When Tsuna woke up the next morning, the first thing he did was check on Belphegor. The boy was curled up in the brunet's bed, Mammon still in his arms. It looked as if he had drawn his knees to his stomach from the way the blankets were sitting, and his body was quivering violently. It couldn't have been from the cold because the thermostat had kept the house warm all night.

Was the blond having nightmares? Wait; did Varia members even have nightmares? It was hard to imagine someone in such a squad to have bad rest habits – Tsuna couldn't see the Varia as people with any sort of weakness.

"Belphegor…?" Tsuna timidly closed the door behind him, tiptoeing over to the bed. He stopped by the side of the mattress, reaching out to shake the other awake. "Belphe – hiee!"

The brunet flung himself backwards as an all-too-familiar knife was swung at him, only just missing him by inches. He fell to the ground in an undignified heap, his heart starting to beat faster.

"Calm down, Bel." The Arcobaleno sat up, moving a tiny hand beneath her hood to rub at her eyes. "Don't slaughter your host; we kind of need him alive."

Bel mumbled something before he pulled his arm back beneath the blankets, a soft clinking of metal-upon-metal sounding before the boy rolled over so that his back was to Tsuna.

"Belphegor…" Tsuna watched with wary eyes as Mammon crawled out of the Varia Storm's hold, moving to stand on the mattress by Bel's bed.

"Don't sneak up on me like that unless you want to die, peasant…" Bel muttered sleepily, tugging the blankets tighter around him.

"Bel isn't a morning person." Mammon jumped off the bed, heading towards the door. "Where is the bathroom?"

Tsuna moved to show the baby where to go before he returned back to his room, needing to get ready for the day; he had to get ready for school, but with Bel in the room…

"Eh, Belphegor…?"

Bel didn't stir; he just lay where he was, not so much as a twitch showing he had heard the other.

"Belphegor…"

"Go away, peasant."

Tsuna sighed, trying to put on a brave act; as much as he was scared of Bel, he didn't want to let the older male walk all over him in his home. "Belphegor, this is my room."

"Don't care; leave." Again, Bel stayed where he was, his voice muffled slightly by the blankets. "It's my room now."

"No, it's not!"

"It is if the prince says it is!" Belphegor sat up, turning to glare at Tsuna. "This is my bed now! I slept in it!"

"Your bed is back in Italy!"

"No, it isn't!"

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it isn't!"

"Yes, it – hiee!" Tsuna quickly gave up the argument when three knives were flung past him, a clear warning that if he continued to protest, he would become a cactus.

"It's my room now, and my bed." Bel let himself fall back down onto the mattress, pulling the blankets back over him. "It doesn't belong to a peasant anymore; it's claimed."

Tsuna frowned, knowing not to piss Bel off any further than he already had; he was lucky to have gotten off with a warning, after all.

"What are you doing, Bel?" Mammon had returned to the room, looking up at the bed. "You're acting like a child. This is not your room or your bed. Get out from under the blankets and get in the shower before I fine you; you didn't have one yesterday."

Tsuna was surprised the boy didn't put up a fight to this; instead, Bel just got out from under the blankets slowly before he trudged out of the room, moving in the direction the Mist Arcobaleno was pointing him in.

"Is he always so possessive…?" Tsuna scratched as his head in uneasiness, a nervous expression on his face.

"Yes, that's normal behaviour for him; he thinks everything is his." Mammon lifted her arm, revealing a tiny wristwatch Tsuna hadn't seen her wear before. "We should be leaving once he's out of the shower; the others are probably wondering where we are."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, able to picture Squalo as the type of person who would demand to know the ins and outs of everything that went on with his squad members. "I wouldn't have gotten you in trouble, would I?"

Mammon shrugged her tiny shoulders. "If Squalo wants to bitch about it, I'll just fine him for more money than he can afford."

Tsuna chuckled nervously as he stood up, moving to get his uniform from the closet. "I'm going to get dressed now; you can go downstairs and my mother will give you some breakfast."

"Is it free?"

"Yeah…"

Mammon nodded, mostly to herself, before she left; she knew Bel would be fine by himself, so she didn't worry about telling him where she was going; the boy would work it out for himself soon enough.

