"So where will you be heading next?"

I finished pulling on my parka and turned to look outside the shack's open front door. The storm had blown over during the night, leaving a morning of calm. Corazon's question hung heavily in the air between us.

"I'm not sure..." I murmured, letting my gaze travel from the winter sunrise to little Law's sleeping form.

Corazon followed my gaze and nudged Law with the toe of his boot.

"Law, Miss Sofia is leaving. You wanted to say goodbye, right?"

The boy stirred for a moment then sat up sleepily and looked up at me. "You're... leaving?" His eyes cleared and grew wide in alarm as the reality of the situation settled in.

The child jumped up and clung to my coat with tiny white-splotched hands, mettalic eyes welling with tears. "You can't leave! You can't!"

I felt my heart break a bit at his cherubic face and I kneeled down to his level. "Law... I have to-"

"NO YOU DON'T!" Law shouted, balling his fists up tighter and screwing his eyes shut. "Cora-san and I are trying to find a cure! You can come with us!"

I felt my heart break further and my resolve weaken as tears began to slide down his face and land in fat droplets on my sleeves.

"Law, it's too dangerous for the three of us to travel together-"

"I DON'T CARE!"

I reeled back a bit; shocked at the sudden intensity in his voice.

Law began trying to wipe his dripping nose and eyes, but the attempt was useless. "I don't want to be the last one again..." He whimpered.

And there it was. The finishing blow on my resolve to leave.

I held my breath for a long moment before closing my eyes and heaving out a sigh. "You'll... have to ask Cora-san if it's okay."

Instantly Law gasped and turned to hug one of Corazon's long legs.

"Please, please, please, pleeaassee can she come with us, Cora-san?!" He begged, burying his still wet face into his guardian's thigh.

The blonde man balked and tried shaking Law off, only to fall backwards to the ground. As he fell, his hands waved around wildly, trying to grab anything to stop his decent. He grabbed the hood of my parka and with a heavy thud the three of us hit the floor.

Law seemed unfazed, as if such things happened all the time, and just crawled up to sit on Corazon's chest. "PLEEAASSEE?"

The blond looked up at Law, then over to me, sprawled out next to him, then sighed and closed his eyes as well. "As long as Miss Sofia is alright with it then so am I."

I gave a small smile to the man as Law began to cheer and scrambled up to pull us to our feet.

Corazon smiled back just a bit before we were being pulled out into the snow.

《《《♡》》》

Law hummed a childish little tune as he sat atop Corazon's shoulders, the snow banks being far too deep for him to trudge through. Even I was having trouble keeping up with the blonde man's long strides, the snow reaching up to just below my bust.

"Cora-san, slow down! I don't want to fall again." Law complained when Corazon stumbled for a moment.

I chuckled as the blonde regained his balance. "Yes, it would be terrible if you two caught colds. We should find a place to take shelter soon."

As if hearing my words, the universe decided to grace us with the sight of a small village as we crested the next snow bank.

As we neared the village I took one of the many scarves from around my neck and wrapped it around Law's head, obscuring the tell-tale white blotches from prying eyes.

The two boys just stared at me in awe and I furrowed my brows behind my hood. "What?"

"Girls are so smart." Law breathed and Corazon nodded in agreement. "We never thought of doing that before."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, grabbing Law from Corazon's shoulders and cradling him against my hip as we left the snow bank. "Honestly, you two, I don't know how you managed to go about before."

Corazon just shrugged and tripped over his own two feet as I walked forward with Law.

It took probably another half hour before we reached the village. It didn't take long for us to find an inn, but by then the winter sun had already begun to set.

Corazon entered the inn first and I followed, little Law fast asleep on my shoulder.

I didn't blame him for falling asleep so easily. This disease tended to sap most of your energy.

The receptionist was a kind older looking woman with greying hair and smile lines creasing the skin around her mouth and eyes.

As we entered she glanced up and smiled widely. Of course she did. We didn't look diseased after all.

"Hello!" She chimed. "How may I help you this evening?"

