Healers

"You okay?" Kailen asked. He knelt down beside Shachi and summoned ten of his earth crystals. Running his eyes over Shachi's body, he engulfed the pirate in his crystal's glow. "I'm not picking up any serious injuries through my crystals. You appear to only have a few bruises."

"Yeah, I think I'm okay," Shachi replied with his left hand rubbing his pounding head while holding his hat in his right. He returned his hat to his head then looked around at the mess before him. "Where did they take Neo and the captain? And where's Penguin?"

"Healer Zinnia had two wind elementals fly the princess and your captain to her ward," Kailen reported. "Penguin went with them as well."

"Ah, I should have known Penguin went with them. But you didn't follow, too?" Shachi asked.

"I thought it would be better if I stayed behind to check on you all." Kailen tossed a glance at the other pirates. More of the Heart Pirates had woken up, but eight of them were still unconscious. Other earth elementals, with more advanced healing talent than him, were gathered around the pirates. They had their own earth crystals out. Some were checking for injuries while others were already healing some of the wounds they had obtained in their battle. He brought his eyes back to Shachi. "I feel I'll only be in the way if I went with them. Besides, Madam Healer Zinnia is the best healer we have on Luminous right now. The princess is in good hands. She'll be fine."

"I'll take your word for that since I don't know her. At the moment I'm just glad that Penguin went with them. He's the buffer the captain needs around when Neo is involved," Shachi said as he stood up. "But we should get there as soon as we can. I'm still worried about Neo and the captain. Can we go check on them soon?"

"Of course." Kailen nodded while standing up as well. He once again turned his attention to the other pirates and elementals in the area. "How are the other pirates? Are there any serious injuries?"

"Minor medical treatment is needed and is currently being administered as we speak. A week of rest for all of them is suggested. Other than that, they are fine," a healer elemental reported to Kailen.

"This one has a minor fracture in his spine," another one said. She had ten crystals out pointed right to the pirate's back. "It'll be best for Healer Zinnia to take a look at him. I'm not comfortable with spine injuries."

"Fractured spine," Jean Bart said. He was sitting with his legs cross while an earth elemental had his left arm engulfed in his glow. "That's serious, isn't it?"

"Will he be all right?" Bepo asked. The bear was leaning over his injured crewmate. "This is going to upset Neo when she wakes up."

"He'll be fine. Healer Zinnia will be able to fix him right up. He'll be back on his feet in a week," the elemental said. She then looked around the surrounding area. She summoned one of her earth crystals near one of the pinkish crystals jutting out of the forest floor. It started to glow at the same time her earth crystal began to glow. The pink crystal's shape then morphed. It turned into a liquid form and slithered under the injured pirate. The majority of the crystal solidified under the pirate. Then part of the crystal became liquid again. It flowed up around the pirate's body, securing the man in place. "Now all we have to do is flying him to Madam Healer Zinnia's ward."

"I'm glad. " Bepo smiled with a nod. "Neo will be happy we all are fine."

"If I wasn't so worried about Neo, I would be completely impressed by what you just did," Archer said. He poked at the crystal to see if it really was solid again. It was. "I get the feeling this place is going to hold some surprises for us. How is this possible?"

"All of our crystals within us are connect to these crystals growing out of the ground," the elemental said. "We can change their shape into anything we want."

"Interesting," Archer said.

"We should get going now," Kailen then said. "Also, have the castle cooks prepare a meal for the pirates."

"Right!" a couple elementals said with nods.

"They sure are obedient to you," Shachi noted.

"Yeah." Kailen rubbed the back of his neck, a light pink hue rose on his cheeks. "That's only because I'm the brother of a royal. Now that the darkness is gone, they will be serving her with undying loyalty."

"Feels kinda weird. Fighting for our lives then getting served by those who were trying to kill us," Shachi said while shaking his head.

"The captain and Neo are the ones who are going to have a harder time adjusting to this. We need to get to them as soon as possible," Bepo said. "You know how the captain is going to be. Penguin might need backup."

"Yeah." Shachi nodded. "Let's get going."

