A/N: Hey guys, Sushi*Bomb here, and I come bearing Chapter 10 of Phases of Accidia! Huzzah!
I want to thank everyone who reviews my stories, I always love to read your feedback. I'm working on D.I.T.D. and C.I.! And I should have those chapters up soon, I promise!
Okay, so I was writing to get into the holiday spirit, and this was supposed to be cute and light-hearted, and somehow became something completely different. Nonetheless, I must say that I am more proud of this piece than anything else I've written so far. I'm warning you now, it gets pretty dark towards the end.
Oh, BTW. This one-shot has the highest word count so far, at 6,335 words. Cool huh?
Warnings: This is my first time introducing an OC, but please don't click that back button! I know some people hate OC's (I know I do), but for the purpose of the story…aya! Just read it!
*Sigh* Alright. On with Chapter 10.
Disclaimer: Sushi*Bomb does not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Now GTFO.
X. Angels in the Snow
One winter afternoon, Belphegor was strolling down a busy street after completing a rather easy assignment. With his hands stuffed in the deep pockets of his Varia trenchcoat, and the fur-lined hood drawn up over his crown of gold, the nine-year old yawned as he trudged down the avenue, rubbing his eye tiredly.
"Man, I'm so freaking bored…maybe I'll just walk around a bit before heading back to base. Ushishi~!" The prince smiled as he turned a corner. The sudden sound of laughter and rough-housing drew him to the entrance of a park.
Belphegor pursed his lips.
Whoever was making all that noise, they were being obnoxiously loud.
The prince curiously peaked his head in through the gate, only to be pelted in the face with a snowball. Belphegor shook the fluffy white snow out of his hair angrily, simultaneously whipping out one of his knives. Whoever threw that snowball is in deep shit.
The royal child growled as he stalked over to a clearing, where a group of kids were engaged in a snowball fight. Belphegor scanned the crowd of children, trying to single out the moron who was about to lose his guts.
At least he was, until…
POOF!
The blonde hissed, wiping the cold wet snow off of his pale face, enraged at the person's balls. How dare they pelt Prince Belphegor with a bloody snowball! Did they know who they were messing with? A couple of boys ran over to the fuming prince. Belphegor prepped his knife.
"Hey blondie, get the hell outta the way!" A black haired boy yelled as he skidded to a stop in front of the young assassin. Belphegor glared at the boy snobbishly.
"Who threw that snowball at me?" The prince seethed out, pushing back his hood to shake a lone clump of snow out of his hair. He immediately heard a few snorts and giggles. He stared the lot of them down ferociously. They dare laugh at a prince?
One of the boys had the cheek to poke his tiara, pushing it further down the side of his thick hair.
"Nice crown! What are you, some kind of princess? HA!" The dark haired boy sneered condescendingly, earning rounds of raucous laughter from his friends. Belphegor felt his blood boiling.
They won't be laughing when they're trying to keep their intestines from spilling out. The prince thought viciously, gripping the hilt of his oddly shaped knife tightly. One of the other boys stepped forward, tapping Bel on the forehead.
"Hey dumbass, don't you know only girls walk around with fake crowns on?" More laughter. The blonde hitman seethed.
"It's not fake, peasant. I'm a real prince." he said arrogantly, sniffing in disdain. Man, these guys were really asking for it.
"Can you even see us? What's wrong with your hair?" Another boy asked, waving his hand in Belphegor's face. The other boys laughed.
"Maybe he's blind!" The group of boys continued their never-ending round of chortles.
"Wow. You guys must really have a deathwish. Ushishishi~! I'll be more than happy to grant it for you…" The prince smirked, twirling his knife in his hand. The black haired boy stepped up, looking unintimidated. He stood a few inches taller than the blonde hitman.
"What are you gonna do, princess?" He leered down at Belphegor, a malicious glint in his green eyes. Bel's smile curled upward, equally malevolent.
Just then, a female voice called out from behind the boys.
"Mario! Stop it!" A girl around their age yelled out as she ran over to the little altercation. The girl stopped beside the black haired boy, whose name was apparently Mario, her hands resting on her knees, panting lightly from running.
