Neo's Stance
Neo's eyes flitter back and forth between Healer Zinnia and Law. She was sitting on the bed in ward easily noticing the strange, silent battle going on between them, but not understanding what is was exactly. Law was sitting beside her like he always did. His right arm was around her waist while he had his left hand placed over her left hand. He lightly rubbed his fingers over her hand, making her tense and sending an electric tingle up her arm that jolted her heart. A devilish smirk was set on his lips when Healer Zinnia shot him another annoyed glare.
"Will you stop doing that?!" Healer Zinnia demanded. "I'm trying to take her vitals! And I can't get a precise reading when you keep making her heart pound like that!"
"She's fine. This isn't necessary. Just go ahead and take off the patches," Law said.
"I'm tempted to leave them on just to keep you from kissing her. I already have the suspicions that you're crossing the line and sneaking into her bedroom at night considering how her heart was pounding the other night," Healer Zinnia grumbled.
Law's smirk grew.
Healer Zinnia growled at the pirate's lack of respect for their rules. Knowing there was nothing that could be done to keep them apart due to their bond and Law's word on keeping the princess pure, she just sighed with defeat before giving in and removing the four crystal patches from Neo's chest. Tugging down the collar, she plucked off the patches. "All right, Princess, you are officially out from underneath my watchful gaze. Your vitals are fine, the poison is long gone, and your strength is coming back. I still advise you to take things easy now. Don't over do it. And if anything doesn't feel right just sit down and have someone call for me. But I have the feeling you'll go to your captain first. Still, Mister Trafalgar, you're just learning so don't get in over your head, especially with the princess."
"We'll be just fine," Law said with a shrug.
"I guess we'll see," Healer Zinnia said. She slipped the patches into her pocket then crossed her arms "Still…with what you have planned later today I should probably kept the patches on unit after that. We all know it's going to stress her out like crazy. Maybe I should put them back on."
"Nothings going to go wrong," Law replied. He pulled Neo closer to him when he felt her tremble. She lifted her eyes to him. Sensing her anxiety rising, he pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'm going to be right by her side the whole time. The crew is also going to be there. She can do this as long as we're by her side."
"I hope your right," Healer Zinnia sighed.
"You…you're going to come, aren't you?" Neo asked timidly. She turned her eyes to the healer.
Law glanced over at Healer Zinnia. Over the weeks spent around the woman, Neo had finally gotten comfortable enough around the elemental to actually speak to her without much hesitation.
"Yes, Princess, I will be there. Mostly in case something goes wrong with your health, but I'm also curious to see the faces on the elementals when you tell them you're not stay here and that you're bonded with this man," Healer Zinnia replied with a nod. A smile pulled across her lips. "You and your crew sure have turned things upside down. It's actually kind of exciting. There hasn't been this much excitement since your godfather first arrived here. Is everything going to be ready in time?"
"Yes." Law nodded. "Topaz has been spreading the word about Neo making an announcement since this morning. Elementals have been gathering outside the castle all day. I had to warp Neo over here when we came."
"Yeah, I've noticed that excitement in the air, too. Everyone in the ward has been talking about the princess making an announcement. They all think she's announcing that she's staying on Luminous." Healer Zinnia lowered her voice. She looked over to the door. A couple of shadows passed by, they slowed down but didn't linger around. Turning her eyes back to the pirates, she shoved her hands into her pockets. "Well, I've got to get back to my other patients now. I'll see you later."
"Bye." Neo waved to the woman as she walked away. She then looked back up at Law. "Where are we going now? Back to the castle? It's almost time for lunch."
"I think we should go for a walk before returning to the castle," Law said. "All the elementals are going to be too excited about your announcement to notice us. They won't be focused on sensing where you are. We should take advantage of that while we can."
"Okay then." Neo nodded. Law slid off the bed. After strapping his sword back to his back, he picked Neo up. "I can walk."
"I know." Law smiled. "But I like carrying you. Room. Shambles."
Neo blinked and found they were now outside. In the distance she could hear muffled voices of the elementals. It made her nervous at how many there were gathering outside of the castle. It felt like the entire island population was there and her speech wasn't going to happen until later in the day. She wrapped her arms around Law's neck. "There's so many of them. Their magic is overwhelming."
"I know." Law ran his hand over her back. He started walking farther into the forest. "This is the first time you're having to speak to so many people. I wish your first time was in front of a lot less. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry. This isn't your fault." Neo pulled away from him a bit. "These are my people after all. And if confronting them is what it takes to get them to understand how much you and the crew mean to me, then I would do it as many times as it takes. I'm not leaving you or the crew."
