It has been a year and a half since Danzo began living with the Howells. The first month was difficult as he got used to it, especially with Maria constantly hovering over him. Although he found it annoying, he didn’t exactly dislike her presence. Following Vito’s advice, he started training with him to improve his physical strength and ability to manipulate blood. At school, Elizabeth was always vigilant about his and Maria’s schoolwork, almost to the point of invoking her full wrath when he showed any indifference toward it.
As of the sixth month, he became one of the top students, while Maria struggled to stay near him in terms of academics. Although in athletics, it was an entirely different story.
On a cool morning, Danzo is on a routine morning run with Maria. Today, Danzo chose a harder course. This was one of the many jogging routes Vito showed him. The route circled a farming field that had a constantly changing elevation. This was due to the farmer's man-made modifications to discourage flooding in his field while maintaining privacy.
Maria casually jogs in front while he is struggling to maintain pace. She quickly turns around and runs backward, mockingly saying, “And I thought you were saying that you have gotten better? How disappointing.”
Danzo struggles to talk, let alone breathe. “Slow….down…”. His constant shortage of blood stopped him from getting enough oxygen in his body, but he was slowly adapting to this. Previously, he could barely run a kilometre, but now he can run three without much issue.
She finally acknowledges him struggling, and feeling worried, she slows down to a halt. “Fine, fine. Can’t have you collapse again,” She says while he haphazardly runs toward her.
He stops in front of her and struggles to catch his breath. After a couple of minutes, he looks at the rest of the path and says, “Thanks… but I think I’m going to walk for the rest of the route.”
She crosses her arms and says, “No one said that you had to do this run. Even Dad said it was a bit much, even for him.”
Danzo shoots her a sharp look and says, “Honestly, I would respect his words more if he didn’t constantly do this.”
As Danzo finishes his sentence, Maria notices her father running in the distance. He quickly catches up and runs past them, shouting, “HEY, STOP SLACKING! WE’RE NOT EVEN HALFWAY!”
As he runs past, Maria waves her hand cheerfully at her father in support while Danzo begrudgingly says, “He overlapped us, huh.”
“He is pretty pumped up. Especially with your training,” she says to him.
Danzo begins to walk, and Maria follows him. He replies, “I can’t say he hasn’t helped me. It’s all thanks to your parents that I have made it this far.”
“Mmmm,” Maria says in agreement.
The two continue to walk in silence and take in the scenes. Able to see her house, Maria looks over to Danzo’s old home in the distance. Over the past year, it was revealed that the house was put under Danzo’s name. From the way the Clarifiers described it, it seems that his parents didn’t intend on or expect to be returning home. Either way, Danzo became troubled for a while after that, requiring a month for him to come to terms with it.
Reminiscing, she says, “Do you ever miss your old place?”
“Where did that come from?” He asks her confusedly.
“Never mind that, just answer!”
He takes a moment to think before answering, “Hmmmmm, not really.”
Maria says in surprise, “Really? Not even a little?”
“No. Why?”
“I was thinking,” She blushes and looks away, her mind drifting to those words he said to her when he first stayed with them, “Wouldn’t it be nice to raise a family there one day?”
He gives her a blank look and says, “Hm, a family? I’m not intending to settle down.”
Maria could feel her heart slightly shatter from hearing that. She dishearteningly replies, “Oh… I see.”
The two walk in silence for a while. Eventually, Maria asks, “So… any news on the battlefront?”
Danzo quickly looks up as he thinks, “From the last reports, it seems the soldiers are keeping them at bay, but recently, they found signs of sharper fangs, especially in their claws.”
Maria shudders upon hearing that and says, “Creepy.”
“Indeed, it seems they are evolving. I’m going to need to make sure to keep my distance.”
While walking, Maria kicks a stone in her path. “It’s scary to think that over the sea, the monsters are there.”
“Agreed, but who knows how long until they can go overseas?” Danzo answers in a monotone voice, his eyes focused on the path. I guess the only thing I can do until then is prepare for them.” The sound of rapid footsteps approaches them from behind. “Well, the break was nice while it lasted,” Danzo groans.
