This is the last chapter. Honestly I feel that the characters should be let go, they've grown and suffered and now should be allowed to grow further off-screen without us watching. I feel that this direction is the best way to go, and though I hate to let this story go I feel that it is right choice. Thank you for accompanying me on this wild ride. I love you all so much!

Warnings for this chapter:

1. Kidd's graphic past about his mother's death (i.e. all that implies.)

In the world of the present, Law slept soundly in his cocoon on Kidd's bed. It had been two hours of hell in which Law recounted his depraved past, and at the end he'd wilted from sheer exhaustion. Kidd's stomach was tangled in a labyrinth of knots, nausea wicking his eyes and thickening in his throat.

"Kil?" He was crying now, unintelligible and inconsolable. His den den mushi nervously slid across the nightstand as its master blubbered into the receiver.

"Captain? What's wrong?"

"Please, I c-can't...just come over..."

Killer arrived before he could put down the receiver. Kidd tried to stay quiet as he cried, muffling his sobs into Killer's shoulder.

Soon Kidd couldn't keep his eyes open, and Killer wordlessly slipped the man onto the couch, draping a thick blanket over him. He kept the candles lit and closed the door softly.

Killer pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, sparking light behind his lids. He heaved a deep sigh and wondered how life managed to fuck people up at the best of times. Penguin was waiting for him at the top of the stairs, wringing his hat with a tear-stained face. He let his boyfriend drop his head into the hollow of his neck, burying his fingers in the dark hair that slipped through his fingers like tendrils of black lace. He hadn't missed the bloodstains at the foot of the couch nor the dense smell of sex. Penguin undoubtedly smelled it on him, and began to wail pitifully. Nothing Killer did could console him, and he thought that perhaps that was best.

When the day gave way to wakefulness, as the night pulled over the world in a cover of darkness, Law slipped into a catatonic state from which Kidd could not reach him. Penguin and Shachi spirited him to their submarine, leaving Kidd to flounder helplessly in their wake. Law's absence was an oozing gash, and Kidd nearly broke Killer's legs in his attempt to follow. He did, in fact, snap Wire's arm, and Killer's tried to use his seastone gauntlets to bully him into submission. Unbeknownst to anyone, the familiar drag of seastone on his consciousness triggered a panic attack. Killer sequestered him back into his bedroom, and locked them both in the bathroom.

There was no way Heat would warm the water for a bath, not with his boyfriend's arm bent backwards. He went to the laundry basket to find a few towels to spray with essential oils to wrap around his shaking captain. The last thing he expected to find was a giant heart in the bottom of the basket.

Killer choked on his tongue, the hamper top tumbling from his fingers. He had no doubt who it belonged to, only how it got there. He made do with what he had, finding a vial of mint oil with trembling fingers. He uncapped the top and let it waft beneath Kidd's nose, rubbing his shoulders encouragingly. Kidd's eyes were blank, his lips pale, and Killer didn't want to know what he was seeing. When the oil didn't work, Killer held him close and rubbed his back, hoping beyond hope that the new reality they lived in was just a dream. There wasn't a Shichibukai, King, and former Celestial Dragon's heart in the laundry basket, Kidd's room didn't smell like a den of foul acts, that his boyfriend wasn't crying over his captain's coma-like state.

Kidd's mind swam beneath the lake of arousal, drifting closer to a memory he had long suppressed. A memory he knew was true but avoided at all costs, knowing if he touched it he would be ruined. He reached out, unwilling but unable to look away, and fell into the past.

Kidd watched in morbid wonder as the man turned to face him. His leather jacket protested, blood beaded across the leather like virulent perspiration. The man's eyes were Kidd's own, reflecting the bright sheen of his mother's gore illuminated in the shop's streetlamp. In a moment Kidd knew who this man was, but could not yet understand what had been done. All he knew was that his mother was bleeding and this man was the cause, this father of his which had never given him anything but another reason to worry for his mother's health. The purple flowers he left behind on her skin stood out to him like violent tattoos. They never seemed to fade, only renewing in color whenever his father was near.

