Though Takeshi had agreed to go with Squalo on his mission, he couldn't say he wasn't completely happy about it; Bel's pain was only getting worse for him, and if the blond hadn't insisted that he was fine and he could handle it and for Takeshi to go with Squalo, he would have stayed back at the mansion; the older male didn't have him convinced, and he knew that Bel was anything but fine – but the blond was proud, and it wasn't like he would be alone as he still had Lussuria and Mammon to look after him in Takeshi's wake.

"Are you sure you're okay if I go with Squalo, Bel?" Takeshi sat on the bed beside his boyfriend. He was threading his fingers through golden locks as the smaller male fed Chiara in silence.

The blond held a look of absolute exhaustion on his face as he nodded. His expression scrunched up into a pained grimace before he forced it back into one of neutrality; he wasn't crippled, and he could still look after himself. "Just… go… I… I am fine…"

Takeshi nodded. He patted the other's cheek before he claimed the other's lips in a kiss and whispered, "I love you, Bel."

Bel didn't respond; he was far from well today, and he was in too much pain to reply back. He watched as Takeshi left, and once the bedroom door was closed behind the Vongola Rain, he allowed his tears to flow down his cheeks; he usually had a very high pain tolerance, but this… This was pain on a whole new level, and it was unbearable for him.

"C-chiara…" Bel let out a whimper as he swore his stomach was being ripped open by a pack of wolves. "C-chiara, I… I-it hurts… It really hurts…"

Bel didn't know how long he had sat there, sobbing to himself in his pain, but his bedroom door soon opened again and Lussuria stepped in to check on him. The man frowned deeply as he noticed how distressed the boy was, and it was then he decided enough was enough; Bel may have refused every time they brought up taking him to a doctor, but he had been in pain for too long and now Lussuria was taking things into his own hands – whether the blond liked it or not, he was going to find Shamal and bring him back to help their young Storm Guardian.

"Lay down, Bel-chan." Lussuria moved to the bed to make sure Bel was comfortable before he left to find the doctor; he couldn't bear to leave the youngest alone in so much pain. "I'm going to get Shamal; no matter what you say, a pregnancy shouldn't be reducing you to this. Something's really wrong in your tummy, and whether or not you want to acknowledge it, this isn't going to turn out well – for you or the baby."

"L-l… L-lussu…" Bel sobbed loudly as a particular cramp had him arching his back in agony. He choked on a cry as he shook his head. He was almost vomiting from the pain, and he couldn't speak; he was sure that if he were to open his mouth, he would lose to the overwhelming nausea.

Lussuria stroked dirty blond hair as he tried to soothe the boy. "I'm going to find Shamal now, Bel-chan. Mammon is here somewhere, so if you need her, she'll look after you."

Bel couldn't say anything as the other exited the room; he was too busy crying harder than before; the pain was steadily growing worse as the minutes passed by until it grew just too much for him to bear and all he wanted was to die; he hadn't realised pain like this existed, and he knew he had tried to brave it for too long – but now, he just couldn't do it anymore. He gently lay Chiara down on the bed next to him before he rolled onto his side and started reaching out to his nightstand for one of his blades, but whether or not it was him exerting himself when he shouldn't have been, he felt something inside of him snap, and a wave of agony rushed through him and set his entire being on fire as he screamed.

"Help!" Bel had never cried as much as he was right now; he could only lay on his back, holding his stomach as he hoped death would claim him any second now. "Help me! Lussu! Lussu!"

But, for the first time since he had been rescued from Verde, Bel was all alone when he needed someone the most.

~~XX~~

Bel had no idea how long had passed before his bedroom door opened again; all he knew was that he was in so much pain, all he could do was lay on his bed and wait to die – he was certain death would be coming for him any minute now as never before had he felt so weak, he couldn't even move. He whimpered as he felt Chiara rolling around against him as she cried loudly; she must be starving, but there was nothing Bel could do for her except pray someone came back soon to take care of her.

"He isn't – Bel-chan?! Oh, my god! Bel-chan!"

Bel groaned quietly when he felt hands grabbing at him and pulling him from the bed. His black-spotted sight tried to look around when he heard a voice he had only heard a handful of times before, but it was useless; his vision was almost completely black by now, and all he could make out was a little bit of Lussuria's uniform.

