Some Musing on Interpersonal Relationships of SUaD

I think I'm figuring out what's going on between Belladonna, Castillo, and Elizabeth.

Castillo, at first, didn't care about anyone besides his sister, Elizabeth. However, before the game, he felt like he had lost her. She had become single-mindedly focused on being famous, going down in history, and didn't care about their personal relationship. He still believed there was a chance he could rekindle their familial love, so he followed her to Miami, then the two got involved in some shady business- the cartel. That's how they got involved in this game. 

Belladonna now comes into the picture as one of the contacts that his call mentioned and another Protagonist- a woman of the North, a killer for hire, and a complete disaster of a person with not nearly enough social skills. Castillo and Belladonna initially butt heads over the fact that Belladonna's wearing her bloody mask in public, which is very dumb due to the news about the masked killings that have been investigated on the news.
After the death game is revealed, Castillo makes another comment about Belladonna's mask, and she ends up telling the story of how she got it bloodstained. At this point, he gets curious about who Belladonna really is, because there's clearly stuff going on with her. Soon after, when Shino says that he wants everyone to call him Daddy, she reacts in rage, mentioning her dad being dead. Castillo probably realizes here that there's some family issues going on with Belladonna, and when she calls her mask "special", he asks if it's a family heirloom, catching her off guard. She tells an abridged version of the story of how she got it, then Castillo pinpoints why she's so attached to the mask, which quiets her. She acts uncomfortable that someone figured stuff about her out, and he starts to reach out to her, partly due to his own caring nature, though mostly due to wanting to ally with her and take the alternative faction winroute.

After the stress of being insulted repeatedly by Shino and Castillo reading her like a book gets to her, Belladonna storms off, and Castillo follows to check on her, hoping to gain favor with her. When he enters her room, she initially tries to verbally shove him away because being called crazy is her number 1 pet peeve and she thinks he's going to if she talks, but he keeps trying to reach out to her. After she reluctantly tells the full story about the mask, he brings up his sister, though doesn't mention that it's Elizabeth, in an attempt to assure Belladonna that he believes that she's not crazy for having the mask to remember her mom. He tries to get Belladonna to tell more about herself, but she tries to close herself off again and says it's not her thing, that she usually solves her issues through violence. He asks if that makes her happy, says that she could use a friend, and says that he wants to know her before he dies, because he doesn't think anyone else has really known her this well for so long. It starts to get to Belladonna; she admits that she feels bad for not being open, which is a weird feeling for her, and struggles with her emotions before bringing up that she doesn't have a life goal. In response, Castillo once again asks if she's really happy with her lifestyle and if she secretly wants friends. This gets her to admit (loudly and angrily) that she's not happy with her life at all, which surprises her. Castillo asks if she wants him to leave, but she doesn't say yes, which he picks up on and brings up. She says that he's the first person who's really tried to reach out to her since she showed up in Miami, and appreciates that he doesn't call her insane. They form an uneasy alliance from all this, then leave for the first Roaming phase.

During Roaming, Belladonna picks up that he's acting a lot more normal and well-adjusted than he is while in the Pizzeria, but doesn't bring it up immediately. She doesn't think much of Elizabeth during this time, but when she shows up to the Metro, she sees that the masked figure trying to murder Berry is Elizabeth, and, not realizing that "Riza" from the call is Elizabeth, she goes in for the attack on Berry's side, especially because Elizabeth insults her. Elizabeth rings Castillo with the walkie-talkie, who comes rushing in to aid her, though neither Berry nor Belladonna realize that she specifically called him. Castillo takes the crowbar and attacks Belladonna, who is sent into a concussion-induced murderous rage. She lands only the one stab on Elizabeth before she's knocked unconscious and Castillo, angered that she was attacking Elizabeth, decides to kill her against Elizabeth's wishes. However, her death save ability activates for the first time, which surprises and impresses the other two, who decide to spare Belladonna and propose the faction alliance. Specifically, Castillo is acting under Elizabeth's orders to spare her because Elizabeth is impressed by Belladonna's powers enough that she considers Belladonna memorable, although Castillo says he genuinely likes and is impressed by Belladonna. Belladonna is not happy about anything that occurred in the metro, but she doesn't have much of a say in it because of how injured she is. (She's also curious that Castillo says he can financially support her for life. Money talks, and she speaks its language.) She makes that clear, and Elizabeth, because Belladonna doesn't remember everything, tells a bullshit story that Berry was the one who knocked her out, which Belladonna doesn't believe in the slightest.
After heading to Elizabeth's room, Castillo starts referring to Belladonna as "one of his own", and also reveals his real name to be Stanley to her. He claims, when Belladonna asks why he attacked her, that his sister is "the one and only person that really matters to me" and that he tried to kill Belladonna out of anger for attacking Elizabeth. He makes it quite obvious that he's been following her orders, claiming it's out of brotherly love. He calls himself "her hands." Belladonna quietly admits that she and Hirluin aren't as close as Castillo and Elizabeth seem to be, to which Castillo agrees, then he offers for Belladonna to join the "family". She says she doesn't know if she trusts the two, though she'd be willing to ally for practical reasons, and brings up how often Castillo's behavior towards her has changed from hostility to kindness. Castillo ends up going on a long monologue about how Belladonna is more than just the average person, that she has meaning, and that Belladonna and Elizabeth could be friends due to their similarities. He says it's okay for her to cry, saying it's understandable to cry because of stress, pain, and a need to process emotions. This eventually gets her to break down crying, although she feels stupid about it; he reassures her that it's not stupid and that she has every reason to. (Also, he hugs her :3) Elizabeth is notably callous about the touchy-feely stuff. The alliance of three forms regardless, and they talk strategy for a bit. Belladonna reveals some backstory and the vest. Meanwhile, Castillo and Elizabeth trade some subtle insults. which Belladonna doesn't pick up on.

