Chapter 1: No Longer Blind

The room filled with the recognizable scent of coffee as her heterochromic eyes slowly blinked open. The frail, helpless girl was used to the hazy darkness in her left eye and the cloudiness in her right slowly cleared away as the faint light shone through her French-style window. The sun began to rise as the curtains swayed dramatically with the faint wind. A small yawn arose from her small body.

"Just another day as a rich middle school kid in Italy, I suppose."

After heaving herself up to gaze out of her window at the beautiful sunrise, the door slowly swung open to reveal her mother standing there. The authoritativeness in her posture was evident as she stuck her hands on her hips and made a disappointed face, as usual.

"Hurry up, Liliana! Do you need me to walk you down the steps? Breakfast is almost ready!"

The girl blinked at the mention of her name and tilted her head as the words slowly filed into her brain: "No, mother… please, call me Lil… and I'm not hungry…"

It'd been a couple of days since she'd been hungry. She hadn't been accused of starving herself yet, but she was told by my mother that the less she ate, the smaller and frailer she'd stay.

A small smile of approval, that rare sight, stuck with Lil in a way that made her sick to her stomach. The worst part about it was she had told her that it was a good thing to starve herself, and praised her whenever she did so. Naturally, Lil had believed her and began to do so at a young age. Old habits die hard.

It'd stunted her growth and weight; being 5'0 and weighing only a little more than a hundred at 14 years old didn't seem normal to her or anyone that saw her.

Mother's brown locks cascaded down her shoulders as she ran her fingers through them. "I don't want you sounding like the no-class hoodlums down the street, Liliana. Hurry up; we're going to the eye doctor again this morning."

Lil couldn't help but breathe a sigh as she thought about how useless she was. After her family had found out that she was born almost a hundred percent blind in her left eye, she was treated like an idiot who couldn't see. Her mother in particular still thought the doctors could treat it and make it so she could see out of the abyss that Lil often called hell.

Even though numerous attempts have been made, Lil knew that there was nothing a doctor could do or prescribe that could change her sight.

"Mother, my eye is what it is. I can't help it."

Those scolding eyes rolled as a small huff escaped her mouth in a pout-like way. Disappointment flooded through every moment that her eyes glared at Lil. "I'll try as long as it's possible. The more incompetent you are, the more incompetent the family will seem. Your father-"

"-has always wanted a first-born daughter who was perfect and with no weaknesses to run the family business. I know, mother."

Lil fought to keep her voice calm. Mother always stressed out whenever she acted like she wasn't an obedient little half-blind girl. Acting is something that she'd learned how to perfect by now, as she needed not show her feelings to her mother and father.

"Liliana, we have to at least try to get your eye fixed. You will inherit our family's business, remember?"

As mother whisked down the stairs after shutting the door forcefully, Lil felt her hand wander up to her unseeing eye. This fate had already been sealed for her at birth; Lil had no choice but to take over her rich family's fortune and business; Del Vecchio's Weaponry.

Father had come up with this business to deal with weapons of any and all sorts to sell to the Mafia Families around the world, not to mention personalizing their weaponry for their specific family crests.

However, she'd never be able to live up to the family name if she never got her eye fixed, which was definitely impossible. Lil's entire family thought that she was so incapable of handling herself alone that she had been home-schooled and protected throughout her entire life.

It was because of that that Lil had no friends, she realized.

Groggily, Lil slid into her slippers as she navigated around her dark room carefully, picking up her finely-labeled clothing. Seriously, finely-labeled. They couldn't even trust her to fucking see where her clothes were. She still had one good eye... right? That still counted for something.

There was no way in hell that the eye doctor could come up with a way that Lil could see and she knew that. It was just a matter of getting everyone else to accept her own fate.

"Even if he could, I'm fine with the way I am and I wouldn't change it for the world."

Sliding into her white, frilly blouse, Lil sighed as she heard more footsteps approaching her room. She sighed as she mentally guessed who it was; this time, it was probably just another maid telling her to go downstairs and asking if she needed anything.

Pausing and glancing outside, Lil quickly realized that these were no maids.

Her two sisters, both fraternal twins, were standing in front of her door; Carmela and Gabriella Del Vecchio. They were both a year younger than her, but they were both taller and tougher than Lil was.

A small gasp of fear escaped from her lips as she swiftly proceeded to lock the door. Her fingers trembled with terror and her heart began to race in the familiar way it did nearly every morning.

