Flashback:
Squalo could hardly speak over how hard he was laughing, but when he finally began to stop, he pointed at the red ball in Levi's hand:
"He's not gonna need that god damn thing!"
Chapter 25: Solo
It was the morning of October 12th, a Monday.
Lil woke up from her bed and remembered the day before. She smiled and balled her hands together nervously when she thought about the feeling of waking up next to the boss:
Their hands intertwined and his held hers unbelievably gently for someone of his stature.
Lil had only been staring at them for a few minutes, and the more she stared, the more unreal it became.
Was it real?
Xanxus breathed in deeply and softly at the same time, which calmed Lil with just the sound of it. That was all the more reason to tell herself that it wasn't real at all. Hell, it wasn't real.
Suddenly, she could feel his arm twitch as his head moved from hers.
Lil opened her mouth to wish him a good morning, but she stopped herself. The only reason she was there in the first place was to make sure he didn't feel alone, and if she was there to talk to him, she would make him angry.
When he shifted again, Lil closed her eyes on impulse and waited in darkness. It was silent for a moment, but she felt his hand slide over hers, almost as if he had rubbed it.
Lil bit her lip as his finger brushed over the bruise that she KNEW was going to appear, which it probably had, but she kept quiet until he finally took his hand off of hers and the chair squeaked when he must have stood.
Something rustled for a moment and then Lil could hear his footsteps fading until a door opened and closed.
Upon the closing of the door, she opened her eyes and looked around. The office was empty now, and the only thing that she could hear was the ticking of the clock. She looked back down at her hand and she could feel the absence of his… it was unsettling, even.
Lil stood up and stretched, only to hurry out of his office and close the doors as lightly as she could. When the door closed, she slid down it, slowly, processing what had just happened.
Her hand throbbed as she stared at it, remembering and locking the feeling of his touch to her memory.
She then headed toward her room, only to stop and look back for a moment, but she then continued on without looking back.
Lil had dressed herself accordingly today; a modest skirt and a normal-looking blue and black plaid dress shirt and she fixed her hair simply.
"It's been awhile since you've taken a hit hasn't it?" Lil asked herself while staring into the mirror.
"Yeah, it has. You have to show the boss that you can actually do something around here… and Levi that you're not useless."
The last line came with insecurities as she fought the overwhelming feeling of nothingness that threatened to swamp her. Levi's condescending attitude toward her was one of the things that she strived to overcome, and it was now or never.
Lil walked out of her bathroom but hardly got out of the door before she heard a voice:
"Lili-chan."
She turned in dread, feeling the air escape her lungs as she fought off the immediate fear, but she met eyes with only Fran, who stood behind her bathroom door.
"F-Fran! Why the hell-?"
"Lili-chan, before you go, I want to ask you something."
The unusually stern look in his green eyes unnerved Lil. What could he want to know?
"How the hell am I supposed to get women in this damn frog hat?"
The question took a moment to process in her mind, and when it did, Lil snorted uncontrollably. What the hell kinda question was that?
"W-what?"
No matter how comical the entire situation was in Lil's eyes, Fran remained stonily serious as he rose his eyebrows in expectation for an answer.
"W-well, Fran, I don't think any women even look at you in that thing, to be honest."
He shrugged his shoulders and lifted the hat off of his head, setting it down by his feet and combing through his hair with his pale fingers.
"Senpai wants me to wear it all of the time, and if I don't, I get stabbed. What do I do?"
The mention of Bel stung Lil like a reopened wound as she shook her head in dismay. She had been doing so well without the mention of him… hell, she hadn't even seen him in days, really.
Fran finally stared back at her and Lil then found her voice:
"Well, when he says that you have to wear it, beat him up."
His green eyes widened at the suggestion and he then rested his chin on his hand as he sat against the wall.
"Not bad, Lili-chan. You would make an excellent kohai… if you were younger than me, that is… but, I can only beat him up mentally or I'll get stabbed, and even then, sometimes it hardly works because he's already fucked up."
Lil stared at him for a moment and looked him up and down until the pieces connected in her mind.
"You could start working out, you know!"
Fran's dull eyes dulled even more as he sighed. "Lili-chaan; I can't do shit. We illusionists are strong in mind… but not so much in body."
"That's exactly why you should start! You know, that's what most people do when they want to get stronger physically."
The sarcasm in her voice shone prominently as he shrugged and lifted the hat back onto his head, covering his somewhat-normal sea foam green hair.
"I suppose I'll consult with you more when you get back, Lili-chan. Thanks for your input."