"Let's go then," Kailen said. The wind elementals wrapped their winds around the pirates and lifted them off the ground. All of the pirates, the ones who were conscious, remained quiet and anxious during their flight to the healer's ward.

The trip to the healer's ward was nothing but a blur for Law. The whole world around him was completely out of focus. The only thing he noticed was Neo. And she was getting worse. Sweat was beading on her hot forehead. He could easily feel her fever through their bond and his hoodie. She kept whimpering from the pain in her sleep, tossing her head this way and that. Each whimper that left her lips cut deep into his core. It made him feel so useless. She was hurting and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He growled, "Are we there yet?! She's getting worse!"

"We're almost there!" one of the wind elementals said.

Penguin looked at his captain then down at Neo. He remained silent. A sense of hopelessness was threatening to settle into his chest. He wanted to say something but knew there was nothing he could say to make this better. Then some caught his attention. Pulling his eyes away from his captain and Neo he saw the tan colored castle. For a second he thought they were going to it but the wind elementals veered to their right. There was another building near the castle. He studied the two floors, crystal green building as the elementals placed them on the ground.

"Hurry! Bring her inside!" the healer ordered. She ran for the double doors of the two level building and jerked them open.

Law, with Neo panting hard in his arms, followed after her. He didn't bother looking around when they entered into the building. He just followed the healer woman through the waiting room, down a hall, and into a room.

The healer pointed to the only bed that was in the room while moving over to a cabinet. "Lay her down there."

Law laid Neo down on the bed. He stroked her hair while hold her right, uninjured hand. Neo whined again in her sleep. She rolled her head around in discomfort. He pressed his forehead to hers when she turned to him. Her hot breath fanned over his skin. "Hold on, Neo. You're going to be fine. I won't let you die."

"Madam! You called for me?" a voice said.

Law's eyes remained locked onto Neo when a new voice entered the room.

Penguin continued to follow his captain and sister. He rushed after them and entered into the room. He stood off to the side as his captain laid Neo down on the bed. Only when a new voice speak did he lift his eyes to them. It was a woman. She was tall, slender, and very curvy with light crystal green eyes. Her light green hair had just as many curves as her body. She was wearing a tight black dress that Penguin was sure was inappropriate for someone in the doctor field. If things weren't so bad with Neo, he would be drooling all over himself at how beautiful this woman was. But he was too worried about his sister to care about any other woman.

"Yes. I need you to help assist me," Healer Zinnia said. She moved back over to Neo.

Law glared at her for getting so close then noticed she was carrying two strange tube like objects that he didn't recognize and two needles that were glowing with some kind of liquid. He demanded, "What are those?!"

"They're going to help the princess," Healer Zinnia said. "They are basically the elemental version of a human IV. We're going to attach these to her skin. Crystal needles then will pierce into her skin and veins to let the antidote in from the IV like tubes. Are you all right with that? Or are you going to bite my head off again?"

"Just do it." Law frowned. He then let his eyes drop back down to Neo. He watched her carefully. His doctor side was battling his protective side. He wanted to keep his eyes on Neo's face, but also wanted to watch what these two strange women were doing to his girl to make sure they didn't hurt her. He ended up bouncing his eyes between the three. His eyes then went to Selene when she moved closer. He gave her a warning glare but she didn't seem to notice, or cared. All she did was blush when she looked at him.

In a flirty voice, she said, "My good sir, we're going to have to remove the princess's shirt. I'm afraid you and your friend over there are going to have to leave the room."

"I'm not leaving Neo's side," Law hissed.

"I'm afraid that-" Selene started.

"I'm not leaving! If her shirt needs to come off then I'll take it off!" Law snapped. He gave the woman another glare before turning his attention back to Neo. Lifting her up, he found it was going to be impossible to take her shirt off the normal way. Neo wasn't strong enough to sit up on her own. So he formed his Room and warped it off. Laying her back down his eyes caught the color of the poison. It was up to her neck and close to her heart. If the poison wasn't already in her heart it was about to be. "What the heck does this poison do to a person?!"

