XXXIII - Father
The Snake was watching the show, enjoying it from time to time. His torturer had been stabbed by the Dragon, who still had the strength to move after having his skin and muscles peeled off his back and forearms. "Liz?" he called. "Queen Liz! Get down here!" Of course, nobody answered. "Lizzy? Oh, your majesty?" the man called her again. "Do me a favor and move your flat ass over here!"
The Dragon found the strength to smirk, kicking the torturer with his feet and stepping over the man's neck. "She left you, Noburu… Just like you left everyone who showed you any kindness." He felt a knife going up from his ankle to his knee, but the Dragon kept pressing the other's throat with his heel. "She caught the chance and left. Either that, or she just died immediately after you left her alone."
Standing up using his crutches, the Snake gritted his teeth. "Nobody kills my women but me! Me, myself – I am the only one killing my women, my men, my clients! Me! Nobody else!"
"We'll see about that," the man grinned through his pain as he kicked the torturer's head with his other foot until his neck broke. "You see… There comes a time when we all pay for our sins. None is ever allowed to go into purgatory before we pay our debts to this world."
"You're nuts! Fuck you, I'll just let you rot in here!" Boiling with rage, the Snake jumped his way upstairs and looked through the room. "Liz!" he called again, listening to the silence all around. "Where the hell are you?!" It was then he noticed the door to the other room was closed. Bianca had a habit of not closing doors very well so they could hear each other from various parts of a house. "Lemon pie?"
The man opened the door and let it swing back. He looked at the woman hanging from the ceiling and at the chair fallen underneath her. He looked at her wide open eyes and her blue lips. He saw all color from her face faded to gray and the ugly bruise around her neck, where the cable was. "…That little bitch," he growled through his teeth. "I should have killed her when I had the chance!"
Slowly making her way out, Caterina began running as soon as her numb legs allowed her. She was following the wheel tracks, aware they would eventually lead her to the nearest road. Her plan was to make it to the asphalt and then hook a ride. Either that, or she could call the police or… No. She quickly shook her head. The police were not very reliable at the moment. Besides, she had no idea where she was. The best idea seemed to be hooking a ride until the nearest city and pray she doesn't get raped or murdered in the mean time.
But her legs didn't take her far enough. Muscle cramps were slowing her down until she began limping, barely able to move her left leg. Her thigh and calf were burning in pain and hard like the muscles of a statue. Terrified, the girl looked back towards the house of the Snake. Since nobody seemed aware of her disappearance yet, she limped behind some spiky bushes and began massaging her legs with one hand. With the other, she used the phone she had stolen from the guard to call one of her father's associates in Japan.
"Is this Takeshi Ooi?" she asked in a shaking voice as soon as someone answered the phone.
'I am his secretary,' a woman answered. 'Can I know who is looking for Mr. Ooi?'
"I am the daughter of Giuliano Amadeo. Can I please talk to Mr. Ooi?" Nervous, she looked over her shoulder and through the bushes to see if anyone was coming after her. "This is an emergency. Can you hurry up?"
'Mr. Ooi is currently in a very important meeting. Can I give him your message, miss?'
"Yes. Tell him that my father and I are held hostages. Please, track down this phone number."
Light was making some efforts as well, though in a different way. He had asked his father to talk to several criminals for help. Those were already on Kira's black list, though he was glad he didn't have the time to kill them yet. They were known to had worked with the Snake before and Light thought they could help speed up the investigation.
In the mean time, he was still in bed, annoyed by the two nurses and his worries. One of them knocked before coming in, though the other didn't seem to bother. That was a problem, especially since he had to keep doing his job. That morning, they seemed disappointed to hear him talking to the doctor.
"Can you recall everything that happened? Are there any missing links or blurred images?" he asked.
"Yes, and I have already talked to my father about that day. I remember everything clearly, in a chronological order," Light confirmed.
"Any headaches, dizziness, nausea…?" the doctor asked as Light shook his head.
"None of that," he lied without a second thought. Kira was impatient, barely waiting to hear the magic words…
"Any respiratory problems?" the doctor asked on a bored tone, checking his patient's answers on a sheet of paper.
"Nothing. I've told you, I am feeling much better now. I don't think there's any reason why I should occupy the bed any longer," Light tried to shift the discussion.
