Dear Antonio,

I know you promised forever, but forever is something I cannot commit to. Too many times I've been proved that I'm not good enough, and that love is as fake as the sweet poisons you've dripped into my ear.

So, though I'm not sure what for, I shall thank you. You helped me realize what's useless in life, and it seems that this game is what. I refuse to be a player any longer, so I shall take my leave of you. I do hope I was a valuable piece to you, and I hope you got what you wanted. I have one favor to ask of you; do not forget me. Remember me as the one who saw through your charade, and broke them self from the disaster bound to happen.

In turn, I won't forget you either. I believe it shall be quite hard to disregard a person such as yourself, do keep that as an assurance.

I suppose this is goodbye...

Love, if you can even call it that,

Lovino Vargas.

Lovino Vargas was the son of one of the wealthiest men in Italy, Angelo Vargas. He had just about everything, a large mansion, horses, liquor...countless servants and court women(who were none too bad for the eye) to dote upon him. Though these pleasures were a right by birth, he still had nothing. Despite his first-born stature, he was NOT next in line for the Vargas fortune.

No, the bastard who held that position was Feliciano Vargas, his YOUNGER brother.

Lovino, you see, was not blood-related to Angelo. He was his mother's child, who became pregnant with him before she married Mr. Vargas. Yet, Angelo took full parentage of the boy when he was born. He still did not recognize him as his heir. Then Feli was born, fully related, so he received birth-rights as was natural.

In a way, Lovino supposed he should feel some sort of hatred for the younger, but he felt quite the opposite. He had a fierce protectiveness, and would not stand for any mistreatment turned towards his half-brother. No one could hope to TOUCH his fratello. Not when he had something to do with it.

Lovino himself; now he was a person people didn't note. He had no trademark features, other than the extended curl of hair that just about everybody on his mother's side of the family owned. He didn't have the loveliest personality, and people often did not wish to communicate with him because of it. No one knew why he was so bitter, no one but himself. See, he was never going to accomplish anything in life. People told him so, and he knew it. He would not see so much as a fraction of the Vargas fortune, nor did he have any particular talents that could land him a profession of quality. Not only that, but he had never accomplished anything grand in his seventeen years of life. No, all things great happened to his younger brother. Then his mother and father…they were always trying to fix him. He was just fine, right? What was it about him that made people automatically think he was a puzzle that needed to be rematched? Or a painting that needed new paint? In his opinion, the more paint you add to a canvas, the more of a mess you get.

A prime example of that would be his mother. The woman had once bedded every man in court, and that led to the unplanned pregnancy of Lovino himself. She didn't even know who the possible noble father could be, and she was lucky enough to have Angelo still fancy her. The price of that marriage was that indeed, she had to have paint coat her original canvas as well. What was once a mass array of vivid colors and patterns, now sat as a dull mess. As if someone had dipped the painting into water and let it smear together. She was so far gone, and Lovino was afraid of that happening to him as well.

Don't get him wrong, he was used to the rich life. He wanted to be rich, but this…this was too much. He couldn't handle something of this…situation. Nor did he know how to handle it. His heart was pounding and his throat was closed off. Was this…nervousness? If so, it was a completely strange sort that he had never felt before.

Perhaps the emotion he was looking for was dread.

"H-how have you been today, Lovino?" The small, blonde girl across from him asked quietly. She was sweet and pretty, but much too tentative and used to being taken care of. If someone had left her alone, she'd die within the first hour.

"I have been fine, thank you Lili. How about yourself?" Mother had taught him how to be polite, and even he was able to show it sometimes. He wasn't a complete ass.

She blushed, and looked to her brother as if he would answer for her. Vash Zwingli honestly scared the living crap out of Lovino, and it wasn't even because of his careless demeanor.

No, it was the musket strapped to his waist. And his trigger-happy finger that never left the barrel. And the fact it was never deprived of gunpowder.

Vash nodded at his sister, and the barest of smiles could be seen on his stoic face.

Lili's large green orbs locked onto Lovino's and she smiled. It truly was a cute smile, and made the bottoms of her eyelids curve up. In all honestly, she was the ideal girl….just something about her didn't peak Lovino's interest. "I have been very well, thank you. It's not often I get engaged."

Those words…they brought a fresh wave of uncertainty to Lovino, and he already had enough of that. He was…indeed…engaged to Lili Zwingli. The cute little Swiss girl. The daughter of the owner of a large dairy company. The one who was soon to own the milk and yogurt portion, just as her brother owned the cheese. Yes, this girl was the perfect viable match for Lovino's situation.

His mother had chosen well.

Too well.

Lovino took a sip from his coffee, the bittersweet taste kissing his tastebuds ever so nicely, "That is true."

Lili giggled, actually giggled. It was such a girly sound…one he hadn't heard come out of the mouth of anybody over the age of nine. She then delicately picked a small finger-sandwich from the tray sitting between them, nibbling on it slowly. She seemed so torn…confident, yet nervous. Ready, yet scared. It was one of the few traits Lovino actually admired about her.

She's just too innocent, he decided. Nobody should be like that, nobody should be looking at the world through doe eyes by the time they're sixteen. She should be so much more experienced. No, she doesn't have to be experienced in those…areas…but she should at least know the things that an average thirteen year old does! Lovino glanced over at Vash, who sat looking out the window, obviously pretending he wasn't monitoring his sister's future fiancee's every move. And it doesn't help that she has a bodyguard for a brother…. OH! Now it makes sense. She's innocent…because he won't allow her NOT to be. Now I get it.

