This is a pilot. I have the plot, and some chapters planned out, but I'm just kind of testing the waters with this one before I put it into my update cycle. It's pretty darn different (I think) so I would really like your opinions. They're really important to me.

This story comes to you courtesy of SV Speedy, my Nee-chan who has a habit of making me write things when I should be doing other things. I actually love this idea, and I have a feeling I'll be writing a lot of things interconnected to this in the future….when I have more time….so enjoy ne?

Summary: What if Xanxus wasn't the reason for his brothers' deaths and the cradle affair wasn't exactly what it seemed. What if, instead, it was Iemitsu with all the power, over Nono and Vongola. What if Xanxus was trying to save his father and his famiglia? What if Xanxus resolved to become Decimo because he couldn't bear to think of the son of the bastard that destroyed his famiglia becoming Decimo in his place?

The Difference between

Chapter one: Help and Hindrance

Xanxus' fists slammed into the ground, the upturned earth biting into the creases of his skin as the tears burned his eyes.

The boy could feel the wrath bubble at this skin, he could feel the heat pumping from his core, he could feel his will writhing. Wrath was so hard to control at the best of times.

But now, Xanxus was about ready to rip men limb from limb.

He snarled when a sob threatened to break through his chest. Instead he stood and kicked his brother's head stone. His last, living brother, was now dead in the ground as nothing but the ashes of his bones, barely together enough to touch.

His burning gaze looked across the three gravestones, the oldest barely a year and a half old.

"You fucking asshat bastards! We were supposed to rule together. How the fuck am I supposed to protect the old man now? How can I protect our family now?!"

And there was no answer, and Xanxus was horrified to find that he had expected one.

Enrico, Massimo, Federico…they were all so vital to him. To his family. They had been Xanxus' everything since their father had taken him in. Now he was alone. Their plans were for naught.

"Boss, the boys have gathered." Squalo appeared and Xanxus cast his eyes over the man, his mood simmering but his face blank.

Squalo tried not to frown when he spied his boss' taught face and those hollow cheeks; Xanxus was tired.

Xanxus could see his boys lined up in the tree line, some of the last gathered at the graveyard, Timoteo had left first with Iemitsu and the other guests had followed not long after. But for all their faults, Xanxus' Varia were loyal to the end; he could see more men standing further behind the squad leaders, awaiting their and Xanxus' orders.

"Let's go home then. There's not much point in waiting around. The dead aren't going to give me my fucking answers."

"Xanxus..."

"No, Squalo. Not now."

And the shark commander could only grit his teeth, because he knew this grief, he knew the feeling. But Xanxus had been so damn solemn these last almost two years, the brother had been strong together and were taking Vongola to bigger and better places; but they had been slowly picked off and Squalo had been beside Xanxus every time the man had heard the news. He had seen the chips fly from him and the cracks form in Xanxus even as he melted training rooms and grieved in his spitting curses and whisky comas that lasted days too few. Squalo had been there all the way, and he regretted not being strong enough to stop the cracks.

So Squalo bowed his head and followed the Varia coat and racoon tail to the extended SUV, he heard the boys move behind them, they entered after Xanxus as Squalo stood at the door.

"Get ready, lads. I don't know what the boss is thinking but I'd be fucking surprised if he didn't have a plan in mind already."

And Squalo was so fucking proud when they bowed as one and scattered to their cars and vehicles with eyes burning with the lines of their flames. Varia was fucking Quality and even at a mere sixteen Squalo was so fucking proud because he had a hand in that quality.

As Squalo slid into his seat with the door slamming behind him he watched as Belphegor handed Xanxus –who sat closest to the driver –a round bottomed glass with burnt amber liquid chilling around a giant ice sphere.

"Ushishishi, you should feel lucky, this is the prince's oldest brew."

Squalo watched his boss' eyebrow raise before he started sipping at the drink, a respect, since he'd usually just throw the liquid back. But Squalo and the rest of the guardians knew that Xanxus wasn't just drinking for a quick buzz before his flames burnt the alcohol off; their boss was in for a long, slow burn to bite the edge of his grief while he planned.

"I hope you bitches are ready." Xanxus drawled as they pulled up to the mansion, their car was the only one there while the other boys headed to the opposite end of the estate to the Varia mansion. Their car loomed lonely at the gates, as if a completely different entity to Vongola despite the crests splashed at the sides of the black steel. "Because if you thought our jobs were hard before you have fuck-all idea of what real work is."

Xanxus' grief bloomed slightly as he thought about it because his mind became overwhelmed with images of his brothers, of being told of their demises, of watching them buried. He thought of every plan they made, ever promise between Decimo and Varia and now it would never come to pass.