“What are you talking about?” Maria asks confusedly. She quickly looks behind them and sees Vito approaching them rapidly.
“HEY! WHAT DID I SAY?!” Vito shouts with a rabid look on his face. Danzo and Maria immediately pick up the pace, desperate to avoid Vito’s wrath. The rest of their day after that was filled with recovering from the intense fitness course.
Several weeks later.
Danzo and Maria are on their way to school, discussing various topics. Maria sighed as she complained, “Do we really need to go to school today? Can’t we just ditch?”
Danzo doesn’t tear his eyes away from his book as he walks alongside her, replying, “No, there's an exam today.”
As soon as he said the word ‘exam’, she loudly groaned, “Uggggh, but the subject is so boring and I barely know anything.”
“That’s why I warned you about studying. You’re always sleeping in that class.”
“But who cares about stupid history. It’s not like I can’t read it up when I’m older,” She continues to complain.
Not paying attention to her protests, he bluntly replies, “I agree, but it's important we learn and respect the past.”
She gives him an irritated look, unhappy that he isn’t siding with her. Suddenly, Maria takes advantage of his focus on the book and grabs it as she runs in front of him. Surprised, he blurts, “Whu- Hey!” She turns around and mockingly sticks her tongue out at him before running away.
Danzo chases Maria through the streets until they reach the school gates, where Danzo is exhausted from the unplanned exercise while Maria is brimming with energy. She walks back and hands him the book, saying, “There, now I feel a bit better.”
He grabs it from her and begrudgingly says, “At least someone is happy.” After catching his breath, the two make their way to class.
After the test, Danzo sat by his desk eating his lunch. Like clockwork, Maria pulled up a chair to sit by him, although surprisingly, she was happy after the test. With a proud look, she greeted, “Yo!”
Danzo took a bite out of the meal Elizabeth prepared for them, greeting her back, “Good afternoon.”
Without hesitation, she repeats, “Yo!”
Confused, he responds again, “G-good…afternoon…?”
She repeats herself, but this time a bit louder, “YO!”
Uhhhhh…okay? Danzo is confused as he stares blankly at her. He notices she's about to repeat herself a fourth time, and before she can do that, he sticks his hand out in front of him to stop her. He gives in and quietly responds, “Yo.”
She smiles as she takes her seat. After doing so, she places her lunch box on his desk. As she opens her lunchbox, he asks, “How did the test go for you?”
Her entire demeanor changes as she slumps in her chair and says, “Ugh, don’t get me started on that.” After a bit of sulking, she fixes her posture and asks, “So, how is the Slayer training going?”
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Not wanting everyone to hear, he quickly looks around to check that no one is paying attention and answers, “It’s going alright, I think by next year I’ll be ready to apply.”
“WHAT?” She accidentally shouts. Everyone in the room quickly stares at her. She quickly sits down and uncharacteristically shifts to a hushed tone, “Isn’t it a bit soon?”
Danzo takes a bite out of his meal before continuing, “It isn’t. I checked the requirements. Next year I’ll be fifteen, so I can join.”
“But what about me?!”
“What about you?” Danzo asks. She gasps in shock and hurt. Before she can say anything, Danzo suddenly cuts in, “I am still going to come back and visit.”
Her face looks briefly surprised by his response before she says, “Oh. I guess that could work. But still, I don' want’cha ta go on the frontlines n’ fight.”
Still maintaining a steady pace while eating, he calmly says, “Accent.”
Maria blushes as she pauses, quickly clearing her throat, she continues, “But still, I don’t want you to go out there.”
“I won’t get killed, if that's what you are worried about,” he says.
“It doesn’t work that way!” She retorts. After she finishes, Danzo is confused by her words. Ever since they started living together, she has become a bit more clingy. Always wanting to hang out, and it was more common for her to become flustered like this.
