Rating: T (Blood and guts and gore, and so much more!)

Warning: Adult!Arcobaleno; OC-filled Vongola, the bloody Vongola 13th generation; Lots of blood, killing, and other stuff like that

Notes: And yet another updaaaaaaaate~~~!

Sorry, I've been hit by block. You know how that bitsu is.

Day 4

[Mammon's POV:]

I drummed my fingers on the table in irritation. Here I was, in the library, wasting precious XIII-hunting time. I should be hunting down psychos, not sitting here, wasting away as I teach an unbelievably slow student math!

"Skye," I said, irritated after spending another precious ten minutes here, doing nothing as she glares at the paper before her, "If you waste anymore of my time, you're going to have to pay me."

Yes, I agreed to tutor her in math. For free.

Very uncharacteristic of me, yes?

"But-! Mammoooooooooooooooooooooooooon! It's hard!" Skye whined, giving me a puppy-dog look.

I sighed and began to massage my aching temples. "I've already told you how to do this, haven't I?"

"I still don't get it!"

"Are you that stupid?"

She dramatically grasped her heart, gaping at me. "Oooooow! Hurtful!"

"JUST DO IT." I glared at her from behind my hood. She pouted and tried to answer the set of questions I had given her before. (ATLAST!)

After about twenty minutes (Yay, more wasted time), she lifted her head from the paper. "Done~!" she harped and handed me back the questionnaire. I went over her answers for just five seconds. I twitched in complete irritation.

"Perfectly wrong." I muttered in disgust.

Skye's lip began to quiver, her brown eyes watering behind her glasses. I sighed. This little kid really wasn't kidding when she said she has an extreme fear of failure.

"Alright," I groaned a bit, "I guess we'll have to go at this with a different method…" I looked at my watch. I didn't have the time to go over this lesson again. "Well, I don't have that much time left to teach you…Are you okay with just continuing tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Okay."

I returned with my own nod, after which standing and grabbing my stuff so I can leave. As I was about to walk out of the library, Skye grabbed onto my sleeve. I turned my head to her. "Yes?"

"…Sorry for wasting your time…" she said shyly, looking at the floor instead of me. Looking closer, I saw how she was blushing slightly.

Well…damn.

I looked away from the raven, a slight red tinting my own cheeks. "It's nothing…"

God…I'm starting to forget that I'm older than I look. Mentally, I hit myself on the head. Damnit, Mammon! Remember, you're only disguised as a teenager!

"S-still…I should repay you for helping me in math, even though I never really learned anything."

"You don't have to."

"But I want to! " she stood and looked at me with a smile. "I know! Let's go to High Street!"

I raised a brow. "High Street?"

"Yeah! Bonifacio High Street, in Marikina."

I tried to remember the map of Metro Manila that Reborn showed me…"Makati? That's pretty far from here, isn't here? Won't your parents get worried about you if we go there?"

She shook her head. "They don't honestly care." She smiled somewhat sadly, lowering her head a bit so that her hair covered her face. "They only adopted me to lower their taxes, you see. It's a miracle that they honestly let me study here."

"Mu…" So there was a sad background to this kid, huh?

"Anyway!" she suddenly perked up, "Let's go to High Street! Please?" and again, she pulled a begging face on me.

I sighed. Might as well….Who knows? She might turn out to be an XIII.

But…

I chanced another look at the girl.

Totally impossible, for this girl to be one of those deranged homicidal murderers. She looks so sweet and innocent…but, then again, we can't afford to overlook anything in this dangerous game of theirs.

"Mammon?"

"Mu. Alright, alright, we'll go…but I'm only paying for the bus ride going there!"

After a few hours of Manila traffic, we finally arrived. We got down from the bus and walked into High Street. Skye led me straight to a donut shop. (Women and their sweets…)

Do you know what I saw the moment I got inside? Fon and Colonnello, with those two girls from yesterday, Ren and Alice.

"Skyyyyyyyeeeeee!" Ren called, grinning at the raven beside me. "You're here!" Alice looked up and smiled as well.

"Ren! Alice!" Skye chirped and pulled me along to sit with them. I sighed and took the open seat next to Fon, while Skye sat with her friends and started talking to them about some random junk I didn't even bother listening to.

"So," Fon said, somewhat amused, "I see you were dragged here too."

