Feliciano felt lighter than air, now. It'd been the first time in a long time that he'd spliced and it felt lovely. Like he was floating. Like he was flying.
He was singing as he walked down the street and Dio it was cold but he didn't care. He hugged himself tightly as he walked, and that made the cold a little bit better. He could hear his footsteps, the sound of his boots hitting the pavement. Walking on a near-empty street was magical rather than scary when you had ADAM. ADAM was protection. He'd be fine, he decided, should someone come up and try to hurt him. He could push them away with Telekinises! He could club them with a wrench and it would make him healthier with Blood Lust! (Feliciano liked Blood Lust a lot.) He could stand perfectly still if he had to and anyone scary would walk on by, with Natural Camoflauge!
Rapture was such a lovely place. Why, with just an EVE hypo, all of his problems were solved! Even artistic block was gone with a snap of his finger! (Not that there was a tonic for artistic block, of course-rather, seeing someone lying there with blood everywhere like an abstract painting...well, it was a sight that never failed to inspire Feliciano.)
He checked around the corner before continuing down the sidewalk. He was going to the Farmer's Market, because after all, Lovi would be back home from the Civil War any day now, wouldn't he? Feliciano suffered from false memories, memories of Lovino antagonizing one of those giant, metal behemoths and suffering an attack with one of those drills, but as long as he knew what they were, they were harmless. Anyway, Lovino was alive and well, Feliciano knew it, and he'd be so mad if he came home to a house without food.
Feliciano was about to keep going when he saw one of those girls that wandered around, and his heart went out to her. She was alone. Maybe six, or eight, he couldn't tell. She looked so scared, calling out for her father. Feliciano almost cried at the sight; he cried a lot lately, and he'd never been so sentimental on the surface, but whatever the case, the tears that sprung to his eyes prompted him to approach her.
"Ciao!" he said, kneeling down so that he was on her level. He noticed that she, too, had tears at the edge of her peculiarly glowing eyes. "Aren't you just a sweetheart? Tell me, are you lost?" He spoke in a very quiet, sweet tone of voice. He gave her the loveliest smile, and she returned it. He smiled wider.
"I'm looking for my daddy," she said, and he had the urge to pick her up and hold her.
"Oh, tesora," he said. He lifted a hand to push her hair out of her eyes. "Mi dispiace. I'm so sorry. I know you'll find him soon." Lots of people had lost family in Rapture (even Feliciano occasionally toyed with the thought that Lovino would not be coming back home, though of course this was not true) but it had never ocurred to him that little girls such as this one could lose family, too. "What is your name?"
The little girl looked confused at first, but then answered, "Greta,"
"I'm Feliciano," he said. He almost laughed, almost cried. She was the epitome of innocence. He wanted to hold her. "Everything is going to be okay," he whispered. He closed his eyes when he smiled, as he did when he smiled the very widest.
Had his eyes been open, he would have wondered why Greta's dress had, almost instantaneously, turned red. Would have confused him, even. His brow would have furrowed and his mouth would have turned into a tiny, confused little frown.
But his eyes were closed. And when the drill went through his back and stuck out of his stomach, it was too instantaneous for his face to change it all. He died with that happy little smile, his arms outstretched. In a half-second there would have been contact. In a second he would have hugged her. Greta's protector had arrived just in time.