"We're not doing anything, Camilla. We just wanted to see if our new friend here was okay, right guys?" Mario asked, looking for back up from his friends. A chorus of 'yeah' and 'that's right' echoed through the small throng of boys. The girl stood with her hands on her hips, giving the dark-haired boy a disapproving look.
"Don't lie brother! I saw you throw that snowball at him on purpose! Apologize or I'll tell Ana!" Belphegor's eyebrows shot up behind his long bangs. So this was the suicidal one? Man, this kid must really hate his life to throw a snowball at a member of the Vongola Famiglia on purpose and then try to harass him too.
Oh well. More fun for the prince. Ushishi ~! Belphegor smiled widely as he stepped closer to the arguing pair of siblings. Camilla slapped her brother over the head, yelling out something. Mario growled, but conceded victory to his sister. The boy made a snappy remark before signaling to his band of chronies to follow him. The girl glared at the lot until they disappeared behind some trees.
She turned to face the rather aggravated looking prince.
"I'm sorry about my brother; he can be kind of a jerk sometimes." The girl said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
"You should be sorry. Your brother almost lost his balls there." Belphegor 'hmphed,' absently flipping his trademark knife up and down in his hand. Emerald eyes followed the knife curiously, if not a bit apprehensively.
"Uh...um...my name's Camilla-" Flip. Catch. Flip. Catch.
The girl smiled awkwardly, still eyeing the knife.
"What's yours?" Flip. Catch.
Belphegor smirked proudly, admiring the nervous crinkling of the girl's eyes. He sniffed haughtily.
"Shishi~! The name's Belphegor. Prince Belphegor. But you hoi polloi can call me your highness." He said, extending his pale hand importantly. Camilla just stared at it.
A beat passed.
The prince cleared his throat in irritation, as he shook his hand in her face expectantly. The girl still looked a bit confused.
Belphegor sighed. Commoners.
"You have to kiss it. I'm a prince." At that, Camilla looked like a lightbulb had gone off in her head.
"You're really a prince? Wow, that's so neat! I've always wanted to meet someone important!" She shouted giddily.
The blonde assassin scoffed, insulted.
"Are you calling the prince a liar?" He asked, his mood souring rapidly at the girl's audacity.
Camilla held up her hands in defense, quickly shaking her head from side to side.
"Oh no, no! I wasn't calling you anything, I swear! It's just…wow. A real life prince. It's a little hard to believe at first. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She said, curtseying politely while placing a feather-light kiss on the prince's hand.
Belphegor smirked arrogantly.
"Yeah, it is your pleasure. " The young elite said condescendingly, snatching his hand out of hers. Surprisingly, the girl didn't seem to be the least bit offended by Belphegor's 'holier-than-thou' attitude.
"Oh! I like your crown by the way…it's really pretty." The dark-haired girl smiled anxiously, staring quite intently at the prince.
"What?" Belphegor glared at her, wondering why her face was suddenly all pink. Camilla steered her green eyes hurriedly to the ground, looking quite bashful. The prince was understandably puzzled by this strange girl's actions.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" He questioned again, stepping closer to the black-haired girl. Camilla hid her face in her thick white mittens, giggling shyly.
"Well…you're...that is...you- you're kind of cute!" She shouted out, immediately slapping her hands back over her face after her little declaration. At that, the young prince felt his face heat up.
Cute? He thought to himself, feeling ashamed of the blush that he knew was rapidly spreading over his boyish face.
A sudden voice called out from somewhere further inside the park.
"Camilla darling! Time to go home!" A feminine voice rang through the trees. Camilla looked back sadly in the direction of the voice before turning back to Belphegor.
"That's my nanny…I gotta go home now. I'm really sorry about my brother picking on you, but it was nice meeting you! You should come play snowballs with us tomorrow! It'll be fun!" She chirped excitedly.
Belphegor gave her a stupid look.
"I don't have time for silly games in the park." Camilla pouted.
"Aww come on! What could possibly be so important that you don't have time to play?" She asked curiously.
Xanxus-sama and the Varia. The prince thought. Outwardly, he shrugged off the question.
"Camilla! Come on! We gotta go!" Belphegor heard the voice of her brother from the opposite end of the park. The dark-haired girl groaned in mild annoyance.
