It was the longest trip Kidd ever took in his life, and the occasional detours the pair ended up taking didn't help at all- though, who was Kidd to intervene in whatever Law got up into?

Finally, after travelling for five days, they reached Washington D.C.

Though, upon staring up at the grand building that once stood as a cathedral.. the redhead realized not all was left the same as before he left it.

Or more accurately, now that he's changed, everything else was different too.

Previously, whenever Kidd came back from a day out, he would stop to stare at the towering fortress, bathing in the very spiritual essence of the haven that cradled and nearly smothered him upon return.

It was an addictive feeling, the auras of all the exorcists that resided inside continuously collected into an ever streaming haze, a mist of sorts, not only meant to repel the malevolent supernatural, but to reinforce the auras of those already inside.

It was the closest, most powerful feeling Kidd ever had to being welcome there.

But now, it felt different, whether in a good or bad way was yet to be decided.

The aura that would metaphorically sweep Kidd from his feet and drown him in waves, were now weak ripples, it still held that warmth, but it was much harder to grasp, something he couldn't notice unless he was actively reaching out for it, letting it reach him.

It was as if Kidd was wearing an invisible coat that buffered the aura, preventing it from influencing him.

Though now that he was thinking about auras and hazes- honestly, just a more benevolent version of miasma, it almost felt weirder not being around Law anymore.

The apprentice couldn't help but notice, that even though they were vastly different in intensity, the cathedral's haze was similar to Law's miasma and how it reached into him, warmer surely, more familiar as well, but distinctly flimsier.

Though Law wasn't around anymore, he swore he could still feel it somehow, the miasma that he inadvertently grew accustomed to as they spent more and more time together..

Kidd didn't really understand it himself, but apparently Law saw it as a normal occurrence, something about his soul creating it's own haze now that it was uninhibited..

Turning to his left, where Law often liked to stand by him, Kidd could almost feel the phantom tendrils of his aura still persisting, still reaching out and caressing his soul in the way only a demon's could.

Only now was it apparent that their meeting has not only altered his mentality, but it changed him spiritually as well.

Kidd could see figures move past the windows- or more specifically, the auras of those figures, and for a stray moment, he wondered if they would recognize him, hell, if he were to look in a mirror at this very moment, while he was still overly sensitive to the energies in the air, would he still recognize himself?

If he were to turn away from the cathedral and look a few seconds too long into the forest around them, he could pick out strands of life, other supernatural creatures keeping a distance from the exorcists and their headquarters alike, even the ones that weren't completely corporeal by their own standards.

As they traveled across the country, Kidd found he could see so much more than before, but at the same time he was blinded, finding his own aura blocked the others out, only showing themselves to him when he wanted to see them.

That was probably an issue they'd have to work on together.. sometime..

Craning his head even further, till he was looking right back the way he came, Kidd felt a longing, and it only ached more at the sight of an empty fog and bare, nearly dead husks of trees, all of which engulfed the flora in a dark blanket that wasn't considered miasma quite yet.

Kidd wished for just a moment, he could see Law, even if it was just the tip of his tail, anything to reassure him that the demon was still around, perhaps just a whisper of his voice.

But he knew that it would've been a bad idea.

The whole point of asking Law to hide before they arrived was to keep him from being detected, and the last thing either of them wanted was the cathedral to get stirred up like some wasp hive.

The raven was quite confident that even if they did attack, he wouldn't even get a scratch from their mediocrity, reassuring his partner that they were far too inferior, but Kidd wouldn't take any chances, especially after seeing what Akainu did to the last demon caught on earth.

It all just suddenly made him feel so sickly, the reality of letting Law get so close to not just Akainu, but all of his peers.

Was this even a good idea?

It just came over him that he never really even gave much thought as to how he was going to ease Law's introduction to the other exorcists.

Would they take Law from him..? Execute him anyway..?