The frog-kid stood and sauntered out of her room, closing her door softly as Lil paused to think about his sudden question.
Was he getting fed up of being unable to fight, like she was? Sure, he had his hella illusions, but was that really enough?
"Wow, that's deep," Lil muttered to herself as she straightened her skirt and her shirt for the final time and started toward the door, but she looked back at her ajar closet door.
"Jacket, of course."
She hurried back over to put the beige-and-black jacket around her shoulders and checked to make sure her darts were inside the pockets as well and she then looked for the gun that she so preciously treasured.
It sat atop of her bedside table and the empty magazine near it, and she lifted the two up and pushed as much ammunition that would fit into the magazine and stuffed the magazine into the gun, sliding it into her left pocket.
"Ready?" Lil smiled and patted the gun as opposed to the darts and headed out of her room.
The trip down the hall was relatively too short for her liking when she reached the door to the boss's office.
Lil stood in front of it, wondering if she should just turn the hell around and forget that she was stepping out of the box and doing what she was supposed to do.
After inhaling a deep breath, Lil slowly pushed the door open and let the light pour into the room.
Squalo's full head of hair bobbed as he raged about something, like he normally did, and her boss relaxing in his large chair.
Lil stepped up to the desk just as Squalo finished yelling, and she leaned on the desk.
"Boss, I want to take a hit for myself."
Squalo jumped back, almost as if he was offended, with a wild look in his eyes as he thrashed around for a split second.
"A hit? Of what?"
Lil shook her head with exasperation at the stupid question, and continued on, staring at Xanxus now:
"Do we have any? What are the ones that are the most dangerous?"
An annoyed look on his face appeared when she realized that he could easily say 'no'. Her possible contribution to the team that she was willfully asked to join.
However, he heaved a sigh and directed her attention to a small stack of papers upon his desk.
Lil scrambled to pick up the papers and skimmed through them.
"Don't screw this up; pick something hard and within your interests…" Her conscience screamed at her as she struggled to focus her eyes to read the paper that she gripped in her hands.
Russo, Gavino - Traitor, flagged for stealing important Vongola information.
Lil tilted her head and skipped down a few paragraphs to the end of the page that she held.
Known weapons include a handgun and a grenade launcher.
Whereabouts consist of his mafia house, an abandoned lot near Parco Fiorito, and various stores in the vicinity.
Previous confrontations have ended in evasion.
Kill-on-sight is permitted for this particular subject.
Considered extremely dangerous and a possible threat to Vongola; pay is tripled.
The mention of a grenade launcher unnerved Lil; should she really take the mission? A grenade launcher was out of her fucking league and she knew that, but if she could take him out, maybe she would earn some respect.
"I'll take this one."
Lil handed the boss the paper and watched his eyes widen slightly when he read the paper over and over.
Squalo even stopped freaking out long enough to notice the expression on his face.
"What the hell's the matter?"
It was a moment before the boss finally spoke up, meeting Lil's eye.
"Fine, woman."
Lil felt a warm smile come across her face when she felt his trust in her flow through every vein in her body.
"Thank you!"
Squalo apprehended the paper as Xanxus placed it back where it had sat before Lil picked it up, and his gray eyes sharpened with surprised anger.
"VOIII; you're not fucking serious? You'll get killed!"
"As if," Lil rolled her eyes cockily. "We can make a bet if you want. If I die, you win, and if I don't, then I win. No money or anything involved, just bragging rights. Deal?"
She placed her hands upon her hips as the shark glared her way, annoyance shining in his eyes.
"'Che, whatever, brat," Squalo waved her away with his hand, shaking his head. "Even so, you're going to need an earpiece."
"Why?"
"It's a damn rule, don't question it." Squalo's tone hardened as he searched around the boss's office for something and, finally finding it, approached her with a little black thing in his hand.
"Don't fucking lose it… or break it, like that bastard always does."
Lil could almost feel the boss tense up when faced with the disrespect that Squalo showed him, but she obediently put the piece in her ear without making a mess of things.
"Okay… I know where that Parco Fiorito is; it isn't too far from here… I'll check in, okay?"
Squalo shrugged and snorted, smoothing his shiny hair down. "Hell if I care. Tell that to him."
A bottle went flying past Lil's head and landed somewhere near the shark, as it flew directly toward the ground.
"Shit, I get the point. Good luck, Lil; if you need to check in, you'll be talking to me."
Squalo stomped out of the room, crushing broken glass beneath his feet, and shutting the door.
