A/N: So as many of you duly noted, I fail at updating. Let's just say I don't feel nearly as guilty as I should because the college applications and the last semester of high school grades and everything took too much time for me to update properly. However! I am officially back in summer vacation, although my inspiration and skill is at an all time low thanks to my hiatus. Sadness, I know. Therefore, prepare for a really, really bad chapter as usual! I think my sense of humor has fallen spectacularly, but the plot does start moving. Sort of. Vaguely. Uh. Yeah. Still, I hope you enjoy. This chapter, you meet Filai's eccentric older brother. I don't like putting too many original characters though. Sighs.
Chapter 17
"I didn't expect this." Filai said, staring at the very, uh, interesting scene in front of her.
Squalo walked up from behind her, irately flickering blood off the edge of his sword. Behind him laid a trail of dead bodies dressed in strange white uniforms. Something about Millifiore, Fran had informed her. Apparently they were killing off just about the entire Mafia world, Vongola included, their latest victim of annihilation being Filai's very own very beloved shit excuse for a family.
Naturally, Filai wanted to take a personal look at the condition of the Viavideche (nothing shows stupidity like marching through half of Italy while the Vongola was having its ass handed to it), and through amazing blackmail and threats of rearranging his organs when he was asleep, Squalo was miserably dragged along.
And that summarily led up to Filai standing in front of what appeared to be the Viavideche HQ under siege by the ever so assholish Millifiore.
While Squalo was busy in the background killing random mooks.
The whole place was, to put it simply, burning to the ground. Clearly the place held no strategic value to the Millifiore, because they seemed perfectly fine with causing as much destruction as physically possible when armed with flame powered animals that popped up from boxes (it took Fran a long time to make her understand why the infamous Italian Mafia was relying on boxes and rings and rainbow glowing animals to kill each other).
"I was wondering something." Filai was thoughtful, and Squalo paused in the middle of stabbing another Millifiore minion to death. "If practically the entire Mafia is using dying will flames as weapons, then shouldn't I have been, y'know, sort of killed from the sheer concentration of dispersed flames in the air? I am weak to flames, after all."
Squalo kicked yet more mooks out of the way before glancing at her. "It's probably Fran's illusions." He shrugged. "Something about a weird protective barrier around you. Shit like that. Apparently his 'master' gave him the idea."
"I see?" Pause "Fran's master?"
But Squalo was already continuing towards the mansion.
Filai stumbled after him, careful not to trip over one of the many corpses littering the ground. Wait a moment, Squalo. We're not going to just walk into that mess, are we? "You know, there's a battle going on there if you didn't notice."
"Voi! You fucking dragged me here in the first place." Squalo snapped, turning with something very murderous in his expression.
Well sorry, princess. Not everyone call magically predict when a battle is going on from a hundred miles away. "We're still all going to die. And it'll be your fault."
"Holy shit, how fucked in the head can you get?" He pointed his sword at her for useless emphasis. "If I'm going to let you die, then why the fuck would I go through much shit to get you out of that pisshole Vendicare prison?
"I'm sorry, but charging into this kind of scene armed with a sword-"
"And a shark." Squalo held up his box and ring.
"Fine. And a shark." She improvised exasperately. Very reassuring.
Rolling his eyes, Squalo seized her arm and dragged her along. "You complain too much."
Just because you can't tell the difference between complaining and voice of self-preserving reason!
It became worse once they neared the main mansion, which was once quite nice in the past, and now was reduced to some half wrecked fortress. Something right out of a World War II drama, to be honest, complete with the dead bodies and explosions and bullets and smoke. Only, in addition to all that lovely shit, there were flying glowing animals circling the place.
Kind of put a damper on the warzone-like area, to be honest. It was like the Power rangers' pets came and took over the fighting.
The Mafia's evil reputation really wasn't going to benefit from that.
