Daybreak
Summary: As Irie Shouichi sends the time-travelers home, things don't go to plan. Instead of going back to their shared past, they end up worlds apart. The question was: would they want to leave, when the parallel worlds tempt them to stay?
Warnings: There will be heterosexual and homosexual relationships in this story. Nothing explicit, but fair warning. As well as violence, possible gore, etc.
Notes: The prelude is basically a retelling of that last Future Arc chapter, but the first chapter is done and ready to go, so I'll be posting that soon.
Prelude: As Fate Ordains, Dearest Friends Must Part
Five hundred meters underground, the Vongola Family found they did indeed have a way to return home. To their own time, finally. A place they all longed to see again. The machine they were currently facing was the oddly shaped one that Tsuna had seen a dream, the same one that Irie Shouichi had undauntingly guarded. It was an immense structure, and the devices that riddled its body made Tsuna's head hurt just trying to figure out what did what and how it could possibly send them home. He let his shock show through when he practically exclaimed, "We can get back to the past using this machine? Really?" His hopeful eyes turned to Shouichi, who blushed under the attention and attempted a shy smile.
"Yes," Shouichi began, fiddling with his headphones nervously. "Orignally, the Ten-Year Bazooka can enable the target to stay in the future for five minutes, but this machine interferes with that. All we need to do is shut down the interfering signal. And now that the power balance among the Tri-ni-sette has been restored, the other dimensions should be stable as well." The shy smile from earlier turned a bit more proud and Tsuna looked away quickly to cover up his own embarrassment. His gaze fell on Reborn and Verde, the two standing nearly side by side. He still wasn't clear on why the rest of the Arcobaleno were here, but that question would no doubt answer itself soon. Instead, he focused on Reborn and the rigid stance his 'tutor' had taken next to the other not-baby. It was as if he was barely tolerating Verde's presence.
"So," Reborn drawled, "the reason we couldn't warp exactly ten years into the future was because the Tri-ni-sette's power balance was disturbed, causing the dimensions to become unsteady." For some reason, Reborn even made questions sound like solid facts.
"Don't tell me you just realized that now?" taunted Verde, his too big glasses slipping down his nose. Reborn twitched, probably restraining the sudden urge to pull out a gun. "Of course, there's no reason to worry about the returning time warp," the scientist continued. "This wonderful genius here will calculate the best time and place for your return."
Another twitch and then Reborn relaxed, a careful, assessing stare taking the place of previous annoyance. Tsuna wouldn't have noticed the difference if not for the months spent in close company with the miniature hitman. "Can we trust you, Verde?"
The scientist, for all his boasting, was quiet in that moment. His head was bowed, hiding his expression, as he mulled over what to say. Fascinated by the precariously hanging glasses, Tsuna didn't look away and waited patiently for the reply alongside Reborn. "I ..." Verde raised his gaze to meet Reborn's, straightening his glasses in the process. "... have a debt to repay," finished the scientist, a pained smile in place.
Reborn narrowed his eyes in consideration, and then he tipped his hat down and sighed. There was an unsaid for Uni in that answer, but he would let it slide and take Verde's admission for what it was worth. "Fine."
Meanwhile, Tsuna couldn't help but think: These two give off some scary auras. Is it safe to be here? "Ah, wait. Has everyone said their goodbyes to the people of this time yet?" Then he glanced around and realized how redundant he probably sounded. Not a soul for their return trip to the past was in sight, aside from Reborn and himself. Tsuna settled in for the wait ahead.
He just hoped Verde wouldn't say anything that would tip the metaphorical scale and cause Reborn to go trigger-happy.
-X-
"Are you going to start baseball again, when you get back to the past?" Squalo's glare said exactly how wonderful that idea sounded to him.
"Yeah!" Yamamoto Takeshi stated happily, hands behind his neck and face tilted skywards as he smiled. "I mean, I only said I'd stay true to the sword here in the future." A loophole Takeshi had seen and taken, because hey, who said anything about the past?
The expected, loud cry of, "Vooooiiii!" didn't faze the cheerful, baseball-obsessed boy in the slightest. "You fucking coward," Squalo spat out in obvious distaste. "You'll never be able to beat me as a swordsman. Never."
"Really? Who knows ..." Takeshi trailed off, still grinning like an idiot - which he was, Squalo thought, or the moron would be less inclined to baseball and more focused on swordsmanship.
