DISCLAIMER:No, I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Akira Amano does. I also don't own the cover photo, I just tweaked it a bit. Original source is at the top right corner.
The Reason Why
Takeshi had been the first to be lost.
After the alliance negotiations with Byakuran had gone sour—the result had pretty much been a given, which was why all the Guardians sans Mukuro (who was still imprisoned in Vendicare, but had stated that he would be watching via his sweet Chrome) had insisted on coming along with Tsuna in the first place—the white-haired marshmallow addict had tried to gain what he wanted by force. He'd ordered his men to take the Vongola rings by whatever means necessary, including killing off their owners.
The Guardians of course had immediately taken a defensive formation, led by Hayato and his Systema C.I.A. The rest had surrounded Tsuna, their various weapons at the ready; Takeshi with his Shigure Kintoki, Lambo taking out grenades from who knows where along with his horns, Mukuro-possessed-Chrome materializing her trident, Ryohei raising his fists, and Kyouya crouching down into ready position, his signature tonfas gripped against his forearms.
There had been a second of complete quiet, broken only by the quiet whoosh of different flames. The opposing sides had made quick but complete assessments of their opponent's weapons—the Millefiore had weapons ranging from box animals to scythes and dammit were those the flight boosters that Verde had barely prototyped before he'd been assassinated?
But before the Guardians could fully ponder the implications of the opposition having box weapons that were supposedly Vongola's exclusive property—and Hayato mentally swore that he would be having a discussion with the research and development department about files security once they got back—attacks started flying left and right, and it was all the seven Guardians could do to survive.
After all, they might be the powerful and much-feared Vongola Guardians, top dogs of one of the most influential mafia families in the whole world and owners of the legendary Vongola rings, but even they had their limits, and going against hundreds of flame users was pushing it. Especially since three of Millefiore's own Guardians—Genkishi, Glo Xinia, and Gamma—were included in the fray.
(Byakuran, arrogant bastard that he was, had stated that he didn't need to lift a finger when his Guardians were there to do the work for him.)
Several minutes later (although to Tsuna it felt like days, seeing men fall everywhere, watching his Guardians, his friends fighting for their lives and having to kill again and again, and oh God, was there no end to the number of men they had to fight through?) and the group of seven had managed to make their way three stories down. They only had two more floors to go through before they could get the hell away from there. Only a few minutes more and they would be home free, wounded and battered, but alive.
That's when it happened.
Tsuna was fighting, keeping an eye on as many of his Guardians as he could, when he saw the Phantom Knight throw a sword at Lambo's unprotected back (so far the six Guardians had been fighting in pairs, guarding each other's back —Takeshi with Lambo, Hayato with Ryohei, and surprisingly enough Kyouya with the Mukuro-possessed-Chrome—while Tsuna utilized the high ceilings to his advantage by flying and watching over everyone while also taking out those with flight boosters). Takeshi had also seen this and moved to block the projectile, leaving his side unprotected for a split second; Genkishi, who the Rain Guardian had been keeping at bay, raised his sword, and Tsuna tried to fly to his friend despite the opponents who flew after him, but could only watch as Takeshi clutched the weapon suddenly embedded in his stomach before falling to his knees, a trail of blood escaping from the corner of his mouth. The Rain Guardian then looked at his soaked front, to Genkishi, before finally finding Tsuna's gaze.
"Sorry, Tsuna."
The whispered words weren't audible, but Tsuna could read them on his Rain's lips, and the brunet tried shaking his head in denial at the acceptance and regret and apology mixed in his friend's eyes, but his body had frozen the moment the sword had pierced his friend. Some distant part of his mind was aware that only seconds had passed since he'd glanced at Lambo, but those seconds felt like hours as he watched the life seep out of his Rain's eyes, before the swordsman's body fell face-first to the floor with a muffled thump.
Everything went to hell after that.
The battle continued to rage on around the fallen Guardian's body, but despite all the noise and mayhem and general confusion, all the Vongola Guardians' attentions were caught by the quiet sound. For a moment none of them were able to move, wide eyes glued to the stationary body and the growing pool of blood beneath it, before Genkishi kicked it onto its back and muttered, "Useless trash."
