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The voice that woke Doflamingo from the darkness of his sleep was unfamiliar. No, that wasn't right. Doffy didn't know the voice, but there was something familiar about it, just the same.
As his eye adjusted to the darkness he saw his brother, Rosi, his Corazon, sitting there on the edge of his bed, framed in the tiny light of his cigarette.
"Rosi?" Doffy murmured. "Did you say something?"
That was impossible, after all. Even since he'd come back, Rosi had been mute. Not a single sound had passed through his lips. The voice Doflamingo had heard must have been the fading end of a dream.
Rosi turned to him, cigarette hanging from his lips. There was a sad look in his eyes that Doffy could see even in the darkness. He took the cigarette between his fingers, and blew a puff of smoke.
"I said, 'You're going to have to kill me, Doffy'."
The voice was low, warm, and rough with the scratch of tobacco use. Doflamingo was so amazed by it, so enamored by it for a moment, that he didn't even understand what Rosi said.
His hands were shaking as he sat up in bed. Covers flew off of him as he grabbed his brother around the shoulders.
"Rosi you can talk?" His own voice came out in a harsh whisper. It was only then, with his arms around him, with the quiet of the room enveloping them as Rosinante didn't answer, that Doflamingo processed what he'd actually said. His grip on his brother tightened. "What- what's going on? Why the hell would I have to kill you?"
Doflamingo suddenly felt his heart hammering in his chest, and he thought maybe he was still dreaming.
But Rosinante just looked at him with sad eyes, and gestured broadly with his cigarette in hand.
"Because I'm a marine, Doffy. I was sent here to spy on you."
Doffy's nails dug into his brother's shoulder as his mouth went dry. His voice was a desperate rasp. "That's not true. You're lying to me. This is a nightmare."
Rosi shook his head. "It's the truth, big brother."
Threads snaked from Doffy's body, twitching erratically as they slithered and wrapped around Rosinante's ankles, and wrists. Just in case… just in case…
"If that's the truth, then why tell me now?"
"I had a nightmare."
That made two of them.
"What nightmare?"
Rosi's gaze met his again. His expression, as it often was, was tired. Sad.
"I dreamed that I was pointing a gun at you, Doffy. And I pulled the trigger." As Rosinante spoke, Doffy could feel his brother's body shaking under him. Each breath seemed to shiver out of his body.
For one of the few times in his life, it was Doflamingo who was speechless. He stared at his brother, feeling the muscles in his face contort, trying to find an expression, an emotion. All he felt was pain. Nameless pain and confusion.
Before that pain could solidify into action, Rosi spoke again.
"I don't want that, Doffy. I'd rather have you kill me."
They were both shaking now. Doflamingo's arms were tight around his brother, and his threads had webbed Rosi against him like a spider's prey. There wasn't an inch of space between them. The cigarette had fallen from Rosi's fingers, and lay smoldering on the polished floor. Doflamingo watched the cherry as it faded to ash, before again turning to his brother's face in the darkness.
"No," Doflamingo hissed through his teeth. "That's not happening. I'm not going to kill you."
"But I'm a marine," Rosi said softly. He was so close that his cheek brushed Doflamingo's, the silky fine hairs there tickling against him. "You can't trust me. I could betray you any time."
It was true, of course, and the terrifying thought crawled through Doflamingo's veins. In a way, Rosinante had already betrayed him, had been betraying him every day since he'd arrived.
But he was his brother. And he'd confessed.
Doffy pressed his face more firmly against his brother's and hissed in his ear. "Trust you? No. I guess you confessed to me because you don't trust yourself, either, do you? Because if you did, you would just forget about the marines and be my Corazon."
Doffy felt Rosi's throat bob as he swallowed, and he nodded softly against him.
"I've thought about telling you before. Many times. Tonight's the night I was weak. You need to kill me now, big brother, before I find my strength again."
Heat poured through every inch of Doflamingo's body at his brother's words, and he took a deep breath, wrenching Rosinante down to the bed, and pinning him underneath him their bodies still entwined by threads.
"Find your strength?" Doffy breathed against Rosinate's face as he held him down. "I am your strength, Rosi. That's why you told me, isn't it? You need your big brother to be strong for you."
Rosi nodded again under him, silent now.
"Then I will be strong for you, Rosi," Doflamingo promised, holding him tightly. "But I won't kill you. I'm better than that. I'll keep you, my Corazon, and I'll make sure you never slip or falter. You're mine. My precious little brother. I won't let the marines or death have you."
He pressed his face to Rosinante's and felt hot tears there.
Rosi's voice came out a crumpled whimper. "Doffy… big brother…"
Doflamingo rocked his brother gently under him, and shushed him, shaking his head. His mind was going a mile a minute, but Rosinante needed him now. Needed him to be strong.
"It's okay, Rosi. You were strong enough. You did the hard part, and confessed. Now let me take your burden."
Rosinante only cried harder, and Doffy held him tight in his arms, shushing and soothing him. There was more to ask about his mission for the marines. There were more decisions to be made about how to proceed. But those could all wait.
The first order of business was to comfort his crying brother, who had trusted him enough to tell him the truth.
The next morning at breakfast, Corazon came into the dining room with a sea stone cuff on one of his wrists, and a smile on his face.
Doflamingo tugged him down into the chair next to him, and looked out at the faces of the others at the table.
"Family, we have a rough day ahead of us. My brother would like to say a few words. The first, being an apology."