"Well, then… I'll come see you again this afternoon. Unless you experience any reoccurring symptoms, you may go home tomorrow morning."
"Can't I go tonight? I can call my father when he's done with his shift," the teenager asked.
"Why are you in such a hurry, young man?" the doctor raised an eyebrow at him.
Smiling with a hint of amusement, Light found a believable excuse in a blink of an eye. "I still have some homework to do. I didn't finish it because I thought I'd have the weekend free. Tomorrow is Sunday and I still have my part of a project to write…"
Sighing, the doctor shook his head. "Even if you do go home this evening, you need to take it easy for the next week. I will give you a permission slip for your classes."
Kira was actually glad he had left the matter to Light. A week off from school could help him focus on his job more than ever and he could become more organized with his work. At the same time, he hoped to find out if Caterina and her father were still alive.
Light couldn't help but imagine how his auburn-haired girl would be without her daddy. He had thought about taking him out of the picture before, but her ambition and her connections had made him reconsider. Now, though… there was a chance the man would die for good and he wasn't to blame. A thin grin spread over Kira's face before he even noticed it. If Caterina was left vulnerable, he could shape her beliefs so she would continue his work when he fell.
The matter of succession was on the King's mind as well, though from a slightly different perspective. He could remember Caterina talking about that mad medieval ruler and his pyramid of heads as he was driving a stolen car towards one of the earliest refuges used by the Snake. The two certainly had something in common when it came to creepy, bloody stories from the past, but if he wasn't sure Caterina would actually replicate something like that, he knew for certain the Snake definitely would.
"Who is this man we're after?" the thirteen year old asked from the passenger seat.
"He used to be like me. We were both taken in by the Dragon, raised and supported and all that," the man answered him.
"Like you do now with me, right?"
The King grinned. "Yeah, pretty much, but we were younger. I was seven, he was… nine, I think. Now, he wants to take over the Dragon and everything he owns. He's blind from his greed, and that makes him very dangerous. Whatever happens, I want you to stay in the car, alright?"
The boy thought for a moment, then looked up at him again. "What if they get you?"
"Stay hidden and find your way out," came the short answer. "But don't worry - they won't."
After a moment of silence, the two saw the side road that led to the Snake's refuge. "Look!" the Chinese boy yelled. "There's someone over there!"
Taking a gun from the back, the man stopped the car and took off. "Hide," he told the boy right before shutting the door.
All this time, the Snake had been searching the house on all levels. He had found one of his guards with his hands tied behind his back with his belt and stumbling in his loose dress pants, but instead of killing him on the spot for incompetence, the Snake untied his hands and gave him another gun.
"You incompetent…" he gritted his teeth. "You're lucky I still need your services." In truth, that was one of five guards the Snake kept around. Every man was important, especially when holding hostages.
Aware the Snake needed no spoken apologies, the guard accepted the gun, lifted up his pants and put his belt back on. "She will pay, sir."
Holding up his index and trembling with anger, the Snake turned towards his guard. "Shh…!" He held one hand in the air, showing the silence spreading between then right before continuing on a hushed voice. "I don't want to hear it. You've just been humiliated, by a fucking child!" the man began raising his voice. "A fucking teenager! She's not even legal yet, but she fucking humiliated you! Is this why I pay you?! Is it?!"
"No, sir…!" the guard mumbled.
"Shh…! Shut your mouth already! Shut your mouth! I don't want to hear another sound from you, do you understand?" The man caught his guard's face with one hand, covering his mouth. "Not until you rip out that little girl's tongue and eat it. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" he suddenly yelled so loudly, the entire house heard him.
The guard nodded his head quickly. He had seen his boss killing other employees several times and it was a sight to remember. Last time, the unfortunate two who had fallen asleep on duty were covered in small cuts enough so they would bleed all over and thrown in a room with several hungry dogs. The Snake sat back and watched as his men were eaten alive.
Before the Snake could say another word, he could hear a helicopter flying quite low somewhere close to his house. Rushing upstairs as soon as his crutches could take him and cursing the Dragon for the missing leg, the man finally made it to one of the windows and looked outside. There were men dressed in black descending from the helicopter on a rope, all armed and with their faces covered. They were running towards his house, determined to break in and with no trouble killing anyone who dared stand in their way.
