Chapter 10 - Welcome to the Varia
I know the feeling of getting knocked out too well.
Your head hurts.
Your mouth feels like a sandpit.
And occasionally, like me, you get dreams.
Great...Squalo was right. I did jinx myself. I bet you Dino's gonna go all 'its fate!' on me next I see him. I remembered going to a restaurant. I remembered meeting a pianist (who looked suspiciously like Bianchi's little brother). And then...blank. So why was my subconscious automatically assuming that I was in a pinch?
"Sometimes, I really wonder whether I'm part of you," a voice I knew all too well tutted behind me. I swivelled my head immediately groaned.
"Oh joy. Alexandra Knight. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Hey – I actually help you remember?" she pointed out. "Do the world a favour and drop the sarcasm."
"I'm being sincere!" I grumbled back. "Honestly, I still don't get it; are you real or a figment of my imagination?"
"I'm a real person you moron! Now listen – the Varia needs you alive so -"
"The Varia? What've they got to do with me?"
"They're the fucking people who kidnapped you remember?" he practically exploded. Suddenly, she had a melodramatic epiphany. "Please don't tell me you have memory loss..."
Blink.
*Facepalm*
"All right. When you wake up, you're going to be around a bunch of dangerously hot people; called the Varia yeah?"
"Dangerously hot? So...they're actually not dangerous at all, but really good looking?" I questioned innocently.
"No! They're assassins that just happen to be REALLY good looking..." she remarked wistfully, in a fan-girl moment. "Bel's so cute! And Xanxus too but -"
"Uh...hate to ruin the moment, but what the hell is going on?"
"Wha – oh right! Look, you're not dead yet; so they probably need you alive -"
"Probably need me alive? That ain't exactly reassuring. What if they don't?"
"Cross your fingers and hope to die? Scratch that, bad pun. Alright. Let's start from ground zero. When you wake up, don't do anything, and I mean ANYTHING that might possibly piss your captors off. Got that?"
"I'll think about it."
"Just don't –there's no point in arguing with you is there?" she reconsidered.
"Yup."
She sighed deeply, and reality took hold.
"Holy magic jellyfish!" I ranted, sitting bolt upright. But my head hit a ceiling. Ceiling? No that couldn't be right...
"Geez Bel, I think you gave her brain damage. Do I look like a 'magic jellyfish' to you?" a flamboyant looking guy complained.
I nodded, answering immediately. "Yes."
"My name's Lussuria!"
"Personally, that's not much better..." I grumbled back on instinct, sitting up and glanced vaguely around. Dang – lost my contacts. Now I was blind. Was I...in a limo?
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...peasant."
Oh no. That laugh. Anything but that laugh. Wait. Why do I dread that laugh? Suddenly, I was hit with a wave of horror. Varia. Lightning force. Prince. "You son of a –"
BANG. Right. Car. With a roof. A really hard roof.
"Honestly kid – I just spent like twenty minutes stitching you up; so do you mind calming down?" Lussuria protested, arms crossed like a little kid (coming from me, that's saying something).
I glanced at my palm, and saw that there was a relatively neat line of stitches that ran across. "Thanks..." I mumbled grouchily. Kidnapper or not, manners were important.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~..." The damn phony prince giggled from where he was lounging. Like one of those insane people who talked to themselves. Wait. I do that. Deciding that going around in circles would just give me a headache, I ignored him.
"You're probably wondering who we are," Lussuria continued, crossing his legs in a very feminine fashion.
"You're Varia," I murmured under my breath. "You made that very clear."
Lussuria continued, ignoring me. "That's Belphegor, we call him Bel. He's a prince."
"Doesn't matter what his damn name is, he's still a phony prince," I muttered to myself. Either it came out louder than I intended or Bel had really good ears; I found a perfect cut-out of my figure studded into the leather seat. "You missed," I mused. "Why exactly am I in a limo with two psychopathic killers?"
"We are assassins. Not psychopathic killers!" Lussuria scolded, as if he wasn't actually a killer, but some kid's transvestite mother.
"What's the difference?" I pushed on.
"One's a job and the other's a mental sickness!"
"Should I be seeing a difference?"
"Fine. What do you want?"
I made a face. They're not going to answer any of my questions about being kidnapped, if they have any intelligence at all. And on second thoughts, I'm not screwed to ask either. "I'm bored. I spy, you spy?"
"Hell no! There's no way a genius like me's going to sink that low," Bel replied snobbily.
"Tch. You guys don't seem very scary. Are you sure we're talking about the right Varia here?" I pondered. "Isn't the Varia meant to be all powerful, intimidating and ruthless? I gotta say, if this is it, I'm kinda disappointed."
"Would you like to see us all powerful, intimidating and ruthless?" Bel threatened.
I ignored him. "Come to think of it, you guys are just killing time, so to speak. If you really had business with me, you wouldn't exactly be sitting all nicely, right?" I decided. "Who're you really after?"
