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It’s an odd sensation, being dead.
Law takes a moment to wonder if perhaps he’s simply dreaming, but his vision is far too clear for that to be a possibility.
The sand beneath him is soft and almost as white as snow, pillowing between his toes in a pleasant blanket of warmth. There’s a breeze, gentle and calm, pushing small waves up to the shore in a comforting repetition.
He breathes in deeply and holds it. Counts the seconds under the summer sun. His mind is silent for what feels like the first time in all his life.
“Hey, you!”
That voice.
The breath Law was holding escapes him instantly, and it’s with wide eyes that he turns around to come face to face with the person he’d lost so very, very long ago.
Cora stands only a handful of yards away, face bare, his deep red eyes curious and guarded. He’s wearing a soft blue shirt and white shorts, not a trace of blood to be seen. Law has had dreams like this before. The probabilities of this encounter performing as some kind of twisted test are high, and it takes everything in Law not to run to him.
But he can’t stop the tears from falling.
“Cora-san,” he rasps, like the words are as heavy as lead. Law removes his hat and clutches it to his chest, silently begging for the other man to make the final move.
And finally, like pebbles slowly tumbling down a mountain, recognition begins to spark in Cora’s face.
“Law?” he asks, crestfallen and voice trembling.
Law nods, and before he can even say another word, Cora has taken three long strides to wrap him up in his arms. Law clutches the man in return, the weight of him so alarmingly real it rips another sob straight from his throat.
They sink down onto the sand as Cora sobs into his shoulder, too afraid to let go, and Law cries, and cries, and cries until he can be sure that Cora won’t vanish between his fingers like a ghost.
*
Later, when the sun has begun to set and Law feels strong enough for them to separate, they contently sit side by side in the cooling sand. Law still makes sure their knees are touching, and it’s enough for now.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Is what Cora says to him into the calmness of the evening, and Law wants to laugh.
“A bit hypocritical, don't you think?” he says bitterly. Cora tries to give him an unimpressed look, but it falls flat when grief begins to coil in his eyes again. Law smiles sadly as he looks out toward the shoreline. “When you died that day… it messed me up more than you’ll ever know.”
Cora inhales sharply, his fingers twitching in his lap.
“It wasn’t meant to,” Cora whispers. “Nothing else mattered in that moment, except for keeping you alive. And I would do it again.”
Law closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath to keep from yelling. There wasn’t much point arguing about it now, but even so, the memory is still too raw for Law to ever want to remember.
“I'm so sorry, Law.”
Without hesitation, Law grabs Cora’s hand and intertwines their fingers. He can recall, so clearly, all the times Cora had held him in his arms when he’d been dying. How gentle Cora’s touch had become towards the end of their journey. When the piercing sound of his cries had returned after Cora had taken his last breath–
“It’s interesting…” Law says with no humour at all. “That in the end, we both died the same age.”
They stay like that until the sun is replaced by a splattering of stars, beautiful and out of reach.
*
Cora lives in a shack not too far back from where flora meets sand. Law watches as Cora lights up several lamps, surprised when not once does the man himself catch fire. But if they were in fact in heaven now, then anything is possible, he supposes.
“This is all very… modest,” Law comments after a while, when the two of them have settled down on a couch that has Law’s feet dangling off the ground.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cora muses as he looks around. “I realised I don’t need much else, really. I never particularly cared for material possessions.”
Law can’t seem to tear his eyes away from him. What is it that you do, when you’ve finally reunited with the man you’ve been thinking about for the past thirteen years of your life.
“I like it,” Law says, still looking at Cora.
Cora turns to him, the flickering fire dancing across his hair and face. Law wants to reach out again, but something holds him back. Drowsiness begins to spike behind his eyes and the knowledge catches him off guard.
“I didn’t think you could get tired once you’re dead,” he says, blinking back sleep.
Cora laughs softly. “Yeah. I think we’d all go a bit crazy if we were awake for eternity.”
