Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Follia
Chapter Two: Introductions and Instructions
"Impressive entrance, love," A smooth voice drawled out, sending uncomfortable goose bumps down M69's neck.
He did not enjoy exposing vulnerable areas to people, especially certified as insane patients in this ah... recreational play room.
"So, what did you do to get sent into this hell hole?" Another cool voice asked, a barest hint of curiosity lacing the voice.
"Kill?" M69 gave a toothy smile, struggling to flip over so he could at least use his visual sense he was born with.
A deep baritone voice snorted, "Herbivore. Got to do better than that to impress anyone here."
M69 could feel the challenge issued, and his hackles rose like an annoyed cat. But no, he was not going to reveal anything too fast. Not until he got things out of these friendly patients. It was a vicious game he had played before. Everyone in the asylum was locked up for some unlawful reason or another; they had to get some entertainment out of challenging each other's track records before they explode and start killing before the time was ripe.
Provoking other people was his favourite tool of getting information. The angrier they got, the more they leaked, and the more he could play. Hence, he obviously chose a smart ass and intimidating reply, "Kufufu, I eat my meat raw, bloody and screaming for help, darling."
"Are you hinting at something?" A confused, raspy tone sounded out. "I don't get it to the extreme!"
"Shut up, numbskull!" A fierce snarl came from somewhere to the left of M69.
Interesting, hostile already. He was dealing with experienced players, M69 decided with no doubt. They all had their shields up and waiting, reinforced from the beginning. People who inevitably provided him with a chance to hone his skills, he thought optimistically, instead of people who were hard to manipulate into being his body shield.
"I'll show you what I mean," He offered, smiling widely, "If you could just shift me into a more comfy position? My handsome face should not be pressed to the ground for too long."
He was taking a chance, offering a weakness. Submitting for a while would stroke these men's egos, while he would not be exposed for the sly, manipulating bastard- well, not that he knew whether he was really a bastard or not- that he was.
A ridiculing snort this time, along with a calm order, "Lambo, go do what the newbie says."
Either his plan worked, or he was immediately seen through. M69 pouted slightly, the voice was too controlled for him to detect any flaws he could make use of.
'Lambo' dragged M69's chair some steps forward- eight, he counted subconsciously- while leaning close to M69's ear to whisper, "They monitor this room."
The patient's eye twitched indignantly, as if he did not know? What did they take him for- an idiot like the 'Extreme' person? Then again, 'Extreme' might have been just putting on a mask... Ah, mind games, mind games.
M69 was flipped over and balanced on the right side at last, taking note that 'Lambo' was careful not to touch the strait jacket. So they were familiar with this nifty toy...
His heterochromatic eyes darted around the room quickly, absorbing every detail he could with a cursory glance. He would have time to memorise the details later, if what the rude traitor who had brought him here said was correct.
In general, it appeared to be a comfy room, with couches and tables laid out around the large place. M69 was not quite sure why they allowed such things. Even a table was be used as a weapon; anything could, but especially a table, since M69 had been hit by a metal one once.
Gave him a concussion... Bad memories.
Seven people lounged around lazily, except for one who sat stiffly on a hard wooden chair like him, chained down with bronze chains that had mist drifting around them. M69 spared himself a moment to examine the thing carefully, so they had a mist flame user here. Another traitor.
All seven people were dressed in the same ugly prison suit- ghastly orange- that restricted peeing with ease. With so many government funds pumped into this place, they could actually design better clothing instead of the trash they were expected to wear.
"So, they allow you to be free of this unfashionable thing here, huh?" He wiggled his body provocatively, and earned a zap while the strait jacket sapped off his energy.
"Good behaviour," A young man with cropped black hair laughed. "You'll get it removed too, if you're good."
"I'm more of a bad boy," M69 winked back, hiding the strain the strait jacket put him in with the continuous draining of flame energy. "Well, as much as I can be with this appalling outfit."
"Great, so we get an incorrigible flirt along with that baseball idiot," The silver-haired man muttered under his breath, glaring hostilely at M69's flirting partner.
How tsundere. His lips twitched into a small smile. Romantic tension was in the air- and M69 was not all that straight either, so he welcomed it.
A smaller man ran a hand through his caramel coloured unruly locks, "Right, so let's get on with the introductions before they get on my case."