"Do you think we'd actually -"
"Wait – don't answer that. I've got it...it's Dino no wait; Squalo right?" I finally realized. "God I'm an idiot...he'd never join an assassination squad by choice; he's not a psychopathic killer -"
"For the last time: WE ARE NOT PSHYCHOPATHIC -"
"-always thought he was a little loopy. Considering the fact that you're coming after me and not him; it must mean he's already rejected you. Ah suck – you can't even get -" I drabbled on thoughtfully.
"Oi Lussuria….is she having a conversation with herself?" Bel whispered to the older boy.
"Is she usually like this?" Lussuria whispered back.
"How the fuck am I meant to know?" Bel pointed out.
"- which is why you can't kill me," I finished triumphantly. "Am I right?" Lussuria and Bel just looked at me like I was crazy. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked, confused.
They shared a glance. "Shut up, and sit still."
"Can you turn on the radio?"
"No."
"A CD?"
"No."
"Open a window?"
"No."
"Do you have AIDS?"
Bel leapt forward, and threw a cushion at my face. "Can you shut up?"
I frowned, shaking my head. "No. See? Now you know how it feels."
In Squalo and Dino's room...
"Slow down Squalo!" Dino tried to coax, only to realise that his comments weren't improving Squalo's mood in the slightest.
But Squalo wasn't listening. He flipped through his clothes drawer and upturned everything on his desk, clearly searching for something.
"What are you looking for? I'll help..." Dino tried again.
"GPS," Squalo muttered while flicking through a few of his textbooks.
"Why do you need a GPS?" Dino murmured confused. "Can't you just borrow one?"
"It's special. You know that necklace she wears?"
"The shark one she doesn't take off?"
"Exactly. She always has it, so my Mom put in a transmitter and gave me the GPS for emergencies," Squalo explained.
Dino paused, and suddenly scrambled to his suitcase, and started flipping through it. "Is this it?" he asked, taking out a device that looked suspiciously like a PSP.
In a limousine...
"Pull over," the girl insisted.
"No," Bel snapped back.
"I'm gonna puke..." she fretted. (Puke - the magic word for any situation).
"Driver, pull over," Lussuria sighed, quickly tapping glass that separated the two compartments.
You got three minutes, peasant," Bel compromised. The girl ran out of the car into a nearby clump trees. Glancing once to make sure she didn't run off, Bel put his feet on the seat opposite of him and exhaled. That was one annoying bitch.
"You sure it's okay just to leave her alone?" Lussuria asked.
"Do you want to watch kid puke?"
"Fair point."
I smirked as I ran.
Without a doubt, they would find me. But I could at least buy time for Squalo, right? I had no idea where I was, but I reminded myself that every step I took was a step away from them.
The feeling was unbelievable.
Crack. Someone (or was it something?) was coming. I climbed a tree and tried to look inconspicuous. Was I being paranoid? This place looked like a national park of sorts – so it could've someone dumping a body. Or a rabid dog. But my luck didn't play out. It was that Belphegor freak.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...I love hide and seek..." he declared, and turned to face me. My blood ran cold. I was twenty feet off the ground. There was a thick foliage of spring leaves in front of me. His eyes were definitely covered by his hair. How the hell did he know where I was? Unless...no way.
He must've had one of those creepy sixth sense things.
"Return to the vehicle," he ordered, staring me in the eye. Well...it was kinda implied through his hair.
"Don't want to."
"Return or die."
"I'll die thanks." Stepping off the branch and into air, I landed in a crouched position. "The real question is, are you going to kill me? You're ordered to bring me in alive, right?"
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...that would be naïve. My orders didn't say you had to be in one piece."
...Crap. Bel lunged forward, one of his weird looking knives in hand. I didn't know what to do. So I dived between his legs and ran.
I was furious. I'd been at Mafia High for almost five months; and there wasn't a single class labelled 'how to take down a phony prince 101' or '20 foolproof tricks to talk your way out of being hacked to pieces'. What would Squalo do?
Suddenly an image of Squalo with long hair and a sword strapped to his hand screaming 'VOI!' popped up in my head. I slapped myself. The day Squalo had long hair, would probably be the day hell freezed over.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...got you peasant..." Bel giggled, directly behind me. I cursed myself. I'd let my own fantasies get to my head again. I rolled and dodge, but Bel was just as fast.
"Oi Bel! Share the prey!" Lussuria chimed. Eh? Where did he come from?
"Face it, Squalo's never going to join your damn assassination squad; so why don't you just go that-a-way and I'll go in the opposite direction?" I offered brightly.
"Tch. The Varia needs recruitments. And everyone has their weaknesses - but your brother is what we would call a perfect candidate. He has no weaknesses," Lussuria began in a sing-song voice.
"Physically," Bel interjected. "Then there's you. Call it sibling love."
"Ah ha! You don't actually know about our relationship, do you? What if I was to tell you that we hate each other and try to kill each other every day?" I lied convincingly. It wasn't much of a lie actually; Squalo enjoyed sparring too much.
"You've been alive for seven years. You even share a room with him. Seeing that neither of you are dead; it's obvious you get along just fine," Lussuria chipped in.
I made a face. "He's a guy. I don't share a room with him."