"Did they see me…? Oh, God... please, they can't have seen me..."

Lil struggled to keep her breathing at a manageable rate. The circumstances would be grim if she had been spotted.

"Lame Liliana will come out soon, Gab. She's gotta go to the eye doctor again today."

Carmela's storm-gray eyes reflected those of their shared father, and her black hair twinned with Lil's as well. The tallest of the three sisters at a stunning 5'4, she had always been able to pack a serious punch when it came to pushing Lil around. She was always the first to take a crack at Lil, which usually led Gabriella into whatever the hell she was going to say:

"AGAIN? When's mom gonna give up on her? There's no way she'll be able to see out of that eye. Even if she could, she'd still be frail and tiny."

Gabriella's snotty attitude was always noticeably worse than Carmela's, which happened to cause Lil to fear her more out of the two. Gabriella shared Lil's green eyes, but her mother's brown hair in a scarily-similar way. Out of the two sisters, Gabriella was the meanest and the one who usually took things too far.

At the mere thought of those two, Lil began to crawl backward until she hit her dresser. Her heart jumped as bottles of makeup rolled down onto her head one-by-one, but for once, the pain faded into more compiling fear.

Those demons were simply alive to torture her and she knew it. They knew Lil wasn't as physically strong as they were and they took full advantage of her.

Most likely, they'd scare her on her blindside repeatedly, but sometimes it got out of hand to the point where she came across injuries and mental torture. Sometimes, she couldn't even sleep at night due to the threats she'd receive. Hell couldn't be much worse than this, could it?

These twins were the epitome of evil. Mother doesn't see it, though. She thinks it's their way of showing affection… and if you think showing affection is threatening someone with death out of jealousy, you're dead wrong.

"I can't let them break me today. Not today… no more..."

Frantically turning around in circles so her eye could see the perimeter of the room, Lil picked up her pencil skirt lying on the edge of the bed where she'd left it the previous night.

After quickly changing into the skirt, one of the twins began banging on the door, making Lil jump.

"Liliaaaaannnnnaaaaaaaaa!" They both called out in unison.

The hair on the back of Lil's neck stood up as she grabbed one of her most simple pairs of sandals and struggled to put them on as she shook uncontrollably.

"What could they do to me now…?"

Her fear swam up to her throat as she laid her hand on the doorknob, ready for whatever they were ready to do to her today. The routine was the same every day, so she should be used to it... why wasn't she? What was so scary that made her dread living through every morning?

Lil took a deep breath. A long, deep breath. Then, she swung the door open. She braced herself for some sort of impact, a sound, anything but nothing ever came.

The twins had disappeared from sight.

Glancing to the right, Lil noticed that the staircase was dark and silent.

"Maybe they went ahead. Maybe they left."

The soothing thought barely had time to process in her mind when time froze.

Lil felt her heart stop as a small squeak escaped from her mouth. After tripping over her own feet, she stumbled down the stairs in fright. Bruises began to occur on her face, her legs... she even felt her skin tear open somewhere near her chin.

A loud noise had shocked her into fleeing, she realized, as she heard uncontrollable laughter from up the stairs as she tumbled down and down, feeling bruises already beginning to show.

Lil hit the bottom right as mother came around the corner. Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of feeling so tortured, so... hated.

No one needed her around.

No one loved her.

"Goodness me!" Mother raced toward Lil. Her eyes widened beneath all of the makeup she had caked on as she stared down at Lil.

A scowl of hatred appeared on Lil's face. Mother was worried for the little blind child.

The child who couldn't walk alone, who could not school alone.

She couldn't even play outside alone.

Lil could have rolled her eyes at this point, but she felt the brunt of the pain slowly reach her as she attempted to sit up, slipping on the marble flooring. "Mother, I'm fine."

Of course, as usual, that wasn't how Mother saw it. It never was. "Call an ambulance, someone! Oh my good graces, are you hurt? Where, sweetie?"

"Mother, no ambulances this time. I'm perfectly okay. All that happened was the twins-"

"Big sis! Are you okay?!" The demon twins hurried down the steps to Lil in the usual manner; acting like she suddenly mattered to them; like her life made a difference to them.

After a frantic call to father and a few checkups from the maids and mother, Lil was finally ready to go to the stupid eye doctor to get the stupid blind eye checked out for the billionth time.