Hissing through his teeth at the idea, the redhead was prepared to turn around and rush back to where the demon was hiding altogether, when the gates of the cathedral eased open with a nearly silent creek, and out came the bane of his existence, more pissed than he's seen as of late.

Kidd knew that before he would've felt apprehensive, maybe even anxious..

But honestly, he just felt angry, maybe a tad vengeful, seeing the obvious snarl of disgust, like Kidd was trash to be thrown away, and it didn't help that the man's insults were still fresh in his mind.

His days of walking on eggshells were over, fuck that shit.

Akainu deserved none of his respect, be it from fear or adoration.

"What is the meaning of this Eustass? The client told me that you took the reward in cash!" Not even a word was hinted to question how the apprentice got here, and honestly Kidd felt disappointed at the missed chance to rub it in his face.

There were many insults flying around the confines of his head, but he settled on none of them.

Starting a fight would do nothing to help introduce Law to the organization.

"Actually... sir.." oh how those words tasted so poisonous in his mouth, they had no right to being spoken as respectfully as they were and it almost made him slur to do so, "I was able to cash in the reward for enough to get a ticket back here.."

Thank God to Law for teaching him how to lie seamlessly.

The head exorcist made a scoff of disbelief, "worthless! You can't even gain anything for something as simple as purification!" Kidd pursed his lips at the slap in the face, however, aside from that, he kept himself in check.

Well.. mostly in check..

"Actually.. sir, I feel like a convention should be held" Akainu's eyes flared, looking dangerously close to reaming him.

"Excuse me?" The taller man stepped into his space, leering at him in a way he knew was to make him cower back, and Kidd felt a word instantly fly to his lips, a single word that he wished could've been magically painted across his head.

Pathetic.

Already seeing the abusive spiel forming behind the head exorcist's eyes, the redhead felt his guts threaten to spew out, and promptly spat them in his face- metaphorically, "I said I want to hold a convention, during my mission I came across some concerning things, and I want to confer with everyone else about it" Kidd could hear the lack of respect in his tone, and he damn well knew Akainu heard it to.

The only thing that saved him were the rising whispers of various nosy exorcists, all of which, were split between marveling his audacity, or shying behind the cathedral's walls to hide from it in fear of following suit.

Kidd pointedly smirked at the bastard's face when he realized they had an audience.

The redhead knew for a fact, nothing was more important to Akainu than saving face.

Turning back to him with a smoldering glare, one that rivaled his infamous fire, Akainu's mouth locked up, evidently repulsed to play along, "if.. if it's that important, then it's only part of protocol that I give you the floor to explain yourself.."

The whispers rose briefly, but swiftly dulled down as the crowd dispersed, most likely to spread the word to people who were deeper within the cathedral's catacombs.

Once they were alone again, Kidd could feel a pressure in the air, stronger than the cathedral's haze- but still weaker than his first encounter with Law, and came to the realization that it was Akainu's miasma, draping heavily like chain mail over his shoulders.

"You better make this farce your best Eustass, or I expect your resignation letter- first thing tomorrow"

Kidd didn't flinch as the head exorcist stomped away, instead, he followed him from a distance, too busy pondering what the hell he got himself into.

Was this really how things were supposed to be? Isn't this what he always wanted? Then, why was there so much doubt..?

Although, before he disappeared into the inner confines of the cathedral, for just a moment, there was a spike of miasma in the woods, and when he turned, the redhead felt his heart leap into his throat at the sight of a pair of strange branches moving against the wind- but they weren't really branches at all, those were horns, Law's horns.

Two grey eyes blinked owlishly in the shadows, and Kidd flushed, knowing he could already hear the phantom chuckle breathe past his even redder ears, afterwards, a bright smile melted from the darkness, practically glowing in contrast to the dreary forest.

The apprentice blinked to himself, clumsily processing the emotions surging through him and took a steadying breath.

A few epiphanies were coming and going like a river, bringing a new piece to a puzzle he didn't know he was creating until the answer came to him.

