Viper spared no time in having an idle chat with the brat she knew so well. They weren't friends, heaven forbid it becomes true. But she knew very well that he was the boy from the future that took her place when she died. His sudden appearance now only meant one of two things: one is he's expecting to be personally trained by her and two, he'll eventually take her place as Belphegor's partner.
The thought of being replaced was enough for her to storm off.
"Why is he here?" Viper demanded from Squalo, ignoring the fact he was showering.
"VROOI!" There was a brief moment of confusion and embarrassment on Squalo's side, but whatever trace of it disappeared as soon as he saw the look on Viper's face. She wasn't here to be a peeping Tom-ette. Nor was she interested in bathing together. She was here to chew someone off, and he was the unlucky target.
"Ten seconds. If you're not out by then, you'll reg—"
"Master is a pervert." Fran interrupted, appearing behind the angry illusionist. "Is this our first assignment? Ah—his thing is showing." He pointed towards Squalo's lower body, tilting his head somewhat to get a better view. "Mine is bigger. Look."
Just before he could unzip his paints, the shower curtains lengthened and quickly wrapped the two of them. "ENOUGH!"
Hands raised upwards, keeping the two males in place, Viper tried to calm herself down. The steam from the hot shower didn't help at all. If anything, she just felt angrier.
The nerve of this boy appearing into their lives so soon. Was this it? Was this a sign she was completely dismissed as Belphegor's partner? Things have been rough for the past months but still… Viper still had hope it would get better. That one day she'd wake up and he'd be grinning at her like a fool and say "Where have you been? "And he'd laugh that maniac laugh of his and they'd be alright.
But this… this was just…
"Don't make me repeat myself. Why is he here?" Viper asked in a stern but calmer voice. The constraints on Squalo now loosened, freeing his face.
"Calm the fuck down!" Obviously he needed the same. "The brat's here so Mukuro Rukudo can focus on training the girl. Sawada agreed it was for the best since Apple boy here is a handful!" He glared down on the monotonous Fran, taking to heart his comment about his 'thing'. "I can see why."
Viper couldn't care less anyone needed training. She never agreed to this. And while she was interested in Chrome Dokuro's growth as an illusionist, helping wasn't on her to-do list. Unless of course they could switch disciples… "If to separate them both is the issue, let me train the frail girl. Send this brat back to those dirty scums."
"Heeey… Well yeah, they're dirty. One time, I woke up with two rats beside me. It was gross…" Fran shuddered, apparently not comfortable in living in filth. At least he had class.
"I refuse to be traded back." He crossed both his arms in a comedic gesture, his facial expression completely ruining it.
"That is not for you to decide. And–" Viper stopped abruptly, failing to notice it sooner. Fran, unlike Squalo, was sitting on the toilet seat as if nothing just happened. She could have sworn he was still restrained. She made sure the both of them were. Loosening the shower curtains that wrapped the supposed Fran, Viper was greeted with rats. A lot of them.
"Heh." While she would never admit it, the arcobaleno was impressed. He slipped past her illusions without her noticing. Before the rats could reach her, the floor became filled with bubbles. It quickly rose, drowning everyone inside the spacious bathroom of Varia's Rain. Speaking of…
"VROOOOOOIIIIIII!" His scream became inaudible when the bubbles reached the ceiling. In a few seconds, the illusions dispersed, revealing a nearly choking Squalo, and two perfectly calm and still illusionists.
"What did you do to my rats..?" Fran touched the ground, as if doing so would actually return them. "I didn't like them anyway but..."
"GET OUT!" Squalo managed to send them both out of his private quarters. He didn't know how but he managed to make it clear that from now on, Fran was Varia and his new babysitter was no other than Viper.
"Two snooty illusionists." Squalo sighed, making sure he locked the doors this time. "As if one wasn't difficult enough as it is."
Fran obediently followed Viper everywhere. If she wanted to eat at 3 in the morning, he was there. If she went to the ladies' room, he'd be sitting outside till she comes out. If she decided to leave the area, he miraculously found a way to occupy the seat next to her. The more Viper tried to ignore the boy in the gigantic apple hat, the more annoying he got.
"What do you want from me?" Viper gave up, sinking into her seat. The train ride would last another hour, and she was tired of doing everything and anything to get him out of her life. The irony of it all considering she'd go so far for someone who was ignoring her, too. Karma just gave her the biggest bitch slap she could ever receive.
"When are we going to bother the mean shark again?" Fran was comfortable sitting beside her, PSP on hand. He was playing a noisy fighting game, irritating Viper even more. "I don't think he likes me very much."
"No one does." She grunted, sinking even lower. If she fell asleep, she can briefly escape the company of her annoying pupil. But if she did, her dreams would haunt her again. Those wretched happy memories only left her broken when she woke up. It was better not to sleep.
After a few minutes of sitting beside the noisy Fran, she managed to filter the noise. Her eyes started focusing on the view from outside the window. The train was moving so fast she could barely focus on a tree. It made her dizzy, if anything.
The blurred greenery soon made her nod off, her head finding support on Fran's shoulder. It didn't take long before she fell into slumber. The dreams came right after.
"Master? Master? Master? Master? Master?" Fran shook her repeatedly, but Viper failed to wake up. She was a tiny woman so it didn't require much strength, but it still grew tiring after some time. Fran gave up and decided he should just wait for her to wake up on her own, even if he was very, very bored. Her head went back to his shoulder, something he didn't quite like. He felt so out of balance. Maybe another tiny woman would do the same for his left shoulder, he wouldn't feel so off.
Fran suddenly wished Chrome Dokuro was here. She and the arcobaleno woman are very similar. Physically, at least. Plus, if she was sleeping on her other shoulder, he'd look like a total ladies' man.
