Running away from her older abusive twin brothers and by standing parents was the best decision 7-year-old Dina ever made. The issue came as an adult when she realized she needed something hidden away in the castle. And the only way to get it was through hiring her last remaining family member.
DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN
The castle stood as a symbol for the rest of the island. It was built stronger, bigger and more beautiful than those peasant houses at its foot. Much like the castle telling others that it was better than theirs, the people who owned it were equally stuck up. For good reason too. Sort of. They lead the entire island to its state in prosperity. Cut off from the rest of the world, it was the royal family that supported everyone. All of the islanders loved them.
Despite all the devotion towards them, there was one royal member that was lesser known. Hidden behind the future heirs, crown princes Rasiel and Belphegor, was princess Dina. Being a year younger she was viewed as a spare child in case something happen to the princes. The island was blessed with not one but two genius heirs. Dina was a lucky girl to be born to such a wonderful family where she didn't have any problems. Little did they know.
"The princess is missing!" The lowly castle worker was drowned out by the sounds of guards rushing past them.
They grabbed one of them out of the mass. "What are you doing?!"
"Princess Dina is missing! No one has seen her all day! What are you all going to do if you're not trying to find her?!"
"Princes Belphegor and Rasiel have requested a sparring match with all the royal guards. Anyone that can land a hit on one of them gets a major bonus. Now get out of my way. The princess will turn up. Search harder." The guard ripped their arm out of the worker's grip with enough force to knock them off their feet. No one stopped to help as they continued their way to please the princes.
"But the princess..." They mumbled to themselves.
"What about the princess?" The worker jumped at the familiar voice behind them.
"P-prince Rasiel!" They scrambled off the floor to bow to him.
"Oi did I hear you right or did you say that Dee is missing? Shouldn't she be in the medical bay?"
"Well- well you see- yes she was but uh she r-requested privacy to read- then she um- is no longer there." A knife pierced the wall next to their head as soon as they finished talking. By their shirt's collar, he pulled them down to his level.
"Find her. Notify every guard that I want the princess back by dinner."
"I thought that you princes called for the gua-"
"Now!" Rasiel didn't care to listen to the worker anymore.
There were a lot of things that Rasiel didn't care about. His younger sister was not one of them. But it wasn't out of a family type of love. She was the prized jewel to him. No one could provide the same form of entertainment without breaking. His own twin brother was boring since he constantly lost to him. He wouldn't let anyone take his precious toy away.
It wasn't everyday that the Varia officers got a nice day out. Recently a new family by the name of Millefoire was wiping out families left and right, Varia being one of the remaining. It was hard being so successful and talented at times.
"Vooi I thought we would have some peace here since it's neutral territory. So why is there someone staring us down?" Squalo, suppressing his anger to not draw attention, said.
"Maa Squ-chan they aren't looking at us in particular." Lussuria made him continue his meal. Of course they were aware of the stranger hiding around the corner. It seemed like a rookie from how badly they hid themselves. More importantly, who their target was.
The unknown person was staring straight at Varia's Storm guardian, Belphegor. They haven't once made any effort to show that they would attack since they started watching them. At first the group thought that the other party would eventually get scared and run. Now it was just annoying to be aware of their presence.
"Bel-senpai go deal with it. They're ruining the mood."
"Who do you think you're ordering around froggy? Let them be. If they do anything then we'll get rid of them as always."
"GO DEAL WITH IT NOW!" Bel clicked his tongue as there was a clear vote for him to go to the stalker. They were bothering him too. Not that he would show that agrees with his annoying members.
"I'll make this fast. If anyone touches my food, I'll cut you all." He sighed, heading in the opposite direction of where the stalker was.
Around the corner, the stalker panicked seeing Bel starting to leave. Should she follow or leave this for another day? No, she found him today. She couldn't let him escape now. She took a step forward when she felt a familiar presence behind her.
There wasn't a chance to react when knives pinned the walls around her. Her breath became short knowing this pattern. He was trapping her. It couldn't have been only knives. Her body knew that he loved adding in hidden elements that she refused to get anywhere close to his weapons.
"A woman? Shishi, what do you want with the prince?" He stepped in front of her.
Face to face after so long. She played this image out in her head many times. How she would attack him to send a message. Prove to him that he had no power over her. Instead her natural defenses made her take a step back. Her back pressing against thin wires she could feel digging through her clothes. Only two people could cause this reaction from her.