"I'm coming already, hold on!" She shouted back. She grabbed Belphegor's gloved hand, kissing it lightly.
"I hope to see you again tomorrow, Prince Belphegor! Bye!" She said cheerfully as she released the now blushing prince's hand and jogged in the direction of the voices, waving in chipper parting.
Belphegor glanced down at his hand. He swore he could feel it tingling from where Camilla had kissed it before. He felt his face burning even more as he watched her run to an older woman seated on a bench, her brother standing behind her.
He smiled, admiring the contrast of her shiny black hair, which was held up in pigtails against the solid white of her parka and snow boots. Her skin was almost as pale as his own, with long, thick black lashes framing her bright green eyes. A little beauty mark dotted her high cheekbone, giving her an exotic look.
Belphegor stood rooted to his spot. He felt his heart start to race and his breathing become a bit shallow. His head was swirling from a sudden dizziness. The prince had never felt anything like this before.
He willed himself to get moving, before the sun set and he was left wandering around in the dark. As he passed the gate of the park, he looked back over his shoulder, corner of his mouth upturned slightly.
He found himself thinking that Camilla was pretty cute herself.
"What's up with the shrimp?"
"I dunno. Voi, Mammon, tap him."
"I charge a tapping fee of five dollars."
"!"
Xanxus growled. Why were these pieces of shit talking when he was attempting to explain their next mission to them? He looked up from his plate of steak (cooked rare, because he likes it bloody and mooing) to glare heatedly around the table, trying to find the cause of the disturbance, and shoot their fucking balls off.
The others were staring at the youngest member of their crew, who appeared to be daydreaming. An uncharacteristically serene smile graced the boy's regal face, as he absently twirled his spaghetti noodles around his plate. Xanxus irately threw a bread roll at his face, snapping the prince out of his reverie.
"Hey brat. What the fuck is wrong with you?" The Varia boss ground out moodily as the others laughed at the boy's stunned expression at being randomly hit with a bread roll.
"Huh?"
"We have a mission, pay attention." The grumpy sky boss said sharply. Belphegor nodded quickly, feeling remotely lucky that Xanxus was eating steak, thus marginally improving his usually sour disposition.
The six occupants of the dinner table were silent as Xanxus discussed their newest assignment. Belphegor did his best to listen, but kept slipping into little daydreams involving snowball fights, and a certain dark-haired girl kissing his hands.
Despite his previous claims of being too busy, Belphegor found himself in the exact same spot in the park the next day, glancing at the time on his cell phone impatiently.
Where is she? He wondered eagerly, waiting a full three minutes before checking his phone again. He was completely unaware of the massive snowball hurtling towards the back of his head at lightning speed.
POOF!
"AAAH!" The prince cried out comically as he was inelegantly toppled to the ground, crown flying off and everything, and landed face first in the snow. He would have been enraged, were it not for the familiar peels of laughter ringing from somewhere directly above him.
The young hitman pulled himself up off the ground, begrudgingly wiping the melting snow of his heated face.
"I can't believe you actually came! I thought you were too busy for silly games in the park?" Camilla asked, giggling as she helped the prince by brushing snow off of his trenchcoat.
Belphegor scoffed.
"Ushishi~! It's not that, I just had nothing better to do today, so I figured I was charitable enough to occasionally humor a peasant." He said arrogantly, looking around for his now missing tiara.
Camilla laughed, staring at him a bit curiously.
"Yes?"
"Nothing…it's just…you talk pretty fancy for a kid." She pointed out. Belphegor shrugged indifferently.
"Well, I am a prince, after all. I was taught to speak properly from when I was little." He said in an elitist tone, shaking his disheveled hair back into place before slapping his tiara back on his head.
Camilla was apparently over the conversation already. The girl, decked out in black today, grabbed his gloved hand excitedly and dragged him towards the clearing from yesterday. Several children their age seemed to be waiting for her to return. Her brother and his friends, to the prince's immense chagrin, were also present.
She waved the lot of them over eagerly.
"Hey guys, this is my new friend Bel!" Belphegor glared at her upon hearing his little nickname.
"My name is Belphegor. Not Bel." Camilla turned to him, her smile dimming a bit at his evident dislike of the shortening of his name.
