Utter Lunacy by InsaneScriptist
Beta: Umei no Mai
Summary: When the white demon with angel wings took over Magical Britain few were left still fighting. Luna is captured only to later win her own private war. What it means for the future is anyone's guess. MoD!Luna.
Warnings: AU!HP, EWE, HP!Character Deaths, AU!KHR, Alt!Byakuran, torture, physical violence, implied rape, Crazy!Byakuran, KHR!Character Deaths and more that I'm probably forgetting. Why am I writing this?
"No, you're not Mukuro." Luna corrects herself.
"And you're not Elena." The not-Mukuro says.
"My name is Luna." She says, introducing herself to the person who was not Mukuro despite all the similarities they shared; she didn't require his name to notice that or that he required much more support than his host could give him. He was very like Mukuro, their appearances were similar as were their mannerisms, but that didn't make them the same. "Daughter of Xenophilus and Pandora."
"Squalo Superbi." Squalo adds, reaching for his sword hidden under a minor illusion and a notice-me-not. She doesn't think Squalo's going to attack, but Squalo recognizes this person and thinks threat.
"My name is Daemon Spade."
The name's familiar, she knows of this person in a different way that Squalo. She knows of him from off-hand mentions in dinner discussions. From her and Xanxus' collaboration on the research involved in Primo's Impossible Quest. Squalo thinks threat, Luna knows danger.
"And your host, Mister Spade?" She prompts, seeing someone under all the Mist. Small enough to be a child, but she can't see more than that.
"Her name is Nagi." With that said, Daemon takes a seat at their table in the quaint little cafe. He even orders something to eat, although Squalo's less than welcoming expression sends the server scurrying away like a mouse soon after and before Luna could do more than order tea. Being foreigners likely isn't helping, but Luna is used to strange looks sent her way. They're actually rather familiar and oddly reassuring. She is still herself. They're not looking at her with pity and thinking broken, poor Loony Loony Lovegood.
The tension is thick enough between the swordsman and ghost to be mistaken for a war-room meeting, but there's less disguised fear and ego-posturing between them. In fact it's the lack of posturing and threats that makes it be so much more serious. There's no menacing undercurrent... yet.
"Should you really behave like that, dear Squalo?" She asks in English, before switching to Italian; less chance of people knowing the language in Japan after all. English was the language of business and would probably remain such for a time despite the collapse of the muggle global economy, so many had at least studied English in school, even if they had forgotten it later. "Signor Spade could prove helpful to our quest."
And the illusion stiffens, practically hesitates, before the action is smoothed out into something more natural.
That sort of thing is never a good sign. It's a sign of pain.
(Anger is not not a primary emotion. It is a response to other emotions. A distraction.
Daemon Spade has wounds and is hiding them.)
Healing is never a pretty process.
Scars leave a mark.
Some wounds however do not close, they ache and ache and cannot be eased at all; people just learn to live with them.
Bleeding.
Luna has no idea what she's said that caused the reaction, but hopefully it wasn't the Italian that did it. Unfortunately while she can speak Japanese, she prefers not to. Bad memories of the language and not enough good ones to outweigh all the bad.
"You see, Signor Spade, we currently have a situation in which you could be of assistance. I don't think you have want of anything material that could be offered by us, therefore we have to beg your conscience for assistance, should you wish to offer it."
Primo and Secondo's, no, this is purely Primo's Mist Guardian facing them looking wild and distraught deep in his soul, and then enraged before it's all hidden behind deliberate calmness. Secondo's Mist appears, a calm mask to the mindless grief that had bodies floating in the sea for the birds and aquatic creatures to pick clean.
(Oh, Luna realizes, it's loss that caused that pain. She feels a momentary regret over not looking deeper into the Vongola's early history herself. She has no idea what could cause this other than the name of 'Elena.')
Squalo's letting her take the lead in negotiations. She hadn't charmed Talbot, but his curiosity which may save the world. Daemon, here she has less to work with other than she looks like someone he knew, he is a ghost of a different sort than the kind that inhabited Hogwarts and that he is tragically broken, knows it and did a terrible job of repairing himself.
Luna could break him more, especially if she knew him better like she did Byakuran but Daemon is more of a mystery. A single misstep may bring the wrath of Secondo's Mist down on them and...
This may be a disaster. It will at least be a beautiful one. If one found blood to be beautiful.
("Not all blood is beautiful, Loony Loony Lovegood." Bellatrix had crooned at her once upon a prison. "Some of it is quite filthy and full of mud. Best to return those mudbloods and their filthy blood to the earth by slaughtering them like the filthy beasts that they are!")
The problem with emotional hemorrhaging is that unlike blood, there is no clotting mechanism.
People bleed and bleed until they're too tired to stay standing...
... and then they bleed some more in exhaustion.
The blood gets everywhere, stains the world a brilliant scarlet and a dull flaking rust.
People drown in blood.
Daemon lives a world submerged in the crimson shade only blood has.
"And if I tell you that my conscience is dead? That it is gone with my body? With society as it is currently only strength matters. Nothing else." Secondo's Mist replies with a telling lack of dramatic gestures. All that self-control is being spent on restraint and holding himself together instead of creating a more natural front.
He's lying. Poorly. Trying to convince himself as much as her. He's failing at the first step of persuading other people. He lacks true sincerity, true belief and he cannot convince himself, much less her otherwise.
"I'd express my condolences and move on, believing that strength should be put to use for something." She looks him directly in his eyes.
His are so much like Mukuro's, but more lost and clinging to a dangling thread of sanity as though it were nothing more than madness to leave it, even though he knows it is madness to stay. A single thread is no anchor to sanity and Luna is far more adept than she likes to admit at navigating seas of madness. She's more used to severing anchors now and war is only part of the reason why.
(Those threads binding her to sanity were torturous chains when in prison. Happy memories and happy thoughts of what-could-have-been were only good for dreams. And dreams, like memories of halcyon days of summer with her father, would only have worked against her.
To wear down an empire with sand, you need to be harder and more abrasive and so so sharp.)
She continues dreamily but so serious: "To protect something matters more now because society is the way it is; people are terrible and there are always the three beats of war, peace and revolution and no-one is sure where we currently are. Are we at war? If not, did we lose before we even noticed? Some are concerned about who won, but others with the aftermath of war. Are we at peace? There may be no one telling us to live one way or another now but what about tomorrow? Are we in the thrall of revolution? Rioting angrily at the complacency that allowed false peace to take over the world before it fell to an unseen war? Will this make a change in the system, a permanent one? Those changes frequently require a foundation of blood and bones and lives so who pays the price? Does anyone even care? The world as a whole doesn't know all of it, isn't sure of anything and killing Byakuran was much like opening that which was entrusted to Pandora. All that madness and genius scattered to the winds and infecting the world with his vision, dreams, ambition and insanity. That I do know."
(Luna is sharp, so sharp and strong, she knows. She's endured, she's overcome and she's still so bright.)
Then with firm finality, she utters, "I also know this. I do not regret killing Byakuran and giving the world its choice. With Byakuran as he was, there was no other future than the death of the world. Ten years, if that. I may have done nothing but delay that, possibly even causing greater casualties over time. But I do not regret it."
(Luna is a diamond, polished by time and disaster.
There is no reason for something sharp to not be brilliant.)
She doesn't mention the possibility of him helping her on Primo's Impossible Quest because Secondo's Mist bore a grudge towards the founder of the Vongola; she knows better than that. It is why the Mist became Secondo's before he died to rest uneasily in death; there is nothing but violent passion and a delirious drive for a cause that provokes such. That is what caused this ghost to be and that is not part of the Vongola she wants. That sort of Vongola would not last.
That Vongola is years dead already.
Being reduced to appealing to the ghost's better nature, long buried in blood and grave dirt is not appealing but... help would be appreciated in this time of lawlessness and chaos. Daemon Spade joined the Vongola for a reason, even if she didn't know it. The possible connection to this Elena she so resembles may provide a clue but she'd rather not provoke a vengeful ghost to murder her when she still has Primo's Impossible Quest to complete.
She also does not mention Kawahira or the agony of his choice for Acrobaleno or a workaround with those he had already cursed and left for dead; people, especially those determined to, can survive impossible odds be it out of love or hatred. It's only whispers of hope but they grow. Daemon Spade doesn't need to know of that. That hope is not his hope to reach for.
