loud. She was so tired of secrets. "It all makes sense now," Ikkaku concluded, eyes still set on Savenna. "That's why Captain never talks about his past…"

"There's not much to talk about. The government covered it all up," Savenna said.

"What happened…? Really?" Penguin asked. He knew that everyone was thinking it. There was a story behind all of this. When Savenna remained quiet, Penguin insisted. "We need to know if we want to help Captain… Please!"

Her first impulse was to laugh at their faces.

If they were to hear the whole thing, they would be the ones to need help. Why on earth would they want to know? But then, with dark embarrassment she remembered that this was exactly what she had been preaching to Law. And she wouldn't be standing in the way of the Heart Pirates looking out for their Captain.

It was time they found out.

When she started speaking, Savenna understood why Law had never told them. She had forgotten how difficult it was. The more time passed, the more it felt like it all had happened to somebody else. Parts of her memories seemed to have washed themselves out of her mind. There were plot holes, time skips and general inconsistencies that kept sneaking themselves into her story. She remembered funny anecdotes when she should have been talking about the death of her father, and recalled the sound of the bombs falling on the city instead of the people they killed.

The faces of her audience paled gradually.

When she was done, the Heart Pirates numbly tried to express their condolences, some patted her hand awkwardly, but Savenna could see how their eyes were slowly falling shut. The mechanics looked like someone had banged them over the head with a shovel. Of all emotions, sorrow remained the most tiring.

"Didn't work out the way it was supposed to, didn't it?" Savenna chuckled darkly, when Nell placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" her friend asked. She had heard everything before, but every time it felt like eating part of Savenna's soul.

"Fine for now. I'm going to stay here until he wakes up to make sure we all keep our heads attached," she said. Nell nodded and promised to come back with an oxygen bottle and something to read. They would talk about this in the morning.

Meanwhile, despite their fatigue, the Heart Pirates refused to leave their captain unattended and set up camp outside Law's room. When Penguin and Shachi finally stopped fighting over who would sleep on Bepo's stomach, did Savenna dare to peer at the figure lying on the bed.

Law's grip around her arm had loosened, leaving a bruise on her paper skin.

He looked exactly like the day when he'd found out he was sick. Scared and helpless. Only this was different. This was her fault. She was the trigger. She should have known that no matter what she did or how much she fought to make things better, she would always end up hurting him. It was in her nature.

How could she have ever thought that telling him everything would be the solution? Seeing the color of her skin would destroy him. There was only one way she could protect him. Now that everyone knew, she needed to go and make Flevance go away. Finish what she had started, so that he wouldn't have to deal with the White City ever again and found the freedom he deserved.

Gripped by the fear of what she was about to do, she curled up next to Law and pressed her eyes shut. When the tears wouldn't come, she pulled a blanket over both of them and listened to the snow falling around the sub until the lights went out on the edge of town.

Law woke up with a headache. It was the middle of the night. The air inside the cabin was still with cold and somewhere beneath him, he could hear the familiar rippling of ocean waves. After the first few squints through the dark, he realized he was huddled up under the desk again. His shirt was hanging over the back of his chair, soaked with sweat. What had happened? How had he gotten here? Had someone seen him?

With an angry growl, Law searched for the switch before flooding the cabin in faint orange light. The room was empty. He was alone.

Perking up on his elbows, he spotted a bowl of water on the floor. His forehead was still damp. He must have had a fever. A dozen books and half of his Sora collection were piled up under his desk, some of them still lying open. He had no memory of reading them.

When his eyes wandered upwards, the next surprise awaited. From the underside of his desk, shapes twinkled back at him. Like the margins of a textbook, the wooden surface was covered with colorful, disproportionate doodles. Blinking stars and crescent moons had been etched into the wood with a silver pencil, while fluorescent marker lines filled the rest of the improvised canvas with flower-shaped fireworks. And just above his face lingered two mushrooms with frowning faces.

"Welcome back! You gave everyone quite a scare." Corazon appeared in the corner of Law's eye, sending him a smile out of the shadows. "In case you haven't noticed – torture doesn't become you. I would highly recommend you stick to proper, clean murder. Much more classy."

Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, Law cringed when the memories returned.

Doflamingo. The royals… But none of that seemed important, when other things started flooding his mind. Him pulling his sword. His mechanic's head flying through the kitchen. Law's heart hammered heavily when shame broke through his defenses. Not only had he revealed everything, he had attacked his friends. It was over. No chance they would ever speak to him again, let alone accept him as their captain… He wouldn't ask them to.

