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Chapter Text

"All hell breaks loose."

-Unknown

Lovino was only good at breaking things.

He had been breaking things even before he learned how to walk. When he was four it was a toy car suddenly snapping to irreparable pieces. He was six when he realized he can't plant or else it'll die  - sure, plants die all the time and it wasn't as if the city was the most ideal place for greenery either, but what are the odds of killing a flower from day one, again and again and again? His parents and brothers hugged it off, saying that he has better talents - he just hasn't discovered them yet.

He was ten when he realized that Feliciano was better at everything than him. His twin was like the sun, while Lovino was the other side of the moon - dark and dry and away from the light. Feli was good at painting. Lovino couldn't even hold a paintbrush. Feli can grow anything, from thyme to tomatoes to animals - Lovino couldn't even hold a living being without killing it. Feli was talented, bright and was friends with everyone. Lovino had troublesome blackouts,dry sarcasm and the appeal of a thorn bush. No wonder he had no friends. Sebastiano couldn’t even pronounce house right, and yet people praised him. Lovino, unluckily, was as good at breaking relationships as he was towards plastic spoon and forks.

Despite his (literally) exploding frustrations and bitter attitude, his family never gave up on him.

“If I’m the day, then you’re the night right? You’re important too, Lovi. I don’t really get it but okay,” was Feliciano’s response when he tried explaining their differences. (He groaned. His twin had never been good at reading the intricacies of social norms).

When he couldn’t grow plants, his father taught him how to cook. When he killed their goldfish, they got a golden retriever they named Tomato, their little brother’s favorite food. When Feliciano had sleepovers that Lovino wasn’t invited to, Feli made him crash despite his incessant whining. He learned that his classmates were intimidated by him, not that they didn’t like him. He then had friends.

Still, his emotions are uncontrollable. Lovino fought with his parents; from yelling to throwing a tantrum to establish how he hated them  and the world (and most importantly, at himself). He sometimes hurt Feliciano and while his twin wasn't pained by it, Lovino would still feel guilty. Then came Sebastiano, and Lovino was afraid that he will break his small, fragile body too (In the later years, he will come to regret it).

“Gentle, Lovino,” Their mother would always remind him.

There were good days and there were bad days. He grew older and didn't bother with the years. If only if he knew what would have happened next, Lovino would have told his family that he loves them, with all his heart.

The world seemed to like him destroying things. So before he finally fainted from fatigue with the vision of his house burning along with their parents and youngest brother, Lovino couldn't help but think that it was his fault, too.

"E-Everythings destroyed, gone," Feliciano whimpered beside him. He was the only one Lovino was able to save before everything set ablaze. "What are we going to do?"

He didn't know if he said or pathetically whispered I'm sorry before everything turned black.

"You think it was him?" His father, the parent that he inherited his hair from asked with worry.

His mother bit her lip. "I don't know."

"You know what he  did - "

"I don't want to talk about it" Although her stance and tone stood firm, her golden eyes were saying something else. "He's a little angry, that's all."

Lovino knew he wasn't simply'angry' . His classmates don't snap pencils for fun or when their upset so easily, nor do they have chronic blackouts.

"But what if...they.."

"It won't happen, I'm sure."

His father wasn't convinced, but then his face morphed into a middle aged man with a warm smile.

"Of course you are welcome to stay here. I will treat you as my own, you and Feliciano."

"Really?" He asked.

"Really. Come on Lovino, let's go." The man with the aging face invited him and held out his hand. He would've joined him, but...

"Lovino?"

Something was wrong. He was forgetting something.

"Lovino? Come on!"

What was it? It was important, he can't possibly forget.

"Lovino! "

He knew it. It was something like -

" LOVINO ! "

The nineteen year old jolted awake from his sleep, a loud ringing in his ears and an enormous headache. What the fuck?

"Ah, Lovino, finally!! Why are you so hard to wake up?" A man with copper brown hair parted in the center frowned childishly. In his hands were a spatula and a pan. "Do you know what time is it? No? I don't either! All I know is that its late, late, late!"

He would've said something intelligent, but all he managed to come up with was: "Ughhgguh."

"Get dressed," The man-boy that sounds like him tossed something at his face. A shirt? "And harvest the tomatoes! Ah, wait, are those my pants?" This - idiot - took the blankets, which Lovino shivered. "Eh, no? Then who stole my pants?"

Lovino grabbed back the blankets. "Go away," he ordered as threatening as a grumpy cat.

"Whatever," The sleep destroyer shrugged. "I told you not do it. Did you listen? Noooooo! Is this the only way to cope, eh, Lovino?" He seemed like he was going to say more, from the way his lips was going to open. Lovino shook his head. Like his mind, everything was confusing...

"Listen," his tone suddenly went deeper than normal, but the pitch was still considerably high and scraping to the ears, "I'll cover you for today, so you won't at least get shouted at by Consi. It's horrible, I tell you! But don't worry about it! Focus on making yourself feel better today! Walk! Put on some clothes! Do nothing! A-Anyways I got to go! Ciao! " Then the man that eerily has his face hurriedly left (while tripping on some things on the way), leaving him to his own devices, an awful headache and ruined sleep.

Lovino took this time to survey his surroundings. Where was he? Did he have a blackout again on some place he doesn't know? It was a small, cemented room with a homey atmosphere and strewn objects. It was obvious whoever he was living with was messy as he was, which he found kind of disappointing. There were a few paintings as well, pasta noodle packs everywhere, and a straw hat that appealed to Lovino as his. Hat? Farm? Tomatoes? The boy said something about tomatoes -

Of course.

He smacked himself.

He knows this place. Of course he does. He's been living here for six years, how the fuck could he forget that? After two years on the streets someone pitied them and gave them a home, a shelter, a family, a job and some semblance of a future and now he's here sitting with his stupid headache like the lazy, drunk bastard he is (he doesn't even drink ) instead of being grateful to Don Andolini, he should probably talk to him first thing this mor-

Ah.

He can't talk to him if he's dead.

Lovino immediately regrets waking up, wishes he was drunk again and goes back to sleep.

The Don's funeral was simple. His black coffin was surrounded by dozens of white lilies even in death. Flowers were something special, as the Don planted those himself as a reminder for the women in his life. The farmers whom respected him in death as much as when he was alive insisted lilies as the main flower arrangement, even if the the man's only heir sneered that it was bad luck.

Lovino donned his only black polo and quietly trod beside his brother without the usual bravado. Don Andolini was after all, the kind man that took in two orphans from the streets without a shred of uncertainty. The brothers could only offer their silence.

"Ay, the old man's will is missing," Artuz, a hardened farmer with a limp noted beside Feliciano as the estate's workers stand beside,  "No peace in life, no peace in death."

"My money's on the brat." Finally, there were only a few more relatives paying their last respects before they can all sit down, "Besides," Benito again coughed out, "Who else will have the balls? It has to be him."

Lovino frowned with distaste. He had to admit, that the estate was not only at least a hundred thousand acre wide land crawling with vegetation and poultry that supplies Italy's best restaurants, but it was also a viable land in the heart of Sicily in which resorts and summer houses would fight over in the past. In the end, they all never got a single square (it would've been more profitable, but the Don was more of a sentimental fool than a pragmatic man). If only the old geezer didn't get himself a heart attack and now, Casa Andolini's tenants' and workers' future lies on resident asshole Michael Andolini.

Not to mention, Lovino thought, those land developers would be swarming like flies and Michael won't do a thing, the bastard, He bit his lip, What's going to happen to us?

'As if I would ever abandon this estate,' Vito Andolini in the golden years scoffed when a young boy with once the world in his eyes asked, 'w hat kind of man would I be if I sell out the land of my ancestors?'

"Lovino," A voice brought him back to reality, and Lovino looked around before he realizes that there was no one aside from the Casa's farmers around. "Do you remember Andolini's promise to us when we were children? That when he dies, the land goes to its farmers?"

He does. It reminded him of Sebastiano, he always liked grass. "What's the point?" Lovino crosses his arms when he realized all eyes were on him. "The lawyer mysteriously disappeared. The will is missing. We have no claim."

"Not at all."

He turns to his side. Feliciano? "If we go to the capital, I'm sure we can visit the lawyer's office and find a copy of the will," Feli addresses him, along with everyone else, "if not, we can find someone who can help us!"

"We? Like hell." Lovino doesn't like where this is going, "You thought of this?"

"We all did, while you were out drunk." Constanzia answered. Considering what she did , she has no right to sound so condescending, but he lets her pass. "Okay, why me and Feli then? This makes no sense..."

"Why not? You two have more stamina compared to the old men and women here who can't travel to the next town let alone to Rome. Plus, you have nothing to lose. Michael finds out that you two are gone he'll merely notice it. But if one of us do, he'll suspect something is up. It's the best shot we have." One of the oldest and respected men in the estate, Cariño, stepped forward and explained. The distinguished line from his left eye to his chin was the only mark left of his time with the Camorra. "Plus, you have lived in Rome before, yes? That's more experience than most of us have."

Lovino isn't convinced. There must be another way for the Casa to live without them going back...there. "Still sounds like a plan with a shit ton of holes. Sorry, but we're not leaving and compromise ourselves to save your asses. Feli, let's go." He grabbed his twin's hand and started to run off towards nowhere in particular. A couple of shouts were directed at him -

'You're a coward, Vargas!'

'Fucking bastard!'

"Fratello!" His brother tried to reason, "It's true! We can't leave them behind, we're the only ones that can save the farm! Sooner or later, we'll be kicked out too!"

He glanced at Feliciano, "Listen, I know they brainwashed you and all, but the only people we've got to look out for is ourselves. We're not going to Rome for these people. And as for our new home, well, we'll cross the bridge when we get there. We'll find a new place or something." 

'You better watch your back!'

"But," Feliciano's usual naive and smooth face started to wrinkle like paper, "What about the estate? What about these people? Like I know it's almost impossible to find the will, but..."

Lovino rolled his eyes. "If that woman really believed in that, she'll go to Rome herself. They're just finding an excuse to drive us away - I don't know - maybe so we can't have our portion - "

'Andolini should never have taken a useless shit like you!'

"What are you even saying, Lovi?" Feliciano's eyes widened.

" - I'm not finished yet," He raises up his hand and stopped walking to look Feliciano in the eye. "Andolini's dead, there's no one else, okay? We have to stick out for each other, and if it means dropping some load so we can leave before the ship sinks, then we will."

'You're so damn selfish, Lovino! When will you change?!' Constanza's voice rang out last before it all faded into nothing.

"We're family, Feli, and family always comes first."

Feliciano was silent as he stared into Lovino for a few seconds, as if he was trying to search something in his face. 

After a moment too long, he slapped him.

"What the actual fuck- "

"How could you even say that, Lovi?!" He was shocked, but before he could tackle his stupid brother, he remembers: Gentle, Lovino.

"These people cared for us even when they had nothing! They had nothing to earn and they didn't even have to but they did! There's no portion to steal from because there's no will! And the place where we were happy and our home is going to be nothing - and you're okay with that?! I know you're grieving - " Feliciano was positively shaking "but this?! If you have any ounce of respect for Vito you would preserve what he valued the most because it's the least you can do! Oh, but you won't because you're so prideful and so - selfish!"

