After my savage battle with Belphegor, I woke up in their infirmary. I sat up silently. To my left, Squalo sat with a wary gaze. On my right, Lussuria clapped his hands together in joy.

"Congratulations, Kira-chan!" Lussuria grinned, "You've officially joined our leadership team."

My throat was itchy. I reached up and grasped at the bandages. I was mildly annoyed. Belphegor was good. Really good. I had won that fight on pure luck. If even one wire had come loose a moment later, I would've cut my throat open and died on the spot.

I didn't respond and in the silence, I could hear Mammon giving Belphegor an earful about losing the match in the room next door.

Squalo and Lussuria had the exact same smug expressions on their faces. These freaks.

"What are you smiling about?" I grumped, the bandages up and down my arms made it seem like I was the loser of the fight.

"Mammon went first cause Bel asked him to plant wires on you." Squalo snickered, motioning with his fingers as if he were playing with a puppet, "You know, the reason those knives looked like they were following you."

Realization hit me and I let out a heavy sigh, "Seriously? I didn't notice."

"Yeah. The illusions, the monologue, it was all a show on Mammon's part." Lussuria made the same snickering noise as Squalo and pushed up his sunglasses in a haughty manner, "Or so he says but I think your immunity to illusions scared him."

"I'm not immune." I shook my head at their antics. They were treating my victory like it was their victory. How amusing.

"Well it doesn't matter cause you kicked ass." Luss snorted, crossing his arms, "And now you're an officer. Very simple. Bring your guys to join us and we'll put you through our regimen and show you how it goes here. We do have strict rules on some things but not others."

"It's mostly mission rules." Squalo assured me, "You get briefed, you're free to do the mission as you please as long as you stick to the parameters, and when you come back you report it immediately to the boss… which is temporarily me. If you fail a mission, you get no second chances."

It sounded simple enough. Do jobs. Don't fail. I suppose he was just making it sound simple.

"Just don't get complacent and you'll be fine." He concluded, "All the guys here are arrogant as fuck but you'll find out that they're all extremely thorough on jobs."

"Now that we got through all the work talk. Tell me!" Lussuria leaned awfully close and demanded, "What made you change your mind? Don't get me wrong but I thought you were dead set on staying with Don Cavallone. Why are you here? I highly doubt you're just here to clear Dino's debt."

I rolled my eyes at the question I knew was bound to come up. I didn't really know how to answer. In fact, I didn't even know the entirety of the answer myself.

I wanted to end my relationship with Dino. Romario pissed me off but even before that I already disliked where we were heading. I couldn't stand the thought of being with Dino if his famiglia was going to be struggling daily.

I wanted a place among the Varia so I had a chance to grow. I wanted to test my strength daily and it wasn't going well while I was in the Cavallone Family.

Which was the correct answer?

Both.

But something wasn't right. I definitely told my intent to Romario on that piece of paper back in the hospital room. I told him to give it to Dino. Why hasn't Dino said anything? Was he just letting me go? Did he already assume exactly what Squalo said he was going to assume?

"Oh no." Lussuria sighed, coming to sit on the edge of my bed, "Are you regretting your decision? Even if you're regretting it, we can't let you leave at this point. We don't let people leave our ranks alive, Kira. You must know it too. This is a mafia law."

"Um… I technically just left the Cavallone Family." I didn't know where to start so I started with that possibly untrue statement, "But uhh… I don't think Dino knows."

Squalo's expression twisted as he ran through the events leading up to this moment, "That glasses guy wasn't supposed to tell him?!"

I spent a long time in the service of the Cavallone Family and I know something about Romario that the rest of the world would probably never know. He's very powerful for someone who can't fight all that well. All the information to and from Dino is screened by him. If it's not favorable to the Cavallone Family, he won't tell Dino. So my conclusion is that he didn't tell Dino about my note.

Romario probably thought my resignation would drive Dino to madness. So he probably lied to Dino about my whereabouts. That's fine with me. I don't know how to end a relationship. If I don't have to end ours, my life is that much easier. So then why am I so unsettled?

Lussuria had pieced together the situation and was now louder than Squalo, "WHAT?! You came here without properly telling him?! He's your lover! You can't just… You broke up with him, right?! Did you properly end things?! Is he gonna come in here, guns blazing, to get you back?! What the fuck is going on?!"

I shrugged, grimacing, "I'm not sure."

"No!" Lussuria shrieked, grasping my shoulders, "Tell Mama Lussuria what you want. I'll tell you how it's supposed to go! You want to end things with Don Cavallone? Are you getting with Squ-chan?"

I was baffled how Lussuria could even assume such a thing and honestly, I dated Dino because that's how our timeline was flowing. I didn't date Dino out of some sort of crazy form of attraction.

"Oh my god!" Lussuria threw his hands up in frustration, "You and I need to have a long private talk. Without Squ-chan!"

