Feliciano

"If you would mind, Feli," Lovino huffed as he jogged to catch up with Feliciano, "please slow the hell down. You are going way too fast."

Feliciano glanced down, surprised, at his own two feet. Was he really going that fast? Well, should he really be surprised at this point…?

He shrugged, giving Lovino a wide grin. "I guess so!" He laughed, consciously slowing down his pace so his brother could keep up. "I've just been a lot faster lately, haven't I?"

"How should I know?" Lovino grumbled, looking at his own shoes. "This week has just been really weird; I don't care at this point."

Feliciano simply shrugged, but he silently agreed with his brother. Monday, there were the weird people that attacked (the police were still investigating, according to the news, and labeled the 'N5' as terrorists). Then Tuesday rolled into view, towing along with the revelation that Feliciano had superpowers (or supernatural abilities, whatever they were called). Now it was Wednesday, right after school had ended, and since then Feliciano had been spending the time having plenty of fun with his newfound abilities.

The increased running speed was fun, but it was more than that. He could do more work in a shorter amount of time (without even trying!), he was more energetic, he didn't get as tired anymore, and he was almost never late! Little things like that just made his speed more exciting, and he was very thankful for it.

The few downsides, however…

"Hey, ah, Lovi…" Feliciano laughed nervously. "Do you have any extra snacks?"

Lovino turned to Feliciano suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "You're hungry?"

"… Yeah?"

"How are you hungry?" Lovino probed, incredulous. "Lunch was literally three hours ago, and you ate everything in your lunchbox! And you were the one who packed extra snacks! How in the world are you hungry?"

Feliciano shrugged, but he had an inkling that it was his powers. He didn't know how it worked exactly, yet it made sense that he would need more energy from food to be faster.

Lovino sighed. "There's probably something at Grandpa's café. If you're that hungry." He paused, eyes narrowing at Feliciano. "But if you eat too much, you are going to get fat. Just saying. Genetics won't save you."

Feliciano giggled. "Oh, come on Lovi…" He punched Lovino lightly on the shoulder. "That won't happen."

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Just saying…" He sighed, then turned a corner as a familiar sight came into view. "Come on, Grandpa's waiting. I'd rather not be late to the café again…"

Feliciano just hummed to himself quietly, smiling as they neared their grandfather's café: La Bella Rosa. Apparently fashioned like the coffee houses in Italy, La Bella Rosa was their grandfather's pride, joy, and "second child, crafted single-handedly in times of trouble" (even if, in actuality, Grandpa had bought the storefront when he was little more than a young adult). He had owned it ever since their mother was little, and while it would probably never be as big as the chain-store coffee shops (which their grandfather had, multiple times, called them cheap phonies of real coffee houses), it was still somewhat popular in its place by other quaint restaurants. Even if they had to take a detour from the usual route home, the café wasn't that far from home.

The two walked through the gate that was part of the adorned metal fence enclosing the café's front small patio area. Already, Feliciano could see some bustle inside the café; it wasn't too busy, but just enough customers for a Wednesday afternoon. He didn't recognize any from school, but he knew some of the adults in there were good friends with his grandpa.

Lovino pushed open the door, the bell ringing. Feliciano quickly followed inside and he took a deep inhale; the smell of pastry and coffee was always his favorite.

"Boys! Over here!"

Feliciano glanced at the kitchen, and he grinned. "Hey Grandpa!" He called out, briskly walking to the counter and standing on his toes to catch the sight of his grandfather in the kitchen. "You okay over there?"

"Yeah—" He was touting three bottles of flavoring-syrup in his arms, and from what Feliciano's vantage point two of them were labeled Vanilla and Peach. "Help an old man out, could you Feli?"

Nodding quickly, Feliciano lifted the flap that separated the main area of the café and the counter-kitchen area and entered swiftly. He took two of the bottles from his grandfather's arms and then realized his grandfather was holding five bottles instead of three. Before he could say anything, however, his grandfather was already out of the kitchen and behind the counter, placing down the syrup bottles. Feliciano followed, handing the two bottles over.

"Seriously, Grandpa," Lovino sighed from in front of the counter. "You should really hire other people; you shouldn't do this alone."

