Swallowing the Sun
9th Sunrise: New (Part II)
Arianna stares blankly at the ceiling, eyes tracing the cracks and cob webs gathering above as the others slept soundly in their shared beds. Arianna is sharing hers with Giorno obviously, and her twin is currently suffocating himself with Arianna's hair. Rosie is sharing hers with Viola, and Luce is currently spread all over the unmoving Cenere, Verde is on his own and the reason behind it was left unsaid.
(The look of instant empathy and understanding from Verde when Arianna relied the story of their stepfather selling them for money and easy disposal was telling enough, his aversion to touch was another. It paints an ugly picture of the boy's origin before coming here, but it is no breaking news after all they are all here.)
It might be in the middle of the night or sometime past midnight, the moon is full and it illuminated the gloomy cement walls well enough. Arianna woke up from a dream that might be considered a nightmare. Her dream was of Emi in the day of her death, from her birthday celebration up to her getting several bullets lodge into her body.
The phantom pain of her moments before dying is what woke her up.
So now, she stares at nothing in particular, mind wandering about over her life so far. Arianna would admit, that her life as of now is far more challenging than when she was Emi. But that doesn't mean Arianna would not endure.
(Joestars are survivors through and through, a battle of endurance with life is nothing new.)
Day after day was a struggle in the hellhole that they've gotten themselves in. Even more so when she was still sick and weak, with the unfortunate circumstance, she is left to rely on her brother whose eyes burn bright with resolve day after day.
The other children were amiable and nice, easy to get along to, but were unnerving as they don't act like normal children would.
Viola is a child with bountiful energy and full of curiosity, her point of interests and what she deems entertaining are all sorts of unsettling, but the innocence in spite of Viola's dead-looking amethyst eyes means that her inquiries are really just out of curiosity and not of morbid fascination towards anything alive that can be squished and beheaded. Viola can start a conversation with only her as the speaker and within the depressing gray four walls that entrapped them, her bright perky voice is a welcomed lively background music.
Verde on the other hand, is a sweet shy boy that is soft spoken and would often stutter with his words. The fae-like boy would either keep to himself or would be engaged in Viola's set of dialogues. Despite Verde's timidness and sweet nature, there's a hint of darkness that hid in the corners of his bright green eyes that would only come out to play when one of the mafiosi men would come into their room, observing the men with a detached clinical eye of a scientist that is opening up a cadaver for dissection. Arianna was taken by surprise when she first saw the sudden change, but then again, all the children in the room seem to change when a mafiosi enters the room.
Understandable by all means.
Rossa or Rosie is very much a big sister figure to them and was quick to let them enter their fold. Protective towards the youngest – Giorno and specially her who is sick – and blunt as a baseball bat, unafraid to say what she wants. The redhead often bat heads with Luce – whom she is extremely familiar with along with Cenere – when it comes to words that shouldn't be said in front of children, not at all minding that they were also in fact children. Rosie is charming, managing to convince the generally uncaring mafiosi to give Arianna the medicine that she needs. Even managing to get an extra blanket so that Arianna could have some respite from the cold.
Speaking of being charming, Luce on himself is a whole other level. A disarming smile here, a bat of an eyelash there, then a huge splash of logic and some dallop of common sense, Luce can put the men to dance to the rhythm of his tune. Luce was the one who actually did most of the convincing in plying the men for supplies. He could play the part of an angel with the help of his appearance, but is an actual plotting demon behind the pretty glass figure Luce portrays himself as with the mafia men.
And they bought it. Hook. Line. And. Sinker.
Luce has a veritable mind palace, worthy of being called a genius even, already thinking up plans for an escape route now that they have the key to the door. Plans that has yet to be fully broadcasted.
Luce is waiting for something, and from the not so covert glances that he kept giving Arianna's way, he is waiting for her to speak about what she and Giorno are still hiding.
It must be about Madonna. Luce is waiting for them to speak of their secret guardian. But Arianna is quite sure that the pale boy doesn't know about Madonna specifically, because if he did then he would have confronted them about the hovering apparition that appears and disappears behind the twins' backs. Just that Luce seems to have an inkling that they are hiding something big.
(Their previous attempt on getting the key was a big bust. They never actually tried again after the failure, because after that, Viola's older brother was taken and never seen since the subsequent effort. Getting separated from one another is the last thing that they want if they want to escape together.)
And as for Cenere, he is every bit of a silent mysterious character. The standing opposite to Luce, both in appearance and manner. And just like Rosie, as blunt as a mallet, maybe that's where he gets it from. He doesn't talk much but would offer grunts or a curt answer when asked, direct to the point and unlike Luce's flair for the dramatics. He is like a silent shadow that's around the corner looking over us, fitting the dependable older brother figure to a tee. From what Arianna could deduce from the days they've been together, he has a clear history with Luce and knows the other's mind work most of the time – it's rather hard to predict a budding sociopath's mind – while the smug bastard knows the dark haired boy inside out. Cenere doesn't mind that part at least, most likely the reason why they can be labeled as friends.
Cenere is a steady brick wall to Luce's unstable erratic mind, capable of calming him down, making Luce to stop and think and consider others.
Speaking of considering others, Luce has taken to befriending Arianna as his goal, already concluding that if he wants to get close to Giorno, his only way would be with Arianna. Luce is planning something that involves Giorno as part of it and Arianna would remain as a friendly but indifferent cellmate towards him until she could confirm that Giorno's part of his scheme would do no harm to her and to her twin.
"You should sleep sister." Giorno murmured close to her ear, as he nuzzled Arianna's hair with his cheek, sleepy turquoise eyes peering at her through thick lashes.
Arianna replies with a small hum, turning to her side to face Giorno. Arianna throws her arm over her brother and reels him in closer, the blessed warmth of her brother chases the chill that she could feel despite the two flimsy blankets that is covering both of them.
As her eyes grow hazy from the comfort she is feeling, Arianna feels familiar ghostly fingers carding through her hair and from Giorno's sigh of content, he is getting the same treatment.
Arianna's eyes closed before she knew it and slept soundly through the night.
A/N: Just some perspective from Arianna towards her fellow cellmates. So, who's you're favorite kid so far?