A stunned Squalo was thrown out forcefully and Lussuria locked the door on him as he tried to reenter. Furious, Lussuria crossed his arms and looked mighty menacing as he blocked the door, "Talk!"

I didn't know where to start. This was not an easy topic and so I just blurted it out bit by bit. Lussuria listened intently to my story without judging me. Actually, I'm not sure he had time to say anything because my story was chronologically out of order and it was muddled but eventually it was all there. Or at least, the plot was there. I expressed no feelings other than frustration.

After a long moment of taking in my story, Lussuria said, "Okay. So it sounds to me like you were tired of this Romario character taking advantage of your relationship so you told him you quit. So your current employment status is with us and you regret nothing from that part of your life. Correct?"

I nodded mutely. I'm surprised he understood anything I said. It had kind of come out like a messed up book report. Like when the person clearly hadn't read the book but they didn't want to fail their assignment so they tried their best to put some shit together in ten minutes before handing it in.

"Okay so your problem is that you were dating your previous employer and now, you don't know where you stand." He concluded simply, finally uncrossing his arms to approach me, "So let's start here. Do you love him?"

I stared at him incredulously, "Don't I?"

"Oh. Yikes." He made a stink face and continued, "Your story was extremely minimal when it came to discussing your relationship so I'm getting mixed signals from you here. You're going to have to work with me. Don't be shy now."

"I do!" I blurted, "No… I did… I did when we started."

"There we go!" He clapped his hands together, sitting down once more, "And now what? You don't love him anymore or…?"

I gritted my teeth and forced it out, "I think you were right. We're not good for each other. At least… We're not good for each other's goals."

He hummed at me, nodding, "That much was obvious. So, you're ready to be a single woman?"

"I'm ready to be me." I said.

I didn't understand what he was implying by saying 'single woman' in this case. I never acted any differently after Dino confessed to me. At least, I didn't think I acted differently. I still worked for them, I got things done.

"Well, all you have to do is call him and let him know exactly that then." He said it so simply, I almost thought he was reading out of a 'breakups for dummies' book, "And then you march right back here and tell me how it went."

I reached for his hand when he reached for my phone. Blushing darkly, I grumbled, "Could you just… stay there? I'll call now so… can you keep me on track?"

"I'll stay if you answer one more question." He grinned, patting my shoulder reassuringly, "You really don't have feelings for Squ-chan?"

I shook my head, "No. I admire his strength. Nothing more."

He deflated visibly and sighed, "All right. Since you've made it clear, I'll back off there but I think you and Squ-chan make a much cuter couple."

I didn't say anything. I was fumbling with my phone and eventually, I pressed the call button over his name on the screen. I waited for the ringing to stop with dread in my heart. I never imagined this would be so hard. I never imagined reaching this point in the first place and yet, here I am.

I heard the joy in his voice when he answered the phone and my eyes shifted away from Lussuria who was giving me an encouraging thumbs-up.

"Kira! How have you been? I heard from Romario! You're doing work for them in exchange for the bill, right?" He talked quickly and he sounded so sure. He never doubted anything Romario told him, "I was so surprised to hear you volunteered yourself like that. I didn't know what kind of job you took on so I didn't try to contact you."

He didn't want to risk ruining a stealth op. Classic Dino.

"No, Dino." I looked up, focusing on Lussuria's thumb to harden my resolve, "Romario's crazy."

There was a long pause and then a hesitant, "What?"

"Dino, I've decided to join the Varia." I said quietly. I was surprised. The feeling deep in my heart was no longer leaning towards anxiousness or regret or even confusion. I was starting to feel angry.

"What? What the hell, Kira? That's not a funny joke." He started, his tone immediately becoming condescending, "Why would you-"

"It's not a joke at all." I growled, startling him into silence, "Did you know? Romario came to the hospital and ordered me to beg Squalo-senpai to waive the bill. He came and lied straight to my face. He said you ordered me to do it. And then he turned right back around and lied to you about what happened at the hospital."

"What?" He never once imagined that Romario was lying to him. I mean, why would he? That was his right hand man. They had to trust each other.

I laughed bitterly, "And that's not the first time he's done something like this. Time and time again, he ordered me around using your name."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He started to realize where this conversation was going and he was trying to turn it on me, "If you had an issue, I would've taken care of it! But if you don't tell me, I'll never know!"

"What would you have done?" It was my turn to take a condescending tone. It was my turn to accuse him. "You knew already. I know you did. If you didn't know Romario was coming to see me in the hospital, where did you think he was going?"

Dino was silent. He didn't have an excuse.

"On the battlefield, I… Squalo entrusted me with his backside. What were you doing?" I felt the guilt swell up again at the memory of that battle, "You didn't once try to fight with me. Why was Squalo-senpai the one standing back to back with me during such a crucial fight?!"

"So that's what this is about?" He laughed huskily, anger creeping into his tone quickly, "Really? If you wanted to be with Squalo that badly, you should've just said so from the beginning. You don't have to make this about Romario."

