Welcome to my one shot story topic! Come on in, take a seat, and read what I've written.
For now, I can only present you one story, but the topic will grow as time progresses.
So, have fun reading and reviewing what you see! :)


1. Story - "Sunset" (Bruto and Viola)
Title: Sunset
Author: Perrydotto
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Status: Complete
Pairing: None
Summary: After the events of 3-3, Viola leads a peaceful life with her grandfather - But fate intervenes.
(PS: "nonno" = "grandpa", "principessa" = princess. And since I'm still not good at writing in English, constructive critique is gladly appreciated!)

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To be a Cadaverini meant to be one with them. "Family" wasn't a term for a loose group of people who happen to be related - "Family" was a term for affiliation, a strong bond tightly woven between all members. One for all, and all for one.
Viola was Bruto Cadaverini's granddaughter, and their love for one another knew no bounds - At least none that the family couldn't push out of the way.
Until that one day, at least.

Since Furio Tigre had been imprisoned, Viola was living at the Cadaverini Mansion again. She felt sorry for Don Tigre, but the enjoyable time with her grandpa didn't give her much time to miss the loan shark. Whenever Bruto wasn't taking care of his "business", he spent every free minute with his little princess. They loved to sit in the estate's big Tuscany-like garden, play cards and watch as the sun descended from the sky and went to sleep behind the big trees. When they were relaxing like this, Viola resting her head on Bruto's shoulder, they forgot about everything that mattered to the world outside of the garden. He wasn't the mighty big figure in the underground crime rings, and she wasn't the injured melancholic descendant of the big crime syndicate. During these calm evenings, they were just grandfather and granddaughter, tied together by the strong bond.
Until that one day, at least.

It began slowly, and Viola didn't put any real thought into it at first. It was common that her grandpa wasn't around during the day; he was the family's leader, and therefor a very busy man. Spending the day alone was nothing difficult for the girl - As long as the grand piano in the salon was there, Viola knew what to do with her time. Those black and white keys formed any melody the girl desired. She and the piano, alone - nothing present except for the melodies. Bruto Cadaverini was greeted by these every day when he came back home, filling him with rejoicement.
Until that one day, at least.

This evening, he seemed to be more tired than usual. His appreciation for the piano's tones was short and after briefly saying hello to his granddaughter, he went straight to his room. Thinking that he must have had an especially exhausting day, Viola wasn't further concerned - Not even later in the evening, when they observed the sunset and his mind seemed to be absent, which was highly abnormal. Viola reassured herself that enough sleep and some soup would make it just fine again. And as his condition didn't change over the next days, she kept on feeding the false ease to her nervous mind; it was just the weather, fall is coming, the changing climate easily affects elders, and it was all just temporary anyway. She was fine as long she said it to herself.
Until that one day, at least.

Bruto spent more and more time of the day in his room, lying down, slumbering in his bed. Occasionally, he went to work, but his deputy was mostly taking care of the Cadaverini's business now. Whenever his granddaughter quietly stepped in, bringing a cup of tea or a bowl of soup, he smiled at her and radiated the same strength like he always did. Once he satisfied his basic needs, Viola's grandpa quickly slept in again. The girl looked at him and when she saw the calm, steady pace of his breath, every trace of worry in her thoughts instantly went away. Old people get sick sometimes, it's life - He was going to be fine. She was sure.
Some days later, Bruto told her that he had cancer. Viola didn't let any bad thoughts catch the better of her - Old people get sick sometimes, it's life. Cancer is a sickness like any other. With the right medical treatment, it will go away, she tried to believe.
Until that one day, at least.

The next weeks and months felt like stepping from one hell into the next. The girl went along with her grandfather to every checkup, to every chemotherapy appointment, to every operation. She didn't leave him alone during all these kinds of torture, no matter how painful it was to watch as they pumped the elderly man full with all kinds of brutal chemicals, pushed him into some kind of giant, loudly buzzing tube, took every single kind of probe imaginable. Not for even one second did she question her presence or thought about staying at home. Her grandfather was her family, and family meant caring for one another.
Bruto became weaker every day. All those therapies and meds were severly affecting his constituion, and he had to stay in bed as much as possible. Viola stopped playing the piano in order to make sure that her grandpa could sleep without any kind of disruption. She didn't have much time for it anyway since she acted as her grandfather's personal nurse now. Whenever he needed something, she already knew and obeyed. From morning to night, their lives revolved around the diabolical disease, though they never spoke about it. The cancer was like a starving carnivore circling around them, preparing for the final strike. The only thing that never changed throughout these weeks and months was their sunset tradition. No matter how the weather and Bruto's condition were, they sat down together on the wooden bench and tried their best to keep the peaceful aura up that these moments always had.
The months passed by, and the cancer was like any other ordinary part of an everyday life. Winter came, Spring came, Summer came. The holidays went by - They celebrated Christmas in the hospital, and Easter in a clinic for naturopathy. They had vegetable soup and treated it like it was an opulent meal, and nothing seemed comical or wrong about it. Life as usual.
Until that one day, at least.

