Chapter 1 – Of Locks, Façades, and Meetings

Sora, only 3 years old, was sitting down in a big room by himself. Around Sora were a few toys scattered around the room, a king sized bed, a bedside table and a toy chest. Sora's room did not have any windows. He was pretty bored and lonely, since his Basil-nii wasn't there to keep him company. He heard the door open and quickly looked to see who it was.

"Otou-san! Otou-san!" Sora screeched happily as he saw Iemitsu come into his room.

Iemitsu grinned, "How's my adorable little sky doing today?" Iemitsu asked, ruffling Sora's gravity defying brunette locks of hair when Sora ran and hugged him.

"Sora's good, just a bit bored." Sora responded, "Ne ne, can Sora go outside today Otou-san? To play with Basil-nii? He said that outside was really pretty, especially the sky! I wanna see it! Please, Otou-san?" Sora asked with his puppy dog eyes. For a second, Sora felt that something was wrong, a gut feeling you could say. Iemitsu's face suddenly froze, before turning into a pained look, as if he was remembering something painful. "Otou-san?" Sora asked, worried that he said something wrong.

Iemitsu then stood up before turning around and heading back out the door. "You're not allowed to go outside, Sora. I won't allow you to." Iemitsu said, shutting the door behind him.

Sora stood there blinking, trying to register what just happened. 1) Iemitsu just entered 2) He left not even in a span of 2 minutes. Once he registered what just happened, he blinked again, "Eh?" Sora looked at the door in disbelief. "Otou-san… Otou-san?" Sora asked as he ran towards the door. He was about to open the door only to find it lock; so he opted to start to bang on the door. "Otou-san? Otou-san?! OTOU-SAN?!" Sora yelled, tears flowing down his eyes. "SORA'S SORRY! OTOU-SAN! PLEASE COME BACK!" Sora cried. "Please…" Sora begged, "Sora's sorry, Otou-san. Sora just wanted to see what the sky looked like…" Sora whispered.

On the other side of the door, Iemitsu was listening to Sora's cries yet said nothing. He didn't even feel bad for doing what he is doing to Sora. Instead, he felt angry. He felt angry at who he thought was his faithful servant Basil for trying to take his Sora away from him, just like Giotto did with Nana. He will have to punish Basil for that, for tainting his innocent Sora's mind with the idea of going outside of all things. With that in mind, Iemitsu stormed off to find Basil.

All of the guards that were standing outside Sora's door felt bad for the boy, for his whole entire life he was practically locked up inside his room. His only wish was to see outside. They all wanted to do something, but alas; if they let Sora go outside then they'd probably get punished by Iemitsu with death if he found out.


In only a span of 4 years, so many things have changed for Sora. It has been 4 years since Sora had first asked Iemitsu if he could go outside. 4 years since he's seen Basil. 4 years since he's seen his warm, happy, bubbly father. 4 years since he had unconsciously a void in his heart, where he could put things and lock them away from him forever.

It has been 3 years since he has begun to learn and has shown signs of being a prodigy. 3 years since the abuse began when Iemitsu found out that 'his adorable little sky' was in fact a prodigy, a genius. 3 years since he discovered that he could use all types of magick; and has been his little secret since then.

Sora had heard something similar to a door squeaking as it closes, as if trying to lock something away 3 years ago. He had also felt as if something was beginning to restrain his heart, his emotions and feelings from being shown as easily as before. He did not like the empty-ish feeling that accompanied it, as if a very small part of him was missing.

It has been 2 years since he began to back talk and straight out rebel against his father. 2 years since the abuse has been kicked up a notch because of his defiance. 2 years since he began to try to hold back his tears and conceal the pain he felt to not let Iemitsu have the satisfaction of seeing him in wither in pain.

At first, his father's beatings were nothing more than physical beatings- Iemitsu only punching and kicking him; with the occasional chokings. It was only when Iemitsu was in a really bad mood did he bring sharp objects to slash and cut Sora with. Sora never knew how sharp a spoon could be when held at the right angle and with the right amount of force until then.