It was silent for a moment until Xanxus grunted and leaned back in his chair. "Be cautious, woman."
Lil nodded to him and slowly eased her way out of the room, avoiding all of the broken glass on the ground, stepping out of the boss's room.
"Did he just… wish me good luck?"
The thought came out from under her breath as a fire ignited inside of her chest, warming her even to the tips of her fingers.
Even though Xanxus wasn't usually one to compliment or… be a good human in general, the speck of concern that he showed warmed her heart from the bottom up.
Lil straightened out her jacket and took a deep breath to calm herself from the entire incident and began to head down the marble stairs, her feet making the faintest clicking sound that echoed off of the walls.
"WHAT?"
Levi knocked over the dainty teacup that had been placed on the kitchen counter where Squalo paced in exasperation.
"The little girl is actually going to go on a hit today? Do you think she'll get killed?"
The delight in Levi's eyes shone at the prospect of Lil possibly not coming back alive, but Squalo shook it off.
"No, she's not going to die. Even though she took the most difficult one, she's not going to get killed. Unlike you, she's not that much of an idiot, you'd think."
Levi glanced outside as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. "The most difficult one…? You mean the one with that Russo fucker? Damn, she's dead as a door."
"Levi, doors cannot die, for they are inanimate in the first place, and Lili-chan isn't going to die."
Fran's frog head poked out of the entryway and he calmly took a seat at the table. He stretched and shook his head.
"I was the one who found her in the first place when she killed half of the hit list by herself; there's no way in hell that she'll die."
Levi's expression quickly turned to defeat when he realized that he would have to live with the girl for another day, but the energy in the room slowed to a halt as the prince himself graced the three stooges with his presence.
His slightly-matted hair and displaced tiara were already a tipoff to the members that something wasn't quite right about him today as he made his way to the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk.
Squalo glanced at Fran in confusion, but the kid shrugged his own shoulders.
"Bel, don't drink from the damn carton! We all share that, you know!" Levi snorted, testily.
Squalo geared up to get his two cents in as well, but stopped when he watched the kid drop the gallon of milk onto the counter, causing it to spill, and he trudged over to the outside door.
"The hell do you think you're going?" Squalo asked, astonished by the prince's sudden attitude change.
It wasn't like him to just blatantly ignore something like that, said by Levi of all people. Usually, he accompanied an insult along with a 'peasant' remark and a counter-order to clean the mess up for him.
Today, he merely stared at him for a long moment, then breathing in and out deeply. His fists clenched in and out, like a cat trying to get ready to pounce, but he turned away and opened the door, leaving the three to stare after him in shock.
The jeans that he wore looked worn and torn, next to the long, striped shirt that he decided to accompany the torn jeans.
"The hell is up with that little shit? He hasn't been causing trouble lately… you think he's going through puberty again?"
Levi asked, curiously, only to be answered by Squalo's ill-tempered growl.
"I think we'd all know if puberty was happening again. You remember, specifically you, when he found that little 'stash' of yours. Yeah, you remember. Make a more educated guess next time."
Nonetheless, the prince's attitude was more disturbing than anything. Quiet wasn't something that he did well, and neither was keeping secrets… or not being annoying. Somehow, within the course of only a little time, he'd been stripped of all of his princely qualities.
"Was that Bel-chan that I just saw just now? Where's he going?"
Luss had sauntered into the room, donning a ball of burgundy-colored yarn and two knitting needles in one hand.
Fran only tapped his chin in deep-thought as he lowered his green eyes down to the floor, inspecting it.
"Who fucking cares?" Levi shrugged, slamming his hand down on the counter in an exasperated way. "I just can't wait to see that that little girl failed her hit."
"Lili-chan won't fail!" Luss immediately jumped to her defense as Levi began to heartily laugh. "She'll try her hardest!"
Squalo was certain that the squabble had more to it, but he had tuned out when he watched the prince outside suddenly stop before breaking into a full-sprint.
"Belphegor, kill them. Kill them now, and the urges will be over."
Of all times to crave killing, why did it have to be in the middle of the day? He sprinted through the streets; the mumbling and chatter of Italian citizens was the last thing on his mind.
"Just one. Only kill one. You'll be better after you kill one."
The Prince urged him on, and no matter how many times he refused, his mouth would salivate with the chance, the opportunity, to kill.
Belphegor focused on his feet to guide him and not the individual faces of each person who walked by him. If he so much as thought about attacking one of them, it would happen. That was the way that the Prince worked, wasn't it?
