In order to try and soothe Squalo's stress, Dino had taken it upon himself to contact Tsuna and explain his boyfriend's worries. When the brunet heard that Squalo was afraid Xanxus had returned, he didn't hesitate to gather his friends and come back down to Italy; they would be damned if they let anything further happen to the older two.

Now, as the trio stood in the living room of Dino and Squalo's home, Tsuna was only too happy to leave Takeshi with the long-haired man while he, Hayato and Dino went into town to do chores.

Sitting on the couch next to Squalo, Takeshi patted his host's dog happily. "What kind of dog is this, Squalo?"

Squalo shrugged, drinking his coffee. "I don't know; Bucking Horse was the one who got it. Think it's got shepherd or something in it."

"She's so cute. She reminds me of Jiro. What her name?"

"Speranza."

Trying to roll the foreign word off his tongue, Takeshi cocked his head to the side; it didn't flow easily with his own native language. "Does it mean anything in Italian like your name?"

"Hope."

"Hope?" Smiling at the dog, Takeshi became even fonder of it. "That suits her. Hey, Squalo, do you ever have much hope?"

Looking at the younger from the corner of his eye, Squalo shrugged. "I used to… But not anymore."

"Why?"

"Because now everything just seems pointless and I don't think things will get better – not with Xanxus still hanging around." Sighing, Squalo shook his head. "I thought things would be better because I had gotten away from him, but it seems that no matter what I do, I can't escape any of it…"

"You want a fresh start, don't you?" Sympathising with his friend, Takeshi moved closer; he could understand what it's like to want to get away from everything and start all over again.

Rubbing his face, Squalo nodded. "I don't… know how, though…"

"My pop would have said that it's not about knowing what to do, but instead doing what you want to and following what feels right in your heart." Still hurting over the loss of his father, Takeshi felt his mood drop, but there was still a bit of warmth in his heart; he loved his father, and he wanted the man's memory to live on – if passing on advice would be how he could do so, then he would do it without hesitation.

"And what if I can't even do that…? What if I just want to die…?"

Shaking his head, Takeshi reached out in order to thread his fingers through long silver hair. "Remember when I was about to jump off the roof at school? I thought I just wanted to die, as well. But now I'm glad I didn't do that, because in ten years' time, that thought hasn't crossed my mind at all. It's not that I wanted to die, it's… It's that I didn't want the pain. And I got rid of that pain by pushing through it, Squalo."

"What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do?" Squalo couldn't help but growl, offended that the younger could think so little of him – what did it look like he was doing? He had fucking left, hadn't he? He had tried, but… It wasn't as easy as Takeshi was making it out to be; not when he was trying to escape a person adamant in torturing him until the very end. "You broke your fucking arm; I have someone making my life a misery!"

"But broken bones heal and get stronger. You're like a broken bone, Squalo. You've made it this far, and you even left for someone else – a lot of people in your situation would want to be alone for ages. And I know what you mean when you say that Xanxus is still in your mind, but… One day he won't be, and you'll look back on him and probably barely even remember his name."

Shaking his head, Squalo disagreed. "If I were healing and getting stronger, I wouldn't have tried to fucking kill myself the other night, would I?"

Takeshi's eyes widened, having not heard about this. He could understand why Dino hadn't told them about it, but it still hurt; the thought of losing Squalo, and not being able to say goodbye…

It was just too much like how it had been with his father.

Feeling as if tears were welling up in his eyes, the Japanese male moved closer to his friend, wishing to give as much comfort as he could. "You… tried to kill yourself…?"

Pulling back his sleeves, the long-haired male revealed his bandaged wrists. "Stupid Bucking Horse caught me before I could do it…"

Reaching out to take thin wrists in his hands, Takeshi had never been so gentle before; he would never hurt his friend, because Squalo was someone he looked up to so much, he felt the silver-haired male had helped shape him into who he was today. "Squalo…"

"I want to die, Takeshi. I want to get away from all this shit. It's not going to get better – it was supposed to get better after I left him. It's only gotten worse. I don't want this shit, Takeshi. No."

Takeshi wished he knew what to do, but what could he do? Squalo had obviously had enough, and what right did he have to keep the older male alive when Squalo wanted to die? He wanted to show the other that things could and would get better, but…

Squalo had just suffered far too much in his life to be able to see it. Maybe all Takeshi could do for him was listen to what he had to say. At least then he was still doing something.

~~XX~~

When dinnertime arrived, Squalo and Hayato both went outside in order to have a smoke. While Hayato stood and leant against the wall with one hand in his pocket, Squalo sat against it with his knees to his chest. It was silent between the two of them, they having never really been on close terms before.

Squalo stared up at the darkening sky, wishing he knew what to do. He was feeling unbelievably depressed, and he was sure that he would soon start crying if he didn't find something to distract himself with.

"Hey, did you see that?"

Turning around to look up at Hayato, Squalo blinked at the younger. "See what?"

Pointing out past the driveway, Hayato's green eyes fixed on something only he could see. "Looked like someone was walking past the cars."

Getting to his feet, Squalo took one last deep puff of his smoke before he walked to the edge of the veranda. Putting it out, he then tossed it over the side. "Let's go back insi – Voi!"

Hayato lunged forward as soon as he saw a pair of thick arms wrap around the older male, a body that towered over the two of them coming from around the side of the house. "You fucker!"