That one day arrived.
At first, nothing felt special or different about it. Viola prepared breakfast, cleaned the house, washed the clothes, prepared lunch, looked after the garden, prepared dinner. The mansion had several house maids, but Viola insisted on managing the affairs. It seemed natural to her - She took care of her grandfather, and so she took care of his house.
When more and more time had passed by, the girl noticed that something was in the air. It didn't occur to her as something worrying, but deep inside her, she knew what was going on. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she knew it.
Her grandpa called for her.
When Viola entered the room, a shiver ran down her spine. All of a sudden, this room felt unfamiliar, cold, hostile. It was like she had never been here before. It was radiating unpleasant emotions, and for one moment, Viola felt the urge to run away. She knew what was going on, but she didn't want to.

"Step closer, my principessa", the old man in the bed said.
She did as told, sat down on the stool next to the mattress and gave her grandpa a hug. Not a very close one though, since his body was weak and thin and she didn't want to hurt him.
"What is it, nonno?", she said with a bit of a tremor in her voice. "Do you need something?"
The elder warmly smiled and didn't answer for a brief moment. The look on his face was so comforting and calm - It was the look of a man who came to terms with his illness, his feelings and his life.
"Please play for me, Viola."
She kept looking at him for a while, then nodded and sat down at the piano for the first time in months. Of course she wasn't well-trained at the moment, but she didn't care. She let the tones flow through her fingers, making music for the quiet man lying in bed. For a couple of minutes, there was just the two of them, surrounded by the tunes of the grand piano.



Later this day, Viola was sitting outside in the garden and watched the sunset.
Alone.

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Last edited by Perrydotto on Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ahh, very nice. <3 I don't think I've ever read a fanfic centered around Viola before.
I liked the characterization here. Very sad.

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Thank you very much for the comment :)
Sweet that you like it. I'm satisfied with the outcome as well, but I'm sure I could use constructive advice. If you have any, please tell me!

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Tragic. As Viola's aura wasn't enough. And I like it. Heh... heh... heh...

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Thank you very much for reading it :)

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Bruto just became a favourite because of this. ;_;
Loved it.

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I really love it, it´s written so beautiful. I really loved it, it was really poetric. Fantastic <3

You did an AWESOME job writing this!
It was so sad! And it probably could have actually happened too...

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Aww, thank you all for the awesome feedback! I'm so glad that you like it so much. I'm still not that fit with writing in English, so it's relieving to hear that I did a fine job with the story. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside *g*

Thanks again!

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I really like it! Your english is excellent and very poetic (something difficult to do in another language, I know XD)

The only thing that struck me as "odd" as far as language was the phrase, "Until that one day, at least". The "at least" part seemed to ring a little strange to me, but because it's such an idiomatic phrase, anyhow, you can get away with it
Good job! I hope to see more from you in the future.

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Wow. First off, love this story. I like both Viola and Bruto even more now.

I think there were a couple typos. Only one that really stuck out to me. And now I can't find it...I'll search more thoroughly later.

Anyway, great job. Very well done.

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@Caelestis: Thank you so much for the nice comment! You can't imagine how much it pets my inner author that you praise my English. Since I love to write in German and am more skilled with it (well, naturally), it always feels kind of suboptimal when I have to write the same content in English.
"Until that one day, at least" sounded odd for you? Could you elaborate how it did so?

@Lida_Rose: Aww, great that it made you like them more. I always found Viola and her backstory to be pretty interesting, so I took my own shot on the topic. I'm glad that you like the story.
It's very likely that I included some typos - So, if you find them, don't hesitate and tell me! I'm always thankful for help.

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A very powerful piece. Except for a few understandable errors, I see nothing wrong with it.

I also like dramatic imagery, and the part at the end about the room was very gripping.

Sorry for the late response, but thank you, Ikasu. You already told me your opinion, but it's nice that you put it here as well. Thanks :)
Yes, I tried my best to use the dramatic imagery in a suitable manner. My stories tend to be too overdramatic and poetic, but I'm glad that it was fine this time.

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Very good fanfic
Esp:It´s about two persons which hadn´t THAT much of character-development
I also love the repetation of the "Until that one day, at least"It made it even more catchy
I also think it really could happen and it also made me even more like this charcaters (and the case)
Good work
Can´t wait for more

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Last bumped by Perrydotto on Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:59 pm.