When Sora began to show his defiance, everything went from bad to worse. Iemisu had actually begun to use torture items on him. In order for him to do this though, he had to take Sora out of his room and bring him to the torture chamber; blindfolded of course. Iemitsu had one of his guards cast their mist magick over Sora to prevent anyone seeing him. It was in the torture chamber Sora learned about whips, spikes, electrocution, burns- you name it. He had also learned in greater –much greater, mind you– detail about the effects of the 7 types of magick has on the human body.

Sora, instead of hearing it like he had about 2 years, felt something constrict his heart even more. He had felt even emptier this time. He tried to get back whatever this thing took from him but he couldn't since he didn't know what was taken from him. This time, however, he was not able to hear the door shut completely with a loud *THUD*.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that he couldn't take it anymore. He was tired of the consistent beatings, the pain, and the arguments. So he decided to hide everything, to lock away everything he was and create a façade that was the complete opposite of himself. Sora created his 'dame' façade. Sora was amused at how useful mist magick was; he had slightly tampered with his father's memory just so that he would not know him as being a prodigy and he was allowed to wonder around their castle. Not only that, but he got a new room; on with windows and a balcony, no bars. He really had to thank that guard for teaching him how to use mist magick. He should also thank the people of the castle as well, since they played along with his scheme and helped him whenever they could without being found out.

*CLICK* Sora had heard the resonating sound of a door being locked within his mind, just like how the door to his room always was except that that lock sounded much more complex. The empty feeling was still there like always, though feeling even colder than it usually does.

Now, Sora is 7 years old.


It has taken Sora some time to come up with a fool proof plan that would allow him to escape the castle. Sora double checked, triple checked, quadruple checked even to make sure that he could get out without getting caught by anyone. Once Sora was satisfied with his results, he immediately put his plan into action despite his still healing wounds from his last beating. Sora was lucky that his father just so happened to have to leave the kingdom for a whole week because of some party he had to attend.

Sora waited for about an hour or so after Iemitsu left the castle; just to make sure that Iemitsu wouldn't somehow manage to get a glimpse of him outside. The sun was already setting; but Sora could care less about that; he wanted out. Sora sent out a pulse of his sky magick, letting it act like a radar so he could determine how far Iemitsu is before he makes his move to escape. Even though Sora made sure that he sent out the least amount of sky magick he could, Sora couldn't help but pray that nobody would be able to his magick. Sora hoped that there was no one super strong in the kingdom right now, since sending out that pulse of magick would draw the strong towards his general location.

While sending out the wave of flames, Sora felt pain in his chest area and began coughing harshly. He then remembered what the guard who taught him how to use mist flames tell him.

"Prince Sora," The guard crouched to Sora's height. Sora was gasping in pain, a little bit of blood trickled down from his mouth. "I apologize for not warning you beforehand, but this is something that everybody has to experience on their own since everyone has different reactions to it. What you are feeling right now is something we call 'rebound', which your physical limit. Rebound occurs when your body is extremely exhausted, to the point where it is not safe to use magick anymore until you are able to rest. Simple things like increasing your stamina can help you overcome it; however there is another way how it can happen. It's when your body is-"

"Too injured to be able to function under the stress of using flames…" Sora mumbled. Had his injuries been so serious? 'I guess they are…' Sora thought.

Sora frowned when he noticed that the flames he previously sent out were not enough to cover the whole kingdom. Sora knew that if he sent out any more of his flames so soon, the rebound would be even harsher; but he had to do it if he wanted to escape ASAP. Preparing himself for the pain he'll feel, he gathered even more flames before sending it out in waves. As soon as he released his flames, he fell to his knees and began to cough once again though this time, blood was coming out.

He ignored it though, knowing that it wasn't anything permanent since it happened before and focused on sensing his flames, to see if they detected Iemitsu. Satisfied with the result, Sora decided it was time to leave. He quickly changed his clothes from what the royalty would wear to those of civilian he had got some time ago from Kira, a butler only a few years older than he was that he had befriended, so he could blend into the crowd. Sparing one last glance to the door that the guards on the other side were guarding, he quickly made his way to his balcony and jumped over the railing, ignoring the fact that he was on the fifth floor. Sora took a hold of some branches and swung from them to try to ease up on his landing.

Sora ignored the cuts he got on his hands from the branch and the sudden pain he felt in his ankle when he landed like he did with the rest of his wounds he had received before. He sprinted off towards the castle gates, where he then simply climbed over and ran for it.

