All right...this one was fun to write. Thank you CrownedGingerClown for telling me about my mistake...that Mukuro no longer needs Chrome's body...Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 10 - Day One: Varia
By lunch, most of the Varia had to agree that Fran's attitude seemed less bright and care free than the previous day. They were overjoyed... However, lunch turned out to be an interrogation.
As soon as Francesca sat down at the kitchen table, she knew this wasn't an ordinary lunch – because there wasn't any food and five current members of the Varia were staring intensely at them.
"So...I'm gathering you're not serving lunch?" Francesca asked. Not that she was hungry, but she just had to point out the obvious.
Silence.
"What do you tooth decay fungi want?" Fran yawned. That line caught Squalo's attention.
"We are not some dumbass teeth fungi – we are the Varia; the Vongola's independent assassination squad!" he barked angrily at them. Fran was baffled. What the hell was Vongola? Or the Varia? Last time he checked, Vongola was Italian for clam, and Varia was a type of fish...And the whole assassinations thing? WTF?
"You know...maybe this isn't the best idea..." Francesca started. "Fran has amnesia remember? I don't really know if this will affect his memory..."
"Well...I gotta know what I missed out on right? Start the story." Fran sighed.
"Our parents were both Marmon's students", she began, and immediately caught Marmon's attention. Matthew and Natalie? They married with EACH OTHER? And had kids? Now this he had to pay attention to...
"They were running from the mafia when we were born, so they created an illusion of our family dying..." Fran recalled.
"We had an ordinary childhood...games, climbing trees...that sort of stuff." Francesca explained. The entire Varia gaped. They were still experiencing childhood – and the last few days had been ORDINARY? "Our parents thought that because we played with too many illusions, it was dangerous to be around other children...so they home schooled us. We got up to...trigonemetrics in math, electro statics in science, Japanese, English, French and Italian –
"You need to learn three more. One of the requirements for Varia is knowing seven languages." Levi cut off.
"That's just stupid. What languages do you know then?" Fran teased.
"We can all speak Japanese, Italian, English, Spanish, Chinese and Hindi; then we all have a one different language each." Bel said.
"So...none of you can speak French?" Fran asked. The Varia shook their heads. "Oh mon dieu, ils sont stupides!" he laughed to Francesca's amusement. (oh my god they're stupid!)
"Anyways, we screwed up in France when we were eight." She continued.
"Screwed up? What happened? Did you get pregnant?" Bel giggled.
"What does that mean? Our parents didn't teach us that word..." Fran said. The members of the Varia looked at each other and quickly left the kitchen and had a group discussion.
"I'm not teaching them about sex education." Bel insisted, folding his arms.
"Pffft, there's no way I'm doing it!"Levi growled.
"Oooh Oooh! I'll do it!" Lussuria insisted, putting his fingers on his cheeks.
"There's no way you can let the drag queen teach them Squalo," as Bel pointed at Lussuria with a disgusted face.
"Bel does have a point," Squalo muttered, shrugging at Lussuria.
"I'm a baby, I don't have to do it. And Xanxus is going to kill us all if we make him do it..." Marmon said uninteresting in the topic.
"Then that leaves Squalo..." Bel giggled. It took a second for Squalo to realise what Bel had suggested.
"Wait a sec! I don't have to do this, I'm the commander! You guys should do it!" Squalo hissed.
"Well...face it. Bel was named after Jack the ripper; Marmon's just a baby, Lussuria is a drag queen, and Xanxus will kill us all if we pin this one on him." Levi whispered.
"Then why don't you do it!" Squalo rebutted quietly.
"I suck with children – I'm the scary tall looking guy!" Levi retorted.
"I'm scary too you know! I chopped off my own hand to learn a sword technique!" Squalo exclaimed.
"Ushi shi shi...you two can decide that later. We should get back...they're getting suspicious." Bel muttered. Squalo looked like he wanted to continue the argument now rather than later, but nonetheless nodded. The Varia resumed their places on the kitchen table and motioned for Fran and Francesca to continue.