"And yet they are sleeping just outside your door. You really should give those guys more credit," Corazon objected and fell into an unusual silence. "But I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm just sorry I didn't get to teach you about love and how to accept it even when you don't think you deserve it. Then I guess we Donquixotes don't know much about that…"

Wordlessly, Law stared back at him.

"One day you'll learn how to forgive yourself. But having the right people around is a good start."

The ghost smiled when Law's eyes wandered back to the doodles under his desk. "You were afraid of the dark so she drew these for you, in case the lights went out."

She… Oh no.

"Don't ask me how two people fit under there," Corazon added, pointing at the old piece of furniture he'd huddled under. "But you couldn't stand the size of the room, so she improvised…"

Oh no.

"She read to you too. For ten hours straight," the ghost reported with soft amusement. "Bepo did the Germa voices – he was quite convincing." Corazon stepped further into the room, his feathers casting no shadow. "And she almost didn't complain when you wrapped yourself in that blanket like a sushi roll. I would have totally banished you from the fort."

Law's face had grown ashen.

This time Savenna hadn't just seen him. She had been there the whole time. Sleeping on the floor. Probably pulling that shirt over his head… Mortified, Law wanted to lock himself in the morgue and never come out again. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been so close to someone. But not only did he look like he'd been dead for two days, he'd also had absolutely lost all control of what he'd been saying… Instant panic lit his eyes. What had he said?

"Pretty much everything," the ghost remarked. "If she didn't know about you tormenting yourself for leaving her, she definitely does now."

Defeated, Law buried his head in his hands. This was even worse than he'd imagined. His crew was one thing, maybe there really was a chance for them to go back to the way it was. But the more he remembered of Savenna's role in his episode, the less he could imagine ever facing her again. The lines of drunken apologies, his obsession with invisible bullets and buried traps… Had he hurt her? Had he made her cry? Regardless, she must be thinking he was beyond repair. Worse, she must be scared of him – he definitely would be.

"You really don't see it, do you? It takes a lot more than being sick to scare that girl off," Corazon pointed out. Anxious, Law looked up at the ghost, realizing how badly he wanted to believe that.

Back then, Savenna had handled his Amber Lead attacks like a hostage negotiation. Annoyed but careful and clear-headed. She'd stick around with stolen food and badly-dosed medication, no matter how stupidly delirious he was. She'd complain about him sweating through all her good sheets, but she'd still crawl under his blanket at night when he was cold. Could Corazon be right? Could she actually have stayed to help?

A strange calm rolled over him, until his glance fell at the quiet, moving sea outside the window. Moving. Immediately, he was wide awake. "The sub should be under repair! Why are the motors running?"

The ghost gave a confused frown in return. "You were out for two days. The sub has been fixed and we've almost reached our destination." Law didn't like the tone of his voice. Corazon wasn't telling him everything.

Then he realized what was wrong. The crew was assembled outside his door. He had listened to their snores for so many nights, he could tell who was missing. Savenna wasn't among them. And something told them she hadn't chosen this hour to raid the kitchen.

"Where is she…?"

"She left."

"Left how? Where did she go?" Law called out.

"To free you from your bargain." Before Law could get more out of him, the ghost vanished.

Snow clouds had cleared and the moon hung high in the sky when Savenna entered the armory. Dressed in a plain hospital gown, she had made sure nobody would recognize her.

Surprised by the weight of the looted grenades, she smiled. Doflamingo's bounty hunters must have filled them up double. That explained the numerous fires in at the Log Pose town. Looking back, their encounter had been a lucky twist of fate. Without their cargo of massive firepower, she would have nothing to wear tonight. It was clear by now that her Haki alone wouldn't be enough to take revenge. Using her powers would kill her before she could get close to her target. She needed help clearing the way, before hitting them with all she got left.

Her fingers struggled to obey as she threaded the explosives into an ammunition belt. Five, six, seven… Once she was done, she hauled one belt on each shoulder, fastened a third one about her waist and let the loose explosives dangle from her hip. Her muscles had grown so weak in the last twenty-four hours, she wouldn't have been able to carry more even if she wanted to.

On the surface of the water, her pale reflection looked like a crooked tree tied up with broken Christmas lights. Savenna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was the first time in a long while that she smelled fresh air without the cloak of Nell's Devil Fruit hanging over her.

The wind blew faster and the cold bit harder.

