He tried to sit back up. The wound on his abdomen was grave, and fierce were the bruises on his arms and legs. His face, dirty and sweaty, scrunched up in pain the moment he was sitting down while leaning his back to a tree. It stinged. A sword hit him with a mightly slash. But he wasn't brought down in an instant. No. He cut the enemy down with the force tripled, and all the other men surrounding him as well. The sword wasn't his allied weapon, but the loyalty to his kingdom was enough drive for him to paint the forest red.
Resting his head on the rough bark, he closed his eyes and listened to the steady footsteps muffled in the leaves. It stopped when boots halted near his hands. Looking up to know who it was wasn't needed. And yet, he couldn't dare to look away from the all-knowing gaze his king gave him.
"Daemon," his highness greeted.
He forced up a smile, one so strained it hurt his heart. The moon peeked out of the clouds and shined its light over the two, and over all the bodies eternally sleeping on the ground. Everything red has disgustingly stained the beautiful nature that mother earth steadily carved. His highness deserves not to stand on a ground so tainted with war. A ground he proudly painted with his very own hands just for his kingdom.
Daemon managed to croak out a reply, "Are they all dead?"
If this were a normal situation, both of them would have laughed. But the frown marred on the king's face told Daemon that, yes, all of them are dead. And yes, Daemon is dying as well. "You are a fool to think that this will get our kingdom anywhere."
Knowing that he is barely breathing anymore, knowing that he is simply living on willpower alone, he forced out a weak chuckle and kept on his strained smile. "I showed them the power of Vongola," he said simply. "Our kingdom will be feared." Taking in a deep breath, he also muttered loudly, "Our people will be safe."
The king resisted the urge to shake his head and instead stared into Daemon's mad smile. He's lost it, he thought. Anything I say will be rendered useless.
He watched as Daemon leaned his head back to stare at nothing. His wicked smile slowly, slowly turning into nothing as well. "Everything is done, Elena..." he whispered. "Everyone is safe."
Slowly, slowly, Daemon was disappearing.
Before closing his eyes and breathing no more, his hand slowly made its way to his pockets and brought out his treasure that he held to his heart dearly. "Farewell, Giotto..." Daemon said with finally a sincere smile on his face. And then... he was gone.
A tear fell from the king's eye as he stared at the unmoving figure of his friend. "Are you really happy now?" Giotto quietly asked.
A cold wind blew in the air as the cherry blossom petals from the trees surrounding him danced in both despair and solitude. All the red, red blood on the ground was covered by the beautiful pink; but all the stains were still visible enough to be seen.
And then, the memory faded.
.
~O~
~oOo~
~oOo~
~O~
.
"Wait..." a young knight said with pure doubt painted all over his face. "How does this explain everything about April Fools?"
A mysterious force then landed on his head and his face kissed the ground. "Dame-Tsuna!" a voice of a baby scolded. "Don't you ever try to learn a lesson?"
Looking up at the baby standing on his head accusingly, Tsuna cried, "How am I supposed to think properly when you keep killing my braincells?!"
"That's easy," the baby smirked. "Don't say anything stupid. That there is being smart."
"You'd still hit me for not talking!" Tsuna argued.
"Does anybody have any questions about the story, oh knights in training?" the baby asked.
"He ignored me?!" Tsuna despaired on the floor.
"Yes Gokudera?"
Gokudera gave Reborn a stern look. "I don't get how this is connected to April Fools, Reborn-san. Can you please explain?"
Tsuna had a scared look on his face. Oh no! he thought. Reborn's gonna kick him too! Poor braincells of Gokudera-kun! He's even the smartest out of all of us!
"Since you're my favorite student, of course I'll explain," Reborn simply said.
"FAVORITISM?!" Tsuna cried in shock.
"Shut up, Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn said and kicked Tsuna again to the ground.
Why me...? Tsuna despaired. It's always me...
When everyone was quiet, Reborn started his story. "To put everything in simple terms," he said, "Daemon wanted to kill everyone he saw as threat to the Vongola, our kingdom, and to those very precious and dear to him. The king, Giotto saw this as a really dangerous measure and tried telling him to stop. But Daemon killed them anyways and died on April first.
"Slowly after, almost all the kingdoms waged war on the date April first for every year. It was very gorey and rated SPG, so I'll skip the flying organs."
Tsuna paled. "Flying organs?!"
"SHHHH!" everyone shushed.
Tsuna despaired once more.
"Then," Reborn continued, "the eigth ruler of Vongola, Ottavo, decided that instead of waging war, we should do pranks on our enemies instead. Of course, everyone was really confused. But thanks to all of the pranks, we became friends with all our enemies in no time. She called everyone who kills a fool. Pranking can make you an even bigger fool, but a very kind one," Reborn said with a smile on his face.
Tsuna, on the ground, looked at Reborn in wonder.
"So, Tsuna," Reborn called out. "What have you learned?"
Quietly, Tsuna sat down, not really minding if Reborn would slip off of his head. Then, he faced almost all of the kind faces he knew. "I wouldn't want to kill if I could get a chance to recieve more friends," he said.
And everyone smiled at him.
Tsuna smiled back. Daemon-san, he thought, you could have recieved greater allies instead of killing and earning more foes. He clenched his hands. In the end, you really were a fool.
"But, even if I were ordered to kill on a day that's not April Fools, I would never!" Tsuna said. "I'd use my sword and shield to protect!"
Reborn smirked. "Looks like you learned something after all," he said.
Tsuna gave him a determined smile.
"Well then, I guess everyone's ready for the prank war," Reborn said.
Tsuna's smile faded.
And the day ended peacefully.
"HIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!"
"Tenth! I'm commmiiiiiiinng!"
"Ahahah! Tsuna can fly!"
"EXTREEEEEEEMEEEE!"
"For disturbing the peace in Namimori Village... I'll bite you all to death!"
"Kufufufu..."
"Gotta... Stay... Calm..."
BOOM!
"Bossu!"
"KUFUFUFUFUFU!"
Oh so peaceful...
~O~
~O~
A/N: I kept wondering why there's a holiday called April Fools. Why are there pranks?! Mom turned off the net so I had the time to do a lot of crazy thinking.
I first imagined this world to be in a King Arthur's Era where there are knights and stuff. But then, I wanted to do something crack-ish for April Fools. The first part of the story was going to be the original piece. But then, I realized how everything turned serious and lost all feelings for everything! ALL CONCENTRATION! DETERMINATION! MOTIVATION! EVERYTHING! TTvTT
And so then, I decided to continue the original plan while saving the first piece. And then I thought, HEY! Why not let this be the Omake thing-y? And so, I put one and one together and made this baby! XDDDD It could've been better. But, hey, I only do writing for fun. Perhaps I'll take this writing thing seriously in the future. For now, I'd like to polish my skills to wherever it takes me. XDDD