The insult to their friend shook the remaining Guardians out of their stunned state. It didn't matter that Takeshi couldn't hear it anymore, or that they all had their own opponents to deal with; what mattered was that one of their own had fallen, had been killed, and their enemy had the audacity to insult him, to treat his body like it was nothing more than a piece of garbage.
Hayato let out a loud roar, and the Millefiore soldiers suddenly found themselves facing six raging Guardians, all fighting to get to their comrade's body. The Storm Guardian shot down anything that moved, Lambo was throwing grenades every which way and electrocuting everyone he could reach while Ryohei pulverized anyone who got in his way, and even Mukuro and Kyouya were fighting fiercer, their movements more frenzied than their usual battle styles. Tsuna was knocking down enemies like flies, not caring anymore if they lived or died (until then he had taken care to only put them out of commission, because even if he and his Guardians had all killed before, they still avoided senseless death as much as they could). Still, even with their determination, the Vongola were restricted by the fact that they were taking care to avoid hitting their fellow Guardians while the Millefiore had no such qualms, and soon enough Vongola was surrounded once again.
Tsuna watched closely as his remaining Guardians used a combination of flames, box weapons, and more flames to fight off their enemies. His hyper intuition warned him that at the rate they were going, flame depletion was imminent.
Times like this, the Decimo truly hated his hyper intuition for always being right.
Hayato's Flame Arrow sputtered out first, followed closely by his Bone Shields. A Millefiore goon took advantage of the sudden vulnerability of the Storm Guardian and pointed a gun at him. However Lambo had seen this, and tossed a grenade at the Black Spell member just in time to put his aim off kilter. Still, the bullet hit the right-hand man on the thigh, taking him down to his backside, and Ryohei immediately shouted for someone to cover him while he healed his fellow Guardian but they were all preoccupied with fending off their numerous opponents so no one actually heard him. Nevertheless the Sun proceeded to kneel down beside Hayato, ignoring everything as he focused his remaining flames on healing the bullet wound. The silveret looked up in time to see another Black Spell member raising a scythe behind his distracted friend, but before he could shout out a warning, pain exploded in his chest, and suddenly he was coughing out blood and turf-head was shouting something but he couldn't get enough air to say anything and black was already taking over his vision, and he couldn't even take a single fucking breath to warn the stupid boxer. He could do nothing but watch as the scythe swung down then up again, covered in blood, and he felt the added weight covering his lower portion before his body gave up. The last thing he saw was Tsuna's face, eyes wide and desperate and tears running down his face, and his last thought was dammit, his boss was crying, he'd failed his precious Jyuudaime again, and that sadistic illusionist and the tsundere skylark and even the stupid cow better get their boss out of there, because he'd hunt them down otherwise. Then he let out one last breath before going completely still.
Mukuro was mentally cursing up a storm. They'd been fighting for more than half an hour now, and even though normally their stamina far exceeded that amount of time, fighting against multiple enemies without even a second's worth of rest was taking its toll, especially for him. The amount of flames used just to stay connected to his cute Chrome and still support her illusionary organs, not to mention the level of concentration needed to do multiple things at once while in battle, was wearing on his strength. The fact that Chrome had only recently recovered from a broken arm and a fractured femur didn't help either. But still he continued to fight, ignoring the warning signs that signaled his own body's rapidly depleting flames because if he gave up now, both he and Chrome (and even the rest of the remaining Guardians, although he would never understand why he was concerned for them as well) were done for. To die in battle even using another's body would also mean death for him because just as his victims had to believe his illusions in order for them to be affected, he also had to believe that he was in another's body to fully possess someone. If the body died while his mind was in it, then his own body would die along with it.
Mukuro-sama… Chrome's thoughts caught his attention, and although it would probably cost them more injuries, he paid attention to her. He never could bring himself to ignore her, especially when she sounded as concerned as she did now.
