Wild Horses

What we do in Venezia

A/n this one is short and weird, just like me

It was late afternoon, and the gang checked in to a hostel room. There were things to be done in Napoli, but taking down Amarezza could be put on the back burner for one more night. Besides, laying low in a completely different city was a lot easier than holing up in their warehouse hideout in Lira's neighborhood.

Bucciarati set his laptop case on the hostel clerk's desk as he flipped through a wad of cash to pay for the 6-bed room. As the clerk counted the money, Bucciarati began making a mental outline of what he was going to put in his report to Pericolo. Even Pericolo had been curious about their secret weapon's origin, and he wanted a full write-up on what Moody Blues uncovered. Bucciarati's mind flashed through the events on Air Supplena Island and decided that he could leave the parts about Joseph Joestar out.

"What now?" Narancia asked Bucciarati once they had settled into the room. He was expecting orders, waiting to be told what to do.

"Enjoy your night in Venezia," Bucciarati responded, much to the surprise of everyone, including Lira. "Amarezza doesn't seem to be much of a threat around here, so just relax and enjoy yourself while they're not around."

Abbacchio immediately turned around and walked back through the door, barely lifting a hand to wave bye. He was off to do his own thing.

"Fugo!" Narancia looked at his partner with excitement in his eyes. "Gondola! Gondola!" Fugo couldn't help but smirk as he stood and left the room with Narancia. "Maybe they'll sing!" Narancia was heard saying as they walked down the hall.

Mista looked at who else was left: Lira and Bucciarati. He sighed as he began to feel awkwardness encase his chest. "I'll find something," he said and left the room.

"Amore," Bucciarati said as he approached Lira. He picked her up by the waist and lay her down on one of the beds. "It's still your birthday, you know," he teased and brushed his fingers through her hair.

"Nothing like spending your birthday visiting the place you were conceived!" Lira joked. Her voice sounded exhausted, and Bucciarati noticed. "You ok?" he asked as he caressed her face.

"I'm fine, just tired," she smiled weakly. It felt good to lay down. The day had been long enough; she was ready for it to be over. "What about you? You haven't had an easy day."

Bucciarati hummed and lay down next to Lira. He wrapped an arm over her torse and cuddled up to her side, nuzzling his face into her neck. "I'm fucking exhausted," he said. His eyes were closed. "There's no way in hell I was about to spend all evening in a car driving back to Napoli."

Lira shifted to kiss Bucciarati's forehand. As they lay there, her thoughts flickered between Joseph Joestar and her father. What was up with that Polaroid of Bucciarati? What exactly does Joseph's stand do? Is Bruno's life in danger? She felt Bruno's embrace go limp as he drifted off to sleep. And my father... it's so eerie how similar our faces are.

~*~*~

Mista walked down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. "Everybody has something, or someone, to do. Except for me. All alone." He mindlessly kicked a pebble into the canal.

"I'm here, Mista!" Number 2 flew out and yelled.

"Me too!"

"Us too!" the Pistols began flying around his head.

"Like I said. Alone with myself," Mista whispered.

"We were here earlier," Number 7 pointed out and flew around a street sign.

"Yea, Lira's old house was over here," Mista said. He took a few more steps before he recognized it. "Oh, there it is."

He was just going to walk past it, but he was shocked to notice a figure through the window. He pressed himself flat up against the wall and slowly craned his neck to peer into the window and get a better look. Lira? was his initial thought. The young woman's body was nearly identical to Lira's. But something was off. The face was different. Mista then noticed the clock on the woman's forehead.

Moody Blues... Shit, Abbacchio. Mista's jaw dropped. He hesitated and gulped before turning his head more. He saw the back of Abbacchio. Thank fucking God he's not looking this way, Mista thought, still on edge. His goth comrade was watching Moody Blue's apparition of Lira's young mother. Leone had a hand over his mouth, his fingers dispersed as he inhaled deeply. Mista thought he saw him trembling. He slowly scooted away from the window, terrified of being caught.

Why am I so scared? It's not like I'm doing anything wrong! I was just taking a walk! Abbacchio's the weird one here! Mista turned to walk back to the hostel, and immediately walked into a garbage can. The metal pail tipped over and clattered into the ground with a sharp, loud crash.

"WHO'S THERE?" Abbacchio demanded as he rushed to the door. Moody Blues disintegrated, along with the image of Lira's mother. Abbacchio threw the door open and ran outside, determined to catch whoever was out there. But there was nobody. All he saw were a couple of rats burrowing through the trash that had spilled out of the fallen garbage can. "Fuckin rats," he grumbled.