Roaming ends, and the false story about him attacking Belladonna is told by the three. Castillo is singlemindedly focused on getting proper medical supplies for Elizabeth's injury. When Richard calls and Belladonna goes off at him, Castillo shows concern for how much she's probably tiring herself out. After voting, Castillo checks in with Belladonna again before Elizabeth, pale, walks in. Castillo immediately freaks out about Elizabeth's condition. Belladonna implies she'll try to help. During the Hunt Rule vote, Belladonna asks why everyone hates Castillo, to which he responds that he, Belladonna, and Elizabeth are three of the four decent people in the group.

The second Roaming begins, and Castillo trails Belladonna while the two of them and James look for Io, Nolan, and/or Shino. Reaching the drugstore, Castillo takes medical supplies and leaves to take care of Elizabeth. He returns to Io "killing" Belladonna (her second charge saves her) and finishes Io off. Belladonna starts to freak out about losing her death save ability (and, from her perspective, having been noticed by the Fae again), and Castillo asks what's wrong. She explains that her death save ability is gone and that the Fae are going to try to drive her mad enough for her to agree to leave Earth with them. She doesn't want to tell the full story because she thinks Castillo will dismiss her as crazy. She insists she isn't, and Castillo agrees with her. He asks if she doesn't want to tell all the details in front of James, and she yells that she doesn't want to talk because she actually likes him, and doesn't want that bond of friendship??? to break. Castillo misinterprets this to mean that the Fae want Belladonna to kill him, and says that he doesn't want to kill her, that she means something to both him and Elizabeth. He says he wants to keep the two girls safe because they're both important to him. Belladonna vehemently denies that the Fae are telling her to kill him, and panics a little at the misunderstandings. She explains her situation and what the Fae do, then admits that it's wearing her down. Castillo asks if she needs to lay down and let him take care of everything else, to which she refuses loudly. He says he trusts her, and that she's a part of his family. Cut to the Shino fight, and the trio work together to kill him. After the fight, Elizabeth and Castillo send a few insults each other's way, then Castillo asks to privately talk to Belladonna when they get the chance. He starts talking about having lost something, how his victory feels hollow. Belladonna asks if he's okay, and he continues to talk about how he lost that something long ago, how it was "far gone". Belladonna doesn't pick up what this something is, and tells him that it doesn't make sense to feel like a loser when the trio is still alive. Ivy asks if he really wanted to abandon everyone except his faction, and he responds by saying he just wanted to save Belladonna and Elizabeth, but things have changed. Elizabeth speaks up, saying she and Stanley just wanted to escape together until she met Belladonna, who has potential to not be forgotten. After she talks about her motives and backstory, Castillo glares at her, and the two enter an argument. Castillo lashes out, saying she doesn't know who he is anymore, that he had been trying to fix the relationship between them to make it more sentimental, that she doesn't care about him even though he was trying to give her a reason to care, that he wanted to save her, that she just wanted a tool instead of a brother, that he cared about her in an unrequited way. He says he's done trying to reach out to her, that she's a psychopath, that he misses the past, that there's no hope. The two trade some more insults, and Castillo says he expected Elizabeth to let him die because she never cared about him. He pulls Belladonna into the argument, essentially telling her to pick between Elizabeth and her goals ("be her sister") or to stay with him, although he won't force her either way. Belladonna retorts by saying she has very little context for this situation, and she doesn't truly know either person, anyways, or is any good at therapy and conflict mediation. Castillo says he just wanted to be with his real sister again, but Elizabeth is too lost. Elizabeth still tries to patch up his wounds anyways, saying that now isn't the time to get emotional, and they can talk later. However... this is when the makeshift bomb rolls in, and Stanley jumps on it to try to defuse it, which ends up killing him.

Cue Elizabeth fucking snapping, and Belladonna fucking breaking. Elizabeth enters a pure, homicidal rage about the death of her brother, while Belladonna becomes quiet and subdued, unfamiliar with the sensation of grief wracking her body. Belladonna muses about how she never really knew him, but still misses him, now that he's gone. She thinks that what he did was suicide, and that hurts her. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is swearing death on Nolan or whoever killed Stanley. It turns out to be Nolan when the group returns to the motel lobby, and Nolan is swiftly ganged up on and killed.

So, to summarize, it started with Elizabeth and Castillo being a team, although it was emotionally unbalanced. Then Belladonna showed up and began to act mutually hostile with Castillo. Castillo initially reached out to her for practical purposes, then attempted to kill her during the metro fight. However, when Belladonna's ability to save herself from death surfaced, Elizabeth was impressed enough to order him to keep her alive. He once again proposed an alliance and, furthermore, invited Belladonna into his "family". Elizabeth and Castillo's issues with each other began to surface around the same time that Belladonna (reluctantly) accepted the offer, though Castillo still made an emotional effort. Belladonna began to genuinely like Castillo, to her confusion, and Castillo found that he was genuinely (platonically) liking Belladonna back. After the Shino fight, while Belladonna was jubilant that the trio survived and Shino died, Castillo was unhappy. He said he had lost something, meaning the "real" Elizabeth, for good. After Elizabeth talked about the two siblings' motivations and her backstory, they entered an argument where Castillo said he was done trying to reach out to her. However, though Elizabeth reached out to him via patching him up, any repairing of the relationship was pointless as Castillo died to Nolan soon after, leaving Belladonna and Elizabeth to grieve.

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