Yes, my dear? What is it that worries you?
Boss is crying.
Knocking out an advancing thug with an illusion of an electrified wall that was actually his comrade, the pineapple head turned to see that indeed, tears were pouring down Tsunayoshi's face even as the brunet fought against Genkishi and three other Black Spell soldiers. The reasons for the tears included the swordsman's body to his side and the two bodies behind him, one on top of the other, and Mukuro identified the one on the bottom by its head of silver octopus-styled hair. The one on top on the other hand had a shock of short white hair, and its once-pristine suit now sported a large rip on its back, probably matching the injury that had killed the man.
Kufufu, looks like the little mafia boss is finally losing it. Despite the laugh, Mukuro was truly worried about the Decimo. Through Chrome he had seen that the boy cared for his Guardians as much as he himself cared for his Nagi, and he could only imagine how devastated he would be if he lost her.
Mukuro-sama!
The illusionist's attention was abruptly brought to the man that had recently joined the fight against the Decimo. Cursing under his breath, he followed Chrome's urging to help their Boss. Tsunayoshi may be strong, yes, but going against two of the Six Funeral Wreaths in his weakened state was suicide.
He reached the young don in time to block an attack from Glo Xinia, infusing his trident with flames and using it as a shield. In his mind, he felt Chrome actively lending her strength as well as watching over the Decimo. Having an extra consciousness could be truly useful at times.
"How're you doing, Mukuro?" Tsunayoshi asked with a grunt as he fought against the three goons.
The illusionist let out a sarcastic laugh. "As well as can be expected in a situation like this, Vongola. And before you ask, the same goes for my dear Chrome," he replied.
"We're losing ground fast," the brunet muttered as he fired a volley of flames, getting rid of the Black Spell only to have them be replaced by four more. "I want you to take Lambo and Kyouya out of here while I make a distraction. I don't care how you do it. Then head to headquarters and have Fuuta send out a warning to all the allied Families and—"
But Mukuro was already shaking his head. "I'm sorry my little mafia boss, but neither Chrome nor I will leave you here. My sweet Nagi will cry if something happens to you, and I don't want to possess a damaged body. The skylark can take the little cow with him on his way out the door, but we are staying here with you."
"Dammit Mukuro, I want you all to get out of here! We've already—" his voice hitched, but Tsuna pushed on "—we've already lost Takeshi and Ryohei and Hayato! I don't want to lose you guys too!"
"Kufufu and what makes you think you will lose us? You'll have me thinking that you have no faith in your Guardians if you keep speaking like that, Tsunayoshi."
Mukuro-sama, watch out!
The illusionist spun around at Chrome's warning, but a dagger had already buried itself in his side. His eyes flashed from the hand that held it to Glo Xinia's manically smiling face. "You really shouldn't talk in the middle of a battle," the White Spell captain said in a singsong voice as he dragged the dagger to the left, then up, opening Chrome's body. "You never know when the enemy will take advantage," he finished as he stepped back, pulling the blade with him.
Mukuro fell to his knees, one hand gripping the wound while the other held on to his trident for support. Already breathing was becoming difficult, and he was aware in some distant part of his mind that his actual body was struggling, fighting an invisible enemy that had infiltrated Vendicare. Behind him, he could hear Tsunayoshi yelling frantically, but ignored everything and kept his eyes on Glo Xinia. Combining the last of his and Chrome's flames, he created an illusion that had the White Spell captain screaming in pain, blood leaking out of his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears before falling to his side, his glazed eyes indicating death.
"-kuro! Mukuro, answer me, dammit!"
"…Tsunayoshi… I'm sorry, but it looks like you'll have to take care of the skylark and the cow yourself."
"Nononononono! NO! Mukuro, you are not doing this to me, dammit! You better hold on, how else would you possess me if you don't?!" Genkishi was keeping up a constant barrage of assault, so Tsuna couldn't look behind him to check on his Mist Guardian, but he knew the moment Mukuro was gone because Chrome let out a pained whimper, and the Vongola don somehow managed to turn enough to meet her eyes as she lay there on the floor, her trident beside her.
