Chapter 14: Allies and Adversaries

Bel sat in his room, comfortably perched on the sofa, as he silently considered the rolls of parchment his great-aunt had given him a few days ago.

Specifically, he was thinking about Sirius Black: the godfather of Rose Potter, and the man who was said to have betrayed James and Lily Potter to Voldemort. He was currently in Azkaban for the murder of thirteen people, and although Bel had been aware of him well before his great-aunt had made Remus Lupin spill his guts so they could archive his secrets, something he hadn't known previously was that Black might not be guilty of the crimes he'd been accused of.

And the Prince deliberately used "accused of" here and not "convicted of" because there very simply had not been a trial to convict Black. He'd just been tossed into prison haphazardly and without a trial six years ago, and nobody had tried to get him one since.

Not his family, not his so-called friends… and certainly not Dumbledore.

Black had well and truly been abandoned and let down by everyone he could reasonably have counted on to have his back, but it didn't add up.

By all accounts, Black sounded like somewhat of a loose cannon.

Not the type to be able to play the long game and turn double agent.

And Peter Pettigrew, on the other hand, didn't sound like the kind of man who would go after a dangerous murderer and die a valiant but foolhardy death. Rats and cowards generally didn't.

The Prince thought it more likely that their positions had been reversed, with Pettigrew having been the Potters' Secret Keeper, and Black the one to recklessly charge head first into a trap which had gotten him framed for murder, several times over.

Stupid.

… but not altogether out of character, according to everything Lupin had told them about Black.

And on top of that, it sounded like Lupin and Black had both had Flame Bonds to James Potter, which made Black's betrayal make even less sense from that perspective. Not that Guardians couldn't turn on their Skies, but it was unusual without them having been given a very good reason to… and going by what Lupin had told Bel's great-aunt, the Prince was not inclined to believe Black was a man who disregarded his loyalties easily.

Bel didn't expect Lupin, Black, and Potter to have known anything about Flames or being Bonded though, as the magical world generally didn't. But ignorance of the fact didn't make their Bonds any less, and so Lupin's head having been stuck so far up his ass he hadn't noticed Dumbledore's manipulations had perhaps made some sense in the immediate aftermath of the Potters' deaths.

He'd been a Guardian with a severed Flame Bond. That was not something you could just shake off.

It took time to grieve, and to heal from a loss that staggering, but then again Lupin had clearly let it drag on for way too long. To his own detriment: by the time Dumbledore had scouted him for his little spying mission, the man had had no close friends who'd notice his prolonged absence and maintained barely any contact with his mother's family in Naples. It was also clear by the sorry state he'd been in when the Varia hired him that he hadn't been taking good care of himself while spying on Princess Jophiel. Skipping meals and missing sleep on the off chance that another hour of that wild goose chase he'd set himself on might give him even the barest hint as to where he might find Hel, probably.

And it sounded like Black had been no less of a self-saboteur.

If he had been Potter's Bonded like Bel suspected he might have been, Black going on the warpath after finding out a close friend had betrayed his Sky made perfect sense in context. He hadn't been even remotely smart about it of course, but then again, thinking things through just didn't seem to be Black's forte.

Thoughtlessly provoking a classmate into sneaking up on a werewolf during the full moon, when said werewolf was your friend and would get expelled at best, sent to Azkaban or put down at worst, was not what the Prince would call smart.

Yeah. Black did not have what it took to be a spy.

In all likelihood he was innocent, and a trial under Veritaserum would clear him of all charges.

The things he'd been accused of were so obviously lies that Bel didn't know how Black could still be stuck in Azkaban after all these years. Except he did, because Black was a British peer and an Heir at that – not just some minor magical nobody. Getting him a trial and clearing him of all charges, even if he had been guilty and caught red handed, should have been a piece of cake… so the fact that it hadn't happened yet did paint quite a picture…

Told Bel it was deliberate.

If he really wanted to, Bel could probably pull a few strings and shine some light on the matter without revealing his involvement. Get Black out of Azkaban and steal another pawn right from under Dumbledore's nose.

He could, but he wouldn't.

The truth of the matter was that Bel had no need for Black, and he didn't like the sound of having to deal with a reckless hothead who had no regard for any rules and seldom thought things through before he acted. Black was much more trouble than he was worth – and perhaps that was why Dumbledore had abandoned him too.

Never mind that other thing…

The fact that James and Lily Potter had named Sirius Black his daughter's godfather.