Law smiled at her. The thought of kissing her passed through his mind but quickly left when he felt something climbing up his leg.
Neo giggled and Law frowned when a very cute baby silver and white colored squirrel appeared on his shoulder. The squirrel twitched his little nose at Neo before climbing down her arm and came to sit on her shoulder. She giggled again when the squirrel licked then snuggled her cheek. A couple birds flew over and landed on a near by branch. They tweeted and chirped a song while more animals scurried out from the bushes. A couple foxes, bunnies, even a wolf gathered around Law and Neo. The animals curiously inspected the couple, mostly Neo.
Law huffed, a bit annoyed that his alone time with Neo got interrupted. "They better not be asking you to stay as well. I'll turn them into fluffy slippers and feather pens if they are."
"They're not," Neo replied with more bell chiming giggles at the attention the animals were giving her. "They're just curious because they haven't sensed me here before. I guess these are some of the island animals that have returned."
Neo turned her eyes to Law then. She sensed an unfamiliar, yet slightly familiar energy coming from him.
Law tilted his head. He asked, "What is it?"
"There was just something different in your tone when you say they better not be asking you to stay as well and the fluffy slippers thing," Neo said. She carefully inspected Law to try and figure out what was going on. "It was kind of cute, but also something else. I'm not really sure what. Something familiar. "
It took Law a second to realize what she was talking about. When he finally understood, he nodded before answering her. "I was jealous."
"Jealous? That feeling you said I had when Selene…" Neo flinched. She bit her bottom lip and tried not to think about what that elemental tried to do.
"Yeah." Law nodded again when she leaned her forehead against his cheek. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. I just still don't like how I felt then," Neo replied honestly. "I really don't want her near you. But I know there are going to be times when she is while we're still on Luminous."
"Try not to think about it. If she comes anywhere near me again, I'll put an immediate stop to it. I won't let her get that close ever again," Law said with a bit of a harsh edge to his tone.
Neo pulled away from him a bit so she could look at him. He had a light glare playing on his eyes, but it quickly vanished when he knew she was looking at him. Her heart began to race when she noticed his eyes turning soft and he leaned closer to her. She swallowed nervously. "Y-you're going t-to do that thing again, aren't you? You're going to kiss me."
"I am," Law whispered just before closing the distance between them. He smiled when he felt her body become completely tense under his intimate touch. Not wanting to freeze her up completely, he pulled away after only a couple seconds. He chuckled humorously at her wide-eyed expression. "I guess I'm going to have to kiss you a lot so you will get use to it and not freeze up on me like this all the time."
The animals moved in closer. They chitter, chirped and made their respective noises. Law couldn't help but notice that they were curious at the reaction Neo had right now. He wasn't sure how he knew how the animals felt, but he did. He wondered if it had something to do with their bond. The squirrel on Neo's shoulder looked at Law and chittered wildly, almost angrily. Law laughed at the possible lecture the little creature was giving him. "Don't tell me what to do, you little rat. She's just fine. She's just not use to such affections. But don't worry. I'm more than glad to help her get use to getting kissed like this. And now I'm talking to animals, too."
Law shook his head. He wondered if they understood him like they would understand Neo if she was the one talking to them. He quickly shook it off. It really didn't matter right now. He continued his walk with her through the forest. He didn't want to take her back to the castle in her current condition. So he kept her outside for about forty-five minutes before returning to the castle and his crew for lunch.
…
"Hm." Neo hummed as her eyes roamed over all of the food on the table. There was a large amount of vegetables and fruits just like there was at every meal they've had since she and Law moved in to the castle. There was also some meat, mostly fish, sitting on the table close to Bepo.
"Is there something wrong, Princess?" Topaz asked. The orange haired elemental took a couple steps closer to Neo and Law, but still remained a respectful distance away. "Is the food not to your liking today?"
"It's not that," Neo replied. She pulled her eyes from the food and looked at the elemental. "I just noticed that at each meal there's always a lot of fruits and vegetables. There are always more of them than meat. Is there a reason for that?"
"Yes, there is, Princess," Topaz replied. "Our people's diet has always put more focus on fruits and vegetables than meat. A lot of elementals find it difficult to eat meat since we can speak to animals. So they focus more on a herbivore diet than on an omnivore diet."
Neo turned her slightly panicked eyes to Law. She was once again sitting on his lap at the head of the table, much to the annoyance of the other elementals. She asked, "Captain, is there something wrong with eating meat?"