"You! Go get my car, you useless imbecile! Stop standing there like a statue and go!" he spat the order towards his guard.
"Yes, sir!" The man had a grin on his face. Although he had been serving the Snake for years, it was easy to see his boss was going down. Walking towards the door on a slow pace, he opened the door wide and immediately put up his hands in surrender. "The one you are looking for is inside!"
One of the masked men spoke something into a device attached to his collar, probably asking for instructions. After a moment, he pointed his gun at the guard. "Throw away your guns and weapons and lay on the ground, face down and hands over your head!"
The guard did as he was instructed. From the house, the Snake could hear the demands. "Fucking traitor…! I'll show them…" Going downstairs where he held the Dragon hostage, he sat on the floor at an angle from which he could shoot anyone coming in.
In the mean time, Caterina saw the man who had helped them immediately after her mother's assassination. Standing up, the teenager ran towards the man and opened her arms. "But how did you… How did you know?"
The King wrapped one arm around her. "So much about that pyramid of heads, kitten," he joked with a smirk. "What's going on there?" he nodded towards the house.
Caterina didn't know yet if it would be a good idea to tell him everything. "I don't know. Padre is in there, somewhere… I-I don't know if he's…" Tears ran down her cheeks as she clung to the man for support. She didn't even want to think about the possibility.
With a cooler head, the King understood what Caterina could not bring herself to say aloud. "Hopefully, he's still alive. Come on, I'll take you home."
"No!" she immediately protested, pushing him away. "What about Padre? I'm not leaving him there!"
"Listen, there's a war going on there. We can't get near it unless we know the winning party is on our side."
"But they are! I called them," the girl dropped the bomb in front of him.
"You did what?! But you said you didn't know- HEY!" Before he could finish, the girl was already running back towards the Snake's refuge. "Kitten! Don't!" The man began immediately running after her. It didn't take him more than a couple of seconds to get a hold of her arm and pull her back. "I said, 'don't'!"
"I'm not abandoning him and you shouldn't, either!" the teenager protested, trying to push his hand off her arm. "It hurts! Let go of me!"
"Your father would kill me to know I've let you put yourself in such danger. If those people are on your side, they will handle the situation. You're coming with me." The King pulled her along to the car and opened the door for her to sit in the back.
The girl began to cry, feeling just like her mother. She could hear her own words coming back from her memory, words she used to throw in her mother's face every single time they had an argument. She felt weak, dependent on men, foolish, incapable of doing anything on her own.
All this time, the Snake had been trembling in a corner, keeping a gun straight towards the first few stairs that led into the room. The Dragon could feel his limbs heavier and colder with every moment, slowly bleeding and covering the floor around him in a thick layer of darkness. For a moment, he wanted to see if his blood was still red, or if it had turned black like the bones of those many, many innocents he had burned to a crisp simply because they happened to be related to one traitor.
Jumping all of a sudden, the Snake turned to look at his former caretaker. "What the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind, or what?" The Dragon kept mumbling, completely ignoring him. "Answer me, damn it! Answer my fucking question!"
"Praying," the Dragon eventually said shortly.
"Praying?!" the other repeated, frowning in confusion. "Are you kidding me?! You're actually praying! What the hell do you expect, huh? Is this western god of yours gonna climb down a ladder of rainbows and fallen stars and take you to an imaginary castle in the sky?"
The man went on for another few moments before answering. "Believe whatever you wish, but I don't think it's such a good idea to mock a god, yours or not. If my God can forgive the tenth part of my crimes and reduce my sentence even by an hour, it is worth every word. I'd much rather pray with my last breath than waste it on insults and threats."
The younger of them spat on the floor. "That's my respect for your god. For him and any other. That's bullshit! If there was a god, I wouldn't have lost my fucking leg. And I wouldn't be in this filthy basement with a dead rat and another one, half-dead and praying."
The Dragon smirked. "I had lost many things… And I deserved the losses and the punishment every time. You did too – try to admit this, at least in front of yourself. But I had my blessings… I lived like a monarch and now, I die like a slave. From the dirt we rise and back into the dirt we fall."
"Shut the hell up," the other groaned, annoyed and frustrated by everything he heard. "Shut up before I cut you open like a fucking pig and spill your guts!"