"You know, maybe we should come back some other time." Filai was protesting over the sound of bombs going off and people getting their guts strewn on the ground. When every step we take ISN'T some deathtrap that'll send us a one way ticket to hel-
Squalo pulled her out of the way just as another grenade came whizzing by. It exploded a bit too closely to be comfortable.
"Voi!" He turned to her, face-to-face. "We make a deal. You stop you bitching for five minutes and I'll get you into the damn mansion alive and in once piece."
"Uh." Was all the answer Filai got to make before she was shoved along.
Theoretically, it wasn't supposed to be possible to actually get into the mansion. After all, Squalo was from the Vongola, which she assumed both the Millifiore AND the Viavideche weren't entirely fond of. Even if he did manage to pull them through the outside chaos, there was the fact that the people inside the damn place weren't quite willing to let them in.
Except of course that Squalo was Squalo, and thus there was little difficulty for him in carving (quite literally) a path to a giant hole blown in the side of the place, leaving in his wake many bodies from both sides.
Filai sighed. No matter what happens, this shithole always gives me misery.
"Voi, who was winning outside?" Squalo asked as they stepped into an empty hall.
"What, you didn't notice?"
"I was fucking making sure you didn't get your head sliced off!"
Touchy. Touchy. But admittedly, he did have a point. "It seemed like a stalemate." She said, glancing around their surroundings. It was empty, no doubt non-combantants evacuated and everyone else out there killing people in really ugly white uniforms (seriously; who designed those shit excuse for clothes anyway? Probably some marshmellow addicted meglomaniac). "Not quite sure though, since there were things blowing up very close to me."
Squalo scowled, his right hand still clutching her wrist tightly.
"So what're we going to do next?"
"What're we-" He spun to her angrily. "You're the one who wanted to come here! Why the fuck are you asking me that?"
I only wanted to take a glance to see if they really were all dead! You're the one who dragged us all the way into this!
"I thought you wanted to find your dad!"
"Why would I want to see him?" Sorry, but I'm sure even you can tell I'm not going to win any awards for filial piety.
An edgy silence spread between them, as the fact that, well, after all the trouble they went through, there wasn't any reason for them to be here whatsoever. All Squalo's fault, naturally, so Filai kicked him, and he didn't even notice.
She hurt her foot though. Asshole.
"We should make sure he's alive though." Squalo finally said.
Filai was increduous. "Why?"
He shot her a deadpan look. "You're a shitty daughter."
"And you just noticed?"
They headed towards where Filai assumed her dad's office still was. Not that it made any sense why he would be there while the rest of the place was being blown to kingdom come, but it was worth half a try, at the very least. They didn't know where else he'd be anyway.
Squalo, being his ever so enthusiastic self, was perfectly capable of running past all the debris scattered across the ground. Meanwhile, Filai was reduced to cautiously stepping over the chunks of wall and occasional body as to make sure she doesn't fall onto something sharp and pointy. It'd be utterly pathetic if she managed to survive the Varia and the Vendicare for most of her life and then suddenly die via tripping onto a misplaced shard of glass.
Grimacing at the thought, Filai was about to yell at Squalo for going to fast, when he stopped.
She took the oppurtunity to catch up to him. He ignored her, seemingly focused on something else.
"Something wrong?"
He grabbed her arm with his right hand, roughly shoving her behind him. His left arm lifted, the tip of his sword pointed menacingly at, uh, something. Thin air, or maybe the random pillar that a strange man with stranger eyebrows was standing next to-
Oh.
"You saw through my illusion." He said simply, unimpressed as he glanced at Squalo's drawn blade.
"Oh, it's you." Squalo's scowl melted into an amused grin. "So you weren't dead after all. Thought something was wrong that time. You fought like a fucking pansy."
Filai looked at the mysterious intruder. He was dressed in a purple and black version of of the Millifiore uniform, his belt holding a grand total of four swords. Also, she had a feeling his eyebrows would have him kicked out of Namimori Junior High by a certain ax-crazy prefect. But that was almost irelevant. "You know him?"
