Title: Illusione Orale
Summary: When an old, rival Mafia Family begins to grow a bio-engineered weapon to completely wipe out all of the Vongola, no one takes the threat seriously. It's only when the thing begins to kill that they realize their only hope lies in the legend of a single emotion of pity, that was sent down from the stars to save them. BelxFran, and others.
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Oh, Katekyo Hitman, Katekyo Hitman, where art thou? ...oh yeah, you belong to someone else. Not me. I swear, Katekyo Hitman! One day I will get you back!
Well, here it is. Chapter four. Before things get started, there are some things to do. First:
-GLOMP-
That is for all of my reviewers! I love you guys! You keep me going!
aimeeshii: Thank you! I'm glad that the way I write him is likable. I have to stay true to the sarcastic side of him, but at the same time I need to stay true to the damaged side of him as well.
fuwacchi: Glad you like the story! And I'm really glad that it's got you hooked, even though you're not a BelxFran fan. ^^
Seriyuu: Yes, a sniper. I see him as more of a long distance assassin, rather than an up and close assassin. I think that, when given the chance, Mukuro could be relaxed. We just haven't seen that chance. Ever. Oo As for Pity...well, he's got a special role, and I hope to go further into detail in the next couple of chapters. ^^
Anonwithlotsoflove: -blushes deeply- Wow. My first marriage proposal. I'm rather giddy. ^^ I plan to write lots of chapters, actually. This chapter advances the actual plot, so I'm planning on lots of chapters to come.
ELunamoon: Why, thank you! I wanted a story mainly about him, and...this came out. I'm glad you like it!
akkiofthefunk: Wow. -blushes- Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
Red Spider Lily: -giggles- Thank you! Here is your update!
: Thank you! I had always wondered about how, exactly, he became Mukuro's apprentice, and also about his nonexistent past. ^^ I wanted the romance between Bel and Fran to be there, but I didn't want it to completely dominate the story, and for it to be more of the icing on the cake kind of thing.
Now, here we go!
Warnings: memories of torture and experimentation and mentions of attempted suicide. If some of these things make you feel uncomfortable and you are still interested in this story, send me a PM and I can let you know what happens in this chapter. Thanks for reading!
When he'd been thirteen, Fran had tried to kill himself.
He'd taken a butcher knife and slit open his forearms, watching the blood seep down his arms and drip onto the floor. It had been amazing, how much blood had come from just his arms. He watched it; he was mesmerized by how the color started out light, and then grew darker and darker and just kept coming, like a river; the water seemed to be endless, the way it flowed. His blood was acting like the rivers: a continuous flow. And when he could no longer stand, he fell down and sat in his own blood, letting his mind teeter in and out of consciousness, the darkness threatening to take him at any moment.
He didn't really remember when the nightmares had started, but he did remember what they were about, and what had happened to him in them; what hurt Fran the most was that the things that happened in the nightmares were not fake. They were real, and the events in the dreams had happened to him. He didn't know how to make the images go away, and he knew that no one could help the pain that he felt deep inside. All he knew was that when he was not awake, when he was in a sleep that did not let him dream, he wouldn't remember or feel the pain.
And so, he'd tried to make himself fall into an dreamless sleep forever.
He didn't know for how long he'd been lying on the cold floor of the kitchen, but when we woke up he knew he wasn't in his home; the ceiling of the kitchen was black. The ceiling he was looking at was white. There was a hissing sound coming from somewhere in the room, and a beeping sound coming from his left; there was also something in his throat, making it so that he couldn't speak or make noise.
He was in a hospital.
And he was still alive.
He closed his eyes hard, letting the tube in his throat send air down to his lungs. God, he'd just wanted to sleep! Why couldn't they let him sleep? All he wanted to do was sleep!
"Awake now?"
Fran let his eyes drift open and over to his left, where the purple, pineapple-looking hair caught his gaze. Shit.
"What were you thinking, little one?"