"We have evidence."
"No you don't."
The phony prince frowned. "Yeah, we do."
"No, you definitely don't."
"Stop wasting time!" he hissed, raising his knives. "Get back to the car."
"Limo."
"What?!"
I sighed. "I thought you were meant to be smart. Obviously, there's a difference between a car and a limo."
*Knife glints*
Great. Now I'd hit a brick wall. Time to improvise. "Tell you what. Let's play a game. You're coming after me, because you can't take on Squalo. And Squalo, without a doubt, knows the Varia has me. Just imagine what he'll do to you if he finds out that I'm dead?"
"But you're not dead," Lussuria pointed out. "Though you're making it rather tempting."
"Do you think he would care if it was you who killed me, or if I committed suicide in your hands?" I tested. I tried to take another step back, but my back hit wood. Now I'd hit a wood wall. Even better.
Belphegor laughed out loud. "You don't have the guts!" he sneered, throwing a knife beside my head. I raised an eyebrow, wondering on how serious he was.
"Uh Bel?" Lussuria muttered nervously.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...the peasant's not going to do it."
People fear death. It's simply human nature. It's fair to say that if you don't fear death, you're not quite human.
But I don't. (so strictly speaking, I'm a martian)
I was a fool when I was a kid. What's the big deal about living? No one can live forever. Death always wins, right?
So I slit my wrist.
I even felt at peace for a moment - and then the moment faded. Ouch. PAIN. As the world tipped on its side, I could only hear that freaky laugh...echoing over and over...~Ushi shi shi shi~...
Dino and Squalo's room...
"I've got it," Squalo muttered. He grabbed his sword, and made his way towards the door.
"I'll come with you," Dino decided, following.
Squalo froze. It was now or never. "Dino...I've been meaning to talk to you. There's something important I need to tell you."
Dino picked up his keys and twirled the key ring on his finger. "Is now the best time? Shouldn't we be going to save Serena about, I don't know, now?"
Squalo sighed, put down his sword and sat down; serious and glum. "Dino, I've been thinking and well..."
Varia HQ...
Tyr paced the room. Bel and Lussuria were late. How long could it take two professional assassins to kidnap one kid? Embarrassing.
As if on cue, the door slammed open and three figures stumbled through the door. Correction: two pushed and one stumbled.
"Our apologies Boss," Lussuria sighed.
"The peasant kept trying to escape," Bel growled.
Tyr stared at the child who seemed anything but terrified. It was downright unusual. "Five hours late. Honestly, why the hell did you bother tying her up? What happened to your hair Lussuria?"
Hair. The bastard was talking about hair.
I didn't wait for an answer. I elbowed Bel and Lussuria, and then made a wild dash for the window. Lussuria caught my left foot as my body passed through the window. He threw a 'see what I mean?' expression to his 'boss'.
"The peasant pretended she needed to puke and ran off – then tried to commit suicide; we took a detour to the hospital, tied up her to be careful – second time she broke the window at a police checkpoint and we were stuck in a car chase; third time she yelled in the driver's ear, the car fell off a cliff and exploded; he died – we gagged her and took a cab back," Bel finished in one breath. I personally thought that was rather impressive.
Tyr backhanded me.
At least the gag fell out. "All right, I probably deserved that one. I never thought the guy would actually drive us off the cliff. He has my condolences. Do you want me to pay compensation?" I offered as tears stung my eyes. I felt ready to collapse any second. Huh. I'd forgotten what excessive blood loss felt like.
Lussuria kneed me in the gut, pushing me butt first onto a sofa. Oh. Thanks for the seat.
"I probably deserved that one too. Sorry bout you hair. I mean, it'll grow back right? You don't look to bad – I mean; being half bald could be the newest...thing. And you could always wear a wig right?" I exclaimed, trying to sound enthusiastic. "You know, baldness doesn't determine age."
The only person who didn't seem offended by any of my comments, was their boss. "Yo, big guy. When my brother gets here, he'll beat the fucking shit out of you. And then he'll beat up your fucking shit."
The guy grabbed the front of my school shirt. "I'd like to see him try."
Oh man, I feel light-headed. "Your name's Tyr, right? If you rearrange that, it turns into try. So your name just oozes failure. It's like you don't know how to try," I giggled.
He let go of my shirt, and I fell back onto the sofa. "Take her downstairs. I don't have time to deal with this."
Bel grudgingly dragged me out of the room. I tried (lol, try) to remember the rights and lefts, but the place was a labyrinth. Finally, we came to a dungeon of sorts, and Bel threw me into the room.
I skidded down the stairs and rolled a few times on the metal floor. "Have a nice day phony prince!" I called after Bel. He ignored me.
Stuck.
Yet again.
Meanwhile in the previous room...
"Have you sent the message to Superbi Squalo?" Tyr snapped to a passing low rank member.
"He's already on his way."
"Hn. He'd better be worth the trouble."
"Lussuria, did you get what I asked for?" Tyr growled.
