Chapter 9: Awakening

Emma Frost stared at the golden badge with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

Giotto placed the tray in front of Emma before sitting down. When he took his seat, the sound of leather squeaking snapped the young lady from her stupor as she raised her gaze towards Giotto.

"Ahem"

Clearing his throat, Giotto took in a deep breath, his eyes closed and after letting out the air in his lungs he opened his eyes which flashed with a light of determination as he spoke.

"Emma Frost, as much as I would have loved to spend hours, days and even weeks playing boss and secretary with you, our circumstances make such a thing impossible."

Giotto stared into Emma's eyes, he saw through Emma's changing emotions due to his hyper intuition but he did not put too much focus on them. Yes, he could manipulate others with words using his hyper intuition.

He could use it to say the things that Emma wanted to hear, he could use it to manipulate her opinion of him but-

*I have respect for her… although she's not the Emma I know, her experiences closely resemble the Emma Frost I care about… *

Giotto contemplated deeply about his actions, he knew that the moment he accepted the application letter from Emma he was already diving head first into her problems. Although the Emma of this universe did not have problems related to her mutant abilities, it appears that her troubles would still come from her attractiveness.

*But to think that whether she has mutant abilities or not her beauty is what leads her to her problem… I'm beginning to think that her true power is her attractiveness rather than her mind reading ability…*

Such thoughts passed through his mind in a few seconds as he calmed his own mind before continuing.

"I will state it now, Emma Frost, you are attractive, the moment I saw you I had the instinctive desire to make you mine."

Giotto spoke with a serious tone and his eyes did not lie as he stared into Emma's eyes like a predator.

His gaze made Emma shiver, although she was a strong woman who faced her abusers and enemies head on fearlessly, the moment Giotto gave her an intense, hungry stare she felt, for the first time in her life, weakness.

Feeling her shifting emotions, Giotto sighed as he picked up the badge on the tray before he continued.

"Emma… I do not want to lie to you, part of me wants to hire you and make you my secretary, to lure you into my den and devour you. But… I also am not lying when I say that I hold respect towards you. You have strength, you have tenacity, you have the will to push through problems without fear."

Giotto spoke calmly but his atmosphere and aura continuously shifted. Emma felt as if his aura was solid, like it had a substance that was putting pressure on her.

"Emma Frost, I want to make you mine, but I do not wish to force you. If you want to fight against your enemies, without fear, I offer you my strength-"

As Giotto spoke he extended his hand holding the badge towards Emma, as he did, his hand and the badge were enveloped in a golden flame.

"I am not completely human, these flames are a symbol of my nature. I offer you the ability to wield these flames. Your resolve, your will, your life, these flames will get stronger based on these three factors-"

Giotto closed his eyes, as he did a golden flame lit up on his forehead. His eyes also turned even sharper, an orange light flashed as his eyes exerted a physical pressure.

"If you wish to master your fate, if you wish to captain your soul, if you wish to be the one in control of your life. Take this flame, I'll give you till the count of five, if you are unable to even lift your hand by then… it would only mean that your resolve was not enough"

After Giotto finished his speech he released his flames, but he controlled it to not burn. Instead it exerted a suffocating pressure that was directed towards Emma Frost.

*Sorry Emma, but if you want to stand on your own two feet you will need to do it on your own. I can only offer you this flame… whatever you are able to awaken will be up to your own strength-*

With such thoughts Giotto had a determined look in his eyes as his flames flared up, he opened his mouth and spoke-

"On-"

But before he could even finish his first word, Emma was already grasping his hand. The golden flame enveloping her hands as she clenched the golden emblem.

Giotto was shocked speechless, he was unable to say anything and only stared at Emma, wide eyed.

Emma saw his expression, a smile forming on her lips as she spoke.

"It seems you underestimated me Mr. Giovanni, but if its resolve your looking for then I have an infinite amount right here"

The beautiful and alluring young woman, with her body that did not look to have the power to fight back. 

This woman who no one would expect to have the power to face danger, to face death, was now standing under the immense pressure of GIotto. With a smile on her face as she held onto his hands enveloped in sky flames.

Her words and actions made Giotto snap back, a smile also formed on his lips as his eyes changed from shock to joy.

*I did not expect… for Emma to have such will and determination… *

Giotto who held back his emotions felt his heart skip a beat at this moment. The image of the powerful and proud Emma Frost from his memories overlapped with the Emma Frost before him. 

It lasted for a split second but this was enough for Giotto to come to a choice.

"I see, then accept the baptism of flames- if you have the resolve, the flames will awaken your power, if not… at best you'd turn to ash at worst burned alive"

Giotto hesitated as he spoke but the response he received from Emma solidified his resolve.