Fran, who couldn't do more than blink, didn't do anything.
"Honestly, this is a pain."
Master hates me now. I bet he wishes that he hadn't taken me out of the lab.
"Don't do it again," he said before he got out of the chair and walked out of the room.
Fran watched him leave, confusion buzzing around in his head. Wasn't he in trouble? Why hadn't his Master punished him? He'd been punished before, back in the lab. When he'd done something wrong, like talked out of place, or talked at all, or he didn't perform a task perfectly the first time, he'd had his head shoved underneath water, or he'd gone without food for an entire week. He'd even been whipped a few times.
"You've been naughty," They would say. "Because you've been naughty, we need to punish you."
He'd done something wrong: he'd tried to kill himself.
So why wasn't he being punished?
He was still pondering this when, two days later, M.M walked into the room, holding her coat in her hand and a frown on her face. "You know, you've really done something stupid to make Mukuro create an illusion of himself so that he could see you face to face." She sat down on the chair that his Master had occupied two days ago. "Why?"
Fran turned his eyes to the ceiling. M.M sighed, annoyance heard in the air that left her mouth.
"Fine, don't tell me."
She stood up and was getting ready to leave when a small, tired voice, rough from the tube that had been taken out the previous day, reached her ears.
"I was tired of being scared."
[][][][][]
Pain.
There was a time in his life that Fran would have done almost anything to make the pain stop. He'd gone to therapists, seen the doctors, and he'd even tried to end his life. None of them made the pain stop. It just made the pain worse. One of the therapists that he'd seen said it could take years for his scars to heal. It had been almost twelve years.
Why hadn't the pain stopped?
Grimacing, Fran curled deeper into himself, trying to take the deep, calming breaths that one of the doctors had told him to do when he felt any pain. God, it just makes it hurt even more. He inhaled, and felt a searing pain tap his chest in a repeating rhythm.
Tap, tap-tap. Tap, tap-tap.
Make it stop.
Fran knew that the pain that his doctors had been talking about was the mental pain. He still had the occasional nightmare, but this-
This was new. This was different from the mental pain.
And it hurt worse.
Make it stop. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.
"If you're a good boy, I'll stop the pain, but you need to do it right next time."
I'll be good, please; just make the pain stop! I' m being good, see? I'm not doing anything bad.
"Froggy?"
Please.
"Hey, Froggy? Why are you on the ground? We need to get back to the hotel."
"Please..."
"Froggy...?"
"Make it stop..."
"Make what stop?"
"The pain; the memories. Make them stop."
And he let the warmth of darkness overtake him, leaving his senpai standing over his body, and entering his safe haven, completely oblivious to his senpai leaning down and taking his body in his arms in a gentle hold.
"I'll do my best, Fran," Bel whispered as he caressed Fran's cheek softly. "But you need to tell me what it is that happened to you."
He was still holding the illusionist in a tight grip when four shadows covered him. Bel glanced up to see four big, burly body guards. No doubt they were the reinforcements. They were all holding guns in their hands, and they were sporting giant smirks on their faces.
"Thought you could get away after killing our comrades, did ya punks?"
"Well, you can't. We're gonna kill you."
"You're gonna die, freak."
Bel gave out a sigh and placed Fran gently on the ground. Looks like he would get his day's worth of killing in after all. He was about to stand up from his crouch when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked down to see his Frog with misted eyes half open, and it looked like Fran wasn't truly looking at him. "Don't, senpai...they have guns... Guns kill people."
Clearly the illusionist wasn't in his right state of mind, either.
"Don't worry, Froggy. Guns don't kill people: Prince the Ripper does."
And with that, Bel turned his attention to the four dead men, a smirk stretching across his face. He was going to have fun with this.
-Altai Mountains, Siberia
Thirteen Years Previous,
0358 Hours-
He was crying, and that, more than anything, was the reason why they stopped.
"Has this ever happened before?"
"No...he has never expressed this feeling before now."
"They told us that this wouldn't hurt him..."