"Sorry, Boss… Please… get out…"
He didn't know if she actually said it out loud or if he just heard it in his mind, but in the next moment it didn't matter as her one visible eye slid close and her stomach deflated, indicating that her organs were no longer there.
"NO! Chrome!"
Kyouya turned at the devastated shout, his blood-covered tonfas swinging out and gutting another thug. He grit his teeth when he noticed that the noisy boxer, the genius delinquent, and even the pineapple head had fallen since he'd last checked on them. Ignoring the burning pain in his side, he fought his way to the omnivore, mercilessly taking down as many men as he could on his way.
"Omnivore," he ground out when they were finally back to back. "We need to get out of here."
"Get the rings. Everyone fought to prevent that bastard Byakuran from getting them. I won't let my friends' death be for nothing. We'll—we'll come back for their bodies." At the last word, Tsuna let out an earsplitting shout and fired a concentrated beam of flames at Genkishi, creating a hole right in the middle of the surprised man's torso. Letting out another burst to keep the remaining men at bay, the young Sky turned to his Cloud. "Please, Kyouya."
Scanning their surroundings and weighting the chances, the man debated for a second before nodding. "Fine. You take care of the cow and the rest of these herbivores."
Not waiting for an answer, the skylark turned to the bodies nearest to him, which just happened to be the former delinquent and the boxer. Moving quickly, he confiscated their rings and put them in a blank box weapon. With only a slight pause he added his own Vongola Cloud ring to the group before putting on a Class-A+ ring (one he always carried since a certain brunet had given it to him for his last birthday) and sealing the box. Next he moved on to the swordsman, and finally to the pineapple head, tossing their rings into the box as well. He turned to shout out to the omnivore only to come face-to-face with Lightning Gamma.
"Hn. I thought I got rid of you a while ago, herbivore."
"Just because you knocked me out and destroyed my main box weapon doesn't mean I'm out for the count," the blonde Lightning Guardian said. "I do have other weapons." He indicated the length of chain pulled taut between his hands.
"Wao. I never would have expected a confident herbivore like you to be insecure enough to carry an extra weapon."
"I'm not insecure, I just like being ready. Now enough talk, let's get this over with."
Kyouya put the box in his pocket and took out his tonfa. "Fine." And with that, they lunged forward.
Their match was pretty much even despite the occasional interruption of several underlings aiming for the Vongola Guardian. At one point Kyouya got fed up and grabbed the chain with the intention of using it to yank his enemy towards him and ending their fight, and Gamma's lips quirked up into a smirked.
"Finally."
The skylark realized too late that there must be some sort of trap in the chains and moved to let them go, but the barbs had already popped out and pierced his flesh. Letting out a grunt that was more annoyance than pain, the Cloud sneered. "That's it? Barbs?"
Gamma's smirk just widened. "Those barbs are coated with poison strong enough to take down a pair of stallions."
And inwardly Kyouya thought, Fuck, but he schooled his face into bored lines. "Whatever, herbivore. I'm tired of this fight." So saying, he let go of the barbed chain and pressed the mechanism on the handle of his tonfa that let out the blade-tipped chains and started swinging them. "Say goodbye."
The Mare Lightning Guardian just scoffed and swung his own chain at his side, gaining momentum before sending it flying towards his opponent. Kyouya managed to deflect it using a tonfa and used the other to aim at the blonde's neck. The sharp blades made contact, slicing a jugular open. The man grabbed at his neck, trying to staunch the flow to no avail, and let out a final gurgle before collapsing.
The Cloud stood over his fallen enemy for a few seconds, taking in the omnivore's fight and the cow's whereabouts, before he felt a wave of dizziness. Leaning against a wall, he tried gulping in as much air as he could through his suddenly constricted throat. He heard footsteps approaching him and tried to raise his tonfa but his body refused, and another wave of vertigo hit him even though he was already somehow sitting down against the wall without knowing how he'd gotten there and—
"Kyouya-nii! Kyouya-nii!"
