Kitsune here, this chapter is what started the whole thing. Actually, I was working on "Truth Bites" and thinking purple goo (if you've read the story, you'll understand that) and Ares popped into my head...but I had been watching Reborn recently, and suddenly this chapter happened. Ares and Xanxus (plus the rest of the Varia)
Question of the Chapter: What do you think of this new "clarification to the content policy" going on? I've been on the site since 2002, and there have been a LOT of changes in the years, like the addition of the "M" rating...and look! We can write fanfiction for what is essentially a ROMANCE SERIES! And now, suddenly, everything's got to be "PG" or "PG13?" who decides that? Got to say, I am NOT amused. When I was 13, I was reading stephen king and watching R movies. It's subjective, isn't it? How much citrus is too much? How much gore? What if you're writing for GANTZ or ELFIN LIED? That's what the rating system is FOR. FF, if it's that big of a problem, REWORK THE FILTERS, enable blocks like your profanity filter for those who don't want to see it, require summaries that actually tell you about the story, don't pull a big brother on us and decide what is acceptable fanfiction and what is not. I know of at least three people who have had stories pulled that I'VE TALKED TO, and they claim no warning was given. Hearsay, I know, but it's a scary thought. I urge people to back up their stories, even if you are alright with this move. If not, sign the petition on Causes. Any of mine go "poof" (Or any of my good friends go "poof") and I'm gone. I'll post where I'm going, and that's it.
Xanxus wasn't particularly a religious man. Yes, he went to mass for every major holiday, and he tried to visit Rome at least once a year, but that was really for the old man. Some shit about a good Italian being Roman Catholic. They were the fucking mafia, for crying out loud. He sure as HELL wasn't going to confession every week.
Yet here he was walking down the street from some church on the island of Corfu on Ash Wednesday instead of doing dealing with that scummy little mob he came here to take care of like he should be. It would be just his luck he'd run into the old geezer for the first time in months TODAY if he didn't, and boy would the man gripe at him. With. That. Look. Fucking Bullshit. It's not fair that someone who wasn't even really his dad could make him feel like a little brat just because he didn't want to waste his time in a stinking church. Not that the old man knew that he knew that. Jerk was too busy cooing over that half-breed mongrel.
Xanxus stopped at a store front, glaring at his reflection in the window, and coincidentally convincing the shopkeeper that the end was nigh. At least his men wouldn't dare laugh at him for the soot on his head. He sighed, eyes drifting upwards until he caught the reflection of the building across the street. He blinked dully, not showing his surprise as he turned around to get a better look.
It was an old building, one of those historic-restoration projects that was going on, funded in large by the Vongola. That wasn't what had caught his attention though. It was a temple, it looked decidedly early Roman, or possibly Greek, but he didn't really care. Xanxus didn't bother to hide his smirk as he sauntered over to the building. It wasn't open to the public yet, but he wasn't the public, now was he? With a derisive snort he stepped over the 'Do Not Enter' Sign. It was high time he enjoyed himself in a church, and that's all a temple was, really. A glorified church to some trashy pagan god. Really, though, he was amazed at the amount of old shit that was packed into the temple, all of it in really good repair.
"Naós tou Ári̱," Xanxus read off a plaque, looking at the relief above the words. It depicted a man with a sword and a shield, looking fierce, or what he assumed was fierce back in the stone ages. "Ares... Greek temple then. God of war. Much better god for a Mafioso to worship, don't you think?" he asked a similarly decked out statue, "A god to bathe in the blood of your enemies, not make peace with them! Bah. The ninth is going senile in his old age." his stomach rumbled, "Eh. Whatever." Without another word the young man strode out of the building and back down the street. To the casual observer nothing had changed, but to those that knew him, it was obvious Xanxus was starving and all else would have to wait...or die. He didn't notice that he was being watched.
After a while, Xanxus pulled out his cell phone and rang up Squalo, knowing that the loudmouth would be with the the phone kept ringing and ringing he ground his teeth. "VOOOI! I'm busy call back or leave a message, bastard!" The answering service kicked in.