"It really is you." Shivers ran down Bel's spine at the familiar accent being whispered. It had been a long time since he heard anyone use it. No matter how much he traveled, only one island had that particular heavy tone mixed with slurring words together. Though she kept her head down to avoid looking at him directly.
"You're from the island. A villager? If you came here to convince me to come back, you should go home. I have no desire for the throne."
"You and Siel always did skip formal lessons. Not that you two ever listened to them if you did go." He tilted his head at how informal she spoke. There were a limited amount of people that called Rasiel by Siel. As one of the princes, everyone had to call him by his full name. The selected few that got that privilege was mainly his family.
That shouldn't be possible. He killed all his family and a good amount of workers that would know too much about them to refer to them casually. Ah. But now that he thought about it, there was one that he never got to finish off. Now looking closer at his little hostage, they were purposefully covering the left side of their face with their bangs. Her head still down.
Bel grabbed her face to force her to look at him. Sharp silver eyes with a tint of red in them. The same that he hid under his bangs. Except what's hidden under her bangs was an old scar downwards over her left eye. A mark that he made a long time ago.
"Dee." She turned her head to make him let go.
"Took you long enough Bel. Now release these wires."
"I would rather you tell me what you're doing here in this position. Wouldn't want my little sister running off after so long."
"I'm not explaining anything until I'm out of these things." He shrugged his shoulders, letting the wires drop. He wasn't stupid enough to not notice her taking a few steps away from him while readjusting her bangs. As scared as always. This really was his sister.
"How did you find me?" Dina took out one of his knives from her pocket.
"Found this randomly on the ground. You two always had some weird fascination with customizing your weapons. Finding out information about you through a mafia network was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It doesn't surprise me that you ended up joining the Mafia though."
"So then why are you here? To reconnect with me? Doesn't sound like you." He leaned back against the wall. Seeing his younger sister all this time was a surprise but nothing that will change anything in his life. Dina was weak. She didn't have anything to her name. Especially since the family had been dead for nearly 20 years now. Any power that she may have is nothing compared to him.
"I'm not here to make amends with someone that will never realize his fault. I'm here because I need to hire Prince the Ripper for a job."
"Oh? What is it?" She kept her head somewhat down in a way that she wasn't directly looking at him. Though it was a part of her plan to ask him, resorting to this was humiliating. If she could have done this without ever talking to her brother, she would have.
"There's something back at the castle that I want to get. But the last time I went back, I wasn't able to find it on my own. I know our parents told you twins where all the safes are and their codes. Bring me back to the island and help me get what I want."
"Why not go yourself? I'll just give you all the codes."
"Unfortunately after you killed our family, the island turned into a complete anarchy. Going back to the castle isn't a walk in the park. If they notice who I am, it would only make it worse."
"Ushishishi you know what I did?"
"You standing here is proof enough. It was only time that one of you went insane and killed each other. The rest of the family with you."
"Want to hear how I did it? I remember it like yesterday." He grinned his usual smirk while leaning towards her.
He was eager to tell her all the explicit details. The exact place he killed his brother and all the sounds he made. Same with all the servants and their parents. Dina raised in the same household would be able to visualize it all. No one else existed with the same memories as him to explain it all to.
"No thank you."
"Why not? You don't want to hear about your torturer's demise?"
She tensed up. "Excuse me?"
"About Siel. You must have hated him. He made your life a living hell. After your kidnapping he did the same for everyone else in the castle. He blamed anyone that tried to come up with an excuse on why you weren't found. I did everyone a favour."
"Favour? You killed them too. In fact, you're practically blaming my disappearance to be the reason they suffered when they were subjected to it the moment they got hired. I should not be put on the same level as those people."
"You're not the only one who got hurt by Siel. Don't be so self conceited. That's coming from me."
"I was the only one that couldn't fight back."
She was glaring at him. His baby sister was angry at her for him helping those peasants? It was making him a bit pissed off. It was like seeing his dead twin in her. "You could have put up some sort of fight if you were that desperate. You seem to be doing well after escaping your kidnappers."
"Those kidnappers you speak of, was me fighting back. I wasn't taken away like the family plastered all over the place. I ran away. I planned for that day all on my own. But none of you would think that a princess would choose to leave her privileged life willingly that you labelled it as a kidnapping."