—and dimly through the roaring in his ears he heard the little cow's voice shouting his name, and he tried lifting his head to look at the teen, his body obeying him this time. He saw the tear-streaked face and wide, fearful eyes of the Vongola Lightning Guardian looking at him, and he tried to speak because even though he was annoyed with the undisciplined herbivore most of the time, there were more important things at the moment, and he had to let someone know.
"Box… left pocket… rings…"
He was annoyed that he barely had enough control of his tongue, and half expected the Bovino to ask what the hell he was saying because he could barely understand himself, but through some miracle his message got through and he felt shaking hands take out the box from his pocket. Lambo recognized it as one of the special boxes that opened only for the ring that had sealed it.
"What do I do with this?" Although his voice was as shaky as his hands, Lambo looked determinedly at the eyes of the person he considered as one of his elder brothers. He would do this, he felt scared but he would do this, because no way was he letting his brothers' and sister's sacrifices go to waste.
Suddenly the ring (which the teen noted absently was not his Vongola Cloud ring) on Kyouya's finger lit with violet Cloud flames, and Lambo tried to tell him to conserve his energy, but the skylark ignored him and reached for the box. Giving up on getting the stubborn man to rest, the Lightning Guardian instead moved to helped him open the box, which seemed to be what he wanted to do. When they succeeded, Kyouya spoke, and Lambo had to put his ear right next to the older man's lips to hear what he was saying.
"Your ring… in box… to Om…nivore…"
The words were disjointed and slurred, and Lambo barely managed to make them out. Unsure, he asked, "You want me to put my ring in the box? And give it to Tsuna-nii?"
A small, weak nod from the skylark, and the Lightning Guardian was immediately doing what he was told. When he was done he looked to the Cloud again, only to see that sometime during the two seconds he'd looked away, the man had closed his eyes and stopped breathing. For a moment, Lambo felt his heart stop as well.
Kyouya-nii…
He could feel more tears falling out of his eyes (he'd probably cried more in the last hour than he had his whole childhood put together, which was quite a feat considering) as he looked at the skylark's still face.
No, it couldn't be true, he couldn't be the only Guardian left for Tsuna-nii, they couldn't all possibly have left him…
A strangled sound behind him drew the boy's attention, and suddenly Tsuna-nii was there kneeling beside him, wide eyes on Kyouya-nii, then his arms were on his dead Cloud, rocking back and forth, sobbing and keening and devastated, the flames on his forehead sputtering out and his eyes returning to their normal brown.
It hurt Lambo to see his big brother like this, to know that he'd lost almost everyone he'd grown up with. Even I-Pin and Bianchi-nee and Haru-nee and Kyoko-nee and Fuuta-nii and maman… Their faces flashed before his eyes, first laughing and then bloodied and dead from an explosion, and he knew that whatever pain he felt, his Sky felt tenfold because he was just like that.
Shaking out of his stupor, the last Guardian pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, vaguely noting that the hall they were in was littered with dead and/or knocked out bodies. The place looked like a scene from some slasher movie, and he knew that if he stayed there more enemies would arrive.
"Tsuna-nii, we have to leave…"
The brunet's only reply was a whimper, and he didn't move to let go of the body he held.
Lambo's heart broke a little more for his boss, but he steeled his spine and pulled the man to his feet. "Come on, Vongola. None of them would want you to be caught here. Don't disappoint them, Tsuna-nii."
For a moment it seemed to Lambo that the man would just stand there and he'd have to carry him out. He was moving to do just that when he heard him speaking lowly, kneeling down once again beside the Cloud and taking his ring and putting it on his own finger.
"Hayato… Takeshi… Ryohei… Chrome… Mukuro… Kyouya…" His fists clenched, and suddenly his dying will flames erupted on his forehead and on his hands. "I swear to all of you, I will kill that bastard Byakuran. One way or the other."