"Yes Boss. Took me a while to beat the information out of them though," Lussuria muttered, dragging a manila folder out of his inner coat pocket. "That school's security is as annoying as ever."
Tyr grabbed the folder and skimmed through it.
Name: Serena di Squalo
D.O.B: Friday 13th June 19** (almost 8)
Blood Type: O
Height: 4'3"
Weight: 20.2 kg
BMI: 12, underweight
General Medical Report: Poor eyesight (-4.5); uses contact lenses, partial deafness, poor eye-foot coordination (careless), old injury on left arm (muscle damage), ADHD, mild dyslexia, mild autism.
Blood Relatives: Mother (deceased), Father (deceased), Aunt (deceased), older brother (see pg 3)
Appearance: White/Grey hair, grey eyes, usually seen with a hat, skinny, little muscle mass. (see photo)
Life summary: Currently attends Mafia High, first year student. Parents assassinated recently, good friends with Dino Cavallone (see pg 3); close with brother, otherwise socially inept.
Skills: Plays piano. Can fluently speak French, Japanese, Italian, English; rusty Spanish, Chinese, German and Russian. Utilises several martial art styles (including aikido, karate, taekwondo). Weapon choices vary, swords, archery. Immune to most drugs and poisons. Right handed.
Killing history: 1 (see pg 15)
Notes: Serena is a good student, constantly annoys and argues with teachers (apparently unaware of this). Informal, appears unfocused, honest. Strong willed, bad at holding grudges. Wants to be 'alive', yet is seemingly unafraid of death.
Current Status: Alive
"Boss, does this girl bother you?" Lussuria asked innocently.
"I thought she might make a good candidate for the Varia," Tyr shrugged.
"You think she has Varia quality?" Lussuria accused, clearly surprised. "She's still a child! Come to think of it, when you asked for her file, you hadn't even met her yet."
"She's one of a kind. You saw for yourself."
Lussuria made a face. "Wait, so we're just going to recruit her too?"
"No. She doesn't have the experience. It's not her nature to kill. It's her nature to die."
In the Varia basement...
I didn't know how long I'd been stuck in the cell.
I figured they were trying to make me lose my sanity. Too bad I'd already lost it. They'd taken my watch after I started counting every passing second out loud; but at least that told me someone was responsible for me. How thoughtful.
Air came through a vent I couldn't reach; light was artificial, and I couldn't hear anything outside the room. The door was bolted shut, metal into metal.
I'd fallen asleep at some point and woken up by the sound of footsteps. At the time, I'd had my legs tucked up to my chest and head resting against the wall. It was absolutely freezing; I could barely feel my fingers. The footsteps paused beside me, and a few seconds later, a foot prodded me.
"Hey! You don't know where that shoe's been..." I grumbled. "What is it now?" I saw a face a I didn't recognize. Definitely wasn't the pissed off guard I saw yesterday.
"I-I'm...I uh...was just delivering your uh...breakfast," the guy muttered awkwardly, setting down a tray and turning to leave.
"I'm sorry; thought you were the PMS'ing guy from yesterday. What's your name?" I asked kindly. This guy seemed like nice.
"I'm Raymond...Raymond Ferris," the guy murmured.
I stood up, dusted myself off and offered a hand. "Serena. You know, got here yesterday, kidnapped from school and all. Sup?" He took my hand, but looked like he was afraid that I was going to chew his face off or something. "Do you know what time it is?" I suddenly asked, worried that I'd overslept.
"9:30."
"Morning or afternoon?"
"Morning."
"You wanna share breakfast with me?"
"..."
So that's how we met. Raymond was a relatively ordinary guy; seventeen, tech genius and stuck working for the Varia. And he was pretty nice too; he even gave me his scarf when he realised I was freezing my ass off.
"Why'd you join?" I wondered. The guy really did look slightly depressed.
"Nobody joins the Varia by choice; except some of the high ups. Like Belphegor? He's the first in a while. They made me join when I was 13. Missed out on my teen years coz of them," he sighed. "Not everyone in the Varia's that bad though. It's just the assassins you gotta be careful of - they're assholes most of the time."
"Yeah...I figured as much," I sighed. "What's up with the Tyr guy? I thought the Varia was part of the Vongola family? Serving the Ninth and all?"
"I'm not too sure about that; when the Ninth came to power, the Varia was formed, and Tyr mysteriously became the leader."
"That reeks of a textbook answer."
He laughed. "Fair enough. No one likes him; he has crazy mood swings; he's just no fun to be around. Not much of a leader either."
"I'd always heard the Vongola Ninth was a real swell guy. If he approves of Tyr kidnapping and exploiting a bunch of kids, he must really be a jackass."
"He's a good man," Raymond argued. "Though I agree he makes some shit-assed decisions. Ah sorry, I swore..."
"Big deal. I'd go insane if I don't hear a 'fuck' or a 'shit' every now and then. So I hope Squalo beats the living shit out of the both of them. Tyr first. The Ninth can wait."
Raymond looked solemn. "Tyr is the current sword emperor - *realises blank face* - which pretty much means he's like the best swordsman in the world. There's only ever one sword emperor - and I've never heard him lose a battle before."
