(Yes, I did my research on bath tubs)
The breeze was getting more and more chilly, but at last, Dio Brando arrived back home to his aged castle. His daughter was still bundled in his purple scarf, fast asleep in his arms. The sun was just about to peak over the horizon and it was crucial that Dio got inside before he remained outside permanently.
He walked into the dark building, and was greeted by Wang Chan. The short little man with triangle looking eyebrows and his bent mustache ran quickly to Dio to see what he had retrieved. His eyes widened with surprise to see a small purple bundle in his arms.
"Lord Dio, you've returned! What treasure have you brought back for us?"
"She's not for you." Dio replied with a straight face and a cold stare at his vampiric servant.
"S-she? Lord Dio, you don't mean to say that...that that's alive, do you?" His eyes were shocked and he took a step back.
"Wang Chan."
"Y-yes Lord Dio?"
"Take her and bathe her. If any of those wretched monsters lay a finger upon her, I'll slaughter them in an instant. Be gentle with with her, she's in bad condition. I will explain the rest to you later."
"Yes Lord Dio!"
Dio looked down at the girl and gently attempted to run his hand through her matted hair. He couldn't even get half way before his fingers got caught in her horrendously dirty and tangled blond hair. Anger sparked in him. To think a cruel woman would do something like that to his daughter was awful.
"Little one, wake up, we're home." Dio gently nudged her, and she opened her eyes. For a moment she got scared, but when Dio reassured her, she calmed down a bit. Wang Chan introduced himself, and Dio told her that she was safe and would let no harm come to her.
Dio unwrapped the girl from his scarf and set her down on the smooth stone floor. He wrapped the scarf back around her neck and began to walk, hand on his hip, down the hallway, disappearing into the the darkness.
"Come little girl, I'm going to make you look nice and pretty for Lord Dio!" He extended a hand out to her, trying to look as nice as possible so she wouldn't be scared. She was unsure at first, but slowly put her hand in his. They walked together down the hallway, and to the bathing room.
The bathing room had smooth stone tiles and the candle light reflected off of them. There was a big pearl white tub in the middle of the room, just waiting to be filled with steamy warm water. She was thinking about what this thing called a "bath" was.
Wang Chan twisted the knob on the old fancy tub, watering spilling from the faucet. As the tub was filling up, he began poking in a drawer, pulling out different implements from it. Soon, there was a hairbrush, rag, and shampoo bottle next to him. Turning around, he noticed the bath tub was filled with warm water. Turning around, he approached the girl, and stretched out his hands, pulling on her clothes.
"H-hey! Stop!" She slapped his hands, and backed away. Wang Chan looked at her, confused. He was just trying to bathe her like Lord Dio had instructed him. Her pouting face puzzled him, and he realized he needed to explain what he was doing to her.
"Missy, I'm undressing you so I can bathe you."
"B-bathe? What's a bathe?" She asked confused. Had she never taken a bath before? How did Lord Dio find her, and why didn't he just kill her and drink her blood like any other human?
"I'll show you what a bath is." He slowly moved his hands back towards her poor excuse for clothes, and slid them off. At least she didn't know what embarrassment was, otherwise this would be a much more difficult task.
He tried to avert his eyes from her body out of respect, but he couldn't help but notice the bloody and black spots that were layering her body. They looked rather painful. What had happened to her...
Wang Chan picked her up, and gently slid her into water. Her face lit up with surprise. It was like she had never felt warmth before, and her face loosened into an extremely relaxed expression.
He ran his cold, dead, lifeless hands through her hair, making it smooth as silk. He then washed it, revealing it's beautiful golden color. Her hair color looked very similar to Dio's. Using the rag, he wiped away the dirt from her skin. Oh, how she was relaxed. For the first time in her life she didn't have a worry in the world.
Her eyes lit up with happiness, and she put her mouth half way in the water. She made an o shape with her mouth, and blew. Little tiny bubbles popped, and she giggled. She was filled with joy at the water's response.