"Okay...well Fran was playing a prank on me and I accidently used an illusion to counter – it worked on Fran, but the rest of our town saw it too. It was only a matter of time before the Mafia would find us again, so our parents took us to Italy to look for Marmon. They thought that if they paid him enough, he would offer some protection." Fran leaned forward. This was the part he couldn't remember...
"When we got to Italy, we were split up from our parents and when we found them again...they were dead. So we got out of the airport to look for Marmon, but we didn't have any real money to pay him..." Francesca trailed off, looking at the baby. Marmon felt slightly guilty but his composure remained. "One of the mafia families finally caught up with us, and we were cornered. Then Mukuro arrived, killed them off and we joined him and his gang instead...we went back to France, but I got hit by a car. When I woke up, I was on the mountain where you found us. After a day, Mukuro made a plan to infiltrate the Vongola – by a ball or something...We went, but our plan failed when you bumped into Fran..." she said, looking incredulously at Squalo. He frowned. So they were the insolent bastards that he didn't manage to kill...
"We got away, but then Mukuro was injured so we gave ourselves up. We were on our way to Vendicare when we hijacked the van and got away. For some reason, we went back to France. But...we split from Mukuro's group because we didn't support his whole possessing usage. We made our way to 'Shady Creek' and met Granny, who practically became our grandmother after we said hello." Francesca shrugged.
"So she's not actually your grandmother?" Squalo said, relieved. Now breaking the news that the pilot may've accidentally killed her wouldn't be so hard...
"No...but she was really nice. She was more like... a second mother..." Francesca trailed off. Squalo gulped.
"Anyways, Mukuro's gang got caught in Vendicare when they were shopping so after two years of 'dream training' with Mukuro, we went to break them out. We went parachuting in the Swiss Alps, but my parachute jammed, so I broke my arm," Francesca muttered, holding up her metallic cast. "It was a success so we went to Japan. Mukuro wanted to possess a guy called Tsuna, so we went to high school for about a week. The principal expelled us we were just too weird...Then Mukuro got dragged off to Vendicare. Their escape plan was failing half way through, so he left himself as bait so his friends could escape. Then, this really weird girl Chrome comes and claims she's the link to Mukuro so we tutor her for these ring battles..." she murmured, pausing for a moment to think about what had happened.
Squalo nodded at his comrades. The shame from losing to a group of teenagers was still overpowering...Francesca picked up where she left off. "Ah...that's right. Fran and I went back to France – Mukuro's orders. We stayed for a few days, but on a hiking trip, we got our visions. Fran accidentally fell off a cliff halfway through, hit his head on a rock, and got amnesia. The hat's got special properties..." Francesca sighed, waving her hand at the giant frog.
"Anyways, I couldn't think of anything to say to Granny other than 'hit be a cube of cheese' and well...people ask questions if you tell them you fell off a cliff. So, I patched him up, talked with Shamal and Reborn and...well that's when we meet you." She finished with a large breath. "Anything else?"
"Why do you have chopsticks in your hair, savvy biatch?" Bel asked, interested.
"Coz I can you self proclaimed prince." She replied simply.
"Why did he think we're tooth decay fungi?" Lussuria piped up.
"Well...the other day we went to see this movie; 'the tooth fairy' and it sucked. The box office wouldn't give us a refund so we blew it up. Fran asked what a fairy was, and I said it was a demon in disguise...no offence, but you guys do look pretty demonic. So...he put two and two together and...viola." she replied casually.
"So then...how much more have you remembered Fran?" Levi asked.
"I... I don't know...When I woke up I remembered everything before our parent's death and before we met that pineapple guy Francesca was talking about...but now I remember most of the things I learnt, fairies aren't real, and I can make pretty sweet illusions." He stated. The Varia shot glances at each other. They were both useless. Sure they could use illusions and walk, but they were still weak from their initial encounter; plus Fran had almost no idea about the Mafia, seeing he had lost his memories of the future. With that, the meeting adjourned.