"Don't move him, fool! One wrong move and you'll be burying him!"

Bel closed his eyes when a second pair of hands touched his stomach. He let out a pained moan, but he couldn't manage anything else; for the extreme amount of pain he was in, he no longer had the energy required to be vocal about it. "C-chia…ra…"

"Take the baby; I can't concentrate like this."

The blond closed his eyes as he felt his baby's weight disappearing from his side. He was relieved someone had found them before he had died; he needed to die knowing that Chiara was going to be taken care of. He tried to speak again, but all he could manage was to cough and choke on the blood that had been coming and going.

"This baby needs to come out now; he's in premature labour and it's already tried to come out, but there's no pathway for it. It's moved around way too much and if it stays in his stomach for a minute longer, it's going to kill him. His organs and bones have been pushed around; that's what is pushing his stomach up in places. He's going to need surgery; if they are left that way, all he needs to do is move the wrong way and he's going to burst something."

Bel moaned again as his stomach was pushed up to his chest and his pants were unzipped and lowered to his thighs. He coughed up more blood before he fell limp again, unable to do anything except lay there with his eyes closed and hope he wasn't going to have to suffer for much longer.

"Get me a knife from the bedside table. Bring up as much anaesthesia, IVs, blood packs and water drips as you can get up here. I'm going to need to operate on him here and now; it's too risky to try and move him to the infirmary."

The Varia Storm groaned loudly when he felt the first incision in his stomach. He couldn't do it, though; not for any longer; his breathing became shallow and he felt his heart slow down as blackness overwhelmed him. There were faint snippets of memory after that; someone performing CPR on him before he blacked out again, coming to once more in the middle of his operation before passing out once more.

~~XX~~

"…he's not…"

"…can't be right…"

"…coming back tonight…"

"Mammon should have…"

"…didn't make it…"

Bel's eyes opened slowly to conversation next to him. He moved slightly, trying to clear the haze from his mind; nothing made sense to him, and he didn't even know where he was; all he remembered was… was…

The boy reached down to his stomach before he let out a sniff of despair; his bulging stomach was flat once again, and he could feel the stitches in it that hadn't been there before he had passed out. He choked on a sob; where was his baby…?

"Bel-chan…"

Bel opened his eyes and found Lussuria was leaning on the bed next to him. He allowed his hand to be taken in the man's, and all he could do was whimper, "M-my baby… Where's my baby…?"

Lussuria swallowed thickly at this question. He tucked dirty golden hair behind Bel's ear before he cleared his throat. He hesitated before he said carefully, "Remember how we kept telling you it wasn't healthy to be cramping the way you were…?"

"…"

"Bel-chan… We weren't telling you that to be mean… I'm sorry, Bel-chan… Your baby… It… It had been dead for some time…"

"No…" Bel closed his eyes tightly as he curled into a ball once more. He fought against the tears that quickly won out, and all he could do was start to cry in despair. "No, no! No! My baby…! No!"

Lussuria hated seeing Bel like this, but he didn't know what to say; the boy was in pain, and he couldn't understand what the other was going through right now. He stroked the younger's head gently as he stayed with the other, looking back and forth between Shamal and Belphegor. He was upset himself; he had relief on Mammon to be there for Bel while he went to fetch Shamal, but instead the Arcobaleno had disappeared somewhere and still hadn't been found. Maybe if she had been there… If she had been there when Bel had first gone into labour, perhaps this would have turned out differently – but alas; the Storm Guardian had lost the child he had been so excited to have, and had almost died himself, too.

Why did this have to happen to Bel? He had been such a sweet – albeit twisted – little boy, who was just so curious and playful and happy. But now, he was just so scared and hurt, he would barely even leave his bedroom. Knowing that Squalo and Mammon had slaughtered most everyone involved in Bel's torture wasn't satisfying enough for him; he was angered to know that Verde was still out there somewhere, his deeds unpunished because he was smart enough to escape as soon as he realised there were Varia members skulking around his hideout. He wanted the Arcobaleno to suffer the way Bel had, and for the blond to receive some sort of justice for the horror he had been put through.

But he doubted that was going to happen, and Bel was going to have to live with the trauma for the rest of his life.