"I kicked his ass a while ago." Was the simple reply.
"Or so you believed." He said calmly, eying the both of them with subtle distaste.
"Fuck you, Genkishi. I know you were faking the whole damn thing." Squalo snapped, obviously bitter about the whole incident. "Used it as an excuse to run off that piece of shit Byakuran, didn't you?"
Genkishi's expression darkened. "I wouldn't insult Byakuran sama in front of me again, if you do not wish for your death to be painful."
"I'll fucking say it when I want to. Byakuran. Is. A. Fucking. Piece. Of. SHIT. What're you going to do about it, fucking asshole?" Yes, Squalo. Way to emphasize your lack of maturity. The two men glared at each other.
You guys don't look like very good friends. Filai coughed, noticing the tension crackling in the air.
His interest in a pissed off Squalo already slipping away, Genkishi glanced at Filai with faint curiosity. "Those eyes of yours." He said slowly, a thoughtful expression creasing on his face. "You're Filia Viavideche, aren't you?" Before she could answer, he continued coldly. "If you came here in hopes of rescuing your father, I'm afraid it's too late."
Uh, what? Did she say that? Really? No, even worse, did he honestly think that she came all this way to check on that, that thing? Really?
"He's already dead. I killed him."
And hell if that wasn't the best news she's received all day. Filai brightened immediately. "Really? I'll be sending you flowers and marriage proposal then."
Pause. "What?" Genkishi was almost confused.
"Oh fuck off." Squalo groaned, facepalming.
"Did you hear that, Squalo? That strange person was kind enough to go murder my dad in cold blood. We've got to pay him for that."
"He's a fucking Millifiore!"
"So, does that mean the Millifiore are good guys?"
"You really are a shitty daughter."
Well if YOUR dad got you locked up in a water prison for ten years, you'd be bitter too. You didn't have a problem with Xanxus going batshit on his dad, do you? In fact, you encouraged it and nearly got him stuck in ice. Again!
Genkishi cleared his throat before Squalo could respond. "Are you done yet?" His voice was laced with thin annoyance.
"No! Shut the fuck up!" Squalo snarled.
"I don't recall taking orders from you, Superbia Squalo."
"And I don't give half a shit what you do, as long as you stay out of this!" The raging swordsman spun back towards Filai to continue their very mature and elegant conversation-
Until some purple blur of one thing or another came and sliced off exactly four strands of Squalo's hair.
And Squalo froze. Filai felt something inside her wilting. Oh god.
Behind them, Genkishi had unsheathed one of his swords, his entire body emitting some sickly purple aura (so this wasn't Power Rangers in the Mafia? Or teletubbies?). "I have no interest in wasting my time listening to your pathetic arguement-"
"My hair." Squalo said suddenly, his tone so deathly quiet that Filai could barely make out the words even from her close distance. She suddenly wished she wasn't so close. It might, you know, help her escape with a few limbs attached. She'd like that. She really would. "You cut my hair."
Filai inwardly cringed. He shouldn't have done that. He really shouldn't have done that. He really, really, REALLY shouldn't have done that.
Genkishi's expression didn't change, though he shifted ever so slightly in way that indicated he was a bit uncomfortable. "Are you trying to intimidate me?"
Trying? I think he's doing a better job than just "trying". Filai saw Genkishi backing barely a notable step away. It was strange, the fully armed Genkishi against Squalo who hadn't even pulled out his box weapon, and was just slowly stepping forward with only a sword to protect him. She couldn't see Squalo's expression, but judging from his opponent's reaction, it probably wasn't too pretty.
Cutting Squalo's hair, of all things. It didn't even make him bleed! Filai might've been just as disappointed as she was horrified. My blood.
