Title: legacies
Character/Pairing: Primo, Tsuna, Vongola fam, Byakuran, Arcbaleno
A/N: Written for the KHR zine. It was really nostalgic skimming through the series to come up with ideas.
Summary: In a different lifetime, Tsuna never became a boss. In a different lifetime, Mukuro destroyed the Vongola family. In a different lifetime, a new set of Arcbaleno were born.
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This is your power, Primo wrote in a different lifetime, with ink as black as the secrets he had to carry. The power to save lives, to change destinies, to alter history.
Midway through the letter, he paused. The sound of children laughing filtered in through the window like sunlight, bathing his study in warmth. No matter how often he heard the sound, it still took him by surprise every time.
This was not the town of his childhood.
Leaning back on his chair, he closed his eyes and listened. He had never expected to get here when he started. All those years ago, he had only hoped to save one person, to help just a single child. Now he had done all that and more. What used to be a village of desperation had turned into a place of hope.
"What are you doing?"
Opening his eyes, Primo spotted G standing at the doorway. As always, he shifted uncomfortably at the entrance. There was something about the carefully lined up books, the trappings of formality, that made his right hand man antsy. "Nothing."
G glanced at the desk, at the quill still in Primo's hands, and didn't comment on the obvious lie. "We have a meeting."
"I had forgotten." Primo carefully folded his letters and placed them in an envelope before affixing a seal on red wax. Turning it over, he held his quill over the front of the envelope. A goblet of ink dropped, and then another—who was he sending this to? His children? The Simone family? His guardians?
"Primo?"
"Let's go." He set down the quill and stood up. There was no point in considering the address any further. Stopping by the fireplace, he dropped the letters in and watched them shrink into nothing.
He was never going to send them anyways. At least, not in this lifetime.
-x-
"This is your power," a baby with a gun said, his face hidden in shadow. "The power to topple governments, crush your enemies, and conquer countries."
Tsuna stared blankly. "Huh?" A baby was talking to him. Was he still sleeping in class? Pinching his cheek hard, he felt a sharp sting of pain.
Nope, he was definitely still awake.
"I am not repeating myself." The baby gave him deadpan stare, almost a glare. Actually, it was a glare and Tsuna took a step back. Babies shouldn't be able to shoot or talk but this one looked like he could kill.
If this wasn't a dream, this had to be reality. Even if that made no sense. Even if there was absolutely no way that it would make sense. Tsuna might be an idiot and he might be failing every single class he was in, but even he knew that there was no reconciling what he was witnessing with common sense.
"I'm here to tutor you," the baby continued, gesturing for him to enter his house. "To prepare you for the mafia."
"The…mafia…" It sounded like something out of a manga or a movie. Tsuna rubbed his eyes but the baby was still there. "The guns-and-murder mafia?"
"You will be the next Decimo." The baby kept talking as though Tsuna wasn't interrupting him every other sentence. Why were there babies in the mafia? "You will inherit it all in a few years."
Tsuna took a step back. "No."
For the first time, the baby responded. "What?"
"No," Tsuna mumbled, shaking his head furiously.
"What?" The baby cocked his head and Tsuna sensed danger. Absolutely no good would come from dealing with this not-baby. Even the gun didn't seem like the scariest thing about him. "Would you repeat that?"
In one reality, Tsuna would have reluctantly accepted his duty, out of love for his friends in family. He would make a great Decimo, changing just what it meant to be in the mafia.
But that was not in this reality. In this reality, Tsuna was just a scared teenager staring down the barrel of a gun.
"No!" With that vehement refusal, he turned tail and ran from his destiny.
-x-
"This is your power," Tsuna offered, holding out his hand. "Our power, the power to protect, to help."
His hand was slapped away and Tsuna was left with a total of three guardians. A total of maybe three guardians because Yamamoto and Ryohei didn't seem to really get what he was saying and Gokudera always seemed to be one realization away from leaving him.
"…you need more tutoring," was all Reborn had to say in response. It wasn't even in his usual sharp manner. There was a little resignation, a little disappointment.
