In Their Story, There was a Girl
Chapter 33: A Dark Tale
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Malvolia was a child that never cried. Her mother often said to her, "Malvolia, you're a child born from hatred."
Her mother said that the day that Malvolia arrived, she was dropped from the sky along with many other dead corpses. Her mother thought that the baby girl would be dead for sure. However, when she looked closer, Malvolia was watching the sky with her big, blue eyes. Her eyes blinked curiously at the woman that approached her. Then, her mother took to raising the baby girl. The reason being that she'd wanted someone to clean up after her when she dies.
Not long after that, Malvolia turned one year old. Her mother died; Malvolia was too young to clean up after her.
In this dark city ran by a mafia family called the Orfeo Family, no one was willing to take Malvolia. Malvolia sat beside her mother's corpse, opening her eyes wide. She was quiet, not crying a single tear, and she would even smile a bit. A few nights have passed as Malvolia watched people pass her by, suddenly, she started to feel hungry.
In this place, there were always people crying, screaming, running, standing, falling. Some people begged countless of times, and others wouldn't share even a single breathe.
Malvolia was very hungry, but she never cried. Malvolia was going to die soon.
The rain was falling lightly; the puddles on the ground reflecting the dark sky above. In front of Malvolia's blurry eyes stood an old man. The old man lowered his back to scrutinize the little girl. Malvolia's eyes traveled up and down the old man's long beard, and finally, reached out her hand to grab hold of it. She pulled on it, and started to giggle breathlessly.
"Hmm…" the old man only made a sound out of his deep thought.
"Boss," a younger man appeared behind the old man, "we've finished collecting the ten children."
The old man did not reply to the young man. He removed Malvolia's hand from his beard, and straightened his back. Malvolia remain seated next to the dead woman, her mouth half open, staring at the old man. But the old man still left. With his hands intertwined behind his back, the old man said, "it's too bad…"
The pitter patter of raindrops never ceased, as if the sky was crying for her. Malvolia watched the two men walk away from her. Her gaze locked on their retrieving backs. And finally, she made a noise, "ah…"
The two men continued to walk.
"Ah…" Malvolia called again; the two kept walking.
"Ah… ah, ah…" Malvolia made out some more sound, but the men's pace never changed.
"Ah…" the little girl's two hands fastened into fists. Her eyes have finally become so blurry that the strangers disappeared as if they were never there in the first place.
The world was only gray.
Suddenly, Malvolia began to cry. All of a sudden filling the street with a new sound, she cried as if she was using the last bit of life she had left in her tiny body. She waved her arms around, tilting her body forward. It seemed as if she was trying to grab onto something, to capture something. Her eyes shut tight from the crying, not knowing that the old man was, again, standing before her.
"Dante."
"Boss?"
"Let's make this time's exam a bit more exciting," the old man said as he picked up the crying girl. "This babe's cries are loud and clear. I think she has potential."
"Yes, Boss." Dante said, smiling.
On that day, eleven young children were brought to Orfeo's secret base. Only Malvolia's name was left known to the world.
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As early as she could remember, Malvolia lived in screams after screams—both her own and others. Malvolia was placed between the other ten children. She wasn't the strongest, but she survived. Five out of the eleven died, and then three followed. Malvolia was four years old. It was the third stage of the Orfeo Family's examination to pick out new assassins to add to the Family.
"What's your name?" the examiner asked as he powered up the electricity running through the children's bodies.
No one had the chance to answer. The shock was too much for children to handle, and Malvolia was the first to black out. Ice water was poured on them and they all woke up, and the next thing they felt was another wave of electricity. The examiner asked, "What's your name?"
The only answer was the screaming of children.
Some time has passed and the examiner was still asking the same question. The electricity must've killed some of them, because the screaming has become less than before. The only loud voice was the examiner's questions. Malvolia couldn't see through her blurry eyes, but she felt some of the children being released by the examiner. They were dragged away; they were dead.
"What's your name?"
Malvolia forced her eyes open. Her lips were trembling. However, she could not make out a word.
As the clock ticked, a few more children died. Malvolia saw corpses being dragged away through her blurry eyes. She could hear sound of the dead bodies against the floor, because no one was screaming anymore. The examiner walked in front of the leftover children, and interrogated them individually, "What's your name?"
His voice was very calm. Malvolia stared at the man's half smile, and a tear drop fell from her eyes. He was only asking a simple question, but she couldn't answer. The examiner moved away from Malvolia and moved on to another.
"……Ma….."
Malvolia couldn't even hear herself, but the examiner came back in front of her.
"……Ma….."
The examiner smiled at her. "What's your name?"
"……Ma!!" Malvolia exclaimed, the sudden outburst of her voice left her throat stinging.
"What's your name?"
"Ma…. Ma!"
"What's your name?"
"Ma….. Ma! Ma!... Ma!"
"What's your name?!" The examiner bellowed.
"Mal… Malv! Malvolia! Malvolia!"
A question and an answer—that was what it took for Malvolia to live. After the third stage of the examination, three children remained, including Malvolia. For the children, this memory was burnt into their hearts. But for the Orfeo Family, it was just something natural.
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A few years later, Malvolia killed the other two children. The Orfeo Family only accepted one additional assassin each time. When the other two children lunged at her, what was she to do? Dante looked at the blue-haired girl, who was completely unharmed, and thought it very strange. The strengths between these three kids weren't very different throughout the years, but how is it that Malvolia was able to kill the others so easily?
The old man beside Dante watched Malvolia as she curiously picked up her knife once again. She cut open the stomach of the dead child next to her, and poked around the inners, fascinated by such things. The old man couldn't help but laugh happily—the girl reminded him of himself when he was a kid.
