Warning: It is rated at M for other reasons beside sex. This contains yaoi slash, and other things which people might find uncomfortable.
Pairing: Base pairing is KiddxLaw(sub pairings are later revealed)

Hope you enjoy thank you for reading :)

Eusstass Kidd was dying.

He knew he was bleeding- it didn't take a genius to realize that he was in fact, on the verge of death. The pale man stared at the tattered pieces of newspaper lying around the floor, soggy and lifeless. His eyes looked glumly at the date the paper was printed with- September 1852. Nearly ten years have passed.

Well, this is great. The man muttered under his cold dying breath, just fantastic. He sighed, pushing his head against the wall to forcefully stare at the gloomy sky of the London city. The ground felt softer than before, but then that was only because it was raining- Kidd chuckled at the heartless weather, feeling the drops of rapid water wash over his tired, bleeding body. His breathing became distorted; pain that surged up his abdomen was now taking control of his mind, crying out in mental screams. It was too dark to make out which puddle underneath him that was starting to soak up his ragged black coat was rain or blood, it definitely reeked of blood.

The church bells were ringing. Eusstass Kidd did not know how much more of this ridiculous sentimentality he could take. He was dying. Dying against the wall of a rundown barber shop of a dark corner of the dirty London alleyways, bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound that punctured cleanly through his guts, hands chained together listening to the church bells ringing while being rained on.

And yet his eyes glared, although dull at the first glance, his deep red iris blazed with an unexplained passion against the gloomy fog. He couldn't die now, not when he was so painfully close. Kidd couldn't care less about the fact that he was now throwing up huge chunks of tainted black blood, the pale man desperately clung to the side of the walls with his torn up fingertips, forcefully trying to stand up again.

Then he stopped- his over sensitive hearing was picking up unfamiliar sounds. Rhythm of footsteps. Kidd cocked an eyebrow, shaking his head. His vision was fluttering with haziness again, consequence of losing too much blood. The sound was growing steadily closer, Kidd narrowed his pupils, wiping away a trickle of blood that dropped below his eyes and clearing his sight through the sheet of darkness that surrounded his environment.

It couldn't be a peeler, neither a guard- he made sure that he was not followed. Breaking out of prison was the easy part, although he did get shot- but the lucky bastard who hit him practically rolled over and pretended he was dead right after his shooting just to avoid Kidd glaring back at him with a nasty evil grin. Eusstass couldn't remember much about his rather epic prison break, the last of memories ended with him jumping off from a cliff.

Kidd assumed it was probably someone quite insignificant, at least to him everyone was insignificant. There was a chance that it might be a possible body snatcher approaching, or a potential thug; considering the time and place, the only people Kidd imagined passing through such way was people who lived on a thin line outside the law. He didn't mind thugs, they would probably leave him alone after seeing that he had nothing of value to take, but it would get troublesome if the body snatchers came after his corpse. Kidd personally liked where his internal organs were, and held no desire to part with them- this thought prevented him from losing consciousness.

After failing to summon up any more strength to his weakening body, Kidd miserably flopped his body against the walls again and stared at the approaching figure, blanketed by the thick London fog. Everything slowed down as the pale man took in the impending presence; out of the layer of rain and fog there stood a man.

Kidd could tell it was a man although his face was half shaded by an umbrella, he was wearing dark black suit trousers- most of which was covered by the long coat draped over his body, trimmed on the outside with black fur. The man was slender, the hand that showed to be holding the handle of the umbrella had long, thin fingers that seemed to be marked by forms of tattoos. It spelled a familiar word, but Kidd was quickly succumbing to the cold numbness of the rain and that made it hard for him to care.

The stranger stopped walking after taking a few steps closer to Eusstass Kidd, twirling his umbrella between his fingers rather childishly. Kidd did not look up; he didn't have the energy to do so. Whoever it was, the pale man hoped that the other would quickly fuck off after seeing that he was rather ironically- frighteningly corpse like.

