Disclaimer: I own the OCs, the rest is Akira Amano's work.

Fratellanza

Stealing information from the control center was surprisingly harder than expected. I had to do it in the day because they would notice my card being used at strange hours otherwise.

I yawned.

"Would it kill you to be more on guards?" Jie hissed at me.

Gone was the one who glared at me. Now I knew he was basically jealous I was Fon's student and not him, he was not missing a shot to taunt or provoke me. However, with me not caring enough about people I deemed unimportant, I never replied.

Jie was important in the Chinese underworld though. The Black Dragon? I asked Fon, they were big. Funny thing was, they used to be allied with the Nishimuras but something broke their business up.

I guess I should keep an eye on him. I mean, I did, but answering his provocations was...useless.

I froze when we reached the harbor during patrol. I squinted, even if I had new glasses.

"What now?" I pointed at the thing floating in the sea.

"Should we check what it is?" He nodded and he followed me on the dock.

He grabbed a long metal stick and managed to pull the thing closer to us. We grabbed it once it was close enough and pulled it on the dock, staring at it with wide eyes for a few seconds.

I cleared my throat.

"I think we should call Helios to tell him we found our missing patrol buddy," I said, crouching next to the blond corpse. I turned his cold head to see any indications of what had happened. He was pale but...he wasn't bloated like a drowned person would be.

I put my hand in the water. It was cold. It was winter after all so…

"He's coming with a team," Jie announced, crouching next to the body. "Did he drown?"

"I don't think so."

"How so?"

"Bodies of people who drowned will sink in the water and depending on its temperature, will take some time to resurface or not. It's winter, the water is cold and he disappeared what, a month and a half ago?"

"It's the Mediterranean sea, it's pretty warm even in winter."

"He doesn't look like he drowned." Jie frowned and gave the body a closer look. "And the waves would have sent the body away I think, the currents have been strong recently."

"He's intact," he mumbled, the nail of his thumb between his teeth. "With the currents, the body would have hit rocks and the walls of the harbor, it should be more damaged than it is."

"Yeah. Check if he has any injury." We proceeded to check his arms but nothing. Jie turned him around and leaned toward the nape. I did as well. They were several microscopic holes in his neck.

"It looks like needles." I pursed my lips.

The control center and Helios were quickly there. He gestured us to step aside and questioned us while the team was putting the body in a bag.

"Luciana brought up the fact it didn't look a drowning case," the Chinese martial artist said next to me, "and I have to agree. There are holes the size of a needle in his neck." Helios frowned in thoughts.

"We'll let the hospital do the autopsy and I will summon you soon."

"Sir!" a man yell, running to us with a walkie-talkie in his hand. "There is ruckus at the UdA!"

"Joanna and Izmir are in charge of this area!"

"That's the problem, they're missing!" I frowned.

Helios shot a quick look at the truck in which there was the corpse, then us. We nodded and took off, him not needing to say anything.

I was shocked to see literal trucks with people in military gear, shotguns and Plexiglas shields. Someone pulled Jie and I down behind a barricade.

"Patrol duty?" the guy asked us in a pant. We nodded. "We have a hostage situation, a man working at the research center snapped and took the grocery store hostage. He has guns."

"Did he say anything about the reason?"

"Just gibberish about how we were inhuman and power freaks. You two can go in with flames?"

"Yeah. There must be another entrance to the store, we'll find it."

I grabbed Jie by the shoulder and dragged him behind a building.

"If you have Sun Flames, does it mean you are knowledgeable enough to heal?"

"Flesh wounds only, and not too deep." I stopped, close to the wall and shot the street a look.

"Well then, you might not like it but as we have a limited amount of time with flames, I'll go in first and deal with him while you take care of the hostages in case one of them is wounded." He gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Alright, I'll follow you." I raised a surprised brow at him. "What? It's not because I'm not a fan of you that I can't recognize you're right in this kind of situations." I scoffed.