But Bel was a selfish Prince, and Hel was his daughter. So if there was even the slightest chance that Black might use his newfound freedom to try and challenge him… to try and take her…

Then he could simply continue rotting in Azkaban forever.

Innocent or not.

…

When it came to assessing the state of a situation, Mafia parties came in handy.

It was a place where many of the Alliance's more prominent figures could all be found gathered in one spot, and his father had once told him that if you could gather world's most influential people inside one room, you'd be able to sit back and tell a lot about the current political climate just by watching them interact…

It was no different here, Dino thought to himself as he laughed at the punchline of Don Ricchi's joke, clapped him amicably on the back, and excused himself to find another conversation to join. He found Don Bianchi and his wife standing a little ways off, sharing a glass of champagne with Ganauche III and his date… Aurelia Zabini?

Yes – yes, that was definitely her. How interesting.

"Don Cavallone," Ganauche beamed at him as he approached, opening his arms in welcome, "How good to see you! And not a second too late – we were just talking about you."

Dino put on a smile, taking a moment to greet each person present and shake their hands before addressing what Ganauche had said properly.

"You were talking about me? Nothing too bad, I hope?"

"We wouldn't dare." Aurelia Zabini assured him smoothly, "I was just telling Signora Bianchi here that Blaise and Emanuele will be starting their second year at Mafia School come September."

At the mention of his youngest, Dino felt his smile widen with pride.

"Yes indeed. They grow so fast, don't they?"

"Frightfully so!" Signora Bianchi agreed knowingly, "And just you wait, yours are still little – you haven't seen anything yet. Our Giorgia is at the age where she could be starting a family of her own any day now…"

Ganauche made a sudden noise, like he remembered something.

"Speaking of children – have you spoken to Hayato yet, Alesso? I have it on good authority that he is in attendance tonight."

Mentioning Don Bianchi's illegitimate child right in front of his wife was definitely not how Dino would have gone about it. The woman's face soured and she quickly hid her scowl behind her champagne glass, but it was too late – everyone within hearing range was sure to be listening attentively by now.

Turned out that Don Bianchi had not seen his son yet, which Ganauche accepted with a clearly strained smile.

"How strange!" He said, "It's not that big a room."

He hung around for a little bit longer, and then excused himself as soon as it was polite to do so. Signora Bianchi still looked and felt furious – humiliated like that in front of everyone.

Dino felt for her, but Signora Bianchi had better get used to it… it wouldn't get any better for her from here on out now that the eventuality of Nono's retirement was starting to creep closer and closer. Gokudera Hayato was Tsuna's Right-Hand and first in line to succeed Coyote as the Vongola's Storm Guardian, after all.

At least it looked like Nono was finally planning to retire.

That was a relief, because it certainly hadn't been the case in those memories of the future: Don Vongola had clung to power up until the Millefiore forcibly removed him from the picture, and Dino knew perfectly well how that had ended… with a Mafia War brought down on their heads, and the Vongola's allies all dragged into it.

Aurelia picked this moment to ask Dino if he would like some more champagne, and he gratefully took this opportunity to escape the stilted and awkward conversation with Don Bianchi and his wife, accompanying the Black Widow back to the banquet table instead.

Which brought him back to that other matter.

That Gokudera Hayato was still refusing to talk to his father… understandable, perhaps, considering their history… but that wasn't how politics worked. Politics didn't care for hurt feeling – and as the future Don Vongola's Right-Hand, Gokudera couldn't just go around picking and choosing who he wanted to interact with.

Hopefully Ganauche could talk some sense into him, though Dino didn't bother getting his hopes up. He hadn't listened so far, so why would he start now…? They'd have better luck trying to convince Tsuna to talk to him, but whether or not he'd actually do it was another matter altogether.

Dino accepted the glass of champagne Aurelia Zabini passed him and took a sip, surveying the room silently.

Today's party was hosted by Don Beccio, held in celebration of his daughter's engagement to a prominent Mafia Heir. There were smiles and pleasantries all around, but beneath the surface level, the tension was unmistakable…

The Vongola had better get it together and do it soon, because the Alliance was starting to see right through them. At this rate, it wouldn't take them long to realise what Dino had figured out a while ago:

That there was something deeply broken within the Vongola…

…

"-no decorum at all. Papa says Don Vongola was livid."

"Ushishi~ did Signora Vongola get grounded, like a little kid?"

"Pretty much! And all that old fool took home from this was that Signora Vongola was lonely – so he's having Sawada Iemitsu fly his wife in from Japan. Thinks some female company should keep her happy!"