Much like the world doesn't need to know that she did Byakuran a favour by killing him. He was brilliant enough to know where his madness would lead, how broken it had already made him and how reduced it would eventually lead him to become. His thanks and gratitude echoes in her memory and dreams but she does not regret her actions.
("Thank you," she still hears in her ears, a repetitive refrain in her darkest dreams.)
She doesn't regret the consequences either. There's no eagle eating her liver, but like Prometheus she has a constant reminder and endures the pain of her choices.
("Thank you," he says. Luna remembers that more than the fire he was consumed by.)
She's not a god and distressingly mortal for all she had once possessed all the Hallows but she doesn't expect a rescue from a mythical hero.
Those chains don't hold her and she's never let them. She's a child of the underworld now but before then it was moonlight and magic; she has not forgotten that and mortal chains are even less binding than magical ones.
Even magical ones shrouded in myth and called holy.
"That said, we as people require our basic needs met in order to survive, but it takes more strength to live with all the weaknesses and double-edges true living requires; compassion, charity, kindness, healing, education in the humanities for dreams, hopes, words, music, even songs and philosophy. They make a life worth living, worth having, like friendship and poetry you see. People need to see that, hear that and understand that. I'm advocating for that. That's what I want to protect. That's my idea, my hope and my dream. I'll protect that."
Luna lays her dreams -not yet voiced to her friends, to her comrades, to her allies and barely hinted at previously- bare. Xanxus had an idea and Neville understood without having to be told because he had managed something similar with Haven. Haven was a sanctuary, a magical one, just not what her dream was.
Her dream was something else, smaller and more personal yet on a scale greater than Haven.
"Therefore that strength should be used to protect that. I'm not naive enough to say it should be used to protect the weak; everyone is weak at some point and they should learn from it. To pick themselves up, to pick others up or other useful lessons and sometimes they learn to be kind instead of learning helplessness. It is when the protectors can't protect themselves that they either fall apart or turn into monsters and people are terrible about gratitude. Gratitude turns into expectation and people fall prey to their own beliefs and shatter when attacked from both enemies and those they were supposed to protect."
That's what happened to the Vongola after all. The strongest? They were proven weak. The most well-connected? They were isolated in the paranoia of the strongest mafia famiglia. The vaunted hyper-intuition? Fooled because it can only work so well with a closed mind, narrow vision and a haze of misinformation.
The Vongola had been blind, deaf and dumb to miss the rise of the Millefiore. A failure to adapt, a failure to thrive, a failure to survive much less exist based solely on strength. Power alone is never enough.
They did not think it would happen, couldn't conceive of it, wrapped in confidence in the superiority of their ancestors' work and efforts. It was nothing more than an illusion born of complacency and the inability to think or believe in the 'impossible.'
Luna wants nothing more than thinkers, non-conformists, rebels and those who eschew tradition. Artists, composers, dreamers and philosophers that will be radicals, liberals and very fierce protectors of their work, livelihood and community. She wants to cultivate kindness and the ability to believe, to empathize with others in her people.
They won't always see the same things or hear them or always understand them... but they won't ignore what's there either, locking it out because it doesn't belong with what they want to believe in.
Luna wants a proper CEDEF; she simply has to make it first and she will after Primo's Impossible Quest is finished in failure or success. Months of effort, of traveling and convince and research have gone into Primo's Impossible Quest and for her own goals.
She already has people, because while Primo's Impossible Quest is being handled, there's no reason to not run her own errands alongside Squalo's, right? They both need people but of far differing temperaments and skills.
That's the most efficient way to get all of those plans realized since even if they find Primo's heir, there would still be a transition period and Luna is very adept at misdirection and sneaking sand past watching eyes; this time however she'd be building a castle instead of ruining the workings of an empire.
(Sand she remembers is used in building -for bricks, for glass, for mortar and compressed by time and heat and pressure into into stone.
Sand and time is all she needs to build an empire. One that would stand together, instead of falling apart and back into the dust of naive dreams.)
(When had the CEDEF become subservient to the Vongola?
Ricardo had written about Alaude and Alaude's successor who had no trouble telling Secondo when he was being less than wise or outright careless. There are hints about Primo's reign here and there, so Xanxus knew the most about what was left in the archives. Some of which had been shared, others discussed but all examined with the greatest of scrutiny; a dragon's insight was formidable but can only do so much when so much information was missing.)
The number one suspect for secreting away information is sitting at the table with her and Squalo. He'd have reason to and all the others involved were long dead.
(But when had the CEDEF become subservient to the Vongola? When the CEDEF obeyed instead of watched? When the CEDEF heard orders instead of rumors?
Luna knows and she's not happy about it.
When the Vongola learned to be arrogant and unthinking about its power, the CEDEF learned to say 'yes.' The worst sort of hypocrisy, the worst kind of betrayal and a learned helplessness from the overwhelming strength of the Vongola.
Power is not all that is needed to rule.)
All she needs to know is if Primo's bloodline still exists and if the inheritor of it is a Sky. If not, her involvement in Primo's Impossible Quest is over.
(Primo's the one that wants the Vongola Ring returned to his bloodline; this means the Vongola's responsibilities, the good works and mistakes are also returning to his direct bloodline.
Primo may have not thought everything through, since he's volunteered his relatives and his possible descendants for war, unceasing work and the responsibility of the Vongola in such an uncertain time. It's an immense amount of work that could crush a man; Primo is potentially volunteering an untrained and unprepared child should one have been born to Iemitsu.
Luna's done the math; Primo hasn't.)
Luna can tell she's hit on what happened to Daemon in many ways; Giotto the idealist, the dreamer, the protector of the physical and basks in love and guilt.
A idiot without wisdom, no matter his intelligence or resolve.
Luna hadn't been sure on why Giotto chose some of the things he did for a mafia famiglia but she can see it now. The illusion of his majesty, the Great Sky has been shattered. See how intelligence was mistaken for wisdom and foresight. See how mistakes were forgotten and forgiven by history.
See how fallible and mortal he was, for all the reverence history has for him.
When an idealist sees the monster he has created... one out of human nature no less, the idea is to defuse and scale back. Take back weapons, let people cool off in months after years of momentum has built towards the frenzy. It's an idiot's decision through and through.
And Daemon suffered for it.
How useful. How very terrible.
But now it's Daemon's move.
Will there be blood?
(Of course there will be. Daemon's world has been nothing but the feel of red blood, the taste of iron and copper on tongue and the smell of grief on the air for decades upon decades.
Daemon grieves. He bleeds.
He's weak.)
Daemon bleeds but only her eyes can see it.
It is not an illusion but a metaphor so apt that it should be reality. That it is reality.
It's a mess and not a scar in sight.
Scars could be hidden. Blood bleeds through anything that's not a scar when given time to flow and a wound to flow out of.
Blood will continue to flow unless stemmed, drawing other things out with it.
Sanity drips away into an ocean of blood.
Luna is very adept at sailing the seas of madness.
Luna has no charts, no intimate knowledge of this sea of utter lunacy -her decision is that by all the rationale that supposedly frames sense- but she'll sail it regardless.
(Ginny's gift of courage is still hers.)
"Oh, is that what you wish to protect? Little girl dreams of utopia within the darkness of the underworld? Such a riot, listen to my laughter -the idea's not funny. Hearing allusions of love, dreams and warmth within that blackness. That's not possible. It's ridiculous to even dream of it. Giotto's Vongola was weak, the rest of the Vongola died with that simpering old man and now you're hoping to recruit me?"
Daemon is an impressive orator, of that there is no doubt, much like his confidence in his worth is not in doubt either. He's also a liar and she's going to catch him with his own and webs woven with the truth. He is or was a product of the nobility dissatisfied with the status quo. An idealist in his own right.
That is what drove him to the Vongola, she realized. Dissatisfaction with society, the world and seeking the means to change it through some grand vision. He loved and trusted Primo with that much, so for Elena to have caused deeper wounds...
Luna isn't sure if Elena played a part in the establishment of the Vongola, but to love a person so much... that's a wonderful sort of madness.
Daemon may have been a little mad to begin with. Why else would he rebel against those who held power in those times, the nobility when he was part of it? It would be easy, so much easier to not...
Now however, he's still that person but so much more and so much less.
Luna listens, pays attention and thinks. Those who will not think are bigots, those who cannot are fools and those dare not are slaves. She only listens to public opinion for long enough to avoid starvation and to evade prison; simple enough really. Thoughts become actions and her actions need to be well-reasoned.