"No there's nothing wrong with it at all," Law replied. "But some people do believe that eating meat is wrong or choose not to eat meat for personal, religious or health reasons. It's a personal choice that each individual decides on their own. You were raised among humans where it's normal to include meat in your diet. And humans don't have the ability to talk to animals the way that you do so the subject most likely was never brought up. I assume that if you were raised on Luminous your diet might be different from what it is right now."
Neo lowered her eyes back down to the fish lying on her plate.
Law then said, "Neo, if you ever decide that you're not comfortable eating meat because you talk to animals then I won't force you to eat it."
"Really?" Neo pulled her eyes back to his.
"Of course." Law nodded. "If you do, I'll monitor your diet change carefully so I can be sure that you're getting the right balance of nutrients until you've gotten use to the change. Just take some time to think about it. You don't have to make any decisions right now."
"Okay," Neo said. She relaxed in Law's hold and continued eating.
Law carefully examined Neo to make sure she was fine and understood him. The crew also stopped eating to observe their girl. None of them thought of this before. It could very well bother Neo to eat meat now that she was more aware of her surroundings and of different diet choices. Once Law concluded that she was fine for the time, he turned his eyes back to Topaz while the crew continued eating and chatting among themselves. Law asked, "How are the preparations going?"
"They are going just fine, sir," Topaz replied. "Everyone will gather outside of the castle as you have requested, if they haven't all ready. The princess will have plenty of escape routes if the situation for her to escape is needed. The castle guards will be standing guard around the porch just in case the elementals want to get out of control. I still have a few things to take care of before the princess makes her announcement. I will be taking my leave now if there is nothing else you all need."
Law nodded in acceptance to the elemental's words.
Topaz nodded back to the man then bowed to Neo before walking off.
Neo shifted at the bowing and tried to ignore it.
Law continued to watch and sensed out Neo's feelings carefully during the rest of their lunch. With the new diet information and her upcoming announcement he wanted to make sure she wasn't going to get too stressed out from everything.
…
Neo stood silently beside Law, her eyes locked onto the large doors in front of her. She could sense all the elementals gathering outside. They were waiting for her and her announcement. She bit her bottom lip as her hand trembled in his.
Law squeezed her hand then rubbed his thumb in circles over her skin. "Deep, slow breaths, Neo."
"Right." Neo nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She let it out slowly then did it a couple more times. It settled her nerves a little bit. When she opened her eyes, she looked around at her crew. They had gathered around a few minutes ago when she and Law came out of the library. They all were giving her encouraging smiles, but she could also tell that they too were just as nervous, and concerned, as she was. Over the months she's lived with them she's learn how to read their postures in different situations. They twitched, shifted from foot to foot, clenched and unclenched their hands when nervous or tense, especially when the situation dealt with her. Even Law was emitted an uncharacteristic nervousness. She didn't even have to use their bond to tell that.
Neo pulled her eyes up to Law. He was clenching and unclenching his left hand on his sword. She could see multiple plans running through his eyes on what he was going to do if something went wrong here. First thing he would do is warp her and the crew out of there and into the sub. Then is was a question of whether or not they could get the sub far away before the elementals stopped them. She looked around the room. No elementals were in sight. She wondered if all the castle workers were outside to hear her announcement or if they were possibly elsewhere.
She turned her attention to the gathered crowd outside. So many elementals were out there. More had come since the last time she checked. So many people wielding nature. So many who could hurt her crew, her family. Her hand tightened on Law's as her breaths started to come in short gasps and her chest squeezed tightened while a cold sweat started to break out on her forehead. She wheezed.
"Don't do that, Neo," Law's voice pulled her from her oncoming panic attack. She turned her eyes back to him just as he leaned down and hugged her. "Don't think about how many there are and what they can do. Just focus on your task at hand. All you have to do is tell them you're not staying. That's it. And, remember, you're stronger than them. They can't hurt you. They won't hurt you."
Neo lifted her arms and grasped a hold of the back of Law's hoodie. She nodded against him. He nodded and rubbed his hand on her back before pulling away. He then reclaimed her hand. They both looked out at the crew.
The crew nodded then headed for the door. A couple crewmates opened the door and they all filed out onto the porch. They divided up and walked to each side of the porch as Neo and Law made their way out the door. Law stopped walking when Neo came to a sudden stop.