Squalo hissed as he felt something sharp dig into his hip, shuddering as he felt his own blood fall onto the ground beneath him. Turning his head upwards, he flinched as he found an all-too-familiar man behind him.

"F-fucking Levi…" Spitting blood at his attacker, Squalo felt hatred and disgust well up inside of him, stronger even than what he felt for his ex. "You… You fucking piece of shit…"

The man in question allowed a sneer to cross his face. "You little mutt; you had better consider yourself lucky that Boss wants me to keep you alive; he's so mad, he's going to fuck the absolute shit out of you."

While Hayato was trying his best to pull Squalo out of the intruder's arms, he couldn't budge the other in the slightest; this man's height wasn't just for show because his strength was far above average, too. "You prick! Let him go!"

The man – Levi, as Squalo had referred to him as – laughed. He raised his leg, kicking Hayato out of the way, leaving the youngest on the ground gasping for air as a splitting pain raced through his entire leg. The silver-haired male couldn't be sure, but he felt as if his femur had just been broken.

Levi forced Squalo's head back in order to sneer down at him. Taking hold of the younger's hair, he ripped it violently to the side. "Remember the first time Boss let me fuck you? You were so tight and unwilling, I tore you to pieces. There was blood all over the bed, but at least it made it a little easier on you when Boss let us double penetrate you. Boss promised that if I kill your friends and bring you back to him, then I can do whatever I want to you. And frankly, I want to make you suffer for taking Boss from me."

Squalo hissed as the stronger male tried to drag him off the veranda, but he wasn't going to go back to that kind of life so easily; letting a loud shout rip itself from his throat, he called for Dino to help them.

It took seconds for the others to run outside. Dino, upon realising what was happening, charged at Levi without any regard for his own safety. As strong as he was, he couldn't move the attacker.

"Get your hands off him!"

While Takeshi helped Hayato back inside the house, knowing he was no use with his leg so badly injured, Tsuna joined Dino's side. The brunet was about to speak up, but he was quickly silenced as a bullet flew past his and Dino's heads, so close, he was sure that they had each lost a few strands of their hair.

"Do you trash really think I'd give up what's mine so easily?" Stepping out of the shadows, Xanxus made himself known. "That's my toy, and I plan on keeping it."

Squalo honestly didn't know what he was feeling in this moment. He felt so conflicted, he almost felt… numb. "…"

"Squalo…"

Opening eyes he didn't realise he had closed, Squalo found his boyfriend staring at him with such a pathetic look, it made him feel even more depressed about the situation. "…"

"Oi, scum. Look at me." Slapping Squalo hard enough to snap his head to the side, Xanxus grabbed one of his guns and placed it in Squalo's mouth. "Want me to pull the trigger? I know you do."

"…" Closing his eyes again, Squalo felt Levi dragging something sharp against his hip, probably what he had used to stab the long-haired man.

"But I won't, because that won't be much fun." Leaning in closer to the younger, Xanxus' hot breath billowed against Squalo's ear. "The faggot trash seemed to have the same idea you did; you both took me for a fool if you believed moving away and buying new cars would keep me from finding you. It didn't work for either of you. I watched the way the blond trash was sitting on the fag's lap last night. There was some sort of party he was hosting; lots of scum all through the house. The blond trash pissed himself on the fag's lap in front of a whole room full of people. It was so pathetic, I felt like shooting him through the fucking window and putting him out of his misery."

Squalo couldn't help but snap back at this. "He wouldn't be that fucking way if you didn't do what you did to him!"

Shaking his head, Xanxus snorted. "I disagree. He was always fucked up and acted like a child; you just didn't want to admit it until you had someone you could blame for his behaviour."

Squalo could feel himself slipping further and further with every word that came out of his ex's mouth, and when he finally felt himself snap, he couldn't help but throw his weight backwards and snatch whatever Levi was holding. The second his eyes fixed on a blade gleaming with his own blood, the long-haired man didn't hesitate to swing himself around and slash at the man's throat, just wanting to be done with it all.

Dino and his friends watched with wide eyes as Levi fell to his knees, gurgling as blood flowed from his neck. It wasn't until Squalo had moved onto Xanxus next was the blond able to react; if he didn't do something, his lover was going to die.

"Squalo, no!" Flinching as a loud gunshot filled the air, Dino froze; he watched as Squalo tackled Xanxus down to the ground, their bodies rolling as they each tried to pin the other to the ground. Blood was left in their wake, both of their clothing becoming saturated in it, and Dino was afraid to know whose blood it was; the dark-haired man showed no relent in pulling the trigger on his gun until he ran out of bullets, and Squalo didn't seem willing to stop thrusting his knife forward, either.

"Squalo, stop!" It was Takeshi who had ran forward and tried to pull Squalo off of the other, but he quickly stopped as the knife was swung out at him, too, creating a deep cut on his bicep. "Squalo!"

Squalo couldn't decipher what was happening anymore; all he knew was that no matter what, he couldn't seem to stop stabbing the body on top of him. He didn't know how long had passed, but he eventually became aware of not only pain all through his body, but the loud wail of sirens that seemed to get closer with each passing second.

By the time the sirens seemed to be right next to him, Squalo couldn't keep himself conscious any longer; letting himself pass out, he hoped things would finally come to an end.