"Bel…"
It was soft and barely audible, but Fran heard it clearly. Viper, who was conveniently just a few inches from Fran's ear, was talking in her sleep. The curious boy waited for her to say more, but she kept repeating the same word over and over again.
Did she liked Bells? Or did she hate them? Was she traumatized by ringing bells? Are bells the key to wake her up?
That's it!
Fran remembered the food cart having a bell, so he raised his arm up as high as he could. "Food lady. Hello. Food lady. I need service."
It took 4 more repeats of the same line before an irate woman with the cart full of food made her way to Fran. "Yes, sir?" She asked with a forced smile.
"I need… this. Thank you." Without even asking, he took the bell on the cart and began ringing it as loud as he could. "Master, wake up. Master, I solved the puzzle. Listen to the bell."
The noise from the bell did nothing to wake the slumbering illusionists. It did, however, woke up the passengers around them.
"Sir, you're being a disturbance to everyone around you." The food lady scolded him and held out her hand. "Please return the bell, Sir."
Fran ignored her and continuously rang the bell near Viper's ear. "Maaaaaaaaaster. The lady is angry, wake up."
More passengers started to complain. Instead of scolding him, however, the food lady left momentarily. Fran continued ring the bell, chanting "Master, wake up."
His reign of terror ended when two men came back, the food lady right behind them.
"Explain to me again HOW you got us kicked out of the train?"
When Viper eventually woke up, she wasn't so sure how to react. First, she was sleeping on a bench. Second, it was late in the evening and her cloak wasn't enough to shield her from the night's cold air. And third, Fran was ringing a bell beside her non-stop.
"Why were you waking me up in the first place? And quit it with that bell!" Viper snatched the source of all the ringing and threw it in the trash bin. If this was some ritual from his village, or where it is that he came from, she was going to have none of it for the remainder of his stay. "Don't ever ring another bell when you're around me."
"Nice, Master. Three points." He clapped his hands thrice, still with that dead pan face of his. It was starting to get on her nerves. "And I thought you liked bells… it was the answer to the puzzle, wasn't it?"
Viper stared at the boy oddly. Puzzle? There was no puzzle. And how on earth can a bell be the answer? "Explain."
Fran got up from the ground and sat beside her. Even though it was clear to everyone that personal space is something Viper valued a lot, Fran carelessly placed both of his hands on both sides of her head and forcibly made her rest on his shoulders. "See, you were sleeping like this. I was bored so I tried waking you up but you wouldn't wake up. So I let you sleep for a bit."
As if he was expecting a word of praise or gratitude, he looked at Viper expectantly, raising a thumbs up. "Then I thought, 'Ah. It's out of balance.' My other shoulder felt so light and weird… I was just thinking how cool it would have been to have two ladies sleeping on both sides when you started asking for a bell."
In his most ridiculously high soft voice, Fran repeatedly said, "Bell."
But Viper understood immediately. She wasn't asking for him to ring a bell. He was calling out for the prince.
That wretched prince got them kicked out of the train.
"So I got it from the food lady then she threw us out at the next station… I like her. She does her job really well." Fran finished his story and took it upon himself to shrug his shoulders free of Viper. At this point, she didn't even care about rebuttals.
"I see." Viper stood up and started looking at the tracks. No train in sight. Based from the time, the next train was bound to pass in another half hour or so. Great. Just great. She was cold and stuck with an annoying, little boy. People would think she'd be used to this by now but Fran has already proven he was very, very different from Bel. He would've killed everyone on the train.
Fran and Viper sat in silence for the next 15 minutes. Everything was fine until Fran's PSP ran out of battery. He started entertaining himself by counting numbers outloud.
"87, 88, 89, 90…" He went on and on until 200. It was then when Viper decided to finally shut him up.
"You were wrong, by the way." She paused for a bit, waiting for him to ask. Instead he just continued counting. "The puzzle. You were wrong about the puzzle."
At the mention of the puzzle, Fran stopped immediately. Even though his face said otherwise, Viper knew it made him curious. "Is that why you didn't wake up? Was it… bell peppers? Should I have shoved bell peppers down your throat? I should have shoved bell peppers down your throat…"
"… no. That's completely wrong." Viper looked up at the night sky, knowing well it would still take a while before they could leave. And why not? She thought to herself. Maybe an emotionless brat was exactly what she needed for company. "It's not a what, it's a who."
"Master…?" Viper was closing her eyes, letting the memory turn into a gigantic illusion. She wasn't very good at story telling with words. But who needed to speak when you were the greatest magician of all?
"Shi shi shi, you're getting fat, Mammon. Your cheeks are wider now~" A young Belphegor was sitting down in a café, the mist arcobaleno in her infant form on his lap while he stretched her cheek to its limit.
"Stop it, Bel!"
The illusion was right in front of the confused Fran. But as soon as he heard the familiar word, it became clear. The puzzle's answer was right there.
Word Count: 2,235
Note: Surprise! Semestral break for me!
I started writing this down at 1 am, and now it's 4 am. Oh dear. HAHA
I have no idea how trains worked in Italy. Forgive me oTL
Anyway, hello, this story is not dead. And ta-da, I think I made Fran a little too weird but I like him this way. I think he's good company for our Mamsy-wamsy. What do you think?
To be honest it took two drafts for me to actually be contented on how Fran fell into place. This one was the most decent so I'll stand by it! Thoughts so far?
Update will most likely be in December, just so you know!
If you like this story, reviews are very much appreciated. They urge me to write more and update faster ouo
It'd be really cool if you follow the story if you're curious to know what happens to these two, and a few words as a review would be rad.
Oh, and since I normally write stuff from Midnight to around 6am, typos and stupidity is inevitable. Feel free to point them out!
Thanks for reading!
