Authors note: This chapter had been half written for nearly a year before I found it again. Sorry about the wait, I'm under some serious stress dealing with school currently. So as per usual read, review and enjoy.

True Face

"Mail it was us who took you in and cared for you!" She screamed gesturing widely to the older woman behind him that Mello had come to know as the manager. "We took care of you when Nightingale abandoned you to replace everything that she had ruined. If it wasn't for us you wouldn't have had a place to stay. How dare you?" Her eyes narrowed into slits before she whispered, "How could you?"

He shrugged lightly before shifting his stance to something more comfortable. It was the first time that Mello had ever seen the red head react this way to a person. He faintly remember the woman sitting with him telling him that from time to time there would be glimpses of the boy underneath but he never imagined that it would be so soon. He had actually planned on drawing the other side out systematically but this worked just as well.

The red head ran his fingers lightly through his hair several times before he adapted a totally different look than Mello's innocent and bumbling servant that called him master. "Demetri? No, Tomas or was it Vincent?" He questioned lifting his finger and beginning to methodically name man after man and when he held all ten fingers up he put them down to begin a new list. "Was your fiancé on that list? No? Shall I keep going?" Green eyes that usually fluttered side to side as if he was worried that something were about to happen had hardened into stones. "Do you understand anything you stupid whore?"

The woman gaped glancing around at the women who had all joined her outside as if looking for some form of support but the entire group did was look down in silence. "What the hell are we supposed to understand Mail? We took you in! We did for you what your mother didn't!"

The red head glanced up from examining his nails. "Are you done yet? Do you really believe that if you hadn't taken me in that day when Mother brought me here I couldn't have gone anywhere else? I've moved from bedroom to bedroom with every man standing here watching this exchange except the prince. There were whole weeks that I didn't sleep in that pitiful room that you provided. I stayed for your benefit and for my mother's always paying you on time. There are plenty of men that offered me the place of their wives and if had really wanted your fiancé didn't have to be the backup. He certainly made it clear that he wanted me to himself when he came to me the night before I was to leave with the King. The sweet nothings that were whispered in the ears of your husbands, boyfriends and fiancé's meant nothing to me."

"You're just like your mother!" The manager screamed from the back as the group parted to allow her through. "All you did was plot until you got what you wanted. Was the King the pinnacle of what you were wishing for?

He shook his head slowly watching the women intently. "No. I wanted to leave. I wanted to go somewhere where I didn't have to sleep with people for money or power. I wanted to go somewhere that my every move wasn't watched and documented. A place where if people saw me I would be as anonymous as the person walking behind me but something came up and my plans changed drastically." He glanced down at his hands as if ashamed that something could have so drastically affected his plans.

She frowned, "What could have possibly become more important than your precious plan to leave just like your mother."

He looked up seriously before sighing, "I fell in love." He whispered as Mello's head snapped to the side in confusion.

"Come again?" The blond raised his eyebrow before glancing towards the red head that was no longer looking in his direction. "What do you mean you fell in love?"

Green eyes glared, "Does it really matter?" He hissed watching the blond shrug but never look away. "He's a cruel man. Sadistic like no other and he is the only person who knows of my true nature. Well, at least it used to be that way. I guess everyone knows the truth at this point not that it matters." He shrugged slightly giving Mello a serious look. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, come to think of it you have more important problems to think about." He gave the other a chilling smile.

The woman kept her gaze locked on him, her eyes blazing in fury. "You think you can just do whatever you want and get away with it right? You think that anyone and everyone is supposed to fall into your trap…"

Mail smirked, "Your 'fiancé' surely did." Though the smirk remained riding his lips the most frightening part was the slackness to the remainder of his face. He knew he had hurt these people, broken families and marriages and there was nowhere inside of him that cared. The way he continued to look at the woman was almost mocking in nature but there was a mixture of something else in his eyes. A pained loneliness that hadn't been touched by time. "You really believe that he wanted to marry you?" He snorted. "Is that why you're still here whoring yourself out? He never wanted to marry you, he told you that so that you would slightly lower your rates and in some cases he got it for free. He didn't give a damn about you. No one gives a damn about you. That's why you're locked where you belong."

Her eyes brimmed with tears, "That's a lie! Everything about you is a lie, just like your mother!" Her fist clenched but if Mail was worried she was going to hit him he didn't seem like it. He kept his gaze on the woman before rolling his eyes in distaste. "You're no different than the rest of us here. Your mother didn't want you. Those men that slept with you didn't want you and one day your wonderful suitor won't want you either."

Mail shrugged, "Very true but I never claimed otherwise. I do whatever is necessary to survive. I paid off my debt along with my mother's. I don't owe you anything and I never will. If I were you I'd get out of the past because right now you can only look forward." He bowed, "Are you content sire? Isn't this what you wanted?" He didn't make comment of Mello's lack of response. "Let us go back to the castle where you belong."

~*xXx*~

Mello wasn't used to this kind of silence. He wasn't used to the silence that he didn't create, no, this time it was Matt that had created this silence and Mello was stuck sitting in it. There was nothing he could say the man and the man didn't look as if he were waiting for Mello to comment on anything that had happened. It bothered him how easily he showed his true self not only to him but to everyone in town and now he was speechless.

"Don't think just because of that little show shit is going to be different. I'm still the King of the castle." He crossed his arms over his chest.

He almost thought that the red head was going to revert back to his bumbling self but instead he snorted and replied, "No, you're the prince. Nothing more and nothing less." He shrugged as if rank didn't matter. "But once we leave this carriage I'll go back to being your Matt and we never mention this again."

Mello glared, "And what the fuck do you think this is? I don't have to do shit."

The red head nodded, "Of course not it's nothing more than a suggestion. Allow me to do you one better though, if you decide to go anywhere and tell anyone anything I'll make your life worse of a hell than it's ever been. If you thought I was a home wreaker before imagine what I can do if I actually try. I'll destroy your whole family Mello, the family that you're trying so hard to keep. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me." His eyes hardened like before. "I'll bumble, whine and be punished by you but I won't let you do anything that's not in my plan."

Mello gaped, "What?"

The carriage pulled to a rock stop. "You heard me Prince. As long as I'm happy, your family is happy." The doors opened and the same stout gentleman stood staring at the two with the same blank mask. Matt hopped out first turning back around his face in the usual array of innocence. "Do you need help Prince Mello?" He questioned, his voice tender and soft like before.

Mello jerked his arm away, "Hell no." He replied coolly taking off at a fair pace back to the castle.

Mail smirked and followed quickly. "You forgot your hat! Please, slow down!"