"My brother's never lost a battle either," I insisted defiantly.
"Yeah, well, I dunno what they've decided, but you can't guarantee that they're going to go one on one. Everyone's hoping someone replaces Tyr. The Varia's a shithole these days, people aren't even scared of us any more."
Well, I couldn't argue with that. "Why don't you just leave or quit?" I pointed out. "It's obvious you hate it here."
He sighed deeply. "The only way you can leave the Varia, is in a coffin."
"Wood or metal?"
"Cardboard."
"That sucks."
"That's life."
There was a crackle from his pocket, and I saw him take out a walkie talkie like thing. "Bring the prisoner to the field. Over."
"Looks like you're bro's here," he announced, standing up.
Squalo was pissed. He'd spent the whole night catching various trains and buses to get to the Varia headquarters, and he hadn't even given a second thought onto what he would do once he got there. His mind had been rooted completely on the horrible words he had said to Dino.
"You're just going to get in my way. Don't you know when you're not wanted, Cavallone?"
He didn't really think of Dino like that. He didn't want his friend involved in his mess. Dino deserved more than that; and ending their friendship wasn't easy. He could only wish that one day, Dino would understand.
As the Varia mansion came into his view, he quickly listed the options he had. An all out attack? Silent assassination? A diversion?
But they were already waiting.
Squalo scowled. Fuck this shit.
The moment I saw Squalo, my heart fluttered. Well, since I didn't have my contact lenses, I could only make out his blurry figure. "Squalo!" I proclaimed, kicking Bel in the stomach and began to run towards Squalo. Unfortunately, Bel grabbed my ankle and I fell on my face.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...gotcha, peasant bitch."
I kicked him in the face. In return he pulled me to my feet by my hair.
"VOI! Let her go!" Squalo boomed, drawing his sword.
"Put the sword away kid, or the girl gets it..." Tyr growled, sword in front of my neck.
Calmly, I pushed away his blade with two fingers. "Squalo! You came. Wow. Did you know, they have oatmeal for breakfast here? Awful. Just...bleurgh. How's life?"
"Are you okay?" he asked, a touch of concern in his voice.
That...is not a proper answer. "Nah, these people aren't that bad," I stated with a shrug. "They're not that scary or dangerous if that's – *insert whack on the head* - what you mean."
I glared at Bel. He smirked back and stuck out his tongue me.
"Go fuck yourself, you phony prince..."
"Watch your mouth peasant."
"I am not a fucking peasant!"
"Shut up you two!" Levi hissed.
"Shut your pie hole you pervy old man!" Bel and I yelled in unison. Realizing we'd said the same thing, we glared daggers at each other.
"You two are more alike than you know it you know!" Lussuria advised.
"How dare you compare me to a peasant!" Bel threatened.
"If you want us to start treating you like a prince, you're going to have to pay upfront," Mammon concluded.
"A prince doesn't have to pay to prove his royalty," Bel theorized. "And if you question my royalty again, I'll skewer you," he continued, flipping out a handful of knives.
"VOI! What the hell are you people doing?" Squalo yelled, clearly pissed that they'd completely ignored him for the past few minutes.
"Join the Varia, or the girl dies," Tyr proposed. (They cringed at remembering that their boss had been there the whole time).
"She dies; you all die!" Squalo warned menacingly.
"I vote we pull out her fingernails one at a time," Levi suggested. "Or electrocution."
"Nah, I was wandering around the other day and I found a medieval rack; I've always wanted to see someone with all their joints dislocated," Mammon shrugged casually. "Just think about how much money you could earn along the way..."
"Brutal beating's a personal favourite," Lussuria mused. "I suppose sensory deprivation works too."
"~Ushi shi shi shi~... cutting body parts off is a classic," Bel conceded. "The blood smell's wonderful."
"Uh...Squalo? Is this the Varia you told me about for my assignment? They seem kinda...anticlimatic. Can I go home now?" I yawned.
"Everyone SHUT UP!" Tyr hollered.
"You shut up," I muttered quietly.
Squalo made up his mind. "You're Tyr right? Let's make a deal. One on one combat with any one of you assholes. I lose, you can have her. I win; I take her and the Varia leaves us alone."
"You either join or don't join; if you do, she walks free. If you don't, I'm sure they'd enjoy her company..." Tyr assured, the edge of his sword lightly tracing my face. "However, if you challenge me to one on one combat you'll die, and then we'll have fun with her."
"And what if I win?" Squalo pushed on.
"If by some chance you do kill me, you'll be promoted to and Officer," Tyr reasoned. "From there, you determine the safety of your sister."
"How is that fair?" I yelled, sick of being used as leverage. "I'll kill you all!"
They ignored me.
"Deal or no deal?" Tyr asked forcefully.
"Deal," Squalo muttered, scowling. He'd just kill everyone else afterwards.
"No deal!" I interjected. "Squalo, just walk away!"
"I got you into this mess, and if this is what frees you then done!" Squalo insisted. "I'm not walking away without you!"