Dawn was approaching when Savenna lowered an empty weapon crate into the water. Luckily they had made headway after docking off at the destroyed harbor. Blizzard Rock was now only a quarter mile away. According to their initial plan, the Polar Tang was headed for a drop-off location two miles north of the island. She however, would land on the southern shore. With a loose floorboard tucked under her arm, Savenna climbed over the railing and let herself fall into the improvised dinghy.

The temperatures had dropped overnight. She could feel the blood rushing out of her hands and into her heart. Lowering the paddle into the waves, she looked back at the yellow submarine bobbing quietly on the waves.

Anxious, she considered turning back. No one had seen her go. She could still sneak back as if nothing had happened. Then her eyes snagged at the dark window on the third floor. Law was still asleep. She had tucked him deep under the covers before she left. His nightmares had stopped. He would wake up in the morning, confused but alright. And with her gone, soon all mornings would be normal again.

Pain shot through her arm when she started paddling. The plank was brittle and full of splinters. However, she only allowed herself a break when a dark landmass appeared on the horizon. The Polar Tang had long vanished in the distance when she jumped ashore. Instantly her shoes were soaked, so she tossed them into the boat and started walking.

Blizzard Rock was an island true to its name.

A cluster of cliffs protruding from the ocean. If it didn't lay on the crossroads of two magnetic routes, nobody would have bothered naming it. A part from a tiny harbor in the east, Savenna had found the only passable landing spot on the jagged coast. The path regularly used by bandits, was now covered in snow and led up a steep, slippery slope from where she would see her final destination.

The main marine port.

Memories stirred under her heavy eye-lids as she climbed. A woman's arm or a child's frozen face could pop out from under the snow at any moment. Savenna had spent years chasing those ghosts but now she didn't mind them. Soon there would be new bodies to bury. She was coming home.

Sliding, stumbling and cursing, Savenna finally reached the top of the hill. With sensation fleeing from her hands and feet, she observed the three moored marine ships and a group of white tents from the crest.

What a disappointment, she thought.

After all these years, she imagined an army charging at her with flaming swords and battle cries. But no one had even seen her coming. The Flevance royals and their marine guards were sleeping soundly like the rest of the world. How unbelievingly boring… Now she would have to walk all the way down to go out with the outrageous bang she had promised herself.

Suddenly Savenna felt like crying. Not because she was about to give up the fight, but because she was tired of waiting. Too exhausted to make another step. Air was scarce in the Amber Lead lungs and she played with the thought of lying down and get some rest. But just in time, dawn broke beyond the cliffs. First rays of a red and angry sun spilled over the glistening snow, so bright it the colors were burning in her eyes.

She lifted a hand to her eyes and felt herself calm down.

This was where they had left off. Only now she wouldn't fail. There would be no guilt, no regrets. With a last flicker of madness igniting in her chest, Savenna advanced onto a precipice. There she reached for a ball of canned fire, calmly took momentum and watched as the grenade sailed downhill in a high arch. "That's right. Come and get me, cowards." Her eyes flared up with hungry satisfaction, when the first explosion billowed into the morning sky.

She couldn't have gone just like that. Corazon being no more than a part of Law's troubled subconscious, his words were anything but a reliable source. Nevertheless, Law took three steps at once as he swung himself up the ladder. When turning into Savenna's corridor, he sighed with relief. A shadow was slouching against the cabin door.

So she didn't leave after all. She had just gone back to her room. "Good morning to you too," Nell's voice greeted him from the shadows instead. Confused, Law staggered to a halt. Her clothes were soaking wet. She was shivering.

"What happened to you?" he asked but he already knew. "Savenna's gone. I tried to follow her but Ikkaku dragged me back on board."

Law tried hard to make his brain work but no matter how he turned this around, it didn't make sense. They were headed exactly where Savenna had wanted them to. Why would she simply run off like that?

"She thought it was her fault," Nell said flatly, as if she was reading his mind.

"What…?"

"Your episodes. She's convinced she was the one who upset you. Not only when she left you in the hospital but since we got on board. She left so you could get better." Nell swallowed. "She's carrying out her plan by herself."

Law reached for the wall for support. None of this was her fault. Ever. If anything, he should never have tortured that bounty hunter. She had nothing to do with it. But how could she have known? He himself had accused her of driving him mad. Shit… He'd called her selfish but in the end he had been no better. "How do you know?" he asked hollowly.

"The first grenade hit ten minutes ago," Nell said flatly. "And she left a letter – along with all of the money she stole in the last two years. You'd be surprised how much she didn't spend on drinks and women." A dark chuckle started in her throat and died. "She left you something too." Listlessly, she pointed at the cabin door. "It's high time you got that old thing back.