(Gift of courage or not, Luna is a Ravenclaw. Wit beyond measure did not die with Hogwarts. Like Gryffindor Courage did not die with Ginny. Those live with her.)
Thinking is so difficult for some and others just don't think that way. She's sitting next to the latter.
Squalo is sitting. Still and silent. A pale statue with an inner fire and passion that burns and burns. It simmers even now, in the tightness of his grip on his blade and the wariness in his eyes.
How impressive it was to find a passion and make a living out of it and then find another when he wasn't looking for it. How impressively loyal he is to his new cause, to Xanxus now that they've met. How despite the distance between them, they're still one entity in a way no one else could come close to.
Luna's still not sure if they've ever had a proper conversation about anything other than work-related topics. Xanxus is sparse with his words after all but Squalo doesn't seem to need them to understand what is wanted or needed.
Squalo's very lucky to find that. To be able to hear that when so many are deaf to the important things.
And now he's seeing what he could become should he lose all purpose but an ideal to strive for.
That wariness in his eyes is well disguised terror.
Disgust and empathy make the terror into wariness; a very well deserved one.
(Broken mirrors are really the best for seeing yourself in.)
"It seems that you misunderstand." She tells him. "For a Mist of your calibre, you seem to harbor more delusions than illusions."
The insult is calculated. Not enough to enrage him, so much as to swing his mind around to listen instead of dangling closer to madness.
"I know that the Underworld such as it is, is a dark and bloody place where dealing death is more valuable than living. I know fighting in a war for survival, I know of being a general for rebels, I know of being a prisoner of war. Once as a hostage, again as a sacrifice. I know of loss. First my mother, then my father and the majority of my friends including someone who was so noble to the point of stupidity because all he had left to cling to was an idea of who he was supposed to be and he was too broken to do more than become it despite his attempts otherwise, as people wouldn't let him be anything but that."
Harry Potter was a lonely broken child.
The boy-who-live was such a figure of noble suffering and chivalry.
He never had a choice or a chance.
Never just Harry Potter, student of Hogwarts.
Always something else and never himself.
Harry Potter, she remembers calling him, never the-boy-who-lived or the Chosen One.
"Therefore while survival is possible, I find just mere survival distasteful. You can't trust survivors until you know what they did to survive. Trusting those who have the strength to live on the other hand?" She finds a smile creeping up on her face. "Oh, it's difficult. It takes time, effort, understanding and more but the benefits of doing such means the difference between survival and living. That's the sort of strength I have and want at my side."
(Physical strength crumbles with age and is so fleeting. Most people never have to know how strong they are emotionally.
Kindness and love are rare and precious; the strength to reach out could effect just one person or it could effect hundreds or millions.
"Thank you," she hears again.
It was a kindness to end him.)
She takes a breath and stares. "The next is thinking that I want to recruit you. You're painted a traitor to the Vongola and no one is ever clear on why. I don't mind that stigma of traitor, as I bear it myself concerning the Millefiore for all that I was only ever their enemy, then prisoner and then destroyer. It is clear that you've been surviving but you haven't been living. As I've said, I don't want the sort of strength that you have, so I'm not recruiting you."
(Skilled and experienced, more than any other possible Mist, but all of that is useless if you can't trust the person with such skills. She wants to though, but she can't.
He's likely crazier and more lost than she is.
It would be kind of her to reach out more, but it is worthless effort if no one ever reaches back.
A pointless cause is a waste of resources. A misguided cause is an even larger waste.)
"Then whatever are you bothering me for?" Daemon says, and Luna doesn't correct him by saying that he could have left instead of introducing himself.
"I was going to ask if you knew if Giotto's bloodline was dead or not." Luna raises an eyebrow and takes another breath, waiting for his reply. Daemon has little reason to be in Japan otherwise. Why haunt Japan, a place he had never set foot in while alive?
"That's all?"
"Well, if you bear a grudge against Giotto but still care for the Vongola, then it's obvious that you at least keep track of his descendants. I assume that Nagi is yours, or of some relative."
"Then why the discussion previously?" Daemon says but doesn't confirm or deny.
"Would you answer me otherwise without it?" She demurs, knowing that she's won a victory even without seeing the triumph in her eyes.
"No, I wouldn't have." Daemon admits, eyes flicking back at her and reassessing. "Why are you asking?"
A different server, one with stronger nerves brings the tea and cake. Luna takes the tea and eyes the cake.
A simple chocolate one, but still tailored for his host instead of him; she doubts the popularity of chocolate during his time. That choice, it's very telling compared to Squalo's lack, and her choice of tea.
A considerate madman is much more rational that a mad god in all his brilliance.
She can work with madmen, because only the mad are willing to stand against, fight and kill a mad god.
("Thank you," he had said once upon a death.
Luna smiles, remembers how they had stayed with each other even after Byakuran was dead.
Byakuran's death is the foundation of friendship that this new Vongola was built on.
Not a bloodless revolution but it was only one man compared to the rest of the world that Byakuran planned to sacrifice to truly become a true mad god.)
Luna knows that Daemon is quite mad. He has threads of sanity tangling together to form a rope dangling above an ocean of madness.
An ocean of blood he has bled and shed.
Tossing him another rope wouldn't be too hard. Maybe one that wouldn't fray into strings when held so frantically.
And she might reel in an invaluable source of information, Nagi and a potential heir for Primo.
Distasteful as forcing a child into that position would be. Primo's Impossible Quest came with conditions on time and they can use that time wisely. They have, as recruiting has gone well enough.
"I assume you have some familiarity with the Tri-Ni-Sette?" She asked.
"Considering I wore part of it until my death, yes." Daemon admitted with a wry twist to his lips. She's willing to bet he learned more of it after his death.
"Then you know of the Vongola's bloodline requirement. The current holder doesn't have the bloodline so the ring is practically worthless to him. Giotto is letting him use it on the condition that he searches for and finds a proper Vongola heir should one exist to be found. So this is Giotto's demand that we're obeying because the Tri-Ni-Sette needs all the support it can get thanks to Byakuran's efforts in ending the Arcobaleno, gaining control over the entire Tri-Ni-Sette and rewriting the world according to his whims and madness. The Administrator of the Acrobaleno has already started to move to restore balance to the world."
Although his choice on whether it would be a restoration of the previous system or the birth of a new one was down to him and Talbot.
(The idea of a new option becoming part of reality is causing him such hesitation, especially after the death of so many people who were strong in Flames. The Millefiore often left the choice between assimilation and annihilation and not everyone was capable of bowing their head. Too wilful. Too hard and set to bend.
Does he wait in vain hope? Does the world crumble while he does? Does he act without permission? Will doing so prevent strong Flames being passed onto their descendants otherwise?
He needs the strength of those Flames; he needs them to continue on, for those precious bloodlines to thrive. To continue his ritual of sacrifice.
It is always a choice between blood and greed.
Can he afford this? Can he afford not to?
Blood isn't everything, she knows, but blood is part of everyone.
This new doubt, this new hope, that same old blood calling for a continuation so he can ensure the life of the world by doing something he doesn't wish to do.
Doubt and Hope are Pandora's demons of choice and so they are Luna's.
She set them free.)
"We've found people of the bloodline but none were the right type for that ring. There's also an issue of genetics to consider in the long-run, along with potential inbreeding to be wary of you see." She said. "Talbot isn't exactly forthcoming with details so he may or may not know for certain how it works. It is an issue however. Dilution of the blood over generations and the solution to that are both terrible in the long run."
Dilution means the Vongola blood, however that is determined by the ring, is not concentrated enough to register for the ring or lacks the ability to be registered as Vongola; and so whoever held it would be rejected unless Primo says otherwise. The solution to that would be selective breeding, skating towards inbreeding and all those inheritable defects that would accumulate because of that. It's not a feasible option, especially now that the bloodlines from Primo's more distant relatives aren't as numerous and those found lack Sky Flames in the first place.
Even if they 'fail' Primo's Impossible Quest and the ring is granted to Xanxus' bloodline there are issues. Mostly because Xanxus was far less human than he appeared to be and while Xanxus was stable and rational, there was no certainty that his children would be, especially if dragon instinct and the Vongola's Hyper-Intuition worked together in the worst way in the mingling in later generations; the idea of increasing 'compatibility' with the ring through selective breeding would be a sound one otherwise. It is however a beautiful disaster of an idea.