Lovino could only glare, "How fucking dare you - after all the things I did for you  -"

"This is family, Lovi! Maybe you never thought of them as family, but they are mine! If you're going to give up on them, I wouldn't! It was my idea, and I already agreed. I'm going to Rome by morning, so go run like what you always do!" And with that Feliciano stormed off to the direction of their hut (opposite to him), and although Lovino wanted to say some nasty things as comebacks or chase after him and apologize, his body was frozen to the spot, speechless.

Instead, in the darkness and in the white plains, Lovino dropped and lied down on the grassy ground. The last time he was this plain pitiful was when they lost everything years ago, and all of a sudden, it's gone yet again. History is repeating itself. Now he's not sure he's even correct. Surely, they must be driving the twins away for something, right? It doesn't feel right. He stops his tears. He can't stay like this. Feli needs him now more than ever. He used his grief as an excuse many times before, but drinking was a mistake. He can't run from this anymore.

Lovino has to stay strong, for the both of them. (He wishes he didn't have to. Lovino wishes that there was someone responsible for both of them, that way he doesn't have to question whether he is doing the right thing.)

Vito Andolini used take up that spot, his backstabbing mind reminded him.

He picks off a white lily beside him, and it crumbles in his hands.

Once Feliciano thought Lovino was asleep, he slipped away silently like a thief in the night.

Or so he thought.

Lovino spent all night thinking since Feliciano refused to even look at him. He wonders if this is karma after doing the exact same thing to their parents. After tinkering with his watch for ten minutes, he decides to go after his twin before the idiot accidentally trips and kills himself. He'll never forgive himself if that happens, but that doesn't mean his brother is right. He's not doing this for the Casa, whatsoever.  He wants to protect him. That's all. In a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt. That's definitely not going to embarrass Feliciano and definitely not a tool of revenge.

"Going somewhere?" a voice hardened like the waves yet calm as the sea called out to him.

With no chance of escape, the dark brown haired man grudgingly stopped. "What do you want, Aldo?"

The old man only smiled at him. His teeth were crooked, his face is full of spots and wrinkles, his hair was falling out, and his ragged clothes and the straw hat of a labourer made him look small and harmless, but Lovino was not one to underestimate people. At least, the twinkle in his eyes said so. Ancient Aldo of the Andolini estate only walked with the crunch of grass and soil beneath his feet until he was almost beside Lovino.

"I'll walk you there." He beckoned. Lovino followed.

It was silent for a moment. Then, he asked, "You've been out of it for days, Roma. What's troubling you?"

"Don't call me that." He huffed. "I said my reason. Their plan is stupid, illogical, impractical and worst of all, Feliciano believes them, the idiot. That's my problem."

Most people would have argued with Lovino and his gruff comments, but Aldo only listened. Let it go, he reminds himself. "It's that... anything can happen to us out there. It's been six years. Things change, you know. I'm not sure I can protect us both... I barely did it before. I don't like feeling...powerless." He glanced at the overgrown lilies that they passed by, "Vito's death... brings a lot of questions. I thought we were okay, that we're secure. We've finally found a home after so long...but we're back to where we begun. I hate it. We're always starting back to square one and I - ARGH. I want our lives to move on and be peaceful, but NO! Something always fucks up, I don't think I'm ready to lose what we built here..."

He remembers his family, their house in Rome, Santino, the tomatoes, the farm and everything his life could've been that was lost to the fire. Lovino stares at his hardened and calloused hands. "I...don't know. Tell them I'm sorry."

Lovino wasn't sure if Aldo understood, but the man simply patted him in the back.

"Romano, one day I know you'll find what you're looking for. You've come a long way, and if Vito were here, he would have said the same." Except he's not here, but they were already near to the gate where Casa Andolini ends, so he keeps his mouth shut. They stopped a few meters before it, and Aldo took his trembling hands in his own which was nowhere near as rough as his. "If you are afraid there would not be any place for you anymore, or that things would not be the same, don't worry. This will always be your home, Lovino. You still have the box? The one Vito gave you?"

"Um. Yes?" He remembers the box. "It is um, well-kept. I polish it every other week to keep it clean and... sellable."

"Good. Take care of it. Open it when you come back," He kissed both cheeks, he smelled of soil, ink and burnt incense. Then, Aldo let him go. "You can't catch up to Feliciano like that. He's fifteen minutes ahead. Go now, quickly. Constanza is waiting for you."

"Did you all predict that I would go after him? That's crazy." Strangely, Lovino's chest feels lighter. He walked towards the giant black gate, where Constanza was playing with her phone.

She gave a toothy grin that fell when she scanned him from head to toe. "...What are you wearing?"

"I've been in Rome, dumbass. I know what to wear." 

"At least I'm not heartless. Everyone thought you were, and now they all owe me money." Constanza smiles smugly.

"You waited until three in the morning with little possibility that I might leave so you can show off you're right?" Lovino deadpanned. "If that's it, I better be going, since I have a certain idiota  to catch."

Constanza stared at him, with the face of a traitor, like the filthy traitor she is. "Listen. I know you're still mad because of M - whatever else." She stopped mid-sentence as she noted the daggers Lovino was sending her way. She sighed. "I mean you can't stay mad at me forever and besides, haven't you forgotten anything else?"

"One: yes I can, two: what, money?" He rolled his eyes. Then she threw him a roll of cash. "Surprising you care about my welfare. Thanks. bye."

"No, Lovino," Constanza tried again, "This is our last option. We've tried the regional government as well as appealing to Michael, but it's no use. He's probably the one who caused all this.  I want to go myself but who'll talk to him? You ? I - "

"Stop. You've said enough. Make sure to close the gate properly," Lovino shuffled his pack along with pocketing the cash, and walked a few steps towards the gate. He paused.

"Why the drama? It's not like you're never going back." She shrugged.

"You don't know that."

His eyes trails the looming mansion at the east, and the tomato farm at the west. He hopes this isn't the last time he sees his home unblemished and not in embers (like something far off in his memory).

Constanza's eyes softened. "Good luck, Lovino." He hears the clank of the gate, and she is gone.

When Lovino stepped foot outside, he somehow can't shake the feeling that something is about to go very, very wrong.

Chapter Text

It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.

- Chaos Theory

Feliciano's day started fine, really. All he had to do was find some help and that lawyer. Easy enough, right? No. Life was never that generous.

The hell came forth with warm weather, a rampage of people and the dysfunction that is Italia. After three hours on the train and an endless stream of transportation (note: it was just two buses), the eighteen-year old was ready to puke. He's not used to this sort of thing. Feliciano's a talented farmer, aspiring artist and all sorts of crazy things but not someone who knows the city at the back of his hand (he used to be, a tiny part of him whispered that went away as fast as his fleeting memories). He could have been though, in another life. But not in this one. The universe hated him so much that it stuck Feliciano to one of the few things he was clueless at (no matter what Lovino says.)

Streets.

He grumbled. He's been circling the same rows of houses after experiencing shame in at least five different government offices, a congressman who just gave him an autograph and an address to pro-bono lawyers.

Feliciano thinks the address doesn't even exist.

(He was right.)

After a while, he only then gathers the courage to ask a street sweeper solely because Feliciano wants to avoid that guy that keeps winking at him every single time he circles the damn place. The worn street sweeper eyes him oddly as she leads him to a demolished and forsaken house, most likely chuckling in her head saying, 'What an idiot!'

Meanwhile, Feliciano screams in agony.

" AHH," His knees falls drop to the ground, "World, why do you torture me so?! What wrong have I done?!" Feliciano's eyes spill tears, and his trembling fist full of grovel sprinkles all over, "Just take me now, Lord! And let me rest in the comfort of your embrace! This world is oh so, cruel! Ah, the pain! The suffering !"

It was to be said that Feliciano felt amazingly stupid that day, and it was only two in the afternoon. He hasn't even eaten lunch, and that was the real tragedy.

"...Feliciano, what the fuck and why are you groveling on the ground like some bitch...?"

The aforementioned man turned around, and saw an impasse Lovino behind some tacky hawaiian cap and sunglasses, carrying a backpack almost similar to his. His hands were in his pockets, but Feliciano knows they were always plotting evil. " Frateelloo ," he managed to blurt out in between tears, "Where did you come from? How did you even find me?"

"Simple," Lovino answered while observing his nails with fascination, "I asked if they have seen a blubbering idiot with impossibly closed eyes roaming around, and they pointed your direction and now here we are." He almost said nonchalantly, "Also, I followed you because someone from the future warned that releasing you to the public unattended was going to cause some universal changes that lead to a dystopian future."

"Stop talking like that!" After abusing the cement, Feliciano then punches his older brother's legs while sobbing, "Stop acting like you're so - so much older and wiser! You're only six minutes and twenty seconds older than meee! What do we do now, I wasn't able to find a government way to help the estate, and even then no one can help us without proof, or a contract or a witness! Wah, it's over!"

Lovino sighed, "I told you it wouldn't work. Let's just go home and save ourselves some dignity. And maybe get some food on the way, chasing you was tiring."

"Aw Lovi, you do love me!"

"Shut up or you'll be joining this shithole."

Feliciano frowned. "I don't think houses can go to hell, considering their lack of morality."

"You know what," His twin rubbed his forehead, "Let's go find some cheap pizza to eat, because it's almost three and I may or may not have been chased by ten rabid dogs and two old ladies that we're never going to mention again. Also you better dust yourself at least because you're pathetic."

He nods, considering his sanity may be whack due to his lack of sustenance, "Agreed. By the way, no fighting about what restaturant because to be honest I'm ready to eat anything at this point."

"I thought you were ready to eat anything?! Make up your mind, dammit!"

Since they only have enough money for one meal, Feliciano heavily encouraged pasta, and Lovino wanted some classic Italian pizza, which obviously clashed with the kind of meal they wanted. Lovino lenghtly complains that he was sick of pasta that they ate every-waking-moment -twenty-four-seven, and Feliciano rebuts that he should've been grateful that he can even taste such fine dining for free, and if he wanted something else then maybe he should be the one cooking instead of always relying on his indentured slave. His brother then says that Feliciano should've been the one at the tomato field then, considering he's just at the comfort of the indoors all day having the life, and he says back that he could have if Lovino was the one caring for Vito. He was surprisingly silent after that.

"Fine," Feliciano wheezes, like a helpless flapping fish suffocating above ground. "Why don't we just go to a cheap restaurant with a variety of cuisine. You can have pizza, I can have pasta."

Lovino considered it for a moment, "That could work..." The younger man thought it was all over and breathed out in relief, "If this was Bologna. But since it's not, there's only one restaurant that either specializes in one thing then everything else sucks. Therefore, we will still go to a pizzeria first and foremost." He huffed and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"That's not how it works!" Feliciano shrieks.

The eldest of them raises his hands in the air in frustration on why his little brother was too stupid to even realize that Rome is a fake tourist spot filled with fake Italian claim. They may never be here again, and by the way, did he mention that he is the one holding their money? After some feud about whether Rome or Venice is the more cuisine capital of Italy with lines such as;

"Well, if only someone ran away northwards instead, we wouldn't be having this problem now, will we?"

"It's not my fault that all the government offices are in Rome!"

"Aw, boo-hoo! Then maybe you never should have come to begin with, you soft, naive, sheep !"

- they finally agreed on one restaurant that sounds something like "Armado" and "Pantheon". However, the moment that they were finally leaving the plaza they've walked over as the place they've been quarrelling on for the last thirty-thirty-three minutes, they had two realizations. One, that they are nowhere near the Pantheon and they would need a bus, and two, Lovino only then realizes that the amount of money dona- ahem, given to them by Stanza can barely afford water in those 'capitalist phony Italian' restaurants. Back to square one.