He was the one who had ordered 'Lambo' to help M69 before, so he was the leader, who listened to the guards, in this place? Not for long, if M69 had a choice. He was always the ring leader.
"Sorry, sweetheart, I have no name," M69 tried to shrug nonchalantly, strait jacket still preventing any large movements. "Unless you want to count my nicknames... Most popular of them was 'demon'; my prison wardens were not very creative."
"You get new names here," 'Lambo' smirked, the teen appearing to have curly black hair and an injured left eye- hey, why else would he leave it closed?
"Ooh, a naming session," M69 filled his voice with false excitement as he bounced slightly in his seat.
"Real mature," Caramel Hair responded dryly, bright flame coloured eyes flashing. "Right, so, the people here are the main psychos that they decide are the most dangerous, unbroken."
He paused for a moment, jerking as if something had zapped him like M69's strait jacket. His ring finger trembled for a split second, silver ring flashing innocently on it. M69 scanned the room suspiciously, noticing the rings on every patient's hands. A new torture device to replace the bulky strait jacket then, to give a false appearance of 'home' and 'safety'.
"And you know that Vongola Asylum houses only special patients," Caramel Hair's voice seemed a little breathless as he continued determinedly. "That's known by everyone who knows this madhouse. But what they don't know is that all the patients here can control flames, a specific type or a few."
M69 raised his eyebrows slightly, so there were no special powers other than flames in this place? How disappointing- not that he actually thought otherwise, but he could hope for some spice in his life other than mindless killing.
"Each of us here can control a type of flame, though unfortunately, we can't exactly give a demonstration," Caramel Hair smiled softly, hands twitching as if summoning his flame. "Well, onwards with the introductions..."
He could sense that Caramel Hair was holding back, something else, but he deemed it unimportant; he could not simply take the liberty to pry at their secrets so early. M69 instead, took the time to examine the others' faces. They all seemed to accept the fact, face hidden behind each carefully constructed mask.
Caramel Hair continued talking smoothly, "Since I can control the sky flame, I'm the one who takes the orders from the guards. My name is Tsunayoshi Sawada -"
"Tsuna, Tsuna, Tsunayoshi~" M69 could not resist, singing the name in an annoying manner. "You know, I had a friend called Yoshi, until I killed him for betraying me."
Tsundere tensed slightly, body shifting to protect Caramel- Tsunayoshi. Like a guard dog, snarling at everyone who came close. Pfft.
"No harm done, little dog," The not quite sane man taunted, enjoying the look on Tsundere's face. "I was simply telling the truth about my past."
Growling under his breath, Tsundere shot a nasty glare at M69's temporary flirting partner with short black hair for holding him back. Not that M69 could actually fight back in his current position- energy levels dropping to barely a third.
Tsunayoshi sighed wearily, "Enough, Gokudera."
M69 thought that Tsundere looked remarkably like a puppy now that the 'boss' had deigned to look at him. How cute.
"As you know, he is called Hayato Gokudera and controls the Storm flame," Tsunayoshi gestured at Tsundere, "And he is quite protective of me, so I suggest you don't try to antagonise me."
"And I'm Takeshi Yamamoto," The dark haired guy laughed cheerfully, waving his hand while shooting a glance at Tsundere- Tsunayoshi's bitch- looking wistfully at the said man. "Rain flame."
Love triangle. Japanese love triangle. Lovely. They were so easy to read that it was so obvious all of this was a farce. Well, mostly a farce.
"Lambo, just Lambo," drawled the man who had thought M69 was an idiot, but was rather thoughtful. "Bzzt. (1)"
"I'm Ryohei Sasagawa, 'cause I'm so extreme!" A white haired guy roared, pumping his fist in the air energetically. "I can use the extreme Sun flame!"
Oh for the fucking love of- M69 hated dealing with people with stupid masks- that is, people who acted stupid, not that the mask was stupid since M69 found it to be the most effective mask of all. He was just going to ignore this 'extreme' guy and hope that his ears would not die.
"Hn, Kyouya Hibari," The low voiced guy, M69 recognised, who had insulted him almost immediately after the asshole guard left him doing a face plant on the ground. "Cloud."