Wordlessly, Law pushed it open.

The cabin was immaculate. For the first time there was no food hidden under the mattress and nobody's wardrobe spread across the floor. Savenna's belongings were stored away in a line of white suitcases, except for one piece lying on the bed.

An ugly lump of grey fabric.

It took most of Law's deduction skills to see through years of bleached-out color, dried mold and loose threads. And when he did, he felt like laughing out loud and punching a hole through the wall at the same time.

There was no way of telling what magic was holding that old piece of Flevance fur together, but Law knew for a fact that his old hat was the last thing he had ever expected to see again. He remembered precisely when he lost it – that day the other refugees had lost a great deal more than clothes. Savenna must have found it when passing through Port Esperance. By how little had they missed one another?

But that wasn't what left him speechless.

Law hadn't been the only one keeping creepy souvenirs. She had held on to that keepsake as long as he had to his. He wasn't the only one who cared more than he was ready to admit.

"Do you get it now?" Nell muttered emptily. "She was never you enemy." Law didn't know what to say, so Nell said it for him. "You're both as dumb as they make them. Congratulations." But the bitterness she had in store for him didn't come through. Law prepared himself for all kinds of insults and stiffened when tears rose to the girl's eyes instead.

"She can't do this alone… She won't make it," Nell sobbed. "I know you had your differences, but please, you need to bring her back!"

Cannon fire was already blasting from Blizzard Rock when Law teleported himself on deck. The armory door had been left wide open and judging from the amount of explosives that were missing, Savenna hadn't been bluffing. She was going to end that family, even if it meant taking the island down with them. Then Law remembered the way she had coughed at the hospital, and realized what Nell had meant. Whatever her mysterious illness was, it would return the moment she exhausted herself. So no matter how much firepower Savenna had brought along, she wasn't up for a fight like that.

The drop-off location was still an hour away, but Law needed to get on land right now. Calling his crew felt wrong. There was so much he needed to tell them first. Admit that he never actually minded the cookies out of the oven, and promise that their heads would always be safe on their shoulders from now on. But there wasn't time and he had no other choice.

You really should give those guys more credit. Law tried to find comfort in Corazon's advice as he reached for the Transponder Snail and called his First Mate.

"Bepo, are you reading me?"

A static noise crackled on the other end of the line until the bear picked up, groggy with sleep. "Captain?" A thoughtful pause. "You are awake! But why are you calling…? Is everything alright…?"

Law took a deep breath. "Savenna's gone. I have to go on land."

"What…?"

"Just keep the motors running and wait for my signal."

When Law hung up the Room was buzzing around him. He'd never stretched his abilities that far and he had no idea what it would do to his powers but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Breathless, Law landed headfirst in the snow. Gripped by instant revulsion, he stumbled backwards into the water. The Room had teleported him onto a rocky shore, reducing the Tang to a yellow spot in the distance. Looking down at his shaking hands, he realized it wasn't the snow but his Devil Fruit sending him reeling. Feeling the numbness spread through his body and he cursed.

"Come on…" he muttered trying to summon the spiral on the tip of his fingers, but stopped as black dots started dancing in front of his eyes. It was just as he feared. He had gone too far… He would have to go after her on foot.

Law forced himself to look around. Blizzard Rock was a particularly desolate piece of land, but he had no trouble finding Savenna's tracks. Her footsteps lead right up to the crest of the hill where dark smoke was snaking into the sky.

Breathing hard, Law fought back the screeching flashes of fire behind his eyes. Those fires weren't real but others would be if he didn't hurry…With gritted teeth, he kept ploughing through the snow, nausea twisting his insides whenever it crept into his shoes and dripped through the fabric of his clothes. The blast of a nearby explosion swept him from his feet but he got back up and quickened his pace.

The smile on Savenna's face had turned into a mirthless grin. It had taken two badly launched grenades to get three marines battalions out of bed. Pathetic. If she had been in the possession of her full Haki abilities, they would have been dead long ago. The Flevance family was nowhere to be seen but she didn't mind – she'd spare them for last.

Now that she got a chance to look at the army advancing towards her, she realized she should be scared. Over a hundred armed men approaching with the sole purpose of killing her wasn't something she thought she'd ever see. Getting through the ranks would be hard in her condition but she owed herself that fight. Nobody had ever fought for her family, so she might as well make an effort to kill another. The ground shook beneath her feet when a cannon splintered a frozen rock to her left. Savenna didn't wink. Eyes set on her target, she pulled another grenade from the belt and aimed.

