A Royal Capture

Chapter Sixteen

Six months later...

"He's waking up!"

"At last! Someone, fetch him some water!"

"On it!"

"Gh..." A pale hand reached up, moving to rub at an itchy eye, only to find bandages blocking the way.

"Oh, don't do that, please, sir. You've been horribly damaged in that eye. You're half blind now." The blond groaned, then cracked open his good, right eye, long lashes slowly parting to reveal the pretty red color he'd been blessed with.

"Where am I...?" he asked tiredly, reaching up to softly stroke a hand through his longer blond hair, now reaching past his shoulders.

"The hospital, of course. You've been in a coma for...," the nurse drifted off. "Well, we weren't going to keep you alive much longer. We don't even know who you are, sir, what's your name?"

"Soro...," Bel grunted, sitting up slightly. "I was in a tunnel when it caved in... which means..." The blond thought for a while, looking outside, then to the nurse, then to the door. "... I don't see any hot guys here, so it must be Hell," he muttered, flopping back down on the bed.

"Um... no, sir, like I said, you've been in a coma," the nurse repeated. "We couldn't find any records, and-"

"Mafia guys are too damn lazy to keep accurate records, so don't worry about it," he mumbled, yawning, before getting to his feet. "Sorry lady, but if I'm not dead, then I'm gonna be if I don't go home."

"You're not well enough to leave- and what about the bill?" she pointed out, stepping back. "We need to know your name! Did you say Soro?"

"I'm standing, aren't I? And no bill. My name isn't important."

"No bill?"

"I don't pay bills."

"How does that work?" she protested, starting to follow, when the male turned back to her, a wide grin plastered to his face.

"'Cause I'm a prince!"

Varia Base, 8:00 a.m.

It had been forever since he'd seen Bel. Everyone else had been reunited with their lovers half a year ago. But not Fran... and at this point, he was certain Belphegor was dead. They all were. It never got easier to work with the Varia without Bel, it only got more frustrating... and so lonely... Fran would still rummage through his collection of keepsakes he'd taken from the prince, now very thankful for his stealing habit. He had knives, a lock of hair, even a few pages torn from the prince's journal in his collection, and each item he treated as though it were the prince itself, handling it with care and love. He had tried to forget and move on, but he couldn't. If he'd been able to move on while he was in Hell, he didn't know how to do it now. He was like a broken record, trapped on Bel, unable to stop playing the sweetest melody he'd ever known. Skip... skip... every time he got close to the end, he'd find himself falling in love with Belphegor all over again. His prince... his Bel-senpai... his one and only love...

Which was why he'd had to leave.

Fran had chosen to go Japan, and had been working there for a good few months. He was good friends with Lambo, Chrome, and Tsuna, but still, he never forgot.

He couldn't, no matter how far away he was from his prince, he would never forget.

"Morning everyone," Mukuro hummed, stretching as he walked into the dining room, his lover on his arm. Hibari had found himself unable to deny how positively well Mukuro knew him, and the two had grown to be closer than before, if that was truly possible. The two sat down, Hibari taking a place on the illusionist's lap, a bored look on his face as he scanned the room for decent food.

Lussuria bustled out of the kitchen, Byakuran following him cheerily. "All right, we've got waffles this morning~!" the Sun announced, starting to dole out plates. Xanxus skewered one of the cream-and-strawberry adorned waffles, looking at it as though it were a Spiaggia.

"It's a wonder we aren't fat, the way you always seem to be feeding us crap like this," he muttered. "You better cook me a damn good new york strip tonight."

"Of course, boss! A high-protein diet is important for us bloodthirsty killers, after all~!" Lussuria squealed, wriggling girlishly as he served the pineapple-skylark couple.

"And if he doesn't cook you a good enough strip, I can make up for it with a strip of my own," Squalo pitched in gruffly, his face red as he used his sword to cut up their food, soon holding the weapon out in an offering of whipped cream for his boss, which Xanxus ignored in favor of the meal itself.

"Fufufu~! My, how forward of you, Squalo, at the breakfast table," Byakuran giggled, sitting down next to Shouichi and leaning over to kiss his lover's cheek, only to gasp as the once-shy mechanic grabbed him by the face and gave him a passionate french kiss in turn.

"Now, now, darlings, control yourselves! You're making Mammon uncomfortable!" Lussuria clucked, moving to cover the ex-Arcobaleno's eyes with surprisingly soft hands, only to have the illusionist brush him off with a tentacle.