"There's one. He's homeless; he has no reason to live, anyway. Kill him."
The minute that the Prince mentioned the homeless man, Belphegor had already locked eyes onto him in the alleyway that he was close to. The grime around the entire scene alone was enough to be unfit for a prince, but the Prince had already swamped him.
"That's it. I'll help you kill him."
The voice murmured in his head, soothing his frazzled mind as he slowly pulled out a knife from his pocket.
"Yes."
The word danced on his lips as he licked them, trying to keep the Prince in as much check as he possibly could.
The homeless man stared up at him with little emotion at first, but that slowly morphed into fear as Prince the Ripper slowly took over his limbs and he was only a first-hand witness to what happened to the man.
Prince took the man's life within a moment, stabbing him through the throat forcefully. Blood gushed from the wound as the homeless man's ragged shirt darkened with the liquid. It couldn't have been more than a few moments since the Prince had taken this man's life when Bel felt himself grab the bleeding man by the collar of his shirt.
Belphegor felt the deadweight of the body in his right arm as he dragged him deeper into the alleyway, and proceeded to get on top of him, tearing his body apart.
The feeling of the flesh ripping away from his bones and the blood gushing onto himself and the dirt on the ground was exhilarating; like a breath of fresh air.
Even the Prince seemed to feel it; the hysterical laughter that Belphegor could hear within him intensified as he mutilated the throat, cutting anything that he could find in that region.
"It feels good, doesn't it, Belphegor?"
"Yes," his mouth moved in response to the question. "Yes!"
"Kill more, Belphegor. You need more. Kill more of them and you will feel no pain."
The suggestion was heeded in an instant as he lifted himself off of the man, ignoring the blood that dripped from his knife and the blood that soaked into his shirt.
Belphegor began to breathe heavily as he forced himself not to give in completely to the Prince's will, but just enough so he couldn't feel his limbs.
Though, for once, the Prince was right; he needed more to satisfy his thirst for blood, and more was exactly what he was going to get.
Lil had been sitting inside of the park for nearly an hour now.
It was a relatively quiet day, as small amounts of children littered the playground beyond where she sat, waiting for a guy that matched Squalo's description to walk by.
"Clean-shaven, young-looking, suit-donning, motherfucking brown-haired fucker with a gold chain around his neck. One hell of a description, Squa-san."
She smiled to herself as a butterfly flitted across her face: maybe this would be easier than she thought it would be. All she had to do was shadow him until there was a golden opportunity to kill him off.
"Easier said than-"
A black, conspicuous car with tinted windows showed up as it pulled to a stop.
"Done."
Immediately, Lil fumbled for the earpiece as she clicked it on.
"I think he's pulling up near the park."
It was a moment before she got a response, which just happened to be:
"Don't fucking blow it; he knows we're onto his ass."
With that, Lil didn't even bother responding back to that as she watched the door of the car open. A man stepped out, looking around suspiciously as he held something in his hand, but Lil wasn't close enough to get a good glimpse of what it was.
"The shadowing begins."
Lil muttered into the earpiece before going in. Her brain raced with possible thoughts of failure as she walked, slowly, to where the man had disappeared to.
There were quite a bit of things that could possibly happen to her, but at the same time, this was on-par with every personal mission that she'd ever sent herself to do, so why was this any different? All she had to do was keep focus on the end goal not slip up and she'd be home free.
She poked around the corner to see him hurrying toward an alleyway, which is probably what the possible locations meant by an 'abandoned lot'. It was probably close; within reach.
Lil hurried as fast as she could without looking like she was following anyone in particular as she double-took the corner that he rounded and made sure she wasn't being followed.
"I think he's heading toward the abandoned lot."
Lil whispered as quietly as she could when she clicked the button. Her breathing became shallower instantly; the moment was finally almost here. She could taste Levi's defeat on the tip of her tongue.
She snuck up onto the corner to see Russo walking into the lot with nothing there in front of him as he stared at a building.
Lil's heart jumped when she saw her opening. This could very well be her only shot at killing him, and she could feel it pulsing through her veins.
She readied a red dart in her hand so that she wouldn't have to clean up a damn mess when she was done as she took careful aim with her right hand.
He wasn't too far ahead of her, and she knew that she could make the shot.
Taking a deep, silent breath, Lil then released the dart from her hand. It flew steadily out of her hand until she noticed that it had flown right by him as pain shot from her hand.
Resisting the urge to scream, Lil looked over her hand to spot the injury that the boss had inflicted upon her only two days ago, when she had attempted to poke fun at him, quite literally.
