It was the dream again. The hushed whisper of his mother looking extra paranoid about something, and terrified of being found. He could only vaguely recall her face and her voice, but the fear of being discovered by someone never faded.
Xanxus hated that dream.
Squalo took one look at his expression and winced.
"Voi, the dream again?"
Xanxus said nothing, but his rising ire said volumes.
The strange thing was that he had seen the priest in the dream too, which happened rarely. He always took it as a warning sign of imminent danger.
Understandable since the two times he remembered the black haired priest, something disastrous happened.
The first time was when he felt his mother dying, and knew there was no way to go to her because he was with the Vongola at the time stuck dealing with tutors. It had taken Daniela to figure out why he was keening so horribly in a way that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who heard it, and had coaxed him into letting out his emotions. That had taken all of a week before he could reasonably function again.
The second time happened right before Enrico was killed off.
So yeah, he could equate that priest in his memories to mean something bad was about to go down.
"Priest?" asked Daniela.
Xanxus nodded. He focused on what little he remembered of the priest who had visited his ma shortly before she became lucid long enough to transfer her crest. While he was grateful to the man for helping her out, because some of those ingredients were well above what she could afford with her work, he still questioned why the man never took him away when things were getting worse with her.
Come to think of it, he would swear he had seen that face a second time, and recently too.
It wouldn't be until dinner while he was thinking on how to deal with Father Shirou that it hit him.
That creepy priest acting on behalf of the Church was the same one he remembered helping his Ma out.
Perhaps he would have some answers as to why his Ma always looked like she was being hunted by someone. If he had an enemy out there, then he wanted to know who it was and where they were so he could put them down in a rather permanent manner.
"You're going out," said Daniela, her intuition warning her.
"I'll take Shark with me. Want to leave Saber behind in case of traps. Won't expect to see Shark there instead," said Xanxus.
"What are you talking about?" asked Mordred.
"I need to speak with that priest again. Something seems off about him, but he might have answers to something that's been bugging me a while. Besides, tomorrow's Sunday," said Xanxus.
"Ah. I would go with you, but someone has to keep your adorable little Storm in line and this means I can go shopping with the children," said Daniela.
"Voi. What sort of answers are you trying to find Boss?" asked Squalo.
"I recognize him, and not from the meeting we had earlier. He visited my Ma once when I was younger, shortly before she passed on her crest. I want to know how he knew her," said Xanxus.
Dead silence.
"We'll wait here for you dear," said Daniela.
If Father Shirou was surprised to see Xanxus again, he made no sign of it during the Sunday service.
He was entirely unsurprised when Xanxus stayed after the sermons were over.
"Have you reconsidered joining us?" he inquired.
"It took me a while, but I finally remembered you. You were the priest who helped my ma out when she transferred her mage crest to me and helped her to remain lucid for a full month so she could do the ritual correctly."
Complete and utter shock. That was the only way to describe the priest's expression.
"It can't be... Alexander?" said Shirou in disbelief. "I didn't even recognize you at all, it's been so long."
"Probably because I went by Xanxus, forgetting that it was a nickname I made up on the streets," commented the Wrath.
"I would ask how your mother is, but I was the one to perform her last rites. I was rather relieved you were not there to witness her death," said Shirou, his expression far more pleasant and no longer as calculating.
"I awakened my Wrath flames when I was eight, and Ma got it in her head that I was the son of the Ninth Vongola don. Next thing I know I'm shipped off to their territory to be raised as his son, and the bastard didn't even have the balls to tell me I was adopted," said Xanxus in disgust and annoyance.
"Normally I would say something about honoring one's father, but in this case he honestly does not deserve it for failing to tell you the truth. You were a good son to your mother for as long as she was on this earth, and that is all that matters," said Shirou firmly. "I take it you didn't come here to catch up, however."
"I know Ma was hunted. She was far too paranoid for it to be just the drugs and she was always terrified of being found."
Shirou did not look surprised.
"I know who is after her and by extension you as well. That man was less than pleased learning he had failed to exterminate the entire family when he stole the Greater Grail and has made it a minor personal mission to completely wipe out the last remnant of the three original families."
"So you know what mage family Ma was from."
Shirou nodded. Alexander... no, Xanxus, was more than old enough to know the truth and would likely make it his personal mission to kill Darnic, which Shirou would be more than happy to assist him with.
"Your original birth name is Alexander Tohsaka, son of Rina Tohsaka, granddaughter of the last family head. She only had the crest belonging to the heir of the Tohsaka clan, passed down by her father."
"What happened?" asked Xanxus.
"Simply put, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia happened."
"Wait... I know that name. He's the fucker Nonna is quite eager to put in the ground after she found out a freaking Nazi started up a Great Grail War in Europe and was possessing infants to stay youthful," frowned Xanxus.
Shirou did not twitch at that information.
"Yes, well he is the one who stole the Greater Grail from Fuyuki in the first place. As the Tohsaka are one of the three major families for creating the Heaven's Feel ritual, he made a point to insure none of their descendants would attempt to reclaim it by wiping out every member he could find."
"Are you telling me that Nazi fucker is the one who killed Ma? Why would he target the family anyway?" asked Xanxus, pissed.
"The Tohsaka are the Second Owner of Fuyuki and the lands around it, though they are currently under the ownership of the Church as the Tohsaka have always held a close connection to our faction despite being Mages," said Shirou simply. "I would recommend asking for assistance from Risei or Kirei Kotomine in regards to reclaiming your inheritance once the war is over. As I recall, my brother has possession of what remained of the Tohsaka mage crest after our father passed it on to him. Some of it was lost or damaged, but some of it was recovered from the body of your great-grandfather."