After she was cleaned up, Wang Chan pulled her from the tub, wrapped a towel around her, and grabbed her hand. She resisted, and did grabby hands at Dio's purple scarf that was laying on the floor. He released her hand, and let her pick it up. Wrapping it around her neck, she cuddled it.
They walked through the hall, and Wang Chan knocked on Dio's door. Dio responded with "come in" Wang Chan opened the door, and the little four year old walked in. Shutting the door for, behind, Wang Chan left.
Her face was scared, not knowing how to react to her father's dark appearance. Dio had creepy looking creatures by his side. A bird and dog with a human heads were staring at her, licking their lips, hoping you were for them to snack on.
A faint smile spread across his face. It was good to see her in better shape. He stood up looking tall and fine, staring at his scrawny daughter.
"Little one, come to me," he ordered. She didn't move a muscle, fear was spread across her face and she pointed to the unnatural creatures. He realized she were scared of them, and told her to cover her eyes. She covered them quickly, and looked away.
Dio's hand stretched around both of their heads, and squeezed. Their skulls were crushed to bits, and blood splattered onto his hands. He threw the corpses aside, and wiped their blood away from his hand with a cloth. Their blood wasn't worthy to drink. It was filthy and fit for only a peasant.
Dio approached her, and picked her up, holding her on his hip. She was fascinated with his blond scraggy hair. Extending her hands to touch it, Dio flinched back, unsure of what she was trying to do. Quickly realizing, he let her run her hands through it. Smiling, she giggled. Her heart warming laughter made Brando smile. He was going to be there for her when she needed him most, no matter what.
Her face turned sickly, and she began coughing repeatedly. She removed her hands from his gorgeous hair, and looked down, throwing up. It wasn't normal puke, it was blood. All of it, was red, thick, shining blood and it stained Dio's clothes.
His face looked disgusted at the blood stain on his clothes, but he immediately went from anger to worry as he realized she was really sick. He removed her from his hip, and placed her in a chair. He didn't hesitate to halfway unwrap her towel, and check on her body.
Upon seeing the bloody and black spots, he realized that his daughter was near death. She was fatally ill because of poor hygiene, lack of food, and a flesh eating disease. One idea crossed his mind, but would she approve of it?
"Daughter, tell me, does it hurt much when I touch these?" He gently poked at one of the black spots, to see how bad they were hurting her. Her face winced in pain and her eyes watered. Clear tears rolled down her cheeks as she replied.
"Y-yes sir!"
Suddenly feeling bad for making her cry, he embraced her. Hugging her tightly, he apologized. That was something he would do for no one else.
Dio picked her up, sat in the chair, and held her frail body in his lap, holding her close as she continued to cough up blood. It had to be done wether she approved or not. He wouldn't let his daughter perish the day he met her.
Brando got up and told her to stay put. She slowly nodded her head, and he left the room. He grabbed a golden cup and bandages. If this didn't work, she'd die.
Returning to his room, he found her shivering in pain on the floor, blood dripping from her mouth. The girl saw him, and attempted to stand with a bright expression on her face, happy at his return.
"Little one, listen to me. I don't mean to make you scared," Dio tried to use simple vocabulary "but I'm going to make you like me."
She cocked her head, confused. He crouched down in front of her and smiled, showing off his pearly why fangs to her. Her face lit up at the sight.
"Woah! T-those are so c-cool! C-can I have some?"
Dio chuckled at the cute reaction. "Of course. When I make you like me, you'll be really healthy and strong and you'll have fangs. But there's one condition."
"Mhm! What is it?"
"You can never go into the sunlight. If it even touches you, you'll turn to dust and die." It was a dark thing to say to a four year old, but she needed to understand the consequences. If even one mistake was made while she was a vampire, he'd lose her.