As they keep eating their meal together, one of the boys in their class interrupts them. Danzo doesn’t bother to remember their names; all he knows is that he’s one of the popular ones. So annoying.
“Hey, Maria!” He cheerfully greets, ignoring Danzo.
“Hi, Dennis! What’s up?” She casually responds. Danzo casually continues eating his meal, unbothered by the situation.
“I was thinking. Aren’t you tired of hanging with Lamezo? Come hang out with us!” He continued.
Lamezo? Eh, I could think of better. Maybe Dumbzo? That would have been better.
“Oh. Sure thing! But first, could you give me your hand?” She responds cheerfully, Danzo watching nonchalantly.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Danzo warns him as he focuses on his meal.
Dennis shoots a smirk at Danzo as he gives her his hand and ignores his warning. As she holds it, she gives a smile and stands. In an instant, she throws him over her shoulder and to the floor, making a loud crash as he lands. The whole class turns to look at them while Danzo ignores the chaos.
Danzo finishes chewing and says, “Told you.”
Maria returns to her seat as Dennis limps away, embarrassed. She looks toward him and says, “How did you know I was going to do that?”
“We were watching wrestling together last night, remember?”
She thinks back to it and says, “Oh, yeah!”
After lunch, Ms. Delia returns to class and delivers a brutal scolding to Maria, forcing her to apologise to Dennis, and surprisingly making Dennis apologise to Danzo.
After school, the two stop by the grocery to fetch some items at the request of Vito. As usual, Maria quickly runs to the magazine stands while Danzo takes a shopping basket and walks over to some of the canned food.
As he picks up a can of beans, he asks, “Still trying to be a model?”
Not tearing away, she says, “Nope. I’m just looking at the latest comics.”
“Comics?” He asks confusedly, “Are you trying to be a hero?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. I just like the stories. Ooooh, Impact vs the Great Mountain!” She says excitedly as she picks up a colourful comic book.
Placing some canned food in his basket, he asks, “I’m sorry?”
She runs over and shows him the cover, “Impact! He is a hero who always bounces back, no matter what the villains throw at him. They say his strength is insurmountable!”
Taking a second to look over the cover of it, he continues onto the next aisle and says, “Interesting. Didn’t take you for a geek.”
She follows after him and holds her comic, saying, “Rude! I happen to be young at heart.”
He smiles and says, “I know, that’s what I like about you.”
She pauses for a moment, surprised at his words. As Danzo turns into one of the aisles, he notices Maria standing with a grin. He stops and asks, “Is something wrong?”
She catches up and walks past him, saying, “It’s nothing, I just get surprised when you say stuff like that.”
Following her, he replies, “Well, I did promise to be more honest.”
“And you have been upholding it to the quadrillionth degree.”
Danzo sighs and returns to shopping, this time in the salt and spices aisle. After perusing the spices, he finds the one that was requested. Surprisingly, Maria has been silent throughout, something rare for her. Enjoying his moment of solace, Danzo takes some of the mint, and as he places it in the basket, he notices it is full of snacks. He quickly turns to Maria, who is pretending to study the cover of her comic.
This had been a new development where Maria would sometimes sneak some sweets into the basket. When Danzo was tired, it would pass through unnoticed as she would keep it subtle, but this was about as subtle as a car crash. Without hesitation, he picked up the basket and walked to the sweets aisle, placing them back one by one.
As he places them back, it feels like the amount of sweets she put in there was insurmountable. You’re joking. How is there so much? I should have put them all back by now. It’s as if- His thoughts are interrupted as he catches Maria replacing the chocolates he put back with gummy bears.
He shoots her a sharp look as she stops in her tracks. He puts the basket down and calmly walks away, saying, “I’m telling your mom.”
She immediately freaks out and grabs him by the arm to stop him from leaving, shouting, “Wait! You don’t have to go that far!”
“Watch me!” He responds as he tries to pull himself away from her. And although he had been training, her strength was still nothing he could take lightly. He grunts, “Let me go!”