(A word of warning to all aspiring cross-breeders when breeding a wild source into a stable breed, she remembers reading once, it is only in the forth-generation removed from the wild source that the danger in handling such cross-bred offspring is comparable to the standard for the breed although it can be elevated due to a more 'wild' temperament. Selective breeding can then be used to benefit the rest of the stock for any number of cross-breeds or for your own needs if the first generation of offspring have a viable result.
Xanxus' great-grandfather wasn't human in the least.
Cross-breeding between such individuals in a blended bloodline can result in unwanted results in the offspring. It is for this reason that when hypogriffs have a winged horse as an offspring, the young foal is abandoned after birth or killed by nearby hypogriffs for food. When hypogriffs have a griffin offspring it is always said that the parents kill the young cub. For if they don't, the griffin kills its hypogriff siblings in the nest.
Dragons weren't even a social species, unlike griffins, hypogriffs or any sort of flying horse breed.)
It was a rather terrifyingly plausible idea though, one that any successive idiot might take into their heads, not knowing the madness they courted. While the Vongola lacks most of those that would be hung up on propriety at the moment, the differences in legitimacy between a bastard and a legal heir was immense. Xanxus was considered a bastard Vongola by many -if only due to having the Ring and Sky Flames unless they knew otherwise- although no one knew from which Vongola so no one really opposed his reign and reconstruction efforts in their desire to have a Vongola to rule the Underworld. Even so, Xanxus would be expected to marry and marry well; preferably another of Vongola blood of a suitable distance, leading back to that dragon-Vongola issue while forcing another. Mukuro also considered arranged marriages to be unethical without freely given consent of both parties, thus there would be more issues if his Ethics Committee survived his death and the generations after.
Considering that Xanxus is currently wading in a swamp of well-hidden grief, he is not in the best place to start to any romance or build the best basis for parenthood. He does remain the only Sky the Vongola has unless this lead is a winning one; she has plans to drain his swamp before disease breeds in it but for now, the grief can remain and he can wallow in it as he pleases.
"Plus he's not interested in keeping the Vongola. Oh, there's no doubt that he loves it and will do anything for it because he's built this version, but that doesn't mean he wishes to rule it when his talents as an assassin are better suited elsewhere, right Squalo?"
"Boss has Quality." Squalo said, the first thing he has said during this meeting. Aloud anyway.
"And that makes you what, little girl?" Daemon inquires.
"The External Advisor." She said with a smile. "Office location pending."
"External Advisor..." Deamon mutters, in wonder or astonishment, Luna's not sure.
It's a shock, she assumes. She looks delicate, she knows, like she's constantly dreaming while awake. Nothing like the strong solitary Alaude who founded the CEDEF, a far cry from the buff yes-man that once was Sawada Iemitsu. She's not even a man.
She's blonde though, so she's got that much in common with both of them.
"Yes, it is one of the duties of the External Advisor to approve of potential successors, or to nominate one." She quips.
Luna counts it as a win when she gets Daemon to truly laugh and not mockingly at her.
(A man has to be audacious to carve out their own way of living; a woman has to be twice as much.
As a woman who toppled an empire from her prison cell with naught but sand and a pair of madmen, she's more than enough for that.
A polished diamond shining bright in a world of darkness.)
There would be more to their discussion except a child in a dark school uniform stalks up to their table.
"Herbivores, what is your purpose in Namimori?" He asks in the native language.
Luna hears 'Hibari-sama' in the background. There's fear and awe and respect in the name, even if the child is maybe twelve. The whispers aren't very telling and she has a role to play.
"Investigators on behalf of the organization that Sawada Iemitsu worked for." Luna responds, ignoring the singing tension from Squalo and the amusement that both Daemon and host have. "There are," she forgets the exact word so improvises, "legal matters related to his death-papers and the execution thereof. He, the one with the silver hair, is my bodyguard during this period of unrest."
"Superbi Squalo is not unknown to Namimori," this 'Hibari-sama' replies. "Yamamoto Tsuyoshi informed me that you were back in Japan. I'll not have your loudness disturbing the peace of Namimori."
"Voi, not that big a problem," Squalo returns in flawless Japanese if slightly louder than his normal conversational tone. It is just loud enough to provoke the child into irritation but not into actual action. "Especially not for a national hero."
The 'national hero' remark seems to have irritated this Hibari-boy even more than Squalo's volume.
"Oh? Isn't he young for that?" Luna asks.
"Eh, during the time the Milliefiore were falling apart thanks to your efforts against Byakuran, he wrested control of Namimori away from them and then later was rewarded by the Japanese Emperor. Then he saved the Emperor and his family when a Millefiore remnant decided to kill the man, his family and retainers." Squalo falls back into English about half-way through. Then with a conspiratorial grin, he adds in Italian, "Ended up engaged to one of the Emperor's granddaughters or some other relative that's a couple of years older than he is as a reward. Couldn't refuse the honor."
"Stop your gossiping, Superbi Squalo." Hibari the hero commands, annoyed at his own lack of fluency. The English he seemed to be following; the Italian had him lost.
"Or what?" Squalo taunts.
"A man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife." Hibari quotes in English, accent thick. The line sounds familiar to Luna somehow but it makes Squalo pale.
Oh, so Squalo was in the thick of it. Possibly chasing down that particular Millefiore remnant on the quest for the Mare Rings. Which is how they know each other. Beyond whoever this Yamamoto Tsuyoshi is other than Squalo's friend and this Hibari's informant.
"Did you run away from your reward?" Luna nettles in English. "Isn't that rude?"
"He turned it down." Hibari responds instead, again in Japanese. "And was appallingly rude, even for a gajin. He still made a positive impression enough that his reward is waiting and left unclaimed."
Luna gets the impression that he thinks that Squalo is appalling rude still and should probably be punished for it. Having interrupted this cafe's business long enough she decides, "Maybe we should take this conversation to some place less open."
Daemon and his host follow them, although Luna has to cover for them to Hibari as a 'lead to the whereabouts of Sawada Iemitsu's relatives.'
They go to a sushi restaurant and the owner sends them to the private room in the back. One look at Squalo's annoyed face has a mention of some sort of fish dish and Squalo becomes a lot less willing to murder the sushi chef.
Food bribes are clearly vital to managing a Squalo Superbi and how is it that she's just now finding out about this? Too busy? Too much work? Lack of fish while traveling overland due to disrupted economies? Of course sharks need to eat fish and Squalo's more than a shark on two legs with a sword to serve as teeth. Squalo is Squalo and her friend and she feels that not knowing this much makes her a terrible friend.
They hadn't settled the bill at the cafe either, as minor as it would be -this Hibari would likely see it paid off afterwards.
The food bill for the sushi he's charging to the accounts the Emperor set up for Squalo -at least that's the implication that Luna picks up since Japanese is far from her best language. Maybe she should see about getting some of that money transferred to the Varia? Squalo owes her quite a lot for the restoration of the Varia's Headquarters. He has of course been protecting her as they travel, so she won't charge him too much.
Except they've also been eating off of her money, staying in places that accept money with her money and he's trusted her with all of that.
The latter is more precious than money, but she's still not going to let a bill that big slide. Material costs, turning the plumbing magical and adding wards.
The sushi's delivered and she asks Squalo about etiquette here. For all his lack of politeness he does know how to eat gracefully and without causing offense.
Luna can't say the same; she's better with the language than with chopsticks and that's a better way than saying beyond clumsy. She's the one at a disadvantage here, now.
Daemon still has the information she needs, Hibari is a complicating factor for his connections and Squalo has his own issues of political importance to deal with.
Disadvantaged is far less of a hindrance than prisoner. This room was a place of shadow, not the Underworld and only because no-one in the room wanted to deal with the complications of the Underworld at the moment.
It's a good meal, even if Luna's sure she's annoyed Hibari with her lack of grace.
(She's never been graceful, not in the way a lady is supposed to be. Too Loony.
She's a survivor, one who broke and killed a mad god that ruled the world.
"Thank you," the mad god says.
"No, thank you," she returns in the far-reaches of her mind.
Grace is a fragile thing and Luna for all that she appears to be is far from fragile.)
Discussions are tense and she lets Squalo take the lead with Hibari. That is after all, Squalo's problem and not hers. Same with the sushi-chef, a Yamamoto Tsuyoshi.
Who does recognize Daemon and asks after his son. Daemon is entrusted with his son? How? When? What occurrences merits that?
