In the Court of the Blind King

Chapter 10 - Deadly Patterns

   They reached the top of the staircase and arrived at a small hall. The walls were decorated with famous paintings, the floor covered with a large velvet rug, and a pair of intricately designed large wooden tables, each running along the walls of one side of the room. In the middle of each, a pot with a flower in it; the one on their right was an immaculate white lotus flower; the one on the left, on the other hand, was a crumpled dark red rose, bent towards the table.

   As they walked along the corridor Doppio noticed one of the paintings on the wall.

   "Hehe..."

   "What is it, Doppio?"

   "Oh, it's just..."

   He stared deep into the painting. 'The Church at Auvers' by Van Gogh. He pointed at it.

   "That reminds me of Polpo."

   Diavolo looked at it.

   "Yes... the fat illusionist had quite an expensive taste."

   "He always lived such a comfortable life, I wonder why he killed himself?"

   "I don't know, maybe he was denied some dish he really liked?"

   Doppio laughed, with a soft smile formed on his face; but then frowned.

   "What do you think happened to all of the gang? You know... the ones that didn't make it after that..."

   Diavolo stopped for a moment, thinking about it. Come to think of it, he hadn't had much time to reflect on that, too overwhelmed by his own cruel fate.

   "I imagine wherever Squalo and Tiziano are, they are enjoying themselves. B.I.G probably still roams the ocean, and I do not envy the poor bastard that eventually runs by him; Chioccolata and Secco are surely in hell, and good riddance for both of them, scum of this earth."

   "Yeah, I never really liked that guy."

   "He was reliable, yet unstable. As for La Squadra Esecuzione... I can only imagine they are at least a bit proud of themselves; Risotto Nero proved to be quite the challenge, but ultimately got what he was hoping for: he found out my secret. And that is the best they could possibly get, in my view."

   They were now sitting on the ground by one of the tables reminiscing. Doppio broke the silence first.

   "I wonder if this could all be different."

   "I don't try it."

   Doppio looked at him confused.

   "You see... I wasted so much time trying to change my past, so much effort and men, so many resources and achieved so much power..."

    He raised his hand above his head, his palm wide open.

   "...but in the end..."

   He clenched his fist suddenly with immense pressure, a barely visible manifestation of his stand's fist right by it mimicking his action.

   "...I only ended up robbing me of my future."

   Doppio looked at Diavolo's eyes. His pupils were always strange in a particular way but, at that moment, they were humanized. For the first time after learning about the ugly truth about Diavolo, Doppio sympathized with him.

   "Well..."

   Doppio rose to his feet, offering a hand to help Diavolo up.

   "We can still change that."