-Content warning: weapons(knives and guns), murder, uh...crazy sisters?-

Peter was sleeping peacefully next to their husband, one arm wrapped around Zachary, gentle snores coming from them. The room was dark, a sliver of moonlight coming from the crack in the window, letting the summer air in. Shifting, Peter moved closer to Zachary, burying their face into his hair. They opened their eyes halfway, hearing the bedroom door creak.

"Buona sera, fratello." A voice whispered, barely there. It was enough to wake Peter, the familiarity rousing them. They sat up and turned to see their sister standing in the doorway, women in suits behind her. Peter got out of the bed, tucking Zachary in quickly. They picked up a pocket knife that was behind the side table lamp.

"What do you want?" They stepped in front of Zachary's sleeping form, noting that the women behind their sister had multiple guns strapped to or likely hidden on their bodies. Peter's sister grinned and walked up to them, hands open and free of weapons.

"I want...to be in control of the family business, carissimo idiota." She placed a hand on Peter's chest and pushed them back, onto the bed. "Since you don't want to run it anymore." Her sunglasses masked any way of telling if she was joking. This was unnerving to Peter, who was used to being able to tell what their sister's intentions were. Then again, they hadn't seen her in years.

"You've changed, sorella." Peter snapped their fingers and changed into their normal clothing, minus their jacket. "What happened to you, Hazel?" Peter's sister laughed, taking a step backward, her form glitching. Peter's eyes widened. It had gotten worse. Hazel had clearly gone crazy while they were gone. She used to be so sweet.

"What happened? Tell me, what didn't happen? You abandoned me and came to New Jersey, of all places. Was Sicily, our home, not enough for you?" Hazel gestured to Zachary, a knife slipping down her sleeve and into her hand. "And you had the nerve to fall in love with an American man!" She threw the knife at Zachary's head, the blade embedding itself slightly to the right of him.

"I don't see what my love life has to do with you turning from a sweet little girl to a crazed maniac?" Peter scooted over on the bed and yanked the knife out of the headrest. They tossed it into the air and let it dissolve into pixels.

"You upset papa's plans! You were supposed to marry this girl!" Hazel threw a paper at Peter. They caught it and looked at the picture. A young woman was looking at the camera with a lovely smile, her thick black hair braided into a bun at the back of her head. Her cyan eyes were large, with long lashes. She was wearing a suit with a symbol of another mafia family on the chest.

"Okay, she's very pretty, but I don't like her?" Peter turned to look at Zachary's sleeping form, smiling a little. "I like this one." They turned back to face Hazel and handed her the paper. "And all of this goes back to you taking over the family business, how?"

"It goes back to me being the only one who cares about it! You rejected our values, our traditions, our family--"

"Not true, I still talk to mother--" Peter met Hazel's eyes. She shook her head, groaning.

"Mother isn't part of the family. She married into it, and when papa left us, she ran away. Just. Like. You. Did." Hazel poked Peter in the chest with each word. They caught Hazel's hand and pushed her away. She held her hand out and was given a gun by one of the suited women. Peter watched as the two suited women also took guns out, though they held them more casually.

"You all left me. You left your little sister behind. And I've had enough of being alone and not in control. If I'm going to be on my own, then I'm going to run things my way. And the only way to secure that is to remove anyone in the path of succession. Either publicly admit to the other families that you're stepping down from your position, or expect a bullet in your brain." Hazel turned the safety off on the gun, and when the sliver of moonlight hit the gun, Peter could see it had a silencer on it. They raised their hands up in the universal position of surrender. Smiling, Peter dropped the knife they were holding onto the bedside table.

"Fine. I cede control of dad's empire to you."

Hazel narrowed her eyes and pointed the gun at them. "Swear on it. Tell me you're not lying." Peter sighed and nodded, reaching into their pocket and throwing a coin at Hazel. She caught it and dropped it into her shirt pocket. "Grazie, fratello."

"Of course, sorella." Peter saw Hazel lower her gun, turning the safety back on. She gave it back to the woman who had handed it to her before. The woman strapped it onto her torso and crossed her arms. Peter pulled up their screen and swiped till they found the messenger app. "I'm going to tell the others of the change."

Hazel grimaced and went to dissolve the screen. "Don't use that. Write me a letter." Peter slapped her hand away and opened the app, going to contact their associates. At least one of them must be awake and ready to help.

