Mukuro was honestly curious about the small toddler more or less shoved into their section of the cells. Ken had more or less taken over caring for the kid.

What made Mukuro curious was the fact that the boy was clearly not Italian and his coloring kept changing. So far he had managed to turn both of his eyes the same color as Mukuro...without the kanji, but still. His hair had even changed to match Mukuro's, to his amusement.

Chikusa and Ken had grown fond of the brat, who thankfully didn't cry too much and was generally a happy little thing that was unafraid of Mukuro in the least. Outside of taking blood from the kid, the scientists had yet to start the usual experiments. That could soon change, but until then they would protect the kid as best they could.

So when the alarms went off, Mukuro only had to share a look with the other two before they went to find the closest thing to cover and hide the kid between them.

There were several explosions, and the scientists outside the door were scrambling and trying to maintain order. Hearing the gas, Mukuro went to try and create some sort of barrier...only to find one already made. The little one in Ken's lap was giggling happily with sparks coming off his hands.

Mukuro stared. How the hell did the kid manage to make a barrier?

Suddenly the door flew off it's hinges and slammed into the wall. Mukuro went to shield the others... he was the best fighter, even if he didn't have a weapon.

A very pissed off red haired woman barely in her twenties peered around... her eyes froze when she saw them.

"Teddy!"

"Auntie!" said Teddy, reaching out for her. He hadn't really met his godmother, but his grandma had shown him several pictures so he knew what she looked like.

Mukuro stood between the woman and 'Teddy'. He wasn't about to trust an adult.

Rather than reclaim the toddler from their possession, she eyed them for a moment.

"What's the hold up?" demanded a man with fierce red eyes and a terrifying aura.

"We're going to have extras with us," she replied. She looked to Mukuro. "Can you keep up with us? We're not exactly going to leave this place standing."

Mukuro blinked.

"You're taking us with you?"

"Teddy seems to like you. That's enough for me...besides there's no way I could leave children in this hellhole after what we found in those labs. It's your choice," she replied, looking him in the eye.

Considering they had limited means of fighting the adults, and the woman was willing to let them keep protecting the little one that so fascinated him, the choice was rather easy.

Mukuro and the others kept close to the odd woman, with Ken carrying "Teddy" who seemed very happy to see her. He definitely knew her.

"Who are you?"

"Officially my code name is Hexe. You can call me Rosethorn, or 'Rose'. I'm Teddy's godmother... the second I found out he might be in Italy I went looking for him."

Mukuro blinked at that.

"How did you know he was in Italy?"

"I could sense it. He's supposed to be in England with his grandmother, not here," said Rosethorn darkly. "When I find out how they learned about him I'm going to be having words with people."

There was the sharp hot-cold chill of the Vindice. They had arrived to find out why the Varia was going on an unsanctioned massacre of the Esterneo famiglia.

"Exactly why are you exterminating this famiglia? There were no approved missions for this group,"said the lead Vindice.

Rosethorn pulled out a slim file with her godson's picture and assigned number.

"They kidnapped my godson from England. I am magically bound to keep him safe in place of his parents and guardians if no one else is available. I was alerted that he was not with his grandmother over a week ago and tracked him down here. Upon learning they were experimenting on children using items deemed illegal by the Cosa Nostra, it was decided to shut down this base with extreme prejudice," she replied evenly.

The Vindice were silent. One of them waved a hand over her and the children behind her... Teddy and Rosethorn glowed for a moment, confirming there was a magical bond like the one she spoke of between them.

"Do you have proof of illegal experimentation?"

Rosethorn pulled out a bag which had a familiar gun and several bullets. Mukuro growled at the sight of them... he had been shot more than once with those damn things.

The Vindice accepted the gun and ammo and saw the way Mukuro reacted to the sight of them. The fact Rosethorn produced the other files showing that they had been using said ammo on the boy behind her was just another nail in their coffin.

"Very well. We shall apprehend all remaining Esterneo Family and place judgment."

"One moment. The trio behind me were actively protecting my godson from danger despite the fact they were clearly being tortured and experimented on by their own family. I would like to repay the blood debt owed between us by adopting them into my family," said Rosethorn.

The Vindice looked at her.

"Which family?"

"The Ancient and Noble House of Black. My godson and I are both members of it, and I am the current Head of the family," said Rosethorn immediately. She pulled out an ornate ring that looked very old and very impressive. One confirmation that it was authentic later, and the Vindice nodded.

"Acceptable. However any infractions carried out by them from this point on will be on your head as well as theirs," he replied.

"I understand," said Rosethorn.

The Vindice disappeared to capture the survivors of the labs...not that Rosethorn and Xanxus left many alive.

"What just happened?" said Ken confused, adjusting his hold on Teddy.

