A/N: After like a decade, I have finally updated this story! Hello all, and Welcome back to Phases of Accidia, my personal collection of Bel-centric (for the most part) one-shots.
I was considering posting this as a separate story at first, but in the end, I felt it was better suited for this collection.
Warnings: Language, drinking, implied twincest (it's very mild, I assure you), subject matter and themes.
Written for not only Bel's birthday today, but also Rasiel's. They are twins, after all. This one is set about eight years after the ring Battles, so Bel would be twenty-four. That being said, Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: Sushi*Bomb does not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Let the good times role.
XI. Buon Compleanno, Mio Caro Gemello Malvagio
Belphegor scowled as he zipped his coat up higher, shivering slightly. He wondered absently why it was so bloody cold in this god-forsaken cemetery; although in the back of his mind, he was sure he knew the answer. The prince rubbed his arm rapidly, trying in vain to warm himself while he glared down at the stone slab in the ground.
"You know, for such an obnoxious dick, your tombstone sure is plain. Ushishi~!" Belphegor pointed out, smirking. The blonde prince pulled a half-empty bottle of vodka out of his coat, watching the clear liquid swirl around in the translucent bottle before unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig. He wiped his face with his sleeve unceremoniously, while crouching down to sit on his haunches with his head cradled in one of his wiry hands. He looked from the bottle, to the grave, and back to the bottle again, scrunching his lips in contemplation.
"Want some? I doubt you'd like it though, seeing as how you didn't live long enough to get to actually try it. It's sort of an acquired taste, you know."
"And whose fault is that?" Belphegor looked up to see his brother nestled arrogantly on top of the tombstone, arms crossed and looking annoyingly smug. Underneath his veil of golden blonde hair, cool grey eyes widened in surprise.
"Ushishi~! What the fuck're you doing up there, Ras? Did they throw you out of Hell or something?" The older twin chuckled.
"What, I can't occasionally come to the world of the living? Especially to see my drunken failure of a brother, who finally gathered up enough courage to come here and see me after almost fifteen years?" Belphegor's eyes narrowed, his trademark smile taking on a hard edge.
"I didn't come all the way from Italy just to see you, you know. I happened to be in town, so I figured I'd stop by to visit for old time's sake. It is our birthday today, after all. And I'm not drunk, assface."
"Shashasha! Well, if I'm an assface, you are too. And I wasn't aware cold-blooded murderers could actually feel the need to pay respect to their victims." The older twin smiled condescendingly.
Rasiel's smirk turned vicious when the bottle Belphegor had been holding shattered violently against his tombstone. Even after all this time, it was still so embarrassingly easy to goad his little brother into an argument.
"You're no victim. You were nothing but a monster." The Varia storm commander seethed, voice barely above a whisper. The older twin scoffed.
"Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you Bel? I mean, if my memory serves me right, you were a twisted little bastard in your own right, weren't you?"
"Not at first. But being related to someone like you tends to change people over time. Even then, I've always considered myself the lesser of two evils." Belphegor bit back.
Rasiel stood up from the stone slab, walking slowly over to his younger twin and crouched down in front of him. He cocked his head to one side, suddenly appearing quite intrigued by something. Belphegor tensed at the increase in proximity.
"Get the hell away from me."
The elder ignored him, reaching up to cradle Belphegor's smooth face in his cold, clammy hand. He pushed his lengthy bangs aside in a disgustingly fallacious display of affection, revealing his brother's frigid achromatic glare. The younger wrenched his face free of the unwelcomed touch.
"Stop it!"
Rasiel chuckled, grin growing impossibly wide.
"What's the matter, Bel? I'm not allowed to be affectionate to my dearest little brother? As inferior as you are, you're still beautiful to me."
Belphegor sneered.
"We have very different definitions of the word affection, Rasiel. That's not the way brothers should see each other." The dead twin laughed out loud.
"I really don't believe you. You miss me, don't you? Isn't that why you decided to pop in for a visit?"
Belphegot shook his head vehemently.
"No? So, why are you here then? Could it be that you feel…guilty, about killing me? And what of our poor mother and father? They didn't deserve what you did to them either. Shashasha!"
"Che…I'm not sorry. You more than deserved it, and so did they. Mother and father were both fools. They just let you run rampant, even when I told them about the things you used to do to me. They refused to see you for what you really were, so in the end, they had to die too."
Rasiel snickered maliciously, dark gaze sharp underneath his straight bangs, and that snicker soon erupted into full-blown guffaws.
"SHASHASHASHA! Liar! You killed us because you couldn't take the fact that I was goingto be King, and you weren't! You were always jealous of me! Not that I can blame you, of course. It must be unbearably depressing to be inferior to someone in every way possible." Belphegor shook his head.
"I was never jealous of you. In fact, I kinda felt sorry for you. I'm the only one who saw you cracking under the pressure."
"Oh spare me! You're here because you want to beg for forgiveness, aren't you? Well, fortunately for you, as King, I am inclined to forgive the crimes of my only beloved brother."
Belphegor chuckled bitterly.
"You can't forgive me, because I'm not sorry for killing you, nor will I ever be. And you can't be king if you're dead, stupid."
Rasiel laughter ceased abruptly. The older twin frowned.
"Again, whose fault is that, Brother?"
Belphegor sighed, as he let himself fall back on his butt and stretched one of his legs out in front of him. He rested his chin in his palm, staring up at his brother.
"Ushishi~! Don't you go guilt-tripping me. I did you a favor. We may have hated each other, but we're still family. Killing you was probably the nicest thing I could have ever done for you."
"So you killed me because you cared about me? How noble of you." Rasiel quipped sardonically, settling himself down on the ground in front of his brother. Belphegor simpered.