Luna lets her questions die for the moment, more curious about this new person who knows the ghost and his host. There's a time and place for questions, as Luna has long since learned; a time when your opinions are wanted and times when they're despised.
The mad god was nearly a year dead, but she hasn't forgotten Hogwarts either. She knows when and where to press the boundaries even against those drowning in madness. She suspects that all of her questions' answers involves the Millefiore, which makes her wonder why. Subverting enemies into pawns was something Byakuran once bragged and despaired of.
(More than one rope back to sanity, not that he seems to recognize the existence of them; Luna previously did not notice them either.
Maybe she doesn't have to offer a hand; he can take someone else's hands.
If he's willing to reach.)
Daemon seems annoyed at the sushi-chef's seeming obliviousness; Luna does not buy into the act. His eyes are too sharp and his hands too steady.
Maybe Daemon won't kill him for ruining whatever concessions he was hoping to wring out of the Vongola from her.
She lets the flow of conversation wash over her and savors her tea.
She's going to have to interrupt this pleasant little interlude of peace, for the Vongola, for Giotto's Impossible Quest and so Squalo can escape Japan.
Ah, a moment's more peace won't hurt.
"So this 'Tsuna-kun' you speak of is Sawada Iemitsu's son?" She asks eventually, which effectively kills any friendly mood.
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi has been pestering Daemon for news -apparently his son is in hiding with a number of others. Hiding might be the wrong word for it, for all that they're clearly living in seclusion.
Living on an island of the Vongola's allies who went into hiding and practically retired from the mafia ages ago... it sounds like he grew up in a peaceful part of the world. Protected by the ghost that has hated his ancestor.
(Daemon reached first, out of the madness he lives in. Nagi may be comfortable there, but she came after Tsuna. After the Vongola.
He may not have reached out for himself, but he reached out for the Vongola. For what it represented.)
"I've been charged to at least meet and assess his suitability for his inheritance. If he's unsuitable for any reason, it will be placed in a Trust for him or his descendants."
"The Vongola certainly has changed." Tsuyoshi says. "That's... lenient."
"I plan regardless on telling Giotto that his request cannot be granted at this time. Iemitsu's son is far too young, lacks training and more to the point lacks knowledge of the world if he's been raised in seclusion with these Shimon. I just need to confirm his lack of suitability."
"Too young?" Squalo asks.
"At best, he might be fourteen." Luna responds in English. "Probably younger by a few years, if he exists at all; assuming that Iemitsu Sawada bought the house the same year his son was born."
(More to the point, she remembers Byakuran mourning over the lack of this 'Tsuna.' Luna remembers what he's said about when Tsunayoshi was born. She knows that if Tsunayoshi exists, he will be younger than fourteen, has a plethora of favorite foods and more.
Favorite enemies are almost like friends if you're mad enough, she supposes.
But it all depends on Daemon on if this Tsuna-kun was the right person and if Daemon has spirited him away.)
Squalo grimaces. "Primo hasn't done the math?"
"He never was any good at it," Daemon absently confirms. "The Vongola would never have lasted a year without G's skills at math, as rudimentary and self-taught as those accounting skills were, before the Vongola had proper accountants. Ricardo at least had a head for numbers."
Nagi giggles and the elegant image that Daemon portrays ruffles.
(Maybe one day, he'll not live in a crimson bloody world.
Today is not that day, but there is hope for it.)
"So are we going yet?" Squalo asks.
Luna grimaces; even she could tell that was rude.
Luna's not seriously traveled by sea except for brief trips with her father. There were magical means of travel, brief boating trips but nothing like traveling on the sea for hours on a small ship.
Luna does not have sea legs and is unlikely to acquire them without more exposure. She is thankfully not seasick.
Daemon is seasick, according to Nagi who is capable of sailing the ship without his assistance. Well, piloting it as the engine is doing all the work, so she's just keeping it on course.
Squalo seems to be enjoy the hours-long trip and rolls with the ship as if it's something he's been doing all his life. He seems to be happier and more at peace on the sea.
Or it might be the distance away from Hibari and the issues with the Emperor.
Luna's not seasick but she'd rather not fall off the boat by trying to walk. She has some banking to do. What were those routing numbers again?
The sun is starting its daily descent as Nagi brings the boat towards the pier and ties it up. There are a few people with red eyes who greet Nagi and even Daemon who is very grateful to be off the boat -to the point that he's not even being defensive about his seasickness.
There's a flurry of names, mostly Japanese with enough foreign ones tossed in to make it clear that they weren't mostly Japanese even after several generations. They don't have to go further than the beach to meet Tsuna though.
Nagi does the introduction, pulling Tsuna out of the game he's playing with the Shimon kids of all ages.
"Hi, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you." He introduces himself.
"Superbi Squalo, likewise." Squalo says, an annoyed note in his voice that says he'd rather be anywhere but here.
"Please call me Luna." She adds, "daughter of Xenophilus and Pandora."
"Nagi said you had something of my father's?" Sawada Tsunayoshi asks and it's almost like seeing a different Harry Potter, shaped by the image of Primo. A happier boy, but still a fragile boy.
"It belongs to his bloodline, but you're a bit young to have all the responsibilities that it entails." Luna clarifies.
"I'll be twelve in October," the fragile boy declares, as if years are any measure of competence and maturity. As if years are reasons. This is yearning for legacy, for a dead father's love.
"The Vongola are only allowed to inherit at sixteen at the earliest, but you can be named as Heir earlier." Squalo cuts in. "And you currently seem to lack the training that would teach you to be capable of managing the organization as it is. Do you even know how to fight?"
"If it's my duty, I'll do it." He says, resolute and solemn but the innocence is clear.
"And getting crushed by your responsibilities and killed by the Vongola's enemies is not the way to do it." Luna clarifies. "Your father was mafia, was part of the Vongola and died fighting Millefiore forces. Xanxus is currently running what we've rebuilt of it, but he's not Vongola and his better talents lie in directions other than management for all that we're doing more than getting by. Xanxus previously worked for the Millefiore, Byakuran scouted him out when he was younger than you and turned him into an assassin and weapon against his enemies." How much to push the boy? How much to share? "He did kill your father."
"He did?" Tsunayoshi's eyes go wide. Cracks in innocence show. Had he even been aware that Sawada Iemitsu was mafia?
"Yes, he thought you should know now before you decide. He's still a killer, but valuable to the Vongola, to the Varia, to the CEDEF. So that means you'll end up working with him until you know the ropes."
"Valuable?"
"It's a terrible way to think of people, for what they can do for you and yours and judge their value against what you like, dislike and think you do know and what you know from experience about what can be tolerated. People can tolerate a lot, like killing armies and more, but even then if something crosses a line, people act. At some point crimes outweigh the value of the criminal and if the government doesn't do anything, then it's up to vigilantes."
Where that line was to a dragon-kin is not something that Luna is willing to ask about. Non-human morals were tricky, especially considering the lack of the human ones for contrast since Xanxus missed getting raised with any at all beyond what was intrinsic. Most people aren't raised with criteria for who should be killed and why.
She has theories she refuses to entertain though.
"We're rather terrible at the vigilante-business, but we do try." She admits.
(Law agencies are meant to enforce the law on the average populace. A mad god is quite beyond the capabilities of the police, the military and aurors.
But even stars burn and mad gods are no different.)
"That is the main issue other than your education which can be somewhat adjusted for during the transition state, as the both of you would have to present a united front. It would be a trying two years at minimum, where you have to prove your strength and ability to those who wish to tear down what has been built. Beyond that, we've done some restructuring which Daemon is not familiar with, so should you decide to take on the legacy of the Vongola you should see to training and educating yourself starting now, because once you're sixteen, you either will or will never but there's nothing wrong with preparedness. Kill a mad god and the world goes mad and the world is more than just this island."
"I'll think about it." Tsuna admitted.
"You only have tonight; Squalo and I are leaving as soon as we're up in the morning."
Which Luna is hoping to be late enough for breakfast but soon enough that they could be half-way around the world by the time they stop for the night. Squalo likes to sleep in when he gets the chance, breakfast would be good and she'd rather get back to the Vongola, to the home she's made in the Underworld.
The Shimon and the children that are in seclusion with them live in a form of paradise. It's surreal, to not see decaying buildings. To not hear the noise of reconstruction of society as factions war and tear down the new growth.
Luna takes a walk on the beach and runs into one of the Shimon's children. He's sitting on the beach, watching the waves as the moon rises.