The sweet skylark (2) happened to be the one chained down with bronze, as he glared at M69. Whoa, astoundingly friendly. He did not looked like one who would play nice and hence, the chains. So this was a trick of the guards/ psychologists? They would show the patients that good behaviour would result in partial freedom while bad behaviour would result in severe punishments?
M69 curled his lip involuntarily, how elementary of them to be using peer pressure for mad patients to behave. Too bad Kyouya seemed to take that as a sneer directed at him and glared even fiercer. Ouch.
Now, who else was left? M69 scanned the room and found a shy purple haired girl who had almost blended into the background.
"I control M-Mist," She blushed brightly and whispered. "Chrome Dokuro..."
Well damn, then what was going to happen to him then? That girl copied his flame type! Maybe if he accidentally stabbed her in the heart with his trident... Nah, too much trouble to go through with.
"My name for now is M69," He tried not to look at the weak girl, feeling as if she would spontaneously explode if he so much as frowned at her. "I control Mist too."
Tsunayoshi- what a fucking mouthful (sexual innuendo meant to be implied)- gasped, "Hiie! That's right! We have to think of a name for the newbie! Since he doesn't have a name yet and the guards won't even bother to name us!"
He seemed so despondent that M69 eyed him warily. Wasn't it a bit too far to carry out his mask? At least he was good at acting, M69 conceded.
"Fits his pathetic self!" Tsundere barked like a loyal dog as usual.
"Now, now," M69 smiled, almost pacifying, if not for the mischievous glint in his eye.
Tsundere eyed him suspiciously. Smart son of a defective bitch.
"Dogs should not bark without their master's permission," He finished, smiling sweetly.
"Why you bastard-" Woof. Woof.
"Gokudera! Enough!" Tsunayoshi yelled, putting a controlling hand on Tsundere, who subsequently looked like he was in heaven ("Juu-Juudaime!"). "Newbie can be called, for now, Mist, until I think of a better name."
So Tsunayoshi was the one in charge of sentimentality... M69 eyed the obvious leader- he had the sky flame, for heaven's sake!- as he calculated possible moves he could take now that their cards were partially revealed.
"Sure," A wide creepy grin split M69's face. "So all it takes is for little Chrome over there to break and I'll be the only one who controls the Mist flame in our unique pyrotechnic freak show?"
Chrome drew a long shaky breath as she backed away from him. Timid people would not last in this hell hole, so she had better harden up, or choose a new mask. People here would not underestimate; they took the chance to break you. M69 would gladly accept the chance to break the weak mist flame user.
"Mist, please stop it," Tsunayoshi cut in sharply, but did not deny it. "Now for the rules in this place- there are a few. Break them and you have signed your life over to the guards."
"First of all, listen to the guards. They make the law here." Lambo shot a hasty glance around the room, before leaning closer to mouth 'flame users'.
As M69 said before, overly helpful brat.
"Secondly, don't talk back to them to the extreme, unless you want to end up like Hibari-san here!" Ryohei said- not yelled, hallelujah!- and waved a hand in Kyouya's general direction, earning a patented Kyouya Hibari death glare.
M69 caught Kyouya's eye and held it. Just as the annoyed man was about to turn away, M69 gave a superior haha-you-failure smirk, increasing the other man's frustration by leaps and bounds. Provocation always worked.
"Thirdly, don't kill anyone." Tsunayoshi looked meaningfully at M69, as if hinting at something. "There are staff and other patients here. You do not want to be locked away in The Room for killing them, for they do not actually mean any ill will."
"What-" He opened his mouth to ask, before a panicked look passing through everyone's eyes made him snap his mouth shut.
Obviously a torture room. It made M69 wonder what was in that room, curious enough to want to break that rule to see how bad The Room could really be.
Tsunayoshi managed a shaky smile, "That's all for now-"
"We do not speak of the Room here," Tsundere growled threateningly, fingers twitching in a specific pattern as barely visible red flame swirled over his palm for a split second.
They could use their flame? M69 had assumed that the ring used to torture Tsunayoshi was also to drain off their energy and being proven wrong had left M69 slightly wrong footed- M69 hated being proven wrong.
"Alright, DereDere dog," M69 opened his mouth to conveniently insult Tsundere, while feeling strangely lost and new in this strange new hierarchy.