The whole time Sora just ignored the little tingling sensation at the back of his head telling him that fate wasn't on his side and that there were people strong enough to sense his sky magick. Little boys could dream, right?

O ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ O

Giotto sat there in his office, attacking his paperwork. God, did he hate those spawns of a demon, if not the devil himself.

It has been seven years since the death of his beloved wife, Nana, and the disappearance of his son. They had searched high and low for the prince. Hell, even the civilians tried to help. The search was futile however since they were not able to track down who ever such acts fast enough.

Although many had given up after the first year of searching, the people who were loyal to a fault to the Vongola Kingdom continued to search even to this day, which Giotto was extremely grateful for. He would not give up on his son. He will find his son. They'll be a family again. He just knows it.

Giotto sighed and looked out the window that was to the left of his desk. He needed a vacation.

O ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ O

Giotto had decided to take a little vacation with his tutor, friend *coughguardianscough* and their family. They had all decided to go to the Sawada kingdom for their vacation since they were still trying to get over what happened last time when they decided to go on a vacation within the Vongola kingdom. All of them learned the hard way how frightening the power of fangirls could be. Especially the single men within the group (like Giotto, Asari, G, Lampo, Alaude and Reborn).

Giotto was looking at Hayato yelling at Takeshi while Takeshi was just laughing; infuriating Hayato even more. They both were 7 years old, the same age Tsuna would have been. Giotto's heart clenched when he began to wonder what life would be like if Tsuna was still with them.

"Baka-Gio," Giotto heard his tutor say. "Stop thinking about that, it wasn't your fault. Even if you can't change things that have happened in the past, you have the power to change the future. Don't become bothered with those things now. The whole purpose of us being here is to relax after all." Reborn said. "You're making everyone worried."

It was then Giotto noticed the worried glances his guardians were sending him before turning their attention back to their children, to make sure that they won't stray off. "Un. Sorry." Giotto said. He then cleared his throat to get the kids' attention.

Lambo, who was annoying, was the first one to look at him with Hayato being a close second. Takeshi, who was trying to calm Hayato down along with Ryohei followed his gaze and looked at Giotto. Ryohei did the same. It was only Kyoya and Mukuro who were in the middle of a fight that didn't look at him. Chrome was the only one in that little group to look at him before calling the attention of the other two boys.

"Well then, I was just wondering if you guys wanted to go get some dip 'n dots, since we haven't had that in a long time." Giotto offered. All of the kids' eyes widened. It was one of their all-time favourite cold treat after all. They all said yes. Giotto smiled and said, "Ok then, off we go!"

Once they were there, Giotto's friends gave their children money to go buy it while they waited here. When they left, G turned to Giotto, "Are you still thinking about Tsuna?" G asked. Giotto nodded his head sadly.

"Hnn Omnivore," Alaude surprisingly said, "it's not like Tsunayoshi's dead. We never found a body. There is still a possibility that he is still alive out there somewhere."

"Kufufu~ the skylark's right." Daemon said. "I still have to punish those who had the guts to steal my cute little adorable nephew." Daemon said sadistically.

"They are EXTREMELY right, Giotto! God will EXTREMELY punish those who took Tsuna to the EXTREME!" Knuckle yelled.

"Yeah, you're right. Than-" Giotto began to say before he stopped as he felt the pulse of barely noticeable pure sky flames. Giotto snapped his head to all of his guardians and Reborn. "Did you guys feel that?" Giotto asked. They nodded their heads. "Those flames... they're so young yet pure and full of pain." Giotto said, frowning.

"Is this your hyper intuition speaking?" Reborn asked.

Giotto nodded.

It was not common knowledge, but the people who held Vongola blood within them were able to feel the emotions of a person through their flames. They also had something called Hyper Intuition, which warned them if danger was coming or if something was wrong.

"But something's not quite right about them…" Giotto murmured but they all were able to hear him nonetheless.

"What do you mean by that Gio?" G asked.

"I don't know… I just… It feels like whoever this child is, is restraining their emotions. I don't know why though. I don't like it either. Not only that but I also have this weird nostalgic feeling about those flames, like I know who the owner of these flames is." Giotto mused, albeit a bit confused.

