Naoto smiled slightly when Cyril said that he wasn't leaving. He didn't know why but he even felt a little relieved. Then Cyril gave his reason for showing up causing Naoto to look at himwith a smirk and an affirmative nod. The first civilized exchange between the two was quickly ended by Cyril's comment about their performance. "Like you did any better jerk!" Naoto snapped back, spitting fire. He turned and stomped off back to the yard. "And to think we almost lost such a charming guy." He grumbled sarcastically as he stood next to Jak and Fionn.

Naoto sighed, mentally exhausted from the days events. Just as he was thinking things were finally settling down Daisuke awoke startling Naoto with his frightful state. I'd say he's completely lost it but I don't he ever had it to begin with... He thought as the seemingly indestructible teen rambles about pineapples and world domination. Finally when he looked at Sonya Daisuke feel back and passed out again. That part actually want to surprising. Naoto looked at the unconscious person who was supposed to be one of these guardians. "Maybe someone should take him home. I don't think he's as okay as he looks after his match..." He said scratching his cheek.

Daisuke seemed to have a tad of a conniption and proceeded to pass out again. Benjamin thought about it for a moment and decided that he'd help out the Asian kid when Naoto mentioned it. He threw his bag over his shoulder and stood up from where he was seated. "I'll get him." He said over his shoulder to the proposed eleventh Vongola boss. It was only a small effort, Daisuke was a good bit smaller than Benjamin, to lift him up off the ground. Righting a chair that had been knocked over in the kitchen, Ben set Daisuke so that he was in a sitting position. Pausing for a moment, since he didn't know if Sonya had anything else for them, he wasn't leaving just yet. "Excuse me, but would one of you perchance know where Daisuke lives?" He couldn't take him home if he didn't know where home was.

Abby couldn't suppress the smile forming on her face when Cyril answered Naoto's question honestly. It didn't even help that a small blush was creeping on the said brunet's face. "That might be the nicest thing I've ever heard you say. And I've only known you for two days." She said, deciding to settle on a smirk, "Also, I'd also like some coffee. Know any good places around here?" Instead of hearing an answer from Cyril, she heard a shout from outside that that sounded like something out of a gladiator movie.

Sonya looked down at Daisuke and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day. Naoto and the others were crowding around him, wondering if they should take him home and was more than enough for Sonya to walk away from that heap of responsibility. She knew she had enough of Daisuke for one day. In fact, she had enough of all these kids today. It was high time to send a majority of them home. A sudden 'ping' from her pants pocket alerted Sonya of a new message as she dug her phone out. Her left eye twitched in annoyance as she read the message. Great, another one... She thought as she walked over to the make-shift armory table. Sitting at the end of the table was a large metal case used for carrying guns, ammunition, all that jazz. Sonya opened the case up and pulled out what was left inside; a small stack of paper.

"Alright, you guys are free to go!" She announced as she straightened up, "But before you leave, I need you to take a ticket." She began to hand them out to the teens who were outside. Abby heard Sonya's announcement and stuck her head out of the hole to see the red-head passing out multi-colored tickets.

"What are they for?" She asked as she took one from the tutor. The tickets were laminated and had a fanciful border. In the middle of the ticket read "Prospero" in big, bold letters.

"It's for a show. Think of it as a gift for not failing too hard." Sonya stated as she handed out the rest, "Show starts at 3:00. Don't be late." And with that, Sonya turned away and began to pack up her gear. She wanted to get out fast to avoid any annoying questions or another random outburst from Daisuke. Abby looked down at the ticket and grinned in excitement.

"This looks like it's going to be fun~!"

-Next Day-

"This is ridiculous." Abby mumbled under her breath as she looked at the tens of hundreds of people crowding around the designated audience area. The show wasn't for another thirty minutes but the seats were already packed, leaving only standing room available. For a short girl like her, that was not her preferred seating arrangement.

"We should have gotten her earlier!" She complained to the rest of the group.

Magic show, huh? Cyril hadn't been to a magic show before, but he had seen videos on magic tricks. They were basically illusions and distractions. Magicians just tricked you and made you feel stupid. But... he had to admit, a magician or illusionist had to be really clever in order to impress his audience. And judging by the sheer amount of people that had shown up to Prospero's performance, he seemed to know what he was doing. The brunette young man stood by Abby, glancing over at her and blinking. She was complaining about not coming earlier? He supposed that it was partially his fault. He just had to stop for a coffee. He loved coffee... he just couldn't live without it. "It isn't so bad."