"One minute, Liliana. I must get the limo ready." Mother hurried out of sight, fixing her hair and checking to see if her makeup had run.

Lil nodded obediently as mother disappeared from sight, prompting the twins to pop out from out of nowhere, like usual.

Carmela was the first to speak: "Liliana, you gonna go to the doctor just to be told you can't see out of that eye again?"

Trying not to show too much emotion, Lil nodded reluctantly as both twins stepped forward and Carmela continued: "If you don't wanna go, then why don't you just say no like we do?"

"Oh wait," Gabriella smirked at her with that ugly, bitchy smirk. "Mother will be disappointed in you, won't she?"

The two began to laugh as Lil felt her feet lead her over to the large glass door. Her face heated up in anger, in hatred, in embarrassment.

The black bangs that covered the dreaded hazy eye swished backward as the wind tore through her hair when she opened the door to an unfamiliar world. One where she wasn't allowed, but that was only because she let there be a lock on that door.

Lil let other people take charge of her life.

What other kid could say that they haven't been outside because their mother is scared of them tripping over their own feet?

Hell, it'd been a hell of a long time since she'd been anywhere besides her room by herself.

"Let alone the TERRIFYING outside, where everyone was 'out to get me'."

Don't kid yourself.

"I'll show you," Lil muttered to her sisters as their laughter pierced her emotional boundaries. "I'll show you both that I can think for myself."

That sudden burst of confidence seemed to propel her out of the door.

In those nice clothes, Lil felt herself pelt into the front yard as she frantically spun in circles to make sure no one but the demon sisters had just seen her break free of the birdcage.

That place called prison was home, and she'd broken out.

She had transformed into a free-spirit.

The gate to this luxurious three-story home was already open for the limo to cruise through, so Lil made a mad dash through it.

Lil suddenly felt chills go down her spine; freedom washed over her in joy. Until this moment, she had never tried to do anything for herself, but today most certainly was the day.

Despite fatigue, she cut a hard left and almost ran into a nicely-dressed lady taking a stroll with an equally stunningly-dressed man.

"I-I'm sorry!"

After a quick apology, she hurried down the cobblestone road as fast as she could. The wind blew around her ears, making a whistling sound. It was, indeed, quite beautiful.

The birds seemed to sing as Lil watched them fly around, feeling as free as they were. A faint smile laced her face when she thought about it. Freedom, that is.

The thrill of finally doing something on her own, the thrill of getting away from it all… it was breathtaking. She could finally run away from the terror that was home.

However, a more important task was also at hand, she realized: "I've gotta find a way to hide…"

This sudden obsession with being alone… it hit hard. Lil had never felt this purposeful in her entire life.

"Mother must be worried…"

The thought of that made her knees feel like noodles, but she refused to let herself stop hurrying to take cover so she could finally enjoy being a normal person. Not some... handicapped child who won't make it anywhere in life.

On the street... there was no way in hell there'd be protection out here. It's every man, or in this case woman, for themselves.

One of the beautiful sandals she had on slid off as she came to an intersection and took a left so she didn't have to cross the street.

Big mistake.

Boom.

"What do you think you're doing?"

A deep voice rang in Lil's ear as she stumbled and fell onto the ground as she impacted with something.

Wildly, she looked around, her adrenaline pumping through her veins, preventing her from feeling immediate pain from the fall. Whoever had spoken to Lil loomed over her as they grabbed her by her long, black locks.

"You're a rich kid, huh? I ain't a big fan of rich kids."

Lil's mind was racing as she struggled to be free from the hold this person had put her into. The pain emitting from her scalp scolded her head causing her to stay still to prevent any more pain.

She'd never been confronted by anyone she didn't know… much less by someone who didn't like people like her, other than her sisters, she realized.

"I-I'm sorry!"

Even if that didn't work, it was worth a try. If this kid turned her in, it'd be over. She would have to go back to that prison and spend another day in rejection and inner depression.

That was when whoever it was let go of Lil's hair, suddenly.

"Not even a tough rich kid. Whatcha doin' out here on your own then? Got lost and can't find your mum?"

Lil looked up and felt immediate alarm lift the hair off of the back of her neck. A red-headed boy with blazing hazel eyes stood above her, glaring. He couldn't have been any older than her, but he was taller and bigger.

"I… I'm… running away…" Lil murmured, timidly.

