The Ghosts of Rome
A Gunslinger Girl fan fiction by:
Sintendo
Chapter 5
Floating within the realm of dreams, Rico only paused in mid-flight to shield her eyes from the glaring sunshine that seemed to grow bright with every passing second. With her eyes closed, hands pressed over them, she was able to hide from the white light for only a few moments before it bled through and filled the entire world in a crimson flare. It was at that moment that her restless flight dwindled in power, and she plummeted into the depths of the red ocean below.
Instantly she sat up in her bed; like a frightened statue, her arms were extended as if trying to avoid hitting the ground. It was then that she realized that she just woke from a nightmare that, while still as vivid as her other dreams, didn't involve the loss of limbs. Though she didn't make any noise (Elsa still lay fast asleep beside her), her throat was parched and sent piercing, needle pricked feelings of pain every time she tried to moisten it with saliva. She needed a glass of water for relief, blaming the air in the north for such discomfort.
The only hint of life coming from the old house was a dimly lit fire in the den, occupied only by a half awake man, whom Rico couldn't identify as of yet. Even though she was curious it was none of her business who the man was, and what he was doing still sitting by the fire used the night before to celebrate the safe arrival of the entire crew, Rico slipped by and into the kitchen, slicing a bit of the still-warm leftover ham, and retrieving a glass of water, quickly consuming both and cleaning after herself. She was careful to be as silent as possible; empty bottles of liquor and beer were strewn about the kitchen counter and floor. Her efforts concluded to be fruitless, though, when, while trying to return the cleaned glass into a cupboard, a dangling empty bottle fell from the counter due to a slight brush of her sweater, and crashed onto the floor. Countless shards of glass spread themselves about the area, surrounding Rico in the corner of the kitchen and, unless she wanted to receive a scolding from Jean (which she didn't), trapped her, naked in a sense of the foot.
"Who's there?" a voice came from the den, belonging to the half-asleep man.
"Uh…" she whispered, "Could you help me? There's glass all over the floor, and I'm barefoot. I'd just walk through, but I don't want anyone finding my blood all over the house."
With a grunt and a bit of a push, the shuffling sounds of the man dragging his feet behind him, but instead of entering the room right away, Rico heard his footsteps slowly fade for a while, then return to her like a boomerang. The man carried in his hand, a broom, which he used to create a path for Rico to walk across, before pushing all of the broken glass and whatever other kinds of debris was in the away into a dustpan.
"Thank you, Chief Draghi." Rico acknowledged him.
"What are you doing up so early, anyways?" He asked.
"Early?" The girl asked.
"Well," Guilio nodded toward the nearest clock, "It's about time for sunrise."
"Oh," The girl pondered, "Well, my throat was dry, so I came here to get some water to drink."
"Hmm," Guilio returned to the darkness of his seat prior, this time pivoting the chair to face a window just past the fireplace, "Would you like to join me and watch the sunrise?"
"I'm actually still supposed in bed…" Rico began, but was quickly interrupted by the obviously drunk man.
"I used to know a man named 'Rico' you know." He said, "Gigantic bear of a man, he was. Why is it that you have such a strong name?"
"I don't know."
"Well, that's alright, I guess. Times are changing after all."
"Work" didn't officially begin for the Roman Agents, so it wasn't too troublesome for Guilio to be left alone to sleep throughout the day. With a warm blanket place over his shoulders by an unknown person, he was able to drift into a deep slumber. The section one agents, wo were biased of course, didn't mind for their boss to be out for the day, but it didn't sit too well with the section two men, namely Jean, who was mere inches from shaking the old man awake. Why his sudden burst of anger happened, even he didn't know, but it was still downtime for everyone, so the dog lay still for now.
"What did you three do yesterday?" Jean asked his cyborg.
"We walked around town for a while." Rico began, "Chief Draghi also brought us to his mother's house."
"His mother's house?" Jean repeated.
"Actually, it was his wife's mother."
"I see."
"I was able to take note of the area surrounding this building like you ordered, Jean. If you want, I could go take another look, and even modify any possible escape routes for you to be able to go past."
"No, it's fine," Jean mumbled, keeping his eyes on the sleeping old man, "You and Elsa go outside and 'play'. I don't want any of our neighbors getting suspicious about us, considering there are 9 men and only 2 girls…. If anyone asks, the Section 1 men are your uncles."
"Alright," Rico said, and then, "Can I ask you something, Jean?"
"What is it?"
"Chief Draghi was wondering why I was named 'Rico', and that it was a strong name. Do you know why?"
Jean didn't even pause for a moment to think of an answer, and said, "None of your business."
When the children were finally gone, the two handlers began their own conversation.
"They said they went to Draghi's mother-in-law's house, right?" Lauro asked.
"Yeah." Jean said.
"Who would have known that a guy like him is married?"
Jean paused for a moment to allow Lauro to finish his laughter. After his coworker cleared the tears from his eyes and regained his posture, Jean grumbled, "'Was'."
"Huh?"
"He was married; not anymore, though."
Doing as ordered to do so, the girls went outside and began to play. At first, they played a simple game of "catch: using an old ball that happened to be lying near where they were staying. This eventually evolved into a much more involved game of impromptu dodge ball; the local neighborhood children decided to join in on Rico and Elsa's fun. It was already lunchtime by now, so it made sense to Rico that there was a crowd of adults who were probably on break time, watching the children play their game, even cheering on some of the kids they knew.
When a timeout was called by one of the local children (for a reason Rico or Elsa didn't know), a gentle faced man called out to the Romans, wanting to chat with them a bit before the game resumed.
"Hello," the gentle faced young man said with the friendliest of voices, "I noticed that you moved into that house there yesterday."
"Yes, but we're only here for a few weeks." Elsa said.
"Oh. Well I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here in Bolzano," He smiled, "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Mr. Dubois."
He received Elsa's hand first, and then Rico's; the both of them giving out their own names.
"Quite a grip you have there, Rico and Elsa."
She gave him a conditioned answer, "We're members of the archery club at our school."
"Makes sense," He smiled once again, "Rico… quite an unusual name for a young lady. It does suit you I suppose. Oh well, looks like your new friend is coming back and it's also time for me to be heading back to work. Elsa, Rico, I'll be seeing you around."
When the man disappeared from view, Elsa took Rico's hand, removing from it a sort of flesh colored dot. Luckily for her, the training he underwent at the Agency, as well as her heightened sense of hearing, allowed her to catch the placement of the item.
"He tried to bug us," Elsa said, crushing the object between her fingers, doing the same for the bug that was on her hand, "He's fast."
"Should we report it to Jean?" Rico asked.
Elsa quickly responded, "Not until they call us back in."
The game of dodge ball resumed.