"Yeah, but Bel is easier to say. Plus it sounds cuter." She said, beaming at him. A few of the other kids waved in greeting.
The prince sighed agitatedly, but shrugged it off.
Mario stepped in front of the pack of kids, two huge balls of white balanced perfectly in each hand.
"Alright guys, the snowball fight's officially ON!" The other kids cheered in excitement and growing anticipation. The group of kids was soon split into two teams of four, with Mario and Camilla as the team captains. Of course, the prince was on Camilla's team.
Before running into the trees to hide and plot, Mario smirked at Belphegor, brandishing his snowballs in what the blonde assumed was meant to be an intimidating manner.
Belphegor chuckled wickedly as soon as the boy was out of sight. He couldn't kill the older boy, so he supposed pelting him with snowballs filled with rocks until he cried would have to do.
And pelt him he did.
Over the course of a few hours, Belphegor realized his newly discovered love for snowball fights as he hit kid after kid with perfectly deadly accuracy (that is, after Camilla showed him how to make a snowball correctly, upon noticing the sloppy, lopsided quality to each one the prince constructed prior).
Although, He did reserve the rock filled ones for Mario and his lackeys.
Belphegor couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun. He didn't think it was possible to have fun without spilling any blood, but this simple game of throwing snowballs quickly won him over. Aside from killing, this was definitely his new favorite pastime.
As the sun began to set, Belphegor laid in the snow, thoroughly spent. He smiled at the puffs of breath that appeared everytime he exhaled. Camilla lay next to him, arms and legs outstretched. She too was panting lightly.
"Was that your first snowball fight, Bel?" She asked softly, admiring the pinks and oranges of the darkening sky.
Belphegor closed his eyes, inhaling pleasantly.
"Mmhmm."
Camilla rolled over, scooting closer to the blonde. She stared at him, a small smile upon her pallid face.
Feeling like he was being watched, Belphegor opened his eyes and looked back at her, expression hidden behind his sheet of hair.
The dark-haired girl hesitantly reached a hand out and brushed his bangs aside. For some reason, Belphegor felt no reason to stop her.
Her smile widened at seeing the rest of the prince's face. Cool grey locked onto vibrant green. His lips curved upward as well.
"You have pretty eyes." She whispered shyly. Belphegor smiled, just as coyly.
"So do you."
Day after day was spent in the park, having snowball fights, laughing and rough-housing in the snow with the other kids. Even Mario, who the prince had eventually befriended, despite their initial trepidation. After realizing the mischievous nature they had in common, the two became quite close.
Most of all, Belphegor enjoyed the time he spent with Camilla, who over the course of the week, he quickly developed a rather large crush on. And the feelings definitely seemed to be reciprocated.
He appreciated the fact that she didn't question why he wore his bangs so long. Or why he had knives in his pockets. Or why he laughed so funny, or why he would always change the subject when she would ask him about himself or why he would never let her put his coat on, or why the so-called 'prince' was always wandering around alone.
She never pushed or prodded him for answers. For her, it simply was what it was.
And he liked that. A lot.
On a particularly frigid January evening, the two nine-year olds stood in front of their newly constructed snowman, adding the finishing touches.
"Camilla you dummy, shishi~! You need a carrot for the nose." The pigtail wearing girl pouted.
"Do you have a carrot then?" She asked, sticking her hand out expectantly. The prince grunted in the negative.
"Hmmph…nope." She laughed lightly, sticking a small bent twig in the spot where the nose was supposed to be. Belphegor noticed that her smile was a bit dimmer than usual.
"Hey Cam?" He began quietly as the two sat up against the trunk of a large tree. She glanced over at the blonde, whose head was partially buried beneath his scarf and the fur-trimmed hood of his coat.
"Yeah?" She asked, snuggling closer to the skinny boy for warmth.
"Are you okay? You seem kind of sad." He said in a voice just above a whisper as he wrapped his arm around her, also snuggling close to gather extra warmth against the rapidly dropping temperature.
She glanced at him with wide eyes. Had she really been that obvious?
Camilla smiled forlornly, playing with the pom-poms at the end of the strings on her boots.
"My daddy's been talking about leaving the country."
Belphegor looked surprised.