It was. Cyril was only a bit taller than Abby, and yet, he still couldn't see much of anything. He stood on his tip toes and tried to peek over the heads of the people in front of him, but... he could only catch glimpses of the stage. "Honestly, we would have made it sooner if everyone was ready by the time we had to leave." he glanced over at everyone else, not so much as a frown or glower on his expression. Everyone was there, and he had to admit, he felt a bit comfortable with them already. That, however, was due to the fact that he had to travel around Trespiano with them. He never hung out with anyone except his aunt, and even she had to go to work. Cyril spent most of his free time playing the violin and drawing before he met everyone. The brown haired young man started to hope that times would get better and they could get along better.

What was he thinking? Someone obviously snuck something into his coffee.

Cyril looked over his shoulder and caught the blond haired, amber eyed boy struggling to look over the shoulders of the people as well. "Can you see anything?" he asked.

"N-not much," Fionn replied, squinting his eyes. Cyril sighed and rolled his own, taking on an exasperated expression at last. This was getting on his nerves... and Cyril was known to be a rather patient boy.

He turned back to Abby, and spoke up, allowing anyone to answer his question. "Why would Sonya even make us go a magic show?" he sure as Hell didn't know. He just knew that they should do whatever Sonya told them to do. She knew what she was doing... right? Maybe it was because she wanted them to spend more time together.

Ben wasn't particularly in the mood to attend a magic show. He was quite aware that magic didn't exist and that sort of ruined the festivity for him. He couldn't get engrossed. But as they arrived they found there was no sitting room. He wasn't terribly upset. Unlike most of the group, Ben was actually tall. Seeing the stage was just fine for him and he took a little joy in that. Cyril and Abby both complained about not getting here earlier. "Instead of rounding everyone up we could have just met here and then we might have seats. It seems like we might have at the secured chairs for those who showed promptly rather than none." He said, softly. Why they had to go together escaped him. But then again, most of this situation escaped him. "If you can't see, though, you should look for something to stand on."

Jak went and grabbed a ticket, glancing at a clock as she went. She was startled by the sudden realization of how late it was."Ah! I'vegottagobye!" she snagged her bag and ran home, hoping that her mother had not yet arrived back from work to discover that Jak had a shirt with blood down the front. Jak was a lot of things, but a good liar was not one of them. Her mother always saw through them, but if Jak could arrive ahead of her, then there shouldn't be any suspicion from her. At least, that was what Jak hoped would happen. It was always hard to tell what her mother was thinking.

The girl in the hotel room, meanwhile, was running in a completely different way. She had just checked out, and then promptly started to jog towards anywhere that was public, maybe crowded during this time of the day. Public was good, maybe the psycho wouldn't kill her in public. Maybe. She had her computer, but that might have to be ditched if they traced her IP, maybe she should find computer stores and operate out of those briefly, but either way, it was time. It was time to find the Vongola.

-Next Day-

Jak had been one for magic shows.

She'd always wanted to go, but that was something she'd wanted to do with her father. She was excited to see the act though, the main magician was supposedly their age, which was kind of off putting. She could be a baseball star if she had that kind of drive, but instead she was currently a mafia member, here on mafia money, with her mafia boss, Naoto. Naoto in a suit with a tommy gun like in those old movies made her laugh, it was so out of character for him and not to mention that he'd probably somehow trip in the shoes or get caught on doors with the tie.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't think it would be this busy so I thought it would be easier for everyone just to meet up first. I guess I was mistaken," Jak said, she'd shown up early for the sake of seeing what the area was like. She kinda of liked scouting the area like a superspy. "Oh well. I guess we'll just have to try and-"

Jak was bumped by a shorter girl with black hair and wrinkled clothes like she'd slept in them. "Sorry. Wasn't paying attention." with that, the girl vanished into the crowd again, but while still being able to be close enough to the group to watch them, just in case. Hopefully she could tell them about the assassin later, if not, then she could stay out of sight like she usually did.