"Ha, ha! Come here, Malvolia! Come here!"
Malvolia turned her head to look at the old man, who held out his arms for the girl. She walked toward the old man like she was ordered to, and the old man brought her in.
"Good job, Malvolia! You're a sweet child!" he ruffled her blue hair lovingly.
This was the first time Malvolia was embraced, and the first time that she was complimented. Slowly, she nestled her face into the old man's chest, smiling happily. Malvolia didn't think she'd accomplished anything. But she just killed two people, and so many people smiled at her, hugged her. Malvolia felt happy, extremely happy.
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Malvolia grew up killing for the Orfeo Family. At first, she thought she was paying back the Family for raising her up. But as time passed on, she realized that she enjoyed the thrill of murder. The expressions of people at the instant of death made her excited. At age fourteen, Malvolia killed Dante.
"Malvolia…… why?" Dante muttered with his last breaths.
"I just don't think it right," Malvolia stared down at him coldly, "for people weaker than me to give me orders."
And then everyone started to fear her. Malvolia gained the position left by Dante, and killed the higher-ups one by one. A few years later, killing could not satisfy Malvolia any longer. Every time she faced an opponent, she toyed with them, tortured them in the cruelest ways. Malvolia was well on her way to killing up to half of the members in the Orfeo Family until someone else beat her to it. She was sixteen that year, when the Orfeo Family was attacked by the Vongola Family. The group of assassins called the Varia alone was able to wipe out the whole place Malvolia once called home. However, she did not fight for the Orfeo.
"What are you doing, Malvolia?!" the old man said, lying the floor as blood poured out from his stomach. "Help us!"
Malvolia stood next to the dying old man, staring at the enemy assassins with her big blue eyes. She could feel the powers emitting from the red-eyed leader among his group. It excited her; it would be such a pleasure to dig out those fiery eyes of his.
"Malvo--!" the old man had tried to shout, but he was silenced with a bullet in the back of his head.
Malvolia's rebellion only surprised the Varia a little bit. They lowered their weapons to observe the girl's next moves. But it seems that Malvolia had no intention of fighting them… yet. She knelt down next to her former boss and removed the claws from his hands. With all the blood on the claws, she easily slid the metal on her wrist. It was as if the claws were made for her.
"Oooooii! What is with this crazy girl?!" one of the Varia with silver hair exclaimed.
"My name is Malvolia," she said. "Let me join you."
At first, the Varia hesitated. But after a while, something crossed the fiery eyes of their leader, and he accepted her request. Not only did Malvolia earn herself a spot in the Varia, she also became the commander of the Snow Unit. But it didn't mean anything to her; all she wanted was to kill more people.
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Although Malvolia wasn't the most trustworthy member of the Varia, she was the most efficient when it came to massive killing. She usually had no complaints about any kind of murder, and followed orders like she was supposed to. But she knew, deep in her mind, that when she becomes stronger, the first one that she will kill is Xanxus. It excited her when she pictured bright, red blood run down his red eyes. She held no affection toward any other member of the Varia, because when the day that she defeats Xanxus comes, they'll be her first targets.
That is why she felt nothing as she watched the huge shark bite down on Squalo. If anything, she only felt pity that she couldn't have pulled his limbs apart herself. Her eyes wandered toward the enemy's side, where Xanxus's sister now stood. She scoffed at the horrified expression that the girl had when Squalo perished.
It was getting ridiculous that these Varia members were being defeated by these mere children. Had she really joined such a weak group? Or is the group of kids really that strong? No, that's impossible. A little girl, who can't even watch an enemy perish, cannot be strong at all. But she remembered the night before, when the black-eyed girl challenged her. Even though knowing that the girl was no match for her, Malvolia was somewhat aroused by the determination in the girl's eyes.
I want to kill her.
She wanted to see what kind of expression the brat would have at the moment of death. Surely, it's going to thrill her. And when she tear the brat apart, the face of Xanxus will be quite amusing. Too bad she won't be seeing Squalo's; there's another pity. She licked her lips; she felt like killing someone right now.
"I announce that the next battle that will take place is the Battle of Snow!" the Cervello announced.
Perfect! Malvolia's heartbeat quickened.
"Wait! But the Varia's Guardian of Snow already has both halves of the ring! Why does Yotsuba-chan still have to fight?" Tsuna exclaimed, not wanting his friend to fight.
"Because Xanxus-sama doesn't object that the battle takes place, and we already received the approval of both Snow Guardians," the Cervello answered.
"What?!"
"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun," Yotsuba said, "it's my decision. I'll win back the Ring of Snow."
Malvolia chuckled to herself. The brat is getting confident; this is too amusing. She probably needed to kill some people before she could fall asleep tonight. Resisting her urge to kill, she turned around with the rest of the Varia and exited with them.
"You're kidnapping that brat tonight?" Malvolia asked as she went beside Xanxus on their way back to the hotel. "It's going to be the last time you're gonna see her."
Xanxus looked at her emotionlessly. "Don't talk to me, trash."
Malvolia bared her teeth, making a bloodthirsty smile.
"After I kill your sister, I'm going for you, Xanxus…"
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TBC.
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A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys! I had to rewrite this chapter three times because I was having a really, really hard time! And sorry for those of you who expected me to write about the Battle of Rain. It would be a waste of time, really, because everyone already knows what happened. I hope you all had fun reading about Malvolia's past, even though most of you probably don't like her anyway. It makes me happy writing about Dark-themed things! Ha, ha, I really need some inspiration… urgently! And your encouragement, please! Also, university is starting for me in a week, so I'll try to upload one more chapter before school starts. And then I don't know how fast I'll be updating after that, but I'll try my best. But I promise that I won't give up the story! All right, this A/N is too long, so chow!