Yet…

"Fucking right boss!"

Yet, Xanxus could not help the shit eating grin pulling at his lips. Because Xanxus' family might well be falling apart bit by bit, but his famiglia –the one he fought for and forged himself –was still going strong and they would hold up their sky as if they had nowhere else to go.

"Fucking good; I'd have to shoot you all otherwise."

"Vooooiii! You say that like you have no faith in us you bastard!"

"Boss I could never abandon you!"

"Yare yare, you pay me I stay, this better not be a clue that you're going to stop paying me."

"Ushisishis, boss is making tasteless jokes again."

"Mou, such violence, bossu."

Xanxus let their voices lull him as he finished his drink and slinked out of their SUV. They would eat dinner with the Vongola and CEDEF upper echelon as respect to his brothers, after that Varia would go back to their mansion and the planning would really start.

"Baby brother, what do you think you're doing?" The voice was soft and amused, though much deeper than Xanxus'.

Said brown eyed boy glared up into mirthful green eyes and a head of tousled red hair.

"Enrico, the fuck you think I'm doing?"

"Oi oi, Fratello when did our baby brother get such a mouth on him?" A head of black hair entered next, eyes a startling blue; like their father.

"I don't know, brother, probably from you." And this time a head of not quite brown hair entered with eyes the colour of swirled chocolate.

"Fratello, Frederico is being a brat to me again! What you going to do?"

Massimo's whining was followed by a single beat of silence before the four boys began laughing in loud, boisterous belts that had the maids and butlers outside laughing themselves, though much more quietly.

They had all been worried about the famiglia when Xanxus had been brought into it, a rowdy, abused, neglected six years old with wrath flames that rivalled Secondo, which he could only half control; it was no wonder that he was a worry.

Except the brother, the triplet skies –how blessed the Ninth and his wife were –had immediately gravitated to the violent boy and together the boys had made Xanxus feel safe, and loved. The people in the mansions had never seen such a sudden turn, or such a viciously protective bow in their lives.

There were rumours that the four boys had resonating flames; an extreme rarity. The rumour mill said that their flames had synced up and that the boys knew if someone had so much as insulted one of their brood. There were rumours that the boys' harmony factor could turn armies to stone if the four so wished it.

But those were rumours and the mansion was just pleased to have the boys happy, together, and protective. They sparred, they trained, and they learnt together; they were making Vongola great.

Their father couldn't be prouder.

"You need to sort him out yourself, Massimo." Enrico grinned at his stockier brother, his teeth glinting in his smile.

"That's not fair!" he joked, striding over and ruffling the black-haired boy's hair much to his displeasure if the cussing was anything to go by.

"Baby brother!" Federico, the softest and warmest of the brother's sounded scandalised. "Where the hell did you learn to swear so much? I am so ashamed."

Xanxus just sucked his teeth even as Federico's infectious smile lifted his lips. "Like you wouldn't know, Fratello. I heard you swearing up a storm that would put Coyote to shame when you dropped that box of weapon parts on your foot yesterday."

Federico blushed scarlet, and turned even redder when Massimo threw his thick arm over his shoulders. "Oho, what's this little brother? I thought you were the innocent one."

"Are any of us innocent?" Enrico snorted. "As far as I'm concerned we weren't even innocent the day we were born."

"As I remember it, you were only six when you first decided that hiding your flames would be a great way to play hide and seek, Enrico."

The old voice at the door had all the boys standing straight and bowing slightly in respect. Their eyes were still laughing even as they stood and greeted their father.

"Good evening, father."

The ninth smiled at his boys, so pleased and proud of them. They were all already so grown up. Xanxus was thirteen, already starting to plan and prep for his future in Vongola; Federico was turning sixteen, the sweetest and gentlest boy with the purest of hearts; Massimo was almost twenty, strong minded and quick to dispel rumour and spite with his intel; and Enrico his dearest boy was already twenty one, ready to take his place and rule Vongola with an iron will and sweet, family-oriented heart.

"Ah, I wouldn't remember, father." Enrico was blushing and Xanxus sniggered.

"Ah, of course you wouldn't. How time flies though, you're all so grown."

"Now you're being embarrassing, old man." Massimo chuckled, "You're not going senile on us, are ya'?"

"Now now, the old man's still as sharp as the dagger he keeps in his cane." Xanxus snorted, grabbing his jacket from the couch before turning back to Timoteo. "You're off to the meeting with Cavallone right? It's my turn to shadow you, shall we head out?"

Like a switch the Ninth's face shifted and all the fatherly creases fell away as cold anger flooded his warm eyes.