"He's bleeding..."
"Stop the machine! STOP!"
The whirring; the beeping; the clanking; the pounding; all of the noises stopped, and as soon as the noises stopped, the pain stopped as well. 666 collapsed in a small heap on the ground, his thin arms clinging to each other. "No..."
The leader of the group, the Head Scientist, gave out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Damn, this means I have to call the boss."
The group consisting of them seemed to freeze at the thought. "W-why?" One asked rather hesitantly. "We can just try again in a few minutes! Let's give him a five minute break to get some of his energy back and then we can-"
The scientist was cut off as he was slammed against the wall by the leader. "Are you an idiot? This machine is supposed to tear out that thing in him! They weren't supposed to fuse together! Every minute that thing is inside that boy," he bellowed, flinging his arm out to point at the child huddling in a tiny ball, "they both get stronger." He turned his attention back to the other man, who was cringing under his gaze. "Do you want to be the one to deal with him when he's stronger than he is now?"
The man shook his head quickly. "No, sir! N-no I do not!"
"Good," the leader said before he whipped out his cell phone. "We'll try it one more time, and then if it doesn't work, we'll call the boss down, understood?"
The scientists all nodded.
"Then attach him back to the machine."
666 curled in tighter, trying to make himself as small as possible. If he was small, then they wouldn't be able to grab him, right? He tried hard to take control of his mind, so that he could stay calm. It was a very hard thing for a five year old to do. And so, when a hand grabbed his shoulder, he flipped out, screaming.
"No! No more! No more!" he cried, yanking back and falling back onto the floor. "No..."
Two other scientists tried to grab him; he kicked one in the face, and as the one backed away, another tried to grab his head. He bit down hard on the advancing hand, hard enough to draw blood, and held on. He held on for a good minute, applying pressure every few seconds. The scientist cried out in agony and tried tearing the child off. Three other men assisted him, and eventually they were able to pry 666 off and they tossed him into the wall; he hit his head and saw stars.
As the injured scientist was carted off out of the room, the leader turned an icy glare to the child. As 666 tried to clear his eyesight, he vaguely saw the leader reach for something near the left side of his waist. A split second later there was a click, a small bang, a small cut on 666's right cheek, and a hole in the wall by his head.
666 started shaking.
The leader advanced slowly, taking small steps, the thing in his hand. "Oh, you don't know what this is, do you?" He ignored the increase of shaking from the child and looked at the object in his hand with fondness. "This is a gun, and it can kill you in less than twenty seconds. Now, none of us here want you to die," he said, his voice light and cheery. "But, if you continue to act like this I will have no choice but to use this," he said, holding up the device called a gun.
666 tried to fuse himself to the wall in his fear. "I- I don't want... I don't want you to use that..."
The leader had stopped walking when he was right in front of the boy. He bent down so he was looking straight into 666's eyes. "Then obey," he hissed, and 666 could only nod his head repeatedly.
Their staring match was interrupted when the machine hissed loudly before a boom sound came from it, and smoke came rising from the back. The Head Scientist looked over and stood up before walking swiftly over to the machine to inspect it. After the inspection he looked furious as he grabbed a pair of wires and yanked them off of the machine. "Who was the bloody idiot who connected these two wires to the machine?" he yelled, holding up the wires.
A single, blond haired girl walked forward, shaking almost as bad as 666 was. "I-I did...sir. I- I'm sorry!"
The leader tossed the wires to the ground and held up the gun. "Yes, I bet you are."
He fired.
The girl fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"All of you, come here and fix this!"
As the remaining scientists dashed towards that machine, 666 crawled over to the girl on the ground. He leaned over her so he could get a good look at her face. He cringed when his eyes made contact with her blank ones. Shaking her gently, he muttered, "Wake up, you're supposed to fix that machine."
Her body moved with the shaking, but it didn't do anything else.
Shaking himself, he put a hand over her heart, trying to feel her heart beat.