Squalo had taken precious time away from his schedule to teach this ungrateful novice, and this was the thanks he got? There was going to be hell to pay and he was going to let that be known. Gritting his teeth, he demanded, "What did you just say?" Takeshi had the nerve to laugh, spurring Squalo's anger to greater heights. "Goddamn brats these days," he cursed, rubbing at his sore shoulder. "When I was your age, I was a damn good assassin." Takeshi let another chuckle escape at that, but this time, Squalo didn't take offense. Admittedly, that last line had come across as a little old fashion. He was, to his horror, getting up in age - and fucking brats like this would be at the head of the new generation. He didn't look forward to that. Not at all.
"Wait, you're leaving already?"
The long-haired Sword Emperor didn't bother to turn around. He was too busy sizing up the dive he was about to take off the cliff-side. He could make it. There was a branch half-way down he could use to slow his descent. Perfect. "Is there a problem, brat?"
"What about the others from Varia? Did Xanxus meet with Tsuna?"
"Are you kidding me?" Squalo finally looked back, a scowl dead-set on his lips. "If our boss sees Sawada, he'll kill him."
Takeshi didn't appear too impressed with that answer. If anything, he looked skeptical. "Is that so?"
Since the brat was too far gone in happy-happy land to be reasoned with, Squalo gave it up as a lost cause and took a step backwards off the cliff. "Later."
"Thanks for everything!" Takeshi shouted at the top of his lungs. Squalo's fleeting thought on that consisted of: He should save his breath.
-X-
Bianchi placed a hand on top of I-pin's head affectionately as she addressed the other two girls in front of her. "Take care of yourselves." With an enthused, "We will!," to answer her, the Italian woman smiled. She didn't doubt that they had grown and matured during this excursion. They looked a lot different now than they did all those days ago when she first saw them: scared, trembling with confusion, and unsure how they could help the boys that were just as frightened and confused as they had been.
A quiet rustling of paper broke her out of her observation as Kyoko handed something to her, saying softly, "Um, could you give the future Hana a letter for me?"
She accepted the letter without a second of hesitation. "Of course." And then she promptly winced as a loud, "UGH, NOOO," was heard from down the hallway.
The group of girls, joined by the tall form of the future Fuuta, looked down the hallway curiously. Bianchi stated what they all were thinking. "I wonder what's wrong with the older Sasagwa."
Kyoko supplied a simple, "He's been acting strange ever since we came back." To which they couldn't disagree, the boxer's eyes were practically bugging out as he clasped both bandaged hands to forehead in absolute horror? shock? Regardless, there was a lot of emotion poring from the young man; it was almost painful to watch.
Meanwhile, inside of Ryohei's head, his thoughts were swirling with questions. Should I at least have a word ... with the girl I saw standing next to me in that photo? Out loud, he blurted, "But what should I extremely say?"
"Is he sick?" suggested Bianchi, an aloof expression settling over her pretty features. "Though I kind of think this isn't too unusual." After time-travel, rings that turned into animals, and flames lighting up the place everywhere, that about summed it up. They all agreed to leave the boxer alone to sort out whatever plagued him.
-X-
Scratching the skin under her eye-patch, Chrome wondered if the woman across from her was ever going to speak. So she took it upon herself. "You wanted to ... see me?"
"I'm warning you." The money-loving woman had her hands on her hips, serious and yet not as harsh as she could have been. "The only reason Mukuro is kind to you is because he is using you."
She didn't want to hear that, but it rung a little too true. Mukuro was the type of man who manipulated and besieged anything that stood in his way. But that wasn't the only part of him that she saw. No, as his stand-in, she had seen much more from him - more than anyone else.
"Once you return to the past," M.M. continued, "Mukuro will try to use you in order to free his past self from prison." Chrome looked down, hesitant, and M.M. sighed. "Don't get me wrong. I'm telling you this out of concern." And that part was genuine. She didn't want to see someone else fall prey to some of the things she had seen Mukuro force them to do. "He is a very fearsome person."
The girl glanced back up, an undecided glint to her one visible eye. "But I still -"
Both of them dropped the conversation when they felt eyes on them. M.M. didn't have to turn to guess who was there, and the next shout confirmed it.
"What are Miss Stupid and M.M. doing together, byon?" That moronic way of speaking could only be one person. "They're saying it's almost time!" Well, M.M. thought, at least they had a good reason to interrupt girl talk. But didn't that mutt know there were more tactful ways than shouting to get someone's attention? When she cast her eyes upwards, to the top of the stairs behind Chrome, she could see he was enjoying this, tongue sticking out teasingly. It was the expression on Mukuro's face that really grabbed her wandering gaze, though. She had never seen him with such soft eyes, and following his line of sight, she saw who exactly that look was intended for - the adoring girl he had known and the woman she would grown up to be one day. That look was for his other half, for Chrome. And her alone. A part of her was jealous, but she let it go with another resigned sigh. These two were good for each other. Maybe her words had been unnecessary.