Aura threw her hands up, as though this was the most preposterous thing she'd heard all week, and Bel snickered again.

Apparently, there was trouble in paradise: eight months pregnant with her baby and utterly fed up with being treated like a fragile piece of furniture by Don Vongola, Sawada Kyoko had enlisted the help of her husband's Mist Guardian to sneak out of the Vongola Estate and go out to eat some cakes. The mental image this conjured up was very funny, but her absence had not gone unnoticed for long. Nono had proceeded to make his displeasure known - in front of a fellow Alliance Don, no less - the moment Rokudo Mukuro had returned her.

"Don Vongola should count himself lucky. None of the women in the Prince's family would have tolerated being shouted at and humiliated like that."

"I would have slaughtered him. And imagine, if that's how he treats her like in front of a guest…" Aura shook her head, "Anyway, it's a mess and a half – but how are things on your end? Blaise certainly enjoyed the sleepover."

Ah yes, the sleepover. Hosting a sleepover at the Varia had definitely been a first, but Hel had kept asking for one on her birthday, and Aura hadn't actually objected to the idea when Bel proposed it, knowing that Blaise's safety and well-being while he was under his roof would be Belphegor's responsibility, and that he would take it seriously.

Hel had given Blaise the full tour of the castle complete with commentary and lively story-telling, after which the two of them had decided to settle down and watch a movie. That had ended with popcorn spilled all over the floor, as they decided that having a food fight was more fun and exciting than watching the moving anyway. Instead of going to sleep when Bel told them to, Hel and Blaise had spent a good few hours building a blanket fort and sitting inside of it, telling each other scary stories.

The next morning Bel had found them still inside the blanket fort – beds untouched – as they clung to each other in their sleep. Aura had cooed at the pictures, delighted to have a few copies of her own.

"Shishishi~ Hel did too. She's been trying to get me to host another one."

Aura chuckled, taking a sip from her drink.

It was her veranda they were sitting under that Saturday morning, sharing a drink while the kids played. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, but as Bel finished his cup of coffee and made to refill it, Aura lowered her voice and said lightly:

"By the way, because there have been a couple of rumours going around recently that the Varia's higher ups might be planning to leave the Vongola… Don Zabini asked me to mention that, should this be true, our Family would be more than happy to welcome the Varia Boss and his Guardians into Zabini territory."

Bel acknowledged this offer with a single nod, making a mental note to mention it to Xanxus, before their conversation returned to less precarious matters.

…

It was August, and Matilda was finally starting to teach Hel how to use the wand she'd gotten on her previous birthday.

It was a slow process, as it turned out her great-grandmother's wand of silver lime and veela hair was not all that well-suited to her. It took considerable effort to get the wand to do what Hel wanted, and the results were often unexpected, so she was still working on winning the wand over.

That included keeping it on her person during the day instead of in a box in her room, and doing some small, harmless bits of magic with it, like Lumos and Nox – as Matilda had instructed her to. Even so she'd managed to somehow set Papa's curtains on fire by accident last week, so it was still a work in progress…

In other news, Great-Grandaunt Jophiel went back to the Red Kingdom for a couple of weeks to deal with a couple of 'family matters' that 'required her attention'. Papa had allowed it and so she left on the 21st – leaving Hel with a pile of homework to be done by the time she returned… so she 'wouldn't get bored'.

Hel didn't know what family matters Princess Jophiel might be attending to, and didn't care all that much either. What she did care about was that with the old vulture gone, she had her Wednesday and Friday afternoons off…

She utilised one of those Fridays to visit her Great-Aunt Cassiel with Prince Nante, who had dug up a heavy, old photo album and let Hel leaf through it as she told her a little bit more about her great-grandmother.

Queen Adalicia had been… something. A witch and a princess by birth, she had attended Durmstrang prior to her marriage to Hel's great-grandfather. Everyone had hoped she would be able to give him magical children… but to no avail. King Rasiel's two legitimate children had both ended up being squibs, and his relationship with Queen Adalicia – never a love match to begin with – had only gone downhill from there.

Hel's great-grandmother had apparently spent a lot of time working with experimental magic, and had had some Veela ancestry which might or might not have had some bearing on her famously short temper and inhuman-looking eyes.

Papa's eyes – though he could just as easily have gotten those from Hel's fully veela grandmother. It had apparently been Queen Adalicia's suggestion that her son seek out a veela and marry her, though it had ultimately been just one more failed attempt on a list of many more failed attempts – Papa and Uncle Rasiel had both been squibs, and considerably more bloodthirsty than most.