Corazon spoke up before I had the chance. "My... wife and I were wondering if you had a room available. We've been traveling a long way and, as you can see, our son is quite out of it." He gestured to Law at that and the woman let out a chuckle. Corazon then looked at the woman and smiled tiredly. "You wouldn't happen to have an available room, would you? I'm sorry, we can't pay you, but all we ask is for just one night."

The old woman hesitated when the issue of money came up and I saw her eyes dart to Law asleep in my arms.

A sucker for children, huh? Well then...

I gasped suddenly and placed a hand to my stomach, playing along with Corazon's little family act.

"Darling, I just felt the baby kick." I breathed, a smile widening beneath my collar and a playful look in my eyes as I looked up at the blonde man.

He caught on quickly and smiled a seemingly genuine smile, gently resting his hand over mine on my stomach.

"That's wonderful! His first kick!"

Okay that was a little too cheesy in my opinion, but it seemed to do the trick.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the old woman staring at us adoringly, then shaking her head.

"There is... one room available, but just for one night, understand?" She said in a stern motherly tone as she handed Corazon a room key. "I want you gone by tomorrow morning."

We nodded gratefully and hurried up to the room.

There was one queen sized bed, a door that led to a small restroom, and a heater that I turned on almost immediately.

Turning, I watched Corazon place a hand to the door and breathe out a single word. "Calm."

I raised an eyebrow but shook it off as I gently unclasped Law's arms from around my neck and layed the poor boy down under the covers, making sure to remove his hat, shoes, scarf, and coat as I did so.

"That was good thinking on your part." Corazon stated. "I wouldn't have thought of something like that."

My eyes widened and I looked around. "Shush!" I hissed. "These walls are thin! You don't want her to hear us and kick us out!"

Corazon just smiled and shook his head. "There's no need to worry. I set up a barrier around the room. No sound can get in or out."

Again I raised an eyebrow at him as he shrugged off his black feather coat.

"I ate the Nagi-Nagi no Mi, a devil fruit. I can cancel out sound at will." He informed me, removing the hood-like cap from his head.

I began removing my own outer layers as I processed the information and I heard Corazon sigh.

"You can take a bath first. I'll do mine later."

I nodded happily at the prospect of hot water. I hadn't had a hot bath in months.

Kneeling down at the side of the bed, I gently shook Law awake. "Law, would you like to take a nice hot bath with me?"

The exhausted child nodded sleepily and we headed to the bathroom.

《《《♡》》》

"Tell me... Why have you decided to help him? Why have you not run away screaming like everyone else?"

It had been a few hours since we first entered the inn and Law was asleep once more, cleaner and warmer than he had been for weeks.

Corazon sat up against the wall on the floor next to the bed and I stared down at him from its edge, Law soundly asleep behind me.

Corazon chuckled. "Well, to be honest, we absolutely hated each other at first."

My eyes widened. Sure I had seen them get into a few petty quarrels, but for the most part they seemed to adore each other.

Corazon continued. "He stabbed me, I threw him out a window, it wasn't a very good first impression for either of us."

The blonde cleared his throat. "We were living with my brother, a pirate, and his crew. Law told me a secret and I knew I had to get him out of there. So, a month ago we set out to look for a cure and here we are."

I furrowed my brows in concern. "Do you know how many more years he has?"

Corazon stayed silent for a few moments before tilting his head up to face the ceiling and resting a hand over his eyes. The words he spoke next made my heart skip a beat.

"He has five months."

My eyes widened. My jaw slackened. I looked back at the little boy sleeping soundly behind me, a peaceful smile on his face.

That would all vanish in five months unless a cure could be found.

There is no cure for Amber Lead Syndrome...

I looked back down at Corazon. His hand was still obscuring his eyes, but he was biting his bottom lip and trembling. I could see the tears starting to drip down his face.

He truly loved Law... didn't he?

Without a word I slipped out of bed and kneeled in front of the blonde man.

Gently, I took his hand away from his face and his watery eyes darted up to meet mine in shock.

"Sofia..."

I put a whitened finger to my lips and, with a gentle tug, pulled the lanky man to his feet.

Guiding him to the bed, I made sure he was settled under the covers first before I slid in after him, little Law sandwiched between us.

My fingers were still entwined with his as I drifted off to sleep.