A/N.
Oh, dear god.
Firstly, let me say I am so sorry. I know it's been a year. I'm so sorry, so, so, so sorry. If anyone is still reading this…sorry. I started college, and my work load got away from me, and I lost all will to write anything. But it's summer now, so I plan on working on this story much, much more.
Secondly, this has been the product of nearly a year's worth of work. It may be choppy in some places, and rushed in others. I apologize…but I think it should be an a-okay read.
Finally, yes, this fanfiction WILL be continued. I am not giving up on it. I promise.
Thank you so much for your patience. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It took long enough.
"Boo."
It was well after midnight. Everyone with any kind of sanity was fast asleep at this point, except for the two men currently standing in the dark hallway. One was carrying a small laundry basket full of…well, laundry. The other was standing with his hands on his hips, having just jumped out from around the corner.
"Ne, senpai: was that supposed to be scary?"
Bel felt his shit-eating grin slip a little bit. He had been trying to get a reaction out of the Frog ever since they'd arrived at the Vongola mansion. He could tell that something was bothering the teen, and he'd hoped that it would make him slip up with his emotionless façade. However, they'd been here thirteen days already, and he had yet to see any emotion from his Froggy.
That was frustrating, to say the least.
Bel shifted his position, bringing his arms to his chest and crossing them, tilting his head to study the boy in front of him.
He was still wearing street clothes, which Bel found mildly hilarious. Didn't this kid own any pajamas? The colors were practically invisible in the dark, but Bel could tell the clothes were form fitting and snug. The Frog was looking out the window, pointedly ignoring Bel. In the faint moonlight that streamed in, the Frog's face was illuminated in a soft light. It reflected off his eyes, making them impossible to read from Bel's angle.
The blonde's mouth went dry. Why? What was going on with him?
A wave of pure need washed over him, and he shifted uncomfortably. This was strange. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
At that moment, the Frog tilted his head away from the window, lifting his eyes to exactly where Bel's hidden eyes were. Bel couldn't hold back the gasp that tore from his lips.
His eyes.
Everything was in his eyes.
Bel barely noticed the loud clatter that accompanied the laundry basket dropping to the floor. Nor did he notice the clothing strewn all over the floor. He did notice the brief flash of emotion on Fran's face when he slammed him up against the wall, his face inches away. Bel paused, reveling in the tension of the moment. They weren't touching. Bel's hands were pressed against the wall on either side of Fran's head. Fran's hands were frozen to his sides. The blonde pulled back slightly, just enough to focus on Fran's eyes.
His breath froze.
They were bright, too bright. It was as if they were giving off a light of their own. Multiple shades of blue-green were swirling around the pupil, but in the next instant, settled on a dark, deep, lusty green. His eyes left Bel speechless. So much emotion. So much want. He could stare all day. For the rest of time.
The moment broke when the unthinkable happened. Fran's façade slipped. An unholy smirk slid across his face, his eyes brimming with need. His hands rose from his sides to dig into Bel's collar, and gave him a sharp tug forward.
Their lips met with a spark, and Bel wasted no time in turning it into fire. He tangled his fingers into those silky green locks, pulling his face impossibly closer. Everywhere. They were touching everywhere.
Neither of them knew how long they stood there, sparks travelling up and down their entwined figures. Finally, but all too soon, Bel was the one to pull away. He was out of breath and incredibly aroused. He knew he couldn't continue. He wanted to – god did he want to, but he couldn't. The emotion in Fran's eyes proved it to him. The want was there, but so was the uneasiness. Fran wasn't comfortable around him. And no surprise there: it hadn't been that long ago that Bel had mauled him almost beyond recognition. Of course he would be scared.
Bel was an asshole. He was also a sadist. He was the first to admit it. But he would never take advantage of someone who was scared of him. Fear was an interesting emotion, but it didn't belong in such an intimate moment. So, with a barely audible sigh, he planted a gentle kiss onto Fran's forehead, giving him a genuine smile as he pulled away.
"G'night, Froggy. I'll see you in the morning."
"VRAIT, Bel! Wake the fuck up!"
A rolled up newspaper made sharp contact with his head, and the blonde yelped in a most unattractive way as he fell out of his chair. He rubbed his eyes blearily, trying to make sense of his new vantage point. As the picture became clearer, Bel realized he was in the Varia's "meeting room". He must have fallen asleep in the middle of a discussion.
Who could blame him? They were up until five in the morning last night, and now it was eight in the morning. They were all exhausted. They'd been doing this for three weeks already. Of course he fell asleep.
And to top it all off, when he had slept these past few weeks, all of his dreams had been memories of Fran.
Thankfully, despite the rather interesting nature of his most recent dream, Bel didn't have any physical…problems as a result. He didn't feel like explaining that one to the room full of revolutionaries.
"Get your skinny ass up here, prince-trash. We're in the middle of a debate. Fucker. Who gave you permission to fall asleep?"
Xanxus was leaning precariously back in his chair, feet propped comically up on the table, and his head turned up toward the ceiling. A gun hung idly from his left hand. At the sight of the weapon, Bel couldn't help a shiver from running down his spine. They had all taken shooting lessons the first week, but Xanxus had taken a particular liking to the weapon. And he was good. Scary good. They had been discussing at length a way to rebel against Byakuran without any bloodshed, and while Xanxus agreed for the time being, the blonde could see that he would have no problem in actually killing people. The thought scared him more than he let on.