"Running? You're rich; why would you run from that? Daddy didn't get you what you wanted, so you're being rebellious?"

Lil began to shake as she struggled to stand up. Her bangs swished back over her blind eye as the kid refused to let her answer. He continued on, shrugging.

"I guess I could care less. Not much of my business anyway, you know? You wanna come chill with me and the gang, then? That is… if you're not a snitch."

"Snitch…?"

He snorted and flipped his hair. "Doin' what the rich kids do. Tellin' on us to the police. Ruinin' our fun."

Lil's head slowly shook as her knees buckled from underneath her, naturally. Bones get fragile without the nutrients they needed. She hit the ground again, feeling a few bruises begin to develop in the process.

"You can't even stand for more than five seconds? If you're running away, you have to run with me and the gang! Damn, I mean… a rich kid, one of us! Man, they'll have a laugh!"

Lil stared at him with a confused look as the boy held his hand out to her, which she gladly took.

"The name's Romano." The boy smirked at her as he held onto her arm to prevent her from falling again.

"Romano…?" She expected him to tack on a surname, but she'd expected wrong as he blatantly ignored it and hurried down the street, pulling her along.

"So, little rich girl, what's the name?" Romano had seemed to open up to her as the two turned corners hurriedly.

"M-my name's Liliana." Lil's mouth seemed to go dry as Romano smirked again. "What a typical rich girl name."

The cobblestone streets and the warmth of the day began to dawn on her as she felt the wind blow through her hair. Romano seemed like a nice enough guy from what she could see, but he kept referring to a 'gang'.

Only after the two got to a dead end did Romano finally stop to talk to her. "Okay, now, we gotta say the password. It's RATSMACK."

"R-RATSMACK?" Lil speculated in a confused manner.

Romano nodded hastily as he wiped his ginger bangs out of his face and pulled her through a narrow passageway behind a trashcan.

Lil could feel a nasty, gooey liquid squishing between her feet as she finally squeezed out to the other side with a rusted out old, creepy building facing their way... not to mention the questionable-looking door.

"C'mon," Romano grabbed her arm and forced her up to the door as a blue eye stared at the two from inside a visible crack in the rotted door.

"Rooms And Tombs Serve Men A Cynical Kingdom." It said with a very low, quiet voice.

"RATSMACK, Lanzo." Romano answered for Lil as a dirty blonde boy with nothing but cargo pants on opened the door and the two of them shook hands in a friendly way.

Lil felt awkward as Romano pulled her into the building. It was dark at first, only a dim light lit up the building, but she slowly counted five sets of eyes staring at her, curiously. The darkness of the room, hopefully, covered up her grimace of fear.

"What's going on?"

"Gang," Romano spoke up suddenly. "This is a new member, Liliana. She doesn't know how the gang works or anything of the sort, so I expect you morons to help her out, okay?"

An audible agreement seemed to chime through the room as all of the eyes got closer to Lil and she could suddenly make out faces.

The dirty blonde from earlier was the first to hold his hand out to her. "Name's Lanzo. Nice to meetcha, Liliana."

In turn, all the rest of the 'gang' stretched their hands out in the same manner as she learned names; Antonio, Fabian, Bruno, and two that she couldn't seem to tell apart; Sal and Ric.

Romano patted Lil on the back as he began to show her around, telling her how great her new life was going to be.

Lil shook her head, saying that she had to go home or the cops would find her, but she knew that was a lie. She wouldn't be going home. This was her home. A place where everyone was for themselves.

She could be normal here.

The little blind girl would no longer be protected.


Lil ran down the street with Romano and Bruno to a local snack store.

It'd only been six months since she'd begun running with these guys, and flyers still flew around with her face on them all over the place. Lil knew that her mother and father must be panicking, and the twins were probably glad she was gone, but the cops were searching as hard as they could for her, and it was evident.

They were always taking on new leads to places where people had seen her, such as the park and the stores around the area.

The three of them had gone to get food for the rest of the gang, and in the process, they wanted to test Lil's field skills, as risky as it may be with all of the cops running around.

"Lil, whatcha think about just straight up asking the guy for a couple of free snacks?" Romano laughed as he softly hit her on the arm.

Lil shook her head and told him that they shouldn't ask for handouts, but he overwrote her as the leader of the expedition. Bruno only seemed to nod at her when she was overwritten and they proceeded to walk into the small shop. It appeared mainly empty as the three approached the clerk. Romano, of course, asked if they could get a free snack or two.