Later that day
Francesca was pissed. When Squalo broke the news of her 'Granny's' death, she didn't react more than a 'huh.' To make matters worse; as of her sudden 'injury', the Varia pilot hadn't been able pack everything for them. Sure her laptop and phone were there (45 missed calls from one Mukuro Rokudo) but many of her toiletries weren't there. Things such a hairbrush, shampoo and conditioner...The only option was to 'borrow' some from one of the other Varia members. Luckily, they were all at a briefing at the Vongola mansion.
Dragging Fran along with her, they walked to the first room. Bel's room. It had been bolted shut, but with Fran's help, they managed to pick the lock. At first glance, Francesca had to say, it was messy. There were clothes strewn on the floor, music blared from the stereo, lolly wrappers were strewn across every inch of the room, and hundreds of knives stuck out at odd angles. Taking a cautious step forward, immediately a single strand of her fringe was cut. Of course...wires. They were probably attached to every knife on the wall...Sighing, she turned and left. It wasn't as if Bel had nice hair anyway...
The next room they broke into was Levi's. Inside, it was neat, but there was a portrait of Xanxus. No...portrait didn't explain it very well. The whole room was DEDICATED to Xanxus. Even his name was encrypted into the wallpaper... Under the bed, there were a few playboy magazines.
"Why does he keep them under his bed?" Fran asked.
"I dunno...why does he like looking at naked women?" Francesca replied, confused. Fran shuddered as they left.
As they walked down the corridor, there was a sign on the next door. 'Lussuria,' it said, in flowy handwriting. They didn't even bother. And as far as they were concerned, Marmon didn't have hair.
The last room on the floor was Squalo's. It had a 'KEEP OUT' sign with a picture of a shark. Interesting...After they broke in, they noticed that it was unique compared to the others – he had a fish tank full of piranhas, truckload of sword related materials, and luckily for Fran and Francesca, a whole corner dedicated to hair products. There were countless bottles of shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, bobby pins, special hairdresser scissors, hair straighteners, gel, combs, hair growth vitamins, a 'Bad Hair Day?' book, reports on the best hair products, cologne, and a very large mirror. Smirking, Francesca took what she needed, took a picture for blackmail, and left.
That night, when the Varia returned, they provided them with their uniform. "We've never had a girl in the Varia before, so Lussuria picked your outfit." Squalo said casually. Lussuria stepped forward with a varia coat, short mini skirt, and stockings. Fran's uniform was in his other hand; a coat and trousers. Gross. It was summer, and they still had to wear that?
"You can have these belts too..." Lussuria sang, handing over the strips of leather.
"Are you people Goths or something? Why's everything black..." Fran muttered. Squalo glared.
"Black's good for camouflage, doesn't make you look gay, and stains don't really show." He insisted.
"You look gay already," Francesca murmured under her breath.
"Ushi shi shi...What was that?" Bel giggled evilly.
"Oh nothing..." she said smiling innocently. "What's for dinner?"
"Steak." The Varia said while groaning in unison.
"What's so bad about steak?" Fran asked. It was pretty good the last time he had it...
"Xanxus is picky about everything he eats...so he fired all the chefs. He ONLY eats steak. So we have to make his steak to his perfection every single day...breakfast, lunch and dinner." Squalo ranted.
"And it takes so much effort and time to make that we're just not make that we're not bothered cooking anything else."Lussuria added.
"We've been eating steak for the past seven months..." Bel sighed.
"I haven't even seen a vegetable in so long..." Levi said sadly.
"Steak fails deliver nutrition" Marmon said, sprouting up the fact.
"Can't you just get takeaway for yourselves?" Francesca said logically.
"We're hitmen. We don't eat food that wasn't prepared by people we trust." Squalo shrugged.
"Fail..." the twins muttered in unison. That night, they helped prepare the steaks. It was disgusting. Xanxus liked rare steak – meaning 75% of the meat was just RAW. Plus, he insisted on soft beef which Europe sadly didn't offer, so they had to tenderise the steaks themselves. They took turns punching the flabby thing. Last but not least, they sprinkled a shower of herbs that didn't even taste good together – rosemary, basil, salt, extra pepper, mint and a bay leaf. Then they went out to dinner.
"How can you fucking like this?" Fran yelled to Xanxus as he took his first bite. They had spent two hours on it, and it tasted like shit. Xanxus ignored him.