"It's a nice change to have someone who thinks like this."

There was no one so we reached the back of the grocery store quickly. The back door was locked. Jie glued his ear to the door.

"It's silent." I checked if my little device was in my pocket.

"Do you have a pocket knife?" He nodded and I picked the lock.

I pushed the door slowly, wincing when there was a gritting noise. I waited for a few seconds but no one. I gestured Jie to follow.

We were in a lobby. The door in front of us at the end of it was slightly opened and a lot of lights came from it, so it probably was the store. We checked the lockers and bathrooms, nothing.

We went to the storehouse. There were three people. One was passed out and tied up, bleeding from the forehead, while the other two were tied up and gagged. Jie immediately went to the one passed out and I went to the last door.

"You...you monster show can you...it's not human, it's not human!" A man with a white coat and pacing back and forth said, the gun shaking in his hand. In front of him was a man in his fifties, sitting against the counter with his hands in the air.

"You need to calm down."

"NO!" the man yelled with wide, crazy and terrified eyes. "How...I can't deal with this anymore! I can't!" I frowned. Why was he so panicked? Did he see something at the research center?

I slipped behind a shelf full of candies and leaned a little to have a visual.

Maybe I could do it with no Mist Flames involved after all.

I went from the candy shelf to the soda shelf. Still crouching, I crept up behind him when he stopped to talk to the guy, waving his gun around.

I stood up once behind him, the hostage not having reacting to me, and put him in a choke-hold. I grabbed his wrist and pressed a pressure point to make his arm go numb. He whined in pain and dropped the gun.

"Please no, you don't understand!"

"What's all this babbling about?" I asked him dangerously. "Give me a good reason not to execute you right there."

"The...the scientists here...the bas..." Blood splattered on my face when he was shot in the head.

I dropped the body and shot a shocked look to the hostage, the gun still fuming in his hands.

"Thank you for co..." I stomped to him, grabbed him by his collar, disarmed him and pressed him against the counter.

"The fuck did you do that for trash!?" He widened his eyes.

"I..."

"Hey what are you doing!?" Jie pulled me back. "Don't attack the hostage!"

"It's fine, it's fine..." he said re-adjusting his clothes.

"Go tell them the situation is under control."

I did and the hostages were evacuated.

I watched them put the body away.

"I know him," a voice suddenly said next to me. I looked down to see a six year-old Verde there with a frown marring his face. "He took them hostages?"

"Yes. He kept saying you were monsters in that center and he started talking about a 'bas' so maybe a basement before that guy," I pointed at man with a cup of coffee in his hand, not shaken whatsoever by what happened, "shot him in cold blood."

"That one huh..."

"You know things about him?" Verde pursed his lips in thoughts.

"I know he works in the department studying the relation between Flames and human beings." It sounded suspicious.

"That facility is okay during the day?"

"Nothing out of ordinary." He looked up at me. "Do you think there is someone deeper going on?"

"Maybe, keep a close eye on your research Verde. You don't want them to fall between the wrong hands again."

Kyoya was just staring at me without saying a word. I gulped at his utter silence.

"Kyo?" He averted his eyes to wall, still processing what I had just told him.

It wasn't the fact I told him I was in love with him. It was the fact that because I was in love with him I couldn't keep my condition to myself anymore.

Seeing him like that...maybe I should have kept it to myself in the end.

"You...you don't have to stay," I told him quietly, even if it was breaking my heart to say those words because I wanted him to stay. "I have to live with it but...you don't so..." I looked down. "I should go home tonight." He still didn't look at me.

I cried silently in my bed that night.

I was surprised the next evening when Kyoya opened the door of my apartment with his own key. He frowned at me cooking and gave it a closer look.

"It's not enough for two," he commented.

"I know, I didn't..." He looked at me dead in the eyes.

"It's always your place on Wednesday night." I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded.

"...forgot?" He scoffed and looked in my fridge.