Their grandfather laughed lightly, standing back up. "The day I hire is the day I can't stand on my own two feet anymore. And I can assure you, that won't happen for a long time." He smiled. "You two here to hang out or help?"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "You should still hire," he muttered, but he still lifted the flap and deposited his backpack under the counter, replacing it with a black apron similar to their grandfather's. He was tying it on as he crossed into the kitchen, muttering about washing his hands and 'dibs on the pastries'.

"Actually, Grandpa…" Feliciano shrugged the backpack strap further on his shoulders, smiling apologetically. "I think I'm gonna go home. Err… Homework and such."

"Hmm?" His grandfather raised an eyebrow, then his face fell. "Really? That much homework? Ahh, I was expecting the extra help, Alexandra's stopping by…" He shrugged. "But homework is more important. You go do that, Lovino and I will work. Is Sebastian going to come? Hmm." He clapped Feliciano on the shoulder. "We'll be home by around five, okay?"

"Of course!" Feliciano backed up to let his grandfather pass by him into the kitchen, and Feliciano himself lifted the flap to exit. He waved goodbye. "Later!" Quickly exiting the café, he started running home and only came to a stop from his jog-like pace when he was already a block away.

Wait.

Feliciano looked back. With barely any effort, he had run a whole block in a few seconds flat. Curious, he looked back at his feet; they looked none too ordinary, still the same feet he had ever since he was born. He frowned. The whole prospect of him being able to run faster still boggled him, and he just had to wonder: how fast could he really go?

Feliciano marked the path home in his mind. Straight ahead two blocks, turn left, then continue on a block and a half to the house. No one else was on the sidewalk; no one he could run the risk of accidentally slamming into when he took off. He took a deep breath. Running was fast, running was easy; nothing to it. It wasn't the perfect test, but at least he could get a good grasp as to how fast he could comfortably go, or at least how fast he could go until he got woozy from the effort.

And with that, Feliciano broke into a sprint.

For a second, euphoria and vivid energy coursed through him. He didn't feel anything other than a very slight breeze and a feeling of elation brightening his spirits. Time seemed to slow to an imperceptible rate, and his surroundings were a blurred green and gray. Blood roared in his ears, his breath was slow and even, and he felt like he could do anything. Take on the world, run faster than ever, accomplish amazing feats… Nothing could stop him, absolutely nothing—

Almost immediately after, something caught on his foot. A gasp escaped him at the abrupt stop, and before he knew it he was sprawled on his back, breath lost and his knees stinging. He could only blink in his daze, sky swirling with dark dots in his vision. It took him a while before he could sit up, and when he did vertigo crashed against him like a wave. The culprit of his trip, an untied shoelace, mocked him from where he sat. He suddenly felt very, very drained of food and energy.

When he managed to stumble up and stand (not before double knotting his shoes, both of them), he noticed a woman on the other side of the road staring at him. The dog attached to the woman's leash pulled to go further on their walk, but the woman just stood and stared, mouth slightly agape. She must have seen him take that nasty trip, Feliciano realized.

Feliciano gave a little wave and a smile, hoping to get the "I'm okay" message across.

It did. The woman shook her head out of embarrassment and continued on her walk. Feliciano laughed breathlessly at the sight before a roiling headache started throbbing in his head.

He needed to get home and eat, fast.

Rubbing his forehead, Feliciano checked the street signs and realized with a jolt that he had overshot the distance; he was three streets past his own, clocking in at a total of five blocks in, what, a few seconds? It certainly felt like that. But if he was going to be a superhero, he'd have to learn to at least not trip when running. Maybe go faster, but that wasn't priority number one.

That honor belonged to going home and getting a quick snack. Then, he had to get one of the most essential tools a superhero had to get before they start being a legitimate superhero…

With that, he turned towards home and started walking.

A yogurt cup or two later, and Feliciano was already feeling better. The headache had mostly faded away, save for a small inkling of it that still persisted in the back of his mind. His scraped knees stung from the ointment and tight bandages, but he was too preoccupied with food to truly notice.

Ahh, he couldn't wait until dinner…

Tossing the cup in the trash, he stood up and stretched. Running like that was hard, but a thing like that probably took practice. Kinda like soccer, he just had to do drills and practice runs to get better. And once he got the hang of it, he'd be able to be a true superhero.