If you had told him a few weeks ago he would crave the approval of a child, Tsuna would have laughed. As it was, even though he still didn't want anything to do with the mafia, he didn't like failing at this too. But he was Tsuna. Tsuna who flopped at everything he tried. Tsuna who couldn't even talk to the girl he liked or get good marks. A no-good failure of a person. What more could they expect?
"I'll try again," he mumbled, the best he could promise.
As the days passed, the remaining three rings sat on his dresser, mocking him.
-x-
"This is your power," Mukuro laughed, holding up the Ninth's bloodied and limped body. "The power of the mafia, the power that I will destroy with my own hands."
He let go, letting the Vongola head fall to the ground with a sickening crack. Lying on the ground, Tsuna could barely lift his head and witness the fall of an empire. Around him, his friends lay unconscious, bone peeking out of flesh from where Mukuro had hit them.
"Why?" he gasped and Mukuro's attention snapped back to him.
"Still awake, are you?" Grinning like a chesire cat, he walked toward the prone boy. "I warned you what would happen."
"I know…" Tsuna coughed, blood dribbling down his lips. Shit, it was internal, too. "But I thought…"
"What?" Mukuro raised an eyebrow before smoothly crouching. Leaning on his staff, he lowered his head to Tsuna's eye level. "You thought we were friends?" When Tsuna didn't reply, he chuckled. "I told you before what I wanted. You chose not to believe me."
"I thought..." Tsuna's hands gripped the broken concrete. "All those times…"
"Decimo." The words came out like a hiss, a mocking respect. "Despite what you may think, I never once altered my course. This is what I wanted. This is what I always wanted."
He got up now and flicked the blood off his trident. It splattered on Tsuna's face. Looking down at his handiwork, Mukuro tilted his head. "I think I'll leave you alive, to witness your folly."
-x-
"This is my power," Xanxus offered the Vongola, his smirk sharp as a razor. "The power to take, to crush, to conquer."
There was nothing to say to that, no challenge to offer. Nono was on his deathbed and very little remained of Tsuna and his guardians. Even if that weren't the case, the battle was lost. By the rules, Xanxus had won.
By the rules, the Vongola had a new Decimo.
"We recognize and accept your status," a Cervello finally said.
Xanxus's smirk grew bigger. "Like I fucking needed your approval."
-x-
"This is power," Byakuran sang happily as he stripped the ring from the Decimo's bloodied hand. "The power to rule every time line, every universe, everything."
Scattered around him were the Vongola family, their bodies lying in craters and hanging off trees. It was surprising how easy it was to defeat them all. Life was a game and in this one, he had no rivals. Turning around, he spotted Shoichi running toward him with a briefcase.
"Here!" Panting lightly, Shoichi stopped next to him. "I brought them."
"Thanks! You didn't have to run, you could have just walked." With an easy grin, Byakuran opened up the case. Seven pacifiers, six Vongola rings, and around him were the seven Mare rings. This was it then. This was everything he had worked for. Carefully, he slotted in the Vongola sky ring into its place.
With bated breath, he waited for something to happen. For anything to happen. Some internal or external change, something that indicated he now had command over everything.
"Why?" He had the rings and the pacifiers. There was nothing left. "Nothing is happening."
"Nothing?" Shoichi peered down into the case. "Maybe we need to wait a little longer?"
"No." Tapping the sky pacifier, he frowned. It was almost like the pacifiers were dead. He was missing something. With a sigh, he announced, "We failed."
"Failed?" Shoichi rubbed his ears, as though to confirm what he heard. "How?"
"That'll be up to another me to find out." His smile dropped as he passed the info to his other existences. This world was a dead end now. A different Byakuran would have to succeed. He picked up the sky pacifier with a grimace.
He had been so close.
-x-
"This is your power," a broken man from a broken family said derisively. "The power to destroy families, to cover up truths, to hurt innocents."