-X-
"Kyo-san!" shouted a man with regent-styled hair, bowing his head low as he kneeled on the floor, hands on his thighs, back straight as an arrow. The young man he addressed left without a good-bye, a uniform jacket slung over his shoulder casually. There was no heartfelt words. No wishes of good luck. Just a pledge that Kusakabe Tetsuya would always be with this person, would be there to call him by name. Here and now, and in the past too, where this boy truly belonged.
-X-
Hunched down around a corner, Gokudera 'tch'ed as his sister called out to him. "What are you doing in a place like this, my one and only," he closed his eyes tightly, wondering what in the world she was getting at, "little brother." He let out the tight fit of air that he had held onto and almost laughed. He was still a bit giddy from the pain killers in his system. Thankfully he did not make a fool of himself, keeping his cool as he stood up, turning to face her head-on as soon as she rounded the corner. "Do you remember our promise?"
How could he forget? It had been his motivation on those long nights spent in the base's library. Trying, in vain, to work out what his future self had been able to achieve. Instead of being honest, he dismissed it. Because now, he didn't need to know. He had a family waiting for him. He had Tsuna. He had his sky, his whole world, to look forward to protecting. The past could stay in the past. "Huh?" he drawled, hands in his pockets as he slouched, easing the pain his back. "I don't need any souvenirs."
Bianchi gave a slight smile, holding up a loaded bag full of letters. Her eyes were playful behind the concealing goggles she wore, and she spoke just as tauntingly. "Yes, they exist in the past as well, so there's no need for you to take them. But I wanted to show you, nonetheless, so I went back to the destroyed base to retrieve them."
"What?" he exploded, unable to contain himself. Did she realize how risky that had been? "Just for that?" Observing the letters more closely, he realized who had been sending them. And who they had been intended for. Long before Bianchi explained. But his calculating brain couldn't keep up and screeched to a standstill. What did this mean?
"Our father wrote these letters to your mother." Well, duh, thought Gokudera with a healthy dose of sarcasm. The seal, the addresses, everything was staring him in the face like scattered puzzles pieces, asking for him to put them back together. "They're only a handful of love letters that he had been writing until the day your mother passed away in that accident."
His voice cracked as he uttered one word, "Father ...?" It still didn't make any sense.
"I know you think that the reason your mother died was because Father refused to marry your mother, and tore you apart from her ..." Bianchi closed her eyes, lowering the bag, apparently remembering the past almost as vividly as he did. "But the truth is, it was the complete opposite."
Shock settled into his heart, making him forget to breathe. He let out a gasp moments later, eyes wide. It was Mom who turned down the marriage proposal. Father had every intention of caring for the both of them - mother and son.
"Your mother had been very sick," Bianchi went on doggedly, lifting the bag once more for his perusal, hinting that the answers were hidden among the many letters. "She knew she didn't have long to live."
"What?" His voice escalated this time, and Gokudera bit his lip savagely to keep his thoughts to himself. He wanted to lash out with he killed her he killed her he killed her, but that wasn't right - it had never been true. His Father had actually loved his mother.
"Your mother," Her name was Lavina! he wished to scream, but he didn't and let her go on, "left you and Father because she thought she would only be a burden in her condition. Yet, Father continued to write to her letters, in desperate hope that the three of you would be able to spend time together again ..." Bianchi began to trail off, but she hardened her resolved and finished what she needed to say. "Her disease killed her before she fell from the cliff."
Gokudera held one of the opened letters close to his body, gripping tight enough to leave wrinkles on the already aging paper. "No way ... that's ... that's a lie." His usually rational brain was stuttering, unable to grasp the essential clue he was missing. It didn't make sense at all! All that he had believed to be true ... had been a lie? Why? Why had he wasted his childhood, cultivating his hate, if not for one day avenging his mother? He tried to come up with a excuse, and he eventually found one, "Because ..." but he couldn't utter it. The emptiness of what he had been about to say stopped him short. Because Mom said she would visit that day. She promised! But the dead could not uphold such promises.
"I don't expect you to understand now," Bianchi consoled him, "but just remember this." She paused, took a breath, and looked him square in the eye. "You were brought into this world, loved by both of your parents."
Gokudera no longer knew what to say.
"Gokudera-kun! Bianchi! Look out!" A loud crash and the sudden unstable ground made Gokudera flinch - though later they would tease him, saying he had jumped about a foot in the air.