"I just made sure you wouldn't end up in another family who wouldn't know the first thing about what you went through and gave you a new home," deadpanned Rosethorn. "I also made damn sure that the idiots who caused this mess won't be getting away with it anytime soon. You're now officially stuck with me until you're eighteen."

"Auntie, up!" demanded Teddy.

Rosethorn bent down. Ken reluctantly handed over the kid...then again his arms were getting tired. Teddy happily transferred to the woman, who lead them outside and into a car.

Once they were driving away from the now annihilated base, Rosethorn turned to the trio. Xanxus (the terrifying man with red eyes) was driving and not really concerned about his girlfriend and her new minions.

"Alright, so introductions first. As I said before, my name is Rosethorn. This is Theodore, or Teddy."

"Chikusa Kakimoto," said the ever silent boy with glasses and a barcode on his cheek.

"Ken Joushima," said the feral boy.

"Mukuro Rokudo. Why did you save us?" asked Mukuro, eyeing her with suspicion.

Rosethorn snorted.

"One, because you were openly protecting Teddy despite the hell you've obviously been through and the fact that you clearly heard a fight outside. Two, because I've had eyes like yours when I was your age and the last thing I want on my conscience is setting a trio of survivors loose from a sheltered environment on an unsuspecting famiglia. You're almost guaranteed to have PTSD at the very least, and the way you're reacting right now tells me that having you live with another mafia family is just asking for a disaster to happen," she deadpanned.

"You think we were sheltered?!" hissed Mukuro angrily.

"Do you know how to cook? How to forage for food? How to build or find proper shelter from bad weather? I said you were sheltered, not that you were pampered," she countered.

Mukuro eased up a bit on that. She did raise a valid point.

"What are you planning to do with the brats?" asked Xanxus from up front.

"First I'm going to find out what happened to Andromeda... no way she let Teddy go without a fight. Then I'm going to work out an arrangement with Mammon to let these three stay in the castle."

Xanxus glared at her.

"We're not a fucking babysitting service."

"Belphegor," she countered. "If Mukuro doesn't have the same blood-thirst that Bel does, I'll give up magic."

Xanxus eyed the Mist brat...and silently conceded her point.

"Besides, can you imagine the entertainment of seeing the mooks getting their ass handed to them by more kids? Their ego can barely handle having to be respectful to Bel," said Rosethorn smirking.

That had him smirking evilly at the mere idea. So long as the three didn't cause problems, he could turn a blind eye to their presence.

Rosethorn was beyond pissed upon learning what really happened.

Apparently some idiot in the Ministry decided to up the ante when it came to pissing off the werewolves and forcibly separated Teddy from Andromeda. After all, his father was a werewolf which made him fair game according to those idiots.

So when one of the Esterneo saw the lonely little boy practicing his gift, it was only natural they'd kidnap him. It was pathetically easy, since Andromeda wasn't there to protect him.

Andromeda was beyond livid upon finding out her grandson had been kidnapped. Worse, no one in the Ministry was willing to help her find out where he was taken.

Rosethorn was waiting by the two-way mirror she had Mammon get... the Mist had their contacts locate the very pissed off Andromeda to deliver the other half.

The second she saw Andromeda's face, Rosethorn winced. The older woman looked absolutely terrible.

"Rosie. This is unexpected."

"Gramma!" said Teddy, reaching out for Andromeda. Her mouth dropped with shock, before absolute relief filled her features.

"Praise be to Loki..." said Andromeda, slumping with relief.

"It's a good thing I took those oaths. The second I felt the connection go off I went looking for him and managed to get him back before anything too damaging was done to him. I destroyed any samples the mundanes might have taken and their notes... they only had time to take blood samples," said Rosethorn.

They were about to start their experiments by the next morning, so it was a very good thing she had found him so fast. She was not one to sit idle when her family was being threatened.

"How have you been Rosie?"

"Better than ever. I found a place where I can belong without being forced to act as the 'savior'. They don't give a damn about my old status around here."

"So the rumors that you took out two Aurors..."

"Are true. I only spared Ron because of the fact we used to be friends. I didn't want to break Molly."

"Where are you now?"

"Still in Europe, but nowhere near the UK. I will say it's close to Rome though," said Rosethorn.

Which was true... Rome was close enough to Italy to give a general idea of where she was, without giving any actual detail to her real location.

Andromeda slumped.

"What do you plan to do?"

"My boyfriend agreed to let me keep Teddy here with me... if he was kidnapped once because of the stupidity of the English, then it'll only happen again. Besides I'm more or less desk bound for a while until his second-in-command comes back from a training trip. If you come here and want to spend time with him, give me a heads up and we can have supervised visits... we take security very seriously around here."

No one knew more ways around security than a Varia Assassin, so having them protect Teddy was only natural. He was safer with Rosethorn than he was with Andromeda.

Especially since Belphegor had taken to the idea of being a "big brother" to the "little wolf"... if only to make his big sister happy.