Lovino smirked, now knowing the older man's weakness. It gave him a sort of stability to know what got to other people… sort of like knowing that at any time he could use those weaknesses, their Achilles heel, to push them around as he pleased. To be able to threaten them, a skill he as a noble's son learned very early.

"So what were we going to do today?" His female companion asked.

Gahh…what a good question. He honestly hadn't planned anything more than this brunch thing they were having…but that look in Lili's eyes suggested she wasn't done yet. What to do…what to do….

"How about we go for a nice stroll along the coastline? Then we can come back and Elizaveta will cook us a nice lunch." Chigi. This didn't sound fun at all…

But, apparently to Lili it did, for her eyes widened excitedly and she clapped her hands, "That sounds wonderful! Oh Vash, can I go?" She turned those bright green orbs of hers onto her older brother, who obviously began to crunch underneath their spell.

Amazing… Lovino marveled to himself. This man who apparently could care less about anything…and he is wrapped around this girl's finger.

"Well yeah…I guess," He allowed. His hand tightened around the musket, making his knuckles turn white. Also unveiling the fact he was not entirely in love with the idea.

Yeah…I agree, bastard.Suddenly Lovino was wrestling with his own urges to have a musket to squeeze. It sounded appealing.

"Let's go!" Lili urged, wrapping her tiny hand around Lovino's own. He was then pulled up from the seat, and dragged outside of the house.

The Vargas family summer home was located on the coast of Italy, right next to the said beach. He had walked this stretch of sand many times growing up, and now he was going to walk it once again with this girl he barely even knew. Her sage green petticoat fluttered in the breeze, making her hair fly about her face. It was looking like this that Lovino realized she was actually quite pretty…not just cute like she was when her hair sat perfectly like a hat around her face. She looked more wild, more carefree like this.

He was even about to say this to her, when the moment that would change his life began.

Lili shrieked as a man clad in a loose-fitting cream shirt jumped down from the roof, landing gracefully in front of her. A knife was prominently displayed on his belt, but it was sheathed. His hands wrapped around her wrist before Lovino even had a chance to respond to the action.

"Listen," He muttered, a foreign accent giving his words a slight bounce, "I do not wish to hurt you, so do not make this hard for me." He casually made a grab for the coin purse tied to her arm, yanking it off with a fluid movement.

"Hey!" Lovino yelled, finally over the initial shock. "What the Hell do you think you're doing, bastardo?!" Two steps forward had Lovino within hitting distance, and now he could finally make out details in the man's face.

He had green eyes…eyes much deeper than Lili's ever would be. Brunette curls crowned his dark tan, and a mischievous smile completed the look. Lovino had never been so…entranced by a person before…

That is until he recognized the face staring back at him.

"You-You're Antonio Carriedo!" He practically screamed at the Spaniard. Antonio Carriedo was the notorious thief that had made his name in Europe, enough so that his face was plastered to nearly every building. He stole from the rich, but nobody could find out what he did with the money. It just…disappeared.

"Si," the man winked, seducting a blush from his Italian challenger, "that would be my name. What is yours?"

The blush was replaced by a mix of confusion and anger, "Why should I tell you? Give that money back!" Lili was still within the thief's grasp, unable to move for fear had paralyzed her much like it would to a rabbit.

Antonio laughed, only it was a jolley-like sound instead of cruel. A weird set of shivers crawled down Lovino's back. "If I had the intention to give it back, I do believe it would have been done quite a while ago." Still laughing, he released the girl, who promptly ran into Lovino's arms.

Idiot! He mind-screamed at her. Now I can't get your purse back!

"I think I will take this chance to leave. Gracias! For the donation, I mean." Jingling the pouch and sending another wink in Lovino's direction, he walked away.

Lili began crying into Lovino's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her form reflexively, to soothe her. He was embarrassed…not because the Spaniard had been so obviously flirting with him, but because he did nothing to stop him from taking the money! If only he could've punched him…just once.

But no.

Lovino was a noble, not born to fight.

Not born for the excitement.

Not born for adventure.

Instead, he was born for the sobbing little blonde rabbit in his arms. To live his life indoors, counting money. To have many kids who will continue his family name, to always come below his younger brother.

Suddenly, he wished he could push Lili away and follow Antonio. Run away from his meaningless life here. Imagine what that would do to his canvas...the dulling colors would be added with a sheen, splashes of the same green as Antonio's eyes would be made prominent. To have such an interesting life must mean an interesting painting, right? Antonio's had to be full of ridiculous patterns, concepts that most people could only dream of. Lovino...Lovino wanted his painting to be that way too...

But that notion was absurd, and it was not to be sought out by him. Instead, he titled the teenage girl's head and tried to give her his best reassuring smile, as Vash burst outside in a huff.

"What happened? I heard screaming."

Lili ran to her brother, throwing herself at him. "Oh, brother! It was so frightening…Antonio Carriedo just stole my coin purse!" She pointed to the direction Carriedo had walked off in.

Lovino watched with interest as Vash's face as he processed the news, watched as he looked in the direction of Lili's finger, and watched as he obviously made a decision.

"Sh, it's okay. I'll go get him, just you see."

Then, the Swiss male was gone as well.

This…shall be interesting to see how it plays out.

Hey Guys!

So, this is my very first Spamano story.

Do tell me how you like it!

Feedback would be amazing~

Tchao, My Little Morts~!