"No!"

Her hand froze in mid-air. That voice didn't belong here. She had thought she was imagining it, when the first marines stopped in their tracks, shielding their eyes from the rising sun. "Savenna, don't!" The sound of her name made her heart skip a beat.

All anger rushed out of her when she turned around and saw Law's figure standing on top of the hill, frozen in shock. His cheeks were flushed with cold, grey eyes staring widely at her. Instantly, her knees weakened. How was he here? Why had he followed her? But then she realized none of that mattered. It weren't the marines that put that dismayed look on his face.

He had seen her.

Savenna waited for the anger and disappointment to break through his features, but Law just kept staring, mesmerized. Too late did she realize she wasn't the only one who had recognized the visitor. "That's the captain of the Heart Pirates! What are you waiting for? Take him out!" yelled the marine commander. Savenna stood by helplessly as the barrels of their guns found a new target.

No… No, this is all wrong! Disoriented, she sunk onto her knees, head buzzing with pain and confusion. They were supposed to be fighting her. If Law got hurt, it would all have been for nothing.

Savenna winced.

No. She wouldn't let this happen again. History had repeated itself for long enough. She cried out like a wild animal before scrambling back onto her feet. She might have reached the end of the line, but she wasn't a defenceless little girl anymore. She still had one weapon left to fire.

All of Rayleigh's teachings, the long years of stubborn training and heavy, paralyzing blackouts – if she could use it to save him then it would have been for something. With blood-shot eyes, she gathered her fear, hurt and shame, bundled them into a ball of pure pulsating hatred and sent it raging through the snow.

"Captain!" Penguin's frantic voice crackled through the Transponder Snail. "We're hearing gunshots! What's going on over there?" Hands ready to press the speaking button, Law was about to reply when suddenly he was struck speechless.

There she was – standing in the blinding, bloody light of the morning sun. His chest constricted with relief. But the longer he stared, the less the picture made sense.

It wasn't her.

Not in this reality, at least. The person looking back at him was the girl he had left behind. A tiny, frail creature with flying silver hair and heavy explosives strapped to her body. Skin as white as the snow beneath her feet… Law only regained his ability to move when bullets started flying in his direction.

Pressing his back against a jagged rock, shielding him from two dozen marine guns, he cursed. Of course, of all the inconvenient times his ability could have chosen to shut down, it must have been now. Law forced himself to stay calm. There were plenty of weapons he could salvage from Savenna's freshly-made corpses, and with the rest of her firepower they might still have a chance to make it until his powers were back on. Then he would give them a real fight.

But then a violent scream made the ice crack underneath his feet. It sounded like Savenna's voice only louder, sharper. Suddenly the air was charged with seething energy, set on chasing the blood from his body. What was happening? He couldn't be passing out now… But when he finally managed to peer out from behind the rock, his jaw fell open.

Savenna stood like a pillar in the snow, both of her hands raised. An as if summoned out of thin air, an invisible wave crashed through the marine troops, knocking them out one after the other while sending an avalanche down the northern slope of the hill.

Law was unable to look away.

Not because it was one of the most frightening displays of power he had ever witnessed, but because he had seen it before. The bullies in the alley, Savenna's mother… The puzzle came together so easily he wanted to slap himself that he hadn't figured it out sooner. Savenna didn't just use any Haki. Of all the powers there were, hers was among the rarest and most dangerous ones.

Of course, she had been born with the Conqueror's Haki.

If not her, then who? She was about the most strong-willed person there was. Anything else would be beneath her. A knowing expression crept on Law's face. He hadn't survived Flevance in an absurd twist of fate. He had survived because she had wanted him to.

Awestruck, he watched when Savenna's arms slacked and she stumbled backwards. Whatever Conqueror's Haki needed to stop the marines, she must have exhausted it all. In a heartbeat, Law leaped back on his feet. His arms caught her just before her knees could give way. Gently, he placed her down in the snow.

Dark blood was streaming out of her nose. She tried to speak but more blood erupted from the corners of her mouth. The way she looked at him tied his throat shut. Waiting to be put out of her misery.

Holding her close, he realized it hadn't been a memory or a trick of the light. The eyes that should have been darker than his own stared at him in a translucent white. Like two oversized, watery orbs, they had receded deep into a lined, haggard face. Her face. Law almost couldn't bare to look at it. It was but a pale shadow of the girl he had introduced to his crew. And yet he remembered every detail of it. Ardent and so dashingly white it could have easily melted into the snow.