"No. Iemitsu will be the only one joining me tonight, I won't have you coming with me to any meetings from today onwards, Xanxus."

The youngest Vongola brother startled, his eyes widening as his mind whirled. "Why the fuck not? Have I done something to offend one of the council again, father?"

"No, not this time. But I won't have a mongrel coming to meetings, especially one who has no right to a position in the famiglia. Iemitsu will suffice. Don't cause trouble when I am gone, boys."

With that Timoteo was gone, the door clicking shut with finality and a terrible roar that shook and spiked the intuition within the Vongola boys.

Enrico stood straight suddenly, and Massimo and Federico were already at Xanxus' sides, a hand on his head and back respectively; enough by themselves to make Xanxus forget about the barb about his bloodline.

"Brother, how many times has that been this month?" Enrico's voice carried with the alcoholic tang of dying will as it dribbled from his core and the boys shivered; he was already a boss.

"He turned me down twice this week; from what I hear Iemitsu has been the only one joining him for the past two months at least; I hear plans of that Basil baby joining him when he's turned ten." Massimo growled, his mind running over the various schedules and documents he had gleamed from CEDEF and the Vongola database just two nights prior.

"Even before then, the last council meeting I walked into, the Lion was the only one who spoke for Vongola's behalf." Federico replied, pressed close to Xanxus.

"I don't like this, Brothers." Xanxus' voice rumbled as his protective instincts meshed with his intuition.

"Ah, I don't either." Enrico replied, turning to his brothers, and like the rumours said, their flames flexed together as their eyes glinted with their respective sky flames. "Iemitsu is up to something, and I'll be fucked if I let that man hurt our family."

Xanxus woke sweating. The burn in his eyes ignored when he stood and glided to the shower to wash off the stink of nightmare from him.

He worked robotically, his mind on the memory, trying to decipher every single bit of information he could. That had been almost four years ago now, and things had only been getting worse and worse. Especially now that the only three others –besides those Xanxus had told –who seemed to notice this oddity within Nono were dead.

Dead men didn't talk.

When Xanxus crushed the glass of water in his hands he only growled before he heated his hand to sear the wound; he had no time for bandages this morning, he'd done it before and these scars wouldn't even be that noticeable eventually.

Right now Xanxus had work.

He could hear the hustle in the dining hall from all the way at the stairs, it wasn't unusual and in fact it had become quite the comfort to the Varia leader. Which was why he strolled in without so much as an announcement, there was the usual greeting before the place dissolved into shouts and snores and boisterous laughter that was entirely Varia.

"We have to steal the rings."

It was straightforward and calm. Xanxus' voice was never so calm, but not one of the guardians could ignore the line of cold acceptance in there too as Xanxus took his seat at the head of the table. It hadn't taken them long to accept and start their own plans around their boss' once Xanxus had finished his sentence.

They and the rest of the Varia had long since stopped worrying about this trait. They were practically one body now.

Things had not been good the last six months.

Xanxus hadn't kept the theory his brothers and he had concocted a secret for very long once he had started to build his own Varia and had Tyr defeated. Upon Squalo's victory he had known the man –boy at the time –loyalties laid with Varia and so Xanxus told him of the disarray in Vongola.

Squalo had been to all of three meetings with the Ninth before he approached Xanxus with a scowl and angry eyes. "He's being brainwashed."

That had been two years ago and now the whole Varia knew what was happening. But that didn't mean they could do much. The last sixth months had drained the Varia of resources and wills.

Nono had given them only the most difficult of hits; ones that lasts months and pushed their recruits to the limit. He had sent fewer and fewer recruits for training, choosing instead to pull recruits from either CEDEF or one of the sister famiglia in the alliances; forcing Varia to find their own recruits from dwindling masses, and with missions getting harder and harder their ranks were diminishing.

It was fucking annoying and many a time Xanxus had to listen to his guardians –the squad leaders –whining and bitching about the problems. Or, to the rats within the Varia walls it sounded like bitching.

Xanxus and the guardians were planning, gathering, and growing stronger even under the thumb of Nono.

It was tragic though, Xanxus couldn't even recognize the shell of the man anymore. He seemed completely the same, he smiled and laughed and he spent time with his recruits and guardians. He drank bourbon with the Don of the Calico famiglia, and he played crochet with the Donna of the Spanish gang. He hadn't changed in routine or grace.

Until anything to do with decision making, information gathering, or Xanxus was concerned.

Especially now that he was getting older.

Timoteo was almost eighty, which for a Mafia Don was already well into the age at which most bosses met their maker or else retires away from the limelight. But he was also without an heir as far as Xanxus was concerned.

