Archive of Our Own ^beta

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"Hey Luci! The Genetic Opera's on". LJ shouted at his twin, who was in the bathroom putting rollers in her hair. "Hey, keep it down, brat!". Lorrel, owner of the Sanitarium City orphanage, screeched from her room down the hall. LJ ignored her as his sister sat on the floor near his bed in front of the TV as Blind Mag appeared on the screen.

Luci watched in awe as Mag sang and moved gracefully across the stage. After she finished her song, Rotti Largo's voice rang from a GeneCo commercial. They advertised the usual procedures. Luci squinted at the screen right as Pavi Largo's voice sounded as he advertised GeneCo's advanced corneas. "You think Lorrel would be willing to cough up some money for new corneas, so that way you can stop squinting?" LJ suggested.

"Please, she can barely keep up with her own surgery payments; the last thing I need is to be worried a repo man is going to come after me because she couldn't care to keep up with payments." Luci scoffed before moving to her side of the room so she could go to bed. LJ turned off the TV and settled into his own bed before they both fell asleep.

While things in the orphanage were winding down, things in the GeneCo tower seemed to have been heating up as Rotti was once again berating his children for their public behavior. "This is absolutely absurd! I expect more from fully grown adults such as yourselves." He shouted as his children shared downtrodden looks.

Rotti stared at Luigi specifically in disbelief. He understood his son had anger issues; it was one of the things they both shared. But it was starting to get out of control. Though he may not have shown it, Rotti has faith in Luigi; out of all his siblings, he seemed to be the most worthy of running GeneCo. He had a genuine interest in the business, not just the surgeries and status that came with it.

Which is why it's so disappointing when he continues to ruin his reputation with the public. Public image is very important when running a company. No one wants to support a business run by a man who is widely despised!

"You can all leave." Rotti said it with a dismissive wave. His children stood up bashfully and left, leaving him the opportunity to figure out how to overshadow the recent actions of his offspring.

With Amber's recently pictured encounter with a grave robber and the deceased bodies of women appearing, some without their faces, he had a lot of work to do.

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The next day Luci found herself at the graveyard where she spent most of her days. Lorrel couldn't be bothered to put all of the children in her orphanage in school, so while some of the older kids were being taught in classrooms, the others did what whatever they wanted all day and all night.

Luci and LJ spent their time performing tasks in exchange for money, LJ swept floors at a tattoo shop and Luci cleaned gravestones. The latter of which required a lot more effort due to the mess graverobbers often left behind. This was also why Luci tried to get as many graves clean before sunset, she didn't want to be mistaken for one of them by GenCops that had the tendency to shoot first and ask questions later.

At the current moment, Luci was scrubbing at a headstone when she heard a voice from her far left. "Hey you got my shit or not". A high pitched voice rang. She looked over and spotted none other than Amber Sweet, Rotti Largo's daughter and well known surgery and zydrate addict. "And if I do? You know I don't operate when the sun's up, if you need it so badly go ask your daddy for some". A Male voice sounded.

Luci moved her neck back a little bit to see who that was, it was Graverobber, or at least that's what he was referred to as since no one knew his actual name. Out of all of them in the city he was the most prolific, often appearing on wanted posters and billboards in hopes of catching him.

"That shit doesn't hit as good as yours, come on I'm good for it, I'll pay you double or I can do something else". Amber said suggestively, her hand reaching up to stoke Graverobber's hair. He caught her hand before it would reach him, "I'll take the money, thank you very much". He said with a sarcastic smile and tone.

Amber pouted. "Your no fun". She said as she handed him more money than Luci had ever seen in her life. She continued to watch as he looked around quickly to make sure he wasn't being watched, seemingly not noticing Luci he continued to pull out his zydrate gun and inject her in the neck.

The high seemed to take effect immediately as she began to stumble back to wherever her chauffer was. It wasn't until after Amber left that Graverobber noticed the 11 year old holding a scrub brush and a bottle of liquid soap staring at him.

Luci quickly turned her attention back to the suds in front of her and began scrubbing harder when she noticed he was starting to approach her. "Hey kid". He said quietly enough for only her to hear. She looked up to see him pulling a few Bills from his stash and watched intently as he handed them to her. She took them warily, quickly looking behind her to make sure no one was watching.

He smiled before dashing out of sight, she pocketed the money and sprayed the stone in front of her with water before moving on to the next one. After she was done for the day she counted all her money, usually she made way with $40 dollars at most but with Graverobber's contribution she had a little over $300. This was at least 5 times more than what she and her brother brought in combined. she quickly made her way to the orphanage as the sky began to turn orange.

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When Luci got back to the orphanage, she and her brother decided to pool their money together. "Holy crap, how'd you get all this money?". LJ exclaimed as he counted the bills. "From where I normally get the money, obviously." Luci said she was hoping she wouldn't have to elaborate any further.

"Normally, people don't pay hundreds of dollars to get a headstone cleaned." LJ stated, and Luci finally cracked. "Alright, a graverobber may have given me most of the money." She whispered. "Seriously?, aren't you the one constantly harping on me about not associating with grave robbers?". LJ said with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yes, and I stand by everything I said as well. This was a one-off thing; it's never happening again for either of us." Luci commanded. "Hey brats!". Lorrel screeched. Luci and LJ hid the money under the bed as they heard footsteps approach their room.

Lorrel barged into the room unceremonously. LJ could tell she had gotten another surgery; her lips were too full, her cheekbones were too high, and her nose was too small. "Since you idiots are awake, I have something for you to do." She said.

"What is it?". Luci said she was not in the mood for whatever foolishness Lorrel was about to ask them for. "Good thing you asked Luci; I need you to decorate someone's grave; their son wants it spick and span for the anniversary of their mother's death, which is tomorrow." Lorrel responded. "The only way I'll be able to get that done is if I do it tonight." Luci said.

"Then you better get going now; it's only getting later the more you talk." Lorrel said it snidely with a smirk on her face. "No way, I hate being in graveyards at night!". Luci exclaimed. "Well, that's too damn bad; it's already been paid for, so do it!". Lorrel shouted back before slamming the door closed as she left. "Urrg!". Luci groaned in anger as she got up to get her supplies.

LJ just looked at his sister, trying to think of a way to make things better. "You want me to go with you?". He offered. Luci shook her head in decline. "Nah, it'll be easier to just go by myself.". Luci said, grabbing some of her money. "Hide the rest of that stuff; the minute Lorrel spots it, she'll turn up with a new spleen." Luci joked before leaving.

Rotti was currently driving to the graveyard to see Marni. In trying times such as this one, where he had a lot on his mind, Marni could always calm him down. The car was parked in a blind spot. With his bodyguards and their rifles in tow, he went on his way.

Luci scrubbed hard at the headstone in front of her, which was hard to do with only one hand. She held a flashlight in the other hand in order to clearly see what was ahead of her. Even with streetlights and the lights from the big screens that littered the city, it was still difficult to see at night. Especially for her, as her eyesight seemed to be getting worse day by day.

After Rotti was done visiting Marni's grave, he began to walk back to his car. As he was walking, he noticed a flash of light come from the far right of the cemetery. The most plausible answer for this would be a graverobber, and if that were the case, he had no reason to waste his energy; the GenCops could deal with it. But Rotti knew even the most imbecilic of criminals knew not to make themselves this obvious with bright flashes of light.

Perhaps he should go see what was going on over there; after all, he wasn't in any rush to get back to whatever messes his children had caused in his absence.

Luci could hear footsteps approaching her direction, and she tried to ignore them as she reached for her water sprayer. They're probably just passing by; it's not like she's doing anything wrong for people to approach her. The footsteps stopped after a little, so she relaxed slightly, not knowing she was being watched.

Rotti stood in place as he watched what seemed to be a little girl kneel by the headstone. Why was she out so late? Where are her parents? He couldn't help but feel sympathy for the child, so he decided to make his presence known.

"Good evening". Rotti's voice rang, causing Luci to jump in surprise. She immediately put her hands up in surrender. "I'm not a graverobber; please don't shoot!". She shouted. Rotti smiled sadly. "You have no need to worry, child; I am sorry if I have scared you." He apologized.

"It's ok,". Luci spoke to the male voice ahead of her. She squinted, trying to make out his shape in the darkness. She could recognize his voice, but she couldn't remember from where. Rotti walked forward as he noticed her squinting. This shouldn't be a problem; most children get new corneas even if they don't have eyesight problems.

As he moved closer, she began to make out his face shape as he reached his hand towards her free one to shake. "Wait, your-". Luci started before trailing off at the realization.

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"Rotti Largo, yes". He finished for her. Her expression became awestruck. She was talking to Rotti Largo! She was shaking hands with Rotti Largo!

Rotti took in her face and noticed how much she resembled Amber, or what Amber used to be. "And what is your name?". He asked mainly to distract himself from reminiscing.

"Luci, well Luciana is my full name but it's easier to just call me Luci, you probably didn't really care about that last bit but it felt necessary to include". Luci rambled before completing. The bodyguards behind Rotti looked at each other in amusement that didn't show on their faces.

"Well it's nice to meet you Luci, may I ask, how come a young girl such as yourself is out so late on your own?". Rotti questioned. "Well-". Luci started to respond before her watch went off with a message from Lorrel.

"Get your ass home now! It shouldn't take that long to clean a fucking grave!". Lorrel's irritating voice rang from the watch. Luci looked back at Rotti in embarrassment. "I should get going". Luci said going to collect all her stuff.

"Perhaps I could take you home, it is awfully late for you do he walking home". Rotti offered. "Um I don't know, it's not that far from here, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you". Luci said. "I trust you, it's no inconvenience to me, I insist". Rotti ensured, if only in an attempt drag out his time away from his kids.

Luci looked down at her watch, it was almost 11PM. "Um, alright". She responded. Rotti smiled as he lead her to the car. Once she told his driver the location of the orphanage their journey began.

The ride was silent as she sat between the blue lipped ladies with guns at their sides. Once the ride came to an end she quickly shifted from in between the 2 to leave. She waved back at Rotti as she opened the door to go back inside, that of which he waved back.

Rotti smiled as the car window rolled back up, that smile however quickly left his face as his personal assistant began to ring his watch. "What have they done now?". Rotti answered assuming the worse. "Um, their arguing again sir-". A glass broke in the background as multiple voices shouted. "You might want to get back soon". The assistant's voice rang in worry.

Rotti sighed and signaled to his driver to bring him home.

Once he arrived back in his office, he was immediately greeted with the sound of his eldest screaming. "WHEN DAD PASSES GENECO TO ME ILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!". Luigi screamed.

Pavi just laughed, pissing off Luigi even more. "Oh fratello, you-a already do that-a for me and-a everyone else for that-a matter". He responded in his obviously fake accent. Luigi whipped out his knife .

"Children! What is the meaning of this!". Rotti interjected before things got even more out of hand. The brothers looked up at their father in shock of his presence. "Look at the 2 of you!, grown men bickering like teenagers!". Rotti admonished.

While Pavi's mask kept his embarrassment concealed, Luigi looked downright bashful. Rotti couldn't help but note how much his son's expression matched the little girl's from earlier. "Get out of my sight". Rotti dismissed without another word.

After the 2 men left Rotti sat down behind his desk. Where did he go wrong as a parent? How did he end up with such embarrassing children? How can the man that saved millions not know how to fix his children?

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Once Luci got into the house, she was greeted by the scratchy, chain-smoking voice of Lorrel. "Who the hell was that?". She asked skeptically. "No one you need to know about". Luci sassed as she tried to get back to her room. But, before she could Lorrel snatched her by the arm.

"Hey!, you don't get to disrespect me you little bitch. Now look, I don't need random people popping around my orphanage because you were too stupid to know not to accept rides from strangers". Lorrel complained. "Now get up stairs!". She commanded.

Luci snatched away from Lorrel and went upstairs. She came into the room filled with rage, as much rage as an 11 year old body could hold that is, as she ripped off her coat.

"Hey where's the fire?". LJ voice rang shocking her. She was getting really sick of being jump scared. "Please never do that again". Luci responded in annoyance. "Sorry, hey what were you and Lorrel arguing about this time?". He asked. "How could you hear us from all the way down stairs?". She questioned.

"Lorrel's screeching is audible from the moon, it's kinda hard not to hear her". LJ explained. Luci did laugh at that. "But seriously, what happened?". He asked. "You might not believe me when I tell you". Luci said. "Oh please, it can't be that extreme". LJ tried to reason.

"Rotti Largo gave me a ride home". Luci blerted out quickly. She watched LJ's expression change from calm to complete shock. "That is a little extreme". LJ responded.

Luci then proceeded to tell LJ the events of her night at a speed so fast he could barely understand her. "Ok so clarification, you had just finished cleaning a headstone when The Rotti Largo randomly appeared, then Lorrel messaged you and he offered to have his driver take you home, which you accepted". LJ explained.

Luci nodded as she finished putting rollers in her hair. "Yep". "I'm gonna need a few hours of sleep to process that, goodnight". LJ said as he buried himself in his covers. Luci moved to turn off the light. "Goodnight". She said quietly.

The next day came in the form of a GENtern screaming at the top of her lungs in fear. "I NEED A NEW FUCKING SHIRT". A male voice shouted. Luigi was not having a good morning, then again when did he ever have a good morning. He felt the need to get out of the GeneCo tower, which is what he did, after he got his shirt.

LJ woke up at around 10:45 AM. He had to get to the tattoo shop, he looked to his sister and noticed she was still asleep. He figured it was best not to wake her up, she would know where he was. As he walked onto the street he kept thinking about what Luci had told him last night.

He was in such a deep thought he didn't notice the man in a pinstripe suit walking in the opposite direction towards him.

Luigi collided with something and his anger spiked, he reach for his knife as he turned around. "Hey, sorry 'bout that Mr. Largo". A voice rang. Luigi looked back, it was just a kid. He calmed down a bit. "Just watch where your going next time, aren't you supposed to be in school?". He asked, not really knowing why he cared.

"I don't go to school, I work in the tattoo shop". LJ said quickly, not really understanding why the eldest Largo child was talking to him. The man looked at him confused but didn't question further. "Alright, pay more attention on the street next time, okay?". Luigi told him. "Okay". LJ nodded.

Luigi nodded and walked away. What kind of asshat parents let their kid 'work' in a tattoo shop instead of being in school?

LJ attempted to figure out what just happened but remembered he had to be at work. He wondered what Luci would think when he told her what happened.

When Luci woke up, she could tell something was wrong. Nothing seemed different around her, other than the fact that everything looked even more blurry, but still something didn't feel right.

She immediately went to check her and LJ's money stash. She moved the small bookshelf next to the window, moved a deliberately placed poster that revealed a large hole in the wall, and pulled out an empty jar.

She threw the jar onto the floor. She immediately stormed her way to Lorrel's room but found it locked.

She banged at the door, loud enough you could hear it across the house.

Lorrel could hear sound coming from her bedroom door from inside the passage way. "Looks like you have company". Graverobber said counting the money she had just handed him. "Fuck that, gimme my hit already!". Lorrel demanded. He rolled his eyes as he reached for his zydrate gun. He placed it against her neck and the gun went off.

She quickly retreated back into the room and closed the door the the passage way and attempted to place her mirror in front of it. Ironically that was the moment the zydrate started to take effect. The mirror was slanted enough you could tell the door was there but she wasn't able to care.

She staggered to the door as Luci continued to slam on it. "What do you want, brat?". Lorrel slurred as she opened the door. "Where the hell is my money!". Luci shouted. "What the fuck are you talking about?". Lorrel asked getting sick of this conversation.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about". Luci yelled, then she noticed Lorrel swaying a little, similarly to how she had seen Amber Sweet sway after her encounter with Graverobber. "Oh my god, your high! Your using our money on zydrate! Are you kidding me!". Luci exclaimed.

"Shut up, you don't know what your talking about and even if you did, you live in my house, anything in this house belongs to me, including whatever money you make. Now get out of my face". Lorrel commanded before slamming the door.

"URRRG!". Luci growled in frustration. She immediately stormed out of the house after changing her clothes and grabbing her jacket, not wanting to be in the same house as Lorrel any longer. She had to message her brother.

LJ was in the middle of sweeping when his watch went off. "Hey Luci, what's up?". "She stole our money". Luci responded menacingly. "What?". LJ responded, internal alarms activated. "That bitch Lorrel stole our money and used it to buy street zydrate". Luci said voice starting to shake.

"I'll be there as soon as possible". LJ said, but Luci refused. "No, stay, we need the money anyway". She said before abruptly ending the call. "Luci?, you still there?". LJ asked before turning off his watch and going back to sweeping as he thought of a way to make this situation better.

Rotti watched the cemetery from his office through the security cameras. He noticed a familiar shape coming into view. He saw the little girl from the night before sit on the steps in front of Marni's grave. She appeared to be distressed as she buried her face in her hands. His heart broke for the little girl.

Rotti soon heard his youngest son come up from the elevator. "Hello-a papa". Pavi greeted. "What do you need now, Pavi". Rotti asked. "I come to show the the Pavi's new face, isn't it bellissimo". Pavi asked waiting for his father's approval. "Yes, Pavi it's very nice". Rotti responded. Luigi then also entered the office.

"Hey clear out shit brain, I need to talk to pops". Luigi said to his brother. "Papa is already-a busy with the Pavi. Brother can pester-a him some other-a time". Pavi said antagonizing his brother. "I told you to leave, asshole". Luigi said menacingly.

They continued to argue, seemingly forgetting their father was in the room, much to Rotti's irritation. He was sick of his offspring acting like toddlers. He was then reminded of an actual child who seemed to be having a bad day and decided to leave his office.

His sons didn't notice he was gone until his driver was already half way to the cemetery.

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Luci sat in the cemetery with her face in her hands and knees to her chest in an attempt to offer herself comfort. Angry tears spilled out as she heard footsteps coming near her.

They seemed less ominous due to it being day time but she still tried to ignore them. She eventually did look over to see none other than Rotti Largo and his body guards walking her way.

As the little girl he now knew as Luci looked up at him he was able to take in what she looked like. She had dark brown shoulder length hair in tight curls. She also had big brown eyes that in this moment were filled with sadness.