"It's life or death then, if I succeed I'll be reborn, if not I'll die."

Emma had a proud expression on her face, she stared into Giotto's eyes smirking as she spoke.

"At worst I'll commit suicide through proxy, at best I'll gain the power to go against my father. The worst outcome isn't bad actually…"

The woman's voice trailed off as she looked down on the ground, a hint of weakness appeared on her face as she spoke weakly.

"Without power the best fate I'd have is to become my fathers sex slave, at worst I'll become the sex slave of a bunch of old rich and powerful men… I'd rather die than become a slave!"

Emma's words were weak but at the end gained strength, her determination to take this challenge increased even further.

Seeing her mood swings made Giotto sigh as he also tightened his grip and as he did he spoke-

"Then let us begin-"

His words as a signal, the flames on his hands extended, covering Emma's whole body, the flames did nothing but appear like visual effects. It was like an illusion, Emma had a confused look on her face as she gazed at the golden flames.

Her confusion did not last long though as the searing heat suddenly enveloped her. It was not a simple burn, different from a burn that she felt was closer to having her whole body explode with searing heat.

Every cell in her body was boiling as she felt as if she was going to evaporate, but she did not pass out. Emma stayed conscious, she had a determined look in her eyes as she stood there and clenched the emblem and Giotto's hand.

*She's holding up… it seems that I will get my first guardian today…*

Giotto thought as he watched Emma awaken her flames.

As Emma endured the pain she felt an energy emerge within her body. Unlike the heat that enveloped her body earlier, this heat was warm. Weirdly enough as the energy appeared the heat that threatened to turn her to ash was slowly dissipating. 

Instead the warm flame from her core seemed to get stronger and stronger.

Giotto watched closely as his flames receded and were absorbed by Emma's body. This was the awakening method that he learned from Vongola Primo's memories.

Failure meant death but success would lead to awakening ones dying will flames.

This method was the source of the Vongola Dying Will bullet that simulated death. Unlike the bullet though this method was more dangerous.

It was slow and torturous, it gave the recipient time to think, to accept death. 

Compared to that, the instant death brought by the dying will bullet allowed for more chances of dying with regrets. For a desire to live to spark one's dying will energy.

Unfortunately Giotto did not have the knowledge or tools to create the dying will bullet. This is also why Giotto hesitated greatly, he respected Emma Frost and did not want to be the reason for her death.

But as she declared her desire to gain power or die trying, Giotto was convinced to proceed and now he was glad he did.

The flames surrounding Emma were transforming and Giotto silently watched as he anticipated what kind of flame Emma would awaken-

*Maybe she will awaken the storm flames? But her nature leaves only two options… Storm or Sky… hopefully she awakens a storm fla-!*

Giotto was thinking about Emma's flame, he had various guesses but his thoughts were cut short as he watched the flame emerge from Emma's body.

"Flames of Wrath"

Seeing the ominous flame holding vast destructive power surrounding Emma, GIotto had mixed feelings about what he was seeing.

On one hand he was happy that Emma awakened a powerful flame but on the other hand he felt a headache. 

*I don't have extra sky rings…*

Giotto sighed but as he was thinking of ways to remedy the situation a prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Congratulations on changing fate! Your actions have changed the fate of key characters but did not affect the nexus events much. After calculating all of your actions and the results, the system rewards you with the Talbot made Varia Rings!]

When Giotto read the message his tired expression turned to a smile as he pulled the Varia sky ring with a crown from the system space. The ring was designed to look like a shield. The shield was inlaid with a jewel having the same color as the flame the ring would generate.

Originally the Sky Varia ring would have a gun and crown on top of the shield. But interestingly the crown and shield were replaced with a crown and scepter.

Moreover, the Varia name and logo were changed to the Vongola emblem.

Giotto waited for Emma's flames to die down, this took a few minutes and as the flames disappeared, Emma opened her eyes and gave Giotto a look filled with various emotions.

The emotions that ran through her head were all perceived by Giotto but he did not have time to understand them before Emma jumped onto him.

Unlike her regal air that was her consistent image in the comics, her seductive appearance as she met with him earlier. All of her previous appearances disappeared, now Emma Frost was simply a little girl who was filled with joy.

Giotto hesitated for a second before ultimately choosing to wrap his arms around Emma who was crying tears of joy in his chest.

When he wrapped her in his embrace, Emma did not resist instead she tightened her embrace as she hid her face in Giotto's chest.

*I… I really did it this time!*

Emma thought as her emotions stabilized and a blush appeared on her face. She did not want Giotto to see her in such a state. Her emotions were currently in a flux but her body still acted true to her feelings.

Reacting to Giotto's embrace, her body tightened her embrace as Emma's mind was trying its best to calm herself of her own embarrassment.