"I'm going to kill you." He stated simply, stopping only a few feet away from Genkishi. His voice wasn't loud or angry, just something disturbingly calm, vaguely similar to how peaceful a bomb (really, it's just a lump of metal with the ability to put craters into the ground) could be before it actually exploded.
Genkishi drew another of his swords, eyes narrowing. "Feel free to try. I've been wanting a rematch for quite a while."
Er, I don' think you want to provoke Squalo when he's in that state. Really. Even Xanxus wouldn't...
Predictably, Filai was utterly ignored.
For a moment, Squalo stared at the battle poised Genkishi. Then he lowered his sword.
And Genkishi took the chance to swing his blade.
Squalo simply grabbed the edge with his left hand. The edge cut through his glove, but of course didn't draw any blood from his prosthetic hand. Before Genkishi could counter with his second sword, Squalo very cheerfully kneed him in the gut.
Genkishi coughed, eyes widening as he stumbled. He shot Squalo an infuriating glare. "Y-you."
Not exactly interested in whatever he had to say, Squalo immediately grabbed him by the collar and delivered a most friendly punch to the face, followed by a courteous elbow to the spine.
In any case, Genkishi slumped to the ground, very battered. He was probably in shock, judging from his limp position; or maybe the kick was taking its toll on him. Not that Filai could blame the man. Squalo's kicks were pretty damn strong. Especially when in berserk you-cut-my-hair mode. Really, he could replace the words with 'you-killed-my-father' and the effects on his sanity would've been the same.
She hung her head exasperately. I told you not to piss Squalo off when he's like that. It was ironic that even Xanxus couldn't stand up to Squalo's hair-wrath, considering he was the reason why he had the berserk mode in the first place, but, but, but...!
"So, Squalo." Filai grabbed him by the shoulder before he could proceed to chopping Genkishi into bits. "Shouldn't we leave now? I mean, we have nothing else to do here, right? You had fun beating the crap out of this guy, and my dad's dead." Ahaha, can we leave now?
"Kill him first." Squalo muttered absentmindedly, batting her hand away.
So he was completely dedicated to gutting Genkishi. Of course, Filai usually didn't mind that kind of thing, since Squalo was an assassin. But then, the person he was trying to kill, well, killed her father. That deserved some merit, or in this case, not getting disembowled by a rabid shark.
It can't be helped. She was going to have to take drastic action.
Filai lightly tapped Squalo on the shoulder. "So, Squalo. Did you hear about what happened to Fran the other day?"
One minute later
"You know, next time you might not want to go cut Squalo's hair." Filai was very deadpan as she sat next to Genkishi, who was lying motionlessly on the ground.
Genkishi moved his head to stare at her with confusion. "You saved me." He said. "Why?"
"You killed my father."
"What kind of reason is that?"
Oh come on! I'm all for parental love when the fucking parents in question deserve it, but my dad was a total asshole! He locked me up in a fucking pickle jar for ten years, and I don't even know how he managed to do that, but you really think I'm going to go all "I love you Dad!" after the shit he put me through? Of course, Genkishi wasn't nearly well acquainted enough to know what her raging telepathy was talking about. So, she decided to spare him the rant. "We didn't get along well."
Squalo was standing near them, in complete shock. He had obviously forgot about all intentions of murdering Genkishi, and was now muttering mindlessly to himself as if to reassure him that the things Filai just told him weren't true.
It wasn't, of course, but the intended effects had its intended outcome, and that was all she needed for now.
Though, she was going to have a hard time telling him that no, Fran was not a girl, and no, he was not pregnant, and no, Xanxus isn't the father.
Maybe she should've thought of a better lie. Less self-sacrificing. It really helped that Squalo was such an idiot. Who the hell would believe something like that anyway?
"So the leader of the Varia impregnated his subordinate." muttered Genkishi. "Pleasant."
Silence. Filai twitched. You...I hate you.