"Hey Mr. Largo, you sure spend a lot of time in graveyard, don't you?". She said with a smile in an attempt to be comedic, even as tears continued to stain her face. Rotti laughed anyway. "I could say the same to you. May I ask what brings you here this time?". Rotti then asked.

Luci whipped the tears off her face before she spoke. "It's too much to bother you with". She said. "I have all the time the world". Rotti said before smiling. As stated before the more time away from his kids bickering the better.

They went to a diner and when they got there Luci immediately went on a rant. "Next thing I knew all my money was gone. And for what it's not like she needed the money, the government pays her to take care of us, if what she does even counts as taking care of us". Luci said as she attempted to shake ketchup out of its glass bottle onto her fries.

"I mean everyone just runs wild in that place. Most of us aren't even in school, the only ones that are in school are the ones who were enrolled before they got to the orphanage. They had to pretty much teach us everything. All she does is get surgery, drink and smoke. oh, and get high on street zydrate". Luci said as her frustration with Lorrel grew, alongside her frustration with the ketchup bottle.

Rotti then listened in more interest. "She buys illegal zydrate?". He asked. "Yup. She has this secret passage way in her room behind this obnoxiously big mirror that she thinks no one knows about and she meets up with grave robbers through it. You know, when I confronted her about taking my money she opened the door high out of her mind. Can you believe that! Using my money to get high then having the audacity to say she had every right to do such a thing because I live in her house so my money is her money!". She said taking a moment to stop shaking the ketchup bottle to gesture wildly.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this because you probably don't care and probably have much more super important things to do other than hear me complain and I'm sorry I'm taking up so much of your time but I'm just so frustrated and sad and WHY ISN'T THE KETCHUP COMING OUT!". Luci yelled in a level of anger Rotti had only seen from his eldest son Luigi.

Luci put the ketchup down and placed her head in her hands in order to calm herself down. She was pulsating with anger. "I'm sorry Mr.Largo, I don't know why I got so angry". She said apologetically. Rotti waved his hand dismissively. "It is fine, I'vle seen my fair share of outbursts. After all I have Luigi for a son". Rotti said in hopes of lighting up the mood.

Luci smiled a little at the joke. "How about we talk about something positive instead, what are some of the things you enjoy?". Rotti asked. "Okay, well I like Blind Mag, but then again who doesn't". Luci said, her face instantly lighting up. An idea then came to Rotti's mind.

"That is true, did you know she's performing tonight?". He then revealed. She nodded fast. "Yeah, I can't wait to watch it on the genetic opera". She said in excitement. Rotti smiled. "How would you like to watch her in person?". He said watching as she tried to process what he just asked her.

"What do you mean?". Luci asked hoping what she had heard was what she thought he was implying. "What I mean is, I am personally inviting you to watch Blind Mag's performance in person, if you would like to go". Rotti said as he saw the girls eyes light up in excitement and joy.

"Yes! Of course I would". She said quickly. "Great, I'll arrange to have my driver pick you up and bring you to the venue". Rotti said at her confirmation. "Oh, can I bring my brother as well, he loves Blind Mag too". Luci asked. "Of course, the more the merrier". Rotti allowed, the less kids near that woman the better in his opinion.

"Yay, I gotta go find my brother he's probably getting off work right now, bye Mr. Largo". She said flinging out of the booth and running towards the door before waving wilding. Rotti chuckled at the child's excitability.

LJ was greeted by the sight of Luci running towards him, seemimgly happy. "Oh my god, you won't believe what just happened. Something awesome just happened. This is officially the best day ever!". Luci said with a speed that was almost incomprehensible. "Woah, slow down a bit. What happened?". LJ asked before sitting on the bench.

LJ was then tasked with trying his hardest to keep up with what Luci was telling him as she continued to tell him the events of her day. They were both so enthralled that they hadn't noticed Rotti Largo watching them from the safety of his car.

Rotti inspected the boy that sat next to Luci. He looked almost identical except for the fact that his hair was short and straight and he had blue eyes instead of brown, this must be her brother. He also noticed that this boy did not look old enough to have even reached double digits let alone hold a job.

"So then after my minor mental breakdown, Rotti invited us to go see Blind Mag's live performance tonight! Can you believe it!". Luci exclaimed before grabbing her brothers shoulders and shaking him. "It is a shocking thing. Do you even think Lorrel will let us go?". LJ asked.

Luci rolled her eyes, "please, she probably so far gone on a zydrate binge she can barely remember her own name". Luci scoffed. LJ laughed a little. They then stood up from the bench holding each others shoulders. "It's ironic how the day could start off so awful but become so great". LJ added with a smile as they began to walk home.

The twins then arrived back at the orphanage. "You think Lorrel's in her room?". LJ asked, hoping Luci would pick up on his hint. "Probably not, wanna go check just in case?". Luci asked understanding clearly. LJ nodded and they began to trek up the stairs walking past the other kids.

Once they noticed no one else was upstairs they walked up to Lorrel's bedroom door. Luci reached for the handle and turned it open. The door opened easily, a clear sign she was not inside the room as she normally kept it locked. "You think she hid our money in here?". Luci questioned. "If she didn't spend it all maybe, let's look". LJ suggested.

He locked the door so that they couldn't get caught. They searched every corner of the room. Under the bed, in the closet, bathroom drawers, they even managed to move the gigantic mirror and revealed the passage way. They hadn't found their money, but they did find something else among the mess of clothes and empty alcohol bottles strewn across the floor.

"What's this thing?". LJ asked as he picked up a small velvet box. "Let's open it and see". Luci said. LJ opened the box that revealed a set of silver stud earrings. "Woah". LJ said. They heard the front door opening and looked around the room to make sure everything was in place before leaving the room going into their own, earrings in hand.

Before they closed their door however, they spotted Lorrel stumbling up the stairs and LJ could immediately smell cheap scotch, an immediate tell tale sign she had been out day drinking, most likely with their money. Once they heard Lorrel lock her door, with some struggle due to her impaired state, they in turn closed and locked their door.

"What do we do now?". LJ wondered aloud. "We could pawn the earrings, they might not be real diamonds but at least well get some money back". Luci suggested as she held the box in her hand. "I don't think they let 11 year old pawn things, maybe you could keep them and wear them to Mag's performance". LJ suggested cheerfully. "My ears aren't even pierced". Luci stated.

LJ then thought of something. "I can do it". He said walking across the room to where Luci kept her sewing kit. "I don't know". She said, uncertainty filling her voice. "It'll be fine, I've seen the people in the tattoo shops do it a million times, come on". LJ said retrieving a wash cloth from the bathroom and running it under the cold water.

Luci sat on the bed, watching as LJ pulled a needle from the sewing kit. She moved her hair from around her ears. LJ lined the needle up to her right earlobe and pushed in with no warning leaving no room for Luci to reconsider. Luci winced in pain and squeezed her eyes closed as the needle pierced through her ear, blood appeared as her brother pulled the needle out and replaced it with the earring.

She breathed a small sigh of relief as the cold rag hit her bloody ear. "See, that wasn't that bad now was it?". LJ teased a little to which Luci side eyed him. "Real funny, I'll ask you the same question when I'm sticking needles in your ears". She said with a begrudging smile. "Ha ha, lucky for you I only have to do one more ear". LJ reminded and Luci groaned in defeat.

After they were done piercing Luci's ears, LJ began to clean them with saltwater and a q-tip. "You gotta keep these in for a few weeks and clean around them so your ears don't get infected". He explained, remembering some of the things he heard from inside the tattoo shop.

"How do they look?". Luci asked proudly showing her ears. "Great, how long do you think it'll be until Lorrel notices they're gone?". LJ asked in turn. "With how much she's been drinking, I'll be sure surprised if she notices before dying of alcohol poisoning". Luci said

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Soon Rotti was back at the GeneCo tower making arrangements for his guests. He then called his eldest son to his office.

"Hey pops, where'd ya go earlier?". Luigi asked as he entered his father's office. "I was attending to some business, what was it you wanted to talk about earlier?". Rotti explained and then asked in return.
"Well, I wanted to tell you about this kid I bumped into today". Luigi started.

"What did you do now Luigi?". Rotti asked in immediate concern. Luigi put his hands up in surrender. "I didn't do anything!, promise! It was just the strangest thing though, I asked the kid why he wasn't in school and he tells me he's never been. I mean who doesn't send their kid to school". Luigi finished, disbelief ever present in his voice.

Rotti just shook his head. "It's a shame what this world has come to. So many technological advancements yet still people can't figure out how to properly parent children". Rotti finished, somewhat talking to himself as well as admonishing the bad parents of Sanatarium. Lol

He then thought of a particular set of children and an idea came to his mind. "Luigi, do you mind doing me a favor before the show?". He asked his son.

"When do you think wear gonna leave for the opera?". LJ asked. "I don't know, I guess we'll find out when we find out". Luci said before her watch went off with a message from Rotti.

She answered it immediately and his voice boomed from the device. "Hello Luci, my driver is waiting for you outside, he'll bring you and your brother to the tower before the performance, I have something for both there". Rotti said in the message.

Luci and LJ immediately grabbed their coats and sprinted down the stairs to where a very nice car was parked. The driver stood at the door of the car and opened it for the twins to get inside.

"Unfortunately, I will not be able to meet with you myself before the show. I've had someone else stationed there to make sure you both get to the theater safely, so you have no reason to worry". Rotti continued as the car began to travel out from in front of the orphanage.

Soon the message finished and the pair sat buzzing with excitement. "Who do you think's gonna be there at the tower". LJ asked. "Hopefully not Pavi, he gives me the creeps". Luci said shuddering a little. LJ laughed at her reaction.

As they sat in the car they watched, or at least tried to watch in Luci's case, as floating screens displayed advertisements, as posters lined the street, as well as how zydrate addicts stood in alleyways waiting for their fix. Luci squinted at the sight not in an attempt to see but in disgust.

"How could people do that to themselves?", She thought. She tried to ignore them as Bronco continued to drive through the street.

Soon the car came to a stop and the twins sat in the car as Bronco got out and went to open the door to let them out. Once Luci aand LJ stepped out of the car, they felt a minor sense of suspense as they followed Bronco inside of the tower.

The elevator ride felt like it lasted an eternity, the silence was heavy and a little scary. It reminded LJ of something out of a horror movie, as if someone would appear with a knife and would just start slashing at people.

Ironically when the elevator came to a stop and opened, everyone in it was greeted to the sight of Luigi Largo bent over a GENtern's bloody body holding a bloody knife next to a broken coffee cup and 2 other GENterns holding wrapped up boxes.

When Luigi finally noticed the now worried looking children he immediately stood up and adjusted himself slightly. Then he looked at the male twin. "Your the little boy I ran into earlier, right". He asked in the same tone he used during his initial meeting with the boy. LJ nodded. "Yep, that was me". He then said voice surprisingly nonchalant.

Luigi nodded back before remembering what he was originally there for. Attempting to greet them as friendly as he could, still holding his knife. "So, um, dad wanted me to watch over you during the performance, so you 2 take these and go with them while I go get a new shirt and we head on out". Luigi said as he passed the 2 boxes to Luci.

The twins went on with the 2 GENterns who led them to a room with 2 changing curtains and a small table between them. One went with LJ while the other went with Luci and placed one of the boxes on the other side of the table.

The GENterns opened the boxes that revealed matching black outfits, Luci's a sparkly tulle dress and LJ's a black suit with similar silver sparkles. They were soon changed into the expensive outfits. Luci's outfit was completed with a mesh headress and LJ's complete with a black bowtie.

They were soon brought back to Luigi, who was no longer holding a knife or wearing a bloody shirt, and stood waiting further instructions. "There we are, you 2 are... real sparkly". Luigi said awkwardly as he looked at the 2 children. "Well , let's get a move on". Luigi said as he ushered the kids back into the elevator.

The ride down felt more awkward than suspenseful. Eventually they were back in the limo, Luigi and the twins on opposite sides facing each other, though they weren't looking at each other. LJ was looking down at his shoes and Luigi looking back and forth from the window to his hands. Luci just looked at the both of them before looking at the window, or, again, trying too.

Luckily the car ride wasn't very long so the awkwardness didn't last. Instead the awkwardness was replaced with anxiety inducing chaos when they were bombarded with flashing lights from the cameras the paparazzi were using to catch pictures of one of the infamous Largo children.

Luigi stepped out of the car first. "Hey, hold my hands so you don't get lost". He instructed the twins and they did as he said with no argument. The cacophony of noise was overwhelming to say the least.

Luigi's reputation came in handy when it came to reporters not blocking the trio's path, as doing otherwise risking getting stabbed. Which Luigi was rather thankful for, he may have wanted to teach these peasants a lesson about getting in his way but he didn't want to scar 2 children for life in the process.

Once they did get into the theater, they were ushered to their seats in the front of the audience. Unfortunately these seats were right next to the younger Largo brother, Pavi, who had a pretty lady in his lap at the current moment.

"Hello fratello, finally decided to-a disgrace everyone with your-a presence". Pavi snarked. Then he noticed the 2 children at his brother's sides. "And who are-a these little-a rugrats". He then said looking primarily at Luci, who squeezed Luigi's hand in mild fear.

Luigi looked at Pavi in disgust. "These are some guests dad invited, this is, uh, what's your name again". Luigi asked. "Oh, it's LJ, nice to meet you Mr. Largo". LJ said to the older man.

"Hmm, and what is your name, bambina?". Pavi asked Luci as he unceremoniously flung the pretty lady off of his lap to crouch down near her, seemimgly inspecting her face. "Um, it's Luci, short for Luciana". Luci said, very clearly uncomfortable. "A pretty name for a pretty little girl such as yourself". Pavi said. Luci then mimicked Luigi's look of disgust.

"Leave her be, Paviche". A third voice proclaimed in a calm tone. The group turned around to see Rotti and, of course, his blue lipped body guards. Pavi backed off immediately and Luci flight or fight deactivated. Rotti smiled at the younger children.

"Hello, Luci and you must be LJ". Rotti greeted, holding his hand out for a handshake. "Yep, nice to meet you sir". LJ responded with a hand shake. "Let's get seated, shall we?". Rotti instructed walking ahead while Luigi walked alongside the twins. "You ok, kid?". He asked. "Yeah, not to be mean but your brother's kind of a creep". Luci said before she could think about it. "Luci!". LJ exclaimed quietly. "Sorry". Luci apologized. Luigi actually laughed at the insult. "Don't worry kid, your not wrong by a long shot". He agreed as they sat in the front row of the theater.

Soon the lights dimmed and a loud voice boomed from the speakers spread throughout the place. "Now presenting, the voice of GeneCo, Blind Mag!". The announcer shouted. LJ spotted one of the few cameras allotted in the theater move in closer to the stage, but soon switched his attention back to the stage once the curtains drew and the soprano came into view.

Decked out in a navy-blue dress with lighter blue crystals dangling on it as Mag began to sing the title track of her album. Luci squinted as hard as she could to see the beautiful woman, even if it didn't help much, she was still smiling at her idol on the stage. LJ watched with just as much interest and for the next 30 minutes their eyes remained glued to the stage as Mag preformed.

Chapter Text

Soon the curtains closed after a cacophony of applause and the light came back on in the theater. Ironically though while the performance was finished, a certain heiress was just arriving.

Amber walked into the theater in a vibrant pink ensemble. With it she wore a pink wig and had brand new hot pink corneas. Her look was definitely not right for the current event, but it was sure to shake magazines for at least a week after.

However, it seemed the patriarch of the family was not very happy to see his very late daughter. "Amber, where exactly have you been all night?". Rotti asked sternly. "I was busy, besides, it's not like I missed much". Amber said obviously referring to her distaste for mag and her singing. Rotti simply sighed at his daughter, why does she have to be so frivolous.

When Amber looked down slightly, she finally noticed the 2 younger kids. "Who're the toddlers?". she asked bluntly. "These are-a 2 guests papa invited to see-a Mag preform, LJ and Luciana". Pavi said with dramatic flair. "Or, just Luci, nice to meet you Ms. Sweet". Luci corrected, slightly glaring back at Pavi, LJ just waved. Amber acknowledge them with a passive nod, clearly getting bored of this conversation.

Soon Mag came back out into the theater, her dress now a deep burgundy as she greeted everybody she was walking past while making her way towards the Largo family. "Ah Mag, another great performance as usual". Rotti complimented. "Thank you, Rotti". Mag responded, then she notices the 2 children.

"And who are they?". She asked. "This is LJ and Luci; they're big fans of you". Rotti introduced. "Well, hello, it is nice to meet you both". Mag said shaking LJ's hand and then Luci's hand, that of which Luci returned with an excited squeeze.

"Oh my god, hi, I really like your music, well, I love your music, your kinda one of my favorite people on earth and wow your blurry". Luci said in an excited fast pace. Mag simply smiled at the little girl's excitement.

A reporter had approached them with her camera man. "Hi Mr. Largo would you and The voice of GeneCo mind answering a few questions for the viewers at home". The Reporter lady asked. "Of course". Rotti responded before whispering to his eldest son. "Make sure the twins get home safe". He stated and Luigi nodded in understanding.

"Alright kids, time to go". Luigi proclaimed. "Oh Fratello, let them stay, I'm-a sure the bambina wouldn't mind spending more-a time with the Pavi". Pavi stated reaching out to touch Luci's face.

Luci dogged his hand. "Yeah, we should go home, Lorrel might throw a hissy fit if she notices we're not there, if she's not still in a drunken stupor". Luci said, muttering that last part only loud enough for LJ to hear. "Well, that settles it, Let's go". Luigi said with barely hidden amusement at seeing his brother get rejected by a literal child.

As soon as they left the theater they were once again bombarded with flashing cameras, but still they made it into the car somewhat swiftly anyway. Since Bronco already knew the address the orphanage, he was able to take them straight there.

As the car seemed to get closer to the orphanage the former joy and excitement Luci had soon turned into dread as she thought about having to possibly deal with Lorrel. Eventually they pulled up in front of the place, Luigi could hear the commotion coming from inside of the building while still in the car.

Luigi decided he wanted to check the place out and see how shitty it was for himself, so when the twins got out of the car, he followed them as they went to unlock the door. The twins didn't question it and opened the door.

Immediately after they walked in Lorrel was already storming down the stairs, ready to rip the twins a new one. "Where the hell were you 2". She screeched and LJ facepalmed in embarrassment. Then Lorrel noticed Luigi.

