cruel summer || sampo koski x reader x gepard landau

PROLOGUE (fever dream high in the quiet of the night)

Ever since you were a little girl, your mother had always begged you to distance yourself from the members of the mafia as much as possible. 

You promised her that you would, knowing she was only afraid, only asking for your own safety and happiness. She wanted to prevent everything that had happened to her from happening to you too. She wanted to protect you from the harm, the pain- all that would come with falling in love with someone in the mafia.

Despite her good intentions, she should have known it wasn't a realistic request, considering she was married to your father- the then boss's best friend and right hand man. You sometimes questioned how exactly a sweet, innocent woman like her got caught up in such a situation. She wasn't born into crime like you, and from the little you had heard about her own parents, she had mostly grown up in the rich side of the city.

Meanwhile, you were born and raised by the mafia. You'll never really understand how your father managed to convince your mother to drop everything from her past and join, but here you were. Assistant to Sampo Koski and assassin of Wildfire.  

If you knew one thing for sure, it was that your mother hated the life she had entered. While she didn't express it outwardly (even your father's high position wouldn't have protected her from the wrath of the rest of the members), she would often tell you stories of what a "normal life" would have entailed. Everything from attending school to drinking coffee at cafes to feeding the stray cats near the alleys. There was a gleam in her eyes that could only be regret.

She had always said she would one day take you far, far away, to experience the things you never got to. 

It was quite unfortunate that she passed, just when you reached the mere age of twelve. She had always been a little physically weak, and that winter just happened to be a little harsher than most. You had always been closer to your mother than your father, and it wasn't an easy event for your young mind to process.

But it seemed that the universe didn't want to give you a break just yet. Two years later, your father followed soon after, killed when his heart was torn through by a bullet from a rival gang. You hoped that wherever your parents were, they could at least find peace together in a world without a mafia. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't just you who had lost someone in that battle, as it was the very same one that took the life of the head of the mafia, Sampo's father.

That left you, a little mafia girl, alone to take care of the broken pieces that were Sampo Koski.

 Despite your own heartache and pain, you knew that the mafia would crumble without an heir to take control again. And despite everything you disliked about your life and everything your mother had said against it, the mafia was all you knew. Without it, you didn't know what your fate would be, and that wasn't something you wanted to risk.

And so, perhaps you were a little selfish the first time you decided to help Sampo out. Perhaps you were being manipulative, pretending to be his friend only to protect yourself from other members who could have taken control of your life. Perhaps you would have never considered helping him if you didn't have any other threats to worry about.

But the moment you wrapped your arms around the purple-haired boy in an act of consolation and you felt his warm tears run through your shirt as he sobbed into your shoulder, you felt something spark in your heart. For the first time in a long time, you saw light in the darkness that was the Wildfire. 

You had seen many things throughout your life with the mafia, and it was evident that the Wildfire was cruel. There was never a need to sugarcoat anything when members walked around the building with the blood of their enemies still splattered on their body. You might have been young, but it didn't take away from the horrors you had witnessed. And to be very honest, you had grown numb to it at some point, no longer feeling your heartstrings pull when you heard your father talking about another death or letting a tear slip when the screams of enemies got a little too loud.

It seemed like a paradox, but Sampo Koski, son of the mafia boss, was the first person who you saw hope in. For the first time, you realized how your mother felt when she desperately wished to take you away to a normal life, to a normal world. Because now, you wanted nothing more than to whisk Sampo away in your arms, away from all of this cruelty and to a normal teenage life that the both of you should have had. 

But you knew it was a fruitless pipe dream. 

To escape a life of crime with the prince of the mafia? As if.

That day, despite your own unattainable wish, you made a promise to Sampo, just as your mother had once done with you. You whispered that you would always remain by his side, to care for him and to protect him. You vowed to be his most loyal pillar, against the odds that a life in the Wildfire had to offer.

That promise was made was eight years ago. 

Now as you lie awake on your mattress, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before your next day, you can safely say that you've kept your promise to Sampo pretty well. It's unfortunate that you can't say the same for the one you made with your mother. 

You think you're in love with Sampo Koski.

To be fair, it's quite difficult for you to determine if you truly love him or not due to your lack of previous love life. You don't have much experience hanging out with other people your age, and considering your introverted personality and the fact that you were literally a member of Wildfire, it's obvious that you never had the chance to make many friends, much less date anyone. 

On the other hand, Sampo's quite experienced at seducing pretty much anyone he wants. The innocent little boy you had once consoled is gone, replaced by a flirtatious, irritating (yet still lovable) man. 

You wonder if your mother is yelling 'I TOLD YOU SO ' at you from wherever she is. 

You wish you didn't love him. It would be so much easier for you if you could ignore your thoughts, but you think your heart is going to burst if you keep ignoring the buzzing feeling that comes every time he teasingly slings his arm around your shoulder or pokes you as you try to concentrate on your papers.

It's quite an unfortunate situation you had gotten yourself in. 

It's times like these in the quiet of the night when you let your mind wander a bit. Just enough to wonder what a life with Sampo outside of the Wildfire would be like. From walking to and from school to sharing drinks at cafes to feeding the stray cats near the alleys.

But as soon as the ever-so-familiar ring of your alarm clock hits your ear, you know it's better left as a fever dream. 

To let the dream grow into anything more than it actually is... would only be cruel to your heart.