Depending on how this went... he might have to change his game plan after all.

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The trees around the courtyard bristled unsteadily as more and more exorcists gathered around, almost as if they could feel the auras shift.

Kidd himself studied everyone carefully, on the outside he look composed, maybe slightly nervous to other's interpretations, but on the inside he couldn't help but feel enlightened.

He could see every exorcist's aura, each one appearing as a ghostly shawl or cloak shrugged around their shoulders and sparking from their chests, every single one was unique in both quality and quantity.

What fascinated him the most was the number of apprentices who outdone their superiors in quality.

Even now, he could see the top of Nami's head, and beside her he would guess was Chopper, both of which had much clearer auras than the full fledged exorcists behind them, though that wasn't to insinuate they were special cases.

Nearly all the apprentices outshined the others, the only thing most of the actual exorcists could brag about was the quantity that came spewing out.

Despite that though, it was those exorcists in particular that eyed the apprentices with disdain, as they hunched over themselves and kept a distance from their peers, snickering and laughing like it was all some insider's joke..

Was this how it's always been..?

Once Kidd really got into the thought, Akainu came standing upon a crooked rock that nearly shadowed the courtyard, "all of you maggots better pipe down! Eustass here has some issue to discuss with the rest of you.."

On the way back down, the two men crossed paths, both unapologetic to their clear distaste for one another, and then Kidd was left alone in the head exorcist's place, overseeing everyone.

The redhead couldn't help but pause, taking that rare moment to evaluate everyone, and actually feel aware enough of himself to stop and think of the bigger picture.

This was all wrong.

All the corruption and deception that Law was talking about the whole time was in his face, and something just flared up inside.

"This- This shit is disgusting!" There was a loud gasp amongst the crowd.

"You all kept telling me I was hopeless, a screw up- and not just me! But all these apprentices too! But the only useless shits here are you guys!" The crowd was beginning to grow unsettled as shouts erupted from the masses, and Kidd could already see Akainu coming back to probably drag him away or worse.

But not today..

"Listen up! All you apprentices! These shits are nothing but a bunch of posers! They're holding you back! They're just jealous of your talents, they're trying to repress your abilities! And if that's not enough to convince you then maybe a new friend of mine will!"

By now the crowd was past unsettled, they were steaming, many said exorcist bastards were howling insults, tossing spells up his way that were easily snuffed out by his aura, much to the awe and shock of other apprentices among the audience.

Seeing that he had the attention of his target audience, Kidd leaned back, sucked in air until his gut ached, and let out a uproarious call, "Law! Come out here!"

Immediately, everyone went silent at his words, evidently both confused and apprehensive to what might answer.

It didn't take long for the quiet to grow uncomfortable, nobody wanted to be the first to move, and many doubters were sure that perhaps this was all a farce, however, just when one might've grown the spine to break it, an amused chuckle melted out and shattered the silence.

The voice was dark and ominous by nature, and the fine hairs on one's back stood up on end at instinct as a stretched shadow flew above the crowd.

As the shadow took rest by Kidd's side, a trail of miasma followed, stifling many people in the crowd and scaring them stiff.

Kidd, being the only person to be able to handle such an aura, smiled as Law casually batted his wings as if to remove any dirt, dancing after his smile was a lazy smirk, a relief considering what he's just done, the redhead would've totally expected one of irritation or annoyance.

However, the only emotion Law was showing was amusement, as he nearly curled his body to stand as near as he could to the exorcist without touching him, the smirk cracked, and a fang very nearly prodded out.

"I knew I was right to be expecting things to lead this way.. and don't order me around or I'll change my mind and leave"

Kidd snorted, half amused and half unapologetic, though he didn't dwell on it long as he turned back to address the gawking crowd.

Or more specifically, the apprentices in the crowd.

"If you won't be convinced hearing from me, then listen to my friend here.. my familiar"