Vermillion

27

It had been a week since the ball.

Ilaria and Mario were shocked at Marcelo's actions, but were quick to hide any bit of sorrow. They were trained not to let their emotions get in the way of their jobs.

It was different for Raffaele.

The original plan was for Circe to kill him. So the blood of a man he had known his whole life wouldn't be on his hands.

But he was the one who pulled the trigger.

He was the one to take Marcelo's life.

He had killed many in his lifetime, but he had never killed a friend.

It left an all too familiar pain in his chest and he hoped he would never have to take the life of a loved one again.

He had lost too many people already.

He didn't want to lose more, especially not by his own hands.

"Everyone in the gym in ten minutes" Marchesi announced before leaving the room.

Raffaele rolled his eyes at his father. They had never been particularly close, but had drifted even further apart once Raffaele took over.

He was very close to his mother however.

His chest grew even tighter than before when he thought of his mother.

He was a little more thankful that they were going to the gym now, he needed to get his mind off of things.

When he arrived, the others were already there.

Fleur and Kaia were joined at the hip like always. The two were inseparable most of the time, but still managed to do their jobs perfectly at the same time.

"Mario and Ilaria" Raffaele's father spoke "You guys pair up for sparring"

Ilaria rolled her eyes. She didn't want to have to be close to Mario. It hurt too much, so she put up an aggressive front, trying to give Mario the impression that she didn't enjoy his presence.

Mario knew differently, but was utterly confused at the girl's persistence at avoiding him. He didn't understand how you could avoid someone you loved.

Raffaele clenched his jaw. That left him and Circe together.

How convenient. He thought.

Circe didn't think much of it. She would have preferred to be with Ilaria because they were friends, but at least she could get her aggression out on Raffaele without feeling bad for him afterwards.

For some reason, the memory of the last time Raffaele and her had sparred popped up in her head and she could feel her cheeks heating up.

She didn't understand why she was blushing, but the more she thought about how close they were, the more flustered she got.

She decided it was because she wasn't used to being that close to someone, and shook the unfamiliar feeling off.

The three groups split up into different areas of the room and began sparring each other.

Kaia and Fleur had decided they weren't going to go soft on each other, despite the fear of hurting the other. This was their job as agents, they had to do what they were hired to do and they didn't want to compromise their training by letting their feelings get in the way.

Fleur was a bit more reluctant than Kaia, given she was better at hand to hand combat than Kaia, and was also physically stronger, but she didn't want to disappoint her boss either.