"Ch." Xanxus glared at his phone in disgust for a full minute, fighting the urge to smash it into bits, since the phone company had informed him (quite fearfully) that they couldn't replace another cell phone this month. After getting himself only marginally calmer he tried Lussuria with much more luck.
"Elloo~" Sounds of a fight to could be heard in the background, though it most likely was the guys blowing off steam. The whole lot of them were a bunch of destructive assholes.
"It's me." He paused while Lussuria verbally bullied the others into a semblance of peace. For the seemingly nicest, most submissive of the group, very few would cross the femmy-guy. "I'm done with that thing. Right now I'm starving so I'm going to that bistro that shitty mob goes to. Maybe it'll be half as good as they say. Or maybe it'll be full of trash. Meet me there." He hung up with a grin. Either way, it was going to be an enjoyable lunch.
The bistro was actually rather impressive. It was obviously built to cater to the rich and snobby, not the tourists, being very Italian in looks as apposed to Greek. It felt a little odd, technically being in Greece and eating at an Italian bistro, but Xanxus figured he could always have Greek for dinner. After all, if things went the way he was expecting, the Varia would be done with this job by later this afternoon. The wait-staff knew better then to make the son of the Vongola leader wait, even if he didn't have a reservation. He hoped his table had been reserved for that crappy little mob-boss he was supposed to take care of. It wasn't long before the others joined him.
For a bunch of ill-mannered currs, they all behaved themselves particularly well. It could have had something to do with the knowledge that their boss would kill them if they fucked with his meal more then the manners that Enrico beat into them all. (Something about not wanting to be seen in public with his little brother's friends.) So it was the the meal passed in relative silence, allowing all the patrons to fully enjoy the cuisine, which really did live up to the reputation. Even the wine was exquisite, and a house bottle. Xanxus smirked into his glass, contemplating buying the whole establishment. The Varia really needed it's own businesses, after all.
"Hey, Asshole." Of course, some piece of scum had to come and ruin his rare good mood. "Who the fuck do you think you are? Sitting at the Boss's table? Drinking the Boss's wine?" For a moment, he was confused, which he hid behind a scowl as his men tensed. Xanxus had completely forgotten why he'd come to this particular bistro.
Then he grinned, a slow, lazy grin. "Lussuria, Lavi, take this trash out."
Belphegor pouted, "Ch. What about us?"
"You and Squalo take care of the trash out back. I don't trust you not to destroy this place." Xanxus pointed out.
"Ushishishi! Ok Boss!"
"I guess I'll take care of those out front. As payment for the meal." Mamon's voice echoed as he vanished.
"As for you," Xanxus glared at the man who had dared to interrupt his meal, as the rest of his team dispersed to take care of the rabble, "Tell me where your boss is."
"Fuck you!" The man growled, lashing out, knocking the bottle of wine on the ground, shattering it.
In a flash the man found his head slammed into the table, a gun to his temple and a heavy hand holding him down by the back of his neck. Xanxus had moved so fast the man had not even seen him get up. The Varia leader snarled, looking at the spilt wine on the floor before lifting the man by the nape of the neck and slamming him back into the table, cracking it, "I'll ask you again. Where. Is. He?" He cocked his gun, "I'm losing patience."
"H-h-he's at the house! With the rest of the men!"
"Was that so hard?"
"He'll rip you to pieces, you'll see!"
Lussuria overheard this as he finished up killing a man who had taken a waitress as a hostage, something he personally found despicable, "Did you hear that Levi-chan? This little fool thinks his boss can take out the Varia."
"Va-Varia! Not the Vongola's assassination squad!" The man squealed, "Please, please, have mercy...!"
"For trash like you?" Xanxus sneered, killing the man with a twist of his wrist, "You're not even worth a bullet."
At the sound of clapping, he spun, leveling his gun at the one remaining patron in the place. Still clapping, the man slowly stood. His blue eyes danced with dark humor as the gun tracked up to aim at his head. "Well done, Xan, very cliche." The man laughed, causing all Varia members, including the ones who had just come back in to flinch. No one called Xanxus anything but his full name. Not even his dad. The young man himself just studied the tall blond in front of him, apparently calm. "Mind if I join you?"
"Why?"