I sighed again and rested my head against my palm, which was being supported by my elbow and the table. "Skye was insisting that I come here as repayment for tutoring her in math, even though our session didn't help her at all. What about you two?"

Fon nodded his head in the direction of the red-eyed blonde who was wearing a hood indoors. "Ren said there was a fireworks show here that she wanted to watch with me." He sighed, "She literally dragged me here, from the bus to this donut shop."

"Harsh." I turned to Colonnello, "You?"

"We had a bet." He groaned a bit, "She was having soccer practice, but she couldn't kick the ball into the goal. Then she said that I'd treat her to donuts here if she kicked a goal on that exact shot."

"…She kicked it in, didn't she?"

"Yep, kora." He clicked his tongue, "You know, that blonde psycho chased me around the field, then grabbed my bag, held it hostage, and forced me onto the bus. And if that wasn't enough, she said she'd throw my bag out the window if I didn't sit next to her!"

So we were all dragged here against our wills.

Well, more or less against our wills, anyway.

"Is that so…" I sighed again.

Fon merely laughed a small half-chuckle. "It's alright, isn't it? I mean, we could use a break from…you know what."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

And then, Skye, along with Ren and Alice, stood from her seat and smiled. "We're going to order now, alright? What do you guys want to eat?"

"Pink-frosted donut with a lot of sprinkles…?" Colonnello said shakily. Apparently, Alice was clenching a fist as she held up a paper with that exact order written on it…I guess that's what she must've meant by 'treat me to donuts.'

Fon smiled and held up a hand, "Chocolate-chip donut with almonds."

I shrugged my shoulders, averting my attention to the window. "Anything with strawberries will do."

Skye nodded and went to the counter, her two friends following behind.

As soon as they were gone, I turned back to Fon and Colonnello. "So, have you two found anything about the XIII yet?" They both shook their heads.

"Really? Nothing?" I sighed for the nth time today. "Damn…"

Geez…Finding those XIII is really hard. Whoever the hell those seven are, they're good at hiding…Too good. Was Verde sure they're high school students? They're much too smart (and evil) for their age.

"This is troublesome, kora." Colonnello groaned, "It's been four days since the start of their crazy game…If we don't find out who they are and win before Day 13, it's game over for the entire world."

And just then, Skye and co. came back. "We're baaaaaaaack~!" Skye harped as she and Alice set down the trays, placing our respective donuts down before us. I gave a small smile, "Thanks."

"It's nothing~" she said as she sat down.

…For some reason, I found myself staring at her as she ate her food. I don't know, the way she munched on her donut just looked…adorable.

Maybe Skye really is too good to be an XIII…

BANG!

The happy little scenario was destroyed by a gunshot. We all turned to look out the window and see what was going on. At what we saw, our eyes went as wide as plates.

Outside, the XIII were shooting at people!

"What a convenient coincidence…" I muttered under my breath. Just as I was about to stand and chase after those psychos, Fon gripped my arm, keeping me in place.

"Mammon." He said sternly, nodding toward the three girls in front of us who were looking out the window in horror. "We have to make sure they're safe before anything else."'

"But—!"

"Come on, kora!" Colonnello yelled and pulled on Alice's hand, pulling her out of the shop along with the panicking crowd. Fon and I followed suit, pulling Ren and Skye behind us. As soon as we got out, we shoved them into the crowd.

"Get away from here! Get as far away as you can, as fast as you can!" Fon instructed to the three before turning and running to where the XIII were. Ren's eyes widened. "FON! WAIT!"

Skye pulled her back. "Don't! It's dangerous!"

"B-but Fon—!"

"Leave him to us! Just run!" I said and pushed them further into the crowd. They were pulled away by the sea of people. Hopefully, they would wind up in a safe place. I turned to Colonnello, who nods, and began to run to where the XIII are, our disguises dropping as we ran.

Once we got there, we found Fon and the others fighting and the others fighting the XIII, who were easily dodging their attacks and returning with their own. Colonnello went to help Verde fight Tempesta and Pioggia, while I tsk-ed and decided to help Lal fight Nebbia.

But, just as I was about to attack Nebbia with an illusion of my own—

A gun clicked as it was put against my head. "Going somewhere?" a sly voice asked.

DAMN.

I turned my head over my shoulder, finding Boss. She was smiling at me smugly, her fingers wrapped tightly around the gun handle…I narrowed my eyes at her, calculating the chances I have of pulling the gun from her before she could pull the trigger.