Grumbling, and eyeing Xanxus with caution, Bel pulled himself back into his chair, mussing up his blonde hair with a sigh of frustration. His head hurt. He was so damn tired.
"Shi shi shi…the prince wasn't sleeping. Peasants."
Squalo rolled his eyes, and whacked him once more with the newspaper for good measure. Bel scowled, playing idly with one of his ever-present knives, but not daring to make a move. He didn't want to upset Xanxus when the dangerous man had those guns in his possession.
"Vrait. Now that we're all awake, can we come to an agreement?"
Xanxus smirked, glancing over at the silver-haired man.
"I'm sure we can come to something, especially if – "
This time, the newspaper made sharp contact with Xanxus' foot, surprising everyone in the room. Squalo pretended he didn't notice the strange tension, choosing to simply cross his arms and flip his hair over his shoulder in a very feminine way. Bel swallowed a snicker.
Tsuna, who had been silent throughout the whole ordeal, sighed audibly and rubbed his forehead, a weary expression on his face. If the members of the Varia were tired, the younger leader was exhausted to the point of dropping dead. His brown eyes were dull and lifeless, and the bags under his eyes were so deep that he looked more dead than alive. Mukuro kept glancing at him worriedly, but knew better than to say something. They'd had a very public argument about the older man's "mothering" not two days prior, and ever since, Mukuro had been treading carefully around his lover. The stress in the dynamic only added to the tension in the room.
"Bel, I want a status report from you before we make any decision. Is your rumor spreading making any kind of difference?"
Bel sniffed in contempt, a little miffed at the tone of Tsuna's voice.
"Shi shi…I'm doing all I can. You can't mobilize the general public in two weeks, kid. It doesn't work like that. To answer your question…shi shi shi, I've been saying some very incendiary comments about Byakuran, and people have been listening. We're getting there, but slowly. There really isn't much more I can do to speed up the process. We need more intelligence, more proof of his corruption to mobilize the public. Otherwise, all we have is a small group of discontents on the internet. While that's a start, it's nothing near what we need for a rebellion." Bel etched a design idly in the wood of the table, trying to stifle his frustration. Tsuna wasn't purposefully being a callous asshole, but damn, it was hard to ignore him.
Tsuna sighed irritably, running his hand through his hair, a scowl decorating his usually gentle face.
"Can't you do this any faster? We need results now."
Bel stood up with a clatter, hands slamming onto the wood of the table. Tsuna barely reacted, but Mukuro shifted a little in his seat.
"Look, you little shit. I'm doing all I can. I just told you: there isn't any way I can move forward with this until I have more information from inside CEDEF. I haven't heard from my informant in a week, and I'm worried we may not have an informant anymore, because you were too hasty, and I made her jump the gun with the previous intelligence leak. If Byakuran has caught on to who we are, and what we're doing, then we're that much more fucked than we were yesterday. So shut the fuck up, because if I have to listen to your bitching for one more minute, I'm going to murder you, and make Pineapple-Head there watch as you bleed out on the fucking floor. So either leave this room, or fucking shut up. Thank you."
The Tsuna of a few weeks ago would have blushed and apologized. This new Tsuna simply scowled, standing to match Bel's stance. Bel swore he saw a flash of orange in the kid's eyes, but he must have imagined it.
"You listen to me. I may have placed Xanxus in charge of the fighting, but he put me in charge of the intelligence and behind-the-scenes work. That puts me in charge of you. So you do what I say, or you can go fuck yourself. You damn fake prince."
Bel growled low in his throat, the sound vibrating through his nose. His fingernails dug into the table, causing a few of them to break and bleed.
Only his Froggy could call him a fake prince and get away with it.
Just as he was about to leap for Tsuna's throat, his cellphone rang. Everyone froze, not really able to believe the timing of it all. After the third ring, Bel broke the spell by answering his phone in one, swift movement.
"What."
"It's me."
"Well, thank fucking god. I nearly just killed someone because of your radio silence, I'll have you know. Stupid woman."
The voice on the other end of the line sniffed in disdain, but let the comment slide.
"Well, sorry. I've been busy. But I do have some information for you that you may find interesting."
Bel smirked, relief relaxing his frame. This was good. He sat back down in his chair, drumming his fingertips on the armrest.
"What is it?"
"Three weeks ago, CEDEF got a new hire. He started off with a filing job, but he's quickly climbing up the ranks in the company. Today, he's sorting through the classified files. He's reviewing them in preparation for a meeting next week Monday. Byakuran is going to let him listen in, to teach him how he gets results. That means the boss trusts this kid. He's letting him into the inner circle."
Bel frowned, biting his lips in thought. Three weeks was a very short amount of time to be promoted so quickly. It didn't make sense.
"What's more, this kid is sharp. He's had many meetings with the boss already, and no one knows what goes on in there. No one can really believe that this new guy has risen in the ranks so quickly. There's talk of bribes. He's shaking things up in here, that's for sure."
Bel hummed in agreement, shifting the phone to be more comfortable against his ear.
"What does this have to do with us?"
His informant sighed.
"If you can get your hands on this kid, without raising too much suspicion, then I'm sure he'd be easy to break. He's got that fragile look about him, you know? Plus, who knows how much he'll know in three more weeks? The way things are going, Byakuran is going to teach him how to take over the company. He's that favored."
Bel whistled, low and soft. This was interesting. What could Byakuran see in this new hire that made him so willing to divulge everything to him? Interesting indeed.
"Name?"
