"Fran! Bel! Get out of there right now, it's rigged!" Came Squalo's voice through to earpiece the mist and storm were wearing.

Their eyes widened in shock and with few precious minutes to spare, they gathered the needed papers and began running down the hallway. "Teleport us out of here Froggy." Belphegor yelled as they went up the stairs.

Fran took a moment to stare at him blankly, "Were you not listening when I said, 'It looks like I won't be able to shift if anything happens because of the flame suppressors inside the walls' Idiot prince." Belphegor grit his teeth at the insult but continued to take the stairs two at a time. "Captain, I'm afraid we won't make it out in time if you want us to come out normally. I would suggest letting Bel-sempai blow through the first non-suppressed wall we find."

Belphegor looked excited as Xanxus confirmed that they could do that with a, "Don't destroy the entire house this time trash."

"This way Froggy, shishishi." Belphegor said with a grin as he led his uncute kouhai out the stairwell.

They hurriedly passed by ornate looking doors and blue painted walls before pausing at a small gap where a window had previously resided. Quickly bringing up the blueprints in his mind, Fran realised that while the famiglia had replaced the window with the wall, they hadn't bothered with reinforcing that part. "Shishishi, ready Froggy?" The prince asked, readying his storm flames.

Not waiting for an answer, the destructive flames exploded outwards, creating a hole large enough for the two to climb through. They had just clambered onto the window sill when a massive explosion went off behind them and the force pushed the two off the ledge and towards the ground. Thankfully, Fran managed to use his mist flames to construct a platform to land on instead of the hard, unforgiving ground. Debris rained down on the two elements and while most of it was disintegrated by storm flames, pieces still managed to slice through the barrier.

Fran hissed as a particularly large piece of metal whipped past, giving him a deep cut on his face. His mist flames shifted agitatedly before dumping both the storm and mist on the ground near Xanxus and Squalo. "About time trash, next time be here on time." Xanxus ordered.

Fran muttered under his breath, "It was Bel-sempai's fault for not listening to me at the beginning."

"VOI! What happened to your face, mist brat?" Squalo asked in concern.

Under the frog hood Bel forced Fran to wear, there was a deep gash that was gushing bright crimson blood all over the left side of his face. Xanxus took one look at the steadily bleeding mist and started to bark orders out, "Baby trash, sit down before you fall. Sword trash, go and find the emergency kit in the car and Knife trash will you stop laughing for one second!"

The self-proclaimed prince who had been giggling since he saw his kouhai's blood, quietened at the order of his commanding sky. Squalo found the emergency kit in a compartment in the boot and dashed back to where his injured subordinate was sitting. "Ow, sempai." Fran said blankly as the blood was wiped away.

Fran stared out into the forest surrounding the quartet as his Captain set about cleaning and disinfecting the wound. "Take off the hood so I can see your head better." Squalo instructed.

With a sigh, the illusionist tugged off the heavy frog hat and placed it beside him as the swordsman tilted his head to get a better look at the gash. By some miracle it had stopped pouring out blood, only oozing when pressure was placed around it. The skin around the area was becoming an irritated red from all the attention but there was nothing the white-haired rain could do about it. "It's going to need stitches Boss." Squalo reported to the silently watching man. "Do you want me to do them now or for Luss to do them back at the manor?"

"Do them now, I don't want blood staining the car seats." Xanxus decided.

Belphegor laughed, "Shishishi, can I stab the peasant with the knife?"

Squalo levelled a stare at the storm, "For the last time, a needle is not a knife. We aren't aiming to stab poor Fran in the head either."

Belphegor pouted before turning his attention to the unusually silent teenager. "You might with the way he's shaking right now."

Squalo glanced up at his patient before concluding, "He's lost a fair amount of blood, Fran has probably gone into shock. Would you mind Xanxus?"

The sky snorted, "Very well trash." And wrapped his flames around the minutely trembling Fran, mimicking a hug.

Seeing as Fran ceased shaking, Squalo threaded the needle and started to stitch up the weeping wound. "Tell me about the marks on your head Fran, where did you get those?" Squalo asked.

Ever since Fran had told them about his mother, the rest of the Varia worked on a plan to get the teen to open about the experiences he had under her care. The teenager stiffened under the diligently working rain. "You know already, my mother." He replied, unwilling to talk about it.

Belphegor exhaled slowly, "We know that uncute kouhai. What we want to know is why she hurt you this time."

Not needing much prompting this time, Fran began recounting the story behind the marks. "Mum came back from work, completely drunk and started screaming at me…"

/Flashback/

"You damn brat! If you hadn't been born, Aristide would still be here!" The woman screamed at her cowering child. She walked towards the corner where the boy was shaking, stumbling drunkenly. "If you weren't such a freak he wouldn't have left me."

The teal haired child was crying silently at his mother's words. "Mum, I'm sorry. Please, I won't make you mad anymore." Fran sobbed hysterically.

His mother noticed a broken beer bottle on a cluttered table beside her and grabbed it. She started cackling, "Once you're dead, Aristide will come back to me and take me away from here."

She advanced on the petrified Fran, step by step. She raised the bottle and smashed it down on the scared boy's head. Fran managed to turn his face away, but couldn't move out of the path of the improvised weapon. The bottle struck the side of his head, cutting into his fragile skin, leaving the side of his head bleeding. "I'm sorry!" Fran wailed out, too scared and in pain to move.

The woman, for how could Fran call her his mother, turned away from the cowering child and went to go to bed. "Don't you dare move out of that corner child. You better be dead by tomorrow morning." The vile woman hissed.

Young Fran bowed his head and curled up to try and sleep. "I'm sorry mother…" he whispered.

After all, it was his fault that his father disappeared and left his mother. He deserved this. This was his punishment for being a freak.

/Flashback/

Fran was dragged out of his storytelling by a hug from Squalo. Wiping away a few stray tears, he looked into his Captain's upset face. "You wanted to hear it idiot-captain." Fran muttered, unsure what to do with the odd acting rain.

Belphegor was watching the two with a solemn face and Xanxus was nearby blowing things up in his rage. Squalo grabbed the illusionist's face and made him look into his eyes, "I swear to you Fran that I won't EVER do anything like that to you. No matter how annoying or idiotic you are at times. You understand me?"

"Crystal, baka-captain." Fran said, overwhelmed by the strength of his captain's words.

Seeing the truth in his subordinate's eyes, he nodded in satisfaction. "Good, now let's go home. Boss! Stop blowing shit up and let's head back home."

If Fran got an extra bowl of ice-cream for dessert that night, well, no one brought it up.