"Do you like eating shit?" Francesca asked after she spat out her beef.
"Scum. Will you shut up?" Xanxus yelled and aimed the two pistols for the two twins. The remaining members of the Varia tried to take cover. Xanxus fired. Thankfully, Xanxus had been hungry and his shots had less energy. Nonetheless, Fran and Francesca made a combined illusionary barrier, and hoped that it was strong enough. If it broke...well they would die as well. Fran suddenly faltered a little. A small crack showed up on their barrier, quickly followed by another.
"I'm too fucking young to die!" Francesca yelled, increasing the barrier's power. Slowly, the fire dispersed. Xanxus calmly started eating his steak again. The twins left hastily. "Are you all right?" she asked Fran quickly.
"I remember...everything..." he whispered, staring at the wall.
That night, she used Google Maps to find out where they were. Squalo insisted that they stay in the HQ until their health returned. But hey, Fran and Francesca figured that it was probably more dangerous to be next to Xanxus than Mother Nature. It turned out that they were about ten miles from Naples – they were currently somewhere in the middle of a forest, and apparently Google didn't know about it.
At one o'clock, they heard Bel's music finally snap off, and figured he went to bed. Creeping quietly down the stone stairs, they explored the silent castle. There wasn't much to see. Hungry for not having eaten since breakfast, they crept into the Kitchen. To their dismay, there was nothing except for steak. Damn Xanxus...Francesca thought.
"You want to go shopping?" Fran yawned.
"Sure, but the nearest town is like...what. Ten miles from here?" Francesca pointed out.
"Yeah...but there should be a garage downstairs right?" Fran said logically.
"All right...it'll be nice to see the area..." Francesca muttered back.
They crept underground, and found a heavy metal door, controlled by a password.
Who am I?
"Okay..." Fran muttered
"Well...assuming that it's one of the Varia officers...only Squalo's name fits...try that." Francesca replied.
"Have a safe journey," a robotic voice said as the door slid open. Walking in, the lights automatically flicked on, one after the other. The garage was amazing. There were a large variety of cars – from limos to Ferrari's. But something else caught their eye. Something even better. A motorcycle.
"YYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Francesca yelled over the roaring wind. They were both wearing leather jackets and helmets they had conveniently found in the garage – though several sizes too big. They were currently travelling at a hundred miles an hour, and Francesca could pray for was that Fran didn't go over a pothole...
In no time at all, they had arrived in Naples, but it was a disaster. "Brake." Francesca whispered as they curved into a dead end. They still rushed forward. "BRAKE!" she yelled into his ear.
"I don't know how?" Fran spluttered. "JUMP!" Seconds before they hit a brick wall, they leapt from the roaring vehicle. It crashed in a flash of sparks and became nothing more than a lump of metal. They both rolled about, and finally came to a stop. Fran luckily landed on his hat, while Francesca unfortunately dislocated both shoulders and scratched both knees badly.
"Can't you mention that before we're about to crash and die?" Francesca growled, sitting up.
"Yeah yeah...How're we going to get back?" Fran muttered readjusting his hat.
"We can think of something later...come on, let's go grab a bite..." Francesca sighed, and pulled out spare bandages from her pockets.
Cleverly, they had forgotten that the rest of Italy was asleep at three in the morning, and sadly could not find an open restaurant. They did however; find a 24hr convenience store. They stocked up on everything – instant noodles, frozen foods, eggs, bacon, coffee, vegetables, fruits, flour, sugar, pots, pans, socks, shirts, bandages, sticky tape, milk, cocoa powder, bread and every snack they could see. There was no way they were ever going to eat Xanxus' horrible steak. They paid for their purchases and left the store.
"Okay. Is now the time where we can think about how we're going to get home?" Fran asked.
"All right...do you want to call Squalo?" Francesca gave in. Fran sighed glumly, but nodded.