"The poison weakens a person's immune system while attacking blood cells. It also causes an extremely high fever," Selene answered. Her eyes wandered over Law's body while she mindlessly hovered one of her crystals against Neo's forehead. "And speaking of which…her fever is climbing. It's almost up to 108."

Law barely heard her answer as he continued to stare at Neo's discolored skin.

The young healer's crystal vanished from their sights. She jumped when Healer Zinnia cleared her throat. "Madam?"

"Stop drooling! You're working here!" Healer Zinnia ordered.

"Yes, Madam," Selene said with a sigh. She took one of the funny looking items that Healer Zinnia brought out. It was an oval shape, thin crystal tube like device with thin thorn like points on the bottom. The young woman placed it over Neo's chest. She looked at the older healer beside her. "Her fever, Madam?"

"The fever is a secondary concern. She's too weak for it to affect her crystals at this point anyway," Healer Zinnia said as she worked with her own device. This one was shaped similar to a hand and wrist. It too was made of thin crystal tubes with thin thorn like points on the bottom of it. She placed it over Neo's hand where the poison had entered. She looked up at Selene. The two women shared a nod.

Law was about to question their actions. He was halted when they practically slammed the devices into Neo's skin causing her to cry out in pain at the treatment. He hissed, "Do you have to hurt her?!"

"Yes! This poison also causes the skin to tighten up!" Healer Zinnia hissed back. She pulled a light orange crystal from her pocket. Placing it under Neo's wrist, she summoned one of her crystals. When her crystal started to glow so did the light orange crystal. Orange crystal turned into a liquid form and spread out under Neo's wrist, palm, and fingers. It somehow remained in place when the healer pulled away from it. "If you're going to just keep yelling at me, get out of my ward! I don't have time for this!"

"I told you already! I'm not leaving her side!" Law snapped back. "And I told you, you will explain to me what you're doing to her!"

"I have been explaining it!" the healer shouted with exasperation.

"Then tell me before you do it!" Law demanded. "I won't tolerate this kind of abusive treatment for her!"

"This isn't abusive treatment! This is necessary treatment!" Healer Zinnia roared.

Penguin carefully, and quietly, observed the scene before him. He mentally sighed. He and the others were right. Their beloved captain has already brought out the claws to protect Neo, even from those who were clearly no longer a threat and just wanted to help their girl. He opened his mouth. He was going to try, even though it was dangerous, to get his captain to calm down. But before he, or anyone else could speak, Neo released a sudden harsh gasp then stopped breathing. He rushed closer to the bed. "Neo?! What happened to her?!"

"She stopped breath!" Selene informed them, even though it wasn't necessary.

"Forcing in the antidote! We're not losing her!" Healer Zinnia shouted. She grabbed both of the glowing needles. She handed one to Selene. They stuck them into the devices on Neo's arm and chest at the same time. As they pushed in the antidote, the tubes glow grew brighter. "Selene, stimulate her heart! The poison must be leaking into it!"

"What?! No! You have to help her!" Penguin said. "Please! You can't let her die!"

Law's body froze. The two women and Penguin's voices faded away from his ears as their bodies faded away from his eyes. The only two that remained in the room was himself and Neo. He could feel it. Her life was slipping away from her body. Her life was slipping away from him. His brain shut off. His breathing stopped. His heart stopped beating.

A small amount of reality seeped back into Law's blank mind when he realized his heart literally wasn't beating. Mindlessly, he raised one of his hands to his neck. He pressed his fingers to where his pulse should have been. It wasn't there. His heart really was no longer beating. Just as his hand started to slide away from his pulseless neck, a beat throbbed beneath his fingers. One beat. Two beats. Three beats.

"She's breathing again! Heart rate is rising!" a distant voice said through the darkness that surrounded him. "We've got her back!"

"Good now, Selene," another distance voice said. "Let's get the rest of the equipment set up. I do not want that happening again."

"Captain?" a third, familiar, voice asked. His voice started to become stronger in Law's ears with each word he spoke. "Captain? Captain, she's fine now. Can you hear me? She's going to be fine."