"What do you mean by that, boss?" Levi asked, pausing from his meal to watch Xanxus carefully; most mornings like this when his flames fluctuated so much, Xanxus was like a feral cat. He could be curious and warm one minute, and chewing on your bones the next.

"Vooi, are you so fucking thick lighting pervert. We need to steal the Vongola rings from those fucktard seniors."

Levi blushed, but was cut off before he could retort and save his 'honour'. "Ushishishishi, you're going to force your candidacy."

Xanxus made a type of affirmation noise as he chewed on the food that had been placed on the table in front of him.

"Well if the old man won't give it to you, you have no choice." Lussuria announced with a hand on his chin as if in deep thought. "The question is how and when, we need to be careful or else we'll tip the balance in the mafia."

"Yare, it's so tiresome. But so far, no one seems to know of our inner turmoil; it'd be costly if they suddenly did."

"Vooooooi! The Cavallone brat is catching on."

"Is he now?" Levi snorted.

"Explain, shark trash."

Squalo didn't even bother sneering at the name before he fell into second-in-command mode. He sat straight and his gaze didn't waver from the intense brown of Xanxus' eyes, smug at the interest and pride deep within them.

"He keeps pestering me about the Vongola status, and what he can do to help whenever he drops by unannounced." Squalo explained, "He laughs it off and says he misses the company we used to keep in school but that show-pony knows something wrong in the echelon. He asked me the other day what happened to when the boys used to shadow their father; says the old lion is boring company during the meetings."

Xanxus did look impressed, and from the laughter and hums down the table the rest of the Varia were too. Dino wasn't the sharpest tack, but when there was trouble about he seemed almost able to smell it; his cavalry were usually the first in line to aid Vongola. With Squalo's friendship with the horse-Don it gave Xanxus and his boys the upper hand; especially if he was noticing something wrong with the old dogs of Vongola.

"Ushishishi, and here I thought the stable peasant wouldn't amount to anything."

"The show-pony may not be my type but he certainly isn't an idiot." Lussuria hummed.

"But if he's noticing the cracks in our foundation other will too." Mammon's voice for once wasn't mocking and there was a true worried strung within it.

"We need to act soon. If I can get into the throne before too much of our foundation is lost we can settle this fucking family before my father bites the dust and the underworld won't feel so much as a breeze."

"So eloquent, bossu." Lussuria sounded disappointed.

"Who the hell has time for that, lady trash?" Xanxus snorted, finishing up his coffee before turning his gaze to his guardians, amused by the excitement in their limbs all of a sudden. "So which of you trashes can give me a deadline for the coup?"

"The prince says we move in a week." He grinned. "Ushishishishi, there will be so much blood."

"You fucking insane? Most of it will be ours if we move now, child!" Mammon seemed most offended by Bel's offer. "I say no more than a year."

"Too long! Boss' honour is at steak!" Levi growled before turning to his boss. "I say we can move in two months; my recruits will be ready by then."

"You're all Neanderthals, we need to move with style; I say four months." Lussuria said in sing-song.

Squalo was quiet the entire time, hand on his chin as his sword arm flicked on and off, the sword making a silent 'shink' as it moved.

"And you shark commander?" Xanxus mocked, "Your awful silent for such a large mouth."

"You fucking jerk ass boss." Squalo muttered before turning to Xanxus. "We'll be able to move within seven months, any longer and our movements will get to the Ninth's guardians, any less than six and we won't be ready."

Xanxus grinned, the mug in his hand cracked as his excitement, frustration and anticipation manifested his flames in his palm.

"Fucking brilliant." He hummed. "Prepare yourselves, trashy guardians. We move to take Vongola back in exactly six months and four days. Get your boys ready; the Varia are staging a coup d'état."

It was chaos. Gun shots and shouts echoed the halls of the Vongola mansion though unlike the usual boisterous laughter that followed there were nothing but war cries. The shouts weren't even in protest and laughter, they were terrified, order bearing shouts.

"Where is the Ninth?" Coyote was the current storm of Vongola and his eyes raged at the chaos.

"Fucking Varia drove him towards the underground banquet halls." Visconti scowled, shoving some of the Varia squad members down the stairs as he drew to Coyote's side.

"Fuck." Coyotes bullets found fleshy thighs and meaty shoulders as he broke through the ranks, the other guardians, beside Bouche and Brow Nie –who had managed to stay with Nono –drew to his side. "How did we not have any warning for this?! The Varia have been quiet."

"Ushishishi, that's what we wanted you to think."