I was relieved he came but…

But there was something different.

There was something different between us and I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"It's not our job to do your part!"

"I don't see why I should bother with something like that when you're all beneath me!"

Yeah, very annoying, I agree.

It was simple. We were in group of four in German for a presentation so we divided the work in four so that we could rehearse the oral presentation later on. We were two girls and two boys.

One decided not to do the job and let us do everything. Of course, the other boy didn't like that at all.

The girl in front of me lowered her face in shyness. I was next to the guy who did nothing.

Who was the guy?

Danielo Rossi, or the Rossi Family's heir's younger brother. Who was that Family?

The second most powerful one in the Alliance, right between the Vongolas and the Cavallones. I had met him at a few parties and I was glad he was sick for my eighteenth birthday party because he was a dick. His brother was responsible and got along with Dino, but Danielo?

He was a dick with no consideration for others.

"I'm ranked higher than you in Mafia hierarchy, so do as I say!"

"Like hell I'm going to do your job you shitty spare!" Danielo frowned, fury in his eyes.

"Say that again asshole!?" I sighed and the girl squeaked.

"You're a shitty spare! She's Haneuma's sister but she did her fucking work!" Now I was getting involved against my will, great. Danielo shot me a disdainful look.

"She's fucking adopted."

"And? She's still his sister!" Danielo scoffed.

"She's barely worth more than a servant. She's here for the show." Now that ticked me off.

Dad was probably pissed from where he was watching up there.

"From your behavior, the Rossis will not stay at the top for long," I commented idly. The boys stopped.

"What the fuck are you implying?" Danielo growled.

"I mean I sincerely hope nothing happens to your brother because otherwise, they're doomed. You're a rude, pompous, arrogant and incredibly selfish individual who will lose the respect of all of his Family if he remains a self-centered brat all his life. Poison is quickly dropped in food or drinks and goes unnoticed when you think you have loyalty whereas you're treating people like shit and stay on your ass all day long doing nothing." He grabbed me by my collar and pulled me on my feet.

"And who the fuck do you think you are to tell me this when Federico died because you were a weakling!?" I didn't react and he smirked viciously. "You should have died back then, because that new heir is a fucking weakling! That Inheritance Ceremony was a fucking joke!"

"Or maybe your ego was hurt the Vongolas didn't even ask for your help?" His face turned scarlet from anger and he raised his fist.

"You fucking..." His fist started to dive toward my face.

I was ready to stop it but a dark hand did instead.

"Fighting is prohibited," Nadja stated coldly, forcing him to release me.

"Tch, fucking bitch." Her brow twitched and she sent him in the wall.

"You have no right to insult me when you're a weakling using his title to boss people around." I couldn't have said it better.

"If you can't even do a group project correctly, you don't deserve an ounce of the power you were born with trash," I added. I looked at Nadja. "Why are you here?"

"Emergency summon." I nodded and looked at the other two. The guy was snickering at Danielo and the girl was shocked.

"I'll rehearse my part on my own and tell you how long I've lasted on the group chat."

"Of course, we'll do the same!" the girl said immediately. I followed Nadja out of the library, the few students here on a Saturday morning already back to their work.

"What's the emergency?"

"I don't know, I was just at the control center than Commandant Samaras told me to get you because he couldn't reach your phone. De Luca told me you'd be here."

"Huh..."

There were only five of us. Nadja, Arro, Jie, the guy who ranked sixth in the fighting exam and I. No trace of the seventh or fourth ones.

"Marco and Aleksei both disappeared as well," Helios said coldly, his arms folded. "Follow me." We went to the basement and I shivered at the cold. Helios led us to a room and we all stared silently.

Joanna's and Izmir's bodies were on metal tables.

"I guess we found them," Arro commented and I elbowed him in the ribs to tell him to shut up.

"Luciana and Jie noticed them on the first one's body. There were small holes in the neck. These two have them as well. The three of them died of a cardiac arrest. Not drowning or anything."