Lambo shivered at the cold resolve in the Vongola boss' eyes. Then he was being pulled along, and just as they rounded the corner he saw more Millefiore arrive to block their way. The Sky flame user pulled him to a stop and blasted the whole hallway in front of him with flames, incinerating everyone. Then they were running again, passing by a closed door, and some strange feeling compelled the cow-obsessed young man to look back at that door just in time to see it swing open, revealing a smiling Byakuran who pointed a finger at the Decimo. The finger started to glow and without thinking, the Guardian pushed his boss, who was surprised enough that he fell down from the impact.
Turning to ask Lambo what happened Tsuna looked up only to see a beam of white light hit his Guardian. Upon contact, the light spread throughout the Lightning's body, covering it completely and blinding the Vongola. When he was able to see again, there was no Lambo to ask what happened. All that remained were dust particles that floated about in the air, and Tsuna stared with mounting horror as his brain provided the unwanted answer to his unasked question because no, this couldn't be Lambo, not his little brother, no…
"Oops, looks like I used a little more oomph than I needed. I only meant to get rid of his head, but I guess his body couldn't handle a pure flame as well as it could lightning." The Gesso Family head laughed. He expected some sort of reaction from the little boss in front of him, so when he received none he looked at the kneeling person curiously.
Tsuna was staring at two items that lay innocently on the ground in front of him. One was a thick silver ring with lightning engraved on the shield-shaped surface. The other item was a small violet box, embossed with intricate designs and sporting a small hole on one of the sides. Byakuran noted that it looked like a box weapon, yet not. Most boxes were strictly functional with no designs so they could be easily mass produced, with the only difference between them the colors to help distinguish which type of flame it would take.
"That's quite a special little box you have there, Tsunayoshi-kun."
And still there was no response from the young Vongola, which annoyed the albino. He was debating on whether to just shoot the little shit and get it over with or play with him some more when said shit moved, picking up first the ring then the box. Once again, Byakuran watched curiously.
Tsunayoshi clenched his right hand, and upon closer observation Byakuran could see the extra ring there. It had a strange little stone, holding a rainbow of colors that swirled within. The silver band had markings that matched the ones on the violet box. Suddenly the ring emitted a strong flame, and the Gesso boss was fascinated because never before in any parallel world had he seen such a thing.
Flames were curious things, alive yet at the same time not. Every person on earth, no matter what world, would have at least one type of flame wave running through their bodies, corresponding to what personality trait would be most dominant in them. There were the occasional ones who would have more than one (sometimes up to five, like Hayato) type of flame, and those people had to use different stones to act as conduit for each type. Never would a single stone be able to handle more than one flame.
Except now Byakuran was seeing exactly that. The little ring was emitting both Sky and Cloud flames at the same time, and he was sure of that because the little tuna fish had removed his Sky ring and placed it on his left palm, along with the Lightning ring and the box weapon. He fed the flames to the box, and purple eyes widened in anticipation as the rest of the Vongola rings fell into the Decimo's open palm.
He moved forward with the intention of taking them, and suddenly orange eyes were on him and Byakuran saw there what he had seen in countless other worlds: solid determination to do anything and everything to achieve his goals. The Sky flame on the Vongola's forehead started to spread, and soon enough they covered the brunet's whole body, including the rings on his hand which started to glow, and orange eyes closed.
"Byakuran. You might have already gained this information from Uni, but let me tell you this anyway; each part of the Tri-Ni-Set has its own special ability. The Mare rings allow their Sky to see through to other parallel worlds; the Arcobaleno pacifiers allow their Sky to see any point in time at any parallel world; and the Vongola rings allow their owners to store memories inside, giving them the ability to see the past."
"Of course I know these things, Tsunayoshi-kun. Uni-chan has explained to me the song."
But Tsuna went on as if he hadn't heard the other man. "What you probably don't know is that each Sky attribute could do so much more, with a price. The Arcobaleno Sky could revive the rest of its Guardians by pulling them through time and space away from the moment they died towards a moment of the Sky's choosing. The Mare Sky could combine the consciousness of all its counterparts in all parallel worlds and let each one of them interact with one another with the full knowledge of each other's existence. The Vongola Sky…"
And at that point brown eyes opened, and Byakuran was confused because no matter what world, the pesky little pest's eyes were always orange when he used his dying will flames.
