Tales Of The Underlands (jjba part 5 Wonderland AU)

Late Night Talks

Someone shook you awake, not in the harsh way that Prosciutto did, no. This person was acting careful, almost like they were scared that you would break apart.

Drowsy you opened your eyes, only to meet the purple ones of Narancia.

"Are you awake?" he whispered.

"I am now." you grumbled. One night of good sleep was all you wanted, but it looked like fate won't grant you that.

Narancia nodded hesitantly. You remembered that he wanted to stay up, to make sure no one would attack.

A mistake that Risottos group had made in all those nights you were traveling with them, no one had stood watch at night.

" I'm sorry for waking you up, but I wanted to ask you a few questions without the others looming over you."

"No,its alright." you mumbled while rubbing your eyes to wake up a bit more.

"Have they told you what their motives are? I don't trust them and neither should you, after all they have done."

You tried to hold in a yawn while answering the boy:" They only told me they were sick of doing the kings dirty work. I don't know why they changed sides either. Polpo called them traitors. I don't know what exactly they did, but it looks like the King is after them as well."

You ignored his comment about trusting them. It was not like any of you had a choice in that matter.

"They had many opportunities to hurt me, but instead they protected me. Without Risotto I would have been brought to the king."

Narancia let out a sigh. Clearly you didn't know of all the things that these men did while working for the king. He couldn't blame you, you were from another world, there was no possibility for you to know.

"Do you know what they did while working under the king? There's a really good reason why I called him Boogeyman earlier." he glanced around the room.

"Doesn't that just mean that the stories you heard about them were over exaggerated to scare you."

"I wish they were, but throughout my years living here I found out how cruel people can be." his eyes shortly flickered up to meet yours before looking down again, "the stories were gruesome."

It creeped up on you what the teams occupation was before they decided to betray Diavolo. "They killed people, didn't they?"

"They did more than just killing." Narancia spoke looking at the sleeping bodies of the men. " Do you still trust them? To be honest, I'd just prefer to leave them behind and bring you to Bucciarati by myself. I would feel much safer."

"I can't leave them after they already risked their lives for me. It wouldn't be fair. I might not agree with the things they have done, but I am not from here, nor do I know all the details or why they did what they did. I think the prince would be a better judge." You didn't know those people well, but you knew them better than Narancia. They had treated you fairly during your travels with them. They had given you food, a place to sleep and company. Abandoning them would just feel wrong.

The boy shrugged. "Fine with me. I'll still be on my guard around them, till I have a reason to trust them."
You noticed how his eyes were only half opened, probably from his tiredness. He definitely needed some sleep.

"Hey, how about you lay down and get some shut eye. I'll be watching out for enemies."

He yawned and as you thought of more arguments to convince him to go to sleep you noticed that he already fell asleep on the ground next to you.

So much to 'I'll still be on my guard around them'.

Silently you stood up and sat down at the table. What should you do now, the possibility of something happening was small. There was no way to entertain yourself, you had no book to read, everyone was asleep and you had to be quiet.

This was going to be boring.

But you had to stay awake, you couldn't disappoint Narancia and the others by falling asleep, there were still people out there who were after you, so you tried your best to shake of any fatigue.

"You don't have to stay with us, if you feel unsafe." a deep voice interrupted your thoughts.

You almost let out a small scream, if it wasn't for you slapping a hand over your mouth.

His red eyes were staring at you from the dark. The nickname boogeyman made even more sense now.

" I didn't mean to startle you." he apologized when you didn't answer.

"No it's fine." you didn't know what else to say. Risotto had listened to the conversation you had with Narancia. He had heard everything.

" I never said that I don't trust you. It's just tha-"

"Dont worry about it. We have our reasons to join the rebellion aside from money or forgiveness."

"And what would that be?"

"Did no one ever tell you to not ask a criminal too many questions?"

"Nope."

"Then let me be the first one to do it." From the spare moonlight you could tell that Risotto had stood up and started walking towards the table. He sat down in the seat in front of you.

"What you need to know is that we don't act out of selfishness." it felt like he was looking right through you while he said that. One thing you had noticed about him was that even for an Underlander his eyes were unique.

You furrowed your brows at that, will there ever be a time when someone answers your questions without leaving you with more?

"You want me to trust you, but you don't trust me. How do you expect this to work?"

Risotto closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking at you again. "Those are things that are currently irrelevant." then he sighed, "Fine ask me anything and I'll answer as truthful as possible," just as you wanted to repeat the question about their motives he interrupted you, "except that one."

"What is the prophecy about, what do I have to do with it?"

"The boy already said it, no one really knows exactly, only that a human can help defeat the king and the red weeds he brought with him."

"What are the red weeds?"

"A plant that makes the people here sick, grows everywhere. Diavolo turned it into food and poisoned the citizens of the Underlands, some get addicted to it and start acting like feral animals if they don't get their hands on it."

To you that sounded like Diavolo was drugging his people, making them act the way they want or they would either die from those plants or by the hands of his man. At least you got some answers now, but you weren't finished, there was one question that you had been burning to ask.

"How did you manage to make yourself invisible while attacking that guy?"

That made the tall man in front of you chuckle, a rare noise. You wondered what his laugh sounded like.

"Practice." he just said, whatever he meant by that, then he grew serious again, "You should get some sleep. You need it more than I do." there was a sort of concern in his voice as he said that.

You wanted to protest, but he was right. You needed more rest if you wanted to be able to function tomorrow and your eyes felt heavy, so you just thanked him, before returning to your spot on the floor.

"Good night, Risotto." you mumbled, "Thank you for answering my questions."

You heard a faint, "Good night, sleep well." before you fell into a deep sleep.