"Why?" Camilla hugged her legs close to her chest, resting a cheek on one knee.
"I don't know. He won't tell us anything. But I can hear him and my mommy arguing at night when me and Mario go to sleep. And he always looks really tired…and nervous."
Belphegor wasn't sure what to say. Hitmen weren't particularly gifted in comforting others, so he just rubbed her back affectionately instead. Hopefully it was helping.
The green eyed girl leaned her head on his shoulder, shedding a single tear.
"I don't want to leave. I like coming to the park everyday and playing with everyone. Especially with you." She said, smiling up at him.
Belphegor acted without thinking.
Camilla's eyes widened as the blonde prince pressed an innocent kiss on her lips before pulling back hurriedly, a dark blush staining the visible part of his face.
"I don't want you to leave either. You're the first friend I've ever had." He said, scratching at his neck sheepishly.
Camilla gasped.
"Really? How come?" The prince sighed.
"It's…complicated." Belphegor said as he plucked a lone twig off the ground and drew little circles in the snow with it. He sniffled a bit. Camilla decided to drop it, settling for leaning her head back on the blonde's shoulder.
The two sat in amiable silence for a while.
As the sun finally began to fall below the horizon, a sudden vibration in his pocket made the prince sit up. He dug into his pants pocket, pulling out his sleek flip phone.
Squ-Squ.Belphegor sighed, before turning to his friend.
"I have to answer this. Hold on." The prince said as he stood up, patting his butt free of snow.
Belphegot anxiously flipped the phone open and hit' answer.'
"Yeah?"
"VVOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII BRAT WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?" The prince pulled the phone away from his ear with a pained grimace. Camilla stared with comically wide eyes at the phone, which was vibrating from the intensity of Squalo's voice.
"Uhh…is he on speaker?" Belphegor snorted, shaking his head. He outright laughed when the pretty green eyes dilated upon hearing that fact.
"Who is that?"
The prince quickly tried to think of something.
"He's…my-my brother. He's uh…deaf." Belphegor scratched his cheek nervously. If Squalo heard him say that…
When the swordsman's voice returned to a semi-normal decibel, Belphegor brought the phone back to his ear, trying to retain the last bit of Squalo's message, which was basically 'get your ass back to base or your dead.'
"Camilla, it's getting late! Time to head home!" The familiar call of the girl's nanny came from across the park.
"Hey Bel, I have to go home." She said as she too picked herself up off of the ground, searching for her nanny.
"Me too…" Belphegor sighed, rubbing his poor ear after the Squalo abuse it just received. He was in big trouble.
"See you tomorrow?" She asked, small smile curling on her pretty face.
"Yeah I hope so. Shishi~!" He said back, stretching his arms.
"So it's a date then!" She yelled, giggling as she hugged him. Belphegor felt a bit awkward. He had never hugged anyone before. Not even his family, when they were alive.
It felt kind of nice.
"Bye-bye!" Camilla said joyfully, after kissing his hand, as had become an odd custom between the two of them, before jogging down the path to the gate of the park where her nanny and brother were waiting.
Belphegor smiled desolately as he walked to the other exit at the opposite end of the park. He hadn't noticed until now, but Camilla had been wearing the same white outfit she had been wearing when they met.
He couldn't help but think about how from behind, with her coat fluttering about her as she ran, she looked a lot like an angel about to take flight.
"VOOOOIIII BRAT! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Squalo didn't give the prince a chance to even get his other foot in the door before attacking him.
"Did you forget that our assignment is tonight? While you're off doin' whatever the hell it is you do all day-" The swordsman continued, the epitome of wrath.
"I'm sor-so-hah-ah- achoo!" the boy attempted to apologize feebly while sneezing, looking quite pathetic sniffling and rubbing his pink nose free of boogers on his sleeve.
Squalo made a face. Stupid kids and their stupid colds.
That's what he gets for being out in the freezing fucking snow all week. The vocal hitman thought to himself.
As the mother hen of the group, Lussuria immediately scooped the blonde up and whisked him off to the infirmary. After some horrid tasting cough medicine, the boy was forced to bed.
"What about the mission?" Belphegor questioned from under a heap of thick blankets as Lussuria tucked him in.