"What?" The lights and colors of the room started to reappear in Law's eyes. Looking up he stared at Penguin's face.

"She's fine now," Penguin said again.

Law could only swallow and nod.

"Are you all right, Captain? You look pale," Penguin said.

"I'm fine. I was just…" Law lowered his eyes back down to Neo. Although still in pain, she was alive. She was still alive. She was still with him. He brought her uninjured hand up to his lips and placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "I'm fine."

"Is this it?" Bepo asked when they finally landed in front of the ward. The conscious pirates took in the two crystal buildings nearby. "Wow! Even your buildings are made of crystals."

"Of course they are," a female wind elemental said. She ran her hand through her light bluish gray hair. "Just about everything here is."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Bepo bowed his head.

"Uh?" The wind elemental blinked. "Sorry for what?"

"Ignore him. He's always like that. He's just-" Shachi started. He was cut off when the elemental shrieked. Turning around he found a teenager with long red hair taking Bepo in.

"He's so cute!" The elemental's cheeks turned pink. She moved closer to Bepo. Bouncing around, she inspected the gloomy bear. "I didn't know bears could talk like that! How is it possible he can talk like us?! Too cute! So cute!"

"You people never seen a mink before?" Jean Bart asked.

"A mink? Oh, so that's what he is," another male wind elemental said, inspecting the bear from a respectable distance. "And no. We pretty much stay on the island. But Shanks and his crew has brought us books and other stuff from the human world. So we're not completely ignorant about other cultures."

"That's nice. Which room will Neo be in?" Shachi asked looking up at the windows of the building.

"She should be in one of the rooms on the bottom floor right next to Healer Zinnia's room. Healer Zinnia lives in this place when she has a seriously injured patient. She'll definitely want to be near the princess while she in her current state," Kailen explained as he led the way into the building.

"I don't think I'm going to fit in there," Jean Bart said while pointing to the small doors.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Kailen said. He summoned one of his crystals. As they started to glow so did the doors to the building. Right before the pirates' eyes, the two doors grew large enough for Jean Bart to easily clear. The pirates gasped. "We can easily change the size of anything that's made of crystals."

"Interesting," Shachi mumbled. He shook his head. "I can be fascinated later. I really want to go see how Neo's doing."

"If you're feeling fine enough to," Kailen said. He eyed the pirate's body. "It might be best if you rest for a while."

"I've already told you that I'm fine. I only need to see how our girl is doing. I can rest later," Shachi said. He looked over his shoulder at his wounded crewmates. "Besides, they're worse than I am. They should be taken care of first."

"Right." Kailen nodded. He signaled for his fellow elementals to take the injured pirates into the ward. "Who's all coming with me?"

"I am," Shachi said, even though he already stated it.

"Me too," Bepo said, stepping away from the elemental woman who was still gushing over his cuteness.

"I think I'll stay with the crew to make sure they're all right when they wake up," Jean Bart said. "I'm sure Neo needs her rest right now. I'll see her later when she's feeling better."

"We'll go with Jean Bart," Conner said.

Archer nodded in agreement.

"All right." Shachi waved at his crewmates as they stepped inside the building. He took a quick look around. This place looked pretty much the same as any other hospital he's seen before. The only differences was this place was made of crystals and had vines and flowers growing over the walls and from the ceiling.

"The healers like having stimulating plants and flowers inside their wards," Kailen answered the unasked question. "It helps keep patients and guests calm while also helping to heal the injured. All rooms in all the wards on Luminous are like this."

Shachi and Bepo nodded. They proceeded to follow Kailen quietly through the flora-decorated building. He led them through the waiting room of the ward and down a quiet hallway. Eventually, they started to hear voices coming from one of the rooms. Kailen stepped up to it and knocked softly a couple times.

"Get her hooked up to the heart monitor," Healer Zinnia ordered Selene. "I'll get the princess a gown."

"Yes, ma'am." Selene nodded.