"Voi. So we have even more reason to kill that Nazi prick than before," said Squalo. It seemed this "Darnic" was only giving them more and more incentive to see his ass dead.
The Rain had little doubt if the bastard survived this, Xanxus wouldn't hesitate to bring the full might of the Varia and possibly the Vongola down on his ass to see him wiped out.
"I take it you wanted to learn who was after your mother?" asked Shirou.
"I have one last question."
"One of her previous...customers...apparently knew of your flames and worked for another famiglia. He took it ill that she had given you up and thought she was lying when she said that the Vongola had taken you in as another heir. They were planning to kidnap you and mold you into their next don," said Shirou bluntly.
Xanxus saw red, and it wasn't just his eye color. You could feel his Wrath and Killing intent mixing interchangeably, gearing up to raze whatever famiglia ordered his mother's death to the ground.
"Who?" he growled.
"I give you my word I will tell you which famiglia was stupid enough to attack your mother before this war is over. Right now I would prefer it if your ire remained on Darnic," said Shirou. "I'm likely one of the few who is even aware of what happened. I also have the location of her grave."
Xanxus reigned in his temper.
"Thank you," he said.
"Before you leave, do you have any confessions you would like me to hear?" asked Shirou, changing the subject.
"Not at the moment."
"Then god be with you, my son," said Shirou.
"God be with you," said Xanxus and Squalo, leaving the church.
"Wait...so the priest who summoned Assassin is also the one who helped your mother transfer her mage crest?" said Mordred in shock.
"Apparently the family I belong to has an In with the Church, specifically the Kotomine family. Also, it seems the priest has his own reasons for wanting that Nazi shit dead so odds are he would at least have the decency to let us join in," said Xanxus, tearing into his steak.
Mordred had a rather odd expression on her face.
"We're not joining the Red faction, are we?"
"Fuck no. This was more of an informal truce for personal reasons and an agreement to assist in murdering the 'head' of the Black faction because he's trash who is going to be killed as brutally and messily as we can pull off as a warning not to fuck with us," said Xanxus with a scoff.
"Oh. Well that's acceptable then," said Mordred.
After being summoned she had immediately compared her Master to a phantasmal-level dragon the likes of which hadn't been seen since the age when Heroes were more likely to be made. Like the evil dragon Fafnir, who was taken out by Siegfried.
Someone had clearly set off all of the dragon's vengeful instincts in the absolute worst way.
Fortunately this Darnic character was already on their shit list because he was a Nazi and Daniela had a vested interest in seeing that lot dead in the most horrifying way she could devise. The only difference was that Xanxus was going to take a considerable amount of satisfaction murdering him and Daniela was likely to videotape it for later viewing. The fact the priest hated the man enough to openly assist in that particular endeavor was surprising, but then again the Kotomine family were likely still pissed that Darnic had killed off the Tohsaka.
Xanxus was fortunate in that he had been adopted by the Vongola so young...it made it considerably more difficult for Darnic to locate him and end the bloodline.
"So Master, what are we going to do tonight?"
Before Xanxus could answer, his phone rang.
"Hello? Father Shirou?"
You could hear the confusion in his voice.
"Saber of Black just self-terminated?" repeated Xanxus incredulous.
"Say what now?!" said Mordred. Xanxus held up a hand, before putting it on speakerphone.
"Saber of Black, or rather Siegfried, removed his own heart and placed it into a homunculus that Rider of Black, or Astolfo, was attempting to help escape the war. Caster had some plans for the homunculus in question, but Ruler has intervened on his behalf so now it is considered a noncombatant. It's unclear what Saber's motivations are for his rather odd actions at this time," said Father Shirou simply.
Since Xanxus was a devout son of the Church and was technically part of the Red faction, Shirou saw no reason not to keep the young man updated on the other masters. At least Xanxus had a cell phone he could call, which was far more useful than half the things the mages came up with.
Besides, he was somewhat partial to the assassin who showed him the proper respect due as a man of the cloth.
Mordred looked a little pissed hearing that.
"Also it seems the Black faction has captured our Berserker, but considering our Caster goaded him in that direction it's not entirely surprising."
"Caster?" asked Daniela.
"Shakespeare," he replied, and you could hear the shrug in his voice.
Daniela's eyes gleamed.
"Would anyone object if I ask that particular servant for his autograph?" she asked.
"Considering Bel is dead set on getting Vlad the Impaler's autograph before we properly kick things off, not really," Xanxus shot back.
"If you wish to obtain his signature on some of his works, I'm sure we can arrange something," offered Shirou.
He wasn't about to target people who weren't even getting involved and had mostly shown up to watch the fireworks, like Belphegor, Daniela and Squalo. And he wasn't going to use them as hostages because he actually liked Xanxus to some extent.
To say Shakespeare was thrilled to have a fan among the 'peanut gallery' as Xanxus had flippantly called it, was an understatement. He was more than happy to sign any of his collective works that Daniela could get her hands on.
The part Shirou found more than slightly amusing was Atalanta's reaction to Belphegor and by extension Xanxus.
Atalanta saw how easily Xanxus calmed the exiled prince down form a massive tantrum, not even caring about the bloodlust and homicidal behavior the child was displaying and showed genuine affection towards the brat. It was actually somewhat entertaining seeing the way Mordred hissed at the Archer servant, as if warning the cat-eared female off her Master.
Shirou was not the only one who felt a great deal of amusement from this particular incident. He had the feeling things would develop into a highly entertaining "love triangle" if the look Atalanta was giving Xanxus was any indication.
Daniela cheerfully admitted she would bring the popcorn if that was the case.