"Stop it, Lussuria, I can handle it!" Mammon protested. "I'll be eighteen in body soon, after all."

"Yeah, but even then, you're still a brat," Squalo laughed as he ate, having cleaned off his sword with a napkin. "Before you know it, we're all going to be in our mid-forties, and you'll have just turned of age to drink."

"Sh-shut up! I can drink whenever I want! I just like strawberry milk better!" Mammon protested, taking said drink and downing it to prove a point.

A few around the table laughed at the illusionist, Lussuria smiling as he sat down beside him. "You're cute, Mammon-chan," he giggled. "Has Fon called you?"

"Fon?..." Mammon's eyes widened, before he flushed totally red. "Stop it! What goes on between Fon and I is none of anyone's business but ours!"

"Fon, eh? Didn't know you had a thing for braids, Mammon-chan," Xanxus noted.

"Wow, Mammon-chan, you might actually get laid if you put your mind to it," Mukuro teased, earning a rather intense glare from beneath the ex-Arcobaleno's hood.

"Stop. Calling. Me. Mammon-chan!" he spat, hands folded in his lap as he used his illusions to eat in a sort of vengeful manner.

Lussuria giggled and clapped his hands together. "Now, now, everyone, stop picking on Mammon-pii and get back to your meals."

The group laughed heartily at the even more diminutive endearment, Mammon finally using his hands, to promptly slap Luss's arm. The group settled to comfortable silence, couples focusing on each other again, Mammon texting as he ate, Lussuria giving a dramatic sigh as he was left to eat without any company - Levi didn't count. He just... didn't.

And then, of course, the door slammed open.

"Froggy~! I'm home!" came the ecstatic voice of Belphegor as he marched into the room, everyone looking up and scrambling to their feet in preparation for a surprise attack, though admittedly Xanxus looked less than threatening in his whipped-cream mustache. The prince looked around at the people, his expression falling. "Where's Froggy?" he asked in the tone of a disappointed child.

"Bel...," Squalo muttered, stepping forward. "Where the hell... we thought you were dead!"

"Where's Froggy?" the prince pressed, folding his arms, his bangs brushed aside to show off his working eye. Lussuria, however, was fast to be the first to see the bandages peeking out where the other was supposed to be. He moved forward immediately, brushing the prince's bangs over his head to reveal the whole of his forehead, wincing as he saw the bandages over his left eye.

"... Looks like a wound that went through the eye and damaged the brain. A coma like that would probably kill a normal person, but our Bel..."

"Where's Fran, damn it?" Bel protested for the last time, stomping a foot and batting away Lussuria's hands. "I was in a rock slide and I got hurt and I was in some dumb hospital sleeping on a lumpy bed without him for too long! Tell me where he is so I can find him and apologize for being bad to him!"

"Though the remainder of Varia were still in pretty much a stupor, Xanxus licked his lower lip, ridding it of whipped cream before speaking, "Fran moved to Japan to be a part of the main branch. He took some keepsakes, but he was sick of waiting for you to come home. It wasn't healthy."

"Japan...?" Bel looked down. "But... but that's far away..."

"Calm down. We'll get you settled back in... and we'll contact the Vongola later today," Xanxus muttered. "So sit down and talk, you little cockroach of a prince."

Bel huffed an exasperated sigh and lumbered to the table, finally slumping down, leaning back in his chair as he swung his feet up on the table. "... Last I remember I was trying to get out of the Spiaggia holding cell by tunnel, but it must've collapsed... and Soro probably dragged me back to the hospital. I remember waking up briefly to see him fighting Zakuro, but... from then 'til now, it's all fuzzy."

"Damn, Bel, you're lucky they didn't just pull the plug on your ass," Squalo muttered.

"Great," Mammon sighed. "Thanks to you, we probably owe a million euros to the hospital."

"We pay for stuff?" Bel murmured, dazzled by the concept.

"Yeah, we pay for stuff! Otherwise we'd have to deal with the police all the time!" Mammon snapped.

"Now, now, even if we owe a fair amount to the sillies who kept a stranger alive, it's not like we'd ever wish Bel dead, right?" Lussuria hummed. "Welcome home, Bel-chan!"

"Thanks, Luss," the prince replied with a grin. "I appreciate the manners, my fine flamboyant fop~"

"What the fop's a fop?" Squalo muttered.

"Isn't that like... a fancy guy?" Byakuran asked, confusing himself. "Bel, don't use weird words."

"Sorry," the prince replied with a pout.