Penguin remained silent as the two women stepped away from them. He eyed his captain and Neo before looking back to the elementals. The older woman went to a small closet next to a door that he assumed was the bathroom. The younger woman stepped to a cabinet next to the bed. On top of the cabinet was a small box that looked to him like something similar to the heart monitoring equipment his captain had on the sub. The only difference was there were no wires coming from the box so he wasn't sure what it was. For all he knew it was just a box.

"What are those?" he asked when Selene pulled out four smooth, oval shaped greenish blue patch like crystals from a small drawer in the cabinet.

"They're crystals that are going to monitor the princess's vital signs," Selene answered. She stepped back over to the bed.

Law released a warning growl when he noticed the woman getting closer again.

Selene, however, didn't take it as a threat. Her cheeks just flushed a light red and gave the pirate captain a flirtatious smile. "Don't worry. This won't hurt her at all. Watch."

Penguin rolled his hidden eyes. This woman's desperation was pathetic.

Selene placed them on Neo's chest around the crystal tubes. She then summoned one of her crystals. The crystal started to glow. The glow flowed out over to the crystals on Neo's chest then started to glow themselves.

Next thing Penguin knew the box on the cabinet also started to glow and beep. It lit up with numbers and lines that jumped with each beep of Neo's heart.

"I activate the crystal patches with my own crystal's glow. They then monitor the princess's vital signs and send that information back to this little box here. It also sends the report to the healer's crystals that engulfed the patches in their glow. Both Madam Zinnia and myself will be monitoring the princess very closely from now on," Selene said.

"Oh." Penguin nodded even though it was obvious the woman was talking directly to Law not him or anyone else.

Law didn't notice. He attention was still locked onto Neo, totally oblivious to the woman's obvious crush on him.

A couple soft knocks then came from the door.

"Just one moment," Healer Zinnia said. She rushed back over to Neo with a long white gown in her hands. She was pulling down the zipper in the front of it.

Law glared at her when she got close to Neo.

Healer Zinnia glared back before tossing him the shirt. "Fine! You put it on her! Just make sure the zipper is in the front!"

Law easily snatched the shirt from the air. He then carefully slipped the sleeve of the shirt over Neo's injured hand and arm. Guilt hit him when Neo whimpered at the movement. He tried to move her more gently.

"Perhaps an extra set of hands would help," Selene suggested.

"That's a good idea. I'll help," Penguin quickly said as he stepped forward. He caught a glimpse of Selene's disappointed expression. He made the right move. She was only trying to get closer to Law. He wasn't going to allow that at all. "Let me help, Captain."

Law only nodded. He allowed Penguin to take the shirt from his hand. He gave Neo his full attention. Together they pulled the shirt onto her body without causing more pain for her. He gently lifted her up so Penguin could pull the gown down over her thighs. He then laid her back on the bed.

Penguin zipped the gown up. He paused when he got to the crystal tube on her chest. After a quick examination of the size of the gown, he realized it was loose enough that it wouldn't cause any problems for the strange device. He zipped it up a little more, but left half of the crystal tubing exposed. He then heard Kailen's voice ask, "How is she, Madam Healer?"

"She's critical, but stable," Healer Zinnia replied.

"That's great!" Shachi exclaimed as he and Bepo made their way into the room.

"Hey now!" Healer Zinnia exclaimed. "She's stable, but that doesn't mean she needs the extra stress of a lot of people in here!"

The pirates didn't hear her, or they ignored her, as they made their way over to Neo and company. Bepo cautiously examined the glowing devices on Neo's arm and under her shirt. He blinked before asking, "What are those? They're not hurting her, are they?"

"What is with you people? We're not hurting her now," Healer Zinnia asked. She placed her hands on her hips in a huff.

"No, they're not," Penguin replied, ignoring the woman. He then quickly explained to his crewmates what the devices were so they wouldn't worry about them.

"Ah, poor baby," Bepo then cooed softly. He inched closer to the bed.

Penguin watched him. It was obvious the bear wanted to touch Neo, but was afraid of hurting the already injured girl.