"In any case, the Viavideche is over with." He said, painfully pushing himself up with his arms. "Their boss is dead, whether you like him or not. The family will fall into disarray. It'll only be a matter of time before the Millifiore takes over the remaining territory."
He had a fair point. The Viavideche's weakness was that it was a bit of a totalitarian organization, with everything centered around the boss. Without her dad, the whole structure will collapse, unless they can find a quick replacement. Speaking of which, the family would never follow her, not that she was interested, but she wasn't the only child of the previous boss.
"So did you manage to kill my brother too-" Filai looked up. Genkishi had already disappeared. She scowled. Good bye to you too, rude bastard. Standing up, she turned to Squalo, who was still wearing his disturbed expression. She sighed, and walked over to him. "Hey, Squalo."
He didn't respond.
"Let's go find my brother. If he's alive, he should be around here somewhere."
Squalo didn't offer any resistance as Filai pushed him towards the stairs. "Fran and Xanxus." He muttered deliriously under his breath. His face was as white as a sheet, all the color drained away. Filai felt almost guilty, and very annoyed. "Can you imagine what their kid would be? That's so goddamn creepy."
You're the one who forced me to give you the mental image. Quit complaining.
"I'm going to have nightmares."
"You know, some people have more appropriate ideas for bad dreams. Like bugs, or ghosts, or giant two headed lizards trying to eat your leg off, or Mukuro Rokudo, if you're feeling particularly daring. You however, waste your nightmares on visions of your boss and your colleague's improbable lovechild."
"Voi! It's fucking your fault! I'd be fine not knowing what the fuck is going on between those two! I was mentally undisturbed! My life was complete!"
Sucks for you. Filai was completely disinterested in his sufferings, so Squalo lapsed into a bitter silence, thoughts of bloody murder filling his mind. Not that that was something new though.
After finally locating a staircase that wasn't blown up by some random bomb, they slowly climbed upwards. Squalo being his ever so chivalrous self, always stayed a step ahead, just so he could always get to where the slaughter was first (Squalo: It's not fucking because I'm worried about you or anything! Obnoxious brat).
At the end of the stairway, he stopped dead.
Confused with the hold-up, Filai walked past him, and also stopped dead.
The hallway in front of them was not littered with dead bodies.
No, they were littered with bodies, just not dead ones. There wasn't any blood, for one thing. The Millifiore soldiers strewn across the floor were knocked out, alive and breathing nevertheless. None seemed to be in any condition to move, let alone fight.
And there were a lot of them.
"It seems," Filai finally said, breaking the silence between them. "The new boss of the Viavideche had been here recently."
Squalo's head quickly snapped to her. "Wait, you're telling me one person did this?" He demanded, before turning back to the scene. "And what do you mean the new boss? You're not talking about your old man, are you?"
Of course not, you imbecile. That guy's dead, isn't he? "I was referring to my brother. I suppose you should call him Alexander, but I believe he's used to be calling 'Sasha'." I wouldn't know. I haven't met him all that much. "However, I do know that he is a bit of a hopeless pacifist."
He pointed at the bodies. "Voi! You call this the work of a fucking pacifist?"
"Well, I don't think he likes fighting, but he's very strong. He was probably pushed into a corner in this situation, but no matter what, he obviously didn't want to kill anyone." Hence the not-quite-dead bodies in here. Filai observed with a careless shrug. "He's a nice guy, from what I remember. You'd hate him."
"Already do." Squalo furiously kicked a random not-dead Millifiore mook. "What the fuck is the point in leaving these pissholes alive?" And wasn't 'Sasha' a girl's name? What kind of guy would want to be caled 'Sasha'?
To be honest, Filai did think her mysterious brother was a bit of an oddity, considering just how utterly bloodythirsty the rest of the family was. "He should still be somewhere nearby. Let's go."
Delivering one final vicious kick to the poor not-dead body, Squalo stalked after her.