"Leonardo Lippi. Not that tall, black hair, big blue eyes. He looks like a harsh wind could blow him over. I really don't know what the boss sees in him, but whatever. I've gotta go. Good luck."
The line went dead without any ceremony. Bel kept his face placid, pocketing his phone in silence.
Well. This changes everything.
He turned to the rest of the group with a grin.
"We have an opening. Shi shi shi!"
Squalo, who had been leaning in to listen to every word, bolted up into standing.
"Vrait! Well what is it? And cut the dramatics, Bel. Save them for some other time."
The blonde smirked and laughed again, causing the entirety of the room to shift impatiently.
"His name is Leonardo Lippi. He's now entering Byakuran's inner circle. He's being prepped for a meeting on Monday as we speak."
Mukuro now entered the fray.
"Monday? We'll never organize in time!"
Bel grinned.
"Shi shi shi…no. We won't. But there will be many more Mondays to come. Just you wait."
~o~0~O~0~o~
Shoichi Irie tapped his fingers irately on his desk. He was fuming. The words on the paper in front of him swam, since he was unable to focus through his ire.
He was going to fucking kill the Lippi kid.
There was absolutely nothing special about him. He was quiet, demure, awkward, and downright strange. He walked around like he wasn't comfortable in his own skin. There was something just wrong with the kid, but try as he might, Shoichi couldn't find out what it was.
Everything about the kid worked out. His birth records, past addresses, parents, jobs, siblings, even store receipts. There wasn't a single piece of missing information. His story checked out. If Lippi was an imposter, he was a very, very well hidden one.
But that wasn't what pissed the redhead off. Oh no.
It was Byakuran's fucking obsession with the damn kid.
Lippi wasn't special. He didn't posses some hidden talent that wowed and amazed the CEO of CEDEF. But for some reason, Byakuran wouldn't shut up about how much "potential" he saw in the kid, and how "insightful" he was during the intense and private conversations they had. He was downright obsessed. What's more, he was going to let the kid sit in on an executive meeting next week, to "show him how things are handled by the higher ups".
Shoichi growled in frustration, and crumpled the paper in his hands.
God damn it, Byakuran. What do you see in him?
It wasn't jealousy – well, okay, it was a little bit of jealousy. But it was mostly injustice. Lippi had only been there three weeks. Shoichi had been with Byakuran from the beginning, and he had never gushed about the redhead like he was gushing about this…this…child.
Okay. Maybe it was a lot about jealousy.
A timid knock on his door jolted him out of his anger. Sighing one final time, he leaned forward, laid his elbows on his desk, and eyed the door cautiously.
"Come in."
The door slid silently open, and in walked the very last person the redhead wanted to see.
"Tch. What is it now, Lippi?"
The kid's big blue eyes shifted from side to side nervously, refusing to make eye contact with him. Well, at least the kid was still intimidated by him. That was something.
"H-here are the documents you requested. Oh, and I found these other ones, too. They said "Top Secret" on them, so I brought them up myself. Um…here." He walked forward and placed the folders awkwardly on Shoichi's desk. The redhead grunted in understanding, and went back to blankly skimming the mountains of papers in front of him already. Lippi was clearly dismissed, and knew it, but for some reason, the kid was still there.
Shoichi let out an irritated breath, slamming his hands down on the desk. He raised his gaze to look at the other male, and was visibly shocked when he came face to face with Lippi's clear blue eyes. The other man was staring him straight in the face for the first time since…ever, really. His expression was guarded, and his eyes were calculating. They held a cold light that Shoichi had only ever seen in one other person. It was the kind of light that wasn't afraid of anything. The kind of light that had nothing to lose.
All of a sudden, Shoichi understood.
This is what Byakuran had seen, without the kid even showing it.
A few beats of silence went by before Lippi spoke.
"You know…if you want something to remain secret, you shouldn't label it "TOP SECRET" in big, red letters. That's just asking for trouble, in my opinion."
His voice was a strange monotone, and the sound of it tickled Shoichi's memory, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before. Before he could respond, Lippi smirked in the corner of his mouth, nodded his head in respect, and walked out of the room. The soft click of the door closing shocked the redhead out of his stupor, and he scrambled to get to the file Lippi had just dropped off.
He opened it in a panic, terrified to see what Lippi had found.
"…Shit."
~o~0~O~0~o~
"Nervous?"
Fran froze. He hadn't even realized that he'd been fidgeting with his collar, but in the instant that cool voice spoke, he became intensely aware that yes, yes he was nervous. But not for the typical reasons.
"Y-yessir. A bit." Fran lowered his hand from his neck, forcing himself to relax. He had done this before, after all.
"Hm~ I thought so. Don't be nervous, Leo. No one will be paying attention to you, anyway. You'll just introduce the meeting, and then listen the rest of the time. You'll be fine."
Fran cast a sidelong glance at the man standing next to him. It had been weeks since that first meeting: now, Fran was a regular at the higher-up's conferences. Over the past couple of months since he'd started working at CEDEF, he had seen the side of Byakuran that the media loved so much. The charismatic, lovable, and intelligent gentleman was a favorite amongst the major news stations all over the world, and everyone praised his diplomacy and on-the-spot brilliance. Even Fran, who knew the darker side of the man, found himself believing in the white-haired CEO. It was a dangerous game of infatuation and knowledge, and whenever he caught himself slipping under Byakuran's spell, he cursed himself. It was getting harder and harder to remember why he hated the man, and that scared him.
