Chapter 1:
The Estraneo Famiglia, a proud Japanese-Italian mafia family created by an Italian man named Dante Estraneo and his Japanese wife Michiko Takeda, had only been established less than half a century ago. Compared to other well-known families such as the Vongola and the Cavallone, the Estraneo would still be considered as a 'young and fresh' family, but that never stopped them from catching up in terms of wealth and influence.
Their power, you see, was not like the Vongola's raw strength in combat and quantity of fine combatants, nor was it like the Cavallone's strength in networking and wealth. The Estraneo does not fight. They have little to no fighters in the family(in mafia standards, of course. They would never leave themselves stupidly defenseless). Instead, they had thousands of researchers, scientists, inventors, engineers, and doctors of all sorts.
Whatever they lacked in brute strength, they made it up with pure intelligence. By exhausting the resources of the technology that they had in their time, they managed to theorize, research and build weapons with technology decades ahead of them. They did not keep all weapons to themselves though. Being the smart bastards that they were, they chose to build and manufacture vast numbers of said weapons to be sold in the black market.
In the dangerous world of the underground, it is considered most foolish to not bring along some sort of weapon no matter how absurd the said weapon is. What matters the most is the weapon's ability to protect it's holder. Of course, the most popular one would be the gun, and though it is highly portable, it was easily recognizable and took precious seconds to load . So when the Estraneo released various weapons that were concealable, portable, easy to use, and definitely deadly, hundreds of mafia families teared and clawed their way just to get hands on their inventions.
The Estraneo does not fight. They simply create, sell, and let fools that they call mafia fight for them. They feed on the chaos stirred by their creations, and live off of the fortune it came with. They refused to affiliate and tie themselves down to one family. It was a risky move in their part but it was better than having other families leeching off of their inventions and possibly leaking blueprints.
They aimed to create more and more weapons, all better than their last ones.
And with that mindset came the beginning of their end.
The second head of the Estraneo Famiglia, Angelo Estraneo, was a very paranoid man. He inherited his position a decade ago when his father died during the creation of what was to be the Estraneo's greatest creation, a radioactive weapon infused with highly potent energy that takes the form of flames much like the Vongola boss' signature ability.
The Possesion Bullet is what his father called it. After his father's death, the said bullet soon turned into a dead project that no one ever dared touch again... Until now.
It started with letters of threats, followed by the disappearance of a few of his trusted famiglia members, and most recently, the murder of his beloved wife. He was undeniably scared, but he was even more enraged. He wouldn't stand and let his family get oppressed due to some stupid violent mafia family wanting to merge with the Estraneo.
Using the genius intellect that he had been born with, he took off and continued his father's search for the ultimate weapon. With it, he shall show the mafia world that his family is not one to be messed with. He was not a bad man. He did not desire anything but to protect his family, even if he had to use intimidation just do protect them.
And so, in a few short years, he had finally created the world's greatest weapon. A weapon that has the ability to give its user the power of possessing the body of another person.
It was just too bad that he did not foresee how bad the backfire would be.
The existence of the bullet created terror in the underground. Many desired it, but most had been scared. And for what seemed like the first time in history since the Omerta, all mafia famiglias got together and signed a treaty of some sort in order to ban and destroy the existence of the said bullet.
Along with the destruction of the bullet, came the fall of the Estraneo. With no ally on their side, they soon became the biggest target of all the mafia families out there. They were heavily persecuted, treated as nothing more than trash, and became live target practice.
They soon became desperate.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
That's what he had told his subordinates as he called for an order to send all of the children of the Estraneo(both Italian and Japanese branch) to their branch in Sicily, Italy for a Human Weapon project to reclaim the fallen dignity of their family.
Of course, the words Human Weapon didn't sit well with a lot of people from his family, but he did not take 'no' for an answer. "Obey, or die." His words soon became law in their family, but this in not what he wanted.
He was not a bad man. He was a caring boss, a reliable friend and a loving husband.
He was simply a good man caught in a bad situation.
Approximately two weeks after Angelo's order had been announced, around five hundred children were sent over to Sicily, Italy.
It was a mess, of course, and it almost alerted Italy's government with the sudden number of children getting sent to the said island, though they still managed to pull it off under the mafia's radar.
Everything was quickly sorted out by starting to segregate the children by gender, with all the female sent to a secluded forests near Mount Etna, and the male to Nebrodi in order to hide the children away from the public.
They let the children settle in white tiled rooms with ten occupants each. It was crowded, but the it didn't matter because their number were predicted to be reduced into half by nightfall anyways.
The children were soon stripped off of their clothing, stripped off of their identities, stripped off of their names. Every child was reduced into nothing more than manufacturing products labeled with white gowns and anklets containing printed barcodes for easier monitoring. They were named by numbers indicating the chronological order of their arrival in Sicily.
With a quick glance over their profiles that were sent by their parents, the children with high affinity in combat, strength, and intelligence were quickly separated from the rest, while the remaining children were quickly distributed to different projects.