"Think what you want." I said, "I've told you the truth. Good luck, Don Cavallone. Goodbye."

I hung up immediately afterwards. I had said my piece. I didn't want to give him another chance to make accusations and divert the blame. It takes two to make a relationship and it takes two to end one. Despite all I had said about Romario and Squalo, the problems were mine and Dino's. In this parallel world, our views were too different. We were too immature to make our relationship work.

This is the only world out of a million parallel universes where Dino and I ended our relationship in this manner.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Training with the Varia took my mind completely off of my previous relationship and soon, I was confident with my identity again. I was no longer Dino's lover or the Cavallone Family's ace. I was Hibari Kira, the leader of the Varia's newest vanguard squadron. Officially, we were labeled the vanguard squadron but during regular operations, we were just an ordinary squad.

We were simply labeled the vanguard due to the expectations they had of us during wartimes. If ever we go to war, my squad would be the first wave of combatants. I could deal with that. We were suited to that type of work in the first place. Volore was a loud, flashy fighter. Alpha made quick work of the critical enemies and I was just getting stronger and stronger.

In just a few short months, Squalo and I were evenly matched. Sparring was a daily activity. Lussuria often complained about how we were a group of monsters.

Unfortunately for me, I upheld my promise to Koge and said my goodbyes. He joined the Italian special police force as their intel and reconnaissance op. He was specifically assigned to the team investigating murders and abductions. I was confident he would go on to solve a lot of murder cases and put a lot of serial killers behind bars.

As expected, their policy was to ignore mafia wars so long as we didn't involve innocent people in the crossfire. If someone happened to kill a civilian (well we would kill all the witnesses too so it wouldn't matter) but in the off case that someone was left to protest our actions, they would always cover it up with a random story.

Alpha and Koge kept in close contact so he was our new informant. I was always glad to hear about Koge's feats. I reminded him daily not to share too much information in return. Koge was a government agent now. He would only get in trouble if he knew the details of our deeds.

Oddly, Volore made friends with Belphegor. I don't know why or how it happened but they were getting along. I was pleased with how it turned out. Volore had no friends in the Cavallone Family other than Alpha. Here, he got along with Belphegor and cooperated well with Leviathan's squad. He respected both Squalo and Lussuria. He was thriving here.

Everything seemed to be falling into place until one day, an unwelcome guest left me a gift while I was away. The strange thing was this person snuck in and out without being seen. This building was filled with the strongest fighters the mafia world had to offer. How could someone just sneak in and out?

Squalo and I stood together, staring at the box and note on my table. We were running through the possibilities but we were stumped.

The note simply read:

You will need these soon to break the ice.

And the items in reference were a set of rings. The first was a ring adorned with a purple stone and the second was orange.

"If this is a prank, speak up now." Squalo demanded, finally grasping the note from the table, "This is your handwriting, isn't it?"

"Why the fuck would I break into my own room?" I huffed at him, snatching the note away. Oddly enough, the handwriting was identical to my own. Did this person intentionally copy my writing?

"I'll have Levi check the cameras again."

The rest of the officers were equally stumped. How could someone have come in and out while we were all in the castle? No one noticed the invader.

"And why you?" Lussuria gestured at the ring, "Does that mean something to you?"

"No." I handed the rings over when he put his hand out, "I've never seen it before in my life."

"Could this be Cavallone's?"

"He can't afford it." I snorted, "Romario would never allow him to waste their funds. They need it to rebuild their estate after that last fight."

"Okay… But also, who the fuck would break into a castle full of assassins?" Lussuria huffed, "Some nerve."

"Just raise the security posted tonight. Who knows what this person was after." Squalo ordered, "Levi, post your squad outside. If this person comes again, we'll catch them."

Despite our efforts, we never caught this person. They didn't make a second visit. Which means, their true goal was already achieved. The rings were in my possession. So what?

Two weeks later, I went to bed after a long but successful mission and then I had a dream. In the dream, I had walked through the dark and arrived in a dimly lit room. In that room was a single being encased in ice-Xanxus.

Through the ice, I could see the crimson red of his eyes. Did he recognize me? In my palms were the two rings, I raised them between us. The purple stone was burning with a matching purple flame. His eyes narrowed and the orange ring began to respond to him. The pulse of the flame was angry and violent but I felt no fear.

In the dream, I walked as if I were being summoned by the man in the ice. I pressed the rings against his frozen prison and our eyes met again.

Summoned by the sky.

His lips curved upward in an arrogant smirk and the ice began to shatter.

I woke from that dream in a cold sweat. When I looked to the left, the purple ring was blazing. The flame slowly began to die down as I tried to put together what had happened. All I knew at this moment was that I felt drained. I shook all the thoughts from my head and went back to sleep.

I wanted to have that dream again. I felt as if it was an important task only I could complete but the dream didn't come a second time. All I got was darkness.