"We gave you everything a girl would need. A home, food, clothes, money-"
"You gave me nothing but misfortune! A home? Food? Clothes? Money? I had to run it all by you twins. I got nothing for free. When I did it was because it was also fun for you two to see me mental stress over it. A place to live didn't exist for me until I ran away. Still, posters of me with an insane bounty made people come after me. What I needed was to escape you twins."
Her hand gripped the shirt around the stomach area where Siel scarred her. From what he remembered, it was a crescent moon he stabbed into her. To match the ones twins had. A show that she was their property. That was only to add onto the scar on her face.
"I know better than anyone how sadistic you two can get. It wasn't purely to get the better of one another. It was to see my reaction. Don't pretend you're innocent. At least you were the one that got to kill him. I never had a chance to take any form of revenge on him. Or our parents that sat on their hands."
Bel couldn't believe that this was his younger sister staring him down. Last time he saw her was the day the twins gave her those scars. That fight was called a draw as one of their workers took her away to get medical care. They tried to keep going but they stopped because she lost consciousness making her no longer interesting to play with for the day. The twins then quickly forgot about her to start another fight.
Their parents didn't say a word about it. The two princes could do no wrong in their eyes. One of them was going to be the future ruler after all. Inhibiting their ability to play was a hindrance to their progression. They wouldn't do that for the sake of their daughter. What value does a female have in their world besides to marry into another royal family? They would surely treat her the same. This was a good lesson for her.
In addition to this positive view, if it wasn't for her they would have killed each other a long time ago. Taking out their aggression on their sister was healthy. It was an outlet that didn't cost anyone's life and little money. Everyone was happy. Everyone important was happy. A living punching bag was all that she could amount to in the family. There was nothing that Dina could do. It was all delusion that they tried to shove down her throat. Until the day she disappeared.
"Hmm, am I doing this for free? Just cuz' you're my sister doesn't mean you get a discount. One of my acquaintances would roll in his grave if he heard I did free labour."
"I'll give you all the castle's treasures."
"Those are mine to begin with. We both know I'm in a higher position than you."
"And Siel above you." She unfolded a piece of paper from her back pocket.
Bel snatched it from her hands. "You got your hands on Siel's will?"
"Getting into our parents' safe was impossible for me alone. Siel was a lot easier to understand. I took this for my own safety. In the event that Siel dies, which he did, everything gets put under my name. Must have been one last strike against you to not get anything. That includes the castle, it's treasures and the king's crown. Help me and they're all yours."
"What do I care about a dead man's will?"
"Because this will spits on you from his grave. That treasure that should be yours truly isn't. It's not solely a signature on a piece of paper. It's Siel's. That's why you care. Go ahead and return to the island by yourself. That's not going to be enough for you."
"Do you even know why that will was created? Or why your name is all over it. He didn't do it to spite me."
"It was to keep me there. Pressure me to try killing him. He wanted to see me try so that he could crush my spirits. I know."
As far back as he could remember, he doesn't once recall a time that Dina stood up for herself. Stood before him now had a better understanding of his ticks than anyone can ever come close to imitating. The one eye not covered met with his. He used to know everything about her. Particularly everything she held valuable and all her fears. There was nothing that he couldn't read about her now except that she wasn't happy that she had to resort to talking to him today.
"Ushishi you grew up Dee." She opened her mouth to snap when he gave her the will back. "I'll do it."
"You will?" She honestly didn't expect him to agree so easily. She prepared to play the long game or give up. Her brother was incredibly stubborn.
"Don't you not want me to? I'll go there myself then. Whatever you're looking for must be valuable."
Dina sighed. "Whatever. As long as I get what I want."
"If you tell me, I can tell you where it is exactly."
"And I have no intention of telling you. Just come back to the island in two days. That should be enough time to get ready. I'm leaving now." She brushed past him, being mindful not to touch him. It wasn't an ideal condition to have her back towards her but she wasn't willing to show anymore of his effect on her.
Bel could easily read through the facade. She was putting up a brave face to the best of her abilities. It wasn't working. There were too many bad memories on her end. She made that clear to him. There were no underlying messages in what she wanted. Grab what she wants and part ways.
His baby sister became interesting. "Shishi, see you in two days, sis."