He is the cause of most of my strife. He exploited me, drugged me, and controlled me. He took over my company. He murdered my family. This man is insane, and terrifying. He would kill me without thought if he found me. And I'm running out of time.
He had found a file a month or so ago. Tucked back behind a large stack of dusty boxes, the practically pristine file seemed extremely out of place. It had obviously been put there purposefully, and recently, too. Since it was his job to organize the file room – a show of good faith and trust on Byakuran's part, no doubt, but Fran was also convinced it was a text of some sort. No one lets the new hire sort through top secret information – Fran was the one who found it. And, of course, he read it. Because really, that was why he was here, wasn't it? He was taking Byakuran down from the inside. At times, he remembered that he really didn't have a plan, and he balked at the massive task before him. However, that time in the file room gave him his perspective again.
He read it. Of course he did. And it took him about five seconds to realize what he was holding.
It was information on the Vongola and the Varia. Bios, records, receipts, backgrounds, histories, birthdays. Everything they were, everything they stood for, was in that file. Fran noted with interested panic that they many of the members had fallen off the grid: only the lesser-known models were still in public, working. He knew, of course, what had happened to the others. They were underground, doing the same job as him, from the outside. They had disappeared around the same time he did, and no one has heard from them since. Fran was relieved to see that his name was amongst those "missing". It meant that Byakuran still didn't know he was undercover. He thought that Fran was still with the Varia, working with them.
He was safe.
But they weren't.
The file had been a kill order. Byakuran wanted them dead, and soon. Resistance was bad for publicity, and this group in particular had a huge, justified vendetta against him. Byakuran was using every possible resource to get rid of the Varia and Vongola, posthaste.
Which meant that Fran was running out of time.
"Leo?"
Fran jolted a little when Byakuran placed his hand gently on his shoulder. The gesture was foreign and inherently wrong, but Fran forced himself to smile weakly at the man.
"Thank you, sir. I'm fine."
Byakuran's brow furrowed for an instant before smoothing out. He removed his hand, clasping it behind his back, a pensive expression on his face.
"Lippi, you seem troubled."
A cold fear dripped down Fran's spine.
What is he doing?
"You know, when I assigned you to the classified files, I knew you were going to read them. I'm not upset at you for that. It's what I wanted you to do. If you saw something…unsettling, feel free to speak with me about it. I will explain anything you have questions about. That's why I put you there." Byakuran turned his head to glance at the younger male. His pale lavender eyes were serious and flat, but held a strange secret behind them that Fran couldn't comprehend, even with his years of practice with emotion. He could never read Byakuran: it was both unsettling and exhilarating.
Instead of responding in the obvious way, Fran mimicked Byakuran's stance, clasping his hands behind his back. They were standing in front of the conference room doors, waiting for the precise minute the meeting started to enter. They still had a minute or two, so Fran decided to play Byakuran's game.
"Why me, sir?"
Byakuran turned his head back to face forward, apparently thinking over his question.
"It's a bit cliché to say I see a lot of me in you, but that is most definitely the case. When you walked into my office that first day, you had this light in your eyes. You were trying to hide it, but I saw it. It was ambition. Not many people I meet have the same intensity as I saw in you. It was because of that I wanted to divulge some of the company's secrets to you. Not all of them, of course, but more than usual. After all, you have only worked here a few months: however, your progress and general outlook are promising, so I believe that investing in you was the right move."
Fran didn't have to pretend to be confused.
"But how could you trust me after so little time? You don't even know who I am, let alone if I'm trustworthy."
"You will come to find out, Leo, that being an effective leader in 25% actual leadership and 75% feeling. I had a good feeling about you, so I followed it. So far, I haven't been disappointed."
Lying.
He was lying. Fran could tell from the way his easy smile slipped across his face, from the way he stood, completely relaxed and comfortable in his skin. He could tell from the way the words slid out of his lips, from the way his eyes scanned lazily across the room. He was lying. Any other person would have missed it, but Fran had been observing his boss a lot in the past few months. Any time the man had a casual conversation, Fran noted the way he spoke, and what he said. Even after so short a time, the younger male could now pick up a lie, even such a cleverly disguised one.
He was lying.
Which meant he was suspicious.
It was with that astounding and terrifying realization that the doors opened, and the meeting began.
~o~0~O~0~o~
"Are you ready?"
The phone in his hand seemed weightless, nonexistent, even though it was firmly pressed against his ear. He ran a nervous hand through his blonde hair, trying to calm his suddenly racing heartbeat.
This was simple. He could do this.
"Shi shi shi…of course."
"Then go, you fucktard. Mission engaged."
It occurred to him then, as he hung up the phone, that everyone else was a nervous as him.
He pulled a beanie from his back pocket and fitted it over his head, so it covered his ears, and only his blonde bangs were showing. The headphones were next, giant, bulky things that looked like they could kill somebody. His shirt was a simple red, with the word "JANITOR" printed in white on the back. He was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans, with his knives tucked safely away in various places on his person. In the case of trouble, he was prepared.
He took a steadying breath, pressed "play" on his iPod, and walked through the doors of CEDEF.
We walked right past the receptionist's desk, bobbing his head to the obscene music leaking from his headphones. He acted confident. He acted nonchalant. He was supposed to be here, didn't you know? He was the cleaning squad.
Two receptionists were on duty this morning. Neither paid him any mind, but as he passed, the one with brown hair glanced his way. He noticed, but ignored her.
I'm fine, Haru. Don't worry.