"Just a side note," Tsunayoshi took a deep breath as if to gather up his nerves and whispered, "There are eight guards that are inhumanely strong here, lapdogs for the government. Their purpose is to break us-"
With that, Tsunayoshi let out a pained cry and collapsed, ring glowing orange for a few seconds. He recovered himself almost immediately after, shaking and pale. A loud chorus of "TSUNA!" sounded out, comically. Tsundere rushed over and started helpfully shaking said Sky flame user roughly, surely to send Tsunayoshi to death's door faster.
M69 smirked, so he was wrong when he had estimated these people before. They were too trusting, thinking any patient would be their comrade immediately, so they spill out any information in an attempt to help their 'friends'. Even at the cost of their own health.
No matter what Tsunayoshi was trying to warn him about, M69 was sure he would find out sooner or later, so he was not exactly all that worried about the guards. Too bad if his guard was an inhumanely strong person.
On the brighter side, M69's suspicion about the shiny rings was confirmed. The guards used the rings to torture the patients, as well as to keep them quiet about certain secrets new people could not access yet.
M69 widened his eyes slightly, putting on a slightly innocent air, "Are you okay? I'll help you, but I can't exactly get out of these constraints."
He had never said he was not a manipulative son of a bitch who played dirty, especially with people practically handing over ammunition. He was psychotic, not stupid like these people, who obviously believed in the spirit of caring and sharing- except for Kyouya. M69 could still feel the dirty look shot at him. Kyouya was not a care and share person, confirmed and certified by Lord M69 himself.
"Back off, you madman!" And Tsundere too. Ah, M69 had forgotten about the barking Chihuahua.
"Go-Gokudera, I'm fine." Tsunayoshi coughed, straightening up with help from Tsundere and Takeshi. "Thank you... You too, Mist."
"Hey, I didn't do anything," M69 tried to shrug nonchalantly- damn, that strait jacket was ruining his style. "But if you want to thank me, you're welcome."
"Just another thing," Sky looked at M69, eyes glowing with warmth, "I thought of a name for you. Mu- since you live in Room M69, ku- for the 9, and ro- to make it a name that makes sense... Mukuro Rokudo... Is that okay with you?"
M69- Mukuro used sheer willpower to prevent himself from cackling insanely. These people were strong not to break, that was obvious, yet they held a typical innocence seen in teenagers despite being able to kill and murder. So trusting that he faintly envied them for being able to live, while he could only survive with a broken spirit.
He let his lips tilt upwards faintly, pretending to be grateful. It was the way he smiled when he was six, before he was broken and hardened again, M69- Mukuro faintly remembered.
"Of course it is, Tsunayoshi."
"Alright! So we're all comrades now to the extreme!" Ryohei roared, nearly deafening all the insane people in the room- that is, everyone. "Nakama (3) for life!"
He stuck out his bandaged fist, and wiggled it, as if expecting them to do something. An awkward silence fell upon the group as they stared at the hand. Mukuro could almost hear the crickets.
"Turf head! I'm not going to do that silly action again!" Tsundere yelled in reply, just as M69- damn, he was having difficulty remembering to call himself by this name- Mukuro deadpanned, "Two of us are restrained to nasty wooden chairs, I don't think we can spare any hands for that juvenile action."
In the next second, Kyouya gave another death glare (TM-ed) at Mukuro, as if hating him for just grouping them together, and Ryohei started protesting loudly.
Ah, peaceful chaos. Mukuro sat there while the room broke out in friendly noise, considering his current plight. He had to admit, he was not quite sure whether this scene before him was a sight of sanity or just another mask. He was not used to such warmth and openness, even with them being watched by the guards.
He almost felt like a rock in the river, alone and cold while the warmth streamed by him. Untouched by it all. Almost. He hated himself for the stirring of heat within his shrivelled black heart.
(1)- A sound of lightning being conducted. Lambo was acting cool.
(2)- Kyouya means skylark, hence the affectionate nickname.
(3)- Nakama means comrades, friends. Despite them being in some mysterious corner of Italy right now and hence, are speaking in Italian, Ryohei slips back into his Japan roots :) I thought it would be cute.
A/N: Part 2 is up, yo 3 Merry Christmas to all~!