"Good afternoon." The stranger stated more than asked, his voice dripping with suave politeness. Something about his voice assured Kidd that the man was smiling, and instead of a voiced answer, Eusstass made a growling noise in his throat, annoyed by the fact that the new comer was trying to engage in a conversation with him- a dying body in the middle of a dirty street. However, the man with the umbrella did not wait for his answer.

"Horrible weather I must say." The man continued to muse in an almost sing-song voice, weirdly soothing Kidd- it was like listening to a lullaby. "Terrible to get around you know."

The flame haired man was only listening half heartedly, too distracted from concentrating on the unexpectedly talkative stranger who kept babbling away about the weather while gently getting low and dragging Kidd away from the wall. Before Kidd could react with his usual violence to anybody who dared come near within his reaching range, The stranger grabbed the other's shoulders and pulled him up, allowing the bleeding male to slouch against the thin frame of his own body. Eusstass Kidd was too tired to lash out- his eyes were closing on his own accord now.

Kidd realized that the others voice sounded exactly like the rain- rhythmical, steady. He could hear the other's heart beating- the smell of sugary mint tickled the tip of his nose as the words that were speaking to him slowly drained out from his consciousness; soon Kidd was surrounded by complete darkness, yet he did not feel as vulnerable as he did just seconds ago.

The clerk wasn't very happy with the trail of blood left smeared all over his inn. He cringed, but stuck to his innocent service smile, careful not to lose a valuable customer. The clerk recognized the dark haired man, his tired eyes half closed under heavy eyelids.

A pair of steel grey eyes made a modest curve as he smiled softly, staggering under the weight of a huge, rain soaked male caked with blood and dirt. The clerk might've actually offered to help carry the burden if only his lips would stop trembling from the scent of blood; it was giving him nausea.

"Doctor Trafalgar..." the clerk started, trying not to stare at the bleeding heap slouched against the said man's body.

"Don't worry." The doctor answers, kicking his umbrella carelessly to the side with his heeled boots. "I'll make sure he doesn't die in your inn. Can you pass me my keys? I'm checking in." Law looks expectantly along the check in book. Since he lacked a pen, he instead dipped his thumb in the puddle of blood underneath him and stamped it onto the pages, much to the clerk's horror.

Trafalgar dumped the body onto his bed, and sighed as he observed the clean sheets slowly getting infected by a mixed color of dirty brown and bloody red. The young surgeon liked a cozy atmosphere, but rather detested anything that went beyond his hygiene limit. He dropped onto the floor out of exhaustion, his head spinning and fingers trembling. It wasn't the cold, he was just tired.

Drake always used to complain about Law falling asleep during his lessons when they were children, no matter how long Trafalgar slept- he always seemed to be equal and most times even superior in skills with his other trainees, probably a partial contributing reason why he didn't have many friends. Nevertheless it made him an outstanding prize among his tutors, and officially became the youngest licensed doctor ever to graduate the royal academy of medicine. Medical prodigy- they called him.

Unfortunately his work as a doctor seemed to always pile up, with London infested with fake doctors and rather dangerous surgeons, it virtually spelled all work and no play. He went through at least three operations every day, taking up most of his fourteen hours; then he always had to move to wherever his clients needed him, be that it may France, Spain or any other part of Europe. This usually left him with very dark rings under his eyes, in which Drake would comment how much he looked like the people painted on his masters twisted collection of oddities.

While wondering where Drake went after stating his determination to go into service in the navy (the irony was that he couldn't swim), Law took off his coat and left it soaking the wooden floor; he shuffled back onto his feet and made shaky steps into the bathroom to pick up a towel and fill a clean basin with water. Warm water was preferable, but seeing as the figure in his rented bed was dying immediately, the doctor hastened with his procedures.

Law made a curious glance at the striped garment the paler man was wearing as he stripped him of his dirty ragged coat; he recognized it as something associated with the shipped prisoners who arrived in England not too long ago. It raised quite a commotion in the newspapers, the citizens disapproved with the parliament's decision to accept such dangerous criminals into the country. Trafalgar sniffed for a few seconds, briefly wandering if he should tie him up first; he silently dragged his heavy bag of medical equipment and set to work.