"Tch…" I clenched a fist under my cloak. This was bad. I have no chance of taking the gun from her before she could shoot.

Boss smiled sweetly at me. "Hello, Arcobaleno de Nebbia." she cooed, flexing her fingers around the handle of her gun. "Where are you going in such a hurry? Why don't you stay here and play with me first?"

Chances are slim…but…

I pulled the girl into my illusory space, hitting her with everything my mind could throw at her. But, as I expected, it wasn't enough. She dodged every attack easily. The tentacles, the pillars of fire, the ice, the darkness…She saw through everything!

"Illusions won't affect her…Damnit…" I mumbled.

"Of course they won't affect me." Boss said with a grin as she stepped closer to me, her orange eyes flashing with delight behind her mask. "I was trained to not be affect by illusions…He made sure that I wouldn't surrender to things that my mind can trick me into believing are real…"

He?

"…Who are you talking about?"

"White-tan, of course." She stopped and held the gun up to me again. "Anyway…If you don't mind, I'm going to shoot you now. The less of you there are as my game progresses, the better."

Shit. If I don't do something, I'm dead…and illusions don't work on her…Guess I'll have to go at this hand-to-hand.

"Goodbye, Mammon." She smiled even wider.

Just as she was about to pull the trigger, I grabbed the gun and fought her for it. After a few minutes of struggle, I finally took it from her and threw it away. Honestly, I'm surprised that worked…

"Ah—!" she glared, shoved me away from her and made a break for her weapon. I grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back, throwing her further away from her gun. She gave a small, pained whimper as she impacted with the ground.

Well, this is going better than I thought it would.

I stood before the deranged ginger-haired girl, glaring down at her. I pinned her down with illusions before she could get up. Her mind should be weakened enough to be affected by illusions now. "Are you going to give up now?" I asked.

"N-no…" she tried desperately to struggle free from the illusions, though it proved futile. "I-I…I can't…I can't lose…I can't give up…I…I have to…!" I looked closer. She was paling. Behind her mask, her eyes were shaking, her face was draining of color, and her form was trembling lightly.

She was…scared?

"I can't…I have to make this good…If I don't…he'll punish me…! I don't want…I don't want…!"

She sounded so terrified…Whatever it is that would happen to her if she lost, it must be horrible. Honestly, I was somewhat starting to feel pity for her, stupid as it seems.

A few seconds later, she stopped struggling and stared up at the late afternoon sky in fear. Soon after, I could hear a ringtone coming from her pocket. "Ippiki no inu no hanashita…Ikiba no nai kitanai koinu ga. Hiro are tsutsumare yasashisa shita. Hito no te no nukumori wo shita…"

"A-ah…No…G-give me more time…! I can beat him! Don't call yet!" Boss screamed at her phone.

After the ringtone song finished with the first chorus, a voice began to speak. It was a low, deep and scary voice…the tone honestly gave me slight shivers. "I see you've been beaten, Boss-chan." the voice said the ginger girl's name with venom, "Tsk tsk…Now White-tan has to punish you again."

Boss shivered in fear. "N-no…Please…!"

"I'm coming to pick you up. You'd better prepare yourself, Boss-chan."

Call ended.

Boss's shaking became even stronger. Looking through her mask, I saw tears forming on the corners of her orange eyes. She was scared to death. Even I was beginning to worry for her…

"H-hey, what's wrong?" I knelt down next to her, eyeing the tears that began to drip down her cheeks. I allowed the illusion holding her down to disappear. She would be too busy being scared of this White-tan person to fight back at this point.

She gripped her head and sat up, still shaking. By now, her breathing had hitched. "N-no…I don't want…I don't want…!"

"Oi, oi, 'don't want' what…?" Where the hell was this concern coming from…?

Something snapped in her when I put my hand on her shoulder out of instinct. She turned to head to me a glare. "N-NO! Don't touch me! It'll make him even madder—A-ah…" she looked past me, her face white as parchment. Horror filled her expression. "W-white-tan…!"

I was going to turn my head over my shoulder and see who was behind me, but before I could, I felt something hit my head hard. I heard a shriek (probably from Boss).

Even though that my head was spinning, I tried my best to see what was going on.