"Oh my God," Feliciano smacks himself in the face out of exasperation, "Can we just get something? Anything ? I don't care what it is! It could be horse meat for all I care!"

Lovino glares at him with contempt, 'If that's the case, then maybe we should have gone to a pizzeria to begin with, dumb prick!"

"But I don't like pizza! By the way, your shades and cap suck!"

In the end, they just went to the nearest decent street food they can find, which was supplì - something they can both finally agree on and within their limited budget. Without further objections, they then spent their minutes on lunch judging people.

"Hah, Feli, over there," Lovino pointed out while chewing as he did to countless others, "Look at that loser."

Feliciano scans the center of the plaza to where a person walks around aimlessly. They were in the state where they closely resemble a wild animal, with long, unkempt hair and dirty white rags (or tunic, he really doesn't know) that barely give the necessary cover. The beggar kept wandering around in circles without any shoes despite the scorching, heated cement. But most of all, he or she seemed hauntingly lost and...scared? "Wonder what happened to him....or to her."

"Looks straight out of a mental hospital. Kinda gives a bad name out of this hellhole, dun'cha think? Rome, the home of ruins and freaks." Lovino gave a small, humourless laugh.

"I think they heard you," He mused as he sees people disperse away from the person while inversely, the Carabinieri enter the scenario and seize the beggar whom they both agreed to dub 'Hobo Dude.' He heard snippets like -

"where...I?...why...?"

"...vacate the area.....unfitting..."

"...cannot...saying?"

Lovino throws the empty wrapper of the supplì backhandedly, "Hobo dude can't speak Italian. Two euros. Oh. If you idiota weren't listening," he adds when he meets his brother's puzzled look, "The dude shouted, 'I dun understand what you all are saying!' or some shit like that, and it's unlikely they're playing charades with all those wild hand gestures. So what you say? Bet?"

"Anyone with a brain will know better not to bet with someone as shady as you, Lovino." He notes as they both witness the struggle of five policemen and one uncomfortably skinny man (or woman). "Even then, there's no way of knowing if you're right since we don't personally know Hobo dude. Also..."

"If the Carabinieri didn't understand him since he wasn't speaking Italian, then why did you?"

A pause.

"W-well, um," Lovino scratched his head with an awkward expression on his face, "I don't know, maybe I just guessed?"

"But", Feliciano gets his thinking face on along with a finger on his chin, leaning to a nearby brick wall, "What you said was too precise to just be a random guess. You even had the accent down."

Despite the the uneven ratio, Hobo dude proved to be difficult to catch as they keep outrunning five burly men for some miraculous reason. "Let's just call it a remarkably good, educated inference."

"If it was, 'I can't understand!' or 'I don't understand' would have been sufficient. But you specifically said, and I quote, 'I dun understand what you all are saying!' It's surprisingly distinct, and more of a direct quotation than a guess..."

His brother facepalms. "Oh my God, why does this even matter to begin with, shitface? We wasted enough time as it is," They both watched as the chase went out of the plaza and their peripheral vision, "Since you're done, let's go home and pack our bags."

"No," He says with his light brown eyes gaping off the horizon, "We go to the lawyer."

His twin's face scrunched, squinting at him like one does at a miniscule piece of trash that was somehow got stuck on their shoes, "Excuse me? No sir, we are going back . Not only it is late, but we don't even know where his damn house or office is. Heck , we don't even know the man's name."

"You don't, but I do. I didn' t go to Rome blindly, you know. "

"Yes, of course you didn't," Lovino rolled his eyes. "Truly, a paper dropped in heaven that said his name was 'Cagna Pazza Leccaculo Asshole.'"

"No, his name is Nunzio Arrigo Rossi." The younger brother threw his supplì wrapper properly and was shuffling inside his backpack.

Feliciano then waved a small paper to Lovino's disbelieving face, "I know because I searched him up last week, you silly goose. Along with his address."

Three years ago, Feliciano would not have believed the person who would be telling him that all of a sudden Santi would die, Vito would follow three years after, Consie and Lovino wouldn't hitch it off and Michael would become such a jerkass to the point that when his father dies he "loses" the will and makes his lawyer disappear that leads to a wild goose chase in Rome just because. It was like saying the whole estate conspired to kill the Don because chickens were pissing them off. Seriously, it was that improbable. In his head, anyways.

But no, apparently it wasn't, because here he was in Rome, climbing a tall building and trying to be normal people and not two penniless, desperate, teenagers trying to save a dead cause (but because of Lovino's fashion taste, they were having a hard time. Why, oh why, must his twin choose to be petty now of all times?)

"This is all your fault, Lovi," He whines, because his brother's neck never looked so strangable at the moment. Was that even a word?

He gave an apathetic shrug. "What? Wasn't this your idea? I'm helping you and your sad ass."

Feliciano cannot even glare at him as he kept climbing up some agonizing infinite stairs.  They are probably on the 18th floor by now. He sighs. "We could have slipped in and got a hold of a keycard one way or another if someone didn't look so peculiar."

"That's not an assurance we'll be even let in on the elevator, idiot."

They kept going.

When they finally reached the 23rd floor, Lovino opened the door from a nasty exhaust exit stairs to a yellow-lit, warm brown corridor beside the elevator. There were two crossroads, and Feliciano heads to the one where it said '2301-2304'. He guesses that Rossi's room and office will most likely be farther down at the hall.

Upon arriving to the room number '2304' , along with a sign etched "Rossi Law Offices ", the twins looked at each other before knocking softly on the mahogany door thrice. When nobody answered the fourth time, Lovino spoke:

"Is Russo even in there?"

Feliciano once again frowns. "It's Rossi. Yes, he is. I can feel one presence in that room. Maybe you're not knocking loud enough?"

"Or maybe," Lovino glared at the door like it offended him personally. "He's playing deaf because we don't sound like some snobby rich kids. What a douchebag."

He sighs once again, "Or maybe he's just asleep. When I researched him, this doubles as his office and personal apartment. He might be taking a bubble bath or something, not deliberately ignoring us."

"Let's not that take that chance."

By the time it registered to Feliciano's brain what his brother was about to do, Lovino was getting ready to kick the door in front of them.

" Woah woah , slow down, Lovi! Let's not be rude!"

"Chivalry is dead! Take this, asshat!"

"Don't you dare!"

" Fuck -"

" Lovino, no!"

Feliciano was expecting a crash! and a bang! like the action movies his brother treasures obsessively, but all it did was fling them inside with considerably less shrapnel.

" - You ...?"

With both of their asses on the floor, there's not much to be done. "Ah, Lovi! What did I tell you about controlling those impulses? Seriously! We might get into trouble one day!" Feliciano is definitely not giving himself the headache of whether this is the trouble he was talking about.

He eyes to his twin, whom not seconds before he broke-in was still in a trance and massaging a spot on his head.

"That...wasn't supposed to work." No shit, Lovino. Feliciano gradually stands up to what he sees a mess. The room looked like what it was - an office with a bunch of bookshelves and a desk displaying the man's name and status. However, the chair's overturned, books were scattered everywhere, and what once was a vase were now shards.

"...What happened here?" He finds himself asking. "Hello? Is Mister Nunzio Rossi here?"

"Did he throw a tantrum or something?" Lovino says. Feliciano scans the room further and curiously notice the semi-open door to the inner sanctum of the apartment. He steps closer.

Lovi regards him with worry. "Feli, I don't think you should..."

The younger one puts a finger to his lips, and then grips the handle of the door open quietly. If the office appeared like in shambles, the inside was chaos. In what seems like the living room were pieces of furniture either sideways or upside down, and papers and daily items literally scattered on the floor. The kitchenette on the other side of the room has utensils like knives and various broken glass all over it. The windows directly in front of them were strangely ajar. Lovino surveys the room with the same dread.

"Hello? Signore Rossi? Please don't sue us for breaking in... Hello?" He calls out as he avoids the clatter on the floor. Nothing.

Again. "Hello? You here? Signore Lawyer? Hello?"

"Feliciano...you have got to see this."

He goes over where he thinks the brown eyed man is and focuses on the same spot on the carpet his brother is squinting at. It was a dark splotch of something sketchy, and Feliciano doesn't even want to know what it is.

"Is that - blood?" Lovino shakes his head, "Well whatever it is, we shouldn't have come here, dammit! l..." he then grabs Feliciano's arm and looks him in the eye, "Let's go while we can, he might be dead!"

"Are you seriously afraid of that ? It could be coffee or something, plus I don't think its blood, " Feliciano shakes him off. "There's one person alive in this room besidea us, I can feel it. That can be weeks ago for all we know!" When Lovino does not look convinced, he stands his ground, "I'm sorry, but I need to find that will no matter what. I'm not leaving."

"How do you even know that?! Ugh ," Lovino groans, and after a moment of staring in his twin's unrelenting eyes, he sighs in defeat. "...Fine. You go that way, and I'll search the bedroom. We leave in ten minutes even if we do or do not find the will. You hear me? Ten minutes!"

He nods at him. "Yes!"

"We should hurry." Lovino sprints on the opposite direction, with Feliciano hearing mumbles like 'stupid brothers' and 'damn moral compass." Oh well. He knows his older brother will forgive him in time, Feliciano hopes. It's not like he's being unreasonable, right? The farmer erases that line of thought as he follows the tiny splashes hoping to find the man, as it increasingly become sporadic and bigger in size. And what was that ugly stink? He dismisses it for now.

To the hallway, then the doorframe, and after was a bathtub dripping with saturated red liquid, and then he sees it - an almost fat man, with eyes glazed, face frozen in eternal pain and about to fall over the gigantic, blaring window behind him. Feliciano stifled a scream with two hands on his mouth. On the man's chest, were a multitude of knives, glass, and literally every sharp object piercing his flesh, as a good deal of blood has dripped on the bathtub the man was "stepping" on. The only thing keeping his body above a twenty-three floor death fall was his scarlet red tie (he didn't know if that was the original colour or the obscene amount of blood) loosely knotted over the rod of the bathroom's curtain.

Nunzio Rossi.

"L-l...L-Lovi...I...I.." Feliciano stammers, paralyzed in place and wide-eyed. I-I should check a pulse, the rational part of his brain was saying as the other part of him was screaming . He spots some bandages in the broken medicine cabinet and grabs it, then Feliciano didn't know what possessed him to steadily check the man's (corpse?) neck and wrist, and the disquiet when he felt nothing. I should have known, he demands at himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! There were obvious signs of struggle, the doors were open, the smell and blood were dead giveaways. Lovino was right, he was just a stupid, idealistic, fool -

Lovino. And then something snaps with sudden realization and terror. There is no time. He runs.

"Fratello!" If there is currently one presence, and Nunzio Rossi is dead, that means...

The murderer is still inside this very room!

He reaches the bedroom in the millisecond where his brother was surveying the bed and greets him with an irritated 'what,' as Feliciano shouts in alarm, "Lovino! The murderer is still inside! We have to get ou-"

Then the world stops in slow motion - the moment Lovino's eyes widen and about to turn around is when the dark silhoutte behind him emerges and flash a deadly glint. The shadow and his twin meet, and although Lovino tries to dodge the attack by holding them off, it is still Lovino grunting in pain as the sharp object reaches him. The silver wielding shape passes by Feliciano by merely an inch, and instead of being an individual sound in mind that would help their injured sibling, he rushes after the assailant like he would be able to enact some damage to this person that injured his family.

