I originally posted this on my tumblr account, 'Yaoi-is-ruining-my-life' and decided to post it here for the people of fanfiction to read. It was inspired by maridoodle's Witch AU! I highly recommend you check it out before you read this, but it's not required.

{*}

Law slammed the stone down on the table with an exclamation of rage, "It's not working! I can't get the stupid wire to bend the way I want it to!"

Cora looked over the top of his paper to stare at the young witch, who was glaring at the stone as though it had caused all the problems in the world.

"It will work," Cora told him gently and set the newspaper down on the table with a sigh, "You just have to keep practicing."

Law's glare switched to him instead, angry golden eyes alight with pure fury. "I am practicing, your techniques just suck."

Cora just rolled his eyes. It never ceased to amaze him how a thirteen year old kid could be so downright rude. Law, tiny even for his age, was dappled with the white spots of his incurable disease. Had he been born an ordinary, disease free child, he would have just had his normal tanned skin.

It hurt him to look at those spots; the spots that were slowly eating away at Law's natural skin and turning it into an unnatural snow white colour. As each day that passed without finding a cure, the more white skin Law developed, and the pain in his heart increased.

Law didn't notice Cora staring at the white patches of skin on his face, instead he was too fixed on being angry with his teacher.

"I'm going to get blisters on my finger-tips from working with wire," Law grumbled and took a seat beside Cora at their wooden table. "And in the end I still won't have a pendant."

"Raw stones are tricky, but you'll eventually work it out on your own." He assured with a smile.

Law's bottom lip curled, "That's not teaching. That's making me figure it out myself," he accused.

"It is teaching,"

"No it isn't, I may as well leave you and go teach myself everything!"

Cora shook his head, "You don't understand. You're too young to know that not everything can be taught-

Law shot out of his seat so quickly, it topped over backwards and hit the wooden floor with a loud smack. Anger seemed to radiate out of his pores, the boy's teeth clenched together- trying desperately to reign in his emotions.

"Shut up!" He shouted, fists curled into balls at his sides, "Shut up, I do understand! Stop treating me like some pathetic little kid you need to babysit! I've seen more than anybody my age, I've seen people die and be burnt alive- I don't need you telling me I'm just some kid!"

Cora said nothing, he just stared at the little boy he'd come to care about so much. Law hadn't ever gone into detail about what happened before he'd come to the Donquixote family, but Cora knew enough about what had happened to the kid's hometown, Felvance, to guess what he'd seen.

That was how the kid had gotten sick. It was why they were on the run, not just from his older brother and the witch hunters, but from the disease as well. Time had become something so very precious to both himself and Law, and only the gods and goddesses knew what fate had in store for them. Felvance, a city plagued by a poison that was now considered worldwide to be a disease, had been destroyed by the World Government. A genocide that had shaken the world to its very core. And Law was the only remaining existence that it had ever happened.

Huffing and panting, seething with pure untainted rage, was a little boy who'd gone through so much- and it still wasn't over. Doflamingo had to know by now that they'd betrayed him, which meant he was after them both. Not to mention the witch hunters themselves, wanting to capture and kill any witch they came across, regardless of their age. And then, the worst of it all, was Law's incurable disease they were working so desperately hard to cure. Whispers, mostly from witch hunters themselves, had spread of a plant with the ability to cure anything and everything.

That was why they were here now, in a small wooden shack with wooden furniture. Drying herbs hung from the ceiling whilst a burning incense stick was placed carefully on the table they currently sat at. Brass cauldrons clamored up the corners, and crystals littered every working space. Their tiny hovel had only been lived in for less than two months, but already it was home. A free place where Cora could teach Law everything he possibly could about the magick without the prying eyes of the public. They'd have to move soon, when more information was passed to him about the plant. Until then, they'd wait here.

"I know," Cora said gently, snapping back to the present, "I know what you've been though. I.." He faltered, memories of being tied to a stake with loud, angry shouts filling his ears whilst his brother screamed out, "I know what it's like. Believe me, I know."

Law stared at him, face void of all the previous anger. His eyes only betrayed the slim amount of curiosity Law was feeling.

Cora continued, choosing his words very carefully "I didn't mean to upset you. I know you're not a child, and I know what you've seen. You're right, you don't need me to tell you you're just some kid- because you're not. You're Law." He reached out and pulled Law closer to him by the arm, "You've been through so, so much, and if I could take it all away and make it better, I would."

He could see the tears building up in Law's eyes and he smiled, tugging Law into an embrace. "You're such a brat, but nobody is forcing me to look after you. I do it because I want to."

Law made a noise that sounded close to a whimper, then buried his face in his neck and wrapped his arms around his chest. He could feel the hot tears sliding down the boy's face, dropping onto the exposed part of his neck. He didn't mind though, there was nothing he wouldn't do for this child hugging him.

"Someday," he went on, "We'll live together properly in a house like this. You'll be cured of that stupid poison, my brother will be stopped, and I can teach you every little thing there is to know about magick. You can be a healer, and I'll look after you just like this, okay?"

Law nodded into his neck, hiccuping as he did. Cora couldn't stop the smile that had worked its way onto his face, his hands rubbing up and down on the boy's back. The love he'd felt for his brother had died a long time ago, and only its echoes remained. It had been reborn into a new kind of love, the kind a father would feel for his son. He wouldn't say it to Law directly, because he knew how annoyed Law would get, but he loved his little boy. The bratty witch he was going to save.

"By the way, what stone were you making into a pendant?" He pulled away and asked. He inwardly grinned at Law's wet, snotty face and reached up to brush the tears away with his thumb.

"Blue lace Agate," Law sniffed and jerked away from his hand. "It's a stone for the protection of children, right?"

Cora nodded, pleased that Law had remembered. "I gave it to you hoping to protect you. Once you've made it into a pendant, you'll wear it always- right?"

Law gave him his biggest, watery smile from underneath his fluffy spotted hood. "Of course I will, forever and always."

Cora's heart swelled and threatened to burst. He vowed then to never let anything happen to his boy, not while he was still alive on this Earth.

"That's my boy."