"Hello, Mr. Largo, what are you doing here". She said, voice dripping with artificial sweetness that made Luci want to scoff. "Dropping them off, I'll be on my way now". Luigi said not wanting to talk to that peasant anymore, he looked back at the orphanage and considered going back inside for some reason, not wanting to leave those children with a woman who seemed like an absolute fucking bitch who shouldn't be left with children for any reason necessary.

But he did anyway, leaving the twins to deal with the aftermath of their outing.

Lorrel pushed past the 2 and saw the familiar car depart from in front of the orphanage. She locked the door all the way and turned back to the twins.

"Look, I already told your little ass that I don't need randos snooping around my orphanage, especially not any Largos". She said specifically to Luci. "Now, if that car comes by this place a 3rd time, I promise to make both your lives a living hell from there on out". Lorrel threatened.

"More than you do already?". LJ remarked. That was swiftly met with a quick slap across his face. "Don't sass me you little shit, I get enough lip from your sister and I damn sure don't need it from you. Now, get upstairs". Lorrel commanded.

"What the hell is wrong with you!". Luci shouted as her brother clutched his face. "You're what's wrong with me! You two cause me way too much fucking trouble and if it weren't for the fact that I was getting paid to keep you, id dump you right out onto the street! Now, I'm not gonna say it again, GET UPSTAIRS!" Lorrel then shouted.

The twins went upstairs not wanting to deal with Lorrel any longer. "Why does she have to be such a bitch all the time!". Luci complained. "Because she can be, that's all Shes ever been good at and what did she mean by being paid to keep us?". LJ responded and asked.

"I don't know, what I do know is that I'm sick of her and this godforsaken orphanage, I mean what's stopping us from running away, it's not like she'd come looking for us". Luci proclaimed.

"Maybe the fact that we're 2 eleven-year-olds with no other place to go and no money because Lorrel stole all of it". LJ deadpanned while running a wash cloth under cold water and placing it on his face, where it was staring to turn a pinkish-purple color.

"I shouldn't have let her do that". Luci said quietly. "Luci be so serious, what could you have done to stop her?". LJ asked her. "I don't know, but I could've done something". She responded, feeling guilty.

"Luci, you already stick up for both of us more than most of the kids in this place including myself have against that witch, and you've dealt with the consequences of that too". LJ said, prompting Luci to look back at her shoulder.

There was where a fading light purple bruise stood from when Lorrel had pushed her into a wall after Luci had called her drunken mess.

"The least I can do is take one slap for finally taking up for us". LJ stated feeling somewhat proud of himself for not standing on the sidelines for once.

"I appreciate that, especially considering the fact that as the eldest sibling I'm supposed to stick up for us". Luci teased. LJ scoffed. "You're older than me by a few seconds at most". LJ laughed. "It still counts". Luci joked with jovial smile.

"Hey! Lights out ya little shits!". Lorrel screeched one last time before going back to her room. The twins let out sighs of annoyance but soon got ready for bed.

The next morning the twins resumed their normal daily routine of getting ready for work at the tattoo shop and graveyard, meanwhile at the GeneCo tower, Luigi had decided to do some work of his own.

"Hey Pops, you think you can contact the research team on the 5th floor". Luigi asked his father after entering his office. "May I ask what for?". Rotti asked, wondering what his son was up to now. "You know those orphans from last night, I'm gonna see if they have any living relatives that could take them in". Luigi explained.

Rotti looked up as his eldest in surprise. "That is, actually very thoughtful of you Luigi. What prompted such a thing?". Rotti praised and then question. "I don't really know, I guess that place just seemed really shitty, so the more kids out of there the better". Luigi responded as he didn't have much of a real reason to care other than not liking the way that lady had talked to them last night.

Rotti seemed satisfied with his answer anyway and offered him more praise. "Good on you son, I appreciate the effort you're putting into this and I'm sure they will too". He acknowledged. Luigi was practically glowing with pride at this point. "Thanks". Luigi responded before hopping back onto the elevator.

By the time Luigi had made it to the tattoo shop, LJ was in the middle of wiping down the counters of the place, he started doing this in tandem with sweeping for a little extra cash.

When the bell of the door rang as it opened LJ's head snapped up. "Oh, hey Mr. Largo". LJ said as Luigi walked closer to him. The first thing Luigi seemed to notice was the now purplish bruise on top of LJ's cheek. "What the hell happened to your face". Luigi asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Anyways what did ya' need". LJ piped up wanting to change the subject as soon as possible. Luigi decided to disregard the bruise for now as he had more important matters at hand. "I need you to come with me, we need to find your sister as well". Luigi stated.

"I don't know if I can leave work this early". LJ stated. But the boss of the shop had appeared seemingly out of know where. "It's fine, you go along with Mr. Largo". The inked-up man said, most likely wanting to get the dangerous Largo out of his shop.

"Well, I guess I could go then". LJ said putting down the wet cloth and taking off his rubber gloves to grab his jacket.

Soon they left and were making their way back down the sidewalk. "So where exactly would your sister be?". Luigi asked. "Probably at the graveyard, I can show you which one". LJ said setting off down the street, while Luigi followed behind him, wondering what the hell that child was doing in a graveyard.

As LJ led the older man into the graveyard, he looked around a bit and quickly spotted his twin. "There she is". LJ said as he pointed out his sister, who was currently scrubbing at a headstone.

Now that was downright pitiful, what child spends their day scrubbing tombs. Thank god Luigi never had to do anything like that when he was their age.

Then Luigi and LJ approached her, Luigi deciding to alert her of his presence. "Hey kid!". He exclaimed. Luci looked up immediately and squinted to see who called out for her. She recognized her brother but she was only able to make out Luigi due to remembering his voice.

"Hi Mr. Largo". Luci greeted. "Get your stuff, you're coming with me". Luigi informed her in a tone that left no room for discussion, so she quickly packed up and followed him out of the graveyard along side her brother.

"Where are we going?". LJ asked. "We're going to see if you have any living family members that can take you out of that shithole". Luigi stated.

"You probably wont find anything, Lorrel makes it a point to tell us that any family members we have are probably dead and the ones that aren't don't want us". Luci said in a pessimistic tone. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see, wont we?". Luigi responded as they stepped onto the GeneCo elevator.

Once the elevator stopped on the 5th floor, they were immediately greeted by a GENtern. "Hello Mr. Largo". She said in a slightly over enthusiastic voice.

Luigi didn't greet her back and instead directed his attention to the twins. "I'm here for these 2". He stated simply. "Ah yes, your father has already informed us, follow me". She directed them.

The trio followed her into a room where a male sat in front of a computer. "Hello, I'm Mr. Lance, you're here to find the children's family members, correct?". Mr. Lance asked for clarification.

"Yes, let just get this shit done and over with already". Luigi said in an impatient tone. "Gladly, all I need are the children's full names, that way I can find their medical records and through that their genetic history". Mr. Lance stated.

Luigi motioned for the kids to go on and they stood up to tell them their names. Luci went first. "Luciana Townsend". She said, then it was LJ's turn. "Luigi Townsend Jr". He spoke. Luigi piped up after hearing the boy's name. "Your name's Luigi". he asked in confusion.

"Yeah". LJ answered simply while Luigi stared at him. Meanwhile Mr. Lance seemed to be having some difficulty. "That's strange". He muttered. "What?". Luigi asked. "It seems there are no information for either of those names". Mr. Lance explained.

"How the fuck is that possible?". Luigi exclaimed. "I'm not sure, perhaps I should look up the name Townsend only, That should come back with something". Mr. Lance said as he typed nervously. Luci and LJ just looked at each other.

"With the name Townsend I seem to have found a woman by the name of Dianna Townsend". Mr. Lance stated. Luci and LJ perked up, meanwhile Luigi seemed to have just remembered something. "Didn't she used to work here at some point?". He asked as the familiar name stuck in his head.

"Yes, her file states that she worked at GeneCo as a GENtern 12 years ago before departing from the company for personal issues". Lance informed him. "What does it say after that?". Luigi then asked.

"It states Ms. Townsend entered Sanitarium City Hospital on August 9th, 2040". Lance read from the document. "That's our birthday!". Luci exclaimed with so much hope. "Keep reading". Luigi instructed.

"In her time at the hospital Ms. Townsend gave birth to a set of fraternal twins ,1 boy and 1 girl, however, the pregnancy was high risk and she began hemorrhaging shortly after signing the birth certificates. The doctors tried to save her by giving her a blood transfusion but by the time they had gotten the blood match for it she had already passed". Mr. Lance read.

"What about her family members?". Luigi asked. Mr. Lance typed away on his computer and read out. "All of Ms. Townsend immediate family members are deceased". Mr. Lance finished; his voice filled with dejected sadness.

Any excitement and hope the twins had held died shortly after that was read out loud. LJ sat disappointed and Luci willed herself not to cry. The scene was heartbreaking, and Luigi felt guilty. So, he thought of something last minute.

"What about the Dad, It takes 2 people to make a baby for fuck's sake". Luigi said not wanting to give up on these kids. "Well since there's no birth certificate on record for either of them the male parent would be difficult but I could do a blood test which will show their entire genetic build". Mr. Lance explained, hoping to diffuse whatever anger might come from Luigi.

"We'll do it". LJ exclaimed; his hope now reinstated. Luci nodded in agreement with her brother. Though he got confirmation from the 2 children, he still wanted to wait for the ok from Luigi.

"You heard them, do the shit already!". Luigi commanded. "Yes sir". Mr. lance said as he ran to set up his equipment.

After the equipment was set up Luci at a few questions. "How much blood do we have to give?". She asked. "Don't worry, GeneCo technology allows it so we only need a single pinprick and no more". Mr. Lance stated in an encouraging way.

He beckons her to give him her and when she does, he pricks the tip of her middle finger with a needle. "Ow!". Luci yelped at the sudden pain. "Hey! Give a warning before you stick a needle in her fucking hand!". Luigi shouts out to him.

Mr. lance moves on to LJ and once the blood was collected a GENtern took it to the machine that would then do the rest of the work and send the genetic information straight to his computer.

"Do you think they'll find someone?". LJ asked. "Even if they do, who said they're gonna want to take us in. Besides we also know nothing about this possibly fictional person, for all we know they could be a knife wielding maniac and we'll just be placed with him with no actual care". Luci said as quietly as she possibly could without alerting anyone.

Luckily for her Luigi was too busy with his thoughts as the words "don't let this backfire" bounced back and forth in his brain. As soon as Mr. Lance came out with a slightly worrisome look on his face and paperwork in his hand as he beckoned for him to approach, Luigi stormed up to him before he could get a single word out.

"You better have some good fucking news!". Luigi stated in a threatening low tone. "Oh, trust me it's very good news, I think?". Mr. Lance told him, slightly unsure about the reaction he might receive after telling him the information he had just discovered.

"Alright, spit it out then". Luigi demanded. "W-well, um, we were able to trace their DNA back to Dianna Townsend and someone else". Mr. Lance told him, still unsure about how to inform this stab happy man on what he has just discovered.

"Obviously, who the fuck is the guy!". Luigi asked impatiently. "Well, the man the DNA traced back to was... You". Mr. Lance stated in a timid voice, not knowing what reaction he was going to receive from the man in front of him.

"WHAT!". Luigi exclaimed before snatching the papers out of the other man's hand to see for himself. Just as he was told, Luci and LJ's paternal genetic background traced back to himself. What the actual fuck?

Chapter Text

Luigi's eyes were practically bursting out of his head as he read his own name listed as the father of these kids he knew as orphans. How the fuck could he have not known he had kids?

Luigi looked back at the twins who seemed to be looking back at them and he tried to calm himself down. Not that what he did next was with any sense of calmness.

"If you tell a single fucking soul about any of this, I swear to god I will slit your fucking throat and watch the arter roll out, understood?". Luigi threatened as he began squeezing Mr. Lance's throat with one hand.

"Understood, Mr. Largo". Mr. lance wheezed out. "Good". Luigi stated as he let go of Mr. Lance and started to walk back to where the twins were in the waiting area. "Alright kids, let's get going". He instructed with no further explanation. The twins followed back to the elevator and stayed silent as he called for Bronco to bring the car around.

"Where are we going?". Luci asked as she got into the car. "You'll see when we get there". Luigi stated as the car began to drive off. Luci and LJ just looked at each other and sat in complete silence.

Soon, Bronco had pulled up right in front of the orphanage, and Luci was thinking the worse. Before the trio could even get up to the door, Lorrel snatched it open and called out.

"Hello Mr. Largo". She greeted; her smile so fake and wide it almost looked scary. The group then ascended to the door, and Lorrel spoke up again. "I'm sorry that these two keep inconveniencing you". She said to him and then looked back at the twins, grabbing them tightly, "Get upstairs and don't leave until I tell you to". She said in a harsh whisper.

"Hey, you two go upstairs and pack up as much shit as you can, I'll have someone get the rest of it later". Luigi commanded. The twins pulled away from Lorrel as her grip faltered. "Mr. Largo, I don't understand, what exactly are you doing?". Lorrel asked.

"I'm taking them out of this chicken shit orphanage". Luigi told her curtly. "But you can't do that". Lorrel said, an edge of outrage starting to show in her voice. "I can do whatever the fuck I want to do as the father of those 2, especially if it means keeping them away from your unfit ass". Luigi told her, his voice low and filled with a warning to stay out of his way.

The twins were downstairs by the time he finished his mini rant, confusion visible on their faces. He was their father? They followed Luigi out of the house while Lorrel watched on with a look of angry shock on her face before slamming the door shut.

Eventually, Luigi and the twins were brought back to the GeneCo tower and were once again whisked into and up the elevator. This time it brought them to the 9th floor, which served as the living quarters for the Largo family.

"Take this stuff and put it in those 2 empty guest rooms". Luigi instructed 2 GENterns. They obeyed and quickly gathered the 2 small parcels the twins had originally carried. Luci and LJ were still very confused on what was going on and Luigi was able to sense that, call it a paternal instinct.

"Ok, I understand all of this may be very confusing for you two. Hell, I barely know what's going on right now, but I promise that any questions you may have will get answered, ok?". Luigi told them as he kneeled down to their height. "Ok". Luci said while LJ just nodded in understanding.

"Great". Luigi said. At that moment the elevator dinged and opened up to Rotti and his body guards entering the corridor.

"Ah Luci, LJ, what brings you up here?". Rotti asked the twins. Before they could answer Luigi piped up. "Okay, how 'bout you two go in that room while me and pops talk for a little bit, ok?". Luigi instructed as he ushered the 2 into the empty room.

Once the father and son were alone, Rotti had questions. "What was the meaning of that?". Rotti asked. "They're my kids, Dad". Luigi blurted out frantically. "What?". Rotti said in shock. "They're my kids, I just had kids running around in an orphanage unbeknownst to myself somehow. Oh and apparently the boys actual name is Luigi Jr, he's fucking named after me!". Luigi continued.

"How is that possible?". Rotti asked in disbelief. "I don't know! All I know is that after finding out their birth mother and all of her family members were deceased; they did a blood test to find out who the paternal parent was and it traced back to me!". Luigi exclaimed.

"Hm, and who was the birth mother?". Rotti asked. "Dianna Townsend". Luigi told him. "That GENtern that you had a fling with right before she resigned from her position". Rotti questioned. "That's why that name seemed so familiar. She must have left knowing she was pregnant and didn't fucking tell me!". Luigi exclaimed.

"Well, there's not much we can do about that now. What are you planning to do with the children?". Rotti asked wonder what his son's next steps were going to be. "Well, they're not going back to that goddamn orphanage that's for sure. I guess I wouldn't mind raising them on my own either". Luigi admitted.

"Raising a child is a very big responsibility, Luigi. But if you feel as though you can do it, I believe in you". Rotti told him with a smile and a shoulder pat. Luigi smiled back at the encouragement and watched as his father left through the elevator back to his office. Then something else troubled him.

How the hell do you take care of a child? The closest he had ever gotten to doing that was when he babysat Amber, and that was a very long time ago. The twins were a little bit older so maybe it'd be a little bit easier, but still. Then he thought of something.

"Come on kids let's go get ice cream". Luigi exclaimed as he barged into the room. The twins looked at each other and then at Luigi questionably before following him back to the elevator wordlessly.

Once they got to the ice cream parlor they sat at one of the booths. However, they sat in awkward, complete silence as they ate their ice creams, none of the trio knowing what to say. Then Luci piped up.

"So, your our dad now". She said somewhat meekly. "Well, I've always been your dad, just never knew about it". Luigi responded with an awkward smile that switched to the bashful frown he often had when Rotti was berating him once he noticed the twins were staring at him blankly.

Nonetheless he continues. "How 'bout this, you guys ask me some questions and I ask you some questions and we get to know each other better, that sound good?". Luigi proposed. The twins nodded in agreement.

"Alright, you guys start, ask away". Luigi instructed. "Ok, why do you kill people?". LJ asked right off the bat and Luigi almost choked on his spoonful of coffee flavored gelato. "Well, some people just deserve to be killed". Luigi said, wondering if maybe that was not a good thing to tell impressionable children.

"Well, what type of people deserved to be killed". Luci then asked while LJ just looked at her as if she had 4 heads. "I don't know, assholes who don't know how to get things right or know how to act like decent human beings". Luigi explained.

"Let me ask you a question now, what happened to your face?". Luigi then asked LJ wanting to change the subject but also what happened to his son. "Said something stupid, Lorrel didn't like it, it's no big deal". LJ responded, brushing off the incident.

That bitch put her hands on my kid? Luigi could believe what he just heard. "So the bitch just decides to slap kids who say shit she doesn't like". Luigi asked in a confused, outraged voice. "Not just that, she slammed Luci into the wall one time because she pointed out that Lorrel was a drunk". LJ revealed.

"LJ!". Luci exclaimed. "It's true!". LJ defended with his hands up. Luigi just sat in disbelief, who does shit like that to children? "Jesus". Luigi muttered. Maybe he ought to lighten up the mood a little.

"Hey". Luigi called out reaching for Luci's hand to comfort her, she pulled away on reflex but allowed her hand to be held. "You don't have to worry about her anymore, as long as you have me that bitch can't do anything to you guys anymore". He told them. They nodded in understanding.

