The Hitman and His Consort

Special Episode I: Childhood Days

Third Person P.O.V: DENIS HACKSAW

[15 years ago]

‘Ah, it’s morning…’ Denis thought as the sunbeams peeking through his curtain hit his eyelids.

It’s going to be another good day, for sure. He’s certain about it, one hundred percent. He’s one of those children who are raised with love and knew nothing else apart from that... For the most, it was a good thing, but even the ‘goodest’ of qualities has one major flaw. He got up and made his bed, smoothing out any creases and folds, thinking he’ll get to perfect this like his mother does, taking note of how his work improves every day.

“Yep, that’s perfect,” he announced, humming at his handiwork with a nod before he stretched as he ran out of his room and to the next, it was his sister’s, Diana.

He barged into her room and hopped on her bed to stare at his five-year-old sister's face; it was easy to say that he adored her. She’s the most adorable thing he’d ever seen, like a doll of some sort.

“Dee-dee~” He cooed as he patted her face, “Dee-dee, wake up! It’s school time!” he followed after, gently shaking her until she finally blinked her eyes open,

“Denis…I dun wanna go to shool…” She said before her eyes started drooping closed again, something Denis didn’t allow,

“Nu-uh! You have to wake up! If you don’t go to school, you’ll be stupid!” Denis reasoned making Diana groan as she realized her brother will not leave her alone, even so, Denis was kind of good company so despite being reluctant, she groggily sat up and climbed down her bed, her bed hair in a total mess.

“Woah, you’re not going to make your bed?”

“What? I can’t do that,”

“Why not?”

“I’m too small,”

“Ohh, okay I’ll do it,” Denis said, utilizing the opportunity for more practice time so he can improve his bed-making skills in the future, while Diana waited at the side with a ditzy look on her face, scratching her eyes. He hummed as he flatted out the last creases, “Okay, done… let’s go to Valya now,” announced as he held Diana’s hands toward the next room.

He paused at the door and glanced at Diana, “Do you think he's awake now?” he asked and Diana shrugged, following her, Denis just barged in, unlike his or Diana’s room, Valya’s room was more on the neat side.

Climbing up on the bed, Denis and Diana both crept up on their brother. Still deep asleep, Diana patted Valya’s cheek, “Hi~” she cooed in a soft tone,

“That’s not going to wake him up,” Denis said with a chuckle,

“You wake him,” Diana retorted making Denis frown,

“But I don’t want to,”

“Why not?”

“He always looks mad…I don’t want him to be mad at me,”

“Didn’t papa say that’s his normal face?”

“It still looks scary,” Denis said and Diana pouted as she continued to softly pat Valya’s face, still there was no sign of him waking up.

“Should we yell?” Diana suggested making Denis shake his head with vigorous disapproval, “we shouldn’t!” he said in a hushed tone, at this point Diana was getting frustrated as she runs out of options, she stared at him for a moment, her hands still patting her brother’s round cheeks until she noticed something,

“He’s like sleeping beauty,” she noted, “Does he need a kiss to wake up?” she asked, gasping at the idea that she must’ve solved the puzzle,

Denis, on the other hand, frowned, “He doesn’t look kissable, a hug maybe?” he bargained with crossed arms and Diana shrugged as she and Denis lay beside Valya, hugging their slumbering brother.

“… huh?” was Valya’s first word once he felt the unfamiliar weight of both his siblings. He’s not sure what’s happening, but what he is sure of was they were not supposed to be doing this.

“Ah! It worked! Goodmowning, Valya!” Diana cheered as she hugged him tighter. Valya, disoriented with grogginess and confusion, stared at Denis, hoping his older brother would give some context as to what was happening.

“Yeah, good morning, get up! Hurry!” Denis said as he practically carried/dragged his younger brother off the bed. Diana mimicked him. The scene, as of then, is Denis dragging Valya across the floor and Diana lifting the latter’s left leg. It didn’t help, but she was so resolute to be of assistance with this one mission.

“Why..?” Valya asked as he hangs limp and motionless while his sibling went on for the day’s first shenanigan, and he must admit this one was new. This kept Denis’ pleasant mood going. Valya doesn’t seem to be upset with him, which is one of the biggest, if not only, reasons why he’ll be frustrated.

Denis bestowed it upon himself to be the responsible big brother that would be able to protect his baby siblings, seeing as he was the tallest and eldest, he assumed it was natural that he would act like his favorite superheroes and protect those weaker than him.

So he’s especially in distress when either of those two is cross with him, in his defense, doing hero work to ungrateful people is awkward. When they reached the set of stairs, they were stuck at another puzzle, they can’t drag Valya down there,

“You’ll hurt your bum if you fall,” Denis told Valya who seemed more awake now since he snickered before repeating the word “Bum” with a mischievous grin. Denis frowned at him with disappointment before sighing at their current predicament,

“Hm… piggyback?” Diana suggested, and Denis snapped his fingers at the idea,

“That’s it! Valya, stand up and hop on my back!” Denis instructed as he bent his knees a little to help his little brother reach over and hold on to him and Valya, now wide awake and excited to do just as his brother commanded, climbed up his brother’s back in a clumsy manner it left Diana with her hands over her mouth with intense worry.