Half of her couldn't believe it as she stared at the injury in shock. Was it really that bad that she missed when she threw her darts?
As if her blunder couldn't have gotten any worse, Russo was nowhere in sight now.
Lil's heart raced. Had he run away because of her failed assassination attempt? Did he happen to have his grenade launcher on hand?
A piercing pain shot through Lil's face as something landed hard on her cheek, causing her to fall to the ground, and when she attempted to get back up, a light-hearted voice greeted her:
"Varia, huh? I knew you were out to get me… it was only a matter of when."
Lil shut her eyes tightly, begging for a redo. There was no way she fucked up this badly.
"I'll kill you," the words escaped from Lil's mouth as a threat. "I'll kill you, you piece of shit."
That only earned her a swift kick to the stomach, causing her to vomit a little.
"Don't talk to people like that, or karma will bite you in the ass one day."
Tears of immediate fear sprung in her eye as she tried her best to shut up, but it was no use. Slowly, the beating intensified until Lil could hardly feel herself being beaten and she gave in to the pain, succumbing to it and falling into unconsciousness.
Squalo stared at the stubborn earpiece as he waited for an answer from that stupid Lil. All he'd asked for was her plan. Even the smallest word would have been okay.
"They always say that no news is good news… bullshit," he snarled at himself as he lounged in the kitchen, now empty due to the lack of idiots.
Suddenly, the earpiece crackled as if Lil had finally decided to answer him back, but instead, the shark was met by a sinister voice that made his blood run cold:
"Nice try, fuckers."
Squalo's mouth moved as he recognized the faint, yet obvious sound of it breaking before the communication stopped completely; how could Lil have been captured so easily and so fast?
Ladies and gentlemen, I have received my 100th review and therefore, I can die happily and in peace. Thank you for all of your support and all of the funny/witty/cool reviews! ^-^ It means a lot to me to accomplish something… xD
Anywho, I had fun writing this one; we needed a bit of a pace change again, so here it is! Reviews are much appreciated! ^-^
This update was pretty late –on accident- because I was watching How to Train Your Dragon for the second time. I sowwie. q-q –is crying-
Reviews:
Livelovehatedie: I dunno… Fran just seems like the troll type to me, and I have absolutely no idea why. xD WAT. NICE B-DAY! D:! That logic is hard to argue with, though q-q You thought so with the cuteness? Thank you! :3 Yeah… boss-chan isn't exactly the smooth type, eh? xD Levi failed hard; you'd think after getting him a stress ball more than once and it being messed up after less than a week, you'd get him something else… xD Thank you for reviewing again and for your continued support! ^-^
Chocolatluver4ever: Wow, thank you! It means a lot to me, you have no idea! I will, don't you worry! ^-^ Thank you for leaving another review and for your continued support! :3
ADisasterToRemember: Ah! T-thank you q-q I enjoy writing boss-chan, even though he's really hard to keep in character because of his lack of… everything xD I have decided not to go on hiatus because there's people like you that I know I will disappoint, and I'm also having fun updating every week xD ^-^ It's nice to know that the suspense is like… making you crave more :3 Thank you for leaving another review and for your continued support! ^-^
animeotaku0434: Thank you so much! It means so much to me that I made you feel all fangirl-ish xD ^-^Thank you for the good wishes and all; it really does mean a lot to me! ^-^ Thank you for leaving another review and for your continued support! :3
BlackSakura-chi: Hehe, thank you, thank you! ^-^ There will be more than just one more, though –sinister music plays- xD Thank you for leaving a review :3! ^-^
Bokviki: Hehe, I think I would have enjoyed watching dat face ^-^ Aww; I made you blush? –spasm- Sorry! xD Yeah, I hope he liked dat present, tho ;3 I'm not normally one to pick sides in the shipping war (XanLil or BelLil) but I loved, loved that chapter xD OH MY GOSH. ADAM LAMBERT. –SPASM AND FANGIRLS- Hehe, thank you for leaving another review and for your continued support! :3 ^-^
ddmahan922: Get that picture and send a copy to me, hehe! ^-^ Thank you for leaving another review and for your continued support! :3
Lady Syndra: He was, eh? xD Thank you, I can't wait to push chapters out, usually! It's great to know that you anticipate them just as much as I do. Also, hold the phone, you're my 100th review. Wat. WATTTTTTT. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND LEAVING ANOTHER REVIEW Q-Q I'M GUNNA CRY…