True Self

Chapter 11

Rasiel sat on the bed in his room, hissing to himself. "How did the plan manage to go awry?" he muttered. "My perfect plan..." He leaned back on the bed, still shocked by the incident, and he looked at the next step: to shred Bel's clothes and replace them with Lussuria's. He thought for a long time, wondering how the plan had gotten out of hand. Did something interfere? But how? Suddenly, a thought emerged. What if... what if that little Fran kid had somehow managed to get involved in the plan? What if he hadn't been stabbing Squalo at all? The older twin grinned.

Impossible.

"I suppose some things just aren't meant to happen," he sighed to himself. "But this next step... will be flawless for certain."

The next night, Rasiel stepped out, and headed to Bel's room, slipping inside with ease. It seemed as though the younger prince was out on a mission. "Usheshesheshe!" Rasiel laughed. "See, this is most definitely meant to be." He walked over to the prince's dresser, and looked at the many clothes. Belphegor's taste hadn't changed. Every item that wasn't a uniform was striped, most of them purple and black, some red and black, the younger prince was adorable with his general 'cheshire cat' theme.

Rasiel took all of the clothes - pants, shirts, and underwear alike- out, and walked back to his room, tossing the clothing on to the bed to deal with later. He then headed to Lussuria's room, and snuck in. To his suprise, running water indicated that the older man was taking a shower.

So perfect.

The older prince walked up to the Sun's wardrobe, and opened it, then started to look through it. He quickly came up to what he was looking for. There was a big coat lined with orange fluff that got particularly bushy around the collar. And to Belphegor, it was long enough to nearly be a dress. It was definitely the perfect plan. Rasiel snuck the coat out of Lussuria's room, and placed it in Bel's closet, before walking back to his own room to take care of Bel's clothes.

"Does kind of bum me out," he snickered. "You're style isn't as dumb and immature as the rest of you." He then took the knife that was hidden inside his closet, and he began to tear apart the clothes, his face evil. "You're such a little punk, Bel," Rasiel hissed to himself. "You'll see. Trying to take my life... now I take yours!"

After tearing each individual piece of clothing to fragments, he threw the torn clothes out on the living room couch, where no one would find them until morning- when it was already too late. He then returned to his room.

"Can you handle this one, Fran?" Mukuro asked. "An illusion of this much fitting together-"

"Master," Fran interrupted, smiling, "I can sew. But I need string."

"Let your prince humiliate himself," Mukuro instructed. "Then take away all of his embarassment and use its power to mend his things back together."

"But they'll definitely see me...," Fran sighed.

"Hey, Fran," Mammon cut in. "Where I am, I know everything. Belphegor will take the clothes back to his room. It's all right for you to make your move in front of him. Just tell him that you're a temporary replacement for something important."

Fran slowly nodded. "Okay, Mammon..."

CLICK.

"Quick, we need to get out of here," Mammon said, grabbing the young one's arm. "Belphegor has returned."

Morning...

Belphegor stretched and yawned, then got up, and took a shower. He loved hot water. Afterwards, he walked over to the closet, and opened a door, but... there were no clothes in it. He twitched, then opened another door. And another. He found one pair of boxers - thank goodness - and in the last drawer he opened, there was a large coat. The prince scowled, and put it on, somewhat pleased that it went past his knees, covering his almost feminine thighs.

The Storm guardian then, as most of his kind, stormed out of his room, still getting the last few buttons on the shirt together. He did quite like the warm, soft fluff around the collar. That part was nice. As he entered the kitchen, however, he got quite an unusual greeting. "Oh, Bel-chan!" Lussuria exclaimed, his cheeks reddening. "So YOU had my coat!"

"Your... coat?" Bel repeated, tugging on the collar. He took a deep breath and a rather masculine rose scent hit him hard on the face. "Oh... oh, jeez," he muttered, before starting to freak out. "YOUR coat? What the hell was your coat doing in my closet, huh? And where are all of MY clothes?" the prince raged, blushing beet read.

"HAHAHAHA!" Squalo roared with laughter. "Bel, I can't believe you're wearing Luss's coat! HAHAHAHA!"

"What are you playing at, dumb trash?" Xanxus said, a smirk on his face. "You look like a clown."

And 'Fran' sat there, a broad grin on his face.

Belphegor quickly found his clothes, and recovered them, taking them back to his room, where he, too, experienced an odd sight. Mukuro Rokudo was sitting on his bed, smiling at him. "Uh... Mukuro?" Bel greeted, walking over and setting his clothes on the bed. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Don't tell me you're the one who did this to me."

"Oh, no, not me, Bel," the illusionist answered. "Come closer." The prince, feeling an odd sense of familiarity, approached the other, and Mukuro put his hand on the Storm's chest, taking a few breaths in and out. "Feeling better?" he asked. The same moment he asked the question, Belphegor felt an intensely good feeling relax his nerves. All of the stress and embarassment he had felt dissipated in moments, and he closed his eyes as he felt the other sliding Lussuria's oversized coat off of his shoulders. "Bel, I'm not who you think I am," the illusionist murmured. "As of right now, I am merely a replacement for someone more important to you."

"Replacement?" Belphegor repeated. 'Mukuro' nodded.

"Right now, you can't get close to Fran, all right? For your own safety, remember me, and remember that patience is all you need. You're going to be fine."

"... Okay," Bel whispered.

SNAP.

The prince glanced back up, and saw the other holding a spool of thread; one long string of it had just been severed. A needle seemed to appear out of no where, and the replacement got to work. Bel watched in amazement as each piece of his clothing was flawlessly sewn back together, leaving not even the tiniest trace of injury as it was pieced into its original form. "Mukuro, you can sew?" Bel inquired, suprised.

"Oh, no, senpai, I told you, I'm not...," the disguised Fran started, but he soon caught himself, and got back to work.

"Talk about some gorgeous needlework," Mammon snickered. "I should've known the kid could sew like my grandmother."

Beside the Arcobaleno phantom, Mukuro smiled. "Really and truly a softhearted child," he sighed.

The two watched as Fran mended the prince's clothes without him even knowing, and they smiled.

Not even Rasiel would be able to break this up.

-End Chapter

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*this was posted a day early because I will be at orchestra festivals all day tomorrow.

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