"We're targeted?" Jie asked him.

"Yes, and I think I know why." It got our attentions. "You can use Dying Will Flames. Those three used them a lot. My guts are telling me that whoever is behind these murders, they're picking the victim depending on how much they have used their flames." I took my device in my pocket and showed him. "Supplied by the research center Cavallone, I know where your mind's going and I have to admit it's quite possible. Some of these scientists are seriously too passionate about their experimentation." I shot the device in my hand a look.

For all we knew, they could be collecting data on us without us knowing. I wouldn't be surprised.

That scientist who took hostages as well…

That night I sent Iemitsu an email. After all, on this island were gathered young mafiosi more or less important to their Families. Using them for science purposes would be…

I shivered just thinking about it.

Iemitsu reply was quick, saying he'd manage to send me something that would help.

Obviously, when Moretti sneaked in, I was glad. The guy was dead to radars.

Now I needed to talk to Arro see if Jeremiah and Zelia could get us any information.

"They stay in the Box Weapon department with Verde, but when I asked them if there was anything weird they mentioned the department about flames and their relation with human beings was pretty secretive, but they never thought much of it." I frowned in thoughts. "Lulu...the hostage situation Jie and you had to stop and the thing that guy said...and us being targeted...you don't think that..." I sighed.

"I hope not, but it would make sense, wouldn't it? The first body we found, the holes in the nape...they were small enough to have been injections." If they discovered about my Flame of Wrath they'd become too interested, even if I was sure my Sky Flame alone was already interesting.

It was supposed to be a rare one after all. Although, I had already been at the Estraneos for two years, so I highly doubted I was a good choice for human experimentation. This island was the perfect guinea pig cage for them.

"In any case," I told him, standing up from his bed, "don't use your flames."

"The same goes to you, especially to you by the way." I nodded.

"I'm going to have a walk."

"You want me to come with you? It's dark ou..."

"I'm good Arro, don't worry about it."

I walked around the harbor, exchanging texts with Mukuro. He was not happy at the fact he couldn't reach me in my dreams when I was on the island. Anyway, I asked him if there was a chance the Estraneos could still...be in service. He replied with a 'maybe' and that my father was the problem.

I couldn't deny that. At first I was anxious about telling him about my father and the Estraneos as he wasn't in the room yet for this piece of information during my Trial. He just looked at me and told me it was just making my case worst before Fran asked for attention.

I looked at the sky. The stars were pretty but the moon was hidden, only the street lamps giving light. The end of March was there.

Two years ago the Arcobaleno Curse was broken. I'd turn nineteen in a month and a half.

"Green is not a good color on you." I froze, all of the hairs on my body standing up. That voice…

I turned around, ready to kick him but he stopped me with his arm. I jumped back and put a hand on my gun when he raised his hands, eyes wide open.

"Hey now, I don't think pointing a gun at someone who's visiting is a good idea Esperanza!"

"Depends on how much of a trash they are," I replied with venom, glaring at him. He pursed his lips.

"Now you're hurting your father's feelings." I bared my teeth at Guillermo. "But more seriously, I'm not even here for you." I perked up at that. "Well...I mean, if you go home with me I wouldn't be against it but it's not the purpose I came here for."

"What are you doing here then?"

"Honestly? Probably the same as you."

"Talk, now." He raised a brow.

"Why would I?" I didn't have anything to say to that. "Well, if you can deal with it on your own I guess it'd be good for me." He thought about it for a solid second. "Okay. Someone who worked for me years ago stole some of my research and decided to continue them on his own. Here."

"The research center," I muttered, the puzzle pieces assembling in my head. The dead...shit.

Shit, shit shit, shit!

"How did they even steal from you?" He rolled his crimson eyes, much like Fratello would do.

"It's embarrassing, I trusted them and got drunk and when I was sleeping they stole them." I deadpanned at him.