"Gramma!" said Teddy insistently. Rosethorn smiled and put the mirror on the wall close to where Teddy could be eye-level with it while sitting in his chair. Andromeda happily talked with her grandson for the first time since he was taken from her, relieved beyond belief that Rosethorn had fulfilled her duties as godmother and retrieved him when she knew he was in trouble.

She knew Rosethorn would keep him safe, and damn what the Ministries had to say about it.

Rosethorn let Teddy and Andromeda talk while she did her paperwork, at least until Teddy began to tire and needed a nap.

She gently picked up her godson and went to find Mukuro and the others.

Mukuro was definitely the ringleader of their little group and was very distrustful of anyone older than them. However, Rosethorn had at least set the groundwork for being "potentially trustworthy" once they were back at the Varia castle.

Rosethorn, despite being Cloud officer, had not really made full use of her private quarters. They weren't nearly the opulent size of Xanxus' own room, but they were still much bigger than the rooms most grunts or captains got. Add in magic and she practically had a second room.

Once Lussuria had fussed over the group, especially the tired Teddy, Rosethorn had set about making a second 'room' in her own quarters, and brought up one big queen sized bed and several pillows. After Mukuro and the others were fed, cleaned and given new clothing that fit, she surprised the leery trio of older boys with their own space.

Flashback...

"This is now your room. You may move freely and redecorate as you wish, so long as you don't destroy the walls or anything. This is going to be your area, and if I need to get any of you, I will send a patronus in to call you out."

"A what?" said Mukuro, staring at the bed. It was fluffier than anything they had before, and there was only one. The room was big, bright and the ceiling was showing the night sky. It almost looked like it would rain right on them.

Rosethorn conjured Prongs.

"This is Prongs. If you see him, then it means you need to come out or I need to talk to you. This is going to be your space, and none of the adults in the castle will ever have permission to be in it without your consent," said Rosethorn rather bluntly.

Mukuro stared at her. Ken and Chikusa's eyes were wide.

"Why's there only one bed?" asked Ken.

Rosethorn smiled gently.

"This is a new situation for you all. I highly doubt you'd want to sleep in separate beds so soon...and that bed is big enough for all three of you to sleep comfortably even if one of you tries to kick the others off it. I know all too well what it's like to be shoved in a new situation with no say about what happens around me or being ordered by 'well-meaning' adults who don't actually take your own opinion into account."

Fifth year had been a living hell for her. Losing Sirius had just topped off a very crappy year.

Mukuro looked at her distrustfully.

"Why are you doing this for us?"

Rosethorn bent down slightly so she was eye level with him. Something in her green eyes was so familiar that it made Mukuro shiver from the intensity of it.

"Mukuro, I know you have absolutely no reason to trust me. I don't expect you to suddenly believe in good intentions without the other party demanding something from you in return. I only ask that you work with me until things settle down and you figure out for yourself whether I'm anything like those fools who hurt you and your friends," she said with sincerity. "This is my way of giving you a place where you can feel safe and in control for once... if anyone comes in here without your consent or knowledge, then you have my full permission to be as nasty as you want to the fools. If they come in here then they likely deserve it."

Mukuro wasn't the only one staring at her.

"Even if I kill them?" he asked.

Rosethorn snorted.

"We're the Varia. Elite Assassins. Anyone that ends up dead from a kid without any actual training to be a threat doesn't deserve to be called Quality in the first place. If they're smart they'll ignore you and your friends or treat you like Belphegor... he's about your age and he's a vicious little brat. In short if they come in here without permission, then anything that happens to them will firmly fall under the category of 'Not My Problem," she said rather cheerfully.

In other words, he wasn't going to get in trouble for defending his territory or his friends.

Mukuro was inordinately pleased upon hearing this... especially when, after one particularly stupid mook broke in to prank the Cloud officer on a dare, he wasn't reprimanded or punished for messily killing the idiot the second he realized the man was in the room Rosethorn had given them.

If anything, he was 'rewarded' by being tapped personally by the Mist Arcobaleno as their new apprentice. Mammon had taken one look at what he did with his Mist and had practically demanded that they be allowed to teach him how to be even more of a vicious little bastard.

Flashback end...

Chikusa took one look at the sleepy Teddy and took him from Rosethorn's hands. Part of the reason why she was earning their trust was because she let them keep protecting and caring for Teddy like a little brother. The fact she trusted them enough to care for her godson had helped their own trust in her. That she actually kept her word had come as a genuine surprise.

Ken yawned as he curled up on the massive bed. Teddy quickly curled up next to him and the two laid down for a long nap. Chikusa would go down to the private garage later to continue his lessons on vehicle maintenance. The quiet Rain had found his niche and was quickly becoming a favorite of the mechanics... he picked things up very quickly and was an attentive listener.

Lussuria had more or less taken Ken as a student, upon learning the boy was a very interesting Sun. Especially with his animal paths.