"You can't quit the Varia! Ever! And how can you trust these people? What if they don't keep their word?" I accused.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...the Varia always keeps its promises," Bel claimed. Why did that reek of a lie?
"Then let's start," Tyr finished suddenly and began to charge.
"All right then. Let's go kid," Levi growled, picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.
"OI! Sexual abuse! Physical abuse! 911!" I screeched, trying to get a headlock around Levi's head.
All I could do was watch, as Squalo and Tyr became blurs.
1237. Again. I punched the wall as hard as I could. 1238. And again. 1239. I was the weak link. 1240. Squalo was in a risky fight because of me. 1241. And I couldn't even escape. 1242. My hands were bruised to the bone; if not fractured; but I was too pissed to realize.
It'd been at least two hours since the start of their fight; and as I was neither free or dead, I assumed the fight was ongoing.
A ten minute sword fight could feel like a year of torture. Even the best swordsmen couldn't last forever; eventually one of them would run out of stamina.
Eventually one of them would die.
I drifted out of my thoughts when I heard the lock being undone. Quickly, I stood in the middle of the room in a fighting stance.
This could be it.
But it was just Raymond. "I've got lunch. You okay?" he muttered suspiciously, looking at my hands. Relieved, I slunk into a more casual position and shrugged. "Your brother's definitely better than I thought he would be..." he continued, trying to cheer me up. "He might actually have a shot at this."
Suddenly I had an escape plan.
"Raymond?" I muttered questionably, guilt rising in my chest.
"Wassup?" he asked brightly.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
I knocked him out.
Originally I'd been planning to do a strike to the temple, but I changed my mind mid strike and hit his neck instead. I managed to sort of catch him before he hit the ground, but I felt terrible.
Alarm bells started ringing the moment I left the room. In that spilt second, I decided. Hell with it all; if they attempted to kill me, then they were as good as dead. If they didn't, then they'd live. Simple as that.
"Emergency transmission! Emergency transmission! All units alert! Prisoner on the loose! Emergency lockdown!"
Urgh. About time they sent a message.
CRASH! Great. I ran into another person – a maid this time. She stared at me and tried to back away, terrified.
"I'm sorry! If I don't die, I'll give you a proper apology," I insisted, getting back up. "You wouldn't happen to know where the exit is? *insert frozen face* Never mind then. Have a nice day!" I ducked and knocked the breath out of another guy.
I opened a few more doors before I entered a fancy living room: plush carpets, drapes, a complete bar; shit like that. I didn't see the exit, so I turned around to leave - but found the giant pervy guy in my path. What was his name again? Pretty sure it was well known jeans brand...
"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he growled, opening his arms which made the umbrellas on his back mysteriously open and charge with electricity.
"Oh shut up Gandolf!" I yelled back, pushing off a couch and aimed a kick at him in his neck. Bullseye. The umbrellas dropped to the floor, useless.
About to leave, I had some deperate feeling to turn around and jump – was that what Squalo called instinct? Not a second too late either – Lussuria. "Don't get overconfident that you beat Levi; he's the weakest of the officers," he gloated.
I blinked. You're the one who sounds overconfident. "Nice job with the hair. Mohawk. Yup. Now if you don't mind, I'm just gonna go..." I muttered, making hand motions towards the door.
Suddenly Lussuria started circling me; and the guy was fast. Good footwork. "You know Lussuria, fancy feet ain't gonna make you win," I chided, choosing the right place to stand.
"Sayonara!" Lussuria sang as he jumped up, flipped and aimed his knee at my head and grinned evilly.
I rolled my eyes, waited for the absolute last moment and sidestepped.
There was no way he could change direction mid-jump; and I'd been standing in front of the bar. I estimated he'd destroyed twenty thousand dollars worth of liquor.
"It's arrivederci, jackass..." I shrugged to myself as I used Levi as a human bridge. The alcohol had created a large puddle.
I felt like I was going in circles; but the rooms were different every time. Crash! Guy's bathroom. Crash! Room full of violin cases and AK-47's. Crash! Games room. Crash! Kitchens. Frustrated, I kicked open the last door in the corridor.
Oh. Just my luck. A certain prince was waiting with his feet on the table. (Honestly; wouldn't a prince know better?)
It was a dining room. "~Ushi shi shi shi~...what luck," he speculated, standing up and started striding towards me. "I'm in a bad mood, so I might as well try a new technique...stay still, will you?"
Hell no! I bolted, skidding underneath the dining table – which was thankfully huge. As the lack of friction kept me sliding, I saw knives thud through the table in a line, as if they were following me. As I shot out the other end, Bel jumped on me; unarmed. He threw a few punches, I threw a few back.
I couldn't decide what he was doing; one moment he was attacking, the next he was laughing at his own reflection. He was just like those people in mental hospitals; moving around like he was drunk, giggling more than usual. What was with this guy? I'd only managed to make his nose bleed.
Suddenly, I caught him in a leg lock; he got me in an arm lock.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...if you move, you won't be able to move that arm for three days..." he threatened.