Hel knew from asking Nante that the King's only magical child had been an illegitimate one born to one of his mistresses. Nobody had been very forthcoming on the details here, but it sounded like Great-Aunt Cassiel had hated her, Hel's own grandfather had pretended she didn't exist, and Papa killing his aunt's half-sister for scheming against him had finally brought Cassiel over to his side.

History was never a boring subject in this family.

Still, knowing a little bit more about the woman her wand had once belonged to was interesting, and would hopefully contribute something towards her efforts in getting her great-grandmother's wand to accept her.

On her next afternoon off, an otherwise uneventful Wednesday she had up until then spent in the Varia's library on the second floor, Hel caught sight of an intruder. She could tell he wasn't Varia not because he wasn't wearing a uniform, but because he looked lost and was toeing around the place like only people who had something to hide did.

Everyone knew that the best way to get into a place you had no business being in was to walk right in and act like you weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. Whoever this was definitely didn't have any right to be going up those stairs though – that was where the Officers' Private Suites were.

Having nothing better to do, Hel walked right up to the intruder.

"You're not Varia." She said, raising her chin and speaking clearly – as a princess ought to.

The man froze, and as he turned around Hel caught sight of tanned skin and grey hair streaked with remnants of blond – he was wearing a suit, and was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"I am Hel – who are you?"

"Hel…? Oh, Belphegor's kid… right?" A big fake smile stretched out across his face and the stranger held up a few slips of paper, "I'm from the CEDEF, I have some paperwork to deliver to Xanxus."

"Then you're going in the wrong direction." Hel raised her hand and pointed a finger towards the hallway on the right, "The Offices are that way. If Papa catches you up where you're going he'll kill you, so I would turn around now if I were you."

The stranger twitched, but his foot moved and he took a step down the stairs.

"I see. It seems I got a little bit lost – this place sure is big. Thanks for the help, little lady!"

He made to leave, turning in the direction Hel had pointed him in, and Hel waited until he had passed her before she turned on her heels and started following him. Just in case he got 'lost' again. After a minute or two of walking in silence, during which the stranger simply pretended she wasn't following him at all, they reached Xanxus's office.

He knocked on the door and called for Xanxus twice, but no answer came.

"Looks like he isn't in." Hel told him the third time he tried, forcing him to give up the charade and acknowledge her. When he turned around to look at her now, the fake smile was gone. The stranger just looked annoyed.

"Don't you have anywhere else to be?"

"Not really." Hel shrugged, "You're really rude for a snoop."

"I'm not snooping, I have every right to be here."

"Rude, a snoop, and a liar. You shouldn't lie to royalty."

"You're plenty rude yourself, for a kid." The CEDEF agent said stiffly, "And what Kingdom are you supposed to be the Princess of again, anyway?"

"The Red Kingdom, of course." Hel said without missing a beat, before suddenly grinning widely in her best impression of Papa, "But do you want to know a fun fact? They call it that because one of our Queens used to bathe in the blood of virgins sometimes, because she thought it would help her stay young!"

A snort sounded from behind them, and just as the stranger jumped, Hel turned around to find her godfather making his way towards them. He looked faintly amused and took a moment to ruffle her hair before addressing anyone at all.

"Done harassing the External Advisor yet, brat?"

"I was just messing with him a little."

Not her fault if he'd gobbled up that blatant falsehood about the blood-bathing Queen. It wasn't true at all – just a myth about a Hungarian Countess Hel had read about in one of Papa's books.

And had Xanxus just called that man the External Advisor…? How unbelievably… underwhelming.

The External Advisor told Xanxus that he was here to talk to him, showing off that same bundle of papers he'd shown Hel earlier as well, and so the next ten minutes Hel spent standing outside the Sky Office, waiting for the External Advisor to come out again.

When he finally did, he left the door open behind him, so Hel slipped in.

Xanxus was sitting at his desk, looking through the papers the External Advisor had left behind but he put them aside as soon as he glanced up and saw her standing there. Xanxus raised an eyebrow.

"You're still here?"

"There's something I wanted to tell you. About him." She nodded in the direction the External Advisor had fled. Xanxus followed her gaze, then told her:

"Close the door behind you."

Hel did. On the other side of his desk, opposite of Xanxus, there were two leather armchairs. They looked pretty identical, but Hel knew from experience that the one on the left was the most comfortable one, so that was the one she sank into.