"Hey, how's the captain doing?" Shachi leaned closer to Penguin so they could whisper. Although Shachi didn't think it was really necessary. It was obvious that Neo had the majority of Law's attention right now. He wasn't even sure the captain knew they had entered the room since they weren't strangers or a possible threat to her.

"As expected," Penguin replied. He looked up at the captain. Law's eyes were down on Neo and he was holding her hand again. "He doesn't want anyone, but for us, anywhere near her. Once the crew is feeling better, it'll be best if we set up guard on this room and outside. The captain will freak out if anyone outside of us, Kailen and these two healers come anywhere near her in this state."

Shachi nodded. "Those would be the captain's order's anyway. I'll be sure to spread the word to the crew."

"How are they doing, anyway?" Penguin asked.

"Minor injuries mostly," Shachi reported. "One has a fractured spine, but they said some healer could fix that and he'd be up and around in a week."

"That's good to hear. Neo will be happy no one got any serious injuries." Penguin released a small sigh of relief.

"Also, the elementals are preparing us something to eat," Shachi added. "I'm going to stand guard out in the hall first. I won't let them come in here."

"Right." Penguin nodded. "We'll need to bring the captain something to eat too. Though I doubt he'll eat it."

Shachi nodded with a sigh. The two then let their eyes drift back over to Neo, Law, and Bepo.

Bepo had inched even closer to Neo. He was bent down at his knees. His paws were gently laying on the edge of the bed. And he was talking softly to her. He said, "Hey, Princess. That kind of sounds funny, doesn't it? But you are one. It's kind of cute for you. We're right here, you know? We're waiting for you to wake back up. The captain's right here too. He's right by your side. You'll be all right. I just know you will."

"All right, that's enough visiting time for today," Healer Zinnia said, finally gathering everyone's attention. She had her hands still on her hips and was sending them a disapproving frown. "The princess needs her rest."

"We'll come see you later," Bepo said to Neo before standing up. He, Shachi, and Penguin started for the door, but only out of respect for Neo. They really didn't care what the healer wanted.

"That includes you, too," Healer Zinnia hissed at Law. "Get out!"

The three pirates exiting the room flinched to a stop. They slowly turned to see what their captain would do. With his harshest glare beaming in his eyes, Law turned to her. Venom dripped from his voice. He said, "I am not leaving her."

"Oh, yes you-"

"Madam Healer!" Kailen's voice cut hers off. She turned to him. He spoke in a tone that left no room for arguing. "I would like a word with you and Selene out in the hall! It's about the princess! And as the princess's brother I expect you to listen to me!"

"Oh, very well," Healer Zinnia huffed. She stomped over to the door. She paused to turn back and called for Selene. "Selene! Let's go!"

"Right!" Selene jumped from her heart-eyed stare at Law.

Shachi watched the woman before turning to Penguin. Shaking his head he said, "Well, she's not going to cause trouble at all."

Penguin, too, shook his head with a shrug of his shoulders. The three pirates then followed the three elementals out into the hall, closing the door behind them.

"All right, Kailen. What is it you wanted to tell us?" Healer Zinnia asked. She crossed her arms and gave the young man an impatient look.

Kailen didn't answer right away. He looked over at the three pirates with him. They looked at him before exchanging glances between themselves. They knew what he was asking.

Penguin sighed. He said, "It'll probably be for the best if we did go ahead and tell them."

"Will you just tell us? If you have forgotten, I have a very ill patient to attend to. I don't have time for these silly games of yours," Healer Zinnia said with an exasperated huff.

"Go ahead, Penguin," Kailen said. "They need to know."

"All right." Penguin nodded. He turned his hidden eyes to the two women. With a deep breath, he told them everything about Neo's past. "And that's why it's best if you just let the captain stay by her side."

"We don't intend any disrespect for you all or your culture," Shachi said. "Its just…Neo really needs the captain to be by her side. She's not comfortable with strangers at all on a normal day without time to adjust to them. And with what happened with the darkness crystal and you all…"

"It's going to take her some time to adjust to the fact that you all aren't going to hurt her anymore," Bepo finished up.

"That's so sad." Selene sniffled while brushing away a tear from the corner of her eye.

