Vivian was admitted into the ER at the nearest hospital, and was found to have quite a few broken ribs, which meant that it would take a few weeks to heal. Seeing as they had quite a bit of time on their hands, Squalo left back to the Varia hideout to report, while Vero set out to find where the Alvisio were hiding. Emilio stayed by Vivian's side the whole time.

Once he had figured out where the Alvisio's hideout was, Vero made this vow at Vivian's bedside…

"I swear I'll find the bastard that did this to you and make him pay for all he's done to you!" he said to an unconscious Vivian.

"You found where they were hiding then?" Emilio asked, as Vero nodded silently. "When are you leaving?"

Vero stood up and said, "Now" before turning and leaving the room. Outside in the hall he encountered Antonio and Romario.

Vero looked confused and made to say something, when Antonio spoke up and said, "You didn't think you were going in alone, did you?"

"Well no. Not really." Vero answered as he just noticed Squalo standing in their way to the exit. "But I thought you weren't coming back Squalo. What are you doing in your uniform?"

This uniform – the Varia uniform – consisted of a black fur hooded dark grey jacket-top which ended just under his bottom, with light yellow accents on the sides and sleeves, and around his waist was a belt. He was wearing matching pants, with the same colored accents running down the sides of the legs. On his feet were black double buckled ankle boots, and on his right hand was a white glove and Varia rain ring.

"Finding and putting an end to the Alvisio has now become the Varia's duty." The silver haired swordsman answered seriously.

The young Cavallone boss' eyes widened at his reply as he said, "What?! I thought we would all go together to retrieve Vivian's ring!"

"Well I'm going in alone now as it's my boss' orders." Squalo stated as he turned and made to leave. "And his orders trump yours, so I suggest you stay here and wait until I'm done with my mission…"

"No." Vero said, making Squalo stop in his tracks. The silver haired swordsman turned to face Vero with an angered expression, and he continued.

"All of this is my fault, because I made the mistake of letting Shigure join our group." Vero continued. "I just want to make this right, and the only way to do that is to defeat Shigure myself and bring Vivian's ring back to her." – he then smirked – "Besides, do you know where the Alvisio are hiding out?"

Squalo's eyes widened with surprise before he glared silently into Vero's determined and sly eyes, until he closed his own and growled angrily.

"DAMMIT FINE!" he shouted out at the top of his lungs before stomping towards the exit. "But it's your funeral! And I get to finish off that punkass scumbag!"

"Agreed!" the young Cavallone boss said in response as he and his right hand men followed him out of the hospital…

"According to our informants, Shigure and his men should be hiding out here." Antonio said as they approached the entrance to a long abandoned warehouse.

"There aren't any men around that I could see…" Vero added with concern. "Do you think they've already left the place?"

"No, or else we would have already been informed." Antonio replied simply, implying that another Mezzanotte member or two had been keeping an eye on the place.

"They must not suspect a thing, and that's our best shot. Let's move in." Squalo added.

They all did so quickly and before entering the building they went over a plan of attack.

"You two go in; distract and capture the weaker scum." Squalo said to the two right hand men. "I'll take care of the slightly stronger ones. And you," – he turned to Vero – "I'm giving you three hours to do what you need to do before I come and step in."

"I think I can manage that." The young Cavallone boss said in response.

The group then went in in order; Antonio and Romario going in first, then Squalo, and finally Vero.

As he snuck in, careful just in case someone was missed, he noticed that no one was around at all. Hoping that the others hadn't been captured, Vero walked up slowly to the last door and opened it.

"I thought you would be showing your face here." Shigure stated with his back turned from the door. "We were just about to leave and look for the boss, when you guys showed up and offed my men."

"That's the Varia's job, and I'm glad they got it done. Vero said in reply. "It means that I could get mine done without any interruptions."

"Oh, and what would that be?" the teal haired male asked while turning to face his visitor. "This ring, perhaps?" – he showed it off by holding up his right hand, as it was on that hand's ring finger – "You'll have to cut it off first, if you can bring yourself to do so."

"If that's what I must do to get it back for my friend…" Vero stated, unsheathing his blade.

Shigure just smirked in response and said, "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Only when you hurt my friends and family do I come back at you with all I've got!" Vero replied with slight anger and determination.