I tried to shift my position a little, but his vice-like grip held me there. "Oh yeah? You won't be able to walk for four."
His smiled grew larger. "First to the finish then?"
What finish line?! In the end, it was his move. He cracked my shoulder, I cracked his leg. I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes as tightly as I could. When I opened my eyes, I tried to ignore the red tinge in my eyesight.
But I was out. I could see the exit. And there was no one left to stop me. Except Viper. Well...that's what I knew him as. I was pretty sure the other Varia people called him Mammon or something.
"Serena di Squalo...I didn't think I would see you again," he droned with a bored expression.
"Same here, Viper. Though technically, I just saw you," I pointed out. "So how's life? Making some good coin?"
"Are you kidding? The Varia's salary epic. And it's Mammon. But I'm going to get a sweet bonus if I catch you," he sighed. "Which means you can't leave this building!" Mammon raised his hands dramatically.
I blinked. Was something meant to happen?
"Which one is real?" he continued, all mystical like.
"Um...you're right there," I pointed. "Is this a joke or something? Wait give me a sec..." I quickly shook my head to clear my mind, and put on a confused expression. "Oh my God! You disappeared! It's magic!"
Mammon was gobsmacked. No one had ever seen through his illusion. And yet, she wasn't mocking him – she was trying to make him feel better.
"I was going to beat you up, but thanks for the being nice to me when I was like, younger. Ciao!" I waved, and ran outside the door.
Mammon stared at the closing door. He now had no doubts that this was the girl from the prophecy Luche had predicted.
I grinned to myself. I'd made it out of that shithole. Finally. All I had to do was get through the woods, then blend in with the public. Squalo and Tyr would probably be somewhere in the woods; I'd make sure he saw me – and we'd leave together. End of story.
Well...that was the general idea. I heard dogs barking, glanced back and when I turned around again, I ran straight into a low branch.
Ouch. Trees hurt. A lot.
My mind froze, and I sat blankly for what felt like seconds; but must've been minutes. I swear I'll burn down every tree I ever see! Wait. That's bad for the environment.
I'd failed.
Because of a damn tree.
The Epic Duel...
Squalo ducked, and tried to hack at the guy – he got him; just a small nick, but it was better than nothing. They'd fought throughout the whole night; he was out of energy. He hadn't slept for three days, or eaten for two. His pride was the only thing that kept him going.
They clashed swords again, and Squalo pushed Tyr back. They were both panting.
"Five minutes?" Squalo muttered.
"Three."
Careful not to turn his back to the older man, he ripped up his jacket and did a basic tourniquet on what remained of his left arm. He was almost there; understanding Tyr's movements were becoming easier. He still couldn't believe that his hand was gone for good; but he reminded himself that it was just a small price to pay.
More than one life depended on this battle.
When he looked up, he saw that a messenger was talking to Tyr. "It seems she ran into a tree – she's heavily sedated in the medical wing at the moment."
"And the casualties?"
"Well...uh... 29 dead, 32 injured and 14 in intensive care," the guy said nervously. "What do you want us to do with her?"
Tyr considered for a moment, and made up his mind. "It seems we have a new recruit. A fine officer. And if she needs some persuasion, I'm sure you can think of something."
"VOI!" Squalo was pissed. That was without a doubt – Serena. He couldn't let her join an assassination squad. It wasn't her nature. "That wasn't part of the deal you fucking asshole!" he exploded, charging at Tyr.
And so the fight ensued.
In the nicer part of the Varia HQ...
When I thought back, that was the first time I dreamt of my reality. Before it'd always been about Alexandra, or some delusional dream about recent events in my life. But this dream was just so realistic...
Squalo was battling Tyr. He'd lost his left hand – on purpose. But he won. I just couldn't decide at the time on whether it was a vision, or another delusional dream.
I woke up slowly, not even remembering going to sleep. White walls. IV drips. Pyjamas. The beeping of a heart monitor. Yup, I was back in a hospital. Again.
Guilt. The burden was heavy. I killed people. I hurt people. People that didn't really deserve to die. One of my arms was in a sling. Right. That damn prince dislocated my shoulder. Shifting my other arm, I heard a gentle clink of metal. Handcuffs. They'd be overly thick if they hadn't taken precautions.
I heard a sigh. "It seems you do have unnatural abilities."
"And you are...?"
"Lawson. Doctor actually, but titles don't matter here," the guy muttered. He was sitting in a chair a metre or two away from me.
I tried to squint to get a better view of his face, but I could only get as far as grey hair and thin glasses.
"Don't squint. How do you feel?"
I had to think about that for a second. "Like I went to hell, lost a few things and came back."
"Yeah well, getting electrocuted, knocked out, attempting suicide, going on a rampage against the world's most dangerous assassination squad and running head first into a tree all within the span of three days kinda does that to you. I'm supposing that the morphine's not working on you either?" he questioned in a doctorly way.
"Not a chance. Your diagnosis?"
"Serious concussion."
A few seconds of silence passed between us, before he spoke again. "You seem to be taking this quite well. Anyone else would've passed out by now."