Once he was past the desk, he ripped the headphones off and threw them to the side. The beanie stayed, but that was for disguise. He was running now, tearing through the halls like a bat out of hell. The meeting had already started, and the most important part of the mission was coming up.
He had to distract Byakuran long enough fro Xanxus and Squalo to break in and nab Lippi, and then get the hell out. It was going to require some fiendish acting and wicked-fast thinking. But he had to do it. There was not other option.
This was their giant step forward.
When he got to the conference room – which he knew, thanks to Haru, his informant – he didn't hesitate. He burst in, the doors making a loud "bang" with the force of his push. Immediately, he noticed the room was only about half-full, and everyone was still in shock from his arrival. No one was standing, but it looked like two of the men had been in mid-debate. Not wasting any time, Bel leapt right into his act.
"Sirs! You need to come with me! We've gotta go!"
He jumped up and down in place, waving his arms to try and convey his message. Everyone just looked at him blankly. Bel took that split second to glance over at the window. It was open, just like Haru said it would be. Good.
"Look, we don't have time! We need you to evacuate the building now! Like right now!"
Byakuran stood at this point, walking toward him calmly, his hands raised in a defensive manner.
"Hey, hey, calm down, now. What's going on?"
Perfect. He was getting further and further away from Lippi, who was staring at him in shock. Good. Everything was going quite nicely. He noticed two figures starting to climb in through the window, and he knew he had to up his game.
"Listen sir, I came up and get you because something's happened. They need you to go down and take care of it. It's urgent! One hundred percent urgent! You've gotta evacuate the building now! Right now!"
Byakuran was standing right in front of him now, hands still raised.
"Tell me what's happening. Calm down, stop yelling, and tell me. Who are you?"
Bel took a theatrically large breath.
"I'm a janitor. I was cleaning one of the conference rooms when I noticed these strange people going into the lobby. When I went down to check, everyone was being held at gunpoint and these guys were asking for you! They want you for something, I don't know what, but they're mad. They called themselves the Various or something, and they wanna talk to you or they'll blow the whole place up. So you gotta go now! Right now!"
Halfway through his spiel, Xanxus and Squalo got to Lippi. They grabbed him from behind, and dragged him to the window. Obviously they had some kind of drug with them, because the kid didn't put up much of a fight. As soon as he mentioned the "Various", Byakuran's eyes widened in recognition. His hand shot out to grab Bel's beanie, but the blonde saw it coming. He ducked at just the right moment, his hat sliding off his head as he booked it for the window. Before Byakuran could begin shouting orders, the four of them were out the window and half falling, half climbing down the building. When he landed, Bel was pretty sure he broke his ankle, but the adrenaline made up for it. He was running for his life towards their car, Xanxus and Squalo just a few strides ahead of him.
Leaping into the passenger seat, the car was moving before he even closed the door.
Trying to calm his breath, he called Mukuro.
"Get out."
There had been, of course, actual "Various" in the lobby. Mukuro had gotten a group together to make the story more convincing.
Glancing to the back seat, he saw Xanxus and Squalo sprawled across the seats, with Lippi wedged between them, unconscious. Looking at his face, Bel thought he recognized him for a moment, but then the pain in his ankle caught up with him, and he didn't think anything else for the rest of the car ride.
They had done it.
They were real revolutionaries now, weren't they?
~o~0~O~0~o~
The first thing he noticed was voices.
Faint, shaky voices.
"Last week's terro…"
"-ttack on CEDEF – "
" –napping of Leona – "
" –vestigation underway."
The second thing he noticed was his pounding headache.
The third thing he noticed was that he couldn't move his body.
His eyes felt like they were glued shut with cement. It took an inhuman amount of effort to crack them open, and glance around the room.
The last thing he remembered was sitting in the meeting room with Byakuran, his inside tied in knots. Byakuran knew. He knew something was wrong. He could barely concentrate on the meeting taking place. He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't realize the disturbance until he heard Byakuran's voice.
"What's going on?"
At the sound, he had lifted his eyes to view the scene before him, and his blood froze in his veins.
Bel. Bel was standing in the room with them, sputtering useless babble to Byakuran.
Bel was here.
Which meant the rest of the Varia weren't far behind.
There was no way they could know he was here. Mukuro knew that he was working solo, but that was all.
There was only one reason for them to be here.
Shit. They came for m-
That was when he felt someone's hands – Squalo's, he thought – wrap around his head. He felt the rough texture of a cloth against his mouth, and didn't fight it. He slipped easily into unconsciousness.
The Varia had come to take him, but not as Fran Sachi. No, the Varia had been after Leonardo Lippi, Byakuran's little prodigy. The news of his up and coming in the company must have spread through the whisper channels set up by those unhappy with Byakuran's way of running things, and the Varia were not slacking in their response to the news. They probably figured that he knew all about the ins and outs of Byakuran's plans, or at the very least, how to get to his personal files.
He also knew the Varia. While the models he once knew still existed on some level, there had always been something more to them, a feeling of danger that Fran could never quite shake. While he knew the lot to be truly gentle at heart, he also knew the intensity of their hatred for Byakuran, and, to an extent, him. They would not be gentle with their methods of obtaining information from him. In fact, they probably thought he would be easy to crack.
Except for the part where I don't actually know anything. But they won't accept that. They'll think I'm protecting Byakuran by saying I don't know his plans. This isn't going to end well for me.
The fourth thing he noticed was the sound of a door creaking open.
"Ah. I see you're awake now. That's good. I didn't think the drug would last that long, honestly. Must have prepared too much of a dose."