Squalo was sleeping well for the first time since the ring conflict. He saw himself defeating Tyr, the previous Varia leader. The dying man opened his mouth to speak his last words that Squalo heard every time he had the dream – "Make the Varia great" but instead, the dream Squalo heard "I'm not afraid... to take a stand...everybody...come take my hand..." His eyes snapped open. There was his phone, ringing on his bedside table. The illuminated screen read 1:37am. Angrily, he saw it was Fran's number.
"VOI! What the hell are you calling so early in the morning for? Aren't you just next door?" Squalo roared.
"Shut up!" He heard from Bel's room.
"Stop disturbing my beauty sleep!" another voice yelled.
"WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND SLEEP!" Squalo yelled. He put the phone to his ear. "Speak." He muttered, resisting the urge to crush the phone.
"We may have decided to take a walk...so um...we need a ride back," Francesca's voice came through.
"Oh...and we may have destroyed a motorcycle from downstairs!" Fran piped up. Squalo's eyebrow began to twitch. Not only had they broken his orders, woken him up at this ungodly hour, had the guts to break through his security system and break his motorcycle and still ask for a ride?
"No way! I'll kill you for breaking my motocycle!" Squalo hissed.
"Now now...that's no way to put it...I do have a great picture of your corner of hair products..." Francesca mischievously said.
"And we have real food..." Fran added hopefully. Squalo sighed and flicked the phone shut. Damn brats...outsmarting a strategy captain...even Bel hadn't managed to do that yet...
Squalo wasn't bothered to change, so he walked down to the garage in his black long sleeved silk pyjamas. He picked the fastest car – a black Bugatti Veyron super sport, and started the ignition. He drove at 200/mph for a few seconds, but accidently ran over a rabbit. Ah well, it was the rabbits fault anyway, going on the road at this time of night...But he still slowed down. He picked up his cell phone and dialled Fran's number.
"Hey Squalo...how much longer? There's this guy in a car that's watching us...I think he's wearing black pyjamas..." Fran muttered.
"You dipshit! That's me!" he yelled and opened the door. Fran and Francesca were surrounded by shopping bags filled with...food. Real food... He snapped out of his daydreaming. "Can you get in the car already?" he yelled to them.
Francesca really thought the world had ended when she saw Squalo's pyjamas. She couldn't believe he slept in a night cap...They each carried about four bags in each hand and lugged into the car. The Bugatti had been really designed for speed and comfort for ONE person, not three and numerous shopping bags, so they took a seat on the roof.
"Are you sure this is safe?" she whispered to Fran.
"I have no idea..." he replied, worried.
"You brats will be fine...Bel does it all the time." Squalo growled and pulled into first gear. Francesca could practically feel her face peeling off. They had been clinging onto spoiler at the back and boy did that car give off nasty fumes.
"I swear that if I survive I'll care more for the environment...I think I finally know how it feels..." Fran yelled over the wind. Francesca grinned. It was great to have the old Fran back.
It took Squalo ten minutes to get back, park the car, put away the new groceries and make sure the Fran and Francesca were going to bed. He finally collapsed into his four poster bed and sighed.
Several hours later, he heard a knock on his door. It was Francesca.
"What is it now?" he hissed angrily. He felt soooooo tired.
"Can you help me make breakfast? I think I burned off most of Fran's eyebrows..." she trailed off. Squalo sighed once again. These children were going to be the end of the Varia...
"Whatever. Don't burn the castle down. I'm sure you'll figure it out." Squalo glared and slammed the door in her face. Two hours later when his alarm went off, he was practically ready to bash his head on a wall. Angrily, he wore his uniform, brushed his teeth, straightened his hair and put in some leave in conditioner. Perfect. Walking downstairs, he smelt something heavenly...toast. It was tasteless, but it had been so long since he had smelt something nicer than steak...
Walking into the kitchen, he saw that Bel, Lussuria and Levi were already up and eating breakfast. The twins had made toast with honey, fried eggs, bacon and pancakes. A fresh batch of coffee lay on the table. Behind him, Marmon walked in. "Real food eh? Well, might as well eat it before Bel eats it all..." the baby muttered.
Squalo absent mindedly sat down, staring at the food in front of him.
Well...its been a long week or so...reviews are appreciated; Have a nice day :]