The different projects consisted of but were not limited to Gene splicing, Body modifications, Flame enhancement, Brain development, Pharmaceutical testings and even Artificial insemination for the females who were old enough.
They started various resistance tests in the afternoon, and by nightfall, only a little over two hundred of the children remained. Most of the remaining children were either naturally strong or simply too stubborn to die.
Among all of them, only four stood out: #14, #49, #63, and #69*.
#14 was the number assigned for the blonde 4 year-old Japanese-Italian boy named Ken Joshima. The moment that the Estraneo Head's order came into his home, his parents were all too eager to send him away. He was sent to Sicily quickly after they received the order.
His parents never told him why he had to go away, all he knows is that they were happy to have gotten rid of him. He thought that traveling to Sicily would be a huge improvement in his life, or at least bring his life to a better state than when he was still with his parents.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Upon arriving in Sicily, he was quickly transferred to Nebrodi. It was a very secluded place with trees acting as a natural shield from the public eyes. There, he was immediately stripped naked and got forced to shower before changing into a thin white shirt and shorts. They wrote the number 14 on the back of his hand, and attached a blue anklet with a barcode on him.
Men in white coats instructed him to discard his name before placing him in a white-tiled room along with nine other kids. Some of them were Italian, some were Japanese, while some were a mix of both just like him, and even though they were very different, they had one thing in common, they no longer have names of their own- well, except for a boy named Tony, whom stubbornly refused to be reduced to a pig ready to be butchered.
Ken had never been the sharpest tool in the shed, nor was he the brightest crayon in the box, but he always knew that in order to survive, he had to follow those who hold his life. He knew better than to pull off a stunt like Tony's. It's kind of like his situation with his parents... the only difference now is that instead of obeying his parents for a lighter beating that day, he now obeyed the white-clad men in order to keep himself alive long enough to know what they were planning to do to them.
It didn't take him long to figure it out, though. That night, many of those white-clad men came up to their white-tiled cell. One of them took his wrists and cuffed them together before dragging him away.
Gene Splicing is what he heard them call it, and though he had no idea what those words meant, he understood one thing: it hurts.
Doctors or whatever they were called gathered around him and chained him on some metal table. They started to inject various syringes on him, making his skin crawl. He could literally feel the chemicals move through his arms.
"The chemicals seem to be reacting positively..." a gray-haired man said to the others after about an hour. "You can take him back to his cell now."
And though Ken did not remember how, he suddenly found himself back inside their cell. He didn't know if it was the haze or the pain that the chemicals gave him, but he was pretty sure that there used to be more than six children here.
"Oi, where are the others?" Tony asked the man whom brought Ken back.
The man remained silent as he moved to exit the room. Tony, the brave soul, launched himself at the man, but before Tony could reach him, the boy suddenly found himself on the floor after getting hit by something hard on the head.
"Listen here, kid." The man crouched down to the boy's level, pressing a bloodied gun at Tony's temple. "If you value your life, then you better know your place."
The man got up, brushed his lab gown, and finally left the room.
"You okay?" Ken approached the boy on the floor.
"Ha! 'Course I am, ain't no gown wearing bastard can take on the mighty Tony."
Though what Tony did seemed stupid, Ken found himself admiring the boy for his bravery. He never stood up for himself when his parents would beat him so he often wondered what would it be like to do that.
Once I get out of this hellhole, I'm going to be braver than anyone else.
#49 was the number assigned to the near-sighted, black haired Japanese boy on the corner of the room. On his first night in Sicily, he found himself in a small room, strapped to a chair and bound by various cables leading to a machine behind a glass wall.
He was an only son, so he was used to being doted on. His parents loved him very much, and did everything that they can in order to keep him away from any pain that life may bring. So when he first felt his muscles painfully contracting due to the cables around his limbs, he screamed, but then again, anyone would be screaming at the amount of pain that they sent him.
It went on for hours before those scientists behind the glass finally got tired. One of them approached him, kneeled down to his level, and fixed his glasses before saying, "you passed. You'll be up for a surgery soon."
Though his four year old brain didn't understand much, he knew that failing and dying on this test would be so much better. The same man who approached him took him back to their cell. The asian boy was surprised on how gentle he had been, considering what they just did to him. He wanted to ask the man's name, but decided against it.
When he came back to their room, he found out that there were only seven of them left, including himself. Everyone looked tired and in pain, especially that boy named Tony who was on the floor holding his bleeding head beside a blonde haired boy.
"Oh, someone's back," the blonde haired boy informed his friend before turning to the him. "Oi, stop crying. You're not the only one who got hurt, you know?"
Crying...? #49 seemed confused at first, until he let his hands touch his face. They felt wet, and his vision was blurry. He really was crying. He rubbed his eyes furiously, willing the tears to go away, but it only seemed to make them fall more. He fell to his knees, soundlessly crying.
"H-hey! S-stop that!" The blonde kid panicked as he approached him.
The asian boy felt a weigh on his shoulder and looked up to see the unsure face of the other. "It's going to be okay."
"What's your name?" Tony asked him.
"#49..." he responded in a timid voice.