"One last question". LJ said. Luigi nodded for his son to go ahead and ask. The twins looked at each other again, "we're not going back to that orphanage ever again right?". Luci asked skeptically. "Never again as long as I live". Luigi told them with a smile.

While this sweet family moment was taking place, back at the orphanage Lorrel was on a phone call. "How did he find them?". A male voice rang out from the other side of the of the watch communicator. "I don't fucking know, what I do know is that money you're giving me isn't nearly enough". Lorrel complained.

"There's a possibility you've just put those kids in the hands of danger and you're complaining about the thousands of dollars I've given you over the past decade not being enough?". The man exclaimed incredulously.

"Oh, relax it's not that serious, the little shits get to live in the lap of luxury, their better off anyway". Lorrel brushed him off. "Their mother's dying wish was that her children were safe and in keeping them safe I placed them in your secluded care, trusting that you would take care of them to the best of your ability, but instead you allowed them to come in contact with that horrid family, which has now placed them in the lion's den unable to get out!". The man shouted over the communicator.

"Alright, alright, I can fix this. I mean technically the asshole took them without any paperwork. That counts as kidnapping or something, right?". Lorrel asked passively. "And who exactly would you report that to, the GENcops that are on their family's payroll?". The man questioned sarcastically.

"Ok, enough about that, when's more money coming through? I have surgery payments due and I don't need the repo man on my ass". Lorrel questioned arrogantly as she inspected herself in the mirror.

The man scoffed. "As far as you're concerned my business with you is finished, you will be receiving no further monetary assistance, that of which was meant to up keep the children, any longer". The man informed her.

"But I put my ass on the line for those 2, you can't just cut me off you piece of shit!". Lorrel shouted as she slammed her hands on her desk. "Perhaps you should have spent less time reconstructing that ass you speak of and more time actually taking care of those children, have a good rest of your night". The man insulted before hanging up on her, leaving her with her jaw on the floor.

She threw the communicator against the wall with an angry yell. She needed a fucking drink to deal with this bullshit, and maybe a hit of z to take the extra edge off.

Chapter Text

Now back in the GeneCo tower, Luigi figured now would be the best time to figure out how the hell any of this happened. But what to do with the kids in the meantime?

His assistant appeared in the hallway, and once he spotted Luigi, he walked up to him and began talking to him in a timid voice.

"Um, Mr. Largo, your father sent you some forms for you to finish when you got back; they're in your office." The assistant said. Luigi regarded the skinny man with little attention, but then he turned to his children once the idea appeared in his head.

"Alright, I have some calls I have to make, so in the meantime, you're going to stay with him until I come back, ok?" Luigi told his kids before turning back to his assistant.

"Take them to my office and keep them in front of the TV for as long as possible." He said it curtly before leaving for the elevator to go to a more secluded, private place to get the answers he needed.

The assistant quickly scooped up the twins into their father's office, which was really just his bedroom with a desk in it, and sat them on the couch before handing them the remote to the 60-inch TV on the wall ahead of them.

The speed he used kind of reminded Luci of how people feed wild animals; so scared of getting bitten that they have to move quickly.

LJ turned the TV on, and after switching through a few channels, he landed on the news. The female reporter's voice rang out. "Spotted once again, Luigi Largo, the eldest son and heir of GeneCo CEO Rotti Largo, is seen out and about with two mystery children, the same children who attended Blind Mag's performance along with the Largo family." She said this into her microphone.

"Huh, word travels fast, doesn't it?" LJ tried to joke with his sister, who hadn't paid attention to being focused on listening to the reporter talk on the TV. "No one knows who exactly these two seem to be; however, one thing that can be agreed on is that they're giving Largo's some good publicity." The reporter continued.

Luci grabbed the remote and quickly changed the channel, not wanting to hear a random news reporter speculate that her father was only spending time with her and her brother due to the good publicity it got him. But what if it was true? What if that was his only motivation to keep them around? What if all they were doing with their father was a charity act?

"You ok, Luci?". LJ asked. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff." She responded. "What kind of stuff?". LJ asked again. "Nothing important." Luci added.

While Luci was going through an internal crisis, Luigi was going through a crisis of his own with the lack of information he had.

"I need fucking answers! How the hell could my children have been hidden from me for over a decade of their lives?". Luigi shouted into his communicator.

"I'm not sure myself, Mr. Largo, but one thing I can be sure of is that someone in that hospital must have something to do with it. That's the only logical explanation for how they practically vanished from the hospital without a trace or any medical records." The lady on the other side of the speakers explained.

"Perhaps I could get a list of all the doctors operating during Ms. Townsend's birth that night and contact them to see if they have any insight on the situation." The lady tried to offer.

"You better have that list done by the end of the day." Luigi threatened before hanging up, not even acknowledging the "yes, sir" he was given in response.

He looked back at his communicator and noticed how late it had gotten. It was almost 6:00, which meant he soon had to endure a tension-filled family dinner with his insufferable siblings. Luigi's heart hurt at the thought of having to subject his children to that.

Hopefully his siblings will act a little less like assholes this time around.

While Luigi was busy dreading his family dinner, Lorrel was seething. Having just gotten back from the liquor store with a bottle of gin in hand, she began to drink away her frustrations.

"Fucking ungrateful assholes! I've spent the past decade of my life putting up with those little shits, dealing with their smart as mouths and this is what I get in return?". She said aloud as she surfed through the channels on her TV.

She landed on the news as she took a swig out of the bottle. "Luigi Largo spotted once again with the mystery children he and his family attended Blind Mag's performance the night before". A news reporter said.

Are you fucking kidding me? Even when watching TV she had to hear about those fucking brats. She drank more of the gin from the bottle.

"If anyone has any insight as to the identity of these children, feel free to contact us at Vanity & Vein headquarters with the number on the screen for an interview, we operate 24/7 to ensure your the first to get the inside scoop". The reporter finished as the number flashed on the screen.

Hearing that pulled Lorrel from the alcohol. The cogs in her mind began turning. She stood up from her bed and went to her closet. With a good amount struggle she grabbed a collection of folders from the top shelf.

She flipped through the folders looking through all the documents. Maybe she could get something out of all this after all. She quickly picked up her fallen communicator and started dialing.

Eventually, Luigi came back into his office to retrieve his kids. "Come on". That was all he said as he gestured for the twins to follow him. "Where are we going now?". Luci asked. "We're going to have a family dinner." Luigi clarified.

"That's something you guys do?". LJ asked, confused at how such a seemingly dysfunctional family could sit through a family dinner. "Yep, unfortunately". Luigi admitted it as they got onto the elevator. They've been on this elevator a lot today, huh?

Anyway, once on the 8th floor, where the family dining room and kitchen were, they were immediately greeted by the sight of Rotti and his bodyguards, of course.

"Your early, setting a good example I see." Rotti told his eldest with a smile as Luigi and the twins sat down. Luigi smiled back at him for the praise, even if he knew the only reason he was there before his siblings was because he figured it would be best to just bite the bullet and get this over with as quickly as possible.

Speaking of siblings, Pavi was the next one to enter the dining room. Once he noticed his eldest brother was sat next to the 2 orphans from the night before he was immediately hit with a wave of confusion, that of which didn't show on his freshly attached face but was still their.

However, he soon go over said confusion once he realized he could use this as an opportunity to provoke Luigi. "I see fratello has decided to spend more of-a his time with the-a bambinos". He said as he sat down at the table.

Luigi looked up at him with a glare, clearly not in the mood for his younger brother's foolishness, but before he reacted in his normal aggressive fashion he remembered his children were sitting right next to him and instead reacted in a calmer way.

"Yes, I have, what's your fucking point?". Luigi asked. "I simply find it-a interesting how you clearly have-a nothing better to do with your time other than waste it galavanting around-a with the orphans". Pavi continued to tease, reveling in the fact that Luigi's face was now turning a mild shade of pink as he struggled to control his anger.

"Pavi! Stop antagonizing your brother, especially if your using your niece and nephew to do it". Rotti reprimanded. Pavi looked back at his father in shock as he tried to comprehend what he had just said. "Papa, w-what do you-a mean?". He asked, not noticing Luigi smirk at his stutter.

"Well, turns out Luci and LJ here are actually your brother's biological children, so in being your brother's children, that makes you their uncle". Rotti explained, hoping this would be enough to pacify him.

Pavi just continued to stare at this father, then for a quick second he looked back at Luigi and asked another question. "And you are-a ok with this?". Pavi asked skeptically.

"Why the fuck wouldn't he be ok with it?". Luigi shouted, which caused both of the twins to jump slightly. "Luigi, let's not start this?". Rotti tried to deescalate again.

Luckily, if you could call it luck, Amber had appeared last in the dining room. "Ah, Amber, I see you finally decided to show up". Rotti commented, glad for the minor distraction her arrival had caused but still reprimanding her subtly for her lateness.

"Sorry I was busy". Amber excused weakly as one of her bodyguards pulled her chair out for her to sit in. She looked way different from when the twins had last seen her, blue irises replaced her pink ones from the night before and she appeared in a black bob wig, she also had seemingly fresh stitches down her arms where her sleeves cut off.

She also seemed to be kind of dazed, almost as if she was swaying slightly, at least that's what it looked like through Luci's already poor eyesight. It was at that moment of Luci looking at her that Amber seemed to have noticed the 2 children.

"Daddy, I know you want good publicity but isn't inviting random kids to our family dinner kinda extreme". She said with little regard for the children sitting across from her.

"What the fuck Amber!". Luigi exclaimed at the rude comment. Rotti face palmed at his daughter's harshness.

Pavi spoke up next. "You are-a mistaken sorella, the bambinos are apparently the-a product of Luigi, they are-a family". He finished.

"Oh, I always thought Pavi would be the first one to have kids". Amber said, confused on how anyone would be willing to fuck her eldest brother and then have kids with him.

"Shut up already!". Luigi shouted not wanting to hear either of his siblings talk anymore, especially since they were talking about his children who now seemed visibly uncomfortable.

"You shut up asshole!". Amber hurled back at him. "Amber language!". Rotti commented. Luigi's watch communicator went off, talk about saved by the bell, he stood up from the table to go answer it as far away from his family as possible.

An awkward air hovered over the dinner table and ironically it was LJ who tried to break the ice. "So Mr. Largo-". LJ started towards Rotti, who cut him off with a gentle smile. "No need to be so formal with me, after all I am simply your grandpa". Rotti correct.

LJ nodded in understanding with a awkward smile. "Ok, grandpa, what's life like running GeneCo?". LJ asked. Luci looked up from her plate to look at her brother in confusion, wonder why out of all questions to ask he would ask that one.

While this was happening, Luigi seemed to be finally getting some of the answers he was looking for. "When we rounded up a list of names and looked into them we found something suspicious". The same lady from earlier stated.

"What seemed suspicious?". Luigi asked. "Well, among the list of names someone named Dr. Daniel Johnson came up. He was the head doctor working on Ms.Townsend's and soon after he resigned from his position at the hospital and seemingly fell off the face of the earth". The lady explained.

Luigi rolled his eyes in frustration. "And what the fuck is so suspicious about that?". He asked. "Dr. Johnson was apparently the last seen in the hospital holding the a set of 2 babies, he didn't show up to the hospital after that day and made his resignation through phone calls. After that the children were never seen in the hospital again". The lady continued, hoping her boss would understand what she was implying.

Now that was definitely suspicious. "Keep looking into this Johnson motherfucker, even if he's not directly involved in all of this he's definitely sketchy as hell". Luigi instructed before hanging up abruptly again. The more and more he finds out the more convoluted this shit seems to get. He might as well try to push this to the back of his mind for the rest of the night, even if it would be a good distraction from the rest of this dinner.

Circling back to Lorrel, she was currently in the Vanity & Vein headquarters. "So you said you had some insight on the mystery twins, you got any proof to back that up?". An interview consultant named Stephanie asked skeptically.

"Don't you want to hear about my insight first?". Lorrel asked. "I'd rather not waste my time on a possibly false story with no evidence, this isn't the national inquirer after all". Stephanie said curtly.

Lorrel simply nodded and reached into her bag to pull out the multiple folders and plopped them onto the table unceremoniously. "What's all this?". Stephanie asked. "Proof. Documents from the past 11 years, starting at their birth, on those 2". Lorrel explained.

Stephanie looked at the folders in interest before looking back up at Lorrel. Lorrel gave a nod of approval and Stephanie started looking through.

Stephanie flipped through slowly, taking in the all of what she was seeing. She searched through the pay stubs and medical records slowly.

"Where'd you get all of this stuff?". Stephanie asked. Lorrel rolled her eyes. "Does it matter? All you need to know is that I got it". Lorrel responded rudely. Stephanie side eyed her but continued to flip through.

"And all this stuff is real?". Stephanie asked again. "You couldn't fake this stuff no matter how hard you tried". Lorrel scoffed. Stephanie nodded in understanding and closed the folders.

"So do we have an interview?". Lorrel asked. "Yes, but before we can get started on that I'd like you to sell us some pictures of these documents, just to substantiate your story". Stephanie told her. Lorrel smiled mischievously, finally they were getting to the money.

"Of course". Lorrel responded. "Great, so how much for some pics?". Stephanie asked excitedly. "I'm looking at about $50,000 dollars". Lorrel said. "You've got to be kidding, that's an outrageous amount for a few pictures". Stephanie exclaimed.

"Look, you know how much these all this shit is worth and with the story I'm about to tell you I can assure you this is gonna be the hottest story this God forsaken magazine has ever broken. Now, you can either pay me what's it's worth or I can go somewhere else with my info, your choice". Lorrel proposed.

Stephanie looked pensive for a hot minute, but eventually sighed in relent. "Look, we most likely won't be able to give you $50,000 dollars but with a little chat with the magazines accountants we might be able to give you something more sensible but still substantial, alright?". Stephanie explained then asked.

Lorrel nodded in assent. "Alright". She agreed. Stephanie grinned. "Let me go get my tape recorder, I don't want to miss a thing". She said before get up from the desk.

Back at the GeneCo tower, dinner had wrapped up and the twins were getting ready for bed and after the twins had settled under the sheets of their separate rooms Luigi had entered Luci's room. "Hey kid". He greeted with a smile. "Hey". She greeted back. Luigi kneeled next to her bed to talk to her. "I figured I ought'a apologize for that shit show of a dinner you had to witness". Luigi explained.

"It's fine, it wasn't that bad after everyone stopped yelling, so there's no need to be sorry". Luci said in an attempt at a joke. Luigi laughed shortly, feeling a little bit worse knowing he was the main contributor to the yelling his daughter was referring to. "Alright, well you get some sleep, kiddo". Luigi told his daughter and then pat her, semi awkwardly, on the head before turning off the lights and leaving to do the same with her brother.

She buried herself in the covers even more and closed her eyes. Today was a wild day. So much had happened and been revealed but now it was all over. Hopefully tomorrow would be a calmer day.

Chapter Text

The next day was not calm by any means necessary. Lorrel's interview had hit the print and been published and the media was going crazy, but not as crazy as things were about to get

Luci woke up with a start at the sound of her father freaking out. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as the muffled yelling outside of her door continued. Since she was awake she might as well brush her teeth and start her day. She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom.

Once Luci reached the bathroom, she found her brother already standing at the second sink in the bathroom spitting out the extra toothpaste foam out of his mouth. "The yelling got you too?". LJ asked as he shoved the toothbrush back into his mouth.

"Of course, in a bed that soft I wouldn't have gotten up on purpose". Luci responded as she grabbed her own toothbrush. Fun fact about the rooms Luci and LJ were given, they were connected by a beautiful and lavish bathroom, however, since none of the 3 Largo children could stand each other enough to want to share a bathroom, both rooms went dormant.

"You think he's mad about something serious?". LJ wondered aloud as they listened to Luigi continued to yell. "Well, since he stabs people for giving him bad coffee, I wouldn't bet on that possibility". She stated as she finished brushing and they heard a glass of some sort break.

"What's going on out there?". LJ asked in shock at the sound of commotion. "I don't know but it can't be good". Luci responded before deciding to leave the bathroom and go straight to her bedroom door with her brother following behind her. She decided to open the door, just a crack to be able to hear their father's yelling clearer, and they both listened intently.

The pair stood completely silent at the door, LJ managing to catch a glimpse of Luigi's hand flailing some type of paper around as he screamed. "HOW THE FUCK DID SHE EVEN MANAGE TO GET THIS TO THE MEDIA THAT FUCKING QUICKLY?". Luigi shouted. "I'm not sure, sir. We only found out about it this morning". The GENtern explained.

"What's that thing in his hand?". LJ asked. Luci squinted as hard as she could to try and figure out what her brother was looking at. "I can't tell, it's too blurry". Luci told him. "Try opening the door a little wider so I can see it better". LJ asked her, so she opened the door a little bit more. Unfortunately, that caused the door to make a very obvious creaking sound that then caused Luigi to stop yelling and whip his head backwards at the sound.

The angry expression that had previously covered his face was quickly replaced with a tense smile. "Morning kids". He greeted awkwardly as he turned his attention away from the frightened GENtern. "How long have you guys been awake for?". Luigi asked, sincerely hoping they hadn't heard what he was yelling about.

"Oh, we, um, just woke up, haven't been up for long, right?". Luci lied as she asked her brother for confirmation. LJ nodded in agreement. Luigi was a little skeptical but was satisfied with their answer. "Great! Let's go downstairs and get you guys some breakfast". Luigi said as he ushered the twins towards him and to the elevator.

Before they got in to the elevator, Luigi paused in front of the GENtern. "Your real fucking lucky my kids woke up". He whispered as he shoved a magazine into the GENtern's hand and then looked at the now broken vase sitting by the GENtern's white shoes from when he threw it at her in his fit of rage. "Get someone to clean this shit up". He commanded a little louder before walking with his kids into the elevator.

Once in the kitchen, the kids sat in silence as they ate their breakfast. Luigi sat with them sipping on hot black coffee, the hot and bitter liquid did little to calm the older man's nerves. That whole morning after finding out what that conniving bitch had done he'd been on edge, and extremely angry but that's nothing new.

But still, no matter how upset he might have been, he didn't want the kids to think anything was wrong. So as they sat in silence, Luigi had been thinking of a way to distract the two of them until all the bullshit currently happening could've been controlled, and then he though of something.