"Oh don't worry about that honey~! We'll handle that. You just get plenty of rest! I'll make you some soup when we get back, alright?" The martial artist said in a motherly tone as he ruffled the blonde tresses affectionately, placing the boy's trademark tiara on the nightstand.
Belphegor nodded his head drowsily as he drifted into unconsciousness.
Lussuria smiled at the young boy lovingly, drawing the regal velvet drapes closed and turning off the lights on the room before closing the door to join the other downstairs.
Belphegor yawned widely as he sat up in bed, stretching his arms with a gratifying 'pop.' The prince poked his blonde head out the window that was left slightly ajar, smile growing at the mounds of white piled around the courtyard of the base.
Fresh snowfall! He thought excitedly as he flew out of bed and ran into his walk-in closet. The jubilant prince materialized a few minutes later, clad in his thick black parka and boots.
Placing his tiara gingerly upon his head, the young hitman quickly ran out of his room and glided lithely down the stairs, doing his best to be silent. He was still a bit sniffly, and if one of the others caught him out of bed, Lussuria especially, he would be sent right back.
Once outside, the prince made a mad dash for the gates, and sprinted towards the town .
After a long run, Belphegor finally stood outside the park. He smiled, mood relatively chipper as he planted himself in his usual spot and waited for his friend.
A frigid wind blew by, making the prince's teeth chatter. The boy drew the hood of his parka up over his head as he shivered. It had been nearly twenty minutes, and Camilla was no where to be seen.
Belphegor pulled out his phone, impatiently checking the time. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw that it had been almost half an hour already.
She's usually here by now. Belphegor thought growing a bit worried. The blonde sat down on a bench, bringing his knees to his chest for warmth, curling his arms around his bent legs. He rested his chin between his knees as he checked the time on his phone again.
An hour passed.
Belphegor still sat, fiddling with the laces of his thick black boots and occasionally looking around for the pigtail wearing girl, expecting a snowball to nail him in the head any minute. None came.
Another hour passed. Then another.
I wonder if she's sick or something? The prince thought, feeling troubled by the absence of his friend. He checked his phone again. It had already been over three hours. He had been sick last night, so it was likely that Camilla had also fallen ill.
His eyebrows furrowed again beneath his veil of gold. He would wait a bit longer, just in case.
It was nearly dusk when Belphegor sleepily lifted his head from the bench. The boy had grown tired and curled up on the wooden seat for a cat nap,which turned into a full few hours of sleep.
Must be that nasty medicine Lussuria gave me. The prince thought as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. A sudden beeping from his phone woke him right up. The battery was dying.
Belphefor sighed dejectedly. I guess she's not coming after all.
The prince hopped off of the bench and made his way out of the park and onto the street. He jammed his hands into his pockets, staring at the ground as he walked, feeling quite depressed.
A body suddenly appeared in his path, bumping into him.
"Oh pardon me!" an older woman said apologetically before returning to conversing with her friend. Normally, Belphegor would have downright livid at the woman's nerve at bumping into a prince and simply brushing it off with a half-assed 'pardon me.'
But like the now setting sun, Belphegor's previously good mood was quickly diminishing. He responded with an absent 'whatever,' only having the will to be mildly annoyed.
"Did you here about what happened to the shoemaker down the street?" The woman continued conversing with her friend a the two moved further down the street.
"Oh my, such a tragedy. An entire family, slaughtered. Mister Anoziano was such as kind man, and children were so well behaved." The friend sighed into her hand, tsking at the shame of such an awful event.
At the mention of kids, Belphegor's ears immediately perked up.
"He had kids? I had no idea…." The woman who bumped into him said. Her friend quickly nodded her head.
"Oh yes, Adele, he had two kids, a little boy and girl. Such beautiful children. It's a real shame."
"Who could do such a horrible thing?"
"I heard from the man next door that supposedly, it was some kind of mafia hit. The shoemaker owed someone a lot of money from what I understand."
Belphegor turned back to the two women, eyes widening. It couldn't be.
"It's a terrible place this world is coming to, murdering children over something like money. It makes you cry for humanity. Who were Mister Anoziano's kids, anyway?"
"Oh the little boy and girl with the black hair. Don't you remember? They used to play in the park all the time."
Belphegor's heart sank into his stomach.