Inevitably, the clerk told them that there was no way in hell that they'd get anything free outta him.

"Old man, we're starving!" Romano protested further, but the man politely showed all of them the door. "You brats are better off asking someone else."

Lil had nodded and began heading for the door, as a naturally obedient girl would, but Bruno grabbed her by the arm and shook his head slowly, as if he knew something was going to happen.

Romano quickly glanced around to see if there was anyone else in the store and pulled something out of his pocket.

It took her a second, but Lil felt her eyes widen as she realized it was a knife.

"Where'd he get a knife…?!"

Bruno nodded to her sternly. "Get back, Lil," he warned her as Romano suddenly pounced on the man, sending blood flying all over the place as the helpless clerk faintly yelled for help.

The more Lil watched, the more gruesome it became. Lil's mind began ripping itself apart; the brutality of what Romano was doing to that poor man...

"He can't kill an innocent man just because he can't get what he wants!"

Lil thought about making a move against her leader and stopping him from hurting this man any further, but her conscience had kicked in too late.

A bloodcurdling noise that sounded like something snapping made Lil's skin crawl as Romano let out a howl; a triumphant one. Her blood when cold when she spotted the latter all over the counter, all over the floor... even all over Romano.

That very same knife that was used in the murder was covered in blood and skin that dripped all over as Romano shook his head.

"We can't let the cops find this," he muttered, staring at his knife. He suddenly jerked his head toward Lil and Bruno. "We've gotta get the hell outta here. Grab as many fucking snacks as you can carry."

Lil couldn't breathe, but she felt her limbs do as she was told as she scrambled for the first shelf she saw, slipping and sliding through the blood on the floor.

"I can't believe I just witnessed a murder…"

Lil's hands shook as she hesitated in now stealing things after being a part of a murder. Her conscience wouldn't let her grab anything as Romano snapped at her:

"Lil! Hurry the hell up!"

She slowly nodded and grabbed five bags of whatever-the-fuck-it-was and hurried out of the store with Bruno beside her.

Romano had stayed behind to do something, and when Lil glanced back, she could see him kicking the dead clerk and shouting curse words and telling his dead body how evil he was.

According to him, the leader, that clerk had gotten what he'd deserved.


The three barely managed to get back to the base after they'd caused a huge uproar in the city. This would definitely be all over the news by morning.

Lil's brain still hadn't caught up to what she'd witnessed, and the more she thought about it, the more scared she became.

"What if someone identifies us and we're thrown in jail?"

The very thought made Lil begin to shiver. She knew she couldn't handle jail time, not to mention she'd had nothing to do with the murder other than watching it happen. Romano had never set out to murder anyone… did he?

The gang began celebrating within moments of the arrival back, and Lil approached Romano, feeling the need to ask him a few things.

"Um... Romano, can I... ask you something?"

He nodded as he put down the chips and pulled Lil to a dark corner. "What is it, Lil? You did well on your first search-and-receive mission, by the way."

Lil nodded in thanks, but that wasn't exactly what she wanted to talk about.

"Romano… why did you kill that innocent man? He needed to make money… that's why he wouldn't give us anything for free…"

Romano cut her off as his deep hazel eyes bore into Lil's green and gray ones.

"If you were a clerk selling things and a couple of starving kids who can't get jobs because they were too young and weren't going to resolve to stealing came up to you and asked for food, what would you say?"

"U-um… I would tell them… they could have some food…" Lil stammered for a second, and Romano clapped his hands and smirked at her.

"Exactly. See, Lil; that man was evil. He didn't want to give us food because he was rich and he'd rather see us starve than lose a few sales. That's exactly what I want to rid this damn world of; evil people who don't have a shred of thought about other people."

Lil felt her breath catch in her throat. "Had… I been that way when I was rich? Was my FAMILY that way?"

"From what you've told me, Lil, I think you've had your own run-ins with evil as well." Romano went on on a slightly different note, staring at her.

Lil's mind still couldn't wrap itself around the fact that she'd been involved in murder, but she finally looked Romano in the eye meaningfully after she finally put together the pieces. "I know what I want now."

"I want to destroy as much evil as I can from my life… and everyone else's." Lil had never been surer of anything in her entire life, and she knew exactly what she needed to do to prove it.

Romano smirked at her with understanding in his eyes. "I do, too. Still got something to take care of?"