~~XX~~

Bel turned off the taps to the shower. He hesitated before he stepped out, grabbing the towel that was hanging on the rack opposite him. He rubbed at his face with it before he went to dry his body, only to freeze with an angry snarl as he noticed faded scars on his body, feeling as if he could throw up as his obscured eyes fixed on the carved name across his stomach, one he loathed more than anything in the world. It hadn't been him who had done it – he would never mar his princely body with such filth, after all – and every time he laid eyes on the name, it made him want to throw up.

Sneering to himself, Bel dried his scarred body off, dressing himself quickly; he hated being forced to look at his marks, knowing that, out of them all, so few of them had come from his missions; just about all of them had come from the one person, and it pissed Belphegor off more than anything.

Ignoring his wrists and thighs marred with fresh cuts – ones he had inflicted upon himself – he slid his oversized, baggy striped shirt over his torso, moving next to his pants. He shoved them on hastily before he grabbed his jacket, carrying it out of the room.

"Mammy?" The blond checked the bedroom he had been in earlier, only to find it empty. Frowning to himself, Bel then headed downstairs, following the snippets of conversation he could hear. He was surprised to find Mammon seated at the dining table, eating in silence as everyone crowded around her, talking happily. "Mammy, why are you eating breakfast with these peasants?"

"I'm hungry." Mammon didn't protest as she was lifted off the stack of books boosting her over the edge of the table. She ignored it as the objects were swiped to the ground in an aggressive manner, feeling the boy sit on the chair and hold her himself. "Eat something before we go back to the hotel."

Bel crinkled his nose up in distaste. "Princes don't eat with peasants. Hurry and eat, Mammy; the prince wants to go."

"Patience is a virtue, Bel."

Tsuna watched the boy carefully, noticing how tender he was towards Mammon, unable to understand why he couldn't seem to show that same care towards anyone else. Did the Arcobaleno really mean that much to him? But why her? Why not Squalo, or Lussuria?

Tsuna didn't try to stop the two when they soon left, knowing that Bel had had enough for one morning; he was a difficult one to deal with, and the problem with Belphegor was, if you weren't careful, you would wind up dead.

Tsuna didn't want to die – not yet, and certainly not by the Varia Storm's hand.

~~XX~~

"Mammy…"

Mammon looked up towards the boy, being carried along in the usual manner. She didn't mind; it saved her own energy, after all. "What's wrong, Bel?"

"It's happening again…" Bel stopped moving, instead letting Mammon fall from his arms and onto his feet. He raised a hand to his face as he fell to his knees, a soft keen escaping his lips. He whimpered before he curled into a ball, biting at his lip as he desperately tried to block all sound out, his body starting to tremble. "Mammy, make them stop… Make them go away…"

Mammon moved to stand by the boy's face, leaning down to pat a soft cheek. "Bel, it's just a hallucination."

"Make them go…" Bel scrunched his eyes shut tight, shaking his head as he tried with all his strength to pretend that he wasn't seeing the family he had slaughtered, the blood he had drawn from them. He didn't want to hear their ghostly whispers, telling him how much they hated him, how they wished they had killed him when they had had the chance – how useless and pathetic he was and how no one would ever love him. "S-shut up… Stop it…"

Mammon ignored the crowd that had gathered around, paying no heed to their murmurs. She acknowledged them only when she stopped a woman from reaching out to Bel, knowing that if someone were to touch the blond in this state, it would be catastrophic.

Bel's breaths came in harsh pants as he struggled desperately for air, reliving his childhood all over again before his eyes. A strangled scream escaped his lips as he remembered searing pain, cruel words, nothing but hate from those he was supposed to call his family. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he curled tighter into a ball, feeling again as if he were that helpless little boy who didn't understand why he was treated differently from everyone else.

One more scene from his past played before his eyes before Bel passed out, the memories too much for him to take. Mammon sat by his side, grabbing the boy's phone from his pocket. She dialled Squalo's number and, after explaining that their Storm Guardian had passed out – though she didn't give any other details – waited for the man to come and get them.

Mammon hoped Squalo would keep his mouth shut about this; Bel suffered enough inner turmoil without feeling as if he were being judged for things out of his control.