"The Vongola Sky could use the stored memories in the rings to turn back their time up to the point where the current owner started wearing the ring, leaving memories intact for whomever the Sky chooses."
"That's quite fascinating, Tsunayoshi-kun." Byakuran smiled. "But what would the Skies have to pay?"
The Vongola boss cradled the rings in his hands, which suddenly started glowing. Tsunayoshi kept his eyes on them as he said in a low voice: "Their lives."
And then the rings started pulsating, letting out seven different colored lights that blinded the white-haired man. He cursed when he realized what the brat had been doing, and cursed some more when he heard words above the constant ringing in his ears.
"Goodbye, Byakuran. My Guardians will be ready for you, and you won't even see them coming."
Sawada Tsunayoshi, age 25, current head of one of the strongest Families in Italy, groaned and curled into his blanket like a recalcitrant eight-year-old who didn't want to get up for school. His head felt like Hayato had placed several mini-bombs in it and detonated them simultaneously. The sunlight streaming from the glass wall (which was bullet proof of course) only worsened the pounding, so the young don just lay there in hopes that someone would have enough mercy to kill him and end the pain.
Then memories started bombarding him, and he popped up like a jack-in-the-box only to flop down again, weak and disoriented. Remembering that the weakness should be expected given that he should be dead right now, he didn't bother getting up again and just focused on trying to remember what had gone wrong.
He could remember the meeting and the fight and the (his brain shied away from the D-word and for now he let it be) subsequent losses, and finally the confrontation with Byakuran. He began wondering if it was all just a dream after all because there was no way in hell that he could know all those things and—
"Ah, finally awake, my cute little descendant?"
Said descendant shrieked out a startled "HIEEE!" and almost died of a heart attack before he located the source of the voice and shouted, "Giotto!"
The blonde chuckled at the accusing tone and sat down on the side of the bed, his ghostly figure making no indents on the surface. "I'm sorry if I startled you, but you looked so deep in thought that I couldn't resist."
Tsuna pouted. "That's just mean." When his ancestor merely chuckled again, he gave up on trying to scold the ghost and lay down once more. "So to what do I owe this visit?"
The Primo's smile disappeared, to be replaced by a serious countenance. "Have the memories not made their way back to you yet?"
The brunet froze, and he felt his heart beat faster. A little lightheaded from the sudden adrenaline rush, he mumbled, "I was starting to think it was just a dream."
"No it wasn't," Giotto said with a shake of his head. "Everything you remember did happen, and will happen again if you do nothing about it."
"But if it was all true, then shouldn't I be dead right now? I remember what I said to Byakuran… How did I know all those things anyway?"
"The information was stored in the Sky ring. I was wearing it when The Man with the Iron Hat gave me the information, so the ring retained it. And to answer your question, yes, you should be dead—" at this point Giotto's eyes suddenly became furious, and Tsuna gulped nervously "—but all the Vongola bosses agreed that it would be more prudent to keep you alive, so we all gave you a little of our flames to help you out."
"Um… Thanks, I guess?" the young Decimo mumbled uncertainly.
Primo let out a sigh, which managed to be frustrated and exasperated all at once, before standing up. "Never mind that. What matters is that you need to do something so that awful future won't happen again." He turned to his descendant. "Do you have a plan in mind?"
Tsuna frowned down at his hands. "I was expecting to die, so I guess I just sort of left the planning to Hayato and the others…"
"You little—" Giotto cut himself off and let out a frustrated sound and put his hands on his hips, frowning down at his descendant. "That plan won't work now, since they probably don't remember what happened."
Brown eyes looked up curiously. "But why? I thought I set the time leap so that they'd remember. I was counting on that to help them prepare."
"It was a side effect of letting you live. Now it's probably only you that only has the memories."
Silence. Then Tsuna asked, "How far back did we go?"