"I see," Healer Zinnia said. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping her finger on her arm. "I suppose I can be a bit more understanding and tolerant of the princess's situation. But this is not going to go over well with the rest of the elementals. We have rules and customs, you know."

"We understand that," Shachi said with a nod. "We'll do whatever we can to make this transition more smoothly for us all."

"I can start spreading the word over the island tomorrow, if that's all right with you all," Kailen offered. "Unless your captain would prefer it to be done another way."

"No, it'll be best if an elemental delivers this news. We can help if need be," Penguin said. "It's important that they understand how Neo is."

"It's not going to be easy. Elementals are use to their royals being in the limelight. They'll want to crown her as the princess she is and expect her to be crown queen one day," Kailen said. "And expect them to start sending her get well gifts soon. And trying to see her for themselves."

"This is not going to be easy." Shachi sighed.

Bepo and Penguin nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm going to go over to the castle now," Kailen said.

"You're leaving?" Shachi asked. "What about Neo?"

"I know she'll be fine with Madam Healer Zinnia here," Kailen said. "I need to have the castle staff get rooms ready for you all."

"We're staying right here," Penguin said. "We'll sleep outside if we have to."

"You can't sleep outside when it rains," Kailen said. "And you'll do Neo no good if you get sick. I'm sure she'll want you to sleep inside. Besides a rain storm is moving in."

"He's got a point," Bepo said.

"Fine," Penguin said.

"I'll come back when the rooms are ready and show you around the castle," Kailen said.

The pirates remained out in the hall for the next two hours. Occasionally, Penguin would peak into the room to see if anything changed, but nothing ever did. Neo remained in critical condition while Law remained by her side. He was just coming back out of the room when Kailen finally came walking back down the hall.

"Anything news?" Kailen asked when he reached the pirates.

"No, Neo's the same," Shachi said.

"Well, I can show you around the castle now," Kailen said. "You ready?"

"Just give me a minute to let the captain know where we're going," Penguin said before entering back into the room. He walked over to the bed. His eyes went to Neo first before looking up at his captain. "We're going over to the castle for a while. They've set up rooms for us to sleep in. We're also going to have someone outside of the room keeping watch so no one comes in." Knowing Law wouldn't answer him, he left the room. "Let's go."

The pirates followed Kailen out of the building. They gathered up a few more crewmembers that were in the lobby and headed over to the castle, note how several elementals were already gathering around the ward. The elemental led them up to the stairs. There were two of them. They slip to their left and right, leading up to the round porch and the two large double doors. Stepping inside, they were greeted by a large room decorated and another set of stairs. The stairs went up to a landing that split off to two more staircases. The foyer branched off into two wings and was decorated with organic shaped crystals and paintings.

"This way," Kailen said. He headed up the first flight of stairs then turned to go up the ones on his right. A few elemental maids wandered through the halls, giving the pirates curious looks before going on about their business. More sculptures decorated this floor. There were also landscape paintings hanging on the walls between the many doors. "You all can sleep in these rooms here but for this one." He stopped at one of the double doors. "This is Neo's room. I figured you all would want to be near her."

"We do." Shachi nodded.

"I'll show you where the dinning room is." Kailen walked away from the rooms. "The food should be ready by now."

They walked back down the stairs and turned to their left. Walking down the hall they found more sculptures, paintings, and plants. Kailen turned into one of the many doors. A long rectangular table sat in the middle of the room. At the far end of the room maids were coming in and out of a door carrying trays of vegetables, fruits, and fish. They laid them on the table and headed back through the door.

"Sorry for the meal being mostly fruits and vegetables," Kailen said as he sat down. "We don't typically eat meat since we're so close to nature."

"Make sense," Bepo said sitting down.

The rest of the pirates sat down. Silence fell over them as they started picking at the food that had been brought to them.

"Is there anything else you need?" an orange haired elemental asked.

"No, I think we're fine," Kailen said.

"Very well. Feel free to call for me if you need anything. My name is Topaz," Topaz said. She bowed then left the room.