There wasn't one.
He pulled back sharply. This girl was dead. She was the first dead person he had ever seen.
A hand on his shoulder made him jump. "See? That's what guns do. They kill people," was whispered into his ear before a black bag was placed over his head and he was forced on his feet and out of the room with the smoking machine and the dead girl.
Guns kill people. Guns kill people.
Guns are bad.
Bad, bad, bad!
Guns...they kill people. People who are killed don't wake up ever again. They sleep forever.
I want to sleep forever...
Present Time
"Senpai, why are you calling the stupid Commander?"
His kouhai's voice was weak from the fever he was sick from, and there was sweat covering every inch of his body. He'd had nightmares again the previous night, Bel knew. "No reason, Froggy. Sleep now, or I'll knock you unconscious."
The illusionist bit his lip before nodding and snuggling back into the covers, his eyes closing shut, letting Bel see the dark circles that went around both eyes.
Froggy hasn't been sleeping well. Stupid nightmares.
Bel wasn't the type of prince to care about anyone, and certainly not Mammon's replacement. At least that was what he'd thought.
Fran was...different, to say the least. Bel could sympathize with him. The prince remembered his very first nightmare; it had happened after he had killed his family and went to the Varia. He'd tossed and turned all night, visions of his parents and brother haunting him in his sleep until he couldn't take it anymore.
It had been Mammon who'd saved him, and that was the reason why Bel held Mammon in such high regard. The acrobaleno had told him that the first kills were always the hardest, and that they always came back to haunt you. He'd said that even he still had some nightmares from his first kill; it was the same for every member of the Varia.
Even Xanxus.
"Killing people isn't an easy job on the mind," Mammon had said. "It gets to you, and sometimes it can eat you up from the inside and tear you apart. Don't let it do that to you. Now, you need to give me some money for comforting you."
So Bel could feel for the Frog. He knew where Fran was coming from.
But I still don't understand you.
The ringing in his ear stopped, and soon Squalo's voice came booming out.
"VOI! It's almost two in the fucking morning, Bel! What do you want?"
"We're coming home."
There was a moment of silence from the other end. "Actually," Squalo said, his voice completely serious, "we need you back. The big Boss has called everyone to Japan for a meeting; something is going on, and it looks big. It also is connected to what you two have been doing over there. What's been going on?"
Bel sighed and sat down on his bed. "We were asked to kill someone who was the son of someone believed to be working in a ghost lab called-"
"Xaxis."
Bel frowned. "How did you know?"
Squalo exhaled. "I think that you two should leave as soon as you can. I'll get the tickets for the earliest flight as possible."
"Froggy is sick."
"...And that's a problem?"
Bel turned to look at the illusionist. He was curled up in a ball, the blankets pulled around him, and was biting his lip, something Bel knew he did to distract from the pain he was feeling. He suddenly wondered why he had told Squalo that Fran was sick; it wouldn't do anything.
"No reason, I'm just telling you so that you know why he is not acting like himself when you see us."
"...That's not a good enough reason, Bel, but whatever. I'll get you two the first tickets to Japan in the morning. Be there on time."
He hung up.
Bel stared at his phone, a frown dancing on his face. "Odd..."
-Japan, one day later.
1849 Hours-
Tsuna looked nervous about something.
That was the first thing that Fran recognized when he walked into the room.
Everyone was gathered around the big table centered in the middle of the room, all of Tsuna's guardians gathered around him. He looked tired, like he'd been up all night. Fran could sympathize with him; he'd hardly gotten any sleep, since he'd been woken up at three in the morning so that he and Bel could catch their flight to Japan.
Fran and his senpai were the last to arrive at the Vongola Headquarters, being hurried into the building by two of the building's guards and to the top floor that didn't exist to the public eye. There they were directed into a room, where almost all of the Vongola's allies were sitting and waiting.
Fran shivered and huddled deeper into his Varia jacket. He'd started feeling sick after he'd woken up, and his fever had progressed from there.