A bright flash of red flame suddenly emanated from centerstage and lit the whole area in a blinding crimson light for a fraction of a second, and then a boy was suddenly standing where the fire had been, surrounded by a fading haze of reddish smoke. He smiled out at the crowd, the top half of his face covered by a silver mask and the red magician's tuxedo he wore clean and sharp despite his appearance from flames, blond hair just visible under his red and silver tophat. When he spoke his voice was obviously linked up to a microphone or amplifier of some sort

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Prospero Merlin and welcome to my show! Wow, there sure are a lot of people here today for such a small town, lemme see if I can get a better look..." With that he casually strolled off the front of the stage and over the heads of the audience, almost seeming to not notice that he was levitating in mid-air. He made an exaggerated show of looking around at everyone, though his eyes lingered just briefly longer on the Vongola group. Once he was finished he walked back onto the stage without commenting on this first trick at all.

"So, let's get things started with a simple trick to really make sure you're paying attention! I'm gonna pull a rabbit out of my hat!" He ignored any laughter or derision that resulted and simply twirled his hat off of his head with a bright smile still on his face. He reached inside and pulled out...a plush toy rabbit. He held it up for the audience inspection and asked "Still paying attention?" Then, with a flourish of his wrist, the toy was gone and there was suddenly a very small, very real rabbit sitting in his palm. "Good, because nothing during this show is as simple as it seems!"

From there it was a matter of a few tricks Prospero considered routine. Sawing a woman in half, 'reading' audience members minds and having multiple audience members each pick a card from a different shuffled deck and correctly guessing each one, even the 'teleportation' from one door placed by stagehands to another trick accomplished with trapdoors hidden in the stage.

One trick involved a particularly impressive escape starting with multiple sets of handcuffs slapped onto Prospero's wrists and ankles and a slotted heavy iron box wheeled out on stage suspended from some pulleys and dropped over his body. From there assistants stabbed multiple swords through the slots in the box iron box, and then raised it to show Prospero free from the various chains and unharmed.

“Ladies and Gentleman, you’ve been a great audience but it’s already time for my very last trick! This one’s really special because it requires full audience participation! “Thick mist started billowing out from under the stage, obscuring everything in sight and hiding the audience as Prospero’s voice from the microphone started to block out most sound in a hypnotic drone. “I want all of you to just focus on the sound of my voice and the swirling mist as it slowly drifts around you, blocking everything else out, even seeping slowly into your minds. Focus only on my voice and the mist. Focus as it blocks everything else out and you begin to fall into a deep, deep sleep. It is a sleep so deep that when you wake afterward you’ll only remember that this last trick was amazing. Let yourself fall deeper and deeper asleep and then…when I snap my fingers, you’ll wake up and everyone who’s not a member of the Mafia will disappear!”

The sudden *snap* of Prospero’s fingers coincided with the activation of a large fan from beneath the stage, blowing the mist away to reveal to Naoto and the would-be Guardians that most of the crowd from before really had disappeared. Prospero was smiling even wider than before.

“So Vongola Undecimo, did you like the show? Or maybe I should make you disappear too?”

Fuck it. My name's Michael, and I'm American.

After the meeting, 'Michael' had learned of the eleventh generation candidates' whereabouts, and in correspondence, decided to seek them out directly. He had decided to don an American persona; it was one of the many accents and mannerisms that he could mimic with ease. Hell, who couldn't pretend to be American? All you had to do was either talk as if you were some intelligent yet crooked salesman trying to get people to buy a product that you could've gotten for free called exercise, or wear your pants low to show off the backside of your undergarments and talk about getting money and smoking drugs. Welcome to America, home to a bunch of slobs, overweight people, and nine year olds on their consoles shouting faggotnigger [no offense to anyone but it is true I know from experience ask Twilight] through their shooting games.

Though, one thing was for certain: Michael was complacent about having to change his attire completely to fit the profile. Yuck, commoner clothing, he thought as he looked from up his toes to his chest. He felt even more disgusted at the thought of having to have changed his hairstyle to make it shorter and altering his eye color to blue. He was wearing a pair of camoflauge cargo shots and some random white t-shirt which had your average American on the front.

"Ugh, if it weren't for his goddamn call, I would've just been able to kill them, quick and clean," Michael complained within his mind as he, devoid of his usual hoodie, strode towards the place where, supposedly, the magician kid was supposed to be, as well as the rest of the Vongola rats. Weaklings gather in crowds, he thought as he thought back to the past, remembering when he forced the kid to watch him kill his father. Oh yeah, the runt who does the magic stuff and his father are American, as well! Hah!

Laughing to himself at the coincidence of memory, Michael pressed onward, struggling to navigate through Trespiano. "Slummy society breeds slummy people. I wonder."

