A Royal Fall Chapter Ten

All is not lost! KEEP READING!

The next day...

"Is he going to be okay?"

"We don't know. He's in a coma- he lost way too much blood."

"Bel... this is all your fault..."

"Fran..."

The illusionist sat right beside the bed, his arms folded on it as he cried softly. "Stupid, selfish senpai," he whispered, "he might die because of you...!"

Bel hung his head. "What other choice did I have?" he muttered. Fran glared at him.

"The RIGHT choice," Fran snapped. As the doctor walked out of the room, Fran held the unconcious shark's face, then came in, and kissed him, immediately sparking jealousy in the prince.

"Fran... come on," he said, "stop that..."

"Why should I?" Fran replied, stroking through the swordman's hair. "He was romantic and kind when you were a bastard."

Suddenly, Xanxus walked into the room, looking purposeful. "Get off him," he snapped to Fran, before kneeling beside the Rain guardian and placing a hand over the bandaged wound on his stomach. "... He's damned lucky that your idiot brother has absolutely no aim," Xanxus told Bel, "and he was freaking weak to allow that brat in in the first place."

"You believe that crap, boss?" Fran asked. "What the hell?"

"I'm here, everyone," said Lussuria, walking in, panting slightly. "What should I-"

"Nothing," Xanxus cut off. "We have to leave Squalo like this... at least until we're positive that Bel's brother has moved on."

"Oh, all right," Lussuria sighed, walking over anyway. "Fran-chan? Are you done with Squalo, now? Will you go back to Bel?"

"Hell no," Fran said. "Even if Squalo was being seriously possessed by that guy, Bel's been a real jerk, and I'm not going to just forgive him like a lovey-dovey, gooey teenager."

"Fran...," Bel murmured, hanging his head, "I did apologize."

"Feh. You just said 'sorry' all casual. You don't care."

Bel looked into his kouhai's eyes, then walked out of the hospital room. He'd had quite enough of Fran's attitude.

"Hey, Squalo," Rasiel greeted, walking over to the spirit. "Aw, what's with that face? You upset that you can't get back in your body to patch things up?"

"No, I'm upset because now my body's an empty vessel to any freaking ghost that needs one," Squalo hissed. Rasiel laughed and draped an arm around the shark's shoulders.

"There's no need to worry over that, princess, 'cause I put up a barrier so that your body would be nice and protected from any of those low-lifes."

"I'd say thank you if you hadn't screwed everything up," Squalo muttered, sitting down on the ground. "Having to watch everything before me... I hate this. All of it. And I can't even run away."

"Shesheshe," Rasiel laughed, covering the shark's eyes with his hand. "Is this better?"

The swordsman sighed and leaned against the other spirit's shoulder. "No... I can see right through," he sighed, "but your annoying voice kind of drowns out theirs... so tell me... why are you upset with Bel?"

"Well... in truth, that dates back to when we were children..."

Nighttime...

"Fran... Fran, we need to go. ... Fran..."

The illusionist looked up from the hospital bed, slighly frustrated to be woken.

"Hm?"

Xanxus was gently rubbing the illusionist's shoulder. "We need to go," he repeated, "the hospital closes at ten."

"Mm... okay...," Fran sighed, standing up. "Boss... Do you still love Squalo?"

"... Yes. With all my heart," Xanxus replied tiredly, not in the mood to argue. "He's a weak, loudmouthed bastard, and I love him."

"... I'm sorry...," the illusionist murmured.

"I don't blame you," the boss replied shortly. "It wasn't you that screwed him up."

Xanxus suddenly flinched, reaching a hand up and clutching his chest. Fran ran over. "Are you okay, boss?" he asked. Xanxus opened one eye, then let out a held breath, shuddering slightly.

"Cold...," he grunted, "it was just... a sudden flash of... cold..."

"Boss...," Fran murmured, "maybe it was... Squalo..."

"Tch... Don't be ridiculous," Xanxus sighed. "Let's go."

And Squalo watched after them, heartbroken that he couldn't get across to the one he needed most.

Back at the headquarters, however, was a bigger problem then the unconcious Squalo.

"Who the hell set all these traps?" Lussuria raged in his man-voice, struggling in the net that had caught him. Bel laughed like the killer he was and rolled about on the floor until he couldn't any more- because there was something extremely sticky on the floor.

"Uh oh," he commented, realizing that his back was glued to the ground.

"Did I catch it?" spoke a rasp of a voice. "Did I catch Rasiel?"

"Monta!" Bel exclaimed, "What the pineapple?"

"Oh, Bel... Lussuria...," Mammon murmured, "Sorry... I got a bit carried away, I suppose.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Xanxus shouted when he walked into the Varia headquarters and saw two of his guardians in traps.

"Looks like Bel got back early," Fran snickered.

"It wasn't me!" Bel shouted, "It was Monta!"

"Just keep blaming others," Fran muttered. Bel quieted immediately.

"It WAS me," Mammon mumbled, "I... guess I got a tad paranoid."

"Oh, Monta," Bel sighed, "You're crazy."

"Heh, not as crazy as you, Bel," Mammon replied.

Fran twitched as Bel and Mammon laughed together, the prince blushing lightly with happiness, and the illusionist stormed away, jealousy burning inside him. Xanxus facepalmed. "Bel... you're such a damned idiot," he groaned. "You just drove Fran off."

"Whoops," Bel sighed, "Well whatever... get me out of this sticky stuff!"

"Yes, Bel," Mammon agreed.

Xanxus shot at Lussuria, shaving a few inches off of the Sun's mohawk as well as cutting the net. Lussuria fell with a squeak of suprise, dusted himself off, pouted over his hair, then left to go take a shower or something. "Ugh...," Xanxus sighed. "Mammon... how much of this place did you trap?"

"All of it," Mammon replied. "Don't shoot."

"You're fine," Xanxus sighed. "I'm going to my room."

"Watch out for falling garlic!"

"Note taken."

-End Chapter

Grrr, so short... will update again soon!