Giotto quickly was snapped out of his musings when he felt a second wave of the same sky flames. Unlike the first wave however, it felt a bit stronger, so Giotto was able to notice more things about them.

The guardians and Reborn could only stare at Giotto wondering what he had sensed in that second wave of flames as they saw his face become a mix of emotions. His face was switching from emotion to emotion; shock was the first one, then sadness, anger, horrified, pained, disgusted, furious, worried– just a huge jumbled mix of negative emotions.

Seeing their friend/boss about to hyperventilate, Asari quickly went by his side and used his rain magick to calm him down.

"It's ok Gio," Asari said while rubbing Giotto's back in a circular motion, "take a deep breathe in, and now out."

Giotto complied, feeling himself calm down the more he did it.

"That's it… good job." Asari said in a calming voice.

"What happened, Giotto?" Reborn demanded. It wasn't every day that you saw your student hyperventilate when the cause wasn't you or anyone who was close to him.

"I… the child… we have to find the child!" Giotto said, sounding a bit confused, frustrated, and on edge. "I don't know why… but we just need to find this child!"

"Ok Giotto, we'll find the child. Though remember, you will tell us later about what you felt in that second wave." Reborn said in a stern, yet reassuring voice. Giotto nodded.

"Alaude, Daemon. You know what to do." Reborn said when he turned to them. Daemon and Alaude left not a moment later in search of the child.

Reborn then looked at Knuckle, "You go with them Knuckle. We don't know how injured this child is, if he's physically hurt at all so we'll have you there just in case." Knuckle nodded, looking serious for once and dashed off after Alaude and Daemon.

Reborn turned his attention to the remaining four adults. "I will be joining them in this search." Reborn said. "Giotto, G, Asari, Lampo, gather the other children and bring them to the hotel." Reborn ordered. He saw Giotto about to protest but Reborn beat him to the punch. "No Giotto, you can't come. You need to remember that we are not on our soil, but on another's*. We don't know if anyone would recognise you and look to attack or kidnap your children to get back at your kingdom so we need you guys to keep them safe." Giotto's protest died in his throat, seeing where Reborn was coming from and nodded his head.

Like that, Reborn too disappeared.

Giotto closed his eyes and sighed. He turned towards the kids and said, "Kids, something has unexpectedly popped up so we have to go back to the hotel earlier than expected." He had expected to hear complaints and fighting, but instead he heard nothing.

"G-Gio…" He heard Asari call him. "The kids… they're gone!"

With that, Giotto's eyes flew open only to see that there was no child in sight. He paled. He didn't need to say anything at all since G was the one who voiced his thoughts out, albeit a lot louder and a lot more swearing.

"WHERE THE F***ING HELL DID THOSE LITTLE BRATS F***ING GO?!" G yelled.

O ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ O

Sora hummed happily to himself as he just reached the outskirts of the town that was at the bottom of the mountain that the castle resides on. He was free now! He wouldn't get hurt anymore, there won't be unbearable pain to deal with any more and have to hide just so that the people at the castle won't feel too guilty about not helping him.

He knew that some of them wanted to help him to save him from Iemitsu but couldn't; not if they wanted to endanger themselves and their family. He understood. Nobody wanted to be in pain. Pain hurts, a lot. That's why he was so grateful to them when they tried to take care of his wounds, when they took care of him no matter how brief since they had to make sure they didn't get caught by any of Iemitsu's loyal men.

Sora felt a bit guilty for leaving the people who helped him behind, but he'd probably end up dead one day if stayed there any longer. There was no guarantee when –or if– Iemitsu was going to introduce him back to torture since there was 'so much resemblance' he had to that man (Iemitsu's words). That's why he had to leave. But he'd come back to get them one day, that he swore to himself.

All of a sudden, he bumped into someone, someone he thought he never would've seen again.

"B-Basil-nii?!"

"Sora-dono?!"

O ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ O

Basil was speechless as Sora recounted what happened to him after he (Basil) 'disappeared' from his (Sora's) life. He felt himself becoming even more disgusted at this kingdom's king when he heard how Iemitsu's been torturing Sora.