Belphegor appeared like a ghost, knives glinting as he spun them round and round, blood already splattered on the barely teen's face and clothes.

"We wouldn't be Varia if we let dogs like you know our plans." Mammon appeared too, mist coiling around his feet. "We're paid for our Quality after all."

"You little brats." Ganauche was scowling, his young face looking suddenly as old as the oldest of the Ninths guardians. "You are part of our famiglia. You dare you bite us?"

"Mou, we stand with the Vongola," Lussuria cooed even as sun flames licked at his joints, "But when the famiglia has been compromised we have to make our move."

The guardians roared, offended by such threats and insinuations, it was Schnitten whose voice rang out though, even as he probed with rain flames to try and soothe the raging Varia. "You accuse us of being compromised?! Who is it that's threatening the famiglia now?"

And the three Varia guardians didn't even pause, "The Ninth." Rolled from their tongues without stutter and slowly the world dissolved into a field.

"While Boss brings the famiglia back into rights, how about you give us out money worth."

"The prince has been looking for a good fight."

"You little brats!"

Chaos. Fire and screams and blood filled the Vongola mansion as the Varia tore through it with guardians and squad members and flames and tricks. They weren't the best of Vongola for nothing, and the Vongola had forgotten that fact far too easily.

After all Varia were a part of the Vongola, but they were a beast, and even tame creatures could turn and bite if the hold on their leash was left loose enough.

"Sounds like out boys are having fun with the guardians." Squalo seemed to purr with pride, the mother of the Varia indeed. The thought had Levi and Xanxus snorting.

"Those idiots would have fun with a brick wall." Levi's attention was only half on his retorts, instead his parabolas were flying around, lighting the various Vongola squad members, and Brow Nie up with lightning flames.

"And you're telling me you wouldn't?" Xanxus snorted, his guns blasting holes and scorches along the halls and stairs, taking Vongola out with each flash of wrath flames.

Levi choked for a second, grovelling and flailing like the prideful but easily embarrassed brute he was. Xanxus and Squalo just rolled their eyes. "Oi, lightning dog, stand guard here and don't let any of these grunts get in. We're going to deal with the Ninth."

"Oi! You don't order me around! I only listen to the Boss."

"And the boss is fucking done with your bitching!" Xanxus retorted. "Take care of the stupid Brow Nie and wait for further instructions."

"Y-Yes boss."

Squalo rolled his eyes as they moved away from Levi. The lightning guardians spun on his heels and all the two hear pillars of the Varia were aware of next was the hall and ballroom lighting up in bright, rough light as screams and protest echoed from Levi.

"Fucking trash! You'll never get past me! I am the boss' right hand!"

"Sometimes I don't know who is more ridiculous, your lightning mutt or that stupid martial artist."

"I'd say you all have a dangerous flair for the dramatic, boys." The voice was silky and halted both Xanxus and Squalo just before the last hall before the fall-out bunker; the only place the Ninth could have gone.

"You need to move, Bouche." Squalo warned, his sword glinting in the light of the mist flames.

"I need to do nothing for traitors." The sound of his fury was disgusting, and Xanxus almost felt bad for the old man. It seemed that Iemitsu had not only poisoned the Ninth, but his guardians as well.

The waste of space advisor was going to pay.

"Squalo."

"Don't waste your breathe, boss. I got him."

"Got me, huh?" Bouche sounded offended, and his ire translated into the flames gathering around him.

Squalo just grinned, and amongst the shield of water that rose up from Squalo's sword and core, Xanxus sprinted past the Ninth's mist guardian and slammed his way through the doors that lead to the largest, darkest of banquet halls in the Vongola mansion.

"Fuck." Bouche tried to follow but Squalo appeared in a flit of rain flames with a grin across his face and flames reflecting off his white hair.

"Ah-ah, you're going to have some fun with me first. Boss is busy."

"Don't get cocky, boy."

"We'll see if you're calling any of us boys after all this."

Xanxus was quick to melt the lock when the doors slammed behind him and then his eyes roamed the room until he spotted his father standing from the throne that had obviously been in the room for too many years.

"You've made a real mess of my family, father." Xanxus snarled.

"I've made a mess?" Timoteo asked, his moustache rustling and one grey eyebrow rising. "Xanxus, what are you doing, why would you cause such strife among us?"

Xanxus gazed upon the ninth as he cornered him, the man seemed for once normal. His eyes glinted with warmth and his posture was relaxed. His voice though, it hadn't sounded so cold in Xanxus' childhood.

The pair stared each other down for a long time, their flames probing and clashing in the way that only Skies could do. Xanxus searched for his father within the man that looked like his father; he looked for that grief that came with being in the mafia with a warm heart, and that fury that should come with losing sons.