"Enma, right?" Because the red hair is distinctive, not the red of Ginny's hair Luna had braided when she and her had been smaller than Enma is now.
"Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"
"Everything is always changing. The fact that it feels like it means you're noticing it. Not even the sand here is unchanging, shifting and moving with the waves and the tide."
"Tsuna-kun's going to say yes." He states.
"Yes, that is very likely." Honor, obligation, duty, legacy, being deemed too weak and being offered a path to strength? Even if it means enduring your father's killer? When there's a ghost that has devoted himself to the Vongola and raised him as well, in an island paradise of peace while the world was mad and suffering?
She would have made a terrifying Slytherin, if her love of learning and dreams hadn't been more important to her before two wars, being a prisoner of each and escaping both prisons.
("We could rule the world together, my little moon."
"No, thank you." She says to the memory.)
"You knew that. Was what you said about Tsuna's father true?"
"That he was mafia? Yes. That Xanxus killed him? Also yes." There had been a fondness to Xanxus when he spoke of the fight that killed Sawada Iemitsu. "I rather like to make decisions with all the facts and figured that Tsuna would as well."
"What's he like?" Enma asks.
"He was a monster of a man, but he's learning to be gentle. He's that way because of the way he was raised, what he was trained to be and then he decided not to be a monster anymore. Monsters are clever, are powerful and kill many until they're eventually killed. That's the fate of monsters. He's changed from that, because what makes a monster a monster?"
The question hangs in the night sea air until the breeze blows it away.
"If you don't know what makes a monster a monster, then I'll tell you want makes a man a monster. Monsters don't feel doubt, only care about their power, have no consideration for others. The cleverest monsters pretend to, but only to better use you. Monsters don't feel love for friends, love for family, love for the world in general. They use that against those that do to control them. Those are the signs of a monster, of a tyrant." She adds.
("One should respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny." She had told him long ago.
She understands that if you don't understand that you work for your subordinates, you know nothing of leadership. You only know of tyranny. A magazine like the Quibbler runs for its readers; not for bottom-line of profit. A voice of truth among the masses, long before Ginny had given Luna her courage.
There's more to the truth than just the facts.)
"It's not doing things that the world sees as criminal that makes a monster. People will always commit crimes. For need, for desperation, for the thrill. It's apathy for others that makes a monster."
"So why would a monster do anything like what you said he did now?"
(Xanxus' reasons are his own, but she knows her own clearly. An adaption of the truth because that is the truth of why, in a fashion for all of them.
They were three monsters of circumstance, having banded together; now they make their own circumstance and have trouble with humanity.
Humanity is hard, but making things better is a step towards that.
None of them are going to call it something like atonement, penance or making amends.
Salvation is theirs, if they wish to take it. No one ever said it was ever going to be easy.
A reclamation of what was lost never is.)
"Because it's a problem he can solve. Not because he feels sorry for us, not because he identifies with us, but because it's something he can solve and do. He just doesn't get why the rest of the world can't too. Primo's Impossible Quest is complete on finding a possible heir for the Vongola. Primo said nothing about making him or her heir, especially should they not want to."
Her smile sharpens, she can feel it. "So I'm going to tell him, 'no' and enjoy it."
"But Tsuna-kun..."
"He's going to go to the Vongola eventually. Legacies are tricky things that like to come back to you, even if you throw them to the sea."
(Sometimes the legacy is a bloody trail in the water, in the world, in the soul.
Blood and greed are more ubiquitous than death and taxes.)
"I believe that people call that fate." Daemon announces, making no footsteps on the sand. Nagi, is in bed, Luna presumes.
He settles down on the sand.
"Some people also call them chances and opportunities. Because once they're gone, you'll never get them back. I'm not fond of the idea that everything is scripted and fated to happen."
("Always remember, in an infinity of worlds, anything is not only possible, it's mandatory. My love, it's not a setback worth weeping about. Come back to bed with me.")
"When Tsuna-kun goes, I'm going with him." Enma says, before he walks off. "It's too dangerous to leave Tsuna-kun alone like that."
Which leaves Luna and the living ghost of the Vongola's past on the beach.
"Some months ago, I took a walk and found this on the beach. I left it there and then by the next week I confiscated it from Tsuna because I knew it was dangerous. It's an appalling little stone. I can see why you tossed it away even though it's yours, Luna."
"It's a suicide stone, one that coerces its holder into dying. I'm not sure of it's effectiveness against you considering you're already dead."
"Dead and with little purpose you mean. My ideas and ideals for the Vongola saw it destroyed. I tried to correct for that but over a century of habit is hard to break and I do believe that Tsuna's suffered my ineptitude as a parental figure."
"He's a precious child, more fragile that I expected." Luna admits. "He could be strong, but the only person I knew that was like that walked to his death at seventeen, survived through some miracle and then did it again when he was eighteen. Except he didn't come back then. Death allows for second chances sometimes, but rarely does anyone get a third."
(Daemon's world is bathed in red and leaves stains. He's more anchored to sanity, but sanity is a passing phase of reasoning that's easily upset. Changed circumstances, nonsensical urge to confirm. Sanity is but a dream in a mad world.
Anything else would be a lie.)
"Innocence lost is a part of growing up." She adds. "Doesn't make it any less painful though."
Apparently this is enough to send Daemon to his feet.
"Have your suicide stone back and don't throw it away this time." Daemon snarks. "But if Tsuna decides to seek you out, know that I'll be back as well."
"I wouldn't expect you or Nagi anywhere else." Luna says as the moon reaches its zenith.
Then Luna returns to her bed.
The Shimon see her and Squalo off after breakfast; she had slept in later than Squalo. Hope, like all thestrals, is invisible to those who haven't seen death.
Hermione the dragon however gets far more appreciation for once and a lot less terror.
Hermione in her own way preens under the attention. She's too noticeable to get out much for a Box weapon.
Then they're off.
Hermione the dragon is very noticeable, so she has to fly higher and Luna lands Hermione somewhere on the coast that looks deserted.
Hermione is returned to the box.
"Any reason you're not riding this horse yourself?" Squalo asks, as he wheels Hope around to the ground.
"Thestrals are good at remembering locations and people. A dragon is distracting enough for them to not question the flying, selectively invisible horse."
"Huh," is the sound Squalo makes. "I feel terrible for anyone who has to negotiate with you."
Luna could say so as well but nothing feels so right as, "Old and dead men have nothing on a mad god that you have to outwit while being a prisoner. Much less stressful."
"If you say so." Squalo shrugs. "We gonna go on any time soon?"
"I'm expecting someone to show up soon."
"That Kawahira-creep?" Squalo suggests, only to curse as it comes to be.
"I object to being called a creep." Kawahira says as he materializes, in a flare of Mist Flames that don't let up -as if an aura is enough to chain Luna in place. "Talbot's solution is viable, should we find enough Flame users to start it up. If it's done with magic though, there's a chance of it warping that I cannot allow for the sake of the world."
"So you're going to restart the Arcobaleno system."
"Not immediately; Aria's death will revive the previous Arcobaleno, giving a grace period of ten to fifteen years, if another Sky is found."
"Still not listening," Luna says, chiding the Earthling. She knows he's not, even when she all but told him where and to who to look since she first realized what had to be. "Where are the Vindice when you need them?"
And like magic, three appear in a wreath of black Flames.
(The Vindice were the only thing that gave a mad god pause. Fearsome, terrifying and ruthless wardens of the most dangerous and inescapable prisons.
Byakuran had told her about them, how to circumvent the laws they enforced, how they appeared from one place to the next in black flames that even he couldn't replicate in his brilliance.
Portals are in the realm of science-fiction, but they have such possibilities. Especially considering some of the properties of Flames that a mad god in all his brilliance has told her before.
And Luna doubts their humanity, so human limits need not apply.)
"Bermuda, Checkerface is here." One of the Vindice whispers. Another portal opens up instantly, two Vindice also appearing. One is tiny, balanced on the shoulder of a more elaborately dressed Vindice.
Ranks. Organization. The Vendicare Prison and the Vindice are older than the mafia.
"Checkerface," the smaller hisses. "How dare you show your face? We will have our revenge!"
Squalo grabs her and takes her up in the air to witness the fight, such as it is.
She does what only seems sensible and starts recording it on her mirror.
It's not really much of a fight, but there's something off about the way the Vindice coordinate and move. How they regain vigor and so on.
She's not quite sure of what that means, but as Kawahira isolates the Vindice from each other under Real Illusions she begins to understand that the smallest Vindice is the source of those Black Flames.