…

Sawada Iemitsu walked down the grand staircase and left the Varia, silently cursing that nosy little busybody the Varia's Storm Guardian called his daughter.

She was just as annoying and insufferable as he had always imagined her – meddlesome, disrespectful, and overall an unpleasant little brat – so of course she had to be at the wrong place at the wrong time while he was trying to figure out what the Varia were up to.

Because they definitely were up to something, if the local gossip was anything to go by.

Even Families outside the Alliance had started to notice something was up now, and Iemitsu was starting to fear another uprising might be in the works. Xanxus bringing all of his Guardians to Don Vongola's birthday party had been a clear enough declaration of intent, even without the several more recent murmurs going around that Xanxus still had no intention of serving under a Vongola lead by Tsuna – which he was duty-bound to, having lost the Ring Battles.

That was the Family rule: loser serves the winner.

Not that Xanxus had ever liked to follow the rules. If there was even a single loophole to be exploited they could be sure that man would exploit it, and it was this that had Iemitsu so worried. To be making such bold statements, Xanxus was definitely planning something. He'd expressed his fears to Don Vongola and he had agreed.

So Iemitsu was carrying out a little bit of a private investigation for Don Vongola, because if there really was going to be another coup like he feared… the Vongola was going to have to be prepared.

In any case, it was lucky he'd thought to bring along that stack of paperwork. Things could easily have gone pear-shaped if he hadn't had a cover story to explain his presence in the castle…

…

"He was snooping." Hel announced the moment she was sitting down, eyes hard, "I found him on the staircase that leads up to the Officers' Private Suites. He said it was an accident – that he got lost."

"Of course he would. Piece of trash."

Xanxus had already known that Iemitsu was inside the castle well before he'd found him standing outside the Sky Office with Hel; Mammon had come looking for him while he was getting some shooting practice done to tell him that much. That he'd been snooping did not surprise Xanxus. That he'd been caught and called out on it by a seven-year-old though – albeit a seven-year-old well on her way to becoming Varia Quality, thanks to Bel – was still pretty fucking pathetic.

"You should have killed him."

"Can't." Xanxus said dryly, "External Advisor is technically still Vongola."

"Oh… then someone should kill him after we leave. Would serve him well."

Xanxus couldn't say he disagreed there. If the chance presented itself after they were technically no longer Vongola, he could think of a number of assassins who would take the chance and just end the piece of shit permanently without second thought.

Would be cathartic.

"What business does he have snooping around the Varia anyway?"

"Probably thinks we're planning another coup."

"Why aren't you, though?"

Again, Xanxus raised an eyebrow. Hel was pouting, arms crossed on top of his desk while her chin rested on them. When he didn't say anything, Hel elaborated:

"It would serve them right. And I'm sure you'd run the place much better than they could… instead you're just running away – and Papa is letting you! I don't get it."

Running away?

He guessed that might be what it looked like from her angle. Xanxus was sure that even at sixteen he'd have seen it no differently – at thirty, though, he knew that life was more nuanced. There was a difference between running away and breaking free.

How did you go about explaining that to a kid though…?

"You know I can't lead the Vongola – don't have the blood for it." He said slowly, "That's how royalty works too, right? Even if magic is cheating bullshit, that's the basic premise. Can't inherit if you don't have the blood. And there was a long time, when I was younger, that I told myself I wouldn't let that stop me. I'd crush that stupid rule of the Vongola's, and I'd become the Tenth Boss. But sometimes… even if something might be possible, you're just hurting yourself worse by trying to achieve it. I care about the Family because that's who I am – who Don Vongola raised me to be, believing I had a shot at being Don one day – but the Vongola has never given a single shit about me and has fucked me over again and again. Why should I stay? Why should I owe my life and time to them?"

Xanxus fell silent. Hel looked like she was concentrating, biting down on her lip thoughtfully, "So what you're saying is… you're not running away from the Vongola… but you're breaking up with it?"

That was… some analogy.

One that he was going to have to sit down and dissect some other time, because he didn't like the implications of it.

She wasn't wrong tough, so Xanxus nodded. She nodded too and seemed to accept that.

"Is there also a reason why you're not burning the Family to the ground? Papa said you're retiring before the Vongola Heir becomes Decimo because you don't want to make a statement. But I don't understand, why is that?"

Xanxus chuckled, "You're a smart kid, I think you can figure that out by yourself."

"Whaaat? Not even a hint?"

"How about this one? You're going to be a Queen one day – so is the Red Kingdom only made up of the royal family?"