Xanxus couldn't find any of it, he couldn't see those tells within the blue eyes that were usually so embarrassingly open. Xanxus had always been able to read Timoteo –as about ninty percent of the mafia could- those eyes were ones that could do the same in return.

Now though, now Xanxus was certain that Nono wouldn't even be able to see the truth laid out before him. So even as the minutes dragged on Xanxus closed his eyes and let his breathe build before releasing it.

When he looked at the aged man before him again, his eyes had dyed red from his rage flames and he knew that he probably couldn't save the man from himself with words alone.

"The Varia have had enough with you and your ridiculous decisions; we're taking the rings from you, Ninth." Xanxus' voice was even, his conviction bleeding into his tone and setting it in stone will to the extent that Nono seemed to shift under the pressure.

"Why would you even want the rings, son?" Nono's voice was soothing, and Xanxus wanted, for all he was worth, to believe that he was the delusional one.

"Because I'm the rightful heir to this famiglia, and since you can't see it for yourself we gotta take it from you." Xanxus retorted carefully, watching for any sign of attack or protest.

"You are not the heir." Nono replied smoothly.

"The fuck he isn't." Squalo charged through the doors, flooding the room with blue flames, Xanxus would have snorted if the situation wasn't so dire, his second in command looked as flamboyant as the sun guardian when he let his flames flood like that.

Xanxus didn't know whether to be surprised at how quickly Squalo finished off Bouche or how long he and the Ninth had spent staring each other down.

Surely a changed man shouldn't have let Xanxus show such weakness. Maybe he could be saved-

Xanxus bit the inside of his cheek to pull himself from those thoughts. He couldn't let himself get emotional. He had decided that he probably couldn't save his Father with words; he needed to keep his mind clear and on that decision.

"I thought I told you to take care of that stupid mist, trash."

"And I fucking did, but I ain't about to laze around when you're still fighting. And why the fuck did you melt the locks, are you fucking stupid? You're too much god damn work for your own good." Squalo retorted, swinging his sword arm around wildly. "You should be thankful I think you're even worth half the effort you put me through."

"Fuck that."

Squalo was going to retort, but then the accented voice that had caused all their problems appeared form the shadows, ghosting to Timoteo's side.

"As entertaining as it is to see brat's act like men." Iemitsu began, "The Ninth has told you that you aren't the candidate for Decimo; stand down now and we won't have to put you in your place."

Squalo did snort this time, sneering at the Lion of Vongola. "Is that fucking right? What can an old man like you do to us, we're Varia Fucking Quality. You're rusted and spent!"

Iemitsu's dirty eyebrow raised suddenly and men filtered in from the same direction as Squalo, and Xanxus knew immediately that they wouldn't touch him. "Go deal with them."

"Aye boss, don't die while I'm busy."

Squalo went off, drawing the men away and dropping them like flies, but he stayed close enough to listen to the proceedings; they'd tell him what plans he needed to make and what disasters were about to happen.

His sword arm was aching.

"Iemitsu." Xanxus muttered.

"Xanxus."

"What you do to the Ninth then, huh bastard?"

"Nothing, you're deluded boy, you must have hit your head, or perhaps that dirty blood of yours has poisoned you."

Xanxus growled, turning to the aging Mafia Boss. "You gonna let him talk about me like that? Since when were you such a coward you let your advisor speak for you?" His father didn't respond to that jab.

"I am no coward, Xanxus. You are sick boy, make your boys stop and we can put this aside. We can make Vongola great. If you follow my lead and Iemitsu's."

"Like I'd ever listen to that bitch. Besides, what you gonna do when you die, old man? You can't leave Vongola to that bitch beside you, he's already got CEDEF; there'll be mutiny in the underworld if you break the code."

"You don't have to worry about that, Xanxus." And Iemitsu spoke with such candour that Xanxus shivered. "The Ninth has an heir now."

"The fuck he does!" Xanxus replied with smugness and assuredness. "My brothers are dead, and Primo's line is done. He has no choice but to make me his heir or else face me and my boys as we take the right from him."

"I have an Heir, Xanxus, and he isn't you." The Ninth replied, voice warm and smile soft. "Dear Tsunayoshi has always been my heir, and now that CEDEF has agreed with me there will be no arguments in the Council or underworld."

Xanxus reeled, eyes bulging and rage flame licking at his skin. "You're joking. There will still be mutiny! No one will accept the blatant bias in that! Iemitsu's his fucking father, they'll call you a traitor! They'd never let CEDEF and Vongola be led by blood relatives."