Something bad is going to happen. Maybe not now, but it will happen. I can feel it.
There was a sudden silence as Tsuna stood up and placed his hands on the table.
"Thank you for coming at such short notice. I wish that I could say this was a meeting for old times' sake, but sadly, it's not. This meeting is nowhere close to that." He looked up, and the dark circles under his eyes stood out in the light. "Something big is going on, and it's not something good.
"Lately, over the past two months, there have been reports of people going missing. Normally, this wouldn't have anything to do with the Vongola, but after further investigation, the missing people have been revealed as illusionists," Tsuna said as he held out a hand for something. Gokudera passed a folder over to him; Tsuna opened it and continued. "What's odd about this is that there is a pattern that has appeared with the disappearances. First: they disappear and a report is filed by family or friends, but that report doesn't make it to the police. Second: exactly three days later, a second missing persons report is filed, one that makes it to the police. Third: one week after the second report is filed and placed in the police's hands, the missing illusionist is found, dead, having been seemingly tortured."
The room felt cold, and was eerily silent. Fran kept his face passive, as did everyone else.
Tsuna glanced at everyone before sighing and sitting down, hard, in his seat.
"There's more. Last week, Vendicare was attacked."
There were gasps of surprise and shock, each member around the table sharing looks of worry. It was Lussuria who broke up the mumbling. "But it's Vendicare. No one can break in or out of that."
The Tenth Boss of the Vongola and his guardians all looked grave, and the table immediately went silent again. Tsuna looked like he couldn't talk anymore, and Hibari stood up; he looked just about as tired as the Tenth did. "They, whoever they are, did."
Squalo slammed his fist on the table. "VOI! So what? They didn't take anything, did they? It's not like there is any big danger in there that we can't handle, anyway."
There were shouts of agreements and a chorus of 'yeah!' floating through the room. Only one person, Enma Kozato of the Shimon family (the Shimon family had been Allies for six years) still looked uncertain. Chrome, Fran noticed, looked like she was going to cry.
Ryohei slammed his fist in the air. "We can beat whatever they send at us, to the extreme! Don't worry!"
The morale around the table was getting stronger with each second, but when Fran looked up he caught Tsuna's gaze. The look in his Boss's eyes apologized for something. Fran didn't know what Tsuna would have to apologize for, but then he opened his mouth.
Fran's heart started to pump faster, and he had to tell himself to focus on his breathing. In out in out in out in out in out-
"They took Mukuro."
In.
The silence was instant: Everyone who had been standing sat, and a few even slumped in their seats. Enma let out a heavy sigh and his head tipped forward slightly; Chrome bit her lip and the tears she'd been holding back fell freely. Gokudera was looking at the Tenth with wide eyes. "W-why didn't you tell us before this, Tenth?"
"Because I just found out myself, two days ago. That's why I called this meeting."
Yamamoto seemed hesitant to speak. "How? If they took Mukuro, then how-"
"H-he sent a message to me."
It was Chrome who had spoken.
Fran felt something tug at his heart, something that he wasn't familiar with. If his Master was in a desperate situation, why hadn't he contacted Fran? Fran knew his Master thought highly of him; Mukuro himself had said that if he'd believed in siblings, Fran would have been like a little brother to him. So why...?
"What did he say?" Bel asked, for once sounding like he was interested in the situation.
Chrome gulped. "He said that the people who'd taken him needed an illusionist. A powerful one. He said something about the other illusionists not being powerful enough, or something."
Xanxus grunted. "Why does this concern us? If some fuckers are experimenting on illusionists, why should we care?"
Experimenting.
"It's okay. Come with us. We're just going to do a little experiment. It'll be okay. I promise."
Chrome gulped again. "H-he said that only an illusionist would work it. He didn't tell me what 'it' was, but he said it was something that, if powered properly, could destroy the entire Vongola."
Xanxus went quiet.
Only an illusionist would work it.