No.
"Xanxus-sama?" Belphegor stood next to the older teen as the members of the Varia sat around that night playing video games.
The grumpy adolescent looked back at the uncharacteristically crestfallen prince, who was clutching his arm meekly.
"What?"
"A-about the mission…" The boss looked annoyed.
"Yeah, what about it?"
Belphegor bit his slightly trembling lip.
"What was it again?"
Squalo piped in from his spot on the floor.
"We took out that old shoemaker and his family downtown. He owed the Vongola an assload of money and couldn't pay up. Why?"
The prince bit his lip harder, little fists clenched so tightly his nails drew blood.
"Did he have kids?"
Lussuria noticed the tremors racking the boy's body with concern.
"Bel honey, is something wrong?"
The prince repeated his question, this time with more urgency.
"Did he have kids? Tell me!"
Xanxus slapped an irritated hand over his face. His head was hurting and this kid's annoying yapping was not helping at all.
"Yeah he had kids…two of them. Happy now?"
The prince felt the lump in his throat grow rapidly.
"A boy and a girl? Around my age?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking. Squalo growled.
"Voi! What's the matter with you brat? Yeah the motherfucker had kids! A boy and a girl, and guess what, they died too! What's the big deal?" The rain guardian shouted, slamming his controller down as the TV beeped. Of course he had lost the round.
Lussuria punched Squalo on the head.
"Squ~! Can't you see he's distraught over this?"
"Di-did they suffer?" The small blonde boy asked in a voice so quiet the others had to strain their ears to hear him.
"Suffer?" Levi repeated, staring at the knife-wielder oddly. Since when did Prince the Ripper care about anyone's suffering?
"What are you getting at kid?" Xanxus grunted lowly, glaring at the prince.
"Did they die quick? Or did they suffer?" Belphegor asked again, voice shaky.
"Lussuria took them out."
The boy's head whipped to face the gaudy teen. Lussuria sighed, fingering his green fringe as Belphegor walked over to him, looking every bit like a kicked puppy.
"Well?"
"No, Bel, they didn't suffer at all. I couldn't stand the thought of brutally murdering children, so I killed them with a quick jab to the back of the neck. They didn't feel a thing." The martial arts expert told him seriously, running his gloved hand over the blonde head of hair.
A shaky smile made it's way onto the prince's face.
"Oh…okay." He whispered quietly as he let out a shuddered breath.
The older members watched as the prince abruptly turned, and stiffly walked out of the room.
Levi shook his head.
"That kid is seriously fucked up." Squalo nodded in agreement.
Lussuria shot up of his seat on the couch and ran after the boy. He quickly caught up to the now sprinting child in the hallway. The flamboyant man slapped a hand on the boy's trembling shoulders, turning him around to face him.
Thick wet tears rolled down Belphegor's face as he openly sobbed, his breath hitching every so often. His cheeks were red and puffy, and Lussuria imagined that under that mop of hair, his grey eyes were equally swollen.
"Bel…what's wrong?" Lussuria asked, his maternal instincts taking over as he wrapped is arms around the small boy's skinny frame.
The prince's lips trembled as he bit them, trying to silence his sobs. He glanced up at his older teammate with glassy, tear-filled eyes.
"She-she was my friend." He sobbed, rubbing his face with his sleeve, his entire body quivering. Lussuria gasped. What had he done?
"I'm so sorry." He said, quickly pulling the poor child into a hug, holding the small body tightly as Belphegor cried into the crook of his neck, helplessly clutching his shirt. It was all he could do to ease the boy's pain at losing his only friend.
Assassin only keep the company of other assassins. Anyone and everyone else is merely biding their time. It was a harsh reality of being in the mafia and he knew the prince was more aware of that than any of them.
But Lussuria also knew how much it hurt to try and keep hold of their humanity. He pulled the boy tighter, knowing after tonight, the last shred of humanity that Belphegor desperately clung to would, like the pretty green-eyed girl he had befriended, forever be a memory.
God. I hope I'm not the only one that cried like a baby when I read this over. Yeah I know, I know. Damn S*B, sensitive much? Well yeah, I am.
*Sigh*Anyway, as always, read and review! I really wanna hear your thoughts!