Kidd took a stumbling step forward, bare foot catching on the decimated music box. He screamed but couldn't hear himself over his fear, his rage. He threw himself at his father, digging his nails into his nape, scraping at his jugular. It was a short fight, one-sided at best. He found himself sprawled on the vanity, makeup scattering across the floor.

The mirror was broken, raining shards of reflective glass into his hair. He jerked himself to the floor, jamming his thumb against the floor. Kidd scrambled onto the bed, screaming hysterically when his mother's limp hand brushed his forehead. He attacked again, his adrenaline spiking as his tackle failed and he sprawled across his mother's corpse. Her blood smeared on his face, his hand skirting his father's penis. He screamed again when his father tried to continue raping his mother, his vision tunneling to their point of grotesque contact. He registered that the diaphragm beneath him wasn't moving. The sounds beat him from every angle. He wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist, forcing him onto the floor. They fell in a tumble of limbs, and Kidd tried to claw out the man's eyes. His joints were locked, his movements cumbersome and off-mark.

He screamed again and the music box jumped to life, the metal crank slowly winding a faulty tune. Each off-note punctuated their struggle, his father trying to flip them to no avail. The blonde's eyes were blown wide and red with drugs. Kidd dug his heels into the blonde's thighs, oblivious to how the music box scraped across the floor in their direction. Of its own accord the device began to rattle, screws and wires peeling away to gather about its creator. A nail follow Kidd's punch and buried into his father's temple, and several cogs jammed into pink gums. Teeth shattered and Kidd's punches became frenzied tearing at the man's face, unfocused on the metal pieces serrating into his victim's flesh.

When it was over it was all over.

His father lay dead and impaled with his mother's forgotten gift. Kidd's knuckles were split and weeping, his eyes fluttered with white spots as the adrenalin waned. He crawled sluggishly onto the ruined bed and curled besides his mother's corpse, draping an arm protectively over her bare stomach dressed in bruises. The music box slithered after him, dislodging from bone and muscle to comfort their master. Cogs and pins seemed to dance around his mother's head like a halo, weakly reconstructing the music box with its basic components, the melody off-kilter and abhorrent. Kidd sobbed once and the metal shuddered and lay still, debris scattered around the sheets as he curled into a ball, his cries drowned out by the rain.

A hand brushed his cheek.

Kidd leaned into the touch, desiring its warmth and comfort even through layers of sleep. As the vignette peeled away, the hand followed, returning to a waiting lap. His body felt heavy and uncoordinated, but he managed to pull himself upright on his sofa. Penguin sat dutifully beside him in a chair pulled from somewhere else.

"Hey."

"...How's Law?"

Kidd tried to hold hold himself together, regulating his voice so he didn't shout. Penguin sighed and removed his hat. He could see why Killer fell for him. His eyes were stunning.

"He was catatonic when we brought him in, but soon became hysteric. Whatever catharsis he gleaned last night that helped him sleep, it didn't last. We had to sedate him. He woke up three hours ago and was coherent enough to fend us off and self-induce an abortion."

Kidd swallowed his panic, the information settling like a weight on his lungs.

Penguin cast his eyes to his feet.

"I have no excuse to my inability to restrain him."

"Did he...hurt himself?"

"Yes, but the damage healed itself within several minutes. We administer analgesics and an anti-inflammatory in the meantime."

"..."

"Bepo calmed him down and Mela, our ship's therapist, managed to get him to talk. He asked us to remove the brand on his abdomen."

"I thought that was impossible because his body couldn't heal it."

"You're half-right. His body can't heal the actual mark, but it could heal the area if the entire mark was removed. It was always a risky surgery option because the brand burned so deep. It's nearly charred down to his pelvic bone. But he asked Shachi to remove it. So we agreed."

"Is he going to be okay?!"

"He will be, he's still in surgery now. We have to scrape it off his bone to make sure none of the burn remains, the brand was done with a certain powder added that prevented his body from healing itself whenever Law tried to cut it out. I take it you've seen his marks."

