Under the Mask [Meloghia]

Chapter 2: The Pain of Silence

"That took you guys a while," Formaggio complained as they walked in the door.

"What took you so long?" Illuso prodded.

"It's none of your business, nosy bitch," Ghiaccio snapped as he walked through the doorway and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"We were starting to think you guys might need help," Prosciutto said as he sat at the island looking through files with Pesci.

"The job's done, so what the fuck do you guys care how long it took?" Ghiaccio took a long drink from the bottle and gasped after.

"You're in a pissy mood," Prosciutto remarked. He turned to Melone. "Everything go okay?"

"Yeah, the job was smooth. Never needed Babyface. Ghiaccio had it handled," Melone said evenly. Prosciutto was giving him a look that he couldn't quite decipher.

"I guess that's best since Don Giovanna doesn't like it when you use it," Risotto commented before Melone could give it more thought. Melone shrank into himself a bit. Giorno didn't like the excessive killing that Babyface did to its mothers. Truth was, Babyface didn't need to kill the mothers, it was only when there wasn't time to fully mature could a shortcut be taken when the children absorbed the mother. If there was enough time, the baby could grow with the mother and leave her unharmed which was something he'd tried to explain to Giorno with little understanding. Giorno didn't like Melone, but not many did to be honest. They thought he was creepy because he had no shame.

"No one died besides the target," Melone muttered.

"I bet you were bored out there. What's the fun if you're not breeding, am I right?" Formaggio spat sarcastically. Melone just scowled. Formaggio always made fun of him and usually Melone didn't let it bother him, but now he was trying not to feel so miserable and Formaggio's ridicule wasn't helping. Why did he feel so bad? He'd wanted to do this with Ghiaccio for so long, he should just be happy he got to live out the fantasy. But Ghiaccio wouldn't look at him.

"At least my stand is useful," He shot back. The team always bagged on Formaggio's stand for being useless but he'd never gotten it from Melone before. He was visibly shocked. Even Ghiaccio turned to observe.

"I've killed plenty of people with my stand, and I never have collateral!" Formaggio declared.

"I don't either if I have time to prepare!" Melone argued.

"If planning was your forte, you wouldn't have so many children," Formaggio shot back. Melone was particularly agitated, he'd never let Formaggio get under his skin like this before. He usually was the one that laughed things off while the others fought. The rest of the team noticed. The tension was palpable. He didn't even bother coming up with a comeback. He just turned and walked out of the room.

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"Okay, what the fuck happened?" Prosciutto shot at Ghiaccio.

"Why are you looking at me?" He snapped. He had been just as surprised by Melone's reaction. Melone didn't get into fights. It was Ghiaccio that got into fights while Melone tried to placate him.

"You were with him. Something obviously happened," Prosciutto accused. Ghiaccio tensed, could they tell?

"Nothing happened," Ghiaccio said as he drained the bottle.

"Bullshit," Illuso chortled. "I've never seen Melone that pissed before."

"Yeah, what did you do, Blue?" Formaggio asked.

"Fuck off! I'm not his keeper. If he's upset, it's not my problem!" Ghiaccio seethed.

"Now that doesn't sound very honest..." He heard a voice from the doorway and saw Gelato standing there with Sorbet. After Giorno had defeated the Boss, he'd discovered his Gold Experience Requiem could manipulate time. Ghiaccio didn't understand it but they were told that many of them had died during the fight, but Giorno had been able to reset time, removing Diavolo from the timeline and leaving himself as Don of Passione. He wasn't sure how much of it was bullshit but it did explain how a sixteen year old was leading a criminal organization. It also explained the recurring nightmares he kept having about being stabbed in the throat. He knew it started with the two who had just walked into the room but he couldn't remember the details. Giorno seemed to want to keep it that way and as long as he kept getting paid well, Ghiaccio didn't give a fuck.