Disclaimer: I own the OCs, the rest is Akira Amano's work.
Fratellanza
"She got a trial?" Gokudera repeated, dumbfounded in Tsuna's room. Reborn was sipping on his espresso.
"Isn't that normal?" Yamamoto asked him. Gokudera grunted at his utter ignorance.
"In your world it is, you're innocent until proven guilty. The Vindice prison is the most secured prison in the Mafia, where they send the worst criminals. We're Mafia, we're guilty until proven innocent, and we're all guilty of something."
"Not a lot of Families are ready to go against the Vindice to back up a prisoner. Even Iemitsu and Dino struggled to get one. The Giglio Nero Family unexpectedly backed up Luciana's case."
And this was weird. He knew Luciana met Aria at the party she was introduced as Federico's Guardian, but why the interest? Especially knowing Aria pleaded as the Boss of a Family and the Sky Arcobaleno.
"Anyway, right now it was temporarily stopped because of new elements that could potentially counter some charges." Reborn shot a look at his student, still silent. "I don't want to give you hope too soon, so that's all I will say on this matter."
"How is she holding up?" Yamamoto asked with worry lingering in his eyes.
"Arro could talk to her, like Iemitsu. It seems like she accepted the idea of being locked up for the rest of her life."
"She thinks we resent her," Tsuna said calmly.
"Tenth?" A sad smile appeared on the Vongola's lips as he raised his head to look at his friends.
"Before they were all taken away, she explained to us why she helped Mukuro escaped. She said it was okay to hate her for it. She...senpai doesn't expect any forgiveness from us."
"Tch, stupid woman."
"She helped him escape because he helped her before, but she didn't attack anyone, did she?" Tsuna shook his head and Yamamoto frowned. "It doesn't make sense then."
"Reborn, do you know something?"
"I know a lot of things Dame-Tsuna, I've known her for more than half her life."
"Then what is it?"
"It's deep Tsuna, let Dino handle it. It's his job." And only he knew how much Luciana and Dino needed to talk honestly to each other.
I sneezed, spitting by accident on the table and snorted. Iemitsu made a disgusted face and I wiped my nose with my sleeve.
"It's not as if I could put my hand in front of my mouth! They didn't want to take these off!" I defended myself, turning my head away stubbornly.
"As I was saying before you decided to flood the table, I have hope. Alaric told me the guild was located in Milano, so I went through the records and found a trace of that Simon. It seems like he was killed years ago."
"One less trash in the world."
"What's that frown for Luciana?"
"The Salvatorre guy, I have a bad feeling about him."
"He's trying to paint a very bad portrait of you." I waved that off.
"It's not what I mean. I...I think I saw him before but I can't say where."
"Are you sure of that?" I shrugged.
"I don't know, it's just I have a feeling I really don't like when he's here. And from the way he made the Estraneos look like vic..." I stopped myself from talking, Iemitsu's eyes now wide in shock. He was thinking the same thing than me. "Wait noooooo...it wouldn't make sense! If one of them was known by the Vindice, they would be sent in jail too!"
"Not if they managed to create a whole new identity for themselves." I pursed my lips. "We can't prove it though."
"Well...you know...Mukuro might..."
"You want Rokudo Mukuro to testify." I smiled nervously at him. "Do you really think he would help you out?"
"I think his hatred for the Estraneos is far greater than anything in the world. He electrocuted me in Namimori, like some kind of animals to keep me in check, it really hurt my feelings too."
Soon enough I was back in the room, my leg now free from its splint.
"Concerning the Estraneo years of the defendant, she will come to testify." I tilted my head of my shoulder but went nonetheless. "The attack and the defense will come with questions. The attack will start."
"I would first like to see a proof you were a part of the 'Projetto Immortale'." I refrained myself from rolling my eyes and, as I could, put my left leg on the table. The ankle was already naked and the tattoo, now old looking yet still very readable, was still there. "I see. This project aimed at first, erasing any feeling of pain in the subject, and then make them regenerate themselves fast enough so that they didn't die, correct?"
"Yeah."
"And wouldn't you agree it would be a great advantage during battle?" I stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Objection! We are not here to discuss the Estraneo case!"