The short old lady who cleaned the rooms was warned by the clerk about the room in the far left corridor and had no idea what the clerk was trying to warn her about. As far as she knew, the tenant in that room was quite a pleasant young man who was a skilled doctor, carrying an official license which was good enough for her. He had good manners, he certainly had a pleasant face to look at("You do look very tired though, dear."), so she definitely wasn't expecting a bed covered in dripping puddles of blood, a floor equally covered in a river of red with scattered scalpels and prongs caked with thick crusted bits of flesh.

Unfortunately unlike the young doctor who was used to the smell and sight of blood, the old lady was not, and to top it off, she had a weak heart. She gave a compressed squeaking noise in her throat, her eyes nearly popping out as her grip on the broomstick tightened strong enough for her knuckles to turn white. Just about three seconds away from her falling backwards onto the floor, Law staggered quickly in front of her and dragged her out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Wonderful morning ma'am, fluffy clouds, and refreshing rain" The young doctor starts, wiping his red soaked fingers on the side of his black button up vest. "I'm sorry for soaking the sheets." He murmurs, careful not to finish the sentence with 'blood'. Much to shock, the lady does not respond for about a good few seconds until she finally nodded meekly, trying to force a smile upon her chalk white face.

"Did someone... I mean... you know dear..." She mutters suspiciously, giving Law a look that made him scratch his cheeks with a blank expression.

"No. He's alive." The answer calms the lady down, blood returns to her face. "I'll clean out the mess before I leave."

The lady protests about giving him the job of cleaning, but Trafalgar insists. It was partly his fault for dragging a corpse into his room and reviving it back to health. He felt a little like Frankenstein to tell the honest truth, no man could've actually survived that night with losing that much blood with such a weakened and damaged body. Two ribs were broken, a wound of gunshot that nearly punctured his intestines by mere inches, knife wound around his thighs. Three fingers quite distorted on his left hand, a dislocated wrist with half the bones on both of his arms either broken or disjointed. That was only the physical problems that Law managed to do something in hopes that his body would heal properly, what concerned him was the internal damages. Malnutrition was one thing; the pale man seemed to be suffering from another disease which Law couldn't quite figure out what yet.

After the old lady decided to stalk back down to the kitchen to fetch a very exhausted looking doctor some tea and breakfast, Law went back into his room and sighed at the mess. No wander she was shocked, all the blood and gore was enough to make anyone feel more than intimidated and sick. He glanced at the unconscious figure lying on the sofa, wrapped in fresh bandages. Since the more comfortable option of a mahogany bed was occupied with heavy pools of blood, he moved his patient to the sofa where he was quietly resting without even a single stir.

To be honest, Law had no hopes for the man to actually live, but something about the flame haired man prevented him from losing that tiny thought of "what if". Humming a children's song softly between his lips, the dark haired male started with cleaning the scene of gore- starting with ripping the blood soaked sheets off the bed.

In his dreams, Eusstass Kidd was always standing in the middle of nowhere. Staring at nothing. Talking to no one, and hearing no voice. Just a big dark void. Then hands crawl up from the darkness, grabbing at his body, wrapping their grotesque distorted arms around his neck and face, suffocating him, killing him slowly, eventually making him merge with darkness- he becomes nothing.

A part of the void.

Kidd woke up, his dark red iris flashing with alarm from his dream. He confuses reality sometimes, and was slowly starting to get annoyed with unhelpful dreams of his doom. Really now, he used to mutter to himself- you'll need to try harder to make me feel guilty for what the lives I took. It was aimed at particularly no one, but still Kidd felt satisfaction with the silent answer that came from nobody.

The first thing that caught his attention when he woke up was the sickeningly annoying scent of barley sugar and mint tea. The pale man scrunched his face in both pain and irritation, as soon as his body realized he was awake, the first thing his brain sent was the immense amount of agonizing pain that seemed to burn up his entire body. Kidd could not move freely though, most of his body was stiff and constricted with bandages that skillfully covered up his wounds and stuck his disjointed arms together where they should be.