Of course, she was right. Sasha wasn't far at all. They walked for about two more minutes before a screaming Millifiore soldier was hurled past them, landing with a crash in a pile of wrecked furniture. Sounds of fighting came from behind the corner of the hall.
"That would be him." Filai said, reaffirming the obvious as was her talent.
An explosion quickly followed, a gust of smoke blowing out from behind the corner. Filai pressed her mouth against her sleeve, coughing. Seemed like a very lively fight.
"O-ow." An unfamiliar male voice groaned from inside the mess. Stumbling footsteps crackled on the floor, crushing glass and cement as if he was about to fall over his own feet. "I think I overdid it with the grenade. Ow, ow. M-my leg."
Squalo quickly looked at Filai, in disbelief. "That's him?" He hissed.
Filai raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's him."
With an audible crash, a disheveled young man stumbled out of the smoke, coughing painfully as he leaned against the wall for support. He gave a start when he saw Filai and Squalo. He tilted his head downwards, toward their uniforms. "Erm, you're from...the Varia?" With some difficulty, he straightened himself up, brushing his disheveled black hair of his eyes. They were the same color as Filai's, an unnerving neon pink, though not as bright.
Squalo was again, in disbelief. At loss for words, he pointed at the man again, looking back at Filai for confirmation as if he hadn't had enough already.
Naturally, Filai was getting annoyed. "Yes, no matter how many times I ask you, that guy is him."
Sasha sheepishly tugged at strands of his tangled hair. "So, is there anything you need? Sorry you came at a bit of a messy time." Clearly uncomfortable with Squalo's shocked expression, he turned to Filai. And was about to say something, when the words subsequently died away in his mouth.
"Hi, Sasha."
"You're...er...Filia...?"
"Yeah..."
"I didn't know you were alive."
"I get that a lot."
"I see. Aha, I guess you would. Most people assumed you died."
"I get that a lot too."
"I'm not quite sure how to greet you after all these years." Sasha admitted, troubled. He seemed a bit close to panicking as he fumbled through his mind for some way to deal with the situation that seemed to have come right out of a Korean drama. Seriously, long-lost siblings. How much more cliche could the damn situation get? And, yes, he was panicking now. Definitely panicking. "What do I do, what do I do, what do I do. I should've watched some Korean dramas if I knew this was going to happen." He then brightened up. "I know. Hug?"
"No."
"But-"
"NO HUG."
Squalo was immensely satisfied as Sasha hung his head.
~Omake of randomness~
Squalo noticed very easily that 8 year old Filai did not take long to brush her teeth.
When confronted with this, Filai had no idea what the hell he was talking about. As far as her bratty little mind was concerned, "teeth brushing" meant smearing toothpaste inside her mouth and spitting it out, all within the timespan of ten seconds. And the runt complained about getting fucking cavaties!
And that was why he was here, trying to keep a squirming Filai from running away as he, yes, attempted to brush her teeth for her.
"It's bleeding! It's bleedin-" Her voice was muffled as Squalo generously scrubbed the edge of her gum raw.
"Voi! It's your own fucking fault for not brushing it the right way. So stop complaining, damn it!"
"I'm going to die!"
"And you'll fucking deserve it. So shut up!"
By the time he finished, Filai was sulking in the corner of the bathroom, painfully covering her mouth as if afraid Squalo was going to go all toothbrush berserk on her again. Squalo glared at her and threw her toothbrush back in her cup before turning towards the door.
"I hate you." Pause. "...thanks. I think."
Squalo simply glared at her before storming out of the bathroom. He felt a little pleased with himself.
Ending Note: Sasha is a girly name, although it's common as an abbreviation for Alexander. He's a nice, well-adjusted guy. As well adjusted as someone from Filai's bloodthirsty family can get, at least. Squalo doesn't seem to like him very much though. Well, it was his fault for dragging them into the mansion in the first place.
Hope you could enjoy this really terrible chapter. I need to get my writing skills back into shape.