"I'm going to go back to the hospital now," Penguin said a little while later. "I'm going to sleep in the room with Neo."

"You're not going to sleep here?" Archer asked.

"No," Penguin said. "I'm too worried about Neo. I want to be close in case something happens."

"You do what you need to, Penguin," Conner said.

"I'll tell the others there's food for them here." Penguin nodded, picked up a plate of food and a cup of water before leaving the castle. More elementals had gathered at the ward. And like Kailen said, some were holding gifts. Ignoring them he went inside and found two of his crewmates were guarding the door like they had planned. He told them about the food then turned to the door. Entering back into Neo's room he found his captain was still with Neo. No surprise there. He walked the food and water over to the small dresser on the left side of the bed. "Captain, I brought you something to eat. You really should eat it. You're going to need the energy."

Law didn't respond.

Penguin should have known his captain wouldn't. So without a word he flicked the light off and curled up in a corner to try and get some rest himself.

Law sighed softly. His eyes were still locked onto Neo's sleeping form like they had been the majority of the time since she was brought into this place. And he had no idea how long that had been. The only time he let his eyes wander from her was when he looked over at the heart monitor to check what her vitals signs were. Each time he checked they were still hovering dangerously low. Threatening to drop lower. Threatening to put her into a coma. Or worse…die. An icy cold grip would grab his heart each time he thought that.

He was now sitting on the bed with her, on her right side just like he would be if they were in their room on the sub. He knew she was use to him being on her right side so that's where he made sure he was. He refused to move from that spot. He refused to eat what food someone, probably Penguin, brought him. It sat abandon and cold on a small crystal dresser near the bed. He barely noticed it in the dark room.

He wasn't even sure who all came to check on Neo that day. He knew, or he was sure, that all of his crew came to check on her at some point, unless they were injured and couldn't come at the time. He vaguely remembered hearing Penguin telling him that the crew was keeping on guard outside and at the room's door. He knew that would have been his orders anyway if he were coherent enough to give orders. He was glad they knew him well enough to come to that decision on their own. He didn't want anyone near Neo.

He grudgingly let the two healer women do their job only because he had no clue how to help her. But he watched them like a hawk when they got near her. He scrutinized their every move when they were in the room and especially when they came near Neo. The only other one who spent a lot of time in the room was Penguin.

That was acceptable. After all, next to him, Penguin was the closest to Neo. Though he didn't look to see, he was sure Penguin was still in the room, somewhere. He knew the man wouldn't get too far away with Neo like this. Most likely curled up in a corner trying to sleep or just silently watching over Neo from a distance while worrying about her.

Law's heart skipped a beat when the heart monitor's beeping dropped. He relaxed when it came back up and Neo's heartbeat became steady again. With a raspy sigh, he ran his eyes over the two IV like items attacked to her body. They were glowing softly with a soft green hue in the moonlit room. His eyes paused on the smooth crystals on her chest around the tubing. They were somehow monitoring her heartbeat, but he couldn't recall how he knew that.

He gently ran his fingers over her skin just above the oval crystal tubing on her chest. He trailed his fingers to her left swollen arm and down to her ringless finger. His heart seized up. It wasn't right that his ring wasn't on her finger anymore. It wasn't right that he couldn't put his ring back on her finger.

Sighing again, Law forced himself not to think about that. She'll be wearing his ring again as soon as the swelling went down. He brought his attention to her discolored skin. The antidote had stopped the poison from spreading to her heart, but it wasn't getting rid of it yet. It was still a high risk to her life. She could still die. Law gritted his teeth. He leaned down to her and pressed his forehead to hers. Moving his hand up to her blue hair, he gently clenched her soft tresses in his hand. "You are not going to die. You are going to live. Do you hear me, Neo? I am ordering you to live. There's still something important I need to tell you. So live. Live for me."

Law slowly closed his eyes. Keeping his forehead touching hers, he breathed in her familiar sweet scent that he missed so much, allowing it to calm him down as much as it could. He clenched his teeth as two warm teardrops dripped from his eyes and fell onto the soft skin of her cheeks. "I won't lose someone else that I love."