The stranger grinned wolfishly, "Oh you know, just looking for a bit of fun. You were talking about bathing in the blood of your enemies and all that earlier to me and I thought, 'Hey, it's been a while.' Besides, these assholes act like they own the place."
Xanxus blinked at him for a second, completely taken back. Then he returned the grin, "You're welcome to join us. But I'M in charge of the Varia, and we do this for the Vongola, got it?"
"Well, of course you're in charge. I'm just tagging along for fun. Vongola Famiglia's Varia, huh? That peon said something about you guys being an assassination squad, right? Do all Mafia assassin groups work like this? Really, you must tell me all about it." Ares went to throw an arm around Xanxus's shoulder only to find a gun right in his face. He raised an eyebrow and put his hand on his broad-sword's hilt instead.
"Later. After we take care of all the scum on this island." He knew the guys were completely confused, and for a moment he shared a look with Ares, both of them enjoying being in the know. Xanxus didn't find it odd in the slightest that the man claimed to be a god, nor did he doubt the other. He felt a certain kind of power coming off the man, similar to deathperation flames, but on a totally different level. This was a man he knew better then to fuck with. At least, not until he knew more about the god. After that, well...he grinned ferally.
The look Ares gave him said he knew exactly what he was thinking, and it amused him, "Over dinner then! I know this fabulous little tabepna. You'll love it." He then went on at great length about the place. Xanxus listened, much to the shock of his men. If they had done so, he'd have shot them dead for sure. Well, he'd at least have shot in their general direction. Instead, he let the mindless prattle fill the long minutes until they reached their destination, a rather ostentatious mansion in the center of town. "Ah, look at that. We're here already. Well. What now, general?"
Xanxus just smirked. The Varia knew the look well, even Belphegor who had only been with the group for a few weeks, and instantly got to work. Soon air was filled with the sounds of screams and gunshots. The two casually strolled in the front door on the wake of this destruction. It didn't take long to find the boss of this pathetic excuse for a Mafia family cowering behind his desk in fear as a few of his 'elite' guards attempted to protect him. As Xanxus shot the last guard before they could even react he decided that the only thing that would have disgusted the Varian leader more would have been if the man had begged for his worthless life.
"P...Please...Spare me." The man whimpered from behind the desk, soiling himself.
Ares so far had just been a silent observer, following the other around, occasionally stopping at a particularly interesting corpse to study it. It was obvious he had been enjoying watching the carnage, but now he spat, "Pathetic," from where he leaned against the door. "This passes for Mafia now? That's the last time I watch Scarface. Jaden such a prick, he told me the real Mafia was much cooler." Xanxus glared at the war god, who put his hands up, "Oh, you guys are bad-asses. But these guys? Weenies. They wouldn't last a day in any army I ran. Pathetic." The Vongola assassin had to agree with him, even if he did find himself mildly insulted by the words.
He put away his gun, deciding to finish off the piece of trash with a Flame of Wrath, thoroughly killing the man with extreme prejudice. As the wall overlooking what he assumed had once been a garden before Levi had gotten outside collapsed completely he spun on his heel and walked back out of the room. Xanxus had to admit to himself, he was quite pleased with the look of slight shock on the god's face, a look that was quickly covered by a cocky grin as the man followed him. His men were waiting for him by the front door, as expected. They were the best, after all, and he didn't pay them to be slow or sloppy. All of them left off harassing the group sent to fix things and instead stared intently at the blond who was still contently following Xanxus, now suggesting 'future play-dates' as the group left what remained of the once impressive mansion for the official clean up crew to take care of.
"VOOOI! XANXUS! WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?" Squalo shouted as soon as they were out of sight of the building. The rest of the group came to a stop, obviously curious as well. Ares kept walking, cocky grin still on his face.
Xanxus paused for a second. He'd been wondering how long it would take for them to finally crack and ask. He smirked at them as he followed after the man in question, "God of war."
"Eh? Mars?" Mammon wondered.
"Mars is Roman, I'm Greek, thank you very much. Ares, at your service." The blond god happily pointed out, coming to a stop and doing a mock salute, "You know, for a Catholic, your boss'd make a good Spartan general."
There was a few seconds of dead silence. "EAHHHHH?"