He reaches where the silver-black figure was heading to, but all he witnesses is the scarlet tie snapping in half and Rossi falling over the large window. (What Feliciano will remember for a long time though, was how despite twenty-three floors away ingrained in his mind were the disgusting stench of the decrepit corpse, the police sirens that made him panic, the blood on his hands when he checked its non-existent pulse, and his horror as a little child points right at him.)

Unusually, the silver figure did not repeatedly stab his vulnerable back when he was curled over the window, nor do any stabbing at Feliciano's wonder. They probably thought that he was a waste to kill. They exit silently like they just didn't ruin Feliciano's life (it was already ruined anyways, it was just a matter of time.) He then vomits at the faucet for what felt like an eternity, and after harriedly wiping his mouth he almost speeds into the bedroom because he refuses to lose another brother on his watch. Lovino is unconscious - most likely had one of his blackouts, but his last one was five years ago... Feliciano does the usual gentle pat and he wakes, then he releases the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I am so sorry," He cries unintentionally strangling his brother ("Hey, knock it off you bastard! I'm still alive sheesh.") How did it end up like this? How did everything go so wrong today? He squeezes the life out of Lovino's arms and prepares himself to stand up with both weights literally at his shoulders.

Then he feels another presence which he can only assume was the black-hearted asshole and Feliciano angrily throws the nearest heavy and lethal thing to the incoming figure.

"Woah!" The mirror shard hits the cabinet and disintegrates to a million pieces. Feliciano tries to focus his eyes. They did not look clad in black, nor holding a silver sharp blade. "I just want to help!"

Instead the stranger is in white rags and filthy, disheveled hair. What?

"....The fuck...Hobo dude? What...are you...doing here?" Lovino voices out.

Only now that Feliciano notices the radiant green eyes that seemed to smile.

"I've been looking everywhere for you."

Chapter Text

"Things are not what they seem."

The bang! startles them, and Feliciano almost lets him go face flat on the floor. But one thing is for sure — and they both gape at each other as they realize they missed the crucial two seconds. Fuck, Lovino curses inwardly as marching, heavy footsteps clad in the most intimidating metal possible creeps closer in their little exit. After hearing the slam, one, or maybe two people open the exit and inspects at least five floors up and down. When they found nothing of interest, they went back to their original floor.

Dumb luck was that the twins were farmhands used to carrying loads around the estate, and Feliciano scooped Lovino in a bridal carry and dashed the fuck out of there without — thank God! — tripping. The bad side was that one more stair and the Carabinieri would have caught them red-handed and locked them both away for any crime that could be pinned on two, dirt poor orphans (and going to court was not an option, with Vito dead and the Casa in a deadly balance.)

After holding their breath for a good five minutes, they release some air and faint on the floor. 

"Come on Feli." He says before noticing that his brother has been staring at his bloodied arm.

"You never told me you were wounded."

He scoffs. "It's nothing. That asshole and I had an epic swordfight and I got off easily." More like he was looking at the bed until someone got him from behind. They wrestled and when the assailant finally won with a slice on his arm, he fainted like a little bitch. But he'd never say that.

Feliciano retrieves something from his pockets. 

"Nope. Let's do it later when we're home and secure and not in a bacteria-filled stairs with the polizia crawling about."

Feli subjects him to his infamous puppy eyes, "Can I at least restrict the bleeding?" 

"Fine," he relents. Lovino can't just deposit blood off everywhere and donate his DNA anyways.

His teary eyed twin beams at him the brightest so far, and then got to work.

"Who are you?"

The stranger visibly deflated. "Oh. You don't remember."

"Sure I do," His brother tries again. "You're the one at the plaza, right? Hobo dude?"

Their invisible brows wrinkle. He sees it. "Hobo dude? "

Lovino points an accusing finger. "We have no time for you. I bet you're the one who ransacked this place!"

"Ransacked?" Hobo dude taps their feet on the floor, the dirtied skirt following the rhythm, "Huh. That makes sense. With the people coming here. ...Yeah. People with... guns. Are...are you in trouble?"

Feliciano's body tremored, and Lovino was not panicking, "No shit, Sherlock! And it's all your fault!" He turns to his twin, who remains frozen. He shook him. Hard. "Feli, what the fuck are we even doing here, let's go!"

"We can't Lovi." Feliciano mutters almost too calm. "They're here now. We're trapped."

"How do you even know that?!"

"I just do!"

"I can help." They turned to her as she was walking towards them, extending an olive leaf. "Need a lift?"

Despite every warning he gave to this idiot, Feli accepted it, albeit a reserved hand. She pulled them both up without a falter, with the two of them almost a head taller. 

"I think I have a plan..." Feliciano says slowly.

He groans. "Are you kidding me?"

"Shut up, fratello. Do you want to live? We need to go to the emergency stairs — you know, I bet where you came from. But — "

A familiar smile formed on the barely visible face. 

"You need a distraction."

The remaining travel home progressed to be uneventful. Feliciano still wouldn't talk about what happened back there, Lovino still has that nasty wound (now properly managed), they are still not named in the partition of Vito's inheritance and he still didn't wake up from this nightmare (yes, it is all just a bad dream, nothing can convince him otherwise unless a white girl is standing in the middle of a blizzard only in a skimpy dress and doomed her country in her ice powers is not a dream, but a more awful nightmare.) The only point of interest that happened before leaving is that they had to decide whether to leave their hobo accomplice.

"Yes."

Feliciano groans at Lovino's lack of hesitation. "You can't even pretend to care? Come on, Lovi! He saved our lives!"

"There was no life to save! I'm not dead, am I? Heck, her presence sketchy as hell! Bet she's the reason the police raided the place."

"She?"

Lovino whispered back angrily. "She."

"Sorry to break it to you, love." His brother shakes his head, "But it's a he."

"She!"

"He!"

"She was wearing a gown. How more obvious can it get?"

"It's not a gown! Those are hospital scrubs!" Feliciano insisted. "I just know it's a he. Regardless, should we really be leaving him? I feel like a traitor..."

"Well, she did say to leave her. And to go right ahead." Lovino points out.

"...Fair point."

By the time they reach the town, it was already nightfall in the evening and somewhat cold to the skin. Lovino cannot hold back a shiver. After a few more downward blocks, They reach the giant charcoal gate etched with 'Casa Andolini'. The main door was ajar, and they let themselves in.

"Funny. There's no one standing guard either." He frowns, and was also going to offhandedly mention that he was first going to report back to Don Andolini, but then he caught himself bitterly.

Vito is dead. Get it through your thick skull, Lovino.

Feliciano was also strangely silent, and it unnerved him.

They strolled through the darkness. Lovino requested he'd walk on his own when they got to the farm and he was now, painstakingly. He was at peace with the sound of Feliciano's own boots crunching through the grass, until he hears him straying away.

"Feliciano. Where are you going? Our house is on the east."

"Huh?" Came Feli's bewildered voice. "I thought we were going to the mansion? You know, warn the others?"

Lovino disagrees. "We have to clean up first, idiot. What would they think when they see that blood on my shirt? It may have worked in Rome, but that's because there wasn't much people commuting and it was covered up by the bags. They'll notice right away. Do you really want to answer where it came from?"

"No," Feliciano acknowledges too softly that Lovino barely caught it.

They walk to their tiny hearth, and for once, Lovino feels relieved. Finally. This was his home; messy strawhouse, the laborious farm life, the heat to his cheeks when it gets warm out in the field. Vito once grudgingly told him that he can't send the brothers to school, even if he terribly wanted to. It was okay, he reassured genuinely. Lovino wouldn't want to further burden the estate. He was content with a house, purpose, and a new chance in life. Although there were gaps in his memory — the blackouts, the life before the fire, blurry pictures of his parents, maybe these few years were the only memories he needed — with Feliciano, Andolini, and sometimes Santi, Consie and regrettably, Miche. Lovino prayed that his closest person to a father he remembers didn't loathe him when he couldn't face him in his last moments.

(What Lovino didn't know, was until his deathbed Vito Andolini always wondered if he did right by a certain set of twins, and not his last living son.)

The farmer showers, changes his bandages, and puts on a hastily buttoned white polo, tanned pants and his father's watch. At the corner of his eye, he spots Vito's gift to him on 18th birthday. Huh. When did Lovino place it on the floor?

"Feli," He shouts, "Did you touch the box? I keep telling you to put it back after you use the damn thing —"

He then turns to see Feli by the door, "Lovi," His younger twin eyes him oddly, with wet hair and a fresh set of clothes. "Apparently Miche is calling us to the mansion all of a sudden?"

"Hold on a sec," The tomato farmer grabs the box and dislodges one of the floorboards to put the ancient chest back in its usual spot. He then trods to the door and notices Artuz.

"You need to follow me. Brat wants to see you."

He stares at him, "We know how to get there, in case you didn't remember. Plus, why the rush?"

"Somethan' bout escortin', you," The farmer with the limp waves dismissively, "Nobody knows what's goin' on in that mind of 'is anymore. Best ta' just obey the little man."

They both looked at each other, and went out anyways. No choice if he was involved.

The three of them begin to walk.

"Oh Artuz," Feliciano begins awkwardly, trying to fill up the space between them, "We went to Rome this whole morning, and we couldn't find someone to help us! I'm sorry, we did try."

"What a shame. That's aight." Artuz does not sound any bit concerned or disappointed. For someone that strongly felt about the farm a day ago, the man was nonchalant about losing his home. Can something that big change in a day?

Unless...

He expected them to fail?

"We all knew the lawyer might not even be in the place, eh? Ain't your fault. No harm done."

Suspicion began to simmer in Lovino. Did the others baited them out from the beginning? Who else could have known they were going to Rome? Hell, who would have wanted to target them in the first place? They were just two street ragged orphans, why would anyone —

Wait.

What?

Lovino whips his head to Artuz. "What did you just say? About the lawyer? How did you even know he wasn't there?"

"'Word gets aroun', ya know?" The middle aged man shrugs unnaturally. "The whole estate knows. Could'a gotten it from anyone."

"We told no one. You're literally the first person we've talked to since we arrived."

"Well —"

"Ah, Feliciano, Lovino! You've arrived," Constanza greets them from the door of the mansion. Well. He doesn't remember that the walk from his place to the mansion was short. Nevermind, Lovino thinks to himself, We'll get to the bottom of this, as he eyes Artuz from his peripheral vision wipe some sweat of his brow. For now, time to deal with Michael.

 "How'd Rome go?" She gestures a hug.

He slaps her arms away. "As dreary as you'd think. Get out. You're in the way."

She pouts, but steps aside anyways. "You're no fun."

Lovino fought the urge to roll his eyes. The mansion was a sight to see after the funeral, nothing different except the suffocating aura it holds with the death of its real master (and not some lucky heir) thick in the air. They are behind Constanza in the turns that lead to the living room that exuberate wealth with elegance — marble columns, pastel carpet, a piano beside the spiral staircases.

"Something's wrong," Lovino hears his twin's eerily quiet mutter while his head was down, "Why are there a lot more people than usual..."

Before Lovino can exasperate a 'what', his view shifts to the grand sala, a handful of people lounging on the secondary sofas that are a vibrant red, a coffee table with a pitcher of juice and a bowl of ice, and lo and behold, the douchebag Michael Andolini himself on the chair where his father used to sit.

His eyes thins to slits. "Good evening ladies, gentlemen, Michael. What do we owe the honour of the esteemed Chancellor a visit?"