"Hey! How would you guys like a tour of the tower. I could show you around and get you familiar with everything". Luigi suggested, knowing the only things they could really do had to involve staying inside of the tower or otherwise place the twins in the middle of a media feeding frenzy.

"Uh, sure". Luci agreed in a tone that showed she wasn't really interested in the activity. "That sounds great". LJ agreed in the same tone. Then they looked at each other, Luigi noticed they did that a lot.It was like some type of secret twin code they used when they had the same thought but they couldn't say it out loud. Why did they do it just then?

Could they tell he was full of shit? Did they already know and were trying to hide it so he didn't end up feeling like a shitty excuse for a father? He already felt that way, so there wasn't must more damage they could do.

Mr. Largo?". A female voice called from the other side of the room, pulling Luigi out of his self-deprecating thoughts. "What do you want?". He asked as he slipped back into his abrasive nature. "Your father wants to see you in his office. Preferably alone". The lady, who was a GENtern, told him, glancing at the twins quickly when she stated the alone part.

Luigi sighed in exasperation. He knew exactly what his dad was calling him up there for, but that didn't keep him from dreading it anyways.

"Alright, I'll be up there in a minute". Luigi said as he dismissed the GENtern with an impatient wave off before addressing his children once again. "I'm gonna go see what the old man wants but after that we'll have the rest of the day to ourselves, okay?". Luigi informed them. They nodded in understanding and Luigi got up from the table, left the kitchen, and got onto the elevator.

As Luigi made his way up to towards the top floor where Rotti was located, Luci and LJ sat alone at the dining table. "What do think he called him up for?". Luci asked. LJ shrugged. "Don't know, maybe it has something to do with what dad was so mad about earlier". LJ suggested as he went back to the plate in front of him.

Luci prodded at the food in front of her with her fork and no real interest. "Think we should try and figure out what's going on?". Luci asked, curious as to what seemed to have everyone on edge lately.

"I don't know, Luci. If everyone's being so secretive maybe it's for a good reason". LJ reasoned with a nearly full mouth of food. "Maybe". Luci said before she quirked the corners of her lips in a smile that contained pure mischief. "But it wouldn't hurt to go and check". She concluded before getting up from the table and making her way to the hallway that led to the elevator.

LJ looked in surprise as his sister practically leaped up from her place at the table. "Wait for me!". He called out as he stood up as well, then shoved more food into his mouth before making his way to the elevator as well.

The twins made their way into the elevator and up to their rooms. They went into Luci room. "What exactly are we gonna find in here that'll help us figure out what everyone is going crazy about". LJ asked. "Well, dad said something about the media, so I was thinking wed check the news and see if that says anything. Now help me look for the remote". Luci explained and then commanded as she felt around for the rectangular object.

LJ moved towards the little bedside dresser that sat near the window. As he looked at that area, he heard murmuring that seemed to be coming from the window. He looked out of it and noticed crowd of people with cameras and microphones practically surrounding the GeneCo tower.

"What's going on down there?". LJ wondered aloud. "Whatever it is we're about to find out". Luci said from the other side of the room as she held up the remote in her hand.

They stood in front of the 30-inch TV hanging on right-side her bedroom wall and watched as it turned on. It went straight to one of its news channels and displayed 2 news reporters sitting behind the desk as they began talking.

"Well, it looks like the Largo family is in the headlines once again but this time it's with a few new faces". The female reporter started. "Yes, famed magazine and gossip column, Vanity & Vein, has just published their latest article, which happens to be a tell all interview with orphanage owner Lorrel Blackwell". The male reporter then continued.

The twins looked at each other at the mention of Lorrel's name and quickly went back to the screen to hear more.

"In this interview she has revealed that 2 of her charges were actually members of the scandalous Largo family, specifically the products of the eldest Largo child and infamous serial killer, Luigi Largo and a GeneCo employ by the name of Dianna Townsend". The male reporter revealed.

"Oh my God". Was all LJ could say in his state of shock. The reporters continued. "These 2 children happen to be a set of twins by the name of Luci and LJ, those names being short for Luciana Maria Largo and Luigi Coltello Largo Jr". The female reporter read while pictures from the article were splashed onto the screen.

These pictures displayed 2 birth certificates with the names previously mentioned that were dated all the way back to 2040, August 9th.

"These pictures, that I'm sure are going to flash onto the screen, were also provided by Lorrel Blackwell. The documents themselves however were given to her by a Dr. Daniel Johnson, who Lorrel claims placed the 2 of them in her care in an effort to hide them from the Largo family and subsequently their father due to deeming the bunch unfit for children". The male reporter explained while Luci and LJ stared at the screen in a state of shock.

"He apparently did this in exchange for payments up to $10,000 to $20,000 dollars every few months-". The tv shut off as the female reporter said that last line.

"She knew the whole time! What is wrong with that woman?". LJ exclaimed as he plopped onto his sister's bed in frustration while Luci stayed silent. She seemed frozen in shock, eyes beginning to burn and blur her vision even more with tears threatening to spill out.

She couldn't believe what she had heard. She spent her entire life with a woman who mistreated her, physically hurt her, kept her from having a family, and literally hid her full identity, all for money.

She felt her throat close up as she tried to breathe. She didn't want to cry in front of her brother and she didn't want to be in this room anymore, she wanted to dissolve into the floor below her and pretend none of this ever happened.

"You ok, sis?". LJ asked as he moved from the bed to stand near her and place her hand on her shoulder. She snatched away from him, dropped the remote and walked out of the room. "Where are you going? Luci?". LJ asked as he watched her enter the elevator.

While this had been happening, there was a much more verbal outburst from Luigi going on in his father's office.

"Can you believe this shit, Dad! That bitch is running around acting like a victim while those peasants run around speculating shit about my kids! She has some real fucking nerve". Luigi exclaimed while flailing the magazine around in his hand.

"Yes, I understand the severity of this situation, Luigi". Rotti responded figuring it was easier to let his eldest son throw his tantrum than it would have been to calm him down.

It seemed that outburst assisted in helping Luigi calm a little on his own and he sits down on the chair across from his father's desk.

"What are we gonna do?". Luigi asked in an exasperated tone. "Well I've made a few calls and organized a press conference to clear up all the misconceptions, perhaps we could ask Luci and LJ about their personal experiences with the awful woman, from what Luci's already told me that woman was an absolute nightmare". Rotti explained to Luigi.

Luigi however didn't seem very receptive to what his father said, seemingly caught up in his own thoughts once again.

"Luigi? What are you thinking about?". Rotti asked. "The fact that I'm already an awful fucking father and it's only been a one day since I've had my kids". Luigi said before running a hand over his face and through his hair with a sigh.

Rotti understood what Luigi had meant, that was a feeling he had felt every time he saw one of his children, Luigi included, in the headlines for some scandalous reason that the press had gotten a hold of.

"You're not an awful father". Rotti told his son in a sincere tone of voice. "I can't even manage to keep fame and money hungry bitches from using them in headlines, at least when me, Pavi, and Amber were their age you were able to keep those losers from getting all up in our faces". Luigi continued in his spiral of self doubt.

"Do you think it was easy to do so? It took me a damn long while to figure out how to navigate being a parent and a well-known figure, It's gotten even harder as time continues to go on but I've managed to adapt, your get used to it after a while and in that time I'll be happy to help you as I am now. We'll, get through this". Rotti comforted.

Luigi looked up at him with a coy smile that brought Rotti back to his eldest's childhood. "You're right, we've been through worse shit and we'll get through it the way we always do". Luigi said.

At that moment the elevator doors opened into Rotti's office and LJ burst into it. "What's wrong?". Rotti asked his grandson, who seemed extremely frantic. "Luci's gone!". LJ exclaimed.

"What do you mean gone?". Luigi asked. "We watched this news report about some interview Lorrel did and Luci must have gotten so upset she left through the elevator". LJ explained.

"Did she say where she was going before she left". Luigi asked as he got a grip on the situation. "No, she just left the room". LJ told the older men.

The minute Luci got off the elevator she immediately sped through the hallway opposite of the front entrance of the GeneCo tower, definitely not wanting to deal with the weirdos holding cameras who would've found the current internal conflict so freaking interesting.

She didn't even really know where she where she was going, she just had to get out of the tower. After a short while of wandering through the first floor she managed to find an exit door and walked out of the building.

She stormed through the back alley the door led to onto a public sidewalk. She walked and walked with no intention of stopping anywhere. She had been on the move for around 20 minutes at this point and before she knew it she was in front of the orphanage.

She walked up to the front door of the large house and knocked on the door. She stood with tension in her shoulders as she waited for someone to open it.

When the door did open, she was greeted by the sight of a 16-year-old with pink streaks in her hair. "Look who it is". The girl, who Luci knew as Angelica, said as she looked down at her. "The girl of the hour". Angelica said with a snarky smirk.

"Is Lorrel home?". Luci asked. "She's not really interested in doing anymore interviews right now, mind coming at a better time". Angelica said in a sarcastic baby voice.

Luci just shoved her out of the way and entered the house, not in the mood for Angelica's bullshit.

"Looks like daddy sent her on her way with nothing but the clothes on her back". Another voice, Ashlyn, Angelica's 15-year-old younger sister, commented as Luci went upstairs, remembering the fact that she left the GeneCo tower still in her pajamas.

She knocked on Lorrel's bedroom door as hard as possible. "God! I thought I told you brats to leave me the fuck alone". Luci heard from the other side of the door before it opened.

Soon Luci was looking up at the woman. "Huh, look who came crawling back". Lorrel said as she glared at the little girl. "I have to talk to you". Luci said. "Sorry, I only do paid interviews". Lorrel said with a condescending smile as she tried to close the door in Luci's face.

Luci pushed the door and Lorrel out of her way and entered the messy room anyway, closing the door and standing in front of it. Lorrel fell off her balance slightly from the shove but found her feet with a slight sway in her step, Luci could tell she was high.

"What the fuck is your problem!". Lorrel screeched. "Why the hell did you lie us?". Luci asked, ignoring Lorrel's question. "What are you talking about?". Lorrel asked back, the Zydrate in her system very clearly clouding her memory.

"You know what I mean! You lied about everything, convincing us our all of our family members were dead, or telling us what family we might have had were deadbeats, you even lied about our last names. Yet somehow you were so willing to tell every aspect of me and LJ's life to a magazine, why did you do it? The money couldn't have been the only reason". Luci nearly screamed at Lorrel as she felt the tears come back to her eyes.

Lorrel just scoffed at the outburst.

"Look here little girl, you have no right to question my actions. Especially considering the fact that the only reason your "family" even sought you out was for the purpose of getting rid of their bad image". Lorrel taunted.

"I mean think about it, you really think Luigi Largo cares about you, he didn't even bother putting effort into you 2 until the press started going crazy over the image of him taking care you and your brother the night of that stage show. I bet the only reason he even bothered taking you in is because his daddy told him to for the sake of good publicity". Lorrel continued as she crouched in front of Luci, unaware of the anger bubbling inside of the child.

"Your nothing more than a fluff piece for them to use until the public gets sick of you, and I bet your asses will be right on the street the minute their done with you". Lorrel finished as she witnessed the tears finally fall from Luci's eyes.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. As Lorrel stood up from in front of her Luci grabbed the nearest thing she could find and threw it full force towards her back.

The object missed its intended target and instead collided with the large mirror sitting in front of the secret passage way, shattering it into a mess of reflective shards.

Luci locked the door behind her back with one hand as she heard Lorrel screech once again. "You Fucking Brat!, Oh your gonna wish you never did that!". She said as she moved to strike Luci with her left hand.

Luci dodged the hit just in time and Lorrel fell forward. Luci managed to grab one of the glass shards from the broken mirror, ignoring how the jagged edge of the piece cut into her hand.

She crawled on top of Lorrel's fallen body and immediately stabbed Lorrel in the stomach. The older woman grabbed at the wounded part of her body in shock, but Luci didn't stop there.

She continued to stab and slice at the older woman's body, blood spewing out of every hole the child managed to put into her. She punctured Lorrel's large intestine, catching it on the edge of the makeshift weapon and pulling it out of her abdomen before moving up her body to her neck in the middle of her throat, preventing her from continuing to scream out.

Instead, Lorrel began gurgling, squirming around under the child unable to do much more due to the pain and extreme blood loss. But as Luci continued her assault on Lorrel's vocal cords, she could feel the woman under her stop moving. The hand that had tried to slap her, that was then used to try and bat her off, fell limp and Luci could no longer feel her breathing.

Even then Luci continued, only this time her attention was placed on Lorrel's face. She Pierced her eyes, snatching them out of the sockets. Then she slashed at her face, dragging the sharp object across Lorrel's face with a blank expression on her own.

It wasn't until she heard knocking and yelling at the bedroom door that she finally snapped out of it, crawled off of Lorrel, and stared at the lifeless body as she backed slowly into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, as she ignored the sounds from outside the room.

Bronco flew down the streets with Luigi and LJ in tow as they made their way towards the orphanage.

"Hopefully Luci's ok". LJ said as the car moved swiftly down the road. "She should be perfectly fine; you have nothing to worry about". Luigi said to his son, just as much as he was saying it to himself.

They quickly found themselves in front of the orphanage and the pair quickly ran up the front steps and Luigi knocked on the door. Luckily for them, the door opened, this time by a 13-year-old boy who seemed almost as worried as LJ had been in the tower.

"You guys gotta come upstairs and see this!". The boy exclaimed. "Jake, what happened?". LJ asked the boy. "I don't know, Luci went upstairs looking for Lorrel then something broke and there was a whole lot of screaming and we can't get the door open". Jake explained.

Luigi automatically assumed the worst. What if Luci was hurt? What if that bitch thought it'd be a good idea to get in a couple more blows on his daughter? If anything happened to his little girl there was gonna be a serious fucking problem.

"Alright out of the way!". He commanded all of the kids who stood in front of the door. He kicked it with as much force as humanly possible 3 times before it finally opened.

The sight that came next was unbelievable. The first thing Luigi saw was Lorrel's lifeless body. Her clothes were shredded and soaked in blood, her face was completely disfigured, and her throat was almost detached from her body with how far it was split open.

It was gorier than anything he had ever seen, or caused. Not even repo men could leave behind a scene this gruesome. It definitely wasn't something children should've been seeing if the gasps and screams of horror were anything to go by.

"Everybody downstairs! Go Now!". Luigi yelled leaving no room for discussion or argument, the only other child still staring at the bloody corpse was LJ, who had no intention of leaving until he made sure his sister was ok.

Luigi stepped further into the room, careful to not step on the broken pieces of mirror or in the puddles of blood. LJ stayed by the door not wanting to get into the mess at all.

Luigi looked around the room for some sign of his daughter. Then he walked towards the bathroom, tried to turn the handle, then knocked on the door once he noticed it was locked.

"Luci?, Luci are you in there?". Luigi said in a quiet voice as to not worry her if she was in there. "Yes". He heard Luci respond. "Would you mind opening the door so me and your brother can make sure you're ok?". Luigi asked.

He heard shuffling and heard the lock on the doorknob twist to allow the door to open.

Once the door opened Luigi didn't know how to react once he saw Luci in blood-soaked pajamas, so all he did was approach her slowly and take off his pinstriped jacket to place it around his daughter's shoulders.

He led her out of the room along with her brother and they walked back down the stairs, not acknowledging the murmurs surrounding them as they approached the front door. Luci spared one last glance towards Angelica and Ashlyn, who coward under the look and quickly moved away from their spots at the door.

The trio left the establishment, walked towards the car, entered it, and sat in complete silence as they were driven back to the GeneCo tower.

Chapter Text

After getting into the GeneCo building through the same back door Luci had left through earlier, Luigi, LJ, and Luci got into the elevator and made their way to the top floor where Rotti's office sat.

The somewhat tense elevator ride ended quickly as the doors opened up to the family patriarch having just ended a call and looking up at the trio with a fond smile before he noticed his granddaughter was covered in blood.

"Good lord, Luci! What's happened to you?". Rotti asked in concern as he got up from his desk and walked over to his offspring, bending down slightly to reach Luci's height.

Luci stood still with no expression on her face as her grandpa looked over her in worry. "What is this?". Rotti asked as he lifted up her hand, which was still clutching the broken mirror shard.

"Jesus!". Luigi exclaimed as he noticed how deep into her hand the glass was. "Doesn't that hurt?". Luigi asked as he mimicked his father's posture in front of Luci. "I'm fine". She said barely loud enough to hear. Her statement went largely unheard either way.

"Luigi, take her back to her room to rest, I'll send a GENtern downstairs to bandage up her hand". Rotti instructed as he stood up to his full height. Luigi simply nodded as he ushered Luci and LJ back into the elevator.

"Hey pops". Luigi called to his dad before they got onto the elevator. "Yes". Rotti responded. "Would you mind calling someone to the orphanage to pack up Luci and LJ's room, and maybe a cleanup crew". Luigi asked of his father, whispering the last part.

Rotti had a feeling whatever the cleaning crew was for probably pertained to whatever was going one with Luci, not only because of his son's hushed tone but due to the way Luci had looked up at the both of them when he'd said it. Rotti nodded wordlessly and gestured to the elevator as a way to tell the trio they should go on their way.

Once they got back down to Luci's room, a GENtern swiftly came into the room to wrap up the child's wounded hand. Luigi stood on the wall near the bathroom door to make sure the GENtern didn't fuck up and hurt Luci even more. Meanwhile, Luci remained stoic throughout the whole ordeal until the GENtern had pressed a little too hard against the cut on her hand with an alcohol covered cotton ball.

"Ouch!". she reacted. The GENtern began apologizing profusely, but Luigi piped up before she could finish. "Just get the fuck out, I'll wrap her hand myself". Luigi commanded harshly. The GENtern quickly got up to leave the room, handing the first aid kit to Luigi before making her escape.

Luigi took the space the GENtern had previously occupied next to Luci and took a hold of her hand. "You'd think those bitches would be good at something other than fucking my brother with all the schooling they have to get through, but no". Luigi joked, trying to get at least one small smile out of his daughter but he got nothing but the same stone face she'd had since Luigi found her after she ran away earlier.