"But it's linked!" Salvatorre retorted, innocently, to an angry Iemitsu.
"Objection granted."
"Fine. If I were to say the name 'Dafne Navoli', does it ring a bell?" I gritted my teeth, angrily glaring at him and his satisfied smirk.
"It's my birth mother."
"And she has been in St. Maria Institute in Palermo for more than a year, right?"
"So?"
"It's a mental institute," he added for the Vindice. "From your early childhood, it is easy to guess that, or she abandoned you, or she sold you. In any case, the Estraneos obtained you shortly after, therefore making you their property. No matter the treatment received, someone obtained shall always show respect and obedience to the Family that welcomed them. Knowing of your...family background, it would be logical your mother's...pathology was transmitted to you and that with your flame you started to slaughter them one by one."
"Are you calling me insane?" I asked slowly.
"It is exactly what I am saying." He went in front of the Vindice, leaving me digesting the innuendo. "She has the Flame of Wrath, an unstable mental health can cause more wrong than right. She should be locked up until the day she dies to protect the rest of us. That's all for me."
I...I wasn't like my mom I...I…
"Luciana." Wow, when did Iemitsu walk in front of me? "Would you tell us what happened in that lab?" My throat was dry. My eyes met my brother's. He was worried, he clearly was worried, just like I was about diving back into this. However, one look at Salvatorre gave me confidence.
"I...I don't remember everything. I know that...I know that to make sure I would stop feel pain, they made me feel a lot of it before. They...stabbed me, sometimes it would be deep, other times it would be superficial but in a big amount. I don't remember the pain but I...I remember the fear." I gulped, swallowing back the lump in my throat as I took a deep breath, my brows furrowed in concentration. "I remember hearing the adults talking about wives and children and I kept wondering if I had a family outside, maybe looking for me. I kept wondering if they would save me. It...It stopped at some point, obviously. When it stopped, the only thing I wished was to never wake up. It would have been a lot more simple, a lot less painful. We...we were alone. Nobody was coming. Children kept dying, crying in fear, losing the will to live...but nobody was coming," I said, my voice more high-pitched at the end of my sentence. "It's a miracle I never forgot my name. I...there was a boy with me, going through the same project. Everyday he would ask me what my name was. One day I told him it was 'P.I.02'. He got mad and screamed at me."
Iemitsu was trying to hide it, but I knew he was empathizing, if not pitying me.
"One day, they brought me to a table. They did their thing, as usual. But I didn't feel pain. Nothing at all, except the cool metal piercing through my skin. There was...a man, a scientist next to the table, super excited. So I sat up and stared at him. I was bleeding and he was so happy, it made me...so angry. I didn't know what I did to deserve this, why he was so happy when I was hurt, why nobody in there would look at me like a human being. Then the guy started to be scared and my hand was...heating up. Next thing I knew, he was nothing but ashes and the wall was destroyed. I...anyyone wearing a white coat? I just...killed them one after another, because they were the reason I was so hurt, they were the reason so many children were so hurt every single day. Then I set fire to the building and I found Mukuro at the exit, who got me out before I pass out from lack of oxygen. We were the only two survivors."
"Thank yo..."
"I had to do this to get my freedom back, because no one in that Mafia would do something. Not the most powerful Family, or the Vindice. Nobody did. We were alone. And even after, nothing was done. We were left to fend by ourselves unless we somehow met good people. The Estraneo Family did that because the Vongolas forbade a bullet, they were treated as pariahs and they ended up experimenting on children. The Vongolas killed the Family in the end, but the children? I'm still waiting for at least an apology for never seeing a thing when they did that for at least ten years. We're the collateral damages nobody in the Mafia wants to acknowledge, but we're here. We exist. We're angry. Someone messed up my body and I'm going to die a dog death before I turn thirty and it was not even my choice, they just did those shit on me! But before I'll find that guy, the man supervising the experiment, the 'Projetto Immortale', and I'll look at him straight into his eyes as I make him feel every single pain I felt before I kill him, and you won't be in my way." I looked at the Vindice, the three of them looking back at me. "And you know what? I know I'll be the one to do it because nobody else will! I want to get my revenge before I die! The Mafia can rot to hell, because they condemned me when I was too young to fight back, when I had no one to defend me!"