Neo's heart pounded sharply at the incoherent murmurs of the waiting elementals, all their eyes were on her. It looked like the entire population of Luminous had come to hear her announcement. Some of the wind elementals were hovering themselves in the air while some earth elementals had lifted themselves in the air with vines or lifted a rock or the ground up to get a better view of their princess. Some were even sitting in trees, mostly kids and teenagers. The guards were lined up in front of the porch like Topaz had said they would be. There were about sixty of them in front and probably about a hundred lingering around in different areas among the crowd. She wasn't sure what they could or would do if the elementals did try something. She tried not to think about it.
Pulling her eyes from the masses, she looked to her left to find Prudence and her two ladies in waiting were standing at the bottom of the stairs with impatient looks on their faces. Behind them, leaning against a tree with his arm crossed, was Tao. This was the first time since she purified the darkness crystal that she had seen him.
Neo couldn't read his expression. He just looked like he didn't care if he was there or not. To her right, Topaz and Healer Zinnia were waiting with patient and encouraging looks on their faces. With a hard swallow, she clenched Law's hand even more then forced her feet to walk them closer to the railing of the porch. She stared down at the crystal railing and tried to find her voice. She couldn't. All she could find was the sharp jolts her heart was making in her chest.
Several minutes passed without a word.
The crew exchanged concerned looks. They were starting to wonder if their girl was going to actual be able to do this or not.
Law was wondering that too. He looked down at the frightened girl then out at the waiting elementals. He was starting to think this was a very, very bad idea. Neo wasn't ready to confront anyone, let alone the people who tried to kill her just a few short weeks ago. This was a stupid idea. He needed to get her out of here.
"Speak to us, Princess!"
"We wait to hear your announcement!"
"You are staying, right?"
"Of course she's staying. She's our royal."
"She doesn't have to stay if she doesn't want to."
"It's her choice whether she stays or not."
"Shut up! Of course she's staying! She's an elemental! More than that, she's our royal! She has to stay!"
"An elemental that was raised among humans. She knows nothing of our culture."
"The princess does not have to stay if she doesn't want to!"
The crew exchanged looks again. They didn't expect to hear so many elementals support Neo not living on Luminous. They scanned their eyes over the crowd. They all, including Law, were looking for Kailen. Apparently his work on informing the elementals worked more than they thought it would. After a minute of searching, they saw him hanging off to the right side of the crowd. Kailen nodded at them to show he was there to support them whatever happened. They nodded back and tried to stand ready for whatever was going to happen.
"Don't worry, Princess. You don't have to stay if you don't want to."
"Stop talking like that! Of course she's staying! She's the princess! She has a job to do here!"
"We're not letting her go!"
"Yeah! The princess is staying! She's not going to live with pirates! Her home is here!"
"Time for the pirates to go!"
"Get out, pirates!" the crowd started chanting. "Get out, pirates! Get out, pirates!"
"Uh oh," Shachi said. He and the others stood on guard when the atmosphere suddenly changed to a hostile one.
"Crap!" Penguin cursed. "What do we do? I never expected the elementals to be so divided on this. We could end up in the middle of a war just like Healer Zinnia said."
"That's another reason the captain had us move the sub closer to the castle," Bepo whispered. "He can warp her there in no time."
"He can't warp faster than a hurricane," Jean Bart said, eyeing a couple wind elementals who were picking up the speed on the winds that surrounded their airborne bodies.
"Thank you, Mister Negativity," Archer scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"Just being realistic," Jean Bart replied.
"Just relax, everyone. Give Neo a chance to speak," Penguin hissed in a low tone. He turn this eyes to Neo and mentally sent her encouraging thoughts and vibes. "She can do this. She's a lot stronger than the other elementals. They know that. They won't hurt her or us. They won't."
"Get off Luminous, pirates!"
"Get off Luminous, pirates!"
"Get off Luminous, pirates!"
Neo's heartbeats began to come faster in short, sharp jolts. The voices of the aggressive elementals were stabbing into her brain. They started to mix with the words they had said when under the control of the darkness crystal and with the words the humans had said to her years ago and how they all chased her.
"Freak! Get out of here!"
"What's the matter with you, monster?!"
"Ew! You're weird! Get lost!"
"Get off Luminous, pirates! Let the princess live in peace here!"
"No," Neo whispered. She closed her eyes and tried to shake the voices and images out of her head. They no longer had control over her and she wasn't going to let them come back now. "Stop it…I won't do it."
"She belongs with us! Not you!"
"No…I don't," Neo said in a slightly louder tone.