Luigi opened the first aid kit and grabbed one of the packaged gauzes and the roll of bandages. "At least the cut isn't deep enough you need stitches". Luigi commented as he placed the gauze on her hand and began wrapping her hand, taking great care to be as gentle as possible as to not hurt her further.

Though she didn't know why, this care Luigi was showing towards Luci was starting to cause the waterworks to spring up. She tried to keep them at bay as much as she could, but her dad could hear the small sniffles from her efforts.

"Luci, what's wrong? Did I hurt you-". Luigi's second question was cut off as Luci squeezed him into a hug, burying her face in the crook of his pinstriped shoulder as her tears slipped out. Luigi hugged her back and tried to soothe her cries.

"It's ok Luci, it's ok. Tell me what's wrong". Luigi prompted. Luci continued sniffling until she was able to speak clearly. "Did you actually want to raise me and LJ when you found out we were yours? Rotti didn't make you? It was your choice, right?". Luci asked.

"Of course I wanted to raise you. What would make you think anything else?". Luigi asked back. "Yesterday, after we got back from the ice cream shop, me and LJ watched this news report where they were talking about how you spending time with us was getting GeneCo good publicity". Luci explained to him, not bringing up what Lorrel had said to her earlier.

Luigi took a deep breath, leave it to the assholes who pretend to give important information to make his kid insecure. "Don't listen to those fucking idiots, they'll say anything in their mediocre headlines. All that matters is that you know I love you and your brother, and that'll never change no matter what, ok". Luigi assured and Luci nodded with a smile to show she understood what he said, though her doubts weren't fully dismissed from her head.

Luigi smiled back at her and patted her head gently and then he noticed something. As he looked at her face he noticed her eyes, they looked partially clouded. He decided to take hold of her face to look a little closer.

"What's going on with your eyes?". He asked quietly. As he stared into her eyes, he noticed there were little white spots in her corneas. "Holy shit! We gotta get this fixed!". Luigi said before he looked to his watch communicator and quickly called his dad. "Pops, call the family doctor down to the 6th floor". Luigi commanded.

After getting Luci to the 6th floor, which served as a private medical wing where members of the largo family received surgeries and other medical treatments away from the general public, she was given a routine examination by Dr. Chastain, the family doctor, before he specifically focusing on her eyes and quickly dissecting what the problem was.

"It appears Ms. Largo has cataracts and corneal ulcers in both eyes". Dr. Chastain announced. "Both of which seem to be causing increasingly bad eyesight". He continued.

"Well, what the fuck do we do about it?". Luigi asked. "We can give her antibiotics for the ulcers and she can wear glasses specifically for cataracts in order to help her vision, however, I would say the best course of action to prevent both diagnosis from causing her issues in the future is to get her a complete corneal transplant". Dr Chastain suggested.

"You mean I have to get surgery?". Luci asked in a slightly worried voice. "It is simply one of the options, though the one I would recommend for overall coverage". Dr Chastain clarified with a smile that was probably supposed to appear reassuring.

Luigi piped up again. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do though. It's your choice whether or not you go through with the surgery". He added. Luci thought about it for a little bit. It wasn't like she had to worry about repo men or making up payments if she did get the surgery, so what did she really have to lose. She spoke again. "How badly will it hurt?". Luci asked the doctor.

"You'll barely feel a thing". Dr. Chastain told her. She took a few seconds to think again before making her final decision. "Alright, I'll do it". Luci stated. "Are you sure?". Luigi asked to make sure his daughter was completely confident in her choice.

"Yep. Might as well get this resolved now than have to deal with it later". Luci confirmed, wanting this conversation to end before she changed her mind. "Well alright, we can do the surgery as early as today, after of course after Mr. Largo signs the necessary paperwork". Dr. Chastain told them.

"Let's get this done then". Luci said finally.

Luci was brought to a separate part of the 6th floor, the part that held the actual operating rooms. It was then Luci seemed to remember what she just agreed to, she was about to lay on an operating table and allow a bunch of random people with their faces covered go at her eyes with sharp objects.

Maybe she ought to back out. She looked back at Luigi, he was listening to a GENtern explain all the stuff he'd be agreeing to if he signed the contracts giving the doctors permission to operate on his daughter, seemingly very bored with the whole conversation.

No, she was going through with this whether she was scared or not. Luigi took out a pen from one of his jacket pockets, then he looked at Luci. "Are you sure you still want to do this?". He asked one last time. "Yes. I am 100 percent sure". Luci told him. He went on with signing the paperwork and once he was finished, the same GENtern that had been talking to Luigi earlier ushered Luci to a separate room to prep for her surgery.

After Luci changed into her medical gown and the surGENs were all suited up she was finally brought into the surgical room where her operation would be taking place. She laid down on the operating table and looked up at the doctors standing over her.

"So, Ms. Largo, what color would you like your new corneas to be?". One doctor asked in an overly enthusiastic voice while holding a chart that displayed all the different eye colors. Luci looked over all of the options and pointed to one that was a deep brown color, not much different from her natural eye color. "Great choice sweetie, I'll go make sure they have that color ready". That doctor said before leaving.

Luci then heard a knock to the left of her. She looked over and through the window on that side of the room saw her dad standing up to the glass waving at her, she waved back before turning her attention to the anesthesiologist in from of her.

"Ok Ms. Largo, I want you to breathe in and out while counting backwards from 10 with me". He instructed after placing the gas mask on her face. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6 ...". They both counted until Luci's eyes fluttered closed.

Luigi watched intently as Luci knocked out. A GENtern approached him with a bag that held the clothes Luci was wearing from before. "Hey! How long will this shit take to finish?". Luigi asked sharply as he waved his hand vaguely towards the operating room. "A-about 1 to 2 hours". The GENtern answered quickly, not wanting to upset him with a slow answer.

Luigi looked back at the room before turning back to the GENtern as he accepted the bag from her. "I'll be back in a little bit with her brother, make sure they don't fuck up my kid". Luigi commanded before leaving towards the elevator. Right before he got into it, he inspected the bag filled with Luci's bloody pajama's and grimaced. He would definitely have to get some clean clothes for her to wear once she woke up.

While Luigi was on his way upstairs, LJ was sitting in Rotti's office. Luig had asked his dad to watch over him while he left to figure out the situation with Luci's eyes. LJ was currently sitting on the love seat right across from Rotti's desk as Rotti looked through a file.

"What do you think is wrong with Luci?". LJ asked him, not really knowing what else to say to the famous man in front of him. Rotti looked up at the child, somewhat surprised LJ had talked due to the fact that he had been quiet for the entire time he had been in the office.

"Well, I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it shouldn't be anything too serious". He reassured his grandson. LJ just nodded at this response and Rotti went back to his file, this caught LJ's attention and he decided to ask more questions.

"What are you looking at?". LJ asked. "I'm looking at the file of a doctor who was mentioned in that ridiculous article your former caretaker gave to Vanity & Vein". Rotti said, his voice becoming brusque as he reminded himself of Lorrel's magazine article. He looked back up at his grandson. "Would you like have a look?". He asked.

"Sure". LJ responded nonchalantly. He got up from the loveseat and approached the large desk. He stood next to Rotti's chair and inspected the paper once it was handed to him. He read the name on the paper, Dr. Daniel Thomas Johnson, the same man who was mentioned in the news broadcast he and Luci had watched before the incident had happened.

He looked at the picture next to the name and couldn't believe what he was looking at. "I know this guy". He exclaimed as he pointed at the picture. "You do?". Rotti asked. Right at that moment the elevator doors of Rotti's office opened and Luigi exited them.

"Where's Luci?". LJ asked as Luigi entered the office without his sister. "She's still downstairs, she's getting a surgery done". Luigi told LJ and his dad. "What ended up being wrong?". Rotti asked curiously about his granddaughter's situation. "Well, long story short she was going blind from ulcers and cataracts, doctor figured it'd be better to give her new corneas. What have you been up to here?". Luigi explained before asking his own question.

"It seems LJ recognizes the man responsible for taking him and his sister out of the hospital and placing him in that horrid woman's care". Rotti explained to Luigi. "Seriously? Where have you seen him?". Luigi asked.

"He used to come to the orphanage whenever me and Luci got sick, Lorrel would only call him for us, like a private doctor. Last time I saw him he and Lorrel had gotten into a really bad argument, after that we never saw him again". LJ finished off.

"What was the argument about?". Luigi asked. "I hadn't heard it, but older kids in the orphanage who did hear said it was about money and that she said 'she didn't have enough of it', everyone just assumed she meant he didn't have enough money to pay him". LJ explained.

"They must have actually been discussing the amount of money he was paying for her to keep the 2 of you hidden". Rotti commented. "Greedy Bitch!". Luigi muttered with a scowl. "We ought to find this asshole". Luigi stated, hoping his father would agree so that way he could show that bastard what happens when you fuck with his family, the family he actually cares about that is.

"I'll get my people on it; you both should get back downstairs to check Luci's surgery progress, I'll update you later if I find anything". Rotti said. LJ and Luigi left Rotti's side and made their way towards the elevator. "Hope you find him". LJ said before the elevator doors closed much to Rotti and Luigi's amusement.

The father and son duo soon found themselves on the 6th floor, after a quick stop on the 9th floor to get Luci some clean clothes, and approached her surgical room window.

She laid flat on the table, practically lifeless save the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. She would've looked like she was sleeping if it wasn't for the small metal devices prying her eyes open so that way the SurGens could operate without her eyelids getting in the way and messing them up.

"After this she'll be able to see properly". LJ asked as he continued looking at the sci-fi-esque scene in front of him. "She better be able to, otherwise every doctor in there is gonna get it". Luigi responded in a tone that could've been taken as him joking if you didn't know his track record.

Luigi checked his watch, only 30 minutes had passed since Luci had been put under, and if that GENtern's estimate had been correct they had a little while before this was finished.

He sat down on one of the chairs lined up against the wall across from the operating room window, LJ followed suit sitting right beside him.

With absolutely nothing better to do other than ruminate in his own thoughts, LJ continued to stare into the operating room window. However, when he noticed that one of the surGENS was poking at his sister's eye with a scalpel he quickly rethought his choice and stared at the floor instead.

Luigi witnessed this reaction and couldn't help but be slightly amused by how wide-eyed his son had gotten from what was happening in front of them. Luigi reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. "Hey, why don't you go and get yourself something from the vending machines, it's straight down that hall". Luigi said as he handed over the money.

"Thanks". LJ accepted mainly thankful for the quick break this vending machine mission would give him from watching the surgery, the snacks were a nice touch though. LJ got up from his seat and quickly made his way towards the end of the hall, while he did that Luigi called over a GENtern and demanded some coffee.

He procured his coffee relatively quickly as by the time he had the caffeinated beverage, LJ had already come back from his vending machine trip. "Sorry, that took so long, I couldn't figure out how to work the machine". LJ apologized as he placed the pile of goodies he was originally struggling to carry onto one of the chairs in the seating area. "I got you a honey bun". LJ said as he handed Luigi the packaged treat.

"Oh, and here's your change from the machine". He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled more than a handful of quarters, some of them falling as he held them out for Luigi to take. Luigi huffed out a small laugh. "You go ahead and keep those". He said with a genuine smile on his face.

"Cool". LJ said as he sat back down and tried to stuff the coins back into his pocket. Luigi took a sip of his coffee, the amusement of this moment was surprisingly enough to quell the irritation that had formed from the bad taste of the coffee.

After another hour and some of waiting filled with coffee refills, more vending machine trips, mindless conversations to pass the time, and a few bathroom breaks, the doctors and GENterns who had assisted in the surgery soon left the room with the surgery completed.

Dr. Chastain approached the seating area and Luigi stood up with LJ following. "So, it'd done? Her eyesight's fixed?". Luigi asked. "Yes, all she needs now is an hour or 2 in the recovery room to adjust and then she gets the bandages removed and she moves on with perfect eyesight". Dr. Chastain stated cheerfully.

Luigi nodded in understanding. "Will she still be asleep in the recovery room?". LJ asked as he watched 2 GENterns wheeled his sister's operating bed out of the room with her still seemingly knocked out.

"She should wake up in a short while, but you'll need to allow her 30 minutes of rest before you're able to visit her in the recovery area, it's just standard procedure". Dr. Chastain said. "Alright". Luigi said, the annoyance in his voice a clear indication that he was sick of being in this in house hospital.

"I'll have a GENtern notify you once the 30 minutes pass". Dr. Chastain told them. "No need, I know how to fucking count". Luigi said less angry and more exasperated than he normally would've been.

LJ couldn't help but feel just as exasperated. They had been in this place for what felt like a century and now they had to wait even longer. At least Luci's eyes would be fixed then they could go about their day, hopefully, without any obstacles.

Luckily for them the extra 30 minutes went by pretty quickly and they were immediately brought to the recovery area. She was sat upright in her hospital bed with an IV drip in her arm, hooked up to a heart monitor, with bandages covering the top half of her face.

"Luci". Luigi called out, seeing if she was awake enough to respond. "Who's that?". Luci called back out, her tone coming off dazed because of the zydrate she was given to numb the pain that would've surrounded her eyes. "It's your dad and brother". Luigi responded. The duo walked closer to the bed.

"How do feel?". Luigi asked. "How do I look?". Luci responded sarcastically. "Like an unfinished mummy". LJ joked. Both Luci and Luigi laughed at that, then there was a knock at the door.

"Mr. Largo, your father would like to see you upstairs". The GENtern who had knocked informed him. "Can't this wait?". Luigi said, wanting to spend time with his daughter who had just gotten out of a fucking surgery. "He said it was urgent". The GENtern responded.

"You go ahead, I'll stay here with Luci". LJ told him. Luigi's irritated expression softened a little as he looked back at his son. "Alright, take care of her while I'm gone alright". Luigi said with a smile as he began leaving the room. "I will". LJ responded with a goodbye wave.

Luigi left the room at the same time the GENtern did, but before she could escape Luigi snatched her by her blond ponytail and thrusted the sharp blade of a knife from his pocket straight into her stomach. Finally, having keep all that anger in was extremely fucking exhausting, at least he didn't get any blood on his shirt this time, good for him.

Back with the twins LJ picked up the remote from the desk next to Luci's bed. "At least theirs a TV in the room". LJ said, noting that there wasn't much to talk about. He clicked the 'on' button and the TV flashed on, immediately tuning to the news.

"Lorrel Blackwell, a lady who has recently made rounds in the headlines, has been found dead in her home and place of business in a scene so gruesome it might as well have been in a horror movie". The news reporter announced.

"Sorry". LJ apologized as he picked up the remote to change the channel. "It's fine, leave it on". Luci told him. LJ listened and stared at the TV while Luci listened on.

"Her body, or what was left of it was, was last seen being carried out by garbage men employed by GeneCo, the same ones who are hired to remove previously repossessed bodies from off of the street along with the common trash". The reporter continued.

Behind the news reporter LJ could see the swarm of paparazzi trying to get as many pictures of the orphanage as they could with the GENcops holding them back. Those people are such weirdos.

"The children of the orphanage stated that Luci Largo, main subject of the recent article published by Vanity & Vein, was seen leaving the orphanage in tow with her father and brother, Luigi Largo Sr and Luigi Largo Jr, covered in blood after getting in an altercation that occurred after she demanded to speak Ms. Blackwell". The reporter stated.

"You wanna know something?". Luci asked her brother. "Uh, Yeah sure". LJ said, pressing down on the lower volume button of the remote control so he'd be able to hear her. "When I was stabbing Lorrel, I didn't feel bad about it, I wasn't happy either though, so many things were running through my mind at the time". Luci admitted.

"What kind of things?". LJ asked, refusing to even acknowledge the fact that his sister had just admitted to committing a murder. "Like what Lorrel had said to me before I killed her". Luci said her voice becoming more distant as she continued talking. "Well, what did she say?". LJ asked in curiosity.

"She said that we were just fluff pieces meant to give good publicity and that we'd probably get thrown on the street the minute they were done with us". Luci explained. "You should never take anything that she says seriously, you never did before anyway". LJ told her. "I know, but I can't help but keep thinking about it; what if, this one time, she was right?". Luci asked rhetorically. "She wasn't Luci". LJ tried to reassure but the thought refused to leave her head.

Little did Luci know how much that thought would influence her future decisions and how much those decisions would shape the rest of her life.

Chapter Text

Back up in Rotti's office, Luigi had just arrived and much to his dismay he wasn't the only one there. "Finally, Fratello, you decided to make an appearance". Pavi teased. Luigi just ignored him and took his place in the chair beside the loveseat that Amber was currently sprawled out on.

"Dad, why are we here?". Amber asked, clearly not wanting to be there. "Well, as you all have probably noticed, the media has been absolutely out of control as of today and in order to clear up any misconceptions the public might hold, I plan to hold a press conference tomorrow and I am expecting both you and Pavi to be there alongside your brother and his children looking and acting presentable". Rotti told his 2 younger children.

"But this is Luigi's mess, why do we need to be there?". Amber whined. "Because you're his family and family is supposed to support each other at all times. Now, for the next few hours try not to do or say anything in front of the press that can be used to embarrass us". Rotti stated finally.

Amber immediately got up and stormed into the elevator as soon as it opened, wanting to escape as quickly as possible. Pavi, however, stayed behind in the office with Luigi. "Well-a, I for-a one would-a love to support the-a little bambinos". Pavi said before pausing. "Where are-a the bambinos?". Pavi then asked.

"They're downstairs in the recovery room on the 6th floor". Luigi said before checking his watch communicator. "I should get back down there, Luci's probably about to get her bandages taken off". Luigi said as he stood up from the chair and began walking towards the elevator.

Rotti decided to join the conversation again. "Perhaps I should join you, it would be nice to see my granddaughter after such a long morning". Rotti said as he moved away from his desk and approached his eldest son.

"I will-a go too". Pavi said as he stood up. "It would-a be good for the-a bambina to be surrounded by-a family". Pavi continued in the exaggerated manner he constantly used, the manner that, for some reason, charmed people. Luigi rolled his eyes from behind Rotti, it was so obvious that Pavi was just trying to be a kiss ass, but for the time being he would have to deal with it as all 3 men entered the elevator and made their way down to the 6th floor.