---

Daisuke was unable to contain his excitement – this was the first time, in his entire life, that he would see a magic show. In person. I mean, who wouldn't be thrilled about that?!?

The Japanese boy could not remember anything after the vision he had of pineapples invading the world, and taking over the brains of the people; it was too surreal, almost like it had been a dream. Maybe he was a prophet? Or, maybe... it's my hidden potential as a magician?!

"HOUDINI! Daisuke blurted out randomly as the show began, and he cheered excessively loud. Throughout the entire magic routine, his arms were fixed above of his head, waving around and shouting "ME! ME! ME, ME, ME! PICK ME!" whenever the magician asked for volunteers, even though they were in the far back of the crowd and there was doubt that he would see them, and vice versa.

Though, when the last trick of making the entire crowd disappear except for the people playing mafia, Daisuke squealed like a prepubescent fangirl meeting their favorite prepubescent artist. "I'm playing mafia, too! PICK ME-"

"Uh... hey there, um.."

Daisuke froze completely as he turned around to face the person establishing contact, seeing a teenager start up the street and towards them. His face grew wide as his eyes met the person's shirt, pointing at it in excitement. "Oh my god," he said. "I have that shirt too!"

The teenager laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah... I'm a tourist from Pennsylvania," he replied, looking at each member of the group individually. "But, I'm kind of lost, and I was just asking if I can stick around with you guys.."

Daisuke squinted his eyes and, hopping up to the boy, looked deep into the boy's face with an observing manner. "Hmm..." he thought, his mind deciphering a million thoughts before suddenly breaking into more excitement. "More friends!! I'm so happy!" Daisuke proceeded to grip the teenager's shoulders and hop in a circle around him, the two of them laughing as it quickly faded.

"But, I think I should get permission from your friends, too..." the teenager considered, a frown falling on his lips at the threat of being dismissed.

Naoto walked over and took his ticket from Sonya. "A magic show? But why?" Sonya ignored the question leaving Naoto with a scowl. He didn't like this. He's only known Sonya for a short time but that was long enough to understand that she was a woman who got straight to the point. It wasn't like her to be subtle. As Naoto pondered this and Sonya have the others their tickets he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. On a shelf in Sonya's portable armory was a pair of devices that didn't look like any type of weapon. Looking over at Sonya he could tell she was at her limit with the group and probably wasn't up for explanations. Naoto decided to leave it alone for now and get some shut eye.

~Next Day~

"Hrmm, I don't know about this..." Naoto spoke to himself as they stood in the back of the crowd. For one, Naoto hadn't been out with a group in two years. He didn't even go to the soccer team's game celebrations. Then there was the fact that Naoto was the restless type and usually didn't stop well in situations where he had to stay still for extended periods of time. It was the reason he fell asleep in class so often. Finally, there was Sonya's motivations. Why send them to see a magic show.

As everyone complained about their viewing position Naoto scratched his cheek awkwardly since the biggest reason they got here late was probably him over sleeping. He noticed Jak laughing to herself about something. "What's so funny?" He asked curiously. "Forget about it. We didn't know this guy would be so popular." Naoto said after Jak apologized for the idea to meet up. "There was no way we could have known his show would get so packed."

Suddenly, the show started. From the moment the masked boy appeared on stage Naoto felt something was wrong. Not just with coming to the show so suddenly but it felt like something was coming soon. I don't like this. I can't put my finger on it but for some reason i feel like things are gonna get a little more complicated. Though the magicians act was impressive Naoto couldn't fully pay attention to it and was on edge the whole time.

The magician finally got Naoto's full attention when the most states billowing out from under the stage. "There's something off about this stuff..." Then his eyes widened in surprise at Prospero's words. "Mafia!?" Suddenly, everyone except him and the others were fine from sight. Naoto looked around hurriedly in disbelief. The magician stressed him directly causing Naoto to look at him. How does he...? The masked boys remark about making him disappear transformed Naoto's look of surprise into a glare. "If I was paying attention your act probably would have made that happen already. Who are you and what did you do to those people?" Naoto demanded.

Jak, having noticed that the show was starting when the guy in the mask walked out into thin air. As he looked around at the crowd, she noticed his gaze linger a little longer than normal. While it made her uneasy, she reminded herself that it was probably because they were just a big crowd of kids and that looked suspicious. Jak shifted in place, but kept watching. It was pretty amazing, all his tricks Jak wondered how he managed to saw the lady in half or do that bunny rabbit trick. Jak clapped and enjoyed the show like everyone else.