Xanxus sighed and got to his feet. "I'll go unlock your room - Fran made us lock it so that Levi didn't get in, ever." He left the room at that, Squalo cleaning off their plate before chasing the boss out of the room.

"So much for a family get-together. Every morning is like this," Lussuria sighed. "With the exception of long-lost teammates coming back, of course."

"Shoot, wait!" Byakuran called after Squalo and Xanxus, sighing as he got down on a knee. "Whatever! I've waited long enough - so long that Bel and Fran are gonna be reunited before we even get a chance. I'm just gonna go for it."

Shouichi looked at his lover in alarm, watching as Byakuran produced a small box from his pocket. The remainder of the table looked at the two in surprise as Byakuran's wings took shape and the "former" evil maniac opened the box, revealing a sparkling ring nestled between two plump marshmallows. "Marry me, Shouichi," he growled, reveling in the blush that spread like wildfire over the mechanic's cheeks. The cherry-red Shouichi plucked the ring from it's sugar cushions, giving Byakuran a shy smile as butterflies began to breed obnoxiously in his chest.

"A chocolate diamond... just what I'd expect from you," he murmured as he reached out, running his fingers through that fluffy, white hair. "Of course I'll marry you, bastard, you took long enough."

"I was trying for the perfect moment," Byakuran whispered. "But nothing seemed to stand out. I don't want to be the last diabolical mind on this planet to get married, so I decided that today would be fine."

Shouichi laughed and bent down, kissing the albino's lips cheerily. "You're lucky I didn't propose before you. I was thinking about it," the redhead laughed. "That would've been a huge blow to your seme pride. You would've had to let me top on our wedding night!"

Byakuran gasped. "Oh, well we don't want that, now do we?" he mumbled. Shouichi just laughed and kissed him again.

Belphegor folded his arms behind his head and sighed. "... I'm hungry," he called to Lussuria. "Ice cream?"

"Sure, hun! But I insist you have a cookie, too, before they go stale. I baked them a couple days ago," Lussuria replied happily. "Come here. We'll have to get you out of those hospital robes, too. Let me make you something new, I think Fran-chan took all of your outfits."

Bel grinned. "I won't complain about any of that," he murmured, letting Lussuria serve him.

Hibari nuzzled into Mukuro's neck, sighing as he pressed a kiss to the skin he found there. "... You're quite close to Fran," he noted.

"He was my student, annoying little booger that he was," Mukuro confirmed. "I suppose we sort of grew to understand each other, over the years."

"... You'd never leave me for a booger, right?" Hibari muttered, nipping at Mukuro's ear now, the illusionist stiffening a little in surprise.

"Of course not. You've been insecure about Fran for a very long time, but I promise you he's no threat to you," the Mist guardian whispered, adjusting the skylark in his arms before pulling him tighter against him.

"He better not be," Hibari muttered, arms wrapping around the illusionist's neck as he sighed and slumped against his lover and closed his eyes. "I'm done eating. Carry me back to our bedroom."

"Goodness," Mukuro sighed, standing, one arm under his lover's knees, the other beneath his shoulder blades. "You've gotten heavier since our breakout, love," he muttered, wincing slightly.

"You mean I'm not dying?" the ex-prefect challenged, cocking an eyebrow at his lover. "Man up, if you want to keep your position as seme."

"Huff... yes, sir...," Mukuro murmured, starting to carry his lover away.

"... Tsuna?" Xanxus called in the softest grunt he could manage. "It's about... Belphegor. He's shown. Apparently the trash spend a little vacation in the hospital, and he's waltzed back in better than ever. Save for the fact that he's missing an eye. Tell the frog trash his prince is back, and text me a picture of his face. No, better. Post it on the internet. I'll revel in his embarassment."

("Oh! Bel's back?" Tsuna murmured, clearly surprised. "I'm so glad... if that's true, then we didn't lose... we didn't lose anyone..."

"Yeah. Tell the trash, would you? Do as I said."

("I will, I certainly will. Fran's never happy... if Belphegor is back, then they need each other.")

"Agreed. It's their biggest strength," whispered Xanxus, before closing the cell phone. He turned to Squalo, and a thin smile crossed his face.

"It won't be long now. The Varia will be complete again."

-End Chapter

*sighs* God. This chapter was reallly hard for me. D: So sorry for the delay, everyone. I remembered that Bel and Fran weren't supposed to see each other for a year, and uh, it'd only been half a year, so...

Let's just say the wait is better than me posting a really crappy chapter, as it was going to be. O.O

Now, do review to show me you still love meh~! XD I promise more fluff!