"Yeah, well, the mafia does that to you. And I just went on a rampage, and you're asking me how I'm feeling," I began, almost angry. "Logically speaking, the Varia would've killed me. So why am I in a hospital being 'looked after'?"
"Tyr's last command was to recruit you," Lawson sighed. "As an officer, no less. Well, you did cause quite a bit of havoc."
What? Recruit? That wasn't important. Had that dream become reality? "Where's Squalo? He's alive, right? Holy shit, tell me he's alive!"
"Your brother won the fight; but we couldn't save his left hand. He's fatigued and suffering from blood loss - though it should be a smooth recovery."
"Can I see him then...?"
"No." It wasn't Lawson that replied. It was Bel. That stupid prince.
"I see you're on crutches. Squalo won. What's the meaning of this shit?!" I demanded.
"Let's chat."
"Great. Hello, how are you? I'm fine thank you, how about you? Oh not too bad. Nice weather? Oh, definitely. You know what? I've really enjoyed our little chat - so if you don't mind, I'm just going to see my brother."
"Ah, but I do recall, there's a pair of handcuffs on your left hand," Bel reminded me. "The hospital bed's bolted into the ground. Good luck getting out of that, peasant."
Dang. Didn't think that far.
"Why do you care? Tyr's dead; and no one liked him anyway! I bet his mother committed suicide. So why are you following a dead man's orders?" I asserted.
"Let's rephrase this. I follow the Varia's orders; and the last order the Varia gave out was to sign you up."
"Tch. Working for trash. Some prince. You can do whatever you want with me, but I ain't joining," I advised.
He frowned, clearly irritated. "~Ushi shi shi shi~...I've been thinking; torture, drugs, threats; and this is the best I've come up with," Bel giggled darkly and turned on a T.V in the corner. There was a grainy image – but I could clearly see Squalo.
"This is, as Lawson said here, two doors down. I'll prove it." Bel hobbled outside the room, and seconds later, appeared on the screen, grinning as madly as ever. He went right next to Squalo, prodded his face a few times and came back into my room.
I felt my hands clench, and I could hear the heart monitor quicken its pace. "Whoopdidoo. I'm so scared."
"Now, I popped down to our research facility, and look at what I found!" he sang, pulling out a test tube marked 'Chimera'.
"Let me guess. You watched a movie called Mission Impossible 2, and now you're going to put an incurable disease on my brother," I informed sarcastically. "Well that ain't gonna work. Technically, Squalo's a Varia Officer now. You're not allowed to kill him; so suck."
Bel grinned cynically. "Lawson – I believe you were one of the creators. Care to explain?"
"Chimera was just the name taken because of the movie – but it's actually a lot worse," Lawson explained grimly. "The thing is, it doesn't kill you. It just puts you in an unimaginable amount of pain until it receives its antidote: Bellerophon. It's been tested a few times, and the test subjects all went to mental facilities afterwards, with or without the antidote. Belphegor won't be in trouble if he doesn't kill your brother."
*blink*
"YOU – GOD DAMN – SADISTIC – PEOPLE – LET – MY – BROTHER – GO!" I went crazy, thrashing around in my bed, trying to make a grab at Bel. "I – SWEAR – YOU'LL – WISH – YOUR – ROYAL – ASS – THAT - "
My head was killing me. The strain probably wasn't the best thing for my body, but I was too exasperated to care. Lawson administered some weird medicine.
"GET – YOUR – HANDS – OFF – ME!" I yelled, cringing a little when I felt a needle stab my gut.
"That was uncalled for, Belphegor," Lawson muttered as the room started going in weird shades of blue.
"Oh I'm sorry. Look peasant, I don't tell you how to do your job, so you don't tell me how to do mine. Got that, doctor?" Bel sneered.
I laughed. "You know, now that I think about it, you've got no proof that that's actually a really dangerous drug," I growled, slighty dizzy.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...excellent – I always to test this on someone," Bel remembered, taking a syringe from his pocket, hobbling to me. "Video camera, anyone?"
"You can't be doing this! If you administer Chimera to her, she could die!" Lawson argued.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...then, how would you like to be the guinea pig?" Bel wondered darkly. "Such a kind man, volunteering to give your life away for a girl you just met..."
"H-Hold on a second!" Lawson panicked, backing to a wall.
"Bel. Stop it," I warned.
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...why should I? He defied an officer; that's a punishable crime in the Varia," Bel recalled.
All right. Lawson stood up for me. He risked his life. Squalo risked his life. The loss of his arm was on my conscience. ...My brain hurt.
These were the times in which I would make the worst decisions; but fuck the world. What'd I have to lose? I'd already lost my dignity. "Lawson was only protecting another Varia Officer. You have no right to punish him," I insisted.
"Another Varia Officer...?"
I glared, and took a deep breath. "I'll join the fucking Varia."
"~Ushi shi shi shi~...nice doing business with you, peasant."
Humor seems to be pretty low these past few chapters; sorry about that. Dino doesn't appear that much either... I never really figured out Tyr's personality, so this is my version of him.
Have a nice day, ciao~! :]