"I wouldn't call it caring, exactly. And to be perfectly frank, you were basically dead when the royal court anounced you as the heir to the throne. You started slipping after that. By the time I decided to kill you, you weren't even fit to live, much less rule a kingdom anymore."
"Who are you to decide who's fit to live or not? I was the one supposed to be King, not you!" Rasiel snapped at the younger twin. Belphegor shrugged.
"I can see that even in death, that promise of power still holds so much influence over you. You're not a God, Rasiel. And neither am I. At that point, it had nothing to do with being King; I never even cared about that in the first place,-"
Rasiel growled.
"Liar! You wanted me gone so you'd be next in line!" Belphegor's steely glare narrowed into tiny slits.
"You were out of your fucking mind! You would have killed me eventually if I hadn't done you in first!" The younger twin shouted back.
"I'm not lying. I didn't want to be King anyway. I still don't. The fact of the matter is, you claim that all that time, I was jealous of you. But you know what? I think it was the other way around."
Rasiel started.
Belphegor's frown morphed into a sinister grin as he leaned forward and gripped his brother's head in his gloved hands and pulled him so that their faces were inches apart.
"Ushishi~! You weren't strong enough to deal with the pressure mother and father were putting on you, and so, like a piece of fine china, you fell over the edge and shattered into a million little pieces."
"Liar-" Belphegor anchored the deceased twin's face in his vice-like grip, fingertips digging into the cold flesh.
"And, like the wonderful brother and prince that I am, I simply waited until your rotting, dilapidated mind reached critical condition and then, relieved you of all of your worries."
Underneath that veil of gold, Rasiel's eyes narrowed.
"So, you helped me…by not only killing me, but also mother and father. That's a rather over-zealous way of fixing the problem, don't you think?"
Belphegor's grin widened.
"Well, you said it yourself. I'm a pretty twisted bastard in my own right."
"Drunken-prince sempai…who the heck are you talking to?"
Belphegor blinked.
Fran was standing behind his brother's tombstone, watching him with his usual deadpanned stare. The prince looked around, his hands still in the air, fingers hooked from where he had been gripping Rasiel's face. Only, his brother was no longer there. He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"No one. Come on, let's get the fuck outta here. This place is giving me the creeps."
As the two vacated the opulent cemetery, Belphegor looked back over his shoulder, giving the his brother's grave a bittersweet smile.
Rasiel, it really doesn't matter if I feel any kind of remorse for that night or not. I had already made up my mind about killing you. Mother and father were only an afterthought. But I still wish that you had been stronger. Maybe things wouldn't have turned out this way. But whatever. Happy Birthday.
The two Varia members entered the mansion just after dark, immediately dumping their meager pile of luggage in the hands of a couple of the grunts, and reported the success of their mission to Xanxus.
Afterward, Fran dissappeared into the recesses of his bedroom, and Belphegor made a bee-line for the kitchen, on the hunt for another bottle of vodka he knew he had stashed somewhere in the refrigerator. As he entered the room, he caught sight of Lussuria bustling about, humming happily to himself.
"Oh Bel honey, you're back! I have a surprise for you! Come! Come, sit~!" The flamboyant martial artist shouted giddily, ushering the younger assassin further into the kitchen. Belphegor perched himself up on the counter, folding his legs and resting his head on his knees. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to grab his booze, abscond to his room, and piss the night away. Lussuria picked up a delicate porcelain tray off of the marble island and practically skipped over to the prince in unbridled excitement.
"What is it?" Belphegor asked, even though it was obvious what it was. Lussuria eagerly pulled the lid off, revealing a rather fancifully prepared cupcake with one lone candle stick up out of the middle of the light colored frosting. He quickly lit it, smiling pleasantly.
"Happy Birthday Bel! I made you your favorite flavor!" The gaudy assassin pushed the tray closer, allowing Belphegor to gingerly scoop up the extravagantly prepared desert in his trembling hands.
There was a sudden commotion upstairs.
"Oh bother, it sounds like Squ and Xanxus-sama are arguing again. I'd better go mediate. Happy Birthday, hun! Enjoy!"
"Hey, Lussuria?" The blonde started as the older man made his way to the exit. Lussuria turned back, a warm smile on his tanned face.
"What is it, sweetie?" Belphegor smiled, admiring the small cake with a melancholy stare.
"Have you ever seen a ghost?" Lussuria cocked his head to the side, head cradled in his manicured hand pensively.
"Can't say that I have. Why do you ask?" Belphegor looked up from the dessert, eyes glassy under his curtain of golden locks. The prince just shook his head.
"I,- nothing. It's nothing. I thought I saw one today, so I was just curious."
Lussuria stared at him oddly for a few minutes before shrugging, seemingly accepting the ripper's odd answer.
"Oh okay then, enjoy the cake!" And with that, Lussuria was out the door, leaving the prince alone sitting up on the counter.
Which in the end, was probably for the better. Belphegor was more than certain Lussuria wouldn't want to see him mashing his face into the delectable, one of a kind creation he had spent all day making just for him and screaming like a bat out of hell, and his tiara falling to the floor pathetically as he sobbed silently with bits of cake and frosting all over his face and hair.
I am such a sucker for vulnerability, jeewiz. But this one's pretty weird, I'm not gonna lie. But I typed it at like three in the morning, so I guess it's justifiable. What did you think? Read and review please!
Oh, and in case anyone's curious, the title translates to Happy Birthday, my Dearest Evil Twin. I think that pretty much sums up the perspectives of both Bel and Rasiel when it comes to each other. Yeah.
Happy B-day you crazy, homicidal twins!