Lussuria.
He was still flamboyantly colorful, but he lacked the spring in his step that he used to have. Even through his still-heavy eyelids, Fran could see that the past year and a half had taken a toll on one of his favorite people. The Lussuria he remembered from the modeling days was always bouncing about, exuding sunshine, happiness, and a little bit of scarring imagery. But the man who walked into the room now was more somber, laid back, and grey-toned. Even the strange, annoying lilt was gone from his voice. He looked a beaten man.
"You're in for some rough times, kid. I feel sorry for you. I've got a line forming outside of people who want a go at you. It's like they don't realize you're not your employer. But what do I know."
Fran realized he was lying on a bed just two seconds before Lussuria lifted him off of it and into a chair. He barely noticed that his hands were then tied to the armrests with rope, or that his ankles were secured in much the same fashion. No, he was more preoccupied with the goings-on inside his head.
What happens to me if they find out who I am? What I've been doing? Lussuria won't care, he'll be glad to see me. Squalo, too. Xanxus won't give two shits. But Bel won't like it. He might actually kill me. Oh god, he's going to kill me.
"Lippi. Wake up, now. We have some questions for you."
Before Fran could respond, Lussuria proceeded to throw ice-cold water in his face. Sputtering like a fool and cringing from the cold, Fran wracked his brain for what he should do in this situation.
If I tell them now, I'm dead. If I continue the façade, I'm dead. I don't have very many pleasant options, here.
Now fully awake and frantic, Fran met Lussuria's gaze. Though the sunglass shielded his eyes from view, Fran could tell from the muscles in his face that the other man hadn't recognized him. That was good.
"Lippi. I'm going to question you now. Do you understand?"
Fran nodded.
Lussuria back away, and stood facing him, a small recorder resting in his palm. He pressed a button and started speaking.
"What is your name?"
In a split second, Fran made a decision.
"My name is Leonardo Lippi."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-one."
"When is your birthday?"
If he hadn't been practicing for months, this question would have caught him off guard. But he replied without a hitch.
"October 27th."
"Whom do you work for?"
"I work for CEDEF."
"Is that all you have to say about that?"
"I don't understand the question."
"Is that all you have to say about your job?"
"I work for CEDEF. I don't see what else there is to tell."
Lussuria sighed through his nose.
"Very well. What exactly do you do at CEDEF?"
"I sort through old files."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"You're sure? That's all you do?"
"I would think I would be on pretty solid ground when speaking about my own activities, don't you?"
"Don't be smart with me, child."
"I'm afraid me being smart is like you being male. It's not just something I can turn off. And I'm not a child."
"That's a very childish thing to say."
"I never said I wasn't childish. I just said I wasn't a child. Which I'm not."
Now Lussuria pinched the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes for a few seconds. It gave Fran enough time to collect himself. This was more stressful than he'd originally thought.
"Fine. If you insist. All you do at CEDEF is sort files?"
"Correct."
"What about Byakuran?"
"What about him?"
"Look, we know you've been meeting with him several times a week. What's that about?"
"Well, if you know so much, why don't you tell me?"
Lussuria slammed his hand on the table next to him, and Fran jumped. He hadn't been expecting that.
"Look, kid. I don't think you understand how much trouble you're in here. You've been kidnapped. Taken away. You are now in our possession. And you will tell us everything you know about Byakuran's plans, or things will start going very, very poorly for you. Got it?"
Fran nodded.
"Good. Now. Tell me. What do you know about Byakuran's plans?"
This was it. This was where it got messy.
Fran took a deep breath.
"I don't know anything."
Lussuria got very close to his face. He could smell the spearmint gum that he had chewed before entering the room on his breath. His tone, when he spoke, was dead serious.
"Do not play games with us, Leonardo Lippi. If you do not cooperate, we will retaliate. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"What do you know about Byakuran's plans?"
"Nothing."
"What do you know about Byakuran's plans?"
Fran looked him dead in the eyes as he replied, in a steady voice,
"I. Do. Not. Know. Anything."
Lussuria held his gaze for a long minute. He then sighed, back away, and shook his head.
"Very well. It's you're decision. Remember that."
And then he walked out of the room, leaving Fran tied to the chair, drowning in apprehension.
~o~0~O~0~o~
Bel lay stretched out on the couch in the main room, staring listlessly at the ceiling.
It had been two weeks since they had taken the Lippi kid, and he still hadn't given them any information on Byakuran. The entire group was getting a little bit testy.
He heard a door slam somewhere down the hall, and he sighed.
"VRAIT! This kid is fucking RIDICULOUS!"
Squalo came storming through the room not three seconds later, his face scrunched up in anger and frustration. It seemed that Leonardo Lippi knew exactly where to push to piss each and every one of them off. It wasn't sitting well with anyone. It put them on edge.
"What'd he say this time?"
Squalo jumped. He obviously hadn't noticed Bel was there.
"…Nothing. None of your business, Bel."
"Something personal, then. Shi shi. I wonder how he figures these things out."
Squalo left the room without another word.
This kind of stony silence was becoming routine around here.
Since the kid had arrived, nearly everyone had gone in that room with him, each one thinking they would be able to weasel some sort of information out of him. For the first couple of days, the encounters had been normal. They hadn't yielded any information, but the interrogator of the day had left the room in a relatively calm state. After that, though, things changed. Lippi started to mentally attack whoever went into that room. No one knew how he did it, but he knew things. He figured out each person's deepest secrets, and forced them into the open with just a few words. At least, that's what Bel surmised. He had never gone in himself.