"How much longer until I can take this stuff off of my head?". Luci asked impatiently. Now that her zydrate haze has worn off she was now aware of everything going on around her, including the bandages that were leaving her blinder than she was when she had walked in.

"Don't worry Ms. Largo, it won't be much longer. Were just waiting for your father to come back". Said a GENtern who had walked into the recovery room 5 minutes after Luigi had left to watch over the kids.

"Well how long is that gonna take?". Luci asked, even more irritated that the staff had to wait for her dad's ok to take the gauze off her head. Luckily for her, Luigi had walked into the room, but to everyone's surprise he hadn't shown up alone.

"Mr. Largo? I didn't expect you to find yourself all the way down here. You must have been very busy". The GENtern said to someone Luci could guess wasn't her dad. "Well, I figured it good for all of us to be here after all this is a somewhat momentous occasion". Luci could hear a very professional and jovial voice say proudly, she immediately knew it was Rotti.

Then she heard someone approaching her hospital bed. "How are you holding up kid?". She could hear a more familiar voice ask. "Pretty ok, can't see much though". Luci joked. She could hear small number of chuckles sound around the room. "Well-a, perhaps this is good-a time to remove the-a bandages". A high-pitched male voice with an obviously fake accent said, Luci huffed as she realized Pavi was there too.

Was the entire family there? If so, why? It's not like surgery is that big of deal in this family, what with Amber's constant appearance changing and lack of reaction from each change. So, what made this situation so special? Whatever, it didn't really matter. Luci just wanted to get this over with and be able to see properly once and for all.

"I guess there's no better time to get on with it". Luigi had said, clearly more subdued and calmer sounding than he normally was, probably because Rotti was in the room. But now that the GENtern had permission she approached Luci's bed. "Try to stay as still as possible sweetie". She said, her voice full of kindness and care.

She began cutting through one of the bandages with what sounded like scissors before unwinding the rest from around her head. She continued until all that was left on Luci's face were 2 gauze pads that were placed on her eyes, those soon left her face as well.

With nothing restricting her sight but her eyelids Luci finally opened her eyes, and immediately regretted it when she was exposed to the brightness of the well-lit recovery room. However, once she adjusted to the light and was able to keep her eyes open without squinting, she decided to look around the room.

On her right was a woman wearing a short white halter top dress and had a long red glasses visor over her own eyes, then she looked to the left of her. There sat her twin brother, with medium brown hair that was swooped over his forehead right above his bright blue eyes, next to him was her dad, with the same bright colored eyes and brown hair only his was slicked back with gel. Luci could see every small wrinkle that was formed around his eyes and mouth.

Then she looked around the rest of the room, Rotti stood closer to the door, he had a smile on his face that was both warming and mildly intimidating, he stood proudly in his suit and red ascot.

Pavi stood beside his dad, somehow his face, which was covered by someone else's, seemed even more terrifying than it did before now that she could see it clearly with her new 20/20 vision. She could see the metal hooks that kept the 2nd face attached and the red fleshy scar tissue that was still visible due to the 'face mask' not covering all of it, Luci quickly looked away.

Pavi noticed she was looking at her and decided to approach her hospital bed. "You-a look absolutely Bellissima. "Take-a look at-a yourself". Pavi beckoned while holding out his mirror to her. Luci was a little scared to take it from him but she did it anyway and looked at herself.

"Wow". She said in amazement, not really at her own looks but instead how clearly she could see herself. Her eyes looked a lot bigger, kinda like a doll's eyes, but other than that they looked pretty natural.

This is what she expected though, she didn't want an appearance change, all that mattered now was that she could see. Luci moved the mirror closer to her face and as she inspected her eye, Luci could see her pupil widen and then get small again, like a camera lens shuttering.

"Would you like me to take you back to the changing rooms so you can get back into some more comfortable clothes?". The GENtern asked, breaking Luci out of her mirror trance.

"Yeah sure". Luci agreed as she placed the mirror down on the bed beside her and let the GENtern assist her in getting out of the bed. As she was ushered out of the room, the rest of the family followed her out.

"We'll be in the waiting room when your done, sweetheart". Rotti called out as Luci continued walking with the GENtern down the hallway.

Once Luci had entered the patients changing room, the GENtern handed her the clothes Luigi had gotten from her room after tossing the blood-soaked pajamas. Luci changed quickly while the GENtern stood outside of the door incase she needed anything.

After putting on the clothes Luci looked at herself in the large mirror that sat against the wall to her right. This time when she looked at herself, she noticed that somethings didn't look right.

Her shirt was baggy and wrinkled due to being 2 sizes too big on her, her pants were a size too small and rode up right above her ankles, and her curls were all messy which made her head look like a frizzy, deflated cloud. Did she always look like this?

Before today she hadn't really ever taken a good and proper look at herself, and while yes that was mostly because she couldn't really see herself, it was also because she never had a real reason to. Everyday was the same, she was either sitting in the orphanage or scrubbing dirt off headstones at the cemetery, she didn't need to care about how she looked.

Now, sitting in a crisp white room with only subtle hints of red and black, she felt really out of place in her dark, dingy, ill-fitting clothing. Luci was once again pulled out of her thoughts once the GENtern knocked on the door.

"Ms. Largo, are you ok in there?". She asked. "Yeah, I'll be out soon". Luci responded as she looked back at the door before looking back at the mirror, now noticing the quiet whirring sound that followed every switch of direction her eyes took, the sound audible in the silent room.

Luci looked at herself one last time and realized the problem. She didn't look like a Largo, she looked like the street punks that hung around in the alleyways of the city, the type of people the Largo's wouldn't take a second look at.

Before the GENtern outside got worried again, Luci quickly left the room and followed the GENtern back into the main hallway. Speaking of the GENtern. "Miss? What's your name? If you don't mind me asking". Luci asked.

"Oh honey, it's no worry. My name is Gina, and if you ever need anything feel free to ask for me. Being new in the building can be a little overwhelming". Gina had told her with a sweet, sincere smile that Luci returned genuinely, forgetting about her previous worries for a quick second.

Luci soon entered the waiting room where the rest of her family had been, except, one of them was missing. "Where'd Grandpa go?". Luci asked. "He had-a to take care-a of some business". Pavi said, jumping in as soon as Luigi opened his mouth to answer.

"Why didn't you go with him, fuckface?". Luigi insulted, not hiding the fact that he didn't want his brother around anymore. "I couldn't just leave-a behind the little bambina before saying-a proper good-a-bye". Pavi said as he approached both Luci and the GENtern, with his eyes full focused on the GENtern.

Luigi couldn't help but scoff at his brother, fucking typical! Pavi can't keep his dick in his pants and he's choosing to make it everyone else's fucking problem.

Luckily for Luci, Pavi seemed too infatuated with the GENtern to notice her slither away from both of them and move to where Luigi and LJ were. The trio watched, in mild disgust, as Pavi attempted to sweet talk the GENtern, who of which seemed to somehow be falling for his flattery.

Luigi was pulled from his discomfort by the feeling of a small hand tugging on one of his sleeves and hearing Luci's voice calling out a quiet 'Hey Dad' from next to him. He looked down at her, happy for a distraction from the shit show happening in front of them.

"Can you take me and LJ shopping for new clothes?". She asked in a meek tone of voice, almost as if she was scared to ask the question. "What's wrong with the clothes you have now?". Luigi asked in a tone that was meant to be comforting, as if he was reassuring her there was nothing wrong with the things she wore; mimicking the tone Rotti often used with Amber whenever she asked for a new face.

But then he noticed the subtle 'are you really asking that' face Luci pulled after he said it; the same face that was often returned to Rotti after he asked that same question, and was then followed by a full-blown tantrum and speech about how he was trying to ruin her life.

Whenever Luigi witnessed one of those freakouts, he always chalked it up to Amber being an overdramatic little brat. However, when he took a proper look at the ill-fitting rags both Luci and LJ were currently wearing, He understood why he was at the receiving end of such a look.

"Actually, that might not be such a bad idea". Luigi conceded, giving Luci an awkward head pat before ushering her and her brother down the hallway and back to the elevator.

Luigi called Bronco and instructed him to have the car ready by the emergency exit on the first floor at the back of the building, not wanting to deal with, or end up stabbing, any of the reporters still waiting by the front entrance of the building and the trio of Largo's made their way out of the building and onto the road.

After a 20-minute car ride out of the main city and into a quieter more private residential area, the group found themselves at the entering the parking lot of a very tall and very large shopping center.

Once Luci unbuckled her seat belt and Bronco opened the door for her, LJ, and Luigi to get out she took a good look around at her surroundings. The parking lot was filled with cars she had only every seen in before in commercials. Each one was pristine and shiny, like they were brand new and fresh out of the dealerships.

"Hey, come on, we're going inside". LJ said as he tugged on Luci's hand, Luigi was already some ways ahead walking towards the building causing the twins to have to lightly jog to catch up to him.

"So, where to first?". Luigi asked once they entered through the automated doors of the building. Luci took in her surroundings so that way she could figure out what store she wanted to go into first. She looked to her left and saw a store that had the words 'Jackies: luxury clothes and accessories for all' right above its entrance.

That might be a good place start. "Can we go in there?". Luci requested pointing at the store in question. "Sure". Luigi agreed as he led the trio walked into the store, not acknowledging the security guard by the entrance while the twins gave him a quick wave greeting.

They approached a cluster of shirt racks and began flipping through them. Luci found a women's short-sleeved cotton dress shirt that was in a pretty shade of light blue. She took it off the rack and held it up to herself. "How does this look?". Luci asked. "It's cute". Luigi said after a quick glance, LJ nodded in agreement.

Luci moved it from against of her body and held it out in front of her with a smile. Once she decided to check the price tag, however her smile quickly dropped and she put the shirt back on the rack.

"Hey, I thought you liked the shirt?". Luigi asked after seeing her put the shirt back. "It's $315, that's way too expensive". Luci stated with downturned eyes. "Honey, 300 dollars is nothing, besides, that's for me to worry about". Luigi reassured. Luci looked back up again, somehow in between all the chaos of the past few days she had forgotten that the Largo's were the richest family on earth. With her spirits renewed Luci picked up the shirt again then she looked around at the store.

"Can I go look at those jeans over there?". Luci asked, pointing to the collection of denim in the far corner of the store. "Of course, when me and LJ are done, we'll meet you over there". Luigi said. Luci happily trotted over through the jeans and began flipping through the different styles eagerly, deciding to ignore the price tags in order to absolve herself of the guilt of making her dad spend so much.

As she was searching, she could hear someone's heels click-clack in her direction and then she felt a finger tap her shoulder. Luci turned around, a pair of bootcuts in hand, to look at the person and came face to face with a tall blonde saleslady whose face displayed a very tight fake grin.

"Can I help you miss?". The saleslady said in a tone that suggested she wasn't really interested in helping, but even then, Luci decided to respond. "Um, yes actually, do you know where the dressing rooms are, I wanna try this stuff on to see if it fits before I buy it". Luci asked politely.

Soon another sales person had gathered to see what had pulled the blonde lady out of their previous conversation. Luci noticed him giving her ill-fitting clothes a once over before giving the lady a 'are you seeing this' look. The lady returned the look before turning back to Luci.

"Honey, aren't you a little young to be shopping here? These clothes are pretty expensive". The blonde lady stated in a tone that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than condescension. "It's fine, my dad's gonna pay for it". Luci said, a fake smile of her own starting to form.

The saleslady sighed deeply before crouching down to Luci's height. "Sweetheart, I don't want to sound mean, but I think this place might be a little out of your price range". She spoke. Luci's face completely dropped at blunt statement as she stared in disbelief at the woman in front of her.

"You know, there's an old navy on the 2nd floor and it has some of the cutest items that are so affordable, maybe you and your dad will feel more comfortable shopping there". The salesman said in the same condescending tone.

Luci was too shocked to respond, she was trying her hardest to comprehend the fact that these people had pretty much said that they thought she wasn't good enough to shop at their store. What gave them any right to judge her? Luci soon recovered her voice once her shock had turned into irritation.

"I don't care about what you think I can't afford; I just want to try on the clothes to see if they fit". She snapped. Both salespeople rolled their eyes, clearly annoyed that the child wasn't backing down. "Fine, right this way". The blonde woman said with a strained smile before leading Luci to one of the changing rooms.

"Thank you". Luci said finally as she walked into the changing room and locked the door. Once the doors closed however, both of the adults took it upon themselves to share a few words with each other.

"Who does that brat think she's kidding?". The lady whispered. They both snickered quietly. "I'm not sure, but you know the strangest thing, she kinda looks like that Luci Largo girl who's been all over the news". The man pointed out. The lady scoffed. "Please, no Largo would leave the house dressed like that". Luci heard the lady say before they both walked away.

Luci stood in front of the mirror; her mood completely dampened as the salespeople confirmed what she had already been thinking to herself minutes prior. She may have had the Largo family name but that clearly meant nothing if she didn't look the part. She picked up the shirt and jeans she had just picked up and decided to put them on, hoping they would lift her mood.

But after changing and looking back into the mirror she felt even worse. Even in brand new luxury clothes she still didn't look like a Largo. The outfit, though more elevated than her last, still looked too casual; nothing at all like the high fashion professional business attire the Largo's often sported.

God, this was so frustrating! She quickly changed out of the new clothes and into her old ones and she stormed out of the dressing room. After walking out she was immediately met with the sight of the blonde saleswoman.

"So, are you planning on buying anything?". She asked, already expecting a specific answer. "No, these clothes are ugly and boring". Luci insulted and she held them out for the lady to take. "They only look that way to people who can't afford them". The blonde said smugly as she snatched them from Luci's hand.

"Hey, did you find anything you like?". Luigi asked as he and LJ approached Luci. "Mr. Largo? Heh, what are you doing here?". The saleslady said, her smug expression immediately switched and turned into a perfect costumer service smile.

Luigi looked up at the saleswoman, clearly irritated that she felt the need to talk to him. "Shopping with my kids". He said shortly before turning back to Luci. "Anyway, any luck on your end?". He asked his daughter. Luci shook her head. "No, none of the stuff I picked out fit me". Luci lied as a way to explain why she no longer wanted to purchase the shirt or jeans.

"W-well, Ms. Largo, if you'd like I can get you personally measured, I can assure you there are many things in the store that would look absolutely adorable on a girl as cute as you". The saleslady jumped in.

Luci had never wanted to roll her eyes more. Now that she has proof of funds in the form of a Largo, she wants to be all nice. "No thanks, we can just go look in a different store". Luci said, staring directly into the eyes of the saleslady. Luckily for Luci, LJ also came up empty handed meaning there was no reason to be in the store any longer and the trio left without so much as a goodbye.

Once officially out of the store, Luci asked LJ a question. "How come you didn't get anything?". She asked in a whisper as to not let Luigi hear. "Because everything was so boring. I've seen more color in those old black and white movies we watched in the orphanage when the genetic opera didn't show anything new". LJ joked with a quiet chuckle that Luci reciprocated.

Maybe not all hope would be lost with this shopping trip after all.

Chapter Text

Luckily for the Largo trio, and Luci's self-esteem, the rest of the shopping trip was smooth sailing. For the rest of the day the twins were treated like stars, salespeople flocked to them with designer goods galore, they showed them all the latest accessories, even if there was a waiting list for them.

Luci couldn't help but smile; nobody had ever put this much effort into her. Were these people most likely doing only so because of the huge commission they'd make and because they were sacred of her dad? Yes. But still, I was exciting to experience such celebrity treatment.

After making their final purchases they made their way out of the mall. "I can't believe all the stuff we got". LJ said as he struggled to carry his bags. "I know, I can't imagine how much was spent". Luci said as she also struggled.

Luigi heard this little exchange and spoke up himself. "Like I said, that's for me to worry about". He said before ruffling up their hair playfully. "Besides, it was only about $40,000". Luigi said casually, as if that amount of money wasn't enough to pay for at least 7 monthly lung transplant payments, depending on interest rates that is.

The twins gawked at each other in disbelief at the amount of money that was spent, nearly tripping over themselves as the bags they were carrying weighed them down.

"Hey, If you want, I can carry some of the bags, you guys look like you're having a hard time". Luigi offered.

"No thanks, we're good". Luci declined while LJ quick nodded to agree with her. Allowing these bags to cut off circulation around her wrists was the least she could do after her Dad had spent so much money.

Fortunately for them, they soon arrived at the car where they unloaded their plethora of bags into the trunk and let Bronco drive them home.

Now, while the Largo's were making their way back to the GeneCo tower, there was a certain doctor on the other side of the city who seemed to be having a very troubling conversation with his wife.

“You don’t understand Roberta, Rotti’s hunted down and interrogated practically everyone at that hospital, it’s only a matter of time before he comes looking for us too”. Dr. Johnson stated urgently as he grabbed clothes from the bedroom closet and started placing them into a large brown leather carry on.

“And your solution to that is to pack up everything we’ve built on this godforsaken island and run off to who knows where?". Roberta asked incredulously, wondering how her husband could be so comfortable uprooting the both of them.

Dr. Johnson paused his packing and inhaled deeply before responding to his wife. "It's for our safety". He said in an exasperated tone, his tone went ignored as his wife piped up again.

"What safety? Rotti probably has people looking for you all over the city. What's stopping him from being able to hunt us down in this supposedly safe place you plan on bringing us to, hm?". Roberta countered.

Dr. Johnson didn't respond back to his wife, instead he stood in place thinking about what she said. She was right, there was no guarantee that either of them would be completely safe from Rotti, no matter where they went. The Largo's had the resources to search as far and wide for him as he wanted and the power do whatever he pleased with him once he was found. They would never truly be safe.

With her husband no longer answering her, Roberta figured there was no getting through to him and with a heavy sigh she resigned to walking to the closet, grabbing her own clothes and placing them alongside her husband's inside of the carry on. While doing so she began ranting.

"You never should've trusted that awful woman. This all her fault!". She exclaimed loudly enough to pull her husband out of his almost catatonic state. He could tell she was talking about Lorrel, the woman he unfortunately trusted to take care of the twins. He didn't stop her disparaging of the now deceased caretaker and instead continued to stand there watching as his wife snatched her clothes out of the closet off of the hangers.

"I mean after all of the time and effort and money spent ensuring that she'd keep them secret, the minute no more money was flowing in she ran to the press!". Roberta shouted again out of pure frustration. She continued.