"A few months. Another side effect of our interference." Giotto paced back and forth at the foot of the bed. Then he stopped, and said in a quiet voice, "You'll have to destroy the rings."
"You have got to be kidding," was the incredulous reply.
"No, I'm not. How many times did the Millefiore attack you, trying to take them? How many people did they kill? Right now they're only starting the hunt and no one's been hurt yet. You can prevent that."
"I… But what about you?"
The blonde waved this off. "Destroying the ring won't affect us. It's only our time that's engraved in them, not our spirits. We only use the rings as conduits to let us materialize."
"Then if I destroy them, we won't be able to talk to you again!"
A sad smile. "It's a sacrifice you'll have to make, Tsunayoshi. It will save your mom."
The young man looked torn, but after a few minutes he let out a shaky breath before nodding.
"Before that, we need a plan… With your current strength it would be impossible to go against both Byakuran and Uni, and you can't count on the memories much because things are sure to change if you take action now."
"I think… I think I have a plan, but I'll need some help. My contact at the Millefiore, he suggested something a while back, but it seemed impossible. But given that you've already given me permission…"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Irie-kun told me of this plan he had, but it involved destroying the rings so I said no. But now…"
"Explain it to me," Giotto demanded, and Tsuna did.
A while later, the brunet finished explaining with, "But I'll need someone I can trust on this side, someone who could come and go without question and who could help train everyone."
Almost before he finished speaking, he heard the door to his suite open with a loud bang and before long his bedroom door was doing the same. An extremely irate skylark strode inside, glaring at the boy in the bed.
"Omnivore. Explain," he growled.
"Kyouya?! What are you doing here?!"
"I woke up this morning with strange memories in my head, and that pesky first Cloud Guardian said that I should talk to you about it." Clearly the raven-haired man was at the end of his patience because he pulled out a tonfa, placing it against the brunet's neck in a chokehold, something he hadn't done outside of battle for a very long time. "Now, explain."
"Wha—Kyouya!" The poor Decimo was now flailing beneath his Cloud Guardian. He sent a look at the visible-only-to-him Giotto that said "a little help here?"
The blonde hummed and apparently made himself visible to the skylark again, if the sudden direction of the pale gray eyes was anything to go by. "Tsunayoshi, I think you just found someone to help you," the ghost said with a small knowing smile.
4/25/14 EDIT: Just added a cover photo (finally!). And I noticed that nobody commented on why Lambo "died" here despite being shown alive in the 20-years-later timeline (remember the hot 25-year-old Lambo who showed up during the ring battles?) and the little inconsistencies in the details. I'm too lazy to change them, but I do have an explanation for Lambo (which is long and complicated, so if you want it you'll just have to ask me somehow).
A/N: And cut! It's done! Finally! Thank goodness! After a whopping 6,373 words if my software's word count could be trusted! *laughs* When the first sentence popped into my head, it was literally the only basis I had for the whole thing. I typed it down on impulse, with the only plan being that the story would portray what pushed TYL Tsuna into bringing his younger self and everyone else into the future. I did not expect it to turn into this monstrosity (well for me anyway, because I know this one-shot is waaay shorter than some of what I've read before). And I managed to finish it in… I think one day, including the interruptions and distractions (LOL I can't believe I actually lost track of time while writing this, and now my hands are shaking from tiredness) and the whole time I was writing I was thinking "OMG I can't believe I'm gonna kill them all of, and on my first fic for this fandom, too."
Anyway, sorry if there are any plot holes or anything else. This is unbeta'd, and mostly unedited, and I'm not going to go over it again because I know I'll just change more things around. Then I'll never be done with it -_-' LOL. But I would appreciate it if anyone pointed out the mistakes…
Oh and by the way, sorry if I made anyone too OOC (especially Giotto. I know he doesn't seem like the type to joke around, but I remember that in the manga he and Cozart are supposed to be a lot like Tsuna and Enma, who aren't so uptight, so… yeah).
Wow this is one long author's note. If you've read this far, thanks! And now, goodbye LOL.