He was certainly confused, confused of where he was, and why he was bandaged up. The last of his memories were fuzzy, his thoughts were uncoordinated and jumbled up into little jigsaw puzzles that just refused to come together. Heavy blankets were set upon his body, which slid off when he tried to move his limbs. Kidd froze when he realized he wasn't alone, at first sight of a thin male leaning with his back against the legs of the sofa, Eusstass charged without thinking- unstable and deadly instincts screaming in his head to attack first and think later.

Law gave a sharp yelp as a powerful arm shot through the air and made a grab at his throat, immediately the fingers wrapped around his neck and the doctor found himself struggling while staring at a pair of gleaming rich red irises that glared intensely at his own grey ones. Trafalgar did not move, neither did he thrash or start screaming for help.

Instead, he muttered softly- "You're awake."

Eusstass Kidd responded with a sharp kick that landed squarely onto Law's stomach, and the doctor who firstly haven't slept properly for a week, and secondly who was exhausted enough already did not take it very well. Law felt his sight spin in front of him as pain flushed up his guts, making him squirm on the floor clutching at his hips. Way to go, dignity. He muttered sarcastically at himself, discouraging what was left of his self-esteem. He flicked a quick glance towards his black leather bag that was lying around the corner.

Trafalgar coughed, wheezing due to his lack of breath. Kidd wasn't feeling very sympathetic, his twisted grin painted graphically on his face. The pale hand grabbed a fistful of the other man's short dark hair, who responded with a gasp and a moment of unpleasant surprise flash in his eyes before Kidd immediately rammed Law's head against the floor. The sickening crunch bounced off the walls, and the dark haired doctor felt his face burn- he realized his nose and lips were now smeared with his own blood.

Still dazed from the attack, Law gave a snarl and threw his weight backwards onto Kidd, who did not expect such a quick counter and staggered, finally losing his balance and rolling onto the floor. Trafalgar did not wait for him to recover; he dashed across the room and made a grab for his bag, reaching into the deep corner into one of the pockets. His hand re-emerged from the bag second later, thin fingers wrapped around the handle of a polished pistol, gleaming with an ebony glint.

With the end of the pistol aimed straight into his forehead, Kidd stopped in his mid-attempt to stand back up again, and leered at the doctor- face smeared with blood, but expression surprisingly peaceful; Trafalgar Law was smiling.

"That was unpleasantly painful." There, that voice again. Kidd felt his brain sting as he recognized that rhythmical voice that sounded so in tune with everything- he wanted to crush it into silence so badly without even himself knowing why. The paler man hissed his annoyance, wanting nothing more than to wipe that smile off the placid face of the other, who was silently rubbing away most of his blood off his face with the back of his hands.

"Feeling brave now with a gun in your hand?" Kidd sneered. Something about the grey eyed man pissed him off- the very presence of him was fucking with his mind.

"Well, I'd rather avoid shooting. I saved your life you see. It'd be a bit ironic if I patched your gun wound up only to drive another bullet in the legs." Law whispered in a clear voice, tapping his nose softly to make sure it wasn't broken. Kidd cocked an eyebrow, and the doctor chuckled, oddly sounding like a giggle. "I don't want to kill you. Hurt you if I must, but not kill."

The redhead snarls, eyes moving more clearly onto the stranger that was pointing a gun at him. He was that man with the umbrella, although his coat was gone- instead he was wearing a loose collar shirt with a black vest wrapping his torso, complimenting his slender body frame rather nicely. His face was more visible now in the light than what he first saw when he was dying in the streets of London, Kidd observed as the unwavering pair of steel grey eyes, clouded with something unreadable. He showed no sign of pain, fear, anger or even a slightest bit of irritation. His confidence was god damn frustrating. Eusstass was impressed (in a rather negative way), he licked his lips dangerously.

"On second thought," the paler man croaks, his eyes distorted with a half-crazed glint- "I'll crush your pretty face first. I feel like hearing you scream now."