"Haha. Very funny, Lovino." The man with slicked black hair, raven, soulless eyes and a smooth voice greets him devoid of any humour. Feliciano elbows him, but he does not give a fuck. "Come sit, I heard your trip to Rome was tiring."

Michael motions towards the elongated yet vacant sofa in the middle. Lovino does not move an inch. Feliciano sighs and takes the seat. "Thanks. But it's kinda late, if you wanted to hear about Rome, I'll tell you all about it in the morning!" Michael only smiles like one does to a child. One of these days, Lovino's fist is really going to high-five his smug face.

He shakes his head. Not now. Snap out of it!

"I'm not in a great mood right now. so you better make it quick." Lovino budges in his spot beside Feliciano. He surveys the room, and sees the bittersweet expressions of Constanza, Cariño, Benito and the bodyguards of Michael. Did they finally convince him to give up the will?

In one smooth motion, Michael drinks his wine, "Oh, I promise it won't take long."

For the 50th time this day, he rolls his eyes as he leans back. "As you know, Papa's will is missing. We don't know where it is, nor do we have a copy of it." Michael had an amused tone, "Surprisingly, Papa updated his will two days before his death with only the lawyer and Aldo as witnesses, therefore what we have now is null and void. Of course, I am his living heir, so either way, all of the properties go to me.

"But according to Aldo," then the heir's face darkens, "The estate was not under my name. Only the mansion, the restaurants, the house in Naples and his bank accounts were. Apparently, the farm was named after you, Lovino. Feliciano."

What.

 "Why would he do that? That doesn't make any sense..." He demands incredulously, "We only knew Vito for a few years than, I don't know, Aldo and Cariño who were close to him for decades! Besides, why would he give his most loved property to anyone else other than his own son? I call bullshit."

"It's not," Cariño's voice is full of poison, "Aldo's seen it for himself. He's the listed state witness. There's no way he can be lyin'."

Feliciano shakes his head, "That can't be true at all! There must be... some sort of mistake!"

"Exactly," Michael's crosses his arms, curves tightened, "Which is why we believe that he revised it, since Signore Rossi, our family lawyer, passed by once again before my father's last moments. He may have changed his mind."

"Good." Lovino then slumps on the couch with relief. "Problem solved. Then why the fuck are we all here for? Let's all go to sleep and call it a day."

Constanza shakes her head, "No, technically, it's still named after you. The will is missing, remember?" Her stare pierce into their skull, "And so is Nunzio Rossi."

He hopes to find ease at Feliciano as he thinks that he might be experiencing the same confusion as well, but he's calm and his hand had gone cold. Fuck. Lovino's forgetting something...

"Arrigo Nunzio Rossi was found dead on his apartment at 5:45 in the afternoon today." Michael's eyes transforms to that of a predator homing on its prey, and before Lovino can stop him, he goes on, "Do you might know anything about it? I heard you were in Rome at that time..."

"So? We were on the same city at the same time. Rome is big. Coincidence. But let's get to the point. Are you actually implying we murdered the man?" When Lovino sees the deadpanned, accusing gapes, he flips. "Are you fucking kidding me?! We have literally lived with you all for six fucking years! I think you would be the first to know if we were capable to be goddamn murderers!"

"You were always erratic and violent..." Constanza trails off, "And with how Vito died, you were really upset. Who knows what people could do with that kind of...desperation."

"How...how dare you! You fucking hypocrite!" He is so tired of pretending everything was fine when it wasn't. The fact that his best friend can cheat on him with his other best friend is the same amount of betrayal the people he trusted with his life and that of his only family can easily accuse him of murder.

 "Moreover, we didn't even know we were named. And it was you guys who told Feli to go there! Did you all plot this from the beginning?! To set us up?!"

"Please Lovino," Michael rolls his eyes, "You're overreacting, and it further proves your guilt. We're only asking you if you knew about it, but it seems you feel plenty about the matter. It's logic, really. If only you admit, and spare yourself the shame and condemnation."

The sudden trip. The missing will. The blood splotches. The way the door was open, the behaviour of Cariño...suddenly it all makes sense. They were fooled. They were fucking betrayed. It only took Micheal one day to unravel the support and security they worked for in almost a decade. How could Lovino mess this up? How could he protect Feliciano all by himself when he stupidly fails in Day One?

Benito coughs, "Not only that, but I bet there's evidence of you going in the building. You did visit, didn't you?"

"Are you hearing yourself?" Lovino spats, "Feli only went because you all begged him, you stupid, undeserving asses! He was trying so hard, and this how you repay him?! Agh!"

He feels something breaking inside him — was that trust? his new family? Or was it his heart shattering into a million pieces? "And for the record, your precious Russo wasn't even there when we checked!"

"Lovi....he was..."

He completely forgets about Feliciano and when he finally, finally gets a good look on him, his twin is trembling and holding his hands near his chest. The whole room was listening intensely.

"I-I s-s-aw h-him, Lovi..." Feliciano chokes a sob, "Nunzio...R-Rossi...You were r-right...There was b-blood, there was so much blood...He was dead, I ch-checked his pulse...Nothing..."

"He already stopped b-breathing when I arrived. I-I'm sorry, everyone...I... couldn't save him, just like how I couldn't save anybody!" The broken teenager covers his eyes as tears flow freely on his cheeks, Lovino rubs his back reassuringly.

 "Stupid fratello, is this what you didn't want to tell me?" He chides gently, "I wouldn't have gotten mad at you. Feli, you really are an idiot..."

Michael appeared to regain his composure. "Well, I think that settles it. You went to Rome, snuck in his apartment, killed Rossi and hid away the real will and testament. We appreciate your confession, Feliciano. Gentlemen, you have heard it. You may come out now."

At least ten muscular men in expensive-looking suits have come inside the living room from nowhere. They gave an intimidating aura, and surrounded all possible exits from both sides. Literally and figuratively, they were cornered. 

How could he have been so stupid to trust these people with the lives of his brother and himself? 

His heart was breaking again, only this time it was louder than ever.

Lovino desperately fights the urge to run and go to a nearby hole and rock himself to sleep, but its only Feli and him now (like always), so he won't back down.

"Were you even fucking listening? He discovered the scene, that does not make him the killer!" He wants nothing right now than to downright murder this asshole, Vito's son and childhood friend be damned, "Feliciano is crying because he can't bear the sight, does he look like a cold-hearted murderer to you?"

Lovino faces the other farmers that they've both worked with for years while cradling Feliciano protectively, "What? Just like that? You're not going to say anything? After all we've been through?"

Cariño shakes his head, "Sorry, it all lines up. I have to side with Andolini on this one. Never thought you had it in you, to be honest."

"Benito? Consie?" He pleads.

"Sorry, Lovino. No can do."

Lovino's eyes widen, and he dangerously whispers, "You sold us out. That's why you were so..."

The filthy traitor gazes at him with guilt and pity, and Constanza lets him down one last time, "I'm sorry. It's for the best of everyone."

"Miche. Please, don't do this man. We were like sons to your father. We were like brothers." He pleads one last time to the possible existing sliver of a heart in Michael. 

There was none.

"Alright. Gentlemen, you must have enough evidence by now. Take them away, please." All of a sudden the men are closing in on them. There's an array of emotions dangerously brewing in Lovino, and later there will be time to mourn, but he has to tell them. 

"I hate you, all of you. Whatever we have had before is gone. There is no going back. " Lovino only feels complete and utter hatred for these people, as something heavy rages inside him, he looks at them in the eye, "There are no favours to be earned. You can never redeem yourselves. You are all dead to us. The next time we meet, you are nothing."

Michael scoffs. "What are you talking about? There is no next time for criminals. After them."

They are not given a time to react, as the world stops in slow motion — in between the men surrounding them and Lovino tightly hugging his brother, someone shouted earthquake — or was it run? Either way, everything is turning upside down, reality and mirages were blending, and something, somewhere, all of it turns hazy.

Earth was breaking,

And the sky was falling, falling.

Lovino blacked out.

When Lovino comes to, he has this terrible headache. Not again. The nineteen year old thought he outgrew his blackouts, dammit.  He massages his head, surveys his surroundings, and suddenly he's on a patch of grass on a high hill meters away from a streetlight. Feliciano was beside him, fatigued and staring into space. He hears a scrunch, and he checks their partner standing up with her hands at her pockets. What — was it partner in crime, now?

Wait, that's not right. Didn't they...

"How did you escape?" Lovino blurts out.

She raises an eyebrow, "I told you I'd be behind you, didn't I? And good thing too, because otherwise you would have been like totally screwed. Nice save, right?"

What? What was going on?  Is he finally going crazy? The last thing he remembers was —

"The policemen, Lovi..." Feliciano reminds him, but otherwise did not change his line of sight, "Remember?"

Ah, it's all coming back to him now, "...Michael accused us of murder. Yeah, I get that. But how did we get here from there? That's.. weird."

"Oh right. You were unconscious. There was a really strong earthquake of sorts, and I grabbed you and ran. Aldo...showed me the way without being seen."

Feliciano speaks as if he was underwater, slow and out of it, "Long story short, I fainted from exhaustion, our friend over there saw us on the street and carried us —"

"Teleported!" She chirped.

"—Anyways, carried us far, far away from there and here we are now."

His head ached, "Agh, and when was that—?"

"An hour ago." His twin stoically answers.

Something feels wrong...and what was that smell of something...rotting..? "Feli....what happened to the estate?"

"Over there."

He points somewhere straight, and Lovino realized that he was palpitating. Then something pierces his heart. For the second time in his life, Lovino stops breathing as he shakes with the horrifying sense of familiarity.

Casa Andolini was engulfed in flames.

End Act I: The Beginning

Chapter Text

"Oh, I hope someday, I'll make it out of here, even if it takes all night or a hundred years."

- "Lovely" Billie Eilish & Khalid

Dancing orange flames contrasted the deep midnight blue of the sky as it did 15 years ago; only this time around, Feliciano can appreciate the inferno's beauty far away from its dangers.

"Um, does he always do that?"

The blonde points toward Lovino, still paralyzed and not moving a single inch. "I'm not sure if he's still breathing..."

Feliciano gently pats his back. He is in fact, still alive. "Don't worry, Lovi just needs space. He'll get better when he's ready."

He eyes him, "You're oddly used to this," he slowly says, sounding unsure.

"All we can do is be there for him." Feliciano shrugs while still comforting Lovino. He's still in a state of shock himself, but nevertheless, if his twin needs him, he'll be by his side. Lovino is anything but fragile - he can break anything from a chunk of wood to a grown man's fibula if he wishes. Well, with enough passion and anger, which his brother has an unending reservoir of.

"You want to know why Lovi's like that?" He freezes like a deer caught in the headlights, until he waves it off casually, "It's okay, you've saved our lives, so..."

He frantically waves his hands, "Wait! I'm not sure if you should be telling me? I mean, its personal! I don't think your bro would appreciate -"

"You'll need to know, since you'd tag along with us from now on, right? It's less awkward this way," Before Feliciano's mind went blank from all that running while lugging Lovino, he heard someone catching up to them and muttering under his breath. Complaining and sighing that he should probably get used to it if he's going to stick around with "these weirdos." "I'm not sure why you chose random strangers with troublesome pasts like us, it's okay because I won't ask a lot of you. I also won't ask you about your past, I know you'll tell us when you're ready. All I need to know is you're a good person, and you are because you saved my brother's life. We're indebted to you."