The girl nearby, however, was thinking about how to build automatic trapdoors and maybe if it could be operated from a bicycle. If she altered the gears and managed to find one that wasn't too bad, she could probably rig a system where the trap doors would open and close at seemingly random to confuse anyone who was watching. Then again, it didn't serve much practical use outside of confusing people... where'd everyone go? When she'd looked up again, everyone was gone except for the Vongola group, some american guy, and her.

Jak meanwhile, was now on edge. Whoever this Prospero Merlin was, he knew they were in the mafia. How, though? Jak barely knew that she was in the mafia. Who else knew about them? Was it now public within the mafia that they were part of them? Either way, not good prospects for her future career as as baseball player.

Benjamin was mildly impressed with the magic show. Some of the tricks completely ruined since he knew how they were done. The lady in the box was the simplest. Just get a contourtionist to huddle inside the box. Overall he wasn't dissapointed but he didn't need to come. But then Prospero's final trick set him in edge. He was filling the audience with smoke. He wasn't so alright with that but then the audience all vanished except for... The Mafia. So it was the Vongola candidates, himself of course, some kid Daisuke was with and some girl he didn't know. Taking stock, he took a step back. He was towards the back of the group and kept everyone in view. He wouldn't be so paranoid if it weren't for the fact that there were two strangers associated with the mafia present, and that Prospero knew who they were. He didn't have his sword but he had a pocket knife. He was effectively prepared to fight.
What he didn't realize was that he had an eye on Naoto first. He'd detected danger and the 'boss' was his first concern. It didn't trail through his mind until shortly after the fact. But he kept silent and focused. He still felt threatened and didn't want anything to happen to these people he'd somehow joined a mafia family with. He gave a nod towards the girl while keeping eyes on Naoto on the chance he'd see and look towards her, but tried to keep focus on everything.

Before Cyril was able to complain about anything else, the magic show began. Even though it was hard to see what exactly was going on, the short, dark haired boy caught glimpses of Prospero’s magic tricks. The guy knew what he was doing, it seemed, and the crowd was very much impressed by his illusions. The only trick he was able to see completely was the one with the stuffed rabbit. Cyril had to admit, he was proud that he saw the actual trick, even if he was dwarfed by his height and was distracted by Daisuke’s persistent and idiotic yelling. This guy has the mind of a little kid. he thought, rubbing the ridge of his nose. He even felt a headache coming on… ”Can you be a little more quiet?” he questioned briskly. ”I don’t think he’s going to pick you if you keep acting like an annoying little kid.”

Before he knew it, Prospero had reached his last trick. It was some sort of hypnotic spell he had placed on the crowd… which made the audience disappear at his whim. At that, Cyril began to bristle visibly. That was amazing… how does he do it? Mirrors? Trap doors? Yet, his look of bewilderment did not stay on his face for long. He forced himself to appear like he wasn’t fazed by his tricks, and watched him as he approached Naoto and the rest of them. He gave Prospero a good, long, hard look, and the corners of his lips twitched into a frown. Something seemed off. How the hell did he know who they were? Was he an enemy? Was he their first test? Of course, Sonya wouldn’t send us here just so we could watch a magic show.

Even if he wanted to fight alongside the rest of his so called “new friends”, he didn’t have any weapons to fight with. It was obvious that he was not adept at fighting with his fists—he had his ass delivered to him on a silver platter by Sonya the day before. His arm was still complaining about the force it had been put through, but it wasn’t his dominant. He could manage. His chocolate eyes narrowed, and he finally decided to speak. ”I would answer the big guy’s question quickly,” he growled, not in the mood for any more tricks and teases. It was funny that his voice was tinted with sarcasm when he mentioned Naoto. He still didn’t believe that he was good enough to be the Boss. ”’less you want him to pummel your ass to the ground.”

”Do we really have to make threats and try to start fights?” Fionn whined softly, his eyes wide as he began to tremble slightly. ”I mean… he knows us. So what? It doesn’t mean he’s gonna hurt us. Maybe he’s a friend. Just… j-just let him explain himself first, okay?” He really disliked fights and arguments. He had enough when he was little and his brothers used to bully him. It was only Reiner who stood up for him and chased them off, but he knew what it was like to be ganged up on for little to no reason. He turned his amber eyes toward Prospero again and offered him a smile. ”… that was an awesome performance…” he stated meekly.