It was as if he'd read her mind. However, it wouldn't be something that Lil could do by herself. "I-if you can-"

"Yeah, anything for a member of the gang."

Their eyes met as his hand curled around hers. Lil could still see a blood stain on his knuckle, but she ignored it as he drew closer to her.

They didn't speak about anything for the rest of the night.. they only stared at each other.

Not a blank stare, either.

A meaningful one.


The plan Lil had devised had only taken a month to come up with; she knew the layout and the security cycles of her own home like the back of her hand. Most of it was really just planning it out step-by-step along with back-up plans and collecting weapons for she and Romano to use. He'd agreed that next morning to help her with this plan.

It took forever to think of the plan, not to mention to find a time and day that she knew either of her parents wouldn't be home. After a ton of thinking, she finally found that mother and father were going to a New Years party at about 6pm like they did every year. Her sisters would be home alone with the exception of the maids.

Romano had been a huge help in planning the plan, and he'd given her the best time to sneak around, which was 8pm, and said he could pose as a decoy so if something happens to go sour, he'd take the fall for it.

Lil did ask him why he'd take a fall for such a thing that she was about to do, but he only told her that he knew that she'd do the same for him. Lil doesn't think she'd ever get so noble in her life, but she went with it as the gang wished the two good luck after sundown.

The minute the two got out of the base, Romano handed her a shiny object and told her that she had three shots.

Her mind couldn't seem to register the fact that she was carrying a gun and not a practice butter knife or anything as she hid it in her jacket.

The two fled down the street as they took every turn that Lil had only six months prior. They stopped in front of her grand old home and she told Romano to follow her until they got inside.

Romano only agreed to what Lil had said as she punched in the security code. Lil wasn't here to say hello or to make a hero's comeback.

She was here to raise hell.


The blood of the maids splattered the walls as Romano cleared a path for Lil to get up to her two sister's room.

Lil slowly approached the staircase. It was that very same staircase that she'd taken many falls from, and this time, it wasn't going to be her.

"Romano, can you wait down here? If anyone else comes at you, do you think you can handle it?" Her voice was very quiet yet controlled as she stared into his eyes. The anticipation ate at her and replaced natural fatigue and fear with adrenaline.

He only nodded and glanced around yet again, his hazel eyes darting back to her. "Do what you need to do."

Lil grimaced as she hurried up the stairs and put her hand on her own door, feeling nostalgia run through her veins.

"I bet you're sorry you ever fucked with me now, huh?"

Lil's unsuppressed anger took over as she went to the door at the end of the hall and forced that door unlocked. She only needed to look around for a moment before she spotted Carmela and Gabriella huddled in a corner together, pointing a pencil her way.

"If you're a burglar, you can take whatever you want! Just leave us alone!" Gabriella shrieked and tried hiding behind Carmela.

A small smirk painted her face and she shook her head delicately, trying not to give her true intentions away. "Unfortunately, you're not that lucky today."

Carmela was the one who seemed to recognize her first. Lil must not have had that helpless, blind girl look on her face anymore for them to have completely forgotten her face.

"L-Liliana!"

Gabriella seemed to get it, too. "L-lame Liliana? What are you doing? Are you the one who's hurting people downstairs?"

Lil flinched when Gabriella had acquired the audacity to call her by their evil nickname at this stage of her rage, and she unconsciously decided that that bitch would be the first to go.

"I ran away because I was done with being treated like I was weak and unimportant, so I was originally just going to let the things that happened between us slide. I never realized how much I hated both of you until now."

This had been the first time she admitted to hating her sisters to their faces, and she could see the fear in their eyes like she'd never seen before.

It was thrilling.

Lil took her gun and held it to Gabriella's head and nodded to her. "You used to call me Lame Liliana… I'll call you Gone Gabriella. Bye, bitch."

Her finger pulled on the trigger and she watched the blood and brains splatter about the wall the twins huddled against. The adrenaline that she'd felt let her intestines ignore the gruesome thing she'd done as she turned to Carmela.

Carmela shrieked in fear as she cowered behind her risen hand as her sister's limp body lay beside her. "Liliana… we're sisters! Please, don't kill me… the things we used to do to you… they were wrong…! Please, I don't deserve this…"

Lil lifted her arm and aimed at her as well. "The only reason you admit it now is because I can suddenly beat you. I can do something back to you. The only thing that evil like you deserves is death."