Bystanders stop to watch the two fighting.
“Not unless you give me five treats!” She bargains as she pulls Danzo back.
“Five! No way, I don’t have enough for that!” He argues, unable to pull away from her.
“Then two plus my comic!”
“In your dreams!”
Several minutes later, a defeated Danzo places the basket in front of the cashier while a glowing Maria places three sweets and her comic on the table next to the groceries.
The old lady chuckles, and before she can say anything, Danzo says, “At least I talked her down this time.”
Reaching home, Danzo takes the groceries to the kitchen, while Maria places their bags in their rooms. They would often return home before Vito and Elizabeth arrived. After putting everything away, Danzo makes his way to the back to begin training, but Maria stands in his way with her arms crossed.
“And where do you think you’re going?” She asks with a serious tone.
“To train,” He replies.
She shakes her head in disapproval and says, “Didn’t dad say today was a rest day?”
“He did, but I thought I could do some light exercise. Something that is-”
Before he can finish his sentence, Maria interrupts, “That’s what I thought. Go sit in the living room and rest!”
The two stare each other down, waiting for the other to give in. A minute later, Danzo gives up and heads to the lounge, not wishing to experience her wrath.
Sitting on the couch, Maria joins him. She turns on the television to watch while Danzo reads a book Elizabeth recommended.
In the evening, Vito and Elizabeth arrive home from their jobs. Vito worked as the town's local doctor, running his own clinic. When he was younger, he served in the military, but decided to retire to Stryol village after meeting Elizabeth. After Maria was born, Elizabeth left her job as a librarian and instead supported her husband at his clinic, handling the administration work and, at times, assisting as a nurse. At least the nurse part is what Danzo tells himself after he and Maria were snooping in her parents' bedroom. While they were looking for their confiscated things, they stumbled onto something they shouldn’t have.
Once they settled, they sat together at the table, sharing what had happened each day while enjoying their meal.
“So how did the test go?” Elizabeth asks the teenagers.
Maria looks away nervously, and Danzo answers, “It was fine. A bit on the boring side, but at least it's done.”
“That’s good to hear,” she responds. Not letting anything slip by her, she turns to Maria and says, “And for you, Maria?”
Maria shoots up in fright and nervously answers, “Oh, uhhh-”
Elizabeth's face becomes more serious as she asks, “You did study, did you?”
“Yeppity, yep. The test was super easy,” she quickly turns to Danzo for help but he gives a smug smirk in response. Suddenly feeling vengeful, she points and says, “Dany is going to quit school and join the Slayers next year!”
“What?!” Vito says in anger as Elizabeth has a shocked expression on her face.
The smirk is wiped off Danzo's face as he angrily exclaims, “What was that for?!”
“Is this true?” Vito asks with concern.
Danzo sighs and answers, “It is, I’ll be at the minimum age to join and-”
“And nothing, you aren’t joining until you finish school!” Vito angrily interrupts. Maria and Elizabeth are quietly watching the two argue.
“But I’m wasting my time there! I’m nearly ready to take the fight to the frontlines. Th-”
“You are too young to be fighting, Danzo. You don’t have a fraction of understanding of what it is like out there! Just because you have some leverage, you think you have what it takes to turn the tide of a war that’s been going on for nearly a decade?!” Vito stands up and leans toward Danzo, staring him straight in the eyes, “Understand this, I swear on my being that I will help you learn to survive there and be strong, but I will not let you join until I know you are ready! Understood?”
“But what makes you think I’m no-” Danzo tries to interject, but Vito cuts him off again.
“Am I understood?!” He loudly repeats.
Danzo looks away, annoyed, and defeatedly responds, “Understood.”
“Good. End of discussion. Now help Maria with the dishes once you’re done. I don’t want to hear anymore of this.” He says calmly as he sits back down.
The table goes quiet as everyone resumes eating. Elizabeth breaks the silence and promptly says, “Maria, don’t think I have forgotten about the test.” Maria responds with a loud groan.
