Southbound Hearts | Chapter 2: Trashfall

[mekachu04]

Southbound Hearts by Mekachu04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Sex
Additional Tags:

Time Travel law thinks it's a dream / he's dying Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives Age Regression/De-Aging Kidd's not an angry boi yet/ actually he's kinda a silly little guy Corazon talks (to kids) Implied/Referenced Child Abuse Brief discussions of Patricide brief discussions of government santioned crimes Egghead Island Arc Amber Lead Syndrome Celiac!Law Timeline Shenanigans Law has fucked up the timeline

secretly smart!Kidd non!canon Use of Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit Powers kidd is his own kind of radar brief discussions of trafficking Homophobic Language The f-slur is used once allusions to nonconsensual oral sex Attempted Rape Violence/Murder Character Kills In Self-Defense / Killer lives up to his name underage warning is being used for teenagers - but still minors Kid!Kidd Teenager!Killer

Post-Wano Arc Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit Nagi Nagi no Mi | Calm-Calm Fruit Ope Ope no Mi | Op-Op Fruit Jiki Jiki no Mi | Magnet-Magnet Fruit Near Drowning Children In Danger Trapped Blood and Injury Orphans well adjusted children do not grow up to be pirates no beta: we sink like Victoria Punk

Summary:

Its a light rain, warm fresh water splashing his face, the edge of a tropic storm building on the horizon. It picks at his memory, like a forgotten dream, a lullaby from the few calm points of his childhood; a point of peace where he knew he was going to die, but that was okay. He's thirteen again, and his world is ending, but it's okay, because he wasn't alone anymore.

 Corazon is standing at the front of their tiny ship, staring out at the storm with a look of worry. He was just as Law remembered him, large and imposing as equal as soft and kind.

 It was a nice dream to die in, Law supposed.

 

He wasn't expecting to wake back up, and certainly not to the deafening sound of metal on metal screaming in the distance, the ground shaking like the world was coming apart at the seams. Corazon's hold kept him from being flung about as the world buckled around them. They huddled down in the boat, Corazon covering Law in case the shelter fell in, but it held in the end, creaking ominously, but staying steady as the ground stilled, only the rumbling of distant thunder, the roar of the wind and the crashing of waves left in air.

The residual electricity in the air still hummed and crackled, and Corazon was staring intently out of the opening of their shelter.

"Cora-san, what is it?" Law asked him, trying to see what held the man's attention.

"Yelling...."

Law tried to listen though the storm, to ignore the beating of waves and the ...

"Oh!" he could hear it too. Faint and distressed.

The mountain shifted around them again.

"I think part of the trash pile is being washed away," Corazon concluded, carefully making his way out of the boat to look out to see the damage. The ocean was still to rough for them to try and escape with their boat, but it looked like their part of the mountain was holding stable for the time being.

The shore line was not far away from them now however; the storm surge much higher than either had expected...  Meanwhile, a whole slab of trash off to side of them had shifted, sliding out into the sea. Law watched in horror as he saw a kid struggling to gain his footing as the metal slipped under the waves.

He wasn't the only one watching - the yelling was coming from above, as young teenager likely not much older than Law was screaming down, telling the kid to run, voice cracking in panic. The kid, slowly sliding closer to the sea, didn't seem to hear them, struggling with the scrap metal under him.

"Is he stuck?" Law wondered, Corazon's grip on his shoulder tightening.

"Stay here" they both told the other.

"Its too dangerous!"

"What if you trip!?"

"I'm the adult, stay."

"You can't swim!"

"Neither can you!"

With a groan, they both moved carefully down to the trapped kid, now clinging to the metal as the waves started to rage against him.

Stepping in the surging water was a nightmare to struggle through, the sea tearing though what strength Law'd gathered while resting. But Corazon and his long legs allowed him to get there first, hauling the kid out of the water and up onto his shoulder. The obstreperous child thrashed in Corazon's hold, kicking back, fists flailing. His hair was as red as the rust, and his face matching from his outraged verbal cacophony.

"He's under the water line!" Law finally understood the kid's frantic screaming.

Law's haki picked out the presence of another person, a few feet below Law's own feet, struggling against the layers of rubble and flooding waters trapping him beneath them.

"Shit" Law swore, trying to feel out exactly how the person was positioned, and to get himself out to the seawater long enough to attempt a 'Room.'

Corazon froze in place, frantically looking for how to help. From his new position in the tall man's arms, the kid had stopped screaming bloody murder...