“I’m gonna go down first, I’ll catch you both,” she announced as he took the first three steps down, waving at them to follow after her, “Be careful, just gentle~” she reminded as Denis took his first steps down, and a huge smile was already on Valya’s face that he couldn’t help but chuckle.

Diana continued to guide them down with reminders and occasional stops to see if Denis’ feet were in a safe placement. Denis couldn’t even deny that he was very touched, he’s managing the scene better than he thought he would, turns out that Valya isn’t that heavy at all but looking at how devoted Diana was to making sure everything is going well made him happy.

In addition, Valya seems to be very happy as he giggled, a rare occurrence since he’s very kept to himself for some reason. Denis just assumed it was because Valya was different. Their mother said that Valya was made with different materials and colors compared to them, which is why he looks different, but still, they’re all the same children.

Their children. Vanessa and Gabriel Hacksaws’.

Personally, Denis doesn’t understand what the big deal was, Valya was obviously their sibling. What was all that ruckus about? He looks exactly like them…

‘Obviously not the color though, he was made with different colors after all,’

By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the place was bustling as usual with so many loud ‘tía’s’ around as Denis would call him, the more basic terminology would be 'gangster' in this scenario. His mother runs a syndicate, and one would be disinclined to label them as anything else other than malicious.

That syndicate is called ‘Madre Maria’, a group with a strict ‘women only’ policy, handed down to Vanessa by her grandmother and the former head of the group. The group hangs around the Hacksaw residence to aid their group head in whatever venture she struggles with, in this case, it was motherhood. Vanessa was busy multitasking between raising children and leading the syndicate, in which case the latter helped in easing the first variable.

“Mama!” Diana yelled as she ran up to her mother’s arms,

“Oh! Dee-dee! What—“

“Denis carried Valya down the stairs,” she added, pointing to Denis and Valya, the latter seemingly having the time of his life as he enjoyed the free ride.

Vanessa gasped as she rushed to her sons. The other ladies chuckled as they passed, both amused and touched at the brother’s pleasant relationship. Valya beamed at his mother as she approached and Denis, not thinking about his decision thoroughly, felt a wave of panic to see his mother rushing toward them.

Debating within those short seconds whether the stunt they pulled was safe because safety was a pretty big deal in this household.

“Denis! You carried him down the stairs?” She asked, her brows furrowed,

“Y-Yeah, he’s just light,” he replied, sounding meeker than he intended,

“Denis carried me down! He’s very strong,” Valya cheered, tipping the tense mood over, Vanessa just sighed, her gaze softening as her heart melted at the sight of her children getting along so well. She patted their heads and gave each a kiss on the head,

“Okay, as long as you didn’t fall off the stairs, but why are you all up so early?” she asked as she led them to the kitchen, carrying them and sitting them on the high chairs that came with the dining table, giving each of the three a glass of milk that the other gang members prepared as soon as they heard the trio’s voices.

Denis frowned at his mother as he set his glass down, a milk-mustache over his upper lip, “What do you mean, mama? We have school,” he replied, making Vanessa chuckle as she wiped his mustache with her thumb,

“It’s Saturday, my baby,” she corrected, and the three froze in shock,

“Arrgh! Denis woke me up so early,” Diana immediately complained, planting her face on the marble table while Denis still hasn’t processed the information.

Valentin paused from drinking, “I like milk,” he announced, his milk-mustache bigger and wider than the rest, before resuming to gulp down the remaining contents.

“That’s good, well you guys can go play and guess what… papa’s coming home today,” Vanessa announced and the three, collectively, gasped as they exchanged glances with excited smiles.

“Beard man!” Valentin yelled, his arms in a ‘Y’ position with such a strong, determined expression on his face making Denis, and pretty much everyone else in the room, laugh. They all found Valentin’s amusement, and debatable sentiments, towards Gabriel’s beard comedic. Denis was also confused why his little brother only acknowledges their father more when he has a beard.

Denis did ask about it once, but all Valya said was “He looks strong,” which didn’t give much substance, if at all.

“Then can we go out? We can grab cotton candy,” Denis said and Vanessa scoffed.

“Oh no, cotton candy? So early in the morning? Not a chance, my love,” she refused,

“How about bread?” Denis bargained, “We’ll help around the house if we eat sweet bread,” he added, thinking he’s sweetening up the deal for his mother, something he saw she’s done before.

Diana tugged at her brother's clothes, “What? I don’t want to,” she whispered to him, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear,

“Shh, just trust me, you like the bread with strawberries, right?” Denis convinced, making Diana bite her lip with a hesitant nod. Some might think that Denis would have to go through some hardships once he takes over the family’s main business and front.

But Vanessa could tell that her eldest has a talent for the sort, humming with amusement. Vanessa shrugged, “hmm…okay, then ask tía Aura to come with you,” she said and Denis pumped the air, Diana sighed exaggeratedly but she was pretty pleased to be getting a strawberry bread early in the morning.

Valya… well, he’s pretty unbothered by the whole scene, overcome by such a flowing river of satisfaction, calmness, and relaxation.

Something that he’s about to lose very soon.