Speaking of…

"Sebastian? Are you here?" He asked out loud to the house. For what he was going to do, he had to be alone. When no response came, he took that as a no and climbed the stairs. Cautiously peeking in his grandfather's room, he grabbed a long, slender rod with a small hook on the end that leaned on the dresser. He backed out of the room as he squinted at the hallway ceiling. Where was it, where was it…

He brightened when he saw the little metal ring, and he hooked the rod on the hook and pulled down.

A trapdoor swung down, a ladder sliding slowly out. Feliciano took hold of the bottom rung when he could reach it and helped it slide down faster, satisfied when the resounding click secured the ladder. Making sure that no one was watching one last time, he started to climb.

He hadn't been in the attic for a long, long time. Only his grandfather went in the attic anymore; it was like a private space that he went to whenever he was having an off day. But years ago, especially when Feliciano and his brothers first moved in to his grandfather's house, the attic was always a favorite place to go. They would always struggle a bit in getting the ladder down, but Lovino's extra height at the time helped in retrieving it. There, they would explore their grandparents' and mother's remnants of the past, either through flipping through old scrapbooks or playing dress up…

Feliciano sneezed when he poked his head through the attic floor, waving his hand a bit to clear away the floating dust. He never remembered the attic being this dusty, but he then remembered that it had been a while since Grandpa had come here. When was that, a few weeks ago? Slowly he climbed up and stood above the entryway as he scanned the attic.

It had been a while since he last saw it… Was it even still here?

Ignoring the boxes upon cardboard boxes of memorabilia, Feliciano scurried to the far corner of the attic to a large wooden closet. Brushing off some dust off the handle, he carefully opened the closet door with a creak.

He and Lovino had found the outfit when they were younger, sometime after they had moved in. Sebastian was taking a nap, Lovino was reading, Grandpa was out of the house getting groceries, and eight-year-old Feliciano was bored out of his mind. After much persuasion, Feliciano convinced Lovino to explore the attic with him. When they had found the closet, Lovino mentioned that it was similar to the magical closet in his book that transported people to other worlds. Feliciano, being very much excited to the idea of a magical closet, opened the doors and flung himself in.

Young Feliciano heard Lovino freak out, as expected, but he was too absorbed in finding the magical world on the other side of the closet to come back out. He still can't quite remember what had happened next, but somehow he was dragged out by Lovino and holding a bright blue and white outfit tightly in his arms. Astonished, the two tried it out; it fit Lovino better, since he was bigger, but it still swamped their small bodies. They were trying to figure out who the suit belonged to when Lovino noted that it looked like a superhero suit.

And that was why, when Feliciano opened the closet for the first time in years, he was sorely disappointed when there was no blue and white superhero suit resting on the floor of the closet.

Feliciano sneezed again at the rising dust. After this excursion, he definitely was going to be covered in dust. He made a mental note to take a shower after this. But focusing on the task at hand, he pushed away long coats to search. All the coats were a dusty, boring brown — one that looked almost black in color even had an old spider web trailing across its collar — but nothing like the vivid blue from years ago. Frowning, he pushed against the walls in case of a hidden wall; perhaps that's how he got it years ago? But the wall was solid, and the closet revealed no secrets.

He frowned. He was sure that it existed, he and Lovino could attest to that. They even showed it to their grandfather when he came home that day, and he was just as surprised at their discovery as they were. In response to Lovino's question of what a superhero suit was doing in the attic, their grandfather simply folded the suit up, smiled, replied that it was simply a sewing project he and "your darling Grandma" did, and went upstairs to put it back. After that, no matter how many trips to the attic they took, they never found the suit again.

Feliciano carefully shut the closet door and looked around. Where else could it be? After moments of deep thought, he lifted the lid of a box that was right beside the closet and wasn't as dusty as the others. If anything else, even if he didn't find the suit, sifting through old memorabilia was still fun.

However, when he lifted the lid, two dead spiders dropped out of the lid as one rolled to a stop on the old board games stored inside the box and the other fell to the ground close to Feliciano. Shrieking in more of shock rather than fear, he stumbled backwards in fright as his instinct to run was harbored by an old floorboard jutting slightly out of the ground.

Coughing, Feliciano slowly sat up to sorely touch his once-again aching knees. This trip to the attic has been nothing but for vain, causing him more pain than help—

He blinked suddenly.