"Letters can be faked. Forgery is a thing. They might not believe you, Hazel." Peter waved their hand dismissively. "I can give you proof. You can even film me doing this, just so that you have even more evidence." They sent Helios and Tarocco a message, receiving no response from the first, and an 'on my way' from the second. Peter pretended to make an official message, sent it to Hazel, and then closed the screen. "There. Sent to the other families as well." Hazel pulled up a screen of her own and looked for it. She grinned at seeing it and her screen disappeared.

"Excellent." Hazel turned around when a loud beeping went through the room. It sounded like a car alarm mixed with an alarm clock and hurt Peter's ears. They regretted setting it off, but Zachary slept way too heavily, and couldn't be woken up any other way. Hazel looked at Peter and frowned. "What was that?"

"An alert."

"For who, the police? Are you going to have them arrest me?" Hazel smirked. "You just gave me power over all of the Santoni family's resources. I think it will take a lot more than your silly American police to stop me." She laughed at the thought. Peter smiled and looked back at Zachary, who was now awake. They shook him and pointed at the window. He looked very tired.

"Darling, please leave." They whispered. Zachary looked at Peter in confusion, before noticing Hazel and her companions. He looked between the two in shock, before scrambling out of bed, not even putting on his glasses. Peter had hoped Zachary would quietly leave while the beeping was still going on and Hazel was filled with hubris and gloating over her new powers. But it didn't seem like the lanky doctor was very stealthy. Ah well.

"What is going on?" Zachary hid behind Peter, looking between the three women and his husband. Peter sighed and reached behind, patting Zachary on the head. They pointed at Hazel.

"That's my sister."

"You have a sister?"

"Yes." Peter pointed at the two women. "Those two are her bodyguards. As you can see, they all have weapons, and that little notch on the headrest?" Peter pointed at where the knife had been earlier. "That's from when my sister threw a knife at your head." Zachary gave Peter an alarmed look, starting to look for exits, and only seeing the window. The doorway was blocked, and they didn't exactly have any secret stairs in their bedroom. Maybe one of the bodyguards could be disarmed and then the other would be focused on protecting Hazel? But that was assuming either Peter or himself could get one of the bodyguards down.

"She threw a knife at me?" Zachary glanced at Hazel, this small girl with fluffy purple hair falling onto half of her face. She didn't look like she could be related to Peter at all, except that there was a sort of resemblance in personality and eye shape. At the knife question, she stopped laughing and looked at him, smirking.

"Oh, he's finally awake! Your lovely little marito!" Hazel walked over to Zachary, reaching up to cup his face. "He doesn't look like much. You should've married Elena. She's stronger and more intelligent than this dotorre magro." Peter removed Hazel's hands from Zachary and pushed him towards the window, glaring at their sister. Hazel rolled her eyes in disgust and leaned on the wall.

"You're not allowed to touch him, Hazel. And if you find 'Elena' so great, why don't you marry her?" Peter was counting down in their head, hoping Tarocco would arrive any second now. They needed the help, now that Zachary was awake and unfortunately, not escaping. And as they thought that, a loud thunk came from behind Hazel. Peter smiled when they saw Tarocco holding a chair and one of the bodyguards on the ground. They snapped, their coat appearing on them. Several blades floated around them, and they saw Zachary grab the knife on the table. "That's cute, Zach, but don't worry. I've got this."

"Sorry I was late, kiddo. Traffic was a bitch in the hospital." Tarocco ducked down to trip up the other bodyguard, who had pulled a knife on her. Peter laughed and tackled Hazel, blades whirling. Hazel was caught by surprise, both by the loss of a bodyguard and the appearance of her mother. She went to punch Peter, who dodged out of the way and pinned down her arms.

"Sorella, you should always carry a weapon with you when negotiating. Dad taught us that as kids." Peter held a blade to Hazel's neck. "Just because I'm not currently doing anything with our business, doesn't mean I'm not keeping track of it. You know I have many ways of managing things." They rolled off of Hazel as she squirmed in their hold and aimed a kick at their stomach. "I see you tried to learn some hand-to-hand combat."

"I wasn't sittin' on my ass all day while you were gone. I did things." Hazel stood and went to stomp Peter in the face. They twisted and swept her feet from under her quickly. Hazel hit the ground and she went to grab Peter's leg. "I'm going to kill you and go back to Sicily as the queen as of my new empire." She hissed.

"Scusa sorella, but not today. Or rather, tonight." Peter pulled their leg back and rolled into a standing position. "Give me back the coin." They held their hand out, several of their blades surrounding Hazel, one pointed at her throat, and another at her chest. She reached in her shirt pocket and produced the coin, twirling it around in her fingers, before putting it back, smirking. The fact that she was happy at a time like this when she was surrounded by sharp objects, made Peter worry.