"We would've been better off raising them ourselves, at least then we would've been completely sure they would've never had any contact with those self-obsessed sociopaths, but no it was too dangerous, we had to place them in a remote place with someone who had experience in raising children. Some experience; I remember the minute we walked into that place all I saw was children running round and all she did was yell at them while waving her cigarette around!". She said before pausing to grab another shirt off the rack.

"Now we have to start our live completely over all because of that stupid bitch- Oh Damn it!". She cut herself off while yelping suddenly. She had snatched the wire hanger off of the shirt too frantically and had sliced her hand in the process.

Dr, Johnson immediately rushed to her side, wrapping the shirt she was previously holding around her now gushing hand in hopes that it will stall the bleeding. As he did so Roberta began to cry in his arms, not from the pain but from the sadness of their situation.

"Shh, it's okay honey, it's okay". Dr, Johnson said while holding her. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with nothing but frustration. "What are we gonna do?". She asked him, her voice was shaking. He takes a second to think before responding. "I'm not sure, but I know we will get through this". He states with as much confidence as he could possibly muster. Roberta nodded in agreement but Dr. Johnson could tell she didn't fully believe him. He didn't blame her for it though, he didn't even fully believe himself.

Back at the GeneCo tower, Luigi, Luci, and LJ had finally made it back home. The trio quickly made their way in to the tower's elevator and went up to the 9th floor. Once they reached the 9th floor, and after unloading all of the bags off the elevator, Luigi looked down at his watch communicator to check how long they had before dinnertime.

"We got around 10 minutes before dinner starts, you guys go ahead rest for a little bit, I'll call you out when we need to go downstairs". Luigi stated as his assistant placed the children's bags in their respective rooms. The 3 of them dispersed from the hallway to tend to their own business before dinner.

Once Luci entered her room, instead of inspecting and organizing her brand-new designer duds, she plopped onto her bed and looked around the room aimlessly. The past few days had felt like a blur of events, with that Luci realized that she hadn't taken the chance to really take in her surroundings. Or think about how different her current surroundings were from the orphanage

Almost everything in her new bedroom was dark gray. The walls were dark gray, the carpet was dark gray, her bedside dresser was dark gray, her bed and pillows had dark gray sheets and pillowcases, even her window curtains were dark gray. The only other colors in the room were the red numbers inside of the dark gray clock on the bedside dresser and the shiny gold of her bedframe.

The whole room looked professional, serious, and slightly intimidating, just like everything else about the Largo family. It was very different from the off- white chipped walls of the room in the orphanage that she shared with her brother.

That was another difference, she didn't have to share her new room with anyone. Back at the orphanage shared rooms weren't an option, they were a requirement. The orphanage was a 6-room house and with over 20 kids in the house everyone was pretty squished together.

It was honestly a surprise that Luci and LJ didn't have to share a room with anyone else. In the other rooms of the house there were about 4-6 kids either sleeping in bunk beds or sharing beds with each other because the room was too small to fit separate beds for everyone inhabiting it. This wasn't helped by the fact that Lorrel had taken the biggest room in house for herself, only ever sharing it with whatever creep she had picked up from latest bar crawl and decided to bring back with her like a stray dog.

Luci rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance at the thought of Lorrel and her annoying and selfish habits. A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, it's time for dinner". Luci heard her brother's voice shout from the other side of the door. "Coming!". Luci shouted back before getting off of the bed and walking out of her room.

Once on the 8th floor Luigi, Luci, and LJ took up seats on the left-hand side of the table with Luci sitting the closest to Rotti, who was at the head of the table. Pavi and Amber were sitting on the other side of Rotti with Amber sat closest to him on his right. Rotti smiled at as a sign of greeting Luigi and his grandchildren before turning back to his conversation with Amber.

While they waited for their food to be served, Luci looked around at the room. The room was painted dark gray and white, of course, and on the other side of the room there was a white marble countertop standing on 4 dark gray table legs with a bright red bowl filled with fruit that looked a little bit too perfect and shiny to be real.

Behind the table was the sink and on the right side of the sink there was a man standing over a stove stirring a large spoon inside of a large red pot. There were 2 other red pans next to the pot and a collection of spices next to the stove.

"So, Luci, I heard you and your brother went shopping today?". Rotti spoke, causing Luci to turn her attention back to the table. "Um, yeah, we did". Luci responded. "Did you have fun on your outing?". Rotti asked her with a smile of genuine interest. Luci looked at her brother before answering. "Yeah, we did". Luci said while LJ nodded in agreement.

Soon the food was presented to the family. Once Luci's plate was put in front of her, she looked the meal. It was steak, broccoli, and mashed potatoes with gravy on top. A fairly simple meal that seemed a lot fancier because of its presentation.

While everyone else ate she stared at her plate, specifically at the meat. It had a raw, pink, bloody center that squicked her out a little bit.

"Are you alright, Luci?". Rotti said when he noticed Luci wasn't eating. Luci looked up when she heard him address her. "Uh, yeah, I just spaced out a little bit, but I'm fine". Luci responded before picking up a fork and knife and finally digging into her food.

When she cut into the steak a light red juice leaked out of the meat which further grossed her out. The sight made her think about Lorrel again. But rather than thinking about her annoying and abusive habits, she thought about her recent death. The death that came at Luci's hands.

The way the liquid had spilled out of the meat reminded Luci of the way Lorrel's blood had spilled out of her body after Luci had started stabbing her- Stop! Luci shook the thought out of her head, she was freaking herself out for no reason.

She continued cutting the steak into smaller pieces before taking some on her fork and putting it in her mouth. She chewed with a strange sense of determination before swallowing not only the meat but whatever guilt she had left.

Yes, what she did was bad, but what’s done is done and no amount of dwelling on what she did would bring Lorrel back or reverse what she had done, so the best thing she could do was move on and stop freaking herself out over something she had already gotten away with.

As Luci tuned back into the dinner, she finally noticed how calm everything seemed. Nobody was arguing, nobody was insulting each other, no one was really talking to each other either, but still, it was nice to see. Especially considering how chaotic last night's dinner had been.

With the dinner being so calm, it was no surprise it had finished up much earlier than the last one had as well. With everyone finished with their plates and uninterested in spending any more time with each other, the family quickly dispersed to their respective rooms and offices to finish out their night.

When Luci got upstairs, she finally organized her brand-new clothing, taking all her old clothes out of the closet and shoving them into some random bottom drawer to make room for the new ones. Once she was satisfied with the way her closet and drawers were organized, she decided to finally get to ready for bed. She got into the shower and washed off the stress of the day before drying herself off, blow drying her hair, putting it up in rollers, and changing into one of her new designer pajama sets, and finally turned off the lights and climbed into the plush comfort of her bed.

The day had been a whirlwind of emotions and events but now it was finally over, and she could finally get a long night of hopefully undisturbed rest.

Its was around 6:30 AM when Luci was suddenly woken up by a strong knock on the door. She sat up in her bed while squinting before looking at her clock, it was way too early for anyone to be knocking at her door; but, as much as she wanted to ignore the knocking and go back to sleep, the knocking seemed very urgent and was probably about something important.

"Who is it?". Luci asked loudly as she started climbing out of her bed. "It's me Gina". A high pitched female voice responded from the other side of the door. Huh, why would Gina be knocking on her door this early in the morning? Luci finally opened the door and was surprised to find not only Gina but 3 other GENterns standing in front of her.

"Good morning Ms.Largo, may we come in?". Gina asked. "Um, I guess, yeah". Luci agreed before opening the door further so that all 4 women could enter her bedroom. As they entered Luci noticed that the last two ladies were holding fairly large crates that were now being placed on top of one of her dressers.

"What's going on?". Luci asked as another GENtern started rooting through her closet. Gina appeared confused before realizing that she hadn't told Luci why they were all there. "We've been personally asked to get you ready for the press conference". Gina stated with confident excitement as the GENterns opened the cases which revealed various hair and makeup products. Luci's eyebrows furrowed at this information.

"Wait, what press conference?". Luci asked. "Your grandfather, Mr.Largo organized a conference so that way all the confusion within the media would be cleared up, no one informed you about this beforehand?". Gina asked, genuinely confused on why Luci was so confused. "Can't say they did". Luci admitted and Gina seemed to understand and approached her.

"Well, don't worry. We're gonna get you all dolled up and were gonna make it as stress free as possible, ok?". Gina promised and asked Luci if she understood. "Ok, lets doll me up then". Luci agreed with a small smile that Gina shared with her.

The next hour and a half was spent transforming Luci into an entirely different person. Her hair was gelled and pin curled into tight pigtails that were held together via diamond encrusted hair clips, she was given light makeup that made her eyes look even bigger and doll like and made her skin look a little smoother. The GENterns that had been looking through her closet had pulled out a light blue two piece tweed set, matching light blue leather gloves, and a pair of white go-go boots.

Luci looked and felt like a living doll and she didn't really know if she liked it. The pigtails looked kinda childish and were pulling on her scalp, the boots had low heels on them that were a little difficult to walk with, and her make up looked a little uncanny.

In the next room over, LJ was going through similar grooming rituals. His hair was parted and slicked back with more hair gel than he would've liked and he was dressed in a light blue suit with matching light blue high tops and a matching light blue ascot. He looked like a smaller version of his dad, and it was very unnatural to look at.

As the twins were finishing getting ready, someone started knocking on their doors. "Come on kiddos, we have to get going soon". Luigi's voice rang out from the other side of the door. Luci was quickly rushed out the room by the GENterns, who didn't want to get stabbed for keeping Luigi waiting.

Right as Luigi was about to start knocking on LJ's door he noticed Luci come out of her room. "Hey, wow, don't you look... Cute". Luigi said he looked at his daughter's dressed up form. Though Luigi found it kinda strange that his kid currently looked like a weird baby doll instead of a human being, he figured it'd be best not to point that out. LJ soon exited his room as well, Luigi took a quick second to stare at the both of them.

They both looked perfect, almost unnervingly perfect. LJ look practically identical to his father, something Luigi was pretty proud of and would've been more so had LJ not looked so stiff and uncomfortable.

They didn't look like normal kids, they looked like imitations of kids who's only purpose was to be perfect little placeholders and that wasn't right; but this wasn't the time for Luigi to start feeling like a shitty parent, they had a press conference to get through and the quicker they got there the quicker they'd get it over with.

"Alright, let's get going". Luigi stated as he finally ushered them towards the elevator and out of the building.

Once in the car and on their way to the venue, Luci figured now would be a good time to ask a few questions and figure out what she and her brother would be getting into.

"So, what exactly are we gonna do at the press conference?". She asked, wondering if there was anything she needed to prepare herself for. "Mostly sit and answer questions, but don't worry they're usually to focused on pops to pay attention to the rest of us". Luigi answered with a smile he hoped was reassuring.

Luci was actually pretty satisfied with this answer. Though she had never really had any problem talking in defense of herself, much to many people's annoyance, she didn't really know if she'd be able to do such a thing in front of an audience of people and cameras.

She looked over at her brother, who was staring aimlessly out of the car window. It was weird seeing him look so professional, it didn't suit him and she could tell from the mild grimace on LJ's face that he agreed.

"You feeling ok?". Luci asked in a low whisper so that only he could hear. "Yeah, but my head feels cold". LJ responded making a joke of his discomfort with a light snicker that Luci returned.

Once they arrived at the venue they were ushered by security guards to a backstage area with two dressing rooms. Once they got to the dressing rooms they were separated, Luci going into the room on the right and LJ and Luigi going into the room on the left.

When Luci entered her dressing room she was surprised to find Amber already inside. She was sitting in front of a large mirror, her bare chested bodyguards right behind her, inspecting her face for any imperfections. Luci walked up to the empty seat next to her and started looking at herself as well. Under the fluorescent lighting of the the dressing room she looked thought she looked even creepier.

Unbeknownst to Luci, Amber had been pulled away from her own reflection and started focusing on her niece's. "Don't worry about the makeup, it'll look better on camera". Amber said absently. Luci looked back at her silently not knowing what else to say. Amber seemed to notice the little girl's inability to talk and talked instead.

"You want some more advice?". Amber offered while looking back at Luci. Luci nodded quickly wondering what Amber was gonna say next.

"These assholes make their living off of embarrassing us and invading our privacy, if you wanna get back at them, make them feel bad for causing all of this". Amber stated confidently but Luci was confused.

"Well, how do I do that?". Luci asked wonder what
exactly Amber was telling her to do. Amber rolled her eyes, clearly showing that Luci should've already understood.

"In the rare case that these losers pull their heads out of Dad's ass long enough to ask you a question, answer that question with as emotion as possible. Make sure to sound real sad, throw in a tear here and there, don't start full blown sobbing thought, it'll look too fake". Amber finished.

Then their was a knock on the door. "It's time". The person on the other side of the door stated. "Well, time to face the music". Amber said before getting up from her seat and walking towards the door.

As she and Amber's security guards left the room, Luci took in Amber's appearance; her hair was styled into a long blonde bob with curtain bangs, her eyes were a natural light green color, she was wearing a beige blazer and mini skirt combo with a sparkly beige halter top under the blazer, and matching beige stiletto heels.

Though it was a little more professional looking than most of her other outfits, it was still very much Amber and she wore it with an air of confidence that Luci very much lacked within her own outfit. Oh well, it was much too late to think about that.

The minute the Largo's walked out of the private area and into the press filled conference space it was absolute pandemonium. Cameras were flashing in every direction, reporters were yelling over each other trying to get the families attention, and microphone feedback rang behind all of it creating a chaotic cacophony of sound.

Luci couldn't help but think back to the Blind Mag performance from just a few days ago; the last time she had been in front reporters and paparazzi. When that happened she had been a complete nobody, just 1 of 2 orphans who Rotti had decided to be kind to on a whim. Now here she was, back in front of the press, only this time she's a member of the most powerful family in the world. Luci couldn't help but think about wild how much can change in a matter of a few hours.

After settling into their seats at a large rectangular table that had multiple microphones spread across it Rotti finally addressed the reporters.

"Settle down everyone! Settle down!". He exclaimed into his microphone. The crowd went completely silent as they waited for Rotti's next words. "Thank you. As you know, we are here to today to clear up any and all misconceptions that have been sparked by the slanderous statements made by the now deceased former caretaker of my grandchildren. Now, before we start, I ask that all questions asked be respectful and relevant to topic at hand. With that being said, let's begin". Rotti finished.

As soon as the crowd was granted permission to speak again the room erupted with sound once again as the reporters and news castors tried to get the family's attention and get their questions answered first.

Rotti's eyes scanned over the crowd, looking for who ever was the most worthy of having their question answered. He pointed towards a correspondent from 'The Face' magazine who was all the way in the back, prompting him to push through the crowd to get closer to the family so he could ask his question.

"Mr. Largo! Mr. Largo! How did you end up coming across the twins in the first place?". He asked, practically screaming into his microphone in order to be heard.

"Well, It was late at night and I happened to be walking around the cemetery and came across my granddaughter Luci, who was crouched in front of a headstone all by herself. I met LJ by being introduced to him by Luci the night of Blind Mag's most recent performance". Rotti stated calmly, looking over at Luci and LJ every time he mentioned them, before looking over at the crowd and and picking a new reporter.

"Ms. Largo, what were you doing in the cemetery in the first place?". A female correspondent asked. The entire Largo family snapped to attention, they clearly hadn’t expected this, even then Luci knew that she had to step up and respond.

She sat up straight, moved closer to the microphone and addressed the public. “Well, I was cleaning up the headstone for a mother’s death anniversary”. Luci answered, her voice steady and calm.

“Was this something you did often, cleaning headstones in the middle of the night?”. The same reporter then asked.

“Not normally at night but yeah. Lorrel made me start doing it as a way to get me out of the house. That night she made me go out because the client wanted it ready by morning”. Luci replied, following Amber’s advice by making her voice sound quiet and pitiful.

That little trick seemed to work as a resounding ‘Aww’ was released from the crowd. This sense of remorse was quickly replaced with curiosity as the reporters switched targets.

“Mr. Largo, were you also expected to get a “job” of your own or was it just your sister?”. A 3rd reporter with a very strong French accent asked LJ.

LJ froze in his seat. He’d never done well when it came to being questioned or confronted in any situation; now here, he was in front of an audience of people, completely unable to speak. He felt a hand on his arm and looked up to find Luci staring at him; she nodded slowly, silently encouraging him. He sighed heavily before turning back to the crowd.

Unfortunately for him, the courage Luci had telepathically given him immediately went away as the crowd stared eagerly at him, waiting for his response.

“I- um- well- um”. LJ stuttered into the mic, his words getting stuck in his throat. Luci quickly swooped in to save her brother.

“LJ got a job sweeping the floors at a local tattoo shop; he thought it was unfair that Lorrel was making me work so he did the same. It was a really big help since we were kinda expected to buy food and other things for ourselves”. Luci said in LJ steed, much to his relief.

This wasn’t the first time Luci had saved him from a scary situation; she had been doing it practically their entire lives. Every time Lorrel or had started picking on him for no reason Luci had been there to defend him while he hid away in their room, which is probably why Luci was often the subject of Lorrel’s physical and verbal attacks while he went mostly ignored.

He looked at her and smiled in thanks. Luci returned the smile and stared looked back towards the crowd.

As the press conference went on the reporters went back and forth between asking Rotti questions and asking the twins questions, all of which Luci answered.

After a multitude of slightly invasive yet very informative questions, the press conference was starting to come to a close; but there was one last question the public needed answers to.

"Mr. Largo, do you have any final words about the man who collaborated with Lorrel Blackwell to hide the children from you?". A purple haired reporter asked.

"Yes, I can assure you that we are actively looking for him and that the proper punishment for separating my son from his children will be imposed to the fullest extent". Rotti stated finally before giving a final nod to the crowd.

The Largo's were soon ushered off of the stage and back to the back stage area, leaving the rowdy audience behind.

Unbeknownst to them, a couple had been watching the entire segment in fear and the wife tore her eyes away from the TV and looked at her husband.

"We have to get out of the city as quickly as possible". Roberta told her husband, her voice trembling as the words left her mouth. Dr. Johnson nodded slowly and they both stared at the TV wondering what might happen in the next few days.