Law looked down at her at that point. He could feel her fears and anxiety being pushed back by the anger building up in her chest. Her hand was still trembling in his, but not of fear or worry. He gave her hand a very gentle squeeze. He really didn't want her to get angry again this quick, but he knew she had to. Getting angry would help her do what she had set out to do here. So he remained in quiet support of her. He let his eyes roam over the elementals he knew were friendly and supportive of them. Kailen, Healer Zinnia, and Topaz's bodies were tense. They were obviously ready to jump in and aid them if necessary. Law nodded in acceptance to their awaiting help then turned his eyes back down to Neo.
"If you don't leave right now, we'll force you off Luminous!" The elementals summoned their crystals and pointed their prepared attacks at the pirates.
Something inside Neo snapped at that point. Hundreds of her crystals suddenly appeared around herself and her family.
The elementals paused in shock when Neo forced their attacks back into their crystals. Dark clouds thundered above as the winds whipped and howled around them. A sharp crack of thunder silenced all the elementals voices. They looked up warily at the sky then at Neo.
"Stop it!" Neo shouted. "Stop it right now! I am not staying on Luminous!"
Neo shook her head. She took a couple deep, shaky breaths. The thunder and wind stopped at her silent command, but the dark clouds remained overhead. Opening her eyes, she stared out at the elementals. Some of them were shocked at her outburst. Some of them were concerned about her outburst. Some of them were supportive of her outburst. Tears streamed down her eyes as she looked out at them. "Why are you doing this?! Haven't you been listening to what Kailen, my brother, has been telling you?! I can't stay here! I won't stay here! I need to be with my family! These men…This crew…they are my family! They saved me when no one else would! This man…"
Neo looked up at Law. He returned her gaze with a gently one of his own. She looked back out at the elementals. "This man saved me! He took me into his sub, his home when he found me! He didn't even know who I was or anything about me, but he still took me with him! I was hurt! Humans hurt me! They hurt me a lot! I was hurting myself because I was treated so badly because I was different! I wanted to die! But they stopped that! He stopped that! The captain made me stop hurting myself! He holds me when I'm scared, when I have nightmares, when I'm confused! He and the crew educated me! They trained me on how to use my crystals when I was afraid of them! They taught me how to read and write, how to cook! They raised me!"
Neo paused to catch her breath. She then continued. "I don't want to hurt anyone! I don't want to hurt any of you…but if you try to hurt my family…if you try to take them away from me…I will fight you! I won't let you take my family away from me! Do you hear me?! I will fight you! I hate fighting! But I will do it to protect them! I'll fight you all to protect them! And I will escape with them! I love them! And I…I…I love Law! I love Law so much! Just thinking about being separated from him hurts! It hurt so much being separated from him when you all took me from him! Do you understand that?! I'm bonded to him! I bonded with him three times! I need to be with him! I'll die if I'm not with him! I don't want to die! I don't want to hurt again! I don't want to hurt myself again! I don't…I can't…"
Neo's voice faded off. She tried to rub her streaking tears off her face with her left hand, but more poured down in their place.
"Bonded to him?" an elemental asked in shock. Murmurs of the bonding passed through the elementals. "A human? A creature born of no magic?"
"How is that possible?"
"Can an elemental even bond to a human?"
"I don't know. I've never heard of such a thing happening before."
"Bonding for any elemental is rare. There's no way she would lie about this, would she?"
"I don't know. She hasn't lived on Luminous. How would she even know about it?"
"If she is bonded to him, then it would be wrong to remove her from his care."
Neo's hand slid out from Law as her knees gave out on her. She slumped to the floor of the porch and cried. Her voice became soft again. Her anger vanishing with each tear that fell from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking uncontrollably. "I can't do it…I can't live without him. I can't. I love him. I love him. Please…don't take him away from me…don't take any of them from me…just don't…Law…I don't want to do this anymore."
Heart shattering into a million pieces for putting her through this, Law passed his sword off to Bepo. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. Pulling her into his chest to muffle her sobs. With his left arm firmly around her, he placed his right hand on her hair. "Shh. It's okay, Neo. It's over now. I'm right here. I've got you."
Neo nodded into his chest and cried harder, her fingers curling around his hoodie. She barely registered someone walking closer to her and Law. It was Topaz. She said, "Are you all happy now? You've driven the princess to tears with your shameful acts."
"But she's a royal! She has duties here!" an elemental shouted.
