Piccoletto

Ciccio and Guido's Demise

Guido and Ciccio were trying to make the most of their Ercole-free day, but it wasn't going well. Being Ercole's friends did have its upsides, though. They got tons of time to do fun things Guido and Ciccio actually enjoyed, like fishing or having vespa races. But when Ercole was in a bad mood, they always felt on edge. Ever since that Alberto kid had challenged Ercole two nights prior, Ercole was in a terrible state. Guido's cheek was sore from Ciccio constantly slapping him on Ercole's orders. And Ciccio had a large plaster covering the bridge of his nose where Ercole's keys had flown into his face. Ercole had disappeared soon after, meaning he didn't see that Ciccio and Giudo had misplaced his vespa's keys. It was already getting to be evening. Ercole could turn up at any moment to reclaim what was his.

They thought the keys had slid further down the alleyway. But as soon as Ciccio was ok enough to stand up, they went looking only to find the keys were gone. Some hours had passed, and they were still wandering around the streets, looking for the keys.

"Aye," Guido groaned as he walked with Ciccio by his side. "He's going to kill us, Ciccio! How could we have lost the keys? We're such idiots!"

Ciccio fingered his plaster. "It's not that bad. The vespa is lost too so without the vespa, the keys are worthless."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Guido exclaimed. "What happens when Ercole finds that vespa, eh? What happens when he asks us for the keys and we don't have them!"

Ciccio's face dropped as he realized what Guido was getting at. "He's going to kill us."

"Essattamente!" Guido cried back, burying his face in his hands. "What are we going to do?"

Ciccio scratched his chin and tried to think. "What if we make sure Ercole doesn't find his vespa?"

"Eh?" Guido replied. "That's stupid. What do you even mean?"

Ciccio sighed. "I mean, what if we find it before Ercole and get rid of it, that way he doesn't realize we lost the keys so he'd never ask!"

A smile broke out on Guido's face. "Perfetto! He'll still get mad, but maybe he'll take it out on Luca or Alberto instead of us! But how are we supposed to find that ves. . .pa."

Ciccio looked up, confused as to why Guido had stopped so suddenly. Guido was staring wide-eyed in front of him. Ciccio turned and gasped. Giulia and Alberto were both walking Ercole's vespa down the abandoned alleyway.

"They- they have it!" Guido whispered. "How did they- hey! That's Ercole's!"

Alberto waved as the two approached Guido and Ciccio. Surprisingly, Luca wasn't there, but Giulia was. They both bore nasty grins as Alberto waved the keys in front of Guido and Ciccio's faces.

"Looking for this?" Alberto taunted before throwing the keys to Giulia.

Guido got red in the face as he realized what stood in his way. "Just you wait until I tell Ercole-"

"Tell Ercole what?" Giulia interrupted, dangling the keys from her fingers. "Tell him that you gave us his keys after you stole his vespa?"

Guido and Ciccio stiffened, losing color in their faces. Was Giulia and Alberto. . . threatening them?

"What is this?!" Guido shouted, stomping his foot. "This is ridiculous! Give us those keys!"

Alberto stepped forward. "Or what? Are you going to beat me up again? You cowards don't look as confident when I'm not pinned up against the wall, do you?"

Ciccio and Guido realized where this was headed. And if they made one bad move, they'd be in horrific trouble with Ercole.

"Oh yeah?" Ciccio shot back. "Well, where's your little boyfriend, huh? Too scared to show his face after what Ercole did to him?"

Alberto lunged forward in anger, but Giulia pulled him back.

"Ciccio!" Guido shouted, turning his back to a fuming Alberto. "Are you crazy? Don't you understand what they're trying to do?"

A voice broke out from behind him. "Looks like you're not as dumb as you look."

It was Giulia. She was looking smug and unimpressed with Ciccio and Guido. After all, Alberto was right. They were nothing without Ercole.

"I don't think you'd want us telling Ercole that you stole his vespa, would you?" she said. "But maybe we can come to an agreement."

Guido perked up and took a deep breath. "What type of agreement?"

Giulia smiled and rubbed her palms together. "Well, we want to know where Ercole lives. If you give us that information, then we'll keep the vespa safe with us. And we won't let Ercole find it."

The news appealed to Ciccio, who immediately began nodding his head to accept the deal before being stopped by Guido.

"That's not fair!" Guido shouted, feeling terribly vulnerable at the other hand of the threat. "That doesn't give us any wins!"

Alberto growled. "How about this? You don't give us the information and we throw Ercole's vespa into the ocean. But if you do, we'll return the vespa and the keys to you to give to Ercole. Capito?"

Guido was truly stumped now. There really was no way out of this, was there? And besides, Alberto's deal did seem good. Guido and Ciccio would be heroes, and get back onto Ercole's good side!

"Fine," Guido said. "He lives up on the other side of the hill behind Portorosso. Can we get the vespa now?"

Alberto and Giulia exchanged malicious glances.

"Maybe after we pay Ercole a little visit," Giulia said, sitting up on the vespa as she handed the keys to Alberto. "Thanks for the help, ragazzi!"

Alberto got the message and took the keys. He immediately put them through the little slit near the handle and tried to push it. Giulia reached from behind him to turn it, making the vespa let out a little spurt of gas.

Alberto got the message and turned the handle bars. The vespa sped forward, barely getting by Guido and Cicco as they lunged out of the way. They turned to see Giulia from behind, Alberto put a thump to her nose and blew a raspberry. They sped off towards the pathway to the hill.

"Haha, yeah!" Alberto shouted through the wind as he increased the speed of the vespa. He felt guilty for feeling so exhilarated, but he couldn't help it. This feeling of freedom, of riding through the wind without a care in the word was wonderful. If Luca was with him, he'd be the happiest boy in the world.

"Wait!" Giulia shouted from behind Alberto, digging her nails into his shoulders to stay still. "What about my dad? We're going to miss dinner!"

Alberto did feel guilty about leaving Massimo, but didn't care enough. Luca was on his mind now. Luca and only Luca.

"We'll explain later!" Alberto shouted back. "Only Luca matters now! Come on!"

Alberto and Giulia jumped as the vespa let out a croaking sound and began to slow. Alberto tried to push the handle forward a bit more, but the vespa puffed once again.

"What's going on?" Giulia said as the vespa began to vibrate scarily.

Alberto began to panic as he started turning the key and slapping random pieces of the vespa. It only got slower before finally coming to a shuddering stop.

"Ugh, no!" Giulia shouted as she hopped off the vespa. "It's out of gas!"

Alberto scratched his chest. "Gas? What's that?"

Giulia sighed. "It's fuel to make the vespa run. Ercole must've not refilled the tank when it was already low."

Alberto hopped off the vespa and stomped his foot. "Ugh, this sucks! How are we gonna get to Luca now?"

Both he and Giulia turned to look up the hill, which inconveniently began to look steeper and father away.

"Come on," Giulia said, resuming her position to one of the handle bars as she began to push the vespa. "We'll walk."

Alberto took the other position and began to push as well. He couldn't believe it. After all this time he just could not believe it. He was finally going to see Luca again.