No... no, he was still yelling; a pleading, begging invocation, a prayerful manta of "move!Move!MOVE" followed by an even more desperate -pulling- sensation that set the hairs on Law's arm on end.

Then, the metal under Law was shifting, fighting, rust eaten metal snapping and cracking; A few pieces flinging themselves at Corazon, who used his own coat as a shield to try and protect himself and the kid.

More pieces flung up and away, before the whole chunk at Law's feet lifted up, peeling away like the lid on a tin of rations.

The water rushed in swiftly to fill the deep pocket once it was exposed, and Law stepped in right after it to grab the submerged body and haul it to the surface. The smell of blood quickly followed as Law supported the rescued kid as they choked and sputtered against him, coughing out water and slumped weakly against him, gasping for air. "Trade" he called to Corazon. The trash crashed to the ground next to them, and the redhead scrambled down to let the tall man easily lift up the kid from Law's hold, more than capable of carrying the somewhat unresponsive body.

The teen from the hill top had made it down to them, pulling frantically on both Law and the smaller child, "We have to go! We have to go NOW!" they were yelling to Corazon, "The top's going to fall!"

Law and Corazon looked up at the edge above them was indeed threatening to crumble.  They wouldn't be able to climb back up and over in time.

"We have shelter around the side," Law shouted over the storm, pointed back to where they'd been sheltered not to long ago. The two strangers nodded, following him and Corazon in a quiet panic.

The metal was wet and slick, footing unsteady as they all scrambled for safety. Law swore as the telltale -crack- was head overhead above them, and the world started to slide. "Cora-san, wait for a moment!" Law summoned a 'Room' with his free hand, holding tight to the older of the duo as Corazon - having seen this trick already once before, moved in closer to his side. Law's head spun as he 'Shambled' them across the landslide, everyone stumbling as the ground suddenly became solid again.

Corazon'd steadied Law with his free hand, Law's two tag-alongs looking back at the spot they'd been in shock as it disappeared in the falling wreckage. "I'm okay," he assured his guardian, before motioning to their shelter, urging them all forward. "Come on, almost there..."

Only a few steps more against the violent wind and rain, and they were throwing themselves into the calm pocket in the mountain.

"You are *so* stupid!" the older of the three yelled as soon as they stepped into Law and Corazon's little hollow. Despite the short cropped hair, their higher voice and slight breasts suggested girl, "the both of you! I told you to come inland!"

"Sorry," coughed the kid from Corazon's hold as the man set him gingerly down on the boat bench. He continued on coughing, curling tightly upon himself and Corazon hissed in sympathy as he noticed the ugly laceration along the young man's leg.

The remaining child - and despite the trio being close in size, he was clearly much younger then them all, too much baby fat still clinging to him, and the pout to match- snapped back, "Really, because I'm pretty sure the last thing you told us was to drop dead!"

The two of them were too loud, voices pinging painfully off the enclosed area. Corazon must have agreed, because as Law moved closer to check on the kid they pulled from the rubble, it suddenly went quiet as he entered the enclosure of Corazon's calm fruit.

"That's nifty," the kid from the bench said between wet coughs. Their voice was deeper than Law expected, older than he realized. Closer to the girl and to Law in age than the boy that had been with him down in the water. He was shaking where he sat on the bench, lips faintly blue, soaked to the bone. His hair was plastered to his face, how he could see anything, Law couldn't guess, but he'd turned unsteadily to regard the two still squabbling, though now their voices were blocked away. "you-" cough "-gotta teach me that. It's all the time... with those two."

Corazon smiled at that, but it fell way when he went to inspect the teen's arm and the boy gave out a wet garbled cry and jerked away. Corazon gestured for Law to come quick.

Law scrambled over to inspect the injury. More information showed itself once he used his fruit. "Bruised ribs. Shoulder's dislocated" Law warned, "and the radius is fractured here" Law said, pointing out an area starting to swell and reddening with a telltale bruise. His leg was bleeding heavily now, puddle starting to form under his feet. "I can fix that, and I can stop the bleeding, but you need a tetanus shot." Law told the stranger.

The boy's hair still kept him from getting eye contact directly, seawater dripping from his bangs, but he didn't look away as the boy studied him. "Not sure that one's an option" the kid said with a weak laugh, "fwafwa"

It was like the floor dropped from under him. Law looked back over where the two others had stopped fighting and were watching him uneasily in turn. He didn't know the girl, but the redhead....

Law turned back to Corazon in a panic, "What year did you say it was?"