Cyril allowed his gaze to travel to the blond haired kid’s remarks. One had to strain to hear them, but he was saying something about not fighting. Pah, if this Prospero kid wants a fight, Naoto better step up to the game.

It was then that the Italian boy heard Daisuke talking to someone. Cyril looked in his general direction, watching him talk with another dark haired boy. His voice was heavy with an American accent, and he seemed to carry and dress himself much like an American. Why are so many Americans coming to Trespiano? Are we really that popular? We aren’t even on the map… ”Didn’t your mother teach you not to talk with strangers?” Cyril asked, walking up to Daisuke’s side again. His eyes flicked over the tourist again. He seemed to be friendly… he couldn’t feel any sort of hostility or tension coming from him. ”Who is this? Anyway, if you and him want to see the magic kid close up and personal, you should go to Naoto. He’s currently talking with him.”

Everyone around her was pointing fingers at others (or themselves in the case of JakkI) on who should be to blame for their tardiness, but that didn't help Abby at all with seeing the stage. She considered jumping onto someone's back to get a better look when she heard the performance about to begin. The blond stood on her tiptoes before giving up halfway through the show. The magic was cool but she was getting put off by Prospero's gaudy outfit. That and she couldn't really see the show to begin with. After fuming for another half hour, Abby heard Prospero announce his final performance. Finally, I want to leave... Her thoughts were cut off when the crowd around her suddenly disappeared, leaving only her friends, some chick and a random guy standing in an empty audience pit. Prospero began to address Naoto by his "title", asking if he enjoyed the performance but Abby paid no mind as her brain just exploded at how awesome that trick was. Where the hell was everyone? Was it really magic?!

Daisuke's loud shout next to her shook the bedazzlement out of Abby's head and she glanced to see what he was yelling about. In the Thunder Guardian's clutches was the random guy she saw earlier. She tilted her head in confusion while inspecting his attire, instantly recognizing the meme on his shirt. Something didn't seem right and it wasn't that guy's poor fashion sense. Abby turned to the other newcomer, a girl standing a few feet away. Her brain racked the nagging feeling she had as Prospero and Naoto were conversing. Finally, it clicked.

"Didn't he say everyone disappear except 'mafia'?" Abby deduced slowly while pointing at Prospero, not so sure herself where she was going with this, "If that's the case.... Did we already get accepted into the Vongola?"

---

Sonya silently watched the scene unfold from on top one of the many buildings surrounding the make-shift theater. She had been there since the beginning of Prospero's show, already exasperated by the future 11 Generation guardians' late arrival. However, she wasn't here to watch them. Her focus today was on the magician prodigy standing on stage. He was already showing a lot of promise, especially regarding his designated Flame. She was curious to see what this boy would do since she herself didn't know who had brought him here. All she knew that he was coming and that he was the Mist Guardian candidate. But how he knew of the Vongola and who had informed him about them was a mystery to her; a mystery she didn't enjoy not solving.

And if that wasn't enough, the appearance of two newcomers was unsettling. There was that boy Daisuke was shouting to and a girl. They had to be mafia, but from what familgia? And were they friend or foe? Sonya secretly hoped they were foe. It would be a good learning experience for the candidates to face against someone who actually wanted them dead. It was also a great time to see how well they fought together if their attitudes would allow them to even try that newfangled invention called 'teamwork'.

Pf, My trick must not have worked as well as I thought. There are still two that shouldn't be here. I'll have to make changes to my plan...

Prospero just kept smiling despite the setback, Cyril's threats and Naoto's obvious anger. "ooh, scary scary!~ But I thought you would already have the trick all figured out by now, though. Maybe my information was wrong, and the Vongola aren't as useful as I thought they would be..."

At this he feigned walking back toward the space he'd initially appeared from as if he was just going to vanish in a burst of flame and smoke like he'd initially arrived. Mist and smoke suddenly started flowing out from under the stage and Prospero turned around to face Naoto and the rest again. "But if you really want to know who I am and what happened to all of those innocent audience members...I guess I could demonstrate!"

Prospero threw his arms wide as the Mist from the stage seemed to surge forward with the motion. From the perspective of Michael, Arty and the other guardians, it would seem like Prospero and Naoto had suddenly both disappeared. From Naoto's point of view though, everyone around him would disappear, leaving only the mists behind.

