A few days have passed since my checkup with the Inspector. It still slightly weirded me out, how he refered to me as "Godly One," but I tried to pay it no attention. I didn't quite get his enthusiasm, as I just tired to brainwash him esentially.
Well, as always, life goes on, even in prison. I've been following the instructions of Halla, as much as I could, but I'd get an occasional weird look from some people. The unnerving thing about these looks, is that I can't quite tell, if they are ill-willed, or stares of admiration. They sorta go both way, so I can't seem to understand the consensus here.
I guess for some of the other inmates, I was probably a sort of prophet, or saviour, the only person who'd stand up to an oppressor. But, at the same time, there were some of Bossman's followers out there. They porbably didn't really like my face all that much.
One day, I was hanging out at the gym, doing my morning excercise. I just managed to get through some early cardio, and was just about to get started on sume push-ups, as someone tapped my back.
"Dan Atys, true? Number 999?" A quite slim and tall, blonde guy started talking to me. I'm pretty sure, if this was some romantic movie, he'd be the main character.
"Yeah. And you?" I replied.
"My name is Francis Ladro, Number 956," he replied, "Could I accompany you, as you do your exercise?" he asked, rather politely. That was sort of a flag, I knew he wanted something, but I ended up accepting. It's not like he can't stay here, even if I said no.
I continued my routine, without paying him any mind. I got down to the floor, and started counting.
One. Two. Three.
"A few days ago, I felt quite sick," he said, "My Mamma told me to stay in bed, if that happend, so I decided to follow the advice."
Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.
"She said, 'Franco, if you feel sick, stay in bed.' You got me?" he continued rather non-chalantly, "Why would I go against my Mamma?"
Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.
"Because of that, I didn't eat breakfast that day. I felt /affamato/ - how do you say? Ah, famished!"
Twenty-five. Twenty-six. Twenty-seven.
"But, I had to listen to my Mamma! I didn't eat that morning. I heard after, it was a good idea."
Thirty-two. Thirty-three. Thirty-four.
"I aslo heard, that a certain newblood was in the middle of the events, that morning," he said.
Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. "Are you one of Sto's men?" I finally asked, stopping my push-ups.
"Oh, no, no. I just heard the stories, and got interested."
"So, what'd you wanna know?" I asked.
"You're power. It's /Tentazione/, right? Erm, [Temptation]?" he said, chilling my blood. Cold sweat started to run down my face. "Ah, don't worry, I'm a fan."
"A fan?" I blurted out, rather loudly. I noticed how a good chunk of people in the gym looked at me weirdly, then turned back to whatever they were doing.
"Well, a fan of your power, not you. Or rather, a fan of yours, and not the power?" he posed a weird rhetorical question to himself, "Ah, 'tis complicated. The reason I'm interested is, well a rather personal reason. You see, we're related."
"Excuse me?" I said, shocked from his ridiculous statement. "How could we possibly be related?"
"No, not like that. Tentazione and I. You see, my great great uncle's grandfather was said to be a wielder of your powers. I simply wish to see it for myself."
This guy is definitely crazy.
"So, you're vaguely related to a person, who so happened to have the same [Power] as I do, and because of that, you'd like to see me use it, or something?" I asked bluntly, "Are you crazy, by any chance?"
"I can see how you would see me that way," he said, "No, I'm not crazy. La Famiglia. That's more important to me, than anything. I do not wish to be in your way, I'd like to offer myself to your services," he proposed.
"See, when some random italian dude, talking about family comes up to you, IN PRISON, mind you, I'm not really one for taking him for his word," I said.
Like hell am I going to accept him as my servant, or anything.
"If you truly are Tentazione, then you should know what I wish for," he said.
Wait, that's something I could do? Like I noticed that some people seem to stand out to me. People with something they wanted to do, yet they did not know how to do it. Like Baulder from the other day. Although I haven't seen him since.
According to the Old Man, my [Power] stems from my [Willpower]. If I used that to focus my power, maybe I'd be able to feel Francis' wishes as well?
"I'm fairly new, to be honest. But I'll give it a shot," I agreed.
"Remember, Mamma said 'Tomatoes don't peel themselves.' Good luck," he offered me advice.
How the hell would that advice be useful?!
I strengthened my will, and focused it on the man in front of me. The more I peered into him, the more I saw. The blurrier it got, the clearer I could see.
I know, that sounds like batshit crazy talk, but that's how it felt.
Suddenly, I found myself on a bridge. I was standing to the side, as I saw a huge amount of people passing by me. Looking around, I could see really old architecture, and even a canal running below me. At some point, I noticed, how everyone sorrounding me looks blurry, and even their shapes don't match a regular human. They looked like shades, or a child's drawing.
Out of the blue, I noticed a man in his fifties, and a young child, with a slim physique, and blonde hair walk in front of me. They seemed to be in a hurry, but for some reason, they stopped right in front of me.
I recognized the child as Francis Ladro, the guy who I just met. Are these his memories? Am I in his past?
Looking at the man, I could notice, that he had a huge bag at his back, and two black pieces of cloth in his hands.
"Now remember Franco, once you put on your mask, you can't back out," he said with a harsh voice. Sounded like someone who lived a long and hard life.
"Yes, Zio," he said, unsure. "Can I meet the Tentazione after?" he said with hopeful eyes.
"Shhh! Don't say that so loud! You'll meet him."
And the vision became blurry.
"Hey! Dan! Tentazione? You okay?" He was shaking me. I guess I passed out?
"Yeah, yeah," I tried to sit up, but with sore muscles it's not the easiest task, "Did you meet him? After going somewhere with this, uhm, Zio fella?" I asked, without much consideration.
"How do you know about that?" He asked rather agitated.
"Sorry... I might've seen your memory," I admitted.
"I... see. Nothing to be done, then. I'll tell you what happened," he gave in," The person you called 'Zio' is my great great uncle. Alessandro Ladro. Famous criminal, maffia boss, that sort of person. Before he became famous though, he was a burglar, and I was helping him, for a favor. I wanted to meet his grandfather," he stopped there for a time, "I didn't know at the time. He had already passed. I don't know which memory you saw, but it doesn't matter. I didn't meet the Previous Tentazione, so I wanted to meet you," he admitted.
"Well, you could meet me, at least. I know what you want now. But what can you offer me in exchange?" I totally just ignored his sob story. I was never a sucker for those.
"I'm a highly skilled sneak, thief, burglar, and your all around cheerful italian cousin!" He said, quite a bit like his own words, cheerfully.
I still don't know if I can trust him, but at the very least I can give him a chance. He sounds somewhat useful, which is not really common nowadays.
"Very well, I don't have any real reasons to say no, so I guess, welcome aboard the Temptation Train," I said, trying to force a smile on as well.
"Don't worry, Tentazione, I won't let you down," he said - rather reassuringly.