"It's okay! You don't owe me anything! Seriously!"

"No, it's true." If only Feliciano didn't have a breakdown and blurted out everything, it probably wouldn't have ended like this with both of their lives on the line. Still, God, Aldo, and even this unknown person reached out and helped them. He closes his eyes, he all owes them, "Lovino has pyrophobia."

"Pyrophobia?" He continues slowly, "Is that like, fear of spiders?"

"No, it's the fear of fire. It's a trauma back then when we were kids and our house burned down." Feliciano smiles sadly, "I don't remember much, but we miraculously made it out alive. We waited for the others, but they never came. Our parents, grandparents and youngest brother perished in the fire. We were the only survivors."

He looked down and offered, "I'm sorry, if that helps."

"It doesn't, the past is the past. But your presence does." Feliciano smiles at him, but this time more genuine, "My name is Feliciano, Feliciano Veneziano Vargas. Feli is okay. This is Lovino, though I'm sure you already knew that. I'm not sure what to call it, but I don't like needles. My favorite food is pasta, and I'm nineteen years old."

All of a sudden, Lovino screams, "Why the fuck would you tell that to a damn stranger, Feli?! After what we've just gone through, you're still trusting like an idiot?!"

His twin then sobs in his knees face down, and Feliciano hugs him. "I'm sorry, I'm sure he doesn't mean that. We've been through a lot today. I hope we could have met in different circumstances."

"We have," The short teen his age reassures; and his emerald eyes betrayed a warm spark, "We couldn't have met in a better way." He holds out his hand for him to shake, and Feliciano eyes him curiously, in the background of his second home burning down to its last embers and into the heavens.

"That's okay, I understand. I don't remember much except my name. I'm seven four- no, I'm Feliks, and it's nice to see you again."

From what Feliciano can measly remember from his disappearing childhood memories, was that his parents were doctors.

They wore white coats, always had a stethoscope and people always called them 'Doctor Vargas.' It had a nice ring to it, to the point that Feliciano would beg them to take him to their workplace and once he pulled his famous teary-eyed face there was nothing they could do about it. Unlike other children, a tiny copper haired boy with chubby cheeks marveled at the sleek grey and cool blue walls, the smell of ethanol and the sound of metal equipment. If it wasn't obvious enough, Feliciano wanted to be a doctor.

(Despite the fact that his parents treated terminally-ill patients as young as Feliciano, and that any kid who was exposed to death and blood like him would most likely never step foot on a hospital again.)

Perhaps that's why he couldn't handle dead bodies and blood, or any other pitiful reason. Perhaps that was why instead of talking about the image stuck to his head of a rotting corpse, he ran and cried that got them on trouble. He once accused Lovino of being a coward, but Feliciano's just one big hypocrite.

"Are we almost there?" Lovino grumbled, breaking Feliciano away from his thoughts.

Feliks - their new companion on this road to hell called life - hummed, and replied, "No, not yet. There's still a kilometer, I think."

Lovino glares at him, still not believing the guy's real gender.

After the earthquake, Feliciano woke up from his anxiety-filled craze and with just sheer amount of determination (and fear, can't forget that), carried Lovino away from the mansion. Aldo chased after them, leading them to a backdoor because apparently, the estate was crawling with police. When they finally got to the black gate, Aldo halts in his steps.

"What are you doing?" He's out of breath, his unconscious brother still weighing on his back. "Don't you want to come with us? He'd hurt you, for sure!"

Aldo only showed his yellow teeth, and handed Feliciano a heavy bag. "Food, clothes, my life's worth of savings. Go somewhere far away until the noise dies down."

Heart heavy and about to faint, Feliciano peeked inside, "Aldo...this is too much, we cannot accept it. This...is yours! If you want us to have it, then come with us!"

The downtrodden farmer shakes his head, "I'm old, Feli. This weary body isn't what it used to. I can't bear to leave the estate as well. Not like this. Do not worry," He flashes them a smile, "I will fix everything before you come back."

"I'm not sure we'll come back, Aldo. Not after everything..."

Seeing his downcast eyes, Aldo lifts his chin up as his hands rests on his shoulders, "Everything will be fine again. Michael doesn't hate you as much as you think he does, he's just lost his way. I pray you can forgive him one day." 

Feliciano snorts on that, and the man hovers a finger on his lips. "I don't have much time left, so ease this old man's heart and take the only thing he can aid you with on your journey." He closes Feliciano's fingers on the bag's handle and looks at him in the eye with a warm smile,

"Promise me, Feliciano. That you'll come home when everything settles down. That you'll return to your home." He ruffles Lovino's hair, and holds on his head while speaking, "Take care of Lovino and yourself for me, okay? Look out for each other. Always be safe and stay healthy. Promise me, Feliciano Vargas. Promise me."

"I promise," he gulps.

"Then I am content." His eyes close and hugs the both of them tightly, "I'll distract them from leaving in any case, so increase the distance from Casa as much as possible." They both release it after what felt like a long time, and Aldo regards them one last time with his gentle eyes,

"Live, Feliciano. Lovino. Farewell."

He remembers seeing the back of their old friend and - he dare says - father figure. Then Feliciano runs as much as he can until he blacked out on the same dimly lit streets that the three of them were walking to reach Siena, a rural town five miles away. Surely that was far enough from the police trying to catch them?

Feliciano didn't know how long has it been since they started, it could be 30 minutes to four hours for all he cared. Still, fatigue was starting to wear on his bones, and he was aching for some good sleep. The group was unnervingly quiet from either the shock or fatigue, but still - they had to keep moving.

"I'm sorry I'm slowing us down," Feliks breaks the silence, "I've never been there and my energy was so spent getting here too. If it wasn't, we could get there much faster."

"It doesn't matter," Lovino snaps, "We're tired as well, so even if you weren't, the pace is the same."

He sighs, "If only I could show you..."

"Show us what? There's something you're not telling us? Like how you escaped from those polizia?"

"Why don't you believe me?" Feliks sighed again. "There are things I can't talk about, at least not right now. Mostly about who I am."

Lovino's eyes slanted. "I thought you don't remember? Do you have selective memory or something? Are you a refugee? A runaway from prison? An asylum patient? Or maybe you're just bullshitting us?"

The ragamuffin snorted. "Something like that, maybe."

"Lovino, please." Feliciano chided. "Feliks here saved our lives. Twice. And we all recently escaped imprisonment. Calm down."

He crosses his arms, "I'm not forgetting that you're sketchy as hell or that the polizia were trying to get you, or that you conveniently appear whenever we're in trouble. It won't be now, but you better give some good explanations or else."

This time, it's Feliciano that sighs. "Lovino -"

"It's alright," Feliks interjects, his hand ruffling his overgrown hair, "I don't think he liked it when you told me about his fear, Feli, and he has a point. Don't worry Lovi, like really soon I'll pay you back. A secret for a secret."

"Are we close? Don't call me Lovi, asshole. It's Lovino. Or else I'll break your damn spine."

"Fine, fine," Feliks says nonchalantly. "Whatever you say, Vargas."

Feliciano can feel the static between those two in the bare air, and thats when he decides it's time for a nap. He doesn't know what time it is, but it's most likely been a day before any of them had rest.

"There's some cover over there," He points to a forest eastward, a five minute walk away from the road leading to Siena. "We can catch some sleep before the sun rises, at least." Feliciano sees them hurling daggers with their eyes, and he blinks, "God knows we need it."

Silence.

"Alright."

They almost jet to the forest, and after what felt like days of walking they all fell head down on the grass. With only the moonlight, Feliciano wasn't sure how they got in the center without falling into any cliffs, but he supposed it was enough. After carrying Lovino, Lovino again, and a duffel bag with supplies, Feliciano was ready as ever to faint again.

Only crickets were the sounds echoing in the small forest, and after positioning the bag like a pillow, they were all ready to be in a coma till morning until Feliciano wondered, do we need someone to stay up for lookout?

Turns out he said that loudly, as Feliks chirped, "Well I can do it. It's only for an hour, anyways."

"Oh, hell no. Not you." Lovino declared, "I'll stay watch. How many minutes was I out, Feliciano?"

Feliciano frowned. "I'm not sure since half the time I was dead as well, but I'd say forty minutes to an hour."

"That's enough rest for me." Lovino stood up from his sleeping position and leaned on a nearby trunk. Feliks seemed too sleepy to even complain. Maybe it was a good idea that it was Lovino, but still. "Are you sure?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'll wake you up if I fall asleep, Feli. Go ahead."

"No take backs. Good night!"

Feliciano lies down again, and into blissful sleep.

A mansion by the sea, ever growing in landscape and size. Roman columns, impressive architecture and intricate details decorated the glorious estate. Mini-forests, herbs, and flowers such as roses, giant marigolds and lilies littered the place like butterflies on a flowerbed. Truly, their house was magical, even more in the different buildings that were surrounding it. Feliciano liked playing here, it simply made things more grand, as if the world was on his fingertips.

The woman with amber eyes asked him something, he's not sure what.

Feliciano eagerly nodded. And hand in hand, they went inside the grandiose palace.

When Feliciano's eyes opened, it was already sunrise in the purple sky.

After a while of convincing, Lovino finally mumbles "Don't mind if I do," as he slumps over comfortably and doze of. There was nothing left to do except to wait and see. He surveys his surroundings, and there was nothing of interest except tiny patches of light and the shadow of Siena. Feliciano's gaze landed on Feliks, and now he has time to finally scrutinize him. His white bordering on gray clothes were gritty, and informal to the point that they looked like pajamas. His shirt was like a medical scrub by the lack of seams of the cloth and was only held together by the buttons on the right. The sleeping man's trousers were normal except with the amount of dirt and numerous stains decorating it. Moreover, Feliciano can't even see his face with the scraggly blonde locks covering it, and he assumes it's at least past neck length. Feliciano adds a mental note to make Feliks to clean and groom himself his first priority when they reach town.

Along with the arising sunlight, he counts the contents of the duffel bag given to them by Aldo, bless his heart. Six shirts, four pants, ten underwears (Feliciano doesn't know how Aldo knew where they kept their boxers, but then he realized he may or may not have closed the drawer properly), and one jacket. He continued counting. Six canned food. Ten packs of biscuits and crackers. A jug of water. Money in the pocket of pants amounting to at least two thousand euros, and a pouch of pieces of jewely ranging from pair of earrings to a diamond necklace.

"He wasn't kidding when he said it was his life's worth of savings," Feliciano mindlessly murmurs, "No wonder this thing was heavy..."

The copper haired man was starting to put everything back in order and when he was folding one of the pants so it can fit properly, he came across something metallic. What he felt under further investigation, was Aldo's antique silver pocketwatch.

"That ancient fossil..." Feliciano feels its almost dull glint and wearing chain, calmly beholding time slip by to 5:45, "I shouldn't have accepted this..." He holds the watch to his chest, and after a few minutes of contemplation, pockets it.

By the time it was 7 AM, Feliciano already drank water and ate one pack of biscuit as the others slowly awakened. They would have slept further, but he guessed it was starting to get warm.

"Oh my God!" Feliks woke up first as he stood up straight and frightened, surprising Feliciano, until he came to the conclusion that he was still in a forest. "..I...see..."

Feliciano got worried. "Good morning to you too. Are you alright? What was that about?"

"Nightmare is the short answer," Feliks calms himself as Lovino started to stir, and his eyes widened, "Shit! I'm totally sorry! I fell asleep! I'll make it up to you, I swear!"