"...Fufufu~ Still confused, Vongola Undecimo?" Prospero formed himself out of the still lingering mists in front of Naoto as he spoke up "How about this? If you can see through my tricks or beat me in a fight, I'll bring your friends back and tell you everything I know! But if you lose, you have to agree to my demands."

Either way, Prospero would see for himself what sort of Boss Naoto was before he went ahead with becoming his Mist Guardian.

Naoto's gaze was dead set on the magician as the others started to understand what was happening. Abby's slow reception of the information and Daisuke's complete distraction was worrisome to say the least. Not to mention Fionn's pacifist take on the matter at hand. Evil doers beware... Naoto thought, trying to have confidence in the team. At least Cyril was serious about this. Mostly. "Even if it is sarcastic don't call me boss!"

Giving his full attention back to Prospero. "Sorry, they must've left this trick out of the Houdini magic set I had as a kid. I'll just have to knock the secret out of you." Naoto team after the mashed boy as he turned away. He stopped when the mist poured out again. As the mist engulfed him Naoto's eyes widened at the disappearance of the others. "Again!? If you've hurt any of them, don't count on me letting you of easy!" Naoto called out while looking around for the magician.

Finally, Prospero appeared in front of Naoto. As he spoke his conditions Naoto gained some composure. With it came that feeling he was having during the show. But something told him that feeling isn't about Prospero. Either way the magician still had to be dealt with. "I hope you aren't too set on those demands because I don't plan on losing. So get ready magic boy!" Naoto set his feet and launched forward, throwing a punch at Prospero's face.

Jak had been ready to attack, yell, do something other than stand there watching Prospero insult Naoto. "Mafia or not, you're in charge Naoto. I've got your back." she'd stepped forward just in time for Propero to vanish with Naoto. "Merde," Jak cursed, "where'd they go?" she flailed her arms at the space where they vanished, but nothing. If she really was in the Mafia, then wasn't she supposed to protect Naoto? She was a Guardian of Rain, whatever that meant. She knew what a Guardian was, though. Someone who protects something precious. Her frustration didn't help her become more efficient, however. She just continued to flail her arms around, trying to find where they had gone to.

Artemis Whitmore, however, was not quite so lucky to have no attention drawn to her. I barely know any Italian... but I know 'mafia' and they're saying it an awful lot... Still, she had to say something to explain to the Italians that she wasn't an enemy. Say something! she held up her hands as though she were surrendering, then tried to say something in Italian. "Assassin! Ache! Mafia! Assassin! Ache! Vongola!"

If they don't lock me up in the looney bin after that... I'll be impressed. I sound like a complete loon, and I only knew the words for bad, assassin, and the names of things. This is going to go great... they'll definitely let me into their organization after I screwed with up... man I wish I'd watched more Italian television than anime... If only I'd bothered to take those self defense classes, maybe then I would be so pathetic... Arty could feel her knees trying to give out from under her. Come on girl, would Sakura give up? No. She'd punch the bad guys in the face! So go in there and punch this in the face!

Something told Fionn that this was about to go downhill very, very fast. The tension was thick, and more and more people were approaching. Which was strange… because last time he heard, they weren’t supposed to be there if they weren’t in the mafia. Did that mean that Daisuke’s new “friend” and that girl were part of the mafia? If so, from which family? Were they hostile toward the Vongola? So many questions… Fionn rubbed the back of his head, kind of confused with what was going on. So many people were talking at once… and then Abby spoke up and asked if they already got accepted into the Vongola. Now that’s another good question… that I don’t know the answer to. Where’s Sonya? The red haired woman should be there to help them along the way, not to dump them there and watch them run around like chicken without heads…

Prospero and Naoto suddenly disappeared, leaving Jak flailing as she asked where they went. Where did they go? What would happen if Naoto was killed right then and there? Some Guardians they would be… ”How are we supposed to protect someone that just vanished into thin air?” Fionn questioned, walking over to Jak and studying the place where Naoto was. There was no sign of a struggle… so he couldn’t have been dragged away. ”T-they… couldn’t have just poofed right?”