"It—it isn't, you're wrong!" Tsuna croaked out, futilely grabbing Enma's hand as it choked him. Power, he needed more power. Enma's eyes were dark and full of fury, offering no quarter, no mercy.
"We have been hunted and destroyed because of the Vongola," Enma hissed, his voice low and full of contempt. "We have lost everything because of you."
"There…a mistake…there has to be…" Tsuna gasped. It was hard to breathe and his fingers clawed on Enma's arm. "We can…change…fix…"
"There is no fix." Enma snorted. "Everyone is in the Vindice now; I'm all that's left."
There was no response this time, no false promises or hopes. Enma released his former friend's limp body. Even death was too good for him.
"With his death, you are the winner," the Vindice announced as they appeared.
Winner. Enma laughed. The word never sounded so hollow.
-x-
"This is your power," a joker with a wide grin announced. "The power of the Arcobaleno, the power that will save the world."
Before Tsuna could react, the pacifier was around his neck. A collar, it choked him and he crumpled to the ground. "What—Reborn!"
His tutor didn't respond. Lying face down on the ground, he didn't so much as twitch. Checker Face bent down and prodded the baby. "I think he's dead."
"No!" Tsuna clawed at the pacifier but it burned, his whole body burned. He was losing something, losing pieces of himself, and fire ran through his veins. "Get…it…off…"
"No, no, that's not how it works!" With a grin, Checker Face walked up to the prone boy and gently tapped the pacifier. "It's yours now—you can't give it back."
"Re…born…" Tsuna reached out to his tutor, fingers trembling. However, he couldn't reach and the effort was too much. Darkness tinged the edges of his sight and his adversary's face loomed over his.
"Don't worry, it'll only hurt at first. Then you'll be a proper Arcobaleno." He tapped his chin, considering it. "Though, maybe I should erase your memories of this—it'd be hard to pick another set if you knew what would happen."
"No…don't…" The last thing Tsuna saw was a wide grin and then all was dark.
-x-
"Did you use your power again?" A voice stirred Byakuran out of his revere. Looking up, he saw Yuni sit on the ground next to him.
"Yes!" He grinned as she leaned against the tree, her face barely peeking out from under the brim of her white hat. Though maybe calling it a hat was charitable.
"See anything interesting?"
He considered it for a moment. "You die a lot. But not in this timeline."
"That's good." Yuni looked across the park at Reborn. With the curse removed, he was no longer pint sized. Noticing their stare, he tipped his hat. Yuni waved back cheerfully. "Uncle was really happy. I…I'm glad I don't have to die this time."
"No, you don't." Byakuran went back to watching everyone at the party. Humming, he added, "I couldn't find a single universe where I ruled everything."
Yuni gripped his hand lightly, beaming up at him. "That's good, too."
Her touch grounded him. Under a tree, Chrome was chatting with Mukuro. There was a world where he rotted in prison, a world where he died escaping, a world where Chrome didn't make it past the car accident. Near them, Yamamoto was playing baseball and Ryohei was eating with his sister and Haru. Byakuran had seen worlds where Yamamoto was a star baseball player, where Ryohei got badly injured in a boxing match. There were times where the entire Vongola was wiped out and others where they wiped out everything.
There were many realities to choose from, many to live through. Yuni's hand was warm and firm, still not releasing him. If she died, he wasn't sure what he'd do. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to find out.
"It is, it is," he sang back instead. He was in this world. There was no need to consider the other possibilities.
Nearby, Enma and Tsuna sat under a tree, quietly drinking a cup of sake. In the Decimo's hand, there was a letter and he cleared his throat. "I found these the other day, locked in the old study."
"What is it?" Enma took a small sip as everyone's attention returned to the Vongola head.
"Letters written by Primo." Clearing his throat, Tsuna started to read them aloud and Byakuran closed his eyes with a small smile. So the letters had survived in this timeline.
This is your power. The power to save lives, to change destinies, to alter history.
Perhaps those words were for him. However, he was done changing history and altering destiny.
Byakuran had found his timeline.