A/N: Hello! This is another story I had hidden away on my Livejournal. This is part of the Italian Mafia AU that "Un Amore Sinfonico" (Demyx/Zexion) is also from. It might help this story make a little more sense if you read that one before this story, but you don't have to!
Plot backline (from "Un Amore Sinfonico"): All Organization XIII are in a mafia famiglia (family) called the Organization. Roxas is the capo famiglia, or the head of the family. For this AU of the same universe, Roxas and Sora are cousins (with Roxas being a little older) and both serving as capos in Italian and Americanmafia families, respectively.
Other than that, enjoy the read! There will be two more chapters after this, so enjoy!
Warnings: Alcohol consumption.
Written in 2011.
Bordighera was a town that took years upon years to fully know. Of course, one could easily navigate the City of Palms with an overanalyzing map, a GPS, or simply by following the signs pointing to every scenic riverfront view anyone would ever want to see. It was an easy, comfortable town of only 4 square miles. Anywhere you went, a gentle breeze brushed against your skin in a warm caress, smelling faintly of the many flower gardens that spilled over eroding stone walls. It was quite as well, except for the hum of activity from British tourists that habitually visited in the winter to escape their own frigid weather. However, the last of the Anglophones had returned home, for winter vacations were over and spring was on the way. Bordighera was a picturesque, peaceful town once again.
Sora developed a fondness early in his life of standing out on the balcony of the Cuori Estate, looking over the famed palm trees to the Ligurian Sea. The water was brilliant blue, reflecting the afternoon sun and filling the air with echoing crashes as the waves stormed upon the rocky beach side. The young man smiled absently, remembering the lazy Sunday afternoons he would run out to the balcony and try to see the sailboats going out onto the sea. His papá would scoop Sora and his cousin onto his shoulders so that the boys could see high above the treetops. Sora recalled laughing blithely as his Roxas would wave his hand in front of the brunet's face, acting like one of the famed Bordigherian palms, or point to different objects in the landscape, teaching his American cousin new Italian words. It had been several years since Sora had stood on the balcony; the last time the young mafioso could recall leaning over the railing to stare out at the scenery was just before he had been selected to become a member for the Kingdom Famiglia. Sora had promised to return to the estate every holiday, but after becoming the capo, life began to pick up, and there was no time to even schedule for a flight back.
Two weeks prior, a letter from his mother had appeared at Sora's front door in America. Roxas had been injured in an attack, and had a slim chance of recovering.
The funeral was a large event, as everything in the Cuori family had been. No family member would have had it otherwise. The past few weeks had been spent sending out letters to other members of the famiglia, verifying arrangements for the ceremony, and staying out of the way of the females. The woman workforce of the Cuori clan was a force to be reckoned with. The held themselves with a sense of seriousness, not allowing a single tear to shed as they helped around the household, tending to their children and the children of other aunts and sister and cousins. On the day of the ceremony, they all dressed in their nicest closed and paid their respects to the capo famiglia. Afterwards, they wiped their eyes and began the most important task of the day: preparing the food.
Plate after plate of hot food flew from the Cuori kitchen and onto the large dining room table. Empty wine bottles were placed in crates and stacked along the facade of the household, equating to a mountain of boxes by the end of the evening. Sora had kept himself busy, helping to replenish the pasta bowls and keeping everyone's glasses full. By midnight everyone who was sober enough to safely make it home had left; the others who had long since blacked out or fallen asleep resided in the many guest bedrooms inside the Cuori Estate. As the grandfather clock signaled that it was half past midnight, Sora found himself still awake, tending to the many pots, pans, and plates that needed to be cleaned. Unfortunately, it seemed that for every clean plate, there was a whole stack of dirty dishware. The brunet was so immersed in cleaning all of the cutlery that he wasn't aware of the shuffling of footsteps in the background.
"Sora?"
The brunet turned around quickly, caught off guard by the sudden presence of another person. His face softened when he realized who it was.
His aunt frowned, her arms crossed over her chest. "What are you doing,figlio mio?"
Sora stared down at the plate in his hand as although he wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing either.