Like always, Fionn’s voice was shaky and soft, and was easily lost in between everyone’s conversation. He became quiet again, peering close at the area where Naoto stood. Even if he was skeptical that they had just vanished, whatever trick Prospero performed was amazing. He was a magician—or illusionist, whatever one would call him—of high caliber. How are we supposed to fight him then? If he knows hypnotism… he could turn all of us on each other, right? The mere thought send shudders up and down his spine. Calm down, Fionn. Sonya couldn’t have sent us against such a powerful enemy already… right? Even as he tried to calm his frayed nerves, Fionn couldn’t help but feeling as if Sonya had sent them here to fight Prospero. All I have is my hands and legs to fight… and I don’t know any martial arts…

Someone else came up to them, shouting something in broken Italian. Fionn turned his amber eyes toward her, his expression becoming even more worried than before. The woman was shouting “bad”, “assassin”, and “Vongola”. ”A-Assassin? What assassin? Who?” Fionn piped in a shrill voice, beginning to tremble visibly. Oh no. This was bad. Who was the assassin? It had to be Prospero or this girl. ”I don’t know who’s the assassin…” he chirped softly. ”J-Jak… do you understand what she’s saying? Something about a bad assassin…”

Great. She doesn't speak Italian.
But she was yelling some heavy words. Granted, Ben didn't speak Italian either but it was essentially the same thing as Spanish. She looked English, or American. Oh wait, they teach Spanish in schools there. Maybe she knows some broken? Benjamin uncrossed his arms and took a more friendly stance. He even smiled. After sidestepping the group he found himself next to Artemis. He placed a hand on her shoulder and pointed to her punctually, asking, "Amigo, o enemigo?" Friend or foe. He was asking her if she was the assassin, which a real assassin wouldn't answer truthfully but at the very least maybe he could resolve some tension. And hopefully, she didn't live under a rock and could extrapolate what he was asking. Besides, she looked quite the opposite of intimidating. Unless she was really into reverse psychology then she was probably a safe bet. If she was Mafia and she didn't want them dead, it would be in his best interest to be friendly, anyways. She might be able to shed light on the world that Sonya had, to date, explained nothing about.

Artemis, already on edge, jumped about a foot in the air when Benjamin put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped back into an awkward karate pose, arms out and up on one leg. "Uh... ami...go?" It figures that the one class I fail would be Spanish and that would be helpful right about now. Artemis dropped her stance quickly, realizing how stupid she looked right then. I knew I should have rigged up something during the trip. Now they think I'm crazy. "Tu hablo Inglés?"

"Not mafia! I'm not mafia, but I was almost shot by a guy who was and-" Atremis shut up, reminding herself that if she was unlucky, the assassin might still be in the room. "I didn't get a good look at him, but he was looking for the Vongola. Just don't kill me!" they were leaderless, and there was a big blonde guy who whispered something and now there was a Spanish guy that looked like he wanted to stab her in the back for fun. Not to mention, they were all mafioso so they were all capable of killing a script kiddie like her with their pinkies. I'm sorry Mum, I've made a grave mistake...

Jak meanwhile, had stopped flailing her arms around to look at Fionn. "Maybe she's confused, we've been getting a lot of tourists lately. Besides, how do we know if she isn't just some crazy kid who wandered in here without a ticket? Listen, you guys have this under control. I'm gonna go look for where Naoto and Propero went. He's a magician, so they might not be too far." Jak then went up to the stage, checking for hidden trapdoors by stomping around, looking for hollow sounds. There has to be some around here somewhere, and it's not like people can just make other people vanish into thin air...

Ben was genuinely concerned and thought the girl might be off her rocker. His eyebrows bunched up and the corners of his mouth turned a little downwards. "Very... Little." He said in heavily accented English. It was hard to not know a little English in this day and age. But he probably wasn't going to get anywhere with her. He understood 'not Mafia' but that was about it. Maldito. He cursed in his head. Why would she be in the Mediterranean and not speak a Latin language? At least facial features were international. He gave her a bit of a smile and little else before he turned over his shoulder and addressing the guardians as a whole. "If I'm not mistaken, one of you is American. This girl doesn't seem to speak anything but English."[b] He said, realizing that's the most he'd said to most of them, to date. Now, he only knew them for a day but still, it felt like he should have struck up a conversation at least once. Eh. These weren't the sort of people he was used to, anyways. He was much more accustomed to rich trust fund kids. You know. Ben. All except for the trust fund and some of snob. [b]"Perhaps I'm not the best person to communicate with her in such a case." He added.