I have a thing for Family!Varia fics. I acknowledge this, and I owe this fic to Bleach-ed-Nat-su and a combination of some of her various fics- 'Tell Her That He's Dead' and 'The Difference Between'- You're an inspiration darling. Thanks for sharing with us. I do not own KHR.
Warnings: OOC, Largely AU (this ties into the OOC) Time Travel. Language (-cough-Xanxus-cough-)
Summary: Everything had gone to shit, the world was falling apart, and only one of them could go back. Xanxus makes a choice.
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Xanxus' eyes were dark- almost black instead of blood red- as he looked around.
The world had gone to shit. It was falling apart- no one had been ready for the Solecorvo Famiglia, not Japan, not Italy, not the Mafia, not even the governments.
Solecorvo: Sun Crow.
Appropriate.
They were scavengers, but even scavengers would feed on lions if the lion was taken down. The Solecorvo had plotted and planned and struck fast and hard and it had worked.
Down went the lion.
It didn't help that the family had done something and every fucking one of the pieces of trash had Sun Flames the likes of which none of them had ever seen. It was like they were zombies except they retained the ability to reason and plot.
It didn't matter if you shot them, or if you stabbed them, it didn't matter if you used poison or even if you decapitated them. The Solecorvo bastards just healed the fuck up and kept going.
The only thing that seemed to work was completely and utterly erasing them- burn them into ashes- otherwise they just kept coming, just healed up and attacked again and again and they didn't get tired.
Xanxus sneered.
They pissed him the fuck off. Especially since Vongola had been one of the first to get attacked. Solecorvo had known they needed to take out the Little Boss- Tsuna- and his supporters first if they wanted to keep any sort of foothold.
Xanxus vividly remembered the way Tsuna had seized in his office, the screech of rage-pain-denial that had ripped from Tsunayoshi's very soul, the way he had dropped and arched as if someone was electrocuting him the way he had erupted with Sky Flames and Will. Xanxus remembered hearing through the walls of the Varia Mansion as all of Tsuna's Guardians screeched from the soul at the exact same time, their Flames all roaring to the surface, reaching for each other and swirling together into a huge Flame Storm the likes of which Xanxus hadn't seen before. He can remember how Tsuna had staggered up and out his office door a broken whisper of "Lambo" escaping his lips and Xanxus had known even as he sent his squads out that Tsuna's Lightning Guardian had fallen and he had just witnessed the forceful severing of a Sky from one of his Elements.
He had witnessed the way Tsunayoshi's Sky Flames had shifted to mirror his Wrath Flames when the Little Boss had struck back brutal and angry in a way Xanxus had never seen before but could understand completely because if some fucker had ever taken one of his Elements from him- truly taken one of them, killed one of them- Xanxus would burn the world and dance in the ashes.
Xanxus turned his eyes away from the surrounding wreckage to glance behind him, his eyes softening just so.
Tsunayoshi, his Elements and Xanxus' Elements all lay together behind him, trusting him to guard them while they rested.
It was amazing what the end of the fucking world could do in making people work together.
Skies were odd Elements. Not much was known about them, but something that most didn't know, because it rarely ever happened- had only happened to Xanxus with his brothers before they had been murdered (and if Xanxus ever found out who the fuck had killed them he would erase them.)- was they could Harmonize with other Skies.
It rarely happened- usually with younger Skies reaching out to an older one, or weaker Skies being pulled in by the stronger Sky- but Tsuna had synched-Harmonized- with Xanxus after the loss of his Lightning, searching for steady ground, someone to lean on; someone strong enough to hold him together while he shattered apart.
It had made Tsunayoshi one of his and Xanxus was a possessive protective fucker even though he expected His Boys, His Pride, to be able to defend themselves. Bringing Tsuna into his Pride had made what was his Xanxus' and so Tsuna's little Pack had become part of Xanxus' Pride, and Xanxus had taken to teaching them all the things he could in between attacks and ambushes.
He was proud of the fuckers.
"You ready Boss?"
Xanxus' eyes drifted to his right hand, Squalo's eyes meeting his effortlessly.
They were good, but the Solecorvo Famiglia had been gaining ground, had gained too much before they had been able to strike back, and it wasn't working. So Tsuna- determined little fuck- had done what he had during the Arcobaleno Trials when he had been told 'there's no other way but this. It's hopeless' and he made another way.
With Verde, Reborn, Gokudera, Mammon, Shoichi and Spanner's help of course.
Xanxus let his eyes drift over the entirety of his Pride laid out before him and his eyes hardened with resolve. "Yes."
Tsuna had made the path, had cleared the way, but Xanxus was to be the one to walk it.
He would be going back. He would be changing the future. He would dance in the ashes of the Solecorvo and he would make sure his Pride- all of them- were alright.