I was breathing heavily, no one talking after that. I looked down, not raising my head when Iemitsu cleared his throat.
"It would be all for me." He went back to his spot.
"After checking the new information we were brought with two relatives of the defendant, we can assure she is indeed Esperanza Maria Luciana Garcia Burguera. Because of this, the charges regarding the Estraneos, be it the experimentation or the murders, are no longer of our jurisdiction, therefore non-existent in this trial."
"This is..." Salvatorre started, red of rage, as I was dumbfounded. The Vindice in the middle, whose name was really Jager, stopped him with a glare.
"You said so yourself that from the moment she went to the Estraneos, she became their property. However, shortly after the Possession Bullet was forbidden, they were 'bought' by another Family, meaning they were no longer their own master. She happens to be the heiress of that Family, hence this matter going to the current Boss." My eyes found Alaric's.
I was born a Sky, I was...kind of expecting to be important but...an heiress?
And if he said that, it meant I was the rightful heiress too, that the Estraneos didn't change that.
Alaric lowered his eyes as I wanted to puke. It meant that...could my father be behind this hell?
"Is there anything one of the sides would like to add before we take our decision?"
"Yes. I would like Rokudo Mukuro to testify."
"As you asked us before," the Vindice on the left droned. "Let him in." I was escorted back to my seat as Mukuro, with his ever-lasting smirk, was escorted to where I was sitting a second ago.
"You have asked Luciana for help to escape this jail, correct?"
"Kufufu, this is amusing." Even with his back facing me, I knew Iemitsu was glaring coldly at Mukuro.
"Answer the question."
"I did, not long after the Ninth's son died tragically. She had a debt to me, she accepted quite easily. She wasn't in a nice set of mind, I'm surprised no one sent her to a therapist or something." Fuck Mukuro, don't throw shade at my brother like that! "I told her when a few weeks before it happened."
"Alright, one last question then." He shot Salvatorre a look. "Have you ever seen than man before?" Mukuro raised a brow. "Luciana told me he seemed familiar to her, something to do with her childhood." I shot the guy a look. He was tensed out of sudden.
Looking back at Mukuro, he was now frowning and staring. A couple of silent seconds went by until he slowly rose from his chair.
"You Estraneo bastard," he growled through gritted teeth as he was showing an anger I had never seen in him before.
"I was right then," I mumbled to myself.
"What is that supposed to mean? Explain yourself!" a Vindice ordered as Salvatorre smiled nervously.
"This teenager obviously is taking me for someone else."
"Oh no, I remember you asshole." In all his pathetic glory, he got up and tried to run away. Before anyone could catch him, he fell, looking at his legs in horror.
"MY LEGS, MY LEGS!"
"I think your presence is required here sir," Alaric drawled, next to his victim.
We were all forced outside of the room. Mukuro and I were surrounded by Vindice, like the good little prisoners we were.
"Do you think I'll leave this place?" I asked him curiously. He hummed, not looking at me. His hands were bound in his back and there was a weird necklace around his neck. If I had these weird big handcuffs to keep me from using my flame, it might be to keep Mukuro from using his illusions.
"I do actually," he replied after a few silent seconds. "You're more useful outside."
"Geez, thanks Mukuro." He kufufu-ed. "There's no bad blood between us, right?" He raised a brow.
"I wonder." I stared at him impassively. "It was sarcastic Ana, there's none." I sighed in relief. "I didn't know you cared so much about my opinion."
"I'd rather not be on your blacklist."
"Kufufu, smart decision."
In the end, I was sent back to my cell.
A few days later, I was leaving. They gave me back my belongings, I changed into dirty clothes and I was surprised to find Lancia going to the exit as well.
"They consider you as not having been in control of your actions?" He nodded bitterly.
When I stepped a foot outside, I was blinded by the beaming sun. The white snow had been replaced by green grass now we were probably in June or something.
Had the sun always been that bright?