"Oi. Prince-trash."
Bel leapt to his feet, startled. Xanxus never talked to him anymore. This had to be very, very important.
"Get in there."
It didn't take Bel's genius to realize what he meant. Bel sighed internally, but nodded.
He was about to experience Lippi's torture first hand.
He walked down the hallway he had seen Squalo come from not moment before, scratching his head in anxiety. Before, something like this wouldn't have bothered him. But now, he was just so stressed with everything, and the idea of having his secrets thrown in his face didn't sit well with him. He adjusted his crown in his messy blonde locks – they had gotten longer than ever, and needed to be trimmed – and opened the door that led to Lippi's room.
If you could call it that. They had stuck the kid in an old storage room in the building they had made their home. They had furnished it with bed, chair, table, and a pot for a bathroom, since they couldn't very well install an actual bath. That was it. Lippi, to his credit, hadn't complained. He hadn't tried to win better lodgings, although they had been fully prepared for him to do so. He hadn't really said much of anything, apart from "I don't know anything" and the mental destruction he wreaked on everyone. The kid was much harder to crack that Haru had promised. Apparently, he was much stronger than he looked.
When Bel entered the room, Lippi had his head bowed, staring at the floor, his hands once again secured to the arms of the chair he was in. It seemed that even after two weeks of not even attempting an escape, no one trusted him enough to leave him to his own devices. As Bel closed the door behind him, he saw Lippi's shoulders rise and fall in a sigh, and he lifted his head to see his visitor. Bel had to bite back a sigh of his own.
They hadn't been gentle with the kid. A new bruise was blossoming across his cheek, just another addition to the collection he had all over his skin. His lip was split, and his black hair was filthy, greasy, and stringy. His blue eyes never lost their shine, though, something Bel couldn't quite understand. Though the skin rimming the orbs was bright red and irritated, and everything else about the kid screamed defeat, his bright eyes kept their shine, and his tongue kept its bite.
He was staring at him with ill-concealed shock.
Bel blinked away his confusion, and strolled casually to the center of the room. Lippi's gaze followed him: he could feel it crawling along his skin, as if it were a spider searching for a weak point to sink its fangs into. Bel fought down a shudder, and rolled his shoulders to get rid of the sensation. When he looked back to Lippi, his blue eyes were steady, without a hint of the shock that had just been there. Bel wondered if he had imagined it.
"Shi shi shi. You're not very intimidating. The way the others have been storming out of here, I figured you were ten feet tall of something. You're just a scrawny little kid."
Lippis said nothing. Bel thought he saw the kid's mouth twitch up in a smirk, but he couldn't be sure.
"But you sure know how to push buttons. It's amazing, really. Tell me, how do you do it? How do you manage to irritate all of with just a few words? I don't get it." Bel strode forward, placing his hands on Lippi's forearms and leaning in, until their faces were almost touching. Since he was so close, he heard Lippi's breath catch.
Interesting.
"Well? Tell me your secrets. I even promise I won't ask you about Byakuran. I wanna know about you."
Lippi's face betrayed his surprise.
Bel laughed.
"Shi shi shi…weren't expecting that one, huh? Truth is, I know you're not going to break with force. We've tried force, and nothing has happened. So I'm not going to waste my time, or yours. See? I'm such a gentleman. Shi shi. I'm captivating!"
Bel leapt away, and twirled around the room for a while, just laughing. He was trying to intimidate the kid: if he thought he was locked in a room with an insane person, he would definitely be nervous. And nervous people made mistakes.
He couldn't tell if it was working, though. After the slip up of surprise, Lippi's face betrayed nothing of what he was feeling.
Something like a memory tickled in the back of Bel's mind, but then it was gone.
He stopped twirling, and steadied himself.
"Shi shi. So. Tell me. What's your secret?"
Lippi pursed his lips, and remained silent. Bel cocked his head to the side, a frown on his face.
"Now, now. Let's be polite, shall we? When I ask a question, you should at least say something, huh? That's what's polite. Shi shi. So. Let's try again. What's your secret?"
Lippi sighed, but still said nothing. Bel's frown deepened, and he took a step toward the kid.
"Hey now. This isn't funny. Answer me."
Nothing.
Bel felt his irritation rising, and forced himself to calm down. This is what he did. He read the situation, found the thing that would most upset his interrogator, and then pushed it beyond limits. Once he realized this, it was easy for Bel to calm down. He released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and relaxed his stance. He was once again in control.
Lippi noticed. His lip turned down in disgust.
"Aha! A reaction! You are human! We were starting to wonder, you know." They weren't, of course, but Lippi didn't need to know that.
Another spark of smugness in his eyes, and more silence. Bel wasn't the world's most patient person – far from it – but he knew how to play games. Growing up with Rasiel had been no easy task, after all. He had learned a trick or two from his twin, and it had been a while since he had to use them. Now, though, there was a challenge worthy of his participation.
To be honest, he was getting a little excited.
"Shi…interesting."
Lippi watched him as he paced back and forth across the small space, his hand cupping his chin in a contemplative pose, his other hand gently supporting his elbow.
"Hmm…let me see. How to get you to talk…" He stopped, an idea flashing across his mind. He glanced over at Lippi, whose wide blue eyes were fixed on him with a baffling intensity. A smirk spread across Bel's lips, which he soon transformed into a grin.
"Let's at least make you comfortable, shi shi shi!"