"Of course not!" Hel bristled, shaking her head furiously, "There's tens of thousands of people living there!"

"Exactly. And just like your Kingdom is more than just its royal family – the Vongola is made up by a lot more people than just its higher ups." Xanxus glanced at Hel, to check that she was with him so far, and then went on, "Now what if I were to tell you that in and of itself the Vongola Family is nothing special? Sure, the Family has money, but it mostly deals in Flame research. The Cavallone has more territory, and the Zabini is older. So why do you think the Vongola is the Mafia's top dog? How have they stayed in power for so damn long?"

"Because…" Hel floundered, "Because they're powerful."

"And why are they powerful? What do they have that no other Family in the world has?"

Hel started to shake her head, unsure, but just then her eyes landed on him – on his jacket, and the crest proudly displayed on it.

"You." She realised, "They have the Varia. They have assassins."

Xanxus confirmed it. Encouraged, Hel went on:

"So you don't want to make a scene because if you do, the Vongola's enemies might think the Family is getting weak… and a lot more people than just Don Vongola and his people would end up getting involved."

"We narrowly avoided one Mafia War already – don't really want to have to deal with another one."

Thanks to the future that never was, they already knew how that would go: the Vongola would just throw the Varia at their enemies as a distraction, so that as many of their higher-ups as possible could run away while Xanxus's people died for them. There was a fucking reason why the Varia had been down to only 32 members by the time Bel's brother had showed up to try and kill him.

The Vongola had used them as a fucking meat shield.

What was stopping them from doing it again?

Even if Xanxus and his Guardians wouldn't be Varia anymore by then, no one would thank him for starting a Mafia War just to get back at the old fart or Sawada Tsunayoshi. He wasn't that stupid.

Besides, with the way things were going, the Vongola's higher-ups would crash and burn all by themselves before long… no outside assistance needed. But then at least that would be a problem for the Alliance to deal with internally, which would be a lot more tidy.

And would produce a lot less casualties, too.

…

It was finally decided that they would stay in Italy post-retirement. At least, for the foreseeable future.

For one, having front row seats to watching Nono and the others self-destruct was bound to be cathartic.

For another, Xanxus still had some unfinished business he wanted to look into once he would have enough free time to devote to it… he had found out after being released from that Zero Point Breakthrough that his mother had died while he was frozen. Between burying it all deep down under his fury and there never being the right time to immerse himself in an independent investigation, he'd never actually found out what had happened to her.

He wanted to though – and the rest of his Guardians weren't against staying in Italy for a little while longer, so the decision was made.

Aurelia Zabini had let Bel know that the Varia would be welcome in Zabini territory, so they'd started looking into properties they could buy there. And they would be buying – as Mammon had asserted at once – because renting was a stupid waste of money, and Mammon didn't like wasting money.

That was fine by Xanxus. Wasn't like they couldn't afford it anyway… murder paid well, and even if it hadn't, they were being backed by Bel and himself so there was nothing to worry about there.

In the end, it was Levi who had come across the scatter of properties they'd been to visit most recently, taking a day off early during September to tour and inspect the area with Hel in tow. The plan here was to live separately, but close together – so they would each have their own space while still being able to visit each other whenever they wanted. Levi's suggestion worked just fine with that, Mammon was pleased with the quality compared to the prices, and Bel was already making plans to have the interior of his house magically expanded – so it could become a proper royal residence.

Whatever that may mean.

In any case, because the Zabini were wizards, there were also quite a few magical people spread out across their territories – some of them fairly close by… which promised to be interesting. It would make getting the magical security and comfort Bel was so intent on having in his life easy to get their hands on, so Xanxus counted that as another win.

…

The only thing left to decide now was the when – a clear and set deadline for their retirement, so they could start announcing things and make it official. Sawada Kyoko's baby was due any day now, but Xanxus's best guess was that her husband wouldn't be Don until February at the earliest. More likely that Nono was going to have them wait until April though, as that would be Symbolic, being the anniversary of his rise to power, as well as his birthday.

Old fucker liked being recognised like that…

Either way, Xanxus and his Guardians wanted to be gone by then.

Couldn't leave before November though – not with Bel and Levi still training up their replacements. Both had assured him they would only need another month or two before they could start delegating for real, so that probably meant that they could reasonably expect to be out by January.

End of January, as busy season really wouldn't be the best time to have to adjust to new Officers.

Alright, that was that then.

All that was left now was to make the announcement…

A/N: Thanks for reading, please leave a review! I love reading them :)