Boom.

More brains and blood splattered about the floor and the wall. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if Carmela had just died like Gabriella did.

Carmela's body had a spasm for a full minute; her arms looked like they're reaching for something, the whole shebang.

The worst part about that was that Lil sat there and took it. She watched Carmela slowly die, even though she'd been dead since the moment her brains were blown out of her head.

Strangely, it didn't bother Lil, though. She'd rid her family of evil and she'd rid herself of it as well. If this was what it felt like to be a liberator, then she was all for it.

After all of that shit and Carmela finally stopping her movement, Lil dragged both of their bodies to the stairs and kicked both of them down, one by one. Their bodies rag-dolled until they hit the bottom, making a painful, cracking sound.

One that Lil herself was much too familiar with.

"Payback for what you did to me... the day I left." She couldn't resist a small snort of triumph.

Romano looked up at her from the ground. A glimpse at him revealed understanding flashing through his eyes as she let out a breath; she had finished the job.

Lil jumped down and over the bodies as she looked at him; Romano stared at her. "Good job, Lil." A small smile appeared on his face as he took her hand, but she pulled away, suddenly.

"We don't have any time. We need to get the hell out before someone sees and people come..." She felt out of breath as the adrenaline in her system seemed to die out. Romano only looked taken aback, but nodded, his hazel eyes depicting confusion.

Careful not to be completely identified by the hidden cameras all over the house as they hadn't when they came in, they repeated the procedure as they got out of the house.

Halfway down the street, Romano glanced at her again when they turned a corner. "What was it like? Your first encounter with real evil and destroying it?"

"He has no idea of the extent of the hatred I felt for them and how badly I wanted them dead."

Lil couldn't help but stop as they entered the alleyway.

"It felt... great. I needed something like that... to get my dream started. I can't... can't turn back after this."

Her breathing had gotten a lot heavier and her vision blurred in her one eye. Hunger pains hit her like a bullet to the head as she stumbled against the alley wall.

Romano only smiled at her as he took the gun from her hand and stuck it in his pocket. "I'm glad we have the same ideals, Lil."

Slowly, he walked toward Lil and she looked up at him as he took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up and he slowly leaned in. "So glad..."


About a month later, Romano had been accused and wanted for all murders that the two had both committed. His red hair on the security tapes was easily identified.

The entire gang knew that the police were looking all over to find him, though, so he'd already set up what he had to say to all of them. He didn't want to put anyone else who had ever killed someone in danger, so he was going to turn himself in.

Lil was still surprised that he'd taken the fall for what she'd done, but he said that he was done with street life anyway. At least in jail, he would have food provided for him every day and not have to worry about getting money or having a job.

In the minutes before he would purposely go and turn himself in, he turned to all of the gang members as he called a meeting:

"Gang, it looks like I'll be going to the big house, and don't none'ya follow me! To make sure of that, I've decided to name Lil the leader of this here gang."

Lil's heart skipped a beat.

"Why me, out of all of these guys? I am definitely the most inexperienced and most fearful of… everything, out of everyone here. I only joined about seven to eight months ago, as opposed to some of the kids who've been here since day one."

However, once Romano made up his mind, that was the end of it. Many of the gang had learned that the hard way.

The other members wished him good luck in jail and they hoped that he wouldn't get the death penalty. As the members gradually saluted Lil and Romano, the old and new leader, they slowly went off to do what they usually did on beautiful mornings like this.

Romano glanced around fearfully as he hugged Lil and told her that she'd better take care of the guys. "Or else, I'll shoot ya."

She couldn't help but laugh as she felt a tear or two bud in her eyes. "Romano… I don't think I can do this…"

Lil had to be honest. She was more of a follower than a leader.

He shook his head as his hazel eyes bore into her. "Lil, you've got this, yo. I'm pretty sure if you're unsure of yourself, the gang's here to help ya. Don't worry about me none, either! I'll be fine."

She shook her head, feeling herself beginning to shake uneasily. "O-of course I-I'll worry... don't die..."

Romano laughed as he patted Lil on the back. "You think I'mma kick the bucket that easy? Hah! I wish we'd have spent more time together, then you'd know that I won't die."

Romano's light-hearted smile stuck with Lil as he slowly handed her something shiny and told her to take care of it as he sauntered out of the building and was apprehended by the cops only a few blocks away.