And then Iemitsu smirked and Xanxus was hard pressed not to pull out his guns and blast the man's face off and be done with this entire shit fest. But his father was still beside the man.

"You have no need to worry, brat. I will step down as soon as my boy's inheritance ceremony. Basil will take my place."

Xanxus couldn't believe his ears, and Squalo though only half listening felt like taking a sword and running it through both the Ninth and Iemitsu. This was turning into a bigger clusterfuck than they could ever imagine.

"You're insane. That's your boy, he's what, not even ten yet and you've already decided that he's going to be a boss? He's a fucking civilian, he'll ruin Vongola! If you think I'm going to follow some pampered wimpy ass child you've got another thing coming! My boys and I will end him before he even has a god damn chance, then what'll you do huh, Ninth?"

"I'll end you." The ninth lifted his staff in a way familiar to Xanxus in an infantile memory of screams and then silence.

"You've gone god damn mad. You've let him take you over, old man. You told me about that boy, about how innocent and sweet he is. You told me that he was like Federico and you want to fucking sully him? What happened to you, what did that fucking bitch Iemitsu say to you to change you so?!"

It was a long shot, Xanxus knew, but if he had to rip his father's heart apart to save his Famiglia then so fucking be it. Xanxus had to try to reach that soft spot –that loyal protective spot –that had made Vongola more of a family these past years.

"You brat, don't you dare talk to the Ninth like that, we'll have you culled for your insubordination. Varia is still a part of Vongola!"

The Ninth seemed to shift uneasily as Xanxus' words hit him, even as Iemitsu roared beside him. But instead he sighed and looked at Xanxus with eyes so strange to him. They were still that warm blue that Xanxus remembered saving him, yet they held not a single forgiveness in them; not a single care for Xanxus or the famiglia or himself anymore.

"I have made my decision and it is unanimous amongst CEDEF and myself. You will learn to hold your tongue boy, or else I will make sure you never utter a word again."

"You're fucking joking. You're going to make this bastard's civilian son Decimo?" Xanxus' snarl was feral and pitched high. "You're a fucking joke! My brothers must be rolling in their graves! What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong, son." Timoteo hummed in that voice that had once soothed Xanxus' every childhood nightmare, now it was a poison, an insult to the man who spoke them. Because Xanxus couldn't be sure they were really his father's words.

"Nothing wrong?" Xanxus' voice pitched finally, his voice cracking in a way that made everyone remember that this boy was only sixteen. "The fuck is with you, Timoteo? What the fuck happened to the man who took me in? Who made Vongola great? What happened to your fire?"

Timoteo flinched back at the insult, his will bucking against his restraint at the insult. "I burn strong boy, stronger than your mutt blood ever will!" Nono's voice was cold, the soothing bass to it turned tenor and mad and he grew pleased when Xanxus' eyes widened enough for him to see the pain Xanxus felt from the jab.

"Who do you think you're talking to, boy?" Iemitsu asked, trying to stifle a grin on his lips as he watched the feral blood rise in Xanxus.

The boy was so easy to goad and Iemitsu got a sick pleasure in his lower belly when the boy roared and spat like a misbehaving cat; especially because Iemitsu knew full well he held this pseudo-lion's pride in his palm and one snap would end the boy's fight.

It was disgusting for Xanxus to know how far they had fallen. How weak his father had become while he was off trying to build up a wall of men and guns to protect them. To think that sick bastard, the man both him and his father had trusted to protect them would dare poison them from the inside made Xanxus' stomach buck and fury boil a deeper, darker sky flame in his palms. He felt it his fault that this was happening, that he was facing that same man, his father standing like a puppet, with the same worth as if he were crumpled in the corner. It was his fault, and his Varia were not yet strong enough to protect Vongola –their famiglia –it hurt him more than he wanted to admit.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Iemitsu?"

"Boy, you'd be wise to remember who you're talking to when you use that tone." The blonde snarled from beside Timoteo. Xanxus wanted to rip his father from the man's side like never before. Especially when Iemitsu placed a hand on the aging man's shoulder.

"Get the fuck away from my father." Xanxus snarled.

"I am no father of yours, boy. You've known that for years."

And Squalo almost threw up when he saw the strangled half-rage half-grief on the boss' face; Xanxus had never in all the time Squalo had been with him looked so vulnerable. It made Squalo bristle, it made him want to throw up a wall of anything and not let anyone see his boss breaking so. It was his job as guardian to not let anyone see his boss in such a state.

Yet here he was, fighting grunts to instead of protecting his boss as this coup played out.