Law hums and looks around again. Cora clears his throat.
“I’ve only got one bed, but–” he starts, moving his fingers in a circle briefly. “You can wish for another room, if you want to stay here.”
Law hadn’t even considered the idea of not being here. “What do you mean?”
“It’s heaven, Law, anything you desire can appear just like that.”
“Oh.” Law concentrates only for a moment, and suddenly another door has formed within the wall on the other side of the room.
“There,” Cora smiles, but it's strained. “Now you have your own room. Easy.”
Later, when Law has been laying down for quite some time, he finds no matter what he does he can’t seem to find sleep. A different itch forms under his skin. So, on light feet Law makes his way out to where Cora’s room is, and he pushes the ajar door until he’s standing next to the man's bed.
“Cora?”
Cora turns over like he had been expecting him. Waiting for him.
“Can’t sleep?”
The question isn’t searching for an answer, and Cora lifts his sheets back in invitation. Law crawls into his bed and immediately feels settled when he rests against Cora’s side. Cora’s arms curl around him, and Law is too afraid to admit how long it is he’s wanted to be here.
*
Time is something you don’t have to worry about up here, but Law thinks at least several weeks have passed before he raises the question that perhaps should have been addressed sooner.
“Are there other people in heaven?” he asks, pausing the knife halfway through the carrot he’s chopping. Then he rephrases. “I mean, obviously there are, but… where are they?”
Cora looks up from the clothes he’s folding and appears incongruous. “Oh, right, of course. Well, to put it simply, when we die… we supposedly end up in our own version of heaven.”
Law processes this. “So, you mean… no two heavens are the same, type of deal?”
“Not exactly. Some people share, like my parents,” Cora smiles fondly. “I’ve visited them many times.”
Law drops the knife completely. He can’t believe he hadn’t even considered the possibility. “I can see my family?”
Cora’s mouth falls open like he too hadn’t pieced it together. “Y-yeah. Yes, Law, you can.”
Vegetables and clothes forgotten; they begin to search every corner of the afterlife.
*
His parents and Lami, much like Cora, had taken a moment to recognise him. He’s happy to see his family had stayed together, and he hates himself for taking as long as he had to begin looking for them.
“Oh, my sweet boy,” his mother says as she cups his face. The familiarity of it sends a shiver up Law’s spine. “Look at you, you’re so tall now.”
“You’re really my big brother?” Lami asks, her tiny hand curled around his leg. Law nods slowly, and Lami giggles delightedly. “Now I finally have someone new to play with!”
Law holds back a sob. She’s so small; he doesn’t remember her looking so young when she’d perished in that hospital. He bends down to hold her close, hands trembling as he whispers, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Lami.”
“Law,” his father says, but Law isn’t ready to hear it. Not yet. “It wasn’t your fault, you have to know that.”
“Oh, sweetie,” his mother cries, and suddenly Law is surrounded in warmth as his family embrace him. It breaks him, little by little, and Law can only seem to find his voice again when he catches sight of Cora waiting quietly by the door.
“We’re so happy you got to live,” his mother continues and places a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Even if it was only for a short while.”
“It was because of Cora,” Law croaks. “He saved me.”
They spend the rest of the evening like that; talking, reminiscing, and if his parents notice just how close Law remains by Cora’s side, they don’t comment on it.
*
“You can stay with them, if that’s what you want,” Cora says to him one day.
They’re out in the ocean, the waves replaced by small ripples as their bodies float atop the water. It’s nice, not having to worry about drowning anymore.
“What?” Law asks, confused.
“Your family,” Cora explains, his side profile cast in shadow. “Don’t feel like you have to stay here with me, like it’s some kind of obligation. I won’t be upset.”
Like a trigger, Law lunges and submerges Cora beneath the surface in anger. The man sputters and coughs up water when Law relents, his expression a mixture of shock and irritation as he pushes his bangs out of his eyes.
“You’re an idiot,” Law spits, leaving Cora and stalking back to the shack.