"You were robbed of your research because you were drunk?" He glared in my direction.

"Hey, I'm an adult, things happen."

"How...whatever." I took a hesitant step toward Guillermo. "So, what are you doing here? Trying to kill him?"

"Steal my research and what he came up with. Possibly kill him and throw his rotten corpse in the sea for fish to feed on."

"Poor fish, they didn't do anything."

"But if my darling daughter already has something to do, I wouldn't like to get in her way." I glared hard at him. He really thought he could call me his daughter as if nothing had happened? "I mean...I have information on the man in question I wouldn't mind sharing to help her."

"What do you want in exchange?"

"The same thing I've wanted for years dammit!" he snapped at me, stomping in my direction.

He grabbed me roughly by the shoulders.

"I'll give you the information if you come home!"

I was immediately thrown back to Bermuda's deal two years ago I still had not given an answer to. This situation I was in, this particular mission and my father being here...wasn't it just the sign I had been looking for?

Bermuda's deal had been stuck in my head. I didn't want to live under the threat that was my father. I didn't want to quit CEDEF either but...if I could use my father to help me in my missions…

If I could get some time to finish things up in CEDEF and explain Iemitsu the situation, get his approval for me accepting Bermuda's deal, leaving and finally deal with my family…

It...was a good plan, wasn't it? Get information from my father in exchange of me going home, but not now.

"Once I wrapped things up with my current affiliations." My father blinked.

"Wait what?" He leaned forward but I put my hand on his face. His stubble were itchy.

"I'm aware I can't run from you forever, and I'll get sick and tired of running eventually. I can't just leave like that though, people will come for me and I don't want that. I want to severe the bonds properly once I wrapped everything up with my affiliations. So you give me the information and I'll go home once I'm done with my business."

Sorry Xanxus, sorry but I was breaking the promise I made you about not flying solo in regards of our father.

"Do you think you could get your brother to come as well?" I scoffed.

"Yeah right, Xanxus' utter loyalty goes to the Vongolas." He looked at the sea.

"That's annoying..." His eyes were back in mine, now entirely serious. "How long would we be talking about?"

"I don't know, depends on what I might find here honestly." Hopefully I'd go when my body couldn't deal with my shit anymore.

Getting rid of my father and his scientific schemes for the world would be my last one…

"And would your Guardians come as well?" I frowned. I didn't want to involve Arro with my family, same with Katryna, I still had no real Rain, Romain would laugh in my face and kill me, I didn't know Cristobal and Alaric… "Although, I care about Alaric more than the rest. I'd like my test subject to come back as well but I have a feeling I might end up with a scythe in my body. I'm really saddened about Alaric though."

"Me," I told him sternly. "Only me for sure." He waved me off.

"If it's you then it's Alaric and you." I knew it was true but I didn't like hearing it from him. "It's an interesting offer. Actually, there's something I was hoping to talk to you about." I raised a brow. "About Hide's son, Kyoya. You know him right?" My blood went cold.

"What about him?"

"Let's just say Hide's not really happy about him being a Vongola Guardian. I know there was this little fight in Namimori and that they broke off all ties but Hide would like him to go home as well to inherit the Nishimuras." I was pretty sure Kyoya'd rather stay with the Vongolas than go to his dad. "So you know...if you could do my old friend a little favor when he asks you, it would be highly appreciated for future business." I pursed my lips, clenching my fists by my sides. "Or you can deal with this situation on your own like a big girl. After all, if you accepted so easily it has nothing to do with the fact your little investigation is going nowhere or too slowly, right?" Fucking bastard.

"Fine, I'll do him a favor, happy?" He grinned like a maniac.

"Yes, very. I'll send someone to give you the information."

He left.

It started with me thinking I could use him, but in the end I felt like the one used.

Shitty father, he was as bad as Xanxus or I.

Bermuda was glad I finally took his deal.

Fratellanza

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Bye!