"What have you done to him?" Xanxus' voice was deceptively quiet and Squalo's instincts were screeching at him to run. To get far away. His flame core was reacting similarly, because this rage, this was not so simple, this was the fabled Wrath that the Secondo was so famed for.

Squalo's sword arm was aching; something was going to go so fucking wrong tonight. His gut clenched.

"Fuck."

Bodies fell at Squalo's feet and his boot squeaked as he spun around roaring as rain flames poured from his very skin.

"Boss!"

Xanxus charged forward and his eyes caught sight of the smug fucking smile on Iemitsu's face, and had he not been so furious, so full of grief, he would have noticed his intuition rear up.

But it wasn't hyper intuition, it wasn't the type of intuition burning though Nono and Iemitsu's veins and so it wasn't so obvious. This was hard earned intuition that Xanxus had cultivated, and therefore it was flawed by his emotional state. Xanxus in a clear minded state always kept an eye on this intuition; he'd curse himself one day when he realised he'd let himself slip.

He was barely aware of his squad leaders flooding into the hall as their own battles drew to a close and they managed to get back to their leader, he was not aware of their screams and shouts and protests and flames until he felt them brush his own will.

Xanxus roared, his scream's echoed in the hall and everyone in the mansion felt the ground tremble and the screams shriek across the grounds, as if the mansion itself were screaming with its boy.

Ice crept over his entire body, and he writhed as his guardians clawed at the ice with their flames and wills, yet still it climbed. Xanxus felt fear for the first time as Belphegor and Mammon streaked towards the Ninth and his advisor only to be stopped by a wall of guards that started falling.

Nono's were cold and his hands held his flaming cane up, he didn't even flinch at the screams, as if he weren't freezing his son in ice that would forever seal him and his flames away from even touch and words.

They fell so easily to Bel's hysterical screaming and Mammon's mind ripping power. "We're going to kill you!"

Men fell and Iemitsu just laughed.

The fucking bastard, the one who destroyed his family was laughing.

Xanxus couldn't even see anymore, the rage flames had not only dyed his once brown eyes crimson but the heat and power was so strong that Xanxus' eyes burned even as he fell too far into his will to kill the insufferable bastard.

Xanxus wasn't even sure he was hearing Squalo's voice anymore.

"Boss you need to calm down. Fuck, Vooiii can't you do anything useful Levi?!"

"Shut the fucking fuck up! I'm trying! It's not melting!"

"Boss!"

But Xanxus wasn't seeing. He wasn't feeling.

The ice was at his knees and still he didn't feel, his wrath flames tore at the ice, trying to protect him.

"B-Boss you need to calm down! We-I can't get my flames past yours!" Even Lussuria was panicked, Xanxus could hear the tremor in the voice; any good boss would.

The ice was above his waist.

"You bastard!" Xanxus' roars didn't sound like his own anymore. The guardians flinched back. "I won't let you get away with this! I won't let you destroy my family!"

"You won't have to boy, it's not yours anymore." Iemitsu's hand was on Nono's neck, and the man's eyes looked haunted as the ice continued to form from his cane. "Come, Ninth. I think it's time we ate and then headed to bed."

"You are right, Iemitsu. That's a good idea."

The ice flooded his mouth and eyes and muted his years. Yes still Xanxus heard.

"XANXUS!"

And the laughter was still there, even as the ice rose above and beyond Xanxus' head and past his arms, freezing the boy in a position of pure rage, eyes unfocused, body open; it looked as if the ice emanated from Xanxus' core itself, blasting out as it consumed his rage.

And it did consume his rage, the ice covered the energy into a substance of suspension. Xanxus' frozen flames would feed his body and mind so that when he was one day thawed and allowed to walk free again he would not be stifled and stunted.

But Iemitsu just laughed, even as Nono was taken away, even as the Varia were subdued and caged and beat until they weren't going to move for a while: if Iemitsu had his way, Xanxus was never going to be thawed, he was going to be an example for all of Vongola for all the years to come.

Because Iemitsu's son was going to take the throne now, and everyone needed to realise the true power of Primo's line. Traitors would look upon Xanxus –the boy of mongrel blood who thought himself a prince –like a trophy and warning. Only Those of Primo's blood were good enough to think within Vongola.

Tsunayoshi would take the mantle, and Iemitsu would guide him. Just like ha had guided Timoteo these last, crucial years.

So this took me a long time to write, and I'm not sure it makes sense, or really where it's going right now. All I know is that I love this concept so much, and it resonates with a lot of my other stories –if not yet than soon.

So I would greatly appreciate any input on this you have, opinions, encouragement, anything. I would really really love it.

Thank you all, please review.

~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3