So it's just him that she needs to target and convince.
He is the one in control of the Vindice.
Squalo, for all that he's got her almost sitting side-saddle in front of him and is holding the reigns, is not nearly as in control of Hope as she is.
She gets Hope to start gliding down to the sound of Squalo's curses.
Hope lands.
"I do not appreciate the ambush." Kawahira admits.
"I do not appreciate people ignoring my advice."
"The former Arcobaleno are surprising but are nothing without this one." The Earthling points out, having captured the tiniest Vindice. "How did you ever figure out that they would want revenge and that I was responsible?"
"I don't listen to public opinion." She says. "Not more than I have to in order to avoid starvation and jail. Most of it focuses on how scary and fearsome they are, what is the nature of the Flame they use and never how such a Flame happened."
She draws herself up and takes herself back into dark memories and feels. Flames at their most basic instinctual use are based on immediate emotions and a solid purpose. She reaches for the Flames that burn clear and black for vengeance.
"Those that do know how, don't talk about them." She smiles then, something she knows is wild and makes her look truly such with her wind-tossed hair and utter lack of fear; there's no room for fear, an innate feature of this Flame. "So with your Arcobaleno system cursing and killing them, it's not surprising that they want revenge or monitor the most Flame-capable organizations for your targets so they could get to you. It only makes sense so they could get to you. These Flames would be your missing piece to Talbot's idea. As they've been around for over a century without deviating from their purpose, I thought that you could trust that."
She does not think of how terrible she is in making him look at his mistakes, at the twisted creations he's accidentally responsible for.
She thinks he is a coward and says so. She may not be able to force him physically, but his hope is hers to use and abuse.
This is his best chance at getting rid of the Arcobaleno system that he says he hates. That everyone hates.
So why is he such a coward to not even try it?
(Hope doesn't offer reassurance, but it does make you reconsider options when they've been forced in your face.)
She leaves a mirror for the Vindice; clearly she's going to have to coordinate things herself and that means actually talking to them as they clearly can't talk civilly with Kawahira.
Luna understands, but don't they know they can't all kill Kawahira? There's only one of him and many more of the Vindice.
Well, vengeance has never been rational but the whole world has been mad since she killed Byakuran.
(Even if you destroy an empire with sand doesn't mean you can destroy its ideas, its culture.
There's no doubt that the world is mad.)
"Sanity is tiring, Squalo." She murmurs to his back as Hope takes them away.
"Is that what you call that?"
"Sanity is also the biggest lie we tell ourselves."
"That I'll believe. Also, your mirror was still recording so I sent it on to Xanxus." He informs her, like Xanxus is not going to worry about that. Mother dragons are worse than mother hens; dragons breathe fire.
"Mukuro's going to make fun of my hair." She says instead.
"If you believe that." Words which make it clear he didn't believe that or her saying so.
"And I forgot to leave a mirror for the Shimon." She says with the right pitch to make it a whine.
"I left them mine." He tells her.
"Does Dino know?" She questions, invading his space some more so he could hear her over the rushing air.
"Sent him a message on it prior to wiping what was on there." A moment's pause, "VOI! What did you think Dino was sending me?!"
"More pictures of cake?" She asks, bewildered; she ends up having to yell it to be heard over the wind. "Because that did look yummy and I ordered one from him, using money from your Imperial Account?"
"How the hell did you even get the bank information?"
"Hacked Hibari's, then found yours."
Squalo makes this strangled sound in the back of his throat.
"It's okay Squalo, I've already taken out the sum you owe me for the Varia's reconstruction, sent an e-mail to the bank and the emperor about the account activity and so on."
Luna learns that Squalo can whimper.
Should she tell that she also upgraded the bank's electronic security so nobody else can do what she just did?
Maybe later.
The rest of the ride for the day is peaceful, they end up booking a room somewhere in Russia and Luna gets yelled at for recklessness by Neville as Basil had been filtering Xanxus' messages and just knocked the man out pre-emptively. He is not going to be happy about that.
Mukuro has sent her a collection of rants disguised as short video messages. Including one on what has she done with her hair.
Luna responds to this one with a picture of her taking a hairbrush to her hair. Squalo comes in with take-out and takes over brushing it as Luna's never gotten the hang of doing it herself.
Eh, she decides to send the Vindice verses Kawahira video to Aria -along with a copy of the Mukuro rant over her hair.
"By the way, are we cutting southwards to Sicily and avoiding the mountains? Because Vindicare is somewhere up there."
"If they wanted us, they'd just appear," Luna tells him.
"And that black flame?"
"The Dying Will Flame of Revenge; where that's the only thing you're living for. Because you must have it and you're not going to die before you get it."
"Sounds far less impressive like that."
"Better living through spite is possible, as I certainly prove."
"Most people prefer better living through chemistry."
"Store bought neurotransmitters and inhibitors are fine, but there's something about homemade that appeals to the soul."
"I have no idea what you meant there, but if that was some complicated proposition for the night, I'm not going to say no. Endorphins and all."
Luna examines the idea, finds it appealing and reaches up.
(This is her choice. Her wants.
Her reclamation of what she had lost.
The take-out doesn't get touched until some hours later.)
Xanxus, they discover, has learned about her involvement with the Vindice, with the Kawahira-creep and Daemon fucking Spade living it up with the Shimon and the Vongola's only viable heir for the Sky Ring. He's far from happy with it, but he's not raging.
She gives Squalo the evil eye for keeping Xanxus so updated, but it has no effect beyond making him smile and shrug showing off the love-bites on his collar bone.
But Basil has Xanxus so out of it with Rain Flames that the emotional responses aren't registering properly, logic has gone to the fwoopers and he's pretty much drunk; inhibited responses, judgement and so on.
Well that's what Neville reports, as somehow he has ended up in charge with Basil making sure that Xanxus isn't doing something too stupid while impaired. Mukuro's been speaking about the evils and wonders of blackmail so Neville's not sure if Mukuro's been recording all of it or not, because it's Xanxus who is a former mafia assassin turned vigilante. Neville sounds far too amused about the whole thing.
Mukuro still has his Ethics Committee and Squalo ends up needing her mirror to make sure Bianchi hasn't killed too many people. Well poisoned, as that's the same thing more or less. The main victim has apparently been Shamal, who has survived and has been gaining increasing immunity according to Bianchi.
"Ah, maybe we should head straight there instead of around the mountains." She thinks aloud, to see what Squalo says. Being so Flame-drunk is likely not good for Xanxus. She's not sure if anything has been done in regards of Vongola business. Neville is a friend, but organization and running one was not his strong-suit. Yes, he founded Haven, had built it but he did not run it or else his visits would be far fewer.
"And maybe you shouldn't have bit so high up on my neck. This is going to show up no matter what I wear, unless it's a scarf and then it's more blatantly obvious."
"I do remember encouragement for that," she replies.
"I think I would have said anything to make you stop teasing." He rolls his eyes.
"Hmm, probably not but we could test it again?"
"Once out of Russia. We've probably ended up on some government watch list already, so the long way wouldn't be too bad. It's Russia." He explains with a shrug.
"It's not like we're on a time table. A break would be a good thing to take." Luna admits.
It's about a week later that they return to the Vongola in time for the evening meal -which is pretty late.
Squalo has given up on hiding the love bites at all in his normal clothing, considering how colorful his neck and shoulders look after a week of experimentation. Instead he's wearing a roll-neck jumper, complaining that it's too warm with a jacket and feeling too exposed without said armored jacket. She ends up putting a cooling charm on it, if only to stop him from complaining.
Not that Squalo's always been wearing that much this past week. Neither has Luna.
It was a nice little break from reality, they both agreed, but not meant to last or linger.
There're concerns called out and a happy reunion, for all that the mirror calls have kept them in touch.
After that they settle in almost like they haven't been gone for so long. The table's crowded with everyone, plates are full and Neville's plant gets its customary drink. She had missed this.
"Stop enabling that plant." Mukuro pleads, as Neville pours a glass of wine for it.
"That's gotta be cannibalism of some sort." Ken adds.
"Wine is a by-product of grapes so it is in the fruit food group." Chikusa says. "Plants are clearly carnivores and cannibals, by gaining nutritional value from decaying organic material within the soil."
"Oh, fuck, why did I miss you nutcases?" Squalo bemoans as he lowers his head to cradle it in his hands.