"Let's see what you've got then!" Shigure responded with his challenge.

Vero complied, as he rushed forward to meet Shigure in battle, swinging his sword at him. Shigure didn't move an inch, as he pulled out two of his knives and used them to block the sword. He then smirked and tapped his right heel once on the ground, revealing a hidden knife that slid out from under the front of the boot. With this done he quickly backed up and kicked at Vero's face. Vero picked up on this quick, but not quickly enough, for he backed out of the attack with a thin scratch along his left cheek.

"That's fighting dirty!" Vero shouted angrily as he wiped the blood off his cheek.

"Well, you didn't say anything against it before we started." Shigure commented while stomping his heel to put the knife away. "Besides, I thought you were expecting it from such a backstabbing traitor like me."

Vero only glared at his opponent silently before attacking again. But this opponent was clever and calculating, always one step ahead. He dodged and blocked all of Vero's attacks without any trouble and his attacks were quite effective as he never seemed to run out of his throwing knives. Soon enough Vero's time was up, he was pinned to the wall by Shigure's knives, and the man himself was about to put an end to his life when Squalo walked into the room.

"Seriously?!" the silver haired swordsman shouted as he gazed at the scene before him. "I give you three hours to do your job, and you go and screw it up! Guess I'll have to take care of it myself…"

He then ran at Shigure fast to attack and get him away from Vero. As he fought Shigure off, Squalo yelled at Vero to get himself out. The young Cavallone boss complied, and left the building to meet up with his men.

"How did it go, boss?" Romario asked as Vero walked out the doors.

"Well, Squalo had to come and rescue me," the young Cavallone boss replied sheepishly. "But not before I nabbed this little beauty." – he then pulled out Vivian's ring from his coat pocket and showed it off with a smirk – "Pulled it right off his finger at the last minute without him noticing."

"Honestly, you're as frighteningly clever as your mother and as sticky fingered as your uncle…" Antonio commented with a smile. "For all the good reasons, of course."

Suddenly the door opened and Squalo stalked out saying, "The deed is done but I couldn't find the ring anywhere…on him…" – he trailed off as he noticed Vero with the ring – "What the…How the hell did you get that?!"

"I nabbed it." The young Cavallone boss replied simply.

"But you let him beat you up…" the silver haired swordsman continued.

"Yeah." Vero said normally with a shrug. "I figured halfway through our battle that if I didn't have a chance of winning, I might as well bide my time before you came to help me out. So I stole the ring and held him off 'till then."

For a moment Squalo looked like he was going to kill Vero too, but then he sighed angrily and said, "I'm gonna go report back to base."

"Okay, we'll see you at the hospital in a few." Vero stated in reply before they went their separate ways…

"We're back." Vero announced as he and his men entered Vivian's room.

"How'd it go?" Emilio asked while his niece hid her face under her blanket, as she was awake at the moment.

"The retrieval was a success." Antonio answered with a smile while his boss turned concerned eyes to the fiery haired female.

"Hey what's wrong Vivian?" Vero asked her, making her jump.

"N-Nothing…It's just my face…" she replied sheepishly, her voice muffled by her covering.

He turned his quizzical gaze to Emilio, looking for an answer to her behavior. He chuckled a little and replied with, "She's very self-conscious about how she looks without her glasses on."

"But I've seen her multiple times when she was unconscious here." Vero commented as a matter of factly. "Besides, I happen to think that she looks way prettier without them."

There was then a moment of silence in which all the other men gazed at Vero with looks that seemed to say, "Oh is there some feelings of love coming through that comment?"

Vero spoke out in reply with, "What? I was just being nice," while he blushed a little.

Vivian took the earlier comment to heart and peeked from under the blanket. "Do I really look prettier without them? You're not lying?"

Vero nodded in reply before she slowly pulled the covering away from her face, blushing all the while.

"Now that that's done…" the young Cavallone boss started while pulling the ring out of his coat pocket. "I've brought what's rightfully yours back to you." He then made a move to give it to her, but she just looked at it, and then turned her gaze to Vero.

As their eyes met, his confused ones with her sure ones, she told him, "Actually Vero…the ring's rightful owner…is you…"