"O-Oh...Okay! I n-never get to go in the s-sun anyways!" Her face was bright and happy despite everything she had gone through and was going through. Dio's heart was flaring with rage. The wretched woman that was so called her mother didn't even let her experience the suns warmth! This poor child would never be able to experience it, ever. There was no time to let her experience it, she was dying and quickly.
"Darling, I need to make you sleep for a moment, It'll hurt for just a moment, but when you wake up, you'll be like me. Okay?"
"O-okay s-sir."
Swiftly hitting her, she collapsed knocked out In his arms. He made a gash in her wristnand one in his. He poured his own blood into her and put bandages around her wound. He didn't want her to lose any more blood than she already had.
An hour later, she woke up, eyes glowing a reddish gold color and she felt...good. She felt strong and healthy. She looked healthy too; she ran her tongue ran across her top teeth, but was quickly stopped by the side of her left canine which was now long and sharp. A smile came across her face knowing that she was like her father now.
She lifted her head up a bit. Warm candles shined in the room, and Dio was was laying on his bed with the girl, cuddled close to him in his arms. Realizing she was awake, he picked up the golden cup and handed it to her,
"Drink, It will make you feel better."
She was unsure of the thick red liquid, but once she tasted it, she couldn't stop drinking it. Dio smirked at the sight of his daughter drinking her first blood. She let out a gasp after she drank the last drop, and Dio out the cup aside.
"So, did your mother ever give you a name?" He asked, faintly smiling at her beautiful face.
"What's a name?" She asked. It was unbelievable. She had a poor education as well as a poor life. It seemed as if an explanation was in order. From her response, he could clearly tell she hadn't been given one.
"A name is something you call a specific person, little one. My name is Dio Brando. Nobody else is called that because it's my name. Since you're my daughter, you can't call me Dio. You must call me something along the the lines of dad."
"C-can I call you papa?"
His heart melted at the word. Yes, yes it sounded right. His daughter would call him papa.
"Sure little one. So again...what is your name?"
"O-oh...well my mother always called me "mistake". So, Mistake is my name!"
Dio's fists clenched. "No, that's not your name. I'll have to give you one."
He hadn't be thinking all that much about what to name her. It popped into his head, and he knew what he was going to call her. It was perfect for her.
"Diana Rose Brando. That's your name, little one."
Her red eyes sparkled and a smile came over her face at hearing the name. She got her very own name! It was so wonderful sounding! Diana Rose Brando, perfect. She couldn't have asked for more.
"Thank you papa!" She hugged him tightly, giggling with excitement.
"Oh, and one more thing Diana." He set Diana down on the comfy bed, and fetched something that was across the room. Turning around, he revealed a comfy looking purple Victorian dress. It was just Diana's size too! What were the chances!
She jumped off the bed and ran to him, hugging his legs tightly. Burying her face into his legs; she was filled with happiness. Her eyes were tearing up she was so happy.
This man rescued her from her dark prison, made her healthy, strong, no longer in pain, cool teeth, a dress, a name, and now...he was giving her a home. A home, a life, a purpose. This man was her papa, and she was his daughter. Nothing would change that.
Dio picked her up and carried her back over to his bed. Diana laid down on his chest, cuddling close to his neck, and it was time to sleep once again.
Brando placed stroked the back of her head and ran his hand through her silky blond hair, and began to sing his mother's lullaby to her. His eyes closed, and her eyes closed. His voice was stunning, and put her mind at ease.
"It's time for sleep my little one
Fly away in dreams
And I will be there to watch over you
I'll hold you and sing
you a lullaby tune
All the stars will light your way
As you drift asleep
Dreaming sweetly your wildest dreams
Close your eyes with
your head on my chest
Smiling...
And though the world is a
cold place for you and for I
I will be there for
you, holding you tight
And in the morning the
sun rising high up above
Will awaken you gently with my love
And though your dreams may take
flight and be gone with the day
Now in your dreams, in
my arms, you are safe
So in the moonlight
remember I love you always
My sweet sunshine's ray
My little baby..."
At last...Solace.