"Cleaning?"
"No, you're working." Mamma Cuori took the pate from her nephew's hands and set it down onto the countertop. "Why aren't you sleeping, il mio agnello?"
Sora shrugged his shoulders, placing the cleaning cloth over his shoulder. "There are things to de done. I can't go to bed yet."
Mamma Cuori looked at the man with cool blue eyes, watching as he ran a hand through his hair tensely. Quietly, she took Sora's hands and held them gently against her cheek. They stood in silence for several moments, listening to the quiet rush of the sea that drifted in from the open windows.
"He loved you dearly, Sora."
"I know, Zia," Sora smiled sadly. "I should have visited more."
"Oh, don't be silly," the woman replied. She excited the kitchen for a moment before returning with two glasses of rich sciacchetrà wine. She handed one to her nephew before taking a quiet sip of her own. "He cried over you, you know."
"Roxas did?" Sora asked as he took a sip of the wine, feeling his heart clench.
Mamma Cuori nodded. "Roxas was just a few years into the Organization himself when the Kingdom Famigila came and selected you to join their ranks. Roxas was so proud that he burst into tears, right in front of the Decimo. He was happy to have his best friend officially become a famiglia brother," she said fondly. "So don't you apologize at all, Sora. There was not a day that went by that Roxas wasn't happy to have you serving as capos together."
Sora felt his cheeks grow hot. He stared into his glass, unable to make eye contact. "I didn't know he was so proud of me."
"We're all proud of you, Sora." The woman drew her nephew into a tight hug, her face hidden on Sora's shoulder. Dazed, Sora returned the embrace, his arms wrapped the shaking woman.
"Zia, are you-"
"No, I am not crying," she sniffed. Mamma Cuori pulled gently away and rubbed at her eyes. "This wine is just so delicious."
Sora laughed softly as his aunt regained her composure. The woman crossed to their icebox and pulled out a chilly bottle.
"Here," she said, pressing the bottle into her nephew's hand, "Go stroll along the Lungomare."
"I don't think walking around this late with alcohol is such a good idea, Zia," Sora commented hesitantly.
The woman waved her hand about fleetingly "This is Bordighera, il mio agnello. You're not going to be the only one out."
An hour later found Sora slumped against a railing running along the side of the promenade, his head throbbing from the limoncello resting half full in his loose grip. The lapping of the waves only further irritated his senses, the brunet's throat burning from the liqueur. Sora hadn't planned to drink any of it, but his aunt had insisted that it was an Italian tradition of mourning to drink along the shoreline in memory of a loved one.
One sip had led to two, then capful shots of the lemon alcohol to stop his mind from racing. Memories of his cousin were flittering through his head and paining the hit man's heart.
I should have visited more often. I should never have been chosen as the capo famiglia.
Angrily, Sora brought the open bottle to his lips and took a swig of the limoncello, wincing as it scorched his throat. The brunet stared down the promenade, watching as a laughing couple crossed the street toward a late-night cafe. A sleek black car turned onto the street, its headlights a sharp contract to the soft blackness that had fallen over the city some time ago. Closing his eyes, Sora leaned further back against the railing. Regardless of all the alcohol he had consumed, his mind would simply not rest. The smooth humming of a motor grew louder and louder in the night air until the sound seemed to be stationary beside the exhausted hit man. Startled, Sora opened his bleary blue eyes to see the emblem of a silver trident.
"Ciao, Signore."
A/N:
I remember doing quite a bit of research on Italy to pick the best backdrop for this AU. Bordighera is a real town in the province of Liguria, Italy that is known for its palm trees. The palms that grow there are world renowned and are exported to the Vatican City for use of ash in use in ceremonies. Neat!
Cuori = hearts in Italian. I know that's horribly cliché and lazy to pick for a Kingdom Hearts AU, but it works!
The Lungomare is also real and is a famous waterside boulevard. I don't know if Italian people actually do go drink there when a family member as passed away, but my Italian friends always talk about when they drink on the beach, so why not.
Thanks so much for reading! Two more chapters after this that will be up shortly.