Lil had only needed to glance at it for more tears to build up in her eyes.

It was that very same knife that he'd shown her what taking care of evil was like. She looked over it, wistfully, and realized that his name was engraved into the blade.

Lil felt her lip began to tremble. Romano had been the first friend she'd ever made and she knew that.

She cherished that memory.

Lil had trusted every word he said to her without so much as a doubt, and he had trusted her in an equal way.

Even though he would be either locked up for life or executed in a few years' time, he was alright with that because he thought of her as someone he could sacrifice his happiness for. Sacrifice his life for, even.

Despite her previous doubt, Lil knew she would have surely done the same if it came down to it.

Lil ran her finger over his name and kissed the "R", put it into her pocket, and nodded to her new right-hand man, Lanzo.

This gang wasn't going to run itself.


That was all years ago. It was only a memory, now.

Lil had grown into someone that her entire gang had come to respect as many of them went different ways, until she was the only one left.

It'd been 15 years since that fateful day, and she'd killed more people than she could count now.

Most of them were shady-looking business men, but even she knew, coming from a Mafia family, that it was bigger than that. It was always a whole lot bigger than that.

Not much had changed about Lil since she was 14. She was still the same height and although she gained a couple pounds, she continuously lost them due to continuously starving herself.

It was quite obvious that she probably had an eating disorder, but at this stage of life, it doesn't feel like a disorder. It's more of a habit, and old habits die hella hard.

That damn blind eye, of course, hadn't gotten any better, as expected. Blindness doesn't just heal itself.

However, her way of killing had developed into something unique. Lil had come up with the perfect assassination style; poisonous darts.

It was so simple and deadly that she'd kill a grown man in seconds without having to even touch him.

It was perfect.

Her entire life was perfect until she received a letter dropped off to her in the front of the building:


Hello, Liliana Del Vecchio.

Your assassination skill is unmatched all throughout Italy, as expected. You are the kind of person that many fear, even though they have no idea what you look like.

This letter has been sent to you regarding a very special request.

The Vongola's Independent Assassination Squad, the Varia, requests that you join its utmost prestigious ranks.

If your answer is no, then simply burn this notice.

If yes, you will meet one member of the Varia tomorrow morning at sunrise at the place where you witnessed your first murder.

We appreciate your time.


Below it was a stamp; an official-looking one.

Hell, Lil has been waiting for someone to notice how stealthily she killed people.

The Varia; you have to be living under a rock to not have heard of them. They were fearsome, even in Lil's book. If she could become one of them, maybe her name would be known around the Mafia.

Lil wouldn't be seen as some weak little tiny blind girl anymore.

She'd be the killer everyone feared.


Oooooookayyyyyyy, this is officially the longest chapter I've ever produced in a single night. (next to Cats and Dogs) (which was 9kish... this is about 7.6?k) Sorry about all those words, it takes me forever to explain something once I get going on it.

Not all chapters will be anywhere near this long… usually I'm right around 2.5k words, but this is 8k… damn!

I appreciate feedback, so review please! Tell me what you think of this huge hunk of text. Little gruesome, too, now that I look at it.

(Don't even ASK about RATSMACK... first thing that popped into my head.) xD

This story in particular is supposed to have a relatively slow pace for the sake of a long fic (yes, people actually do like them) (I hope). It's supposed to start getting good around Chapter 8 because most of this stuff is exposition and getting to know the character before the plot just breaks through the wall like the Kool-Aid man.

My plan is to update every weekend on Friday (if not, Saturday... and if Friday isn't possible, I try to do it a day or two in advance).

I finally started answering reviews and they are answered every chapter (since chapter 12 was published). Don't be shy; please leave me a review! I love reading and responding to them! ^-^

Also, holy shit I must apologize AGAIN for how long this thing is. I can't even. I guess Lil's early life is pretty eventful, huh? ;-; (My God... I hope she's not a Sue... .)

12/25/2013: Ho, ho, ho... merry Christmas! However, I have decided to rate my story T-M (in the T section) for more views. Fanfiction has decided to make rated M stories not show up by default, which annoys me and hurts me along with other rated M writers who don't have the same opportunity for views as other rated stories. So, bottom line is, for awhile it'll be rated T for a trial period of time. If nothing changes, I'll move it back to "M".

It was mainly rated for language anyway, but it's the Varia... what can I say? (There's a lot of language... pardon (my) potty mouth..).