"This can't be true," he started.

"You need to go," she coughed, trying feebly to wring herself out of his grip. "You shouldn't have followed me…This needs to end."

He didn't hear any of it.

Everything about Savenna's body was tinged with the same color that had ended so many lives. Desperately trying to convince himself that this was impossible, he couldn't help but feel the bones under her skin so distinctly he could name them. The blood, the trouble breathing, the ragged heartbeat. The morphine. Her disappearing for mysterious reasons… He shook his head. There must be another explanation. If it was what he thought it was, he and everyone else must have seen it.

Unless Savenna had made sure they hadn't.

Law's eyes widened with horror when he remembered Nell's Devil Fruit. Forge-Forge. The ability to create illusions. The reason he'd never seen her powers in action before was because she had been exhausting them every day on her own friend. How could he have been so blind…

"What are you looking at… Mushroom Head?" Savenna gasped with a defeated smile when she knew he knew. "I'm sorry I'm not pretty anymore…"

Law cringed.

"No…" he stammered helplessly. She couldn't still be sick. Not after such a long time. No one could have survived Amber Lead poisoning. It didn't make any sense. "How…?"

She inhaled laboriously before gesturing toward the unconscious marines. Law pressed his eyes shut. Haki. Of course. Haki always protected its user and in Savenna's case must have shielded her from the illness, allowing her to live longer than humanly possible. Letting her survive simply because she refused to die.

Savenna wasn't a magician - she was just a very good liar. So good she had pretended to be healthy the entire time they had been together. And he - a bloody doctor - hadn't been able to figure it out. How many times had she tried to tell him? Would she have said something, if he hadn't pushed her away? Would she have trusted him if he hadn't called her a liar? She thought it was her fault. Nell's words made Law's blood run cold.

When Savenna had left the sub, she hadn't counted on coming back.

As far as she knew there had never been any hope. He had never told her. And the moment she thought she was the one hurting him, she decided to put an end to it. Scratch herself and Flevance out of his life. If someone was to survive their deep-rooted illnesses, she wanted it to be him.

Inside his arms Savenna gasped for air. The remnants of her smile vanished when blood started filling up her lungs. Anxiously, she reached for his shirt, ripped a piece off the yellow hem and pressed it into his palm. "Would you put that with mine…?" she exhaled. "And keep the box somewhere with a nice view? I don't want to be alone over there…Please?"

He shook his head wordlessly. This wasn't happening.

When with the next ragged breath panic flushed her face, Law's mind was sent racing. He needed something to ventilate her. A tube, a straw, anything. But wherever he looked, there was just blood and snow. Desperately, he cramped the fingers of his right hand to force his Devil Fruit awake but it was no use. His power was still gone. Why did they take so long to return? He wanted to rip the lead out of her with his bare hands.

"I'm sorry…" Savenna croaked before erupting into another crimson cough. "I never wanted this…Please, don't be mad!"

Law felt tears burning in his eyes but forced them back. "Don't talk... We'll get you out of here. I promised Nell I'd bring you back."

"I'm scared…" Savenna's eyes fluttered, her voice reduced to a gurgle. "Please…I don't want to die."

In a helpless attempt to hold her together, Law couldn't move. He had never seen her like this. Pleading and frightened. He hadn't considered she could be. But the fearless girl who'd saved his life was defeated at last and there was nothing he could do about it. Then her lifeless head fell against his shoulder and everything grew still.

Law could hear the north wind whistle across the hillside, while the bitter morning was slowly brightening into a hollow, nightmarish illusion of a day. He would lose Savenna exactly like he had lost her the first time. Was that what the royals and their government had wanted? To make sure he didn't forget what it felt like?

As if he could.

Law couldn't even begin to imagine what Savenna had gone through. Years of chronic pain and pointless treatments. Alone with an illness doctors were too afraid of to know anything about. The rage churning in his chest took Law by surprise.

He had sworn to wait until he was strong enough to get his revenge. Now, all he yearned for was pure, unprecedented suffering. To rip a bone out of their bodies for every sting of poison Savenna had to endure, an eye for every time she had closed hers in fear and one heart for every minute she had lost to that same crippling loneliness.

When Penguin sent his fifth message through the Transponder Snail, Law was ready. "Captain! Come in, Captain! The marine ships have spotted us. Our cannons are charged. What are your orders?"

Law's face grew hard. Effortlessly he lifted Savenna's body from the blood-spattered snow, a razor-sharp Room shooting out of his palm. He was done waiting.

"Kill them all!"