Stray by InsaneScriptist
Beta'd by the lovely Umei no Mai
Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.
Daniela, better known as Ottava of the Vongola was born in 1910 and was in power as Boss of the Mafia's most infamous and influential Famigla from 1933 to 1950. Her only son and successor was born in 1931, which due to his being male and having Sky Flames might have been the only reason Daniela was elected to become the 8th Boss over a more distant cousin. If that hadn't happened then history might have been different.
Daniela the retired Ottava of the Vongola was a highly accomplished woman. She was a woman that broke the traditional molds and thoughts of the mafia during a time of social change, survived the second World War, helped with the Italian Economic Miracle after said war was over and managed to lead the Vongola to unprecedented economic power and influence. She founded and implemented revolutionary and successful ideas such as Mafia Schools and Mafia Hospitals, formally developed and founded the Vongola's Research and Development Division and was a key underground figure even decades after she retired from being the Ottava of the Vongola.
She was also a ruthless tyrant, a good mother, a better boss and a truly horrible enemy. As a negotiator, she scared other bosses with her mere presence and sweet smile as if they were sitting in the room with Lucifer himself. She also took shameless advantage of both the terror she inspired and her feminine nature; not even other mafia women could deny that Daniela had mafia seduction down to an art form. Her subordinates loved her and her enemies hated and feared her utterly.
She had many other achievements like razing and utterly destroying a few famiglias promoting the war, being a good single mother, and her outstanding marksmanship which had actually sunk a battleship. No, the last part wasn't a lie, she actually did that with her crossbow in the Second World War.
Daniela's mere existence during and after her reign might have contributed to the rumors of the Vongola being utterly ruthless, and an empire built of corpses, drowning in blood and sin. You don't survive and keep your territory through World War Two without killing and making a lot of enemies.
While many mafia historians would praise her insight, her business sense and terrifying reputation as both general and warrior, not many knew her well as a person. Daniela kept a small circle, generally confined to her guardians so not many knew her outside of a professional environment, or admitted that they did.
Even what she had written in the Vongola Books as Ottava was kept to a minimum, barely giving away even a hint of her true personality. Upon reading them when he succeeded her, Nono was somewhat aghast to find that she had used them both as a day planner and mommy book when not doodling out enemy base schematics and how to destroy them, especially during the Second World War. It was very educational about how she was as Ottava of the Vongola but not very informative about what she was like as a person. It told you that she was a proud mother -Timeteo led his first raid today!- and held disparaging remarks, usually about other bosses allies or not, subordinates and plans to upgrade things. Compliments were very rare though.
It's how Nono learned that his mother thought Coyote Nougat was an eager to please puppy and was glad that Visconti proved true to blood and that he had the traditional Visconti good sense. The comments about Nono's other Guardians were less complimentary but she supposed that they'd work well enough in keeping her son alive. It was such a backhanded compliment that it was actually insulting.
That most of the world didn't know much of her personally instead of professionally might have been for the better. Daniela was... eccentric. Oh, she was everything history and rumor painted her to be but she was more than that. See, Daniela was eccentric and some might even say crazy because she had an enabler; that enabler was her Mist Guardian and older brother figure when she was younger. He was also the only original Guardian she had left.
The Second World War was hard and difficult for all that she survived it; she went through six Lightnings during that time, as well as three Rains, a Sun, a Cloud and two Storms. Her second Cloud Guardian later died due to complications from being wounded in the war, only to be replaced by his younger sister, Adriana Visconti, who was the mother to her son's own Cloud Guardian.
On another note, the Visconti family had more or less monopolized the position of the Cloud Guardian since Vongola Terzo took them into the Vongola. They did the position proud.
Daniela was only forty years old when she retired from being the Ottava of the Vongola. This didn't mean she left the mafia to settle down quietly and be a granny like most had hoped for and expected. No, being retired gave Daniela a lot of free time; time which could be spent terrorizing other bosses into submission, time for espionage and time to train subordinates, and time to make sure that those she had hired to teach at the Mafia Schools she built knew what they were doing and kept to the standards she implemented. Time also to spoil grandchildren and teach them how to shoot and hunt assassins while managing to look fabulous.
Daniela was a terrifying teacher, as she had trained the man who trained Reborn before he was Reborn, the Number One Hitman in the World. The only reason her student wasn't well known was because he had liked it better that way before he died due to contaminated food. It actually wasn't the contamination in the food that killed him; it was the allergic reaction that happened from it. Reborn might have added his own twists to the teaching style to suit him, but it was truly effective.
The former Ottava of the Vongola was not one to retire quietly, even for her own sake due to being over eighty either. While she had scaled down some, she was still an unspoken terror to see coming towards you at a social gathering. She was the most feared little old lady ever; the fact that she had to deal with more attempts at killing her after the war and in her retirement was rather telling in how many people desperately wanted her permanently out of the way. They hadn't succeed to their dismay as Daniela was still alive and cackling gleefully when she dropped the nearly dead assassins off or pinned them like human butterflies to their famiglia's base.