"Don't." Lovino answered grumpily, rubbing his eyes, "What time is it?"

He seemed to have forgotten he had a watch, but Feliciano replied anyways.

"It's 7:07, and good morning, Lovi."

After distributing some biscuits and taking sips of water, he informs them of what they currently have in possession because of Aldo, and that they were essentially only a kilometer away from Siena.

"Well, I guess the question is what do we do when we get there." Lovino crosses his arms and leans into his tree.

Feliciano squinted. "Actually, it's more of where do we stay and how do we eat..."

His twin waves him off, "Later. We can rent a room somewhere in Siena or something. I mean, the money won't last forever, so we need to work and do stuff. The first thing we should try is maybe pawn off the jewelry."

"I don't feel good about that, Lovi. I mean it's not ours..." He trails off.

Lovino's gaze darkens. "Well what can we do? It's not like he gave it to us so we can fucking wear it. If we want to honor Aldo and his wife, we should do the practical thing. That's what he'd want."

Nevertheless, he bit his lip. "Alright. I'll find the nearest pawnshop or jewelry store, then."

"Um, I don't want to bother you but," Feliks interrupts after being quiet. "Are you sure this is far enough? I mean, it's the nearest town to your farm so it's kind of obvious you'd go here to hide..."

"No, it's the fifth nearest town to Casa," Feliciano corrects, "But you have a point. What do you think, Lovino?"

Lovino paused. "I think we should use Siena as our recharging station. We buy more food, more water, figure out where we want to go and then get the nearest bus out of there. I don't want to be paranoid, but we should go the farthest from this goddamn place."

He nods. "I agree. Besides, there's a lot of small towns in Italy that isn't as big as the city. We could be in Bari, Padua, Cabiaria, who knows? Somewhere so quiet, the police isn't there."

"Yep. And with the money we currently have, I think we have enough money to settle down peacefully wherever we want, as long as it's not a big city."

"That...actually sounds nice." Their companion voices out.

Feliciano is suddenly reminded of a question. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

The aforementioned teen was broken put of his stupor, "Yeah, sure."

"When you were being chased by the polizia, what language were you using?"

A thought came across his features, "Oh, I think I was speaking in English."

Feliciano blinks a few times. "In Italy? But -"

"I know how to speak Italian?" He smiles sheepishly, "I was trying to pretend I was a lost tourist so they'd leave me alone, but I guess it didn't work, so..."

"No ones going to believe that tale in those clothes, man." Lovino stretches his arms.

Feliks cheered up considerably, "It's alright, it worked anyways. Just not to the people I thought it would."

"Huh?"

"Well," He started to explain in expressive gestures,"I heard you speaking about how one of you knows how to speak English without knowing it, and it drew my attention to you. It was a good thing, because I was totally lost."

Lovino scowled. "So your little solution was to follow us around?"

"Yep."

His brother made an ugly snort. "Why?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, it feels right. Call it a feeling."

"That's stupid. Can't you just go home? What if we weren't kicked out? You'd think we'd let you in our house regardless? Go away, dammit."

Feliks grins. "No can do. You're definitely stuck with me now. And if you were, I'd just crash your place, to be honest."

Hm. That's odd. "Feli?" That sounded weird on his tongue, it was as if he was calling himself. Anyways. "Where are you - " He caught himself. He promised he wouldn't ask that. Feliciano faces his twin instead. "No, Lovi, when did you learn to speak English?"

His brother squints at him like Feliciano's a week's worth of rotten socks. "You think I'd know if I didn't even realize I was speaking the damn language? Heck, why don't you tell me when did you learn?"

"Most likely the same time as you." He suddenly found the ground very interesting.

Lovino scoffs. "It doesn't even matter right now, I don't see why we're here and not getting our asses to Siena. Let's go, dammit!"

"Um...if I may interject," Feliks hovers his hand awkwardly, along with the grass braid he has been fiddling with, "But you were the one that said to wait for you - " he then points at Lovino, who was grudgingly snacking on his cracker.

A sound of wrinkled plastic wrapper. "W-When I say we go, we go!"

An hour later from the city surrounded by the calm waves, one can see three small figures shadowed by the encompassing green hills formed like mountains, inviting yet peril. Feliks, Feliciano and Lovino nears the entrance of gentle Siena where their future awaits them. Feliciano prays its a good one.

Anything can happen from this point forward, and like the ashes left of their home, they were truly alone.

"Well," Lovino lazily drawls as his two companions - one his idiot brother and the other his equally idiotic adopted friend - trip on an uneven pavement, accidentally marking the beginning of their journey. "Here we are."

With the too bright sunlight shining on their tired faces, maybe, Feliciano thinks, this wouldn't be so bad.

Chapter Text

"Still running?"

"I never stopped."

It was early morning when they arrived in Siena. Despite being a neighboring town to Andolini, Lovino has only been here thrice; the two times were to go to the supermarket and the last was to find the nearest bathroom. Ignoring the little rainbows formed from the puddles of last night's rain, the trio went their separate ways.

Feliciano's in charge of shopping for rations, due to the fact that his idiot brother has always been better at haggling. After being cramped with three men & someone's switchblade, Feliks, with uneven, but definitely shorter & somehow more presentable hair, was in charge of buying clothes & hygienic products ("you can handle buying a toothbrush, right?" "ye of little faith. I was in charge of the bathroom in our... dorm, silly!" Feliks flashes his toothy grin & now visible bright green eyes.) 

"Why did I even agree with him? This is so stupid." Lovino grumbled as he roamed the quiet yet busy streets. Fishermen hauling their catch, a silver-haired geezer sitting alongside his two big friends in a nearby cafe, along with the scent of freshly-baked goods enveloping the whole town - he could only wonder what it would have been like to live here. He shakes himself. No need to regret something that never happened.

He sighs. How hopeless. Since it was such a small, unknown place, with no semblance of a possible landmark, where was he supposed to find the damn thing?

"Wait," Feliks grabbed each of their hands before they diverged in different directions, "I don't know this place. How am I supposed to know where the bus terminal is? Plus you all have a watch and I don't? How do I know it's already 9?"

"Damn. Uh, you ask...someone?" 

"Yeah, and they'll notice my non-Italian accent right away." 

"I don't know, your Italian sounds pretty good to me..."

Feliciano had the nerve to raise an eyebrow, "And what was the use of stealing - I mean, borrowing these raincoats if we just gave a big warning sign, 'Hey! I'm not from here, check me out being so weird and attention-catching!'"

"Actually, I don't see any reason why we should keep him Feli, for all we know, he's a spy of Michael and was the one that sold us out and we just met this guy..."

His brother stares at him. "Lovi, Feliks wouldn't help us get out of that apartment or the Casa if he was to frame us, and didn't we both agree that it was Consi that sold us out? Why don't you stay together so it's more convenient?"

"Um, why not you?"

"Because the marketplace is in the other side of the town?" His twin arches another eyebrow. "And the grocery is here along with the pawnshop?"

"Why can't we just all go together?"

"And waste time? The bus to Rome is leaving at 9:00 sharp, it's now or never." Feliciano shrugs, and kisses both of them on the cheek. 

"Please try to get along, Lovi. It means a lot to me," His brother whispered before running off, like the traitor he is. 

He must have said the same thing to Idiot #2, as now he knows the dude's favorite food (which was some shit called poop), his bestfriend ("Thumbtack"), his favorite color (which was fucking pink), and that he's left-handed. Feliciano must be happy now, as he had to segregate that from a bunch of like's, and to even retain said information took an exhausting amount of effort.

When Lovino had finally, finally dropped off the crazy mental patient (and questions about him) - he set off his merry way. 

'Romeo's Pawnshop,' the sign describes on top of a teal roof, below it a standard barred window and beside that was an intricately detailed door. 

What was that? Lovino circles the area, he knows he felt something - someone - yet finds nothing.

Was he being followed? This early in the morning?

That can't be good. Once he was near enough, he speedily knocks.

"Ciao. What is your business today?" A middle aged man in a mustache crouches down so they both can be eye-level. Lovino gulps. 

He can't be unnerved. He tries to focus on the man's mustache. "I would like to pawn off a couple of jewelry." The teen digs through his pocket for a tiny pouch, grabs all what his hand can feel, and gives it to the jeweler.

"Hmmm...I know these...I haven't seen them in a long time..." The man finishes examining them with a magnifying glass and oddly eyes Lovino, "That gold watch yours?"

Lovino whisked his hand. "Not for sale. So, how much?"

"A shame. 15k, but up to 20 if you're willing to give that up." 

"No. Fifteen grand is fine." Lovino watches the jewelry slide into a cabinet. He can't help but feel  - There it is again! Once more, he turns back, and only spots an ordinary brunette. Lovino's heart skipped a beat. 

The jeweler gives his cash in an envelope, and hands it to Lovino. "Where are you going? People don't pawn this much if they aren't going anywhere." The man says as Lovino counts his money, with quivering hands.

"...Somewhere far." It's fifteen all in all. Wonderful. He pockets it in his chest covered by the ridiculous raincoat he's wearing. Now to get out of here -

"You know, contrary to what people say, not all buses here go to Rome." The jeweler shrugs. "You're lucky that one is going to Pisciotta, my hometown. Don't tell anyone, but I was the one who petitioned for at least one town to have a one-way trip."

Well...that was unexpected. "Uh...why are you telling me this? And what makes you think I'm going to Ro- er, somewhere?"

His mustache laughs. "You're running away, I can see it in your eyes. I just thought you'd want to go somewhere enchanting than that ugly marketplace. The bus leaves at 9:30 & the ride is thirteen hours, but there's pasta, cheese and some good o'l wine," Lovino really should be running away, but then something compels him to stay and believe the man, "I used to be in your position once, and you seem like a good person. I go home every three months and you're welcome to stay as long as you want. Think about it."

Lovino waves nonchalantly. "I will. Thank you, Ciao." But in reality, Lovino is indeed, pondering about the offer. Isn't that what they need? A new life? Somewhere quiet, small, and so far from civilization that no one will ask questions? Lovino glances at his watch. 8:36. There's still time, whether for Rome or Pisciotta. He checks his money until he realizes that he left the pouch at the pawnshop. Well. Not that it was important, but it presented a perfect opportunity to ask more, like what the main livelihood is there in the haven he has painted quite perfectly.

He goes back, and Lovino rounds up a corner he has already passed when, suddenly, he stops when he hears something out of place.

"Ah, that young man? Yes, he was here a while ago. What do you need from him?" His blood freezes. 

He didn't hear what the other party said, except, "Oh, a lost relative, you say? Young people can be fickle like that - ah, he was wearing this green raincoat and said something about going to Rome. Go left, he shouldn't be far ahead. Are... are you sure he's your grandson? You're awfully young..."

Lovino didn't catch the ending of that conversation, but he caught a glimpse of who that old man was talking to - three burly people with the air of hazard, and wait, hasn't he seen these people before? He forgot about the people trailing him! 

Accidentally, he had eye contact with one of them. Is that... blood?! Lovino doesn't need to be told. He runs, and he knows, so do they.

"Oh, fuck!" Lovino sprints as fast as he can, quickly dumping the clear raincoat on a nearby victim. There is no time - he should go straight away to Feliciano and drag him to get the fuck out of here - and his logical mind says yes, but he can't bear to leave the nuisance. With a groan, instead of turning right, he goes left to where he knows he left the second member of their party.