And then he was in front of kid again, his hands gripping his shoulders as he stared into the blue depths of his eyes. He had hoped to catch Lippi by surprise, to scare him into showing emotion, but the kid must have had a lot of practice at hiding things like that, because his eyes betrayed no hint of a reaction. His breath, though, betrayed him again: there was just a small hitch, a small disturbance, in his breathing.
The tickle in the back of his mind returned, a little stronger than before. There was something achingly familiar about him, but Bel couldn't put his finger on it. It would come, he decided, and dropped his hands to Lippi's wrists, where his deft fingers went to work untying the knots that secured him to the chair. His ankles, too, he freed, and when he was done, he tossed the ties behind him, showing Lippi that he truly was free to get up. No tricks.
Lippi stared at him for an unbearably long time, trying to figure out Bel's motives. The blonde made sure to let nothing show, just giving him a grin and a giggle in response to his stare. Eventually, Lippi stood up, a little shaky from sitting all that time. Fully upright, he was still pretty short – again, Bel's mind stirred.
"Shi shi…are you sure…we haven't met?"
Any lesser observer would have missed it. To any other, Lippi's noncommittal shrug and raspy "Who knows" would have seemed normal. But Bel, the ever-observant blonde prince, noticed so much more. The fraction of hesitation, the slight widening of his eyes, the shift of his weight: he blinked, he licked his lips, his breath caught, his eyes flitted to Bel's face and back, all in a split second before responding.
And the one, single, most important information that Bel gleaned in that split second was Lippi's left hand, which twitched almost imperceptibly toward his left, back pocket.
Information. Sorely needed information. He had something, something precious, that he didn't want the Varia to find. And it was in his pocket, right now.
"Shi shi shi…it's amazing what you can learn from a person's body. It's such a bad liar."
He froze, processing Bel's words. He was far too smart to miss their meaning. Lippi started to back away slowly, but there was nowhere for him to go in the confined space. In seconds, Bel had him trapped against the wall. The blonde wore a satisfied smirk, and glided even closer to Lippi, his hands pressing against the wall on either side of the prisoner's head.
The familiarity of the pose affected him slightly, but distantly. He had other things to think about now.
"Shi shi…you know…I don't think you were ever searched. An oversight on Lussuria's part, to be sure, but who can blame him. The man's had it rough. Shi shi shi…running a rebellion is no easy stuff. Anyway, shi shi. I'll search you now, to save him the embarrassment. Whataya say? Shi shi shi."
Of course, Lippi knew it wasn't really a suggestion he had any say in. His ever-bright blue eyes gazed right into Bel's concealed ones, a surprising feat, considering the massive volume of hair shielding them from sight. Smirking, Bel let his right hand slide down the wall, lifting it away from the surface when he was equal with Lippi's hip, and swiftly dipped his fingers into the other's back left pocket.
Lippi's eyes slipped shut in defeat.
"I'm so sorry."
The words didn't make sense at first. In fact, in the first few seconds, Bel didn't even know what he was holding in his hand. It didn't register.
It was a small box, with multiple smaller objects inside. Supporting himself entirely with his left hand, Bel studied the little contraption, bringing it close to his face, and hovering over Lippi in tense anticipation.
He gave the box a shake, and it sprung open.
The objects inside came shooting out, scattering all over the immediate vicinity. Bel managed to keep his hold on the box, and he peered into it, to see if anything remained inside. He pushed himself off the wall, using his pointer finger to scoop one of the little objects out of its container, to study it more closely. It stuck to his finger easily, and when he brought it closer to his face, he finally knew what it was.
"Contacts."
Lippi flinched.
The realization dawned on him slowly. He lifted his hidden gaze to Lippi's eyes, which were downcast, not daring to meet Bel's.
"They're contacts."
Contacts.
Contacts.
Contacts.
Bel dropped the box, and it clattered to the floor. He slammed his hands back onto the wall, cornering his prisoner between his arms: not that he was going anywhere anyway. He seemed completely broken, defeated, and alone. If Bel wasn't in complete overdrive, he might have felt sorry for him.
"You're name isn't Leonardo Lippi."
It wasn't a question.
A second of hesitation, and then his prisoner shook his head. It was useless to keep up the charade at this point.
"Those were contacts in your pocket."
Also not a question.
He nodded, their vicinity causing his hair to brush up against Bel's chin. It had grown a little during his captivity, and the roots were green.
Shi…shi…sh…impossible.
With tenderness he didn't know he had, Bel lifted his right hand away from the wall, and used it to slowly lift the other's face back into his field of vision. His eyes were firmly shut, as if that would reverse all that had happened in the past few minutes.
"Open them."
Bel's voice was surprisingly gentle.
His eyes fluttered open. Now, knowing the secret, Bel could clearly see that his prisoner was wearing contacts. The irritation around his eyes, the constant, impossible blue color, and their never-ending brightness were all explained in one, simple notion.
"Take them out."
A look of terror crossed his face.
"Bel…ple –"
"Take them out."
His head dipped again. His shoulders shifted when he moved his arms. He flinched as the too-dry contacts left his eyes. When his head lifted again, his eyes were clenched shut, tears leaking from the sides. Without having to be told, he slowly opened his eyes again.
Bel stared intently at the other man.
A pair of cool, aqua-green orbs stared back.
The silence that consumed the room lasted for what seemed like hours.
At last, Bel moved, pushing himself away from the wall, and walking toward the door.
"…shi…welcome back…Froggy."
The door shut with a slam, and Fran collapsed to the floor.