"May I ask why you feel so aggressive towards me? Considering the fact that I saved your sorry ass from becoming a pile of cold meat on the streets." Trafalgar's voice did not sound offensive, neither did he sound angry. Kidd was briefly reminded of an image where a little girl with a deceptive smile was asking for a candy. Deceptive yes, that concealing smiles on the doctors lips. It agitated the red haired man.

"Why then, did you save me?" Kidd spat, anger rising up his chest. "Did I fucking ask you to? Did your pitiful mind assume that if you saved my life, I would be all heads over heels with it and sparkle my eyes at you, singing your name in gratitude? Or did I look that pathetic, that weak to receive your sympathy?" His last sentence was near a hiss, emphasizing the word 'weak' as if the very mention of it disgusted him. Kidd glared, annoyed by the fact that Law still refused to change his expression. "You make me sick." Eusstass finished, his nails driving themselves deeper into his clenched fists.

"Unfortunately, no. I did not expect you to live." The doctor did not drop his guns, neither his gaze- but relaxed if only for a moment. Both men were studying each other intensely, wandering what their next moves were going to be. "I neither gave you sympathy, nor did I think for a moment that you will be grateful since I had absolutely no hope of your survival, and was rather aiming to dissect you if you did not make it. And yet here you are, alive and well enough to bash my head against the floor. Mind you, it hurt. Frankly I am quite impressed with your ability to heal so quickly from all the damage you had, and amazed that you can move so freely in your condition." Kidd felt his eyes twitch, a ringing desire to harm the other surging up his veins. Those colorless murky grey eyes showed no panic, no alarm as he continued casually. "I must say, you blew my mind- coming to the conclusion that I think you are a very strong and a capable individual."

A tense silence washed over the room. A lot of things were going on in Kidd's mind, most of them jumbled up with strange collections of images and voices; particles of his memories. The tips of his lips began to tremble; his mind was exploding with both twisted rage and deathly calm. The doctor in front of him was hard to read, like a book with no writing and only pictures in them- at first glance they seem very simple and straightforward, but the more you read it, the more complex it gets with hidden symbols and messages between the images.

And that was driving Kidd mad.

Unstable emotions wash over the pale redhead, and out of impulse he rushes forward. Taken by complete surprise, Law automatically pulls the trigger- and misses. The paler male has extraordinary reflexes, almost to the state of being inhuman. Kidd stretches his disturbing grin as gunpowder smoke is wafted by his movement, before Law can aim again; he stretches out and grabs the doctor's collar, tackling him down against the floor. Trafalgar realized with a pint of sadness that perhaps he should've listened to his inner voice insisting that he kept the chains where they were.

The cold floor once again puts much stress and shock into his spine, Law struggles to pull free of Kidd's hard grip. Their faces meet, eyes leering one another. Eusstass had a heavy advantage, seeing as he had a better physique and was on top of the other's body, he easily subdued Law's movements by pinning the others wrists above his head with one hand and roughly pulled the black hair back, forcing the leaner male to look up at him.

"You have a sweet tongue, doctor." Kidd growled, in which the said doctor answered with a sweet tone of voice; "Honesty does work magic. You should try it."

"I'd prefer to stick with my way." Red eyes glow, his dark smirk close to his victims face. "You know. Violence."

Kidd raises a pale finger, his black nails raised like talons. He drives his finger down the corner of Trafalgar's torn lips, hard and unforgiving. His nails dig deeper into the already bruised corners of the doctor's lips, drawing a sharp, attractive hiss. A deep purr rings down Kidd's throat, sadistic pleasure heating his cold body. Blood seeps through the wound, and a smirk creeps up the paler face. Trafalgar gives a shaky grin, "I am inclined to tell you that I am not enjoying your treatment." he mutters, deepening Kidd's grim smile.

"You're weird." The redhead whispers, nibbling on the doctor's ears. Law winces, but still manages to keep a straight enough face to reply; Normal than you.

"I find you quite stimulating though. You're attractive." He purrs, pale hands slithering down into a curve on Law's hips, "Attractive enough to make me want to rip you into little tiny pieces. Maybe I'll keep a few parts in memory of this moment."