(He doesn't know whether getting their companion was for his brother's sake or for his, and he can't be bothered to.)

There! He sees the blondie chatting with someone, and before he can exclaim 'Lovino!' like he intended to with his wide eyes and as much as he wants to slap him, Lovino pulls him along, still in top speed.

"Vargas! What's wrong? Marila & I were still talking about laundry detergents! And I even forgot the detergent!" 

That has to be the stupidest thing Lovino has heard today. Right. Left. Right. Then, straight. Crap. He's slowing down, panting, but he can't afford to. He picks up his speed once again. They're nearing the bridge. Almost there!

He lets go. "Can you run?!" He shouts between large intakes of air. The back of Lovino's mind is surprised & unconsciously relieved that he can keep up with him.

"Yes! But why?" Oh, Feli, please be safe. They need to see Feli soon - they have to,  and he sends a small prayer to whoever's out there that they can get out of this unscathed miraculously, again. Please please please - 

"I'm not fully recovered yet, Lovi! Forgive me!"

His adrenaline is running out soon, but no no no - "Just run fucking faster! And look back!" - they're so close! So close! 

Feliks did manage to see who was after them, and he cursed in a language that Lovino does not understand (he doesn't understand anything else at this point, all he knows is Feliciano, bus, can't Rome, fuck, run run run - )

Someone's shouting. Are they done? Is this the end? Everything is blurry, and all he knows is left. Left. Straight. Straight. Turn. Right -

"Feliciano!" He shouts, with one last pant, and Lovino can't remember when he was this happy to spot copper hair and caramel eyes, his mirror image - "Let's go, idiota, run!" Later, when Lovino's senses is not in override, he will remember that he saw Feliciano in the colorful marketplace buying pasta, like the idiot he is, but now all he remembers is that their running and they need to go fucking faster.

But no, he's slowing down, and he knows it, they know it, heck, the tomatoes know it, and Feliciano, in a right state of mind pulls the two of them in a dark alley, which he knew would be there as he memorizes the town in the back of his fingertips. They all hold their breath until they see three people run by, and Lovino in the protection of the shadows, collapses on the ground.

"Oh my god,, "I've, I've seen them, in the -in the café, nothing, nothing out of th-the ordinary, forgot, forgot something, saw they asked, clerk, and I, I saw them, I, I ran, fucking...shit," Lovino runs a hand through his hair, "blood, brunette, and a fucking p-po-potato, yeah, that's them, I-I thought, I was, I was just paranoid...,"

Feliciano, who's leaning by the wall for support, hyperventilates, "Yeah, good job, Lovi. Not sure we'd be alive if you... I need water," Despite all that running, they didn't lose their jug, and Feliciano shows his gratitude by chugging the whole thing.

"They were-were so freaky fast, it was unreal," Feli wipes his mouth as they all try to catch their breath, "I can't imagine how long you've been running, do, do they even stop?"

"I'd say five minutes," Lovino holds his chest, as if trying to contain the beating of his heart, "And - and they weren't even sweating one, one bit! Fucking, fucking inhuman, I swear."

Feliks was sitting down, cradling his supplies (or at least, what was left of it) , "Well, what do we do? Do we still go to Rome?"

Lovino checked the time. 8:57. "N,No. We can't."

"Why not?"

He throws his hands in the air. "Because! That's where they'll be heading! Think!"

Feliks scowled. "What? Did you like, say we were going there or something? I like, don't get it."

"No! No, no, no!" Lovino clutched his hair, head fuming & going red like a tomato, "The guy at the pawnshop guessed it, okay! Then he blabbered it to those bastards because they lied that I was their relative or some shit! Are you fucking happy now, Captain Obvious?!"

"Why you - "

Feliciano spread his arms between them, "Guys, guys! We can't fight right now, so shut it!"

After a second of silence, his younger brother slid down the scaly wall, now sitting down beside Lovino & as equally hopeless. Feliciano buries his head in his hands, "What are we going to do?! They must be searching for us like crazy! I'm not even sure how long we can stay here..."

"...There's still one more bus," Lovino starts slowly, "Leaving at 9:30, going all the way to Pisciotta."

Feliciano shakes his head. "Nope. Only to Rome. I would have known, Lovi. I've been going back & forth to Siena for years."

"That's you versus an actual resident, Feli." He wipes some sweat off his brow, "I think he's telling the truth - he, he was the one who petitioned it."

"And you believed him?" Lovino ignored it, but idiot #2 makes a good point. "Wasn't he the one that sold you out - "

"Shut up for a minute. It sounds crazy, and I trust you Feli, but what's his reason to lie? To trap us? He earned more with those accessories than whatever Michael could offer him. Plus," I'm so tired I'm not sure if I can keep both of us safe for much longer. "It's the only option we have so far, and if it doesn't exist, at least we tried."

Feliciano nods for Feliks, who is silent. "Alright. Can we even get to the terminal in the first place? We only have a few minutes left, in case, you know, we don't die."

Lovino Vargas sighs, feet spasming & all, but determined to end this shithole. "Yes, we can," He lowers his voice, but nevertheless all eye-level with all of them, hoping that his voice sounds urgent enough.

"But we need to have a plan."

002 watched the buses towards Rome leave, knowing there was no point. The Vargas brothers were not there. It was a waste of time.

"They're not here either," 005 reports through his earpiece, "Are you sure they're not in those?"

He didn't bother to answer that inquiry. Static and shuffling came from his left ear, he brought it closer.

"I think I've got them!" He starts running to their other companion's location. "Where, 024?"

"Near the port! Hurry!" He does, and 005 sounds like he is running as well. Eventually, he catches up to 024, and spots the target in a red raincoat, "024, where's the other one?"

He relays once again, "005?"

"I see the other one here! This one's crazy fast!"

"I'm coming. 024, you got this one."

024 nods. 002 sprints in the opposite direction, and the other agent in black follows the boy's many turns, only to lead in a dead end.

"Hmph. All that for nothing. Goodbye." 024 motioned to shoot, until the boy took off his hood. It was not a brunette that he was supposed to be, but a blonde. 

"Hey there! Sorry, sweetheart, but that was all for nothing. Goodnight!" Felik smirked. 

"You! W- What! I need back-up right away! He's h- "

024 never finished, as she slumped over, unconscious. But by then, the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

It was Feliciano's idea, and Lovino simply added more details realistic enough to make it happen. The three would separate - Felik's would be the first to lead on the chase, dismantling the first goon, while his brother would be next, taking another out of the terminal so Lovino can put their things. After a minute, Feli would then lead the goon back to Lovino, in hiding, who would stab the motherfucker. Feliks said he'll find a way to catch up to them, but the most important thing was to make it into the bus.

Lovino was hiding by a trashcan, until he finally saw Feliciano's fleeting frame and he knew his time had come. 

One, Two, Three...

He hits with the switchblade they used earlier and stabs it as hard as possible. Good news? It hit. Bad news? The shithead caught it. Black. The man's hand caught Lovino in an iron grip. Red. He sees soulless eyes, and panicking he pushes the man's shoulder with his free hand, summoning strength he knows he does not have. Silver! The man screams an ugly scream, letting him go and dashing the fuck out of there.

Lovino runs until he is out of breath, noticing Feliciano waiting for him inside the bus with their things, along with an angry driver. "Sorry, but he'll be here soon - there he is! Lovino, are you okay? What happened?"

"I -" Before he can answer, he feels a rumble in the earth. He and Feliciano look up ahead, and they only see smoke and dust. Then he remembers, there were three of them.

 "Fuck!"

Inching and inching closer, they see a big, human form in the middle of the sandstorm. 

"A..." Feliciano trails off,

A monster, is what they wanted to say.

The bus driver peaks out his head "What, are you all riding or not? You're not the only passengers here! We're behind schedule for 15 minutes - "

No time. He climbs up the bus, and kisses Feliciano on both cheeks. "You be safe, Feliks and I will catch up to you. I love you, Fratello."

"What - "

"We're sorry for the delay. Please still bring him to Pisciotta."

Before Feliciano wakes up from his daze, Lovino has already pushed him inside, and the bus doors close. Lovino ignores the sounds of his brother knocking on the door and shouting his name (no matter how much his heart aches and how he desperately wants to be with him right now, safe and sound, journeying to their new life,) he has to do what he needs to do. 

Weirdly, the bus stopped in the middle of the road, but he can never live with himself leaving his brother in direct danger, and so he stands his ground. Lovino is strong, too.

He watches the bus leave. At least he can save one brother. If he dies (as he should have eight years ago - ) there won't be any regrets.

But no matter how brave Lovino sounds and wants to be, he can't help but panic. His hands are uncontrollably shaking, his knees are knobbly, he knows he's one tear from sobbing & the chill is starting to settle into his bones. He can feel the enemy's sheer strength a few meters away, the same way he feels the inevitable. He is a bulky, imposing figure, and compared to him, this potato is well-rested, full of muscles and didn't have to run for a whole three days with lack of food and water. Lovino can't even run like he always does at this point.

His courage fades, and what is left of him is fear, cowardice, and the sinking realization that this is the end of him. 

Lovino is going to die.

Oh my God,  I'm going to die, I'm going to die! Lovino falls down and faces the other way - he's dying anyways, might as well go out as with the view of the bright sun (he can't let his killer know he's afraid - terrified, but more importantly, he can't look.) I don't want to die, he cries, as he feels a presence finally behind him; plotting his death. He is too tired, too tired, and in a dissonant peace - he closes his eyes. I going to die alone - "

"Lovino? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Feliciano?"

"Feliks!"

As tears flow freely, Lovino immediately hugged their companion's legs. At least there's two of them now. "What happened?" Feliks goes down, and lays a smoothing hand motion on his back, "Are you oka - ah, we have to go Lovino, look."

He didn't want to, but he noticed that not only did the man go farther from last time, but he seemed to have multiplied.

"I tried to knock that one unconscious, but as always, he's too beefy! That's the other ones, by the way. They seem to have woken up." Feliks described as he pointed to each one of the goons, "Oh, now they're running towards us. Don't they ever get tired?"

Lovino is scared shitless. "Don't say things so casually when we're going to die, bastard! Besides, where the fuck do we go! We're cornered and the bus has left!" Still in tears, he angrily points to the fleeing vehicle. 

He fucking shrugs and holds Lovino's hands tight; the texture is rough, but warm, "I only have stamina for  - anyways, we only have one chance, so we have to make it count." Feliks stares at the fleeting form, almost disappearing in the horizon, "You're going to feel a bit motion sick, and dizzy, and you might vomit later, but bear with it, okay?"

Lovino glares at him incredulously, "What."

He persists. "On the count of three, we jump. Literally. Sounds crazy, but trust me?"

That is batshit crazy, he would have voiced out, eyes glazed as everything slows down. But their perpetrators are only a walk away, and once he gleamed into honey green eyes, he has made a decision.

He nods. The unspoken is clear.

Feliks returns it, grateful, and closes his eyes in deep concentration (on what, he doesn't know.) It seems the goons are into his plan, and immediately pick pace. 

"Ready?"

I bet Feliciano's crying again. I told you to wait didn't I -

 "One,"

But it's getting closer, they are only two steps away - 

"Two - "

He sees hands reaching towards them, and maybe it is too late - no, that's not true, he said - promised - with full confidence - 

I trust you -

"Three!"

And they jump, ignoring the men tackling them mid-air - into nothing.

002, 005, and 024 fall face flat on the pavement, for Vargas and Feliks are nowhere to be found.