"And what duties does she have here that we cannot do on our own?!" Topaz spat back. "Sitting on the throne and looking pretty?! Attending grand openings of new businesses?! Boring decisions on which dull color to pick for boring parties that do nothing for nobody?! We have survived plenty of times before without a royal on the throne! You all know it can take years to centuries for a new royal to be born! The only thing she can do that we cannot do is purify the darkness crystal! And she has already done that! Or I thought she had done that! With how you all are acting towards her and her family I think some darkness remains in your souls! Tell me, what you all would do and say if Shanks was here?! Would you be treating our princess with such disrespect?!"
"What does Shanks have to do with this?" another elemental asked.
"Shanks is the princess's godfather," Topaz said with a smirk. A round of gasped and more murmurs filled the air. "And he already knows that the princess is living with this pirate crew. If he can entrust them with her care, why can't you?"
"So that's what she was planning," Penguin whispered to Shachi. "Red Hair must have more of an influence on this island than we thought."
"It would seem so," Shachi replied back. He looked over the shocked elementals. They were exchanging glances and murmurs with each other.
"That can't be true!" an elemental shouted.
"It is true!" Kailen shouted out. He rushed up the stairs of the porch and joined Topaz. "You all remember me, right? I am the princess's brother! Her parents took me in when my mother died and my dad ran off! I was on Shanks's ship when you all, under the darkness crystal's influence, attacked! Knowing they wouldn't survive, Neo's parents asked Shanks to watch over us both! He's our godfather!"
"If you all continue to insist on trying to force the princess to stay, then I will aid her in her escape from this place. Right! Now!" Topaz announced. Keeping an eerily calm expression on her face, she summoned over a thousand of her fire crystals. Each crystal flickered with hot blue fire as they waited for her command to attack. "I will not let you all rip her from the only place she feels safe. I will not let you all rip her from the people she loves, especially from the one she is bonded to."
"And I will help her escape as well," Kailen said as he narrowed his eyebrows. He summoned a thousand of his own crystals. Vines grew out of their glow, snapping like whips.
"As will I," Tao's voice boomed out. He pushed off the tree he was leaning against and walked upon the porch. He summoned a thousand of each of his water and fire crystals.
"You can count me in, too," Healer Zinnia said as she walked over to join the group. She too summoned her crystals.
"Right now you all have two choices," Topaz then said. "You can continue on the road you are on and fight us all, including the princess who is by far the strongest elemental alive. Or you can turn, walk away, and think about what you have done here today. Either way, the princess will be leaving Luminous."
More murmurs came from the elementals. The Heart Pirates still stood on guard until, several intense moments later, the elementals started to walk away from the castle. The pirates then relaxed and let their eyes drifting to their captain and Neo. Neo was leaning against Law's chest. Tears had stained her cheeks, but she had stopped crying. Sleepiness was swimming in her eyes now. They knew she was about to fall asleep. This was too much for her emotionally. She needed to sleep now.
She rubbed the heel of her right hand in her eye. Sleepily, she said, "Law, I'm tired."
"I know. You can sleep now. I've got you. I'm going to take you up to your castle room so you can rest," Law spoke softly to her. He stood up. He started to turn towards the door, but paused to look at the four elementals who had came to their defense.
Neo's eyes wandered over the small group of elementals. Through her tired vision, she stared quietly at Kailen.
Law looked into all of their eyes before speaking. "Thank you."
"You just take care of the princess now," Topaz said with a smile. "We'll keep guard for a while to make sure our people aren't going to try anything. I highly doubt they will after the princess stood up to them like that. I think she got her point across."
Law nodded. He then turned and walked back into the castle with some of his crew following. Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin quietly walked behind their captain and Neo. The castle was cooler and quieter than they have ever noticed before. It was like the castle itself was in shock at what Neo had done and was careful not to upset her even more.
Penguin and Shachi opened the doors to Neo's room when they reached it. They remained by the door while Bepo propped Law's sword against the wall beside the bed then turned to Neo and Law. Law was already sitting on the bed with Neo firmly tucked into his chest. All three of the subordinates noticed the familiar guilty look their captain was getting in his eyes. All three knew their captain needed to be alone with her right now. So they quietly left the room without a word. Together they decided to stay beside the door, just in case.
"Law?" Neo whispered softly.
"Yes?"
"I want to see him. I want to see my brother." Neo clenched her hand tighter on Law's hoodie.
Law nodded. "I'll make that happen."
Neo nodded back as her eyes drifted closed.
Law's own tense body relaxed when her body finally went limp against him. Like always when she's had an emotional day, she had fallen asleep fast. He tightened his hold on her and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Sleep well, my love. And know that I've got you. You're safe."