"Why should I give it to you? You gave me control." Hazel glitched, her form getting sliced by the knives at her sides. "Are you gonna kill me?" Peter could tell that she was daring them to do so. To spill family blood and signal to the other mafia clans that the Santoni family was divided and weak. They sighed, and the knives disappeared. Peter relaxed a little, hoping that the shock that they weren't going to kill her would catch Hazel off-guard.

"No, I'm not gonna kill you. Give me the coin." They shook their open hand. The sooner they could get it back and ask for additional assistance, the better. "I'm waiting."

"You don't need to wait for the coin when you're dead!" Hazel jumped up and onto Peter, and they rolled around on the floor, both trying to get the advantage over the other. Peter slashed at Hazel and watched as she dodged and managed to get a few hits on them. Peter felt Hazel land a punch on their solar plexus and the wind was knocked out of their chest. She let go of them, and they hit the wall. Peter wheezed and placed a hand on their chest. Hazel glanced at them and seemed satisfied they were down.

She walked over to Zachary and plucked the knife from his hand. "You don't need that." She tossed it on the floor and it disappeared. "Now, go sit down on the bed like a good boy and I'll deal with you later, bello." Hazel grinned, moonlight flashing over her sunglasses, revealing purple eyes. Peter could see that Zachary was starting to outwardly panic, and they crawled over to the knocked-out bodyguard, pulling a gun off of the body. They aimed it at Hazel.

"Move away from him."

Hazel turned her head, looking back at Peter. "Oh. You're not dead yet?" She pushed Zachary against the wall, a hand on his jaw. "You don't need a weapon to kill someone. Make any attempt to shoot me, and his neck goes snap." She smiled, it slipping into an unsettling grin. Peter gritted their teeth and dropped the gun, it hitting the floor with a dull thud. They wouldn't be able to handle it if Zachary died.

"Don't...hurt him." They said softly. "Please don't."

"Okay." Hazel removed her hand and then traced a finger along Zachary's jaw. "I might take him home with me. For all he's a beanpole, he's quite adorable." She tucked a bit of Zachary's hair behind his ear, her tongue sticking out. Zachary looked repulsed, face twisted up in disgust. Peter frowned and slowly stood, coughing.

"That's my fucking husband, and you're not taking him." They lurched forwards and caught themself on the bedside table. Too unsteady. The room spun a little and they took a deep breath before meeting Zachary's eyes and signaling for him to move. He did so, ducking away and over to the other side of the room, and Hazel was surprised by the sudden movement, her eyes flashing in the darkness. She went to grab Zachary since he was her only way of stopping Peter from hurting her.

"Come back he--grk!" Hazel stopped moving, looking down at her throat. A blood-red blade was in it, and she looked at Tarocco, who was starting to cry, her hand outstretched. Peter and Zachary both looked at Tarocco as well, shocked. Peter moved to pull Zachary close to themself. He gladly went over to them.

Peter saw Tarocco look down at the guards she had dispatched. Her fists were clenched and she was hiccuping as she looked at Hazel. She looked away and pulled up a screen, a picture of Hazel appearing. All of the Squips stared at the picture in alarm, particularly Hazel herself.

"No, no don't do this! Mama please!" She moved to pull the knife out, but her hands had already started pixelating and disappearing. Hazel went to speak again, but nothing came out. She screamed, soundlessly.

"Addio, figlia." Tarocco said, before tapping Hazel's picture. Everyone in the room watched as Hazel started to glitch uncontrollably, pixels disappearing faster. Peter turned to look at Tarocco, who was sobbing. They let go of Zachary and went over to catch her. Tarocco fell into Peter's arms, and they held her close, looking at Hazel, who within seconds had been reduced to just her torso and head. The siblings stared at each other, before Peter looked away, trying not to cry. Despite the murder attempts, they were still related. But killing, after all...was what they did.

"It's just the family business, Hazel. I'm sorry."

Hazel had already dissipated, all of the strands of code unraveling and going out the window. Peter watched them drift away and bit the bottom of their lip. The coin that Hazel had spun in the air and dropped to the ground, surrounded by leftover chunks of code.

"Where's the floating code going?" They asked, moving Tarocco to the bed. They both sat, and she sniffled, taking off her visor and rubbing her eyes, make-up smudging. Zachary awkwardly sat down on the bed and put his glasses on. Tarocco hiccuped and looked up at Peter.

"Back to your father."

"DAD'S ALIVE?"