Trenches in swarthy flesh made by desperate nails.

"I have."

"Then you can understand why the surgery is taking so long. There's hardly a chance of complication, but in case I wanted to give you my personal den den mushi."

"Couldn't I just use Killer's?"

"He's asked that you stay in the room while he charters us back to Zou, Bepo's home island, no one will bother us there."

"..."

"I also wanted to thank you."

Shame rose like a tidal flood. Penguin's words struck him with enough force to turn his stomach. An angry blush prickled along his scalp, and he let the tears fall freely.

"I didn't do anything!"

He turned away, tucking his knees and slamming his fist into the sofa's headboard.

"I fucking went out there to save him and all I did was end up as a fucking voyeur! Law was the one who got his shit together! Not me! I never-"

Penguin said nothing, only reached out and rested his hand on his hip.

"I've been friends with Law for as long as I've been called Penguin, and even though there are some things he will never tell me, I do know the full extent of his powers. Teleportation without a room isn't within his control."

"That wasn't...I don't know...I just wanted to come home. Maybe I did something with gravity? I'm not sure."

"You still brought him back. The Heart Pirates are forever in your debt."

"..."

"If you don't mind I'd like to give you a once-over. I can tell you've got seastone burns and you've started to bleed from there."

He gestured to the back of his head and Kidd mimicked him, fingers coming away flaked in red. The decorative pillow Killer had propped under his head was forever stained, just another thing he'd have to throw out.

"You've stubborn as all hell, you know that. I can tell why Killer likes you."

"Well, I can tell why Law loves you."

"...And why's that?"

"I think I'll let him tell you himself. But being well-built definitely helped."

"Asshole."

"Dick."

"Truce?"

"Truce."

Kidd gathered Law against him, breathing in the taint of antiseptic and blood. He was still sluggish post-operation, and clutched his back weakly. He let his head rest on Kidd's chest, breathing deeply as his hair was carefully combed with calloused fingers. Kidd playfully nibbled at his hair and Law huffed a soft laugh.

"You'll be alright," Kidd whispered, "It'll be okay."

If he didn't believe his own words, there was no way Law ever would. He rocked him gently, wishing he could take away his pain. The skin pulled tight over taut abdominals was healing nicely, flesh neatly puckering as muscles grafted together. There would be no physical scar, but Kidd knew well that Law's true scars would never heal. They could only grow more scar tissue, make the lesions less painful...if Law ever fully healed from his history, it could only be from personal growth. There was no moving past this, only living with it.

"I can hear you overthinking things."

"If there's anyone who could read minds, it'd be you." Kidd guffawed, tightening his hold on his boyfriend. Law leaned to the side and Kidd let them fall onto the pillows of his bed. Law burrowed sleepily into his broad pectoral, humming contentedly.

"I want to cuddle." He said, in a rather petulant tone. Kidd rolled his eyes, running his thumb over the jut of Law's shoulder blade.

"Isn't that what we're doing?"

"Shut u-!"

Law's breath hitched and he wiggled away discomfort flitting across his face for a moment. Kidd was upon him in an instant, tenderly cupping his cheek.

Law blushed, "It's, ah, healed now."

He looked away and rubbed absently at his stomach. Kidd didn't miss the tiny smile, and mimicked in full. He chuckled and pulled Law towards him, ruffling his hair. He was so proud of Law, so damn happy that he was able to remove the mark that had plagued him for so long. Law kissed his nose, letting himself linger. They kissed, brief and innocent. Their breath's intermingling, they breathed each other's air.

He pressed their lips together, and Law hesitantly swiped his tongue along Kidd's mouth. Law's eyes were vibrant pools of gold, pulling Kidd into the depths of his mind. He let his arm fall lax at Law's side, giving him an out, and reciprocated. Kidd licked his way into Law's parted mouth, the other letting out a small sigh.

They stayed that way for quite a while, kissing languid and deep with no intention of doing anything else.