"Stockholm syndrome?" Both Luna and Xanxus offer as one.
"Makes as much sense as anything." Squalo complains. "The world is mad as our favorite lunatic keeps telling us."
Luna follows Xanxus as he leaves the dining room and heads to his claimed bedroom.
"This is..." He looks unsure. Oh, she had forgotten about that. This attraction and connection and oh. This could be a glorious mess.
"Have you spoken to Primo?" She hates to ask, but it must be known.
"Told him that his only possible heir was eleven and with the Shimon so he's going to have to deal with me for the next few years. If he's any good if and should he come here, I'll pass the ring on early so I don't have to listen to the bitching and do the ceremonial shit later."
"Damn and here I wanted to do it myself."
"According to Squalo, you're the CEDEF Head. You have a say, traditionally."
"Yes, there's that. No matter what a dead man says. They're dead and I'm glad of it." It's too vehement in some ways, but still correct. No matter who she was referring to.
A period of silence passes.
"It's not been the same here. The herd has missed you, the mutts too." Xanxus says, awkward with what he says but not what he means.
"I'm glad to be back." She smiles as she says it. She can feel herself tearing up and apologizes for it. Even as he pulls her into a hug.
"Primo and his impossible demands can fuck off. This world is for the living to decide things, not the dead."
"And life is to be lived, not in guilt. So if you want my forgiveness, just know that you've already received it." She tells him, even as he freezes in place. He only pulls her in closer and squeezes more once he recovers.
"That bastard didn't deserve you. Neither do I, for not stopping-"
"Deserving or not are just ideas that dead people put in our heads. Unnecessary tyranny. The living think and want and I think that I'll want you, soon."
"Soon?"
"Neither of us are really ready for such a relationship. Too much to do, too much to work out in our heads and hearts."
"Seal the promise with a kiss?" He asks slyly.
"Certainly." Luna agrees and the kiss is heavy and intense from the start, as awkward as the difference in their height makes it. A kiss full of promise and heady resolve, and far too greedy. A hunger from both making it hard to do more than kiss and grip at each other.
And it really would be far too easy to be led further into Xanxus' rooms, to be devoured, but her point stands and so Luna wants. But not letting him know... he deserves to know, even if she could so easily hide it.
"I fucked Squalo earlier today."
"I figured that would happen at one point, the two of you off together." He pulls her closer and sits them down on the couch, as her legs spread because of the position. She feels blood rushing to her face and pooling low, swelling already swollen tissue. "Reclaiming your sexuality for yourself, instead of letting a dead man keep it in his grave."
The kisses must be making it hard to think, she remembers thinking.
"Take if you want, take everything." He says to her, holding her hand and bringing it up to where his heart lay beating. "It's been yours since I first realized how strong you were, back when he tried to break you and only set you free."
"Dragon heart-string is valuable for wands," she breathes out, as a hand reaches down to his belt.
"Oh, is that what you're after? What happened to sorting out our heads and hearts?"
"Easier with data," she says before she curses his belt and takes both hands to it. She wrangles it open and tears it out of the belt loops before tossing it somewhere. "But if we get in bed and you're as good as you think, I'm never letting you leave mine."
"Well, if that wasn't exactly what I was thinking..."
(They conspicuously fail to make it to the bedroom, Luna notes with amusement.)
It's not quite light when they wake, share a lazy kiss and separate.
For all that went unsaid, they both knew that neither are ready for a relationship.
The more official reason is that as the CEDEF Boss, having sex with the head of the Vongola is unprofessional.
(The mafia is odd about things like that and some propriety has to be observed.)
Luna reviews the data and numbers in person for the first time in ages and figures that she could borrow people from the general Vongola, Mukuro's Ethics' Committee and a few of the less capable Varia that Squalo might be willing to part with and she could actually have enough people to run the CEDEF she wants to start up again.
But first they need a building, supplies and to carve a territory out. Palermo had been the CEDEF's port of residence since Aluade, but there's no reason to not stop, to not go further and start rebuilding around where the new CEDEF building will be.
The landscaping in Palermo has always been the most twisted to the north, it being the poorest section of the city and most haphazardly built.
If one couldn't take the time and effort to help others, that wasn't really living.
Luna could do a lot with her money, the CEDEF's money.
The old building has been comprehensively destroyed. Even years later, there are marks that make who destroyed such a building so obvious.
Byakuran must have loved pitting Xanxus against the Vongola and its people. She has the impression that Xanxus likely was Vongola and an enemy that he hadn't managed to kill in so many worlds if he went against her one-time guard personally. Not without trickery and cleverness prepared well in advance.
She's going to have to arrange for remnants to be removed, building crews and more. In a city, in the business district, magic isn't possible until the walls are up to ensure secrecy.
'Might be cheaper to buy and renovate existing building,' Luna sends him in a text. And then a picture after that. Several of them.
'Vaporize the leftovers?' She gets as a response.
'Believability low.'
'We have Mukuro and other Mists.'
'Order or convince them as needed; lot of moving parts for such an illusion. Vehicles, people, noise.' Luna responds. She may have never used machines to build with, but she knew enough to know that they were needed to take trash out and move dirt around to make things level.
'Finding Mists today. Place orders for your building supplies, will burn down on Sunday; practically no one should be in the offices.'
Well, at least she could start building soon.
Luna ends up nominated as the godmother of Aria's little girl.
Aria names her Selene, after the moon.
Luna fails at not being touched to tears.
If rebuilding the CEDEF building from scratch has taught her anything, it's that she really hates the city's bureaucracy, the blustering and the corruption within it.
She does eventually get a copy of what the northern part of Palermo had looked like, before all those slipshod buildings went up as tenement housing in the 80s.
Of course not everything is perfect, as her people still need to be trained, get into the places they need to and so on. People only put so much information online, if they do take steps to secure their own computers. So actual infiltrators are needed too.
And practically everyone has complained at her use of such bright colors. Luna finds them invigorating and so much better than stark white and painted-over steel.
"Luna, that wall is neon." Neville points out to her on one of his visits from Haven to her and the Vongola. "It is hurting my good eye."
"I have plans for that wall."
"More paint?"
"Oh yes, plain walls are boring, colors are better but decorations are the best."
"If you say so Luna."
Time seems to skip along and some things become normal. From giving Neville's plant the wine that wasn't all drank at dinner to the Varia actually becoming profitable instead of just breaking even-ish for so long as they reach up Quality. Neville's comings and goings, Fluffy's twin-headed part wolf puppies have had puppies of their own and the thestral herd has grown large enough that she's running out of saints to name them after.
There are regular spats over Basil who has all the secretary and people skills that Luna and Xanxus lack. Squalo's comments on how they should do something about the sexual tension and frustration are not appreciated; especially if he mentions things like custody battles since it gives people ideas.
The time that Luna had Chikusa as secretary is not to be discussed, nor what happened at Bianchi and Shamal's wedding.
Also not to be discussed is the situation with the Vindice, Kawahira and so on.
They ended the Arcobaleno system, Aria is freed of her Curse and Selene will never bear it; a sea urchin isn't here, as Byakuran said that her mother made a poor replacement for Yuni who never fought for herself or her famiglia as Aria refused to be a tragic doll from the start. It isn't easy, but the Vongola among its branches, the Cavallone and the Giglio Nero do have a vested interest in starting up this new system. The Vongola and Mare Rings are important after all, even now.
Squalo refers to it as 'the day the loli grew up' but most of them refer to it as 'the day Squalo got a pair of black eyes from Aria' instead of the day the Arcobaleno Curse was broken. The only Arcobaleno they knew was Aria, although Aria shared some details of the others before their death.
Also not discussed but commonly bemoaned is the fact that Mukuro and his Ethics committee decide to take over the country through legal means and killing any mafioso that tries to dislodge him and his people.
The good fallout from that is that Luna no longer has to apply for various building permits all the time. The bad news that Mukuro is actually very good at enforcing the law as he sees it.
And then, nearly two years after first seeing Sawada Iemitsu's son, he shows up with Nagi, a boy who favors the sushi chef and Enma at the Vongola. Judging by the explosions she heard earlier and the lingering smell of gunpowder, they had met Bianchi's brother at the door.
A/N: Terribly late update. Blame Daemon; there was a lot of creepy stuff that I decided to cut out in favor of Hibari -like nearly 4k words worth of creepy. Since Daemon is not a main character in this fic, he shouldn't get so much attention so things were re-worked and I like this version a lot better.