"It's a special little toy; it'll only work for you. Do you know why? No? It's because you're special. It's nice to be a special little boy, isn't it?"
"Did he say what they wanted with him?"
"He said that he 'wasn't the right one', but they were 'willing to try anything' to get it to work. H-he...he said that they were pre..." she stopped and took a deep breath. "He said that they were preparing him for something."
She shivered and Tsuna put a hand on her shoulder. "Go on."
"He said that they'd told him in a few days' time he would be ready for the 'machine'."
Fran blinked as everyone burst into commotion about what this 'machine' was. He couldn't even hear them. The person next to him disappeared from his side, as did the table, and the chairs; eventually everyone rushed away from him and he was alone. He could hear his breathing, his heart pounding, his blood pumping; no one existed but him, and it was terrifying.
"He said that they'd told him in a few days' time he would be ready for the 'machine'."
The Machine.
"Guess what, little boy? Today is a very special day. You're six now, and that means you have a very big surprise waiting for you. Do you know what the surprise is? No? Good. It would've been bad if you'd found out; I like it when people are surprised. Now, come with me. You get to meet the Machine today."
"What do you think the machine does?"
"Is that what tortured those illusionists?"
Torture.
"Stop it! Stop it!"
It was coming for him, reaching for him, and he couldn't move, couldn't breathe; the hand-like thing reached for his head and grabbed him and he screamed.
"No!"
He could feel it in him, ripping at him, tearing at him, twisting and yanking at him and he couldn't move to stop it, his hands and legs being held down; it felt like he was being split apart, his very soul, his entire being being slashed in half and he couldn't move or breathe and couldn't stop screaming-
Stop it. Make it stop!
"I'll make it stop for you, child."
And there was yelling, screaming, crying, and it wasn't coming from him anymore. The thing in him suddenly disappeared, and he felt something warm close around him, something wipe away the tears.
"I've got you. I've got you."
And he was safe.
"I don't know if that is a plausible theory, but we can go with-"
Their conversation was interrupted by a dull thud that suddenly echoed around the room. Bel turned to his left to see Fran's chair empty; Fran lay on the ground, his eyes closed, and sweat decorating his face. Xanxus scoffed. "Little shit can't even deal with one small fever. Piece of trash."
Tsuna glared at him. "Don't make conclusions before you have all the evidence, Xanxus."
The boss of the Vongola got up from his seat and made his way to bend down next to Fran's body. Bel had also gotten down and had the illusionist in his arms. "I've held him like this a lot over the past few days," Bel muttered, probably to himself.
Tsuna couldn't help but smile slightly, and he placed a hand on Fran's forehead, pulling back at how hot Fran was. "He's got a very high fever. We should get him to a hospital."
Bel made a move to stand up when a hand shot out and grabbed Tsuna's wrist. Startled, Tsuna jumped a little before locking eyes with the fevered illusionist.
"They can't..." he rasped. "They can't..."
Tsuna bent down so he could hear the assassin better. "They can't what?"
"The Machine. Don't let them put him in the Machine. The Hands, they...they..." he leaned up a bit and whispered something into Tsuna's ear. Tsuna jerked back. surprised at how childish Fran had spoken.
"Are you serious?"
The green, glossy eyes rolled up and back as Fran's head fell back sharply. Tsuna could only gape at him. Bel, he noticed, looked immensely worried. "Take him to the hospital," Tsuna said. "Now."
Bel nodded and stood up, holding the boy in his arms tightly.
As he watched the pair go he couldn't help the shiver that ran through his body. Gokudera came to stand by his side. "Tenth, you okay?"
Tsuna shook his head. "No, I'm not."
"The Hands...they eat you, and they keep eating you until there's nothing left."
End of chapter four.
So, the plot of the story starts! -cheers- I hope that this chapter was interesting for you guys, and if you would, please leave your thoughts and feelings in the drop box called a review. It helps with my writing and lets me know that people like the story. =D
Lots of love,
UO