That night, after they cleaned up dinner in silence and have settled down to read on the couch, Law bookmarks a page with his finger and says, “Why do you think I appeared here in the first place?”
“I…” Cora swallows, a nervousness about him that Law has never seen. “I didn’t want to assume…”
“Well, start assuming,” Law says and shuffles to settle against Cora’s side.
*
“I used to talk to you, you know,” Law tells him when they’re outside chopping up firewood.
It’s not so different from wielding his odachi, and despite the knowledge that they can simply wish a fire into existence every night, having a routine helps to settle his mind better. Everything he’d learned while he was alive – fighting, operating, conjuring his Devil Fruit powers, all of that was useless now. He needed to use his hands for something.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Law says, splitting a log perfectly in two. He looks over at Cora and feels a lump form in his throat. “It helped, to imagine you might still be there with me.”
Cora hums sadly. When his cigarette burns to the end, a new one replaces it. “Believe me, if I had had the choice, I would have stayed down there with you.”
Law drops his axe suddenly when it feels as if something is choking him. He staggers to the ground, hand clenched over his chest as he blinks through the pain. Cora is by his side in an instant, comforting hands running along his back.
“Law? Law! Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay–”
Law reaches out blindly, gripping the front of Cora’s shirt.
“My crew…” he says and clenches his teeth. “I just left them. I wasn’t strong enough, Cora, I couldn’t…”
Cora pulls him into his lap and cups his head, words soft as his lips brush against Law’s skin. “They’ll be okay, Law, they will. All you can do is believe in them. What matters is the love and trust you gave them and the love they gave in return.”
Law releases a shaky breath.
Believe in them.
He hopes, prays, that it will be a very long time before he reunites with any of them.
*
Months later, Law suggests they turn his room into a guest room for when his family might want to visit. He hasn't used it since the first night he’d arrived here. He’s never been one for home decorating, but he’s sure he can think of some toys Lami would like to play with.
“Have you ever wanted a dog?” Law asks him in the quiet of the night. The fingers that are brushing through his hair pause.
“I thought about it,” Cora says, and Law idly traces along a scar that protrudes Cora’s collarbone. “Perhaps there’s some strays around that are looking for a home.”
“There’s definitely enough room on this bed for one more,” Law says around a smile.
Cora laughs. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
A home.
Law takes a moment to watch Cora as he sleeps and listens to his steady breathing. He quietly reflects on all of the homes he’s ever been part of, even those that were fuelled by hate and revenge. It feels too good to be true that he gets to make one here, with Cora, but not even death is going to tear him away.
*
They’re walking along the beach, stopping every now and then when Law wants to document the shape of a particularly interesting shell. Cora doesn’t question why Law insists on sketching it rather than bring it back to the shack, simply smokes in silence as he waits.
Hours pass before Law finally suggests they turn back, only Cora doesn’t move, expression reminiscent as he looks up towards some clouds in the sky.
“It’s been a year, you know.”
He doesn’t ask Cora to explain before it clicks. “How can you be sure?”
“I marked it,” Cora says, slowly releasing a puff of smoke and then meeting Law’s eyes. “The day you got here, I marked it down.”
“Why?”
Cora’s cheeks begin to stain with his tears, and he smiles. “Because that’s when I started to live again.”
Law drops the pencil and sketchbook, so he has both hands to drag Cora down into a searing kiss.
Cora kisses him back fiercely, his arms curling around Law’s waist and grounding him better than anything on Earth ever could. Law can taste his tears as their lips glide together, holding Cora impossibly closer, and it almost feels like he’s dying all over again but in the best way possible.
“It’s always been you, Cora,” Law gasps between their mouths. “It will always be you.”
“Law…” Cora trembles and settles a hand over Law’s heart. He laughs, and the sound is music to Law's ears. “I'd wait for you in every lifetime.”
Law smiles, pulling Cora into another kiss, and they stay there until the rising shore washes away their footprints in the sand.