Trafalgar Law refuses to respond for a few seconds, but soon his face beams at Kidd as if he has just given him a compliment. Law just holds his smile, until he smoothly whispers to the other with a curious look in his eyes; "This isn't the first time you've committed a murder."

"Surprised?"

"No, mildly entertained. Intrigued- somewhat."

"And you'd assume that I'd feel good about entertaining you?"

Law gives off a dry laugh while Kidd's own smile falls a little, his eyes looking down at the thinner man.

"Seeing as that I have no means to fight back, and I'm lacking the power and resource anyway, I am at your mercy. That puts me in quite a miserable position you see, and I'm not used to asking people to have mercy on me."

"That's the beauty of killing." answers Kidd, his lips close against the others own. "You can do whatever you want to them before they end up becoming a pile of dead flesh. You can hear them cry, beg, scream..." Trafalgar is forced to allow the other man to softly lick at the corner of his lips, the wound that split against the harsh earlier touch from the pale white hands. The soft tongue that slides over the bloodied mouth suddenly bites down at the other's lips without warning, forcing Law to open his mouth in an alarmed gasp. Kidd pushes in; filling his thirst on the pitiful squirms the other gave to protest against his violent kiss. When he finally breaks apart to allow the other to breathe, he could feel the blood pumping in his ears.

"You have a disturbed mind." the hoarse response was from Law, who was breathing in sharp intervals, trying to ignore the intruding pain in his lips. Kidd ignored the insightful comment, stripping away half of the shirt none too gently, until the soft caramel flesh was exposed to the candle lit air.

"You know doctor; sex isn't usually in my step to murder." The wide smirk that appeared on the pale face was the face of someone which made others run away as fast as they could in fear for their lives. "But I'll make an exception for you. I'm going to thoroughly savor this moment where you scream and writhe beneath me."

"Honored for the exception, but not needed really. May I refuse?"

"Keep that up, I like it. Your annoying voice excites me."

The moment is wrapped with bitter lust; even Eusstass himself couldn't make out why he was trying so hard. The ends of his fingers trembled with excitement, the anticipation of covering the other with his own color, the deep red, blood- it made his spine electrify with pure exhilaration.

Then something interfered. A vine of unpleasantness, a familiar hand with a grotesque shadow over its fingers shot out to constrict his mind. Kidd stopped, his breathing jagged and face shaking, the stinging pain that overtook his mind and heart, burning his throat. It made tears well up under his eyes; his breath became hot, body paralyzed as something he suppressed under his throat exploded in the form of the familiar tainted pitch black blood.

Without thinking, Law delivered a sharp knee into Kidd's stomach; the grip on his wrists loosened enough for the nimble doctor to scuffle away from the redhead who was throwing up chunks of nasty looking blood. Kidd recoiled with the pain from both the kick and the uncontrollable pain inside his chest, he rolled onto the floor and breathed sharply, his vision was going white.

Trafalgar retrieved his gun smoothly, but felt no need to aim it front of him seeing as the paler man was suffering already from something he was expecting. The doctor studied the other for a brief seconds before he dashed across the room and grabbed his bag, turning it upside down onto the floor for the contents to spill onto the surface. Several equipment rolled out first being the heaviest, then vials and powder scattered along. Herbs and lidded glass bottles rolled out with several other remedies, the doctor ran his slender fingers along the contents with considerable skill and haste. Recognizing a bottle labeled 'H-E09', Law snatched up the bottle and rushed over back to Kidd, who was gripping his heart as if trying to rip it off his chest to ease the pain.

The doctor kneels down and pulls the paler male up to his chest, cradling the upper body and uncorking the bottle in his hand. The liquid inside the bottle swishes softly, the color was a disturbing shade of magenta and cyan. Without hesitation Law half forces Kidd to take the liquid down his throat, aware that the taste of the liquid was probably giving added discomfort. Eusstass Kidd unintentionally attempted to spit out what was being sent down his throat, but Law stubbornly held it in place until all of the liquid went down.

Until the very last drop.