"Not that! You're real name," the boy said. He pointed to the blonde haired boy. "This is Ken, and my name is Tony."
Chikusa... he wanted to say, but he stopped himself. He was too scared to go against those scary white-clad men.
"It's okay, you don't have to tell us." Tony reassure him.
"Maybe someday..." If that day ever comes.
Green eyes opened, only to be met by the sight of a white ceiling. She blinked... and blinked... and blinked. She had no idea where she was, how she got here, and why she was here. In fact, she can't seem to remember anything. She slowly got up from her lying position on the floor, wincing as she felt her head pulse.
She stared at her hands for a while, unsure of what to do. She tugged on the white gown that she was wearing, suddenly feeling a little bit suffocated. She noticed something near her bare foot, it was a red anklet with barcodes printed in them.
She studied her surroundings and found out the she was not alone. Inside the room were four other girls, all wearing the same gown and anklets fast asleep. She brought her knees up to her chest, and buried her face in between her arms.
Where am I...?
The door creaked open, revealing a white-clad woman with long, brown, wavy hair. The woman seemed to be pleased at the sight of her.
"Good morning," she stated as she drew nearer the little girl.
When she got close enough, the girl quickly darted her eyes towards the pin on her lab gown. Ada Rumore, it read.
The girl noticed the way that the lady's green eyes seemed to flash in something like recognition. Did she know her?
"Do you know who I am...?"
'She looks just like her...' The woman thought as she took in the girl's wavy brown hair and green eyes.
"You are #63," the woman replied.
"But that's not a name..."
"And how do you know that...?" the lady, Ada, asked with a small smile.
How did she know...? This made the little girl confused.
"You don't remember anything, do you?" Ada asked her. This made the little girl frown. "It's okay, your roommates can't remember anything too."
"But why?"
Ada thought for a little while, trying to find a suitable answer. She couldn't tell the girl of the horror that she'll be facing. Ada was to cowardly for that.
"For the greater good." The little girl was about to ask something else, but Ada quickly shushed her. "Question time is over now. I'm only here to check your vitals, okay?"
This went on until the rest of the girls woke up to have their vitals checked too. Just like Ada had told her, none of them remember their names.
There was an 11- year old brunette, a 12- year old blonde girl, 8- year old blonde twins. She was the youngest one in the room, being only 6- years old.
Her head suddenly hurt all of a sudden. She fell on her knees, feeling as if her head was being pounded. She brought up a hand on her forehead, only to be surprised as she touched a rough part on it, hidden by her bangs. It seemed to be a circle-shaped wound that felt like scorch marks. She looked up and saw the four girl huddling around her in worry, and then she noticed, they all had the same mark too.
And then she saw black.
A blue haired boy in the corner of the room silently surveyed the little cell he was in. Last night, there had been ten of them, but only seven of them remained when morning came.
He silently studied the faces of his companions who seemed to not notice him. He could pick a few who stood out. The first one would be a boy named Tony whom stupidly went against the white-clad men last night, next would be the gruff looking blonde haired boy with golden eyes that seemed to find it comforting to tail around Tony in their tiny cell, the last one was the tall black-haired kid that wore glasses who cried last night.
He could still feel his right eye burning from the various chemicals they poured in it last night. He can't see from it anymore. He wouldn't be surprised if he got told that it had already been burned off due to the chemicals they poured.
The door to their cell opened and in came another one of those bastards in white.
"#69," the man simply said.
'Ah, that's me.' The blue haired boy thought, obviously displeased.
Just like last night, he found himself surrounded by scientists, and strapped to a metal table, staring at the bright light placed right in front of his face. They decided to add something new, though. His head was soon connected to many cables leading to various monitors somewhere in the room.
"Hold still..." One of the men told him.
He could feel a gloved hand try to pry open his swelling right eye. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he found his eye getting stabbed by a sharp needled syringe.
And then he found himself in a bright, white place.
First chapter is up! Ta-dah~!
*Yes, their numbers were based on their Fandom shorthands, except of course, for my OC(hers came from a random number generator)
I'll probably be using their numbers to refer to the for a while...? I know that Ken isn't acting like Ken but I kind of wanted to have my own story on how his loud personality came to be...?
I also added a little bit of a backstory for the Estraneo. Aaaaaaaaah! Some of the experiments were based on the Nazi Human Experiment. I feel so bad.
Passerby/ForeverinWonderland: Thank you for the review. It was gorgeous *sobs* Thank you for pointing out my mistake too! And yeah... i'll be adding her into the storyline too. I hope to not disappoint you!
rechizen: Are you who I think you are? WATERYUDOINGHERE? Emerghed, this is soooo embarrassing. ASDFGHJKL. I'll be reading your story tooooo.
xXBloodyIllusionXx: Thank you for the wonderful review! I'm happy that you saw promise in those 1000+ words! Oh, and the MukuroOC part won't probably come until much later...? uvu. I hope to meet your expectations!
Oh, and thanks to Lumina13, Photojourney, whennothingmatters, and xXBloodyIllusionXx for the follows!