He had told Sora how Iemitsu had beat him up when he heard that he told Sora about the world outside. He told Sora how Iemitsu slaughtered his family and nearly starved him to death as punishment, how he had yet to even reach close the double digits* back then. It had been clear to them that Iemitsu was- no, is a horrible man but just hearing each other's stories made it even clearer to them.

"Sora-dono… how art thou hither? I doubt King Iemitsu would let thou out…" Basil asked.

Sora rubbed his head sheepishly, "He didn't. Iemitsu went to another kingdom to attend a party and wouldn't be here for at least a week. I decided to take this opportunity to escape." Sora said. "I don't plan on just abandoning the people who helped me though. I'll be back and save them from there. I just need time."

Basil just paled. "Sora-dono… I doth not think thou understand how possessive he is ov'r thou. He would hurt if not kill the people of the castle since he will suspect one of them help thou escape." Basil said.

It was now Sora's turn to pale. "… I'll return. I can't let them pay for something I did. I won't allow it." Sora stated firmly, orange slowly starting to leak into and mix with his honey-brown eyes. Little did Basil know that that was just the beginning of Sora's 'boss side' showing itself.

"I'll return, just before Iemitsu comes back though. I want to enjoy my freedom as much as I can. I want to enjoy the outside world, just like how you and everyone else are." Sora said.

Basil smiled a bit. "May I hast the honour of showing thou around, Sora-dono?"

Sora's eyes glowed with delight as he hastily nodded his head, "Un!" Sora said.

Basil then took a hold of Sora hand, Sora looked at him confusedly. "So we would not get separat'd." Basil said.

Sora nodded.

"Ah! One more thing, Sora-dono. Don't betoken anyone thy real name. Nay one wilt find out thou art King Iemitsu's son." Basil said.

Sora once again nodded his head.

O ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ O

"You stupid cow! This is all your fault we're lost!" Hayato yelled at Lambo, pulling on his ear.

"Ite ite ite! Haya-nii let go! That hurts!" Lambo yelped.

"Maa maa~ you're overreacting, Haya-chin. Calm down." Takeshi grinned.

A tick mark grew on Hayato's forehead. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that name, sword-freak!" Hayato growled agitatedly. Hayato was too intent on glaring at Takeshi that he never noticed that there was a person in front of him before they collided.

"Ite te te…" The brunette haired boy in front of Hayato said as he got up and rubbed his behind. He then stretched out his hand for Hayato and offered a smile. "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking at where I was going."

Hayato and the other children actually gaped at the boy. He was like a mini-Giotto, excepting for his hair and eye colour which were brown and golden-brown respectively.

Hayato tentatively reached out to grab the boy's hand and helped pull himself up. Hayato found his eyes narrowing at the flinch he saw when the boy helped him up, injured perhaps?

Hayato was about to ask the boy but another boy- err teen came running towards them.

"Ah! There thou art are! I finally found thou!" The dirty blonde haired boy said as he approached the other boy.

"Wah!" The younger boy said cheerfully and pointed a finger at him. "Found you too~"

The older boy sighed and put his hands on the younger boy's shoulders. "I thought I hath already told thou to stay closeth to me. It'seth dangerous to be wondering thy streets alone."

The younger boy looked down and pouted, "Sorry, it's just that everything's so new to me… It's my first time outside you know!"

Hayato felt his eyes widened, his first time outside? The boy looked around his age; he didn't appear to have poor health. What or who prevented him from going outside? Even the children of royalty were allowed to go outside.

Hayato was curious so he wanted to ask, but when he opened his mouth to ask, different words came out of it than he had wanted, "What's your name?" Hayato asked the younger boy.

The younger boy turned to look at Hayato, a wide smile still adorning his features. "Me? I'm Caelum. Just plain ol' Caelum."


*meaning that he was less than 10 years old, around 6-8 year old perhaps?


ANNNDDDD CUT!

Hope you guys liked that chap!

Sorry I haven't been updating lately. It's just that I have a LOT of story ideas and I'm working on all of them plus the stories I already have published...

I wonder which story will be updated next?

If you have any questions or see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me! Or if you have any ideas of who should be in the story or what could happen in it. I LOVE hearing your ideas.

Well now, gotta go type away some more at another story now!

Ciao~