Chuckling, the Dragon found the strength to mock him. "Please! It would speed up my death, thank you!"
Enraged, the Snake pointed the gun at him and shot several bullets into the Dragon's legs and abdomen. "Can't you shut up already?! You've done enough! You've fucking ruined me! You damn bastard!"
Even so, the Dragon found the strength to smile, because he could see the guns pointed towards the other's head. "…Took you long enough," he greeted the saviors in black. "Who sent you?" he asked between gasps for air. His vision was a little blurry, there was a humming noise echoing in his ears and his heart was pounding in his skull.
The men surrounded the Snake and executed him with a bullet to the head before he could make a scene and attempt another escape plan. Among them there were the guard that had just switched sides and a man who had taken off his mask. He appeared to be the leader of the team, with a long, thin scar on his face from the hairline to his jaw. "Sir," he bowed his head as he approached the Dragon and unchained him.
Unable to hold his own weight and with his mind falling in and out of consciousness, the Dragon crumbled over the man's shoulder. "…I want to know two things. Who sent you?"
The man supported him at his best, but the Dragon was heavy. "Mister Ooi, sir."
Nodding, the Dragon took a few moments to catch his breath. "Caterina… Where is she?"
"We don't know, sir. Alive, for certain. She had contacted Mr. Ooi, sir," the man continued, delivering the answers short and clear. The way he spoke reminded the Dragon of the military force.
"Good… Don't let anything happen to her. Tell Takeshi that," he gasped. "Now, listen to me… Kill me, then burn this hellhole. Burn it to the ground… Takeshi will know what to do after that." The man was aware his time was up. He could barely feel the warmth of life pumping through his veins and the pain was slowly growing numb, like the rest of his senses.
One moment, he saw everything nice and sharp, then the other, his vision would blur until everything was lost in a fog of fluff and stars. Giuliano could see the stars as he felt himself be laid down on the ground, like his adoptive mother would every night. He remembered the thin mattress he had pulled further away from the window so he wouldn't feel the cold bite of late November winds. Through that window he would watch the night sky and count the stars until the late hours of the night, thinking one day he was going to hold them all in the palm of his hand.
The man felt the cold kiss of death on his forehead as he imagined his mother kissing him goodnight. Breathing in once more, he held his breath, waiting for the loudest sound of all. Giuliano called out to his Catholic God to descend from the Italian paintings forever stuck in his memory and hold him like the Father he never knew. After what seemed like an eternity, the last he heard was the sound of a single gunshot.
Author's Notes:
Chapter proofread by AbandonedSock, as always.
Like I said, this wasn't supposed to happen. But now that it has, let me reveal a few things about the two.
The Dragon was initially inspired by Light, originally meant to take out Near after the DN ending we all know. I sketched his design with the song "I Want It All / We Will Rock You", a mashup from Queen featured as a character's theme in the film Suckerpunch. I wanted him to be a strong, almost god-like character, with a lot of influence over others and money that would place him in the elite class of society. In the Chinese culture, the dragon is a symbol of power, strength and associated with good luck and wisdom. In the European culture, the equivalent of the dragon is associated with death, disaster, the burning of crops and villages, with greed and hostility. By giving him mixed origins, I wanted to bring both images into the character of Giuliano Amadeo. Also, the surname he chose after killing his adoptive father would translate as "one loved by God", reflecting his belief and the influence the Catholic church had on him. Although intended to be a supporting character until the very end, this is the character I regret most.
What I should have covered better was the background of the Snake. His symbol is taken from the Bible, as well as from a Romanian saying of "rising (nurturing) a snake to your chest" referring to betrayal. Taken in by the Dragon, he decides to leave at some point and try to make it on his own, taking the alias of the Snake and opening the Green Snake bar. His role is alike to that of the serpent in the Bible, tempting Anastasia and eventually, ordering her murder. He would be better fit for the Queen mashup mentioned before, a uni-dimensional character designed as a worthy opponent for the Dragon. After the Dragon detonates a bomb in his car as part of the events in Warning (chapter XXII), the Snake snaps and becomes incapable of controlling his impulses. A few of his scenes are inspired by the Joker (Suicide Squad and cut scenes). As for his love for Bianca, I am letting you debate whether someone like him was capable of love or now.