It was blurry, but I could see someone picking up a shaking Boss like one would a bride. She stared in fear, her shaking getting stronger by the second, and a scream lumping up in her throat. I saw it. The masked face of the greatest terrorist there has ever been in the history of the Philippines, distorted in complete horror.

Everything went black at that point.

[A few hours later]

I woke up to a large, throbbing pain in my head. Damn, it hurts…

"Oh, you're awake…Thank goodness." I slowly turned my head and found Uni. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room (which wasn't being helped at all by the moonlight) and my surroundings started to come into clearer view, I found myself inside my room at the house we rented.

"Ugh…What happened…?"

The relieved smile faded off of Uni's face, and it was replaced by a serious frown. "You were hit in the head. Nothing serious, though. But…while you were out, we lost another round to the XIII. They beat us all up and took off." I took notice of the bandage on Uni's cheek. Well, otherwise, she was fine.

"I see…" I grumbled, trying to sit up. I regretted it soon after. I winced and fell back onto my bed, pain taking over.

"A-ah! Are you alright?"

I held my head as the pain slowly died down again. "Y-yeah…Oh, wait…Uni…What happened to Boss? Did you see her leave with the other XIII?"

The Sky Arcobaleno shook her head. "We only saw the Guardians leave…They seemed to be in a rush, though. They were in a hurry to end the round, apparently." she sighed, "Wait…why are you so worried about Boss, anyway?"

I could feel a low heat crawl across my face. Oh, shit. Come on, Mammon, don't blush!

"I-I…Well…" I groaned. CALM DOWN, DAMNIT! "I was fighting with her, right? Well, when I finally pinned her down, her phone rang…There was this person calling her, 'White-tan' she said. After the call, she started panicking and screaming about how she 'doesn't want'. Though, I have no idea what she didn't want."

Uni nodded slightly in understanding. "I see…"

"She kept screaming, and when I grabbed her shoulder and tried to calm her down, she looked behind me, and there was White-tan. I couldn't see him, though. He hit me in the head before I could even glance at him." I clenched a fist slightly at my side. "Before I blacked out, I saw that White-tan person approach Boss and pick her up…She looked so scared…Dead terrified."

A small, knowing smile came across Uni's lips. "I see…You're worried about her?"

I found myself nodding, though the pain in my head soon came back at me for doing so. I winced and held my head again.

Damn that White-tan for hitting me.

Uni stood from her seat. "Well, I'm leaving you to rest…Recover soon, okay? We have school in a few hours. Skye-san might get very worried about you if you show her that you're injured."

"Right…" And I forgot about how I have to try and teach that idiot math again later…

"Rest for now." Uni said before she headed to the door, closing it behind her after switching off the lights.

I sighed and stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

I wonder…Why did she seem so scared of losing? Does White-tan punish her that bad when she loses in battles…?

I recalled the look of horror I saw filling Boss' face before I blacked out. My jaw clenched.

Enemy or not, terrorist or not, she's still human…She doesn't deserve to be treated harshly…She doesn't deserve whatever that White-tan is doing to her…

I closed my eyes with a sigh as I tried to get some rest.

She doesn't deserve to be tortured like that…Even if she is evil…

[Meanwhile]

Exhausted and pain-stricken gasps for air were heard throughout the hotel bedroom. A disheveled form lay atop the bed, fast asleep, her clothes ripped through and a pained expression on her face. She whimpered slightly in her sleep as she felt a cold, unforgiving hand caress her cheek.

"Oh, my cute Boss-chan…You know I don't like it when you fail me…" he coos in a low voice, a satisfied grin filling the lower half of his face.

She whines a bit as the other starts twirling her black hair around his fingers.

He sighs. "Really…You know, I don't really like it when I hurt you…but I have to. If I don't hurt you, then you'll never learn…You'll always be weak…You'll always lose…" he gets up on his knees and carries the girl to the head of the bed, laying her down gently. "I only hurt you because I want you to learn…I want you to learn not to be weak…"

She tenses as she feels the bed sink beside her.

He smiles fondly and locks some of her hair behind her ear, running a finger along her cheek so he can wipe away the tears that were flooding out of her eyes even now. "Boss-chan…"

She flinches as she feels his lips briefly touching her forehead.

An amused laugh was heard. He wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. "Don't worry…I'll make sure you won't lose again. I'll make sure we win and get the world we desire…" His lips part into an evil grin. "…because, now, I'm going to join the game too."