Breakfasting with her two remaining Guardians, Adriana Visconti and her Mist who was even older than she was, Daniela abruptly said, "I want a kitty."
Adriana, long since resigned to babysitting the older two only sighed. Daniela was whimsical like that. "Do you wish to have one purchased for you or..."
"No. I'm going to find him myself. I want to pick him up myself."
"I'll call the car..."
"I'll drive."
"Please don't." Adriana pleaded.
"Too late!" Daniela cheered, as she dragged her Cloud Guardian behind her like a woman much younger than someone approaching eighty.
Noticing that the Mist Guardian who was Daniela's willing enabler and accomplice sliding over to the passenger seat told the Cloud Guardian that she would have to suffer Daniela's driving. Muttering prayers to God and cursing the cheery demented old man sitting in the front to the depths of Purgatory, Adriana checked to make sure that a bag to sick up in was present. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.
Woozy and shaken but not actually having thrown up, Adriana stepped out of the car. She had noticed that Daniela had been circling and winding down streets until she parked the car and dashed out. While she was waiting for her stomach to settle from her Boss' ad-hoc driving -the only reason they hadn't had a ticket was due to her fellow Guardian's illusions- but Adriana could only blame the Vongola's famed intuition for not having a wreck considering how many near-misses they had. It hadn't helped that the Mist had been cheering and hollering like they were in a race and urging Daniela to take the corners even faster.
Cars were supposed to stay on four wheels, which is why they had four wheels. Shivering, she noticed that the both of them had left, leaving her to guard the car. As it was a classic and this was a slum neighborhood it really needed guarding.
"Adriana! Start the car!" Daniela yelled.
Adriana obeyed but before sliding into the back, she was rolling down the passenger window and shifting the stick to drive on the way. Seeing that Daniela was carrying two people -one woman, one child- she couldn't exactly fight. That was fine as illusions were tangling with the mob of incensed individuals after Daniela. Adriana opened the back door.
Daniela then pitched the two people into the back with her Cloud Guardian before kicking back door shut, giving herself enough momentum flip over the car and slide in through the front passenger seat window. The illusionist materialized in the front driver's seat and immediately accelerated. Daniela slid a cross-bow out from under her shawl and shot into the crowd of people following them. The bolts were accurately shot and hit all those holding weapons so they couldn't do something like think they could get away with blowing out the tire; Daniela was cackling all the way as they drove off.
As they returned to Vongola territory at a more sedate pace, Adriana had to ask. "I thought you were getting a kitten."
Without saying anything or missing a beat, the illusionist produced a headband with cat ears. Daniela, ignoring all the road rules and safety laws as always, wasn't bound by her seat belt and so was able to reach into the back and place the ears on the young male child. He looked about five or so; probably on the older end but a little physically stunted due to malnutrition. This probably wasn't too bad of a case, slum or not, as it wasn't a wretched hive of scum and villainy that other slums became; clearly whoever was supposed to manage this part of the Vongola territory was falling down on their job. Good, she needed a reason to get out and bust some heads.
"What the fuck?" He uttered, probably now breaking out of the shock that being kidnapped by a crazy old lady and her equally old accomplices had put him in.
Adriana as the only relatively sane person with a clue felt obligated to explain, at least a little. "Kid, the crazy old lady is Daniela, the Ottava of the Vongola. She's gotten more eccentric since she's retired; my condolences on the loss of your humanity, as she has decided that you're her new cat and there is nothing you can do to get her to change her mind."
"Are you fucking serious?" He questioned as he looked around for sanity in a car with Daniela in it; he was doomed to failure. Daniela just waved at him and scratched his head -as if he really were a cat- while her fellow Guardian was happy enough to be mistaken for one of Santa's elves at Christmas, his heavily tanned and wrinkled skin so heavily creased by his massive grin that his eyes were invisible.
"What the fuck." He repeated faintly, clearly retreating back into shock, not even attempting to remove the cat-eared headband.
Adriana's stomach was at least thankful that her fellow Guardian was driving, even if she knew that there was more going on than just a random abduction. Daniela might be deeply eccentric but she was also a war-veteran and former mafia boss; she had reasons for every single little thing she did no matter how bizarre and it might just be the famed intuition acting up to snap the kid up before some other family did.
Nonetheless, she wouldn't want to be Nono, who would likely piece together that his mother had gone out on another outing soon. If he didn't, well, she'd have to make sure the lesson about complacency would stick. Her own son knew better but the others were prone to slipping... so they'd have to be reminded. Preferably as embarrassingly as possible, as that way they were more likely to remember.
In where Daniela is the most awesome little old lady ever. Enjoy the crack, but this actually has some plot to it.