Wait a minute…

Feliciano got on his knees to inspect the jutting floorboard. One edge of it was tilted up while its other end dipped into the floor. Under the dust, he noticed that the floorboard was a darker shade than the rest of the wooden boards. Curious, he carefully inserted his fingers under the risen part of the floorboard and lifted. A few creaks and the foreboding fear of accidentally breaking the floorboard later, the floorboard tipped back to reveal a second, true floor.

Feliciano sucked in a breath in surprise, but immediately coughed afterward.

He carefully inserted a hand to feel around for possible cobwebs (and spiders), but it was surprisingly clean. It was also a surprise when his hand suddenly didn't feel wood but instead… Something much smoother… Plastic? His hand wrapped around the somewhat thin but durable plastic sheet, and he dragged the mysterious object — which made odd scraping sounds — to the opening of the hole for a better look.

"A helmet?"

Feliciano held it in his hands. Devoid of any dust, the white, plastic exterior shone from the dim light that streamed from the window. Rotating it, he saw a bright blue visor where the head would view out of and a similarly blue buckle strap underneath it, almost similar to a racecar helmet. But when Feliciano held it up to look underneath, the visor was a less intense blue and he could see more color through it. The material inside the helmet felt like a cross between foam and pillow cloth.

"… Huh." Suddenly overcome with curiosity and nostalgia, Feliciano giddily unbuckled the strap and slipped the helmet over his head. He tightened the strap as best as he could, but it was still a bit big for him as he could shift the helmet around a little bit. Through the visor, his surroundings had taken on a slight blue hue, especially the shadowy corners of the attic. Feliciano grinned; how didn't he find this before?

With the helmet still on, he stuck his hand below the floorboards again and felt around. He mentally scolded himself for not bringing a flashlight; despite the sunlight outside provided most of the lighting in the room, it was still dark in areas. And with this helmet, it wasn't exactly doing any favors of lighting up any shadowy area—

Feliciano froze when his fingers skimmed over a strangely textured fabric.

Feeling the fabric between his fingers, he surmised that it felt something close to the same wicking material of what athletic clothes were made of. Feliciano hurriedly returned his hand to snap the buckle off the helmet and remove it, and he used both hands to take the folded fabric out. His eyes widened when he took it out.

The suit was neatly folded. When he unfolded the first layer, four blue items stared up at him: a pair of gloves and… Boots? Feliciano took one of the boots and held it by its heel upside down; anything that wasn't part of the sole was made of a firm but flexible fabric that Feliciano guessed hugged the leg. The long gloves were made of the same material, and when he put his hand in one of them the material almost reached his elbow. He moved his fingers around, staring in wonder.

He returned his attention to the suit. So that's where it had been hiding all these years… But why? There was nothing harmful in a superhero suit, right?

Though, if his grandfather found out what he was using the superhero suit for…

But this would make for a good costume nonetheless, and Feliciano was happy about it. Sure, he would have to actually try it on to see if it fit him, but now that he was grown it him much better. Or at least, he thought so. The helmet would help in shielding his face to the world, so no one could recognize him while he ran around the city saving lives. Feliciano grinned. Already he was going on with a great start!

Now, for the superhero name…

Feliciano Vargas - N. Italy

Lovino Vargas - S. Italy

Romulus Vargas - Ancient Rome

Sebastian Vargas - Seborga

Alexandra Karpusi - Ancient Greece

THIS. CHAPTER. MY GOD.

Even though I had a VERY DETAILED PLAN on how this chapter would go, it freaking REFUSED TO WRITE ITSELF. GOD. And not to mention school-ish things and personal-ish things were happening in life. Finally got this thing done, though.

Two more chapters until the end of the intro arc! There's a total of four arcs in this story (the third which sorta overlaps the fourth), all of them much longer than the intro arc. I swear that they're longer than 9-10 chapters. I have very detailed plans for them.

And oh hey, it's SHR's birthday today. Seven (Eight if you consider that deleted extended description) chapters in one year. … I need to step up my pace.

Alexandra's gonna be important later~ Much later~ She's one of my fave side characters (beside a few others I shan't reveal), I like her. Also is a character considered an OC if they're only ~mentioned~ in canon and doesn't really make an appearance and thus I'm doing said character through my own ideas—

In any case, thanks for reading! Got any criticisms/praises/comments you wanna share? Fire away! I live off of it. That, and freaking bubble tea. So don't be shy! See ya next time~!