"Luciana." I blinked quickly and realized Dino was standing in front of me, an unreadable look in his eyes.
"...Dino." We stared at each other for what seemed to be minutes until he sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair.
Then I was in his arms, my face in his jacket.
"Aren't you mad?" I mumbled weakly.
"I am, I'm furious you have no idea." Yet, he hugged me even tighter. "You...how..." I gulped when I heard his voice breaking. "How can you think for even a second I'd let you rot in Vendicare Luciana?"
Oh.
I wasn't expecting that.
"Go home now, I'll come soon to talk about your punishment." I nodded at Iemitsu and followed Dino as my Boss exchanged a few words with Lancia. I waved at the latter, who nodded at me.
And we...just went home.
I couldn't utter a word, wondering what was waiting for me. Hopefully Dad passed a long time ago, I wouldn't have been able to face him.
I was eating well, gaining back a few pounds quickly, even if eating too much at once could make me puke. I would stay most of the time in my room. Arro came to spend some time with me, but I was still relatively elsewhere in my head. Now out of Vendicare, I could actually think about what Alaric told me.
I had an uncle who wanted me away from my blood family, most likely because they were the ones who threw me in the experiments in the first place. Then, he knew but didn't do shit, and Alaric went back to Namimori as soon as the trial was over.
I...I would need to talk to Xanxus too. Hopefully he did what I told him, staying out of my problems but…
"I'm coming in." I sat up at Dino entering my room. He scanned it quickly. "It's a mess." I didn't reply. "Put some shoes on and follow me."
"Why?"
"Just do it." I did, keeping a safety distance between my brother and I. He noticed, of course, but didn't comment.
However, I was confused when we were in front of Dad's grave.
"I called Reborn to tell him you were out of jail and he said we needed to have a serious conversation."
"Here?" He chuckled humorlessly.
"Not specifically, but I thought it would give me enough courage to say my part." I was even more confused. Wasn't I the one who did something bad? Dino sat in front of the grave, legs crossed and head facing the ground as I stood behind him. "I'm sorry for not being a good brother to you."
"What are you talking about?" I muttered. "You're great."
"Then why was I so relieved each time you left home?" I blinked. Huh? "I was sad to see you leave, of course, but each time a part of me was relieved, and it started when Dad died. I felt guilty about it for years, but after hearing what you said at the trial...I was just terrified." I slowly knelt down. "When he was alive, it was easier. I could just be here to grow up with you and didn't have to deal with the traumas you had on my own but then...it all came crashing down on me. The Family, Reborn's training and you and...when Reborn took matters in his own hands, I was relieved to know I wouldn't have to deal with that aspect of your life. The worst is I know you suffered from it but...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you go to Japan, I should have fought harder when Iemitsu took you away."
I clenched my hands on my pants. I did resent him for not having as much time as before once he became the Boss but...now I was sixteen, I couldn't even imagine how a fifteen-year-old Dino must have felt with so many responsibilities at once. It wasn't surprising he felt relieved when I was away. I was relieved each time I didn't think about my past.
"I understand that you felt like you couldn't tell me everything but...I know technically it's a piece a paper that says we're siblings, but I would never destroy it or what it represents for anything in the world. When Reborn told me you said that I...I was more furious about that than you helping someone escape from jail. I mean it's..." I threw my arms around his neck, my face buried in its crook.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it would make you feel that way but...it's not because of you I felt like that." He pried my arms off him and turned around, facing me. "I don't know, I guess because I was adopted at an age where I knew what life was like without a family, I thought if I wasn't good enough I would be sent away or something. I always thought I...My mother left me, my brother too, Mukuro too, Alaric too, I just thought something in me was screaming to people I wasn't worth the time and that if I wasn't 'perfect' I would be thrown away. Reborn knows that, he surprised me studying late years ago, when Dad was still alive, with books way above my level. He saw right through me. And at school..."
"What at school?" he asked me with worry. "Does it have something to do with you being so much with Squalo?" I chuckled, but it was empty.
"Yeah. I was adopted and sadly an easy target. Kids are fucking mean, I thought the orphanage did that to them, but at school it was the same. They kept saying an adopted kid was always a stain in a Family and that..." I shut my mouth.