"The hell, Mosca!" He put a bit more distance between him and the machine, shaking his head and still muttering obscenities. The only thing that distracted him from cursing the Mosca creation further was the appearance of Tsuna, running to him with worry shining in his eyes. And a dorky, goggle-wearing man followed behind the boy, tapping away at the laptop in front of him.
"Mm," the man mumbled, "the left thruster isn't working well."
"Tenth ... Spanner!" Admittedly, he had growled out that last bit, wary of having the mechanic around Tsuna. When he had learned the chafing on his friend's wrists had been from handcuffs, and Spanner had been the one to put them there, he figured his worries were based in fact. Cold, hard fact. There would be no repeat scenarios on his watch. "What the hell were you doing until now?" A logical question to ask since they hadn't seen the mechanic in quite a while, holed up somewhere doing his geeky, machine-obsessed thing.
Tsuna was the one to explain, gesturing wildly with a hand as he spoke, an amused smile radiating as brightly as the sun. "Apparently, he's been constructing an Anti-Byakuran Mosca all this time." The shorter boy's expression turned more bewildered. "You know how Spanner is ... he loses sight of everything else when he's dealing with mechanics."
Though he didn't look it, the man said, "Sorry," rolling the lollipop in his mouth nonchalantly.
-X-
"All right! Everyone here?" Irie Shouichi quickly took roll call with his assessing eyes, and then clapped his hands excitedly. "It's almost time, but first - I want everyone to leave their Vongola boxes here. Please remove them!"
Natsu, the little lion at Tsuna's feet, tilted his head and mewled. Then he shifted defensively in front of Tsuna, roaring his tiny, "Gawr!" As if to say, "I'm not going anywhere!" Tsuna bent down and scratched behind the lion cub's ears, sweating a bit as he nervously said, "It can't be helped, Natsu. We can't take box weapons back to the past, where they don't exist yet." His friends were having similar problems as Yamamoto was mauled by his Akita, Ryohei and his kangaroo exchanged teary good-byes as they embraced as comrades, Lambo patted the nose of his bull where he was currently riding, and Gokudera had crouched down as well, patting Uri's downcast head. "Stay well," he heard his Storm Guardian tell the cat.
Shouichi watched as each of the young boys and girls said their last farewells to the future. Colonnello didn't even try to duke it out with Reborn while he had the chance. Fon bowed and wished his student well. Basil and future Fuuta, left out of the last minute exchanges, discussed something that nearly everyone else had forgotten. "We never did find out who Uncle Kawahira was," the young CEDEF member mused.
"Yeah," Fuuta agreed, the upturn of his lips saying he might know a bit more than he was letting on. "Strange, huh?"
Before he forgot, Tsuna approached Lal Mirch, the one who had taught him the most here in the future, and held out his hand. "Thanks for everything, Lal!"
She easily dismissed him. "I only watched over you kids, really."
She treats us like kids until the end, Tsuna surmised, feeling a bit insulted on behalf of his friends.
"Become a great boss, Sawada." His reaction was immediate as he waved his hands uselessly in front of him, as if conjuring up a shield, the chant of no no no no persistent in his head.
"I told you I don't want to become boss!"
Lal, who had selective hearing apparently, whipped her head around, shouting, "Colonnello! Make sure you properly take them back to a peaceful past!"
"Of course I will, dammit," the blonde child-man told her. "These people saved our lives, after all!"
Behind him, a baby wearing a purple cloak with the hood up added, "I usually don't use my powers unless I'm paid, but this time, I'll make a special exception."
"Once it's over, I'll come back, Lal." On a full-grown man, Colonnello's smile might have been described as charming, but it was still downright adorable enough that even Lal was not immune, a bright blush coloring the strict woman's cheeks.
"Idiot!" she chided. "In a place like this ..."
"Okay, we're starting the time warp," Shouichi chose that moment to wrap things up and get the show on the road. "The Arcobaleno will return once they've finished sealing the Mare Ring of the past." A lapse of silence and then Shouichi spoke directly from his heart. "Now then, thank you ... for everything! Good-bye." Everyone stood in position and Shouchi lowered his finger to the button that would send everyone back where they belonged. "Time warp, start!" His inner geek had always wanted to say something like that. And after that, he pressed the button with as much glee as a child.
A white light flooded the room, encasing the group that stood on platform. In a literal flash, the boys and girls of the past were gone. Everything appeared to be going to plan. Then it happened. An explosion. Smoke everywhere. People were coughing, others were avoiding the debris and serious injury - and all the while, they wondered: what happened to the kids? Followed by, would the Arcobaleno even return?