"And that?" I averted my eyes and he sighed. "It's okay if it has something to do with me."
"...they were saying that you were already making a fool of the Cavallones on your own." He took in a sharp breath. "Truth be told, I would have dealt with them on my own, I wanted to, but I knew it would create troubles. Superbi had a fearsome reputation, he kept them at bay."
"He knew about the bullying?" I nodded.
"I guess he pitied me and let me hang around him as I wished. I made him pinky-swear to keep that for him. Anyway, when I was helping Mukuro escape, I was already resigned to losing everything I had."
"You helped him escape because he protected you from the Estraneos. It made a ruckus, but not enough for me to leave you in jail, or even Iemitsu. Reborn said you called Mukuro Tsuna's Mist, right? Then..." I smirked bitterly.
"I'm a lab rat." He stared at me in astonishment.
"What?" I raised sad and angry eyes at him.
"I am a lab rat and I'll always be! Maybe not to you, but the others? You told me yourself I was adopted for that reason, that Giegue in Russia was sent to take me back to that Estraneo man who's probably my fucking father and they threatened everyone in Namimori because of that! I...I was sent to CEDEF to have people keeping me straight! Federico and Leo didn't see me that way but they died and...That's all I..." My head was turned on the side because of Dino's slap.
Dino slapped me. My hand barely reached my reddened cheek, my eyes wide in shock, that I was embraced by my brother. I gritted my teeth, trying to push him away, but he tightened his hold on me.
"That's why you were like that after Russia." I froze at his heartbroken tone. "Because they...Luciana, you're not a guinea pig anymore. You'll never be one again."
"You're wro..."
"No. I'm sure it's hard to look forward in the future with that kind of past, but you're not a guinea pig anymore. You grew up, you trained, you're stronger than that, you can defend yourself. It's..."
"I'll always be a guinea pig to the Mafia!"
"Then prove them wrong!" He pushed me away, keeping his hands on my shoulders. "If someone gives you crap about what you were put through, then prove them wrong! You have the skills to do that! Don't...it's not because this is your past than it has to be your future too!" I widened my eyes.
Federico...one of the last thing he told was not to let my past hinder my present or something like that.
"I'm...I'm worth something then?"
"Of course stupid," my brother whispered.
'Don't forget to see it.'
Could it be my own worth? Was it possible Federico knew what was going on inside my head?
My hand flew to my mouth as my eyes watered. Dino hugged me once again and my free hand gripped the back of his shirt.
"But even today I still pay for the experiments..." I mumbled weakly.
"And we'll find something to cure it." He kissed the side of my head. "You're my sister in everything but blood, you're not dying on me."
"It's not fair..." I snorted loudly. "It shouldn't be your job to do that, it's..." I pointed a shaking finger at the grave. "It was supposed to be his job to take care of me, of us, and he just died! It's not fair! You shouldn't have had so many responsibilities so young!" He kept rubbing my back in soothing circles. "Why would he die less than two years after he adopted me!?"
"Let it out," my brother whispered. "It's okay to be angry at Dad for leaving. I was too."
"It's...I want my dad!" I sobbed in my brother's neck. He sighed deeply, letting me cry.
"I know Ana, I know."
"He would have known what to do when I didn't! I wouldn't have been scared of the consequences if I came to you for my problems!" He started rocking me back and forth. "It's...you wouldn't have had to play both the brother and father role and..."
"I know," he kept repeating in my ear.
"It's not fair...I'm sorry...I...I..."
"Shushh...it's okay, I still love you and you're not going anywhere. You're allowed to mess up too, you're a teenager. You're allowed to be yourself, I won't love you any less."
It made me cry harder.
I did always think I had to be the best I could be if I wanted to stay here but...but it wasn't what a family was about. I put myself under pressure for so long for nothing when I could be myself.
As I cried in Dino's arms, I actually felt freed from a weight on me shoulders.
Fratellanza
Thanks for reading this chapter! Thanks to animalanimal12 and LyriaHart, RedLovesBlack and nemo9000for their reviews!